1959 One Tube VHF Receiver

1959RadioTVExpSixty years ago, a 1959 issue of Radio-TV Experimenter carried the plans for this one-tube VHF receiver. The superregenerative set covered 27-200 MHz. Since the sunspot cycle was cooperative in 1959, the set pulled in a lot of DX. On the 10 meter amateur band, the author reported hearing hams in Mexico, Cuba, Alaska, and Japan. In addition, he pulled in paging services in California and Puerto Rico, and police stations in South America, all with an indoor wire antenna. With an outdoor beam antenna, he pulled in the audio of BBC television in London.

One half of the 12AT7 tube acted as the sensitive detector, with the other half serving as audio amplifier. Plug-in coils were used for band switching.

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