Re: The Volkswagen saga
1) I once shared an office with a gent who in his younger days had designed such a televison for "Mad Man Muntz". One valve (possibly one section of a multi-section one, but none of that fancy Compactron stuff, too expensive), was used as RF, IF, and Audio amplification. Ask your Grandpa, or imagine three loads in series from B+ to plate. That set also featured nearly no adjustments. Decade boxes were used on the assembly line, then the appropriate fixed-value components soldered in. Labor in the U.S. was a good deal cheaper then. Of course, as things "aged in", they were a bear to repair...
2) "Will nobody rid me of this troublesome priest?"
Biting the hand that feeds IT
