Simplified Radar to Use "Wamoscope"
November 1956 Popular Electronics

November 1957 Popular Electronics Table of Contents Wax nostalgic about and learn from the history of early electronics. See articles from Popular Electronics, published October 1954 - April 1985. All copyrights are hereby acknowledged.

Yeah, I thought the same thing when I saw this in a 1957 issue of Popular Electronics magazine ... a "Wamoscope?" Was it produced by the Wham-O toy company that makes the Hula Hoop, the Frisbee, the Super Ball, and Silly String? Wham-O was founded in 1948, so why not? It looks like one of the flashlights that held about six "D" cell batteries that you'd see on old police shows. Actually, Wamoscope is derived from "WAve-MOdulated oscilloSCOPE." It combined a traveling-wave tube with a cathode ray tube in a single enclosure. Operating over a frequency band of 2 GHz to 4 GHs, it combines most of the essential functions of a microwave receiving set in a single tube envelope, eliminating many of the tubes and components required by conventional receivers. There is also an article entitled "The 'Wamoscope' - a Picture Tube That Includes Many Functions," in the November 1956 issue of Radio & Television News magazine.

Simplified Radar to Use "Wamoscope"

Radio engineers attending the Western Electronic Show in Los Angeles recently were amazed to hear of a single-tube radar set. Developed by Sylvania Electric Products, Inc., for the U.S. Navy, the radar has been dubbed the "Wamoscope." Literally interpreted, "Wamoscope" means "WAve-MOdulated oscilloSCOPE." Microwave radar signals can be fed directly into the tube wherein a single glass envelope-they are amplified, detected, and finally displayed on a fluorescent screen.

Secret of the "Wamoscope's" unusual ability is the traveling-wave focusing principle. (The focusing solenoid is shown in the photo as the metal cylinder.) The "Warnoscope" can be designed for any u.h.f. band and with any size cathode-ray screen. Although the first one is reserved for the military, radio engineers are planning on possible applications in miniaturized commercial and industrial closed-circuit TV systems.

First "Wamoscope" measures just under two feet but contains complete radar reception system for direct signal display on cathode-ray screen on end of tube.

Posted January 30, 2023
(updated from original post on 8/2/2016)