Welcome to my web page
I obtained my licence in November 1966 and my main interests are homebrew and DXing. My first rig was a VFO controlled TX for top band, it had three valves with a 6V6 PA. The RX at this time was an AR88LF. My first SSB rig was a homebrew transceiver for eighty metres and was mainly valves. It used surplus 455kHz crystals for the filter. The PA used a 5B254M and produced 60W PEP. I was first interested in radio during the sixties when I used to tune around the forty metre band on a domestic valve radio. In those days on phone it was mainly AM. I have recently returned to AM transmissions using a KW Vanguard and Codar AT5 My current antenna is Trap dipole for covering 40, 80 and 160M A two element Quad is used for 10M
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28MHz Transceiver
This transceiver covers 28-29MHz in two 500kHz segments. The rig runs SSB/CW and produces an output of 20W PEP.
I use this rig for transverting to the VHF bands as well as operations on 28MHz. The tuning knob and gearbox are ex HRO.
The transceiver uses a 9MHz IF system based on the Plessey SL600 series of intergrated circuits. The Mixer VFO use a pair of switched crystals on 45.3/45.8MHz mixing with a VFO running from 7.8-8.3MHz. The 37-38 MHz output feeds a DBM with TX/RX switching from the 9MHz board. The driver board amplifies the output from the DBM to 1W PEP this then feeds the PA section to 20W PEP. The PA transistor is a RCA 2N5070, which was designed for SSB service in the 2-30MHz range. The PA runs off a 24V supply.
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Antennas
Antenna experiments have been a main focus of my interest and the photo here is of my 28/50MHz Quad. This has proved to be a good antenna with cheap construction cost.
Although quads have a 3D impact they do have a small turning circle. The boom on this example is only 4ft long. The speaders are built with standard 8ft garden canes attached to the wooden boom with shelf brackets.
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New Project
Work is in progress on a new home brew HF transceiver. Based on a single 4915 KHz IF using 10 pole ladder filters for SSB/CW The transceiver is operational on SSB, with work in prgress on the CW TX side.
December 2014 updated Mk11 Transceiver pictures in Picture Gallery. |