Hello friend. My name is Dave Schmarder. I am the owner and operator of makearadio.com. My homemade
hobby radio website has been on the net since 2002. Yes, this is the home of that crazy
guy of German heritage that builds all those radios.
This website is about the homemade radio projects that I have built. I show all the circuits
and offer good quality pictures. Each project has a description added. I did all this so you,
the radio builder hobbyist would have some good plans.
This is a very active website. It is tended to and updated on a daily basis. Starting in early
2010, makearadio.com was transformed into an ad supported website. The income helps offset the
hosting costs as well as a little for me.
My third article for Monitoring Times Magazine has been published. The article, "DXing the Medium Waves with a
DIY Loop" appears in the September 2010 issue on page 13. Included is a short paragraph about yours truly.
The biography is not much longer than a paragraph, but that's long enough!
The RadiBoard sponsored homebrew radio receiving contest for 2010 is over.
Some of the entries have been received and now appear on the page. My congratulations to the entrants for some fine
looking and working radios!
My latest project is my #77 or budget dx crystal radio. This is a double tuned radio. A tuned
circuit acts as the antenna tuning unit or ATU. The other part of my radio is the detector
unit. The detector unit contains the main tuning circuit, selectivity enhancement
circuits, diode detector and an audio matching transformer. Litz wire wound coils with 165 strands
of fine 46 gauge make this radios sing. The estimated cost to make this
radio is under $200
Remember that crystal set you made with your dad or grandpa? I remember my experiences
to this day. In early 2002 the crystal
set bit me again. This time I really got excited and started building one set right after another.
I was going to stop when I built a couple of radios that would display well. But there was no
way I was going to quit. So here I am at 77 radios and counting! I hope you find one that
you would like to build. See what I have made to show you.
Soon after I started building crystal sets, the lousy summer band conditions convinced me that I
should expand my activities in to active devices. Encouraged by my web visitors, I built
a bunch of tube radios to experiment with. I didn't build regenerative radios when
I was a kid, so this was new territory for me. I am pleased with the outcome and I hope you
are too. So, I proudly present my tube radio main page.
Transistors? Bah humbug. But I've heard that they have become popular and more and more
people have switched from tubes to transistors. So far there is only one radio, but I hope
to add more. So please accept my meager attempt for now
I love tube amplifiers. But as my solid state section, my amplifier section has only one
example to show you. It is a nice small, low powered audio amp. Several others have
built this design and are quite happy. So check out my amplifier section and encourage
me to make more!
Loop antennas have been in my family since I was a little guy. I still have the big red
loop that my dad built and that started my interest in these magical devices. I built some smaller
loop antennas to connect to my old time radios to improve my reception.
My loops are beautiful!
The summer contest is over. Check the entries and scores.
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