[MrFixr55]

Hi Jim,

Yes, the original 80 Jr used "balloon" style tubes. I can confirm this because I worked on one that had all Philco balloons. The original used the type 36 tetrode as an autodyne convertor (1st detector), and for the 2nd detector, the set used a 36 as a regenerative grid-leak detector. By this time, Philco used their own branded tubes, made by Sylvania. This 4 tube set continued as the 84 with ST type 77 pentode tubes for the 1st and 2nd detectors and 42 as the power output, and finally as the 37-84 using the octal based 6J7 as a 1st and 2nd detector and a 6F6 as the output tube.

The original 80 Jr caused a ruckus as it was introduced at $19.99 in the throes of the Great Depression. It was meant to be a "loss leader" to get people into the store, where the sales rep could attempt to upsell the customer to a better, high quality Philco set. Instead, they sold a over 200,000 of these. RCA had just introduced the R28 "Radiolette for $25.99 and had to further reduce the price when Philco introduced the 81 and dropped the price of the 80 to $14.95 complete with tubes! Compare this to the fact that most RCAs built before the depression cost at least $100.00, and some as much as $800.00 (more than the cost of 2 Model T Fords