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DeWald B-612 Wireless FM Tuner |
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| The 1948
DeWald model B-612 is quite a unique item. It is a wireless FM
tuner that received stations on the standard (postwar) FM band and used
the demodulated audio signal to modulate an oscillator operating at
about 640 kHz. This signal was coupled into a standard AM
broadcast receiver without any electrical connections. This
allowed FM reception without the necessity of modifying the AM receiver,
and without the expense of buying a complete, separate FM or AM/FM
radio.
While this approach does work, it fails to take advantage of the inherently better fidelity available with the FM system, and probably didn't save much money in the long run. The consumer probably agreed, and this model appears to have not been a big seller, as it is extremely rare today. It uses the same Catalin case as the relatively common DeWald A-502. I believe the white Plaskon knobs seen on this unit are original. Since the cabinet was originally white, they would have matched. Oddly, the grill cloth (well, actually it's plastic) shows what looks like the outline of a speaker behind it. In fact, there is no speaker there. Presumably, it was available in the other colors of the A-502 (red and brown), but I have never seen one. |
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