Shown here is Sgt. Donald L. De Velder of Rochester, NY. He was stationed in Panama, and spent fruitless months trying to find a radio. After finding nothing but the opportunity to spend a fortune on an old beat up piece of tin, he decided to take matters into his own hands and build his own.

Together with Staff Sergeant Emmet Ellis of Nigara Falls, NY, he was able to assemble this two-tube set. It ran off the 110 volt line cord, and a short antenna running down his foot locker allowed him to pull in the local Armed Forces station, as well as other Panamanian stations. The cabinet was made of plywood, and almost all parts were scrounged up from junk heaps. The only expense was for the 32L7 tube, which set the Sergeant back $2, although he was quick to point out that he could have found it for 69 cents back in the States.

The set used two dual tubes. A 12B8 served as RF amplifier and detector. The 32L7 provided audio amplification to drive a PM speaker, with the other half of that tube serving as rectifier. The set was written up in the November 1944 issue of Popular Mechanics.  Sgt  DeVelder died in 2007 at the age of 83.