Philmore Radio Kit

All that reamins of this radio is the manual.

In it's day it was really slick having a radio that would run for hundreds of hours on one set of batteries.

The circuit seems rather simple today, but when I was just learning transistors, it appeared complicated. Turns out it's one RF stage and two audio stages. The neat thing is that it's done with two transistors in what's called a Reflex circuit.

This can be done by making the first transistor amplify the RF signal, then detecting it into audio, then feeding it back into the same transistor. By selecting the correct components, the RF and audio outputs can be easily separated.

The layout was very roomy, around a 4 inch speaker. Most of the components were soldered in place, but the transistors were connected with Fahnestock clips. In those days, the germanium transistors couldn't stand any heat.

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