First 2 Metre Ham Transmission

RCA Ham Tips January-March 1953

"History in the making! George M Rose (K2AH), manager of the RCA Tube Department’s Advanced Development Group, is shown keying a 146 Mc transistor transmitter. We believe this to be the first use of a transistor in two-way radio communication.

This preview of “things to come” was made possible by the use of a developmental type transistor now being studied in the RCA Tube Department’s Laboratories. With this small experimental battery-operated crystal oscillator, K2AH of Mountain Lakes, NJ contacted W2KNI, Mountainside NJ (16 miles away), W2SPB, E Orange NJ (16 miles away and W2UK, New Brunswick, NJ (25 miles away).

According to George, power input to this tiny rig as 30 milliwatts (10v at 3 ma). This transmitter, employing a point-contact transistor and a 16 Mc crystal operating on its 9^th overtone, is powered by a 22½ volt hearing-aid battery. The transmitting antenna at K2AH is a 12-element beam and the receiving antennas at W2KNI, W2DPB and W2UK contain 10, 6 and 40 elements respectively.

RCA transistors are still in the development stages but when they become commercially available you will be so informed by an announcement in HAM TIPS." [Text from Ham Tips courtesy of Joe Knight]

AWA Display of the 2 Metre Transmitter

Schematic for the Rose Transmitter

Reference:

Rose G 1953 The Transistor-Or 25 Miles on a Hunk of Germanium QST March 1953 13-15 kindly provided by Jack Ward.