Atwater Kent - Model 20 : Important Documents

One of the first things I do once I have acquired a new "treasure" is to gather together all the information I can find and stick it in one place.

To this end, here is what I have found online and scans of some of the paperwork I have acquired. Most will be specific to the Model 20 but some may also cover other Atwater Kent radios:

Sadly I do not have a high resolution scan of the Model 20 log card which I believe is Form F 103, can you help?

This is Form F 194 which would suit a single dial Atwater Kent radio.

The file is scanned at 600DPI and if printed at the same resolution it should be the same size as the original.

A small amount of cleanup may be required to print correctly on your printer.

Download the PNG file HERE (49MB)

At the right is the "Radio Log Cards and Important Instructions" envelope which was used to organize all the paperwork. This would typically be held in between the two clips inside the radio.

If you are wondering what those clips were used for, now you know!

The file is scanned at 600DPI and if printed at the same resolution it should be the same size as the original.

A small amount of cleanup may be required to print correctly on your printer.

Download the PNG file HERE (57MB)

This is the back of the envelope so you can see the fold patterns and get an idea of how it was put together.

I plan to clean up these images and generate a pattern which can be printed out via a large format printer at a FedEx office or similar.

The pieces I have are too fragile to use and would crumble if handled more than a few times.

The file is scanned at 600DPI and if printed at the same resolution it should be the same size as the original.

Download the PNG file HERE (56MB)

I have several of the loud speaker instruction sheets and they seem to be generic enough to suit any of the horn type loud speakers. As far as I know they all have a similar adjustment underneath and all users should heed the warning about connecting them to the receiver with the correct polarity.

As with all the images I have used full color images so you can see the original colors and then change it to black and while to increase contrast for printing.

The file is scanned at 600DPI and if printed at the same resolution it should be the same size as the original.

Download the PNG file HERE (54MB)

This is the Atwater Kent Radio Service Manual from 1928.

This manual covers from the Model 10 to the Model 52 including accessories such as the power units and loud speakers.

This manual was a pain to find so hopefully this will help some people out and ease frustration.

Download the PDF file HERE (8MB)





This is the Atwater Kent Radio Instruction Book Vol. 2 from 1925.

The instruction book covers the Model 10 through to the Model 24 and contains important photographs showing battery cables, battery boxes and other accessories.

Download the PDF HERE (14MB)








I'm looking for high resolution scans of the following two forms: F91A and F101 as shown in the picture below. If you have scans or can point me in the right direction I would appreciate it!

Atwater Kent Model 20 "Big Box" - 1924

Ok, you got me. This isn't technically an amateur radio blog post but I would argue that radio in the early 1920's was the pursuit of the amateur, the enthusiast and the tinkerer. The amount of crossover between commercial broadcast radio and amateur radio in those days was much greater than it is now. Anyway, that's my excuse ... but why the Atwater Kent Model 20?

The model 20 or AK20

Well, to make along story short, I found an example of this Atwater Kent model sitting in a flea market stall in Hot Spings Arkansas. It looked like it had seen better days but was fully complete including the five '01A' vacuum tubes. The owner wanted $200 for the radio and explained the better part was the included horn type loud speaker which was worth $150. The horn speaker looked to be in fairly bad shape and lacking any way to test it I cheekily asked if he would take $50 for the radio ... "Sure", he said and my wallet was instantly $50 lighter.

Now I have a few vintage radios at home, perhaps a few too many depending on who you ask, and I consider them all to be interesting examples in their own right. More or less money, time and research was employed to create these radios and a great variety of circuits and designs was the result.

First impressions told me this was different, I had never owned anything like the Atwater Kent radio before. It was certainly older than my other radios but it was also constructed unlike any other radio I owned. Even under layers of grime, dust and mud dauber's nests this was obviously an article of quality. The finish on the wood cabinet and the metal front panel had seen some heat and were very badly checked in addition to the 90 or so years that had taken its toll. On the lip of the hinged top was a protected area which still showed how the finish looked originally, the dark mahogany and subtle gloss hinting that it had once looked very smart indeed.

The model 20 compact or AK20C

Once I had Internet access again I started to research the model 20 and try and learn something about it. It was at this stage, after some initial confusion, that I noticed that my model 20 was the older and perhaps slightly rarer "Big Box" version. There isn't much between them but some important differences crop up as far as restoration goes, for example:

Most references I found online suggested that the front panel of the model 20 was painted with a crinkle finish however this was only true of the later versions.

In an Atwater Kent advertising booklet, published at the time, they write, "The front of the cabinet is of metal with a deep brown mat surface which brings out the sparkling sheen of the lighter brown Bakelite dials, knobs, etc., and the nickel-plated trimmings."

I'll need to clean my Bakelite parts and possibly wax them to bring up the original "sparkling sheen" of the tuning, aerial tap and filament rheostat knobs.

A suggestion from the Antique Radio Forums that Rust-Oleum Earth Brown paint followed by black KIWI boot polish applied using 0000 steel wool sounds like it would come pretty close to producing the right finish and will probably be the path I choose when I refinish the front panel.

This AK20, from The Backwood Realm, appears
to have the original finish and looks similar to mine.

For the woodwork we're fortunate to find the description below and some more research indicates that nitro-cellulose lacquer was used at the time and is still available now.

"The cabinet of the Model 20 Receiver, pictured above, is of solid mahogany, stained a dark brown, then shellacked, triply lacquered, and rubbed to a dull, glossy, long-wearing finish."

Overall it seems very understated compared to modern electronics, even down to "The name plate, of dull bronze, is both distinctive and unobtrusive."

I hardly need to say, to most folks at least, that Ebay is a wonderful, and terrible, place to shop for antique radio parts. Wonderful because at any one time there are parts available for just about any radio you might have and terrible because you'll be jostling with tens, or hundred, or thousands of other collectors and re-sellers ... many of which have some very deep pockets indeed!

Unused Atwater Kent Radio Log card.

After vowing I would never pay Ebay prices I lasted approximately 3 minutes and then started looking on Ebay for some of the things I knew I was missing.

Before too long I had found an all-important unused "Atwater Kent Radio Log" card and envelope. I intend to scan these items in with a high resolution flat bed scanner and make copies to use and share.

Also I was able to get a set of three tuning knobs since one of the originals on my radio was shattered. Although someone had thoughtfully placed the remains inside the cabinet it was never going to piece back together well enough to look "right"

I had found the Atwater Kent Radio Instruction Book Vol. 2 online and printed out a copy but couldn't resist the temptation to pick up an original as well as another envelope along with some instruction sheets for various models of AK loud speakers.

I already own a modern ARBE-III battery eliminator so this really left only one thing to find ... a loud speaker.

Even the parts you don't see, are expensive.

I should have known that finding "the right loud speaker" for the model 20 would not be a simple task. While it will work with many different speakers including later cone style Atwater Kent units and those manufactured by other companies, the "right" speaker ... the type shown in all the period advertising literature ... is the Atwater Kent type M, L, H or R radio speaker.

All but one of those models allegedly used pot metal in their construction which eventually succumbs to the dreaded "pot metal disease" making it crack and expand. I have dealt with pot metal disease before and have no intention of doing battle with it again ... this left one model, the model M, as the one I was looking for.

Ok, so there was one model M listed on Ebay and it looked to be in good condition as well as "working" according to the seller. In fact the more I looked at it, the better it looked ... it seemed to be in very nearly new condition. After I finished drooling over the photographs I decided that I would limit myself to $100 not including the $50 shipping involved. The shipping was more than average and I hoped this would keep bids low and reduce the amount of interest. This seemed to work for a while ... the bids topped out at around $80 and I thought I might be on a winner, however this was short lived and the bids jumped to over $100 and kept on going. "Ah well", I thought, "such is life". I knew there would be an vintage and antique radio auction coming up in a month and I could probably find something there at a reasonable price.

The Atwater Kent Type M Loud Speaker.

At this point I took a shower, which is something I would recommend to anyone suffering some disappointment ... or a bath. Worst case you end up cleaner if still disappointed which is surely a small improvement.

At the same time my wife, who perpetually despairs of ever buying the right gift for a husband who is notoriously difficult to buy for, noticed my dejection and moved over to my computer which I had foolishly left logged into Ebay (I should know better, really).

A furious round of bidding started between my wife and a number of others who knew little of her determination to win this auction. I won't mention the final amount, I would like to say because, "One doesn't discuss money" but mainly because it still makes me a little woozy to think about.

If you were bidding on that same speaker then I apologize, but you never really stood a chance.

After further research I've learnt a bit more about the internals of the AK20 and uncovered the meaning behind its three tuning dials and various other controls. In order to provide more amplification, not to mention more selectivity, the AK20 uses three largely identical tuned circuits. Each tuned circuit is controlled by a separate knob on the front panel and all three must be "in agreement" before you will hear anything from the loudspeaker. Next comes the detector circuit which converts the amplitude modulated radio frequencies into audio frequencies and finally two further stages of audio amplification.

The other controls on the front panel are the aerial tuning switch which selects different taps on the first set of coils and the filament rheostats. The filament rheostats, in addition to correcting the voltage supplied by the batteries to the vacuum tube filaments, also act as the volume control by lowering the filament voltage which in turn lowers the volume from its maximum to a comfortable listening level.

Next steps will involve re-finishing the front panel and cabinet, checking tubes along with the few capacitors and resistors, then a careful power-up with high impedance headphones ... the AK loud speaker can wait until I am absolutely sure that it is working as intended!

I hope to update the blog as I progress, as well as uploading pictures and more detailed data such as circuit diagrams and service information HERE.

Where to find the $20 Software Defined Radio?

A while back I wrote a blog post about the availability of $20 software defined VHF/UHF radios in the form of re-purposed USB digital television dongles.

Now-days, with the improvements in software and documentation, the hardest part is finding the right dongle. What you order from EBay, and what you receive, can be two different things and only some of the dongles are suitable for use as VHF/UHF software defined radios.

So, I was pleased to see that at least one hobbyist electronics supplier has sought out and supplies a suitable device for SDR at a fair price :

Adafruit has available the USB dongle and "antenna" suitable for experimentation for $22.50, not far from the EBay (direct from China) price.

Click here to go directly to the product page: Software Defined Radio Receiver USB Stick - RTL2832 w/R820T

No, I didn't receive a free evaluation unit and I don't work for Adafruit ... I'm just glad to see these useful devices available from a local company with an increased chance of you "Getting what you paid for."

Adafruit also helpfully stock the adapter cables to convert the less common MCX antenna connector into the much more common BNC connector: MCX Jack to BNC RF Cable Adapter

Desert Farming Experiment Yields First Results

Desert Farming Experiment Yields First Results | Science/AAAS | News

A project to “green” desert areas with an innovative mix of technologies—producing food, biofuel, clean water, energy, and salt—reached a milestone this week in the Gulf state of Qatar. A pilot plant built by the Sahara Forest Project (SFP) produced 75 kilograms of vegetables per square meter in three crops annually, comparable to commercial farms in Europe, while consuming only sunlight and seawater.  The heart of the SFP concept is a specially designed greenhouse. At one end, salt water is trickled over a gridlike curtain so that the prevailing wind blows the resulting cool, moist air over the plants inside. This cooling effect allowed the Qatar facility to grow three crops per year, even in the scorching summer. At the other end of the greenhouse is a network of pipes with cold seawater running through them. Some of the moisture in the air condenses on the pipes and is collected, providing a source of fresh water.

One of the surprising side effects of such a seawater greenhouse, seen during early experiments, is that cool moist air leaking out of it encourages other plants to grow spontaneously outside. The Qatar plant took advantage of that effect to grow crops around the greenhouse, including barley and salad rocket (arugula), as well as useful desert plants. The pilot plant accentuated this exterior cooling with more “evaporative hedges” that reduced air temperatures by up to 10°C. “It was surprising how little encouragement the external crops needed,” says SFP chief Joakim Hauge.

The third key element of the SFP facility is a concentrated solar power plant. This uses mirrors in the shape of a parabolic trough to heat a fluid flowing through a pipe at its focus. The heated fluid then boils water, and the steam drives a turbine to generate power. Hence, the plant has electricity to run its control systems and pumps and can use any excess to desalinate water for irrigating the plants.

The Qatar plant has also experimented with other possibilities such as culturing heat-tolerant algae, growing salt-tolerant grasses for fodder or biofuel, and evaporating the concentrated saline the plant emits to produce salt.

The Qatar plant—which is supported by Qatari fertilizer companies Yara International and Qafco—is just 1 hectare in extent with 600 square meters of growing area in the greenhouse. The fact that this small greenhouse produced such good yields, Hauge says, suggests that a commercial plant—with possibly four crops a year—could do even better. SFP researchers estimate that a facility with 60 hectares of growing area under greenhouses could provide all the cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, and egglants now imported into Qatar. The results “reveal the potential for enabling restorative growth and value creation in arid land,” Hauge says. "I personally think that it is very important that people promote and invest in these ideas. Protected agriculture (I call it "indoor food production") is an important option for the desert areas, particularly in the Middle East," says Richard Tutwiler, director of the Desert Development Center at the American University in Cairo. "The big question is economic feasibility. How much did it cost to produce 75 kg of cucumbers per square meter?"

SFP is now engaged in studies aimed at building a 20-hectare test facility near Aqaba in Jordan. “This will be a considerable scaling up from the 1 hectare in Qatar,” Hauge says, and big enough to demonstrate commercial operation.

Shock and Awe - The story of electricity.

Amateur radio has a long history, going all the way back to wireless experiments in the late 1800s. However the study of electricity has its roots in the observation of natural phenomena and stretches back much further.

I ran across this excellent three part documentary detailing the story of the discovery of electricity. The presenter is Jim Al-Khalili, currently Professor of Theoretical Physics and Chair in the Public Engagement in Science at the University of Surrey. He not only knows his stuff, he is also an interesting and engaging speaker.

The documentary runs for three hours but is worth your time if you are interested in the story of electricity and the people behind its discovery and history. I hope you find it as enjoyable as I did.