INTRODUCTION
The thermionic radio valve has been out of common use for more than two decades now,
having been almost totally superseded by the transistor.
During my schooldays during the 1950s, I, together with many friends was obsessed with
building wireless sets from parts either given to me or salvaged from old sets obtained
from jumble sales. So obsessed, in fact, that I took it up as a career, serving as radio
officer in the Merchant Navy between the years 1960 and 1992. During those years, I saw
the use of the valve diminish as transistors and integrated circuits rapidly took over.
Working in professional radio, my interest in it as a hobby gradually diminished and even
disappeared over the years.
After I left the sea, I concentrated on my alternative hobby of building model ships. My
old interest in wireless was re-awakened about a year ago when the editor of a well-known
radio magazine asked me to write an article updating a circuit that I had written about
ten years previously. I did this, and found that the “old magic” was still
there.
Perusing various wireless magazines and internet sites it quickly became apparent that the
valve is once again becoming popular amongst home-constructers who are looking for
“something different.” A lot of old articles are being reprinted and the letters
pages are full of comments about valves and requests for further articles.
Experiences with book publishers over the years ruled out writing a conventional book and
I find article writing too tedious. There can be lengthy delays (sometimes years) between
having an article accepted and actually seeing it in print. I therefore decided to by-pass
all normal publication channels and produce my own book on a CD disk which would run on
the Microsoft Word, word processing programme. The advantage of the CD disk is that the
memory capacity is so large that they can easily accommodate as much text and as many
photographs or illustrations as one feels inclined to put on them. The appearance of the
digital camera also solved the problem of illustrations. I have never been a very good
artist or draughtsman, but I find that I can produce very professional looking circuits
and drawings on my PC without having to use any complicated programmes.
This CD is mainly aimed at the beginner to valve construction. I have gone down to the
very basics, keeping theory down to an absolute minimum. The accent is on safety and
pleasure in the construction. No dangerous voltages have been used and no harm can come to
you as far as the electronics are concerned!
More importantly, I have adopted a different approach to the projects themselves. I have
combined model making with electronic techniques so that as well as working, they also
present a neat and impressive finish. For the most part, I have used modern components.
The main exceptions, of course, being the valves. I believe that these small radio sets
are like nothing else you have seen before in this field.
Finally, I have limited myself to single valve circuits to begin with. Should this disk
prove popular, I will have room to expand to two, three and four valve circuits as well as
more ambitious projects such as superhets.
Although the page numbers are consecutive throughout, each chapter is complete in itself
and the Fig. Numbers of each chapter begin at Fig. 1. Because of this, you only need to
print out the project you are currently working on. In case you wish to print the whole
disk, I have split it up into sections so that it does not become too tedious.
Robert A. Wilson F.R.S.A.
Preston
November 2004
Sample page at much reduced size and quality