1959 Electronics Magazine

[Phrazemaster]

I got a kick out of looking through this...

https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Tele-Tech/50s/Electronic-Industries-1959-01.pdf

One of the (many) highlights is the attached "Space Transmitter" - Star Trek gadgets had nothin' on this!

 

[rackmonkey]

Amazing. 50 Watts gets you a quarter million miles of transmission.

Benefits of transmitting in a vacuum, I guess! The old pirate radio “X” stations that sat across the Texas/Mexico border needed 50,000 - 100,000 watts to reach the southern half of the US.

And it just looks retro-cool

 

[JohnRoberts]

I am not a tube guy but that seems small for 50W...

I recall may dad's old Western Electric 10W vacuum tube cutting amp that filled a 19" rack 4 feet tall or more.  I guess tube technology really advanced between 30s and 50s...

JR

 

[Ricardus]

I have a 1958 or 1959 copy of Allied Electronics and I like looking through it seeing how inexpensive the stuff was.

Like McIntosh MC60's! I'll have to find it, but they were cheap!

 

[PRR]

....that seems small....

Radio oscillators are generally much smaller than audio amplifiers. Distortion, size of coils and caps.

That looks like a 6146, which sure is able to pump 50W RF near 100MHz if you don't hold the key down all day.

In space, tube ratings can be cheated a little because total run time is limited by battery.

That unit does not include power supply, much of your Dad's rack.

Moon-scan would be a point-to-point service. Large directional antenna at transmitter, HUGE antenna at receiver, which is is a low-noise area. Broadcast goes all ways. Transmitter has some small directivity, receivers use the cheapest antenna possible, and listeners sit between spark-engine cars, power-lines, and the neon lights at the tavern.