[Boatanchors] A modern "tube" type radio

[Philip Atchley]

Hi.
A few months back while I was in Walgreen's I saw a "novelty radio" that I
immediately fell in love with (no I'm not a pervert 8^).  It was a
"Nostalgic Vacuum Tube AM/FM radio" and it cost all of $10.00.  Now, I DO
NOT usually go for "novelty" radios considering them a waste of money.  In
fact I have never bought one before, but this one was a "must have".

It looks like a metal (plastic) chassis with two knobs (off/on/volume and
tuning) on the front and 3 glass "vacuum tubes", each a little smaller than
a glass Octal mounted on top.  Each "vacuum tube" has a metal mesh cylinder
inside containing an orange LED.  When you turn the radio on it is a fairly
realistic representation of vacuum tubes as the orange light is visible
through the mesh and reflects off the top of the "tube".

Of course the set is REALLY solid state <g>.  But I was curious what this
set contained circuit wise.  It plays fairly decently on FM and gets the
stronger local stations (about 5-6) on AM.  But I noticed that AM
selectivity is VERY POOR, even by pocket radio standards, since you can hear
a couple strong stations 100 KHz apart simultaneously, kind of like an Xtal
set.

So I opened it up.  It has to be the simplest circuit I've ever seen for an
AM/FM radio!  Apparently it is a TRF (tuned RF) set on both AM and FM as the
circuit consists of ONLY 2 IC's, one for RF and one for audio.  ONE tuned
circuit for FM and ONE tuned circuit for AM (the 1 1/2 inch ferrite bar).
There are NO local oscillator coils nor are there any IF transformers,
ceramic IF filters or anything.  Instead of the usual 5 sections a tuning
capacitor in an FM/AM radio has, this one has just two sections.  One for FM
and one for AM (matching up with the two tuning coils).

Now, while this thing won't serve as a great DXers receiver it is still a
"Cute" radio for the boatanchor enthusiast!  If you can still find one in
Walgreen's (or elsewhere?) it would make a nice stocking stuffer at
Christmas for the boatanchor nut on your shopping list, especially if he/she
has every imaginable boatanchor receiver.

73 from the "Beaconeers Lair".
Phil, KO6BB

DX begins at the noise floor!
beaconeer@elite.net
Merced, Central California
37.18N  120.29W  CM97sh