Hello radio enthusiasts the world over! This website has been brought back to life with the cooperation and endorsement of its creator, the talented Dave Schmarder. It is for your enjoyment and to serve as a reference of a past era, but please note it is no longer active. Thank you for your understanding and we sincerely hope you continue to appreciate and enjoy Dave's many contributions and incredible radio projects!
Hello friend. My name is Dave Schmarder. I am the owner and operator of makearadio.com. My homemade hobby radio website has been on the net since 2002. Yes, this is the home of that crazy
guy of German heritage that builds all those radios.
This website is about the homemade radio projects that I have built. I show all the circuits
and offer good quality pictures. Each project has a description added. I did all this so you,
the radio builder hobbyist would have some good plans.
Remember that crystal set you made with your dad or grandpa? I remember my experiences
to this day. In early 2002 the crystal
set bit me again. This time I really got excited and started building one set right after another.
I was going to stop when I built a couple of radios that would display well. But there was no
way I was going to quit. So here I am at 78 radios and counting! I hope you find one that
you would like to build. See what I have made to show you.
Soon after I started building crystal sets, the lousy summer band conditions convinced me that I
should expand my activities in to active devices. Encouraged by my web visitors, I built
a bunch of tube radios to experiment with. I didn't build regenerative radios when
I was a kid, so this was new territory for me. I am pleased with the outcome and I hope you
are too. So, I proudly present my tube radio main page.
Transistors? Bah humbug. But I've heard that they have become popular and more and more
people have switched from tubes to transistors. So far there is only one radio, but I hope
to add more. So please accept my meager attempt for now
I love tube amplifiers. But as my solid state section, my amplifier section has only one
example to show you. It is a nice small, low powered audio amp. Several others have
built this design and are quite happy. So check out my amplifier section and encourage
me to make more!

Loop antennas have been in my family since I was a little guy. I still have the big red
loop that my dad built and that started my interest in these magical devices. I built some smaller
loop antennas to connect to my old time radios to improve my reception.
My loops are beautiful!
My Radio Board forum has gone dark and is now
just a fond memory
to hundreds of crystal set fans. However, you are welcome to join like minded people at a different forum established by others called The New Radio Board!
Dave 2021