Star Roamer
- Thread starter KR8MR
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In 1967 my dad had removed the guts of a stand-up wooden Zenith shortwave radio and I just had the tubes exposed with a round tuner dial and wooden knobs, I would have loved a star roamer at age 14.
A quick Google search will give you plenty of information and apparently they are available and for sale.
I got a Knight Kit Star Roamer for my Bar Mitzvah in March 1966. I built it and of course it didn't work 
My neighbor who was an electrician checked it out and found a few cold solder joints, corrected them, and it worked for two years until the wire antenna got hit by lightning, and destroyed it, my brother's clock radio, and the sump pump. Insurance paid for the repairs fortunately.
My next receiver was a Hallicrafters S-40A with a Heathkit Q multiplyer. It had a very sensitive receive, and paired it with a Knight Kit T-60 transmitter. My first novice station and I worked 38 states in CE, and a few countries also.
My neighbor who was an electrician checked it out and found a few cold solder joints, corrected them, and it worked for two years until the wire antenna got hit by lightning, and destroyed it, my brother's clock radio, and the sump pump. Insurance paid for the repairs fortunately.
My next receiver was a Hallicrafters S-40A with a Heathkit Q multiplyer. It had a very sensitive receive, and paired it with a Knight Kit T-60 transmitter. My first novice station and I worked 38 states in CE, and a few countries also.
When I got the GR-81 I was already spoiled by a military surplus superhet with a BFO that I was allowed to listen to while My dads friend welded my little brothers bike back together. Actually I was looking for the BFO on the star roamer. I was surprised to see it too was a Quasi Regenerative radio. Last IF could be set near oscillation
mmckenna
I ♥ Ø
My grandfather built a Star Roamer. At some point he gave it to me. I remember replacing the capacitors in the power supply as they'd gone south.
Used that for a lot of years with a random wire that shouldn't have picked up anything.
Between that radio, a scanner and my dads old CB, it lead to a rewarding career in telecommunications.
Used that for a lot of years with a random wire that shouldn't have picked up anything.
Between that radio, a scanner and my dads old CB, it lead to a rewarding career in telecommunications.
Mowed lawns all summer to save up the $49.95 to buy my Knight Star Roamer kit. Along with a home-brew one-tube transmitter it became a key component of my Novice ham station in 1968.
In 1967 I knew nothing about analog radio architecture or topology. (RF Front end, LO, mixer, IF etc.) I think I liked the Star Roamer back then due to Allied's marketing. For one, it had a name -- "Star Roamer" the Heath just had a number -- GR81. The Heath had a dial tuner that made it look like a signal generator or a random piece of Heath test equipment. The Knight Kit had a beautiful slide rule dial that many stereo receivers and tuners had until at least the 70's. Add a walnut case and many deemed this styling suitable for the middle of the living room. (I still have a Pioneer TX-8100 it too doesn't really have a name) I didn't even notice the Star Roamer had no BFO. That should have been a dead giveaway. When I was in grade school we used to carry an Allied Catalog and a Lafayette catalog around between class rooms. It was in some ways better than a Sears and Roebuck Christmas catalog which was like a phone book. Who wants to drool over pages full of clothing and socks? Of course Lionel was in there and they made a nice electronics kit with multiple circuits. WAY Off topic, I also remember there were two companies that made model rockets Estes and (Centurion?) that too was a cool catalog to have. There's a trucking company named Estes. Don't know what they haul. I think of my childhood days every time I see one.
KR8MR (The King - of going off on tangents)...sorry
KR8MR (The King - of going off on tangents)...sorry
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Well the guts of my zenith stand up wooden radio also didn't have BFO, got that in 65 when I was around 12 years old but didn't appreciate it till my dad, a ham, put up the 200 ft of well grounded copper wire in the backyard.
The swl was great.. I had my CB also, no cell towers or all the other interference of today. Just the jamming from the USSR LOL.
I wonder how the star roamers I see on eBay would work today? You have to wonder.
The international broadcasters used to play music a few minutes prior to going on air. Each had their own special short repeating tune. There is ONE in particular that I can still whistle today. But I have NO IDEA which broadcast that one was. Maybe google will make some sort of AI tool for that someday.
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Yes, each country had their preamble chimes or tune 15 minutes before their show.. my favorite was Radio South Africa, you had the birds chirping.
The one you are probably referring to the BBC, had like six notes LOL. The same six notes that were used to communicate with the aliens on Devil's Tower in close encounters. That may be why it sticks in your mind LOL.
I loved to swl, of course those days are long gone but you will find other threads on RR that will discuss those identifying tunes and chimes before a show and you might even find some recordings of such, if you Google it, the search takes you to threads in radio reference.
It's a pleasure talking with you about this, very few people are left to know this kind of information, as they pass on, nobody will know😄.
The "preamble chimes" are called "interval signals" and Google searches for those will be more productive using that term.
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Yes I called them Preamble charms above, but I didn't realize what they were actually called LOL.
The best one I ever received was on January 14, 1973 at 6:25 pm - "Waltzing Matilda" on a Sony compact SWR using a long wire draped over some bushes and a collapsed building on top of a hill right outside of town. I wanted to change my middle name to "Radio", lol...
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