This is Scott WA9WFA's first homebrew construction project. He did an amazing job on a very complex project: a 13 tube superhet receiver. It features plug-in coils for multi-band coverage, dual conversion with IFs at 1600 kHz and 100 kHz, and several regenerative stages. Scott's construction is top notch. He tells us that he had been working on this receiver for several years, so long in fact that some of his friends began to wonder if it really existed. Well wonder no more. Retirement has provided Scott with the time to finish this project.
I like the way Scott talks about the project in these videos. He puts it in the context of his long-standing goal of building his own high quality ham station. With the HBR-13 done, he is more than halfway there. We all know that the receiver is the hard part.
I agree with those who say that Scott should keep the plexiglass front panel. I think it looks very cool.
In the third video, Scott takes us on a cruise through the 40 meter band. The receiver sounds great. Lou EA3JE's booming voice came through quite nicely from far-off Barcelona.
Congratulations Scott on building a truly outstanding receiver. And on making some great videos.
There is some additional background info on the HBR-13 in this blog post from back in September:
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Now that's a receiver!It's funny that the point-to-point wiring we call "ugly" in one context is actually beautiful in its original one: a PCB-less radio chassis built in three dimensions. This one adds the fourth dimension of time with the tubes, the classic arched-face ammeter, and control knobs the size of half-dollars. I, too, like the clear front panel, though a black panel with the chassis top still unenclosed would be cool as well. I've just now put Scott's videos on my Watch Later list. Hell, I might just go watch them now! --Todd K7TFC
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