A pulsed NMR spectrometer for cryogenic use is described. It includes an improved coupling scheme which is suitable for installation in most cryostats. An rf preamplifier has been developed which offers wide bandwidth, high gain, low noise and fast recovery (⩽2 &mgr;s). While the spectrometer was designed for a resonance frequency of 27 MHz, extension from 4–100 MHz is discussed. At 27 MHz the bandwidth of the free‐induction decay is 1 MHz, and the dead time, after the end of the rf pulse, is 3.6 ms. Techniques are presented for reducing the dead time, the noise, and the amplitude of ground loops as well as extending the signal bandwidth and dynamic range.