Friday, October 4, 2019

Single Transistor Transceiver On the Air

I got my version of the ET-1 transceiver working.  As I described in previous posts, I first got the transmitter and the receiver working separately, each with their own J310 FET (oh the extravagence!) Then I built a switching arrangement that allowed for just one shared FET and very short leads.   I used a 4PDT "push button" switch from an old Ramsey Electronic LC meter. See the last picture for details. I use the tube from a pen to operate the switch (that's the green thing in the picture). 

It is inhaling and exhaling.  My 20 mW signal is being picked up on the Reverse Beacon Network, mostly in New England, but today in North Carolina.  

No contacts yet.  I may have to resort to scheduled contacts.  OM Yingling W2UW was operating during much better propagation conditions (2001), so I don't think I will ever get close to his impressive (23 states!) operating record.  

But it has been fun getting this thing going.  The N0WVA regen design is one of the best and simplest regens I've ever built.  It is really nice --hardly demonic at all.  

I can run the whole thing off one 9V battery. I think it is a cool looking machine. 



4 comments:

  1. Most excellent! What frequency are you on?
    I tried the original circuit but did not spend enough time to get the receive working. Not nearly the patience that you exhibit, obviously.
    You 'da MAN!

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  2. I used to hate the audio from regens, this one says it has excellent audio ? Gotta hear a recording lol. N6GRG

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  3. Here is a recording of the audio:
    https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2019/08/single-transistor-regen-has-qso.html

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  4. 4PDT switch salvaged from Ramsey - Most Excellent, OM. A more elegant solution than using a 4PDT relay. Bruce - KK0S

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