February 1958 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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There was a time when
"Pong" was a must-play breakthrough bit of futuristic technology with people waiting
in line to give it a try, but now nobody would invest a quarter to play it in an
arcade. Similarly, believe it or not, people were mesmerized when listening to the
series of "beeps" coming from Sputnik I satellite during its short life circling
the Earth. This item from a 1958 edition of Popular Electronics magazine
shows high school students listening intently to a tape of Sputnik's broadcast.
The same "Electronic News" page reported on the availability of a special record
with calibrated sounds for helping to calibrate and troubleshoot hi-fi systems,
and also a new low-wattage public address speaker system installed at Yankee Stadium
that needed only 6½ watts per speaker.
Electronics News
Sputnik's a Recording Star in Midwest
 Another recording star has zoomed into
the world's firmament. While it's not expected to out-gross Elvis, Sputnik's signals
have proved to be quite an attraction to a Mason City. Iowa, high school, as seen
in the photo above.
Two local high school teachers, in cooperation with a Bell & Howell tape
recorder dealer, recorded the "beeps" of Sputnik I.
Then, using a radio announcer as commentator, they incorporated all pertinent
scientific data to produce an educational tape on one of the milestones of scientific
achievement - including the "interview" with Sputnik itself.
The tape has been made available to schools and colleges and other interested
groups, and has been playing to capacity audiences at all sessions.
Hi-Fi "Do-It-Yourself" Recordings
A series of test records to help the audiophile determine what's wrong - if anything
- with his hi-fi system has been issued by Components Corp., Denville, N. J. Priced
at 89 cents each, the records consist of tests and instructions in layman's language
on the following problems: wow and flutter; stylus wear; rumble; pickup resonance;
vertical/lateral response; and location and cure of hum.
Ballpark Service Uses Sound Efficiently
 An unusual high-quality public address system
brought cathedral-like sound to 50,000 people attending a religious service at Yankee
Stadium recently. Backbone of the system was an installation of 12 University WLC
speakers in a square atop a special canopy 48 feet above the altar on the field
at second base. Although capable of handling 30 watts each, the 12 speakers required
a total of only 6 1/2 watts to achieve complete sound coverage. Such a low-level
sound installation is just the reverse of earlier systems at the Stadium, which
used large amounts of power fed into a relatively small number of speakers. This
had a tendency to cause echo effects, blasting and reverberations not present with
the University system.
Posted July 26, 2022
(updated from original post on 2/19/2013)
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