Radio and Electronics Cookbook

36

An 80 metre crystal-controlled CW transmitter

Introduction

A simple transmitter is ideally suited to anyone venturing into our marvellous hobby for the first time. If you are put off by the complexities and prices of the ‘black boxes’ then this is the transmitter you’ve been looking for!

The circuit

The complete circuit is shown in Figure 1. It is a single-transistor crystal oscillator which is keyed (switched on and off) by the Morse key in the +12 V supply rail. The circuit first appeared in QST (the American equivalent of RadCom) in 1982, and has since appeared in a modified form in the ARRL Handbook. The circuit can produce about 2 watts on 80 m, and can be constructed on a piece of plain matrix board; the prototype board measured ...