This duo are putting the finishing touches on a two-band, two-tube receiver, as shown 70 years ago this month in the January 1950 issue of Popular Mechanics. The set tuned the broadcast band and 1.5-15 MHz shortwave with plug-in coils. The set as shown here used a 6SG7 as RF amplifier, with a 6SN7GT detector and AF amplifier.

The chassis looks a little bit empty because this is a “progressive” set. The version shown in this magazine would start pulling in the stations, using headphones. Later issues of the magazine would show improvements. An external power supply is used, but at this point, only the filament winding of the power transformer is used. The article cautions to carefully tape the high voltage leads, as they wouldn’t be used until a later version. In the meantime, the filaments are run from the power supply, with batteries supplying the B+ voltage.

The article noted that hand-wound coils were requested by builders of earlier versions of the set, and they were obliged with complete coil winding instructions.