Hi Ray, hope you are good. 10 years later from you making this video and hardly anything left to listen to on MW, Caroline and BBC Radio Derby are about the only things I pick up regularly. On a clear day I can sometimes hear BBC Radio Wales or Norfolk, the rest are Sports programmes or Asian community stations. Anyway, I’m thinking of getting one of these or something similar, I like the warm sound of AM through an old radio. Really struggle to listen to DAB, perhaps it’s too clean for my ears haha. All the best, 73 Frank.
Hi Frank, I couldn't agree more. There's nothing left on medium wave. The day will come when the band is devoid of stations. What will medium wave be used for? I've no idea. I think you'll be happy with the transmitter. They are nice little units. Cheers, Ray.
In UK it seems they sre allowed 1 full watt, here in USA IS 100 MilliWatts, a tenth that. Commercial units are used by Real Estate agents for "talking house service". The 4 SALE sign in front of house tells peole on street to tune AM radio in car or portable to a frequency, where the jear a short sales speal about the house. Early units used enless cassette tape, vurent units a chip , much like phone sndering machines
Pne variation of this from 1930 to early 50 was were small record players called PHONOGRAPH OCCOLAYERS. Seen today there have a radio dial you set between stations, and then tune your radio to sane #, the sound being played t9 any radio in house.
Hi Ray, I use that exact transmitter myself! I bought it and assembled it from scratch, sure I saved almost £20 just for taking the time to do so. It's a great little unit and isn't too difficult to change the station transmission. Nice to see you're still uploading videos! Regards, Dylan
Thanks so much for this info Ray. Been looking all over for exactly this. As we know "Should Have Gone to Radio Workshop" Still have a lovely old Radio without having to chop and hack at it. With the bonus of you are actually BROADCASTING your own radio station. My 2 neighbors have already subscribed to "Very Very Local Radio" lol, prob just got The Spitfire made illegal by saying that. Thanks again Ray. Big thumbs up.
Many thanks Ray, I've purrchased said unit today and look forward to listening to my Glen Miller albums, Hancock's Half Hours and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Plays.
In the day (70's) Practical Wireless ( I think it was PW ?) showed a circuit of a two transistor (BFY51) crystal control "Top band" TX, which I built for MW and 49 meter band great little circuit, ( I will have to dig it out), I got the rocks from some place on the mainland, they cut them to whatever frequency you wanted, we had loads of fun with those.
Graham hello.God it's been so many years since we both made contact . South Coast radio and Radio Kathy days bring back any memories? Please message me if you get this.73.Ian Harling G7HFS . iankharling@hotmail.com
Hi Ray, can you say more about the audio lead needed. You are using mini stereo jack to 2 din plugs (left and right). Cant seem to find one. Just mini jack to a single Din?. Thanks Ray. Just found your channel and its great. Cheers Jeff.
Ray, That Spitfire AM home transmitter looks to be a decent piece of kit. At present, I’m very slowly building one from scratch using a PCL805, EF85, and a PY33, (heaters in series via an auto transformer) purely because I have an abundance of TV valves. Before I tried an EF85, I tried using an EF91: it had limited success. It transmits okay but its range (using a ten foot 'throw-out' aerial), according to two pals of mine, is almost one mile radius which is, of course, unacceptable but it sounds clear enough. I will get it right. When I do, it will feature in one of my ‘Vintage Radio Extra’ You Tube productions. Me-thinks I shall postpone buying a professionally produced AM transmitter until I have my home brew transmitter working correctly otherwise it will remain on the back burner, so-to-speak, forever. Another great vid my friend, thank you. Phil.
Hi there I was wondering I live on a large farm & get absolutely 0 reception on my tractors radio. I want to buy one of these but with such short range 9ft wire & all. What if I added a longer wire to it would that be possible to tune? Thanks for sharing👍👍Subscribed💛
Hi Ray, I’m really interested in getting one of these for my Roberts transistor radios. Can you tell me how you power them up etc? I have many 60’s Roberts radios and would like to put a few FM/DAB stations through them. What do I need and how do I do it with the Spitfire? All help advice appreciated. Laurence
Hi Ray, thanks for another interesting video. I really hope that analogue radio never switches off, though if it ever does, the analogue pirates would more likely have a fiend day. Years ago, I set up a legal AM radio transmitter. It was legal because the coverage was about three feet and the government vans couldn't fit in between the transmitter and receiver, providing they didn't use matchbox cars. LOL. Love the Goon Show broadcast there. Incidentally, some years ago, someone got caught running a pirate AM transmitter here in Melbourne. They were actually very close to Chadstone shopping centre and were nabbed after only a couple of broadcasts. I never managed to received them here on my equipment, though I only found out about them in the newspaper after they were caught. Anyway, take care. Robert.
Nice little unit Ray! I haven't heard of the "Spitfire" model till now. When I looked into transmitters I chose the SSTRAN AMT-3000. Also, a nice little "kit", kit, (Hi Hi), that is also a great performer. I do expect the same thing with yours that happens with mine. First of all, NO problems with averaged output levels like that can be found in Swing Era music. But... I noticed if I played classical through it the output would drop completely out during very quiet passages in the music. It sure would be interesting if you tried it and compare it with mine. Since they are basically similar in design and theory I suspect it would be true. Before I bought the SSTRAN I built a super simple one out of a 555 timer chip believe it or not. Surprisingly, it worked pretty well. Anyway, enjoy the transmitter! 73s Tom
6v6 offer the ITX Max valve transmitter too, I ordered one of those, based on a 1940's schematic, I foolishly didn't order their 90v/1.5v power supply to substitute the old batteries that used to be available.
It was based on a 1960's design in Popular Electronics, and not the 1940's. The miniature 1.5v valves weren't available then. The design is almost identical apart from the 1:1 bifilar wound oscillator coil. 6v6 changed the design to use 2 sub-miniature chokes placed near each other, which made it worse and full or harmonics. It was never the best design from the start as it modulates the oscillator, which is a big "no-no" regarding AM Mode. Use the extra board with the T50-2 toroidal that comes with the kit to make a 1:1 bifilar oscillator coil, and all the harmonics / sprogs and birdies will disappear. Your need about 80 turns which can be difficult to wind.
@@radioarchives101 Don't mind me, I'm just an amateur with a soldering iron. It's been a while, and I have long since given up on it. You seem most knowledgeable though.
Hi Ray - couldn't you also use an old signal generator with the mp3 player plugged into the external mod socket? - just a thought! Cheers - Kevin GW4WOV
Very nice Ray. Thanks for the tip. I looked at the website and the kit version is a little cheaper. I will be picking one up. By the way as a new member to your radio workshop I am really learning a lot and enjoying the videos and other information very much. 73, Tom k2bew
6:07 they sure know how to miniaturize these valves nowadays :) It's a pity that Medium Wave seems to loose ground among many. Here in the Netherlands some stations already went of the air, and others will follow in the years ahead. www.radiodigi.nl/nieuws/npo-radio-5-stopt-op-middengolf Truly sad... Keep it up and 73!
HOLY COW, sir -- did you see 6v6 sells a tube one, and it even goes for 20 GBP less (provided you have your own power supplies). It even comes with extra coils to experiment with. I've been looking for a a way to cheaply experiment with a bit lower frequencies , ha.
I don't suppsoe you have that Winston churchchill MP3 you made do you still? I just bought a DAC90 and a AM transmitter and would love to get it working with something like that. Regards Ryan
Hi Ryan, I'm afraid not. I lost a lot of MP3 stuff when I changed my PC. Sorry about that. Check the internet, I'm sure I've seen it somewhere. Cheers, Ray.
Wow those things are pricey for only 100mw-1w. If you don't mind only 20-50mw you can get a 1-1.6mhz crystal oscillator for under a dollar. Use an audio transformer in series with the low voltage power supply for modulation. With a heat sink of some sort you may get some of them to run above 100mw.
Not a bad transmitter but the SSTRAN AMT3000 AM Transmitter, though more expensive, I think is worth the extra. I had trouble setting up The Spitfire and the sound was quite distorted at times.... All good fun though! PS.. What kind of camera are you using for your videos? Excellent quality! Cheers Dave
Hi Dave, I haven't tried the SSTRAN, maybe I'll look into it. My camera is a Logitech. Here's the link... www.logitech.com/en-gb/product/hd-pro-webcam-c920?crid=34
I wonder if you could tell me how could I make an AM transmitter that delivers the frequency am looking for, specifically 457 kHz. I don't need to transmit music, just the signal.
Hi Ray - you might want to mention that you can plug these into your smartphone or tablet headset jack, find a station streaming on the web, and bingo - you have your own 'DAB'. I've just bought an FM version to see how well it worked - in case I can't use my beautiful Hacker Sov one day (the Frenchh and Norwegians switched off analogue at New Year). It works superbly, all round my flat!
Radio and all electromagnetic radiation keeps going forever getting weaker by the second. So, the miles your radio signal travels depends on how long it has been since it left the transmitter. 5 Watts or a million will both travel together at about 186 thousand miles each second in empty space but will slow down in passing through something like air or transmission line. K4OF.
They'll never take FM off the air, it's just too effective. Seems a little expensive for a 100mW transmitter, pretty easy to solder something together for less than a tenner!
I hope you're right about FM, it would be terrible to lose it. I think the little TX may be on the expensive side as it uses a PLL and is quite sophisticated.
Garbage. Mine burned out after 1 week. Just another wafer in a box...a two ounce, fussy, overpriced, British, turd. It's sold incomplete, with shoddy, murky directions and no ground wire. Who has time to try to figure out resonance frequencies and Convert British frequencies using division. As soon as you open the box which you have too, to adjust the frequency you're always concerned about a slip of the wrist and ripping off a capacitor or f****** something up. Let's put it this way the electronics in the Box are just as good as those in an old Range Rover. So have at it.
Hi Ray, hope you are good. 10 years later from you making this video and hardly anything left to listen to on MW, Caroline and BBC Radio Derby are about the only things I pick up regularly. On a clear day I can sometimes hear BBC Radio Wales or Norfolk, the rest are Sports programmes or Asian community stations.
Anyway, I’m thinking of getting one of these or something similar, I like the warm sound of AM through an old radio. Really struggle to listen to DAB, perhaps it’s too clean for my ears haha.
All the best, 73 Frank.
Hi Frank, I couldn't agree more. There's nothing left on medium wave. The day will come when the band is devoid of stations. What will medium wave be used for? I've no idea. I think you'll be happy with the transmitter. They are nice little units. Cheers, Ray.
In UK it seems they sre allowed 1 full watt, here in USA IS 100 MilliWatts, a tenth that.
Commercial units are used by Real Estate agents for "talking house service".
The 4 SALE sign in front of house tells peole on street to tune AM radio in car or portable to a frequency, where the jear a short sales speal about the house.
Early units used enless cassette tape, vurent units a chip , much like phone sndering machines
Pne variation of this from 1930 to early 50 was were small record players called PHONOGRAPH OCCOLAYERS. Seen today there have a radio dial you set between stations, and then tune your radio to sane #, the sound being played t9 any radio in house.
Interesting, thanks.
Hi Ray,
I use that exact transmitter myself! I bought it and assembled it from scratch, sure I saved almost £20 just for taking the time to do so. It's a great little unit and isn't too difficult to change the station transmission. Nice to see you're still uploading videos!
Regards,
Dylan
Hi Dylan, nice to hear from you. Thanks for commenting. Cheers, Ray.
Thanks so much for this info Ray. Been looking all over for exactly this. As we know "Should Have Gone to Radio Workshop"
Still have a lovely old Radio without having to chop and hack at it. With the bonus of you are actually BROADCASTING your own radio station.
My 2 neighbors have already subscribed to "Very Very Local Radio" lol, prob just got The Spitfire made illegal by saying that. Thanks again Ray. Big thumbs up.
Excellent! I hope your neighbours are happy!
i am in the usa. i grew up listening to the goon show. loved it . nice little transmitter
allan egleston excellent!
Many thanks Ray, I've purrchased said unit today and look forward to listening to my Glen Miller albums, Hancock's Half Hours and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Plays.
Ah, great stuff! That takes me back! Cheers, Ray.
In the day (70's) Practical Wireless ( I think it was PW ?) showed a circuit of a two transistor (BFY51) crystal control "Top band" TX, which I built for MW and 49 meter band great little circuit, ( I will have to dig it out), I got the rocks from some place on the mainland, they cut them to whatever frequency you wanted, we had loads of fun with those.
Hi Graham, thanks for that. I'll try to find the relevant PW. Cheers, Ray.
Graham hello.God it's been so many years since we both made contact . South Coast radio and Radio Kathy days bring back any memories? Please message me if you get this.73.Ian Harling G7HFS . iankharling@hotmail.com
Hi Ray, can you say more about the audio lead needed. You are using mini stereo jack to 2 din plugs (left and right). Cant seem to find one. Just mini jack to a single Din?. Thanks Ray. Just found your channel and its great. Cheers Jeff.
Ray,
That Spitfire AM home transmitter looks to be a decent piece of kit. At present, I’m very slowly building one from scratch using a PCL805, EF85, and a PY33, (heaters in series via an auto transformer) purely because I have an abundance of TV valves. Before I tried an EF85, I tried using an EF91: it had limited success. It transmits okay but its range (using a ten foot 'throw-out' aerial), according to two pals of mine, is almost one mile radius which is, of course, unacceptable but it sounds clear enough. I will get it right. When I do, it will feature in one of my ‘Vintage Radio Extra’ You Tube productions.
Me-thinks I shall postpone buying a professionally produced AM transmitter until I have my home brew transmitter working correctly otherwise it will remain on the back burner, so-to-speak, forever.
Another great vid my friend, thank you.
Phil.
Nice on, Phil. Let me know how you get on. Cheers, Ray.
Hi there I was wondering I live on a large farm & get absolutely 0 reception on my tractors radio. I want to buy one of these but with such short range 9ft wire & all. What if I added a longer wire to it would that be possible to tune?
Thanks for sharing👍👍Subscribed💛
Miguel Salami it might work on a long wire but the transmitter is very low power. You probably won’t get brilliant reception.
That depends on several factors. But you would certainly need 100 Watts.
Hi Ray, I’m really interested in getting one of these for my Roberts transistor radios. Can you tell me how you power them up etc? I have many 60’s Roberts radios and would like to put a few FM/DAB stations through them. What do I need and how do I do it with the Spitfire? All help advice appreciated. Laurence
Hi Laurence, they are great little transmitters. All the info is here... www.6v6.co.uk/transmitters/spitfire-am-solid-state-transmitter-uk.html
@@g4nsj thanks so much Ray, great stuff.
May I just ask what that vintage radio is on your desk there? Laurence
Hi Ray, thanks for another interesting video. I really hope that analogue radio never switches off, though if it ever does, the analogue pirates would more likely have a fiend day. Years ago, I set up a legal AM radio transmitter. It was legal because the coverage was about three feet and the government vans couldn't fit in between the transmitter and receiver, providing they didn't use matchbox cars. LOL. Love the Goon Show broadcast there. Incidentally, some years ago, someone got caught running a pirate AM transmitter here in Melbourne. They were actually very close to Chadstone shopping centre and were nabbed after only a couple of broadcasts. I never managed to received them here on my equipment, though I only found out about them in the newspaper after they were caught. Anyway, take care. Robert.
Hi Ray, love your content, how exactly would you attach a linear to this piece of equipment? (I’m new to the world of Linear amps)
Sorry Ray forget that. Just had a proper look and its 2 phonos. And it comes with the kit by the looks of it.
Sherlock Holmes listening on multi band Cambridge England. Superb video
It would have to be a small transistor linear, not sure how it could be done.
Nice little unit Ray! I haven't heard of the "Spitfire" model till now.
When I looked into transmitters I chose the SSTRAN AMT-3000. Also, a nice little "kit", kit, (Hi Hi), that is also a great performer.
I do expect the same thing with yours that happens with mine. First of all, NO problems with averaged output levels like that can be found in Swing Era music. But... I noticed if I played classical through it the output would drop completely out during very quiet passages in the music.
It sure would be interesting if you tried it and compare it with mine. Since they are basically similar in design and theory I suspect it would be true.
Before I bought the SSTRAN I built a super simple one out of a 555 timer chip believe it or not. Surprisingly, it worked pretty well.
Anyway, enjoy the transmitter!
73s
Tom
Hi Tom, a comparison would be interesting. I haven't really used mine a great deal, I'll have to carry out further tests on it. Cheers, Ray.
6v6 offer the ITX Max valve transmitter too, I ordered one of those, based on a 1940's schematic, I foolishly didn't order their 90v/1.5v power supply to substitute the old batteries that used to be available.
It was based on a 1960's design in Popular Electronics, and not the 1940's. The miniature 1.5v valves weren't available then. The design is almost identical apart from the 1:1 bifilar wound oscillator coil. 6v6 changed the design to use 2 sub-miniature chokes placed near each other, which made it worse and full or harmonics.
It was never the best design from the start as it modulates the oscillator, which is a big "no-no" regarding AM Mode.
Use the extra board with the T50-2 toroidal that comes with the kit to make a 1:1 bifilar oscillator coil, and all the harmonics / sprogs and birdies will disappear. Your need about 80 turns which can be difficult to wind.
@@radioarchives101 Don't mind me, I'm just an amateur with a soldering iron. It's been a while, and I have long since given up on it. You seem most knowledgeable though.
Hi Ray - couldn't you also use an old signal generator with the mp3 player plugged into the external mod socket? - just a thought!
Cheers - Kevin GW4WOV
Yes indeed, Kevin. That works well, although the audio doesn't sound too good.
Very nice Ray.
Thanks for the tip. I looked at the website and the kit version is a little cheaper. I will be picking one up.
By the way as a new member to your radio workshop I am really learning a lot and enjoying the videos and other information very much.
73, Tom k2bew
Hi Tom, glad you like the videos. Let me know how you get on with the Spitfire. Cheers, Ray.
6:07 they sure know how to miniaturize these valves nowadays :)
It's a pity that Medium Wave seems to loose ground among many. Here in the Netherlands some stations already went of the air, and others will follow in the years ahead. www.radiodigi.nl/nieuws/npo-radio-5-stopt-op-middengolf
Truly sad...
Keep it up and 73!
HOLY COW, sir -- did you see 6v6 sells a tube one, and it even goes for 20 GBP less (provided you have your own power supplies). It even comes with extra coils to experiment with. I've been looking for a a way to cheaply experiment with a bit lower frequencies , ha.
Nice one, I'll take a look at 6V6. Thanks, Ray.
Great video, thank you for sharing.
I don't suppsoe you have that Winston churchchill MP3 you made do you still? I just bought a DAC90 and a AM transmitter and would love to get it working with something like that. Regards Ryan
Hi Ryan,
I'm afraid not. I lost a lot of MP3 stuff when I changed my PC. Sorry about that. Check the internet, I'm sure I've seen it somewhere.
Cheers,
Ray.
Wow those things are pricey for only 100mw-1w. If you don't mind only 20-50mw you can get a 1-1.6mhz crystal oscillator for under a dollar. Use an audio transformer in series with the low voltage power supply for modulation. With a heat sink of some sort you may get some of them to run above 100mw.
Excellent, thanks for that! Cheers,. Ray.
Do you have any suggestions on cheap am radio transmitters>? Hopefully over 1watt?
Wasting your time and money with AM. Just get a much better FM.
+Kandi Klover (Fursuiter Furry) The AM transmitter is for 1940s vintage radios which don't have FM.
great video
Not a bad transmitter but the SSTRAN AMT3000 AM Transmitter, though more expensive, I think is worth the extra. I had trouble setting up The Spitfire and the sound was quite distorted at times.... All good fun though! PS.. What kind of camera are you using for your videos? Excellent quality! Cheers Dave
Hi Dave, I haven't tried the SSTRAN, maybe I'll look into it. My camera is a Logitech. Here's the link... www.logitech.com/en-gb/product/hd-pro-webcam-c920?crid=34
I wonder if you could tell me how could I make an AM transmitter that delivers the frequency am looking for, specifically 457 kHz. I don't need to transmit music, just the signal.
Hi, I'm afraid I no longer have circuits or info on transmitters. Have a look around the internet, there should be something there. Cheers, Ray.
Hi Ray - you might want to mention that you can plug these into your smartphone or tablet headset jack, find a station streaming on the web, and bingo - you have your own 'DAB'. I've just bought an FM version to see how well it worked - in case I can't use my beautiful Hacker Sov one day (the Frenchh and Norwegians switched off analogue at New Year). It works superbly, all round my flat!
hi Richard, yes that's a good point. Thanks for pointing it out, I'll mention it on my next video. Cheers, Ray.
That really is great.
what is radio broadcasting like in uk ? is it private or state owned stations on am what is the power they use and do they use directional antennas?
Hi Ed, it's all private apart from the BBC. Local stations use vertical, omnidirectional aerials with 1kW or so on the AM band.
Radio and all electromagnetic radiation keeps going forever getting weaker by the second. So, the miles your radio signal travels
depends on how long it has been since it left the transmitter. 5 Watts or a million will both travel together at about 186 thousand
miles each second in empty space but will slow down in passing through something like air or transmission line.
K4OF.
which one Ray? They have a few listed- www.6v6.co.uk/cp/scripts/prodList.asp
It's the 9kHz one. Here is the link ... www.6v6.co.uk/cp/scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=433
how many miles do you think it can cover? thank you
JuggledaJungle Only a few hundred yards with a decent aerial, if you're lucky.
They'll never take FM off the air, it's just too effective. Seems a little expensive for a 100mW transmitter, pretty easy to solder something together for less than a tenner!
I hope you're right about FM, it would be terrible to lose it. I think the little TX may be on the expensive side as it uses a PLL and is quite sophisticated.
PLL seems a little too much as the receiver itself is going to have plenty of drift, potentiometer and a varactor always does the job for me.
FM or AM??? I think you meant AM....??
Ah yes, quite right. Thanks.
Garbage. Mine burned out after 1 week. Just another wafer in a box...a two ounce, fussy, overpriced, British, turd. It's sold incomplete, with shoddy, murky directions and no ground wire. Who has time to try to figure out resonance frequencies and Convert British frequencies using division. As soon as you open the box which you have too, to adjust the frequency you're always concerned about a slip of the wrist and ripping off a capacitor or f****** something up. Let's put it this way the electronics in the Box are just as good as those in an old Range Rover. So have at it.
Your command of English is also garbage. Using too instead of to!