- ICOM
The CanadaNSSR Trans Polar Ski .Im duty cycle .High stabilit crystal r/ 11s
-. Recr?lver
Lor'- r)er 10:. G~;?SC ~ :y ~ c ~~ ~ ~ ~ All ~ ~ ~~ ~
V F iransceiver 1nhrhrinp : / ? I ~ I ~ ( M ~ O
.#mat* *PU ?(ssB):I Y ISS") n i o t i ~ sb u ~ l t - AM.
LSB. USR
~ n FM.CW FSK.
TS-940s-the standard of ICW) : I 1nld-m , ,.. ;I:,; ,.,, >I,,,,:,!!!,) . , . , . ~1
L L L . ', ccw,
performance by which all , ? , ,>-..,:>I,,,. >,,,~ , , ) ? ',~,.! ,r.
other transceivers are judged. -A -..-.. <2 j.
~ , . ! - : . , ~ I r tn'...,.I-rl
~ ~ ' ~ ~ i
Pushing the state-of-the-art CW VET SSO SLOPE TUNE
t? IIV Large fluort?scent tube
in HF transceiver design and ma~n d~splaywrlh d~tnrr~rir, d~rect
construction, no one has been keyboard ~nputof frequency:
able to match theTS-940s in llywheel type m a n lunlng knob
performance, value and reli- w!th c~pl!calencoder mechan~sm
ability.The product reviews ;ill corrih~neto make the TS-940s
glow with superlatives, and n joy to operate
the field-proven performance s , , . I , , * c , # ,*,I ~ r r , ~ ) , > , ~<. ~ ,c"
','.<L
AF tune operation
shows that the TS-940s is *The AF Tut.rE lunil8iin (educes 4 ' r ;! 7 1 ~ ~ I I I I:.!+I ~ ) ~ ~
"The Number One Rated HF anterrercng cgnals and wnrreno~se ,,!,r, ,;,.-..,<
Transceiver!" .Th15 luncimn snouid only be w e d ,, I : I,- ! ,:.r'.-:,i,,:,..l,~ .vI~l.!i
I ~ Y C Itt:~115ni1ttrr
P dullng operatoon ~nthe CW mode ,. ;.%,. , . .-) ,.lr > ; , ! , ~ r 881 l~r.!l~c~r>
KI .r~woi)rispeclf~estransm~ld ~ ~ ty , , . \.,I-T !!,,I :':I ':,I-,,.,< m,,,-,lI>cl
1) CW Variable Bandwidth Tuning. Vary the 3)SSBSlopeTuning.Operat1ng1ntheLSBand
"yclr' The T S ~ 9 4 0 SIs gLr"r- passhand w ~ d l hconl~nuously ~n the CW FSK. USE ~nlodrs.lhls f r n n l lpanel control allows ""+
ant[,erl t i ) operate at full power and AMmodes, wlthoulallecllng [hp Indepen~en~,con~lllul,us~yvarlablead,ust. * 'iI:!- ('nfi ..!!.I' r.f',!b':1,;1nri
t perrods exceeding
o u t l l ~ for frequency Th~se t l e c t ~ v e t ymtnlmlzss ORM men1 olIheh~ghorlowtrequencyslopesotthe l t ~ , r j\" 1 ' ' ) rl:'! ~ ~ 8 r l ~ ~ ' ~ ' ~ l
One hour. (14.250 MH/. CW. 110 lram nearby SSBand CWsrgnals IF passband The LCD sub display ~llustrates ':5f',~ , , ' f z l r , r . , ~ v ! : , - - t8.i~.
c~
w,-llls I Prtrfect for RTTY. SSTV n , llllertng posllton
2 ) ~ ~ ~ u n s , E n a b l e d w l t h I h e p u l h o f a b u l l o the : ' . ~ , ,<- Selectable sernt or full
anti other long-duration m0rlF.S. th~scw lnterlerence 11gh1er Inserts a tun- 4) IF Notch Filler. The tunable notch tllter break-tn CW IOSK). RITIXIT. all
?i!c:t r . ~ ~ at ht11l1 on^ V P ~ I I able.threepoleact~vel~lterbetweenIheSSBl sharply attenuates lnlerfer~ng s~gnalsby as mode squelch. RF ntlenualor, filler
Ihrr?~!vdw a r ~ a n t v CWdemodulatol and Ihe aud~oampllt~erOur- much as 40 dB Asshown here.the interlering select swrtch, selectable AGC.
F Y : . P ~ G . Istable
~ ptinsc~l o c k ~ n gCW OSOs, thls control can b e used l o srgnal IS reduced, wh~lethedesrredslgnal CWv;lrlable pitch control, speech
i,l! lp,jo I p l ~VF(, &ference reduce ~nlerler~ng s~gnalsand nolse, and remalns unaltecled The notch tiller works ln processor,and RF power outpl,t
u mmodesexcept FM
p e a k s a u d ~ o t r e q ~ r ~ n c y r e s p o n s e t o r o p t ~ mall control, programmable ti;lnd
frc~qrlrncyaccuracy Is Ine~ls,rred
CW perlormancc
111 parts per million! scan or 40channel rrtelnury scan.
O y ~ ~ ~ i ;~i cr ic~c a\ cl o r ~ c ~ ~ crysl;il o:;~:~ll;rto~= MC-43s UPJ'DOWN hand
-
AT 940 lull range (160-10mln~rtnrnntlc
:rnlrbr~rin tuner SP-940 f?xtern;il s~)e:iker
wllli : ~ i r r l ~fillrr~n!]
o * YG 455C-1 1500 HI.
YG-4!i5CNl (250HI).YK-~RC 1 I 5 0 0 Hz1 CW
mrc MC-60A,hlC-80. MC-85 deluxe hnse
st;il~onni~i:?0 I'C-1A phone p;ilch TL-922A
.
l~risnranipl~f~erSM-220 sl;rtiori nir>nllor
B S ~ Rpar1 rt~sl~l;ry SW-?OOA;rnii SW-2000
KENWOD
KENWOOD U.S.A.CORPORATION
fill~r,;.YKRBA-1I6 kH/) AM ftlter VS-1volce SWR ;inrl [owrZ,meters * IF?:13CllFl0H 2201 E Domlngne; St .LongB~ach,CA90810
syntti~~.;~zt?r * S O 1 I(!ni~)~r;tlirrr! ~ : o n i [ ' r ~ r i s ~ ~ tcr rd) m ~ ~ r t 11~1terf
e r ri.?. PO Box ?374!>. Long Beach. CA 90801-5745
1 I , , I , ,, ,l,,lI,l,r,,lM;,!,,,,,, , I I ,<,,,#..
,.,.,. 81,. .,I,,>,,.1i..,,,,,,. .. ,,',,I/,r,, 1. , . I , 1.\,,111,.1 1 I1,11~,/11~,1~,,1!1
8 . l~,,,liiltil i1,1,'1.1,,-1,,.
volume 21, number 9
I
international s u b s c r i p t i o n agents: page I09
M~croltlm
copods are avetlable trom Publisher's Log 4 DX Forecaster 104
818Ckma61er Publtlhlng
M~neralVargm#a231 17
Backscatter 6 HamMart 108
Cassette t a m a t selected anlclsr lrom HAM RADIO Comments 9 Elmer's Notebook 110
are avellable to the blind and phvrlsally handaca~md
trom Recorded Per!od#cals.
Ham Radio Techniques 26 Flea Market 114
919 Walnut Strwl Phnlsdelphra Pennsylvania 19107 Practically Speaking 34 Advertiser's Index 116
Capvn~ht1988 by Communocat~ons Technology Inr Ham Notebook 38 Reader Service 116
rsrle reg,ssredat u s Patent Onlca
Second class metage pand New Products 48.56.100
at Grwnv~lleNew HammhaaOY)OB0098
and at sddtltonalmallmg ontcer
ISSN 0148 5989
Send change ot addre.. to HAM RADIO
Grwnv8lla. Nsw HampshIrsaXYB M98 September 1988 3
FLASH FCC TAKES 220-222 MHz!
O n T h u r s d a y August 4 , t h e FCC a n n o u n c e d i t s
r e a l l o c a t i o n of 2 2 0 - 2 2 2 MHz t o the Land M o b i l e
Service. D e s p i t e o v e r w h e l m i n g o p p o s i t i o n from
- o v e r n m e n t a g- e n c i e s and Amateurs. t h e
i n d u s t r v- ,. g
three sitting commissioners concluded unanimously
that t h e r e a l l o c a t i o n w a s in t h e "public
interest .'I T h e ARRT, i m m e d i a t e l y filed a Pet ition
for R e c o n s i d e r a t i o n and vowed a v i g o r o u s fight.
T h e FCC's a c t i o n c a m e d e s p i t e well s u p p o r t e d
ongoing concurrent resolutions, opposing
r e a l l o c a t i o n , in t h e US H o u s e ( R e s o l u t i o n 317) and
S e n a t e ( R e s o l u t i o n 127). All A m a t e u r s inust
c o n t a c t t h e i r C o n g r e s s i o n a l R e p r e s e n t a t i v e and
S e n a t o r s t o protest this F C C action.
de W 9 J U V and NlACH
Here it is! This issue marks one of the more significant milestones in the twenty-year history of HAM RADlO
Magazine. As you leaf through this month's issue, you are going to see a blend of exciting new graphics care-
fully put together with a revised mix of the very best reading that you will find in Amateur Radio today.
This has not been an easy task. HAM RADlO has long enjoyed the unique reputation of being the most profes-
sional of any of the magazines in our field. Although we felt that it was time for some changes, we also recog-
nized that it was vital to respect our past and build on what we have done so very well.
Over the past year, we've asked a lot of questions and listened very carefully to the answers. We have been
talking to our readers, and to those who should be our readers, in an attempt to find'out just how we could
do an even better job in serving today's Amateur. Several important ideas continually dominated what we heard.
Don't let anything compromise the high technical standards that Jim Fisk set for HAM RADlO from the very
beginning. We have always believed very strongly in this, and it was very reassuring to hear that so many of
you overwhelmingly agree with us.
Print more construction articles and see to it that these projects are practical. Make sure they're constructed
from available parts, suitable for the home builder to put together and get working properly in a reasonable amount
of time.
Offer more short technical articles. Keep the quality there, but deliver more of it in smaller more easily digested
pieces. Include these along with the longer, more in depth discussions readers expect from HAM RADIO.
It all adds up to a tall order, but I think we've managed to assemble what you've been asking for. From now
on you'll be seeing at least two Weekenders each month. These short building projects are designed to stimu-
late your best workshop talents. We already have a backlog of really great projects waiting for you, and are
continuing to scour the realm of Amateur Radio in our search for nifty stuff to direct toward your soldering iron.
We're going to be listening to what you like and don't like in the way of these projects. Look for the yellow
page bound into this issue and you'll find details of our reader evaluation program. You can cast your vote each
month and tell us which of our ideas really cut the mustard and which don't. To make it even more satisfying,
you have a chance to win a handheld radio at the same time. Be sure to check this out and join in the fun.
We haven't forgotten our authors in all this excitement! The originator of each month's most popular project
will also be awarded a handheld. Why don't you share the results of your latest brainstorm with our readers
and see if you can't be our lucky writer one of these months? I'll bet you've already built the project. It's just
a matter of putting your results on paper and sending it along to us.
It's a very careful balancing act, but you'll see us putting a greater stress on the shorter tutorial pieces. How-
ever, as we said before, we will not be compromising the high standards you have learned to expect and enjoy
in HAM RADlO Magazine.
You'll see a new look to our pages this month. It's been a long time since the original design was conceived.
Our original layout has served us well and even now, over twenty years later, we are still the best looking Ama-
teur magazine. But, much has changed in the technology and standards of the graphics arts field. It seemed
that now was a perfect time to take advantage of all this and make HAM RADlO even more enticing. I'm sure
you'll agree!
Finally, you will also find that two much requested old friends are back this month. The magazine is again
in a mailing wrapper, and the reader service card has returned.
We've listened carefully, and we're going to keep tuning in for your comments and ideas. Use our evaluation
card or drop us a note. Please let us know what you think of everything we're up to. It's being done especially
for you. If it's not just right, then we want to make it so. We may already be the leader, but we want to do
an even better job as your favorite Amateur Radio magazine.
Skip Tenney, WlNLB
4 September 1988
All Mode
TR-751A/851~
Mobility! 25 watts ti1gtil5watts adjustable low
Programmable scanning-memory.
Dual d ~ g ~ tVFOs
al
V
-
semi break-~ncw w ~ t hr ~ d etone
band, or mode scan with T O M " MC-48 16-key DTMF hand mlcro-
Compact all mode channel and priority alert phone and microphone hook ~ncluded
transceivers 10 memory channels for frequency. Frequency lock, offset, reverse sw~tches
mode. CTCSS tone, offset. TWOchan- Digital Channel Link (DCL) option
It's the "New Soundn on the 2 meter
riels for odd splits,
.
band-Kenwood's TR-751A! Auto- Optional accessories:
All mode squelch, noise blanker. CD-10 call slgn display
matic mode selection, versatile
and RIT PS-430, PS-30 DC power supplies
scanning functions, illuminated multi- Easy-to-read analog & RF meter
function LCD and status lights all SW-100A/B SWRIpower meter
contribute to the rig's ease-of- SW-2OOA/B SWRIpower meter
operation. All this and more in a SWT-1 2 ~n antenna tuner
compact package for VHF stations SWT-2 70 c m antenna tuner
on-the-go! TU-7 38-tone CTCSS encoder
A~~toiii;rl~c:
mode selection, plus LSB -1 modem unit for DCL system
144.0 144 1 144.5 145.8 146.0 148.0 MHz VS-1 volce synthesizer
I MB-10 extra mob~lemount
CW USB FM USB FM SP-40, SP-SOB mob~le
sl~eakers
Optional front panel-selecta PG-2N extra DC cable
38-tone CTCSS encoder
Frequency range 142-
149 MHz (rnod~f~able to
- PG-3B DC llne noise f~lter
MC-GOA, MC-80, MC-85
dt:luxo base stat~onmics.
cover 141-151 MHz) MC-43s UPIDOWN mlc.
Hlgh performance receiver with MC-55 (8-p~n) niobile mlc.
GaAs FET front end MA-4000 dual band antenna with
VS-1 voice synthesizer option
---
Actual size front panel
70 cm SSB/CW/FM transceiver
The same wlnning features are yours
on 70 cm w~ththe TR-851A!
Covr?rs430-439.999MH.!
25 W h~ghpower15 W odlust;ible low
MC-43s UPIDWN mlc and nilc.
KENWOOD
hook ~ncluded KENWOOD U.S.A.CORPORATION
2201E. Domtnguez St..Long Beach,CA90810
PO. Box 22745. Long Beach, CA 90801-5745
I om,,rere sPrv,Ci? rn.lnirnis dr? nvn,iahlr lor all KPrlivtioO r r d i l i c ~ r v ~and r r rlln.1 a r I - t , i > r i r r r s
! " ~ c m f , , , v , o r ~ s,,,>apure$ ;*re sr~t~,w:1 ~ 1 1 or c ~ b l ~ ~ , ? I ~ c ~ r ~
l o r'11;30ge v ~ ~ r ! ~ 0r?ol,re
glraranlrrd tor l r l r 1J.J 1.18 MHI Arrldlec~rb,lrl:JOrlly
! PU(.!~~~..~IJO~IC
Field Day -
Preparedness or example, instead of scheduling Field Day on a specific
June weekend simply set it for some June weekend
Party Time? - to be announced by a "QST" from W1AW the Fri-
Ask any Amateur - "What's the purpose of Field day evening of that weekend. Consider how much
Day?" and you'll hear in response, "Test our ability more flexible your Field Day organization would have
to set up and operate under adverse condi- to be if it's going to have to set up and get on the air
tions.. .Emergency preparedness.. .Demonstrate Ama- with less than 24 hours notice - how much more
teur Radio's readiness to respond to disaster..." Surely responsive, as in an actual unexpected emergency,
noble intentions, but do they square with the realities you'd become!
of Field Day? In its present form Field Day is a great deal of fun
For most clubs, planning for a serious Field Day and a fine opportunity to spend a weekend in the sun
effort is a many month - often year-long - exercise. with some of your best friends. Maybe, without doing
Picnic groves and company recreation areas are serious damage to that aspect of it, we could also turn
reserved, generators and cherry pickers rented, long it into a much more useful training experience. Any
lists of equipment, towers and antennas located and ideas?
inventoried, operating crews organized and scheduled, Joe Schroeder, W9JUV
and food and beverage - needs tabulated. Then, at the
appointed hour on the appointed Saturday in June,
it all comes together when the bands come alive with Sorry Joe. I don't buy it.
big signals and each club's top ops grind out QSOs Field Day is one of the most enjoyable events we
at a blistering pace. have in Amateur Radio. Every year thousands of Hams
For the next 24 hours we'll devour mountains of hot- from across the country turn out. Prior planning of
dogs and hamburgers washed down with oceans of schedules allows many to rearrange vacations or busi-
coffee, pop and beer, while our "designated hitters" ness trips (or do the necessary chores) to accomodate
run up big contest scores in stations that are often as their desire to operate. Plenty of Amateurs, who
well laid out and equipped as a top-rated contest sta- haven't missed a Field Day in years, might have to miss
tion. But what has all this got to do with "emergency it due to other commitments if the change you pro-
preparedness," operation "under adverse conditions," pose was to be implimented.
or "readiness to respond to disaster?" Field Day as This year, I participated in a Field Day effort with
it's presently enjoyed is surely a great combination of our local club. We hadn't done one before and, as we
multi-op contesting and early summer cookout, but sat and planned our effort in the months preceeding
adequate preparation for the next big earthquake or the event, it became apparent that this group was truly
the day the dam breaks it ain't! excited. For new and old Ham alike, the spirit of Field
Isn't it time to decide what we really expect from Day was infectious. What didn't exist, however, was
Field Day? Should it be simply a multi-op contest oper- a cutthroat desire to win at all costs. Our desire was
ation in an outdoor setting, or should it become a seri- to set up a portable radio station in a suitable location
ous effort to better prepare ourselves and our equip- and talk to as many others as possible.
ment for the day when smoothly functioning Amateur I'm confident that from the lessons we learned, the
communications can save lives? club could put at least one station on the air in a few
If the answer is better emergency preparedness, let's hours or less in the event of an emergency. The exper-
consider one way that might be accomplished. For /continued on page 103)
6 September 1988
-
MFJ 3 KW Roller Inductor Tuner
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you get your SWR down to absolute minimum -- something a
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A
. -
MFJ*aInnovative new Dlfferentlal-T Instead of foollng with your tuner. signal -- plus it reduces TVI and RF in
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Reader Service CHECK-OFF Page 116 / 117 September 1988 7
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1hr.componeol lurle#
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8111% 8 8 1 I.,..! Ir i ~ u b l ~ ~ h Snrvlce
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no ~nrludrd I f ~ h n r c l a n <nonrprlale Iht. TV Smc
Basic DCaccuracy plus mlnur 0 25% c<rcutt5 lor vlc,winq T V v ancl T V H
DC voltage 200mu-IOOOV. 5 ranges and .>rcuna!t' ,.yncnronfzatlon of
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of basic electrical and electronic cir- We can correct this, and we need
cuits along with suggesting simple cir- to correct this. But no one seems to
cuits prospectives can build are care.
needed. That was how many of us got Keats A. Pullen, Jr., W3QOM.
started, and many of us have con- Kingsville, Maryland 21087-1050
tributed to the advance of the field.
But sound basics along with simple
construction kits dependent on simple
discrete elements are needed. Heath-
storing lead-acid
kits are no longer available for simple batteries
enough circuits for this. They have to Dear HR:
COMMENTS be more mistake-resistant than most
IC projects. The individual must be
As I was reading the excellent ar-
ticle, "A Battery-backedMaster Power
able to do the building without damag- System," by Eric Smitt, KSES, I was
ing either the parts themselves or the disappointed by incorrect statements
more information mounting circuit boards. (You can't about lead-acid batteries. It cautioned
needed easily find a kit meeting these require- against placing these batteries on con-
Dear HR: ments any more, at least ones suita- crete floors ("...the calcium in the floor
I picked up a copy of the June 1988 ble for starters. I have looked.) will cause the battery to die.") and said
issue and saw your editorial. I think In addition, it is not possible to put they should be "Mounted on a wood-
you may have missed part of the point. together even a simple audio amplifier en surface.. ." Such statements are
The suggestion on encouraging old that will work as planned based on unadulterated hogwash and I am dis-
folks to become hams has considera- data available. If one wants to make appointed that such a glaring error
ble merit, but is that the only an audio amplifier using a bipolar tran- made it past the editors of Amateur
approach? Ithink the ham radio groups sistor that will have a voltage gain of Radio's finest technical publication.
that have opened their hamfests to 50,one should use an audio oscillator Because a battery is contained with-
computerists are perhaps moving in a source, a bipolar transistor with a load in an insulating enclosure, there can be
better direction, as the broadest field resistance of about '1200 ohms, with a no electrical current between whatever
of potential hams is computer users of direct voltage drop across the load it sits on and the internal cells. Sim-
all ages. I suspect this has been a resistor of about 1.25 volts. The ser- ilarly, because the battery case is
drawback of all the more "slick" ham ies base resistance back to collector chemically inert and impermeable,
magazines that they have minimized supply is adjusted to give the required there can be no reaction between the
that aspect. Computer users are moti- voltage drop across the collector environment and the internal chemis-
vated toward electronics already. resistance. Have you ever seen that try of the battery.
Kids can get into computers from a stated anywhere? Try it! What was stated has been an old
keyboard - kids of all ages. (Perhaps The point is that even this simple "mechanic's tale" for years. As a
that is why so many hams have got- information is not available in any college student, I worked as a "go-fer"
ten into them.) Can people get into information source available for the in an automobile garage. One day, the
ham radio by an as easily learned path? potential ham. But any user of com- mechanics and I had an argument
If they can, I haven't seen it in print. puters is a potential ham. He or she is about whether it was safe to set a lead-
The kids overcome problems much eminently susceptible to trying some- acid car battery upon a concrete floor
more severe than Morse code with thing for use with a computer, and or whether it should be set upon wood.
computers. The relation should be from there go to ham radio. I bet each of the mechanics that a
obvious, particularly with the advent Present-day hams can't very well be brand new battery would not be affect-
of packet radio and ham radio teletype. experimenters based just on what is ed by a concrete floor. The subject
As I see it, there are two impedi- available in the ARRL handbook or battery was to be compared to an
ments. One is a simple but effective most other sources because the impor- identical new battery mounted upon a
method of learning the code to the tant facts, such as why the above piece of wood. Both were to be left in
modest required speed. I and others design works, are not available. (The place for about a month and receive
have developed possible solutions to transconductance of a bipolar transis- no charging of any kind. Total battery
that. Laws are simple memory work. tor is (q/kT) times output current, and voltage and cell specific gravity were
Neither of these need to be a road- the voltage gain is that value times the the test parameters.
block. load resistance, or in the above case Need I state that I won the bet?
As I see it, adequate simplification about 48 to 50.) /continued on page loll
September 1988 9
Robert J. Zavrel, Jr., W S X , c/o Digital RF Solutions, Inc., 3080 Olcott Street, Suite200d, Santa
Clara, California 95054
10 September 1988
But units employing an analog PTO oscillator can't be s
equaled for spectral purity. A properly designed LC ana- 2:
,'a
> V)
log oscillator is hardto beat for overcoming phase noise w8
and spurious performance. LC
wcs
SB.
Spurious responsescan also cause problems with
LO signals. Unlike the "broadband" noise sideband
t 0,
2:
.oh
qr3
( , WI I I L A , 1 I
T I M E S O ~ I / O I V I S I O NFOR A 2OMWr CLOCK
WI I
OlGlTAL AMPLITUDE RF
the LO carrier.
DDS basics
Figure 1 shows the key to understandingDDS sys-
tems. A20-MHzclock hasa periodof 50nS. The Nyquist
theorem states that a sine wave digitalsynthesizer needs
1 To:;]:::L
TUNING FREQUENCY
I IOmS O E L I Y
at least two sample points per cycle. This fundamental CONNECT A ROT4RV
OPTICAL ENCODER FOR
L I N E FOR
September 1988 11
the NCMO DDS system
The NCMO (conceived and designed by Earl
McCune Jr., WA6SUH) is a highly integrated CMOS
phase accumulator with numerous interface and modu-
lation features. It uses a 24-bit phase accumulator
counter controlled by a 24-bit tuning word. The 24-bit
tuning resolution impliesover 16 million equally spaced
discrete frequencies in an NCMO system; 16 million
"channels" suggests about 1.2-Hz steps with a 20-MHz
clock. Half of the frequencies appear between the
Nyquistand clock frequencies. These are simply "folded
over" back below the Nyquist frequency, so there are
actually only about 8 million possible discrete frequen-
cies. Only the most significant 12bits are used in this pro-
ject. Thisaffectsonly the sampling error and not the24-
bit frequency resolution. There is noadvantagein using
Spectrum of 5 to 5.5 M H z with the VFO set to 5.25 M H z . All
more ROM address bits than DAC resolution bits. spurious signals are below -80 dB.
12 September 1988
ElMAC has complete cav ndwidth and operating mode ian EIMAC, or the nearest Variarr
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14 September 1988
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September 1988 17
out, but on a smaller scale than the H-Type NiCd
(designed for gas turbine and piston engine starting
service).
The process of charging a sintered-plate NiCd bat-
tery is complicated by the fact that a charge must be
delivered not only to the surface particles on the sin-
tered plate, but also to the particles buried inside the
plate. A slight overcharge must be applied to the sur-
face particles in order to get to the buried particles and
achieve a full charge. To do this you must apply a sub-
stantial minimum current during the charging process.
This minimum charging current is usually one-tenth
of the Ah capacity (C) of the cell. This is written as
"0.1C".
18 @ September 1988
..... -
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b Weight 12.5 oz. (358 g)
, Controls .Power OniOfl
Random code enerator OnIOff
~rlnt-out 0n!0?f
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-LOiActuating. HIJStop Speed Up & bown -
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2251 1 Aspan Streel Lake Fore '630-6321 (714) 5 8 1- 4 9 0 0 Toll Free 1 - 8 0 0 - 5 2 3 - 6 3 6 6
TOP VIEW CURRENT
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0 2 3A loo PI" IdIC." ,CCI,I,.,
CI 220 F 35 rolls
..,,,,or ,.,.d a, llnl r0,t.g. .,.,I
only about 80 percent of the rated C of the battery tage spike that appears across the transformer wind-
can be realized by constant-voltage charging. ings and the half-wave rectifier (021 when the charger
A method of charging is needed with a current that is unplugged from the power source.
doesn't drop below the critical 0.1 C level or cause the The recommended transformer current rating of
unsafe cell heating found with constant-current charg- 2 1A may seem high but is necessary for two reasons.
ing. The solution is voltage-limited pulse charging. The First, half-wave rectification is especially hard on a
needed current of ~ 0 . 1 C is pulsed at a greatly reduced transformer since a dc current flows in the secondary
duty cycle, so the average heat dissipated by the cell of the transformer. Second, the available peak cur-
is reduced to a safe level. The pulse discharger's dis- rent at the beginning of a charge cycle needs to be
advantage is that while it produces a higher C than high enough to assure that any reversed cells will be
constant-voltage charging, it won't allow 100-percent automatically repolarized. If you need higher current
utilization of a battery's C. This is a small tradeoff for output, the 5A LM-338 can be used in place of the
greatly extended battery life. LM-317T along with a heavier transformer, fuse, one-
There have been several articles on pulse chargers tenth of the resistance of R3, and a 6A rectifier (02).
for NiCds over the last few years, but none of the ones
I saw were easy to build. I designed my pulse charger adjustment
with this in mind. Figure 1 shows the schematic. Follow the steps below t o make adjustments t o the
charger.
circuit description With no battery connected t o the charger, depress
The pulse source for this charger is the half-wave S1 and set R1 for an output voltage of = 1.43 volts
rectified line frequency. Pulse duration is about per NiCd cell t o be charged. Release S1.
8.33mS with 60-Hz line frequency; the time between Connect a D M M across the current test points. The
pulses is 16.67mS. Because the battery will be charged initial average charge current will be about 0.3C which
only when the charger voltage exceeds the battery vol- will decline as the battery is charged; the charge cur-
tage, it is the crest of the half-wave pulse that charges rent plateaus after the cells are fully charged. R1
the battery. The duration of this charging pulse is should then be reset for a charge current of =0.02C.
=2mS t o 3mS. The resting time between charge You can see the peak charging current on an oscil-
pulses is = 13mS. The maximum voltage of the pulse liscope by connecting the scope across the current test
is controlled by an LM-317T adjustable three terminal points. The peak charging current should be =O.lC
regulator IC. The output current is monitored by meas- when the average charging current is 0.02C. The trans-
uring the voltage drop across a known resistance (R3). former secondary voltage may be too high if it is less
The varistor ( D l in the charger takes care of the vol- that 0.1 C, or the current-monitoring resistor (R3) may
20 September 1908
need to be reduced by a factor of 10 times. This the self-discharge rate in half. A n ordinary freezer with
changes the calibration factor. a temperature of - 15OC causes only about 1120th of
There won't be any damage to the battery if it is the self-discharge rate that you could expect on a
left connected to this charger for several days. warm summer day.
However, you shouldn't charge the banery if the Another pesky problem with NiCds is their flat dis-
ambient temperature is above 35OC or 95OF. charge curve. They maintain a cell voltage of 2 1.15
volts right up to the end. Unlike carbon-zinc or alkaline-
myths about NiCds manganese cells, the end comes without warning. The
Some people believe that it's best to let a NiCd pack only way to keep track of the remaining charge in a
run completely down to 0 volts before recharging. This NiCd is with a high-resolution 3-112 digit DVM.
is an acceptable practice with solid-plate NiCds, but
it is the quickest way I know to short out a sintered- summary
plate NiCd banery. According to one NiCd manufac- Nickel-cadmium cells have their limitations. They
turer. General Electric, a NiCd battery should never wouldn't be good to use in smoke detectors, watches,
-be discharged below 1.1 volts per cell. Allowing the or any place where low self-discharge is essential. But
cell voltage to go to 0 may also cause one or more they work well for portable handheld transceivers. The
of the cells in a battery pack to reverse polarize in the only thing they require is a charger that can't inadver-
last few minutes of discharge. The normal constant- tently heat them during charging.
current charge rate of 0.1C isn't usually enough cur-
rent to reverse the wrong polarity of the cell. This Article B ham radio
means that one cell won't recharge until it is reversed
by a much larger current. A voltage-regulated pulse
charger can usually supply enough initial charging cur-
rent to reverse a reversed cell.
Another myth about NiCd batteries is that they have
a "memory" which causes them to lose C. I have seen
many NiCds that have lost part of their C; this was
due to loss of electrolyte caused by overcharging and
overheating. New NiCds can gain C after a few
chargeldischarge cycles and this appears to be a nor-
mal occurrence with newly manufactured cells. I have r
Model AC 1.8-30 1 8 to 30 MHZ
never seen the "memory effect" discussed in some a SMTn Max 2 1 1 4 1 overagefrom 1 8 lo30 MHz
a Can be lnstolledInawoxlmotetv80 f l space
NiCd literature.
Many feel that NiCds can be expected to last only
•Idea for ~0rnmer~lol w ~ l c e sbl rnultl h a
quencv operatton without the need for
$173"
% l m < , & NNING
antenrm tuners cf a d d l t l m l antennas ADD sorn
a couple of years. This is probably true if they are care- Handles 1 KW 2 KW PEP GAS
lessly charged with a constant-current charger. The a Hlgher power models a v o l b M on
J~BCIOI ord8r Contact your
26 volt15.7Ah battery I mentioned earlier was made dealer or factciv
in 1962. The two paralleled halves of this battery (13 ",rn.".",m,m
volts) will still start an automobile engine.
A final myth is that NiCds should be stored fully dis- U S PotmtNo 4511 898
September 1988 21
MEASURlNG
TRANSlllllSSKlN UNE
PARAMETERS
A. E. Popodi, OE2APM/AASK, Mooss- quency that corresponds to a full wavelength for a
trasse 7, A-5020, Salzburg, Austria cable whose velocity factor (v) is 0.66 (used as a start-
ing point).
Three methods 984 0.66
fo = 1 (11
of determining
velocity factor where f, is the frequency in MHz and R the cable
length in feet. Based on a velocity factor of 0.66, fre-
quency f, would equal 32.587 MHz. So, for half the
22 September 1988
inductive and can be resonated by an external capac-
itor. In both cases, you have a parallel-tuned resonant
circuit. The smaller the external inductance, the closer
FREOUENC Y COAX CABLE
COUNTER the frequency is t o the half-wavelength frequency of
16.293 MHz.
-~s"O"'
This explains why it is impossible to determine cable
ME' T E R
length accurately with a grid dip meter and coupling
coil. You resonate the external inductance with the
three-capacitor method
By using external capacitors, you can operate the
cable as the inductive element of a parallel-tuned cir-
cuit. The obvious advantage is that you can measure
capacitances precisely. The voltage peak at resonance
is easy to observe and accuracy is better than with the
previous methods. Since you have a parallel-tuned cir-
cuit, you must feed the signal from a high impedance
fig. 3. Asymptote intersects frequency axis at "zero turn" source. A 4.7 k resistor is sufficient (see fig. 5).
point. This frequency when substituted into eqn. 2 de-
termines velocity factor.
Determine the resonant frequencies for each of three
different capacitors.
Calculate the three capacitive reactances:
September 1988 23
~ook
at our FEW>=
F$LA-Z-x.,,
"ON WINDOW" Line don't have access to an rf voltmeter; build a single-
stage amplifier ( A simple wide-band, RC coupled one)
VHF UHF followed by a rectifier, using voltage doubling. Then
(140-175) (420-520) amplify the resulting dc voltage with a 741 operational
No Hole 3 db gam
~asylo Mount No Hole amplifier that drives a meter. Feed the amplifier by way
Rugged Easy to Mwnr of an emitter follower to reduce the probe capacitance
Superrw Rugped
Pedmance Supenw that forms part of the total capacitance. If you can
Radfafor Snaps Pedonnancw select the cable length, choose one longer than 16.4
On and 017 Radramr Snaps
Compefihvety Pricec , On and MI feet in order to keep the resonant frequency in the
range of 10 to 20 MHz and reduce the effect of para-
sitic inductances.
MODEL OW 3-150
140-174 MHz The capacitors must be connected with the short-
MODEL OW 3-220 est possible leads between center conductor and
210-250 MHz
3 db garn shield. (1 recommend using a small pc board as a
No Hole groundplane and ground reference.) If the capacitor
Easy lo Mounf
Rugged leads are too long the apparent capacitance is
Super!ot Performance increased, due to the series inductance, and the meas-
Swrvel VertrcalAd/usmnf
ured resonance frequency will be lower - falsely
Radrafor Removal Wilhou)
Loss of Vefical Ad/ustmml indicating a smaller value of velocity factor.
Cornpel~t~velyPrtced Consider a piece of RG-58 C / U coax, 21.01 feet
$d%-=ix
- .:
?&$.FL
;;;--: .=-
C W Y U N U T W AYTENNAS
>,*C
long. The three values of capacitance chosen are 235
pF, 773 pF, and 1658 pF (which includes 3 pF for the
3900-0 Rrver Road
Schrller Park. IL €0176
probe capacitance). Table 1 shows the measured fre-
312-671-6690 quencies and the corresponding calculated values of
brings imagination and innovation to capacitive reactance.
antennas ...- -.and has been
since 1948!!
I
of license sent with order. ZIN versus frequency for v = 0.66 and Z, = 50 ohms,
(818) 447-4565 rn-f 8am-5:30pm pmt.
as shown in fig. 6 (curve A). A frequency o f f = 15.46
P.C. ELECTRONICS lorn (WWRG)
2522 Paxson Ln Arcadia CA 91006 Marvan" (w86YSS)
September 1988 25
HAM RADIO
TECHNIQUES
Bill Orr, W6SAI
c! .
on our way up!
"Been down for so long it feels like
up to me!" That's the story of the sun-
spot cycle and DX. At last things are
on the way up. The sun is getting spot-
tier and the higher frequency Amateur
bands are coming to life.
Of course it didn't seem that way
during the summer months. DX tends
to fizzle out in warm weather and
there's a lot of short skip in its place.
But DX will pick up again in the fall
months, as it has for many years.
M y good friend Steve, KHGSB, has
maintained a running record of various
aspects of the solar cycle over a period
of 34 years. Steve is stationed at the
NOAA Ionospheric Research Station Recorded maximum frequency of vertical incident sounder (Maui) averaged over 34 years.
at Maui, Hawaii. The graph in fig. 1
is my copy of his record (taken in 1 sensitive t o this annual cycle. 1 indicating that the MUF ran around 18
Maui) of the ionospheric measure- 1 You might infer from the graph that 1 MHz. During the minimum year of
ments of the maximum reflection fre- spring is better than fall for DX on the 1976, the September MUF averaged
quency of the F2 layer, as measured higher bands. This may be true for around 19.8 MHz. But during the very
by the radio sounder. This critical fre- Hawaii, but not necessarily for the rest low period of September 1964, the
quency is that of a pulsed radio wave, of the world. The chart gives a quick MUF averaged only 15.8 MHz. This
projected vertically to the ionosphere, overview of the ionosphere and its was good news for the 20-meter DXer
whose reflected signal is monitored at effect on DX conditions, as logged who operated near the edge of the
the sounder site. At Maui, the MUF over three decades of observation. MUF, but bad news for the operator
(maximum usable frequency) is about on 15 and 10 meters. (The actual
3.3 times the maximum measured what about September? median values shown are for a 24-hour
reflection frequency. The graph shows And what about the month of Sep- period, and the MUF near noon is
what most DXers know from experi- tember? Figure 2 shows the record of probably higher than the values dis-
ence - the best DX months are in the F2 vertical sounding for September cussed. )
spring (March and April) and the fall since 1944 and covers over four sun- On the other hand, during the great
(September and October). Winter and spot cycles. The factor of 3.3 shows sunspot cycle year of 1957, the Sep-
summer months are poorer because that during sunspot minima (1986, for tember median value of MUF may
the average MUF is lower. The 10, 12, example) the median vertical sounding have run as high as 39.6 MHz; for the
and 15-meter bands are particularly frequency averaged about 5.5 MHz, October period of that year, the MUF
26 September 1988
HF Erjiupn>cnI lC-735
ICOM
IC 781 New Deluxe HF Rig $5995 Call S
IC-761 Loaded wtth Exlras 2699 Call S
lC-735 Gen Cvg Xcvr 1099 Call $
IC-751A Gen Cvg X C Y ~ 1699 Call $
Rocelvers
IC-R7000 2513001 MHz Rcvr 1199 Call S
IC-R71A I W kHz-30 MHz Rcvr 999 Call $
VHF
IC.228NH 5091539 Call S
"EAR IC-28NH FM Mobile 2 5 ~ 1 4 5 ~ 4691499 Call $
IC-OPAT FM HT 409 95 Call $
IC-2GAT 2m 7w HT 429 95 Call $
F2 vertical sounding record IMaui) over 4 sunspot cycles (month of Septemberl. IC-900 Str Band Mobile 639 Call $
UHF
IC-48A FM Mobile 25w Call S
IC44AT FM HT Call S
ran as high as 43.5 MHz! (See fig. 3.) IC4GAT 440MHz HT Call S
220 MHz
Looking back at old copies of QST IC-38A 2% FM Xcvr Call $
IC-32AT ZmnWm HT Call s
magazine, I found reports of fabulous
50-MHz DX in late 1957. The East
Coast was working Hawaii, the West
Coast was working South Africa and KENWOOD
HF Equipment
Europe, and the MUF was reaching TS-94oSlAT Gen. Cvg Xcvr 2449.95 Call $
TS-440SIAT Gen. Cvg XCvr 1379 95 Call S
occasional peaks of 52 MHz! TS-140s Compacl Gen Cvg
What are the probabilities of DXers Xcvr 929.95 Call S
VHF
being able to repeat the fabulous con- TS-71IA AI Mode Basa 25w 1029.95 Call S
TR-751A All Mode Mobtle 25w 649.95 Call S
ditions of the fall of 1957? Some TM-22lA 2m 45w 439.95 Call S
499.95 Call S
specialists think the chances are good TM-2550A FM Mobile 45w
TM-2570A FM Mobile 70w 599.95 Call S
for a high sunspot cycle peak in a year TH.215A 2m HT Has I1 All 379 95 Call S
TH-25AT 5w Pocket HT NEW 34995 Call $
or two. If this comes to pass, the 50- TM721A 2mnWm FM Moblle 649.95 Call $
UHF
MHz band will explode with strong DX TM-421A Compact FM 35w 449.95 Call S
signals from all over the world. I'm I I TH-45AT 5w P a k e l HT NEW 369.95 Call I
During October 1 5 ' the median MUF 220 MHz
keeping my fingers crossed on that TM-3530A FM 220 MHz 25w 499.95 Call S
peaked near 43.5 MHz. TM-321A Compact 25w Mobile 449.95 Call I
one! TH.315A Full Fealured 25w HT 399.95 Call S
-
predesigned antenna files in its library
ontinuing a 6 8 year tradition. we bring Introductory price S79.95 and gives an easy starting point for
ou three new Callbooks l o r 1989, bigger
7d better than ever! fl 128
I. .*,.,..,,' ' r.r,,,.".
antenna modeling. The plotting pro-
he N o r t h American Callbook lists the calls.
ames. and address Information for 495.000
Orden: 8 0 - 3 6 4 ~ 3 2 7 0L":,:,:-:,:;,' gram provides azimuthal and elevation
censed radio amateurs in all countries o f EEB F.lec!rnnic Equipment Rank plots like those shown in figs. 4 and
101th America, f r o m Canada t o Panama \,<,I1 \l,ll s, \I. \,""",, $ 4 ::!""
lcludlng Greenland. Berrnldda, and the i,".' m.,,",^ Im luh.n.,n -'0 5. The latter shows the first plot I've
dribbean islands plus Hawali and the
1.5. possessions. ever seen of a terminated Beverage
he International Callbook lists 500.000
THE LAST AMPLIFIER antenna, popular on 160 meters. Note
censed radio amateurs In countrles outside
lorth Amerlca. Its coverage Includes South YOU the excellent front-to-back ratio of the
,merica, Curope, Africa, Asia, and the 2-wavelength antenna! Note also that
WILL EVER NEED!
acific area (exclusive of Hawali and thc
1.5. possessions).
he 1989 Callbook Supplement I r a new idea
7MHz - 1300 MHz at an elevation of 10 feet, this Bever-
age wire shows the main lobe to be at
I Callbook updates, listing the activity In
0 t h the N o r t h American and International an elevation angle of about 26 degrees.
allbooks. Published June 1,1989, this c o m -
The gain of the Beverage is about 6 dB
ined Suoolement w i l l include thousands o f
ew licenses, address changes, and call sign !---* less than a dipole. But this is of little
Ct
hanger fnr the preceding 6 months.
very actlve amateur needs the Callbook!
he 1989 Callbooks w i l l be published
acember 1. 1988. Order early t o avoid
isappointment ( l i s t year's Callbooks sold
4
r k ,
:
OUT 1;;3 consequence because the comparative
loss in signal strenth can be recovered
easily in the receiver preamplifier.
ut). See your dealer n o w or order dlrectly
Dc
.om the publisher. 4
ONE AMPLIFIER MANY 160-meter beacon signals
N o r t h American Callbook APPLICATIONS:
incl. shipping w i t h i n USA $29.00 A group of mysterious beacon sig-
incl. shinping t o foreign countries 35.00 Receiving-Ultra high
dynamic range-Low noise. nals are heard during the June-
International Callbook
~ncls . h l p ~ i n gw l t h l n USA $32.00 Transmitting-Driver September period on the 160-meter
incl. shipplng t o foreign countrles 38.00 band. They are most noticeable in the
or final... 1 watt
Callbook Supplement, published June 1st linear output. Northwest and Alaska. Dan, K V Y ,
incl. shipping w i t h i n USA $13.00
incl. shipping t o foreign countries 14.00 reports hearing them as early as June
PECIAL OFFER Gain 15dB f 1dB and as late as September, after which
Both N.A. & International Callbooks IP3 + 44dBm
~ n c lshipping
. w i t h i n USA $58.00 IP2 + 73dBm time they vanish. It is assumed the
incl. s h ~ p o i n gt o foreign countries 68.00 N.F HF-UHF 4 . 5 d B (typ) beacons are used during the fishing
************ l d B Comp + 30dBm
lllinols residents please add 61h% tax.
season by Japanese or Russian com-
Connectors BNC
A l l payments must be In U.S. funds. mercial fishing fleets in the Bering Sea
PRICE $199 123
&Call book
RADIO AMATEUR INC.
AW I4 W .n,p USA
C A R r r add 6%
or northern Pacific. In periods of good
--
September 1988 29
30 September 1988 fl 130
GREAT CIRCLE
COMPUTATIONS
USING LOTUS 1-2-3@
Thomas M. Hart, ADIB, 54 Hermaine Avenue, Dedham, Massachusetts 02026
n the last few years, there have been a number of mathematical functions, including trigonometric for-
of interesting articles in various Amateur publica- mulas like tangent, sine, and cosine. The most popu-
tions about computing great circle angles and dis- lar spreadsheet program is 1-2-3, although many
tances. For the most part, the articles have featured others like Microsoft's Multiplan@,Software Group's
BASIC programs driven by a set of formulas available EnableB, and Lotus' Symphonp have similar features.
in standard reference works. They all do a good job You should be able to adjust the formulas in this arti-
and are designed for a variety of computers, from the cle to work with any of the other major spreadsheets.
Sinclair ZX-81 through time-sharing terminals. With With the proliferation of IBM (and clone) equipment
very little effort, most of the programs can be adapted during the last few years, using one of the major
to virtually any computer able to run one of the many spreadsheets is just as practical as programming in
dialects of BASIC. BASIC.
I think a far better solution to the problem of com- The sample worksheet in fig. 1 shows a few inter-
puting great circle calculations is available in the form national targets by angle and distance from my own
of an electronic spreadsheet like Lotus Development QTH; if I were to change the starting latitude and lon-
Corporation's 1-2-3. This article presents the informa- gitude to another station, the new computations
tion necessary to set up a simple spreadsheet that, in would be completed in scconds. This is one of the
theory at least, can record more than 8,000target loca-
tions and compute the angle and distance to each in
a neatly formatted report. In practice, because of
memory limitations, &mething i n the order of 2,500 GREAT C I R C L E WORKSHEET
target locations can be stored. The resulting data can .-----.----------------.--------
AD10
...............................................................
be sorted and presented in any order (distance, angle, E N l E R SOURCE LONGITUDE AND LFITITUDE I N DECIMAL DEGREES:
I AHIS
.
-34.0
41.9
53.4
41.2
56.0
48.9
. I 1 . 2
-18.0
87.6
6.2
-29.0
17.5
-2.2
5,427
7.7115
838
3.001
4.827
4,482
7.440
60
117
274
5 2
52
31,
56
September 1988 31
o ! p e ~urey 3~ ! J J V Jajal 'iaaqsy~oMal:,~!:, lead6 umo JnoA a ~ e d a ~0 d1
,801 a6ed ' ~ 6 aunr
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InoA wv,, ' p i l w l z '(aw!uaj
~ ~ qoa pue ' j ~ d 'uospoap ~ s!uuaa 'z Auew se pa!do3 aq Aew Aayi ley1os sa:,ua~aja~aA!ielaJ
'901 a6ed 'LLGLJaq
-wa3aa 'EL ',,suo!lelnqe3 IeqolD paz!Jalndwo3,, '!j>13E3A ' ~ e 6 e Ml ~ e 3' 1
pue ainlosqe 40 uopeu!qwo:, e u! ~ J O Mo$pau6isap ale
selnwJo4 a q l 'paau noA se sau!l Auew se JOJ UMOP g
Ayde~Eio!lq!q
au!l UOJJ selnwJo4 aqi Ado:, Aldw!s 'aialdwos s! sly
18 a6ed 'm6~
isnfiny 'o!peJ
s!ql a3uo .laaqspea~ds al3~!3i e a ~ 6e 6upea~su! pasn &
Luey ,,'~alnduo:, Aq Bu!xa,, 'ueuewna JaileM pue 'NSSN '!u!iloJaueA ' 1
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d o i iaaqspea~dsaqi 6u!idepe 40
AlJ!e4 s w e ~ 6 o ~Jaqio
qo! ayi ayew plnoqs 'alqei Gu!Auedwo:,:,e ue u! pazp
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~ a q l ;said!:,
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, ~ l p ~ ~ b , , i , ' , , + : , l , i 113'11
uo pa!laJ aheq I 'uopewJoJu! ap~!:, i e a ~ 6aie~aua6o i ; I S - , r , n ~ n n r a l r- i~8'17l+i.,3r,o~nn~@+l- t , * t ~ ~ a r~ '.
h .rI i ,:ir-it-ir,r.*ar* d l * : 7 1 1
~ ' ~ , ' < < < z , , , s ~ ~ .~. S>, ~, ' ,, ' :. , ,, ~,, .,' ,. , ' , , , 5 # " * , , , * 4 :;,
, R,,,,3.,.,,0, ::I,
lainduo3 e 6u!sn u! mau Alle:,!peJ 6u!qiou s! aJayl sL4?>.C,7T3,
,'-rc,> < a , . ,
:Z>!
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rdm/<>H!.<,:!U,.7<>.&V <o'B S Z I 4
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N019M3fiN033OlillONO1 # ~ B l ' ~ t + ~ l N ~ l ~ ~
N U I S " 3 A N W 1011111W1 <>"!,I
l*<tlWl,
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."law>+ UV,< N l ' 7W i 3 NVSN A M 3 I l l ,M<! 343 UIIW I l*V 54, l I i l 4 ~ 11 ~3~
#11
Discover this durably built. feature packed MB-V-A Antenna Get correct easy to read measurements of PEP for SSB.
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operating ranges. Compare quality, features and the NYE Two models to choose from: The RFM-003 for 3KW
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3 KW Balun. Tr~llerwound triple core torrold glves balanced output to !wan R~~g8dCmsl~CllOn- Heavy gaugealum~numconstruct~onTop quality glass
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epoxy PCB Thls meter IS bull! to lasl
Maxlmum Pawu Transfer. Match your transmitter output impedence to almost Accuracy - Guaranteed l o 5':1 F S
any antennasystem lor maximum power transfer Ampl~f~ersonly runal thetr
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Model Optlm. MB-IV-A1 lncludes all ME-V-A fealures less anlenna swltch and Added Features - Swltchable reverse power all mode melerlng - Full status
balun MR-IV-A2 1s idenf~calto ME-IV-A1 wlth the addltlon of a trlple core LED Dtsplay - Adjustable ALD is swrlchable SWRIREFL power - Heavy
balun duly Nicad batteries charged by the appl~edRF lor the f ~ e l dand a charger
is supplied for fasl charglng and backl~ghtlngof the laut band meters for the
18 MHz will not tune on some antennas ham shack
34 September 1988
or very l o w loss random length quarter-wavelengthtransmission lines
line: from eqn. 15:
ZL + jZoTan (B l ) (11)
If
= ('o) Zo + jZL Tan (B J?)
Equations 10 and 11 above serve
for lines of any random length. Spe- Then
cial solutions are found for lines that z ZL = [Zo11/2 (20)
are either integer multiples of half Which means
wavelength, or odd integer (l,3, 5, 7, z, = [Z ZL11/2 (21
etc.) multiples of quarter wavelength. Equation 21 shows that a quarter-
Some of these solutions are very use- wavelength transmission line can be
ful in practical situations. For example, used as an impedance-matching net-
3. Half-wavelength lossy lines: work. Called a Q-section (fig. 21, the
quarter-wavelength transmission line
=
ZL + ZoTanh (a 1) (121 used for impedance matching requires
Zo + ZLTanh (a 2) a characteristic impedance Z, (if Z is
the source impedance and ZL is the
example I Quarter wave "Q-section" impedance- load impedance).
A lossless 50-ohm (Z,) transmission matching system. example 2
line is exactly one-half wavelength A 50-ohm source must be matched
long, and is terminated in a load those that are odd integer multiples of to a load impedance of 36 ohms. Find
impedance of Z = 30 + jO. Calculate quarter wavelength (even integer mul- the characteristic impedance required
the input impedance looking into the tiples of quarter wavelength obey the of a Q-section matching network.
line (note: in a lossless line a =O). half-wavelength criteria). solution:
solution: 4. Quarter-wavelength lossy lines: z, = [Z ZL11/*
ZL+ Zo Tanh (a 2) Z, = [(50 ohmsI(36 ohms)ll/2
= "( + ZLTanh (a 2)
Zo Z, = [I800 ohmsll/2 = 42 ohms
6. Transmission line as a reac-
Z = (50 ohms) 30 + [(50) (tanh((O)(?r)))l and, tance:
50 + [(30~tanh((o)(?r)))i 5. Quarter-wavelength lossless or Reconsider eqn. 11, which related
Z = (50 ohms) 30 + [(5O)(tanh(O))L
very l o w loss lines: impedance looking in to load imped-
50 + [(30)(tanh(O))] ance and line length:
Z = (50 ohms) 30 +0
-
50 +0
Equation 15 shows an interesting
Z = (50 ohms) (30150) = 30 ohms property of the quarter-wavelength In the case of a shorted line (ZL =
The preceding example shows that transmission line. First, divide each 01, the solution is:
the impedance looking into a lossless side of the equation by Z :, 0 +jZo Tan (B 2)
or very low loss half-wavelengthtrans- = (23)
Zo +j(0) Tan (B 2)
mission line is the load impedance:
Z = ZL (13)
The fact that line input impedance
equals load impedance is useful in cer-
tain practical situations. For example, z = jz,Tan (B R) (251
a resistive impedance is not changed Recall that:
by the line length. So when an imped- The ratio ZIZ, shows an inversion B = nZ, C (26)
ance is inaccessible for measurement of the load impedance ratio ZL/Zo, or Substituting eqn. 26 into eqn. 25
purposes, the impedance can be stated another way: produces:
measured through a transmission line Z = j Z,Tan (nZ, C 1) (27)
that is an integer multiple of half wave- or,
length. Z = jZoTan(2?rFZoC1) (28)
The next case involves a quarter- Because the solution to eqns. 27
wavelength transmission line, and We can deduce another truth about and 28 is multiplied by the j operator,
September 1988 35
Elements of impedancematching system.
. .
-
'
0
I EDITION II I
The 1988 ARRL Handbook For THE TW-2 MICRO I4'L4TliER STATM)N INCI.lIDES
The Radio Amateur carries on the ,I COMPUTER MO~MJI.~TIIP:AN.2ANEMOMETI:RR
FOR O N I . Y w .
I N C4RI.I;
AND J O ' C ) F I . L . I ~
tradition of the previous editions
WNDSPEED AUTO SCAN
by presenting 1200 pages of com- WIN11 IIIRE('TI0N METRIC1 STANDARD
prehensive information for the \VISl) CII1I.L
WIZI) GL ST RECORD
FOLIR WAY PO'OWER
NlCAD KFAIIY
radio amateur, engineer, tech- TFIIPERATLIRE
111!10U I KMI' RECORD
h10L'YTIYI; OPIIONS
O Y I : YEhR WARRANTY
nician and student. Clothbound
SATISFACTION GUARANTEED
MACNAPHASE INDUSTRIES. INC.
Shunting matching stub "tunes out" reac-
,302 PIKEmEFTN~V. wc&v13A tance - I +jX.
MhDEIN1I-%A AUHIIRH. W A
OR1)ER.T 1)NI.Y. R(X)-.I22-/502
INFORMATION: ZObP>54>74 PA% m 7 . ~ . ~
\ . J
v 132
rlllllllllq
I FREECATALOG! I
stub has a reactance of + j20 ohms the more esoteric applicationsof trans- 1 Features Hard-to-Find Tools 1
t o cancel a reactance of - j20 ohms mission lines - proving once again and Test Equipment
that they are more than just wires for
I I
in the load.
A quarter-wavelength shorted stub carrying rf to the antenna. In October I
is a stub concept that finds particular we'll take a look at SWR. I
application in radio systems. (Micro- A t t e n t i o n "Poor Man's Spec- I I
wave waveguides, incidentally, are t r u m Analyzer" fans: A company 3 - - I
that makes a "budget" spectrum
I .A -
based on the properties of the quarter-
wavelength shorted stub.) The current analyzer informs me that they'll make I I
is maximum across the short, but a loaner available for me to test. I'll 1 Jensen s new catalog features hard-to- I
let you know if the product is as good flnd preclslon tools, tool kits, tool cases
wave cancellation forces the current to ) and test equtpment used by ham rad~o 1
0 at the input terminals. Because Z = as the salesman claims. I operators, hobbyists, sclentlsts, en- (
V/I, the impedance goes infinite when This material is derived from Joe's glneers, laborator~esand government
forth coming Tab book, Practical
1 agencies. Call or wr~lefor your free copy 1
I goes to 0. This means that a quarter- today
wavelength stub has an infinite imped- Antenna Handbook. Joe Carr, K41PV. Depl HR
7815 S 46th Stre64
I
ance at its resonant frequency, and can be reached at POB 1099, Falls Phoenix AZ 85044 1
acts as an insulator. The stub is in Church, Virginia 22041; he'd like your
comments and suggestions for this
L I I I I I I I l I d
effect a "metal insulator." r / 134
conclusion column.
This month we looked at some of Article F h a m radio THE MULTIPLE RECEIVER SOLUTION
4 Channel Signal-to-NoiseVoter
1xpand.lOl~!I. I:' I.~I,,,IIII,
by JII..! krlrl8tlw l..li<lr
Conttntarr,.Vo~~r!~~
.Rr~molen(mllll.lolial\
MORf
Built, tested and calibrated with manual
$350.00
Telephone lnlerlace now ava~lable
For [nore lnlorrnatloncall or write
DOUG H A L ELECTRONICS
Voter Department
815 E. Hudson Street
Columbus, Ohio 43211
(614) 261-8871
TEKTRONIX SCOPE
THE HAM NOTEBOOK cured shock mounts from Hal Tech, a
surplus parts supplier in Mountain
View, California. I selected three shock
bicycle mobile mounts from their large inventory and
used two on the HT box and one on
the antenna. These were 1"x 1 "round
I'm a n avid bicyclist and ride about rubber items with isolated 1/4-20 studs
22 miles each day. The roads in my protruding from each end. As you can
part of the island of Hawaii are lonely, see in p h o t o B, they bolt through a
especially early in the morning. They short piece of 1"x 1"x 114"aluminum
stretch over the lava for considerable angle which is bolted, in turn, to the
distances without any visible habita- HT box. The whole assembly is then
tion except for some feral donkeys. attached to a TV antenna "U" bolt that
A number of times I've passed has been shortened to fit. This goes
stalled vehicles way out in the boonies around the bike handlebar stem and,
with worried and scared drivers peer- when tightened in place, provides a
ing hopefully at the passing traffic. A t Velcro strap holds radio in place. very strong mount for the radio.
times like this I wished for a handheld mounted container bolted to the han- My next problem was the antenna.
so I could inform someone of their dlebar stem. I built the container out I wanted a half-wave device to avoid
plight. But a standard 2-meter HT on of double-sided circuit board material the requirement for a groundplane.
a rough-riding 12 speed with 110 soldered all around and lined with 318" AEA's Hot Rod proved to be ideal, par-
pounds of tire pressure wouldn't sur- plastic foam. A VelcroTMstrap attach- ticularly since it had a BNC connector
vive for very long. ment holds the radio in place (see for its base. Mag mounts would be
I had an opportunity t o examine all p h o t o A). useless on an aluminum bike. I cut a
of the HTs out of their cases and noted During - a visit to Silicon Valley I pro- short piece of 1 "x 1 "x 1/4"aluminum
quite a variation in construction. I angle and bent each end 90 degrees.
needed something sturdy with a One end was drilled to fit two BNC
waterproof case to cope with the sud- bulkhead connectors and the other to
den tropical showers of Hawaii. Only fit the rear bike carrier. I soldered on
one of all those I looked at met my RG-8IX cable and sealed the whole
specifications - the Yaesu FT 23 R. assembly with epoxy putty, shaped to
M y problem was to mount the HT a pleasing appearance while it was still
(and an antenna) on the bike in a way soft. The antenna assembly is shown
that would make it easily accessible in p h o t o C.
without requiring any separate clip-on I attached the feedline to the bike's
mike or speaker. Placing it just below top tube with nylon ties and then t o
the handlebars allows for relatively the HT with a right-angle BNC connec-
easy speaking and listening when rid- tor.
ing along. Bicycle Mobile has been in active,
I wanted t o place the Yaesu, in spite daily use for about 6 months; the only
of its obvious ruggedness, in a shock Bolt assembly for radio mount failure has been the antenna. The Hot
38 September 1988
Rod rotated from vibration, and the intermittent reception attaching material to
coil broke loose from the connector. due t o lightning the tower
It was a simple matter to reconnect it. After examining the construction of
When m y receiver started to give me
This time I didn't use heat shrink tub- my chain-link fence closely, I discover-
trouble in the form of intermittent
ing around the coil but opted for two ed the perfect way to secure my tow-
layers of rubber tape and one of plas- reception, I would have been hard
ers: I bought several feet of chain-link
tic. pressed for some clue as to where
fabric. After securing one edge to a
With this setup, I've been able to the trouble was but for a fortunate
tower leg, I wrapped the tower with
give assistance to stranded motorists. incident.
the fabric. After reaching the starting
Their reactions are amusing when I In checking an electric clock that
point, I cut the fabric to length by un-
wheel up and ask if I can call for help. had stopped running about the time
weaving the appropriate fabric wire.
my receiver had gone haywire, I spot-
A t this point, if you're patient
ted a hole burned into the middle of
enough, you can reweave both edges
the motor coil. Only an induced light-
together to form a continuous loop of
ning surge could have burned such a
fencing around the tower or simply
deep hole so far from any lead or ter-
fasten the finishing edge to the tower
minal. This gave me the clue for where
leg.
t o look for trouble in the receiver.
The receiver antenna coil is held in
place on the coil form by leads twist- materials - available,
ed so tightly that the antenna coil fits inexpensive
snugly around it. Not exactly good Chain-link fabric comes in widths
construction practice, as events measuring from 36 to 48 inches in
proved. 6-inch increments, and from 48 to 84
Looking at the coil through a mag- inches in 12-inch increments. Fabric
nifying glass and under a bright light, wire standards are 6, 8, 9, 11, and 12
I thought I saw a slight smudge or gauge. I recommend using at least a
charred spot on the twisted leads. I 9-gauge fabric in the 48-inch width. I
would have paid no attention had I not chose fabric with a green vinyl coat-
been looking for just such evidence. ing because it's less conspicuous than
To keep the coil in place I doped it the standard galvanized type. The
with some Duco cement. When the vinyl-coated fabric costs about $2.00
cement was dry, I unsoldered one lead per linear foot.
and carefully unwound the twists. Aluminum tie wires, used by in-
When I untwisted the charred part, I stallers to fasten the'fabric to the fence
caught a slight glint of bare copper, framework, are also ideal for fastening
which proved that my hunch was the fabric to the tower legs and across
Antenna assembly. correct. supports. A bag of 50 tie wires - more
When I had the leads completely than enough for any single tower in-
With relief, they look around for the
separated, I resoldered the one lead. stallation - costs about $3.00.
hoped-for roadside phone. Of course
The receiver has worked ever since. Materials may be purchased from
there is no such thing on our bucolic
J o h n Labaj, W2YW local fence companies or through
island's roads, and some people
become peeved until I explain that the national outlet stores such as Sears.
little box under the handlebars is a ham Peter Bertini, KlZJH
radio. They feel much better when I tell
simple tower guards
them I can contact fellow hams on this After fencing in a large portion of my
easy measurement of
or any other of the Hawaiian Islands back yard to make a playground, I was
soon aware of an unforeseen situation.
antenna currents
by way of our trusty '7.02 repeater
atop Mount Haleakala on Maui, the M y toddler son and his friends were A n rf current transformer is useful
next island up the chain. using my two towers for gym sets. I'd for measuring the current ratios in
All I need now is a cape and mask seen articles dealing with this problem, phased antennas, horizontals, and ver-
t o become the Lone Stranger on but the solutions offered were, more ticals. This transformer (usually only a
wheels. Who knows, maybe this often than not, bulky and unwieldy few turns on a toroidal core) drives a
unusual method of rescue will produce frameworks that attached to the tower rectifier and filter to create a voltage
some new Amateur Radio enthusiasts! legs. I wanted a simpler, more aesthe- which can be calibrated against an r f
William Schreiber, NHGN tically pleasing solution to the problem. ammeter.
September 1988 39
To use this device, break the anten-
na feed, insert it through the core, and
reconnect it to make the measurement;
then disconnect it and go through the
whole procedure at the next measure-
ment point. A clamp on the trans-
former was constructed using Palomar
Model R-T shown Engineers' FSB 1I4 split bead (core),
rated 1 to 1000 MHz; it worked great
on the first try.
I l","
<..rn"
<.,h,"
I 0 I".". P.mIIY PI. I I<.,. lm l".".
m.OYv(II*. L/I.. c_l.. ,I.ICC.-d,., I"l"l ma.., 11. .me.
.MI_. ,*-a IIb. rot.
>, R,,,,.. I",". D
,
"
,
",
.
, *I* J,.D.w"I..I."I
#
Shielding Beads, Shielded Coil Forms of drive t o be used for minimum inter-
F e r r i t e Rods, Pot Cores, Baluns, Etc. ference and reduced heating of the
drive source.
Small Orders Welcome The rf current transformer can also
F r e e "Tech-Data' F l y e r
a- be used to check the wires in cases of
Satellite mod EME Work The JKanum City Tracker and l b p e r packages Includes the
PC ~nterfacecard, lnterface connector, software dtskette and
The K . n s u City hacker and JSansas City Tuner are fully
~nstruct~ons
Each Kansas C ~ t yunlt carrles a one year warranty
compat~blew ~ t hAMSAT's QUIKTRAK (3 2) and w ~ t hSlllcon
Solut~on'sGRAFTRAK 12 0 ) These programs can be used to load KS Tracker package for the Yaesu/Kenpro
the K a n ~ m City Tracker's tables w ~ t hmore than 5 0 satellite 5400/5600 controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . S1 69
passes We also supply ;~ssemblecl& tested TAPR PSK modems lnterface cable for Yaesu Kenpro
wtlh c;lses and 110v power S(IPPIIPR 540OJ5600 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . S 1 9
DX. Contest., mod Nets KC Tracker w ~ t hRotor lnterface O p t ~ o n
Work~ngDX or co~itcstsand need three lharids?Use the Uanum (to connect to ANY rotors) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $199
City Tracker pop-up to work your antenna rotor for you The a KC-Tracker and Tuner comblnatton Add to the prlce of the
Kansas City Tracker IS compat~blew ~ t hall DX logglng 'TRACKER vers~onyou need Mtke-Cltck verston . . . . S 59
lrrogranis A spectal calls~gnatmtng program IS tncludecl for
RS232-Interlace versaon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . S 79
worklng nets
Packet BBS Assembled & Tested TAPR PSK modem w ~ t hcase &
1 1Ov power supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 99
Tlie K a n e u City Tracker comes complete w ~ t h speclal control
.
oroorams
" that allow the oacket BBS user or control-OPto perform
automated antenna almlng over an hour, a day, or a week Your
s AMSAT QUIKTRAK sottware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . S 75
BBS or packet station can be programmed to automat~callysollc~t 'ISa and accepted
Shlpplng and handllng $5. $10 for 2nd day alr. $15 for Inter
mall from remote packet sltes natlonal sh~omentsPr~cessubtect to chanoe w~thoutnotlce
Vioion-ImpairedHams
L. L. Grace
The E.mus City m c k e r has a spcctnl morse code sender
sectlon that wtll announce the rotor posltlon and status auto-
-"......-... .---
rnrnm,,n,r2t,,,nc
"
41 Acadta Drtve Voorhees. NJ 08043
Prnrlllrlr;
Selective callirig device accommodates an HT that receives its power from the
unit; the unit's audio lead plugs directly into the radio.
alerts specific operators Tests show that the DTSC can determine the correct
tones in noisy environments where audio signals
are barely readable, in both simplex and repeater
sing Amateur Radio to contact a specific operation.
ham presupposes that he or she is monitor-
ing the same frequency. This is usually theory of operation
accomplished by arranging schedules or coordinating Essentially a Programmable Read Only Memory
by telephone. On 2 meters, members of a group (PROM), the DTSC is loaded with a six-digit hex-
usually monitor one frequency, often that of a local adecimal number by the operator who wants to activ-
repeater. But unfortunately, if you're waiting for a call ate the alarm. Audio output from a radio is fed to a
from someone in the group, you have to monitor that DTMF tone decoder chip for comparison against the
frequency. This can be tedious, especially if a rag- code in PROM. The alarm circuit is activated by the
chewing session that doesn't interest you is in pro- decoding counter output, which counts the number
gress. What's needed is a signaling device that ignores of correct digits received during a preset time inter-
all traffic except that which is intended for you. val. One incorrect digit causes the circuit to reset and
The digital tone signaling circuit (DTSC) described wait for the correct sequence to be re-entered.
here employs the same DTMF tones as those used for Twenty seconds after power up (see fig. I), the
a similar purpose on the telephone system. Fortun- 20-second timer, U1, times out, loading the 74LS193
ately, many 2-meter radios are equipped with a touch- counter, U2, with 0000. The counter is used to address
tone pad that can generate the full complement of dual the PROM (U3, a 74S287) and the PROM outputs a
tones. hex digit loaded at that address to U4, the 74LS85
The DTSC is a device that inputs an audio signal comparator. An audio input from an HT or other radio
(for example, from the earphone outlet of a 2-meter is fed through a dc blocking capacitor to U5, a DTMF
HT) and searches the audio for DTMF tones. When Decoder IC (Radio Shack Part No. 276-1303). Any
detected, the tones are converted into a digital code valid DTMF tone pair will cause it to output a hex digit
and compared to a number previously stored in mem- to the comparator; 7 microseconds later it will raise
ory. When a sequence of input tones matches a its strobe line. If the comparator sees a match between
sequence stored in memory, an alarm is generated. this hex number and the one that's output by the
The design shown here is arranged so that a four- PROM, it outputs a 1 to the D flip-flop, U6 (a 74LS741,
digit number "dialed" within a 20-second time-out which is then clocked by the DTMF decoder chip data-
period causes an audible beeper and an LED to oscil- valid strobe. This occurs only after the data is valid,
late on and off at about half-second intervals. A five- allowing the comparator to set up before the strobe
digit number (with the first four numbers the same as arrives. The data-valid strobe is also used to trigger
above) causes the beeper and the LED to turn on with- the 20-second timer, releasing the loading pulse on the
out interruption. A six-digit number (again, all num- 74LS193 counter.
bers must be dialed within the time-out period) will The 74LS74 flip-flop, U6, sets its Q bar output low,
cause the alarm to clear. preventing the counter from being reset to zero and
Two of these units - each responding to a differ- allowing it to advance by one count on the falling edge
ent set of numbers - have been in operation for of the DTMF data-valid strobe. This happens when
several months. Each was built into a plastic case that the tone pair is no longer being received. Since the
42 September 1988
excavation brings to light yet another
dynamite discovery-our new dip switch pro-
*:# yearensure one-day delivery and our one-
standard warranty. the rich vein of
Tip
grammable SD-1000. No need to tunnel your way Communications Specialists and unearth the
through 'Avo-Tone Sequential decoding any- SD-1000 or other fine gems.
more. We've mined this amazing unit! Now, for
the first time, you can stock one unit that will
decode all calls in a l00Ocall paging system with
f .2Hz crystal accuracy. The EEPROM on-
board memory can even be programmed for cus-
tom tones, and every unit includes group call.
Universal switched outputs control your call
light, squelch gate and horn. The SD-1000 can
UNICATIONS SPECIALISTS, INC.
-
est Taft Avenue Oran e CA 92665-4296
ocal(714) 998-3021 FAX (714y 674-3420
Entire US.A. 1-800-854-0547
r / 140
Twice the size of the previous edition
Over 700 pages
987 figures
Edited by Gerald L. Hall, K I T
QST Associate
Technical Editor
Available in August
c-' .. ,
I
The 15th Edition of The ARRL Antenna Book has been
dramatically expanded in a similar fashion to recent editions or me
ARRL Handbook and the ARRL Operating Manual. We've drawn on
material produced by the ARRL Technical Department and from 16
well-known outside authors who have done much to contribute to
the state-of-theart in antenna and transmission line desian.
- - -
CHAPTER LINEUP:
The number of pages appears in parentheses aiter the chapter
title. Page counts may vary slightly. Safety First (18). Antenna
Fundamentals (42), The Effects of the Earth (14), Selecting Your
Antenna System (30),Loop-Antennas (16), Multielement Arrays
(42), Broadband Antennas (12), Log Periodic Arrays (24), Yagi
Arrays (26), Quad Arrays (14), Long Wire and Traveling Wave
Antennas (18), Direction Finding Antennas (26), Portable Antennas
(lo), Mobile and Maritime Antennas (30), Repeater Antenna
Systems (20), VHF and UHF Antenna Systems (44)' Antennas for
Space Communications (32), Spacecraft Antennas (8), Antenna
Materials and Accessories (20), Antenna Supports (22),Radio
Wave Propagation (26), Transmission Lines (26), Coupling the
Transmitter to the Line (18), Coupling the Line to the Antenna (28)
Antenna and Transmission-Line Measurements (36), Smith Chart
Calculations (16), Topical Bibliography on Antennas (32), Glossary
and Abbreviations )tents, Index, etc (16).
L€ 0
RESET SWITCH
PLAN
VOLTAGE REGULATORS
G L U E D TO I N S I D E OF H E A T
S I N K W I T H S U P E R GLUE --
PL E X I G L A S S M O U N T I N G B R A C K E T
C I R C U I T BOARD
I
,--.
\
\
-
ELEVATION COAX POWER PLUG
BEEPER. MOUNTED
INSIDE
M I L L E D OUT FOR
WIRING. T H E N S E A L E D P
Mounting details for circuit board, voltage regulators, and other decoder unit components.
counter is now advanced, the output from the PROM It should be noted that all numbers must be received
becomes the new number for comparison. in the correct order within the time period (about 20
If a number doesn't match the one in the PROM, seconds) set by the 556 timer, U1. After this period
the comparator will output a zero, causing the D flip- the counter is reset and you must "dial" the correct
flop to go high, which in turn reloads the counter with sequence again. This reduces the possibility of acci-
0000, the starting position address for the PROM. The dental triggering. This could occur, for example, when
code must now be re-entered from the beginning for a sixth tone follows five correct tones accumulated
the alarm to be activated. gradually throughout the day, causing the alarm t o
After four correct numbers have been received, the reset.
second D flip-flop, U6, is clocked, enabling a 74LS00 It's also possible to "advance the state of alarm"
gate of U7, t o pass the half-second signal developed from oscillating on and off repeatedly to continuous-
by the 556 timer, U1. The transistors are then arranged ly on, giving some indication of who is calling if the
to flash the LED and sound the beeper. After five digits five-digit code is restricted to one person.
are received, the third D flip-flop, U8, causes the LED
and beeper t o turn on without interruption. A sixth construction notes
correct digit will cause the LED and beeper to turn off. I built the circuit on perf board, using sockets for
46 September 1988
THE G E N I U S O F K l F O
COMES TO 144 AND 220 MHz
all ICs. I chose perf board because I wasn't interested
in making printed circuit boards for such a complex ANNOUNCING T H E
F0-12-144 AND F O - 1 6 - 2 2 0
project, and because I wanted to allow for easy modifi-
cation.
The power supply, which conserves battery life
while you're monitoring the frequency, was built /
l
around a transformer salvaged from a discarded cord-
less telephone set and capable of delivering just under
1 amp at about 16 volts. Though this isn't enough to
allow the HT to transmit at its 5-watt power level, the
HT is somewhat inconvenient to operate when it's sit-
ting in its stand. When the alarm is triggered, the HT
can be quickly removed from its stand and operated
from its battery.
Low-power Schottky logic was chosen because it
was readily available. The circuit could be reworked,
1 ANTENNAS FEATURE:
**WHI DI OE HGFORWARD
however, with any of the logic families; CMOS would GAIN
be a good choice if battery-powered operation is A I N BANDWIDTH
required, as in a unit designed for portable or emer- * OUTSTANDING CLEAN F A D I A T I O N PATTERNS
gency operations. Any PROM could be used with $EXTREMELY RUGGED MECHANICAL D E S I G N
suitable wiring changes, although circuit design is LOW VSWR*
easier if at least a four-bit data type is used. It would
For detai I s write to
be easy to program several different codes into the RUTLAND ARRAYS
PROM using the unused address lines to select which 1 7 0 3 WARREN ST.
code will be the active one. Since very little data is NEW CUMBERLAND, FA. 1 7 0 7 0
actually needed, a simple breadboard was set up with PHONE ( 7 1 7 ) 7 7 4 - 5 2 9 8 7 - 1 0 P.M. EDT
suitable power supplies to burn the PROM by hand. Deal er inquiries are invited r/ 142
The unit was built on a baseboard of PlexiglasTM,
which was bought as off-cuts from a plastics supply
house at about a dollar a pound. It's easy to cut with
a hand saw and glue with a solvent adhesive also avail- You got it t o work? Good!
able from the supplier. The case was made from the
same material, with the back left open to permit air
circulation.
Two voltage regulators - 5 volts for the logic and
12 volts for the radio power supply - were glued to
a piece of aluminum with SuperglueTM.A piece of an
old heat sink from a discarded TV monitor was added
to incrCse the dissipation area (see fig. 2).
The Yaesu 209RH can be powered through a co-
axial-type plug in the base of its battery pack. When
inserted, this plug isolates the battery from the sup-
ply, allowing the radio to monitor using power from
the DTSC only. The battery is not trickle charged,
since doing so would limit the useful life of the
NiCadTM.The coax plug was glued into a piece of
PlexiglasTM,which was then glued onto the baseboard,
which has a channel milled out for the 12-volt power
supply wiring. The coax plug was positioned to en-
gage as the radio is lowered into the DTSC. Using
Let DATAK be your designing partner Use our dry transfer title sets to put
nuts, bolts, and standoffs, I mounted the circuit that finishing touch to your custom project Over 2200 t~Hesplusalphabets
board t o another piece of PlexiglassTM that was glued and numbers insure that you'll have the words you need Swltch mark~ngs
and dial plate arcs are In a companion set Use DATAKOAT spray for
to the baseboard. complete protectlon Sprays are not mallable
Article G ham radio 948 Elk (949 Whtl 10 pt ,105" Electronic T~tles(24 sheets). . . . . . . $12.50
9581 Elk (9591 Wht) 12 DL 1 2 5 " Electron~cT~tles(24 sheets). . . . . 12.95
968 Elk. Wht. Red asst. Meter dial 8 Swltch Marklngs112 sheets). . 12.95
This anicle gives you the basics. A later piece will tell you how to program 04177 DATAKOAT Gloss Spray (12 ozl . ...... 5.75
your PROM. Ed. 04178 DATAKOAT Matte Spray I12 0 2 ) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.75
Minimum order: $20.00 (add 7% shipping. NJ and CA also add mles lax1
WRITE FOR A FULL CATALOG AND SAMPLES TODAY
DATAK Corp. 3117 Paterson Plank Rd. N. Bergen. NJ 07047
r / 143
September 1988 47
have been stored on a data disk. One nice fea- Frequency coverage 1258-1300 MHz.
ture of the FAX program is that you can set it Front panel DTMF pad.
up t o automatically receive images while you're Automatic Power Control IAPCI circuit for
/ product \ not around and save them to disk for later use. reliable rf output and final protection.
If, for instance, you want the maps that are sent 14 memories; two for "odd split."
from noon to 2 p m on a Tuesday while you are Large multi-function LCD display.
at work. First, select the configuration menu and Rotary dial t o select memory, frequency,
set the auto-save disk file prefix to Tuesday. CTCSS, and scan direction.
Then establish an auto-save start time of 1200 T-ALERT for quiet monitoring. Tone Alert
end an auto-stop time of 1400. Press the escape beeps when squelch is opened.
Facsimile Software for MS- key to return to FAX and the "F" key to turn Band scan rnemory scan.
on the stop-when-full feature. The contents of Automatic power off circuit.
DOS computers and the the buffer will automatically be saved t o disk
PK-232 Data Controller even ifthe transmmed stop signal is missed. The
We live in the age of computer generated start signal that begins the next line will start to
information and one of the biggest drawbacks refill the buffer.
is knowing how to take advantage of all the infor-
mation available to us. The AEA PK-232 Data transmitting pictures
Controller's WEFAX capability gives you the abil-
AEA recommends that you create images
ity t o tap into the global network of weather
using one of the many graphics software pack-
reporting stations.
ages available. The PK-232 is shipped with the
Maps and pictures, thousands of them in fact,
transmit tones set at 1200 and 2200 Hz with a
are available M t y - f o u r hours a day, seven days
1OOO Hz shift.
a week showing every aspect of the weather
To transmit, first read an image from disk to
conditions. In fact there is so much available,
the buffer. Press the "T" key and you're trans-
it's sometimes tough to weed out what you don't
mitting a facsimile picture. It's really quite sim-
want!
ple. Make sure you use the standards for trans-
In days gone by, FAX receiving stations gener- mission listed in the instruction manual. If you
ated mountains of very expensive paper. Some- don't, sending pictures will be a very frustrat-
times it would take an hour or two just to get
ing experience. AEA suggests a number of diier-
one map. Obviously, this wasvery wasteful and ent transmission standards and time of transmis-
there was a need for new technology sion estimates as guidelines. Supplied accessories include a StubbyDuk.
The latest technological breakthrough came banerv. .~ a c kwall
. -
charoer. belt hook. wist strao.
..
with the advent of personal computers and summary and water resistant dust caps. Other accesso-
specialized TNC's (like the AEA PK-232) acting ries are available.
That's all there is to it! While this program is
as WEFAX receiving stations. This allowed ordi- The suggested retail price of the new TH-SAT
easy to use, it facilitates the acquisition of a
nary graphics compatible printers to print 1200 MHz Pocket Transceiver is $499.95. For
tremendous amount of information for the home
WEFAX information; also a wasteful practice, details see your authorized Kenwood dealer or
FAX user. I am constantly amazed at the ability
as you are still running the printer. That's all been write: Kenwood USA Corporation. 2201 E.
of these programsand the power that they bring
changed with the release of AEA's PK-FAX pro- Dominguez Street, Long Beach, California
into the Ham Shack. Just think what capabili-
gram. 90810.
ties will be availablefrom the software developers
The program works with all IBM and compat-
in the next few years!
ible computers to send and receive radio facsi-
de NlACH
mile pictures through the PK-232 Data Con-
troller. You can either print the pictures with a new software for Kenwood
graphics compatible printer, display the picture radios
on the screen of the computer, or save the TS-COMM, a communications and control
images to disk. This saves oodles of paper! system for Kenwood radios, provides a computer
Program setup is well covered in the instruc- software system to control Kenwood Amateur
tion manual. Read and re-read the manual Radio products with IBM-PCIXTIAT series or
several times before attempting t o use the pro- true compatibles. Full control of frequency.
gram; it will save you plenty of time. First of all, mode, rnemory channels, and many front pan-
make a copy of the disk to protect yourself from
products
el controls are supported.
any serious faux pas. Next, set the configura- Svstem reouirements are: IBM-PC. PC-AT or
tion parameters for your system. The configu- true compatible. DOS 2.1 or greater, 512K mem-
ration menu is well explained and easy to fol- TH-55AT new 1200 MHz ory, one floppy disk drive, a serial communica-
low, so this takes just a few minutes. pocket tions port lCOM1 or COMZ), and 80-column
Since I covered the basics of receiving FAX Kenwood introduces the TH-55AT - an all printer.
in an earlier review, I won't repeat that informa- new 1200-MHz handheld transceiver. The TH- Radio requirements: Kenwood IF-232 RS-232
tion. Once you get the hang of it, it takes but S A T uses the same accessories as the TH-25AT interface112 VDC P.S.; TS-940 requires the
a few seconds. series HTs, with the exception of frequency- IF-1OB. TS-711AlTS-811A require the IF-1OA:
related accessories like antennas. TS-440lR-5000 require the IC-10.
receive pictures Features include: The TS-COMM retails for $69.95 and is avail-
The PK-FAX program stores pictures to the 1 watt high power, with optional PB-8; with able exclusively from Ham Radio Outlet, 2620
computer's buffer and displays them on the com- standard PB-6 battery pack, 800 mW high. Low W. Lapalma, Anaheim, California 92801.
puter screen. You can also retrieve images that power is 100 mW. Circle 1301 on Reader Service Card.
48 September 1988
It's a lesson you learn very early in life. Many can be good, some may be better, but only one can be
the best. The PK-232 is the best multi-mode data controller you can buy.
STORE HOURS
Jlm Rallerty N6RJ MMI ?63-0700
10 AM-5:30 PM
The RPC-2000 is a two-channel radio 2000 uses an RS-232C 110 port (Channel A)
pactet controller that adds fast, error-free for an external HF modem (such as the HAL
data communications to radio links.It plugs ST-8000) and a 7910 modem for a VHF link
into an expansion slot of the HAL DS-3200 (ChannelB].The M2-RPCoption converts
Radio Data Communications Terminal or Channel A to a second 7910 modem.
any fully compatible PC, PC-XT, or PC-AT The RPC-2000 is driven entirely from
computer. The RPC-2000 uses Packet Radio disk-basedsoftware that provides on-screen
protocol based on AX.25 to provide data menus to choose all features and modes,
communicationsat ratesfrom45 to 4800 BPS. eliminating the need to memorize
The standard configuration of the RPC- complicated commands and procedures.
September 1988 53
They were typically wrapped with plas- 1296 MHz was about 2.0 dB. All these During one Gulf coast opening in
tic electrical tape or COAX-SEAL for transmission lines had copper conduc-
1
late April, 2-meter and 70-cm stations
1 to 8 years. Some of the common tors and Andrew Corporation connec- with only 10-50 watts and single Yagis
types, especially those that were tors. were working from Miami, Florida
plated, showed little change except for The 112- and 718-inch alumifoam I (EL951 to western Texas (DM91 -
occasional discoloration. But wherever coaxes were another story. Insertion about 1300 miles! On May 19th, sta-
I had used aluminum connectors, there
were severe oxidation problems -
even after only one year. In some
loss was always higher than specifica-
tion. One of the 718" lines had an
insertion loss that was higher than the
'
tions as far north as New Hampshire
and Massachusetts were treated to
what is probably the first ever Carib-
cases they were so oxidized that they equivalent length 112" line! At 1296 bean 2-meter and 70-cm openings.
couldn't be removed without com- MHz a 130-foot piece of 112" VP5D on Providenciales (FL31US) in
pletely destroying the connector; this alumifoam measured 5.8-dB insertion the Grand Turks Islands did the
included several types of aluminum loss while a similar length of 718" honors.
connectors like antenna mounted, alumifoam measured 6.5 dB. In the The best reported 2-meter DX was
cable crimp, and hard line. I recom- future I'll do everything I can to avoid 1474 miles to W l JSM (FN43NC) and
mend that you use aluminum connec- using aluminum coax or connectors in 1417 miles on 70 cm to W1RIL
tors only indoors or where there is no any form! (FN42AH). From the reports I
other alternative. As I've been saying here for almost received, these contacts had all the
After removing all the antennas, I five years - buy good quality feedline. earmarks of ducting because the state-
took down all the associated transmis- The initial cost may be higher, but it side stations either had to be right near
sion lines from the shack to the tower. will give you a lifetime of pleasure with the coast or, if more than 15 miles
They're about 130 to 150 feet long - little or no deterioration. See reference inland, at elevated locations.
tall trees require even taller towers 4 for recommended feedline types and Spring 6-meter sporadic E propaga-
away from the house! Each line was selection tips. tion returned to North America on
tested for VSWR and insertion loss at schedule, but this year the European
50,144,220,432,903, and 1296 MHz; propagation and new dx openings to the United States came
all results were carefully recorded. record update earlier and more often. To add to the
I was truly astounded; every My last column hadn't even gone to excitement, several new countries
Andrew Corporation HeliaxTMtrans- press before more VHF records were were activated as 50-MHz privileges
mission line measured within or better broken. There was some great propa- expanded in Europe.
than specification. Maximum attentu- gation this spring in the Gulf states and If the unbelievable increases in solar
ation on 135 feet of 718 x " LDF at along the Eastern seaboard. activity continue, there may be some
Some of the major VHF and above oriented publications. They are n o t listed i n any particular order.
1. VHFIUHF and Above Information Exchange: c/o Rusty Landes, KAOHPK, P.O. Box 126, St. Mary of the Woods, Indiana 47876.
Published monthly at $16.50 per year.
2. VHF Communications: Available from TimeKit, P.O. Box 22277, Cleveland, Ohio 44122. Published quarterly at $18.95 per year.
3. DUBUS (Dx Ueberreichweiten Bau von Geraten Uhf Shf Magazin): Available from KABHPK (see item 1 above). Published quar-
terly at $18.95 per year.
4.2-meter EME bulletin: c/o Gene Shea, KB7Q. 417 Staudaher Street, Bozeman, Montana 59715. Published monthly at $18.00 per year.
5. 220 Notes: c/o Walt Altus, WDSGCR, 215 Villa Road, Steamwood, Illinois 60103. Published 6 times yearly at $6.00 per year.
This table shows some of the smaller society and club oriented publications. They are not i n any particular order.
1. Midwest VHF Report: c/o Roger Cox, WDQDGF, 3451 Dudley Street, Lincoln, Nebraska 68503-2034. Published monthly at $10.00
per year.
2. Midwest VHF-UHF Society: c / o David Forbes, KD8F0, 1271 Jeanette Drive, Dayton, Ohio 454232. Published monthly at $5.00
per year.
3. Feed Point: The North Texas Microwave Society, c/o Wes Atchinson, WA5TKU, Rt. 4, Box 565, Sager, Texas 76266. Published
6 times per year at $12.00 per year.
4. Pack Rats' Cheese Bits: The Mt. Airy VHF Radio Club, c / o Doc Cutler, KBGAS, 7815 New Second Street, Elkins Park, Pennsyl-
vania 19117. Published monthly at $5.00 per year.
5. Northeast VHF News: c/o Lew Collins, WlGXT, 10 Marshall Terrace, Wayland, Massachusetts 01778. Published 6 times per
year at $3.00 per year.
6. East Coast VHF Society: c / o Dave Collins, KZLME, 709 Saddle River Road, Saddle Brook, New Jersey 07662. Published several
times yearly at $10.00 per year.
7. Six Shooter, SMIRK Newsletter: c / o Ray Clark, K5ZMS, 7158 Stone Fence, San Antonio, Texas 78229. Published quarterly
at $3.00 per year for SMIRK members.
8. West Coast VHF-ER: 560 W. Yucca Street. Oxnard, California. Published monthly at $10.00 per year.
54 September 1988
6-meter F2 propagation as early as newsletters. Some are available on a
October 1988. With several stations subscription basis. Again, I recom-
reporting over 80 DXCC countries mend'that you contact them directly.
worked on 6-meters to date, can the In addition to these publications, there
first-ever VHF DXCC be far behind? are VHFIUHF columns in each of the
Two-meter sporadic E not only major Amateur magazines. Profes-
started earlier this season, but more sional publications are also available;
openings seem to have been logged. see reference 5 for details.
The most significant opening was
probably the one on June 6th - summary
single-hop contacts were in progress This month's column touched brie-
between Alabama and Colorado at the fly on some your most commonly
same time that double-hop contacts asked questions, discussed events in
were reported between the states of the VHFIUHF community, and listed
Alabama and Washington. So, unless some of the most popular VHFIUHF
I hear otherwise, we have a new 2- publications.
meter sporadic E record. At about 0245
UTC on June 6,1988, several contacts acknowledgments
may have bettered the DX record of Thanks to Pete Heins, KlFJMl4,
1980 miles set last June. Then at 0250 and Bob Cooper, VP5D, for their input
UTC, Dale Peterson, WA4CQG on some recent tropo openings.
(EM72FO1, worked Merle Cox, Kirk- Thanks also for your topic sugges-
land, Washington (CN8NR), for a rec- tions; they're always welcome.
ord breaking 2172 miles (3495 km). important VHFIUHF events
Both stations were well-equipped, September 3-4 lnternational Region 1
with approximately 500 watts and VHF Contest (2-meters)
September 10-12 ARRL September VHF
antenna gains of 15-20 dBi. This con-
QSO party
tact took place on SSB and signals September 11 New moon
were not strong, but perfectly Q5. September 17-18 ARRL 10-GHz Cumulative
Congratulations to Dale and Merle. Contest, second weekend
Can this record last very long? Stay September 21 f 2 weeks. Optimum time
for TE propagation
tuned.
September 25 EME perigee
October 1-2 International Region 1
VHFIUHF microwave publi- UHFISHF Contest
cations and societies (7Gcrn and up)
I have mentioned several times that October 1-2 Mid-Atlantic States VHF
Conference, Warminster,
to really know what's cooking on the
Pennsylvania (contact
VHF and higher frequencies, you WB2NPE/ WC2K)
should join a VHF, UHF, or Microwave October 9 Predicted peak of the
group, or at least subscribe to one or Draconids meteor shower
more of the available newsletters. at d9YIO UTC
October 10 New moon
Many thanks to all those who sent me
October 20 Predicted peak of the
copies of their newsletter, especially to Orionids meteor shower at
those who continue to do so. They are 14(M UTC
an excellent source of information. October 23 EME perigee
I first ran a column on these publi- October 22-23 ARRL lnternational EME
Contest
cations in March 1985.= Since then
references
there have been lots of changes;
1. Joe Reisert. WIJR, "VHFIUHF World: Loose
tables 1 and 2 list the latest newslet- Ends," ham radio, February 1988, page 82.
ters and publications. 2. Joe Reisert, WlJR, "VHFIUHF World: Optimized
Table 1shows the major VHFIUHF 2- and 6-meter Yagis," ham radio, May 1987, page 92.
3. Joe Reisert, WlJR, "VHFIUHF World: RF Connec-
publications available by subscription tors - Part 11, ham radio, October 1986, page 59.
and includes addresses, cost (where 4. Joe Reisen, WlJR, "VHFIUHF World: Transmis-
sion Lines," ham radio, October 1985, page 83.
known), and frequency of publication.
5. Joe Reisen, WlJR, "VHFIUHF World: Keeping
Contact the publisher directly for VHFIUHFers up-to-date," ham radio, March 1985,
specific details. Table 2 is a partial list page 126.
of the clubs and societies that have Article H ham radio
56 September 1988
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Join the fun at th
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INPUT FROM
TAPE PLAYER
101 515
TIMER
220
35V
TONE
WEEKENDER 'MOUNTED ON
2 I/.? m x 1 I/.? m
ALUMINUM PLATE
SEE NOTE @
PROCESSOR FOR
CODE TAPES
By Andy S. Griffith, W4ULD, 203 Lord Gran- FUSE IN5401141
OR l N 5 4 0 2 t 4 1
September 1988 61
T O SPEAKER
JACK
TRANSF'ORMER
TO 10K
POT
,,
R
TOP
JACK - 4 7K
ROTOR
T O IOOK
POT
62 September 1988
the controls on the processor. The best setting of the vol-
Parts list
ume control on the tape deck should be just above the
Resistors Diodes point where code is first heard in the speaker. The
1 10 1 IN34
1 270 2 IN914 examinees at my VE sessions have commented on the
1 2.7k 4 1N5401/1N5402 high quality of code from the processor. Ithink you will
1 3.3k
1 4.7k Zener diode find this a worthwhile project.
1 20k 1 1N3826/1N4733 A pc board is available from FAR Circuits, 18N640
2 1Ok
1 220 1/2 watt Transistors Field Court, Dundee, Illinois 60188 for $6.00 postage
2 4.7 2 2N3904 paid.
1 1K 1/2 watt Article I ham radio
1 390 112 watt ICs
1 555
Capacitors 1 LM383
1 2.2~ 35 volt
1 22~35 volt Miscellaneous
2 0.01p35volt 1 PCB
1 1 0 35~ volt 1 Transformer (RS 273- 1352)
1 220p 35 volt 2 RCA jack
2 0.22p 35 volt 2 Knobs
1 4 7 0 ~ 3 5volt 1 Enclosure
2 0.01 300 volt 24" Shielded cable
1 4 7 0 0 ~35 volt 1 Switch
4' Power cable
Pot 1 S A Pigtail Fuse
1 10k
1 look
A
Ir 159
64 September 1988
FOR FZTTY AND PACKET RADIO
By Bruce L. Meyer, WBHZR, 9410 Blaisdell
Avenue South, Bloomington, Minnesota 55420
face. Figure 2 illustrates incorrect tuning of the re-
Circuit plus scope provides ceiver. Figure 3 shows a frequency shift that is too
simple, useful displays narrow; too wide a shift is shown in fig. 4. If the trans-
mitted signal contains extraneous frequencies, like
those caused by power supply hum or keying tran-
sients, the legs of the X will be wide. There can even
The tuning indicator in this article can enhance your be two or more X patterns superimposed and slightly
RTTY/Packet operations. It provides rapid acquisition offset in angle from each other (see fig. 5). This is an
of the received signal with indications of signal indication of incidental FM.
strength, correct tuning, frequency shift, selective fad- The heart of the X-display device is a simple RLC
ing, and noise content - at a glance. series network (fig. 6). This network discriminates be-
The device described here, an upgraded version of tween signal frequencies above and below its series
a previously published one1, is made up of integrated resonant frequency, but does not appreciably affect
circuits and synthetic inductors instead of vacuum the amplitude of the received signal as measured
tubes and low-Q wire-wound inductors. These en- across the inductor. The amplitudes of the marking
hancements improve the display and allow it to work and spacing frequencies may be measured or viewed
with audio frequency shifts as narrow as 50 Hz. I call independently of each other.
it the "X-display." Component selection for the RLC network isn't dif-
I have found that a simple receiving demodulator ficult. The inductor should have as high a Q as possi-
(terminal unit, receiving converter, or computer inter- ble, within reason. If the Q is too low (20, for instance),
face unit), when tuned properly to the received sig- the CRT will display an ellipse rather than a line. The
nal, can outperform a much more expensive unit that ellipse is useful but slightly more difficult to interpret.
is not quite on frequency, especially in the presence I tried several commercial toroidal inductors in the
of noise. To acquire a signal correctly, all the opera- range of 88 to 800 mH. None had a Q of more than
tor has to do is turn the receiver tuning dial until an 20 at the chosen display center frequency of 2210 Hz.
upright "X" appears on the face of the CRT (cathode Fortunately, a synthetic inductor called a "gyrator" is
ray tube). When the signal is off-tune the X will lean a~ailable.~ I recommend one consisting of two inex-
or rotate to the left or to the right, depending on pensive operational amplifiers, one capacitor, and
whether the frequency is too low or too high. several resistors. It has a Q close to 200 and is ideal
The angle between the legs of the X represents the for this application. (More about this circuit later.)
amount of frequency shift. The length of each leg
represents the instantaneous signal strength of the
type of scope required
marking or spacing tone. With a nonfading signal, the It should be emphasized at this point that it is not
legs will be the same length (see fig. 1). When a sin- necessary to construct a custom oscilloscope in or-
gle tone is received, only one line will appear on the der to obtain the X-display. Any oscilloscope with sep-
screen. During FSK the persistence of vision and the arate inputs for X and Y deflection may be used,
persistence of the CRT phosphor allow the marking provided that the oscilloscope amplifiers have suffi-
and spacing tones, which appear as separate lines, to cient gain and that the controls can be locked in place
form the X. when frequency calibration has been made.
As you tune the receiver to acquire the FSK signal A block diagram showing the major elements of an
the X pattern will rotate on the CRT face, and indi- X-scope adapter for an existing oscilloscope or modifi-
cate correct tuning when the X is upright. At this point cation thereof appears in fig. 7. The major elements
the user can compare the angle between the legs of shown are the input amplifierlequalizer, the discrimi-
the X with the calibration marks for the 170-Hzor nator, the horizontal output buffer amplifier, and the
200-Hz frequency shift previously placed on the CRT vertical output buffer amplifier.
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66 September 1988
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68 September 1988
The buffer amplifiers of figs. 8 and 9 are not need-
ed if you simply wish to feed the discriminator out-
puts to the corresponding inputs of an existing
oscilloscope. If, however, the oscilloscope is modified
to leave only the deflection amplifiers, the buffer am-
plifiers may be needed to provide isolation and gain.
Another consideration is the power supply. Both
positive and negative voltages in the range of 9 to 15
volts are needed by the X-scope adapter. These may
already be available in a solid-state scope. The cur-
rent requirements are modest, less than 50 mA. If a
vacuum tube scope is used, you'll have to construct
Line slopes with audio frequency.
or buy a power supply. The parts cost shouldn't ex-
ceed $20.00.
The resistor in the discriminator circuit serves two
purposes: first, it provides the entire voltage drop be-
tween the signal source and the LC network at reso-
@
nance; second, i t prevents a high voltage from
appearing across the inductor at resonance. The size
of the resistor isn't critical. It is selected so that there
is little difference among the voltages across the in-
~
ductor at, above, and below resonance. The voltage
across the inductor will naturally increase with increas-
ing frequency. For that reason it is desirable to use
a low-pass de-emphasis network ahead of the RLC dis-
Receiver is mistuned.
criminator. This network or equalizer causes the sig-
nal trace on the CRT screen to have a nearly constant
vertical deflection throughout the frequency range of
interest. A simple equalizer circuit appears in fig. 10.
The discriminator circuit of fig. 11 consists of R5,
C2, and the gyrator circuit shown separately in fig.
12. The gyrator is the L of the RLC network described
above.
I
theory of operation
Those familiar with oscilloscope presentations will
recognize a sloping line display as representing two
alternating current signals that are either in phase or
180 degrees out of phase. This is exactly what hap-
pens in an RLC circuit containing a lossless capacitor
and lossless inductor. Above resonance the voltage
across the inductor is greater than the voltage across
the capacitor. Below resonance the voltage across the
capacitor predominates. A t resonance the voltages are
equal and opposite in phase, so they cancel and there
is no horizontal deflection of the CRT beam. The net
voltage across the inductor and capacitor in series is
compared by the oscilloscope with the voltage across
the inductor alone, resulting in the in-phase or out-
of-phase presentation on the CRT screen.
The equalizer circuit in fig. 10 consists of a 741 or
equivalent operational amplifier with capacitive nega-
tive feedback, whose time-constant complements that
of the FSK discriminator network to provide an essen-
Shift is too wide.
J tially flat frequency response for the vertical deflec-
tion system.
September 1988 69
0 'SCOPE
tpo
R HORIZ.
AUOlO
INPUT
'SCOPE
VERT
fb
Basic RLC network.
I
Incidental FM.
INPUT
reason the use of a synthetic inductor or gyrator is
recommended.
The horizontal buffer amplifier of fig. 8 is used to
set the gain of the horizontal deflection circuits. It isn't
required if the scope has a high-gain horizontal am-
plifier in place. The amount of gain used controls the
width or angle of the legs of the X displayed.
I Vertical buffer-amplifier.
I
The vertical buffer amplifier of fig. 9 provides a
modest amount of gain but its main role is to isolate
the gyrator from resistive loading, which would de-
grade its Q. If a commercial oscilloscope with a very AUOIO INPUT
FROM RECEIVER
high input impedance is used, the vertical buffer am-
plifier circuit may not be required. The scope input may OUTPUT TO RLC
OISCRIHINATOR
CIRCUIT
then be connected directly to the junction of C2 and
0 001
the gyrator circuit.
construction project
One problem that arises in dedicating a lab scope
to this application is that the beam tends to burn the
phosphor of the CRT face so that a permanent X pat-
tern appears, with a dark spot at the crossing point. Audio Equalizer (de-emphasis network).
This does not drastically affect the screen of the scope
70 September 1988
ASTRON 9~utry
Irv~ne.CA 92718
C OR P O R A T I O N 1714) 458-7277
5% x 19 x 12'12
5'14 X 19 x 12'12
4 x 7 % x 10%
6 X 13% x 11
I
INPUT F W M
EOWLIZER chassis. The circuit was then wired into the rest of the
RS
scope circuits. This technique should be adaptable to
t * OUTPUT TO HORIZONTAL
BUFFER- AMPLIFIER OR
SCOPE K INPUT
almost any scope foundation or chassis.
calibration
OUTPUT TO VERTICAL
B U F F E R - A M ~ l F I E R OR
For the initial calibration of the completed X-scope
SCOPE V INPUT
circuit, an audio signal generator is needed that can
generate the marking and spacing tones used by a
modemlinterface unitlterminal unit (typically 2125 and
RLC discriminator network. 2295 Hz for 170-Hz shift). You'll also need a tone mid-
way between the two frequencies. The indications of
the X-scope will be only as accurate as the frequency
source.
I N P U T FROM The tone may be taken from the audio signal across
CZ OF O I S C R I Y I N A M R NETWORK
,,,+/
frequency is now changed to either the marking or the
%
:FREOUENCV
: spacing tone t o observe the angular deflection from
vertical. It should be between 30 and 40 degrees. If
it is not, you must adjust the horizontal gain to achieve
Gyrator circuit (synthetic inductor). the desired angle. By alternately applying marking and
spacing tones to the input, you can cause the CRT
trace to lean alternately to the right and left, or vice
but is somewhat unsightly. After one has used the lab versa. The slope depends on the vertical amplifier
scope t o verify the utility of the system, it may be a phasing with respect to that of the horizontal amplifi-
good idea to purchase an inexpensive one at a flea er. The connections of one set of deflection plates,
market and modify it as required to incorporate the or the inputs of one set of differential amplifiers in the
FSK discriminator. Audio oscilloscopes like those built oscilloscope, can be reversed for opposite slope.
from kits can be found for as little as $15.00. The next step in calibration is t o mark the face of
Ah advantage in modifying an inexpensive scope is the CRT or its protective screen with the positions of
that its gain controls can be locked in place to pre- the marking and spacing tone traces. Use marker pen,
serve the frequency calibration. It doesn't matter crayon, or masking tape arrows. Be sure t o center the
whether the scope has vacuum tubes or transistors beam before starting. Carefully log all oscilloscope gain
in its deflection circuits, as long as the user can adapt control settings and check them for reset ability. If you
the FSK discriminator t o the deflection circuits and find that you cannot reset the controls precisely, you
provide the correct power supply voltages. The may be a candidate for a custom scope unit that
scope's timebase circuits can be removed or discon- doesn't have variable gain controls.
nected.
I chose to build a complete X-scope with cabinet, using the X-scope
low- and high-voltage power supplies, solid-state Once the display is calibrated, disconnect the au-
deflection circuits, and a 2AP1 CRT. The discrimina- dio signal generator and connect the output of the ra-
tor and amplifier circuits described above were placed dio receiver in its place. Tune the receiver to a radio
on a small purchased pre-perforated circuit board. The teletypewriter signal or to a packet radio signal and
circuit board had copper pads at every hole. I used observe the display. During frequency shift signal
No. 30 wire-wrap wire for interconnection because the reception the CRT screen will display an X-shaped pat-
insulation can withstand soldering heat. The insula- tern with some faint lines between the legs of the X.
tion is tough; I recommend that you use a stripping These faint lines represent the transient response of
tool designed for No. 30 AWG wire. the receiver and the discriminator and should be ig-
72 September 1988
Virginia Hamfests
Gathersburg
Virginia Beach
Super Fall Values New Hampshire Hamfesta
Boxboro
t
DETAILS. CALL FOR OUR
LOW QUOTES. SOME
RESTRICTIONS APPLY.
Saving baaed on Hy-Galn urggested
rkoncept~ A
TS440AT HF Transceiver
MC80 Desk Mic
s w
&-
A3 10-1~
COnCon~TIo*
MFJ imr
TEN-TEC
R4 Vertical 4 Band ...... Call
FOR OSCAR
AOP1 Oscar Pack ........ 159.95
416TB 16 ele 435MHz .. 66.50
A14410T 10 ele 144MHz 55.95
6 Unarco-Rohn PARAGON
PACKAGE DEAL
A14420T 20 ele 144MHz 80.50
A14TM S ckin Kit .. 27.95
Orders & Quotes Toll Free 800-444-4799 P r i m ue wbjsct to change without notice or obligation
Elm1
EGE VIRGINIA EGE NEW ENGLAND
14803 Build America Drive, Bldg B 8 Stiles Road
Woodbridge, Virginia 22191 Salem, New Hamshire 03079
Information: (703) 643-1063 New England (NH Included) Our
Service Dept: (703) 4948750 Toll Free: 800-444-0047 Lammbe Dktribulora
Fax: (703) 494-3679 Info & Service: (603) 898-3750 p$::Eon Road
Lacumbe. Louisiana 70445
1988 Buyers Store Hours: M - F 10-6; Sat: 10-4 Store Hours: MTuWF: 10-5 Phone:(504)882-5355
GuideICatalog
Order Hours: M - F 9-7; Sat: 10-4 Th: 12-8; Sat: 10-4
AvallableSend $1
The new RC-96 controllcr for your repeater will make its day. And yours.
For you, remote programming will Ict you easily make changes to your repeater from
anywhere without a trip to the hill. Change codes, autodial numbers. ID messages and
more. with reliable storage in E2PROM memory.
Your users will love the outstanding patch and autodialer, with room for 200 phonc
numbers. The talking S-metcr will Ict them check thcir signal strength into the repcatrr.
Plus support for pocket pagers. linking to other repcaters. and a bullctin board.
Your technical crew will appreciate the built-in keypad and indicators. And the case of
hookup through shielded INN cables. With pots and DIP switches casily accessible a t thc
rear of thc unit. Thcy'll be impressed by the gas discharge tube across the phone line ancl
transient suprcssors on each 1 / 0 signal to keep lightning from taking your systcm
down.
And most important, your repcatcr will havc a ncw sense of pricle in bcing ablc to servc
you bettcr. Yo~r'llcvcn hear it in its voirc!
Something for cvcryone. A real party animal! The RC-96 Repeater Controller -
thr nrwrst choicr from ACC.
P computer
**
-w
controls, inc.
conclusion
nored. When the signal is properly tuned in, the X will I have found the X-scope to be a valuable and fas-
be upright and centered. If the receiver is tuned too cinating addition to the equipment in the ham shack.
high or too low the X will tilt to the left or t o the right. Not only can it be used to monitor 170 or 200-Hz fre-
The frequency shift is indicated by the angle between quency shifts, but if the center frequency is changed
the legs of the X only when the Xis upright and cen- and the horizontal gain reduced, it can monitor 425
tered. The length of each leg of the X will vary with or 850-Hz shifts as well. There are some interesting
signal strength. Often with selective fading one leg or signals to be found between the ham bands, like mul-
the other of the X will shrink to nothing. If copy is good tiplex, which may produce four traces on the screen
at this time, you have a superior receiving of the X-scope.
demodulator. Anyone who is reasonably skilled in the construc-
You can observe signal quality of the FSK transmit- tion of analog circuits should have no difficulty build-
ter by examining each leg of the X. If the trace is a ing the X-scope. 1'11 be happy to answer questions you
narrow line it indicates that a pure tone is being may have; please enclose an SASE.
received. If the trace is wide at the ends, or if more
than two traces are seen, the sending station may have references
1. Bruce Meyer. W0HZR. "FSK Tuning Indicator." CO, The Radio Amateurs'
a problem wth contact bounce or with modulating
Journal. May 1956.
tones that contain hum or other spurious frequencies. 2. "Filter Design Techniques," The Lenkurt DEMODULATOR. M a y 1975.
A common problem is ac ripple in the dc power sup-
ply output to the AFSK signal source at the transmit- Article J h a m radio
MoTron
Introductory price:
Electronics
ilCl!, W 71sI Ave $129.95 4033 Brownsville Road
t~qeneOR 97405 ( $ 4 , h # p ~ i ,In~li.i~ir!lmq .
II'.A, r i Trevose, Pa. 19047
olderr 1.800.338-9058 Inlo (503) 687.2118 215-357-1400
T L X 984794
fl 171
a five-band dipole
poles on these bands seem to perform with almost no
interaction.
Because the antenna is horizontal it was necessary
to use a rotator. The pattern is bidirectional so only
180° of rotation is needed, and it is possible t o get by
with as little as 90°. The antenna is light in weight (26
pounds) and has low wind resistance; only a small ro-
tator is needed.
76 September 1988
rru
F-
- - - / 172
7
~ . *'*
_.
O ~ J r n -f. 9
- - p- -8
*
,,s,m-m, $369.95* cw&,--~s '499-55
20 MHz DUAL TRACE
F v n t u r r s c o m p o n e n l l P s l ~ n g C ~ ~tr o
dy~talc~rcu~tsandd~odes-TVsyncI~ller-h!ghsenslllvlty-
35 MHz DUALTRACE
u ~r lr e ~ ~ ~ I ~ r ~ , c a p a c ~ t o rwdeIrwuencyLi~!rlduidth-
s, o i I t m , ~ sensll~vily
l -delaved
tlli]gerlllq sweep lhuldotl-ALI trlqger-slngle sweep TVsync
$249500* THE COMMUNICATIONS
SERVICE MONITORTHAT
z,txts-xy [node-bu111 ~ncal~t1ral01-5Xhor1zonlal magnlller 5x maqn~l~r:at~on-XY or XYZoperat~on-HF~LFnotsereduct~on WORKS HARDER FOR LESS.
Introduc~npU)M-3 thenawsetv~ccrnonlloi drrlljned by servim
-UNSURPASSED-QUALITY SUITABLE FOR HOBBY.-SERVICE & PRODUCTION
.
- - lechnlclans lor servicetechnlc~arrsIt works harder lor less ... plv-
- - - -
1" you advanced testlnp capab~llttesat a very atlordable price.
FEATURES Dlrect entry keyboard wlth programmable memory
addHbnal
MWEL
Z?Ul
~sa,
MIIUWIDTH
20 MHz
35 MHZ
I TRACES
121
12)
CUT SIZE
8xlOCM
BXIOCM
5T;I pc! dlv
Imv per dlv
35 MH,
GMHZ
S1O.MtWh quencylerrordev~at~ond~splay
.
Audlo(L transmltler lrequencycounter LEO bar graph Ire-
0 t.tO.m)pv output levels
HI" recelvesenslttvlly. less tnan5pv 100KHz to999 9995MHz
Cont~nuousfrequency coverage Transmtt protecllon, up to IM
& ~ ~ ~ ~ l , , d ~I:I, hlltl
l ~~mp-ImrYCU0n/llr~I~1m~IwIlhlrhanlllcmdanparnllalPut
h ~ ~ l l ~
Iinrwlrranty watts cTS lone IKHzand exlernal modulallon
MINI-100 COUNTER CT-707 DIGIT525 MHz CT-909 DIGIT600 MHz CT-508 DIGIT600 MHz CT-1259 DIGIT 1.2GHz
~l
w1f8"
.
6,s
.
e~n~~rt~n~~r~~~~,~\t~~emr
qri'ill lo! l o l l e ~ ~ ~ ~ d ~ ~ l l e m
y 100. 0 01 H/ IPSOIUIIO~
n ~ u l l ~ p l e s b10or
s4B.9¶ & hbilll in Flgllal p i e a m p l c o ~ ~ d ~ t ~ o n ~ ~
PS-100 1 GHz PRESCALER
Y O ~ , I1111,k11 y ~ ~ ~ ~ . . ~ ~ r t a k e ~ l a nIt y w h e ~ e
~ ~ ~ ~ t ~ ~ I t 3
I ~ ~ . ~ l uovc,loadp!otecl~on
i . ,,, ' . , ,
*
dowel, I planed off the corners of 1-112 inch square
L2 stock to form an octagonal cross section; and then
To s;;;; -LP\i; ! L r E ~ ~ ~
planed the eight corners further to make a force fit into
the PVC pipe. This is not easy without a power planer.
You can use 1-318-inchdiameter closet pole purchased
from any lumber yard. Leave 18 inches empty on each
2 METER
ANTENNA
end to receive 69-314 inch lengths of 1-inch PVC to
make an overall length of 258 inches, or 0.46 wave-
fig. 2. This 2-meter diplexer will permit use of the same length at 21.15 MHz. The "I-inch" PVC has an out-
coax feeder for a separate 2-meter antenna without com- side diameter of about 1.32 inches, so wrap these
promising performance on either 144 MHz or the lower
lengths with vinyl tape as shown in fig. 3 to build up
bands. Both L2 C2 and L3 C3 are carefully tuned to 144
MHz. The link on L2 is one turn. L2 and L3 can be 4 turns the diameter and form a snug fit inside the 1-112 inch
No. 18, 112-inch diameter, 318 inch long. PVC pipe.
TeflonTMinsulators are used at the far ends of the
capacitance of 2.2 pF is too small to upset the reso- 6, 10, and 12-meter dipoles, but the 15-meter dipole
nant frequencies of the lower bands. ends are secured directly to the PVC boom in order
to minimize the overall length. PVC has a bad reputa-
construction tion as an rf insulator2, but at a power level of 65 watts
As you can see in fig. 3, the antenna is made al- I could detect no temperature rise in the PVC at the
most entirely of material that is frequently discarded 15-meter dipole end points. If you comtemplate high
at construction sites. By salvaging such material the power, I recommend checking for temperature rise be-
total cost can be held to almost nothing. The dipoles fore raising the antenna.
are made of No. 12 (.081 inch diameter) solid copper For the 12-inch diameter boom mounting plate I
wire stretched between ends of a slightly bowed non- used high-strength plastic. Metal or fiber glass can also
metalic boom. The center 155 inches of the boom is be used. If you use plywood, weatherproof it by paint-
made of 1-112 inch PVC pipe commonly used in con- ing with hot tar before assembling.
struction. PVC pipe of this diameter is not rigid enough Seal all holes in the boom with RTV and cement end
for a boom length this size so I reinforced the center caps to the far ends of the I-inch PVC sections. As
119 inches with 1-112 inch wood dowel. To make the an extra precaution against moisture accumulation,
78 September 1988
K I T T Y S A Y S W E ARE N O W O P E N 7 D A Y S A WEEK.
Saturday 81 Sunday 10 to 5 P.M.
M o n d a y . F r i d a y 9 t o 6:30 P M Thurs. t o 8 PM
1
For the best buys in town call:
212-925-7000
Los Precios Mas Bajos en
Nueva York . . .
C o m e t o Barry's l o r t h e b e s t b u y s i n town.
TM 2 2 1 A 1 4 2 1 A TM75fOAJ50A130A. TR-751A.
I s n w o o 0 Sarvlcs Ropaml. T U 7 2 1 A . TS.7111811A
B u d w l g ANT. P r o d u c t s
NEL.TEfflDVK.t@W$AV~K~
FLUKE 77 Multimeter
A ~ r ~ .n ~. ~ ln ~
, nCni~r..r
~ ~ ~ f Si)q 05
oComlMiragelAllnco
n l e n n a s I N STOCK
ALINCO A L D - 2 4 1
I ' L L A qSCJ
~ I Habla Espanol"
We Stock AEA. ARRL. Alpha. Ameco. Antenna Spec~al~sts.
RR
- - K, B
-R- W , Bencher - -. Bunernut
-. . . , Blrd - - - - . CDE
- ~.~
Aslattc. Astron.
CES~.Commun~cal~ons . ..
Soec
Connectors. Cushcraft. Da~wa.D~gimax.Drake. Eimac. HeilSound. Henry.
II
LtX 7670 Hustler (Newtron~cs).Hy-Galn. Icom. KLM. Kantronlcs. Larsen. MJF. J.W.
MERCHANDISE TAKEN O N CONSIGNMENT
FOR TOP PRICES
Monday-Fflday9 AM l o 6 30 P M Thursday lo 8 PM
Salulday R Sunrlay 10 AM 10 5 P M IFree Parklngl
AUTHORIZED DlSTS MCKAY DYMEK FOR
SHORTWAVE A N T E N N A S 8 RECEIVERS WE NOW STOCKCOMMERCIAL COMMUNlCATlONS SYSTEMS
IRTILEX."Sorina St. Station ' HAM DEALER INOUIRES INVITED PHONEIN YOUR ORDER & BE REIMBURSED
Sub*r.~.: ~ ~ ~ . . ' p r i SC
n d ststion"
e COMMERCIAL RADIOS 8toohmd k morrlcod on promlso8.
IND."F" Train.Bwy. Station" Amateur Radio Courses Given On Our Premises, Call
B u s : B r o a d w a y 16 t o S p r i n g St. E x p o r t O r d e r * S h l p p e d Immedlmtmly.
Path-9lh SIRlh Avo. Stallon.
-
The XP-706-US
drill 114-inch drainage holes through the underside of
both pipes 17 inches from each end of the 1-1 12 inch
PVC.
pruning
Make final adjustments at least 10 feet above
ground. You should get SWR curves similar to fig.
4. The final dipole lengths should be very close to
those shown in fig. 1. Figure 3 shows a trimmer ad-
justment scheme that will help avoid a lot of pruning.
If you check SWR between the ham bands you may
find additional resonances where adjacent dipole reac-
uality i tances cancel. For instance, there is a resonance near
sive 27 MHz where the capacitive reactance of the
12-meter dipole resonates with the inductive reactance
of the 10-meter dipole. These "false" resonances can
rlernr~ntran ALL hilndr be distinguished from the main dipole resonance by
their narrow bandwidth. At the frequency of a false
Ourn~mmilmenlt o usronly thr lbnrrl n~nlrrmulsinsares lhal your invcrlmrnl will Inat
lor year5 Our ry5lmm user a Llnuhlc n.rlunpalnr Ixnnn CAST aluminum elrmcnl resonance, a check with an rf current probe' will re-
mountmy hrackclr a l l rlainlcn hardwnrrand i n lhnyl~l x r w r r Imlun
veal current on two adjacent dipoles; at "true" reso-
h(onohandperk,rmaoce on o Mttlr~hondInwm is yours when you move up lo %n>mrr nance current will be strongly concentrated on only
1heI;lrl I x a n ~you11 hiwr lo h u y W r I r l t r v c 4 ~ m n ~mr yaur
r Lx.51 snlennu value when
cos,paw<l to Ihc cunstrurlnonitnd pcrlc>rnm~~nc rnf olller mulli and monohand anlrnno one dipole.
12
10
:;Lrzw;
"L, -
22
(J ,,
ALL ABOUT CUBICAL QUAD ANTENNAS fig. 4. SWR curves measured on 75-ohm coax. The an-
Slmple lo bulld. Ilghfwe~qht,and hlgh performance make Me Ouad at DX'ers tenna was matched at the low end of 6 and 2 meters
del~ght Everymrng from the slngle element to a multl-element monster A where all operating for this particular station is done.
wealth of Informallon on constructlon leedlng, tunlng and lnstalllng the
quad antenna 112 pages 1982 3rd edltlon
RP-CO SoHbound $9 95
THE RADIO AMATEUR ANTENNA HANDBOOK The antenna impedance is close to 70 ohms - a
A wealth of projects that covers verticals, long wlres, beams as well as good match to 75-ohm coax and not a bad one to
plenry of other rnteresbng deslgns I1 ~ncludesan honest judgement of gain
Ilgures. how to slte your anlenna lor the best periormance, a look at the 50-ohm coax. The latter will have a minimum SWR
Yagl-Ouad controversy, baluns, slopers, and delta loops Practical antenna
prolecfs that work1 190 pages. ,. 1978 1st edltlon of 1.4 at resonance on each band. Perfectionists can
+*
RP-AH Sonbaund $11.95 obtain a better match to 50 ohms with a simple L sec-
Please enclose 53 50 for s h ~ p p ~ nand
g handling tion as shown in fig. 5. These L sections are extremely
broad band, so no tuning is necessary once you have
hall chosen the correct inductance and capacitance values.
radi0-~-~~~1~
BOOKSTORE
GnELNVlLLF NH 03048 (6031 8 7 8 1441
i J
80 September 1988
LET THE SUN DO
In fact, the 12-meter L section is so broad it will pro- THE WORK Charge batteries on
stored machinery
vide a good match over the 15 and 10-meter bands Light your tent
as well. Determine inductance values with a grid-dip = Run fans
9 Run remote t mn,
meter b y shorting the input port, leaving the 75-ohm mitters
port open. Target resonant frequencies are given in Light signs
the table o n fig. 5 along with the L and C values. Pump water for your
animals
Power for your motor
results home
Run your radio wlthout
M y antenna is fed through about 100 feet of low- batteries
~ i g hyour
t home
loss 75-ohm 1I 2 inch hard line. (I used a cable TV dis-
Yard lights
card.) M y results have been impressive o n all bands. Charge flashlight bat-
Sometimes I've worked stations that can't even be teries
Light your cabin
heard o n a lower antenna. The broad azimuthal cover- Run electric fences
age provided b y four main lobes o n 2 meters is often Charge your boat
a decided advantage over a beam in working multista- from the battev
Run appllancesln your
tion round tables. 4 Sunwith home
Charge hand held
radio batterlw
r.-
nC-
r._C
.l .-- -- - -- -
-
xl.354n
- 150
coax
S EE-zsz=zG---
Solar SyslemC
- --
: -- -
-
= ----- rr* Fish shanty lights
Charge yourcam-
corder battery pack
references MON~TORING
TIMES
1 . F. Brown, WGHPH. "Better Results with indoor Antennas." 0.77. Oc- ),,ill 1 l l t l l l 0 ) l l ~ l l l l ' ~\11111(1.
rober 1979. page 21. Figure 5. ll!,T, 111f111111.
2. "A Dielectric No-no." Hints and Kinks. OST, April 1977, page 56
P.O. Box 98 A
Article K ham r a d i o Brasstown, N.C. 28902
1/ 175
S e p t e m b e r 1988 81
SUBSCRIBE AND RENEW
CODES:
TOLL-FREE
THERE'S NOT JUST ONE
W. Clem Small, KRGA, R1, Box 64A, Mid-
dlebury, Vermont 05769
-
while Phillips provides punctuation. Although much
Prices U.S. only radio communication can be carried on with a mini-
MASTERCARD
1-1 mum of punctuation, the Phillips code was important
in radio services reporting newspaper stories. Notes
at the bottom of fig. 1 indicate that the Navy and the
VISA BILL ME Bain codes were already obsolete when Audel's book
Please have your charge card ready. was published.
DATATEL 800'" international code: the winner
The American Morse code referred to above was
Samuel Morse's original code. It seems it was called
the "American" version because it was developed and
Weekdays 8 AM - 9 PM EST used in the United States. In contrast, the Continen-
Saturdays 9 AM - 5 PM EST tal Morse code was used "on the Continent," or in-
and-around Europe. You can see from fig. 1that these
I N MAINE CALL COLLECT (207) 236-2896
t w o codes have both similarities and differences.
OUR 800 NUMBER IS FORSUBSCRIPTIONORDERS ONLY! You may hear old-timers refer to the Continental
For Errors or Change of Address Morse code as the "general service code."2 Today,
it is known as "International Morse code," and seems
CALL ham radio direct at
(603) 878-1441 8-5EST
-
82 September 1988
Tlrc Codes
I
I More* Conrlnenral
LETTERS
tNnry 'Onln 1
Morre
PUNCTUATION M A R K S
Coorlnenral Phllllpr
Comma . . . . . .-.-
Scnt~.colon.. . . . . . a •
.--..--. -..-.
a-.-
-....-
P.-. j?
G--.
.a-. P ---*
C--..
F
G.-..
Interrogalion.. .-
Exclamatlon .---
- .-.* -.. -..- -- ---.
H
1
-.-. a '
.--
I[
I
..a.
.---
- 0
H.--
I
I[.--
I * *
...-
Fraction Ltnc..
Dash. ........--•
......... - .. -. ...- -..
.... .,.-..
.
J
K-. - J
K-.-
J
K-.-.
J
K.--.
....
Ilvphm.
Al,ostroilhc . ----.
.
. .--.. . . -. .-..
. a .-•
. - - ..-..-..
... .-..
.--.
.-a
L-
M--
L .-a.
M--
L--.
M
L
M
..---
Dollar Mark .
Pound Stcrllny ......
- - -- -... -. .....
.-..-- .-..
N-.
..... o -.--.
0 '
p .-.-
N -'
0---
p
N * *
0 - 0
p
N
0-
p-a-
5l81lllng M a r k
Pcncc Mark. . a * . . .
Capltal Lcttcr. . -. . -. -. - ..- .
. . . .-. .
o..-. -.- o.-.. o-.-. Colon Followed
..-. -.-. -.-
...
-... su ..-
R. R.-. R-.. R--. byQuoiatton-*- -*- - . r - .*-4
.
.a
s
u ..-
T T-
. a . s-.-
T-
.-
S - . .
T - . .
Crnta ........
Dccln~alPotnt
Paragraph. . .----
- r . - .-.-..
-- ----
-.-a
...- v ..-- u.
.--- ---.
U-•
. . . . ..- .-.. ..--.- ..- .-..
-..-.......-. .-..
v n - v v s Undcr-
l ~ a l l c or
.-..
W.-- W. w..-. w--.. lane
.......-.. - . -...-. - -.-..- - .....
-...
X
y ..... x - . . - y-.--
x-..- x-..-
--
z ---- z ---
y... Y
Parrnihesi,.
Urack~Is.
.. .....-. -.
...-see
..-. -. ..-. -. -.em
1 .--.
.-.-.. 1 .----
....
.--- .... . .----
--.- I
....
.--- 1
of signs rcprcscntlng the letters ol the alphabrt, the numerals and Lhc principal punctuation
po~nts.VIX.. the period. comma. and polnt o f tnterrogatton: chc rematntng characters can
,,,...
3 .
,,.
2
, .... -- ...
, .--___,..--
- ,
2
.... -
2 be Icarncd afterwards, as thcy w ~ l b l c l ~ t t l eneeded b y the hcjynncr. D y constant d r t l l the
Iiabtt of making (lots w ~ t hr c g u l a r ~ t y ,u n r f o r m ~ t y ,and prcc~sionmust first be acqurred.
,.,,,.
s---
,
5 .....
-....... -.---
,
- .. ,.
thcn dashcs, and lastly in order. group of dots and dnshcs. lcttcrs ant1 words. I1 possible
lor the studcnt t o obtattl a r q l s t e r , he should b y all means employ t t ~nhts practice. for he
--, .
\v111 then bc mo:e cast:y enabled t o observe and corrcct the faults In hn o w n manipulnt~on.
, ., .-.. -,.--. . , ---........
•
, -. ,.
a
T h c sludent should learn t o form the conventtonal chaltacters accurately and perfectly;
speed will comc i n good t m e , b u t only as the result of constant and pers~stentpractice.
- ,, ,
,,
- .- -- -- tNo.rr.-The Navy cod* Is nowobselete, be~ngd~rcont#nued
*No=.-The
Nov 16. 1912. the Navyai oresenluwr the Morw.
[Ialn w i e Was a t one tlme 8n use m pans of America and Eurooe m c o m t i o n w i t h I h s Bata
cl~cnl!callclepe~.h rvstcln. but r, now obsol.lc. thrnugh ol hur(onca1 ~ntrresc.
t o be the only hand-sent radiotelegraphic code in from the lnternational Morse code used for CW,
general use. lnternational code has long been more there are a number of machine-dependent codes.
popular than American, even though American Morse These are: RTTY Baudot code, and the variants used
code was said to be about five percent faster because with SITOR, AMTOR, and packet. There's also the
it has fewer dashes.j Graf indicates that American ASCII computer code used in machine-dependent
Morse code was used, to a limited extent, at least as radiotelegraphy.
late as 1962 on land telegraph lines in this ~ o u n t r y . ~ While the use of hand-sent code is not as prevalent
The secret of the lnternational code's success over as in the past, radiotelegraphic type codes are far from
American may lie in this quotation from the 1924 edi- becoming an endangered species. Indeed, communi-
tion of the lnternational Correspondence School's cations on the air waves, and even over telephone
Radio Operator's Handbook: "The lnternational Morse lines, would be seriously diminished without them!
code is used all over the world for radio and submarine
references
telegraphy, and for wire telegraphy in almost every
1. Frank D. Graham, AudelS Handy Book o f PracacticalElectric~ioty,Theo. Audel
country except the United States, Canada, and parts & Co., New York, 1924, page 831.
of Australia. It is superior for signaling through long 2. Rufus P. Turner, The Illustrated Dictionary o f Electronics, Tab Books, Blue
submarine cables, as some of the recording devices Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania. 1980, page 167.
3. Sidney Gernsback, 1927Radio Encyclopedia, originally published by Sidney
used in that work do not give accurate signals when Gernsback in 1927, reprinted in 1974 by Vintage Radio, Palos Verdes Pen-
used with spaced letters."= ninsula, California, page 38-39.
Although it may appear that International Morse 4. Rudolph F.Graf, Modern Dictionary o f Electron~cs,Howard W . Sams &
Co. Inc.. Indianapolis, 1962.
code is the only telegraphic code we have ever had, 5. International Correspondence schools Staff, Rad~oOperator's Handbook,
history tells US otherwise. There is still a prolifer- The John C. Winston CO., Chicago, 1924, page 406.
ation of radiotelegraphic type codes today. Aside Article L ham radio
September 1988 83
Low-cost
direct frequency display
for any receiver
84 September 1988
ital frequency display. This saves the cost and incon-
TUNER I DIGITAL READOUT CIRCUIT I DISPLAY venience of building a LED or LCD decoder, driver,
and display circuit. It also has the added advantage
of eliminating a serious source of RFI generated by
more TTL and multiplexing circuitry that could be
picked up by the spectrum analyzer.
recap
The four steps taken so far in the F I V conversion
fig. 1. System block diagram. scheme are:
The incoming 100-MHz signal is upconverted to 610
MHz. This means that the VCO is operating at 710
+
MHz (rf i-f = OSC).
resulting display would always be 610 MHz higher than The prescaler divides this 710-MHz signal by 256,
the actual frequency. I would then have t o subtract producing a 2.77-MHz signal.
610 from the number displayed to determine the ac- The two counter chips divide this 2.77-MHz signal
tual center frequency or build an offset counter with by 1,000, providing a 2.77-kHz signal for the F I V con-
dip switches to preset the i-f frequency offset. I didn't verter chip.
care for either of these methods. The first was too in- The F/V converter chip converts the 2.77-kHz sig-
convenient, and the second was too expensive and nal to 2.77 volts.
limited.
I wondered how the new state-of-the-art receivers the second half of the process
display the received frequency. A little investigation So far the incoming 100-MHz signal has been con-
revealed that they were all synthesized and used verted to 2.77 volts. Now it's time to reverse the proc-
microprocessors to provide the data for the display. ess, return t o 100 MHz, and display the result.
First, interpret the 2.77-volt reading displayed on the
must the solution be "digital only"? meter as 2.77 MHz - a mental conversion which ac-
A friend, KA2TCH, mentioned that some voltage- complishes two steps. I performed a voltage-to-
to-frequency converter chips could also be run as frequency conversion (2.77 volts = 2.77 MHz) and
frequency-to-voltage converters. Looking through the then reversed the action of the divide-by-1,000 part
data books, I found a Precision V I F converter chip of the circuit by accepting the concept that the num-
(LM-331) that would also work as an F I V converter. ber 2.77 was in MHz, rather than in kHz (2.77 kHz x
However, the data sheet disclosed that 10 kHz was 1,000 = 2.77 MHz). This reversed the action of the
the highest input frequency it could accept. I figured third and fourth steps in the previous F I V conversion
I could do something about that. Breadboarding the process, bringing us to the second step - the divide-
circuit proved that it really worked as advertised. A by-256 prescaler.
plot of the input frequency versus the output voltage Now 2.77 volts (representing 2.77 MHz) must be
illustrated its excellent linearity. The result was a sim- multiplied by a number which will result in 710, the
ple, precise one-chip frequency-to-voltage converter. frequency of the VCO in MHz. Since the prescaler
Since the output of the prescaler as it is tuned from divided 710 by 256 to get 2.77, multiplying 2.77 by 256
0 to 500 MHz is approximately 2 t o 4 MHz, dividing comes back to 710. This presents a bit of a problem.
it by 1,000 brings it down to 2 to 4 kHz. This fits well We are dealing with dc voltages and so 710 volts re-
into the input frequency range of the F I V converter. quires high-voltage power supplies and other high-
I chose to use a pair of dual decade divider chips voltage components. Another mental conversion is
(74LS390)to perform this function. Each chip contains needed so that a voltmeter display of 7.10 volts
two divide-by-2 and two divide-by-5 circuits. Cascad- represents 710 MHz. Now the process can be con-
ing all the circuits in each chip provides a divide-by-100 tinued with practical voltage levels. Multiply 2.77 volts
result. As division by 1,000 was required, the first chip by 2.56 to get 7.10 volts. A simple direct coupled op-
was connected t o divide by 100, and only half of the amp with a gain of 2.56 does the job. All that remains
second chip was used to divide by 10. These two chips is to subtract 610 from 710 to get the original 100-MHz
were added in front of the F I V converter, and sure rf input signal.
enough, the 2 to 4 MHz input from the prescaler Since the level of the numbers has been scaled
produced 2 to 4 volts dc out of the F/V converter. down by a factor of 100, subtract 6.10 volts from 7.10
volts to get 1.00 volt to represent 100 MHz. This 610
more breakthroughs represents the i-f offset frequency, which has always
At this point, I could use a digital voltmeter as a dig- been a major problem when designing a universal di-
September 1988 m 85
rect digital frequency display. The solution to this last
problem is one some of us old-timers, who played with
analog computers long before the advent of their dig-
ital counterparts, will like. To have a voltmeter read
I "America's Weekly Guide to Satellite TV" 1.OO volt when the positive terminal is connected to
7.10 volts requires only that the negative terminal of
The best in satellite program- the meter be connected to + 6.10 volts. The differ-
+
ming! Featuring: Over 120 ence of 1.OO volt now appears across the meter ter-
Channels listed + Weekly, minals.
+
Updated Listings Magazine Returning the negative terminal of the meter to the
Format +Complete Alpha- center arm of a potentiometer connected across the
betical Movie Listings supply and labeling the control "offset" creates a
+ Sports Specials + Prime universal direct digital frequency display (see schemat-
~ime rids + Specials ic). A simple adjustment of a potentiometer allows off-
+Programming Updates! setting (subtracting) of any i-f frequency and display
of the rf frequency tuned by the receiver. Who said
II
Only $45.00 per year (52 weekly issues) analog computers were obsolete?
2 Years $79.00 (104 weekly issues) display options
$1.OO for sample copy I designed this circuit (shown in fig. 2) so that it
'NC Res~dentsmust add 5% Sales Tax
could use your digital voltmeter as the frequency dis-
play. With the meter set on the 20-volt dc scale, 0 to
Subscribe Today! 500 MHz would be displayed as 0.00 to 5.00 volts. I
call toll free 1-800-234-0021 found the decimal point annoying at first, but was
Visab and Mastercard" accepted soon able to ignore it. Later, I bought a $29 digital volt-
meter (DVM), disabled the decimal point, and used
OnSat PO Box 2347 Shelby, NC 28151-2347 it in my spectrum analyzer application. Now the dis-
play reads out directly in MHz. Miniature DVMs that
are ideal for this application are available from Accu-
lex. They measure 1 x 2 x 0.5 inches and mount easily
into a rectangular cutout.
For those who would rather use a regular digital fre-
quency counter instead of a digital voltmeter to dis-
play the result, a second F/V chip connected as a
voltage-to-frequency converter would do the trick. The
The new STV Guide con- voltage that was intended for the DVM would now
tains valuable information on be converted to a frequency that could be read by the
zoning regulations, scram- counter. However, the 1.00 volt displayed on the DVM
bling, plus technical tips for and read as 100 MHz would now produce 1.00 kHz
installing or updating a satel- on the counter - which would also have to be inter-
lite system-and now a pre- preted as 100 MHz.
cise monthly guide to satel-
lite TV with the latest pro- displaying the center frequency
gram listings for over 90 while scanning
channels! The tuner used in the spectrum analyzer is voltage
All this in each complete issue of STV Guide! tuned so that it can be swept across a wide range of
frequencies with a sawtooth voltage waveform. This
I
Only $48.00 per year (12 monthly issues) action makes the tuner function as a voltage-tuned fil-
$2.00 for a sample copy ter, which is a key element of a spectrum analyzer.
'NC Resldenls must add 5". sales lax As the tuner sweeps across the band, all signals
received are amplified and rectified, and the resulting
Subscribe Today! voltage is applied to the vertical input of a scope. The
horizontal sweep of the scope is synchronized with the
Call toll free 1-800-234-0021 sawtooth used to cause the tuner t o scan, so that the
V~sa"and MasterCardnaccepted
scope display shows a series of vertical "pips", each
one representing a received signal. The vertical am-
STVGuidePO Box2384SheIby,NC 28151-2384
/
86 September 1988
plitude of the pip is proportional to the strength of the
COMPUTERIZE
signal, while its location on the horizontal axis
represents its frequency.
YOUR SHACK
YAESU 747. 757GX. 757GXll. 767. 9600.
To simplify the analysis of how the circuit works, KENWOOD TS 140, 440, 940, 680, R5000.
Iput aside the fact that the local oscillator in the spec- lCOM R71A. R7000, 735. 751A. 761. 781. AND ALL VHF, UHF. CI-V.
DRIVERS FOR RADIOS ARE MODULAR.
trum analyzer was being swept above and below the JRC NRD 525.
center frequency by the 20-Hz sawtooth. (This is not COMPLETE PROGRAM ENVIRONMENT.
a problem for those who would use this circuit in a MENU DRIVEN AND DESIGNED FOR EASE OF USE.
SCAN FUNCTION AODED TO RADIOS THAT DO NOT SUPPORT IT.
more conventional receiver. 1 ERGONOMETRICALLY DESIGNED FOR EASE OF OPERATION.
The VCO in the spectrum analyzer is constantly MOST FUNCTIONS REOUIRE SINGLE KEYSTROKES.
PROGRAM COLOR COOED FOR EASE OF USE. ALTHOUGH WILL STILL
changing frequency. It is being swept several MHz RUN IN A MONOCHROME SYSTEM.
above and below the center frequency, approximate- MENUS FOR THE FOLLOWING:
ly 20 times per second, by the sawtooth scanning volt- AMATEUR HF-AMATEUR VHF- AMATEUR UHF
AM BROADCAST-FM BROADCAST-TELEVISION BROADCAST
age. The center frequency of the band of frequencies SHORT WAVE BROADCAST
being scanned must be displayed. AVIATION HF(SSB)-AVIATION VHF-AVIATION UHF
HIGH SEAS MARINE-VHF MARINE
One approach used by commercial spectrum analyz- MISCELLANEOUS HF. VHF. UHF
ers is to use a comparator to sense when the sawtooth MOST POPULAR FREQUENCIES ALREADY STORED
ADDITIONAL LIBRARIES AVAILABLE
is halfway through its scan, open a gate for a millise- COMPLETE LOGGING FACILITY
cond or so, and sample and display the VCO frequen- ALL FREQUENCY FILES MAY BE AODED TO. EDITED OR DELETED
AVAILABLE FOR IBM PC. XT, AT. 80386 256K RAM
cy. Then, a counter that has been preset to add or 1 SERIAL WRT AND 1 FLOPPY MINIMUM
subtract the i-f frequency (depending on whether the PROORAM WlTU INITIAL UBRARIES 99.95
RS-232 TO TTL INTERFACE ONLY (NEEDED IF DON'T HAVE MANUFACTURERS INTERFACE)
VCO is operating above or below the incoming sig- EXTERNAL INTERFACE ILLOWS 4 RAOIOS 99.95
INTERNAL PC INTERFACE WI1 SERIAL 6 1 RADIO PORT 129.95
nal) is used to count and display the center frequen- SPECTRLIM ANALY7EH MOOLlLE (CALL FOR PIIICE)
COMPLrTE SYSTEMS INCL RADIO. INTERFACE. COMPUTER, AVAILABLE (CALL FOR PRICFI
cy. This would require a complete offset digital
counter, along with a stable timebase, plus the neces- DATACOM, INT.
sary gating circuits. 8 0 8 1 W. 2 1 S T L A N E
My original plan was to add a circuit that would dec- HIALEAH, F L 33016
A R E A CODE (305) 8 2 2 - 6 0 2 8 / 176
tect the center of the sawtooth sweep waveform, as
in commercial analyzers, and use a sample and hold
circuit to save the value of the dc produced by the F/V
converter. However, after completing the circuit and
using the tuner without the sweep, I realized that this
additional circuitry might be unnecessary. The fre-
quency-to-voltage converter uses an RC time constant . Fmquanw Ranga 13 MHI
10 30 MHz
across which it develops the dc output voltage. I rea-
soned that if the sawtooth sweep were symmetrical
. mwar Limn - 15W Watts PE P
Olamelsr - 391nches
Wlnd Survlnl - 70 + MPH
Surface Ama. < 89Sq FI
about the center frequency, it would produce a 20-Hz
ac component riding on the dc component that . Antenna Finlth - HeatShrrnk Bbrng
Coax Connector - PL-259
Antenna Wsiphl- 4 Ibs
represented the center frequency. The average dc volt- M a q n ~ I cl)?sign Maxlmurn
[t'irieilcy
age would not be changed. In addition, the time con- 100% Copper One Piece
stant ( I pF x 100k) might be large enough to absorb
this small ac component. Applying the sawtooth
. Collslructlon
Mdrrary Spec Vacwm Varlable
Caoac!lor Raled al35.WOVolls
fl 177
September 1988 87
R19
OFFSET
ing and calibration. The following assembly procedure pers labeled 1, 2, 3, and 4 will be used as test points
is recommended: for calibration and should be formed as "loops" (see
Install eight jumpers as indicated in fig. 5. The jum- fig. 5). Install two inductors, 16 resistors, and three
88 a September 1988
II
-
4
fig. 5. Jumpers numbered 1 through 4 should be formed into "loops" for test points. Numbers 3 and 4 are also used as
"output" terminals. See jumper closeup in lower left hand corner.
-I
I I
R4 R5
I I
flu-
-LL-
trimpots as indicated in fig. 6. Solder the grounded urements will assure accurate results. Proceed as
ends of the five resistors marked "x" on both sides follows:
of the pc board. Connect a digital voltmeter between test point 3 and
Install two transistors and eight capacitors as indi- ground.
cated in fig. 7. For ease of installation, use sockets Connect regulated + 18 volts between the + 18 volt
for the four chips. Insert them in the locations indi- terminal and ground. Neither the + 5 volt supply nor
cated. (Note the location of the number 1 pin.) the input signal needs to be connected at this time.
Check your work carefully for excess solder, splash- Apply +2.77 volts between test point 2 and ground.
es, shorts, or "cold" solder joints. This completes the Adjust the gain trimpot (I3181 for 7.10 volts at test
assembly of the frequency readout board. point 3.
Shift the digital voltmeter negative test lead from
test and calibration procedure ground t o test point 4. Leave the positive test lead at
The accuracy of the display is directly related to the test point 3.
stability of the supply voltage. Final calibration should Adjust the offset trimpot (R19) for 1.00 volt on the
not be performed until the power supply has warmed DVM.
up and is stable. Since the circuits work with small Now connect the output of the prescaler of the tun-
dc voltages, paying careful attention to setup meas- er to the input of the digital readout board. Also con-
September 1988 89
I
" I[
I
A
90 September 1988
MAGAZINE EVALUATION & SWEEPS ENTRY CARD
Here's YOUR chance to comment on this issue of HR and enter our monthly radio
drawing. Carefully read all the articles in this issue. Then, rate each article in this
issue. Also let us know what you think of our changes to the magazine. Each article
YOU is marked with a letter on the last page.
Article A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P
COULD
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CENTER
Commercial 50-ohm hardline of the HeliaxTMvariety CONNECTOR
dealer* for a fraction of the cost. The cable comes in OUTER JACKET/ O U T E R CONDUCTOR
any length up to 7500 feet and is made to rigid govern- fig. 2. Drawing of the hardline indicating the modifica-
ment tolerances with a thick, noncontaminating vinyl tion of the center conductor to mate the center pin of
jacket that allows direct burial. (Tables 1 and 2 list the the connector.
hardline characteristics.) Though ProdelinTMcable is
much cheaper than Heliax, commercial connectors
can run $75 apiece. Because I wanted to use this high- tant body that is easily adapted to 718-inch Prodelin-
grade 718-inch cable without the prohibitive expense style hardline using simple tools. These connectors are
of the mating connectors, I began to evaluate other common at hamfests and are also available from a
alternatives. number of sources. ** Prices vary between $2 and $12
depending on source and condition.
connector "specs"
materials and tools
Requirements for any good connector include:
minimal discontinuity in line impedance, Table 3 lists the common tools (found at any hard-
no electrolytic action between dissimilar metals, and * A.G.W. Enterprises, Inc., RD -10, Route 206, Vincentown, New Jersey,
resistance t o moisture penetration.' 08088.
"The R.F. Connection (Joel G. Knoblock, Proprietor), Suite 11, 213 North
An "N" style connector maintains excellent impedance Frederick Avenue, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20877 and Nemal, 12240 NE 95
matching and power handling properties at frequen- 14th Avenue, N. Miami. Florida 33161.
cies exceeding 450 MHz. UG-982 or UG-982lA con-
nectors fit t h e requirements perfectly by providing a By John M . Mathis, M.D., WA5FAC, 6270 Mt.
high-quality male " N u connector with a moisture resis- Chestnut Road, Roanoke, Virginia 24018
September 1988 95
Table 1. Physical and electrical properites of the
Prodelin hardline
50-ohm impedance
718-inch aluminum corrugated shield
Copper-clad aluminum solid center conductor
Foam dielectric
Black heavy-duty, noncontaminating outer jacket
Can be directly buried
96 September 1988
the collar and body of the connector together; then
secure the four set screws to the aluminum outer
jacket. (Figure 3 shows both partially and fully as-
sembled hardline connectors.)
10. Waterproof the connector body and adjacent cable
with 1-inch heat shrink. Silicone rubber* along the
edges of the heat shrink finishes the job.
In my installation, I have 500 feet of 718-inch hard-
line between my shack and the top of my tower.
Multiple measurements have revealed that the hard- .. In e. Inn *a11 ~ C ~ I . ~
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+ Grids worked display on-Iine! Jarnestown, New York 14701 pH. (716)664-6345
+ Full dupe checking
+ Complete l q editor included
+
+
Handles 4000 contacts with 512K
Dew-version $5.00 (refundable
with purchase of full prqran)
.
1500 + WATT TRANSMATCH.KIT $169.95 OTHER KITS
Article Reprints (refundable). . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$1.50
GJRUH, PSK Packet Modem. Satl.Kerrestrlal$99.00
t UP version to be available soon! PC Board for above only, delivered.. . . . . . . ,527.99
ATFAB Computers and Electronics Ten-Tec Designer Cablnet lor above. . . . . . . .512.00
PO Box 4766, Maineville, OH 45039 KSCW Memory Contest Keyer.. .........
,5109.00
(513)683-2042
Yaesu FRG.9600, .1 t o 60 MHz Converter. $94.95 ...
20m CW. 15w Transceiver (H.R. 6/87). ..... ,8159.95
VISA and Waster Card Accepted I r- I 50W 75M SSB XCVR.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ,8199.95
BASIC KIT: INDIVIDUAL ITEMS Factory Wired
1 . rotary inductor 28ph.. . . . . . . . . . $59.00 Nel-Tech DVK-100A (New Model) . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5269.00
2.6:l bail drives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$goo ea B 8 W PT-2500A Amp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51.67000
1 .0.100 turns counter.. . . . . . . . . . .$65 75 B 8 W VS1500A Tuner . .$388.00
2. variable capacitors Amo SunnlvlAmer~tronL~nears. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CALL
25-245 pf 4500 v. . . . . . . . . . . .844.00 ea. s h i p d ~ n e ~ x t ~r an l e s sNoled
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enclosure (pictured in Sept. 86 CQ).S4.00 RADIOKIT P.O. Box 9 7 3 4
4:l balun k i t . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ,522.50 Pelham, NH 0 3 0 7 6 .
(603) 635-2235
dhls. Isrmlnals. chassfa, corrmlc stmdofls, hardrso, toroidr, amp CompOnOntS, B1W coil stock. otc.
J led
September 1988 a 97
CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUES
USING PVC PIPE
TO MAKE ANTENNAS
B y Van R. Field, W2001, 17 lnwood Road, Center Moriches, New York 11934
98 a September 1988
schedule 40 PVC, rechecked, and found I had a 149-
MHz antenna!
waterproof outlet box with five threaded 112-inch W6SAI demonstrated the use of PVC pipe for a col-
holes. Purchase a box at an electrical supply outlet; linear 2- meter antenna and a 160-meter vertical in his
a Mulberry no. 30221 or equivalent is needed. This cast May 1987 column. Yagis for 432 MHz and above can
aluminum box with its waterproof cover can be used be made of brazing rods stuck through a PVC boom.
at the center of the array to house the electronics and I use a signal generator with a sensitive VSWR in-
perform the job of a tee section. Electrical and plumb- dicator to "VFO" around to find out where the VSWR
ing supply houses carry threaded to slip joint transi- dips. A frequency counter is tee-ed on the line to check
tions. The electrical (gray) ones thread into boxes the frequency accurately. An HT with extended fre-
easily. quency coverage may be used on low power for a
PVC pipe has a velocity factor of 0.95. This has little signal generator.
effect on antenna length, but shortens a tuned stub This inexpensive, easy-to-use material gives the
an additional five percent when slipped into the PVC experimenter a good way to try out a new antenna.
pipe. I tuned a twin lead J antenna for 157 MHz for
a spare marine radio antenna. I inserted it into some Article 0 h a m radio
THE RF CONNECTION
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UG 21819913 N Male lor RG-8 ~ 8 t W13 h Pln 4 15 Operates on 12 Vdc @ l/z Amp
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"THIS LIST REPRESENTS ONLY A delivered Add-on accessories available
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~
September 1988 99
ite video and line level audio source on the back. The computer uses a large array of static
A mic jack and "push to look" (same as push CMOS RAM and its memory is backed up by
to talk, but this is video) jack are available for lithium batteries for fail-safe storage of pre-
low-impedance dynamic microphones and trans- programmed messages and contest logs. A fully
mit/receive switching. The mic and line mixed expanded memory allows for over 8,000 contacts
audio levels have 2 independent volume controls, per contest.
handy for vojce over descriptions of home video There is a RS-232 port that can be connected
tapes. The external power requirement is 12 to to either a terminal or printer to print the log.
14 Vdc at 600 mA, plus the 12-volt camera. The At the end of a contest, plug in your printer and
enter a set of printer commands from the TH-1
high quality printed circuit keyboard for a finished, formatted, and dupe-
board checked printout of the log. For additional safety
DIRECT ETCHTM is a new system for making during a contest, a printer can be connected to
high quality printed circuit boards without for- the TH-1 to print all entries as they are logged.
The TH-1 can accomodate up to 8 operators,
mal artwork. You can try different circuit layouts
without changing the master art and refabricat- each with a bank of 7 messages and a pre-set
ing. The system is useful for optimizing rf and offline-keyer speed control. Also included are a
non-volitile clock and calendar, full RFI shield-
microwave designs where wavelengths approach
physical circuit dimensions, and in high ing, cartridge port for further expansion, large
LCD display, and provision for external keyboard
impedance circuits. It's also easy to make a
"quick and dirty" prototype where a printed cir- connection. A digital voice recorder for phone
antenna connector is a type N; a BNC outputs contests is in the prototyping stages.
cuit is not economical.
to the receiving downconverter from the built- For more information. contact ClRE Elec-
in RF TIR relay. tronics, 521 Leicester, Plymouth, Minnesota
The TX23-1's shielded cabinet will fit in a knap- 48170.
sack for portable work. The theoretical snow- Circle 1304 on Reader Service Card.
free line-of-sight DX distance using the 1-watt
TX23-1, TVC-23G downconverter, and 23 ele-
ment Tonna beams, is 5 miles. The output power
and sync-stretcher in the system's video modu-
let the sun do the work
lator matches the 20-watt Downeast Microwave Sovonics Solar SystemsTM,a subsidiary of
amplifier's linear input vs. output range. Energy Conversion Devices, Incorporated, has
The TX23-1 transmitter is $299 delivered UPS introduced Sun Flex, Sun Pal, and Flexcharge'".
surface in the contiguous United States. Another Products from the Sun Flex line can provide
version of the transmitter, RTX-23, is available from 2 to 30 watts of power for everything from
in a diecast aluminum box for use in repeater or charging your RV or boat battery, to powering
link svstems. For more information and a cata- portable TVs and radios. The larger models can
The DE-973 DIRECT ETCHIMset has 69 differ- log, contact P.C. Electronics, 2522 P ~ X SLane,O~ be either Or in arrays increased
Arcadia, California 91006. power capabilities.
ent sheets of plastic etch-resist patterns that
transfer directly onto a copper-clad circuit board. Circle 1303 on Reader Service Card.
The DE-973 costs $34.95; two sheet refill sets
are $2.00.
For details contact The DATAK Corporation, TH-1 computer and
31 17 Paterson Plank Road, North Bergen, New
two-keyer
Jersey 07047.
Circle C302 on Reader Service Card. Cire Electronic's new TH-1 Compu-Keyer is a
state-of-the-art contest keyer and full-featured
logging and duping computer.
The TH-1 is actually a computer and two
TX23 ATV transmitter keyers - one for stored messages and one for
P.C. Electronics has introduced their model sending real-time messages from the key pad-
TX23 1-watt 23-cm (1240-1300MHz) ATV trans-
mitter. The small transmitter ( 7 ~ 7 ~ 2 . lets
5 7 Nov-
ice class or higher Amateurs transmit live action
color or black and white composite video and
audio from cameras, VCRs, or computers to The Sun Pal series provides maximum power
other hams. The TX23-1 is a companion to the from minimum size. Any of the Sun Pal series,
TVC-12G receiving downconverter. when folded for storage, take up the approxi-
The TX23-1 contains a 1-watt PEP (sync tip) mate space of a school notebook, but the 12
transmitter, video modulator, and broadcast watt model provides enough power to run your
standard 4.5-MHz sound subcarrier. The unit radio - even on a partly cloudy day.
comes with 1 crystal on the simplex frequency
of 1289.25 MHz, or the customer can order one 4 Sovonics also manufactures many other solar
power related items.
For more information contact, Hal-Tronix,
of the other ATV channels in the ARRL band- die. Each keyer is independent of each other and
plan. A switch selects video and audio input from both can run simultaneously. This design fea- 12671 Dix-Toledo Highway, Southgate, Michi-
either the 10-pinVHS-type home color cameras ture allows you to send a pre-programmedreport gan 48195. Hal-Tronix is a registered dealer for
on the front panel, or phono jacks for other while enterlng the station's call and received Sovonics.
cameras, VCRs, computers, and any compos- report into the computer. Circle 1305 on Reader Service Card.
Battery voltage and cell specific gravity the banery surface. Acid is one, but
were checked each day during that any soluble salts will also act as con-
time and there was no significant ducting media in the presence of
difference between the t w o batteries. water. Many salts are hygroscopic and
As an additional testimonial, emer- do not require the presence of "stand-
gency power is supplied t o our club ing water" or a clearly wet surface; the
repeater through a deep-discharge, water can be absorbed directly from
marine-type lead-acid battery. The the air. This is not t o say that your
banery is maintained by a special explantions are invalid, but rather
charger. It has been sitting on bare reiterate my point that concrete is not
concrete for about three years and still a special or requisite component in
performs admirably when required. lead-acid battery discharge.
It is a shame that such a good, This doesn't mean is isn't a wise
worthwhile article was damaged by idea to place a lead-acid battery on
such'a careless oversight. Please strive something. Any acid spill can be cat-
to maintain your excellent technical astrophic, depending on what it con-
standards and avoid such errors in the tacts. However, there is nothing
future. inherently wrong with placing a lead-
K i m Elmore, N50P acid banery directly on a concrete
Longmont, Colorado 80501 surface.
By the way, at no point in my letter
did I state that concrete had infinite
Dear Kim resistivity. I stated: "Because a battery
Re: "Killer concrete strikes again." is contained within an insulating en-
A possible explanation is that some closure, there can be no electrical cur-
acid had spilled over the surface of the rent between whatever it sits upon and
battery and onto the floor which in the internal cells." If taken literally, that
essence established a conductive ex- statement is false because "no electri-
ternal path between the postive and cal current" implies infinite resistivity.
negative terminals leading to pre- However, from an engineering stand-
mature battery death. I remember point the statement is accurate. From
once measuring a quite finite resis- the arguments presented above - and
tance between any two points on the in my previous letter - the resistivity
surface of a lead acid battery. Also of the substance the banery sits on,
what is the bulk resistivity of concrete? from an engineering standpoint, is of
I don't believe it's infinite. Ed. no consequence.
In any event I could not find, in any
handy reference, a value for the bulk
batteries on concrete resistivity of concrete other than:
Dear HR: "Completely dry concrete has a very
Thank you for your rapid reply; it high resistivity, but extensive tests
was refreshing and most appreciated! have shown that when concrete is
Iwould simply like to reiterate the point embedded in earth so that moisture
of my letter: there is nothing special can penetrate it, its resistivity is about I . 'IlC ,par. - 1" .1111:11
you proposed do not, in any way, rely tions." (R.H. Golde, Editor, "Light-
- p,o,cC, \,I". ,n\n,rnm,
upon any quality inherent in concrete. ning, Volume2: Lightning Protection,"
NOVEX rack mounts are standard El*
The first, an acid spill, could occur on Academic Press, Inc., New York, 19 inch size aluminum panels and are
New York 1977, page 588.) optionally equipped with handles and/or
any type of surface. The acid solution, forward lacing speakers.
being an electrolyte, is a relatively Thank you again for your response
N o w available lor most I C O M .
good conductor and such circum- and attention in this matter. Keep up KENWOOD, and YAESU radios and
stances could arise with any material. the good work; I enjoy ham radio very BCC~SSO~~ES.
f l 189
September 1988 101
HmM 1989 AAOIO AMATEUR CALLBOOKS
8
1
,m R=-=%- RADIO BOOKSTORE
FALL FLYER
(Avallabk, late November 1988)
#f BOOK PAGE
ment 0 1 9 8 8
I ICB-US89
INTERNATIONAL EDITION
Softbound $25.9!
SEPTEMBER^^^;^^^^ A d 2 - a -
w
2
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FAR EAST O O O O o O O O O O O O O o O O O O O O O C n C n O ' z
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AUSTRALIA
JAPAN
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r w r f i b b b W W ~ ~ L J U W U W N N
JAPAN Cn Cn M 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 O O O O O O / f
The italicized numbers signify the bands to try during the transition and early morning hours, while the standard type provides MUF during "normal" houn.
+Look at next higher band for possible openings.
Skrwood Engin~~ring
Inc.
12l1H So~nlhOgdcn Strcrt. I)mvcr. ('0X0210
(303) 7??~???7 - I:ricl;$v ') A M . - 5 I'.M.
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b y John D e v o l d e r e . ON4UN, for
Sales, Service & Installations from: A p p l e I l e l c . MS-DOS, C o m m o d o r e
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l<lc~<-,r,,,ria ()I,;,,, K NX7. C-128 A p p l e M a c i n t o s h a n d K a y p r o
(1,I.l) KZlr-5711 Il:l\.\. (614) SZO-3371, Il\.cning\ CPM Computers
Here's a collection of 30 super programs
I I l r r . K31 I< wrllten by ON4UN. Just about every Interest
(412) 528-9.3112 or (216) 533.7911, or need IS covered-from antenna destgn
v and oplimizal~onlo general operating pro-
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and series Input L network deslgn. feedline
transformer. shunt network des~gn.SWR
Discover 7 calculation, plus 11 more! General Ham pro-
grams ~nclude.sunr~selsunset,great circle
Shure d.:.iil 56 95 distances. grayline, vertical antenna deslgn
HElL BMllI Rtnirr,M<kr w8rililR 11111 G9 00 program, sunrlse calendar plus 9 morel
HFlL HMS DC~ I Mlke 59 00 Phew. When you s11down to use these pro-
Cushcratt 1?4 W8 (146MHz) 39 00 grams you'll be amazed at what you have.
Bunernut HFRV RO 10 veltlcal I2500 The best value in compuler software avatl-
Hustler G7 144 I7900 able today. 1986.
Larsen 2 m~leron glass 49 95 UN-Apple llelllc 539.95 ea.
Anleco 2M 518. Mac? Mounl Camp 25 00
VanGordon GSRV 44 00
UN-MS (MS-DOS) $39.95 ea.
HF *Ire antennas
Valor A85 mon8le 79 M) I UN-CPM/Kaypro S39.95 ea.
Rugged new baluns
Thousandsnt pand meters 3 95 un CALL I UN-C-128 (COMMODORE) 539.95 ea.
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Translormer 120VPr1 10MVilA (Sw I18 Wire) M 00
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120 mt01450V Axxal Can 3 00 Conlacl Jlrn. W4THU
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831SP PL259 Slvcrptale(Amphellot1 1 25 Send $1 lor calaloq by 1st Class mall Now Ava~lablP'The new 2nd e d ~ l ~ oofn the
82 61 N Male (Amnhenoll 3 00 Box 6159. Portsmouth. VA 23703 deflnlllve book on Low Band DX Ing Based
huMe Fernalp UHF 100 10*.1., ,"O",l\,.I I,IC"~~,
upon years of pract~calon the-a~r
U(jl76 RGRX each 30
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GE 61468 14 95
R~cetv~nq lubes 50 WhoH 11st prcce ON4UN has been so successful on the low
GF I2BY7A 7 00 bands Extens~vecoverage IS gtven to trans-
6MJ6 12 95 mtl and recelve antennas wtth clear conclse
6KD6 I295 explanations and plenty of ~llustratlons-
Cetron 5728 88 00 d~poles inverted V s, slopers phased arrays
6JB6A 9 95
and Beverages-they re all In thls book
8950 18 00
Santec BOOTM~kelHeadset (IllsICOMI 20 00 Also covered propagalton Iransrntllers.
Rnnn SA 25G 67 (67 ~nsldcarm) oach 125 00 receivers operalfng software and an exten-
USED EOUIPMENT slve Low Band btblloqraphy G a n g to be a
Ai! equp111e111 uied, clean wltn 90 day warranly and 30 besl seller' Get yours today 1987 2nd
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Call tor lotesl osPd yea' f \ AR-UN Softbound S9 95
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POLICIES
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(8001231 3057
TE Systems 2m Amp30 160watlsGaAstet $229 00
last-minute forecast
The higher frequency 10 to 30-meter
bands (the daylight bands) should be
very good the first and last two weeks PRETVNED- ASSEMBLED $ F O R ALL M A K E S A M -
PROTO TYPE P.C. BOARDS
ONLY ONE NEAT S M A L L h T E U R TRANSCEIVERSI.
of September. The probability of trans- ANTENNA FOR ALL BA-
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APARTMENTS! IM-
GUARANTEED FOR 2 0 0 0
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AS LOW AS $25.00
equatorial one-long-hop late evening PROVED D E S I G N 1 AMATEURS!CW-AM-FM SINGLE 8 DOUBLE SIDED
...
C O M P L E T E wnh 90". R O E B U - 5 2 ohm Isdmne. mnd
(to 2200 local time) openings to south- P L 2 5 9 c o n n r t w , k s u ~ a t o n .30 rc 3 0 0 s *.st a-crnn and PLATE THROUGH HOLES
....
s ~ ~ o r t , csnte?
, conn..;lor r l h bull In YDhYllnl mnrstn and
ern countries should start t o increase. .I.llC dl.Ch..O.,
LowSWR a v e r a1 bands -Tun-
,*a. w..t-oOt, V.P. r X 5 " wt 3 0 1 .
NOT NEEDED C m ba
TEFLON AVAILABLE
v l L " ..inr."od a-.Lo.n. -1" .Ill "b"Xdln. tog. o. ".,OW
Sporadic E short-skip openings, how- IOU. W O A K S O N NEW WARC B A N P S I The M L I A N .
TENNA I O U WILL EVER NEED FOR ALL BAN051 NO
P.C. DESIGN SERVICES
ever, will probably become scarce. BALUNS N E E K D I FOR MORE INFORMATION
l'r
f134.85
1 6 0 - 8 0 - 4 0 - 2 0 - 1 5 - 1 0 - * 4 W W - 159 ,,.No 1 0 6 0 E
8 0 - 4 0 . 2 0 - 1 5 - 1 0 - - 2 VI,-lO.lt.. No - % B E . SS?+.05
Transequatorial openings may be .. Midland
enhanced during the equinox seasonal
40-20-16-10 -.
- 2 vw
2 0 - 1 5 - I o m e * ~ r 2 w.0- 2 6 f t . .-
6 1 (I.
No- l007E.
..
N o - 1001E.. . sw9J
... ,197.95
Technologies
increase in geomagnetic disturbances
expected around the lst, 8th. 21st. ((r 1 )a- 1 0 day mom.), bac(1 l-l U rolvncd
new radfX*ml
h 34374EAST FRONTAGE ROAD
and 27th. The lower frequency night-
M a 6 0 tn U S A FREE INFO. AVAILABLE.ONLV F R O M
WESTERN ELECTRONICS BOZEMAN. MT59715 (406)586-1190
0- AH Keamer. N o b s U . 6 8 8 4 7
time bands should be best the second
and third weeks of the month. Look
for DX from unusual countries in east-
west directions during the distur- Factory-less,
bances listed. Lower thunderstorm jumper-less,
noise later in the month (except dur- The entire back issue file of Ham ROM-less programming.
ing fall weather frontal passages) Radio Magazine and Ham Radio
should help the signal get through. Horizons is now available on easy
to read, microfiche. The entire set
The full moon and its perigee will fall
(March 1968 thru December 1987.
on September 25. The autumnal equi-
and March 1977 thru December
nox occurs on the 22nd at 1929 UTC. 1980, respectively), is now avail-
There will be an annual eclipse of the able in one, easy to use format! -
sun on September 11 from 0200 in East Everything from front to back With the new S-COM 5K Repeater
Africa, across South Asia, Indonesia, cover (ads too). Annual updates Controller, you'll be able to configure
and New Zealand, ending in Antarctica will be offered for $10. your repeater remotely - uslng DTMF
at 0730 UTC. commands. Only the 5K offers thls
Ham Radio $1 50.00 - capabll~tyfor just $189, wlred and tested
band-by-band summary HR Horizons - $35.00 S-COM Industries
Ten, 12, 15, and 20 meters provide (55 shipping per order, USA) Fort Colllns, CO 80525
many opening5 during the daytime. As (303)493-8316
you go up in frequency the openings Your satisfaction guaranteed, or
will be shorter, centered around noon, money back. -
BE HERE TOO!
Dealers: cYOUSHOULD
ontact Ham Radio now for comdete details.
108 September 1988
Amateur Radio Dealer
New Jersey UNIVERSAL AMATEUR RADIO, INC. PHI-PERFORMANCE DIPOLESw
1280 AlDA DRIVE -- - i- r 1 -1- I
, ",.,,.A
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REYNOLDSBURG (COLUMBUS), OH mu , w,,
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ABARIS SYSTEMS 43068
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276 ORIENTAL PLACE
...
- - --
614-866-1267 "'.'. .-
LYNDHURST. NJ 07071 Featur~ngKenwood, Yaesu. Icom. m",m , .a
80
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Don WB2GPU
ARRL. Astatic. Astron, B&W. Belden.
ized sales and service. Shortwave
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HOUSTON. TEXAS 77082 Sir- "a", Indm 1.h
B l u l 3 e l u ) l l a q 418 Vcd UanUIDO 15
AMATEUR ELECTRONICSUPPLY (713) 879-7764 0 '1258 Gent I.z,lY Mmlnm
0"ql.m ,811"
28940 EUCLID AVE. Now in Southwest Houston-full line
"."I R M o d m "
WICKLIFFE. OH 44092(ClevelandArea) of equipment. All the essentials and n.m 9.d- Holland l a l w m l E * C l r m T C O Lt<
?7 5 lka)s",i
216-585-7388 extras for the "ham." P - 413
~ ~
NL 7 W A! E m m n 1 C m m e O.X"
7011Q 2.0."
Ohio Wats: 1 (800) 362-0290
-
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i s t e ~ m n,031 l S I 2 M
Wisconsin S 1 9 1 (12 U W I I I .
S e n
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DEBCO ELECTRONICS, INC. HM R a m F-I "am R M ~~ ~ 4 . m
SU ELlrDnc doRSGB
3931 EDWARDS AD. AMATEUR ELECTRONIC SUPPLY XI M. A n M C b r m Lambda HM.
r m *u.arrs cmnwne w
CINCINNATI, OHIO 45209 4828 W. FOND DU LAC AVE. Fnms POllol3 an,
Hans EN6 M
(513) 531-4499 MILWAUKEE. WI 53216 Enillam
H.rn I&Germ""
M0n-Sat 10AM-9PM 4 14-4424200 x.n ueeer M I a M RMD
G,.en.rav
Sun 12-6PM Wisc. Wats: 1 (800) 242-5195 07850
PmIIYIIL 2.54
wrrrh
343
Graenllda. Johlnmbulg
west German" leouhlr ol %u(h If,.?.
We buy and sell all types of electronic Outside Wisc: 1 (800) 558-041 1
parts. M-F 9-5:30 Sat 9-3
- -
met with mild curiosity; at others it's thing to strive for. After all, the less
given moderate study and passed over energy we lose the better, right? Not
in hopes that it will never be needed. always. It depends on where the cir- a)
It doesn't need to be treated that cuit is to be used. A high-C2 circuit
way. True, a circuit designer must placed in the output of a transmitter
(A) A series-resonant circuit with losses (R)
know how to toss jargon around with will sometimes cause an air-dielectric shown in series with the inductor and capa-
ease, and put the idea into practice to capcitor to arc over, or heat a solid citor. (6)A parallel-resonantcircuit with the
achieve a desired result. For the rest dielctric enough to make it break down loss (R) in parallel with the tuned circuit.
of us, a basic understanding of what and cause a short circuit. The solution
Q does is sufficient and not all that is to tailor the Q of a transmitting cir-
difficult. cuit for the best compromise between
losses, no breakdowns, and circuit
so, what is Q? bandwidth (more about bandwidth
Reduced to basics, Q is a measure later). The energy involved in a receiver
of quality. When textbooks speak of circuit isn't great enough to cause arcs
the Qfactor, they are talking about the or dielectric breakdown, so high-Q cir-
quality factor of some component or cuits are permitted. In fact, this is
circuit. It's a measure of how well a cir- where high-Q circuits do their best by
cuit performs - or more simply, how providing needed selectivity in differ-
much loss there is in the circuit and its ent sections of the receiver.
components.
When referring to components, what determines Q?
things that affect Q are the type of die- The Q of a resonant circuit is affect-
I
I
lectric in a capacitor and the wire size ed by the losses in the components FREOUENCY
and material in an inductor. This in- that make up the circuit: dielectric loss-
cludes the form (if any) the coil is es in capacitors, wire skin resistance, Frequency response curves of tuned circuits
wound on, and any conductive or non- and some dielectric effects in coils. with different Q factors. The lower the Q,
conductive objects within its magnet- The schematic in fig. 1A shows a the more broad the frequency response. A
high Q translates to high impedance across
ic field. series-tuned circuit with its loss (R) in a parallel circuit and high current through
All of these losses affecting Q are ac series with the inductor and capacitor. a series circuit.
losses; the actual dc loss because of This is the functional equivalent of the
wire resistance is usually low enough parallel circuit of fig. 16 which has the and capacitor. Either circuit tunes very
to be ignored. At radio frequencies, loss (R) in parallel with the inductor sharply if there are no losses and a
,4 FEATURES:
on t h e right system for your ,
s o0 0 e d on vhf
*Veq Low Nolrs: 0 7dBVHF. 0 8dB UHF
application.
models glves 1248 SlNADof 0.12uV(vhf). 0.15uV(220). UHFmodel
0.25uV std. 0.luV with optional helical resonator preamp. *HighGain: 13.20dB. depending on frequency
; *SELECTIVITY THAT CAN'T BE BEAT1 Both &pole xtal filter & *Wide DynamicRange: to reslst overload I .-
ceramlc fllter for > 108dB atonly + l2kHz. Helical resonator front *Stable: newtype dual.gale GaAs FET
end to combat desense & ~ntermod.
, *CLEAN. STABLE TRANSMITTER, up to 1BW output standard: 50W
-Speclly runrng range destred 26.30. 46-56.
137.150, 150.179. 210-230. 400.470. or
,
I
w~thaccessory power ampllfler. 800.960 MH?
*FCC TYPE ACCEPTED for commercial high band and uhf. I
-Courtesy beep, f~eld-programmableCWID, flutter-proof squelch. 1
:: automatic frequency control to compensate for off.frequency trans- .COR-3 Kit. ~ o r , t r i s k t s and
mitters (all standard features).
*Full range of options available, such as autopatch, phone line or
repeater. Tail & tlme-out timers.
local spkr ampl. courtesy beep
~
, . radlo remote control. sub-audible tones, duplexers. GaAs FET I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$49 .
,
PREAMP
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I *CWID Kit. Field programmable.
t~mers,the works . . . . . . . . $59
0 ~ 0 . 2 D T M F D E C O D E R / ''
~
CONTROLLER
- - ~ Klt. Full 16 dlllts.
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restr~ctor,programmable, much
*FM EXCITERS: GaAs FET Preamp more. Great for selectwe calling
K ~ t $99,
s Wit $179. 2W slmllar to LNG. except deslgned for la cost tool , , , , $79
i
xtal oven optlons available.
' patch, R~~~~~~ patch and phone
~ ~~
*TASl tor IQM, 6M, 2M, specrry runmng range drsrred 25.35. 35.55.
5590. 90.120. 120-150.150200. 200-270. line remotecontrol std, , $79
158-174,220 MHz. or 400-500MHr
, ,
.L
mp
FCC tvpe accepted for commercial bands.
above for slmplex autopatch !
: C a l l for latest lnformation on 900 MHz transmitters.
*VHF & UHF AMPLIFIERS. For FM. SSB. ATV. Output from 10
to 50 Watts Several models, k ~ t startlng
s at $79.
LNSg(*) - i ....................
.MO-202 FSK D A$39
TA 1
I
IN-LINE MODULATOR KI~,. Run UP to
PREAMP -,.A! s i 1 2 0 0 b a u d d ~ g i t a sl i g n a l s
'* ..,..",,........
(.. through any fm transmitter w ~ t h ,
full handshakes. Radlo link
ONLY $ 7 9 / k l t .
1
I
-Rl44/R220 FM RECEIVERSfor 2M.
150-174.or 220 MHz. GaAsFET $99 W I W R ~ ~ ~ S ~
computers, telemetry gear.
etc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $39
.DE-202 FSK DATA ,
..
front end. 0.12uV sensit~v~tyl DEMODULATOR Kit for rcvr end . '
GaAs FET Preamp w~lhfeatures slmilar lo LNG
Both crystal & ceramlc
serles, except automatkslly switch- wt of
fllters plus hellcal resonator
lineduringtransmit. Use w~lhbase or moblle
I front end for except~onal
transcelversup to 25W.
I selectivity: > 100dB at f l2kHz &%f&.-
(best available anywhere)!
Flutter.proof squelch. A tracks
drifting transmitters.
G b + 'Spec#ly luntng range desrred 120-175.
200-240,or 400-500MHz.
,.
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% ,,.,,.,,
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- ".-" h , , , . ,
;',.h"m
::::::
laa
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2.10
lalo
gg ,
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.R901 FM RCVR FOR 900 MHz. Triple-conversion. GaAs FET front LO* n(1tse Oreamps w ~ l hliel!cal resonalors Wiredwlca5e $9 2 7 4 m10
end. 0.2uVsens. Kit $169, w/t$259. reduce intermod & cmss.band ~nlerference In UHF M O o ~ L ~ 4 ~ ~ 3 .2.- ,
*R76 ECONOMY VHF FM RCVR for 10M, 6M. 2M. 220. Without he1 Cr~l~cal
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ll$llnsCarr
::::::
149 audls 50-
,
I
resor afc. K~tsonly$129. MODEL HRA.(*). $49 vhf. $84 uhf.
*Weather satelike & AM Aircraft receiversa l w avail.
WlrM*Icase
4,911
$99 w29,s ,,,,,,
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'
Name Index $8
Geoqrapt~rclndex 58
All lhree SZO Shlppnng per order S3
BUCKMASTER PUBLISHING
Mineral. Vlrginls23117
703-894-5777
\ 800-282-5628
J
T h e control system provides b o t h analog and digital readout o f direction t o w i t h i n f 1 degme. Proviaions l o r external computer control
w h i c h allows r o t o r p o s i t i o n i n g b y t h e mere k e y b o a r d e n t r y o f a target c o u n t r y b prefix. Software i s p r o v ~ d e df o r uae w i t h most
p o p u l a r computers.
W r i t e f o r complete speca a n d
installation l n f o r r n a t ~ o n
FLEA
tion's annual indoor HamfestIFlea Market, Passaic Townshnp
CHASSIS & CABINTS KITS. SASE. KJIWK, 5120 Harmony Community Center, Stirling. 8 AM to 3 PM. Donations $3.00.
Grove Rd, Dover. PA 17315. Talk in on 147.8561255, 146.52 and 449.97514491975. For infor-
mation call Dick Franklin. W2EUF (201) 232-5955 or wrlte POB
COMMODORE and AMlGA chips. parts, diagnostics, hard to 182. Westfield. NJ 07090.
find items. Heavy duty power supplies for the CW-$28.00
MARKET plus UPS. KASARA. INC, 36 Murray Hill Drive, Spring Valley, INDIANA: September 11. The LaPorte and Michigan City ARC'S
NY 10977 1 800-642.7634, 1-800-248-2983loutside NYI or 914- Summer Hamfest. LaPorte County Fairgrounds. State Rt 2.
356-3131. LaPorte. Talk m on 146.52. For infwmationlregistration contact
the LaPorte ARC. POB 30, LaPorte. IN 46350. Table reserva-
HAMS-HELP. Handicapped Ham needs working HF rig with 10 tions Tom. KASZUM at same address. Fairgroundsare wheel-
chair accessible.
p~~ - - - meters, reasonably priced. Please help. Clem. KA3OUE. Call any
time 14121 531-7443 EST. -
RATES Noncommercial ads 100 per word; ILINOIS: September 11. The Bolingbrook Amateur Radio Soci-
commercial ads 600 per word both payable CLOSED CIRCUIT TELEVISION EQUIPMENT. Dlscount pric- ety's 4th annual HamlComputerfest, lnwood Recreation Cen-
ing or1 cameras, monitors, sequential switches, pan tilt units, ter, 3MO West Jefferson St, Jolit. Talk In on 147.33 and 224.54.
in advance. No cash discounts or agency com- etc. Expert design assistance available. Dan Marshall, DETEC- For ~nformationlreservationsEd Weinstein. WDSAYR. 7511 Wal-
missions allowed. TION DYNAMICS, 4700 Loyola Lane. X179, Austin. Texas nut. Woodridge. IL 60517. 13121 985.0527.
78723. 15121 345-8401
HAMFESTS Sponsored by n o n - p r o f i t or- MICHIGAN: September 17. The Grand Rapids Amateur Radio
WANTED: Collins KWM-ZA, power supply. accessories. Heath Association's 40th annual Electronic Flea Market. West Catho-
ganizations receive one f r e e Flea Market ad Mohlcan, Apache, also Drake TR-4CW. E.F. Johnson Ranger lic High School. 1801 Bristol NW. Grand Rapids. Gates open
(subject to our editing) on a space-available II, Hammarlund SP-600. Very good to excellent shape only. 8 AM. Tickets $3.00. Vendors $2.00 additional. Talk in on 86126
Steve Stutman. KL7JTI1, (617) 494-9393. 27 Lillian. Sudbury. and 224.M. For reservationsor information call Don Hazelswart.
basis only. Repeat insertions o f hamfest ads MA 01776. KABBCI, 16161 363-0619 or write POB 1248. Grand Rapids. MI
pay the non-commercial rate. 49501.
CALL SIGN BADGES: Custom license plate holders. Personal.
COPY No special layout or a r r a n g e m e n t s distinctive. Club discounts. SASE. WB3GND. Box 750, Clinton, CALIFORNIA: September 17. The6th annual SCRA Ham Radio
Flea Market. National Guard Armory, 1500 Armory Drive, Santa
available. Material should be typewritten or MD 20735. 1301) 24E7302.
Rosa. 8 AM to 2 PM. Free admission. Talk in on 146.13173. For
clearly printed (not all capitals) and must in- ANALOG AND RF CONSULTING for the San Francisco Bay informationlt~cketsw i l e Sonoma County Radio Amaterurs. Box
area. Commercialand military circuits and systems. James Long. 116, Santa Rosa. CA 95402.
clude f u l l name and address. We reserve the
Ph.D.. N6YB 14081 733-8329.
right to reject unsuitable copy. Ham Radio can- - NEW JERSEY: September 18. The South Jersey Radio Associ-
RTTY JOURNAL-Now in our 36th year. Read about RTTY, ation's 40th annual SJRA Hamfest, Pennsauken High School
not check each advertiser and thus cannot be parking lot, Route 73 and Remington Avenue. 8 AM to 2 PM.
AMTOR, PACKET, MSO'S, RTTY CONTESTING. RTTY DX
held responsible f o r claims made. Liability for and much more. Year's subscription to RTTY JOURNAL $10.00. Admission $3.00. Talk in on 144.691145.29. For informationAbn
foreiqn slightly higher. Order from: RTTY JOURNAL. 9085 La Sherman, WB20EZ. Hamfest Chairman. I6091 768-8380 or
correctness o f material limited to corrected ad Casita Ave.. Fountain Valley. CA 92708. SJRA. POB 1026, Haddonfield, NJ 08033.
in next available issue. - -
ROHN 55, 175 ft. 3 type sections plus five guying insert NEW YORK: September 18 LIMARC ARRL Long Island Ham.
DEADLINE 15th o f second p r e c e d i n g plates,hardware, shackles, etc. Great disaster stash for B.C. Stn. law. New York Instelute of Technology. Rt 25A. Northern Blvd.
month. Will trade for fraction value Rohn 45. 12 45G. 2 45AG-4. 1 Old Westbury Admlss~on53 00 Non.ham womerl and kds free
7 7"
6845FOK or offer. N51E (8081 261-1356. ,.a"
SEND MATERIAL TO: Flea Market, Ham AM sellers: 9 AM buyers. Talk in on 146.25185. For information
CHRISTIAN AIRCRAFT MECHANIC wants family out of big Mark Nadel, NKZT 15161 796-2366.
Radio, Greenville, N. H. 03048. city. Seeking farm, ranch, logging, other country opportunities.
Call 15121 695-3006. N5MPW. VIRGINIA: September 23-25. QCWA National Convention.
McLean Hilton Hotel. McLean. VA. Tech programs. FCC
BEGINNER'S RADIO CLEARINGHOUSE. On a space avail- forums. Saturday banquet. For information call or write Chair-
able basis. we are going to offer you, OUR SUBSCRIBER, free RUBBER STAMPS: 3 lines $5.00 PPD. Send check or MO to
G.L. Pierce, 5521 Birkdale Way. San Diego, CA 92117. SASE man John Kelleher, W4ZC. 13011 924-1605. Deadline for hotel
of charge, a chance l o find a home for your used equipment reservations September 8. FCFS.
with a new Ham Please send us . .a
.short
. descriotion of what
7 . . .
brings information.
you want to sell along wnh price, name, address and phone num- OREGON: September 24. The Walla Walla Valley ARC'S 42nd
ber We'll run 11 once In a spec~alsacloon of the classnl~edads ELECTRON TUBES: Receiving, transmitting, microwave... all
types available. Large stock. Next day delivery, most cases annual W O P Hamfest. Community Building in Milton-
under the headtng of BEGINNER'S RADIO CLEARINGHOUSE Freewater. 8 AM to 5 PM. Admission. rsgistration, swap tables
Please limit your ad to 20 words or less DAILY ELECTRONICS, PO Box 5029. Compton. CA90224.12131
774-1255. FREE. Talk in on 147.28188 or 146.52. For information Paul
Hamon. KA7VHL. 1412 Walla Walla Street. Walla Walla. WA
CUSTOM MADE EMBROIDERED PATCHES. Any size, shape. ' 3 9s(509)
. 5250512.
HALL ELECTRONICS buys radio broadcast equipment lor colors. Five patch minimum. Free sample, prices and ordering
cash! Jon Hall, WB4MMV. PO Box 7732, Charlonesville. VA information. HElN SPECIALTIES. Inc., Dept 301, 4202 N. Drake. NEW YORK: September 24 The Elmlra ARA w ~ lholdl 11s 13th
22906. (8041 973-8697. Chicago, IL 60618. annual lnternatlonal Hamfest. Chemung County Fa~rgrounds
6 AM to 5 PM Tackers at gate or from Dave Lewls. RD 1. Box
DIGITAL AUTOMATIC DISPLAYS. All Radios. GRAND SYS- RECONDITIONED TEST EQUIPMENT $1.25 for catalog. 191, Van Enen. NY 14889.
TEMS, POB 2171, Blaine. WA 98230. Walter. 2697 Nickel. San Pablo. CA 94806.
- - --
COLORADO: September 25. BARCFEST '88 sponsored by the
FOR SALE: ICDM IC-215crystal xcvr plus 30 watt amp Drake Boulder ARC. Boulder County Fairgrounds Exhibit Bldg. Nel-
DTMF mlke and many crystals Llke new Best offer Don Shu son and Hover Roads, South Longmont. Donation 93.00 per
kay. 123 Dwlght Road. Longmeadow. MA 01106 person over age 12. Nearby shopping and camping. For infor-
mation/registration Barcfest '88 Chairmen Barbara McClune,
SIGNAL-ONE CX7-B updated by WBCXS $1250. Kenwood R- NOBWS. 5338 Spotted Horse Trail, Bouder. CO 80301
820. 4 filters $4M) James Cralg. 32 Birchwood Drlve. Rye. NH --
03870. CONNECTICUT: September 25. The 6th annual Natchaug ARA
giant flea market. French Club. Cemetery Road, Willimantic.
TEN-TEC, new boxed latest 1963 product~on.USA made. 585 Stans 9 AM. Admission $2.00. Under 16 free. Talk in on 90130
Paragon. 561 Corsalr 11. 425 T~tan1 5 kw linear ampl~f~er.
2298 and 52. For information Ed Sadeski, KAIHR, 49 Circle Dr. Mans-
antenna tuner lT920 A~rbandHT, moblle HF antennas, plus field. Center. CT. 12031 456-7029 after 4 PM.
M a k r outpula ara pmv4d.d (or m n l t o r l n g resalved algnal I n a l l , dl8crlmlnator oulput and n n c l o r lunlnp
KANSAS: Onober 1-2. The Wichlts ARC wilt host the annual wltaga. RXMR30VD a a u m b l a d and lastad $118.96. D. Complata, n a d y t o u n c o m m u n k a t l o n 8yal.m
ARRL Kansas canvantion. Red Coach Inn, 53rd and Nonh I- tor WIN or mew omrallon. l d u l tor -.tar Ilnhlng. A powar aupply capable o f d a l l n r l n g 13 w l t s dc
135. Wtchila Pre-registration$5.00: 96.M)at the door. Out-of-
Towners talk in on 146.82: locals 146.94. Send rerervat!onr to b~
a 10 vanrbn). mlcmphom. and haadphona andlor loudap.aksr a n tha only addltlonal
Vern Hemmhn. WAOZWW. 950 Back Bay, Wachrta. KS 67203. r m s n&d lor o ~ . n t I wI. The Ounnplar*r c a n b. n n m n d l o r n m l a m w n t l n g t o a t o w r or 2 or 4
.
antenna. TA'1-A (10 Q H z 10 mw) S3m.Ss. H l g h r p o w r unils avsllabla. TR2401(24 OH&
NEW HAMPSHIRE: October 8 Tne Hosstrsdar mll hold lha!, 20 m w ) $638.95. AIM arallabla: horn. 2 and 4 1001 para-
Fall Ta8lgaw Swa~lestat the I~ovg#otmd<on Route 125 an Ktng bolle antannma, Qunn, varector and datector diod.8.
ston kn Aamnroun $5 Der wrwn no extra charge 10, $ellens
or commerc~eltypss. Proftfs benefit Shrinem' H<spltals. Our m a r c h and loch a! lator m o d u k l
S p n g 1988 donallon war $17,055001 Ouestans SASE to Norm. 11angma. tC.C*ll w wrlta lor. ddlllonal I n k
WAIIVB. RFD Box 57. West Bsldwin. ME 04091. ARR t a b you hlphr ulm qww ' 10 and 24 QH
Rssaarc --
OPERATING EVENTS Elox 1242 BurlIngron b I a 1 3 --
203 ~ z . n 4 w .-A
Plenty of Books New Technology (patent pending) converts any VHF or UHF FM receiver into an
advanced Doppler shin radio direction finder. Simply plug into receiver's antenna
-
and external speaker jacks. Uses four omnidirectional antennas. Low noise, high
Send SASE for free flyer sensitivity for weak signal detection. Call or write for full details and prices.
@ DOP YSTEM!S,INC. P.O. B a r (60: 55
Phoenix, AL
Ham Radio's Bookstore 8
Greenville, N. H. 03048
Name Call
Address
S t a t e Zip
-1 23 -Ace Commun~cat~ons Inc CA 19 -150 - Kanlron~cs 58 59 CIE is the world's largest independent
-168 -Advanced Computer Conlrols 74 -185 - KComm, The Ham Store 99 study electronics school. W e offer ten
-1 29 Advanced M~ll~wave Laboralor~es.lnc 28 .Kenwood USA Corporation 2,5, CIV courses covering basic electronics to
-203 -Advanced Rece~verResearch 115 -191 - Madlson Electron~csSupply 106 advanced digital and microprocessc,r
-146 - AEA 49 -132 - MagnaphaseIndustries, Inc 36 technology. A n Associate in Applied
-1 30 -All Electronics Corp 30 -158 -Glen Martln Englneerlng, Inc 67 Science in Electronics Engineering
-138 -Alpha Delta Comrnun~cal~ons Inc 40 -157 The Meadowlake Corp 67 Technology is also offered.
-180 Alurna Tower Co 93 -117 - MFJ Enlerprlses 7 Study at home - no classes. Pro-
-188 - AMC Sales, Inc 101 -165 - M~croControl Speclaltles 68 grams accredited and eligible for VA
-139 Amldon Assoclales 40 -196 - Mldland Technologies 107
benefits.
-211
-1
AMSAT
70 -Antennas West
37
75
-I60 M~ss~on
-206
Commun~cal~ons
M~ssour~Rad~oCenter
66
117
.......................
-131 ARRL 36 -124 Moblle Mark. lnc 24 CIE Cleveland lnstlrute of Elecrronks
1776 Easr 17th St.. Clevcland. Ohlo 441 14
-141 -ARRL 44 -175 Mon~lorlngTlmes 81
YES! I want to get started. Send me my CIE sch,n,l
-167 Aslron Corp 71 171 - Motron Electronics 75 catalog ~ncludmgdeta~lsabout the Assoctare Degree
-182 - ATFAB Computers and Eleclron~cs 97 -152 - NCG 17 program.
Barker & Wllllamson 21 - Nemal Electron!cs 68
Pr~ntName -
-
-208 - Electronic Equ~pmenlBank 97 --194 -Western Electron~cs 107 Please send large SASE for Info.
* - Englneerlng Consull~ng 94 --1 53 - WI-Comm Electron~csInc 17
-1 36 - Fa~rRad~oSales 37 --I21 -Yaesu USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15
.
-137 - L L Grace 41 --210 -Yaesu USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Clll .
-1 48 HALCommunlcallons Corp 52 -_I62 - E.H. YoslCo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...66
-1 74 - Hal-Tronlx 81
-145 Ham Rad~oOullel 50 51 PRODUCT REVlEWlNEW PRODUCTS
* - AEA 48
NO RADIALS!
-Ham Rad~o'sBookslore 80,86,102,106
Hamtronlcs, NY 111 --307 - Aerospace Consulting 56 NO RESISTORS!
-1
Hamtronlcs PA
19 -Henry Radio .......................................
75
..16
- -304 - CIRE Electron~cs
--308 -Cobra Consumer Elec Group. Dynascan Corp 56
100 '1 NO COMPROMISE! I
THREE EXCELLENT REVIEWS JUST
-1 15 - ICOM America, Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .CII
.. --302 -
OATAK Carp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .100 .
.DMQ Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
... D O N ' T HAPPEN BY CHANCE.
-144 - ICOM America, Inc ................................. 57 --309
* - International Cryslal Mfg Co. Inc .....................
103 --305 - Hal-Tronix .................................................. 100 CALL US FOR A FREE CATALOGUE.
-181 -Jan Crystals ........................................ 93 --301 -
Ham Radio Outlet ........................................ 48 'See review in Oct 73, 1984
-1 18 - JDR Instruments ...........................................
8 -306 - ICOM America, Inc .................................... 56 'Sept 73,1985 *March 73, 1986
-134 - Jensen Tools, Inc.....................................
37 * - Kenwood USA Corporation ........................48 NEW LOCATION!
-126 - J u n k Eleclron~cs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27
.. --303 - P.C. Electronics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .100
BlLAL COMPANY
1)' 137 Mancherter Dr.
Florissant, Colo. 80816 ,204
(719) 687-0650
116 September 1988
uniden
,"----
II
II .
Hi 1VHI UHF
IC-761 HF ,-PERFORMANCE,. RIG
11
FT.767GX BASE STATION
All Band, All Mode Transcelver 160-10MIGe~reralCoverage
Add Optlonal6m, 2m 8 Rece~ver Moblle 10 Meter Transcelver
Direct Keyboard Entry
1
70cm Modules SSBIAMIFMICW
Built-ln Power Supply and
Engineered for the DXMinded Dual VFO's 25 Watts PEP
Automatic AntennaTuner
and Contesting Ham Full CW Break-in Computer Controlled Operation
SSB. CW. FM. AM. RTTY
Its Got It Ail! Lots More Features SALE PRICED
1 I, 2
I5
YAESU olCOM
2m and 220 MHz A m p l ~ l ~ e r s
GaAsFET Recelve Pre.Amps
and Hlgh SWR Shutdown
Prctectlon I
FT.736R V H F UHF BASE STATION 144MHz 5 : 0
SSB. CW. FM on 2 Meters
MODEL A
L :. 5
and 70 cm
2 23
2.217
2 lnl30oul
2 1nll70oul
I Y
TS.140S AFFORDAELC D X l n g l
Optional 50 MHz. 220 MHzor IC-781 N E W E ~ T S U P E RRIG 2.117 10~n1170oul i >
1.2 GHz 5 Function Display Screen 220MHz W
25WattsOutput on2Meters. 3.22 2 8n820oul Z
Built-in Spectrum Scope I
g ! All HF Amateur Bands 220 and 70 c m 2.21 I 2 # n i llooul C
"/
tOOWOutput 10 Watts Output on 6 Meters 150 Watts Output 3-312 30 1n112130111 E
,
-4 .Compact, L o t s o f Features and 1.2 GHZ 100 Memories Built-in PS and AT CALL D
L I
8 A
YAESU 0 5a
ICOM
2-
I
.
.
RSPOA . . $92
RS20M.. $109
RS5OA.. $199 /
!I
RS5OM . . $225 ]
RM50M . $245
'
I
.
: $z
Programmable Band Scan VS20M.. $129
Digital Voice Recorder RS35A . . $139 VS50M.. $239
Fiber O ~ t i Technology
c
FT-712 RH for 70cm
.. 1; cc
I
s YJ KENWOOD YAEsu I(2 Kantronics
TH-25AT
POCKETSIZED
AND POWERFUL Super " M I ~ I "
Frequency Cover.
age: 141-163 MHz
(Rx). 144-148 MHz
.Z~nc-Aluminum
MICRO HT'S
FOR 2M. 440
!N.W.-BI~sinessPark Lane? Kansas City, M Call 1'oll Free. pm Mon..-Fri. 9am - 2pm Sat.
I S ~ ~ J J U U Call-816-741-8118
LAir..r.,.i
~~
HU:
1 MOST ORDERS SHIPPED SAME DAY 1 Y
OPTOELECTRONICSI*.
N@ FREQUENCY
POCK- SIZE
SI'ZE:~" Hx3.5" W x l " D
MADE IN USA
:
COUNTERS TO 2.4 GHZ
I
8 LED DIGITS 2 GATE TIMES
ALUMINUM CABINET
INTERNAL NI-CAD BATTERIES INCLUDED
AC ADAPTER/CHARGER INCLUDED
w
..
- EXCELLENT SENSITIW
& ACCURACY
AC-DC PORTABLE
OPERATION
S ~ I enough
I to fit intoashirt pocket, our new 1.3 GHzand 2.4 GHz.8 digitfrequencyccuntenare not toyslThey
can actually out perform units many times their size and price1 Included are rechargeable Ni-Cad batteries
installed inside the unit for hours of portable, cordless operation. The batteries are easily recharged using the AC
adapter/charger supplied with the unit.
The excellent sensitivity of the 1300H/A makes it ideal for use with the telescoping RF pick-up antenna;
accurately and easily measure transmit frecluencies . from handheld, fixed, or mobile radios such as: Police,
firefighters, Ham, taxi, car telephone, aircraft, marme, etc. May be used for counter surveillance, locating hidden
~
"bug" transmitters. Use with grid dip oscillator when designing and tuning antennas. May be used with a probe
for measuring clock frequencies in computers, various digital circuitry or oscillators. Can be built into transmitters,
signal generators and other devices to accurately monitor frequency
The size, price and performance of these new instruments make them indispensible for technicians, engineers,
schools, Hams, CBers, electronic hobbyists, Sihort wavIe listener.s, law enforcement personnel and many others.
STOCK NO:
#1300H/A Modd 1300H/A 1- 1300 MHz counter Vuith preamp s sensitivity < IrnK
27MHz to 450MH.z includesNi-Cadbatferies and,4C adapter ........
#2WH Modd 2400H 10-2400 MHz rnicrowaw counter Includes Ni-Cad
batteriesandACadapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
#CCA Modd CCAcanter/comter,for debuaakra. ultra sensitive. < 50 rnkro
voltsat 15OMHzl 1 -600MHz withadGta6Ie ------threshold. RFlnd~cator
LED lncludesNI-Cadbatteries and AC ;
m E S
- ~- -.
:
i Telescoping RF pick-up antenna with BlNC connector ......
#P-100 Probe. dirm connection 50 ohm, BNC connector .................
#CC-12
/ m
Carrying case. gray vinyl with zipper opening. Will hold a counter and
XTA-1000S antenna. ..........................................S10.00 I
ORDER PACTORV DlRLCT
FLA (305) 771-2050
1-800-327-5912 VISA* AVAILABLE NOWI
OPTDELEtZRDMCS
Orders to US and Canada add 5% of total ($2 min, $10 max)
5821 N.E. 14th Avenue Florida residents add 6% !sales tax. COD fee $2.
Ft. Lauderdale. Florida 33334 Foreign order: ;add 150,'0
Yaesu's FT-736R.
Becauseyou never know
who'slisferung.
,-
.
!
I v--6aU&i 17210Etiwwds Road, Cerritnb CA 90701 (213) 104-2700. Repair Service: (218) 404 1884 Parkq: (213) 404 4847
-p, 7 A . J
Matching
im
--
#Pd..P P
v,
-
89- 1 I
\fr-rc /Ll!-lC all-mgdq base s+a*ions
70 centimeter all mode transceivers You may select the mode maflually
are the perfect rigs for your VHF and using the front panel mode keys.
UHF operations. Both rigs feature Manual mode selection is verified in
Kenwood's new Digital Code Squelch International Morse Code.
(DCS) signaling system.Together, All-mode sauelch.
they form the perfect "matching pair" High performance noise blanker.
for satellite operation. Speech processor.
a . ?: -rr!pl \IFO+. For maximum efficiency on SSB
The 10 Hz step, dual d~gitalVFOs offer and FM.
excellent stability through the use of a IF shift.
TCXO (Temperature Compensated "Quick-Step" tuning.
Crystal Oscillator). Vary the tunlng characteristics from
0 L.arne ~ ! ~ I ~ ~ C J C Cf vP~ :R! t+l - f ? t n r + l ? r l "conventional VFO feel" to a stepping
f..r-.':,,,. ~ ~ ~t P 1 ~I ~
l l l l l l ~y I ~ ~ action.
~ I I ,
Shows frequency, RIT shift,VFO AIB, (w~th ch;innc>l lock-out)."Center-stop" * Built-in AC power supply.
SPLIT. ALERT, repeater offset, digital tunlng on Fhl. An "alert" funct~onlets Operation on 12 volts DC IS also
code, and memory channel. you l~stenfor actlvity on your priority possible.
channel whlle listening on another Semi hrealc-in CW. with sicfe tone.
A<) rnt~!*i-?!.~~-ctinn
m~r~n~ic!:,
frequency. A Kenwood exclusive! VS-1 voice synthesizer (optional)
Stores frequency, mode, repeater off-
set, and CTCSS tone. Memories are a y c D O \ N ~ ,C:I:~:I.'
~ cn~trnl. More TS-711Al811A information is
backed up with a built-in lithium battery. Continuously adjustable from 2 to available from authorized Kenwood
25 watts. dealers.
There will be a
drawing of evalua-
tion cards. The
person whose card
is picked will win a
hand-held. Help
us make the best
Amateur magazine
even better. You
could WIN a radio
for your efforts!
ham
radio