Sixty years ago this month, the April 1962 issue of Popular Electronics carried the plans for this hybrid one-tube/one-transistor receiver for the broadcast band. According to the magazine, the set would provide room-level volume on local broadcast stations, and while not hi-fi, was more listenable than one would expect from such a simple circuit.

The detector used a 12AE6-A tube as grid-leak detector. Since the tube was intended for hybrid car radios, it could run on a very low B+ voltage. In this case, that was 12 volts supplied by a filament transformer. The audio amplification was handled by a 2N231 germanium PNP transistor. The final semiconductor component was a 1N34 diode serving as rectifier.

The tuning coil was wound honeycomb style on a cardboard form. The set was said to pull in the local stations with an 8 foot antenna tucked behind a bookcase.