Vintage Audio: Atwater Kent Model 84

From the dawn of broadcasting in the early1920s through the mid-1930s, the name Atwater Kent was synonymous with top-quality radios. Their commitment to excellence, in both cabinet construction and electronic assembly, is one of the reasons so many of their sets are still around and in working condition. There are several A-Ks in the attic, but none have been featured in FitA. Until now. This month, the 1932 Model 84 will be showcased, along with a history of the man and his company.

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Topics: Vintage Radio Technology, Vintage Electronics, Radio History

Vintage Audio: Heath GR-81 Economy Short Wave Radio

An ancient Chinese proverb says, “The longest journey begins with the first step.” And so it is with building Heathkits. Over the years, I've assembled countless Heathkit projects, most for personal use, some for the electronics workbench at college media centers and radio stations, and a few as gifts. But you never forget your very first one. When I made my most recent trip to the attic, I came down with numero uno, my first electronics kit, a Heath GR-81 economy short wave radio. This three-tube, four-band receiver covered 140 Khz to 18 Mhz. The GR-81 had a long production run, from 1961-1972. List price in the 1967 catalog was $23.50. The estimated time for completion was about six hours.

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Topics: Vintage Radio Technology, Vintage Electronics

NuTone 2067B-2068B Transistor Radio-Intercom System 

Radios come in all shapes and sizes, and this column seeks out some of the forgotten and unusual examples. Previous installments have examined farm radios, unlikely portables and early clock radios. This time around, we'll look at the NuTone 2067B transistor radio intercom system. It dates to 1965, when home radio-intercoms were something of a status symbol in larger houses.

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Topics: Vintage Radio Technology, Vintage Electronics

Vintage Audio: Wollensak 1500 Series Tape Recorders

Anyone who worked for the high school AV club or college media services department in the late ‘60s or 1970s remembers the Wollensak 1500 series reel-to-reel recorders. Along with the RCA hand-threaded 16 mm projectors, they were the bread and butter of instructional media. The hallmark of these devices was their ease of use and indestructible design. Get ready for a flashback to your adolescence, when all you needed to know about tape recorders was 'PLAY-RECORD-STOP', as we peer beneath that white and chrome exterior of Wollensak 1500 tape recorders.

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Topics: Vintage Radio Technology

Vintage Audio: 1920s Radio Workshop

As electronics technology has evolved over the years, so has the equipment used to service it. Today, electronics is largely a software game, where DSP chips take the place of tuned RF circuits, and even complete receivers. These devices operate with specs near theoretical perfection. As a result, the workbench is no longer the nerve center of an engineering shop in the way that it once was.

The electronics workbench had its origins around the same time as radio, in the mid-1920s. Those old TRF sets could be unreliable, and anyone who sold radios as a business also installed and serviced them. This installment of Found in the Attic is a bit different. We'll dig out several items that were essential for radio servicing in the 1920s, as we imagine what types of things were on the electronics workbench almost 100 years ago.

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Topics: Vintage Radio Technology

Vintage Audio: The Sta-Level Turns 60

As a teenager coming of age in the late '60s and early '70s, I went on nickel tours of every radio station I could. Some of them twice. One piece of equipment that almost every station had was a Gates Sta-Level AGC amplifier. It's safe to say that this device dominated the sound of Top 40 radio from the 1960s through the early '70s. Introduced sixty years ago, in 1956, Gates sold them by the boatload.

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Topics: Vintage Radio Technology