“The Scrounger” Ham Radio QRP Transmitter

Time Span 1964-2012

By WB4CKM

When I was 12 I built this CW ham radio transmitter that was

described in the September 1964 issue of Electronics Illustrated
magazine. The article is available here, from KH6SKY of Radio-
Sky Publishing. I still have several QSL cards from contacts I
made with this set on 40-meter band, at 7195 kHz. Back then, the
Novice band was 7150-7200 kHz.

June 23, 2011- Yesterday and today I started restoration of my

Scrounger transmitter;

1. I discovered by measurement that my grid leak resistor was

actually marked as an 820 resistor instead of the required 82k.
It measured today as 1300. The brown color band looked more
orange than brown, and I never measured it in my youth.
Amazingly, the set worked anyway. I found and installed an
unused and good 82k resistor from my parts bin. It measured
82.5 k.
2. The dual section power supply filter capacitor unit had signs
of electrolyte leakage and neither section measured correctly
(supposed to be 20uF @ 450 volts per section). I removed the bad
unit from its cardboard sleeve and replaced it with two good
22uF units that I salvaged from an abandoned TV restoration that
I did several years ago.

3. I removed the RF output coil assembly and its supporting

terminal strips, and performed a light cleaning of the outside
of the aluminum chassis, using only damp and dry paper towels.

July 22, 2011

4. A couple of weeks ago I applied Radio-TV cement to
weak/damaged spots of the toilet-paper cardboard tube of the RF
output coil assembly. I restored and reconnected the original RF
tap point for the keying monitor (which I had originally built,
but it did not survive my youth, except for the speaker). I re-
installed the coil assembly.

5. Today I did these things;

 Replaced the sheet metal screws for mounting the two RF
output jacks. I slightly enlarged the four chassis holes so
they would pass #6-32 screws. I did this to ensure solid
connection to chassis of the shield side of the jacks.

 Replaced the broken rubber grommet that was protecting the

AC power cord. To do this I had to unsolder and remove the
power cord, install new grommet, and re-install power cord.

 Made up a test cable for the telegraph key. It includes a

DC 0-150 ma meter in series with the key, so I can measure
cathode current rather than rely on the pilot lamp.

[Aside]The pilot lamp is supposed to be a #1819 (28 volts at 40

ma.), but I remember that the #1819s kept burning out until my
friend Vincent Van Pelt, WB4BPS, suggested I put 1k in parallel
with the lamp. Sometime in distant past I eventually removed the
1k and substituted a #1820 lamp (28 volts @ 80 ma.).
TEST RESULTS 23 JULY 2011
50 load “Cantenna” attached to RF output.
No connect to keying monitor output.

Crystal Dip Least Peak

Current Chirp Current
None - - 70
3625 kHz 25 30 40
3725 kHz 22 30 45
3745 kHz 25 30 60
7195 kHz 20 25 70 (not oscillating)

The 80M crystals yield double dips, the 2nd dip being for the 1st
harmonic of crystal frequency (as expected and explained in
original article). The least keying chirp, as observed in SW
receiver, occurs when RF tune is slightly clockwise from dip
point (more capacitance).

With the 3625 kHz crystal, oscillation occurred regardless of

the RF tune setting, and DC cathode current did not exceed 40 ma.
Therefore the #1819 lamp would not burn out unless the crystal
was to be unplugged and transmitter is keyed.

With the 7195 kHz crystal, oscillation always stopped when RF

tune is somewhat clockwise of dip point. Cathode current rose to
70ma, which would quickly burn out a #1819 lamp.

With other crystals the results were in between these two.

The article mentions that “flash” of pilot lamp, while tuning RF

with key down, is due to excitation trimmer not set correctly. I
believe this flash is same as “no oscillation” that I observed
above and explains why my #1819s kept burning out.

I tried unsoldering a 10 mmF capacitor that was across the

trimmer, that I had installed ages ago, but it didn’t make any
noticeable difference to cathode current behavior vs. RF tuning.

I connected my Fluke digital VOM to RF monitor port of the

Cantenna and observed peak of about 130 mV (approx. 1/100 of RF
voltage across the 50 load.
December 29, 2011
 Rewired the pilot lamp socket to use the #1819 lamp in
parallel with a 1k resistor.
 Resoldered the AC line connections to the ON-OFF switch.
One was loose.
 Built spreadsheet power estimator;
RF LOAD POWER ESTIMATOR
LOAD IMPEDANCE 50.00 OHMS
FLUKE VOLTAGE READING 0.128 VOLTS DC
VOLTAGE DIVIDER FACTOR 101.00

ESTIMATED PEAK VOLTAGE ACROSS DUMMY LOAD 12.93 VOLTS PEAK

ESTIMATED RMS VOLTAGE 9.14 VOLTS RMS

ESTIMATED POWER DELIVERED TO DUMMY LOAD 1.67 WATTS

I do not yet have a tuner to match the RF output impedance to

the load, so I am not bothered by the apparent low power
delivered to the dummy load.

Key Down, 50 Dummy Load, Tuned, but not Loaded

 Companion Keying Monitor

January 1, 2012- Several months ago I gathered the parts to

rebuild the companion keying monitor. I breadboarded the circuit
today so that I could experiment with selecting secondary taps
for the speaker. The article failed to give a part number for
the PNP transistor Q1. I chose an SK3005 that I happened to have.
I think I might have used an SK3004 in my original unit. Despite
the admonition in the parts list, I must substitute a Thordarson
22S61 universal output transformer for T1, as I no longer have
the Lafayette TR-12 transformer.

Keying Monitor Detail from Original Article

Terminal Strip will Mount to Rear Section of Enclosure
Battery+ goes to ground, and battery- must be attached at the RF
input. I used a 1.5 volt battery to power the unit for testing.
It would not work with a 3 volt battery, and I don’t know why.
The unit will not work without the diode in the circuit, even on
battery. I don’t know why. I settled on pins 2 and 5 for
attaching the speaker. The output tone messes up if you touch
the speaker cone or let it rest on a surface. I don’t know why.

Test Setup; Apply Battery- at RF Input Point

I used ClarisDraw 1.0v3 to make drill templates for the
enclosure.
 4"

1 1/4"

2 1/4" 1 1/4"

Front Panel
3 7/8"

1 1/2"

1 1/16"
3/4"

2 1/8"
1 15/16"
3/4"

Rear Panel (RF Input Cable, Terminal Strip)

January 2, 2012- Here is a photo of my completed keying monitor

(next page). The terminal strip is mounted on the backshell. The
transformer is mounted on the left side of the frontshell. The
speaker grill is plastic window screen material. The monitor
sounds great with 1.5 volt test battery. RF test is pending.

April 5, 2012- The keying monitor did not work properly unless I
greatly detuned Scrounger (i.e., reduced the RF output power).
With maximum RF power I measured the rectified RF voltage, at
the 1N34 diode, as about -10 volts (a very good indication that
Scrounger is delivering significant RF power to the antenna
tuner). As I noted earlier in this report, the keying monitor
sounded best when the applied DC was around -1.5 volts (for
speaker connection to pins 2 and 5). I decided to install a 500
potentiometer (Honeywell #381N500) on back of Scrounger so that
I can adjust the RF voltage supplied to the keying monitor. This
worked, sort of. The sound volume and tone quality vary
depending on crystal and output band (80M or 40M).

May 24, 2012- I decided to use secondary tap positions 4 and 5

for the speaker connections. This change made the keying monitor
performance acceptable when plugged into Scrounger. See Appendix
A for a detailed discussion of the universal output transformer
turns ratio combinations. Impedance ratio is the square of the
turns ratio.

Completed 2012 Build of Scrounger Keying Monitor

 Antenna Tuner for Scrounger

January 3, 2012- The Scrounger article referenced the September

1963 issue of Electronics Illustrated (which I also used to have,
but not anymore) for an antenna tuner design, to be used to
match the Scrounger’s output to random-length longwire antennas.
I remember that it was just a simple L-network;

ANT.

XMTR
GND. (OPTIONAL)

I will construct one from parts that I already have;

E.F. Johnson #229-203 28 H Rotary Inductor

E.F. Johnson #250-E30 250 F Air Variable Capacitor

I used a discarded wooden wine case as the enclosure. I left

room on the right side of the case for adding a power meter. My
Scrounger can sit on top.

L-Network Antenna Tuner Enclosed in Wooden Wine Case

 Interior View of L-network Antenna Tuner

January 26, 2012- Today I tested my Scrounger with the Antenna

Tuner. I rigged up an outside long wire antenna, approximately
50 feet or so. One end of it attaches directly to the tuner
output. I was able to tune and load Scrounger to about 40mA
plate current at 7250 kHz (2nd harmonic of my 3625 kHz crystal)
as described in the article. My R-174 receiver, with ANT and GND
posts shorted, served as a crude field strength meter and
indicated that I was delivering significant RF power to the
antenna. There happened to be a group of hams on SSB
(identifying themselves as “WESCARS” net) slightly below 7250kHz.
According to their website, they meet daily at 11 a.m. on 7248
kHz.

Update April 19, 2012- Today I determined that my wire antenna

is actually 62 feet long. The wire from the tuner to the T/R
switch is 3 feet 2 inches, for total antenna length of 65 feet,
2 inches. A ½ wavelength antenna for 7.04 MHz is 468/7.04 = 66
feet, 5 inches. No wonder my antenna is working so well.
 Station Assembly and Transmit-Receive Control

I am almost ready to use my R-174 receiver and Scrounger

together. I need only to wire up a DPDT transmit/receive knife
switch and an old 12 volt power supply to achieve the antenna
changeover and R-174 receiver operate/standby functions, as
follows;
LONGWIRE ANTENNA

R-174
H J ANT POST ANT
FROM TRANSMITTER
F ANTENNA TUNER OUTPUT

K
A

E + RECEIVE TRANSMIT
R-174
12 VOLTS
A MONITOR
INPUT DC

D CONNECTOR

C B E
MONITOR INPUT
VIEW FROM FRONT C

February 14, 2012- Since the R-174 monitor input plug is not
available, I made three push-on terminals using 3/32” copper
tubing.

February 16, 2012- My T/R circuit works fine. Now I should be

able to communicate. I still need crystals or a VFO for the
current CW sub-bands, which are different from what they were in
the old days.

My Ham Radio Station, March 16, 2012

 My Old Crystal Collection

My 80 meter band crystal collection is mostly based on the old

Novice band from 3700 to 3750 kHz;

3500 3525 3550 3600 3650 3700 3750 3800 3850 3900 3950 4000

EXTRA

ADVANCED
3625

3710
3720
3725
3730
3740
3745

3892
GENERAL

OLD NOVICE
NOVICE
BAND

MY CRYSTALS VS. DECEMBER 2011 80 METER BAND ALLOCATIONS

I only have one 40 meter band crystal at 7195 kHz. The old
Novice band was from 7150 to 7200 kHz. I can do 7250 kHz by
using my 3625 kHz crystal and tuning to the 2nd harmonic, just as
described in the Scrounger article.

7000 7050 7100 7150 7175 7200 7250 7300

EXTRA

ADVANCED
7195

7250

GENERAL

NOVICE
OLD
NOVICE
7025 7125 BAND

MY CRYSTALS VS. DECEMBER 2011 40 METER BAND ALLOCATIONS

February 24, 2012- I am trying CQs at 3725 kHz, which is in the

voice or CW sub-band.

March 17, 2012- First contact was yesterday evening on 7195 kHz.
I was trying BK to a group QSO on SSB, and N5DCG responded and
correctly read back my call sign. I bobbled his call sign (I
thought N5CDG) and was too flustered to operate the key properly.
I tried again a short time later but they thought I was someone
that they know who was trying to annoy them. I resolved the call
sign using FCC on-line database. He is in Longview, Texas, about
1400 miles from here!

Second contact this morning was WJ6CM, Tom in Huntington Beach,

CA (about 40 miles). He had been calling someone else on SSB,
but then graciously responded to my BK by using CW. We had a
short two-way CW QSO. I could copy about 60% of what he sent due
to both of us a little rusty on Morse code.

March 24, 2012- KH6SKY kindly donated a CW sub-band crystal to

me. I received it yesterday afternoon. Last night KJ6LB in Coos
Bay, Oregon answered my CQ on 7037 kHz. That’s 713 miles
according to this site. He reported my RST as 339. His was 239,
lots of QRM and very difficult copy, but I did manage to copy
his QTH and the RST.

I am now all set to work 40M CW with my Scrounger-based ham

station, thanks largely to the inspiration and help from KH6SKY.
 Some QSL Cards from Contacts I made with Scrounger

From 1966-67 QSOs (showing front and back);

From Spring of 2012 and my station as described in this report;

April 20, 2012- Additional Operating Notes

To minimize chirp, I do this; after loading to almost 40 ma

cathode current at the dip, I off-tune the plate tank resonance
to slightly lower frequency (more capacitance). The cathode
current increases very slightly relative to the dip point, but
it is worth it to minimize chirp. Since I started paying
attention to chirp I have been getting T=9 in the RST reports.

The antenna loading procedure using the L-network seems to work

OK, as I expected it should for end feed of a ½ wave wire. The
antenna tuner settings that seem to work well are as follows;

Inductor; ½ turn Clockwise from Counterclockwise Stop

Capacitor; 42 on the dial

My antenna wire is strung from slightly west-southwest (WSW) to

east north-east (ENE?) direction. Below is a map showing the
locations of the first few distant contacts that I have made on
7037 kHz with my station as described in this report. Coos Bay
is 713 miles from my QTH.

NOT THE END

December 3, 2012 More Testing Results

I resoldered a loose connection (the orange wire) on the

excitation control trimmer.

I connected a 15 watt light bulb to the antenna tuner output for

the following tests. This may be the first time that I have
attached a light-bulb dummy load to Scrounger, although I
vaguely recall having possibly done so using a 7.5 watt bulb in
my youth.

I tested my five C-W brand 80-meter band crystals with the dummy
load, and I also explored the effects of the excitation control
trimmer. I used my R-174 receiver to monitor the signal.

I discovered that with 80-meter band crystal I can set the

trimmer such that Scrounger will remain in oscillation
regardless of the setting of the plate tank tuning capacitor.
This behavior is consistent with the original article. I have
never observed it when using my 40-meter crystals. This could
explain why I had to add the 1kW resistor across the #1819
indicator lamp, when the author of the article did not have to
do so (He never said that 40-meter crystals would work in this
circuit). When the circuit drops out of oscillation the plate
plus screen currents rise to about 70 ma which always burns out
the #1819 lamp. See also my 23 July 2011 testing notes.

The 3720 kHz crystal was more finicky than the others, but I was
able to find a trimmer setting for it that also worked OK for
the other four crystals. The trimmer behavior was as follows;

 Increasing the trimmer capacitance causes the crystal

output frequency to decrease, while decreasing capacitance
causes the crystal frequency to increase.

 Decreasing trimmer capacitance causes the RF output power

to increase (dummy load gets brighter, up to a point), but
the 3720 kHz crystal did not like too little trimmer
capacitance (would not stay in oscillation when plate tank
was off-tuned, or would not double to 7440kHz).

After adjustments the antenna tuner coupled enough power to

light up the dummy load to about 1/4 to 1/3 of full brightness.
I compared the brightness to that obtained using step down
transformers, to 30 volts and 46 volts, from the house 120 volt
AC line. The maximum brightness I could get from Scrounger’s RF
output was comparable to the 46 volt case. The 30-volt
brightness was definitely less than I got from Scrounger. I can
only guess at the resistance of the light bulb since it varies
from 85 ohms cold to 960 ohms at 120 volts (15 watt rating). If
we say 400 ohms at 46 volts, then the power output was 5.3 watts,
which sound very reasonable!

I tested all 5 C-W crystals at their 2nd harmonic outputs,

7420kHz, 7440kHz, 7450kHz, 7460kHz, and 7480kHz, which are of
interest for other projects I am planning. They all worked fine
after setting the trimmer properly.
 Appendix A
Thordarson 22S61 Universal Audio Output Transformer

(The Triad # S-62X is identical to this model.)

I used the impedance ratio data for this transformer to

determine the primary-to-secondary turns ratios for the various
secondary tap combinations.

I present the data two ways;

Way 1:
Taps Total Primary To Secondary
2-3 397:1
4-5 125:1
1-2 85:1
1-3 70:1
3-4 56:1
2-4 50:1
3-5 39:1
2-5 35:1
1-4 31:1
1-5 25:1

An easier way is to express tap combinations as fractions of

normalized total (1-5)secondary turns, i.e., taps 1-5 = 1;
1-2 .29
2-3 .06
3-4 .45
4-5 .20
1-5 1.00

For the Scrounger’s Keying Monitor, I ultimately chose pins 4-5

to attach the speaker. The highest volume I tested used pins 2
and 5, which was too loud, except when using a 1.5 volt battery
instead of Scrounger.

The Thordarson factory data sheet for this transformer is in my

Scrounger manila folder. I do not yet have scanned version of
the data sheet.