Amateur radio homebrew

Homebrew is an Amateur radio slang term for home-built, noncommercial radio equipment. [ [http://www.dxing.com/radioterms.htm Radio Terms and Abbreviations ] ]

History

In the early years of amateur radio, long before factory-built gear was easily available, most hams built their own transmitting and receiving equipment, a process that came to be known as "homebrewing." In the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, hams handcrafted reasonable-quality vacuum tube-based transmitters and receivers which were often housed in their basements, and it was common for a well-built "homebrew rig" to cover all the high frequency bands (1.8 to 30 MHz).

Homebrewing was often encouraged by amateur radio publications. In 1950, CQ Amateur Radio Magazine announced a ‘‘$1000 Cash Prize ‘Home Brew’ Contest’’ and called independently-built equipment ‘‘the type of gear which has helped to make amateur radio our greatest reservoir of technical proficiency.’’ The magazine tried to steer hams back into building by sponsoring such competitions and by publishing more construction plans, saying that homebrewing imparted a powerful technical mastery to hams. In 1958, a CQ editorial opined that if ham radio lost status as a technical activity, it might also lose the privilege of operating on the public airwaves, saying, ‘‘As our ranks of home constructors thin we also fall to a lower technical level as a group,’’. [ "Ham radio’s technical culture", Kristen Haring. ISBN-13: 978-0-262-08355-3]

In the 1950s and 60s, some hams turned to constructing their stations from kits sold by Heathkit, Eico, EF Johnson, Allied Radio's Knight-Kit, World Radio Laboratories and other suppliers. [http://www2.arrl.org/news/features/2002/12/27/1/ ARRL.org, "QRP Community: Construction--Kits, Homebrew and Other QRP Projects"]

Today, only a minority of hams own and operate completely homebrew or kit-built amateur stations. However, there are many new ham radio kit suppliers, and the "art" of homebrewing is alive and thriving.

Practices

Homebrewing differs from kit-building in that "homebrew" connotes the process of constructing equipment using parts and designs gathered from varied and often improvised sources. Even the most skilled homebrewer may not have time or resources to build the equivalent of modern commercially-made amateur radio gear from scratch, as the commercial units contain custom integrated circuits, custom cabinets, and are the end result of multiple prototypes and exhaustive testing. However, constructing one's own equipment using relatively simple designs and easily-obtainable or junk box electronic components is still possible. Homebrew enthusiasts say that building one's own radio equipment is fun and gives them the satisfaction that comes from mastering electronic knowledge. cite web|url=http://www.qsl.net/k3pd/chap02.pdf |title=CRYSTAL SETS TO SIDEBAND, HOME-BUILDING AMATEUR RADIO EQUIPMENT - CHAPTER 2 |accessdate=2007-11-25 |last=Harris |first=Frank W. |work=CRYSTAL SETS TO SIDEBAND ] [http://www.101science.com/amateurradiopage2.htm#8.__HOME_BREWING: 101scence.com, "Homebrewing"]

QRP homebrew

QRPers are ham radio enthusiasts known to use a power output of five watts, sometimes operating with as little as 100 milliwatts or even less. Extremely low power -- 1 watt and below -- is often referred to by hobbyists as QRPp. Commercial transceivers designed to operate at or near QRP power levels have been available for many years, but some QRPers prefer to design and build their own equipment, either from kits or from scratch. Many build miniature transmitters and transceivers into Altoids boxes and operate using battery power. [ [http://www.qrpedia.com/wiki/Rock-Mite_Series Rock-Mite Series - QRPedia ] ] Popular QRP kit models include the Elecraft K2 [ [http://www.elecraft.com Elecraft (r) Hands-On Ham Radio ] ] , and those produced by NorCal, Small Wonder Labs, and others. QRP activity can often be heard on 7.030 MHz.

Homebrewing with vacuum tubes

"Glowbug" is a term used by US amateurs to describe a simple home-made tube-type radio set, reminiscent of the shortwave radio-building craze of the 1920s and 30s. Classic glowbug designs from that era include the famous twin triode Doerle regenerative receiver and single-tube Hartley, TNT and TPTG transmitters. "Glow" refers to the glow of the vacuum tubes and "bug" to the gear's relatively diminutive size. Generally, any small, home-built tube-type transmitter or receiver may be referred to as a glowbug. The majority of glowbug transmitters are designed to be used in the CW radiotelegraphy mode. A number of radio amateurs also build their own tube receivers and AM voice transmitters.

As late as the 1960s, glowbugs were part of many beginner ham stations, and the ARRL Radio Amateur Handbook for those years exhibited a number of such simple, tube-based designs. Today, glowbugs are enjoying a resurgence of interest among QRP enthusiasts and others with a penchant for constructing their own equipment. A growing number of hams are "getting back to their roots" by assembling glowbugs on steel chassis, tin cakepans, and wooden boards, and putting them on the air. Amateur radio glowbug enthusiasts can often be heard communicating on the shortwave bands via CW using Morse code. A popular frequency to hear glowbug contacts is 3.579545 MHz. [ [http://webhome.idirect.com/~griffith/gb.htm "GlowBugs" ] ]

ee also

*Amateur radio
*Boat anchor
*QRP
*Vintage amateur radio

External links

* [http://www.dmoz.org/Recreation/Radio/Amateur/Homebrew/ Amateur Radio Homebrew, "The Open Directory Project"]
* [http://www.af4k.com/hamlynx/hamhomeb.htm Homebrew Ham pages by AF4K] - Over 280 Ham Radio Homebrewing Articles
* [http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rfamplifiers/ Yahoo rfamplifiers group] - A very popular place for those who like to design and build RF Power Amplifiers for use in ham radio
* [http://www.soldersmoke.com soldersmoke - A podcast for radio amateurs and homebrewers] - A popular weekly podcast which discusses homebrew electronics and radio construction.
* [http://www.qsl.net/wd4nka/TEXTS/novice.html The Novice Special] - A simple two-tube transmitter by Gary Johanson, WD4NKA

Notes