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Carl & Jerry: Little "Bug" with Big Ears
January 1959 Popular Electronics

January 1959 Popular Electronics

January 1959 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.

This is the most intense episode of John Frye's "Carl & Jerry" series I can remember (see list at page bottom). It appeared in the January 1959 issue of Popular Electronics magazine. There have been many adventures both before and after this one where the electronics-obsessed teenagers assisted local police and firefighters, and even a Fed or two occasionally. Usually, they are called upon to find hidden evidence, track bad guys, listen in on their phone or radio conversions, and other missions requiring high-tech methods. Other times they stumble into involvement. In The Little "Bug" with Big Ears," a girl has been kidnapped and the perp threatens to rub her out if ransom is not paid and/or if the flat foots are called in (a little vintage P.I. lingo thrown in there for effect). The drama level amps up when the receiver suddenly stops working on the way to the stakeout scene. Enjoy!

Carl & Jerry: TV Antennas

Carl & Jerry: Little "Bug" with Big Ears, January 1959 Popular Electronics - RF CafeBy John T. Frye

Chief of police Morton sat on the worn leather couch in Carl and Jerry's basement laboratory, nervously sliding the rim of his hat through his fingers.

"We've had a kidnapping here," he said. "At first the parents asked us to help, but after they were contacted by the kidnappers, they clammed up. Now they beg us to stay clear away from them and to keep the story out of the newspapers. We know they've received threats that their little girl will be killed if the police are called in. "We've got no choice but to follow their wishes, at least on the surface; but we're determined not to let the hoodlums get away with it. Actually, we know from experience the child is more likely to be harmed with us out of the case; furthermore, if those kidnappers get away with it this time, they'll do it again. We've got to nab them now."

"Where do we come in?" Carl asked.

"Well, we know that the father of the little girl is to contact the kidnappers from a public phone at one o'clock tomorrow morning. We got this from a maid who happened to overhear the first contact on an extension phone. We want to hear what is said in that contact tomorrow. Even more important, we want to know the number called in time to put a tail on the kidnapper before he can slip away from the public telephone he will undoubtedly use to take the call."

"Hm-m-m-m, I see the problem," Jerry said slowly. "You want to 'bug' the telephone the father will use, but you have no way of knowing in advance what telephone that will be."

"Exactly. I know it sounds impossible, but I was just hoping you boys-"

"It's not impossible," Jerry interrupted, "but I wish we had more time. I guess we'll have to use an inductive type bug. This is really just a large inductance placed somewhere near the telephone induction coil. The field about that coil induces faint currents in our inductance that can be amplified until they are audible."

"What do you mean by 'near?' " the chief asked.

"Well, a large coil is supposed to be able to pick up conversations ten feet from the telephone; but I'll feel safer if we can place our bug five or six feet away."

"Do you have such an inductance?"

"Nope, but Carl and I can make one in shop class at school this afternoon. Really it's just a couple of pounds of very fine wire, say #40, wound on an iron core. This inductance could feed an amplifier-modulator that would modulate a small transmitter. That would allow the gadget to be placed near the telephone without any wires going to it. We could listen some distance away. The only trick is to place the bug close to the telephone the parent uses without arousing his suspicion or the suspicion of anyone watching him."

"Yeah," the police chief agreed. "We must tail the parent from the time he leaves home and be ready to plant the bug fast when he stops at a telephone. Who can be moving around the empty streets at one o'clock in the morning without arousing suspicion?"

"A milkman!" Carl blurted.

"Say, you've got something! We'll follow him with a milk truck."

"And we'll conceal the induction pickup and the little transmitter in a couple of empty cardboard milk cartons," Jerry said with mounting enthusiasm. "Somehow the policeman posing as a milkman will manage to place these cartons near the telephone being used. We'll be inside the truck with a receiver."

"And I'll have a portable two-way transmitter-receiver to contact headquarters the instant we decipher the number called from the dial clicks. The telephone company will be alerted to give us the location of that number at once. That will allow us to have a squad car there in a minute or so. A plainclothesman can follow the fellow making the call."

"Well, we better get going," Carl said impatiently. "We already have a complete miniature-tube transmitter we can use, but we still have to make the pickup coil and mount the whole business in the empty cardboard milk cartons. What will we use for a receiver?"

"We've got a sensitive battery portable down at the station that will be fine for that," Chief Morton said. "I assume you'll have the little transmitter working at the end of the broadcast band."

...They wound a full three pounds of wire on the coil. This took up one milk carton by itself...

"Right," Jerry answered. "And be sure the milk truck has the ignition noise suppressed. The motor will be running while we're listening. Better have the telephone company show us how to decipher the number called from the clicks. We can have our equipment ready right after supper." "Fine. The milk truck will pick you up around eight and take you down to the station."

The day really flew for the boys. Winding the coil was an easy matter with the aid of a lathe in the high school machine shop. For good measure they wound a full three pounds of wire on the coil. As Jerry explained, the extra turns not only increased the pickup efficiency but they also provided a better match to the high-impedance input of the amplifier. This coil took up one milk carton all by itself. The very compact amplifier-modulator-transmitter, using miniature hearing aid tubes, was mounted in another carton together with its batteries.

The milk truck picked them up right at eight as promised. When they rolled into the police station garage, they found Chief Morton and a man from the telephone company. The battery-powered receiver was placed inside the milk truck and connected to an antenna strung underneath the chassis of the truck. The metal truck body made the receiver's loop useless, but the set had special provision for an external antenna.

The milk carton "bug" was placed near the garage telephone, and the boys and the chief listened while the telephone was dialed. Every click could be heard plainly. When the desk sergeant answered the call, both sides of the conversation could be heard clearly though faintly. Tests proved best results were had when the induction coil was in an upright position not more than eight feet from the wall telephone.

The telephone man showed them how to figure out the number called from the clicks heard. The only difficulty was in counting the rapidly occurring clicks, but a little practice solved that. All this took a surprising amount of time, and before they knew it the clock indicated twelve-fifteen.

"We better be starting," Chief Morton said. "We have a stakeout at the child's home, of course, but I want to be able to follow the father with the truck."

The chief and the two boys settled down in the back of the truck as the policeman, disguised as a milkman, rolled it out of the garage. Jerry idly tuned the receiver as they moved along the cold, deserted streets. Suddenly he muttered under his breath and bumped the receiver with the heel of his hand. "We're in trouble!" he announced; "this set has suddenly gone dead."

"Can we get another receiver?" the Chief asked.

"No time for that. Not one in a hundred would tune down to the crystal frequency of the transmitter. On top of that it must have external antenna facilities. Somehow, we've got to fix this one fast."

"Well, fix it!" Chief Morton exclaimed. "You're a radio man."

"It's not that easy. Without test instruments, I'm helpless. I can't really see, hear taste, smell, or feel electricity in the ordinary sense. I've got to have my test equipment to know if electricity is present and how much and what kind. Have the driver stop at my house."

The truck slid to a halt in the alley, and Jerry bolted into the basement laboratory. He grabbed up a handful of tubes, his VOM, resistor and capacitor substitution boxes, tools, and some clip leads. As soon as he leaped into the truck, it started on its way. While Carl held a flashlight, Jerry quickly removed the receiver from its case. One by one he substituted new tubes with no result. "Didn't think it was a tube," he muttered as he plugged test leads into the volt-ohmmeter. Rapidly he began a methodic check of the tube socket voltages.

"Oh, ho!" he suddenly exclaimed; "no screen voltage on this i.f. stage." He moved his red test lead to the other side of the screen dropping resistor, and the meter pointer swung over. A snip of his diagonal cutters freed one end of the shorted screen bypass capacitor. Instantly the receiver broke into a loud howl. Frantically Jerry plugged leads into the capacitor substitution box and connected the clip ends of the leads to where the bypass capacitor had been connected. As he turned the knob on the box, the receiver gave forth with broadcast music in normal fashion.

Dark figure of the man walking briskly along the sidewalk - RF Cafe

...The boys could see the dark figure of the man walking briskly along the sidewalk...

"Whew!" he exclaimed. "We'll just use it this way."

"And not a second too soon," the driver exclaimed. "There's our man just coming out of the house."

"Must not be going far," Chief Morton exclaimed. "It's only fifteen minutes until he is supposed to call. Stay well back. It looks as though he's going to walk."

Peeking over the shoulder of the driver, the boys could see the dark figure of the man walking briskly along the sidewalk. The truck driver stopped at the curb every now and then to deposit a bottle of milk on a door stoop.

"He's going to call from the booth on the next corner," Chief Morton said. "It's got to he the one; he only has a minute to go."

According to plan, the driver speeded up and passed the rapidly walking man and pulled to the curb just short of the phone booth on the corner. He stepped out of the truck with a wire carrier of milk cartons in each hand. He set one carrier carelessly down on the walk beside the booth as he started up a nearby flight of stairs with the other. The approaching man paid no attention to him but stepped into the booth and closed the door.

Inside the truck three people held their breath as they listened to the clicks coming from the receiver. "Fleetwood 4-0351," Jerry whispered. The other two nodded confirmation, and the chief spoke rapidly but quietly into the mike of his portable transmitter. Then they listened to the conversation in which the parent was given instructions as to how to deliver the ransom. The conversation closed with a horrible threat as to what would be done to the little girl if the police were called in.

As soon as the man left the phone booth, the driver returned and picked up the milk cartons beside the booth and made a pretense of delivering them up another stairway. Then he returned to the truck and drove rapidly back to the police station.

They were greeted by a grinning desk sergeant : "Great work, Chief! Benny got there before the kidnapper quit talking. He tailed him to an apartment five minutes away. We closed in according to your plan and took them without a shot. The little girl is perfectly all right-not even scared. A squad car is taking her home right now."

"Well, boys," Chief Morton declared, "you've done it again. What can I say?"

"Skip it!" Carl said gruffly. "It was fun. But I'm starving. Could I have a bottle of that chocolate milk in the truck?"

"You sure can," Chief Morton said; "you sure can!"

Carl & Jerry, by John T. Frye

Carl & Jerry, by John T. Frye - RF Cafe

Carl and Jerry Frye were fictional characters in a series of short stories that were published in Popular Electronics magazine from the late 1950s to the early 1970s. The stories were written by John T. Frye, who used the pseudonym "John T. Carroll," and they followed the adventures of two teenage boys, Carl Anderson and Jerry Bishop, who were interested in electronics and amateur radio.

In each story, Carl and Jerry would encounter a problem or challenge related to electronics, and they would use their knowledge and ingenuity to solve it. The stories were notable for their accurate descriptions of electronic circuits and devices, and they were popular with both amateur radio enthusiasts and young people interested in science and technology.

The Carl and Jerry stories were also notable for their emphasis on safety and responsible behavior when working with electronics. Each story included a cautionary note reminding readers to follow proper procedures and safety guidelines when handling electronic equipment.

Although the Carl and Jerry stories were fictional, they were based on the experiences of the author and his own sons, who were also interested in electronics and amateur radio. The stories continue to be popular among amateur radio enthusiasts and electronics hobbyists, and they are considered an important part of the history of electronics and technology education.

Carl & Jerry Their Complete Adventures from Popular Electronics: 5 Volume Set - RF CafeCarl & Jerry: Their Complete Adventures is now available. "From 1954 through 1964, Popular Electronics published 119 adventures of Carl Anderson and Jerry Bishop, two teen boys with a passion for electronics and a knack for getting into and out of trouble with haywire lash-ups built in Jerry's basement. Better still, the boys explained how it all worked, and in doing so, launched countless young people into careers in science and technology. Now, for the first time ever, the full run of Carl and Jerry yarns by John T. Frye are available again, in five authorized anthologies that include the full text and all illustrations."

 

 

Posted December 6, 2019
(updated from original post on 3/6/2014)

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