Synopses & Reviews
Here you get details on building a three tube superhet that is actually easier to build than the regenerative receiver shown in Vol 4, but easily outperforms it. Three inexpensive octal tubes plugged into plastic relay sockets, driven by homemade IF transformers made from cardboard boxes and aluminum foil, deliver signals that are more stable and far more easily separated than any regen can. And you can power this radio with the simple power supply shown in Experimenter Vol 1.
This radio is an adaptation of a circuit that appeared in QST in August 1938. Then (and still today, I suspect) 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 kitchen plastic wrap, put them inside of corrugated cardboard boxes covered with aluminum foil. The whole radio is mounted on a pine board. It's 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. The most expensive component is the nine-volt battery.
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 a flea market. And you'll be introduced to the complexities of universal coil winding, and how it can be done today.
It's all here from winding the IF transformers, choosing the frequencies, winding the coils and getting the whole thing working. You have to try it. This is so much better than a regenerative, easy to build, and it's dirt cheap.
If you're a coward, keep building the same crystal set. But 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 and build bigger and better radios. And this is one you MUST try. It's great. You'll see.