[Boatanchors] Regen receiver article

[Bill Cromwell]

Jim Wiley said:

Looking for information about a multi-band regen receiver article that 
appeared somewhere between 1958  and 1968, that was published in
Popular 
Electronics or Radio and TV Experimenter magazine, definitely NOT QST
or 
CQ.  May have been "Electronics Experimenter" or "Electronics World".  
Need magazine issue reference  ( any one or all of : publisher, year & 
month, article title, author) - anything to help me search other
archives.


Here is some info that may help:  The set was vacuum tube based, 
possibly using a 12AU7 + 6AQ5  or maybe a GE  "Compactron" tube that 
combined both the detector and audio stages into one envelope.  .
Power 
was via a small transformer and a selenium rectifier.  It tuned the AM 
BC Band plus several short-wave bands, at least to 18 MHz, possibly
even 
higher, and did NOT use plug-in coils. In other words, it was 
band-switched.   I think the tuning  coil was a multi-band affair, 
possibly made by J.W. Miller.   


Any help out there?


- Jim, KL7CC

Hi Jim,

When you build your receiver here is a hint from a regen list I like.
Bandswitched front ends can have dead spots on the dial and other
instabilities caused by the unused inductances in the tuner coupling to
the portion that is in use. The cure is to make sure the unused portion
of the inductor is shorted out. If you design that into the construction
it will be easier than fixing it later. You will end up with a regen
that has fewer (hopefully no) problems. I like the plug-in coil approach
for a number of reasons and this just reinforces my own personal
preference. I know...I risk misplacing/losing the coils that are not in
use.

Regens are fun to use and give amazing performance from relatively
simple circuits. They are strictly "hands-on" and when you use one of
those you are literally a radio "operator". There are "improvements"
over the simpler designs that are worthwhile but none of them lend
themselves to microprocessor control.

73,

Bill  KU8H