reference collection book KC s kansas city public library kansas city, missouri Nw^ From the collection of the z ^ o Prejinger ^ Jjibrary t p San Francisco, California 2008 L»i »i r% RESEARCH • MANUFACTURING • COMMUNICATIONS • BROADCA^IllliS* TELEVISION fx A ,. ,, You'll find more Sreer Opportunities alRCA U NUSUAL career-building openings await experienced ELECTRONIC ENGINEERS . . . ELECTRICAL ENGINEERS . . . MECHANICAL ENGINEERS . . . COMMUNICATION ENGINEERS . . . COMPUTER ENGINEERS . . . PHYSICISTS . . . and METALLURGISTS Positions open offer lifelong career opportunities to men who expect more from their work than is pro- vided by an ordinary engineering assignment. RCA IS A GOOD PLACE TO WORK At RCA you receive recognition for your accomplishments. You work in close collaboration with distinguished scientists and engineers. You enjoy highest professional recognition among your colleagues. You have unexcelled facilities for creative work. The sur- roundings in which you work are pleas- ant and stimulating. You and your family enjoy outstanding employee benefits. Opportunities are excellent for advancement in position and income. Unlike "feast-or-famine" businesses, RCA has forged ahead regardless of war or depression. \1 Immediate Openings in RESEARCH DEVELOPMENT DESIGN in the following fields: APPLICATION RADAR • MISSILE GUIDANCE • SERVO MECHANISMS ANALOG COMPUTERS • TRANSFORMERS AND COILS NAVIGATION AIDS • TELEVISION • ELECTRON TUBES COMMUNICATIONS • TECHNICAL SALES ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT FIELD SERVICE Send a complete resume of your education and experience. Personal interviews arranged in your city. Send resume to: Mr. ROBERT E. McQUISTON, Manager Specialized Employment Division, Dept. 119-G Radio Corporation of America 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York 20, N. Y^ RADIO CORPORATtOM of AMERICA VOLUME 12 NUMBER 1 KCH • MANUFACTURING • COMMUNICATIONS BROADCASTING ♦TELEVISION JANUARY 1953 COVER From his 40-foot perch on NBC's "Sky-Liff", a camera- man turns his television lens on activities around the base of the RCA Building in Radio City, Nevi' York. One of these camera units will be used by NBC in televising the Presiden- tial Inaugural on January 20. NOTICE When requesting a change in mailing address please include Ihe code letters and numbers which appear with the stencilled address on the envelope. Rodio Age is pufa/ished quarter// fay the Oeportmenf of (nformofion, Rodio Corpofotion of America, 30 Rocke- feller Plaza, New rorlt 20, N. Y. Printed in U.S.A. CONTENTS Page Sarnoff Says Transistor Will Have Profound Influence on Future of Electronics 3 Folsom Says 1953 Will Bring Marked Expansion in Television ... 6 Strauss Elected Director of RCA and NBC 7 Millions Will Watch Pageantry of Presidential Inaugural by Television 8 Transistors 9 Religion and Science 15 Production-Line Scenes in RCA Victor Tube Plant 16 Radio Helps to Open Canada's Western Frontier 18 fay Bruce Lanskail Frank White Elected President of NBC 21 RCA to Build Manufacturing Plant in Spain 22 Sacks Named V.P. and General Manager of Record Department . . 23 Radar Helps to Modernize the Whaling Industry 24 RCA Records have Improved Quality 26 by H. ;. Reiskind Radar Development Simplifies Plotting of Vessel's Course .... 28 by Thomas P. Wynkoop Our Small-Business Family 29 fay Vincent deP. Goubeau 1,892 Employees of RCA are Members of 25-Year Clubs .... 30 RADIO CORPORATION OF AMERICA RCA Building, New York 20, N.Y. DAVID SARNOFF, Chairman of the Board JOHN Q. CANNON, Secretary FRANK M. FOLSOM, Presider^f ERNEST B. GORIN, Treosurer Services of RCA are: RCA Victor Division • RCA Service Company, Inc. • RCA International Division National BroacJcasting Company, Inc. • Radiomarine Corporation of America RCA Communications, Inc. • RCA Laboratories Division • RCA Institutes, Inc. RCA Estate Appliance Corp. • RCA Victor Distributing Corp. In making a picture tube for a television receiver, the kinescope is whirled rapidly while a graphite coating is applied to the inside of the glass neck and metal cone at the RCA plant, Lancaster, Penn. "The uses of television in education ore manifold." "Engineers are developing transistors for mass production. Sarnojf Says Transistor Will Have Profound Influence on Future of Electronics Chairman of RCA, in Year-End Statement, Sees New Opportunities for Continued Expansion of Television and All Phases of Electronics Based on Tiny Device the Size of a Kernel of Corn B, 'rig. General David Sarnoff, Chairman of the Board of the Radio Corporation of America, in reviewing radio-television developments of 1952 and looking ahead to new advances, on December 29, pointed to the transis- tor as the latest marvel of science destined to exert a profound influence on the future of electronics and com- munications. Further development of the transistor, he said, will greatly broaden the base of the electronics art, enabling it to expand into many new fields of science, commerce and industry. Major advances of the year included continued ex- pansion and improvement of television; further refine- ment of the RCA compatible color television system; increased sales of improved radio sets, "Victrola" phono- graphs and records; and expanded application of elec- tronics for military, industrial and communications purposes. "In recent years a vast new field for exploration and development called 'electronics of solids,' has opened in the scientific world," said General Sarnoff. "So impres- sive are the developments, and so important the poten- tialities for the future, that scientists are acknowledging electronics of solids as one of the most dramatic steps in technical progress. "From this extensive research has come the transistor. In its present form, it consists of a small particle of the metal germanium — no larger than a pinhead — im- bedded in a plastic shell about the size of a kernel of corn. "The transistor has no heated filament, requires no warm-up period and uses very little power. Further, it is rugged, shock resistant and unaffected by dampness. These qualities, together with its very small size, offer great opportunities for the miniaturization, simplifica- tion and refinement of all instruments to which it can be applied. "Recognizing the great potentialities of transistors, RCA research men and engineers are developing them for mass-production and are studying the multiplicity of new applications they make possible in both military and commercial fields. Such applications appear endless. One example is the electronic computer which in some of its advanced forms now requires thousands of electron tubes. Eventual substitution of transistors will permit machines of greater versatility and utility, as well as reducing their size and the power consumed. "As a progress report, RCA scientists in November, 1952, demonstrated some of their experimental transistor RAD/O AGE 3 achievements to date," said General Sarnoff. "They showed a new basic principle in the operation of a power amplifier using only four transistors and no other components. Such a device will have many applications wherever sound amplifying equipment is used, as in radio, television and public address systems. "Among other developments which were shown were a tiny, all-transistor personal radio, a tubeless auto radio set, a television set using all transistors except one pic- ture tube, novel musical instruments using transistors, and numerous other applications of these new devices throughout the field of radio, television and electronics." Television General Sarnoff observed that television greatly ex- tended its service area and increased its stature as one of America's major industries in 1952. As evidence of the growth, he pointed out that television-equipped homes increased from 15 million in 1952 to nearly 21 million at the end of 1952 — a gain of 40 per cent. At mid-December, 117 TV stations were on the air and construction permits had been granted to 135 others. He said that 47 per cent of the families in the United States have television sets in the home and more than 65 per cent of the population is within range of one or more television stations. General Sarnoff listed the two most significant steps in television progress during the past year as the licens- ing of new stations, permitted by the lifting of the TV station "freeze," and the opening of UHF (ultra-high frequencies) for television broadcasting. "As a result," he said, "new markets will open as television broadcasting service spreads, and an indication of what may be expected is found in the plans of the RCA Service Company to open thirty-four additional service branches in 1953." In the international field, he disclosed, RCA has supplied equipment for fifteen television stations in Canada, Brazil, Cuba, Hawaii, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Venezuela and Italy. Color TV "Further progress has been made during the year with the RCA compatible color television system and its tricolor tube," continued General Sarnoff. "During 1952 RCA and NBC engineers have been field testing color television standards evolved by the National Television System Committee, which is comprised of experienced engineers of the industry. When the field tests have been completed and the information evaluated and applied, the Federal Communications Commission will be peti- tioned to review the subject of color television and to set standards which will permit commercial broadcasting GROWTH OF RADIO, TV, AND PRESIDENTIAL BALLOTS Radios 1920 400,000 1924 3,000,000 1928 8,500,000 1932 18,000,000 1936 33,000,000 1940 50,100,000 1944 57,000,000 1948 60,000,000 1952 105,000,000 of compatible color. The field tests have also produced further evidence of the practicability and desirability of a compatible system for service to the public, that is, a system which permits owners of existing television sets to receive color programs in black-and-white without any change whatever in their sets." Television's Unpad General Sarnoff declared that television's great im- pact on American life was brought into sharp focus during the national political campaign, as TV played a vital role in presenting the candidates to the people and in getting out the vote. He said that historians as well as politicians will be busy for some time to come evaluating the full extent of the influence of television in politics, and evolving strategy for its most effective use in future campaigns. "Millions of people," he continued, "including count- less school children across the nation, will see General Dwight D. Eisenhower inaugurated as the thirty-fourth President of the United States. 4 RADIO AGE "On the other side of the sea, the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth will add lustre to history. It promises pictures of splendor that will add to the dimensions of television in presenting history as it is made." Calling attention to the fact that throughout 1952 the older arts, including radio, the press and motion pic- tures, felt the added touch of television, General Sarnoff added: "Each medium has stimulated the other to further improvement and greater service. For example, the mo- tion picture series, 'Victory at Sea,' produced for tele- vision by the National Broadcasting Company in co- operation with the United States Navy, has brought into the homes of the nation documentary proof of the defeats and the triumphs of World War II and the heroism of our fighting men at sea, on land and in the air. "The live-talent telecasts of 'Opera in English,' origi- nated and developed by the NBC, have provided a new dimension and significance to this field of entertainment and education. Among the 'Operas in English' have been, 'Amahl and The Night Visitors,' 'Billy Budd,' and 'Trouble in Tahiti;' others being scheduled for the near future include 'Der Rosenkavalier,' and 'Suor Angelica." The public response to these live television programs and films has been gratifying and stimulating. "As further evidence of the creative efforts of the NBC in program pioneering, Robert E. Sherwood, noted dramatist, has been engaged to write nine original plays for television, the first of which is scheduled to be broadcast in the spring. "There is plenty of evidence at hand to show that television will by no means be limited to its present operations. The uses of TV in education are manifold. It may well be that the volume of business that can be developed in industrial television and electronics as well as television in education, will one day be larger than the volume of business now being done in the field of TV entertainment." Radio Sales of radio sets continue to increase, enhanced by technical refinements and attractive designs, General Sarnoff stated, with production by the industry of 9 million new sets during the year. At the beginning of 1952 there were 1.05 million radio sets in the United States, including 25 million radios in automobiles. Portable sets, because of their efficiency and con- venience, have gained in popularity and will continue to do so, he said, adding that clock radios and book-size receivers in light-weight plastic cases beautifully de- signed in a variety of colors have contributed to the novelty and usefulness of such instruments and have increased the public demand for them. Phonographs — Records The popularity of the "Victrola" phonograph and recorded music continued to grow, he said, and asserted: "Today there are 26 million phonographs in the United States as compared with 8 million in 1946. New, simplified and improved record-changers, smaller non- breakable records, new electronic techniques in record- ing, and attractively designed albums have all helped to increase the demand for phonographs and records. "The '45' records and 33V3-rpm Long Play records have spearheaded the advance. Among the new develop- ments in 1952 was the RCA Victor 'EP' (Extended Play) '45' record which plays up to eight minutes on a side, or a total of 16 minutes for each seven-inch disk." Industrial Electronics There are many new developments in industrial radio and electronics which will further enlarge the commer- cial horizon, he said, declaring: "For example, business machines, home appliances, highway communication systems, radar, electron micro- scopes, bottle inspection machines are some of the uses to which microwaves and electronic techniques have been applied. Industrial television will perform im- portant services in manufacturing plants, in aviation, transportation and navigation, in business offices, depart- ment stores and wherever seeing, counting, sorting and controlling are essential." Value of the American System General Sarnoflf said that the United States is for- tunate in having a radio-television industry made up of so many competent organizations. The keen competition among them, he said, spurs continued effort on the part of all and stimulates scientific and economic advances matched by no other country. "Here, private enterprise and freedom in research and invention, in engineering, production and service are the lifeblood of progress," he continued. "These competing organizations, through their individual efforts, give the United States preeminence in all phases of radio, television and electronics. For defense, this in- dustry provides superior equipment developed and pro- duced by American ingenuity and craftsmanship. The finest radio-television instruments and services in the world, and at the lowest cost, are made available to the American home. In achieving this, the industry provides employment for hundreds of thousands of people and contributes substantially to the high stand- ards of living enjoyed in this great country. {Continued on page 21) RADIO AGE 5 Folsoni Says 1953 Will Bring Marked Expansion in Television Pirsidciit of RCA Foresees between 150 diid 200 New TV Stations Going on An- in Next Yeji\ Bringing About Fnv Million Additional Fannlies Within TV Proomm Serriee Ranffe X'^RANK M. FOLSOM. President of the Radio Corpora- tion of America, in a year-end statement released Janu- ary 2, said that between 150 and 200 new television stations are expected to go on the air in 1953, bringing approximately five million additional families within TV program service range. On the basis of this expectation, plus the replace- ment market, he said, it is believed that the industry will distribute approximately 6,250,000 new television sets in 1953. Mr. Folsom said that the annual "going rate" of the radio-television industry is now estimated at $5 billion, and that analyses of market potentials indicated a continuing upward trend in 1953, with the industry rate approaching $6 billion during the latter part of the year. "Equipped with the greatest production capacity in its history, the radio-television industry is success- fully meeting the dual requirements of manufacturing for the national defense and the domestic market," he stated. "In RCA, this is largely due to the outstanding teamwork of employees and the splendid cooperation of suppliers. "While defense production formed the bulk of the industry's output in 1952, television continued to be the major factor in the civilian field. The 6,000,000 television receivers produced during the year added more than $1 billion to the industry's gross income. "America's overwhelming acceptance of television as one of our most powerful mediums of entertainment, culture, and news is shown by the fact that, in the last six years, the public's investment in TV receivers alone amounts to more than $9 billion. This represents an unparalleled achievement. It involved the manu- facture and distribution of approximately 23,000,000 television sets, of which nearly 21,000,000 are in use today." Mr. Folsom noted that along with television's growth, the public's interest in radio broadcasting "con- tinues firm," with distribution of 9,000,000 radio sets achieved in 1952 and expectation of producing that many in 1953. 6 RADIO AGE "As one of the principal manufacturers in the industry," he declared, "RCA Victor produced as many radio and television home instruments in 1952 as Government allocations of materials permitted. The greatest demand in the television field was for 21-inch receivers. The public's desire for larger screen sizes is growing, and this trend probably will result in sub- stantial sales of 27-inch receivers by the end of 1953. In radio, the trend is to small sizes with high perform- ance. Miniaturization of component parts and tubes is enabling us to meet this demand in radio. "In the field of defense production, RCA made an outstanding record throughout the year." Attention Focttses on UHF Throughout 1953, Mr. Folsom said, the expansion of television service will devote increased attention on UHF (ultra-high frequencies). "While the number of VHF (very-high frequency) stations will continue to increase, many communities will be served by both VHF and UHF," he pointed out. "Still others will be served by UHF alone. "The rapidly expanding UHF television market is a direct outgrowth of RCA's experimental 'proving ground' at Bridgeport, Conn., where the practical prob- Antenna of first commercial UHF station in Portland, Ore. lems of UHF were solved and virtually the entire industry tested its receiver designs. Largely as a result of these experiments, the freeze' on television broadcast station construction was broken in 1952, and the entire broadcasting industry hailed the highly suc- cessful inauguration of the first post-freeze VHF station in Denver, Colo., and the first commercial UHF station in Portland, Ore. "The contributions of RCA and RCA Victor engi- neers in bringing television to these new markets in- cluded not only the design and construction of these transmitters, but advances in receiver design and the design and installation of new combination UHF-VHF antennas by the RCA Service Company. "Both VHF and UHF provide excellent telecasting service, but, because of the added frequency range, new dual receiving equipment must incorporate the best possible technical design. This type of equipment in- cludes combination VHF-UHF receivers, as well as conversion units for sets already in use. Our objective is to continue to provide excellent reception in the home at all stages of television's growth. In this con- nection, RCA has continued its engineering develop- ment of compatible color television as a future additional service to the public." One of the most significant things about the elec- tronics industry is its long-range capacity for expansion and diversification, Mr. Folsom said, adding: "In this connection, it often has been predicted in the past that the non-entertainment applications of electronics would some day produce a greater volume of business than radio and television. ""While non-entertainment applications are still far short of forming the major output, the year 1952 brought a pronounced quickening of interest on the part of different elements of the industry in an ususually wide range of developments in electronics for business, industry, and health. High on the list of these potentially important developments were: "1. Electronic B//siness Systems. Capable of tre- mendous savings in time, energy, and space, these systems can handle inventory, general accounting, and payroll functions completely and efficiently. They are expected to find broad applications not only in general business, but also in such specialized fields as Govern- ment, insurance, utility, mail order, and circulation of newspapers and magazines. The RCA Victor Division is presently constructing an electronic inventory control system under Government order for the U. S. Army Ordnance Corps. "2. Medical Instruments. To the list of such i Continued on page 201 Strauss Elected Director of RCA and NBC Lewis L. Strauss Lewis L. Strauss has been elected a Director of the Radio Corporation of America and of the National Broadcasting Company. Mr. Strauss, Consultant and Financial Adviser to the Messrs. Rockefeller, fills a vacancy on the RCA and NBC Boards left by the resignation of Niles Trammell, on December 8. He is a Director of a number of in- dustrial enterprises and is President of the Board of The Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton. He is a Trustee of the Sloan-Kettering Institute and Memorial Hospital in New York. Mr. Strauss was for many years a partner of Kuhn, Loeb & Company, before resigning all business con- nections to serve as a member of the Atomic Energy Commission. Commissioned Lieutenant Commander, U. S. Naval Reserve in 1926, he was advanced through the various ranks to Rear Admiral in 1945. He received the Distinguished Service Medal and the Legion of Merit for services in the United States Navy in "World War II. New RCA Victor TV Sets RCA Victor has announced its 1953 line of 25 tele- vision models with newly styled cabinets and a chassis that is said to be the most powerful in the Division's history. Outstanding in the line is the "Nassau", featuring for the first time by RCA, a 27-inch picture tube. Op- tional in all models is a l6-channel combination UHF- VHF rotary tuner designed for use in those areas where UHF stations are in operation. RADIO AGE 7 Millions Will Watch Pageantry of Presidential Inaugural by Television JL ELEVIEWERS tuned to NBC will, in effect, be riding at the head of the Presidential inaugural parade on Tues- day, Jan. 20, 1953, when the network's five-hour telecast and three-hour radio broadcast carry to the nation a com- prehensive account of the change in the nation's ad- ministration. Four of the five TV hours, as well as the radio broad- cast of the historic event, will be sponsored by General Motors. The swearing-in ceremonies which will take place at noon at the East Portico of the Capitol, and the inaugural speech of President Eisenhower will be broad- cast and telecast by NBC as an unsponsored public service. Beginning shortly before noon, NBC will escort the inaugural parade from the 'White House to the Capitol. Other NBC cameras will scan the parade from a vantage point opposite the presidential reviewing stand in front of the Executive Mansion. This service will continue until 2:30 for radio, and approximately 4:00 for tele- vision. For the first Republican inauguration in 20 years, NBC will call in key personnel and latest model equip- ment from broadcast centers across the country. Fifteen fixed and mobile electronic cameras and 50 microphones will assist 25 reporters and commentators to capture the whole story of inaugural day. A news and engineering staff of 250 will work behind the scenes. Special mobile T'V units equipped with studio-type cameras and with NBC's new hand-sized TV camera, back-pack radio transmitters, a telescopic skylift to elevate cameras and commentators above the heads of the crowd, these and many other devices will be pressed into service on "In- auguration Day." Half a dozen film-camera crews, a complete film laboratory staff and rapid on-the-spot de- velopers will supplement NBC's live coverage of the parade. 'William R. McAndrew, NBC manager of news and special events, will be overall producer of NBC's tele- vision coverage of inauguration day. Joseph O. Myers is radio producer. Charles C. Barry, vice-president in charge of programming, and Davidson Taylor, network director of public affairs, will supervise activities. NBC will coordinate its inauguration coverage from network studios in the 'Wardman Park Hotel in Wash- ington. There will be six different camera and micro- phone emplacements along Pennsylvania Avenue be- Llif(fniflTH -* .< ,( f Scenes such as this one at the East Portico of the Nation's Capitol, will be viewed on Inaugural Day, January 20, by millions of TV set owners from coast to coast. NBC will broadcast the ceremonies by radio and television. tween the White House and the Capitol, route of the inaugural parade. NBC technicians have been perfecting plans for "Inauguration Day" since the morning after the election. Every idea which might possibly contribute to a public service program of national interest has been developed and integrated into plans for the multi-hour telecast and broadcast. NBC officials have been conferring continu- ally with the Inaugural Committee to insure the most complete coverage of the ceremonies. 8 RADIO AGE -TiRST demonstrations showing the scientific progress made towards harnessing the tiny transistor, which per- forms many of the functions of electron tubes, in a wide range of applications useful to radio, television, and industry, were held during the week of November 17 at the David SarnofI Research Center of RCA, Princeton, N. J. Transistors made from specks of germanium crystal were shown operating an experimental portable tele- vision receiver, radio sets, loudspeaker systems, miniature transmitters, parts of electronic computers, and other experimental devices, many of which are believed to be the first of their kind. Each development was in the form of a laboratory model which, it was emphasized, is still in the preliminary and experimental stage. Appraising the present status of transistor develop- ment. Dr. E. W. Engstrom, Vice President in Charge of RCA Laboratories Division, said: "These demonstrations highlight the faa that tran- sistors are today no longer entirely a research concern. They are, in the fields of radio and television, an im- mediate problem for advanced development by industry engineers who can learn how to put them to work in evolving more versatile, smaller, sturdier, and eventually lower cost equipment for industry and the public." "We can report that transistors, after a brief four years in the laboratory, can be made to do many of the electronic jobs that tubes could do only after the first twenty years of their existence," Dr. Engstrom con- tinued. "Because transistors, many of which are no larger than a pea, have certain properties that differ Dr. E. W. Engstrom points to one of the ten types of experimental transistors developed at the David SarnofF Research Center of RCA. from tubes, we find there are some tasks they perform more effectively than tubes. Also of course, there are now, and always will be, applications where only tubes will perform. "We haven't yet worked out mass production tech- niques for transistors," he continued. "Although ger- manium itself is available, it requires careful processing to get it in the form that gives transistors their remark- able characteristics. Thus, the cost of even those few types of transistors that are available in limited quantities is still high. "Even so, a demonstration such as this would have been impossible a year ago, even a few months ago," he continued. "We are just at the outset of trying a variety of transistor rypes in operating circuits. As other new types of transistors come from the laboratory, providing greater power, operating at higher frequencies, and func- tioning with greater reliability, we will try them out as we have experimented with the types you see here." Dr. Engstrom said that RCA does not expect the transistor to supplant the electron tube "any more than radio replaced the phonograph." In fact, the market for electron tubes may even increase under the full impact of commercial transistors. "This is because the transistor will allow the development of electronic devices now undreamed of," he said. "Many of these devices will still require the work of electron tubes and in quantities that will continue to tax the manufacturing capacity of the electron tube industry. Thus, as transistors begin to re- place certain tubes in present electronic equipment, the displaced tubes will find new jobs in new devices made RADIO AGE 9 possible by the development of the transistor." Dr. Engstrom said that the experimental equipment demonstrated represented exploratory employment of transistors in many phases of electronics and that the items were laboratory models in a research stage. Neither the transistors nor their applications are yet in commercial form, he pointed out. Among the experimental equipment shown was a portable, battery-operated television receiver, tubeless ex- cept for the picture tube. In its initial form, it is a one- channel set with a five-inch screen. In another approach, transistors were introduced in part of the circuits of a standard television receiver. Transistors were also em- ployed in circuits of industrial television equipment and the "Walkie-Lookie" portable TV camera equipment to point up savings in weight, size, and power consumption. In the radio field, all-transistor AM, FM, and auto- mobile radio receivers were demonstrated. These explora- tory applications already point the way to new compact- ness and much lower battery drain than receivers require today. The automobile radio operating with transistors directly off the 6-volt battery of a car eliminates the relatively costly high-voltage power supply common to present-day automobile sets and enables more than a ten-fold reduction in battery drain. Also demonstrated was a small portable 45-rpm phonograph with a self-contained transistor amplifier and battery supply. Another transistor amplifier circuit was displayed in a portable public address system with self-contained battery supply. A transformerless transistor power amplifier, an en- tirely new kind of circuit that may have considerable significance in the design of radio and television receivers, was displayed and operated. The experimental power amplifier circuit consists of nothing but four transistors mounted in a small tube socket. For many audio applica- tions it appears that such a device, which harnesses a unique transistor characteristic known as complementary symmetry, can do the job that now requires two or more tubes, an output transformer, a phase inverter, and other components to amplify audio signals into a loudspeaker. Battery Operates Transmitter for 3.000 Hours Tiny radio transmitters employing transistors as os- cillators were demonstrated to suggest possible applica- tions in other fields. One was a 2-cubic-inch unit which will operate off its button-sized battery for 3,000 hours in "transmitting" the output of a phonograph pickup to a nearby radio receiver. Another was a cigar-sized micro- phone-transmitter using one transistor which points the way to a simple public address system, using any radio re- ceiver as the amplifier. Two transistorized sections of modern electronic com- puters, a counter and an adder, were operated to show how transistors can do at least as good a job as tubes in such circuits and at the same time offer great advantages in size, reliability and power consumption. Two examples of how transistors might be practical in musical devices were also displayed. One was an eight- note transistor "piano" the oscillations from which were picked up and "played" by a standard radio receiver. The other was an electronic ukulele, working on the same principles as an electric guitar, except that the compact- ness and low-power requirements of transistors enable the amplifier and loudspeaker to be self-contained within the instrument itself. Ten Transistor Types Used Dr. Engstrom explained that the equipment made use of ten types of RCA developmental and experimental transistors, three of the point-contact variety and seven of the junction transistor family. The three point-contact types and one of the junction types will be offered on a limited sampling basis for engineering advanced develop- ment to industry representatives attending the week's conferences. The other six junction types are still under research and are classed as experimental, he said. The three kinds of developmental point-contact trans- istors used in the RCA demonstrations are a general purpose switching type, a high-frequency amplifier and a very-high-frequency oscillator. The one developmental junction transistor is a general purpose amplifier of p-n-p ( positive-negative-positive ) construction. Dr. Engstrom explained that junction transistors are classed p-n-p or n-p-n depending on their design. He said that an n-p-n transistor provides, as does an electron tube, negative charges in a circuit, while the p-n-p has the effect of providing positive charges, thus giving circuit potentialities unobtainable with tubes, an example of which is the transformerless transistor power amplifier described earlier. The six RCA experimental junction types are an extension of both p-n-p and n-p-n design into greater power-handling capabilities, higher frequency response and other desirable characteristics. The "power" trans- istors in this group are somewhat larger than earlier types since they are constructed to dissipate the heat that transistors may generate when operated at higher power. Dr. Engstrom emphasized that transistors are not in- terchangeable with present tubes in the sense that a tube from an existing instrument can be pulled out and a transistor substituted. New circuitry must be developed, he explained, in order to take full advantage of the special characteristics of transistors and, to fully realize space- and weight-saving possibilities which they open up, new components will also have to be designed. 70 RADIO AGE Portable public address system. This experimental ^^ amplifier delivers 1.4 watts to a 12-inch speaker and operates off a 2216-voit battery supply with an estimated life of 25-50 hours. The amplifier uses six developmental and experimental junction transistors. Smaller dimensions than those of the amplifier demonstrated ( 18 x 13'/2 x 91-4 inches) are feasible, if a smaller speaker and or battery supply are used. Personal radio transistorized except for one tube. To solve initial circuit problems in small, portable radio receivers, this personal radio was built in a standard per- sonal receiver case retaining the first tube ( converter ) but using junction transistors in all other circuits. The ex- perimental set maintains the performance of a standard all-tube receiver. Use of transistors enabled a three-fold reduction in the size, weight and cost of the batteries without reducing the standard 100-hour operating life. All-transistor personal radio. Employs nine de- velopmental and experimental junction transistors. It has ^^ not yet been engineered for smallest possible size. In this AM-band transistor receiver, it is possible to get standard 100-hour battery life with five small batteries each about the size of a checker piece. All-transistor operation allows an even greater reduction in the size and weight of the power supply than enabled in the one-tube set above. Portable FAl receiver. To gain experience in the circuit operation of transistors in the VHF band, an FM receiver (88-108 megacycles) was built. Uses 11 developmental and experimental transistors, both junction and point contact. One developmental point-contact transistor is used as an oscillator operating in the region of 100 megacycles. The experimental model is completely portable with self-contained battery supply and weighs five pounds, ap- proximately half the weight of an FM receiver using tubes. In its present preliminary form, the transistor set is not as sensitive as a standard tube FM set. Transistor automobile radio. This experimental re- ceiver employs eleven developmental and experimental ^w junction transistors to provide an audio output com- parable to that of present-day automobile radio receivers. It has been designed with push-button tuning. An im- portant feature of this all-transistor set is the elimination of the high-voltage power supply common to present auto receivers. This power supply, comprising a vibrator, transformer and rectifier, which are a substantial fraction of the total cost of the set, is not necessary in a transistor receiver since the transistors operate directly off the six- volt automobile battery. This experimental receiver uses one-tenth the cur- rent of present auto sets. In fact, the transistor receiver itself needs no more current than is necessary to operate the two dial lights. RADIO AGE 11 Transistor portable phonograph. While investi- gating the possibilities for transistors in the phonograph field, a lightweight, spring-driven, 45-rpm portable model employing a battery-operated transistor amplifier was built. The low power consumption of the four de- velopmental junction transistors enables a 22l/2-volt battery to provide for approximately 1,500 record play- ings (75 hours of operation). An internal switch automatically turns off the amplifier circuit when a record is not playing. Wireless phonograph -jack. A tiny radio transmit- ter, employing one developmental junction transistor and a few other simple components, has been constructed to feed the signal from a phonograph pick-up to a standard AM receiver. This 2-cubic-inch transmitter is effective two feet away. Its button-sized power supply, a 1.35- volt battery, enables an operating life of approximately 3,000 hours. Such a device could permit the use of a record player with radios that have no phonograph con- nection. Roving microphone. This cigar-size experimental transmitter is modulated by a tiny built-in dynamic microphone instead of a phonograph pick-up, as in the application above. It employs two developmental junc- tion transistors and a larger battery. It was made to explore the transistor possibilities of a low-cost wireless microphone-transmitter, the signal from which is picked up and amplified by any broadcast-band radio receiver. Its transmissions are effective within a radius of 25 feet. Transistor ukulele. This device is similar in prin- ciple to an electric guitar except that transistors enable a small amplifier that can be completely contained in the ukulele itself. Four developmental and experimental junction transistors are used in the amplifier, the speaker of which is mounted in the hole of the ukulele. The self-contained battery allows a life of more than 10 hours. A magnetic pick-up transfers the vibration of the strings to the amplifier. Unusually sustained notes can be ob- tained because of feedback provided by the close proxim- ity of the speaker to the strings. The transistor am- plifier and battery supply increase the weight of a one-pound ukulele to about four pounds. A similar device appears feasible for any string instrument. ?2 RADIO AGE Transformerless power amplifier. This entirely a^^ new kind of power amplifier assembly consists in one of its experimental forms of nothing but four developmen- tal and experimental junction transistors mounted on a small tube socket. The transistors used in this experi- mental circuit are pairs of p-n-p and n-p-n transistors in tandem operation, utilizing unique transistor char- acteristics known as complementary symmetry. For many audio applications in radio, television and other sound reproduction equipment it appears that such a device can do the job that now requires two or more tubes, a phase inverter, an output transformer, and other components to amplify audio signals into a loud- speaker. The same principle of complementary symmetry has been used in the audio amplifier circuits of the ex- perimental portable TV receiver, the FM receiver, and the transistor ukulele described here. The principle is also employed in the vertical deflection circuit of the portable TV set. Transistor application in RCA "W alkie-Lookie" . ^^ Since "Walkie-Lookie" TV equipment must be com- pletely portable (at present the back-pack unit weighs 50 pounds), weight, size and power drain on the self- contained batteries are extremely important considera- tions. Initial employment of 17 developmental point- contact transistors in four circuits reduces power con- sumption of the back-pack unit by more than one-third, promising reductions in battery size and weight. By transistorizing more than half of the tubes in the unit, it should be possible to cut total power consumption and over-all volume by at least 50%. Transistor adder. Another important element of a computer is an electronic adder. Developmental point- contact transistors in this experimental adder enabled 100,000 additions per second. The transistor adder re- quires one-quarter the power, and it enables a unit one-seventh the size and one-fifth the weight of a com- parable unit using tubes. Transistor counter. The application of transistors ^^ to electronic computers in which thousands of electron tubes are now used has been anticipated for some time because of the transistor's promise of smaller size, lower power, less heating, and eventually lower cost. An electronic counter is a standard element of many com- puters and radioactivity measuring devices. The ex- perimental transistor counter, which utilizes 66 develop- mental point-contact transistors, is capable of a million individual counting actions per second. The transistor counter requires 2 watts of power while a counter doing the same job with tubes would consume 60 watts. Weight of the transistor counter is V2 pound as against 4 pounds; size, 20 cubic inches as against 200 cubic inches for a tube counter. RADIO AGE 13 Transistor applications in industrial television equipment. Study of partial introduction of transistors into the control ( monitor ) unit of industrial television equipment was initiated to find ways of reducing weight, size, power consumption and circuit complexity in this type of semi-portable, closed-circuit television equipment. With eight RCA developmental point- contact transistors used in the synchronizing generator circuit to do the job of three double triodes and four transformers, the initial result is a three-fold reduction of the size of this component and a ten-fold reduction in its power consumption. Transistor applications in a standard TV receiv- er. In this item, developmental transistors were tried only in those circuits of a standard TV receiver where transistors, at their present stage, appeared most feasible. Five junction transistors perform the functions of four of the set's 22 tubes. The transistors are used in three of the eight principal stages of this experimental re- ceiver. A portable, battery-operated television receiver, tubeless except for the kinescope (picture tube). This item represents a pioneering attempt to build a com- pletely portable television set using transistors in the place of all electron tubes except for the picture tube. The purpose was to try transistors in all TV receiver cir- cuits so as to uncover the problems and make an initial effort towards their solution. The preliminary result is a single-channel receiver, with a five-inch screen, in a case no larger than that of a portable typewriter case (12" X 13" X 1"). In recent tests, the 27-pound battery-operated receiver produced a satisfactory picture when operated off its self-contained loop antenna five miles from the Channel 4 transmitter on the Empire State Building. With a small "rabbit-ear" antenna a similar picture was obtained fifteen miles from the transmitter. The experimental receiver has 37 develop- mental and experimental transistors, both junction and point-contact. Its total power consumption is 14 watts, less than 1/lOth that of a standard table-model set. Toy piano. To explore other aspects of transistor circuits, a minature electronic "piano" was built. About the shape and size of a pencil box, the device is battery- operated. When one of its eight keys is depressed it will sound a tone in a nearby radio receiver. It has one developmental junction transistor which serves as an oscillator. 14 RADIO AGE Religion and Science- Two of rhc Most Porcnc Forces In Civilization, Says Sarnoff T -WO of the most potent forces in civilization — re- ligion and science — can be used to create "One World" in its truest and greatest sense, Brig. General David Sarnoff, Chairman of the Board of the Radio Corpora- tion of America, declared in an address before the annual meeting of the National Conference of Christians and Jews in Washington, D. C, on November 11. "Through religion," said General Sarnoff, "we can minimize the evils of greed, intolerance and lust for power. "Through science, we can reduce the physical bur- dens of mankind, make the earth more fruitful, create plenty in the place of scarcity, break down the barriers of ignorance and misunderstanding and make life more meaningful for everyone. "We know that peace and brotherhood are the common aims of the vast majority of mankind, yet today we live in two worlds instead of one. This is because a few wicked and ruthless leaders who dominate hun- dreds of millions of their victims have trampled upon religion and all its spiritual values and have misused science for their evil purposes. "We may face this threat, however, with the knowl- edge that religion and science can be far greater forces for good than they are for evil. The vitality of the human spirit that pulses with renewed vigor against aggression and slavery, against prejudice and persecu- tion, against hypocrisy and censorship, is certain to triumph over such sinister forces." General Sarnoff recalled that following the Armi- stice 34 years ago, hopes and prayers for an enduring peace faded with the years, and peace finally was blasted by a Second World War. "Only seven years have passed since the second global conflict ended," he pointed out. "But the peace that followed once more has failed to be steadfast. "Today, we are fighting again for freedom and justice. This time, in Korea. In the words of Kipling, there is 'no discharge in the war.' Indeed, we meet on this Armistice Day under clouds of war and under the threat that the storm may spread. "Yet, as fervent as ever in American hearts is the deep desire to live in peace and world brotherhood. Our goal remains the same and we will not abandon our purpose and our hope. Brig. General David SornofF addressing the National Conference of Christians and Jews in Washington, D. C. "Our hope springs from the knowledge that peace and brotherhood can be achieved." America furnishes a dramatic example of what a society based on brotherhood can produce, he continued, adding: "And we have the responsibility to give other nations a true picture of what we have built here. We can give much more to the world than the production line, or the telephone or television. All of these things — all the things we have produced — stem from our way of life . . . and it is that way of life itself which is the finest product we can offer to the world." Science makes it possible to pierce the iron curtains and open the doors to the minds of men, declared General Sarnoff, recounting how radio, television, mo- tion pictures and other means of mass-communications now are available to serve mankind everywhere. He said that science also can help to deter an aggressor and may even prevent another world war. "The great hope for a peaceful world," he empha- sized, "depends upon an understanding and an accept- ance of the spiritual precepts, the moral values and the virtues of tolerance and brotherhood. In studying the lives of the scientists, we find their love of nature was generally linked to a devout spirit. "Throughout the ages scientists have marveled at the communion of Nature's forces all working together. From the energy produced by electrons and atoms there is a lesson that humanity can learn of the power of individuals working together in harmony. Indeed, science preaches a great sermon of brotherhood. (Continued on page 32) RADIO AGE 15 Production-Line Scenes in tb at Lancaster, A ring of gas jets around the outer rim of a tube fuses the glass faceplate to the kinescope's metal shell. An inspector examines the assembly of an electron gun, to assure that this fundamental element of a television picture tube conforms to rigid specifications. ne of RCA's employees at the Lancaster plant ads metal-shell picture tubes on the overhead conveyor system. At the terminal of the "settling belt," the water of the phosphor solution pours out into a spillway, leaving a fluorescent coating on the faceplate. Faceplates of metal-s kinescopes are carefi move on to the A Tube Plant rk-like instrument, guided by a worker, lifts a hot tube onto a cooling belt. l-glass rectangular d before the tubes n production. Using on optical pyrometer behind a protective shield, a worker measures the heat intensity of gas flames during the metal-to-glass sealing operation. Exposure to a powerful light allows this inspect© to give the screen surface of the picture tube < final inspection before shipment. By Bruce Lanskail Manager, Sales Division, Engineering Products Dept RCA Victor Company, Ltd. Montreal, Canada w. ITH the help of aviation and radio, the outer reaches of northwest Canada, one of the last great frontier areas of the world, are being industrialized at a rapid pace. The Dominion's valuable resources, com- mon to this remote portion of the country, are now being opened to exploration and development. So great is the promise that this movement, when completed, may be recorded as one of the greatest feats of national industrialization in history. Canada has been a rugged country to develop, so formidable in fact, that for more than three centuries after its settlement in 1604 practically all of its develop- ment was carried out in a narrow strip just north of the Border. Even there, the pioneers were forced to avoid hundreds of square miles that were beset by dense for- ests, lofty mountains and icy wastes. One of the most formidable parts of all the Domin- ion has been in mountainous British Columbia, a land that once could be reached only by sea or through mountain passes. The few settled plateaus and valleys were hemmed in by towering mountain ranges. Two of the antennas at Hope, British Columbia, part of the communications system which is being extended throughout the Province. UNITED STATES The oil-rich province of Alberta next door has also found a distinct use for radio to speed up its develop- ment and streamline its industry. In both cases, equip- ment supplied and installed by RCA Victor, Ltd., RCA's Canadian company, is helping to make these two prov- inces the most radio-conscious area on earth. Today's present developments in British Columbia are taking place in the interior and to the north. Under- lying much of the progress is the advance of communi- cations. The North West Telephone Company was one of the first in Canada to use 150-megacycle equipment in place of wire lines to connect outposts with settled areas. The system uses a series of stations as repeaters between Vancouver, the provincial metropolis, and Alert Bay, 220 miles to the north. Under way now is an expansion of its radio relay system farther up the coast. Much of the North West Telephone Company's equip- ment is RCA. To the Telephone Company, the use of radio instead of land line or cable means an extensive cash saving both in the original installation and in maintenance. Because of the extremely difficult terrain covered by this communications service, erecting and servicing land lines would have been almost impossible. The original 78 RADIO AGE .anada's Western Frontier f) Prince George Alert Bay i British Columbia Edmonton ■ ^ Hope Vancouver u^ «, ^Princeton \^ " ^ Copper Mt. Allison Poss"^ Calgary ® cost would be high since in many places construction crews would have had to cut their way through miles of forest, climbing thousands of feet of mountain on the way. And in a land of snowslides, landslides, windfalls and fierce winter storms, maintenance of lines would constitute an almost insurmountable problem. Because of these difficult operating conditions, Brit- ish Columbia has become Canada's largest user of radio relay communications. Radio serves not only outlying communities but also fishing craft off the coast, logging camps, fishing settlements, and mines. Eventually it will extend to Kitimat and Nechako, four hundred miles north in the mountain fastness, where the world's largest aluminum-power projects are being developed, and then another 350 miles northeast to Prince George, the prov- ince's northernmost railroad junction. In the land of tall timbers, the telephone pole may be on its way to extinction. Highway transportation through the mountain ranges is now a vital part of the British Columbia econ- omy and many of the same conditions which affect maintenance of telephone communications also affect highway upkeep. To combat these conditions, British Columbia again called upon radio, and RCA 'Victor RADIO AGE 19 Enlargement of shaded area on map at left. This tower near Calgary supports radio antennas which feed signals north and west of the Canadian city. again helped provide the solution. A particularly important link in the southern trans- provincial highway system is the highway between the towns of Hope and Princeton. Due to the mountainous nature of the country and the fact that the highway in places reaches an elevation of 4,450 feet, there is a constant problem of snow removal in wintertime and the clearance of small rock slides and road repairs at other seasons of the year. Today, radio makes it possible to get through without snow plows, blowers and shovels. The virgin, mountainous nature of the country made the selection and equipping of radio station sites diffi- cult. Point-to-point communication was required from Allison Pass, the operational headquarters of the high- way, to both Hope and Princeton, as well as complete mobile coverage of the highway itself. Fixed stations were set up at Hope, at Allison Pass, and at Copper Mountain. These stations employ RCA 150-MC transmitters and RCA receivers. Also, at Cop- per Mountain, an RCA 15 -watt transmitter-receiver was installed to work a link into a similar RCA 15-watt unit at Princeton. The installation at Hope included a 12- element directional antenna array pointed in a south- easterly direction towards Allison Pass where there are two transmitter-receivers, one connected to an antenna headed directly west. The other receiver-transmitter is connected to a 12-element array headed in a southeast- erly direction. It is located some 1,000 feet above the main public works camp at the highway level and power and control lines are brought up from the camp to the station on the mountain. In addition to its communications and transportation services, radio in British Columbia is the accepted me- dium for provincial fire and police operations. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, which also serves as the provincial police organization in British Columbia, has in use a large number of RCA two-way radio equip- ment. In the lower mainland area the Mounties operate six main stations, another six are in operation in the Microwave station at Cascade, near Banff. The rugged terrain over which signals travel is in the background. ^^^^^-LiV This microwave station at Edmonton, operated by North- western Utilities, serves as communications center for 40 mobile vehicles. Vancouver Island area and additional installations were recently made in the Kootenay area. Folsom Says 1953 Will Bring Marked Expansion in TV (Continued from page 7) electronic devices as the electron microscope, X-ray, diathermy, and electroencephalograph will be added, it is expected, a number of new types of accurate and unique instruments of importance to medical diagnosis. Already developed by RCA Laboratories Division is an electronic viscometer that determines the rate at which an individual's blood coagulates. "3. Personal Services. Miniaturization of tubes and parts, as well as the development of transistors (which perform many of the functions of electron tubes), holds great promise for the advancement of personal service devices in radio and recording. "4. Industry. Now in substantial use by manu- facturers, electronic devices of detection, control, in- spection, and automatic operation can be expected to find increasing application in the next few years. "5. Printing. AU-electronic color correction instru- ments are under development to provide the first economical means of achieving quick and accurate color reproduction in magazines and daily newspapers. The RCA Victor Division has an electronic color cor- rection device in an advanced stage of development." Concluding, Mr. Folsom said: "The electronic symbol is a bright and guiding star that challenges science and industry to advance into new fields of endeavor, to create, and to improve with quality and efficiency as the standards." 20 RADIO AGE Frank White Elected President of NBC Weaver a/iJ Herbert Move to Netv Executive Posts with Network JL RANK White, vice-president and general manager of the Radio and Television Networks of the National Broadcasting Company, has been elected President and a director of NBC, to succeed Joseph H. McConnell. Mr. McConnell resigned from NBC to join a company in another industry, and his new position will be an- nounced by that company in the near future. In announcing Mr. White's election, Brig. General David SarnofF, chairman of the Board of RCA and NBC said: "We are fortunate in having within the NBC organization an executive so uniquely qualified to assume the presidency of NBC as is Mr. White. He brings to his new responsibility the practical experience of a long and distinguished career in broadcasting, an unusual executive ability, and a great talent for human relationships which is so important in any business, and particularly in the business of broadcasting. I know that the whole NBC organization, its affiliated stations and its advertisers and their agencies will share our pleasure and confidence in this new appointment. "During the past three years in which Mr. McCon- nell has been President, the National Broadcasting Company has grown in stature and strength and has further enlarged the scope of its service to the American people," said General Sarnofl. "The great strides which NBC has made in speeding the development of tele- vision and maintaining the strength of radio are in themselves the greatest tributes to Mr. McConnell's leadership. Our appreciation for a job well done and our best wishes go with him as he leaves to assume his new responsibilities." Mr. Sylvester L. Weaver, Jr., vice-president in charge of the Radio and TV Networks of NBC, has been elected vice-chairman of the NBC Board of Directors. Mr. John K. Herbert, vice-president in charge of Network Sales, succeeds Mr. Weaver. General Sarnofl pointed out that the expansion of NBC's activities had prompted the establishment of the new position of vice-chairman of the Board to which Mr. Weaver has been named. "We believe that progress in broadcasting is never- ending," General Sarnofl said, "and that new ways of using the power of radio and television, new forms of programming and new opportunities for the broadcast media can and must be developed. Under Mr. Weaver, NBC television had led the way in creating many of the new concepts which have become part of the pat- Frank White tern of television. In his new position as vice-chairman, Mr. Weaver will be enabled to concentrate on the problems of long-range development, both in radio and television, and will fill a vital function in a rapidly expanding industry." Mr. Herbert's designation as vice-president in charge of the Radio and Television Networks was Mr. White's first appointment as the new head of NBC. "As vice-president in charge of Radio Sales and more recently as vice-president in charge of Sales for the Radio and Television Networks, Mr. Herbert has demonstrated not only great sales leadership but a grasp of our overall network problems and an ability to deal effectively with them," said Mr. White. "I am delighted to announce his appointment as vice-president in charge of both our networks. In this position, he will serve as the chief executive of the networks di- vision of NBC and in addition will continue to exercise general supervision over our network sales department." Sarnoff: Year-End Statement (Continued from page 5) "It is difficult to predict and unwise to limit the possibilities of the future in such a world-wide field of operations. In science, however, we are certain that progress will continue. The basis of our confidence is our faith in technology and in the ability of Americans to apply their talents in science, research, engineering and labor. The readiness of the American public to accept new ideas as well as new services and products is stimulating to all of these forces that operate within modern industry." RADIO AGE 2? RCA to Build Manufacturing Plant m Spain In Making the Announcement, President Folsom Revealed that New Factory Will Produce Records, Record Players and TV Sets R LANS of the Radio Corporation of America to build a factory in Spain for the production of phono- graph records, record players and television home receivers were announced on January 6 by Frank M. Folsom, President of RCA. Mr. Folsom said that the proposed plant, combining America's streamlined manufacturing principles with harmonious Spanish architecture, is expected to be completed in 1953. It is to be erected at a 322,000- square-foot site overlooking Madrid, on the main highway to Barajas Airport and the City of Barcelona. Arrangements for the project were made in coopera- tion with Gabriel Soria, President and Managing Di- rector of Industria Electronica, S.A., associate RCA company in Spain. Mr. Soria is at present in New York. Describing the plans, Mr. Folsom declared: "This is a significant enterprise, because Spain opens great cultural as well as economic resources to us. We have had the honor of discussing our plans with General Franco, and we are deeply gratified by his interest in this project, which will help the Spanish worker as well as the Spanish artist. "There is a favorable economic climate for elec- tronic development in Spain. This was typified by the recognition accorded also to our organization by Joa- Architect's model of RCA's proposed plant to be erected near Madrid, Spain. quin Planell, Minister of Industry, and Manuel Arburua, Minister of Commerce. "Our factory at first will make 45-rpm records, record players and TV sets. The Spanish nation has a great heritage of talent and we hope to further it as an international cultural medium in this new electronic era. "Thus, we hope to have all countries know Spanish composers and artists better through their recorded music. Our RCA world distribution facilities will help in this cultural interchange. ■ "International television will receive a great im- petus when Spain adds her wealth of material to world video. Millions of people are looking forward to tele- casts of the immortal paintings in the Prado museum and other art centers of Spain. That is only one of the wells of inspiration which TV can tap in Spain. "We are honored to have leaders in Spanish indus- try as our associates in the company." Mr. Folsom explained that the firm, Industria Electronica, has as its Chairman of the Board Demetrio Carceller, former Spanish Minister of Industry and Commerce who is prominent in the oil industry of Spain. Another former Spanish cabinet minister, Jose Luis de Arreses, also is a member of the Board. He is at present a ranking counselor to the Government of Spain. Besides Mr. Folsom and Mr. Soria, the administra- tive head of the new company as well as its President and Managing Director, other Directors include Mr. Soria's brother, Antonio Soria, with whom Mr. Soria has handled RCA product distribution in Spain for the past seven years, and Meade Brunet, a Vice Presi- dent of RCA and Managing Director of the RCA In- ternational Division. In a statement describing plans for the new factory, Mr. Soria declared that the site was well adapted for expansion, and added: "The site will be beautifully landscaped and the factory will be modern, clean, well lighted, with easy access to transportation. It will combine the best of American production concepts with Spanish building techniques. ' 22 RAD\0 AGE Sacks Named V.P. and General Manager of Record Department Emanuel ( Manie ) Sacks has been elected Vice- President and General Manager of the RCA Victor Record Department. In addition to his new responsibilities, Mr. Sacks will continue to function as Staff Vice-President of RCA. Mr. Sacks was elected to this position December 1, 1950. As head of the RCA Victor Record Depart- ment, he succeeds Paul A. Barkmeier, who has been named Vice-President and Director of Regional Offices of the RCA Victor Division. Mr. Sacks joined RCA as Director of Artists Re- lations for the RCA Victor Division and the National Broadcasting Company on February 1, 1950. He has had many years of experience in the phonograph record and music business. Prior to his new and broader assignment, Mr. Bark- meier was Vice-President and General Manager of the RCA Victor Record Department. He was appointed to that position on January 6, 1950, having previously served for two years as General Manager of the De- partment. His experience in merchandising covers Emanuel (Manie) Sacks many years. He is a past President of the Chicago Controller's Association and Director of the National Controller's Congress. Henry G. Baker, an RCA Victor vice president, shows a student how to operate one of the television receivers donated to District of Columbia schools. In the rear are Rosel Hyde, Federal Communications Commissioner; Dr. Hobart Corning, District superintendent of schools, and C. Melvin Sharpe, president. District Board of Education. RCA Donates 25 TV Receivers To Educational Project Ceremonies marking a major step forward in the District of Columbia's pioneering experiment in class- room training by television were held November 26 in the studios of "WNB'W, TV outlet of the National Broadcasting Company in Washington. Dr. Hobart M. Corning, superintendent of schools, formally accepted a gift of 25 television receivers from RCA Victor, in a telecast from the 'Wardman Park stu- dios. Henry G. Baker, vice president and general man- ager of RCA Victor home instruments department, made the presentation. Expressing "deep appreciation for this generous con- tribution" to the Washington schools. Dr. Corning said, "I wish also to acknowledge with appreciation the co- operation of the staff of WNBW in the production of television lessons during the past three years, the gen- erous use of time and facilities made available without cost to the Board of Education, and the continued in- terest of RCA and NBC in developing educational tele- vision in collaboration with the Board of Education of the District of Columbia." RADIO AGE 23 The Treern, a typical whale "catcher", is one of a fleet of 55 vessels equipped with RCA radar for a Norwegian whaling firm. The radar antenna, indicated by the circle, is installed above the bridge deck. Radar Helps to Modernize The Whaling Industry -Ln the rugged days portrayed by Herman Melville in his classical "Moby Dick," whaling was an industry peopled by characters almost legendary in their robust- ness, fortitude, and exploits. Every foray into the for- midable ocean was a gamble in ships and men, and accepted as such. Lacking means of communication, the whalers and their crews were out of touch with land sometimes for 6 months or more; with only human eyes to detect their quarry, crew members were handicapped in spotting whales in the broad, often fog-bound expanse of open water. Radio and radar have changed all that. With mod- ern steel whaling ships equipped with powerful radio- telegraph and radiotelephone systems, communication is available at all times between ships and between ships and shore. Radar has proved invaluable in the search for whales and in keeping track of the small boats that scour the sea far from the mother ship. But the opera- tions of the fleets are otherwise much as they were before the days of applied science. Despite technological advances, the battle between hulls, men, the seas and the world's largest mammals remains a thrilling saga. When the whaling season begins in late Fall, whalers weigh anchor in swift squadrons. The big factory ship, "mother" to the fleet, races southward with smaller "catcher" vessels cavorting at her sides like playful dolphins. But once the convoy has reached the hunting grounds at the bottom of the hemispheres, the 1,200-ton catcher vessels — far bigger than the factory ships of a century ago — leave the mother ship for the hunt, scatter- 24 RADIO AGE ing for miles across the barren sea. Through it all, the ships talk back and fonh by radio, while radar — the silent sentinel — keeps constant vigil through fog and darkness, spotting the floating mesas of ice, preventing collision, keeping close contact with the vessels. It is a common event for the mother ship and her flock to lose sight of each other in the swirling fogs. The smaller craft may develop engine trouble or run out of fuel. But today losses from these causes are rare. The hardy skippers and their men have learned to depend on radar with a deep feeling of confidence. But radar does far more than perform its function as a safety measure. Its usefulness begins soon after the familiar "Whale Ho!" sounds out from the lofty crow's nest of the catcher vessel. The harpooner first takes his place in the bow as the swift craft noses forward. Aim- ing his high-powered harpoon gun, he waits until the whale is in range, then touches the trigger. The grenade- headed harpoon streaks to its mark. There is an explo- sion, and in a few minutes the behemoth is dead. At this point, the catcher edges in and makes fast to the gigantic carcass. The body of the whale is inflated with compressed air to prevent it from sinking. Then a steel reflector rod, bearing the catcher's number flag and an electric light, is stuck upright in the side of the floating whale, after which the catcher goes on to seek further prey. The floating carcass is soon located by radar aboard a corvette which tows the whale to the mother ship for processing. When a full cargo of oil is ready, a tanker is sum- moned by radio. The oil is pumped into this vessel allowing the factory ship to remain in the hunting grounds until the ice begins to close in and make further Advantages of RCA radar are demonstrated to ship owners by on installation on the yacht "Nera" which Olaf Bordewick, general manager of A S NERA, Norway distributor for RCA International Division, uses in his visits to harbor towns along the country's coastline. rUotu by Statile Radio-equipped helicopters, together with radar, in- crease the scouting range of whalers and add materially to the annual production of oil and by-products ob- tained from the mammals. The whales in this picture have been inflated with air which keeps them afloat until located by radar on a corvette and towed to the mother ship for processing. operations dangerous. Thus, in a good season, several cargoes of oil can be processed without requiring the mother ship and catcher boats to return to their distant home base. One whaling fleet has successfully used the heli- copter-radio combination to spot whales. The "flying windmill" scouts a wide front, sometimes 90 miles ahead of the fleet. From the air a spouting whale can be sighted 15 miles away on a clear day. Then a radio message from the plane directs a catcher vessel to the prey. One helicopter, aided by radio, is reported to have sighted 560 whales in 60 days, 494 of them confirmed catches. Many ships sailing under proud and historic house flags go to sea with RCA radar aloft. The lives of seariien — a priceless commodity — are watched over by the magic eye that sees through fog and darkness. Some owners have equipped their entire fleets with radar. Since World War II, the RCA International Division — through its worldwide distributor organiza- tion — has equipped more than 1,000 ships of foreign registry with radar, of which approximately 150 have been installed on whalers operating in the Antarctic. RADIO AGE 25 RCA Records Have Improved Quality By H. I. Reiskind Manager, Engineering Section, Record Department RCA Victor Division o. 'vER the years the goal of all of the people who work on phonograph records — development engineers, musical directors, and recording engineers — has been the same, viz., to bring to the listener in his living room the same emotional experience he would have received had he attended the actual performance. Over the years the continuing improvement in phonograph records and reproducers has resulted in sound more nearly approach- ing this goal. One of the big steps forward — ■ at least one of the more obviously apparent ones from the standpoint of the consumer — was the introduction of the "45" and the long-playing record. Since that time, development work has continued, both in the laboratory and in the record- ing studios, and has now resulted in a further improve- ment which we have called "New Orthophonic" — "Orthophonic" meaning correct sound. RCA Victor's "New Orthophonic" records are char- acterized by four principal features. They are: 1 ) complete frequency range; 2 ) no loss of high-frequency response from the outside to the inside of the record; 3 ) ideal dynamic range for home listening, and 4 ) im- proved quiet surface. A tew words of explanation of each of these features might be worth while. In order to reproduce the full orchestral color, it is of course necessary that all the instruments be recorded and reproduced with the same balance that would be heard in the concert hall. It is necessary that the low notes of the tuba, the bass viol, and the tympani, as well as the high notes and the overtones of the violins, the oboes and the other treble instruments, be recorded and reproduced so that they are relatively as loud with re- spect to the other instruments as they were in the original performance. This requires that the acoustic environment of the orchestra be properly selected, that the orchestra be properly seated, and that the micro- The author examines a master recording produced by the advanced "New Orthophonic" techniques developed by RCA Victor engineers. The cutting stylus is electronically heated to give a wide frequency range throughout the length of the groove. phones be properly located witli respect to tiie various instrumental choirs. When this is done — and continuing study and experimentation have resulted in improved techniques — we achieve a well defined, brilliant orchestral tone with each instrument in proper perspective. It is then necessary that the recording equipment, the record manu- facturing processes, and the reproducer be such as m permit the listener to hear, in his home, the same sound that the recording engineer and musical director heard in their loud-speaker when they made the recording. Recent improvements in disc recording equipment have extended the recorded range and have made it possible to produce records which have on them all the sound heard at the recording session. Heated Stylus Inifiioves Brilliance One failing of the disc record has been that as the recording goes toward the inside, which means that the groove moves past the stylus more slowly, some loss in brilliance has resulted. A scheme of electronically heat- ing the recording stylus, which was developed and in- corporated in our equipment, eliminated this loss in brilliance towards the inside of the record. The same technique also results in a subsidiary advantage. Grooves cut with cold styli had microscopically small "horns" projecting above the surface of the record. These "horns", because of their extremely small size, were very delicate and, therefore, easily damaged by rubbing the surface of the record. The use of electronically heated styli has eliminated these "horns" and thus has made the record less susceptible to scuffing. The third feature of "New Orthophonic" records is that their dynamic range is ideal for home listening. It is sometimes suggested that the objective of the record- ing engineer should be to bring the performer into the living room. While this may sometimes be the desirable objective for an instrumental or vocal record, it is obvi- ously not for an orchestral record. If we were to repro- duce the full volume and the full volume range of a symphony orchestra in the living room, the results would be unpleasant, to say the least. Actually, it has been established that the dynamic range (the spread between the quietest and the loudest passages) needed to pro- duce concert hall illusion is a function of the size of the room in which the sound is to be heard. Therefore, careful attention is given to the adjustment of the dy- namic range on the record for living room reproduction. The best results are achieved when, as in "New Ortho- phonic" recordings, the adjustment is made through the choice of the proper acoustic environment and micro- phone placement. Surface noise, whether it be a ste.idy hiss, ticks, or any Electronic heat ap- plied to the cutting stylus through the two wires at the right adds to the brilliance of tone in the "New Orthophonic" meth- od of recording de- veloped by RCA. other type, has long been a bugaboo to the listener, the engineer, and the manufacturer. Basically, there are four sources: 1 ) the operation of cutting the groove in the original master; 2 ) the plating processes used to make the stamper that molds the record; 3) coarse material in the plastic compound, and 4 ) imperfect molding of the record. These four areas have long received engineering attention, and improvements are being made continually. The use of electronically-heated styli has, in addition to the advantages outlined earlier, eliminated practically all of the noise that occurs in the original cutting. Im- provements in electroplating processes and in molding methods have materially reduced noise from these sources, and the use of synthetic plastic compositions for the record has virtually eliminated that source of noise in addition to the more obvious advantage of producing a nonbreakable record. While the ultimate goal of com- plete elimination of all forms of noise has not yet been reached, we believe that "New Orthophonic" records represent a new high ( or, lest there be some mistake, a new low ) in amount of surface noise. Test Record Aids Adjustments With the major improvements that have been made in disc records in the past five years, a great deal of interest in wide-range, custom-built reproducers has developed. Owners of such instruments are often inter- ested in adjusting their equipment so that its reproduc- ing characteristic complements the recording character- istic of the record. Because of the number of requests we have received for such information, we have recorded a special test record which, with the addition of an output meter, makes it possible to adjust the reproducer to the "New Orthophonic" characteristic. These records (both "45's" and 33''3-rpm) are available through RCA Victor distributors. We have also prepared written in- formation describing the "New Orthophonic" recording characteristic and its derivation. Judging by the number of requests we have received for this information in the few weeks that it has been available, there is a definite mterest on the part of the "high fidelity" fan. RADIO AGE 77 Radar Development Simplifies Plotting of Vessel's Course Position Tracker Permits Navigator to Trace Target Positions on Face of Scope. By Thomas P. Wynkoop President Radiotnamie Corp. of America JI_/FFICIENT as radar has proved to be in its role as an outstanding aid to marine navigation, it has now been made even more eflfective by the Powergraph Position Tracker, an advanced devolpment of the Radiomarine Corporation of America. As a result, a ship's navigator, supplied with the Tracker, is now able to trace the move- ment of other vessels directly on the radar scope itself thus maintaining a continuous plot to show his course in relation to the courses of other vessels. Prior to this latest development, the plotting of the course of a radar target required additional personnel and cumbersome equipment with inevitably inaccurate results. After numerous attempt to evolve an effective plotting method, experts concluded that the only logical solution was to plot the target's course directly on the scope. To do this, it was obvious that means would have to be found to eliminate the optical error called parallax. Parallax is a fault which is introduced when the naviga- tor, standing in front of the radar scope, changes his viewing position so that the pin-point reflection of the target 'pip " seems to have shifted to one side or the other. The Powergraph Position Tracker is permanently EDGE LIGHT RITING SURFACE Sketch explains how navigator's notations on face of radar scope (top) provide traces of target movements. mounted on the radar indicator directly over the scope tube. It comprises an edge-lighted concave glass writing surface and a special dichroic (two-color) mirror. This mirror has the unique property of reflecting downward as a red image on the scope any wax pencil marking that is placed on the writing surface. At the same time the mirror permits the normal yellow glow of the radar targets to pass upward to the observer's eye. In this way, the Tracker provides a con- venient method of recording the relative positions of objects within range of the radar. New marks are made {Continued on Page 32) Marine radar provides the ship's navigator with a con- stant "picture" of distan objects, such as land-falls, and at the same time per mits him to locate buoy; and other aids to naviga tion, unafFected by dark ness or limited visibility ■ n ■ ■ it ^^^H H K ^^S ^k£M:< Our Small-Business Family By Vincent deP. Goubeau Vice President a-nd Director of Materials RCA Victor Division T JLh .HE chief investigator of the United States Senate Small Business Committee, Mr. William D. Amis, re- cently visited our Camden office to obtain, as part of a general industrial survey, information concerning RCA Victor's subcontracting program. He came at the re- quest of Senator John Sparkman of Alabama, Chairman of the Committee, who had previously directed a number of written queries to us concerning the scope of small business participation in our defense contracts. Based on these queries from Senator Sparkman, we prepared a report on procurement procedures of the RCA Victor Division. It covered a broad range of subjects, including general procurement policies, re- lations with small businesses, our system of meeting small businessmen and our methods of assisting small vendors in the execution of contracts. The report in- cluded a number of case histories of small businesses in various sections of the country whose growth and well being were, in part at least, attributable to our association. Mr. Amis' reception of the report indicated that RCA's program for collaboration with the American small businessman would be of value to the Committee in charting future courses of action. The report established that three-fourths of the 5,000 vendors who have worked on our Government and commercial contracts over the past two and one-half years are small businessmen, according to Government classification. It further showed that approximately 50 cents of every dollar spent by RCA Victor on vendor contracts in this period went to the small businessman. With this yardstick for measuring small business participation in our procurement program, the report emphasized the following activities and procedures of the RCA Victor Division: 1 — General Policies: — Within the framework of competitive bidding, RCA Victor seeks to estab- lish long-term and stable relationships with its suppliers in each industry. It views its suppliers as adjuncts of the company, as associates and partners rather than outsiders. It emphasized the importance of personal contacts between sup- pliers and our purchasing representatives in the negotiation and execution of contracts. Scene in the Chicago plant of the Molded Products Corp., one of the many small-business vendors who supply RCA Victor with components for electronic products. 2 — Relations with Small Business: — RCA Victor makes a continuing effort to broaden its national supply base, thus insuring full small business participation in our subcontracts. It works closely with small business officials of the De- partment of Defense and the three branches of the Armed Forces, advising and assisting in the execution of the Department's program. Through public relations programs and advertisements, it seeks to dramatize the contributions of our small business associates to the defense effort. 3 — Small Business Contacts at RCA Victor: — The General Purchasing Division of RCA Victor has created machinery for the personal reception of small businessmen seeking work with us. When the small businessman approaches our offices, he is guided from receptionist to commodity spe- cialist, to product department purchasing agent. His qualifications and his ability to fuffiU our requirements are thoroughly investigated — often by on-the-spot inspection of his plant. 4 — Statistical Check on Small Businessman's Share of Contracts: — To keep abreast of our subcon- tracting orders and to determine what percentage small business is getting, we have devised a {Continued on Page 31) RADIO AGE 29 A 1,892 Employees of RCA are Members oj 25 -Year Clubs .S of December 1, 1952, 1,892 employees of the Radio Corporation of America had accumulated more than 47,000 years of service in the company. These are the members, by latest count, of the 2 5 -year clubs of the Corporation and its subsidiaries. Among these long-term employees are some who worked for RCA's predecessors, prior to 1919. In their time they have seen RCA grow from an organization of 475 to 53,000 persons, who comprise the backbone of a team famous around the world for quality products and dependable service. Each year, as additional mem- bers of the RCA family reach the quarter of a century milestone, their loyal and faithful service is recognized by admittance to the 25-Year Clubs. The RCA Victor Division leads the list with the greatest number of quarter-century veterans. At the end of 1952, more than 1,350 Victor employees, 1,110 men and 240 women had joined the select group. Dur- ing the past year, 158 persons from plants at Camden, and Harrison, N. J., Lancaster, Pa., Hollywood, Indian- apolis, Detroit, Cincinnati and Chicago became members and received gold watches, the established emblem of honor. Typical of Victor's veteran employees is Charles J. Glenzinger. Now 63 years old, he joined the Victor Talking Machine Company as an order clerk in 1905, and now boasts the greatest length of service with the Division. For several years he was employed in the materials handling section of Victor Talking Machine Company, the RCA Manufacturing Company and the present RCA Victor Division, always in Camden. Since 1951 he has been a storekeeper with the Engineering Products Department. One Club is Located in Manila RCA Communications, Inc., established its first 25- Year Club in 1944. Today, there are three clubs located at New York, San Francisco and Manila. The present membership is 322, consisting of 305 men and 17 women. RCA Communications' employee with the longest service record is Henry G. Heisel, General Office and Service Manager of the Operations Department in New York. He joined the Marconi 'Wireless Telegraph Company of America in 1912 as an office boy. In later years he became successively Auditor of Receipts of RCA, Manager of RCA Laboratories' Finance Depart- ment and Assistant Treasurer of RCA Communications. Although the RCA Laboratories Division was formed as late as 1942, 82 of its employees have been honored for 25 years of service with RCA. These persons, including four women and 78 men, have re- ceived gold watches and 2 5 -year certificates at annual dinners held at the David Sarnoff Research Center in Princeton, N. J. Seventeen employees became members of this distinguished group during the past year. Has Service Record of -i-i Years 'With 44 years of service to his credit, 'Wilbur A. Murphy, now a Staff Assistant at Princeton, has the longest service record of RCA Laboratories' employees. In 1908, Mr. Murphy joined the Victor Talking Machine Company at Camden, N. J., as an office boy, with a starting salary of S2.00 a week. Subsequently, he became a Payroll Clerk and in 1924 was transferred to Victor's phonograph record plant at Oakland, Calif. After the formation of the RCA Manufacturing Company, Mr. Murphy returned to Camden as a Stafi^ Assistant. In 1942, he joined the Princeton laboratories. The National Broadcasting Company, which cele- brated its 25th Anniversary in 1951, marked the occasion by forming a 25-Year Club. The present membership in the club totals 56 employees from NBC offices in New York, Hollywood, San Francisco, 'Washington and Chicago. During the last two years, 43 men and 13 women have received watches in recognition of their quarter-century service. According to the records, Harry F. McKeon, Staff Controller of NBC, has the greatest length of service with NBC and organizations which were acquired by RCA. In 1916 he joined the American Telephone and Telegraph Company and six years later became Auditor of A. T. & T.'s Radio Department. 'When RCA pur- chased radio station WEAF in 1926, Mr. McKeon was appointed Auditor of NBC, and in 1942, he was named Controller of the Company. The Quarter Century Club of Radiomarine Cor- poration of America, formed in 1948, has 56 members including two women. Certificate of Honor scrolls and gold watches are awarded to new members. Radiomarine's veteran with the longest service is {Continued on Page 31) 30 RADIO AGE Our Small-Business Family (Continued from Page 29) comprehensive system of statistical reports. Each month, reports on the dollar volume and number of purchase orders from each product department are tabulated. All our current vendors are di- vided, according to Government classification, as small or large. An IBM card index system digests this information and allows us to prepare semi- annual reports showing total dollar volume of business with each vendor and whether that vendor is small or large. This has helped us maintain a constant and equitable allocation of subcontracts between businesses of all sizes. 5 — Assiitance to Small Business: — We believe that the success of a subcontracting program is de- pendent on more than a written contract. It requires a comradely relationship between the prime contractor and the vendor; it requires a willingness to swap information and technical know-how; it requires a desire to help the other fellow out in a pinch, to expedite supplies, to lend financial encouragement. The story of how RCA Victor contributes these "extras" was told in terms of a few small companies which are typical of the many. We provided capsule de- scriptions of our association with the Atkron Company, of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio; Dielectric Products, of Jersey City, N. J.; the Independent Manufacturing Company, of Riverton, N. J.; E. R. Capewell & Sons, of Mt. Holly, N. J.; GrayhiU Company, of LaGrange, 111.; D. S. Kennedy Company, of Cohasset, Mass.; and Kusic-Haines Manufacturing Company, of Weir- ton, W. Va. In each instance, we showed how these companies had grown as a result of their association with us; in each instance, we demon- strated that close collaboration had reacted to our mutual benefit. Through this report and our subsequent meeting, Mr. Amis had an opportunity to become acquainted with our company's traditional belief: that small and large businesses are completely interdependent, that by working together they can meet the dual needs of de- fense and home consumption and thus sustain our unmatched standard of living. 1,892 Employees of RCA are Members of 25-Year Clubs (Continued froi?i Page 30) Daniel J. DeCoste, Senior Clerk at the Boston Office. Born 62 years ago, Mr. DeCoste joined the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of America in the sum- mer of 1909. For many years he was responsible for the operating and servicing of communications equip- ment. The RCA International Division's roster of 2 5 -year veterans consists of four women and 20 men. Of this group. Traffic Manager Howard M. Spellman has accumulated the longest service, begining in 1907 with the 'Victor Talking Machine Company. In I91.T he became first assistant in Victor's Export Department. After performing various billing and shipping duties, he was made Traffic Manager of RCA Victor in 1935 and ten years later was transferred to his present position in the International Division. Mr. Spellman is now Chairman of the Overseas Freight and Traffic Committee of the Radio and Television Manu- facturers Association. Two of the present employees of RCA Institutes have served with RCA or its predecessor companies for 25 years. Cornelius Peterson, veteran instructor of the Institutes, conducts classes in radio physics and mathematics. Mr. Peterson began his teaching career in 1924 with the Radio Institute of America, which later became RCA Institutes. During World War II, he spent two years with the Radiomarine Corporation of America. Mr. Peterson is believed to have taught the subject of radio transmitter theory for more years than any other man in the United States. A review of RCA's veteran employees and the clubs which have been established to recognize their years of faithful service can present only a small cross-section of the people who compose the RCA family. Through- out the vast army of RCA's employees are hundreds of persons who have devoted 5, 10, 15, 20 and more years within the ranks of the Corporation. These men and women are at work as clerks, technicians, secretaries, engineers, machinists, assembly line workers, account- ants, executives and in many other fields. The progress and accomplishments of RCA in the last 3.t years can be attributed in large measure to the outstanding co- operation and teamwork of these veterans. RADIO AGE 31 Radar Development Simplifies Plotting of Vessel's Course (Continued from Page 28) as the target vessel changes location, thus facilitating the working out of courses, speeds, passing distances or the solution of other navigational situations. The use of the dichroic mirror is a notable stride in marine navigational plotting. Much work has been done with these mirrors in the development of color television cameras but it is believed that the Powergraph Position Tracker represents the first application of these color filtering mirrors to a radar plotting device. The logic behind the gradual evolution of the Power- graph Position Tracker becomes apparent when previous plotting methods are analyzed. With the early True Plot method the radar findings had to be relayed to another person who recorded them on a sheet. Next came the Relative Plot or Maneuvering Board method in which the investigating ship was used as the basis for the problem. This provided a more substantial base for calculations. The United States Navy took the next step with its swifter, more efficient plotting system which embodied the Plastic Maneuvering Board. This system utilized a series of concentric and parallel lines drawn directly on the plotting surface of the board. A still later innovation, the Navy's Dead Reckoning Tracer, moved the plotting surface over the mark designating the ship's position in direct relation to her speed. Radar is still regarded by many laymen as one of science's greatest mysteries. Although it may appear complex, in principle it is surprisingly simple. The name itself is derived from the combination of the first letters of the words RA-dio, D-irection finding, A-nd R-anging. In the actual operation of radar, a directed radio beam is transmitted in a complete circle from the ship's re- volving radar antenna. This beam "hits" any surround- ing objects (targets) up to 25 miles or more distant and is reflected back to the source. The returned signal is made to appear by electronic means on a calibrated kinescope which makes it possible to calculate the exact position of the target. As the ship moves along it,' course new targets are indicated by the beam. Now that navigators the world over can use the magic of radar to calculate a target's position, bearing and speed by merely flicking a switch and making sev- eral notations on a visible screen, credit for much of this accomplishment is due Radiomarine engineers who have contributed so much to make this mariner's dream come true. RCA Executives and Engineers Receive Honors from I. R. E. Brig. General David Sarnofl, Chairman of the Board of RCA, will receive the first Founders Award of the Institute of Radio Engineers at the Institute's annual convention in New York in March. He will be cited for his "outstanding contributions to the radio engineering profession through wise and courageous leadership in the planning and administration of technical developments which have greatly increased the impact of electronics on the public welfare." The new award has been established to commemorate the three founders of the I. R. E.: Dr. Alfred N. Goldsmith, John V. L. Hogan and Robert H. Marriott. Effective January 1, 1953, ten engineers and scientists of RCA became Fellows of the I. R. E. in recognition of outstanding contributions to the electronics art. Recipi- ents were Edmund A. Laport, International Division; John L. Callahan, Russell R. Law, Jan A. Rajchman, Bertram Trevor and Charles J. Young, Laboratories Divi- sion; Kenneth A. Chittick, Lewis B. Headrick and Philip J. Herbst, Victor Division, and Allen B. Oxley, RCA Victor Co., Ltd., Canada. The 1953 Editor's Award of the I. R. E. will be received by Edward O. Johnson and "William M. "Webster, Jr., RCA Laboratories Division, for their paper in the June, 1953, Proceedings of the I. R. E., entitled, "The Plasmatron, a Continuously Controllable Gas-Discharge Developmental Tube." Dr. B. E. Shackelford, Director of the License Depart- ment, RCA International Division, has been elected an I. R. E. director for 1953-55. Religion and Science (Continued from Page 1 5 ) "Scientists have seen this truth applied to their own activities. They have beheld the importance of a brotherhood among them which transcends racial, re- ligious and geographical boundaries. "Whether path- finders, pioneers or inventors, they come to realize that in their achievements they have built upon the founda- tion of ideas and theories established, possibly long years ago, by their brothers in science. "Men must learn to live and work together or all will perish together. This concept of the relationship between men is not new. The ideal of brotherhood has pervaded the teachings of all religious thinkers — Chris- tians, Mohammedans and Jews alike — whose moral and philosophic precepts form the bedrock of our modern institutions and culture. And this concept, as we all know, is basic to a true democratic way of life." 32 RADIO AGE Use the RCA MAGNETIC Recorder- Profector Nc low, make your entire film library work harder, train faster, ex- plain more clearly ... let every 16mm film you own tell a brand-new story with the new RCA magnetic recorder- projector that puts sound on film in an instant. Look at these 5 Important, New Training Aids 1. Make your own sound films Now you can actually make your own sound films — without studio facilities— at amazingly low cost. Shoot film with your present camera. Add sound to developed print with the new RCA recorder- projector. 2. Add sound to si'/enf films Give films the immedi- acy and impact of sound and voice. Record a fresh message minutes before a lecture. Or organize a project to prepare complete, professional scripts. 3. Make sound films tell a new story Revamp distracting, out-of-date commen- tary. Interpret films in terms of current trends. Revive expensive films that are gathering dust on your shelves. Get sound quality you never dreamed pos- sible on 16mm film. iSJ 4. Make your message specific Record a narrative on any 16mm film to place it exactly on your audi- ence's level— make it directly applicable to those it addresses— bring it into the scope of your discussion. 5. Let films speak Iwo languages Your present optical sound track plus new magnetic track do double duty, give films two tongues. For example: English and Spanish, technical and non-technical, elementary and advanced . . . both on the same film! HERE'S ALL YOU DO. Have a narrow mag- netic stripe added to your 16- or 24-frame sound or silent 16mm film. Laboratory services «; ^:^ are set up to do this quickly and expertly — without destroying your present optical sound track — for a few cents a foot. (Films with per- forations on both edges must be duplicated on single-perforation stock.) Project film in your RCA recorder-projector, and speak into the microphone as you watch the film. Play back instantly. Keep it as long as you want it. Erase and re-record at any time. (Here's sound on film for 11 % of the cost of optical sound!) It's simple as tliat. It's tliree equipments in one. (I) It's an excellent instrument for projecting and re- producing 16mm sound motion picture film — recorded both optically and magnetically. It has all the operating conveniences of the RCA "400" line including the famous "thread-easy" feature. (2) It's an unequalled device for recording your own sound track on 16mm film. (3) It can serve as a public address system. LISTEN BEFORE YOU BUY Before you buy any type of sound projector, listen to tlie superb magnetic reproduction of the RCA recorder- projector. Tbere's nothing hke it anywhere on 16niai film. Listen . . . and compare . . . before you buy. r I Visual Products, Dept. 174F, RCA, Camden, N. J. I Without obligation, please send me the full story * on new RCA Magnetic Recorder-Projector that I puts my own sound track on 16mm movie filnu Get started on your new film program today — Mail Coupon NOW i?i« DiO CORPORA TIOM of A ME RICA I Title. I I I Affiliation_ Address City ^our oiiardLans of qiialit^^ in radio, television and recorded mxisic When you see these trade marks on television sets, radios, "Victrola" phonographs, and other electronic instruments you are assured the highest quality— born of research, fine engineering and craftsmanship. The sun never sets on these trade marks, and mil- lions of people around the world turn to them ivith friendly confidence. RCA, as the pioneer, continues to lead in every major advance ... in all phases of television. RCA Victor has made radio a household word to millions of Americans. "Victrola" phono<^raphs have ex- tended great music from the concert halls to homes everywhere . . . from Broadway to Every Street, U.S.A. You also see these trade marks on records so rich in "living presence" that artists seem to be performing in your home. Little Nipper and the familiar phrase "His Master's Voice" have appeared on recordings made by the world's greatest artists — for more than half a century. These same high standards of qualitv make NBC the nation's leader in radio and television broadcast- ing. You can depend on RCA and RCA \'ictor trade marks as r^tiardians of qualiti/ — sure guides to finer performance, dependability, better value and service. Radio Corporation of America World leader in rnon.rno\ or .iMi:niCA World leader in radio — first in lele^Lsion JULY 1953 N Y RADIO^AGE RESEARCH • MANUFACTURING • COMMUNICATIONS • BROADCASTING • TELEVISION COLOR TELEVISION y^ f t' J . j^. ^m^i^mm A NEW HOPE FOR HOUSEWrVES The daylight hours brighten when Bob Hope calls on the nation's housewives each weekday witii his brand new radio show. Sparkling humor is the keynote but the Jieiv Hope also comments on matters of timely mterest and interviews famous guests. Then, too, announcer Bill Goodwin joins Bob in running reisartee that's sure to bring an apron full of chuckles. Jell-O Desserts present The Bob Hope Daytime Radio S/tow Monday thru Friday on your nearest NBC station.* It's home-made for the housewife *Hope hasn't forsaken nighttime radio or television Hear him Wednesday nights o NBC radio and watch for his full hour television show. National Broadcasting Compa ny a service of Radio Corpora/ion of America VOLUME 12 NUMBER 3 iRCH • MANUFACTURING • COMMUNICATIONS BROADCASTING •TELEVISION CONTENTS JULY 1953 COVER Tests by RCA and NBC have shown that all colors, such as appear in this photograph of a TV studio scene, can be duplicated on the screens of compatible color receivers in American homes within range of present television stations. NOTICE When requesting a change in mailing address please include the code letters and numbers which appear with the stencilled address on the envelope. Radio Age is published quarterly by Ihe Department of Information, Radio Corporolion of Americo, 30 Rocte- leller Plaza. New York 20, N Y. Printed in U S.A. Page RCA and NBC Petition FCC to Adopt Standards for Commercial Broadcasting of Compatible Color Television 3 Radio-TV Coils Made by Printing 9 Viewers Get First Scenes of Coronation from NBC Television ... 10 Radio-TV Broadcasters Honor Sarnoff 13 Microwaves Aid Flood-Ravaged Holland 14 by William R. Dean RCA Victor Broadcast Station Representatives Cover the Country . . 16 Safety at Sea Advanced by New Portable Lifeboat Radio .... 18 by Irving F. Byrnes Television Affiliates Reaffirm Complete Confidence in NBC .... 20 Electronic "Detective" Spots Metal Pieces in Ores and Rocks ... 21 How Crystals of Quartz Are Fashioned into Electronic Controls . 22 RCA Set New Sales Record in First Quarter of Year, Stockholders are Told 24 Microwave Radio Becomes More Important to Industries .... 28 RADIO CORPORATION OF AMERICA RCA Building, New York 20, N.Y. DAVID SARNOFF, Chairman of (fie Board JOHN Q. CANNON, Secrefory FRANK M. FOLSOM, President ERNEST B. GORIN, Treasurer Services of RCA are: RCA Victor Division • RCA Service Company, Inc. • RCA International Division National BroacJcasting Company, Inc. • Radiomarine Corporation of America RCA Communications, Inc. • RCA Laboratories Division • RCA Institutes, Inc. RCA Estate Appliance Corp. • RCA Victor Distributing Corp. i\ Radiomarine's new portable lifeboat radio is demonstrated by cadets of the U. S. Merchant Marine Academy, Kings Point, N. Y. Two cadets in the center are cranking the 60-pound emergency send-receive unit which is topped by a 15-foot antenna mast. (Story on page 18) ■b ^|b^/\ " ^** 1 ^U^^^^P^ ^^^^^^^^^, ,7'f^^H^SH ii ^1 j^hhISn^^m 1 ^^'"'"'^H ^Si Fl 1^ ^^SS^^fl^ tipp^ ■SiS^R m 'HB 1 ^^^r *J 91 «««« ,11 r a 'a From an elevated seat on a dolly, an NBC cameraman focuses the color TV camera on a Paris street scene in the studio. RCA and NBC Petttmi FCC to Adopt Standards for Commercial Broadcasting of Compatible Color Television R .ADio Corporation of America and the National Broadcasting Company, on June 25, petitioned the Fed- eral Communications Commission to adopt compatible technical standards permitting the commercial broad- casting of color television, it was announced by Brig. General David Sarnoff, Chairman of the Board of RCA. The 697-page petition states that the color standards proposed by RCA and NBC are the signal specifications approved by the industry's National Television System Committee; that the RCA system which operates on these standards meets all criteria established by the FCC for a satisfactory color television system; and that, be- cause of its compatibility, color programs broadcast on the RCA system can be received in black-and-white on the millions of sets now in use without any adjustments or additions. "Our position as a pioneer imposes upon us the responsibility to do our best to bring about the early introduction and orderly development of compatible color television in the interests of the viewing public, our sponsors, and the independent stations affiliated with our network," General Sarnoff said. "RCA and NBC are prepared to invest as much as $15 million during color television's introductory year to establish this new service on a solid foundation. This would be in addi- tion to the $25 million RCA will have spent by the end of 1953 in pioneering research and development of com- patible color television." When the FCC adopts the proposed color standards, the petition states, RCA and NBC will: 1. Expedite production of color receivers, tri-color tubes, and broadcasting and studio equipment for sale to the public, to television manufacturers and to broad- casters. (It is estimated that the first sets produced will sell for $800 to $1000, and when mass production is achieved prices will be substantially reduced.) RADIO AGE 2 2. Commence broadcasting compatible color tele- vision programs which NBC will offer to commercial sponsors and its affiliated stations throughout the United States. (Already, 41 independent stations affiliated with NBC have agreed to a prompt start in broadcasting net- work color programs and others are planning to do the same. ) "RCA and NBC have the know-how to broadcast color programs, to build equipment for color broadcast- ing and to build sets that will receive these color pro- grams," the petition asserts. "In addition, RCA and NBC have a nucleus of trained personnel ready to do the job." General Sarnoff pointed out that in the development of any great new service to the American public, some- one must always take the lead and incur the initial capital risk. "For example," he said, "RCA and NBC risked $50 million in developing and introducing black- and-white television before getting a cent in return. We are now spending $40 million in creating this new industry of color television. This is an expenditure that must precede the achievement of mass production in manufacturing and substantial broadcasting of color programs. "The next task is to translate the achievements of our scientists and engineers into color programs on the air and color sets in the nation's homes. This calls for a broad-scale effort by the entire radio-television in- dustry." General Sarnoff said there are approximately 210 set manufacturers and 70 tube manufacturers in the radio- television industry, and approximately 190 television stations now on the air. "It is my great hope," he said, "that all of them will participate in the effort to take the color television 'baby' out of the cradle and teach it to walk. RCA Inventions Available to Entire Industry "RCA is following the same policy in introducing color as it did in black-and-white television, making its inventions available to the entire industry. In addition, we will manufacture and sell component parts, including the tri-color tube, to competing manufacturers and will make and sell broadcasting equipment to any station, regardless of whether or not it is affiliated with NBC. "The radio-television industry can avail itself of the scientific inventions and technical 'know-how' that are the fruits of RCA's color television investment, without incurring any of the major capital risks. This means that it is economically practical for other members of this highly competitive industry to get into the color television field quickly. "I am confident that those members of the industry, who help to advance color television in its early stages, will be proud of the part they play in the development of this new service. Once black-and-white television was off to a good start, some of those who feared and opposed it the most, soon became television's most enthusiastic supporters. We can expect the same thing to happen in the case of color television." General Sarnoff said that the standards proposed to the FCC were sufficiently high to leave ample room for future developments. "Like the tracks of a railroad," he continued, "these standards provide color television with a gauge for a high-quality right-of-way. Like railroad cars, color television receivers can be changed and im- proved in the future, and still operate on the same standards or tracks. "Color television is a major step forward in the science and art of seeing by radio. It will be revolu- tionary in its effect upon communications. Color greatly enhances the beauty and attractiveness of objects and scenes. It gives more information and increases our powers of memory and identification. It is a powerful aid to advertising. It is a new dimension that will in- Color cameras, microphone boom and spot-lights ore set up for a color TV program in RCA-NBC's Colonial Theatre, New York. 4 RADIO AGE Color TV control console at Colonial Theatre. crease the public's enjoyment of news events, entertain- ment and education. " Pilot Production of Color Sets Possible by Spring of 1954 Dr. C. B. Jolliffe, Vice President and Technical Director of RCA, estimated, in a statement included in the RCA petition, that if the FCC approves the proposed new standards by the end of the Summer of 1953, a pilot production of color receivers can start during the Spring of 1954. In addition. Dr. Jolliffe said, to facilitate the intro- duction of commercial color television broadcasting, RCA's initial plans are to produce appropriate broadcast equipment on a custom basis. "This will enable broad- casters," he stated, "to proceed with color television early in 1954." RCA System is Compatible The RCA color system is compatible with the present black-and-white television, the petition con- tinues, and programs broadcast using the RCA system can be received in natural color on color receivers and in high definition black-and-white on the more than 24,000,000 black-and-white receivers already in the hands of the American public without changing them or adding to them in any way. The petition states the belief that the present field sequential color television standards based upon an in- compatible color television system are "sterile and that their continuance is not in the public interest." It is pointed out in the petition that the black-and- white sets now in use, "representing an investment of billions of dollars, would be 'blind' to incompatible color broadcasts." The petition also points out that RCA and NBC know of no one who plans to manufacture or broadcast incompatible color television. Regarding the proposed new standards for com- patible color television, the petition states that they are "technical signal specifications approved February 2, 1953, by outstanding engineers and scientists of the radio and television industry, including members of Petitioners' staffs, through the National Television Sys- tem Committee. Petitioner knows of no responsible engineer or scientist in the radio and television field who proposes adoption of any other color standards. " For testing the RCA color television system and the proposed new standards, RCA and NBC offered to "make their laboratory, studios, transmitter, test equip- ment and other facilities freely available" to the FCC and members of its staff. RCA System Aleets FCC Criteria The petition states that extensive field tests, includ- ing thousands of hours of color transmissions, and public reaction studies show that the RCA system satisfied all the criteria previously specified (June 11, 1951) for color television by the FCC. These criteria include color RADIO AGE 5 fidelity, picture definition and brightness, simplicity of operation in broadcasting and receiving equipment, costs, freedom from interference, and networking. Price of Color Receivers Dr. Jolliffe said that the introductory retail price of the first RCA color television receivers will be between $800 and $1000. The picture size of the first color television receivers will be equal to a 14-inch black- and-white tube. For comparison, Dr. Jolliffe pointed out that the retail price of a 12-inch black-and-white television set introduced in 1939, was approximately $560. However, he said, taking into account the change in price levels — based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics Price Index — this 1939 price would be approximately $1,050 in terms of 1953 dollars. Price Reductions Foreseen "A major item in the price of a color television receiver is the tri-color kinescope," he continued. "The price and size history of black-and-white kinescopes will be followed in color kinescopes. Prices will be reduced and sizes and quality increased as quantity production is attained by manufacturers of kinescopes. "If standards for commercial broadcasting of com- patible color television are adopted by the Commission thus enabling compatible color receivers to be manu- factured on a mass production basis, experience and competition will inevitably result in bringing about sub- stantial reductions in the price of color receivers." Dr. Jolliffe said that the cost of station apparatus for the RCA color television system successfully meets the FCC criterion that it should not be "so high as unduly to restrict the class of persons who can afford to operate a television station." "A television station does not need to equip color studios in order to broadcast network color programs," Dr. Jolliffe said. "The station can take color programs from the network by making relatively minor expendi- tures for equipment and standard stock items, plus in most cases certain additional sums for test equipment. The station operator may expand his operations by adding a color sUde camera, color film equipment and color cameras if he desires to provide programs from local sources. The amount and total cost of such equip- ment will depend on the kind and extent of local color program material the broadcast station owner elects to provide. "The present prices are preliminary estimates based on existing conditions, present equipment designs and limited ptoduction. Provided other conditions remain the same, it is anticipated that substantial price reduc- tions will be made when commercial product designs ate finalized and the production of color equipment in- creases." Tri-color TV kinescopes are inspected during a pilot-production run at RCA's tube plant, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. \ Ul RCA's Manufacturing Plans Dr. Jolliffe said that RCA has established a pilot plant for the production of RCA tri-color kinescopes within its tube plant at Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Within a few months, he continued, this pilot operation can attain a production rate of 2,000 tubes per month. "In response to demand for more tri-color kinescopes than can be produced in the pilot production unit," he pointed out, "operations can be expanded into existing black-and-white kinescope production facilities, with suitable modification of such facilities and the addition of the specialized items needed for tri-color kinescope production. "Factory space for producing RCA color television receivers is available and necessary test equipment has been determined. Manufacturing personnel has exam- ined the engineering samples of model RCA color tele- vision receivers and are agreed that no unusual manufac- turing problems are involved. "While a substantially increased number of compon- ent parts are required for a color television receiver as compared with a black-and-white receiver, and circuits require a greater degree of testing and adjustment, manufacturing techniques will be basically the same as for black-and-white television receivers." Dr. Jolliffe said that the proposed technical signal specifications make provision for future improvements in equipment at both transmitter and receiver without requiring a change in standards or obsoleting receivers in the public's hands. NBC Color Telecasting Plans and Policies The National Broadcasting Company's color tele- vision programming plans and policies are outlined in the petition. Highlights of these plans and policies are: The first immediate proposal of NBC consists of starting "an introductory year," in the course of which all the engineering and programming groups of NBC will have a chance to get direct experience in color- casting, it was said, because they will produce their present black-and-white television shows in color pre- mieres. The petition stated: "We have now worked out a rough schedule of color- casts from the Colonial Theatre in New York, and 3H in our Radio City studios, which are the two present color-equipped studios of the National Brodacasting Company . . . We expect to average two shows a week from the Colonial, and the two shows will average an hoiu- together. 3H will be reserved for continued tech- nical experiment. "We will schedule the color premieres, out of the Facade of Colonial Theatre, New York, originating point of the majority of color TV programs broadcast experi- mentally by RCA and NBC. Colonial Theatre, on a rotational basis of all our black- and-white attractions, so that each show is seen in color at least once, in a specially-devised color show, which will still be great in black and white, but we hope superb in color. We will include the NBC opera in English, Toscanini, Great Conversations, and other occasional as well as regular shows. "When the great shows and the regular shows of NBC are offered in their color premieres at the average rate of two a week from the Colonial, the advertiser will offer his advertising in color with the show. In the case of multiple sponsors, we hope to offer all adver- tisers the same opportunity. "Local events and exhibits and celebrations can all be covered in color. When important enough, we would hope to use our remote equipment to bring the scene on a special event pick-up basis." The petition points up the fact, now that a practical (Continued on page 31) RADIO AGE 7 A copper-clad sheet of ploslic, on which electronic circuits will be printed by photography, is highly polished before the light-sensitive emulsion is applied. This gloss negative will be used to produce an unlimited number of accurate replicas in an automatic photo- printing machine. In this heat tank, the sensitized copper-clad plastic sheet is dried rapidly under a bank of infra-red lamps and over a row of gas burners. Here, the sheet of printed circuits, with all unwanted areas etched away by an acid bath, goes into a bake oven, as one of the final production steps. Radio -TV Coils Made by Printing Photo-crching Process Developed by RCA Victor Permirs Mass Production of Identical Components from a Photographic Negative. ^ADIOS, TV receivers, and communications equip- ment that can be made more compact and efficient were envisioned with the announcement that printed-circuit electronic inductors, mass-produced for general use by the Tube Department of the RCA Victor Division, are now generally available. In such components, printed circuitry replaces conventional wire windings with coils that are etched on flat surfaces. These revolutionary components, presently limited to six types of intermediate frequency (IF) transform- ers, induction coils, and wave traps, are produced by a special process which makes possible virtually limitless production of identical electronic circuits from a single photographic negative. Conventional inductors depend upon coils of hand- wound or machine-wound copper wire to provide the desired inductance values. With the printed circuit method, the coils of copper wire are eliminated. Instead, inductances are provided by flat inductors having rec- tangular windings which are photographically printed MX >i% 0^ A complete printed circuit i.f. transformer and its shield (in hands) are compared with older type components (on table) to show comparative sizes. on plastic strips on which a layer of copper has been deposited. The production of a printed-circuit component be- gins with a photograph of the pattern of the required circuit. A contact print of the negative is then made on a copper-clad plastic strip which has been coated with a light-sensitive material. Following this operation, the strip is developed and placed in an etching solution. The unexposed parts of the copper are eaten away, leaving an accurate, sharply defined reproduction of the desired copper circuit. After the strip has undergone additional processing, it is inserted in a metal case or shield. Uniformity Always Maintained So precise that it will faithfully reproduce a line width of copper as narrow as one-hundredth of an inch, the process assures the uniformity of any quantity of "copy" circuits produced by the master circuit on the photographic plate. The photographic printing of electronic circuits pre- sages unprecedented accuracy in the production and assembly of components and provides precision control of such vital factors as the coefficient of coupling. Fur- ther, the printed-circuit technique points the way to more economical and streamlined production of com- ponents, makes possible circuit arrangements impossible under conventional wire-winding techniques, indicates appreciable simplification in component design, and facilitates rapid and inexpensive circuit changes since only a new negative is required. Printed-circuit components themselves, by nature of their radical design and high uniformity, make possible simplification of equipment design, reduction in the number of required parts, and a simplification of equip- ment servicing and alignment. Simplification of servicing and alignment are illus- trated by the new RCA components, which are housed within tiny metal shield cans measuring only seven- eighths of an inch square and two-and-one-quarter-inches high. The new components are intermediate-frequency types designed for television sets utilizing intercarrier- sound systems and incorporating picture IF and sound IF carriers of 45.75 and 41.25 m.c, respectively. RADIO AGE 9 Viewers Get First Scenes of Coronation from NBC Television Eight Months of Planning for Royal Establish New Records of J__/ONG range planning — the kind of planning that anticipates all conceivable setbacks and disappointments achieved new records for NBC on June 2 when the network provided American TV viewers with the most complete coverage of the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth. As a result of this painstaking thoroughness in preparation: 5 NBC-TV flashed the first still pictures of the Coronation ceremonies only nine minutes after they were taken in London. 51 The network presented, at 4: 14 p.m., the first actual motion pictures of the Coronation seen in this country. 5 NBC-TV telecast more hours of Coronation Day activities than any other network. 51 NBC Coronation coverage reached more people, on both radio and TV, than did the coverage of any other network according to a survery conducted by Audience Research Bureau. This coverage, on both media, was sponsored by General Motors. Right: These American-type microwave receivers, sup- ported on a specially built tov/er near Blackbushe, were used to pick up TV signals from the BBC station in London. The signals were then fed to kinescope recorders. Film recording and editing equipment installed at the Blackbushe Airport outside London for the rapid process- ing of Coronation films before their shipment to the United States by fast plane. Pageant Made it Possible fot Netvv^otk to Leadership in Radio and TV The network had planned to score a beat of several hours over other television networks by flying Corona- tion films back to this country in an English Electric Canberra jet bomber belonging to the Venezuelan Gov- ernment. The plane had been delivered by its manufac- turer to Blackbushe Airport, near London, where NBC had set up an elaborate installation to kinescope the British Broadcasting Corporation telecast. NBC assumed the expense of ferrying the jet across the Atlantic in return for the transport of the films. Piloted by Capt. J. W. Hackett, who on May 12 had set an unofficial trans-Atlantic record in a similar aircraft, the jet took off at 6:24 a.m., EDT., but two hours out over the Atlantic was forced to turn back because of a defective fuel connection. BBC, the only television organization permitted to film the ancient rites in Westminster Abbey also offered kinescopes of its coverage to Canadian and American networks, the films to be flown over in three Royal Air Force Canberra jet bombers. NBC hired a souped-up P-51 racing plane, piloted mm » NBC film technicians, working in an airborne laboratory, edit Coronation films while the Pan American Clipper was flying from London to Boston. by Stanley Reaver of the Paul Mantz flying organization, to stand by at Goose Bay, Labrador, to pick up the first films to arrive there and shuttle them down to Boston's Logan Airport, where they could be put on the 67- station network waiting for them. Also waiting at Goose Bay was a Canadian Royal Air Force jet, which had been assigned to speed the films 800 miles to Montreal for presentation by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. When it became apparent to NBC officials at Logan Airport that the CBC jet would reach Montreal before the P-51 could reach Boston, 900 miles distant, Charles C. Barry, NBC vice president in charge of programs, and William R. McAndrew, man- ager of news and special events, decided to take the program from the CBC line rather than wait for the shuttle plane from Labrador. By following this pro- cedure, NBC made it possible for its 67 affiliates to trans- mit the first Coronation films to be seen in America. The time was 4:14 p.m., EDT, a clear beat of 10 minutes over NBC's principal network rival. Although the decision to tap into CBCs facilities was made at the last minute, arrangements for such a contingency had been completed between CBC and NBC last winter. Had the secret NBC jet, known as the Albion Arroif, completed its flight with the first films, CBC would have been able to draw its programs from that telecast. As McAndrew pointed out: "Our objective all the time was to get the story on TV ahead of all others. We didn't care whether we did it with the Albion Arrow, or by way of the RAF to Goose Bay, the RCAF to Montreal, by electronic means through the CBC, or any other way." NBC was the only full network prepared to take the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation transmission when that organization put the films on the air. The sequences were carried until 6 p.m. EDT. NBC-TV's later Coronation program, from 10:30 p.m., to midnight, EDT., originated from Logan Airport. Films made in London by NBC camera crews were flown over non-stop in a Pan American Super-Six Clip- per, in which film editing equipment had been installed so that a completely edited, polished program could be presented upon landing. The Clipper landed at Logan at 8:47 p.m. EDT., establishing a new London-Boston record (12 hours, 35 minutes) for propeller-driven aircraft. Riding the plane were commentators Henry Cassidy and Merrill Mueller, the first eye-witnesses of the Coronation events to return to this country. Final Coronation films — those of the pool and NBC's own — arrived at Logan Airport at 10:00 p.m. EDT., in a converted A-26 attack bomber owned by Cities Service Petroleum, Inc. The A-26 had picked up these films from another RAF jet at Goose Bay. These films, which included those made of the procession fol- lowing the actual Coronation, were integrated into the 10:30-to-midnight program. In addition to the live commentary of Cassidy and Mueller, Sir Ralph Richard- son, the distinguished British actor, appeared in a filmed commentary on the "Liber Regalis," the ancient book used in the solemn ceremony. Small Air Bubble Wrecks Plans The abbreviated flight by Captain Hackett in NBC's secret jet, the Albion Arrow, was a story in itself. It took only a small air bubble to shatter the plans which had been months in the making. Hackett, a former RAF flier now employed by Silver City Airways, Ltd., left Blackbushe Airport near London at 6:24 a.m. EDT., and was averaging 570 miles per hour. Once his wing tank was emptied of fuel, he discovered that the feed from a supplementary tank was jammed. He dived his plane straight down from 40,000 to 20,000 feet, trying to remedy the trouble. Then he stood the plane on its tail and shook the stick to the point where the jets aknost "flamed out." Nothing worked. Without his full load of fuel, he knew that he could never make it to Gander, Newfoundland, so he turned back. Coronation Day coverage on NBC-TV began at 5:30 a.m. EDT., on the news and special events program, "Today." Dramatic, almost simultaneous, still pictures of the event were transmitted across the Atlantic to the RADIO AGE ?? Charles H. Colledge of NBC's Public Affairs Department inspects the transmitting unit of a Mufax transmitting unit from which still pictures were sent direct to New York by transatlantic radio. Below: Sylvester L. Weaver, Jr., Vice Chairman of the NBC Board (left) and Dave Garroway, of the "Today" program, with a Mufax receiver installed in Radio City. "Today" newsroom set, where they were reproduced on a recently developed facsimile receiver, called Mufax. At 5:35 a.m. EDT., just nine minutes after Queen Elizabeth had entered the state coach for her trip to Westminster Abbey, the picture was on American tele- vision screens. In all, the Mufax machine received a total of 86 pictures. Gibson Parker, British radio and TV personality, was at Muirhead, the transmission point in England, and was in direct radio telephone contact with "Today's" commentators, Garroway and Frank Blair. Parker commented on the pictures while they were appearing on American television screens. The signals which supplied Mufax equipment were transmitted over transatlantic circuits of RCA Com- munications, Inc. Preparations for handling this part of the Coronation coverage began last November when RCA Communications engineers started their tests to determine the method that would provide the fastest service and the best quality of pictures. RCA Communi- cations circuits also were used to bring the BBC com- mentary from London to the radio networks of this country. But not all the credit for comprehensive coverage could go to TV. NBC radio was present alongside the younger medium at every high spot of the London activities. Beginning at 5:15 a.m., and continuing in periods until 1 1 p.m., the radio network was on the air for a total of 55^^ hours with on-the-spot descriptions of the pageantry, solemn ceremony and exultation. In addition NBC radio's regular news shows carried ex- tensive Coronation coverage. Heard on the NBC radio Coronation shows were commentators Henry Cassidy, Merrill Mueller, George Hicks, Frank Bourgholtzer, John Farrell, Morgan Beatty, Ed Newman, Ray Henle, Bill Sprague and Leon Pearson, and John Snagge, dean of BBC commentators. NBC's Coronation coverage was supervised by Davidson Taylor, network director of public affairs. William R. McAndrew manager of news and special events, was TV producer at the American end. Romney Wheeler, London bureau manager, acted as TV producer in England. Charles Colledge and George McElrath supervised the operational aspects. I An NBC television camera at Logan Airport, Boston, awaits plane bringing Coronation films from Goose Bay, Labrador. 72 RADIO AGE Radio- TV Broadcasters Honor Sarnoff Chairman of RCA-NBC in Keynote Address at NARTB Convention said Television Should Be No Place for Get-Rich-Quick Wallingfords — New Scientific Developments in the Offing J-ELEVISION should be no place for "get-rich-quick Wallingfords more interested in what they can take than what they can give," said Brig. General David Sarnoff, Chairman of the Board, Radio Corporation of America, in the keynote address at the National As- sociation of Radio and Television Broadcasters Conven- tion, in Los Angeles on April 29. General Sarnoff, who also is Chairman of the Board of the National Broadcasting Company, received the First Annual Keynoter Award of the NARTB, which cited him as a pioneer in broadcasting "whose vision, industry, leadership and faith are essential components of the free American system of broadcasting ... for his good citizenship in the quiet hours and in the hours of strife ... for the steadfastness which has marked his achievements in modern times . . . and because he has shared his great dream of communications with the mil- lions whom we serve." Highlights of General Sarnoff's Address Among the highlights of General Sarnoff's address were: ( 1 ) A thousand television stations will be in operation within a few years. Television networks will reach into ail parts of the country, providing a national program service that will make present sched- ules seem primitive. (2) There is no doubt that operations in UHF (ultra high frequencies) will fill a place of growing significance in television. ( 3 ) Hopes the day is not far off when compatible color television will be authorized for commercial broadcasting. This will make television more exciting, more dramatic and more enjoyable. (4) Television can solve its economic problems without a "cash box ' in the home. ( 5 ) Television can learn much from the motion picture world, but there is also a good deal it must learn to forget. ( 6) Radio broadcasting, far from being "doomed" within three years, as forecast by prophets of 1949, Brig. General David SarnofF (right) receives Keynoter Award of National Association of Radio-Television Broadcasters from Harold E. Fellows, NARTB President. still renders a vital national service after four years have passed; over-all time sales have increased and fundamental changes are under way. ( 7 ) New scientific advances in radio, television and electronics are in the offing. These include; Transistors, which promise to become the master key to new progress in radio and television as a device making possible instruments of smaller size, greater versatility and longer life. Electronic tape recorders for television program storage, with greater advantages of economy and convenience. Closed-circuit TV techniques and devices which will provide visual intercommunications systems for industry, science and education. An electronic "voting system" using home tele- vision receivers with a button which when pushed will register "yes" or "no" at the TV station. This may lead to a national push-button poll of public opinion automatically tabulated by electronic com- puters. RADIO AGE 13 V'^ Convoy of 5th Radio Relay Squadron halts for a rest while on forced drive from Fontainebleau to aid storm-harassed Netherlanders. Microwaves Aid Flood-Ravaged Holland 3rh Radio Relay Squadron of Allied Air Forces Rushes RCA Trans- mitters Across France to Key Cities in Storm-Harassed Netherlands. By William R. Dean Engineer, RCA Sert'ice Co.. Inc. o N February 5, 1953, the Communications Group at Allied Air Forces of Central Europe received an urgent request to come to the aid of the flood ravaged areas of The Netherlands. In that country a combination of un- usually high tides and ocean gales, smashing with little warning at dikes and jetties, had backed the waters of the rivers upstream and over the banks onto the farms and cities of the low lands. With normal life paralyzed, hundreds dead and thousands in acute danger, the 5 th Radio Relay Squadron, stationed at Fontainebleau, fifteen miles to the south of Paris, was selected to provide the desired aid. A convoy was dispatched on February 7. They took with them two RCA Type CW-20A microwave ter- minal stations and one repeater station. Also included in the convoy were supporting vehicles carrying supplies and replacement parts. After a difficult 500-mile trip over rough, icy roads, made longer by many detours due to the floods, the men and their equipment arrived in Rotterdam on February 8. Despite the obstacles they encountered, they averaged 20 m.p.h. on the trip. In Rotterdam the group reported to the local tele- phone center for further instructions. Major Wesley E. Rankin, Commanding Officer of the Squadron, who had gone on ahead of the convoy to coordinate the project, was ready to deploy the equipment immediately. It had been decided to employ the microwave equip- ment to supplement a badly damaged telephone cable between Rotterdam and Middeiharnis, main distribution points of the Netherlands Telephone System. Middei- harnis, located on the island of Goeree-Overflakke, about 60 miles from Rotterdam was one of the hardest hit places in Holland and communications with that city, to handle flood control and flood relief, was essential. Convoy Brought Own Power Plants One Gl crew, under WOjg Albert D. Creel, was dispatched immediately for Goeree-Overflakke to pro- cure a site near Middeiharnis. They settled on the nearby town of Dirksland, location of a local telephone ex- change where connections could be made into Middei- harnis. The equipment was installed near the telephone office. Motor driven power units which had been brought from Fontainebleau, supplied the power. 14 RADIO AGE The men assigned to erect the tower arrived at Dirks- land on February 10 and completed their job on the same day. Meanwhile, the town of Barendrecht had been selected as the site of the other radio communications terminal. Barendrecht, 5 miles from Rotterdam, is the location of another telephone exchange. The second tower and transmitter-receiver were installed there on February 9. Prospects Doubtful at First Installation at both ends had been completed by the evening of the 10th. Lacking adequate maps, it was impossible to determine the exact bearings or distance between terminals so the decision to use or not to use the repeater station had to be postponed temporarily. The distance that had to be spanned was approximately 22 miles, two-thirds of which was flooded, giving no satisfactory spot for a repeater tower. Because of the limited height of the 60-foot towers and the hck of natural elevations, little hope was held out for depend- able communications under this arrangement. On the II th and 12th, attempts to establish contact between the two terminals were unsuccessful. Sum- moned from Fontainebleau, I arrived late on the night of the 12th with accurate maps of the vicinity. With their aid the antennas were reoriented, and contact be- tween terminals was established at noon on the 13th. The signals were of sufficient strength to enable Captain Charles C. CuUey, the officer in charge, to decide that the repeater would not be needed. Even though the radio relay equipment was not in- tended to operate into the particular type switchboard used at Middelharnis this minor difficulty was quickly solved. A step-down transformer was located and used to reduce the 11 5 -volt supply voltage to that needed to operate the switchboard drops. Communications from Middelharnis to Rotterdam was checked out on the 14th of February. Twelve voice channels of the 24 available over the microwave system were placed in use. These radio circuits continued in operation until March 2 when the telephone officials informed Captain Culley that the cable damage had been repaired. There was no funher need for the microwave equipment. The Dutch Telephone Company and the Signal Corps ex- pressed thanks and congratulations for a job well done. G.l.'s erect emergency microwave tower near Rotterdam to supply commun'cations over Holland's flooded areas. RCA microwave transmitters like the one above replaced ruptured phone lines after European floods. RADIO AGE 15 RCA Victor Broadcast Station I INOKTH DAKOT A ^I / J A IJULESI RENHARD r,365 Bpach Diive 4^:*^ h. > . _„ v'. 1 (WUODY) EBERHART M ( N Lake Sh jre Drive I h,ca90 11 1 Teleptione Dela'^ are 7-0700 77 — i S O U r H DAKOTA NEBRA SKA 1355 Market Street ■^an Francisco 3 Calrlornia Telephone Hemlock 1-8300 E (JACK) FROST "T COLOR W B (WALT) VARNUM K A N S T: ^-^ i ! ^ J. F. (JOHN) PALMQUIST O K 1. A .I'^f^i 1907-11 McKinney Ave ,,ki..h..i.... . " V If Dallas 1. Texas J*,^ f Telephone: Riversirte 1371 ■— ^ U^« ARIZONA NEW M E X I C O j I J. N, (JIM) BARCLAY jsentatives Cover the Country -^ -f/ Safety at Sea Advanced by New Portable Lifeboat Radio By Irving F. Byrnes Vice President in Charge of Engineering, Radiomarine Corporation of America B, 'ROADLY defined, a modern lifeboat radio set is a completely self-contained radiotelegraph station which, in an emergency, can be transferred from a stricken vessel into a lifeboat, to serve there as a means of contact with land, other ships or rescuing parties. In the newest Radiomarine version, the set comprises a metal con- tainer, less than two cubic feet in volume, in which are nested a two-frequency transmitter and receiver, an automatic keyer, a hand generator for power supply and all necessary material for an antenna system. The weight of the complete set is under 60 pounds and it is built to withstand a 20-foot drop into the sea from a ship's deck. Naturally, it is watertight and buoyant. To operate the station, the container is first lashed to a thwart of the lifeboat and the antenna system as- sembled, after which the portable unit is ready to per- form its lifesaving functions. Several fearures are built into the Radiomarine equipment to make it possible for those unfamiliar with the telegraph code to operate it effectively. These features include automatic transmission of alarm signals and SOS signals on the distress frequency of 500 kc, followed by more SOS signals and a long dash on 8,364 kc. A period of about two minutes is required for this group of signals which are repeated over and over as long as the generator is being cranked. Besides auto- matic operation there are provisions for normal two-way communication whereby the radio receiver can be switched on for either frequency. Power Supply Was One Probletn There were a number of interesting problems that required solution in designing this equipment. One of these is the hand generator used as the power supply. Here is a case where manpower, in the literal sense, is the basic source of energy. The first step is to convert this manpower into horsepower. Previous experience with the design of hand generators has shown that one- eighth of a horsepower is about the maximum that should be demanded. This is roughly equivalent to a Merchant Marine cadet shows how telegraph key is pressed to send appeals for aid manually, as others in lifeboat generate power by cranks on sides of radio unit. force of nine pounds on each handle at a cranking speed of 65 revolutions per minute. One able-bodied man can withstand such a load for about four or five minutes. In most cases two men will crank simultaneously, one on each crank. This, of course, results in much less fatigue and a longer operating period. The energy applied to the generator cranks is equal to about 90 watts. The generator delivers an output of 50 watts. The difference of 40 watts is consumed as losses in the generator itself and in the gearing, bearings and so forth. This may appear to be low efficiency, but it is typical for a small, carefully designed machine of this class. The radio transmitter has only four tubes. The power delivered to the antenna is about two watts on 500 kc and five watts on 8,364 kc. Having two fre- quencies enables both short-distance and long-distance communication to be obtained. An important part of the transmitter is the automatic keying mechanism, a motor driven device which opens and closes various switches. It might be called the mechanical "brain" of the transmitter. It has a "mem- J8 RADIO AGE ory" of 120 seconds and, parrot-like, will repeat its message every two minutes as long as the hand generator is cranked. One complete group of signals may be de- scribed as follows: On 500 kc, the auto alarm signal is transmitted for 60 seconds. This comprises a series of a dozen four-second dashes, separated by spaces of one second duration. At the end of the alarm signal — and still on 500 kc — the SOS signal is transmitted three times within a period of fifteen seconds. The keying device, in less than one second, now switches the circuits to 8,364 kc. Three SOS signals are sent out on this frequency followed by a long dash lasting thirty seconds. Transmission then reverts to 500 kc, and the sequence is repeated. Two-way communication with the lifeboat set re- quires, of course, that the radio receiver be switched into the circuits. For two-way service the receiver may be used for the 500 kc or the 8,364 kc bands. It is fixed- tuned for the band 492 to 508 kc and is also tunable from 8,250 to 8,750 kc. Novel circuits have been devel- oped so that several functions are performed by only three conventional tubes. Receivers Are Simple Instruments For the 500 kc band the receiver is a simple two- stage radio-frequency amplifier followed by a germanium diode detector and a combined audio amplifier and beat frequency oscillator. For the eight megacycle band the receiver becomes a tunable superheterodyne with a 500 kc intermediate frequency amplifier. One problem which is peculiar to a portable set for Lifeboats is the antenna system. During World War II lifeboat antennas were supported by the sailing mast, by This early version of a Radiomarine lifeboat radio weighed 150 pounds and used a helium filled balloon to lift and support the antenna. kites or by balloons. Such arrangements are generally not compatible with the concept of self-contained port- ability. The 1948 Safety Convention specified a self- supported antenna or one supported by the lifeboat mast. Since some of the newer lifeboats do not have masts, optional arrangements are desirable as an integral part of the radio equipment. In the Radiomarine set, the basic radiator is a sec- tionalized aluminum rod which can be stowed inside the front cover of the unit. Although this rod is col- lapsible for stowage purposes, it is not telescopic. This rod is made up of eleven captivated sections, fastened to one another by internal flexible cables. Each section has a built-in socket which fits into its adjoining mate. The assembled height is 15 feet. Such a rod may be put together quickly without losing any of the parts. The lower end of the rod plugs into a special insu- lated socket at the top of the lifeboat set. A 15-foot vertical antenna should be stayed in some manner to prevent excessive whipping in high winds, and also to increase its radiation efficiency. This is done by four pieces of flexible wire, each eight feet long, connected near the top of the rod and then stayed off through insulators and ropes to the sides of the lifeboat. There are two other optional antenna arrangements for the types of lifeboats which have masts. A flexible wire can be rigged between the top of the aluminum rod and the mast. If the rod is lost or damaged, a single wire antenna can be run from the top of the set to the mast. Extra wire and insulators are stowed in the cover for these arrangements. Insulators Made of Special Plastic The material from which the insulators are made is a plastic with the formidable name of Tetrafluoroethylene. Its short name is Teflon, a Dupont trademark. This plastic is light, flexible and has extremely low moisture absorption and radio frequency losses. A final word about the physical aspects of the equip- ment. The aluminum cabinet is reinforced internally to withstand the drop test. The front cover, held in place with spring latches has a watertight gasket. All front panel devices, since they are exposed to the weather during operation, have rubber seals. The sockets for the generator cranks appear to be open, but just inside they are sealed with a flexible metal bellows coupling. The set is painted with a color known as Munsell 7.5 Red, w-hich some have called "shocking pink". Radiomarine has developed and manufactured sev- eral types of lifeboat sets since 1936. This new equip- ment meets all requirements of the Safety of Life at Sea Convention as well as Rules and Regulations of the Federal Communications Commission for lifeboat portable radio sets. rad;o age 19 Television Affiliates Reaffirm Complete Confidence in NBC T JL ELEVISION affiliates of the National Broadcasting Company adjourned their meeting on May 27 with unanimous adoption of a resolution reaffirming their confidence in the National Broadcasting Company and its continued leadership in the broadcasting industry. A committee, headed by Walter J. Damm, vice president and general manager of WTMJ and WTMJ- TV, Milwaukee, and chairman of the affiliates' group, personally presented the resolution to Brig. Gen. David Sarnoff, chairman of the boards of NBC and RCA, in his office at NBC. The text of the resolution: "Be it resolved: That we, the television affiliates of the National Broadcasting Company, who today (May 26) at Princeton had the privilege of review- ing in detail with General Sarnoff the position of RCA and NBC in broadcasting and television hereby reaffirm our complete confidence in the National Broadcasting Company and heartily endorse its pro- gram as revealed to us by General Sarnoff. "This confidence is predicated upon the unques- tionable leadership displayed by RCA and NBC in radio and television over the past years and the stead- fast belief that General Sarnoff's position with respect to color television and various other current and future developments in the broadcasting field are fully as sound and unerring as previous decisions and predictions which he has made including his prophecy of the assured future of television, pronounced at Atlantic City in 1947. "The rapid approach of color television and RCA's tremendous strides in that area in our opinion more than justify our confidence in our future as NBC affiliates, and a careful analysis of the present and projected program and sales plans of NBC leaves us with the conviction that they cannot be successfully assailed by expedient competitive attack or propa- ganda. "In this confidence we adjourn our meeting with unanimous approval and endorsement of the RCA- NBC program as outlined to us today." In accepting the resolution. General Sarnoff told the affiliates' committee he accepted it as an expression of confidence in the NBC staff. "They will be more encouraged by this," he said, "than by any personal words of praise from me." The Man m the Glass when you get what you wont in your , struggle for self i And the world mokes you king for a day, \ Just go to a mirror and look at yourself, \ And see what that man has to say. I For it isn't your father or mother or wife I Who judgment upon you must pass, j The fellow whose verdict counts most In your life Is the one staring back from the glass. You may be like Jack Horner and chisel a plum And think you're a wonderful guy. But the man in the glass says you're only a bum If you can't look him straight in the eye. He's the fellow to please — never mind all the rest, For he's with you clear up to the end. And you've passed your most dangerous, difficult test If the man in the glass is your friend. You may fool the whole world down the pathway of years And get pots on the back as you pass. But your final reward will be heartaches and tears If you've cheated the man in the glass. Other members of the committee accompanying Damm were: Robert E. Dunville, president, Crosley Broadcasting Corp.; Robert D. Swezey, executive vice president and general manager, WDSU-TV, New Orleans, La. and Harold Hough, vice president and director, 'WBAP-TV, Fott 'Worth, Texas. The full group of owners and operators of the tele- vision stations affiliated with NBC witnessed a demon- stration of the RCA compatible color television system at the David Sarnoff Research Center in Princeton, N.J. NBC's plans for television program and sales develop- ment, including an expansion in morning programming and procedures for beginning color television broad- casting when compatible standards are authorized by the Federal Communications Commission, were presented to them by the top network officials. An informal address by General Sarnoff highlighted the meeting. At the completion of General Sarnoff's talk he received a stand- ing ovation. Before adjournment, 16 affiliates signed supplements to their NBC contracts enabling them to carry NBC color programs in their local communities when such service begins. 20 RADIO AGE Electronic "Detective'' Spots Metal Pieces in Ores and Rocks cJtrav pieces of metal that find their way onto the conveyors that carry rocks and ores from one operation to another at quarries and mines are a menace to the crushing machinery of those industrial plants. To spot these foreign substances, a new electronic metal detector has been developed by the Industrial Equipment Section of the RCA Victor Division. One of the earliest installa- tions is now in operation at the Kingston Trap Rock Company in Kingston, N. J. The detecting device is erected along the route of the conveyor belt between the point where huge chunks of the rock are given their first crushing and where they are re-crushed to the desired size. The detecting me- chanism is enclosed in a water-proof frame which can be adjusted in size to accommodate the passage of conveyors of the capacities usually encountered in mining opera- tions. When in position and connected to a standard power source, the detector is influenced by the presence of any metal — magnetic or non-magnetic — passing through it. Small harmless pieces of metal do not affect the mechan- ism. But when the presence of "tramp" metal of danger- ous size is detected, the metal detector automatically actuates a warning signal and shuts down the conveyor line until the potential trouble-maker has been removed. The RCA metal deteaor will perform with conveyor speeds up to 600 feet a minute. Right: Electronic metal detector straddles conveyor car- rying rocks from one crushing operation to the next. When metal pieces of dangerous size pass under detec- tor, control (in circle) halts conveyor and sounds alarm. Workman displays some of the pieces of "tramp" metal v/hich, if not spotted by RCA's metal detector, might have damaged rock crushing machinery. Hojv Crystals of Quartz Are Fashioned into Electronic Controls -LIVERY year, from the mountains and river beds of Brazil, shipments of natural crystalUne quartz find their way to the United States where they are shaped and dimensioned to act as sentinels of all communications stations — radio, television, amateur, transatlantic and others. Without these crystals, the air would soon be- come a bedlam, for these thin wafers of quartz have a peculiar property of holding transmitting stations on their allotted frequencies. How the amazing wafers are fabricated from hexagonal prisms of quartz is told m the accompanying pictures, photographed in the Crystal Engineering Section of RCA Victor Division, Camden, N. J. 1 — Specimen of Brazilian quartz from which come the crystal wafers that are used in the operation of millions of radio transmitters and receivers. iTf:,-^' )^°'^''^^"' Manager, Crystal Engineering, KLA Victor Division, operating an X-ray machine which determines the angle at which the quartz specimen should be sliced. 3— Here the sections of mother quartz are cemented on glass plates for precision orientation during the later sawing operation. 4— The correct sawing angle of the crystal, as deter- mined by X-ray analysis, is assured by orientating the specimen on this machine. 5—The next step is to place the gloss-mounted crystal under a diamond edged saw. The saw table is tilted to slice the quartz along the desired plane. 6— Wafers are diced into segments by a smaller dia- mond edged wheel. 7, 8— After grinding a stack of segments to the proper diameter (see 8) they are brought to the desired thick- ness by a method called "lapping." 9— This precision gage will check the accuracy of the lapping process to one ten-thousandth of an inch Fi- nally the frequency response of each crystal is compared to known standards over a wide temperature range. 22 RADIO AGE ^W^/f 1 7\« ¥'^H K. xi^^^^HHT ~ .. 1 1^ 4^' !\ L ^ ^ Si %m^.j rrl^ m^m^ ' "^ww m^^^M ^:ps^ J .. ^!s;'^^a.^ V'^^^^RI m^A ^ I«K=S Mii^^^B Brig. General David Sornoff, RCA Board Chairman, talks with stockholders after annual meeting of I, , , Corporation in New York on May 5. RCA Set New Sales Record m First Quarter of Year, Stockholders are Told Chairman of the Board at Annual Meeting Reveals Gain of 31 Per Cent in Net Earnings Compared to Same 1952 Period O, PERATIONS of the Radio Corporation of America for the first three montfis of 1953 resulted in the largest volume of business for any first quarter period in the history of the Corporation, Brig. General David SarnofT, Chairman of the Board of RCA, announced May 5 at the 34th Annual Meeting of RCA Stockholders in a studio of the National Broadcasting Company in Radio City, New York. General Sarnoflf said first-quarter sales of RCA products and services amounted to $208,007,533. Profits, before Federal income taxes, amounted to $20,456,141. After providing $11,163,000 for these taxes, net earn- ings for the first quarter were $9,293,141, an increase of 31% over the same quarter last year. After providing for preferred dividends, earnings per common share for the first quarter of 1953 were 61 cents, compared with 45 cents per share for the first quarter of 1952. "This excellent record for the first quarter of this year," said General SarnofI, "resulted from increased sales of television receivers and transmitters and govern- ment equipment, as well as the new business of home appliances, which the Corporation has added to its line of merchandise." Government Orders Of the total volume of business done by RCA in the first quarter of 1953, sales and services to the Govern- ment amounted to $37 million, or approximately 18%, compared with 13% of the first-quarter total volume last year. General Sarnofif reported, adding: 24 RADIO AGE "The present backlog of our Government business exceeds last year's shipments. Our billings to the Gov- ernment this year are expected to exceed last year's billings by a substantial amount." Significant Developments Other significant developments reported by General SamofF: (1) Television, which represents the largest seg- ment of RCA business, has continued expansion at a rapid pace. Demand for TV transmitters and studio equipment has increased, and the opening of each new station broadens the market for receivers. It is esti- mated that by mid- 1956, television sets in American homes will total 38 million. (2) Investment by RCA of $20 million in the development of color television has been justified by general acceptance of the RCA concept of an all- electronic, compatible system. RCA is ready to pro- ceed with plans for commercial color television as soon as the Federal Communications Commission author- izes standards. ( 3 ) New electronic products in the offing include a compact, push-button sound tape recorder and a tape recorder for television programs; the latter may revo- lutionize the television art and extend into the motion picture industry. Among other electronic develop- ments are transistors, closed-circuit TV systems for industry, education and the home, microwave com- munications systems, and improved high fidelity record reproducing equipment. (4) Introduction of a line of RCA room air- conditioners and room dehumidifiers in 1952 received acceptance that made it possible to sell all available models. Production is being expanded to meet 1953 demands. ( 5 ) A new line of gas and electric ranges under the brand name of "RCA Estate" was introduced in January, 1953, with gratifying consumer response. The Future In looking to the future. General SarnofI expressed the fervent hope that an end of hostilities in Korea may open the road to a new era of peace and prosperity. But he warned that "there is no call for illusions on this score." "As long as one-third of the human race remains under totalitarian Soviet rule, the other two-thirds must remain alert and vigilant," he declared. "Only genuine strength, military and economic, can shield the free world against new aggressions. In these conditions, 'peace' will long continue to be a relative concept, hemmed in by political pressures. "Even such a limited peace, however, should stimu- late progress by releasing more of our country's talents and energies for the tasks of raising living standards. Ours is still a young nation, dynamic in its potential for growth. Economic maturity is a long way off. " General Sarnoff declared that the economy of this great country is not dependent upon war. He pointed out that the most vital and enduring economic expansion in American history has taken place in periods of peace. "While our operations in electronics and communica- tions are put into high gear during war or national emergency," he said, "we look forward to peace without misgivings. 'With the world at peace, our civilian econ- omy and our trade with foreign nations would be in- creased and our commercial business would grow. "In recent months, as Chairman of the Citizens Ad- visory Commission on Manpower Utilization in the Armed Services, and as a member of the Committee on Department of Defense Organization, I maintained that surplus fat can be taken off without injuring the muscles — in fact, the muscles are strengthened when the fat is removed. It is my firm belief that we must look forward to the production of wealth, not the production of waste. No economy can be sound or permanent that rests upon the violence of war instead of the security of peace. Peace is always more fundamentally profitable. The healthy growth of a nation and its industries, of its new enter- prises and technology is more certain in peace than it is in war. '"War does, of course, in some instances, give added urgency to invention and engineering, as well as expan- sion of manufacturing facilities. Under the pressure of emergency, scientific advances in certain fields are ac- celerated. Peace, however, provides fuller opportunity to apply all advances on a broad scale for industrial, agri- cultural, educational, medical and civilian use. "We need not develop robot planes and electronically controlled missiles only for purposes of destruction," he said. "There are many peacetime uses for such devices; for example, delivery of mail, packages and freight across world-wide distances. "Therefore, let us hope that the day is not far distant when the industrial facilities of America can return to the type of planning that is basic to our social and eco- nomic progress. "Meanwhile, in the light of present world conditions, we must continue to operate two great industrial pro- duction lines — one to maintain America's defensive strength, and the other to provide for the economic needs of the civilian population," said General Sarnoff. "Our manufacturing plants and communications facilities must RADIO AGE 25 be 'at the ready' for all-out defense. RCA will continue its activities in scientific research and engineering, con- tributing all within its resources and facilities to help make America the strongest influence for peace and pros- perity throughout the world." Television Since the "freeze" on television station construction was lifted a year ago, television expansion has continued at a rapid rate, he asserted, declaring: "Demand for television transmitters and studio equip- ment has increased, and the opening of each new station broadens the market for receiving sets. Now, there are more than 23 million TY sets in the United States, an increase of 5 million since our meeting last year. TV stations now total 167 compared with 108 in May, 1952. "During the past year, 28 UHF (ultra-high-fre- quency) stations began operation, and the performance of RCA Victor equipment has adequately proved the quality of UHF reception. Our present television sets are designed for high quality performance of either UHF or VHF (very-high-frequency). UHF is a vital factor in expansion of the television market. "As television set owners, you are familiar with the phenomenal growth of broadcast television and how it has become an essential part of life in America. In addi- tion to the millions of TV-equipped homes, thousands of rooms in leading hotels throughout the country also have TV receivers." General Sarnoff called attention to television's ex- pansion in the fields of news and education and cited advances in its cultural aspects through production of noted dramas and operas by the National Broadcasting Company, of which he is Chairman of the Board. Reporting on progress that RCA has made in color television, he said that major improvements were made during the past year in the RCA compatible color system, the tri-color tube and in development of a tri-color camera mbe, which promises to take the place of the three color tubes now used in the camera. He declared that RCA's investment of more than $20 million in the development of color TV has been justified by general acceptance of RCA's concept of an all-electronic com- patible system. Radio Broadcasting Declaring that radio broadcasting is built upon a solid foundation for continuance of a vigorous national service that can coexist with television. General Sarnoff stared: "Today, there are more than 115 million radio sets in the United States. This total includes 25 million auto- mobile radios and millions of portable sets, all of which perform a service not reached by television. "Forty-five million families in the United States have radios. For them, radio can provide more programs of broad selective appeal. National advertisers can use radio to reach massive audiences at low cost just as they use certain magazines to have their message read by large groups in specialized fields. "In 1952, more than 10 million radio sets were pro- duced by the industry as a whole. The trend in radio is to smaller and more compact sets. New and attractively designed portables together with clock-radios have in- creased in popularity. The use of transistors will further enhance the development of novel radios, and extend their usefulness through the development of truly pocket- size sets and light-weight portables which consume such small amounts of battery power that their life of service will be greatly lengthened." Tape Recorders Many new electronic developments are in the offing. General Sarnoft reported. He said that an RCA sound tape recorder is being readied for sale and will be intro- duced within the next few months. It is push-button operated and weighs only 23 pounds. He stated that a television tape recorder under devel- opment at the RCA Laboratories in Princeton, N. J., may levo'utionize the television art and is expected to extend to the motion picture industry as well. It will, to a great Nearly 1,000 stockholders attend annual meeting in NBC's television studio 8-H, in Radio City. 26 RADIO AGE extent, replace the use of film for television and thus reduce over-all costs. I mil/ St rial Television Only a fraction of the potential of industrial televi- sion has been tapped, he continued, asserting: "It challenges the imagination to envisage the many uses of television, including the closed-circuit systems for use in industry, schools, department stores, theatres, hotels, banks and other institutions. Indeed, industrial television may surpass the growth of broadcast television which we are now witnessing. The development of com- pact, lightweight equipment, using RCA's small vidicon camera tube, will help to overcome the obstacle of high cost." He said that the held of industrial electronics also has a great potential for expansion, and discussed the application of electronic devices and systems to business and industry through electronic computers, business ma- chines, inspection devices and household appliances. He declared that RCA is developing the potentialities in the field of solid-state electronics in which the transis- tor, a tiny device using a germanium crystal, is the master key to progress, just as the electron tube has been for almost 50 years. He said the transistor will greatly ex- tend the usefulness of electronics. Microwave Relays Another promising field discussed by General SarnofT was that of microwave and radio relays in which RCA has pioneered. He said RCA microwave systems have been installed by such diverse groups as oil and gas com- panies, utilities, city and state governments, and military organizations, as an effective means of modernizing com- munications. He reported that an RCA microwave sys- tem installed by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Europe had proved its effectiveness during the recent flood emergency in Holland. Shipment of similar equip- ment has been started for use in Formosa. Foreign Business In foreign markets, microwave and mobile radio, as well as television, are high on the list of RCA products in demand, said General Sarnoff, adding: "Many countries are modernizing their communica- tions by replacing wire lines with microwave and radio relay systems to aid their over-all economy. These coun- tries include Canada, Israel, Burma, Indonesia, Pakistan and others. "RCA has also sold a substantial number of television transmitters outside the United States, and more of these sales are in prospect in Asia, Latin America and Europe. Japanese actress performs before on RCA television camera in studio of NHK, operated in Tokyo by the Broadcasting Corporation of Japan, one of the foreign installations that "open new markets for home television receivers." These installations also open new markets for home tele- vision receivers. "To meet the requirements of new markets abroad, RCA manufacturing and distributing facilities are being expanded in other countries. Enlarged plant capacity is being provided in Canada and new factories in Spain, Italy and Greece will be operating in 1953. "At the end of 1952, the net assets in RCA's wholly- owned foreign subsidiaries located in seven countries totaled approximately S20 million based on exchange rates in use at the end of the year. This amount is less than 5 per cent of the Corporation's total assets. With this investment, RCA obtained a gross sales volume dur- ing 1952 of S44 million and net earnings, after taxes, of approximately $4 million. "Because of exchange restrictions and other factors, however, less than $300,000 of net earnings was trans- ferred last year to the parent Corporation in the form of dividends. Only this amount was included in the RCA consolidated statement of profits for 1952. The re- mainder of $3,700,000 was retained abroad and added to the working capital of our foreign subsidiary opera- tions." RADIO AGE 27 Microwave Radio Becomes More Important to Industries M. -ANY American industries, faced these days with the necessity of doing something to meet their expanding communications requirements, have discovered a rela- tively new and magic tool with which to solve the prob- lem — microwave radio. In the opinion of one of the pioneers in this field. Dr. C. B. Jolliflfe, Vice President and Technical Director of the Radio Corporation of America, the fast-growing popularity of microwave radio stems from a combination of factors. "Most important," he said, "is the ability of this medium to provide multiple-channel communications over long distances with greater reliability and at lower cost than has yet been accomplished by any other means. "Practically invulnerable to storms, microwave radio circuits can carry such valuable services as television, teletype, telephone, facsimile, telemetering, traffic control information, and permit push-button supervisory control of unattended equipment at remote points. Industrial television can be incorporated to extend sight for pur- poses of vast importance to utility companies and other organizations having widely separated activities." Dr. Jolliffe said that since World War 11, when these tiny radio waves proved of immense value in military service, one major civilian enterprise after another has considered microwave radio for solution of its individual communications problem. Installations of microwave radio relay systems now have been completed in such widely diversified fields as electrical utility operations, oil pipeline control, railroad communications and signaling, telephone and telegraph systems and state highway patrol, as well as special mili- tary applications here and abroad. One of the microwave systems best known in Amer- ica is that operated by the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, providing for the coast-to-coast transmission of television programs. This system which is replacing or supplementing coaxial cables, consists of strategically placed radio relay towers, some 25 to 50 miles apart, which "bounce" the signals from one to another across the country. Pioneering in the development of microwave relay systems was begun by RCA scientists and engineers This microwave antenna, located at a secluded opera- tions base in Western Europe, is one of the links in an RCA radio network linking Allied air installations with Central Europe headquarters of the U. S. Air Force. more than 25 years ago. This work has continued with- out interruption to open the way for the greatest possible use of the higher radio frequencies. Credit for much of the early work in harnessing microwaves for commercial use should go to Dr. H. H. Beverage, Vice President in Charge of Research and Development of RCA Com- munications, Inc.; and C. W. Hansel!, of the RCA Laboratories Division. In the electronics industry, it is generally accepted that radio frequencies of about 1,000 megacycles and higher are in the microwave region of the spectrum. Being of such short wave length (12 inches or less), microwaves exhibit many characteristics similar to those of light, such as defraction, reflection and refraction. These light-like characteristics become more and more pronounced in the higher and higher frequencies. Thus it is relatively simple to focus microwave signals 28 RADIO AGE into narrow, powerful beams and project them over long distances. This is accomplished by the use of highly directive transmitting and receiving antennas which act like huge lenses on searchlights. High gain in signal power is effected at each relay station, making it possible to project information over a point-to-point relay system with very low initial power. Development of new types of electron tubes, new antennas, transmitters and receiving equipment all of vastly different design, compared with conventional ap- paratus of the past, has constituted the outstanding con- tribution of RCA to this promising form of communi- cations. A single RCA microwave circuit now available com- mercially, affords as many facilities as a 24-line channel wire system. These 24 channels may be used for voice communication or for numerous control purposes. Each of the 24 channels may be subdivided into as many as 18 signal circuits which may be utilized for telemetering, remote operations, supervisory and load control, and each voice channel may be subdivided into at least eight teletype channels. By means of microwave radio any function that can be converted into an electrical impulse, such as pressure, temperature, and engine speed, among others, can be transmitted. Equipment in operation at unattended points of operations may be started, stopped and regu- lated by means of microwaves. Advantages of microwave radio are many. It func- tions reliably during all kinds of weather. Storms that tear down wire lines have little effect on microwave propagation. In wintery weather microwave has proved itself far less vulnerable to damage than wire lines be- cause, as Dr. Jolliffe pointed out, "ice can't form on a radio beam." Microwave radio performs reliably during excesses of temperature, dust and sand storms. Microwaves travel through the air, eliminating the need for pole lines, the necessity for land easements, and line maintenance. Rather than cutting a path through difficult terrain, it is only necessary to set up repeater stations at points indicated. Instead of purchasing a continuous right-of-way, it is only necessary to acquire repeater sites. Patrolling of the entire line is replaced by occasional visits to repeater sites. Both initial investment and maintenance costs are usually less than that required for a wire line system offering comparable facilities. Audio quality is at least equal to and usually better than that offered by wire lines. Outstanding performance has been accredited to microwave radio systems on two of America's super- highways. About a year ago, both the New Jersey and Pennsylvania Turnpike Commissions acquired RCA equipment to handle traffic control and facilitate police supervision of these important state thoroughfares. These systems carry voice and teletype messages over the entire length of each turnpike, providing instant contact be- tween cruising patrol cars and central terminals. A new chapter in communications for power com- panies opened this spring, when the Union Electric Company of Missouri began operation of an RCA micro- wave network providing the most dependable and flex- ible service in its experience. The installation is used to coordinate activities within the Union Electric system and neighboring utility communications. This microwave network carries voice messages throughout the system. It functions with mobile radio A portion of the 118-mile New Jersey Turnpike which is covered throughout its length by microwave radio systems developed by RCA. Employee of Sunray Oil Company checks information supplied him by microwave circuits extending through- out the company's pipe-line system. units, as well as handling telemetering and load control data. It is designed to handle 24 simultaneous voice conversations between any two points on the circuit. By clearing just one of the voice channels, as many as 18 simultaneous telemetering or load control functions may be added. Within Missouri, antenna towers and relay stations have been constructed at seven points, varying from 11 to 37.5 miles apart. Towers have also been erected at the Osage, Rivermines and Moberly terminal stations. The sign on top of the main office building at 12th and Locust Streets serves as the antenna tower for the St. Louis terminal. The towers, ranging in height from 100 to 250 feet, are located on high points of ground so that the natural curvature of the earth and other high intervening struc- tures, such as trees and building, will not impede the microwave "beam" which travels along a "line-of-sight" path. Towers Will Withstand 100-Mile Gales Despite their slender appearance, the towers are of rugged construction. They are designed to withstand a 100-mile-an-hour wind under severe icing conditions. Also, the towers are rigid so they do not twist in a high wind. The accuracy required of microwave broadcasting is like the accuracy of an expert marksman since the 6-foot parabola antenna must be hit dead center by a narrow radio beam 30 miles distant. In Missouri, the network covers about 262 miles. From St. Louis, there are three separate beams in oper- ation, all originating from the main office building. One leads to the Wood River Plant of the Illinois Power Company, connecting to its microwave system. The second leads to the Meramec Plant, now under construc- tion south of St. Louis. The third has three branches: the first to the Moberly substation, connecting with Mis- souri Power & Light Company's communications system; the second to the Osage hydroelectric plant; and the third to the Rivermines substation. Plans are being made to extend the microwave net- work from the Meramec Plant to the Joppa Steam Elec- tric Station, which Electric Energy, Inc., is building across the Ohio River from the Atomic Energy Commission's new plant at Paducah, Ky. This circuit, measuring about 160 miles, will not only tie in the Joppa Plant, but will also interconnect with the Central Illinois Public Service Company microwave system. Central Illinois, in turn is tied into Illinois Power Company's communications and back to Union Electric through the Wood River circuit. Thus, there will be two microwave paths between the Union Electric and the Electric Energy installation. For maximum dependability under adverse condi- tions this microwave network has a system of alarm mechanisms, standby equipment and emergency pro- visions. A small, unattended building, erected at the foot of each tower, contains all of the electrical equip- ment, photoelectric cells for turning tower lights on and off, and completely automatic, self-starting, gasoline- driven motor generator sets to take over the load in event of power failure. With their gasoline supply in underground storage tanks adjoining the towers, the emergency generators are capable of running continuously for several days. When normal power returns, the emergency units auto- matically shut down. At the three main terminals, alarm panels equipped with blinker lights flash the location of trouble anywhere in the system and indicate the cause of the trouble — such as power failure, tower light failure, equipment failure, etc. The electronic equipment at all locations is supported by duplicate transmitters and receivers. In the event normal equipment fails, the standby unit automatically goes into service. Radio transmitters are installed at many of the microwave relay points and at the terminals. They have been so located to afford complete radio coverage on all major transmission lines linking Osage, Rivermines, Moberly and Joppa, also the local load areas around St. Louis, Osage, and Rivermines. These stations, operating in conjunction with the microwave net, enable the mobile units to remain in contact with personnel throughout the system. The net- work is so arranged that each terminal may use its local radio facilities without interfering with a distant termi- nal. When necessary, however, any terminal may take command of the entire system through the microwave ties in order to contact distant trouble cars. Service Unaffected by Elements Another important user of RCA microwave radio is the Central Arizona Light and Power Company which has been operating a system since 1949 for general com- munications, telemetering and remote control. Despite temperatures as high as 140 degrees, severe lightning storms, and unusual exposure to sand, dust and insects, the equipment provides excellent continuity of service. One microwave link of this system operates between the company's generating plant and a switching station, sixteen miles to the west. This link provides remote con- trol and indication on circuit breakers, remote metering of voltage, current, power, and two-way voice communi- cation. 30 RADIO AGE RCA and NBC Petition FCC to Adopt Compatible Color TV Standards (Contin/u'd from page 7) compatible color television system has been developed technically, the next big step is to translate these scien- tific accomplishments into a regular color program service to the public. "In black-and-white," the petition states, "the vast amounts of money spent in television development by the RCA-NBC scientific and technical groups was fol- lowed by a vast amount of money spent by the company to develop programming techniques and skills, to find the proper use of showmanship in this new medium. Our plan to repeat this formula in color will cost addi- tional sums. "With this in mind, during the introductory year NBC will set up procedures to give technical and pro- gram people from our affiliated stations, and our owned and operated stations, experience in color broadcasting and color problems. "Under our plans, by the time the manufacturers have tooled up for mass distribution of color receivers, and a large audience watches our programming work, we will have learned the program technology just as our engineers have learned the proper use of their new tools. Meanwhile, the art of entertainment and the presenta- tion of reality, in color, will have progressed far." RCA-NBC Met Heavy Schedule of Color TV Tests During Past Year In the months prior to the filing of the petition, RCA and NBC met a heavy schedule of color television field tests and broadcast demonstrations. On April 14, members of the Committee on Inter- state and Foreign Commerce of the House of Repre- sentatives witnessed RCA color television on receivers at the David Sarnofl? Research Center, Princeton, N. J. A twenty-minute program, featuring a variety of enter- tainment, was broadcast over Channel 4 in New York City using experimental license KE2XJV. Three weeks earlier, RCA had told the Committee in Washington that RCA and NBC were ready to start color television broadcasting and recommended that the FCC immediately authorize commercial broadcasts of compatible color television signals. The demonstration for the House Committee also included outdoor pickup of color television pictures with the NBC mobile color television unit. RCA Labora- tories Division research men showed in operation ex- perimental models of an improved color television pro- jection receiver, a focus-mask tricolor receiving tube and a color camera that functions with one camera tube instead of the three in present-day equipment. The committee later inspected the Colonial Theater color television studio in New York. Similar demonstrations were held on April 16, for members of the NTSC; on May 19, for members of the FCC and staflF; on May 21, for RCA licensees, and on May 26, for NBC network affiliates. On June 22, the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce of the U. S. Senate witnessed a color program originating in the Colonial Theater and beamed to Washington over microwave facilities. Sarnoff Receives Honorary Degrees Two honorary degrees were conferred during June upon Brig. General David Sarnoff, Board Chairman of RCA, by educational institutions in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. On June 2, he received an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from Fairleigh Dickinson College, Rutherford, N. J., and on June 13, he was the recipient of the honorary degree of Doctor of Engi- neering from Drexel Institute of Technology at Phila- delphia. "Fifty years from now our descendants will say that we were very slow in 1953," he told the Fairleigh Dickinson graduating class. "Their automobiles, loco- motives and ships may be powered by atomic energy. Their systems of transportation will surpass in safety, speed and comfort anything we have today. Those who may wish to stay at home and see the world will be able to look around the globe by color television." In his commencement address at Drexel Institute, General Sarnoff declared that America's strength and leadership must be maintained as the great outpost of freedom. Until society finds the wisdom to abolish war there is no alternative, he said, but to keep America strong enough to resist aggression. "The surest way to discourage an attack upon us," he continued, "is to be adequately prepared to meet it successfully ... if it does come." RADIO AGE 31 ational communications projects [■(/ hi/ RCA International Division. A modern industrial adventure ... in which a mountain is moved, cities are built, and distances are annihilated through radio communication. It's a mountain called "Cerro Bolivar." Separating it and its iron ore from Fairless Works in Morrisville, Pennsyl- vania, and other plants of United States Steel, are thousands of miles of open sea, jungle, grassy tablelands and rivers. The problems ... to provide engineer- ing, mining equipment, personnel, liv- ing quarters, transportation . . . and instant communication between all op- erational points. Today the mountain "talks." A city is rising where the Caroni River joins the great Orinoco. A 90-mile railroad is pushing up the tablelands to the mine. Roads are being btiilt. Dredges are World Leader in Radio First in Recorded Music First in Television deepening almost 200 miles of the Ori- noco to open sea to float specially de- signed ore ships. RCA radio knits the entire operation together through instant voice commu- nication between all executive and op- erating units. The mountain "talks" to the dredges, ore vessels, automotive vehicles and railway, the crews in their floating quarters, survey parties and water taxis ... a flexible system of con- tinuous 2-way radio. Co-ordination of high degree was required. Communications experts of RCA joined hands with Venezuelan officials; Orinoco Mining Companv, subsidiary of U. S. Steel; with Bechtel International; Morrison-Knudsen, Ga- hagan Overseas Construction Company and McWilliams Dredging Overseas Corporation, The Paul Godley Com- pany and other international engineer- ing firms. fiCA products and services arc avail- able in all world markets open to trade, through RCA distributors and associ- ated companies. The nciv book, "Com- munications, Ket/ to Progress" tells the inspiring story of radio at work in many countries. Sirnply write to RCA Inter- national Division, 30 Rockefeller Plazn, N.Y.. U.S.A. KCA INTtRNATIONAl DIVISION RADIO CORPORATION of AMERICA RCA BUILDING 30 ROCKtniLCR PLAZA, NIW YORK, N.Y., U.S.A. "Ji^-^- On new super-highways, RCA microwa\ e and RCA mobile radio help control traffic flow, help police trap lawbreakers— just as conser- lation officials use it to catch poachers, or to warn against the danger of fire and flood. RCA microwave helps oil companies mo\e oil through pipelines, gives poicer companies better control of current, is used in mining, lumbering, and by the fishing industrj'. On towers 20 to 35 miles apart, "dishes" like this direct microwaves in a straight line — relay them at the speed of light. Out of this "dish" come service and safety Like a pole line in tlie ski/, the RCA microwave system gives industn', business, transportation and police, a new, more efficient means of communication. Needing no wires, economical to install and maintain, RCA microwave is "weatherproof." Wind and rain almost never affect its performance while, obviously, ice won't form on a radio beam to put it out of action. Useful wherever man must communicate with man, or control industrial operations, the increased efficiency of microwave is another example of RCA leadership in research and engineering. Such leadership gives you better value in any product or service of RCA and RCA Victor. TV NETWORKS THAT SPAN THE CONTINENT ARE MADE POSSIBLE BY MICROWAVE RADIO RELAY STATIONS Radio Cohporation of America World leailer in rudiii — first in lele%'ision First liiiinc telt'\ision camera, RCA's "TV Eye," toiincrts t(i any T\' set — lets you watch children in the nursery or at play. RCA "TV Eye" gi\es schools a pri- vate TV network, takes talks and demonstrations to classrooms. Tireless TV Eye IVe^' HCA Tf camera an alert watchman fur home, school, indastiT In a railroad yard, RCA \idicon cam- era lets employees check car numbers at long range. RCA vidicon camera in a bank, lets tellers verify the signatures on checks by television. Based on the vidicon tube, devel- oped by RCA, a new instrument is on the way for homes, business, and schools -tiie RCA "TV Eye." Light, compact, easy to use, "TV Eye" is a camera unit which can be connected to standard home receivers —makes any of the 23 million TV sets now in use a potential closed-circuit television system. RCA's industrial version of the vid- icon camera has already proved its place as an observer and guardian in science, industry, transportation, business— with new uses still being ex- plored. Wherever distance or danger preclude a human obser\er's pres- ence, the vidicon camera can take his place and stand watch. "TV Eye" plugs easily into standard TV sets. You just switch to the selected channel, and see everything that the camera sees. Radio Coupon atioa of America World leader in radio — first in lelei'isiun RADIO AGE RESEARCH • MANUFACTURING • COMMUNICATIONS • BROADCASTING • TELEVISION OCTOBER 1953 >LOR TELEVISION dio Control Room m 'jiflfta™^ , ; •^^^»^; 'i K- ■-f . 'sit' i-r *"*. W No speed limit ON THIS SKY HIGHWAY RCA Microwave Radio Relay offers fast, all-weather route for two-way communication and control For high-speed, multi-chEinnel communication — for communication that knows no weather problems— RCA now offers industry a new miracle in practical form — RCA Microwave Radio Relay. At any instant this new electronic development can handle up to 24 simultaneous messages — relaying a narrow UHF radio beam from tower to tower — over distances of several mUes to several thousand miles. Without the vulnerability of wire Unes — without the installation and maintenance problems of wire Lines — RCA Microwave carries telephone, teletype, and tele- graph messages, remote-control impulses, and meter readings at close to 100 T^:S--^^ ^>^.L.W.:C^ C^^^SLx.^ f ^..^^:^^^ .^ &yo^^ (Ly^ ^(^lu.;^z^G^ W^lkiMu ^^MflAI. (J Scplcmbcr 17, 19s i 1 Chicogo, Illfnms NBC's Radio Affiliates issued this statement following outlines of the network's new programming plans by General Sarnoff and other NBC executives. roots in the field of public service, and its record for fair play in relation both to its associates and the industry at large. "Those who have built for the future, who have laid a program and sales base of permanent value, will have the staying power. Those who operate for temporary expediency, no matter how flamboyantly, will be con- quered by problems for which further expediency will hold no solutions. "I underscore these points because it seems to me desirable at the present crossroads of our industry's his- tory to underline the difference between a responsible leadership that builds permanent values for itself, its associates and the entire industry, and a claimed leader- ship that rests on opportunism and concentrates on the short-term private gain, regardless of consequences to the future of the business. "Broadcasting is not a finished art or industry and it will never be static," concluded General Sarnoff. "Nor is the promise of the future limited to television. It extends to all applications of the electronics art, and it certainly extends to radio. The transistor development is only one of the possibilities for radio. Scientific invention can also be matched by imagination and creation in program- ming, in selling, in operating more economically, and in finding ways for networks and affiliates to progress on a basis that will be profitable and satisfactory to both." NBC, General Sarnoff told the affiliates, is in business 6 RAD/O kGE for the long range opportunities, concerned with creating permanent values for its employees, for its affiliates, for the RCA, and for the nation. Prior to General Sarnoff's address William H. Fine- shriber, Jr., vice president in charge of the NBC radio network, said that NBC's new and separate radio or- ganization is going forward with imagination and intelligence in revitalizing the network's radio program structure and meeting present-day needs of advertisers. Fineshriber pointed out that the NBC radio network now offers a great variety of fresh, new half-hour pro- grams for advertisers who buy on that basis, a number of new program forms which can be bought in small units by smaller advertisers, and a variety of shared sponsorship opportunities for advertisers who want to spread their radio advertising over different periods or supplement their other network operations. Shared participation sponsorships wiU be available in a strip pattern, 15 minutes, five days a week or in two solid hours of daytime programs on Saturday and Sunday. The strip programs will be "Fibber McGee and Molly", 10 to 10:15 PM, "It Pays to be Married", 5:45-6 PM, and "Second Chance", 11:45-12 PM — all Monday through Friday. Advertisers will be asked to buy a minimum of three participations, each consisting of one commercial announcement, but they can distribute these commercial messages in any of the programs. A similar participation format has been established for "The Big Preview", Saturdays, 11 AM to 1:00 PM, beginning October 3 and highlighting all the new record releases of the week, and "Week-End", Sundays 2:00 to 4:00 PM, radio's new Sunday newspaper beginning October 4. "We are thinking ahead to our long range future in radio," Fineshriber said, "because we expect to be in radio for as long ahead as anyone can see. And we are building for leadership — the sort of leadership that is founded on a solid base and can weather any storm. "Radio provides certain services which no other medium can provide as well and it meets needs which no other medium can meet in the same way. If we build on these values, if we put network radio to work at the things it can do best, we will always hold enough audience to support a national service. And if we and our affiliates accommodate our network sales patterns to meet new advertising needs, we will build the revenue needed to keep the business solvent and to make it profitable for networks as well as for the stations. "With the new radio organization, the new pro- gramming and renewed concentration on our radio problems, we are ready to go. Our purpose is to win and to hold for NBC first position in public attention, in audience, in advertising values and in sales. We expect to prove by deeds — and not just by words — the continuing vitality of network radio. And the new values we are now building are not for short term demonstration purposes but for the permanent future." Ted Cott, operating vice-president of the radio net- work, announced the details of NBC's massive frontal attack in radio programming. The 28 new program series which begin the week of October 4 constitute the greatest single mass programming operation in the history of the industry, he pointed out, and demonstrate NBC's basic decision to meet today's programming needs with courage and imagination rather than by cautious, timid or tentative experimentation. Block or mood programming has given each night of the radio week on NBC a flavor and individual char- acter of its own, Cott explained. "Vertical mood pro- gramming of this kind in blocks means better and stronger audience reaction by engaging the attentions of the public who can settle down to mood rather than smorgasbord," he pointed out. Sunday night will feature drama; Monday, music; Tuesday, mystery and adventure; Wednesday, comedy; Thursday, comedy and audience participation; Friday, all comedy; Saturday, a "prestige" block from 6:30-8:00 PM and "hillbilly" programs after 8:00 PM. Middle West Press Views RCA Compatible Color TV Compatible color television was viewed for the first time by the Middle West press when the National Broadcasting Company held a special showing of the RCA compatible color system in Chicago on Septem- ber 22. The program, a variety show, starring Nanette Fabray and the "Hit Parade" dancers, was viewed in the Drake Hotel over a closed circuit from NBC's Colonial Theatre in New York, world's first fully equipped studio for compatible color. It was not broadcast. The press demonstration followed private showings at the annual meeting of the Association of National Advertisers. The performance was viewed over developmental Radio Corporation of America color receivers, which have the same shape and dimensions as standard black- and-white console models. Compatibility of the system was demonstrated through black-and-white receivers placed beside the color sets. The black-and-white images resuting from the colorcast had high-definition quality. Sylvester L. Weaver, vice chairman of the NBC Board, in charge of TV network programs, and O. B. Hanson, vice president and chief engineer of NBC, were interviewed following the showing and related the network's preparations for colorcasting, and its plans for the future, contingent on FCC approval of standards. RADIO AGE 7 An Automobile that Controls Itself by Electronics ^N exploration of how electronics can be put to work to reduce highway disasters and to relieve drivers of tiresome tasks on modern superhighways has been in- itiated by Dr. V. K. Zworykin, pioneer television and electronic scientist of the Radio Corporation of America. Recent electronic advances, such as the tiny, power- thrifty transistor, indicate that electronic aids to many automobile driving problems are approaching the realm of practical application, according to Dr. Zworykin. Although the day of completely automatic control of automobiles is far off, Dr. Zworykin said, certain elec- tronic devices to assist drivers in such matters as bad weather steering and collision prevention are nearer at hand. To study the basic problems of automatic driving, Dr. Zworykin and assistants at the David Sarnofl Re- search Center of RCA, in Princeton, N. J., have equipped a model five-foot car with electronic equipment. This laboratory car, which is powered by a storage battery, the car is no longer centered over the wire and electronic equipment controlling the steering wheel immediately brings the car back "on course." To prevent a collision with an obstruction, simple transistor circuits associated with the guidance wire send out warning signals (of another frequency) whenever an obstruction passes or is stalled over them. These warning circuits, in effect, produce a "radio tail" at the rear of any sizable metal obstruction on the route. When equipment in the model car receives the warning signal, the brakes are automatically applied and the car comes to a halt. To simulate rwo lanes in the same direction, Dr. Zworykin has parallel guidance wires with a diagonal wire connecting them. When the model car senses the radio tail of an obstruction in the inner lane, its elec- tronic equipment shunts it along the diagonal into the outer lane so as to pass the obstruction. A system of warning circuits in the roadbed to pro- duce a "radio tail" when an automobile passes over would be quite impractical with electron tubes. Dr. Zworykin pointed out. Such circuits would be needed approximately every 20 feet and the electrical power to operate the tubes would be enormous, he said. But when transistors are available in large quantity at low cost, he said, such circuits become feasible because power con- sumption would be only one millionth of that required by rubes. 1. Steer itself along a prescribed route. 2. Stop itself when approaching a metal obstruc- tion. 3. Turn out of its original lane into a second lane as if to pass another car moving at a slower speed. Model Car Guided by Wire In the laboratory set-up, the model car is guided by a wire which represents a cable that would be laid in the roadbed of a superhighway. The wire sets up a magnetic field of a certain frequency which is picked up by the two coils, one on each side of the car. If one coil receives more of the signal than the other it means 8 RAD/O AGE Dr. V. K. Zworykin makes an adjustment on his electronically controlled model automobile. ^ ^^^^^^^^^^^Mg_ In experiments with the model car, Dr. Zvvorykin has been assisted by L. E. Flory and W. S. Pike, RCA research engineers. Discussing the trend toward modern highways on which driving is becoming both simple and tiresome, Dr. Zworykin said that "the time has arrived for con- sideration of automatic driving techniques which may relieve the driver of his routine duties whenever his car enters an express highway system. "Even now," he said, "with power steering, control devices are used to guide the car in preference to direct steering. Similarly, with power braking, the driver sup- plies a control signal rather than the physical force required to slow or stop the car. The automatic head- light dimmer is another device to take over a routine function of the driver. "The number of such devices may be expected to increase and it is not too early to examine ultimate objectives of driving simplification. Long-range advance planning appears essential in this field in view of the large number of parties vitally concerned. Successful development depends on the cooperation of govern- mental authorities, the highway builder, the car manu- facturer and the safety engineer for the benefit of the individual driver and the public at large. Basic Requirements of Automatic System "The basic requirements of an automatic driving system harmonize with trends in modern highway con- struction," Dr. Zworykin continued. "The requirements are that the roads have at least two lanes in each direction and that crossings and left turns across traffic be elimi- nated by cloverleafs and similar systems. With these conditions satisfied, the stage is set for a gradual intro- duction of measures to reduce traffic risks and simplify driving procedures. "The changes should necessitate neither sudden abandonment of established driving habits nor whole- sale installation of new equipment on roads and vehicles. This means: (1) The driver must retain the freedom of choice of speed, within prescribed limits, and of choice of either manual or automatic control. ( 2 ) Auto- matic control systems must be restricted, initially at least, to high-speed long-distance road systems subject to special regulation, such as turnpikes and thruways. (3) Vehicles equipped with automatic driving devices must be able to benefit in mixed traffic, consisting of equipped and unequipped vehicles. "It is clear that car owners and purchasers will not bear the added cost of the control equipment unless it proves useful under current conditions, namely with the vast majority of cars under purely manual control. At the same time it would be both politically and economi- Plioto by Carvello for Collier's Electronically controlled model car receives a warning signal from the roadbed cable as it nears the leading car. Oscilloscope patterns at the right show the increas- ing strength of the signal at three positions of the rear vehicle. cally impractical to restrict traffic on high-speed road systems to equipped cars. "As a first step, equipment should be provided to enable the driver to keep his vehicle centered on the traffic lane under conditions of fog and poor visibility in general. This may be accomplished by a cable, buried in the concrete, carrying moderate-frequency alternating currents (of the order of 100 kilocycles) and a pair of magnetic pickups mounted on the car. The diflference in the signals derived from the two pickups may be used t. Continued on page 24) RADIO AGE 9 Industrial TV Turns Detective Vidicon Camera Unit Spots Thieves at Work and Makes Possible Quick Recovery of Valuable Radio Equipment Technician inspects industrial TV camera hidden in air vent over warehouse loading platform to "spy" on thieves who robbed a West Coast RCA plant of radio tubes. At right: detectives watch screen which revealed culprits at work and led to their arrest. JLndustriAL television turned detective recently and solved a case by giving police an eye-witness view of thieves at work. The locale was a stockroom of an RCA television service branch in Hollywood. Inventories had disclosed that television equipment was being stolen on a sub- stantial scale — some $38,000 worth (covered by insur- ance) was missing on the initial check. Officials on the spot, recalling the success of RCA industrial television equipment in functioning as an "eye" in locations too dangerous or inconvenient for human observers, decided to try the device as an elec- tronic witness to the crime. Summoning the police, they concealed the camera unit among the rafters of the stock- room with the lens focused on the loading platform. The rest of the unit — the TV receiver and viewing screen — was placed in a second-floor room some distance away. Daily for two weeks, the TV "eye" was trained on the loading platform as police watched at the receiver. The camera recorded the routine activities at the platform — but it also recorded the suspicious actions of one clerk, who casually placed a number of boxes of TV tubes on the loading platform during the lunch hour on Tuesdays and Thursdays when few other people were around. At apparently pre-arranged intervals, a pick-up truck would back into the driveway, the boxes would be put aboard with the help of the suspect, and the truck would pull away — all before the gaze of the camera and the inter- ested watchers at the TV screen. Once the facts had been made clear by the TV unit, the trap was set. The police at the receiver waited until the truck took off with another load of tubes. As they moved in to arrest the clerk, a police car trailed the truck to its destination and seized the driver and two alleged confederates. The hero of this story is an industrial TV unit which already has been put to scores of uses — patrolling, guard- ing, transmitting fingerprints and signatures, checking numbers of freight cars, supervising operations of ma- chinery at a distance, riding rockets, and generally fitting itself handily into locations where direct view is required and the human eye cannot go. Its efficiency in these operations, and in its newly- acquired detective role, stems from the compactness of the camera and the fidelity with which it transmits what it sees. The RCA Vidicon tube, heart of the system, is only six inches long and an inch in diameter. The camera that is built around the tube is no larger than a l6-mm movie camera and is easy to handle. The unit is completed by a connecting cable and a compact control monitor with a ten-inch viewing screen. Other receivers can be attached to the monitor if re- quired, and the controls allow the camera focus to be controlled from the receiving end. 10 RADIO AGE Nejv Microwave Relay to and from RCAs jL\. microwave control system capable of handling all signals between RCA's Central Radio Office in New York and the company's overseas transmitting and re- ceiving stations on Long Island is expected to go into operation within the next few months. This radio control system, operating on ultra-high frequencies, eventually will replace almost all wire lines presently linking the same points under lease from the New York Telephone Company. The map gives an indication of the path of the new system. Signals from the Central Office will go out from transmitters on the roof of the City Bank Farmers Trust Building in downtown Manhattan. At a point some distance out on Long Island, transmitting and receiving equipment, housed atop a tall antenna tower, will relay the signals to and from Riverhead and Rocky Point. This relay station is situated approximately half way between the two extremes of the system. Microwave relays are not new to RCA operations. As early as 1934, the company operated VHF channels between New York City and Philadelphia. To some extent this present system is unique. It operates in such a way that all signals are transmitted simultaneously over duplicate facilities to assure unin- terrupted service. By sub-dividing a radio channel the same signal can be transmitted on different frequencies over duplicate transmitters and receivers working inde- pendently of each other. Thus if the equipment on one to Carry Radiograms Long Island Stations channel should fail the signal will still get through. This duplication of facilities is important. Continu- ous public service twenty-four hours of every day and experience has shown that no single piece of equipment can withstand this constant strain. In designing this system RCA engineers placed re- liable public service above everything else. All equip- ment is designed to operate automatically and to signal at either end of the system in the event of emergencies such as power failure, high temperatures due to fire, etc. The automatic signalling will also warn of equipment failure, including even a black-out of the flashing beacon on top of the tower. The microwave equipment used in this system is the RCA Victor Type CW-20 consisting of 12 three- watt transmitters and 12 receivers. It operates on unusually short antenna elements. Compared to the average TV antenna, which is approximately 24-inches long, this system uses a three-inch antenna element backed up by parabolic reflectors measuring 4 to 10 feet in diameter. The system will operate in the 2000 megacycle band by authority of the Federal Communications Commis- sion. This part of the spectrum has been assigned for similar radio control system such as those in service along pipe line routes and along the New Jersey and Pennsylvania turnpikes. Signals operating in this fre- quency band are less subject to fading due to rain and (Continued on page 23) Left: RCA engineers Williamson and Sadler inspect one of the microwave parabolic antennas used in the Riverhead-to-New York relay system. RADIO AGE 11 This electronic memory device NEVER FORGETS In a Few Millwnths of a Second it Accepts, Holds and Releases any Part of 10,000 Units of Information By Joseph L. Blotner RCA Laboratories Division, Princeton, N. /• L the short time since World War II, the electronic computer has grown from infancy to a healthy adoles- cence. Its next step to full-fledged adulthood will be helped along by one of the research projects under way at the David Sarnoff Research Center of RCA at Prince- ton, N. J. The need during the war for fast, accurate fire con- trol equipment and radar networks pointed clearly to electronic tools as the solution. Targets sped too fast for the old mechanical fire directing computers, just as the acoustical air-raid warning system was unable to cope with the new tactics of air warfare. The computers which resulted from this war-spurred development took two basic forms called, respectively, the analog and the digital. In the analog system, voltage or current is varied to represent different quantities in the complicated equations to be solved. In the digital system, all the information is converted into numbers rather than varying voltage or current. The numbers are coded in terms of "on-off" signals. In the binary code, numbers take the form of a sum of powers of two. In the decimal code, numbers take the form of a sum of powers of ten. The code is chosen by balancing efficiency and versatility against practicality. With the end of the war, research recognized the great value of these instruments. They could relieve scientists of long, wearying computations. In some cases, they could be used as a sort of crystal ball, to find out whether or not equipment would work even before it was built. Progress in their development was rapid and a fairly standard computer design soon took shape. The Input, perhaps in the form of a teletypewriter and tape, puts information into the Memory. The Con- trol executes orders stored in the Memory. Next, the Control actuates the Arithmetic Unit to perform the cal- Minute size of the Myriabit elements is emphasized here by the cigaret which spans more than three groups of wires and cores comprising 300 units of information. culation, and then transfers the result to the Memory. Finally, the Control transfers the result to the Output. It was soon obvious that the range and value of the computer depended largely upon its memory. The memory could be made very large, but if it was, it took too long to get information into and out of it. If this access to the memory's information was speeded up, it meant a sacrifice in capacity. To evolve a large memory unit with speed of operation was the problem which Dr. Jan A. Rajchman and his colleagues at the Research Center set out to solve. It is possible to construct memories of various types. They can be tele-typewriter perforated paper tape, mod- ern magnetic tape, or a rotating magnetic drum. In all of these types, unwanted information, often a lot of it. has to be passed over to get to the desired information. To eliminate this delay, Rajchman and his group devel- oped a selective electrostatic storage tube which gave immediate access to any specific storage element without traversing many others. This was the first practical random access high speed memory. 72 RADIO AGE The tube contains 256 tiny metal eyelets called stor- age elements. These elements are kept at a positive or negative potential to represent the information to be stored. The information is held prisoner in the eyelets by constant electron bombardment, which keeps the negatively charged eyelets negative. A mechanism de- pending upon secondary emission, keeps the positively charged eyelets positive. On one side of the eyelets are rows of parallel wires, one row vertical and the other horizontal. The wires thus form a window around each eyelet. The electron bombardment can be stopped at all but one selected window by applying negative signals to appropriate groups of wires. How Information is Inserted To put information into this element after it has thus been selected, an electrical signal is fed to all the eyelets. But only the selected eyelet is receiving current at that instant, hence it is the only one that can register the information. The current is then immediately re- stored to all the other elements so that they will retain the information they had. To read information out from a specific eyelet, it is again selected. If it is at a positive potential, some of the current directed to it will go through the tiny hole in its center and strike an output electrode, showing that the eyelet is positive. If the eyelet is at the negative potential, the electrons do not pass through the hole because the eyelet acts like the grid of a radio tube and effectively cuts off the current. This absence of current shows that the eyelet is negative. This 256-element tube was put into production and used successfully in several computers. Even so, Rajch- man and his group realized that it was only an inter- mediate step in the development of the ideal, high-speed electronic memory. The tube was limited in storing capacity and relatively expensive. Rajchman and his co-workers went on to develop the Myriabit Magnetic Core Matrix Memory. Myriabit is a descriptive term made up of the Greek word "Myria" meaning "ten thousand" and "bit" which means, in com- puter language, one unit of information. The heart of this advanced form of memory is two sets of a hundred wires each, one set running at right angles to the other. At every point where two wires meet, they run through the center of a magnetic core. The wires are spaced into groups of ten, so that the cores are separated into one hundred groups of a hundred each. The thin, tiny cores, about the size and shape of a typewritten letter "o", are made of a special ferromag- netic material. A current flowing through two of the wires will switch the polarity of the core at their inter- section. Whether the polarity is positive or negative depends upon the direction of the current. A core is affected onJy when it receives a signal from both wires running through it. Current in one wire is not enough. By establishing the core's polarity, the current fills it with as much information as it can take. Device Holds Information for Years Information is taken from the memory in much the same way. If the currents, when they reach the core, trip it from positive to negative, or vice versa, this change sends a signal through a wire running through all the Typical relation of basic units in the de- sign of a standard electronic computer Selective electrosfatic-type storage tube with capacity of 256 units. RADIO AGE 13 Dr. Jan A. Rajchman holds one of his Myriabit Magnetic Core Matrix Memory units which is capable of retaining 10,000 bits of information until needed. cores. If there is no reversal, there is no signal. But whichever happens, the contents of the core are thus known. If a reversal of polarity does take place in this process, associated circuits immediately return the core to its former state, so that no information is lost or changed. The cores never wear out, and they are able to hold the information for years. The Myriabit Memory represents a tremendous ad- vance over tubes and the other devices that went before it. The present capacity is 10,000 units of information but the prospect is for millions of units. Speed of input and access is a few millionths of a second. Its simplicity and economy of space are outstanding, particularly when compared to the relatively huge vacuum tubes. Some Possible Applications Impressive as the Myriabit Memory is by itself, it is most striking as a functional part of a working computer. The jobs a computer may be asked to do fall roughly into three types: scientific computation, bookkeeping, and control. In the first group are problems like this: A scientist wants to test a theory for gross weather prediction — weather for the whole United States, for instance. He goes to last week's weather maps and turns the data from each weather station into numbers. These numbers, representing readings on precipitation, pressure, tempera- ture, and wind direction and velocity, are fed into the computer's memory. The theory is turned into formulas and thence into arithmetical operations which are also put into the memory. The control unit is then pro- grammed to make the arithmetic unit process the weather data from the memory in accordance with the theory. After this is done, the control transfers the result to the memory and then to the output. The scientist takes the result and compares it with the weather that actually occurred to verify or disprove his theory. In this way, the electronic computer quickly and efficiently solves what would have been a tremendously complex problem for one man using ordinary computing methods. Computer Able to Solve Flight Problems The computer is equally able to attack problems of supersonic flight. A scientist in that field might be faced with this problem: What kind of turbulence should be expected at various sections of an experimental wing at varying speeds, altitudes, temperatures, and attitudes of flight? To get the answer, he puts all the variables into the memory, adds the known laws or theories that govern, and programs the control to solve the problem. The result may tell him that an aircraft with this wing will stay together and fly at supersonic speeds. On the other hand, it may tell him that it should go no farther than the drawing board. When the computer has a bookkeeping function, its job may be, for instance, computing gas and electric bills. The solutions to the previous problems depended heavily on the computer's manipulation function. In this case, it is the storage function which is more important; the arithmetic part is elementary. For each new bill to be correct, the computer is required to remember these facts: the previous meter reading, the current reading, the current rate being charged, the type of customer, the date of billing and whether or not the last bill was paid. A similar job for the computer exists in the insurance business. A computer would remember what the pre- mium rate was, when it was due, and whether or not the policy had been converted. It would authorize the send- ing of overdue warnings, and the payment of dividends and claims. A good example of the control function is in the making of nylon. Qualities desired in the final product — elasticity, wearability, washability, etc.- — are complex functions of how the ingredients and processes in the production are varied. Since mass production is a con- tinuous process, the production factors must be continu- ously related to the desired qualities. This process in- volves fairly complex computation, now performed by a staff of human operators. An automatic computer could be introduced here, almost as a straight substitute. Some problems combine the bookkeeping and control functions. Take, for instance, a large Army supply depot. (Contimied on page 24) 14 RADIO AGE High-FMity Phonographs and Recording by RCA Techniques 01 H, -IGH fidelity sound reproduction, until recently the province of the music-loving hobbyist, made its debut as a new RCA development for the mass market in a public demonstration held on October 8 at the RCA Exhibition Hall in New York. Before an audience of reporters and music critics, officials of the RCA Victor Division and scientists of the David Sarnoff Research Center surveyed the progress of recording and phonograph development over the past fifty years and predicted a future in which high fidelity equipment will be a standard feature of the American home. Against this background was demonstrated the new high fidelity line of "Victrola" phonographs in the popular price field and the new RCA Victor series of intermatched components for home assembly of more elaborate high fidelity systems. The ready-made units, designed for the mass market, included a table model instrument priced at $139.95 and a console priced at $275 with a companion speaker at $89.50. The series of components, comprising various combinations of record players, tuners, amplifiers, speakers and enclosures, permits the assembly of systems costing up to $1,000. Henry G. Baker, Vice President in Charge of the RCA Victor Home Instrument Department, expressed the RCA conviction that public interest in high fidelity sound reproduction is far more than a passing fad. Demand May Triple Sales in '54 "It gives every evidence of being a logical progres- sion in the development of more mature musical tastes by the American people," he told guests at the demon- stration. "And it coincides with the perfection of new sound reproduction equipment that makes it possible for the industry to provide the quality of home musical listening that the public wants and is ready for." Mr. Baker described the growing interest in high fidelity as both an opportunity and a challenge to the entire industry. Depending upon the willingness of the industry to respond to the challenge, public demand may boost this year's estimated sales of $70,000,000 worth of high fidelity components to a total of between $200,000,000 and $300,000,000 in 1954, he said. George Marek, Director of Artists and Repertoire for the RCA Victor Record Department, credited public interest in high fidelity with "far-reaching" impact on repertoire and predicted that volume production of high fidelity records and phonographs will open new fields for classical music recording. The higher standards of musical enjoyment that can result from the expansion of high fidelity listening holds out the prospect that record sales may increase from the present $225,000,000 annual volume to more than $300,000,000 within the next five years, he said. A Glimpse of the Future The steady progress of sound reproduction from the earliest type of phonograph portrayed in the RCA Victor trademark, to the new high fidelity home instruments was outlined to the guests by Dr. H. F. Olson, Director of the Acoustics Laboratory at the David Sarnoff Re- search Center. Dr. Olson is the designer of the famed duo-cone speaker, which is used for the first time as a home instrument in the largest of the new RCA high fidelity units. After referring to past development of faithful sound reproduction, in an effort to improve motion picture sound and radio broadcasting. Dr. Olson presented a glimpse of the future with the first public audition of a new recording and production system involving an improved variation of the binaural technique. The system achieves its dramatic and lifelike effect through dual sound-track recording and the use of double am- plifiers, sound pickups and loudspeakers for reproduc- tion. Although the system is not yet ready for the home, Mr. Baker pointed out that it indicates the great progress being made in the developmental stage. The demonstration also marked the first public play- ing of multiple-track recordings by any major record company, with a presentation of the experimental RCA Victor recording of the "Roumanian Rhapsody" per- formed by an orchestra under the direction of Leopold Stokowski. The high fidelity phonographs, which are being introduced through RCA dealers throughout the nation, are capable of handling records of all three speeds and are equipped with an interchangeable "slip-on" spindle for 45-rpm records. Both models contain Olson-designed speakers — an 8-inch in the table model and a 12-inch in the console — and both are capable of driving ex- ternal speakers. RADfO AGE 75 Radio Frequencies Measured to Order Precise Instruments Developed by RCA jor its Measuring Laboratories on Both Coasts Instantly Detect Transniittcrs that Stray from then' Allotted Channels Mc Lore than a million radio stations of all kinds on land, sea, and in the air, have been authorized by the FCC. Each one of these stations is licensed to operate on one or more specific frequencies from which the operators may not deviate without facing severe penal- ties. If a station, as in broadcasting for instance, should stray a very small amount from its proper channel, its signals would clash with those on the adjoining channel. If this situation were allowed to exist generally, complete chaos would follow. The result could lead to a complete breakdown of the country's radio communications. RCA foresaw the need for strict policing of the air waves soon after the company was founded in 1919. At first the measuring service was conducted only for RCA's own transoceanic circuits, but in 1931 its highly precise monitoring service was made generally available on a commercial basis. Monitoring facilities were established at Point Reyes, California, and Riverhead, N. Y. The first users of the service were the broadcasters. With monitors operating on both coasts, service could be provided for any radio station in the country. Then, as additional types of radio usage were developed, facilities were expanded to cover the widening frequency spectrum. Today, RCA's Frequency Measuring Service can make measurement for transmitters within the range of 13 kilocycles to 500 megacycles. Included in this range are aircraft and police radio, maritime transmis- sions, FM and television broadcasters, to mention only a few. Measurements can be made for foreign stations as easily and as accurately as for domestic transmitters. Wide Variety of Antennas Required In order to render accurate measurements throughout all bands in the useful spectrum, a wide variety of an- tennas is required. These range from Beverage Wave Antennas, seven to nine miles long, serving the very- low-frequency classification, to small, directional ultra- high-frequency dipoles. Television and FM stations are currently measured by RCA at distances up to 500 miles, depending upon antenna heights, intervening terrain and transmitter power. With activity in this type of broadcasting in- creasing, every effort is being made to extend the service range by providing the maximum practical height of receiving antennas on both coasts, together with extreme sensitivity of the associated tuner units. On the remainder of the spectrum in use, however, RCA frequency measuring stations provide essentially worldwide coverage. The equipment at RCA's Frequency Measuring Laboratories has been designed for measuring operations of the highest attainable precision. In line with this ad- vance, modern crystal controlled equipment long ago supplanted the original temperature controlled wave- meters of the Twenties. After the signal to be checked has been selected from the air through proper antenna facilities, it is tuned in on a highly sensitive receiver. Provision is made for comparing the frequency being measured with the exact- ing frequencies of harmonic generators, which are con- trolled by the output of a 100 kilocycle primary standard. This primary standard is carefully regulated with respect to temperature, air pressure and humidity. To prevent possible service failure, two identical standards are main- tained, each completely housed in a separate container. Standards are Checked Daily with Observatory The standards are checked daily against time signals from the Naval Observatory, which maintain an accuracy of better than four parts in ten million. To the uninitiated, it might seem a formidable task to select a signal in a part of the spectrum where many stations are operating, sometimes on the same frequency, as in the upper portion of the broadcast band. Actually, this problem is not a difficult one. So selective are the instruments at the two Measuring Stations and so ef- fective are the special antennas that, normally, the signal to be tested can be easily singled out from all others. When this is not possible, arrangements are made for the station to transmit a constant tone after it has signed off programs for the night. The tone permits the engi- neers at Riverhead or Point Reyes to pin-point and check the station's frequency even though other broadcasters using approximately the same frequency, are still on the air. Considering these items of equipment, aided by the experience and skill of the laboratory personnel, RCA's Frequency Measuring stations can be described as being among the world's most completely equipped and ac- curate installations available for its types of commercial service. ?6 RADIO AGE F. G. Echeverria operates one of the highly accurate receivers at the RCA Frequency Measur- ing Laboratory, Riverhead, N. Y. You've Got to be a Diplomat ^ To Film Washington News for NBC-TV By Robert Abernathy General Assignment Reporter, WNBW-TV National Broadcasting Co., Washington, D. C. o, NE of the touchiest jobs NBC's Washington Bu- reau has to do is to cover the news of the Capital on film. It's not enough for the cameramen and soundmen to know their trades technically — they've also got to be rare combinations of athlete, artist, and, most of all, diplomat. From time to time Washington gets its share of good spot news like train wrecks and moonshine raids and, once, an assassination attempt on President Truman. The film crews get their share of drama, too, like the time one of the cameramen was thrown twice into a Cuban jail. But most of the time the big news in Wash- ington is what somebody says or thinks — -statements, opinions, arguments. And this is where the diplomacy comes in. How do you tell the President he'd look a lot better if he'd comb his hair? How do you tell a United States Senator that the statement he's prepared is just plain too long, and he'd better cut it to one minute? How do you convince a wary new Cabinet member that he should explain his ideas for the cameras so the nation's TV audience can get to know him? Somehow, through excellent contacts and Old World tact, NBC's Washington camera crews get their stories. Usually, they get them as they want them, with hair combed and statements cut. Eight Years to Develop Techniques Bringing the personalities and ideas of Washington into millions of television homes, through film, is a technique NBC has been perfecting for over eight years. The Washington film crews shoot for the Camel News Caravan, TODAY, the syndicated Daily News Service, New York's 11th Hour News, and Washington's Richard Harkness. Brad Kress and John Langenegger cover the Capitol. Al Simonson and John Hofen cover the White House. Irving Heitzner takes the rest. Each morning in the NBC newsroom, Central News- Soundman John Langenegger and cameraman Brad Kress of NBC's Washington news staff prepare for a film pickup at the Capitol. Two-way radiophone keeps the truck in constant communication with the network newsroom. desk Manager Art Barriault and Camera Assignment Editor Bill Corrigan survey the stories that seem most important for the day and contact the crews. There's an important arrival at the National Airport, and Irving Heitzner is on his way to get 100 feet of silent footage. There's a hearing on the Hill that may get hot. Brad Kress and John Langenegger set up to record whatever happens. A key Washington figure visits the President. Simonson and Hofen are waiting for him when he comes out. As the day's Washington news breaks, it's up to Barriault and Corrigan to dispatch the crews so that the top stories are covered — without exception. Sometimes the crews have to make mad dashes across town to be on hand for the next news conference. But they make it. A big help in speedy coverage is the NBC station wagon, equipped with radio-telephone for contact at all times. Once the film is shot, it's picked up by NBC's motor- 78 RAD\0 AGE cycle courier, Jim Curtis. He threads his way through Washington's crowded streets to the lab where the film is processed, or to the airport where it's shipped direct to New York. Always, Curtis has to move in a hurry. In 1949, Senator Tom Connolly announced at seven o'clock one evening that the first appropriation for Western Europe had just been passed to implement the North Atlantic Treaty. Brad Kress shot the statement and handed the film to Curtis. Jim ran for his motor- cycle and headed for the lab, three miles away. The film was processed and edited and handed to Jim again. This time he took it to the studios, five miles from the lab. The film was on Camel Caravan that night, fifty minutes after it had been shot. Such feats, incredible at the time, have become standard practice. David Brinkley supervises the editing of all Wash- ington film for the Camel program. After conferring with the Caravan staff in New York, Brinkley edits the day's top stories, writes a script to back them up, and goes on the air with the report at 7:45 (EST). Jean Montgomery helps Brinkley with the contact work nec- essary to set up the special features for which the Caravan is famous. Through the years of TV news film development, NBC's Washington Bureau has pioneered in the business of making the expression of political opinions interesting to watch. It has been a cooperative eflfort — TV has adapted to politics, and politics has adapted to TV. The problem, of course, is mainly one of equipment. You could tape-record a Congressional hearing with relatively little paraphernalia and interference. But to Jim Curtis, of the NBC courier staff, passes the Lincoln Memorial on his way to the airport with a shipment of film intended for television. Jean Montgomery, Art Barriault and Bill Corrigan of NBC's capital newsroom look over possible news events that should be covered by camera crews. cover it for TV, is another matter. Cameras and the necessary lights take up a lot of room. Committee chair- men in the Congress have understandably hesitated to permit film crews to cover their hearings because of the creation of what some of them call the "circus atmos- phere." But, gradually, the Chairmen have become more tolerant as they have learned to know the crews and, equally important, the eflPectiveness of TV coverage. Once when Senator Hoey was conducting hearings involving the famous "five-percenters," NBC's Capitol Hill cameraman asked him if he could shoot the pro- ceedings. "Yes," said the Senator, "so long as I don't know you're doing it." The cameraman opened up his lens and filmed the hearing without lights. It's not a recommended photographic technique, but it worked, and it showed the Senator and his colleagues how NBC could adapt to their wishes. Some rules stand inviolate. There has never been film coverage of a debate in the House or Senate, nor has there been sound-on-film coverage of a Presidential news conference. But the political leaders do adapt to televi- sion. Many times a Member of Congress will agree to express himself on an issue for the camera and when he does so, the statement turns out to be several minutes long and somewhat repetitious. The cameraman quietly points out that the take would be much more effective RADIO AGE J 9 if it were shorter — and also, if cut, would stand a better chance of being used. The Member of Congress usually sees the light. NBC has pioneered in shooting statements in several takes, changing the camera angle and distance during a statement, to make the story more interesting to watch. NBC was first to use a hand camera so a story could be shot anywhere. And NBC was first with the idea of get- ting film interviews in interesting locales. Radio Vn/t Tours Soviet Embassy Vice-President Nixon and David Brinkley discussed the problems of the new administration while riding in a government Cadillac. It was filmed for Camel that night. NBC crews have gone into the Senate Dining Room, the Senate Barber Shop, and a Senate elevator to get stories. They filmed one conversation between Sena- tors Humphrey and Morse while the Senators rode horses on Morse's Maryland farm. NBC was first to take the nation's television audience on a tour of the highly- restricted Russian embassy. But the work is not all statements and how to make them interesting to the eye. Sometimes there is news of a more tangible nature. One morning last March the NBC cameramen were on their way to work when a bulletin went out over the radio that something had NBC cameraman Al Simonson discusses camera tech- nique with President Eisenhower's press secretary, James C. Hagerty. happened at Union Station. To a man, each cameraman went over to see what was up. The result was the best footage shot by anyone on the now famous wreck of the Boston train, the "Federal Express," that had lost its brakes. NBC's White House cameraman was on duty a few years ago when he heard shots from the street outside. He picked up his Auricon portable sound camera and ran out to see what had happened. The resulting pic- tures, on NBC that day, told a vivid story of the assassina- tion attempt on President Truman in front of Blair House. Brad Kress and John Hofen recall with much enjoy- ment the time they tramped through the Virginia hills with a posse of Federal revenue agents. While Kress shot, the revenue men ambushed, and destroyed, one of the most productive moonshine stills found in recent years. The only problem was that the dynamite used to destroy the vats blew their contents sky high. For what seemed like an eternity, it rained fermented mash. Kress and Hofen spent days trying to get their equipment clean again, and had some difficulty convincing their colleagues that the scent they bore came from an external source. Cameraman is Jailed Twice And then there was the time Kress was thrown into jail, twice, by a Cuban dictator. Brad was in Key West with President Truman when Julian Goodman, Wash- ington's Manager of News and Special Events, called him up at two o'clock one morning. Could Brad get over to Cuba right away? There had been an insurrection and Juan Batista had taken over the government. Kress and John Langenegger contacted a Cuban airline near Key West. No luck. People could get out of Cuba, but no- body could get in. The NBC team climbed aboard any- way and brazened their way into Havana. They shot some silent footage of the Palace and then went out to a nearby fort where Batista was entrenched. In sound-on- film they recorded the strong-man's proclamation that he was now dictator of Cuba. But then there was the prob- lem of getting the film back to the States. John Lange- negger, under pretext of being no longer needed, tucked the film in his shirt and boarded a plane for Miami. Kress was so jubilant he got on the phone and called Julian Goodman in Washington to report the feat. Twenty minutes later he was picked up by the Cuban police and thrown into jail. What Kress didn't know was that all telephone lines were tapped. But no sooner had Kress talked his way out of jail than he was picked up again, this time by the Army. Brad was back in his old cell before he could convince the militaristi that he had just been released, and was no criminal. By this time Langenegger had bluffed his 20 RADIO AGE way back to town and the pair again went out to Batista's fort. They shot the first interview, in English, with the new dictator. Langenegger flew out with the fihn, and this time Kress didn't call Washington to report. NBC's Capital film crews don't often get locked up, but their problems are many, just the same. Al Simonson and John Hofen, who cover the White House, sometimes get word only a few hours before the President takes off on a sudden trip. But they make the plane, and follow Mr. Eisenhower wherever he goes. These trips take their toll on the crews, as well as on the speech-maker. During the 1952 Presidential campaign, Simonson and Hofen spent most of their time on the Truman train. Sometimes there were a dozen whistle- stops a day, each with its rush to set up equipment, shoot the speech, and then get self and camera back on the train before it started again. When President Eisenhower flew to Minneapolis and Mount Rushmore in June, Simonson and Hofen made the usual last-minute dashes to catch the next plane. But on this trip there was time out for ceremony. Along with the President, the NBC crew was initiated into the Sioux Indian Singing Tribe of the Wahoo. Al Simonson is now "Bad Wound " and John Hofen is "Chief Ghost Bear." Excitement with the President Once, with the President, there was suspense and excitement that came too close to home for Hofen. He and Simonson were at Augusta, Georgia, with Mr. Eisen- hower, making arrangements to return to Washington the next day. John had just received word from his wife, who was visiting in Charleston, that she and their three- year-old daughter were returning to Washington that night on the Atlantic Coast Line Champion. He was awakened at one in the morning by a call from New York. The Champion had jumped track at Dillon, South Carolina and he and Simonson should start moving im- mediately to cover the tragedy on film. The rest of the night, the two drove from Augusta. They arrived at dawn to shoot their story and, for John, to search the wreckage. Finally they found a railroad oSicial. This train, he said, was the coach section of the Champion. John's family, with Pullman tickets, had passed through in the advance section just fifteen minutes ahead of this one. They were safe, by that time, in Washington. "That was a long night," says Hofen. In addition to the trips, another problem is caused by Washington's complex local government. In order to move freely about town for his pickups of film during the 1948 inauguration, Jim Curtis, NBC's courier, had to have seventeen different passes. He pinned one on top of another and then folded them all up with a little tab holding them together, pinned to his blouse. At one intersection a policeman stopped him and said he couldn't cross, didn't have the right pass. Jim unbuttoned the tab, deadpan, and let all seventeen credentials cascade to his knees. "Take your pick," said Curtis. He crossed the street. Some Officials Need Persuasion NBC's Washington TV film men have to know their trades and be able to move fast, but mostly their success depends on their diplomacy. Sometimes government officials, new to their offices, are reluctant to make state- ments when they're in the news. It's up to the crews and Assignment Editor Corrigan to persuade them that what they have to say is important, and that the nation should be able to see them say it. And it takes a good deal of the same commodity to convince the President, when outdoors, that he'd really look a lot better on film if he'd take off his hat and let people see his face. Shadows over the eyes do not help. What would Washington be like if the TV film men could have their say? Art Barriault sums it up for all of them. "The millennium will come when every Senator and Cabinet officer can clarify the most complicated of politi- cal issues in a well-rounded, colorful, one-minute state- ment." The millennium isn't here, but NBC's diplomats with tripods are bringing it closer. New York Graduate Engineer Wins David Sarnoff Scholarship Harold S. Rothman, 21, of 960 Grand Concourse, Bronx, N. Y., has been awarded the David Sarnoff Fel- lowship at the New York University College of Engi- neering for 1953-54. The fellowship was established in 1952 by the Radio Corporation of America in honor of Brig. General David Sarnoff, Chairman of the Board of RCA. Providing an annual grant of $2,700 for predoctoral study, the award is part of a program to assist in the education of scientific personnel for leadership in the growing electronics in- dustry. Mr. Rothman was the applicant among a class of 175 graduating engineers who, in the opinion of the Scholar- ships Committtee and the RCA Education Committee, had the necessary high qualifications for the award. With the aid of the Fellowship, Mr. Rothman will pursue studies in the microwave field, a subject of spe- cialization in which he became interested during his undergraduate course in electrical engineering. His career plans center on design and development in the micro- wave field. RADIO AGE 21 Technical Details of RCA Basic Color Receiver Made Available to Competing Set Manufacturers Xn a move believed to have few precedents in com- petitive industry, the Radio Corporation of America has turned over to engineers representing virtually all tele- vision set manufacturers full details of design and performance of RCA's basic color television receiver. This important technical information on the RCA color set was presented to 250 representatives of the television industry at a color television symposium arranged by RCA at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York, on October 7. It was in line with the Corporation's policy of making available to RCA licensees its inven- tions and technical "know-how" in compatible color television, as it did in black-and-white television six- years ago. The color receiver described to RCA's competitors is the latest field-tested design from which will be evolved the production design for color sets to be built and marketed under the RCA 'Victor trade-mark, ac- cording to Ewen C. Anderson, "Vice President in Charge of the Commercial Department. Mr. Anderson, who presided at the symposium, pre- sented a program in which the industry group received full details on special color receiver components, tubes, and circuitry, as well as testing equipment. Latest technical information was provided on the RCA tri-color tube, heart of home color television re- ceivers. Attendants at the meeting likewise were briefed on the progress of color broadcast station equipment, programming and networking plans of the National Broadcasting Company, steps by the RCA Service Com- pany to help prepare the industry to meet color tele- vision servicing problems, and efforts of the RCA Industry Service Laboratory to aid the industry over technical hurdles. No NTSC Color Television System Commenting on information made available on RCA's basic color television receiver, Mr. Anderson declared: "In supplying you with such information, I would call your attention to the fact that we are making no representations concerning inventions of others, if any. "In this connection, you have heard much of a so-called NTSC color system. "We do not know of any NTSC color system. NTSC, which is comprised of Representatives of 250 television set manufacturers attend a symposium on color TV receivers arranged by RCA at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in Nev/ York on October 7. scientists and engineers of virtually the entire television industry, has unanimously agreed on certain signal speci- fications and recommended them to the Federal Com- munications Commission as standards for color TV broadcasting. If the FCC adopts these standards they will become FCC standards, just as the NTSC standards for black-and-white TV became the FCC standards under which we operate today. '"We call the apparatus we use — as distinguished from the signal specifications — the RCA compatible color system. The RCA color system operates on the standards recommended by the NTSC, and we partici- pated in the development of these standards and joined in recommending that the FCC adopt them. 'We have no doubt that American ingenuity will from time to time devise new and improved apparatus which will also operate on these same standards." Although the first color-receiver production line is still several months away, Mr. Anderson said, it is within RCA's announced schedule of six to nine months after FCC approval of compatible standards. "And we 22 RADIO AGE hope to beat that promise," he declared, continuing: "As you are well aware, in March of 1950, RCA promised to make available to its domestic receiver licensees complete manufacturing information on the first RCA color receiver when the receiver is placed in commercial production. This information is to include complete manufacturing drawings, bill of material, sources of supply, and inspection of our production setup. RCA will keep that promise. It will invite its licensees to the RCA plant before the commercial re- lease of a color receiver. "I know that you probably want as much information as is available at the earliest possible time in order to meet your respective schedules for getting color receivers to the public. Therefore, it appeared desirable to hold this meeting now — well in advance of our planned production information program — in order that you may have available color receiver information you might not already possess." The engineering position in which the industry finds itself today is the result of many years of hard work in getting a compatible color television system which can be started in an economically sound manner, asserted Mr. Anderson, adding: "We in RCA take pride in our part in this endeavor. Our achievements in color represent hundreds of man- years of work by outstanding electronic engineers, and tens of millions of dollars of investment. We feel that the time and money already spent, and the large amount that will be spent in placing this new service before the public represent a sound investment in insurance, cover- ing the future success of this industr}'. "We strongly believe in the economic and social importance of a compatible system of color television, and we believe that this new service to the public will enable the electronics industry to repeat the success story of black-and-white television." Mr. Anderson pointed out that as precedent for the October 7 meeting on the RCA color television receiver, RCA held a symposium on its tri-color tube in July of this year for licensed tube manufacturers. This, he said, was done as soon as the design was completed on a type for early production, thus providing the tube industry with advanced information shortening the time required to get a satisfactory design of color receiver into pro- duction. Regarding a color television picture tube recently announced by another company, Mr. Anderson said: "RCA has read with some interest that another com- pany — a company which, by the way, went all out for incompatible color and said that compatible color was impractical — has finally come around to adopting RCA's type of color tube with three guns, and using a shadow mask with all the holes. As we read the in- formation released by that company the only difference is that the phosphor dots are on the rear of the face plate instead of on a separate plate directly behind the face plate. "Following RCA's lead in adopting a 15-inch glass envelope, this tube is also enclosed in a 15-inch glass bulb and uses the principle of a face plate sealed in with metal rings. As this tube uses the basic principles of the RCA tri-color tube it should — if it functions satis- factorily — work in the all-electronic compatible color receiver developed by RCA." Color-TV "Kit" For Manufacturers During the symposium, an ofiFer was extended by the RCA Victor Division to supply television set manu- facturers with a limited quantity of developmental kits, containing specially designed tubes and parts required for the RCA compatible color receiver. Although each of more than twenty tubes and com- ponents in the kits is in a developmental stage, they are being offered at this early date to enable the industry to initiate experimental design and production programs for color sets. The contents represent the most advanced results of RCA's developmental work on electronic com- ponents for its basic color receiver. Among items in the kits are a complete develop- mental RCA tri-color picture tube, specially designed receiver tubes, developmental transformers, coils and other associated necessities of a color receiver. With each kit is complete technical and application in- formation. New Microwave Relay (Continued from page 11) snow storms and other atmospheric conditions than the higher frequencies. RCA engineers underscore the importance of this new microwave control system by pointing out the fol- lowing advantages and improvements to be expected as a result of the installation: 1 — It is hoped that within a few years the system will pay for itself and result in a saving of many thousands of dollars a year in control line rentals. 2 — Records kept on former microwave systems show that fewer signal failures occur over a year than with low quality control lines. This reliability factor is extremely important to RCA operations. 3 — Throughout the design of the system heavy an- tenna support structures, modern antenna design and fireproof building construction have been utilized to guard against possible damage from the elements. RADIO AGE 23 Auto Controls Itself by Electronics (Continued from page 9) either to indicate the off-course position of the vehicle on the dashboard or applied directly to the steering mechanism so as to maintain the car in the center of the lane. Feedpoints for the cable may be provided at intervals along the highway. Driver Retains Control of Speed "In this system the driver not only would retain complete control of the car speed, but, in addition, could switch at will from manual to automatic steering. The automatic setting could be linked to an external indica- tion on the car to inform road supervisors and other drivers of the fact that the car is under automatic control. "The second step in the evolution of the automatic driving system, the prevention of collisions, is a natural extension of the guidance equipment. "The essential feature of one proposed collision prevention system is the transfer of energy from a high- frequency power cable, to a series of tiny oscillators or transmitters along the lane. The transfer of energy is controlled by the passage of a car and a long time con- stant circuit or 'memory' causes the transmitter to func- tion for a time after the car has passed. The oscillations are transmitted backward along a high-attenuation cable and sensed by pickup coils on the following cars. Thus every car, whether equipped with automatic driving devices or not, would be followed by a flying tail' of warning signals. Their amplitude would increase as the car slowed down and become a maximum for a stalled car. Conversely, the sensing system of the foUowing cars would be coupled with the car speed indication in such fashion that the warning signal would increase with their speed. "In a completely automatic system this warning 'tail' could be used to switch a car from one lane to another at specified cross-over points. In this case, the sequence of events as a car approaches another vehicle which is either stalled or moving at a lower speed is: As the signal picked up from the 'flying tail' of the preceding vehicle reaches a certain level, the guidance setting would be shifted to the left lane. Then, the car would pass over to the left lane at the next cross-over point and pass the slower vehicle unless: a. The turn-off is blocked by signals from a nearby vehicle which is already in the left lane, or b. The slower vehicle impedes further progress even before the turn-off point is reached. "In the second instance the signal from the 'flying tail' would continue to increase in intensity; its indication to the driver may be either auditory or visual — in the form of a sound of rising amplitude or a flashing light of increasing frequency, warning him to decelerate or apply the brakes. As an alternative, the signal, from a certain level on, may reduce the fuel intake and, at a still higher level, actuate the power brakes. "Full automatization of the driving process can be envisaged as the final stage of the development. In addition to the installation of guidance and collision prevention equipment on the roads and in the vehicles, this would involve automatic inspection of the vehicle equipment and a continuous recording of traSic condi- tions at the gate stations. Indications of the position and velocities of the vehicles along the road section between successive stations would aid supervising personnel in the problem of traffic distribution. "Freight transport along the highways presents one of the most challenging applications of full automatiza- tion. The establishment of a network of truck routes, separate from a highway system designed for passenger vehicles only, has been discussed repeatedly. "With full automatization, it offers the possibility of driverless freight transport over long distances, with route terminals taking the form of marshalling yards. Here, small dispatching crews would send out the loaded trucks to their distant destinations and assign incoming vehicles to drivers for local delivery of the consignment. Assuming a cruising speed of 30 miles per hour, a separation between vehicles of 100 feet, and an average truck load of 5 tons, a one-lane route could handle nearly 200,000 tons a day. This large shipping capacity pro- vided with minimum manpower requirements would do much to alleviate present bottlenecks in the delivery of consumers' goods and industrial raw materials." Electronic Memory Device (Continued from page 14) Each day, great quantities of different kinds of supplies arrive in various ways. The outbound shipments are just as complex. Each day, thousands of questions have to be answered. Is there room in Number Three "Ware- house for ten thousand woolen blankets? Are there enough overcoats in Number Eight Warehouse to fill a requisition from Fort Dix? Did the last shipment reach Camp Kilmer? Are there any field kitchens left? How many? Should we order more? In this situation the computer remembers, works out problems, and gives the results which determine the decisions to be made. The computer is one of the great new tools of the future, a ready servant in man's constant effort to solve the complex, to learn more about his world. And in their laboratories, thinking about bigger, faster memo- ries, about better, more accurate arithmetic units, Jan Rajchman and his group are making their contribution. 24 RADIO AGE Transistor-Operated Radio Receiver Runs 300 Hours on Flashlight Cells A COMPACT experimental radio receiver tiiat har- nesses a new and greatly improved type of junction tran- sistor to provide sensitivity and fidelity comparable to conventional table model receivers several times its size has been developed at the David Sarnoff Research Center of RCA, Princeton, N. J. Six small-size flashlight batteries — the set's entire power supply — will operate the laboratory receiver for at least 500 hours, according to its designer, Loy E. Barton, RCA research engineer, who demonstrated the instrument at meetings of the Institute of Radio En- gineers and at The Franklin Institute. The remarkable performance of the RCA experi- mental transistor-operated receiver is made possible, Mr. Barton said, by the development of junction transistors that provide useful amplification at radio frequencies as high as 10 megacycles, in contrast to previous junction types that usually perform well only at audio frequencies. Before receivers of the type demonstrated can be produced commercially at reasonable cost, transistor techniques will have to be refined and new materials and associated miniaturized components will have to be developed and mass produced, it was pointed out. At the present stage of development, the cost of the transistors and of the new components would be far in excess of comparable mass-produced, tube types of receivers. The new type of transistors is the result of research by Dr. C. W. Mueller and Jacques I. Pankove, of the RCA research staff. Though still in the laboratory stage. Dr. Mueller said, the new transistor is of relatively simple triode construction, thus giving promise of eventual quantity Front (left) and rear views of the experimental completely transistorized radio receiver developed at RCA Labora- tories. The row of transistors is pointed out below. production. The large frequency span it opens up, he said, should broaden considerably the potential appli- cation of transistors. Unlike its predecessor types, it can operate in IF (intermediate frequency) stages of AM broadcast receivers, and in the video amplification stages of television receivers. Receiver Boasts Large Speaker The transistor receiver used in demonstrations by Mr. Barton has six transistors of the new radio-frequency type and three experimental junction transistors of the audio-frequency range. Although not much smaller than conventional portable radios built with tubes, the set employs the space saved by use of transistors (and miniaturized IF transformers) for a 4- by 6-inch loudspeaker. In comparing the experimental receiver with a typical portable tube receiver, Mr. Barton said the former required only one-ninth the battery power yet produced roughly twice the audio output. To show that a variety of receiver designs are possible with the new transistor, Mr. Barton has made another transistor-operated receiver that uses six stand- ard penlight batteries as a power supply good for 50 hours. This set has a smaller speaker (3 inch) and its size is less than half that of the higher performance receiver. Smaller size was achieved by sacrifice of speaker size and playing life, he said. Studies Lead to Basic Changes Dr. Mueller explained that higher frequency opera- tion of the transistor had been obtained by studying in detail the physics of the RCA audio-frequency alloy junction transistor and determining the characteristics which reduced its frequency response. As a result of these studies, he said, basic changes were made in the geometry, the type of germanium, and the alloy used. A thicker wafer of germanium is employed in order to reduce resistance between the junction region and base connection, thereby giving higher gain at higher frequencies. At the same time, the distance between the two junctions of impurity material has been markedly re- duced by drilling a hole that almost perforates the wafer, he said. The two junctions, of smaller area than in previous designs, are then formed on either side of the paper-thin layer of germanium that remains. Of great importance, also, he said, is the use of an alloying material which already contains some ger- manium. The experimental transistor type described by Dr. Mueller was of the p-n-p (positive-negative-positive) TV Problems — as Viemd m 1929 The instantaneous projection through space of light images produced directly from the object in the studio, or the scene brought to the broadcasting station through remote control, involves many problems. Special types of distribution networks, new forms of stagecraft, and a development of studio equipment and technique are required. New problems would rain in upon the broad- casting station. New forms of artistry would have to be encouraged and developed. Variety, and more variety, would be the cry of the day. The ear may be content with the oft-repeated song; the eye would be impatient with the twice-repeated scene. David Sarnoff (1929) variety. Similar methods can be used to make n-p-n transistors that operate at the higher frequencies, he said. The new radio-frequency units, he said, can provide a power amplification of about 10,000 to 1 (gain of up to 39 decibels) at 455 kilocycles, the common intermediate frequency of broadcast receivers. Their amplification is somewhat less at higher frequencies, but amplification of about 16 to 1 (gain of 12 decibels) is available at frequencies as high as 10 megacycles. The transistor may be used as an oscillator at fre- quencies as high as 40 megacycles, he added. Toscanini and NBC Symphony Open 17th Season on November 7 The NBC Symphony, under the leadership of Arturo Toscanini, will open its seventeenth season on the air with a broadcast from Carnegie Hall in New York on November 7, starting at 6:30 p.m., EST. For the sixth successive season, Guido Cantelli will share the podium with Maestro Toscanini, directing eight of the 22 sched- uled weekly concerts. Among the features planned by Toscanini for the new season are a two-part concert performance of Verdi's opera "Un Ballo in Maschera," Brahms' "German Re- quiem," Zoltan Kodaly's "Psalmus Hungaricus," and con- certs featuring the works of Sibelius, Wagner and Men- delssohn. The eight performances to be directed by Cantelli will include such works as Debussy's "The Mar- tyrdom of Saint Sebastian," Hindemith's "Concerto for Strings and Brass," and Frescobaldi's "Four Pieces." During the season, Toscanini also will direct the NBC Symphony for a number of RCA Victor recordings. 26 RADIO AGE George Folster, home from the wars, faces a microphone in an NBC studio THE FAR EAST IS HIS BEAT From Australia to Panmunjom George Folster has Followed the Tides of War and the Korean Armistice as NBC's News Correspondent in the West Pacific Area "W E don't abandon the story even after it cools off." This is the terse and simple phrase which George Thomas Folster uses to describe the manner in which NBC's news covers the world's hot spots. Folster is a man who should know. NBC's chief correspondent in the Far East, it was Folster who directed the network's coverage of the three-year Korean war. Folster is on another of his visits home. This time he traveled on a short timetable, for he allowed himself all of ten days in the States. But in spite of that, Folster has spent much of his time consulting with William McAndrew, manager of news and special events; Joseph Meyers, Central News Desk editor, and other members of the staflF. The last time George Folster came home, he made the trip in his own 50-foot ketch, a sailing yacht, crossing the vast Pacific from Toyko to San Francisco in 47 days. He was compared to a swashbuckling Magellan. He was on an official vacation, his first in years, and he used it to satisfy a lifetime ambition — to make a round trip through 5,000 miles of shark infested sea across the Pacific. In 1940, he left Worcester, Mass., where he had been born on May 6, 1906, of a New England whaling family, to accept a job as assistant director of the Fahnestock Expeditions. His duties required that he captain the three-masted schooner Director Second across the Pa:cific. The expedition which Folster organized was com- missioned by the American Museum of Natural History to collect birds and to record native music on South Sea Islands. It was on this same trip that he did his first broadcasts for NBC, on a special arrangement. Nine months after the expedition weighed anchor, the Director Second was forced onto the treacherous RADIO AGE 27 coral of Australia's great barrier reef. Folster and a handful of men continued the expedition through the Solomon Islands, in native canoes and small boats, traveling 3,000 miles by sail and paddle, and finally reaching Australia. Once he was at his destination, Folster was able to settle down to the more conventional job of writing and broadcasting news for the Australian radio net- work. In 1941, Folster did something which was event- ually to serve America well: he helped align and test radio circuits between there and the U.S.A. which subsequently proved to be of immense importance when the war spread to the Pacific. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor marked the appointment of George Folster as a war correspondent in Sydney. He moved to Darwin and was the only American to cover General MacArthur's arrival in Australia. Thereafter Folster moved island by island through the Pacific with MacArthur's and Admiral Nimitz' forces as they beat back the Japanese. He made the first broadcast from bloody Guadalcanal on Nov. 6, 1943, and broadcast first from the front lines on Bougainville in March, '44. Folster plowed ashore with the First Cavalry Di- vision at Luzon in 1945, and made the first post- War broadcast from inside Japan the morning of the first landing at Yokosuka. Folster and his wife, the former Helen J. Fausey, of Grand Rapids, Mich., became NBC's correspondents in Tokyo at the war's end. The outbreak of the war in Korea three and a half years ago found NBC on the spot with a fully staiied news bureau, in contrast to other networks which at that time depended upon "stringers". When former President Harry S. Truman made it clear that the United States would regard the Communist attack on South Korea as an act of aggression and would send American forces into the country to help resist the invasion, NBC's staff in the Far East — backstopped by seasoned personnel, many of them former war corres- pondents themselves, at home — moved into action to report developments for America. W^ar Coverage has no Parallel The coverage which was then given the war by NBC has no parallel in radio and television history. Reporters were accredited to the United Nations armies, broadcast from the front lines under fire with the troops. Cameramen established a routine for newsfilm coverage destined to give a new dimension to journalism. Jim Robinson; Wilson Hall; Robert Hecox; Jung Su Kwan; Irving R. Levine; John Rich; William J. Dunn, these were among the names of NBC radio reporters who helped bring the meaning of this war against Communist aggression home to the vitally con- cerned people of the United States. The NBC combat correspondents, exposing them- selves to the same dangers to which troops were subjected, moved forward with the armies; Pusan Per- imeter . . . Inchon landing . . . Wonsan landing . . . Operation Little Switch. . . . During the first week of the war, NBC had its tape recorder machines and other broadcasting equip- ment on the front lines, to the surprise (and con- sternation) of competitive networks. The first "actuals" heard from the combat area by the people of America, were made by NBC, inaugurating a long series of news breaks for the network's listeners. One oldtimer recalls that correspondents, often caught short in their deter- mination to get their stories back home, were forced to wrap the tape around old beer cans and ration boxes so as to preserve it. Folster estimates that NBC news broadcasts, not including special events, originating from Korea or dealing with the war and originating in Tokyo, during the three-year period ending July, 1953, exceeded 3,500. No one has a record of the film footage made by the network and flown to the States dealing with the Korean war, but if laid end to end, it would probably reach the moon and back. Jim Robinson, NBC wartime reporter, is typical of the combat correspondents who kept the homeland informed of Communist aggression in the Far East. 28 RAD/O AGE In This New Field of Custom Recording Even Cows are Made to Talk Phonographs and Special Discs are being Widely Adopted by Many Branches of Industry as Effective Aids to Sales By James P. Davis Manager, Custom Record Division RCA Victor Division T. .IME was when cows were expected only to moo, auto- mobiles to honk their horns, and refrigerators to purr gently. Now you'll find some that talk. This phenomenon is an accomplishment of the RCA Victor Custom Record Division, which, among its other activities, has recorded some brisk sales talks for delivery by the most unlikely parties. For example, there is Car- melita, a cow associated with Kraft Foods, who spoke to customers in retail grocery stores around the country some months ago during a special promotion of the firm's caramels. There is also the Crosley refrigerator, which has intrigued customers in numerous showrooms by delivering its own commentary to anyone who opened its door. Now automobiles in the hands of certain deal- ers are preparing to do the same, and it is likely that the habit will spread among hitherto non-talking com- modities. It is, of course, the familiar phonograph record that is behind these unusual activities, and they simply con- firm that this time-honored means of sound communica- tion is making itself more useful than ever in modern sales promotion. Aside from these occasional spectacular phases, the custom-made record has been steadily moving up into a role of considerable importance in the business world. Last year, the RCA Victor Custom Record Division filled orders for millions of transcriptions, phonograph records and slide-film recordings for customers ranging from the International Civil Aviation Organization to an advertising concern promoting bridal photographs. This year, orders have been running at a rate 20% higher than in 1952. The recorded contents, aside from talking cows, automobiles and refrigerators, have run a gamut from animal calls to the conventional human voice. The array has been recorded on a wide variety of discs, from the 61/^-inch pure vinyl "spinner" to the l6-mm slide- film, designed for use with slides and filmstrips. Musical Recordings Predominate A large percentage of the custom record business consists of musical recordings for more than 100 com- mercial record companies who lack recording facilities of their own. But the growth of the versatile custom service since its establishment some eighteen years ago points also to the greater effectiveness of the spoken over the written word in numerous situations. A voice is peculiarly effective as a consumer attraction when it emerges from something that is not ordinarily expected to talk, although the bulk non-musical custom record buyers have called on the service as an extremely handy RADIO AGE 29 way of getting a statement, a set of instructions or a spot announcement around to a scattered audience in a manner that makes more of an impression tlian does a letter or a circular saying the same thing. Prominent among the orders filled during the past year by the RCA Custom Record Division have been those placed by firms anxious to reach dealers, salesmen or customers. Sears Roebuck, for example, ordered 45- rpm records bearing spoken messages from two of the firm's sales executives to managers and sales personnel outlining a major scale sales campaign in the 400 Sears Roebuck stores. A similar venture was a four-minute statement of company plans recorded by John C. Sharp, president of the Hotpoint Company, for more than 10,000 dealers and distributors handling company prod- ucts. Both companies reported themselves pleased with the results. Other organizations and individuals have made use of custom records as a convenient vehicle for reaching a wide membership or a scattered constituency. The American Legion ordered a 61^-inch disc to introduce its new commander to Legion posts and to push a cam- paign for new members. And a candidate for a Rotary International office reached all prospective voters ahead of time with a recorded message as part of his successful election campaign. Discs have long been used as language aids, but a new wrinkle was added last year through the RCA Victor Custom Record Division by the International Civil Aviation Organization in the form of multilingual basic radio communication lessons. Flying vernacular being what it is, the pilot holding radio conversation over for- eign territory these days is likely to find himself coping with a tongue bearing no resemblance to anything in his phrase book. The ICAO recordings, featuring avia- tion trade talk in several languages, are designed to smooth the path for him. Other instructional uses to which the recent crop of custom records has been put include the instruction of retail sales personnel in selling techniques, the train- ing of secretaries and clerical workers, and tips to display staflfs on the proper way to feature given products. Under the last heading came another oddity in the form of a talking display case used by Kraft Foods to point out that improper display loses customers. While the human voice has accounted for the greater volume of non-musical record production at RCA Victor, the engineers of the custom record division have been called upon at one time or another to handle everything audible, from a foghorn to a set of apparently meaning- less tones and vibrations. Recorded Foghorn Saves Money The foghorn was recorded for use — logically enough, as a foghorn — in a West Coast area where amplification of a record turned out to be far more economical than installation of an actual horn. On the other hand, certain tones and vibrations were put on a disc for the benefit of sinus sufferers at the order of the International Hear- ing Institute. It seems that application of suitable vibra- tions through earphones opens the sinuses. In addition to these two samples, the division has recorded a vast collection of bird and animal calls, under- water sounds (for Navy instructional use), bells, heart- beats, and, of course, a very great quantity of music. About half of the users of custom records send in their own tape, wire or discs to be processed and pressed at the New York plant of the Custom Record Division. The other half arrange for original recording by the division at one of its three studios, located in New York, Chicago and Hollywood. The studio recordings are made first on magnetic tape, then transferred to discs, processed and pressed through the most up-to-date facilities and shipped out according to the customer's specifications. Experience in the custom record division up to now indicates that apparently there is no limit to which the recordings can be put by both business and non-commer- cial users. The RCA Victor engineers who fill the custom requests have learned by now not to be surprised at what they are called upon to record. By the same token, the buying public had better brace itself — there's no telling what may be talking next year. 30 RADIO AGE RCA'NBC FIRSTS IN COLOR TELEVISION The foundation for a color television system was laid by RCA's pioneering in research and engineering development of black-and-white television. Throughout the 1930's field tests and experimenta- tion with black-and-white television continued. In April, 1939, at the opening of the New York World's Fair, RCA-NBC began the first regular television broadcasting service to the public, and RCA Victor introduced tele- vision receivers for public use. Fundamental develop- ments in all-electronic black-and-white television pro- vided the base for RCA's pioneering research in color television that led to the following advances: 1940 Color television, produced by electronic means, was demonstrated to the Federal Communications Com- mission by RCA at Camden, N. J. 1940-1941 NBC started work on a field sequential color system and transmitted the first color signals from that system over station W2XBS, Empire State Build- ing, on February 20, 1941. On December 1, 1941, NBC gave a closed circuit demonstration of color television using the NBC field sequential system with 441 lines. Purpose of the demonstration was to prove to the FCC that the field sequential system, when limited to the same bandwidth as the black-and-white system, was lacking in resolution as compared to the latter. 1941-1945 RCA-NBC devoted its research and en- gineering resources to wartime military applications of electronics including television. 1945 RCA demonstrated field sequential color tele- vision and 3-D color television to the industry, and started post-war evaluation of color TV. 1945 RCA gave full attention to the development of an all-electronic color television system after further tests and demonstrations proved that a mechanical color system had fundamental limitations. Two main objec- tives were: High standards of performance, and com- patibility with black-and-white television. 1946 An all-electronic projection type color television receiver with a 15 x 20-inch screen was demonstrated publicly for the first time at the David Sarnoff Research Center of RCA at Princeton, N. J. 1947 All-electronic color television pictures projected on an 8 x 10-foot screen were demonstrated by RCA at The Franklin Instiaite, Piiiladelphia, Pa. A color television camera for use with the RCA all-electronic color television system was demonstrated to the FCC and others at the David SarnoflF Research Center, Princeton, N. J., studio and outdoor pick-ups were featured. 1948 RCA continued its reasearch and development work to improve and simplify the all-electronic color television system. 1949 RCA informed the FCC it had developed a new high-definition all-electronic color television system operating on a 6-megacycle channel and completely com- patible with the existing black-and-white television system. Field tests of the RCA all-electronic compatible color television system operating on 6-megacycle chan- nel, began in Washington, D. C, over NBC station, WNBW, and a demonstration was held for the FCC. Tests also were conducted in Washington over an ex- perimental UHF station simultaneously over VHF. NBC conducted compatible color television tests in Washington D. C, for the first time during regular broadcast hours. The puppet show, "Kukla, Fran and Ollie", televised by color cameras in Washington, was fed to the NBC-TV network. It was the first regular TV program to be seen simultaneously in color ( in Washington), while viewers in other cities on the net- work viewed the show on standard receivers in black- and-white. RCA-NBC transmitted color television over a micro- wave relay loop between Washington, D. C, and Balti- more, Md., in a demonstration to the FCC. 1950 RCA demonstrated its compatible color tele- vision system and the RCA tri-color tube to the FCC, to other government officials and to the industry. One tube utilized a single electron gun and another three electron guns. Also a new transmission development to make color television programs produced by the RCA all- electronic system available to broadcasters over coaxial cable networks, as well as over radio relays, was demon- strated between Washington and New York. The color images, after transmission over the cable, were broadcast by WNBT, New York on VHF (very-high-frequencies) , and were also sent by radio relay to NBC's experimental UHF (ultra-high-frequencies) station at Bridgeport, Conn., for rebroadcast. (Continued on page 32) RADIO AGE 3? In this mobile TV truck are com- plete facilities for pici HOUSING AT ''4 vesNo CHfC/C SHffr - □ D PI^OFESSIONAL RECOGNITION . ^ D D ADVANCEMENT IN STATUS? - □ D SECURITY AND STABILITY? Q D EXCELLENT SUBURBAN REASONABLE COSTZ O a MODIKATE COST OF LIVING ? □ n MODERN mmeMlNTPUM? a a ^OMPANY.PAIDIIFIINSMMCC? □ D i/BfMiV4C4r/ONPM/v? D D i'BfMiWOi/D4ysCWfDWf? Wit^M'^MMtfilSMMMW iM M ^ Mi ;^i*iis?i iiluulilmii- Milii :F I Compatible color tele\ ision reaches e\ery TV home The rainbow you can see in black and white ! RCA brings you compatible color TV. Lets you see color programs in black and white on the set you now own! "When a modern and practical color television system for the home is here, RCA will have it . . . " Echoing down through the years, these words — spoken in 1946 by David Sarnoff, Chairman of the Board of RCA — have a ring of triumph today. The day on which the FCC approved standards for the commercial broadcasting of compatible color television — December 17, 1953— will be remembered in the annals of communications along with the historic date of April 30, 1939, when RCA-NBC introduced black-and-tvhite television as a service to tlie public. At that time sight was added to sound. Now color has been added to sight. Behind this great development are many long years of scientific research, hard work and financial risk. RCA scientists were engaged in research basically related to color television as far back as the 1920's . . . even before black-and-white television service was introduced. Since then RCA has spent over $25,0()0,00() to add tlie reality of color to black-and-white TV, including devel- opment of the tri-color tube. The fruit of this great investment is the RCA aU- electronic compatible color television system, a system that provides for the telecasting of high-quality color pic- tures that can be received in full color on color receivers; and in black and white on the set you now oion. RCA and NBC will invest an additional $15,000,000 during color television's "Introductory Year"— 1954 — to establish this new service on a solid foundation. RCA color television sets are beginning to come off the production lines in small quantities. Although it will probably be another year before mass production is reached, the promise of compatible color television is being fulfilled. RCA pioneered and developed compatible color television Radio Corporation of America Uorld leader in radio — first in television J U LI I 9 »!' tESEARCH • MANUFACTURING • COMMUNICATIONS • BROADCASTING • TELEVISION .^^^ JUL 27 1954 NEW TV SETS 1 Radar installutiun uii Mt. Parnasans. Tlic RCAmaiiAv^as lierer said Apollo Electronics has come to Mt. Parnas- sus. Capping the heights of this leg- endary retreat of Greek Gods, Muses and Nymphs, is rador— installed under the supervision of RCA field engineers. And it's no mvth, but verv real evidence of how American enter- prise is contributing to the defense of the free world. To help in the important Mutual Defense Assistance program, RCA's Government Service Department has mustered corps of hundreds of engi- neers and technicians to train our own military in the installation and service of electronic equipment abroad — and to teach the science of electronics to friendlv nations all over the globe. Radar, Loran, Guided Missile sys- tems—and a host of other electronic devices — are now in efficient opera- tion from the Aleutians to the Dar- danelles to the South China Sea. By shoring up the military establish- ments of the free world, these instal- lations have become ramparts of de- fense—deterrents against aggression. Building! Teaching! Training! No wonder "the RCA man was here" has become an expression of grati- tude with free peoples, everywhere. RCA pioneered and developed compatible color television Radio CoiwoHArrox ofAmeiuca World leader in nnlio — Jirst in U'li\-ision VOLUME 13 NUMBER 3 ARCH • MANUFACTURING • COMMUNICATIONS BROADCASTING •TELEVISION IICATIONL^ CONTENTS JULY 1954 COVER Five models in the new line of RCA Victor TV sets, including a receiver mounted on a matching swivel base for con- venient viewing. (Story on Page 12). NOTICE When requesting o change in mailing address please include the code letters and numbers which appear with the stencilled address on the envelope. Radio Age is published quarterly by the Department of (nformation, Rodio Corporotion of America, 30 Rocke- feller Ptaza, New ^ork 20, N Y. Printed in U.S.A. Page Youth's Vital and Promising World 3 Electronics and Law Enforcement 5 The Smallest TV Station in the World 6 Five Years of Success for the "45" 9 RCA Introduces Its New Line of Home Instruments 12 The Eye that Sees One 10-Millionlh of an Inch 14 Electronic Trails Around the World 16 The Maestro Retires 19 They Explore the Face of the Sun 20 NBC Takes to the Road with Color TV 24 New Daylight Viewing Screen for Radar 26 Five Executives Promoted by RCA 28 New First Quarter Sales Record is Set by RCA 29 Open House at Princeton 31 News in Brief 32 RADIO CORPORATION OF AMERICA RCA Building, New York 20, N.Y. DAVID SARNOFF, Chairman of the Board JOHN Q. CANNON, Secretary FRANK M. FOLSOM, President ERNEST B. GORIN, Treasurer '^ COLOR TELEVISION: A battery of RCA color cameras in an NBC studio. Youth's Vital and Promising World Sjriwff ill Conunmccmcnt Address M University of Soiitbcrn Cjlijoniu Sdys Problems Jiid Pmls jrc Pjrt of the Priee of ''Monitiiientjl Achiereiiieiits^' A REMARKABLY vital and promising world" has been built by the parents and grandparents of today's youth, Brig. General David Sarnoff, Chairman of the Board of RCA, told the graduating class of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, in commencement exercises on June 12. During the ceremonies, General Sarnoff received the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. "The conventional pattern of a commencement address, I am aware, requires the orator to apologize for the sins and failures of his own generation — then to congratulate the graduates on their chance to clean up the mess being handed to them," he said. "This shows proper humility and flatters the youthful audience. "I beg leave to break with the pattern. I cannot in good conscience admit that we have made a mess of things. On the contrary, I believe that your parents and grandparents, which is to say roughly my generation, have built a remarkably vital and promising world. "It is a world that holds plenty of problems and perils, but these are always part of the price of monu- mental achievements. Our failures, and they are many, for the most part spring from our successes. They reflect the growing pains of an extraordinary period in human history. Considering the handicaps under which we worked, perhaps you will agree that we have not done too badly." "The unique and fateful fact about the last fifty years is the dizzy speed with which a multitude of shattering changes have come upon us," he said. "Hardly had mankind gotten over the shock of one tremendous discovery when it was staggered by another and usually bigger one. Small wonder, therefore, that we have been bewildered and a little scared. The terrific accelera- tion of life has subjected us to immense strains, which at times seemed almost intolerable. We are most acutely conscious of this just now in our reactions to atomic energy. Mature Technologically, Adolescent Spiritually "The inability of man as a social and economic creature to keep step with his science — that is the crux of his dilemma today. He is mature technologically while still an adolescent spiritually. Physical distances have shrunk, but the distances between the hearts of man and of nations are wide as ever. This is the primary challenge that awaits you in the world beyond this campus; by this your generation and those that follow will be judged. "Our choice — more exactly, your choice — is between accepting the challenge or allowing yourself to be crushed by it. You can grovel in terror before the mighty forces released by science, even as savage man groveled before lightning. Or you can face those forces boldly and harness them to your purposes, just as electricity has been harnessed for mankind. That choice is what makes this a time for courage and for leadership." Progress in Fifty Years Making what he called a "haphazard inventory of the Twentieth Century," General Sarnoff said that "never before has man's environment been so radically and rapidly modified." "In comparison with 1954, man at the beginning of the present century was deaf, dumb, blind and earth- bound. He could not speak, hear or see beyond the horizon, or navigate through the air. "Since then, radio has extended our sense of hear- ing and carried our voice clear around the globe. Radar has plucked echoes from the moon. Television has projected our sense of sight across continents and soon it will span the oceans as welL Only recently the glorious panoply of full color has been added to this extended vision." Advances in transportation by ground and air, in chemistry, medicine and agricultural techniques, and in the discovery and development of atomic energy, have made of the Twentieth Century a period "when the worlds of the poet and the scientist have intersected, when the boundaries between the visionary and the practical have been blurred," General Sarnoff said. "My point is not that these wonders have transpired during my generation and have become part and parcel of our daily experience," he added. "It is that they have come like an avalanche, in so short a time. To understand the world you inherit, you should consider not only the number of these changes, but their tempo — the unexampled speed with which they came." RADIO AGE 3 Following presentation of the honorary degree by President Fred D. Fogg, Jr., of the University of Southern California, right. General Sarnoff is congratulated by Asa C. Vail, President of the Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Co. and President of the University's Board of Trustees, v/ho had presented him as a candidate for the degree. While mankind is adjusting itself to a changing environment, it is well to recall that victories on the cultural and moral levels have been won during the past half-century despite the "torrential downpour of inven- tions and discoveries," he said. "They are spelled out in more widespread education, in easier access to the products of genius in all the arts, in society's vastly larger concern for the old, the widowed, the helpless. The same decades that saw the birth of television and the splitting of the atom also saw a great improvement in race relations and the enactment of vital social legislation. More Equitable Sharing "Along with the assembly line has also come the rise of trade unions and a more equitable sharing of the fruits of labor. Though consumption of goods per person has risen two and a half times in these fifty years, the average work week has been reduced by one- third from fifty-eight to forty hours. At the same time, the possibilities for worth-while and enjoyable use of these new margins of leisure have been immeasurably enlarged. "No, we have no excuse for defeatism in the face of science. We have no warrant for despair. The job ahead is to assimilate the scientific progress, to turn every potential for human benefit into a living reality." General Sarnofif expressed a fear that "obsessive emphasis on security" in recent years has obscured older and more real values. He suggested that the mean- ing of ambition and of struggle may have to be re- learned, adding: "Whatever course you have chosen for yourself, it will not be a chore but an adventure if you bring to it a sense of the glory of striving — if your sights are set far above the merely secure and mediocre. In one's personal life, as in world affairs, appeasement can be the shortest road to failure. Larger Problems /Must Be Solved "Neither personal success nor wealth can any longer provide a guarantee of safety for the individual. They mean little unless the larger problems affecting the community and the nation are solved. To meet the demands of these times, each of you must be prepared to make contributions to society even at what may seem a personal sacrifice. "The time when government could be left exclusively to professional politicians is past, never to return. For government has become almost co-extensive with life itself. Directly or indirectly you will be called upon to help carry its burdens. To be only a critic on the sidelines is not enough." 4 RADIO AGE The world today, General Sarnoff said, calls for readiness to cultivate and defend the birthright of freedom in the face of a menace to our civiHzation by a "strong and fanatic" enemy. "We cannot banish dangers, but we can banish fears," he cautioned. "We must not demean life by standing in awe of death. I do not doubt that we shall win in the deepening struggle between liberty and en- slavement; that we can emerge better and stronger from the contest. Indeed, we could lose only by default — and you must see to it that we do not default. Ameri- can hatred of war is too obvious to need proving. But weakness or fear will surely not avert it. "America and the world need your fresh energies, the fire and the zeal of youth, no less than the experience of your elders. The hazards of the world I have tried to sketch for you, including its new weapons and newly released forces, put a premium on intelligence. They have made it evident that we need, as a nation, not only more 'man power' but more 'mind power.' Universities like this one represent the prime reservoirs of that 'mind power.' "You have been bred — and that is the greatest asset of all — by a nation which has given the world an unmatched example of idealism," General Sarnoff said. "Those whom we have liberated from oppression have been free to go their own way. America has responded always and generously to calls for help. Though it has not sought the role, America today stands as the main bulwark of Judeo-Christian civilization. Surely we who are children of this great country must strive to measure up to the splendors of its history and its destiny. "Let us not lose the sense of the awe and mystery of life. Our very triumphs in penetrating nature have disclosed our mortal limitations. The more we learn, the more remains to be learned. Science, far from making us arrogant, teaches us to be humble. In this universe of endless wonders, the most wondrous is the human mind capable of delving so deep, and the human heart aware of depths we can never plumb." Electronics and La^v Enforcement Delivering the commencement address at the FBI National Academy in Washington on June 11, General Sarnoff outlined many new uses for television, radio and electronics to aid police in law enforcement. "Today's graduates have at their disposal a whole spectrum of scientific tools for their trade of which only the most imaginative of the first graduates of the Academy ever dreamed," he said. "By the same token, graduates five or ten years hence will enjoy scientific aids to law enforcement unavailable today." He recalled the contributions of radio services to this work, pointing out that there is a total of 100,000 police vehicles now equipped with two-way radio ap- paratus and that major turnpikes are provided instan- taneous communications along the route by means of microwave radio systems. "Eventually, we may be sure," General Sarnoff said, "these expressways will be interconnected not only by radio but by television. It is only a matter of time, moreover, before a coast-to-coast radio-television net- work will transmit teletype messages, weather reports, photographs, fingerprints and other documents. Law enforcement will have at its disposal an all-seeing eye that scans the country at a glance. " Among the electronic devices now in use by police, or of great potential use in police work. General Sarnoff mentioned these; Radar, which "will be increasingly an arm of the police forces;" Radiophoto, by which "photographs or fingerprints can be flashed around the world within minutes, if necessary;" Television, in which RCA recently cooperated with the New York City Police Department in televising a police lineup, and which already is used for surveillance of prisoners, as in the new jail at Houston, Texas; Electronic detectors, which may be used in pre- vention of smuggling of weapons or tools to cells; The transistor, which makes possible miniature radios with which "the patrolman and detective will be as directly and continually in touch with headquarters as are mobile units;" The electron microscope, used by the FBI as well as by crime detection laboratories in cities like New York and Rio de Janeiro. In addition, he foresaw just over the horizon a number of new scientific aids to law enforcement, in- cluding miniature battery-powered tape recorders, elec- tronic computers, electronic controls that may auto- matically trigger traffic signals to halt traffic and clear a path for emergency vehicles, and ultra-sonic alarm systems that could be touched off if broken by a person or object passing through the ultra-sonic signal beam. RADIO AGE 5 The Limestone Air Force Base TV station in operation. Staff Sgt. James R. Dean prepares to roll kinescope film recording as Airman Second Class Robert L. Slezak cues announcer in the studio. The Smallest TV Station in the World J_HE world's smallest television station was officially previewed on June 30 at the U. S. Air Force base at Limestone, Me., from which Uncle Sam's airmen fly the world's largest bombers. Colonel Bertram C. Harrison, Commander, 42d Bom- bardment Wing, hailed the "Tom Thumb" TV setup as a "truly significant experiment that we hope will be used as a pattern to bring television to U. S. military per- sonnel stationed at isolated bases around the world. " The tiny, low-powered station has approximately one five-thousandths the wattage of the nation's largest commercial stations. With its maximum coverage range of only three miles, the Air Force station provides ten hours of major network programs daily for more than 15,000 persons living at this 10,000-acre installation only a few miles from the Canadian border. Conceived by General Curtis E. LeMay, Commander, Strategic Air Command, as an entertainment medium for personnel at isolated bases, the station was built by the Radio Corporation of America after General LeMay sought assistance from Brig. General David Sarnoft, Chairman of the Board of RCA. The tiny new television station was dedicated at ceremonies which took place at a giant "open house " at the base on the Fourth of July. It was estimated that more than 50,000 persons were on hand to inspect non- security portions of the mammoth base and to catch glimpses of the latest type planes in the nation's air defense armada. Built and Installed at Cost Equipment for the miniature 8-watt station, which transmits programs over a three mile radius, was de- signed, built and erected at cost by RCA. A grant of $34,000 from the SAC welfare fund paid for the equip- ment and its installation. "The lessons learned by our engineers in simplifying and miniaturizing television equipment to be used by our Armed Forces enabled us to design and construct this miniature station," Francis H. Engel, Assistant to the Vice-President and General Manager, Engineering Prod- ucts Division of RCA, said in describing the station. "The same principles we used in building light- weight, efficient and easy-to-operate television equipment for airplanes and other military uses were applied here. Consequently, less than three months after General LeMay proposed his idea to General Sarnoft, the station was in operation. " 6 RADIO ACE Studios and transmitter facilities are housed in a "television shack" — ten by thirteen feet in area — atop the four-story base hospital. A lieutenant and six enlisted men comprise the engineering and program staff. On the air for approximately six months on an experimental basis, the station telecasts kinescope re- cordings of top network programs from the major broadcasting systems. It also provides three daily "live" newscasts and twice-daily "weather man" programs. Regularly scheduled "flying safety" programs are carried as well as religious telecasts produced by Air Force chaplains and their staffs. Air Force Morale TV Policy Colonel Harrison estimated at "more than 1,000" the number of television receivers in use in living and recreation quarters at the base. Stating Air Force policy on the operation of morale TV stations, he declared: "We will operate television stations only in areas where it is not possible to receive TV programs from commercial outlets. We do not intend to compete with private industry. It is our purpose — and our sole purpose — to provide television service to our people only when and where they cannot get it from privately owned stations." Recounting the nearly two decades of television use by the Armed Forces, Mr. Engel said that General Sarnoff first assigned RCA engineers and scientists to develop- ing television for the Armed Forces in 1934. "Long before World War II ended, radio-controlled airplanes with RCA television cameras in their noses had been tested against targets in the South Pacific," he related. "German objectives along the English Channel also felt the devastating impact of similar electronic- controlled, television-guided weapons. World War II saw many successful uses of airborne television in patrol work. Pictures transmitted from high-flying aircraft were relayed scores of miles to receivers installed at land bases and aboard ships. "Since V-J Day, military television — like its civilian counterpart — has made amazing strides. TV has been used to get close-up pictures of radioactive clouds un- leashed by nuclear explosions. Television has guided pilotless drone aircraft to communist targets during the fighting in Korea. Even now, we — and by 'we' I mean RCA in partnership with the Armed Forces — we are developing new and important uses of television and electronics to safeguard national security." Staff Sgt. Tom B. Legan is staff announcer. Here he presents a newscast from the tiny studio. Staff Sgt. Charles McDonald scans the teletype in prep- aration for the hourly broadcast of AP news. RADIO AGE 7 Vidicon Camera Used Mr. Engel explained how RCA engineers had adapted much existing equipment used in commercial television stations to provide the nucleus of the Limestone installa- tion. The tiny Vidicon camera used to pick up both live and filmed programs is the size of a cigar box and has found widespread applications in industry, as well as commercial television. "It is significant, I believe, that here at Limestone Air Force Base — the home of the world's largest bombers and the world's smallest television station — the value of morale TV has been proved," Mr. Engel stated. Limestone AFB's television station presented its first program last Christmas Day. Equipment installation set some kind of a record since the first shipment did not arrive until December 21. The compact transmitter — the most vital piece of equipment — was flown in on December 23. RCA engineers and Air Force technicians worked around the clock to meet the Christmas target date. The Limestone Air Force Base was selected as the initial site because it is isolated enough to present morale problems, but still near enough to sources of supply — equipment and program material — to insure a continuous flow of necessities. One of Northernmost Bases One of the northernmost outposts of the United States defense system, the base is located at the north- eastern tip of Maine, 200 miles northeast of Bangor, Me., and 16 hours by rail from Boston, Mass. Limestone is the headquarters of the 42d Heavy Bombardment Wing, which operates B-36 "intercon- tinental" bombers capable of flying nuclear explosives non-stop to any point in the world. The base also is capable of servicing all latest-type aircraft, including jet fighters and bombers. A feature of the base is a cement hangar capable of housing two giant 10-engine B-36's in addition to various facilities especially designed for defense against atomic attack on the United States. Construction of the Limestone Air Force Base was started in the winter of 1946-47, and it continues today. Unlike many Air Force installations which formerly served the Army and were designed for ground force needs, Limestone AFB was planned from the beginning as an Air Force base. Thus training, flight line, barracks and headquarters facilities have carried the Air Force stamp from the moment they left the drawing board. The end product — an interested TV audience in an enlisted man's home at ihe Limestone base. 8 RADIO AGE Thomas F. Joyce, right, President of Raymond Rosen and Co., Inc., of Philadelphia, receives an inscribed, gold- plated 45-rpm phonograph from Joseph B. Elliott, Executive Vice-President, Consumer Products, RCA, in recognition of the Rosen organization's achievements in sales contest sponsored recently by RCA. Looking on at left is Raymond W. Saxon, now General Sales Manager, RCA Victor Television Division. R. Five Years of Success for the "45" .EVITALIZED by the 43-rpm recording system intro- duced by RCA five years ago, the phonograph-record industry has been lifted to new high levels with more than 200 million "45" records sold, Frank M. Folsom, President of the Radio Corporation of America, said on June 29 in a statement marking the fifth anniversary of the "45." He said that 13 million homes now have turntables capable of playing "45s," and estimated that within another five years the "45" will account for more than 75 per cent of the total record volume. "The '45' records now represent more than 50 per cent of all single records sold," said Mr. Folsom. "The older 78-rpm records are obsolete. So quickly did the '45' gain popularity that by the end of its first year, the sale of '45' records represented 10 per cent of all record sales, and this percentage has steadily increased from year to year. In 1949, when RCA introduced the '45' system, record industry sales totaled $I60 million. This year, because of the interest the system has gen- erated for all types of records, the sales volume for the industry should be greater than $225 million — and the quarter-billion dollar figure is only a matter of time. "The '45' system has won recognition from every quarter, even from those who were its severest critics, and it has given the American public recorded enter- tainment of matchless tonal quality and more music for less money. Today all major record and phonograph manufacturers are producing discs and record-players utilizing the '45' system, yet five years ago great furor was created by what was proclaimed as 'the battle of speeds.' In 1949, those who would have clung to the old and thus deterred progress by not adopting the '45' must now realize that their lack of vision and faith threatened to keep their own business at low levels and prevent the public from enjoying the many advantages of the '45' system. Fastest, Simplest Record Changer "We have made available to the public RCA Victor's unsurpassed library of the world's greatest artists and music on '45' records, as well as on 3314-rpm (long- play) records. And we have provided the fastest and simplest record changer ever developed, designed for the finest possible music reproduction. The results have been extremely satisfactory and dramatically show the value of recognizing the merits of an invention and American ingenuity in creating new electronic instru- ments that keep the art of music in step with scientific progress." RADIO AGE 9 Indicative of the continued growth of the "45" system, Mr. Folsom revealed that beginning July 1, RCA Victor will ship only "45" popular records to more than 2,000 radio stations throughout the country, re- placing the shipment of 78-rpm records for broadcast use. He pointed out that this is another signpost of listener acceptance of the "45" system and represents a logical follow-up to the conversion that already has taken place in automatic music machines. The "Listener's Digest" "The '45' system has become the standard for virtu- ally all new popular records," Mr. Folsom declared. "It also has created new and expanding interests in the field of classical music. "In this connection, RCA Victor has produced a truly monumental new record album to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the '45' system. It is the 'Listener's Digest,' which, in one album, brings condensed versions of twelve great musical masterpieces. These records feature the world's greatest recording artists playing selections by seven renowned composers. "More than thirteen months of intense effort was expended in preparing the 'Listener's Digest'. The original uncondensed recordings are five hours, fifty minutes, seventeen seconds in length. The Listener's Digest' album runs two hours, thirty-five minutes and sixteen seconds. It is a masterpiece destined to interest millions of people in music of the masters." Mr. Folsom explained that in order to implement the distribution of the "Listener's Digest," RCA is offer- ing the new album as part of a package which includes a 45-rpm "Victrola" phonograph and a 42-page Musical Enjoyment Guide. "We are convinced," he said, "that the 'Listener's Digest' will please parents who will find this new con- cept in records a perfect and inexpensive way to intro- duce their children to fine music. It also will be ideally suited to adults who want to become better acquainted with great music. Schools, too, are expected to make extensive use of this new approach to musical education and enjoyment. "Success of previous RCA Victor albums — such as the Heart of the Symphony,' "Heart of the Piano Con- certo,' and 'Heart of the Ballet' — has proved that the general public will buy great music, even if they are somewhat unfamiliar with it, when the music is pre- sented in an exciting manner. This is done with the Listener's Digest' as it has never been done before in the history of recording." Greatest Advance in 30 Years Observing that the recording industry has kept tech- nological pace with developments in electronics, Mr. Folsom appraised the "45" system as "the greatest ad- vance in fifty years of recorded music." It is, he added, a new standard of musical enjoyment in the "Victrola" field — a standard that highlights and reflects the in- dustry's search for quality and perfection in music re- production. The small, unbreakable, vinyl plastic, wafer- thin records, Mr. Folsom said, have revolutionized many aspects of the "Victrola"-phonograph industry, including the merchandising of records. Mr. Folsom paid tribute to merchandisers for the outstanding role they have played in making the 45-rpm system a part of the American home entertainment scene. He cited Raymond Rosen and Company, Inc., RCA Victor distributor in the Philadelphia area, as an out- standing example of a firm which has successfully mer- chandised the 45-rpm system. He said that in five years the Raymond Rosen organization has sold more than 3,500,000 45-rpm discs and nearly 195,000 45-rpm "Victrola" phonographs. Recalling the advertisement in March of 1949, an- nouncing RCA's development of the "45," which stated Keeping a close eye on quality in the making of 45-rpm records — here the first master pressing is tested at the RCA Indianapolis plant. ?0 RADIO AGE that "the -O' is here to stay and destined w lead all other types of recorded music," Mr. Folsom added: "That prediction has come true as we knew it would because of the determination and concerted efforts of scientists, artists and businessmen in calling the public's attention to the 45-system. We were confident that once the public was exposed to the '45' success would be assured because it represented progress in artistic fulfillment as well as simplicity, convenience and economy." Developmetits Continue The "45 " system, Mr. Folsom pointed out, is not "static," and because of its relationship with the un- limited possibilities inherent in electronics, it can con- tinually adapt itself to new advances. For example, RCA "Victor's "New Orthophonic" high fidelity records repre- sent the latest improvements in recorded sound. He cited the successful introduction in November, 1952, of the "Extended Play" — or EP — 45-rpm record as another important milestone in the progress of the system. The EP record, he said, won immediate accept- ance, and at the end of its first year, more than 10 million discs had been sold, providing the consumer "more music for less money." "Introduction of the EP record," continued Mr. Folsom, "was an important milestone in recorded enter- tainment because it permitted the development of new repertoire such as combining four hit tunes on one record. It has also enabled us to introduce new concepts in recorded entertainment like the new series which combines famous operatic arias sung in their original language by Metropolitan Opera artists with especially written adaptations in English. " Development of the "45s", Mr. Folsom pointed out, marked the first time a player and a record were de- signed as a matching unit. This brought about three distinct advantages, including: 1. A distortion-free, seven inch disc of optimum quality which can be conveniently packaged in small storage space. 2. A trigger-sharp, silently-working changer mecha- nism which eliminated both record damage and the need for adjusting the changer to discs of various sizes. 3. The most compact '"Victrola" in the history of the industry offering the finest in quality repro- duction. The 200 millionth 45-rpm record gets a joyful inspection from artists Perry Como and Roberta Peters, and RCA Victor Record Division sales manager Larry Kanoga. "The 45-rpm system opened up new and untapped markets for the merch.mdising of the "Victrola' and phonograph records," Mr. Folsom said. "The 45-rpm's compact size made possible the expansion of customer self-service in stores and resulted in the trend toward super-market sales. Planned in terms of small homes and apartments where bookshelves would serve as stor- age cabinets, the new 'Victrola' and record found its way into many homes where conservation of space was essen- tial." He said that the unbreakable discs also offered: 1. Eye-attracting window and counter display mate- rial for record dealers. 2. A handy, compact portable imit for music enthu- siasts while traveling or for students and campus living. 3. A sturdy, nursery-sized product for the kiddies' disc market. "The '45' system revitalized the entire record indus- try," Mr. Folsom said. "It has rendered a continuing ser\'ice to the consumer and the artist because it so faithfully reproduces music and sound. Because of the contribution it has made in increasing the confidence of the consumer in the lasting value of recorded music, the record industry is today on the threshold of its greatest period of opportunity and prosperity." RADIO AGE n RCA Introduces Its New Line of Home Instruments Elliott Calls for an Active Merchandisino- Effort and Realistic View of o Industry's Prospects; Emphasizes Role of Second TV Set in Home I RCA Victor will introduce in July a new line of television receivers designed to provide "the greatest values in the company's history," Henry G. Baker, Vice- President and General Manager of the RCA Victor Television Division, announced in mid-June. The line will include 20 basic models in three picture tube sizes — one 17-inch, thirteen 21-inch and six 24-inch receivers • — -with suggested retail prices ranging from $159-95 to $500. With the announcement came disclosure by Jack M. WiUiams, Advertising and Sales Promotion Manager of the television division and the RCA Victor Radio and "\ ictrola " Phonograph Division, that sale of the new TV sets and the new radio and "Victrola" phonograph lines will be supported by the largest advertising campaign in RCA Victor history. A few days earlier, Joseph B. Elliott, Executive Vice- President, Consumer Products, RCA, outlined what he called a realistic attitude toward the prospects and prob- lems facing the radio-television industry — a position that lies between the "feast of an optimist and the famine of a pessimist." Speaking to a convention of the National Association of Electrical Distributors at Atlantic City, N. J., Mr. Elliott said: "Today's business climate in the electronics field calls for level-headed thinking and action. It calls for work — and hard work — with the belief that the reward will be large. It calls for recognized brand merchandise of outstanding values and for a desire on the part of salesmen to demonstrate and establish these values firmly in the mind of the consumer." Sees Demand for Second TV Set Predicting that the public will be in a more receptive mood for television sales during the last quarter of the year, Mr. Elliott added: 'More and more it becomes evident that the day of the second TV receiver is with us. It will soon be a must that in a mixed household of adults and children one screen will not be enough. The football game will hold adult attention for 150 minutes, but most of the yoimgsters will keep on demanding their Westerns at the same time. Through persistent and productive mer- chandising and promotion, we can see that peace is maintained in the family circle." The New Orthophonic High Fidelity "Victrola" Low-Boy phonograph, with 3-speed automatic record changer. The 21-inch Pickford, with vertical tuning controls and two powerful 8-inch speakers behind slanted grille. 72 RADIO AGE The Wister, 21-inch swivel-based console model whose upper portion can be turned to face different positions. The new RCA television line announced subsequent to Mr. Elliott's speech was described by Mr. Baker as representing a positive course of action by RCA to maintain its television sales leadership in the changed market conditions of today. These four significant fac- tors were involved in planning the line, he said: 1. An analysis of the market situation indicated that added values were desirable to maintain volume sales. Engineering, styling and design developments which had been in the planning stages were therefore accelerated to become available for the new line. 2. The analysis also indicated the desirability of planning the strongest merchandising program in the history of the company. To carry this out, all operations connected with the manufacture and sale of television receivers were separated from those of the radio and phonograph business. The new organization, the RCA Victor Television Division, will now concentrate its efforts solely on the television receiver line. 3. The increased activity in color television antici- pated this fall called for greater consumer values in black-and-white sets to maintain a high level of sales. The new line reflects RCA's optimistic outlook for healthy black-and-white business ahead. 4. Consideration was also given the desirability of providing additional dealer incentive for selling up to higher priced models. As planned, the incorporation of special features, particularly the visible ones, makes pos- sible easy, logical step-up from model to model, or from group to group. If these features are utilized fully by the dealer, Mr. Baker predicted, it will result in increased dollar volume and profits. Features of the New Line Engineering highlights of the new line include newly designed chassis incorporating circuit improvements, and a new high-speed UHF (ultra-high frequency) continu- ously variable tuner resulting in pin-point station selec- tion and picture improvement in fringe areas. Describing development of the new vhf-uhf tuner as an important contribution to the extension of UHF broadcasting service, Mr. Baker said that RCA Victor will continue to manufacture UHF-equipped receivers in sufficient quantities to satisfy consumer requirements. He remarked that almost 28 per cent of TV receivers produced by RCA this year were equipped with UHF tuners at the factory. The new RCA Victor line consists of two series of models — the Super and the De Luxe — covering the 17-, 21- and 24-inch receivers. To re-enter the 17-inch field actively, Mr. Baker said, RCA Victor will offer for the first time a set at $159.95. Incorporating a newly designed chassis, this model (the Trent) is expected to find important application as a second set in TV homes. To promote this use, a "Roll-Around " stand with wheels will be available. RCA Victor's basic plan to offer greater values in its new line also is indicated in a new group of swivel con.solettes in the 21-inch Super series. This receiver is mounted on a matching swivel base so that the screen can be rotated to provide maximum convenience in set location and viewing angle. Named the Wister, it will be available in grained limed oak finish at $229.95. As a specialty, it will also be offered in decorator finishes of grained charcoal oak and grained natural walnut, both listed at $325. RAD/O AGE 73 The Eye that Sees One 10-Millionth of an Inch A NEW type of electron microscope, twice as power- ful as any now in use, will go to work this summer to help science probe more deeply than ever before into the nature of cancer. The first of the new instruments, developed and built by RCA, made its public debut on May 11 at the United Nations, New York, in ceremonies at which it was turned over to the world-renowned Karolinska Institute of Stockholm, Sweden. The institute, one of the world's leading centers of research in cell structure, already has made extensive use of earlier RCA electron microscopes. It is receiving the powerful new instru- ment under a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation. With the new microscope, scientists will be able to study particles smaller than one lO-miUionth of an inch in diameter. Photographs taken by automatic cameras built into the slender pylon that houses the electron source and the lenses may be enlarged consistently up to 200,000 times the size of the specimen — a scale at which an ordinary dime would measure more than two miles across. By comparison, the previous type of electron microscope, with which the polio virus was first observed, normally provides useful photographic enlargements only up to 100,000 times, although far greater enlarge- ments have been achieved by a relative handful of highly skilled microscopists. Accepted by U. N. Delegate At the United Nations ceremony, the powerful microscope was accepted for the Karolinska Institute by Oscar Thorsing, Permanent Delegate to the U.N. from Sweden. Theodore A. Smith, Vice-President in Charge, RCA Engineering Products Division, presented the in- strument to Mr. Thorsing, observing that its introduction coincided with the 15th anniversary of the development of the first electron microscope, produced by RCA in 1939 and since employed in nearly every branch of scien- tific and industrial research. "We confidently believe that the many new features of this advanced instrument will pave the way to new knowledge to serve mankind everywhere," Mr. Smith said. Mr. Tiiorsing, accepting the microscope, read a letter from Dr. Fritiof S. Sjostrand, head of the Karolinska Institute, in which the Swedish scientist described the electron microscope as one of "the most important tech- nical instruments" in medical and biological research. Their use, he said, has helped to give scientists a fuller knowledge of the "most fundamental character of the life process." Dr. Sjostrand indicated in his letter that the power- ful new microscope will first be put to work to widen the scope of information about the construction of nor- mal cells in order to shed greater light on the nature of those which develop abnormally, as in cancer. "This work is now on foot and our earlier concep- tions of the cell structure have already had to be greatly modified," he wrote. "Only when sufficient observations have been made regarding normal cells, e.g., cells of the Oscar Thorsing, right, Swedish delegate to the U. N., listens as T. A. Smith, Vice-President in Charge, RCA Engineering Products Division, explains operation of the new electron microscope. ^4 RADIO AGE degrees iiccordint; to the density and composition of its various parts. When the beam emerges from the far side, it bears the pattern or "image" of the specimen, which is then magnified by powerful magnetic lenses that act upon electron beams very much as glass lenses act upon light. The pattern finally is projected upon the viewing screen. The ordinary optical microscope, using light to form the image of the specimen, is limited in its range by the wave-length of visible light. Objects appreciably smaller than this wave-length fail to interrupt or reflect the light in any visible fashion. The electron beam, however, has a wave-length only one 100-thousandth as great as that of visible light, with the result that it is interrupted or reflected by far smaller particles. When RCA first intro- duced the electron microscope, the immediate effect was to multiply by fifty times the range of human vision into the world of infinitely small organisms and particles — and the new microscope has now doubled that range. First micrograph made with the new microscope shows minute section of muscle fiber magnified 100,000 times. nervous system, of the sense organs and the glands, can the study of pathologically transformed cells, such as the cancer cells, be expected to produce reliable results. There is hope that the analyses by electron microscopes wiU lead to discoveries which may cast light over the character of the cancerous process and thereby provide a clue to the understanding of the cancer disease." Differs From Earlier Models In appearance, the new microscope differs radically from earlier types. Two desk-type working surfaces, each backed by a sloping control panel, flank a slender 7'/2-foot vacuum column that forms the heart of the instrument. The desk and control panel units are joined to the column at a slight forward angle to place all con- trols within reach of the operator, seated on a chair in the center. Built in the column at desk level is a viewing cham- ber equipped with windows on three sides to permit several persons to see the enlarged specimens at the same time. Magnification up to 30,000 times is obtained on the direct viewing screen, while enlargement up to 200,000 or more times is achieved from photographs taken by automatic plate and roll film cameras housed in the column. The new microscope operates on the same principles as its less powerful predecessors. A concentrated beam of electrons, originating from an electron gun, is directed through the specimen to be observed. As the electrons pass through the specimen, they are affected in varying Improved Features Listed Dr. Robert G. Picard, Manager of Scientific Instru- ments Engineering, RCA Engineering Products Divi- sion, who designed the new instrument, told the U.N. audience that the basic objective of the new design was to make operation so simple that people without spe- cialized training can operate it successfully. The im- proved features that have contributed to this objective are: I. Push button control of practically all operations, including photography; 2. A 30 per cent increase in resolving power — the ability to distinguish separate particles clearly at the outer limits of magnification; 3. Provision of controls that allow the operator to correct astigmatism easily while watching the image — a process that has involved much time and manipulation in previous models; 4. A new power supply, producing either 50,000 or 100,000 volts, and giving the electrons higher energy to penetrate thick specimens; 5. Stability in the electron gun, described by Dr. Picard as "an achievement which turned out to be the most difficult single engineering development in the new instrument." When it is installed at the Karolinska Institute, the new instrument will be the eighth RCA electron micro- scope in use in Sweden. Others of the new type are being built on order. More than 500 of the earlier electron microscopes already are in use on scientific and industrial research projects in the United States and 29 foreign countries. RAD/O AGE 15 Electronic Trails around the World 1 .HE Greek mountain of Parnassus, in legend the spiritual retreat of Apollo, the Muses, and the Corycian nymphs, is crowned today by a parabolic radar antenna of American make and design. The antenna rotates on a rectangular block of white marble which might, and by all poetic standards should, have come from Apollo's 3000-year-old temple on the southern flank of Parnassus The temple, its foundation still standing, formed the heart of the Delphic precinct. Delphi was, figuratively speaking, home territory for the Muses, those female divinities who presided over science, poetry, and art. Their science, presumably, did not embrace radar; but some unknown Greek workmen, schooled in mythology, possibly saw a link between the two. In any event, the radar apparatus was joined to a chunk of marble once exposed to the oracular winds and volcanic gases that carried messages from the Muses. The workmen might have reasoned that radar, like the Muses, opened a door to the unknown. "I couldn't swear," says P. B. ("Pincky") Reed, Vice- President in Charge of the Radio Corporation of Amer- ica's Government Service Department, "that the marble came from the old ruins. But that's what one of my Greek hosts told me. It wouldn't surprise me a bit if it did." An Electronic Trail Few things, indeed, would surprise Mr. Reed in the way of history, legend, or local custom. He has traveled well over 100,000 miles in the last three years. In one month alone, he logged 30,000 air miles hopping from New York to Alaska to Japan to Korea to Formosa to the Philippines to Guam to Hawaii and, finally, to California. P. B. Reed, enjoying a rare pause on his global beat, inspects the Parthenon with a Greek guide. Mr. Reed has a passing acquaintance with Ionic columns, Buddhist temples, Arctic shelters and Formosan cutlery. He acquired it simply by pursuing an electronic equipment trail around the globe. Wherever the Amer- ican military establishment harnesses the electron, Mr. Reed can be counted upon, sooner or later, to pop up. And if Mr. Reed isn't around, the odds are that one or more of his team of over 1,000 skilled electronic technicians is. They work with the armed services in 22 foreign countries, in the United States and in U. S. possessions. They train military technicians on the in- stallation and service of radar, loran, shoran, two-way radio, guided missiles systems, microwave equipment, and the host of other RCA electronic devices in use by the Army, Navy and Air Force. 16 RADIO AGE As a twin occupation, and at the behest of tiie Gov- ernment's Mutual Defense Assistance Program, they teach. They teach the science of electronics and its spe- cific military applications to Turks, Italians, Yugoslavs. Icelanders or whomever else the MDAP might designate. In this sense, they are de facto diplomatic representatives. A New LnHgi/age Most of these electronic emissaries, working out of RCA Government Service Department headquarters on the shores of the Delaware River in Gloucester, N. J., are graduate engineers. They go abroad for a minimum one-year hitch. By the time they return, they are often skilled linguists and the possessors of fine photographic albums. "One of the boys was just back from Italy," Mr. Reed recalls. "He didn't speak Italian when he went, but he certainly did when he returned. The trouble was, it was electronic Italian. He'd been lecturing to Italian tech- nicians, and he had a beautiful electronic vocabulary. He was fretting about how he was going to use it here." The electronic technicians are a relatively new breed of Americans abroad. They are an offspring of World War II when the armed services and American industry began adapting a vast array of electronic products to military use. The technician was put in uniform, at- tached to the staflf of local commanders in dififerent theaters, and charged with the responsibility of equip- ment maintenance, installation and technical instruction. He moved as close to the front as his equipment did. Next to the war correspondent, he probably witnessed more combat than any other American civilian. liu/z/i try's Answer The cold peace of the late Forties, and then Korea, saw the service expand. America's policy of communist containment hinged on military bases from the Aleutians to the Dardanelles to the South China Sea — and on shoring up the military establishments of allied nations. In both cases, electronic equipment was essential to the proper defensive posture. Civilian technicians who could train military personnel, who could fly anywhere, any- time, on emergency missions, who could serve as a direct information channel from industry on new equipment developments; they were the obvious, and most eco- nomical, answer to the military's needs. So the RCA Service Company, formed originally to install and service radio and television sets, created the Government Service Department as a civilian adjunct of the armed services. The bulk of its men rotate around Zone of the Interior bases, but over 250 technicians are now stationed abroad and the foreign service is growing like ragweed. New teams are being shaped up at the present time for Far Eastern nations. And a special fly- ing squad of 40 engineers has been set up to trouble- shoot on worldwide basis. The foreign service is controlled by Thomas G. Whitney, who is field operations manager in Mr. Reed's department. In the security-conscious headquarters at Gloucester, his office resembles a military command post — except that Mr. Whitney dresses in the quiet grays of a banker. A wall-size map opposite his desk is punc- tured with colored pins, each representing an individual or a team of servicemen. The phone on his desk gives him quick contact with cities such as Frankfurt, Weis- baden and Tokyo. This could be any of numerous airports where Mr. Reed has waited between planes: Rhein-Main, Frankfurt, Germany. Business in Rome with Italian officers and two RCA technicians — Mr. Reed, center, John Basse and Harry Mills, right. Another day, another country. A Portu- guese Boy Scout talks with Mr. Reed dur- ing a ferry crossing at Lisbon. RADIO AGE 17 "Speed and mobility are important in this business," Mr. Whitney explains. "When the armed services want a job done, they want it done fast. It's up to us to get hold of the right man and move him where he's needed. If we can't locate the man ourselves, we don't hesitate to ask our Embassies or military headquarters abroad to assist us. They're very helpful that way. "For example, the Air Force recently wanted a spe- cial microwave survey made for a two-way radio installa- tion at Fontainebleau in France. The man with the best technical background for the job happened to be in Tokyo. We got hold of him out there by telephone via Signal Corps headquarters. He hopped a plane and had his survey under way within a week in France. The Flying Forty "As a matter of fact, this type of thing is becoming so widespread that RCA's Engineering Products Division — which builds electronic equipment for the services — decided to help us with a flying Squad of Forty based in Camden, N. J. It's a mobile engineering reserve, each member ready to take off for Tibet or Tunisia just about as quickly as a local repairman can leave his shop to handle a job in your home." Most of the technicians, according to Mr. Whitney, have a sound electronics background before they're selected by RCA. They're given a fine-tooth security investigation and then assembled at Gloucester for a five-to-six week refresher and indoctrination course. "In addition to the government security check, we do a pretty thorough screening job on our own," Mr. Whitney explains. "We look for fellows with tact, good personalities and stable backgrounds. We don't want the type of man who will go to India and make public Tank obstacles in central Germany form a background for Mr. Reed and Ed Johnston, former RCA Service Com- pany supervisor for the U. S. Armed Forces in Europe and now at the U. S. Air Force Airways and Air Com- munications Service in Washington. wisecracks about cows. In other words, we try to get men who will be a credit to the country and to RCA when they're abroad." Some of the foreign work is so highly classified, according to Mr. Whitney, that "we don't even know what many of our boys are working on." Once they report to the local commander, they are, in effect, on his staff. "In this connection, we tell them pretty frankly about the hazards they might run. A few of our men have had tight squeezes in the past, and they might in the future. In the Korean War, one of our technicians stayed with his equipment in Seoul until the rear guard evacuated just minutes before the North Koreans entered. Another was in Teheran during the Mossadegh coup. He had to get out with the British oil men and he had a close shave in doing it." The Old Appeal Despite the hazards, Mr. Whitney says, many of the technicians take to life abroad. Some stay four or five years. Some, of course, follow the established G. I. custom of falling in love and marrying foreign women. "I guess a half-dozen of our men from the Far East, for example, have married Japanese women. Some have returned to the States with their wives and are working for us here. That's fine as far as we're concerned." There is a less glamorous side of the Government Service Department but one that is in every sense as vital as foreign service. A large staff, under Mr. Reed's direction, devotes itself to the preparation of technical manuals, equipment diagrams and digests of new in- formation for government use. This material flows into the armed services in a steady stream. It keeps techni- cians in step with industrial electronic activities. Then, too, there is the domestic service, larger in scope than the foreign. The home staffers work at air bases, Signal Corps installations. Naval electronic cen- ters. They also give technical instruction, and they also work with highly classified experimental equipment. A typical example is the Air Force Missile Test Center at Cocoa, Fla., where one of Mr. Reed's groups has just tackled the job of maintaining and analyzing electronic guidance apparatus for the latest in Air Force missiles. To maintain organizational unity, Mr. Reed twice a year brings in his top foreign technicians — his field managers as he calls them — for a meeting at Camden and Gloucester. Many of them come half-way around the world as casually as a Kiwanian would go from New York to Philadelphia for a Golden Rule session. Like Mr. Reed, they are wedded to the idea that theirs is a world-wide business, and that time and distance are minor obstacles to accomplishment in this electronic age. )8 RADIO AGE The Maestro Retires A small, white-haired man walked slowly off the stage in Carnegie Hall, New York, last April 4, his head bowed. It was Arturo Toscanini leaving for the last time after his farewell appearance with the NBC Symphony Orchestra. Toscanini at 87 had decided to retire. He revealed the decision in a letter written to Brig. General David Sarnoff, Chairman of the Board of RCA, the man who founded the NBC Symphony 17 years ago as an instru- ment for the incomparable talents of the veteran con- ductor. At the end of the final concert, neither the orchestra itself nor the cheering audience in the hall knew that this was Toscanini's farewell — which was the way he wanted it. He left as he had always worked, simply and modestly. The first Toscanini concert with the NBC Symphony took place on Christmas night, 1937. Except for one year when he was on leave (1941-42) and conducted only five Treasury concerts for Bond sales, he was regular conductor of the orchestra up to the end of the season just completed. His broadcast concerts with this group, according to music critics, were among the most exciting musical events in America. During World War II, Toscanini directed the orchestra in many other War Bond concerts, raising large sums of money. He also conducted for the Red Cross. And although he had refused a quarter-million dollar offer to make a single film for Hollywood, he worked free for the United States government in making the film "Hymn of Nations" in 1944. In 1950, at the age of 83, he took the NBC Sym- phony on a coast-to-coast tour of the United States, covering 20 cities in personal appearances before thou- sands who previously had enjoyed his music only over the air or through recordings. 35 Years of Recordings Even in retirement from his 17-year association with NBC, Toscanini has left a rich musical heritage in the form of symphonic and operatic recordings made over the past 33 years — and others, already recorded by RCA Victor but not yet processed for distribution, are yet to come. His recordings of the Beethoven Ninth Symphony, "Missa Solemnis" and "The Pines of Rome" and "The Fountains of Rome" were RCA Victors" sales leaders among all albums during February. The Beethoven Arturo Toscanini Nmth, which has sold more than 140,000 albums since its 1952 release, has been the company's leading Red Seal album for the past two years. Best-Selling Compositions The variety of Toscanini's musical interests and appeal is illustrated by his best-selling recordings since 1921 — besides the compositions of Beethoven and Brahms, they have included the "Skaters' Waltz" and the "Grand Canyon Suite." The most popular of the Toscanini recordings was his collaboration with Vladi- mir Horowitz on the Tchaikovsky First Piano Concerto, of which 350,000 albums have been bought up to the present time. His recorded versions of the operas "La Boheme," 'La Traviata" and "Otello" have been hailed as definitive by the leading music critics, and the repertoire of opera is to be increased by the "Falstaff" and "Masked Ball" albums which RCA Victor hopes to release this fall. RADIO AGE ?9 An RCA research team a\ Rocky Point, L. I., uses this system to photograph the face of the sun. Sun's rays (1) strike clock-driven mirror which reflects them (2) directly at stationary mirror. The image then is directed (3) at six-inch telescope lens, which passes it in magnified form (4) along 40-foot pipe to camera plate holder in structure at rear. They Explore the Face of the Sun C /ONTEMPLATION of the sun, a pursuit of curious men since history began, is the task at RCA's Rocky Point, L. I., laboratories, of a physicist and two engineers who are confident that their venture into astronomy is harvesting down-to-earth knowledge of how radio waves behave. With a simple telescope, the working elements of which are at the ends of a 40-foot section of glazed tile pipe, the Rocky Point solar research team has been taking a remarkable series of photographs which enable them to look at details of the sun's surface that have never been studied before. Dr. William A. Miller, who has developed a deep aversion to clouds in the three years he has headed this unique sun-watching program, is convinced that the Rocky Point telescope, and the techniques that the tanned trio have mastered in using it, are already complementing the work of the world's great solar observatories. At the same time, he is optimistic that their research can lead to more precise and simpler methods of pre- dicting the solar-caused disturbances that play such havoc with long-distance radio communications. A Centtiry-Lotig Quest Over the past hundred years, astronomers, physicists, chemists and radio engineers have devised a number ol ingenious ways of figuring out what is happening on the sun. These scientists, for example, can split a sunbeam in a spectroscope's prism and learn of the sun's chemistry Dr. William A. Miller examines clock-driven mirror with which the sun is tracked for the improvised telescope. 20 RADIO AGE Or they can apply theories of atomic and nuclear physics to mysteries of the solar furnace, an approacii that has explained much in recent years. By charting the relation- ships between changes seen on the sun, such as sunspots, and unusual behavior of radio signals, other clues have been made available. Among the most fruitful investigations have been those in which the sun's rim is photographed during an eclipse, producing spectacular and informative pictures of violent solar activity. With optically simulated eclipses ( coronagraphs ) , astronomers have taken many more silhouettes of the sun's outer atmosphere. A neglected approach, however, is examination of the sun "full-face," instead of in profile, and photograph- ing sections of its surface in great detail. It is to this technique that the Rocky Point group is devoting so much of its effort. "Head-on" examination of the sun's surface, thougii not new, is a method virtually dormant for seventy years. In the 1870's the famous French astronomer, Pierre Jules Cesar Janssen, took such pictures and was able to show, for the first time, the granular, cooked-cereal texture of the solar surface. Janssen's classic photographs have appeared in standard texts over the years as the best of their kind. But they were, in many ways, ahead of their time and raised as many astronomical questions as they answered. Smooth Air Aids Observation Speculating on the hiatus of detailed "full-face" solar photography since Janssen's time, Dr. Miller points out that most modern solar observatories have been perched at higher and higher altitudes to take advantage of the increased transparency of the earth's atmosphere. Though these mountaintop sites give many occasions of good viewing of the sun's outer atmosphere — • the corona and chromosphere — they are usually the worst possible locations for seeing the solar disc in great detail. The sun heats the air around the mountain, violent updrafts form and the sun's image dances in an optical instru- ment. In profile at various levels of the sun's atmosphere are some of the phenomena the Rocky Point group are ob- serving In full-face studies of the solar disc (see photo on page 22). The photosphere is the layer visible to the eye; outer zones are more ratified. Both the eruptive flare and jet-like spicules are believed to be near the start of different chains of events that often disrupt long- distance radio communications on earth. Also under scrutiny are granules, which give sun's face a cooked- cereal texture in photographs. RADIO AGE 21 SOLAR INTERIOR Rocky Point, on the other hand, turns out to be one of the world's best spots for what Dr. Miller terms "optical tranquility." The flat terrain of Long Island usually allows a smooth flow of air, carried by the pre- vailing southerly winds, across the Rocky Point area and into Connecticut before turbulence and thunderstorms develop. Contrary to expectations, the frequent Long Island haze does not normally interfere with their solar photographs and is viewed by the Rocky Point group as a good omen indicating the atmosphere above them is quiet. Getting their best results in the late spring, summer and early fall, the team has had over the past two years an average of 75 days when they made pictures whose detail was limited only by the resolving power of their 6-inch telescopic lens. (Janssen, it is interesting to note took only 25 to 30 comparable shots in a decade. ) Twice as many additional days a year are suitable for taking valuable, if not perfect, pictures of the sun. "Give us just two minutes' break in the clouds, and we'll get a shot," says Dr. Miller. May Aid Radio Prediction As their pictures pile up, the team sees emerge a definite pattern of details that may well form the basis of a valuable radio prediction service. Radio engineers have realized for some time that long-range high-frequency communication is feasible because of layers of ionized gas lying in thick spherical shells around the earth's surface. The layers of the ionosphere (a zone lying 50 to 300 miles above us) act as mirrors reflecting radio waves back to the earth's surface. If these layers were fixed in altitude and constant in their electrical reflecting properties, there would be no problem. But this is hardly the case. To circumvent the vagaries of the ionosphere, radio stations must con- stantly change frequencies or reroute circuits. Fortunately, some of the variations in the ionosphere can be anticipated. Seasonal changes and nocturnal changes, for example, have been well charted simply by observing actual radio circuits year after year. But most of the changes are more elusive. Some appear to be com- pletely random. Others may recur more or less regularly, but with unpredictable intensity. Dr. Miller's group is particularly anxious to pin down the latter disruptions because they cause the most distress. How the Sun Affects Ionosphere As Dr. Miller explains it, there are two ways in which the sun can influence the ionosphere. First, by direct electromagnetic radiation — X-rays or ultraviolet rays — which travels at the speed of light from the sun to the ionosphere in 8 minutes. Such bursts of radiation from the sun appear to be the cause of sudden and often complete radio fadeouts called Dellinger fades. For- tunately, these last for only 20 or 30 minutes and never more than two or three hours. The second way the sun is believed to alter the iono- sphere is by sending out actual streams of ionized par- ticles. Such solar bombardments travel more slowly than radiation, taking perhaps two or three days to make the 93 million-mile journey. They are considered a likely cause of the so-called great magnetic storms. These rare but violent disturbances, which may not be felt for years at a time, can knock out radio communications for days and can so disrupt the earth's magnetic field as to cripple wire and cable communications as well. That both radiation and beams of particles can be agents of ionospheric caprices is evidenced by the fact that radiation as felt in a Dellinger fade is disruptive only on the sunny half of the earth. A great magnetic storm, on the other hand, will be felt simultaneously on the light and dark hemispheres, suggesting that the earth is passing through a great shower of particles which have been rapidly dispersed throughout the ionosphere by the earth's magnetic field. Astronomers are fairly well agreed that both these types of disturbance spring from the same phenomenon — solar flares. These sudden, short-lived brightenings of small regions of the sun's surface are usually seen in the neighborhood of sunspots. Flares are often noticed at Minute sechoii of the sun's face, showing granular tex- ture of the solar surface. Large block areas are sun- spots: the tiny black dots are believed to be "spicules" — jets of heated material rising from interior of the sun. 22 RADIO AGE the time of a Dellinger fade and they appear to project enough radiation to account for this phenomenon on the earth. When great magnetic storms occur they follow by two or three days a Dellinger fade, which would suggest that they are the result of a properly directed beam of particles spewed out by the same flare that produced radiation for the Dellinger fade. In addition, both of these ionospheric upsets are more frequent during the peak years of the 23-year sunspot cycle, which is also the time of the greatest number of observed flares. Another Cause Is Sought It would simplify the propagation expert's life if the solar flare could be named the villain of all radio com- munication breakdown, not just the Dellinger fades and great magnetic storms. Unhappily, the flare, according to most theories, can be assigned only a relatively minor role. Flares are short-lived and erratic, while the iono- spheric disturbances that yet elude full explanation — the somewhat regular ones known as M-region disturb- ances — appear to be caused by something that lives for many months on the sun, reappearing several times in rough synchronization with the sun's 27-day rotational period. Gaining support from experts is the hypothesis that the sun's outer atmosphere, the corona, has at all times a number of invisible long arms that sweep out millions of miles into space. Some of these coronal streamers would be aimed, as it were, to intercept the earth in its orbit. Unlike the flare-caused beams of particles, coronal streamers would be semi-permanent projections of the corona, lasting for several cycles of the sun's 27-day rotational period. The Rocky Point trio is working with other solar observers to check the validity of this theory. A goal of Dr. Miller's current studies is to establish beyond a doubt what it is on the sun's surface that can build up the corona to such an extent that a streamer will be cast out into space. The Rocky Point photo- graphs are, as he puts it, "not in disagreement with modern theories of the corona and the formation of streamers." The detailed "full-face" photographs do not reveal the whispy streamers themselves but they do show a generous sprinkling of black dots which have never been "isolated" before. These dots, Dr. Miller explains, are probably a bird's-eye view of solar spicules, a short-lived but common activity of the sun first discovered, on the sun's rim, only 14 years ago. They may well be long narrow jets of heated material from the interior of the sun that pop right through the sun's surface, spewing new matter up into the corona. The research team lines up sun's image on screen before exposing film in the camera plate holder. Left to right are A. B. Moulton, Ralph E. Franklin, and Dr. Miller. Hoiv Stieameis May Be Born Normally, the theory goes, spicules reinforce the corona at a steady rate. But when an above-average number of spicules are clustered in a particular region on the sun, and if, at the same time, there are "favor- able" distortions of the sun's magnetic field in that area, the corona bulges and a streamer is born. That the spicules seen as dots in the Rocky Point photographs are the same things seen as long thin spikes in coronagraphs, has been the subject of considerable checking at Rocky Point. Dr. Miller is now optimistic that this correlation can soon be established: the black dots have roughly the same lifetime (3-4 minutes), the same size (5-6000 miles in diameter, miniscule by solar standards) and the same population density as the spicules seen by others in profile photographs. Riding herd on spicules along with Dr. Miller are A. B. Moulton and Ralph E. Franklin. Both have been engaged in communications and research engineering with RCA for nearly thirty-five years, and both boast years of experience as backyard astronomers. To help in analysis and interpretation of their pic- tures, the Rocky Point trio are receiving the assistance of Dr. Walter Orr Roberts, Dr. Joseph N. Rush, and other solar experts of the High Altitude Observatory of Harvard and Colorado Universiries, at Climax, Colorado, under a contracr with RCA Laboratories. The superla- tive coronagraphic results obtained at Climax are avail- able for continuing comparison with the "full-face" observations of Rocky Point. RAD/O AGE 23 «a*r:_> .•-v/' c,/ ibNBC w9^.^ One of the two trucks of NBC's Color Mobile Unit in New York before starting its tour. NBC Takes to the Road with Color TV Color television's first studio on wheels — the two- truck Color Mobile Unit of the National Broadcasting Company — focussed its cameras on the famed Biisch estate in St. Louis on June 9, beginning a 10-city tour that will take it through the midwestern and eastern United States for a series of outdoor color features for the NBC network. By the end of June, the NBC color cameras hud televised scenes from Milwaukee's Whitnall Park, the color and activity of life on a modern farm near Chi- cago, and the Ohio Governor's mansion at Columbus. Ahead on the schedule were visits to Cleveland, Wash- ington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Boston and New York, with a colorful aspect of local life planned for presenta- tion from each city. The features picked up by the mobile unit are being presented on the "Home" and "Today" shows over the NBC network. In every city where either or both pro- grams are seen, local NBC stations and RCA dealers, as well as one or more leading department stores, have been equipped with RCA color TV sets on which the public is able to view the live pick-ups from the field in their natural color. Thanks to the compatibility of RCA color television, the colorcasts from the mobile unit will be seen in black-and-white on monochrome TV sets. The Color Mobile Unit, consisting of two trucks of 20 tons capacity each, is the only one of its kind in existence. Designed by NBC engineers under the super- vision of O. B. Hanson, former NBC Vice-President and Chief Engineer, recently elected Vice-President, Opera- tions Engineering, RCA, the unit made its network debut last January 1 when it covered the Tournament of Roses parade in Pasadena, California. NBC Color "Spectaculars" With the unit on the road for its series of outdoor features, NBC continued preparation for an ambitious schedule of precedent-shattering color "spectaculars" be- ginning in early autumn. Three distinct series of spec- taculars have been planned, each consisting of thirteen 90-minute shows designed to range across the colorful panorama of show business, with participation by the most celebrated stars and directors in existing and origi- nal musical comedies, operettas, contemporary and classi- cal drama, circuses, aquacades and ice shows. Two of the series will be produced by Max Liebman, 74 RADIO AGE producer of "Your Show of Shows," while the third is to be produced by Leland Hayward. Each series will be presented at the rate of one show a month — the Liebman productions scheduled for 10:30 to midnight on Satur- days and 7:30 to 9 p.m. on Sundays, and the Hayward productions from 8 to 9:30 p.m. on Mondays. The first will go on the air from 7:30 to 9 p.m. on Sunday, Sep- tember 12, featuring film star Betty Hutton in a special musical comedy written for her. This program also will inaugurate color TV broadcasting from the huge new NBC television studio in Brooklyn, N. Y. New Color Equipment The step-up in color broadcasting activity is being accompanied by other RCA advances in color equipment engineering and servicing, and in receiver manufacture. Joseph B. Elliott, Executive Vice-President, Consiuner Products, RCA, disclosed on June 10 that RCA Victor color television receivers to be introduced in the fall will employ the new and very latest RCA shadow mask 19- inch tube, using the full area of the tube face and pro- viding larger and brighter color pictures of approxi- mately 205 square inches. "The new tri-color tube will incorporate a recently developed 3-gun assembly, shorter and with higher effi- ciency, producing outstanding brilliance and picture quality with increased stability, ' he said. "The new tube does not require any change whatsoever in the circuitry of the color receiver." In the field of color equipment, a new "3-V" camera developed by the RCA Engineering Products Division for telecasting color motion pictures made its debut on June 25, when NBC broadcast 35-mm film in color publicly for the first time in television history. Previ- ously only l6-mm film had been shown publicly in color television, and the new development was hailed by the press as a major forward stride in color TV and a vast improvement over all earlier color film presentations. The new camera employs three RCA Vidicon pickup tubes and a light-splitting optical system comprising two dichroic mirrors placed at angles in front of the projector. The first of the mirrors reflects the blue portions of the projected image to one of the Vidicons, permitting the red and green portions to pass through to the second mirror. The second mirror reflects the red portions to the second \ idicon and allows the green portions to pass through to the third Vidicon. Each of the Vidicon units generates a signal for bro.adcast representing its own color portion of the original image. The development of new equipment to speed instal- lation and maintenance of color receivers was announced by E. C. Cahill, President of the RCA Service Company. The equipment features a "color stripe generator" de- The versatility of color television was demonstrated by NBC during the spring with a colorcast from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. signed by the Service Company to transmit a video signal that will enable a service technician to determine whether a color TV set installed in a home is actually receiving color signals. Mr. Cahill said that the system, costing about S500, can be installed easily by TV broadcasting stations al- ready equipped to carry network color programs, and in other stations when they modify equipment to handle color. The test signal transmitted by the equipment con- sists of a narrow vertical yellow-green bar visible at the edge of the viewing screen on color sets, but practically invisible on the screen of a black-and-white set. Anas Sung and Acted Opera lovers long accustomed to listening to words they don't understand can now break through the lan- guage barrier by means of RCA Victor's new series of records titled "Arias Sung and Acted." The unusual twin packaging of the spoken word and song, conceived by George R. Marek, Director of Artists and Repertoire, RCA Victor Record Division, has re- sulted in a new album of famous arias acted in English by players of the legitimate stage and then sung in their original language by famous stars of the Metropolitan Opera. The acting and singing versions of the arias are portrayed in the new album by Judith Anderson and Rise Stevens, who are cast as "Carmen," Dennis King and Leonard 'Warren as "Rigoletto" and "Tonio;" Deborah Kerr and Licia Albanese portraying Mimi from "La Boheme " and Violetta from "La Traviata;" Dennis King and Robert Merrill as the Germont pere of "La Traviata," and Gerald ine Brooks and Joseph Cotton with Zinka Milanov and Jussi Bjoerling as "A'ida" and "Ra- dames." RADIO AGE 25 New Daylight Viewing Screen for Radar Can Hold an Image for Minutes A RADAR viewing screen capable of retaining for several minutes a picture so bright that it can be clearly seen even in brilliant sunlight may result from a new electron picture tube developed by a research team at the David Sarnoff Research Center of RCA at Princeton, N.J. The tube has been designed as a simple electronic tool for the direct daylight viewing of radar in an air- plane cockpit or on the bridge of a ship. Today, airborne or marine radar screens are hooded to prevent daylight from obscuring the relatively dim images that appear. and even under a hood that cuts out all daylight the viewer may have to wait for 2 or 3 minutes before his eyes adapt themselves to the low light level of the radar image. Fine details of test pattern on the new picture tube are examined by H. O. Hook, of the development team. A distant cousin of the television kinescope, the new tube was developed by RCA scientists under a United States Army Signal Corps contract. The development team included Dr. Max Knoll, H. O. Hook and Dr. R. P. Stone, all of the Princeton laboratories staff. Far Brighter than Standard TV Picture The tube is able to present pictures five to ten times brighter than those on a standard television kinescope, or picture tube, and to retain a half-tone image on the screen for some 30 seconds without any deterioration, or up to several minutes in useable form. In radar scan- ning reproduction, the viewing duration needs only to be about ten seconds before a new picture is to be dis- played. In other applications where half-tone reproductions are not required, such as the display on an airplane in- strument panel of continuous visual instructions from a ground station, a single black-and-white image can be held on the tube for an hour or longer. The RCA research team said these characteristics of the tube point to possible use in airborne facsimile systems, oscillo- scopes, and wherever a bright electronic picture of transient data needs to be held over extended periods for viewing or photographing. In appearance and operation, the developmental tube is a small approximation of the standard television pic- ture tube. Like the latter type, it uses controlled streams of electrons to paint a picture on a phosphor-coated screen on the face of the tube. However, to present exceedingly bright pictures and to retain them on the tube face for minutes or longer, a number of different techniques were developed. Three Electron Guns In the neck of the tube are three electron guns, each producing an independent stream of electrons directed toward the tube face. One of these, similar to the elec- tron gun in a standard kinescope, "writes in" the picture. The second gun floods the viewing area with a con- tinuous shower of electrons, producing the picture seen on the phosphor screen. The third "erases" the retained picture when it has served its purpose. In a standard television picture tube, the writing beam directly scans the phosphors on the viewing screen, 26 rad;o age K y s mi '*'*'. W * w.: - Dr. R. P. Stone, another of the development team, puts final touches on the new tube before testing. making them glow in a pattern that creates the picture. In the new storage tube, however, the writing beam does not produce the picture directly — it scans a special storage grid mounted about one-tenth of an inch behind the phosphor-coated screen. The grid is a fine-mesh screen (160,000 openings per square inch) supporting a thin insulating film. As the writing beam scans the insulating film, it builds up local electrical charges whose intensity varies with the pattern of the picture signal. As the picture is thus built up on the grid, the con- tinuous shower of electrons from the second gun passes through the charged openings of the grid, acquiring as it passes the pattern built up at these openings by the writing beam. The shower, or "flooding beam", then strikes the phosphor coating of the viewing screen, creating the picture for the observer. The Erasing Beam Because the flooding beam continues to pass through the charges built up on the grid, the picture remains for some time on the screen. The erasing beam, controlled either by the viewer or automatically by associated cir- cuits, may be brought into play at any time to clear the tube face for a new picture. It does this by altering the charges on the storage grid in such a way that the flood- ing beam is blocked at all points, preventing the shower of electrons from striking the phosphors of the tube face. A non-electronic analogy to the process can be found in coating a window screen with heavy paint and hold- ing it above a table in the sunlight. If a pattern is traced on the screen with turpentine, clearing paint from some of the holes, sunlight may pass through and create an image of the pattern on the table surface. Repainting the screen will cause the image to disappear. In this analogy, the table represents the phosphor-coated view- ing screen, the window screen represents the storage grid, the action of the turpentine compares to the action of the writing beam, the sunlight to the flooding beam, and the repainting to the erasing process. In its present form for radar application, the tube has a viewing screen 4 inches in diameter, capable of presenting an image of hundreds of foot lamberts of brightness in its high-lighted portions. To produce this brightness, the tube requires considerably less anode volt- age than does the standard television picture tube, largely because of the tube's ability to light every spot on the viewing screen continuously with the flooding beam rather than intermittently, as is the case in the TV kinescope. RAD/O AGE 77 Dr. Elmer W. Engstrom Ewen C. Anderson 41k Dr. Irving Wolff m m Dr. D. H. Ewing O. B. Hanson Five Executive Promotions Announced by RCA Promotion of five executives to new positions of responsibility was announced last month by Brig. Gen- eral David Sarnoff, Chairman of the Board of RCA — four of them named at a meeting of the Board of Directors on June 4. Dr. Elmer W. Engstrom, Executive Vice-President, RCA Laboratories, was elected Executive Vice-President, Research and Engineering, continuing at the same time as head of RCA Laboratories. In his new position, Dr. Engstrom has been given broad responsibility for all research and engineering activities of RCA. Ewen C. Anderson, Vice-President, Commercial De- partment of RCA, was elected Executive Vice-President, Commercial Department, with responsibility for all patent license matters for RCA. Both Dr. Engstrom and Mr. Anderson will have their headquarters in the RCA Executive Offices in Radio City, New York. Dr. Irving Wolff, previously Director of Research, was appointed Vice-President, Research. RCA Labora- tories, Princeton, N. J. Dr. D. H. Ewing, who had been director of the RCA Physical and Chemical Re- search Laboratory, was appointed Administrative Direc- tor, RCA Laboratories. O. B. Hanson, previously Vice-President and Chief Engineer of the National Broadcasting Company, was elected to the RCA staff as Vice-President, Operations Engineering. In his new position, he has been given responsibility for engineering matters pertaining to broadcast and communications operations and for direct- ing the activities of the RCA Frequency Bureau. The promotions of Drs. Engstrom, Wolff and Ewing and Mr. Hanson were designed to coordinate the re- search and engineering activities of the RCA organiza- tion as part of an over-all plan adopted earlier this year to meet the needs of the Corporation's steadily expand- ing business. 28 RADIO AGE RCA Stockholders listen to the Chairman's Report at the Annual Meeting on May 4. New First-Quarrer Sales Record is Set by RCA B ' USINESS volume of the Radio Corporation of Amer- ica for the first three months of 1954 was the largest of any first quarter period in the history of the Corpo- ration, Brig. General David SarnofT, Chairman of the Board of RCA, announced on May 4 at the 35th Annual Meeting of RCA Stockholders in a studio of the National Broadcasting Company in Radio City, New York. "Our present inventories are well balanced with current sales and we foresee a good volume of business for the year 1954 as a whole," declared General Sarnofl. "We believe that color television will speed the day when the volume of RCA business will reach and exceed a billion dollars a year. "The youngest child in the electronics industry — color television — offers the greatest stimulus for progress and the surest promise for prosperity. In our new, rapidly developing and fast changing art and industry, it is only natural to find growing pains and constant need for appraisal and adjustment. However, these symptoms of youth respond to intelligent treatment with much greater promise for a healthy future than do the ailments of old age. "We look forward to the future of this promising industry and the maintenance of RCA's recognized position of leadership with complete confidence." Sales For First Quarter General Sarnofl said first-quarter sales of RCA products and services amounted to $226,609,000, an increase of 9 per cent over the first quarter of 1953- Profits, before Federal taxes, amounted to §20,470,000. After providing $10,404,000 for these taxes, the net profit for the quarter amounted to $10,066,000. This is an increase of 8 per cent over the profits earned in the first quarter of last year. After Preferred dividends, the Common stock earned 66 cents a share compared with 61 cents a share in the first quarter of 1953. Significant Developments In Television Significant developments in black-and-white and color television were listed by General SarnofT as follows: Television continues to expand as a medium of enter- tainment, news and education. As a new service in commerce and industry, it has become a major factor in the Nation's business. In RCA, television accounted for 50 per cent of the total volume of business over the past seven years and it reached 54 per cent in 1953- RCA's steadfast faith and confidence in the ultimate triumph of the compatible color television system which it advocated was completely vindicated when the Federal Communications Commission in December, 1953, ap- proved compatible signal standards for commercial operation of color television. RCA, intensifying efforts to bring this great advance to the American people, has helped and encouraged others in the industry to do likewise. Progress continues in development of the RCA tricolor tube, and RCA expects to improve its performance, increase the picture size and reduce the cost. Since February, tricolor tubes RADIO AGE 29 have been produced at the rate of 2,000 a month. RCA has made and delivered four thousand 15-inch color television sets. By the end of this year, NBC will be colorcasting two programs a week from New York and a third from Burbank, California. In addition, NBC is planning a series of especially produced 90-minute shows, "Spec- taculars in Color," to begin in September. NBC expects to have 60 stations on its network equipped to transmit color programs by the end of 1954, covering 60 per cent of all homes in the United States. During this year and next, RCA believes the demand for color sets will exceed the supply. According to these estimates the industry should be able to sell about 50,000 sets in 1954, several hundred thousand in 1955, and a progressively increasing number each year there- after, adding up to a total of approximately 10 million color sets in use five years from now. Government Orders RCA sales and services to the Government were reported at $55 million in the first quarter of 1954. This was approximately 24 per cent of RCA's total volume of business for the quarter. Shipments to the Government for the full year of 1954 are expected to be substantially more than last year. RCA international business continues to increase in volume and profits, said General Sarnoff, adding: "The results for the first quarter of 1954 exceeded those of the first quarter of last year and the outlook is bright for continued improvement. Overseas, RCA prod- ucts and engineering are helping to strengthen the security and economy of nations friendly to the United States. "We continue to be the leader in supplying tele- vision equipment in the world markets. For example, in Latin America RCA has supplied 60 per cent of all the TV broadcasting stations now in commercial operations." Home Appliances RCA's recent entry into the manufacture and sale of home appliances, by adding air conditioners and home ranges to the line, has proved to be a sound financial move for the Corporation as well as for dis- tributors and dealers. General Sarnoff reported. He said that this business was profitable in 1953, and that for the first quarter of 1954 RCA sales of these home appliances were 75 per cent greater rhan for the first quarter last year. In discussing research and invention. General Sarnoff said: "Since its earliest days in 1919, the Radio Corpora- tion of America has followed a continuing policy of carrying on scientific research and development. The inventions and improvements resulting from this work have been made available to competitors and to industry in general. This is done on a uniform basis through patent licenses that are liberal in scope and at very low royalty rates compared with the value of these inven- tions. The royalty rates are less than one per cent of the usual retail price. "RCA has previously granted to others several hun- dred patent licenses and the majority of them run to the end of 1954. By mutual agreement, these licenses can be extended for a further period of years. A sub- stantial number of these license agreements have been signed and extended for a period of five years beyond 1954. In view of the great value to our licensees of their right to use the inventions covered by these licenses, we feel confident that by the end of this year substantially all of the remainder will also extend their agreements." There are few, if any, industries in America as highly competitive as the radio-television industry, General Sarnoff declared. "Three thousand radio broadcasting stations now are on the air, and by mid-year 400 television stations will be in operation," he said. "In many of the principal cities of our country already there are more radio and television stations than newspapers. For example. New York City has twenty- eight radio stations, seven television stations and only nine English-language daily newspapers. Chicago has twenty-six radio stations, six television stations and only four daily newspapers. Los Angeles has twenty-one radio stations, eight television stations and only five daily newspapers. Even in Washington, D. C. — the Capital of our Nation — there are only three daily news- papers, while there are sixteen radio stations and four television stations. "The number of manufacturing companies in our industry is also most impressive. Manufacturers of radio sets, 110; television sets, 75; electron tubes, 60; phono- graph records, 200. "There are about 2,000 wholesale distributors; 100,- 000 retail dealers, and 20,000 service shops handling these products. "In this young and vigorously competitive industry approximately one million people are now employed. "Here is an outstanding example of how the Ameri- can system of free enterprise provides opportunity for small as well as big business to prosper and to grow. In this, as in other industries, the organizations most likely to succeed are those which have efficient manage- ment, maintain good relarions with their employees, operate on a sound financial basis, manufacture good quality products at the lowest cost, sell them at reason- able prices, and render the best service to the public." 30 RADIO AGE open House at Princeton The staff of RCA Laboratories was fiost to some 4,000 friends and neighbors at an open house at the David SarnofT Research Center in Princeton, N. J., on the eve- nings of May 5-7. These pictures present a gHmpse of some of the fifty different activities examined by the visitors. Dr. E. G. Linder explains transistor oscillator producing tone from light falling on silicon junction of type used in RCA Atomic Battery. Hl^ ri^BI John E. McCool, supervisor of glass room, demonstrates his art to an interested visitor. Young guest peers through microscope at an experimental RCA transistor. Robert Anderson shov/s device used tc chart path of electrons in a tube. Stanley Forgue explains cloud chamber for observing radioactive particle tracks. The magnetic memory is explained by its developer, Dr. J. A. Rajchman. Souvenir ashtrays were made for th< guests by William E. Carpenter. ®K£U)Si brisk Happy Birthday An RCA broadcast tube tecently celebrated its fourteenth birthday with a normal day's work at radio station KPOJ in Portland, Oregon. The ven- erable tube, of the type known as a forced-air-cooled triode, was installed in KPOJ's' modulator circuit in March, 1940, and is showing no signs of its advanced age, according to the station's chief engineer. Experts of the RCA Tube Division believe this is the long- est life recorded yet for a large power tube, with more than 91,000 operating hours — the equivalent of 25 months of continuous operation. Electronic Allergy fM A phototube described by its mak- ers as "allergic" to spots before its "eyes" has been added to its commer- cial line by the RCA Tube Division for a wide range of industrial applica- tions, including production-line inspec- tion of soft drinks, medical solutions and similar translucent liquids. The tube, previously produced only on a custom-order basis, reacts only to pulses of light caused by particles in motion, so the bottled liquids to be inspected are rotated swiftly and sud- denly stopped, causing the contents to swirl around in the bottle as they pass before the electronic "eye." Transpar- ent bits of foreign matter that may have been bottled inadvertently cause the phototube to react sufficiently to trigger an electronic reject system. High Eye The television camera has now been moved up to the ceiling to cover NBC's "Home" show from the end of a telescoping arm. Operated by remote control, the camera can be moved easily and quickly to any point on the circular set — the most elaborate and advanced yet constructed for a tele- vision program. The camera itself is mounted at the end of its boom by means of a so-called "cradle and yoke," converted from the device that holds the gun turrets of a B-29 bomber. The arrangement was conceived and its construction supervised by Sol Corn- berg, NBC's supervisor of plant facili- ties and development, who also de- signed the "Home" set itself. It Still Marches On The March of Time Film Library, considered by the trade to be the out- standing source of news and special events films unduplicated anywhere else, was taken over on May 1 for sales and distribution by the NBC Film Di- vision in the largest transaction for film footage in television history. The transaction swelled to over 30 million feet the amount of footage contained in the NBC Film Library, which al- ready ranked as the world's largest collection of stock footage shot exclu- sively for T"V. Addition of the March of Time film extends the historical range of the film library's inventory back to 1934. More ]uice The swing toward 12-volt auto- mobile batteries has encouraged RCA engineers to work up new two-way mobile radio equipment that can be converted easily to operate on either the larger battery or the 6-volt variety. The new RCA "Fleetfone" units, shown for the first time recently at the Dallas convention and show of the Petroleum Industry Electrical Association and the Petroleum Electrical Supply Associa- tion, can be ordered for either voltage and for use in adjacent channels with either 20 or 40 kilocycle separation. Whichever is specified, the equipment can be readily converted at any time these requirements change. Awards Department Honors descending upon the Na- tional Broadcasting Company during the second quarter of the year included top honors in the George Foster Pea- body Awards competition for 1953, and plaques and citations from "Vari- ety" for a number of NBC programs, divisions and affiliates. The Peabody awards went to the NBC Television Opera Theatre in the television music category; to the "Television Playhouse" and its producer, Fred Coe, as top tele- vision entertainment; to Imogene Coca, star of "Show of Shows," in entertain- ment, and to "Mr. Wizard" in the cate- gory of television programs for chil- dren and youth. Among the "Variety" awards were a special citation to the NBC Television Opera Theater and a "Variety" TV Film Award to the NBC Film Division for "sparking a drive that pumped life into the floundering economics of the TV-film industry." 32 RADIO AGE 3,000 islands . . . welded together by radio How 100 million people on 3,000 islands form a unified nation . . . with the aid of a vast radio network Indonesia, one of the newest and largest nations of the modern world, is a strong union of original art fonns and tremendous natural resources; of ancient cultures and alert progres- si\'e world responsibility. Its nearly 100 million people live on a vast chain of 3,000 islands spanning 3,000 miles across the subtropics. Early in the new nation's existence it became evident that such a far- flung structure required a commvmi- cations setup of unique scope and flexibility. Government and military leaders acted quickly . . . and soon a highly mobile fleet of RCA radio-equipped vehicles began operation. The iso- lated land areas acquired ears and \oices. The Indonesian amied forces equipped vehicles, planes and boats with radio for personnel training and national security. Not long afterwards a centralized radio broadcast network began a long-range program of education and enlightenment for all the people. Progress has been so rapid that today there is no spot in the huge republic beyond the reach of this alert and intelligent voice. Through the development and in- stallation phases of the huge project RCA field engineers worked with Indonesian authorities . . . teamwork which is now bearing fruit in the highly successful operation of the entire communications system. RCA products and services are avail- able in all world markets open to trade, through RCA distributors and associ- ated companies. The new book "Com- munications, Key to Progress" tells the inspiring story of radio at work in many countries. Simply write to RCA Inter- national Divi.'iion, 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, U.S.A. ••MarcasReglstradas" nCA INTERNATIONAL DIVISION RADIO CORPORATION of AMERICA RCA BUILDING 30 ROCKCftLLtR PLAZA. NEW YORK, N. Y.. U. S.A. World leader in radio, first in recorded music, first in television I f 1 f 1 ^ •sss^ ■ ^ ^^^^m\'^ j^^HH^glpP ^^^iii^^ ,>* Celebrating the 5th birthday of "45 Victroliis" ami records. The 5— -AnTiiversar;>^of 45 brings mair^liappy returns to yoii ! Crowning achievement of the "45" system is the Extended Play Record which brings you great music for 40% less than you used to pay Just 5 years ago RCA Victor intro- duced the "45" RPM system and gave you a reward of new listening pleasure. With the touch of a button you could sit back and enjoy nearly two hours of your favorite music. There were no changes to make ... no bulky albums to tote and store . . . and you were re- warded with music that was richer. truer— with all the brilliance of "live" performance. Moreover, the "45" became the onh/ system that played every kind of re- corded music — and played them all automaticallv, selectively. Today, with the new RCA Victor 45 Extended Play records, vou have all these advances — plus one happy finan- cial return: more music for less moneij. These extraordinary little records bring you the same amount of great music as two 12" old-style records, yet cost little more than half as much. RCA's continuing program of re- search in other fields of home entertain- ment—radio, television, tape-recording, and liigh fidelity, brings happy returns for millions of Americans. RCA pioneered and developed compatible color television Radio Corporation of America }\ orld leader in radio— first in tetpi-ision — first in recorded niiisir RAD O RESEARCH • MANUFACTURING • COMMUNICATIONS • BROADCASTING • TELEVISION OCTOBER 1954 KMiaB«