TV Signal Booster
Turner TV-2
Read more about Turner Microphone Co.

The Turner Microphone Company, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, started out in 1931 making PA systems and grew to be one of the top microphone makers in the US. (They also were the largest maker of embalming machines!) Like many companies, they got into the TV booster business in 1951 as a way of expanding their product line (and probably in response to the fact that Cedar Rapids was a long way from the nearest TV station).

This nicely-made and -styled booster was the company's second, probably introduced in 1952. Like its predecessor, it has continuous tuning, but with larger knobs and a more conventional bakelite cabinet. The ability to tune the FM radio band and the Ham 6-meter band was a minor selling point for continuous-tuning boosters like this. Turner was not able to solve the problem of non-linear tuning, resulting in the upper channels being compressed into the rightmost inch of the dial. As in the TV-1, a Mallory Inductuner and a 12AT7 dual triode perform the RF work, with a power transformer and selenium rectifier taking care of supply voltages. The TV set could be plugged into the back and turned on with the Turner's left-hand function control. The function switch's middle "standby" position turned on the booster's tubes' filaments and passed the antenna signal straight through to the TV set when the booster wasn't needed.

Updated June 6, 2018