Minimalist Radio: The ET-1 and the FETer

SPRAT # 137 (Winter 2008-2009) has a number of great articles on minimalist radio -- very simple rigs with low parts counts. Roger G3XBM has a very nice re-make of the ET-1, first introduced by Glen Yingling W2UW in SPRAT 108. I remembered Glen's article -- I always wanted to try it. The ET-1 has just one active device: an MPF-102 FET. And it is a transceiver.
The schematic of the ET-1 appears above. I started building mine yesterday. Got the receiver done and --- WOW! -- heard some 80 meter signals this morning. More to follow...

Another Bout of Minimalist Regen Madness

My success with the Fish Soup 10 QRPp transceiver got me interested in further minimalization.  About ten years ago I built a rig presented in SPRAT 108 as the ET-1 by Glen Yingling W2UW.   It re-appeared in modified form as the FETer by G3XBM in SPRAT 137.  

This rig uses just ONE active device, an MPF-102 FET that is switched via a 3 pole double throw switch from transmit to receive.  The transistor is switched.  The receiver is a regen and the transmitter is a very simple crystal controlled one stage oscillator. See: 
https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/search?q=ET-1  for info on my ET-1 effort. 
The transmitter was the easy part.  I don't think I made any contacts with this thing.  That has been kind of bugging me.  

So I tried it again.  Again, I had trouble with the receiver.  So I looked around for another single FET regen receiver design.   I found one on AA7EE's page.  It was designed by N0WVA:  
https://aa7ee.wordpress.com/2015/02/07/n0wvas-one-fet-regen-optimized-for-ssbcw-sounds-great/

I've had a variometer in my junk box since about 1994. (Given to me by Pericles HI8P. QEPD.) It was time to use it as the coil and ticker for this rig.   I liked the green LED in the source, and the promise that this thing would not oscillate at audio frequencies.  

I built in on one morning.  See pictures. It works.  I can hear CW stations.  But I think I would have a tough time making contacts with this thing.   OM Yingling worked 24 states with his ET-1.  Respect.  

SPRAT, the FETer, DLR headphones, and recent QSOs on the ET-2

Yesterday we had QSO #13 on the ET-2.  This was with Jim W1PID.  In an earlier contact Jim told me I had some chirp.  I fiddled with the coupling cap and the bias pot and am now T9!  These days, chirp is an endearing, nostalgic problem to have.  Thanks for the report and QSOs Jim! 

Contact #9 was with Fred K9SO.  He is in Wisconsin and QRZ.com put our distance at 633 miles.  That is our DX record so far.  Not bad for 92 milliwatts to a dipole on 40 meters. 

Most of my contacts come as a result of pleas for assistance on DX Summit or the SKCC Sked page.   But I did make one "random" contact: Contact #6 with N2VGA.  He just heard my CQ and gave me a call.  FB. 

I checked to see if OM Glen Yingling W2UW -- the guy who started all this with his ET-1 -- is still around.  He became a silent key in 2012.  But his ideas live on... 

SPRAT 137 (Winter 2008/09) has a great article by QRP hero G3XBM.  Roger built a version of the ET-1.  His was for 80 meters and he called it the FETer.   FB.   I was struck by his estimate of the sensitivity of the ET-1 receiver: -100 dbm.   I measured the N0WVA receiver (the one that I am using) has having a minimum discernible signal of -93 dbm.  Pretty close.  We may be at the limit of what you can expect from a single transistor receiver. 

SPRAT 137 had something else that really resonated with me.  G3YVF had an article on a minimalist rig using only one 6V6 tube.  Geoff opened the article with this warning "Don't try this unless you have a set of balanced armature type DLR 'phones as they are really sensitive."  I have a collection of old headphones that I picked up at hamfests in London years ago.  When building the ET-2, I checked all the old phones for sensitivity.  A set marked DLR was the most sensitive.  So Geoff's observation had been independently confirmed.   QRP Quarterly had an article comparing the sensitivities of old headphones -- we should dig that article up.   

SPRAT #137 is a reminder of what a great resource SPRAT -- The Journal of the GQRP Club -- really is.  As we say on SolderSmoke, if you are not a SPRAT subscriber you are just wrong!  Here is how to join GQRP and subscribe to SPRAT: http://www.gqrp.com/join.htm

Virginia to New Hampshire (one way) on 8 Parts and 20 mW

Having gotten the regen receiver portion of the ET-1 transceiver working nicely, I'm now working on the transmitter.  This is a much easier circuit to get going. (Check out the right hand side of the schematic below --- that is the transmitter.)  I have not made any contacts yet, but yesterday I called CQ on 7050 kHz and watched the Reverse Beacon Network to see if any of the skimmer stations picked me up.  Success!   W3UA up in New Hampshire received my signals. 

I was running about 30 milliwatts to my doublet antenna. The transmitter consists of EIGHT parts.  And three of them are the low pass filter. 

Next step:   Bring the transmitter and receiver together by using the switching scheme that OM Yingling used.  The RX and TX will share the same single FET (MPF-102 or J-310) with all three leads from the FET switched from TX to RX.   Then I will try for the elusive QSO with a single FET. 

More ET-1 related posts here: https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/search?q=ET-1

My ET-1 / FETer (Transceiver Made with One FET)

Magnificent, don't you think? This is my version of the ET-1 or FETer. It is an HF transceiver using only one active device -- a single MPF-102 Field Effect Transistor. I didn't have a 4 pole Double Throw switch in the junkbox, but I did have a 4PDT relay, so I used the relay. So far I have only built the receiver. It is working nicely. I was listening to German and Polish stations on 80 meter CW this morning.

I had always wanted to build W2UW's ET-1... I've been reading in "Empire of the Air" the inspiring account of Armstrong's invention of the regen receiver... Then, along came SPRAT 137 and G3XBM's FETer. I could no longer resist. Solder was melted.

It is great fun to listen to 80 meters and realize that the only thing between you and the ether is one small FET (you can see mine standing proudly atop the relay!) . Its a lot like using a crystal receiver. That one FET is serving simultaneously as an RF amplifier, mixer and BFO!

On to the transmitter! Thanks to OM Armstrong, to Glen (W2UW), and to Roger (G3XBM).

Crystal Radios from Heaven, Regens from ?

Yesterday I was describing the heavenly sounds coming from my crystal radio. In a minimalist mood, this morning I fired up (an appropriate term!) my ET-1 regen rig. This is the single FET transceiver described in earlier blog articles. The contrast with yesterday's experience couldn't be starker. Instead of Gregorian chants, I was greeted by the screeches of excessive regeneration. The crystal receiver seemed to WANT to demodulate signals, the regen required all kinds of adjustment and coaching and, it seemed, black magic. All this made me think that while the crystal sets are heavenly, the regens seem like they are from the other place.
There is a Roman ham who has said he will try to have a contact with me using this ET-1 rig. One will be enough, then it will be back to direct conversion and superhets for me.

Hangin' it up (the ET-2)

My ET-2 minimalist QRP CW adventure is (for now) officially over.   I have taken the rig - festooned with the callsigns of all the stations I contacted -- and have put it up on the wall.  This may be a new form of art.  I think I am the first radio amateur to do this.  I think it is pretty cool. 

Here are the stats:   I made 20 contacts with the rig. I had it on the air from 12 October 2019 to 7 December 2019.    Seventeen of the contacts were the result of my posting pleas for help on the SKCC Sked page and/or the Summit DX page.  Three of the contacts were completely random. One station -- W1PID -- provided four of the contacts.  Thanks Jim. 

My power out was usually around 100 milliwatts.  I used either a 40 meter coax fed dipole or a 135 foot doublet fed with window line. 

My best distances were Wisconsin and Georgia. 

Crystal control was the real limiting factor.  100 milliwatts didn't seem to be much of an impediment. The most amazing thing about this rig is the N0WVA regen receiver.  It took a lot of peaking and tweaking, and it took some skill to operate. but once I got it going it was an amazingly good receiver.  Really Amazing for just ONE J-310 FET. 

The last contact was really nice.  I was calling CQ and AA8OZ came back.  He was in a cabin on a trip with some scouts.  He too was on a wire antenna.  He was one of those guys who said WOW! when I told him about the rig.  We had a nice long conversation on 40.  It was a great way to wrap up the ET-2 adventure. 

Thanks to all who helped me make contacts and for all those who tried to work me. Thanks to N0WVA for the regen inspiration. And thanks to Glen Yingling W2UW (SK) for the ET-1 idea. 

The rig is standing by.  On the wall.  Perhaps it will return to service, maybe during solar max. 

Success with my ET-2 --TWO TRANSISTOR RIG

 

In my effort to replicate the ET-1 rig of Glen Yingling W2UW, I had a hard time getting the receiver to work well with the single FET being switched between receiver and transmitter, so I retreated a bit and went with individual FETs for the TX and the RX.  This doubled the transistor count -- to TWO.  So it is an ET-2.

I also boosted the power to 80 milliwatts by putting 12 V on the transmitter.  The receiver was running off the 9V battery you can see in the left in the picture. 

Here is the story of the contact: 

To K4MQG from N2CQR:

Gary: Wow thanks for the QSO today.  I was using 80 mW transmitter that consists of just 8 parts!  The receiver was a regen using one single transistor.  So one transistor on transmit and one transistor on receive.  And it reached South Carolina.

I was about to give up hope.  I had been calling CQ for days.  Then I was talking to Rob VE4GV on 20SSB.  Rob suggested that I "spot myself" on one of the DX clusters.  So I did (see below).  Obviously you saw my spot and a minute or so later, SUCCESS!   I'm really pleased.

Attached is a picture of the rig.  The transmitter is around the crystal and the blue pot on the right.  The headphones are from WWII.  The receiver was powered by the 9V battery.  The regen uses a variometer given to me by a friend in the Dominican Republic in 1992.  The main tuning dial is connected to the cap by an adapter from a 1930s-era regen.  Antenna was a 40 meter dipole at about 25 feet.  Obviously your 3 elements a 115 feet were doing the heavy lifting.

Thanks again Gary!

And thanks to Rob for the suggestion on the spotting.

73  Bill N2CQR

SolderSmoke Podcast #214 is FINALLY out!

WE ARE WORKING TO IMPROVE THE AUDIO QUALITY.  IN THE FIRST RELEASE OF THIS PODCAST SOME OF THE AUDIO WAS KIND OF MUFFLED.  I TRIED TO FIX IT THIS MORNING AND I THINK I MADE SOME IMPROVEMENTS.  THE IMPROVED AUDIO IS NOW AT THE LINK BELOW.  

4 November 2019 (shockingly late!)

http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke214.mp3

The visit of Farhan to Northern Virginia
"I heard this guy from Southern California on 20..."
Fire Report from Pete

Pete's Bench Report
"When you know stuff, you can do stuff!" 
The CRAP rigs 
Old Boatanchors -- the Swan 120  with SUPER STABLE ANALOG VFO! 
Ten Tec rigs dial cord replaced with Chinese digi sig counter 
Pete's 500 mW encounter with a QRO curmudgeon
The ZL2BMI Challenge has Pete building crystal filters
The Left Coast Loafer CW rig 

Bill's Bench Report

ET-2 Refinements
N0WVA's Regen Receiver 
Going from ET-1 to ET-2
J-310s vice MPF-102
100 mW from a single J-310
Receiver kind of deaf -103 dbm MDS
10 contacts so far in 9 states 
THREE contacts yesterday.
Worked Wisconsin - 633 miles on 92 mW 
We are at sunspot minimum. 
"Rage, rage against the dying of the light." 
Simplicity is the real reason for CW 

IDEA:  Get those Michigan Might Mites on the air! 
Use Reverse Beacon Network to see if you are getting out 
Use SDR receivers to make contacts

MAILBAG
DL1AJG
KC6SAX
W9VNE
KA4KXX
N0WVA
Zl2BMI
AJ6BD  

ET-2 Contact #18 W4FOA -- RANDOM, UNSCHEDULED, AND NOT SPOTTED (Video)

On December 1, 2019,  my 100 milliwatt signal flew more than 500 miles to reach Tony W4FOA in Chickamauga, Georgia. And -- icing on the cake -- this was a random contact.   Tony just heard my CQ on 7038 kHz -- he had not been alerted to my CQ by any spotting site or by the SKCC Sked page.  I made a quick video of my side of the contact (above). 

In a follow-up e-mail Tony explained how my CQ sounded to him: 

"I was just listening on the 40 meter band and having been a QRP'er for 50+ years, I tend to notice the weaker stations, thus explains my calling you.  Also, your signal had that little "sound" of "yesteryear" when signals were not all pure, hi.  Had it not been for the QSB and QRN we could have had a long chat despite the weak signal from your QRPp.  Over the years I have QRP DXCC, 2 way QRPARCI WAS, and my best DX was two QSO's with 2 different VK7 stations on 40 when I was running 1 watt.  I've had a lot of different QRP rigs and still have some home brew stuff plus a couple of HW8s, HW9, Elecraft K2, etc..."  

From Tony's QRZ.com page, we learn more about his ham radio activities (note his homebrew rigs and his obvious affection for the Drake 2B and 2BQ) 

First licensed as WN4FOA in April 1954. Other calls held include EL2AD, 7Q7AA, PY1ZBA. Prefer to work CW but I do work some SSB, primarily DX-related. Enjoy chasing DX on all HF bands. Have 9BDXCC and I now have worked and confirmed all of the current DXCC countries . I enjoy QRP operation and currently use an Elecraft K2 (#2213),Ameco AC-1, Kenwood TS-130V SW-40, DC-40, HW-8 (2), Heathkit HW-9 Deluxe (WARC) PSA-9 HFT-9B SP-99 HM-9 HD-420 VLF, MFJ 40T and MFJ 40V VFO,  and a homebrew 6AG7/6L6 or a 6C4/5763  etc. I also enjoy operating boatanchor gear which includes a Johnson Viking Adventurer, Viking Challenger,  an Eico 720 and an Eico 723 with a HG-10B VFO and a Heath AT-1 and a Drake 2NT. Recently added a neat Lysco 600 transmitter and a Knight Kit T-60, Johnson Viking II, and a Ten Tec 544.  Boatanchor receivers include a Hallicrafters SX-100, SX-110, SX-71, Drake R4C and the incredible Drake 2B/2BQ combo. Recently added a Kenwood TS-830S, VFO-240, AT-230 and SP-230.

Tony W4FOA

Thanks a lot Tony.  73

WB9IWT's Quarantine Mighty Mite and N3FJZ's "Hiram Percy Maxim Recognition Factor"

Leif WB9IWT has, during the emergency, been working on a Michigan Mighty Mite (See pictures above and below).  FB Leif.  

But also check out the very astute comment from Rick N3FJZ (below) .  I am, of course, all in favor of the HPMR Factor.  Almost all of my rigs would score quite high.    Others, I know, would seek a low score.  To each his own.  This is all for fun.  

Leif,

Great work.  If a ham from the 1920's were to see this rig, they
probably wouldn't recognize the actual components right away (but
knowing hams, they would no doubt figure it out), but the breadboard
layout circuit flow would be immediately recognizable; e.g. the plug-in
crystal, the coil, binding post.  The transistor and variable capacitor
may baffle them at first, but seeing there are three leads on the
transistor would start to give them clues.

That's the cool part about analog discrete component radio, no matter
how many years go by, and the appearance and size of the actual
components change, the physics of what's going on at the electron level
stays the same (SDR not withstanding).

I guess this could be a litmus test for us analog radio builders.  It
could be called the "Hiram Percy Maxim Recognition Factor" or "HPMR
Factor" with a range of 0 to 1.  After you  build your rig, take a look
at it and pretend that you could present it to Mr. Maxim and the more he
could understand the circuits, components and circuit flow on his own,
the closer to a factor of 1 your radio would achieve.  For example, an
SDR might only achieve a factor of .1 or even maybe 0, where as your rig
may achieve a factor of .8, and one of your crystal receivers would
definitely get a 1.

Someone could even workout a check list or formula where you would add
or subtract some fractional numeric values for each component you used;
e.g. you would subtract some value for every IC chip, microprocessor or
LCD display you use, and add some fractional value for each hand wound
coil, vacuum tube/valve or open air variable capacitor, et cetera.

Fun to think about.

Keep building.

Rick - N3FJZ

Notes and Video on Doug N0WVA's Amazing Single Transistor Regenerative Receiver

When I had trouble getting the regen receiver in W2UW's ET-1 circuit to work, I turned to the internet and -- through AA7EE's site -- found the circuit of Doug N0WVA.   This circuit has completely changed my attitude toward regen receivers.   I have been exchanging e-mails with Doug -- below is a compilation of the info and regen-wisdom that he has shared.  More to follow... Thanks Doug. 

From Doug N0WVA: 

I came up with the diode after exploring ways to ditch the source r/c combo. The thinking was the closer I could get the source to ground the less voltage/capacitance fluctuations the gate would see.  Also I hated seeing everyone using .01 bypass to avoid audio oscillations and also losing audio gain. 

 The green LED works good but even better is directly grounding the source. Then feed a small negative bias through the gate leak resistor , adjustable via a potentiometer.  

On video, the audio is taken straight from the radio shack headphones that are connected to the audio transformer. The headphones are held directly to the phones case ( no hole for the microphone seen on the phone)  

The variometer is  made with I think a 1.25 inch pill bottle and the tickler inside is around an inch in diameter pill bottle. I used a pharmaceutical syringe's outside tube for a shaft. The tickler form has a couple holes cut for the shaft to pass through, it is a friction fit, more like slits cut and the rod pushed through. I used the soldering iron to melt round holes on the actual outside coil form for the shaft to turn on. On the back of the shaft is a small screw that goes through the outside coil form and screws into the syringe center hole that holds it in place. The tickler is one turn, I think, and routed through the inside of the shaft via small holes melted with the soldering iron.

A couple tweeks to mention is instead of a resistor in the gate, use a choke for less noise, makes a big difference, especially if you listen to AM.  Also I have been using a gimmick for the gate cap.  Just maybe a #36 enamel wire wrapped around  the hot tank lead 5 or 6 times and then I remove turns till the thing stops oscillating, then add a turn. This helps cut down even more on strong signal pulling. 

I have always been on a quest for more performance out of the least parts. This design was about as far as it could go, I think....

I have never done any real sensitivity tests on the regen, so you have gone farther than me already. One thing was noticed though is the gate resistor does add a lot of noise, especially noticeable just under oscillation in AM detection mode.  So I took a one meg 1/4 watt resistor and wound as many turns of #38 wire on as I could, probably around 80 turns, then subbed it out for the gate leak.  This dramatically improved the noise level just under oscillation. This was with a simple antenna band noise test. I think it also improved the noise under oscillating conditions. 

Adding extra antenna coupling will probably help a lot, but, there is a point where we start getting too much strong signal pulling.  The strong external bias battery trick will also improve this, although at the cost of extra parts.

SolderSmoke Podcast #102

For the podcast go to:
http://www.soldersmoke.com

For the new SolderSmoke Store:
http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke

In SolderSmoke 102:

In the shadow of Vesuvius...
...then back to the "laboratorio."
-------------
QRSS musings:
1 transistor for transmit, 100 million for receive.
We need a low tech beacon generator -- maybe mechanical clock driven?
QRSS on "Hack-A-Day."
VK2ZAY QRSS booms into Europe.
Soul in the New Machine: Billy's oscillator.
ON5EX's grabber on SolderSmoke blog.
Italians at the forefront of QRSS.
--------------
T-shirt news: "Menus are for restaurants!"
"QRSS Ops Do it Very Slowly"
--------------
Using iGoogle for ham radio.
USENET is going strong!
Back on Echolink.
--------------
Minimalist Radio:
The Gnat! The NS-40!
I add a second transistor to my ET-1 (and hang my head in shame).
--------------
MAILBAG:
Jim, AL7RV, developing smoke generator for LTSpice.
Randy, K7AGE, sent Empire of the Air video -- Thanks!
Jim, K9JM, prescribes higher Q for regen rx. "Never will be a 2B!"
Rye, K9LCJ, "Low Space Means Fine Teletype."
Alan, W2AEW, Listens to SS while on the road with Tektronix.
Dave, W8NF, "Armstrong, A Man of High Fidelity." Indeed.
Mark reports W7ZOI releases new EMRFD software.
Jonathan, KB1KIX, Shep fan, has good Smith Chart stuff on his blog.
Jerry, NR5A, building a QRSS beacon.
George, K8VU, Dilbert has "utter social ineptitude."
David, VK6DI, moving East.
Paul, K3PG, took Willamette project on ski trip.
Steve, WA0PWK, Gil cartoon about Wes.
---------------------------

SolderSmoke Podcast 213 WE'RE BACK!

N6QW's Analog CW QRP Transceiver

SolderSmoke Podcast #213 is available. 

http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke213.mp3

7 September 2019

The dire consequences of our summer absence. 

50th PODCAST WITH OUR FRIEND PETE! 
THREE CHEERS FOR PETE! 

Pete's Bench Report

-- Transceiver Count:  FORTY!  
-- SDR RADIGS 
-- Colorful OLED screens
-- Pilgrims and Paisanos -- "Left Coast Homebrew SSB"
-- Pete builds a CW transceiver (see picture above)


Bill's Bench Report: 

-- Going minimalist
-- Tuna Tin 2 + Herring Aid 5 = Fish Soup 7 (and later 10)
-- My QRPp QSO with K1PUB overheard in Canada
-- Glen Yingling's ET-1 
-- Bill attempting a single transistor transceiver

SPACE NEWS

-- Antuino's Cubesat Origins. Farhan's Antuino Mods
-- Apollo 11 Anniversary
-- Possibly the best space book ever:  "Carrying the Fire" by Michael Collins
-- Chinese microsat sending eclipse pictures from the moon
-- LightSail 2 success
-- India has spacecraft in lunar orbit. 

Eric Sears ZL2BMI and Dino Papas KL0S on "QSO Today" Podcast

MAILBAG: 

ZL2PD's Sugar Cube VFO
N8WQ gets free samples
N5RWF Getting started, wisely wearing beret
VK2EMU Australian Ad for Collins Filters
W1PJE on new LDMOS PA transistors
KA4KXX Al Fresco 75 meter SSB rig with model plane engine mufflers!  

Forgot to mention:  W9TH still has manuals for whover owns Drake 2-B #4215.  Check your serial number! 

SolderSmoke 101

http://www.soldersmoke.com

Superbowl Sunday in Rome. "Playing for Pizza." Spirals on the Piazza
Empire of the Air -- Gerbils Renamed
"Electrons on Parade"  Good RCA film about tubes
Minimalist Mania:
  ET-1/FETer transmitter built -- some problems
  New Minimalist Yahoo group
  AA1TJ and AA1MY make QRP History with tunnel diode rig
QRSS News:
  New beacons and grabbers in US and Canada
  K6HX and the lure of the whisperers
  Upside down FSK for VK/ZL observers?
Chip extraction tips (belated)
What "s.o.t." means.
MAILBAG:
Brad WA5PSA still jogging in Tulsa
Ted AJ8T and Paul VK5PH: Lake not named for Lee
Neil G7AQK HB mystery box
Doug WB5TKI on how to extract chips
Ron AA5RS advises Billy to stick with Linux
Bill AA0RQ uses the hard stuff
Scott on Heaviside:  Good guy or not?
Brent in Twin Cities: SWL Rockmite and SS lead to ham radio
Dan NM5DV building SDR QRSS rig
Jeff K07M listens while flying private plane
John W6TC has great article for Electronic Design
Edwin WA4YHL: Amateur Logic TV #23 is available
Dale WA5DJJ on the possible benefits of upside down FSK
Eddie G3JZO: Upside down FSK looks like laundry on the line!
Jerry NR5A has the minimalist bug

For the podcast go to:
http://www.soldersmoke.com

For the new SolderSmoke Store:
http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke

Armstrong's Regen (and lots more)

There it is. Howard Armstrong's regenerative receiver. Mike, KC7IT, led me to the wonderful website that has this picture, and much more. The site has all kinds of schematics and pictures and letters related to the work of radio pioneer Howard Armstrong. Check it out (you should probably take the tour by hitting the NEXT button on each page):
http://users.erols.com/oldradio/eha1.htm

I continue to work on my regen (part of the ET-1/FETer minimalist project). Jim, K9JM, says the raspy tone on CW signals is caused by FMing of the regen stage and prescribes a coil of higher Q. Thanks Jim.

AA1TJ and AA1MY MAKE QRP HISTORY

I was feeling smug about my version of the ET-1/FETer single FET transceiver. I built the transmit portion of the rig this morning, and it fired right up, producing a nice clean CW signal. But then news came in of the historic 100 mile QSO between Michael, AA1TJ, and Seab, AA1MY. Michael was using his new Mikums rig, an 80 meter transceiver built around one tunnel diode. My FET rig seems like a QRO appliance in comparison to the Mikums. Michael's diode rig was putting out 160 micro watts. Yes, 160 uW. Congratulations to Mike and Seab. I'm sure Mike would not mind my sharing his e-mail on this subject (see below). Reading it, you can just feel the excitement that came from this historic contact. I'm sure tunnel diode inventor Leo Esaki (pictured above) would be pleased.
Be sure to check out Michael's description of the rig:
http://mjrainey.googlepages.com/mikums
Also, don't miss the pages on Reginald Fessenden:
http://www.newsm.org/Wireless/Fessenden/Fessenden.html

Friends,
Seab, AA1MY sent me a message just over an hour ago saying that he suddenly began hearing my Mikums transceiver running as a beacon! Seab lives in Bethel, Maine, an air distance of exactly 100miles/160km from my QTH. A few hours earlier I'd measured Mikums' output power at 169uW (yes, microWatts!).
I was at the computer when his message appeared so I quickly called him on the telephone. He said that he'd been monitoring while he was busy with some paperwork. He'd just returned from fetching a load of firewood and all of a sudden there I was! He put the phone near his loudspeaker and I just about fell over! I was weak, but perfectly readable.
Then I practically hung-up on the poor fellow in order to race down to my shack in order to try for a QSO. I heard him clear as a bell at a power of 40w (I reported 459, but I ought to have sent 559). He confirmed my report and then dropped down to 4w. Although weak, I easily copied his 429 report to me. I gave him a 219, which he confirmed.
Oh boy...it's done. We made a skywave QSO using a one-tunnel diode transceiver. I'm practically giddy here :o)
Many thanks to Jim, W1PID, who has patiently listened for several days. In fact, Jim has copied my CQ and callsign several times before my signal evaporated on a breeze of QSB. In return, I copied Jim's Small Wonders Labs DSW at 2w on Mikums with no problem the other day. Again, many thanks, OM. The next time we meet, I'm buying, okay?
Again, way to go Seab; that's one small step for man....naw, more like one more exciting and thoughly useless (ain't it great!) milestone in the history of QRP :o)
73/72's all around,
Mike, AA1TJ

Out of the Sonoran Desert... The Gnat!

We've been away for a few days, down in the shadow of Vesuvius, but I'm back in the shack now, and this morning I've been looking more closely at the latest creation out of the Sonoran Desert:
Chris Trask, N7ZWY, has given us the design for an amazing rig he calls "The Gnat" (Chris has a deep interest in the flora and fauna of the Sonoran Desert.) Like the ET-1 and FETer, The Gnat is an HF transceiver using only one active device. Chris uses a 2N2222 transistor. But unlike the other one-device rigs, The Gnat uses no switches or relays for T/R transitioning -- his rig goes from Receive to Transmit just by pushing the key down. The receiver is, of course, a regen. And get this: The Gnat can produce somewhere in the area of .5 watts to 2 watts of RF. Wow, that's one big bug! There's definitely a lot of Knack in The Gnat. Check it out:
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~christrask/Gnat%2040.pdf

SolderSmoke NUMBER 100

http://www.soldersmoke.com

SPECIAL CENTENARY EDITION
A look back to the beginning
Rome Travelogue:  Palatine Hill
Fixing my old freq counter: Trials and Tribulations
Empire of the Air:
  More great history, but more tech faux pas
  "The radio art" 
  An historical precedent for our GONG 
  Lake DeForest? 
  A. Frederick Collins
Understanding Beta Independence 
Understanding Feedback and Distortion
SPRAT 137: Minimalist Radio:
  The FETer/ET-1: "Haiku from Solder"
  Regens: Not for the faint of heart
NEW: THE SolderSmoke STORE: T-shirts, Mugs...!
MAILBAG: 
Shawn N3ZHP new to Knack, wants to build ALL his gear
Steve WB6NTL on hippie origins of "Snort Rosin"
Scott AC0GG recommends new mic, equalizer
Jim AL7RV going QRSS mobile. Can we find him? 
George K8VU on kid busted by FCC
Craig KC2LFI helps with SS s sounds 
David KB1BED says SolderSmoke driving up Drake 2-B prices
Steve G0FUW "Ten DSB rigs built in cloud of aromatic 60/40"
Brian NF0G HBing at -20F  Comet Lulin coming
Tony G4LLW Freq standards, IC extraction, Arc transmitters
Kevin AA7YQ listened to SS while on parachute mission 
Graeme ZL2GDN building for DSB and QRSS
Stu N6TTO has new FSK QRSS beacon 10140060 
Mark K6HX (has great "Brainwagon" blog) lost SSDRA
Robin AF1RE Heard BITx20s on the air, now is building
Gerry EI8DRB has his 2B
Ray M0DHP has a strange aromatic solder experience...

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.