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Knight Kit LW AM SW Radio from 1960s

I built this radio in 1963 or 64 when I was in high school. The Knight Kit Star Roamer was a 4 tube radio with a solid state rectifier if I remember correctly. It was an "OK" radio for $40 but had fairly low grade performance (no front end to speak of) like most radios in that price range. Still, it opened the short-wave radio world to me. LW was rather "deaf", but I did hear a few navigational stations with it. It was the first kit I ever built and it worked the first time I fired it up. I sold mine at the Dayton Hamvention years ago but still see them offered at flea markets from time-to-time.
 
I'll tell my friend who actually is able to travel to Dayton, etc. to keep an eye out for one. What are they selling for these days?

What were the 4 tubes? A 50C5 and a 12BA6, 12BE6, and 12AV6 only add up to 86 volts, so that can't be it.

There was a Heathkit out about the same time that looked similar. The MW AM BC band only went up to 1550 kHz on that, and at least this one apparently went to 1800 kHz.

It would have been nice if it had a BFO.
 
radioman148 said:
Schroedingers Cat said:
Anyone ever have this radio? I always liked the styling for that era, but I suspect there were better radios and kits. Really like the S Meter though.

http://www.mequonsteve.com/knight-kit/1966-94-95.jpg
[/quote

Those old Knight/Allied radio catalogues were great. Are they posted online somewhere?
Click to expand...

I searched for Knight Kit LW AM SW or something like that and it came up.

I don't think David has them online, at least not yet.

I found the Heathkit also. All the eBay ones were damaged. Looks like the Panasonic RF 2200s are in beter shape, though they often far exceed retail at the time.

I'd like to get an RF 2200 but never know what to expect. I've seen very scary things online done to these in the guise of repairing them.
Click to expand...
 
I had one of these. Don't remember what happened to it.

It's got a power transformer, so the tube heaters are in parallel & operate at 6.3 volts.

It does have a BFO, kinda. The sensitivity control can be adjusted to cause the IF amplifier to go into regeneration; dial in enough regen & it goes into oscillation. I doubt you could use it for SSB or Morse signals anywhere above 4MHz, if that.

There's a jack on the back for a code key. It's in series with the speaker. ISTR the idea was to tune in an AM broadcast station, dial in enough feedback to get a heterodyne with the AM carrier, and use the Morse key to key the beat note on & off for sending practice.
 
The Heathkit I remember was the GR-54 or GR-64. It did have a BFO and LSB/USB switch.

Strangely enough, the Remco Caravelle DID have a code practice oscillator and key. As I recall, it was around 1000 Hz in the transmit position and 500 Hz in the receive position. And if you turned the volume up, it did oscillate at RF in the receive position, but I think that was a design flaw. Since it only intentionally tuned the AM BCB, there was no CW or SSB to try it with. When WWV's transmitting facility was in Beltsville, you could occasionally hear WWV on the Caravelle.
 
Interesting to see the resurgence of interest in the Star Roamer. Last month I dug mine out of its box in the attic and brought it up to the lake to fool around with. Mine is unmodified and I have the manual for it, too. I remember drooling over this set in the Allied catalog "back in the day" (still have all of those catalogs btw) but unfortunately back then I couldn't afford it. Later on I would get an R-55 (and wish for an R-100)! They were all terrible receivers by today's (and even yesterday's) standards, but they worked. Anyway, my Star Roamer came to life after a hiatus of some 20 odd years but the sensitivity is way down. After it had been on some time it improved. I suspect bad capacitors. The first thing I am going to do is go through it in replace all the lytics, for the second time. The first time the quad-section unit was replaced by a 3-section and a standalone; this time I think it will be all separate units. These old sets are kinda fun to rekindle memories, although they will try your patience to receive anything but the strongest of AM signals. P.S. I miss my Span Master too!
 
Only one of my Allied Annual Consumer Catalogs survived my family's spring cleaning when I was young. I have a few Radio Shack fliers and possibly a Heathkit Catalog that may qualify as antiques.
 
A lot of that information is actually in the picture, but was illegible at the size that it was displayed when the link was clicked. It is a quite high resolution picture at full size. The tube complement and the BFO are discussed. With no USB/LSB switch, it was still limited for CW and SSB. Did the similar Heathkits have a better front end?

I see that Heath got back into kits just last year, but is now defunct. That is sad to hear. I thought they were gone years ago though.
 
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