Early Car Radios

While my 1940 Chevrolet was up on the hoist I saw under each running board two 3/8" rods coverd with rubber running the full length. At first glance I thought they were handbrake rods but on further inspection they turned out to be full length dipole aerials for the radio. They were an original factory installation. They are similar but a bit more compact than this 1934 arrangement.



This is an interesting look at car radio development.

www.hagerty.com/media/automotive-history...tory-of-early-radio/

Lang

Lang, Most of the pictures you put up show two-way radio, not just an antenna for a radio receiver. I read years ago that the first Police car in Victoria to be equipped with two-way radio was a 1932 (or was it 1936, I forget) Daimler and the car car had to stop and have an antenna extended every time it was used.

Here is my Chevrolet set-up

Morris

All the early developments were for two way operations. There were no entertainment radio stations widely in use in those very early days. It was not until well into the 1920;s that general listening radio stations became open to the public.

In Australia of course the government took control and at first they only allowed "sealed" radios that were fixed to one station with fees to that station (and the government of course). It took 5 minutes for people to discover how they could open the sets and tune them to any station they wanted.

Lang

Lang, I would think that, The radio would have a very limited range with the aerial being mounted in underneath the Body like that..

Our old '38 Chrysler Royal had the original radio fitted, with the remote knobs on the dash and cables to the set mounted on the firewall,. It also had the original under running board aerial. As Seed said, not a great range, but then again the stations didn't have much range back then either, '50's and 60's time period.

I have been looking at early aerial history and they tried to concentrate on maximum reception because of distances between radio stations. As a result they needed long aerials with finely tuned length. The optimum aerial length for the common broadcast band was found to be about 20 feet with fine frequency tuning on extra moving coils within the radio.

How do you put that length of aerial on a motor car. There were dozens of solutions such as the GM under running board, hidden in the roof lining, right over the top like a giant clothes line. Ford had a period when they used the spare tyre bracket and spare wheel itself on the back of the car to get the required length of run.

With this correct length of aerial reception was fine in any position and did not need extra height. Once they started using the compact rod type they suffered a big loss in range but far more convenience as radio stations became more common and less distance a part. You can probably remember the huge difference it made on your old Holden when you pulled the aerial up to full extension.

Modern aerials are very compact often using a very long length of fine wire coiled inside a short plastic rod trying to replicate the correct length of the old time long units. Apparently the aerials in the glass in windscreens are more efficient with the extra length but expensive to make. Modern types don't work as well but with everyone going over to the short range but much clearer FM system with numerous nearby stations people are quite satisfied with shorter (often hidden) modern aerial.

You can't beat physics and if you are trying for range you can not equal a longer aerial of the correct length be it AM, FM , mobile phone or UHF two way.

Lang

hayseed wrote: Lang, I would think that, The radio would have a very limited range with the aerial being mounted in underneath the Body like that..

Kind of like mobile phones today !

Cobbadog,If Lang's Chev radio with the antenna underneath had limited range, does that mean that he should flip the car over to get better reception?

I do not agree that mobile phones these days have very limited range. There are certainly several smallish areas, mostly of hilly country, that still do not have coverage but I live 130 kilometres from the "Big Smoke" and have no problems.

About 30 years ago I was at a meal with a group and put my phone on the table. An old bloke, possibly the same age as I am now, asked "How far can you get with that?" I said that as long as I am within range of a mobile phone tower I can call any phone in the world. He was not convinced, so I asked him "would you like me to find out the weather in London or the temperature in Moscow to prove it?" He said he accepted what I said.

Morris

You have two towers near the race track and another on the corner of Bass Highway and Philip Island Road. I would imagine you would have good service with 3 towers within a few kilometres.

Lang