Just something that popped up on a ebay watch list.. Gonset Transmitter, Model G-77A .. not sure what it is - ham equipment I guess.. Not part 15 related, only posting it just becuase I thought it was a cool looking portable AM transmitter!
Starting bid $50, Buy it Now $80 http://www.ebay.com/itm/291114191154?
alternate Image from radiomuseum:
This is a circa 1950s amateur radio mobile AM/CW tube transmitter. It was only part of the complete system - you needed the receiver, as well as a power supply which was the same size as the rest of the pieces (but much heavier) and lots of interconnect cables. These certainly wouldn't fit into the small cars of today, but were the 'bees knees' back in the day as far as mobile installations went.
The expression "bees knees" sounds a little bit like the word "business."
The Bees Knees Business Company.
Bees Knees Broadcasting Business.
That transmitter is a work of design art.
I had one about 35 years ago. I gave it
to somebody else, because I couldn't
figure out what to do with it.
It's funny, but if you show a random
"non-radio" person something like that,
they might pull something out of
the back of their mind like: "Old shortwave
radio that goes to far places or something
like that." They may not think "shortwave,'
but they might think "radio" and "distance."
In QST, the ham radio magazine, sometime back -
there was an article about a Harrison Ford movie.
The character that Harrison Ford played had a big
house, and in this house was a cool ham radio
station. Harrison Ford had the option of choosing
some of the radio equipment that would be used.
He made it clear that he wanted nothing from the
present. The equipment he wanted was all from
the 1940s and 1950s, I think. And that's what he
got in that movie set. The feel of radio. He also wanted
glowing vacuum tubes. That was too
hard to do in the limited time that the prop people had.
So they ended up shining a bright light into the back
of the big shortwave. (I don't remember what it was.)
But this glowing light lit up the back and came through
all of the little ventilation holes in the side of the cabinet.
That was good enough.
Don't get me wrong, I love the modern radios.
But this old stuff had a great look.
Bruce, DOGRADIO
Some of the vintage pieces in my storage locker were sold to the TV show Fringe (which was shot here in Vancouver), where they were featured, some prominently, some not. The piece they were most excited about was an Allied SX-190 (I think) shortwave radio. It had the look and feel of a 1950s radio, but was in reality a nice, working, 1970s solid state radio. Nothing like lots of knobs and buttons (instead of computer menus).
Wow! That's really something!
I watched a lot of Fringe episodes.
The Allied radio you gave them definitely has
the right look.
Didn't the strange but amazing guy in charge -
have a cow living in that lab? Was it in Boston?
It's really cool you were in the right "loop" to
be connected with that TV show. And a lot
of the Canadian made shows are really really good.
We finally get to see them in the U.S. thanks to
better network programing and the internet.
I've never been to Vancouver, unfortunately.
Bruce, DOGRADIO
Bruce, DOGRADI
Once you've seen Vancouver you've seen them all.