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Hiker's Radio Information

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Welcome radio friends and hobbyists. This page is dedicated to a series of radios that were featured in radio hobbyist magazines on several continents. In the mid thirties they appeared in QST Magazine. The meaning of the Hiker's radios have changed over the years to include any tube receiver operated at low plate voltages.

The original Hiker's sets used a #49 dual grid radio tube. This was not a screen grid tube or a tetrode in the usual sense. Both grids were equal with one wound inside the other. Experimenters started building small radios with extremely low plate voltage using the tubes in the space charge mode..

By biasing the inner grid a few volts positive and using the outer grid as the control grid, a lot of electrons could reach the plate that were emitted by the filament.

These scans were from a now defunct website in New Zealand. They were saved so the art of the Hiker's radio would be preserved. Download the scans and build your own version of the Hiker's.


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Hiker Links & References

My Hiker's One and Hiker's Two radio projects.

Dave Schmarder's Hiker One set at makearadio.com

Exray's Hiker's Two

Another one of Exray's beautiful Hiker's Two receivers.