11-01-2008, 09:32 PM
You'll find that the sets sold by department stores from mail order will need to be good performers. They were bought by residents of outlying areas where reception was hard to pull in. Exactly who had made the sets that Tex tells about above is unknown at this point. Sears had their own radio manufacturing plant, but for how long, I don't know now. It was Colonial Radio, and they built a lot of SRCo sets. There were RCA sets with the Silvertone name as well as even some Wells-Gardner, who supplied a lot of Montgomery Ward models. I have one of the W-G 16 tube Airline sets, and I expect that it will be hard to beat for reception.
It would be interesting to make the detector output measurement on those little fellers that Tex describes, and see how they stack up against other similar sets.
One of the well-known RCA sets from 1946 is the 56X5. It's an AA5+1 set, and purportedly a "12,000 miler" (if I have my mileage right). It isn't bad on AM Broadcast, and must have an external antenna for SW reception. But RCA fan that I am, I fail to see the basis for claim to any fabulous distant reception. You'd expect the SW band to be abuzz with stations, and it's anything but that. The 12000 miles could mean that one of those sets was carried on an airliner trip of 12,000 miles.
It would be interesting to make the detector output measurement on those little fellers that Tex describes, and see how they stack up against other similar sets.
One of the well-known RCA sets from 1946 is the 56X5. It's an AA5+1 set, and purportedly a "12,000 miler" (if I have my mileage right). It isn't bad on AM Broadcast, and must have an external antenna for SW reception. But RCA fan that I am, I fail to see the basis for claim to any fabulous distant reception. You'd expect the SW band to be abuzz with stations, and it's anything but that. The 12000 miles could mean that one of those sets was carried on an airliner trip of 12,000 miles.
