Many radio receivers sold in the U.S. in the late 1930s contained a shortwave band, but it took war in Europe for many Americans to show interest in tuning in. Eighty years ago today, the October 6, 1939, issue of Radio Guide provided some pointers in how to get the latest news directly from the European capitals.

During the day, London could be heard on the 16 meter band.  Starting mid afernoon, you could tune to 19 meters and also pull in Berlin and Moscow.  Later at night, France and Italy could be tuned in on the 25 and 31 meter bands.

The outbreak of war in Europe on September 1, 1939, meant opportunity for American radio dealers, and the editors of Radio Retailing were quick to point them out in the October 1939 issue.

In particular, the magazine pointed out that the war revitalized the sale of shortwave sets. The article started with some common-sense tips on how to listen, noting that most of the stations of beligerent countries would be presenting only part of the story at best. It also gives the frequencies of some of the strong European stations and gives some pointers on how to sell shortwave sets to new customers.

The article points out, however, that many existing customers had sets that tuned the shortwaves, but that the owners rarely listened to them. With the heightened interest in war news, the magazine gave some ideas. First, it suggested that many buyers might need a better antenna to optimize reception. And even if there was no particular need for an upgrade, it suggested that a friendly service call might be in order. The customer could be instructed in how to tune in the signals, and there might be some services that are needed. The magazine pointed out that a weak tube might work perfectly fine for strong broadcast band signals, but not quite strong enough to pull in the shortwaves.

This trio are pulling in stations from their campsite thanks to the three-tube portable described in the September 1939 issue of Popular Science. Just like the patio set described in the previous month’s issue, the set used three miniature tubes imported from England, although with the war just underway, it might have been hard to get more after the U.S. stocks were depleted. Apparently, the men had come to terms about taking turns with the headphones.

The author used a steel telescoping fishing rod as antenna by soldering a banana plug onto the end. The article noted that the connection could also be made by clipping a wire onto the end. In fact, if the wire were used, the set could be used in the boat, with the rod serving both to pull in stations and to pull in fish. In this case, however, an insulated handle would be needed for the fishing rod.

75 years ago this month, the September 1944 issue of the British publication Practical Wireless carried the plans for this very basic wartime one-tube regenerative receiver. The set employed a 1D8GT dual tube, half of which served as detector, with the other half serving as AF amp, providing about 100 mW of audio to the speaker. With a ten-foot antenna, the set would easily pull in the BBC home, European, and armed forces services.

During the war, meter movements were extremely hard to come by, but a radio serviceman in need of an accurate measuring device could probably scrounge up a magic eye tube. This circuit on the cover of the September 1944 issue of Service magazine showed how to construct a very accurate vacuum tube voltmeter (VTVM) that didn’t actually require a meter. The switch was used to set the range, which could vary from 0-0.5 volts to 0-500 volts. Then, the 770 ohm potentiometer was adjusted to the point where the magic eye tube closed. The potentiometer was calibrated with the voltage, and the reading was obtained from that scale.

The magazine noted that the instrument was particularly good for tracking down transient or intermittent voltages that might not be seen because of the inertia of a standard meter movement. It noted that the instrument’s function was similar in many respects to an oscilloscope.