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Mechanical Televisision

Oregon's First TV Receiver

Courtesy of Art Redman

     The “Behind the Mike” columnist and radio editor of The Oregonian, William Moyes, brought the first factory made television set to Portland, Oregon at the National Radio Show, which ended June 21, 1931. The comments made by the President of NBC said, “The present of television of hit or miss (mostly miss) disc scanning is dead.  Television is not a long -distance affair”. The Vice President of NBC said, “Television exhibits at the Chicago radio show were far from convincing”. Walter A. Schilling told Moyes “Television is the bunk. To see you need a quart of corn liquor, a strong cigar, and a heck of an imagination”. 
Hollis S. Baird of Boston made the receiver consisting of two separate cabinets, a shortwave receiver, and a Drum Scanner television unit capable of receiving in theory W1XAV of Boston, MA. W1XAV transmitted on 1600 to 1700 kHz, boasting 1 kilowatt of power and 60 lines scanning. A comparable scanning disc of 60-lines would require a disc of 36” diameter.
The Baird Universal Television Receiver comes in a cabinet measuring 15 inches square. Instead of a vertical scanning disc, a steel scanning belt mounted on a horizontal disc called a spider. This belt has punched through it; sixty .01” square holes on a   spiral line. The spider mounted on a spindle driven by a 1/20 horsepower ac motor revolving the steel belt. The neon lamp, located in the center space surrounding the sheet belt, projects a spot of light through each hole in succession reproducing 40,000 variations of light per second. The received picture on the plate of the neon tube is about one inch on the sides and a magnifying lens enlarges the 20 frames per second image to almost four inches square.
Moyes erected an aerial at his home after displaying the receiver at the Wedel Company. He never reported he received any television broadcasts, which sound like a buzz saw or television signals from Boston or elsewhere during 1931. 
The Oregonian mentioned July 12, 1931, that it might be possible for Portland viewers to receive the Don Lee television W6X5 located at Los Angeles California. The Lee station transmitting with 80 lines and 15 frames per second and is not compatible with the Hollis Baird scanning drum systems. During December 1932, the Don Lee station transmitted on 140 meters from six to 7 pm daily except Sundays and was received by a viewer in Seattle.

Bibliography:
Collins, Frederick A. Experimental Television: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard, Boston, 1932, pages 278, 279, 280. 
“First Television Set Here”, Ready for Aerial Pictures”, the Oregonian, July 12, 1931, page 48. 

Early Television Museum

5396 Franklin St., Hilliard, OH 43026

(614) 771-0510