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May 1947 Radio-Craft
 [Table of Contents]
Wax nostalgic about and learn from the history of early electronics.
See articles from Radio-Craft,
published 1929 - 1953. All copyrights are hereby acknowledged.
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A column entitled "Radio-Electronics
Monthly Review" appeared in each issue of Radio-Craft magazine. As now,
things were moving quickly at the time. With World War II recently ended,
a lot of the new technology developed to help beat back Nazism and Communism was
being transferred into peacetime uses. The May 1947 issue contained, amongst other
items, info regarding how radio servicemen were organizing efforts to get its ranks educated
on frequency modulation (FM) sets as amplitude modulation (AM) was being replaced
and/or supplemented with the new miracle noise-free broadcast systems. It also reported
that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) decided not to go forward with earlier plans
to tax television shows being displayed in public places. Attempts to tax the air
that you breathe are to this day still being worked on, though. The U.S.
Bureau of Standards (now NIST) announced adoption of international standards
of measure for certain electrical units. A standard color TV broadcast format was
still being decided upon, with a requirement that the new waveforms had to be compatible
with existing black and white (B&W) TV sets.
Radio-Electronics Monthly Review
 Radio Technicians of San Francisco
last month embarked on a plan of study designed to prepare them for the new world
of frequency modulation. Seventy members of Radio Division No. 1245 of the
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers registered for night school courses at Radio
KALW in the
Samuel Gompers Trade School, San Francisco. (see
Samuel Gompers)
The courses are being handled under a three-cornered cooperative arrangement
between the Board of Education, the union and the manufacturers of FM equipment.
Courses are being taught under the direction of Kenneth Nielsen, chief engineer
of KALW. Various manufacturers have pledged their assistance in making the studies
effective, and the General Electric Co. has supplied each student their FM instruction
booklet, as well as service notes applying to current G-E FM receivers.
 Vladimir K. Zworykin,
leading American television engineer, received two signal honors during the past
two months. The first, award of the Potts medal of the Franklin Institute, occurred
March 3. On March 7, RCA's president David Sarnoff announced that Zworykin had been
elected Vice President and technical consultant of the RCA Laboratories, where he
has done much of his important work.
Besides his achievements in the field of television and the electron micro-scope,
Dr. Zworykin has been interested in other branches of the electronic art, and during
the war directed research in the development of aircraft fire control, infrared
tubes for the sniperscope and snooperscope, television guided missiles and improvement
of radar systems. He is now directing work on an electronic calculator which he
believes may make possible accurate meteorological predictions and ultimate control
of weather.
Taxation on Television in public places will not be levied,
the Bureau of Internal Revenue announced last month, putting an end to earlier rumors.
Under the law, the tax applies to all establishments which provide entertainment
"other than instrumental or mechanical music." An answer of the Bureau to an inquiry
by a New Jersey collection official made it appear that television was therefore
considered taxable, but the Bureau later formally , stated that television is not
"live" entertainment and therefore not subject to tax.
 Electrical Unit Changes will be
introduced January 1, 1948, the
Bureau of Standards announces. The electrical units of the "international" system
will be superseded by those of the "absolute" system derived from the fundamental
mechanical units of length, mass and time. The changes will not be great enough
to be noticeable in most practical measurements, but will affect those of high precision.
The new values as compared with those now recognized by the United States are:
1 international ohm = 1.000495 absolute ohms
1 international volt = 1.00033 absolute volts
1 international ampere = 0.999835 absolute ampere
1 international coulomb = 0.999835 absolute coulomb
1 international henry = 1.000495 absolute henries
1 international farad = 0.999505 absolute farad
1 international watt = 1.000165 absolute watts
1 International joule = 1.000165 absolute joules
New units for the measurement of light will be introduced at the same time, according
to the Bureau of Standards.
 Color Television is not yet ready
for commercial exploitation, the Federal Communications Commission decided last
month. The FCC decision came after several hearings in - which Columbia Broadcasting
System led the proponents of immediate color television and RCA spoke for those
who believe color is not yet ready for the public. Both sides backed their arguments
with showings of color television. "The commission cannot escape the conclusion,"
the FCC said in a fourteen-page decision, "that many of the fundamentals of a color-television
system have not been adequately field-tested, and that need exists for further experimentation,"
Television broadcasters and manufacturers interpreted the ruling as giving a green
light to black-and-white television and some predicted that greatly expanded production
would result almost immediately.
Posted April 13, 2020
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