Eighty years ago this month, the April 1944 issue of Radio Craft carried this circuit for a shortwave receiver said to have “brought in those far-off, hard-to-get stations.” It had been submitted to the magazine by one Jerome N. Seibert of St. Paul, MN. He noted that he used the 27 tube as a rectifier, because that was what he happened to have on hand. The use of a power supply rather than batteries is probably because batteries were hard to come by during the war.

The editors of the magazine suggested swapping the 27 rectifier with the 45 tube used as an audio amplifier. They noted that the 27 would provide more audio, and the 45 would be able to supply more power. Some modifications of the circuit were required.

It appears that the author was this Jerome N. Seibert, who would have been 19 years old when he submitted the circuit to the magazine. His gravestone indicates that he served in the U.S. Army Air Corps in World War II, meaning that he was drafted or enlisted shortly after graduating from high school and sending his circuit to the magazine. He died in 1994.

The plans for this handsome two-tube set appeared 80 years ago this month in the March 1944 issue of Radio Craft magazine. The author had a broken midget set with a cracked case, one bad tube, and some loose connections, but he was able to use the parts to make this portable TRF set.

For a cabinet, he found some clear plastic. The result, despite wartime parts shortages, was a radio almost as good as the donor.

Eighty years ago, these gentlemen are disassembling an old radio to salvage the parts within. There was a war going on, and those old parts would provide many useful materials. The March 1944 issue of Popular Mechanics reminded them to unsolder all fixed resistors and capacitors, rather than clipping the leads. It also reminded them to save the coils, sockets, and screws in separate compartments in their junk boxes.

Eighty years ago this month, the February 1944 issue of Radio Craft gave some description of the automatic gun director system illustrated here. The system consisted of a computer (undoubtedly analog) that directed the gun exactly where to fire. The path of the plane was plotted by two telescopes, whose operators kept the plane in the cross hairs for a few seconds, to plot the aircraft’s location, speed, and direction. Height was measured in a similar manner, and the computer had inputs for wind direction and velocity, muzzle velocity, and air pressure. The result was a gun that was able to aim itself to the spot where the plane would be when the shell arrived.

The duo behind the counter here are Dick Hall, W5EIB, and his wife Lillian Hall, W5EUG, owners of R.C. & L.F. Hall, 1015 Caroline St., Houston, Texas.

Their business began when they found a lack of interest by local dealers for hams, and Dick began stocking a few parts in his home. As the stock started to overtake their entire house, they moved to a downtown location. As they anticipated American entry into the war, their business focused on industrial and marine parts. When war came, they knew the whereabouts of most amateur transmitters and receivers in the area, and facilitated sales of that equipment to the military.

The Halls discovered that dealers and hams don’t really mix. The dealer, seeking marine and industrial parts, knew just what he wanted, whereas the hams wanted a place that talked their language. They anticipated a big future for their business after the war, as hams came on the air, and as FM and TV stations would create new markets.

The picture and accompanying article appeared in Radio Retailing, Feburary 1944. This eBay listing shows a 1946 ad for their business, which by then had locations in Beaumont, Dallas, and Galveston, in addition to the Houston store, which was then at 1306 Clay Avenue.

Eighty years ago, there was a war going on, but in his workshop, this gentleman had a power supply capable of putting out 250 volts and six volts. He also had a few tubes lying around, so he put together this audio amplifier, which he used as an intercom. The master station was down in the shop by his power supply, and he mounted a speaker in the kitchen. It was fed with a single wire, with water or steam pipes serving as the second conductor.

From the shop, he could monitor what was going on in the kitchen. And when his wife announced that lunch was almost ready, he let her know he was on the way up. The amp could also be used for a phonograph, as shown in the schematic.

The circuit appeared in the January 1944 issue of Popular Science.