Eighty years ago, Junior was hard at work putting together this inexpensive two-tube receiver, while Dad unobtrusively keeps an eye on the progress. He is holding the construction article (complete with his own picture) as it appeared in the December 1940 issue of Popular Mechanics.

When complete, the set would provide about a watt of loudspeaker volume and pull in the local stations. In addition, it had a phono input for connection to a record player, which could be had for about $6. To accomplish this easily, the set was equipped with two volume controls. When you wanted to listen to records, you simply turned down the radio and turned up the control hooked to the record player.

The tube lineup was 25B8GT serving as RF amplifier and detector, with a 70L7GT as rectifier and AF output. When working as a phonograph, the detector stage of the 25B8GT was pressed into service as an audio driver. The set was said to provide volume sufficient for the average room.