make a radio

Yesterday my seven-year-old son asked me to build a radio for him, so I put together a quickie cigar box crystal radio. I haven’t even had the chance to really optimize its performance, but he is so utterly delighted with it that I wish I’d made one for him long ago. I reckon I’ll need to convert it to a transistor regenerative receiver to give it more sensitivity and selectivity (and more audio volume).

I’ve had a hankering to build a vacuum tube regenerative shortwave radio receiver. These are the simplest type of radio to build, aside from crystal radios. Unlike crystal radios, though, a regenerative receiver can pull in very, very weak signals.

I’ve never built any vacuum tube equipment before, but I’ve got several books that give the information I’ll need, and I’ve got all the parts and tools.