Homebrew Two-Tube Transmitter

I have long wanted to homebrew a station, starting with a transmitter-receiver pair. As a teenager I would stare at the pages of my the 1958 ARRL handbook, "lent" to me by my grandfather, N5DCG. (I never gave it back!) I had neither the components nor the expertise to complete any of those projects at the time, but it did encourage me to experiment with vacuum tubes with varying amounts of success.

Many years later, and after restoring my grandfather's Globe Scout, I had learned enough to try building a transmitter from scratch. I resolved that the classic 6AG7/6L6 pair stood a high chance of success with stable and sufficient output RF power. I started consciously collecting parts sometime in 2020, making note of good parts choices. In the next year or two I also obtained a few completely unused chassis. But it wasn't until 2023 when I was given a few junk donations consisting of transformers, partially used chassis, over 500 vacuum tubes, and many other parts that I felt sufficient confidence to build a transmitter. Or maybe I was motivated by the fear I'd be embarassed to have nothing to show for all these parts? It also helped that I had made a New Year's resolution to finish the project in 2023, and thus I started, with hardly a week to spare for New Year's 2024!

With all the parts in my garage, I resolved to build it with the readily available materials, following this schematic:
WB4WHH 6AG7/6L6 project

With great pleasure I participated in Straight Key Night with this transmitter, having several long ragchews.

Here's the completed transmitter:

The 400V DC power supply.

The initial power supply.

Created 5 January 2024
Edited 5 May 2024
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