My buddy, Eric (WD8RIF) noticed a rather unique find on eBay this morning: a “new in box” Signal Corps Western Electric BC-454-B receiver. While BC-454-Bs are far from rare, it is certainly a treat to find one with its original box and in mint condition.
I have no plans to bid on this unit–I’m sure the ending bid will be a little too rich for me–but it will be fun to see how high the price climbs. Some day, I hope to acquire a functioning BC-454 of my own. (Santa…are you listening?)
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Cap Tux, for creating this excellent–printable–reference sheet for the Tecsun PL-880. Click here to download this sheet as a PDF.
Note that I have also added this download to our complete list of Tecsun PL-880 hidden features.
SWLing Post reader, Eleanor White, writes:
[I] have a short article I put together for those interested in disaster preparedness, to give non-techies the basics of tuning an SSB signal.s
Here’s the link:
Many thanks for sharing your article, Eleanor!
Below you’ll find a short video of my 1945 Scott Marine Radio Model SLR-M playing Tommy Dorsey and his Orchestra’s jazz-infused version of “March of the Toys” from Victor Herbert’s holiday classic “Babes in Toyland.”
It’s a little holiday time-travel I cooked up for you on this great vintage rig. I’m actually playing the song via an SStran Model AMT3000 AM transmitter I built from a kit (more on that in a future post). The transmitter has been set to 1410 kHz, to which the SLR-M is tuned.
Though the microphone on my Flip Video camera makes the sound in this little recording tinny (you’ll have to trust me that, live, it’s remarkably warm and rich), it does feel a bit like radio time-travel to hear a 1940s-era song played on a 1940s era-radio. This is just how WWII servicemen might have heard this music.
For your holiday enjoyment: “March of the Toys” by Tommy Dorsey and his Orchestra:
Gerry Wells (1929-2014) Source: BBC World Service
Very sad to learn that Gerry Wells, Curator of the British Vintage Wireless & Television Museum passed away on December 22, 2014.
We featured Gerry Wells in this post from 2011; the included radio documentary is a must-listen.
Many thanks to the Southgate ARC for sharing the information below:
(Source: Southgate ARC)
The Curator of the British Vintage Wireless & Television Museum, Gerald Wells, passed away on December 22
At the end of the 1960’s Gerry gave up his job as an electrical contractor. He could see wireless sets being discarded and felt there was a need for a “Vintage Wireless Museum”.
The Museum for Vintage Wireless came into existence in 1974 and was later expanded to include Television.
1994 Channel 4 TV documentary about Gerry Wells
http://www.southgatearc.org/news/january2011/gerry_wells_video.htmBritish Vintage Wireless and Television Museum, West Dulwich, London
http://www.bvwtm.org.uk/
Many thanks to my dear friend, BJ Leiderman, for sharing this brilliant piece by Dana Jennings in the NY Times.
I’m only including a few quotes from this piece (below), so please visit this link to read the full article about the adventures, charm and nostalgia of analog TV and radio:
by Dana Jennings
I miss the television snows of yesteryear. And I don’t mean easy nostalgia for the inevitable reruns of “It’s a Wonderful Life” or “A Charlie Brown Christmas.”
I’m talking real television snow, a longing for static, ghost images and the picture endlessly rolling and flip-flopping. While we’re at it, I ache for well-used vinyl crackling like bacon sizzling in a skillet … and the eerie whistles and wheezes from terrestrial radio.
This eccentric pining for the primitive electric hiss and sputter of my 1960s childhood is an honest reaction to our modern culture’s unhealthy addiction to (apparent) perfection. We want it all, we want it now, and we want it sublime.
We not only demand our television, radio and music in unblemished HD on whatever device we choose, but also our weddings, children, houses and bodies. And in our heedless embrace of digital cosmetic surgery, we’ve forgotten that it’s the flaw that makes a thing all the sweeter — like the bruise on a peach.[…]
[Like TV, my] radio needed the human touch, too. As I listened to Boston Red Sox night games, I’d grip the radio like a vise, its hot, orange guts stinging my hand; my skin would lobster up, but I didn’t care, because I could hear the game better. (That radio, a yellowing white Sylvania, also hummed constantly, kind of like the ringing in your ears hours after a Metallica concert.)
Then there was the utter delight of reeling in a far-away station late at night: from Montreal, from Wheeling, from Nashville. Even more bewitching were the otherworldly soundscapes to be found between station stops: eeps and boops, trills and squeals, shrill dronings from the ether that maybe signaled an alien invasion, or first contact with another galaxy.[…]
Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Mike, who notes that Amazon.com is now shipping the Eton Satellit with a potential arrival date of before Christmas (at least, as of today). Current price is $179.72.