Hugh We lls W6WfU

141 1 18th St.

Manhattan Beach CA 90266-4025

Salvage Special:
TVNCR Tuner Receiver
Watch the neighbor's curb for all old VCR!

Do y ou salvage old VCRs [or parts? Ham experimenters are alway s looking [or a
ch allenging project, so let me describe one that 1 started which y o u m ay find
interesting. This project appears to h ave a lot ot promise, b ut will require som e
ingenuity to work out some de tails.

ham friend mentio ned that he make s them d ifficult to usc. The tuner was constructed from pa rts available

A wa s interested in bu ilding a re-

ceiver so that he co uld lie in
bed at night a nd listen to TV audi o. Of
and the video/so und IF system from a
VC R were j ust what the doctor or-
dered to meet my fri end's needs! Al-
from Rad io S hack .

course. there are recei vers availab le in
addition to TV sets that do j ust that.
Being a ham experime nter, my cha l-
lenge was to construct a receiver from
parts salvaged from an o lde r VC R. The
newer V C R tu ners are dig ital. and that
:=
though I didn't use the power supply, it
Electronic T VN eR tuners arc ca-
would ha ....e been a good choice be-
pable of tuning a freq ue ncy band fro m
cause all of the nece ssary vo ltages
about 50-900 MHz. A few freque ncy
wo uld have been avai labl e . H owever,
segments are skipped, hut otherw ise
for this project, the size of the po wer
most tuners cove r four ha m hands, air-
supply was somewhat critical. so o ne
craft, part of the E\t broadcast hand.
and some public se rvice c hannel s. The
design o f the tuner/If syste m. as used
in the VC R, monitors pretty m uch o nly
VIDEO/SOUND

~
UHF TUNER VIDEO the TV channe ls. Why'? Modem TV
MODUlf
VHf '
SUPER C 18H11 1\1
r-.I r+
SOUND and VCR receivers util ize a sys tem
BAND 6w AGe 'IT Bs Bv 8M IF AU<; called "intcrcarrier" to recover the au -
T I ~ d io signa l fro m the rece ived TV signa l.

.... ... *
Takin g a step back ward fo r a mo-
ment. the so und and vid eo sig nals arc
UK '
BAND
+12V
Vee
transmitted o n thei r o wn carri er fre-
quenc y, where they arc separated by
SWITCH . -1 .5 ~1H l . In pa st years. two se parate
IF systems were used to accomplish
+30V the demodulatio n. and it was like ha v-

~
ing two independe nt receivers with the
TUNING video operation at 45.75 MHz and the
sound at 41.25 MH/.. A sing le tun er
was used, h ut the video and so und sig-
'" nal s were kept apart and processed
Fig. I. Simplified functional diagram ofa typical \'CR tllller and IF module system. The sc pannely,
bandswuch and tuning pot " "ert' added for clarity. La te r, a n in te rcarric r system wa s
16 73 Amateur Radio Today . March 2000
 ~~E ISJWOO
TH-D7A
FM Dual Bander APRS and
9600 Baud TNC Built-in

TS-570D(G)
Full Featured HF Base
5) Model includes 6 meters

TM-D700
Dual Band Mobile wlBuilt
in TNC (Voice & Data
Communicator)
Fig. 2. Typical VCR single Ie video and sound IF. The video output portion has been ignored.

developed to both simplify and reduce one or two Ies are used, the IF system
AES
the parts count in the receiver. The FT-l00
can be treated as one and the same
HFI6M12M1430MHz
sound IF at 41.25 MHz was dropped when making up a receiver project. In Super Compact
from the design; a simplified func- most cases, the tuner and IF system Transceiver
tional block diagram is shown in Fig. can be salvaged as two modules. In VX-5R
1. Intcrcarrier refers to the usc of a _ __ 501144/430 MHz
some cases, the two modules are
Heavy Duty FM
single IF at the output of the tuner that mounted on a common circuit board Handheld
is then processed in support of the - and, they may, if desired, remain on
video, hut has a bandwidth wide the single board. Modifications will
enough to pass the sound carrier. To- have to be made to the circuit traces on FT-847
ward the latter portion of the video IF, the board in order to apply the various All Mode HF1501144/430 MHz
the sound at 4 .5 MHz is split off and required voltages. Unequaled Satellite Rig
processed. The video carrier is AM
(amplitude modulation) and is frc-
As stated earlier, the original Objec- ~~
tive of the VCR circuit was to receive
quency stable, while the sound carrier only TV video and sound. That means
is FM (frequency modulati on). the audio can be reco vered only as 1e-706 MKIIG
Being stable, the video carrier is long as the video carrier is present to HF/501144/44D MHz
used as the "local oscillator" that is Plus New Features
create the 4 .5 MHz sound carrier. That & More Power
mixed with the FM sound carrier, cre- makes the VCR receiver system a ",~1.'r
ating an audio IF of precisely 4.5
MHz. Once separated from the video,
double conversion receiver. In order ~~EW,"~:,...=,,;=;:,;: 1e-746
100 Watt HFI6M!2M
for the receiver project to support ham ~

the sound is processed and demodu-
lated using a quadrature detector. Figs.
2 and 3 show typical (but simplified)
VCR IF systems.
The first, Fig. 2, shows how a single
IC is used both for video and sound
processing . Table 1 li sts a number of
ICs that are also used in the type of cir-
cuit shown in Fig. 2, and is provided to
help identify the correct module. Fig.
3 shows a simplified, but typical, dual
IC video and sound IF processor cir-
cuit. Table 2 lists a number oflCs used
in the dual IC configuration. NTE
equivalent numbers are provided in the
table listings where available , to aid in
identifying IC pin functions. Whether
radio, it must be capable of monitoring Transceiver
signals in the ham bands that do not 1e-2800H
have a "video carrier" present to act as Dual band, 50w135w,
Large, Color _
a local oscillator. For the receiver to LCD Screen
"hear" the four (50, 146, 220, 450
Ameritron ADI Bencher Butternut MFJ
MHz) ham bands and public service Cushcraft Diamond MAHA Astron
channels, a local oscillator must be Kantronics Larsen Mirage Lakeview
added. Quotes & Orders 1-800-8919199
Tech & Info (717) 3366060
Local oscillator www.denverradio.com
In order to make the receiver tunc- Route 272, Wabash Center
tion without the video carrier, a local 1233 N. Reading Road
oscillator must be provided and in-
r:::a, Stevens, PA 17578
::EJ Lancaster County
jected into the IF system as indicated Located 2 miles south 01the PA Turnpike exit 21 on R1 272
in Fig 4. I've experimented with several M, T, F 9-6 W,TH 98 Sat 9-3
methods for injecting the oscillator 's
73 Amateur Radio Today March 2000 17
 +12 V +12 V

tP, ~ 4.5 MHz

15K 390 11 10 z s
1t' QUAD
fllTR UK
r
11
AF " H f-l
I I DEl
nJNER
IF . TANK
145 MHzl
a 4.5 MHz
51 15K 10K

11 AlTR
t 2K
f--I'N-~ ss
330 AGe
SET
"
VIDEO TANK
1K , . LA 1365
OUTPUT

27K NTEn 2
AGe
OUTPUT
(APPROX 6Vl
.J
TA7607AP
NTE 1545 1 VIDEO
l

Fig. 3. T.\ 1Jicu l VCR ducu l C video and sound IF. The video output portion has been ignored.

signal . hut c hose to perform the mini- prov ide the a nswers. Injecting the os- mum recovered audio. At that point the
mum amou nt of modification to the IF cillator at the input of the SAW filter padding capac itor may he fully com-
system. I suspect that there is a bcuer appears to work satisfact ori ly. pressed. No further adju stment is then
way and place to inject the osci llator, Th e new local oscillator must be off- req uired.
but on ly further experime ntation will set from the tuner's IF by 4 .5 MHz ; the A switch is used in the 12 V supply
IF system was designed to acc ommo- line to the osc illator so that it may he
date a video signal at 45.75 MH z and a disabled whene ver TV audi o is being
rc PIN NTE Equ iv. sound signal at 41.25 MHz. To accom- rec eived.
A7530N 1827 modate that offset. I injected a 46 MHz
signa l during the ex periment but al- Aud io amplifier
AN5111 1440
I , most an y signal frequency from about
-- Since the salvaged IF system may
I AN5176K 44. 5 to 47.5 M Hz will work we ll, as
not have an audio amp lifier incl uded ,
KA2919 1728
the sou nd's quadrature detector will
I accommodate the shift without an y I' m suggesting one that will work with
KA2923 1827 degrad ation in performance. this tuner rece iver project. A single
LA7502 15001 I' ve shown the use of a common- LM 386 audio IC, as shown in F ig. 5.
base Colpi tts oscillator as a suitable or an LM380. will work well in this
I LA7520 1728
I choice for this application. The crys tal, application. The circuit shown will drive
LA7530 1827 series-resonant (typically a 3rd over- either a speaker or a set of headphones to
I
tone), is placed in the base circuit to an adequate level.
LA7550N --
ground. Because the audio obtained from the
LA7575 -- Specific ci rc uit values will ha ve to IF system has no de-emphasis, a de-
emphasis circuit should be added . AI
I M52354 1656 hc worked out to acc ommodate the
though it's OK to operate without
parts available from your j unk box.
I M51356P 1656
When the oscillator is in operati on , the de-emphasi s, the hiss leve l may be a
M51362SP -- injection level of the signal appears to litt le hard to handle over a long period
M51365 701 5 have a min imum threshold level of of time. Rolling off the high frequency
about 25 mv, with a maximum level at portion of the hiss with an RC network
--
I TA7678AP
I, about 150 mY. I used 75 mY in my makes the noise more tolerable . There
tests , so a means for contro lling the in- is no squelch circuit in the VCR IF
TA7680 1572
I jection am plitude may be required . 1 system, but you can bui ld one if you
TA768 1 1570
I was successful in usin g a 1-30 pF desire.
TAB677N -- compression paddi ng capacitor for I chose the de-emphasi s network
Table 1- Typical ICs used il l a VCR's controlling the injection level. Adj ust- values to roll off the hiss to meet my
single IC video and sound IF This listin g ment of the inject ion is done with a hearing needs and for listening to
is provided 10 help identlfr a video/sound known ham band signa l being present, voice modu lated signals. If the recei ve
module. and the capacitor is adj usted for maxi - system is used for listenin g to TV or
18 73 Amateur Radio Today. March 2000
 VIF NTE Equlv. may be desired to adjust the audi o
passband in support of m usic. Reduc- We make a new HamCa" every
AM167013A 749 week! Clearly, the most
ing the 0.01 )J.F capacitor values to comprehensive and current
CD-ROM available.
ANS111 1440 0.005 JlF may satisfy your desire.
Latest Features
Choose tonllnd color of dElla display.
HA11215A 1469 Power su p ply Displays flag a nd ma plor each counl ry.
ShowsCO. JTU zone. and continenl
TA7607AP 1545 History ~st s hows e ach ca l s ign ""a rad
Power requirements for the receiver
I TA7644BPJAP .. system project are really minimal, but
View &saaret>m efes!S o! 2S.000 ha ms ,
SHrch lor dub. m~~ary. RACES. vanrly. silant keys.
nama . address, and more .
UPCl366 '522 the voltages need to be stabilized. A Ova>< 1.561 .000U.S. a nd ln1amalional bl ~. 101.000
...... ~ Ilti-esses. <Io.OOO pholosand OSL c.ard5. 30.000
suitable power supply for the tuner vanty Cll lls .and 12.000 references10 OSl ~
SIF NTE Equlv.
receiver project is shown in Fig. 6. Shows1toorl & k.:n\l pall'ldtslance& bearr9-
AM167001A 712 Specifically, the tuning voltage re- P1'eosa .. ~... lgitooe1or0Yef9O"llool addresses.
HamCaMis SSO.OO . incIul:Ie<l is 6 months tree access 10
AN5215 1234 quires regulation to prevent it from our Interne! Search SeMce reQU851when oraemg.
wandering around. When setting the ~'Mousepart"""'mo"secoderala<llt108.
AN5250 1404 maximum tun ing voltage. the target 7.S- . S-.bIua_yeIow IetlIlfS, $5.00

GL.3201 7'2 value is 30 volts . but that may not al-

ways be achieved. and a value of 28-29
HA1124 7' 2
volts is acceptable. The final voltage is
HA11229 1575 determined by raising the regulator's
KA2101 712 output (using the VOLTAGE SET pol)
to maximum and then backing it down
LA,365 7 12
slightly to bring the output under regu-
l.M3065N 7 12 lator control. Regulation is uncertain at
LSC1008P 7 12
the maximum value because of the loss
in regulator headroom. but pulling it
M51173P
down slightly allows the regulator to
TA7337P .. function properly.
Because of the low current being
TBA120AS 1292
drawn by the rece iver system. no heat
UPC 1391 H 1668 sinking of the regulators is required. If
UPC575C2 1140 desired, the regu lators may stand verti-
cal on a PC board. or be laid flat
Table 2. Typical lCs used in a VCR dual/C
against the board.
video and sound IF. lC listing is provided
to help identify a video/sound module. Ci rcuit notes Complete Inventory for servicing
Amateur, Marine, and Commercial
FM audio, then some experimentation Fig. 1 shows the requirements for Communications Equipment.
with the de-e mphasis circuit values enabling the tuner so that it will cover Transmitti ng Tubes & Sockets
RF Power Transistors
VHF/UHF RF Power Modules
. 12 V Low Noise RF FETs
Bird Electronics Wattmeters
SAW Doorxncb Capacitors
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>lOO pF

Fig. 4. Suggested local oscillator to be added/or signal injection. variable level injec-
tion is usedfor best conversion. A switch is used to enable/disable the oscillator.
73 Amateur Radio Today. March 2000 19
 The antenna input impedance for the
DE-EMPHASIS +12 V tuner may at fir st appear co nfusing,
NETWORK but a 52 ohm transmission line works
100 we ll wi th TV/VCR tuners. When co n-
AUDIO OUTPUT
r">, 1/ 2 W
necting to the UH F input, tie one pin to
l OOK 0.5 - 10 ~F + ~O ~F
FROM THE VOL ground and co nnect the other to the
IF MODULE + 50-lOOK
3 6 m 470 - 1000 ~F cente r of the coax co nnector. Each of
the ant enna inputs will req uire a suit-
2
5 +
I-, .-------j able antenn a for the frequenc y band to
.05 - .1 : be covered. A suitable antenna may be
~F connected to the re spective inpu t be-
LM 386 10 cause the bandswitch will enable the
r77 SPKR
antenna in put as required hy the tuner.

Performance

Fig. 5. A sui/able audio amplifier to be used with the VCR sound IF, which can drive
either headphones or a small speaker.
the availa ble bands using a bandswi rch
that puts + 12 V a nia the band select
pin of the tuner.
Fig. 6 shows how the luning voltage
line is to he controlled with a multiturn
pot. A small value pot is connected in
se ries with the tuning vol tage pot tha t
will function as a fine-luning control.
This pot is se t normally to its ce nter
position and then rocked back and
forth for a fine tuning adjustmen t. As
an alternative method , a pot may be
used to control a sma ll vo ltage (typi-
cally 2 volts maximum) app li ed to the
AFC terminal.
Tuni ng TV audio sig nals is very
easy with the tuning pot, but hams and
public service present a narrow tuning
targe t and require the use of a fin e
tuning contro l.
A ll tuners require an AGC voltage in
the range of +6 to +7 vol ts. The de-
sired voltage may be obtained from the
AGC pot located within the IF modu le,
as is done in the VCR confi guration , or
the AGC voltage may be obtained
from a pot di viding the + 12 volts . If
the latter is chosen. the pot value may
be 10k and it will also function as an
RF gain co ntrol.
To gain an understanding of the
tuner-rece ive r 's sensitivity, I measured
the input se nsiti vity while ope rat ing in
the 450 MHz ha m band and found it to
be approx imately 10 J-lV to achi e ve
background noise qui eting. Even at 10
J.lV, ham rep eaters located man y miles
away pro vided quieting signals. Wh en
used as a TV audio receiver, the per-
fonnan ce is as de sired , but when
moni toring the narrow deviati on as
used in the ham and public se rvice
bands, the reco vered audio amplitude
appears to he a little on the low side .
More audio am plific atio n may he lp
re sol ve that iss ue.
Continued on page 59

BRIDGE l N400X 1-5K SlNGLE

18-24V RECTIFIER 28-29V TURN
PWR CT FINE TUNING 10K MULll
120 VAC F SW 0.2A
r-t--+-I' LM317K Ft-~--4~-'I./\f'y--, I TURN
COARSE TUNING
+ + ----- +30VMAA
AC A
+--~V470~~ .01 .01 J ; 470~F + TUNING
VOLTAGE
330 1IO~F
5-10K
lN400X ......... VOLTAGE
SET

'-~--+i lM34O-12 1-t-_....._~_~_.,...~ +12 V

+ +
c
J ; 820
470 ~fJ; .01 J;01

100 ~F ~ 1-2K
i\.~

PWR LED
Fig. 6. A suggested power supplyfor powering a TUller and IF modu le.
20 73 Amateur Radio Today. March 2000
 wi ll be active ill CB. Three comacts with it
must he done on three different days. To
cl aim the award. send a list with the con-
tacts and 5 IRC or 5 $US to the BC2000
Aw ard Manager, cIa the RGS address
above. RGS members need send only an
SASE 22 x 30 ern fo r either of these awards.
Just in case you didn't hear about the fol-
lowing one, [' II pass along the press release
that I received from John N7CQQ back in
January:
N7CQQ Amateur Radio Club, Inc. spon-
sor of the Clipperton2000 expedition is very
happy to announce that Icom America is
sponsoring the DXpedition to Cli pperton
Island. Team America will pro vide the new
IC-756PRO for the Clipperton team mem-
bers to usc while a ll the expedition. Our
thanks goes out to Mr. Ray Novak, National
Sales Manager for Ico m America.
C1ipperton2000 is scheduled to depart
San Diego, Californ ia USA on 23 February
2000. The team will be ready to operate on
I March 2000 from Cli pperton Island. We
plan to have four (4) HF stations, one ( I) 6
meter station and one ( I) satellite station.
We also plan to operate RTTY and the
WARC bands from Clipperton. The DX-
pcdition will shut down late on 8 March
2000 and depart Clipperton 9 March. Addi-
tional information on the expedition can be
fo und at [www.qsLnellclipperton20001.
Addi tiona l informa tio n about the Icom
IC-756P RO ca n be fou nd at [www .
Icornx mcrtca.com}.
And this just in from one of our UK
frie nds, Phil G3S WH, concerning an IOTA
run to w asint Island in Kenya (IOTA AI'-
67) . (We expeer lots of pi ctures, Phil ~)
We have a team of six experienced DX
operators: Jim G3RTE, David G3UNA, Phil
G3SWH, Rob 5Z4RL, Ian 5Z4IC, and Gra-
ham 5Z4GS. We pl an to be active between
8th and 16th March 2000 with two stations.
one on CW and the other on SSB on a 24-
hours-a-day basis, using the special callsig n
of 5Z4\VI. Propagation permitting, we ex-
pect to operate on all bands from 160 to 10
meters. with the exception of 30 meters,
which is not presentl y pe rmitted in Kenya.
We hav e an ex pedition target of 15,000
QSOs. Wasini has been activated only once
before, for a 24-hour period in the 1993
IOTA Con test.
Pulling the switch
So much for thi s month's introductory
installment of the DX Forum. Next month,
it's time to get down to business. Oh. and
before I forge t, don 't miss the DXpedition
to Clipperton. In coming installments we
wi ll have an interview with one of the folks
at Ico m concerning their sponsorship of this
eve nt. I will also be talki ng with Len westbo
W7MCU, who will provi de insight as to
how he appro ac hes his du ti es as a QS L
checker for DXCC.
In the meantime, if you would like to con-
trib ute material or news items, or would li ke
to sound off in the " Vox Populi " segment
of this column that will be inaugurated per-
haps as soon as next month, you can E-mail
or snail- mail me at the addresses abov e. 73
and good oxn fa
The Quest for
Super Sounding Audio
co ntinued from page 14
Modern transcei vers with this capabil-
ity include Kenwood 's TS-570, 870,
a nd 950 ; Yacsu's FT- I000; Icom's IC-
706 a nd 746; and Kachina's 505 . De-
tails arc in their operating manuals.
Ju st remember to mon itor your actual
transmitted signal with a wideband re-
ceiver when making changes .
Earl ier. I mentioned that some trans-
ceivers have differe nt transmit and re-
ceive bandwidths (and a coupl e even
ha ve 3. 1 kHz bandwidth). When com-
bined with a wide range mike like
Heil's GoldLine, the resultant audio
can really knock your socks off.
Collins ' famou s KWM - I transcei ver
uti li zes a 3. 1 kHz mechanical filte r.
and its on-the-air sou nd is marvelous.
learn 's IC-76 1 uses differe nt tran smit!
receive bandwidths. On recei ve. sev -
eral filrers give selec table bandwid ths
of 2.2 and 2.7 kH z. On tran smit. fe wer
and wider-width fi lters give a band-
width of 3.1 kHz. Newer sty le and
more fancy-look ing transceivers arc
quite appeali ng, but I personally can-
not fiud another rig comparable to my
dear IC-76 L
Audio equalizers
Tak ing a lesson from recording stu-
dios a nd large church audio systems,
some big-time audio e nthu siasts are
integrating professional-grade audio
equalizers into their stations (P hoto
D). T hes e equalizers have fu lly adj ust-
able low, mid-, and high ranges that
can he set to accentuate your personal
voice characteristics while minim izing
sizzled S's and po pped P's. Further,
swi tch se lection of var ious cha nnels
gives one or two connected micro-
pho nes the ability to produce many
different sounds suc h as "do uble level
bass: ' re verb, e tc.
An alternate and less e xpe nsive ap-
proach to the recordi ng studio- type
setup, and a unit especially designed to
work interchangeably with KenYaeCom
rigs and mi kes (plus Heil mikes with
KenYaeCom cables). is the W2 IHY
dual channel audio equalizer and noise
gate show n in Photo E. This little tyke
has separate bass and trebl e contro ls so
that you can ha ve a bi g bass sound
when signal paths are good, or empha-
size high tones for weak signal work
or DXing . The W2IHY equalizer is
available in kit or prcasscmb lcd form
from Juli us Jones W2JHY, 19 Vanessa
La ne, Staa tsburg NY 125XO; telephone
(9 14) 889-4933.
One fin al thing to ponder: Re mem-
ber those class ic SS B phasing-type
transmitters? T hey shifted an un-
wanted sideband 180 degrees in phase
instead of removing it with a narrow
crys tal filter. Super so unding audio ga-
lore ! Now. tha t should set fl eamarket
trade rs and rig restoring e nthusiasts
reeling and rock ing ! fD
Salvage Special:
TVNCR Tuner Receiver
coounuea from page 20
O f course, the reason for the low
a udio amplitude recovery is that the
audio signal de viation for TV audio is
25 kl-lz, whi le hams and most public
service operations usc 5 kHz deviation.
Making the deviation recovery slope
steeper wou ld increase the amplitude
of the recovered audio level. The desire
to change the detector's slope leaves
ro om for further experime ntation.
A dow n side to the projec t is th at
the ne w local oscillato r sig nal will
crea te harmoni cs that are tunable all
the way up the tuning range. Although
the harmonic signal is present, I' ve not
found it to be very objectionable in my
appli cations.
The potential for adjace nt channel
signal interfe rence is present whe n two
73 Amateur Radio Today ' March 2000 59
or more channe ls occur si m ulta-
neously. The reason for interference is
that th e 4.5 MHz IF passband is about
130 kHz in support of T V audio. and
the wide channel allows adj acent chan-
nels to pass throu gh to the detector.
Co nclusion
I fo und the TVNCR receiver project
to he interesting and ve ry challenging .
O nly those challenges have been di s-
cus sed that specifically enab le you to
get started o n an educational j ourney
of discovery. There are an abundance
of challenges waiti ng ahead . Ge t on
the experi menter 's bandwagon , sa l-
vage a VCR, and get mo ving ! fa
- - - - - - - - - - - - - ---1
The Care and Feeding
of NiCds
coounuea from page 2 2
so that the current is still about 1- 2
percent of the rated battery current.
W hat we are d oing is setting the tri ck le
charge curre nt to the internal resistance
of a fu lly charged battery or pack.
To test the circ uit, attac h any kind of
small load to the battery for j ust a f ew
seconds. Now turn on th e charger
again and watch the current. You
should see the current go up. to some-
th ing less than the maximum of the
power transformer and the regu lator. It
wi ll slowly taper back down to the saf e
1 to 2 pe rce nt of the rated battery ca-
p acity. T he transformer, regulator, and
proper setting o f R2 wi ll resu lt in an
automatic charger that will give you
some fast charge in the begi nning and
a safe trickle charge that you can
maintain connected fore ve r. fa
Secrets of Transm ission Lines
contmuedjtom page 28
The transformer T I is a bi filar-
wound toroi d . It is not critica l. It only
needs to present an open circuit reac-
tan ce o f abou t +j500 ohms at the lo w-
est freq uency you intend to u se . I have
used a Ferronics l l-220- K core Q1 = 125)
about 3/8-inch in di ameter an d 3/32-
inch thick with 40 b ifil ar tu rn s of #30
60 73 Amateur Radio Today . March 2000
enameled wire. It measured abou t 74 u.H
per side at I to 4 MHz.
T he bridge is a fi xed W heatstone
type that h as the antenna as o ne leg .
When th e antenna looks like SO + jO
ohm s, the bridge output vo ltage as
m easured at B fall s to zero. For all
VS W Rs below abo ut 2: l, the voltage
at B is lower than the forward vo ltage
samp le at A. T he meter for reading
voltage s A and B sho uld ha ve a n im-
ped an ce no h igher than 10k . A vo ltage
comparator and an LED can com pare
the vo ltages A and B and ligh t when-
ever the VSWR is less than 2 : I .
In operation , the relay is flipped into
the "tunc" posit ion and the trans m itter
ke yed. With only a few mi lli watts radi -
ating, the tuner is tune d until the vo lt-
age at B is nulled . The transmitter is
unkeyed and the re lay s wi tched LO
"run." Your fe ll ow h am s will thank
you for the micro power tune-up.
P lease fee l free to u se the two
GWBAS IC pro grams pro vided in thi s
art icle . Due LO the ir short length they are
easy to key in i f you are interested. fa
CALENoAA EUENTS
continued f rom page 3 8
orders must be received by March 1st. Please
send an SASE.
MAA 26
MADISON,O H The Lake County ARA will hold
its 22nd annual Hamfest/Comp ute rfes t, 8
a .m.- 2 p.m. at Madison High School on North
A idge Rd . in Mad ison OH. Ne w and used
amateur radio , computer an d various other
types of electronic equipment will be featured.
T h e ha mfes t wi ll also fe at u re c ra ft
demonstrations and VE exams . Adm ission $5
atme doo r. 6 fl. tables $8 , 8 ft. tables $10. To
mak e table reservations call Roxanne at (440)
25 7-0024 .
APR 1
WAT ERFORD , CT T h e Ra dio Am ateu r
Society of Norwi ch will hold their Ham Aadio
Auction althe Waterlord Senior Center on RI.
85 . From Hartford , take At. 2 Sou th to At 11 to
AI 85 South. From the Shoreline, take RI. 95
to Rt. 85 North. Talk-in on 146.730{-). Bring
your gear to sell (1 0~'O commiss ion to RASON).
Free admission , free parking . Contact Tony
AA 1JN at (860) 859-0162, or see the RASO N
Web page at {www.rason.orgj. fa
HAMSA TS
continuedJrom page 43
Tunin g du ring t he pass
Another concern is Doppler shift. Satel-
lites in Low Ear th Orbit (li keAO-27) travel
fa st enough to cause ap parent frequency
shift for an observer on the ground at VHF,
and especially UHF frequencies. At the be-
ginning of the pass. (he satellite downlink
will "appear" to be as much as 10 kHz above
436.7Y7 MHz. Se tt he HT to 436.81 () MHz.
When the satelli te is at Te A, the frequency
should be set to 4 36 .800 Mll z. As the satel-
lite progresses to the south. tunc down to
keep recei ved signals dear.
For the uplink, little or no frequency ad-
ju stment is required . Dop pler shift on two
meters is one third that on 70cOl . While the
do wnlink will seem 10 move as much as 20
kHz during the co urse of the pass, the up-
link "drift" is only about fJ kHz. The FM
receiver in the satellite will keep up with
this much frequency shirt.
Get on t he ai r!
With the tracking chart in thi s issue of
73. yo ur HT. long whip antenna. speaker/
mike, and earphone or carbud headphones.
you' re ready to make AO~27 contacts. Lis-
ten for the satellite. When it sounds good,
try tmnsmuu ng. Don ' t transmit unless you
have good reception. Try weekdays first.
The satellite is very crowded on weekends.
While the satell ite "regulars" try to give the
portable and mobile stations pri ority, week-
ends arc a problem. Imagine a repeater with
a coverage area of North America ! It' s quite
an expe rience just to hear the activity on
AO-27. Try it!
J wi ll be try ing out the new MFJ whips
during March on my 5 W HT. Listen for me
on the listed passes. Next time. we'll look
at other antenna options and another great
FM satellite, SO-35. PI
1- _
ON TH E Go
cotuuwea f rotti page 4 7
interesting QSL cards with your local cl ub
newsletter (indicating when and where the
next ham classes arc scheduled . of co urse),
yo u're in business.
Think o f yo ur portable rig as a power-
ful "s how and tell" tool. It s hould be as
important as a sampte case is to a sa les-
man or a Bible is to a missionary. Now,
go fi re up yo ur own mobile or portab le
rig out the re and get somebody excited
abou t ham radio! PI