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Showing posts with label Jean Shepherd. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jean Shepherd. Show all posts

Monday, March 18, 2024

Listen to me talking to Jean Shepherd in 1976. I was 18 years-old.


Wow, here is a blast from the past.  I recently read a good article about Shepherd by A. David Wunsch in the Spring 2022 issue of the AWA Journal. David correctly focused on Shep's obsession with the Heising modulator, and the very negative impact ("Your mother should take you to a doctor!") that this had on his dating life. 

I was telling my wife about this article, and I commented that I had once spoken to Shep during an early morning call-in show on WMCA New York.  I told her that someone had sent me a recording of this brief conversation. 

The call took place in 1976.  Shep was appaearing as a guest on the late-night radio show of Long John Nebel and Candy Jones.   I was 18 years old. My callsign was WB2QHL.  The recording was sent to me by Matt KC8COM in 2006. Thanks Matt!  In 2008 I played the recording during SolderSmoke Podcast #90.  But I think this call merits a post on the SoldedSmoke blog, so here it is.  You can jump forward to about 3 minutes, 49 seconds.   

http://soldersmoke.com/JeanShepherd1976WMCA.mp3

One side note.  I told my wife that some time after the broadcast, I was once again up early in the morning, kind of absent-mindedly getting ready for work when I heard Shepherd talking on WMCA to some guy about ham radio.  It took me a moment to realize that this was a re-run, and that that guy was me!  

When I first listened to this I didn't realize that later in the recording (around 9:30) another fellow calls in an asks Shep about why he uses CW.  Shep is kind of short with him and ends up advising him to "go back to CB." I should note that in my conversation with Shep earlier in the program,  I told him that I was usually on "40 sideband."  He was nice to me, but said that he was mostly on 20 CW. 



Here is a good Wikipedia article on Long John Nebel: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_John_Nebel

And here's one on his wife and WMCA co-host Candy Jones: 

Monday, February 19, 2024

Jean Shepherd has Trouble with his Heising Modulator (and his date)


This is probably Jean Shepherd's best program about homebrew ham radio.  It is about how we can become obsessed with the problems that arise with equipment that we have built ourselves, and how normal people cannot understand our obsessions.   

I posted about this back in 2008, but I was listening to it again today, and quickly realized that it is worth re-posting.   Realize that Shepherd's Heising modulation problems happened almost 90 years ago.  But the same kind of obsession affect the homebrewers of today.  

Note too how Shepherd talks about "Heising" in Heising modulation.  Heising has an entire circuit named for him, just like Hartley, Colpitts, and Pierce of oscillator fame.  Sometimes, when I tell another ham that my rig is homebrew, I get a kind of snide, snarky, loaded question:  "Well, did you DESIGN it yourself?"  This seems to be a way for appliance operators to deal with the fact that while they never build anything, someone else out there does melt solder.  They seem to think that the fact that you did not design the rig yourself makes your accomplishment less impressive, less threatening.  This week I responded to this question with Shepherd's observation -- I told the enquiring ham that my rig is in fact homebrewed, but that I had not invented the Colpitts oscillator, nor the common emitter amplifier, not the diode ring mixer, nor the low-pass filter.  But yes, the rig is homebrew, as was Shepherd's Heising modulator.    

Guys, stop what you are doing. Put down that soldering iron, or that cold Miller High Life ("the champagne of bottled beer") and click on the link below. You will be transported back to 1965 (and 1934!), and will hear master story-teller Jean Shepherd (K2ORS) describing his teenage case of The Knack. He discusses his efforts to build a Heising modulated transmitter for 160 meters. He had trouble getting it working, and became obsessed with the problem, obsessed to the point that a girl he was dating concluded that there was "something wrong with him" and that his mother "should take him to a doctor."

This one is REALLY good. It takes him a few minutes to get to the radio stuff, but it is worth the wait. More to follow. EXCELSIOR! FLICK LIVES!

Sunday, April 30, 2023

Radio's Noble Savage: Jean Shepherd and The Secret People (that's us) -- Shep and Kludge?

I was looking at the pictures from the Nearfest hamfest when I spotted this quite from Shepherd at the bottom of a post in the AM Window by Carl WA1KPD: 

"Okay, gang are you ready to play radio? Are you ready to shuffle off the mortal coil of mediocrity? I am if you are." Shepherd

I Googled the quote and that took me to this 1966 article from Harper's: 

 http://www.keyflux.com/shep/shepharp.htm

The article is a (mostly) accurate view of Shepherd.  Much of it would not be socially acceptable today (and rightly so).  The article correctly describes Shep's stories as being truth-based but also filled with hyperbole.  

This got me wondering:  How did Shep pronounce kludge?  I mean, it could have been him who put me on the pronunciation track of kludge like fudge.  He wasn't being listened to outside of NYC, and maybe Boston and San Francisco.  So that may explain why the rest of the country is getting the pronunciation so completely wrong.  We may be on the verge of a breakthrough here.  Steve Silverman:  ALERT!  

Can anyone find a recording of Shepherd using the word Kludge? A Bronze Figlagee with Oak Leaf Palms will be awarded. 

Check out the Harper's article and the video (above) of Shep talking about THE SECRET PEOPLE.  

EXCELSIOR! 

Tuesday, January 17, 2023

A True Measure of a Jean Shepherd Fan: Did You Fly One of His Ornithopters?

 


I did.  Shep had as a sponsor the maker of a flying bird.  It was a wind-up ornithopter powered by a rubber band.  It was kind of like the one in the picture, but I remember mine as being yellow.  My dad got it for me after hearing Shep talk about it on his program.  Wow, what a sponsor!  Shep must have made DOZENS of dollars from that deal! 

It looks like Shep was pitching this thing in 1972, which was my first year in high school.   

It took some coaxing and adjustment, but it did fly. 

My thinking about this was prompted by an article on Hack-A-Day:  

(I want to hear that program about the wedding on 75!)

EXCELSIOR!

Tuesday, January 10, 2023

SolderSmoke Re-Play: Shep tries to build a Heising Modulator -- Shep on Parasitics and Troubleshooting: "That way madness lies"


You guys really have to listen to this.  This is culturally important.   

In this 1965 radio broadcast, Jean Shepherd describes his teenage struggles with parasitics and other technical problems in his homebrew 160 meter transmitter.

He describes the sound of parasitics on a signal, saying that they sound as if the signal is being attacked by "debauched erotic locusts."

He really nails it in describing the scornful, dismissive tone that many hams use in telling their fellow radio amateur that there are problems with his signal. ( I have recently been on the receiving end of this kind of treatment.)

He observes that no one is more worried, "than a man who has built something and can't get it to work." Indeed.

During a date with a girl from his high school, he is so obviously preoccupied with his transmitter trouble that she tells him that something is wrong with him and that his mother "should take him to a doctor."

And he describes the joy that comes when you figure out the problem and get the thing to work.

The REALLY good stuff begins at about the 25 minute point.

http://ia310115.us.archive.org/2/items/JeanShepherd1965Pt1/1965_01_29_Ham_Radio.mp3

Shep was quoting from King Lear: "O, that way madness lies; let me shun that; No more of that."  In other words: "BASTA!"  

EXCELSIOR!

Wednesday, December 28, 2022

Who was Jean Shepherd?

Find out in this 16 minute preview video: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83rIeZVqdcs 

EXCELSIOR!

Tuesday, October 11, 2022

SolderSmoke FOREVER! Archived in the WayBack Machine

 
There were recently some stories about an effort to put on the Internet Archive recordings and other material from the history of ham radio.  I am pleased to report that the SolderSmoke podcasts have been included in the new collection: 


They also archived the recordings of my contacts with the MIR space station (and other spacecraft) from the Dominican Republic in the mid 1990s: 


I have also suggested that they find a way to archive all of Jean Shepherd's recordings about ham radio. 

Thanks to Kay K6KJN for putting our material into the archive. 

Thursday, July 28, 2022

Software, Hardware, and Rockets -- T-Zero Systems (videos)


There is a lot of really cool stuff in these videos.  I am a hardware guy, devoted to HARDWARE Defined Radios.  But these videos are a reminder of the importance of software, of the things we could never do with our older, analog technology.  

Watching him build his rockets, I even get ideas for my comparatively low-tech workshop: that small jig-saw that he used to cut the rocket fins looks like something I really need. 

This fellow is a professional rocket scientist who likes the work enough to take it home as a hobby.  It looks like he is working in Florida.  

Watching the videos and hearing him discuss the joys and frustrations of his endeavors reminds me a lot of what goes on in ham radio homebrewing. He often seems to have the same kind of haunted, obsessed look in his eyes that we are so familiar with.  That is what Jean Shepherd must have looked like when he couldn't get his Heising Modulator to work properly.  Oh, the humanity!   

Here it the YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/TZeroSystems

Here are some videos and stills of our 2017 rocket launches from Virginia's Shenandoah valley: 

Go WERRS! 

Friday, July 15, 2022

Jean Shepherd and Studs Terkel Talk About Radio on "The Big Broadcast" Sunday night 7pm-11pm

 

I'm home recovering from the second COVID vaccine booster (I feel OK, just a bit tired).  Our local public broadcast station, WAMU, announced that on Sunday night (July 17) from 9 to 11 pm EDST they will rebroadcast a 1962 radio show featuring Jean Shepherd and Studs Terkel.  They will be talking about the impact of radio on society.   


Looks like they will make an mp3 available after the show.  

I like "The Big Broadcast" and often tune in.  

Sunday, June 19, 2022

A Great Book on Oscillators (Analog LC Oscillators) by John F. Rider (Free!)

 

Thanks to Peter Parker VK3YE for alerting us to this wonderful 1940 book.  John F. Rider -- a real hero of electronic literature -- does a great job in discussing the practical aspects of oscillator circuits. 

This excerpt from Rider's foreword gives a sense of the approach taken in this book: 


The book covers a lot of material.  In addition to the standard oscillator circuits, he discussed multivibrators, relaxation oscillators and much more.  There is a chapter on magnetostriction in which he shows that this property is the basis for crystal oscillators AND the mechanical filters that we are familiar with.  In fact he seems to take what we would consider a mechanical filter and put it in the grid circuit of a tube to make an oscillator. 

He discussed the modulation of oscillators. He describes the Heising modulator that caused young Jean Shepherd so much teenage heartache.  

Download the book here: 

Tuesday, May 24, 2022

Sticker Shock -- WYKSYCDS Stickers Spotted in NYC and in a Netherlands Pub! Awards!

 

I am awarding the coveted Brass Figlagee with Bronze Oak Leaf Palm to Dave W2DAB, to Lex PH2LB, to Jesse N5JHH, and of course to Pete Juliano, N6QW.  More awards are possible.  http://www.flicklives.com/index.php?pg=215&recno=2590 


Saturday, May 7, 2022

SolderSmoke Podcast #237 is available: TV Show! No! W9YEI's 1939 TV. 1712 Rig. HQ-100. New SDR Rig and Book. JF3HZB's VFO Digital Dial. FIELD DAY! PSSST. MAILBAG


SolderSmoke podcast #237 is available:  http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke237.mp3


Travelogue -- New York City!  Stickers!
And about that trip to Los Angeles for the SolderSmoke Cable TV show... 

Well, it fit in well with SolderSmoke's UNFORGETTABLE appearance on the Oprah book club.
And TechieTatts? Daughter worried about listeners rushing to get tattoos -- A risk we were willing to take.

https://in.pinterest.com/padmakumar10/techie-tatts/

This episode is sponsored by PartsCandy.  GREAT test leads: https://www.ebay.com/usr/partscandy

Bill's Bench

Tracking down Johnny Anderson's 1939 or 1940 homebrew TV receiver.

https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/search?q=Anderson
Working with Joh DL6ID.
Jean Shepherd's January 1973 description.
FlickLives web site and Steve Glazer W2SG have lots of info on Shep and his friends.
Internet allows us to look at TV articles that were being published.
We've concluded: Probably 1939 or 1940, using an RCA 913 1 inch CRT tube. 

Lots of ideas from IRE Journal, QST, and Gernsback magazines.
Quite an achievement! Amazing how much pre-war TV progress there was.  

17-12 rig
All boxed up and working DX!
Figured out how to display both 17 and 12 on the same LED. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAmmFZyFu8w
Drain protector for speaker cover. Copper tape to cover horrible cabinet making.
I think I need a Hex Beam.

Hammarlund HQ-100
Needed some maintenance.
I started to look more closely at it.
Got the Q-Multiplier to work -- it really adds a lot on CW.
Makes me feel guilty about all the QF-1s...
Using the 100kc calibrator with a 455 kc crystal as a BFO,
keeping Q multiplier below oscillation point.
Moved the BFO switch to the front panel. Helps a lot.
Need to fix the S-meter AVC circuitry.
Much more sturdy than the S-38E.
S-38E 1957-61 $54.95 5 tubes.  AC/DC.
HQ-100 1956-60 $169  10 or 11 tubes.  Power supply,  regulator.
You get what you pay for.  

Pete's Bench

Jack Purdum and Al Peter's new SDR rig and book (featured on the SS blog Amazon ad).
JF3HZB's beautiful digi VFO.
Backpack antenna for Field Day?  
Pipsqueak Disaster -- Too simple?
Peashooter Eye Candy.
Build Something Different.

MAILBAG

James W0JKG CBLA -- Others are building MMM too!
SM4WWG // Jörgen  Wonderful message.  Joined GQRP.  No longer "wrong."
Dennis WC8C Libraries for Max2870 board.
Jack NG2E  Progress on the Right to Repair movement. 
Jim K9JM  Someone cutting into our business with Solder candles!  
Chuck  WB9KZY Correctly identified the location of the IBEW sticker.  As did Dan Random.
Dave Bamford (who lives nearby) suitably impressed. 
Farhan wrote to us about a video on Don Lancaster.  Homebrew keyboards!  Yea!
Dean KK4DAS  QRP to the Field.  HB2HB 40 SSB   QRP  I feel virtuous.  
Todd K7TFC likes my ingenious use of the drain screen as the speaker protector on the 17-12 rig. 
Todd  had good thoughts on granular approach to homebrewing as seen in the Don Lancaster video.
Lex PH2LB HORRIFIED by my reverse polarity protection circuit.  This is a touchy subject! (as is WD-40!)
Rogier PA1ZZ sending great info on SWL and numbers stations.
Jesse N5JHH -- The guy who made the IBEW stickers -- Liked the NYC stickers. 
Steve N8NM has a new antenna article on his blog: https://n8nmsteve.blogspot.com/
Randy AB9GO Agrees -- Can't GIVE old 'scopes away. 
Dino SV1IRG Liked the 17-12 rig videos. 
Steve Hartley G0FUW Murphy's Law of Enclosures. 
Ralph AB1OP FB on the 17-12 Rig. 
Roberto XE1GXG --Our correspondent in Guadalajara. Petulant, irritable people on the computer scene.

Have some gear looking for a good home:   Tek 465 'scope from Jim AL7R W8NSA.   SBE Transceivers.  Windsor Signal Generator.  Let me know if you are interested and can either pick up or arrange shipping.  



John Anderson W9YEI Homebrew Hero

Wednesday, April 20, 2022

Conclusions About W9YEI's Early (1940?) Homebrew Television Receiver

It may have looked something like this.  Recent build of the Scozarri receiver by Jack Neitz

Joh DL6ID and I have been exchanging e-mails in which we compare notes on the early homebrew television receiver of Johnny Anderson W9YEI.   In 1973 on WOR New York, Jean Shepherd described a very memorable demonstration of TV  conducted some three decades earlier by Anderson for teenage friends in Hammond, Indiana.  Shep provided a lot of detail, but some of his recollections seemed a bit off;  Shep was known for exaggerating or changing details to make a story better.   

We have arrived at some conclusions about this project (but if anyone has more info, please let us know): 

DID ANDERSON ACTUALLY BUILD A TV RECEIVER?  

Yes, he did.  This was a homebrew project, not a kit build and not the use of a receiver built and loaned for test purposes by the transmitting station.  Anderson was an accomplished homebrewer whose basement, according to Shep, was filled with devices he had built.  A QSL card sent by him in 1938 shows him using a "9 tube superhet" as a receiver.  Shep describes Johnny -- over a period of perhaps six months -- gathering components  in Chicago's electronics parts market, and building something in his basement.  That sure sounds like a real homebrew project.  A TV receiver kit was available, but it was very expensive, and Shep would have immediately denounced it as a non-homebrew project.  Anderson homebrewed the receiver. 

WHY DID HE DO THIS? 

Why would a ham build a TV receiver at a time in which there were only a few experimental transmitters on the air, and no possibility of using the receiver to "work" other amateur stations?  We tend to think of TV as a post-war commercial phenomenon.  But in fact there was a lot of "buzz" about TV in the 1930s.  Magazines were filled with TV articles, and with ads for courses that promised to prepare people for what seemed to many to be "the next big thing."  The World's Fair in Chicago in 1933 and 1934 featured a demonstration of television -- Anderson, who lived in a close-in Chicago suburb,  may have seen this demonstration.  Television must have seemed like a do-able but difficult technical challenge, and would  have attracted the interest of an advanced homebrewer like Anderson.    

WHEN DID ANDERSON BUILD THE RECEIVER? 

Shepherd describes a demonstration of TV in which Anderson tuned into experimental transmissions of WBKB in Chicago.  WBKB's experimental transmitter W9XBK did not go on the air until August 1940.  And Anderson told Shep that he had been calling in reception reports for a month or six weeks.  That would push the date of the demonstration to September 1940 at the earliest.  In September 1940 Anderson was 22 years old, and Shep was 19. (Here is one area in which Shep's recall is questionable -- he claims that the event took place when he -- Shep -- was 16 or 17.  In fact he was older, but having the protagonists a bit younger made the story more intriguing.)   If we assume that it took Anderson six months or so to build the receiver,  that would push the start date of Anderson's build to around March 1940.  

There was another experimental station on the air in Chicago: Zenith Corporation had W9XZV doing experimental transmissions starting on February 2, 1939.  If Anderson had built the receiver a bit earlier, he could have been tuning into W9XVZ before W9XBK went on the air.  But I think it was more likely that he started building in early 1940.  I get the feeling that the Scozzari articles of October/November 1939 influenced his build.  

WHAT PUBLICATIONS GUIDED ANDERSON? 

Shep, in extolling Anderson's advanced, self-taught knowledge of electronics tells us that Anderson was at his young age already reading the IRE Journal, the monthly publication of the Institute of Radio Engineers. Joh DL6ID notes that Shep said that this publication was being sent to Anderson, indicating that he had some form of subscription.  He may have also had access to back-issues in a Chicago library.  Anderson was a serious consumer of technical material. 

The IRE Journal had many articles about television, but they were highly theoretical.  Typical of this was the December 1933 issue.  Anderson probably also benefitted from more practical, build-related articles that appeared in publications like QST, Shortwave and Television,  and Radio and Television. 

In December 1937 QST began a series of articles on television my Marshall Wilder.  

In March 1938 CW Palmer launched a series of build articles on TV receivers in the Gernsback magazine "Shortwave and Television." See photo below. 

In October 1938 QST started a series of practical build articles on TV by J.B. Sherman.  This series provided circuit details on how to use three different sizes of RCA oscilloscope CRTs, including the small 1 inch 913 tube. 

In December 1938 QST continued with the television theme,  presenting the first in a series of build articles by C.C. Schumard. 

In October 1939 Peter Scozzari launched a good series of build articles in Radio and Television magazine.  See photo below. 

WHAT CATHODE RAY TUBE DID HE USE?  

Many of the publications of the era carried projects using 2 or 3 inch CRTs.  But it appears that Anderson had a smaller, 1 inch oscilloscope CRT in his project.  In his 1973 broadcast, Shep repeatedly called the CRT "tiny" and refers to it as a 1 inch tube.  Shep said the image produced was green, indicating a tube built for oscilloscopes.  He may have used a 1 inch RCA 913 CRT Tube. See the Sherman article in the October 1938 QST

THE DEATH OF ROSS HULL

In the middle of all this, on September 13, 1938 radio pioneer Ross Hull was electrocuted while working on his homebrew television receiver. 

The Palmer Receiver

The Scozzari receiver -- Power supply on separate chassis

Previous SolderSmoke Daily News posts about this project: 

Tuesday, April 19, 2022

Young Jean Shepherd Gets Hung-Up On Ham Radio

Oh man, we've all been there:  OBSESSION with ham radio.  Shep went over the top and didn't sleep all weekend when his homebrew transmitter was finally neutralized and started to put out a decent signal on 40 meter CW.  

One of my favorite lines in this episode is about how, before the neutralization, the transmitter had had so many parasitics that it would continue to transmit for two hours AFTER Shep turned it off, "and all on the wrong frequencies."  

I found this while searching for other Shep references to Johnny Anderson, the guy who built the TV receiver.  Please let me know if you know of any other Shep references to Johnny. 

Here is the program.  Skip ahead to 20:50 

https://www.radioechoes.com/?page=play_download&mode=play&dl_mp3folder=T&dl_file=the_jean_shepherd_show_1963-03-07_hung_up-ham_radio.mp3&dl_series=The%20Jean%20Shepherd%20Show&dl_title=Hung%20Up-Ham%20Radio&dl_date=1963.03.07&dl_size=8.87%20MB

EXCELSIOR!  


Friday, April 15, 2022

TV Homebrew 84 years ago -- Tracking Down W9YEI's 1939 Television Receiver -- The CRT He Probably Used -- Please Help Find More Info

A recent Hack-A-Day article about early television receivers got me thinking about the receiver built by young Johnny Anderson in 1939 and described by Jean Shepherd on WOR in 1973.  In the 1973 program (skip to the 18 minute mark),  Shep gives a good description of the device.  It sounded a lot like the receiver from Peter Scozzari's October 1939 "Radio and Television" article:  Shep described a big chassis with angled pieces of aluminum one of which had a tube socket brazed onto it.  Anderson may have bult the power supply on the same chassis as the receiver.  Shep said that a 1 inch CRT was in this socket.  Tellingly, he described the picture as being green in color.  

Peter Scozzari wrote that oscilloscope tubes produced a "greenish hue."  One month after his first article, in November 1939 Peter Scozzari published another article in which he changed the CRT to to a tube that would produce a black and white (not green) pictures.  See below for the part of the article that describes the shift to the larger black and white tube.  This supports the idea that Anderson was using a tube built for oscilloscopes.  The picture above shows what images from the three sizes of RCA oscilloscope tubes would have looked like (absent the green hue -- this was a black and white magazine).  I find them kind of eerie, considering that the person in the picture was probably born more than 100 years ago.  And in that bottom picture we see an image (absent the green hue) very similar to what Shep saw in 1939, and described so vividly in 1973. 



Scozzari's receiver started out with a 2 inch tube, then a month later, he went with a 3 inch tube.  But Johnny Anderson may have only had the 1 inch tube described by Shep.  The Sherman QST article provided circuit details for all three sizes of RCA tubes. This information would have been very useful to Johnny Anderson. So my guess is that when Shep saw TV for the first time in 1939 in Johnny Anderson's basement workshop, he was looking into an RCA 1 inch 913 CRT. 

Here's a great EDN article on the 1 inch CRTs available in the 1930s: 

Here's a fellow who recently built a TV receiver using an RCA 902: 
Here's the YouTube video of his 902-based receiver in action: 

Previous SolderSmoke blog posts on this topic: 


This is all pretty amazing:  We are gathering details on a television receiver built some 84 years ago by a teenager in a basement in Hammond, Indiana.  

Does anyone out there have more information on what Anderson built?  Can anyone dig up more information on this? Any more info on Peter Scozzari?  Anyone have info on Jack Neitz of California (he recently built the Scozzari TV receiver)? 

Thursday, April 14, 2022

W9YEI's Homebrew 1939 TV?

 

I've been thinking about Jean Shepherd's 1973 description of the homebrew TV receiver built by his friend Johnny Anderson W9YEI in (probably) 1939.   Shep said Johnny got the info on this receiver from the IRE Journal.  But I was thinking that there had to have been "how to build" articles in circulation around that time, and -- if located -- these articles might provide some insight on what Johnny Anderson built. 

Asked for info on early TV's Google will send you to lots of sites about early commercial sets.  But you have to dig a bit and refine your search to find articles about the kind of receiver that Shep described as having been built by Johnny Anderson.  

The picture above shows one such possibility.  It comes from an article in the October 1939 issue of Radio and Television magazine.  The author was Peter Scozzari.  


The picture tube seems to be about the size that Shep described;  Shep said it was a 1 inch tube, and this schematic shows a 2 inch tube, but the image must have been smaller, so this seems consistent with Shep's recollection.  The article presents this as a "Low Cost" project -- that would have been what Shep's teenage friends were looking for.  And we KNOW that Anderson was capable of building something like this:  we have a QSL card from him from the same time period in which he notes that he was using a "9 tube superhet."  Someone who could build a 9 tube superhet in 1938 could certainly build this TV receiver.   

Can anyone find more of these kind of articles from the late 1930's? 

Three cheers for Johnny Anderson and for Peter Scozzari. 

More Googling revealed that a Californian named Jack Neitz more recently built the receiver described in Scozzari's 1939 article.  Here is Neitz's build: 


This is really amazing.  We need more info on Jack Neitz!   The only info I have is from: 

Tuesday, April 12, 2022

John Stanley Anderson W9YEI -- Shep's Friend Who Homebrewed a TV Receiver in 1938

 

John Stanley "Johnny" Anderson -- son of John E. and Beda Klarin Anderson, natives of Sweden -- was born on July 19, 1918, in East Chicago, Indiana. He grew up at 6813 (formerly 1439) Arizona Avenue in Hammond, and graduated from Hammond High School a couple of years ahead of American humorist and writer Jean Shepherd. In his WOR radio broadcast of January 24, 1973, Shepherd told of how Johnny was an expert ham who was way ahead of the other kids in town, and how he first saw television demonstrated by Johnny in his basement. Johnny in fact held amateur radio license W9YEI at the time.

After graduation from Hammond High, Johnny went to work as a chemist at the local steel mill. On April 11, 1941, Johnny enlisted at Fort Benjamin Harrison in the U.S. Army, serving through WWII until November 27, 1945. On June 4, 1955, he married Jane H. Vanstone.

Johnny later moved to Munster, Indiana, and continued working at Inland Steel, where he held a variety of technical positions. He passed away on January 29, 1984, at the emergency room of Hammond's St. Margaret Hospital after suffering from neurogenic shock. At the time of his death, Johnny was an electrical technician at Inland Steel's quality control center. He was buried at Elmwood Cemetery in Hammond.  From: 
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/173124396/john-stanley-anderson

The Flick Lives web site has an interesting letter that Johnny wrote to his friend Paul Schwartz (W9KPY) in mid 1941.  Schwartz is frequently referred to by Jean Shepherd.  Schwartz was killed in World War II.  

In the letter, Johnny also references another mutual friend who Shep often mentions:  Boles (W9QWK). 


Dorothy Anderson was Johnny's sister and was for a time Shep's girlfriend. 

Rcvr: "9 tube Superhet"  FB OM

Monday, April 11, 2022

Early Television, Jean Shepherd, Homebrewing, and Hack-A-Day

It may have been something like this 1947 receiver.  But with a smaller CRT.

Hack-A-Day has an article about early (1930s) television.  I was immediately reminded of a January 1973 Jean Shepherd show on WOR New York in which Shep talks about a kid in his neighborhood who built a very early television receiver.  You can skip to about the 18 minute mark for the homebrew radio and television stuff. 

In the 1973 show, Shep identifies the builder as John Anderson.   The Flicklives web site lists the hams who lived around Shep in Hammond Indiana.   Among them is John Stanley Anderson W9YEI.  That's him. 

Shep was born in 1921 and in the show he says this all took place when he was 16 or 17.  So that would place these events around 1938.  We see that on February 2, 1939  W9XZV -- the experimental station of Zenith Chicago -- went on the air with television.  In August 1940 W9XBK, the experimental TV station of WBKB Chicago went on the air.  That station was the one Johnny Anderson used to demonstrate TV to Shep and other friends.   

Once again, Shep really captures the spirit of homebrew radio and the way it really captivates teenagers. He also explains -- very well I think -- the difference between true homebrew radio and kit building.  

I really wish we had more details or pictures of W9YEI's TV receiver.  I tried looking in the IRE Journal, but I couldn't find anything.  Anyone have more info on this receiver or ham homebrew TV projects from the late 1930s?

EXCELSIOR!   73   Bill  

https://hackaday.com/2022/04/10/retrotechtacular-a-diy-television-for-very-early-adopters/

https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2008/07/best-jean-shepherd-ham-radio-episode.html

http://www.flicklives.com/index.php?pg=318

https://www.earlytelevision.org/w9xbk.html



Sunday, March 20, 2022

Flick Lives -- More from a Great Web Site about "Jean Shepherd"


Jim Clavin has some really great stuff on his FlickLives website: 

Much of this stuff I had never seen.   Like the picture he has of young Shep in his shack.  I wonder how old he was in this picture.  He appears perturbed.  Perhaps his Heising Modulator was distorting?

Jim dug up all of Shep's licenses and got the names and callsigns of all the hams who were active from Shepherd's  hometown during the years Shep was living there.  I think I can recognized some of the names -- Shep talked about some of these guys when talking (on WOR) about ham radio.  Boles.  Stan.  Good times. 

The CQ Guest editorials and the various articles are a lot of fun.   Some things never seem to change. 

Thanks Jim! 

EXCELSIOR! 

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