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October 1969 Electronics World
Table of Contents
Wax nostalgic about and learn from the history of early electronics. See articles
from
Electronics World, published May 1959
- December 1971. All copyrights hereby acknowledged.
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Electronics World
magazine for a while had a monthly feature titled "Radio & Television News."
It was a roundup of top news bits. This particular month's collection had a lot
of notable topics. On the heels of the Apollo 11 moon landing, NASA informs
people of the many benefits research and development on necessary technologies that
will redound to the commercial and consumer sectors. "Success with on-board computers
in spacecraft contributes directly to the day when home computers take over hundreds
of chores - from feeding the cat to reminding you of appointments...- and maybe
keep your checkbook balanced." PCs and smartphones were still the realm of science
fiction and futuristic predictions in
Mechanix
Illustrated at the time. Medical monitoring, body science, quart crystal
timekeeping (think wristwatches), cordless tools, extreme weather survival gear,
cosmetics (you read right), computer programming and semiconductor electronics,
ballistic parachutes, and much more. My mother-in-law was never convinced that space
and planetary programs paid dividends to mankind. Also reported are advances in
color TV adoption, a major shift to offshoring production, the scare of x-ray emission
from sitting too close to your TV set (your mother was right), and a shift from
analog to digital clock radios.
Radio & Television News
 By Forest H. Belt / Contributing Editor
Rewards of Apollo
Costly though the Apollo 11 trip and moonwalk
were - upwards of $22 billion - home-entertainment electronics benefits indirectly.
A heavy technological overflow has bred improvements for earthbound gear.
Ideas that went into a low-light camera for space will improve live-coverage
news cameras. Such a camera is needed, too, for CCTV, ETV, and industrial use. S-band
communications gear, proven so dependable over 240,000-mile distances, adapts easily
to satellite television relay, or even satellite-to-home TV. Field-sequential color
transmission, used to send live color from the spacecraft en route to and from the
moon, may turn out to he "the" way to send color television over long distances
here on earth, too; converters at each end turn it back into NTSC color to suit
U.S. receivers.
The Apollo program may speed up other home-electronic developments. Success with
on-board computers in spacecraft contributes directly to the day when home computers
take over hundreds of chores - from feeding the cat to reminding you of appointments
- from grocery shopping to watering the lawn - from storing recipes to doing the
mixing and cooking - from answering the phone while you're out to keeping the kids
off it while you're home. All that - and maybe keep your checkbook balanced, too,
or at least tell you when you're overdrawn.
You may notice some effect on regular TV programs, too. Network feed for the
moonwalk was handled by ABC. (The assignment is rotated among the networks.) More
than 500 million viewers watched around the world. The deployment of men and equipment
surely adds to the ability of networks to handle more smoothly the day-to-day entertainment
programming we earthlings have come to take so much for granted. If nothing else,
maybe Apollo will give us more dependable TV at home.
Color Movement Continues
Color television has done well this year, despite ups and downs. Since color
took off several years ago, sales performance has been all but phenomenal. However
its growth began slowing a couple years ago. A few pessimists thought 1969 might
see color sales drop off to just a steady year-after-year market.
They guessed wrong. Only one home-entertainment item outclasses color-TV in market
growth this year and that is cassette machines. Color sales keep climbing, although
not as fast as in prior years. The market is still a battle of the giants. RCA leads,
with Zenith overtaking. Magnavox and Motorola follow.
Not long ago, a Zenith officer predicted his firm would soon take over the lead
in color. Interestingly, at about the same time, an RCA executive predicted a takeover
by his company of the lead in black-and-white TV sales from leader Zenith. Thus
battle lines at the top are drawn.
Eyeing both segments of the TV market are our overseas friends, the Japanese.
Imports of their small-screen receivers, particularly color, have nearly tripled
in the last few months. They already have a healthy (for them) chunk of the monochrome
portable market. They're introducing a rash of new solid-state small-screen color
sets at home, in the 10-inch to 15-inch class. If those find their way over here,
they could carve out a 30 or 40 percent niche almost before you know it. Of the
7-million-or-so color sets to be sold in the U.S. next year, don't be surprised
if 2 million or more are Japanese.
Search for Cheap Labor
High wages have driven U.S. manufacturers out of the country in a search for
less costly ways to build electronic gear. But the gains seem only temporary. The
situation in Japan is probably best known. Bargain-priced electronic items don't
exist any more. That country has had to face a continuously increasing wage-price
spiral. Today, the Japanese find it hard to compete on price.
However, U.S. set-makers never got even a toehold in Japan; the government there
has been too restrictive. But they did find cheap labor havens in Taiwan, Hong Kong,
even Korea. Within the past year or so, several have put plants in Mexico, too.
But prosperity begets new attitudes among the natives. Hardly have plants been
opened and a few dollars injected into the economies of these low-income countries
than labor costs start going up. It has gotten so that many formerly attractive
spots - particularly Asian areas - have lost their glamor. New localities are taking
over, though. so no lasting lesson has been learned. Overseas-oriented U.S. manufacturers
are now moving into Singapore, India, and Indonesia. No doubt a lot of dollars will
be saved (?) before the inevitable spiral begins in those countries. But it must
surely look opportunistic to the rest of the world.
Stereo TV Sound in Japan
Long expected (this column, March 1969) two-channel TV sound started being tested
in Japan in August. If tests prove no interference to ordinary TV, regular broadcasting
will begin shortly. The original reason for this service was to allow simultaneous
English and Japanese sound with telecasts during the Expo 70 World's Fair next year,
in Osaka. That still goes, but now concerts will also be broadcast in stereo on
the two channels. Moreover, after the Fair is over, if the transmissions have been
successful, the system will be continued on a permanent basis in Osaka and Tokyo.
It operates on a temporary permit during the Fair.
The second channel is frequency-modulated on a 31.5-kHz subcarrier; 100-percent
modulation of the subcarrier is ±10 kHz. The subcarrier deviates the main
sound carrier ±15 kHz. Main sound channel deviation is ±25 kHz. A
51.125-kHz pilot signal actuates the converter that must be added to a standard
receiver to pick up both channels of sound.
X-Rays Still Simmering
Just when the aggravating issue of color-TV x-rays seemed on the wane, it pops
up again as strong as ever. Latest important go-around is with Underwriters' Laboratories.
They decided to insist that new color sets coming off production lines meet the
tough rule of no more than 0.1 mR/hr of x-radiation. This tight limitation was to
be expected (this column, September 1969), but not so soon.
The government hasn't made public its own recommendations yet, and a lot of people
- especially set makers - think UL is jumping the gun. Last we heard before press
time, UL is thinking of relenting and allowing more time for compliance. That seems
the logical thing to do, but the entire ploy seems strangely conceived and oddly
timed. Mid-1970 is a more reasonable deadline, or at least after the Bureau of Radiological
Health has had time to set standards and stipulate conditions of measurement.
Stereo Cassette Releases Grow
Sure enough, the cassette market is turning into a full-fledged boom. The equipment
is selling like hotcakes and the big record companies are hurrying albums and hits
into the new format. For example, at one swoop recently, RCA Victor introduced 40
new cassette titles and Columbia Records brought out 58. Perhaps surprisingly, many
of the new releases are classical - which is usually reserved for really "high"
fidelity stereo equipment (few cassette machines qualify).
The cassette, before it started booming, looked as if it would be a low-cost
medium, suited mostly to young people. With new stereo cassette releases selling
at $6.95, $6.98, and $7.95, it isn't really what you'd call a kids' market. The
cassette isn't moving into the auto field with any speed, either; 8-track still
dominates there. But for portable music, the cassette is winning the race hands
down.
Cassette machines aren't all cheap, either - nor simple, as they were at first.
As an example, H. H. Scott now has the Model 3610 Casseiver, It has a synchronous
motor, twin vu meters for recording, sound-on-sound capability, and of course a
receiver. The price: $399.95. Not many youngsters will get one of those for rock
'n' roll.
Furniture Look in Hi-Fi
The hi-fi gear that will dominate the 1969-70 season is the compact, followed
by components. Yet a couple of companies that specialize in hi-fi have come out
with big consoles. One well-remembered name is Capehart, known in years past for
quality in "furniture" hi-fi. Electrophonic is also shooting for big-ticket sales
with imported gear that's assembled in the U.S. (cabinets are from Yugoslavia).
We still hear complaints from housewives about hi-fi. The usual one is: "Why
can't component hi-fi be made more esthetically attractive?" Not nearly enough manufacturers
are doing anything about it, and from conversations we hear among consumers, none
has found a real answer yet.
Flashes in the Big Picture
Sales trends suggest that digital clock radios may outsell regular kind within
another year or two.
Setchell Carlson, first manufacturer to use modular construction for home TV,
quits that business upon being sold to Audiotronics Corp.; may continue CCTV...
Beginning to appear around country are "Cartridge City" stores owned by Muntz Stereo-Pak;
saw one in Nashville - very flashy ; half-dozen open so far.
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