Hallicrafter's Tour on Film
I found a tour of the Hallicrafter's plant on line.
This is a WW-2 propaganda film, dated 1944 and titled "Voice of Victory". In two parts at http://www.archive.org It has considerable detail on the construction of the BC-610 and shows some other products in somewhat less detail. -- Richard Knoppow Los Angeles WB6KBL |
Hallicrafter's Tour on Film
I found a tour of the Hallicrafter's plant on line.
This is a WW-2 propaganda film, dated 1944 and titled "Voice of Victory". In two parts at http://www.archive.org It has considerable detail on the construction of the BC-610 and shows some other products in somewhat less detail. -- Richard Knoppow Los Angeles WB6KBL My bet is they didn't need always need a heater in the back of the SCR266. Interesting to see all the dollies and come-alongs used in production. Also tons of other neat-o screen gems at that site. A keeper. |
Hallicrafter's Tour on Film
"JB" wrote in message ... I found a tour of the Hallicrafter's plant on line. This is a WW-2 propaganda film, dated 1944 and titled "Voice of Victory". In two parts at http://www.archive.org It has considerable detail on the construction of the BC-610 and shows some other products in somewhat less detail. -- Richard Knoppow Los Angeles WB6KBL My bet is they didn't need always need a heater in the back of the SCR266. Interesting to see all the dollies and come-alongs used in production. Also tons of other neat-o screen gems at that site. A keeper. I am not sure what venue the film was meant for. Probably not theatrical release. I remember seeing lots of this sort of stuff in grammer school but this doesn't quite fit that either. This site also has old radio programs on it and much other stuff. Look for _Command Performance_ for an illustration of how records were made c.1940. This had method continues to this very day for vinyl records. 45's OTOH, were made by injection molding. A very well thought out record system but RCA just did not get the point that people wanted continuous records and didn't like record changers. The CBS Lp was a makeshift. Too bad RCA was so hide-bound about a lot of things. -- -- Richard Knoppow Los Angeles WB6KBL |
Hallicrafter's Tour on Film
Richard Knoppow wrote:
I am not sure what venue the film was meant for. Probably not theatrical release. I remember seeing lots of this sort of stuff in grammer school but this doesn't quite fit that either. I have seen a version of this with a Signal Corps officer and his introduction that described the ongoing cooperation between industry and the military. I would tend to agree that this was not a film for outside distribution as its a bit esoteric for the masses. I'll bet it was a typical "film of interest" for the various Army signal schools. When I was in high school, a young lady who's father worked for one of the Government archive agencies loaned a car-load of 16mm WWII technical training films to our school. I can vividly remember the movie on the SCR-506 with it mounted in trucks and other vehicles. That's the one that made the cover of a 1945 QST. The '299 video is a keeper, for sure, but wonder where all the other ones are now? de K3HVG |
Hallicrafter's Tour on Film
"K3HVG" wrote in message .. . Richard Knoppow wrote: I am not sure what venue the film was meant for. Probably not theatrical release. I remember seeing lots of this sort of stuff in grammer school but this doesn't quite fit that either. I have seen a version of this with a Signal Corps officer and his introduction that described the ongoing cooperation between industry and the military. I would tend to agree that this was not a film for outside distribution as its a bit esoteric for the masses. I'll bet it was a typical "film of interest" for the various Army signal schools. When I was in high school, a young lady who's father worked for one of the Government archive agencies loaned a car-load of 16mm WWII technical training films to our school. I can vividly remember the movie on the SCR-506 with it mounted in trucks and other vehicles. That's the one that made the cover of a 1945 QST. The '299 video is a keeper, for sure, but wonder where all the other ones are now? de K3HVG The SCR-694 (BC-1306) training video is available in three parts, on Youtube I think. I also found "Pro Patria Vigilans" on Real Military Flix http://www.realmilitaryflix.com/public/main.cfm They also have the Joan_Eleanor training film as well. I found the VOV film about the BC-610 very useful for stripping down my TX, helps to know how it all bolts together! 73 Roger.G3VKM |
Hallicrafter's Tour on Film
Richard Knoppow wrote:
Look for _Command Performance_ for an illustration of how records were made c.1940. This had method continues to this very day for vinyl records. 45's OTOH, were made by injection molding. Back in the seventies, if you wanted a 7" pressed you could either get a vinyl pressing (like an LP) or an injection-molded styrene disk. For large runs, the styrene pressings were considerably cheaper, so the big labels used them almost exclusively. But, the vinyl pressings lasted a lot longer and the distortion when they wore out wasn't quite as horrible, so they sometimes were used for DJ promo discs and small releases. None of the styrene systems are still running as far as I know, so if you get a 7" pressing done today, it will be on standard vinyl. A very well thought out record system but RCA just did not get the point that people wanted continuous records and didn't like record changers. The CBS Lp was a makeshift. Too bad RCA was so hide-bound about a lot of things. Well, the thing is that at the time, the vast majority of record sales were singles. And really, this continued until the early 1970s for pop music. A big discussion of the economics of singles vs. LP records can be found in Jim Eargle's original JAES article in the forties. The LP was a huge advantage for classical recordings and it totally changed the form of jazz to be able to make a cut longer than one side of a 78. But the 45 sure had a lot of popularity in the pop music world for very long because they were very cheap to make, and because the form of pop music was such that people wanted one song at a time. The CD Single flopped mostly because it was very expensive.... you could get the full album for only a bit more than the single, and so there wasn't a whole lot of demand for the single. But now in the age of digital downloads we are seeing a real resurgence in singles sales. --scott -- "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis." |
Hallicrafter's Tour on Film
I am not sure what venue the film was meant for.
Probably not theatrical release. I remember seeing lots of this sort of stuff in grammer school but this doesn't quite fit that either. A morale booster for Halicrafters employees. A gift from the Signal Corps. Nothing like a patriotic mission critical project to make everyone sit up straighter. Its a shame that morale is so thwarted these days in the name of "tolerance" for all that is self destructive. Sure, people did bad things in the day, but at least they didn't promote it in the media. Remember the "Joe Camel" debacle, where it was finally considered that we shouldn't promote smoking with cute cartoon characters. Now go look at the prime-time cartoons and see what they are promoting. Their motto seems to be "do everything that isn't specifically prohibited by the fine print of the law", "good taste be damned above all". Flakes like that should be tarred and feathered and run out of town before someone thinks to pass a law against "everything not specifically allowed by law". |
Hallicrafter's Tour on Film
On Mon, 06 Apr 2009 06:38:22 -0400, K3HVG wrote:
Richard Knoppow wrote: I am not sure what venue the film was meant for. Probably not theatrical release. I remember seeing lots of this sort of stuff in grammer school but this doesn't quite fit that either. I have seen a version of this with a Signal Corps officer and his introduction that described the ongoing cooperation between industry and the military. I would tend to agree that this was not a film for outside distribution as its a bit esoteric for the masses. I'll bet it was a typical "film of interest" for the various Army signal schools. When I was in high school, a young lady who's father worked for one of the Government archive agencies loaned a car-load of 16mm WWII technical training films to our school. I can vividly remember the movie on the SCR-506 with it mounted in trucks and other vehicles. That's the one that made the cover of a 1945 QST. The '299 video is a keeper, for sure, but wonder where all the other ones are now? de K3HVG I wonder if the military sent the films out to amateur radio clubs as well? It'd be a good recruitment tool both for the signal corps and for various manufacturers looking for skilled hands. -- http://www.wescottdesign.com |
Hallicrafter's Tour on Film
"JB" wrote in message ... I found a tour of the Hallicrafter's plant on line. This is a WW-2 propaganda film, dated 1944 and titled "Voice of Victory". In two parts at http://www.archive.org It has considerable detail on the construction of the BC-610 and shows some other products in somewhat less detail. -- Richard Knoppow Los Angeles WB6KBL My bet is they didn't need always need a heater in the back of the SCR266. Interesting to see all the dollies and come-alongs used in production. Also tons of other neat-o screen gems at that site. A keeper. I looked at the film again and see what you mean by the dollies, etc. I didn't realize the first time how much hand work was done. I didn't see a single power tool of any sort, the closest was a "Yankee" screwdriver. Undoubtedly there were power tools elsewhere but they didn't seem to be used for assembly. BTW, the ham radio scene near the opening is one of the few representations of ham radio on film that is not laughable. I did notice the absense of a clock, the fellow checks the time on his watch. Perhaps deliberately so that there would be no problems with the clock jumping around between shots. Jam Handy Films, who made this epic, was based in Detroit and produced a lot of industrials for General Motors, particularly the Chevrolet division, some of which are on this site. They did all right, except when they tried to emulate Hollywood, as in the montage at the end of this film. -- Richard Knoppow Los Angeles WB6KBL |
Hallicrafter's Tour on Film
"Richard Knoppow" wrote in message m... I looked at the film again and see what you mean by the dollies, etc. I didn't realize the first time how much hand work was done. I didn't see a single power tool of any sort, the closest was a "Yankee" screwdriver. Undoubtedly there were power tools elsewhere but they didn't seem to be used for assembly. BTW, the ham radio scene near the opening is one of the few representations of ham radio on film that is not laughable. I did notice the absense of a clock, the fellow checks the time on his watch. Perhaps deliberately so that there would be no problems with the clock jumping around between shots. Jam Handy Films, who made this epic, was based in Detroit and produced a lot of industrials for General Motors, particularly the Chevrolet division, some of which are on this site. They did all right, except when they tried to emulate Hollywood, as in the montage at the end of this film. -- Richard Knoppow Los Angeles WB6KBL Hi Richard, I did try to ID the W9WZE operator in the clip - it's not Bill Halligan - any ideas? One suggestion I had was that he was one of the senior engineers working for the company. I didn't notice any date on the captions, so if that is a post-1941 film then the operating session would have surely been staged, as Ham Radio had shut down, so maybe it was done by using recordings of the other stations? Yes, no power tools then, but I did like the fact that all the ladies working on the line had their own named tray of tools. I wonder how many of them are still alive? They produced nearly 15000 SCR-299, 399 and 499 variants during WWII and I'd bet there are a fair percentage of those still around across the world. 73 Roger Basford - G3VKM - Norfolk, England. |
Hallicrafter's Tour on Film
Roger Basford wrote:
I did try to ID the W9WZE operator in the clip - it's not Bill Halligan - any ideas? One suggestion I had was that he was one of the senior engineers working for the company. I didn't notice any date on the captions, so if that is a post-1941 film then the operating session would have surely been staged, as Ham Radio had shut down, so maybe it was done by using recordings of the other stations? Although the ham at the other end called him Bill, if you say it was not Halligan, I'll take your word for it. A little later in the film he and another man are identified as Bill Halligan and someone else, whose name I did not catch. I assume if you actualy know what Halligan looked like (I don't) you can tell them apart and if you are careful at listening for names, you can figure it out. BTW, did anyone notice the one serious flaw in their design? It was designed according to the film to work using standard 117 volt household electricity. A gasoline generator was included as an addon (a trailer) that provided it. AFAIK they were never used in combat in a place that had 117 volt AC power. I know that Europe had 220 or 240 volt power, what did the pacific areas have? Geoff. -- Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM |
Hallicrafter's Tour on Film
"Geoffrey S. Mendelson" wrote in message ... Roger Basford wrote: I did try to ID the W9WZE operator in the clip - it's not Bill Halligan - any ideas? One suggestion I had was that he was one of the senior engineers working for the company. I didn't notice any date on the captions, so if that is a post-1941 film then the operating session would have surely been staged, as Ham Radio had shut down, so maybe it was done by using recordings of the other stations? Although the ham at the other end called him Bill, if you say it was not Halligan, I'll take your word for it. A little later in the film he and another man are identified as Bill Halligan and someone else, whose name I did not catch. I assume if you actualy know what Halligan looked like (I don't) you can tell them apart and if you are careful at listening for names, you can figure it out. BTW, did anyone notice the one serious flaw in their design? It was designed according to the film to work using standard 117 volt household electricity. A gasoline generator was included as an addon (a trailer) that provided it. AFAIK they were never used in combat in a place that had 117 volt AC power. I know that Europe had 220 or 240 volt power, what did the pacific areas have? Geoff. -- Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM Hi Geoff, The guy with the glasses in the scene in the office is Halligan, that's where they are looking at the drawings and also inside the RF deck. The other chap in the ham station part looks different. I suppose it didn't matter if it was a staged scene. I suppose that during training in the US there might have been times when domestic 117 V AC was available but in the Pacific they probably used domestic power supplies of the colonial power, so British standard for Australia, Malaya and the British-administered islands, Dutch for what we now call Indonesia and possibly US standard for the Philippines? In Europe 220-240 60Hz is the standard now but I don't know about WWII, the UK still had areas using 220 V DC at that time. There's an interesting article on the SCR-399 in Russian service here - http://www.w9wze.net/df.php?dn=Featu...hall_Zhukov.wp Cheers, Roger/G3VKM |
Hallicrafter's Tour on Film
On Tue, 07 Apr 2009 15:47:04 +0000, Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote:
Roger Basford wrote: I did try to ID the W9WZE operator in the clip - it's not Bill Halligan - any ideas? One suggestion I had was that he was one of the senior engineers working for the company. I didn't notice any date on the captions, so if that is a post-1941 film then the operating session would have surely been staged, as Ham Radio had shut down, so maybe it was done by using recordings of the other stations? Although the ham at the other end called him Bill, if you say it was not Halligan, I'll take your word for it. A little later in the film he and another man are identified as Bill Halligan and someone else, whose name I did not catch. I assume if you actualy know what Halligan looked like (I don't) you can tell them apart and if you are careful at listening for names, you can figure it out. BTW, did anyone notice the one serious flaw in their design? It was designed according to the film to work using standard 117 volt household electricity. A gasoline generator was included as an addon (a trailer) that provided it. AFAIK they were never used in combat in a place that had 117 volt AC power. I know that Europe had 220 or 240 volt power, what did the pacific areas have? Geoff. If you're invading, you get to say what standard power is. They may well have sent the thing out with a set of adapters (or just taps on the mains transformers) for times when reliable power was available. -- http://www.wescottdesign.com |
Hallicrafter's Tour on Film
"Roger Basford" Roger at new-gate dot co dot uk wrote in message et... "Richard Knoppow" wrote in message m... I looked at the film again and see what you mean by the dollies, etc. I didn't realize the first time how much hand work was done. I didn't see a single power tool of any sort, the closest was a "Yankee" screwdriver. Undoubtedly there were power tools elsewhere but they didn't seem to be used for assembly. BTW, the ham radio scene near the opening is one of the few representations of ham radio on film that is not laughable. I did notice the absense of a clock, the fellow checks the time on his watch. Perhaps deliberately so that there would be no problems with the clock jumping around between shots. Jam Handy Films, who made this epic, was based in Detroit and produced a lot of industrials for General Motors, particularly the Chevrolet division, some of which are on this site. They did all right, except when they tried to emulate Hollywood, as in the montage at the end of this film. -- Richard Knoppow Los Angeles WB6KBL Hi Richard, I did try to ID the W9WZE operator in the clip - it's not Bill Halligan - any ideas? One suggestion I had was that he was one of the senior engineers working for the company. I didn't notice any date on the captions, so if that is a post-1941 film then the operating session would have surely been staged, as Ham Radio had shut down, so maybe it was done by using recordings of the other stations? Yes, no power tools then, but I did like the fact that all the ladies working on the line had their own named tray of tools. I wonder how many of them are still alive? They produced nearly 15000 SCR-299, 399 and 499 variants during WWII and I'd bet there are a fair percentage of those still around across the world. 73 Roger Basford - G3VKM - Norfolk, England. The ham radio session was almost certainly staged. Old call books would identify the station. I wonder if any library has a collection of them, perhaps the ARRL does. Bill Halligan is the fellow behind the desk in the scene where the modifications to the HT-4 are being discussed. I was wondering how many of these rigs were made, where did you get the statistics? -- -- Richard Knoppow Los Angeles WB6KBL |
Hallicrafter's Tour on Film
"Roger Basford" Roger at new-gate dot co dot uk wrote in message et... "Geoffrey S. Mendelson" wrote in message ... Roger Basford wrote: I did try to ID the W9WZE operator in the clip - it's not Bill Halligan - any ideas? One suggestion I had was that he was one of the senior engineers working for the company. I didn't notice any date on the captions, so if that is a post-1941 film then the operating session would have surely been staged, as Ham Radio had shut down, so maybe it was done by using recordings of the other stations? Although the ham at the other end called him Bill, if you say it was not Halligan, I'll take your word for it. A little later in the film he and another man are identified as Bill Halligan and someone else, whose name I did not catch. I assume if you actualy know what Halligan looked like (I don't) you can tell them apart and if you are careful at listening for names, you can figure it out. BTW, did anyone notice the one serious flaw in their design? It was designed according to the film to work using standard 117 volt household electricity. A gasoline generator was included as an addon (a trailer) that provided it. AFAIK they were never used in combat in a place that had 117 volt AC power. I know that Europe had 220 or 240 volt power, what did the pacific areas have? Geoff. -- Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM Hi Geoff, The guy with the glasses in the scene in the office is Halligan, that's where they are looking at the drawings and also inside the RF deck. The other chap in the ham station part looks different. I suppose it didn't matter if it was a staged scene. I suppose that during training in the US there might have been times when domestic 117 V AC was available but in the Pacific they probably used domestic power supplies of the colonial power, so British standard for Australia, Malaya and the British-administered islands, Dutch for what we now call Indonesia and possibly US standard for the Philippines? In Europe 220-240 60Hz is the standard now but I don't know about WWII, the UK still had areas using 220 V DC at that time. There's an interesting article on the SCR-399 in Russian service here - http://www.w9wze.net/df.php?dn=Featu...hall_Zhukov.wp Cheers, Roger/G3VKM I think you mean 50hz. Power standards have varied all over the place and are still not uniform. In 1944, for instance, Los Angeles had both 50hz and 60hz power. A few areas had DC power (parts of New York City for instance). Canada around Niagra Falls had 25hz power (made the lights flicker). In the US standard mains voltages were 110, 115, 117, 120, 125V,220, single phase AC and similar voltages for DC. There was also three-phase AC at 220, 440, 480, and some other voltages depending on where you were. Much military equipment was usually designed with transformers which could operate from either a nominal 115 or 220 V and could operate on 50hz as well as 60hz current. Some equipment, like the BC-779 receiver (Hammarlund Super-Pro) were available with power supplies that could run on 25hz as well as 50/60hz at perhaps a dozen voltages. Undoubedly the BC-60 could run on several voltages and on 50hz current but the rigs shown in the film are self-contained meant to operate from the generator sets supplied. -- -- Richard Knoppow Los Angeles WB6KBL |
Hallicrafter's Tour on Film
"Roger Basford" Roger at new-gate dot co dot uk wrote in message et... "Richard Knoppow" wrote in message m... I looked at the film again and see what you mean by the dollies, etc. I didn't realize the first time how much hand work was done. I didn't see a single power tool of any sort, the closest was a "Yankee" screwdriver. Undoubtedly there were power tools elsewhere but they didn't seem to be used for assembly. BTW, the ham radio scene near the opening is one of the few representations of ham radio on film that is not laughable. I did notice the absense of a clock, the fellow checks the time on his watch. Perhaps deliberately so that there would be no problems with the clock jumping around between shots. Jam Handy Films, who made this epic, was based in Detroit and produced a lot of industrials for General Motors, particularly the Chevrolet division, some of which are on this site. They did all right, except when they tried to emulate Hollywood, as in the montage at the end of this film. -- Richard Knoppow Los Angeles WB6KBL Hi Richard, I did try to ID the W9WZE operator in the clip - it's not Bill Halligan - any ideas? One suggestion I had was that he was one of the senior engineers working for the company. I didn't notice any date on the captions, so if that is a post-1941 film then the operating session would have surely been staged, as Ham Radio had shut down, so maybe it was done by using recordings of the other stations? Yes, no power tools then, but I did like the fact that all the ladies working on the line had their own named tray of tools. I wonder how many of them are still alive? They produced nearly 15000 SCR-299, 399 and 499 variants during WWII and I'd bet there are a fair percentage of those still around across the world. 73 Roger Basford - G3VKM - Norfolk, England. FWIW, Bill Halligan was W9AC -- -- Richard Knoppow Los Angeles WB6KBL |
Hallicrafter's Tour on Film
"Richard Knoppow" wrote in message ... Roger Basford - G3VKM - Norfolk, England. The ham radio session was almost certainly staged. Old call books would identify the station. I wonder if any library has a collection of them, perhaps the ARRL does. Bill Halligan is the fellow behind the desk in the scene where the modifications to the HT-4 are being discussed. I was wondering how many of these rigs were made, where did you get the statistics? -- -- Richard Knoppow Los Angeles WB6KBL Hi Richard, The topic of BC-610 numbers came up on the WS19 group on Yahoo recently and someone supplied the following:- "During the period 1 Jan. 1940 through 31 December 1945 the US Government purchased 14,706 of the SCR-299, 399 and 499 sets. Practically speaking, deliveries did not start until 1942, when 1571 sets were delivered. In 1943, 5,911 were delivered, in 1944 another 5,317 sets, and in 1945: 1,907. This does not count the HT-4 versions delivered for testing before the creation of the BC-610, and I believe there were sets purchased and delivered after 1945 as well, for use in assorted AN/MRC- numbered communications vans, up through the Korean War period. I don't know whether there were any lend-lease contracts for these sets. If there were, those numbers probably would not be included in the above". Can't recall who posted that but it was someone in the US. Hallicrafters also re-badged the BC-610 as the HT-4 after WWII, probably to clear stocks, I have a manual for one. By the time the Korean War came along, dealers over here were offering good prices to buy back '610s and ET4336s that had been sold to the ham market, in order to resell to the military - two bites of the cherry. Roger Basford |
Hallicrafter's Tour on Film
On Tue, 07 Apr 2009 12:00:44 -0500, Tim Wescott
wrote: On Tue, 07 Apr 2009 15:47:04 +0000, Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote: Roger Basford wrote: I did try to ID the W9WZE operator in the clip - it's not Bill Halligan - any ideas? One suggestion I had was that he was one of the senior engineers working for the company. I didn't notice any date on the captions, so if that is a post-1941 film then the operating session would have surely been staged, as Ham Radio had shut down, so maybe it was done by using recordings of the other stations? Although the ham at the other end called him Bill, if you say it was not Halligan, I'll take your word for it. A little later in the film he and another man are identified as Bill Halligan and someone else, whose name I did not catch. I assume if you actualy know what Halligan looked like (I don't) you can tell them apart and if you are careful at listening for names, you can figure it out. I'm going a vague memory here, but one of the fellows did look like Bill Halligan who 10 years later was often pictured in Hallicrafter's ads. I remember he had a two letter suffix in his call and for some reason I thought it was W9AN. Someone with a 1950's QST might be able to see the ads. I believe that Bill Halligan is the fellow who appears at minute 5:30 or so of part one of the film and I think he is the fellow on the left with the rimless glasses. Notice how spartan his executive office is. Two letter suffixes were extremely rare in those days. You had to be licensed before WW I to get one. There was no country prefix at the start. I had two mentors in the mid 50's when I was a young teen with my first license. They told me that right after WW 1 their calls were 9GI and 9AOF. The guy with the two lettter suffix got his before the war, the guy with the three letter suffix got his immediatiately after WW I and always thought he should have had a two letter suffix. W9GI was the only two letter suffix in our town. He was an old marine telegrapher on the Great Lakes ore carriers and car ferries. The "W" was added later to US calls (and the "K's" came in the 50's ...I was first K9CAH in 1956 and callsigns were done in alphabetic order at that time. "N" and "A" suffixes came later. Of course, the scene with the ham operating at the beginning had to have been a simulation as there was no ham radio during WW II, the hams were forced off the air. The same thing happened in WW I. I doubt anyone with an original two letter suffix is alive anymore. The few I knew then were very old men in the 50's/60's. Those with two letter suffixes who have them now started to get them in the mid-late 1970s. At first you could get one if you held an Amateur Extra and had been licensed for 20 years. The first group to get the two letter option at that time were those who held the Extra before incentive licensing came to be in the late 60's (they were very few in number) Then it got phased in by according to when you got your Extra and had the 20 years in. I was in that 2nd batch. Later the whole thing became a part of a "vanity" callsign program. I got my two letter suffix in 1977 right after I crossed the 20 year mark (I was licensed at age 13.) To the extent they were available you could request a callsign. I got my own initials though that call was actually my third choice. My first radio was a Hallicrafters S-38D which my folks bought for me (rather cluelessly) while I was awaiting my license (It took about 3-4 months for a license to come through after one took an exam back then,) The S-38 family was really just a consumer shortwave listening radio and I'd be hard pressed to think of a radio less suitable for two way communcations. Nevertheless, I did muddle through for one year with that radio for a year and probably developed great skill in selective listening to sort out signals on the novice bands which were very crowded then. I worked quite a bit of stateside stations, probably 20 states with that receiver and a heath AT-1 trasmitter, rated at 25 watts INPUT, but actually putting out only about 7 watts. We were QRP before there was QRP. By the next Christmas I had my General Class which was actually quite a feat for a 13 year old as the test required hand manipulation of algebraic formulae and I was a year shy of having any Algebra class. My high school shop teacher (W9ZKB -SK) tutored me through all this and I passed the first attempt. For a short while I was the youngest ham in Wisconsin. I got a Hammarlund HQ-100, one of the very first of those and had to wait about two months beyond Christmas for it to come in. I had by then a Viking Adventurer which was 50 watts in and about 25 out. It was all CW, I couldn't afford a phone rig at home. I operated a lot from my Junior High School where W9ZKB set up a spare rig of his in his drafting classroom. He let me operate there during his class when I had a study hall but I had to operate CW since I couldn't disturb his class. With that lack of phone access, I became a pretty dedicated CW op. I still am. Jon Teske W3JT |
Hallicrafter's Tour on Film
Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote:
Roger Basford wrote: I did try to ID the W9WZE operator in the clip - it's not Bill Halligan - any ideas? One suggestion I had was that he was one of the senior engineers working for the company. I didn't notice any date on the captions, so if that is a post-1941 film then the operating session would have surely been staged, as Ham Radio had shut down, so maybe it was done by using recordings of the other stations? Although the ham at the other end called him Bill, if you say it was not Halligan, I'll take your word for it. A little later in the film he and another man are identified as Bill Halligan and someone else, whose name I did not catch. I assume if you actualy know what Halligan looked like (I don't) you can tell them apart and if you are careful at listening for names, you can figure it out. BTW, did anyone notice the one serious flaw in their design? It was designed according to the film to work using standard 117 volt household electricity. A gasoline generator was included as an addon (a trailer) that provided it. AFAIK they were never used in combat in a place that had 117 volt AC power. I know that Europe had 220 or 240 volt power, what did the pacific areas have? Geoff. The SCR-299/399 were designed to run off 110VAC 60Hz. The PE-95 gas generator is a 10KW 110v-only unit. I, personally, have never seen a BC-610 running off 220v. In past discussions with my my Elmer, he explained that they had SCR-399's on Guam and Saipan and they all ran off either the PE-95 or "base power" which was 110v 60Hz. Although not a ham, he was the OIC of the Signal Detachment. Whether the '610 or the '299/'399 will actually run off 50HZ power, I do not know. The TM's would seem to indicate not. BTW, the Signal doctrine back then was not to plan to use, nor depend on, indigenous power sources. de K3HVG |
Hallicrafter's Tour on Film
AFAIK they were never used in combat in a place that had 117 volt AC power. I know that Europe had 220 or 240 volt power, what did the pacific areas have? Geoff. AFAIK they only used the generator as it was designed as a field station. There probably was no other power where they were usually operated. Just never meant to rely on shore power. I had heard that it was thought the electrocution hazard was too great to use 220. I used to have a 1kw AM/RTTY transmitter made for a later unit that ran on 117 also. Lotsa AMPS. The 10kw generator had a 4 cyl Jeep engine. |
Hallicrafter's Tour on Film
"K3HVG" wrote in message .. . The SCR-299/399 were designed to run off 110VAC 60Hz. The PE-95 gas generator is a 10KW 110v-only unit. I, personally, have never seen a BC-610 running off 220v. In past discussions with my my Elmer, he explained that they had SCR-399's on Guam and Saipan and they all ran off either the PE-95 or "base power" which was 110v 60Hz. Although not a ham, he was the OIC of the Signal Detachment. Whether the '610 or the '299/'399 will actually run off 50HZ power, I do not know. The TM's would seem to indicate not. BTW, the Signal doctrine back then was not to plan to use, nor depend on, indigenous power sources. de K3HVG Hi, I, and a couple of other British BC-610 owners run our TXs from 50Hz mains, in my case the domestic 230 V is stepped down to 110V using what is called a "site transformer" - designed for outdoor power tools. The only drawback I have noticed is the occasional loud rattling from the antenna relay when it is powered-up, presumably its AC solenoid coil prefers 60Hz. Running the whole TX off 220V would mean a swap of all power transformers and mains-powered relays in the equipment, so IMHO it's much better to use a step-down transformer of some sort to do the job and give additional shock protection. 73 de G3VKM |
Hallicrafter's Tour on Film
"Jon Teske" wrote in message ... I'm going a vague memory here, but one of the fellows did look like Bill Halligan who 10 years later was often pictured in Hallicrafter's ads. I remember he had a two letter suffix in his call and for some reason I thought it was W9AN. See www.geocities.com/w8jyz/W9AC.pdf |
Hallicrafter's Tour on Film
K3HVG wrote:
The SCR-299/399 were designed to run off 110VAC 60Hz. The PE-95 gas generator is a 10KW 110v-only unit. I, personally, have never seen a BC-610 running off 220v. In past discussions with my my Elmer, he explained that they had SCR-399's on Guam and Saipan and they all ran off either the PE-95 or "base power" which was 110v 60Hz. Although not a ham, he was the OIC of the Signal Detachment. Whether the '610 or the '299/'399 will actually run off 50HZ power, I do not know. The TM's would seem to indicate not. BTW, the Signal doctrine back then was not to plan to use, nor depend on, indigenous power sources. If you go onto an American military base in Germany today, you'll still see Edison outlets at 110V. Americans have always carried our power with us wherever we have gone. --scott -- "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis." |
Hallicrafter's Tour on Film
Scott Dorsey wrote in :
K3HVG wrote: The SCR-299/399 were designed to run off 110VAC 60Hz. The PE-95 gas generator is a 10KW 110v-only unit. I, personally, have never seen a BC-610 running off 220v. In past discussions with my my Elmer, he explained that they had SCR-399's on Guam and Saipan and they all ran off either the PE-95 or "base power" which was 110v 60Hz. Although not a ham, he was the OIC of the Signal Detachment. Whether the '610 or the '299/'399 will actually run off 50HZ power, I do not know. The TM's would seem to indicate not. BTW, the Signal doctrine back then was not to plan to use, nor depend on, indigenous power sources. If you go onto an American military base in Germany today, you'll still see Edison outlets at 110V. Americans have always carried our power with us wherever we have gone. What He Said, regarding bases in ROK, RVN, Thailand, Japan, and other places I was stationed. We USAF types always take at least one Power Production type and something to generate 117 (or so) VAC or "220" (usually 230-240 VAC) at 60 Hz, unless we're out in the boonies and running off batteries. For the heavy-duty stuff, we always had 480 VAC 3-phase (wye or delta, depending) at 60-Hz. -- It typically takes 25-30 gallons of petrol/diesel to fully-consume an average-sized body under ideal conditions. That I am conversant with this level of detail should serve as an indication of why the wise man does not ask me questions about MS-Windows. --Tanuki the Raccoon-dog |
Hallicrafter's Tour on Film
Roger Basford Roger at new-gate dot co dot uk wrote:
I, and a couple of other British BC-610 owners run our TXs from 50Hz mains, in my case the domestic 230 V is stepped down to 110V using what is called a "site transformer" - designed for outdoor power tools. The only drawback I have noticed is the occasional loud rattling from the antenna relay when it is powered-up, presumably its AC solenoid coil prefers 60Hz. Running the whole TX off 220V would mean a swap of all power transformers and mains-powered relays in the equipment, so IMHO it's much better to use a step-down transformer of some sort to do the job and give additional shock protection. Note that most of those construction site transformers are actually autotransformers and don't give any real isolation. But it's true that a shock at 110V is less nasty than a shock at 220V. I'd tend to suggest real isolation transformers with electrostatic shielding, if only because it prevents RF from getting onto your power line grounding system and causing interference issues and a changed antenna pattern. --scott -- "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis." |
Hallicrafter's Tour on Film
Scott Dorsey wrote:
If you go onto an American military base in Germany today, you'll still see Edison outlets at 110V. Americans have always carried our power with us wherever we have gone. But in the summer of 1944, you would not have found any (110 volt power or US bases) in Europe. The whole point of the unit was to be a portable radio station, not something you had to build a base around. The cost of a "universal" power supply would not have been that much higher. Geoff. -- Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM |
Hallicrafter's Tour on Film
Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote:
Scott Dorsey wrote: If you go onto an American military base in Germany today, you'll still see Edison outlets at 110V. Americans have always carried our power with us wherever we have gone. But in the summer of 1944, you would not have found any (110 volt power or US bases) in Europe. The whole point of the unit was to be a portable radio station, not something you had to build a base around. I thought France was still on 110 in those days. I've restored some French sets both pre and post war, some I think were 110 only. -Bill |
Hallicrafter's Tour on Film
Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote:
Scott Dorsey wrote: If you go onto an American military base in Germany today, you'll still see Edison outlets at 110V. Americans have always carried our power with us wherever we have gone. But in the summer of 1944, you would not have found any (110 volt power or US bases) in Europe. The whole point of the unit was to be a portable radio station, not something you had to build a base around. Sure you would have! Wherever you have an SCR-299, a tent, and an infantryman, there you have a military base. The cost of a "universal" power supply would not have been that much higher. True, but not all that useful if you're carrying around a generator anyway. --scott -- "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis." |
Hallicrafter's Tour on Film
Bill M wrote:
Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote: Scott Dorsey wrote: If you go onto an American military base in Germany today, you'll still see Edison outlets at 110V. Americans have always carried our power with us wherever we have gone. But in the summer of 1944, you would not have found any (110 volt power or US bases) in Europe. The whole point of the unit was to be a portable radio station, not something you had to build a base around. I thought France was still on 110 in those days. I've restored some French sets both pre and post war, some I think were 110 only. France was spotty, with some places being 110 and other places being 220 and a few places having weird line frequencies too. This led to a legacy of lots of weird incompatible light bulb bases too, which the EU is only finally getting cleaned up. Remember, this was an era when there were no large scale power grids, and individual cities had their own generating plant and their own standards. Well, Germany started to have a grid, but we took it out.... --scott -- "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis." |
Hallicrafter's Tour on Film
"Scott Dorsey" wrote in message ... Bill M wrote: Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote: Scott Dorsey wrote: If you go onto an American military base in Germany today, you'll still see Edison outlets at 110V. Americans have always carried our power with us wherever we have gone. But in the summer of 1944, you would not have found any (110 volt power or US bases) in Europe. The whole point of the unit was to be a portable radio station, not something you had to build a base around. I thought France was still on 110 in those days. I've restored some French sets both pre and post war, some I think were 110 only. France was spotty, with some places being 110 and other places being 220 and a few places having weird line frequencies too. This led to a legacy of lots of weird incompatible light bulb bases too, which the EU is only finally getting cleaned up. Remember, this was an era when there were no large scale power grids, and individual cities had their own generating plant and their own standards. Well, Germany started to have a grid, but we took it out.... --scott -- "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis." FWIW, the third edition of _Reference Data for Radio Engineers_ dated 1949 shows France has having DC power at 110, 120, 125, 220 volts and AC at 110, 115, 120, 125, 220, 230 volts and both 50hz and 25hz. It indicates that the predominant power was 110 or 115 VAC at 50hz. A this time power frequencies of 25hz, 40hz, 42hz, 43hz, 45hz, 100hz (Malta) could be found in various parts of the world. 50hz has always been the most common power frequency in Europe and 60Hz in the USA and Canada. 25hz is used for industrial purposes, particularly for electric railways because core losses are lower in motors and transformers (less heat dissipated). I have no idea of the origin of the 40hz series. Power voltages and frequencies in "third world" countries usually follows the preferences of the countries that colonized them. In the Los Angeles area until about the mid 1950's one could find both 50hz and 60hz power. The city, which is supplied by the publicly owned Department of Water and Power was 60Hz, the outlying areas not incorporated into the city mostly got their power from Southern California Edision which was mostly 50Hz. I remember seeing hydro-electric generators at the old St. Francis power station that were originally 50Hz but were run overspeed to generate 60hz. These survived the St. Francis dam collapse and subsequent flood. -- -- Richard Knoppow Los Angeles WB6KBL |
Hallicrafter's Tour on Film [25 Hz power]
"Richard Knoppow" wrote in message
... 25hz is used for industrial purposes, particularly for electric railways because core losses are lower in motors and transformers (less heat dissipated). Richard, I believe the real reason for 25 Hz power near Niagara Falls was the large number of chlor-alkali plants in the area. The Castner Electrolytic Alkali Company began operation at Niagara Falls in 1897. Eventually this became the Olin Niachlor plant. Chlor-alkali plants are a major consumer of electricity, and it was plentiful and cheap at Niagara Falls. Other companies in the same area with chlor-alkali plants are DuPont and Hooker (later to be Occidental Chemical). The reason for using 25 Hz AC is related to the need for high current DC for use in the process. In the early days, mechanical (rotary) rectifiers were used to convert the AC to DC. Essentially a synchronous motor was used to turn large disks broken into sections. AC was fed to these disks. Brushes would rub on the disk producing a unipolar output. Operating at 1500 RPM this system was quite efficient. But at 50 or 60 Hz, rotating the disks at 3000 or 3600 RPM, the efficiency was less (the off time, essentially the insulating space between the disk sections, became a larger portion of the total period) and the brushes wore out faster. Operating at lower frequencies would have been even more efficient but transformer size became excessive. Unfortunately the early electrolytic cells used mercury for one electrode leading to a major pollution problem. You might recognize the name Hooker Chemical from their waste being dumped in the Love Canal. 73, Dr. Barry L. Ornitz WA4VZQ |
Hallicrafter's Tour on Film
On Wed, 8 Apr 2009 09:39:03 +0100, "Roger Basford" Roger at new-gate
dot co dot uk wrote: "Jon Teske" wrote in message .. . I'm going a vague memory here, but one of the fellows did look like Bill Halligan who 10 years later was often pictured in Hallicrafter's ads. I remember he had a two letter suffix in his call and for some reason I thought it was W9AN. See www.geocities.com/w8jyz/W9AC.pdf Thanks Roger for that link. I wonder how he pulled off that two letter call suffix having had a three letter one before. That must have been quite rare or perhaps some sort of "reward" for his WW II engineering service. I have no idea how that worked in those days. By the time I got into radio (1956 as a teen) two letter suffixes were VERY rare in the US until they became available as a sort of reward for having the Extra Class and a certain amount of longevity. Later they became available as a "vanity" program in conjuction with holding certain classes of license. 1X2 calls don't seem to become available very often now. Allowing for changes in eyeglasses and a bit of aging, it does appear that the fellow pictured in your link is the same guy I think was Halligan in the movie. I knew one fellow who had worked with him during the war and he said that Bill Halligan was a real gentleman and a brilliant engineer. Jon Teske, W3JT |
Hallicrafter's Tour on Film [25 Hz power]
On Wed, 8 Apr 2009 21:26:07 -0400, "Phred" wrote:
"Richard Knoppow" wrote in message ... 25hz is used for industrial purposes, particularly for electric railways because core losses are lower in motors and transformers (less heat dissipated). Richard, I believe the real reason for 25 Hz power near Niagara Falls was the large number of chlor-alkali plants in the area. The Castner Electrolytic Alkali Company began operation at Niagara Falls in 1897. Eventually this became the Olin Niachlor plant. Chlor-alkali plants are a major consumer of electricity, and it was plentiful and cheap at Niagara Falls. Other companies in the same area with chlor-alkali plants are DuPont and Hooker (later to be Occidental Chemical). The reason for using 25 Hz AC is related to the need for high current DC for use in the process. In the early days, mechanical (rotary) rectifiers were used to convert the AC to DC. Essentially a synchronous motor was used to turn large disks broken into sections. AC was fed to these disks. Brushes would rub on the disk producing a unipolar output. Operating at 1500 RPM this system was quite efficient. But at 50 or 60 Hz, rotating the disks at 3000 or 3600 RPM, the efficiency was less (the off time, essentially the insulating space between the disk sections, became a larger portion of the total period) and the brushes wore out faster. Operating at lower frequencies would have been even more efficient but transformer size became excessive. Unfortunately the early electrolytic cells used mercury for one electrode leading to a major pollution problem. You might recognize the name Hooker Chemical from their waste being dumped in the Love Canal. 73, Dr. Barry L. Ornitz WA4VZQ I vaguely remember my father (an electrician) telling me that power at the very beginning of WW II in the Gary Indiana area was 25 Hz. Does anyone know anything about that? Would the presence of steel mills and other heavy industry have anything to do with it. I have no reason to doubt what my father had said (but I can't ask him anymore.) Were there other places in the US that had non standard Hz. Also I'd be interested in knowing when 60 Hz became the US standard and why? The Gary, Hammond, East Chicago area and Southern parts of nearby Chicago is, of course, one of the more heavily industrialized areas in the US, or at least it was in the first half of the 20th century. Gary (which happens to be my birthplace though I only lived there 10 weeks, at the beginning of WW II) was founded specifically as a "Company Town" in 1906 for US Steel and is named for an early president of the company. Jon Teske, W3JT [And as I found out on the only visit I ever made to Gary aside from bypassing it on the tollways when I stopped to get an Indiana Birth Certificate, my claim to fame is that I was born in the same hospital as the Jackson family kids...Michael, Janet, Tito etc. Sheesh! ] |
Hallicrafter's Tour on Film
Anybody notice any audio-video sync problems in the MP4
version? I tried two different players and the track was way off. I'm going to download the MPeg2 version and see how that plays... Jim On Sat, 4 Apr 2009 18:30:48 -0700, "Richard Knoppow" wrote: I found a tour of the Hallicrafter's plant on line. This is a WW-2 propaganda film, dated 1944 and titled "Voice of Victory". In two parts at http://www.archive.org It has considerable detail on the construction of the BC-610 and shows some other products in somewhat less detail. |
Hallicrafter's Tour on Film
"Jim" wrote in message ... Anybody notice any audio-video sync problems in the MP4 version? I tried two different players and the track was way off. So is my Verizon Fiber TV box running my NTSC TV. Paul P. |
Hallicrafter's Tour on Film
Jim wrote:
Anybody notice any audio-video sync problems in the MP4 version? I tried two different players and the track was way off. How can you tell? From what I remembered and a quick review, the only place there could be synchronized sound is at the begining with the ham who was later identifed as the chief engineer of Halicrafters (Samuelson) "on the air" and the speech at the end of the second part by the head of the Signal Corps. They were both fine with my playing them using QuickTime player and VLC under MacOS. Geoff. -- Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM |
Hallicrafter's Tour on Film
http://library.duke.edu/digitalcolle...R0111-lrg.jpeg
Looks like their letterhead circa 1945. Geoff. -- Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM |
Hallicrafter's Tour on Film
"Geoffrey S. Mendelson" wrote in message ... http://library.duke.edu/digitalcolle...R0111-lrg.jpeg Looks like their letterhead circa 1945. Geoff. -- Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM Sure does look like a letterhead although letterheads usually also have phone numbers and cable addresses on them. There is a copyright notice below the word "radio" indicating 1945 and the pictures feature the mobile radio station from the movie (forgot the SCR number) with an E for Efficiency banner, also the SX-28, probably the best known H product of the time. I wonder what the original source was. -- Richard Knoppow Los Angeles WB6KBL |
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