Frank Jones Supergainer , how well do they perform?

Back in the 1940s, when radio was still an expensive hobby, many tricks were used to reduce cost. Valves were used in peculiar ways to extract the most performance from few parts, home construction was the norm.
Here is my implimentation of the 1947 Frank Jones Supergainer, , its weak signal performance compared to the much later JRC NRD515, same distant station, same aerial. Using just TWO " modern" valves, the North Korean station is perfectly readable on the Supergainer, not so on the JRC. The religious station, being much stronger is perfectly listenable on both. It really is quite amazing that just two valves can amplify and detect a signal of a microvolt or less from the other side of the world to a listenable level on a small speaker.
Radio uses the ECH84 triode/hexode, and the ECF80, a triode/pentode. The coverage is 4,5 to 13 megacycles. A regenerative IF frequency of 1700 kilocycles combats images, allowing a simple single tuned front end.
Sensitivity and stability are great for AM, not so good on SSB, although this can be improved dramatically.

Видео Frank Jones Supergainer , how well do they perform? канала Dayle Edwards