“There doesn’t seem to be a whole lot that I can tell you,” remarked Frank Brandon, after they had gone over everything in detail. “You seem to have thought it out very thoroughly already, and outside of the few minor things I’ve already told you, I can’t think of much to suggest. It looks to me as though you’d have a pretty good set there when you get through. 109
“There’s one tip I want to give you though,” he went on. “And that is to be careful about your tuning. You’ve noticed, no doubt, that sometimes you get first-class results, and then again the reception is so unsatisfactory that you are disgusted. Now in nine times out of ten the whole trouble is that you haven’t tuned your receiver properly. You can’t do the thing in a haphazard fashion and get the signals clearly. You know what Michelangelo said about ‘trifles that make perfection.’ Well, it’s something like that in tuning your receiver.
“Now I see that in this receiver you have separate controls for the primary and secondary circuits. To tune in correctly you have to adjust both circuits to the wave length of the special signal that you are trying to get.
“First you start in with a tentative adjustment of the first primary. Fix it, let us say, for between a third and a half of its maximum value. I see that here the coupling between the primary and secondary is adjustable, so place it at maximum at the start. Of course you know that maximum means the position in which the windings are closest to each other.
“Then you fix up the secondary circuit for adjustment to the wave length, turning it slowly from minimum to maximum until you come to the point where the desired station is heard. When 110 this is found, you again readjust the primary until you find the point of maximum loudness.
“Now you see the advantage of this double control. If an interfering station butts in, just decrease the coupling between primary and secondary and then tune again the two circuits. You can feel pretty sure of cutting out the interference and getting clearly just the station that you want.”
“That’s mighty good dope,” said Bob. “I’ve had that trouble more than once and haven’t been quite clear as to the best way of getting around it.”
“Then too,” went on the radio expert, “you must be careful in adjusting the tickler that gives the regenerative effect. Start in slowly by turning the control knob toward the maximum. You’ll soon strike a point where the signal will be loud and clear. Now when you’ve got to that point, don’t overdo it. If you get too much regeneration, the quality of the notes becomes distorted and before you know it you have only a jumble. Let well enough alone is a good rule in tuning, as in many other things. When your coffee’s sweet enough, another spoonful of sugar will only spoil it. Keep to the middle of the road. It isn’t the loudest noise you want but the sweetest music.
“Be careful, too,” he urged, “not to have too brilliant a filament. It’s wholly unnecessary to 111 have it at a white heat, and you don’t want to burn it out any more quickly than you have to. You can save money in reducing the filament brightness by increasing the regeneration, which will make up for the loss of brilliancy.
“Now by keeping these things in mind,” he concluded, “you’ll be able to operate your set to the best advantage and get the satisfaction you are looking for.”