A GOONEY box was probably beyond the means of anyone in
my home town. However, I remember a Philco AM/SW radio
with a 6E5 tuning indicator.

In the Gooney box the cat eye appearance was given by a properly shaped metal screen hidding the upper half of a magic eye tube (e.g. 6E5).

Well, the 6E5 is nice (I have several radios using it) but not as much as the European EM4. Similar in appearance, it has two opposite triangular dark areas (instead of just one). When tuning a station, just when one of the two triangles has got fully lit, the second triangle begins to narrow down. In a way, it is similar to a bandspread tuning system. The synchronization between the two triangles is remarkable. But I am sure there also are US-made tubes doing the same thing.

73

Tony I0JX