The Electronics Universe

Just found this post. That crystal tester is just what I need to test a big sack full of 9 MHz crystals a friend sent me. There must be 50 of them. Going to build one. Thanks for posting this Buddy.
73 Frank  K7RMJ

Will post some pics as soon as I figure out how to get them from my tablet computer to the main computer LOL. I need another cable. My tablet is not networked at all. I only use it for reading books.

I bought a Sprague T03 from eBay and it arrived today. It seems to be in fair condition. The front panel is in great shape. The case is dirty but no scratches or dents. Just lots of dirt on the original crinkle-finish paint. The leather carry strap is in really bad shape but 50 year old untreated leather isn't very durable. So I opened it up and the insides look very good but it will need some work. New caps. I found a pair of 25 uF electrolytics and four 1 uF electgrolytics that need replacing. Also found a couple of .02 bypass caps that are the old wax coated caps that need replacing. I also found a 250 ohm, 5 watt resister that I am suspicious of just due to its age. It's not burnt or anything but being that old I just don't trust it. It only has a power supply tube and the magic eye tube and both can still be found for sale as NOS. Soon as I round up the replacement caps and resistor, I'll give her the smoke test. Wish I had a variac transformer. I'll let you know how it goes.

About 5 or 6 years ago I got a wild hair and decided to learn about those funny little transistor gadgets. That is when I discovered just how good Doug Demaw, W1FB was. I found a design I thought would be fairly easy (if there is such a thing) in W1FB's QRP Notebook on page 83, "A No Frills Superhet". Ordered circuit boards for the receiver from Fair Circuits and most of the parts from Dan's Small Parts and Kits in Montana. It went together pretty easy. I only smoked a couple of LM386 audio amps before I found the wiring error LOL. Then I built a pair of converters for 80 and 40 meters. See page 89 of the same book. I built them Manhatten style on bare circuit board material and stuffed them into Altoids tins. The final results are amazingly good. It actually works quite well. Between those and a pair of modifiedTUNA-Tin-2 transmitters I have a neat little QRP station. Give this a try. They work quite well.