Receiver Kits | The SWLing Post

This morning, I noticed that the Swiss radio and Morse key manufacturer, Stampfl, is selling some of their products on eBay.

In particular, they’ve listed the Junior 1 shortwave radio receiver kit (above) and the STM-11 Classic Morse Code straight key (below).

Stampfl was founded by Heinz Stampfl (HB9KOC)–I’ve been following his work the past few years, especially fascinated with his SDR designs which are (sadly) only experimental and have never been put into production.

I’m particularly fascinated with the MICRO SWRX:

And the EXPERIMENTAL SWRX:

I’ve written Heinz more than once encouraging him to put these on the market. Of course, it’s an easy request coming from a consumer who doesn’t have to front the production costs and inherent overhead!

Heinz, if you’re reading this, why not do a Kickstarter campaign for one of your fine SDR designs?!

The Junior 1 receiver kit

The Stampfl Junior 1 shortwave receiver kit looks like a lot of fun not only to operate, but also to build and I’m sorely tempted to purchase one!

Here’s a video of the Junior 1 in action:

Click here to view on YouTube.

Click here to download the Junior 1 manual.

The Junior 1 is listed as an auction on eBay with a starting bid of $50 with $25 Economy Shipping to the US. The BuyItNow price is $70.

I think $95 US shipped is a fair price for what looks like a fascinating little receiver kit designed by an (obviously) talented engineer.

Click here to view on eBay.

Post readers: Have any of you built the Junior 1 or purchased any of Stampfl’s Morse Code keys? Please comment!

Spread the radio love

Tony Westbrook recently contacted me about a regenerative receiver kit he has designed and produced in the UK. It’s called the KRC-2. Here’s the product description:

1 – 30 MHz with band spread tuning.

Regeneration with a difference. The regeneration setting on the KRC-2 is unaffected by the receiver tuning or the antenna coupling. How do we achieve this? The regenerative stage is fixed at 10.7MHz and used as an IF amplifier. The main receiver board is extremely simple to construct using only one FET and an audio IC. Like all the KRC kits it comes with a comprehensive construction manual which brings this project well within the grasp of the keen constructor. It was referred to as “a very sensitive little receiver” by Rob Mannion of Practical Wireless. Its unconventional design and simplicity should amaze even the experienced constructor. Case size 7 x 4 x 3 inches. 6 x AA batteries supplied.

According to Tony, the kit comes with everything; UK orders are even supplied with batteries. Tony stated, “the only thing the customer needs is a soldering iron, solder cutters, etc.”

By request, Tony sent a few construction photos and three videos of the radio in operation:

Photos