Jerome seeks information about a vintage Howard Radio Co. receiver

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Jerome van der Linden, who writes seeking a bit of help:

Hello Thomas,

From time to time I see you’ve tried to ID receivers used in movies etc. I have a slightly different request that I hope you may pass on…

I’m trying to restore an old AM/SW radio for a friend and only know that its brand is a Howard radio who built sets in the US and in Melbourne, Australia. But I don’t know its model number and the tubes (valves here) are not all identifiable.

The chassis has numbers printed on it adjacent to the tubes AZ3 (with a Y2GT tube in its socket); AL3; ABC1 plus a couple of others. The four front control knobs appear to be volume, AM/SW band selector, tuning job (which drives a set of gears connected to the dual gang variable capacitor tuner), and what I assume is the tone control. There does not appear to be a power switch. Apart from tubes, I’m keen to confirm what my physical inspection of the 16 or so capacitors, in fact, are supposed to be so that I can source replacements.

The radio also has a toggle switch on the back, which I think switches the input between radio and an external gramophone. The loud speaker appears to be of the type with 4 conductors, where two are probably powering an electro magnet for the speaker. (I have also emailed the Steven Johnson web site for information, as he seems to store a lot of schematics for download.)

Thanks in advance.

Jerome van der Linden

Readers: If you can help Jerome, please comment!

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X2.8-Class Solar Flare: Strongest of this solar cycle

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Many thanks to SWLing Post Contributor, Troy Riedel, who shares the following news via Spaceweather.com:

(UPDATED) STRONGEST FLARE OF THE CURRENT SOLAR CYCLE:

Sunspot 3514 erupted on Dec. 14th (1702 UT), producing a strong X2.8-class solar flare. This is the strongest flare of Solar Cycle 25 (so far) and the most powerful eruption the sun has produced since the great storms of Sept. 2017. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the extreme ultraviolet flash:

Radiation from the flare has caused a deep shortwave radio blackout over the Americas: blackout map. Ham radio operators may have noticed loss of signal at all frequencies below 30 MHz for more than 30 minutes after the flare.

This explosion probably launched a fast-moving coronal mass ejection (CME) Soon after the blast, the US Air Force is reported a Type II solar radio burst, which typically comes from the leading edge of a CME. Based on the drift rate of the radio burst, the CME’s velocity could exceed 2100 km/s (4.7 million mph).

Confirmation: Newly-arriving images from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) show a lopsided halo CME:

Although this CME is not squarely aimed at Earth, it does appear to have an Earth-directed component. A glancing blow is likely on Dec. 17th. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text

Click here to stay up to date with all space weather events at Spaceweather.com.

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More radio of the worldwide kind

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Hi all SWLing Post Community, FastRadioBurst 23 here. This week, the Imaginary Stations crew bring you another Skybird Radio International episode featuring a celebration of International music. This show will be beamed to Europe by Shortwave Gold on Sunday 17th December 2023 at 1000/1400 hrs UTC on 6160 kHz and then on 3975 kHz at 2100 UTC.

Then on early Monday 18th December we have a WRMI edition of the show at 0300 UTC on 9395 kHz. Prepare to be transported to the far flung corners of the world on both shows.

For more information on the shows please email [email protected] and check out our old shows here.

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SolderSmoke: Super Solar Storms May Not Be So Rare

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Bill Meara who shares the following article from the SolderSmoke Podcast:

Super Solar Storms May Not Be So Rare

Yesterday’s Washington Post had a good story about large solar storms. We are all aware of the Carrington Event (September 1859) but there were others. The Japanese painting above depicts an event of February 4, 1872.

From the Washington Post article:

Around 11:30 p.m. on Feb. 4, 1872, the sky above Jacobabad suddenly brightened, as if a portal to heaven had opened. A passerby watched in amazement and terror, while a pet dog became motionless, then trembled. The godly glow morphed, from red to bright blue to deep violet, until morning.

Electric communication cables mysteriously glitched in the Mediterranean, around Lisbon and Gibraltar, London and India. Confused telegraph operators in Cairo reported issues in sending messages to Khartoum. One incoming message asked what was the big red glow on the horizon — a fire or a faraway explosion?

This of course reminded me of the event that I witnessed as a teenager in New York in 1972:

https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2009/09/carrington-flares-aurora-where-were-you.html

That post has resulted in a steady stream of comments, mostly from non-hams. Apparently people remember seeing the event, then search the web for clues as to what it was. Google brings them to that post on the SolderSmoke Daily News. The comments are usually along the lines of, “Wow! I saw it too!” Very cool.

Check out this article, the full SolderSmoke podcast, and much more on the SolderSmoke website!

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Alan Roe’s “Holiday Broadcasts on Shortwave” (Version 1)

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Alan Roe, who once again has published his excellent Holiday Broadcasts on Shortwave schedule.

Alan notes:

I have again been collating a list of programming on shortwave over the forthcoming holiday period, covering Saturday 16 December 2023 to Monday 1 January 2024.

The list includes seasonal and non-seasonal programming. Regular weekly music programming, where no special advance programme information has been provided, are not generally included in this list, but please refer to my Music on Shortwave list.

Many thanks and 73

Alan Roe

Click here to download Holiday Broadcasts on Shortwave Version 1 (PDF).

Thank you so much for sharing your guide, Alan. I look forward to it each season!

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Alan Roe’s B23 season guide to music on shortwave (version 3.0)

Back When You Had to Pay: Radio Receiving Licences in Canada

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Many thanks to SWLing Post and SRAA contributor, Dan Greenall, who shares the following guest post:

THE DAY YOU HAD TO PAY: Radio Receiving Licences in Canada

by Dan Greenall

MANY of us who are licensed [Canadian] amateurs can appreciate the fact that we are no longer subject to an annual licence renewal fee. As of April 1, 2000, that practice was discontinued by Industry Canada as a new streamlined authorization procedure was put in place for the amateur radio service. This came as a pleasant surprise to many who were paying $24 per annum per licence up until that point.

What many of us may not realize is that, prior to 1953, Canada had a licensing system in place for your radio receiver. Under the Radiotelegraph Act of 1913, a government minister (for most of this period, the Minister of Marine and Fisheries) had the power to license radio broadcasting stations and to charge a $1 licence fee on each receiving set. By 1929 three hundred thousand licenses were bought at $1.00 each.

An article appearing on the Friends of Canadian Broad- casting website a few years ago stated that the annual licence fee for receiving sets doubled to $2.00 in 1930. It was also noted that this was a lot of money during the Depression days that followed and two bucks could buy more than 40 loaves of bread. As a result, so the story goes, “harassed citizens” would try to outwit approaching government collectors by passing word along in time for their neighbours to shut off their radios and lock their doors.

During much of this period, radios that were made in Canada bore a “Warning” sticker such as the one in the accompanying photo. It stated that anyone convicted of operating the receiving set without first having obtained the proper licence could be liable to be fined for up to $25 and have their equipment confiscated. As noted in the book Radios of Canada by Lloyd Swackhammer, the penalty in 1924 was $50.

As you can see from the attached copies, such licences were being issued by the Department of Marine Radio Branch in 1936. In 1937, it was the responsibility of the Department of Transport – Radio Division.

Then in 1938, the DOT upped the fee to $2.50. It was another 15 years until this practice was finally abandoned.

So the next time you sit back and flip on the switch of your receiver, you might now have a greater appreciation of a privilege that most of us now take for granted.

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