|
August 1962 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 August 1962 "News Briefs" column in
Radio-Electronics magazine contained a few notable events. Siegmund
Loewe, who was one of the first people to create integrated circuits within a
single vacuum tube (Loewe 3NF),
passed away. The 3NF contained three triode assemblies, two capacitors and four
resistors, configured to enable a complete radio receiver in a single tube. It
must have been expensive because his company offered to repair failed internal
components (for a fee, I suppose). Ford Motors announced an experimental
collision avoidance radar with a 500-foot range for cars. The
U.S. Congress, in its ever-expanding regulation manner, decreed that all future
TVs must be manufactured with a full 82-channel (VHF and UHF) capability.
Japanese electronics production increased roughly 20% in value in 1961, as over
1960. There's more.
New Briefs:
11/57 |
8/58 |
11/59 |
2/60 |
4/60 |
8/60 |
9/60 |
10/60 |
12/60 |
1/61 |
3/61 |
5/61 |
6/61 |
7/61 |
8/61 |
9/61 |
10/61 |
11/61 |
12/61 |
1/62 |
2/62 |
3/62 |
4/62 |
5/62 |
7/62 |
8/62 |
9/62 |
3/63 |
4/63 |
8/63 |
9/63 |
3/64 |
8/64 |
12/64 |
1/67 |
3/67 |
4/67 |
5/67 |
6/67 |
9/67 |
4/68 |
9/68
News Briefs
 Coherent Light Receiver Announced by Philco Lansdale
Engineers at Philco's Lansdale Div. have introduced a solid-state photo mixer
diode that can demodulate laser outputs. The new device, L-4500, is a silicon planar
epitaxial diode that detects the difference frequency between two closely spaced
optical laser frequencies. The mixing principle is the same as that of the radio
superheterodyne, where the difference between two radio frequency signals is detected.
Unlike the conventional crystal, the photomixer need not respond electrically to
either a signal or a local oscillator frequency. It merely detects the difference
frequency. The L-4500 provides high quantum efficiency, and operates for information
bandwidths up to 5 kmc. At 7,000 angstroms, its quantum efficiency is estimated
at a minimum of 65 %, typical performance 85 %. The output is to a 50-ohm coaxial
line.
New Radar Has 500-Foot Range
Designed for automobile obstacle detection at ranges up to 500 feet, a new and
simple radar method is capable of working at ranges down to a few inches, according
to Wesley D. Boyer of the Ford Scientific Laboratory. The equipment, described by
Mr. Boyer in a paper read at the latest IRE convention, is a single microwave transmitter,
using one tube. It is switched (diplexed) alternately between two frequencies. The
receiver compares the phases of the two alternately produced Doppler frequency waves
to obtain the range of the obstacle reflecting the wave. The device might also be
useful, said Mr. Boyer, as an aircraft altimeter.
82 Channels on All TV's
Similar bills, passed by both houses of Congress, require that all future television
sets shipped in interstate commerce be constructed to receive all vhf and uhf TV
channels. Receivers imported from foreign countries are also included. The bill
leaves it to the FCC to set up regulations to bring about the shift to all-channel
operation, and to establish a time schedule. The present estimate is that it will
take about two years before the majority of manufacturers can produce all-channel
sets.
Japanese Production Up
Japanese electronics production increased roughly 20% in value in 1961, as over
1960. The figures, based on the first 9 months of each year, were released by the
Dept. of Commerce, Television and radio receivers accounted for 48% of the 1961
production. TV receivers alone, for the 9-month 1961 period, amounted to 3,195,000
units, compared to 2,583,000 in the 1960 9-month period. Transistor receivers were
up from 8,101,000 to 8,899,000. All semiconductors showed a significant increase,
with transistors going from 104,377,000 to 129,947,000. Significantly, the value
in thousands of dollars decreased during the same period, from $53,847,000 to $39,929,000,
reflecting a sharp drop in transistor prices.
WWVH Makes Minor Changes
The National Bureau of Standards proposes minor changes in the schedule of radio
WWVH at Maui, Hawaii, becoming effective July 1. Four 3-minute silent periods each
hour will no longer be observed, and are being replaced by one hourly silent period,
from 15 minutes to 19 minutes past each hour. The 34-min¬ute silent period at 1900
hours GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) will be retained as at present. One of the objects
for the change was to make it possible to receive the time signals of either WWV
or WWVH, without interference from the other. In the past, WWVH was silent at all
times when WWV was. Now, WWVH will transmit during WWV's silent period, from 45
to 49 minutes past each hour.
 Sigmund Loewe Passes
Dr. Sigmund Loewe, radio and television engineer and inventor, died May 2 in
Sarasota, Fla. Dr. Loewe was one of the earliest experimenters with television,
and in connection with these early experiments. Dr. Loewe invented (in the late
'20's) the first multiple tube, combining three tubes as well as coupling resistors
and capacitors in a single envelope. This was done in connection with the search
for a low-noise, wide-band amplifier for video signals.
At the time of his death, Dr. Loewe was president of the Loewe Radio Co. of New
York, the Andromeda Co. of Switzerland and Loewe Radio Ltd. of London. His age was
76.
|
