The Wilderness Radio SST-20

NOTE: In the following post, I’ll be referencing component designators according to the original schematic, which is in the SST manual, available here, on Ken WA4MNT and Karen KF4EEL’s QRPBuilder website (check out their kits). I will also be making reference to the SST QRP-L archive, which is available here. (All links open in a […]

A Real ZN414!

Recently, I built a simple little TRF receiver for the AM broadcast band using a TA7642, a modern equivalent for a chip that was quite popular with electronics homebrewers in the 70’s and 80’s. The ZN414 was a device made by the British semiconductor company Ferranti. Housed in a metal TO-18 can with three leads, […]

A Crystal Set with No External Antenna

In the previous post, I described my recent build of a very simple little TRF receiver for the AM broadcast band. It happened as the result of a month or two spent with much more complex projects, namely a scratch-build of the receiver section of a Norcal 2N2/20, and a kit build of a complete […]