& elementary “*” Elecironics IRST ELECTRONIC TRANSPLANT! BUPERHET REGEN RECEIVER OLR CLC OL fl omplete plans on page 35 Tri ©The new & improve supersensitive S&M photo-meter now better than ever! Every photographer knows that the high quality of his photos depends on the accuracy of his equipment. Here is 8 precision instrument that meets the highest standards of ny meter available, MODERN PHOTOGRAPHY says, ‘This is certainly one of the most unsual, most versatile and most sensitive exposire meters at any priee today.” U.S. CAMERA wrote “It is as sensitive as anything on the market. It's so adaptable—those 4 separate ranges of sensi- tivity have the effect of spreading the meter’ scale.” Now, this $ & M is better than ever! A new design feature, the use of plug and jack connections for probes, makes in. terchangeability of probes possible. Users of this most out- standing Light Meter can now easily find out what ser tivity values of probes are best suited for their specific applications. A new plastic cap protects the probe and per- ruts diffused light to be read with the eap on (the probe is normally used to take readings with the cap removed). Another improvement is the battery test circuit, which in: dicates instantly the condition of the mercury cell that pow: crs the unit This Photo Meter is utilized extensively in Photo Labs, Physics and Research Labs, Hospitals, High Schools, Uni- versities and many industries. It is successfully used with movie or still cameras, microscopes and telescopes. For Photomicrography it is a MUST! It can even be set up for use as a densitometer, The $ & M Supersensitive Photo Meter uses the newest Clairex Corp. CL-S05L Cadmium Sulfide Light Cell to measure light levels from twilight to bright sunlight at ASA speeds of 3 to 25,000. A new %” high eased type probe is now available as an accessory. The Computer gives F stops from 7 to 90; lists exposure time from. 1/15,000 see. to 8 hours; 4 range selection; EV-EVS-LV settings; weight only 10 ounces. Order your S & M Supersentitive Photo Meter teday. Complete with attractive carrying case ‘and exposure computer. $36.95 Sn’ $2.00 $7.50 Re aT —— Adare, ~ cy Ls state__ip Code_NTS digs deen into electronics. Proof? Look at the close-up at the * left. It's the first transistorized digital computer-trainer ever offered by a home study school | iT] Fascinating to assemble, the NTS Compu-Trainer ® introduces you to the exciting world of computer electronics. Its design includes advanced solid-state NOR circuitry, flipflops, astable multivibrators. ee and reset circuits. Plus two zener and transistorized voltage. Tegulated power supplies. The NTS Compu-Trainer can perform 50,000 operations per second, and is only one of many ultra- advanced kits we offer to give you incomparable, in-depth career L ou've on training NTS... THE FIRST HOME STUDY SCHOOL TO OFFER LIVE EXPERIMENTS WITH INTEGRATED CIRCUIT KITS With NTS Project-Method Home Training, you build a computer sub-system using the nev, revolutionary integrated circuits. Each one, smaller then a dime, contains the equivalent of 15 resistors and’ 27 transistors. F STICCRSTTRESTHSMTI IM ser rosters, ts tty epee material, All our kits are real equigment—not school-designed versions for training only. Project-Method was developed in our e giant resident school...and proven effective for thousands of I & men like yourself. I's the practical-experience approach to learn- ing. Gets you going in a hurry! COMMUNICATIONS = 25° COLOR TY INDUSTRIAL This Transceiver’ Included in Color TV is included in servicing courses. ELECTRONICS Communications Building this New ideas, new courses. It's yours advanced receiver inventions, are to build...to easily gets youdeep into opening whole new prepare forF.C.C. colorcircuitry— fields of opportunity. license exam...1o advances you into Electronic control become ally; this profitable field systems, computers, trained man in of servicing—the are being applied to communications. easy way. Color is great numbers of the future of manufacturing television, and your processes every future, too! day. We train you for this new field GET THE FACTS! SEEALL fast! With advanced NEW KITS AND COURSES control systems OFFERED IN THE NEW devices, 2 new 5” NTS COLOR CATALOG. oscilloscope, and SENO THE CARO TODAY! — the NTS Compu- No obligation. No Trainer. Modern, salesman will call quick and easy training prepares Classroom Training At Los Angeles. you can you to enter take classroom traning at Loreangsies. 48S, thie brand new Seeupies sci block with ove? 2 Mes a furs in facies devoted exclusiey to tecn- World like @ pro, tie franng,Ghash Bo on coupon NATIONAL @*= SCHOOLS WORLD-WIDE TRAINING SINCE 1905 4000 So. Figueroa Street Los Angeles, Calif. 90037 APPROVED FOR VETERANS $y) National Home Study Count AEE) rationat sssoiaton ot ‘en? Trade and Technical Schools, May-June, 1969 3Cover photo by Leonard Heicklen * Cover Highlights e May/June 1969 ¢ Vol. 8 No. 2 elementary Electronics Dedicated to America’s Electronics Hobbyists SPECIAL CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS 35 Build the First Electronic Transplant—put the hearts of two great receiver circuits on one chassis 57. Dally Lighter—it lights your path and goes out after you do SPECIAL THEORY FEATURES 31 The Rocks in Your Radio—there's more than crystals that make your rig go 67 Clamp-on to Current—there's an unique ammeter without probes that never touches the circuit it meters 71. Basic Course, Part VIll—Understanding Radio Transmitters and Receivers 95 Unlocking the Secrets of the Mysterious MV-—discover how a this-or-that circuit flips the state of the art SWL AND DX FEATURES 9 DX Central Reporting At What Is Your FAC-ORP?—just how good are you at hearing the impossible 61 Return of the Radio Pirates—kilocycle cops take to the sea and air AS OUR LAB SEES IT 65. Allied Radio Model A-2515 Communications Receiver 86 Unimetrics Multi-Band Portable Receiver 93H. H. Scott Model LR-88 AM/FM/FM-Stereo Receiver SOME MORE CONSTRUCTION 43 Soldering Iron} Know-How =Hot Receiver—how fome-brew modifications pep up a pooped receiver 49. Vari-Tone Buzzer—let your ears tell you when the circuit is completed ELECTRONICS IN THE NEWS 46 Copper's UN—police get their ticket for radio school 60 Make a Right at the Next Computer 90 Proof of the Pudding Is in the Testing—consumer snoops check the products we buy 101 Audible tron Finder ON THE LIGHT SIDE 30 It's the Law—caitoon page 70 A New Start for Homer Hackleby—watch out, Fu Manchu! THE REGULARS 6 Random Noise—editorial chit-chat 11 NewScan—misfit news that's fil to print 46 Hey, Look Me Over—the “what's new" products column 22. Literature Library—info for the asking 24 En Passant—chess column for beginners 56 e/e Etymology—words, words, words AUTHORS IN THIS ISSUE Len Buckwalter—K1ODH/KQA5012, John W. Collins, John P. Dixon, Herb Friedman—W2ZLF/KB19457, Charles Getts, Charles 'Green—W6FFQ, Joe Gronk, Don Jensen, Jim Kyle—KSJKX, Ron Michaels, R. E. Schemel, Jack Schmidt, James Robert Squires, C. M. Stanbury I, Sol Wexton, and the ELEMENTARY ELECTRONICS! Editorial Staff. ELEMENTArY ELECTRONICS2G YOUR MusIC IN Now you enn have 9 thrilling psychedelic Bfse.tn" right tn your own Nome, ‘lib, ssthoal” or” usineet "in factmmanychers You sane to add sensational vmod eft Fecte’ “Colored tise “beams. dance and Bante, whe. and itl im pertact thm Sith ine. musie—esct imdfeidual po ‘Shee and art_with dramatic teeter n “teconds to. your Teeorder. nfs or gteren wath two alligator Slipn Gun ba ced seal nereona, Salle. sttges and whole tadstorioms: By Jour own MaceVision® with low-eoet Dox TeYourceit Kit, Lands of tant Foatt Banyl Ail you need ss wight source, I'you dont BY 0. 8" See. (Motlondtssr, co 10'SEr (Same as sbove ‘O een OM QUALITY LOW-COST ST#ORE “$109.95 Ppa Stock No. 71,08tEK ‘NEW! LOW-COST COLOR ORGAN Accompany muse wih, clare, Hghting that a! de Sglona Tns ‘eternine wie l= re ae! er is ant olige? beet unit wih, “ght. intensity cant iNet DE LUXE 2,000 WATT $298'00 Pea. “YOURSELF KIT—Steck No. 71,009EK. jertures). Stack Wo. 73,0308% PROJECTOR—sStock DAZZLING ACTION with MoSicy1Sion Dramatic New Breakthrough In Audio-Visual Enjoyment bhava one, the versatile Edmund 35mm Bho Watt Projector ls AN cine of ot aeeebt orotorleed Bie” in AoE RMNOT! Walnut" Cabynet Rodel." rube Unit, or" andt20 Sots MH incttde encased 8" af ID" Motion diner, Color Wheel ‘and set of apertures i m poietor. ‘Seder by Splentions ited below Moneyback Bimantoe” Complete intormation in ew it jou wwint adaitionnt etatls Huntrated * Patent pending. ) Stork Ne, 70320 Loo “| le tee lcs) AMAZING Bias La Haas ha Profit Pate eee ny Barrington, N. J. 08007 Stock No. S100EK LOW-COST OVERHEAD PROJECTOR ‘Stock Ne. 72,011EK- Baie cena ces May-June, 1969 WORLD'S. SMALLEST BIBLE Stocker ai,2926K $2.00 Pos 50x; 150x. 300x micRoscore Stock Wo. 70,008EK 316.50 Pod, NEW! PROJECTION KALEIDOSCOPE AL Inston toy emt unk enolate wll ter Ghapeesble ‘O° Slava ligghweelTetlecta frie suits of illae “eoler patterns irl uo Wel Tenet. speealiy ceeizoed el 3 orosection ions and sna Vina) Speeta Hind" inake i il db, Pasty Jeevan distance periest or pote hacker ound, rear projection. Ine. 1 'NBal 116¥ Slot, Stock No. 71-121EK.. $94.50 Postoald S0LI0 Wult-Golored Glass Accessory aaase. Steck 515.00 Ppa. NEW LOW-COST ULTRASONIC CLEANER aiooacK USTRIAL 11.GAL. SIZE we! 97 be Bve.os roo Ror #5,1200K. NEw MODEL DIGITAL COMPUTER MONEY-BACK GUARANTEE Order by Steck Ne-—Send Check oe NO. CTT rd 148 Pages! More than 4,000 |UTC | aH EY May/June 1969 Vol. 8/No. 2 Dedicated to America's Electronics Hobbyists atar-ta-oMet JULIAN M. SIENKIEWICZ WAZCGL, KMD&313 Managing Bar RICHARD A. FLANAGAN, Kab2s66 art Editon JIM MEDLER Noes Bette HELEN PARKER KQ07967 Art Director ANTHONY MACCARRONE Gover Art Diretor IRVING BERNSTEIN JOHN YUSKO. MARGARET R. GOTTLIES Advertising Director JIM CAPPELLO ‘CARL BARTEE Production Anistont MARILYN. VARGAS Instrumente Division Manager ‘WILFRED M. BROWN, Chocrman ofthe Board BG. DAVIS, President avid Pabsher JOEL DAVIS Pleo Provident and Editetot Director HERB LEAVY, KMD4529 ie: President and Prodution Director LEONARD F. PINTO. lee President ond Treanar VicTOR C. STABILE, KBPO6e1 ELEMENTARY ELECTRONICS published bimonthiy by Scions & Mechonies Publishing Co, 9 sober a! Dowt Ribteationy ne Edvoral, umes and. Subscription licen 229 Pork Avenve South, New York, RLY. 16003 ne yor aubecripton {ir to-yeot ab terpton 112 stes8700, fa asesi--$10.00, Ada $1.05 per yea for posioge ovt fide the USA ond Copoda, Advertsing alices New Yori 229 fort Avence Seuth, 212-08 21300, Chicage, S20 N. taehigon Aves 312.27-000, Lor An 2 cove Ave, 218 653-41 Foblaher ep. Co, 8380 ‘Ailants Fm & Brow, 3108 Pledmont hd NLE, 404-233. 7 on london ue, 9 Carden Sh, Great Nac NY, si ‘ovtiwesary edvertny 2p 3 vem Wag, «NB Sh tou, SB i968 Secand-clas postage pod ot New York, New York and oF eddionel rating afhce. Copyright 1969 by Science ond thangs Fublshing Co, EOS Nowe By Juuian M. Stenkiewicz, Editor here's some big news in the magazine world lately. Our sister publication is going through a name change. Rapio-TV Expeninenter, the oldest small-sized electronics magazine on the stands today, will soon become SCIENCE AND Etectaowics, One could almost have prophe- sied the change because of the growing world of electronics and its application as a research tool for the sciences. Who today can investigate a new area of scientific exploration, whether it SCIENCE ant Electronics This is what the new "logo" for Science and Electronics will look like on the newsstand. For the time being if Il share billing with the Radio-TV Experimenter logo with which everyone is familiar. Before 1969 comos fo an end, Seience and Electronics will get top billing. be in space or the ghettoes, without the aid of electronics? Electronic computers are used ale most universally. Communications—two-way radio, video tape recorders, cable TV, electronic copying machines, ete—have grown in step with electronics invading every field of business except possibly the post office. Even our leisure moments, vacations and hobbies have benefited by the marriage of science and electronics. So why not reflect this growth of two combined fields in a magazine title-Sciznce aNp Eec- Tronics? Watch for it on your newsstand. Hey, Mailmant When this Editor opens his (Continued on page 8) Exementary EvecrronicsYou can pay °600 and still not get professionally approved TV training. Get it now for °99. Before you put out money for a home study course in TV Servicing and Repair, take a look at what's new, National Electronic Associations did. They checked out the new TV training package being offered by ICS, Inspected the six self-teaching texts. Followed the step-by-step diagrams and instructions, Evaluated the material's practical ity, its fitness for learning modern troubleshoot: ing (including UHF and Colon). Then they approved the new course for use in their own national apprenticeship program. They went even further and endorsed this new training as an important step for anyone working toward recognition as a Certified Efectronic Technician (CET). This is the first time a self-taught training program has been approved by NEA. The surprising thing is that this is not a course that costs hundreds of dotiars and takes several years to complete. It includes no kits or gimmicks. Requires no experience, no elaborate shop setup. All you need is normal intelligence and a willingness to learn. Plus an old TV set to work i © Dept. M5589C i Scranton, Penna, 18515 Yes, I'd like all the details about your new TV Servicing/Repair basic train- ing package. | understand there's no’ obligation. (Canadian residents, send coupon to Scranton, Pa. Further ser vice handled by ICS Canadian, Ltd.) Street Cty____ May-June, 1969 re ———_—————_—————E ___ State Prices slightly higher outside U. S. and Canada, on and some tools and equipment (you'll find helpful what-to-buy and where-to-buy-it informa- tion in the texts) Learning by doing, you should be able to complete your basic training in six months. You then take a final examination to win your ICS diploma and membership in the ICS TV Servic- ing Academy. Actually, when you complete the first two texts, you'll be able to locate and repair 70% of common TV troubles. You can begin taking ser- vicing jobs for money or start working in any of a number of electronic service businesses as a sought-after apprentice technician. Which leads to the fact that this new course is far below the cost you would expect to pay for a complete training course, Comparable courses with their Color TV kits cost as much as six times more than the $99 you'll pay for this one. Butdon'tstop here. Compare its up-to-dateness and thoroughness. Find out about the bonus features—a dictionary of TV terms and a port- folio of 24 late-model schematics Get all the facts. Free, Fast. Mail the reply card or coupon below. SY eSmail, he never knows what to expect. To give my readers a good example, I've decided to publish a fow hot news flashes sent in by George Caisse of Levittown, Pa, I hope you'lk chuckle as hard as I did. @ Chicago—Mayor Haley of this city moved quickly to day to suppress a suspect ed threat to the Loop. All leaders of the D'Arsonval_ movement were quietly arrested and held incommuni- cado. No other data is available © Washington, D. C. =The Supreme cord warned several. states of appliance with fair housing and educa- tion laws, and stated that a compatible col- or system leading to integrated circuits was essential. © New York—A grand jury panel which probed sensor ship made its findings pub- lie today. It held that the department dis- torted its function when its lightning ar- restor, Patrolman Au dio Rourke, arrested Miss Crystal Pickup at Coney Island for wearing an arc-back bikini. When in- formed of this. state- ment the policeman Vhat the helix is going on in this country?” @ Rome-The Ecu- menical Council meets heré to continue a dialogue on cross- modulation. A’ Vati- an pronouncement on RC coupling is also expected momentarily. Said an observer, “They cannot be ex- pected to sel-syn.” RANDOM NOISE ee ap ©@ Portland, Argon—Noted psychiatrist C. B. Dipole, author of the famous best-selling vol- ume, The Fluorescent the Place to Make Love, attacked marriage as a dense pattern of twisted pairs reflecting a spurious response to the de- mands of modern-day life. He recommends the old-fashioned hayride as a tension reliever. Says If you're seeking an outlet, chuck your hangups and tumble into the hay.” Complaint Dept. I've received a letter of pro- test from a reader, Ken Greenberg of Chicago, which should not go unnoticed. 1 would like to put Ken's complaint to you in his own words. They are: “Those little earphones that come with transistor radios are undoubtedly the most uncomfortable, ill-fitting, unsanitary, low-qual- ity, always tangled, listening devices ever made. Surely we consumers deserver better.” Well Ken, you can bet your sweet hippy we consumers do deserve an improved product, ‘Those uncomfortable little “plugs” that some- times have to be hammered into our ears to stay put, are the byproduct of inexpensive tran- sistor radio imports. Prior to World War IT and immediately after, all American portable radios were designed to offer good listening pleasure for a reasonably large loudspeaker with good volume and fair fidelity. Then came the tran- sistor radio, and the low price, and the awful ‘earphones, Why there was a demand for an earpiece for private listening on these cheap transistor radio products may never be truly understood. In all honesty, the best thing to do with these ear- phones is to toss them away when you have obtained the mini-radio and just listen to that 24-in. loudspeaker screech away. Back te School. A three-week summer course in Research Instrumentation will be conducted at Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn for educa tors, engineers and scientists from all technical fields who need a working knowledge of elec- tronic instrumentation as applied to problems in research. The course will be held from July 19 to August 9, 1969, on the Brooklyn campus. ‘The course is open to industrial and academic scientists and engineers from all disciplines. Medical research workers will find the course valuable and are also invited to apply. There are no specific prerequisites beyond a basic un- derstanding of college phy: The text for the course is “Electronics for Scientists” by Malmstadt, Enke and Toren, This unique volume presents both reference material and detailed experiments for laboratory work. Applicants should secure a place in the couse at the earliest possible date. Industrial partici- pants must file their applications by June 1. In- quiries may be directed to: Prof. Kenneth Jolls, Office of Special Programs, Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, 333 Jay St, Brooklyn, N.Y. 11201 (telephone: 212-643-4442 or 643-2266). Euementary EtectrontcsDe Re Une aed By Don JENSEN @ CRUCIAL TRUCIAL With the Middle East a political tinderbox, the ears of the DX world increasingly are tuned to the shortwave voices off this turbulent region. Drawing particular attention is the sandy collec- tion of sheikdoms known formerly as Trucial Oman. ‘These seven mini-states, plus neighboring Qatar and offshore Bahrein, early in 1968, joined to form the Persian Gulf Federation. Un- der British protection for a century and a half, the area could be up for grabs when Her Maj- esty’s forces withdraw in 1971, unless the new federation can fill the political vacuum. To counteract the heavy Pan-Arab propa- ganda barrage of Cairo Radio, Great Britain has been working hard to put the Trucial sheikdoms on the shortwave map. Since last June 25, the 100 kilowatt Qatar Broadcasting Service has been active on 9,570 kHz. (See DX Central, Mar-Apr. 1969 issue.) Its BBC-trained announcers are on the air daily from 1400 to 1730, and 0330 to 0500 GMT (Fridays until 0700). And, station direc- to: Taher Shahibi confirms that QBS sometimes extends this schedule. SWLs, who can fight their way through the interfering Chilean, Radio Portales on 9,572 kHz., have heard it around 0400 GMT. ‘And, last year, United Kingdom Crown Agents advertised in the London papers for a senior broadcasting engineer to supervise the installation and operation of other high-power medium and shortwave transmitters further down the Trucial Coast at Abu Dhabi. Little more is known of this project. For the past four years, DXers have been waiting for another Persian Gulf SWer. In 1965, the Bahrein Broadcasting Service announced plans for a 10 kilowatt transmitter at the capital, May-June, 1969 SERVICE MASTER HANDIEST HANDFUL » Of service fools | . 23 essential tools at your fingertips in this lightweight (only 2% Ibs.), compact, easy-to-carry, roll-up kit. Contains long nose plier, diagonal plier, adjustable wrench, regular and | stubby plastic handles with these interchangeable biades: 9 regular and 3 stubby nutdriver, 2 slotted and 1 Phillips screwdriver, 2 reamer, 1 extension. Eyelets in plastic coated | canvas case permit wall hanging. New elastic loop secures | fll, eliminates need for ting many optional accessories: | Junior and Tee handles .. . Additional nutdriver, Phillips & slotted screwdriver, and extension blade sizes... Allen hex type, Bristol multiple spline, Frearson, Scrulox, and clutch head blades... Awi/Scriber... Chuck adaptors to use | blades in spiral ratchet drivers. 4 — 1 ! Xcelite, Ine. 1 1 2i°Gank $1, Orchard Park: N.Y. 14127 | Sng Clog 165 containing infomation on 1 | Service Master kt snd ‘stesarie i 1 name ! Mrs I ety tate ip ‘ a10 DX CENTRAL 8 c Manama. So far, no shortwave broadcasts have been reported from this island, 20 miles off Qatar’s shores. The usually reliable Foreign Broadcast Infor- mation Service, the shorwave monitoring arm of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, in its published logbooks, claims another station in Trucial Oman, The Voice of the Coast. Sup- posedly, it operaies a one-kilowatt transmitter at Sharjah on 6,040 kHz. Several months ago, an overseas shortwave bulletin stated The Voice of the Coast broad- casts daily from 1300 to 1900 GMT, with Arabic newscasts at 1600, 1700, 1800 and 1845. And, though no American listeners have claimed re- ception, not long azo a well-known New Zea- lander reported logging it. But, and here's a real grabber for you, DX Central, just at presstime, learned that MP4TCE, a Persian Gulf ham—and he should know—told a midwest DXer flatly, “There is no shortwave broadcast station at Sharjah on 6,040 kHz., or any other shortwave frequency!” Until_more is known of the supposed Voice of the Coast, we'll let you ponder these contra- dictions. For SWLs who want to get their feet wet in Persian Gulf broadcasting, there's the new 250- kilowatt transmitter of the Kuwait Broadcasting Station, widely heard in English between 1600 and 1730 GMT, on 11,920 kHz. Though not a member of the Trucial group, prosperous, oil- rich Kuwait obviously is Britain’s model for broadcasting in the fledgling federation © TIP TOPPER Back in “45, with a thousand bucks and a dream, three men founded the Far East Broad- Co. Over the 'years, FEBC has estab- lished a series of missionary stations stretching nearly half-way around the globe. Now, an FEBC affiliate, the Fur East Broad- casting Associates of Britain, has put a rare country back on the DX map with the opening of a shortwave service from the island of Mahe in the Seychelles group. Tropical Seychelles, nearly 90 dots in the In- dian Oceun, a thousand miles east of Africa, have been without shortwave since the Sey- chelles Broadcasting Service closed down its 40- watt transmitter three years ago. Studio and transmitter buildings are up on Mahe and since the first of this year, tests sup- posedly have been conducted with a one-kilowatt transmitter on loan from the FEBC Okinawa station. A pair of powerful Marconi shortwave units were shipped from England in December and technical director John Wheatley has been shopping around for second-hand antenna tow- ers and miscellaneous hardware. From studios in Victoria, the Seychelles capi- tal, programs are relayed by VHF link 10 the transmitter site on Mahe’s coust. The first of these high-power stations should replace the test transmitter about the time you read this. The second, supposedly, is to be completed by year’s end, ‘Though India, Pakistan and Ceylon are prime targets, U.S. listeners should have a good chance to hear FEBA-Seychelles. No frequencies have been announced, but DX Central will keep you posted. @ BANDSWEEP 660 kHz.—Medium wavers may find XERPM, Mexico City, around 0400 GMT, with mostly Spanish programming. There are occasional English announcements, though. . . . 3,225 kHz.—Brand new Latin American outlets usu- ally are good bets for QSLs. Try the Vene- zuelan newcomer, Radio Occidente before 0200 GMT sign off... . 4,865 kHz.—Signing off with “A Portuguesa,” Portugal's national an- them, at 2305 GMT, is Emisora Regional dos Acores, Ponta Delgada, on one of the mid-At- anti Azores Islands... . 5,000 kHz.—The Ralian standard time and frequency station, IBF, Turin, has been heard through WWV interfer- ence, This time-ticker is audible from 0645 to 0700 GMT, with code identification every five minutes and voice announcement in Ttalian on the hour. . . . 9,009 kHz.—Israel’s Kol Yisrael has daily English language programs at 2115 GMT. It's off-beat frequency makes it easy to find... . 11,783 kHz.—For just plain enjoy- able listening, Lorenco Marques Radio, in Mo- zambique, has been a DXers’ favorite for years. Try ‘em at 0300 GMT sign on... . 15,060 kHz—The clandestine Basque station, Radio Euzkadi heard here now until 2300. They pre- (Continued on page 103) ‘ELEMEntary ELECTRONICSSunshine They Have A ship-board radar designed to sweep over the water to detect distant land is cast in a re- verse role at San Jose, Calii. The landlocked radar sweeps the Santa Clara Valley and the sky above it looking for water in clouds approaching the valley. The radar is part of a sophisticated water control system operated by the Santa Clara County Flood Control and Water District. Located some 50 miles south of San Fran- cisco, the fertile valley is bounded on three sides by mountains ranging up to 4200 feet high. Population growth in the valley has placed | Radar detects moisture laden clouds which, when seeded with. silver iodide erystals, will couse cain fo fall in the Santa Clara Valley. Unseeded clouds seldom reach the height necessary for rain to form until they have pasted over the valley and are many miles down wind. May-June, 1969 ELECTRONICS" Inheard of ADDRESS, cry GIVE ZIP CODE If you have o friend interested in electronice his name ond address for a FREE subseriplion OLSON ELECTRONICS PECIAL INTRODUCTORY SUBSCRIPTION OFFER STATE, nd With ELLERY QUEEN'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE There's no reason for you to miss. the fascinating reading of ‘the greatest of mystery writers. You can find it in every issue of EQMMi | ELLERY QUEEN'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE EE69 | 229 Park Ave. South, NY.) N.Y: 10003 i Please enter my special Subscription to EQMM—12 [ Issues for only $3.67. 1 PELE ein me eens ieee print W oon site Lois2 NEWSCAN eis Raytheon Radar pinpoints approaching clouds so that weather watchers af Son Jose, Calif. can track their ‘approach and stort cloud seeding generators located in the path of the clouds of the most effective time! Radar is 0 type designed for shipboard use, added emphasis on capturing rain water to sus- tain reservoir levels The source of rain in Santa Clara Valley is warm moisture-laden air that blows in from over the Pacific Ocean. As the winds reach shore the steep slopes of the Santa Cruz mountains, lying between the valley und the sea, force the ait masses to rise abruptly. Swept upward rapidly, the water droplets in the clouds are supercooled but will not freeze until they reach an altitude where the temperature is 40 degrees below zero. If there are minute particles of natural impuri- ties in the air such as molecules of salt, dust or hydrocarbons, the water droplets will freeze at ~4° Fahrenheit Upon freezing, their weight will help them ‘overcome the updrafts and they'll fall, eather- ing other droplets as ice until they descend into warmer air, melt and become full-fledged rain drops. But typically the air does not contain the ral- lying agents or nucleii for the cloud droplets and the updrafts do not carry them high enough to encounter ~40° temperatures. Daniel F. Kriege, senior hydrographic engi- neer for the District system, reports that their program of water control has been scientifically evaluated by statisticians who attest to the pro- duction of increased rainfall at selected target locations in the valley. By the most conservative index, the rainfall in the valley over the last 12 years totalled 218.71 inches. This was 24.61 inches, or 12.7 per cent, more than that in the adjacent control area. To keep the reservoirs full, the county rain increasers have installed 21 generators that look and act like oversize vaporizers used in a sick- room. The generators burn a 2.75 per cent solti- tion of silver jodide. Operating at full capacity, each can vaporize 25 grams of the chemical each hour. Located at key points on the ocean side of the coastal mountains and along the ridge of the Santa Cruz mountains, the generators release their fine mist of microscopic silver iodide crys- tals into the air. The strong updraft carries them high into the sky 10 mix with the moisture laden clouds. ~ i —— Set Nr Hassel (Gabtitien pion | (ia Silver iodide acts as a nucleating agent. It forms a rallying point for the moisture in the clouds. It’s more efficient than natural nucleii, for the ice crystals start to form at 23° Fahren- heit and reach their peak at —S° Fahrenheit. By injecting the crystals into the right type of clouds one can raise the temperature and lower altitude at which freezing, and hence rain, can be ex- pected ‘The silver iodide crystals swept up into the sky attract cloud droplets that measure only one one-thousandth of an inch in diameter. A gram of silver iodide can produce more than a quad- Tillion nucleii or rallying points for cloud drop- lets, To become a raindrop each droplet must attract one million others before it grows to a diameter of one tenth of an inch and is heavy enough to overcome the updraft and fall as rain, ‘The District has installed silver iodide gener- ators at ranches and other locations as near the strategically-correct upwind positions as pos ble. Generator tenders are somewhat like light- house keepers. When certain generators must be started, a telephone cal? goes out to start them on cue, tend them, and log the time of their operation. Knowing which generators to operate and when to start them depends upon the radar plot. The District staff watches the long range ad- visories received by facsimile from the Weather Bureau and monitors the hourly radio forecast. When meteorological conditions are conducive, they man a converted house trailer on top of 440-foot-high Canoas Hill in the center of the valley. A special antenna fitted to their Raytheon Model 2505 marine radar enables them to tilt it skyward and capture the electronic “water- marks” of the still-distant clouds. The radar they can see which parts of the cloud formafion contain the highest concentration of moisture. This information, coupled with a plot of the advancing front permits the District staff to evaluate whether cloud seeding will be effective and to determine which generator stations are in the best location to have a chance to pull more rain out of the sky. The radar makes it possible to pinpoint silver ELementary ExectronicsRosottetettetete tt Atk AAA AR AA IT iodide injection to more effectively increase the rainfall near specific reservoirs or sections of the valley where it is wanted, It also plays an important role as cost-lowering tool. ‘The silver iodide is expensive and generator tenders are paid for the time they are on call. What do valley residents think of “shower power”? Naturally, there are always some peo- ple who would prefer it with no rain, a situation that exists in the valley seven months out of the year, but the general weather pattern is so excel ient that no one really begrudges the little exira rainfall. Everyone shares in the welcome bounty of water for drinking, gardening, swimming and the many other things that an ample supply of water makes possible. After all, the Santa Clara District stalf can only hope to increase rainfall under certain conditions; they are not rain- makers, For Four-Bagger Slammers ‘A new U. 8, hardwood resource—one esti mated at two billion board feet—has been un- covered by radar. And it's all because radar tubes now are being used to make baseball bats and other hardwood products. ‘The new baseball bats are made from tanoak which is cured in a microwave kiln heated by 30,000-watt klysiron radar tubes. Previous attempts at curling tan: oak, which is harder than ash, required from 60 days to 18 months and gave results so un- predictable that the tree historically has been categorized as a weed. The new bats, which are made in Oregon by Tanoak Industries, Inc., are cured from green fresh-cut tandak logs in four hours by micro- waves. Called “Oregon Slammers,” the bat which the manufacturer states are harder than customary ash bats yet equally resilient, will enter the market this month. The process for making the bats was devel: ‘oped by Varian Associates, the electronics or- ganization noted for its invention of klystrons and production of other radar tubes and similar space age scientific hardware. Varian's Indus- trial Microwave Operation consists of a group of scientists devoted to harnessing the energy of Werkman (at Jeft) af Tanook Industries’ Harbor, Oregon, mill loads the radar kiln with tanoak rough billets which will become "Oregon Slammers" boseball bats. May-June, 1969 LAFAYETTE RADIO ELECTRONICS 1969 Catalog oOFREE! (areas Now OFF PRESS 2 ri BETTER THAN EVER Over 500 Bares stereo izens Bind’e Wom Gear «Fane Recorders "@ Test “Eauio ment @ TV and Radio Tubes and. Ports @ Cameras @ Auto Accessories @ Musical Instruments @ Tools @ Books a {2 Featuring Everything in Electronics for © HOME "« INDUSTRY © LABORATORY from the “World's Hi-Fi & Electronics Genter” LAFAYETTE Radio ELECTRONICS Devt. zs 9.0. Box 10 Syosset bt NY. 731 F Send the FREE 1969 catalog 680. Name a Address city = state cy Keep up to date with SCIENCE & MECHANICS Science & Mechanics— the only magazine that keeps you right up to date on developments in space technology, weapons, automobiles, ) medicine, boats, planes, tools, new products, and exciting world events. Ja 8 Keep up to date, Mate, sur (izes 1) Fetrning the coupon toaty | SCIENCE & MECHANtcS 229'Park fue. SN. ¥., N.Y. 10003 12 issues $4; 24 Issues $8; 36 Issues $12. (Foreign: Aad'$1 8 year) Piease enter my—year(s) subscription, | | 1 i 11 enciose $_____ 1 Bill me, (No stamps) | | | = FE | ih Ss Address ——___ ee = cit State & Zip. 3Buw NEWSCAN 3% radar for down-to-earth purposes ranging from toasting potato chips to building automobile parts. The Industrial Mictowave Operation de- Yeloped an exclusive process for microwave cur- ing of tanoak in conjunction with Tanoak In- dustries. Native to Northern California and Oregon, the reserves of tanouk are estimated at an abun- dant two billion board feet. Its exireme hard- ness is matched in its uncured state by its moist- ness. In fact, fresh cut tanoak logs often contain more water by weight than dry wood; 130% water content is not uncommon. Conventional kiln drying of tanoak can take 60 days or more and give uncertain results re- garding splitting, etc, Combination air and kiln drying takes as long as 18 months requiring uneconomical inventories and still gives spotty results. Using microwaves for industrial heating offers distinct advantages over conventional power and drying tanoak bats provides a good example. An electric field agitates the wood's molecules pro- ducing friction (and heat) which vaporizes the moisture. Since the microwaves penetrate the substance, the inside dries at the same rate as the surface; in the use of traditional heat sources, heat_must be conducted inward from the surface. The result with microwaves is faster, more uniform drying. According to Tanoak’s president, James Rich- mond, sample bats from the production line have been tested by a spring-loaded device which swings the bat to hit a baseball from a tee into a net. The test program indicates that with the same force tanoak bats will drive a ball up to 156 feet versus 150 feet for an ash bat. The new bats resist checking, splitting, and flaking for a longer life. ‘The bats will be sold nationally at competitive prices in little league, prep, collegiate and pro- fessional sizes and configurations under Tanoak Industries’ “Oregon Slammer” trademark. The Detroit Tigers better start stocking up on “Ore- gon Slammers.” Fricatively Speaking “Hi There, Big Boy!", said in a sexy toned voice may mean nothing more to an IBM engi- neer than the punch card that programmed it. It’s all because some IBM engineers developed an experimental device that helps improve the naturalness of synthesized human speech. The new device—called a formant generator —has application in machine-to-man voice com- munication devices. Computer-based systems using formant generators could be used to pro- vide stock market quotations, telephone infor- mation assistance and satellite commands, The formant generator is a digitally tunable filter which simulates resonances in the human vocal tracts (formants) during speech. Three of the formant generators, each covering a spe- cific frequency range, are used to simulate the three lowest resonances of the human vocal tract. These devices are also modified and used in the same speech synthesizer to simulate nasal (such as “m" and “n”) and fricative (such as “f", “v" and “sh") sounds. (Fricative—that’s a word you don't fool with!) Information on the components of speech is used to design the controls for the formant gen- erators, These are initially fluctuating wave- forms—subsequently converted to digital data —which determine the frequencies and ampli- tude of the sounds produced. One source of such information is sound spectrograms, This information, after digitizing, is stored by a computer, It is then used to vary the fre- quencies of the three formant generators in complex combinations to simulate the rapidly shifting formants of human voice. These for- mants are combined with the output of other speech sound generators and filters—fricative, nasal, hiss and “buzz”—to produce recognizable, “spoken” sounds. The formant generators filter the complex waveforms obtained from a broadband source. Each consists of an attenuator between two amplifier-type integrators, plus a feedback cir- cuit. Attenuation, determined by the digital ad- dress from a computer, is obtained by turning on different transistors which modify amplifier gain. All frequencies, however, are not attenu- ated equally, and the frequencies selected vary with the amount of attenuation. The least-atten- uated frequencies, returned to the input by the feedback circuit, determine the frequency range of the generated formant. Exementary ELECTRONICS PAA AIEEE IIHR aSette de testes tres teak ted sash teak se test tessa st ee = Ss A member of the 18M Speech Synthesis Laboratory showing @ sound spectrogram of the phrase "allow young Willie.” The spectrogram illustrates the three lowest formants of speech, indicated by the dark, horizontal bars. The addresses for the three formants are stored by @ computer and used fo vary the three formant generators required for speech synthesis. It'll be a long time before the female oper- ator’s voice at the other end of a telephone line is computerized.. So dream on, lads, while our dreams may still be real. Planning a Touchdown Microscopic examination of thousands of lu- nar photographs by Raytheon Company photo- interpretation specialists will help determine the final selection of a landing spot when America’s | astronauts first touch down on the moon's sur- face. The goal is to provide a selection of can- (Continued on page 103) “Sorry, bud, but I've got to see your ham operator's license!" } i i i i May-June, 1969 ANNUAL CATALOG GIANT 1969 RADIO-TV ELECTRONICS CATALOG 228 GIANT VALUE-PACKED. PAGES ‘No. 6o1 WRITE FOR YOUR FREE COPY TODAY, —— BURSTEIN-APPLEBEE CO., DEPT. EF-E 3199 MERCIER ST., K, C., MO, 64111 NAME. ADDRESS. or STATE___z1P__ —— = Train for Electronics TECHNICIAN and Earn Your FCC License Grantham prepares you to pass your FCC examina- tions by placing primary emphasis, on electronics and secondary emphasis on the FCC exams. If you really understand the required subject matter, prépa- ration for FCC exams is relatively simple. Let Grantham prepare you for success on your FCC exams and your elecironics career. Length of course: Uwree semesters. Day semesters, 16 weeks each. Evening semesters, 24 weeks each. For complete information, write for free Bulletin GRANTHAM SCHOOL OF ELECTRONICS 818—18th Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20006 Telephone: (202) 298-7460 CLASSIFIED SECTION ON PAGE tt1 1516 Pega asd fetes eet Hey, readers! ELEMENTARY ELECTRONICS is your magazine, and Hey, Look Me Over is Your department, We'd like to know what You think of our new products column. Send Your comments to the Editor, ELEMENTARY Etecrnonics, 229 Park Ave. So., New York, N.Y. 10003, % Hey, Look Me Over. Kustom Kabinets for Kit Konstructors The Bell Educational Laboratories Div. of Beltronix Systems has developed a new line of cusiom cabinets, aimed at all you kit builders, experimenters, and hobbyists, to be marketed under the name Flexi-Cab. Flexi-Cab consists of 6 panels and 12 vise-grip slides and can be asserhbled in minutes by joining the panels with the slides, a departure from conventional cabi- neis which require adhesives or screws or rivets. ‘The panels are made of vinyl-clad steel and are available in a choice of walnut wood grain or black leather with a front panel of brushed brass or chrome. Flexi-Cab is packaged with a set of printed pressure sensitive labels that can be used to identify controls. For starters, they are available in these sizes: 3x4x4 in. 3x4x 6 in, 3x6 x9 in,, and prices start at $2.98. For Bell Educational Labs Flexi-Cab Cabinet HI IK I IA HII III IID SIDSISIS SIS SIS SIS SIS SIS further information and the name of your near- est dealer, write Bell Educational Laboratories Div., Beltronix Systems, Inc, Dept. ee, 123 Marcus Blvd., Hauppage, N. Y. 11787. Play To Me Only... The David Clark Co. has a new stereo head- set, the Clark/300, which, at $19.00 is much more modestly priced than their previous mod- els, But the specs are impressive: frequency Tange, 20 to 17,000 Hz; sensitivity, 1 milliwatt input at 1000 cycles produces 105 IB reference 0002 microbar (per earpiece, maximum power input, 1 watt per phone; nominal impedance, 8 ohms, For further information send to David Clark Co., Inc. 360 Franklin St, Worcester, Mass. 01601 Clark/300 Stereo Headset Treasure Hunt, Anyone? With the TRE-1 Treasure Locator you can go looking for buried pipes, lost jewelry, coins, all types of metals, and all other such non-spiritual goodies. The circuit uses 3 FETs and 2 silicon transi tors, and kit assembly is sim- plified with etched circuit board construction and easy- to-follow instructions. A 6-in. etched circuit coil furnished with the kit means there are no coils to wind and no test equipment needed for align- ment. Glass epoxy material is used for both etched ci cuit boards, and construction time is said to take less than three hours. The Treasure Locator weighs only 24 oz., and is powered by any 9-volt battery. Kit comes with all parts, wire, solder, and headphone. Price is $29.95, @ i 2 Trae Latur ‘Exementary EuectronicsIII IIIA III IIIA SSSI SSSI SSIS SAIS and you can get a data sheet from Caringella Electronics, Inc., Box 327, Upland, Calif. 91786. Keep 'Em Down on the Farm Now farmers can hear the news, weather, livestock prices, crop prices, and music even when they're down on the lower 40. This powerful tractor radio is solid state with a 6-watt output. The heavy-gauge steel shroud is completely shockproof There's a 5x7-in, speaker and a stainless steel spring base telescoping antenna, de. veloped. especially for this tractor radio. The unit can be easily installed on all trac- tors with 6- or 12-volt sys- tem, The price is $51.50, postpaid, from J. C. Whitney & Co, 1917 Archer Ave., Dept. 401, Chicago, Il, 60616. ‘ a J.C. Whitney Tractor Redio Solid Wave for Squares The Heath Company announces a new solid- state sine-square wave generator, model IG-18, priced at $67.50. Its output range is continu- ously variable from 1 Hz to 100 kHz, using one multiplier and two selector switches plus a ver- nier control. The IG-18 has 8 output voltage ranges from .003 to 10 V rms with an external oad of 10 K ohms or more, and 6 output ranges from .003 to 1 V rms (~62 to +22 dB) using “I's on, Harry! The next sale we're all going to make a break for it! May-June, 1969 1-Amp Silicon Rectifier Choice of Package Bullet—Miniature— 10-5 Package Glass—Metal Can [] S80" units -.$1.00 O 5—800v units... $1.00 ] 4—100v units - $1.00 | stooge, 99 | = Heey uns 31 ap ( Si2e0v units. soo |G 2—4o0v units | $1.00 back. T-Amy Samp Epoxy Package | og —saytnts $1.00 oy Sear Non | F] SHB ae $198 Beret et tatees ool | smiornumeenast 5 R=H80Y bmi 3188 Silicon Stud Noun peamisthl stmt son | Bias HR | S800 units. . gop | ©) 7-S00V_unst_- $4.08 © 1—1000v “unit 1.00 Silicon Stud Mount 20 Amp D8 for $1.00 Fy E168by “ne $188 | Zener Diodes, 1 watt ——— 1 Ea, 4v—6v—8V—10V Sica Stud Mount] Cine 31.00 mp Zener Diodes, 10 Watt ( asov unite....si.00 | Zener aes, 10 Oy? 2 Yoav “tins: 34.80 |, 4! £8 Silicon. Stud Mount Germanium Glass cost hme 00-7 | 2—S0v" units... $1.00 HR HB.ov ait: $188 | 1 20 Sem FUMIE? og Roplaces 1N-34, in'60, Silicon Glass Diodes INGs, 1N-398 10-1008 Fite si.oo | High Voltage Stacks 1 Amp 2,000V to 20,000 40¢ Per 1000 Votts 10,000¥ cost 34.00 No Sales Tax We Pay Postage PARK ELECTRONIC PRODUCTS P. 0. Box 78, N. Salem, N. H. 03073 te McGEE’S coffee CATALOG 1001 BARGAINS IN SPEAKERS —PARTS—TUBES—HIGH FIDELITY COMPONENTS—-RECORD CHANGERS— aye Revorders—-Kie--Everythig 1 Eleetreniee TUBES Rog Cs frie LTAa BR 30 eee te CATALOG Lats Dei at AM a, 4219 E UNIVERSITY AVE,, SAN DIEGO, CALIF. 92405 COOPERATE WITH THE ZIP CODE PROGRAM OF THE POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT USE ZIP CODE NUMBERS IN ALL ADDRESSES W18 HEY, LOOK ME OVER IAGO II III III III SII IIIS III ISIS III IAD Heathkit 1G-18 Sine-Square Wave Generator the built-in 600-ohm load or an external 600- ‘ohm load. Sine-wave output has less than 0.1% distortion from 10 Hz to 20 kHz. The square wave section has a frequency range from 5 Hz to 100 kHz at 0.1, 1 and 10 V switch-selected outputs. Unit is equipped with a dual-primary transformer for 120/240 VAC operation and a 3-wire line cord for added safety. Styled to match Heathkit’s instrument line, For complete specs and how to order, write the Heath Co,, Benton Harbor, Mich. 49022. Changer Goes Mini Lafayette’s new “Mini” changer, stock No. 21-1401, is a 4-speed changer equipped with a ceramic turnover stereo cartridge and diamond stylus. Made in England, it features a low-mass tone arm, dynamically balanced 2-pole motor, and automatic shut-off after last record. You can stack and intermix up to 6 records of 10. and 12-in. size of the same speed, or manual Now you're getting somewhere, Turner. This display is the exact opposite of what ! had in mind!" single play. On a walnut base, the Mini meas- ures 145% x 5.x 10 in,, weighs 6 Ih. For 110-130 VAC 60 Hz, the Mini is priced at $34.95. For more dope, write Lafayette Radio Electronics, 111 Jericho Tkpe., Syosset, N. Y. 11791. Lofeyette 4-Speed Automatic "Mini" Changer Screwdriver Gets a No-Shock Treatment ‘The makers of the Quick-Wedge screw-holding screwdriver, the Ked: man Co., have added color-coded vinyl covering over the tubing as protection for electrical work. Di- electric strength of vinyl tubing at room temperatures averages 1100-V per mil of thickness. The vinyl cover is 20 mils thick, and will | withstand 20,000 volts. “There are 16 sizes being offered with color vinyl covering, and for their various prices and information on distribu- tors, write Kedman Co., Box 267, Salt Lake City, Utah 84110. Let’s Hear It from the Shelf! Allied is very proud of their model 2370 speaker system. For one thing, the overall fre- quency response is 20 Hz to beyond audibility. It has a 12-in. acoustic suspension bass woofer, a compression-type midrange with diffraction horn, and a compression-type wide-dispersion horn tweeter for the treble notes. Crossover frequencies at 1000 and $000 Hz permit each Kedman Quick Wedge Serew-Holding Screwdriver Allied 2370 Speoker System Etemenrary ExectaontcsS&M’s SUPERSENSITIVE DARKROOM METER You get your money's worth when you own an S&M A-3 Supersensitive Darkroom Meter. Use the coupon below to order your moter today. Satisfaction guaranteed! SCIENCE & MECHANICS-KIT DIVISION ay 229 Park Avenue South, N.Y., N.Y. 10003 Please send the S&M, A-3 Supersensitive Darkroom Meter as I've indicated below. 1 understand that if T am not satisfied, I may return the sneter within 10 days for a com- plete zefund. ‘Add 10'% for Canadian and foreign orders. N.Y.C. residents add 59% for sles tax $44.50—in kit form $6.50—Fasel Probe $49.50—fully assembled 56.5034. inch Miniature Probe $ 4.95—Carrying Case Enclosed $3,00 deposit, (Check or money order enclosed, Ship COD, plus postage & COD ship post-paid charges Name (rLEase Puan). ‘Adeets. SS ST May-June, 1969 U.S. Camera says, “The meter is a marvelously sen: and accurate instrument. $44.50 in Kit form? 549,50 Fully assembled” ‘carrying case included $4.95 extra Carying case This Model A3 Meter is ramed the “Dark room Meter" because it has been so widely accepted for reading enlarger easel ox Dosures. It has earned reputation as a precision instrument in color studio pho tography, copy work, portraiture, and avail ‘able light photography. You can use it with ‘movie cameras and with single jens reflex cameras. The A3s ate also used for ground ss exposure readings with microscopes, telescopes and can even be set up for use 25 a densitometer ‘An exclusive feature of this versatile in- stiument is its standard plugin probe as sembiy with theee fot flexible cable, This probe utilizes the newest Ciaiex. Corp. CLSOSL cadmium sulfide photocell—tne best grade available today—balanced for color, and the complete range of exposures from dim available light to full bight sun Hight, ts field of view is €3 degrees. equal to normal camera jens anges. The meter is supplies with 2 Sinch, easy: tovead computer with fourrange selection and EVEVSLY settings to give F stops {rom 7 to 90 and list exposure time from 1/15,000 second to 8 hours, ‘The 4¥.inch dial of the meter is sell iturinated with builtin battery lamps. You ead on 4 sensitivity ranges, thereore the meter dial and selector switch give you an equivalent of 18 inches of total dat space for reading accuracy. The paper speed con iol knob is used to set sensitivity to match the various grades of printing papers. The meter sensitivity is sufficient lo detect the light of @ match 10 feet away. This SAM Light Meter is supplied with a probe holding bracket for darkroom “work, ‘An accessory easel probe Seinch (ee photo) is recommended for use with high speed en Jarging papers. The standard %4inch diam ter probe can be used to read a Yeineh Circle on the viewing glass of many SLR’ To read a smaller target though ‘he lens of Exacta, Procticas, ele, order the Yeinch fiameter probe which nas a Me wide photo: cell Wether you buy the SEMA Meter 33 an easptoassemble kit, or completely factory assembled, you can be sure you have the advantage of owning 2 rugged and depend able instrument. A complete manual tells you step ysstep how to assemble the instru: ‘ment, ow t0 use it for profitable photog: raphy and_now to keep it working cght for years 1920 HEY, LOOK ME OVER IAI AI IR III IIR II II RI III ISI ADI SI III IIIA I speaker to reproduce only those frequencies for which it is designed. There are two level con- trols for midrange and tweeter to permit adjust- ment to the personal taste of the listener. The walnut-veneered enclosure (14x 25x 13 in.) is Fiberglas-filled to prevent resonance. The bass speaker is matched to the size and characteristics of the enclosure. In kit form (and they even supply the oil to rub into the cabinet) you ask for the 2370K, and it's $99.95. Factory-assem- bled and finished, it’s $119.95. For more info, write for a catalog from Allied Radio Corp., Dept. 20, 100 N. Western Ave., Chicago, Ill 60680. Stereo Over the Waves Here is a pint-size stereo system, the Scottie, that the manufacturers suggest is just the thing for boat owners. Operating on AC or a 12-V battery, the Scottie employs FETS, so you can bring in distant stations when you're ‘Way out HH, Scolt Scottie Stereo System at sea. Scott claims their full complementary output stages provide undistorted sound at low- est listening levels. There is an optionable turn- table 10 go with the speakers-receiver system. The Scottie retails for $199.95. The optional turntable is $59.95, with cartridge and diamond stylus. Further information can be had from H. H. Scott, 111 Powder Mill Rd., Maynard, Mass. 01754, Three-In-One Probe-ity The new B&K FP-3 test probe provides a way of making three termination touch-to-test con- tacts simultaneously using only one hand, where before it would have taken three probes and both hands, The three-point probe is called Dyna-Flex and is priced at $12.95. Designed for use with in-circuit transistor testers, VTVMs, VOMs, and TVOMs, Dyna-Flex makes positive, BEK Dyna-Flex FP.3 Test Probe non-slip direct contacts to printed circuit termi- nations. The probe has 3 spring-loaded needle- point tips which tilt or swivel on ball joints to permit automatic adjustment to any spacing to % in, to fit the terminations of a wide variety of components. Three leads, color coded to their respective tips, terminate in insu- lated alligator clips for easy connection to the test instrument being used. The clips also permit making rapid component test substitutions. If you want to know more, write B&K Div. of Dynascan Corp., 1801 W. Belle Plaine Ave., Chicago, Ill. 60613 Make With a Mallet Here’s 1 new construction system—a method ‘of assembling square steel tube furniture and fixtures with the use of just a mallet. The system, called Apton, has three basic components: square steel tube; a tough styrene type collar; and a series of seven different joint formations. ‘The tube can be either ordered in the desired lengths or cut to size with an ordinary hacksaw. ‘You assemble Apton by sliding a collar into the end of a tube, inserting the tapered arm of joint into the collar and tube, then driving the joint solidly home with a soft-faced mallet. The tube is made in 1- and %-in.-square sizes in lengths | | } Hobbyist designed furpiture_made Square Sheet Tubes from Dexion Ecementary EcecTRonicsIII II IID IAI IA IIIS IIASA ASE up to 8 ft. In black matte finish, the L-in. size is 376 a foot; the %-in. goes for 32¢ a foot. For further information write for a brochure, “Planning and Building with Apton," from Dexion, Inc., 39-27 59th St., Woodside, N.Y. 11377. Wake Up, Musical Sleepyheads! ‘The GR-S8 from’ Heath is a solid-state AM- FM clock radio kit with a lot of cute features. For instance: a clock-controlled auxiliary AC socket on the rear panel for having hot coffee at bedside in the morning, or for turning on lights; a “snooze” button—ten minutes before the alarm goes on the radio starts, when the Heathkit GR-58 AM-FM Clock Redio alarm goes on you shut it off by depressing the snooze button and the radio remains on. This operation will continuously recycle until the GR-58 is reset to another position. The FM section has AFC, a built-in FM antenna, and 3-stage IF. The AM portion has a 2-stage IF, amplified AGC, and a built-in %4-in, ferrite-rod antenna. The unit comes in a blue plastic cabi- net and both the AM and FM front ends are factory built and aligned. You can put together all this for $47.95, and for further description write to the Heath Co., Benton Harbor, Mich. 49022. Patch Makes Dialogue Hy-Gain has introduced a CB phone patch which will interconnect any base CB with the telephone—thus extending a CB call to any telephone in the nation. The company says hav- ing the Phone Patch on your base is equivalent to having a telephone in your car. You can talk to any local or long distance phone via your base while traveling. This could be very handy in emergencies for contacting police or other public safety units. The Hy-Gain Phone Patch (part No. 402) can easily be connected to any CB transceiver and comes with complete in- structions. It sells for $7.95; for further infor- mation write Hy-Gain Electronics Corp., Hwy 6 & Stevens Creek, Lincoln, Neb. 68501. May-June, 1969 electronics? —then get your electronics cool with this introductory offer to the two leading elec- tronics magazines! Use coupon in ad. —Now, both of these fine magazines will be delivered to you at the spe ‘subscription rate of just $7.00 . . , save $2 from newsstand price. ELEMENTARY ELECTRONICS The magazine that serves up electronics theory in pleasant spoonfuls and reinforces the knowledge you gain with : exciting and useful projects. Radio-TV Experimenter and Science and Electronics Dedicated to the man who wants to obtain a fuller and broader knowledge of electronics and scientific worlds. —---~--—-----} | DAVIS PUBLICATIONS, INC. FE89 | | 229 Park Ave. S./New York, N.Y. 10003 | f Yes! | want to find the key to electronics. I ' mi Begin my subscription to 1. RADIO-TV EX- | | pERIMENTER and SCIENCE AND ELECTRONICS | | plus 2. ELEMENTARY ELECTRONICS at your | | low-subscription rate of $7.00 | 1.0 Bill me tater 1 Check enclosed. | Nane.. \ I Address. . I Citys. 1 (Outside U.S.A.22 TERATURE ELECTRONIC PARTS 135. Get wil) ICs! RCA's new Fitegrated ‘Cireult Experimenier's Kit DSI is the frst_of iis kind and Should be'a hart of your next project. Get all the Tacis direct trom RCA. Girete 138, 140. How cheap is chean? Well, Tike a gander ate Cor'ell Electronics! inten ctalog, is, packed wi bar gas like @W4, “IZAX7, SUS, ete. tubes for only 38¢. You've got io see this one to believe it 1. Allled’s catalog is so widely used ag a Teference book, that it's teparded standard by people in the ele tronics industry. Don't you have the 1969 allied Radio caiaiox? The ste prising thing Is that i's free! 42. Now, get the all-new $12-paze, Tully illustfated Lajayerte Radio 1969 Catalog, Discover the. latest in CB fgear, test equipment, ham gear, tools, Fools, “hic components ‘and gilts Boinowt" omponents and & Ger it now! John Meshna, Jr.'s ew 46-page catalog is jam packed ‘with “surplus “buys—surplus radios, ‘new parts, computer parts, ete. No electronics bargain, hunter Should be caught. without the 1969 copy of Radio Shack's catalog. Some equipment and kit offers are s0 10m, they Took like misprints. Buying is believing, AS: Edit Seepates nen cats fop, contains over 4000 products that embrace many interests and fields. 105 a yde-page buyers guive for Selence Fair fans 44. Olson's catalog isa mull Colored newspaper that's packed Wit fore bargains than @ phone book has ames, Don't Believe ts? Get-a Cony, 7. Before you, build. fiom scratch, Check the Fair Kalio Sales latest: Slog for electronic gear that canbe fodified (o your nceds. Far way 10 Save cash. 10. Burstein-Applebee offers a new Hani catalog containing 100s of big Pages crammed with savings. inclu {ng hundreds of bargains of hi-f kits, power tools, tubes, and Parts 11. Now available trom EDI (Elee- Ironie Distributors, Ine): & catalog Containing. hunireds. of electronic items, EDI ‘will be happy to place you on their malling lis 106. With 70 million TV. and 240 Iillion. radios. somesody somewhere ‘rll need a vacuum tube replacement Bt the rate of one a sceond! Get Universal Tube Coss Troubleshooting Chart and facts on their $1-30 fat Fale per tube. 6. Bargains galore, Slore!" Poty-Paks Co, will send you hele latest eight-page Ayer listing the latest in available merchandise, n= cluding giant SI special sal. that's what's in Toois RT. Keelive's Service Masier roll Ai pute 33 “essential hand. tools. at Sour fingertips. Get Catalog 160 for Complete description of hit and many Sruional accessories, 118. Secure coax cables, speaker Wires, phone wires, elc., with Arrow Staple gun tackers, 3 models for wires ‘and cables from ia" to 12" dia. Get sctfull Arrow literature. CBAMATEUR RADIO— SHORTWAVE RADIO It may be the frs!~ catalog catering , Figs, what-nols—€ need for Your lstentne pe fr Circle 148! 100. You can get increased CB fange and clarity using ihe “Cobra: yicanseeiver with, speech compres- Sor—receiver sensitivity is. excellent Cataion sheet will be mailed by B&K Division of Djnascan Corporation. 141. Newiy-designed (CB antenna Catalog by Aneta: Specialists has Been Sectfonalzed “to faite, the Feking of ah antenna oF accessor HiSm"S andy index system. Mary dAntonna Specialais makes the pickin" easy. oz. No never, mind what brand your CH setts. Sentry has the crystal douneed Same ors Tox han se zing Ws bellevingy so get Seniry's eatalog today. Cele 102 146. Bone up on the CB with the test Sams books” Titles range from MABC's of CB Radio” to. 98 Ways to Improve Your CB Radic.” So C= le 130 and get the facts Jrom Sams 107, Want 2 deluxe CB base sta tion? Then get the spece. on Tan's Sh'mew Titan Its the SSB/AM Hi You've been waiting for! 96. Get your copy of FF. John Joirs new booklet, “Can Johnson Way Radio Help Me?” Aimed for Business Use, the booklet is userul to exeryone. 129, Boy, oh boy if you want 10 {end abs Rog of Coie, gt Jour hangs on Tefayerte’s new Eatalog. Lafayette has CB sets for all pocketbooks 46. Pick up Hallicrajters’ new four- page illustrated brochure describing Fiailicafters" line.of monitor receivers Sfolice, fre, ambulance, emergency, ‘weather’ business radio, all yours. at the Rip of a dal 116, Pep-up your CB tie’s perform Bice with Tarher's Med mobile mi Grophone. Get complete. sree. sheets fand data on other Turner mikes. 48. Hy-Gain’s new CB antenna cata jog is packed full of useful informa Mon and product “data that every CBer should know, Geta copy. 111. Get he scoop on Versa-Tronics’ Veria-Tenna. with’ instant. mapnetic mounting Antenna models, available for Bers, (hams and mobile units from 27 MHz to 1000 Milz. 45. CBers, Hams, SWEs—get_ your Cony of World Radio Labs: 1969 cata fog, 11 you're a wireless. mut or ex perimenter, you'l fake 10 this catalow. 101. AF it’s a CB product, chances are International Crystal has it listed in‘their colorful catalog. Whether kit fof wired, sceessory or test geary this Plncorienied company. can be relied V6 fil the bill. 103. Squires-Sanders would like you to Know about their CB transceivers, the "23'er" and the new "S38." Also, CB accessories 1 ity 10 their S-watters. ELECTRONIC PRODUCTS 142, Bring sew fe to your hotly, Exiting plans for new projectslet Electronics Hobby Shop give you te dope, Cirele 143, now. 144. Hear today the ortan with the 'Sound-of-Tomorrow," "ihe" Melo- Sonic by Whippany ‘Electronics, Its portsble—take Kt anywhere. Send for Pies and descriptive literature, 66. Try instant lettering to mark control’ pancls and component parts. ‘Darak's "booklets and sample ‘show this easy dry transfer method. 109. Seco offers a line of specialized and’ slandard test equipment. that's Ideal for the home experimenter and pro, Get Spees and prices today. 42, Here's colorful 116 page catalog. containing a wide assorinient of elec> fronie kite. You'll ind something for ‘ny interest, any budget. And Heath Co, will happily send you a copy. 128, If you can hammer a nail and Fils your him, ‘your can, assemble Schober organ. To. prove the point Schober wit 'send. you theit catalog and a 7.in. dise tecording. ELEMENTARY ELECTRONICSStarred items indicate ad- vertisers in this issue, Consult their ads for additional in- formation and specifications. 9 Troubleshooting without test gear? 46136. International Correspondence 26. The all new. 1 shty illustrated, Get with st—tet Accurate Instrument Schools has a 384-page manual ex. full-color hrochure, “At Home, With glue you in on some great huys. Why Plaining the function, operation, and Stereo” clues you in on Hf, Scores So without” gblectives of JCS. Get ihe facis on 1969 stereo consoles. Discover how 10 266 courses of study currently avall> pick a hie console for your Tiving 145. Alco Electronic Produets has 28 able. Sorry, offer may expire soon. Foom, Set ens using thei rere contol Telay. Get 100-a8d-one oud jobs done #137. For success in communics- TAPE RECORDERS AND TAPE At home without calling an electeician. Ons, broadcasting and electronies set r BLM ae tects cadet 2 clectsician. Vote Pies Clase HCC ieee ated 123. Yours for the ssking—Elpa’s Granthan 44, Kit builder? Like wired prod. SHOW YOU how. ‘School of Electronics wit New “The Tape Recordiog Ommle teresting hooklets egk.” 16 Jam-packed pages on facts Baking, "2 PORE ara ips you" shoul kfow about cis? EICO's 1969 catalog takes care *¥° YOURS for the asking. fore yoalGaya eeeeeeoees gf both reeds of buyers. 42. pages funl'ot hi-fy test, CB, ham, SWI au: tomotive arid hobby ki do you have 2 copy’ 108. less your FM antenna can pall em in, ‘You ea 21. All the facts about Concord BUT AUIS! Elccrontes Corts tape records ee yours for the asking in a free hook Jet. Portabie, battery operated to fou hear FM stereo un- tnt, Det products nem capacrne fanoueestaninrs pacman, EL ORIN aay aad tout eiiptteltedteceyactitne Eph mong ad aieorer hate arg: Case aN acne will rep up your ear. Designed 10 cut mensional ‘Sound: Bas costs and redice point and plug Wear. Get Delia's details i full-colot 119, 32. “Everybody's Tape Recording Hendnook” fe the title of 2 booklet Kenwood puts it right on the that. Sarkes-Tarzian will, send. you. erature fine; The allcnew Kenwood EMcstereo {ts 24-pages jam-packed with Info {0 eceivers are described in a colorful the tome: recording enthusiasts ae iispate booklet completo wih easy SCHOOLS AND EDUCATIONAL toteac-aniccompare "spec Wala. Gal Gude your copy today! 74. Get two free books—“How to Get a Commercial FCC License” and 30, Shure's business ig hil — care f-page booklet eeseebaen Sony ridges, ‘tone arms, and headphone Scope products—tape recorders “How fo Succeed in Electronics uable table of recording Various tapes. 34. “AI the Best from Son from Cleveland Institute of Electron amps. Make it your business to know fOpliohes, tape and accessories. Get ‘es. Begin your future today! Shuret Its Home Radio Course. Build #3, Get All the foets on Progressive 136, 20 Discover PlayTape—America’s rewest tape eartridge and tape play” radios, ‘and electronic ‘circuits; ers Unit priced at under $17 wih Darts, tools and instructions ‘come gariridges St as-uise Wises, Play Tate a copy today before you buy! 35, If you are a serious tape audio- Phife, you will be interested in tho Ail Be Ving Fetes line of duality tape’ recorders Sith course. hhas one of America's largest recorded libraries, ua. RadiorTlevsion Training of 1 America prepares you fot a carte fot a job. 16 big Kits help you lear & TELEVISION R70, Need a now TV set? Then ax Mikes, speakers, | amps, re- Umble a Hearn TV ‘kits Heats, has fersvou, name it’ Electro-Voice ail'sizes. BAW. and color, portable 48 you build. 120 lessons. Get all the makes i¢ and makes Hi good. Get the ly SzeS., BAW, and color, portable facts today! Straight poop from £-¥* today. URS reat poe 114, Prepare for tomorow by 99. Get the Inside info on why 127. National Schools ill help you studying at _home with Technical Koss/Acoustech's solid-state ampli. learn ail about cout TV ae You Training International. Get the facts fers are the rage of the experts, Cok. sescrabie the 28 color TV Jae foday on how you can step up i orful brochure answers all Jour ques Just ons of National's Gisay ENCiy your present job. tions. ELEMENTARY ELECTRONICS Department 669 229 Park Avenue South New York, N.Y. 10003 Please arrange to have the lit: erature whose numbers | have circled at right sent to me as ‘soon as possible. | am enclos- ing 25¢ to cover handling. (No stamps, please.) fees eee May-June, 1969 and rewarding courses. [_} indicate total number of booklets requested 12 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1117 23 26 30 31 32 34 35 42 44 45 46 48 66 70 74 78 96 99 100 101 102 103 104 106 107 109 111 114 116 118 119 123 126 127 128 129 130 134 135 136 137 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 LS ee ADDRESS. erry. [STAT zee ee24 EN ey | BL “Weil begun is half done” is an old saying that particularly applies to the opening—the first ten or fifteen moves of a game. It is during this phase that both sides develop their pieces, get ideas, and prepare for the later phases. And it is essential to understand the concept of each debut, rather than just memorize its character- istic moves, Here are four more standard open- ings to add to those which have appeared be- fore. Four Knights’ Game, The Four Knights’ Game is a sound but {00 conservative opening. ‘A kind of Ruy Lopez (1 P-K4, P-K4 2 N-KB3, N-QR3 3 B-NS), it counts on the first move, development, and a slight initiative. Old mas- ters, such as Maroczy and Dr. Tarrasch, con- sidered it a sharp weapon, but contemporary ‘ones regard it.as merely a drawing device. The ‘Symmetrical Variation is one of its best known forms and proceeds: 1 PKA -K4 8 B-NS a-K2 2 N-KBS N-aB3 9 R-KT N-Qit 3 NBS N-B3 10 P-Q4 N-K3, 4 B-NS -N5 11 B-QBT Rall 50-0 0-0 12 N-R4 P-KN3 6 P-a3 BxNt P-a4l 7 PxB P-a3 ee The position offers equal chances. Reti Opening. This one is hyper-modern, subtle, and flexible, and bears the name of Richard Reti, a Czechoslovakian grandmaster who wrote and played during the first two dec- ades of the century. It works on the center from afar and is replete with transpositional possibilities. A good defense to it is the London, System, an example of which follows. 12 PxP Equal chances. Caro-Kann Defense. Safety against the rig- ors of | P-K4 is sought with the Caro-Kann Defense (1 P-QB3). Solid. if not overly dynamic, it seeks simplicity and the possibility of an early ending. World Champion Tigran Petrosian is one of its advocates and here is one of the lines he likes (see moves top of next page)— Block wrwanrra eta A a 5 8 @ a em a ie m@wmaey ReAG AE a SS White ELementary ELECTRONICSPPR RRR RNR PRIN PR DRI RB DR RD RRR REPEL OPAPP ND Equal chances. Dutch Defense. Said to be a Dutch treat by some. this defense has nevertheless been a fa- vorite of World Champions Alekhine, Botvin- nik, and Morphy. It creates imbalance, tension, and tactics, seeks control of the KS square, and utilizes the KB and KN iles for an attack. The Stonewall Variation, hereafter given, is one of its crucial lines. KI Q-R4 QN-02 K-RI R-KNT P-KNAL N-KI NS 12 K-RT Equal chances. Game of the Issue. Grandmaster Samuel Re- shevsky, 58, of Spring Valley, N. Y., is still producing, great chess. “Sammy” was born in Ozierkov, Poland, learned the game when he was four, toured Europe as a child chess prod- igy at eight, and was brought here a year later. He is a five times winner of the United States Championship, winner of numerous Interna- tional Tournaments, and recently competed in the Candidates’ Matches for the World Cham- pionship. Reshevsky has authored “Learn Chess Fast” and “Reshevsky’s Best Games of Chess” and is a regular contributor to “Chess Life.” ‘With White in the game below against his fellow countryman Grandmaster Robert Byrne of Indianapolis, in the Interzonal Tournament at Sousse, Tunisia, 1967, Reshevsky essays his May-June, 1969 beloved 1 P-Qé and a favorite line against the King’s Indian Defense, obtains a clear advan- tage by move 12, increases the pressure, and then wins by sacrificing a Bishop to secure two connected passed Pawns. ‘This game was cited as one of the 10 Best in Vol. 4 of the “Chess Informant,” an up-to- date compilation of important parties in the world-wide arena, published by the Yugoslav Chess Federation, which contained 867 games! 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 16 N-KNSI 17 BxN 18 BxNI 19 QPxP RBH! Position after 38 RxB#! Black Why did Black resign? Because he must relinquish two Rooks for two Pawns and see White emerge a whole Rook ahead if he plays on. Here is the analysis: A. Tf38 ... . K-N2 39 RxR, RXR 40 P-Q8 =Q, RxQ 41 PaR=Q wins. If 38... . KxR 39 P-Q8=Q# QRxQ (moving the King is worse) 40 PxR=Q# RxQ. 41 R&R, P-K7 41 R-K8! followed by 42 RxP wins, 7 €. If 38... . KaR 39 P-Q8—Q# (not 39 (Continued on page 109) 25ta a EL ce ae CCR MCU! NEW kit GR-58 sq7ss E NEW kit AD-27 169% | NEW kit TA-38 $9250 NEW kit 16-18 G70 Wires 1GW-18 $ggs0 HEATHKIT AD-27 FM Stereo Compact “The new Heathkit"27” Component Compact wat detisved to change your mind about iereo tompect performance How? By sounding as Init were made of top quality Serco composts», which in fact itis, Heath engineers look thew highly rated AR. Tecolidstate Stereo Receiver, modified it physialy to ft the cabnes, and matched i withthe precision BSR McDonald S00A Aulomatic Turniable, Performance? Here's the AD.27 in deta The ampllfer delivers 30 vats music poner .-. 13 honest nals per ebanael ~- enough fo drive any reasonably eMiieat speaker system. Response i etcally ft from 12 Hz to 60 ks, and Harmonic & 1M distortion are both ess than 122 at full output. Tandem Volume, Balance, Bass & Treble conteols pve you full [age command of all the sound, Select the FM stereo mode with ack of the rocker {pe switch ad ture smooiMy across he dil, thane to inert Aywhee Toning ‘Youtthesr sates you did't know existed in Sour area, and the Canty ad Sepace Ton ofthe sound wil aomae you The sdjsaste phasing contol sues best eco Separation at al times, And the automate stereo indicator Ligh tls you it the pro fram im stereo, AFE puis an end to deft too, The BSR Automate Turntable has atures normaly found only in very expersive uit, like cueing and pause conito, vat htc anti skating device, sylus pressure adjustment and automate System powet 100. Tomes complete wih famous Shure damond syics magneie carrie. The hand Some walnut cabinet with siding tambour door will look Sharp in any surro dings, Sod the AD-2T performs as well a2 looks, For tke Bel slerco compact Sou ean thy. onder your"27" Component Compact now. Al Ibs, HEATHKIT AD-17 Stereo Compact Using the component approach of the AD-27, Heath engineers took the solid stave feted ampliter scion of the AD/27, matched it with the high eualty BSR #00 Auto. Ihave Turntable and pu! both ofthese fre composens Ina handsomdly styled waleut nish cabinet The reul isthe "17"—~ festuring 30 wats muse power, 12 Hz 10 60 {ite reponse auuliary & luner iepus, less than 17 Harmonie & IM distoction, ajustable siplus pressure & amiate contol and much more. Order your “IT now. 27 Tbe HEATHKIT TA-38 Solid-State Bass Amplifier “The new Heatbhit TA the ottes! performing bass amp on the market, for quite few reasons. First, there’ all solitae citeuty for reality. Then there’ the the TA'38 puts out 120 watis of EIA music power, 240 watts peak, or 100 warts continuous. Extremely low harmonic & 1M disortion too. Many Tips suffer from sblow-out™ problems, bu not he new TASB YOU CAN'T BLOW IT... n boasts two 12" heavy duty special design speakers wih giant 3 pound 6 ounce magnet assenibies mounted in a completely sealed, evily damped prosed wood cabinct=-- these speakers wil take every wat the amp will ul out and Pitot Mow. Sound? The TA.98 i talored to reproduce the Ful range of bass fre ‘Quences delivered by bass guitars and is sound sith combo organs and other instr ‘Rms is remarkable’ Easy 13 hour assembly fo the west bass amp on the market ‘rder one'now and surpise the guys with the highpriced gear. 130 Ibs HEATHKIT GR-58 Solid-State AM/FM Clock Radio The easy way to getup in the moraine. Choose the morning news & veather on AM trike bight sound of FM music, AFC makes FM tuning casy. The “Avro” posi. fn the Teechron® clock, urns ony the radi. on, or use the “Alarm” sting for both the vadio ad ihe alam. Youccan even e0y fick coffee when you awake inthe morn Ihe. tnanks fo ine eloch-controlled aecessory AC socket on the back of the new GR 38 The handy “snooze” alarm feature iets you wake up gradually for fen minutes 1 the found ofthe radio, then th alarm gocs Om Push the "snooze" button ro silence the Star for ten minates more af muse of ews — the alarm sounds automatically evry ienminutsand the “snooze” button turns «of cycling continuously unt the selector Seich is moved to another postion, Fast easy eireit board constrotion, smart blue Ampaet Ras cabinet and top Feiabilty make ths GR-3B the clock radio For you. Bibs. HEATHKIT 16-18 Solid-State Sine-Square Wave Generator A precision source of sine or square waves a low price.. that's she new solig-state 1CL18 from Heath, Delivers $42 seeuracy th the wide range of | Hz to 100 kHz, The ne wave section fenites less than 0.1% astortion thru the audio range, 8 output TOtage vances rom O03 to 10V. switerseleted internal 600 ohm load or external Toad and metered output of both vollage & dB. The square wave section fas a SO.nS fie ime and Inge output volage ranges from 0.1 0.10 V P-P. Both sine & square Sisves are avaiable simultaneously andthe frequency is switch-scected for constan Fepcawblity and fast operation, Chast board conscuction makes the ne» 1G-18 (by to build = new Heathkit siving a enginecrng excellence wake i e359 10 use ur the new 1G-18 on your Bench nove 10 [bs Exementary Evgcrnonicsee eaet sz Now There are 4 Heathkit Color TV's... All With 2-Year Picture Tube Warranty NEW Deluxe “68t" Color TV With Automatic Fine Tuning “The new Heathkit GR-68 i the most advanced color TV on the market. A strong kit GR-681 éisim, Bul easy to prove. Compare the "68l” against every other TV — there isrtoneaaabeforany petharhaal hexefonur Auiomite EneTunne $44Q Q95 fon al #3 channels just posh a Button andthe factory asvembled solid-state eat kes over to automatieslly nave the best color picture In the indestty. lees cabinet) Push another front panel Button and the VIYF channel secctor rotates unl you reach the desired sation, aulomatially Muli-n eable-type remote control that Allows you to urn the “68I" on and off and change VIIF channels without froving from your chait. Or Add the optional GRA-GHL6 Wires Remote Gonizel described below. A Bridge-1ype low volage rower sappy for superior regulation; high low AC taps ate provided to inure thatthe picture tans ‘ited exretly fis the "6BI” screen. Auomatc depnissings 2speestransstor UME tuner, his sound output, wo VIIF antenna inputs us The bert selfservicing tide that are standard on all Henhkit color TWs but eat be bought onany other set for any price... plusall the features ofthe famoss "295 lant below. Compare the "68" aptinst the others «and be conviseed atl Gave GRA-298-4, Mediterranean cabinet shown 3119.50 now only Other cabinets from $62.35 #44995 Deluxe “295” Color TV...Model GR-295 i : Big, Bold, Beauiful.. and packed wih features. Top quality American brand eo eases color tube with 295 5q in. vlewing area new improved phosphors and low voltage surply with boosted B + for brghier, livelier color... automatic de Gaussing exclusive Heath Magna-Shield Automatic Color Control & ‘Automatic Gain Contol for color purity, and Rutter free pctures under all fondions .. preassembled IF stip wth 3 ster instead ofthe usual two Seloxe VHF tuner with "memors” fine tuning s+ three-way installation — wal eustom or any of the beautiful Heath factory assembled cabinets, Add 10 that the unique Heathkit self-serving features Ike the builtin dot generator and Tall colar photos inthe comprehensive manual tha It ou se-up. converge and kit GR-227 Scene centage *399 Sines cabinet rom $88.98 (iene cabin) Deluxe "227" Color TV...Model GR-227 Has same high performance Testes and builtin servicing facilities ax the GR-295, except for 227 2q. inch viewing area. The verleal swing-out chasts sakes for fast. easy servicing and installation. The dynamic convernence cont Board ean be paced so that sey accesible anytime YOU nish fo touch up the picture GRA-227-1, Walnv1 cabinet shown, 359.95 Mediterranean sive slso aveiebie at $98.50 Deluxe "180" Color TV... Model GR-180 Same high performance features and esclusve slf'servicing facilites as the {GR295 exceyt for 180 sq. inch vewing area, Feature foy feature the Heathkit 180" va your best buy n'deune color TV viewing tubes alone ls for ovet 8245, For evira savings ers beauly and convenience, add the able model Cabinet and mobile ca GR5-180.5, table model cabinet and cart s39.95 ther eabinats irom £24.85 Now, Wireless Remote Control For Heathkit Color TV's onirol your Heathkit Color TV from your easy chai, turn it on and of chance VHF channels, volume, color and tnt sl by sonic remote contol. No ables clutering the com -- the handheld transmit all oeelron'e, powered bya small 9 v-tatery, huscd ina smal, sarily isle beige plastic case Tl Feeeiver contains an inegraed circuit and 4 meter for adjuster ease Tosa tion's easy even in older Heathkit color TV's thanks to eweuit Board wiring hhamess eonsiruction, For greater TV enjoyment, erdet yours now kit GRA-681-6, 7 Ibe. fo Heathkit GR-681 Color TV's $59.95 kit GRA-295-6, 9 Ibs. for Heatnkit GR-295 & GR-25 TV's... $69.95 kit GRA-227-6, Ibs. for Heathkit GR-227 & GR-180 TV... 969.95 NEW FREE 1989 CATALOG! Fahy Sees hee tiny kit GR-160 ‘now only 349° (108s cabinet May-June, 1969 29We By Jack Schmidt Re Tone! [tne ite Tamar atl “Don’t knock it! Our confession rate Dh “Your name better be Fred C. is way up since we got this rig!” othe juige you'll be telling it to the judge.” TRAFFIC "You're accused of a 73 Hz Doppler shift in a 10,525 MHz zone. How do you plead?” “To my oldest brother, Tom, | leave my AC bench supply, To my sister, Ann, the signal generator. To my nephew, William, ‘the 555 scope, To my aunt, Mil, . “To all units—State Police have an undetectable radar on Weed Road... . Etemenrary ELEctRonicsCEE ate as by John Dixon, WA2FIC. Discover the rocks that make communications the electronic marvel with talk power! ELIEVE it or not, a rock is a natural enough object in a group of radio components, because almost every radio component you can bring to mind is made from one or another kind of rock. Much of the history of radio and electricity is connected with discoveries of properties of different rocks. The ancient Greeks discovered that amber, when rubbed with fur, produced static electricity. Their name for amber, élektron, is the basis for many of our words connected with electricity. Glass, which 4s made from sand and a rock called sandstone, was the material used for further study of static electricity. And, the early crystal radios used galena as their crystal detector. Galena is a rock, found in the central U.S, and other parts of the world, and is the chief ore of lead. But, rocks are by no means confined to the history of radio. They are part and parcel of the present state of the art, and they hold the promise of an exciting store of future improvements in all areas connected | —Continued overleaf May-June, 1969@ @ ROCKS IN RADIO + in any way with radio and electronics. Gu, Look inside a typical radio. The first things you notice is the maze of wire— copper wire. The electrical industry used over 850,000 tons of this metal in 1968, and it is found in almost every component used in radio. Fortunately, the rocks from which copper is extracted are widespread. ‘Although much copper occurs in an al- most pure state, there are a few other rocks which contain it compounded with other metals and sulfur. One of these rocks is chalcopyrite, a compound of copper, iron and sulfur, with the chemical formula CuFeS,. Chalcopyrite is one of the rocks known as fools gold, because of its appear- ance. This rock is mined chiefly in Quebec, Canada and much gold is found with de- posits of chalcopyrite. Al. Aluminum is another metal that is widely used in the radio industry. The chassis of the typical radio is now made of alumi- num, with countless other radio parts, from washers to heat sinks made partially or total- ly of aluminum. And, aluminum comes from a rock, one called bauxite. The chief sources of bauxite are Jamaica and Surinam, with other deposits of importance scattered throughout the world. Bauxi is a rock that is usually light brown in color, and, like 32 aluminum, is surprisingly light in weight. It was first noticed near a town in France called Les Beaux, from which the rock re- ceived its name. Although it was known to contain aluminum, it was not a commercial- ly valuable source of this metal because there was no practical way to extract the alumi- num from it. In 1886, simultaneous discoveries of a method of extracting aluminum from bauxite were made by Charles Martin Hall and Paul Heroult, and since then aluminum has been produced in quantities that were demanded. During World War II, the metal was pro- duced in fantastic quantities to meet the war demands, and since then the demand has been very high. Bauxite is still the chief rock which sup- plies aluminum, but active research to find a way to extract profitable quantities of alu- minum from other rocks is now under way. This is a wise course, because the light weight, ease of working, and resistance to corrosion will keep the demand for alumi- num as high as it now There's Mor Besides aluminum and copper, many other metals are used in radio, and each of these metals is extracted from one or more kinds of rock. Silver occurs combined in a few different kinds of rock, and is found with deposits of galena. Mer- cury, used in batteries and ‘switches, occurs as an ore called cinnabar, a compound of mercury with sulfur, Nickel, cobalt, zinc, osmium are metals that are of some importance in radio. They each have a source which is a rock. Iron, and steel, are ob ously important in radio. But, one of the rocks that contains iron deserves special mention, since it has historical impor- tance in the study of mag- netism. This rock is magne- tite. It is iron compounded with oxygen, with a chemical formula Fe,O,. Also known as lodestone, this rock was This is @ specimen of chalcopyrite, from which copper is made. Copper is used primarily as conductor, such os copper wire. Chaleopyrite is mined in large quantities near Quebec. Exementary EcecrronicsBourite is on ore from which cgluminum is extracted. The rock can be white to reddish brown in color, ond Tike aluminum is very light. noted in earliest times for its magnetic attraction, Dis- coveries in magnetism were as important to radio as were those in electricity, and lode- stone can be considered the amber of magnetism The Brittle Stuff. Not all of the rocks in your radio are there because they are sources of metals; some of the very important components of ra- dio are not metal at all. Glass was mentioned as being his- torically important, but it is just as important today. Ca- pacitors, tubes and other often unnoticed, but undeniably im- portant components depend on glass for their proper operation. Glass comes from a rock known as sand- stone, and from common sand. Chemically, sandstone and sand are compounds of sili- con and oxygen, with a chemical formula of SiO,. Sandstone is mined, in the United States, in Pennsylvania and West Virginia as Oriskany sandstone, a very pure and large supply to the glass industry in the east Other sandstones are the St. Peter, found in Ilinois, Minnesote and Missouri, and a less pure variety found in New Jersey. Sand, as taken from the beaches may be used if it is of good quality. This means that it contain very little im- purity in the form of other metals, These metals will dis- color the glass. Though for some applications colored glass is used, most glass used in radio is colorless. The glass in a red panel light might con- tain some copper, and a blue lamp might contain some co- balt, but an overheated plate These very beoutitul quarts rocks are valued as picroclectric material. The rock here is about four inches high, and con be used to make many plg-in crystals like the ones shown, May-June, 1269 ss Ae element in a vacuum tube will be seen best through clear glass. Crystals. When you hear an amateur radio operator say he is “rockbound,” you find an interesting recognition of the close relationship between rock and radios. This phrase means that the ham is operating on a frequency that is determined by a quartz crystal, as opposed to his being free to move up and down the band with a VFO. The quartz crystal is, in fact, a small slab of a rock, cut to a certain size and mounted in a 33.34 @ @ ROCKS IN RADIO holder. This rock is known as “rock” quartz, and looks like large chunks of glass. Rock quartz is chemically identical to sand and sandstone, being a compound of silicon and oxygen, but the fact that it can occur in a single large crystal makes it valuable as a frequency control Mica. If you use a quartz crystal to con- trol the frequency of an oscillator, the other components in this oscillator will be chosen to equal the stability of the crystal. One of the stablest of capacitors is the mica capaci- tor, and this too depends on a rock. Although mica occurs in “books” that look like thin shects of plastic stuck together, it is none- theless a true rock. These widespread books can be quite large, even as large as several feet in each dimension. There are several varieties of mica, but one is used in the mica capacitor. This kind is called Muscovite mica, because it was used by the Russians as windowpanes in their houses and portholes in their ships. Chemically, Muscovite mica is very com- plex, containing potassium, aluminum, sili- con, oxygen and hydrogen. The dimensional stability and dielectric strength of this type of mica make it valuable. Other micas, used in tubes as spacers, are valuable for their ability to stand high temperatures in addi- tion to their stability. The Dirty Stuff. Coal is a rock you might not connect with radio. But the carbon used in resistors and the plas- tics used in many components are based for a large part on this widely occurring rock. Coal is also used in the manu- facture of many components in radio, but is not a part of the finished product And One More. A class of rocks that are used to make ceramics are important A book of mica may look like just a rock in the picture, but you ‘can peel it apart with a fingernail Mica finds uses as @ dielectric material and wherever @ stoble support it needed. Mico spacers in tubes, for example, minimize changes in dimension due fo heating of the cathode. to the radio industry. These ceramics are the insulators on switches, the sockets for tubes, forms for coils and innumerable other parts The rocks used for these ceramics are the feldspars and kaolinite, Feldspars are a va- riety of rocks that are very common, and are, in fact, the most abundant kind of rock. ‘They are all aluminum silicates, but are dif- ferent in that they contain other elements such as potassium, sodium and calcium. De- spite the chemical differences, they are ex- tremely difficult to tell apart with the naked eye. Kaolinite is quite similar to the feldspars, yet it is noticeably different. It is a hydrous aluminum silicate, and is a lustry white. The feldspars and kaolinite, when processed dif- ferently yicld many types of ceramic. The most valuable ceramic in the radio industry is steatite, The Last Roundup. This, more or less is the extent of the relationship between radio and the rocks, However, we have purposely left mention of two categories until last, for they represent the future of radio to some degree. Naturally, we all think of the future of radio in terms of solid state devices rather than in terms of tubes. And, these devices are also related to one or another form of rock. A little earlier, you may have con- nected the mention of silicon with the diode ‘or transistor. The silicon for these devices comes from the same rocks that glass (Continued on page 109) Exementary ExectrontesSPECIAL ‘SWL CONSTRUCTION PROJECT The sensitivity of the regen couples with the stability of the superhet to make for a receiver that's hotter than hot! May-June, 1969 Electronic Transplant Receiver by Charles Green, WGFFQ Plenty of electronics hobbyists have ex- petienced the fun of building and firing up their own receiver, But we'll bet a dor- mouse to a doughnut that you've never tackled a transplant: a superhet/regen com- bo. By way of explanation, this unusual circuit offers all the stability that has made the superhet the standard of the radio world, plus the fantastic sensitivity for which the regenerative detector is famed. This unusual combo uses two tubes in a simplitied super- 35,ae TRANSPLANT RECEIVER het circuit, with pre-wound plug-in coils covering 1.7 to 30 MHz. Bandspread tun- ing makes easy separation of signals in crowded portions of the band: the audio circuit has plenty of gain to drive either a pair of high-impedance phones or an aux- iliary amplifier. About the Circuit. Signals from J1 are tuned by plug-in coils LIA (Band A), L1B (Band B), or LIC (Band C), and the main tuning capacitor C4A or bandspread ca- pacitor CSA, These capacitors (associated with mixer VIA) are ganged with the os cillator circuit (VIB) capacitors C4B and C5B, which tune plug-in coils L2A. L2B, ‘or L2C 50 the oscillator RF ouput is always 455 kHz above the incoming signal fre- quency. This RF output is coupled to the mixer grid via the gimmick capacitor, ahd the resultant 455-kHz output is fed through tuned IF transformer TI to regenerative de- tector V2A. The gain of the mixer circuit is controlled by R4. The regenerative detector circuit feedback is formed by the C9, C11, and 13, with regenerative action controlled by R7. The detécted audio signals are fed via C14 to the amplifier stage (V2B), The resulting amplified signals are connected through C16 to jack J2. The B+ and tube filament AC supply are powered by T2, D1, and R/C filter cir- cuit of RI3-Ci9. Building It. The receiver is built on a 7x 9x 2in. aluminum chassis, with a 7 x 9-in, bottom plate, Best way to start con- struction is to tape a section of paper on the chassis and lay out the component locations, as shown in our photos (see next page). For best results, follow our layout as closely as possible The X and Y sockets in our receiver are 6-pin sockets to fit our coil bases. Since there’s nothing much critical here, you can use actal sockets and tube bases, or the 6-pin coil forms specified in the Parts List. Drill the component mounting holes, and install the parts on the chassis. We cut 36- in. holes for the T2 leads and a %2-in, hole for the C4 and C5 leads, Install rubber grommets in these holes, Wire the receiver as shown in the sche- matic diagram. Use #18 solid hookup wire or bus wire for the C4 and C5 connections to the X and Y sockets, and dress these wires away from the chassis and components, Connect C6 to RI and connect C17 to PLUG-IN ANT. Cll SOCKET X ' [PwG-IN OS. COIL SOCKET ¥ = Two dual-purpose tubes in unus | supethet/regen cirevit account far unit's remarkoble stability and sensitivity. Pot R4 controls gain af mixer VIA; pot R7 controls regeneration of defector ¥2A. Main tuning i dane with Capacitor C4A/B; bandspread tuning with C5A/B. T1 is peaked to 455 kHs. 1 Evemenrary Etecrronicsa 10) Zz 7 NOTE—Capacitors rated 400 VOC mit mum ceramic or mica unless otherwi noted, CIA, C3A—2.7 te 30-PF trimmer capacitor (ARCO 461 or equiv.) 1B, C3B, CIC, C3C—4 to 40-pF capacitor (ARCO 422.0r equiv.) €2A—2000-pF capacitor €28-—5000-pF copacitor €2C, C8, C14—.01-uF capacitor 4A, C48—Ducl 365-pF per section (2 gang) variable capacitor (Lafayette 32 T 1102 or equiv.) C5A, C5B—Duol 22-pF per section (2 gang) vari able capacitor (J. W. Miller 1461-2) 6, C17—100-pF capacitor (7, C15, C18, C20, C21—1000-pF capacitor C9=1-12-pF capacitor (ARCO 420 or equiv.) C10—220-pF capacitor C11, €12—470-pF capacitor €13, C16—0.1-uF capacitor C19A, C19B—Dual $0-uF, 150-V electrolytic ca- pocitor J1—Phono jack, panel mounting type 32—Phone jack to fit earphone plug Gimmick capacitor—é turns of solid #22 hookup wire, plastic cover L1A—Antenna coil (J. W. Miller B-5495-A) L1B—Antenna coil (J. W. Miller C-5495-A) L1C—Antenna coil (J. W. Miller 0-5495-A) } L2A—Antenne coil (J. W. Miller B-5496-C) be 5 Vo aaT7 K 09 svmmmnrv-nrs PARTS LIST FOR THE ELECTRONIC TRANSPLANT RECEIVER «« 12B—Antenna coil (J. W. Miller C-5496-C) 12C—Antenna coil U. W. Miller 0-5496-C) 13550 UH RF choke (J. W. Miller 4649 or equiv.) NOTE—AIl resistors Ya-watt, 10% unless otherwise noted. RI, R10—12-chm-resistor R2—I-megohm resistor R3—22,000-ohm resistor R4, R7—100,000-chm, lineor-taper potentiome- ter RS—2.2-megehm cesistor R6, R11, R14—47,000-ohm resistor R8—100,000-chm, 1-watt rexistor R9—4,7-me R13—1000-ohm resistor S1—Spst to ‘min, rating T1—455-kHz IF transformer (J. W. Miller 12-1) T2—Pewer transformer; sec: 125V-15 mA, 6.3V- 0.6 A (Allied 54C1410 or equiv.) V1—6CQ8 vacuum tubo V2—12AT7A vacuum tube X—Socket to At plug-in antenna colle LIA, (see tex!) Y—Socket to fit plug-in oscillator coils L2A, B, C (soe text) Mise.—Tube boses for plug: je switch, 117 VAC, 1A Is LIA, B, Cand vied) of 6:pin jorms (Allied 47C6697—see text), 7 x9 x 2-in. aluminum chassis and 7 x bottom plate, cardboard fer panel, AC tir cord, knobs, terminal strips, RG-58A/U coox, , solder, ote. bik. May-June, 1969 sie —————€ ie 37ee TRANSPLANT RECEIVER R10 with very short connections. Connect these assemblies with Short leads between V1 and the X and Y sockets as shown in the schematic. Note that RG-5S8A/U coax should be used for the J1 and J2 connections. Capacitor C9 is mounted by its lugs be- tween VI and TI as shown in our photo. Keep the: V1 and V2 circuit components grouped closely around their sockets with short leads. The gimmick capacitor is made by tightly twisting together two short lengths of #22 plastic covered hookup wire for four turns. Keep the B+ and AC power leads away from the RF circuits of Vi and V2. The plug-in coils are assembled as shown in the photo and the coil table. Use lengths of bus wire to connect the coil and capacitors to their bases, or coil forms. Keep the leads as short and rigid as possible to prevent coil movement. Either 6-pin tube bases, octal bases or the G-pin plug-in coil forms specified in the Parts List can be used. Make sure that you clean the base pins and socket contacts of all dirt and solder flux before soldering the coil leads in place. We used a 4 x 9-in. section of heavy white cardboard for our dial panel. panel is mounted on front of the chassis with sheet metal screws. Install a bottom plate ‘on the chassis after calibration to protect against component damage or electrical shock. We used lengths of bus wire ce- mented in the C4 and CS knobs for dial pointers; the wires are painted black. ment and Calibration. Plug in the tubes and the band A coils (LIA-L2A) and connect the receiver to the AC line. Turn SI on and allow the receiver to warm up for a few minutes. Connect a set of high impedance earphones (2000 ohms or high- PING ANTENNA. PLUG-IN COIL, OSCILLATOR PLUG-IN COIL Receiver's plug-in coils ‘are actually complete coil assemblies, since associated trimmer ‘capacitors are mounted on forms os well. As explained in text, there's nothing sacred ‘about using 6-pin forms (author used them simply becouse he hod some old 6-prong fubes lying around). However, bear in mind that forms you select must match sockets you choose fo ure for sockets X ond Y. ANTENNA AND OSCILLATOR COIL TABLE Band | Antenna Coil (k Socket) Oscillator Coil (Y Socket) a UIAMI.W. Miller B5095-8 T2A—1,W. Willer 85496 17 to5 MHz C1A—2.7 fo 30 pF (ARCO) 461 242000 pF (Red) 4, 03A—2, to 30 pF ARCO 460) B LIB). W. Miller 0-5495-A L2B—). W. Miller C-5496-C ° 5to13 MHz | cip—4to40 pF arco 422) , 28-5000 pF (Green) 3a to 40 pF (ARCO 422) c LIC—J.W. Miller D'5095-A L26—, W. Miller 0-5496-¢ 13 to 30 MHz C1C—4 to 40 F (ARCO 422) C2001 oF (Blue) 34 to 40 pF (ARCO 422) Ecementary EvectronicsSome Construction Tips Best way to undertake construction is to first purchase all parts, then mark position of major components: ie., capaci tors C4 and C5, sockets X and Y, transformers 11 ‘and T2, and sockets for V1 and ¥2. Alter drilling holes and mounting these components, you can then proceed fo wire circuit. aN, Removing bottom cover from Transplant Receiver reveals circuit that Is relatively wide open and comparatively easy to wire. Circuit is ideally Viewed as three distinct ireuits on sing chassis: i.e., oscillator! + mixer (V1 and associated components); detector/ amplifier (¥2 and associat- ed components); and power supply (2, D1, ef al). er) to J2 and set C5 to minimum capacity. position as indicated in the alignment table. Set R4 and R7 to midrange and connect Make the adjustments as shown for each a signal generator between pin 2 of V1 and band, then calibrate the remainder of the? chassis ground. Set the generator controls band. We used a pencil to mark the dial for a 455 kHz modulated output and adjust _ lightly, then removed the dial panel and used the T1 tuning slugs for maximum signal in rub-on lettering to identify the frequency the phones. Then adjust C9 so that the de- points. The bandspread dial was marked tector will oscillate with R7 in midrange from 0 to 10 as shown in the photo. position. We used a small drop of model airplane ‘Next, connect the signal generator to J1 paint to seal the coil and trimmer adjust- and adjust the generator frequency and C4 ments, and painted the top of each coil form May-June, 1969@ @ TRANSPLANT RECEIVER to identify the bands (not the coils). We painted the band A coils red, band B green, and band C blue. Operation. Plug in the pair of coils cov- ering the band desired. Make sure that the antenna coil is in the X socket, the oscillator coil in the Y socket. For best results, use a good ground connection and an outside an- tenna mounted as high as possible. Either a Completed Transplant Receiver has all user-operated controls neatly grouped across front panel. Once ‘antenna and ground are connected, unit is plugged info AC outlet and pair of high-impedance phones plugged info jack J2. Switch St it flicked on, and, offer unit warms up, R7 is advanced until rushing sound is heard in phones, then backed off slightly. RF gain control R4 acts as volume control ‘ond also prevents strong signals from overloading detector stage. single wire or’ dipole type will work OK. Speaking of a ground connection, you'll note that the schematic doesn’t indicate one, since the author didn’t include provision for one in his prototype. But as we've said, we found that a good ground is required for best results, We ran the ground lead to one of Ti's mounting screws, but you might prefer to install a suitable ground terminal on the rear of the chassis. A transistorized amplifier can be plugged into J2 for speaker operation, or to give additional audio gain to dig out those weaker stations more easily. Use the main tuning ca- pacitor (C4) to tune across the band with the bandspread capacitor (C5) set a mini- mum capacity. When you desire to tune a particular portion of the band, set the main tuning capacitor to the high frequency end, and tune the band portion with the band- spread capacitor. The receiver is most selective with R7 set just below the point of oscillation. When R7 is advanced to cause the detector to oscillate, CW and sideband stations can be received with careful tuning. RF gain control R4 should be adjusted to prevent overloading of the detector circuit. : TRANSPLANT RECEIVER ALIGNMENT TABLE Signal Generator Band | Frequency (M2) Setting for C4A, B | Adjust for Maximum Signat x | 17 Near maximum capacity. L2A and LIA. Red 5 Near minimum capacity. | CIA and C3A. | Repeat adjustments, 8B 5 Near maximum capacity 128 and L1B. (Green) | 2B Near minimum capacity. C1B and C38. | Repeat adjustments. c 13 Near maximum capacity L2C and 128. (Blue) 30 ‘Near minimum capacity CIC and C3C. Repeat adjustments, Etementary EcectrowicsWHAT ae oe f ® > ef Now an SWL can rate his DX-Quotient in terms of low-power stations he almost didn't hear! by Don Jensen ¢ How do you rate as a DXer? What's your DX-Quotient? Often these are tough ques- tions to answer since there are few real yard- sticks of ability and progress in shortwave listening. Many listeners tally the number of dif- ferent countries they've QSLed. Though useful, this popular means of evaluating DXpertise suffers from one basic flaw—it ignores the power factor. “While nearly every DXer has heard the 100,000-watt Deutsche Welle, the interna- tional Voice of Germany, how many have pulled in Munich's 10-kilowatt Bayerischer Rundfunk? Country hunters can claim Ger- many in their totals by verifying either, but the little domestic shortwave outlet is a better test of tuning skill. What's the answer? “Watts is the answer,” echo today's DX in-crowd, “and the fewer the better!” They measure their DX- Quotient in terms of VAC-QRP. VAC means, simply, Verified All Continents. QRP, a term borrowed from the hams’ lexi- con, signifies low power transmissions. It’s a cinch! Check your QSLs, or the Wort Rapio TV Hanpsoox, the SWL’s “bible,” for the transmitter strengths of the low power stations you're verified, Pick the six best—one from each continent, North America (over 1000 miles distant), South May-June, 1969 ‘America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania —and add their wattage. Divide the sum by a thousand and, voila, your VAC-QRP-DX- Quotient! Here's a typical example: North America—CFCW, Montreal South America—YVLK, Caracas Europe—Deutsche Welle, Cologne Asia—R. Ankara, Ankara’ |} Africa—Sierra Leone R. & TV, Freetown | Oceania—R. New Zealand, Wellington Total L VAC-ORP = Total =~ 1000 = 223 As you sharpen your skills and tune more of the weaker stations, substitute them in your calculations. If you should QSL Bay- erischer Rundfunk, use it, not Deutsche Welle as your European entry. Your DX-Q drops to 133. Like golf, the lower the score, the better you're doing How Long Can It Go? Theoretically at least, a DX-Quotient of about 0.8 is possible, considering the stations now on the air. But let's face it, it'll be a cold day in Calcutta before that ultimate is reached. ‘There are plenty of lower powered stations to test your abilities. For openers, check the adjoining list. And there many more where they came from, Some are tough enough to2 @/e VAC-QRP curl a veteran DXer’s long wire. Others are within the realm of a persevering beginner. Some rather remarkable records have been racked up by listeners. West coast DXer, Bill Sparks, whose listening career dates back to the 30s, has chalked up a post-war DX-Q of 26.3. Considering only his older QSLs from the days when shortwave was relatively free of interference, Sparks scores 6.0. Another Californian, Lt. Bruce Churchill, tallies his DX-Q at 7.25, while in the mid- west, Gerry Dexter records 6.2, Chicagoan Frank Peters, a veteran SWL, figures his at 3.85! These fellows are real pros when it comes to tuning the weak ones and their DX- Quotients reflect this skill. How De You Rate? You'd better peddle your crystal set if you can’t break 500. If you're over 250, consider yourself a pro- gressive novice. Hovering around the cen- tury mark? Keep up the good work. If your DX-Q is between 50 and 100, you've made the grade and if you score less than 50, you're up there with the pros. Under ten? You're a real expert. ‘And on that glorious someday when your DX-Quotient drops below one—Zap! Pow! Boing! Super DXex!!! WANT TO IMPROVE YOUR DX- poe TRY nee Continent ™ station Country, Freq. cc pore (Watts) = AMERICA are ee Radio CKWX Canada 6,080 Radio CFVP Canada 6,030 Radio CHNX Canada 6.130 Radio Zelaya Nicaragua 5,950 La Voz de Honduras Honduras. 5875 SOUTH AMERICA = ——___— Radio Amazonas Peru 6,140 Radio Nickerie Surinam 3.240 Falkland Is. Bc. Sv. Falkland Islands. 3,958, Radio Colosal Colombia 4,945 Ecos de Pasto Colombia 6,085, Radio €1 Morro Chile 91525 EUROPE Radio Shkodra Albania 8,215 Pathfinders Station Poland 7,306 I Radio Kozani Greece 7215 i Radio Renascenca Portugal 6.155 | Bayerischer Rundfunk Germany 6,085 ASIA — Radio Nha Trang Vietnam 9720 Thai TV Radio Thailand 7105 Armed Forces R-TV Sv. Taiwan 3,990 Philippine Bc. Sv. Philippines 3,286 Radio Brunei Brunei 4,963.5 AFRICA ee Tristan Radio Tristan da Cunha 3,290 Radio ZNF-AV Lesotho 3824 Radio Clube Benguela Angola 5,042 Radio Cordac Burundi 4897 Comoro Islands 3,331 OCEANIA j Radio Mt. Hagen New Guinea Territory 2,450 0 | Radio Villa New Hebrides 905 0: Radio Tarawa Gilbert and Ellice Is. 4,912.5 2000 i 02 Br. Solomon Is. 995 5,000 § L Radio New Zealand New Zealand 9,540 2500 | Exementary ExectrowrcsHere's how I turned an inexpensive set into a real go-getter—R. E. Schemel Nowy errived in the US. 1 went straight 10 the local ham radio shop with the firm intention of buying a multiband transistor radio. ‘My purpose: to tune in those distant shortwave broadcasts from home. I looked around the shop, but, seeing nothing in the price range that a two-month stay here would justify, I wandered over to the sales sec- tion, To my delight, there was the grooviest little communications re- ceiver you ever saw—a Lafayette HA-226, And—wait forit!—it was going for the lower-than-low special sales price of $13.88! Reckoning it to he a cheap import with little or no performance. I asked for a demonstration. Truth be known, I firmly expected a stern reply that for the did I really expect a demonstration as well? Instead, a courteous salesman connected a shielded antenna lead and pointed out that the radio was perfect. adequate for SW broadcasts. but not exactly a piece of high-class communications equipment. 1 played with it for a few moments. It seemed to pull in SW broad- casts quite well except on the highest frequency range. something I put down to bad conditions, I hurriedly said I would take it before the salesman changed his mind about the price. At the checkout, the girl saw the price and shouted to the salesman with a note of astonish- ment in her voice, “You shouldn't have. Jack!” I beat it out of that shop so fast that I forgot to ask for the instruction book. When I got the baby back to the motel, with a reel of wire for an antenna (and that cost me all of a dollar. compared with $13.88 for the radi it worked really well on two of the shortwave bands. but not on the 12-30 MHz range. I put this down to the shielding of the motel room. and thought nothing more about it. Zeroing the S. After a while. I noticed that the S-meter was altering its zero position from range to range, but I resisted an almighty temptation to fiddle inside. However. I did take . off the covers, and found a solid type of chassis construction that au- gered well for future modifications. None of this printed-circuit stuff to inhibit one’s enthusiasm in this little radio! , ‘A few days later, we moved into an apartment, and by this time curiosity had got the better of me. I took off the bottom lid and saw what the trouble was. The supply for grids 2 and 4 of the 6BE6 con- vertor was run from the same dropper resistor as the screen grid of the 6BA6 IF amplifier. As the oscillator section drew differing currents on the different wave-bands, the 6BA6 screen grid varied in voltage, and this caused the cathode current to vary. . Shorting the dropper resistor proved the point. Therefore. purloining a soldering iron and the necessary parts, I made the modification shown in Fig. 1. This cured the probiem completely. and now the S.meter stayed firmly at zero on all bands. in the interim, I had determined that this set was a real goer, defi- “HOT RECEIVER May-Jun, 1969 $OZK + Z00= OZ-TMOrOU $044 @ @ HOT RECEIVER nitely better than the average domestic type of radio. It really pulled in stations on the three lower frequency bands, but that 12-30 MHz band remained sullenly silent. T still explained it away with bad conditions. But one fine day it clicked—stations on the 31- Meter band were strong on Range C (4.3-12 MHz), but couldn't even be heard on the bottom end of Range D (12-30 MHz)! the five-turn tuning coil was of this order. If the phase of the coupling coil was wrong, it would cancel against the ground lead in- ductance, and there would be no signal pick- up in the main coil To prove my idea, I took the antenna to point B instead of point A. I was right! Sig- nal strength increased considerably, maybe as much as 10 dB. So, I ran separate ground leads from the two tags on the Range D coil to the tag located immediately below them on the other side of the chassis; this cured the problem completely. The old ground path Fig. 1. Common dropper resistor for grids 2 and 4 of 6BE6 convertor and screen of 6BAG IF was first circuit shortcoming uncovered in Lafayette HA-226. Author removed jumper between points A and B, tossed in R101 and R102 a shown, and sat back to appreciate an S.meter that no longer varied between bands, Six for a Quarter. I checked the 6BE6 at a local drug store; it wasn’t that. Some- thing just had to be wrong with ‘the radio. Surely not on a new one like this? Perhaps it could be a bad antenna system? Lengthen- ing it, shortening it, using the drainpipes, nothing seemed to help. OK, I concluded triumphantly, the receiver input impedance must be wrong for these antennas; so I made a quarter-wave line (this gives a low input impedance when terminated by a high one, and vice versa) by twisting some #22 plastic- covered wire togther. Presto! Here was an improvement of maybe 6 to 9 dB. ‘Was this it? Not really, for after a couple of days’ listening I found stations could still be heard on Range C that just couldn't be found on Range D. Something just had to be wrong with that receiver! So, after studying the receiyer layout, the following solution came up. Fig. 2 shows the effective circuit of the antenna tuning on Range D. I found that the ground wire, common to both the coupling and antenna coils on Range D, ran about 4 in. before finally reaching the chassis. I figured its inductance was between 0.05 and 0.1 wH. I also figured that the mutual induct- ance between the two-turn coupling coil and Fig. 2. Long (4-in.) ground wire ‘on Band D coil proved second problem with HA-226. Text fells how author handled this one. S-HETER = 0.0% was disconnected to leave a connection for the other three antenna coils. Grounds and Leads. For a few days I was satisfied, but then my fingers became itchy once more. That Range D could still take a lot of improvement, Everyday, the other three ranges seemed to get better, and for a 3-tube radio, we were really pulling those DX stations in, Could a good ground provide the answer? Some chrome-plated bars conveniently doing nothing in the forest near the apartment were brought into use. Fortunately, the apartment was on terrace level, and the ground was still wet from the winter rain and snow. So with quite a lot of improvization, under cover of darkness with an eye to objecting neighbors, those bars were driven deep. After all that there was just a small improvement, so a good ground obviously wasn’t the answer. So on to the next modification! Exementary ELectronrcsThe 6BE6 is a cathode-coupled oscillator type of frequency changer. To obtain good conversion conductance, the RF cathode-to- ground voltage should be a small fraction of the grid voltage. At low frequencies it’s easy to achieve this by tapping well down the coil. However, on Band D this makes for a very small number of turns, and on this receiver the ratio of the main oscillator-to-tickler windings was about 2:5, To make matters a lot worse, the lead from the cathode of the 6BE6 to the four different oscillator coils is, about 4-in, long. CABLE INOUCTANCE 0, 1254 Fig. 3. Though modification detailed in Fig. 2 proved helpful, self-inductance of 6BE6 cathode lead to Band D coil was much t00 high for good conversion efficiency (schematic labeled A above shows effective circuit—lead, shown dotted, was caleulated fo have inductonce of approzimotely 0.1 uH). Installing length of coax (schematic 8) dropped inductance to 0.025 wH. The self-inductance of this wire is about 0.1 wH, and the effective circuit is shown in Fig. 3a. The effect of the lead inductance is to make the cathode voltage ‘way above the expected value, and nearer in potential to the grid. Overall, the conversion conductance falls off rapidly as the. cathod-grid potential decreases. ” What was done to cure the problem is shown in Fig. 3b. 1 ran a 50-ohm cable. grounded only at the tube socket on the lug adjacent to pin 1, right up to the range switch and on to the tags on the Range D oscillator coil, grounding the coil only via the outer May-June, 1969 af shietd of the coax. The calculated inductance of a 4-in. run of 50-ohm coax is only 0.025 ull Now things really started working! But, by the latest modification, the oscillator tun- ing had gone astray. And on realigning it, it was noticed that the receiver worked much better when the local oscillator was tuned lower than signal frequency, rather than higher, as it was originally. I noted that on Range D the designers hadn't bothered to in- corporate a padder, and figured that we might as well align with the oscillator set low. With all these modifications, that high- frequency range was working really well. In fact, there was little difference between the top end of Range C and the bottom end of Range D. Razor Gen. Realignment presented a small problem with no instruments available, so what I did was to screw in the oscillator coil slug until WWV was heard on 15 and 25 MHz. I checked for WWV at 14.1 and 15.9 MHz; these corresponding to the possi ble image frequencies. If the oscillator was set correctly. the image of WWV was found at 15.9 MHz on the dial. The process was repeated at 25 and 25.9 MHz, and this time the oscillator trimmer capacitor was altered. If you have another receiver, you could use this same procedure to set oscillator fre- quencies at 14.55 and 24.55 MHz. T also checked the antenna circuit align- ment. and this really was a problem—moving anything in that front end pulled the local oscillator, so using a local stition was no use at all. In the end an electric razor (the AC/ DC type with contacts) came to the rescue as a broad-band interferénce generator. There were two tuning positions for the antenna tuning slug and the trimmer capacitor, and these corresponded to the two possible tun- ing frequencies above and below the local oscillator. I aligned for maximum noise on the higher of the two frequencies at 13 MHz, using the coil slug (slug in the further out of fhe two positions) and repeated this at 26 MHz using the trimmer capacitor (set to the minimum capacity of the two positions). @ And BFO. Well. that, wasn't the end of the story. I settled in for SW broadcast listening, and realized that the stability of, my little receiver wasn’t bad at all—it might even be good for sideband. However, the BFO didn’t work properly. In the CW mode, the 6BA6 suppressor grid is not firmly grounded, and the tube works ‘as a dynatron oscillator. (Continued on page 108) ‘ 45 a ‘ 7 .students check out rodern central conrunie- anit. At lett. test data is recorded in leg book Evementary Ececrnontcsops from around the world -are catching up on two-way radio at New York's Telecommunications Training Scrool. Sponsored by the USS. State Department's Agency for International Development, the school attracts police officers from such ex- otic lands as Jordan, Thailand and the Republic of Chad in Africa. About 36 foreign police communi- cations officers are receiving special- ized training at the school (about a stone’s throw from the peal U.N.). They represeat 14 nations around the globe. Like the metropolitan areas in this country, the (Continued overleaf) May-June, 1965 Police officers from exotic lands learn to fight crime with scopes and soldering irons in a New Yor< school. Two ffcers tro Jordes, Boyer, work as @ feam ar@ @ COPPER'S U. N. smaller and newly emerging nations are also plagued with criminals of increasing sophisti- cation and derring-do. These countries want to fight back with one ‘of the policeman’s best friends: fast contact by mobile two-way radio. The officers’ training, as our photos show, covers basic electronics, theory of radio trans- mitiers and receivers. They'll receive instruc- tion in practical maintenance of equipment. Then they're given background in how to plan and operate a radio system. Since the group doesn't speak one language, lessons are given in English, French and Spanish under the co- ordination of the school’s director, Andre M. Maillard. After the present 6-months course is over, two more officer groups will arrive, along with executives who will study telecommunica- tions management. . Lett, Republic of Niger police offcer, Mr. Sidi, fraces through @ commu: nications transceiver block diagram, explaining what he has just learned fo the rest of the eloss, while the instructor Toots on, Below, Andre Moillard (right). director of the Tele- communications Training School, shows 0 Thai police officer the location of the components being discussed in theogy. Before classes, 0 group of foreign low officers gather outside the school build- ing ond discuss police communications techniques procticed in their countries. Eisounrary Evectronicsproblems started when I had to make a continuity test in a 20-wire cable. In the tried-and-true fashion, I hooked up one end of the ohmmeter to the connector end of the cable, I then began the one-in- twenty odds search for the other end of the same wire. As I touched each of the bare wires, I had to look from the wire to the meter and then back to the wire again—I was fast develo, a sore neck. Then I remem- bered that in the electronics industry they use a buzzer, which eliminates the need to look at a meter. Obviously, a buzzer is less expensive, too. The buzzer I finally pur- chased was a temperamental gadget and never seemed to stay adjusted. I was never quite sure if it was the buz- zer's fault, failing batteries, or me. Convinced that there had to be a better way, I looked around my shack for other uses that might war- rant a bit more expense. I found them and the result was a Vari-Tone Buzzer. Not only does this little device serve as a continuity tester, but it works as a code practice oscillator as well. Since I sometimes grow tired of the same tone, I built in different audio outputs. This multivibrator has four fixed frequencies so that when you're tired of listening to ‘one you can shift to another. Also, each fixed output can be wired through a separate switch to indicate different things. For instance, one tone could signal “full,” top speed, etc.; another would be “empty,” low speed; and so on. Multivibrator. The cir- cuitry is designed to make your Vari-Tone signal source as versatile as possi- ble. The multivibrator can be triggered by a number of inputs (connected through jack J1) and different bat- tery voltages. Frequency range is about 2.5 kHz. A fine-frequency control is also possible by simply adding an external 100,000-ohm pot between By James Robert Squires Here’s an easy-to-build electronic signal source . * that lets your imagination take over where its - frequencies leave off May-June, 1969 49@ @ VARI-TONE BUZZER pin 6 of J] and the negative terminal of battery BI, Control of tone volume is then possible by varying the pot. The unit is connected so that an external battery can be used, leaving the internal bat- tery for emergency service. Maximum volt- age should not exceed 20 V. There are three ways to use the buzzer. The first is to connect pins 1 and 2 together and use pins 4 and.5 as test points (a tone will be heard only if there is a short between pins 4 and 5). The second is the converse (ie. join pins 4 and 5 and use pins I and 2 as test points). The third is to connect pins 4 and 5, 1 and 2, then alter the test tone by connecting one of pins 6'through 9 to pin 4, Construction. A fruit can (25 in. dia x 3% in. long) was selected to house the unit becaus expensive and small enough to provide a compact, sturdy package. Using the speaker and the 9-pin noval socket as tem- plates, locate them as indicated in the photos. When working with tin, either use slow drill T ‘COMECTIONS 10 Jt Fin] FUNCTION . eo acl 1 EXTERUL ea BATTERY HOLDER 2 |e \ 3 | beTemNAL suoz0 4 |To8- (ms) 5 | sv 6-8) FIveD avoro orev i (Ta PIN 4) Bulk of components mount o7 pert board, with leads running Si} to bottery, noval tube socket, end small (2-in.) PM speaker. | S000 aL « |e Numbers next fo solid dots on schematic correspond to pin numbers on jack J. Table at = upper right shows recommended connections fo J1 by pin number. 1 PARTS LIST FOR VARI-TONE BUZZER R7—68,000-chm, Ye-watt 10% resistor €1—.047-uF, 100-VOC tubuler copacitor T1—500-ohm (CT) Pri, B-ohm sec., miniature (015-uF, 100-VOC tubulor capacitor ‘oudio transformer (Lafayette 9976129 of -uF, 25-VDC miniature electrolytic co~ 1 (Sprogue TE1202 or equiv.) 311—9-pin minioture socket @1, Q2—2N3703 pnp tre Stroments; HEP-57 or RI, RI—1000-chm, Y%-watt 10% resistor R23300-ohm, tor R4—22,000-chm, Y4-watt 10% resistor R5—33,000-ohm, Ys-watt 10% R6-—47,000-chm, Y-watt 10% resistor ise. —Bottery holder (Lofoyette 9976331 i sockets (Lafayette 3274219 or board, push-in terminals, plus text), Wire, solder, hordwor Etementary Evecraowics 163 02 aL Bottom view of pert board, showing placement of transistors and capacitor C3. Remaining capacitors cand transformer T! mount on other si speeds or very light pressure (tin has a tend- ency to tear if you don't follow these precau- tions). Finally, drill a bunch of holes for the speaker grille at the closed end of the can. Mount the components on a perf board using push-in terminals. Look at the photos showing both sides of the board. Output transformer TI fits neatly into the board's 2k 40k 8K BK ” RESISTANCE TN OHMS” ” 100K | i i Output frequency of Yari-Tone Buzzer ranges from 1 to 3 kHz, depending on size of feedback resistor selected. Use of small pots rather than fixed resistors would enable frequencies fo be trimmed to exact values desired with auxiliary fone source. ‘May-June, 1969 Once speoter and J1 have been mounted in fruit con, estembly is mainly a matter of wiring in battery BY and perf board. Note position of T1. pattern when skewed at an angle. The two transistor sockets are mounted by pressing them into the board for a tight fit. I used a reamer to enlarge the holes until a tight fit was possible. Before mounting J1 in its opening, wire all nine pins using 6-in. wires. Solder the wires close to the noval socket and feed them out through the index slot in the socket. The socket should be mounted so that the slot points towards the speaker. Bend the wires out the open end of the can and wire them to the circuit board. The extra length allows you to remove the perf board for servicing. One helpful option is a plastic lid to cover the open.end of the buzzer. It acts as a dust cover. When you program the input plug for Jt the buzzer will do a task. You can use an old tube base that can be broken and wired as. needed, I keep these bases around so that when the need arises for a particular func- tion, one is readily available. Whether you require a continuity tester, code practice oscillator, or specific frequencies from a sig- nal source, pre-wired plugs will be a great help. Naturally, you can substitute for the 9- pin arrangement if you wish. Note that pin 3 on JI enables the user to feed music into the speaker while at the same time using the buzzer. Also, pin 3 enables the buzzer’s output to be used externally for testing or other purposes. 7 51Learning electronics at home is faster, easier, more GET A FASTER START IN THE COURSE YOU CHOOSE WITH NRI'S REMARKABLE ACHIEVEMENT KIT When you enroll with NRI we deliver to your door everything you need to make a significant start in the Electronics field of your choice. This re- markable, new starter kit is worth many times the small down payment required to start your training. And it is only the start . .. only the first example of NRI's unique ability to apply 50 years of home-study experience to the challenges of this Electronics Age. Start your training this exciting, rewarding way. No other schoo! has any- thing like it, What do you get? The NRI Achieve- ment Kit includes: your first set of easy-to-un- derstand “bite-size” texts; a rich, vinyl desk folder to hold your training material in orderly fashion; the valuable NRI Radio-TV Electronics Dictionary; important reference texts; classroom tools like pencils, a ball-point pen, an engineer's ruler; special printed sheets for your lesson an- swers—even a supply of pre-addressed envelopes and your first postage stamp. interesting with new achievement kit Only NRI offers you this pioneering method ot "3 Dimensional” home-study training in Elec: tronics, TV-Radio. ..a remarkable teaching idea unlike anything you have ever encountered. Founded more than half a century ago—in the days of wireless—NRI pioneered the “learn-by- doing” method of home-study. Today, NRI is the oldest, largest home-study Electronics. school. The NRI staff of more than 150 dedicated people has made course material entertaining and easy to grasp. NRI has simplified, organized and dramatized subject matter so that any ambitious man—regardless of his education—can effec- tively learn the Electronics course of his choice. DISCOVER THE EXCITEMENT OF NRI TRAINING Whatever your reason for wanting knowledge of Electronics, you'll find the NRI "'3 Dimensional” method makes learning exciting, fast. You build, test, experiment, explore. Investigate NRI train- ing plans, find out about the NRI Achievement Kit, Fill in and mail the postage-tree card. No salesman will call. NATIONAL RADIO INSTITUTE, Electronics Division, Washington, D. C. 20016 52 Etementary ELectroicsELECTRONICS COMES ALIVE AS YOU LEARN BY DOING WITH CUSTOM TRAINING EQUIPMENT Nothing is as effective as learning by doing. That's why NRI puts so much emphasis on equipment, and why NRI invites comparison with equipment offered by any other school, at any price. NRI pioneered and perfected the use of ‘special training kits to aid learning at home. You get your hands on actual parts like resistors, capacitors, tubes, condensers, wire, transistors and diodes. You build, experiment, explore, dis- cover. You start right out building your own pro- fessional vacuum tube voltmeter with which you learn to measure voltage and current. You learn how to mount and sofder parts, how to read sche- matic diagrams. Then, you progress to other ex- perimental equipment until you ultimately build a TV set, an actual transmitter or a functioning ‘computer unit (depending on the course you se- lect). It’s the practical, easy way to learn at home—the priceless ‘third dimension” in NRI's exclusive Electronic TV-Radio training method. SIMPLIFIED, WELL-ILLUSTRATED "BITE-SIZE” LESSON TEXTS PROGRAM YOUR TRAINING Lesson texts are a necessary part of training, but only a part. NRI’s “bite-size” texts are as simpli- fied, direct and well.illustrated as half a century of teaching experience can make them. The amount of material in each text, the length and design, is precisely right for home-study. NRI texts are programmed with NRI training kits to make things you read come alive. As you learn, you'll experience all the excitement of original discovery. Texts and equipment vary with the course. Choose from major training programs in TV-Radio Servicing, Industrial Electronics and Complete Communications. Or select one of seven spe- cial courses to meet spe- cific needs. Check the courses of most interest to you on the postage-tree card and mail it today for your free catalog. Available Under NEW GI BILL aera custom training kits “bite-size” texts May-June, 1969ELEMENTARY ELECTRONICS ETYMOLOGY By Webb Garrison SSS a Grid ‘A. At least as early as the 13th century, English- men had developed a taste for the ancestor of the modern pancake. Thin cakes were baked on circular iron plates whose name was formed from Old French gridi!—based, in turn, on an early Latin label. A famous document known to scholars as the “South English Legendary” refers both to the griddle and the gridiron. The latter, also well Known in the 13th century, was a frame of parallel metal bars used for broiling. Though the two devices bore only superficial physical resemblance, their names came from the same source. Perhaps the importance of the fact that both were used over the fire outweighed all differences in struciuire and mode of operation. Not all_gridirons were found in kitchens, though. Big ones were used as instruments of torture. Tradition had it that St. Lawrence was martyred by being broiled alive on a gridiron, Sometimes the devil was represented as bound to a burning gridiron with red-hot chains. Afier centuries of use, the name of the metal framework was in popular speech clipped to grid. In this form it designated any kind of grating or arrangement of parallel bars with openings. So it was natural that makers of storage batteries should use the term to label a lead plate with heavy ridges that was a com- Ponent in cells made in the late 19th century Inevitably, the term expanded with the electri- cal industry. Today there are many kinds of Btids, including some that control the passage of ions or electrons through vacuum tubes. Many of them bear no resemblance to the grid- iron on which Si. Lawrence is said 10 have been roasted—but all are alike in having parallel bars or openings or both Live Wire ‘A By the 1890s, ordinary persons in the wes\- ern world were beginning to have some personal experience with electricity. Generators, motors, and other devices were no longer seen only in experimental laboratories and exhibition halls Electrical equipment, with wires attached, could be found in many homes and most shops Inevitably, some circuits broke down. Fre- quently the trouble lay in transmission of cur- rent from the source of supply. When this state prevailed, it did no good to fasten a wire more securely to a motor or a light socket; the wire itself was “dead.” Because so many dead wires caused so much trouble, live wires entered everyday speech as a title of admiration and approval. It named not only a copper wise carrying current, but also person who showed unusual energy and enthusiasm. There's evidence that the term born with elec tricity as iis midwife was used orally in its broader sense before 1900. But diligent search has revealed no printed use prior to 1909. when a writer for The Saturday Evening Post de- scribed a legislator as “an aggressive ‘comer’ of the live-wire kind.” Mica A Rock-cutters were aware of it centuries earlier, but it wasn’t until 1706 that any scientist made specific notes about a special kind of scale of crystal that occurs in marble and other stones. From Latin for “grain or crumb” (influenced perhaps by the verb micare, “to shine”) the dis- linctive type of scale compressed in rocks was called mica. Long after it received this name, the stuff re- mained a mere curiosity. No one had any idea as to a possible use for it. In popular speech it was often called “Cat-silver,” or “glimmer.” By 1778, English chemist Peter Woulfe was telling fellow scientists that “Mica or Glimmer is composed of very thin flexible flakes.” He stressed importance of the fact that the sub- stance is a crystal that cleaves very readily in one direction. and correctly concluded that there are several kinds of mica. All of them are alike in having silicate of aluminum as their basic constituent Mica has a high melting point, so was first used commercially to make windows in ovens of household stoves. Then it was found to be one of the best insulators known, More than a cen- tury ago a special type of “mica battery” was put on the market, but it never won general acceptance. With the development of capacitors, commu- tators, and electron tubes mica came into its ‘own. It can withstand high voltages and intense heat. A mica capacitor usually goes through an initial period in which its characteristics “drift” somewhat; then it remains remarkably stable. Even with the development of synthetic dielec- tric _materials there is little likelihood that nature's queer crystalline “glimmer” will be dis- placed from its special niche in the field of electronics. . ELEMENTARY ELECTRONICSOuten that DALI , with Our ITER... Piece een eet we're willing to bet is dif- ferent from any you've ever seen. The reason: it sports not one, but two control switches. The first (the toggle switch near the bottom of the switch plate) works like any conven- tional light switch. Flip it up and you turn the light on; flip it down, and you turn the light off. The second (the pushbut- ton on top) . . . well, that's something special. It initiates a time delay that turns the light on (just touch the button), then automatically turns it off again after a prede- termined time. How long? That's up to you. The author's own version of the Dally Light- er is set for just under five minutes, Eut as we'll see short- ly, you can select any delay time you wish from 30 seconds to 15 minutes. In the author's house—and probably yours, too—there are several lighting control situa- tions where the time-delay fea- ture is worth a pound of shoe leather in saved steps. For ex- ample: In a long corridor not equipped with two-way switches. Thanks to the Dally Lighter, the author can now walk from one end to the other. at night without the money- wasting need of leaving the ...a1-SCR switch after most a May-June, 1969 light on until he walks back through. © In a garage. Now with the Dally Lighter, the author has no need to walk back through the garage to reach the light switch on the rear wall when he pulls his car out at night ‘* To control a front (or drive- way) floodlight. The Dally Lighter gives a person or car plenty of time to find their way through the front yard (or down the driveway). And when they have, it turns the flood off automatically. How It Works. The time delay circuit is built around a silicon controlled rectifier (Q1). This device is connected in parallel with toggle switch $2 (the conventional control switch). Whenever you touch pushbutton switch SI, the sim- ple voltage-divider/rectifier cir- cuit, composed of R1, R2, and DI, charges capacitor Cl to a low DC voltage (about 11 VDC). The capacitor is wired between the base and ground terminals of Q2, a Darlington amplifier connected in an emit- ter-follower configuration. This circuit has a very high input impedance (several meg- ohms) and slightly less-than- unity voltage gain. Therefore, a voltage slightly less than the voltage across Cl appears at the emitter terminal of Q2. (Continued overleaf) 's off automatically you choose oT@ @ DALLY LIGHTER In turn, this voltage drives the gate terminal of the SCR (Q1), via current-limiting resis- tor R4, triggering it into a conductive state ‘This permits current to flow through the light bulb, causing it to fight. Since the SCR acts like a half-wave recti- fier when it’s on, only the positive-going half of each cycle of AC current can flow through the bulb. This means that the bulb lights to only about 70% of its normal brightness. Nonetheless, the loss of brightness is not im- portant or even noticeable in most lighting situations. ‘The SCR will remain on as long as there is a sufficient driving voitage at the emitter of Q2. This, in turn, depends on the voltage across capacitor Cl. The instant you release pushbutton $1, Cl starts to discharge through the base terminal of Q2. Because of the high input impedance, the time constant is very long. Therefore, several minutes will pass before the voltage across C1 drops low enough so that sufficient gate voltage is no longer applied to QI. When it eventually does, though, the lamp goes out. Capacitor C2 acts as a filter capacitor for the simple power supply that feeds the amplifier circuit. A glance at the schematic 100uF, 12-VDC electrolytic capacitor (see text ond teble) €2—40-uF, 15-VDC electrolytic capecitor D1—200-V, 50-mA (or better) silicon rectifier Q1—C10681 silicon controlled reciifier (Gen eral Electric) Q2—2N5306 Darlington omplifior transistor (General Electric) K1—15,000-chm, T-watt resistor Dally Lighter's circuit (see schomatic bolow) is simple enough that all components can be tucked within stondard switch box. That's $1, the one with the red butfon, ot right in photo above. will reveal that this supply uses the same voltage-divider/rectifier pair used to charge cl. Switch $2 functions as a normal light switch when the time delay circuit isn't acti- vated. Flipping it on causes the lamp to light ‘with normal brilliance. Building It. For convenience and wiring safety, build the entire circuit into a stand- PARTS LIST FOR DALLY LIGHTER R2—820-ohm, Ya-watt resistor R3—4,700-ohm, "Ye-walt resistor R4—22,000-ohm, Ya-walt resistor $1—Spst, pushbutton switch S2—Spat toggle switeh Mise—Electrical switchbox, blank switch plote, TO-pest turret terminal boord (section of 7 Keystone 15036), hardware, wire, solder, | ste i Exementany Evectronicsard-depth 2-in. switch box. Mount a single section of phenolic terminal strip (10 pins) in the base of the box as shown in our pho- tos, Before you screw the strip in posi place several thicknesses of plastic electrical tape on the bottom of the strip so that all of the terrtinal ends are covered. This will prevent short circuits against the metal box. The SCR is an inexpensive plastic-case unit. Mount it on the terminal strip with a dab of cement before you connect compo- nents to its leads. Besides being connected to the anode terminal, the SCR’s metal tab serves as a heat sink. To improve heat sipation, solder a 1 x 2-in, piece of copper sheet to the tab. As with all line-voltage-operated devices, short circuits between adjacent leads are a potential hazard. Therefore, play it safe and keep all interconnecting leads as short as Ten-post turret ferminal boord holds all of Dally Lighter's components sove switches SY ‘and $2. Physical size of tim delay capacitor C1 may prove problem if you go after extra- Tong time delay, though it usually can be squeezed in somehow or other. possible. Also, double-check the polarities of the two electrolytic capacitors and the diode before you solder them in place (any mis- takes here will the components volved). ‘The two switches should he mounted on an undrilled switchplate of the type usually employed to cover unused switchboxes. Since these are almost always sold unpaint- ed, be sure you paint it before you install the switches. Installation. The complete device mounts. within @ wall like any other switchbox. The connection diagrams contrast the wiring or a conventional switch and this circuit. For clarity, our photos show the three device connection leads protruding through the switchbox. Actually, there is sufficient room inside the box to permit you to make all interconnections with house wiring within May-June, 1969 black ¥ SaITH A white ue Conventional lamp hookup (drawing A, obove) has switch in one side of AC line to turn lamp either ‘on or off. Since Dally Ligher contains its own switch, existing switch must be removed ond Dolly Lighter installed Jn its place. Three leads from Dally Lighter (labeled A, 8, ond C) should be connected os indicated in drawing B below. black ‘DALLY LIGHTER@ @ DALLY LIGHTER the box proper. However, it's important that you use suitably insulated wire for all con- nections. Should yo.: experience difficulty in running the BX cable into the box, attach a second box to the side of the one contain- ing the Dally Lighter circuit. To do so, re- move one side panel from both boxes, join the boxes together, then insert the self-tap- Ping screw. One thing you should keep in mind: the SCR nsed in this device is rated for a maxi- mum current flow of 2A DC. This means that the Dally Lighter should not be con- nected to lamps whose current drain ex- ceeds a maximum of 250 watts of resistive load at any time. And now that you've built it and installed it, there’s but one question remaining. Do things go smoother with the Dally Lighter on hand? You bet they do! (Doubting Thomases please take note and give the Dally Lighter a whirl for themsetves!) How to Select Time Delay Control Capacitor C1 With the other circuit values shown in the Parts List, a 100-uF capacitor produces a time delay of approximately 280 seconds (about 20°seconds : 5 short of five minutes). The following table lists = | the capacitance values that will produce other delay times. Note that the time figures are ap- proximate since the actual delay depends upon the gate sensitivity of the SCR. Though these devices are rated to fire when a gate current of 200-uF is supplied, many production line SCRs are far more sensitive, and_will fire with gate Currents of less than ‘SO-uF, Thus, you should use the table as a jumping off point. If the specified value produces a longer time delay, reduce the capacitance value; {0 increase the delay, add capacitance. {Time Value of €1_—Time ‘Value of Ct 30seconds —10uF_ —3-minutes 60uF Lminute 200F =~ 4-minutes. —80-uF GOseconds 30-uF —10-minutes 200uF = 2minutes 40-uF —‘15-minutes 300-uF Note: Though larger capacitors will produce longer time delays, their larger physical size may prevent their use in this project Make a Right at the Next Computer © Ever have that sinking feeling in your stomach when, while driving on a high-speed highway, you miss your exit hecause you didn't see the directional sign in time? A Head-Up Display System that may eliminate those missed turns is now being tested by the Bureau of Public Roads ‘The system causes a directional symbol to appear to be focused at infinity on the wind- shield and superimposes it on the road scene. ‘As the car approaches an intersection, a coded message from the computer-decoder reaches a loop antenna buried in the roadway and con- nected to the roadside computer. That computer receives and decodes the vehicle destination code, then transmits direc- tional instructions back to the vehicle to trigger the windshield display. At the same time, an audible beep warns the driver that instructions are about to be given. . Exemenrary ELECTRONICSBack they come, big as ever— on land, sea and air! By Don Jensen The pirates are coming! Seemingly scuttled by stringent new laws in 1967, these freebooting stations, whose swinging sounds once ruled the European airwaves, are threaten’ng a comeback. There's a grin on the face of Jolly Roger again, with the announcing of plans for a whole new series of unlicensed stations. If all goes according to plan 1969 will see an airborne (Continued overleaf) May-June, 1969 61e/a RADIO PIRATES television station beaming commercial pro- grams to the British Isles, a seagoing Ger- ‘man outlet, and the Beatles’ first venture in the field of pirate radio. And, to the dismay of European officialdom, this could be only the beginning. Eleven Years Ago. Actually, buccancer broadcasters have bugged the hidebound state radio monopolies since 1958, when an enterprising fellow named Fogh stashed a three-kilowatt FM transmitter aboard an aging coastal vessel, sailed it beyond Danish territorial limits and began broadcasting as Radio Mercur. This was followed in the early 60s by a handful of unlicensed stations off the coasts of Sweden, Belgium and the Netherlands, The most audacious was Radio Aulantis, a curious dryland pirate that operated open- ly, thanks to a quirk of Belgian law. For over four years it was heard each Friday evening, transmitting from a TV repair shop in Stropstraat 7, in the East Flanders City of Ghent The gendarmes knew it was there but there was nothing they could do, Belgian Jaw prohibits building searches after 10 p.m. At II o'clock, Radio Atlantis signed on with an hour and a half of commercials and some of the hottest jazz around. Eight times the cops searched the building during the daylight hours; eight times they came away empty handed. Like its legen- dary namesake, the station's equipment van- ished, only to return to the air the following Friday. The Lion Makes a Buck. But it took the British to turn pirate radio onto the most lucrative bit of seaborne skullduggery since Sir Francis Drake. The success of the Eng- lish Radio Carolines, which at their peak grossed $1.4 million a year in advertising revenues, prompted a rash of imitators. Broadcasting from refitted vessels and aban- doned antiaircraft forts rising from the sea bed, these stations bombarded London and other population centers with U.S.-style “Top 40” sounds. They were an unstable lot, regularly changing their names, frequencies and own- ership. Other stations were proposed but never got on the air, or if they did, they died after a few test broadcasts. At the peak of the craze, ten pirates, three of them on old First pirate TY stotion, Radio Noordree, began broadcasts to the Netherlands in 1964. Dutch cuthorities soon boorded tower, closed station. ack-ack gun towers, the rest on vessels, ringed the tight little island. Britain’s young mod crowd, fed up with stodgy, old “Auntie BBC,” loved ’em! Dee- jays like Spangles Muldoon, Dafly Don Allen and “Screaming” Lord David Sutch, a 22- year-old who claimed to be an honest-to- Boodness blueblood, were overnight stars. But British officials were somewhat less than overjoyed by the whole business. “No one is going to cock a snook at British law,” snorted Postmaster General Edward Short, whose office was responsible for enforcing radio regulations. But the pirate radios, operating from in- ternational waters, were beyond the reach of the law. Measures were proposed, but Par- liament stalled . . . and stalled. Finally, the M-P.s got off their backbenches. Cops and Robbers. It was June 1966, when ex-paratrooper Maj. Oliver Smedicy touched off an internecine feud with a mid- night raid on Radio City, a pirate broad- caster perched on a flak tower in the Thames Estuary. Smedley, it seemed, had “lent” a transmitter to the station’s operator, Regi: nald Calvert, who allegedly was about to peddle the major’s property to a broadcast- ing syndicate. Exementary ELectronics(SCL Though nef widely heard in U.S. during their heyday, Exropean pirates were picked up by some lucky DXers. These are veries owned by outhor. On the theory that “possession is ten- tenths of the law.” Smediey led a bloodless invasion of the offshore tower and simply took over Radio City. Outraged, Calvert confronted the ex-of- ficer at his country estate the following day. A shotgun blast ended the angry meeting and 37-year-old Calvert lay dead. Smedley was charged with murder but a jury later acquitted him on his plea of self defense. The following month, the postmaster gen- eral presented Parliament with a draft M rine Offenses Bill, patterned after measures adopted by the Scandinavian countries. By February, the legislators had given the bill tentative approval It Looked Like the End. Throughout the Contirent, official opposition to the pirates grew. The Council of Europe passed a reso- lution denouncing the unlicensed. stations. Irked because of interference to their do- mestic radios, Sweden, Czechoslovakia and ‘other ations complained to the International Telecommunications Union. Italy secretly proposed sending warships to shut down the freebooters When the British law finally took effect, Aug. 15, 1967. most of the pirates pulled the big switch. Gone were Radios 227, 270, 355 and 390. Gone was Radio London's “Big L” May-June, 1969 sound, With a skirl of bagpipes, Radio Scot- land left the air. And with them, and the others of their ilk, went a collective invest- ment of $8.4 million. The big moneymakers, Radios Caroline, North and South, stuck it out until the fol- lowing February when they, too, gave up and were towed to a Dutch port With the exception of Holland's Radio Veronica and Radio Hauraki, off Auckland, New Zealand, halfway around the world, the pirate radios had disappeared. Only these two remained active. And Veronica became at least partially legit, In addition to broad- casting from its old stand off the Dutch coast, it tapes pop music shows, tagged Radio Veronica International, which are flown daily to the Mediterranean island of Ma- jorca. There they are broadcast by the legiti- mate Radio Popular de Mallorca for English and Scandinavian tourists isiting the Span- ish resort isle, And Radio Hauraki, with the recent pass- age of a commercial radio law in New Zea- land, is waiting hopefully for a government broadcasting license. We Shall Return. After the mass shut- down there was a lot of brash talk from the In 1961, lumber-havling motor ship (inset) was converted 40 pirate station and became Radio Nord. End came when vessel's registration was concelied. 63,@/Q swore beached pirate promoters. The stations would return, they vowed. Fleet Street and the Continental press delighted in playing up these rumors. The Swedish Radio Syd, it was said, would make a comeback as a combination radio station and nightclub off the West African shores of Gambia . . . Others maintained it was the Canary Islands. Radio Scotland, Radio London and the unsinkable Carolines, supposedly, would be back at sea shortly with fabulous new equipment. But, in fact, the Radio Syd vessel, “Cheeta WU,” lay impounded in Harwich harbor, re- painted and rechristened the “Ca ne va rein. Radio Scotland's floating base, the “Comet,” ‘was being reconverted to a lightship at Flush- ing. As for Radio London, its original own- ers reportedly were bankrupt and its ship, “Galaxy,” was having an unwanted six-inch ballast of barnacles scraped from its hull in Hamburg. There were other stories too. Tales of a German syndicate about to establish a sta- tion aboard a ‘retired American destroyer; of a U.S-backed radio ship ready to sail from Miami for Europe; and a gaggle of would-be and sometime pirates with such unlikely names as Albatross, Shamus and Euro-Weekend. And, supposedly. there was a Boss Radio and a Wonderful Radic Bum- ble, the latter being the creation of a char- acter named “Big Bob” in Staffordshire, Eng- land, Many of these outlets with the wacky names were land-based mini-watters oper- ated by teenagers, the European counterparts of the illicit, homebrew stations that plague the FCC in most of our major cities. (Continued on page 105) THE PIRATE CREW — —| Location —\ Frequencies** "| Target Area i tadio Mercur (1958) | Aboard “‘Mercur” 88.0, 89.6 FM__| Denmark i Radio Syd (1958-62) | Aboard “Cheeta ti” 88.3 FM, etc. | Sweden i Radio Veronica (1960-69) | Aboard “Veronica” | 1562,1620 | Holland Radio Nord (1961-62) | Aboard “Bon Jou | 602 | Sweden i Danmarks Comm. Radio (1961-62) | Aboard “Lucky Star 94.0 Fil Denmark + Radio Antwerpen (1962) | Aboard “Uilenspiegel” 1492 | Belgium i + Radio Uilenspiegel 0962) | _ _ i =) Radio Atlantis _ 1963-67) | Ghent, Belgium (see text) | 97.2 FM, 1538_| Belgium Radio Noordzee (1964) | On “REM Tower 1399 Holland TV Noordzee 0364) | Whannel 1 I Radio Atlanta (1964) | Aboard “Mi Amigo” 1493, 1187, ete. | England I Radio Caroline South __ (1964-68) = | a Radio Caroline North (1964-68) | Aboard “MLV. Caroline’ 1169, 1520, etc. | England j Voice of Kent (1964) | On “Red Sands Tower” 980, 124, et. | England i Radio Invicta (1964-65) Radio king (1965) | 1259 Radio 390 (1965-67) | r. 775, etc. ee J Radio Sutch (1964) ‘On “Shivering Sands Tower” | 1034, 1529, etc. | England Radio City (196467 |" ” in \- Radio London (1965-67) | ‘Aboard “Galaxy” 1137, et. | England Radio Essex (1965-67) "On “Ft. Knock Head Tower” | 773, 1353, etc. | England Tower Radio —_ (1966) __| On "Sunk Head Tower” 1268 | England Radio England (1966) “Aboard “Laissez Faire” -—+»«:1322, etc. | England Radio Dolfin (1985-67) Holland Radio 227 (1967) | Britain Radio (1966-67) | Aboard “Laissez Faire” 845, etc England Radio 355 (1967) | (Vessel carried two xmtrs) =a\q Radio 270 (1966-67) | Aboard “Ocean 270" | 1111 England “Radio Scotiand (1966-67) | Aboard “Comet” | 1257, ete. | Scotland F Radio Hauraki (1966-69) | Aboard “Tir,” “Tiri I” ___|_1480 | New Zealand heard, oF only tested riety Exementary ELecrronicsALLIED MODEL A-2515 5-Band, Solid-State Communications Receiver ——$_$_$_$—$——————————— U's the very latest in solid-state tech- nology the Allied Radio Model A-2515 Communications Receiver delivers a level of performance formerly available in tube- equipped receivers priced several hundred dollars higher than the A-2515's reasonably low $99.85 price. The A-2515 is all solid-state, and can be powered by 115 VAC or a 12 VDC power pack or battery. Frequency coverage in 5 bands is from 150 to 400 KHz and .55 to 30 MHz. AM reception is provided through a standard diode detector, with a product de- tector used for CW and SSB reception. The BFO is fully adjustable for CW reception, with upper and lower sideband settings indi- cated on the front panel for SSB reception. Front panel controls and switches include a Function switch which applies power, se- ects the AM or AM with ANL (automatic noise limiter) modes, provides a standby position for transmitter control of the re- ceiver, and selects the SSB-CW mode. Both AF and RF Gain controls are provided as an adjustable BFO control. The Band Sel. and Ant, Trim round out the front panel controls, along with the Main Tuning and Bandspread. A Phones jack ig located on the front panel along with the S-meter. ‘The rear apron has termi- nals for the antenna and a 4 or 8-ohm speaker. A pre- punched hole (supplied cov- ered) is located adjacent to the antenna terminals for those who would like to in- stall a coaxial-type SO-239 IF Ae. The receiver is modularized, each section @ complete module. Both modules, and main and band- spread capacitor, ore rigidly mounted, insuring high mechanical stability for a budget receiver. May-June, 1969 EVE} COMMUNICATIONS xKDSPREAD CAPACITOR. aN, TERILNALS covered COM SHETER CUT-QUT ZERO ADAIST _ PKR jack. The AC/DC switch and the DC power jack are also on the rear apron, as well as the S-meter zero set control and the remote control socket (supplied with match- ing plug). Up-to-date Circuits.’ Even a quick ex- amination of the circuit gives the user a good idea of what to expect in the way of performance. The RF amplifier is a dual gate MOSFET transistor, one gate used for the signal input and one for the AGC. The function switch automatically increases the RF amp AGC voltage in the AM mode (ong time constant AGC—slow action) The mixer is similarly a dual gate MOSFET with the signal applied to one gate and the local oscillator to the other. The mixer feeds a three stage IF amplifier having its own AGC system and full mechanical filter coupling-tuning. In place of the usual IF transformers, the IF amplifier has a two sec- tion mechanical filter input, with the first two stages having single section mechanical IN TUNING CAPACITOR SMETER POWER TRS FomNeR POvER SUPPLY TERMIMALS 4 yp ‘20 (nPUT 65,@ @ ALLIED A-2515 RECEIVER filters for collector loads. The final IF am- plifier is transformer coupled to a diode detector for AM, with the CW/SSB output stripped off before the diode. Looks like the engineers at Allied have been working over- time on this hot shot. Performance Checkout. As far as lab measurements are concerned, the table tells ‘most of the story. At almost all frequencies the A-2515's sensitivity for 10 dB S+N/N (signal plus noise to noise) ratio is the equal of many—if not most—receivers priced well up to $300. The unusual reduced sensitivity of 4.0 wV. at 11 MHz was due to sloppy alignment (not uncommon in budget recei ers). In general, note that the low end sensi- tivity for each band was somewhat below the high end sensitivity—again, alignment. Image rejection, as shown in the chart, was notably good; even the low 15 dB image re- jection on the highest band (28 MHz) com- Pares favorably with the best single conver- sion receivers—better than most single con- version CB receivers. Selectivity, the receiver's ability to reject interference from signals on adjacent fre~ quencies, was excellent. particularly so con- sidering the A-2515's $99.95 price tag. At 28 MHz, where the front-end has little or no effect on total receiver selectivity, the se- lectivity was 77 dB at 10 kHz from the ref- erence frequency—even better than most CB transceivers. The selectivity is rather steep, being only 1.5 kHz at 6dB down. While this is excellent for SW or Ham reception, when the user is trying to dig a station out from under the QRM, it makes standard “en- tertainment” BC listening somewhat unpleas- ant_as the high selectivity “cuts” the BC station’s sidebands, resulting in a loss of SAETER With all the controls located ‘across the bottom and side of the A-2515, @ right-handed operator always get @ clear view of the tuning dial ond Sumeter no matter | what knob adjustments are mode. PHONES Jick FUNCTION AF GAL BFO SHITE MEASURED PERFORMANCE Frequency Sensitivity Image | Band) (MHz) Gv)” ejection (4B) 3) 20 1 6 40 3 3B 4) 50 13 50 i 70 10 37 j 140 03 a | 5) 110 40 af 210 10 17 28.0 09 16 | Selectivity—77 dB at 27 MHz, i AGC Action—12 dB° audio output for $0 dB RF input variation with signals over 3.2 wV. “highs”; but it's great for BCB DXing. The AGC (automatic gain control) is very effective above « 3.2 uV signal input, trans- lating a 90 dB change in input signal into a 12 dB change in audio output. Below 3.2 u¥ input there is virtually no AGC action. Though the S-meter has the usual S-unit and above S-9 calibration, it is more like a relative signal strength meter as each S-unit represents a 3 dB rather than 6 dB change in input signal, and the over-S9 calibrations have no fixed signal strength relationship. $9 represents an 80 wV signal input at the an- tenna terminals. Operating performance. It is in actual operation that the A-2515's performance grabs the user's attention. The BFO and lo- Cal oscillator are rock-stable, and to the top of band 4 it is possible to work through a complete 15 minute SSB contact without ‘once correcting the tuning or the BFO. On the high band there was a very slight drift, not serious, certainly better than the aver- age tube receiver. The high selectivity and image rejection was immediately apparent by the lack of (Continued on page 104) BANDSPREAD nh TUNE NT TUNE ‘Evementary EvectaowiesUnnoticed by most, a workhorse for few, the clamp-on ammeter tells you without touching! Jot has been written about the current and voltage meters experimenters use every day. There is one useful instrument, however, that seems to go unnoticed—it’s the induction, snap-around, of clamp-on meter which operates on the transformer principle. The clamp-on ammeter’s big advantage over the usual type is that it does not require point-to- point contact with the circuit being measured. But, before we explore how it functions, let's review some basic meter theory. When Grandpa Was a Boy. The first practical, commercially produced meter movement was the ‘Weston type (1888), which was a modified D’Arsonval (1881) move- ment. It is still one of the most widely uséd movements for meters of all types. Basically a galvanome- ter, this movement depends upon the torque exerted on a coil in a magnetic field The credit for such galvanome- ters goes back to Hans Christian Oersted and Arsene D'Arsonval. Oersted in 1819 observed that a pivoted magnet, or compass needle, deflected when placed near a wire carrying a current. In 1881, D'Ar- sonval applied Oersted’s observa- tion to an electromechanical ar- rangement which was to become known the world over as the D'Ar- sonval_movement—grandfather of meter movements. Meter Construction. In the moving coil or pivoted coil move- ment (see drawing on next page), as the modified D'Arsonval move- ment is commonly referred to to- day, Oersted's arrangement is reversed: the magnet (Oersted’s compass) is. stationary and the coil (the wire carrying the current) moves. The magnetic field of the horseshoe magnet, whose poles are designated N and S, is concentrated by the soft iron cylinder core (F). The coil (C) consists of turns of insu- lated copper wire on a rectangular frame and is connected to helix springs (H) at the top and bottom. These springs provide a restor- ing or counter torque when the moving coil is deflected from its normal position. The May-June, 1969 springs also carry current to the moving coil. When current flows through the moving coil (arrows in drawing), a magnetic field is set up around each side of the coil. Although the field will be in opposite directions on each side of the coil due to current going by Sol Wexton down one side and up the other (arrows), the interaction of this magnetic field with the magnetic field of the permanent magnet will cause force to be exerted in the same direc- tion of rotation. This turning moment causes the coil (C) to rotate and as it does, a counter torque is set up by the helix springs (H). The moving coil will continue to turn until it reaches 2 position where the torque of the springs (H) is equal and opposite to the torque of the moving coil. With no current appliedto the moving coil, the pointer (P) will automatically fall back to its zero null position. The amount of deffection depends on the strength of the magnetic force created by the current flowing through it—the greater the current the greater the magnetic force and the farther the coil will turn. In a well-designed instrument, the deflection of the coil in angular degrees is directly pro- portional to the current. The pointer (P), which is attached to the moving coil and moves with it, indicates on a scale (not shown) the amount of current flowing through the coil. This, fundamen- tally, is how the majority of meters (am- meters, ohmmeters, voltmeters, etc.) operate. The method of sampling the current and channeling it through the meter movement is also similar in most meters. It requires di- rect contact—through a connector or some type of test probe—with the circuit to be measured. ‘The induction or clamp-on meter, too, has. a movement which is identical to the one de- Two models of the Amprobe clamp-on testers described in this orticle. Unit left has rotary scale thot selects correct range required. Also, meter readings stay locked 10 they can be token in dark, read in light. Unit ab right measures current only. scribed. However, its method of sampling is quite different. Induction Theory. Twelve years after Oersted made his observation, Michael! Fara- day found that if current in a coil was started and stopped by closing and opening a switch, the increasing and decreasing magnetic field would induce a current in a second held next to it. This action is called mutual induc- tion—the principle of a transformer. The iron core of the transformer concentrates force between the two windings— Detailed drawing of the moving-coil movement common to DC meters in use today. Cut-away diagram (A) gives complete construction details. Electrical connection to coil C (B) is made thru helix springs (H). primary and secondary. Alternating current, because constantly reversing polarity, accomplishes the same thing as Faraday’s closing and opening the switch in his direct current circuit. (See drawing above.) It is this principle which makes possible the induction-type ammeters shown in the photos. By encircling a single conductor with the hinged jaws of an induction pickup, it becomes, in effect, the primary winding of a transformer. The AC current flow in the conductor induces a varying magnetic field in the hinged induction pickup. The pickup Exemenrary ExectronicsThis is simple circuit Michael Faraday frst used to demonstrate principles of transformer. When switch is closed current surge in battery circuit couses inductive “hick” in secondary. This kick is @ current pulse that causes meter's pointer to move momentarily. serves as the soft iron core of a transformer which, in turn, induces an AC current in the secondary coil The secondary coil inside the instrument is connected to the meter movement through a series of calibrating resistors and a bridge rectifier (see schematic diagram). Rectifica- tion is required here since the meter move- ment is a direct current device and current being sensed by the induction method is al- ternating. A switch on the instrument selects appropriate circuit resistors capable of read- 100 LINE CURRENT HINeD FNOUCTLON FLO PIOGP —) <> ooucToR Paina oO) RECTIFIER \ J somone oi This circuit is very much like thot shown at fop of page. Conductor iz actually one turn of primary winding of transformer. Hinged induction pickup is iron core of transformer. Rectifier permits use of standard D’Arsonval meter movement offering continuous meter indications. ing current in the circuit being measured, ‘Thus we have a multirange AC ammeter using an induction method of sensing current. Some Extras. This instrument, with only a few additional components, can also func- tion as an AC voltmeter. With test lead in- puts and appropriate series resistors through the range selector switch, AC voltages can be measured. The series resistors proportion ately reduce voltage to a safe value for the rectifier and meter circuit. By using the same idea an induction-type meter can also function as a single or mult May-Jone, 1969 Amprobe A-45L Energiter offers clamp-on meter 0 ‘meaturing point without breaking line cords opart. range ammeter/voltmeter, -ammeter/ohm- meter and ammeter/voltmeter/ohmmeter, all in one instrument. Clamp-on meters which incorporate an ohmmeter usually do it through an external adapter (built into one of the test probe lines) which supplies the power and fuse for meter protection required in an ohm~ meter (see photo) cassis Sut CORE TRANSFER Schematic diagram of the Amprobe RS-3 clomp-on meter that doubles as an ohmmeter (25 ohms mid- scale) and three-range voltmeter (0-150-300.600 V.) The major advantage of the clamp-on ammeter is that it is not necessary to break nto the circuit, motor or appliance to be monitored. It is only necessary to clamp the transformer jaws around one of the conduc- ors to obtain a reading. In instances where all conductors are in a common cable or cord and the physical splitting of the cord to enable encircling one conductor is not desirable or possible, an energizer adaptor enables a reading to be made, This accessory’ also extends the sensitivity of the clamp-on meter 5 to 10 times for low current work. i 6970 anew start for HOMER HACKLEBY Classified ads start many careers—here’s one to forget! by Charles Getts MEET EXOTIC GIRLS! intelli- single man with elec: background wanted as agent at once. Call Nat. Secur- ity Association KL 51212. Hen Hackleby read the ad a second time, then put down the paper. Apart from the desire to follow every at- tractive girl he saw, he had only one minor aberration which he acquired quite re- cently. It was simply that, every time he looked into a mirror, he saw the image of James Bond, agent 007. As Homer was 52, bald, and rather chubby, this was quite a mental distortion So it is understandable that he now reached immediately for the phone and dialed the number given in the ad. After a short conversation he hung up with an excited gleam in his myopic eyes. “Spencer, there is a pos- sibility that T will not need your services much longer,” he told the thin-faced young man puttering at a cluttered work bench in the garage. “I will probably have to close down the Hackleby Electron- ics Company very soon.” “Then you're not going to g0 ahead with the Electronic Dictatypewriter you were telling me about yesterday?”, asked Spencer. “No. Anyway, I doubt if it would sell, Most office men would prefer to have the live, flesh-and-blood secretary, Not much fun in holding a (Continued on page 106) Exementary ExectronicsOLE “TEAC. ELEGTRORICS PART VIII RADIO TRANSMITTERS AND RECEIVERS Was: YOU WILL LEARN. When you have finished this part of the ELEMEN- rary Erectronics Basie Course you wil have learned what the electromagnetic fre- quency spectrum is, what a radio transmit- ter is, how it develops a broadeast « and how radio signals are transmitted through the atmosphere. You will also learn how a broadeast signal is received, and how a radio receiver converts it into sound. nal, te =" Pay In this and the following part in the next jar with the issue you will become fa his series is based on Basie Electricity/Electron- ies, Vol. 1, published by Howard W. Sams & Co., Inc. May-June, 1969 a2 ~onll} | @/ Basic Course general principles of operation for certain equipment. As pointed out previously, an understanding of how electronic equipment works will help you put descriptions of components and circuits into proper frames of reference so their meani ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATIONS Energy that radiates from a source is said to be an electromagnetic wave. Gamma rays, which are given off by radioactive particles such as radium, uranium, or atomic-bomb fragments, are electromagnetic waves. Cosmic rays from the sun travel extensive distances to the earth as electromagnetic waves. 5 is not lost. Electromagnetic waves, which include light, radiated heat, and radio signals, travel through space at the rate of 186,000 miles per second. Electromagnetic Frequency Spectrum Electromagnetic radiations difler from each other in terms of th fre: quencies (eycles per second). The frequenicy of one of these radiations is the number of times a single cycle repeats itself in 1 second. An electromagnetic spectrum chart, showing the relationship of these frequencies, is given below. The Electromagnetic Spectrum Ghana RaYS (FROW RADTORCTIVE ULTRAVIOLET (IRVTSTBLE LIGHT) SUBSTANCES) vitae Us ees, VMED (ENT RTION) ae mam 10 407 10° 10" 10% 10 10% 0° a0 tot tot 10 10 ‘youes Pee secono The chart shows that cosmic rays are radiated at a frequency of around 1022 cycles per second. (The number 10% is 1 followed by 22 zeroes, or ten- thousand, million, million, million cycles per second.) At the lower end of the radio portion, radiation frequency is under 10*, or 10,000 cycles per sec. Assigned Broadcast Frequencies The Federal Communications Com sion (FCC) has assigned specific groups of frequencies to different types of communications transmissions. This is shown in an expansion of the radio-frequency portion of the spectrum. Commercial transmitters (radio and television, for example) are assigned 4 transmitting frequency in the appropriate part of the radio-frequency spec- trum. Transmitters broadcasting in the home radio band are on 535 kHz to 1605 kHz. Exementary ELectaonics oO i ' | 1 1 1 i | 1 i 1 1 ! ! | 1 i 1 ! 1 1 1 I ' 1 It I ! ! 1 I 1 1 1 1 ! I ! | 1 1 1 1 1 1 I ! 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 | 1 1 ! | 1 IThe Radio Frequency Spectrum UF TELEVISION (CHANNELS 14-83) ‘WE TELEVISION (CHANNELS 7-13) 174-216HH FREQUENCY-MODULATION BROADCASTS VHF TELEVISION (CHANNELS 2-6) 54-282 SHORTAAVE RADIO COMERCIAL BROADCASTS a, is not) electromagnetic radiation. Q3. Radio waves travel from the broadcast station to a receiv- ing antenna at the rate of les per second. the characteristic which distinguishes one electromagnetic wave from another. Q5. Commercial radio transmissions are at a (higher, lower) number of eyeles per second than television. Q6. A frequency of 1000 kilohertz would be assigned to I, shortwave) rai (commerci Your Answers Should Be: ‘AL. Cosmic rays and radio waves are examples of electromagnetic radiations (waves). A2. Sound is not electromagnetic radiation. Remember? It is changing air pressure. A3. Radio waves travel from the broadcast station to a receiving antenna at the rate of 186,000 miles per second. Ad. Frequency is the characteristic which distinguishes one electro- magnetic wave from another. AS. Commercial radio transmissions are at a lower number of cycles per second than television. A6. A frequency of 1000 kilohertz would be assigned to commer- cial radio. (1000 kilohertz is equal to 1 MHz.) RADIO TRANSMITTERS The dial on your home receiver is marked off in numbers, probably from 540 to 1,600 kilohertz (or 54 to 160). By rotating the tuning dial, you select the desired station. Since each local station broadcasts at a different frequency, indicates the broad- you are able to select the one you desire. The dial sett cast, or carrier, frequency of the station. ‘May-June, 1969 B4 \ ~ti @ V\ Basic Course Transmission of Radio Power “osx LONG TRANSMISSION DISTANCE EX AIG ATTAGE oe TRASTER = sar TRANSMISSION OISTANE Loy-atTic =] TRASITTER Transmitter Power You have also noted that some stations come in stronger than others. The stronger stations broadcast at higher power (measured in watts or kilowatts) than the weaker. Or, if one of two stations broadcasting at equal power is stronger than the other, the stronger station is closer to your home, The illustration seen above shows two antennas transmitting at different frequencies in the broadcast band. The one farther away is broadcasting at many kilowatts of power and is able to reach the receiver. The low-watlage transmitter, although nearer, does not have enough power to span the distance. This may explain why you cannot pick up some stations that are located in your general area. Carrier and Audio Frequency The frequency assigned to a broadcast station is called its carrier frequency. The transmitter and its antenna are designed and tuned to that specific fre- quency. As its name implies, the carrier frequency carries the reproduction of the sound originating in the studio, Actually, there are two frequencies that leave the transmitter, a radio frequency (carrier) and an audio frequency (sound). Audio frequencies are classified as being between 20 and 20,000 cycles per second. The frequency range of most human ears, however, is usually no higher than 15,000 eps. Q7. A home radio receiver (can, cannot) he tuned to 1 megacycle. Q8. 900,000 cycles per second (could, could not) be a car- rier frequency of a commercial broadcast station. Q9. The power of Station A is one megawatt. Station B is broadeasting at 500 kilowatts. Which station will trans- mit the longer distance? Exementary Exectrowics oO ' 1 1 1 1 1 1 | 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 | 1 i 1 L 1 ! 1 I 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 | 1 1 1 I 1 1 1 | I 1 1 ! 1 | 1 | 1 1 { 1 1 I I | I I 1 I 1 |Q10. Two broadeast stations are equally distant from your home. Assuming your receiver is good, what would be the reason you could not receive one of them? QL. A human ear (can, cannot) hear # radio frequency. QI12, A frequency of 600 kilocycles is classified as a(an) (au- dio, radio) frequency. Your Answers Should Be: AT. A home radio receiver can be tuned to 1 megacycle. One megacycle (1,000 ke) is within the broadeast hand. A8. 900,000 eyeles per second could be a carrier frequency of a commercial broadcast station. It is the same as 900 ke. A9. Station A. It has twice as much power. A10. One station is so weak in power it cannot transmit the dis- tance. ALL. The human ear cannot hear a radio frequency. AL2. A frequency of 600 ke is classified as a radio frequency. A Basic Transmitter The diagram below shows a functional block diagram of a typical broad- cast transmitter. Jt is called a functional block diagram because each block is representative of a general electronic function and may include several circuits. Fundamental Block Diagram of a Transmitter A anew CARRIER FREQUENCY MICROPHONE ‘The arrowheads between blocks show the direction of signal flow. You can probably already read what the diagram reveals. Sound enters the microphone and is {ed to the audio-frequency (AF) section. The sound, because it is too weak for transmission purposes, is amplified (signal amplitude is increased) and then passed to the carrier-frequency sec- tion. Carrier Frequency. ‘The specific radio frequency (RF) assigned to the broadeast station is developed in the carrier-frequency block. Passing through several circuits, the RF signal is hoosted in power (increased in amplitude) to the rated wattage output of the transmitter. Just before the RF carrier is fed to May-June, 1969 5@ | Basic Course |j\\| Oo the antenna, the AF signal is superimposed on it, Waveforms developed in each block are shown below. Transmitter Waveforms CARRIER WITH AF sssisen Shares . To lll ema i ; | ‘ea ANPLIFIED AF ‘To FREQUENCY Sa CROPHONE AF Superimposing the Sound. The process of superimposing AF on the carrier, C) as shown in this particular example, is called amplitude modulation (AM). In amplitude modulation the audio frequency (varying at the changing rate of the original sound) is mixed with the carrier (a constant frequency) in a manner that causes that carrier amplitude to vary at the same rate as the audio. The carrier frequency remains unchanged. Q13. The drawing on the opposite page is called a(an) diagram. Ql4. Sound enters the AF section by way of a device called a(an) -- = on a block ¢ direction hetween blocks. . Placing AF on a carrier without changing the carrier frequency is called -—---~--- ---------- , n show the signal Your Answers Should Be: A13. The drawing on the opposite page is ealled a functional block diagram. A14. Sound enters the AF section by w: microphone. A15. Arrowheads on a block diagram show the signal direction Oo between blocks. A16. Placing AF on a carrier without changing the carrier fre- queney is called amplitude modulation. y of a device called a 76 Exementary EvEcrRonicsCarrier-Frequency Circuits A minimum number of carrier-frequeney circuits are shown in the diagram below. An actual broadcast station has many more cireuits to attain the fre- quency stability and power required of its transmitter. The additional circuits are similar to those shown, however. Carrier-Frequency Circuits INMLULAM WT x Pow iNPLITER The Oscillator. The purpose of the oscillator is to generate a stable RF signal ‘The resistance, inductance, and capacitance that make up its input circuit are stich that they will not allow the vacuum bube in the oscillator to amplify any other signal but that of the desired frequency. The stable-frequency, low- amplitude output of the oscillator is shown above. The Buffer. This stage (another name for circuit) is sometimes called an intermediate power amplifier, or frequency multiplier. In most transmitters it performs three functions. As a buffer, the stage isolates the oscillator from the effects of the other circuits, Without this isolation, stray signals may be fed back to the oscillator, causing it to operate at the wrong frequency. As an amplifier, the butler increases the amplitude of the oscillator signal to a level that is between the desired transmitter output and the amplitude of the oscil- lator signal. In many transmitters the buffer circuit doubles (or even triples) the frequeney of the oscillator output. The oscillator may not be capable of generating the station frequency by itself. In order to produce the assigned frequency, a transmitter may require several multiplier stages. The Power Amplifier. The purpose of the power amplifier i amplitude of the RF signal to the power (wattage) requirements of the station, Several stages of power amplification may he required to achieve this. Nor- mally, the audio signal from the AF circuitry is fed to the final power amplifier and used to modulate the carrier. Qiz. to increase the creases its frequency is called a(an) — Q18. A(an) ------~--~~ generates a signal w uniform frequency. Q19. ----- amplifier output is measured in watts. Q20. AF and RF are mixed in what stage? Q21. The carrier arrives at the antenna with its waveform (am- plitude, frequency) modulated. May-June, 1969 18 } @ { Basic Course Your Answers Should Bi ALT. A transmitter cireuit which amplifies a signal and increases ite frequency is called a multiplier. A18. An oscillator generates a signal which has a uniform fre- quency. A19. Power amplifier output is measured in watts. A20. AF and RF are mixed in the final stage of the power am- plifier. A21. The carrier arrives at the antenna with its waveform ampli- tude modulated. Audio-Frequency Circuits The Microphone. Regardless of the many different types of microphones that are available, even the hest develop only a weak signal. The Audio Amplifier. Although a single stage of audio amplification is some- times all that is necessary, larger transmitters may have two, three, or more stages to oblain the desired undistorted level of amplitude, ‘Audio Frequency Circuits | \ The Driver. Like most circuits, the driver obtains its name from its purpose. The driver amplifies the AF to the voltage level required to “drive” the tubes of the modulator. The modulator tubes require large changes in signal ampli- tude to operate properly. The Modulator. The modulator is a power amplifier quite similar to the final circuit of the carrier-frequency block. It amplifies the audio signal to a power level suitable for modulating the cartier power in the final power amplifier. Its power output is roughly half that of the final carrier amplifier. Antennas If all circuits are operating properly, an AM (amplitude-modulated) carrier is fed to the antenna and transmitted into the atmosphere. Power is fed to the antemma in the form of both current and voltage. Voltage sets up an electric field along the length of the antenna. Current, in traveling through the antenna (a conductor), sets up a corresponding magnetic field. Both fields vary at the rate of the carrier frequency and at the amplitude and frequency of its audio envelope. Etementary ELectaowics ' | | ! 1 1 1 1 1 1 I I 1 1 t 1 1 1 ! 1 1 1 1 ! 1 | 1 ' 1 ! 1 1 1 I 1 1 ! ! I 1 ! | 1 1 I 1 1 { ! 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ! ! 1 1 1Antenna Radiation or a \ fs i | ao \\\\\ Bina \WASEIZ/ ‘i ! ut : vive ee aoe camer ) Both fields expand outward and collapse back to the antenna at the rate of the carrier frequency. The outermost waves continue through space and do not return to the antenna. This action is similar to dropping a pebble in a pool. The energy of the waves moves outward in ever-widening circles; the water, however, remains in place. Q22. The weak output of a microphone is fed to one or more stages of — amplification. . The output of even the best microphone (can, cannot) be fed directly to the modulator. The output of the -~-----~— is connected to the carrier power ampl Q25. For proper modulation, the output of the modulator stage must be -——— that of the power amplifier. Q26. Carrier voltage develops a(an) —-----—~ field and velops a field on ier. carrier current the antenna. Q27. All of the energy in the antenna fields (does, does not) leave the antenna. Answers Should Be: The weak output of a microphone is fed to one or more stages of audio amplification, A23. The output of even the best microphones cannot be fed di- rectly to the modulator. (Even the most powerful microphones develop a signal that is much too weak to drive the modula- tor.) A24. The output of the modulator is connected to the carrier pow: er amplifier, For proper modulation, the output of the modulator stage must be half that of the power amplifier. A26. Carrier voltage develops an electric field and carrier current develops a magnetic field on the antenua. A27. All of the energy in the antenna fields does not leave the antenna ‘May-June, 1969 79i @ V\ Basic Course Oo A RADIO RECEIVER The block diagram for a radio receiver similar to the one in your home is shown below. Block Diagram of a Typical Radio Receiver 1 ANPLEFLER cn xan He ALL STAGES u 1 | I I I 1 I | I ! | 1 | | ! 1 1 1 I | 1 | | | 1 | | | The purpose of the radio receiver is to convert the amplitude modulation on I the carrier back to its original sound. As the carrier increases in ever-widening | circles on leaving the transmitter antenna—like ripples in a pool—its energy 1 decreases in amplitude. The inereasing circumference of the circles causes © | power in the waveform to be distributed over an ever-increasing area. By the | time the signal reaches the receiver antenna it is rather weak, usually around a | few thousandths or millionths of a volt. The receiver, therefore, must amplify | the received signal to a level that will operate the speaker within the hearing ! range of the human ear. The receiver must also extract the audio component f (the envelope) from the carrier. The carrier brings the signal to the receiver, | but has no value in the reproduction of the audio frequency in the recei ! | | 1 I | | | 1 1 1 | I I 1 | 1 I | | I I RECEIVER CIRCUITS The Power Supply. Each receiver has a power supply. Its purpose is to con vert 115 volts AC from an electrical outlet (or to provide DC if the receiver is battery-operated) to voltages that will operate the receiver properly. Antenna and Mixer CARRIER AND AUDIO ENVELOPE, a ROW OSCILLATOR The Antenna and Mixer. Carrier frequencies from all stations within range Etementary ELectronicsof a receiver appear on the antenna of the receiver. When you turn the dial of your radio to a specific station, you adjust the electronic components of the mixer input so that the receiver will accept a particular carrier frequency and reject all others. The received carrier enters the mixer to be amplified. Some radios have, in addition, an RF amplifier between the mixer and antenna. Q28. What part of the received radio wave does the rec convert back into original sound Q29. A radio wave decreases in power as the circumference of its area increases, What is the approximate amount of voltage that enters the receiver antenna? Q30. The —---- ------ converts AC to voltages. re- quired to operate the receiver circuits. Q31. A single broadcast frequency appears at the (antenna, mixer ). ver input of the Your Answers Should Be: A28. The amplitude modulation (or audio envelope). A29. A few thousandths or millionths of a volt. A30. The power supply converts AC to voltages required to op- erate the receiver circuits. ABI. A single broadeast frequency appears at the input of the mixer. The Oscillator. The receiver oscillator is similar to its counterpart in the transmitter. Both generate a signal of constant frequency and amplitude, The purpose of the receiver oscillator is slightly different, however. It is designed to generate a frequency that is a constant number of kilocycles above the car- rier frequency, regardless of the staiion to which the receiver is tuned. The tuning dial changes the values of the electronic components in the frequency generating circuit of the oscillator at the same time it is adjusting the fre- quency-reception components of the mixer. The arrangement of adjustable components is such that the oscillator will always be tuned 456 kilocycles (or a similar frequency) above the frequency of the carrier heing accepted by the mixer. The output of the oscillator is fed to the mixer, as shown in the diagram. below. Mixer, Oscillator and IF Amplifier e 1 r l Ih ll i aly[e ae ANTENNA DETECTOR —— OserLLaTOR FREDIENCY OSCILLATOR May-dune, 1969 aL82 il @/ Basic Course se The Mixer. The carrier and oscillator frequencies combine in the mixer tube and four different frequencies appear at the output. One of these four is the difference between the oscillator and the carrier frequencies, and is usually 456 kilocycles. The other three are rejected hy the next stage. The IF Amplifier. The abbreviation for intermediate frequency is IF. In most home receivers the IF is 455 or 456 ke. Amplifying a single frequency in the IF circuit is much easier and causes less distortion than if it were necessary to tune this amplifier to each of the many station frequencies. The only purpose of this stage is to amplify the IF (which still retains the original audio fre- quency) and pass it on to the detector. The Detector Function i li iit AA FRow 10 IF AMPLIFIER AUDIO AMPLIFIER The Detector. The purpose of the detector is to extract the audio component from the IF waveform. The audio envelope is the same (although reversed) at the top of the waveform as it is at the hottom. The detector circuit is so de- signed that it accepts only the audio frequency at the top and rejects the IF frequency in the waveform. Audio Amplifier and Loudspeaker Functions AP f ants me _ le Hach wh. The Audio Amplifier. The final circuit in the receiver amplifies the AF fed to it by the detector. The amount of ampli control knob on the front of the receiver. The output of the audio amplifier is applied to the speaker voice coil, causing the speaker cone to reproduce the sound that originated at the studio. Ra DereC ion can be varied by the volume- Etemenrary Evectrowics O° i ' ! 1 1 1 1 ! | ! | | 1 | ! 1 | 1 | | ! ! 1 | ! | ! | of ! | 1 1 | 1 1 1 ! ! I 1 ! I ! | | | ! ! ! | ! | ! ! 1 1 | |Q32. The -------- removes the AF from the IF wave- form. Q33. The oscillator develops a signal at a constant ---- and Q34. The detector extracts the (audio, RF) component from the IF signal. Your Answers Should Be: ‘32. The detector removes the AF from the IF waveform. A33. The oscillator develops a signal at a constant amplitude and frequency. A34. A detector extracts the audio component from the IF signal FREQUENCY MODULATION The transmitter and receiver with which you have just become familiar employs amplitude modulation (AM) to carry the audio. Another method of superimposing audio on a carrier is called frequency modulation (FM). Its process is quite different, The two are compared below. Amplitude vs. Frequency Modulation leet oveLITUDE MODULATION + } EQUALS | or fal a mT ‘ATO FREQUENCY FREQUENCY MoDULATION Both AM and FM start out with a carrier frequency and an audio frequency (sound originating in the studio). In amplitude modulation, as you already know, the sound is superimposed on the carrier frequency (which is constant) by varying the carrier amplitude in conformance with the voltage and fre- quency of the audio. In FM, however, the audio is mixed with the RF in such a way that the carrier frequency is varied in accordance with the amplitude of the sound. As the audio cycle goes positive, carrier frequency increases. When the audio cycle goes negative, carrier frequency decreases. The sum of the two changed frequencies in one audio cycle is still equal to the original cartier frequency. One of the advantages of frequency modulation is its freedom from distor- tion, Noise and other forms of distorting voltages in the atmosphere or receiver are added to amplitude modulation. Since FM does not depend on a changing May-June, 1969 83,Hl @ | Basic Course O amplitude to carry audio, noise has little or no effect on it. This is part of the reason for the clarity of sound that you get from an FM receiver. ‘Atmospheric Noise and Its Effects—If Any mga YY LEN, a srt 2 ‘4 RECEIVER FW RECETVER £F Q35. In AM, the carrier audio. Q36. In FM, the carrier --------- changes to match the audi Q37. An FM receiver is (more, less) subject to atmospheric noise than an AM receiver. ges to matelh the Your Answers Should Be: A35. In AM, the carrier amplitude changes to match the audio. A36. In FM, the carrier frequency changes to match the audio. A837. An FM receiver is less subject to atmospheric noise than an AM recei WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED 1, Radiant energy is given off by electromagnetic waves. The electro- magnetic spectrum includes co: light, infrared, radar, as well as radio waves. 2. A radio transmitter is a device that produces electromagnetic waves in the radio portion of the spectrum. Its essential functions are the de- velopment and amplification of a carrier frequency and modulating it with an amplified audio frequency. A specific carrier frequency is assigned to each radio station. The distance that the carrier, with its superimposed audio, travels is determined by the power that is de- veloped in the final stage of the transmitter. ic rays, X rays, visible and invisible 3. Energy in the form of voltage and current is fed from the transm to an antenna, This sets up electric and magnetic fields around the antenna that expand and collapse at the frequency of the carrier. Part ter i ! I 1 1 I ! 1 1 1 ! ! ' I I I | | ! ! 1 1 I 1 1 1 1 1 t | I hf I 1 1 1 | 1 1 1 1 I 1 1 | 1 1 1 I 1 1 1 ! 1 ! 1 1 1 1 I 1 1 1 84 Ecementary Evectronicsbf the energy is in the form of electromagnetic radiations and is trans- mitted through the atmosphere. The farther it travels, the weaker the signal becomes. 4. All carrier signals within range are picked up by the receiver antenna. ‘The tuning control on the front of the receiver adjusts the input of the mixer so that only the desired station carrier frequency is received. At ne, it adjusts an oscillator to generate an IF above the jer and oscillator frequencies are joined in the mixer and the difference helween the two, the intermediate frequency, is amplified and fed to the IF amplifier. Here the signal and its audio component are further amplified. The next stage (detector) extracts the audio component and passes it to the final stage (audio amplifier). The audio is amplified and fed to the speaker, causing the cone to reproduce the sound that originated at the studio. 5. Amplitude (AM) and frequency (FM) modulation are two methods of transmitting audio on a carrier, When AM is used the amplitude of the same carrier frequeney. Car the carrier varies according to the loudness (amplitude) and frequency of the audio. In FM, the frequency of the carrier is varied instead of the amplitude. FM transmissions are less bothered by atmospheric and receiver noises. NEXT ISSUE: PART IX Understanding Television Transmitters and Receivers This series is based on material appearing in Vol. 1 of the 5.volume set, BASIC ELECTRICITY/ELECTRONICS, published by Howard W. Sams & Co., inc. @ $19.95. For information on the complete set, write the publisher at 4300 West 62nd St., Indianapolis, Ind. 46268, DID YOU MISS ANY PART OF OUR BASIC COURSE? Many readers have written letters requesting information on our Elementary Electronics Basic Course—what has been published and what will be published. The table below lists the parts of the Basic Course and the issues they have appeared or will appear in. If you missed any part and wish to obtain an issue of Elementary Electronics that con- tains it, send $1.00 for each issue to Back Issue Dept., Elementary Electronics, 229 Park Ave, So., New York, N.Y. 10003. Be sure to tell us exactly which issue(s) you want and include your name and address. Issue Part Title Mar./Apr. 1968 Basic Electrical Circuits May/June 1968 |! Understanding Resistors July/Aug. 1968 il Understanding Capacitors Sept./Oct. 1968 IV Understanding Transformers Nov./Dec. 1968 -V Understanding Vacuum Tubes Jan./Feb.1969 VI Understanding Basic Circuit Actions Mar./Apr. 1969 VII Understanding Transistors May/June 1969 —-VIII* ——Understanding Radio Transmitters & Receivers July/Aug. 1969 X** ——_ Understanding TV Transmitters & Receivers *'n this issue, ** Available at newsstands on May 22, 1969. May-June, 1969= UNIMETRICS OMNIBAND III VHE/AM/FM Portable AC/DC Radio i} | ODDEN NOOR CTT eee ee ae, the AM, FM and BCSW frequencies. You'll find two public service VHF bands, the low one at 30 to 50 MHz and the high at 147 to 174 MHz, provide some of the most exciting listening to be found in the ra- dio spectrum. To name just a few: fire, po- lice and emergency services; radio-TV news reporters calling in their stories and the con- tinuous regional weather reports of the U.S. Weather Bureau, which are not only up to the minute but which can be a lifesaver to a boat owner. We Took the High Read. The Unimetrics Omniband radios ail designed to provide portable or fixed monitoring of the public service bands as well as the standard AM and FM broadcast frequencies. They are avail- able in two models, one tuning AM, FM and the low-band VHF (30-50 MHz), the other tuning AM, FM and the high-band VHF (147-174 MHz). Since high-band listening is more popular, because of the regional weather reports, we chose to test the high- band model The Unimetrics Omniband IL high-band VHF radio uses twelve transistors and is powered either by four internal C batteries or a built-in 117-VAC power supply. A switch under the battery cover selects the AC or DC mode of operation. A three-stage ea PRODUCT TEST IF amplifier feeding a standard diode de- tector is used for AM reception. While the same three IF amplifiers do double duty as the FM/VHF IF amplifiers, the VHF selec- tor switch cuts in a fourth IF amplifier and a ratio detector for the FM and VHF re- ception. Since the ratio detector is in itself “inter-station noise immune” to a large de- gree, no squelch is provided. Under normal conditions only a faint background noise is heard between FM and VHF stations. Sepa- rate local oscillators are provided for the AM, FM and VHF bands. A built-in ferrite antenna is provided for AM reception, with a telescopic whip for FM and VHF. An an- tenna jack provides for connection of an external FM or VHF antenna. The audio amplifier feeds a 314” speaker. A supplied earphone canbe plugged into the unit automatically disconnecting the speaker. Performance. The Unimetrics Omniband III, compared to other combination VHF receivers in its price range, proved to be a “hot” performer. As an AM radio it is ex- tremely. sensitive, pulling in stations just above the noise level which could barely be heard on AM radios priced to $50. FM per- formance was equally good. Since a sensi- tivity measurement is really valueless on a portable radio, we again compared the Omniband Iil’s performance against com- petitive FM radios. The Omniband proved about as sensitive as the best of FM portable (Continued on page 110) aN ATER uGTD CHASSIS Peau POWER TRINSFORNER Good quality sound is delivered by the relatively large 3173" speaker. All critical tuned circuits on the chassis are secured fo the chassis by 0 "blob" of wor. Severe jolts will not detune the set's high trequency circuits Exemenzary Execraoxics10 Reasons why RCA Home Training i: your best investment for arewarding career in electronics: LEADER IN ELECTRONICS TRAINING RCA stands for dependability, intepsity and pioneering signe advances, For over'a halt century, RCA Tnstute, Tne, has been a Ieader in technical training RCA aurorexT reaches ELECTRONICS FASTER, EASIER Beginner or refresher ~ AUTOTEXT, RCA Trsitutes' own meihod of Home ‘Training wll help you lear electrons faster, easier, almon automatically. THOUSANDS OF weLt PAID 3088 ANE OPEN now RCA Institutes ean help you qualify for a rewarding career i you have an inter shin clectronis. Every year, thousands ‘f well pad elecironics jobs go unfled just because not enough men take the @pportunity to. train themselves: for these openings: WIDE CHOICE OF CAREER PROGRAMS Selet from wide choice of courses And carcer programs ranging from base Electron Fundamentals to advanced Uesining including Computer Progra. Bhing and Electronics Drafting. Each ‘ACCREDITED MEMBER National Home Study Councit Construction of Oxctlorcepe. May-June, 1969 "Transistor experiments cen programmed breadboard = . osciloscope. ‘Career Program begins with the amaz- ing AUTOTEXT method, SPECIALIZED ADVANCED. TRAINING For those working in clectronies or with previous training, RCA Institutes offers advanced courses, Start on a higher level. No wasted time on mates rial you already know. 6 PERSONAL SUPERVISION THROUGHOUT All during your program of home study, your training is supervised by RCA’ Institutes. experts ‘who become Peonally involved in your etorts and elp you over any “rough spots” that may develop, VARIETY OF KITS, YOURS TO KEEP. At no extra cost, a variety of value able specially engineered kits come with Your program—yours to keep and tse ‘on the job. Thaneleronzen tra ano 8 taneous nse You wil sie in mat caret po Hee mom alee eae leds Rey Route das eerie Magee Team ae Resonate i Ca Bah be rea ne Name TWO CONVENIENT PAYMENT PLANS Pay for lessons as you order them. No contract oblizating you to continue the ‘course. Or, you can take advantage of RCA’s convenient monthly payment plan. 1 RCA GRADUATES GET TOP. RECOGNITION ‘Thousands of graduates of RCA Insti« {utes are now working for leaders in the electronics field; many others have their ‘own profitable businesses... proof of the high quality of RCA institutes training, RCA INSTITUTES, INC. cep: EA0-s9 ‘920 West Stst St, N.Y., N-Y. 10001 lans:, Those samo ACA courses are available to you in Canada, No postage. No customs. No delay. Your ity will bo retorted to our school in Canada, ‘All courses and programs a for veterans under new Gt CLASSROOM TRAINING ALSO AVAIL- ABLE. FREE CATALOG ON REQUEST, Reply Card Is Detached—Send This Coupon Today es RCA INSTITUTES, inc. 1 I Home Study Dept, EAQ-59 I 320 West 31st Street L New York, N.Y. 10001 ! 1 | L i iTizre's @ time-honored saying that a little knowledge may be dangerous. But when it comes to consumer products, a little igno- rance can be cause for the panic button. If something you buy is chewed by the baby and proves toxic, he’s in for trouble. If a rain- coat isn’t really waterproof, you may end up drenched. And if a food product said to be preserved has actually spoiled, indigestion may be the best (the least?) you can hope for. For the sake of safeguarding con- sumers, therefore, the proof of the pudding is in the testing. And at the Hoboken, N.J., headquarters of the US. Testing Co., Inc, a team of Tesearchers conducts no end of ex- periments in hopes of catching flaws in all sorts of products. Testing takes many forms, and equipment for the tests varies greatly. One device, for example, called the FadeOmeter, subjects material to simulated sunlight. It consists of a carbon arc burning in- side a glass globe that acts as a filter to correct the available spectrum. The materials being exposed are mounted in a rack revolving around the are. Main function of the ap- paratus: to determine the material's resistance to color fading on expo- sure to sunlight. (Continued overleaf) May-June, 1969 FodeOmeter test af U.S. Testing Co. creates simulated sunlight to test fobries for fading. Here, draperies reveal sunfortness. Pupillometer tester records changes in diameter of subject's pu- ils, i used to imprave teaching metheds, study eye disorders, Stretchometer tells researcher what :we wants te know about elasticity of sheer nylon stocking before it goes on lady's leg. 9192, @ @ PROOF OF THE PUDDING Left, food preservation is important fo many 9 supermarket. This special opparatus reveals rate of apple pie's bacterial growih, Right, lab techricion heals test tubes containing variety of cultures, checks them for bacterial growth over 24h. period. Flammability tester (left) subjects wearing opparel for combustibility. Electrical micra- burner, fed by pure bufane, coughs up answer within 07 second. Right, researcher braces fo use eye-mavement camera. Device discloses what driver, pilots actually look at on jab. From FadeOmeter to pupillometer, the course of con- sumer product testing goes in one direction—progress. After all, no manufacturer can afford to rest on his old laurels while his competitors continue to improve and perfect a safer, more convenient, and superior product. Quietly working behind the scenes, the scientists at U.S. Testing help make the world a safer place to live in. —C. Hansen ELemEntary ELECTRONICSHH. SCOTT MODEL LR-88 AM/FM/FM-Stereo Solid-State Receiver Kit Jf rov've had the itch to build a really top quality stereo receiver kit but have been .scared off by thoughts of “acres” of PC boards, and bags and bags of parts, the Scott LR-88 FM Stereo Receiver kit is for you. Using Scott’s by now familiar preassembled PC boards and color-matched pictorials, the LR-88 comes out as almost a beginner's kit. Featurewise. The LR-88 is loaded! You name it and the LR-88 can do it. On the input side is AM, FM, Phono (with switch- selected High and Low level sensitivity), Mic. (with L and R mike inputs on the front panel), Extra (auxiliary), and Tape. More than enough outputs are provided. The main-liners are: front panel. stereo phone jack, main stereo speakers, remote stereo speakers, mono remote with stereo main speakers (which can be used as a center channel fill), and tape recorder. As extras there are auxiliary high-level outputs which can be used to drive remote power ampli- fiers or additional tape recorders if you want the LR-88’s tone and compensation controls to affect the tape recorder feed. A switched (CHER HIGH-FIDELITY and an unswitched AC outlet are provided. Front panel controls include: Input, Bal- ance, dual concentric Bass, dual concentric Treble, and Loudness. Front panel switches include: Volume Comp. (ensation) on-off, Tape monitor, stereo-mono Mode (for com- plete amplifier), Noise Filter, FM Muting, Remote Speakers on-off, and Main Speakers on-off. A switch on the back panel provides for remote speakers only and mono/stereo selection. Extra features include both a Signal Strength and a Center Tuning meter, an FM stereo light and FM control by the amplifier mono-stereo mode switch. When the switch is set to mono both the amplifier and the FM are switched to mono operation. The FM receives stereo (automatically) only when the Mode switch is set to stereo, Circuit-design is up-to-date and has all the user-desired elements hi-fi buffs want. ‘The front end input is FET (ficld-effect transis- tor) for prevention of strong signal overload. The IF strip is all IC (integrated circuits). Four IF stages are used for FM, with two «Tan, Some Zo Flat os 0 board—that's what con z RESPONSE AT 1008 YOOULATIN be said for LR-88's response 2 { ot 100% modulation. “1 d8 pe nae he a) pat mance Te comidered excellent. FREQUENCY (He) 2 ROT E od TWAT TONE CONTROL BOT With tone controls centered, + 1 amplifier section of LR-8E on knock ouf solid 30 watts with go less thon 0.5% THD. Thor's great s | when you consider that both & T——RAK.TONE CONTROL CUT channels are driven simultaneously, an tet 4 putting maximum dren on TESST SO ‘nits power supply. Tone 2 Sea Ara ee controls offer modest boost and TOME ConTROLS CENTRED eut—enough for two equally 6. matched speoker systems. 2 1 SKC FREQUENCY (He) ‘May-June, 1969 93,94 Qe Open-trame construction of 1R.88 provides ultimate in heat dissipation. IF ond MX boards are almost fully shielded by cross-bor, ond virtually every Circuit's separate module. Notice that wiring harness is far from usval "rat's nest” froquently found in kits that ara inot carefully engineered. nt pREANE sR serving double purpose for AM, toot All circuits are modular—each circuit from IF amplifier to AF output to FM muting has its own individual circuit board. The Chassis itself serves as a hollow frame for the critical circuits which also provide ex- tensive inter-circuit shielding. The arrange- ment also provides more ventilation than will ever be needed by solid-state circuitry. We would guess that the LR-88 will never go out of alignment or drift due to com- ponent value changes caused by heat. Building the Kit. While the LR-88 is jam-packed with parts, most of the boring and critical wiring and assembly was done at the factory. Essentially, the kit builder assembles the frame, power supply and mis- cellaneous hardware. Wiring involves only the power supply, jacks and switches and PC_board interconnections. The pictorials are excellent, almost full scale and fragmented so the user always works and “reads” a small independent sec- tion at a time, All pictorial wiring is shown in exact matching colors to the actual wires. ‘Another feature is that all wires from a harness are different; no two are alike. When similar circuit wires use identical color co- ding (for ease of troubleshooting) the two leads will be markedly different physically: $0 FUSE Wor 2) LEFT si sot Tears SECT SERS aw tooo at ac METS. ‘ETE HOH STEREO SAIC Rigi Se TERMINALS TONE CONTROL & DRIVER BOARD ‘one will be thin; the other will be thick. Finally the kit is supplied with a largo selection of cable ties. When the wiring is tied down after completion of the kit, the LR-88 in no way looks home-brewed, In fact, it's more akin to the appearance of laboratory-grade equipment, factory-made, Performance. As with all Scott high- fidelity equipment, the specifications are lim- ited to the audio or broadcast range. Scott does not go in for measurements meaningful only to dogs and birds. As example, the amplifier response specification is from 20 to 20,000 Hz, and the FM response is from 50 to 15,000 Hz (the limits of the FCC FM proof-of-performance measurements for FM. stations). To keep in the same spirit, our measurements were made within the range of Scott's specifications. Our LR-88’s IHF sensitivity checked out at 1.5 uV, much better than Scott's rating of 2.5 nV. Full noise suppression (optimum signal to noise ratio) of 65 dB was obtained with a 20 uV input (exactly on specs). Mono THD at 100% modulation of the FM carrier was 0.58%, stereo THD meas ured 0.73% (both extremely good). The FM. frequency response was within the + 2 dB specification from 50 to 15,000 Hz. (Continued on page 103) Back of LR-88 is designed to permit easy and unerring com nection of (both main and remote) and euxiliary equipment. Unique remote speaker monostereo witeh permits simultaneous/mono ‘operation of remote speakers while main speakers are fed Htereo programming. This feature permits remote speakers to be used os channel fill fo kill ping: Proto sens sara Exemenrary Execrronrcs