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Saturday, November 13, 2021

"First Wireless" 1922 book by Allen Chapman with Foreword by Jack Binns (free download)

 

The cover caught my eye.  Thanks to the K9YA Telegraph for posting it.  I think it captures the allure of radio that most of us felt when we were kids of this age.  

Fortunately this 1922 book is available for free download: 

It is all about radiotelephone.  They are phone guys.  Just like us.  

And they were homebrewers.  They had The Knack. From Chapter II: 

Another thing that drew the boys together was their keen interest in anything pertaining to science. Each had marked mechanical ability, and would at any time rather put a contrivance together by their own efforts than to have it bought for them ready made. It was this quality that had made them enthusiastic regarding the wonders of the wireless telephone.

And they correctly viewed wireless telephony as being similar to Aladin's lamp.   I remember writing that my homebrew DSB transceiver was like Aladin's magic carpet, carrying my voice from the Azores to friends around the world.  From Chapter III: 

They had already heard and read enough of the wireless telephone to realize that it was one of the greatest marvels of modern times. It seemed almost like something magical, something which, like the lamp of Aladdin, could summon genii who would be obedient to the call.


This is a reminder of how young the radio art is.  This book came out just three years before my father was born. Many of us have in our shacks working rigs that are half as old as radio itself. 



7 comments:

  1. Hand grenades aren't always what I thought they were :)

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    Replies
    1. I know. I was surprised by that too. 1922. Also, instead of "speaking up" one of the lads "ejaculated." Usage obviously changes.

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    2. Wonder if there was a "style" book that the boys book authors were given ? For example: "be sure to mention food a lot, boys like to eat, describe it, make it sound tasty and plentiful !"

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  2. Thanks for shearing Bill I look forward to reading it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. There are quite a few Radio Boys books over on archive.org


    http://archive.org/search.php?query=%22radio%20boys%22%20AND%20mediatype%3Atexts

    Fun winter readingd

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  4. Page 120. They wrap the antenna wire in asbestos.

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  5. It's also available in the Kindle store, for free wireless download. Better than Kindle's awful support for PDFs.

    ReplyDelete

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