Saturday 6 July 2013

Single tube super-regen kit radio

Having Bolted together numerous Elecraft products I decided i wanted to build a radio with a soldering iron. While I debated about getting a K2, I looked for some cheaper options, preferably olde worlde!

On ebay I came across a single tube regen kit at http://www.xtalman.com/kits.html. It is also sold on ebay. Everything is supplied except the batteries for $65

The kit took around 6 days to complete. The coil former is a paper tube that needs 3 coats of varnish which took 3 days. When this is dry the windings are put on the coil former and the coil given 2 coats of varnish. The circuit is built on a wooden baseboard which also needed two coats of varnish. The following shows the major components mounted on the board


It did not take long to assemble as it is all direct point to point wiring. The receiver is battery powered. The heater supply is two D cells for 3V at ~30mA . The Anode supply is Five 9V batteries bolted together for 45V



I hooked it up to a 60' wire and the ground was the mains ground. In daylight i could hear 3 local stations. In the evening I could hear 11 stations in 3 countries. Using a regenerative receiver takes some getting used to, but the technique soon came back!

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