Lance Borden "Armstrong one tube Regenerative Receiver"
 

       Analog Dial             Page 1         Page 2           

 
Borden Radio
This is an assembled regenerative AM broadcast band receiver kit, developed and sold by  Lance Borden.
 It uses a 3S4 vacuum tube and requires a long wire antenna and ground connection to operate.

 
Electronics Handbook 1996
This radio was featured on the cover of Electronics Handbook in 1996. Download it here.

 
Matt Knoebel
Matt Knoebel assembling the radio in August of 2012.
 
Armstrong regen
Parts are mounted, now about to wire up the set.
Matt Knoebel
Construction took about 4 hours, including winding the coil.

 

An inexpensive 45 volt battery. These are from a "dollar store." At the time this was built, 9V batteries were two for a dollar. There is no reason to use alkaline batteries as the current draw on the battery pack is very low.

 
The batteries are connected like this.
Cover the top with tape to avoid a short circuit, and make sure the two exposed wire ends don't touch each other.
 

 
Borden Radio Kit

This was Matt's first radio. He got no help, other than some assistance interpreting the wiring diagram. Yours truly supplied  the 45 volt battery and a pair of high impedance headphones.


 
Lance Borden Radio

The radio worked the first time it was turned on. As a matter of fact, I would rate this little set as EXCELLENT! Local stations are easy to tune and come in loudly. (Our local station, KYW 1060 is TOO loud.) The regeneration control is smooth and noise free, though it can break into oscillation suddenly at higher frequencies.

Listening at night, if you disconnect the ground wire you can pick up many distant stations and even shortwave. I was able to copy an amateur radio operator using Single Side Band by carefully adjusting the regeneration control.


 
Here's a video of the set in operation.

 
No coil
The radio under de-construction. The coil has been removed!

In spite of the set working so well, in the above photo the coil has been removed and is about to be rewound.
Why? See the next page!


 
  Next