Scott WA9WFA and I have been exchanging e-mails about his Mate for the Mighty Midget receiver project. This morning I finally took a look at Scott's we page on this effort. There was a lot there that resonated. For example:
"I remember the moment very clearly. June 1966 I was sitting in a lawn chair reading a stack of QST's that I had brought along to the summer cabin. The February 1966 issue the Beginner and Novice section introduced the "Mighty Midget Transmitter", a 10 watt crystal controlled transmitter. The April 1966 issue Beginner and Novice section introduced the "Mate for the Mighty Midget" which was a three tube super-heterodyne Novice type receiver. Over the course of that summer I read and re-read those articles a jillion times. Being 13 years old, I didn't have the electrical or mechanical skills to pull off such a project so I could only dream about it. In 1970 I bought a handful of the parts. In 1976 I bought more parts. In 2021 I decided to build it while I still had the ability to do it. This project is only my second homebrew radio project so I am still learning things every second of the way...
While I am not expecting to much in performance, the 13 year old in me is ever hopeful that this 1966 Novice receiver will be the most wonderful radio ever made. 73, Scott WA9WFA"
Scott's MMM RX page:
Scott and I are now both updating the MMM RX by substituting 455 kHz ceramic filters for Lew McCoy's FT-241 crystal filter. I have my filter wired in now, and it is working well. Scott plans on soldering his in today. I will post on this mod soon.
On his QRZ.com page, Scott notes the need to fight the temptation to further soup-up this simple receiver: "I did have to resist the temptation to add another audio stage, a mechanical filter, AGC, 2nd IF amplifer stage, etc..."
Exactly right Scott. Resist the temptation. Simplicity is a virtue. I do use an outboard, powered computer speaker, but I justify this by telling myself that I just don't want to use headphones. But I could use headphones, so this is OK. OK?
Scott's QRZ.com page:
I must add that I think the yearning of Scott's inner 13 year-old can be fulfilled by the MMM RX. I think it is pretty wonderful. It is -- in my view -- not as good as a Drake 2-B, but it is FAR better than an S-38E, and it is better than a Lafayette HA-600A (wjm).
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