SOAP DISH RADIO

— The "soap dishes" were all long-wave. Long and medium wave – nothing else (...) They were made after the war, in the 50s and 60s. They were small, and that's why they were called soap dishes (...) Everyone was trying to make stuff as small as possible. And that's about the size they were too, the size of a soap dish. (…)The homemade loud speakers were made from polystyrene. They made diffusers too. They were flat. I added a magnet and got a flat speaker, thinner than usual, a 0.15 watt speaker. They were homemade loudspeakers...The VEF was, at that time, the only receiver that specialists, radio amateurs, tried to put together themselves. It was well made, good quality. The circuit design was very good. The problem was the batteries. There weren't any little AA batteries available. There were D batteries, but they ran out quickly.