Simple Short Wave Receiver Construction (BP)

By R.A. Penfold

The short wave receivers described in this book can all be built at low cost. All the sets are easy to construct, full wiring diagrams are provided, and they are suitable for complete beginners. The... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0859342204
• ISBN13: 9780859342209
• Release Date: January 1990
• Publisher: Babani
• Length: 88 Pages
• Weight: 0.15 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Excellent circuits

Babani books were written for the British hobbyist - a high level of literacy and technical knowledge but no money - so the circuits are inexpensive but quite sophisticated. The circuits are usually well-designed and always work, provided you construct them properly*. There are circuits for four receivers; a crystal set (a mediocre performer), a simple regenerative set (wrongly termed a TRF), a slightly more complex regenerative set and a direct conversion set for the amateur bands. The circuits are well designed and cover the 6 - 18MHz band where the majority of broadcast transmitters are found. All circuits and construction techniques are fully described and you could just sit down and build a working receiver straight from the book. However, unless you live in crowded Europe with numerous shortwave transmitters close by, you will need a good antenna and patience finding a station. The other problem is that some components will be hard to find, particularly OA91 diodes, 40673 MOSFETs and BF244 FETs, but at least substitutes are available (maybe not for the 40673). More problematic are large tuning variable capacitors and some proprietary inductors. The chapter headings provide a good summary of the contents 1. Shortwave basics - frequencies and propagation 2. A crystal set 3. TRF receivers - two regenerative circuits optimised for AM reception. 4. Amateur band receiver - direct conversion circuit suitable for CW and SSB reception. Semiconductor lead-outs Babani books were meant to be an inexpensive resource so the paper and covers are cheap and the printing is not of good quality. The diagrams, however, are well drawn and helpful. The company still publishes books on computers but their numerous electronics titles are no longer published and are becoming harder to find. This has resulted in some books appearing on the second-hand market for extraordinary prices. Remember that these are small books 11 x 18cm usually about 100 pages on cheap paper and perfect bound (liable to fall apart unless handled correctly). *Why doesn't my circuit work? Here are my observations: 65% bad soldering, 12.5% wrong component in place, 12.5% right component but wrong way round, 8% design was OK but there was a problem with the wiring layout, 2% design problem,