More Inspiring Mail! Another "First Ever Receiver was Homebrew"

Frank's Lowfer Beacon Receiver

It was great to hear from someone else who, like Scott KQ4AOP, heard his very first signals on a homebrew receiver.  That is a really wonderful way to start.  Frank's first receiver was built around the NE602 chip.  I had trouble understanding this IC but I finally cracked the code: 

https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2021/11/how-to-understand-ne-602-and-gilbert.html 

The picture that Frank sent is of a more recent project, this one a Lowfer receiver that picks up signals from beacons. 

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Hello Bill, 

I just wanted to message you and tell you I really enjoyed your book Soldersmoke. I've been listening to the podcast as well.  On the latest one you mentioned a fellow who heard his first ham radio signals on a homebrew receiver, and that's how it was for me as well! There were lots of articles about using  the NE602 in the electronics magazines back in the day. I put one of the circuits together and it worked pretty smoothly... I eventually got my ham radio licence (KC8JJL) sometime in the 90's. The first time I met a ham was when I showed up to take the test!  

I don't do much transmitting these days but I still love to listen and tinker.  Here's a picture of a direct conversion LF receiver I put together... It uses an NE602 and is varactor tuned. It only covers from around 300Khz to just over 400khz  but there are still a few beacons I can hear in MI and WI. 

Frank James