On Nov 7, 2:59 pm, Billy Burpelson wrote:
BCBlazysusan wrote:
Does anyone in the group own either a crystal or regenerative set?
Yes, both.

How are the regeneratives sets on the BCB comparable to say a regular
just AM radio. Can you actually get some good dx from one of them on
his site? TIA
Regenerative set characteristics:

Very sensitive. Poor selectivity. Subject to tuning instability from the
"hand-capacity" effect. Not a 'good neighbor' to other radio receivers
in the neighborhood due to radiation back through its antenna.

That is not a problem here. :-)


These
negative characteristics could be somewhat mitigated by some design
tricks, but almost any superheterodyne will run circles around a regen.
To (sort of) answer your question about DX -- it has plenty of
sensitivity, so OK for DX -if- selectivity is not an issue. They were
great in their day (the 30s) because they could be built cheaply (not
many disposable $ during the Depression), there weren't that many
stations around nor very many 50 kW blowtorches. A good receiver for its
time, a technological curiosity today.

BCBlazysusan wrote:

So I couldn't grab BCB DX from say Kansas/Nebraska from here in Ohio?

Sure you could...didn't say you couldn't. DX'ing is a -combination- of
equipment, propagation, skill and luck. However, I interpreted your post
as mainly asking about the characteristics of a regen. A regen will
(can) work, but there are better tools out there.

BTW, nice URL you gave showing the old radios the guy had for sale. He
does beautiful work, but at $250 for his "fancy" regen, a little pricey.
With basic soldering skills and just a slight bit of
mechanical/construction skills, you could -easily- duplicate it for half
the price. If you wanted an even simpler regen just to experiment and
play with, you could home brew it for 25 or 30 bucks.

I am somewhat familiar with the regenerative sets I suppose. My
Hammarlund 129X has the Heathkit Q Multiplier add on, isn't that
somewhat comparable? The use of the Q Multiplier I mean. I lover the
129X but it just wouldn't be the same IMO without the Multiplier.

Well, kinda sorta 'comparable', but not really. 'Comparable' only in the
sense that the Heath Q- mult works on the principle of regeneration;
however, the Hammarlund is still a superhet with all its inherent
advantages over a regen.

What would be the best type of antenna for one? Antenna wise isn't it
basically the same as connecting to any other radio? Or is a specific
type of antenna better. TIA

Generally speaking, almost any antenna is fine. Nothing special is
required; remember, these were popular back in the 30s and there weren't
too many fancy antenna arrays around back then.

Using a Drake SW-4 with an unfolded paper clip for an antenna, it was
easy to copy Radio Havana, the BBC and many other stations. (Just don't
expect to hear that 500 watter on Pago Pago with your paper clip). So
anything you can come up with longer than a paper clip will be just fine.