The discussion about attaching a radio to bicycle handlebars brought this question to mind: what are some unusual places to listen to the radio that have required some ingenuity or improvisation to make radio listening possible?

In the 1920s, hobbyists worked on various different schemes to use home radios in their cars. According to a Popular Mechanics article published in the early 1980s, chicken wire or metallic window screen material was commonly hidden in the roof (assuming it was non-metallic) for use as an antenna. The radio was not connected to the car's electrical system, as the voltages needed were quite different from the 6 volts typically used in car electrical systems.

Radios for use while riding a bicycle have been available since the early 1950s, in the form of the Huffy Radio Bike, a special-purpose radio permanently built into the frame of the bicycle. Could there have been hobbyists in the 1940s, and possibly earlier, who experimented with putting radios on bicycles, thus inspiring the Huffy Radio Bike?

Another interesting special-purpose radio is the shower radio, which was introduced in 1985, according to Wikipedia, as a product called "Wet Tunes." It would be interesting to hear how the designers of the first shower radio went about waterproofing their design for its intended application.

I just looked through the Popular Science "Second Radio Annual" (1943) and saw no radio projects specifically designed for bicycle use, although several designs appear to be suitable. Some of the more bazaar projects include:

"Book-End Radio for your Den"

"Dressing table Radio"(concealed in a Marie Antoinette Doll)...wonder how many fires that one started?

"Campers Radio Uses Fishpole Antenna"

"Book-Light Radio"... one tube, batteries in separate container.

"Football-Fans Radio"... designed to look like a vacuum bottle, perhaps it was not permitted to take a radio to a football game, but liquid refreshment was ok ?

"Bed Radio"... two big straps used to hang this beauty from a head-board. Commercial versions also contained a reading lamp (Automatic Radio Mfg "Companion" Bedlamp Radio).

"Library-Table Radio Resembles a Book"... I actually have a slightly more modern version of this style, a Crosley JM-8MN, which uses 3 flat "hearing aid" style tubes and 2 transistors:

http://www.transistor.org/collection/crosley/crosley1.html

Until I could afford to install a radio in my Dad's 1959 Chevy Biscayne (yes!), I duct taped a transistor radio to the (metal) dashboard. Of course, it kept falling off.

Yes, Dad didn't believe in having a radio in the car. Distracting, and cost extra.

Kids, you CAN overcome your raising...

In the early days of car radios, some municipalities banned their use due to the belief that radios distracted drivers (I read this in _Radio-Electronics_ in the early 1990s).

Tom Thumb (Automatic Radio Mfg.) Bike Radio:

http://www.hoenmeuffels.nl/oldradios/automatic.html

Speaking of car radios...

One of my best memories as a kid (around 16 years old I think) was when the family was driving through the midwest and we stopped at a Holiday Inn for the night. I asked my Dad for the keys to the Ford LTD Wagon to get a personal item. The REAL reason was to go sit in the car and listen to The Big 89, WLS on the great sounding Philco radio in the Ford. So I guess that was the oddest place to listen to the radio, in the darkness in a parked car, DXing a great radio station. Pure magic.

Had an old highschool friend tell me that he use to listen to the station I programmed years ago riding a small tractor where he rigged up an old car speaker put behind the steer wheel with an AM car radio...just turned it up loud and listened all summer. Might need to sell him a hearing aid soon.

Had one of these on the handlebars of my ol' Schwinn Orange Krate back in '71:

http://dynakam.com/arf_members_web/images/Arvin1.JPG
http://dynakam.com/arf_members_web/images/Arvin2.JPG

Sometimes if I'm out at a transmitter site, I'll tune in one of the local FM's on my IFR service monitor!

It makes a dandy $18,000 radio!

I had a bike mount radio on my bike when I was a kid. It also had a "Horn" button on it that would send out a loud tone. I'm pretty sure it came from Radio Shack.

Those were the days.

Radio Shack "Road Patrol" ? one on eBay now:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Archer-Road-Patrol-AM-BICYCLE-RADIO-WORKS-GREAT_W0QQ itemZ150327321542QQcmdZViewItemQQimsxZ20090217?IMSfp=TL090217112001r22647


"I'll tune in one of the local FM's on my IFR service monitor!"

Would that make for a "hot" FM DX tuner?

The only difference is that my radio also had FM on it. Other wise it is exactly the same. Same colors, same knobs, everything.

Flashlight radio's come to mind but I can't find an old picture on the web.

Also, I can't remember what they were called but KPAM-FM did a promotion in the 70's for listeners with cars that had AM radios. They had a dealer with FM adapter tuners that plugged into your AM antenna. On one of the push buttons I could tune in FM stations. The FM tuner was bolted under the dashboard. It worked great until the FM distant/local switch broke off. What kind of radio was this called?

>>Flashlight radio's

have one in my bathroom that has worked forever on 3-C batteries...and the siren still works too!

An FM converter usually worked on 1400 Khz. I had one that also had the VHF TV band.

"FM adapter tuners that plugged into your AM antenna"

"What kind of radio was this called?"

Audiovox made several models of FM converters for automobile use, here is one:

http://www.antiqueradio.com/Aug06_Smith_FM.html

Was it something like that?

Remember the "Rocket Radio"? When I was a young whippersnapper, my folks bought me one at Import Plaza and I'd hook it up to a faucet in the bathroom, rockin' out while on the pot!

I remember seeing those FM converters in the Radio Shack catalog as late as 1981 or 1982.

The Radio Shack "Road Patrol" was in the catalog back in the mid 1980s. I think that both the AM only and AM/FM versions were around then. I would have liked to have one of these radios as a kid, although I wondered what kind of built-in antenna they used for FM and how effective it might have been.

Semoochie: I'll have to look around on the web now that you gave me a name "FM Converter" to work with, Thanks!

Jr. Tech: Sorry, that's not the FM Converter. I'd remember it if I saw it.

Kq4: My first crystal radio was similar to your Rocket Radio but I couldn't find the model on google. Let me describe it: It was round with one half white and the other orange. It had to springs on each side like antennae but it was just for show. On top was the tuner like yours and it came with ear phone and antenna wire with alligator clips. I was given it in the 1960-61 period.

My 2nd crystal radio I found on google, circa 1966. It was a "Remco Radiocraft Crystal Radio Kit":

http://www.timewarptoys.com/cryradio.jpg

Would that make for a "hot" FM DX tuner?

Not really. The sensitivity is only about 2uV.

It's really pretty deaf.

Although it does tune from DC to light! (Actually it tunes from 10 KHz to 999.9999 MHz in 100 Hz steps.)

For old Radio Shack catalogs (1939-2003) that you can view on-line, check out this site.

http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/catalog_directory.html

Steve: That is a cool site! I wish someone would do something like that with old Broadcasting Yearbooks.

Can't find my FM Converter on google. I can tell from the pictures, my converter must have been a very cheap model. I think the radio and installation cost me $20.00!!

Gee Craig, your Crystal radios were quite a step up from mine. Mine consisted of the crystal in a little container glued to a board, the cats whisker needle mounted nearby, a diode, a pair of headphones (mono of course) that I found in my dad's ham shack (other side of my bedroom) an a tuning coil that I wound some wire around a toilet paper inner cardboard. There was also a capacitor, too. All it picked up was KEX and KXL.
Yeah, it was "fun" poking around that crystal with the cats whisker looking for the spot with the best pickup.

All I could hear was KOIN.

Anyone remember the Radio Pencil?

http://blog.modernmechanix.com/mags/ModernMechanix/9-1934/pencil_radio.jpg

"Anyone remember the Radio Pencil"

Nope... But I remember using a pencil lead and a rusty razor blade to fabricate a crude detector.

I had a Superscope FM converter in 1976 that worked very well, though my '71 Pontiac had one of those in-the-glass antennas so I had to drill a hole in the fender to mount a proper one.

Around then a CB-band converter appeared on the market briefly at the height of the craze.

Years ago, I saw one of those CB-to-AM converters at a flea market.

I couldn't resist the temptation to look at those old radio shack catalogs. Imagine my surprise when I found out that "D" subminiature connectors existed in 1955!!

Odd places to listen to Radio? How about in a Cessna 150? My soon-to-be-ex Bill Ring and I would fly to California (early 70's) and position the airplane's instruments to AM radio towers. What a hoot when I think about it!

One of my favorite FM DX spots, where I logged many FM stations from Vancouver BC to Eugene OR, was a parking lot on the side of a mountain... It disappeared in a puff of smoke May 18 1980

My favorite listening location is in my tent while camping up on Benson Plateau in the Gorge. Love it when I can listen to San Francisco radio up there, yet being able to hear the air talent running the board live.

Craig, speaking of Broadcasting Yearbooks, here's a site with PDFs you can download (Many years 1944-1979).

http://www.davidgleason.com/Broadcasting_Yearbook_Summary_Page.htm

> Odd places to listen to Radio? How about in a Cessna 150?

DXing from an airplane or even a hot air balloon is something that I hope to do someday. Amateur radio operation from an airplane or balloon would be nice, as well.

Thanks Steve but "Randy In Eugene" beat you to it. He sent me the E-Mail link on Friday morning. It's a Mind Blower all right! When I E-Mailed it Ron Kramer in Ashland, he was Ecstatic! It's the biggest web link discovery in years for radio historian's like us.

Craig, glad you had the above Broadcasting Yearbooks link. I also wanted to make sure it is shared with others on this board.