This article was originally published in
Electronics Australia, in May 1970. It follows on from a valve design presented
earlier in the same magazine, which was based on the Hazeltine circuit.
If you have not already come from there, I suggest you see my Fremodyne
page to learn the background of the Fremodyne receiver. Note that the article
presented here has nothing to do with the Hazeltine Corporation. The original
valve Hazeltine Fremodyne receiver was obsolete well before solid state
devices became available. Here, the term "Fremodyne" was used by EA to
mean a VHF superhet receiver with a 27Mc/s super regenerative IF channel.
My presentation of the material here is
to satisfy the curiosity for those who have asked about it, or are curious
about the Fremodyne in Australia. I am not presenting this as a constructional
article. I have not built this receiver.
However, anyone who is familiar with VHF
construction will not have a problem building this receiver with the following
information.
Circuit of complete receiver. 30 to 190Mc/s coverage was possible
using plug in coils. 10K preset sets operating point of the 27Mc/s super
regenerative detector. Adjust it to point just past where oscillation commences
for greatest sensitivity. The 560R is required for stability and might
not always be required.
Layout of tagboard for the frequency converter, super regen IF stage,
and audio preamp. Note spacing between the two coils operating at 27Mc/s.
Layout of tagboard for the local oscillator.
How the boards are laid out on the chassis. To the left is the audio
power amp, centre is the local oscillator, and at the right is the converter
and IF stage.
Coil Data:
Aerial: 30-70Mc/s: 8 turns
3/8" diam, 1/2" long. Tap at 2 turns. 18 gauge.
70-130Mc/s: 4 turns 1/4" diam, 3/8" long. Tap at 1 turn. 18 gauge.
120-190Mc/s: 2 turns 1/4" diam, 5/15" long. Tahp at 1/4 turn. 18 gauge.
Oscillator: Low frequency: 7 turns
22 gauge, 1/4" diam, 3/8" long.
High frequency: 2 turns 18 gauge, 1/4" diam. 3/8" long.
These coils were mounted in four pin speaker plugs.
L3 & L4: 12 turns 24 gauge, wound directly on 7mm slug, 1/4" long, grade 900 Neosid. Tune both to 27Mc/s.
Note that there are only two local oscillator
coils. The design relies on local oscillator operation below and above
the received frequencies for complete band coverage.
My only experience with this set is that
I have constructed the 27Mc/s super regenerative part to use on its own,
as a CB receiver, and also tried it directly for the VHF FM band.