Lil' LuLu Page
This "Lil' LuLu" 6-meter transmitter was purchased at a Tri-County Amateur Radio Club auction in New Jersey sometime between 1972 and 1976. I found it in my barn recently when I saw the people on the "Boatanchors" group talking about the Lil' LuLu. As you can see mine is not a commercial version of the rig. I believe it was either a prototype or one built as a club project by the Bell Laboratories Amateur Radio Club. Maybe someone can give me some more information. I have not fired it up to see if it is working yet but plan to do that at a future date. Boatanchor group members have been kind enough to provide me with information on the commercial version and the schematic is close but some tube types have been changed. Other pictures of the rig follow.
Here is another view of the front panel of the Lil' LuLu. The Switch on the upper left is for send/receive, The swith on the upper right is to switch between A1 and A3. The Left knob is for AF Gain the knob in the Center is PA Tune and the knob on the Right is Ant. Tune. There are two input jacks for both Hi Imp. or Low Imp.Carbon Microphones and a switch to turn the oscillator on and off (for spotting). The Meter Jack doubles as a Key Jack.
This is the back panel. I am not sure what the socket in the center top is yet. The label is smudged and I haven't had a chance to trace the circuit. The power meter pin jacks seem to have been added later. Antenna input and Receiver output sockets are provided as well as a cinch/jones power socket.
This is the top view of the unit. The tube lineup varies from the commercial version. This rig uses a 12AX7 speech Amplifier and a 6V6 Modulator in the Modulation section. The voltage regulator is an 0B2. The Transmiter uses a 12AU7 oscillator buffer, 6AK5 multiplier and a 6AG7 Power Amplifier. Quite a different lineup from the commercial version. (Except for the 12AX7 and the 6V6 vs 12V6) This one also used a WE INDR 221G Choke to filter the power line. I believe this unit was designed to run off a 6 Volt car battery. Those are bullet type Condensors in the upper right corner. The black thing above the filter inductor is an early Germanium Diode.
This is the bottom view of the unit. Not much to say except the wiring is very neatly done and the chasis was professionally drilled and labeled.
If you have any information concerning this rig or any questions please e-mail me at [email protected]
This page copyright Rich Force, WB1ASL 04/04/2004