Diagram Diagosis

The converter contains a free-running oscillator with a frequency of around 4.4 MHz, which is tuned using two LEDs (which act as variable-capacitance diodes!) and a normal potentiometer. The frequency range is set by adjusting the emitter current using a 1k trimpot. The oscillator frequency depends strongly on the operating point. This is due to the combination of using an audio transistor and the extremely low supply voltage. Under these conditions, the transistor capacitances are relatively large and strongly dependent on the operating point. The second transistor forms the mixer stage.

If you calculate the resonant frequencies of the tuned circuits, you will obtain 6.7 MHz for the antenna circuit and 1.7 MHz for the output circuit. Additional transistor capacitance and the effects of the coupling capacitors shift each of the resonant frequencies downward. The tuned circuits are relatively heavily damped to obtain bandwidths that are large enough to allow the circuit to be used without any specific alignment. The results are good despite the low collector–emitter voltage of around only 0.6 V, due to the fact that only a modest amount of mixer gain is necessary. The entire circuit also draws less than 1mA.