If you look closely at this picture from the October 1943 issue of Popular Mechanics, you’ll see a 1H5 tube lying on the table. This means that the trio shown here decided to build the one-tube version of the receiver described in the issue. Included were the plans for two almost identical receivers, the difference being that the one shown at left used a crystal detector, while this group decided to tackle the only slightly more complicated,tube version, shown below.

For either set, as long as the builder had a good set of headphones, a quick look at the junk box, or a trip to the dime store, would produce the necessary parts.

Either set was mounted on a 10 x 13-1/2 inch breadboard, with the coil wound on a toilet paper tube. The coils were tapped and hooked to the switch that gave the sets, the Toothbrush Twins, their name. The switch was made with the handle of a toothbrush from which the bristles were removed with a pair of pliers. This was used as the slider, which contacted thumb tacks layed out on the board with the help of a compass.

If a shorter antenna was used, this was fed to the coil. A longer antenna had its own Fahnestock clip, and bypassed the coil.  Either set was said to provide excellent results with local stations, with the tube version showing a bit more selectivity.