Fw: [HBR] Where to start?

Sun, 17 Mar 2002 13:56:24 -0600

Welcome to the list, Ken. That's a pretty big question. It may take
a while to answer them all, but some ....like performance, are given
on the HBR Receiver Web Site. I don't know of any specific
measurements that have been made beyond that.  I'm sure there 
are as many opinions as members of the reflector and I'm interested
in seeing their responses. Sensitivity can be as good as any typical
receiver out there. Intermods, etc ...I don't know. Construction 
techniques are VERY important ....component placement, wire 
routing, unwanted wire movement, electrical connections, ceramic 
sockets where needed, etc.

For today's use you might want a little better selectivity (which is part

of the fun of homebrew ....you can change/experiment) and several 
people want the convenience of bandswitching, but that defeats the 
purpose of the plug in coils ....low loss, short lead lengths, high 
"Q" (selectivity), etc. Bandswitching is always a compromise. As far
as selectivity, this receiver focuses on frontend selectivity, low loss,
low noise, and IF selectivity .......vs most receivers today which have 
sloppy frontends, no real IF selectivity and rely on crystal or 
mechnaical filters "to fix it all" .....and a good crystal/mechanical
filter
does a very good job of that, I might add.

73s  Kees K5BCQ

--------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Ken Lopez <[email protected]>
To: HBR Mailing List <[email protected]>
Date: Sun, 17 Mar 2002 09:15:19 -0800
Subject: [HBR] Where to start?
Message-ID: <[email protected]>

Greetings,

I just subscribed to this list.  For many years I have been saving the
odd part here or there in anticipation of building a really good
homebrew receiver.   I haven't done much homebrew since my '20s, and
that's getting to be a while ago now...

So I have a few questions for the list.  I have not had time to visit
the archives in depth, so if my answers can be found there, please
direct me.  I don't want to add unnecessarily to the traffic on the
list. 

First, what are the relative merits of the general HBR design that makes
it so desirable as a home brew project?  If I get started on this thing,
it may take a very long time to finish due to work and family.  I want
to make sure I'm building a rig I'll be happy with for a long time.  I
have some great vintage and new radios, so it need not be the
"ultimate", just satisfying in terms of usefulness on the bands, fun to
build, easy to modify, etc.  I plan to mate it with a number of
commercial low power CW rigs by Johnson and Heath.  Perhaps build a
mating transmitter.  

How well does it actually perform on AM, CW, and SSB?  I'll admit I'm
primarily interested in CW, but the other modes will be used as well.  

What are the relative merits of the different "models" of the HBR?  

What are the various list members working on and why did they choose the
particular version they have?

What are your thoughts about a mating transmitter for CW, or even SSB?  

Suggestions for good sources for parts?  I have a couple of good friends
who have been buying up estates just to save all this stuff from the
dumpster.  Perhaps a shopping run would be in order!

That's enough for now!

This looks like a great list and I look forward to your input and
discussion.

Cheers,
Ken N6TZV

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