[Milsurplus] Foxhole Radio

[J. Forster]

I think there were a lot more Foxhole radios built than tube radios
because of the battery issue.

That said, I'd suspect the various battle fields were littered with
almost-dead batteries of all sorts. Also, I can't imagine a US soldier
going into a battle without a fresh battery in his radio, or carrying a
partly used on along for ballast.

A GI with a knife and a bit of electrical knowlege, could probably cut
open a BC-611 or some other radio battery and extract usable A or B
battery subassemblies to power his 1 tuber.

OTOH, in a POW camp, I can think of no plausible reason why a prisoner
would have any batteries what ever.

YMMV,

-John

=======================




>> General Rule: It only took one Razor Blade Radio,
>> one War Correspondent, and one radio magazine
>> in the States, to produce thousands of these radios.
>> Clete
>
> Great, Clete! ha ha ha....
> I suspect the number actually built was, uh, more like
> you could count on ONE hand, with fingers left over,
> than "hundreds".
> There's  somewhat of an odd paucity of first-person accounts,
> wouldn't you say, if hundreds were built?
> On the other hand, there are at least several stories around,
> describing one-tube radios built by WW2 soldiers. Even the prison
> camp radios were one-tube jobs, using either a tube traded
> from the guards - Europe, or stolen from the captors - Pacific.
>
> I actually saw a Europe GI-built 5 - tube battery portable
> superhet receiver, used standard U.S. tubes. I have no idea
> of when it was built, before end of war or after, but I suppose
> afterward, it would have been easier to swap cigarettes or
> whatever for a European factory built radio.
>
> But, it IS another great war story, a classic like the "U-boats
> homing on radio receivers", altho there's hardly a grain of
> truth to the latter.
> -Hue
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