Vintage Radio Gound Connections

[Charlie]

Originally Posted by Chad Hauris

This may be the case for the 1920's sets...they are so robust with very few components and if you supply the proper power supply voltages and an antenna and ground they will likely work (they won't do anything without antenna and be very weak without ground)...

The above quote came from another thread and sparked me to start this one.

I've often wondered... the ground connection on old radios... does this really make a difference or in some way improve performance? I've got some sets with the ground connection... 2 from the 30's, 2 from the 40's, and even one from the 50's. I've never tried connecting a true ground to these sets, but often wondered if doing so would make a difference in reception?

BTW... the above mentioned sets seem to play just fine without the ground connection.

I would suspect that the earliest radios... for instance sets from the 20's... depend on the external ground moreso than the later sets. Or am I completely incorrect in making this assumption?