31:
800:
256:
197:
322:
343:
371:
378:"Glowbug" is a term used by US amateurs to describe a simple home-made tube-type radio set, reminiscent of the shortwave radio-building craze of the 1920s and 30s. Generally, any small, home-built tube-type transmitter or receiver may be referred to as a glowbug. The majority of glowbug transmitters are designed to be used in the
280:
Magazine announced a ‘‘$ 1000 Cash Prize ‘Home Brew’ Contest’’ and called independently-built equipment ‘‘the type of gear which has helped to make amateur radio our greatest reservoir of technical proficiency.’’ The magazine tried to steer hams back into building by sponsoring such competitions and
246:
slang term for home-built, noncommercial radio equipment. Design and construction of equipment from first principles is valued by amateur radio hobbyists, known as "hams", for educational value, and to allow experimentation and development of techniques or levels of performance not readily available
353:
are ham radio enthusiasts known to use a power output of five watts, sometimes operating with as little as 100 milliwatts or even less. Extremely low power—one watt and below—is often referred to by hobbyists as QRPp. Commercial transceivers designed to operate at or near-QRP power levels have been
329:
Homebrewing differs from kit-building in that "homebrew" connotes the process of constructing equipment using parts and designs gathered from varied and often improvised sources. Even the most skilled homebrewer may not have time or resources to build the equivalent of modern commercially made
330:
amateur radio gear from scratch, as the commercial units contain custom integrated circuits, custom cabinets, and are the result of multiple prototypes and exhaustive testing. However, constructing one's own equipment using relatively simple designs and easily obtainable or
392:
enthusiasts and others with a penchant for constructing their own equipment. Enthusiasts may assemble glowbugs on steel chassis, tin cakepans, and wooden boards. Glowbug enthusiasts can often be heard communicating on the shortwave bands via CW using
285:
editorial opined that if ham radio lost status as a technical activity, it might also lose the privilege of operating on the public airwaves, saying, ‘‘As our ranks of home constructors thin we also fall to a lower technical level as a group’’.
263:
In the early years of amateur radio, long before factory-built gear was easily available, hams built their own transmitting and receiving equipment, known as homebrewing. In the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, hams handcrafted reasonable-quality
272:
bands (1.8 to 30 MHz). After WWII ended, surplus material (transmitters/receivers, etc.), was readily available, providing previously unavailable material at costs low enough for amateur experimental use.
1070:
312:
Today, only a minority of hams own and operate completely homebrew or kit-built amateur stations. However, there are many new ham radio kit suppliers, and the "art" of homebrewing is alive and thriving.
334:
electronic components is still possible. Homebrew enthusiasts say that building one's own radio equipment is fun and gives them the satisfaction that comes from mastering electronic knowledge.
354:
available for many years, but some QRPers prefer to design and build their own equipment, either from kits or from scratch. Some have built miniature transmitters and transceivers into
1075:
565:
268:-based transmitters and receivers which were often housed in their basements, and it was common for a well-built "homebrew rig" to cover all the
741:
388:
As late as the 1960s, glowbugs were part of many beginner ham stations because of their simple, tube-based designs. Glowbugs are popular among
30:
362:
K2, KX1, and now KX3 and those produced by NorCal, Small Wonder Labs, and others. QRP activity can often be heard on 7.030 MHz.
226:
769:
84:
880:
839:
682:
590:
543:
526:
484:
885:
281:
by publishing more construction plans, saying that homebrewing imparted a powerful technical mastery to hams. In 1958, a
89:
1135:
734:
139:
1044:
875:
49:
1035:
943:
764:
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69:
606:
1110:
1105:
1030:
415:
159:
114:
895:
890:
824:
727:
476:
The ARRL Ham Radio
License Manual: All You Need to Become an Amateur Radio Operator. Technician]. Level 1
129:
119:
995:
247:
as commercial products. Some items can be home-brewed at similar or lower cost than purchased equivalents.
44:
219:
938:
814:
306:
54:
1125:
672:
474:
154:
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mode. A number of radio amateurs also build their own tube receivers and AM voice transmitters.
1182:
1161:
1120:
819:
212:
200:
59:
1100:
859:
784:
425:
184:
174:
169:
104:
99:
1080:
974:
948:
933:
923:
298:
255:
8:
437:
289:
In the 1950s and 60s, some hams turned to constructing their stations from kits sold by
1055:
969:
900:
302:
179:
799:
678:
586:
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522:
480:
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74:
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990:
580:
501:
382:
379:
269:
39:
1176:
1130:
1115:
1060:
1025:
750:
607:"CRYSTAL SETS TO SIDEBAND, HOME-BUILDING AMATEUR RADIO EQUIPMENT - CHAPTER 2"
420:
410:
389:
350:
243:
144:
22:
1040:
134:
358:
boxes and operate using battery power. Popular QRP kit models include the
829:
276:
Homebrewing was often encouraged by amateur radio publications. In 1950,
265:
79:
854:
774:
394:
124:
64:
397:. Simple oscillators for this frequency can be built with common NTSC
617:
598:
458:
1015:
928:
844:
700:"Vacuum Tubes & HAM Radio: Glowing Bottles of Vintage Homebrew"
550:. The National Association for Amateur Radio (ARRL). Archived from
359:
331:
290:
149:
834:
355:
164:
94:
719:
1156:
1050:
1010:
1005:
849:
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The Radio
Amateur's Workshop: Your DIY Gude for Ham Homebrewing
1000:
779:
699:
321:
294:
674:
342:
1020:
541:
401:
oscillator crystals, which operate at 3.5795 MHz.
370:
548:
Construction -- Kits, Homebrew and Other QRP Projects"
670:
1174:
643:"How Low Can You Go? The World Of QRP Operation"
365:
578:
542:Anthony A. Luscre (K8ZT) (December 27, 2002).
516:
472:
735:
677:. American Radio Relay League. pp. 11–.
220:
666:
664:
479:. American Radio Relay League. pp. 1–.
468:
466:
564:: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (
742:
728:
259:Early "homebrew" amateur radio transmitter
227:
213:
661:
572:
499:
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34:The International Symbol of Amateur Radio
369:
341:
325:Workbench of "homebrew" enthusiast K6ESE
320:
254:
640:
634:
1175:
697:
374:Glowbug transmitter hand built by AI2Q
881:International Telecommunication Union
723:
671:Richard H. Arland (16 August 2007).
13:
604:
29:
16:Amateur radio home-built equipment
14:
1194:
876:International Amateur Radio Union
749:
431:
50:Automatic Packet Reporting System
798:
196:
195:
691:
503:CQ; the Radio Amateur's Journal
337:
891:ITU prefixes for amateur radio
535:
510:
506:, vol. 21 (7-12 ed.)
493:
452:
416:Boat anchor (computer science)
115:Internet Radio Linking Project
1:
641:Maloney, Dan (8 March 2016).
519:Ham radio's technical culture
459:Radio Terms and Abbreviations
366:Homebrewing with vacuum tubes
316:
45:Automatic Link Establishment
7:
404:
10:
1199:
440:The Open Directory Project
346:hand-built QRP transceiver
250:
1144:
1093:
983:
962:
916:
909:
868:
807:
796:
757:
303:Allied Radio's Knight-Kit
770:Emergency communications
614:CRYSTAL SETS TO SIDEBAND
446:
438:Amateur Radio Homebrew,
307:World Radio Laboratories
85:Emergency communications
840:International operation
579:Joel R. Hallas (2015),
517:Kristen Haring (2007).
473:H. Ward Silver (2006).
1162:Amateur radio in India
1106:Amateur radio software
910:Modes of communication
820:Amateur radio operator
375:
347:
326:
260:
170:Special event stations
60:Amateur radio operator
35:
1101:Amateur radio station
886:Frequency allocations
860:Vintage amateur radio
785:High-speed telegraphy
426:Vintage amateur radio
373:
345:
324:
309:and other suppliers.
258:
105:High-speed telegraphy
100:High speed multimedia
90:Frequency allocations
33:
698:Nechaevsky, Andy.
500:Walter G. (1965),
376:
348:
327:
261:
140:Portable operation
36:
1170:
1169:
1089:
1088:
684:978-0-87259-104-2
605:Harris, Frank W.
592:978-1-62595-048-2
528:978-0-262-08355-3
486:978-0-87259-963-5
237:
236:
70:Direction finding
1190:
914:
913:
802:
780:DX communication
744:
737:
730:
721:
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710:
695:
689:
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659:
658:
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638:
632:
631:
629:
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616:. Archived from
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602:
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563:
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539:
533:
532:
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508:
507:
497:
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461:
456:
278:CQ Amateur Radio
229:
222:
215:
199:
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130:Operating awards
75:DX communication
19:
18:
1198:
1197:
1193:
1192:
1191:
1189:
1188:
1187:
1173:
1172:
1171:
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1152:Shortwave radio
1140:
1085:
1066:Spread spectrum
979:
958:
905:
896:Maritime mobile
864:
803:
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748:
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498:
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487:
471:
464:
457:
453:
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407:
383:radiotelegraphy
368:
340:
319:
253:
233:
120:Maritime mobile
17:
12:
11:
5:
1196:
1186:
1185:
1168:
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1123:
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1073:
1068:
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1028:
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985:
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978:
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746:
739:
732:
724:
717:
716:
690:
683:
660:
633:
597:
591:
571:
554:on 2003-01-14.
546:QRP Community:
534:
527:
509:
492:
485:
462:
450:
448:
445:
444:
443:
433:
432:External links
430:
429:
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403:
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339:
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318:
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270:high frequency
252:
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224:
217:
209:
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185:Vintage radios
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40:Antenna theory
26:
25:
15:
9:
6:
4:
3:
2:
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1184:
1183:Amateur radio
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1131:Two-way radio
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1026:Hellschreiber
1024:
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1002:
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766:
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751:Amateur radio
745:
740:
738:
733:
731:
726:
725:
722:
705:
704:Glowbugs Info
701:
694:
686:
680:
676:
675:
667:
665:
648:
644:
637:
623:on 2007-09-27
619:
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460:
455:
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436:
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427:
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417:
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411:Amateur radio
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244:amateur radio
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145:QRP operation
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38:
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32:
28:
27:
24:
23:Amateur radio
21:
20:
1136:Transceivers
1094:Technologies
1041:Packet radio
984:Data/Digital
789:
707:. Retrieved
703:
693:
673:
651:. Retrieved
647:hackaday.com
646:
636:
625:. Retrieved
618:the original
613:
600:
581:
574:
552:the original
545:
537:
518:
512:
502:
495:
475:
454:
439:
387:
377:
349:
338:QRP homebrew
328:
311:
288:
275:
262:
239:
238:
135:Packet radio
109:
830:DX-pedition
790:Homebrewing
399:color burst
266:vacuum tube
80:DX-pedition
963:Television
869:Governance
855:Radiosport
775:Contesting
758:Activities
709:25 January
653:16 October
649:. Hackaday
627:2007-11-25
395:Morse code
299:EF Johnson
180:Television
155:Satellites
125:Morse code
65:Contesting
55:Call signs
1126:Satellite
901:Licensing
317:Practices
1177:Category
1016:EchoLink
845:QSL card
585:, ARRL,
560:cite web
405:See also
360:Elecraft
332:junk box
291:Heathkit
240:Homebrew
201:Category
175:Stations
160:Software
150:QSL card
110:Homebrew
1145:Related
1076:WIRES-X
835:Hamfest
815:History
808:Culture
356:Altoids
251:History
165:Skywarn
95:Hamfest
1157:Q code
1051:PACTOR
1011:DAPNET
1006:D-STAR
929:DSB-SC
850:Q code
825:Awards
681:
589:
525:
483:
351:QRPers
242:is an
1001:AMTOR
917:Voice
621:(PDF)
610:(PDF)
447:Notes
1111:IRLP
1071:C4FM
1061:RTTY
1045:APRS
1036:MFSK
975:SSTV
765:ARDF
711:2020
679:ISBN
655:2019
587:ISBN
566:link
523:ISBN
481:ISBN
295:Eico
1121:SDR
1116:QRP
1081:DMR
1056:PSK
1031:DMT
1021:FT8
996:ALE
970:ATV
944:AME
939:SSB
934:ISB
421:QRP
390:QRP
1179::
991:CW
954:PM
949:FM
924:AM
702:.
663:^
645:.
612:.
562:}}
558:{{
521:.
465:^
380:CW
305:,
301:,
297:,
293:,
283:CQ
1047:)
1043:(
743:e
736:t
729:v
713:.
687:.
657:.
630:.
568:)
544:"
531:.
489:.
228:e
221:t
214:v
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
