[Doug Houston]

It's safe to say that the frontends in al of those '36 3 band Philcos were outstanding performers. While the RCA tuners that year were exceptional, Philco had the jump on everybody except Scott from late 1932. Philco's 16 sold like hotcakes, and to Philco's surprise, it wasn't the extanded audio of the 16, but the customers were going after the shortwave bands. True, some did notice and appreciate the higher fidelity of Philco, especially the ones with the U-2 speaker.

But, you have to wonder why RCA (my other favorite) took so long to figure out how to make an all-wave radio with bandswitching as we came to know it. RCA's best accomplishment was their 140 family in 1935. They couldn't mount their coil groups in a turret configuration, but they had a big rack in the chassis that was in the way of everything you needed to get at in the set. You have to remove the coil rack to service (or re-cap) the set! I've done it, and it ain't fun. Fortunately, it was the last of RCA's abominable deep chasis sets. Alan Douglas once remarked that many manufacturers, including RCA, didn't know how to make a small radio.

So, for those who are just now seeing how their Philco receiver performs after re-cap and alignment, Don't expect everyone to do handsprings and cartwheels over it with you. We've all been there before.