Kluge Electronics "California Kilowatt" Amateur Radio Station
March 1946 Radio-Craft

March 1946 Radio-Craft [Table of Contents] Wax nostalgic about and learn from the history of early electronics. See articles from Radio-Craft, published 1929 - 1953. All copyrights are hereby acknowledged.

No matter how proud I was of my family name, I do believe I would refrain from using "Kluge" as a company moniker. Maybe the word did no connate the same meaning in 1946 when this advertisement for the Kluge Electronics "California Kilowatt" Amateur Radio Station appeared in Radio-Craft magazine. An extensive WWW search turned up no examples of any surviving Kluge "California Kilowatt" Amateur Radio Stations. One QRZ website discussion supposed that none were ever manufactured. Per Wikipedia: "A kludge or kluge (klooj) is a workaround or quick-and-dirty solution that is clumsy, inelegant, inefficient, difficult to extend and hard to maintain." It has an interesting etymology. I found references to the term "California Kilowatt" meaning a transmitter putting out more than the legal power limit. California Kilowatt is also nowadays the name of a Canadian rock band.

Kluge Electronics "California Kilowatt" Amateur Radio Station

Here it is!

The Kluge "California Kilowatt"

• Photographic view of the California Kilowatt in open position and ready to transmit or receive.

Myron E. Kluge, President of Kluge Electronics, Inc., proudly presents to the radio amateurs of the world a new sensation in radio history, The California Kilowatt - a "one package" 1000 watt amateur radio station designed and engineered to bring amateur radio out of the attic and the shack and into the living room.

About the size of an ordinary desk, the California Kilowatt is simply and beautifully designed to fit into your den or living room as neatly and harmoniously as an additional piece of furniture with no clutter or mess. It is completely self-contained with nothing to be added.

Kluge Electronics, lnc., is the first to conceive, design and produce this remarkable contribution to modern radio. Among the special Kluge features designed into the California Kilowatt are:

1. A California Kilowatt with an amazing new tube development - 5 band operation with variable frequency control in each band - phone or CW at the throw of a switch - 110 or 220 volt operation;

2. Provisions for your choice make of receiver;

3. Built-in speaker - (high fidelity remote speaker also available);

4. Built-in frequency monitor - all band crystal controlled;

5. Built-in world time clock;

6.Illuminated world map with cork backing;

7. Price - the complete California Kilowatt Station

costs far less than you would expect to pay for a transmitter alone.

Premiere showings of the Kluge California Kilowatt will be held in key cities soon throughout the nation by America's leading wholesale distributors. For additional information about the California Kilowatt write to Kluge Electronics, Inc., Dept.E1, 1031 N. Alvarado Street, Los Angeles 26, Calif.

A few territories are still available to qualified distributors. Write or wire Kluge Electronics, Inc.

Posted August 17, 2021