Meissner 9-1085 Broadcast/SW radio
Morale radios
Morale radios were built both during and immediately after the war. Those radios were intended for troop entertainment. I make a distinction between morale radios that were primarily targeted for direct sales to troops often with the encouragement of the military, and those that were designed for and purchased by the military itself. I have repaired several of both types of morale radios from that era. One such radio, the Ecophone EC-1, was advertised as available for purchase by soldiers throughout the war despite shortages on the homefront. The advertising was specifically targeted to soldiers.
Toward the end of World War II, and immediately afterwards, right up to the Korean conflict, several companies designed and built radio sets primarily targeted for sale to soldiers stationed overseas. Like the Echophone EC-1, most of those sets were AC-DC to keep costs and weight down. Also, an AC-DC set could be run from nearly any power source. If the voltage was too high, a simple light bulb or two in series could be used to drop the voltage to what was needed. Short wave reception was the norm and cabinets were often metal for sturdiness. Besides the Echophone, another morale radio example sold directly to troops was the Minerva Tropic Master . The Navy itself purchased morale radios such as Crosley's Navy REP/ Pan American Tropical , and the Scott SLRM both of which were also sold to civilians after the war. The Navy's special requirement during the war was avoiding any type of emission from radio receivers that could allow enemy direction finders to home in on their ships. Special low emission morale receivers were required for use on ships. Obviously this was not a major concern for the Army.
Related to a kit version
A variation of this radio was sold as a kit by Meissner. I am convinced that this model 9-1085 was a simple upgrade from kit model 10-1199. That kit is identical to this radio but has a hot chassis whereas this model has 2 capacitors and a resistor added to meet floating-ground safety standards. The kit version did not include a cabinet. It was also sold without tubes.
The kit version is written up in detail in A. Frederick Collins, Radio Amateur's Handbook, Ninth Edition, 1949, Thomas Y. Crowell and Co. pages 147-155.
Schematic and repair info
The schematic for the 9-1085 can be found in Rider's volume 15, Meissner page 3.
The schematic and pictorials for the nearly-identical 10-1199 can be found in Rider's volume 18, Meissner pages 10-12. It is also detailed in the Collins book and in the Meissner "How to Build" INSTRUCTION MANUAL as shown above. Meissner published and sold a number of manuals/ catalogs containing schematics and pictorial images of their kits as well as a wealth of information on the circuits. The Meissner manual 53-1 can be downloaded from the Antique Radio Archives It is a rather large 86.6 MB PDF reference. Model 10-1199 "6 tube AC-DC kit" is on pages 124-127 of the manual.
There are relatvely few Meissner circuits shown in Riders. I assume that those who would have built the kits would also have all the information needed or could find that info in the Meissner "How to Build" manuals. I have repaired several Meissner kits including a Meissner 10-1106 Broadcast TRF set which was also used as part of the Sprayberry Academy home study course during the late 1930's and the 1940's, a Meissner Analyst 9-1040 circuit analyzer which was sold as both a kit and as a finished product, and a Meissner Signal Shifter EX , an exciter/ VFO for transmitting on the amateur radio bands.
Electronic condition and repairs
I replaced the wax paper cap that bridges the AC input with a more appropriate cap. A couple of other caps were also replaced. After the usual cleaning, this set worked very well on AM Broadcast but could only tune the upper frequencies of the short wave band and poorly at that. After some head scratching and testing, I determined that the 12SA7 oscillator-converter was dropping out on the lower half or so of the shortwave band. Replacing the tube did not change the symptoms. I traced the components in the oscillator circuit which connect to grid number one and the cathode of the 12SA7. The grid leak mica cap fed through a larger 3600 pF mica cap with the bandswitch setting on shortwave. This larger mica was bypassed on the Broadcast band. I rarely suspect mica caps but finally noticed that I could move the larger mica with little effort. One side of the cap was a bit loose on one of its lead wires. That lead was making poor contact with the cap innards. Luckily I had a new 3600 pF dipped mica in the "boxe de junque". That solved the problem.
After an alignment, I listened to shortwave on this surprisingly sensitive little radio. I could imagine an overseas GI and his buddies listening to music and sports from back home via the shortwaves.
The set's wrinkled light chocolate color on its metal cabinet was scratched and scraped. I found a near perfect match in a spray can of Rustoleum autumn brown sold by Walmart.
The Hallicrafters S-40B receiver was the previous item on the bench.