Seventy years ago this month, the February 1952 issue of Radio Electronics showed how to put together this one-tube loudspeaker set for the broadcast band. The magazine noted that such a circuit had long been a favorite sport of the advanced constructor, but it was tricky, since much more gain and power was needed to drive a speaker.

The author actually used two circuits, shown below, and noted that the 1D8GT circuit performed best. In both cases, the tube was reflexed, meaning that it provided both RF and AF gain, and the RF stage used regeneration. The detector was the then relatively new 1N34 diode.

The circuit used permeability tuning, but noted that a variable capacitor would work equally well.  A hinged cabinet was used, with the electronics in one half and the speaker and battery in the other.