Radio age (Jan-Dec 1925)

RADIO AGE for June, 1925 The Magazine of the Hour 1 1 The Joys of W8&& Outdoor Radio By ARMSTRONG PERRY The set laid out and mounted on a board at the door of your tent. A string thrown over the limb of a tree holds the aerial, which runs from the set to the limb of the tree. Extreme simplicity is the keynote of this Summer-time outfit. ROUGHING it nowadays consists principally of seeing how many of our city comforts and conveniences we can lug to some locality where, because the trees have not all been cut nor complete sewage systems, water front developments and paving plans completed, city folks can huddle with enough change of scene to make a topic of conversation for the ensuing winter. The touring car of the Summer traveler carries more equipment and supplies than many a prairie schooner that was both home and transportation for a large family for several months in the pioneer days. Adventurous spirits read eagerly how Enos A. Mills spent days at a time on the summit of the Continental Divide in Winter with only a handful of raisins for food and no shelter at all except possibly his elk-skin sleeping bag, but Enos had to build log cabins with steam heat, hot and cold water and bath tubs in order to tempt said adventurous spirits to go out and have a look at the mountains that he loved. And we simply must have radio! Radio Easy to Handle TT IS easy enough to carry a radio -* outfit on any outing, long or short. It is risky to carry the home outfit, even if its bulk and weight are not too great, for cabinets and insulation designed for indoor use are likely to absorb enough moisture in the open on a rainy day to ruin the set. A better method is to improvise a rough and ready outfit that can be used without anxiety, because even if it should be damaged, the loss would not be great. Reduced to the minimum, a tube set consists of a single-wire aerial, one inductance coil, one variable condenser, one grid leak and condenser, one tube, one rheostat, one "A" battery, one "B" battery, a pair of phones and a ground connection. Amplifier units and a loud speaker can be added if desired. It is just as much fun to figure out how these devices can be mounted in the smallest space as it is to get out the old fishing rod, shellac the w-oodwork and oil the joints, but it is not necessary to mount them at all. Unmounted, they can be tucked away in the corners of a haverasck or traveling bag in which, ensemble, they would present a problem comparable to that of finding room for the things she forgot in the wife's trunk. The aerial wire can be of small size that will coil easily. A quarter-pound or half-pound spool of No. 20 or 22 is all right and it can be respooled in a minute after it is taken down. Insulators are necessary, but a length of twine soaked in oil will serve the purpose. Where there are trees the aerial can be elevated to a better height than the usual home aerial. It is not necessary to climb the trees unless a too inquisitive bull moose appears during the process of erection. A ball of chalk line and a plumb bob, or any piece of twine with a weight on the end, can be whirled like a sling to throw the weight over a high branch, after, which the wire can be hauled aloft at your leisure. Trees themselves have been used as aerials. ■There was a spasm of it in the early days of broadcasting. So there need be no undue anxiety over accidental contacts between wire and branches unless results at the receiver are poor. Assortment of Coils A50-turn honeycomb coil, mounted, costs only about one dollar, and its weight adds little to a pack. To insure a tuning range to suit all tastes, it is well to have a size or two on each side of this — say 35 turns and 75 turns. A single-coil mount is a convenience but is not indispensible. The plate type of variable condenser is easily injured, but the danger can