The accompanying article doesn’t say for sure, but I’m guessing the gentleman shown at the left made some serious extra income 75 years ago, thanks to the audio amplifier he built, based on plans in the November 1946 issue of Popular Mechanics.

The general-purpose amplifier put out 32 watts, and had enough power to drive four large speakers. It could be used in emergencies, or to provide music and public address for school groups or outdoor activities. It had two 6L6 tubes in push-pull configuration running class AB-1, and weighed in at only 22 pounds, with a plywood chassis.

By 1961, it was clear that the 11 meter Citizens Band was a hit. Popularity hadn’t hit the frenzied levels of the 1970s, but it was becoming popular, especially by those with some background in electronics. The 27 MHz band had been allocated to Class D CB in 1958, and in three years, much equipment was available on the market.

The November 1961 issue of Popular Electronics carried a primer for those thinking about getting into CB radio, penned by prolific electronics writer Tom Kneitel. He gave basic advice on radios, antennas, operating, and licensing.

The article’s byline contains his CB call sign, 2W1965. CB calls at the time were in this format, starting with a number showing area of the country where licensed. The map showing those zones graced the magazine’s cover. This was followed by the letter W, and then a serial number.

A few years later, the format changed to three letters (later four) starting with K, followed by four digits.

A hundred years ago, radio was definitely ready for prime time, as made clear by the cover of the November 1921 issue of Popular Science.  This father-son team had caught the radio bug, and they were apparently Giants fans. The newspaper indicates that they’re listening to the final game of the 1921 World Series, which the Giants clinched on October 13.

The accompanying feature article by Armstrong Perry telling how he listened to the world, and how easy it was for others to get into the radio pastime. The magazine noted that radio was catching on like wildfire.  There were a million fans already, and the thig had just started.

When he started, Perry thought of radio as something like a fire extinguisher on a lifeboat–something for use only in an emergency. But once he tried it out, he was in for a great awakening of the romance of radio. A friend talked him into buying the cheapest possible receiving set, consisting of a detector, headphones, and some wire for aerial and ground. The second he hooked it up, he heard jazz through the headphones and was hooked. He also heard Morse code, and when he started hearing the same patterns at the same time each night, he wrote down the dots and dashes, and was able to translate the first message:

QST QST QST de NAH NAH NAH.

Amateur Broadcast: If you are interested in this broadcast, please advise by mail, United States Navy, Radio Amateur Bureau, New York.

At once, he wrote a letter saying that he was very much interested. He received a form to return, and was soon registered as an amateur.

One night, to my astonishment, I found my own name at the beginning of a message. Imagine the thrill with which I took out of the air a reply by the Navy Radio Amateur Bureau to a letter I had written them the day before! Let me tell you that it’s the thrill of a lifetime when your government first communicates with you direct by wireless, and you get the message out of the air yourself.

Perry writes of some of the other thrills of the airwaves, such as hearing an SOS, and then hearing announcements by NAH to clear the air for the emergency traffic. You can read more on that subject at this post.

The article author, Armstrong Perry, was also an official of the Boy Scouts of America, and was the author, the same month, of a letter to the editor of QST promoting another service offered by NAH. Every Wednesday evening at 9:30 PM Eastern Time, the station transmitted on 1500 meters a special bulletin for scouts. It was transmitted by spark at 10 words per minute, and Perry pointed out that all scouts learned the Morse code. You can find more information on these broadcasts at our earlier post.

The magazine undoubtedly expected that many would be bit by the radio bug by Armstrong’s article, and the magazine promised forthcoming articles on building a set.

In 1941, for the sports fan who wanted to listen to the baseball game on a baseball, this All American Five was available. The ball was about nine inches in diameter, and had tuning knob on one side and volume on the other.

The radio bore the “Trophy” name, and as you can see from the handwritten notation, it came from the D.A. Pachter Company, Space 1142, Merchandise Mart, Chicago. The company had a wide selection of novelty items, some of which you can see in this 1950 catalog.

They included a matching bowling ball radio, which you can see here.  A nicely preserved example of the baseball radio can be seen at this link.  The photo above appeared in the October 1941 issue of Popular Mechanics.

The plans for this handsome three-tube set are shown in the October 1951 issue of the British Radio Constructor magazine. The set uses three 6AG5 tubes, which were said to be readily available at Government Surplus Stores. One disadvantage of the tubes was the non-variable Mu characteristics, which meant that a conventional volume control was not possible. Undaunted, the volume control is placed in line with the antenna, which could be as short as a few feet. The volume control would be rendered inoperative if the antenna coil picked up signals, so the article explained how to shield that coil.

In the circuit below, the set is for the medium wave band only. If long waves were desired, a second set of coils were used, and switched into the circuit. The band switch also had a third position to power off the set.

The circuit was designed by Peter T. Pitts, G3GYE, who died in 2020 at the age of 92.