John F. Rider

John Francis Rider (1900–1985) was an American radio engineer best known as publisher and author of over 125 books for radio and television servicing. He founded John F. Rider Publisher Inc. and was responsible for annual volumes of the Perpetual Troubleshooter's Manual from 1931 to 1954.

Early years Born in 1900 to Austro-Hungarian parents, John Francis Rider immigrated to the United States in 1902 and grew up during the invention of the vacuum tube by John Ambrose Fleming and Lee de Forest and the invention of radio by Guglielmo Marconi. Before getting involved into publishing he served at the rank of Lt. Colonel for the US Signal Corps after military service he became a radio engineer for Alfred H. Grebe a manufacturer of radios. According to Alan Douglas, a noted radio historian, Rider may have been one of the many engineers that worked on Grebe's top-of-the-line Synchrophase 7 Receivers in 1927. He states, "John Rider was a good engineer, aside from his publishing career. I believe he designed the audio system of the 1927 Grebe Synchrophase 7, arguably the first hi-fi radio (response to 8 kHz, way ahead of broadcast standards of the day). He conceived the idea of a tuned analyzer (Chanalyst) and sold the first VTVM using the balanced-bridge circuit that became universal for decades (Voltohmyst). He got his name on several patents in the test-equipment field, and wrote a large number of books himself".

Rider probably accumulated a lot of knowledge through his military experience and radio engineering which enabled him to work for Hugo Gernsback as editor for Gernsback's Radio-Craft magazine. During the 1920s with the rise of radio manufacturers came the rise of the radio servicing business. The need for radio servicing literature (schematics, parts list, production changes etc.) rose. Gernsback started to produce compilations of servicing data for radio repair. Rider was also an amateur radio operator and his call letters were W2RID.

John F. Rider Publisher Inc. Rider left Gernsback Publishing to start his own publishing company, John F. Rider Publisher at 404 Fourth Avenue, New York City (later moved to 480 Canal St., New York City). He, like Gernsback Publishing before him, was involved with radio servicing literature. In early 1931, John F. Rider's Perpetual Troubleshooter's Manual was`published. The book consisted of genuine service technical data from the radio manufacturers. Each volume represented a year of service data. This, in time became his best known and greatest contribution to the business. There were a total of 23 volumes, ending in 1954. Rider also published over 125 other technical books on servicing and radio theory authored by him or in collaboration. He was a contributor to the WW2 US war effort through his technical publications and teaching military personnel for the US Army.

After WW2, many of the military training manuals were available at little or minimal charge. This was a great opportunity for publishers to capitalize on this as men leaving active military duty were looking to start a career or retrain. In 1955, Rider published the Basic Electronics series, based on the US Navy training books used in their training classes. presented to him by the Radio Club of America, for his preservation of radio and electronic communications in the United States.

Other publications The earliest known year of publishing is given. Many of the books listed were later updated or revised by Rider to be on pace with current technology and servicing practices. All books were written by John F. Rider. Books that were co-written are noted by the person's name.

Title Earliest Publication Date Co-AuthorComment The Mathematics of Radio 1929 -----A.C. Tubes And How To Use Them1929? -----Need to confirm the earliest publication date.Trouble Shooter's Manual: Volume II, The Service Man's Manual1929 -----Pre-Perpetual Trouble Shooter's Manual. Bound, Soft Cover. A Treatise on Testing Units for the Service Men 1929 -----Sound Pictures And Trouble Shooter's Manual1930James R. CameronCameron Publishing Company. James R. Cameron introduces John F. Rider as a new writer to readers of motion picture text books.Practical Testing Systems1930 -----Practical Radio Repairing Hints1931 ----- Servicing Superheterodynes December 1931 -----This is the Original Edition, 1st Printing. The Revised Edition, 1st Printing July, 1934 Servicing Receivers by means of Resistance Measurements 1932 ----- The Cathode-Ray Tube at Work August 1935 -----An Hour A Day with Rider On: Automatic Volume Control1936 ----- An Hour A Day with Rider On: Resonance And Alignment 1936 -----An Hour A Day with Rider On: D-C. Voltage Distribution In Radio Receivers 1936 -----An Hour A Day with Rider On: Alternating Currents In Radio Receivers1937 -----Aligning Philco Receivers1937 -----Volume I Automatic Frequency Control Systems 1937 -----Servicing By Signal Tracing1939 ----- FM: An Introduction To Frequency Modulation March 1940 ----- The Oscillator at Work 1940 -----The Meter at WorkDecember 1940 -----Split-Book, Upper is for illustrations, Lower is for text. Vacuum Tube Voltmeters 1941 -----Automatic Record Changers and Recorders1941 -----Aligning Philco Receivers: Volume II1941 ----- Frequency Modulation 1943 ----- Inside The Vacuum Tube 1945-----Illustrated by Baxter Rowe. Stereoscopic Effect on Anaglyphs facing pages 9, 37, and 122, by using included Red/Blue Spectacles.RADAR: What It Is1946George Clemens Baxter RoweAn easily understood explanation – How it did its job. Understanding Vectors and Phase 1947 Seymour UslanFM Transmission and ReceptionJanuary 1948Seymour UslanSecond Edition: November 1950 . Last printing: November 1955Television: How It WorksJune 1948 ----- Installation and Servicing Low Cost Public Address Systems 1948 -----Rider Public Address Equipment Manual: Volume I1948 ----- Volume 1 and 2 Rider's Television Manual 1949 ----- Encyclopedia of Cathode Ray Oscilloscopes and Their Uses 1950 Seymour Uslan Radio Troubleshooting Guidebook 1954 J. Richard JohnsonObtaining & Interpreting Test Scope Traces195? ----- Magnetism and Electromagnetism 1959 -----

The On Line Rider's Perpetual Troubleshooter's Manual- Nostalgia Air Project With the large interest of restoration and saving consumer "dead technology", the need for Rider servicing literature has grown. At this time the Rider servicing manuals are public domain. For historical and preservation reasons Nostalgia Air took on a long-term task of digitizing the thousands of pages of all 23 volumes of the Perpetual Troubleshooter's Manuals and designing the manufacturer index to allow one to have access to all volumes. Nostalgia Air provides free access and downloading for non-commercial use only. Because of the public domain status and the availability of modern scanning and digitizing technology, there are businesses selling the complete 23 volumes on one DVD.