LAST UPDATE:   21st April 2008:  - Digital TV and your vintage television.
                                                      - Philips PM5544 pattern generator for $69
                                                      - Update on solar hot water system
                             27th April 2008  - Pulse counting FM receiver
                             17th May 2008 - Tiny Tim II Regenerative receiver. Due to Telstra's pathetic 10Mb server space, new articles are now on Geocities. Do not
                                                        be alarmed by this. I'm still using Netscape Composer to write the pages. The only diff is the ads down the side. Given I'm
                                                        paying one of the highest dial up rates, you think Telstra would be a bit more generous...maybe not.

My home town of Hazelbrook.
 

I live in the Blue Mountains, on the western outskirts of Sydney.  My interests are mainly concerned with antiquated technology, mountain biking, and my 1926 Model T Ford.
The Blue Mountains has the best mountain biking trails in Australia, and with the mild climate of the mid mountains where I live, it means one can easily ride all year round.
As well as doing things with my Model T Ford, I collect and restore vintage radios, televisions, and telephones. I also like building stuff  as you will see from exploring this site.
I'm officially qualified as an Electronics Engineer and have worked for TAFE since 1990.
 
 
 
 
 

6 Transistor Super Regen Receiver.
Solid State Superregenerative Receiver.  This is the only solid state super regen design with more than 20uV sensitivity on FM that I know of.
4 Transistor Super Regen Receiver. Pocket size VHF as simple as possible while still being practical.
One Tube FM Tuner. From August 1960 Popular Electronics, it uses a 6C4. I constructed this project as closely as I could to the original. Performance left a lot to be desired!
Improved One Tube FM Tuner. In view of the poor performance of the above receiver, I modified the design. Still using a 6C4, it is about the simplest valve receiver for FM
12AT7 Super Regen Receiver. One valve provides excellent sensitivity and drives headphones to an uncomfortably loud level. Suitable for portable battery operation.
New 12AT7 FM Tuner. An improvement on the Improved One Tube FM Tuner, this incorporates an RF stage.

Fremodyne Receiver. Introduction to the single valve, low cost,  FM receiver circuit developed by Hazeltine Laboratories in 1947.  It uses a single 12AT7 in a super regenerative superhet circuit and was used in several commercially made AM/FM receivers and FM converters.
Homemade Fremodyne. This is one of my attempts at building a Fremodyne receiver as an FM mantel radio.  Sound quality turned out to be quite good with this set.
Simplified Fremodyne. How much further can the Hazeltine circuit be simplified? This receiver was the test.
Howard 474. Commercially made example of a Fremodyne receiver which I was fortunate to acquire and restore.
Meck FM Converter.  Fremodyne tuner made to be used with the audio section of an existing AM receiver. The safety issues with this set were a bit of a surprise.
Gilfillan 68F. Another commercially made mantel radio using the Fremodyne circuit for FM reception.
Sentinel 315W. The third type of AM/FM mantel radio I've acquired with a Fremodyne circuit. This one had seen a rather careless attempt at restoration.

Pulse Counting Receiver. Hi Fi quality, high sensitivity, and only one tuned circuit. Popular in the UK but virtually unknown elsewhere.
TDA7000 FM Receiver. Philips IC makes a simple FM receiver with no ceramic filters or IF transformers. Detailed application notes give an interesting insight into this excellent IC, and its offspring, the TDA7010T, TDA7021T and TDA7088T. As well as my own construction attempts, I also take a look at a commercially made receiver.

Tiny Tim II  My construction of this regenerative receiver from Radio & Hobbies, April 1943. An excellent little three valve set that drives a loudspeaker.

Thames and Kosmos "Radio Ace".This reproduction valve radio isn't exactly a kit despite being sold thus. Despite so many retaillers selling it, there is no technical info on the internet, so I've fixed that. Performance was substandard and required modifications to turn it into something that was useable.
 

Ekco TX287.  One of my favourite sets. This is a 17" model from 1957.

Vertical Blocking Oscillator Transformer Replacement. Are you sick of unreliable blocking oscillator transformers and can never get good locking and linearity? Eliminate the nasty transformer forever with these circuits.

Digital TV and your Vintage Television. Do not worry about analog TV being turned off. You can still use your valve VHF black and white TV sets with the digital transmissions.

Philips PM5544 Test Pattern generator. Are you missing the test pattern that SBS used to broadcast? Here's how I've regained it without paying $1000's. A digital box that plays .jpg files is the answer.

The 6CM5 valve for Audio use. Australia's most popular TV line output pentode, also known as EL36, undergoes some experiments to test its viability for audio amplifiers, particularly in single ended class A. If the link doesn't work, go here.

6BM8 Amplifier.  A simple but good quality audio amplifier using the 6BM8/ECL82 valve. Capable of a couple of watts, and using an easy to get 100V line transformer, it's ideal for many applications.

AM/FM Tuner/Amplifier. First use of my 6CM5 audio output stage design along with a superregenerative detector for FM and regenerative detector for AM.

Ferrocart Vibrator Application Notes. Some notes on the design of vibrator power supplies as used in car radios, inverters, etc.

Solar/Wind installation    How I installed a 12V solar and wind powered lighting plant for my house.

Solar water heater    Installation and connection of an Evacuated Tube collector panel to my existing electric water heater.

Test run in my 1926 Model T, October 2002.

6V Turn Signal Flasher.  6 volt electronic flasher design with user adjustable flash rate, and low current wiring to the indicator switch. This design is not affected by supply voltage.

Improved Radio for the Model T Ford. Three valve vibrator powered car radio for the Model T. This design uses the 12AT7 super regenerative circuit.

           Some Blue Mountains rides:
                                           Lawson:     Blue Mountain trig station.
                                          Hazelbrook:  Terrace Falls:  Singletrack
                                           Newnes:       Glow Worm Tunnel
                                           Lithgow:     Hazelbrook to Lithgow via Hartley Vale

        Trek Y bikes    The Shrine of the Trek Y bike.

        Trek Y5. The first Y bike in my collection. Top of the range 1997 alloy model.

        Trek Y22 mountain bike  My first carbon fibre bike.

        Trek YSL200 mountain bike  The Y Superlite was the top of the range OCLV model.

        Trek Y33 (1998). The fourth to be added to the collection.

        Trek Y33 (1996).    This is the bike featured in Popular Mechanics July 1996, and the fifth in my collection.
 

Links
 

Low Tech FM receivers. FM receiver enthusiast, Andy Mitz has this comprehensive site covering things FM. There are similiar simple FM receivers to what I've presented here, and also an interesting database of commercially made FM receivers.
Model T Ford Club of America.  This site has everything you need to know, and an excellent discussion forum.
Nostalgia Air. Source of circuit diagrams for US valve radios. PDF's of Riders manuals. Have found all known Fremodyne sets here.
Trek Y Bikes. My Yahoo group dedicated to Trek's brilliant mountain bike design of the mid 1990's.
Classic Radio Gallery. A good collection of U.S valve radios for sale. This is where my Meck FM converter came from.
Phil's Valve Radio Site. Some interesting homemade receivers and amplifiers. For those wanting a solid state version of the Pulse Counting FM Receiver, this is worth a look.
GE Monitor Top Fridges. My Yahoo group for General Electric's famous monitor top fridge which went into production in 1927. This was the first fridge to use a sealed compressor.
 

General Electric Monitor Top Fridge:

Don't forget I'm in Australia! However, if you're in the U.S and can get one to a place by the name of Cool in California, where I have a contact who runs a container to Sydney, that would be of interest. Not looking for (or wishing to pay for) a restored unit; just a functional original one.

Email me:      cablehack at yahoo dot com