Welcome to the NE1S Amateur Radio Homepage
(New! Improved! Updated 1/9/2008)
Greetings. I'm Larry, NE1S, and welcome to my "virtual shack" on the web. I've been licensed since 1983, but have been a ham "at heart" for a lot longer than that. My main radio-related interests are AM operation and antique radio. The homebrew rig pictured above is hardly ancient technology, however, as it contains a mess of ICs and power FETs, despite its "retro" appearance. It uses pulse duration modulation (PDM) to efficiently generate broadcast quality AM without any modulation transformer. For a great introduction to this technology, see KA1SI's article in the April 1988 AM Press/Exchange. This is the design I "ripped off," with a few minor changes, to build my rig. Click here for more about this transmitter.
On the other end of the technology spectrum, I'm also into minimalist antique radio. I operate CW with simple home-made "breadboard" self-excited tube-type transmitters. In this mode I usually use my RAL-7 receiver, which is the ultimate TRF regenerative receiver, designed in the 30's. Built like the proverbial brick outhouse, this radio is still very practical and fun to use on CW. I'm not a great CW op by any means, but I find it a lot more fun using the mode this way than with a modern-day appliance. Here are links to pictures of some of this stuff, and more:
Push-pull TNT oscillator CW transmitter
Hartley oscillator CW transmitter
Building the Hartley in November 2004
XTAL-controlled "Tri-Tet" using type 59 tube, front view
SW Regenerative TRF Set built into
Radiola IIIA carcass
(no, I DID NOT sacrifice a restoreable
Radiola IIIA. This set had been stripped out long before I was born.
The circuit I used is essentially that of the Pilot AC Super-Wasp,
minus one AF stage. I also had to reduce the gain of the RF stage to
prevent oscillation due to lack of shielding compared to the original
design.)
More Projects and Artifacts:
The 1926 ARRL Handbook Regenerative Receiver
Below is a view of one of four operating positions in my 19th century Maine farmhouse:
Outside the shack, after a Christmas Day snowstorm in 2003:
Here's the NE1S mobile shack (off the air/road during winter months!):
Outside the NE1S mobile shack:
Lightning, a true friend, 1990 – 2007. Man, do I ever miss her!:
And, finally, here are links to some of my favorite sites:
AB4EL's Ham Radio Page (access to archives of some of the coolest radio-related Email reflectors)
AM Fone courtesy of Gary, W2INR
Antique Wireless Association Homepage
Last but not least, here is a link to the QSL.net Homepage. These
kind folks provide server space for web pages and other useful web
services to hams free of charge.
QSL.NET
Homepage
Please let me know if there are any problems with the above links so that I can resolve them. TNX & 73 de Larry, NE1S
