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March 1954 Radio-Electronics
 [Table of Contents]
Wax nostalgic about and learn from the history of early electronics.
See articles from Radio-Electronics,
published 1930-1988. All copyrights hereby acknowledged.
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 1954 was in middle of a time of many transitions
in the electronics world. Vacuum tubes were being replaced by semiconductors, point-to-point
wiring in chassis was giving way to printed circuit boards, FM was overtaking AM
as the preferred radio medium, and color TV was (for those who could afford it)
shoehorning itself into homes across America and the world. This article in
Radio-Electronics magazine has the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
extolling the many virtues of telecommunications. I have not been able to ascertain
whether it is a direct reprinting of an FCC publication or an excerpted section.
At the time, there were 600,000 licensed transmitters including commercial and amateur
radio operations. Interestingly, Industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) equipment
is mentioned, although nothing about an unlicensed band have been allocated yet.
600,000 U. S. Transmitters
... From the cradle to the grave-the role of radio and television ...
By the Federal Communications Commission
(The well-nigh incredible penetration of Radio and Television into every conceivable
human endeavor has now reached hitherto undreamed proportions. This summary of present
day radio and television uses, by the FCC, makes spectacular reading - Editor)
Radio usage extending from the cradle to the grave is encompassed in the flow
of applications to the Federal Communications Commission for new or extended radio
services.
There are existing radio facilities for calling and otherwise speeding doctors
to the homes of expectant mothers as well as other persons requiring medical assistance
in rural areas; and in the cities radio-equipped ambulances and other vehicles can
bring medical aid.
After the baby arrives, radio-equipped vehicles can deliver milk, pick up and
return diapers, and perform other chores in the interest of the newcomer.
Going to the other extreme, radio is being used for dispatching vehicles in connection
with the death and burial of the departed. This includes the movement of funeral
corteges at a number of large cemeteries.
The Commission's now more than 60 different classes of radio stations - which
hold over 250,000 authorizations covering the use of some 600,000 fixed and mobile
transmitters - represent a varied and rapidly expanding utilization of this instantaneous
communication medium.
The wide extent of the application of radio for communication purposes is indicated
here:
Public Communication - Domestic and international communication
by telephone and telegraph over radio facilities.
Public Safety - Radio aids to police, fire, highway and forestry
protection.
Transportation - Radio navigational, safety and communication
aids for ships and airplanes; radio dispatching for railroads, street car systems,
taxicabs, intercity buses, and highway trucks.
Industry - Radio communication to control and speed the movement
of personnel and material in the production and delivery process.
Entertainment - Programming by commercial AM, FM and TV broadcast
stations.
Education - Programming by noncommercial educational FM and
TV broadcast stations.
Experimentation - Use of radio in research, and for the development
of equipment and techniques.
The diversification of radio's uses is shown by the following miscellaneous examples:
To control city and highway traffic systems ... To direct movement of crews cleaning
city streets, water mains, etc. ... To expedite delivery of food, fuel, building
material, etc. ... To speed repair of home and business office fixtures and appliances
... To dispatch trucks to pick up garbage, dead animals, and other refuse ... To
route rural school buses ... To aid beach and other recreation area patrols ...
To contact workers on isolated ranches, etc. ... To direct the movement of machinery
on large farms ... To look for oil on land and under off-shore waters ... To spot
schools of fish from moving planes and radio their locations to fishing boats ...
To direct motion picture crews on location ... To aid bank and business protective
patrol systems ... To relay news between reporters on assignment and their newspaper
offices ... To control model airplanes, etc. ...
To send fingerprints and other information from one police department to another
... To time and photograph the finish of track-racing events.
To communicate between the engine and caboose of long freight trains; between
moving trains and wayside stations; and in yard operations ... To control railroad
track switches by the engineer on a moving train ... To pick up and deliver telegrams
by auto ... To relay telephone and telegraph messages, also TV programs ... To bridge
gaps in disrupted wire lines ... To transmit pictures and facsimile ... To control
crowds at large regattas, horse shows, golf matches, and other big outdoor events
... To transmit orders from "car hops" to kitchens of drive-in restaurants ... To
control movement of ships in harbors ...
To page doctors and other persons ... To determine the position of ships and
aircraft, also the proximity of objects ... To direct firefighters at the scene
of a blaze ... To enable garage and automobile associations to provide emergency
road service ... To send weather and market reports ... To supervise and control
valves, pressures and fluid levels along pipe lines ... To record sunspot cycles,
measure radio propagation, and study planetary reflection ...
Also, to provide emergency communication in time of local, regional and national
disaster.
Because of the "housing shortage" in the radio spectrum and the increasing demand
for available frequencies by recognized radio services, the Commission is unable
to allocate radio space for the exclusive use of - to quote one request - a machine
"to take the kinks out of woolly hair." However, electronic hair-removing apparatus
does function under rules which govern the technical operation of miscellaneous
radiation devices to prevent interference.
Though not used for communication purposes, there is growing use of appliances
which emit energy that can disrupt radio services - not only TV and aural broadcast
reception, but also services on which the safety of life and property depend. It
is significant that the collective power of this group now exceeds the total transmitter
power required for all forms of radio communication. Some of these units employ
power far in excess of the 50-kilowatt maximum permitted AM broadcast stations
Industrial, scientific and medical equipment employing radio-frequency energy
includes heaters for the quick drying of products used in the manufacturing process,
medical diathermy machines used for therapeutic purposes, welding outfits, etc.
Specific frequency bands are provided to absorb their radiations and so keep them
from straying into the regular communication channels.
Then there are restricted radiation devices, such as phonograph oscillators:
garage-door openers and other remote-control gadgets; electronic cook stoves which
heat food from the inside out; community antenna systems in areas of poor TV reception
which pick up programs and relay them by coaxial cable to the homes of subscribers;
and carrier current (closed-circuit) systems which use wire facilities to furnish
music, voice and signaling services. The technical operation of these things, too,
are subject to rules to guard against unlawful radiation.
Closed-circuit television operation, in particular is extending into many fields
and its possibilities appear to be without end. Present uses include: Demonstrating
survey and other medical techniques to doctors and students ... Instructing several
classes of a school or college at the same time ... Checking signatures, etc., between
branches of a bank ... Watching babies in large nurseries ... Guarding prisoners
in jails ... Relaying church concert entertainment and other programs to overflow
o~ supple~ mental audiences . . . Demonstrating new products to scattered groups
of salesmen ... Observing planes take off and land at airports ... Supervising freight
car movements ... Detecting unnecessary chimney smoke ... Checking documents in
different parts of a large filing system ... Serving industry as a robot eye to
follow production and handling processes - such as watching boiler water-level and
other gages from the main control room: detecting delays in the movement of material
and otherwise enabling supervisors to see into several places at the same time ...
"Kibitzing" dangerous operations from a safe distance - such as those involving
use of atomic energy, furnace combustion, detonation of explosives etc.
Posted April 28, 2022
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