I was wondering if ya'll could help me with an issue that I am having
with a regen receiver that I built.

I built the usual regen circuit with two stages of audio coupled with
interstage transformers. The regeneration is controlled by a pot which
varies the plate regen voltage. The grid leak combination is a 6 Mohm
resistor and 45 pf cap.

The regen and first audio stage tubes are 1H5GT triodes. The second
stage audio tube is a 1C5GT pentode. The filament voltage is 1.4
volts, plate voltage is 90 volts and screen voltage for the 1C6GT tube
is 90 volts. The set easily and cleanly drives a speaker.

I have wound my own coils which cover the broadcast band up to about 15
Mhz.

I really like the way the set operates and it is very sensitive.

My problem is that the regeneration often fades out (the radio
essentially goes dead) and I have to touch the grid of the regen tube
to bring it back in. I had originally built this radio only having one
stage of audio and I did not have this problem with that version. It's
kind of like the charge on the grid builds up too high and I have to
"drain" it off with my finger. Sorry for the bad description--I'm
obviously not an engineer.

I did try various other combinations of the resistor/cap for the grid
leak including the classic 2.2 Mohm/150 Pf combination and it still has
the same fade out problem. Therefore,
I decided to stay with the higher resistor/lower cap value because the
receiver works better at those values (when it is working).

I usually power the radio with a battery eliminator, but the same
problem exists even when I use only batteries. For a ground, I am
using the mains ground.

I'm hoping that you can give me some ideas to fix the problem for what
is otherwise a great receiver.

Thanks to all of you in advance.

Dan