January 1959 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.
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This is the most
intense episode of John Frye's "Carl &
Jerry" series I can remember (see list at page bottom). It appeared in the
January 1959 issue of Popular Electronics magazine. There have been
many adventures both before and after this one where the electronics-obsessed
teenagers assisted local police and firefighters, and even a Fed or two
occasionally. Usually, they are called upon to find hidden evidence, track bad
guys, listen in on their phone or radio conversions, and other missions
requiring high-tech methods. Other times they stumble into involvement. In
The Little "Bug" with Big Ears," a girl has been kidnapped and the perp
threatens to rub her out if ransom is not paid and/or if the flat foots are
called in (a little vintage P.I. lingo thrown in there for effect). The drama
level amps up when the receiver suddenly stops working on the way to the
stakeout scene. Enjoy!
Carl & Jerry: TV Antennas
By John T. Frye
Chief of police Morton sat on the worn leather couch in Carl and Jerry's basement
laboratory, nervously sliding the rim of his hat through his fingers.
"We've had
a kidnapping here," he said. "At first the parents asked us to help, but after they
were contacted by the kidnappers, they clammed up. Now they beg us to stay clear
away from them and to keep the story out of the newspapers. We know they've received
threats that their little girl will be killed if the police are called in. "We've
got no choice but to follow their wishes, at least on the surface; but we're determined
not to let the hoodlums get away with it. Actually, we know from experience the
child is more likely to be harmed with us out of the case; furthermore, if those
kidnappers get away with it this time, they'll do it again. We've got to nab them
now."
"Where do we come in?" Carl asked.
"Well, we know that the father of the
little girl is to contact the kidnappers from a public phone at one o'clock tomorrow
morning. We got this from a maid who happened to overhear the first contact on an
extension phone. We want to hear what is said in that contact tomorrow. Even more
important, we want to know the number called in time to put a tail on the kidnapper
before he can slip away from the public telephone he will undoubtedly use to take
the call."
"Hm-m-m-m, I see the problem," Jerry said slowly. "You want to 'bug'
the telephone the father will use, but you have no way of knowing in advance what
telephone that will be."
"Exactly. I know it sounds impossible, but I was just hoping
you boys-"
"It's not impossible," Jerry interrupted, "but I wish we had more time.
I guess we'll have to use an inductive type bug. This is really just a large
inductance placed somewhere near the telephone induction coil. The field about
that coil induces faint currents in our inductance that can be amplified until
they are audible."
"What do you mean by 'near?' " the chief asked.
"Well, a large coil is supposed to be able to pick up conversations ten feet
from the telephone; but I'll feel safer if we can place our bug five or six feet
away."
"Do you have such an inductance?"
"Nope, but Carl and I can make one in shop class at school this afternoon.
Really it's just a couple of pounds of very fine wire, say #40, wound on an iron
core. This inductance could feed an amplifier-modulator that would modulate a
small transmitter. That would allow the gadget to be placed near the telephone
without any wires going to it. We could listen some distance away. The only
trick is to place the bug close to the telephone the parent uses without
arousing his suspicion or the suspicion of anyone watching him."
"Yeah," the police chief agreed. "We must tail the parent from the time he
leaves home and be ready to plant the bug fast when he stops at a telephone. Who
can be moving around the empty streets at one o'clock in the morning without
arousing suspicion?"
"A milkman!" Carl blurted.
"Say, you've got something! We'll follow him with a milk truck."
"And we'll conceal the induction pickup and the little transmitter in a
couple of empty cardboard milk cartons," Jerry said with mounting enthusiasm.
"Somehow the policeman posing as a milkman will manage to place these cartons
near the telephone being used. We'll be inside the truck with a receiver."
"And I'll have a portable two-way transmitter-receiver to contact
headquarters the instant we decipher the number called from the dial clicks. The
telephone company will be alerted to give us the location of that number at
once. That will allow us to have a squad car there in a minute or so. A
plainclothesman can follow the fellow making the call."
"Well, we better get going," Carl said impatiently. "We already have a
complete miniature-tube transmitter we can use, but we still have to make the
pickup coil and mount the whole business in the empty cardboard milk cartons.
What will we use for a receiver?"
"We've got a sensitive battery portable down at the station that will be
fine for that," Chief Morton said. "I assume you'll have the little transmitter
working at the end of the broadcast band."

...They wound a full three pounds of wire on the coil. This took up one milk
carton by itself...
"Right," Jerry answered. "And be sure the milk truck has the ignition noise
suppressed. The motor will be running while we're listening. Better have the
telephone company show us how to decipher the number called from the clicks. We
can have our equipment ready right after supper." "Fine. The milk truck will
pick you up around eight and take you down to the station."
The day really flew for the boys. Winding the coil was an easy matter with
the aid of a lathe in the high school machine shop. For good measure they wound
a full three pounds of wire on the coil. As Jerry explained, the extra turns not
only increased the pickup efficiency but they also provided a better match to
the high-impedance input of the amplifier. This coil took up one milk carton
all by itself. The very compact amplifier-modulator-transmitter, using miniature hearing aid tubes,
was mounted in another carton together with its batteries.
The milk truck picked
them up right at eight as promised. When they rolled into the police station
garage, they found Chief Morton and a man from the telephone company. The
battery-powered receiver was placed inside the milk truck and connected to an
antenna strung underneath the chassis of the truck. The metal truck body made
the receiver's loop useless, but the set had special provision for an external
antenna.
The milk carton "bug" was placed near the garage telephone, and the
boys and the chief listened while the telephone was dialed. Every click could be
heard plainly. When the desk sergeant answered the call, both sides of the
conversation could be heard clearly though faintly. Tests proved best results
were had when the induction coil was in an upright position not more than eight
feet from the wall telephone.
The telephone man showed them how to figure out
the number called from the clicks heard. The only difficulty was in counting the
rapidly occurring clicks, but a little practice solved that. All this took a
surprising amount of time, and before they knew it the clock indicated
twelve-fifteen.
"We better be starting," Chief Morton said. "We have a stakeout
at the child's home, of course, but I want to be able to follow the father with
the truck."
The chief and the two boys settled down in the back of the truck as
the policeman, disguised as a milkman, rolled it out of the garage. Jerry idly
tuned the receiver as they moved along the cold, deserted streets. Suddenly he
muttered under his breath and bumped the receiver with the heel of his hand.
"We're in trouble!" he announced; "this set has suddenly gone dead."
"Can we get
another receiver?" the Chief asked.
"No time for that. Not one in a hundred
would tune down to the crystal frequency of the transmitter. On top of that it
must have external antenna facilities. Somehow, we've got to fix this one fast."
"Well, fix it!" Chief Morton exclaimed. "You're a radio man."
"It's not that
easy. Without test instruments, I'm helpless. I can't really see, hear taste,
smell, or feel electricity in the ordinary sense. I've got to have my test
equipment to know if electricity is present and how much and what kind. Have the
driver stop at my house."
The truck slid to a halt in the alley, and Jerry
bolted into the basement laboratory. He grabbed up a handful of tubes, his VOM,
resistor and capacitor substitution boxes, tools, and some clip leads. As soon
as he leaped into the truck, it started on its way. While Carl held a
flashlight, Jerry quickly removed the receiver from its case. One by one he
substituted new tubes with no result. "Didn't think it was a tube," he muttered
as he plugged test leads into the volt-ohmmeter. Rapidly he began a methodic
check of the tube socket voltages.
"Oh, ho!" he suddenly exclaimed; "no screen
voltage on this i.f. stage." He moved his red test lead to the other side of the
screen dropping resistor, and the meter pointer swung over. A snip of his
diagonal cutters freed one end of the shorted screen bypass capacitor. Instantly
the receiver broke into a loud howl. Frantically Jerry plugged leads into the
capacitor substitution box and connected the clip ends of the leads to where the
bypass capacitor had been connected. As he turned the knob on the box, the
receiver gave forth with broadcast music in normal fashion.

...The boys could see the dark figure of the man walking briskly along the
sidewalk...
"Whew!" he
exclaimed. "We'll just use it this way."
"And not a second too soon," the driver
exclaimed. "There's our man just coming out of the house."
"Must not be going
far," Chief Morton exclaimed. "It's only fifteen minutes until he is supposed to
call. Stay well back. It looks as though he's going to walk."
Peeking over the
shoulder of the driver, the boys could see the dark figure of the man walking
briskly along the sidewalk. The truck driver stopped at the curb every now and
then to deposit a bottle of milk on a door stoop.
"He's going to call from the
booth on the next corner," Chief Morton said. "It's got to he the one; he only
has a minute to go."
According to plan, the driver speeded up and passed the
rapidly walking man and pulled to the curb just short of the phone booth on the
corner. He stepped out of the truck with a wire carrier of milk cartons in each
hand. He set one carrier carelessly down on the walk beside the booth as he
started up a nearby flight of stairs with the other. The approaching man paid no
attention to him but stepped into the booth and closed the door.
Inside the
truck three people held their breath as they listened to the clicks coming from
the receiver. "Fleetwood 4-0351," Jerry whispered. The other two nodded
confirmation, and the chief spoke rapidly but quietly into the mike of his
portable transmitter. Then they listened to the conversation in which the parent
was given instructions as to how to deliver the ransom. The conversation closed
with a horrible threat as to what would be done to the little girl if the police
were called in.
As soon as the man left the phone booth, the driver returned and
picked up the milk cartons beside the booth and made a pretense of delivering
them up another stairway. Then he returned to the truck and drove rapidly back
to the police station.
They were greeted by a grinning desk sergeant : "Great
work, Chief! Benny got there before the kidnapper quit talking. He tailed him to
an apartment five minutes away. We closed in according to your plan and took
them without a shot. The little girl is perfectly all right-not even scared. A
squad car is taking her home right now."
"Well, boys," Chief Morton declared,
"you've done it again. What can I say?"
"Skip it!" Carl said gruffly. "It was
fun. But I'm starving. Could I have a bottle of that chocolate milk in the
truck?"
"You sure can," Chief Morton said; "you sure can!"
Carl & Jerry, by John T. Frye

Carl and Jerry Frye were fictional characters in a series of short stories that
were published in Popular Electronics magazine from the late 1950s to the
early 1970s. The stories were written by John T. Frye, who used the pseudonym "John
T. Carroll," and they followed the adventures of two teenage boys, Carl Anderson
and Jerry Bishop, who were interested in electronics and amateur radio.
In each story, Carl and Jerry would encounter a problem or challenge related
to electronics, and they would use their knowledge and ingenuity to solve it. The
stories were notable for their accurate descriptions of electronic circuits and
devices, and they were popular with both amateur radio enthusiasts and young people
interested in science and technology.
The Carl and Jerry stories were also notable for their emphasis on safety and
responsible behavior when working with electronics. Each story included a cautionary
note reminding readers to follow proper procedures and safety guidelines when handling
electronic equipment.
Although the Carl and Jerry stories were fictional, they were based on the experiences
of the author and his own sons, who were also interested in electronics and amateur
radio. The stories continue to be popular among amateur radio enthusiasts and electronics
hobbyists, and they are considered an important part of the history of electronics
and technology education.
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-
Little "Bug" with Big Ears - January 1959
-
Lie Detector Tells All - November 1955
-
The Educated Nursing - April 1964
- Going Up - March 1955
-
Electrical Shock - September 1955
- A Low Blow - March 1961
- The Black Beast - May 1960
- Vox Electronik, September 1958
- Pi in the Sky and Big Twist, February 1964
-
The Bell Bull Session, December 1961
- Cow-Cow Boogie, August 1958
- TV Picture, June 1955
- Electronic Eraser, August 1962
- Electronic Trap, March 1956
- Geniuses at Work, June 1956
- Eeeeelectricity!, November 1956
- Anchors Aweigh, July 1956
- Bosco Has His Day, August 1956
- The Hand of Selene, November 1960
- Feedback, May 1956
- Abetting or Not?, October 1956
-
Electronic Beach Buggy, September 1956
-
Extra Sensory Perception, December 1956
- Trapped in a Chimney, January 1956
- Command Performance, November 1958
- Treachery of Judas, July 1961
- The
Sucker, May 1963
-
Stereotaped New Year, January 1963
- The Snow Machine, December 1960
-
Extracurricular Education, July 1963
-
Slow Motion for Quick Action, April 1963
- Sonar Sleuthing, August 1963
- TV Antennas, August 1955
- Succoring a Soroban, March 1963
- "All's Fair --", September 1963
-
Operation Worm Warming, May 1961
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- Improvising - February 1960
-
The Electronic Bloodhound - November 1964
-
Great Bank Robbery or "Heroes All" - October 1955
-
Operation Startled Starling - January 1955
- A Light Subject - November 1954
- Dog Teaches Boy - February 1959
- Too Lucky - August 1961
- Joking and Jeopardy - December 1963
-
Santa's Little Helpers - December 1955
- Two Tough Customers - June 1960
-
Transistor Pocket Radio, TV Receivers
and Yagi Antennas, May 1955
- Tunnel Stomping, March 1962
- The Blubber Banisher, July 1959
- The Sparkling Light, May 1962
-
Pure Research Rewarded, June 1962
- A Hot Idea,
March 1960
- The Hot Dog Case, December 1954
- A New Company is Launched, October 1956
- Under the Mistletoe, December 1958
- Electronic Eraser, August 1962
- "BBI",
May 1959
-
Ultrasonic Sound Waves, July 1955
- The River Sniffer, July 1962
- Ham Radio, April 1955
- El Torero Electronico, April 1960
- Wired Wireless, January 1962
- Electronic Shadow, September 1957
- Elementary Induction, June 1963
- He Went That-a-Way, March1959
- Electronic Detective, February 1958
- Aiding an Instinct, December 1962
- Two Detectors, February 1955
-
Tussle with a Tachometer, July 1960
- Therry and the Pirates, April 1961
- The Crazy Clock Caper, October 1960
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Carl & Jerry: Their Complete Adventures
is now available. "From 1954 through 1964, Popular Electronics published 119 adventures
of Carl Anderson and Jerry Bishop, two teen boys with a passion for electronics
and a knack for getting into and out of trouble with haywire lash-ups built in Jerry's
basement. Better still, the boys explained how it all worked, and in doing so, launched
countless young people into careers in science and technology. Now, for the first
time ever, the full run of Carl and Jerry yarns by John T. Frye are available again,
in five authorized anthologies that include the full text and all illustrations." |
Posted December 6, 2019 (updated from original
post on 3/6/2014)
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