THE

R ADI 0 CONSTRUCTOR
Vol. 24 Na. 8 MARCH 1971

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MODIFYING THE 'TRIO' 9R -59DE Rx

(PART ONELA

DIRECT CONVERSION RECEIVERS

TIMER WITHOUT ELECTROLYTICS

Eight Constructional Projects

Alan, other features
1
 ERadio Constructor
Incorporating THE RADIO AMATEUR
MARCH 1971

Vol. 24 No. 8 CONTENTS

TRANSISTOR TESTER 462
TIMER WITHOUT ELECTROLYTICS 465
Published Monthly (1st of Month)
First Published 1947 VISUAL BELL INDICATOR
(Suggested Circuit No. 244) 470

Editorial and Advertising Offices SEQUENTIAL LATCHING RELAY CIRCUIT 473

57 MAIDA VALE LONDON W9 1SN 474
NEWS AND COMMENT
WRONG BAND 476
Telephone Telegrams
01 -286 6141 Databux, London NOW HEAR THESE 476
QSX 477
t) Data Publications Ltd., 1971. Contents NOTES ON SEMICONDUCTORS - 1 478
may only be reproduced after obtaining
prior permission from the Editor. Short DIRECT CONVERSION RECEIVERS (Part 1) 479
abstracts or references are allowable
provided acknowledgement of source is CAN ANYONE HELP ? 482
given.
CURRENT SCHEDULES 483
Annual Subscription: £2.40 (U.S.A. and
Canada $6) 'ncluding postage. Remit- MODIFYING THE `TRIO' 9R -59DE (Part 1) 484
tances should be made payable to Data
Publications Ltd." Overseas readers THE `CRUSADER' SIMPLE SUPERHET
please pay by cheque or International (Part 3) 488
Money Order.
RECENT PUBLICATIONS 490
Queries. We regret that we are unable
to answer queries other than those UNDERSTANDING BASIC PRINCIPLES
arising from articles appearing in this (Part 1) 491
magazine nor can we advise on modifi-
cations to equipment described. Queries AMATEUR RADIO SCIENTIFIC STUDIES 496
must be submitted in writing and
accompanied by a stamped addressed LOW-COST TV AERIAL 497
envelope for reply.
IN YOUR WORKSHOP 499
Corresoondence should be addressed to
the Editor, Advertising Manager, Sub- RADIO TOPICS 506
scription Manager or the Publishers as
appropriate. LATE NEWS 509
Opinions expressed by contributors are LAST LOOK ROUND 509
not necessarily those of the Editor or
proprietors. RADIO CONSTRUCTOR'S DATA SHEET
Production.-Letterpress. No.48 (P.N.P. /N.P.N. Transistor Lead -Outs) iii

Published in Great Britain by the Proprietors and

Publishers, Data Publications Ltd, 57 Maida Vale, APRIL ISSUE WILL BE
PUBLISHED ON APRIL ist
London, W9 1SN.
The Radio Constructor is printed by Kent Paper
Company Ltc, London and Ashford, Kent.
TRANSISTOR TESTER

by

H. WILLIAMS

This simple little item of test gear carries out leakage and
gain checks with both p.n.p. and n.p.n. transistors

simplest circuit. It only applies to

the leakage test, the meter being
shunted to give a lower sensitivity
MOST MEMBERS OF THE CIRCUIT THEORY when checking p.n.p. leakage. This
electronic construction fra- does not, of course, invalidate sili-
ternity will own fairly large Fig. 1 shows the theory of opera- con p.n.p. leakage readings, but it
numbers of transistors that have tion. When the switch is in the shows them in a much more com-
been aquired from time to time. It `Leakage' position the battery is pressed part of the scale. Ger-
is often necessary to test and sort connected across the emitter and manium n.p.n. power transistors,
these and the unit described here collector of the transistor, and the which may have a relatively high
was designed with that aim in mind. resultant current is monitored by leakage, can be checked as for p.n.p.
Another useful function of the the meter. leakage with the emitter and collec-
Transistor Tester is to check the When the switch is set to `Gain tor connections reversed.
very cheap surplus transistors that a resistor is connected from the
are now available for as little as collector to the base and the OPERATION
6d each. Many of these transistors resultant current is again monitored.
will prove to be useless. Neverthe- In practice the sensitivity of the With the switch, Sl, in the
less, even after rejecting the duds meter needs to be changed for N.P.N. Leakage position the bat-
one is usually left with a whole these various readings and in the tery is applied with the correct
mass of perfectly usable devices, full circuit, shown in Fig. 2, it will polarity across the transistor under
each costing less than a resistor. be seen that the meter is shunted to test and meter, unshunted, is at
The Transistor Tester measures give three different sensitivities by its maximum sensitivity of 200µA.
leakage and gives the comparative means of Sl(b).
gain of a transistor, thus enabling To simplify the switching it is
matching and other forms of selec- assumed that p.n.p. transistors are
tion from branded types. Its prin- usually germanium and n.p.n. de-
ciple is very simple and it can be vices are usually silicon. Certainly
built in a couple of hours, yet it there are plenty of exceptions to
should prove invaluable to the this general rule but the assumption
serious constructor. has been made here to give the

Bias Meter
resistor

Transistor
under test

Rear view of the prototype,

Fig. 1. Simplified circuit, Illustrating the basic testing operation w7thout battery. The solder tag
of Fig. 3 was not fitted when
this photograph was taken
462 THE RADIO CONSTRUCTOR
When the switch is set to `N.P.N.
Gain' a 22052 resistor is switched
between the base and collector by TRANSISTOR TESTER
means of SI(a), whilst Sl(b) shunts
the meter to read 2.5mA f.s.d. by
connecting a 7552 resistor across it.
In the 'P.N.P. Leakage' position
the 200µA sensitivity is too high for
some germanium types - especially
power transistors - and so Si (b)
sets the sensitivity of the meter to
about 1.2mA.
In the `P.N.P. Gain' position the
meter is again shunted to read
2.5mA f.s.d., and Sl(b) connects the
220k12 resistor between base and
collector.
SI(c) and S1(d) serve only to
change the battery polarity for
n.p.n and p.n.p. types. R4, a 3.6k52
resistor, acts as a limiter and pre-
vents the meter being overloaded in
the case of a short -circuit transistor.
It limits the current through the
meter to about 2.5mA. It is impor-
tant to note that the unit must always
be initially switched to either
'N.P.N. Gain' or `P.N.P. Gain' when
testing an unknown transistor. This
protects the meter if the transistor
should happen to be short -circuit,
since the maximum current that can
then flow is 2.5mA and the meter The Tester in use, checking a power transistor
is shunted to read this current. The
leakage test is carried out after the comparative nature. Resistors with
gain test has indicated that the Two sets of transistor connections
a tolerance of 5% will be adequate. are required. Three sockets into
transistor is not short-circuit. which wander plugs are fitted are
The meter chosen was on of the CONSTRUCTION
Japanese SEW types, widely avail- wired in parallel with a conven-
able at a reasonable price. It has an tional transistor socket. Extension
internal resistance of 90052 and it is Any suitable housing may be em- wires fitted with crocodile clips can
from this figure that the values of ployed for the Transistor Tester, be run from the wander plug
the shunt resistors are calculated. since layout is not important. The sockets for testing power transistors
Their actual value is not too im- writer's unit was built into a plastic or those wired into a circuit.
portant as readings are largely of a case measuring 4+ by 3 by l;in., and Switch SI is a 4 -pole 4 -way
with a hinged lid that could be re- rotary type and is wired as shown
moved. in Fig. 3. If a switch having a
COM PON ENTS
Resistors
(All resistors ; watt)
al
3 Sic
RI 220102 10%
R2 7552 5%
R3 18051 5% o
R4 3.6k52 5% 4j Collector

Switch 3 SIG BI

SI (a)(b)(c)(d) 4 -pole 4 -way 2 Base 9V

rotary
© miller
Meter
MI 0 -200µA meter, type MI
R4
MR38P (SEW) 4 0-200yA
Battery
131 9 -volt
battery, type PP3
(Ever Ready)
2?
51d +

O
Miscellaneous
Transistor socket 4
3 wander plugs and
sockets Switch positions I P.N.P. gain
3 crocodile clips 2 P.N.P. leakage 51b
Battery connector 3 N.P.N. leakage
Pointer knob
4 N.N. Dain
Solder tag
Plastic case, or similar Fig. 2. The complete circuit of the Transistor Tester
housing
1111
463
different construction is employed.
wiring should follow the circuit
diagram of Fig. 2. The switch must
have break -before -make contacts.
OPERATION
When the Transistor Tester has
been built, carefully check all wiring
for errors. Set Sl to either position
I or IV and quickly short -circuit the
collector and emitter sockets. The
meter should read near full -scale
deflection.
Calibration, if required, is best
carried out with transistors which
are known to be good; one will
quickly get to know what the cor-
rect or acceptable readings are and
a note can be made on a table
affixed to the case of the unit.
Short -circuit transistors will, as al-
ready stated, show f.s.d., and open -
circuit devices will show no reading
at all.
An interesting exercise is to mea-
sure some of the surplus `equivalent'
transistors against the `real McCoy'. Fig. 3. Construction and wiring diagram when a double bank
Frequently the differences will be- single wafer switch is used. The contacts shown in broken line
come apparent, but the author has
come across several instances where are below the wafer. Use a continuity tester to identify individual
differences failed to show up on the contacts if any doubt exists. The components should be mounted
tester. Also, the transistors, when in on a plastic case lid, as in the prototype, or on a front panel made
of Paxolin or similar insulating material
circuit, offered identical perfor-
mances.

depressed, the a.c. mode is indi- is present it is integrated over

NEW LOGIC PROBE cated by a steady light under open 100mS and the mean level sensed.
circuit conditions. When the switch In the a.c. mode the probe re-
A versatile 5 -volt logic probe, is released, the d.c. mode is indi- sponds to positive going edges
designed for testing DTL and TTL cated by a flashing light in the open faster than 0.5 µs, each edge caus-
circuitry, has been introduced by circuit condition. ing the lamp to extinguish and then
EMI Electronics' Radar and Equip- In the d.c. mode, the probe sen- re-light after 100mS. Single pulses
ment Division, Hayes, Middlesex. ses the input and gives an `off', `on' as narrow as 50nS and pulse trains
Designated `LP500 /1', the new probe or flashing indication according to having p.r.f.'s up to 1 MHz
can identify seven different cate- whether the input level is below, (approx.) are detected in this
gories of logic signal including the above or between two voltage manner. Pulses at p.r.f.'s greater
important open circuit condition. thresholds; VI: 0.625V ±0.125V or than 1 MHz (approx.) are indi-
These capabilities allow rapid V2: 2.4V±0.4V. If any waveform cated by an `off' condition.
checking of logic circuits thereby
minimising the need for expensive
test equipment such as oscilloscopes.
The 18cm (7in.) long, 1.9 cm
(0.75in.) diameter probe distingui-
shes between logic 1, logic 0, open
circuit, +ve going pulses, -ve
going pulses, square waves below
1MHz (approx.) and pulse trains
(including square waves) with a
p.r.f. above 1MHz (approx.). It can
be run from the power supply of
the equipment under test, from a
4.5 Volt battery or a standard bench
power supply.
Connection to the supply is effected
by a 120cm (4ft.) cable terminated
in 4mm banana plugs which afford
simple connection to many stan-
dard bench supplies. Insulated plug-
on crocodile clips provide easy
alternative connection.
LOGIC PROBE - METHOD OF
OPERATION
The probe operates in one of two
modes selected by a thumb- opera-
ted microswitch. With the switch
THE RADIO CONSTRUCTOR
464
Timer Without Electrolytics
by
J. PHILIPS

In order to obtain sufficiently long timing periods the current trend in

electronic timers is to employ an electrolytic component as the timing
capacitor. This article describes a timing circuit which, by taking advantage
of a pulsed transistor, enables a paper or plastic foil capacitor to be used
instead

NUMBER OF CIRCUITS FOR ELECTRONIC TIMERS As already mentioned, this simple system requires
Ahave appeared in this and other journals over a high value in the capacitor if reasonably long tim-
recent years, all of the published designs taking ing periods are to be obtained. The situation is
advantage of a standard technique in which the volt- worsened by the fact that the resistor has to have
age across a charging or discharging capacitor a relatively low value, or it will otherwise become
triggers a switching circuit when It reaches a prede- comparable with the leakage resistance of the capaci-
termined level. To obtain reasonably long timing tor when the latter is electrolytic, and the unreliability
periods with this technique it is necessary to employ due to varying leakage resistance would then become
capacitors having large values, whereupon the inevit-
able choice has consisted of electrolytic components.
Unfortunately, timer designs of this nature can never Si Trip
be looked upon as providing the ultimate in accuracy.
This is due to the well-known shortcomings of elec- 'Reset
trolytic capacitors, these consisting of variations in
capacitance with age and applied voltage, and varia- 1
T Timing Switching
tions in leakage resistance due to age, applied voltage capacitor circuit
and temperature.
This article describes a different and unusual
approach to the design of the electronic timer, and
the circuit to be discussed enables long timing periods
to be achieved with a timing capacitor having a rela-
tively low value. There is no necessity to use an
electrolytic component, and the timing capacitor can (a)
be a standard paper or plastic foil type instead. In
consequence, the resultant design is completely free
from the inherant unreliability that is given when Si ,Trip
an electrolytic timing capacitor is employed.

DISCHARGING CIRCUIT
Before examining the overall circuit of the timer
it will be of advantage to initially discuss the reason
why it allows a low value timing capacitor to be
employed.
A conventional basic approach to timer design
appears in Fig. 1 (a). Here we have a capacitor which
is initially maintained in a charged condition by
means of switch Sl. The timing period is commenced
by setting SI to the `Trip' position, whereupon the
capacitor discharges via the resistor in parallel with
it. At the same time a second set of contacts on S1
(not shown in Fig. 1) completes the external con- (b)
trolled circuit which is being timed. When the volt- Fig. 1(a). A basic electronic timing circuit.
age across the capacitor falls to a predetermined Separate contacts on S1 (not shown) in com-
value the switching circuit triggers and breaks the bination with the switching circuit control the
external circuit being timed
external controlled circuit, thereby bringing the tim- (b). The length of the timing period may be
ing period to an end. The length of the period increased by inserting a pulsed transistor in
depends upon the values of the capacitor and resistor series with the discharge resistor
and may be adjusted by altering either of these.
MARCH 1971 465
more evident. A low value in the resistor necessitates, resistor in the timing circuit, whereupon the value
again, a correspondingly high value in the capacitor. required in the capacitor becomes lower again.
The solution proposed in the author's design is Both these techniques - the use of a pulsed tran-
shown diagrammatically in Fig. 1 (b). This circuit sistor in series with the discharge resistor and a high
is operated in the same manner as that of Fig. 1(a), value discharge resistor across a paper or plastic foil
but a transistor is now inserted in series at the lower capacitor - are employed in the timing circuit now
end of the resistor. A series of pulses is fed to to be described.
the base of the transistor, with the result that it
only passes current during the presence of each THE CIRCUIT
pulse, and is cut -off between pulses. If the capacitor
and resistor have the same values as they have in The complete circuit of the electronic timer
Fig. 1(a), the capacitor discharges more slowly appears in Fig. 2. In this diagram, the timing capaci-
because the discharge current now only flows during tor is C3 and the pulsed transistor is TR3, this being
pulses. Should the pulses be of much shorter dura- a p.n.p. silicon junction transistor type 0C204. It is
tion than the intervals between pulses, the discharge pulsed by inserting its base -emitter junction in series
period of the capacitor will be considerably extended. with the emitter of TR2 which, with TR1, is in a
Alternatively, the value of the capacitor can be made multivibrator circuit. When TR2 is turned on during
very much smaller for the same discharge period. the multivibrator cycle so also is TR3, which then
If, for reasonably long discharge periods the value draws current from C3 via R6 and R7. R7 provides
of the capacitor is sufficiently low to enable a non - a control of timing period which, with the author's
electrolytic component to be economically employed, circuit, ranges from 2 to 110 seconds.
a further advantage accrues. A good quality non - In the multivibrator, the period during which TR2
electrolytic capacitor (i.e. a paper or plastic foil com- is turned off is controlled by R3 and C2, whilst the
ponent) can have an extremely high leakage resist- period when TR1 is turned off is controlled by R2
ance, this being particularly true of the plastic types. and Cl. The product of the values of R3 and C2 is
A typical specification for polycarbonate capacitors, 50 times the product of the values of R2 and Cl,
for instance, quotes insulation resistance in megohms whereupon it would appear at first sight that the
multiplied by microfarads as being greater than period of turn -off in TR2 during each cycle will be
20,000. With insulation resistances as high as this 50 times greater than the period of turn -off in TR 1.
it becomes possible to use larger values of discharge For the present application we are more interested

RLA1
To
R' controlled
T ?eSla 16 circuit
S2o

11

IS Slb

S2b -9v
On -Off

S positions : R - reset
dot 000 1

.T'- trip
- c bce
ACY 19 OC 204 BC 169C
Lead -outs Lead -outs Lead -outs

Fig. 2. The complete circuit of the electronic timer. The timing capacitor, C3, is paper or
plastic foil, and is not electrolytic

466 MS RADIO CONSTRUCTOR

in the length of time when TR2, and hence TR3, is
turned on, and our first -sight appreciation would COMPONENTS
indicate that TR2 and TR3 are turned on for only
one fifty -first fraction of each multivibrator cycle. In Resistors
practice, unfortunately, it is rather difficult to obtain (All fixed values ; watt 10 %)
a high on -off time ratio from a simple 2- transistor R1 2.2kS2
multivibrator. In the present circuit, for example, R2 471x2
TR2 commences to pass current for a short period R3 100k[2
before the transition which turns it fully on, this R4 2.2kS2
being due to the slow increase in potential at its R5 2.2kg2
base resulting from the large values in C2 and R3. R6 10k12
Thus, TR2 is already passing a small but significant R7 2MS2 potentiometer, linear
current by the time that the positive excursion at R8 1052
its collector becomes sufficiently swift to initiate the R9 4.7k12
changeover by way of the relatively low value capaci-
tor Cl. Because of this effect, the period during which Capacitors
the pulsed transistor. TR3, is at least partly conduc- Cl 0.01µF, paper or plastic foil
tive becomes longer than one fifty -first of the multivi- C2 0.25µF, paper or plastic foil
brator cycle. Measurements taken with the author's C3 8µF, paper or plastic foil
unit showed an average current flow in R6, with R7
slider at the lower end of its track, which was Semiconductors
about one -twentieth of the current which flowed if TRI ACY19
the collector of TR3 was short- circuited to its TR2 ACY19
emitter. With R7 slider at the upper end of its track TR3 0C204
the fraction was approximately one -fifteenth, the TR4 BC169C
variation being presumably due to the lower current TR5 ACY19
which was then drawn through TR3. The result is D1 DD000
that the pulsed transistor circuit enables the timing D2 DD000
capacitor to have one -fifteenth to one -twentieth the D3 DD000
value it would otherwise require. This is still a con- Switches
siderable advantage and well justifies the use of the Si d.p.d.t., toggle
multivibrator and pulsed transistor. S2 d.p.d.t., toggle or rotary
It is appreciated that a more complex multivibrator
circuit would provide a cleaner rectangular wave for Relay
application to the pulsed transistor. However, the RLA1 See text
very simple circuit, as shown, gave excellent practical
results and was quite reliable from the point of view
of repeatability of timing periods. In consequence, negative 18 volt line via limiter resistor R8. Under
there seemed to be little point in adding further these circumstances, C3 is charged to 18 volts. Since
components and devices to it when it was already the upper plate of C3 is negative of the 9 volt supply
functioning adequately. line, silicon diode Dl is reverse -biased and no cur-
Before leaving this section of the circuit, brief rent can flow through it to the relay switching tran-
mention should be made of resistor R5. This com- sistors TR4 and TR5. Relay RLA /1 is, in con-
ponent is included merely to ensure that leakage sequence, de- energised. At the same time, the connec-
current in TR2 when it is turned off does not cause tions to the controlled circuit are kept open by
the base of TR3 to rise above its 0.6 volt turn -on contacts S1(a) of switch Si.
potential. It was found that the average collector
current in TR3 reduced slightly when R5 was added.
The presence of R5 has negligible effect on the -W
pulsing function, in which TR2 commences to draw
current before it turns fully on. Indeed, the average
current in TR3 collector circuit remained unaltered
for experimental variations in R5 from 1 to 3.9kS2.

SWITCHING CIRCUIT

We have, up to now, concentrated solely on the

multivibrator and pulsed transistor section of the
timing circuit since this represents the novel variation Short - circuit
on standard timer design which provides the main for test
reason for this article. We can next examine the rest
of the circuit, armed with the knowledge that C3
is the paper or plastic foil timing capacitor and that
its rate of discharge, and hence the length of the
timing period, is controlled by R7.
In the remainder of the circuit, switch Si is norm-
ally kept in the `Reset' position, whereupon its con- Fig. 3. A simple test circuit for cHecking the
multivibrator and pulsing circuits
tacts S1(b) connect the upper plate of C3 to the
MARCH 1971 467
 To initiate a timing period, Si is set to the `Trip' figures with other units built up to the circuit. If
position, whereupon its contacts S1(a) complete the necessary, a little extra at the longer end of the range
external controlled circuit. Also, its contacts Sl(b) can be obtained by slightly increasing the value of
break the 18 volt supply to the upper plate of C3, C3. Resistor R7 should be fitted with a pointer knob
which now begins to discharge via R7, R6 and pulsed and a scale calibrated in the timing periods it pro-
transistor TR3. After a period, the potential on the vides. Four or five measured calibration points will
upper plate of C3 falls below that on the 9 volt need to be taken when drawing up this scale, as it
supply line, whereupon diode D1 conducts and allows will be somewhat non -linear.
current to flow via limiter resistor R9 to the base
of TR4. TR4 and TR5 form a direct -coupled pair
having extremely high current gain, and represent a Silicon
combination which has been used recently in several R10 rectifier
of the `Suggested Circuit' articles by G. A. French. -18V
They function very well in the present circuit, their On-Off
gain being such that a base current in TR4 of the 9 -0 -9V
order of 2µA is all that is required to cause the ADISI
secondary
E
relay in the emitter circuit of TR5 to become ener- A.C.
gised. When the relay energises, its break contacts mains
-9V
RLA1 open and interrupt the external controlled Silicon
circuit. kll rectifier
The timing period is now complete. A further 18v
Mains
period may be initiated by putting Si to `Reset', 200 200 transformer
250mW NF NF
whereupon C3 becomes charged again and the relay Zener
releases, and then setting it once more to `Trip'. 9IV 12V 25V wkg
diode 250mW wkg.
Two components which have not so far been men- Zener
tioned are silicon diodes D2 and D3. The function diode
of D2 is to ensure that leakage current in DI cannot
cause the reverse emitter -base voltage in TR4 to
e
exceed about 0.6 volts when the upper plate of C3
is negative of the 9 volt supply line. The maximum R10.11 - see text
reverse base -emitter voltage quoted for the transistor
specified for TR4 is 5 volts only. Silicon diode D3 c
is the usual component which is connected across AD 161

transistor- driven relay coils, and it prevents the

appearance of high back- e.m.f. voltages when the Fig. 4. A suggested power supply circuit for
relay de- energises. the timer. The AD161 transistor need not be
mounted on a heat sink
COMPONENTS
Probably the only part of the circuit where the
The transistors specified are all readily obtainable constructor could possibly encounter trouble is in the
types. The BC169C in the TR4 position is available multivibrator incorporating TRI and TR2. High -gain
from Amatronix Ltd. Diodes Dl to D3 are not transistors are essential here. The author checked
critical and any silicon diode can be employed instead a number of ACY19's in this part of the circuit and
of the Lucas DD000 type indicated in the Com- all worked correctly, but there is still a very slight
ponents List. risk that a pair of particularly low gain devices may
Sl is a d.p.d.t. toggle switch. A rotary type is not not oscillate. Should this occur, the only solution is
advised here. On the other hand, S2 can be any type to reduce the value of R3 and /or C2 until oscilla-
of d.p.d.t. switch. tion commences, thereby sacrificing a little of the
Relay RLA1 is any relay whose coil resistance is pulse ratio advantage offered by the multivibrator.
40012 or greater, and which energises reliably at 9 Indeed, a good constructional approach consists of
volts. The writer employed a P.0.3000 relay with getting the multivibrator and TR3 in working order
a 60052 coil in the protoype circuit. It requires a before attending to the rest of the circuit. The
single break contact set only, and suitable relays operation of TR3 can be checked by connecting a
are available from a number of suppliers. In addi- 1 kI2 resistor between its collector and the 9 volt
tion, P.0.3000 relays, made up to customers' require- supply line with a current- reading meter in series,
ments can be obtained from L. Wilkinson (Croydon) as in Fig. 3. The current should be about 9mA when
Ltd., Longley House, Longley Road, West Cryodon, the collector of TR3 is short- circuited to its emitter.
Surrey. If the current drops by a considerable amount but
If the constructor wishes to employ a larger non - does not cease altogether when the short- circuit is
electrolytic capacitor in the C3 position this is, of taken off, then the multivibrator is working and the
course, perfectly in order. The values of R7 and circuit is pulsing. After this test, the 1kS2 resistor
R6 could then be scaled down accordingly. Thus, if may be removed, R6 and R7 connected to the collec-
C3 is made 16µF, R7 and R6 can be 1MS2 and 5k52 tor of TR3 and the remainder of the timer made up.
respectively. The larger capacitor will enable a Whilst dealing with the components an interesting
possibly slightly more robust potentiometer to be final point is that, at the end of the timing period,
used in the R7 position, but should otherwise offer capacitor C3 also acts as an integrating device which
no particular advantage. As stated earlier, the timing enables the relay to energise. If, during tests, an
range obtained with the author's unit was 2 to 110 attempt is made to energise the relay without C3 in
seconds, but there may be variations from these circuit all that happens is that amplified pulses are
468 THE RADIO CONSTRUCTOR
applied to the relay coil. The relay does not then
energise because the coil presents a high inductive
reactance to these pulses!
RADIO CONSTRUCTOR
POWER SUPPLY
The current taken from its power supply by the
timer is low, and the author's unit drew 6mA from APRIL ISSUE
the 9 volt negative line with the relay de-energised
and 23mA when the relay operated. The current
drawn from the 18 volt line is negligibly low, con-
sisting merely of that required to charge capacitor
C3.
The writer employed bench stabilised supplies to
provide the two voltages, and it is assumed that a
constructor who intends to make up the unit will
have sufficient technical knowledge to be able to
design a simple power supply. A suggested supply
circuit, which has not been checked by the author
in practice, is given in Fig. 4. The operation of this
supply is self -explanatory, and doubtless readers will
be able to make up alternative supplies which offer
the same performance and which employ components
that are already to hand.
So far as voltage regulation is concerned it should
be noted that the 9 volt supply need only be well -
regulated for the circuit condition in which the relay THE `TRI -BAND RANGER' TRANS-
is de- energised. It does not matter if the supply
voltage falls slightly when the relay energises. The MITTER, PART 1
18 volt supply will be adequately regulated by a Covering the 40, 80 and 160 metre bands,
simple zener diode circuit. If the circuit of Fig. 4 this transmitter offers c.w. and phone at power
is made up, both R10 and R11 should have values outputs of 10 and 7 watts respectively. It has
which cause zener diode current, as measured by an integral power supply but provision is made
a meter temporarily inserted in series with each for powering from an external supply. Further
diode, to be of the order of 10mA. Also, S2 of Fig. 2 advantages are simplicity of operation, small
is not required since the timer can be switched on size and the ability to match into a wide range
and off by the switch in Fig. 4. of aerials.
D.C. AND AUDIO LCR BRIDGE
A comprehensive design which provides a
wide range of measurements of inductance,
TRUE R.M.S. VOLTMETER capacitance and resistance.
MODIFYING THE `TRIO' 9R -59DE
The VX408A true r.m.s. voltmeter, which is now
RECEIVER, PART 2
available from ITT Components Group Europe, can
In this concluding article, the author des-
display accurately the average voltage or the true cribes the inclusion of an EF183 high gain r.f.
r.ms. voltage of circuits under test as required. This stage, an added double -tuned i.f. stage, curing
facility is particularly important when studying frequency drift above 15MHz and provides r.f.
transitory signals. alignment details.
Main features of the VX408A are the high input
impedance, and low noise factor preamplifier with PLUS
attenuator. A high gain amplifier allowing wide ex-
cursion of the output signal amplitude provides a A MANY OTHER CON-
large peak factor range when measuring r.m.s volt- STRUCTIONAL PROJECTS
ages.
Made by ITT Metrix, the VX408A has an input DATA SHEET 49
impedance of 10 megohm with voltage range up to (P.N.P. TRANSISTOR LEAD -CUTSI
300mV and 300V. Band widths are 10Hz to 10MHz
for average voltages and 50Hz to 10MHz for r.m.s. ® SUPPORTING FEATURES
voltages.
For further information contact ITT Electronic ON SALE APRIL 1st
Services, Edinburgh Way, Harlow, Essex - telephone:
Harlow (02796) 26811, ext. 790; telex: 81146.
469
MARCH 1971
 HE VISUAL BELL INDICATOR When the bell -push is pressed, it
T circuit described in this month's
article is the result of a re-
quest from a reader, who asked for
completes a circuit from the bell
transformer secondary to the bell
As soon as the bell -push is re-
leased no further current is drawn
through R1, and the voltage across
via resistor R1, whereupon a small this resistor drops to zero. Capacitor
a transistor circuit which would alternating voltage is dropped across
cause a bulb to light up whenever Cl is still charged, and it now com-
this resistor. The voltage is rectified mences to discharge via R2 into R3
an electric bell was rung. A further by diode D1, with the result that
requirement was that the bulb and into the base -emitter junctions
should remain illuminated for some capacitor Cl charges up to a voltage of TR1 and TR2. No discharge
lying between 1 and 1.5 volts. Due current flows via D1, which is now
four or five seconds after the bell to the voltage across Cl, base
ceased ringing. reversed -biased. The base current
Since there are quite a number of
current flows in transistor TR1 in TR1 slowly decreases. However,
applications for a device of this which, with TR2, forms a Darling- the amplified current in the base -
ton pair. TR2 bottoms and pilot emitter junction of TR2 is still
nature, it was considered that the lamp PLl becomes illuminated, the
circuitry involved would make a sufficient to maintain this transistor
worthwhile subject for the 'Suggest-
current flowing through it being in the bottomed condition for ap-
ed Circuit' series. An obvious appli-
obtained from the rectified supply proximately three seconds. After
across C3. this period, the collector current in
cation that springs to mind is the
installation of the bulb in the living-
room, so that the family, whilst
watching television, can be warned Bell
that the front door bell is ringing or 2 transformer
has just been rung. Again, since the
system can be adapted for more than
one bell -push, it becomes possible
to fit a number of bulbs on an in-
dicator board, each bulb correspon-
ding to an individual bell -push. The
bulbs will then indicate which bell -
push has been pressed, the associ-
ated bulb remaining illuminated
even after the bell has stopped
ringing.
CIRCUIT OPERATION
Bell -push
The circuit which was evolved is
shown in Fig. 1, this diagram apply-
ing to the situation where there is
one bell -push only. The system is
powered by a standard bell trans- Bell
former having an eight volt second-
ary. The primary of this transformer RI,01,D2 - see text
connects permanently to the mains c
supply, and the eight volts appear- ACY 19
ing on its secondary is rectified by
D2, causing a d.c. voltage to be Fig. Circuit of the visual bell indicator. The bulb continues to
1.
continually available across C3. glow for a short period after the bell -push has been released
470 THE RADIO CONSTRUCTOR
 TR2 commences to fall and the pressed. This continual leakage
pilot lamp illumination drops until current prohibits the use of a
it becomes completely extinguished. battery for powering the light cir-
The lamp will then light up again
when the bell -push is pressed once
cuit, because the battery would be-
come exhausted too rapidly. At the AUDIO
more, and will similarly remain same time, the light circuit cannot
illuminated for a short period after be powered by unrectified a.c. (say,
the bell -push has been released. from a second bell transformer)
because, although TR2 could pass
AMPLIFIERS
FURTHER DETAILS sufficient current on alternate half -
cycles to illuminate the lamp, the
There are a number of points in collector-base junction of TR1
the circuit which have not been would conduct on half-cycles when
covered by the explanation of cir- the collector was positive and cause
cuit operation just given. To begin a partial discharge in Cl. Cl would
with, both TR1 and TR2 need to not, then, remain charged for a
be germanium types, as specified, sufficiently long period after the
because silicon transistors would bell -push had been released.
exhibit a higher base -emitter for- All these factors point to the use
ward voltage drop, with the conse- of a rectified voltage from the bell
quence that it would be necessary transformer which supplies the bell
to drop a much higher voltage itself. In this case, precautions have
across R1 to cause TR2 to bottom. to be taken to protect the transistors
The higher voltage dropped across from the voltage `spikes' which can
this resistor might then adversely appear in an electric bell circuit. A
affect bell operation, this being small level of protection is given by
particularly true if there are long C3 but the main protection is pro-
wiring runs to the bell -push. Since vided by C2. In company with the
TRI and TR2 are germanium de- resistance offered by PL1, this com-
vices, their use in the Darlington ponent provides a decoupling circuit 16 Transistor & Valve Designs
configuration causes a small, but for any `spikes' which may be pre- for the Home Constructor
significant, leakage current to appear sent across C3. The base -emitter
in TR2 when the bell -push is not junctions of TRI and TR2 are auto- Amplifiers for
Tuner Units, Record Players,
Tape Recorders,
PLI
D2 Public Address, etc., etc.
Includes contributions by such
TRI
well -known authors as
DI
R2 A. S. Carpenter, A. Kinloch,
E. Govier, G. A. French,
F. G. Rayer, P. F. Bretherick,
o
IrC2
3-4
A.C.
mains K. Jones, D. Aldous,
CI R. Murray-Shelley, C. Swires,
G. A. Stevens and V. E. Holley.
TR2
RI
Edited by J. R. Davies

r" push PL2 124 pages

0
6V 6OmA
PRICE 53p
o

TR3
ACY 19 Postage 5?,p
I I
D3 5
22kn
MEN MIEN MIN
C5
C4 SOpF
400m R6 j5V wkg To. DATA PUBLICATIONS Ltd.,
pF IOkn
57 Maida Vale London W9
4V TR4
wkg Please supply copy(ies)
ACY 19 of "Audio Amplifiers", Data
SW? ow
R4
Book No. 18. I enclose cheque/
crossed postal order for
Name
Address
Bell
R4,D3 -see text

Fig. 2. The circuit can be employed to indicate which of a number

of bell -pushes has been pressed, and this diagram shows a system
having two bell- pushes and two indicator bulbs. The components RC
in the upper section have the same values as in Fig. 1 BLOCK LETTERS PLEASE

MARCH 1971
471
 illuminated for a short period after ary instead, since the bell current
matically protected by Cl and R2. will still flow through R1 (or R4).
Rectifier D1 can be any silicon Bell -Push 2 has been released, in a
similar manner as did TRI and TR2. It may be found that some low-cost
rectifier in the Lucas DD000 cate- 'bells function better at a lower
gory. It would be advisable to use If further bell- pushes are incor-
porated in the system further sec- supply voltage.
a high voltage rectifier for D2. The The value of R1 is found experi-
reverse voltages applied to this com- tions may be added, these running
ponent during bell operation may, from the single bell transformer, mentally, and should be that which
and from the single rectified voltage causes a rectified voltage of 1 to
in some instances, be quite high and 1.5 volts to appear across Cl when
a suitable component would be a provided by D2.
the bell -push is pressed. The value
BYI00. In practice the reverse volt- will probably be of the order of
ages will very probably be con- COMPONENTS too
3 to 552. Take care not to fit
siderably lower than those at which employed in the high a value of resistor initially, or
this rectifier is rated but, since the The components voltage across Cl may
circuit are standard types, and the the rectified
BY100 is a low -cost component in exceed its working voltage rating.
any case, and since it functions as diodes have already been dealt with.
well, at low voltages, as a low volt- Resistors R2 and R3 (and R5 and The resistor finally employed should
R6 in Fig. 2) are 10% 1 watt com- be rated at one watt.
age rectifier, its choice would be If a good quality bell is employed,
justified. ponents. The 6 -volt 60mA bulb
(or bulbs) is available from Home the circuit should operate reliably
The only remaining component as described, but some difficulty
which has not been mentioned is Radio under Cat. No. PL7. It is
desirable that the transistors speci- may be experienced with inexpen-
R3. The purpose of this resistor is sive electric bells which draw a
to reduce leakage current in the fied be employed. Alternatives of
similar gain can be used, but they heavy operating current. In most
Darlington pair of transistors when or higher, voltage instances it will be found helpful to
the bell -push is not pressed, and it must have equal,
and current ratings. run such bells from a low voltage
has a value which causes the fila- tapping, as already described. Alter-
ment of the pilot lamp to be just The bell transformer employed by
the author was an inexpensive com- natively, a small -value resistor may
below glowing level. by Woolworth's be inserted directly in series with
If there are more than one bell - ponent retailed
stores, and it has a 5 -volt tap in the bell to reduce its current con-
push, the circuit to the left of diode winding. sumption. If the bell draws a heavy
D2 can be duplicated. A system its 8 -volt secondary
Bell transformers offering less than current, the indicating bulb will
with two bell -pushes, intended for satisfactory run at reduced brilliance when the
operation with a single bell trans- eight volts will not be
in the circuit. If the bell transformer bell-push is pressed, and will then
former and bell, is given in Fig. 2. eight volts, resis- brighten when the bell -push is re-
The section which includes the offers more than
tance should be inserted in series leased.
second bell -push, D3, TR3, TR4, The components in the circuit
R4 to R6, C4, C5 and PL2 is iden- with D2 at the point marked with
a cross in Figs. and 2. The resis- may be assembled in a small unit
tical with that having the similar 1
order of near the bell transformer. Capacitor
components in Fig. I. R4 has the tance should be of the
1651 for every volt in excess of eight C2 (and C5 in Fig. 2) should be
same value as R1, and D3 is the mounted close to TR2 (or TR4 in
same type as Dl. volts. In Figs. and 2, the terminal
1

When Bell -Push 2 is pressed, a of the bell which does not connect Fig. 2). If it is found that the bulb
voltage is dropped across R4, to the bell -push is wired to the continually glows at low level when
whereupon C4 becomes charged in upper end of T1 secondary. It will the associated bell -push is not
the same way as did Cl of Fig. 1. not upset operation of the transistor pressed, the value of R3 (or R6 in
Transistors TR3 and TR4 then circuitry if this terminal of the bell Fig. 2) should be reduced until the
cause PL2 to light up, and remain is connected to a tap in the second- effect clears.

under the terms of a contract worth more than

EXPANSION OF ITA UHF SERVICE £2- million placed with the company in 1967.
The Independent Television Authority announces Among the technical features of the second phase
the award to the Marconi Company of a contract stations now being investigated by the Marconi
worth more than £1- million. This contract is for the Company is the use of five -cavity klystrons of the
supply of television transmitters needed for the ex- type pioneered in Europe by the ITA since 1969. All
pansion of the ITA network of UHF main stations. the transmitters will be operated at unattended
The contract covers the supply of 15 sets of trans- stations by means of automatic or remote -control.
mitters for installation in different regions of the Each station will have three klystron amplifiers:
United Kingdom from 1972 onwards. All these
equipments, each rated at up to 12kW output, will in normal operation, the vision and sound outputs
be installed at main ITA stations to be built as part will be derived from separate amplifiers; the third
phase of the UHF Network of trans- klystron will form a reduced -power, standby unit,
of the second providing combined vision and sound output. Should
mitters being constructed to provide a duplicated
and -white a fault occur in the main units, the standby unit will
UHF 625 -line combined colour and black- be brought rapidly into operation, either automati-
service. cally or by remote control from one of the 14 ITA
The award of this contract to the Marconi Com- regional colour control centres. This will enable the
pany follows detailed assessment of tenders from a service to be maintained at a power of only 6dB
number of British and overseas firms. It is the usual below normal level.
practice of the ITA to standardise whenever possible
on a single manufacturer for a complete series of The sites at which these transmitters are to be in-
stations: 26 of the 27 main transmitting stations now stalled will be announced later. They will extend the
in which one or
in operation or being built in the first phase of this coverage in a number of regionshave already been
Network are from Pye of Cambridge. The ITA has more main transmitting stations
paid tribute to the equipment supplied by Pye, and included in the first phase of the ITA UHF network
their success in meeting the stringent delivery dates building programme.
THE RADIO CONSTRUCTOR
472
 When Si is next pressed, RLC energises and con-
Sequential tacts Cl short- circuit the coil of RLA. This releases
and contacts Al open. When switch SI is released,
relay RLC de- energises. Its contacts Cl open and
RLB de- energises also. The circuit is then in its

Latching Relay original condition, ready for the start of another

cycle of operation.

Circuit +
Si
Relay
coil
B

Relay
RLC
coil

by
l

R. A. BUTTERWORTH, G8BI Re
coil
ay

A1

RLB

A simple combination of three relays enables

circuits to be switched on, then off, by sequen-
tial closures of a push -button

The sequential latching relay circuit. Both RLA

and RLB energise when S1 is first actuated,
AREADY MADE SEQUENTIAL LAT(:HING RELAY 1S
then release when it is next actuated. External
expensive and is limited in the number of free circuits may be controlled by additional
contacts available for the operation of external contact sets on either of these two relays
circuits. For those who have never come across such
a relay it is like an ordinary relay but energising
power does not have to be applied continuously. The author uses this arrangement to switch eight
When operated, circuits are made or broken as the external circuits which bring a stand -by rig into
case may be and the power is then removed; when operation if the main transmitter fails. Two micro-
power is again applied all circuits return to their phone, two audio, three operational lines and an
original condition. The sequential operation is indicator lamp are involved, the function of the
achieved by an ingenious mechanism which latches lamp being to show that the stand -by is in use. The
the contacts on and off. large number of contacts required are provided by
In a suitable circuit, ordinary relays can be made three spare contact sets on RLA, three spare contact
to latch equally as well and possibly more reliably. A sets on RLB and two contact sets on a fourth relay
minimum of three relays is required, but these can whose coil is inserted in series with that of RLA.
still be cheaper than the proper latching relay. The Coil resistances and operating voltage are not
attraction with using ordinary relays is that more critical, and the constructor who has sufficient ex-
contacts are available. If a very large number of perience with relays to contemplate the construction
contacts are required a further relay can be added of a circuit of this nature will be able to employ
to the system. suitable components that are already on hand or
which may be purchased at low cost.
OPERATION OF THE SYSTEM
The accompanying diagram gives the basic circuit.
Only the contacts required for the operation of the
latching system are shown. The two positive supply NEW CRT CATALOGUE
points are common and, in practice, connect together.
When push- button Si is pressed, relay RLA is Characteristics of more than 80 current GEC
energised and contacts Al close. RLB cannot operate cathode ray tubes are contained in a new catalogue
because it has the positive potential applied to its `Professional Cathode Ray Tubes' published by The
coil. Immediately S1 is released RLB does operate, M -O Valve Co. Ltd.
since the positive potential at its coil causes a current Types for instrumentation, radar, alpha- numeric
to flow to earth (negative) through this coil, contacts display and T.V. studio service are included together
Al and RLA coil. This current keeps RLA and RLB with a complete equivalents list, phosphor guide and
energised. Also, contacts B1 change over. Relay RLC translation of terms into French, German, Italian
does not energise, however, because SI is open. and Spanish.
MARCH 1971 473
 NOTES ON
SEMICONDUCTORS

by
P. WILLIAMS
o
"Begin at the beginning," the King said The simplest and most familiar form of biasing.
For p.n.p. transistors the supply voltage needs
gravely, "and go on till you come to the end; to be reversed
then stop." (Alice In Wonderland.) This
to choose the correct values of resistors, but a brief
article does, indeed, begin at the beginning, explanation may not be out of place for beginners.
and it is the first in a series of short notes, The voltage swing and current needed by the load
each of which deals with a specific feature or following stage must be known. Often the collector
potential is about half the supply voltage - partly
of transistor operation to obtain maximum undistorted voltage swing, but
also to give the widest tolerance in component para-
meters. The collector current should be greater than
HE COMPLEXITY OF ELECTRONIC
the required peak load current, and may be, say,
CIRCUITS AND
T systems seems to increase without limit. We may
have reached the stage where newcomers to the
subject are overwhelmed by the quantity of informa-
twice as much. If IL is the peak load current then

Rc _.
Vs/2
2TT
tion, and these notes aim to show what can be done
with the fewest components. In each brief note some
basic property of transistors will be described, and Vs
a practical circuit based on it will be given. Many of
4iL
the circuits will have appeared before, but there will The base current is then found be dividing the col-
lector current by the d.c. current gain in common
TABLE emitter, h FE (where the capital letters in the sub-
script indicate a d.c. parameter, the `F' means for-
Component values for a range of popular transis- ward current gain and the `E' that the emitter is
tors at various supply voltages. the electrode common to input and output).

Collector Thus
Transistor Current Typical Vs Vc
11,E (volts) (volts) Rb Rc
(mA)
2N3707 0.1 250 6 3 15M52 331(12 Ib = lc /h FE and
BC108 2 250 12 8 1.5MS2 2.21(12
2N2926 2 80 6 4 220k0
Rb = Vs /Ib
1 kS2
2N706 10 40 10 4 391(52 56052 = hFE Vs /Tc.
BFY50 150 50 9 4.5 3.3k12 3312

be many novelties, and it is hoped that some charac- Comparing this with Rc =2Ic, obtained as above
teristics of transistors that are not as widely appre- by assuming half the supply voltage across Rc, we
ciated as they deserve will be revealed. have

SIMPLE BIASING Rb ", 2h FE Rc.

Old hands may by now be scoffing at the naivety

Turning the clock back 20 years, let us look at of all this and muttering about leakage current, gain
the first transistors and the circuits in which they spreads, base -emitter drops and the like. Can I beg
were used. We can then trace the evolution of present - them to be patient till next time, when we may get
day designs and, perhaps, gain some clues to the a bit closer to reality? The Table gives a selection of
future. The accompanying diagram shows the simplest suggested component values for some popular transis-
and most familiar form of biasing from those early tors at various currents. In all cases near preferred
days. To most experimenters it will be second- nature values have been chosen.
478 1HE RADIO CONSTRUCTOR
 Direct Conversion Receivers
Part 1

by
PAUL DEWHURST

The synchrodyne - sometimes described as "the superhet with an i.f. of zero

kHz" -has long been a source of fascination to the amateur experimenter.
In this first article of a 2 -part series our contributor discusses the principle
of synchrodyne reception, and then introduces some very simple receivers
which employ this principle. In next month's issue a complete 3 -valve design
for the 80 metre band is described

BOTH THE T.R.F. RECEIVER AND THE SUPERHETERO- more than one strong signal at the grid of an ampli-
dyne receiver depend for their selectivity upon fying valve that valve can be driven into its non-
highly selective tuned circuits at some radio fre- linear region and cross-modulation will result, as
quency before the required signal is turned into many who have mistakenly hotted up their old
audio, or demodulated, and the difference between S.640's and R.1155's with "little glass valves" have
them lies essentially in the fact that in the superhet found out. One can get round this nowadays to some
system the selectivity is achieved at a fixed frequency, extent by lumping all or most of the selectivity after
to which frequency the required signal is converted, the first frequency changer in the form of a mechani-
whereas in the t.r.f., or "straight" set, the selectivity cal filter or multi- crystal filter, but this is relatively
is achieved entirely at the frequency of the required expensive and the complicated superhet principle is
signal. In both systems pre- detector gain - i.f. gain still involved, which the author has always somehow
in the case of the superhet, and r.f. gain (often felt to be rather like cracking a nut with a sledge-
obtained by means of reaction) in the t.r.f. - is used. hammer.
This pre-detector gain, and the selectivity obtained It is interesting to note that, although most Ama-
at the same time, is necessary because of the detector teur transmission is nowadays either c.w. or s.s.b.,
used, which is nearly always of that type known as the envelope detector cannot by itself produce in-
an "envelope" detector. Into this category fall the telligible audio from these types of signal, and a beat
commonly used diode detectors and most of the frequency oscillator or carrier insertion oscillator has
other detectors that are encountered, such as grid to be used to heterodyne, or "translate ", the received
detectors, anode bend detectors, infinite impedance signal into the audio range.
detectors, and the various transistor detectors. All
these detectors, or "demodulators ", work by a pro- THE SYNCHRODYNE
cess of rectification, analogous to the ordinary mains
rectifier which turns 50Hz a.c. into d.c. for radio Shortly after Hitler's War a different system of
sets and other appliances. reception was developed in England by D. G.
This type of detection depends on a non -linearity Tucker, who in 1954 compiled a most interesting
which tends to turn an alternating current into a account of the development of the system'. His
pulsating direct one, and any alternating current homodyne, or synchrodyne, was a method of recep-
applied to the device will be treated in this way. tion for amplitude modulated signals in the Broad-
Thus, the envelope detector is not frequency con- cast band. The principle is quite simple. The receiver
scious; neither, unfortunately, is it very sensitive. For has a local oscillator which is synchronised to the
these reasons the pre- detector gain and selectivity carrier of the required signal. This local oscillation
mentioned before, and encountered in all normal is then allowed to modulate the incoming signal, so
receiving methods, is essential in a receiver which
is to be of any practical use at all. Even the humble,
but still very usable, crystal set must have pre - Heterodyne
detector selectivity unless one can be certain that Signal
detector Audio
only one station is transmitting - and even then a
tuned circuit will help as it gives some pre- detector Sychronisation
gain. This pre- detector gain can lead to problems, path
such as instability and cross -modulation, and the pre -
detector selectivity causes the complicated alignment Oscillator
procedures necessary with a modern highly selective
superhet. Cross -modulation in particular can be a Fig. 1. Basic synchrodyne system
difficult problem to eliminate, for wherever there is
MARCH 1971 479
that the wanted signal is obtained immediately as
audio, whereas unwanted signals are heterodyned to *twisted wire
the difference frequency between their original carrier h12

and that of the required signal. There is thus no

detection of unwanted signals (in other words, no
Medium wave broadcast receiver.1
audio is produced by them) unless their frequency
differs from that of the wanted signal by a frequency with I.F. valve removed
within the audible range, and the supersonic hetero-
dynes of the unwanted signals can be rejected by a
low pass filter immediately after the heterodyning
process. One can regard the system either as a super -
het with an i.f. of zero kHz or as a straight receiver
with a linear heterodyne detector (the old oscillating
detector which is still sometimes used for c.w. and
s.s.b. reception and the diode with b.f.o. are, of
course, non -linear heterodyne detectors). It is in fact
the simplest form of phase -locked receiver.
Fig. 1 shows the essential synchrodyne system. As A - to fixed vanes of oscillator tuning capacitor
can be seen, it is basically very simple. Nevertheless, B - to grid of first audio valve
it has never really caught on, most likely because
synchronisation and phase -locking are not always C - to chassis, or earth sockct
easy to achieve without relatively complicated cir- Fig. 2. Simple direct conversion experimental
cuitry, and almost certainly partly because by the receiver
time it was developed the design of a.m. broadcast
valve receivers was well established as the 4 -I- 1

superheterodyne. It can be seen that the receiver range of the detector, which was formerly limited by
needs no high selectivity before the detector, and r.f. weak b.f.o. injection; a diode with b.f.o. does not
amplification should not be necessary if the hetero- sound any different than a product detector.
dyne mixer noise is not too high. The selectivity of One could regard the original synchrodyne idea as
the system is determined by the bandwidth of the a phase -locked product detector, but reception of
audio amplifier, as will be explained later on, and a.m. is possible with a product detector without
this is certainly a simpler way of obtaining selectivity phase -locking, either by removing the carrier and
than by using chains of i.f. transformers, or crystal using one sideband (by means of a highly selective
filters. i.f. strip before the detector) which is in effect turn-
ing the a.m. signal into an s.s.b. signal, or by using
DIRECT CONVERSION a highly stable local oscillator with a very low tuning
rate, which makes it possible to retain the correct
The idea of the synchrodyne had appealed to the tuning position with ease (rather like tuning an
author for some time, although no attempt was made oscillating detector to zero -beat, whereupon the
to get one to work, even though circuits are available modulation becomes audible). This second method,
(see Ref. 1 for circuits and bibliography). But it known sometimes as "exalted carrier" reception2, is
occurred to him that if one looked at the type of not suitable for broadcast reception, because syn-
receiver depicted in Fig. 1, and took away the syn- chronism cannot be maintained accurately enough,
chronisation path, then one was left with what is and when it is lost distortion occurs. This distortion,
now known as a product detector, which of course however, is not enough to impair intelligibility of
is nothing more than a heterodyne detector or speech to any great extent, and the system is quite
common -or- garden frequency changer - or frequency satisfactory for Amateur a.m. phone reception. It is
translator, as s.s.b. men are now prone to say. The odd that the R.S.G.B. Handbook (third edition, page
product detector is now commonly found in receivers 93; fourth edition, page 420) should say that it is
intended for s.s.b. and c.w. reception, and gives unusable or unsuitable for reception; and of course
similar results to the diode with b.f.o. over a much the product detector is ideal for s.s.b. or c.w.
larger range of input signal voltage. It further occurred to the author that since the
Although, as has been stated, the heterodyne product detector in the Amateur superhet was "trans-
detector is an inherently selective device, this selec- lating" an r.f. (i.f. actually, but r.f. in effect) signal
tivity in the case of the usual product detector comes into audio, then one might be able to do away with
too late in the amplification chain to be of any use, the i.f. strip before it and have a product detector
and in general it is true to say that adding a product working on the actual frequency to be received.
detector to an older receiver is only of any real After all, if a product detector will turn a 465kHz
benefit from a selectivity point of view when the s.s.b. signal into audio, why should it not also turn
i.f. passband is greater than the audio passband; this a 3.8MHz s.s.b. signal into audio just as well?
is not a very commonly encountered set of con-
-

It seemed theoretically possible, but it also seemed

ditions. If the i.f. passband is less than the audio too easy. Again, there was the question which
passband, or about the same, then the only point in eternally confronts the amateur experimenter when
adding a product detector is to increase the dynamic it appears he has had an original idea: "Why, if it
is so simple, has it not been done before ?" The crux
DIRECT CONVERSION RECEIVERS of the matter in this case was whether the heterodyne
detector followed by an audio amplifier could in
A new approach to amateur band reception fact provide the sort of selectivity required in today's
i Amateur bands.
480 THE RADIO CONSTRUCTOR
 2C'ect

r
Y24

0A70
i
twisted wire

0A70
50 pF

220kn
05}F
1
A
S.640 RECEIVER
with superhets using a low frequency i.f. and that
is second channel interference, more correctly termed
"audio image" in this case. In the example given
the image signal will be 5kHz on the other side of
the local oscillator, or 10kHz away from the wanted
signal, at 1.01MHz. This is, admittedly, a defect in
the simple direct conversion receiver - but in practice
one can usually manage to avoid the interfering
signal by retuning slightly, so that the two signals
then give different beat notes relative to one another.
The required signal could then be selected by a
tunable selective audio filter, which is much easier
and cheaper to build than an i.f. filter; or, at the
very simplest level, one can tune the receiver so that
the beat note corresponds to, say, the resonance in
the headphones.
- to fixed vanes of oscillator tuning capacitor Again, one could use a device such as the "Selecto-
ject"3, which would give one completely variable
A
B - to input of A.F. amplifier selectivity and choice of beat -note frequency, and
C - to chassis of 5.640 receiver and of amplifier in practice this would eliminate a lot of the trouble
due to the inherent lack of single signal response
Fig. 3. Improved simple direct conversion characteristic of the simple direct conversion receiver.
experimental receiver With s.s.b. the "second channel" signal will be on
the wrong side of the oscillator to be intelligible, and
will be heard as meaningless sound, through which
Some simple maths will show that this "direct it has been found in practice one can perfectly well
conversion" system can in fact rival anything but hear and read the required signals. It takes a little
the most selective superheterodyne at a fraction of practice, but anyone can do it with patience.
the cost. Consider the following example, assuming In any case, while this "audio image" is admitted
an a.m. signal and a heterodyne detector: if the to be a nuisance, the simple direct conversion
input carrier has a frequency of 1.0MHz and the is
receiver should still out-perform many of the super -
audio signal of 5kHz, then
modulated with an hets of the older type which are still around. Sup-
received signal consists of the carrier plus two pose, for instance, that the audio response of the
sidebands, one of 995,000Hz and the other fre- of
amplifier is cut off at 2.5kHz (a not unreasonable
1,005,000Hz. If then the local oscillator has a figure for Amateur communication - indeed a highly
quency of 1.0MHz, the same as the signal carrier, desirable one, since anyone radiating a signal with
the two will combine in the heterodyne detector and modulation on it of more than 2.5kHz is using more
give rise to the following frequencies: sum of local than his fair share of the band), then the total pass -
oscillator and carrier, 2.0MHz; difference of local band of the receiving system is 5kHz, which is not
oscillator and carrier, zero Hz; sum of local oscilla- as bad as it may sound, since there are plenty of
tor and lower sideband, 1.995MHz; difference of superhets still around with i.f. bandwidths greater
local oscillator and lower sideband, 5kHz; sum of than this. One could make a single signal direct con-
local oscillator and upper sideband, 2.005MHz; dif- version receiver by using the phasing technique, the
ference of local oscillator and upper sideband, 5kHz. exact reverse in fact of the phasing method of s.s.b.
Thus, only the original modulation is heard and the generation, and such a receiver ought to be able to
other components are easily rejected by a low pass out -perform the best superhet, given a selective audio
filter, being well out of the audio range. It is also system. As soon as the author gets hold of a pair of
quite obvious from this example that any signal 7360 beam -deflection valves (and some time!) he
differing in frequency from that of the required one intends to experiment along these lines, but mean-
by more than that of the assumed audio passband while the results of his experiments with direct con-
(5kHz) will not be heard, as it will be dealt with version so far may be of interest.
by the low pass filter. One could only achieve greater
selectivity by restricting the audio response; the same RESULTS WITH SIMPLE RECEIVERS
thing, however, applies to the superhet as well, for
if one restricts the i.f. response one also restricts Having decided that the principle was worth
the audio response. Thus the direct conversion investigating, a very simple receiver was made up,
receiver can rival the superhet from the selectivity which is shown in Fig. 2. This arrangement may
angle. cause some raised eyebrows and even some dis-
Let us now consider the arrangement from the belief, but the author can assure readers that it does
point of view of c.w. reception, and s.s.b. as well, work, and furthermore only takes ten minutes at
for an s.s.b. signal is in reality nothing more than the most to get going. An aerial of about 20 feet
a lot of c.w. signals of different frequencies bobbing was used in the original as it was felt that anything
up and down. Suppose that the input signal is one longer might give rise to a greater amount of radia-
of 1.0MHz and that the local oscillator is on a
frequency of 1.005MHz. These two will mix to pro-
duce two beats, one of 2.005MHz, which will be DIRECT CONVERSION RECEIVERS
dealt with by the low pass filter, and another one A new approach to amateur band reception
of 5kHz, which will be heard as an audio tone. The
snag (there is nearly always one of these) is, of
401
MARCH 1971

www.americanradiohistory.com
 tion from the local oscillator than would be toler- harmonic of the local oscillator on 1.5-2.0MHz
able. The aerial tuned circuit was first made to (giving an injection signal of 3.0-4.0MHz) would be
resonate between 1.5 and 2.0MHz, since the local strong enough to make the system work. Results
oscillator of the usual medium wave superhet with were immediately obtained, several s.s.b. Amateur
an i.f. of 465kHz or thereabouts oscillates up to stations being heard quite clearly (though not very
about 2.0MHz, thus covering the Amateur "top loudly, of course, since the only amplification in
band" on 160 metres. The back -to -back diodes form the system is a two stage audio amplifier triode
the simplest product detector the author has come and output pentode in the radio set used.
across, and can be used in superhets in the usual For those wishing to try out the arrangement the
way with good results. The arrangement is not so tuning procedure is as follows. First, tune the radio
proof against a.m. signals as a valve product de- set to 200 metres, at which setting its oscillator will
tector, although it could probably be improved by be operating round about 2.0MHz, giving a harmonic
matching the diodes; it is good enough, however, for of 4.0MHz. Make sure that the wavechange switch
the present purpose. is set to the medium wave position. Then tune the
The local oscillator in Fig. 1 is the oscillator of input circuit till the noise peaks. About twenty turns
the medium wave radio set used for the experiment, of wire on an average ferrite rod will tune to
which should employ valves in the usual frequency- 4.0MHz with a 500pF tuning capacitor; if it does
changer, i.f. amplifier, double- diode- triode and out- not, remove the ferrite rod slowly until it does or,
put pentode line -up. This receiver must be an a.c.- if this fails, add more turns. Signals should now be
only type of set with an isolating mains transformer. heared and can be tuned in by means of the tuning
The author used a crocodile clip to connect the 50pF knob of the radio set, thus altering the oscillator
.

capacitor to the fixed vanes of the oscillator section frequency. There should be little pulling between
of the receiver tuning capacitor; it clipped quite the two circuits. The input tuning is fairly flat, and
easily onto the solder tag. The fin. length of twisted hardly needs altering from one end of the 80 metre
insulated wires forms a small capacitor which helps band to the other (3.5- 3.8MHz). You will not be
to reduce the oscillator amplitude to a reasonable blown out of your seat by the loudness of reception,
level, and also helps to reduce "pulling" or inter- and the arrangement is not offered as a receiver for
action between the input tuned circuit and that of serious use, but those trying it out will almost cer-
the oscillator. If desired, a variable trimmer, prefer- tainly be amazed by the selectivity of the system
ably of the concentric type, could be used here. Also, and the ease with which s.s.b. signals tune in. More
the 50pF capacitor may be left out if the distance will be heard, of course, if high resistance head-
between the two circuits is not greater than a few phones are used, one lead to chassis and the other
inches. The capacitance employed should be the via a 0.0111F capacitor to the anode of the output
smallest found to give reasonable results. Too little valve in the radio set.
oscillator injection will give high noise level and If signals are too weak to be readable, try a
weak signals, whereas too much injection will give longer aerial, connected via a small capacitor (about
a high noise level and spurious signals due to har- 15 -25pF) if it is very long. However, something
monics of the oscillator. The i.f. valve in the receiver should be heard with the short aerial, especially after
is removed from its socket so that no signals will dark or on Sunday mornings, when there are some
be heard by way of the normal signal path, and the quite hefty signals about. Using this extremely
audio side of the set is used to amplify the tiny simple set -up the author has heard Amateur s.s.b.
audio signals from the product detector. stations from Germany, the Netherlands, France,
The arrangement was tried on 160 metres but and of course plenty of British stations. C.W. recep-
pulling of the oscillator by the aerial input circuit tion is also very good, and for the occasional foray
was so great that the system was unusable. So the onto a.m. just tune to zero beat and try to keep
input circuit was made to tune to 80 metres (with it there. The arrangement sounds and tunes just like
the tuning capacitor very nearly open, for low C a superhet with the b.f.o. on, and if anyone can think
and greater sensitivity) in the hope that the second of a simpler way of receiving s.s.b. or c.w. with

CAN ANYONE HELP ?

Requests for information are inserted in this feature free of charge, subject to space being available.
Users of this service undertake to acknowledge all letters, etc., received and to reimburse all reasonable
expenses incurred by correspondents. Circuits, manuals, service sheets, etc., lent by readers must be
returned in good condition within a reasonable period of time.

Fi -Cord IA Portable Tape Recorder. -

M. A. Am-
stell, 37 Basing Hill, Wembley Park, Middx circuit
Dinsdale' Amplifier. -R. G. Haseler, 30 Acheson
Road, Birmingham 28, B28 OTJ - circuit diagram or
diagram, manual, or any information. any other details.
Harverson F. M. Tuner Kit. - W. E. Wood, 13
Tillbridge Lane, Sturton -by -Stow, Lincoln. circuit
Receiver Type 78. - D. L. Roberts, 7 Oundle Road.
Moreton, Wirral, Cheshire circuit diagram and any
of this unit, using ECC85 tuning head. other details of this ex -WD set.

Grundig Radiogram /Tape Recorder.-F. A. Howes,

AVO Universal Bridge. -
G. M. Keenan, 15 Tudor
Drive, Cregagh, Belfast, BT6 9LS circuit or service
38 Manor Road, Banbury, Oxon service sheet or manual for AVO Universal Bridge No. 408 -151. Also
circuit of this equipment (No.8090 WFE /3D). for `Radar' CRT Tube Tester- Reactivator.
482 THE RADIO CONSTRUCTOR

www.americanradiohistory.com
good selectivity, the author would like to hear about
it It is in fact a completely usable receiving system
!

for 80 metres if one uses headphones and is prepared CURRENT SChEDULES

to listen mainly to fairly strong stations, since the Times = GMT Frequencies = kHz
sensitivity is naturally limited. The author used it
for several weeks instead of his usual Eddystone * SPAIN
S.640 receiver, and no particular lack of signals was RNE Madrid, broadcasts to North America and
noticed. Naturally, one would not use such a simple Canada from 0100 to 0345 on 6140 and 11925. RNE
system to try and hear stations from the Antipodes. broadcasts to Europe in German at 2000, French at
2100 and in English at 2200 on 11710.
ADDING BANDSPREAD * KUWAIT
After several weeks' experience it was decided that Programmes in English are now radiated from
tuning would be much easier if bandspread was 0400 to 0900 and from 1600 to 2100 on 4967.5, from
provided, and that more audio amplification would 1600 to 1800 to Asia on 9640 and to Europe on
be a good thing. Accordingly, the arrangement shown 11825, from 1830 to 2000 to Europe on 9640.
in Fig. 3 was devised. As can be seen, this is merely * MALI
a more sophisticated version of the previous circuit. Radio Mali is on the air weekdays from 0600 to
Now, the S.640 receiver is brought into use, its 0800 on 4783, 5995, and 7110. Also from 1800 to 2330
oscillator working on half- frequency to avoid pull- on the same frequencies. 7110 channel is also used
ing, with the result that bandspread is good and from 1200 to 1430. On the air Sundays from 0800 to
tuning much easier. The audio amplifier consisted 1730 on 7110 and from 1830 to 2300 on 4783, 5995
of an ECC83 and an EL84, but no details are given and 7110.
of the circuit as almost any sensitive amplifier should
do just as well. For really high gain a tape recorder * PAKISTAN
amplifier would probably be ideal, and there is no
The English Service to North America from 0015
to 0100 is on 9640 and 11672. Radio Pakistan can
reason why a transistor amplifier should not be used, also be heard on 7095 and 9460, in parallel, around
as long as some attempt is made to match the high 2000.
output impedance of the product detector to the
low input impedance of the amplifier. The main * ECUADOR
requirement of the amplifier is that it should have HCJB, Voice of the Andes, has replaced the
high gain and a low noise figure, Which is why a 21460 channel with that of 11780 for the European
tape recorder amplifier should be effective, since the evening transmissions to Europe. 17900 channel has
requirements of such an amplifier are precisely the been replaced by 17755 for the same transmission
same. (1845 to 2000 in English).
The author found that the ECC83 -EL84 arrange- * MALAYSIA
ment gave good results, and the gain was enough Radio Malaysia may be heard with a programme
to make mains hum pick -up a problem at the maxi- in English from around 1030, with newscast at 1100,
mum gain setting. The setting of the tuning capacitor on 7280 and on 9660 in parallel.
of the S.640 (or of any other set with bandspread
which one cares to use) has to be worked out by * NEW ZEALAND
taking away the i.f. frequency from the required Radio New Zealand now broadcasts to Australia
signal frequency divided by 2. So, if one wants to from 0900 to 1145 on 9520 and 11705, the latter
receive signals on 7MHz, then one requires an oscilla- channel replacing that of 11820. Radio New Zealand
tor frequency of 3.5MHz, and when the oscillator may also be heard at 1655 when signing on to the
is tuned to this frequency when using the S.640 or Pacific Islands on 11780.
any other receiver with an i.f. of 1.6MHz then the
dial pointer will show 3.5 minus 1.6MHz, i.e. 1.9
* UNITED ARAB REPUBLIC
The European Service from Cairo can be heard
MHz. from 1830 to 2300 on 9805, this replacing the pre-
The S.640 did not permit operation on 80 metres viously used 9675 channel.
because it does not tune to a low enough frequency * USA
for the second harmonic of the oscillator to fall in KGEI, The Voice of Friendship, San Francisco,
the band, but with the arrangement shown in Fig. 3 can now be heard from 2330 to 0200 on 15280 and
good results were obtained on 40 metres and on 20 from 0200 to 0500 on 9695. The latter outlet is
metres. A few s.s.b. signals even came through on covered by RSA (Johannesburg) until 0320. KGEI
15 metres, although at the higher frequencies it was
apparent that a lower -noise mixer was necessary. It has been heard from 2330 to 2400 on 15280 with
was also found that better results were obtained by programmes in both English and Spanish.
removing the EL84 and using high resistance head- * VENEZUELA
phones, one lead connecting to the chassis of the YVXJ Radio Barquisimeto may be heard from
amplifier and the other to the grid pin of the EL84 around 2100 to 2200 on 9510 (10kW). At 2200 the
socket, thus using the ECC83 only as an amplifier. channel is used by BBC Atlantic Relay (Ascension
(To be concluded) Island). YVMQ Radio Barquisimeto may be heard
REFERENCES on Sundays from 0245 to 0400 on 4990 (15kW).
1. D. G. Tucker, "The history of the homodyne and synchrodyne ",
Journal of the British Institution of Radio Engineers, 1954, * CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
April, p. 143. Bangui may be heard from 2045 to 2130 sign -off
2. M. G. Crosby, W2CSY, "Product detectors", 'Single Sideband on 5035 (30kW) with news in English at 2030.
for the Radio Amateur', p. 34 ARRL publication.
3. "The Selectojet ", 'The Radio Amateur's Handbook', 1965, p. Acknowledgements: - Our Listening Post, SCDX
131. ARRL publication.
MARCH 1971 483
 MODIFYING TI
COMMUNICA
(F

The `Trio' 9R -59DE communicatioi

with short wave listeners both in
priced, the receiver represents e)
expenditure of a little time and n

THE ADVENT OF THE 'TRIO' 9R -59DE COMMUNICATIONS After any modification, and prior to reconnection
receiver has enabled many short wave listeners of the a.c. mains and switching on the receiver,
not having the proverbial long pocket to obtain a always ensure that the 230V/150V switch is in the
design which is excellent in its class and price range, 230V position. If the switch is incorrectly positioned,
and which can be further improved by a few modi- the fuse will blow (provided the correctly rated 2A
fications. These alterations do not necessarily have fuse is fitted).
to be carried out at one and the same time, and During modifications, always stand the receiver on
they may be spread out over a period as the available the bench such that the mains transformer is nearest
time and spare cash permits. the bench top.
In this short series, the modifications to be
described are divided into two sections. Those dis- MODIFICATION 1
cussed here are simple to carry out whilst those
described in Part 2 (to be published next month) are To completely eradicate any unwanted r.f. coup-
more complex. lings along the heater line, three 5,000pF ceramic
Throughout the series it is assumed that the modi- capacitors are used to bypass the heater line to
fications described by C. M. Lindars in the October chassis. The first is connected from pin 4 of V1
1970 issue of this magazine have been carried out.' (6BA6) to chassis - see Fig. 2(b); the second from
The manufacturer's specification is shown in Table pin 4 of V2 (6BE6) to chassis and the third from
I and the circuit block diagram in Fig. 1. From this pin 5 of V3 (a) (6AQ8) to chassis.
it will be seen that the receiver is a single- conversion
superhet having an r.f. stage, a mixer with separate
oscillator, two i.f. stages with 455kHz mechanical
I.F AMPLIFIER SECTION
filters, a germanium diode a.m. detector, product
detector and b.f.o., audio and power amplifiers, half
wave voltage doubler a.g.c. rectifier, noise limiter,
S- meter, and h.t. rectifier. A total of seven solid -
state devices are incorporated in the circuit, D1 -
the S -meter rectifier - not being shown in the block
VI

6BA6
RE Amp
- 6BE6
Mixer
V2
MF1

455kHz
V4

6BA6

diagram of Fig. 1.
'S meter
WARNING V3a
I/2 6AQ8
Before commencing any of the modifications to be Oscillator
described, all connections to the receiver should be
removed. It is particularly important that the mains
plug he disconnected from the a.c. mains socket.
At the rear of the chassis, on the back apron, is
--it 4 Band
fitted a slide switch immediately under the fuse - Coil pack D2D3
holder. This switch must at all times (in the U.K.) IN60
be in the 230V position and not, in the 150V position. Sw055
If the receiver is rested on the-bench such that the A.G.C.
front panel is uppermost, ensure that this switch is Rectif
clear of the bench top by resting the chassis on two D6.7 E
small piles of books. It will be necessary to place the SW -055x2 L
receiver in this position during the lining -up process Rectifier
to be described in Part 2.
1 Copies of the October 1970 issue may be obtained direct from the 1. Block diagram of the '

publisher at 20p post paid.

484 7HE RADIO CONSTRUCTOR
E 'TRIO' 9R -59DE
ntCaver Feature
IONS RECEIVER
RT 1) TABI.1'. I

`Trio' 9R -59DE
Manufacturer's Specification
receiver has proved to be very popular Frequency ranges
3 country and abroad. Very reasonably 550- 1,600kHz
llent value, and it is possible with the 1.6 -4.8 MHz
4.8 -14.5 MHz
ley to further improve its performance 10.5 -30MHz

Bands prend
(Direct Reading on Amateur Bands)
These capacitors also assist in the eradication of 3.5MHz 80m
a.c. mains hum - of which more later. 7MHz 40m
14MHz 20m
MODIFICATION 2 21MHz 15m
28MHz 10m
Fig. 2(a) shows the r.f. stage which has been
previously modified (as described in the October Sensitivity
1970 issue) to include its own gain control and a A, B, C, BANDS -Less than 6dB
6852 resistor in the R3 position (for 10dB S/N ratio)
Fig. 2(b) shows the r.f. stage after further modifi- D, BAND- 13MHz; Less than 18dB
cation. From this it will be seen that the a.g.c. com- (for 10dB S/N ratio)
ponents Cl (150pF) and R2 (IMO) have been 28MHz; Less than 10dB
removed. Additionally, the grid resistor R1 (4752) (for 10dB S/N ratio)
has been taken out. A short length of p.v.c. covered
wire should now be connected from pin 1 of VI Selectivity
to the r.f. coil tag from which Cl was disconnected. ±5kHz at - 50dB
Audio power output
2 All R and C designations in this series conform to those of the 1.5 watts

t
receiver Operating Manual.

Power supply
AC 115/230V, 50 /60Hz
DETECTOR AND AUDIO SECTION
r
Power consumption
45 watts
I
-
D4 V7b 6AQ8 V8 6AQ5
-Po
A6 IN60 Audio amp. Power amp Valves and Diodes
6BA6 RF Amplifier
6BE6 Mixer
6AQ8 Oscillator
6BA6 I.F. Amplifier
1N60 Detector
SW -05S ANL
V6 6BE6 V7a 1/2 MOB SW-05S 1N60 AGC
Product
B.FO.
-6AQ8 BFO
detector 16AQ8 Audio Amplifier
6AQ5 Audio Power Output
SW -05 X 2 Rectifier
1N60 S Meter
(D5 SW -055
Noise limiter Recommended speaker type
4 or 8 ohm moving -coil speaker

Dimensions
lin. H, 15in. W, loin. D.
Weight
R9 -59DE communications receiver 18.8 lbs.
MARCH 1971 485
 The 10kí2 potentiometer in the cathode line should most of it had been induced between the two adjacent
be replaced by a 5kû potentiometer. transformers.
In practice, it has been found that this modification Unsolder all the output transformer wires, to both
causes the receiver to have enhanced sensitivity. Pro- primary and secondary connections, then remove
vided the r.f. gain control is used intelligently, the the transformer from the top of the chassis deck and
circuit will not be subject to cross -modulation effects. re-locate it on the rear apron of the coil pack. When
The foregoing modification represents the simplest unsoldering the connections from the output trans-
that can be made to the existing r.f. stage, and it is former, it is necessary to make notes of the wire
capable of being carried out by comparative beginners. colour codes and their correct connections. This
In Part 2, to be published next month, a more com- precaution makes the re- wiring process an easy
plex modification to this stage - the substitution of matter.
the higher gain type EF183 for the 6BA6 - will The output transformer can be secured to the coil -
be described. With the high amplification then avail- pack rear apron with the aid of a 6BA nut and bolt
able, the components which have just been removed fitted with a shakeproof washer. This is fitted through
from the grid circuit of the 6BA6 will require to be an existing hole located between the r.f. coils for
replaced; they should therefore be retained by those Bands B and C. The necessary second securing bolt is
wishing to carry out this further modification. that which already holds the r.f. coil for Band A

C3

(b)
Fig. 2(a). Circuit of the ri.stage prior to modification. It is assumed that the modifications
described in the October 1970 issue have been carried out
(b). Circuit of the r.f. stage after the modifications described here

MODIFICATION 3 (this being the largest r.f. coil at the rear right -hand
edge of the pack). Rewire the output transformer
The two basic shortcomings of the receiver are into circuit.
(a) excessive 50Hz a.c. mains hum -
particularly It will be found, after this modification, that hum
noticeable when using 8Q headphones and (b) - has almost completely vanished, even when using
oscillator instability above 15MHz. headphones. The remaining very small amount of
The first of these will disappear once the follow- residual hum is that to be expected from most
ing modification has been carried out. The second mains operated equipment.
shortcoming will be dealt with next month.
The first cure for excessive hum tried out was to MODIFICATION 4
fit an additional smoothing circuit in the main h.t.
line but this proved to be ineffective, only a small This modification entails the fitting of a separate
improvement being gained at the expense of a reduced 6.3V supply for the Bandspread and Bandset dial
supply voltage. lamps, thereby removing some of the load from the
The a.c. mains 50Hz hum was found to be almost hard working mains transformer, and in addition
entirely due to the siting of the output transformer providing a dial lamp for the S- Meter.
on the chassis deck right alongside the mains trans- For this modification the following items must be
former. Upon re- siting the output transformer under obtained: a heater transformer having a rating of
the chassis the hum virtually vanished, proving that 6.3V at 1.5A (H. L. Smith & Co. Ltd., type LTI),
486 THE RADIO CONSTRUCTOR

www.americanradiohistory.com
 an MES bracket (Home Radio Ltd., Cat. No. PLH2)
and a round MES pilot lamp rated at 6.3V 0.3A.
The heater transformer is mounted on the chassis
deck centrally between the Bandset and Bandspread N EW HAND/PAN
tuning capacitors. The tags of the transformer should
point towards the front panel. Secure the transformer
to the chassis deck by means of two 4PK self- tapping
screws. When drilling through the chassis deck, take
great care to ensure that the drill does not cause dam-
PANEL SIGNS
age to any of the coils, coil wiring or switch wafers.
To the input side of the transformer (clearly IDEAL FOR WORKSHOP USE
marked on the component) connect two lengths of
p.v.c. covered wire - clear plastic- covered lighting
flex is ideal - and feed the free ends down below the
chassis through the Bandset dial chassis cut -out.
Solder the end of one length to the tag of the on /off
switch to which a yellow p.v.c. covered wire is al-
ready attached, and solder the end of the remaining
length to the fuseholder tag to which a brown a.c.
mains input lead is connected. Ensure that the Band -
set dial rotates freely and that the a.c. mains input
wires to the heater transformer do not chafe against
the circular drum drive.
Disconnect the existing heater leads from the
mains transformer to the dial lights. These are blue
and black p.v.c. leads connected to the mains trans- Easy to fix
former tags nearest the capacitor C45 associated Permanent and durable
with the fuseholder. These lengths of wire can now
be used when wiring up the S -Meter lamp. Stapled in booklet form
Looking from the front panel, from the left -hand Designed to hang above workbench
panel lamp assembly connect the blue and black
leads to the heater transformer secondary (6.3V) Pocket for loose cuttings
tags. These are clearly marked on the component. Professional finish
Obtain the MES bracket and secure this to the
metal screening panel associated with the Bandspread
capacitors. Use the existing bolt at the top of the * Set 3 Wording -WHITE
screen nearest the front panel. Do not tighten this * Set 4 Wording -BLACK
bolt as yet.
Screw home the new pilot lamp, carefully bend * Set 5 DIALS -clear background
the two `legs' of the MES bracket through 45° and * Set 6 DIALS -black background
adjust it such that the lamp is near (but not touching)
the S -Meter dial edge in a position between the
S -Meter and the Bandspread dial assembly. Secure The Perfect Transfer for
the bolt holding the MES bracket.
Connect two p.v.c. covered wires from the added the Home Constructor
dial lamp tags to the secondary 6.3V tags of the
heater transformer. Each Set contains Six Sheets
NEXT MONTH
In the following issue we shall be dealing with the
four steps necessary to achieve oscillator stability
above 15MHz, a tape recording facility, the addition
25p per set
of a double -tuned i.f. stage and full frequency (postage 22p)
alignment. MMMMMM a IM NM IN

To Data Publications Ltd.

57 Maida Vale, London, W.9
NEW SPECIAL DUTY BATTERY
Please supply:
A new 12 volt primary battery has been introduced
by Crompton Parkinson Ltd., a Hawker Siddeley Set 3 Set 4 Set 5 Set 6
Electric company, for use where good storage I enclose cheque /crossed postal order for
properties are required along with low quiescent
current drains and only sporadic high current re- Name
quirements. Address
The battery, type G1470, has two 4BA screwed
brass terminals soldered to the inner cell assembly.
The cell is protected by a plastic wrap to prevent any
deterioration leading to a shortening of its life when RC BLOCK LETTERS PLEASE
operating in a damp environment.
MARCH 1971
487

www.americanradiohistory.com
THE
'CRUSADER'
SIMPLE SUPER H ET
(Part 3)
by
F. A. BALDWIN

In this concluding article, the author describes the testing

and alignment of the receiver

ON COMPLETION OF THE WIRING A CAREFUL CHECK of Cl or C2, and set it to 465kHz. Adjust R13 to
should be made for dry joints and incorrect its maximum setting and attenuate the signal genera-
connections. If in doubt, always refer back to tor until its output is just audible from the loud-
the circuit diagram given in Fig. 1 published last speaker. If an interfering signal causes a heterodyne
month. Remove any blobs of solder which may have beat, readjust Cl, CIO until the interference clears.
fallen into the chassis. Check for h.t. short- circuits Then, using an insulated tool, slowly and carefully
by testing between the positive plate of C26 (the adjust the cores of IFT1 and IFT2 for maximum
yellow tag of the dual electrolytic capacitor) and output from the loudspeaker, increasing signal gener-
chassis. If an ohmmeter is used for this test, its ator attenuation as required to keep the output just
needle will give an `initial' kick' due to charging above audible level. None of the cores should require
currents in the electrolytic capacitors. a great deal of adjustment, and it is preferable to
Fit the valves and connect a loudspeaker, and an align them in sequence, starting at IFT2 and working
aerial and earth, to the appropriate sockets. Plug back to IFT1. The sequence should be repeated, after
into the a.c. mains and switch on. Pilot lamp PL1 which the signal generator can be removed. No
should light immediately and, after several moments, further i.f. alignment is then required.
there should be a visible glow from the valve heaters. Should a signal generator not be available, the i.f.
When the valves have warmed up a hiss will be transformer cores are adjusted on a received signal.
evident from the speaker as R13 is turned towards The procedure is much the same, the main thing to
maximum. Check reception over the four wavebands. bear in mind being that alignment should always be
The i.f. transformer cores will not be in their final carried out on a weak signal. Switch to medium
aligned positions but it should still be possible to waves and tune in a fairly weak signal which shows
receive a number of signals on all four bands. no sign of fading. Attenuate the signal by using a
The accompanying Table lists test voltages ob- very short aerial, such as a piece of wire several feet
tained with the prototype receiver with no signal long laid on the bench, and carefully tune the receiver
applied. These are intended as a guide only, and the for maximum signal strength. After this, leave the
usual tolerances apply. receiver tuning undisturbed and adjust the i.f. trans-
The i.f. transformers may next be aligned. This former cores in the same way as for the signal gener-
process should not be carried out until the receiver ator. The signal input can be reduced as required
has had at least ten minutes' warming-up time. by shortening the aerial or, even, by using no aerial
If a signal generator is available disconnect the at all. (Direct signal pick -up on the coilpack coils
aerial, select the medium wave band, apply the signal and wiring can occur when the receiver is not
generator output between chassis and the fixed vanes mounted in its metal case.)
Any adjustment made to the coilpack alignment
should be carried out on the aerial circuits only and
not in the oscillator section. The trimmers are adjust-
ed at the high frequency end of each band, and the
dust cores at the low frequency end. The positions
of trimmers and cores are shown in Fig. 10. Each
trirhmer should be adjusted with C3 set to mid -
capacitance. If, however, it is found that a trimmer,
even at minimum capacitance, only approaches the
signal peak and cannot pass through it, reduce the
capacitance inserted by C3 and leave the coilpack
trimmer at minimum capacitance. It is possible that
second -channel signals may be received at the high
frequency end of the SW2 band, the effect being
that the same signal appears at two fairly close
settings of Cl, C10. Should this occur, set Cl, C10
THE RADIO CONSTRUCTOR
488

www.americanradiohistory.com
 After i.f. and r.f. tests have been completed, the
TABLE coilpack should be switched to the `Gram' position.
V3 and V4 should then amplify any a.f. signal
Circuit Position Volts applied to the a.f. input sockets.
Pin 6 VI 150 When the best possible results have been obtained,
Pin 8 VI 66 the receiver may be finally installed inside its metal
Pin 6 V2 88 cabinet, whereupon it is ready for use. It is im-
Pin 5 V2 130 portant to note that the receiver must, on no account,
Pin 7 V3 68 be operated without a loudspeaker connected. If the
Pin 7 V4 170 secondary of output transformer T1 is not suitably
Pin 8 V4 180 loaded it is possible for high audio voltages to
appear in its primary circuit, with consequent risk
of damage.
to the setting where it has lower capacitance and trim The author's prototype performs extremely well
to this. It may be necessary to `rock' C2, C11 back over its entire frequency range and has provided
and forth through the signal when trimming at the many hours of pleasurable listening. The 'Crusader'
high frequency end of the SW2 band, due to slight design offers a very useful introduction to the con-
oscillator `pulling'. struction and operation of a superhet receiver.

CONNECTING THE DIODE

Transistor Power The zener diode should be wired in place of the
cathode bias resistor. If the valve bias is greater than
from the required transistor supply voltage (and hence the
zener voltage) then a smaller value additional bias
Valve Amplifiers resistor should be wired between the zener diode
and the cathode, as in Fig. 1.
To find the value required for the additional re-
by sistor, first subtract the zener voltage from the cath-
ode voltage to obtain the voltage that is to appear
C. P. FINN across it. Then divide this figure by the cathode
current of the valve. Thus, if the zener voltage is
10, the cathode voltage 12 and the cathode current
Obtaining power for transistor circuits from 50mA (= 0.05A), the value of the additional resistor
the cathode of an a.f. output valve is 2/0.05, or 4052. In practice a 3952 resistor would
be used.
ANY READERS WILL KNOW THAT A POWER
Msource for a transistor pre -amplifier can be
'borrowed' by tapping off voltage from the
cathode of a single -ended a.f. output valve. Usually
an adjustment is made to the cathode bias resistor,
and if the transistor unit is disconnected a dummy
load is substituted.
An improvement is given by connecting a zener
diode in the cathode circuit: this eliminates the need Potential
for a dummy load and guarantees the stability of the divider
voltage.

+
Fig. 2. An alternative circuit, which enables
supply voltage to be greater than cathode bias
voltage
If the bias is less than the zener voltage the zener
diode is still connected in the cathode circuit, and
the grid resistor is connected, not to chassis, but to
Zener the tap in a potential divider across the zener diode.
diode This arrangement is shown in Fig. 2. The total value
of the two resistors forming the potential divider can
-I
To
i+
transistor
be anywhere between 10kS2 and 100k12, and the ratio
between their values should be such that the bias
circuit voltage appears across the upper. To give another
example, say that zener voltage is 15 and grid bias
voltage is 11. Suitable values for the upper and lower
'-Fig:1. -Obtaining a supply for a transistor pre-
resistors in the potential divider would then be 11k1
amplifier from an a.f. output valve when and 4k12 respectively. The latter would, in practice,
cathode bias voltage is greater than the
required supply voltage be 3.9k1ì.
I MARCH 1971\ 439
 RECENT PUBLICATIONS all
SINGLE SIDEBAND FOR THE RADIO AMATEUR. Published by American Radio Relay League.

254 pages, 61 x 9 ¡in. Price £1.85 (37/ -) post paid.

The technique of SSB transmission and reception must be comprehended by all present -day and future radio
amateurs. It is a complex subject, the understanding of which is greatly helped by suitable instructional literature.
This book is eminently suitable for this purpose.
The Foreword to the new edition of this well -known manual states:- The pages of QST have carried the
complete story of this transition from AM to SSB, covering the whole field of amateur SSB technique in the
process. Building a book around the significant articles published in QST has been, and continues to be, a logical
way to present the constantly changing SSB picture. This new edition continues the plan of selecting major
articles describing principles, practice, and current circuit methods . ". .

"In this edition, special emphasis has been placed on those principles and methods that an amateur must
observe in adjusting and using his transmitter in order to avoid causing unnecessary interference. In addition,
there is a large selection of well -tried equipment designs which the experimentally inclined constructor can modify,
combine and select from to his heart's content."
There is, indeed, a goodly selection of equipment designs. The chapter dealing with Exciters includes a
Phasing -Type Sidebander, also a Filter-Type 100 Watt Output Sidebander. There is an excellent section on Trans-
ceivers; a Solid -State SSB Transceiver, a 50 Watt PEP Output Transceiver for 75, a 7MHz Mobile SSB Transceiver,
a Transistorised Transceiver (Almost), a Transceiving Converter for 160 and a 21 /28MHz Transverter for 3.5MHz.
Transceivers are fully described with considerable constructional information and detail.
Linear Amplifiers and their construction are fully covered, as well as their adjustment and testing. The section
on Receivers covers solid -state product detectors and gives a variety of designs for up -to -date SSB receiving
equipment.
The book concludes with sections on SSB VHF Techniques, Accessories, Appendices on Valve Ratings,
Regulations, etc. A most comprehensive book which can be recommended.

LOW COST PROPORTIONAL. -By W. P. Holland. Published by Radio Control Publishing Co. Ltd.

118 pages, 5; x Bin. Price £1.05 (21/-).

This excellent book is published by the proprietors of the monthly magazine Radio Modeller. In the foreword
it is stated they receive many enquiries from owners of single channel radio control equipment who wish to pro-
gress to a system of control giving smoother results. Upon being advised to "go multi -proportional ", these readers
find that multi -proportional costs more than they can afford, with the price of a suitable transmitter and receiver
being at the £100 mark.
This well -illustrated book explains how to go "multi" for much less than the figure quoted, provided one is
prepared to construct the equipment. The publication covers the subject fully, from the simplest pulsed rudder,
through proportional rudder, plus sequential, selective and progressive elevator and engine control, to full dual
proportional rudder and elevator, with progressive or sequential engine control. The subject matter is dealt with
in a logical and concise manner. The earlier chapters cover the theory of the systems adequately and lucidly,
the emphasis being on the practical applications of theory rather than theory itself.
In the constructional sections of the book, instructions are set out clearly and fully; in some cases almost
as much detail is provided as can be found in a kit manual. It is of interest to note that full details are given for
making up printed circuit boards -
information which is taken for granted and not provided often enough in con-
structional articles. There is also a description of a simple transistor tester and some hints on batteries.
A very useful book which can be recommended to radio control model enthusiasts, whether they be beginners
or more experienced
490 THE RADIO CONSTRUCTOR

www.americanradiohistory.com
 UNDERSTANDING
BASIC PRINCIPLES

by W. C. Morley

This is the first of a short series written specifically

for the beginner

FROM TIME TO TIME WE RECEIVE total electrical charge presented by the original atom which lost the
requests from newcomers to the atom is zero, because the oppo- first electron now has an electron
the hobby of radio construc- site charges held by the protons too few, and is therefore ready to
tion for articles which explain the and electrons cancel out. accept a wandering electron from
basic technical principles involved. The manner in which electrons another atom. The overall result is
To meet these requirements in the orbit round the nucleus is reminis- that there is a continual random
past, we published the series 'Under- cent of that in which man -made flow of free electrons throughout
standing Radio', this dealing with satellites travel round the Earth. the atoms of the material, their
the main aspects of the subject in The satellites are held in orbit by, movement from atom to atom being
some detail. However, 'Understand- the gravitational attraction which completely haphazard. It should be
ing Radio' was a long series; it exists between the two bodies. Elec- noted at this stage that when an
commenced in the August 1961 trons, however, are maintained in atom loses or gains an electron it
issue and ended in the March 1970 orbit due to an electrical attraction is described as an ion. If the atom
issue. Since the more elementary to the nucleus, this resulting from has an electron too many it be-
points were dealt with early in that the fact that unlike electrical charges comes a negative ion, because its
series and since newcomers are attract each other. Similar charges, overall charge is equal to that of
always joining the ranks of radio on the other hand, repel each other. the electron; and if it has an elec-
enthusiasts, it was considered that tron too few it becomes a positive
a short series giving succinct details ion, because its overall charge is
on basic principles would be very Copper equal to that of the proton which
welcome at the present time. This wire is not now cancelled by a corres-
article forms the first of the series. Direction of ponding electron.
electron flow Materials which have free elec-
ELECTRICITY tions moving from atom to atom
are capable of functioning as con-
An understanding of radio cannot ductors of electricity, the most im-
be achieved without an initial appre- portant of these in electrical work
ciation of the fundamentals of elec- being the metals. All metals, such
tricity. In consequence, we turn first as copper, zinc, aluminium, etc., are
to a consideration of atoms, which conductors. Fig. I shows a copper
are the smallest parts of matter Negative torce Positive wire to whose ends are connected
capable of entering into chemical a source of electromotive force
combination. Fig. 1. Illustrating the manner (or e.m.f.) which may in practice
An atom consists basically of a in which an electric current consist of a battery. The positive
nucleus around which one or more flows in a conductor terminal of the source of electro-
particles called electrons travel in motive force connects to the right -
orbit. These electrons carry a nega- hand end of the wire and the nega-
tive charge of electricity. The In the atoms of some materials, tive terminal connects to the left -
nucleus contains one or more pro- including in particular the metals, hand end of the wire. Free electrons
tons, each having a positive charge some of the electrons are not held at the right-hand end of the wire
of electricity equal to the negative very securely to the nucleus. In are attracted towards the positive
charge of an electron. The number consequence, an electron may leave terminal of the source of electro-
of protons varies according to the the nucleus of one atom and pass motive force and leave their parent
material of which the atom forms into orbit around the nucleus of a atoms. These, becoming positive
a part, but each atom is so consti- neighbouring atom. Since the neigh- ions, attract electrons from atoms
tuted that, in the absence of outside bouring atom then has one electron to their left which, in turn, attract
influence, the number of electrons too many, it may similarly lose an electrons from further atoms to the
in orbit normally equals the number electron to another neighbouring left. The overall result is that there
of protons in the nucleus. Thus the atom, and so on. At the same time, is now a general flow of electrons
_MARCH 1971 491
along the wire from left to right results in the flow of one coulomb the e.m.f. available between the
instead of the previous random per second. The coulomb is not bottom and top terminals is approxi-
movement. This flow of electrons in encountered very frequently in mately 3 volts. If the cells are con-
one direction constitutes an electric simple radio work. nected in parallel, as in Fig. 2(c),
current. the available e.m.f. remains un-
When visualising the flow of the CELLS AND BATTERIES changed at about 1.5 volt, but the
electrons which make up the electric combination is capable (provided
current, it must be remembered A common source of electromo- both cells are identical) of providing
that, although the current appears tive force is the electric cell. One twice the useful current that a
immediately after the source of version of the cell is very familiar single cell can produce.
electromotive force is connected, due to its use in electric torches, When two or more cells are con-
the actual speed of each individual and it has the appearance shown in nected in series, the combination
electron from left to right is rela- Fig. 2(a). There is a zinc outside is referred to as a battery. Usually,
tively very slow. Individual electrons container which provides the nega- a single cell does not produce a
merely pass from one atom to the tive terminal and a brass cap (con- sufficiently high e.m.f. for radio
next, the general trend of movement necting to a carbon rod inside) work, whereupon it is customary
along the wire being from left to which provides the positive ter- to employ manufactured batteries
right. Another way of looking at minal. the e.m.f. of a cell of this which are made up of single cells
the situation is to consider that the nature is approximately 1.5 volts connected in series.
copper wire always has the same when the cell is new. Other types of cell and battery
quantity of electrons in it. When are commonly encountered. Typical
the source of electromotive force is examples are given by 6 -volt and
Brass cap (positive) 12 -volt car batteries. These consist
connected to it, electrons flow out
of the wire into the positive ter- of the requisite quantity of single
r cells connected in series. In car
minal of the source of electro-
motive force and an equal num- batteries the single cells offer an
ber of electrons flow into the wire e.m.f. of about 2 volts.
from the negative terminal of the The electrical symbol for a single
source of electromotive force. cell appears in Fig. 3(a). The symbol
Fig. also introduces the concept
1
for a battery comprising two cells
of a circuit, since it illustrates a is shown in Fig. 3(b) and that for
Zinc container (negative) one comprising three cells is shown
situation where a flow of electrons.
in Fig. 3(c). If the battery to be
and hence an electric current, con-
tinually circulates around the com-
bination of the wire and the source
of electromotive force.
We have seen that metals are
--q (a)

Positive
depicted by the symbol has three
cells or more, a very common
approach is to draw in the outside
cells only, joining these together by
conductors and allow the easy pass- a broken line, as in Fig. 3(d). The
age of electric current. There are outermost short thick line in the
other materials which have very few symbols of Fig. 3 corresponds to
free electrons amongst their atoms, the negative terminal, whilst the
and these do not readily allow the
t, 3 volts outermost long thin line corres-
passage of an electric current. Such ponds to the positive terminal.
materials are known as insulators. These polarities ('polarity' in elec-
tricity applies to whether a point
ELECTRICAL UNITS has negative or positive charge) are
` 5 hegaGve
indicated by a minus sign for nega-
The practical unit of electromo- tive and a plus sign for positive.
tive force is the volt. This may be A useful mnemonic for remember-
abbreviated to the single letter V. lb) ing which of the lines in the battery
Subdivisions of the volt are the symbol is positive is to bear in
millivolt (mV), which is one - mind that a plus sign has a longer
thousandth of a volt, and the micro- 'length of line' than a minus sign,
volt (µV), which is one -millionth of as also has the positive line in the
a volt. A multiple of the volt is battery symbol itself.
the kilovolt (kV), which is one
thousand volts. In normal radio RESISTANCE
work it is very common for the
term 'voltage' to be employed in- In Fig. 1 we applied a source
stead of 'electromotive force'. of electromotive force to a length
The unit of electric current is of copper wire which acted as a
(c) conductor of electricity.
the ampere, frequently abbreviated
to amp or the single letter A. Sub- Fig. 2(a). A familiar 1.5 volt It is obvious that there can be
divisions of the ampere are the cell of the type employed in no such thing as a 'perfect con-
milliampere or milliamp (mA), electric torches ductor', because this would infer
which is one -thousandth of an (b). Two cells connected in than an infinite number of electrons
ampere, and the microampere or series form a 3 volt battery could flow through it. In conse-
microamp (pA), which is one- (c). Two cells in parallel pro- quence we encounter the situation
millionth of an ampere. vide the same e.m.f. as a where any conductor, however
It should be mentioned at this single cell 'good' (i.e. however readily it allows
stage that a further electrical unit the flow of electrons) must still, to
which can be briefly introduced some extent, limit the magnitude of
following our examination of Fig. 1 Fig. 2(b) shows two cells con- the current which passes through it.
is the coulomb. The coulomb de- nected in series. This is achieved This limiting effect is referred to
fines the quantity of electricity by connecting the positive terminal as the resistance of the conductor,
(virtually, the number of electrons) of the lower cell to the negative and it is measured in units known
which flows past a given point in terminal of the upper cell. The as ohms. The resistance of any con-
a circuit. A current of one ampere e.m.f.'s of the cells now add, and ductor can be directly calculated
492 THE RADIO CONSTRUCTOR
 I - and
R
E =IR. BUY THIS
These alternative versions of the BEST SELLER
T equation are useful because, in
practice, we often know the resist-
ance of a conductor together with
the voltage across it, or the current
which flows through it. We can
n,
then determine the unknown 9uan- T.V. FAULT FINDING
tity (current or voltage respectively)
by use of the appropriate equation. 405/625 LINES
The term `ohm' is represented by
the symbol 12. Multiples of the ohm
are the kilohm (k12) which is equal
to one thousand ohms. and the
megohm (MS2) which is equal to
one million ohms.
In radio work, special compon-
ents are manufactured which offer
fixed values of resistance. These
are known as resistors and may
(d) have values as high as 20 megohms
Fig. 3. Circuit symbols for (a)
or even more. They are made in
a number of different ways. Carbon
a single cell, (b) a two -cell
composition resistors. having the
battery, (c) a three -cell battery, general construction shown in Fig.
and (d) a battery having three 4, consist of a moulded rod which.
or more cells before polymerisation (i.e. `setting'
of its integral plastic) consisted of
from the voltage and current figures a mix of unpolymerised phenolic REVISED & ENLARGED
which appear in its circuit, the cal- plastic (Bakelite), carbon particles,
culation being carried out with the and fillers of an inert insulating Davies
material. Different resistance values Edited by J. R.
aid of the equation: are obtained in production by vary-
E 124 pages Only 50p
R = ing the proportion between the
I carbon particles and the other in-
gredients in the initial mix. Another Over 100 illustrations, including
In this equation, R represents version of the resistor employs a 60 photographs of a television
resistance in ohms, E represents deposit of crystalline carbon or screen after the appropriate
electromotive force in volts and I other metal deposited on the out- faults have been deliberately
represents current in amps. To take introduced.
an example, let us assume that an side of a rod of ceramic material.
electromotive force of 10 volts is This type of resistor maintains its Comprehensive Fault Finding
applied across a conductor, where- resistance value more accurately Guide cross-referenced to
upon a current of 2 amps flows in with age than does the carbon corn - methods of fault rectification
that conductor. Its resistance, from position resistor, and is in conse- described at greater length in
the equation, then becomes equal quence referred to as a high - the test.
to 10 divided by 2. or 5 ohms. stability resistor. A further type of
By means of simple algebraic resistor, the wirewound resistor.
comprises a length of `resistance Price 50p from your
repositioning, the equation may be wire' (i.e. wire made from a special Bookseller
alternatively written in the forms: alloy which offers a relatively high
resistance per unit length) wound or post this Coupon together
on a ceramic tube, or `former' as with remittance for 554p
Carbon composition Brass end in Fig. 5(a). The whole is then (to include postage) to
rod cap covered with a protective varnish
or cement coating through which DATA PUBLICATIONS LTD.
metal tags or wires. to which ex- 57 Maida Vale, London. W.9
ternal connections can be made.
protrude. Some wirewound resistors
have taps along part of their length,
as shown in Fig. 5(b), these enabling Please send me the 4th re-
Enamel Metallising different values of resistance to be vised edition of TV Fault Find-
coating selected. Wirewound resistors are ing, Data Book No. 5
not commonly made for values
higher than about 100k12 because I enclose cheque/crossed postal order
Lead -out wires
such values require a large number for
Fig. 4. A typical carbon com- of turns of very thin resistance
position resistor, with part of wire. and are difficult to manufac- NAME
the protective enamel coating ture economically.
removed to show the internal ADDRESS
The types of resistor we have
construction. The metallising just discussed are intended to pro-
at the end of the rod ensures vide a fixed and unchanging resist-
good contact to the brass ance value when they are employed
end cap in a circuit. They are then described R.C. Block Letters Please
as fixed resistors when it is neces-
MARCH 1971 493
 variable resistor when connection is a conductor it causes the tempera-
Metal band Resistance made to the slider and to one end ture of the conductor to increase.
clamped over wire wound of the track, since it then inserts a Work has in consequence been
former and on former variable quantity of resistance into done, since electrical energy has
wire the circuit to which it is connected. been converted into heat. Power
The component is a potentiometer defines the rate of doing work and,
when a source of e.m.f. is connected for electricity, is measured in watts.
across the two ends of the track, The quantity of watts in a circuit
and an output, which represents a can be calculated from the equation:
fraction of the e.m.f., is taken off P = EI
between the slider and one end of where P is power in watts, E is
the track. e.m.f. in volts and I is current in
The circuit symbol for a fixed amps. Thus, if an e.m.f. of 10 volts
resistor is shown in Fig. 7(a), and is applied to a conductor and a
Togs I that for a variable resistor or
potentiometer in Fig. 7(b), where
current of 2 amps flows, the power
dissipated in the conductor in the
the arrow represents the slider. An form of heat is 10 times 2, or 20
Circular Protective alternative symbol, employed when watts.
ceramic insulating the component is used as a variable The term 'watt' may be abbrevi-
former covering resistor only, is given in Fig. 7(c). ated to the single letter W. A
(a) The circuit symbol for a pre -set thousandth of a watt is a milliwatt
variable resistor or potentiometer (mW), whilst a thousand watts con-
appears in Fig. 7(d), with an alterna- stitute a kilowatt (kW).
tive version. for the pre -set variable Examples of electrical power
resistor only, in Fig. 7(e). Note that dissipation in the form of heat are
the qualification 'variable' can be very common in everyday life. A
iiíill*i inferred by adding a sloping arrow,
as in Fig. 7(c), and that the qualifi-
familiar instance is the electric fire,
which may employ, typically, one
cation 'pre -set' can be inferred by or two 1- kilowatt elements. If a
adding a sloping T-shaped sign, as I- kilowatt element is fed from 240
in Fig. 7(e). These additions appear volts mains, the equation just given
Taps into resistor on the circuit symbols of other tells us that the current consump-
radio components if they are in the tion in amps is 1,000 divided by
(b) variable or pre -set category. 240, which is a little in excess of
4 amps. Electrical power may be
Fig. 5(a). A wirewound resistor POWER converted into forms other than
(b). Some wirewound resistors heat. In an electric motor, for in-
have taps to enable different When an electric current flows in stance, it is converted into rotary
values of resistance to be
selected
Shaft

sary to differentiate them from an Track

alternative type of resistor which is
known as the variable resistor, or r
potentiometer. In the most corn -
monly encountered form of the
variable resistor, the material offer-
ing resistance appears in the form
of a circular track, along whose
surface a slider or wiper can travel, Fixed contact
as in Fig. 6(a), thereby enabling any makes continual
desired resistance within the range connection to
Threaded buse
of the component to appear between
the slider tag and the two tags slider
which connect to the ends of the
track. The slider is coupled to a
shaft on which is fitted a control (a)
knob. Variable resistors may have
carbon composition tracks or, in
Slider tag Track
the lower values, wirewound tracks.
Some variable resistors are designed
to be adjusted for a specific value
of resistance, after which they are
left alone. These are known as
pre -set variable resistors or pre -set
potentiometers, and normally have
a screwdriver slot for adjustment of
the slider instead of a shaft and
control knob. An alternative con- Track end tags
struction for a pre -set variable
resistor is illustrated in Fig. 6(b).
Here, the track is provided in the (b)
form of a long flat bar along which Fig. 6(a). Rear and side views of a variable resistor or potentiometer
the slider can be moved. (b). An alternative construction, employed with some pre -set
The terms 'variable resistor' and potentiometers. Connection to the slider is made by way of a
'potentiometer' are often confused. flexible wire
To be precise, the component is a
494 THE RADIO CONSTRUCTOR
 motion. It is interesting to note that
some of the power in the electric VERO CARD FRAMES
motor will still be converted into A new feature on their Series 3
heat due to the inevitable resistance Card Frames has now been intro-
of the conductors employed in its duced by Vero Electronics Ltd., of
construction. The object of efficient Chandler's Ford, Hampshire. This
design, in this case, will consist of involves two styles of hinged front
keeping the power wasted in the panels. On Series 3A the frames
form of heat to as low a level as have front panels hinged at the
possible. (b) side to improve appearance and
Returning to the fixed resistors still retain the adjustable card width
used in radio equipment, it is evi- features essential for development
dent that, since these are intention- work. Production frames can be
ally manufactured to present resist- tailor -made to exact requirements.
ance, they will in many circuits be Full card frame apertures are
called upon to dissipate significant available as all fixings are attached
amounts of heat. Because of this. to the panel and not to the frame.
resistors are manufactured in a
number of different physical sizes,
each size being given a wattage (d)
rating to indicate the maximum
heat which the resistor may safely .0
dissipate before its temperature rise
becomes too great for it to continue
reliable operation. As is to be ex-
pected, the physical size increases
as wattage rating becomes greater.
Typical wattage rating figures for
radio resistors are 1/10 watt, 1/8 (e)
watt, á watt, watt, watt, 2 watts
1

and 3 watts. In many radio circuits, Fig. 7. Circuit symbols for (a)
and particularly in those incorporat- afixed resistor, (b) a variable
ing transistors instead of valves, resistor or potentiometer, (c)
wattage dissipation requirements are a variable resistor, (d) a pre-
so small that a large proportion of set variable resistor or potentio-
the resistors employed may safely meter, and (e) a pre -set vari-
be as low as 1/10 watt in rating. able resistor
The home -constructor should note
here that any one size of carbon
resistor can be given more than one at which they are sold. Thus, a
wattage rating according to different nominal watt resistor should not
industry specifications. It is possible be called upon to dissipate more
for resistors to be offered for sale than -,' watt, and so on. The prac-
to him at the rating that corres- tice ensures that an adequate safety
ponds to the least stringent specifi- margin is always kept in hand.
cation, and which therefore enables On the Series 3( card frames the
the highest wattage figure to be NEXT MONTH front panels are hinged at the
quoted. Since the home- constructor bottom and are capable of full
does not have access to the appro- In next month's issue we shall 180" movement. This also gives an
priate technical specifications he is carry on to examine capacitance. improved appearance and the panels
advised to employ carbon resistors inductance and alternating current. can easily be removed for servicing.
at less than half the specified rating 1111
As with the Series 3A full card
frame apertures are available as
all fixings are attached to the panel
RECENT PUBLICATION and not to the frame.
ITV 1971. Edited by Eric Croston. 240 pages, 9 x 71in. Published by TRANSISTOR DATA
Independent Television Authority. Price 75p.
This lively, attractive and colourful book covers virtually every aspect
MANUAL
of the ITV system at the start of 1971, ranging from programme policy, Aso (Thorn Croup) announce the
through the "Dustbinmen" to questions and answers on colour reception. publication of an up -to -date edition
This exceptionally wide field is dealt with in a series of individual sections of the well -known Ay() International
which will appeal to anyone interested in television, including the non- Transistor Data Manual.
technical layman who merely views the transmitted pictures. An alphabetical /numerical index
Included in the many subjects dealt with are details of individual pro- provides instant reference to the
grammes, finance (and it may be noted here that the Exchequer has complete characteristic data which
benefitted by well over £300 million from Independent Television since is given for each transistor in a
1954), advertising control, technical notes on receiver installation, cover- single line entry across some twenty
age maps for individual transmitters, and background information on each columns. The lists of alternatives
of the programme companies. There is also a very extensive bibliography for CV and other types is retained,
listing such diverse titles as "Television And The Child ", "One Hundred together with a complete section of
Years of Georgian London" and the Data Publications' "Understanding outline drawings providing full de-
Television ". tails of the relevant connections.
Price is £4.40 (including UK
"ITV 1971" contains many photographs and diagrams, a large number postage and packing) and copies
being in colour. It is on sale at bookstands and bookstalls and is distributed are immediately available from Avo
by Independent Television Publications Limited, 247 Tottenham Court Road, Limited, Avocet House, Dover,
London, W1P OAU. Kent.
MARCH 1971
495

www.americanradiohistory.com
 AMATEUR RADIO
SCIENTIFIC STUDIES
VERY INTERESTING PAPER BY GEOFF STONE. U31 lL .. Terence between TV stations. "Co this end, the Soci-
Aappears in the current issue of Region I News, ety set up a 432MHz beacon, GE3GEC, in London
the journal of the International Amateur and invited PE1PL in the Hague to set up an auto-
Radio Union, Region I Division, which gives a very matic receiving station. As a result, data was ob-
good idea of the amount of genuine scientific work tained which helped in the revision of the CCIR
which has been accomplished in recent years by VHF propagation curves used by broadcast engi-
radio amateurs working through the Radio Society ners for planning purposes. As Geoff Stone com-
of Great Britain Scientific Studies activities. ments:- "This is an excellent example of international
The present phase of RSGB Scientific Activity cooperation and of the work of radio amateurs
stems from the International Geophysical Year of harnessed to professional requirements."
1957, since when scientific programmes started for An interesting observation from the IGY was that
IGY have been continued. G3FZL reminds his amateur radio reports derived much of their value
readers that these programmes owe much to Dr. from the fact that there were many of them from
R. L. Smith -Rose who is a Past President of the widely dispersed locations. Moreover their value was
RSGB and who has spent much of his life as a pro- greatly enchanced if they were quantitive rather than
fessional radio engineer, latterly as Director of the qualitative and disciplined rather than haphazard.
Radio and Space Research Station. This factor encouraged the Society to increase its
During the IGY, emphasis was on radio propaga- beacon programme, a beacon having the virtue of
tion phenomena associated with sunspot maximum, giving a continuous signal source of known strength
such as radio wave reflection and scattering from the and thus encouraging a small group of observers to
aurora borealis. New information on VHF propaga- report regularly.
tion by this mode was obtained, which has progressed Geoff Stone concludes his most informative and
to closely related fields such as ionospheric sporadic interesting paper by outlining the Society's current
E propagation in the 50 to 70MHz region. scientific programme. Work on auroral and E layer
Another subject investigated was that of tropos- propagation continues, particularly in relation to
pheric propagation, the original object being to find 70MHz, with the establishment of beacons in Gibral-
means of predicting unusual propagation conditions, tar, Rhodesia and Iceland. More intensive investiga-
suitable for use by the average radio amateur tions into microwave propagation are being planned,
equipped only with the more usual, readily available. with the setting up of 1296MHz beacons in London
meteorological instruments. The fact that this project and on the East Coast of England. The Society is
showed an unsuccessful correlation, does not detract also cooperating in the World Amateur Beacon
from its value, as useful conclusions could be drawn Project on 28MHz. As the author states:- "Com-
from the results obtained. For instance, it was pletely new fields remain to be explained and much
apparent that a barometer, coupled with a know- consolidation in known fields remain to be done.
ledge of the mechanics of tropospheric wave propa- Amateur space communication opens a vast new
gation, and a study of current weather maps, would field which will prove of great interest in the next
enable quite good predictions to be made. decade. It can confidently be said that the radio
The Society's interest in tropospheric propagation amateur still has much to contribute in scientific
resulted in it being asked by the CCIR to partici- projects and it is the responsibility of national soci-
pate in obtaining data on VHF -UHF propagation eties to stimulate and co- ordinate such activities ".
across land -sea paths of domestic TV frequencies, A.C.G.
in an effort to help the prevention of mutual inter-

CASSETTE TAPE HEAD CLEANING

The Bib Division of Multicore Solders Limited,
Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, announce the in-
troduction of their new Cassette Tape Head Clean-
ing Tape, suitable for all compact cassette type re-
corders and car player units.
The unit comprises a cassette tape container in
which high quality cleaning tape has been incor-
porated to clean tape heads, capstan and pinch
wheel. It is very simple to use, in the same manner
as a tape cassette it is placed in the machine and
operated in the playback position.
A plastic container is provided for the cleaning
tape cassette. This handy new accessory retails at
lOs 7d. / 53p including p.t.
THE RADIO CONSTRUCTOR
496
 The aerial is intended for use on Bands I and III

LOS -COST only. U.H.F. signals can only be reliably picked up

with the correct aerial made for the job and, pre-
ferably, mounted outside.

TV AEKIAL ASSEMBLY
The assembly of the indoor aerial is illustrated
by the accompanying diagram. It consists of a feeder
of ordinary 7552 coaxial cable which couples to
by two vertical pieces of similar cable positioned as
shown. These two pieces of cable form the upper
T. WHITE and lower elements of a conventional half -wave
dipole.
In making up the aerial, first select a suitable
This simple indoor television aerial can be length of 75f2 coaxial cable for the feeder. About
four yards should be adequate for the average in-
made up in half an hour. In many cases, it stallation. Fit a coaxial plug at one end; this will
will give a better performance than is pro- eventually be plugged into the aerial input socket of
vided by manufactured indoor aerials of the the receiver. Cut back the outside insulation at the
`rabbit's ears' variety other end by about láin., then tease out the strands
of the outer braiding so that they can be twisted up
into a pigtail which leaves the cable just after the
ANY READERS MAY RECALL THAT FAMOUS TV end of the outer insulation. Strip back the insulation
M in which
some five
the late Tony Hancock
minutes or
the best position for
vainly trying
so
`rabbit's ears' indoor TV
his
spent
to find
from the inner conductor of the cable for about +in.

aerial. Those who have similarly tried to position

aerials of this type will probably have encountered Upper element
the same sort of situation. The average living -room,
with its metal fittings, wiring and adjacent plumbing,
is virtually saturated with reflected TV signals, these
having an almost infinite variety of amplitude and
phase differences. Moving an indoor aerial through a Feeder to receiver
foot or so can sometimes make all the difference
between a perfectly acceptable picture and one that Twine

will not even lock.

REMOVING GUESSWORK
The aerial to be described here does not overcome
the positioning problem, but it takes much of the Coaxial plug
guesswork out of the process. Also, since the con-
ductors used are much thicker than the telescopic
rods of many 'rabbit's ears' aerials, signal pick -up is Lower element
significantly greater. A further advantage is that the
feeder to the receiver is well matched at the aerial Tape

end, whereupon standing waves on the feeder itself

are much less evident. With 'rabbit's ears' aerials
it sometimes happens that the positioning of the
feeder is nearly as important as the positioning of Illustrating the method of assembly of the
the aerial itself. aerial. In practice, the connection between the
Before carrying on to details of the assembly of centre conductor of the feeder and the upper
element is taped up before the twine is fitted
the aerial it must be emphasised that, considering
the unpredictable nature of the TV field strength a
pattern inside a house, success in all cases cannot
be guaranteed. Also, the performance cannot, of Cut two further lengths of 7552 coaxial cable to
course, be equal to that given by a proper outdoor the dimension 'X' (which will be discussed shortly).
aerial mounted up in the air above the roof. How- Strip back the outer insulation of one length by
ever, the writer has used aerials of the type to be about tin. Without teasing out the strands, push
described on several occasions, with results superior back the outer braiding, leaving the inner conduc-
to those given by 'rabbits ears' aerials. In one tor and its insulation protruding. Cut the inner con-
instance where the aerial was used, the local Band I ductor and its insulation at a point +in. from the
signal could be received at good strength and good end of the outer insulation. Pull the braiding back
quality where previously it could not be resolved at out again, twisting its strands up into a pigtail. Note
all. It should be pointed out that, in any event, the that no connection is made to the inner conductor of
cost of the aerial is very small, since it consists merely this cable; connection is made to the outer braiding
of lengths of coaxial cable, plus insulating tape and only. Repeat the process with the second length of
string! coaxial cable which was cut to length 'X'.
MARCH 1971 497
 Solder the centre conductor of the feeder section may, of course, have been a matter of luck, and in
to the pigtail of braiding from one of the two equal- some localities it may be found better to cut the
length pieces of cable. This piece of cable now elements for reception of the local Band III signal,
becomes the upper element of the dipole aerial. after which it may be found that the resultant aerial
Solder the pigtail of braiding from the feeder section copes adequately at Band I. It may even be neces-
to the pigtail of braiding from the second equal - sary to use separate Band I and Band III aerials.
length piece of cable. This second piece of cable is As was stated at the beginning of this article, success
now the lower element of the dipole. Using ordinary cannot be completely guaranteed in a situation as
electrician's black insulating tape, completely cover the unpredictable as that of indoor aerial TV reception.
centre conductor from the feeder section and the In the worse cases some experiment is inevitable.
pigtail of braiding from the upper element so that
all metal is covered. Wrap a short length of the
tape round the lower element of the dipole near TABLE
the bottom to act as a marker. This is done because Values of dimension `X' for television channels in
it is difficult to differentiate between the upper and Bands I and III.
lower elements after assembly has been completed.
Take a short length of thin twine and secure it Channel Channel `X'
to both the upper and lower elements in the manner 1 5ft. 3in. 8 1ft. lin.
shown in the diagram. The twine is passed around 2 4ft. lin. 9 lft. 22in.
the lengths of cable about 1 to 1+in. away from the 3 4f t. 4in. 10 1 ft. 2in.
termination of the outer insulation. The purpose of 4 3ft. loin. 11 lft. 1iin.
the twine is to take the strain from the solder joints 5 3ft. lin. 12 1 ft. lin.
when the aerial is suspended by its upper end. Ex- 6 lft. 4in. 13 1 ft. Olin.
Boy Scouts and Master Mariners will be able to 7 lft. 31in.
make a neat job of whipping the twine to the cable,
but a high degree of skill and neatness is not really
required here. The tension on the twine will be After the aerial has been completed, try to find the
low only. best position for it in the room. Ideally, both upper
Finally cover all the exposed conductor and the and lower sections should be vertical but, if this
twine with insulating tape to form a neat T- junction. cannot be achieved, it is in order to have part of the
The indoor aerial is then complete. lower section horizontal. If the constructor is fortun-
ate, he may be able to conceal much of the aerial
ELEMENT LENGTH behind furniture. Also, the aerial can be made up
using white, instead of brown, coaxial cable, if this
The length, `X', of the two dipole elements depends matches in better with room decoration.
upon the channel to be received. Calculated values As a final point it is, in general, better to have
for the channels in Bands I and III are given in the the dipole elements some distance away from the TV
Table. In all the cases encountered by the writer, receiver. This reduces interaction with the receiver
it has been found adequate to cut the elements for r.f. and i.f. circuits and obviates the picture `noise'
reception of the local Band I channel. Reception on that some otherwise serviceable line output stages
the local Band III channel has then been good. This tend to radiate.

ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS frank discussion of customers requirements and

problems.
BOARD CONFERENCE The conference covers a lot of ground. One morn-
ing is devoted to dealing with the B.S.9000 scheme,
the series of British Standards effecting assessed quality
A wide- ranging conference on electronic compo- components. The scheme is now in course of intro-
nents, to be held at the Royal Garden Hotel, Ken- duction and is of vital interest to manufacturers and
sington, London from May 18th to 21st, will invite users, and will have international impact.
component manufacturers and users to argue on a Government and British Standards Institution ex-
no- holds- barred basis. One debate, for instance, perts will explain the implications and scope of the
covers the theme `The components industry - dead scheme while manufacturers and users will comment
or alive ?' on operating experience and customer reactions.
The conference has been organised by the Elec- During part of the conference, discussions will be
tronic Components Board and will be held in con- divided so that those interested either in passive or
junction with the International London Electronic active components can both be fully served. Through-
Component Show at Olympia, London. out there will be late afternoon sessions organised by
Title of the conference is `Forward into the 70's.' specialist groups of the Electronic Components
It will be opened by Dr. I. Maddock, Controller, Board.
Industrial Technology at the Department of Trade A number of technical `state of the art' papers will
and Industry. include probes into the future developments likely in
The discussions will be far from the normal the industry.
style at technical meetings. As well as the `Dead or General interest in the conference is underlined
alive?' debate, which will be on the lines of the `Your by the fact that the 55 papers required were 'over-
Witness' TV feature, there will be a brains trust for a subscribed' by more than 250 per cent.
498 THE RADIO CONSTRUCTOR
 In this episode, Dick encounters the situation where the
repair of a faulty TV line output stage causes the reappear-
ance of the sound signal ! Under Smithy's guidance, he also

n takes a brief look into some aspects of hybrid TV receivers,

which incorporate both valves and transistors, and finally
turns his attention to the design of current quarter -wave
u.h.f. tuners

"Am I never," he complained Dick checked the appropriate

wearily, "to get any peace this valve pin number from the service

work
morning? This is the fourth time manual, then made the test con-
you've pestered me up to now. nections suggested by Smithy.
What's more, you always manage (Fig. 1(a)).
to disturb me when I'm in the "I'm getting a reading," he an-
middle of a fiddling job. What's the nounced, "of about 90 volts."
trouble this time ?" "Then," pronounced Smithy,
"It's this set." "there's plenty of drive going to

shop
"What's wrong with it ?" that line output stage. The line
"It's got no raster and it seems to oscillator should be all right or, at
be dead both on vision and on least good enough to provide some
sound. And yet the valves are still sort of e.h.t. voltage and scan."
lighting up and there's stacks of "Why do you get the negative
h.t. voltage. I just don't know where voltage ?"
to start." "Because the feed to the line out-
Smithy threw a cursory glance at put valve is, basically, by way of a
the receiver capacitor and grid leak, and the
"I should commence by checking grid goes negative just as occurs in
ICK LOOKED AT THE CHASSIS the line oscillator and line output
D of the 20 inch monochrome
single- standard 625 line tele-
vision receiver with profound dis-
stage," he advised. "You'd better
see, first of all, whether you're get-
ting drive to the line output valve
a leaky-grid detector," replied
Smithy. I should imagine that the
next thing you'd better do is check
trust. if there's any h.t. voltage on the
grid. Set your testmeter to read 200 line output screen -grid."
Once again he turned up the volts f.s.d., connect its positive prod Dick applied his testmeter prods
brilliance. But there was no raster. to chassis and its negative prod to to chassis and the screen -grid pin
Once again he turned up the volume. the line output grid." and glanced at his meter. (Fig. 1(b)).
But, apart from a slight background
hiss, there was no sound. Once
again he looked at the half -dozen HTi-
or so valves that the set boasted.
But all he could see was that their
heaters continued to glow merrily 2 2 kn
O INF O INF
away at normal level. And, once
again, he applied his testmeter
prods between chassis and the h.t. Line output
positive line. But only to obtain the transformer
expected supply reading of 225 volts.
With an expression of despair he
placed his testmeter prods back on
the bench, after which he cupped
his chin in his hands and glowered Line Line
at the receiver. He next turned his output output
eyes in the direction of its service From line valve valve
manual, which was open at the cir- OOINF
oscillator
cuit diagram, and glowered at this
instead. The circuit diagram showed
that the r.f. and i.f. stages of the
receiver employed transistors, as
opposed to valves in the remainder
of the set. After several unprofit- Testmeter
able minutes of gloomy preoccupa- Testmeter
tion, Dick suddenly sat up straight
in the unequivocal manner of one
who has arrived at a decision.
(a) (b)
HYBRID TV RECEIVER
Fig. 1(a). A simple method of checking for drive to a line output
"Smithy!" valve consists of checking the voltage on its control grid, which
The Serviceman, busy at his bench should be highly negative of chassis. The testmeter, switched
at the opposite side of the Work- to read volts, should present a resistance of 10,000 ohms per
shop, sighed. Resignedly, he placed volt or more
his soldering iron on its stand then (b). Checking the h.t. voltage on the screen -grid of the line
turned round to face his assistant. output valve
MARCH 1971
499
 "Hello," he remarked. "We seem "Very good," commented Smithy.
Your Local Supplier to have struck gold first go! There's
no voltage on this screen -grid."
I'll just hang on here whilst you
replace it, to see what happens
LONDON "No voltage at all ?" afterwards. I'm beginning to get
"Nary a sausage." interested in this set."
Established 1910 Despite his irritation at having As Dick walked over to the
been interrupted, Smithy looked spares cupboard to get a replace-
ment capacitor, Smithy brought his
H. L. SMITH pleased at the outcome of his
suggestion. Forgetting his own stool over and settled himself corn-
fortably. Dick returned and picked
work for the moment he wandered
& CO. LTD. over, looked at the chassis on Dick's up his side -cutters.
bench and then at his assistant's "There are, of course," remarked
Comprehensive stocks of testmeter. Dick had been right: Smithy chattily, as Dick worked on
components by there was no voltage whatsoever on the repair, "quite a few other ways
the screen -grid of the line output in which we could have determined
all leading makers. valve. that the line output stage wasn't
Smithy reached over and switched working properly. For instance, al-
off the receiver. though 625 line output transformers
287 -9 EDGWARE ROAD "Check the resistance," he said, are a lot quieter, partly because they
LONDON W.2 "between that screen -grid and run at a higher frequency than the
Tel: 01 -723 5891 chassis." old 405 line output trannies used to
Dick busied himself with the be. you can still often hear them
setting up of his testmeter, then singing away when the line output
once more touched its prods to the stage is working properly. In our
THE screen -grid pin and chassis. case we were fortunate in being
"There is," he remarked, "a dead able to find the fault as easily as
short here." we did."
MODERN BOOK CO. "That will be your fault then," "The new capacitor's in now,"
stated Smithy. "The short could be interrupted Dick. "Shall I switch
Largest selection of English & in the line output valve so you'd the set on ?"
better remove it from its socket to "By all means."
American radio and technical Dick turned on the receiver. After
make certain, but it will much more
books in the country. likely be in the 0.1µF bypass capa- a short while the booster diode
citor which ties that screen -grid cathode rose to emitting tempera-
down to deck." ture, allowing h.t. current to flow to
19 -21 PRAED STREET, As Smithy watched, Dick quickly the line output valve anode. At
LONDON, W.2 checked the valve, which proved to once, a modulated raster showing
be blameless so far as internal short- the morning test pattern became
Tel: PADdington 4185/2926 circuits were concerned. He next visible on the screen. Much to
examined the printed circuit around Dick's surprise, the accompanying
the line output valve to make cer- test music also appeared, this being
tain that no accidental bridging reproduced by the loudspeaker
had occurred between the foil with good volume and excellent
ST. HELEN'S RADIO connecting to the screen -grid pin clarity.
Hi -Fi Equipment and that connecting to chassis.
Finally, he cut one lead of the TRANSISTOR SUPPLY
Tape Recorders suspect screen -grid bypass capacitor.
Radio Receivers He next applied his testmeter, still "Hell's teeth," exclaimed Dick,
Television switched to read resistance, across "this set must be haunted! I've just
this component. (Fig. 2). fixed a line output stage fault and,
"That's it," he called triumphant- lo and behold, the sound circuits
& ELECTRONIC TEXTBOOKS ly. "This capacitor's short- circuit." come into operation as well!"
SPECIALISTS IN RADIO "There's an easy explanation for
that," said Smithy. "And seeing
ST. HELEN'S GARDENS that you've got the service manual
LONDON W.I0 for the set open on your bench I'm
Tel: 01 -969 3657 Testmeter surprised you haven't spotted it
(switched to yourself. Just look at this bit."
BEDFORDSHIRE ohms) Smithy pointed to the circuitry
around one of the windings on the
When in LUTON, BEDS, you line output transformer. (Fig. 3).
Lead -out Printed Dick looked at the manual a little
must visit the . . .
uncertainly.
cut.. board
SELF -SERVICE RADIO "That winding," he ventured
COMPONENTS SHOP doubtfully, "goes to the line deflec-
`we
I tor coils, doesn't it ?"
Serve yourself from a selec- "Of course it does," returned
tion of 1,200 boxes of Manu- Fig. 2. In some instances the Smithy irritably. "but if you look
facturers' surplus stocks and only decisive way of finally again, you'll see there's a tap in it
save money. ascertaining that a capacitor is which connects to a rectifier and
9 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. every day. short- circuited consists of cut- then to a reservoir and smoothing
Closed all day Wednesday. ting one lead-out to isolate it circuit. The rectifier circuit provides
from the circuit in which it con- about 18 volts positive of chassis,
SURPLECTRONICS nects. The lead should be cut and supplies all the transistor cir-
such that the capacitor may be cuits of the receiver."
216 LEAGRAVE ROAD "Blimey," said Dick, taken aback
LUTON, BEDS resoldered into circuit if it is
found to be serviceable at this unexpected evidence of the
THE RADIO CONSTRUCTOR
500
 fiendish cunning of TV receiver
designers," so it does. Do you know, 1,8OOpF
Your Local Supplier
Smithy, I've fixed quite a few sets
Supply to
of this type before, and I've never HAMPSHIRE
even noticed that the transistors get transistor
their supply from the line output stages IOn IOn
stage." 18V
"It's a fairly common practice," To line BOURNEMOUTH
said Smithy. "There are plenty of 160 160 deflection
advantages to the scheme, the first YF IpF
1'
III
1

coils
LARGEST HI -FI AND
of these being its simplicity and low
cost. It's only necessary to add a
winding to the line output trans-
I 11
RADIO COMPONENT
STORE IN THE SOUTH
former of the receiver, or to tap
into a winding that's already there, Winding on line FORRESTERS NATIONAL
whereupon a low voltage supply output transformer RADIO SUPPLIES LTD.
for the transistor stages becomes
available with nothing other than a 70-72 Holdenhurst Road
simple rectifier circuit. Secondly. Fig. 3. A typical transistor Bournemouth
the line output stage will very supply circuit, as employed in
hybrid television receivers. The Telephone 25232
probably incorporate stabilised width
control to take up variations in BA148 is a silicon rectifier, and
mains voltage, with the result that has a p.i.v. of 350 volts and SUSSEX
the transistor supply will be reason- an average maximum forward
ably well stabilised as well. A third current of 0.3 amp
feature is that the transistor stages
don't come on until after the line u.h.f. tuner. There's no tuner unit
E. JEFFRIES
output stage is running. This avoids for Bands 1 and III at all. I must For your new television set
one of the design problems that say. incidentally, that I fully ap-
.

occur with gated a.g.c. circuits. If proved of these transistor u.h.f. tape recorder, transistor radio,
the r.f. and i.f. stages become opera- tuners when they first appeared. The and hi -fi equipment.
tive before the booster diode warms old valve u.h.f. tuners didn't give
up after switching the set on from too much trouble, I know, but my PHILIPS, ULTRA, INVICTA,
cold, you can, unless suitable pre- experience has been that the present DANSETTE, MASTERADIO, PERDIO.
cautions against the effect are pro- run of transistorised tuners knocks MARCONI, PHILCO. FIDELITY
vided, have the situation where spots off them so far as freedom
there is no a.g.c. voltage because from electrical faults is concerned. I 6A Albert Parade,
of the absence of gating pulses from assume you've noticed, by the way, Victoria Drive.
the line output transformer. With that the tuner in this set uses EASTBOURNE SUSSEX
the present system this particular quarter -wave resonant lines."
problem doesn't even arise." Dick looked uncertainly at the YORKSHIRE
"I see," said Dick, examining the tuner unit circuit diagram in the
circuit of the receiver more closely. service manual. -
"Incidentally, I notice that in this set "Does it ?" he queried blankly. WILSIC
the stages using transistors are those "As opposed," continued Smithy, ELECTRONICS LTD.
in the vision and sound i.f. strip, warming to his theme, "to half -
the a.g.c. circuit and the tuner unit." wave resonant lines." Your local supplier for
"That's right," confirmed Smithy. "Ah yes, now," said Dick. "The EAGLE PRODUCTS
"And since this is a single -standard old half -wave resonant lines, there." CYBERNAT MOTORING AIDS
625 line receiver, it only has a "It's always obvious from the WILSIC HI -FI, MUSICAL
EQUIPMENT, KITS AND
Aerial Bondposs Vision carrier Sound carrier COMPONENTS
tuned response Send 1Sp (3/ -) for our Catalogue
circuit Channel Channel (Eagle Products Catalogue 20p (4/ -)
response centre centre
Combined overall 6 COPLEY ROAD
ü
response fed to DONCASTER
mixer
EIRE

Aerial
Aerial Bandpass
Mixer-
I.F.
PEATS for PARTS
tuned 11.-
R.F.
-}- tuned r-- tuned
To I.F.
ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS
input
circuit amplifier circuits oscillator circuit amplifier RADIO & TELEVISION
For the convenience of IRISH
i enthusiasts we supply.
Oscillator The Radio Constructor
tuned Data Books and
circuit Panel -Signs Transfers
Also a postal service
Fig. 4. General television tuner design employs the stage layout Wm. B. PEAT & Co. Ltd
shown here. The responses are idealised and are applicable in 28 PARNELL STREET
particular to v.h.f. tuners. U.H.F. tuners may not exhibit so marked DUBLIN 1
a bandpass response
MARCH 1971
50I
circuit diagram when a u.h.f. tuner mously, as he reached over for the single peak at the centre of the
has quarter-wave lines." pad. channel being received, this being
"Now you put it that way," said He picked this up, shaking off followed by an r.f. amplifier which
Dick, "the obviousness is remark- a random surface coating of odd feeds into a bandpass pair of tuned
able even." nuts, bolts and small items of hard- circuits. Ideally, the bandpass pair
"Quarter -wave lines have one end ware, tapped its side smartly on provides a double- humped curve
connected to chassis." the bench surface to dislodge the which is also centred on the channel
"True," said Dick, "very true." dust it had collected, then passed it being received. The output of the
"Whereas half -wave lines are over to Smithy. That worthy looked bandpass pair is fed to the mixer or
floating and have tuning capacitance distastefully at the yellowing top frequency- changer and the overall
to chassis at both ends." sheet. response, from aerial to mixer, is
"At both ends," repeated Dick. `When," he asked, "was the last a combination of the aerial input
Smithy turned a wary eye on his time you used this pad ?" tuned circuit peak and the double -
assistant. "I can't remember," replied Dick humped response of the bandpass
"Have you," he asked suspicious- airily. "In any case I don't bother pair. This combination should be a
ly, "any idea of what I'm talking to make notes these days. I keep relatively flat response with sound
about ?" things in my head instead." and vision carriers sitting on the
"I haven't," grinned Dick, "the "Well," retorted Smithy wither- edges of the flat part. In practice,
faintest clue. I got lost immediately ingly, "considering its great size and it may be a little difficult to get a
after the freedom from electrical its vast emptiness there should be response as good as the one I've
faults bit !" plenty of space for them." just drawn on all channels with a
Holding the paper disdainfully multi -channel tuner, but small dis-
U.H.F. TUNERS between thumb and finger tips, the crepancies in amplitude between
Serviceman tore off the top sheet sound and vision carriers up to
Smithy chuckled. and consigned it to Dick's rubbish some 3dB overall are permissable
"Oh well," he said, "I suppose I bin. The sheet underneath, yellowed and won't cause much trouble."
can't blame you. It's a very long at the edges only, appeared to be The Serviceman paused for a
time since we last had a session on just worthy of Smithy's approval. moment.
u.h.f. tuners and, seeing that we've He took out his pen and proceeded "Getting back to the tuner stages
got an actual tuner to look at as to scribble out his first sketch. themselves," he went on, "we now
well as the circuit diagram in front (Fig. 4). have a signal which has passed
of us, it won't do any harm to "U.H.F. tuners," he resumed, through the aerial tuned circuit, r.f.
have a short discussion on them "have pretty well the same basic amplifier and bandpass tuned cir-
now. I'll have to sketch out a few stage line -up as have almost all TV cuits, and which is then applied to
diagrams, so perhaps you can lend tuners, ever since the first v.h.f. the mixer. In u.h.f. tuners the mixer
me your note -pad." turret types came into use. There is also acts as oscillator, the oscillator
"Certainly," said Dick magnani- a tuned aerial input stage offering a frequency being above signal fre-

4 -gang tuning capacitor

Supply +

Coupling
lines 27 270n
kn

Coupling Coupling L2 L3 L4
LI
L__ II To I.F
line line.
/ BF 181 amplifier
pF input
I.F.
tuned
Il.Loutput circuits
III Coil

Aerial
input 5
J T kn
I

- -I
I

IIV- I 1 F C
390n 680n 200pF IP00
Slot in pF
screen Test
1,000 Ikn point
pF VON

A.G.C.

L1- L4 resonant lines

Fig. 5. Typical quarter -wave u.h.f. tuner circuit, shown in slightly

simplified form. The component values are representative of
current practice
502 THE RADIO CONSTRUCTOR
 quency. The output of the u.h.f.
mixer consists of i.f. vision carrier
at 39.5 MHz and i.f. sound carrier
at 33.5 MHz, and this band of
frequencies is passed through an
i.f. tuned coil in the tuner and then
fed to the i.f. amplifier. Okay ?"
1/2 wavelength NEW BOONS
"Yes," said Dick contentedly.
"This is all standard TV tuner stuff."
"Good," returned Smithy. "Well 101 Easy Ham Radio Projects
by Robert M. Brown &
now, that's the stage line -up for Tom Kneitel (Feb) L1.50
most u.h.f. tuners. There are excep-
tions, though, in so far that some ABC'S of Fete
by Rufus P. Turner (Feb)
u.h.f. tuners omit the aerial input (a)
tuned circuit and relay on the band - Novel Experiments With Electricity
pass pair only for r.f. selectivity. by John Potter Shields (Feb) £1.25
The aerial input to the r.f. amplifier Short Wave Listener's Guide
in these tuners is aperiodic. How- by H. Charles Woodruff (Feb)
ever, you can forget about the 11.30
aperiodic types for the time being Closed -Circuit T.V. Production
and concentrate on tuners like the Techniques
one in the receiver we have here. by Larry Goodwin & Thomas
Koehring (Mar) £2.00
This is one of the types that does
have an aerial tuned circuit." Radio Receiver Servicing Guide
Smithy indicated the circuit dia- by Robert G. Middleton (Mar)
gram of the tuner unit. (Fig. 5). L 1.90

ABC's of Infra -red

TUNED LINES by Burton Bernard (Mar) L1.40

"The next thing you have to

(b)
3 Collected Basic Circuits
by D. I. P. Stretton &
A. W. Hartley (Mar) [2.00
remember," he continued, "is that
u.h.f. frequencies require tuned
circuits in which the inductive part
Fig. 6(a). A conductor whose
length is equal to a half wave-
length at a specific frequency
*
is much too small in value to be (b). The voltage and current FOULSHAM -SAMS
provided by the usual type of wound distribution in the conductor if
coil. Because of this the tuned cir- this is energised as a dipole TECHNICAL BOOKS
cuits employ 'lecher lines', which aerial (W. FOULSHAM & CO. LTD.)
are usually referred to just as 'lines'. YEOVIL RO., SLOUGH, BUCKS, ENGLAND
To understand how these lines
work, it's necessary to take an ini- tuner chassis which can be assumed
tial gander at elementary aerial to possess very low inductance in
theory." itself. As you may imagine, if the The
Smithy drew a further sketch on capacitances at each end of a half -
Dick's note -pad. (Fig. 6(a)). wave line are equal, then the centre RADIO CONSTRUCTOR
"Here," he said, "is an electrical of the line has zero r.f. voltage with
conductor. If this were employed as respect to earth."
a half-wave dipole aerial at the "What about the quarter -wave
requisite frequency, what would be tuners ?" ANNUAL
the voltage and current distribution "The quarter -wave tuners were a
along its length ?"
Smithy handed Dick his pen.
logical development from the half -
wave types," replied Smithy. "It
SUBSCRIPTIONS
After a little thought, Dick added was realised that, since there could
two lines. (Fig. 6(b)). be zero r.f. voltage at the centre of to this magazine
"Would it be like this ?" a resonant half -wave line relative
"You've got it right," confirmed to earth, that centre could be con- may be obtained
Smithy, pleased. "An important nected directly to earth without up-
point is that the voltage is of oppo-
site polarity and is at maximum
setting the operation of the line and through your
the associated circuit. The further
amplitude at the ends, so that the
conductor, at the frequency at
reasoning was that, since the centre newsagent
of the line could be connected
which it is a half wavelength long,
acts in the same way as a parallel
directly to earth, there was no point
in continuing the line after that
or direct from the
tuned circuit. In half -wave u.h.f. earth connection!" publishers
tuners the lecher lines consist of "Hey ?"
strips of metal somewhat less than "It's quite true," said Smithy.
half a wavelength long. This short-
ening reduces the inductance pre-
"And that's where the term 'quarter-
wave' comes in, since the line which
ONLY £2.40 (48/-)
sented by the lines so that, on their terminates at earth is half of a per year, post free
own and acting as a dipole, they half -wave line. In the quarter -wave
would resonate at too high a fre- tuner, the line terminates at a flat
quency. They are then brought Please send remittance with name
earth plate, which is actually one and address and commencing issue
down to the desired frequency by side of the tuner chassis. (Fig. 7(b)).
adding capacitance to earth at both required to:
The quarter -wave line then works
ends, whereupon the lines plus the in exactly the same manner as if it
capacitance provide the tuned cir- had another quarter -wave section, DATA PUBLICATIONS LTD
cuits for the tuner. (Fig. 7(a)). The with an equal -value capacitor to 57 Maida Vale London W9 ISN
'earth' in this case is the actual earth, sticking out beyond the earth
MARCH 1971
503
plate. (Fig. 7(c)). However, the take up is that, if one line runs tor so as to reduce its gain. One
extra quarter -wave bit is screened parallel to another line, there is an method consists of reducing the
from the remainder of the circuit inductive coupling between them. base current, and this is known as
by the earth plate, and so it isn't An inductive coupling to a line 'reverse a.g.c.'. Reverse a.g.c. is
really needed." can also be obtained by running a what is normally employed in tran-
I seem to remember something piece of wire alongside it." sistor portable radios. The other
similar with half -wave and quarter - "Fair enough," remarked Dick. consists of reducing its gain by
wave aerials," said Dick, frowning. "It seems as though you can have increasing its base current, and this
"But I can't quite put a finger on it." direct connections, too. For instance, is 'forward a.g.c.'. It works because
"What you're probably thinking the aerial input in the circuit of the the - increasing base current reduces
about," said Smithy, "is the quarter - complete tuner couples directly to the impedance in the base- emitter
wave aerial which is mounted per- line L1 at a point near its earthy end. junction. If you assume that the base
pendicular to a flat earth plane. The This is, I suppose, equivalent to tap- material presents a fixed resistance
assumption is made that the earth ping into a point near the earthy between its input terminal and its
plane reflects an image of the upper end of a coil." actual junction with the emitter, a
quarter -wave section, so that the Smithy nodded in assent. reduced impedance in the junction
aerial behaves in a similar manner "I see that line Ll," continued itself means that less signal voltage
to a half-wave dipole. You could Dick, encouraged, "then couples to appears across that junction."
say that the earth plate in the u.h.f. the emitter of the first transistor "What's the advantage of forward
tuner 'reflects' the upper quarter - by way of a coupling line which a.g.c.?"
wave line in the same way, so that runs alongside Ll. Correct ?" "It allows the transistor to pass a
the quarter -wave line works effec- "Correct," confirmed Smithy. "The relatively high collector current
tively as a half-wave line. The ana- collector of TR1 has a mixture of when it is biased to give low gain,"
logy isn't perfectly true, but it's inductive and capacitive coupling replied Smithy. "The result is that
near enough to rely on if you find to L2, this being provided by a it cannot then be overloaded by a
it helpful in understanding how coupling line and a small-value strong signal, as can occur if it
the tuner unit quarter -waves lines capacitor. The positive feed for were heavily biased back in a re-
operate. The quarter -wave lines in TR1 collector is obtained via an verse a.g.c. system. In consequence,
a u.h.f. tuner are shorter than an r.f. choke. This will normally be a a transistor in a forward a.g.c. sy-
actual quarter -wave, which means small air-cored self- supporting choke stem does not introduce cross -modu-
that they can be brought down in having about a dozen turns or so." lation when handling strong
frequency by adding capacitance "The base of TRI goes down to signals."
between the hot ends and earth. deck via a bypass capacitor," re- "Oh I see," said Dick brightly.
Obviously, this capacitance needs to marked Dick. "That means that it's "I wonder why forward a.g.c. isn't
be added at the non -earthy end of operating as a grounded base used in portable radios."
each line only, with the result that transistor, doesn't it ?" "Partly because of the increase of
each line requires only one set of "That's right," replied Smithy. battery current consumption which
tuning capacitance instead of, as "The grounded base configuration would result when receiving strong
with the half-wave lines, two sets of enables the transistor to amplify at signals," said Smithy, "but mainly
capacitance. There is, thus, an much higher frequencies than it because cross -modulation isn't too
economy in components in addi- can do when it's in grounded troublesome with such radios, any-
tion to the economy in space re- emitter. In the present circuit, for- way. With these, it's usually possible
sulting from the use of shorter ward a.g.c. is applied to the base to tune out strong signals which are
lines. In a u.h.f. tuner the capaci- of TR1 via the 68052 resistor." liable to cause cross -modulation."
tance for each line is provided by "Forward a.g.c. ?" "Can you use forward a.g.c. with
a trimmer plus one gang of a "Forward a.g.c.," repeated Smithy any transistor ?"
4 -gang variable capacitor which firmly. "There are two ways of ap- "Only with types which are speci-
provides tuning through all the plying a.g.c. to the base of a transis- ally designed for it," said Smithy.
channels."

CIRCUIT OPERATION ---1H '

Earth
"Ah yes," responded Dick, point- plate Earth plate
ing at the circuit of the complete
tuner. "That 4 -gang capacitor will
be the one shown here. The tuner
is divided into sections by means 1 1 1
of screens, and one gang of the 'Reflected'
tuning capacitor appears in each of section of
the first four sections." line
"You've got the idea," confirmed
Smithy. "The total coverage pro-
vided by the 4 -gang capacitor is
from Channel 21 in Band IV to
Channel 68 in Band V. In other
words, from about 470MHz to (a) (b) (c)
855MHz. The mechanical structure
of the tuner closely resembles its Fig. 7(a). The frequency at which a line is resonant can be
circuit diagram, being divided into reduced below the half -wave frequency by adding capacitance
individual compartments, with a to earth at both ends
tuned line in each of the first four
compartments. (Fig. 8). The reso- (b). If both capacitances in (a) are equal the line has zero r.f.
nant lines consist of silver-plated voltage to earth at its centre and may be terminated at that point
by an earth plate
metal strips which are made with
precise lengths and widths. They (c). It may prove helpful to assume that the upper section of the
are each soldered to the chassis line and its capacitor re- appear below the earth plate as a
side at one end. The next point to 'reflected' image
1 HE RADIO CONSTRUCTOR
504
Capacitor spindle 4 -gang capacitor Screens tuners with aperiodic input cir-
cuits'?"
"Yes, I did," confirmed Smithy,
returning to Dick's note-pad. "With
these the aerial input goes straight
to the emitter of the r.f. amplifier.
MUM! !.! i..MII M.. - Like this."
Smithy sketched out the aperi-
odic aerial input circuit. (Fig. 9).
J.F. output "As you can see," continued
coil Smithy, "the first transistor is in
Concentric-- _
grounded base. Its collector couples
Ll Lz L3 L4
trimmers to the quarter -wave line which
appears in the first section of the
Resonant bandpass pair. After that the tuner
lines
8
circuit is similar to the one we've
just examined. When the tuner has
Tft,

R.F. amplifier `Oscillator an aperiodic input stage, all the

transistor transistor selectivity has to be provided by
the bandpass pair on their own."
Concentric trimmers Lines soldered to chassis side "I certainly," remarked Dick,
soldered to this surface "know a darned sight more about
u.h.f. tuners now than I did before.
END VIEW SIDE VIEW And about transistor supplies which
are obtained from the line output
stage. I won't be caught by that
Fig. 8. Typical basic construction of a quarter-wave u.h.f. tuner. one again!"
The resonant lines are numbered to agree with those in Fig. 5. "Good show," said Smithy. "Then
In the end view, the tuning capacitor spindle projects towards I'll now be getting back to my own
the reader bench. Unless, of course, there's
anything else that's troubling you."
But even Dick had to admit that
"A typical example being the BF180 provided by way of a small rectan- there was nothing further on which
silicon planar transistor which is gular slot cut in the screen between he required assistance or which was
employed here. Right, now! Having the two lines. L3 couples via a needed to satisfy his curiosity.
successfully got past that little diver- coupling line to the emitter of the Gratefully, Smithy returned to his
sion let's return to the circuit of second transistor. This is the mixer- own work, whilst Dick tidied up
that tuner. The resonant line L2 oscillator and, with the oscillator and finished off the single- standard
appears in the first section of the line L4, is housed in the fourth hybrid TV set.
bandpass pair of the tuner, whilst compartment. The oscillator feed- And, thus, we leave the pair in
L3 appears in the second section." back is provided by a short coup- peace: Dick to enter into fresh
"L3," objected Dick, "is screened ling line in the emitter circuit which fields of confusion and bewilder-
from L2." runs parallel to L4. The i.f. output ment; Smithy to muse over victories
"No, it isn't," retorted Smithy. In at the collector of TR2 passes past and conquests yet to come.
practice a means of coupling is through an r.f. choke and a 5pF And us? What better can we do now
Y feed- through capacitor, these com-
ponents removing most of the u.h.f.
than to turn elsewhere, and sample,
say, the heady pleasures of 'Under-
and oscillator signal, and then standing Basic Principles' or even,
passes on to a series i.f. output coil. surrender ourselves to the scintillat-
This couples via coaxial cable to ing seductions of G.A. French's
the first i.f. tuned circuits of the set, latest "Suggested Circuit "?
and enters into a pi filter resonant
at around the middle of the i.f. EDITOR'S NOTE
band." The transistor supply circuit
RFC "Well, that's fair enough," corn -
Aerial Shown in Fig. 3 is that employed
input_j mented Dick. "And, of course, all in the G.E.C. model 2047 and allied
the four lines are tuned by the receivers. The remaining diagrams
7pF sections of the 4-gang capacitor, apply to general television receiver
whilst each line has its own trimmer. principles and not to any specific
I must say that these quarter -wave
T To first
u.h.f. tuners are darned simple,
receiver.
bandpass
line
Smithy!"
Ikn
"They are," agreed Smithy. "In
fact, when you look inside them
there seems to be hardly any DECIMAL CURRENCY
components at all - just hardware! Will readers sending remit-
L_ The test point in that tuner, inci-
tances please ensure that
dentally, provides a point for the
injection of i:f. for the alignment cheques are written in deci-
of the tuner i.f. coil and the i.f. mal currency.
tuned circuits which immediately
To bias or AGC follow it." We would remind readers
circuits
APERIODIC INPUT also that postage rates are
Fig. 9. Typical r.f. amplifier now 21p second dass, 3p
stage, with representative com- "Very neat," commented Dick first class up to 4 ozs.
ponent values, of a u.h.f. tuner appreciatively. "Didn't you say
having aperiodic Input something earlier on about u.h.f.
MARCH 1971 595
 Another little find has been the just been removed from the board
Lektrokit Relay Mounting Plate No. shown. The unsoldering tool has its
1, which appears under Cat. No. LK- own integral heating element, and
1011. The Relay Mounting Plate has power consumption is only 300

Radi
holes which are designed for the watts from a 240 -volt supply.
mounting of three P.O. 3000 type Already arousing considerable in-
relays, and it is primarily intended terest, the tool may well become as
for mounting between two Lektro- familiar in servicing departments as
kit chassis rails in the same way as the ubitiquous soldering iron. One
are the more familiar Lektrokit per- company, the Hexacon Electric
forated chassis plates. To my mind, Company of New Jersey, has con-
the Relay Mounting Plates provide cluded a royalty agreement with
a useful means of mounting P.O.

ÏOpiCS
Marconi to market the tool on a
3000 relays on any chassis layout, non -exclusive licence through the
whether this be Lektrokit -based or world. Forming part of the Hexacon
not, since they offer the considerable range of soldering equipment, the
advantage of eliminating the drilling unsoldering tool will sell for under
of those fiddling and close- spaced two hundred dollars (£80), complete
holes which P.O. 3000 relays nor- with a sprung component remover
mally require. and a range of fittings for different
component packages.
By Recorder UNSOLDERING
MICROCIRCUITS MANUAL RESILIENCE
Unsoldering i.f. transformers and I feel that it is thought-provoking,
valveholders from printed circuit to say the least, to reflect on the
boards can be tiresome enough, but fact that quite a few of the mech-
have you ever considered the prob- anical devices we handle these days
ABROWSE THROUGH THE PAGES lems involved in the unsoldering of might well not operate properly
of component suppliers cata- multi-terminal integrated circuits? were it rot for the natural resilience
logues can sometimes produce Computer boards are not 100 per of the flesh which appears between
very useful constructional ideas. cent reliable after assembly, and the our finger and thumb bones and the
I've just been examining the latest tracing of a fault on such a board controlling parts of such devices. I
catalogue of Home Radio (Com- may necessitate that serviceable in- am prompted to make this observa-
ponents) Ltd., and I've encountered tegrated circuits be removed and tion after having re- encountered one
some particularly useful gadgets replaced quite a few times. of those inexpensive petrol cigarette
here which should help me out a The Marconi Company Ltd. (of lighters which made their first
great deal with future projects. Marconi House, Chelmsford, Essex) appearance during World War II
has now produced what is stated to and which have been in continual
PRINTED CIRCUITS be the world's first portable unsolder- production with slight modifications
ing tool for facilitating the damage - ever since. You will very probably
The first items I bumped into are free removal of integrated circuits know the design I am referring to
two ready -made printed circuit panels and other multi -terminal devices. when I tell you that the wick of
which are supplied complete with a Developed by Marconi's Research this particular model projects from
`universal' printed circuit pattern. Division, the unit consists of an a large cylindrical barrel which is
Both panels are 6in. long by 2in. electrically heated pot of molten pulled bodily out of the lighter when
wide, and the pattern on each termin- solder with a metal piston floating it needs to be refilled. The flint
ates at one end in eight copper strips in it. A vertical hole through the
on an 0.15in. matrix. Either board piston is fitted with one of a num-
can be plugged into an 8 -way edge ber of `nozzles' shaped to accom-
connector (Home Radio Cat. No. modate different packages, such as
BTS41) whose contacts mate with the dual in -line packs, T05 cans, hy-
eight strips I've just mentioned. brid solid logic devices, relays and
One panel (Cat. No. BTS36) is even discrete component assemblies.
drilled to take two B9A valveholders, The component to be unsoldered
whilst the other (Cat. No. BTS37) from the board is held in a spring -
can accommodate eight transistors. loaded remover and set over the
The valve board has three long strips appropriate nozzle while the piston
along its length to take supply rails is depressed. Molten solder wells
and other services, these strips being up through the hole and contacts
perforated at intervals for connec- the pins on the underside of the
tions. Also provided are a large num- board before draining back into
ber of small isolated sections of cop- the pot. The spring-loaded remover
per, each being perforated to take comes into operation immediately
2, 3 or more connections each. Thus, the pins are freed, so that removal
the valve panel is capable of carry- is practically instantaneous and
ing a very wide range of different there is no excessive transfer of
circuits. The transistor board is of heat to damage the component or
a similar nature, and has base, collec- the board. The oxide layer which
tor and emitter points marked. invariably forms on molten solder
The boards represent most care- is trapped on its passage up
fully thought -out design work, and through the piston, so that only The new Marconi portable un-
should be just the job for those cir- fresh clean solder actually touches soldering tool in action. This is
cuits which have left the experi- the joints. designed to facilitate the damage -
mental stage and require to be The accompanying photograph free removal from a printed board
assembled in neat and permanent illustrates the unsoldering tool in of integrated circuits and similar
fashion. action, a dual in -line i.c. having multi -terminal components
506 7HE RADIO CONSTRUCTOR
 striking mechanism of these lighters slight delay due to reflex time) when now employing measure tin. by
could hardly be simpler. One puts we have moved a lever or a knob 1 }in. when closed and have three
one's thumb on a corrugated sur- sufficiently far. They all work on holes on each side. If one of these
face at the top of the lighter and the simple principle that flesh can hinges is closed over one end of
presses down, whereupon the item be looked upon as being a com- the transistor a bolt can be passed
with the corrugated surface moves pressive spring. through the centre hinge holes and
through 90 °, taking the flint wheel There is, I suppose, no particular the transistor hole, causing the end
with it by way of a ratchet. As moral to be drawn from all this, of the transistor case to be sand-
soon as it starts turning, the flint and I can only conclude by con- wiched between the two sections of
wheel has sufficient rotational force gratulating the designers of devices the hinge. A nut is then fitted to the
to provide an adequate spark, which operate by reason of the bolt and this, when tightened, causes
despite the fact that the assembly effect for their ingenuity in taking the inside hinge surfaces to con-
boasts no mechanical spring toggle advantage of it. At the same time, form to the contour of the transistor
whatsoever. if anyone suggests that those minia- case, thereby making a reasonably
What occurs, of course, is that ture transistor radio volume con- efficient heat -conducting joint. Two
the bone in the thumb applies a trols which incorporate an integral of these hinges, one at each end
constant pressure which initially cam-operated switch be henceforth of the transistor, raise the power
causes the flesh bearing on the cor- referred to as 'flesh- pots', I shall it can dissipate by at least a watt
rugated surface to become corn- ask him to kindly leave the stage. or two. Also, it is easy to make a
pressed. At a certain level the com- collector connection by soldering to
pression becomes sufficient to over- MAKESHIFT HEAT SINKS the brass of one of the hinges.
come the friction between flint I must admit that the combina-
wheel and flint, and the wheel then One of these days I really must tion of a power transistor and two
revolves rapidly. The toggle action go out and buy myself a good brass hinges looks pretty incongru-
is really provided by the flesh of supply of ready -made transistor ous, to say the least, and it is cer-
the thumb. If the lighter were heat sinks. This omission on my tainly not the sort of thing I would
operated by an all -metal robot it part was highlighted recently when fit into a permanent and properly
probably wouldn't function. I found myself repeatedly requiring finished item of equipment. Also,
Rather the same sort of thing temporary heat sinks for transistors the heat taken away from the tran-
occurs with rotary switches having of the 0C35 and AD162 categories. sistor by the hinges is by no means
heavy indent springs; and you may These transistors are employed in as great as is given by a correctly
recall, in this respect, that some of some rather urgent experimental designed heat sink against which
the earlier 12- channel TV turret work I have been carrying out, in the whole surface of the transistor
tuners had indent springs which which they are required to dissipate is bolted. Nevertheless, these little
seemed to have been originally de- only a relatively low amount of brass hinges offer an ideal solution
signed for the rear axle of a Lon- power and would not normally if you're in a hurry, haven't time
don Transport bus. Quite an excep- require heat sinks. Even so, they to cut and drill out a proper heat
tional amount of force was required have sometimes been getting a little sink and only want to dissipate a
to rotate the selection knob, and warmer than they should. little extra power anyway.
once it came anywhere near the Looking hurriedly through a box
required channel the indent spring of odds and ends of hardware to
took over and carried the turret to see whether I could find any pieces
the final position, very often against of metal to which I could tempor- THIN -FILM VIDEO
the natural resilience of the flesh arily bolt the transistors, I stumbled
of the hand. on an idea which has solved the AMPLIFIER
problem quite happily. The solution
Present-day a.c. mains electric is given by small brass hinges, as A thin -film video amplifier de-
light switches, which do not have used in carpentry. The type I am signed by the BBC Engineering
a mechanical toggle action and Department is being manufactured
merely rely on a simple cam press- and marketed by ITT Components
ing one contact against another, Group Europe. The circuit was
also to some extent rely on flesh developed to meet the need for a
resilience. When the flesh bearing miniature video and pulse output
against the switch lever becomes stage capable of driving a 75 ohm
sufficiently compressed, the cam sud- load with a 1V peak -to -peak, a
denly moves round to the fully on feature beyond the range of present
or off position allowing a fairly monolithic circuits.
quick break or make (which is all With high input impedance
that is required for resistive a.c. (greater than 15 kilohm) and low
circuits) to be achieved. The reliance output impedance (less than 100
on flesh resilience can be readily milliohm), the 131 BCR amplifier
checked here, and it is quite easy to can be matched to a wide range of
operate a switch of this nature very loads. External feedback connec-
slowly so that its contacts 'sizzle' tions determine the gain of the am-
at the instant when the contact is plifier, the maximum output current
being broken. Such 'sizzling' would is 100 mA.
be impossible with a switch in- For applications where a particu-
corporating a true mechanical lar d.c. output is required, exter-
toggle; however slowly the latter nal biasing resistors are used. If a
was operated there would always very high input impedance is re-
be a point at which it abruptly quired, bootstrap feedback can be
changed from off to on, and another employed. The packaging of the
where it just as abruptly changed amplifier meets British DEF 5011
from on to off. environmental specifications.
Notice that, in all these cases, For further information contact
there is virtually no dependence on ITT Components Group Europe,
the human servo-mechanisms which "Look it up in the Bible and tell Capacitor Product Division, Brix-
automatically tell us (albeit with a me what it means !" ham Road, Paignton, Devon.
MARCH 1971 507
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