Ara Kee Australia’s Ie SS RSE SEE | a Aust* $3.50 $ ran ra UC Lm Cag \, Simple mixer We aa busy executive can take the INPHONE around the factory, warehouse, showroom, sales yard or construction site, or into YOU CAN USE THE INPHONE HANDSET UP TO 250 METRES =, FROM THE BASE UNIT. INPHONE is quite simply the finest ais Ghecenens and net Hien cordless phone available. No other wal AU AISNE NE is ideal cordless phone has the quality, ee Call eo Ne security and the features at ce anywhere near an affordable we on the field, or price of Inphone. / track, the gym, around the swimming pool, Lifesavers on the beach, etc. you can keep in touch around the swimming pool. (Please note the equipment 1s not water proof). In the garden. Under the Gar. While watching T.V. In the bathroom. In bed. Or next door when you're playing cards or having. Mode wich Telescope a Barbecue with your neighbours Altronics INPHONE is phone freedom in hundreds of your everyday situations. dia key ‘Autocharging Low battery ator inpPHONe Available from Altonies Perth and authorised dealers throughout Australia“ THIS MONTH'S: COVER Essentially a scaled-down version of the US. space shuttle, France's Hermes space plane will be blasted into space atop an Ariane S rocket (see also page 42) Features. 10 VINTAGE RADIO RESTORATION PT.2 Preserving our radio heritage - 40 THE AUSSAT SATELLITES A real success siory 42 FRANCE'S AMBITIOUS SPACE PLANS The Hermes space shuttle ~ 81 WHAT'S NEW IN PC BOARDS The irend is high-tech Entertainment Electronics. + 20 HIFI REVIEW NAD 3240PE stereo amplifier © 106 AN INTRODUCTION TO HIFI PT.13 FM radio tuners — 1 Projects and Technical. 28 LOW-COST STEREO MINI MIXER Has two microphone inputs + 36 SIMPLE CAR BATTERY MONITOR Build i for winter 50 CIRCUIT & DESIGN IDEAS TV hearing aid, extra memory for VZ300 * 52 A VERSATILE OP AMP TESTER Check your chips + 64 FEEDBACK ON THE PLAYMASTER 60/60 The common problems 68 THE SERVICEMAN [1 was all a frame-up * 96 OMEGA DERIVED FREQUENCY STANDARD For cesium beam accuracy -112 UNDERSTANDING COLOUR TV PT.4 The shadow mask picture tube News and Comment. 4 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR AM stereo and CD sound + S EDITORIAL VCRs and audio gear must be approval tested 6 NEWS HIGHLIGHTS The four-million bit chip 16 FORUM Televsion colour: hue are all wrong 126 INFORMATION CENTRE Answers to reader queries 120 NEW PRODUCTS 128 MARKETPLACE 125 EA CROSSWORD PUZZLE 130 COMING NEXT MONTH 125 50 AND 25 YEARS AGO 127 NOTES AND ERRATA Low cost stereo mini mixer This Mini Mixer plugs into your hifi amplifier and lets you ‘mix two microphone inputs with line level signals. It's just ‘the shot for small public ad dress applications. Details page 28, What's coming Next month, we intend to de. scribe a multi-function infrared remote conirot. We'll also. be taking a look at the basics of satelite TV reception. See page 130 for further details, NAD 3240PE stereo amplifier 0a NAD's new 3240PE stereo am- plifier is an impressive perform- er. Don't miss our review start- ing on page 20.MANAGING EDITOR ‘Leo Simpson, B.Bus. (NSWIT) B.Se. (Hons. Syiney) EDITORIAL CONSULTANT Neville Willams, FLLR-E-E. (Aust) (IX) EDITORIAL STAFF John Clarke, B.E. (Elec. NSWIT) Carmel Tiviio GRAPHIC DESIGNER Brian Jones [ART PRODUCTION ‘Alana Horak PRODUCTION Mark Moes ‘SECRETARIAL Naomi Lenthen ADVERTISING PRODUCTION Brett Boker Vikki Patching (Vie.) ADVERTISING MANAGER Selwyn Sayers PUBLISHER Michael Hannan ‘The Federal Polishing Company i wprieary United, 190 Bourke Ron, Aleta, NSW Phone: (2) 693 6, Fax number: (02) 3 23d Teer AAA, Postal Ades PO Bos 227, Waterloo 2017. [NSW Representative: Mak Les. INTERSTATE [ADVERTISING OFFICES ‘Metnare: 210 Bsy Stet, Por Melbourne, Vesa Phone: (3) 6463111 Representative: John Olver, B.A. (Hoes. Ese). Adie: Job Fix Sone Ls, 10, ‘Weymouth Steet, Adehide, SA Sc. Phone: (8) 22 1212 Representa: Michel Malin ‘Brisbane: 26 Chemse Suet, Newstead, OM ‘tbe Prone: (7) 84 1119 Repeescnate: Heme Sommer. Phone: (09) 481 3071 Representa: Extle de San Mig "New Zealand: Sd Flor, Commune House, 12 Heather Sel, Pare Asean, New Zein. Fe (9) 3 6, Tle: NZ 22 Repeeeaaie: Jon Eaton ELECTRONICS AUSTRALIA publtes monthly bythe Peer Puisting ‘Company Pty Lite, ‘Typeset and printed by Hannangrnt, 40 ‘Bourke Road, Alexandeia, NSW for The Federal Publishing Company ty Lid Distributed by the Federal Pubshing ‘Company Pry Li Registered by Australia Post — publication Now NBP C2, ISSNUISOIS0 CQ ‘Recommended and maximum Avstralian etal pce only 4 ELECTRONICS Australia, May 1967 AM stereo and CD sound 1 read your March article on AM stereo with considerable interést. I re- cently hunted around for a good quality sound source for our caravan, T had a choice of mains operation (via the 300W inverter from batteries which are solar charged) or a car unit. ‘The ignorance of the salesmen was depressing. One argued with me that ‘AM stereo was no good and that all sta- tions were switching to FM. He tried to convince me that I didn’t want an AM stereo tuner even though that is what T asked for! T have experienced broadband AM for years and have Quad AM3 and an AWA AMG broadband tuners in our house, so I know what I am talking about! The muffled quality of the stand- ard AM tuner leaves me frustrated as speech is considerably harder to. deci- her and the music much less enjoy- te. Even in the car I can appreciate the broadband clarity of speech and music from my Eurovox MCC-2360. In my ‘opinion, there has been too much dis- cussion about the stereo aspect of AM tuners and not enough about the broad- band aspects. Most commercial AM tuner equipment is dreadful in this area, My search for a good sounding unit with a broadband AM stereo tuner re- vealed nothing suitable in the 240V line, and litle in the car radio-cassette mat ket. The only equipment which. mea- sured up was the Eurovox so I pur- chased another (now superceded) 2360. agree with J. Stephenson that I have yet t0 hear a CD sound source equal to top vinyl playing gear. 1. sometimes ‘wonder if Neville Williams has heard a really good vinyl playing set up because ‘of the way he heaps sarcasm on those of us who remain unconvinced of the mira- cle of CD. Tn fairness, the CD is a much more economical way (ignoring the price of records) for most people to hear high quality sound, Most low and mid-priced record players are pretty dreadful and what you haven't ever heard you won't miss. However, once one has been ex- posed to a high quality, vinyl setup where the music (not the hifi is listenet Wis eu or od eae he music is far more satisfying than on any CCD player I have fed through my sys tem, The disappearance of vinyl records from the stores is happening rapidly. 1 only hope that by the time they disap- pear altogether, and this seems inevita- ble, CD players will have improved so that violin strings etc really do. sound harmonic and not relatively harsh as at present. 4 What one is prepared to acceptin the area of sound quality depends on cir ‘cumstances. I can enjoy music on a low quality portable radio or cassette unit. 1 can enjoy the reproduction in our car OF caravan. However, when I sit in our Founge room to listen to the illusion that recordings can provide, I find I get the ‘most enjoyment from vinyl. John Coulson, Dilston, Tasm: Fault report from the Serviceman 1 would like to suggest that Electron- ics Australia prepare a lst of faults that the Serviceman has written about, give ing manufacturers’ names, set_model numbers, and the year and month in | which each was described. Has this ever been done? 4 The inbrmsin cot be wed supplement information in service manuals and make repair work easier, It could also increase the profit in your back issues department Greg Love, a Georgetown, NSW. CDs offer repeatable — . sound quality 4. After reading your February issue of EA, | found Mr Graf over the top in re~ = fards to the article you wrote about CD Players. While what he says may be true, I find it very hard to swallow. T've longed for the day that I could listen to my records over and over, The truth of the matter is that a small mas jority of die hards are supporting an oldtechnology. These people probably have stacks of money t0 lash out on a high ‘quality turntable and new records every time the old one gets dust on the tracks ‘or the stylus accidentally slides across the record. 1 don't suppose Mr Graf could be biased towards vinyl just be- ‘cause he is in that field? “I've spent hours listening 0 records which had sounded great only to find that they lose their quality after a cou- ple of plays. In my case, | listen to the record until I can't stand the deteriorat- ing sound anymore. After that, the record will only be used on desperate ‘occasions. Itis almost an idealistic atti- tude to think that the majority of hifi fans would prefer vinyl to CDs Just for the record, I don't own a ‘$1000 rack system. The speakers alone ost more than that and my turntable does have belt drive, etc. To conclude, 1 personally am of the opinion that for the money I have to pay out for music, I want quality and value, Even though CDs are not the best in the price war they do provide re- atedly good quality musical reproduc- jon, And in my case that is what I feel has been lacking — repeated high-qual- ity playback D. Wilson, Chelsea, Vie. The dangers of beryllium oxide 1 would like to add to the comments, made in your February issue by Norman Marks. Having recently spent five years working with organo-heryllium com- pounds, I feel that I should point out that beryllium oxide is most definitely regarded as toxic, particularly when itis finely divided. Although beryllium and its compounds are Known’ to cause “non-healing wounds” when cuts or abrasions are directly contaminated, the insidious nature of these substances re- sults from their effects on the lungs. Inhalation of even minute amounts of beryliium or its compounds can cause fatal lung disease, sometimes as long as ten or fifteen years, after exposure Presumably though, the use of heat sink grease containing berylium oxide would be unlikely to result in the inh. lation of the oxide For those readers interested in further reading, “Patty's Industrial Hygiene and Toxicology” 3rd Ed.. Vol 2A. G.D and FE. Clayton, Eds.. John Wiley and Sons. 1981 contains ‘a review of beryl: lium toxicology Dr S.J. Pratton Dudley. NSW Editorial Viewpoint VCRs and audio gear must be approval tested The editorial in the March 1987 issue on electrical safety produced a lot of positive feedback which has been quite gratifying. It also pointed up a related topic which should be aired ‘This concetns the lack of approval testing for audio and video equipment. While most domestic electrical appliances are subject to rigorous approval testing by state government energy authorities before they can be sold. ths is not the case for domestic audio and video equipment. This situation should not have been allowed to go on for as long as it has, for a number of rea Prime among these is the fact that most audio and video equipment being imported these days is branded as being double insulated. This is indicated by ‘a “square within a square” symbol on the back of the appliance. Now as far as we are concerned, some if not most of this so-called “doubie-insulated™ equipment would not pass muster if it was subjected to approval testing. to the relevant Australian Standards, For example, one of the requirements for double insulation is that mains wiring inside the appliance should be sheathed to prevent it from touching the chassis. We also look askance at the type and quality of some mains switches and the lack of effective anchoring of mains wiring. to prevent the Possibility of broken wiring touching the chassis. Then there is the question of the insulation standard of the transformer. Now the fact that double-insulated equipment mi concern but itis our belief that most video recorders and at least some audio equipment should not be double-insulated at all but should be earthed. via a three-pin plug and three-core flex. The main reason for this belief is that most VCRS have a lot of ventilation slots at the top and these cam allow in- aress of water. if for example. a drink is spilt over the machine. Once that happens. the chances are that the supposedly: double-insulated chassis will now be live and very dangerous. It's another ease of water and electricity being a dangerous combination, We believe that all hifi ampiifies should also be earthed. The reason for this is that in atypical hift installation there may be four oF more mains-pow ered “double-insulated’” program sources (eg. turntable, tuner. eassette deck and CD player) connected to the amplifier. All of this gear multiplics the chance of an insulation failure IF the amplifier is earthed. it would automatically prevent such an insula tion failure from becoming dangerous situation. Sure, by having all the equipment double-insulated, there is no possiblity of annoying. hum loops but safety must come firs. Itis our belief that all domestic appliances should e subjected to the same rigorous approval testing. The importers will rightly point out that this is an expensive and time-consuming procedure. However, approval testing ean be done in Australia or overseas by approved organisations, so that is not an at ‘gument. Safety should be paramount. so all domestic elvetronie gear should as Leo Simpson Ht not pass muster is one ELECTRONICS Australia, May 1987 5The four-million bit chip! TBM engincers have designed a new computer memory chip that can store more than four milion bits of data — four times the capacity of any memory chip used in computers today. The new chip has been fabricated on the same manufacturing line used for volume pro- Auction of IMP chips at IBM's semicon- ductor facility in Essex Junction, Ver- mont According to IBM, the new 4MB chip can store the equivalent of about 400 pages of double-spaced typewritten text. It also. operates at very high speed speed and can access a single bit of data im jast 65 nanoseconds. compared with 80 nanoseconds for IBM’s most ad- vanced one megabyte chip. At this Speed, all. ofthe. chip's 4,194,308 memory cells could be read in Tes than fone quarter ofa second: ’AS with, previous RAM chips, each ‘memory cell in the new chip is com- posed of one transistor and one capaci- tor, with information represented by the presence or absence of charge on the surface of the capacitor. In the 4Mb chip, however, IBM_is using a new method for constructing the individual storage cells. A hole is etched deep into the silicon at each storage location on the chip, the sidewalls covered with in- sulating ‘material, and the hole then filled with a conductive material to form an electrical capacitor. This method provides a 3-dimensional “trench” capacitor which has a surface area large enough to hold a substantial amount of charge, but which does not make a large “footprint” on the surface ‘of the chip. By contrast, the more con- ventional planar structure _ occupies three times as much area for a given number of cells. Opportunities for local industry in defence build-up Electronic intelligence gathering and surveillance equipment are to get top priority under the Federal Govern- ment’s recently announced defence equipment program. The Government proposes to spend $25 billion over the next 15 years on capital equipment and new facilites in pursuit of a self-reliant defence policy. ‘According to the Minister for Indi try, Technology and Commerce, Sena- tor John Button, the defence: build-up will provide subsiantial opportunities for Australia’s engineering, shipbuilding, electronics and aerospace industries. Early warning aids are to get priority under the new program, with the Gov- ernment set to acquire’ three Jindalee overthe-horizon (OTH) radar systems at a cost of some $500 million. ‘These systems will be backed up by airborne carly warning (AEW) aircraft and a new satellite intelligence station to be built in Western Australia, The new satellite station, unlike the joint facilities. shared with’ the US at Pine Gap and Nurtungar, will be wholly controlled by the Defence Signals Di- rectorate. At the same time, new com- munications are being developed to give defence headquarters in Canberra. in- stant access to data from the joint facili- ties ‘Other developments of significance to the electronics industry include updated avionies for the 23strong FILL strike force, new sensors for the P3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft, and_ weapons systems for six new submarines and eight new light patrol frigates. The Gov- ernment is to consider fitting the new ships with long range cruise missiles for land attacks, ‘Anti-submarine warfare capabilities will be enhanced with the delivery of Seahawk helicopters and the develop- ment of a towed acoustic array for tracking. submarines. Amine counter: measure force of atleast six catamarans will be developed Finally, the range of the F/AI8 Tacti- cal Fighter Force will be greatly. in- creased with the introduction of in-fight refuelling. To this end, four Boeing 707 aireraft will be converted for use as aerial tankers Free EA’s for regular DSE customers How would you like to get your copy of Electronics Ausiralia FREE — every month? You can — simply by shopping at Dick Smith Electronics! In an unprece- dented move that’s sure to be popular with hobbyists all over Australia, DSE has announced that it will give away a copy of Electronics Australia to all regu- lar hobbyist customers “The definition of “regular hobbyist 6 ELECTRONICS Australia, May 1987 customers’ is largely left to, the discre- tion of the store manager,” said Mike Wilson, Managing Director of Dick Smith Electronics, “But each store manager and his staff know who are the regulars — and we're rewarding those people. To establish yourself as a regular DSE customer isn't difficult — we're not. talking about spending hundreds of dollars a month!” “I'd. imagine that anyone spending, say $70, a month would automaticaly {qualify for the ‘regular customer’ tite”. DSE also has other plans to reward its regular customers will be rewarded. In the future, special “regular customer offers” will be made — exclusive to our regulars customers only. ‘The free EA offer starts with this (May 1987) issue. If you're a regular customer and you've borrowed someone else's copy, race into your nearest DSE. store and they'll give you a copy of your own!Philips proposes compact disc video system Philips of the Netherlands and Sony Corporation (Japan) have proposed. a ‘new compact disc format to Japanese and US software producers. The new format, called CD-V or compact disc Video, ‘will have 25 minutes. recording capacity — 20 minutes for digital music fn the inner tracks and five minutes of audio and video signals on the outer tracks. ‘A special CD-V player will be re- quired to decode the video content of the discs, although the audio portion could be’ played back on existing CD players. The new disc will be golden in colour to distinguish them from stand- ard CDs, Philips and Sony have also announced plans to jointly develop specifications for a CD audio single. According to a recent press release, the two companies are currently considering a 7.Sem disc capable of carrying 20 minutes of music and compatible with current CD players by means of an adaptor. Long play videodisc Beye developed for igh-definition TV Engineers at Toshiba Corporation in Japan, have “developed an advanced ideodise player that meets high-defini- tion TV (HDTV) requirements. The new system features a total playing time ‘of 1.5 hours, the longest time so. far achieved for HDTV optical type video- dise players ‘The HDTV (High Definition TV) sys- tem developed by NHK (Japan Broad- casting Corporation) is expected to form the basis for the next-generation TV broadcasting system, Current NTSC sys- tems as used in the US and Japan (but not Australia) use 525. scanning lines per second. The HDTV system has lines — more than twice as many € big advantage of HDTV is that it is capable of excellent picture qu: surpassing that of 35mm movie images con a full-sized sereen. Furthermore, the quality of sound reproduction is much higher than today’s current TV systems and the aspect ratio of the screen has been increased from 4:3 to 5:3, Unfortunately, current video equip- iment, including’ VCRs, TVs, cameras and transmitters, will not be compatible with HDTV Subscription winner ‘The winner fo the special subscription offer which was run over the last three issues is Mr I. Adamson of Mitchell Park, ch south Australia. Mr Adamson has won a Dathatsu le. Our photo shows Mr Adamson at right receiving the keys from Ron Bragg of Daihatsu Australia (centre) and Geof Baggett, General Manager of Federal Publishing. New developments in flat screen TV everal new lrge-screen colour guid I ciplas stable for use in colour fem and. computer” monites ccenily been announced by apa nese researchers. . Leading the pack ig new 36em (14 inch) “daplay from Seiko. Instruments and Eleetrons. Although imprewive, the new dpay isnot yet Tea Tor po duction, largely becase some ‘of the equipment requied (0 mass produce isu under development Much the same comment applies to other Japanese companies that have de- veloped LCD colour panels. These com: panies include Matsushita with a 32cm display, Mitsubishi 2Sem), Hoshiden Electronics (18cm) and Hitachi (18cm), When will we see large flat screen displays in colour TV sets? That devel: ‘opment is still some years off and is de- pendent upon improvements to. such things as brightness, contrast and. re- ponse speed, ELECTRONICS Australia, May 1987 7News Highlights Sony has announced the release of a stunning new portable CD player that's barely larger than the dises_ it plays Called the Discman D-100, it is 80% smaller than the first portable CD player. released by Sony. Dimensions are just 125.8 x 132.8 x 19.8mm. The Discman D-i00 has all the features, of the original D-S0 and D-S0 MkII ver- sions and includes automatic music sen- sor, two-speed search function, music repeat and random track programming, ‘The latter enables programming of up to 21 individual tracks in their preferred order. A large liquid crystal display shows the various operating modes, Sony’s stunning new portable cD player FEC Se ns oe Seer ar e To cope with shock or vibration, the 1-100 has an in-built track memory, which will return to the precise playing sition after being knocked or wumped. The new player is suitable for use as a personal portable or in the ear. ‘A rechargeable battery pack is sup- plied as standard with the D-100 and there is an impressive list of optional extras, including infrared remote control ‘and a.car cassette adapter to connect the unit to most car stereo systems. ‘The Diseman D-100 is now available through the Sony dealer network and carries a recommended retail price of $699.00 Speech recognition for cars of the future Imagine being able to tak to your ear — and have it respond, The fact is, speech recognition devices could. well play an important role in the vehicles we'll be driving towards the end of the century. Recently, Renault displayed proto- type vehicle that accepts spoken com- mands for a range of non-critical acces- sories — things like windscreen wipers, heater and air conditioning, windows and the radio. Before the car can re- spond to your commands though, you ‘must initially train the voice recognition cireuitry by repeating each command several times Another area where voice recognition technology is likely to gain increasing use is in cellular car phones. Already there are several add-on devices avail able on the US market that allow voice dialling Head-up display for car dashboards Used successfully in aircraft for many years, head-up displays are now being considered for use in motor vehicles One such system has been developed for the Ford Motor Company by te- searchers at Battelle Laboratories in Otio. In the head-up display (or HUD), a cathode ray tube projets visual infor mation onto a holographic mirror em- bedded in the windscreen in front of the 8 ELECTRONICS Australia, May 1987 driver. This mirror reflects the blue- green light fom the CRT back tothe river's eyes but is transparent to all other colours so as not to impair the drivers view of the road. ‘The result is an image that appears to be suspended in mid-air in front of the windscreen. The main advantage of the system is that the driver need never take his eyes off the road 10 look at dashboard instruments Redesigned booster joint for space shuttle With test firings of redesigned booster rockets for the Space Shuttle scheduled for later this year, worries have surfaced in NASA that Challenger may have been lost because of severe wind shear. According to investigators, the wind shear encountered by Challenger some 60 seconds after blast off were the most severe experienced on any shuttle flight. ‘Although the accident report suggested that hot flames leaked from the booster ddue to faulty O-ring seas, it is also pos- sible that the violent wind conditions may have been responsible for re-open- ing the flawed joint. Morton Thiokol, the company that manufactures the ‘shuttle’s solid. fuel booster, is to begin initial test firings using the old joint, but with new seal- ants and materials for the O-rings. Fol- lowing these tests, the company plans to test a stronger but more complex joint which should clear the shuttle for lift off again next year, Breakthrough heart pacemaker ‘The Australian heart pacemaker com- pany Telectronies has scored a major coup with the development of a, new type of heart pacemaker. Called the Guardian pacemaker- defibrillator, it is the first implantable device to pace the heart when it beats too fast or flutters. Conventional pace- makers, on the other hand, work to monitor and regulate the heart when it beats too slowly or irregularly ‘The device works to prevent the heart from beating too quickly by firing a series of micro-shocks. If this proves un- successful a single strong shock is fired across the heart to break the fast beat- ing pattern in much the same way as doctors use external shock paddles to revive patients in the defibrillation pro- If need be, the device can be repro- grammed after implantation by RF sig- nals. Several hundred of the new units, which cost about $15,000 each, will be implanted in Australian and American patients over the next few years. In other moves, Telectronics recently became the world’s second largest heart pacemaker manufacturer when it agreed to buy the pacemaker arm of the UD Cordis Group. The acquisition of Cordis should greatly strengthen Telectronics’ Position in the US pacemaker market. ©CAPTURE AN* % ORTOFON: OM-10 FOR ONLY $89" AND _ ESCAPE TO %,;) DENMARK WITH <= S45 THE PRIZE LIST uy any ORTOFON OW/OMP 1,20, 3040 carigge between 1st March and 30th June 1987 and you could win ‘ne ofthe following prizes: Nowisthe time toupdate your HiFi system with one of ORTOFON's super OM/OMP cartridges. By doing so, you will also havea chance to go to Denmark and visit the ORTOFON manufacturing plant. Soe CARTRIDGES? ASL ERIZE: yop SAS ne ‘Businessman sith Sighs rst lass he Thsecting tip neues ast to he Onofon manufacturing plant. plus an opportunity to vst the Danish Royal Theatre, famous Tvl Garcensand one a the many famous Dansh az cubs. SAS THE BUSINESSMAN'S AIRLINE ‘Next ume you travel to Europe on busines, why not giv yourse break andy SAS he Scandinavian way one stopo opennapen the business hear of Europe Bnd PRIZE: og Cot Cartage Valued 218800." 3rd PRIZE: Bronze ong Ca Carine Vad at S000 Full tas and conations olen rom your paripatin ORTOFON specialist. penhagen and et, including commodstion ang al ans Ife were to takeaway thei high ‘output, adjustable mass, diamond ‘quality, superior sound and stylus imterchangeabilty. these cartridges would be no citferent from all the others ‘But witha tese features and their sonic excellence, these Cartridges have become the most successful range of cartridges ver produced by ORTOFON. Interms of value for money ‘the OM-range snow recognised throughout the world as “the one o buy” WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY! GRAMOPHONE: "tne OM-20 showed more solid bass | and midrange and redom trom edginess” *.. The OM-30 nad ‘amore subtle sound quality with greater clay and definition, ‘amore positive stereo image” HIGH FIDELITY: “The OW-40 isthe best magnetic cartridge that this Danish manufacturer has ever produced...” HI-FI CHOICE: “ORTOFON OM-10...BEST BUY!” ‘The nomenclature “OM” stands for Optimum Match. By removing the in-built 2.5 gram weight-plate, the OM cartridges can be perfectly matched to any medium or low masstone arm. The technically identical OMP models ae designed for use in P-mount tonearms. ‘LOM sti are interchangeable. f your budget does not allow the ‘op model intially, start with the OM-10 and update the stylus ater. ortofon accuracy in sound For more tecnica information and reprints of eviews on ORTOFON's ul range of produts. contact Sole Australian Distributor ‘SCAN AUDIO Pty. Ltd., 52 Crown Street, Richmond, Victoria 3121. Phone (03) 429 2199TS ee Ga ee Preserving Australia’s radio heritage Last month, we looked at some of the essential aspects of getting an old valve radio functioning again. This advice mainly concerned replacement of various electronic components, but repairs to mechanical parts and to the cabinet are also often required. by JOHN HILL Dials are one such mechanism and are a constant source of trouble to vin- tage radio restorers. Dials can vary from relatively simple units driven by a cord, to more complex gear and friction drive types. All require a full. strip down, clean and assembly job if they are to run smoothly again Common problems encountered with ‘old radio dials are: broken dials or cover glasses, burnt out dial lamps, broken cords, gooed up gears, slipping friction drives and rusted or missing parts. There is usually much more to & dial repair than simply replacing the dial cord. Cleaning dial parts is important and to do the job properly requires a brush ‘This 1939 Airzone has a complicated dial mechanism consisting of 150 individual parts, 10 ELECTRONICS Australia, May 1987 ‘and kerosene. If the parts are carefully cleaned and re-assembled with a drop of oil or a dab or grease, the mechanism will operate smoothly once again. Some old dials are remarkably com- plicated. They have pulleys, cords, gears and even flexidrives to iron out misalignment between the dial. mech anism and the tuner. It is therefore ad- visable to make a detailed sketch of the complete assembly before dismantling it, It doesn’t have to be an oil painting, any rough old sketch will do, You are the only one who needs to understand it Don’t rely on memory alone because it often doesn’t help much when the time comes to put all the pieces to- gether again Make sure that a dil sketch includes the path of the dial cord because some cord layouts are most involved and a sketch of the cord set up is indeed valu- able. If the cord has broken it makes that task more difficult, but even with a broken cord, it is often possible to make a sketch of where the cord ran before it broke To give an example of the complexity ‘of some dial set ups, Ihave an old 1939 encountered. It took approximately four 0 do the dial job, simply because re so many bits and pieces. For a start, there is the normal cord from the tuning knob spindle to. the drum that turns the tuning condenser through a 2:1 gear reduction that is mplete with backlash eliminator, The on for the gear reduction is because the dial pointer rotates through 360 de- grees, while the tuning condenser only turns 180 degrees. Such a set up was common on radios of the 1930s. In addition, there is a flexidrive unit, sev- eral backing plates and support brack- ts, at least a dozen nuts, bolts and spring. washers, plus the dial assembly itself with its protective cover and dial lamps.In all, there are 150 individual parts just for the dial mechanism! Whilst the Airzone dial looks impres- sive, itis nevertheless a little over engi- neered for the job. When compared to 4 modern transistor radio with a tuning knob on the end of the capacitor shaft, the Airzone setup is unnecessarily com: plex. Glass dials Most dial lasses require attention and they usually need cleaning on both . Needless to say, the side of the ass which carries the’ station marki Ihust be cleaned with care — great care! The station call signs were usually placed onto the glass by using a trans- fer, although a stencil may also have been used in some instances. Some sta- tion markings are so tough, the dial can be washed “under running water and dried with a towel. However, other dials are so fragile they cannot be touched with anything, otherwise the stations just wipe off the glass. ‘There are dials that really are_this Aelicate and even a gentle rub with a cotton bud will instantly remove the sta- tion markings. The paint used to mark old dial glasses seems to degenerate with age into a powder-ike substance which is easily dislodged. Not all dials are so difficult to work with but considerable care must be taken when cleaning dial glasses, other- wise the dial might be ruined. Unfortu- nately, both sides of the glass must be cleaned to bring back that new look. ‘A touch of paint on the dial po also helps the dial to look new again. It is simple little things like that. which make a restored radio look the part. Many old radios have broken dial covers. Some covers are_ glass, while others are celluloid or like material ‘These dial covers often crack and disco- lour and replacement is the best way to 0. Although the majority of dial covers are shaped (not flat), a flat replacement doesn’t look out of place and one wouldn't know the difference unless very observant. Let's face it: a flat, clean dial cord is better than a dis: coloured and cracked one, even if it is nicely shaped and contoured Glass is difficult to cut and, unless fone has mastered the art of cutting it acrylic sheet is a much easier material to work with. Acrylic is obtainable. in many thicknesses and 2-3mm is ideal for radio dials. Once again, a replacement dial cover helps to give an old set that new look and a restoration can fail in its overall effect unless the dial is given the Dial cords can be difficult to replace. A layout sketch Is a good idea that can save time and frustration, Rubber covered insulation deteriorates with age. Replacement of such sections of wiring is'most essential, ‘A typlcal valve radio prior to restoration. A good many hours of work &s required to bring such receivers back from the grave. ELECTRONICS Australia, May 1967 "‘A fully restored radio, ready to go back into the cabinet. Note crank used to move dial pointer. full treatment. ‘The dial is the focal ppoint of the whole set and if it looks second rate, then the set will also look second rate. ‘The wiring of the dial lights is some- thing that should also be checked for often the insulation has broken down and the low tension can short out on the chassis somewhere, Insulation breakdown is common when natural rubber has been used, for it becomes hard, cracks and falls’ off, leaving the wires bare and vulnerable. Replacing dial globes while the dial is being worked on could also be a wise Restoring the chassis Valve radios are either fully open or partly open at the back (for cooling) and, as a result, dust and grime finds its way into the set. Cleaning away the dust and rubbish frequently reveals rust and other forms of corrosion on various components, including the chassis. This makes the set look quite unsightly. Some parts polish up quite OK and the aluminium cans and valve shields usually respond well to the wire brush treatment. Retaining the natural alu- minium look is better than painting over the top of it. However, the chassis and other steel components are inclined to ‘A small wire brush and a ean of paint can help clean up a grotty chassis, 12 ELECTRONICS Australia, May 1987 rust and require some form of paint work to enhance their appearance. Its here that the radio restorer must decide whether he will leave the set in its original condition or touch it up with a coat of silver frost or whatever. In some cases, the original surface cleans up quite well and can be rejuve- nated by lightly rubbing with a lint free cloth dipped in the touch up paint. A touch up of this nature is often more appropriate than complete repaint job for it looks clean and tidy, but not that new looking that it has obviously been repainted. One could. perhaps reduce the value of an old radio by over doing the paint brush routine Loudspeakers Old loudspeakers can also give their share of trouble and some are in a sorry state to say the least ‘The most common problem is a torn cor damaged speaker cone, Being made cof paper, the cone is easily damaged and most old speakers have a rip or two in them somewhere. Even silver fish eat holes in speaker cones. This type of damage can be repaired by gluing the rip together again and “Si- lastic” or similar seems an ideal repair agent for sick speaker cones. Silastic ad- heres well to the paper and is quite flex- ible if it needs to flex. Whilst there may be other effective means of fixing speaker cones, Silastic is quick, conven ient and appears to be long lasting, One way out of speaker trouble is to simply fit @ modern speaker of similar size but, once again, this ruins the origi- nality of the set. Whether this is impor- tant of not is up to each individual col lector. Personally, I strive to keep my sets as original as possible and if a speaker has to be replaced, it is usually replaced with a similar speaker. Electrodynamic speakers offer greater problems in this regard, and an exact replacement is not always possible. Electrodynamic speakers come in two varieties — reasonable ones and terrible cones. There is also a third type; they are the ones with burnt out field coils that don’t work at al. If a speaker gives a poor reprodue- tion, which isn’t uncommon with elec- trodynamics, it can be replaced with a permanent magnet speaker, although there is a bit more to it than that When switching from electrodynamic to permanent magnet, there is a little matter of the field coil which must be retained in some form or other. The field coil is the high tension choke and it can be replaced with a separate chokeDeluxe kt lustrated, 2 Kits available-Standard or Deluxe. 4 sector ‘Control with switch selection of its many pre- Programmed functions. Quality components for ibility. Comprehensive instructions included. Literature, prices and further information available from: 15-17 Normanby Rd, Clayton, Vie, 3149 ‘el (03)5448611, Telex AA3S7BO 248 Johnston St, Annandale, NSW, 2038 “el 026920999) 31 Philips St, Thebarton, SA, S031 LEAL. (Aust) Pty, Ltd. Tel 08)3522066 | One | Machine Workshop MODEL Hi1-14 A multi-function machine tool ‘A noavy-duty professional unit which Turns, Mils, Scrow Cuts, Grinds, Orile, Slots, Cuts Gears. and more Al cutters, slot |] grils etc, are Standard Equipment. Workable diameter 300mm. |] Max’ Congin of work Ssomm, Driven by 2speed heavy-duty flecivic motor A real workhorse at an economical price. Bul to |] Government Ordinance Factory Standarss. Available 240 volt 1 Phase. wo, Gastar McEwan Road, E Woot Hetselibery 308i S RMAC aan (is 25 Cosgrove Road, PTY.LTD. 25 Cougroy Ph: (02) 642 5363, [pteas0 send me turtner information onthe HI1A Multunction Machine Too witout ebigei [ name ‘ADDRESS CODE ..job quite wel. of the same impedance or a high watt- age resistor. Even the original field coil can be used if it is detached from the speaker and placed in some inconspicu- ‘ous part of the set. Cabinet restoration Depending on one’s interests, a re. storer may favour the radio. repairing aspect of the hobby, or he may prefer the cabinet restoration side of it. Per- sonally, I hate restoring wooden cabi- nets and only wish I knew someone who would do a good job for a reasonable price. Ww4 7 udspeaker cones can be repaired even when in this condition, “Silastic” does the Restoring timber cabinets is nothing but a lot of hard work. The first step is to fill all the split and loose joints with a wood glue such as “Aquadhere” so as to tighten up the frame. Most old eabi- nets were glued together using animal glue (the old hot-pot technique) and, after four or five decades, the glue lets g0 and the cabinet becomes very rick- ety The next step isto fix any raised blis ters or lifted sections of the veneer. Blisters are repaired by first cutting a slit in the them so as to get some glue inside. Once this has been done, the 4 “Brasso™ metal polish is ideal for cleaning up old bakelite cabinets such as this mid 1930s 14 ELECTRONICS Australia, May 1967 blister can be clamped and left to dry for 24 hours. A. webbing clamp is a ost useful tool for this purpose. Then comes the loathsome job of scraping off the old varnish. In some in- stances, the varnish scrapes off easily because it has deteriorated with age and is only loosely attached to the surface veneer. When the varnish is more firmly attached, paint stripper is the best way to g0. When using paint stripper, good idea to use it sparingly saturate the woodwork as there could be a long term chemical effect on the wood fibres. There are special. “an- tique” paint and varnish removers avail able and it may be wise to use such products as a precaution After the old varnish has been re- moved, it is advisable to inspect the cabinet for dents and apply steam to those areas as it helps to swell the de- pression back to normal again, Sand papering is next on the list and the more time spent smoothing out the surface, the better will be the final re- sult. However, great care must be taken when sand papering because the veneer on the cabinet is less than Imm thick and to sand through the veneer is to ruin the cabinet. Course sand paper should be avoided due to the depth of the seratches it produces. When properly sanded and dusted down, the inside of the cabinet should be painted. Black or clear are the most common treatments and if the paint or lacquer is mixed S0/S0 with turps, it will soak into the wood and produce’ rel tively flat surface finish Most old wooden cabinets were clear lacquered on the outside, with odd parts painted either black or chocolate brown 50 as to contrast with the rest of the cabinet. This is a very good effect and the easiest way to reproduce itis to do the paint work first, then lacquer over the fot. The lacquer can be applied using ei- ther a brush or a spray ean, depending ‘on available equipment and’ the quality ‘of the finish required. If using a brush, the brushmarks can be smoothed over with 1200 grade wet and dry paper after the lacquer has dried. An ultra thin coat ‘of Scandinavian oil applied to the sur- face will add a semigloss effect. A few follow up coats of oil will further en- hance the surface fini ‘There are many ways of finishing a wooden cabinet; none are easy and all take hours of scraping and sanding, Of course, the more cabinets one does the more proficient one becomes. Doingcabinets in twos or threes can save time if a mass production approach is pre- ferred. Plastic cabinets Plastic and bakelite cabinets are much easier to restore and about two hours work will see most of these cabinets looking shiny and new again. ‘A good starting point with a bakelite cabinet is @ thorough scrub up with hot soapy water, both inside and out. A toothbrush and a. small nail brush are useful for getting into awkward comers and deep grooves. ‘When clean and dry, check for any cracks or splits and, if there are any, re- pair them with a drop of super glue. Now comes the hard work ‘The dull finish on the cabinet can be completely brought back to new by a hard rub down with “Brasso” metal pol- ish. A hard rub means just that, What's required is plenty of Brasso, firm pressure and an hour or so of rubbing. If sufficient effort is put into the job, bakelite and plastic cabinets will shine better than new. Deep scratches ean be a bit of a prob- lem and they require a lot of pressure and rubbing to make them fade just a little, Perhaps gentle use of fine wet and dry paper could help in some instances, ‘Timber cabinets, as used for this old zone, require a fot of work to restore them to their former glory ao ee io ia ‘This HMV cabinet combines several contrasting timbers. They don’t make them like this but the colour and texture of the ma- terial may change if rubbed down too deeply The “Brasso” treatment is also ideal for the control knobs and these too can be made to shine as if they were new. Special care must be taken to clean the Knobs before polishing and a scribber point and toothbrush are handy tools for digging out the rust and grime that settles in the grooves over a period of | ti “Brasco” is truly a wonder treatment for many old radio parts and another bit that responds well is the plastic dial cover that so many old radios have. Dial covers appear to be made of ei ther celluloid or cellulose acetate, the difference being that celluloid discolours to a yellowish tint, whereas cellulose acetate remains clear. However, as both materials are soft plastics, they scratch easily and, over a period of time, be come almost opaque. Careful rubbing with a soft cloth and “Brasso” will pol ish away the scratched surface and re store the dial cover to as new condition fonce again: Great stuff, that “Brasso”! Conclusion As the author of these valve radio restoration articles, 1 hope that I have inspired some teaders to do somethin, about Grandpa's old radio that has been im the shed for the past 20 years, If you have a valve radio, you will find that restoration is an interesting and rewarding experience that will pro- duce a very good radio set. If you don’t wish to restore the set, then pass it on to someone who does. Whatever you do, don't dump it. Once that happens, that particular example of radio history is lost forever. © For all your components! ‘Test gear, data books. Huge range of active ‘and passive components. ultimeters ‘Amidon Ferrite Products Are you pulling out your hair trying to find parts for the PLAYMASTER AMFM tuner kits??? Give us a call! We have most parts (inel. semi's) in stock. 80 Lacey Street, | CROYDON, VIC. 3136 Ph: 723-3860/3094 Mail Orders Welcome ELECTRONICS Australia, May 1987 15FORUM Conducted by Neville Williams Television colour: hue are all wrong! What you see above is not a spelling error; it's the message in a letter from a very puzzled reader at Winnellie, in the Northern Territory. In his view, two separate writers in the January issue, in two separate articles, have got themselves into a complete tangle in respect to the so-called primary colours. In actual fact, ifthe writer had been able to check back over the past issues of this and other publications, he would hhave found the same supposed incon- sistencies repeated many times over, right back to the days when David Sarn- off virtually staked the future of RCA ‘on the development of electronic colour television! reproduce the letter substantially in full, because it reflects the degree of the writer’s confusion and raises matters which, I tip, may have puzzled other readers over the years. Dear Sir, 1 feel 1 must take you to task regard- ing the articles in the January 1987 issue entitled: “The Big Screen at the Big ‘Maich” by Terry Ayscough and “Under: standing Colour Television” by David Botto. | have read both several times but am still confused as 10 how the various colours are produced on a colour TV screen — particularly in respect to the choice of green as one of the colours used to produce the rest of the spectrum. One of the articles contains two defi- nite errors, 1 would have expected colour TV 10 tuse red, yellow and blue, which are the three, and only, primary colours. Other colours are a combination of these three. Twas therefore surprised to find, not yel- low but green used as one of the basic color and Ihave yt ose clear ex lanation of how yellow can be pro- fuced on & TV screen . In the second article under the para 16 ELECTRONICS Australia, May 1987 graph heading “Colour mixing”, it says: “Colour mixing using three properly se- lected primary colours &e”, AS there are only three primary colours, all of which have to be present to produce the full spectrum, what is there 10 se- lect?” Regarding the errors mentioned above in the first article, under the paragraph headed “Picture elements”, it states: “Each picture element or pixel thus con- sists of two green, one red and one blue primary coloured dot.” Here the two ar- ticles are contradictory because the sec- ‘ond article states that a primary colour cannot be produced by mixing any other colours. Therefore green, which is a ‘mixture of yellow and blue cannot be a primary colour. The article goes on: In the additive mixing process, non primary colours such as yellows..dc. As yellow cannot be prodisced by mixing any other co- Tours, it is and always was one of the three’ primary colours, Mixing red and green as the article states would produce brown, not yellow. Hence my confusion; to produce yellow from green, the blue component would have to be deleted, not another colour such as red added. Returning (0 the second article under ‘Colour mixing... If we subtract red light from white light... &e.” White is the combination of all the colours of the spectrum but, for simplicity, 1 will assume that the white referred to is @ combination of the three colours red, yellow and blue, Removing any one of these colours witl not leave just one but a ‘mixture of the other two. Remove red and you have green; remove blue and you ‘have orange; remove yellow and You have purple. None of these resultant ‘colours are primary. T feel sure that this letter will not be the only one you receive regarding this subject, so perhaps the matter can be dis- cussed in “Forum”. Perhaps someone has a better explanation of how colour is produced in colour TV. In closing, 1 would like to register my appreciation’ of your magazine. I look forward to its arrival each month B.D. (Winnellie, NT) I can understand B.D.’s perplexity because, with @ mother interested in oil painting, T learned quite early about blending colours and the key role of the so-called “primaries” — red, blue and yellow. Like many other kids, I fist put the knowledge to practical’ use with school watercolour sets. Much later I, too, was astonished 10 learn that colour television relied on red, blue and green. My problem then, and presumably B.D.’s problem now, stems from the need to widen considerably what have been described — perhaps unfairly — as “artistbased” ideas about colours and colour mixing and, in the process, to set straight a number of questionable terms and impressions. In checking back over the subject, I came across a very useful survey of colorimetry in the book “Colour Televi- sion with Particular Reference to the PAL System” by G.N. Patchett, Fellow of the Royal Television Society and Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Bradford, UK. He, in turn, lists a number of historic research papers on the general subject ‘Confirming the statements in EA and at complete odds with B.D.’s firm asser- tions, Professor Patchett makes the fol- lowing points (my summary)(1) There are no “unique” primary co- Tours. (2) Any three colours can be considered as potential primaries for 3-colour reproduction, “provided that any one of the colours cannot be produced by the other two". This means, in effect, that they must be adequately dispersed within the spectrum. (3) Some hue ranges are obviously more Successful as primary colours. than others but the exact shades within these preferred ranges “may, and do, vary with different processes” (4) A well chosen set of primaries may be capable of producing a wide and satisfying range of hues but some co- Tours may still not be reproduced with ‘complete accuracy. (6) Depending on the medium — pig- ments, coloured lights, etc — colour mixing may be an additive or a subtrac- tive process, or even a combination of the two. The respective systems are es- sentially complementary, with different sets of optimum primaries, often de- scribed as complementary colours. In the ligt of the above, B.D. will clearly need to rethink his assertion that there are three, and three only, unique primary colours, not subject to. sclec- tion, and that they blend only in the manner with which he is familiar. Fairly obviously, his ideas relate to traditional colour media such as paints, pigments, dyes, inks and filters, and 10 “subtractive” mixing, as mentioned in David Botto’s article. All of the above absorb a range of hues from incident ‘white light, reflecting a particular hue back to the eye, which we accept as the colour of the ultimate blend. But, here, another matter needs to be sorted out. in the context of subtractive mixing, three colours are commonly ac cepted as being appropriate or near op- timum primaries, best identified by the ‘common names: yellow, cyan and ma- genta. Unfortunately, "because cyan Tooks’ rather like blue, and magenta rather like red, they have been so mis- named in countless publications) — thereby misleading countless readers, including B.D. Referrring to subtractive mixing, Professor Patchett says ‘This method ox mixing is, of course, that used by artists and, for this reason, the colours yellow, cyan and magenta (wrongly called yellow, blue and red) are sometimes called ‘artist's primary co- Tours”. Often, and quite incorrectly, the word “artist is omitted, causing some confusion, Whether artists or house painters have much use of the “offical” subtrac- tive primary colours is another matter. It is more likely that they will create the shade they want from the assortment of colours available to them: a dab 0" and a dab o' that! But, when we're trying to sort things out, it does help to get the terminology right! Additive mixing ‘As distinct from the above, colour ‘TV uses what is known as the additive system of colour mixing, in which multi- coloured patterns or pictures are com- posed from tiny adjacent discrete areas ‘of primary colour(s), occasionally “il luminated by white light but most com- monly sel-luminescent. (Colour pictures in magazines are something of a hybrid additive! subtractive mix, because the individual colour dots tend to be separate in ligh- ter areas but to merge or overlap else- where.) With colour television, the elemental ‘areas are normally self-luminescent and reliably discrete so that, for all practical purposes, television represents. a_pure Additive System, with each tiny primary colour element in the picture contribut- ing separately and directly to the per- ceived colour image. {As it turns out, the most appropriate additive primaries are red, blue and green and, over the years, the television industry worldwide has invested a great deal of time and effort in standardising hhues which will produce a visually ac- ceptable result and be optically efficient in terms of practical picture tube phos- phors. Approximate wavelengths are: red, 615m (micrometres); green, 32m; and blue 470m. With these primaries and the highly flexible brightness control available with a cathode ray tube display, television ‘can offer a wider range of hues than most other 3-colour systems, along with white, with all three colours suitably balanced and activated, black with the colours turned. off, and_ intermediate ‘greys and pastels Complementary colours: Patchett offers a series of diagrams which emphasise the complementary na- ture of the two sets of primary colours — subtractive and additive. For exam- ple, yellow and magenta filters (or pig- ments, &c) in subtractive combination pass (or reflect) white light minus biue tnd green, resulting in red — which is equivalent to activating red luminescent phosphor elements, thus: Y+M=W—B—G=R Similarly: Y+C=W—B—R=G and. C+M=W—R-G=B where Y = yellow, M = magenta, C cyan, B = blue, G = green, R = red and W = white. This is broadly what B.D. was strug- sling with towards the end of his letter, except that he was being misled by the longstanding confusion between magenta/red and eyan/biue, and his fil ure to distinguish properly’ between the two entirely different forms of colour mixing. Incidentally, I omitted the final sen- tence from the earlier boldface quote from Patchett’s book because, at that stage, it would have been a giant red herring (not a magenta one) in the dis- Soldering Fumes: A Hazard? Dear Sir, Reacting 10 the query by K.Q. in the October issue of “Electronics ‘Australia’, I had a quick look at the information on the possible ill effets ‘on health of working with solder. The major recognised effect is one of occupational asthma, which seems to be due 10 sensitivity 10 colophony (pine resin) fumes, There have been several reports documenting effects of this type. There has been a suggestion (I em- pphasise the word) that there may be ‘an increased risk of spontaneous ‘abortion in women working with sol- dering Jn a study of cancer morbidity of telecommunication workers, there was no overall increase in total cancer ‘morbidity. An excess risk of malig- ‘nant melanoma of the skin was de tected, which seemed 10 be particu- larly associated with soldering. Dermatitis has also been associated with soldering flux. would point out thatthe above ef- {fects were found in a literature search ‘and the authors’ summaries used without critical appraisal I trust that the information will be of intrest. Neill H, Stacey, PhD, Senior Lecturer in Toxicology. ELECTRONICS Australia, May 1987 17Fo ea FORUM - continued cussion at that point. The sentence read: “It should be clearly understood that the true primaries are red, green and blue”. By “red”, Patchett meant true red, ‘not magenta; by “blue”, true blue, not cyan. His statement fits in with David Botto’s observation in the January issue Of EA, p76, coll: “So the additive primaries of cyan, yellow and magenta are red, blue and green in that order”. But I guess that the key question is: does it work out in practice? If you need to be convinced, arm yourself with a strong_magnifying glass or, if avail able, a jeweller’s eyeglass and switch your TV set on at a time when you Know that a test pattern is being trans- mitted. If the tube has vertical stripes rather than colour dots, so much the better. Across the middle ofthe pattern, you will normally find a strip containing the colours, left to right: yellow, eyan, “green, magenta, “red, *blue, the three additive primaries being marked with an asterisk. Examine the white areas and you should be able to see the three pri mares, all glowing brightly. If the cir- cuits in the receiver have been set up correctly, the white should have a very slightly bluish cast, similar to sky-scat- tered daylight —"a subtlety that can really only be verified with test equip- ment. Then look at the grey areas and note hhow the brightness of the colours dimi- nishes progressively until they are barely visible, if at all, where the image is black. So far, so good. But what of yellow, for B.D. the ul mate problem colour? Visually, the strip in the test pattern is visually less vivid than the rich yellows that often occur in actual program material but it will suf- fice. At viewing distance, the colour is undoubtedly yellow but close up, through the magnifying. glass, there is no yellow to be seen — just the blue and green phosphors, glowing brightly, side by side. “How can this be?” is B.D.'s implicit question The answer, broadly, is: “that's the way our eyes work!” Certainly, it’s the answer in David Botto’s artcl tion to the subjective response to addi- tive mixing, (Jan ‘87, p. 76) 18 ELECTRONICS Australia, May 1967 a When red and green tight ected on to the screen 5 3 light is present. Project green and blue and our eyes register a cyan colour. Red and blue projected together will appear Pethaps I should add one further ob- servation: when examining the primary cor complementary colours on a TV screen, the redundant colour(s) may also be seen to be activated, even if only faintly. This could be because: (1) There is some small error in the operation or adjustment of the receiver which is distorting the colours slightly, and/or (2) The colours are less than fully satu- Fated, with the third colour spiralling the hue in towards the pasteliwhite area, ‘Terry Ayscough makes specific refer- ence to the reproduction of de-saturated hhues on p.10, col. 1 of his article in the January isue. To sum up, unless I have missed something, both articles emerge from the scrutiny completely untarnished. 1 trust that, having been alerted as to where his problems lie, B.D. will be able to rethink what is admittedly a rather confusing subject and to accept that he is not, after all, watching and ‘enjoying an “emission impossible" A couple of teasers While B.D. is sorting out his particu- lar problems, here’s one for those read- rs who. fancy themselves as photo- sraphic gurus ‘The quote from David Botto’s article, a few pars back, carries the strong im: plication that the perception of yellow additive mixing is a subjective ef fect. Stimulate the cones with a suitable mix of ted light and. green light, he says, nd the eyes see yellow, even if no pure spectrum yellow is present ‘That caused me furiously to think be- cause, if and when I point my camera at a TV screen and set the exposure at L2Sth second or more, I will normally be rewarded with a reasonable facsimile of the TV image — yellow included. But my camera is a very non-subjective ‘object _and is normally loaded with co- lour film which employs. subtractive mixing, What permutations and combinations of the physics and chemistry of photogr- Pahy are involved in the creation of a slide or a print which can present to my yes yellows which presumably did not exist in the first place? Ducking the question myself, 1 rang my erstwhile assistant editor Phil Wat- Son, who can usually be lured into any discussion to do. with photography. But, instead of settling down to the speculation about resolution, the colour bandwidth of phoshors and film layers, etc, he was all set to head off for the south coast and the surf, He reminded me that, somewhere back in the dim past, we had been in- volved in a parallel discussion about the true nature of opague paints and. pig- ments. Someone had maintained that, in the ultimate, pigments were ground up par- ticles of ‘solid matter and, whether mixed dry or in a binder, they still pre= sented to incident white light a surface composed of a jumble of discrete, dif ferently coloured particles — the basis of additive mixing The counter argument was that the light penetrates into. the mix and femerges after multiple complex reflec: tions from the multi-coloured surfaces = therefore subtractive mixing, At that point he chuckled and headed for the beach, leaving me with not one but two loose ends and all the incentive need, at this stage, to change the sub- ject! Soldering fumes In the accompanying pane! isthe text of @ letter to hand from Dr’ Neill Stacey, of the University of Sydney, under the letterhead “Worksafe Austra: lia", The National Occupational Health & Safety Commision It has to do with the possible harmful effect of soldering fumes, a matter fist fase by a reader (KO. Clea, Vie) im the October 1986 issue, and the sui ject of further comment by former staff ‘member, Norman Marks, in February 1987. suspect fumes, ly in the case of hand soldering, it would seem from Dr Stacey's letter that listed literature on the subject is rather sparse and tentative in the area of traumatic health risks, That doesn’t mean that risks don’t exist; rather that if they do, they need to be verified and documented. ‘The matter remains open for further possible discussion, ®Y00D FOR CHIPS... WOOD FOR CHIPS... WOOD FOR CHIPS... WOOD FOR CHIPS... WOOD FOR CHIPS... 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ECT-620 3'% DIGIT CLAMP METER + Solty but Abe coat et PEAK $151.90 EC-30 SOFT CARRYING CASE $8.50 MODEL ELP-810 LOGIC PULSER $39.76 GEOFF WOOD ELECTRONICS P/L (02) 427 1676 INC IN NS 229 BURNS BAY RD. (CORNER BEATRICE ST) CANE Cove WEST NSW. P.O. BOX 671 LANE COVE NSW. 2086 (OR CASH CHEERFULLY ACCEPTED TuInD UO1 GOOM ™ Salkio wou GOOM™”SUIHD HOS BOOM” SaIHO HOS GOOM ~ SaiHO HOd GOOM ~ SaIHO HO GOOM ‘SanD 80d BOOM” SalHio WO DOOM ™ SaiHiD HO4 GOOMNAD pushes the power envelope concept For a number of years now, NAD amplifiers have been notable for their very generous headroom, or peak power capacity. Now, they have taken this concept further and are marketing amplifiers capable of a generous “power envelope’. Headroom is probably not the best term to use when describing amplifier performance. It refers to the amount of power which an amplifier can deliver for short periods, over and above what it can deliver on a continuous tone (sine wave) signal. The concept is legitimate though because rarely does real music contain long continuous tones but often has short transients which make big de mands on an amplifier’s capability The standard test for dynamic head room is set out in the EIA Standard RS-4 (formerly THF-A-202) and in- yolves a 20 millisecond tone burst of 204B over a continuous 1kHz sine wave at intervals of $00 milliseconds. One most amplifiers, ths test yields a power output which is typically about 15 to 20% above the steady state power, iving a dynamic headroom figure of about +1 to +2dB, This reflects the fact that the power supply inmost stereo amplifiers is reasonably well regulated. It also makes a lot of sense if amplifiers ate designed to meet the 20 ELECTRONICS Australia, May 1987 American Federal Trade Commission's requirement of 40% power precondi- tioning before testing maximum power output ‘A few years ago though, NAD saw that this design philosophy was limiting the power output on music signals ‘They came up with a way of dramati- cally increasing the power available for short musical transients without an equivalent increase in the amplifiers power supply ratings This was highlighted in the NAD 2200 power amplifier which was rated at 100 watts per channel on a continuous basis but had a headroom figure of +6dB which meant that it could deliver no less than 400 watts per channel on a short term basis. (The model 2200 has now been superseded by the higher rated model 2600). NAD now state that they regard the above test for dynamic headroom as inadequate since the tone burst interval ‘of 20 milliseconds is to0 short, Instead they are proposing a longer burst int val, of up to 500 milliseconds. They claim that this is more inline with the tone bursts in real music Tn line with this philosophy, NAD are designing their new amplifiers to deliver an extended “power envelope”. The subject of this review, the NAD S240PE, has a continuous power rating fof 40 watts per channel into &-ohm Toads and a dynamic “headroom. of +6dB. It also features “soft clipping” and the ability to deliver peak currents of up to 25 amps Main features Tn appearance, the NAD 3240PE is nothing startling, Instead, its styling is very subdued, both in the charcoal fin- ish front panel and the simple design of knobs and switches. That is not t0 say that the unit is short on control features — itis just that they are understated It has all the usual control features such as loudspeaker selector, bass. and treble controls, tape monitor switch, input selector, ‘muting (20dB) switch and concentric volume and balance con- trols. As wel, it has switches for mono mode (unusual these days), loudness, bass equalisation and infrasonic filter. ‘The last two are a little unusual. The infrasonic filter is just another name for 4 rumble filter although this one has a better chance of working since it has a slope of 12dBloctave below 12Hz. The Bass Equalisation switch gives a fixed boost of +6dB at 40Hz to compensate for the rolloff of many speakers at low frequencies. It should not be used in conjunction with bass boost or the Loudness control (we think that loud- ness controls have no place on a high fi- delity amplifier). On the rear panel, the NAD has the usual array of RCA sockets and a set of eight binding post terminals for connect- ing two pairs of loudspeakers. There are also two slide switches, one to bring the soft clipping circuit into action while theNAD’s 3240PE amplifier has complicated power supply circuitry to provide +64B head- other is a loudspeaker impedance selec- tor. The latter is locked with a screw into one of two settings: 8 ohms (high) ‘or 4 ohms (normal). This is almost a throwback to the old days of valve amplifiers when you had to select the output transformer second= ary taps to suit the loudspeaker imped- ance. Usually, you had a choice of 16, 8 or 4 ohms. With the NAD, of course, there are no output transformers. but the impedance selector changes the taps fon the power transformer, The result is that the supply rails are slightly higher for 8-ohm operation. Now this isan interesting concept but it does seem that NAD is having a bet each way, ‘On the one hand, switching to 8-ohm mode would give a slightly higher power output into 8-ohm loudspeakers. The 4-ohm mode would lead to a slightly lower dissipation in the output transis- tors under quiescent (no signal) condi- tions and also lessen the risk of transis- tor ‘second breakdown” when driving ‘ifficult” (je, very low impedance) speakers ‘The question which must be asked is, “What happens if the user continually drives the amplifier hard into low int pedance speakers when the high imped: ance mode is selected?” We did not at tempt to put the question to a practical test “Soft clipping” is also an interesting concept and also harks back to valve amplifiers which had a softer clipping characteristic. NAD employs a clever circuit to accomplish it to although we ‘would prefer the LED indicator to show when it acted rather than to show when it is selected. Even more clever is the circuitry which allows the NAD to deliver high power for short periods. In effect, the amplifier has two sets of balanced (ie, positive and negative) supply rails. ‘The lower voltage rails supply the continuous power demand while the higher voltage rails are switched in when the amplifier senses that a high signal transient is occuring. Ifthe ampli- fier is driven very hard for more than half a second, PTC (positive tempera ture coefficient) thermistors are used t0 shut down the high voltage rails and thus protect the output transistors from damage, The concept is very effective, as our subsequent tests proved Performance ur first tests were to determine con- tinuous power output. These were per- formed with the impedance selector set to 8 ohms first, and then 4 ohms. In the first setting, the power output was 48 watts per channel into 8-ohm loads, 56 watts per channel into 4-ohm loads, and 48 watts per channel into 2-chm loads At the 4ohm setting, the power was 37 watts for 8-ohm loads, 44 watts for 4 ‘ohms and 55 watts for 2 ohms. With one channel driven, these latter figures AMG rose to 49 watts, 62 watts and 70 watts, respectively, Tn other words, as expected, the power output into &-ohm loads is higher ‘when the S-ohm impedance setting is used. We also confirmed the rated dis- tortion of the NAD at less than 0.03% for the above conditions. We then performed the standard THF headroom tests and achieved outputs of 190 watts per channel into 8 ohms, 310 watts per channel into 4 ohms and 160 watts per channel into 2 ohms. This was at the -ohm setting. For the 4-ohm set- ting, the equivalent figures were 190 watts, 290 watts and 160 watts. ‘These figures largely confirm NAD's claim of +6dB for headroom and mean that the effective power on program ‘material is dramatically larger than indi- cated by the fairly modest figures for continuous power output AAs far as the soft clipping feature was concerned though, we were not con- vinced. Granted, the visual effect on the oscilloscope is t0 give a gently rounded waveform at the onset of clipping. But the measured distortion is a great dal higher. For example, if the ampli- fier is set to clipping for a distortion reading of 1% and then the soft clipping circuitry is switched in, the distortion i creases to 4.5%, Nor can it be regarded as less audible although the nature of the pereeived distortion does change slightly. If your ears have a rolloft above 10kHz, you might regard the dis- tortion with soft clipping switched in as being worse. In our opinion then, the soft clipping circuitry could be omitted and the user would be best advised 10 leave it switched out Signal-to-noise ratio for the CD and line level inputs was "IB unweighted with respect to 40 watts into S-ohms. Separation between channels was 744B at 100H2, 684B at IkHz and SOdB at kHz. Other specs checked out pretty much in line with NAD's claims. ‘Our conclusions, after listening to the NAD 3240PE, is that it is a very good sounding amplifier with a very big te- serve of power output but that the soft clipping feature could have been omit: ted, Iti sure to be a big seller. Recommended retail price of the am. plifier is $599.00. Further information can be obtained from high fidelity re- tallers or from the Australian distribu- tors for NAD equipment, The Falk Electrosound Group, 28 King St, Rock- dale, NSW 2216, (L.D.S.) ® ELECTRONICS Austria, May 1987 21, ue |¢ PHONE YOUR ORDER — ALTRONICS Warehouse Moving Sale FOR NEXT DAY JETSER es 5 FS 4 Ee 8 s w ry Fd ba a = fe} F Q g z fe} c 2 a BANKCARD HOLDERS — PHON} ‘Yes we've now moved to our Fantastic New Electronics Shop ‘and Warehouse at 174 Roe Street, Perth. 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Yes wo'veng Warehouse at 174 Roe Street, Perth ros Steir he ban acngny ow ssece ene ceta sia ‘ety oar man ouput ane Sper rang ait SSRE SS SS Ss Se Seater ‘Seamount oer PEF mag neon Grea Save $200 and More by Bullding this Fine Kit Project D 1510 $19.50 K 2540 Complete Kit with Front Panel Metering $155, cote ASAD ponetom ne” K 2545 Complete Kit Without Metering $139 possibly of cost damage tom lightning ot ofmer power problems ‘The age protectar sed Mata Grice Vaedire ov} protect age adore 36 volt wit avenge normal 5-208 Nontage ives 0 1520 $9.95 The RS-232 Jumper Box is used 10 Imake custom R292 interfaces. Consists ofa tmal board with & D 1500 $19.50 all important ntertace ines by LED eet Auinetion when signal i eclwe.” Saacveater a to. le Pertormin , Ranieaes Performing Modem Only $169 re connected sight through Etch connector i et up nt lop Beck mode win pina and nore {opether ang pin 6 and 20 shor {gether ‘The R282 Null Moderns Peshe tara nests Wein The Idea! 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(08) 328 2198 for Detals. hone Stove RAYMOND TERRACE COUNTRY CAS es 2671385, 1eLD ‘Semen 812404 wha) FoRt agg BUNDABERG oars ony ‘TOUKLEY ere MEP Bedronce# en Sermuntears 75088 LEWisHAM WwoLLonaona "Becton. tonics #271620, counTRY vaio ie 400 GLADSTONE MacKay NAMBOUR Paw BEACH sre0ss yi008 PISSED) cry SUBURBAN CALOUNDRA "Beco-Man. 914270 onTiTube VALLEY ctrones ... 8923700, “Srcwoncs.....523762 PADDINGTON earn go redounero See pao Tcvence. 278052 owb5uen 254066 gosronD KURAI KURRE Newcastle Sass ss. 21088 sae 2296185 oes 29677 722018 ‘TOWNSVILLE 616085 aioe ‘yoowond FOR NEXT DAY JETSERVICE DELIVERY BANKCARD HOLDERS— PHONE ALTRONICS TOLL FREE 008 999 007Simple unit mixes two mic inputs with line Low-cost stereo mini mixer Here's a low-cost stereo mixer that should be just right for many applications. It hooks into the tape loop of a conventional stereo amplifier and can be used to mix two microphones with line level signals from an amplifier, musical instruments, or a tape recorder. by BRANCO JUSTIC Most stereo mixers are rather large and elaborate affairs but not this one. It g0es with your existing hifi-ampliier and will et you mix two microphone in- puts with program material. derived from a hifi tuner, turntable, CD player or tape recorder. It’s just the shot for 28 ELECTRONICS Australia, May 1987 small public address applications or for adding commentary to a slide show. Because the mixer is installed in the tape loop of the amplifier, all the exis ing functions of your system are re- tained. In addition, you can indepen- dently adjust the program and micro- The Mini Mixer is installed in the tape loop of your stereo amplifier. phone levels in any proportions you de- site, The resultant stereo output is then fed to the amplifier tape input sockets and is also made available to the tape recorder input sockets, Another possible application of the Mini Mixer isto use is line inputs as in- strument inputs, eg, from a guitar or electronic keyboard. In this role, the cptional mono output from the mixer can be fed to a mono amplifier, or to a stereo amplifier switched t mono mode, Result — a simple 4input mixer with two instrument and two micro- phone inputs. Let's now take a look at the controls ‘on our new Mini Mixer. In the interests of simplicity and low cost, these have been Kept to an absolute minimum, As can be seen in the photograph, there's a Power on/off switch, a linetape switch, and three potentiometer controls which set the signal levels from the micro- hones and the selected program. The line/tape switch simply selects the rogram material to be mixed with the ‘microphone inputs. In the line position, the signal is taken from the amplifier tape outputs; in the tape position, the signal comes from your tape recorder. The only other item on the front panel is @ power onioff indicator LED. ‘The rear panel accommodates the two ‘microphone jack sockets. A problem that arises with most mix- esis that, when the time comes to use them, you can never find the necessary interconnecting cables. This design solves that problem simply by using ci tive cables. The cables are soldered rectly to the mixer’s printed circuit board at one end and are fitted with RCA plugs at their free ends for con- nection to the amplifier and tape re- corder So, wherever the mixer goes, the in terconnecting cables go.level signals How it works Refer now to Fig.l. The circuit is really very simple and is based on two TLOMI op amps configured as summing amplifiers Double pole switch SI selects either the amplifier tape outputs or the tape recorder outputs. The sled inputs, together with the microphone inputs (Mic 1 and Mic 2), are then fed to level potentiometers RVI-RV3. After that, the various signals are AC-coupled via C1-C4 to the two summing amplifier ci- ats Each summing amplifier circuit con- sists of a simple resistive mixer network followed by an inverting op amp stage. ICI and its associated resistor network (RI-R3) sums the signal sources for the Jeft channel while IC2 looks after the right channel. R7 and R8 set the gain of their respective op amp stages, while C5 ‘and C6 ensure high frequency stability by rolling off the response above ‘Dkr Note that the left and right channel input signals are fed only to their respective left and right channel sum- ming amplifiers, while the microphone inputs are fed to both channels. A high degree of isolation between channels is ‘maintained due to the virtual earth characteristic atthe signal input of each op amp. ‘The outputs from the operational am- plifiers are AC-coupled via C7 and CO to the appropriate inputs on the ampli- fier and tape recorder. A simple resis- tive mixer consisting of R9, R10 and RIS provides an optional mono output whilst retaining a high degree of chan- nel separation. Power supply The Mini Mixer can be powered by batteries or by a DC ot AC pugpal supply. The acceptable range of voltage is 620V DC or 415V AC. Diodes D1-D4 form a bridge rectifier which feeds into DS. The output of DS is then filtered by C9 and fed via on/off switch $2 to a fiter/voltage divider net- work (ClO, Cll and RI2-R14) whic Provides the bias for the non-inverting Inputs of the op amps. Power indication is provided by LED D6 which is wired in series with current limiting resistor RIL across the supply rails. Because a bridge rectifier is used, an extemal DC plugpack: supply (i wie) can be connected with either polarity MINLMIXER Fig. 1 the circuit uses two op amp ICs configured as summing amplifiers. DS serves to isolate the filter circuitry so that an optional VU meter (to be de- scribed next month) can be powered from the output of the bridge. Construction A complete kit of parts for this proj- cect is available from Oatley Electronics (see price panel. Virtually all the parts, including the potentiometers and switches, are mounted on a single printed "circuit board (PCB) coded 87imw/S. This is housed in a standard plastic case mea- suring 195 x 113 x 60mm. Begin construction by filing rectangu- lar openings in the PCB to clear the switch toggles (but not the plastic pivot assemblies). Once this has been done, the parts may be installed on the PCB as shown in Fig.2. No special procedure need be followed when installing the parts, but watch the orientation of the electrolytic capacitors, diodes and inte- grated circuits ‘The switches, pots and electrolytic ca- pacitors (C7-11) are all mounted on the Copper side of the PCB. These parts are shown dotted on the layout diagram (Fig.2). Cut the pot shafts to a length of 5mm before installing the pots on the PCB. Note that the switches are mounted on Smm standoffs to provide clearance for the pivot assemblies. Short lengths of hookup wire are used to make the connections between the switch termi- nals and the PCB, and between the various pot terminals and the PCB. The completed PCB can now be put aside and attention turned to the case. ‘Two self-adhesive aluminium labels are supplied with the complete kit and these should be carefully affixed to the lid of the case and to the rear panel. This done, the case can be drilled and filed 10 accept the pot shafts and switch ac- tuators, and to accept the two micro- phone sockets on the rear panel Specifications Gain 6 SdB (1kH2) Line inputs. Mic. inputs 33.508 (1kHz) Signal-to-noise ratio (6608 (1 output) 6208 (1V output) response OH2-20kHz (-308) ‘TOHz-20kH2 (-348) Line inputs Mic. inputs Frequency Line inputs: Mic. inputs. ELECTRONICS Australia, May 1987 29‘The PCB should only take a few minutes to assemble. Take care with component orientation and note that the external leads are run ‘rough strain relief holes in the PC! You will also have to drill a series of ‘entry holes on the rear panel for the ex- temal connecting and for the power supply leads. These holes can all be 4mm in diameter. Finally, two 3mm mounting holes should be drilled in the front panel (to match the PCB mounting holes), along with a hole for the indicator LED. The latter should be a push fit into its Hi mounting hole and can be permanently secured with a dab of epoxy adhesive, All that remains now is the wiring and final assembly. The input, output and power leads are run to the PCB via the holes provided in the rear panel and via the strain relief holes on the PCB itself (See photo). The RCA sockets are wired. using short (approx. 200mm) lengths of shielded audio cable while ‘The pots, switches and electrolytic capacitors are all mounted on the copper side of the PCB. the LED is connected using ordinary hookup wire. Be careful not to confuse the anode and cathode leads, otherwise the LED won't work. ‘Once the wiring has been completed, gp over your work and carefully check for wiring errors. In particular, check that all polarised parts have been in- stalled correctly. This done, the PCB