Television digest and FM reports (Jan-Dec 1946)

FMA, was accepted by FCC Comrs. Denny, Wakefield, Durr and Hyde. A paid manager is proposed, functioning somewhat as does the manager of TEA. Chairman Dillard’s objectives committee laid down these aims and purposes; development of FM broadcasting; publicizing the superior qualties of FM to the public; disseminating information to members; cooperating with manufacturers and suppliers; acting as liaison between members and the FCC and other agencies and organizations. GOLDr^AHK’S RIPOSTE: It looks now as though the v/hole color TV issue has landed where it rightfully belongs — in the laps of the technicians and the FCC. No longer, apparently, is it to be the subject of publicity campaigns that heretofore have served only to confuse the public, arouse the blood pressures of the principals. FCC’s hearing Dec. 9, it now seems certain, will revolve almost entirely ai'oimd technical issues. Some inkling of the CBS case for color, which the highly respected and deeply sincere Dr. Peter C. Goldmark has always kept in the realm of scientific discussion, was provided in his talk Tuesday before the New York Electrical Society. What he had to say had been awaited ever since RCA’s 'disclosure of its all-electronic color TV system (Vol. 2, Nos. 44 and 45), for no other CBS executive had publicly made any comment after the RCA demonstrations. In essence, Dr. Goldmark told his confreres — and this will probably be the basic case of CBS at the Washington hearing — (1) that CBS’s “sequential" method for color TV is flexible enough for future developments; (2) that the CBS color system can utilize present coaxial cables for network operation; (3) that receivers under the proposed CBS system would cost less. Inferentially, at least — for he did not openly attack RCA — Dr. Goldmark indicated that RCA’s “simultaneous” method is not as flexible, cannot use the coax, will mean more expensive receivers. Basic question to be asked of CBS at Dec. 9 hearing will be whether its system will accept future TV developments. Goldmark says it will. “The CBS sequential method is a universal one,” he stated Tuesday, and it will even accept all-electronic developments. RCA and other engineers opposing CBS proposals claim the Goldmark system is already knocking against the ceiling of expected developments. For example, they say, the CBS system is pegged on a 48 frames-per-second standard. Suppose someone, 6 months after standi'.rds are set, develops a tube with greater brilliance than presently used. That development would necessitate a change in frame i*ate (in order to overcome flicker) but that could not be done be cause receivers would be thrown out of kilter, since they would have been produced for the standard frame rate. Goldmark’s remarks that the “simultaneous” method “virtually precludes network operation in color” is explained thus: In the RCA system, the transmission band is divided into red, green and blue components. The coaxial cable now only accomodates 2.7 me. Thus the cable would only pass the center, or green, component. The CBS system, on the other hand, throws each color into the whole band, one after the other. Thus, although the coax’s 2.7 me band width degrades the picture, all colors do get through. Reason for Goldmark’s reference to receiver costs was the obvious fact that the RCA system necessitates a receiving set with 3 cathodes (trinoscope) as against the CBS receiver with only 1 tube, plus color wheel. Goldmark does admit that salvage of present low-band, black-and-white sets would not be possible through the use of a converter under the CBS system. PROi^lSES OF mmm VT: If receiver prices begin to jump out of sight, as they’re showing a tendency to do, you can expect the set manufacturers to give really serious attention to the shortcut techniques learned in making the wartime VT (proximity) fuse. Dr. Cledo Brunetti, young Bureau of Standards engineer who had a substantial hand in VT development rnider Harry Diamond, the Bureau’s able chief of ordnance development, says that manufacturers haven’t been slow to ferret out commercial possibilities. Dr. Brunetti has received hundreds of inquiries from all over the world, requesting more information, particularly since VT details were made public last February and since publication of articles written by him and other engineers for Electronics Magazine in April and for the Bureau’s Journal of Research in July. Prompted by the continued intense interest in such techniques. Dr. Brunetti is in process of collecting all available data for presentation before the New York IRE meeting next March. Printed circuits, miniature and sub-miniature tubes, tiny high-capacity condensers, sprayed resistors— all promise enormously accelerated production of cheaper, more compact, more uniform, more foolproof receivers and similar electronic equipment. These are seen as immediate uses while other ideas become less fanciful — for example, a portable TV receiver. Example of how printed circuits speed production; one girl at Globe-Union (Milwaukee components manufacturer) can turn out 5,000 sub-assembly units in the time it takes to assemble, wire and