Twinplex Regenerative Receiver part 4

I ran a test with the receiver with a 9 to 3 coil and picked up this beacon station WLO. I wanted to make sure everything worked before mounting the front panel for the final time. I also picked up several religious broadcasts so I figure it must have been up in the 8500 over 40 meters anyhow.

I also built a 40 meter coil 9 to 2 turns. I listened to several QSOs and what sounded like PSK so I am happy with that coil.

 I mounted the knobs, and bolted everything down good. I still had a couple of hours to kill so I decided to try to build an AM coil. I found an AM loop stick that came in one of my son's old electronics kits. After mounting it inside one of my coil forms, I added 2 loops for a tickler coil. Worked first try! I found stations from 620 up to 770 so far. but it works surprisingly well.

The AM loop stick is laying on its side in the coil form. I do not know if that causes a problem or not. I'll try centering it to see later.

Belton Hamfest

Went down to Belton for the hamfest last weekend and had a blast. Scored some real deals on parts I was looking for, and some I wasn't. If you get a chance go down to Belton or any ham swap-meet. It is is good time plus you can get parts for a LOT less than online sellers.

I meet James KC5LDO for an eyeball QSO and a tour of his shack, while my wife and his chatted for a while. ( I think this was the highlight of the trip for my wife, she gets dragged along and usually has to fend for herself.)

I had a chance to look over some of the great projects he had built. I got a first hand demonstration on how his Regenerative Receiver works. That is one hot little receiver. With only a short antenna, it pulled in many stations. Home brewing at its finest! We talked radios, antennas, and all the things you expect radio nuts to discuss. I showed James what I had so far with my own Regenerative Receiver and of course he spotted right off a problem I had been working on for the last few days.

Well it wasn't long before I had to get back on the road ( had to work that night).  James loaded me up with a sack full of parts, (thanks again James) we all said our goodbys and hit the road...

Oh yea there was this UFO thing we saw on the way back :)

You just never know what you might see on the road...

Twinplex Regenerative Receiver Part 3

Got a little more done today. The chassis paint came out great, so we have this process down. A deep Emerald green.

Installed the Hardware for the backside of the receiver. Broke down and bought a box of screws and nuts plus washers. A lot cheaper in the long run. Here is a picture of the backside with the parts installed.

On to the underside of the chassis. The filament transformer and audio transformer are installed. I also put in a few caps and resistors.

Back to the top side of the chassis now. I mounted the Band-set and Band-spread capacitors. Using the big knobs made putting plastic spacers underneath a must, but they are secure. Added the binding posts for the B+  voltage.

More to come....

Twinplex Regenerative Receiver part 2

Today I got  the chores out of the way early and started punching holes in the back of the chassis. There are quite a few for all the parts that are going to be installed back there. I try to group the power cord, fuse, switch, and transformer close to allow the shortest wire runs possible. If you think ahead about where everything goes you won't have to go back and touch up paint. (not that I have ever had to do that... Ahem cough cough)

 Here is a view of the chassis with the holes drilled today. Somehow I lost my socket for the Hammerland 6 pin coil form. So here I go on a hunt for another...

The Green Hammer-tone paint came out fine on the chassis front panel. Letting it sit in the sun before spraying seems to help the process along. In the background you can see the power supply for the 6L6.
More to come....

Twinplex Regenerative Receiver Build

I started today on the Twinplex Regenerative Receiver. The parts have piling up since my friend James told me he found a good receiver design to build. He has gleaned great results with his and says it is a hot little receiver. (good enough for me)

Here is the box  O' Parts. Those Big knobs are vintage NOS I picked up very cheap. I did buy some more of the cloth covered wire from  http://enginebarn.myshopify.com/   
No affiliation. I just like the product.

After some tedious measuring and layout, I finally found a layout I liked. Let the drilling begin....

 The front panel holes are in place, now for the chassis front hole placement. My drill press is just big enough to be able to mark (with the drill bit) the chassis with the front panel still attached. This means all the holes will match up perfectly.

 Here is a view of the parts for the front panel dry fitted to the chassis. Everything lines up perfectly so the front panel is now ready to be painted. The paint of choice is going to be hammer-tone green. Green you say? Yep green...(Is it starting to look like a radio yet?)
 More to come...

Old US Army Morse Code training film.

Old training video.

Thunderstorm, Rain and Morse Code from Bug (MP3)

Thunderstorm Rain And Morse Code

In the MP3 link above I really like the mix.Here is the story that goes with it:

In the middle 1980s, former United States Coast Guard Radioman and well known radio amateur, Edward A. McCarthy was tuning the 7.0 MHz amateur radio bands at his amateur radio station in Florida when he came upon a conversation between two amateurs using continuous wave (CW) Morse radiotelegraphy. Since a tape recorder was nearby, he decided to record the conversation between David J. Ring, Jr., N1EA/MM (Maritime Mobile) who was sailing as Radio Officer in the Merchant Marine on the coast wise tanker "SS KING" run by American Heavy Lift Shipping, Inc. of Houston, TX. The SS KING was in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico having sailed from Corpus Christi, Texas two days prior and another local radio amateur who was getting on the air after a long absence.

Mr. McCarthy, W1YT sent this recording directly to the "SS KING" where Mr. Ring was so overjoyed at the quality, he decided to improve on it by making a recording of storm and rain sounds and mixing the Morse code together with it.