A brief history of radios

ChrisK

ChrisK

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I am sure my google fu sucks and someone will blow me away with the link to end all links, but i have what amounts to a simple two part question.

When were com radios first used in GA aircraft and when was their use common?

I have an author friend to whom a fairly precise answer is relevant to her work and I honestly do not know.
 
True nuff. I just wanted to make sure that when a pilot read it it was not foolish sounding. I was kinda wondering how large earlier radios were and if / when they would be common in a 2 seat aircraft for example.
 
In the late 50s - early 60s, when GA changed from the Piper Cub to the Cessna 150/172.
Control Towers were rare and still routinely used the light gun signals because radio failure was common.
 
My dad gave me a tube transceiver that he said was out of an airplane back in the very early 60's. It was about 8 inches wide, 5 inches high and 16 inches deep.
 
Thanks - this is good stuff!

So a radio in the 40s was uncommon. What did the CAP costal patrol bases use to communicate? I am guessing they didn't.
 
Well, the official CAP history claims they did, but it doesn't say their equipment.

They were an Army Air Corps auxiliary from the start, so a wild guess is that they used the same radios the Army did.

Even now, CAP uses military/tactical radios for communication, though they are almost certainly not the same as those in use in the 40s.
 
Old Geek said:
My dad gave me a tube transceiver that he said was out of an airplane back in the very early 60's. It was about 8 inches wide, 5 inches high and 16 inches deep.
Click to expand...

and they ran on batteries for portability. :lol:


Portable radios were just like portable GPS 10 years ago. CFI's were having a heat attack because the students would be distracted and crash! Most CFI's wouldn't allow them in the planes because they were cheating! :rofl:

Some things never change. :dunno:
 
I was surprised, but I have a document on the FAA CD for our chief that shows Ranger radio's installed in the late 40's. Air Driven Generator and a battery. So they weren't as heavy or large as I might have expected.

This Link shows an ad in Flying Magazine from March of '45 for the radio's.
http://goo.gl/EwGEpM
 
Don't forget, early aviation comms meant morse code. imagine trying to pound out a request or position report on a key strapped to your leg.

(not to mention the Mayday, (or Pan Pan issue...)

As an ex ham radio operator, most of my fun was done with ORP (low power long range stuff....all morse code or "cw" for those in the know). To go half way around the world on a 1/4 or 1/2 watt of power was challenging, but possible)
 
WingNut42 said:
I was surprised, but I have a document on the FAA CD for our chief that shows Ranger radio's installed in the late 40's. Air Driven Generator and a battery. So they weren't as heavy or large as I might have expected.

This Link shows an ad in Flying Magazine from March of '45 for the radio's.
http://goo.gl/EwGEpM
Click to expand...
Wow. That's exactly what I needed.

Not only has this thread been informative, but what little "research" I did shows me that there really is not a good reference on this information. We should band together and write a wikipedia article.
 
It is amazing how fast information like this, that was probably once common knowledge, disappears from the collective.
 
JHW said:
My airplane had one of those installed in the factory
Click to expand...

It is interesting to watch technology evolve, this would have seemed just as advanced as any Garmin does today. When it's the best thing you know, you figure it's the best.
 
Picture includes some old aircraft radios as used in small aircraft in the second half of the 20th century. The grey radio on the upper left is a Harvey Wells, which came out in the late '40s. On the upper right is a Narco Omnigator Mk II from the late '50s, below it is a Lear RT-10E, which was a contemporary of the Harvey Wells.
ronspanel.jpg

Ron Wanttaja
 
Is that your collection ron? It looks like a nice display
 
Can you imagine the reaction if the guys that were flying with the Narco Superhomer could have, back then, seen the GTN750 or G1000 we use today?
 
TangoWhiskey said:
Can you imagine the reaction if the guys that were flying with the Narco Superhomer could have, back then, seen the GTN750 or G1000 we use today?
Click to expand...
I can't even imagine what a 1987 pilot would say.

And yes Ron that is a beautiful collection!
 
ChrisK said:
I can't even imagine what a 1987 pilot would say.
Click to expand...
Probably the same thing I said when I left my sparse-panel homebuilt to fly the local FBO's Warrior with all the bells and whistles:

"Why don't you show me how to play that video game...."

Ron "Bernoulli, not Marconi," Wanttaja
 
TangoWhiskey said:
I think that squawk should be 7600, Ron. ;-) Nice collection.
Click to expand...
Picture doesn't show my Narco Escort 110 with the power supply. :)

Most of the aircraft radios in the collection were obtained free... If there's anything pilots hate worse than having to pay for something, it's throwing out something that *might* be usable. Local EAAers know I'll take their radios, even if they are "modern" in comparison. For every Harvey Wells (obtained from a scrapped 1952 homebuilt), I take in a lot of Mark 12s.

Then again, it explains why, if you look in my pre-teen grand-nephews' play area, you'll see a LOT of radios and transponders. A certain type of kid likes this stuff, and it's a good place for it to end up.

Ron Wanttaja
 
ads/b mandate is deja vu

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wanttaja said:
Picture includes some old aircraft radios as used in small aircraft in the second half of the 20th century. The grey radio on the upper left is a Harvey Wells, which came out in the late '40s. On the upper right is a Narco Omnigator Mk II from the late '50s, below it is a Lear RT-10E, which was a contemporary of the Harvey Wells.

Ron Wanttaja
Click to expand...

Wow!

I recognize most of those items ((but the transponder head is too modern for the rest of the gear -- should only be dual (vs quad) octal selector))
 
TangoWhiskey said:
Can you imagine the reaction if the guys that were flying with the Narco Superhomer could have, back then, seen the GTN750 or G1000 we use today?
Click to expand...

I did, I have, and I am.

San Diego to Boston with a 5-channel transmitter/coffeegrinder receiver called a Narco Superhomer in a Cessna 120.

Jim


.
 
ChrisK said:
I am sure my google fu sucks and someone will blow me away with the link to end all links, but i have what amounts to a simple two part question.

When were com radios first used in GA aircraft and when was their use common?

I have an author friend to whom a fairly precise answer is relevant to her work and I honestly do not know.
Click to expand...
One thing to keep in mind is that some early radios did not have transmitters that could send on any frequency in the entire band. You'd have a normal radio tuner to set the receive frequency, but you only had a few frequencies you could transmit on. You would have to install separate crystals for each frequency you wanted.

So, for your writer friend, if the bad guy tells the good guy to transmit on 122.3 MHz, he'd better make sure he has the "rock" (crystal) for 122.3.

Here's a shot from the manual for the Lear RT-10E radio. Note the highlighted knob on the lower right, and the frequency labels for its positions.
rt10.jpg



Ron Wanttaja
 
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My CFI has a student who is retired and getting his PPL as part of his bucket list. I met him a while back and he told me all about his life and business history, which mainly consisted of making the crystals for these radios. Pretty interesting stuff.
 
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