Radiophile.com - Emerson 613A


Emerson 613A, 1950
Tube complement: 1R5 mixer/oscillator, 1U4 IF, 1U5 detector/first audio, 3V4 audio output. Approximately 8 inches / 20 cm wide. The Fan-Tenna rotates up and out of the top of the case at the rear. A loop antenna is molded into the fan-shaped plastic. This was more than a marketing gimmick; getting the antenna further away from the radio's metal chassis improved reception. This radio was advertised as a "3-way" set, referring to its power-supply options. You could plug its line cord into the wall socket, and it would operate from household current, AC or DC. Of course, AC or DC counted, for marketing purposes, as two ways. The third way was battery power, with a 67.5-volt "A" battery and a 1.5-volt "B" battery. Emerson also sold a battery-power-only version of this radio called the model 645.
Just when I thought things couldn't get any more exciting in the Fan-Tenna department, along comes this neat "swirled salmon"-colored example.

The back of the radio opens as shown. The A battery goes in the empty compartment at the bottom left of the case (just under the chassis). The B battery (for the tube filaments) is a 1.5-volt D cell, which goes in the holder whose end can be seen just to the right of the 'A'-battery space. To switch over to battery power, the line cord is stored in the space to the right of the D-cell holder, and the plug is inserted into the receptacle slots above (just below the volume control potentiometer).

At right and below: excerpts from December 1949 Emerson magazine advertisements for the model 613.

The white-haired future grandma doesn't approve. "Get your hand off my daughter," she's thinking.