[Boatanchors] "A MATE for the MIGHTY MIDGET"...

[Ed Swynar]

Hi Gang,

Well, during these here Easter Holidays---for whatever reason, I do NOT know---I reprised from atop the storage shelf my old homebrewed (circa 1995, or so) "Mate for the Mighty Midget" superheterodyne receiver (see April 1966 QST, or the 1969 ARRL HANDBOOK)...

WOW! I'd forgotten how surprisingly effective this little buggy really is! For a few 6U8A's (and a couple of other embellishments attached inside as afterthoughts), I've been having more fun than I deserve working the AM gang on 80-meters...in fact, when I fired it up for the first time after a lapse of some 10+ years, the first station I heard was that of old AM buddy Jim, N8ULN...

I've been SO inspired by this magical experience that I built a relay-type T/R switch yesterday---I hope tomorrow I might be able to put my matching HB MOPA alongside it (a 2E26 modulated by a pair of 6AQ5's---also has 6DT6/gAG7 drivers, a 12AU7A VFO, etc.---ALL HB!).

I can recall reading different threads in the distant past about others contemplating the construction of this same receiver---I wonder how many who might be reading this now have actually done just that, and if so, how did you (possibly) improve the performance of the original design...? It'd be neat to compare notes---and photographs. If interested in some digital pix of my "twins", give me a buzz...but do please let me know of YOUR own personal experiences with the genre!

Happy Easter one & all, & my very

~73!~ Eddy VE3CUI - VE3XZ