A Learning Moment; The First Mobile Units and Field Cameras

In 1939, RCA designed and built the first mobile television production units ever. They were a pair but between them, supported only two cameras as one unit was a control room truck and one was a generator/transmitter truck.

This is one of those two RCA Iconoscope field cameras assigned to those units. Notice the lens on the camera and the four thumb screws at each corner of the lens plate. By unscrewing these and removing the lens, the camera reverted to it’s internal lens with a default focal length that is thought to be 75mm.

These ‘add on’ lenses were basically wide angle adapters and telephoto lenses and were used on the studio versions too, but those had dual lens pairs, one above the other, to give the cameraman an idea of what the tube was seeing through his optical viewfinder. Focus on these camera was achieved with the right pan handle, just like on the TK41s. RCA did not have electronic viewfinders till around 1943 or 44 when the Orthicon cameras came along, however early on, Dumont had electronic viewfinders that were mounted on the left side of their Iconoscope cameras.

These two trucks were called ‘Telemobile’ trucks and were designed solely to do ‘outside pick-ups.’ One contained standard rack-mounted equipment for two cameras…the other housed a 159 megacycle, 300W transmitter with a hinged antenna mast. Each unit was about the size and shape of a 25-passenger bus and weighed 10 tons. The total power required to operate both units was approximately 20KW.

The TV ‘pick-up’ signals were sent via microwave to the transmitter in the Empire State Building. The new medium of ‘pictures from the sky’ incorporated equipment and technology from its predecessors. Camera support equipment included Mitchell heads from the film industry, and thirty-inch-plus parabolic mics from NBC Radio were used to get bat cracks and other natural sound. It must have been a challenge for the sports camera operator to frame a shot. RCA had three camera models—one for studio with optical viewfinders and two models for use in the field. One field model, like this one, had two sighting posts at the rear and a square back for mounting them. The other field model had a rounded back and a foldout wire frame viewfinder on the left side of the camera, similar to still photography cameras of the time.

Intercom equipment was new as well. The headset mic piece was a contraption that had a small curved horn for a mouthpiece and was worn on the chest and the ear pieces were radio headsets.

One final thought. The removable lens system on this is remarkably similar to the TK42. Most think the large black thing on the front of TK42s is the lens, but it is actually the optional wide angle adapter…the TK42 lens is internal, just like this.

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