Ladybird Book Making a Transistor radio

[G0HZU_JMR]

I just spotted the Ladybird book 'Making a Transistor Radio' has been uploaded to the worldradiohistory website. I did a search and I think this book has been discussed on this forum here before at least once:

https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/...d.php?t=102897

However, the complete Ladybird book is now available to download from the link below :

https://worldradiohistory.com/BOOKSH...Radio-1972.pdf

I had a quick skim through it and I was quite impressed with it overall.

[fetteler]

Quite impressed? I'm very impressed! If I was a little younger and been introduced to this book at the time then I'm sure I would have been inspired by it.

Just excellent.

Steve.

[joebog1]

Excellent little publication. I had something similar but it was valve based. It was an English publication and started with a one valver, progressed to a two valver etc until the final chapter was a 5 valve superhet. Wow that takes me back. I "think " it was late 1950's sometime.

Joe

[Dave Moll]

Amongst other books, there are several Ladybird books, including this one, at the forum's "sister" site.

[Restoration73]

#3 ; Joe, the book was Fun with radio by the late Gilbert Davey;

http://www.daveysradios.org.uk/dspfwr.html

[plaka78]

I remember buying that book new when I was at school, I learnt a lot from it, also the learnt the resistor colour code.

[joebog1]

Thankyou Resto 73 You are correct, it was exactly that book.
I tore apart perhaps 20 WORKING wirelesses to make mine, which did eventually work.
My father helped along most of the way, but it was all my handiwork.

I was about 10 or eleven at the time. When I started highschool ( primary in Au was limited to cardboard "pyramids ' ) I made a six ply box for it. 6 ply because I couldnt afford 1/2" ply, and the school didnt use it, so I glued two three plys together to make six .

It was a fine radio, and in those days the AM band ( 520 - 1650 khz or so ) was stacked with stations. I had that radio until I was perhaps 17 when I bought ( from first job ) a HMV seven transistor. Was very flash, about 1/4 the sensitivity, and ATE large 9 volt batteries, which number I have forgotten. About 4" X 3 " X 2" , with a thick pin thin pin plug about 1/2" diameter paper phonelic with the two pins rivetted in.

Thanks again Restoration73..
Best regards and thanks to all, for your tolerance of my reminiscing,

Joe

[David G4EBT]

I knew the late Rev George Dobbs quite well.

I lived at Grimsby from 1969 - 1975, when George did.

He moved to Mansfield in the late 70s when I did, and he ran an electronics hobby night school class which I attended there. I was at the Nottingham Amateur Radio Society meeting when he spoke of his vision of creating a QRP Club, which of course came to pass, big style.

He explained that when the Ladybird book was published (1972) he'd had to re-write the construction technique of the initial version before it went to print. He was already well known as an author of magazine articles on simple radio and electronic projects and his brief from Ladybird Books was to write a 'lads & dads' book on how a boy could build a simple radio under the supervision of a father.

The first draft involved knocking brass panel pins into the breadboard onto which the components could be soldered. However, with safety in mind, Ladybird weren't keen on the use of a soldering iron so ask George to devise a safer method of construction, so he came up with the idea of screws and screw cups, which he wasn't overly enthusiastic about as it was less secure than soldered joints.

At the outset on pages 8 & 9, he showed how a battery, bulb and switch could be used as a simple continuity tester could be used to check connections, and on page 16 he explained that though soldered connections was the norm, but that as this was a book for beginners screws and cups would be used, and on page 17, illustrated how the battery & bulb tester could be used to check the joints for continuity.

Curiously perhaps, the original first two pages of soldering techniques were retained in the published book. It will be noticed that the picture on he front cover shows an adult male's hand fitting the screws, rather than a child, and the picture on page 5 shows a boy aged about 12 listening to the competed radio. I guess that even 50 years ago, in a less litigious and less H&S conscious era, Ladybird Books didn't want to be seen as encouraging children to engage is potentially hazardous activities.

All in all, a great deal of thought went into what at first sight, seems a simple little book.

In terms of building the radio today, unless the germanium transistors were to hand, it would be fairly expensive. I guess the original style of RF choke would be problematical too, though they can be found on internet or modern inductors could be used. It will have been the REP 'CH1' 2.5 mH one which was commonplace back then. (See attached pic).

George summed up nicely about the enjoyment derived from the hobby, that if we don't enjoy it - we don't need to do it.

When someone asked George “Why QRP?” (low power amateur radio transmission), he said: “Because it is a hobby. We don’t have to do it – or for it to mean anything - or to fit into the world plan. As long as you can do one useless thing a day - life still has some meaning and that is the essence and the joy of life”.

What a nice epitaph for such a lovely man who followed the principle in life on which he founded the G-QRP Club:

'Tis vain to do with more, what can be done with less'.

[paulsherwin]

The Ladybird book is well known, and enthusiasts still build historically accurate reproductions of the designs today, though they aren't particularly good performers.

It's a bit of an oddity, as Ladybird was and still is the Penguin imprint for young children rather than the age group apparently targetted here. Maybe they were trying to target a slightly older demographic in the early 70s - I remember there was a (very good) Ladybird book explaining computers at the same time too.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Computer-La.../dp/0721402860

[Radio Wrangler]

Lincolnshire was certainly a formative element.

George was helped into amateur radio and taught Morse by Peter G3PDL (another of the early G-QRP people). Peter taught physics at Caistor Grammar. I knew Peter in the era when he'd moved to the old padre's house at Binbrook. He and Diana later moved to Crete.

And there was John Birkett nearby to complete things!

DAvid

[radio69]

I remember reading this book, borrowing it from the library. Also 'Magnets, Bulbs and Batteries' and 'Fun With Electricity' by Colin Siddons.

My friends used to ask why I always read such boring books!!!
They were all busy reading Enid Blyton.

[David G4EBT]

There's a nice comment about George in his obituary concerning the Ladybird book.

Quote:

'George would frequently comment, when asked to sign a cherished example
of one of his books, that it would now be worth less with a signature, as he had
signed so many over the years and that the unsigned ones would be worth more
…. I think not'.

End quote.

https://www.gqrp.com/sprat_in_memoriam_g3rjv.pdf

[Sideband]

One thing I did notice in the book when showing how to mount the ferrite rod. Wrap sturdy wire around the rod and fix the board. Surely that would result in shorted turns each end of the rod? He doesn't specify Insulated wire.....

[G.Castle]

I did meet the author just once, but that isn't relevant here, I was shown a tatty copy of his book that belonged to a friends late father who would have been about eight when the book was published. Amongst the pages was a letter written by the Reverend in acknowledgement of the various pitfalls that the books construction details contained.

Obviously the young chap had written to the publishers to complain he couldn't get the set to work well, and received a personal hand written response from the author.

I recall the one mentioned about the mounting wire for the ferrite rod, where he said what he had used was plastic covered fencing wire, a detail lost in the editing: and also one where the crystal set version should have had a bleed resistor across the earphone, where Rev. Dobbs admitted to having used high resistance magnetic headphones, and had not tried it with the crystal earplug type.

The letter concluded with the remark "so sorry you were disappointed, stick at it, and if you want to ask anything more I'll be glad to help".

I believe there may have been a reprint of the book done with some of the corrections included, though still with the obsolete transistors and strange biasing.

The Reverend Dobbs was a lovely guy.
All books have errors but how many authors would bother to respond to a letter from a young lad?

[af024]

David,

You've made my day! I was completely hooked on this book and the radio that it made, but I never could identify the RFC. I just bunged anything that looked like a coil in and it just seemed to work. How wonderful to know the exact type after all these years!

Fantastic.

Andy

[Restoration73]

Ladybird Books (Wills and Hepworth) were independent until 1972.

I see some titles can be enjoyed here; https://www.vintage-radio.info/books

We always kept a set of parts for Making a Transistor Radio at Watts Radio and I constructed a working version for demonstration purposes.

[bikerhifinut]

Originally Posted by David G4EBT

I knew the late Rev George Dobbs quite well.

I lived at Grimsby from 1969 - 1975, when George did.

He moved to Mansfield in the late 70s when I did, and he ran an electronics hobby night school class which I attended there. I was at the Nottingham Amateur Radio Society meeting when he spoke of his vision of creating a QRP Club, which of course came to pass, big style.

He explained that when the Ladybird book was published (1972) he'd had to re-write the construction technique of the initial version before it went to print. He was already well known as an author of magazine articles on simple radio and electronic projects and his brief from Ladybird Books was to write a 'lads & dads' book on how a boy could build a simple radio under the supervision of a father.

The first draft involved knocking brass panel pins into the breadboard onto which the components could be soldered. However, with safety in mind, Ladybird weren't keen on the use of a soldering iron so ask George to devise a safer method of construction, so he came up with the idea of screws and screw cups, which he wasn't overly enthusiastic about as it was less secure than soldered joints.

At the outset on pages 8 & 9, he showed how a battery, bulb and switch could be used as a simple continuity tester could be used to check connections, and on page 16 he explained that though soldered connections was the norm, but that as this was a book for beginners screws and cups would be used, and on page 17, illustrated how the battery & bulb tester could be used to check the joints for continuity.

Curiously perhaps, the original first two pages of soldering techniques were retained in the published book. It will be noticed that the picture on he front cover shows an adult male's hand fitting the screws, rather than a child, and the picture on page 5 shows a boy aged about 12 listening to the competed radio. I guess that even 50 years ago, in a less litigious and less H&S conscious era, Ladybird Books didn't want to be seen as encouraging children to engage is potentially hazardous activities.

All in all, a great deal of thought went into what at first sight, seems a simple little book.

In terms of building the radio today, unless the germanium transistors were to hand, it would be fairly expensive. I guess the original style of RF choke would be problematical too, though they can be found on internet or modern inductors could be used. It will have been the REP 'CH1' 2.5 mH one which was commonplace back then. (See attached pic).

George summed up nicely about the enjoyment derived from the hobby, that if we don't enjoy it - we don't need to do it.

When someone asked George “Why QRP?” (low power amateur radio transmission), he said: “Because it is a hobby. We don’t have to do it – or for it to mean anything - or to fit into the world plan. As long as you can do one useless thing a day - life still has some meaning and that is the essence and the joy of life”.

What a nice epitaph for such a lovely man who followed the principle in life on which he founded the G-QRP Club:

'Tis vain to do with more, what can be done with less'.

Thank you for that memory David.
As a new (but relatively ancient in years) Licenced amateur, Rev Dobbs is a legend.
I understand the QRP idea as initially restricted to 10 watts I had to try very hard to make myself heard against the 400W with focussed directional beam guys.
What I have found so far in my just over a years worth of operating, is that QRP enthusiasts do get heard once the big guns twig there's a low poer operator and if you're /P you can bust through pile ups.
I had a really pleasant experience after a slight struggle to get a 7m telescopic pole up in one of the quiet biits of the lake district (yes there are some and it's my patch!) where running low power I managed some very good QSO and I'd like to mention GB3CCC running the LV55 lighthouse on the air station on Sunday for giving foundation licences priority. Well done you gentlemen for encouraging newbies, I didnt get that experience for the short time I had an M7 call.
I'm also fortunate in that there are a number of the local eden valley group who are enthusiastic and skilful "home brewers" and they really do help folk like me when I experiment and try to improve my rig's performance.
I hope I didnt digress too much, Rev Dobbs is held in high regard by most of the active amateurs I know.
73
Andy 2E0AND (for now)

[TonyDuell]

Originally Posted by paulsherwin

It's a bit of an oddity, as Ladybird was and still is the Penguin imprint for young children rather than the age group apparently targetted here. Maybe they were trying to target a slightly older demographic in the early 70s - I remember there was a (very good) Ladybird book explaining computers at the same time too.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Computer-La.../dp/0721402860

There were some other Ladybird books aimed, I assume, at older children. There was a pair 'Woodwork' and 'Metalwork' which I have somewhere. I seem to remember they cover hand tools only, no power or machine tools, but the latter certainly covers taps and dies, that's where I first leant 'one turn forwards, half a turn back'

[Electronpusher0]

"As long as you can do one useless thing a day - life still has some meaning and that is the essence and the joy of life”

I have not met that quote by the Rev George Dobbs before but I will remember it.

Peter

[Philips210]

I remember back in the 1970s having a copy of the Ladybird book bought by my parents. I started to gather the components together but didn't actually get around to building it. Again, twenty years ago I was going to revisit it but it never got started. I even bought brass screw cups for the board connections. I think I've got some Jackson Dilecon variable caps knocking around too.

I would like to build these radios for old time sake but the trouble is available time.
I have so many unfinished and non-starter projects. The mind is willing but day to day duties have to take priority. I'm sure I will make a start before too long though.

Sideband makes a good point about the ferrite rod mounting.

Regards,
Symon