The ‘Retro-75’

75/80 Meter AM Transceiver board kit

This project is a frankly nostalgic look back at our hobby of 50 years ago. It’s now been updated using all modern components.

Features:

Board size 3.5” x 5.27”

Tunable Receiver- 50 kHz, selectable, varicap-tuned

4 kHz receiver crystal filter

Room-filling speaker volume

Crystal-controlled Transmit- 3880 and 3885 kHz supplied

Transmitter output power: 2.5W carrier/ 8W peak

Transmit and Receive ALCs

Uses readily-available and inexpensive dynamic mics

Built-in Alignment function

Despite the relative inefficiency of AM as compared to SSB, it just sounds better!

Communication distances are reasonable, too. While you won’t expect to work DX with this rig, it’s fine for area communication. The map above shows the Retro-75‘s QSOs to date from my QTH in Newport, NH. Interestingly, distance didn’t correlate to length-of-QSO. The two most distant contacts- Skowhegan, Maine and Huntington, Long Island- were 30-minute ragchews with good copy both ways. My antenna is an 88-foot center-fed with balanced line, at a height of 45-50 feet.

Assembly instructions may be found at http://smallwonderlabs.com/Retro-75_Instr.pdf

There’s now a user group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SWLRetro75

Board Kit ordering: $69 (US/Canada), $75 (all others)- includes shipping- via PayPal to nn1g@earthlink.net, or see “Pricing/Ordering”

A pre-punched and silkscreened Enclosure kit with all controls, connectors and wire is available now.

The enclosure is a customized version of the Ten-Tec® TPC-43.

Click here for Enclosure kit instructions

See ‘Pricing/Ordering’ for further information. Contact me if interested in purchasing the enclosure only.

or check/money order to:

Small Wonder Labs

P.O. Box 187

Newport NH 03773 USA

Dave Benson, K1SWL

updated July 29, 2010