Radio age research, manufacturing, communications, broadcasting, television (1941)

\ DEVELOPMENT MODEL OF INEXPENSIVE RADIO FREQUENCY CONVERTER WHICH ENABLES BLACK-AND-WHITE TELEVISION RECEIVERS TO REPRODUCE COLOR PRO- GRAMS IN MONOCHROME. color by color, is achieved. Thus, our scientists enabled RCA, the creator of all-electronic black-and- white television, also to create all- electronic color television which has been the dream of radio scien- tists from the beginning. The new RCA electronic color television system, which contributes to the television leadership of our country, will be available to the en- tire radio industry. The initial demonstration firmly established the basic principle; it will be fol- lowed in 1947 by the transmission and reception of color pictures in motion, then outdoor scenes and finally, in 1948, electronic color tele- vision on large-size theatre screens. At the same time that RCA dem- onstrated all-electronic color televi- sion, it announced a simple, inex- pensive and easily installed radio frequency converter which will en- able black-and-white television re- ceivers—even those of 1939 vintage —to receive in monochrome the pro- grams of color stations when in the future they take to the air on ultra- high frequencies. Thus, the problem of obsolescence in television has vanished. The public may enjoy the thrills of tele- vision, while scientists and engi- neers are exploring the high fre- quencies, building apparatus to study their behavior, field testing new instruments and laying the groundwork for commercial stand- ards and practical color television service. This is a big task. Our en- gineers estimate that it will require about four years to bring any sys- tem of color television to the pres- ent status of black-and-white all- electronic television. Sensitized by wartime research and development, television's elec- tronic eye now rivals the human eye in what it is able to see. Per- formance of the RCA Image Orthi- con television camera during 1946 greatly advanced the art and proved that television no longer needs bril- liant lighting; it can see whatever the eye can see in twilight, moon- light, candlelight, and even go a step further and see in "black light", or infra-red to which the human eye does not respond. Radio, which gave a world-wide voice to Peace and Freedom, now gives to them the added advantages of vision through space. With the scientific revelations of 1946 as the foundation, more and more people, more and more nations will extend their radio sight in 1947 and in the years to come. Those who witnessed the dawn of all-electronic color tele- vision beheld triumphant colors of progress •— a rainbow of promise that eventually will arch over a world-wide horizon. Radio-Electronic Triumphs While television portrays the ex- pansive pictures of baseball, foot- ball, prizefights and panoramas, the electron microscope — another tri- umph of radio science—continues to peer deeper into the unseen world of the infinitesimal. In 1946, at RCA Laboratories, this powerful aid to man's eye carried his vision into the submicroscopic domain, where tiny cells grow, where bac- teria and the virus dwell, no longer hidden from view. Thus, man through science in 1946 greatly extended the range of his vision. The same radio science, which by the miracle of radar flashed a signal to the moon and echoed it back across 240,000 miles in two seconds, also caters to the eye and promises great new services for people everywhere — new serv- ices in entertainment and educa- tion ; new services in the war against disease; new services in international understanding. There are countless and un- bounded frontiers of radio research extending into the upper atmo- sphere and far beyond the orbit of the moon. As radio penetrates the secrets of outer space, it will bring back new knowledge that will open many undiscovered frontiers for other branches of science. The sci- entists of this planet, who are only beginning to reach upward in their conquest of Nature, continually will be challenged anew. Nuclear Energy in Space? Those who have been working scientifically with atomic energy have been looking underneath the ground for metals such as uranium and other materials which are em- ployed to release the power con- tained within the atom. Yet, who among the scientists would be will- ing to say that there may not be more nuclear energy between the heavens and the earth than is with- in the earth? Will a way be found to release the nuclear energy of hydrogen, nitrogen, helium or other gases that may be in space? When we seek atomic energy that may be released from cosmic rays, we may find that there are greater treas- ures in the emptiness of space than in the solid earth. Electronics has become a vivify- ing force in American life. This science has a magic touch that not only creates new instrumentalities, but brings old devices and services up-to-date. Electronics has, for ex- ample, made the phonograph in combination with radio more popu- lar than ever. Yet there was a day in the Twenties that the cry went up that radio was broadcasting the requiem of the talking machine; that the newspaper was imperiled by newscasting, and the theatre by radio entertainment. All have sur- vived and have grown; they supple- ment each other and have gained new popularity in their spheres of influence. In 1946, RCA Victor turned out its billionth phonograph disc, and 1947 promises to quicken the pace on the way toward the second billion. The modern magic of electronics goes far afield of the home. By radar, ships are navigating fog- hidden channels and rivers, as if in the clear sunlight. Aviation too is offered new safeties through radio and radar, and by Teleran—the new [4 RADIO AGE