Back in the day, kids were warned about things like not listening to the radio in the bathtub, or even to wear shoes in the basement. This was because caution was warranted around many electrical devices, especially the “AC-DC” radio, which was the most common design.

These circuits were such that one side of the electrical cord was often connected directly to the chassis. For some semblance of safety, there were some precautions taken. First of all, the cabinet was often made of wood or plastic, which insulated the chassis inside. Even then, though, there was often a screw visible in the back. In some cases, the connection to the chassis was through a capacitor, although that could eventually become leaky. So taking your five-tube radio into the bathroom probably wasn’t a good idea.

This hint for adding a bit more safety appeared in Radio-Electronics 75 years ago, May 1950. If the plug is plugged in with the correct polarity, then the risk of shock is minimized considerably. These days, if you’re restoring an old radio, it’s a good idea to add a polarized cord and/or a three-prong plug.  Even so, it’s probably best not to use it in the bathroom or near the kitchen sink.

Sixty-five years ago this month, the May 1960 issue of Radio Electronics showed that a portable AM radio can made a surprisingly good direction finder. The loop antenna is typically directional, and has sharp nulls as it is pointing directly at the station. You can use this effect to determine your location quite accurately by taking readings from two stations, and plotting them on a map from the station’s known location. The lines should intersect at your exact location.

I have done this before, and by using local AM stations, I can plot my exact location within a few hundred yards. At night, by using distant stations, I can determine my location within a few tens of miles.

Since the radio’s antenna is typically parallel with the case, you can do a good job of plotting by simply laying the radio on the map, and using it as a straight edge. But the article shows a more refined method. You can use an HO-scale model railroad turntable and mount the radio on that. This provides a handy crank, and you can calibrate the dial with exact directions.

A further refinement was to obtain a surplus pelorus and mount the radio in that. This would allow very exact visual bearings to the station.  Unfortunately, there don’t seem to be many surplus peloruses (yes, that’s the correct plural) in circulation these days.

Once you know your position, you can navigate directly toward one of the stations by placing your radio parallel with your boat, and simply keep the signal nulled.

Some links on this site are affiliate links, meaning that this site earns a small commission if you make a purchase after using the link.

Eighty-five years ago this month, the May 1940 issue of the British Practical Mechanics magazine showed how to build this pocket-sized two-tube receiver. The magazine acknowledged that to make it pocket sized necessitated putting the batteries somewhere else. But as long as they could be placed in, perhaps, a different pocket, then the set could be built into a small cigar box.

To avoid cracking the delicate wood of the box, no band switch was used. Instead, to switch between medium waves and long waves, the ground cable used a crocodile clip which would affix to a different tap of the coil.

Sixty years ago, if you needed a job, you could always sell magazines. You could sell them to your friends; you could sell them over the phone; you could go door to door. You would be your own boss, and there was really no investment involved. If you could sell, the sky was the limit.

This ad appeared in the May 1965 issue of Electronics Illustrated, and it invited you to sell that magazine, along with other leading publications. All you had to do was send them a postcard, and they would send you everything you needed to get started. You would just start selling new and renewal subscriptions, and you would get a commission for each sale.

In college, I had one friend who was involved with something similar. He was given a stack of business reply postcards, and the idea was to get people to send them in to subscribe. He would get a commission. He did this by placing hundreds or thousands of postcards into school lockers. Apparently, one or two people subscribed, and he once got a check for a couple of dollars.

I don’t think it’s really viable to sell magazines door to door these days. For one thing, paper magazines are rapidly becoming a dying breed. And I’m not aware of any magazines that will send you postcards to stuff in people’s lockers.

But there is a thing called affiliate marketing, and this site engages in it. Occasionally, we make a few pennies. We haven’t made our first million yet, but it does keep this site self-sustaining. If you click on any of the Amazon links on this site, and then make a purchase (even if it’s not for the item you clicked on), then this site earns a commission. And Amazon sells everything, including magazine subscriptions (both print and online).

If you are interested in making money online, I do have some ideas of how you can do so, at this link. You won’t make huge amounts of money fast, but you can make some money online. Some of those ideas are somewhat out of date, but there are things you can do to make money.

Unless you happened to see the headphones, you would think this gentleman 85 years ago was fiddling with his camera. But he’s actually listening to the radio hidden in an old camera case, as described in the May 1940 issue of Radio News.

The two-tube regenerative set could be used with a loudspeaker (mounted where the lens used to be) for strong local stations, or with headphones as shown here. Both the A and B batteries were concealed within the camera.