Homebrew
The last two projects I built, or rebuilt, were somewhat unnecessary. Unnecessary in that I did not really need the equipment the project produced. So why did I do it.
I guess because I wanted to put the parts to use. At least put them together as a piece of equipment so that they had a chance of being used.
The first project was a duplication of the Heathkit DX-20 transmitter.
It was not an exact duplication. This one has a neutralized final amplifier and is considerably smaller than the transmitter that inspired it.
It has about 30 watts of power and self contained power supply. Works off standard 120vac house current. CW only and best on 80, 40, and 20 meters. Crystal controlled.
It was completely homebrew including the chassis. A detailed description of the project can be found here
The second project was an attempt to restore an old Heathkit DX-35 transmitter. Actually, this particular DX-35 was a basket case. Loose parts and some of them missing. It was decided to forget about the audio capability and concentrate on restoring it as a superior CW transmitter.
It was rebuilt to a DX-60 schematic primarily to incorporate the grid block keying.
This transmitter is also crystal controlled but it covers 80 through 10 meters. Power out is close to 70 watts.
A detailed project for the DX-60 clone can be found here
Both of these projects produced nice CW transmitters at very low cost. All that is needed now are a couple of decent receivers to go with these transmitters to form a basic CW Amateur Radio station.