The gentleman shown here is now about 80 years old, but in September 1952, he was in Nebraska, pulling in Guam on an inexpensive broadcast radio, thanks to the converter described in that month’s issue of Radio News.

He’s quite possibly the son of author Stan Johnson, W0LBV, who was previously featured here.  According to the author, the setup was the answer for a novice looking for an inexpensive but well performing receiver, or for the old timer who needed a second set. Despite the low cost, it was said to give $100+ communications receivers a run for their money. It could be used for any band between 160 and 10 meters with suitable coils, but the construction article specifically showed how to wind coils for 80 and 11 meters, the bands open for novices at the time.

The output of the converter was at the top of the standard broadcast band. It included a BFO to allow reception of code signals.