Homemade 4-Tube FM radio

Posted by admin on March 8th, 2010 and filed under fm radio | 25 Comments »

Homemade radio made with compactron tubes and many salvaged components. The tube line-up is a 17C9 convertor, 8BM11 1st and 2nd IF, 6SL7 1st audio stage and 6V6 audio output.

It uses 2 silicon diodes in a full wave setup for power supply B+ voltage and a power transformer from a VM tape recorder. A choke input filter is used, with two stages of filter chokes. One is an actual choke and the other is made from a vertical output transformer.

For the filament supplies, there are 2 6 volt taps on the transformer. In the original application, one fed the rectifier tube alone. Here, one 6-volt tap feeds the 6V6 and 6SL7. The other one is in series with the first, and goes through a resistor to supply the 8 volt filament of the 8BM11. A cassette recorder power transformer supplies the 17-volt filament of the 17C9.

Germanium diodes are used in the ratio detector circuit.

I made this radio back in 2001.

For more vintage radio and electronics information please visit http://www.retroaudiolab.com

Duration : 0:2:39


[youtube Ed40G6XazmU]

25 Responses

  1. bob505470 Says:

    not even
    not even

  2. dodgedart74 Says:

    gigady
    gigady

  3. lunatictm Says:

    Cleveland from …
    Cleveland from family guy. WHOA

  4. TheYusukesCraft Says:

    So amazing, …
    So amazing, wonderful work, being FM radio using tube is good. Is there anyway to get schematic drawing?

  5. micellis11 Says:

    is there anyway I …
    is there anyway I could get the schematic for this from you? I’d like to build something like this for a design project for my EET class

  6. puyansude Says:

    Nice project! …
    Nice project! Bravo.

  7. mig189189189 Says:

    Awesome video. Keep …
    Awesome video. Keep on with that good work!
    One day youll be a millionaire radio expert!

  8. borri317 Says:

    many kind of …
    many kind of detectors use diodes

  9. nzoomed Says:

    does it give you …
    does it give you stereo sound?

  10. Atlantis1986 Says:

    1:05 He clearly …
    1:05 He clearly said that there is a germanium diode. :)

  11. sz42781 Says:

    mmmm K?
    mmmm K?

  12. sz42781 Says:

    lul @ voice
    lul @ voice

  13. listenact Says:

    That’s so amazing …
    That’s so amazing that you can build that stuff. You’re an artist!

  14. DRNEGOLICIS Says:

    ive been looking …
    ive been looking for a am fm lw mw sw and marine band radio with tubes caint find one guess im just gonna have to make it like this one

  15. hrbear Says:

    Tell us the …
    Tell us the schematic. :-)

  16. tim78704 Says:

    This is very cool! …
    This is very cool! I’ve been searching around for AM, FM and short wave plans that use tube electronics. :)

  17. DavesFarmFan Says:

    put a bar tuner on …
    put a bar tuner on it and you are good to go!

  18. MIKEPREAMP Says:

    When you were a kid …
    When you were a kid were you as fascinated by the electronics books by Alfred P. Morgan, as I was?

  19. blinkynoo Says:

    I’m impressed, well …
    I’m impressed, well done! There’s something to be said for old valves etc. Good quality stuff that lasts. Not like the crap thats produced nowadays.

  20. borri317 Says:

    what kind of …
    what kind of detector it uses

  21. disgruntldtoad Says:

    Ohhh and the best …
    Ohhh and the best part was when you first turned it one and first thing out was rap music. I just found it funny coming out of a tube radio

  22. disgruntldtoad Says:

    You sound just like …
    You sound just like a fella I talk to on my local 2 meter repeater in the Cincinnati area. Cheers on the homebrew receiver!

  23. hytlerson Says:

    what a quality. …
    what a quality. really nice

  24. carrierpilot1357 Says:

    go tubes!
    go tubes!

  25. retrochad Says:

    Thanks!
    Thanks!

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