A Ross Hull design featured in the August, 1928, issue of QST as a simple transmitter that meets the tough Jan 1, 1929, radio transmitter emission requirements.
More information is at https://w0vlz.blogspot.com/search/label/1928%20Hartley
A popular late 20's design published in the November 1930 issue of QST was the TNT (Tuned plate - Not Tuned grid) transmitter. It could be configured to use almost any of the triodes popular at the time and many of the other parts could be found in old radio carcasses. Half of a kitchen breadboard or convenient piece of scrap lumber served as the "chassis".
A demonstration video of this transmitter may be found at http://www.wiegandfamily.org/1929Stn/1929Station.htm
An audio recording of this TNT transmitter may be found at https://youtu.be/rbSm097Qiv4
More information is at https://www.wiegandfamily.org/tnt/tnt.htm and at https://w0vlz.blogspot.com/search/label/1930%20TNT
By the time the ARRL published "A Convertable Push-Pull Oscillator or Amplifier" in the January 1934 issue of QST the prefered modern station included a high powered multistate transmitter but many hams had a "lead pocketbook". They needed something inexpensive that might also be part of a larger transmitter in the future. The Push-Pull Colpitts was a good solution.
To hear this transmitter on the air go to https://youtu.be/MDbJLEqd8Nk
More information is at https://w0vlz.blogspot.com/search/label/1934%20Colpitts
Throughout the 20s most hams used a regenerative receiver. These receivers used the common type '01 tube, both as a regenreative detector and as one stage of audio. Ross Hull described one in the November 1928 issue of QST. James Lamb wrote about a similar design in the April 1928 issue of QST.
More information is at https://www.wiegandfamily.org/onestep/onestep.htm
The late 20's included two important developments in amateur receiver design. One was the AC operated receiver and the other was the screen grid detector. Both of these offered significant advances over the triode regenerative detector plus one stage of audio receiver that had been a ham shack standard. The type 24 screen grid detector and type 27 triode replaced the '01 triodes in "modern" regens.
More information is at http://wiegandfamily.org/sg_regen/sg_regen.htm
*** The 30s ***
A popular design in the early 30's used a type 47 as a crystal oscillator driving a buffer and final on 160 through 10 meters. My version eliminates the buffer/multiplier stage running only on the fundamental crystal frequency. It can also be used without the TZ-20 final as a perfactly good 15 watt transmitter.
Information on the 47/46 basic transmittter is at https://w0vlz.blogspot.com/search/label/1934%20transmitter
Information on the TZ-20 final is at https://w0vlz.blogspot.com/search/label/TZ-20 RF Amp
I needed a multivoltage power supply for my multistage transmitter. What I ended up with weighs in at 31 pounds, a heavy weight in my shack.
More information is at https://w0vlz.blogspot.com/search/label/Multivoltage%20Power%20Supply
The venerable 6L6 was introduced by RCA in early 1936 as an audio power tube. The June 1936 issue of QST carried an article showing it running as a high powered crystal oscillator. The 6L6 (and its big brother the 807) appeared in transmitter article after article for two decades.
More information is at http://wiegandfamily.org/6l6/6L6.htm
This is a crystal controlled push-pull 6L6 oscillator. Electrically this transmitter is based on the QSL Push-Pull in QST, June 1940. Cosmetically this transmitter is based on what I had on the shelf, an old Meissner Signal Shifter cabinet.
More information is at https://w0vlz.blogspot.com/2009/01/awa-linc-cundall-ot-cw-contest.html
*** The 40s ***
This transmitter is listed in the 1940/5th edition of the Stancor Hamanual as the Stancor 10P. I eliminated the AM modulator section, added a PA keying/spotting switch between the oscillator and final stages, separate (regulated) B+ for the oscillator stage and, for safety, shunt fed the output coil/capacitor.
Some information is at https://www.wiegandfamily.org/2tube_xmtr/2tube_xmtr.htm
Additional information is at https://w0vlz.blogspot.com/search/label/6J5-6L6%20Transmitter
I built this receiver as a companion to my 6L6 transmitters. The design originally appeared in the February 1941 issue of QST. A major improvement I eventually made was the addition of a crystal filter. It gives this simple receiver almost single signal selectivity. Also modified from the original was changing the regenerative detector from 1/2 of a 6C8 to a 6J7, adding better bandspread, capacitively coupled headphone output and a front panel BFO adjustment. A potentiometer in the antenna input was added after experiencing problems from strong signals overloading the receiver. Next to the receiver shown an external Power Supply/Audio Amp/Speaker/code monitor.
Information (part 1) is at https://www.wiegandfamily.org/3tubrcvr/3tubrcvr.htm
Information (part 2) is at https://www.wiegandfamily.org/3tube_xtal/3tube_xtal.htm
*** The 50s ***
The July 1951 QST editorial welcomed new novices and pledged an increasing amount of material more directly useful to the beginner. How well did equipment like this perform? I built a 1951 beginner receiver. This receiver is roughly based on the "First Receiver for the Novice" (Aug 1951 QST). I chose a 6AG7 crystal controlled oscillator with pi-network output to pair with my 1951 receiver. An article in the March 1950 issue of QST compared the tubes currently being used as crystal oscillators and declared the 6AG7 the best.
More receiver information is at https://www.wiegandfamily.org/1951Regen/1951station_14Jan08.htm
More transmitter and power supply information is at https://www.wiegandfamily.org/2024Radio/6AG7_Xmtr/1951Transmitter.htm
By the mid 50s tubes were available to support battery operation without weighing a ton. The 1T4, the regenerative detector used in this QRP pair, draws 1/60 the filament power of the type 24 regenative detector that was a break though in 1928. I currently use a KX3 for QRP operating. 70 years ago this was the sort of QRP rig I might have, a 1T4/3V4 regen and a pair of 3S4s runnning about 1 watt out. How well would they work?
A demo of the receiver is at https://youtu.be/O_GB-WBGG4g
Receiver information is at https://w0vlz.blogspot.com/search/label/1T4%20%2F%203V4%20Regen
Transmitter information is at https://w0vlz.blogspot.com/search/label/3S4%20QRP%20Transmitter