"COLIN LAMB" ) writes:
Myron, you get the research gold star. I see the 1959 QST article uses a
neon bulb, although it was not the one I was thinking of. I think I quit in
QST when I got to 1959 because I thought the transistors would eliminate the
tube dividers. I was about to go through CQ, though, so you saved a lot of
time there.

I would have stopped about then also, not so much that we'd see dividers
at that point, they were never a routine part of crystal calibrators
until logic ICs became readily available (you did see dividers before,
but they weren't common), but because transistors were starting to
come in. Transistors were ideal for such small projects, because they
didn't need filament power (or B+), and they weren't ready for power
or high frequency use.

The earliest Handbook I have is 1961, and I see a transistorized
crystal calibrator but no tube based one.

Michael VE2BVW