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Old 20th Apr 2021, 8:12 pm   #1
Steve Gibson
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Default Ultimate home brew amateur radio?

It seems like there are lots of kits out there for working radios, modules, etc for building and improving your own amateur radio.

However, each of these has its own strengths and weaknesses and focuses on different aspects of amateur radio, either relating to certain functionality or specific bands and frequencies.

If it s possible to bring together the best mix of these into one build, what would it contain and why? Ideally, quoting links to those resources.

This is a bit of a thought experiment to try and gather info on the best Diy modules and radios kits /circuits out there (old and new), and to try and establish what would be required to put together the ultimate home brew radio from the range of open source information available.

I would welcome any feedback from any members with skills and experience in this area.
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Old 20th Apr 2021, 9:17 pm   #2
G6Tanuki
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Default Re: Ultimate home brew amateur radio?

I guess you first need to define what your interests are.

Gear for working CW on 136KHz is going to be vastly different to what you need to work full-colour digital-TV on 1296MHz.

Equally, what are your available skills? Depending on your interests you may need to be able to machine coaxial cavities to a significantly-narrow tolerance on a lathe, assemble surface-mount components to a PCB, or have a significant degree of competence in C++ programming to manage and decode the output from a software-defined radio.

You may also need access to a range of sometimes-esoteric testgear - though these days this is less of a problem with cheap Chinese thingies that can display a Smith-chart on their inbuilt LCD, for significantly-powerful stuff you are still likely to need something like a Bird-43 to help you with tuneup.
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Old 20th Apr 2021, 9:19 pm   #3
Steve Gibson
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Default Re: Ultimate home brew amateur radio?

Quote:
Originally Posted by G6Tanuki View Post
I guess you first need to define what your interests are.

Gear for working CW on 136KHz is going to be vastly different to what you need to work full-colour digital-TV on 1296MHz.

Equally, what are your available skills? Depending on your interests you may need to be able to machine coaxial cavities to a significantly-narrow tolerance on a lathe, assemble surface-mount components to a PCB, or have a significant degree of competence in C++ programming to manage and decode the output from a software-defined radio.

You may also need access to a range of sometimes-esoteric testgear - though these days this is less of a problem with cheap Chinese thingies that can display a Smith-chart on their inbuilt LCD, for significantly-powerful stuff you are still likely to need something like a Bird-43 to help you with tuneup.
Good point, I'll edit the original post to be more specific
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Old 20th Apr 2021, 9:48 pm   #4
Steve Gibson
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Default Re: Ultimate home brew amateur radio?

Quote:
Originally Posted by G6Tanuki View Post
I guess you first need to define what your interests are.

Gear for working CW on 136KHz is going to be vastly different to what you need to work full-colour digital-TV on 1296MHz.

Equally, what are your available skills? Depending on your interests you may need to be able to machine coaxial cavities to a significantly-narrow tolerance on a lathe, assemble surface-mount components to a PCB, or have a significant degree of competence in C++ programming to manage and decode the output from a software-defined radio.

You may also need access to a range of sometimes-esoteric testgear - though these days this is less of a problem with cheap Chinese thingies that can display a Smith-chart on their inbuilt LCD, for significantly-powerful stuff you are still likely to need something like a Bird-43 to help you with tuneup.
I guess my interests are quite traditional.

I have dabbled in surface mount, but don't enjoy it and I have a history working in software development and programming in a number of languages (including PIC Controllers) - but software defined radios don't interest me either.

I have refurbished a number of vintage amplifier and I'm used to working with High voltage circuits and valves - although I would prefer solid state for the design rather than tube.

I also have a workshop with a Mill, Lathe and other general workshop tools (I also have a watch making lathe and equipment), if required.

Ideally this would be a multiband transceiver (popular bands/frequencies) with 5 - 10W output.

by comparison I have seen the QRP Labs kits, but they seem a bit restrictive and require 3rd party firmware, etc - so I would like to build something that is configurable from tactile buttons and switches rather than PIC Controllers. I think these would be more fun to play with and operate.

This means the displays would be general readings rather than menus, and could be analogue or digital.
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Old 20th Apr 2021, 11:34 pm   #5
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Default Re: Ultimate home brew amateur radio?

I face a similar dilemma. My current approach is to gather parts for a rack-mount version with a backplane and slots for cards whereby I can 'dismantle' the receiver to the relevant modules and work on each to perfect performance. Of course matching between stages will be required but for simplicity I may just use 1dB pads and cope with the signal levels accordingly.

Many of the modules will be fairly standard (PSU, audio etc) but I'd really like to keep it IC-free (for no other reason than ludditism!).

I have the 2u rack case, 13 card backplane (might be 12, can't remember) and the cards themselves are currently isolated pad double sided boards with one side a ground plane. The edge connectors are (luckily) on a 0.1" pitch and fit straight on (with the relevant isolation on the ground plane side).

I've even made an extender card! All that's been pretty straighforward - now for the difficult bit!
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Old 21st Apr 2021, 12:10 am   #6
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Default Re: Ultimate home brew amateur radio?

At this moment of time,I personally find this UK based company DIY HF QRP SDR transceiver by Monka rather appealing. But i am put off by the high price:

http://www.m0nka.co.uk

The metal case and complete bits can be obtained from Aliexpress for about £35. if i have spare money, that would be my kind of thing. It is a good performer and not difficult to build for someone like me who is an outsider of amatuer radio.

Last edited by regenfreak; 21st Apr 2021 at 12:18 am.
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Old 21st Apr 2021, 1:02 am   #7
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Default Re: Ultimate home brew amateur radio?

Your definition of what you are looking for is way too broad and probably should be narrowed further.

Why? - because a radio designed to do eg CW mode will only be a compromise when used in SSB mode etc - no radio design will do all things equally, in all modes, on all bands.

That is why, in homebrew and kit build, you mostly find single band, single mode gear.

There is multiband, multi-mode homebrew gear out there, but have a look at the complexity, the amount of test gear (and the ability to use it) needed to make it work.

Also, a large amount of the kits these days depend on some sort of microcontroller, whether that be PIC, Arduino, ESP32 etc etc to control some of the functions in building a radio.

Even the fully discrete component uBITX transceiver uses a VFO controlled by a micro.

As for gathering a list of modules that 'may' be cobbled together to create a radio - most modules you will see are straight copies of the example circuits in datasheets, not optimised in any fashion, sometimes wrong in implementation and definitely without any compatibility between each other in terms of impedance matching, signal level and many other things.
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Old 27th Apr 2021, 11:59 am   #8
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Default Re: Ultimate home brew amateur radio?

I fully agree with Terry and Tanuki (above). I am an avid home constructor, and came to the conclusion a long while ago that Multi band multi mode equipment is always a compromise. My single band 40M SSB transceiver performed way better than my commercial FT817.
As Terry says... "horses for courses ". Of course the VERY Expensive multimode equipment may and will perform well, but you get what pay for.
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Old 28th Apr 2021, 2:50 pm   #9
marty_ell
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Default Re: Ultimate home brew amateur radio?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Gibson View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by G6Tanuki View Post
I guess you first need to define what your interests are.

You may also need access to a range of sometimes-esoteric testgear - though these days this is less of a problem with cheap Chinese thingies that can display a Smith-chart on their inbuilt LCD, for significantly-powerful stuff you are still likely to need something like a Bird-43 to help you with tuneup.
I guess my interests are quite traditional.

I have dabbled in surface mount, but don't enjoy it and I have a history working in software development and programming in a number of languages (including PIC Controllers) - but software defined radios don't interest me either.

I have refurbished a number of vintage amplifier and I'm used to working with High voltage circuits and valves - although I would prefer solid state for the design rather than tube.

I also have a workshop with a Mill, Lathe and other general workshop tools (I also have a watch making lathe and equipment), if required.

Ideally this would be a multiband transceiver (popular bands/frequencies) with 5 - 10W output.

by comparison I have seen the QRP Labs kits, but they seem a bit restrictive and require 3rd party firmware, etc - so I would like to build something that is configurable from tactile buttons and switches rather than PIC Controllers. I think these would be more fun to play with and operate.

This means the displays would be general readings rather than menus, and could be analogue or digital.

The difficulty with using any kit is that you are having to trust the supplier's statements unless it exactly matches an already-proven design. Worse, if you would be combining kits from different suppliers then all sorts of unquantified interferences, birdies etc. must be anticipated and resolved.

Have you had a look at any ARRL/RSGB handbooks? Glancing through these should quickly give you an idea of what is needed for a particular interest (Earth-moon-earth reception? or just top-band CW? - the variety is endless). These manuals also give an absolute wealth of ideas if you want to build an already-proven design or if you are brave enough to start from scratch, pretty much all at a modest cost.

For the real beginner (apologies if that is not you) I would suggest you get hold of an ARRL handbook from the late '80s or early '90s; these are less full of DSPs, packet etc. and more targetted at traditional ham activities using valves, semiconductors or hybrid techniques. Handbooks of this date can be obtained for a few quid on auction sites or web bookshops (some are downloadable FOC from the web). The designs shown are also amenable to the home constructor - not so much quad-flat-packs, TSSOP RAMs and tiny SMDs, more standard i.c.s, transistors and still-available valves.

Your set of skills looks enough to tackle a build-from-scratch. As an example, if you fancy combining a valve with solid state and software, I have had great fun using beam deflection valves as front ends backed up by FET/i.c. back ends, some with software-controlled PLLs - gives a very high performance on all h.f. bands for not much cost, and you don't need much test gear to get it working and aligned. Everything you need to know is to be found in the mentioned handbooks.

Cheers, Marty
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Old 1st May 2021, 10:43 am   #10
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Default Re: Ultimate home brew amateur radio?

Way back when International Crystal made a series of "OX" modules that were tube based for those designing home brew equip. They are out of biz, IIRC, but if you can get your hands on some 1960's vintage QST mags or ARRL Handbooks. they had ads & specs for them. They might even have the schematics posted in the ads too.
Always wanted to buy some of the modules to make a transmitter, but finances were severely limited back then.
It was a long time ago & I can't remember all the details. Hope this might be of some help, if nothing else for the schematics.
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Old 1st May 2021, 12:21 pm   #11
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Default Re: Ultimate home brew amateur radio?

Where do we start? Homebrew....

There is a long history of excellent designs for home made radio gear.

Have a look for the G2DAF receiver, transmitter and linear amplifier that were published by the RSGB in the sixties. They were pretty much state of the art and represented an immense amount of work. Philpotts would supply ready made chassis and metalwork. Just collecting all the bits would be an epic even then.

The G3PDM receiver was another step beyond commercial equipment.

More recently the CDG2000 receiver by Colin Horrabin and others is another tour-de-force.

In the pages of Sprat, somewhat spread around are the citcuits of a 28MHz CW only narrowband transceiver by GM3OXX, and the matching transverters to put it on other bands.

With only 1 watt of output, George used it to get confirmed contacts with over 300 countries - essentially every one in existance with any activity. He then found out that he had 3dB loss in his ATU, so there was only 500mW going up the feeder to his wire antenna.

IF you go in for homebrew, you get several freedoms. You don't have, for commercial reasons, to try to make something which will do all things to try to keep everyone happy. Make yourself happy! You don't have to restrict yourself to currently made parts.

Answering "What is the best" is meaningless without knowing your preferences and interests. All we can do is show you a variety of interesting gear. Which is the best has to be your decision.

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Old 1st May 2021, 3:34 pm   #12
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Default Re: Ultimate home brew amateur radio?

There was an excellent solid state HF SSB transceiver design back in June 1984 Radcom by the later Lorin Knight, G2DXK. Any four bands could be chosen between 1.8 MHz and 28 MHz. It had a valve PA, (I think that consisted of two 6146Bs). The articles were very detailed, describing the design philosophy, PCB layouts etc. I nice modular 'build a bit/test a bit' design.

The first part is here:

https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Rad...om-1984-06.pdf

I was going to suggest Walford Kits, but I fear that they're no longer in business, and that Tim Walford has perhaps gone the way that Sheldon Hands, Dave Howes, Datong, G3WPO and Microwave Modules did. Elecraft kits in the USA are still going strong, and I believe some forum members have built their top flight transceiver kits, which are ambitious projects to say the least:

https://elecraft.com/collections/transceivers

I had a lot of fun building QRP transceivers such as the PW 'Severn' 7MHz CW transceiver by George Dobbs, and the 5 Watt SSB 'Epiphyte' transceiver. I'd built all the boards for the G3TSO multiband HF transceiver, but thought 'what's the point'? What did it for me was when I worked a special event station at Duxford Imperial War Museum (2003?) using my Epiphyte. When I said I was using a home-brew transceiver, the response, (with no sense of irony), was: "Well done on that Old Man, - we're strictly non-technical at this end", followed by a run down of all the shop bought gear. That's when I finally concluded that the hobby had morphed from a technical, constructional experimental hobby into 'posh CB' so I called it a day as I just felt out of place. A shame really - I guess some say it's 'progress' and that I haven't moved with the times, but I can't think why I'd want to.

If others have as much pleasure out of the hobby as it now is, as I did for forty years, then jolly good luck to them.
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Old 1st May 2021, 11:34 pm   #13
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Default Re: Ultimate home brew amateur radio?

Quote:
Originally Posted by David G4EBT View Post
I was going to suggest Walford Kits, but I fear that they're no longer in business, and that Tim Walford has perhaps gone the way

Tim's still around - still advertising in the latest Sprat.


It would appear there has been a snafu with his website address change, a google search will get you on to the individual pages.
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Old 2nd May 2021, 12:50 am   #14
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Default Re: Ultimate home brew amateur radio?

Quote:
With only 1 watt of output, George used it to get confirmed contacts with over 300 countries - essentially every one in existance with any activity. He then found out that he had 3dB loss in his ATU, so there was only 500mW going up the feeder to his wire antenna.
I am building the 4-band SSB regen receiver kit designed by the Rev George Dobbs/ Anthony Nailer at the moment. I do not have a Ham license so I am a lower level than a beginner. Also, I have ordered a Taurus 40m SSB receiver kit from Russian. Lately, I have been reading lots of articles on simple SSB homebrew construction projects.

Also I find SDR transceivers fascinating e.g. I and Q phase theory, mixer, direct sampling..I purchased a Xiegu G90 20W SDR transceiver ten days ago and that thing is very good and it has got me hooked. Neither do I want to learn Morse code nor have a strong desire to make CQ contacts, but I really like the technical aspects of homebrewing and kit building.

For me, it is really important to understand how the circuits work and learn how to do alignment/tuning of VFO, BPF, LF filters properly whether it is building from scratch or a kit.
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