The plans for this somewhat “retro” looking receiver appeared in Elementary Electronics magazine forty years ago, May-June 1978. The two-transistor regenerative set tuned 550 kHz to 14 MHz with the use of three plug-in coils.

Good performance was obtained through the use of “spiderweb” coils, which also added to the nostalgic appearance of the set. As the article noted, this type of coil was very popular in the early days of radio, since such coils exhibit a very high Q factor.

Another advantage of this type of coil is that it doesn’t require the use of now-unobtainium plug-in coil forms, since the article explains how to make the form. A template is included in the article, which is to be traced onto tissue paper, and then used as the template for cutting the forms from a sheet of plastic with a jigsaw or hacksaw. Brass eyelets (“available at notions counters in department stores”) were then used as the plug connections.