The Ten-Tec 1054 Regenerative Receiver Kit.
(January 20, 2020)

Introduction.
Some time ago, one of my sons gave me a Ten-Tec receiver kit found in an Electronics Flea Market. It was the model 1054, a 4-Band Shortwave regenerative receiver marketed by Ten-Tec Kit around 1994 : band 1 covers 5.9 to 6.4 MHz, band 2, 6.9 to 7.4 MHz, band 3, 8.5 to 10.2 MHz and band 4, 11.5 to 16.5 MHz.
This kit was new, unopened and  the oak cabinet option with a loudspeaker was a part of the gift.
I opened the bag recently and here is what I discovered inside.


One can see that all the components (electronics, hardware, PCB and a beautiful front panel) are included. Some additional components (3 knobs and 2 batteries) are needed to finish the receiver.
The instruction manual is complete with a "Step-by-step Assembly" chapter, a useful "Using and Understanding the Regeneration Control" paragraph and, of course, a "Test and Adjustment" chapter.

1. Building the kit.
The schematic diagram of this receiver is shown below (click on the picture to enlarge it).



The antenna is connected to a JFET RF amplifier Q1 followed by a 2 JFET regenerative stage (Q2,Q3). The low-level audio output  is amplified by Q4 and a LM386 power amplifier drives the loudspeaker or a low impedance headset. This receiver relies on two power supplies : battery A is a 9 Volts one  powering the RF sections while battery B is connected to the audio preamplifier and amplifier. According to the instruction manual, battery B could be any regulated DC power supply  from 9 to  12 V. This 2 supply method keeps the voltage of the RF stages independent of any potential voltage fluctuations due to the audio amplifier current surges.
Soldering the components on the PCB is a simple work because the PCB is a large one.
The next work is to fit the front panel to the PCB and to attach 3 knobs found in my junk box to the potentiometers.
This is the receiver ready for tests.

PCB


This picture shows the front panel :




And here is the complete receiver in its oak enclosure.



2. Testing the receiver.
This little receiver performs well with a small  antenna (6 m of wire going into the attic). Tuning is easy and I heard many  broadcast stations on the 49 meters and on the 31-meter bands. Some ham stations were also heard on 40 meters and also on 20 meters when the band was open.
I connected the receiver input to my RF generator and found that a 9.8 MHz 2uV signal, 90% AM modulated by a 1 kHz signal, is perfectly audible in the loudspeaker. That's not so bad !
The currents drawn from the 2 power supplies are : 1.6 mA from Battery A and 6 to 70 mA from battery B, according to the audio volume.


Conclusion.
This simple receiver gives good results. It's easy to build and the adjustments are soon settled.

I only regret that 2 power sources are needed. In the near future I'll add a small 78L09 regulator in place of the battery A and compare the overall performances of the 1054 with and without this modification.

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