Build
around 1922, consisting of a receiver tuner (RA)
and a detector amplifier (DA) unit in a single
elegant mahogany case and two ebonite front
plates.
Radio World, April 15th, 1922
The RC is a regenerative receiver that
tunes what was then called the "shortwave" band
but what is essentially today's AM broadcast
band.
Tuning Range is 180 to 700
meters.
From 1920 to 1923, 80,000 to
85,000 were sold. The RC circuit was designed
by Westinghouse engineers Frank Conrad and
Donald Little in 1919.
Conrad was the man behind KDKA, the first
licensed broadcast station, that began
intermittent operations in 1916 as 8XK.
The RA
and DA went into production in late 1920 after
beta testing aboard New York City's tugboat
fleet.
The original price was $125,-
Tuning
Tuning works as follows: first, the
operator must choose the desired level
of amplification: detector, 1-stage of
amplification, or 2-stages of
amplification, by selecting the
appropriate 1/4" jack. For headphone
use, DET or 1 STAGE has to be selected.
For speaker use, 1 STAGE or 2 STAGES
must be selected.
The RC is powered up by advancing the
DET FIL RHEO control to the 1/2
position; the AMP FIL RHEO is turned on
to about the 1/4 position if using 1
STAGE or 2 STAGES. The TICKLER (actually
the regeneration control) is turned to
MIN and then advanced counter clockwise
until during tuning a hum or distorted signal is
heard; now back off 1/2 or more clicks
(clockwise) until the signal is
clarified. Now, fine tuning with the
TUNER and VERNIER controls is
accomplished.
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