News Highlights
October 1972 Popular Electronics

October 1972 Popular Electronics

October 1972 Popular Electronics Cover - RF CafeTable of Contents

Wax nostalgic about and learn from the history of early electronics. See articles from Popular Electronics, published October 1954 - April 1985. All copyrights are hereby acknowledged.

RF Cafe regulars know that the website's slogan of "Serving a Thoughtful Blend of Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow" is a very accurate description of the information presented on a daily basis. Having always been a firm believer that being aware of the people and events that brought us to where we are today is essential to forging paths towards tomorrow's successes, I take care to review and excerpt relevant historical passages from vintage newspapers, books, magazines, and videos. Some of the most interesting reads are noting historical perspectives from writers at a time that to us, today, is historical. Some of these "News Highlights" from a 1972 issue of Popular Electronics magazine are an example. The first item celebrates the 10-year anniversary of American satellite communications with the launching of the Telstar satellite. As of this writing, that article is 47 years old. Satellites are such a commodity today that CubeSats can be placed in orbit for a few thousand dollars.

News Highlights

News Highlights, October 1972 Popular Electronics - RF Cafe

Communications Satellite Has Tenth Birthday

Over ten years ago (on July 10, 1962) a small satellite was lifted into space, carrying with it the beginnings of a new era in communications. Dubbed the Telstar satellite, it set the stage for the future by conveying the first television broadcast between the United States and Europe. The historic telecast featured the Stars and Stripes rippling gently in front of the satellite's earth station in Andover, Maine. The inaugural program also included the first telephone call beamed through the satellite. The Telstar project, designed, built and paid for by the Bell System, is credited with making a significant contribution to today's international communications technology. Since Telstar, NASA has launched communications satellites Relay 1 and 2, Syncom 1, 2, and 3, and Intelsat I through IV. The latest communications satellite, launched June 13, can carry 5000 to 6000 two-way telephone conversations and will add 12 TV channels to the 48 now available between the U.S. and other nations. That's 12 to 20 times the capacity of Telstar 1.

RCA Institutes' Course Awarded Degree Status

The N.Y. State Board of Regents has authorized RCA Institutes to confer the degree of Associate in Occupational Studies (AOS) to students completing the school's Electronics Technology Program. This is a 2-year college level engineering technology course which stresses communications and computer technology. After completing the program, a student is qualified as an engineering technician. In addition to the new degree status, the program is accredited by the Engineers' Council for Professional Development. Credit for the course is also given at many colleges and universities.

N.Y. to Replace Fire Boxes with Citizens Alarms

The City of New York has awarded a $5-million contract to North American Philips for expansion of a two-way voice communications system linking the man in the street instantly with either the police or fire departments. Under the contract, 2900 of the new street-corner call boxes and related central equipment will be added to the 200 units the city has tested for the past year. This is the initial step in a planned five-year program to replace all of the city's 15,000 aging fire-alarm boxes with the new citizen's alarm system. The two-way voice communications feature enables the exact location and nature of an emergency to be reported instantly and the appropriate response to be made by the police or fire department.

Color TV Set Sales Are up 21 Percent

U.S. manufacturer sales to dealers of both color and monochrome TV sets were up in the first half of 1972 over sales in the same period in 1971, according to the Electronic Industries Assn. Sales of color TV sets to dealers, the industry's major product, were up 21.1 percent for the first six months. Monochrome TV set sales to dealers were up 9.1 percent over last year. Total TV set sales to dealers were 5,373,776 units for the first six months, which is up 1.5.5 percent from last year. Radio sales to dealers were down 4.2 percent and phonograph sales were down 9.1 percent compared to last year.

More Consumer Demands for Service Technicians

Consumer demands will increasingly focus on the service industry, predicted Garth J. Heisig, director of consumer affairs for the consumer products division of Motorola Inc. He advised TV service technicians at an Atlantic City convention that they should be ready for it. He said there are estimates that within 10 years a family will spend 15 percent or more of its income just for servicing the products it owns.

Electronic Editing at Democratic and Republican Conventions

Editors of United Press International at the Democratic convention are the world's first newsmen to use electronic editing devices to report on-the-spot events. Video display terminals, made by Harris-Intertype, were used to generate and edit convention copy and to monitor the national newswire. Stories were typed on the terminal keyboard at Miami Beach and immediately dispatched to New York. Then information could be held in the computer memory or moved immediately on the newswire to UPI clients. The terminals display 50 lines of text at a time on a CRT screen. As the editor makes corrections, deletions, or additions on the keyboard, lines automatically adjust themselves and revised copy appears instantly. Copy is displayed in upper and lower-case characters, and is easily read in a normally lighted room.

Motorola Versus Learjet on Tape Cartridge Patents

Some months ago, Motorola, one of the pioneers in the early development of cartridge-type magnetic tape players, filed a declaratory judgment action in the Federal District Court in Wilmington, Del., against Gates Learjet Corp. Motorola asked that the court declare four patents owned by Gates Learjet which pertain to the cartridge-type magnetic tape players be declared invalid and non-infringed by Motorola players. A few weeks afterward, Gates Rubber Co., which claims to have obtained title to the Learjet patents, brought a patent infringement suit against Motorola involving the same four patents.

CBS Labs Veep Honored by Audio Group

Ben Bauer, Vice President of the Acoustics and Magnetics Dept. of CBS Labs, has been honored by the Audio Engineering Society. The AES Board of Governors has conferred on him an Honorary Membership for productive innovation and leadership on the frontiers of audio technology. Bauer led the technical team that developed the SQ quadraphonic disc system.

Radiation-Producing Electronic Products Modified by Manufacturers

More than 34,000 radiation-producing electronic products were modified by manufacturers last year as a result of Food and Drug Administration efforts to reduce radiation exposure from electronic equipment. Twenty-two electronic product manufacturers took corrective actions. These actions involved about 15,000 television sets, 35 TV projection devices, 100 TV monitors, 11,000 microwave ovens, 8000 medical diagnostic X-ray machines, and 200 X-ray diffraction and spectrographic units. In addition, four TV receiver manufacturers were involved in compliance actions last year. Tube replacements and improved picture tube shielding corrected the problems in all cases.

 

 

Posted October 9, 2019