Chapter 13

Battery and mains/battery portable receivers

Chas E. Miller

The portable receiver is very nearly as old as the domestic set, and as early as 1925 GEC was offering a superhet portable claimed to have a magnificent performance. At its price of 50 guineas, half that of the contemporary small Morris ‘Bull-nose’ motor car, it ought to have been good. By about 1927 portable design had settled down to a near standard of a three-or four-valve TRF following the lines of domestic sets in every respect except for the ‘chassis’ – often made of plywood – and the use of a frame aerial. Two volt battery valves were used with the LT supplied by a special type of accumulator with celluloid case and jellified electrolyte that was virtually unbreakable ...

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