[Lowfer] simple lowfer receiver

[Paul Daulton]

I have built two direct conversion receivers for part 15 band. Very similar to Lyles design " lf rec with SDR if". 

I used the circuit described in Jackson Harbor Press lf up converter except I used a 4060 chip with 11mhz xtal divided down to 171885hz for injection. It is very stable, sensitive, and easy to calibrate against my beacon. My friend Dave who lives about 10 miles away copies me well on his with a long wire or a PA0RDT mini whip. 
Spectran is used for the software, set 13412hz as center freq and qrss30. Until now I have only played with spectrumlab briefly, but I am now amazed at how well it works. 

Next step is to turn off WMS for a couple of nights and look for SIW and UWL, the closest beacons to me. I note on the LWCA site WEB is off and has no plans to return. I will miss him as he was always in here. 

Second find out what resolution band width and settings on spectrumlab give the most sensitive results. 

third change to 6 or 12mhz xtal and divide ratio to give 187500 injection so signal will be in range of ARGO and Spectran. 

If this works out I may try a pc board layout, I built mine on Radio Shack 276-170 perf boards. One could buy the Jackson Harbor up converter and build an out board osc and divider. either way a simple and cheap lowfer rec is possible. I will look into finding a combo of xtal and divide ratio for 2200 meters also. 

If any of you have built this design I would like to hear from you. 

Tomorrow I go in for a heart catherization, some blockage showed up on stress test this week, if nothing wrong I will come home tomorrow night, if they have to put in a stint I will be in hospital overnight. 

73 Paul k5wms
Paul Daulton K5WMS
beacon WMS 185.302 khz qrss30/slow 24/7
Jacksonville,Ar 72076
em34wu