Common and specialty parts needed for homebrew radio RF ?

[lordvader88]

I finally made a 2 transistor regenerative receiver and it worked. I was looking at the output on the scope before I dug up a earphone and I thought it sure looked like audio being modulated and it sure was. I learned the basic saturation model for BJTs in the process and know some basics of AC loop analysis of oscillators.

I'm not into SMD scale , or software defined radio yet.

So for hobby level AM radio and up to say VHF (just listening btw, no plans to transmit anything),, Some things I have already, more or less for lower end RF stuff is

S9018 BJT
BF199 BJT
some VHF/UHF BJT
2n5485 Nch JFET
J112 "
J176 Pch JFET

LM7555 timer

1N34A Germanium diodes
1N60
only 2-3 variactor diodes
fast Schottky diodes

assorted 2 pin quartz crystals
few random ceramic oscillators and filters

pico/nano ceramic's
some NPO ceramic caps (had them for years, I just thought they old ugly '60s era caps)
30pF cermat trimmer caps
2-3 6pin variable cap
3 3pin vari-caps

1uH-4.7mH resistor style leaded inductors
assorted inductors from 1990-2010 TVs/radios/etc
hardly any canned tuned RF transformers, LC tanks, that I know work or are marked. I have a few I need to fix the wires back onto.
I do have some 4 pin inductor forms w/adj. cores I can make tiny tiny transformers on.

1cm green, yellow ferrite rings (ebay cheap so no idea what they are tho)
10cm ferrite rods.

26AWG and 36AGW magnetic wire
cable TV coax

Plenty to keep busy but it takes months for stuff to get here so I want it before I need it.


Some things I don't have is

OPAMPS for active filters above whatever LM358 can do, and RF in general
Litz wire, more wire gauges in general for coil making
more types of ring cores for toroid
more variable caps
variactors
practically no common or specialty ICs for anything RF like VCO, PPL (besides AM/FM radio ICs I hope to hack)
no copper clad boards
no V/A analog panel meters


Whats some more stuff I should have lying around ?

[gibbled]

Ta7624's are fun and easy to get going.

A few lm386's or any other class a/b audio amp chips are handy too.

Unetched copper clad boards to build on dead bug or manhattan style.

[ericj]

You have a good start. You didn't mention the most common resistors and capacitors. You can go through them pretty fast and it's hard to buy just a couple when you need them. Get an assortment at least 5 and maybe 10 of each. Lots of 0.1, 0.01, 0.001 uf discs too. Look for a kits with a good assortment, then fill in as you need them later. It takes time to build a decent "junkbox".

Take a look at Hans Summers site:
http://www.hanssummers.com

He's big on making do. His interests are also very broad. You'll learn a lot from him. Another great site is:

http://qrp-popcorn.blogspot.ca

You'll have to dig around a lot on his site to find anything, but be persistent and you'll find circuits that interest you. Both will help you learn to make do, yet get good results. Very handy when you can't run down to a local electronic store for something.

Eric KE6US