News Briefs
August 1961 Radio-Electronics

August 1961 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.

The old adage about history repeating itself is borne out once again in this "News Briefs" feature in a 1961 issue of Radio-Electronics magazine. When cellphones, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth enabled portable computers came about, commercial airlines prohibited turning them on while in flight due to concerns that unintentional radiation emanating from the devices might interfere with navigation and communications systems, thereby posing a safety threat. In 1961, the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) imposed a ban on in-flight FM radio usage. In other news, CBS announced it was phasing out production of vacuum tubes, as transistors were dominating the industry. At the same time, Amperex boasted of a new type cathode which could heat to operating temperature in a tenth of a second (old guys like me remember waiting for the radio and TV to heat up before becoming functional). Anyone else remember having to rush to turn the volume down after having turned it up before the set fully warmed up?

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News Briefs

GE, Zenith Start Stereo FM

Starting at the earliest moment permitted by law, 0001 Daylight Saving Time, June 1, stations WGFM, Schenectady, N.Y., and WEFM, Chicago, Ill., inaugurated FM stereo broadcasting under the FCC's new rule permitting multiplex stereo service. General Electric, owners of WGFM, claim the "first," since June 1 began an hour earlier in Schenectady, in the Eastern time zone. Thus Zenith's WEFM, starting at the same clock time, was actually an hour later, WGFM initiated a regular schedule of stereo broadcasting with 20 hours a week programmed for the first few weeks at least. WEFM did not immediately announce a stereo schedule, but is expected to devote a considerable portion of its time to that type of broadcasting.

New Cathode Heats in 1/10 Second

Adopting a filamentary cathode for fast warmup, Amperex Corp. claims the fastest-heating cathode ever produced. It delivers full output power in 100 milliseconds. The new cathode consists of a rectangular frame across whose length a number of very fine wires are strung parallel to each other like the strings on a harp, for which reason it is called the harp cathode. The large number of fine wires gives the emitting element a high surface-to-volume ratio, resulting in fast warmup and thermal equilibrium. The large number of parallel paths makes low voltages feasible; the 1.6 volts used on this tube is the closest approximation to a unipotential cathode yet achieved in a filament. Current in the present type is 3.2 amps. The multiple-wire cathode also reduces inductance and cuts hum.

No Air-Borne FM Receivers

The Federal Aviation Agency has forbidden the use of portable FM receivers in aircraft. Tests indicate that the local oscillator of some FM receivers generated signals that were picked up in the aircraft navigation band. This, according to the FAA, tripped the "red flag" alarm that indicates that the fixed-tune navigation receiver is not working properly. To avoid confusion or the possibility that interference not heavy enough to trip the alarm might result in falsifying the information supplied by the receiver, the ban was established.

The FAA tested a number of electronic devices often operated in aircraft, including portable AM radios, dictating machines and recorders, and found that only the FM receiver was a probable producer of interference.

Transistors Will Replace ... ?

Two well known companies, Philco's Lansdale Div. and CBS Electronics, announce that they are getting out of the entertainment tube business. The use of receiving tubes by original equipment manufacturers has declined 31% since 1955, reported Wm, J. Peltz of the Lansdale Div., and the plant has been producing 80% transistors, 10% cathode-ray tubes and only 10% receiving tubes.

CBS Electronics reported that it was closing its factories at Danvers and Newburyport, Mass. Raytheon is taking over the inventory of CBS tubes and continuing to service CBS distributors and their customers. The closing of the CBS tube plants marks the end of the oldest tube operations in the field, that of Hytron, who started making tubes in 1921 and merged with CBS 10 years ago.

Education Out of the Air

Stratovision - first advocated and described by Westinghouse in 1945 - has been put into successful operation over parts of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Wisconsin. Educational programs on channels 72 and 76 are broadcast

from planes in flight. The planes fly 23,000 feet high over Montpelier, Ind., and their service area is within a radius of 200 miles from that city. Actually, good pictures have been received over greater distances.

According to Blonder - Tongue Labs, which installed some of the school master antennas used in the system, outstanding educators are being recruited in a "talent search" to obtain instructors when the broadcasts go on a regularly scheduled basis at the beginning of the school year in September. As budgets are laid down at present, teachers will be allowed an expenditure of up to $50 per lesson, 12 to 20 hours in preparation time, and the services of artists and designers.

Posted September 17, 2024