The listener shown here, on the cover of the July-August 1970 issue of Elementary Electronics, is listening to her Hallicrafters S-120A “Star Quest” receiver, which had just come out. It was a transistorized version of the S-120, and according to a sidebar in the magazine, it incorporated features found only on more complex and expensive receivers. It tuned the broadcast band, as well as 2-30 MHz shortwave, and included a BFO for tuning in CW and SSB.

But she wasn’t tuning the shortwave bands. She is actually listening to the broadcast band, and making use of the TennaBoost, the device sitting on top of the receiver, the plans for which were included in the magazine. The Tenna Boost was an external preamplifier. It was made from a commercial kit from International Crystal, but modified with the external ferrite loop. The amp was said to provide 30 dB gain, with the loopstick providing an additional 10 to 20 dB. The result was that you would hear a station every 10 kHz along the broadcast band. The article stressed the importance of making sure the case was completely shielded, since without the cabinet being securely screwed together, the amp and loopstick would break into oscillation.

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