Electronics-Themed Comics
April 1952 Radio-Electronics

April 1952 Radio-Electronics [Table of Contents] Wax nostalgic about and learn from the history of early electronics. See articles from Radio-Electronics, published 1930-1988. All copyrights hereby acknowledged.

These four electronics-themed comics appeared in the April 1952 issue of Radio-Electronics magazine. For those of you not around during the analog over-the-air broadcast era that existed prior to the industry-wide switchover to all digital transmissions, "snow" is the noise on the video portion of the composite signal. In areas of weak signals, the snow could make the channel unusable. It was a big problem for a lot of people, especially those with a poor TV receiver, an underrated antenna, an antenna without a rotator for pointing in the direction of the strongest signal (not necessarily directly toward the broadcast tower), poor lead-in cable, or in a location too far away from the TV station or in an area blocked by obstacles. The equivalent of snow in the digital signal world is the broken up, pixelated display when your signal is low. I think the comic on page 64 is really clever, although it might trigger a snowflake (whilst on the subject of snow in two of the other comics) out there who happens to see it.

Electronics-Themed Comics

"Still too much snow, Joe." Suggested by F. McCarvill, Medford, Mass.
Page 60

"Look, it says WOW every time she walks through!"
Page 64

Suggested by Leslie Boisen, Indianapolis, Ind.
Page 74

Suggested by Dan Koerner, New York, N. Y.
Page 122

Posted June 15, 2022