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> Impoverished radio experimenter v how to build a radio
Impoverished radio experimenter v how to build a radio
Here you get the details on building a three tube superhet radio that is simple to build. Three inexpensive octal tubes plugged into plastic relay sockets, driven by homemade IF transformers made from cardboard boxes and aluminum foil, will deliver signals that are more stable and far more easily separated then any regen will. And you can power this radio with the simple power supply shown in Impoverished Radio Experimenter 1.
This radio is an adaptation of a circuit that first appeared in QST in August 1938. Then (and probably still today) hams were terrified of superhets. The authors demonstrated how easy it was to build a superior receiver they could use on the air. This is no more complicated than bolting three simple radios together; a pentagrid converter, an IF amplifier, and a detector/BFO.
You wind the IF transformers on cardboard cores taken from the kitchen plastic wrap, put them inside of corrugated cardboard boxes covered with aluminum foil. The whole radio is mounted on a pine board. It is easy to tune, easy to adjust, and you'll discover in an instant why regenerative receivers were relegated to the dumpster.
You also get plans on how to build a simple three transistor oscillator that you use to align the receiver, and can use to align other receivers as well. You'll learn how to build a simple coil winder to make coil winding easier and a simple oscillator that you can use to check the frequency of junk IF transformers found in the alley or at flea markets.
This is so much better than a regenerative, easy to build, and it is dirt cheap. If you want to experience the same excitement that you did when you first heard a crystal set as a kid, then you have to move on a build bigger and better radios.
