Here are a few of my favorite
Christmas
music videos. They include an eclectic mix of Cloverton, the Trans-Siberian
Orchestra, an unlikely duet sung by Bing Crosby and David Bowie, and Casting Crowns.
Watching the instruments being played really enhances the effect of the song. I
used to have the videos embedded in this page for easy viewing all in one place,
but each year on some of them I have to go find new hosting location because the
previous year's had been removed. This time I am just linking to the YouTube (and
other) web pages. The U.S. Air Force Band performance at the Smithsonian Air and
Space Museum is my newest addition...
Thordarson Christmas Advertisement
This advertisement from
Thordarson
is from one of my oldest editions of the American Radio Relay League's QST
magazine - December 1929. Thordarson Electric Manufacturing Company was founded
in Chicago, Illinois, by Chester H. Thordarson in 1895. He was the first producer
of industrial and commercial transformers. They are still in business today. Thordarson
patented more than 30 inventions for transformer design and manufacturing back in
its early days, including the still most popular form of laminations, the scrapless
"E and I." Many discussions are available on various transformer lamination configurations,
including the very common "E and I" types...
Amateur Radio Christmas Comics
Here are a couple good
Christmas-themed comics from the January 1942 issue of the American
Radio Relay League's (ARRL) monthly magazine, QST. Ironically, the "Old Year" Father
Time with the sickle would not have been able to legally key that transmitter by
the time readers had received this edition, because the U.S. government shut down
all amateur radio transmissions (except a few specially sanctioned civil defense
units) immediately after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th of
the previous year (see "War Comes"). Although, he would probably have received special
dispensation from the FCC permitting him to send...
The Day Before Christmas
The December 1958 (my 1st Christmas) issue
of Radio-Electronics magazine featured a clever take-off of the famous
children's story "Twas the Night Before Christmas," by Clement Clarke Moore (originally
titled A Visit from St. Nicholas). "The Day Before Christmas," by Jack Darr, might contain some terms
not familiar to a more contemporary crowd. For instance, how many even know that
"Gunsmoke" was a Prime Time television shown from the 1950's, and is not just a
forbidden word in today's public schools (since it contains the word "gun")? How
about an antenna on the roof, or a telephone with a "dial" on it? Most people don't
even carry paper "pelf" around anymore. If you're under 30 years old and run across
an unfamiliar word or phase, simply speak it into your smartphone and Siri (or some
variant) will be glad to look it up for you ;-)...
QST Christmas Covers
As our traditions are besieged by malcontents
determined to denigrate, impugn, and ultimately erase memories of holidays and events
that have meant so much to families and friends, I feel compelled to resist the
movement by documenting parts of the past that will cause us to wax nostalgic over
our cherished traditions. Intimidation and violence is part of the strategic calculus;
we have seen it in spades in 2020, and 2021 promises to be even worse. The Cancel
Culture might eventually win out with the complicity of government agents both elected
and unelected, but I'm not going down without a fight. Here is a collection of twentieth
century, December issue
QST magazine covers with Christmas themes that will no doubt be
familiar to many of you. Finding them was more difficult...
Hallicrafters: Here's to a Good Old Fashioned Christmas
As was customary for U.S. businesses,
Hallicrafters ran a Christmas advertisement in the January issue
of magazines where they appeared. The January edition, as is common even now, is
typically mailed in early December, getting it in the hands of readers in time for
Christmas. This "Here's to a Good Old Fashioned Christmas" (which many state governors
want to end beginning this year) message appeared in the January 1942 issue of
QST magazine. Halli(gan) and (hand)crafters was founded in Chicago in 1932
by William J. Halligan. The company designed and manufactured radio equipment for
hobby, commercial, and military applications and quickly became very popular amongst
their users...
Carl & Jerry: Santa's Little Helpers
Were strings of miniature Christmas tree
lights not available for purchase in 1955? This adventure of "Carl & Jerry" seems to imply that was the case since it concerns
the design and constructions of such a circuit using low voltage panel lamps (light
bulbs). Although usually the two techno-teenager are co-conspiring on various tasks
of high tech sleuthing or radio-related pursuits, but in this case if it Jerry who
has been doing the hard work. Author John Frye might not know how prescient he was
when describing the two inventions he conjured up for Carl and Jerry. The first
is the aforementioned miniature Christmas light string and the second is a voice
recording device that can capture a short message and then quickly play it back.
The playback scheme involves kids reciting their Christmas wish list to a fake Santa
Claus and then having him read it back to them in a different voice...
The Day Before Christmas December 1935 QST
I saved this poem from the
December 1935 edition of the ARRL's QST magazine for now since it might be the last
day of work for the year for many people. "The Day Before Christmas" was penned
by radio amateur Robert H. Votaw after the manner of the classic "The Night Before
Christmas." It is rare to see such a poem printed in a technical magazine these
days, but it was fairly common back in the day. If you happen to be related to or
knew Mr. Votaw, please send me a note...
National Company Christmas
and New Year Greeting
Take a look at the list of National Company's
employee list wishing their customers a
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Every one of them is a licensed
Ham radio operator. It appeared in the January 1941 issue of QST, but was
for the 1940 Christmas. National Company was a major producer of amateur radio gear
in the day. Little did they suspect that by the same time a year later, America
would be newly engaged in World War II after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor
on December 7, 1941. Interestingly, the American Lung Society's Christmas Seals
stamp that appears in the upper left corner is authentic and must have been applied
by humans. That means thousands of copies had to be manually stamped before mailing...
Just in Time for
Christmas Package Thieves: A Glitter Bomb
This video has gotten more than 25 million
views in just two days. NASA engineer Mark Rober decided to reward the human debris
who steal packages from people's porches. His
Glitter Bomb
is a technical marvel of CAD design, 3-D printing, smartphone GPS location tracking
and video streaming, custom PCB, mechanization, and microprocessor control. You'll
have a great laugh at watching the reactions of low life scum who take the bait.
GPS tacks the perp, and then when he / she opens the box a swirling mass of multicolor
glitter is spewed all over the place. As if that is not enough, a few seconds later
Fart Gas (redundant?) is sprayed to enhance to mood during clean-up of the glitter
mess. Mr. Rober is no newcomer to such pranks, as his other videos show. I'm surprised
he hasn't been sued yet. Surely there's an
ambulance chaser out there looking for an easy buck - and a deranged
judge to match...
Merry Christmas to RF Cafe Visitors !!!
I still watch
all the classic Christmas movies and cartoons each year - It's a Wonderful Life,
A Christmas Carol, Miracle on 34th Street, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,
How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and of course A Charlie Brown Christmas.
According to Lucy Van Pelt, Christmas is run by "a big eastern syndicate." Her little
brother, Linus, sets the record straight in this famous scene.
Other favorite
RF Cafe Christmas Videos...
"Merry Christmas" from the Staff at Radio-Electronics
Magazine - 1958
I have always been obsessed with
Christmas - from being a little kid and loving the decorations
(and, of course, presents) to being a father and providing the season's festive
rites for my kids, to now as an old guy. Our house still has a fresh cut Christmas
tree with shiny balls (including ones with family member names written with glue
and glitter) and hand-crafted figures and of course metalized icicles, lights outside
along the roof line (old-fashioned incandescent, of course), decorations hanging
around inside, Christmas cards from years past when people actually mailed them
(we still mail a few), and other holiday memorabilia. You will...
Terminal Radio Corp. Christmas and New Year Greeting
Other than today's QST magazine
being a larger format and being printed in full color, there is not much difference
fundamentally between the amount of Christmas-themed company advertisements now
and half a century ago. Those from the last century were more likely to incorporate
a religious message in addition to or instead of a secular message to their customers.
Terminal Radio Corporation was located in midtown Manhattan. Google
Maps can find West 45th Street and it can find Cortlandt Street, but they evidently
no...
E. F. Johnson Christmas Ad
"Merry Christmas!" We're now saying it for
the first time in a long time without concern for verbal reprisal by hateful, bigoted
fanatics, emboldened by government thought police. But, I digress. Here is a 2-page
advertisement run by the
E.F. Johnson company in the December 1953 issue of the ARRL's
QST magazine. E.F. Johnson was a major player in amateur radio, and
then later Citizens Band (CB) radio. They also manufactured a large array of point-to-point
commercial radio products (Land Mobile Radio...
Kenyon Transformer Holiday Message
The Christmas holiday season is here officially
now that Thanksgiving is over. When deciding which articles from vintage electronic
magazines to post, I always try to pick a few that pertain to specific holidays,
like Christmas, Independence Day, Halloween, etc. Many companies ran advertisements
- often full-page - in QST, Radio News, Electronics World,
etc. Here is one by the
Kenton Transformer Company, of New York, New York. Interestingly,
it alludes to the military buildup...
A Christmastide Muddle
Merriam-Webster defines
Christmastide as "the festival season from Christmas Eve till
after New Year's Day or especially in England till Epiphany." In 1930 when this
article appeared in Radio-Craft magazine, most likely everyone knew what Christmastide
was, but not so much today. While reading and scanning vintage magazine articles
throughout the year, I set aside ones specific to holidays like Christmas, Thanksgiving,
Halloween, etc., and post them during their respective seasons. This story is about
the trouble caused by a well-meaning but unqualified family member attempting to
fix a radio that wasn't broken by gifting dear old Dad a Balkite trickle charger
(radiomuseum.org has one) for his battery-powered radio set. It also mentions using
a potato to test the DC polarity of a power supply or battery...
Hallicrafters' Christmas Message for 1940
Halli(gan) and (hand)crafters,
a portmanteau of those two indicated words, was founded in Chicago in 1932 by William
J. Halligan. The company designed and manufactured radio equipment for hobby, commercial,
and military applications and quickly became very popular amongst their users. As
was customary for U.S. businesses, Hallicrafters ran a Christmas advertisement in
the January issue of magazines where they appeared, as with this 1941 issue of QST.
The January edition, as is common even now, is typically mailed in early December,
getting it in the hands of readers in time for Christmas...
E.F. Johnson Christmas Ad
"Merry Christmas!" Here is a 2-page advertisement
run by the
E.F. Johnson
company in the December 1953 issue of the ARRL's QST magazine. E.F. Johnson
was a major player in amateur radio, and then later Citizens Band (CB) radio. They
also manufactured a large array of point-to-point commercial radio products (Land
Mobile Radio Service, LMRS, and Commercial Mobile Radio Service, CMRS), as well
a large line of RF connectors and adapters. The wireless automatic meter reading
(AMR) industry was pretty much born out of a very capable group of engineers, technicians,
assembly workers, and managers at E.F. Johnson's facility in Waseca, Minnesota.
They occupied a portion of the very large building where E.F. Johnson manufactured
its many products (back when Americans actually built electronics equipment). The
break-off company was originally named Enscan, and was later bought by Itron. Sensus
is another major AMR product maker...
The Christmas Equation
An RF Cafe visitor sent this equation to
me a few years ago. It can be found all over the Internet (including here), but
I cannot determine a definite origin. Mathematicians claim that math can explain
everything in the universe, which is not quite true. It can't for example, explain
why my next-door neighbor is a junk hoarder. This
Christmas equation
does not appear to begin with a particular application; it looks like something
from a set of textbook end-of-chapter problems. Even if you don't celebrate Christmas,
it provides a secondary benefit by demonstrating rules for the manipulation of logarithms
and exponents along with basic algebraic rearrangements of terms...
Jensen Christmas Radio Advertisement
Seeing an advertisement like this from a
national corporation - especially one that did work for the government - in a major
magazine would be rare these days. In 1945 when this Christmas advertisement was
proffered by
Jensen Radio Manufacturing Company in Radio News magazine, it was
meant as an inoffensive message of thanks and goodwill to all people, and
particularly to servicemen who had just fought a difficult and sacrificial war.
Fortunately, World War II would be over before the next Christmas came around. Today, some would like to prosecute the purveyor for the crime of
"hate speech," which is basically anything suggesting America's founding was fundamentally
righteous and just. "Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!..."
Don't Quit! - Merry Christmas
When I first saw the title of this poem
from a 1941 edition of National Radio News magazine, I thought it was going
to be a plea to amateur radio operators not to give up their hobby just because
the government would eventually prohibit broadcasting during the World War II
years. As it turns out, the poem predated that era and is instead a generic encouragement
to the magazine's readers to press on regardless of obstacles. It did show up in
the Christmas issue, so maybe it was simply a message in the spirit of peace on
Earth and goodwill toward man. In these harsh years of the government fomenting
division and class envy amongst its citizens, it's kind of hard to relate to such
a gentle, kindly mindset, but indeed it did once exist in America. Anyway, I thought
it was worth reprinting here, and even colorized it a bit. "Don't Quit" is sort
of a simpler version of Rudyard Kipling's famous poem of inspiration titled "If..."
When They Electrified Christmas
As I have noted in before, I greatly appreciate
the fact that throughout all the years (decades, actually) of political correctness
buffoons and most recently the "cancel culture" Nazis, IEEE's Spectrum magazine
has not bent to the pressure of ignoring and/or demonizing the electrical / electronics
industry's significant history. Their authors and editorial staff have consistently
provided meaningful stories that fairly and honestly present information relevant
to our hobbies and/or livelihoods. This piece entitled "When They Electrified
Christmas" is a great example of that which I claim. Author Allison Marsh begins,
"In much of the world, December is a month of twinkling lights. Whether for religious
or secular celebrations, the variety and functionality of lights have exploded in
recent years, abetted by cheap and colorful LEDs and compact electronics..."
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from National Company
Take a look at the list of National Company's
employee list wishing their customers a
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Every one of them is a licensed Ham radio
operator. It appeared in the January 1942 issue of ARRL's QST magazine,
but was for the 1941 Christmas. National Company was a major producer of amateur
radio gear in the day. Little did they suspect when the magazine went to print that
by the time readers received it, America would be newly engaged in World War II
after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Many of the names
would be different in1943 due to employees going off to fight the war in the European,
Pacific, and North African Theaters of Operation...
Carl and Jerry: Under the Mistletoe
Here is a Christmas-themed "Carl & Jerry" episode from the December 1958 issue of
Popular Electronics magazine. Carl and Jerry, if you are not familiar with
them, are a couple electronics-savvy teenagers who, in the style of "The Hardy Boys,"
manage to get involved in a series of criminal investigations. With headquarters
based in their parent's basement, the two friends cobble up strategies and contraptions
for snaring bad guys, bedazzling unsuspecting neighbors and classmates, and assisting
people in need of techno-capable assistance. They have quite an impressive collection
of test equipment and radio gear at their disposal per the one drawing herein. In
this episode we are introduced to the word "osculation." If you already knew its
definition, you're one up on me...
These archive pages are provided in order to make it easier for you to find items
that you remember seeing on the RF Cafe homepage. Of course probably the easiest
way to find anything on the website is to use the "Search
RF Cafe" box at the top of every page.
About RF Cafe.
Homepage Archive Pages
2025:Jan |
Feb |
Mar |
Apr |
May |
Jun |
Jul |
Aug |
Sep |
Oct |
Nov |
Dec
RF Cafe began life in 1996 as "RF Tools" in an AOL screen name web space totaling
2 MB. Its primary purpose was to provide me with ready access to commonly needed
formulas and reference material while performing my work as an RF system and circuit
design engineer. The World Wide Web (Internet) was largely an unknown entity at
the time and bandwidth was a scarce commodity. Dial-up modems blazed along at 14.4 kbps
while tying up your telephone line, and a lady's voice announced "You've Got Mail"
when a new message arrived...
Copyright 1996 - 2026
All trademarks, copyrights, patents, and other rights of ownership to images
and text used on the RF Cafe website are hereby acknowledged.
Halli(gan) and (hand)crafters
