Mike,

I used to connect my rocket radio to the metal hook on the dial of my rotary 
telephone.  For reasons I don't completely understand, that gave me the best 
reception anywhere in the house.  Thanks to the phone company for such a 
great antenna.

I used my rocket radio so much that the round thing that the slider was 
attached to kept breaking.  When it broke, my father would glue it back 
together, but the glue made a little bulge in the material so the slider 
would stick as it tried to move up and down inside the coil.  This, of 
course, led to more breaking and more repairing ... well, you get the 
picture.  That rocket radio earned a well-deserved rest when it finally 
found its way to the radio graveyard.

Steve

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Duke, K5XU" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: January 29, 2015 20:33
Subject: The Rocket Radio


> Wow, Phil!
>
> I had not thought of that little rocket radio in years! A friend of my
> brother won one in some contest at school, and he came to our house and
> gave it to me. I was 5 years-old, but was already hooked on all things 
> radio.
>
> For those who never saw one, it looked like, well, a rocket. Or, at
> least an ice cream cone standing upside down with its point in the air,
> which is what I had always been told a rocket looked like.
>
> The tuning control was a slider, which was built to look and operate
> like a short telescoping antenna, and that made the point of the rocket.
>
> It had one of those single earpieces, and another wire with an
> alligator clip on the end, which you clipped onto something that would
> provide a ground. I remember having barrels of fun putting the
> alligator clip on everything within my reach to see what would make it 
> play.
>
> The town I grew up in only had one 500 watt day tine station, so there
> was not much need to tune the radio, and I never received any station
> with it at night.
>
> But it was still fun!
>
> Thanks for the smile!
>
> -- 
> Mike Duke, K5XU
>