My very 1st Radio Kit which I personally didn't build!
If you are a ham of long standing (>30 years), then there seems to be this magnetic force that strangely often draws you into recreating your very 1st ham station.
Two receiver kits offered for sale from Allied Radio circa 1958 were the Ocean Hopper (plug in coils) and the Space Spanner, shown above. The Space Spanner was the more expensive version costing $13.95. The Space Spanner was often a 1st rig and employed in very crude ham stations of the late 1950's.
My dad who was always supportive of my radio adventures bought me one as a reward for having a great school year. It arrived the same June summer day I broke my thumb playing little league baseball. Undaunted and unable to solder because of the thumb, I supervised my dad in putting together the kit. Under my watchful eye the radio worked the 1st time.
What a thrill to hear shortwave stations and to hear the hams on 40M and was a 1st step in learning CW. Unwilling to let sleeping dogs lie, I even figured out how to turn the Space Spanner into a low power (Qrppp) CW transmitter.
This jewel was spotted on the QTH.com classified section and is priced a lot more than $13.95. My move up was a National SW-54 where I copied the Sputnik 21MHz signal. Oh, the SW-54 was the S-38E in disguise -- both pieces of junk. My 1st station BTW was a converted 80M ARC-5 for the receiver and a 6V6 on a wooden chassis sporting 5 watts of RF was the transmitter.
I have no desire to recreate my 1st station.
Them that know can make it go!
73's
Pete N6QW