The March 1948 issue of Radio News carried the plans for this two-tube transmitter for 40 or 80 meters, ideal for portable or emergency use.

The author noted that most ham transmitters weren’t suited for such purposes due to their size, weight, and inflexibility of power supply. This “MiniTran” was built with those constraints in mind. The author settled on a two-tube design after difficulties with keying a one-tube design were encountered, especially with makeshift equipment. The circuit uses a 6C4 Pierce Oscillator driving a 6AQ5 output.

The circuit required 6 volts for the filaments, and 300 volts B+, which could be derived either from a vibrator power supply, or simply by tapping into the receiver’s power supply.

When the author got the rig on the air, he made a contact with the first station called on 40 meters, which was a contact with Tennessee from Connecticut. In the next week, seven more states were worked on 80 and 40, with reports as high as RST 589X.