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RADIOiEUCTRONIGS

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AMPLIFIER ONE
 CONSTRUCTOR

MAY 1974 CONTENTS

Vol. 27 No. 10
SHORT WAVE REGENERATIVE RECEIVER 594
Published Monthly (1st of Monthl by R. A. Penfold
First Published 1947 MAINS-HUM TOUCH-BUTTON 600
(Suggested Circuit 282) by G. A. French
Incorporating The Radio Amateur
CAN ANYONE HELP? 602
Editorial and Advertising Offices R.F. COUPLED MORSE OSCILLATOR 603
57 MAIDA VALE LONDON W9 1SN by M. H. George
Telephone Telegrams NEWS AND COMMENT 604
01-286 6141 Databux, London
TRANSISTOR GAIN BRIDGE 606
by R. J. Caborn
©Data Publicatio'ns Ltd., 1974. Contents
may only be reproduced after obtaining prior CATALOGUE RECEIVED 608
permission from the Editor. Short abstracts or
references are allowable provided acknowled- MAKING PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARDS 609
gement of source is c(iven.
by Arthur C. Gee
Annual Subscription: £2.70 (U.S.A. and 6+6 STEREO AMPLIFIER 612
Canada $7.00) including postage. Remit-
tances should be made payable to "Data by A. P. Roberts
Publications Ltd". Overseas readers
please pay by cheque or International R.F. 'NOSE' 617
Money Order. by James Kerrick
Technical Queries. We regret that we I.C. TRIAC TIMER 618
are unable to answer queries other than by P. Manners
those arising from articles appearing in
this magazine nor can we advise on
modifications to equipment described. NEW PRODUCTS 622
We regret that such queries cannot be
answered over the telephone; they SHORT WAVE NEWS - For Dx Listeners 623
must be submitted in writing and by Frank A. Baldwin
accompanied by a stamped addressed
envelope for reply. THE 'BIFLEXETTE' PORTABLE RECEIVER 625
Correspondence should be addressed to by Sir Douglas Hall, K.C.M.G.
the Editor, Advertising Manager, Sub- IN YOUR WORKSHOP 630
scription Manager or the Publishers as
appropriate. A.M. Diode Detectors
Opinions expressed by contributors are TWO-WIRE TWO-WAY BUZZERS 637
not necessarily those of the Editor or by Barrie Gilbert
proprietors.
CONSTRUCTOR'S DATA SHEET No. 86 iii
Production.—Web Offset. (Television Transmission Frequencies 1)
Published in Great Britain by the Proprietors and
Publishers, Data Publications Ltd, 57 Maida Vale, JUNE ISSUE WILL BE
London, W91SN
The Radio & Electronics Constructor is printed b> PUBLISHED ON 1st JUNE
Carlisle Web Offset.
MAY, 1974 593
 SHORT WAVE

REGENERA TIVE

RECEIVER

By R. A. Penfold

ONE OF THE MANY FASCINATIONS OF SHORT WAVE,

listening is that stations thousands of miles away
can be received quite well using only a fairly simple
receiver. Thus although the receiver described here has
only modest gain by modern standards, when properly
used with a good aerial world-wide reception is possible.
The set has been designed mainly for use on the short
wave broadcast bands, and the frequency coverage
This is a 3-transistor short wave with the specified Denco Range 4T plug-in coils extends
receiver covering 17 to 4.8MHz for from about 17 to 4.8 MHz. This takes in five of the most
reception of the most popular broad- popular bands at 19, 25, 31, 39 and 49 metres, and
cast bands. If desired, two additional also includes the 20 and 40 metre amateur bands.
coils may be employed, whereupon Results on the amateur bands are not likely to be as
good as they are on the broadcast bands due to the
the recevier range includes the 80 and lower power of amateur transmissions. Many European
160 metre amateur bands. stations can be received, however, and occasionally
stations from further afield. If desired, the constructor
can fit Denco Range 3T coils in addition to the Range
4T coils, whereupon the receiver will operate quite
efficiently on the 80 and 160 metre amateur bands.
Power is obtained from an internal 9 volt battery, and
the batteiy life is very good as the consumption is only
4mA. The receiver is intended for high impedance
headphones, and the output may also be coupled to an
a.f. amplifier.
RECEIVER CIRCUIT
The circuit diagram of the receiver is shown in Fig. 1.
As can be seen from this, only three transistors are
* % employed. The first, TR1, is used as an r.f. amplifier,
whilst TR2 functions as a regenerative detector and
TR3 as an a.f. amplifier. The aerial is coupled to the
primary of LI via the potentiometer VRl, which acts
* * * as an r.f. gain control. VC1 is the main tuning capacitor
for LI, with VC3 operating as an aerial trimmer. The
third winding on LI couples to the base of TR1. This
is a conventional r.f. amplifier using a standard
germanium transistor biasing circuit.
594 RADIO & ELECTRONICS CONSTRUCTOR
 C
Output ll
SK3

-9V
ww ww
I C3 tl
I
® III u
®SK,
I 9
TR
C-7 III --VVW—
:: ■|
I 1 r
(blue) AFII4 !//~l /
VC2 TR
L21 AFII4
(yellow)
VR TR3
I
8o)lll VC3 BC258
VR2 VR3
7"
R2gc2
vc.
H
®SKa Shield

b c
bee
AFII4 BC258
Lead-outs Lead-outs

Fig, 1. The circuit of the regeneretive short wave receiver.

Tbe primly 0f L2 provides the collector load for CIO and Rll. The last component offers final r.f.
an<i VC4 are filtering. The a.f. stage, incorporating TR3, is quite
• j- of L2.
winding VC2 is theconnected across
main tuning the and
control tuned
is conventional and has sufficient output to feed a pair of
ganged with VCI in the aerial input stage. The 2-gang high impedance headphones. SI is the on-off switch
capacitor functions as a handset control, and VC4 and is ganged with VR3. R4, R8, C6 and C3 are supply
operates as a bandspread capacitor. The third winding decoupling components.
on L2 couples into the base of TR2 and is connected The BC258 specified for TR3 is available from
such that the signal at the collector of TR2 is in phase Electrovalue Ltd., 28 St. Judes Road, Englefield Green,
with that at the upper end (pin 6) of the tuned winding Egham, Surrey. Many of the components are fitted
In consequence, regeneration is introduced via C7. to three tagstrips with horizontal tags, one of these
Potentiometer VR2 controls the biasing current for being 6-way and the other two 8-way. The 6-way
TR2 and hence its gain. For the reception of a.m. tagstrip is approximately 2.9in. long and the 8-way
signals this control is set just below the point at which tagstrips approximately 3.7in. long. These were obtained
the gain of the circuit is sufficient to cause oscillation. by the writer from a local retailer, and identical types
To receive c.w. and s.s.b. signals VR2 is set just above are not available from the usual mail order houses.
this point so that the detector is gently oscillating. However it will be in order to employ other tagstrips
Results on c.w. and s.s.b. are very good with regard to which are of around the same size or somewhat
quality. smaller, such as the Bulgin tagstrips available from
Apart from giving a very useful increase in gain, the Home Radio under Cat. No. BTS62 (6-way) and Cat
r.f amplifier also serves to prevent oscillations in the No. BTS64 (8-way).
TR2 stage from reaching the earial, where they could
cause interference in neighbouring receivers. CHASSIS AND PANEL
L3 is the r.f. load for TR2 collector, and R7 is the a.f The chassis measures 8 by 4 by 2in. and can be home-
load, with C12 providing r.f. decoupling. VR3 is the made from 18 s.w.g. aluminium or purchased already
a.f. volume control and it feeds the a.f. stage by way of made. The author obtained his chassis from H. L.
MAY 1974
595
 8'-
4 holes for
base plate
SK, SK2
Ae E
AF. above
o-" 3-E:fEEEE3'
Detector under RF. under Fig. 2. Drilling details for the receiver chassis.
o Dimensions not shown are discussed in the text.
-2"-1 For VC|/2 r-',/4S1
" " S
el low)
(yellow) l/S^j T|
1/2^' (blue) 3/4"
U4"
SK3 VR2 VR3 VC3 VR|

U|l/2U-|iJ

Smith & Co. Ltd., 287/9 Edgware Road, London, W.2. The mounting holes for VR1, VR2, VR3 and VC3
In Fig. 2, the chassis is viewed from the top with the are fin. diameter. The diameters of the holes for SK),
four flanges opened out. When home-constructed, the, SK2 and SK3 depend upon the particular components
flanges will be bent down, away from the reader. Coils employed. Fig. 2 also shows the positioning of the
LI and L2 are plugged into standard B9A valveholders, 6-way r.f. amplifier tagstrip, and the 8-way detector and
which require a fin. diameter cut-out. The valveholder a.f. amplifier tagstrips. The first two are below the
tags should have the orientation with respect to chassis chassis whilst the last is above. The two 8-way tagstrips
which is shown in the under-chassis wiring diagrams of share the same pair of mounting holes. All the tagstrip
Figs. 4 and 5 and, with some valveholders, this may holes are marked out with the aid of the tagstrips
mean that the two 6BA clear mounting hole positions themselves and are drilled 6BA clear or 8BA clearlto
for each holder may be displaced slightly from those suit the actual tagstrips to be used. Two mounting
shown in Fig. 2. The fin. holes should be made first, holes are shown for the 2-gang capacitor and these
the valveholders held in these to give the required tag should be 4BA clear. The 2-gang capacitor is mounted
orientation and the mounting holes then marked out by two iin. 4BA screws passing through these holes,
using the valveholders as templates. A solder tag is and its final positioning should be such that its spindle
secured, below the chassis, under each of the 6BA protrudes by about Jin. through the centre of the panel
mounting nuts. hole which is shown in Fig. 3. The capacitor should not

'/j'dia 3/8 dia

0 /-
Fig. 3. The front pane! of the receiver. VCi/2 VC4

^—(j>—-e-—©—©
SK3 VR2 VR3 VC3 VR|

—i'/S" '/2-
Material; 18s.w.g. aluminium
S% RADIO &ELECTRONICS CONSTRUCTOR
be mounted until the front panel has been fitted.
There are five further holes shown in Fig. 2 on the
chassis deck. These are intended for the passage of
wires and are drilled Jin. diameter in the approximate
places indicated. They are then fitted with grommets to
protect the wires.
A base plate is fitted to the chassis. This can be
obtained with the chassis, if this is commercially made,
but the author chose to make one from an 18 s.w.g.
aluminium sheet measuring 8J by 3|-in. This has a iin.
flange bent up at 90° at each end, giving a 7j by 3|in.
plate which pushes into place under the chassis. The
four holes in the side flanges of the chassis are drilled
clearance size for small self-tapping screws. The base
plate is then temporarily placed in position and the
required four holes in its flanges marked out with a
pencil. These are then drilled out tapping size for the
self-tapping screws. The base plate may be fitted with #
four small rubber feet near its corners.
The front panel, which as already been referred to,
is shown in Fig. 3. This is cut from a sheet of 18 s.w.g.
aluminium and measures 8 by 5in. The lower row of
holes is identical to the corresponding holes in the front Rear view of the chassis. The two coiis plug into
flange of the chassis and the front panel is, in fact, B9A valveholders.
secured to the chassis under the bush mounting nuts
of SK.3, VR2, VR3, VC3 and VR1. Also required are
the Jin. hole for the spindle of VC1, VC2 and a |in. hole
.for VC4.

Resistors COMPONENTS
(All fixed values i watt 10%)
R1 12ka
R2 2.2ka Inductors
R3 ikn LI Miniature dual-purpose,
R4 820a transistor usage, Blue coil Range
R5 56kn 4T and 3T (optional) (Denco)
R6 ikn L2 Miniature dual-purpose, transistor
R7 2.2kn usage, Yellow coil Range 4T and
R8 220n 3T (optional) (Denco)
R9 820kn L3 R.F. choke, 1.5mH
R10 4.7kn
Rll 2.2kn Transistors
VR1 25kn poteniometer, linear TR1 AF114
VR2 10kn potentiometer, linear TR2 AF114
VR3 5kn potentiometer, log, with TR3 BC258
switch SI
Switch
Capacitors SI S.P.S.T. toggle, part of VR3
C1 18pF silvered mica
C2 0.022pF polyester Sockets
C3 0.022(iF polyester SKI Wander plug socket
C4 0.01 pF disc ceramic SK2 Wander plug socket
C5 0.022pF polyester SK3 3.5mm jack socket
C6 100 qF electrolytic, 10 V.Wkg.
C7 1. 8pF ceramic or silvered mica Miscellaneous
C8 O.OlpF disc ceramic 9-volt battery type PP3 (Ever Ready)
C9 lOpF electrolytic, 10 V.Wkg. 4 round knobs
C10 IpF electrolytic, 10 V.Wkg. 2 pointer knobs
C11 lOpF electrolytic, 10 V.Wkg. 2 B9A valveholders
C12 0.0IpF polyester Battery connector
VC1, VC2 365+365pF2-gang variable, 1 6-way tagstrip (see text)
type 'O' (Jackson Bros.) 2 8-way tagstrips (see text)
VC3 50pF variable, type C804 1 aluminium chassis 8 x 4 x 2 in. with base
(Jackson Bros.) plate (see text)
VC4 15pF variable, type C804 1 aluminium panel, 18 s.w.g., 8 x 5 in.
(Jackson Bros.) 4 rubber feet.

MAY 1974 597

COMPONENT ASSEMBLIES To A.F. amp.
Most of the components are mounted on the tagstrips
already discussed, and details of the wiring involved C9
are given in Figs. 4, 5 and 6. Fig. 4 illustrates the r.f.
stage wiring. Fig. 5 the wiring for the detector and Fig. 6
that for the a.f. stage. These diagrams show nearly all
the other wiring for the receiver.
Start the eleptrical side of construction by mounting
the various components on their tagstrips. In the
diagrams the components are shown well spaced out for TR2 C Neg. to
clarity. In practice, however, component leads are ail I2 R.F amp.
kept fairly short, as can be seen in the photographs.
It is advisable to cut the component leads to length, Neg from r7
and to tin these with solder prior to attempting to □mp
mount the components. O) I (vr\ (O) To A.F. amp.
When the strips have all their components fitted to Z/9.
them they may be mounted on the chassis. The r.f. To VC2and
stage is mounted on its own on the underside of the VC4 ^21 ^^To R.F. amp
chassis, being spaced away from the chassis by about
} to lin. The detector and a.f. tagstrips are mounted by
the same bolts or lengths of studding, and are also
spaced away from the chassis by about i to 1 in.
As can be seen from the diagrams,^ quite a lot of
interconnecting wiring is required. This is carried out
with thin p.v.c. insulated wire, and it must be kept
reasonably short, Cl, C5 and C7 are not mounted on
the tagstrips, but in the manner shown in Fig. 5. It will
be necessary to solder an extension lead to the base VR3 VR2
lead-out of TR1 in order to reach tag 7 of LI coil holder.
See Fig. 4. This lead should be covered with thin p.v.c. Fig. 5. The components and wiring at the detector
sleeving. Since TR1 and TR2 are germanium types, tagstrip.
their lead-outs should be at least Jin, long, and the use
of a heat shunt during soldering is advised.
The fixed vanes of VC4 are connected above the
chassis to the fixed vanes of VC2. Connection to the
moving vanes of VC1, VC2, VC3 and VC4 is auto-
matically made by way of their mounting on the chassis
or front panel.
Only one lead is shown, in Fig, 6, passing to SK3.
C4
Neg. from detector

Earthed to solder
tag at L2 holder
To S| To SK3
C||
Neg. to detector
C6 TR3
a vc.

R
IO
ClO
T To VR3 slider
VR| VC3 Chassis edge

Fig. 4. The wiring around the aerial stage. Fig. 6. The layout of the a.f. amplifier stage.

598 RADIO & ELECTRONICS CONSTRUCTOR

The tag on this socket which corresponds to the sleeve
of the jack plug should automatically provide a chassis'
point by way of its mounting bush, and this tag takes m
the positive battery lead. If SK3 is of the type which is m
insulated from chassis, the tag in question is connected
to the nearer solder tag under L2 coil holder mounting
nut. A lead from the a.f. amplifier tagstrip passes
through the chassis to one tag of SI. The negative
battery lead connects to the remaining tag of SI. There
are a number of convenient spaces under the chassis
where the battery can be mounted vertically. It is held
firmly in place when the base plate is screwed in
position, a piece of foam rubber or plastic being glued
to the plate to hold the battery firmly in place. A blue
aerial coil plugs into the holder for LI and a yellow r.f. Another view of the parts fitted below the chassis.
coil into the holder for L2.
ALIGNMENT OPERATING NOTES
Due to the presence of a panel ^operated aerial The handset control, VC1, VC2, is employed to
trimmer there is no necessity for precise alignment, as search the dial for the required band. When this has
this trimmer can be adjusted to peak the aerial tuned been located and VC1, VC2 set to the band centre, the
circuit at the various settings of the main tuning control. bandspread capacitor, VC4, is employed to tune across
The only setting-up required consists of initially the band. VC4 has a much smaller value than the band-
adjusting the core of the yellow r.f. coil so that about set control and so only covers a very restricted range of
fin. of the threaded brass stem protrudes from the top. frequencies. This gives the same effect as tuning the
The aerial trimmer, bandspread and main tuning handset control by way of a high ratio reduction drive.
capacitors are then set to their central positions and the VR3 and SI function as a normal combined a.f. volume
core of LI adjusted for maximum sensitivity. control and on-off switch. VR2 is the reaction control
If Range 3T coils are also to be used these are set up and, as stated earlier, is adjusted so that the detector is
in the same way. The cores can be held in position by just below the point at which oscillation occurs when
passing a 6BA nut over each of the threaded stems and receiving a.m. signals. It is at this point that the receiver
locking this gently against the top of the plastic former. is most sensitive and exhibits its greatesr selectivity. VR2
is set just above the threshold of oscillation for the
AERIAL AND EARTH reception of c.w. and s.s.b. signals. It is obvious when
A normal long wire aerial should be used, and this the detector is oscillating since there is a sudden in-
should preferably be a proper outdoor type, some 50ft. crease in the noise level, and a loud whistle is heard as
in length and set as high as possible. A short indoor the set is tuned across an a.m. transmission.
aerial will give some results and a surprisingly large It should be mentioned that the yellow Denco r.f. coil
number of stations can be received with such an earial. is basically intended for r.f. coupling without the provi-
It will not, however, give results which are comparable sion of regeneration and there is a very slight possibility
with those resulting from the use of a good outdoor that its base coupling coil may be incorrectly phased. If
aerial. no oscillation can be obtained, this point may be
A proper earth connection, consisting of a metal rod ascertained by temporarily transposing the connections
or plate with wire attached, and buried in damp earth, to tags 5 and 7 of the holder for L2.
will probably slightly improve results. A mains earth VR1 is the r.f. gain control and is normally set to
connection is not usually of much help, and may even maximum. It may be turned back somewhat with very
introduce interference. strong signals, which can otherwise overload the detector
and make it impossible to obtain oscillation. In extreme
cases the overloading will be heard as a loud hissing
noise in the headphones. Very strong s.s.b. signals will
tend to sound a little distorted and their quality can be
improved by reducing the r.f. gain.
The aerial trimmer VC3, is used to peak received
signals and it is important to see that this is always
correctly adjusted. Both VR2 and VC3 will probably
need some slight adjustment each time the tuning con-
trols are significantly altered.
Best results are given with 4,0000 headphones. Also,
crystal headphones or even a crystal earpiece can be
used.
Logging scales can be marked around the knobs of
the handset and bandspread controls. On the prototype
a simple 0-10 scale is provided around each, but more
comprehensive scales can be used if desired. The 0-10
scales were taken from 'Panel Signs' Set No. 5. Legends
The underside of the chassis. Most of the small were also provided above each control to indicate
components in the r.f. amplifier and detector function, and these were provided by 'Panel Signs' Set
stages are mounted on two tagstrips. No. 4. 'Panel Signs' are available from the publishers of
this journal.
MAY 1974 599

m
 principle and employs pick-up of emitter follower: its base, and hence
Operation of electrical and the collector of TR1, takes up a
electronic circuits by touch- mains hum to actuate a relay by way of potential which allows the correspond-
button is by no means a new feature of an a.f. amplifier and rectifier. All con- ing bias current to flow into the base ot
technology, and buttons of this nature structors will be familiar with the TR1. The circuit thus stabilizes at this
have been employed for the control ot mains hum which is reproduced by the emitter potential in TR2, and the
lifts and similar purposes in America speaker of an audio amplifier when an overall result is a high gain a.f. ampli-
for quite a few years. A touch-button input point is touched with a finger. fier which requires few components.
sets a circuit in operation when it is Advantage is taken of this effect here; The base of TR1 would normally be
touched by a human finger, and no the touch-button is coupled to an a.f. fed by a low impedance input circuit,
pressure is required as occurs with a amplifier input and a mains hum but in the present application there is
conventional push-button. One of the voltage is injected when the button is negligible loading on the base at all.
advantages conferred is that there is touched. The circuit has to be classed Because of this it is necessary to screen
no mechanical wear on the button, but as experimental because it depends the base wiring of TR1 to prevent
there is the accompanying disadvan- upon the mains fields which exist in capacitive coupling to the following
tage that the circuit required around the area where the button is located. components in the amplifier as, other-
the button is more complex than is In the writer's house, which has wise, r.f. instability can result. The
given by the simple closure of two unscreened mains wiring, the circuit circuit is quite stable provided that the
contacts in a push-button. was sufficiently sensitive to be actuated screening is carried out efficiently.
Touch-buttons are appearing more by holding a finger very close to the Capacitor C2 is included to reduce the
and more frequently in domestic button without actually touching it. gain at radio frequencies. The input
entertainment equipment, a typical In consequence it was possible to impedance looking into TR1 base is
example being given in the Ferguson actuate the device even whilst wearing low, but this base proves in practice to
4000 series of colour television re- gloves. In houses which have screened offer an adequate mains hum pick-up
ceivers. Here, the touch-buttons are mains wiring, the mains fields will be point.
referred to as 'touch pads' and are smaller in intensity, and sensitivity When the touch-button is touched,
used for channel selection. Each touch may be lower. It is possible that a field
may be artificially introduced by the amplified hum signal at TR2
pad has two exposed contacts which running an unscreened mains wire collector is fed, via C3, to the rectifier
are bridged by the finger tip when near the touch-button and this point Dl. The junction of C3 and D1 then
touched. This causes a small current takes up a rectified potential which is
to be passed to one of the inputs of is dealt with later. proportional to the signal amplitude
an MOS integrated circuit. The ix. The circuit of the device appears in
Fig. 1, in which the touch button from TR2 and which is negative with
latches on at the latest pad to be couples via screened wire to capacitor respect to the positive upper supply
touched and provides a corresponding rail. This rectified signal has a very
output which switches in one of a C1 and then to the base of TR1. TR1 high alternating content at mains
number of pre-set varicap tuning and TR2 appear in a high gain a.f. frequency and its harmonics, and needs
circuits. amplifier circuit. The collector of TR1
connects directly to the base of TR2, to be 'smoothed' before it can be
and the final amplified signal appears applied to the relay actuating section of
home constructor the circuit. The 'smoothing' is carried
CIRCUIT across R3. Rl, the base bias resistor
for TR1, is taken to the emitter of out by R5 and C5, whereupon a
negative-going signal is fed to silicon
The device to be described in this TR2, which is bypassed for a.f. by C4.
transistor TR3. This functions as an
article operates on quite a different Under d.c. conditions TR2 acts as an ■RADIO & ELECTRONICS CONSTRU "TOR
600
 4 x IN4002 On-Off
D| +- - C
4-7 kn 2-2kn OA79 IUF 2-2Ma 8V rxi
A.C
TR TR2 ' r3 TR4 mains
I
Touch- ^1 BCI07 BC 07 C3 R5 BC2I4L ACYI8
-button OI>iF OluF 220kn
LJ
o=HW«TP L_J IpOOpF
12V wkg

Relay t S>2
RJU C4 6-8kn coil IN4002
R4
I C2 i 4 S 64pF
Mn
I.OOO 7-5knT |0v wkg
I
Relay
contacts
000 To controlled
bee circuit
R1-R7 'Mwatt IO°/o BC2I4L
BCI07 ACV18
Lead-outs Lead-outs

Fig. 1. Complete circuit of the touch-button unit.

germanium component, whilst D2 to on a piece of Veroboard, as either of

emitter follower and passes an ampli- these would provide an excessive area
fied current to the base of TR4. TR4 D6 are silicon rectifiers. The function of metal in contact with the base of the
is a small robust germanium transistor of D2 is to prevent the appearance of a transistor which could couple by stray
and its collector current then energises high reverse voltage across the relay capacitances to the other components.
the relay. coil when its energising current is The connection between the screened
Overall circuit operation may be turned off. It is important to connect cable and the transistor base lead-out
summed up in the following manner. D2 into circuit with correct polarity, or should take the form of a 'mid-air
When the touch-button is not touched, excess current can flow in TR4 and joint', as illustrated in Fig. 2. The
any signal present at TR2 collector is cause this transistor to be damaged. braiding of the screened cable may be
mainly amplified noise with possibly a Capacitors Cl, C3 and C5 are earthed at the emitter connection point
low hum content. Should this signal polyester or polycarbonate compo- of the transistor. The author used thin
voltage be sufficiently high to be nents. A IpP electrolytic capacitor flexible screened wire having closely
rectified by Dl, it will still be too low having a working voltage of 4 volts or meshed braiding. This was also used
to take the base-emitter junction of more could, alternatively, be fitted in for coupling Cl to the touch-button.
TR3 up to the 0.6 volt level it requires the C5 position. Its positive lead-out Any flexible screened wire suitable for
for the transistor to become conduc- should connect to the positive supply connecting a pick-up or a microphone
tive. Thus TR3, and in consequence rail. Mains transformer T1 is a small to an a.f. amplifier would be suitable
TR4, remains cut off. When the touch- bell transformer of the type which is
button is touched, a rectified hum available at' the electrical counter of
signal in excess of 1 volt appears at the Woolworth's Stores. It has an 8 volt
junction of C3 and Dl, and this secondary with a 5 volt tap which is not To C|and R|
is sufficient to make TR3 conductive used here. The relay can be any
and thereby turn TR4 fully on. The component having a coil resistance of
relay energises and its contacts switch 25012 or more, and which is capable of Tagstrip
on any external circuit which it is energising at 8 volts or less. In the \ -pj L,d Earthed tag
desired to have the touch-button prototype circuit, the author used a
control. P.O. 3000 relay with a 50012 coil.
The power for the circuit is obtained With the exception of the input wir-
from the a.c. mains supply by way of ing to TRI base, layout is not at all
transformer T1 and the bridge rectifier critical. It is essential, however, to Chassis
given by D3 to D6. The only other prevent interaction between the base of
power supply component is reservoir TRI and the remainder of the a.f.
capacitor C6, which also carries out amplifier section. Cl and R1 should be Fig. 2. The screened wire to
the secondary function of providing a mounted several inches from the other the base of TR1 must connect
signal frequency bypass across the components, and the connection be- to it in the manner shown
supply rails. tween TRI base and the junction of Cl here. It is assumed that the
and R1 should be carried out with transistor is mounted on a
PRACTICAL POINTS screened wire, the braiding of which tagstrip, but any other suitable
The components employed in the extends very nearly to the base lead- means of anchoring the emit-
circuit are all standard widely available out of the transistor. The base lead-out ter and collector lead-outs
parts. Like TR3, TRI and TR2 are should not be anchored to a tag on a can be used.
silicon transistors. Diode Dl is a tagstrip or, say, to a strip of copper foil
MAY 1974 601
here. Television aerial coaxial cable not be fixed direct to a wooden surface. duce a low background hiss which
might not be suitable and is best Working from the writer's experi- rises to a loud hum when the button is
avoided. ence, the area of the button should be touched. A loud hiss accompanied by
It should be repeated that the pre- kept low or it will, itself, pick up an erratic operation of the relay indicates
cautions against instability just des- excessive hum signal. With the proto- that the amplifier is oscillating, and
cribed apply only to the base of TR1. type it was possible to energise the attention should then be paid to the
The circuitry around TR1 and TR2 relay when a flat piece of metal 2 in. screening of the lead to the base of
may be looked upon as a simple a.f. square was rested, on its own, on the TR1. Connecting the headphones will
amplifier involving no unwanted feed- touch button. To give a further idea of prevent the relay from operating
back problems, with the proviso that sensitivity, the relay also operated because of the relatively low resist-
there is just one point, at the base of when the author held one lead-out of a ance then applied across the diode.
TR1, which is 'hot'. 4.7MII resistor between his fingers and Alternatively, the input of an external
The touch-button can be a small applied the other lead-out of the a.f. amplifier could be coupled to the
round metal disc having a diameter of resistor to the button. This high diode, the earthy input terminal
about i in. which is suitably mounted sensitivity means that the button could connecting to the negative supply rail
on an insulating material, as in Fig. 3. not be sited out of doors due to the and the non-earthy input lead to the
The screened wire between C1 and this problems of electrical leakage during junction of Dl and C3 via a 0.01 nF
disc can be any length up to 6 ft. or so. and after rain. As was mentioned capacitor. The external amplifier gain
The mounting for the button must be a earlier, the results obtained depend on will need to be kept fairly low due to
reliable insulator, and the disc should the strength of the mains fields in the the high amplitude of the signal
vicinity of the button. If these are weak across Dl.
Insulated mounting a single unscreened insulated wire As a final point, it will in many cases
connected to the live side of the mains be found preferable not to have the
could be positioned vertically on a wall chassis of the touch-button unit
about 2 yards away from the button. connected to earth. This will enable the
The wire could be about 5 ft. long and chassis to carry a small mains voltage
should provide a sufficiently high field itself by way of the internal stray
for the touch-button, although this capacitances in transformer Tl. In
Metal disc Screened wire point would have to be determined houses with screened mains wiring this
experimentally and has not been will enable a hum voltage to be devel-
Fig. 3. The aentre lead of the checked out by the writer. oped across the base and emitter of
screened wire connects to the The operation of the a.f. amplifier Till due to the capacitance to earth of
touch-button, which consists section can be monitored by connecting the body of the operator touching the
of a metai disc fitted on an a pair of high resistance headphones button, rather than through the
insulated mounting. across diode Dl. These should repro- pick-up of external mains hum fields. B

CAN ANYONE HELP?

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

Radio Constructor, November and December 1968 - Mecablitz 500 Electronic Harp - W. Swann, 127 St.
K. Stephenson, "Red Screes", Mayo Street. Cocker- Wilfrids Road, West Hallam, Derbyshire, DE7 6HG -
mouth, Cumberland, CA13 OBY - To Purchase. circuit diagram or information as to where obtainable.

BC 221 AL Signal Corps Frequency Meter - P. Berwick,

10 Selbourne Road, Hockley, Essex - Manual required, R-C Bridge - T. R. Smith, 7 Purbeck Court, Park Barn, *
or any relevant information, to purchase or borrow. Guildford, Surrey - circuit diagram, preferably for
transistorised R-C Bridge.
Power Supply - R. G. Coombe, 45 Sax,on Road, Exeter,
Devon, EX1 2TD - Circuit of j)ower supply to run Car
Radio/Cassette Recorder from 240 volt a.c. mains, World Tapes for Education - A. J. Woodhams, 18
required. Normanhurst Road, Borough Green, Sevenoaks, Kent -
Information of this or any other known international
Radio Constructor bound volumes, Nos. 20/21/22 (August organisation for the exchange of recorded correspondence
1966-July 1969) - Trevor F. C. Davis, I064A London tapes.
Road, Thornton Fleath, Surrey, CR4 7ND - To purchase
in unmarked condition suitable for private library.
Phillips Communication Receiver and Power Unit - Type
Ferranti 194 Mains Receiver - J. Carver, 112 Merthyr p.C.R. - V. R. Robb, 33 Stranmillis Gardens, Belfast,
Mawr Road, Bridgend, Glamorgan, CF31 3NY- circuit BT9 5AS, Northern Ireland - Circuit diagram and/or any
diagram required. other data.

602 RADIO & ELECTRONICS CONSTRUCTOR

 R.F. COUPLED
I

MORSE

OSCILLATOR

By M. H. George

An unusual and inexpensive This unit employs a standard unijunction a.f.

design which allows a Morse oscillator, and it has the unusual feature that it can
be coupled to any medium or medium and long wave
practice oscillator to be induct- transistor radio without making any direct connections.
ively coupled to an a.m. transistor
radio. CIRCUIT OPERATION
The circuit of the unit appears in the accompanying
diagram. The tone is produced by tfjp unijunction
transistor TR1, the frequency of oscillation being
controlled by the pre-set potentiometer VR1. When the
+ 6 to 12V key is open, the unijunction pulses given by C1 dis-
charging into R2 have a relatively long fall time. How-
3*3 kn. ever, when the key is closed C1 is discharging more or
less into a short-circuit, apart from the emitter - base 1
VR 330A junction of TR1, and the pulses have correspondingly a
very short fall time and a high current amplitude. These
I Ma pulses can be picked up by the ferrite rod aerial of an
TR, a.m. transistor radio positioned about a foot from the
] TIS43 leads to the key. The signal consists of r.f. harmonics of
the unijunction tone modulated at the basic tone
frequency. Thus, a loud tone is given by the speaker of
the radio each time the key is pressed.
OliiF In the prototype the leads between the oscillator unit
IBOa and the key are about 3 feet long and consist of two
separate untwisted wires. Performance may vary
according to the particular radio employed, but a little
experiment will soon indicate the best mutual position-
B1 ( o o o JE TIS43 ing required for this and the key leads.
B2 Lead-outs The frequency of oscillation is set up by adjusting
VR1. The range of oscillation is wide and VR1 needs to
be adjusted fairly carefully for the desired frequency.
The unit can operate from any d.c. supply between 6
Circuit of the r.f. coupled Morse practice and 12 volts. At 6 volts current consumption is 1.5mA,
oscillator. The three fixed resistors are J watt 10% and at 12 volts it is 2.6mA. The current drawn from the
and 1/7? 7 may be a skeleton potentiometer. supply alters only slightly when the key is pressed. ■
MAY 1974 603
 TRANSISTOR

GAIN BRIDGE

by R. J. Caborn

A test circuit that is easy to build, calibrate and operate.

The unit described here enables the current We can use this state of affairs to make up a tran-
gain of small-signal transistors to be quickly sistor gain bridge, as illustrated in simplified form in
measured. It is based on the circuit simplifications' Fig. 2(a). The transistor shown here is the device whose
which are given when an emitter follower has an emitter current gain we wish to find, and RB is now a variable
potential equal to half the supply voltage. resistor. The two resistors to the right, RX and RY,
have equal values, with the result that the voltage at
HALF VOLTAGE OPERATION their junction is equal to half the supply voltage. The
To appreciate basic circuit operation, it will be meter is a centre-zero type and the similarity with a
helpful to look first at Fig. 1, which shows a transistor standard Wheatstone bridge can be seen straightway.
connected as an emitter follower with RE as its emitter We next adjust RB until the meter reads zero, which
load and RB as its base bias resistor. We will assume means that the transistor emitter is at half the supply
for the moment that there is zero voltage drop across voltage. The gain of the transistor, in terms of hFE -i- 1,
the base-emitter junction of the transistor. is then equal to the value given by RB divided by the
The values of the resistors are such that the voltage value of RE. In a working version of the circuit we
across RE, shown as VE, is equal to the voltage, VB, would know the value of RE and we would have
across RB. Now, the emitter follower has a current previously fitted RB with a pointer knob and scale
gain of hFE + 1, so the current flowing in RE is hFE +1 calibrated directly in terms of transistor gain.
times the current flowing in RB. Since the voltage We have to consider a few further points before we
across each resistor is equal it follows that the resistor can bring the basic circuit of Fig. 2(a) up to a fully
values are in inverse ratio to the currents. So, the practical state. First of all, the transistor gain figure
value of RB is hFE + 1 times the value of RE. provided by the bridge is hFE + 1. But unless the gain
figure is very low we would introduce little error if we
quite simply forgot the '+ 1' term and said that we are
• vcc + obtaining a measure of hFE. We have also assumed that
there is zero voltage drop across the base-emitter
junction of the transistor being checked. If this is a
VB :rb germanium type the actual voltage drop in the base-
emitter junction will be about 0,15 volt, and this will
introduce a small error in the readings given by the
bridge. Provided that the supply voltage is reasonably
high, say 9 volts, this error should not be large enough
to be significant.
Re VE If, on the other hand, the transistor .being measured
is a silicon type then there will be a voltage drop of
approximately 0.6 volt across the base-emitter junction.
This higher voltage can cause an error in bridge readings
which is large enough to merit action, and it is necessary
VB-VE to modify the bridge by inserting a silicon diode
between RX and RY, as shown in Fig. 2(b). This diode
Fia 1. The resistors nere have values which similarly drops 0.6 volt, with the result that the voltages
cause emitter voltage to be half supply voltage. across RX and RY are both equal to half supply
voltage minus 0.3 volt. When RB is adjusted for zero
RADIO & ELECTRONICS CONSTRUCTOR
606
 v reading in the meter the voltages across RB and RE
cc+ are also equal to half supply voltage minus 0.3 volt.
In consequence, the voltages across RB and RE are
equal and the transistor gain is given accurately by
RB divided by RE.
Centre-zero COMPLETE CIRCUIT
meter A complete working circuit for a practical transistor
gain bridge is shown in Fig. 3. In the previous dia-
grams the transistor under test was an n.p.n. type but
we will also want to check p.n.p. types as well. Switch
S3 selects the supply polarity required. There is no
need to fit a polarity reversing switch to the meter,
Ml, because this is a centre-zero type and it does nof
matter which way its needle travels on either side of
Rx=RY zero.
RX and RY of Figs. 2(a) and (b) now appear as the
(a) equal value resistors R7 and R8. The silicon diode of
Fig. 2(b) is now replaced by D3 and D4. When, whilst
VCC + checking p.n.p. transistors, the upper supply rail is.
negative, D3 conducts and drops the requisite 0.6 volt.
When, with n.p.n. transistors, the upper rail is positive,
r
B it is D4 which conducts and drops the necessary 0.6
volt. D3 and D4 are short-circuited by switch S2 when
Silicon measuring germanium transistors, whereupon the
diode circuit behaves in the same manner as that of Fig. 2(a).
There are two back-to-back diodes, D1 and D2,
Silicon across the meter and R6 as well, and their purpose is
transistor to prevent excessive current flow in the meter when the
Re bridge is off balance. The internal resistance of the
meter and the value of R6 should add up to approxi-
mately 6kn, so that 0.6 volt is dropped across the pair
at a current of lOOpA. Thus, if the internal resistance
(b) of the meter is Ikn, R6 could be S.lkn. R6 may be a
5% component. It might be thought that germanium
diodes instead of silicon diodes could be used for D1
Fig 2 (a) The basic transistor gain bridge. and D2, since these would enable the value of R6 to
(b) A silicon diode is added when
balancing the bridge with silicon be reduced and thereby allow the bridge to have higher
transistors. resolution. However, the resolution given with the

Ri Ikn
82 kn 0-2kn l/o
~\
GE I # .
"2 D3 I : D4
I Ma lOOkn ■ s
3
lin. lin. IO-IOO
Test "J
terminals
IOO-IOOO
9V
^ 0
I
S3 positions : I PNP D|
2 Off
3 NPN 02 Ikn
IKA
R6 see text 17b tM- l/o
All fixed resistors '/4 watt

Fig 3 Complete working circuit for the gam

bridge. SI selects the desired range, S2 sets up
the circuit for germanium or silicon transistors
and S3 prov.des the required supply polarity.
MAY 1974
circuit as it stands is quite adequate, and the silicon The test terminals for the transistor whose gain is
diodes have the advantage of low slope resistance and being determined may consist of three terminals
abrupt turn-on. fitted with miniature insulated crocodile clips.
The four silicon diodes can be any small silicon1 In use, the transistor to be checked is connected to
rectifier such as the 1N4002. the test terminals, S2 is set to 'Ge' or 'Si' as applicable,
Resistor RE of the preceding diagrams now appears and S3 set to give the required polarity. The bridge is
as R5, and it is a close tolerance component with a then balanced by R2 or R4, according to which of these
value of Ika. This value means that an emitter current allows a zero reading to be given in the meter, after
of the order of 4 to 4.5mA flows when the bridge is which the hFE of the transistor is read from the
balanced, and this should be high enough to ensure appropriate potentiometer scale.
that no errors result due to leakage current in the tran- The maximum base current which can flow in the
sistor being checked. test transistor is limited by R1 and R3. If the transistor is
The base resistance is given by R1 and R2 in series, turned hard on during a measurement, the maximum
or by R3 and R4 in series, according to the position emitter current that flows is limited by R5 with R8
of SI. The first of these pairs of resistors allows gain (coupled to it by D1 or D2 according to circuit polarity)
measurements from 100 to 1,000, and the second allows effectively in parallel. This maximum current is approxi-
gain measurements from 10 to 100. The two potentio- mately 18mA. If it is felt undesirable to allow even this
meters are fitted with scales which are calibrated with low current to flow through the transistor, initially
the aid of an ohmmeter. The ohmmeter is connected set R2 and R4 to the highest gain figures and SI to
across R1 and R2 for calibrating the 100 to 1,000 the TOO to 1,000' range. Then switch on and take R2
range, and across R3 and R4 for calibrating the 10 to down from 1,000 to 100 until the zero reading is ob-
100 range. The gain figure is the same as the number of served. If no zero reading is given, switch SI to TO
kilohms in the resistors. When R2 is adjusted so that to 100' and repeat with R4. This procedure means
R1 plus R2 gives lOOkfl, the corresponding hFE figure that base current increases from an initial low value
is 100, and so on. up to the level at which the bridge balances. ■

CATALOGUE

RECEIVED

Currently available is the latest Heathkit catalogue from Heath (Glou-

cester) Ltd., Bristol Road, Gloucester, GL2 6EE. This company also has a
showroom at 233 Tottenham Court Road, London, W. 1.
The catalogue lists an exceptionally wide choice of electronic kits. To be
found amongst these are high fidelity receivers, tuners,1 amplifiers and
speakers, amateur receivers, transceivers and transmitters, and a solid state
monochrome television receiver. Further items are electronic calculators, a
metal detector and an electronic digital clock. The section devoted to test
equipment gives details of signal generators, oscilloscopes, multimeters and
digital frequency counters. Amongst the more unusual items are an ultra-
sonic cleaner, an electronic thermometer and a complete weather station.
The catalogue also includes a particularly interesting addition to the
Heathkit range, this being the 'Informer' Intrusion Alarm type GD-39. As
can be seen from the accompanying photograph, this unit is designed to give
the appearance of an unobtrusive book, and it may be left on a table or
bookshelf in any premises it is desired to protect. Behind the two decora-
tive circles on the spine are an ultrasonic transmitter and receiver. When
the device is switched on, the room in which it is placed is filled with a
frequency of 41kHz, this being reflected by walls and furniture, etc., back
A new addition to the to the receiver. Any movement within the surveillance field is at once
Heathkit range, the 'informer' detected by the receiver, which triggers an alarm after 30 seconds.
ultrasonic intrusion Alarm is The catalogue is available free from Heath (Gloucester) Ltd., at their
designed to have the appear- Gloucester address, as also is a Technical Consultation service both before
ance of a book. and after purchases.
608 RADIO & ELECTRONICS CONSTRUCTOR
 MAKING PRINTED

CIRCUIT BOARDS

Howto make up printed circuit boards . Arthur C- Geef G2UK

for your own or for published designs

IT IS BECOMING COMMONPLACE NOWADAYS FOR DESIGN- BOARD PREPARATION

ers of home-constructor radio and electronic equip-
ment to produce their designs based on a printed Generally speaking, it is necessary for the constructor
circuit board layout. A typical example which comes to of such designs to make the printed circuit boards up
the writer's mind is of fairly recent origin, and it himself. Occasionally, if they think the demand is going
appeared in the December 1972 issue of this journal in to be great enough, some commercial firms will make
the "Transistorised Oscilloscope" by R. A. Tenfold. and market printed circuit boards for a published
In Part 1 of that article, the circuit of the X Amplifier design, and they usually announce the fact by means of
is shown in Fig. 8 and a full size reproduction of the an advertisernent or note in the journal concerned. Very
prepared printed circuit board is shown in Fig. 9. These occasionally you may find a firm who will undertake
two figures are reproduced herewith as Figs. 1 and 2, so to make up "l-off" printed circuit boards on request.
that readers can see just what we are talking about. The But this is likely to be pricey, and most constructors
photograph shows a completed printed circuit board will prefer to make up the boards themselves. How then,
made to this design according to the procedure out- do we go about it?
lined in this article. Similar theoretical circuits and the The printed circuit board, or "laminate", consists of
corresponding printed circuit board layouts were given a sheet of insulating material on one side of which is
in Part 2 of the earlier article, these being for the time- affixed a thin layer of copper foil. A piece of the board
base, the Y amplifier and the sync amplifier. is cut to the shape and size required by the design and

+ 124V
"16
"12
TR, X2 XI
2N38I9
VR4 • "2
C6 BCII7 yD"
Fig. 1. A circuit which tends Cs I Hll—« J TR3
itself readily to printed circuit BCII7
board assembly. This is the
X amplifier of the "Tran-
sistorised Oscilloscope" R11
article by Ft. A. Penfoid,
which appeared in the VR3
C
7 n RI7
December 1972 and January
1973 issues of this journal I

000 C O o c
DGS
2N38I9 BCII7
Lead-outs Lead-outs
609
MAY 1974

■ ■
 3*

0 l! 1)
Fig. 2. The copper side of the o
board employed for making G
up the X amplifier. This is also
reproduced from the earlier
article. It is shown full-size d! -ZJ
and the copper pattern may 7)
be traced directly
03

O
L

the required copper pattern is drawn on it, using an ink writer, which works very well, is that made by Decon
or paint material which is impervious to the etching Laboratories Ltd., Ellen Street, Portslade, Brighton;
fluid. The copper which is not required is etched away and is called the Decon Dalo 33 P.C. Marker. Another
by immersing the board in the etching fluid. As an useful resist material is automobile touch-in paint, the
example, Fig. 2 shows the copper pattern illustrated in small brush included in the pack being fine enough
Fig. 9 of the previous article. If it is simple enough, the for making quite neat printed circuit boards.
pattern can be drawn on the copper free-hand, alter-
natively it can be traced using duplicating paper. Very ETCHING SOLUTION
complicated circuit designs can be reproduced on the
copper by photographic means, but such a method is So to re-cap. We have obtained our piece of laminate,
outside the scope of the present article. cut off the shape and size we want, traced on the copper
Special etch-proof fluid is available for marking the foil the copper pattern we require and have painted
copper foil, but more of this later. over this pattern with the resist fluid. We now leave the
The insulating material forming, so to speak, the resist fluid to dry until it is quite hard, and we must next
"backing" of printed circuit boards can be one of a give some thought to the etching fluid.
variety of materials. Cheap boards employ a brown The function of the etching fluid is to dissolve away
phenolic material which is referred to in engineering all the copper foil we don't need, so that we are left with
circles as "s.r.b.p.", the letters standing for "synthetic the copper circuitry only. First of all, we need a small
resin bonded paper". Amongst home-constructors, this dish to take the printed circuit board for etching, just
material is perhaps better known as "Paxolin". Better large enough to hold the board so that it can be just
quality boards use glass fibre, and for special purposes, covered with the etching fluid. The ideal utensil for this
such as v.h.f. or u.h.f. projects, laminate of epoxy resin purpose is a photographic plate developing dish -
can be obtained at greater expense. These special if you can still find one. Failing this, large glass Petri
laminates are often hard to cut and drill. Cutting the dishes as used in bacteriological laboratories or a deep
laminate to shape is best done with a fine toothed, metal saucer can be used. Receptacles of glass, china or plastic
saw. Don't try. to use an ordinary hack saw as this is are suitable; but not metal or enamel ones as these will
too coarse and will bind badly. You will also need one also be etched away! Again, various fluids are available
or two fine twist drills to make the holes in the board for etching. Commercially produced etching fluids can
through which the printed circuit boards component be purchased but the most convenient one to use is
leads pass. a solution of ferric chloride, which one can make up
Laminate for making up printed circuit boards can be
bought in various sizes from most component suppliers.
Generally speaking it is sold in stock sizes and from
these you will have to cut out the shape and size you
need for the project.
ETCH-PROOF MATERIALS
Now to return to the etch-proof materials we use for ■
marking out the copper we do not want to be etched
away.
Special "resist" paint or varnish, specifically made up
for this purpose, can be purchased. This can be painted f.
on with an artist's fine brush. There are also "marking •>
pens", and the makers of one such item describe their
product as a "slim nylon-tipped marker, charged with a
free flowing etch resistant ink offering complete The copper side of a practical printed circuit
immunity to attack from ferric chloride and other usual board made up to the pattern in Fig. 2
etchant solutions". The particular one used by the
610 RADIO & ELECTRONICS CONSTRUCTOR
oneself, from crystals, as required. It is easier, more
convenient and safer to store away ferric chloride in
crystalline or powdered form, than as bottles of etching
fluid. Ferric chloride can be purchased from some radio & ELECTRONICS
'II
component stores or from a pharmaceutical store, and a CONSTRUCTOR
suitable etching fluid can be made up by dissolving 3oz.
of the crystals in a quarter of a tumbler of tap water.
Make up the solution in an old jam jar which will not • JUNE ISSUE FEATURES
be required again, and throw the jar away after use.
Add the ferric chloride slowly to the water, as a good
deal of heat is produced as it dissolves. If, alternatively, SIMPLE SQUARE
you pour the water on the crystals they may "spit" and
fly around, and this can be dangerous because ferric WAVE GENERATOR
chloride is very corrosive. You certainly don't want it Incorporates a single integrated circuit, this
on the table top or around the sink; still more, you don't square wave generator offers outputs up to
want it on your skin or, worse still, in your eyes. So be 1 volt peak-to-peak at frequencies from 200Hz
careful and treat both the crystals and the solution with to 20kHz.
respect! If you do get it where it should not be, wash it
off instantly with copious quantities of warm water.
Having made up the solution, place the printed
circuit board in the dish, copper side up, and cover with
the ferric chloride solution. Again remember that the
solution is corrosive, so keep your fingers out of it! SHORT WAVE
Agitate the solution slowly by rocking the dish. The
unwanted copper should be etched away in 20 minutes CRYSTAL SET
or so. When etching is complete, remove the board with Employs a single germanium diode for detection,
a pair of tweezers, wash it thoroughly in tap water and this receiver gives headphone reception of the
leave it to dry. more powerful transmissions over a wide range
of short wave broadcast bands.
SOLVENT
Next, remove the resist with a suitable solvent such as
paint remover, nail varnish remover, acetone or, if a
proprietary resist fluid has been used, whatever remover
its manufacturer recommends. You'll then see the 6+6 STEREO AMPLIFIER
circuitry in the copper foil on the printed circuit board. Part 2 - Conclusion
Clean up with abrasive powder, such as is used for
domestic' purposes, and the printed circuit board is Deals with the construction and setting-up of
almost complete. Not quite, however, for we still have this attractive full solid-state stereo amplifier.
to drill the holes for the component leads. These will
be indicated on the original design and usually present
no problems. ★ * ★
Finally, give the board another good clean-up and,
if necessary, straighten up the edges and corners of the PLUS
copper foil sections with a scalpel or sharp fine-pointed
knife. If desired, a coat of flux varnish can then be
painted over the whole surface on the copper side to MANY OTHER ARTICLES
protect the copper, and to act as a soldering flux when
the board is wired up.
It is possible to buy kits of the materials required for AND
making printed circuit boards. The writer recently
acquired one which contained a tube of resist paste, a DATA SHEET No. 87
small spatula for spreading it on to the copper foil, a
bottle of resist remover, a bottle of etching fluid, a tube
of polishing powder to clean up the copper after Television Transmission Frequencies II
etching, two pieces of phenolic copper clad laminate
for practising on, two sheets of tracing paper, and a
stencil knife and a hole pricker to assist in transferring PRICE 22p
the tracing design onto the copper. These were all nicely
packed in a plastic container, the lid of which could be
used as the receptacle for the etching if you wished. Copies may also be obtained direct from the Publi-
Good, well illustrated, instructions were included. It shers, 28p including postage. Published by Data
was made in Japan and called the Hayato PK3 Printed Publications Ltd., 57 Maida Vale, London W9 1 SN
Circuit Handicraft Kit. You may find one in your
radio components store. It is a convenient way of
getting all the bits and pieces you need for making
printed circuit boards at one go, though it would & ELECTRONICS
probably be cheaper to shop around and buy the items CONSTRUCTOR
separately. ■
MAY 1974 611
 «> 6 +

Front view of the completed amplifier.

STB

AM PL
SOME OF THE POPULAR INEXPENSIVE RECORD DECKS
fitted with a ceramic or crystal stereo cartridge are
capable of a surprisingly high quality of reproduction.
The amplifier described in this and next month's issue
was primarily designed for use with such a unit. It feeds
two SO loudspeakers, whereupon a complete stereo
record player system is made available.
It was also a design requirement that the amplifier To other channel
should have an input suitable for use with a radio tuner.
As it happens, the input for the pick-up is at a sensiti- *x
vity and impedance - 200mV and 1.5Mfl - which are T
suitable for most tuners and therefore only one input
socket is provided. The input impedance is really some-
what higher than is required for a radio tuner but, since
it is on the high rather than the low side, this point is of Input
no real consequence. r
A maximum continuous power output of just slightly VRo VR3
less than 6 watts r.m.s. per channel (both channels Treble
operating) is available into 8fl loads. Speakers of 150 Tn
impedance qan also be used, and the amplifier will give a I
lower distortion figure with these as it is working into
lighter loads, but the maximum r.m.s. output will only
be about 3 watts per channel. The peak power per
channel into 80 loads is approximately 10 watts. TR C4
The amplifier is very compact, measuring 12 by 6 by 2N38 9
2i ins., excluding the control knobs and feet. There are
five rotary controls, these being for on-off switching, *0
balance, volume, bass lift and cut, and treble lift and cut.
An output for a pair of stereo headphones is provided Dt
on the front panel. Excluding the power supply section
the circuit uses 21 semiconductor devices, including 2
f.e.t.'s and 16 silicon transistors.
PRE-AMPLIFIER
A circuit diagram of one channel of the amplifier is e c b
shown in Fig. 1. In order to obtain the correct frequency [OOO^
response from a crystal or ceramic cartridge it must be bee Heat sink surface
matched into an impedance of 1 to 2Mn. The amplitude 2N2923 BIPI9 BIP20
of the signal from a cartridge of this type is quite high, Lead-outs Lead-outs
and can be several hundred mV peak-to-peak on loud
passages. The requirements of the pre-amplifier are,
therefore, high input impedance, the capability to handle Fig. 1. Complete circuit dia,
large signals with low distortion and, of course, low all con
noise.
Either a Darlington pair in the emitter follower mode
612 RADIO & ELECTRONICS CONSTRUCTOR
 This is the first of a 2-part series
describing the construction of a
fully solid-state stereo amplifier
having continuously variable
*6 treble and bass boost and cut
controls. The concluding article,
to appear next month, will
describe the procedures of con-
struction and setting up.

REO

By A. P. Roberts

LIFIER

To other channel

R
IO
vm

C
Rg I!S iTDl TRg
"13 p S i4] pRl6 BC238
I " I r«:'
5 TRg
2N2923 BIP20
MO R||
VR
5il
C|2 R|2 M6 R
tr2 IDtjvvv^-€ | | VWV^-|
BCI09
' "3 M5 TR Speaker Phones
VR4 BC258 BIPI9

C
tr4
1 I3 R|7 PNI07 BC308
To other 20
channel
1
o o / 0
\
(^000) (000^
DCS bee e bc
2N38I9 BCI09 BC258 BC238 BC308 PNI07
Lead-outs Lead-outs Lead-outs Lead-outs Lead-outs

dgram for one channel of the amplifier. Apart from R9. R10, VRA. C9, C11 and D1
mponents ate duplicated in the amplifier for the other channel.

MAY 1974
6X3
 6 + 6

STEREO

AMPLIFIER

To other channel

R
io
To other channel ■WW-
■c9
R
5; :r8 ''
I R
I3 a 'i^l ^R|6
!cb
Input I ■RI5
o
VR2: TR5
1 . ivR3 r
Treble cT 2N2923
P^Sass r CIO R||
HC7 17 -iQI—WW—| VR5:
r,5 c
II
C|2 R|2
tr2
BCI09
TR, C
4j TR3 C
2N3BI9 BC258 I5 !
C2 r
6; VR44
Kll L
®
TR4
VR| 1 SCI3 :R|7 PNIO?
To other
channel
I

I ooo (^00^) (000

bc Heat sink surface DGS bee e bc
2N2923 BIPI9 BIP20 2N38I9 BCI09 BC258 BC238 BC
Lead-outs Lead-outs Lead-outs Lead-outs Lead-outs Lead-01

Fig. 1. Complete circuit diagram for one channel of the amplifier. Apart from R9, RIO, VR4. C9,
all components ate duplicated in the amplifier for the other channel.

RADIO & ELECTRONICS CONSTRUCTOR MAY 1974

 COMPONENTS

Resistors C18 3,000pF electrolytic, 30 V.Wkg.

(All fixed values j watt 10%) (2 x 1,500(iF wire-ended in
Rl, R101 270kO parallel, see text)
R2, R102 ISOkH
R3, R103 1.5MQ Inductors
R4, R104 lOkH T1 Mains transformer, secondary
R5, R105 iokn 9-0-9 volts at 1 amp, Osmabet
R6, R106 ioka type MT9V.
R7, R107 2.7Ma LI Smoothing choke (see text)
R8, R108 ioka
R9 4;7kn Semiconductors
RIO 1.5ka (TR8, TR9 and TR108, TR109 are matched
Rl 1, Rl 11 4.7kn pairs)
R12, R112 2.2ka TR1, TR101 2N3819
R13, R113 33kn TR2, TR102 BC109
R14, R114 iooka TR3, TR103 BC258
R15, Rl 15 22a TR4, TR104 PN107
R16, Rl 16 ika TR5, TR105 2N2923
R17, Rl 17 1.2ka TR6, TR106 BC238
R18, R118 2.2ka TR7, TR107 BC308
R19, Rl 19 820a TR8, TR108 BIP20
R20, R120 820a TR9, TR109 BIP19
R21, R121 100a D1 13 volt zener diode type a
VR1, VR101 5ka dual-gang potentiometer, BZY88C13V
log D2, D102 10 volt zener diode type
VR2, VR102 50ka dual-gang potentiometer, BZY88C10V
linear D3-D6 Silicon bridge rectifier, 2 amp
VR3, VRI03 50ka dual-gang potentiometer, lOOp.i.v.
* linear
VR4 50ka potentiometer, linear
VR5, VR105 5ka pre-set, sub-miniature Switch
skeleton, horizontal mounting SI D.P.S.T. toggle, rotary
Capacitors
C1,C101 0.047pF, polyester, side wires Neon
C2, C102 15pF electrolytic, 16 V.Wkg. NE1 240 volt panel-mounting neon
(see text) assembly with integral resistor
C3, C103 12.5|iF electrolytic, 16 V.Wkg.
C4, C104 0.0068pF polyester
C5, C105 0.0068pF polyester Miscellaneous
C6, C106 0.047pF polyester (see text) 5 control knobs
C7, C107 0.047pF polyester (see text) Veroboard panels 0.1 in. matrix (see text)
C8, C108 lOpF electrolytic, 10 V.Wkg. 2 loudspeaker sockets (3-way DIN)
C9 220pF electrolytic, 16 V.Wkg. 1 input socket (3-way DIN)
CIO, C110 1 OpF electrolytic, 10 V.Wkg. 1 stereo jack socket, i in.
Cll 220(iF electrolytic, 16 V.Wkg. 2 T03 mica insulating washers (see text)
C12, C112 12.5pF electrolytic, 16 V.Wkg. Ferrite rod, 1 i by ( in. dia. (see text)
C13, C113 12.5pF electrolytic, 16 V.Wkg. 10 yards of 24 s.w.g. enamelled copper wire
C14, C114 150pF electrolytic, 25 V.Wkg.
C15, C115 0.005pF ceramic 18 s.w.g. aluminium sheet
C16, C116 1,500pF electrolytic, 30 V.Wkg. 4 rubber feet
CM 5,000pF electrolytic, 30 V.Wkg. i in chipboard
(2 x 2,500pF wire-ended in Plastic veneer (see text)
parallel, see text) Screened cable, grommets, etc.

or an f.e.t. in the source follower mode could be em- less than unity, but the amplitude of the signal from the
ployed. An f.e.t. source follower has been chosen for the cartridge is sufficiently high to drive the following power
oresent design as this gives a lower noise level than amplifier without any intermediate voltage amplifica-
/ould be the case if bipolar transistors were used. tion. TR1 mainly functions as a buffer stage to give an
The input circuit employs an offset gate biasing adequate input impedance. The output from TR1 is fed
nethod, the appropriate components being Rl, R2 and to the volume control, VR1, via C2. The slider of the
R3. C1 is the input coupling capacitor and R4 is the volume control then couples into the tone control
source load resistor. TR1 has a voltage gain of slightly circuit by way of C3.
614 RADIO & ELECTRON ICS CONSTRUCTOR
 POWER AMPLIFIER
The power amplifier employs a basic circuit configur-
ation which is now used in many hi-fi amplifiers. The
output stage is Class B push-pull.
There are two pairs of common emitter amplifiers in
the output stage, one pair being TR6 and TR8 and the
other pair being TR7 and TR9. Since in each case the
emitter of the first transistor is connected to the collec-
tor of the second transistor there is 100% negative
feedback in both pairs of transistors. They therefore
produce a voltage gain of almost exactly unity, but have
an extremely high current gain. The output impedance
of this arrangement is sufficiently low to enable an 8fl
speaker to be driven directly via C16.
The output stage is fed by a common emitter ampli-
fier TR4, the collector load for which is R18. TR5 and
The amplifier with its cover removed. The VR5 are employed to set, and when set to stabilize, the
components are mounted on one large Verohoard small biasing current required by the output stage. This
panel for the power amplifiers, and on two smaller current reduces crossover distortion to an unnoticeable
Verohoard panels for the pre-ampUfier and tone
control sections respectively. level.
TR5 helps to stabilize against thermal shifts in the
output transistors in the following manner. As the out-
put transistors warm up they tend to draw a higher
quiescent current. The heating of the output transistors
causes the air inside the amplifier case to warm up also.
TONE CONTROLS This affects TR5 and it conducts more heavily, thereby
An active tone control system is used, and this has reducing the voltage between the bases of TR6 and TR7
separate bass and treble controls. The stage is built and, in consequence, the output stage quiescent current.
around TR2, which is a common emitter amplifier. The input transistor for the power amplifier, TR3, is
Normally one would expect this to have a very high in another common emitter stage. This is a p.n.p.
voltage gain, but such is not the case here as a high transistor with its emitter taken, via the bias stabilizing
degree of negative feedback is introduced via the tone resistor R16, to the collectors of the output transistors.
control networks. This gives the overall power amplifier circuit 100% d.c.
VR2 is the treble control. This works independently negative feedback. €14 provides an a.c. bypass but R15
of the bass control. With VR2 slider at the bottom of its limits its effect, allowing the power amplifier to have a
track, treble signals are considerably boosted. This is relatively low a.f. gain. The considerable amount of a.c.
because treble signals are at higher frequencies than the feedback which is still present produces noise and
middle and bass signals, and will therefore find a much distortion levels which are both very low.
easier path through C4 to the base of TR2. When VR2 An unstabilized supply is used, and the various
slider is at the top of its track, treble signals are attenu- amplifier circuits have their own built-in stabilization
ated. The treble signals still have to pass through C4 to networks. RIO, €11 and zener diode D1 form a circuit
reach the base of TR2, but they now have to pass which provides a stabilized supply voltage for the pre-
through the whole track of VR1, at the top end of which amplifiers and tone control networks. As already stated,
there is negative feedback, from TR2 collector, of the the power amplifier has unity d.c. voltage gain. The base
treble signals via C5. Thus there is maximum treble of TR3 is stablized by being returned via R14 to the
boost when the slider of VR1 is at the bottom end of its zener diode D2, whereupon the collectors of TR8 and
track and maximum treble cut when VR1 slider is at the TR9 become d.c. stabilized in consequence. €13, across
top of its track. Intermediate settings of VR1 slider, give D2, removes any noise which might be introduced here
intermediate levels of boost or cut. and which could otherwise find its way into the ampli-
VR3 is the bass control. When its slider is at the fier.
bottom end of its track C7 is virtually short-circuited
and there is negative feedback of the middle and treble
frequencies by way of R5 and C6. This results in bass
boost. When VR3 slider is at the top of its track, C6 ■
becomes virtually short-circuited. Negative feedback is
still provided via R5 but this is not frequency selective.
The signal from C3 now has to pass through R6, VR3
track and C7 to reach the base of TR2. C7 will offer a
lower impedance for the middle and treble frequencies
than it will for the bass signals, and so the circuit then
gives bass cut. As with VR2, intermediate settings of fr!■•
VR3 will give intermediate levels of boost and cut. In ■ ..7%
both cases, the extreme instances have been described as •>— 1
these best demonstrate how the controls work.
Capacitor C8 has no effect on the tone control cir-
cuits as its capacitance is much higher than the fre- The rear of the amplifier has a neat uncluttered
quency selective capacitors C4 to C7. It is merely a d.c. appearance.
blocking component which prevents the flow of direct
current through the tone control network.
MAY 1974 615
 With circuits of this type, which use large amounts of and a home-made component was employed instead.
negative feedback, in the interests of stability it is nor- This was wound on a small piece of ferrite rod and,
mal to roll off the upper frequency response, which whilst it is admittedly not very efficient, it is simple and
otherwise extends well into the r.f. spectrum. This is the inexpensive and works quite well in practice with this
purpose of C15. particular amplifier. It is probable that the ferrite rod
An output suitable for a pair of headphones is saturates at the higher supply currents but, since these
provided, R21 giving the necessary attenuation. correspond with heavier output levels, any consequent
Fig. 1 shows the circuit for one amplifier channel. reduced efficiency in the choke does not make any
This is duplicated in the other channel except that the practical difference.
latter does not have Dl, Cll, R9, R10andC9. Similarly
the balance control, VR4, is shared between the two
channels. VR1, VR2 and VR3 are each one section of a
2-gang potentiometer, the remaining section being
incorporated in the same circuit position in the other
channel. Component numbering in the other channel
commences at 101, whereupon R101 occupies the same
circuit position as RI, and so on. It is not very import-
ant whether the amplifier shown in Fig. 1 is in the left
channel or the right channel. In the author's amplifier
it is in the right-hand channel.
POWER SUPPLY
The circuit of the power supply is given in Fig. 2. The
9-0-9 volt secondary of transformer T1 gives 18 volts
a.c. overall, and this is rectified by D3 to D6. The
smoothing components are C17, LI and C18. Both C17
and C18 consist of two equal-value capacitors in
parallel. So far as C17 is concerned this aids construc-
tion, although a single 5,000pF component could be
used if it has wire lead-outs at the ends and fits physi-
cally into the layout. A view ot the power supply section. The ferrite rod
choke, vertical to the chassis deck, can be seen
alongside the mains transformer. Note the two
resistors soldered to the output jack tags.
D3-D6 Silicon bridge rectifier

9-0 COMPONENTS
The components are all standard types. The mains
Mams jNE, transformer, Tl, is an Osmabet component type MT9V,
and is listed by Home Radio under Cat. No. 4/TM55.
l I I The transistors type BC258 and PN107 are available
from Electrovalue Ltd., 28 St. Judes Road, Englefield
Green, Egham, Surrey. The BC238 and BC308 may be
obtained from Henry's Radio Ltd., and the 2N2923
from Bi-Pak. Bi-Pak can also provide the B1 PI9 and
B1P20 as a matched pair.
In the prototype, C2 and C102 were tantalum
capacitors. Tantalum types were employed because
Fig. 2. The circuit of the power supply section. these two capacitors connect to adjacent holes on a 0.1
in. Veroboard panel and the small physical size of
tantalum capacitors enables them to be wired in more
easily. Miniature aluminium electrolytic capacitors may
The two capacitors which make up C18 are fitted be employed instead, of course, although the wiring may
separately on the amplifier board, one being close to the then be a little more difficult to carry out. Similarly for
power amplifier on one channel and the other being reasons of small size, C6, C7, C106 and C107 were disc
close to the power amplifier on the other channel. In the ceramic capacitors. It is in order to use such capacitors
type of amplifier employed here, where high currents in these positions provided that their capacitances are
are involved, instability can easily arise and it is known to be close to their nominal values. Usually, high
advisable to have a large supply bypass capacitor value disc ceramic capacitors are intended for r.f.
mounted close to each amplifier. Thus, the two capaci- bypass functions and have a very wide tolerance on
tors which form C18 carry out this function as well as value.
providing smoothing. The full Components List accompanies this article.
A low value resistor was originally used in the Quite a number of the items listed here will be discussed
position now occupied by LI. The ripple voltage was in the concluding article, to be published next month,
rather high, however, and a very marked improvement with the consequence that any outstanding queries on
can be given by employing a choke here. A suitable the components will be satisfied when the next issue
commercially made choke seemed difficult to obtain, appears.
616 RADIO & ELECTRONICS CONSTRUCTOR
 2l/2 21/2 CHASSIS
I'/aVsVa*
3 The chassis is constructed from iS s.w.g alummium
/8 dia 5/8'dia 6BA clear sheet A piece of this material measuring 12 by 10 ins. is
cufto theThape shown in Fig. 3, after which the various
Mam 5 holes for the controls and sockets, etc., are drilled. The
input mounting holes for the mains transformer are 4BA
rTw 90° fold Pre-amp clear There are four 6BA clear holes for the mam
^ board amplifier board and one 6BA clear hole each for the
^16 Mam RA 4 holes tor nre-amplifier board and the tone control board These
securing boards take up the positions shown in the photograph
TiT / i 3 J. ♦ Tone
control outer casing of the amplifier interior, and the chassis holes are
/yl4"!'4
3"L /y- board to chassis marked out through the mounting holes in the boards
Output themsdves. The boards will be described in next
transistors 90° fold month's concluding article. Also required are four bBA
—0 clear holes for the output transistors, and four holes for
Neon S, VR4 VR, VR3 VR2 rubber feet. The latter may be drilled near the corners of
th
Headphone socket Li/o" Aftemdl the holes have been drilled, the front and rear
\, 'V2 panels are bent up. towards the reader. The two 4 in.
segments at the sides are left flat.

Fig. 3. Drilling details and dimensions of the (to be concluded)

chassis.

R.F. 'NOSE'

By James Kerrick

A useful addition to the shack test-gear.

This simple device will trace the presence of r.f. ►F

oscillations when the conventional methods ot an 0-IOO>iA
oscilloscope or short-circuiting oscillator coils, etc., do lOOpF I
not work or are inappropriate. It operates by detecting
the r.f. currents induced into a search coil by means ot a I
diode and microammeter, and is capable of a very wide
frequency range. It is mainly intended for checking
amateur transmitters rather than the oscillator circuits Fig. 2. The simple circuit employed in the 'nose .
of receivers.
mulE S
Construction is simple, the coil ^etng wound with
single core wire and cemented, together with the other
Wooden or plastic components, to the handle, which may be of wood m
5 to IO turns Diode handle plastic as available. Alternatively, as in the author s
case, the handle was a plastic tube with the two com-
ponents inside; the top of the tube was melted over to
O-l oa
MA h0 d
L eads thenrmi to the microammeter which shows a
deflection in the presence of r.f. fields. Loading on the
l"to 11/2 dia circuit under test may be minimised by keeping the
lOOpF ceramic or search coil at the maximum distance away consistent
polystyrene with a reasonable meter deflection. A suitable diode is
the OA90, although most germanium types would be
satisfactory, with preference for those specifically
Fig. 1. Construction of the r.f. 'nose'. designed for r.f. detection.
617
.MAY 1974
 I.C.-THIAC

TIMER

By P. Manners

Coupling an integrated circuit

timer directly to an a.c. mains
triac.

A RECENT NEWCOMER TO THE INTEGRATED CIRCUIT causes an internal flip-flop to change states and to
scene is the '555' 8-pin dual-in-line timer. This has turn off an internal transistor which previously short-
appeared as the NE555V, the LM555CN and, most circuited the timing capacitor, CT. Capacitor CT now
recently, as the R.S. Components '555 Type' timer. The commences to charge via RT. Also, as soon as the
last version of the i.e. can be obtained from any retail flip-flop changes over, the output at pin 3 goes positive.
supplier of R.S. Components products. When the voltage across CT reaches approximately
two-thirds of the supply potential the internal circuitry
BASIC CIRCUIT in the i.e. "turns the flip-flop back to its initial state,
The '555' devices just mentioned all have identical causing the output to go low again and once more
pinning, and can be used in similar timing circuits. turning on the internal short-circuiting transistor which
The devices may also be employed as continuously discharges CT. The circuit is then ready for another
running multivibrators, but this aspect of '555' oper- timing run. €
ation will not be considered in the present article. As is to be expected, the internal circuitry in the i.e.
There are several basic circuits in which a '555' i.e. is more complex than this simple explanation of its
may be employed as a timer, and a typical example of operation would appear to indicate. In addition to
one of the simplest is shown in Fig. 1. In this diagram several diodes and resistors, the i.e. incorporates about
the timer is triggered by momentarily closing the push- two dozen transistors.
button. The negative pulse thus applied to pin 2 The output at terminal 3 is capable of providing
currents of up to 200mA, and the total dissipation
rating for the i.e. is 600mW. The R.S. Components
recommended range of supply voltage is 4.5 to 15 volts.
Other manufacturers specify an absolute omaximumo of
v
cc + 18 volts. Operating temperature range is 0 C to +70 C.
The load in Fig. 1 is not specified, and this may be
resistive or inductive. A resistive load could be given
by a subsequent transistor or t.t.l. circuit. An inductive
Rt 5kn load would consist, typically, of a relay coil. When a
coil is used as a load it is essential to add the diode
which is shown connected into circuit via broken lines
in Fig. 1. This diode prevents the formation of high
555 I.C. reverse voltages when the supply to the relay coil is
turned off, and such reverse voltages could damage the
integrated circuit.
The inset in Fig. 1 shows the pinning for the device.
This is a top view, with the pins pointing away from the
Load reader. Pin 1 is 'ground', or negative supply input;
OOIjjF '* whilst pin 8 is Vcc and takes the positive supply.
Pin 2 is the trigger input and, as already mentioned,
a negative pulse here changes over the state of the
07 6 5 internal flip-flop. Pin 3 is the output, and is derived from
two internal transistors in a totem-pole configuration.
555 I.C Period = I-1 Rj Cj Pin 4 is a 'reset' input; if a negative pulse is applied
I Top view to this terminal during a timing run the transistor which
12 3 4 short-circuits the timing capacitor is turned on, the
Fig. 1. A basic circuit incorporating a timer i.e. output falls to its low level and the timing run recom-
of the '555' type. mences at the end of the pulse. For simple timing
618 RADIO & ELECTRONICS CONSTRUCTOR

i
applications the reset facility is not required, and pin 4 COMPOIMEIMTS
is returned to the positive supply rail, as in Fig. I.
Pin 5 couples to the internal control reference voltage
which determines the end of the timing period. In (All fixed values i watt 5%)
Fig. 1 this terminal is merely bypassed to the negative R1 ISktl
rail via a 0.01 pF capacitor. Pin 6 is the 'threshold' R2 ISkCI
input, and this causes the timing period to come to an R3 ioon
end when the voltage applied to it from the timing R4 IkQ
capacitor is at the requisite level. Pin 7 couples to the R5 5600
internal transistor which, before and after the timing R6 1000
period, short-circuits the timing capacitor. VR1 500kO potentiometer, linear
The length of a timing period is equal, in seconds, to
1.1 times the product of RT and CT in ohms and farads Capacitors
(or in megohms and microfarads). Timing periods C1 32pF electrolytic, 10 V. Wkg.
can range from microseconds up to an hour or more. C2 0.01 pF plastic foil
Since the threshold level at which the device causes the C 1,000pF electrolytic, 10 V. Wkg.
timing period to cease is a fraction of the supply Transformer ., u
voltage there is no need for a stabilized supply, although T1 Heater transformer, secondary 6.3 volts
the supply potential should remain steady during a at 0.5 amp or more
timing period. Integrated Circuit
Apart from its alternative use as a multivibrator, the NE555V, LM555CN, or '555 Type'
timer i.e. can appear in more complex timing circuits 1 Triac
than that shown in Fig. 1. The latter has, however, the 40430
advantage of considerable simplicity, since virtually the | Diodes
only external components are the timing resistor and D1-D4 1N4002
capacitor, another resistor and capacitor, a push- LED1 TIL209
button and the load.
I Lamp
OPERATION WITH A TRIAC LP1 240 volts, 100 watts maximum
Home-constructor timer projects frequently im 1 Switches
corporate relays, this being the case even when the 51 Push-button, push to make
controlled item is a mains-driven filament lamp. The 52 S.P.S.T., toggle
53 D.P.S.T., toggle
use of relays tends to raise difficulties, particularly with
respect to contact rating, and the author felt it would be
of interest to check the operation of a '555' timer i.e.
in conjunction with a triac. The triac chosen was the i.e. couples directly to the gate of the triac, and there
R.C.A. 40430, which has proved to be popular in are no intermediate active devices. j o rm
recent home-constructor designs. The circuitry coupling to pins 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and s ol me
The full circuit of the timer incorporating the '555' i.e. i c is the same as in Fig. 1 and requires no f urther
and the 40430 appears in Fig. 2. In this diagram the explanation. Pins 6 and 7 are the same also, and these

On -Off

8 4 1
b*3V AC
IN4002 mams
555 I.C

5 I sol las J

LEDi

TIL209

MT MT
MTj
^40430
(D MTo LP|
T1-
40430 T1L209
Lead-outs Lead-outs

Fig. 2. A practical circuit incorporating the timer i.e. in conjunction with a triac.. 619
MAY 1974
 couple to the timing resistor, given by Rl and VR1 in
series, and to the timing capacitor, which now appears
as the electrolytic component, Cl. R6 is added here to
Use the NEW limit the discharge current from Cl. Capacitor Cl
has a nominal value of 32pF, whilst Rl is 15kQ and
VR1 is SOOkO. Assuming that all three components
Strip-fix Plastic have their nominal values, the longest timing period,
which is given when VR1 inserts full resistance,
calculates out as 1.1 times the product of 0.515Mfl
(500kn plus ISkH) and 32pF, or 18 seconds. The
PANEL SIGNS shortest timing period, given when VR1 inserts
minimum resistance, is 1.1 times the product of
O.OISMH and 32pF, and this works out as 0.5 second.
A range of timing periods from 0.5 to 18 seconds is
Strip Stri
PFl, suitable for a photographic timer, or for any similar
application. In practice, tolerances on value in the
timing resistors and capacitor will cause the timing
PKMli periods to differ from the calculated figures, but it is
still nevertheless a relatively simple matter to calibrate
VR1 in terms of the periods actually obtained. The
Sfl *•: value of SOOkil for VR1 is around the highest realistic
•^Cir Wo*DlliQ
figure for a timing circuit in which the timing capacitor
3 <9c< is an aluminium electrolytic type having the usual
">l»lni SfT* "i
rs^ WOrtfa
t'otiriM i*r' Dm6/#n, . '•"pun.. leakage current associated with such a component.
McW01 "CTOn '""do "wtte When SI is pressed at the start of a timing run, the
output at pin 3 of the i.e. goes positive, causing a
3* current to flow, via R3, through the gate and Main
Terminal 1 of the triac. Tfhe triac turns on and the a.c.
mains is applied via its Main Terminal 1 and Main
Terminal 2 to the lamp, LP1. The fact that the timer
output has gone positive is also indicated by the lighting
of LED1. When the timing run comes to an end,
the output at pin 3 drops towards the level of the
negative supply rail, whereupon the triac becomes open-
SET 3 - Wording - WHITE circuit and LP1 extinguishes. So also does LED1.
it SET 4 - Wording - BLACK Resistor R4, between the gate and Main Terminal 1
Over 1,000 words and symbols, of the triac, is probably unnecessary, but it was never-
covering more than 300 terms, in theless added as a safety precaution to protect the
each set integrated circuit. The current and voltage levels
controlled by the triac are well in excess of those
Illustration of actual size = RADIO associated with a small i.e. output circuit, whereupon
it SET 5 - Dials R4 damps down any high impedance voltage spikes
6 sheets containing one Large and which might, just conceivably, appear at the gate.
two Medium scales. Large Horizontal The power supply is quite standard. T1 can be any
Tuning scale. Frequencies 12 Control small heater transformer offering 6.3 volts at a current
Panels of 0.5 amp or more, and its 6.3 volt secondary connects
to the bridge rectifier consisting of D1 to D4 inclusive.
0 Easy to fix C3 is the reservoir and smoothing capacitor. The rather
% Stapled in booklet form high value of 1,000pF employed here ensures satis-
factory supply voltage regulation.
0 Designed to hang above workbench Switch S3 controls the mains input supply to both
^ Pocket for loose cuttings the timer circuit and the controlled lamp. Switch S2
0 Professional finish is also in series with the lamp and this switch is included,
in company with LED1, to guard against an occasional
effect which occurs at switch-on. It was found with the
prototype circuit that the i.e. would cometimes
38p per set commence a single timing run immediately after S3 was
including V.A.T. closed, despite the fact that SI had not been pushed.
(postage 3p) The reason for this effect is not known and is presum-
ably due to the circuit settling down to its operating
The Perfect Transfer for condition with Cl and C2 in their proper charge
conditions. Because of this, effect the following
the Home Constructor sequence is employed in bringing the timer into use.
S3 is initially closed, with S2 open. If the circuit should
Available from then start a timing run, this fact will be indicated by the
Data Publications Ltd. illumination of LED1. The timing run will have a
length which depends upon the setting of VR1 and,
57 Maida Vale, London W9 1SIM when it has come to an end, LED1 will extinguish. S2
may then be closed, whereupon the circuit is ready for
620 RADIO & ELECTRONICS CONSTURCTOR
 Break circuit here

There was no evidence of further untriggered timing

runs in the prototype circuit after the occas'onai imtia
run immediately after switching on, and the circuit
performed satisfactorily after these runs had taken Ohmmeler
VR
place If it is felt that the occasional untriggered run at
switch-on would not cause any difficulties m use, the
l.e.d. circuit, consisting of R5 and LED1, and S2 can
both be omitted. , , . . „„j
It should be noted that SI need only be closed
momentarily to start a timing period. If this push-
button is held closed, the output at pin 3 will remain
high even after the end of the period. The period
commences when SI is closed and it is only then
required that SI be opened again at any time before Fig 3. A simple means, described in the text, of
the end of the period. This point necessitates fairly calibrating VR1 in terms of seconds.
quick operation of SI when the period selected is of
the order of 0.5 second, but the required quick pressure
and release of the button is not at all difficult to accom-
plish When LP1 is the bulb in a photographic enlarger, Terminal 1 of the triac, the output current flowing
it may be desirable to have it turned on for a continual through R3 is 54mA. The current in R5, assuming zero
period for purposes of focusing. Pressing SI and keeping forward voltage drop in the l.e.d., is of the order of
it closed will provide the necessary continual illumin- 10mA. Thus, the total output current is 64mA, which is
ation inLPl. well within the maximum of 200mA specified for the
■555' device. The output current of 64mA, in combin-
CONSTRUCTION . ation with the 1.6 volts dropped inside the i.e. represents
a dissipation inside the i.e. of 102mW. The i.e. circuits
By far the most important thing to bear in mind, so not directly associated with the output can be assumed
far as construction is concerned, is that all points in to dissipate some 30mW, whereupon the total dissi-
the circuit of Fig. 2 are at, or near mams potential pation in the i.e. is well within the 600mW maximum
The parts should preferably be assembled m an insulated
case If a metal case is employed, this must be reliably The prototype circuit gave a maximum time period of
earthed. Lamp LP1 will be external to the main unit 23 seconds, which is to be expected since the actual
and may be coupled to it by way of a suitable plug capacitance of electrolytic capacitors is usually in
and socket. The push-button, SI, should have insulation excess of their nominal values. When the unit has been
suitable for mains voltages. The l.e.d. may be fitted so completed, it should be run for a number of penodsto
that it is central in a small grommet on the front panel check operation and to allow C1 to form , alter which
of the unit. The l.e.d. type specified is available, VR1 may be calibrated. One method of carrying out the
incidentally, from Henry's Radio, Ltd.
calibration consists of timing a number of runs with
In the prototype, the triac was mounted on a small VR1 in various positions and then making up a scale
heat sink about U in. square. It ran quite cool on this from the results obtained. ,
sink. The circuit was checked with domestic 240 volt A less tedious approach is possible if an accurate
bulbs up to 100 watts in rating. Bulbs of higher power ohmmeter is to hand, and it relies on the fact that the
than 100 watts should not be used. It was found that length of the timing period is proportional to the
the triac was fully turned on by the circuit; short- resistance of VR1 plus Rl. The timer is initially run
circuiting its Main Terminals 1 and 2 when it was with VR1 inserting maximum resistance and the length
conductive caused no noticeable increase in the voltage of the period is measured and noted. The timer is tlren
across the bulb. . . - disconnected from the mains and the circuit to VR1
VR1 is a standard panel-mounting carbon potentio- slider broken, as in Fig. 3. The ohmmeter is connected
meter. A 'moulded track' type of potentiometer would between the slider of VR1 and the lower end of Rl,
represent a good choice and would offer a high degree whereupon it initially indicates the resistance given by
of repeatability. It needs to be fitted with a pointer and VR1 plus Rl when VR1 inserts maximum resistance.
scale which can be calibrated later in terms of seconds. Resistance values in VR1 plus Rl for round-number
As with all d.i.l. integrated circuits, the terminal periods of time can then be calculated, and VR1
pins of the timer i.e. are fragile. Connections to these calibrated by simply setting it up for these resistance
pins should be made by way of thin wire. It is a good
olan to wire to an i.e. holder rather than directly to To give an example of this technique, it was found in
the i.e. itself, since any damage due to the wiring the prototype circuit that the longest timing period of
process can then only result in the loss of the less costly 23 seconds corresponded to a measured resistance in
VR1 plus Rl of 520kQ. Since, in this instance 520kH
The layout of components in the timer unit is not corresponds to 23 seconds then it follows that 520ka
important, provided that C2 is positioned close to the divided by 23 corresponds to 1 second. The result of
ic and R4 is positioned close to the triac. this division is 22.6ka. VR1 is adjusted to give th.s
' The measured supply voltage across C3 in the proto- resistance in VR1 plus Rl and its scale is calibrated for
type was 7.4 volts before and after timing runs, and 1 second. The 5 second point is then at 113kU, the
7.0 volts during a timing run. The voltage at terminal 3 10 second point at 226ka, the 20 second point at
of the i.e. during the run was 5.4 volts, which infers 452kO, and so on. After calibration in this manner the
that 1 6 volts is dropped inside the i.e. when the output ohmmeter is removed. The circuit connection to VR
is positive. Assuming, for convenience of calculation, a slider is then re-made and the timer is ready for use.
forward voltage drop of zero across the gate and Main
MAY 1974

i
 THE

BIFLEXETTE'

PORTABLE RECEIVER

By Sir Douglas Hall, K.C.M.G., M.A. (Oxon)

A 2-transistor reflex receiver which offers loudspeaker reception

of local stations on the medium and long wave bands.

The receiver to be described employs a new one is quite surprising. If a speaker having a 7,000
circuit which requires only two transistors, an gauss magnet is compared with one having a 10,000
N-channel f.e.t. and a p.n.p. transistor, and a few other gauss magnet, using a switch to change them over when
components. For signal pick up it employs a 6in. coupled to a low level signal, the difference will prove
ferrite rod aerial only, and it is easy to build and set up. to be very marked. The author employed an Elac 30
Yet it offers no less than foui amplifying stages plus a Sin. speaker with a 10,000 gauss magnet in the proto-
detector stage and will give good loudspeaker results type. This can be identified by the maker's name and the
from local stations. In most parts of the country it will large 2fin. diameter magnet. The Elac speaker is
provide loudspeaker reception of two or three Con- excellent in the present design, but may not be very
tinental transmitters as well. At a more modest output easy to find. Constructors are advised to shop around
Igvel, suitable for bedside listening, it will pick up many for it or a similar high gauss unit. Many SO high gauss
more. It covers the whole of the medium and long speakers will match quite well with the LT700 trans-
wave bands. former. The author obtained his own speaker from
Right from the start the author must emphasise the Radioparts, Market Way, Plymouth, and it is worth-
importance of using the specified components. This is while contacting this firm, who should be able to supply
especially necessary with a very simple receiver such the Elac speaker or a suitable equivalent. Also, high
as the present design, which is designed to give the flux Sin. speakers are listed by Henry's Radio Ltd.,
maximum possible performance with the minimum of
parts.
SEMICONDUCTORS
The constructor must ensure that the semiconductors
are genuine first grade components. If different trans-
istors are used the receiver may not work at all, or only
inefficiently. Both the diodes are R.S. Components
parts, and may be obtained from an R.S. Components
retailer such as Elekon Enterprises, 224A, St. Paul's
Road, Highbury Corner, London, N.l. It is particularly
important that D1 be the correct type; a different
silicon diode here would almost certainly require a
modification to the value of C2 at least. The volume
control is a moulded track R.S. Components type, also
available from R.S. Components retailers, and this type
of control is essential for the circuit as others are liable
to become noisy. Above all, use a sensitive speaker. At
the risk of boring readers the author will emphasise
once again that it is audible output and not electrical
output which reaches the ear. The difference between
a good high flux speaker and a normal rather cheaper Front view of the 'Biflexette'receiver in its case.
MAY 1974 625
 s consequence D1 offers a very high forward impedance,
lh a potentiometer is formed in which D1 is the upper arm
+9V and R3 the lower arm. The potentiometer given by Dl
and R3 acts as a volume control across D2 which, being
a germanium device, will still give some rectification
even with a very low voltage across it. To sum up, the
TR, TR2 process of talcing VR1 slider up from the negative end of
2N4289 its track initially allows detection to occur in D2, with
2N38I9
VR, Dl and R3 providing a control of volume. As the slider
VRp moves further up the track Dl is brought more and
V<AA/ more into use as a detector in its own right and eventu-
qreer black ally a point is reached where the overall efficiency
of the diode circuit allows oscillation to take place.
It is possible for a very powerful signal to overload
iCs the receiver detector circuit, whereupon a distorted
white output will be given even then the volume control is
7?VCii 11 I turned well back. Should this occur, advantage is taken
Sla white (not used) of the directional properties of the ferrite rod aerial and

►F ►F
COMPONENTS
bee
|oo Resistors
DCS (All fixed values ] watt 10%)
2N3819 2N4289 R1 3.3kn
Lead-outs Lead-outs R2 2.2Mn
R3 68kfl
VR1 1MO potentiometer, log, moulded
Fig. 1. The circuit of the 1 Bifiexette' receiver. track (R.S. Components)
VR2 22kfl or 25kO, pre-set potentiometer,
miniature skeleton
CIRCUIT Capacitors
The theoretical circuit of the 'Bifiexette' receiver is C1 2,200pF silvered mica
given in Fig. 1. When SI (a) is in the position shown, C2 82pF silvered mica
signals are picked up by the medium wave winding, C3 2,200pF silvered mica
LI, on the 6in. ferrite rod, this being tuned by the C4 2,200pF silvered mica
150pF air-spaced variable capacitor, VC1. The non- C5 lOOpF electrolytic, 6.4 V.Wkg.
earthy junction of LI and VC1 is applied to the gate of VC1 150pF variable, air-spaced, type C804
TR1, a field-effect transistor which functions as a (Jackson Bros.)
grounded source radio frequency amplifier. The Inductors
amplified r.f. signal appears across R1 and is applied to L1,L2 see text
TR2 which, at radio frequencies, acts as a common L3 1.5mH r.f. choke, ferrite cored, type
collector current amplifier, or emitter follower. Its CHS (Repanco or equivalent)
output appears across the r.f. choke L3 and is applied T1 Output transformer type LT700 (Eagle)
to the two diodes, Dl and D2. Note that Dl is a silicon Semiconductors
diode and that D2 is a germanium type. TR1 2N3819
If there is a very low voltage only across Dl it will TR2 2N4289
act as a very high resistance for current in both direc- Dl Silicon diode type 1SJ50 (R.S.
tions, and not as a diode. When the voltage across it Components)
approaches about 0.6 volt rectification will start, the D2 Germanium diode type 1GP5 (R.S.
impedance in the forward direction becoming less as the Components)
voltage increases. Dl and D2 then form a voltage Switch
doubler circuit. C2 has a value which allows an effective Sl(a)(b) D.P.D.T. slide switch with centre off
capacitive tap to be made into the tuned circuit such position (see text)
that oscillation can take place in the Colpitts mode, Speaker
always provided that the voltage across Dl is sufficient LSI 30 Sin. speaker, high flux (see text)
to prevent it from offering too high an impedance in Battery
the feedback circuit. The level of regeneration is con- 9 volt battery type PP6 (Ever Ready)
trolled by VR1, which first takes Dl into the conducting Miscellaneous
state as its slider moves upwards and then varies the Battery connectors
current flowing in this diode. R3 is included because, if 2 knobs
the lower end of VR1 track were connected direct to 18-way 'Miniature' group panel (R.S. Com-
the negative supply point, the first 90 degrees of its ponents - see text)
travel would be wasted. With R3 in circuit the whole of 6 x fin. ferrite rod (see text)
the first half of the movement of VR1 slider is useful. Fablon or Contact
It can be seen that VR1 functions as a reaction Speaker fabric
control. When it is turned well back, i.e. with its fin. plywood, Paxolin, etc.
slider at the negative end of its track, and when in
626 RADIO & ELECTRONICS CONSTRUCTOR
 of the plywood panel (the surface away from the
reader in Fig. 2) and the switch is secured at the front
with two small wood screws. If separate toggle switches
2-4BAxl72 csk bolts are to be used, these may be mounted side by side with
their centres l|in. from the bottom of the plywood
panel. The position of the speaker is also shown in
vc. M" Fig. 2 and a suitable cut-out should be made for it
before it is mounted, over a piece of gauze. The 3|-m.
1 dimensions between speaker mounting holes apply to
battery the Elac speaker used in the prototype. These dimen-
sions may differ slightly with other speakers. The
5iola S0 b speaker is secured with 4BA countersunk bolts, these
374 Magnet being jin. long at the two lower holes in Fig. 2 and
Uin. long at the two upper holes. As will be seen
white reen shortly, the longer bolts will also hold a Paxolin panel,
black \
^and the liin. length is based on the construction of the
Elac speaker. Longer bolts may be required if an
|3/4 alternative speaker with a different chassis shape is
employed.
5/8" Two tagstrips are required in the receiver and these
are cut from a single 18-way R.S. Components 'Mini-
Tagstrip white (not used) ature' tag panel. The tag panel can be obtained from
// , R.S. Components retailers, or from Home Radio under
2-4BA x '/2 c sk. bolts Cat. No. BTS12. A 6-way tagstrip cut from the tag
panel can be seen in Fig. 2, and it is used to mount
the output transformer Tl. The feet of the transformer
F/g. 2. Components and wiring on the front panel. clamp are bent in slightly and are then soldered to two
of the tags on the tagstrip. Two of the remaining tags
are soldered to the speaker tags as shown, as also
the receiver is turned so that signal pick up is reduced are the black and white secondary leads of the trans-
to a level where the overload distortion disappears. former. Tag spacing on the tagstrip is correct for the
The detected signal at the junction of D1 and VR1 Elac speaker. It might be necessary to use different tags,
slider is passed to the gate of TRI via LI (and via L2 thereby necessitating a longer strip, with other speakers.
when SI (a) is set to long waves). TR] next functions VC1, VR1 and SI (a) (b), or the two separate switches
as a grounded source voltage amplifier at audio which are employed instead, are all now mounted The
frequency with its drain coupling direct to the base of ends of the fixed vane lugs of VC1 may need to be
TR2. TR2 now acts as a high gain voltage amplifying clipped off or they may foul the back of the case when
output transistor. The presence of L3 in its emitter this is fitted on completion of the receiver. If, however
circuit causes negligible negative feedback of audio the constructor uses components different' to those
frequencies. employed in the prototype it is possible that the case
For TR2 to function correctly, about 0.65 volt will have to be deeper in any event, and so the question
needs to be dropped across Rl. This means that TR] of clipping the fixed vane lugs is left until later. During
must pass a current of about 200mA. The source bias construction and testing, the connections to the fixed
of TRI is adjusted by VR2 to produce this current. As vane lugs may be made at their existing ends.
there is heavy negative feedback at d.c. between the two
transistors the setting of VR2 is not unduly critical and
the circuit is very stable.
When SI (a) is switched to long waves L2 comes into
circuit. Also, capacitor C1 is switched across C2 to
provide a suitable capacitive tap at the lower frequencies
involved. In the prototype, a 2-pole slide switch was
used for SI (a) (b), this having a centre off posfiion
If a switch of this type cannot be obtained, two separate
small toggle switches mounted side by side can be
employed instead. One switch can offer a single-pole
double-throw action and it then replaces SI (a). The
other may give a single-pole single-throw action and
replace SI (b). The first switch is then the wavechange
switch and the second the on-off switch.
CONSTRUCTION
Construction commences by cutting a piece of |-in
plywood to measure 6 by 4jm,, as illustrated in Fig 2
The positions for VC1, SI (a) (b) and VR1 are shown
in this diagram and the requisite mounting holes should
be cut out. If a slide switch with a central off position
has been obtained for SI (a) (b), a rectangular cut-out is
made to take its body, which passes through the
plywood. The front plate of the switch is on the front The receiver with the back of its cabinet removed.
MAY 1974 627

- - ■I
 '

Next to be cut out is a piece of Paxolin to the shape rod and fit rubber or p.v.c. grommets at the ends. The
shown in Fig. 3. This has a large hole for the speaker two inside wires of the coils are joined together, during
magnet and two 4BA clear holes to pass over the longer wiring later, and they should be mutually aiding in
4BA bolts which secure the speaker. The dimensioning terms of inductance when both are in circuit. The ferrite
of the large hole and the two 4BA clear holes which is rod is held in place by means of nylon thread passed
given in Fig. 3 applies to the Elac speaker. A 12-way through 4 small holes in the Paxolin, at each end of the
tagstrip is cut out from the 18-way group panel and is rod, the thread being knotted in the grommet grooves.
secured to the Paxolin by two 10BA bolts passing Do not use bare wire to secure the ferrite rod as this
through the holes in the end tags. will constitute shorted turns at the rod ends.
Next wind LI. The author employed blue grade Thread a 4BA nut onto each of the longer 4BA bolts
ferrite rod for the aerial and this has a lower perme- which secure the speaker, and pass the Paxolin piece
ability than most of the ferrite rods currently available. over these bolts. Adjust the nuts so that the Paxolin
The latter can be employed just as readily in the receiver settles as low down on the speaker as the construction
but they will require somewhat fewer turns for coverage of the latter permits. Then pass two more nuts over the
of the medium and long wave band. If the constructor bolt ends and tighten these up to hold the assembly
has obtained blue grade rod (which is marked by a blue secure.
colour code at one end) the winding instructions which Next fit small components to the 12-way tagstrip,
are given next will offer the correct frequency coverage. and wire this up as illustrated in Fig. 3. In this diagram
If another grade of rod is used the windings should be some of the components and wiring are shown spread
made up as described. After the receiver has been out for reasons of clarity. In practice, all leads should be
checked out it may then be found necessary to remove as short as is conveniently possible. This point does not
a few turns from the windings to obtain correct range. apply to choke L3, however, and this component
In most cases it will probably be necessary to take should have lead lengths which are sufficiently long to
turns only from the medium wave coil, LI, enable it to be oriented during setting-up of the receiver.
Take a piece of Fablon or Contact 2in. wide and 3in. It is necessary for the speaker magnet to be earthed to
long and remove a Jin. strip of the backing paper along the negative supply point as, otherwise, it is possible
one of the 2in. edges. Wind the piece onto the ferrite rod for low frequency instability to occur due to unwanted
with the exposed adhesive at the outer end, so that the coupling between T1 and the ferrite rod assembly. No
piece is secured in place by being stuck on itself. The attempt should be made to solder to the magnet. A
tube should be loose enough to slide on the rod. Then suitable connection can be made by splaying out the
close-wind 100 turns of 28 s.w.g. enamelled wire in a cores at the end of a length of fine flexible wire and hold-
single layer on the outside of the piece of Fablon or ing these down with Sellotape; and this serves quite
Contact. satisfactorily in practice. If there is still evidence of
L2 is wound on an exactly similar tube, and consists low frequency distortion or instability when the set is
of 6 pies of 38 s.w.g. enamelled wire. Each pie has 70 tried out, the red and green leads from T1 primary may
turns scramble-wound and is about tkin. wide. be transposed at the tagstrip, but it is unlikely that this
Separation between pies is approximately ikin. The will prove necessary.
exact form of the overall winding is not critical as long
as there are 6 separate pies. Slide the two coils onto the
SETTING UP
When the wiring is complete and has been checked,
put the PP6 battery in position behind the body of
VR1. If the slide switch type employed by the author
5
has been used, the battery should be well clear of the
/8 374 tags of this switch. If separate toggle switches have
been fitted it may be necessary to provide a means of
716 holes '/16'holes insulation to prevent the metal body of the battery
Grommet 4BA clear Grommet v from touching their tags. Ensure that VR2 is adjusted
to insert full resistance into circuit. This is the fully
clockwise setting in Fig. 3. Connect up the battery with
110013 a current reading meter in one lead. Set VR1 fully
Moving vanes P on S onS| J anti-clockwise, switch on and slowly reduce the resist-
2l/4'' on VC| ance inserted by VR2 until a reading of 7mA is given.
TW Fixed vane VCi
4 BA clear There should be a small reading initially which will
Pa Moving increase as VR2 is adjusted; if there is not, something
33/4' Cut out for vanes VC| is wrong. Do not adjust VR2 to insert zero resistance
magnet in an attempt to obtain the correct reading. Such a
25/8 dia ••Q onS| setting will not be necessary if all is well, and it could
B on VRj
□ J*^AonVR, cause damage to the transistors.
^"^R on Si Select medium waves and adjust VCI until a local
station is heard. It should be possible to make the
VR receiver oscillate throughout the full range of settings
Se I lot ape of VCI, oscillation being denoted by a whistle if a
red green C5 station is tuned in or by a hiss if no signal is present.
-21/4 — — battery clip Should this not happen, adjust the orientation of L3
with respect to the ferrite rod. This adjustment will assist
4 '/4♦ % oscillation for settings in VCI between half and full
capacitance. Find an angle for L3 which gives good
Fig. 3. The majority of components are fitted to a oscillation throughout the full range of VCI, without
Paxoiin panel, as shown here. oscillation commencing too early in the advancemenl;
628 * RADIO & ELECTRONICS CONSTRUCTOR
 guidance only and assume that the plywood panel
illustrated in Fig. 2 is made exactly to size and that the
plywood of the panel and the case is exactly iin. thick.
The internal width and height of the case should be
such as to fit comfortably over the plywood panel of
Fig. 2. The 2iin. depth of the case corresponds to the
instance where, as in the prototype, the Elac 5m.
speaker and the slide switch SI (a) (b) is employed.
Other speakers, or other switches, may require the
/ 2|in. dimension to be increased, whereupon it should be
modified accordingly. If the depth of the cabinet is
n equal to that indicated in Fig. 4, or is only slightly
greater, the outside ends of the fixed vane lugs of VC1
will need to be cut off, as mentioned earlier. The
connections to these lugs should be unsoldered, the
lugs cut short, and the connections re-made. When the
case of Fig. 4 has been completed, it can be covered
with Fablon or Contact.
The internal construction of the prototype. Next, cut out a frame of Paxolin or Formica, as
illustrated in Fig. 5, again checking exact dimensions.
of VR1 at any setting of VC1. When all is well, oscil-
lation should take place over the full range of VC1
with VR1 not too far from its central position.
Switch to long waves. Provided that L3 was correctly
set for medium waves, oscillation will be satisfactorily
available throughout the range of VC1, although it may
3
be necessary to take VR1 a little further clockwise to /8*
obtain oscillation than was needed on medium waves.
If the ferrite aerial employed a ferrite rod other than
the blue grade, it may now be necessary to remove a few
turns from LI to obtain the desired medium wave
coverage. If necessary, turns may also be taken from 3/8
L2, but it is doubtful whether this modification will be
necessary in practice.
CABINET Cut-out
A suitable case may be made up, with iin. plywood,
as shown in Fig. 4. The dimensions given here are for
3
/8
672' -

t Material: Paxolin or Formica

i 278*
A • ™ ;
1 Fig. 5. A frame for the front of the receiver.

I/O*
472
This frame covers the front edges of the case and the
!i heads of the screws which secure the speaker, and its
outside dimensions should be the same as those of the
m ■ H11

1 case. It is secured to the front of the plywood panel of

Mm mw 1

Fig. 2 by small wood screws passing through the four

n

holes shown. The receiver assembly, with the frame-

I*—278*
s

screwed to it, is then fitted into the case, being secured

4% -

by wood screws passing through holes in the edge of

\

the frame into the front edges of the case. The holes for
these screws are not shown in Fig. 5.
Material: 'M^plywood Suitable knobs may be fitted to VR1 and VC1 and a
Fig. 4. Making a case for the receiver. The tuning scale and labels for the controls added. The-
dimensions given are for guidance and may need receiver is then complete. ■
slight alteration in practice.
MAY 1974 629
 This month we find
Dick and Smithy
engaged in a little
recreational inter-
lude. Also, Dick
takes advantage of
the situation to t^p
the Serviceman's
brains on the basic
aspects of a.m.
diode detectors.

SEATED AT HIS BENCH, SMITHY would be at detecting a.m. signals!" "Oh, come off it. Smithy," said Dick
studied the sheet of paper in front Smithy considered this remark scornfully. "For a start, a silicon diode
of him. He scratched his head irreso- judicially. doesn't start to conduct until there's a
lutely, then steeled himself towards "I don't think that's a very good forward voltage of around 0.6 volt
making a decision. comparison." across it. It wouldn't even- notice the
"D6," he called out. "Why not?" replied Dick. "You're small signals and it would distort all
On the other side of the workshop, no good at detecting ships and a silicon the big ones!"
Dick gazed down at another sheet of diode is no good at detecting a.m. "It could work as a detector if you
paper. He picked up a pencil and made signals." biased it so that it was just on the point
a mark at the point indicated by "You could use a silicon diode as an where it started to conduct," replied
Smithy. a.m. detector," commented Smithy, Smithy. "It certainly wouldn't be a
"Nothing," he called out cheerfully. thoughtfully, "provided it had a very attractive circuit, but the idea
"Are you sure?" sufficiently^ fast response and low self- should be quite feasible, nevertheless."
"Absolutely positive," replied Dick. capacitance." (Fig. 1.)
"It's my go now and I'll have a bash at "What would be the point of
F6." providing a bias supply?" objected
"Did you say F6?" Dick. "You can use a point-contact
"I did." germanium diode as a straightforward
"Then darn it all," snorted Smithy detector without any bias at all."
irritably. "You've scored your second "You haven't been looking at your
hit on my battleship. Blow me, I've transistor radio circuits very closely,"
lost two subs, one destroyer and a Silicon commented Smithy. "In nearly all
cruiser, and now you've had two hits at diode transistor a.m. superhets the german-
my battleship. And you still say that I Detected ium diode detector has forward bias
haven't hit anything of yours yet." output applied to it."
"That's right," replied Dick prompt- "You must be joking, Smithy,"
ly. "You've been missing me all along protested Dick. "Why, all you have in
up to now. Mind you, you've got very a transistor a.m. detector circuit is the
close at times." OoV secondary of the last i.f. transformer
"Well, I'll have another go," stated coupling into the diode and diode load
Smithy. "I'll try E7. There must be in series, plus the usual i.f. filter
something there." resistor and capacitors, of course.
Dick examined his paper. There's no bias there." (Fig. 2.)
"Nope," he remarked happily. Fig. 1. Although not an "I'll agree," conceded Smithy in
"You've missed again." attractive choice, it would be reply, "that circuits like that are used
possible to use a silicon occasionally in transistor radios. But
DETECTOR DIODES diode of sufficiently fast you won't find them very often, and the
response and low self-capaci- vast majority of sets have the a.m. diode
Smithy threw his pencil down on his tance as a detector by biasing forward biased. Don't forget that even
bench in disgust. it in the manner shown here. a germanium diode doesn't pass for-
"I just," he remarked, "don't seem The r.f. signal appears across ward current until the voltage across it
able to locate any of your ships." the co//, and both capacitors is around 0.1 to 0.2 volt. Giving it a
Dick chuckled. have a low reactance at radio small level of bias brings it on to a
"You're as useful in detecting my frequency more linear part of its characteristic."
ships," he grinned, "as a silicon diode "Where does the bias come from,
630 RADIO & ELECTRONICS CONSTRUCTOR
 the diode should be well and truly And, indeed, judging from Dick's
Secondary of last forward biased." expression, it was obvious that his
I.F. transformer Germanium "No, it won't," replied Smithy. "In thoughts were far removed from naval
. diode the presence of signal the diode engagements.
becomes reverse biased!" "How the deuce," he pursued
"It becomes what?" doggedly, "can a detector be reverse
"It becomes reverse biased," con- biased in the presence of signal?"
Filter firmed Smithy. "Well now, I don't "Oh, to heck with the diode," said
components want to spend the rest of this lunch- Smithy impatiently. "It's my turn now
Detected break talking about diodes, so let's get and I'll try B4."
output back to our game of Battleships. Dick looked down carelessly and
Whose go is it?" made a mark on his paper with a
: Diode "Mine," said Dick absently. "F5." pencil.
load "F5?" repeated Smithy furiously. "You've hit a sub," he remarked
"Stap me, you've hit my battleship indifferently. "Now, what about this
again. And you don't even seem to be diode?"
X trying." "I've hit a sub?" repeated Smithy

Fig. 2. A practicable diode

detector circuit employing a Supply-
germanium point-contact
diode 27 ka
IjlC Secondary of
III? last I.F,
T transformer
then?" I.F. transformer £
secondary I.F. amplifier O-OlpF
"From the a.g.c. circuit," replied
Smithy promptly. "The normal form
of a.m. detector consists of the second- 680n
ary of the last i.f. transformer feeding OOlpF
via the diode into the diode load,
together with the i.f. filter components,
just as you said. But also connected to
the upper end of the diode load or the
filter resistor is a resistor which takes
an automatic gain control voltage back IOUF Ikn n O-OSuF 5kn
to one or more of the i.f. transistors. If
the set uses p.n.p. i.f. transistors the !
diode will be connected so that the I
voltage at the non-earthy end of the %
diode load goes more positive as signal A.G.C. lOkn
strength increases. This positive volt- VWV
age is passed to the base or bases of the
controlled transistosror transistors, and Fig. 3. A typical detector and a.g.c. circuit in a receiver having a
reduces the i.f. gain accordingly."
(Fig. 3.) negative supply rail and p.n.p. i.f. transistors. Frequently, the a.g.c.
"Well?" voltage is applied to two i.f. transistors instead of only one
"If the circuit is examined closely,"
went on Smithy, "it can be seen that, in
the absence of signal, there is a small ' Supply +
forward current flowing from the
positive supply rail, through the
secondary of the last i.f. transformer,
through the diode and then through 111C Secondary of
the a.g.c. circuit to the negative supply jjjS last I.F.
rail. This circuit automatically ensures transformer
that, in the absence of signal, the diode I.F. transformer
detector is always forward biased up to secondary IF. amplifier
the point at which it starts to conduct. 64-^
If the set has n.p.n. i.f. transistors then
the detector diode is turned the other
way round and an increasing negative
voltage is coupled back to the i.f. 4K
transistor base, or bases, as signal
strength increases. The diode is still
forward biased in the absence of signal
because the supply polarity is also r
reversed." (Fig. 4.)
REVERSE BIAS 1
X
Dick absorbed this information for A.G.C.
some moments. -NUF-
"Humph," he remarked musingly.
"I can see what you're getting at now. Fig. 4. If the receiver has n.p.n. i.f. transistors, the upper supply rail
At any rate, when a signal is present is positive and the diode detector polarity is reversed
MAY 1974 631
 Capacitor charges Capacitor discharges capacitor the lower the intermediate
frequency level across the diode load
becomes."
"That's true enough," agreed
Smithy. "Also, the larger the first
bypass capacitor, the greater the
rK amplitude of the detected a.f. signal.
This is to be expected, of course,
because of the similarity between the
I.F. half-cycles capacitor and the reservoir capacitor in
a half-wave power supply. When the
capacitor has a larger value it dis-
charges less between half-cycle peaks
and so the average modulation voltage
across it is higher. At the same time,
Fig. 5. When an unmodulated i.f. signal is applied to a detector diode, though, you can't make the capacitor
such as that of Fig. 3, the voltage across the first bypass capacitor too large or you introduce a.f. dis-
tortion."
resembles that shown here in heavy line "Do you?" queried Dick. "What
sort of distortion would that be; treble
cut or something like that?"
"Oh no," replied Smithy. "What
happens is that there is distortion of
jubilantly. "Hooray, blood at last! half-cycle tips, when the diode is not the actual modulation waveform, and
What's this about a diode?" conducting, the diode is then reverse it is liable to occur when the modula-
"Why," persevered Dick, "is the biased due to the,voltage across the tion amplitude falls very quickly from
detector diode reverse biased in the capacitor." (Fig. 6.) a high level to a low level. If the bypass
presence of signal?" "Blow me," commented Dick. "It's capacitor has too high a value it won't
"Because of the charge in the obvious when you think about it. discharge down to successive half-
capacitor across the diode load and What happens when the signal is cycle peak levels during the fall in
filter resistor," explained Smithy. modulated, Smithy?" modulation amplitude, and it will
"That is to say, the filter bypass "The reverse bias across the diode merely discharge into the load resistance
capacitor which immediately follows still corresponds to the voltage across until the voltage across it is sufficiently
the diode. This capacitor charges up the capacitor," explained Smithy, "but low for it to start charging on half-
like the reservoir capacitor in a half- that voltage is now changing in sym- cycle tips again." (Fig. 7.)
wave power supply circuit, with the pathy with the modulation amplitude. "I see," said Dick brightly. "Instead
exception that it discharges further The effect you get is that the capacitor of following the modulation waveform,
between half-cycle tips than a reservoir discharges between half-cycle peaks the voltage across the capacitor follows
capacitor of normal value would. and that the average voltage across it is an epicyclic curve."
Assume for the moment that an un- proportional to the modulating volt- "A what curve?"
modulated r.f, carrier is picked up by age. In other words, the modulating "An epicyclic curve," repeated Dick
the receiver. This will be applied as a a.f. voltage appears across the capaci- innocently. "Isn't that what you get
steady unmodulated i.f. signal to the tor together with a certain level of when a capacitor discharges into a
diode, which will then conduct on half- intermediate frequency signal, which resistor?"
cycle peaks. If the diode is connected has to be filtered off before the modu- "You raving binner," snorted
up with the polarity needed for a set lation signal can be fed to the following Smithy. "What you mean is an
having p.n.p. i.f. transistors, it will a.f. amplifier." exponential curve. The word 'epicyclic'
conduct on the positive half-cycle tips, "I suppose," remarked Dick, "that applies to tuning drives, for heaven's
with the bypass capacitor discharging the bigger you make the first bypass sake."
slightly into the resistance across it
between the tips." (Fig. 5.)
"I can visualise that," said Dick,
furrowing his brow. "What happens
next?" Capacitor discharge
"Well," said Smithy, "the capacitor N
becomes charged such that the termin-
al which connects to the diode cathode
is positive, with its other terminal
negative. During the periods, between

1
r

Fig. 6. The first bypass

capacitor following an a.m.
detector diode charges up
with the polarity shown here,
whereupon the diode is Fig. 7. If the first bypass capacitor has too high a value, the voltage
reverse biased between half- across it may fail to follow the signal modulation when the latter
cycle tips changes quickly from a high to a low level
632 RADIO & ELECTRONICS CONSTRUCTOR
 "Hey," said Dick defensively, "don't 100 microseconds. Let's say that the Four Local Supplier
get so uptight about it. It's only a value of the detector diode load plus
word." ,, . the filter resistor is 5kn, which is LONDON
"Oh, all right then," grumbled representative of what is given in many
Smithy. "But you always put me right a.m. transistor sets. Now, what THE
off my stroke when you come out with capacitance across 5kD will give a time
statements like that. And I don't like constant of 100 microseconds?" MODERM BOOK CO.
that other word you used either; Smithy busied himself with his
'uptight'. Nasty horrible modern word pencil as he worked out the time
with all sorts of sinister connotations." constant. , ,
"Ah yes," he remarked, here we Largest selection of English ft
Wisely, Dick remained silent.
"Well now," grunted Smithy after are. The value of capacitance is 0.02 American radio and technical
some moments, "where were we? Oh uF. Which is pretty well the sort ol books in the country.
yes, we'd just got to the point where thing you get in practical transistor
we'd seen that too high a value of by- a.m. detector circuits."
"What about," asked Dick, the
pass capacitor can cause distortion second bypass capacitor? If the filter 19-21 PRAED STREET,
when the modulation level drops very resistor has a low value this second LONDON, W2 1NP
quickly from a high to a low level. This capacitor will almost be in parallel with
distortion can only happen when the the capacitor which comes immediately Tel: 01-723 418512926
modulation level falls and not when it after the diode."
rises. If the modulation level rises "True enough," agreed Smithy, tt
quickly, the successive half-cycles the filter resistor has a relatively low
charge the first capacitor after the value the two capacitors can be looked
diode in the usual manner and the upon as being in parallel so far as the ST. HELEN'S RADIO
voltage across this capacitor then distortion we are talking about is
follows the level of the half-cycle concerned. Their total value should not
peaks." Hi-Fi Equipment
then be greater than the calculated
value for the single capacitor. If, on the Tape Recorders
TIME CONSTANT other hand, the filter resistor has a high Radio Receivers
value then the second bypass capacitor
"Would that distoition occur during will be less liable to contribute to the Television
a quick transient sound?" distortion and could be largely SPECIALISTS IN RADIO
"It could," confirmed Smithy. "It ignored. But we are speaking in ft ELECTRONIC TEXTBOOKS
could also happen on successive cycles general terms here anyway, and you II
of high frequency sound. If you think find quite a few transistor a.m. radios ST. HELENS GARDENS
about it you'll realise that the distor- whose detector load time constants are LONDON, W.10
tion is dependent both on the frequency longer than the 100 microsecond figure Tel: 01-969 3657
and the amplitude of the modulating we arrived at in our own example."
signal. It could, for instance, occur "Are there any further types ol
with a low amplitude signal having an distortion in an a.m. detector circuit?
extremely high frequency, or with a ''There's another one, and this is KT88 TRANSFORMERS
high amplitude signal having a lower given by what is usually called a.c. 100-WATT OUTPUT
frequency. Fortunately, high fre- shunting' or 'a.c. loading'," replied PRIMARY: 4.5kn A-A ULTRA
quency signals in speech and music Smithy carelessly. "However, let s get LINEAR (43% TAPS).
normally appear at quite low ampli- back to our game. Wlfose go is it
tudes. Also, the higher frequencies are SECONDARY: 0-3-8-150.
usually reduced in strength at the ^"A.C. shunting, eh?" commented THEY ARE LAYER-WOUND ON
detector of an average a.m. superhet Dick reflectively. "That's something GRAIN ORIENTATED
receiver because the i.f. amplifier cuts I've never heard of before." LAMINATIONS
down the outer sidebands of the signal. Smithy ignored him. . WITH FREQUENCY RESPONSE
Because of these two factors, the "Who's got the next turn in this OF 20Hz-20kHz (-3dB)
practical problem of preventing the game of Battleships?" he queried ONLY £15 EACH inc P. & P.
type of distortion we are talking about
is not very difficult. As a rule of Sh
"Come oh, Smithy," wheedled Dick. MASTER SOUND
thumb, it is pretty reasonable to say "It won't take you long to give me the 56 Ashford Road, Cricklewood
that we shouldn't have too much gen on this a.c. shunting business. London NW2 6TT.
trouble if the time constant given by "Who," thundered Smithy, has the
the first bypass capacitor and the diode HAMPSHIRE
load and filter resistance is less than the next go?"
Reluctantly, Dick allowed his curi-
length of a half-cycle of the top audio osity to diminish for the moment.
frequency we expect the receiver to "Well, it's my turn," he replied, BOURNEMOUTH
reproduce. Time constant is the time concentrating on the paper m front of
needed for a capacitor to discharge to him. "I'll have a stab at F4
37 per cent of the initial voltage across Stricken, Smithy reeled back Irom largest hi-fi and
its terminals, and a high frequency his sheet of paper. RADIO COMPONENT
signal would have to have a very high "Ye gods," he breathed incredu- STORE IN THE SOUTH
amplitude to require the capacitor to
discharge as much as alUhat on down- lously. "You've sunk my battleship.
You've gone and sunk it, just like that.
ward-going modulation." He stared unbelievingly at his paper.
"This sounds interesting,' said "All right, then," he stated, a note ot
Dick. "Let's try a few actual figures." iron FORRESTERS NATIONAL
"All right," replied Smithy obliging- entering his voice. "I'll try A7. RADIO SUPPLIES LTD.
"No hit." „
ly. "Let's say that the top frequency "There must be a hit. 70-72 Holdenhurst Road
we expect the receiver to reproduce is "I tell you, no hit." Bournemouth
5kHz. Now, the length of a cycle at Smithy glared at his assistant Telephone 25232
5kHz is 0.2 millisecond, or 200 micro- suspiciously.
seconds. So the length of a half-cycle is 633
MAY 1974
 Secondary of last
I.F. transformer
"You aren't using any right-angled
cruisers or things like that, are you?"
"All my vessels are of regulation
size and shape," retorted Dick icily. A.F. coupling
"You wouldn't find better in Jayne's capacitor
Fighting Ships. Anyway, it's ■my turn —II— To A.F. amplifier
again and I'll try D3."
"D3?"
"D3," repeated Dick firmly.
"This is terrible," moaned the Volume
shattered Serviceman. "You've just control
knocked a great chunk out of my
second cruiser. Have you got radar
over there or something?"
"Of course I haven't," replied Dick • Supply—
airily. "I just use logical deduction,
that's all. I'd much rather hear about
a.c. shunting than play Battleships,
though."
"I'm not," said Smithy, "going to
utter another word about electronics
until I've had the satisfaction of scor-
ing at least one further hit." I.F transformer jjjj
A glint appeared in Dick's eye.
"Aren't you?"
"I am not," averred Smithy. "So let
me have another bash at your fleet. 1st A.F. amplifier
I'm going to try B7."
"Did you," asked Dick carelessly, as
he marked up his sheet of paper, "say
B7?"
"I did," said Smithy. "Now don't
keep me in suspense."
"You have," remarked Dick slowly,
"hit a destroyer."
"Thank goodness for that! All right, Volume
you have a go now." control
"E3."
"E3? Blow me, you've hit my T
cruiser again. Let's have another bash
at that destroyer of yours. How about (b)
C7?" ■ Supply-
Once more, Dick marked up his
sheet.
"You have," he announced un-
emotionally, "sunk my destroyer."
"Oh good," said Smithy happily.
"Success at last." Secondary of last j[j>
"Well then," commented Dick, I.F. transformer III *
"how about this a.c. shunting effort
then."
A.C. SHUNTING
1st A.F. amplifier
"All right," replied Smithy oblig-
ingly. "I'll break off the game for a bit
so that 1 can give you the gen on that.
Now, a.c. shunting comes into the
picture when you couple a further
resistor via a capacitor across the diode
load resistor. In practical sound radio J
circuits you have to do this anyway in h
order to prevent the mean d.c. level of
the detected signal getting through to Li
the following a.f. stage. The mean d.c. X
level is just the job for providing
automatic gain control but, if the diode CO
load were coupled direct to the follow- Fig. 8 (a). Adding an a.f. coupling capacitor and a volume control.
ing a.f. stage, it would upset the biasing This circuit helps to demonstrate a.c. shunting and it
for that stage. So the d.c. level has to be should be assumed that the slider of the volume control
blocked off by a capacitor which has a couples to a device having a high input impedance such
low impedance at audio frequencies. A as a valve or an f.e.t.
typical instance is given by having the (b). In a practical transistor a.m. detector circuit the diode had
capacitor couple to a second resistor is frequently the volume control for the receiver, and its
which is also a volume control." slider couples direct to the base of the first a.f. amplifier
(Fig. 8(a).) (c). An additional resistor may be inserted in the base circuit
"I can picture a set-up like that," of the first a.f. transistor to reduce a.c. shunting
634 RADIO & ELECTRONICS CONSTRUCTOR
remarked Dick. "It used to be parti- "It seems to work all right in pract- Your Local Supitlier
cularly common in the old valve ice," said Smithy. "In theory, the d.c.
receivers." load for the diode is the volume con-
trol track on its own, plus the small SURREY
"Quite so," concurred Smithy, "and filter resistor which immediately
I've chosen it here because it affords a follows the diode. When the volume WITWORTH
good starting-off point to explain a.c. control is set to maximum the a.c. load TRANSFORMERS
shunting. With this latest circuit the then consists of the volume control
diode now has two effective loads. One track with the input impedance of the TV Line out-put transformers
is the d.c. load and, assuming that the following transistor in parallel, and Manufacturers of the largest range in
filter resistor has a relatively low value, this will be considerably lower than the country. All makes supplied.
can be considered as being the diode the d.c. load. Normally, however, the Modern
load resistor on its own. And the other volume control is only partly advanced
is the a.c. load. Since the a.f. coupling BAIRD, BUSH, GEC, PHILIPS
from the minimum volume end, Replacement types ex-stock.
capacitor has negligible impedance at whereupon the a.c. shunting given by
modulation frequencies the a.c. load For "By-return" service, contact
the following a.f. circuit is only London 01 -948 3702
consists of the d.c. load and the applied across the lower part of the
volume control track in parallel. volume control track, and the overall Tidmah Mail Order Ltd., Dept. R.C.
Obviously the a.c. load must always a.c. load is not in consequence much 236 Sandycombe Road,
have a lower value than the d.c. load. lower than the d.c. load. Distortion on Richmond, Surrey TW9 2EQ
Okay?" high modulation signals is then only Callers welcome.
"Yep," said Dick. "Things seem possible when the volume control is at
pretty reasonable up to now." a high setting near the non-earthy end SUSSEX
"That's good," responded Smithy. of its track. There are other approaches
"Because we're now getting to a rather used in transistor a.m. radios towards
tricky bit. If an unmodulated signal is seeing that the a.c. load is not too much E. JEFFRIES
applied to the diode circuit a direct smaller than the d.c. load. For ex-
voltage is built up across the diode load ample, the bypass resistor between For your new television set
in the usual manner. Also, the current the diode and the volume control can
be given a higher value, of the order of tape recorder, transistor radio
flowing in the diode to keep the first
capacitor which appears after it that of the volume control itself. This and hi-fi equipment
charged up on i.f. half-cycle tips will be ensures that the a.c. shunting is not too
the same regardless of whether or not great even when the volume control is PHILIPS. ULTRA. INVICTA
the a.f. coupling capacitor and the set to a high level. Again, a high value dansette. masteradio. PERDicr.
volume control are in circuit or not. If, resistor can be inserted between the MARCONI, PHILCO FIDELITY
however, we modulate the signal, the volume control slider and the base of
diode will pass more current at the first a.f. transistor. This resistor 6A Albert Parade
modulation frequency into the a.c. can have a value which is about the Victoria Drive,
load than it would into the d.c. load on same as that of the volume control." EASTBOURNE SUSSEX
its own when the modulation goes up; (Fig. 8(c).) . ^
and it will pass less current at modula- "Couldn't the input impedance of WARWICKSHIRE
tion frequency into the a.c. load than the first a.f. stage be increased?" \orman If. Field
it would into the d.c. load on its own "It could," confirmed Smithy. "The
when the modulation goes down. If the input impedance can be increased by HI-FIDELITY
modulation level is high, and the a.c. negative feedback." Large demonstration room, Sony, Trio, KEF, B & 0,
load is quite a lot smaller than the d.c. Sanyo, BSR, Toshiba, Goldring, National etc.
load, the diode can actually cut off on VISION DETECTOR
the lowermost tips of the modulation TAPE RECORDERS
waveform; that is, on the parts of the Sony, Revox, Tandberg, B & 0
modulation waveform which produce "Well," said Dick, visibly pleased specialists. Cassette and 8-track
minimum carrier amplitude." with the knowledge he had acquired.
"I must keep my eyes open for these ELECTRONICS
"Blimey," remarked Dick, impress- All component parts, cartridges,
ed. "That should cause quite noticeable d.c. and a.c. diode loads in the future. ttylll, radios, Self Build Kits, Disco-
distortion." Hang on a minute, I've just had a Group and P.A. Equipment.
"It will," said Smithy. "The dis- thought!"
tortion sets in when, approximately, *> "Oh dear," remarked Smithy un- \or man ff. Field
the degree of modulation depth in the happily. "I hope you aren't going to ALBANY HOUSE.HURST STREET,
signal is greater than the value of the open up a whole new discussion." B HAM B5 4BJ. Tel 021 622 2323
"I don't think I shall be," said Dick Specialist RepairService
a.c. load divided by the value of the quickly. "What's happened is that it's
d.c. load. In the old valve sets, a EIRE
detector of the type we're talking about just occurred to me that the vision i.f.
would be satisfactory in practice if the signal in a TV set is also amplitude PEATS tor PARTS
volume control track had a resistance' modulated. Do you have trouble with
four times greater than that of the a.c. and d.c. loads at the vision ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS
diode load. These values would result detector?" RADIO & TELEVISION
in the a.c. load being four-fifths of the Smithy grinned.
d.c. load, and the circuit could cope "You don't get any trouble in For the convenience of Irish
with modulation depths of up to 80%, present-day transistor TV circuits," enthusiasts we supply
which is higher than that transmitted he chuckled, "because the a.c. and d.c. Radio & Electronics
by most a.m. broadcast stations. With diode loads are virtually the same! The Constructor
transistor receivers, though, it's usual usual practice is to couple the d.c. Data Books and
to make the diode load the volume diode load direct to the base of the Panel-Signs Transfers
control and couple it via an a.f. vision emitter follower with no coup- Also a postal service
coupling capacitor to the base of the ling capacitors at all. You then have a
first a.f. transistor." (Fig. 8(b).) delightfully simple arrangement in Wm. B. PEAT & Co. Ltd.
"Ah yes," commented Dick. "I which there are no problems with the 28 PARNELL STREET
know that circuit pretty well off by different loads whatsoever." (Fig. 9.) DUBLIN 1
heart now." "That seems to tidy up that ques-
635
MAY 1974
 PRACTICAL Vision
From collector of 20pF detector I.F. choke Video
PAPERBACKS last I.F. transistor ii rrnnrv emitter
FROM follower
3-9kn
FOULSHAM-TAB
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125 Typical Electronic Peaking
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Troubleshooting Solid State Fig. if. A basic 525 line vision detector circuit with representative
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byTom Kennedy Jr. £1.30
Transistors-How to Test-
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by Tab Editorial £1.20
Howto Fix Radiosand tion," commented Dick. ' And it also "Mine," replied Dick, "is the 1974
Printed Circuits seems to have cleared up all the queries version of the game. Nobody sticks to
by Leonard C. Lane £1.60 I had about a.m. diode circuits." the rules."
Handbook of Magnetic "Thank goodness for that," re- "And you know," stated Smithy
marked Smithy, glancing at his watch. grimly, "what the outcome of that is,
Recording "Well, we've still got five minutes left don't you?"
by Finn Jorgensen £1.45 to finish off this game of ours, so let's "No, what is the outcome?"
Landsailing from RC Models get back to it. Your go!" "Nobody wins." ■
to Big Ones "Is it? Okay then, I'll have a bash at
by George Sipposs £1.45 C3."
Small Appliance Repair Guide "Well, stap me," said Smithy
by Lemons & Montgomery £1.50 delightedly. "For the first time in this
Basic ColourTV Course game you haven't hit anything. I'll
try D4."
!by Stan Premiss £2.20 "Nothing there."
Electronics Hobbyist IC "Are you sure?"
Project Handbook "Positive."
by Robert M. Brown £1.40 "I don't believe it," said Smithy,
Radio Communication rising from his stool.
Transreceiver Servicing He walked quickly over to his
by Burns & Sands £1.45 assistant's bench and, before the latter
99 Ways to Use the could stop him, snatched up Dick's
paper. m
Oscilloscope "Why, you rotten cheat," he
by Albert Saunders £1.45 expostulated. "You didn't fill in any of
On the Colour TV Service your ships at the start at all. You're
Bench filling them in now, after I've called out
byJayShane £1.45 my numbers!"
Basic Radio Course "And why not?" replied Dick
byJohnT. Frye £1.50 defensively. "Any silly twirp can fill in
Howto Repair Home and the ships before the game starts. But it (S^
takes a man of skill to enter them after
Car Air Conditioners it gets going, because you've then got
by Lemons & Price £1.45 to bear in mind how many squares are
Complete Mini Bike Handbook available for the ships as each square
by Paul Dempsey £1.85 gets cancelled off. I've still got room
for all my ships in spite of the number
of goes you've already had."
"But," protested Smithy, "if we both
did that, we'd both call out a lot of
meaningless numbers until we got to "It was a snip at £75 — one careful
the inevitable bit at the end where owner and its own distinctive TV
practically every number would result programme!"
FOULSHAM-TAB LTD in a hit. There's no point in playing if
YEOVIL ROAD. SLOUGH. BUCKS you don't stick to the rules."
636 RADIO & ELECTRONICS CONSTRUCTOR
 &
TWO - WIRE
%

TWO - WAY

BUZZERS
W» 7

By Barrie Gilbert
Directional signalling

over two wires. Push-button A Push-button B

_o_

Y1 Two-wire
link
IT IS OFTEN NECESSARY TO SIGNAL FOR ATTENTION AT
either one of two points separated by appreciable 240V Bell
distance. For example, a telephone extension in a home SOHz transformer
can be a nuisance if a call is taken on the wrong re-
ceiver - no way is usually available to alert the person W- tM
for whom the call was intended. Of course, a simple
buzzer circuit can be employed, but since signalling is
required in both directions a three-wire circuit is
sometimes used. Buzzer B

TWO-WIRE SYSTEM
There is a very simple way this requirement can be A two-way signalling system which requires only
met with just two wires. The diagram shows how. two inter-connecting wires.
Diodes across each of the push-buttons allow the
circuit to be completed even if only one button is
pressed. If, for instance, button A is pressed the diode
across button B allows negative half-cycles to pass to The diodes can be any silicon rectifiers having a for-
the two buzzers. Buzzer B sounds but buzzer A is silent ward current rating of 1 amp and a peak inverse voltage
because it is effectively short-circuited by diode D3. rating of 100 volts or more. A high p.i.v, is desirable
Similarly, if button B is pressed, DI allows positive because some buzzers can produce a high back e.m.f. on
half-cycles to pass to the buzzers. In this case buzzer B operation or on the cessation of current. A suitable type
is effectively short-cirdaited by diode D4 and does not would be the 1N4002. It would also, of course, be
sound. possible to employ bells instead of buzzers. ■

BACK NUMBERS
For the benefit of new readers we would draw attention to our back number service.
We retain past issues for a period of two years and we can, occasionally, supply copies more than two year old.
The cost is the cover price stated on the issue, plus 6p postage.
Before undertaking any constructional project described in a back issue, it must be borne in mind that compo-
nents readily available at the time of publication may no longer be so.
We regret that we are unable to supply photo copies of articles where an issue is not available.
Libraries and members of local radio clubs can often be very helpful where an issue is not available for sale.

MAY 1974 637

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