1935 Two Tube Receiver

1935TwoTubePortableEighty years ago, the July 1935 issue of Popular Mechanics
showed how to make this little two-tube broadcast receiver. It uses two dual tubes, a 6F7 and 12A7. The dynamic speaker is likely unobtanium, but a similar design with a PM speaker could probably be done, although it would require a separate filter choke in the power supply. An exact duplication of the design might be a bad idea, though. Not only does the set use a “curtain burner” cord to drop the filament voltage, but one side of the power cord is hooked directly to the chassis, meaning that there’s a 50% chance that it has 120 volts on it.

According to the article, the little set pulled in stations as well as a 4 or 5 tube model, and the small size made it ideal for the traveling man, tourist, or summer home.

The chassis and case were made of heavy cardboard with a coating of shellac. The parts were mounted on a piece of aluminum which served as the actual (hot) chassis.

1935TwoTubePortableSchematic

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