My Homebrew Communications Receiver

This is my version of Mike Bohn's, KG7TR, Octalmania 80m SSB superhet receiver using octal valves. Mike has built a load of projects using octal valves and I highly recommend his website: www.kg7tr.com for more information. I've made a few modifications so that the receiver covers 3 bands and will receive AM, SSB and CW.

[@dxscotland5901]

That’s a cracking setup and congrats on a brilliant build! Unfortunately it’s beyond my capabilities but I do like looking at peoples creations! Thanks 73 Gm4zji Chris

[@m0dad]

What a stunning looking receiver Justin. Another great homebrew project. I love the matching colour schemes. Some of your other breadboard projects have recently inspired me to build a vintage looking breadboard 807 power oscillator CW transmitter. Keep up the great work and thanks for sharing. 73...M0DAD

[@chrispza]

Top build, and great audio quality. Wish now I hadn't given away my comms gear.

[@towerman75]

Quite the craftsman, love the choice of face colors. Great work.

[@batterymakermarkii2654]

I’m impressed with that build quality

[@oilydigits]

Justin Great build, multiband is always my achilles heel. Heard all this live this morning and noticed that there were three AM stations on 80m, the ssb brigade will be seething:-) My poor xyl is forced to listen to the weekend vmars net during breakfast, for ages Paul was thought to be M1BBC. 73 de Steve M0KOV

[@thewtf]

Thats funny Steve😂😂!!

[@bucksboatanchors3328]

Congratulations on a lovely build and thanks for showing us. The meter movement gets a good workout :-)

[@mm7bvp]

Excellent receiver @The WTF the audio from this machine is almost perfect. It was wise to compartmentalise each stage, this should help cut down on internal interference. Keep up the good work and thanks for sharing 👍

[@M0JHN]

Nice Cap, grew up in SA as kiddo. Oh and what a great build cheers for sharing

[@o00scorpion00o]

Beautiful radio, great sound on SSB !

[@youtubeaccount931]

Super cool, well done! Quite a nice looking rig too.

[@chrisgosling5408]

Does the meter need some rectification, Also in keeping with the era the sticky lables would be inside where they can dry out fall off and catch fire. The other thing would be getting the front panel engraved and filled. A lot of equipment has point to point wiring as a loom can often bring its own problems. Although I find with these projects keeping up the enthusiasm for what can become a war of attrition as you hit brick walls is the main challenge! Great video!

[@frycz66]

A beautiful and valuable project. Just one note: the signal indicator is poorly driven, namely the needle is tugging to the right and left. It should only steer to the right and run soft. This is the only remark. Yours sincerely SP5RF Robert from Poland. 73! for you!

[@thewtf]

Yeah, the s meter was originally supposed to run from the AGC as is the usual case but I could not get it to work very well so at the moment it is driven from the audio via an LM386 which produces that meter movement!!

[@frycz66]

@@thewtf it is enough to use a spike diode or some other diode and a 10nF capacitor and the movement of the pointer will become smooth and one-sided - i.e. only to the right. Greetings! SP5RF 73!

[@thewtf]

Yeah thats a good idea!!

[@thewtf]

Robert, I put 100uF capacitor and a diode and it behaves like a normal s-meter Thanks!

[@jerryuhte1284]

Congrats om , absolutely amazing rig , sounds fantastic ! 73 , Jerry K9UT

[@Paul_VK3HN]

Thats a serious homebrew receiver, how long did it take you to build?

[@thewtf]

Not that long… about 3 weeks on and off!

[@ingussilins6330]

Good enclosure and design :)

[@robertarchuletta2498]

That's amazing!

[@williamrmeara2162]

Beautiful homebrew receiver. FB. But I have a question: At 12:35 you tune in what seems to be an SSB ragchew on 3.723.808. But the BFO is off. How can you hear so clearly an SSB signal without the BFO on? A bit later you tune in what appear to be the same stations, this time on 3.275.291 with the BFO on. So how were you able to copy them clearly with the BFO off? 73 Bill N2CQR

[@thewtf]

I think the IF stage is a bit oscillatory ( if thats the right word)!!

[@roberthorseman7432]

What coils do you use for the aerial and oscillator.

[@thewtf]

I think they were surplus formers I had lying around

[@user-bo8eq7ki5w]

Не ужели на западе радиолюбители еще делают радио аппаратуру своими руками ?! Уважаю . 73 !

[@tolyivanov3246]

Hello Justin! How you make signatures on the front panel?

[@thewtf]

Hi, I used a Brother label printer. Nothing special!!

[@andrzejtomaszewski5357]

dobra robota... Masz talent. Tylko ten pomiar analog.. nie tak ....Pozdrawiam.

[@frequencywatchers]

If You Ain`t Smart I Don`t Know Who You Are !

[@chronobot2001]

Beautiful job and a wonderful technical accomplishment but using tubes.... Why? They are power hungry and harder to obtain. If you are wanting to be EMP proof the fet and bjt will be the weak link. Other than that, bravo on an exceptional build and a great sounding rig.

[@thewtf]

I like valves/ tubes… they glow and have more character than solid state devices

[@roberthorseman7432]

@@thewtf For me valves tend to sound warmer and the glow of a magic eye in the dark cant beat it.