RC 1978 04

A P R I L1 9 7 8
V o l u m e3 1 N o . 8
PublishedMonthly
l2nd ol preceding Month)
First Published | 947
lncorporating
The Radio Amateur
Editorial and Advertising Offices

57 MAIDA VALF LONDON W9 ISN
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!t) Data Publications Ltd., 1977. Contents

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3 T R A N S I S T O RM E D I U M W A V E R A D I O
by A. P. Roberts
460
BOOK REVIEW
465
N E W SA N D C O M M E N T
466
STOP-STARTM U LTIVIB RATOR (Suggested 468

Circuit) by G. A. French
S I N E W A V E S I G N A LI N J E C T O R
by R. J. Caborn
470
5 O : 5 0O U T P U TF R O M T H E 5 5 5
by J. R. Davies
473
C A N A N Y O N EH E L P ?
475
SHORT WAVE NEWS by FrankA. Baldwin
fqv DX Listeners 476
T H E E N D O F O S C A R 6 b y A r t h u rC . G e e
478
G I G A B I TL A S E RC O M M U N I C A T I O N
by MichaelLorant
479
S W I T C H- S E L E C T I O NE N L A R G E RT I M E R 480
by R. A. Fenfold
O P - A M P P R E C A U T I O N Sb y R . V . S m i t h s o n 487
l O t h S C O T C HW I L D L I F ES O U N D
COMPETITION
RECORDING
488
R E C E N TP U B L I C A T I O N S
489
C L A N D E S T I N ER A D I O b y R o n H a m
490
N O U G H T - P ONl T - O NE ( N o t e sf o r
Newcomers)by F. Bowden
491
TRADENEWS
495
L O W C O S T C A P A C I T A N C EB R I D G E
(ln Your Workshop)
496
Opinions expressed by contributors are

not necosssrily thoso of tho Editor or
proprietoIs.
R A D I O T O P I C Sb y R e c o r d e r
502
Pto d ucti on.-W eb Off sot.
E L E C T R O N I C SD A T A N o . 3 2
(For The Beginner- Waveforms)
Technical Queries. We regret lhat we

aro unsblo to answer queries other than
thoso arising fiom articles appearing
'advisg in
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on
modilicationstd equipment described.
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Published
i n G r e a tB r i t a i nb y t h e P r o p r i e t o ras n d
PublishersD
, a r a P u b l i c a t i o n sL t d . 5 7 M a i d a
V a l e . L o n d o nW g 1 S N
The RadiO & Eloctronics Constructor i:s orinte:d
bv Swale Press Ltd.
APRIL 1978
THE MAY ISSUE

WILL BE PUBLISHED
2nd APRIL
ill
3 TRANSISTOR
MEDIUMWAVE
RADIO
B y A . P . Roberts
S I M P L ED E S I G N O
EASYTO CONSTRUCT
STAN DAR D C O MP O NE N T S
This article describesa verv simple medium

wave radio which is designedfoi use with a crvstal
earphonebut is otherwiseself-contained.The iet is
quite small,measuTilgabout120 by 6b by 40mm.,
standard and readily available compoients are
usedand constructionis easyand straightforward.
THE CIRCUIT
Although -a superhet receiver can provide
superior.performance
to a simple t.r.f. type, the
complexitiesof such a receivermake it imiraitical
for an application such as this. The set described
here is thereforeof the t.r.f. (tuned radio frequency)
type.
The two main deficienciesof t.r.f. receiversare
the limited sensitivity and selectivity (the ability
460
to pick.out just one oi tw<ior more closelyspaced

stations)that can be obtained.This type oi'reierrre.
often suffers from a comparatively foor signal-tonoiseratio as well. Selectlvitv
can-b'eimor6ved bv
-even
the use of regeneration,but
then tfie level of
selectivitycan neverbe equal
to that ofa sunerhet.
-quite
Even so, it is usuallv
adequate. In the
author's extensiveexperiencewith t.i.f. designshe
has found that sensitivity and signal-to-nois6ratio
are best when a large amount of r.f. gain and little
oI even no a.f. amplification are used. (Conventionally, it would be expected that the sain distribution should be the irther wav roundl)
With thesefacts in mind, the ciicuit of Fig. 1 was
devised.This consistsof two r.f. amplifieri (tRt
and. TR2) qnd a transistor detectoi (TRg). No
audio stageis incorporated.
RADIO AND ELECTRONICS CONSTRUCTOR
BF2448
Iooo,l Leqd-outs
dgs
Fig. l. The circuit
of the 3-transistor
acrooc
^ / L"od-outs
\--_7c
medium wave receiver. As can be seen, very few components

are required
Resisfors
(AIl i watt 10%)
R l 4 . 7 ko
R2 5.6ko
R3 220 o (seetext)
R4 4.7kn
R5 1.8Mo
R6 4.7ko
Capacitors
Cl 0.01pFtype C280 (Mullard)
C2 0.01pF tyire C280 (n4uttard)
C3 0.04:7pFtype C280 (Mullard)
C4 0.022pFtype C280 (Mullard)
(Mullard)
C5 0.lpF typ-e'CZaO
CX sei: texi'
VC1 300pF variable, "Dilecon" (Jackson)
Semiconductors
TR1 BF244B
TR2 BClOgC
TR3 BClOgC
Switch
31 s.p.s.t.miniature toggle
Socket
SK1 3.5mm jack socket
Miscellaneous
Plastic case,120 x 65 x 40mm. (seetext)
Ferrite rod, 4jin. x fin. diameter (seetext)
32 s.w.g.enamelledcopperwire
Crys.tafearphonewith'5.5rnm jack plug
lvolt battery type PP3 (Ever-Read:y)
uattery connector
Large control knob
Plain perforateds.r.b.p.panel, 0.1in. matrix
Wire, solder,etc.
APRIL I978
J6-i'{
TR1 is a Jugfet which is used in the common

sourceamplifying mode.A Jugfettransistorhasan
extremely-highinput impedanle,and sothe ferrite
aerial,.I.1, can be coupleddirect into its gate circuit without qsinga couplingwinding.A seiondary
function of Ll is to connect TRl eate to th-e
s.upplyrail, and thus provide gatebiasing.
5r-egati,ve
VCl is the tuning capacitor, and this provide:s
coverageof the entire medium wave band.
R2 is the sourcebias resistorfor TR1, and C1 is
the bypass capacitor. The output sisnal is
developedacrossthe drain load resistor,Rl.
The secondr.f. amplifier usesTR2 in the common emitter configuration,and this stageis direct
coupledto TR1. R4 is the emitter bias resistorand
C2 its bypasscapacitor.TR2 obtainsits basebias
potential from the drain circuit of the previous
stag-e.
The output signalis developedacrosscollector load resistorR3.
Both TRl and TR2 invert the simal between
their input and output circuit -collector
poiits, with the
result that TR1 eat-eand TR2
are in
phase.-Regeneration,
which consistsof coupling
someof the output of an r.f. amplifier back to the
input in phase,_ca_n
therefore be given by way
of
-the
the capacitor, CX. As would be expeited,
regeneration
increasesthe amplitier garn.lt alsormprovesselectivity,as it effectivelyincreasesthe elficiencyof the tuned circuit givenbv L1 and VCl.
In practiceCX is not a physicalcapacitor,as an
extremely low value of bapacitancdis required
her_e.
QX is comprisedlargelyof stray capacii,ance,
and adjustment-isgivenby in insulited wire from
TR2 collectorwhich is positionednear the gatecircuit of TR1. More detailsof this arrangementare
given later on. Regenerationcan alternativelybe
c-ontrolledby varying the value of R3 and, afain,
this processis describedlater.
461
DETECTOR
TR3 is connectedas-a straightforward common
emitter amplifier,,but.itopera"tes
". " ii*pt"-u.-.
detector.R6 is the collectbr load resistor'and RS
p..rjvides.
basebiasing.CB couplesthe output from
TR2 collector to thibase of tRB.
This type ofdetector reliesupon the fact that the
translstordoesnot providelinear amplification.In
thls_casethe transistor w_illamplify positive half_
its base,morethan ne'gativ6[;lf_;y"1,;;,
9y_-cles.,at
srnce
ttte garn of the transistor tends to increaseas
rts collector current increases.In this way, TR3
prcvidesan elementary,.b-utne-vertheles"
ett."tiu!,
form of rectification and thus detectsthe i.a. .lgdi
glîts base. C4 bypassesthe r.f. simal content at
I KU collector,leavingthe desiredi.f. signal.
Usually,a detector of this type would ippear in
a clrcult otterlng regenerationin order that the
non-linear.amplification
could be heightenedand
the detectionefficiency increased.SIch a treat_
ment is not necessaryhere as the detectori; ha;ci_
ling,a {air.ly .hiqtr^^level
signal u"a ttri., i" it."ii
results in
differences
in the gain on positive
,high
and negative.
half-cycles. In consequente, the
detectorrs able to operatequite efficiently without
regeneratron.
The non-linear effect can be clearlv shown bv
measuring-the d.c. potential at the coitectoiwii6
respectto the negativesugrly rail, and
-thentuning
acrossa,strong.station.This will produce
a verv
nouceaDle,
cup ln the meter reading as the set is
tuned to the station.
. Sl is the on-off switch and Cb providessupplv
decoupling.The.output signal at fHS ""tt..t5i'l'.
taKen ctrrectto the output socket without a series
d.c.blockingcapacitor.'There
is no needlor sucha
capacrtoras a crystal.earphone
hasa very high d.c.
resistance and it will not adverselv affe6t tt e
oper.ationof the detector. At the same time, the
small direct output voltagewill not upsetthe funcuonlng ot the crvstal earphone.
_.Power is obtained f5om -a PPB 9-volt battery.
This has an extremely long life as the current consumption of the set is only slightly in excessof
2mA.
COMPONENTS
A few commentsneedto be made concerning
the
"is
components..
a
Itt:.-variabl_ecapacitor, VC1,
soliddielectric"Dilecon"
Jacksoncomponent,and
'a
is available from
number of supbliers.'The
transistor type BF244B specified for-fRt can be
obtained from Electrovalue Ltd. Anv plastic case
measuringabout.120 by 6b by 40-min.orlarger
may De employecl.
Jhe ferrite rod may needto be obtainedfrom

rod,.and
aet"il. tierJ;;; ;i";;ii;
ll-ong"I
the next section {ulther
of this article.
F E H R I T EA E R I A L
The ferrite aerial is home-woundand employsa
ferrite rod havinga diameterof *in. and a nbminal
l."4lr of 4jin. T\e rgd do-esnot need to be precise_
!y.aiin. long but its length shouldnot be l6ssthan
3|rn. or too great to allow it to be fitted insidethe
case,
If a rod of suitablelengthcannot be obtained,it
can be broken from a $in. diameter rod of greatei
length.The ferrite metdl is hard and brittle ind the
breakingprocesshas to be carried qut witir caie.
tilrst tlle a sharp groove all round the cir_
cumt'erenceof the rod at the point where it is to be
broken, using a triangular file. Then tap the loJ
Irghtly against the edge of a woodeir bench.
whereuponit will break at the point where the
groovehas beencut. The broken end will not pre_
se.lj a neat appearance,but any roughnesshere
wllt not attect pertormance.
Fig.-2 gives cietailsof the ferrite aerial, which is
wound with 32 s.w.g.enamelledcopperwire. The
wrndlng starts.fin. fro-mone end of the rod, the
lead-outwire.being held in position by a band of
p.v.c. lnsulatmgtape-wrapped round the rod. g0
turns oI the wlre are then wound side_by_side,
after
which the remaining lead-out wire is"securedbv
another band of insulatingtape. Try to make th-e
winding as ne.atas.possible,so that"it tai "io.ilV
spacedturns in a singlelayer. The lead-outwirei
shouldnext be cut so that they are about 2in. longl
their ends are then scraped i:lean of enamel ant
tinned with solder.
CONSTRUCTION
- Most of the componentsare assembledon a
plain perforateds.r.b.p.panelof 0.1 matrix havins
3l by 20.holes.Detailsrif this panel, as.wellas o?
the remainderof the wtnng, are glven rn Fig. 3.
Commenceconstructionof tle [anel by cu"tting
out a pieceof the appropriatesizeirsinga hacksaw]
t'e carelul when ctolngthts as sometvpes of board
are rather brittle, and can shatterif sawnroughly.
j\e-x!,-the1Omm.diam.etermountinghole fbrVil
is drilled, after which the component"s
are mounted
in positionwith their lead-outdbent flat aeainstthe
undersideof the panel. Thev are then"soldered
togetherin the fashionshownin Fig. 3. The component lead-out wires should be long enough^to
Fig. 2. How the fenite

aerial is wound
rod
Eonds ol imuloting tope
4l{x3la'tznitc
rd
VC1 ond TRl gctr
462
VCt ond ncg. roil
'm-il
::::'"'"'
r-,fi
: " .-:ry'-;@i-,
: . " o . - ' [ / f l .ru
'
a:
s\
ToVC,ondLr
"'I'P;'
o
o
o
o
o
0
o
o
..
I.
o
o
\-
o
o
\
\
\ \ _
o
o
o
Fig. 3. Wiring
diagram for the 3-transistor radio. Most of the components are assembled
forated s.r.b.p. board. The text gives details of the connections to VCI
enable all, or nearly all, of the wiring to be completed, but if necessary tinned copper wire of
a_round22 s.w.g.can be used to bridge any gaps. Of
the two wires connecting to VC1 and L1, that from
the gate of TRl connects to the fixed vanes of the
variable capacitor and that from the negative
supply rail connects to the moving vanes tag. The
two leads from the ferrite aerial winding also connect to the variable capacitor tags. When the
ferrite aerial is mounted in the case the winding
will be at the same end as the variable capacitor, a.s
cqn be seen in the photograph of the case interior.
The lead-out at thd end 6f the rod connects to the
capacitor moving vanes tag and that nearer the
APRIL1978
on a per-
centre of the rod to the capacitor fixed vanestag.

'The
output socket,the switchand the battery clip
are connectedto the board by way of thin flexible
insulatedwires.
It is a good plan to test the receiverassembly
before it is fitt6d in the caseby connectingthese
external componentsand temporarily securing
VC1 to the bodrd.The wire which formspart of CX
shouldbe about 1fin. long and shouldconsistof a
sinslestrand insulatedlead which is fairly stit'f'It
shouldbe initiallv positionedsothat it is well away
from the gate of-TRl and the lead from the gate
which connectsto VC1.
The earphoneis pluggedin and the set switched
463
LooHng inside the i:awewith

ilte ra* cover renovel
on, whereuponit should be possibleto tune in

severalstations.An attempt to improve performancecan then be made 6y positioningthe CX
lead closerto TR1 gate and the gate lead to VC1.
This will increase regenerationand produce
enhancedselectivityanil sensitivity.If the lead is
taken too close tb the TRl gate circuit the
levelwill be too high and-therewill be
regeneration
wf,istlesat somepart of the band as the receiveris
tuned through stitions. The desired setting for the
CX leadis that which is just shortof allowingthose
whistlesto occur.
If transistors with exceptionally high gain
fizures are emploved, it is possiblethat perlorm"ancewill be-ad-equatewith the CX lead well
awavfrom the TRl iate circuit. Shouldthis be the
caseit will possiblybe found that thereis no reduction in perfbrmanieif the lead is simply-removed.
An alternative,and in some ways, better approachis to omit the CX lead and experimentally
increasethe value of R3. Different increasing
valuesmay be tried until whistles are produced
with stations,whereuponthe desiredvalue for R3
is that which is just 6elow the value which causes
the whistle to occur. The advantageof this approachis that increasingthe value of R3 not only
increare.regenerationbut also the gain of the secondr.f. amplifier stage.It has the obviousdisadsolderinginto and out
vantagethaf it necessitates
of circuit a number of resistors,and that it presupposes that the constructor has a stock of spare
iesistors. Constructors who are unused to exnerimental work of this nature are advisedto fit
the specified value for R3 and to employ the ap-proa6hwhich involvesmoving the CX lead.
the
All adjustmentsfor regeneration,-either-with
CX lead or bv varying the value of R3, should be
carried out with a new battery connectedto the
receiver.
CASE
When it has been confirmedthat the set is performing satisfactorily,it may be installed in its
layout can be seenin the
The gen-eral
nlastic"case.
bhotocraphs.anti' it is recommendedthat this
iavoui b6 followed.
VCt it mounted at the right hand end of the
front panel. as seen from the front. Its threaded
bush rlassesthroush the 1Omm.hole in the component board, sever?lwashersare placed over the
bush and this then passesthrougha 10mm.hole in
fhe front nanelof the case.The stcuringnut finally
passesov'erthe protruding end of the bush,.andis
iiehtenedup. Tlius the componentboard is held in
oiaceinsidethe casebv the-mountingof VC1. The
washersbetweenthe c6mponentboard and the inside surfaceof the casefiont panel provide spac-
The parts sssemhled on the

perf orated component
boaN
lng, If they werenot fltted the eomponent

board
would^!e^riralned.
andaouldbreahaethemounting
nut of Ve t h tlshtened,
81 and SK1 are mountedon th left handend
panlof theeere,wtth81 abovSKl, Thevshould
be pocltloned
falrly eloreto the front sotHatthcre
panelfor
iu r'sombetween51 and the eaEe'baek
paft of the battery,Wtth th prototyp
the
-earc fenlte
iod war e tlght purh flt lnsidethi
and rc.
Wlth otherretult wlll
eulrcdno furthefmountlnE,
almortrtalnly
bo neeessary
to dcviEca slmple
-thh
mouRtlRg,
and
eancontlatof a smallbloehof
wooddr{Ilcdwith a holcthroushwhiehthc fcnite
rod paricr,Tho rod lg coeured
to the wsodbloelt
with-adhetiv
endthc blsek,in turn,lr gluedto the
insldoof th eam,Thc rsd shouldnot be mountcd
with mctalbracketr,partieularlyif theEo
thc
eauBe
rod t0 be complctolycnclrelcdthis
by
metal,
ar
would eonstitutea r'ahsrtedturn-"aRdBerioualy
redueDrformanc,
haabeenemployedfor
If th eX lcadapproaeh
eonuol.ofrgnratfon,
the.lcadehouldbe [iven a
final adjuatmentafterall thc partahavebeeninstallcdin the ease,
The battcry fits bhindthe eomponcntboard
and S1, a pideeof foamplartic beihginterpoeed
lhrco-quartsr vlcw of th. rudlo, thowlng tha

twltch and output sockotmountcdet th. left
hand end af the cdl6
betweenit and the components

on the board,A
furtherBieecof foarnpldsticbetweenthe batterv
and the-rearcovcrwifl hold the batteryin plae"e
whenthc covcris fitted,
I
BOOKREVIEW
T H E F A B U L O U SP H O N O O R A P H
1 8 7 7 - 1 8 7 7B, y R o t a n G
d etatt,
3 4 9 p a g e e , 2 1x61 3 5 m m(,8 i |x E 1 } l nP, )u b l l s h ebdyC a e c cat n
l dC o m panyLtd,Prlcef6,50,
"Mary
had a llttl lamb," Ar mort of ua know, thors were th6 flrst raeordedwords on earth,
r h o u t e db y T h o m a rA l v a E d l r o nl n 1 8 7 7 I n t o t h . h s r n o f h l r c x p c r l m e n t aplh o n o g r d p oh n w h l e h
w h l r l e da t l n f o l lc o v o r c dc y l l n d c rT, h o r o u n d l m p l n g c do n a d l a p h r a g m
t o g l v e h l l l a n d d a l aI n d a n =
t e t l o n rI n t h e t l n f o l l ,t h g a ob o l n gr c p r o d u c c w
d h o n t h a c y l l n d ew
r e s o R o m o 1 6r 6 t a t 6 d F
, r o mt h a t
I n c l d c nltp r t n g t h c w h o l s h l r t o r yo f m s c h a n l c a l rl ye p r o d u c oEdo u n dc, u l m l n a t l n g
1 O Oy c a r sl a t c rI n
the atandardrtcrco mloogroovc dlrc,
A l t h g u g hE d l r o n o r l g l n a l l yI n t c n d e dh l a " t a l k l n g m a e h l n e "t o b c e m p l o y c df o r c o m m o r e l a l
b u s l n s t su r o , l t w t ! n o t l o n g b e f o r ep o p u l a rd e m a n dc a u a e dl t t o e n t e rt h 6 n t c r t a i n m c nf it e l d .A
d e a c r l p t l oonf a r e c o r d l n g
eegolon
I n t h e e a r l yN l n e t l e em a k a ed o l l g h t f urle a d l n gT, o n h u g ec y l l n d e r
p h o n o g r a p ho r n ga r ed l r e c t e dI,n a c l r c l e a
, t a r e g l m e n t abl a n d ,T h 6 t i t l 6o f t h i t e m i s a n n o u n c e d
In stentorlan
t o n sI n t oe a c hh o r nI n t u r n ,a f t e rw h l c h t h e b a n ds t r i k e su p w l t h s l l c y l i n d e r isn m o t i o n ,W h E n l t a p p e a r st h a t t h e c y l l n d e r ah a v et a k e nn e a r l ya l l t h e m u e i ct h y c a n h o l d t h e b a n d
s l m p l ys t o p ea t t h e e n d o f t h e n e x t m u s l c a lp h r a s eT
, e n n e w c y l i n d e r sa r e t h e n l o a d e do n t h e
machineeand the procedurele repeatedover and over agaln as the day proceeds,
I t w a e E m l l eB e r l l n ew
r h o , I n 1 8 8 7 ,s t a r t 6 dt h e d e v e l o p m e notf t h e l a t e r acl u t d i s cw h i c hw a s t o
oust the cyllnderand lead to recordewhlch could be pressedfrom a singlemaster.But these are
o n l ys m a l li n d i v l d u al tl e m st o b e g l e a n e df r o m t h i s e m i n e n t l yr e a d a b l e
b o o k ,w h i c ht r a c e sn o t o n l y
t h e t c h n i c a la c h l e v e m e n t ew h i c h c o n t i n u a l l yi m p r o v e d t h e a c o u s t i c p e r f o r m a n c eo f t h e
g r a m o p h o nb
e u t a l s ot h e f o r t u n e so f t h e c o m p a n i e a
s n d t h e p e o p l ew h o w e r e r e s p o n s i b lfeo r i t s
f i n a n c i avl i a b i l l t yW
, E a r Et a k e nw e l l u p t o m o d r nt i m e sa n d i n 1 9 6 3 ,f o r i n s t a n c ew, e f i n dt h e m a j o r r e c o r dc o m p a n i e tsr y i n gt o e v a l u a t ea m a r k e tt a k i n gi n s u c hb e s t - s e l l e ra. s E l v i sP r e s l e yA. n d
t h e n ,s t a t e sM r , G e l a t t ," t h e B e a t l e sa p p e a r e da n d a l l b e t s w e r e o f f . "
The book Includee32 pageaof photographg,
and lt offerea faeclnatlngwealth of dEtailon thE
sdvancEg
i n m e c h a n l c arle c o r d l n gw h i c h - s t m m e fdr o m E d i s o n ' so r i g i n e tl i n f o i lp h o n o g r a p h ,
A P R I L1 9 7 8
466
NEWS
AND
N E W K I T E D I T SA N D R E P A I R SC A S S E T T E S
Have you ever had the misfortune to suffer from a jammed oi
broken 6assettetape - your favourite top pop oi expensive
orchestralconcertsunplayable, perhaps even irreplaceable?
If so,3M United Kingdom Ltd. have just introduced the very
thing to get you out of trouble: the Scotch CassetteEditing and
Repair Kit.
This - like all brilliant ideas- is simple.and is easvto use.
becausethe cassettedoesnot have to be unscrewedand opened
for the tape to be repaired. Furthermore,it can be us6d for
editing recordedtapes.
The kit consistsof a pencil-like splicing block that contains
adhesive-tippedpolyester strips. These strips are inserted into
the cassette,and pick up the tape ends.Splicing is simplified by
meansof splicingtabs and cutting guidesat 45ofor normal splicing and 90ofor close editing, giving a professionalfinish.
The ScotchEditing and Repair Kit is now availablefrom outlets whererecordsare sold, major departmentstoresand hi-fi
equipmentretailers.The suggested
retail price is fl.52 + VAT.
F E R R A N TII. C . C O M P E T I T I O N
The Ferranti "Win A Rollei" competitionfor integrated

circuits application designs,was enthusiasticallyreceived
and from-an initial responseof cver 800, a short list of 45
entrieswas prepared,i5 for each product. Classwinners
eachreceiveda^RolleiA110 camerdcurrently worth r100.
For the competition,Ferranti chosethree of their integratedcircuits.
The first the ZN425E,an 8 bit dual modeA-D/D-A converter which includesnot onlv the R-2R ladder network
and precisionswitches,but als6a 5MHz counterand a 2jV
precision
voltagereference.
'
The secondtne ZNfOg4E, a precisionanaloguetimer
which coverstiming periods from millisecondsto weeks,
and which features-liighcurrent drive with low internal
currentconsumption;it is capableof repetitiveor cascade
operationand can work directly from a battery or any
marnsvoltage.
The third the 2N1040E, a universal 4 digit display
counter,this is capableof countingfrom DC to 8 MHz with
directinterfacingto LED displays;it hasup to 80mA drive
per segmentand includessuchfunctionsas automaticmulpower on reset,and
iiplexing,automaticzerosuppression,
cascadingby diYectconnection.
"Win Rollei" competia

The judges and prizewinners of the Ferranti
tion for integrctad circuit application designs
466
R A D I O& E L E C T R O N I C S
E X HI B I T I O N
This is the title adopted by the
Northern Radio Societiesfor their
annual exhibition to be held at Bell
Vue, Manchester on Sunday 2nd
April commencingat 11 a,m.
The organisers, who represent
various raiiio societiesin the North
of Eneland,recognisethat there is a
growiig trend towards the use of
micro-processorsin amateur radio
and this interest will be cateredfor
particularly by some of the trade
exhibitors.
As in previousYears- amateur
radio ani commrinications equipment will still constitute the larger
oart of the exhibition, and a coniiderable number of components
suopliers will also be represented.
NnSn club members will have
their own individual club stands.
Someof thesewill be showinghome
constructionprojects and a trophy
will be awariled for the best club
stand.
Other hiehliehts will include a
Grand Raffle, an Inter-Club Quiz, a
Construction Contest and exhibits
bv the RadioAmateurs'EmergencY
Network (RAYNET) and
UKFMGW and NWRG radio
reoeatersroups.(For the Construction Confest iules send a stamped
envelopeto: Mr. John D.
addressed
Clifford. 22 iubilee Court,
Bramhall Drive, Holmes Chapel,
Crewe, CheshireCW4 7HA).
Talk-in facilitieswill be provided
for FM mobiles on 145 MHz
channelsS22, S0, RG and on 433
MHz channels SU8, SU20, RB4
and RB14 via GB3NRS and
GsNRS/A.
RADIO AND ELEOTRONICSCONSTRUCTOR
COMMENT
E L E C T R O N IICG N I T I O NK I T
Automotive electronicignition is rapidly gaining
as more peoplerealisethe benefits that
nonularitv
-offer.
These include optimum economy
it has to
and performance, easier starting and reduced
malntenance.
Generally however,if you require a goodsystem
to fit to your existing car, then you have to b-u-ya
unit nribed between about e23 and 40. Now
Surefire Electronic Systems,who sell their ready
built capacitive discharse svstem for e31.50plus
VAT. arêoffering it in kit foim for only e15.75and
this fizure incluiies VAT, post and packing.
ThiS unit includes a switch enabling you to
switch from electronic to conventional ignition or
to isolatethe icnition circuit completely as an antitheft device. The unique featur:eof the Surefire
unit is a plug-in circuit module. If for any reason
the unit n'eed3servicingthen only the circuit board
has to be returned to $urefire leaving the casestill
on the vehicle and the car running on conventional
imition. The board and edge connector contacts
are all eold plated for reliability.
A cr"eat deal of thought has gone into the
prepaiation of this kit as if inciudesall of the combonints neededand even the solder. All informaiion that one could want is supplied for assembly
- inThe Surefire electronic ignition sYstem' Left to right

side of tid with ptug-in cicuit module' unit in bo'c complete
and fault finding, from a circuit diagram to an

operation description. All parts are covered by a
twelve-monthszuarantee.
The kit is aiailable from: Surefire Electronic
Systems, Piccadilly Place, London Road, Bath
BA1 6PW.
P O L D HU 7 5 t h A N N I V E R S A R YM E S S A GE S
As reported in Radio Topics in this is-sue,the
75th An;iversary of the firit two-way radio communication withihe USA was commemoratedwith
messagesfrom US President Jimmy Carter and
Italian PresidentGiovanniLeoneand werereceived on 19th January by the CornishRadio Amateur
Club radio station,GBSMSA,at Poldhu,Cornwall.
75 v e a r s p r e v i o u s l v P r e s i d e n t T h e o d o r e
Rooseveltfirst'usedthe Marconi wirelessto senda
messaseto King Edward VII from a station in
Cape eod and E'dwardVII replied via the Poldhu
station in Cornwall.
President Jimmy Carter, in his messagefrom
The White HohSe,dfter quoting the text of the 1903
messages
said:
"Th;t exchange marked a milestone in the
historv of communications. Since then we have
built on the invention of the distinguishedItalian
physicist
GuglielmoMarconi--andothers,a global
-communication
systemthat allows instant contact,
not onlv betweenHeadsof State,but peopleof all
it is fitNationi. In recallingthat historicmessage,
tine that we comm-emoratethat event both with
era*titudefor the wav in which science and
have helpeiito unite us, and with ferEneineerins
veit hope5that such communicationswill serve
the futrire course of peace and human progress
everywhere"'
aicned Jimmv carter
President,United States
The text of the replv bv station GB3MSA,
Cornwall.to PresidentCirter via stationKMlCC
at South.Wellfleet,CaPeCod was:
"Thank you for your message received at
Poldhu.We-reciprocaiethe sentimentsexpressed
APRIL 1978
and look forward to continued progressin international communications and goodwill as

bv GuelielmoMarconi."
oioneered
'
Our coneratulationsto the Cornish Radio
Amateur Cfub on stagingsuch a successfulcommemorationof this historic event.
"Mine's
invisibte
hair
what's yours?"
467
SUGGESTED
CIRCUIT
STOP-START
MULTIVIBRATOR
By G. A. French
One of the easiestrelexation oscillators to design is the symmetrical bipolar transistor multivibrator, the basic circuit of which
is shown in Fig. 1. Due to the very
high level of regenerationgiven at
the changeoverpoints in th1 cycle,
roughlyapproachingthe productof
the gains of the two transistors,the
multivibrator will oscillatewith a
very wide range of capacitor and
resistorvalues.
,,STICKING''
It is still neverthelesspossibleto
make up a multivibrator which
"sticks", or refuses
to start, when
its power supply is turned on. The
most common c'ausesof "sticking"
are too high or too low a value of
basebias resistorfor one or both of
the transistors. If a base bias
resistorhastoo hieh a valuethe corresponding
transistorcannotdraw a
collectorcurrent sufficiently large
to .producean.adequatenegativegolng excursron(assumlng a
positiveupper rail, as in Fig. 1) at
the oppositebase.And ifa basebias
resistor value is'too small the corresponding transistor approaches,
or goesinto, saturation and cannot
function as an amplifier.
-that It is not
generally realised
advantage
can be taken of this last effect to
producea multivibrator which may
Fig.
l.
A
standard
symmetrical
multivibratoL
Points concerning the value
of R3 are discussed in the
text
,.,
!e started by pressing one pushbutton and stopped by pressinga

secondpush-button.
Let us assumethat, in Fig. 1, R3
has a value which is so low that TR2
is nearly saturated. If the supply
voltage is allowed to gradually increase from zero to its full voltage,
insteadof beins applied abruptlv.
TR2 will be near'lv saturated is
soon as the supply 'ioltagepassesa
level which allows a meaningful
collector current to t'low. TR1 will
also be conductive, but nowhere
near the saturation level, and the
final result when the supply potential is at its full levelis that both the
cross-coupling capacitors will be
charged to low. voltagesqnly. The
multivibrator does not start under
theseconditionsbecausethe nearlv
saturatedTR2 cannot amplifv and
because it therefore breaki the
regenerationloop in the circuit.
If, now, the base of TR2 is
short circuited to the negativerail,
TR2 will be turned ofi and its
collectorvoltagewill rise, via R4, to
the full supply voltage.C2 in cons-equencebecomescharged. When
the short-circuit is removed, the
collector of TR2 eoes rapidlv
negative,takine TR1 base simjlarlv
negativeby wa-yof the chareedCf.
TRI turns off, its collector goes
positive,and Cl charges.When C2
has discharged suffiiiently, TRI
turns on againand its collectorgoes
negative, causing TR2 base to so
negative also. Since Cl has bedn
charged. the negative excursion at
TR2--baseis nori sufficient, despite
the low value of R3, to turn olf ihis
transistor and cause C2 to charse
once more. The multivibrator will
continue to run quite reliably in
this manner,and it hasbeenstarted
by_ temporarily short-circuiting
TR2 base to the nesative rail.
The multivibratoi can be caused
to stop again by short-circuitrlg TR2
collector to the nesative rail. This
breaks the regeieration loop,
whereupon TRl becomesconductive with a collectorcurrent governed by the value of its base bias
resistor,and the voltagesacrossthe
capacitatorsfall to the previouslow
levels. The multivibrator remains
in the stopped condition after the
short-circuit has been removed.but
it will start again if TR2 base is
momentarily short-circuited to the
negativerail.
WORKING CIRCUIT
A practical workins circuit which
utilides the effect is dven in Fie. 2.
Here,Rl, R2, R4, Ci and C2 ar-ein
the same circuit positionsthat they
held in Fig. 1, whilst R3 is no'i
replacedby a fixed resistorin series
with the pre-set variable resistor,
VRl. Also, the base-emitterjunction of a third transistor, TR3, has
been interposed between the
emitter of TRl and the negative
rail. When during the multivibrator
cycle TRl turns on, so also does
TR3. The onlv function of TR3 is to
drive a paii of high resistance
headphones without entering the
multivibrator circuit proper. The
rather low supply voltage of 4.5
volts is emploved to avoid complications due io the 5 volt maximum reverse base-emitter voltage
rating of the 8C107. (This rating
is, incidentally, given as 6 volts in
some data sources.)
VR1 has been previouslv set uo
for the desired stop-start functiori,
with the result th-at. when on-off
switch 33 is closed, the sudden
application ofthe supply causesthe
multivibrator to start. It producesa
loud tone at around 700H2 in the
headphonesand can be causedto
stop bv momentarilv oressine52. If
51 is next pressed,the multifrbrator
commencesto run again as soonas
this push-button is released.
Further stopping and starting can
be achieved by pressing the appropriate push-buttons.
To set up the circuit, VR1 is in-
itiallv adiusted to insert maximum

resislanceinto circuit after which
53 is closed.The multivibrator will
thenrun. The resistanceinsertedby
VR1 is slowlv decreaseduntil the
multivibratofstops. VRl is then set
back to insert a slightly higher
resistance,whereuponit should be
found possibleto start and stop the
means of th6 two
multivibrator bv
-Experimental
push-buttons.
adjustmentsof VRl around this point
will reveal a fairly wide range of
resistancevalues which allow the
push-buttonsto exert control, and
VR1 is finally left at a settingin the
centre of this range. It may be
foundthat, at someIettings of VRr,
the multivibrator mav not alwavs
start when Sl is closedalthoughthe
push-buttons still control circuit
bperation.Such settings,which will
be near the endsofthe rangewhich
give control, are best avoided.
APPLICATIONS
Apart from its interest, the circuit has a number of practical
applications.It can, for instance,be
used to detect momentarv shortcircuits.in suspectequiprirentby
connectlngthe negatlve rall to one
side of the circuit concernedand
either the base or the collector of
TR2 to the other side. The multivibrator will then either start or
stop when the momentary shortcircuit occurs.The sound from the
headphones,if laid on the bench,
will be quite loud enough to be

heard in- average workshop conditions. The headphonesshould be
4,000O types,with 2,000O in each
phone. Alternatively, a single
2,000fl headphoneon its own can
be connectedbetween the positive
rail and the collectorof TR3.
The current drawn from the 4.5
volt supply, with 4,000o
headphones,
is about 1.7mA when
the multivibrator is running, and
2.8mA when it is stopped. With a
single 2,000o headphone the
currents are approximately 2.5mA
and 3.6mA respectively.
The alternative output circuit
shown in Fig. 3 can be used if a
much louder output is required. In
this circuit the emitter of TR1 is
returned direct to the negativerail,
and the third transistor. connected
as an emitter follower,now has its
base coupled to the collector of
VRt
25m
Lin.
C3
IOOpF
IOVwkg
TRg
Bc ro7
rRl
Bcro7
oI
a,'
F-.,
^t-
2-\b
o o\
\_/.
Fig. 2. A
rnz
R, - Ro l/a wort roo/o

VRI scetcxt
BC tO7
Leod-outs
circuit in which the muftidbffi
canu!r1::""d
and stopped by pressing the ap-
Torkine
This setting-up procedure may

seema Iittle complicatedbut in practice it can be carried out quite
quickly. The adjustment of VR1
will hold good for battery voltages
downto some3.8 volts or lower,and
it hasvery goodlongterm stability.
So f'ar as componentsare concerned,the only part which requirescommentis VRl itself.Since
this potentiometercan passa track
currentof about 4mA when it is insertinga very low resistanceit re-.
quiresa wattagerating of 0.4 watts.
In consequence
it shouldbe a stanpotentiometer
dardpanel-mounting
and not a skeletontvpe. A 22krt
potentiometermav be used if it is
iound difficult to obtain a 25kO
component.
APRIL19?8
Fig. 3. An alternative drive

circuit suitable for connection to a loudspeaker
TR1. This circuit will drive a

speaker having an impedance of
70O to 80O and gives battery
economvsince the third transistor
is turneil off when the multivibrator
is stopped.Current consumptionis
about 2mA when the multivibrator
is stopped, rising to some 40mA
when the oscillatoris runnine. This
o u t p u tc i r c u i tc o u l db e u s e dt o d r i v e
high resistance headphones, if
desired,at the savingof a milliamp
or so when the multivibrator is
stopped.
The circuit of Fig. 3, with the
speaker,could be used as a door
alarm, S1 beingpressedby a caller
and 52 being pressedby the occupant to subsequently silence the
alarm.
I
469
SINEWAVE
SIGNALINJECTOR
By R.J. Caborn
tqaeior i*+otpotitln'g a,readily availabla

io*t,u.i. sigiir
Low
, ,:, ,,,r
:.
'
: : : , : , t i U f i e f 6 . f # I G f , ., , , r
A.F. oscillators with outputs capable of being

attenuated can be useful items of test equipment.
A common practice here is to take advantageof
relaxation oscillatorsemploying such devicesas
the 555timer i.c. or a unijunctiontransistor.These
oscillatorsprovideoutputswhich are,with the 555,
closeto beihgsquarewavesor which are,with a unijunctiontransistor,voltagespikesspacedout at an
audio frequencv.
Relaxatjon dscillators have the advantage of
simplicity,but they alsohavethe disconsiderable
advantagethat the outputsare rich in harmonicsof
the fundamental frequency.These can give rise to
misleadingresults when th-eyare used for checking
\
sometypes of audio equipment.
SINE WAVE OSCILLATOR
An a.f. oscillatorwhich producesa reasonablv
pure sine wave doesnot suffer from this last disadvantage, and it can be made up with only a few
more componentsthan are required for a relaxation oscillator.Normallv. sine wave oscillatorsare
eitherofthe phaseshiftiype or they incorporatean
LC circuit resonant at the oscillator frequency.
The circuit to be describedin this short articleis of
the LC tvpe. The inductance is provided bv a
readily availableiransformer,this 6eingthe Eigle
outr-ruttransformer tvne LT700.
The signalinjector"circuitis givenin the accompanying diagram.The 9 volt supply is droppedto
around 4 volts by R2 before being applied to the
collectorof TRl via half the primary winding of
T1. C1 functionsas a bypasscapacitor.The end of
the primary remote from the collectorcouplesto
the baseof tRt via C2 and VR1, thus providing
the positive feedback necessary for oscillation.
470
Feedbacklevel is adjustedby VR1. The primary of

T1 is tuned by C3 to resonateat approximately
1kHz.
Resisfors
(All fixed values i watt 70%)
Rl 47k o
R2 4.7ka
R3 470 (t
VRI 100ko pre-setpotentiometer,skeleton
VR2 lko potentiom-eter,
linear
Capacitors
Cl 47uF electrolytic,f0 V. Wkg.
C2 0.01pF plastic foil
CS 0.0221tFplastic foil (seetext)
C4 0.047pFplastic foil
C5 47pF electrolytic,10 V. Wkg.
Transformer
T1-output transformertype LT700 (Eagle)
TransLstors
TRl BC1O7
TR2 BC1O7
Switches
S1 s.p.s.t.tossle
52 s.p.d.t.toggle
Socket
SKl phono or jack socket
{.'m}".
LT7@
Bottomvicw
VR1 and R1 form a d.c. potential divider which,

in companywith R3, causesTRl to passa collector
current of about lmA. R3 has no bypasscapacitor
across it, and the consequentne{ative feidback
improvesthe oscillator waveform. The collector of
TFil connectsdirectlv to the base of the buffer
amplifier, emitter foilower TR2. When 32 is in
position-1 the sine wave on TR1 collectorappears
acrossthe output attenuator VR2, from the slider
of which the signal is taken to the output
socket
via C4. Since the collector of TRl is at an
average voltage of about 4 volts, that at the
emitter of TR2 is about 3.4 volts, causing an
averagecurrent to flow in VR2 of some 3.4mA.
When 52 is set to position 2 the emitter of TR2 is
taken out of circuit and this transistor merelv
presentsa reversebiasedbase-collectoriunction to
TRI collector.At the sametime. 52 connectsVR2
to the secondaryof T1, allowine a stepped-down
version of the iine wave at THl collecior to be
applied
to the potentiometer.
The total cuirent consumption is a little in ex-,
cessof 4mA when 52 is i! position 1, falling to approximately 1mA when 32 in in position I.
DESIGN POINTS
_ It is necessaryfor the supplv for TRl to be lower
than that for TR2 becausi fhe potential on the
collector of TRl rises above its iupplv notential
during positive oscillatorv half-cvcl6s'.thjs rather
surprisingeffect is due to the facl that on nesative
half-cycles the collector voltase is equal io its
supply potential (acrossC1) lesl the voltaeeacross
the lower half of the transformer primar!, whilst
on positive half-cycles the voltise acioss the
transformerwindgs assiststhe supply potential. If
thecentre-tapof T1 primary were cbnnicted to the
samepositivesupply as TR2.collector,TR2 simply
could not amplify the positive half-cvcles.
It is found that the p6ak value of thi alternatine
voltageat TR-l colle-ctoris approximately 2.b voltsl
I'h samevoltage should be given with other circuits incorporating the Eagle transformer
speciflred.
The transformer has aitep-down ratio of
1.2ko to 3.2o, which is very neaily equal to an
APRIL 1978
impedancestep-downof 400:1.The corresponding

turns ratio betweenthe whole of the primaiv to the
secondaryis therefore 20:1, and that of lialf the
primary to the secondary10:1. As a result, a peak
voltageof one-tenthof that available at the co-llect9q, i.e..0.25volt, is applied to 52 at position 2 of
this switch.
The Eagle LT700 transformer used in the
prototype signalinjector is the printed circuit tvpe.
with. connectionspills projecting at the underjide.
'l'herr
layout is shown inset in the diasram. If the
transformer employed is the version liaving flexible lead-out wi1es,they leave the bobbin wlth the
same layout. The transformer is manufactured as
an output'transformer rather than as an oscillator
transformer, with the result that there mav be
small differencesin primary inductance betfreen
one transformer and the next. Becauseof this it
may be necessaryto alter the value of CS to obtain
a fre.quency at ar-ound lkHz. Increasing the
capacitdncelowers the frequencv. and vice versa.
Also, there appear to be a riumb6i of transformers
on the market which are labelled "LT?00" but
which- may not be of Eagle manufacture. Such
transformers may also necessitatechangesin the
value of C3.
To set up the circuit, the slider of VR1 should be
adjustedfully to the positiveend of its track, 52 set
to position 1 and VR2 adjusted for maximum output. A pair of high resistanceheadphones,or the
input of an a.f. amplifier, is connectedto SK1. The
simal injector is then switched on at 51, and the
sli{er of'VRl moved slowly along its trdck away
fr6m the positiveend. After somefravel a weak oslcillation will be heard. this buildins uD into a
strong oscillation as thA slider is mo"vedfurther.
The correct'setting of VRl is that just after the
strong oscillation appears. If it is necessaryto
changethe value of C3, VR1 should be set up again
with the new capacitor.
The setting of VR1 should hold good for all
batterv voltagesdown to 6 volts. The outnut neak
voltag6 will, of course, be reduced wit6 supply
potentials aB low as this.
I
47I
5O:5OOUTPUTFROM
THE 555
ByJ. R.Davlcr
M A K I N G T H E 5 5 5 A S O U A R EW A V E G E N E R A T O R
The 555 timer i.c., when employedin its standard astablemultivibrator configuration,appears
in the circuit shownin Fig. 1. In this the capacitor
Cl chargesvia Rl and R2 until the voltageacrossit
via
reachestwo-thirdsof VCC, and then discharges
R2 until the voltage across it falls to one-third
VCC.As such,it is impossiblefor the 555output to
be a square wave b6causethe capacitor has to
chargeiia two resistorsand to dischargevia only
one.
In his article "Headsor Tails?".which appeared
in the April 1977 issue,the auihor desiribed a
methodof modifying 555 circuit operationby adpotentiometerand resistoras in Fig.
ding a pre-set
^potenti6meter
slideris taken positiveof half
Z.fhe
supply'voltage,with the result thaf the length of
th6'charge d6ctionof the multivibrator cylle is
reducedand that of the dischargesectionis increased.The potentiometercan be adjustedsuch
that the 555 oirtput,at pin 3, is a true 50:50square
wave. It should be noted that when the potentiometer has been set up the 555 output will be
50:50whatevervalue,within reason,is givento the
capacitor.(In the previousarticlethe circuit ofFig.
2 offereda frequencyof about lHz, and the component valuesused in it are includedto eive an idea
of the resistancesinvolved.)
r{-}s
^J
L.
555
Top vrcw
Fig. l. The standard 555 astable multivibrator

circuit cannot produce a square wave
APRIL i978
+
Rr :
4 7kn:
, lookn
R z i
lOOkn:
470kn
E
)ff
Output
J'
cr r
I
llF
Fig. 2. A circuit modification which allows a

sguare wave to be given
CHECKINGOUTPUT
The 555 output waveform mav be checkedbv
meansof an aciurate oscilloscope
or, more simply,
with the aid of a voltmeter.In the latter case.no
load is connectedto the outout and a voltmeter
connectsbetweenpin 3 of the i.c. and the negative
rail asin Fig. 3. The voltmetercan consistof a multimeter offeringa sensitivityof 10,000o per volt or
better which is switchedto a suitablevolts range.
When the 555 output is low under these conditions it is virtually'at zeropotentialwith respect
to the negativerail. When it is high, it is about 1.2
volts negative of the positive rail, due to the
Dresence of two internal emitter followers in
landem. To set up the potentiometerof Fig. 2 the
output is taken to its high state, by temporarily
connectingpins 2 and 6 to the negativerail, and the
output voltageis noted.The multivibrator is next
allowedto run, and the potentiometeris then set
up so that the voltmeterreadingis preciselyhalf
the noted high output voltage.The 555 output is
then a 50:50 squarewave.
The writer recentlv returned to the question of
obtaininga 50:50 sqirarewave from tne SSS,anA
473
this time he usedthe circuit shown in Fig. 4. Here

the potentiometerand added resistor of Fig. 2 are
rephced by the single resistor, R3. As w-ith the
previous arrangement, R3 increases the charge
rate of the capacitor and decreasesthe discharge
rate.
Can the value of R3 be calculatedin terms of Rl
and R2? The author has found that it can and with
quite a high degreeof accuracy.
oarallel with R3. In Fie. 5(b) the capacitor is disthargine and the dischargecurrent is that flowing
in R2 minus that flowine in R3. If we now sav that
the two capacitor currenltsof Figs. 5(a) and (b) are
+vcc
+vcc
R E S I S T A N C EV A L U E S
When in Fig. 4 the capacitor charges,charge
current flows into it via Rl and R2 in series,and
via R3. When the capacitor discharges,the dischargecurrent flows into R2, whilst a competing
smailer charse current flows via R3. Bofh th6
charge and d-ischargevoltagesfollow exponential
curves,which arc fairly linear betweenthe limits of
one-third and two-thirds of VCC. Let us assume
that the curves ore linear and then examine the
currents which flow when the capacitor voltage is
exactly one-half of VCC.
In Fig. 5(a) the capacitor is charging and the
chargingcurrent flows via the sum of Rl and R2 in
( R r +R : ) + R e
toC r:txl+x2rx3
(o)
r " cK2+ H3- :

(b)
Fig. 5(a). Circuit conditions when the capacitor

charges (b).The junction of Rl and R2 is taken
to the negative rail by the 555 whan the
capacitor discharges
R1
RJ
I
555
k.l
Put
I
icr
Fig. 4. Another
method of obtaining
wave output
a sguara
equal at the half supply voltage condition, our

assumptionof linear capacitorvoltagecurvesleads
us on to state that the vilues of Rl, R2 and R3 will
then be such that the 555 givesa true 50:50output.
This is so, because the circuit conditions are
symmetrical, so far as currents are concerned,
about the half supply voltage point.
'Since
the same voltase (one-half of VCC)
appears acrossthe resistancesconcernedin both
Itiis. 5(a) and (b) the voltages cancel out,
wh-ereuponthe currents become directly proportional t-othe reciprocalsof the resistances.In Fig.
5(a) the capacitor current is proportional to the
reciprocaloi the sum of R1 and R2 in parallel with
R3,^whilst in Fig. 5(b) the current is jrroportional
to the reciprocafof R2 minus the reciprocalof R3.
( R 1+ R 2 ) + R 3
(R1 + R2)R3
1
R3
R1.R2
2
R3
1 _ 1
R2
R3
1 _ 1
R2
R3
1 _ _ 1
R1+R2
R2
R1
R2(R1 + R2)
R3
When R1
R3
2R2(R1 + R2)
R1
R2
4R1
The calculationsshown inset reveal that. for

50:50 operation,the value of R3 is then equal to
.2R2
(R1+R2)
R1
Thus, if Rl is, say, 10ko and R2 is 50kn , the bbb
1v!!. give a. 50:50 output_when R3 is equal to
600ko . The value- of RB may be siiirilarly
calculated for any other values of Rt and R2.
SPECIAL CASE
A special and very neat case is given when Rl
and R2 have the samevalue,and the equationinvolved is also shown in the inset. As can be seen.
the result is {hat R3 is equal to 4 times Rl. If it is
desiredto make the circuit of Fig. 4 a squarewave
generator, Rl and R2 can be, for instance, each
20ko , whereuponR3 is 80ko .
The writer his checkedout theseresults in practice and has found that the calculatedvalue for R3
was, in all instances,within some27aof that needed for true 50:50 operation.Anv error introduced
by assuminglinear chargeand dischargecapacitor
voltage-curvesis, therefole, of a low oriler. Bearing
in mind the fact that the internal 555 comparatoi
potential divider resistorsmust themselveshave a
fairl.y wide tolerance, theseresults can be of quite
significant help to the 555 circuit designer.
I
CAN ANYONE HELP?

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

numbers
Feb.-July f 967 - Paul Raven,57 Bronwen
Court, Grove End Road, St. John's Wood,
London NW8. - To borrow or purchase.
COSSOR OSCILLOSCOPE MODEL

lO49 - Paul Tomlinson, 27 Peplins Way,
BrookmansPark, Hatfield, Herts.- Any information, service manuals or circuit
diagramsto buy or borrow.
ERSKINE 13A OSCILLOSCOPE - J.

M. G. R. Martin, 7 Hurrell Road,
Kenilworth, Bulawayo,Rhodesia- Manual
or circuit diagram with componentvalues.
HEA'THKIT
LABORATORY
OSCILLOSCOPE O-12U - D. Coxell,17
CaenbyRoad,S. Humberside- to borrow or
buy circuit and or rnanual.
CODAR P.R.30 (l valve) Preselector

- K. Armstrong, 11 Woodville Gardens,
Ruis.lip,Middlesex - Coil and switch connectronswantect.
DULCI Valve Amplifier Model DPIO

- G. W. Barrow, 60 Bledisloe Crescent,
Wainuiomata, New Zealand- Any infbrmation.
APRIL 1978
O VIETNAM
Hanoi on 645O at 1520,YL with songs,local
music, OM announcerin Vietnamese.This is the
DomesticService1st Programmewhich is scheduled on this channel from 2055 to 1630. Other fiequenciesusedby this serviceare 4944,7375 and
10060. A further channelis that of 3998 but having a slightly differing schedulefrom 1045 to
1430and from 2200to 0058.All programmesare,
of course,in Vietnamese.
The DomesticService2nd Programme operates
on 643O, 7415,9987 and on 1O225 ftom 2245
through to 1600, all programmes being in Vietnamese, although there are English language
lessonsfrom 2300to 2315and from 1415to 1430.
Anotherchannelis that of 4995, the schedulebeing from 0930 to 1430 and from 2245 to 0100.
Hanoi on 4944 at 1518,YL with songs,local
music - seeabove.
O THAILAND
. &gaio Thailand, Bangkok,on 4830 at 1583,YL
in Thai followedby local-typemusic at lbg5. With
a -powgrof 10kW, this one operatesfrom 2300 to
1600daily.
. SRI LANKA
Colomboon a measured4902 at 1522.YL with
songsin Sinhala,YL announcer.This is ihe Home
Service1 in Sinhala,having a schedulefrom 1080
to 1715and from 0015to 0230.On full-moondates
the transmitter is continuouslv on the air fiom
0930 to 0230.The power is 10liW.
O NEPAL
Radio Nepal on 50O4.5 at 1511,YL with a
newscast of local events in English. Listed on
5007, this one has a schedulefrom 1150to 1720
and from 0020to 0350.The programmein English
is from 1435 to 1520. The power is 5kW and a
parallel channelis that of 3426.
O BURMA
Rangoonon a measurcd 4724 at 1434, OM in
Burmese,local songsand music. The scheduleis
from 1030to 1500and the poweris 50kW. (Listed
4726).
scheduledfrom 1230 to 1740 (except the Foreign

Service transmission from 1300 to 1530). The
English programme is listed from 1400 to 1430.
The power is 100kW.
O CHINA
- _Radio P"\ittg on 7O8Oat 2000,YL in English to
North and West Africa, scheduled from 1930 to
2030.
__Radio Peblng on 7620 at 2035,YL in English to
North and West Africa, scheduled from 2030 to
2130.
- Radio Peking on 992O at 1150,OM with songsin
the DomesticServiceMinoritv ProgrammeSer:vice
to. Tib_et,scheduled from 1100 to 1155. Sign-ofi'
with "Internationale" at 1155.
Radio Peking on 1165O at 0930, OM in Standard Chineseto South East Asia. scheduledfrom
0900 to 1000 on this channel.
Lanchow on 4865 at 1525, YL with songs in
Chinese, orchestral music. The schedule of- this
regionaltransmitter is from 0950 to 1600, 2120 to
0100 and from 0320 to 0600.
&adio Peking on a measured4883 at 1450,OM
in Russian.This is the ForeignServiceoperatingin
Russian and Mongolian, scheduled fro'm f 00d'to
2300.
Urumchi on 497O at 7423. YL in the Kazakh
programme,scheduledfrom 1400 to 1455.
O INDIA
Delhi on 486O at 1527,OM with a newscastin
Hindi. This is a transmissionin the Home Service,
scheduledfrom 1030 to 1215. 7445 to 1810 anci
from 0245 to 0400.The -at
power is 10kW.
Hyderabad on 48OO
fSaS, OM in Arabic.
Iocal-type music. The schedule is from 1200 to
1830with newscastsin English at 1230and 1S80.
The power is 10kW.
O COLOMBIA
RadioSurcolombianaon 5O1Oat 0350,OM with
announcementsin Spanish, many mentions ol'
Colombia.With a 24-hourschedule,this one has a
power of 2.5kW.
La Yoz del Norte on 4876 at 0300. OM with
identification, LA music and songs.A new station.
O CAMBODIA
Phnom-Penhon a measured49O8 at 1455.a
programmeof local music, YL announcer.This is
the Home Servicewhich is scheduledfrom 0400to
0500,1100to 1600and from 2300 to 2400 on this
channel.The power is 50kW.
O VENEZUELA
Radio Sucre, Cumana, on a measured4959 at
0211, OM in Spanish, local-type music, jingles.
Schedule is frorir 100d to 0400'and the bowdr is
1kw.
Radio Bolivar,Ciudad Bolivar,on 477Oat 0150,
guitar music, jingles, songs in Spanish. The
schedule is from 1000 to 0300 and the power is
1kw.
. UGANDA
Kampala on a measured5O26 at 2020, Iocal
music, OM announcer,YL's with songsin typical
local-style. The National Programme has a
schedulefrom 0300to 1130and frbm 1300to 2110
weekdaysand from 0300to 2110on Saturdayand
Sunday.The power is ?.5kW.
O COSTA RICA
Emisora Radio Reloj, San Jose, on a measured
4832 at 0203,YL with soDgs,OM announcer.The
scheduleis around the cloc}"andthe power is 1kW.
Sometimesidentifiesas Radio Capital.
O AFGHANISTAN
Kabul on a measured4774 at 1443,YL with
songs,OM announcer.This is the Home Service1,
. NOW HEAR THIS

Radio Chinchaycocha,Junin, Peru, on 486O at
0417, OM in Spanish, Andean flute music, announcementsmuffled owingto echoesin the studio.
476
FORDX LISIENERS
By Frank A. Baldwin
tt*;;,'*,GMf
Information concerning-cladesline
stations may
be of interest to some rea-dersand the hope is thai
even more will be interested after the next few
parrlgraplrshave been read by them.
The "Voice of Lebanon" currently operating on
655O from 0455 to 0930.in Arabic ind from t*tOO
to 2100 in Arabic, Armenian; French and
!!tto-qg_h
English, has_for some time been presenting a
r-t-ewscast
in English at 1745. The station is proPhalangist.
The "Voice of Arab Svria" is reported as
operatingon 6OqO and 9510 from 0b00 to 0600;
0800 to 0900 and from 1800 to 1900.
"Voice of the
One Lebanon" also uses the frequencies6O6O and 9510.
"Voice of the
Peopleof Burma" on 68O4 now
broadcastsin Burmese from 1330 to 1480.
REVERSED TAPE TRANSMISSIONS
Regularreaderswill recall that we dealt with the
subject of reversedtape transmissionsemanating
from Radio leking sbme while ago. To brie{l}
recap, these broadiasts are in Ruisian and thir
channel:quoted may vary up to 10kHz in attempts
to avorclrnterlerence.
For those who would like to 'have a go', the
scheduleis from 0900 to 0955 on 622O and on
826O and from 1830 to 1925 on 5O3O and on
6650.
-Should you considerthe above all a load of fun,
why not t_ryl74g0 at the unearthly hour of 0B0d
(until 0355 if you want to listen to five
programmes,eactra repeat of the first) when your
earswill be assailedbv a reversedtape transrnissionin the SSB mode- and the verv bist of luck to
you!
CURRENT SCHEDULES
O CUBA
"Radio Havana"
has an External Service in
wh.i.ch!hê English qrogramme for Europe is
radiatedfrom 2010 to-2I40 on 17886. An ev'ening
nrogrammein English to the Americas,often loggl
APRIL 1978
Fieg,iinc,ibs: l{t-{E
ed by U.K. Dxers, is from 2050to 2135on f 1865

and on 17750.
O CHINA
"Rq{i-o Peking"
broadcastsin English to Europe
^
from 2030 to 2130 on 6185, 6590;686O and on
759O; from 2130 to2230 on the samechannelsand
to North and West Africa from 2030 to 2130 on
5030,7O8O, 762O and on 947O.
O BANGLADESH
"$adio Bangladesh",
Dacca, beams
programmes in English to Europe from 1230 to
1300 on 15520 and on 1772O; also from 1815 to
1900on 9495 and on 11652.
. ARGENTINA
RAE (Radio Agentina al Exterior), Buenos
Aires, radiates a programme in English from 2300
to 2400 (Monday to Friday only) on 11710.
AROUND THE DIAL
O SOUTH AFRICA
Johannesburgon 4835 at 1910, OM with a
newscastof local and African events in English.
"from
This is the English Service which operates
Septemberto May on this channel from 0358 to
99?! (Sqturday from 0430, Sunday from 0500);
1l?9.!g 2115 (Saturday until 220b)'.The power is
100kw.
O CONGO
Pointe Noire on a measured 4843 at 2010. OM
in French.This transmitterrelaysBrazzavilleand
is scheduledon the air from 0400to 1200and fiom
1700to 2100.The power is 4kW.
O SPAIN
Madrid on 7155 at2122, programmein English
about Spanishagriculture.
THE EAID OF
OSCAR6
By Arthur C. Gee
It seemsthat the amateur radio

satellite OSCAR 6 must now be
"presumeddead".
From the beginningof 1977,concern for its future was felt, as its
batterv voltase began to fall and
one after anofher oTthe cells makins uo the batterv failed. It was
hdoedthat the period durins which
it would be in'maximum sunlight
would enableits solar panelsto give
the battery a real boost,so, to helP
this. the sdtellitewas turned off permanently for several weeks at a
time, for communicationPurposes.
However,the ailing batterY did not
respond to this treatment, and in
June, the telemetry failed entirely,
so that no more information on
what was happeningon board was
availableand it has not beenheard
since.
We are indebted to Martin
Sweetins.G3YJ0, the Director of
the Uniibrsitv of SurreYCommand
Station,for the graphs-reproduced
herewith. showingthe batterY
temperaiure and- the batterY
voltaeecounts from the beginning
of 1976up to the datewhenOSCAR
6 failed ih 19??.It shouldbe noted
in reading these charts, that the
numberslhown on the left hand
side of the charts are the telemetry
numbers transrhitted bY the
satellite.In the caseof the battery
temperature,the higher the count
number,the lower the temPerature.
As a suide to the actual values,a
countif 26 indicatesa temperature
of 57.3 degreesF, whilst a count of
44 indicat"esa temperature of 30.7
d"gt.e. F. In th-e case of the
count,the higherthe voltage.Count
0 indicatesI voltageof 6.4 volts,
whilst a count of 70 indicates a
voltageof 13.4volts.
It is interestingto note how the
batterv voltageimproved following
the controlon the useof the satellite
which came regularlY into action
when the U. o-f S. autocommand
equipment was brought into use.
OSCAR 6 will surelYgo down-in
the annuals of amateur radto
historv. as one of its most
remarkable achievements.It was
478
uNIWnSlrY S 9ffiEi
U O S _ F I " 1 STFE
TL E C O I ' 1 I ' 1 F N D
OSCBR.6TELEITETRY
AFfiERYIEXPERA]URE
3 0
SNIGNT
'INIM
S n T T E R{Y
w
NtGnT
IEI'lPERNTUR
mxlrun
taEEliY
l{00
Fnllm
rs00
c2{,0v1 ?0
s
3 8
$
S.eTTERY {
U O S _ F M S RTTE L E C O I l I 1 F N D
OSCNR-6TELEMETRY
COUNT
ffiY
V(lE
One must congratulate those who

the first of the amateqr radio combuilt it, and those who had the
munication satellites and was
responsibilitvfor controllingit, for
launched in October 1972, with a
the really superbjob theY made of
life-expectancv of one Year' It
t
activities.
their
t
o
1
9
7
7
1
t
h
r
o
u
g
h
lasted'howevei,
RADIO AND ELECTRONICSCONSTRUCTOR
Gigabit
Laser
Communication
A Bell System scientist adjusts tha opticat

m.odltlgtor which imprcsses I.OOO miiliin
bits
or tntormation on the laser beam. This
modulator is part of Bett.s new experimeniil
communication system. Similar sysferrrs,
employing laser light instead of microwaves
or
cahle, will be abte to carry hundreds
of
thousands of voice, television and data
channels simultaneously.
B y Mi chael Lor ant
Lbser bes :,benlhow,rbe modulated by I,OOO mitlion binary

dighr ber *eco-#. ,i-,, ,,.
R e - c e - na
t dvances in new types of hrgh
speedelectronic circuits have t etpi,fiicientists
at
B-êll
Systems,U.S.A.,to transmit f,OOO
mittion niis
or rnrormatlon(a nqabit) p.ersecondover a single
laserbea.m.This iJfiur to'fiveli;;]il;
ianabilitv
of previous communication'-meiffi ;-ffj";'.
e.quivalent
to trdnsmitting200 bo"k. ;;;;;cond or a
Irbrary ol' 50,000.volumEsin aboui T"ui
.ririrG.
^*l?^.-11._",ot th,r.s,,a communication system
ot.
:il]?yl"c, ]aser light provid.esthe prosp6ct
'signals
:,TlIllC_ q1," messages.and_ television
srmulraneously
in bundles about 10,000 t'imes
largerthan ls now possiblewith microwaves.
MULTIPLEXING
Until recently,relatively ,,slow" electroniccir_
of transmitting
::;::j:.r,.^:Tplovpa in the.proces.s
lnrormatlon-carrying
signalsoverlaserbeams.ThE
wlcrelyacceptedmethodfor increasinginfbrmation
rares-was to modulate a number of laser
beams
which were then muttipt;*;d;.;;o*Uii",i,
bt6:
tica-I.means. the high speed "i;;;;i;
enablei.nformationstieam'sto b;;;t;;i;."d circuits
elecprior to impre.ssing
th;;;;;-$i;sl;
lu;;.
lllll"r*f
p,l1p_ ll9 expenseand problems inherenl in op_
ucgl .multlplexingare then elimated.
hrgh speedcircuits are comprisedol fbur
^^:91t,.
semrconductor
switchesor gatesfabricatedin thin
APRIL 1978
ltl1
.Four different pulse srreams,
e
a c hTt:r"ltrips.
.
c
a
p
a
b
]
9
^
o
f h a n d l i n g 2 5 0 -m i l l i o n b i t s
(megaDlts)oI lnlormation
lre multiplexedby way
of the gatesinto a singlepulse
streanioftl"" g"igrUit
per secondcap-acity.This pulse stream is" im_
pressedon the laser beam by meansof
"' 'a crystal
device.called an "optical -olut"ior:;.
the .op^tica.lmodulator requires a
,_Ul$ln"tlly1
slgnat
levelof about
30 voltsto function
-bt;';;;Hlil;
el.licientlv.
ttr,"v,oltage
requiredis rggl;d
9lt
"etalon
oescrrDect
as
1unj.ng.'.This is a l.requency
filtering system which
etiriinales aii bu; one lie_
que?c.y- from the laser beam, ,"he.eupo.,
th1
resulting pure optical beam """ U" -ia,rt"t"a
satrstactorilywith only about5 volts sisnallevelai
rne modulator.lt then becomespossiblelbr both
opticaI signals-to inieract efiici entiy
:I._.,tli
the :llgl$
optrc?l.modulator,
and at approximatelythir
3l
sameultra-hrghspeed.
.. Once..modr]latdd,the laser beam acts as a
;;grrf.er." {or tf.q high speed.information signals,
multiplexedsignalsbeingrecovereaUy
ll:S,ltqtn?t
sop-hlstlcated
electroniccircuits at the receivinl
end. Thus, the gigabit laser commu;i;"ii;'ii"fi
enablesa number ol' alieadv verv hieh rate tndividual bit streamsto be cairied-Ji;;T;;""ouslv.
arrd without costly.and comple- "ptl;;i;;;ti;;:
tlon at,the transmittingend.
t
479
SWITCH-SFLECT
ENLARGER TIMEI
This enlarsertimer hasbeendesimedto provide
a ranseof timessuitablefor larsearid smal['which
nrints.
together with a quarter secdnd feature
providesthe precisionnecessarvfor applications
iuch as slideduplication.Time sitting ii by means
of switcheswhich gives high repeaTsetiing accuracy and easyadjustmentin the dark. The actual rangeof the unit is from 0 to 99 and threequarterssecondsin quarter secondincrements.It
can be usedto control an enlargerlamp having a
rating of 150 watts or less.
THE CIRCUIT
The circuit diagramof the unit appearsin Fig. 1
and, as will be apparent from thii,- the desigri is
basedon the popirlar 555 timer i.c. This conirols
the load, i.e. the'enlargerlamp, by way of a triac.
Cl is the timine capacitorand this is normallv held
dischargedby-thri internal transistor in tfie i.c.
whichconnectsto pin 7. Also.the i,c. output.at nin
3, is held low, When 51 is pressed,however,the
output is triggeredhigh and the short-circuit is
tak-enoff C1.t1 commlncesto charseexnonenially throughthe timing resistance.
This resistanceis
actually formed by a network of fixed resistors,
and it is discussedmore fully later on.
When, on pressing31, the 555 output goeshigh,
a gate current is passed to the triac by way of
current limiting resistorR4, and in consequence
the triac turns on. The triac is in serieswith the
mains.supplyand,theenlargcrlamp, and so power
is applied to the lamp via the triac.
As the potentialacrossC1 reachestwo-thirdsof
the supply voltage(assuminga standard555 circuit) the internal flip-flop in the i.c. is triggeredto
its previousstate,and the output at pin 3 goeslow
again,thereby causingthe triac and, in turn, the
enlargerlamp, to be turned off. At the sametime
the internaldischargetransistorin the i.c. turns on
and Cl is rapidly discharged.The circuit remains
in this state until S1 is once more closed.
The lensthof the timins periodis approximatelv
equalto 1.1CR(whereC i6in microfaiidsand R il
in megohms)and so theoreticallythe lengthof the
timing period can be set by choosingappropriate
valuesfor the timing resistanceand capacitance.
In practicethereis a problemheresincethe timing
capacitorwill requirea valuein the orderof tensof
microfaradsand this makesit necessarvto use an
electrolyticcomponent.Unfortunately,electrolytic
capacitorshave wide toleranceson-value, b6ing
typically plus 50% and minus l0% or even more,
whereuponit is impossibleto accuratelyset the
480
bv R.
,.,:.i1,,
, : ' : ,r.i
'li iilr:rilL
lo sr
! ^ s,o.,
RrE
3cz
r{'UTe
1 E
n{-F s
55s
Top vicw
Fig, l. The circuit of the switch-selection enlat
1N
[. Pcnfold
Switch
selection
of timing
periods
precise
affords
repeatability.
The three controls at the top of the panel
select tens of seconds,
seconds and fractions
of
seconds
urr;.c
I
\JMT2
TRt2A/4OO
Lsod-outs
er timer. The triac is a small device in a TO-5 can
APRIL 1978
timing period by choosingappropriatecomponent

values.
for the inaccuracy
Somemeansof compensating
of the timing capacitormust be incorporatedin the
design,and this is the purposeof R3. The slider of
R3 cqnnectsto a junction in an internal potential
divider in the i.c. which provides the reference
voltaee of two-thirds sunn'lv notential. with the
resuli that adjustmentsin Ri cfiangethis reference
voltase.The referencevoltasecan be reducedto
allouifor a timing capacitor-witha high value, or
increasedfor a timing capacitor having a low
value. Once R3 has been set up to accommodate
the particular timing capacitoremployedit is then
possibleto selectthe requisitevaluesfor the timing
resistornetwork.
The start circuitry around 51 is a little unusuai
and perhaps requires some further explanation.
Pin 2 of the i.c. must normallybe held high, and
this is the purposeof R2. Taking pin 2 low causes
the commencementof the timing period, but it is
important that pin 2 shouldbe returnedto the high
state before the end of the timing period as the
latter will otherwisebe elongated.To meet this requirement,51 doesnot connectpin 2 direct to the
negativerail but insteadconnectsit to that rail via
C2. Closing51 causespin 2 to be momentarily
taken low, but it will very quickly return to the
high stateasain as C2 chargesthroush R2. A brief
trfuger pulse is thus supplied to pin 2 of the i.c.
When 51 is released,
throughRl and
C2 discharges
is thereforeready for the next operation.
It may appearthat R2 hasan unusallylow value
and C2 a similarly high value. However,it was
found necessary
for the wiring in the circuit around
pin 2 to be at low impedance,as spurioustriggering
otherwisetended to be troublesome.
481
IH-SELECTION
IGER TIIWER
d to orovide
malf orints.
'which
ture
tpplications
ts Dymeans
setting acrk. The acand threeIt
:rements,
rp havinga
,.7
by R. A. Penfold
iiiiriiiiljXii:
i.ll..i'.llill
:
ENT$
'oF
::
::'l
rnooM
arsin Fig. 1
he designis
his controls
v of a triac.
irmallyheld
ln the l,c.
ttput, at p,in
owever,the
rt-circuit is
exponenialfesrstance
rs
)d resistors,
Timing
rc3l6lor
network
l.
tt goeshigh,
by way of
,onsequence
ieswith the
nd sopower
po-thirdsof
rrd 555cirtriggeredto
n 3 goeslow
in turn, the
r sametime
i.c.turnson
uit remains
sed.
lroximatelv
rdsand R i.s
lngth of the
lppropriate
apacitance.
elhe timing
er of tensof
ry to usean
electrolvtic
talue,b6ing
evenmore,
lely set the
l_
R2
l*.
Enlorg.r
romp
I
9V
lcr
555
i.,
I'-J
D1
tN400l
) Stort
Rl
D2
tN400l
MTI
f'.
, i't-"
,{u}e
o1-Fs
555
Topvicw
Fig. l. The circuit
9V
MT2
of the switch-selection
I
I
MTrr;1rG
\-zura
TRt2A/4OO
Lcod-outs
enlarger timar, The triac is a small device in a TO-5 can
sg
Semiconductors
ICl 555
IRII-_40OV,2A, type TR12A/400
Dl 1N4001
D2 1N4001
Resistors
(All fixed values f watt b% unless otherwise
stated)
'100kn
R1
Switches
R2 10rl
R3
22kn
pre-set
potentiometer,
Q! push-button,pressto close
0.1 watt
,
norlzontal
!! s.p.s.t.toggle
53 d.p.s.t.toggle
R4 560'o I q,611
S.l l-pole l2-way rotary
&5 R13 470ko 27" (9 off, see text)
Rl4-R22 47ka2% (9 off. seetexti
i! l-po!. I2-way rotary
56 3-pole4-way rotary
R23-R25t2ka2Eo (3 off, seeteiti
Miscellaneous
CaDecitors
VeroboxCodeNo. 75-lTgSt{
Cl 1SirFelecrrolvtic,16V. Wke.
3 control knobs
C2 0.22pFtype C280 (Mullard')
Veroboard,0.1in.matrix
CJ a7}pF eleitrolytic, 16V.-iA/k-s.
9 Veropins,for 0.lin. board
Transformer
8-way d.i.l. i.c. socket(seetext)
2 nylon holts and nuts. 4BA
,T1 Mains transformer,secondaryg_0_9Vat
100mA
Mains lead,t:onnecting
wire, etc.
. 32 is the focusswitch.,and it enablesthe enlarger

lamp..tobe turned on independeniiv-oi'in"ti-".
clrculr ln order that enlargerfocusingcan be ad_
justed.
specifiedfor C1.
._ll FiS.-2 the resistorsRb to R13 are each
4,lUka,.whereupon54 selectstiming periods,in
steps.otI0 seconds,,
from zeroto g0 secbnds.This
.Tb.g pp*"r supply is a straightforward unswrtchrs a standard12-wayrotarv componentwith
stablhzedtype using full-waverectification.S3 is
three ways w.iredtogether.iothatihere Iie only ten
[ne on-oil swltch.
etlectrvepositions.If a switchhavingan adjuslable
srop ls u.se.d
thrs can be set for 10_wayopera_
T I M I N GR E S I S T O R S
9.no
tron, althoughit will probably be found more con_
. The circuit of the timing resistornetworkis venrentto removethe end stop altogetherand wire
princi-pte
"iJ t".e i;-;;.y
gp the switch as shown in Fig. Z. TtrJiwit"t .u"
:Iy,lil
ligrl.The
srmple: lt a
4/uko resistor produces a ten second
then
be taken, for instance,fro"mpo.i[lo" g to posi_
timing period then two such-resistors in seri-e.s-wilJ tloll_
t. the quick way round.
twenty
se-cond period, three will nrovide
CIv9.g
rs wlreclrn the sameway as 54, but the nine
JD
a tnlrty. second period and so on. Timing
tinring re_sistors,
R14 to R22,"eachhdul a value ol
periods of one second, two seconds,three seconds- 4/Kn .
5b thus selectstiming periodsof zeroto 9
etc., can be provided by a series of 47kn resistors.
secondsin 1 secondsteps.Thl'same remark, .orrQuarter -secondincrements are_then given by a
cerningthe end-stopand type of switchwhich liave
series of 11.75ko resistors. These ialues are
been made wrth respectto 54 apply also to Sb.
s a t i s f a c t o r y ,i n p r a c t i c e , w i t h a t i m i n g e l e c l r o l v t i c
switch, 56, in combinationwith
^ lhe re_maining
capacitor having the nominal value of l5l F
R23 to R25, seiectsperiods'"f ""r", "ri"_quarrer,
Eanoving the. ftom p*net

teuea/s thc intf'rlo4 cottponcffi modql,. and tha mains
tntwformar
RAI)IO AND BI,ECTRONICSCONSTRUCTOR
TENS
Fig 2. The timing
FRACTIONS
resistor network.
54 se/ects tens of seconds.

fractions of seconds
one-half and three-quarterseconds.Ideallv. the

three resistorsshould be 11.?5ko,but in practice
they may have values of 12ko as the error introducedis negligible.56 is a 3-pole4-way switch
with no connectionsmade to two of the poles.
On the front panelof the timer 34 is mountedon
the left, S5 in the centre and 56 on the right,
whereuponthe switchestake up the samepositions
as do the numbersof secondsthey representwhen
written down. If, for example,a timing period of
47| secondsis required,54 is set to "4", 55 to "7"
and 56 to "*". A period of 10f secondsis givenby
54 at "1", 55 at t'0" and 56'at "+".
R5 to R25 must be high stability resistorswith a
toleranceon value of 2 per cent or better.They are
specifiedas j watt in the ComponentsList but it
witt Ue found that most retail'outlets offer close
tolerance resistors in j watt. It is, of course,
perfectly in order to dse I watt resistorshere
provided they ,are reasonablysmall in physical
.S5 se/ects seconds and 56 selects
Semiconductors.Some nylon nuts and bolts are

required and it is necessaryto provide a suitable
solder tag for earthing the front panel of the case.
Detailsof theseitems are givenin the next section,
which describesthe constiuction of the timer.
CONSTRUCTION
The six switchesare mountedon the aluminium
front panel of the timer, and the positions of the
holes required are shown in Fig. 3. It should be
noted that the hole diameters indicated for 51 to
53 are suitable for typical examplesof the switches
the actual diametersrequired shouldbe
specified:
'from
checked
the switches themselvesand the
diametersmodified if this shouldbe necessarv.
As
is explainedlater, an extra hole may be neededfor
mounting a solder tag.
SIZC.
So far as the remainingcomponentsare concerned. 52 and 53 should be relativelv heavv dutv

toggle switches capable of switchin! the eirlarger
lamp. The mains transformer has a secondary
rating of 9-0-9 volts at 100mA. Suitabl'e
transformets are available from a number of retail
outlets,including Home Radio.The timer is housed in a Verobox Code No. 75-1798K.This has a
plastic body and a sloping anodised aluminium
front panel with base dimensions of 171 by
121mrtr.The overall height at the rear is 75mm.
and that at the front is 37.5mm.R3 is a miniature
0.1 watt horizontal pre-set potentiometerwith
0.2in. spacingbetweentrack tags and 0.4in. spacing betweenIrack and slider talgs.
The 555 timer
'inteerated
i.c. is fitted to an 8-wav d.i.l.
circuit
holder in the prototype.The use of iholder is not
essential.but it doesensurethat thereis no risk of
damage to the i.c. due to excessiveheat when
soldering. The triac is available from Bi-Pak
APRIL 197IJ
30
j
I
54
lTdiq
o' s t
23
I
in mm
All dimensions
Fig. 3. Drilling details for the front panel. The
hole diameters shown for St, 52 and 33 may
naed to be modified for some components
483
Apart from the switches,mains transformer and

timing resistors,all the componentsare assembled
on an 0.1in. matrix Veroboardhaving 25 holes by
16 copper strips. The componentand copper
- - sides
of this board are illustrated in Fie. 4.
The board is first cut to size.then the two 68A
clear holesare drilled out. Aftei this the breaks in
the copper strips are made. The comnonentsand
link wiies are next solderedin with t}e semiconductor devicesbeine left until last. If the i.c. is
mounted direct on the board without a holder.
soldering should be carried out carefully and
quickly to ensure that it is not damaged by et-
: ' (
cessiveheat. It is important to ensurethat the triac

is connectedinto circuit correctlv as it will almost
certainlv be destroved if it is ivired in wronslv.
(Somesmall triacs in TO-5 encapsulations
do"n6t
have the same lead-out lavout ai does the device
available from Bi-Pak.) Paiticular care is required
to avoid errors in the triac wiring as this wiring
handles mains voltagesand currents.
Veropins suitable for 0-1in. Veroboardare fitted
at points "4" to "F" as well as at the three points
to which the mains transformer secondarv connects.The completedboard is securedto the base
of the Verobox with two 684 bolts and nuts. short
o
t
o
o
o
C3
C2
o
T; sccondory
o
0
ia'''-l
f f i r G o o
-lPo
o
MTI
0
o
68A cl.or
Fig.4. A Veroboard panal provides a satisfactory means of mounting inost of the small components.
This diagram shows the component and copper sides of the board
484
'7.&: .,.*lrfni,h
f&s' $#ncaC$
yvhiih are mounted an the
W#$t, ntn:al,#. the /,lfrft. :f,;s
tlventy-ong tim ing resistorc
cq be ican mointad on the
tagt of the rotary gwitchds
spacing washers being fitted over the bolts to ensure that the Veroboard underside is adeouatelv
clear of the inside surface of the box. The spacin"g
washers are necessarv as the board would
otherwise be distorted and would crack when the
nuts were tightened. Since the bolt heads rvill be
accessibleat the outside of the case thev must be
earthed, and this earthing connection is made via
the two solder tags shown in Fig. 4. The tags are
connected together by an insulated link wire, ancl
then connecfto the earth point on the front panel
by way of a flexible insulated lead. These two u'ires
and the two leads from points "E" and "F" in Fis.
4 must be suitable for m'ains voltages and currenti.
The Veroboard panel is mounted well to ihe rear o1
the case, beneath 54 and S5, ensuring that it will
have adequate clearance from the components ori
the front panel when the latter is mounted in place.
A s c a n b e s e e nf r o m t h e p h o t o g r a p h o f t h e i n i e r i o r ,
the board is oriented such thaf th'etwo 6.tsA,mounting holes are nearer the mains transformer.
The transformer is mounted near the end oI'the
board, beneath S6. It should also be close to the
back of the case,to ensure clearance from the {ront
panel components. It has to be rnounted bv nreans
of two 4BA nylon bolts and nuts. Metai birlts and
nuts are not recommended here as these woulc{
necessitate having the transformer mountins
clamp earthed. The insulation betrveen secondar!
and metal lrame of some of these small mains

transformers is not of a very high order and, since
the secondary is connected to lhe mains. this insulation could break down (as the author learned
the hard way) if the frame were earthed. Provided
that.nylon m_ountingbolts and nuts are employed
for the transformer it is quite in order for its m6tal
frame to be floating.
P O I N T - T O - P O I N TW I R I N G
fhe timing resistors are mounted on the appropriate switches, and details of this wiring arid
the g.lher point-to-point connections are gi'ien in
?.1"1
Fig. 5. There-is not a great deal of snace for the timing resistors and it ls therefore nbcessarv to trim
their lead-out wires quite short. They'must be
solder.ed into position quickly and efficiently so
that they do not overheat (whjch could result-in a
significant shift in resistance value). the resistors
must not be allowed to protrude far below the
switches as they might then foul T1 and the component panel.
Two holes are drilled in the rear of the Verobox
a-nd are fitted with grommets. One of these allows
the passageof a 3-way mains lead, which must be
correctly-terminated_at a 3-way mains plug. The
other hole takes a lead which connecis Io the
en-largerlarnp. If the enlarger lamp metalwork is
r"eliablvearthed this second-leadcan be 2-wav. and
ThE, VAi.aWEiAl, 46 1,'55

detail. E xterftal conn rctioni
are made b'y w*t
a,i
Veropini
APRIL 1978
485
sl
lzll |ti\r
Enlorger lcod
l-t
\t
A
Component poncl
Fig. 5. lllustrating
the components
and wiring on the front panel. The timing
directly to the rotary time selection switches
the two wires concerned are those desisnated

"Enlarger Lead" in Fig. Alternatively.
5.
tlie lead
can be 3-way,with the third Ieadcarryingan earth
connectionto the lamp. This third lead connectsto the samepanelearthingtag as doesthe incomingearth wire in the mains lead.When using3way w:ireto the enlargerlamp, follow the usual
colour code of Brown for Live, Blue for Neutral
and Green-Yellowfor Earth. Always remember
that all this wiring is at mains poteniial,and that
an incorrectconnectionmav result in a dangerous
shock.
It is essentialthat the aluminium front nanel ol'
the timer be connectedto the mains earih. The
author employeda very large soldertag which he
happenedto haveon hand, and which was capable
of being securedon the mounting bush ol' S6. If
sucha tag is not available,a 4BA soldertag can be
securedto the front nanel bv means of a short
The Verobox in which the timer is housed has a

two-tone plastic outer shell. The upper section
is white and the lower section grey. The front
panel is anodised aluminium
486
resistors are wired
4BA bolt with nut, a suitable4BA clear hole being

drilled in the panel at any convenientpoint. The
earth wire from the mains lead connectsto this tae,
as also doesthe flexible wire from the 684 soldei
tags in Fig. 4 (and the earth wire to the enlarger
lamp if a 3-way lead is employedhere).
ADJUSTMENT
The only adjustmentwhich hasto be made is the
settingup of R3. However,this proceduremust be
carried out with considerablecare as it has to be
done with the timer front panel removed,
whereupon all the internal wiring, which is at
mains potential,is exposed.R3 must be adjusted
by means of an insuLatedtool. All other
precautions against accidental shock must be
observed.
Initially adjust R3 so that its slider is at about
the centreof its track and set the timing switches
for a neriodof 10 seconds.
Then measurethe actual
duration over which the enlargerlamp is on with
the aid of a stopwatch,stopclock,a clock or watch
having a secondshand. or anv other suitable
timepiece.Then adjust R3 as neiessaryto correct
anv error and repeat the nrocessa number of
times, adjustingR3 each time, until the timing
periodis accurateat 10 seconds.Adjusting R3 in a
clockwisedirection causesthe timing period to be
lengthened, whilst adjustment in the anticlockwisedirection has the oppositeeffect.
After a little trial and error the timer shouldbe
quite accurateover short periods.The switchesare
then set up for a 99 secondtiming period and the
procedureis carriedout again.Working to a 99 second period allowsfinal fine adjustmentsin R3 to
be carried out.
The front panel of the timer is then securedin
place and the unit is ready for use.
I
RADIO ANLTELECTRONICS CONSTRl
IOR
OP-AMP
PRECAUTIONS
By R. V. Smithson
Some stqndard op-amp circuits are

inherently much more stable than
others.
Here are two basic operational amplifier circuits.

The first appearsin-Fig. 1-,in which the op-amp
gqtpu! i.s coupled back to _the-inverting inplut vi'a
&2, whilst the i_nputsignal voltage is ippfied uia
ttr. Assumlfg that the sourceof input signal has
z_ero
internal resistance,voltagegain-isequ*alto R2
divided by.R1,-This is easy"t6 visuali'seif you
rememberthat the two inputi of an op-amp tenl to
stay at-about the same vbltage.If R2 has B times
the value of Rl and the inbut simal goes from
earth potential to 1 voltp.ositii-etheip-arip output
will go 3 volts-negative.The voltageaf the iirvertjne
tnput would then oncemore be closeto that on the
non-invertinginput, and the op-amp gain would be
3 times.
S E C O N DC I R C U I T
. The secondbasic circui_tappearsin Fig. 2. Here,
the input signal is applied t<iihe non-in,iertineini
put_anda fiaction of the output simal is fed Sack
to -the inverting input. The fractio"nof the ourDur
vgftaget'edback is equal to Rl divided bv the sirm
of Rl. and R2. If, onc-e
again,R2 is equalfo B times
rtr,.tnen one-quarterof the output voltageis fed
back to the inverting input,- whereu"ponthe
overall gain is the reciprocai of one-quarter,or 4
umes.
fl
Fig. f . A simple op-amp voltage amplifier
circuit, in which the gain is controlled
by the
values of the two resistors.
Fig. 2. Another basic voltage amplifier circuit.

ln this the input is applied to the non-invefting
input, which is in phase with the output.
'Ihese
are both nice simple circuits which are
quite easy.to ynderstand,-andin which voltage*But
gain
is determined by the values of two resistois.
one has a serioushidden snagwhilst the other has
not.
The circuit without the snagis that shownin Fig.
1. It is.fr9.egf problems becairsethe non-invertinlg
input is tied securely to earth and no unwanteci
voltagefeedbacktoit from the output due to stray
capacitancescan take place. If theie are any stra-y
capacitancesbetweent-heoutput and the invertin-g
input they could in some conceivablecases
possiblyaffect-fr_equency
response,but they could
not cause_instabilitybecause
the two circui[ points
are out of phase with each other.
WIDE OPENINPUT
Not so with the circuit of Fig. 2. In this circuit
the ,non-invertinginput is wide open for positive
feedback from the op-amp ou-tput vid stray
capacitances,and if the resistancebetweenthe in"put and earth is high the circuit is quite likely to
giveinstability and oscillationif specialcareisnot
taken.
neffb
Fig, 3, Pin funetiansaf the

711 ep-ampin hath I pin
and lrl Bin d,i,l, peekagee.
OtfEot
nullNl
Inv.input
input
Nen-lnv.
=
9upply
NC
N,
NC
5'lpply+
Output
O t f s fn u l lN a
N.C.
'"'::J'ilifj
n., H E
N.e
+
Eupply
O!tBut
Oftq.tnullNP
iluJl,l
[_J
74r TOPVrErV
l.C,pinrroldaradio copparrtrlpr
As is shown in Fig. 3, the output and noninverting input pins of the popular 741 (and
similar op-amps) are oppositeeach other, both
in the 8 bin aird in the'f+ pin d.i.l. versio'ns.
II',
say, you mount either of thesei.c's on a piece of
Veroboardwith a sinsle cut in the coDDerstriD
betweenthe two pinsl don't be surprii6d if th'e
capacitanceag.ross.
the .tw.o copper strip ends is
sufficientto allow instability to occur when using
the circuit of Fig. 2. A useful techniquehere is t6
cut the strip at bofh holesbetweenfhe pins concernedand removethe cut copper edees.so that
there is a goo_d
gap betweenthd two c-opperstrip
ends.Fig. 4 showsthe idea.
B-ut the best approach of ali, if' a particular
applicationdllows-youto use eitherthe'circuitof
, 7-;-\
" fF
"
" )T-i-
-----*,
outputpln
"
,-;_(
1 o
"
"f-v;=
o " I")-a "
---_*Non-tnv,
Input pin
Fig. 4. When using the circuit of Fig. 2 on

Veroboard, stray capacitanca batwean tha output and the non-inverting input pins can be
reduced by cutting the appropriate copper strip
as shown here.
[1S."t ot that of Fig.?,is to selectFig. 1 everytime.

rr s Iar more lree oI unseenbugs.
t
roth SCOTCH WILDLIFE SOUNII RECORDING COMPETITION

A s u p e r b S p ectra N o rme n d e 2 6 -i nch
colour remote control television
suitable for receiving Ceefax and
Oracle Teletext programmes worth
.1,000 is included in the first prize
offered in this year's Scotch Wildlife
S o u n d R e c o r di n g C o n te st.
Keith Biggadyke, 3M Wildlife Sound Recordist

winner last year in the open mammals class
with his recording of two Muntjac dder and a
nightingale.
The Spectra is capsble of receiving Teletext

transmissions,which are pages of information
broadcastby BBC (Ceefax) and ITV (Oracle).
Thesepagesgive up to date news,current affairs,
sport,gardening,shoppinghints- in fact dozensof
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Ottrer nrizesinclude: Philins tvne 911 Dortable
television,Uher digital radio aliim, Six Kodak
EK2 instant camer"as
and film nacks. 60 reels of
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cassettes.
To complete the prize list,specially cornmissioned framed water colour paintings are
presentedto the six classwinners.
As before, entries must be of wildlife species
(birds,
mammals, amphibians or insects),and
'are
there
also prizes for 'atmosphere'.Mono or
stereorecordingsmav be on cassetteor open reel
but must havJ been made in the British Isles.
Recordingquality is important, as is originality,
for whiciL'aspecidlaward is offered.Prizes'arealio
givenfor the best entry originatingon cassetteand
for the best stereoentrv.
Excellent advice on-producing wildlite sound
recordingsis given in a book by naturalist, sound
recordist,lectureand author Richard Margoschis,
whose "Recording Natural History Sounds" is
recommendedfor anvone interestedin this competition. It is availdble by post from Richard
M a r g o s c h i s ,1 0 M a n c e t t e r R o a d , M a n c e t t e r ,
Atherstone,Warks, priced f3.00 (soft back) or
t- 4 . 3 5( h a r d b a c k ) .
f["';;-p"tiii"ti
closeson october 30, and entry
forms and copiesof rules and conditionsare obtainablefrom Jeff Chandler,3M United Kingdom,
380/384Harrow Road, London,Wg 2HU, and at
and
outletswhereScotchrecordingtapes,cassettes
are obtainable.
accessories
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w h l e he h a p t r ar r el a l do u t r a t h a rI n t h e f o r m o f l e m o n re o m p l c t ew l t h " a a l f ' e v a l u a t l oqnu s t l o n r " ,
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d r a w l n g t, h l r d a n g l p r o J o e t l olnr p r a a e n t a a
e m p l o y e dw, h l c h l s v c r y
p r o b a b l yt h e a r I n t h U , S ,w h a r c e n g l n e e r l nfgo l l o w a6 o m m o n - E 6 n sr eu l a g ,
T h e b o o k w l l l b o f s u n d t o b e o f v a l u et o t h e c t u d o n tI n l t s s u b J e eat n d l t i 6 b a s e do n a v e r y
s u c e e s c f u6ll e t r o n l edar a u g h t l n E
o u r t 6t a u g h ta t t h c a u t h o r ' rc o l l e g e .
N E W N E gC O L O U R
T E L E V I S I OSNE R V I C I NM
G A N U A LV, o l u m e
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M, , A , E , SM, ,, R , T , S
23
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1 8 6 m m(,9 f x 7 f l n , )P u b l l s h E
bd
y N e w n e s = B u t t e r w oPr trhl escf, 7 , 8 0 .
T h i sb o o ki c t h c t h i r di n a s e r l e sw h i o hp r o v i d e o
e o m p l c t cE e r v i e i nign t o r n a t i o no n c o l o u rt e t e v i s l o nr c e e i v e rrs t e i l Bidn t h U , K , e
, n dl t d e e l rw l t h l c a d i n gr e e e l v e rwsh i e hw e r el a u n h
e e dI n 1 9 7 4
e n r l 1 9 7 5 . I n d o i n gs o i t d c s f f l b e ef u l l yo o l i d = c t e d
t ec s i g n 6t o g t h rw i t h t h y r i s t b pr o w c rs u p p l t e s
s u e ha s a r e e r n B l o y eIdn t h T h o r n9 0 0 0 e h a g e l ES,e r v i e i n g
d t d i l sc o v r6 v f yi l r i B e c ti ,n c l u d t n g
d l l g n f f i n tc,o n v r g e n ean d a l l o t h r e d l u s t m c n t 6 ,
t h e d e s l g n sd e J l tw l t h a 1 6b y R a n k = B u e h = M u r pl lnl tya, eh i , l T 1 ,B & 0 , D e o c aT, h o r na n r iP h i l t p s ,
, i c t u r et u b e ca n r lq u t b k - v t e i o n
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F , ,S , C , T , E
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M , A . E , SM
. , , R . T . S2.4 Op a g e s1, 9 0 x 1 1 5 m m ,V + x 4 { i n , )P u b l i s h e d
by NewnesTechnicalBooks.Pricef2,75.
a
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r ,n d t o m o d e r n r a d i o
receivers.
T h e r ei s a m i n i m u mo f m a t h e m a t i casn dt h t e x t i s w r i t t e ni n t h e c l e a rl u c i dm a n n e fro r w h i c h
M r , K i n g ,a p r o l i f i cw r i t e r o n e l e c t r o n i c si s, j u s t l yr e n o w n e dT. h e r ea r e p l e n t vo f c l e a rd i a g r a m s ,
t o g e t h e rw i t h a f w p h o t o g r a p hosf e q u i p m e nat n d c o m p o n e n t sV. a l v e sa r e b r i e f l yr c f e r r e dt o i n
o n e s e c t i o no f t h e b o o k ,b u t o n l y b e c a u s et h e y r e p r e s e ni tm p o r t a nrt a d i op r i n c i p l e as n d b e c a u s e ,
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o u t b y t h e s e m i c o n d u c t odre v i c e sw h i c h h a v es u p e r s e d etdh e m ,T h e b o o kw i l l b e p a r t i c u l a r layp n r e c i a t e db y t h e n e w c o m e rw h o s e e k st o a c o u i r e[ 1 6 r q , 1 r , r 1i ,,'1 ,1 r r i t h n r t or r n e x t r l o r oacrle a ,
Al,llll, l$7r{
CLANDESTINE RADIO
by Ron Ham
Have we found another set used by

Allied agents in World War ll ?
. Oneoj.our readers,Dave Logan, G4EZF,of Motlram, Uheshlre, came across the transmitter_
receivershown in the photographsin a local radio
shop. Being interestedin darfime equipment he
cogld not resist the pleasureof adding it to his
collection.
TRANSMITTER-RECEIVER
"X" set_is
inscribed ..Type A, Mk
__Ibi. bland
III, SerialNo. MCL". It weighs8 lbs.,m6asuresgi
!y Z* by S{in. deep,and hai a total of tive t;tt;d.
Ihree ol theseare in the receiversectionand two in
the ,transmitter;.ttre -receivervalves are a iQ?
and two ?H7's, whilst thosein the transmitter are a
7H7-and a 7Cs. These valves "i" .i-Gito
those
used in the now-famous"82" radio, describedin
"The Set In
The Suitcase"in the Maich 19??issue
of Radio & Electronics Constructor.
Rear view of the set. At bottom left are four
"llypu
"metal"
ractifiers of tha type usod in the
A" set has two tiequency ranges
. _Thel94o's. thase being patt of the multi-voltage
identrlied by ttre colours blue and'red, ihe bl-"rr"
power supply section.
rangeextendingfrom 3.2 to E.2MHz and the red
range trom 5.2 to 8.5MHz. 'l'here is an internal
power un-r!jor opjrration on various a.c. supplies
- G4EZF is a low power enthusiast, and he recentbetween100 and 240 volts.
lf y_.gCthe set for a 2-way c.w. contact with
944H.F in nearby Droylsden. He was delightedto
find that this old 8 watt wartime rie coilld still
m4e a contact,and with only a curtaii rail aerial.
The earlier article desciibing the ,,82" set
pro.duced-awelcomeresponsefroir Dick Rollema,
E*ditor -of Electron, the official -journal
o r g a n i of
s a tthe
ion,
Nederlands amateur radio
V:E.R.O.N. Amongst other points Dic"kstatesthat
"Quite a few
Dutchmenweri trained bv the S.O.E.
and parachuted over Holland durins fhe German
occupation.Most-of them were accoirpaniedby a
radiooperatorand a radio set,presumablva .B2tor
similar piece of gear". The S:O.E.were-ofcourse
the Special Operations .8)xecutive,whose agents
operatedin occupiedEurope.
As a resultof subsequent
correspondence,
copies
of the two accompanyingphotographshave been
sentto Dick Rollemafor publicaiionin Elect-on.It
is hopedthat this joint eflort, both in the U.K. and
The front panel of the 'Type A" transmitterin Holland, will result in a reader contactingthe
receiver. The motar is scaled O-75mA. and
therd are two sockets for a crystal, presumabty
author with somet'urthergen on this intriguinf and
a IOX type.
mysteriousset from the last World War.
I
'ilcilE$
mEwGoffiE
FCIm
N O U G H T - P ON
I T - O NE
B y F. Bowden
Some tips on the use of a popular home-constructor product
As beginnersin the hobby of radio and electronic

constructionsoonbecomeaware,many home proiectsare assembledon Veroboard.Veroboardis the
"proprietary
name chosenfor the product by Vero
bleitronici Limited, and it consiits of an i.r.b.p.
backinewith parallelcopperstrips on one surface.
The lelters "s.r.b.D." sidnd foi "svnthetic resin
bondedDaDer".and this is the familiir hard brown
insulating'matbrialwhich used to be referred to
under namessuch as "Paxolin".
Veroboard comes in two types. One type has
holes spaced from each other, in rows along the
strips and at right anglesto them, at intervalsof
0.15in.,whilst the other has holesspacedat intervals of 0.1in. The 0.1in. version is becomingincreasinglythe more popular of the two becausethe
holesrela-dily
acceptih-epins of d.i.l. (dual-in-line)
integratedcircuits.This 0.1in."matrix" ot "pitch"
explainsthe title of this article.
VEROPINS
When it is necessarvto connectexternal wires to
a Veroboar'd these may be passed through the
Veroboard holes at the appiopriate points and
solderedto the strips. But-ttris is not always the
best aonroach when there is the possibilitv of a
wire being moved around relativ6 to the board,
since there is then a strain on the copper strip
around the solder joint and the copper may
becomedetachedfrom the s.r.b.p.material.

A better plan is to fit Veropini to the board at
the points where external connectionsare to be
made. Veropins are available as single-ended
and double-ehdedtypes as shown in Fig. 1(a), and
the author finds that the most convenientto use in
practice are the double-endedtypes. When
solderedinto position they take up the appearance
shownin Fig. 1(b).
Alwavs make sure vou get the correct pins for
the tvp6 of Veroboard vou"are using. The holes in
0.15i;: Veroboard haie a diametir of 0.052in.
(1.3mm.) and those in 0.1in. Veroboard have a
di4meter of 0.04in. (1.02mm.) Veropins are
available from nearly all suppliers of Veroboard,
36 pins. They can
and are usualy sold iri packet-sbf
-board
holes- by applying
be pushed i-nto the
presiure on the top shouldered side, but if you
ivant a really profbssional finish you can use a
Veropin inseiti6n tool. There are two types of tool,
one for 0.052in.pins and one for 0.04in.pins.
The copperVeroboardstrips can be cut, to make
circuit breiks. with a small twist drill held in the
"spot face cutter". The
hand or, better, with a Vero
latter is suitable for both 0.15 and 0.1in. boards.
Onlv lieht pressureis required for cutting a copper
strin. Excesspressureof the cutting tool is liable to
cau'setoo mu6h of the s.r.b.p.backine to be removed, whilst too little pressuie may reiult in a thin
strand of copper around the periphery of the cut
F-l
i'
ffi
Fig. 1(a). Single-ended and

V eroPins.
double-ended
(b). A doubleended
VetoPin
to a Veroboard.
soldered
The external
connecting
wire is soldered to the upper
end of the pin
APRIL 1978
Shouldcr{
,,/
----'-
'--
\ 'nios
/
--
491
-;---1
_
. \l
"
Fig. 2. Making a cut in a Veroboard copper

strip. The cut should ensure that the strip is fully interrupted without passing too deeply into
tha s.r.b.p. backing
bridging the gap. The generalappearanceof a correctly cut strip is shown in Fig. 2.
In addition to Veroboards there are also
Verostrips.Theseare piecesof Veroboardon which
the manufacturerhas alreadyremovedthe copper
from the centre, as shown-in Fig. 3, which'illustratespart of a 0.1in. Verostrip.Theseare excellentfoi quick assemblieswhen'vou haven't the
time to pl-an out a proper Verbboard layout.
becauseeachsectionof stfip can be used like the
tags on a double-rowtagboard.With the 0.1in.
Verostrip,you can alsosoldera d.i.l. integratedcircuit to the board so that its two rows of pins straddle the central gap.
I . C .H O L D E R S
And now we come to an operationwhich manv
newcomersapproach with sbme trepidation: th-e
actual solderingof a d.i.l. integratid circuit to
0.1in.Veroboard.Probablv the b6st advicefor the
beginnerhere is to use an i.c. holder. The i.c.
holder is solderedto the Veroboard.and the integratedcircuit is then pluggedinto the i.c. holder.
Two advantages
accruefrom this approach.First,
the i.c. doesnot have the solderinsifon
applied ro
-damagdd
its pins and so is not liable to be
by excessiveheat. Second,if there is a connectionerror
all you have lost is an i.c. holder. It is possibleto
removea d.i.l. integratedcircuit from Veroboard
after all its pins have been solderedto the copper
Fig. 3. One end of a O.lin. Vetostrip.

of the strip is 8.4in.
The length
strips, but the processrequiresdesolderingbraid

or a desolderingtool and is not a task likely to be
relishedby the newcomer.
All this having beensaid, it must next be stated
that the insertionof an integratedcircuit into an
i.c. holder is a little fiddling in itself. You'll find
that the i.c. pin tips tend to splayout slightlywider
than the holesin the holder which are intendedto
acceptthem. What is required is a little patience
and practice, whereupon you soon acquire the
knack.
Taking an integratedcircuit out of an i.c. holder
can alsobe rather fraught.If you attempt to pull it
out in one go, like we used to pull valves out of
valveholders,you may causeone end of the i.c. to
be releasedbefore the other, with the result that
some of the pins become bent sideways,as illustrated in Fig. 4. A goodmethod is to gently lever
the integratedcircuit out with a small screwdriver,
as shownin Figs. 5(a) and (b). First raise one end
of the i.c. by a very small amount,as shownin Fig.
5(a), raise the other end by a similarly very small
amount, then return to the first end again and
repeat here and at the secondend until you feel
that the i.c. oins have been releasedfrom the
holder contacti.
Fig. 4. The unhappy result of carelessly removing a d.i.l. integrated circuit from an i.c. holder
BOARD LAYOUT
If you have the time to make up a good
Veroboardlayout on paper beforeembarkingon a
circuit designof your own,this will giveyou greater
pride and pleasurein the finishedproject.Squared
paper is useful here, and you can get this from a
number of sources,.ofwhich probibly the most
convenientfor the constructorwho doesnot have
access to normal drawing materials are the
children'sschoolexercisebookswhich are sold bv
Woolworths. Opening
out the centre staplei
"out
enables you to take
squared double p-ages
measuringabout 12 by 8in. You then work out
your Veroboardlayout,assumingthat the intersections of the ruled lines on the paper represent
holes.It is necessaryto start off by drawing the
componentswhich will be mountedin light pdncil,
so that errorscan be quicklv erased.Cuts at holes
can be representedby croises.After the pencil
roughhasbeen succesifullycompleted,the iayout
can-bedrawn in on top of'the pencil using a blue
ball-pointpen for componentsand wires,and a red
ball-point pen for the crosseswhich stand for the
cuts in the strips. Give the ink about a quarter of
an hour to becomereally dry, and you then rub off
the original pencil markings.
RAT)IO ANI) EI,EC'IRONICSCONSTRUCTOR
ttid,"t3fffil:
r i
.Oiic,:q11{,#:
:N;|t,ffil:
h,
,:,
9.,;';**:,:h;.fii|:;
t.rll
f,:.-# .:ftih
,,$t':iidr
,i,lli,:&':
. Solder and the soldering iron are of the utmost

importance
in_assembling:projectson Veroboard.
'l
he correctsolderalloy is 60:40,i.e. 60 per cent of
tin to 40 per cent of lead, or Ersin ,,Savb'if; (*hi.h
has an added trace of copper to extend the life of
the spldering iron.bit). Th'e soldei muit-Le resincored.Never use the cheaper40:60allov. which is
mainly intended for bulky electrical joih-ts.It can
be surprisingly difficult to obtain 60-:40solderlin
some provincial, towns,_although you may oc_
c_qsionallyfind small dispensers of it in
Woolworth'sor Halford's. A go_qd
plan is to buy the
solderin advancefrom the rldio bomponentirailorder houseswhich sell it. The next tifre vou order
some componentsby mail-order remember to in_
clude solder in the list so that you always have a

good stock in hand.
The solderingiron should be a miniature mains
type rated at around 15 to 25 watts. Beware of
someminiature "no-name" irons rated at about 30
watts. It is quite possiblethat these will be completely useleis.
, Finally, do.n't be a-shamedto use a magrrifying
glass.tovisuqlly chech your solderjoints ol Of in]
veroboarcl^.
.U,heapplastic -ma-gnifyingglassesare
ralny uselul here, although the plastic lens mav
soon get scratchedwith handling on the bench. A
m.ore.expensive
magnifying glasswith a glasslens
wlll, ln the long run, prove to be invaluable. t
MAIL ORDER
P R O T E C T I O NS C H E M E
The publishersof this magazinehave siven to the
Director General of Fair Trading an unilertaking to
refund monev sent bv readers in resoonseto riail
order adve.rtiiements-placed
in this malazine by mail
order traders who fail to supplv sodds or iefund
money and who have becomeihe-su'biectof liouidation. or bankruptcy proceedings.Theie refunds are
made voluntarily and are subiect to proof that oav_
ment was made to the advertlser fof eoodsord'er6d
through an advertisement in this m"agazine.The
arrangementdo.esnot apply to any failuie to supply
goodsaclvertlsedrn a catalogueor direct mail solicita_
tion.
F#*$n#a##*#uf
- If a mail order trader fails, readersare advised to

lodgea claim with the AdvertisementManagerof this
mgeazine within 3 months of the appeararice of the
advertisement.
.. For .the purpose of this schememail order adver_
nslng ls cletlned as:
"Direct response
advertisements,displav or
postal bargainswhere cash has to beient in
advanceof goodsbeing delivered."
Classifiedand cataloguemail order advertisingare
excluded.
DRIttS CONTINUES
FORCORDLESS
DEMAND
For sometime, battery
- poweredhedgetrimmers
have been aviilable; nbwadays there are also
brands of cordless drills tha[ are powered !v
cells. In the earlv
i".ii"**Ute-niittet-caamium
a hedge.trimmerand
Lid i''t'oduced
;ili;;:SXiL
"power p9ck".which could
separate
;d;ilt';ith;
"power
be fixed to the operator's belt, these
reand
;;.k;", however, were soon exhaustei
Continuous
time'
rechargeing
;;i;;d'u ,retv long
in a better concentratichnical res6arch-resulted
po*"r
1976, almost simul-:
around
and
of
iion
taneouslvthree different brands of new batte-ry
d"iiG A;" onto the market; one of thesewas the
SKIL tool which is in fact a drive-r-drill as it turns
clockwiseand anti-clockwise.
The applications are numerous - .aoart from
use on boats, caravans'and in lhq g-arthe obvio^tis
d.n. , -attet researchby SKIL has revealedthat
ouii. " iew professionalsalso like to work with a
c'otdleisdtill; for exampleon-thedisassembly.a.nd
- ;at"t repait - asseniblyof housingsof washing
machines,refrigerators etc.
The compacttesignand lightweightmodel2006'
sho*n in the photogtrph,can be carriedanywhere'
In order to emphasisethis po-rtability,the tool will

be suonlieddririne an intrbductory period with a
piactic'atholster tli'at can be fixed to the operator's
belt.
Frice: s39.90excl. VAT from SKIL (Qreat Britai"-Ltal, 1B ThamesAvenue,Windsor,Berkshire
sL4 1QJ.
OPENER
D OOR
GARAGE
t{EWRADIO-CONTROLIED
door opener,.which
A new radio-controlledgarage.
alsoacts as a securitvprecaution,is now betngtntroduced bv the llabs Companv Ltd" of 32
LetchworthDrive, Bromley,Kent to electricaland
y*
I
I,
radioautomatic
The new Haos NuTone
controlled garage door opener. ln response to a
signal, it has the facility to not onlY open a
heavy garage door, but also to turn on the light'
the garage and to close and
thus illuminating
then securelY lock the door.
APRIL 19?8
car accessorvretailers. Known as the Haos

it comNuTone Autohatic GarageDoor Operato.r,
fit
most
will
it
and
America,
es from NuTone of
garage
doors.
uo-and-over
'In
responsdto a signal,it has the facility to not
onlv opeha heavygaiagedoor,but also to turn on
in""tisht. thus illuriinating the garage,and then to
securelylock the door.
close*anil
nuaio controll6d models in the range are fitted
*iin giitiin;ade controls,which have been apnroved bv the Radio RegulatoryDivision ol'the
[{o-e Office. It is necessaryby law to have a
ira.tsmitting licence before ope-rating.the
aonliance.A-iive-vearlicenceis issuedby the Post
Cr?h.. for a smal[ fee (currentlv s4.80).The Haos
Companv will obtain the first one of these on
oi the purchaser.
oei;aif
flru lone wdve frequencyof the radio controlsis
not subjecledto interferencefrom other radio or
.ie.tti.dt equipment;nor does,iI impair radio -or
i"i.ui.io" re'ceitionin the area'The small aerial
""oroiimatetv tO in. (25'40 cms.) long - can be
;;fiit ;;d inionspicuouslyfixed to the head of the
garage
"-i;'i. door frame.
available in two sizes- the Deluxe GB
580XK model has a powerf-ul.* hrp. motor
capableof lifting anv properly balanceclsectlonal
dooi up t6 tdft. i 7ft. (5.48m. x 2.13
or'one-niece
An
add-itionalfeature of this de luxe
m.) in size.
in a
-oa"t is the built-in light, which is enc.losed
Uttu[-i"ti.tunt polyprdpyiene lens to d.iffusethe
ishi euentv.fhli nitjdeiiosts 8221.75(plus VAT).
l'"he standard GB 575XK model has a i h'p'
motor to lift doorsup to a maximum sizeof 16 ft' x
m. x 2.13m.). This modelcostss195.11
7 ft, (s"4.87
(plus VA'f).
-19;r
n
0ul:
0r
LOW COST
CAPACITANCE
BRIDGE
l,ltttttuF
'h ln nu tlmo at all, All wo
d rmell
n'eed an d,f. orclllator,
rrlarlleor woodenbox to mouRte
thtlr
iewoddDdrlFIn, a ferrlterodanda
it'i,;tuxHtrriitiitfnultrd.urlng
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and
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h
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hench,
w
e
r
c
bui the
iiniui.ti the'letters
generato.r
(Fie.
1),
signal
a,l'.
it,
an
amine
nretcrs,
numller which
"lt'r there darned nilvered

mlcn*1"
'.inrttLv,
a hoapol'
lhruuSh
rrrrtlng
smudged
Preceded
t h e n i w a s c o m P l e t e l Yu n '
decipherable.
"fiave you got many otherslike
t-"''iA
his?"
drrzenup to now,"
coupleof"There
are ceveral
renlied Dick.
iroiei iutt of loose silvered micas
ana f te.p bumPinginto thesebadl v m a r k e do n e s - a ltl h e t i m e ' "
CAPACITOR VALUES
Smithv lookedonce more at the

ooorlv identified silvered mica
itptcitot in his hand and sighed'
Tlie Workshopwas going through
one of its verv rare clearlnS-up
oeriods,and SinithY had decreed
that the contentsof the spareseup'
board should lle fullY sorled out,
Neitherhe ttor l)ick particularly
496
thoy
relinhedthln nt'tlvity elthtrugh.
Iroth hnd to atlttrlt prlvately that lt
w n n l o t t [ n v e r d u e ,I t t t h e h d t o f
and an r,f, signal.generatorand'

tlnally, infreqiiently uoed.despite
t h e r e c o m m e n d a t i o nosf t h e P u n '
dits, a gleamingmulti.'knobbedos'
.lttn*cupe.He iae suddenlystruck
b
" v insoiration.
",{triut what values," he asked,
"would those badlY marked
c- a o a c i t o r hs a v e ? "
[,tuacinc from their size,"stated
"l;oking
down at the
l)ick,
"I'd aaythey weremost
caDacitors,
.r5t
ritiu tirt*een i0 anil 1,000pF."
' "Then."
said Smithy decisively'
"rve'll huild a capacitance
bridgeto
s o r tt h e m o u t ! "
l)ick's iaw dropped,
",lust like that?"
",lugt like that," confi.rmed
"We can knock uP
Srnithv.
sometliingsirnPle to measure
cauacitanienin the rangeof 10 to
Fig,l, An d.f, rclaxation o 8'

cillator emPloYing e unliunc'
tlon t|'nslstor
I(rs c0Ns'rRtlcl'l'oR
R A I ) I 0A N I ) ELFIC'TR0N
"That looks easy enough," he

"What frequencydoesit run
stated.
at?"
"Roueh check, around 700H2.
It's so Sasicthat I hardlv need to
tell vou how it works. When the
pow6r is applied, the 0.0.47pF
capacitorstartsto chargeup vla the
2 2 k , Or e s i s t o r u n t i l t h e v o l t a g e
acrossit reachesthe emitter triggerins potential of the 2N2646 uniiunctiontransistor.There is then a
neeative resistanceeffect between
the"emitter and the base 1 of the
transistor.causingthe capacitor_to
r a p i d l v d i s c h a r g ei n t o t h e
15dO resistor.after which it starts
to charge up again tl,rough the
22k O resistor.The result is a series
of voltagespikes acrossthe 150O
resistor whose frequency dePends
on the valuesof the capacitorand
the resistorit chargesthrough.lVith
and 22knthe frequencYis
0.04?rr.F
of the order of 700H2."
"shouldn't there be an electrolytic capacitor acrossthe supply
rails?"
"It's not needed," grinned
"All the important alterSmithv.
natine currents flow in the looP
siven-bv
- the capacitor,the emitter6ase 1 path inside the transistor
and the lS0oresistor.So the circuit
doesn'teven need a supply byPass
capacitor.I know we'vegot several
2N2646'sknockingaroundbecause
I put them back in the sParescuPboard aeain when I checked our
stock oflransistors just norv. And
I'm certain you can find an odc
tagboardto assemblethe oscillator
Its layout is not at all
ciicuit on.
critical."
Dick at once snatched uP
Smithy's circuit and proceededto
set together the few comPonents
did so, SmithY
iequired. As he "Repaired"
rack
waikedoverto the
to oick up a small medium wave
and v.h.f.'transistorradio he had
repairedon the previousdaY and
which was still awaitingcollection.
" H e v . S m i t h v . " c a l l e do u t D i c k '
busy viith his sblderingiron.
"Hallo!"
"What is it," askedDick cheerfullv. "which floats on the water
andsavs'knickers'?"
Smithy groaned.
"l thirik I oreferYouwhenvou're
all cheesed
oif and miserableiather
than when you're happy and comins out with thesedreadful gagsof'
volrs. Go on then. what is it which
lloats on the water and saYs
'knickers'?"
" C r u d eo i l l "
"All rieht, all right," retorted
"How's that osSmithv. 'iincins.
cillatoi eettinsalone?"
" I t ' s n e a r l i f i n i s h e d , "s a i d D i c k .
"I'm
i u s t s o l d e r i n go n t h e l a s t
battervlead now."
Taking up the little transistor
radio.Smithv walkedoverto Dick's
bench. Despite the speed with
whichhe had worked,Dick had, as
always,wired up the oscillatorwith
admirable neatness, each solder
ioint beins imPeccably finished.

With a floulish hl took his soldering
iron awav
-afrom the lastjoint, which
secured red flexible lead terminated in a crocodile cliP to the
iunction of the 22k O and 270 O
iesistors.A black lead, similarlY
terminated in a crocodilecliP, was
alreadv affixed to the negativeterminal of a PP9 batterY.
"Shall I connectup?t'askedDick
eagerlv.
"S-itttv
n o d d e d a s s e n t an d .
switchingon the little radio, se-tit-to
the low frequencv end of the
medium wave'band-ina rangefree
of transmissions.He held it so that
its internal ferrite aerial was close
to the wiring of Dick's oscillator.A
faint tone at about 700H2 became
audible from its speaker,and this
ceased when Dick unclipped the
positivebattery connection.
BRIDGECIRCUIT
Smithv sruntedwith satisfaction.
"That- ilscillator's working all
rieht." he remarked, switching off

"As I told you a few
thi radio.
months ago,vou can nearlYalwaYs
tell wheri ah a.f. relaxation oscillator like this one is working by
the simple expedientof holding.an
close to the wiring.
a.m. re'ceiverThe oscillator produces stacks of
harmonics modulated at its fundamental frequency, and theseextend well up to and beYondthe
medium wave band. OkaY, we've
sot our a.f. oscillatorfinishednow
and so we next proceedto make trP
a bridee circuit."
"Goih. Smithv." queried Dick,
"isn't that eoini to be a bit difficult? For altart, won't we have to
have a variablecaPacitorin one of
the brideearms?I ian't seeus makine so;rething like that verY
o' u i c k l v . " ( F i s . 2 ( a ) . )
"If we weie building a ProPer
Pacitance
l a b o r a t o r v t v P e o f c a"we
would
Smithy,
bridee." slate-dhavi capacitancein all its four
arms.But in practiceit's possibleto
m a k e a s i m p l e- b r i d g e w i t h
resistancein two ot the arms ano
NulI
indicoto.
Cr Ce
cz- ct
'";ie
(b)
(o)
Nul I
indicotor
xl
K3
-R2= -H4
(c)
Rr-cz
K2 rl
(d)
capacitors. The bridge is balanc'

Fig. 2(d. A bridge incorporating
ed, causing minimum signal to be given in the null indicator, when
the capacitance ratios are as shown
(b). ln practice, working bridges can be made using resistors in
Also shown is the eguation for capacitive
two of the amg
reactance, X
(c). ln a bridge employing
resistors, balance occurs for the
the resistance ratio shown
(d). ln this bridge both capacitors have the same alternating signal
to
applied to them, whereupon their reactances are proportional
the reciprocals of their capacitance values
capacitancein the other two arms.

Like this."
Smithy drew out the bridge circuit. (Fig. 2(b).)
"Now this." he went on. "is not
quite respectable from the
engineeringpoint of view because
the signal currents flowing in the
capacitivesectionsof the bridge are
out of phase with those flowing in
the resistive sections.The circuit
alsoassumesthat the capacitorsare
of good quality with negligible
lossesdue to leakageresistanceand
things like that. But we can pretty
safely make this last assumption
when we're dealingwith most small
value capacitorsintended for radio
and TV applications.We can certainly do so as far as silvered mica
capacitorsare concerned.In practice the circuit works quite well
provided the resistancevalues are
kept fairly low. You balance the
bridge by adjusting one of the
resistancevalues for minimum indication in the null indicator. When
this happensthe ratio of the upper
resistanceto the lower resistanceon
the left is equal to the ratio of the
upper capacitive reactance to the
lower capacitive reactance on the
right."
"Hey, hang on a bit. You're
rushing ahead rather with these
reactances.I'm trying to remember
what the reactance of a capacitor
i s !"
"Well, reactanceis expressedby
the letter X," replied Smithy, "and
it's equal, in ohms, to 1 over 2rtrC,
wheref is frequency in Hz and C is
capacitancein farads. This means
that, at a fixed frequency, reactance goes up when capacitance
goesdown. The reactancevaries as
the reciprocalofthe capacitance,so
that if we halve the value of the
caoacitance we double the reactance.Got it?"
"Yes, I think so.Ifthe bridgehad
two resistorsinstead of two
capacitors on the right, would it
balance when the ratio of the two
resistorson the left was equal to the
ratio of the -two resistors on the
right?" (Fig.2(c).)
"It would."
confirmedSmithv.
"But," persistedDick doggerily,
"we don't have two resistorson the
right, we have two capacitors.And,
as you say, the reactance of a
capacitorvariesas the reciprocalof
its value. In that case, does the
bridee with capacitorsbalance
whei the ratio of the upper
resistanceto the lower resistanceis
equal to the ratio of the lower
capacitance to the upper
capacitance?That is to say, you
turn the capacitance side of the
equation upside-downas compared
with the resistors?"(Fie.2(d).)
"You have," said Smithy, "sized
up
the situation admirably."
'"Have
I? Thank goodnessfor
that!"
"And now," said
Smithv, returning t9 hip.ngtg-p"4,, "havfig sorted
out that little bit of busrnesswe can
498
Fig. 3. The bridge circuit of

the capacitance meter. The
standard
capacitor
and tha
test capacitor (which is that
to be measured)
are connected into circuit by way
of teminals
tackle the actual bridge circuit

we're goingto use. We'll couplethe
signal from our unijunction transistor via a 0.22pF d.c. blocking
capacitorand a l00Oresistorto th6
bridge circuit. AII that the 100n
resistor does, incidentally, is to
limit the transistorbase1 current to
a safe level if, for any reason,the
upper and lower lines of the bridge
should be accidentallv shortcircuited together. These last two
components can be added to the
tagboard on which you've already
wired up the oscillator.The bridge
itself consistsofa lk0linear carbon
pot and a 470A resistor, together
with two pairs of terminals. A
known capacitor which acts as a
standardwill connectto one pair of
terminals and the unknown
capacitor to the other pair of terminals." (Fig. 3.)
BRIDGE LAYOUT I
"Stap me," said Dick, impressed,
"you couldn't have
things more
basic than that."
"There's one important point."
'%nd thaf is that
remarkedSmithv.-use
it's necessaryto
a fairly well
spaced out iayout to keep-down
stray capacitances.Somethinglike
this."
The Servicemansketched out a
component layout on his pad,
alongsidethe bridee circuit which
he had just drawn. (Fig. a.)
"That layout shouldn't be difficult to follow," commentedDick.

"Does the pot haue to
be a carbon
type? We'ie got stacks of wirewound lkOpots available."
"A wire-wound pot wouldn't do
because it has inductance, which
might upset operation due to the
nature ofthe signalwhich energises
the bridge.The inductancein a carbon pot will be more than negligibly
low for the likes of a simple instrument suchaswe are makins.As vou
can see, I've shown the p"ot
-it wiied
such that the resistance inserts
into circuit increasesas its spindle
is turned clockwise.This means
that the test caoacitancevalues it
balancesout alio increaseas it is
turned clockwise. That's only a
minor point but it meetsthe general
convention that a quantity increaseswhen a control knob is moved clockwise."
"That seems fair enough," said
Dick. "Hey, I've just remembered
something!"
"What's that?"
"You've got two points here
which are marked for connectionto
the null indicator. We haven't even
discussedthat yet. Will the null indicator be a pair of headphones?"
"Oh no," said Smithy. "A pair of
headphoneswould be much too insensitive."
"Then what will it be?"
"You'll see," promised Smithy.
"For the time
being just make up
that bridge circuit and couple the
oscillator to it. Assemble it in a
plastic or woodenbox, by the way,
and not a metal one."
"Okeydoke," replied Dick
equably.
Smithy's assistant rummaged
around ind eventuallv locateil a
olastic case which had once been
of Smithy's
usedfor the conveyance
lunch-timesandwichesuntil the lid
had got lost. Frowning, he noticed
that it now containeda further random selection of silvered mica
capacitors and he added these to
the unsorted pile already on his
bench.Then. usine the baseof the
caseas a front oaiel he drilled out
holes for the poientiometerand the
two oairs of terminals. followine
Smithy's recommendedlayout.
To lOOn resistor
Fig.4. Ganeral layout of the

components
on the front
panel of the bridge as seez
from the rear. The bridge
should be assembled in an
insulated and not a metal
case as the latter could increase
straY capacitances
and capacitances
to earth
To negotivc roil
RADIO AND ELECTRONICS CONSTRUCTOK
60 turns 30swg enomellcd
.,,
lnsloting topc
r"*it)a
Fig. 5. Details
of the null indicator
In the meantime, Smithy had

risenfrom his stool and had set off
in searchof a few items for himself.
After some foraging he located a 4
inch length of * inch diameter
ferrite rod and a" small reel of' 30
s.w.g.enamelled copper wire.
Returnins to his stool he sat down
and cut off some3 vards of the wire.
'.'Hey,Smithy!""What is it now?"
"What is it that floats on the
water , . ,"
"You've already asked me that
one," Smithy interrupted him
irritably.
"No I haven't - this one's
different. What is it that floats on
the water and says 'panties'?"
"All right," said Smithy
resisnedlv."what is it?"
"Refin;d oil!"
Muttering to himself, the sorely
tried Servicenranapplied himself to
his task. He securedone end of the
enamelled wire to the ferrite rod
with p.v.c. insulating tape then
carefullv proceededto close-wind
60 turni of the wire ontothe rod. He
securedthe end of the last turn with
a further piece of insulating tape
and cut the wire so that about 1
inch of lead-out was available at
each end of the winding. He then
scrapedoff the enamel and tinned
the lead-out ends. after which he
soldereda 3 in. len6h of thin flexible p.v.c.coveredwire to eachleadout. He next wrapped two more
turns of insulating tape around the
ferrite
a', 3la'
rod winding
rod, and anchored the solder joints

and the flexible wires on top of
these and below two final layers of
tape. Some gradesof ferrite aie conductive and Smithv. never one to
take chances, had dnsured that the
flexible leads were held in place
without their solder joints beine in
contact with the rod. (Fig. 5.)
NULL DETECTOR
"I've finished wiring up the
bridge circuit," called out Dick
from his side of the Workshop.
Smithy walked over to Dick's
bench again. The bridge components were neatly mounted and
wired up on the erstwhile plastic
lunch box. Dick had also mounted
the oscillator tagboard on one side
of the box so that the leads from it
to the bridge were around 2{ inches
long. The two battery leads now
pasied under the open edgesof the
box at the bottom. Smlthy was
pleasedto seethat his assistgnthad
fitted a pointer knob to the potentiometer spindle.
"Very good," he commended.
"We'll now couple up the null
detector to the bridge, and we do
this with about 2 feet of ordinary
twin flex. Are aII the mica
capacitorsyou've got there badly
marked?"
"No," said Dick, "only about a
third of them."
"Good," replied Smithy. "Well,
you find one for me which has a
2 l t t w i nt l c x
l:i
.,
$
I'igt
Itr
Fig. 6. Tha ferrite rod winding, tuned by a 22OpF capacitor'

nects to the bridge via a length of 2-core flex
con'
value of - let me seenow - 200 or

220pF.Whilst you're doing that I'll
get the flex,"
Dick was soon able to hand a
220pF silvered rnica capacitor to
Smithv. who then proceededto connect his ferrite rod windins to the
bridge circuit by way of the flex.
F i n a l l y , h e s o l d e r e dt h e 2 2 0 p F
capaciioracrossthe endsofthe flex
the ferrite winding end. (Fis. 6.)
at"We
next." he announced."want
a very s-ail bit of capacitance
acrossthe test terminals."
He connectedthe oscillator battery
sulated wire, connected its bared
end to one of the terminals and
screwed the other terminal down
onto the wire insulation. Finally,
he turned the potentiometerknob
fully anti-clockwise.(Fig. ?).
Stondord
tarminols
o
o
Tcst
te rminols
Fig. 7, To find the resonant

frequency of the ferrite rod
null indicator a very low
capacitance rs conndctad
across the test terminals
"Right," he announcedbriskly.
"That ferrite rod winding of mine
should be resonatingsomewhereat
the low frequency end of the
medium wave band. Let's seeif we
can pick it up on this set."
H6 connectedoscillator batterv
clips to the PP9 battery, switcheil
on the radio and held it so that its
internal ferrite aerial was close to
and oarallel with the null indicator
ferrite rod. Tuning carefully,he was
able to pick up the tone oi the oscillator at about 500 metres on the
receiverscale.
"Blow me," gaspedDick as he
w a t c h e d u n b e l i e v i n g l y ." W h a t ' s
this, black magic or something?
We've got an audio frequency oscillator here. not an r.f. one!"
"True," agreed Smithy, "but as
I've already demonstratedto you,
our oscillator generatesharmonics
which extenil well above the
medium wave band. That oscillator
is producing voltage spikes at
around 700H2and theseare shockexciting rhe tuned circuit given by
the ferrite rod winding and the
220pF capacitor into producing
499
damped trains of r.f. oscillation

after each snike. The tuned circuit
has a high-Q and its output at
around 500 metres tuneSin quite
sharply in the receiver."
"Blimey, that's crafty. Is the
lengthof the ferrite rod very important?"
"Not really. I used a 4 inch
lengthmyself,but anything from 3j
to 7 inclies will be a1trigfit. Ir tn6
rod is longerthan 4 inchesit may be
necessarvto use a capacitor value
lower than 220pF io make it
resonateat 500 metres,but that's a
matter for simple experiment, of
course.Well now, let's see if this
works!"
subbins
As he spoke, he removed the
piece of wire from the test
bapacitance
terminals.
-'How about trying it with a coup l e o f l 0 0 p F c a p a c i t o r s ? "s a i d
Dick, reaching into the capacitors
in front of him.
"Fair enough,"replied Smithy.
Dick handed him two capacitors
and he connectedone to the standard terminals and the other to the
test terminals. He then rotated the
p o t e n t i o m e t e rk n o b . A v e r v
b r o n o u n c e dn u l l w a s p r o d u c e i l
irom the radio loudspeakerwhen
the potentiometerslider was at
aboui mid-travel.A similar effect
was given with two 1OpFcapacitors
and with two 1,000pFcapacitors.
"Hev." said Dick excitedlv."this
is pre[t'y good. How abouf trying
two-O.0irF capacitors?"
"Theii valu-eswill probably be
like
too high for an instrument
"They'll
this," iespondedSmithy.
probably reduce the amplitude of
the voltige spikesacrossihe bridge
to too low a level."
But Smithy's forebodings were
unfounded. After Dick had
presented him with two 0.01PF
iapacitors in polvester, and not
silveredmica, i,he-bridgewas still
capableof resolvinga satisfactory
n u l l w i t h t h e p o t e n t i o m e t e ra t
about the centre of its range.It was
only
- when Dick and Smithy checked operation with two 0.1,rzF
caoacltorsthat thev found that a
null could not be obtained.
P O T E N T I O M E T E RS C A L E
"I'm very pleased with this
commentedSmithy
bridgeof ours,"
cheerfully. "It looks as though it
will give useful readingswith stanfrom 1OpFright
dard-capacitances
u p t o 0 . 0 l l . r F .C o n s i d e r i n gi t s
simplicity,that's not bad going at
all."
"What about measuring values
below10pF?"
"You'should get successful
readingsdown to test capacitances
of 3pF"orevenless,"statddSmithy.
"but the readings will start to
become inaccurate at these low
values because of stray
capacitances.Well, the next thing
to-do is to prepare a scale for the
potentiometer.To giveus an idea of
what's to be expected here, let's

make up a table which assumes
that the-value of the resistorbelow
the potentiometerin the bridge section- is exactly 500O instead of
470Q."
Smithv walked over to his bench
then retrirned with his note-Pad.
"Now, the scale of the
Potentiometerwill be markedup in terms
of multiples of the standard
Let's say that this is
capacitanCe.
100pF. If the test capacitanceis
also 100pFthe bridgewlll obviously
balancewhen the potentiometerinserts500o. So, 5000 correspondsto
a multiplier of 1. The bridse
- will
b a l an i e w i t h 2 0 0 P F t e s t
c a p a c i t a n c ew h e n t h e p o t e n tiometerinserts1,000().So, 1,0000
correspondsto a multiplier of 2. A
test iapacitance of-50pF correspondswith 250O in the Pot, so
a multiplier of 0.5. Let's
2SCiosives
fill i; the intermediatefigures
now.t'
It was not long before SmithY

had completed a table having two
columni of figures, one for
resistancesinsertEd by the potentiometer at balance and the other
showins the number bv
- which the
standar'd capacitance should be
multiplied to give the value of the
test capacitance.(Fig. 8).
o.4
o.2
tig:|t';Ai::,
,:,.'g-,li.r,
,lofarrfi"-rtF}fdfo,,Ssiila,N,.w,
$.a: r&.itfiitr|if.,,,aller,,c'4 1#,
fbr',: tCi*, dbnrrrri*rdnFjil,bt
,Asagp;*.|Eit/igapfteiit*
e,i ro.6, #frji ,b: 66efi-E;i.,fi
rtfs':pt:,i,9#pH;i
eaF
,
twt,@acl
nga is:'
tF
POTENTIOMETER
CAPACITANCE
RESISTANCE
MULTIPLIER
(OHMS}
F?. 8. rrttb *a@e,
pa:
te fit i d E .st et, i-Cxr'sfenc e
"aies *a,,*irqtiioiffig,
c*pacitanec , Mt-ftipliqs ,,,,tf

the 47o{lftsisfaids t
eato havet
ffid.uitry
i'That seems vety

straightforward," commentedDick.
"I'm afraid the process of
soeasyin
calibrationwon't be quite
practice,"said Smithy. "That table
onlv showsvou what to expectundeian ideal-setof conditioris.What
you haveto do is makeup a scaleby
rneasuring known values of
caoacitance.It would be best to use
a io0pF capacitorfor the standard
and then mark up the scaleaccordingly for known values of test
caoaiitance.Since the scale is
lin-earvou will onlv needabout five
reasonablywell spreadout calibration points to be able to make up
the cbmoletescale.You should b-e
able to sat a usefulranqefrom 0.2 to
2 timeJ the value of ihe standard
capacitance."(Fig. 9).
50
100
200
250
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
1000
0.1
o.2
o.4
o.5
o.6
o.8
1.O
1.2
1.4
1.6
1.8
2.O
"Would it be best to do the

calibration with silvered mica
capacitors?"
"Yes, it would. Theseare usually
availablein quite closetolerances,
and this will help thingsout so far
as accuracyis concerned."
"Talking about tolerances,what
about the ioleranceof the lkO pot?
these carbon pots have quite wide
tolerances,so what happensif you
happen to chooseone whosetrack
resistanceis quite a-bit less than
rko
?"
"If
you'reunlucky enoughto use

such a ootentiometer." said
Smithy, "You'll find that the multiplier scalewon't go up to the times
'lhe
2 point.
solutionhereis to usea
slightly lower value than 470o for
the fixed resistor below it in the
bridge. A value of 430O should do

the trick, but in bad casesit might
even have to be as low as 390O1'
"Fair
enough,"said Dick. "Well,
_
I'll make up a scalefor.the potentiometer next. After that I'll start
sortingout thesecapacitorsI've got
here.Dashit all, I've just thoughiof
anotherquestion!"
"What's that?"
"Well,
when you're testing iow
values of capacitancethese won't
upset the tuning of the ferrite rod
wlndjng and the 220pF capacitor
which couples
into theieceiv'er.But
-tuning
won't the
be messedup as
the stan^dardan-il test capacitance
increase?"
"The
tuning will become
broader as these capacitancesgo
up," replied Smithy. "And that is
becausethe tuned circuit becomes
more and more damped by the
C O M P L E T EC I R C U I T
Smithy returned to his bench
whilst Dick fitted a temporarv
-poten-paper scale to the bridge
tiometer. It occurrecl 6 Smithv
that, since the capacitancebridg-e
had now entered the Workshdp
inventory of test equipment, it
deserved-to be recorciedin fittine
fashion. Accordingly, he drew ouI
its complete circuit, embellishing
its hitherto unidentified resistors
and capacitorswith proper F "ld
U n , u m b e r sa n d g i v i n g i t t h e
accoladeof an on-off switch. He
then put the circuit in a drawer in
his bench.(Fig. i0.)
Behind him, contented sounds
indicated that Dick's calibration
yas proceedingsatisfactorily.
Smithy resumed-hissortingout of
reslstors.
M O D E RB
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t n rI ^
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vl
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\r
The DUETTEStereo Amolifier uses our GBI

case and can be supplied punched or unpunched.The P.C.Boardsfor this proiectare
a l s o a v a i l a b l e :F o r d e t a i l s o f t h i s a n d o u r
s t a n d a r d r a n g e o f c a s e s s e n d 15 p
( r e f u n d a b l et)o :
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275a Fulwood Road
Broomhill
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Leod-outs
O D D SA N D E N D S
MechanicatEtectricat
CATFREE
Flg:.',,1,?,Cp'rwltts drEuit ol thg capqirt+ g'f?ff/g*,ltia,,'t*ira

g,|.itft
{aftsS$Clitu t ' ryaff ffi, Cuirimt cqqsump.tioh,,frs:rtt.tM
.1,., :
b{ttryls{p.proximefalfutnf, *,
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:':r.r:':': t:lr:,''lrl'lr:
iililiiiiiiiti,,iLi::rtlil:rl;irri:l.::ii'rlji:liiilrll.,'i:i
resistancesin the bridge.

-for But this
effect.is compensated
by the
fact that the-higher capacitinces
allowmore energyto be fld into the
ferriterod winding, and so you still
get a strong transferenceof signal
-the
into the radio. Incidentallv.
capacitance
tuning the windine is
really 220pF plus the small sllfcapacitance
in the 2-coreflex. The
purposeof the flex is to keep the
ferriterod winding well away-from
the unijunction oicillator aid the
bridgecomponents.The onlv coupling to the radio is then by the windingitself."
"Hey, Smithyl"
"Hallo!"
"You're a crosswordfan.
aren't
vou?"
- '3J
am."
"Well. here's a clue
then.
'Overloadedpostman'."
" 'Overloaded postman'?
Just
that?"
"That's right. 'Overloadedpostman'."
Smithv frowned.
"How-manv letters?"
Dick chucliled.
"Millions of them!"
I
Radio & Electronics

Gbnstructor^ Dgta Books
Panel Signs
Transfers
hndlSmd,
Dffit*lqlmilg$lz
oprcs
iill
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By frecorder
ffi
VOLTAGE REGULATOR
Haveyou everseena TO3 device

with four lead-outs?You're looking
at one rieht now in the acccompanying photograph, which shows
the new Fairchild adiustable
voltageregulatortype prA79HG.
The main feature of this
regulatoris that it providesstabilized voltagesthat are negative of
earth or the common rail of an
equipment.It is an adjustablefourterminal device capable of supplying currents in excessof 5 amps
over a negativevoltagerangeof 2.2
to 24 volts.and it providesa complement to the FafrchildpA78HG
positiveadjustableregulator.
The pA?9HG offers full thermal
overloadand short-circuitprotection. If the output voltage and
current are taken outside the safe
operatingarea the regulatorsimply
shuts down. This attribute obviates
the need for costly output circuitry
a n d h e a t - s i n k i n ga r r a n g e m e n t s .
The absolutemaximum ratings include an input voltageof 40-volts
negativeand an internalpowerdissioation of 50 watts at a case
temDeratureof 25'C.
Internallvlthe devicehas its own
voltagereferencewhich is applied,
in comoanvwith an externalcontrol voliagti derived from the out-
put. to an error amplifier. The

latter. which couplesto an internal
emitter follower output transistor,
maintainsitre output voltageat the
desiredlevel relatlveto the control
voltage. Also incorporated are
s h o r t l c i r c u i tl i m i t d n d t h e r m a l
shutdown stages.
Fairchild aie representedin the
U.K. by Fairchild Camera &
Instrument (UK) Ltd., 230 High
Street, Potters Bar, Herts, EN6
5BU.
ELECTRIC BANDITS
Provided you are sensibleand
realise that excessiveplaying of
them is a mug's game,you can obtain quite a little relatively
harmleis pleasure from the ondarmed bandits which are now oart
and parcel of the U.K. entert-ainment scene. When they first
appearedin our locals they were
very simple and unsophisticated,
but they soonsproutedno end ofintriguing addenda such as "flash"
features, "hold"
nd
"nudge" facilities. b u t t o n s a
The usual pub
rnachinespay out largersumsup to
I-r0pin tokenswhich can of course
be-spentover the bar. Or fed back
into the machine.
You can alwavs spot the compulsivebandit addict.He waits im-
The navvly introducsd Fairchild 1tA79ftG

voltsge regulatan
This provid*
sttbilircd
nagative vz'ltagss frcm 2,2 to 24 wfts and has
current cap-abllity /a arcess of 5
:L#.**
patiently to get at the machine, and

his ears are always alerted for the
"bang,
bang, bang" of other people
retrieving their booty. Like
"The
bells, the
Quasimodo he wails:
bellsl"
I occasionallv
- wonder if some of
the engineers who design these
gambling machines have found
their way into the ranks of the Post
Office development teams responsible for coin-slot telephone installations. Now and again I find
that I can indulge in quite long conversations after insertion of the initial coin. Perhaps I have unwitting"hold"
lv' nressed a secret
button.
the really impressive bandits
are. of course. those encountered in
clubs which occasionally produce a
deluge of 50p piecesup to a value of
f30 or so. I am told that in Australia
they have halls filled with bhese
super-bandits and that, when you
hit the jackpot, no money comes
out. Instead, a signal flashes up on a
console in the office adjoining the
hall and an attendant appears to
present you with the cash, thereby
reducing the risks of mugging and
other money-oriented mayhem.
Obviously, the most sensible
thing to do is to simply watch other
people play the machines. You can
always have the odd side-bet on
their performance.
' '-'-
'Pp'\
-,
."'''nt
'*"Fwl --1
o- .,
*
$-*$
M E T H O! D
i i i i iiii:i i i i t i i t i i i i i i i i r t ji ti it i iiii ii li il ij ii ii:i i ili i i i i i i l iiijiiiii

iil
\
"
pentoxide
Vanadium
thermotrigger
switches
manufactured by Lee Green
Precision
lndustries. These
two-tem
i n a I d evi c es exh i b it
an abrupt drop in resistance
at tha transition
temperature,
and are particularly
suitahle for controlling
cooling. sYstems and tha prevention
of overheating
in
electrical
and
electronic
equipment.
TEMPERATURE
SWITCHES
Solid statedevicesappearalsoin
the secondphotograph,thesebeing
thermotrigger temperature
operatedswitchesmanufacturedby
Lee Green Precisiun Industries
Ltd., Grotes. Place, Blackheath,
London SE3 ORA.
The temperature sensing
material in the switches is
vanadium pentoxide,the resistance
of which changes abruptly from
high values at low temperatureto
low valuesat high temperature.The
devicesillustrated are intended for
operation in the range of 50'C to
80"C. The temperature coefficient
of the vanadium pentoxide
employedis about -5% in the pretransitionregion,-8% in the transition region and -20% in the posttransrtronreglon.
The thermotrisger devices are
particularlv suit;ble for control
applicationsin electronic equipment, water temperature control,
fusing circuits and battery
overchargeprevention. One especiallvinterestingapplicationis in
the controlof water coolingsystems
for petrol engtnes to achieve.low
fuel consumotion.
As the d-evicesare solid state
there are no mechanical contacts
and therefore no problems
associated
with bounce,arcing and
switchingtransients.Also, circuitry
is simplified.As can be seen,the
s w i t c h e sa r e a v a i l a b l e i n t r r o
:i:
APRIL1978
..:s
\s
different housings, one ol which

may be bolted to a metal surface exhibiting the temperature to be
monitored.
C U R R E N TT R A N S F O R M E R S
For some reason we normallv
tend to look upon iron-cored
transformersas alternating voltage
convertingdevices.We may, for example, have a mains transformer
with a 240 volt primary and a 24
volt secondary,and we say that this
is a 10:1 step-downtransformer. If
we apply 240 volts a.c. to the
primarv we will obtain 24 volts a.c.
it the iecondarv.
But such a c6mponentmay also
be used as a currenrf step-down
transformer. Should we cause a
current of 1 amp to flow through
the secondarywe will be able to
draw a current of 0.1 amp from the
primary. This is quite a legitimate
use for an iron-cored transformer
and is sometimesemployed in the
alternating current ranges of the
more expensivemultimeters.
The fact that a transformer can
be usedfor transformingcurrentsis
pretty easyto understandifwe look
upon it as a component having
100% efficiency. Continuing with
our 10:1step-downtransformerand
assuming 100% efficiency, there
will be no loss of power in the
transformeritself. In conseeuence.
-to
if we apply 240 volts a.c.
the
primary and connect the 24 volt
secondarvto a circuit which draws
I amp frbm it, the power delivered
by the secondarywill be 24 watts.
The same amount of power, at 240
volts, is applied to the primary,
whereuoon the orimarv current
must b6 0.1 amp. Thus, a current in
the prinrary of 0.1 amp producesa
curr'entin ihe secondaiyof1 amp.
A transformer wor[s in boih
directions and it follows that if we
feeda current of 1 amp through the
Thr:se cor,rses. which

havc been solLl for
{,v,', 23 ypdrs lr,rvebeprr proved many times
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A P R I L1 9 7 8

The Radio Amateur

Editorial and Advertising Offices

!t) Data Publications Ltd., 1977. Contents

STOP-STARTM U LTIVIB RATOR (Suggested 468

SHORT WAVE NEWS by FrankA. Baldwin

fqv DX Listeners 476

Opinions expressed by contributors are

Pto d ucti on.-W eb Off sot.

Technical Queries. We regret lhat we

THE MAY ISSUE

This article describesa verv simple medium

to pick.out just one oi tw<ior more closelyspaced

Fig. l. The circuit

medium wave receiver. As can be seen, very few components

TR1 is a Jugfet which is used in the common

Jhe ferrite rod may needto be obtainedfrom

Fig. 2. How the fenite

Eonds ol imuloting tope

VCt ond ncg. roil

RADIO AND ELECTRONICS CONSTRUCTOR

centre of the rod to the capacitor fixed vanestag.

LooHng inside the i:awewith

on, whereuponit should be possibleto tune in

The parts sssemhled on the

RADIO AND ELECTRONICS CONSTRUCTOR

lng, If they werenot fltted the eomponent

lhrco-quartsr vlcw of th. rudlo, thowlng tha

betweenit and the components

The Ferranti "Win A Rollei" competitionfor integrated

"Win Rollei" competia

- inThe Surefire electronic ignition sYstem' Left to right

and fault finding, from a circuit diagram to an

and look forward to continued progressin international communications and goodwill as

!e started by pressing one pushbutton and stopped by pressinga

RADIO AND ELECTRONICS CONSTRUCTOR

itiallv adiusted to insert maximum

will be quite loud enough to be

R, - Ro l/a wort roo/o

circuit in which the muftidbffi

and stopped by pressing the ap-

This setting-up procedure may

Fig. 3. An alternative drive

TR1. This circuit will drive a

tqaeior i*+otpotitln'g a,readily availabla

A.F. oscillators with outputs capable of being

Feedbacklevel is adjustedby VR1. The primary of

VR1 and R1 form a d.c. potential divider which,

impedancestep-downof 400:1.The corresponding

Fig. l. The standard 555 astable multivibrator

Fig. 2. A circuit modification which allows a

this time he usedthe circuit shown in Fig. 4. Here

r " cK2+ H3- :

Fig. 5(a). Circuit conditions when the capacitor

equal at the half supply voltage condition, our

The calculationsshown inset reveal that. for

CAN ANYONE HELP?

"Radio Constructort' Back

COSSOR OSCILLOSCOPE MODEL

ERSKINE 13A OSCILLOSCOPE - J.

CODAR P.R.30 (l valve) Preselector

DULCI Valve Amplifier Model DPIO