04 April 1989
04 April 1989
04 April 1989
9
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APRIL 1989
volume 22, number 4
T. H. Tenney, Jr., WlNLB
publ~sher
and editor-~n-ch~ef
9 Building a Digital Filter
Terry Northup, KA1S.TC Paul Selwa, NB9K
managing ed~tor
Marty Durham, NB1H 18 The Weekender:
techn~caleditor Easy Antenna Access for
Robert D. Wilson, WAlTKH Urban Apartment Dwellers
consult~ngeditor B r y a n Bergeron, NUlN "7
Tom McMullen. W l S L
Joseph J Schroeder. W9JUV 23 Practically Speaking: WGSAI, page 55
Alfred W~lqon.WGNIF
associate ed~tors -
Liqht Metal and Other Topics
Susan Shorrock Joe Carr, K 4 I P V
product~oned~tor
Peggy Tennev. K A l O D G 28 Easy Monitor Receiver
copy ed~tor
for 2 Meters
Beth McCormack
edllor~alasslstanl Courtney Hall, WA5SNZ
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Copyrtght 1989 by Commun~catmnsTechnology. Inc
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Changes.. .I989 update
Close to a year ago, we set out to make Ham Radio the number one magazine in the Amateur Radio
field. It's been a long, difficult process fraught with pitfalls and setbacks, but we are well on our way.
It will take time to reach our goal, but we can do it with your help. The children's story "The Little Engine
That Could" reflects HR's aspirations. The competition is tough. We know we must work very hard at
tailoring the magazine's content to please you. That's why we've been asking you, our readers, what you
think of our changes. The responses t o our reader surveys and evaluation cards have been outstanding.
Over 95 percent of you approve of what we've been doing. To be fair, there are those of you who aren't
happy. We hope that in time, we can win you over too!
To our effort t o serve you, we pay strict attention to all reader comments. In the past two years, your
letters to us have asked for MORE PROJECTS and CONSTRUCTION please! And so we began the proc-
ess of redirecting HR t o fill your needs in that area. This process isn't easy. As many of you already know
or are learning, it's often difficult to get parts. It's also difficult to get authors to write about their construc-
tion projects. We do feel that we have an excellent group of authors writing for us now, but there's always
room for more.
HR is a reflection of you, our reader. While a significant number of you are technically oriented and
look t o HR for electronic information, you're also Hams - men and women who take their love of radio
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contesters who can't wait for the next major event. Some of you bemoan the departure of tubes. Others
are immersed in the latest digital state-of-the-art electronics. In short, your interests run from Alpha to Omega.
When Jim Fisk, W1 DTY and Skip Tenney, WINLB, started Ham Radio in 1967, their goal was to mail
a magazine that stayed away from politics and delivered nothing but the best in technical Amateur Radio
subjects. During it's first ten years, HR met that goal. Unfortunately, Jim's untimely death in 1980 upset
the formula and it's taken us a few years to get back on track. Under Rich Rosen's, K2RR, guidance HR
once again re-established itself as the Amateur's technical magazine. Now Marty Durham, NBlH, Bob
Wilson, WAITKH, and Terry Northup, KAISTC, are working very hard to ensure HR includes only the
very best technical articles every month.
Our new look, created by local graphic artist Ann Desmarais, is designed to make HR more readable.
While consistency is safe, a design change was necessary. HR looked like it was locked in a 1968 time
warp. The new logo is a bold statement of HR's commitment to quality. The inside layout is clean and
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out was modified to take maximum advantage of the space on each page. The only complaint we've received
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are distracting to a few readers. Others have told us they find the bars help them locate and identify figures
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So what's the bottom line? You've asked us to not become a clone of the other magazines. HR has
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Craig Clark, NIACH
4 April 1989
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By Paul Selwa, NBSK, 61 East Tilden Drive, Brownsburg, Indiana 461 12
D igital filters provide high-performancedesigns the filter is deliberately cleared and the process is
with propertiesthat can't be provided by ana- repeated. Another concern with IIR filters is their highly
log filters. These propertiesinclude: stability, no nonlinear phase response. For phase-dependentmodes
tweaking, repeatability, insensitivity to temperature, of communication, like phase-shiftencoded data in dig-
and the guaranteed linear phase response of Finite ital transmission, the data may be garbled and no sub-
Impulse Response (FIR)filters. This last characteristic sequent filtering will completely removethe distortion.
is required in narrow bandpass filters for phase-shift
encoded digital data like that used on the Mode-S tran- FIR filter construction
sponder in the Phase 3C satellite. A FIR filter consists of the following sections:
Digitalfilters aren't new, but it's only recentlythat the A low-pass filter (LPFI limits the bandwidth of the
inexpensive ICs needed to build them have become signal. This is called an anti-aliasingfilter.
available. The main hardwareimpediment has been the An analog-to-digital converter (ADC). It may need
lack of low-costdigital multipliers. In software, the prob- to be preceded by a sample-and-hold circuit if its
lem has been the lack of inexpensive programs to deter- conversion time is long.
mine the filter's coefficients. Optimal filter designs A data memory that saves the digitized samples of
require extensive iterations and aren't practicalfor man- thesignal. Data is often saved in two's complement
ual calculation. (2C) form for compatibility with hardware mul-
This article provides information about the construc- tipliers.
tion of FIR digitalfilters. You can construct the hardware A set of filter coefficients that are used to multiply
if you have a general knowledge of digital techniques. the data memory's samples. Theseare often called
I can provide you with a program which calculates the filter taps and are usually stored in 2C form.
coefficients for FIR filters of up to 128 taps. An accumulator that contains the sum-of-product
terms that are generated by multiplying the data
FIR filters memory contents by the filter's coefficients.
There arevarious types of digitalfilters; the FIR filter A multiplier chip, or a processor with multiplying
is the most useful. This filter is unconditionallystableand capability. Multiplier accumulators (MACs) are
has guaranteed linear phase response. It's resistant to common.
the effects of noise, because any noise componentsare A digital-to-analog converter (DAC)to change the
in the filter only until a new set of data samples has been filter's digital output word to an analog signal.
taken. It'salso the type of digital filter least sensitive to A low-pass filter to remove clock noise from the
the effects of the precision (length) of the filter coeffi- DAC's output. It is called a reconstructionfilter and
cients. has the same bandwidth as the anti-aliasing filter.
A controller to coordinate the actions of these pieces
IIR filters of hardware. It can beassimpleasa PROM, contain-
The other popular digital filter is the Infinite Impulse ing control bits with a counter to read out the
Response (IIR)filter. Becausea portion of an IIR filter's PROM's words sequentially, or it can be an actual
output is fed back into the filter, any disturbance at the digital signal processor like the Texas Instruments
output is partially present in all subsequent outputs until TMS32010 with its own program.
April 1989 9
You can build a compact system, like the TI-based and at 14,999 Hz, and also preserve the 4999-Hz base-
system shown in fig. 1, with a few LSI chips. Thisver- band signal. At an input frequency of 5000 Hz you'd be
sion requiresan assembled programfor theTMS32010 unable to distinguish between the real signal and the
processor. The coefficients are in the program PROM sideband of 5000 Hz (10,000 - 5000 Hz) from the sam-
and the data memory is on the processor chip. The anti- pling signal's carrier. As you further increase the input
aliasing filter, the ADC, the DAC, and the reconstruc- frequency, the lower sideband copy of the input signal
tion filter are in the TLC32040. takes on the alias of a lower frequency input signal.
A more efficient implementationfor home assembly That's why the LPF precedes the ADC.
consistsof two GEchipsmadefor FIR applications. The
ISP9128 is a FIR controller and the ISP9210 is a MAC. Anti-aliasing filters
These two chips do most of the work for you. The These filters can be passive or active. While the the-
approximate cost of this pair is $80. oretical cut-off frequency of the LPF can be at the fold-
ing frequency, any practical filter has finite rolloff. You
Aliasing can't get away with using a sampling rate that's barely
Any digital filter hasa bandwidth limitation that'sset twice the highest frequency component you pass
by the sampling rate of the input ADC. To prevent alias- through the LPF. Practicalanti-aliasingfiltershave cut-
ing, the sampling frequency must be at least twice the off frequencies of approximatelyone-third the sampling
bandwidth of the anti-aliasing filter. The folding fre- rate, so the LPF's response will be down 40 dB or more
quency is defined as exactly one-half the sampling rate at the folding frequency. For voice communicationsthat
and istheoretically the maximumfrequency that thefil- require bandwidthsof 2500 Hz, you'll see sampling rates
ter can handle without aliasing problems. Thisfrequency of 8000 Hz or greater. For other modes, like CW which
isoften referred toasthe Nyquistfrequency or rate. It's needs no more than 1000-Hz response, you can get
called the folding frequency because the sampler's out- away with a sampling frequency of 3000 to 5000 Hz.
put frequency components have mirror symmetry A poor choice of anti-aliasing filter can upset your FIR
around that frequency. system's operation. If you depend on the inherent lin-
When a signal is being sampled at a given rate, the sig- ear phase response of the FIR structure, use a linear
nal's componentsareduplicated aboveand below each phase (flatgroup delay) LPF for anti-aliasingand for the
harmonic of the samplingfrequency, just as they would reconstruction filter. An easy way to obtain flat group
appear as sidebands of AM transmitters operating at delay is to use the EXAR XR-100311004 - a switched-
those frequencies. capacitor low-pass Bessel filter. These filters preserve
The only one you need to worry about is the fun- the information in phase-shift encoded data. Another
damental sampling frequency. If you have a sampling advantage of using switched-capacitor filters is that you
rate of 10,000 Hz and a signal of 1000 Hz you'd get can divide the sampling clock todrive the LPF and you'll
spurious outputs from the sampler at 9000 Hz automatically be in the correct ratio with respect to the
(10,000- 1000Hz)andat 11,000Hz(10,000+ IOOOHz), sampling rate. That may not be important in a system
in addition to the baseband signal of 1000 Hz. If you using a single sampling rate, but for a dynamically recon-
raisedthe input signal'sfrequency to4999 Hz, the sam- figurable system you won't have to worry that the anti-
pler would produce sideband components at 5001 Hz aliasing LPF is at the wrong bandwidth.
TLC 3 2 0 4 0 TMS32010
INPUT w
SERIAL -TO-PARALLEL . r
CONVERSION
- -
DIGITAL
ANALOG
SIGNAL
INTERFACE
PROCESSOR
OUTPUT
PARALLEL -TO-SERIAL
CONVERSION
-
-
t
PROGRAM
I I
10 April 1989
ADC
The ADC is one of the simpler system blocks, but dis-
tortion is introduced in the converted number - called
the (sin X ) / X error - where X = pi input fre-
quencylsamplingfrequency. The ratio (sinX)/X isequal
to 1 for X = 0 (DC signal), and gradually drops to zero
when the input frequency is equal to the sampling fre-
quency. The lossatthe Nyquistfrequency is3.9 dB, as
shown in fig. 2. For normal communicationswork, the
relativereponse across the audio band is of little impor-
tance; you can ignorethisfactorwithouta problem. This
is especially true if the sampling rate is high with respect
to the anti-aliasingfilter's cutoff, becausethe loss from
the (sinX)/X rolloff issmall. You can obtainafirst-order
I NORMALIZED FREQUENCY
I
correction by pre-emphasizing the input signal to the Sin(X)/X response. Note the Nyquist Frequency is shown at
ADC. 0.5 on this scale.
Filter coefficients entire 16 bits of the hex coefficients, simply start at the
The stored data samples areall multipliedone-for-one highest (left-most) bit and use the number of bits you
by their correspondingfilter coefficients, between the want. This2C notationis used almost universallyin com-
acquisition of each successive data sample. The prod- puters and in MAC hardware. The 2C part refers to the
uct of each multiplyingoperation isaccumulatedand the technique used to encode bipolar binary numbers in
resulting sum-of-products is a data word that's output which the most significant bit of the number is the sign
by the filter, until the next output value is calculated. bit (0 = plus, 1 = minus). The "fractional" part refers to
The FIR design program calculates filter-coefficient the fact that the total of the remaining bits have a posi-
sets for up to 128tapfilters. Dependingon thesampling tive value less than 1. This number approaches unity
rate you choose, you may not be able to do all the mul- more closely as the length of the2C number increases.
tiply accumulate (MAC)cycles betweentwosuccessive The value of a2C tap from this filter programwill be equal
data samples. This means you'll either have to shorten to:
the filter's length or build faster MAC hardware. The - 1 (signbit) + (positivevalueofthe remaining bits)
design program allows a total of five bands including with the left-most remaining bit having a value of + 0.5,
stopbands plus passbands. The fancierthe filter's oper- +
the next having a value of 0.25, and so on.
ation, the longer the time for the filter to define these
bands. You'll need fast hardwarefor the most elaborate FIR filter operation
types of filters. But it's easy to build the low-pass, sin- Suppose you need a length 5 FIR filter. The program
gle bandpass, notch, and high-pass filters with moder- will calculate the filter's coefficients, which are sym-
ate filter time length. metricalaround the center value (thethird in this case).
The programfirst calculatesa coefficient set for a fil- If you've chosen an even number of coefficients the
ter having unity gain (zerodB). While these tap weights symmetry will still exist, but without a unique central
will producea working filter, the number set may not use value. The coefficientsarelabeled in the program'sout-
yoursystem'sfull8or 16-bit capability unlessit can han- put and must be used in sequence. In this example, the
dle floating point math. After locating the tap weights data memory will be length 5. It will always be the same
for the zero-dB filter, the programfinds the largest value length as the number of taps in the digital filter. The five
coeffient and scalesthem all linearlyto gain the best use most recent data samples will be multiplied by the five
of fixed-point hardware's mathematical range. For coefficientsasshown in eqn. 1. To make notation easy,
example, the largest coefficient might not require the I'll refer to the data samplesas D l -Dx, to the coefficients
most significant2 bits in the system. In that case, you'd as C ( l)-C(5), and to the outputs as 01-Ox (seefig. 3).
get one-fourth the signal level from the filter that the The first usable filter output is produced after the fifth
hardware is capable of producing. The scaling process data sample is taken.
results in a filterwith the same frequency response, but +
0 1 = DIsC(5) D2*C(4) + D3-C(3) +D4*C(2) +
with something other than zero-dB gain. The gain fig- D5*C(1) (1)
ure is printed in theoutput listing, just ahead of thescaled The output value 01 is placedin the output DAC. Cal-
tap values. In this example the scaled filter would have culation stops until the sixth data sample appears. It
12-dB gain. replacesthe sample D l (i.e., the oldest sample) and then
The results are printed in floating point decimal and calculatesthesecond output. In all cases, the new data
in fractional2C hexadecimal. If you don't want to use the sample replaces the oldest stored data sample.
April 1989 11
RAM
DA TA
DS
RAM
DATA
D4
RAM
DATA
, -
03
RAM
OA TA
,
-
DZ
RAM
DATA
D1
Cl CZ c3 C4 t5
? ? ? 1
I 1
SUMMATION
I
OUTPUT
+
0 2 = D2*C(5) D3*C(4) + D4*C(3) + D5*C(2) + positive; this helps prevent overflow. Any filter can be
06*C(1) (21 overloaded, so scale your inputs properlyto avoid prob-
Output sample 0 2 is placed into the output DAC. lems.
Again the filter waits for the next data sample (which You may have to change the2C result back into sim-
replaces sample 021, then calculates the third output ple binary code for the output DAC. Do this by invert-
sample. ing the sign bit position of the sum-of-products. This
+
0 3 = D3*C(5) D4*C(4) + D5=C(3)+ D6*C(2) + shifts the 2C number to a value between zero and the
07*C(1). (3) maximum value your data variable can achieve.
This process is continued, and the filter produces out-
puts at the same rate as the incoming samples. Note that Controlling the filter
the filter operates on the most recent data samples only If the filter is built of separate pieces instead of a FIR
(five in this example), and the older ones are written over controller chip ora one-chipdigitalsignal processorwith
in the data memory as more recent samples are taken. itsown program, you'll have togeneratethe control pro-
No portion of a noisy data sample remains in the filter; gram in a PROM or use some other method to produce
the FIR structure, compared with an IIR filter, is insen- a "state machine." This is a little tedious, but not diffi-
sitive to noise. The process of shifting the data relative cult. You must determine how many separate bits are
to the coefficients doesn't have to be an actual data shift needed to drive the control inputs for the ADC, data
in memory. You can accomplish the same effect by RAM, coefficient PROM, MULTIPLIER, DACandother
using counters as data pointers to place new samples elementsof thesystem. The PROM data readoutwill be
and to retrieve the samples for the MAC operation. sequential, because a counter will be used to drive the
address inputs of the chip. At each new address, you'll
Output data program 1 bits to performthe control functions required
The multiplication of two signed 16-bit words at that time interval. As the counter runs through its
producesa 32-bit productin which two identicalsign bits range, the logicsignalstocontrol thevariouspartsof the
appear. Take the top 16 bitsas your result, after you per- filter will be read out. To avoid problems from address
form a left shift of one position to removethe redundant or data skew, use a register at the PROM data outputs
sign bit. Some multiplier chips automatically perform to clean up the data. This will cause a one-clock cycle
this function. Many times, the accumulator used in delay in the filter activity, but that's no problem. The first
building an output value has more than 16 bits of reso- two locations in the PROM can be all zeros to get every-
lution (likeour example).Thusan intermediatevaluethat thing set up. Think of the bits as a method of defining
exceeds its 16-bitcapacity wouldn't cause overflow and sequentialevents, without consideration of active high
a false result by a "wraparound" from the maximum or active low controlstates. Make all bits represent active
number, past zero, to a smaller number. When the total high events inside the PROM; if you need an active low
sum-of-products is finished for a given output sample, output, invert the bit outside the PROM. This technique
some product termsmay have been negativeandsome is less prone to error than if the PROM contents directly
12 April 1989
ElMAC Tubes Provide Superior
Reliability at radio station KWAV
- over 131,000 hours of service!
Ken Warren, Chief Engineer at reliability with the longest and backed by the most comprehen-
KWAV repbrts that their 10 kW best warranty program in the sive and longest warranty of-
FM transmitter went on the air in business. Up to 10,000 hours for fered in the industry. Send for
November, 1972, equipped with selected types. our free Extended Warranty Bro-
ElMAC power tubes. The origi- chure which covers this pro-
nal tubes are still in operation af- gram in detail: Write to:
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Ken says, "In spite of terrible San Carlos, CA 94070
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Reader Service CHECK-OFF Page 118 H 195 April 1989 13
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Article A H A M RADIO
. +
~ p RCP. LCP or Llnear Polarlzatlon
LNA- NF. 1.5dB. G -22dB
Preselector Filler -
Machlned 4.Pole Combline
M~crostr~p
alumlna
M~xeron high dielectric
I
PRODUCT PRICE LIST
RCPLCP Feed Assembly.Type N connectors Model WCFA-(treq) . . . . . . . . . . . $185.00
Linear Polanzed Feed Assembly.Type N Conn. Model WLFA-(freq) . . . . . . . . . . 135.00
Frequency response of the Sband sample problem. (Specily frequency: 1 296. 1.691.2304.2 400.3 456GHz)
Sample problem
As an example of the type of filter you can build, con-
~
I 1.2 Meter Spun Alum~numDlsh with mlg, hardware WUDA-1.2M . . . . . . . . . . . . 295.00
1.5 Meter Spun Aluminum Dlsh wlth mlg. hardware WUDA-1 5M . . . . . . . . . . . . 395.00
LNA-2 stage GaAsFET, N F 1.5dB. G ,2268. SMA Conn.WLNA-(freq) . . . . . 265.00
(Spenly frequency: 1.2. I 69.2 35. 3 456GHz)
PreaeleclorBandpass Filter. Machined 4-Pole Combllne. SMA conn.
(Speoly frequency 1.296. 1.691.2 3.2.4.3456GHz)
sider a filter of length 128, which passes the first three Model WMCF-(freq) 85.00
voice formants. The bands are defined as 0-250,375- MimostripMixer -Thick Film. Machined Housing WHMM-(freq) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45.00
Local Oscillator - Heater Stabilized.Thlck Film.WHLO-(freq) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325.00
700,825-1400,1525-2500, and2625-3750 Hz. Thesam- (Specifyfrequency: 1.151. 1.5535.2.159.2.255.331 1, orany spof Fd
pling rate is 7500 Hz. The maximum of the stopband Complete FeedDown Converter to 2 Meten. Model WFDC-(treq) ........... 675.00
(Speoly frequency: I&type) (Other IF3 ava~l..GOES- 137.5MHr)
response is below -40 dB, with the deepest notch Complete D~shFeed Down Converter Assembly
reaching - 80 dB. The numeric outputs and stopband 1.2 Meter Dish. Model WDDC-1.2-(lreq) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 955.00
1.5 Meter Dish. Model WDDC-1.5-(freq) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .,1055.00
data below - 45 dB are deleted to compressthe figure.
All Products Shipped UPS except Parabolic Dlsh ahlpped byln~ck-Fmlght Collect
A smaller version of this program is available from
Public Brand Software, Inc., P.O. Box 51315, Indi-
anapolis, Indiana 46251. This version, on their disk Wilmanco
l%mBuSINtSS( I ~ I I R l r K.LI<
~KIIIUII ,I .I CA91124U.S.A.
HR11.O, will create filters of maximum length 10. The TELEX9101(X1~11!.~llllll'*llItr,!. ! A \ IIIIA~WI.UUI
full-featured version isavailable only from the author, for 1
April 1989 n 17
requires several trips through a sliding-glass door that
leads to the balcony. Blasts of cold air entering my
THE small apartment are side effects in the winter.
Confronted with this dilemma (and complaints from
WEEKEND my XYL), I sought a solution that would eliminate the
outdoor excursions for receive only applications or at
least limit the ones required to begin HF operation.
The most direct solution, drilling holes in either the
brick wall or an aluminum window frame for a coaxial
feedthrough, isn't allowed by my landlord.
I tried using a window antenna, but the it proved
unsatisfactory. It was impossible to secure the win-
dow properly against burglars with the antenna
installed. Anyway, the antenna I tried is designed for
wooden window frames, and must be insulated from
an aluminum window mount. I tried using a block of
wood drilled to accommodate coaxial cable and
wedged in the window frame, but this also resulted
Easy antenna access in an unacceptable security risk. Because of my loca-
for urban a~artment
- tion on the ground
- floor and the construction of the
apartment building (an effective Faraday shield!), an
dwellers indoor antenna proved useless - even for WWV
reception.
Window Coupler
I--------- -1
Schematic diagram of the window coupler. An effective RF connection is provided through coupling capacitor C1
This article is dedicated to those urban HF operators It occurred to me that I might try coupling RF from
who, because of security or other restrictions, have an external antenna through my window, adapting a
been unable to have constant access to a good receiv- method similar to those used in some mobile window-
ing antenna. mount VHF antennas. The schematic in fig. 1shows
My typical operating procedure on the HF bands is the basic concept involved in what I call the "window
to listen to the activity on each band, then attach the coupler." The coaxial cable from my receiver (an ICOM
appropriate loading coil to a loaded vertical antenna R-71A) is connected, through coupling capacitor C1,
mounted on a pipe on my balcony. Sometimes I sim- to an external coaxial cable that feeds a "stealth"
ply want to hear the latest solar activity forecast on dipole antenna. The window cross section in fig. 2
WWV or catch the news from the BBC. Because I live shows the details of the window coupler. Notice that
in an apartment building with brick walls and coupling capacitor C1 is formed by two strips of alu-
aluminum-framed windows, this operation normally minum foil mounted exactly opposite each other, on
either side of and along the width of the window. The
single-pane glass of the window forms the dielectric
By Bryan Bergeron, NUIN, 30 Gardner of C1. The two parallel foil strips, each 318" x 48",
Road, Apartment ?GI Brookline, Massachu- form the capacitor's plates. The braids of both the
setts 02146 internal and external coaxial cables are connected to
18 April 1989
Outside
FIG158
Antenna
I /
Sheet
Metal
Screw
Aluminum
Window
Frame
- iIndow Pane
\
TO Foil
Receiver
RGl58
Inside
~p
Window cross-section showing the details of coupling capacitor construction. The center conductor of each coaxial cable is
connected to parallel foil strips with the aid of adhesive connectors designed for connecting the foil to burglar alarm systems.
The braids of each cable are connected to the aluminum window frame.
Parts list
Adhesive-backed foil-Radio Shack part no.
49-502 (120 f o o t roll-$5.99)
Adhesive connectors- Radio Shack part no.
49-504 (3 pair f o r $2.59)
Krylon Acrylic Spray Coating, Crystal Clear
no. 1301 (about $3)
Silicone sealer
April 1989 a 19
M a n u f a c t u r e r s o f Q u a l i t y C o m m u n i c a t i o n s E q u i p--
ment
I
Hi Pro Receivers
SPECIFICATIONS:
Sensltlvlty
.
FEATURES:
li,,ll~
,,$.!I, ,I,L,I~
,I IA ~ , ~ , ~ 0
1,' ,If{ ',tr),~d
.
I ,I'5~ ~
.'ll ,I!, , .2 t ~ 8 , , l!Y~O.*I~,KI
~ t~v ~ I I
! ~ ~ < j 0'10 < > s
Selectlvlly
I IA I w , .,<<j!~,tl
r ~ ~ ~ ~ ' l ~ o ~ l
1 , 1 1 l I I flcl r l f l
30 b t l / 17n r l f l
tJ,~rrcnv
Cll~tt,~r~.!l It7
bli,, 1110 411
t.m (111
30 * ~ i
Spurlous Responsr }Ii,11Ii
lntermodulatlon ill ,Ill
...\,,l",,
Tllr, HI Pro Recetver ts rho hr.;rrt ,,I the, +I# PWr Nr.l,r..Sa.~ \i.~;tr.!l~,!c,nr. I clnlrol ~.qtrr.lrh I1llIIIq Modulaloon Acceplancr ',l.$n,l.jril l > O bH:
.,l,':<,*,<,,ll, rj,.~,,,lr,<.,l I,, < ~,",",,..~,.,l ,,nnr ~ I , < , , l ~ C , " ~ . I,,! <,<.(,.%r,~tr. *,,,$*, c <,r\1,611
~ n ~ l r ~ ~ ~ l rd,,t-,,* ,%ri* t i ;
~ 4 ~ ~ ) ~ ~b,,J.,' 9 1 & . <,
7 .4",! t><<jh
IKJ.~',!~, (j CY!~lll#
!<jf>6',l , 8,, \I,!', D.,, r , m , r , 11rrv n . a . 1 1 . r ,,"[,,,I
10 I,.n?n br.'
..
Squelch Sensltlv~!y i~
7 .),,lh t h ' . , q .+n<l c)\, 1 ~ ~ ~ I,, #",,or<. 1,)".
~ 1 1 . ~ ~,12,4$,,, ,l'.s.<.r3','' 1,..,.,m,.t,.r r>,,ll,,,l
,.,I,. ' T c , , : ,,,>,,,vl,,,., r j , , . , ,,I<,.?<,*,I+, r t,,,,,,. 01 ,.,!*.%,\C, ,I', r.r,,~!, r h.tnnr.i I I ~ , . ~ ~ ~ , IU~I, I vt r ~61 ih;anrl+'l~. Frequency Response ,' tn 3 ill3 I. i l f i ' i h r I,,..
., ,.,,.,
.m,,
* .,,.I'.,
,>.,.'.\,>I
~C.~>,.,,I,.,
l?,,...,.CC.,,".
s.,>..m;11 ',~,,l,,l,~~,
V,,,?, ',rl,,4.;,.t,
.,,.,,, ,', ,..,,<.mn~,,.r,~,,l~",l"l,<.<~t,,."<"
,,rt,r,r,
,,,>,I
a',
.
..4,>lt,,M,. '/,,l!,,,l&.
5&,lr.r l.thlr
l~'~~~,,l',~<r,~~
~ r $ ~ < , # . . w ~ rqrdde
A ~ . ~ , l , ~wt l~hl o
C, O S
?
h ~ j rlr
ha,&!,~ 1 , ~ t ~ ~ I!r,t,#l
h low otlljil#l
hly
$1. ~ . r v , t l t ,
Audoo O u l p u l
a.,,r7,
'I
inn
F< #,IVT,
r,,~,lr,.l,,,,,
innq 14:
~ . y > ~ ~ ..' tOh n.111,.
~ . . ~ ,r,
,,, I ,.,.,,!,,
-11oi111; f t , ~ . . . q ,.'r t ,
n-.,.
,.
, m ,,.,I r,.,,,,,,.. .,,z, ',I.,,, v , ,,.[,l;lr,. tl,',* I~',,,l,l'.',C,rn'~ 1 yr.;lr marranly R l mput tmpedance 'Ji rthm
..., c . , I . , ,n ; r , ~r ~,*,.,.*.nlrc.pr.;s*..f 111 .(n,
F.v.tl.i ,vt.q~*,,
,,..!,.,,, rl,,. . , r ~ ,$11 ,,,p.
.tllrj,,,, h '.;as," rn,,8zr718n,l C ~ ~ t ~ r t
Frequency Range
VII I IT', ? 7 r 1 ? b~~ t i 7
:.r . r . ..l,.,,
<. . ,! r , w . r n # r n n Tlv. r,rr r.ll~.r!l 1111111 ~ . l i r l
I~,II
!AH,, 111 Mt41
...,..
I
1 r,,, ,,,'I, ,,,.1,. .I,.,m,' ,An,,'. :~,,;,r.,nl'.r.~. ..,, *.ll'.,ll 11 11 1 10l1 1'.11 b.?I+: :',11 1 0 0 Mt4i
'- ""'"I., ,
'.' "'.",,.,"" ,',,'",.,'".', "r'", ',"."""'
num foil! For high-power applications, you might want rCS6G - UHF connectors/ $46.50.
t o try extending the strip in an "L" shape, or use * C ~ ~ G B N C - BNCconnectors1 $59.50.
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Models also avatlable w~lhoulGaAs FET preamp (deleteG sull~xon model rt). All un11Scover
Consult your local dealer or send directly for -
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SPECIFICATIONS
Model AR-501 Radio telegraph
termlnal
Power source OC 12V to 13.8V-165mA
Size 4.5-W x 2.24"-H x 6.254)
Weight 12.5 oz (358 g)
Controls Power OnIOff
Display
Indicators
Random code enerator OnlOff
Pr~nt-out0n/08f
Monltor speaker level
Electronic keyer mode select
Speed Up & Down
LCD 32 characters-16 per line
Power OrtGreen LED
-
P"-q,,
Tuning--Red LED
Front connectlons Paddle-Standardllambic
Ordlnary telegraphic key
HeadphonelEarphone
Kqing speed Rear connectlons DC 13 8V input
A U ~ I Olnput PRINTER PORT *
eyer output External speaker Compat~blewith Centronics 8-bit parallel printer. At
Keyer output least 4K byte data buffer 1s required In a printer.
Prlnter output
-
ranty. Extended warranty service available at the following rates: 3 Years--$25.00.2 Years-$15.00. SATlSFACTlON GUARANTEE: If, for any rea-
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22511Aspan Street Lake Forest California 92630-6321 (714)581-4900 Toll Free 1-800-523-6366 190
TICALLY
SPEAKING
April 1989 a 23
tor terminations aren't strictly neces- between the output jack and ground output connector is an RCA phono
sary when using loops, so you might first.) jack; the raw RF sample is a BNC jack.
want to trv connecting the 10011s You also connect the detected out- I used two different connectors; this
put (J2) to a brass rod sampling ele- makes it easier to tell them apart. But
ment, which is terminated in a 220- there's no reason why you can't use
ohm resistance. However, there's a the same connector - either BNC
I detectorlrectifier network at the out- (preferred) or RCA phono jack - for
1 put end that demodulates the RF sig- both. I wouldn't try an SO-239 UHF
nal to produce a DC signal proportional coaxial connector (used for the RF
to the RF power level. You can use this input to the load) for either the RF
port for measuring RF power in CW sample or detected outputs. It's pos-
(sinusoidal) waveforms, or looking at sible that it could be mistaken for the
the waveform modulation on a low- main RF power input, with potentially
frequency oscilloscope. disastrous results. A ground connec-
Photos C and D show the con- tor is also provided on the end plate.
struction of the modified DL-1000. The I haven't used it for anything yet, but
internal structures appear in photo C, it seemed like a good thing to have
Drake D~-1000 dummy owned and modified while the Connectors at the Output end available.
by the author. are shown in photo D. The detected Photos E, F, and G show several
outputs from the RF sampling jack.
These waveforms were taken from the
I- . . . -.
1 End panel showing the coaxial connector
Construction of the sampling loop inside the DL-1000. plus added RCA phono and BNC jacks.
R F SAMPLE
BRASS ROD
I II
.
I,
SO-239 -
2
$
I 41
'---T I
I
BRASS ROD 1
I
I
22051 1
I CW w a v e f o r m .
24 April 1989
one application of brass stock in an
electronics construction project. If
you're into construction, especially RF
projects, check out your local hobby
shop. There are a lot of supplies, tools,
and vision aids for those who do their
building from the ground up. Of par-
ticular interest to electronic builders is
the light metal brass stock. These are
hollow rods, solid rods, square rods,
rectangular rods, and flat plate sheets
A M waveform. from strips of only 114 inch to sheets
4 inches wide. Disassembled view of the monirnatch
Photos H and I show an application sensor.
for the hollow brass rods mentioned
earlier. In fact, the small rods in
photos H and I were cut from the
same piece of stock as the rods used
in the dummy load. The project is a
monimatch type of VSWR coupler. It
was intended for use inside an antenna
tuning unit that I'm building.
A monimatch uses two short trans-
mission line segments parallel to, and
coupled with, the main transmission
line segment. Pieces of ordinary perf-
Keyed-CW waveform board support the transmission line
segments at either end. One end of Assembled view of the monimatch sensor.
modified DL-1000 while it was excited each coupler section is terminated in
by a 65-watt old-fashioned AMICW carbon composition resistors, while very fine blade. (Buy a sleeve of spares
HF transmitter. The oscilloscope has the other ends are terminated in 1N60 - they break easily!) It lets you make
a 50-MHz vertical bandwidth. Photo germanium diodes and 0.001-pF feed- very precise cuts and oddball shapes
E is a CW signal with key down. This through bypass capacitors. There's in metals. The parallel jaw pliers look
signal was on the 75180-meter band. nothing unusual about the design, like other pliers, but the jaws are
Notice that the horizontal sweep is fast except for the use of the brass rods as designed to remain parallel to each
enough that individual cycles are the transmission line and coupler seg- other through the entire range of
resolved on the, screen. Photo F ments. motion. This feature allows you to
shows an amplitude modulated (AM) I selected two sizes of brass stock. bend metal easily in straight lines, with
signal. The AM signal was single-tone To determine the larger one, Itook an straight edges. These pliers are espe-
modulated at 400 Hz, and the scope SO-239 coaxial connector to the hobby cially nice when making shields for RF
was adjusted to show several cycles at shop and found a size that fit snugly projects. On one project, I bent a
that frequency rather than the higher over the solder connector of the center 1-inch strip of brass stock at three
RF frequency. A keyed CW signal is pin. points to form a rectangular shield
shown in photo G. There are two Sheet stock solders well, and can be around an RF receiver front-end cir-
methods for producingthis signal. One worked easily with ordinary tools. I use cuit. I was then able to use a piece of
is to turn on an electronic keyer and scissors, lightweight sheet metal wider sheeting for the shield cover.
adjust the oscilloscope timebase to shears, and assorted other tools to An RF shield is most effective when
trigger on the repetition rate. Alterna- work the brass. In one of my other it's continuous. I know an electronics
tively, you can use the scope's single- lives I'm an amateur jewelry maker, engineer with a lot of experience in
trace setting (if available) and take the and have found some interesting microwave design. He once designed
photo at one shot. metalworking tools in jewelers' supply a transmitter and specified cabinet
catalogues and local lapidary stores. screws every 318 inch. But the
Other uses for the Two of the best are the jeweler's saw wizened mechanical engineer who
brass rods and the parallel jaw pliers. The worked for the company felt he had
The preceding section discussed jeweler's saw is like a jigsaw with a used too many, and reduced the num-
April 1989 25
ASTRON
& C 0 R PORAT I O N
9 . w CA 9271 8
Irvine.
(7141
458-7277
I
MODEL RS-7A RS-5OA 37 50 46
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RS-M SERIES MODEL Duly (Amps) IAmP:) HxWxO Wl. (lbs,]
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Separate volt and Amp meters
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RS-35M 25 35 5 X 11 X 11 27
= RS-5OM 37 50 6 x 13% x 11 46
MODEL RS-35M
I VS-M AND VRM-M SERIES Separate Volt and Amp Meters Output Voltage adjustable from 2-15 volts Current limit adiustable from 1.5 amps
to Full Load
Contincour ICS' Size (IN] Shippin(
MOOEL Only (Amps) (Amp:] H x Wx D Wt. (Ibs.1
@13.8VDC @lOVOC @5VDC @13.8V
VS-12M
VS-MM
VS-35M
VS-50M
Variable rack mount power supplies
VRM-35M 25 15 7
I MODEL VS-35M VRM-50M 37 22 10
Built in speaker
C~ntlnucu: ICS' Size (IN) Shlppin~
Dutv (Amps] Amp: H x W x D Wt. (lh:.)
5 7 4 X 7'12 X 10% 10
7.5 10 4 X 7'12 X 10% 12
9 12 4'12 X 8 X 9 13
16 20 5 X 9 X 10% 18
Conclusion
The Amateur Radio builder has a
large array of electronic components
and tools at his disposal. There are also ATV CONVERTERS HF LINEAR AMPLIFIERS
many tools and supplies available from
other hobbies and vocations - like the
brass stock favored by model builders
and the tools used by amateur K*'
$?
OISCOVT(I T H E WORLD OF
FAST SCAN TElEVISION
33 CM
nr AHPUFERS~HOTQROLA
Ik M O T O l O L A B J W # m
AN158
AN119
AN:'?
NEW11
Ilm
1
I0
OW
1V 11
181
PVLI~.TINS
c-,,~. P.". 11.1 go. HF Implam, D.,<,,F,.~ ,"
16YPI 219
5 Em1
i0 EBlM WW
YXIW 1
L O I l AIIOW
I m N A L L I P ~ I L c h l ~ k
CPWEbSPL~~~~M~COHOINER1
18165
110
4 9 YO
15
ftRROXCu0f OIVIC(S
V K Z C I. 411 R F rhni.
$1, ..0.618 $ 1.#r#t. B.d
HEATJIMKMhTELUL
w IP ~n SAWI.IIS. 61
C H I - 6 CWP. S ~ e . . d r l 6 d l l i O
M,, t l m .or.r,wal .I.PI.*C
1Im
1 20
tnm
1lam
W. 111.11~11 n w c ~ e - F M -1
jewelers. If you like electronic project AMATUlUTt.UVI5IOMZQNVERT,~& *,,
A T V 1 41" 4 %
zz::,iz!:i I I P B
169% rntr caraclTon3
MI rAl IIAD M l r A C A P I C I T O R I
construction, then go for it! A ,,
I T Y I 4),*'."tL.I\.
?
FIT1 141PII,I
, A I T + ' K t ~ ~ ~ - ~ ~ B ~N I ~ rRA'lllIlOR5
ISt)WLR s w ~ c A ~
Ab!PAlF1~Sll=~~TV NR61116 ma m
Ican be reached at POB 1099, Falls AUDlQSQUELFIJ_CDMW~TV
511 119% KfAGl-PX o(111 tllp
MHf 1516
UlNl O R ( LIIT M1XFI)S
11180
n t n w F C O I ~ &...dl
C s IH(XI ',Dl I 16M
Church, Virginia 22041; I'd like to have
- mlP
K I H ~ . ~ L ! ivlnu.~~ 15r~i LII IX s t %
this column.
VlYl
munication
Article C HAM RADIO f l 188
-I
oncepts Inc.
rn Millstone Drive. Xenh. OH 45385 15"1 2'0--77
28 April 1989
America's Communications Leader
Presents Its All-New 10-Meter
SSB/CW Mobile Transceiver
Realistic, America's premier mike-mounted pushbuttons permit speaker, front-panel headphone
brand of scanners, CB radios and safe and easy upldown frequency jack and a rear-panel jack for add-
satellite TV systems, introduces the selection while you drive. A front- ing an external speaker.
HTX-100. It's the perfect first rig for panel lock control prevents acciden-
a beginning Ham and a superb 10- tal frequency changes. You can Join the Action on "10"
meter mobile radio for any amateur. fine-tune reception with the f1.5 With improving band conditions
Compact, yet loaded with "big rig" kHz RIT control. Coverage is 28.0 and new Novice voice and digital
features you want. to 29.6999 MHz, US6 or CW. Con- privileges, the 10-meter fun is just
Pushbutton Memory nining venient semi break-in keying and beginning. Be a part of it with this
CW sidetone are built in. affordable, top-quality transceiver!
An easy-to-programmemory #19-1101. Only $259.95, available
stores 10 favorite frequencies and Selectable Power output todav at our store near vou.
You can select 25-watt or 5-watt
QRP power output from the front Exclusively at
panel. The HTX-100 has a backlit
LCD frequency display with mode
and tuning-step indicators. You also
Radio /hacH
get a 5-step LED signal1RF power The Technology Storem
meter, noise blanker, hefty 3-watt A DIVISION OF TANDY COF-II'ORATION
Ultracompact and Includes everyth~ngyou
need for underdash ~nstallat~on audio output, high-quality built-in Pnce applles at parllclpatlng Rad~oShack stores and dealers
FREE 184-Page Radio Shack Catalog! Write Dept. 381, 300 One Tandy Center; Fort Worth, TX 76702
Reader Service CHECK-OFF Page 118 r / 186 April 1989 29
--
Partial schematic of Radio Shack Weather Radio, showing jumper modification needed for 2-meter hamband reception.
SCREW- 4
RECESSED
-RECESSED
SCREW
RECEIVER
PC BOARD -
-ANTENNA
MOUNTING
SCREW
I I
30 April 1989
don't puncture the insulation of the hookup wire.
Put the radio back in its case, while guiding the bat-
tery connector and the antenna mounting screw
through the appropriate holes. Replace the four screws
which hold the case on. Position the antenna mounting HAVE FUN
screw into itsslot and tighten. Connect the battery and
place it in its nest. Reattach the bottom cover.
Nowextend the antenna and turn on the radio. Tune
in a weather broadcast and mark this point on the tun-
20 METER
ing knob with a dot of paint. This point should be near
one end of the tuning range. You should find some 2- AM!
meter activity near the other end of the tuning range.
When you do, mark thetuning knob with another color
dot of paint.
. That should do it. the fixed-tuned RFamplifier isstill
tuned to the 162-MHzweather frequencies, so sensitiv-
ity won't be optimum at the 2-meter frequencies. It is,
however, adequatefor casual monitoring. I believeany Convert a Radio Shack TRC-218 AM CB handheld,
model 21-1638A to 14286 Khz., the 20 meter SPAM
improvementgained by adding tuning controls to the RF
frequency. RF output 1-2 watts, receive sensitivity 0.8uv
stage wouldn't be enough to justify the effort. Good for lOdb S+NIN. Just plug in 2 crystals, replace and
listening! add capacitors only, and tune up!
Article D H A M RADIO Send check or money order for $79.95 to:
Boucher Electronics
WB3ELL
P.0. Box 334 J 185
Erie, PA 16512-0334
April 1989 31
MULTIBAND Increase your station's
output power
at minimal cost
A
n audio processor is a circuit between the Upon completion, I checked the circuit to make sure
microphone and the radio frequency modu- there were no shorts and that it followed exactly the
lator in a transmitter's audio system. A schematic I had drawn. As a finishing touch, I
properly designed processor gives a real boost to your mounted the speech processor in a metal project box
transmitter.' A 1.5-kW PEP Amateur station can run with silicone glue, checking for unwanted grounds to
an effective 12 kW to its antenna with the addition of the box.
a multiband speech processor. This speech processor is almost foolproof. It's pos-
I've designed a simple SSB speech processor built sible to turn all four pots to maximum, plug in any low-
with parts from the local radio store. This processor impedance mike, and obtain fair results. For best
will give your signal about a 6 to 9-dB increase in sig- results, get a noise-canceling power microphone
nal readability or "punch" in the presence of noise or (Radio Shack has them) and plan to dedicate it to this
interference. processor. The noise-canceling mike prevents back-
Communications speech processors should make ground noise from increasing and blanking out the
the spoken word more intelligible in the presence of desired weak voice signal sounds. For best operation,
noise. These processors don't necessarily need to tune the processor for your own voice, microphone,
retain a natural sound, as would a processor designed transmitter, and same general size of speaker where
for broadcast use. According to John Birch, WSJB, you expect your signals to be received. After your final
Chief of Audio Engineering for the Voice of America, tuning, lock the controls and forget them. They are
there's a big difference between the various types of personalized and shouldn't need to be touched again.
processors. Their design is based on the kind of sound I found that the Radio Shack amplified microphone
a station desires and the particular function it requires. required special RFI suppression to operate in my high-
I found that processing is more efficient if you break powered mobile station. I opened the case and placed
the voice down into several different voice bands. This a very small 0.001-pF ceramic disk capacitor between
lets you optimize, clip, and adjust each band separately terminals 9 and 10 on the pc board. (This capacitor
for the required level. Then the signals are added must clear the side of the case or it will be impossible
together and clipped once more. The output gain is to reclose the microphone properly.)
equalized to the unprocessed microphone level, and The tune-up procedure requires rotating all four con-
the processed audio is sent to the transmitter. trols to maximum. Plug the processor output into your
It's easy to build a speech processor like mine. The mike jack and your transmitter ;nto a dummy load, or
schematic is shown in fig. 1; it's constructed using use a dead band for tune-up. Let the modulation con-
a "perfboard" layout. I bought all my parts at the local trol on the transmitter for normal output level on voice
Radio Shack, but sometimes had to series resistors peaks. Now with the help of a friend or a second
together to get the correct values. I used high quality receiver, tune in your own signal. If possible, try a
0.01-pF film capacitors to determine frequency. I kept speaker the same size you'd expect most DX opera-
all leads as short as possible to avoid RF pickup, and tors to use.
shielded the input and output audio leads for the same Try adjusting the low-frequency band control first,
reason. My circuit incorporates the well-known "tack using a standard test sentence like "the quick brown
together and solder blob" style. A real printed circuit fox jumped.. ." This band contains most of the power
board would speed things up a lot and assure that audio frequencies, but it's not the band that contains
there are no errors. most of the intelligence. Be very critical of what you
32 April 1989
T E S T POINT FOR SCOPE
01-8 =IN4148
F=ZZSOHz ICI.2=1458
(DUAL 7 4 1 )
RFC = 1 0 0 p H
07
' 2 2 k FOR P O W E R M l K E
lOOk FOR A V E R A G E M l K E
hear. Use the criterion, "Can I understand this signal than most, but I still need lots of effective power to
better in the presence of noise?" not "This signal compete with fixed stations running 1.5-kW PEP and
sounds more natural!" Adjust the high-band control using beam antennas. That's why I added the multi-
using the same criterion. Finally, adjust the mid-band band speech processor in line with the microphone.
control if necessary. You'll probably need two or three I set the transmitter modulation control to run full
adjustment sessions before final control lockdown. power with the processor turned on. Power peaks in
When you're through tuning the three band level this situation are about the same with the processor
controls, your voice may sound a bit harsh, but not on or off. When I switch it off, my signals are unus-
particularly strident. If you have an oscilloscope, you able in the presence of noise or QRM - but with the
can turn the processor off and measure the micro- processor on I can compete with the crowd. I believe
phone audio peaks. Look only for the peaks - the it adds a good 6 to 9 dB to the effective power of my
processor will change the audio density greatly. The station under these conditions. This boost is the
change shows up clearly on the scope. Now you can equivalent of 8 kW or 3 S-units. It certainly makes a
compare the results of processed audio with the difficult transmitting situation easier and helps me
unprocessed audio simply by switching between the work mobile DX.
two. The results should be remarkable even to an Reference
untrained ear. 1. W.W. Smith, WGBCX, "Premodulation Speech Clipping and Filtering,"
At 1 kW my mobile station is considerably larger OST, February 1946
Article E
HAM RADIO
April 1989 33
brought outside the case for dlrect conneclton
to the antenna wlre. Each balun is completely
Full remote frequency con-
potted. They are des~gnedfor use In wtre trol with FC-900 Interface
antenna systems. The prtce IS $15.95 for the B1- Advanced C o m p u t ~ r Controls. Inc
2K and $1995 for the 01-4K. announces the new FC-900Interface,supported
by several of 11srepeater controllers The FC-900
Interface permtts use of the ICOM IC-900trans-
products celver band un~tsas remole base and llnk tran-
scetvers The system approach 1s cost effecttve
as only the band untts are needed, not the ICOM
f~beroptlc controller and interfaces Hookup IS
slmple
Ultra-compact lC-725 Full remote frequency control 1s avallable
HF transceiver through Touch-Tone commands Amateur fre-
ICOM has introduced the compact IC-725HF The RemoteBalun ' mounts outs~dewhere 11 quencles are supported on SIX bands from 29
tra?scetver The all-mode IC-725 features connects to a balanced transmlsslon llne A short to 1300 MHz
USBlLSBlCW transmtttlng and recetvlng, length of low-loss coax~alcable connects the Remote bases and llnks let you extend the
AM recelvlng, opttonal module no UI-7 for balun to a Transmatch range of the repeater, llnk ~tto other repeaters
FM transmlt/recelve, and AM transm~t Power ratlng IS 15 kW rn low-duty cycle CW for emergency and publlc servtce use, and ben-
Twenty-stx tunable memorles w~thband and SSB appllcat~ons.the prlce IS $27 Opttonal eflt from the stte elevat~onon all bands
stacklng registers interconnect coax~alcables w~thconnectors are
DDS (Dlrect D ~ g ~ tSynthes~zer)
al system avallable
Bull! In AH-3 controller (Opl~onalAH-3 The C sertes (Stlck Balun@)llne 1s for retrof~t
automatic antenna tuner avallable) appl~cal~onsIn ex~stlngwlre antennas and
Three scannlng systems programmable. beams The C1-2K enhances antenna operat~on
memory, and selected mode by lmprovlng transmlss~onllne lsolat~onand bal-
Pr~or~tywatch. ance The Stlck Balun ts a low~lossdes~gnwtth
105-dB dynamic range recelver h ~ g htransmlsston l ~ n elsolatton Wtnd~ngreac-
160 through 10-meteroperat~onShort-wave tance IS 1100 ohms at 3 5 MHz Power ratlng IS
receot~onfrom 30 kHz to 33 MHz 15 kW and the core saturat~onresistance 1s htgh
Phase delay 1s 2 6 degrees at 3 5 MHz There
are 75-ohm models avallable for use w~ththe
quarter-wave rnatchlng sect~onsThe prlce for
the C1-2K and C75-2K IS $1595 H~gherpower
models are avallable --
For more lnformat~onor a catalog, wrtte the ------
RADIO WORKS at Box 6159 Portsmouth. Vlr-
glnla 23703 The prlce of the FC-900 Interface IS $225 An
Circle 1302 on Reader Service Card. opt~onalprogrammable CTCSS encoder 1s $25
For more lnformat~oncontact Advanced Com-
puter Controls. Inc ,2356 Walsh Avenue. Santa
Other features include- panel-selectable RF
Clara. Cal~fornta95051
preamp and attenuator, dual VFOs, nolse Voltage surge protection Circle #304 on Reader Sewice Card.
blanker, RIT, sernl-break In CW, selectable AGC. American Voltage Products surge protect~on
a full-duty cycle, and opt~onalnarrow CW filter. dwtces prov~dethe home and cornmerc~aluser
The suggested retatl price of the IC-725 IS w~thequ~pmentprotectton at optlmum dollar
$949. For more lnformatlon contact ICOM value
Amerca, Inc., 2380 116th Ave., NE, PO Box The VSS-1 1s for use on any 120-Vacs~ngleor Two new repeater modules
C-90029. Bellevue, Washington 98009-9029 three-phase dtstr~but~on panels and clamps at Hamtron~cs.Inc has announced two new
Circla U301 on Reader Service Card. 160 Vac whlle prov~dlng70000 watts and three products for bulldlng VHF and UHF repeaters
leg protectton The untt comes wRh 18-~nch leads The COR-4 CORlCWlD rnodule 1s a new low-
and protects computers VCRs, stereos, type- power un~twhlch comblnes all the features of
wr~tersFAX machtnes. TVs, telephone systems. the CWlD and COR-3 (lncludlng courtesy beep)
process controllers, motors microwave ovens ~none 3" x7" module Thts new untt uses CMOS
home v~deogames, appl~ancesand more loglc and an EPROM for programming
High power, special The VSS-7 coax~alpower cube (standard Introductory prlce IS $99 for the k ~or
t $159 wlred
purpose baluns 1 4 " x l 2" x8") has male and female coax con and tested
RADIO WORKS has three new types of nectors The un~t1s rated to clamp at 160 Vac The TD-3 Subaud~bleTone DecoderIEncoder
baluns. The B1-2K and B1-4K Util~tybaluns are w~tha 70.000-watts ratlng. 6.500 A maxrnum can be used w~thany subaud~bletone on Ham-
low-loss, wtdeband. 1. l . "current-type" 50.ohm The cube 1s designed for use w~th75-ohm cable tronlcs or most other receivers It has repeater
baluns w~thlarge, saturat~on-res~stant ferr~te and 1s appl~edIn data llnks In bulldlng coax net. servlce features (I~keremote onlotf capabll~ty
cores. Controlled wlndlng reactance glves a works or. the antenna s~deof cable televls~on when used wlth TD2 Touch-tone rnodule) The
nearly flat VSWR curve from 160 lo 10 meters. For more lnformat~oncontact Amerlcan Voll- prlce 1s $24 for the ktt. $69 wlred and tested
Power ratlng IS 1500 watts for the B1-2K and 4 age Products. Inc , 18 Morse Drlve. Essex Junc- For a catalog on the entlre llne of repeater
kW for the B1-4K. All connecttons are soldered t~on.Vermont 05452 modules send $1 to Hamtrontcs. Inc ,65-F Moul
and leads from the Internal transm~sstonllne Clrcle U303 on Reader Service Card. Road. Hllton. New York 14468-9535
34 April 1989
NEW BOOKS
ARRL ANTENNA BOOK
by Jerry Hall. KlTD. NEW 15th Ednian
The all new 15th edltlon 01 thls antenna class~crepresents over
two years of hard work by ed~torKtTD It r doubled In slze too
--lrom over 300 to over 700 pages blgl 950 l~guresand charts
cwer lust about every sublect Imaginable Some of the h~ghl~ghts
are. Chapters on Loop antennas, multi-band antennas, low Ire-
quency antennas. portable antennas. VHf and UHF systems.
coupllng the antenna to the transmitter and the antenna, plus p-I-
e-n-I-y more. L ~ k ethe 1988 HANDBOOK and new OPERATING
MANUAL. the new ANTENNA BOOK IS go~ngto be a smash h ~ t .
n + pages 1988
Order yours today. 15th e d ~ t ~ o900
AR-AM Sonbo~nd$17.95
NOVICE ANTENNA NOTEBOOK
by Doug OsMaw WlFB
Nov~ceshave long wondered what is the best all around antenna
tor them lo install Up u n t ~now,
l t h ~ swas a d ~ t l ~ c uquestton
lt to
answer Almed at the newly l~censedHam. OeMaw wr~teslor the
non-englneer ln clear conclse language w ~ t hemphasls on easy-to-
bulld antennas. Readers will learn how antennas operate and
what governs perlormance Also great read~nglor all levels of
Amateur Interest. 1st E d ~ t ~ o(61988.
n
AR-NAN S o n b ~ n 57.95
d
THE 1989 ARRL HANDBOOK
FOR THE RADIO AMATEUR (Avail. late Oct. 1988)
Rev~sedand updated w ~ t hthe latest In Amateur technology. now
IS the tfme to order your very own copy ol the world lamous ARRL
HANDBOOK. In addltlon to belng the det~nfl~ve reference volume
tor your Ham shack, there are plenty ot prolects lor every Interest
~nAmateur Rad~o- lrom antennas lor every appl~cat~on to the
latest state-ot.the-art prolects - you'll tlnd 11all In the 1989
HANDBOOK Order now and we w ~ lsl h ~ pas soon as the b w k s
arrlve lrom the prlnter They make perfect gftts lor the hol~day
season lor your hard-tobuy lor Ham lr~endsor tor yourselt Over
I100 pages ( i 1 9 8 8
;AR-HE89 Hardbound $20.95
INTERNATIONAL EDITION
OSL s are a very Important part 01 our hobby All sorts 01
awards, ~nclud~ng the coveted OXCC, requlre cont~rmat~on 01 con.
tact before Ihe award can be Issued 01 spectal Interest, ad-
dresses are being added dally lor Hams In the USSR and other
counlrles Whlle In no means complete. 11 s a star1 and wlll be ot
tremendous help In getting OSLs Handy operallng a ~ d sround
out th~ssuper book value - I988
CB-F89 Softbound 528.95
wm
handling.
HAM
-
RADBO(603)878.1 441
-
GREENVILLE, N.H. 03048
(800) 341= I
522
(ORDERS ONLY)
VIA
DATATEL 800"
ST-8000 HF Modem
I HF radio teleprinter slgnals exhlblt distortion, not sharp-skirtedfilters with high phase
l g and distortion, requirements that cannor ~e distortion.All signal processing is done at the input
,I ,nlsuredby standard constant amplitudeBER and tone frequency: heterodyning Is NOT used. This
distortion test procedures. In designing the9 ST-8000. avoids distortion due to frequency conversion or
HAL has gonethe extra step beyondtraditio~ naltest introduced by abnormally high or low filter Q's.
and design.Our noisefloor is at -65 dBm, not.at-30 Bandwidthsof the input, MarklSpacechannels,and
dBm as on other units, an extra 35 dB gait1 - rnurulri post-detectionfilters are all computed and set for
3ndle fading. Filters in the ST-8000 are the baud rateyou select,from 10to 1200 baud.Other
~r-phase design to give minimum puls standard features of the ST-8000 include:
By Hugh Wells, WGWTU, 1411 18th Street, Manhattan Beach, California 90266
ven though most electronic devices are digital tion t o an electrical signal, and then toa pointer position
these days, analog meters are still popular. You on the meter scale. There are many types of meters that
can find them at garage sales, swap meets, sur- provide indications of an electrical quantity. Analog
plus outlets, and in many Amateurs' junkboxes. There's panel meters are current operated (versuselectrostatic).
a good, reasonably priced selection to choose from. Current-operated meters work asa result of electromag-
Panel meters were designed as single-application indi- netic motor action, where the mechanical movement of
cators, but you can easily convert them t o other uses a pointer is proportional to a magnetic force. The force
with external circuitry. develops between a permanent magnet and the mag-
Because some meters have unusual markings, many netic field created around a coil of wire through which
shoppers bypass valuable ones at swap meets in lieu of a current flows.
those that look more familiar. A meter's value lies in its Two of today's popular meter movements use elec-
sensitivity and its ability to adapt to a new use, regard- tromagnetic motor action: the plunger (moving iron) and
less of its original scale markings. If you're careful, you the D'Arsonval type. The D'Arsonval usesa moving coil,
can changescale markings on non-hermetically sealed and is preferred because of its indication sensitivity and
meters and increase the instrument's versatility. repeatability. The plunger-type meter is more suitable
The more you understand about a specific instru- for applications where the accuracy of an indication is
ment, the easier it is to use. My computer program* unimportant.
helps me develop external circuit values to meet new The D'Arsonval meter uses a horseshoe magnet with
applicationsfor my panel meters, using the techniques its open ends close together, creating a magnetic gap.
that follow. Soft iron pole pieces with semicircular ends are fitted to
the ends of the magnet to narrow the gap, and create a
Theory uniform magnetic-field pattern that translates to a linear-
Meters are used to measure voltage, current, resis- scale indication. The semicircular endsfaceeach other,
tance, power, RPM, temperature, and other electrical forming a round gap area. Some meter manufacturers
and electro-mechanicalfunctions. Each converts a func- cut the pole pieces on a bias. This creates a nonlinear
function which satisfies a particular application. The
'Send a large self-addressedstamped envelope to Ham Radio Magazine, Green- majority of pole pieces are cut straight to provide linear
ville, New Hampshire 03048 Ask for WGWTU computer program. Ed. indications. A round piece of soft iron is mounted
April 1989 39
ANewSpectrumAnalymr
From AVCOM!!!
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The newest in the line of rugged spectrum analyzers from AVCOM offers amazing performance for
only $2,675.
AVCOM'S new PSA-65A is the first low cost general purpose portable spectrum analyzer that's loadec
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The PSA-65A covers frequencies thru 1000 MHz in one sweep with a sensitivity greater than -90 dBm
at narrow spans. The PSA-65A is ideally suited for 2-way radio, cellular, cable, LAN, surveillance, edu
cational, production and R&D work. Options include frequency extenders to enable the PSA-65A to be
used at SATCOM and higher frequencies, audio demod for monitoring, log periodic antennas, carrying
case (AVSAC), and more.
Can't wait to find out more about this revolutionary new AVCOM Spectrum Analyzer? Then see us at
the SPACE/STTI Las Vegas Show, March 21-23, THE INTERNATIONAL MOBILE COMMUNICA-
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between the semicircular pole pieces, concentrating the
field pattern within the gap.
A moving coil, made df many turnsof small diameter Typical internal-resistancevaluesas a function of coil
wire wound into a rectangular shape, is mounted length- current.
wisearound the center pole piece. Some coilsare wound '"7 R, (ohms)
onto an aluminum framelbobbin; others have no bob- 15-20pA 4000
bin. In either case, the coil must be lightweight, with a 50 pA 1200
shape that lets it move freely in the gap between mag- 100 /LA 850
200 ,LA 600
net and center pole. 500 pA 150
Pointed-wire pins called pivots are mounted (usually 1 mA 76
cemented) to the coil in the axis of rotation, along with 2 mA 60
spiral springsand an aluminum pointer. The pivots pro- 5-10 mA 16
vide a low-friction bearing surface for the coil. In some
meters the coil is mounted with a taut band instead of
pivots. The taut band reduces the bearing-surface fric-
tion and improves indication accuracy and repeatabil- in parallel with MI and decreased in value until MI indi-
itv. A twist in the taut band creates the return spring
. - cates exactly one-half the full-scale value.
You may need to adjust R1 slightly to maintain the
same total current indicated by M1 while at full scale.
I 1 Meter M2 is an indicator ensuring that total current
remainsconstant as you adjust Rl and R2. In theory, the
resistance of R2 is exactly equal t o ,R, and the com-
bined current of R2 and MI is equal to the original MI full-
scale current. You can measure the resistance of R2 with
an ohmmeter for the value of ,R , after disconnecting it
from M1. The indirect method yields a reasonably
accurate value of ,R, suitable for external circuit calcu-
lations.
Table 1 shows a listing of R, values developed
emperically from meters of different current ranges and
manufacturers. You may use thetablevaluestoestimate
R, as a function of current. However, there's no
Technique for measuring internal resistance. specific value of R, suitable for all meters of a specific
current range. The actual R, value varies by manufac-
function provided by the spiral springs used with pivots. turer, full-scale current value, strength of the magnet,
The complete coil assembly is called a meter movement. gap spacing, and the number of turns and diameter of
wire on the coil. Identifying an R, value to within 20 per-
Internal resistance cent of actual is usually sufficient for most Amateur
Wound wire makes up the coil portion of the move- applications, but a closer value may improve calibration
ment. The wire has a resistance depending on wire accuracy. You can correct the meter calibration error
diameter and length. The completed coil has an internal introduced by an estimate of R, when selecting your
resistance (R,), which you need to consider during all external resistors.
external circuit calculations. Therearesomeapplications
(like voltmeters) where R, is small compared to the mul-
Accuracy
tiplier resistance and can be disregarded. Meter appli- An instrument's measurement accuracy depends on
cations involving a shunt (an ammeter, for instance) many factors. These are functions of manufacturing
require that R, be considered in the external resistance tolerances and external circuitry. The typical accuracy
calculation. of a D'Arsonval panel meter is2 percent. That tolerance
Generally the value of R, is unknown, but you can degrades to 3 to 5 percent with the addition of external
determine it using an indirect measurement method. multiplier resistorsand rectifiers. Meter accuracy is nor-
Attempting to measure R, by direct means (aswith an mally determined at the full-scale value, and the result-
ohmmeter) could cause excessive current or voltage to ing error is applied to all remaining scale indications.
be applied to the meter coil and damage it. An indirect Some measurement applications require an accurate
measurement method is shown in fig. 1. This method single-point indication. A 2-percent full-scale instrument
involves adjusting R1 for a full-scale deflection of MI with low-pivot friction and repeatable pointer position-
with a voltage source (El. nesistor R2 is then attached ing can yield a single-point calibration accuracy of 0.5
April 1989 41
DC voltmeter
To use a panel meter asa voltmeter (seefig. 21, you'll
need a series-connected resistor (R11 to reduce the cur-
rent to the desired amount. Determine the value of R1
by:
where
Single-range DC voltmeter. R1 = multiplier resistor value
R, = internal resistance of M
,I = full-scale meter current
percent or better. But, you should consider other points E = desired full-scale voltage value
on the same scale as having an accuracy depending on A single multiplier resistor satisfies the need to meas-
the full-scale tolerance value - not equivalent to the ure voltages less than the full-scale value. Switching
single-point calibration accuracy. additional resistors into the circuit for R1lets the meter
function over different voltage ranges. I've shown two
Sensitivity multiple-range circuit techniques. Figure 3A shows a
You can define meter sensitivity by either full-scale switch used to select an independent value of R1 for
current or ohms-per-volt value. Meter sensitivity is most each desired range; fig. 3B showsstacked incremental
commonly defined in ohms-per-volt. It's determined by resistor values. Determine the value of each resistor by
the amount of resistance that must be used in series with using eqn. 1for fig. 2. Now you can determine thevalue
the meter t o cause a full-scale deflection when 1 volt is of each resistor sequentially, after calculating R1. (R,
applied. For instance, a 1-mA meter hasa sensitivity of is usually disregarded.) Define each additional range
1000ohms per volt, and a W P Ameter has20,OOO ohms resistor by calculating the total resistance value, then
per volt. Disregard the internal resistance (R,) value subtracting from it the sum of the previously determined
when determining sensitivity. values (see eqn. 2).
Applications
Whether you can use a meter directly depends on its
application and theexternal circuit in which it's placed. where
Few panel meters are used without external circuitry. R, = total multiplier resistance value
Resistors are added externally for DC applications; resis- ERange= desired full-scale range voltage
tors and rectifiers are added for AC use. You may use a ,I = full-scale meter current
bridge rectifier in a metering circuit to satisfy a nonpola- R, = internal resistance
rized DC application. The changes in scale factor result R1.4 = incremental-range resistance value
from the addition of the rectifier. You can consider tradeoffs when selecting one rang-
LO w
RANGE 1 ,-iR2
RANGE
Multiranging voltmeter. (A) lndivldual resistor multiplier. (6) Stacked resistor multiplier.
42 April 1989
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Giant 3 day flea market Exhibits 1989 Deadlines
License exams Free bus service Award Nominations: March I 5
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Flea market tickets and grand banquet tickets are Advance Registration and banquet:
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Flea Market Space:
Aea Market Tickets Spaces will be allocated by the Hamvention
A maximum of 3 spaces per person (non-transferabIe). committee from all orders recieved prior to
Tickets (valid all 3 days) will be sold IN ADVANCE February 1. Express Mail NOT be necessary1
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46 April 1989
Ammeter circuits. (A) Shunt multiplier. (B) Series and shunt multiplier.
Ammeter
An ammeter differsfrom a voltmeter in that it's con- XI-series ohmmeter.
nected in series with the external circuit, rather than in
parallel. The ammeter is placed in series with a voltage
source and its load circuit; thisallows the meter to indi- resistance of the shunt becomes very small - some-
cate the current drawn by the load. A shunt is placed in times too small to be easily managed. Solve this prob-
parallel with the meter coil, so only a portion of the lem by adding a resistor in series with the meter. This
external currentflowsthrough thecoil. Theamountthat allows it to function as a voltmeter. It will then meas-
flowsthrough the meter isa linear indication of the total ure the voltage drop across the shunt, as shown in
current. The remaining current flows through a shunt fig. 48. Although the meter is measuring voltage, its
resistor as shown in fig. 4A. scale is calibrated in current. Assume that a current
When you calculate the shunt value, you must know of 10 A is flowing through an R, value of 1 ohm. E
the full-scale current value, internal resistance, and the = 10 volts by Ohm's Law, and you'd select a value
shunt current. Determine the shunt resistance by of R1 which would provide a full-scale indication of
10 volts (10 A ) on the meter.
Multi-ranging an ammeter requires a current-scale
switching method theoretically involved in selecting
a value of the shunt resistor for each current range.
However, it's better to perform the range switching
in the low-current circuits where switch-contact resis-
where tance has the least effect on the resulting indication.
R, = shunt resistance With R, as a single fixed resistor, you may select
R, = internal resistance of M values of R1 t o provide a multi-range capability.
,I = full-scale meter current
I, = shunt current Ohmmeter
I, = external circuit current An ohmmeter indicates the resistance of an unknown
As the circuit current to be measured becomes very circuit or circuit element. Becauseit is a resistancedetec-
large (as compared with the meter-coil current), the tor, the ohmmeter can also be used to check circuit con-
April 1989 47
tinuity. Sometimes knowing if the circuit is continuous
is more important than knowing its resistance value.
The ohmmeter is essentially a voltmeter with an inter-
nal, rather than external, voltage source (seethe series
type in fig. 5). The pot (SP) and resistor R1 make upthe
multiplier resistor allowing thevoltage source to drive the
meter to full scale. Afine-current adjustment, madewith
the pot, lets you obtain a full-scale indication when R,
(eqn.2) is equal to zero. The scale calibration on a series
ohmmeter is the reverse of that on a voltmeter scale. The
R, = 0 point is at full scale, with discernible measure-
mentvaluesread more easily in the upperthree-fourths
of the scale. (The scale values are usually too com-
pressed in the lower quarter of the scale and provide only
an approximation.)
Placing an unknown resistor (R,) in series with the
ohmmeter circuit causesa decrease in total current. The
new lower current value is then translated to a resistance
value for R, on the meter scale. Dual-range ohmmeter.
When selecting circuit-component values and
calibrating the ohmmeter scale, make several assump-
tions for the sake of convenience. After you've deter- ohms with 25 ohms at midscale. Placing R, in parallel
mined the total multiplier-resistancevalue for the circuit, with the meter coil causes the ohmmeter scale t o indi-
assume that the working portion of the pot value is 10 cate that R, is equal to infinity at full scale, instead of the
percent of the total. To allow for pot adjustments, select normal zero at full scale for a series type.
the pot's total resistancet o be 15 percent of the total cir- Example2. By adding a high-voltage source and com-
cuit resistance. pensating R1 value to the circuit shown in fig. 5, you can
Developscale valuesfor an ohmmeter through an iter- extend the measurable R, range to several megohms.
ative process by decreasing the meter current in incre- Example3. In fig. 6a typicalseriesohmmeter circuit has
ments and calculating R, at each increment. The equa- a shunt in parallel with the meter to raise theexternal cir-
tion for determining a value of R, is cuit current. You can switch the shunt in and out to pro-
vide an XI and Xo,, range capability. In this example, I've
provided circuit values for analyzing the currents
involved. With the shunt in place, the external current
will have been raised over the meter current by a factor
where of 10. At R, = 0,10 m A will flow through the external
R, = unknown resistance value circuit and 1 mA will flow through the meter, providing
R, = total circuit resistance (when R, = 0) a current ratio of 10:l. The value of current difference
Il = full-scale circuit current between the meter and the external circuit will flow
l2= circuit current value when R, > 0 through theshunt (i.e., 9 mA). The resulting resistance-
You can establish a multi-ranging capability for an measuring range will be from 0 to 5000 ohms with 450
ohmmeter by selecting the source voltage and full-scale ohms at rnidscale. With the shunt removed, the meas-
meter current for the desired resistance range. Choos- urable range will beOto50,000ohmswith4500ohmsat
ing a high-voltage source and a low meter current will midscale.
provide a high-resistance measurement range. Like-
wise, increasing the circuit current through R, will lower AC voltmeter
the measurable range. Many circuit designs have been You can also usea DC panel meterto measureACvol-
developed for multi-ranging an ohmmeter. I'lldiscuss tages by adding a rectifierto the metering circuit. Meas-
three examples. urement values will be different from those with DC
Example 1. You can make a very low range ohmmeter because of the rectifier, and because the meter move-
by modifying the circuit of fig. 5. The unknown is in par- ment will respond only to the average current. Assum-
allel with the meter coil, instead of in series with it. If the ing a sine waveform and a half-wave rectifier, the cur-
meter R, is 100 ohms, the measurable range of R, is rentflowthroughthe meter coil will beabout63 percent
fromzero toabout 500ohmswith 100ohmsat midscale. of the peak value for one-half cycle. On the other half
Placing a shunt across the meter and raising circuit cur- cycle, the current will be zero. The meter movement will
rent further reduces the R, range to perhaps 0 t o 50 average the two values, producing a pointer position
48 April 1989
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equivalent t o 45 percent of the root-mean-square voltage could cause a sufficient leakage current to flow,
(equivalent DC) input. Thescale would be calibrated in resulting in meter indication errors. Thetwodiodes, each
rrns. conducting on alternate half cycles, keep the reverse
When you use a bridge rectifier, both half cycles will voltage drop across the other diode to a small value. This
cause coil current to flow, allowing the pointer position means the reverse breakdown voltage of the diodes can
to move to theequivalent of 90 percent of the rrns input. be much less than the voltage being measured. Typi-
This is twicethat of a half-wave rectifier. Again, the scale cally, the diode peak reverse voltage (PRV) is in the range
would be calibrated in rms. of 25 to 100 volts.
Calculate the series multiplier resistance used with Diodes have a square law forward-conduction curve
either rectifier using the following equations. which, if allowed, would cause the meter's scale values
Half-wave rectifier: t o be nonlinear, particularly at low points on the meter
scale. In an attempt to maintain measurement scale
linearity, diodeconduction currentsare keptfairly high,
placing the operating point on thevertical (nearly linear)
portion of the diode's forward-conduction curve.
Bridge rectifier: Increase the diode current by shunting the meter,
thereby lowering thesensitivity value. A n AC voltmeter
will have a sensitivity of 5 or 10 k per volt. However, if
the basic meter sensitivity is less than 5 k, additional
meter shunting is seldom necessary.
where
R1 = multiplier resistor value
E, = full-scale rms voltage value
Computer program
,I = full-scale meter current The computer program mentioned earlier was writ-
R, = internal resistance of M ten on an Atari in BASIC. I developed it around the
Theactual multiplier resistancevaluemust be reduced circuits I've described t o ease the implementation of
by the series-forward resistance value of the rectifiers, panel meters for new applications. I've tried t o keep
or by an alternative method of subtracting the forward the code general to accommodate the many BASIC
rectifier drop from,,E, for the calculation. dialects in use. A few dialects will require minor
Figure 7 shows half-wave and bridge rectifier circuits changes to the code for accommodation, and the fol-
commonly used with DC meters for making AC voltage lowing comments are provided t o assist you in mak-
measurements. You use two diodes in the half-wave ing those changes. For those dialects not able to han-
application, with CR1allowing current t o flow through dle LPRINT statements, you may use an OPEN
the meter. Diode CR2 conducts on the alternate half statement followed by PRINT. Should you run into a
cycle, preventing th? voltage across the meter rectifier situation where the dialect won't handle a variable con-
from rising t o the source voltage. A high-reverse diode taining two-letter alpha characters, try changing the
50 April 1989
It's a lesson you learn very early in life. Many can be good, some may be better, bur only one can be
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52 April 1989
UNADILLA ANTENNA
24 Hour FAX
MANUFAGTURING
PO
THE
m a tA
BIG-SIGNAL n t Kt
(508,
475-7831
9-5 EST M-F
,
statements when entering the code into the computer, 'Perfect Dipole' SWR
although they can be helpful if you need to debug the
A complete kit includes:
program. W M U 1:l B a l u n
I've placed all INPUT statements on the right end W2VS KW40 T r a p a (pair)
of the line. For some dialects, the INPUT may be End-sulatorsTY (pair)
,
U 14-7 Copper Wire (125')
moved to the left end of the line, eliminating the PRINT Cs
I n s t a l l a t i o n & P r u n i n g Instructions
command.
For the AC-voltmeter calculation, the program pro-
Get "perfect dipole" (low SWR)operation on both bands,
plus "second resonance" operation on 10,15 and 20
vides the option of loading the diode rectifier for
meters having a sensitivity greater than 5 klvolt. When meters. Complete instructions results in a quick,
loaded by the program, the meter shunt and multiplier accurate installation and pruning to low operating SWR.
values are given for a sensitivity of 5 klvolt. The pro- Every component in the 40180 meter kit i s an old line,
gram assumes that you'll use silicone diodes as recti- reliable UNADILLA product, time tested with hams for
fiers, and that their forward-conduction voltage drop over 20 years.
is 0.7 volt. If you use copper oxide, germanium, or T m '
To order d~rectcall (508)475-7831
other rectifier types instead, the D value in lines 1390
or write for our ~nforrnatlonalbrochure
and 1400 should be changed accordingly.
on our other f~neproducts
The program is a series of function/calculation 8.knokr(.m KI1Rltm.Cwkr k r r l a t o n . E N D u r l a t o m ~ ~ ~ xR0I.y.
I.I
All pro&* c o r n whh a 30 Day W a m n t y
blocks driven from a menu. The menu provides a -NOTICE-
GOT0 command call for the function selected. Upon We are the W manufacturers of the original
completing the function, the program returns to the JAMES MILLENTMProducts c/ 172
menu for your next action. I've also included printout (508) 975-2711 9am-5pm EST M-F
samples from each block. You can use these samples
to determine proper program operation. With the
exception of the ohmmeter scale calculations and COMPUTERIZE
resulting printer output, all calculations and printouts
are to the screen. The ohmmeter portion of the pro- YOURSHACK .
gram provides the scale marking (calibration) as it YAESU 747, 757GX, 7576x11, 767, 9600.
applies to the relative coil-current value. The tabulated KENWOOD TS 140, 440, 940, 680, R5000.
ICOM R71A, R7000, 735, 751A. 761. 781, AND ALL VHF, UHF, CI-V.
output makes the scale-marking task much easier. DRIVERS FOR RADIOS ARE MODULAR
Internal resistance is an important factor in most cal- JRC NRO 525.
COMPLETE PROGRAM ENVIRONMENT
culations. It should not be ignored until you know its MENU DRIVEN AND DESIGNED FOR EASE OF USE
effect on the results of calculations. The computer pro- SCAN FUNCTION ADDED TO RADIOS THAT DO NOT SUPPORT IT
ERGONOMETRICALLY DESIGNED FOR EASE OF OPERATION
gram requdsts an R , value for nearly every function. MOST FUNCTIONS REQUIRE SINGLE KEYSTROKES
If the value is unknown, use either a value from table PROGRAM COLOR CODED FOR EASE OF USE. ALTHOUGH WILL STILL
RUN IN A MONOCHROME SYSTEM
1 or enter 100 ohms.
MENUS FOR THE FOLLOWING:
Bibliography AMATEUR HF-AMATEUR VHF- AMATEUR UHF
A M BROADCAST-FM BROADCAST-TELEVISION BROADCAST
1. American Radio Relay League, Newington. Connecticut. TheARRL Hand- SHORT WAVE BROADCAST
book for the Radio Amateur, 67th Edition, 1985. Chapter 25. AVIATION HF(SSB)-AVIATION VHF-AVIATION UHF
2. Nelson M . Cooke, Basic Mathematics For Electronics, Second Edition, HIGH SEAS MARINE-VHF MARINE
McGraw-Hill Book Company. Inc., New York. 1960, Chapter 19. MISCELLANEOUS HF. VHF. UHF
3. William I. Orr. WGSAI, RadioHandbook, 21st Edition, Editonand Engineers MOST POPULAR FREQUENCIES ALREADY STORED
Division of Howard W . Sams Et Company, Indianapolis,Indiana, 1978. Chap.
ADDITIONAL LIBRARIES AVAILABLE
COMPLETE LOGGING FACILITY
ter 31. ALL FREQUENCY FILES MAY BE ADDED TO EDITED OR DELETED
4. Sol D. Prensky, Elecrroniclnstrumentation,Prentice-Hall. Inc.. Englewood
AVAILABLE FOR IBM PC XT AT 80386 256K RAM
Cliffs, New Jersey, 1963, page 534. 1 SERIAL PORT AND 1 FLOPPY MINIMUM
5. Theon, and Use of Electronic Test Equipment, T M 11-664, Departments of PROGRAM WITH INITIAL UBRARlES 99 95
the Army and Air Force, 1952, page 158. RS 237 TO TTL INTERFACE ONLY (NEEDED IF DON T HAVE MANUFACTURERS INTERFACE)
6. Harry E. ThomasandCarole A. Clarke. Handbookof Electroniclnstruments EXTERNAL INTERFACE ALLOWS 4 RADIOS 99 95
INTERNAL PC INTERFACE WI1 SERIAL 6 1 RADIO PORT 129 95
andMeasurement Techniques. Prentice-Hall.Inc.. EnglewoodCliffs, New Jer. S P t l 111IIM ANALYli H MODULE (CALL FOR PHICt I
sey, 1967, Chapter 2. CflMPLl TE SYSlFM5 INCL RADIO INTERFACE COMPUTER AVAILARLE ICALL FOR PHlCI I
7. Rufus P. Turner. Basic Electronic Tesrlnstruments. Holt, Rinehart, and Win.
ston, New York, 1961, page254. DATACOM, INT.
Article F H A M RADIO 8 0 8 1 W. 2 1 S T LANE
H I A L E A H . FL 3 3 0 1 6
A R E A CODE (305) 8 2 2 - 6 0 2 8
April 1989 a 53
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Telephone ~nterfacenow ava~lable .. . . . . . . ..
For more ~ n f o r r n a t ~ ocall wc sum!.,1- naro lo ltM pall< lm !he hanr DuM--
n or wrlte
Dp!rm lnrura~rxrIf?:tm Platno h e r p e g s S11W Sla<nlessS l O i l W
nod 16 UPS s'n 10, q.nqtc 01 t,rlr III ~ n ~ r n n a ~
GTI Electronics
W We%, OIMIIIIISIMX
DOUG HALL ELECTRONICS PA resdenm no6 6% rates !ax RD 1 BOX 272
Voter Department
815 E. Hudson Street RUTLAND ARRAYS Lehighton, Pa. 18235
Columbus, Ohlo 43211
(614) 261-8871
1703 Warren Street N e w Cumberland. PA 17070
(717) 774-5298 7-10 P.M EST
7 17-386-4032
>
Dealer mqutrren rnvrled
fl 170
54 April 1989
, ,
HAM RADIO
TECHNIQUES
Bill Orr, W6SAl
April 1989 55
ADVANCED
MICROPROCESSOR
TROUBLESHOOTING
TECHNIQUES
Enhance your dtq~taltroubleshoot~ngskills with this
new 3-day course. You w ~ llearn
l the latest tips and
techn~quesfor troubleshoot~ngall mlcroprocessor-
based systems.
Fee is 3795.00. Call or write for brochure with full
deta~lsand current schedule.
Rasearch
Box 1242 Burlington, CT 06013 203 582-9409 l!33m
SEE OUR
9:00 am - 5:30 pm
weekdays
PULLOUT
Weekends and evenings
b y appolntrnent.
ICOM. AEA. LARSEN. VAN GORDEN.
CATALOG
/ C 0 MMUNICAT I0 NS Ig:~:;+~:;~:;
- -
VIBROPLEX. NYE-VIKING. FALCON
II Pages 59-62
280 iff any Avenue Yd&#LbrYnlr6uf &rubhal*'
56 a April 1989
conventional Yagi. The horizontal conductor is less than that of a "thin" band well casing about 160 feet deep,
elements are cut to serve as a driven one for a given frequency, and Collin and an unusual buried run of two 4-0
element and a reflector - just the suggests that this rule should also insulated aluminum wires about 114
ticket for a single antenna to work apply to resonant radials. mile long that works amazingly well on
mobile stations (vertically polarized) This is an intriguing thought. I've 80 and 160 meters." He concludes, "If
and over-the-horizon DX (often always cut my radials to the same you're not thinking and improvising,
horizontally polarized). I'll leave the length as that of the radiator. Once I then you're just taking up space!"
details up to you! built a 21-MHz ground plane with Good show, Doc!
DL6WU has submitted VHF Yagi radials 5 percent longer than the radi-
data for inclusion in the ARRL VHF ator. I couldn't notice any difference The gamma loop fed
Manual. in operation or SWR measurements, vertical antenna
as compared with an earlier, conven- In The Radio Amateur Antenna
tional ground plane. This leads me to Handbook1 I described an interesting
think that radial length is unimportant DX antenna (shown in fig. 3). It con-
REFLECTOR
(within 5 percent), at least in the HF sists of a half-wave vertical dipole fed
FOLDED region. Any comments on this ques- at the bottom with a "ground indepen-
MONOPOLE
tion? dent" feed system.
The antenna shows about 1.8-dB
"Torching the Cat" and gain over the classic ground-plane
other exploits antenna and requires no radials. Feed-
I received a letter from "Doc" Sayre, line isolation is very good.
N7AVK, who most assuredly deserves The feed system provides a match
membership in the Antenna between the high-impedance end of
Experimenter's Club. Doc writes, the dipole and a low-impedance coax
"Fashioning a sky wire is truly excit- line. A parallel-tunedcircuit will work.
ing. I have loaded rain gutters on 160 A low-loss design consists of a large,
meters (torching the cat in the horizontally mounted single-turn coil in
Quarter-wave folded radiator is fed at F. process), fir trees on 15 meters (the parallel with a high-voltage capacitor.
Vertical elements are mounted above nail gets hot and you shouldn't drive The combination is resonant at the
quarter-wave horizontal radials. (Courtesy it in very deep for best results!), an all- antenna's design frequency.
DLGWU)
radials approach a "fat" conductor, or Vertical dipole fed with parallel tuned circuit at base. L-C circuit resonates at middle of
disc. The physical length of a "fat" band of choice. (Courtesy Radio Publications, Inc.)
April 1989 57
John O'Brien, W2YYI, has solved
the mechanics of making a waterproof
B
tuned circuit and a high-voltage capa-
CAP
citor of inexpensive materials (see fig.
4). He makes the antenna and resonat-
A/Z RADIATOR. I / 2 COPPER TUBING
ing coil out of soft, 112-inch, thin-wall
copper tubing available from hardware
and home improvement stores. The
assembly is put together with a solder-
ing torch.
In my original design, I achieved an
impedance match by tapping the coax "STREET ELL"
The W4TDI version of the "Caroline Windom" antenna. Configuration works as broadside
Carolina Windom between two trees array on 20 meters with cloverleaf pattern. (See my column. May, 1988 for more data on
only about 75 feet apart (see fig. 5). "Carolina Windom" antenna.) A "Carolina Windom" kit maybe obtained from the Radio
It was impossible to erect a 132-foot Works, Box 6159, Portsmouth, Virginia 23703, phone: 804-484-0140.
58 April 1989
--
I
L - m r r l >lyrlals
,,,,t
I
duct lane t o hold the cells t w e t h e r Shpg Wt. 1 Lb. SPL.110-52 $9.00
holes W'e.recommand you make a rnountmg Shpg. Wt. 10Lbs. SPL.322-51 629.95
plat^ 01 112" thlck plywood 01 a Slze l o 111the
II
PARTS GALORE ASSEMBL Y
Pictured below ta a h q h rel~abtl~ty
power
supply I t contaonr many very useful and
expensova parts We must offer these --
parts l o you ~nd~vidually because due t o
the agreement w i l h the manufacture w e
can not sell the unet tntact
SPL 2 1 0 w 59.00 r
Twist On Male
BNC CONNECTOR
No. CPFl UG88-2 for RG-59 & 62U
These BNC connectors are very easy t o use as they do not require
any soldering or need any speclal tools Cable attachment is
a and threaded OPenlng which makes It easy
to twlst the connector onto the cable brade and jacket lnsurtng a
good grounding and a hlgh integrity termlnatlon. Constructed of
nlckle plated brass.
Shpg. Wt. % Lb. H-58B-50 $2.25 each
.I
-AC cord w/ special plug to fit
I
connectors
:
For hi volt, hi fmq cirr-'--
.- -.
NIU sucn --
'I
---
xrnrrs
1I
on above fans.
~ h p g .W. I ~ b . SP 275EG
11RECHARGEABLE 1 SPECTRoL .-~I wur prlca slrnon ror 11
they c o n about $5 eat
I
N-Cell
I I \"
-
We acauired a bunch of used each. I
IIIm
on ~ t as
, shown ~nthe photo. We
have tested a bunch of these and
they seem to be OKAY.
Shpg. Wt. 2 02. SP-149-51'1.00
I
BUSS TRON"
9 LJ
WATERPROOF
FUSEHOLDERS
-* -
New, factory boxed Miller No.
99H PC RF choke# s. Rated as
I, UG-I76
for ~ ~ 5 9
$1.00
-,
-- m
follows; 100mH. 473 ohms max..
0 138 MHz, mlnlmum Q at fre-
Double ; d ;
UHF-F/F ~~ULUHEAI
- a
quency, 29 at 79 KHz, 5 0 ma
maxlumum. Llst Prtce over $4.50
each
I Shpg. Wt. 11 oZ. ~ - 4 8 ~ - 5$0.75
2
a
-
UHF-F/PANEL
LONG
MOUNT
ONE NUT
30-239NL
1"
sz.50
IIII I
it against damage from water: 1
weather, salt ~pra;~;orrosive
fumes, etc. HEB '
fuseholders are easy to install. The I 1
size "A" crimp terminals will ac- m----"a- J
cept one #14, 12. 10 or 8 solid or
strand wire. They accept 13/32" N e w , factory
x 1 X " fuses such as KTK. FNM Mamecraft. Their m art No. W
boxed by RG 5n rahlv 10 PI. 259
I1
I and BAF up to 600V. ~ e k ~
,,,e
Shpq.
, n -2 3 6 ~ .Runs on 12'VDC. SPST
dlv~duallybagged. Lfst price $6.56 contacts are rated for 1 amp. Con-
tact9
- Wt. 8 oz. SP62A-52 $1.75 ~ h p gWt.
- - nnrmallv, onpn
- - - are
. 1
-r-
2 oz- S P - ~ ~ B $1.
- ~ 01
I 12 VDC MUFFIN FAN
Great Window
Defogger for
Cars, Vans, Trucks!
This fan is very hard t o find i n
Regulated Power Supply
c.--, -.-.A
-
.
,
the surplus market, and usually
11 . S p 4 3 7 52 $12.50 P'ctu~eda h o v r 0s the heart 01 a very vetsatlle I very expensive ($50 or more!). I
KIT of PARTS ,,,I,... rlorvntaometcrs. 6 power S u p l ~ I v When modofled and usedA. In I We came accross some shiny, new
I ~ I O P , ,~,llldl 1 ~ ~ 1 , , I ~ cord and conluncllclll ~ 8 t hthe opllonal parts 119 '""
.ment),
.,
I
br,,jgr P
h ~ l o wyou can build y0~8rsell a super power I metal framed ones from Panaflrx T h r 12vdc, 0 45A
~ndncalorlamp
chnn w1 i L b
TRTNSFORMER
Sp 438.62 $ 5 00 sc'pp~y 101 5h0,r
sch'rnatlc shnw'nghOw
monw we provnd~ a
los'mD1vadd'heoD
1 input IS thru 6" color coded l e d . Grmt as a w~ndowdefogger
I
Rated for 2BV 6 amps In automotive use, or In photwoltalc appl~catlons. No more
Shpg W1 Lbs ~0003 $8 95 l ~ o l ~romponenls
al l o complete the supply
TRANSFORMER Rated lor 2 4 V 3 amps CASE Shown elsehhers In thas brochurp once these are gone.
shpq wt 3 ~h. ~ 6 6 52 1 ~ $5 OO Shpg Wt 2 5Lbs SR 107 52 $ 7 50 Shps W t 2 Lbs. SPL-417A-37 $17.00 ea.
'Io - , 40 CflANNI:'I,C R f ~ A l l I O panasonic
Late model radio made for Chrysler Corp. Very compact, solid state.
STOLEN COMPUTER
TERMINALS
-?
m a -
10 125
30 200
allows lhpm to be used on 6 l o 12VDC
Thp output of the modules IS 8 0 VAC l o battery packs. From what we
Very attracttve large knot, wit11 l,rushed 115VAC 400 HI Tho5 allows them 10 run can learn, if a phone comes back
aluminum lnlay on 11s Id, r, I1 measures at prah br~ghlnessand elltcency Thrv wtll
2.318" dlameter X 718" ~n hebghl Accepls r u n orr 1 lOV 6 0 Hz at reduced brbqhtness
for any reason, the first thing the
'/." round shaft anto a brass Insert. Comes but there arc ~nherentdanqers when uslnq technician does is replace the
wsth set screw Unused and prlced right PHOTO FLASH BOARD lhnr vnllaq(*s and caullon rhould t,r u w d hattery regardless of the phone
Cornnlr.1~w ~ t hhook uo dvaoram
failure. This lot of batteries is a
Shpq VJI 4 01 mized bag, but is priced accor-
Powpr Module dingly. The packs contain 3 AA
size cells with solder tabs on
them. We will provide you with a
BARRIER STRIPS sheet showing how t o re-
We have been pswlng our way around In an
old warehouse and came across some d ~ f juvenate batteries of this type.
lerent lypes of mountlng feet The shafts are Plctured above IS a photo flash assPmbly The packs are rated a t 3.75VDC
threaded to allow the11use In leveling equip
ment
from a Sun Gun camera We have been
told lhese arda manufacturer overrun due M l q l,y ~u1k.l Smtth [)ual It! ~ , c > t r ~ It 1ns1.d
-.
a t innm ma
---"'-'
FIG. A; 1.718" overall length. 1.5" ~nchesof to a model change The flash IS very corn 1,al.k 20 .lnlp Losl $ 3 52 ~ a c hN1.w
Sh. Wt. X lb. SP-120-51 $2.00
the shaft a threaded. 'Xx20 thread. Chrome pact and IS complete less case and balrery Shpg Wt 1 Lb. SP-12%~ S1.25
-
plated steel. Rubber pad on foot measures holder The photo flash cap 0s ratcad at r
3 4" dlameter. Some maybe sl#ghtly rusty. 400ul. 330 volts Please be careful when VARIABLE RATE
SPRAGUE
Overall cond~ttonIS good Sold en palrs. expcrtmentlng w ~ t hthis devtce as 11 < ould D U A L 15 A M P FILTER
Shpg. Wt. 4 0 2 SP-212.51 $0.751~.
FIG. B: 1 % " overall length 1.318'' of the
gtvp you a good whallop. The strobe tubc
measures 1 5" long Run on 3 6 VDC. AA -. .- ---7
shaft IS threaded. 6 32 thread. 718" cloth
covered foot. Sold In bag of four unlts.
sore batler~esare #deal
Shpg. Wt. 1 Lb. SPL.98A-51 $10.00
,* . i 1 e==
*-
Shpg. Wt. 'X Lb. SP.122A-51 51.001b.0
FIG. C: K " overall length 19/32 01 the shalt , - , ..* - U k.1
\
I
Thls IS a very nlcc aodto grade cable made by
Sony. The bralded sh~eldedcord IS just over 3
I t lona. Each end has a molded 3.5 mm olua
Sh. Wt. 8 02. SP-1138-51 $2.50 Shpg.
5 17 0 0
Wtroll1 Lb SP-430-52 52 00
. BATTERIES
April 1989 63
r \
K W M - 3 8 0 1 HF-380 ACCESSORIES
Our bmlery Memory Adapter giva your KWM.380
many new capahilitim:
Pmcrva A & R VFOs on power down
Adds 100 mcmoria & pmerves them
Adds all fmqumcy transmit
Scalcd-in-lC haltcry lase 40 ycan.
lmurlls easily in place orexisling ROM
No hoard madifications; manual included
Order Modcl M3 for KWM-380 or M2 for HF-380.
Either one S 119 ppd I!SA & Canada. Foreign
Ordcn must add S 10 for rc(lis1cmd & air shippin~.
Our KPI-380 keypad inlcrfacc i s a new daign - mom
reliable & IN cxpcnsivc. 565 ppd (keypad not
included).
Write lor flgror call for additional inTormaion.
L o o k f o r o u r booth inside at Dayton
K i r o n Corporation
15 16 Ensex Road
Columbus, 011 43221
614-416-5146
Ask Tor Ron WRGUS L/
i
The Finest 432 MHz Y a g i s
*
EM€ - T r o p o - W e a k Slgnal
The FO-22
ELECTRICAL SPECIFICATIONS:
Mnswrr.tl qa#n
I 1'1 t t w 1 1 ~ , ~ ~ ~ 1 w # d
II I , ,t
Slrlrlnte a,t..n,lnl,on
h
.
16~RdfM
7l h I I 5 ~ P ( I
7. IZdPC,
t ! F I 1 17 5 <I11
"'""'. ' "" ' ,p.,....-, ...-A
L"", I I I I -15 5 d l l
I
8"
Antennas IN STOCK MFJ . 'I MI J !.,:1 AEA
W"tI5 f,h r l l w 7:, 01'
. -
SR r r q t 01 M1..\#99#(>11<
hs)h ~ 1 . 1 ~ l a l w In.
lQ
il
I ' A 1~10tls.1115 .&I
l*Ai:r::,A~RDER5 In Sloth OPT0 KEYERS STOCKEO "'"' ' AMERITRON AUTHORIZED DEALER
10 nARRy ENcTRoNlcs c o W 512 BRoAowAv M w voW CITY, Ny 10012 FouR ENocMs NoitW oF CANAL ST I RUTLAND ARRAYS
1703 Warren St. New Cumberland. PA 17070
'
We S1wm AEA Anma Alnco AmMo Arnwa*on Antenna SPCIOIIII.
A<ta# A<!oon M r N W Rpnrhea I3 fn R u t l r ~ n d CDF C f S cum, fnn
' D.n.*.n F m,?i Y r o t , r(.. ~ I Y ~ ~H yI P(,am
I .<M LLM L d n l f ~ . c $I ~ l % + . n
MJF J W Mlllrtr Mtrape Nve Paloma#, RF P ~ o d u r f l Snxlon Shurc
"AquI Se Hebln Espanol" lrmpo Tan Tee: TUAFS Yarru VQrooler DupIexerr Repealers Scam-
IIA',.i. ::, ,.,.;: .',.;, ' . i ' '. , :I.'
C O M U t H ( I A L UIIIIOE
* E L I ', '%,' % - . n e w R a d m P u h l ~ a l a n rVnlorn I(en*mod.Maxon, RFC
)ic,l'
U.S. AMATEUR RADIO MAIL LISTS
, Mt )<I HAN[II'.F T A C l N ON CONSIGNMFNI ' I
l ,('.."" "'
1.,.
''.' ," ""
WE *01s i m~ I C ~ c-nm
I I amnm
FOH TOP PRICES t~..,..,.. :Y.,illl...tl.. 1 .",I
HAUDEA16RfHallRfS lNvlTFO P W N E IN I W r l M M R A R E RFlYllURSrD
M I... ,.,, r .,,.,.<a U I,., Y P U In',<,,,.," ,,,* F M 0..'"',". I.', I.'*'.Sl.'S..
. Labels, floppy disks. CD-ROM, m a g tape.
, , ,,, , ,,+ , ,,,,,
, %*, .t, .&% ,,,', C.M ,,."-,~,,.,"q, m''r'""3 t',,x-', '" C O I I C R C I A L RADIOS atwh.4 8 " n l s d M mrwnl.
r*&11.11 Amateur Radlo Courses Given On Our Pmmlses. Call Newly licensed h a m s
I lRllLEX S p r ~ n g51 Slsl~on" Subw.y.: BMT
Sh1pp.d Immdlat.ly. TELEX 12.Te70
- -
, E n ~ o rOrdwr8
I All upgrades
,
~rlnce St S!alan" IND F Train-Rwy Slaljon ALL
--.--
BY.. R r m ~ w a y6 to Spring St Paltl91h 51 lhln Aue SALES
Slal~on FINAL Updated each week
I BUCKMASTER PUBLISHING
B a r r y E l e c t r o n i c s C o m m e r c i a l R a d i o D e p t . o f f e r s t h e B e s t in t w o - w a y c o m m u n i c a t i o n s f o r B u s i - I R o u t e 3, Box 5 6 fl 163
n e s s e s . M u n i c i p a l i t i e s . C i v i l D e f e n s e . B r o a d c a s t i n g C o m p a n i e s , H o s p i t a l s , e t c . S a l e s and S e r v i c e Mineral. Vlrglnia 23117
f o r a l l b r a n d s : M a x o n . Y a e s u . I c o n . Tad. O c t a g o n . R e g e n c y M l i l s o n . M ~ d l a n d S . tandard, Uniden. 7031894-5777 vlsalrnc 8001282-5628
S h i n w a y . F u j i t u s . S e a s . S p i l l s b u r y . N e u t e c . e t c . C a l l o r w r i t e f o r i n f o r m a t ~ o n .2 1 2 - 9 2 5 - 7 0 0 0 .
I l---- r
BEVERAGE ANTENNA THE
BEVERAGE ANTENNA
Foreign Subscription Agents
HANDBOOK HANOBOOK for Ham Radio Magazine
by Vie Misek, WlWCR New Edition FULLY Ham Rad~oCanada Ham Rad~oFrance
CARF SM Electronic
WtWCR has spent cou~illf~\s hours developlnq new REVISED P 0 Box 356 20 b~s.Ave des Clarlons
- ." K~ngston.ON F 89000 Auxerre
antenna Ideas and optlrn~zlnqthe SWA (Steerable
wave antenna ) Mlsek delves deep Into the secrets
.-.
- Canada K7L 4W2
Pr~cesIn Canad~anfunds
I yr S38M) 2 yrs $6700
France
ol thp slngle wlre Beveraqe wtth helpful htnts and 3 yrs $90 00
tlps on how to rnaxtrnlze perlorrnance based upon
wlre sue. hetqht above ground, overall lenqth and
lmoedance rnatch~nq Also Includes tnforrnatlon on Ham Rad~oEngland Ham Rad~oJapan
Kalsum~Electrontc Co . Ltd
center led Beveraqes constructed out of several
wlre types SMALL LOT OWNERS - Beverage tor
v ~ to01
u Callpd the Micro SWA 11IS lust 60 11 Please enclose $3 50 shlpplng a handling
I c/o R S G B
Lambda House
Cranborne Road
27 5 lkegaml
4 Chome. Ota-Ku
Potters Bar ~ o k y o146. Japan
lonq You qet excellent dlrpcllvlty and null steerlng Herts EN6 3JW Telephone (03) 7532405
capabllttles Translor~nerdeslgn ~nfotrnat~on for 10) 2!z England
both terrntnatlon and leedllnc rnatchlnq I$ corn
plet~lyrevtsed
VM-BAH
1987 80 pages
514.95 G R E E N V I L L E , NH 03048 603-878-1441
RADIO BOOKSTORE
64 April 1989
THE
WEEKENDER
April 1989 65
K1 E ~ .---
M ! ! NA&power-packed
E ~ H EMicro
R i )I
STAR
DIG1 TA R EVERY ISSUE of
Weather Computer for Your Station.. .
L Reads Wind Speed (MPH/KPHI Hi Gusts Wind Direction. Ralnlall
HAM RADIO
Temperature (Present-Hi-LOW). Wind Chi0 Scans All! now available on microfiche!
The entire run of Ham Radio Magazine
(March, 1968 thru last year) is ready
to ship to you in one, easy to use
format.
Our 24x microfiche is easy to read and
very compact. We offer a hand held
Protect Your
.; . ', Antenna
nt. ' ,
8,rh.,
& Home!
;.
*?i 1
,-,a,', I ' .$,I 1%. l v i .'111111 ( l s , .1
DIIPC'IOP Vmp HiiLii ,!nn :?I,vP* 1 , ~ : ,xior rw.n rompljtof1;8,r! ,w,llher
11 --
110
Your SPECIAL
FREE BONUS
I reader for $75, and a desk model for
$200. Libraries have these readers.
As a bonus, you will receive Ham
ital~nndl an ncrPdhty Inv. dlliir~,1Sl~ p!!r* Radio Horizons (3177 t hru 12/80) free.
f h~ I . ~ w Allm!llh V@athrr Star by 01911.11 1% a hlqh oual!ly DWI
Everything is included, front cover to
Dackpd mather Computer lu%llndded mlh lealuret Glw5 y0u aCCUraIe
back - ads too!
v/pdthpr data rlqht In yllur ihack a1 lllr Inuch nl a l l l l q ~ lC r ~ a l ~ d
K I I ~t h lat~s!
~ CMOS m u o rhln IPrhnnlnqy
FUNCTIONS & FEATURES w l h the IWR3
You Gel All T ~ P %F~ctlrnq
P
G
.
Retad Value S29 95
a .
. . .
Recharpeablr 141 . a ? ilaltr,n 1% IRP~Irrr $7'15 60 11 ikl~nsmn
Send $185 payment (visalmc
LARGE. EASY TO READ LCD READOUT G~wsp u L'11na SwM
~ 1'111d (,11\1:
R ~ r r l ' eHioh
r J i ~ l ~Procent
, ~ ~ l bmrji.ralurr
~
IVll-0 L1,rt.r l~nri Wmfl Cli~llFarto1
IR~mnlr,c,~n501~nrlrjdPfli R~~cflrd?
.
Control Cable !tC:Ot a Sl445 AC Power ACaplor IPSIZI
tr S395 Please dde $395 lor Shipplnq b Hdndl~nqol TWR3
Ram Gaupe IRG31 9995 b r e a c h opllan add St W
. accepted) to:
Htq!VLw. l ~ m w r a l r ~ rReadi
.
~ . In fnhrenhrl! Cel51or M~lpVHn!lr of
BUCKMASTER
KMlHf ProqramnlahleScan1 Oprral~: on Dr. l8anPl1r, Nlll
InrluflPdl or AC wtlh O~ltnnala0aDlnr Ram Cnll~rlofIOrit~f~nall CALL TOLL-FREE 1-800-882-7388TODAY!
r l ~ ~ , ~ ~nla5t~c
.
h u r TWR3 SYSTEM COMES COMPLETE WITH TWRl LZlp~lh~r Or FAX Your Omer 213-473-2325
Compci'~' A n ~ n i n m r l ~8r L'dlne ';an? n~aoonf hrqh 8mDacl IJV
l , l n l wcth ~ , t ~ t ~he;rf~:ii~,
lll!!er \erw +.[;all ?! a ,173 133;
i l ~ ? ~ ,8 -,tiah 1111par5 111trnublr lrer 10bH ti, 6Pl.4 PSI I La Re< 1r1t1-,ap
l \ tar
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ipr*<(,p. 40 k ~
.
of lC a h i ~lead In u;llh conrlrrlrrr., flul~10~
Trmrr~raturpSmvlr Clork P. M n r ~ r l l HardwarP ~n~ Route 3, Box 56
Mineral, Vlrglnla 23117
7031894-5777 vlsalmc 8001282-5628
AVAILABLE AT HENRY RADIO 6 ALL HAM RADIO OUTLETS!
H 159
Clevelsnd l n r t i t u t e
ClE of Electronic-
1 ;7t\ C A \ I 17rh Sr . ( I r v c l a n J . Oh~v441 14
Ifposstble l e t us know f o u r t o slr weeks
before you move and we w ~ l make l sure
your HAM RADIO M a g a z t n e arrlves on
schedule Just remove t h e m a ~ l ~ nlabel g
from t h ~ smagazlne and a f f ~ xbelow.
Then complete your new address (or any
other correct~ons)~nthe space prov~ded
and we'll take care of the rest.
ham Allow 4-6 weeks for
*cEl&ed Manba Natmnal HonU S W COvm
radio
Maaazfne
correction.
RF RF
INPUT OUTPUT
CRI
-- 12V -
T
-- -5.4VDC
C11
(SEE DETAIL
BELOW FOR
C8
7 T 0.1
35V
7;
C9
0.1
35V
z 10'16VDC
BEAD
INSTALLATIONJ
-
m 0 3VDC
02 R8
2N2369A 43k
R9
look
NEGATIVE
BIAS
15V OC
TERMINAL
NO. 12 TINNED BUSBAR
FB-101
SOLDER PCB PAD COMPONENT SIDE
I PCB
TRACE SIDE
SOLDER PCB PAD
p p p -
April 1989 67
U H F GAsFET doubler a r t w o r k .
the scattering parameters from the manufacturer's
data sheet. Despite the fact that the doubler isn't a
"small-signal" device, it needed very little trimming to
optimize its performance. Capacitors
One of the doubler's important features is its sta- Cl,C7 220-pF chip
bility. Because input and output circuits are an octave C2,C4 470-pF chip
C3,C5 1000-pF chip
apart in frequency, there's little (if any) likelihood that C6 Erle 0.5-5.5 pF glass piston trimmer
C8,C9 0.1 35-volt tantalum
feedback will cause instability. As a precaution against C10 0.1 12-volt monolythic
out-of-band feedback, I equipped both the gate and C11,C12 10/16-volt electrolytic
drain DC return circuits with ferrite beads. Potentiometers
The doubler schematic is shown in fig. 2. Figure R3 50 k ten-turn trimpot
R5 10 k ten-turn trimpot
3 shows the power supply. Artwork for the board is
shown in figs. 4 and 5. Negative gate voltage is sup- Resistors
R1 1.5 k 1/8 watt 5 percent
plied from a common 12-Vdc source with an lC7660 10 ohms 1/4 watt
voltage inverter. This is identical to the circuit I used 3.9 k 1/4 watt 5 percent
4.7 k 1/4 watt 5 percent
in my 1296-MHz low-noise preamplifier a r t i ~ l eThe .~ R7 1.5 k 1/4 watt 5 percent
circuit protects against FET damage should the nega- R8 43 k 1/4 watt 5 percent
R9 100 k 1/4 watt 5 percent
tive supply fail.
Solid-state Devices
Tune up U1 78L12 regulator
U2 ILC7660 inverter
Before installing the FET, connect a 150-ohm resis- CRl lN754
CR2 IN740
tor temporarily between drain and ground. Apply 15 01 Avantek A T12570-5 GaAsFET
volts to the DC input terminal and adjust trimpot R 5 Q2,03 2N2369A
for 3.0 Vdc across the resistor. Remove the resistor Miscellaneous
and install the FET, taking the usual precautions J1,J2 EFJ 142-0298-001 SMA connector
FBl,FBZ,FB3 FB-101 ferrite bead
against static charge. pc board
Next, apply 15 Vdc between the DC input terminal eight-pin IC socket
and ground. Then, with the input RF drive power shut
off, adjust gate-bias pot R3 until the drain just begins
to draw current. This isn't a critical adjustment,
because when RF power is applied the drain current Note that the FET doubler includes a 10-ohm resis-
will increase to a value depending on the level of drive tor in series with the drain circuit and 3-Vdc supply.
power. I suggest that you set the drive power to a level Assess drain current by measuring the voltage across
that produces a FET drain current of about 30 mA. this resistor. The total current drain will be about 40
Although higher drive levels will produce higher drain mA. You can control the output power by adjusting
current and more power output, don't exceed Ids&!. input drive level.
68 April 1989
LOGWRITE'"
Rrlng p u r slmlan i a o thr nnrpllcr ege w l h U W ; W R m
t k mnu drwn. u r t I+ b p m g p r q n m m l l c n hv Fd
Tvoy lN01\.l LOCWRITE m lk ptllcct -,r* lor Ik
mrnpklc h.m slmtnn 11 r~mplolu=wur opcralnn d g ~ . rig. Connect your
mu IW mmprtllnv edge #nconmllng and I > \ tn# LOCWRlTE
m j r b rrllh all IRht 1'<-1 and n i r n p a t ~ h b
Packet requires only a
single 12 VI)<:@40mA
call sogn or prefix search
Instant
power source o r as
- Pnnt. Edlt. or vww records little as 29mA from an
- Plenly 01 r m lor notas Q addresses optional I1U-21-1,
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fig89 U.S. CALL DIRECTORY> RFI KIT (
(on r n l c r o f l c h e )
cH, choke I Use ferrite beads and toro~ds I
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Improving clock Pressing the seconds switch dis- With the Federal receiver switched
setting for the HW-5400 plays the "ones" minute digit and both to battery and the line cord pulled, it
I finally decided that there must be a seconds digits. Simultaneously press- still picked up the key clicks.
better way to set the clock on my ing "seconds" and "fast set" lets you The solution was simple, but took a
Heath HW-5400-01 power supply. My reset the seconds to zero without a little doing to find. An extension cord
method of setting the time with a long minute carryover. To ensure an accu- was plugged into the other half of the
pin or toothpick had to go! I also rate setting to WWV, simply set the wall duplex outlet where the offending
wanted to be able to set the clock to clock a minute ahead, press seconds, receiver was connected. This fed two
WWV to the nearest second. Here's fast set, and hold the setting until desk lamps and an electric clock. Pull-
my solution. WWV catches up - then release. ing the extension cord killed the click.
You'll need three small momentary Viola! Precise clock settings to the Evidently the two lamps, extension
SPST push-button switches. A set of nearest second. cord, and clock made up an antenna
Radio Shack no. 275-1574 or equiva- Dexter King, AB4DP that was picking up the 15-meter sig-
lent is fine. First, disassemble the nal and creating a more intense RF
power supply's front panel. Next, drill field around the receiver. The loop
out the two holes on the front panel, stick in the receiver picked this up.
grill, and escutcheon (they're labeled I didn't have any more ferrite
SW201 and SW2021, and one extra
A tricky RFI solution material, so I dug through my junk and
hole an inch to the right of SW202 for When the XYL said I was interfering found an RF high-voltage transformer
the "seconds" display switch. See fig. with the broadcast receiver, I was from an old, old TV set. I cut off all the
1 for placement. (Remember to stunned. After all, I thought I had windings with a hacksaw and wound
remove the metal switch springs from solved just about every problem another extension cord around three
the display circuit board.) Mount the caused by my transmitter - even sides of the ferrite form. I plugged the
switches through the panel and grill, operating full power on all bands. makeshift choke into the wall outlet,
"Are you sure?" I said. plugged the line cord feeding the
"Well, it has been more than 50 lamps and clock into the output end
years since you tried to teach me the of the choke, and all my clicks were
SW20i SWZOZ
SLOW S E T code, but I can still follow the key solved. As I said earlier, I was on the
CLOCK
DISPLAY , / SECONDS
DISPLAY clicks well enough to make out right track with the line filter. The trou-
W2YW. And, that new renewal you ble was, I was in the wrong place!
got from Gettysburg says you are Article 1 John Labaj, WPYW
W2YW - so, yes, I am sure."
The receiver was an eight-band Fed-
eral Model 881000 and it was picking FEBRUARY WINNERS
up key clicks on a few spots in the Congratulations to Teddy Coggin, WD4CWV,
broadcast band. One of them was at our February sweeps winner and John Piv-
H W - 5 4 0 0 - 0 1 POWER SUPPLY
nichny, N2DCH, author of February's most
1390 kHz - the QRG of one of her
popular WEEKENDER - "High-Impedance
Placement o f holes f o r adding SPST favorite stations to sleep by, because Rotary Step Attenuator." Both will receive a
switches t o t h e HW-5400-01p o w e r supply. it's an all-talk station. The interference copy of The Radio Handbook by Bill Orr,
occurred when I operated on 15 WGSAI. To enter for April's drawing, send in the
placing the escutcheon on last to cover meters, and with all the activity now evaluation card bound into this issue, or submit
a WEEKENDER project. You could be our next
the mounting nuts. Bend the tabs of on 15, 1 simply had to find a solution.
winner! Ed.
the new SW201 and SW202 switches First, I wound some no. 24 dual zip-
so they clear the circuit board. Con- cord on a 112" ferrite rod 5" long,
nect one side of all three switches slipped it under the battery pack com-
together and then to the 14-volt source partment, and wired it into the AC line.
by inserting the wire through the slot This was no help. I was on the right
of SW202 on the circuit board. Solder track but headed in the wrong direc-
the wire to the silver foil. tion.
Solder the other tab of SW201 to Next, I tried a Kenwood R2000,
the "hot" leg of R202 and the second using a piece of bell wire thrown out
tab of SW202 to the "hot" leg of R203. the window for an antenna. No sign
Now solder the other tab of the third of any key clicks, but the wife turned
switch (seconds display) to the circuit that solution down saying it had "just
too many buttons." Now what? - AU- WAYS T o DO I S MOLD 'eP LI*C
board pad of pin 34 of U201. W t L L HOW YO"
UmIL T I C CaMCRETC SETS I
74 April 1989
THE AMATEUR'S PROFESSIONAL.
Larsen Kulrod" and Kulduckie" antennas
provide amateurs the same advanta es enjoyed by
ANNOUNCES
--..I-.,- .
New prc~tectioncircuitry automatically red^Ices the (~ u t p u power
- .. -- t
.- ,lu~orr~atically
r v r n returns the amplifier to full power
~ I I U
to prevent damage to output transistors
when problem is cleared!
New GaAs-FET pre-amp designs provide gain of over 25 db and a noise figure of less than .6 dh!
Picture this...You know your station ...You are at home with your gear ...all the knobs, switches, meters...QSY'c
are no big deal, you could do them in your slrer, (and vou probably have!).
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Available with power supply Full QSK 100% key-down forever
Power Supply included April 1989 77
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INTERNATIONAL
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A REMOTE DRIVER1
CONTROLLER
FOR A TWO -ANTENNA SYSEM
By William L. Schreiber, NHGN, 73-4327 Imo Street, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, 96740
April 1989 a 79
ANTENNA MODELING
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OLD RADIOS, YOU NEED ... ' 1r Bf
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ANTIQUE RADIO CLASSIFIED Easy to use w11hmenus and opt~onaimouse Enter
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1989 EDITIONS
T h e N o r t h A m e r i c a n C a l l b o o k lists t h e calls, 1989 RADIO AMATEUR CALLBOOKS
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Kraus s cl.~ss~c antenna book has been exlenslvely revised and
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d PIN PLUG
.r - i.
4, I
I ; O I ELEVATION SWITCH ON PANEL AT RIG
I l o !
I I ; INPUT TO L M 3 9 1 4 . - P I N S
I I
L- .
J
CAELE TO EL EVATION
POTENTIOME TER
r-i
3 PIN SOCKET
ANTENNA MOUNTEO
ELEVATION
POTENTIOMETER
MOTOR
RELAY
-I - N'
TO BLINKING LED VIA
POWER PLUG ON PANEL
A p r i l 1989 81
IN4001
/r/
.' 8 2
x ? ! z ~ t x z x *- IOLEO BARGRAPH
:. 2 w
10°F. 16V
+12v
LM317
390
390 - ,,i+
240
3,
10 11 12 I3 I4 15 16 17 18 I
4I
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TO 10 5 v
OOT/BAR
CHOICE 3 6 7 8
Iw BLINKING LEO
E L EVATION OVERRUN
WARNING
l3b
PI
500
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5 39b
CL PANEL SOCKET TO
ANTENNA L I M I T
SWITCHES #
82 April 1989
features claritier (RIT), h n t Heath
panel AGC, noise blanker, all offers you more.
arlcl ;I long way to anywhere. mode squelch, 20 dB attenuator, In addition to the SR-1400,
You probably couldn't find a computer interface, and a clean, Heath offers a full line of pre-
better test of the new SR-1400 "operator preferredn front panel assembled o r build-it-yourself
All-Mode Transceiver than Heath's layout. amateur radio equipment to
expedition to Taipei in the The transmitter's PA is cooled completely ouffit your ham shack
Republic of China by a quiet, thermostatically o r upgrade your system.
When working DX, you need controlled internal fan and is You can also prepare for your
sensitivity t o dig for the weak enclosed in its own diecast next exam (Novice, Technician,
ones, but still need dynamic range aluminum heat-sink chamber, General, Advanccd or Extra class)
so the guy down the block doesn't which allows for full power with Heath study courses.
clobber you in the middle of a operation in CW, SSB, FM and Finally, as a Heath-equipped
QSO. Sure, the SR-1400 worked the KITY, AMTOR, SSTV, and Packet. ham, you can get answers to your
MAGAZINE EVALUATION & SWEEPS ENTRY CARD
Here's YOUR chance to comment on this issue of HR and enter our monthly radio
drawing. Carefully read all the articles in this issue. Then, rate each article in this
issue. Also let us know what you think of our changes to the magazine. Each article
is marked with a letter on the last page.
Article A B C D E F G H I J KLMNOPQRST
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Here's how. Class
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References
1. William L. Schreiber, "Complete S o l a r P o w e r for Your Ham S t a t i o n . " ham
radio, December, 19&l, page 14.
2. LinearData B w k , National Semiconductor C o r p o r a t i o n . 1982. pages 9-163.
3. G e o r g e C h a n e y , W T L . "An I n e x p e n s i v e E l e v a t ~ o nI n d i c a t o r . ' ' ham radio.
June. 1985, page 67.
Article J H A M RADIO
Left rear side view of antenna drive system. Elevation pot arm
with lead weights is visible at top.
.
MICROWAVE -AS
L~cp
F] AND E O U W E M
Y q f s ' P a n [)lvidrs.
rbw h m p m
i
DC control panel, column of LEDs and "Stop" LED used for
.
. T R O W .EME Weah Slgnd OSCAR-
Mrcravnv. Ttonavsrlas
.
C a p l e t s Artaye- G a s F E Reamp8
~ ~JLNA 0768 N
SLNA
12 d~ 2 3 QnzS14o
IBLNAXI 0 BdB N F 20 dB 1 60 G u t $140
1 O ~ BN F 10 d 8 2 2 7 ~11% ~~ 1
9321269 12% 1691 2304 3456MHz
elevation indication on right side. New Wldmbnd P o w r Ar@Mrn
2345 LY 4% 1286 MHz 2WBI WZ
1345 LY 4501 2304 MHz 20dW %a 2370 PA 3# In 7(kr oul 1240-1x0 MHz 1685
All that'B needed to actuate the circuit is a variable 3333 LY 3% ~2 MHZ 1.9 ML 182 2340 PA I" n
WI 1240 1300 MHZ uss
2318 PAM 1w In l a w w 1 1240.1300 MHz 1205
source of DC representing elevation angle. A clever A- m l m n n n kb A u m t A a d wd1.M.
Add 1(1 UPS s h w r t o t h e M n v u p p NEW FOR DAYTON
way to do this appeared in the Amateur press several MICROWAVE UNEAR U P L I F I E R S 8511. NO TUNE MICROWAVE LINEAR TRANSVERIER3
years ago.3 A good-quality linear potentiometer is A N . REPEATER. OSCAR
F f a SHF SYSTEMS m b e d bn.vr1.l.
mounted in a waterproof box on the elevation part of 2316PA I w h 18w w l 12401500 MHz $265 dsspad
2335 PA 10 l n 3 L v w t :240 1300 MHz 1315 wcunpb.l KK,B d,. J,. oww WAWLC
the antenna. The potentiometer shah has a 112-pound 3318 PA 1w n 20l W l 900930
3335 PA 10 m 4 L k out 900930
MHz 1265
MHz I L 7 0 A,.~~U.~L,, brn .-~-hd
lead fishing weight attached; this keeps the shaft ver- 23LNA p w m p 0 7dB N F 1296
3 X N A p w p 0 9JB N F 932
MHz 1 9 0
MHz 1 9 0 1269 ( m 2Y)4 3456 MHz
tical no matter what elevation angle occurs. Feed the mlmorb8p Lnns U t m 8 m I m e u p
April 1989 87
Partial List of Modes & Features
4 Morsc Codc (CW) 4 Speed Readout
4 Regular Baudot R l T Y 4 4 TTY Alphabets
4 Variablc Speed Baudot 4 Ten Memorics
4 Bit Invcncd Baudot 4 Automatic Tuning
4 ASCII Low S p e d 4 Vidco Squelch
4 ASCII lligh Speed 4 Audio Squelch
4 ASCII Variable S p e d 4 Split Screen ARQ
4 Sitor Mode A (ARQ) 4 Self Diagnostics
4 Sitor Mode B (EC) 4 Screen Print
4 Autor 4 Screen Saver
4 ARQ 2C4 chan. (TDM) 4 Input Gain Control
4 VFI' Modcs O M ) 4 MSI. UOS, ATC
4 Russian 3rd Shift Cyrillic4 User Program-
4 1:acsimilc (FAX) AM mable Sel Cals
4 Facsimile F A X ) FM 4 Serial & Parallcl
If you arc monitoring only voice shortwave stations, you arc missing half thc
action! Thousands of shortwave stations transmit in non-voice modcs such as :
4 Packet AX.25
~ ~ ~ ~
Printer Pons
! + Remote
t ~ Tcrminal
Operation
~ ~ c
Morse codc, various forms of radiotclctypc (RTTY) and facsimile (FAX). The + Diversity + Direct Entry of
Universal M-7000 will pcrmityou toeasily intcrccptanddccodc ~ ~ C lransmis-
S C 4 Dual Mctcring Baud & Shift
sions. Simplc conncctions to your shortwavc rcccivcr and vidco monitor will 4 I-owTonc& lligh Tone 4Auto-Stan
enablc you to monitor with thc most sophisticated survcillancc decoder ~ $ ~ ~ ~ ~ , . & $ ~
available. No computer is rcquircd. &the world of shortwavc cxcitcmcnt you + %tion: video~ i o f ~ a c s i~m i l c r ~A x ) l ~
have bccn missing. Rcquircs 115 or 230 VAC. Six month limited warranty. +Option: Rack Mounting Brackets (For 1 9 )
KENWOD spec~allzedtroubleshoot~nqlechntques
YAGI OPTIMIZER
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88 a April 1989
THE CONVOLUTED
LOOP
Here's a small,
very efficient,
low-band radiator
A
small loop antenna can provide excellent per-
formance for both transmitting and receiving.' M A X GAIN
The convoluted loop in fig. 1 is a single con- AT LOWANGLES
Theory 0
1
Table 1 lists the equations developed to define the
convoluted loop. The computer program at the end
of this article is based on these equations.
The efficiency of any antenna is defined as the ratio
of the radiated power to input power. This is con-
veniently expressed as the radiation resistance divided
by the sum of the radiation resistance plus loss resis-
tance. Because small antennas are characterized by
low radiation resistance, efficiency is a major concern.
On the other hand, large antennas have a high radia-
tion resistance compared with the loss in the antenna
conductor.
The radiation resistance for a small loop antenna is
dependent on the area enclosed by the conductor and
the operating f r e q u e n ~ y . ~The
, ~ ,antenna
~ will become
self-resonant if the conductor length is greater than
1I 3 wavelength due to distributed capacity. This sets
the maximum length of the conductor. The equations Physical layout of the "convoluted loop."
April 1989 89
Satellite TV is still full of the wonderment that
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BEAM ANTENNA HANDBOOK
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BEAM Antenna drsign Covprs HF and Yagls and 10 18 and 24 MHz WARC bands
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90 April 1989
tance results from the loss in the conductor; a small
component is due to ground loss, which will be dis-
0 cussed later. Therefore, a low-loss conductor is
required. To minimize loss, use copper pipe. The equa-
-1 tion for loss resistance includes skin effect
loss for copper pipe, which varies as a function of fre-
s -2 quency.
2 Although efficiency is a major design parameter for
L
0 any antenna, the Q of the antenna must be consid-
$ -3
ered for small high-efficiency ones. Large diameter
0
b.
conductors allow the Q to be sufficiently high to affect
-4
the instantaneous bandwidth in such a way that it may
be too narrow for the type of modulation desired. High
-5 Q is also an indication of very high voltages across the
tuning capacitor. Small conductors, which have higher
-6 loss resistance, will produce lower Q and lower effi-
I 2 3 4 5
FREQUENCY ( M H z )
ciency. For this reason it's necessary to make tradeoffs
in the design of the convoluted loop for a particular
Effect of conductor diameter on efficiency - total conduc- application. For most applications in the HF frequency
tor length is 80 feet. range, 3/4-inch copper pipe (9110 inch outside
diameter) is a reasonable compromise. Figure 2
presents efficiency versus frequency for various size
conductors, indicating only small improvements for
Equations for a Convoluted Loop Antenna. larger, more expensive, copper pipe.
Efficiency of an antenna t= +
RR/(RR R,) The equations for inductance and distributed capac-
Radiation resistance-ohms R, = 3.38 x 10-a(FZA)2
ity are based on data derived from convoluted loops
Total area-square feet A=4(S/8)'
Loss resistance-ohms R,=9.96 x ~ o - ~ ~ F ( s / D )
of varied sizes at various frequencies - primarily
Q Q = X L / ( 2 ( R R +RL)) between 1.8 and 10 MHz. The tests were performed
Bandwidth-MHz BW = F/Q on the latest version of MININEC3.5They have been
Inductance- henries L = 1.13(5.6624 x 10-7 derived for 314-inch copper pipe and square loops
x S0.6984)
only. Once the inductance and distributed capacity
Inductive reactance-ohms X = 2rFL
Distributed capacity-pF CS = 1.1374 x lo-"
have been calculated, the convoluted loop is consid-
+4.684 x 10-13 x S ered a simple resonant circuit. This lets you calculate
Tuning capacitor- pF CT = 1/(2?rF)'L) - CS the inductive reactance and the tuning capacitor value.
Voltage across tuning Multiply the equation for inductance by a value of 1.I3
capacitor VC = .\/POX to cover the effect of the matching network. The
Plate spacing for CT-inches SC = VC/75000
F-operating frequency-MHz
matching network is an autotransformer type of
D-conductor diameter-inches match, having both series and mutual inductance.
S -conductor length-feet You can calculate the Q of the antenna once you
know the inductance and resistance. Divide the stan-
dard equation for Q by 2 to include the effect of the
reflect the fact that a single conductor forms two loops transmitter/receiver loading; it's the system Q that is
for this antenna. When a reflecting screen is placed important, not the Q of the antenna as a stand-alone
under the loop, the effective area of the loop doubles component. The calculated bandwidth of the antenna
because of the image concept. In the equation for is the f3 dB bandwidth, assuming a perfect match
area, the multiplier of 4 covers both the dual loops and (VSWR = 1.0:l) at resonance. At the 3-dB frequen-
their reflected images. For a square loop design, each cies the calculated VSWR is 5.1:1 and the resistance
side of one loop is the total conductor length divided and reactance values are equal, resulting in a 45-
by 8. The maximum area is achieved for a given con- degree phase shift of the equivalent resonant circuit.
ductor length when the conductor is circular. The area The voltage across the tuning capacitor is a func-
is reduced to 87 percent for an octagon and to 78 per- tion of the transmitter power and the antenna imped-
cent for a square, when compared with a circle. For ance. Despite the fact that the voltage can be very
mechanical simplicity, a square loop with a reflecting high, it's not excessive for available tuning capacitors.
screen is used for the example in this article. Although vacuum variables are preferred, the spac-
The small loop area results in low values of radia- ing for an air variable is calculated based on 75,000
tion resistance. The primary component of loss resis- volts per inch spacing.
April 1989 a 91
aqi 40 auo 40 qi6ual aqi s! Japaa) 43123 .uo!ielnsu! lo) aqi aieioJ 01 lolow laddais e 6u!sn Aq s!qi o a ' q i p ! ~
adei le3!~i3a(a 3pseld y3elq q i ! p~ a d d e l ~6u!qni lad -pueq snoaueiueisu! Moueu si! 40 asne~aqA3uanb
-do:, q3u!-~/ wo~4sJapaa4 aqi ayeyy -paa4xeo3 wqo -aJj 6u!ie~adoaqi 01pauni aq isnw i ! 'a6uel A3uanb
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pa~ueleqe se do01 painloAuo3 aqi paaj isnw noA -~oi3npuo:, do01 aqi 01 uog3auuo:, ap!Aold
-wnw!xew 01 wnw!u!w w o ~Alpede:, ) 40 an(eA aqi he^ pue laqia6oi saield aqi puoq 01 sdelis asn ue3 noA
01 pa~!nba~ ale suo!in(oAal yeqs snolawnu asneaaq u a q l 'le!laiew pleoq 3d pap!s-alqnop l o laddo3 q i ! ~
'alqe!leA w n n 3 e ~e lo4 o!iel let36 aql a 3 n p a ~.Alddns way1 6u!3eldal pue saield wnu!wnle Ile 6u!Aowal Aq
~ a ~ eopue d siuauodwo~Ma4 e 40 uo!i!ppe aldw!s aqi A~)ua!3!gaps!qi D~JJO:, ue3 noA 'alqeladou! do01 aqi
q i ! 'J~aA!Jp leap! ue sayew ieqi ( 1 0 0 'ou~ ~ ued) i!n3 ayew l l ! ssol
~ 46!q a q l -iu!o! le3!ueq3aw q3ea i e a3uei
- ~ ! 3palel6aiu! ue a3npo~dosle Aaql ' 100-WE s! Jaq -s!saJ q6!q u! si(nsaJs!qi :Aluo a~nssa~d le3!ueq3aw Aq
-wnu ued a q l .eue!pul 'uoia3u!~du! 6u!lni3e4nue~ a q d u! plaq pue palleisu! saield seq l01!3ede3 alqe!JeA
isJnH Aq pa~ni3e4nuews! ~ o i o ws ! q l . ~ a z ~ n ppeaqa~ le3!dAl a q l 'lol!3ede3 aqi 40 sa3a!d Ile azelq l o plaM
lea6 L:OS llews e sapnpu! pue al6ue dais aal6ap-q~e j s n u noA i n 0 .si3eiuo3 ad!^ 01 anp ssol ou s! alaqi
seq ~ a ~ Iai!un ~ da q l 'lo1!3ede3 alqe!JeA aqi 40 yeqs 'JO~OJ aqi q6nolqi 6u!~ol4siuaJJn3 -JU q i ! sapas ~
u! waqi 6u!3eld 'loi!3ede3 Alyaunq l o Joieis i!lds alq
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'iq6!aq euuaiue a q i a3!wi 01 lenba
-uo3 noA 41 -(aldwexalo4 'alqe!~e~-wnn3e~ e) l01!3ed€?3
s l e ! p e l o ~q~i ! ZHW
~ p i e apew sew w a l l e d y e 6 wnw!xew
40 al6ue qinw!ze ue i e do01 paln~onuo:,40 ulaiied uo!iena(g
6u!uni ssol-mol e asn .a3ueis!sa~iu!o! ai!w!u!w 01
euuaiue aqi u! iu!o! q3ea azeJq l o Japlos i s n u noA
1 I .~oi!3ede36u!uni aqi 40 uopelleisu!
lo4 wouoq aqi re ad!d 40 uo!i3as i ~ o q se aAowaH
-ad!d 40 uo!i3as uoqs e q i ! pau!o! ~ sMoqla aal6ap
- c j ~OM^ 40 apew ale q 3 ! q ~'spuaq aa~6ap-06aqi
uaaMiaq q3u! Z/ Molle 01do1 aqi i e qi6ualoi sa3a!d
lauoqs aqi in3 -8Aq pap!A!p qi6ual ~oi3npuo3leioi aqi
01 lenba ale ad!d 40 sa3a!d ~a6uolaqi 40 qi6ual a q l
.Ai!p!6!~leD!ueqDaw pue uo!ielnsu! poo6 ap!Aold woi
-ioq pue do1aqi i e laiua3 aqi u! ~!iseld leal3 40 sa3a!d
.sMoqla laddo3 ql!M way1 U!O! pue ad!d laddo3 40
suo!iDas in3 A l d w ! ~.pl!nq 01 Asea s! euuaiue a q l
'E33NINIW Aq Paleln3
-1e3eiep U O J ~ pue 'do01 painlo~uo3aqi 40 silnsal lei
-uaw!ladxa uo paseq suo!snl3uo3 awos uMelp aA,l
April 1989 93
Example of the prompts encountered when running the pro-
gram for determining the parameters of a convoluted loop.
I FREOUENCY ( M H z )
I
Antenna performance for various total conductor lengths. Tuning capacitor values are indicated in pF at various points on each
conductor's line.
sandy soil in Florida. The patterns are based on fig. 10 is a 114-wavelength vertical with 120
antennas with perfect conductors. Actual patterns can 1/Cwavelength radials, given for comparison.
be determined by reducing the pattern gain by the effi- It's important to note (see fig. 9) that hemispherical
ciency calculated for a particular size antenna. Figures coverage is achieved, allowing the antenna to be used
6, 7, and 8 are presented for comparison based on a for both local and long range communications. As a
dipole over the same ground. Figure 9 is a convoluted result of its magnetic properties, a loop antenna
loop at 7 MHz over 120 116wavelength radials, and produces significant radiated energy at low elevation
94 April 1989
ICOM TIN-TCC
tlu k?+A
IC-32AT
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HI-PERFORMANCE DIPOLES lect~o~i
is taken from the best subm~ss~ons and represents a w~de
"ONLINE" U.S. CALL DIRECTORY .- - L- J- , .?- , + .,. . "on -
ranqe of sublects - from quads and loops to general lntormatlon
- th~sbook has 111 1985 1st Edillon
Hamcall service gives you all hams via I IAR-AC Sonbound $9.95
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=-
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M l n e r a l . V i r g i n i a 23117
m.lsh#np range l v n l l
' 9 band. r l t h wid. - GREENVILLE, NH 03048
SPiSE f m s.lnlcgu. ol 10 dtpo1.s sloperl mnd sP.E. s.rlnp, unlqu. .nWnn.S
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,#7L\
~ ~
",~,2<Vm,<C
r <~, e t~t # d~ r t' < > : X C . 3 M A 4 VtA*,,
antenna also confirm the accuracy of the equations.
,
,Y' , ..*,, " , ~ > r n * l >
R,
llrl 8 " . R,
1
m m
G I l t l llU< I OfllUill A sample run of the computer program is shown in
llii F .ll" ,,.1llli
,*I c,e. ,".,",,#I ,,n>,,,<.,?,b ,,,8, ,,N<%t W . 3 " fig. 11, to assist those who want t o develop a con-
17, 0". 6 , . ,:,".,,3, !t,
IRI, .,,,,,
16, ,I1,-,RYI-! I, ,!T l N l 1 0 1 , 1 1 0 "
i,I*",il
l , ..'I,,111, .,.,.m.,.., IMn,,, !!L,l R,A< !.%V<t
voluted loop antenna for a particular application.
.
I%,
n u n.
:I,,
x8
1 .I,. 1 1 ,
. :8 MR H V u ob 71. nuTtNNr Figure 12 presents a set of data run from the program.
2x1 HW. I'llmnl t l
.
:I\IIV, 0 8 " IHW 1 I b t 1
H&WOWtClOt 01 ! H I A N I I N I I P I W MI':
1IINLLWlllT" I1I k * ,
The convoluted loop is a result of efforts to design
2-> < \ .T > 1 8 4 + 0 + . l W % \& <'5 O t < 7 0 8 R U I C t , < & V A < t 7 b Or 7*<! & N l t V h &
.xi1 i s . 8 <;'1 111t1'1'11%11SY11111.1 8 (1. Y t I J I I I U I I > IIINl(il, i ir. a high-performance antenna requiring very little space.
>,, ,
rn "<
,-.,,* .,
1 ,,x,< , , a , .
.,I,~T,
#<,\< 8
-
.,,, , \<,,r*8,l
12,
A, ",V., ?", T,,b,W!, < A"*<4,,1" I hope others will modify this design (perhaps by put-
"* ,,, . i, ,,I,'. "<A,, \,.*<,h,., c,, I,,,,,.+<; <'aPA<,7<," ,w ,M<,<,5 ting a "twist" t o the conductor) and achieve an
,,,I .,,,#,, .,,,,,
5, $8"
,,in
..>..I,
.
<:PA&
,,*'1%
11r1I1
,+a, .,,V,k,, % : . P A < , r , > "
C A P "",'i\C.,
.lllll,*.
INr, M l i 5 i HI
F j A ' l '.+.I(
C?
'"8
,,#
.....'.
W<b#<
Tmnsacrions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. AP-34, no. 1. January 1 s .
..."
TblC
A,", * 3. R.W.P. King, "The Loop Antenna for Transmission and Reception,"
&U P.1*, T l t l ,1111.~<. il*CI *YlL,Tt.. i l l ,*I, t,rw I, * 65I'
Antenna Theory, Part 1, McGraw-Hill, 1969. Chapter 11.
U(i ,."I*, ,."IN7
a,,, I.",,. .&
,, T<> ."% A ,,,8L*"CVT rQ,r,<rlw<* ,. * 4. J.H. Dunlavy, "Wide Range Tunable Transmitting Antenna." U.S.
Ut, ,I - ,NI,I', I
a,,, I,,,. % ,,',hm,,,%fr,rm Patent 3 588 905, June 28, 1971.
WI IbVUT , P I i I I . TI1, N I W llltOilENi " I* MU: i
5. D.V. Campbell, "Personal Computer Applications of MININEC." IEEE
1a1 I . V ~ , >n
.,n Prn,.., ,.",,., *a,,, ,,I < .4*P,<., q"f <,,uo!,cT,,n ,,.4,.7*4 ' 5 $4 Antennas Propagation, Society Newsletter, vol. 26. 1984, pages 5-9.
I.,,, r, . 11II,,,T> I
m , r ,~. . i ~ ~ i ~ ~ i ~ ~ r ~ ~ ~ i 6. R.T. Hart, Small High Efficiency Antennas Alias the Loop. Eagle Press.
r ~ mCNFIII 5 P I I I l i '*I Y I W PlPl L l N C I H I* H t ' \
1985. (Available from W5QJR Antenna Products.)
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fl 130
98 April 1989
:N-A WOMEN WHO SOUGHT EMPLOYMENT WlTH THE VOICE OF AMERICA (VOA), THE UNITED
STATES INFORMATIONAGENCY (USIA), OR THE UNITED STATES INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATION
AGENCY (USICA) BETWEEN OCTOBER 8,1974 AND NOVEMBER 16,1984.
YOU MAY BE A VICTIM OF SEX DISCRIMINATION
ENTITLED TO A MONETARY AWARD AND A POSITION WITH THE AGENCY.
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
JOBS COVERED
:3pedliilly, the Court has found that the Agency has discriminatedagainst women in hiring in the folbwing jobs:
WHO IS INCLUDED
All women whoswght enpbymentwlh the Agency lnanyof the jobs listedabwe between October 8.1974and November 16.1984 and were n u hlredmay be eligble f a reliel. Also lnduded
arethasewomenwhowerediscouragedfmmapplyingfatheseposltionsduring that time period. Eventhosewomensubsequentlyhiredby the Agency in somecapadty may beentitledto par-
ticbale Inthe remedialphase of thiscase.
Womenwho sought enpbymentwkhthe Agency as Foreign Sewim Officers or Faeign Service lnformationOllbrs may be eligiblefordinerent kinds d relief depending rpon the dale of a p
pllcatlon and whether they sougM ewbyment at the entry level or mid-level. Women who sough enpbyment with the Agency as level Foreign Senrlm Officefa or Forelgn Service
lnforrnatbnMficars In theyears 1974-1977must use the procedureoutlinedbelow. Womn whowugMempbymentwithlhe Agency as-Foreign S e ~ I m M f i i s o Foreign
r Sewica
lnformationOfficersIn the years 1974-1984 must also use the procedureoutlined bebw. However,women whosoughtenpbyment with the Agency asLnfLy bvel ForelgnService Officers a
Foreign Service lnformatbnOlllmn Inthe years 1978-1984cannotusethe procedure outlined below, sin- thecourt has ordered analernativefamd relielfor them and selecledwomen In
this group wlll be nolUled Individuallyas tothelr rights.
PROCESSING OF CLAIMS
The process for handlingclaims has mt beenfinally decided. Thus far, the Cwrl has orderedthat responding dass membersdemonstradethelrpotentlal enthlemenf to reliel at an lndlvldual
hearingto be scheduled at a later date. However. the Court has resewedthe right to reconsider this promdure in Me event the number of claimsfiiedm a h t h k approach unmanageable.
Shouldindividual hearings be used, you will b e t o the date and timeof your hearing. Moreover. you will beentitledto legal representationby counself a thephlntifldass or hk
designeeat nocost to yw. Legalcounselwill discuss your dalmwith youprbrto ywr hearing, help you prepareywr case and represen(you at your hearing. You m y , of w u m . retain your
own attorney to represent you. U you w desire.
At the Individualhearing, youwlllbe asked todemonstrate your potential entitlement to relief by shaving that y w applied for one a more ofthe covered posltbns durlngthe periodOclober8.
1974and Nwember 16.1984and that y w were rejected. or that you weredkwuragdhmapplylng. Evidence may be requiredin thef~rmoftestlmony~d~~~ments, orboth. Onm y w have
demnstratedthesefacls. USlA Is requiredtoprove. by dear and convincing evidence, thal you were n d hlred (for position f a which you applied) f a alegitimale. norbdiscrlmlnaloryma-
son.suchasfaiIuretopo~se8~ requisite qualificatbns.Should USlA makesuchashowing.you wouid then beentitledo demonstratethatthe&encyYsreason ismerelyawverforeexdlscrirnk
nation or unworthy dbellel.
Foliowing the hearing, h e PresidingOflic'al will decide whether you are entitledto relief and. I( so, what relief Is appropriate. You may be entitled to wages and benefitsyou wouldhave earned
U you had been hired (backpay) from the dated ywr rejection until the date relief Is approved. Under the law. back pay is offset by earnings you may have had during the period. In addition.
you may befoundtobeentitledlofrontpay (that k, wrrpensatbn Intothefuture untilan appropriate poslion la aflordedyou). Similarly, you m y be found tobeentitledto priority conslderatbn
for enpbymentwith the Agency. ff hlred. you may further be entitledto retroactivesenbrity with the associated bendits and thevalueof any promotbnsyou would lkely have had ll you had
not suffereddlscriminatbn.
April 1989 99
MER's
NOTEBOOK
Tom Mc Mullan, WISL
Voltage-variable
capacitors "impurity" atoms that were mixed in
I'm planning a column for the near with the basic silicon or germanium
future about oscillators and what when the alloy was formed.
P-TYPE N-TYPE
makes them work. For now I'd like to MATERIAL MATERIAL Over on the N-side of the barrier,
-En-
talk about one of the components ++++++ ------ some impurity atoms have an extra
++++++ ------
used in many oscillators - a diode that ++++++ ------ electron compared with those sur-
acts like a variable capacitor. I thought rounding it - hence the "surplus" of
a review of how this diode works electrons. When enough surplus elec-
P-type semiconductor material and N-type
would be useful. You may think that trons from the N-side "cross over the
semiconductor material are placed together
because it doesn't look like a capaci- to form a diode. The material can be either fence" to fill the vacancies on the
tor, it can't act like one. But some vari- germanium or silicon. P-side, the semiconductor material
able capacitors can have an appear- close t o the fence on both sides has
ance completely different from those are attached to each end to allow cur- neither surplus tenants nor vacancies.
of earlier days and still pass the test. rent flow from external sources and (This kind of material is called type "I,"
For high-power use (in the power- devices. The barrier or junction for intrinsic, which is another way of
amplifier stages of a transmitter or in between the two materials is very thin, saying it reverted to its original num-
an antenna-matching network, for and a small voltage (0.6 volts for sili- ber of electrons before the impurities
example) the mechanically variable cone devices) overcomes its resistance were mixed in.)
capacitor with its tolerance of high vol- and permits current flow. Germanium Take a look at fig. 2 and see what
tages is still the only way t o go. For devices require less voltage (typically you have now. There are two types of
receiver R F amplifier stages or 0.2 volts) to allow conduction.
frequency-synthesized variable- It's necessary to apply forward bias
frequency oscillators (VFOs), a little to the diode to obtain conduction BARRIER
speck of plastic and metal will perform when you want t o rectify some AC, REGION
TIMES
MONITORING
) i j r ~ r/ ~ ! I / / I ~ ~ I ~ / / I /.sortwt>.
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(603) 878-1441 8-5EST
102 April 1989 H 155
equates to a change in capacitance, it that controls the voltage applied to the
is a variable capacitor. From here it diode, and R2 is a current-limiting
should be easy to control the device - in case something should
capacitance, as shown in fig. 4. short. C1 is a large-valuebypass capa-
To demonstrate the principle, con- citor, which completes the RF path in
nect a potentiometer across a power the tuned circuit and isolates the meter
supply (a 9-volt battery in this case). from the circuit.
You'll need a means of detecting the I placed the dip meter as far away
capacitance change in order to get as 1 could from the tuned circuit while
Whet3 a voltage is applied to the diode. more
proof that it works. My ancient still getting an indication on its meter.
electrons are available to fill more vacan-
cies, causing the barrier region to grow.
capacitance meter doesn't do well with This prevents overloading the circuit
This effectively changes the amount of in- values below 50 pF, so I came up with with RF, which could cause CR1 to act
sulai:ion (dielectric) between the two con- the scheme in fig. 5. L1 and CR1 com- like a regular diode instead of a
ductors. prise a tuned circuit that you check variable-capacitance diode. Then I
with a grid-dip meter. (My meter uses measured the voltage applied to the
a vacuum tube, so it's still a "grid" dip- diode and checked the frequency. I
Add some voltage and ... per. A transistor or FET dipper will changed the voltage and took another
When an external source of elec- work equally well). L1 is ten turns of frequency reading. Figure 6 is a graph
troris is connected to the junction no. 22 enameled wire close wound on of my results. The first diode I tested
(from a battery or power supply, for a 1/Cinch form, and CR1 is the diode was a prototype designed for use in
instance) the resulting pressure (also being tested. R1 is a variable resistor AM broadcast band circuits, marked
known as voltage) lets more electrons
cross the barrier and fill some vacan-
cie:;, as shown in fig. 3. To put it
another way, the crowd along the
fence is getting bigger. This is the I , DIP METER
1
If you don't have a capacitance meter capable of reading values down to 10 pF or less,
Can we control it? you can test the principle with this setup. Components are explained in the text.
Because this capacitor changes its
dielectric in response to applied vol-
tage, and since a change in dielectric
L
9 variable voltage applied to the diode will
I
I FREQUENCY. MHz
I
cause the barrier region, and thus the A plot of voltage versus frequency shows the results. A plot for a diode (IN9631not designed
capacitance, to change in response to the for use as a VVC [voltage-variable capacitor) is also shown. Its limited range is shown by
voltage. the "knee" at - 6 volts.
oacr~pnn WI
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e n g l m n d tnr u u wllh Ih.U.nr. Two mlms. Y l J ( 0 - wlde)
andY 18(l8-w16.) AIlbol'adconmI~cllon,M)u.ldm Eerylo
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.1 hlng. bmee. welh up mmllon Complel. lower UPS or STRIDSBERG ENGINEERING.CO.
el1 l r l p h t shlppebl*. Pm.amumb1.d 01111 tom. P O Box 7973 Shreve~orl.LA 71 107 lUSA
Phone 13181865-0523
Sa11.lacllon pu.rmnleed. Cell 1od.y and c h m l o Vlu.
M*lIerC.rd or m1.1 check or money d r .
mounting the unit on the inside of a car door. The OWlNT termlnal may be interfaced wlth
A 5-foot cable with mini-plugs and a stereo-to- most volce radlo transceivers. A jack and cable
mono converter 1s ~ncluded.A free stereo cable are provided. The radlo modem connects to the
is available if you order two units for use with a microphone and speaker jacks of the volce
oersonal stereo svstem. The cost n $29.95. radio. It also provtdes a digltal output for con-
trolling PTT clrcu~try,for sw~tchingInto transm~t
mode under control of the packet radlo protocol.
For more lnformat~oncontact OWlNT DATA.
lnc . 3455 Commerc~alAvenue. Northbrook.
Illinois 60062.
Circle a 0 7 on Reader Service Card.
New for remote
antenna switching
ComTek announces the new RCB-5 Remote
Control Box - a f~ve.pos~tion coaxial switch for
remote-antenna switching from one feedline.
The RCB-5's inside console control box
selects from one to flve antennas at once; the ACB-4 phased
weatherproof outside switchbox contains five array switchbox
high-poweredDPDT relays with gold-plated con- CornTek introduces the ACB-4 phased array
tacts. The RCB-5 can be used as a standard five- swltchbox wlth controller It allows galn and dlrec-
position remote control coaxial switchbox or to tlv~tyfrom a vertlcal array by dlv~dlngpower and
control stacked arrays. Optional wideband Toroi- phase among 2 or 4-element arrays You sup-
dal lmpedence Transformers (TIT2 or TIT-3) for ~ l the
v antennas and cables
50 to 100 ohms or 50 to 150 ohms are available The ACB-4 has two boxes The outs~deswitch-
for stacking two or three Yagis, respectively.All For further information contact Naval Elec- box, Installed near the antenna array, contalns
relays have 5 kW-rated gold-plated contacts. tronlcs. Inc.. 5417 Jetv~ewCircle. Tampa. Flor~da the 90-degree quadrature hybrld. 180-degree
VSWR is below 1.05:1 up to 144 MHz. The out- 33634. phase reversal transformer (both In toroldal
s~deswitchbox uses 18-gauge steel with a zin- Circle 1306 on Reader Service Card. form), and relay swltchlng matr~xFour feedllnes
cate coating, a gold-chromate rustproof finish. are attached to the antenna elements for a ' 4-
and is dip-painted black. The inslde console Square" array two are used for a 2-element
control box has a scratchproof LexanTMfront array Three-conductor control cable and feed
panel template. LEDs have diffusion covers. The llne run back to the shack Galn for the 4-square
switching knob has positive actlon with 15- 1s about 5 8 dB w~thFIB typically 15 to 25 dB
degree detent positions.
Printers communicate by depending on angle of arrlval Metal cablnets
The RCB-5 comes with 250 QSL cards, and packet radio are 18-gauge steel, wtth anti-rust zlncate and
is priced at $139.95 plus $12 shipplng and han- QWINT DATA. Inc. has announced a new gold cromate flnlsh. d ~ palnted
p black Relays
dling. (Add 10 percent outside the U.S.) TIT2 or packet radio modem option. It's packaged as use 5-k gold-plated contacts The lnslde console
TIT3 comes In a weatherproof box wtth SO-239 an Internal module with the QWINT termlnal. The control box has a scratcbproof LexanTMfront
IN and OUT for $19.95. RDM1200 lets you send and receive written mes- panel template The beam dtrect~onknob has
For further information contact ComTek, PO sages over radio Ilnks. posltlve cllck poslt~onsand no end stop, for con-
Box 202. Hopkinton, Massachusetts 01748. tlnuous turnlng In any dlrectlon The ACB-4
Circle 1305 on Reader Service Card. comes w~thcomplete lnstructlons for lnstalllng
ground-mounted vert~cals,ground-plane type
vertlcals, or half-wavevertlcals wlth the unlt The
prlce IS $295 plus $12 shlpplng and handllng
(Add 10 percent outs~dethe US.). Contact Com-
Tek, PO Box 202, Hopklnton, Massachusetts
01748
Compact Amplified Speaker Circle 1309 on Reader Service, Card.
Naval Electronlcs. Inc. has Introduced the
HTS-1 Amplified Speaker w~thfeatures for use
with handheld radios. The H E - 1 is compact.
with a 3.5-lnch speaker and 10-dB internal -
amolifier.
~ 9
GP21X Ginpole Kit
The HTS-1 is powered from internal batteries. Characters are sent and received in the form IIX Equ~pment.Lid. offersthe new GP21X Gin-
or any external voltage from 6 to 15 Vdc through of audio frequency tones. To provide error-free pole Klt for stamped open leg-type towers.
a DC jack. It hasa built-in NiCd battery charger messages over radio. the modem includes a Clamps adjust to fit the tapering tower sections
and an automatic shut-off that kills power to the h~gh-speed7.37-MHz microprocessor, with these and can be spaced any dlstance apart. A stan.
amplifier when there's no audio input (receiver features: dard IIX pulley 1s furnished; the pipe IS customer
squelched). When switched off manually, the Synchronous HDLC protocol supplied. The price of the kit is $199.50. Immedi-
amplifier 1s bypassed and the input jack has a Automatic error detection and correctton ate shipping IS ava~lable.
dlrect connection to the speaker. Multi-user networks For more Information contact IIX Equipment.
The H E - 1 has a ttlted base for desk mount- Repeater capability Ltd.. PO Box 9, Oak Lawn. Illinots.
ing. A special mobile harness is available for Compatibil~tywlth HF, VHF, and UHF Circle 1308 on Reader Service Card.
Last-minute forecast
to null it out using a directional tradeoff The first and last weeks of the
between signal and noise strengths. month should be times of high solar
Antennas with a low take-off angle flux, resulting in higher MUF than the
(TOA) at the operating frequency are rest of the month. There's also a prob-
best because this noise normally ability of solar flares, if the rise or fall
arrives at angles greater than 30 of flux is over ten units per day - an
degrees. April trait. The high MUFs will enhance
AS the front gets closer, the noise DX conditions to the southern coun-
level usually decreases until it's within tries. The openings may be transe-
a groundwave's distance (about 50 quatorial DX openings toward late
Spring thunderstorm miles). Now you'll hear loud individual evenings (2200local time), and during
noise discharges. A horizontally polarized geomagnetic-ionospheric disturbances
Received noise sometimes spoils the antenna is the best radiator to use to expected near the 5th through the 8th,
best DX openings. There are many lower the noise as much as possible. the 16th, and the 26th. The lower night
types of noise. The Russian wood- As the storm approaches, its sounds or daytime short-skip bands should be
pecker or the ham rig down the street become part of the "local noise." As best the second and third weeks dur-
are two examples of radio emitters, it moves away its noise decreases, ing times of lower solar flux, with its
which can cause interference. then increases again as the front lower signal absorption. MUFs will
Atmospheric, or thunderstorm, nqise reaches the one-hop distance point a come down nearer these bands and
is more common. Like the DX signal, day or so later. The directional low produce strong signals. During the dis-
these noises are often propagated by TOA antenna is helpful once again. turbed days (and particularly nights),
the ionosphere. Other noise may come Cold fronts usually travel about 40 signals may be weak and variable
from a local factory or a badly main- miles per hour, so it could take 15 to (QSB) but from interesting DX coun-
tained power line. Of all of these, 30 hours to reach one-hop distance - tries. This is also an April trait.
strong local atmospheric noise is averaging almost a day's frontal travel The perigee of the moon's orbit (for
perhaps the most disagreeable at this time before coming to (westerly) and moonbounce DX) is on the 5th, with
time of year. Here's how it happens. after leaving (easterly)your station. If the moon showing full phase on the
Spring storms occur in the Northern you watch the N weather news daily, 21st. There will be a short meteor
Hemisphere in March and April. Fronts you can track the storm and note how shower (the Lyrid) on April 20th to the
of warm and cold air generate the first its noise affects your operations. As 22nd, with a rate of five per hour -
major thunderstorms of the year, with the storm comes into the one-day- hardly much help for meteor scatter
fast-moving cold fronts producing par- before position, there's a correspond- DX. But a bigger shower (the Aquarid)
ticularly potent thunderstorms. As a ing increase in noise. When it passes starts before the end of April, peaks on
storm front approaches your area, over your ham shack the next day, it May 5th, and ends in mid-May. Its rate
you'll begin to hear a significant will cause intense static crashes. As should be 10 to 30 per hour.
increase in the noise level. You'll start you watch the storm approach the
day-after position, you'll notice some
Band-by-band summary
to notice this increase at a one-hop dis-
tance (about 600 to 1200 miles) when lingering noise before all's quiet again. Ten, 12, 15, and 17 meters, the day-
the storm front is west of your loca- It should remain quiet until the next only DX bands, will be open midday
tion. You can reduce the received storm comes your way. When looking to early evening almost every day to
noise a few dB by using a directional for rare DX, you can save time by southern areas of the world. The open-
antenna like a rotating Yagi or a tracking storms. This will help you pin- ings on the higher of these bands will
phased vertical array. Determine the point when and where the most be shorter (if they occur at all), closer
noise direction and work DX in the favorable listening conditions are likely to local noon, and will provide a pos-
opposite orientation, or do your best to occur. sibility of transequatorial openings.
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VHF MOBILE REPEATER, control ham stallon with HT. HAM TRADER YELLOW SHEETS. In our 27th year. Buy.
swap, sell ham radio gear. Published twice a month. Ads
wlmanual $75. Prec~slon E-200-C RF signal generator qu~cklyc~rculate-no long wait lor results. Send No 10 SASE
90kc-240mc $50. Heath ET-3100 semiconductor course with for sample copy. $13 for one year (24 issues). PO Box 2057,
lab tralner $80. Other ham test equipment. KGKZT, 2255 Alex-
ander. Los Osos. CA 93402. (805) 528-3181 Glen Ellyn, IL 6013&2057 or PO Box 15142. Dept HR. Sat-
tle, WA 981 15.
COMMUNICATIONS BATTERIES: Clone Packs! Ready-for-
FLEA
VHF-UHF-SHF. Large SASE. West Coast VHFer, POB 685.
use. ICOM: BP5 $44.95, BP-3s 2X cap. BP3 "Wall Chargea- Holbrook. AZ 86025.
ble" $43.95, BP-7S 2X BP7 (5W on1 ) or BP8S (BP8 + 50%
(Ease Chg-only) $67.95, YAESU { N B ~$22.95. FNBlOS CHASSIS &CABINET KITS. SASE. K31WK. 5120 Harmony
(10 + 60%) $49.95, SANTEC 142 $23.95. ' Repa~rInserts Grove Rd, Dgver, PA 17315
ICOM: BP2 $18.95. BP3 $16.95. P5 $24.95. BP7lBP8 $29.95.
KENWOOD PB21 $13 95. PB24 $21 95 PB25126 $25 95
MARKET
ANALOG AND RF CONSULTING for the San Francisco Bay
YAESU FNB414A $33 95 TEMPO S1 2.4.5.151450 $23 95 area. Commercial and military circuits and systems James
?DEN 300 $21 95 ' E P Porta-Pac 8 Chgr 12y15Anr $44 95 Long. Ph.D., N6YB (408) 733-8329.
Rebu.ldlng ' Send paca-free estlmate Antennas -
D ~ c a s l 8 N C$8 95 2mtr 518 TelIBNC $18 95 SASE Catalog RTTY JOURNAL-Now in our 36th year. Read about RTTY,
PA + 6010 $3 S n ~ pIn lorder VISA MIC + $2 (814) 623 7000
CUNARD Ass08IAfEs oept H RD 6. ox 104 Bedford AMTOR PACKET MSO'S RTTY CONTESTING RTTY DX
and mubh more. kear's dubscription to RTTY ~ O U R N A L
PA 15522 $10.00, foreign slightly higher. Order from: RTTY JOURNAL,
RATES N o n c o m m e r c i a l ads 10Qper word; .
9085 La Casila Ave Fountaln Vallev. CA 92708
commercial ads 60G per word both payable
DIGITAL AUTOMATIC DISPLAYS. Any Radio. Be speciflc RUBBER STAMPS: 3 lines $5.00 PPD. Send check or MO
in advance. No cash d i s c o u n t s or agency corn- GRAND SYSTEMS, POB 2171. Blame WA 98230 to G.L. Pierce. 5521 Birkdale Way. San Diego. CA 92117
missions allowed. SASE brings ~nformation.
FOR SALE: Amateur Radlo collect~on.Receivers, transmit-
HAMFESTS Sponsored by n o n - p r o f i t or- ters, tubes, magazines, books. Misc. SASE for list. K4UJZ. ELECTRON TUBES: Receiving, transmitting, microwave. . all
g a n i z a t i o n s receive one f r e e Flea Market ad 608 West Thompson Lane. Murfreesboro. TN 37129. (615) t pes avallable. Large stock. Next day delivery, most cases.
( s u b j e c t to our e d i t i n g ) on a space available
893-5344. JAILY
(21
ELECTRONICS. PO Box 5029, Compton, CA 90224.
~,3) 774.1255
SELL ITT Mackay d~gitallysynlhes~zedcommun~cationsre- -
basis only. R e p e a t insertions o f h a r n f e s t ads celver model 3031A. Coverage 0.015-30 MHz, frequency "HAMLOG" COMPUTER PROGRAM. Full features. 17 mod-
pay t h e non-commercial r a t e . selection within 5 Hz. Operated for less than 200 hours. Price ules. Auto-lo s 7 band WASIDXCC. Apple $19 95. IBM,
$2800 or highest bid plus shipment. Weighs 19 Ibs. Contact CPIM. KAYPWci, ;andy, C128 $24.95. HR-KAIAWH, POB
COPY No special layout or arrangements John Ekwall, Box 6014, S-60006. Norrkoplng, Sweden. 2015, Peabody, MA 01960.
available. Material should be t y p e w r i t t e n or
ENGINEER WANTED. With Ham experience to develop Ham WANTED: ARC4 and SCR-274 equipment, parts and acces-
clearly printed (not all capitals) and must in- products. Excitln proposition for the right person Box 498. sories, any condition. Ken, WBgOZR, 362 Echo Valley, Kinne-
clude full name and a d d r e s s . We reserve the Greenville, NH 08048. Ion. NJ 07405. (201) 492-9319.
right to reject unsuitable copy. Ham Radio can- MANY THANKS and Happy New Year to those who have WANTED: Ham equipment and other property. The Radio
not check each a d v e r t i s e r and thus cannot be helped me in acquiring old bu s Still looking WB4EDB. Club of Junior H ~ g h
School 22 NYC, Inc IS a nonprofit organi-
Smiley White. PO Box 5150. ~ r e j e r i c k s b u rVA
~ . 22403. (703) zation, ranted 501(C) (3) status by the IRS, incorporated with
held responsible f o r claims made. Liability for 373-0996 Collect the goa?of using the theme of Ham Radio to further and en-
correctness o f material l i m i t e d t o corrected ad hance the education of young people. Your property dona-
RECEIVER LAFAYETTE HE 10 general coverage extra clean tion or financial support would be greatly appreciated and
in next available issue. $85 Swan FM-2X 2 meter mob.le $90 Regency HR-2A 2 me- acknowledged with a receipt for your tax deductible contri-
ter $85 K6KZT. 2255 Alexander. Los Osos. CA 93402 (805) bution. In Dayton meet the crew from 22 and relax at our flea
DEADLINE 15th of second preceding 528.3181 market tables, cAeck in on 144.30 simplex. Please write us
month. at: PO Box 1052, New York, NY 10002. Or call our round the
ANYONE INTERESTED in startlng a firefighters net on HF clock hotline: (516) 674-4072. Thank you!
SEND MATERIAL TO: Flea M a r k e t , Ham send ideas or contact KA4TLC, Rlcky Martin. Rt 1, Box 199J,
Radio, Greenville, N. H. 03048. Hope Mills, NC 28348. HALLICRAFTERS S-40 receiver (1946), fair condition, with
service manual. $40 plus shlp ing Include SASE. Nate Wil-
WANTED: We need Teklronlx plug In, type 1L10. IL20, 1L30. liams. W9GXR. 6915 Pralrle griv,, Middleton. WI 53562.
BEGINNER'S RADIO CLEARINGHOUSE. On a space avail- spectrum analys~sf w oscilloscope Tektronix type 547 and p h o
able basls, we are golng l o offer you. OUR SUBSCRIBER. tocopy technical manual plug In 1S2 Tek. Angel Alvarez, HAM PROGRAMS and other "shareware" for 1BMIcompat1-
free of charge a chance to find a home lor your used equip- EAINN, San Anton 18-8-A 26002 Logrono, Spain bles. Large SASE for catalog. JKBS, POE 50521. Indianapo-
ment w ~ t ha ndw Ham. Please send us a short descrlption of 11s. IN 46250-05221.
what you want to sell along w ~ t hprlce, name, address and UHF PARTS. GaAs Fets, mmics, chip caps, feedthrus, teflon
phone number. We'll run 11once In a special section of the pcb high 0 trimmers. Moonbounce quallty preamps. Elec- CUSTOM MADE EMBROIDERED PATCHES. Any size,
classifled ads under the head~ngof BEGINNER'S RADIO tron'ic sequencer boards. Send SASE for complete ~ l sor
t call shape, colors. Five patch minimum. Free sample, prices and
CLEARINGHOUSE Please llm~tyour ad to 20 words or less. (313) 752-4581 evenings. MICROWAVE COMPONENTS. PO
Box 1697. Taylor. MI 48180
.
orderlng information. HElN SPECIALTIES. Inc Dept 301.
4202 N. Drake. Chicago, IL 60618.
NYE VIKING MB-11-01 Antenna Tuner wISWRlWattmeter, COMMODORE-128 PROGRAM avallable to track the Ama- WANTED: Drake Llnear Amp Model MN4439- l000W (2000
$135. B&W 6-pos CS-6G coax swltch. $20 Duane Helse. - - Satellites
teur - - - - - Uses
- - - - Keoerlian
-- dala
- - suool~edbv NASA free PEP). 1 8-30 MHz Call Bruno Mollno. VEZFLB, 26 Rue Des
AAGEE. 16832 Whlrlwlnd. Ramona. CA92065 (619) Tracas up to 8 satellltes s ~ m , l t a n e o ~ s l ~ ~ ~ also
r o ~ sup
r~m Anclens. Gat~neau Quebec JET 3T2 (819) 561 3689
--
. . 789-3674 ports pr ntlng scneaules and predlct~onslor satellltes Use 11
NATIONAL Radio Manual and NCL-2000 factory parts Ilsts. to track MIR and la16 to the Cosmonacts SATRAK128 92% 50 RECONDITIONED TEST EQUIPMENT $1.25 lor catalog.
SASE. Max Fuchs, 11 Plymouth Lane. Swampscott. MA Includes sh~pplngOther ~nformat~on on thls or other programs Walter. 2697 Nlckel. San Pablo. CA 94806.
for the C t 2 8 requtres a busmess sue SASE Reld Brtstor
01907 WA4UPD PO Box 0773 Melbourne Flor~da32936-0773 SCHOLARSHIP. The Dayton Amateur Radio Association is
ELECTRONIC KITS 6 ASSEMBLIES.For our latest calalog now accepting appllcatlons for ~b1989 Scholarsh~pProgram.
send SASE (45 cents) to: A 8 A ENGINEERING. 2521 W WANT: 32S3 xmtr, 250TL and 304TL tubes KF6WM. 45300 The program IS open to any licensed Amateur graduating from
Royal, King C~ty.CA 93930 hlgh school In 1989. For information and application forms
LaPalma. #K. Anahelm. CA 92801 -- write Scholarsh~pCommittee. 317 Ernst Avenue. Dayton. OH
DXERS-CUSTOMIZED PRINTOUT of antenna headings cal- 45405
culated for your location. List includes over 650 worldw~delo-
cations. Send LaULong cwrdlnates, name, callsign. check for
$12.95 U.S. Brian Henderson, VE6ZS. 23 Deermoss PI SE, COMING EVENTS
Calgary. Alberta. Canada T2J 6P5. (403) 278-2084.
WANTED: Operationlservice manuals for Galaxy V transceiv-
Activities- "Places to go . . ."
SPECIAL REQUEST TO ALL AMATEUR RADIO PUBLICI-
er. Joe Williams, KJGOF. 38665 1l t h Street E.. #2. Palmdale. TY COORDINATORS: PLEASE INDICATE IN YOUR AN-
CA 93550. (805) 94751641 eves. NOUNCEMENTS WHETHER OR NOT YOUR HAMFEST
LOCATION. CLASSES. EXAMS. MEETINGS, FLEA MAR-
call letters (including MARS) with order. David A. Rice, HANDICAPPED NOVICE needs HF equipment donated- KETS, ETC. ARE WHEELCHAIR ACCESSIBLE THIS INFOR-
KCZHO. 144 N. Pun Corners Rd. New Paltz. NY 12561. anything please. KA3OUE. (412) 531-7443 anytlme. MATION 'WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED BY OUR
BROTHERISISTER HAMS WITH LIMITED PHYSICAL ABIL-
ITY
I I
CULVER CITY, CA 90230
213-390-8003 AMATEUR ELECTRONIC SUPPLY
800-882-1343 Trades 621 COMMONWEALTH AVE.
Habla Espanol ORLANDO, FL 32803
305-894-3238 Massachusetts
Fla. Wats: 1 (800) 432-9424
Outside Fla: 1 (800) 327-1917
Colorado Hours M-F 9-5:30, Sat. 9-3 TEL-COM, INC.
675 GREAT ROAD, RTE. 119
ALLIED APPLIANCE & RADIO LITTLETON, MA 01460
4253 SOUTH BROADWAY 508-486-3400
ENGLEWOOD, CO 80110
(303) 761-7305
Hawaii 508-486-3040
The Ham Store of New England
Rocky Mts AmateurlShortwave HONOLULU ELECTRONICS You Can Rely On.
Specialists, Ten-Tec, Yaesu. JRC- 819 KEEAUMOKU STREET
NRD, Sony , MFJ, KLM, and other HONOLULU, HI 96814
fine gear. New and used. VisalMC. (808) 949-5564
Antennas, books, discount prices too! Kenwood, ICOM, Yaesu, Hy-Gain,
Cushcraft, AEA, KLM, Tri-Ex Towers,
COLORADO COMM CENTER Fluke, Belden, Astron, etc. Missouri
525 EAST 70th AVE.
SUITE ONE WEST MISSOURI RADIO CENTER
DENVER, CO 80229
(303) 288-7377
Idaho
- -
102 NW BUSINESS PARK LANE
KANSAS CITY. MO 64150
(800) 227-7373 ROSS DISTRIBUTING COMPANY (800) 821-7323'
Stocking all major lines 78 SOUTH STATE STREET Missouri: (816) 741-8118
Kenwood Yaesu, Encomm, ICOM ICOM, Kenwood, Yaesu
P.O. BOX 234 Same day service, low prices.
PRESTON, ID 83263
(208) 852-0830
Connecticut M 9-2; T-F 9-6; s 9-2
Stock All Major Brands
HATRY ELECTRONICS Over 7000 Ham Related Items on
500 LEDYARD ST. (SOUTH)
HARTFORD, CT 06114
Hand Nevada
203-527-1881
Call today. Friendly one-stop shopping AMATEUR ELECTRONIC SUPPLY
at prices you can afford. lllinois 1072 N. RANCHO DRIVE
LAS VEGAS, NV 89106
ERICKSON COMMUNICATIONS, INC. 702-647-3114
5456 N. MILWAUKEE AVE. Dale Porray "Squeak," AD7K
Delaware CHICAGO, IL 60630 Outside Nev: 1 (800) 634-6227
AMATEUR 8 ADVANCED 312-631-5181 Hours M-F 9-5:30, Sat. 9-3
COMMUNICATIONS Hours: 9:30-5:30 Mon, Tu, Wed & Fri;
3208 CONCORD PIKE 9:30-8:00 Thurs; 9:OO-3:00 Sat.
WILMINGTON, DE 19803
(302) 478-2757
Delaware's Friendliest Ham Store. Indiana New Hampshire
DELAWARE AMATEUR SUPPLY
71 MEADOW ROAD THE HAM STATION
NEW CASTLE, DE 19720 220 N. FULTON AVE. RIVENDELL ELECTRONICS
302-328-7728 EVANSVILLE, IN 47710 8 LONDONDERRY ROAD
800-441-7008 (800) 523-7731 DERRY, N. H. 03038
Icom, Ten-Tec, Microlog, Yaesu, (812) 422-0231 603-434-5371
Kenwood, Santec, KDK, and more. ICOM, Yeasu, Ten-Tec, Cushcraft, Hours M-S 10-5; THURS 10-7
One mile off 1-95, no sales tax. Hy-Gain, AEA & others. Closed SunlHolidays
DEBCO ELECTRONICS, INC. Covers both theory and its applications to practical
3931 EDWARDS RD. AMATEUR ELECTRONIC SUPPLY systems. Over 1000 ~llustrat~ons and nearly 600
CINCINNATI, OHIO 45209 4828 W. FOND DU LAC AVE. worked examples and problems. Over 100 new
(5 13) 531-4499 MILWAUKEE, WI 53216 topics. Complete with design formulas, tables and
Mon-Sat 1OAM-9PM 414-442-4200 references
Sun 12-6PM Wisc. Wats: 1 (800) 242-5195 917 pages. hardcover. $51.95
We buy and sell all types of electronic Outside Wisc: 1 (800) 558-0411 Add $2.50 per book for shipping and handling U.S.,
Darts. M-F 9-5:30 Sat 9-3 $5.00 elsewhere.
CYGNUS-QUASAR BOOKS
P.O. Box 85, Powell, Ohio 43065
Tel. 614-543)-7895
f l 114
-
be spaced any distance apart to accomodate
Circle $311 on Reader Sewlce Card.
the antennas. Brackets are hot-dipped gal-
vanized and the necessary hardware IS suppl~ed.
The brackels are avarlable In two and three
antenna models. The SO-12 Standoff Bracket (for An assembled, tested UAI-20wrth manual IS
two antennas) IS $115.50 and the SO-13 Standoff available at an introductory price of $89 plus
New switch for Bracket (for three antennas) is $144.50. The shipping.
lightning protection . brackets are shipped by U.P.S. For more information, contact Creative Con-
MFJ Entel prises. Inc. presents its new MFJ- For more information contact IIX Equipment, trol Products,3185 Buntrng Avenue, rand Junc-
1704 four-position antenna switch wtth lightning Ltd.. PO Box 9. Oak Lawn, llllnols 60454. tlon, Colorado, 81504.
protectron for $59.95. Circle $314 on Reader Service Card. Clrcle 1316 on Reader Sewlce Card.
MufMap II Address
Now you can see world wide propagation -151 .Buckmaster Publlshlng 73 - -126 The RF Connect~on
-1 11 - Buckmaster Publlshlng 96 1 6 9 RutlandArrays
conditions from your QTH at a glance!
-1 54 - C&S Sales 70 1 6 2 RutlandArrays
MufMap indicates all lorn, 15m, and 20rn -118 .Coax~alDynam~cs 109 176 Soltware Systems
openings on a map of the world. -200 - ClE 66 - 122 Sollware Systems
-188 - Communtcat~onConcepts Inc 27 -1 31 Spectrum lnternatmnal
organize your operating time for -193 - Commun~cat~ons Spec~al~sts 116 --I 16 -
Strldsburg EnglneerlngCo
-152 - Computerad~o 73 -135 STVIOnSet
contesting, network traffic, -146 -Crystek Crystals 76 175 Synlhetlc Texl~lesInc
scheduling, etc. -197 .CSI 1 - 191 TE Systems
-1 14 - Cygnus-Ouasar Books 115 -173 TeI Com
1 6 7 Ten Tee
* study effects of time of day, -171 Datacom lnternatlonal 53
-Dayton Hamventton 44 -201 TIC General
season, and solar activity on
-170 - Doug Hall Electron~cs 54 U S Inlormallon Agency
propagation. -138 Down Easl M~crowave 87 -172 Unad~tlaAnlenna Mfg Co
-120 - DRSI 106 Universal Rad~o
Automatically combine a series of Muf- - EngtneerlngConsulting 90 -174 -Vanguard Labs
2 0 2 Eps~lonCompany 80 -195 .Varlan EIMAC
Maps to form a MufMovle. These show
-1 15 - F~ndexWorldwide 115 1 6 6 - VHF Commun~cat~ons
how propagation changes throughout the -1 57 - Gallattn RadfoSupply 69 -142 W 8 W Assoc~ates
day, season, or level of solar activity. -1 13 -Gary Gaugler. N601J 115 112 - W9INN Anlennas
-132 - Gtller Shortwave 95 1 4 8 WI-Comm Electronlcs Inc
-168 .GTI Electroh~cs 54 192 - W~lmanco
HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS
-134 - GTI Electron~cs 95 _ 105 - Yaesu USA
MufMap runs on the IBM PC/XT/PS2 and
-184 - HAL Commun~cat~ons Corp 37 1 9 9 Yaesu USA
compatibleswith at least 256K RAM and -194 - Ham Rad~oOutlet 14 15 -124 .E H YoslCo
Hercules, CGA, EGA, or VGA graphics. '-Ham Rad~o'sBookstore 76. 80 90 96 97.98 PRODUCT REVIEW/NEWPRODUCT
Supports the 8087 too. The Ham Stallon 95
- 304 - Advanced Computer Controls
- Hamtron~csNY 105
-303 .Amerlcan Voltage Products Inc
- Hamtron~nPA 46
-315 Amerlcan Voltage Products Inc
ORDERING INFORMATION -Heath Company 69
-305 ComTek
MufMap is priced at just 8 9 . VISA, - Heath Company 83
3 0 9 - ComTek
Mastercard,and personal checks are -178 Henry Rad~o 49
3 1 6 - Creat~ve Control Products
accepted. Hercules support add $20. -198 ICOM Amer~ca.lnc CII
Hamtron~csNY
- Inlernat~onalCryslal Mlg Co Inc 31
Just call or write to place your order. - 301 ICOM Amerlca lnc
-144 lnlernat~onal
Rad~o 78
3 0 8 - IIX Equ~pmentLld
-147 - Jensen Tools. Inc 76
Base(2)Systems 150 Jun's Electron~cs 73
-314 IIX Equ~pmentLtd
-313 lnternatlonalRadio 6 Computers
2534 Nebraska #l, Saginaw MI 48601 -181 Kantron~cs 45
3 1 2 MFJ Enterpr~ses
or call (517)777-5613 for VISA/MC -1 36 .KComm The Ham Store 88
306 Naval Electron~cslnc
Kenwoad USA Corporalton 2.5.7 43 CIV
-307 .OWlNT Data Inc
-161 K~ron Corporat~on 64
302 The Rad~o Works
1 4 9 Larsen Anlennas 75
31 1 Valor Enlerpr~seslnc
0
ICOM
IC-2GAT
IC4GAT
2 Meter 8 440
Handhelds
, #.
, .."
s- ICZGAT
3MFTFR
- - - FM MOBILE
- - -- I I KT-Series Mono-Band Radios
10.15-20-30-40-80MMODELS
RX 138-174 MHz
TX 140-150 MHz
50 Watts Output 7 Watts
20 Multi.Function Memories SAVE BIG $$ IC-4GAT
.Selectable CTCSS Tone Built-in
Operate4 Mobile Rigswith Optional
IF-20Interface and RC.20 Controller
Best Price and Complete Selection
Call Today!
440-450 MHz
6 Watts
102 N.W.Business Parllt Lane k ty, MO 61 all Toll FI 1 - 6pm Mor I Sat.
Send SASE For Used L./st In Missourl L ~ I I - u ~ o - ~ 81
~ I18
-
MOST OF AME DAY
OPTOELECTRONICSIAIC.
POCKET SIZE
FREQUENCY
SiZE:4" Hx3.5" W x f " D
MADE IN USA
TO 2.4 GHZ
8 LED DlGCrS 2 GATE TIMES
ALUMINUM CABINET
IN'rERNAL Nl-CAD -ERIES INCLUDED
AAC ADAPTER/CHARGER INCLUDED
EXCELLENT SENSlTlVllY
C
& ACCURACY
AC-DC PORTABLE
OPERATION
mall enough t o fit into a shirt pocket, our new 1.3 ( 2.4 GHz, 8 digit frequency counters are not toys1They
an actually out perform units many times their size and price1 Included are rechargeable Ni-Cad batteries
istalled inside the unit for hours of portable, cordless operation. The batteries are easily recharged using the AC
dapter/charger supplied with the unit.
The excellent sensitivity of the 1300H/A makes it ideal for use with the telescoping RF pick-up antenna;
ccurately and easily measure transmit frequencies from handheld, fixed, or mobile radios such as: Police,
refighters, Ham, taxi, car telephone, aircraft, marine, etc. May be used for counter surveillance, locating hidden
bug" transmitters. Use with grid dip oscillator when designing and tuning antennas. May be used with a probe
x measuring clock frequencies in computers, various diqital circuitry or oscillators. Can be built into transmitters,
signal generators and other devices t o accurate~ymonitor frequency
The size, price and performance of these new instrumants make them indispensible for technicians, engineers,
schools, Hams, CBers, electronic hobbyists, shor,t wave li!steners, law enforcement personnel and many others.
7OCK N(
t1300H/A .,. .300H/A 1- 1300 MHzcounterwith preamp,sensitivity. < 1mV
27MHzto 450MHzincludesNi-Cad batteriesandAC adapter .........5169.95
#2WH Modd 2400H 10-2400 MHz microwavecounterincludes Ni-Cad
batteriesandACadapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 2 99.-
#CCA Model CCAcounter/counter, for debugging, ultra sensitive, < 50 micro
volts at I50MHzl 1-600 MHz with adjustablethreshold, RF indicator
LED. Includes Ni-Cad batteriesand AC ada~ ...............$299.95
ACCESSORIES:
YTA-lOOS Telescoping RF pick-up antenna with BNC connector ...............512.00
'P-100 Probe, direct connection 50 ohm, BNC connector ..................520.00
!CC-12 Carrying case, gray vinyl with zipper opening. Will hold a counter and
XTA- 1000S antenna. ...........................................510.00
Ic 1M
ORDER CACIORY Dl
FLA (305) 771-2050
1-800-327-5912 AVAILABLE NOWI
OPTOELE-RONICS
Orders to US and Canada add 5% of total ($2 min, $10 r-v'
5821 N.E. 14th Avenue Florida residents add 6% sales tax. COD fee $2.
Ft. Lauderdale. Florida 33334 Foreign orders add 15%
A high-prrforn~ilnctHF rig.. . You gel 20 rncmorics to st.ortl usrd with a heatv-duty power supply.
with a grtlat rrccivtbr and full-l)owt.r frequency and mode. Du;iI \.FOs Available options. FC-1000 or
transmitter. 1,ight in wrhight and Ion with split frequency operation for FC-7.57:\T:\utorn;rtic, : \ l ~ t . t l n n a ~ n e r s .
in prictl. DS-petlition work. And m;in[riil band FL-7000 500-watt Automat.ic, Solid-
This is Siirs~lkFT-i47GS. scan plus auto-rcsunic rnomoryscan Statr Linrar Amplifier. TCXO-747
\\'hcthtlr yorl'rtx ;i novic*c!or a via thtl mirrophontl upldo~rnt)uttons. Ttlmpcrature-Cornp(2nsatrd Crystal
veteran, it's a gn)at way to st.ar1..And Great receiver. Vlilizing n Oscillator. FAS-1-4R Remote Ant.enna
a great to go. directly-clrivcn rnixclr, thcl FT-747C;X Sclcctor. FHH-i57Amplifit~rRelay
DX ready. Thtx 747 pil(,ks a full receiwr ftlat ures s~lpcrl)o~t~rloiid Rox. FP-700 St;indard Power Supply.
100-wtt. HI: 1)11nc.hon 1fiO lo 10 protection. M)u also get. hcbtory- FP-75iHD Hewcy-I1ut.yJ'ower Supply.
rnet.ers,wit tl c~ontinuonsrc~coi\tcfrom ins1;ill~dnarrow C\\'anrl XI1 filtrrs. MMH-38 Mobile Mount.ing Hracket,.
100 kHz to 30 MHz. A ono-tonch noisc. t)Innkf~r.All-modc Discover the pricelperfomance
And its control pant:l is rt!frc!sh- squelch. RIT. And ;I 20-(IH att.thnunt,or leader. Chrck out Xutsuls low-cost
ingly simple. So you can hop arorrnd for local QSOs. FT747GX at your Yaesu dealer today.
t.hc band fist lo nail t.hosc I)X stiitions. Lightweight construction. Recause now, Yaesu puts priceless
While ot.htlr guys art? warming up Housccl i l l a nrc~li~llizc~d hifiIr-ill~pac*t DX ink) gmr price range.
their amplifiers, you can bc? working plastic casr, t hchE'T747GN wt?ighs ms,urn 173oEtl#;lmls ~ll;Lt~,(s,.rritrls,(:,~!~)~~)l
t.he r ) ~ ! in at, ahout $ 1 I pollnds! Wit.11thr lo~l(i-(2I:i) 404 2700. k f i r h v i r e : (21:{)404 4884.
Multimode versatility. TIlc speakrr mo~lnt,~!(f t,t1(: front, h I . 5 : ('1:') ..'I).!.I".';P r l l ' t ' ~ I I ~S1~ M ~ I ~ I ~ ~ I ~ ~ I ~ ~ I I I ~ S
l l~t1;lllgl~
s l l l l ~ l ~Ill ~ t \vlttllllll lllllll~P.
FT-R;(;S is rcladv to go rm I,SH, l!SR, for rnaximunl autlio triinsfvr. And
CW, ;ind AM. M'it h provision for 1 . h ~ internal heatsinking for I t l c l t.rarls-
FM-747 FM unit.-great for w,it.ching rnilter, ratrd ;it f ~ r l lpowor for F\1,
10-metrr rrpoatclrs. packet., RTTY SSTY and AhITOR whcn
-
A
&?l!7:r,r-d
- ,-, ->r\n,l I 1, +lor)
.
- r 7 , r I
L
The call channel key allows lnstant recall of
FV Mobile Tranacc~i\fcr
Controls are provlded on the m~crophone
I ,, [
.
your most commonly used frequency data
, 7''
Looking for a compact transceiver
for your mobile VHF and UHF opera-
for CALL (call channel).VFO. MR (memory
recall or change the memory channel) and -I(
- I
i 111 * 1-
' ,. II ( L I T '
tions? KENWOOD has a compact rig - a programmable key The programmable When act~vatedthls funct~onwill cause a
for each of the most popular VHF/ key can be used to control one of the dlstlnct beeper tone to be emitted from the
UHF bands. following func.tlons on the rad~oMHz.T ALT transceiver for approx~mately10 seconds to
TONE, REV, DRS, LOW or MONITOR
r tnctlon memory c h n n n ~ l q
20 memory channels allow storage of fre-
rrllClV , I , Ll~llll,+, I - slgnal the presence of an lncomlng s~gnal
-
,f ->,,I* ",,,,I<> -,,,r,,nq
A funct~onallydes~gnedcontrol panel w ~ t h Band scan, Program band scan, Memory
quency, repeater offset, CTCSS frequency.
frequency step,Tone OnlOff status. CTCSS backl~tkeys Increases the convenlence and scan plus programmable memory channel
ease of operat~ondurlng nlght-t~meuse lock out, wlth l ~ m e
operated or carrler oper-
and REV e r Lli3 r
, { , ,r * rl,
ated stop
-,,
7..
med~urn,low) .?, '.(bl' -4 r (1 +,'> , 1r 1 -,. . " The opt~onalDRU-1can store recelved and
' \ * ;<I$ '3, 7
transm~ttedmessages for up to 32 seconds.
Optlonal full-funct~onrerncte
controller (RC-20). 'TM-531A 10,20,12 5 25kHz allowlng the operator to qulckly check or
h\ Pror!r av r .7t\1( 0 return any call uslng the tone alert system
A full-funct~onremote controller uslng the
Kenwood bus I~ne,model RC-20, may be The user frlendly programmable VFO allows * r , . . n i 1
'
1 tn- r I
easlly connected to the TM-231AI431Al531A the operator to select and program var~able
and can be mounted In anv conven~ent tunlng ranges In 1 MHz band Increments 7 I1 ,t
O p t ~ o n aAccessories
l
RC-20 Full-funct~onremote controller Dual band (2ni170cm) moblle antenna (mount
RC-10 Multi-funct~on remote controller not suppl~ed) SP-41 Compact mob~le
IF-20 Interface unlt handset 0 DRU-1 D I ~ I - speaker - SP-SOB Moblle speaker. PS-430
tal ~ecordlngunlt 8 MC-44 M~rlt~-f~rnctlon
hand rnlc MC-44DM Multi-funct~on hand
Power s\lpply PS-50 Heavy-duty power
supply * MB-201 Moblle mount PG-2N - KENWOOD U.S.A. CORPORATION
mlc w ~ t hauto-patcll MC-48B 16-key DTMF
hand mlc MC-55 8-pin moblle mlc
MC-60A/80/85 Desk-top rnlcs * MA-700
-
Power cal~lc~
* PG-3B DC llne nolse f~lter
PG-4H 1nterf.l~e connecting cable PG-4J
Extens~oncable k ~ t TSU-6 CTCSS un~t
COMMUNICATIONS&TEST EQUIPMENTGROUP
PO BOX 22745.2201 E. Dom~nguuzStreet
Long Beach. CA 90801-5745
KENWOOD ELECTRONICS CANADA INC
PO. BOX 1075,959 Gana Court
M~sslssauga,Ontarlo. Canada L4T 4C2