The 1956 Regency ATC-1 converter heralded the dawn of a new era for amateur radio. The little converter had only two transistors - one PNP, one NPN, both germanium, both now long obsolete - but they were the start of a revolution. Amateurs responding to the Regency advertisement in the August 1956 issue of CQ Magazine thought they were merely bu
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ying a novel mobile converter. In truth, for $79. 50, they were buying a seminal piece of ham radio history. Regency Electronics was the brainchild of former RCA employees, Joe Weaver and John Pies. The parent company, Industrial Development Engineering Associates (I. D. E. A), was incorporated in 1947, the same year Bell Labs scientists Shockley, Bardeen and Brattain invented the transistor. In October, 1954, Regency brought to market the world`s first transistor radio, the TR-1, and less than two years later, the world`s first transistor amateur product, the ATC-1 converter. Unbeknownst to all, this inauspicious little device signaled for amateur radio the beginning of the end of the vacuum tube`s long and glorious reign. The ATC-1 was intended to fill a niche market for mobile operators. When Regency introduced its new converter in 1956, most hams used dedicated receivers in their vehicles, the Multi-Elmac PMR-7, the Morrow MBR-5, and the Gonset G-66 being popular mobile receivers of the day. Other companies` mobile HF converters, such as the Gonset "tri-band Converter" had never been big sellers, primarily because their vacuum tube designs offered little space savings over full-blown receivers. Furthermore, like all mobile receivers, vacuum tube converters required an external power supply. Regency obviously hoped that the diminuative, battery-powered ATC-1 would reverse this record. Powered by three AA penlight cells,...
This project fits more for custom made battery casing that can have more space to hide things inside. This switch with few alterations can be used for any other project as well but is designed based on e-bike needs! This project use a clever functionality of....
The circuit described here uses ultrasonic oscillations and operates based on the propagation velocity of these oscillations in the air. Thus, we can easily determine the distance of two points if the time within which the wave travels this distance is....
Sometimes the precious metals are hidden too deep and are not detected except with complicated devices. In many cases, however, small pieces of precious metal buried near the surface can be detected by relatively simple means. Everyone is very attractive to....
Many times for various reasons we forget or can not water the plants that we have in our homes. And many humidity sensors units just notify us with a beeping sound or with a flashing light, that the pot needs watering. But what if we are away from home? This....
The principle behind a metal detector is really very simple. Proof of this is the circuit that follows, in which it proves that the construction of a metal detector can be done in the minute, with few components that we find very easily everywhere. With the....
The sub-harmonic bass generator is a sound producing unit for guitars. The sound it produces looks very much like that of the bass guitar. The octave generator is sometimes quite unusual since it does not produce any of the usual ways of coloring the sound,....
In the past the sounding (sea bottom measurement) was done with the "bullet", that is, with a heavy lead object that the seamen plucked into the sea hung from a calibrated rope. As soon as the "bullet" reached the bottom, the depth appeared directly from the....
This Amplifier was designed to have the following specifications: Distortion less than 0.1% at full power of 100W even at 20KHz. Power has to be attributed to an extended bandwidth. The output transistors must be protected against short circuits. The power....
A series of LEDs serve to alert the gardener when plants need water. Using two conventional digital integrated LEDs and a series of LEDs, we make a very useful device for gardening. The device detects the amount of water in the pot and alerts the grower.....
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