Old Buzzard RX and TX - Any Ideas?

[W1UJR]

During a weekend trip up the Maine coast with the YL, which required a stop at nearly every possible antique store, I came across an interesting find.
 
Sitting neglected in a dark corner of an antique shop in Ellsworth was what turned out to be a interesting homebrew transmitter and receiver.
 
The TX uses a pair of 301 tubes and what appears to be a 198? tube. At least one part has been removed from the transmitter as I see a mounting space and holes on the wooden chassis. Clearly built in the 1920s-1930s, the unit uses square cross-section buss wire, a black bakelite panel and what appears to be some sort of swinging link in the output network.
 
The receiver is a single tube, was it also a 301? What I assume to be a early regen. Both are built on wood chassis with black bakelite panels with these funky flexible mounted tube sockets, almost like the base contacts are spring loaded or dampened to prevent mechanical oscillations. The controls and switches, some names I recognize, like Crosley, appear to be out of old broadcast sets.
 
The seller could provide little info as the nature of these units, but did allow some big horn speakers were earlier sold from the same estate. I'd really like to know the call and info of the ham who built it, but alas that looks impossible. I plan to call the shop owner on Monday to see what he can tell me.
 
So, to get to the point of my rambling here, does this circuit sound familiar to anyone? I checked my older QST index, but the method the ARRL used does not allow Boolean text searching for terms like "301 and transmitter".
 
I'd like to figure out what is missing so I could get these back on the air.
 
I'll see if I can take some digital images tomorrow and post them on the W1UJR website.
 
In the meantime, I am interested in your thoughts and comments.
 
Tnx ES 73,
Bruce W1UJR

[Vortex Joe - N3IBX]

Bruce - Sounds to me like you have a Hartley or TGTP HBTX and a single tube 01A rx. Incidentally, the 301 was Cunningham's designation for the 01A tube.

Can you send me a pic of both tx and rx? I can probably figger out the circut for you and tell you how to get it on the air.
Regards and congradulations on a kewlbeanerz find!

[wa2zdy]

Congratulations on a nice find.  Amazing what can be founding hiding in antique shops and estate sales.  I got a Crosley 50 broadcast band regen ca 1924 for a song at an auction once.  Nobody knew what it was.  Neither did I for that matter, but it sure is fun to have now.  Works, and looks pretty on the shelf.

Not to mention I could sell it for many times what I paid.

Good luck.

[Vortex Joe - N3IBX]

Bruce - One more thing. To determine if the driver in the horn speaker is any good, connect both leads to a 1.5 or 9V battery. If you hear clicking in the horn, you've got a good driver. If not, it has an open coil.

I'm currently going over an Amplion AR-114 "flowery bell" horn speaker to use with my Pilot Super Wasp. They look kewl, but really don't sound all that good. Better off to use something like the RCA-100A "mantle" electro-dynaramic job.

[W1UJR]

Hi guys,

I put the images up on my biz site, just click here --> http://www.atlanticmotorcar.com/w1ujr.htm

[Vortex Joe - N3IBX]

Bruce - Many thanks for doing this! I checked your site out about one hour ago and didn't see the pics. I'll see what I can figure out and let you know.

[2ZE]

They are both receivers.  The 3 tube unit looks like a ux -199 detector and 2  201a's in audio.
The 1 tube unit looks like a simple 1 tube 201a detector/amp. The 1 tuber is missing the coil and "tickler".
The 3 tuber has the coil with the tickler (link coupler arraingement). The xfmr looks original, but the rest of the rx is missing some binding posts and other extrenious parts.
Both are fine specimens of homebrew and what happens to homebrew when it no longer serves a useful purpose to the owner. Both look like shortwave/amateur rx's.

Mike, 2ZE

[Vortex Joe - N3IBX]

Bruce,
         Here's my deduction from the pics you posted. I'll call the items :1 tuber" and 3 tuber" for reference.

1 tuber: definitely a homebrew regenerative rx. The holder with prongs on it (on the chassis) is for a grid leak (resistor). My guess it would be 2 or 3 megaohms, which was the common value for all regens.

Some 1 tube sets work with a gridleak and some don't work as well without one. I'd try to put a 2 or 3 megaohm (the value isn't critical) in the holder.

Clean all sockets and connections very well. Your one tuber will need 5 volts for the filament supply and 25 to 90 for the plate supply. I'd go to the dollar store and buy 5 "twopacks" of 9V batteries and hook them in series. You'll be surprised that there won't be much difference in performance between 25 volts and 90 volts on your one tuber.

One thing.... I didn't see your tuning inductance. Possibly someone removed it as it appears to be missing. You'll need one in order for it to work. It's easy to make one up. Locate a 2 to 3 inch coil form, and wind about 8-10 turns at the bottom to form the "tickler" portion (for your regeneration control) and anywhere from 25 to 80 turns on the secondary for your RF portion. Shoot me an email and I'll figure out the hookups for you.

Your headphones are connected in series with the plate of the 01A. 2000 ohm jobs will work fine and 3000 ohms will work better. If you don't have a pair of "oldbuzzardly" high impeadance headphones let me know and I'll shoot you up a pair - gratis.

3 tuber: I think you have another receiver! It looks like the UV-199 is used as a detector, proceeded with two stages of audio. The UV-199 was popular since due to it's somewhat lower mu it was a little less likely to overload the detector circut.

The UV-199 uses a 3 volt heater. Take a pair of "D" cells and connect them in series. Somewhere on both the 1 tuber and 3 tuber there should be a filament rheostat for controlling filament voltages to the 01A of the 1 tuber, and two rheostats on the 3 tuber, one for filament voltage and the other will control plate voltage, most likely to all three tubes.

I'd have to see closer detail on both sets in order to figure out where the connections go, etc.

Look closely at the inductance (coil) in the three tuber. You should see a seperation between two sets of coils. One set will be the primary (regen control) and the second set your RF portion. One set should go to one front panel control, and the second to the other.

Both transformers appear to be audio transformers. It's a crap shoot if you have an open winding or not. If you can't get any audio out of it, try hooking your headphones in series with the plate of the UV-199 detector tube. You should hear audio. If one or two transformers are bad, let me know and I'll show you how to "resistance couple" your audio stages. You'll loose a little gain, as both transformers are "amplifying transformers", but it'll work. What the hell? - hi!

The above is just my "guess". Let me know if you'd like more information, a set of high imp headfoniums, etc etc. I may even have a spider web inductance kicking around here to use with the one tuber if you need one, or a coil form.

I love squealers! Once you play with a regen the bug will bite you. It's amazing how something as simple and crude can do such a good job of pulling in stations.

Now I wouldn't compare the selectivity to your 75A-4 though.......

One more thing: 01A's usually don't have the nice warm glow (from the top) that we're accustomed to from other tubes. This is due to the silver coating flash from the barium getter coating. Look for the glow around the tube base.

Best Regards and have fun with your new toys!
Joe N3IBX

[Carl WA1KPD]

Bruce,
I think not a tX but a rcvr with plug in coils. You can see a repro   at  http://home.comcast.net/~chnord/Ham_Homebrew_1929_Receiver.htm    If you want I can scan the 29 Handbook piece and I have some spare coils for other bands we could hoss trade on if you want.

[wa2zdy]

oops . . .

[wa2zdy]

I'm looking over my Crosley 50 as I compare to your pics of the one tuber you have.  Joe is mostly correct.  I think most receivers of this type and vintage were probably similar.  My Crosley though has a bookhinge tuning capacitor rather than the rotor/stator type yours has.

The coils are gone from yours.  That's doubtless.  There would have been a tapped coil with the taps going to the six position rotary switch that now on yours has nothing connected to its contacts.  The coil would have been mounted between the toob and the front panel where the hole is.  Through the hole would have been a shaft upon which the rear movable tickler coil would ride and be moved in and out to vary regeneration.  In my Crosley, they are flat coils, wound like . . .   what's the term, I can't think of it.  Grrrrr . ..   they're flat and wound in and out on the form.  I'll get pics up tomorrow if I have time.

I also have a schematic of mine.  And the toob is a 201A and mine works with 22v on the plate - in series with the cans.  Joe is also right there- the filament glow is most visible at the bottom of the toob.   The rheostat in series with the filament was used as the volume control.

If I can help out more, I'll try.  As I said, I'll try to get a few pics and the schematic up tomorrow.

[W1UJR]

Wow, thanks guys, above and beyond what I expected!
I thought perhaps one reply, but you guys really nailed it down.

So, I have two cool old buzzard receivers, I had figured the one as a TX due to the swinging link, but I now stand corrected.

Both have been somewhat canbalized, as ZM says typical of the era, the builder robbed off parts he needed for later and greater projects.

I guess the next step is to decide if I want to undertake the restoration efforts, leave them as is for a nice display of radio history, or pass the project on to someone else. First step would be to check the tubes and see what we have working.

As I move forward over the next few weeks I'll be sure to post and let you know what I found out.

Once again thanks to all who responded, Joe, Carl, Mike, Chris, the collective knowledge on this board is amazing!

73 Bruce


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[WA1GFZ]

Nice old Rig Bruce. This is a good reason to scribe your call on homebrew rigs for future exploration.

[wa2zdy]

Ok well . . .  the digital cam is somewhere, I just dunno where.

I found the following webpage with a couple of clickable links for the Crosley 50.  He said his is in rough shape; mine looks about the same.  I have mine in the cabinet with the label, patent numbers, etc.  Complete but rough.

http://members.aol.com/djadamson3/tube30w.html

And thanks to the owner of that page for refreshing my memory - the coils are "spiderweb" coils.  I knew that . . .

If you want the schematic, let me know.  I'm sure it won't be very different from the one for your rig there.  And if nothing else, you could just rebuild it with the Crosley schematic and have a working receiver there.

Fun stuff.  Good luck.

[Vortex Joe - N3IBX]

Bruce,
        Why not add them to your "que" of "roundtuit" stuff? The one toober is cool in it's own right; and one gets a certain amount of satisfaction out of using a receiver that only has one tube in it. Look on epay and hamfests for a "variometer" to use for the inductance. You should be able to find a decent one with all of it's windings for around $10 or so. That would be one way, another would be to try to re-create a Crosley 50.

  As WA2DZY says: The Crosley 50 is a kewl receiver. Gotta love the "textbook" capacitance!

The three toober will give you better performance and pick up more stations. Besides, it looks as if most of teh parts are there. I can probably help you with stuff in my oldbuzzard stuff "stash" if you need anything.

One word about dead 01A's, UV-199's, etc that seemingly have a dead filament: Four pin jobs of the '20's, etc are notorious for having cold solder joints at their filament connections. If the tube doesn't light, go over teh pin with a hot soldering iron to try to get the solder to flow and re-check it with a continuity tester. About 2.5 out of 10 seemingly dead ones will come back to life. After 80 years or so the lead can oxidize in the tube base and cause a poor connection. The same holds true for #10 tubes, etc etc.

Whatever you decide to do with them, the very best of luck. They're a piece of early radio history!

The first time I fired up my National SW-3 I was able to hear Irb FBOM!

[W1UJR]

Joe,

Does anyone really hear Irb FBOM?  :p

[Vortex Joe - N3IBX]

Joe,

Does anyone really hear Irb FBOM?  :p

That's quite a message!!!!

[W1UJR]

Not to get too far off tangent, but...

I like Irb, and although I do not agree with every thing he says or does, I do respect his principals.

I've be sure to mention Fine Business Old Man during our next QSO.

And you are correct Joe, Irb has a strapping signal for running a DX-100.
I don't know what kind of Marconi Antenna Wax he is using, but I want some too!

-Bruce


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