1

1
1
1'11"1 11111 1'11''1 Illillll

II~~~

11
1
11III 11::1

I111I11I IIIIII1I I111I11I 111II111 II::: 1111111 11111:

October 1960

37

<l(

II l)l-'-'~
rc,....

WHERE TIME AND DEPENDABILITY

COUNT IN COMMUNICATIONS . ..
INTERNATIONAL'S "ONE DAY CRYSTAL PROCESSING
SERVICE AVAILABLE WORLD WIDE

AMATEURS

EXPERIMENTERS

COMMERCIAL

AMATEUR CRYSTALS (FA-5, FA-9 spo t frequencies 1000 KC to

137 MC .01% Tolerance.
Wire mounted, plated crystals for use by amateurs and experimenters, where tolerances of .01% are permissible and widerange temperature s are not e ncoun tered .

Designed to operate into a load capacitance of 32 mmf on the

fundamenta l between 1000 KC and 15 MC . Designed to operate
anti-resonance on 3rd o ve rtone modes into grid circuit w ithout

additional capacitance load. Fifth overtone crystals and seventh

overtone crys tals are designed to operate at series resonance .
(Write for r ecommended circuits.)

Custom made COMMERCIAL CRYSTALS 70 KC to 100 MC

Wire mounted, plated cr yst als, for use in commercial equ ipm ent (Type F-6) w here close tolerances must be observed . All
un its are calibrated for the specific load presented by equ ipment.
C ircuit: A s specified by cu stome r . Crystals a re availab le for
all major tw o-w ay e qu ipment a nd in mos t cases the ne ce ssary corre-

lation data is on file.

Prices on request.

H ow To Order: F or fastest ser vice , ou r crystals a re sold di r ect .

Terms F .O.B. Oklahoma City .
* One Day Pro cessing . . . O rders for less t han five cr ystal s

will be

proce ssed and shi pped in on e day. Ord ers r ece ived on M onda y
through Th ursday w ill be shi p ped the day follo w ing. O rd ers
receiv ed on Frid a y w ill be shipped the follo w ing Mo nday.

,w IN
FOR

CONVERT YOUR CAR RADIO

RECEPTION WITH A MOBILETTE

ONLY MINUTES

SHORT WAVE

International's NEWall transistor, Crystal Controlled Converter.

Easy to In sta ll. Works on G or 12 volts without ch ange .
Power connector plugs into cigare tte lighter sock et. (No ex ternal
power s upply needed.)
Designed b y In terna ti onal for Amateurs, Citizens Licensees ,
S hort W ave Listeners , H obbyi st.
A vailable in S even frequency r anges covering the Amateur
bands , 75 through 10 meters, the C itizens band, and WWV National Bureau of Stan dards Time Broadcasts.
Three simple steps to install (1) Rem ove antenna lead from
car r adio and plug into input of Mobilette. (2) Plug jumper w ire
from Mobilette into antenna connection of car r ad io. (3) Plug
power connector into cigarette ligh ter sock et. Mobilette normally
wired for negative gr ound battery system . When or de r ing positive
ground , add Suffix "P" to catalog number.

International Mobiletles cover these sbort wave bands.

Catalog No.
630 630 630 630 -

105

104
106
103

Frequency
75
40
10
20

meters (Am ateur)

meters (Am ateur)
MC (WWV Tim e)
meters (Amateur)

Catalog No.
630 - 102
630 - 101
630 - 100

Frequency
15 meters (Amateu r)
11 meters (Citize ns)
10 m eters (Amat eur)
28.5 - 29.5 MC

Available SODn for 6 and 2 meters at slightly hi gher price.

-.::...e. .//
reedy to
plug in ond op erate

Complete,

. . . . only $19.95
Order cn rec t f rom tnte m c n ooct. Ter ms F. O. B.
Oklo. City. Include posta ge . Sh ipping w e ig ht 2 res.

Send for FREE Catalog coverin!l International's

complete line of Crystals and Equipment .

1 PART
IN 10'
PER DAY

DIRECT
READING
320,000
FREQUENCIES
COLOR
COOED
CONTROLS

BOTH METER
AND NEON
SYNC INDICATOR l~-----~--

SPECIAL
CRYSTAL
FILTERS

15 KC
BAND WIDTH
(7.5 PER
SIDEBAND)

ANjURA 30

for full d,t.i1ed

lnfomution write for

BULLETIN 228

PUUOUT
nlPOYER
DRAWER
CONSTRUCTION

SINGLE S IDEBAN

GENERATO

The Model SBG-l, Single Sideband Generator, is a stabilized direct reading

exciter system adjustable to 320.000 frequencies over the range of 1.75 10 33.75
megacycles in 100 cycle steps with a basic stability of J port in loa per day. The
generator is on all purpose device providing 55B, 058, IS8, and AM.
All frequency determining elements in the S8G-l are derived from a 1 me
source which has a phasing control for correction to on external standard. Also
the unit may be connected to an external standard of greater stability wilhou
degeneration to the standard. When the sideband exciter unit is bypassed, th"
Model SBG-l may be used as an ultra stable R.F. frequency source.
Housed in a standard relay rack with 60 inches of panel space, the contrOl
portion requires only 29% inches of rack space. The other components may be
housed separately in the event this makes for a more convenient installation.

The TECHNICAL MATERIEL CORPORATIO

IN CA NADA

TM C Ca nada lI d , 01 10""0, 0"'0"0

Ma in O ffie .. , M A M A RON EC

NEW 'fOR

Write directly to IMC , Mamaroneck, N .Y. for literoture and ncme of distributor covering your eree.
Cable: TEPEI , Mamaroneck, N.Y.

73 Amateur Radio

October, 19bO
Vol. I, No. I

1379 East 15th Street

3rooklyn 30, N. Y.

Table of Contents
....udio Booster

Jim Kyle K5JKXib

A three transi stor amplifier t hat hook s acros s the mike to give you m u r e talk power fur SSB or
A M without distortion.

50mething New in FM

R. E. Baird W7CSD ..

10

. John Wonsowicz W9DUT

12

Usi ng the n e w Varicap a s an FM m od ula to r .

Bantam Converters
50 - 10l~_ 14 4~152_220

Two tube V H F converters for

Risky Hobby

m e blinds .

Carole Hoover K9AMD .

Ib

H o w to f a ll off yo ur t ower for f un li nd p r ofi t.

Tubeless Electronic Key

. . . . . . . . . D. L. Cabaniss WI TUW

18

Gordon E. Hopper WI MEG . . . . .

20

Roy A. McCarthy WbEAW

22

J u s t uses some reluvs. Also tells how to convert your bug.

Digest of Surplus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Shurt lecture tour through your loc al su r p lus emporium .

Direct Reading Capacity Meter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Two tra nsistors. Yo u ' ve got a lot uf r esista nce if you can k eep from building th is gadget.

Gotta Patch?

. . . . . K. A. Johnson WbNKE

24

Inat ruc tions f or phone patchi ng and nvoidl ng t ro u b le.

Three-Way Power Supply . . . . . . . . . . . .

6, 12, 120 v au pply

U1~ i n~

Shock

Don Smith W3UZN . . . . . . . . . . . .

2b

Peggy Bates

28

k tt -avut tabto pu r ts.

... . ...... ...

N e w facts o n elect r !e s h ock , or what to do until r -ig'u r- mortis se ts. in.

Propagation Charts

W h a t bands what ti me to where

Dave Brown K21G Y

. . . . . . .

30

p robably.

Three Tubes, Five Watts, Six Meters

. .

. . . . . . . - . . . . . C apt. John J. Sury K8NIC/5

32

H o w to zet on Si x i n a hu rry.

How To Be An Amateur

. . . . . . . John W. Campbell, Jr. W2ZGU

34

For a d u lts o nly. Ch ildren u nder 16 not ad mit. ted.

Testing the Heath GC-I A

73 Staff

.. .. .... ...

38

W e ll , well ! A t r-nnai xto t-iced com m u n ica tio n s receiverl

Modulation Fundamentals

. . . . Bob Schoening WilTKX

. . . . . . .

..

42

This is our biK t echn lcul art ic le fur t he m o nth .

Misc.:
Edltorie !
New Products
Next Mo nt h
'
Po lic ies
l ette rs
Subsc ript io ns
H o m Bull eti ns
H am C onven ti o n
Ad Ind e x
Te ch nice ! Broad ca st s
Ta ble of C on te nts

Staff:
. Wa yne Gre en W2 NSD

'

4
editor-pub li sher ... ..
3 1, 41
production mon"'ger
.
Da vid Fish
'
25
. . 25
e sscciete edi to r
J im Kyle KSJKX
41
e ssocie te e d itor
Don Smith W 3 UZN
63
65
associ a te e dito r
J im Morrissett W8BAJ / K2 0LK
52
"
,
62
con t rib uting edito r
J ohn Campbell W2ZGU
56
co nfr ib ut inq editor
, :--:--:'---c---:
. . J een Shep herd K20RS
'~.~._._. .:-..:-..:
. .:-.~J-:-:--:-:--,---:c-c:--=--:-oc:-

73 r T'itle regiete red U . S . Poat Otficel it> published mo n t hl y by Amat eur Radio Puhltahtng, I n c. g xecuttve lind
editoria l offices at 137 U East 15 t h Street . Hrookly n ::10. New Yo rk . 'Telephune : I N~e rs() 1I U-6957.
Application for e ntrv all seco n d-class matter is pendin",.
Subscription r ates : U . S . A . and poss ess ions, A PO, FPO , Canada and Mexico; one year $3.00; two yea r-s $5.00 ;
three yea rs $7.00. Foreign : one year $4.00: two yea rs S1.00.
.
._
'0_'_._" ,_
IT Q, A lo .. ti .......... nt pnt .. ....nvril:rht 1960 by Amateur RadIO Publi shing, Inc .

.l._

apathy fr om the readers. This wa s obv iously

not t he co r rect app r oa ch.
After much stew ing over thi s problem I
think I h a ve a n an swer that will sa tis f y everyone .. . even me. Un f or t u na tely , even with th e
t wenty-fou r year collection of rad io debris
around t h e sh a ck I don't have the neces sary
equ i p men t to do th e job of test ing that I have
!'lnJ.JI' ull/{,-rsllllid t llol th is is Volumc I , .\'ulIlber 1 of
in mind. And an)' of you ch a ps with an inclinaiJ. I t is NOT PCT!CI't-1"t i SII ' t 1'1T II 1/11)",<'110(' as yood us
tion to do so meth in g h el p f ul f or u s all suitI'd like it to be. But , all thi,lgs couside red , a major miracle
ably eq u ip ped? You'd need a pretty g ood
li as been worked and th is iSSIIl' I S i ll prillt.
'scope, dummy loa d s for vari ous power levels ,
a n rf voltmet er, an ae amm eter, a KW Variac
Feedback
for line volt age test s, an audi o oscill a tor , fr eIf' c bulk have a 't'csted interest '" 'i 3 being os interquency meter, antenna t u ne r, etc. This would
es tillD as possible. Y o" ca n Irelp me keep Ill)' finnc r on
enable you to run fairly good ch ecks on a
yuu r PIIlsc by sendina a postcard ct'cry month. list ing til e
transmitter. The receiver tester would have to
articles in the order of your j"terest. I will pllbl ish results
have different g ear.
of this montlily Sllr't'ey as (I" encolCragc)tJ'111 to t he authors ,
What I want is a thor ough t echnical li stin g
T ire top ollthor each mOll th 1(;1l get, in addition to till'
of t he fac t s about t he equ ip ment. For a tran scomplimen t. a check f rom lIS f or 50% of his original pay
mitter we want to know the list price, weight,
m o rt. TIlliS you r vote each mOlltli uoiJJ serve to Jrdp me in
s ize, tubes used, ba n ds cover ed , ac power on
the selection of ivtvre articles and 'will encou rage good
s t a n dby , a e p ower under f u ll load, h eating
t ..ritcrs both 1n'th plaudits alld some extra eash t
under fuJI load, inpu t t o final, ou t pu t p ower,
efficien cy, frequency st a b ili t y dur ing tran smit,
drift during s t a nd by , a n ten na s wit ch in g proWrit ing For 73
visions, compa tibi lity with other comm ercial
gear, how well f u sed , how well the op er a t or
N E of t he fi r s t m oves in planning the pubis protected from electrocution, ea se of serlicat ion of 73 wa s to get in touch with
vicing, TVI , ea se of tuni ng, ease of bandpast authors of h am articles and explain t o
ch a nging, calibration of VFO (if any), r ethem that t here was a n ew m agazi ne comi ng
set a b ili t y of VFO, backlash of VFO dial, s pota n d t hat it needed articles. To encou r age th em
ting sw it ch , high voltage on st a n dby , h igh
we esta blished the firm po licy of paying for
a ll articles immediately upon a cceptance. This voltage under fu ll loa d , interlocked, overload
rel ay or protection, 108 volt test, 132 v olt li ne
encouraged qui t e a f ew, a s yo u ca n sec in t h is
t est, au dio response, sh ip p ing weight, con nectiss ue, and a s you wi ll see in t he s ubseq uent
ing wires su p plied , driving power required
Iss ues.
(amplifiers) on variou s bands, etc.
There mu st be a lot more of you w it h in ter Th en comes the object ive on -t he-ai r a ctivity
esting ideas to com mun icate. Na turall y we
wi th the r ig for a cou ple of weeks t o g et th e
prefer tec hnical a nd con s t r uction a rticl es, b ut
f eel of it . By thi s ti me t he writer s hou ld be
if it is in teresti n g and hammy we'll probably able to turn out qu ite a pi ece, li st ing t he st atiss hell out. One author ha s hustled us f or over
tics and pointing u p the more posit ive a spect s
$ 1000 so f ar a nd shows n o s ig n of drying up
of t he eq u ipment in a gene ra l commenta ry .
vet
'Ve n eed t h e sa me t rea tment f or r eceivers
and other ham items. Anyb ody interested? Th e
Sug gested Procedure
pay is mi se rable. All t hose who do not vol u n teer take one step ba ck ward s.
If you're in doubt abou t whethe r we'll bu y
or not just sen d in a n outline and, if possible,
Our Ad vertisers
some pictures. we'll probably OK it. Try to
get t he best pi ctures you ca n a n d type it u p
It t akes a lot of personal in te rest in t he
double spaced (use a d ictiona ry) .
hobb y for an adver tiser to ru n an ad in a
brand n ew ham magazine. He ha s to put a side
questions about what t his will cost h im in dolLaboratories Needed
lars per thou s and r eaders a nd how much duplica tion he is gettin g of reader sh i p in other
Reader s and ma nufact u rers both ex pect u s
ham magazines. He a lready has hi s budget alto run t he same old t ests on n ew equ ip ment and
located for a long time ahead and this mean s
write up pleasant little blurbs whi ch carefully
an extra u nexpected ex pen se wh ich may well
s idestep t he obviou s shor tcom ing s of th e gear
bring li ttl e r et urn.
and repeat a lmost verbati m t he s pecifi cations
published in t he ad s. I h ave t r ied r u n n ing h onSince it is ad ver t is ing revenues t ha t mak e
es t r eports on equipment in the past only to
it possible for m agazi nes to btl publish ed we
meet m ountains of emotion from the manufacall owe a lot of gratitude t o t he handful of
turers and their advertising agencies and
(Continued on p.ge 25)

..... de W2NSD

from'
a comPletely;n:e:w~~:-;'-;-1
CIT I ZEN S BAN D
that meet~. *
T R A NS c s: V E R
FCC regulatIOnS
- EICO premounts, prewires, pretunes, and seals the ENTIRE

transmitter oscillator circuit to conform with FCC regulations

(Section 19.71 subdivision d). EICO thus gives you the transceiver in kit form that you can build and put on the air without
the supervision of a Commercial RadioTelephone Licensee!

.......
.
....
;;

iiii!i!
f

Kit

# 76 1: 117 VAC & 6 VDC

# 762 : 117 VAC & 12 VDC

incl. mig. bracket (Pat. Pend.)

$69.95
Wired

$99.95

NEW! 60-WATT CW
TRANSMITTER # 723

Kit $49 .95

Wi red $19.95

< .0o

Ideal fo r novice or advanced ham

needi ng low-powe r, stenc- by rig,

60W CW, SOW exte rnal p lat e moo-

le

utatt on. 80 t hrough 10 meters.

:., t

COLOR & MONO DC5MC UB &

TV 5" OSCILLOSCOPE # 460
Wi red $129.50
Kit $79.95
5" PUSHPULL OSCILLOSCOPE
# 425 Kit $44.95 Wir ed $79.95

gO-WATT CW TRANSMITTER
# 720 Kit $79.95 Wi red $119.95
U. S. Pat. No. 0-184,776
"Top cuauty" ElEC TRONIC
KITS GUIDE. Ideal f or veteran or
nov ice. 90W CWo 65W exte rnal
plate modulati on . 80 th rough 10
meters .

PEAKTOPEAK VTVM # 232

Kit $29 .95
Wired $49.95
VACUUM TUBE VOLTMETER # 22 1
Kit $25.95
Wired $39.95

HIGHLEVEL UNIVERSAL
MOOULATORDRIVER # 730
Kit $49.95
Wi red $79.95
Deli vers SOW undi stort ed audi o.
Modulates transm itte rs having
RF i nputs up to 100W. Unique
ove r-modutatton i ndi cat or . Cover
E5 $4.50 .

RF SIGNAL GENERATOR # 324

(150kc435mc)
Kit $26.95
Wired $39.95
JVrM SWEEP GENERATOR
& MARKER # 368
Kit $69.95
Wired $119.95

GRID DIP METER # 710

Kit $29.95
Wi red $49.95
Incl udes complete set of co ils
fo r f ull band coverage . Co nti nu~!Jr-- ous cove rage 400 kc t o 250 me.
III
SOD ua meter .

DYNAMIC CONDUCTANCE TUBE

& TRANSISTOR TESTER # 666
Wi red $109.95
Kit $69 .95
TUSE TESTER # 625
Kit $34.95
Wired $49.95

ElCD, 3300 H. BlVd., L.I.C. 1, H. Y.

Show me how to save 50 % on 72
models of topquality: 0 Ham
Gea r n Test Inst ru ments 0 Hi
"S"e nd f ree Short Course fo r
Fi
Novice License. Send fre e catalog and name of neighborhood
[I CO di stributor.

' 3-l u
Name............................................................................................

Address

City
Add 5 % in the We st.

.
Zone

St ate

--------------------

I
I

It jJays to insist on

STANDARD OF EXCELLENCE SINCE 1934

AMATEUR TYPES
40 and 80 Meters, PR Type Z-2
Z-2

Ru gg ed . Low drif t . fu nd amental osc illa to rs. H igh ac ttvt tv and

po w e r o u tp u t. Sta nds u p un d e r m a ximu m c rys ta l c u r ren ts . Stahle.
lo n g- la st in g ; -+- '=;00 cyc les
---.$ 2. 9 5 Net

Third Overtone, PR Type Z-9A

H crm c ticnl ly sca le d ; calib rat ed 24,000 to 24,666 a nd 2.1,000 to
2i ,OOO K c.. + 3 Kc.: .0.1 0" pins..---..------_S4 .95 Net

6 Meters, PR Type Z-9A

F ift h o vc r ton e : for o p era t ing d irec tlv in 6-mct c r ba nd; hermet ica lly scaled; calib ra ted 50 to 54 Xl c., 15 K c.: .050" pin s.
$6.95 Net

CITIZENS BAND CLASS "D"

Type Z-9R, Transmitter
f C C assign ed frequencies in m egac y c l c s : 26.965, 26.975, 26.985,

27.005, 27.0 15 , 27.025, 27.035 ,

27.05 5, 27.065, 27.075, 27.085,
27. 105, 27. 115,27. 125,27. 135 ,
27.155, 27. 16 5,27.175 ,27. 185,
27.205 , 27.2 15, 27.225; calibrated
to .00 5% . (Be sure to specify manufacturer of equipment)
$2.95 Net

Z-l

CITIZENS BAND CLASS "D"

Type Z-9R, Receiver
Specify I.F. frequen cy, also wheth er receiver osci ll ator is a bove or
below transmitter Frequency. C alibrated to .005%. (lie su re to specify
ma nu facturer of eq uiprncn t.)
$2.95 Net

Type Z-9R, Radio Control

2XP

FC C assigned Frequencies in megac vc lc s: 26.995, 27.045, 27.09 5,

27. 145,27.19 5, 27.2 55; calibra ted
to .005%. (Be su re to specify manufacturer of eq uipmen t)......$2.95 Net

Type 2XP
Sui tabl e fo r co nverte r s, ex pe r im en ta l, e t c. Same hold er
dim e ns ion s as T yp e Z-2.
1600 to 12000 Kc., (Fu nd.) 5 K c
$3.45 Net

12001 t o 25000 Kc. (3 rd O vertone) + 10 Kc

ALL

PR

CRYSTALS ARE UNCONDITIONALLY

ORDE R FROM YOUR JOBBER.

COMMERCIAL TYPES
Commerc ial Crystal s available from
100 Kc. to 70 Me . Prices on request.

Type Z-I, MARS and CAP

O fficia l assign ed fr equ en cies in
the ra n ge. Calibra te d to .005 % .
1600 to 10000 K c
$3.45 Net

Type Z I, TV Marker
Ch an n els 2 th ru 13....$6.45
4.5 M e. Interea rri er,
$2.95
.01 %
5.0 M c. Si gnal Generator,
$2.95
.01 %
10.7 M c. F M, I F ,
$2.95
.01 %

."

A "~ATC:IID

ClAn.'"

Net
Net
Net

Type Z-6A,
Frequency
Standard
T o dete rmi n c band
edg-e, T o kee p th e
\' F O and recei ver
pr-operIy ca libra ted.
100 K, . . . $6.95

Net

$4.45 Net
GUARANTEED.

EX PO RT SA I.ES: R oyal N ati onal Corpo ra tio n , 250 \V. 5 7t h St ree t , New York 19, N . Y., U . S. A .
L

Net

Z-6A

CELEBRATING
Leo

r. Me ye rs on ,
WpG FQ

YEARS OF SERVICE

AT THE

arme
TECHNICIAL

I r:

ANCED AMATEUR

\ .-~- , .,

Headqua

NOW WITH OUR EXCITINC N

or-

a Needs
\ LihPNJiJ Ttm&13~mpJt1/Pf.oJv
I

_ _ t_ _ ,.,-_ .....

_~.

._- -

RECONDITIONED EQUIPMENT

- -:.....-----i..
~~!!!.,~~!~, ~,

Wi th nearly 800 ite ms con tin uall y in stock

and a t urnove r of nearly 500 pieces eacn
month. Wor ld Radiu offe rs the EconomyMinded th e fin est in used gea r. sent to
you i n " like f act ory new" ccndmcn . Inctcent auy. t his ta tge- f umcver arrows us
t o offe r t he Nat ion' s best Trades, t oo.

"
. ~~ \ "'

146 .. . ""

B
.,.-,.,.-,--,-.,- - ',..,.--....

lUST OFF THE PRESS

FREE 1961

25t/e A,uduM.r~
CATALOC
200 Pages of Top
H

am

a rgalns

Send for Yours

is handsome z-corcr wall map measures 28x 36"; shows carr are as, t ime zones.
mitu t ing stations, major t o....ns and cities; includes a WAS Check Ust ; wi ll

;.the. ;of;;.;m;;50;';;' _ _ _ _ _

TODAY ,

:2'5

fJ

n
l

n'ROm

l RBORRfORlfS

WORLD RADIO LABORATORIE~S~~J

3415 W. BROAD WAY
PHON E 32 8-1851 COUNCIL BL UFFS, IOWA
RUSH o NEW CATALOG 0 FREE RECOND ITIONED EQUIPM ENT LI STS

I
o
I
I
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - ...
DEAR LEO: PLEASE
ENCLOS ED

IS MY $ . 50 FOR RADIO REFER ENCE MAP

NAM E:

ADDR ESS :

---- -_ ... _...

CA LL

,C ITY & STATE:

73 AIvIAT EUR RA DIO

The
Audio
Booster

ow wou ld you like to have 100 percent

modulation a t all times, instead of just
on peaks?
Here's a gadget that hangs be tween your
mike plug' and the tran smitter input that can
do just that f or you' . It's based on an unu sual
telephone-repeater circuit developed for use
on a 26-mile intercom line. Addition of a gaincontrolling channel produced The Audio
Booster.
The original circuit wa s uniqu e in that it
amplified s ig n a ls passing in eit her direction
over the line, a nd had only one set of terminals
which doub led a s in put and ou t p u t . This feature ha s been retained, in case your rig puts
an audio s ig n al ba ck int o t h e m icro ph on e.
The quickest way to analyze circuit operation is to take a look at the block diagram,
Fig. 1, and the input-bridge sim pli fi ed schematic, Fig. 2, while reading the following para.
graphs.
' You don' t t-eaIly wan t to a d j us t it t hat wa y. thouah.
It wo uld wi pe out all a m p li tude variation. leaving on ly
t he freque ncy compone nts to carry your voice, a nd t he
result is completel y un tn telfigt ble !

~
,

L _ __ ___ _

Jim Kyle. KSJKXjb

11953 Cameo Place
G ranado H ill s, Co lif

Looking a t Fig'. 1, you'H see that a sig na"

coming from the microphone passes througl
the input-bridge to the in put sides of both amplifiers. Am plifier No. 1 boosts the sig-nal some
40 db, then rectifies it to produce a posit.ive
control voltage. This cont rol voltage is app liec
to Amplifier No.2 to adjust its gain . W it h f
strong sig na l, represent ing an a ud io peak, t he
gain of Am pli fi er No.2 can be red uced to zero
With a weak sig na l, however, Amplifier No
2 can produce some 50 db gain.
The amplified output from No. 2 is returnee
to the in put-bridge ci rcuit, fro m which it goes
on to t he t ransmitter. You can see t hat a
strong sig na l, or peak, will not be affected b)
the presence of the Booster. Weaker sig na ls,
or "valleys", though, will receive some 40 d1:
of boost. Since the d ynami c range of yo ur
microphone 's output is probably only about 20
to 25 db, thi s means that you have the ability
to turn s peech "inside out" amplitude-wise, it
you like. By adju stment of the limi ting thresh.
old control in the AGe line, however, you
can keep the sig-na l right side up while reducing the dynamic range to only 3 01" 4 db if
you lik e.

-[>
-

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ ...J

I:J

Fig. I. Bl ock d iagram of the Aud io Booste r a nd

its He-In to you r audio system. Operation is
el plained in the ted.
8

73 AMATE U R RADIO

Fig. 2. ln put-brldq e circ uit, simplifi ed sch ema tic d iagra m. If all resistance are eq ual, the
bridge is balance d.

L - t - ---:::-..........--+--l!---
,

....

PARTS LI ST

To ns b , me rs;
11 -

12Tro ns;sto r input t r.:l ns fo rme r, p rimar y impedance .2 me g . seco nda ry impe d a nce 1 K
(Sta nco r TA-47 with primol y and secondary
( co nections re ve rsed, o r e q ui va le nt )

The input-bridge circuit is the feature borrowed f rom the airfield int e r co m design. Fig.
2 will p robably look fam iliar to you as a
W hea t s ton e br idge. The bridge, when balan ced ,
produces infi ni te isolation between te r mina ls
1 a nd 3 a nd term inals 2 a nd 4, and vice versa .
However, jf a signal is coupled across arm A
on ly, it will show up at both sets of terminals.
Conversely, a s ignal fed in at either pair of
term in als will show up in arm A .
T herefore, arm A ca n be co n nected a cr oss
a n a ud io lin e, a nd a ny s ig n a l appea r in g on t he
line will s ho w up a t a ll f ou r te rm ina ls of t he
b ridg-e . Let's hook 1 a n d 3 up to the input of
a n amplifier, and 2 and 4 to the output' . Now,
any signal coming in on the line will go to the
amplifier input. After it has been amplified,
it will come back in to t he opposite and isolated
br id g e t ermi nal s, and be ret urned to t he line
f ro m whe nce it came. S t ill, inpu t a n d ou t p ut of
t he a mplifier a re isolat ed and osc illa t ion will
not develop.
Theoretically, there's no limit to the amplification you can obtain with one of these. I n
practice, about 40 db . is the limit, since that's
~No ti c e

t hat Lot h input a nd output oC the amplifier

mu st be Isolated f rom ground. T hi s means t hat transCormer coupling is a must when using this circuit.

T3-

Tro ns:sto r inters ta ge tronsfarm er. pr;mtlr y im _

pedance 10 K. seco nd a ry im ped o nce . 16 meg
(Sta nco r TA.32 0 1 e q uiva le nt)
Tran sis tor interstage t ransforme r, p rima ry i m~
pe dance 10 K, seconda ry impeda nce 200 ohm ,
(Sta nco l TA-34 o r e q uiva le nt)

approaching the limit of isolation in a practical bridge circuit. If the line is non-reactive,
and if you provide a fine balance adjustment
( R 13 in F ig . 3) and take care in co nstruction
to mi n im ize str ay coupli ng, a few more decibels may be sq ueezed out.
The only thing to watch out for in construct ion of the Booster is stray coupling around
the br-idge. This may limit your usable gain
a nd consequently the compression ratio of the
gadget. Otherwise, co nstructio n is accordingto usual transistor practices. An LM B No. 143
box chassis provides plenty of room f or components. Locki ng -t y pe potentiometers are recommended, but they're expensive. H. H. Smith
lock nuts for st a n d a r d volume controls work
just as well.
To put the booster in operation, first hook it
a cros s the input of an amplifier connected to a
speaker. RI, the floor level control, should be
a t mi n imum settin g- a nd the A Ge li ne s hould
be temporarily grounded to remove all control
voltage from the boosting amplifier (connect
a jumper from the base end of R12 to the return line).
Slowly advance RI toward maximum. At
~OIlW point, u nless yo u're lucky a nd ha ve }It'I' (Continu ed on pag e 46 J
_A

..... . . . .

. . . ... . ....

...

"

Somethin o
"-oJ

NeVv

R. E. Ba i rd , W7CS D
O reg o n Te chnical ln sfitute

Frequency
Modulation
produ ction of a new and st r a ng e k ind
of variable capacitor recent ly ca me to the
attention of the wr it er. This ca pacitor takes the
f orm of a semiconductor, is about the size of
a ge r ma ni u m di ode, and is a vailable in s izes
f rom 7 to 100 m m fd. The str an ge t hing abou t
t his little gadget is t hat t he ca pacity is a
functi on of a de bias voltage impres sed a cross
it. The manufacturer, P a cific Semiconductors
I nc., Cul ver City, Calif or n ia , u se a s t a n da r d
voltage of f our volt s a s t he 100 % capacity
rati ng poin t. It may be seen from the cu rve
in F ig . 1 t hat a t ze ro volt a g e t he ca pa city is
about 250 tfr a nd a t 100 volts t he capacity ha s
dropped t o 20 % of t he -1 volt va lue. Cauti011 :
A r everse polarity voltage sh ou ld n ever be
used and any su per im pose d a c peak m ust n ot
g o on the other side of zero.
As soon a s you get th e full import of the
a bo ve you begin to get idea s. Th e "Varicap,"
for s uch is its tra de name, has ma ny pos sibiliti es. The firs t one the writ er thoug-ht of wa s
an F :M m odulator.

The Modulator

HE

It is fa irly obviou s t hat t he Varicap a s part

of th e fr equ ency det ermining cir cu it in a sell
exci ted oscillat or would vary the frequency ir
a ccord with its bias voltage. It was decided tl
use t h e Varicap in con j u nction with a Mei ssner Signal Shifter t o achieve FM. A close
check with an os cilloscope revealed t hat thr
peak voltag-e across t he frequency determi nin g
grid tank of the oscillator might run a s b ig!
a s 20 volts. S ince a bias voltage in excess 01
20 volts is not in t he p ortion of the cu r ve mos1
us able f or thi s purpose, it wa s decid ed t h at
a 5 mmfd ce ram ic would be put in ser ies 'w itt
the 50 (approx) m mfd Varicap a cros s th e
t a nk a s sh own in Fhr. 2. T hi s give s a voltage
d ivis ion leaving les s t han 2 volt s r f across the
Varicap whi ch ca n be biased with 3 or 4 v olts
de.
The modul a t or was con st r u cted a s sho w n ir
t he illustrati ons and connected a cross the g r it
tuning cond enser in the S ignal Shifter witt
Cou r t esy of Pacific S emi.
,
....
Fig . I conductors , Inc., 10451
Fi g. 2 ...
W e:;t JetTersun Bouleva rd, Cu lver C ity , Cst t rornta

'00
250
2GO
2"0
220
200

'80
,GO

''0

'00
GO
GO

CAPAClTAfl;C E lei

'0
20

o O~O

~ O

__

-~

~O

~O ~O~O

O~O ~8

~N~~~~~~~m~~m~~~

.. .. ...-.. - _. _.-

:JI

audi o input jack in the side of the cabinet.

T ests indicated r ath er high quality speech ,
even using s lope detection. In th e shifter
shown the oscillator frequency is 10.5 me and
out p ut is on 21 me. This in turn f eeds a 400
watt power a m plifie r .

Side bands
For amateur use NFl\I ha s been defined a s
F:\l which takes up the sa me band width a s
conventional Al\L The Vari cap offers an unu sual possibility in that the s ize of one side
band may be greatly reduced . If the Varicap
is bias ed at t he knee of the curve, approximately four volts, a r eduction of 2 volts will
rai se the capacity 50 % while an i ncr ea se of
2 volts will decrea se th e capacity only about
10% . \Vith an a e s ig n a l it will be seen that
t he lower s ide band wiII be mu ch wider than
the upper s ide band; in fact, the upper side
band almost di sappears. You might sa y we
have sing le s ide band FM, with ca r rie r . If the
bias is r educed t o less than 3 volts, s ide bands
approach the s a m e size.

Quantitative Tests
The writer had never used Fl\I in ham radio
before, so it seem ed th at some t ests a s t o its

effecti veness were in or der .

U sing a dummy antenna and tone modula tion th e transmitter was ad justed for 100 %
AM. An HQ -160 located about 100 yard s di stant was th en adju st ed so t hat t he a udio out put indicated by a VTVM was 1 volt, when
tuned for maximum sig na l. W ithout changing
a ny volume control on th e HQ-160, th e AM
was removed , a nd Fl\I substi tu ted. Tuned f or
maximum s lo pe detection th e audio measured
.9 volts. The s ide band wa s obser ved to be 3
kc wide. This is cer ta inly a pretty good argumen t fo r Fl\1. F or t he C \V m a n wan ting t o g o
on ph one the economy would be ha rd to beat.
It ju st s o happ ened that the power amplifier used was a pair of su p p r essor grid modulated 4 E 27A t u bes. A s such , in order t o get

100 % AM it is necessary t o run at a hi gh

negative voltage on t he s u pp r esso rs and very
inefficient ca rr ier cond it ions. A second t est
was run with th e s u p pr essor grid s ground ed .
This of cou r se doubled th e input and t he
effic iency g iv ing abou t f our t imes a s mu ch carri er power (with th e tu bes running cooler).
The measured audio voltage a t the output of
th e HQ-160 wa s exactly 2 volts. So it would
seem that t he FM ha s an efficiency modulated
AM s ys tem bea t by a ratio of 2 to 1. This a ss u mes, of course, that the power s u p ply can
deliver the ex t r a power. If s uch is the ca se
the a mplifier w ill p ut ou t twi ce a s mu ch tal k
power on FM a s it will on efficie ncy m odulat ed
AM .

On the Air Tests

On th e air tests have le ft nothing- bu t sa tisfa ction. Report s continually are r eceived " I
wouldn't have known it wa s FM if you hadn' t
t old m e." Com pa r ison of AM and FlU sa me
carri er level ha ve been j u st about a dead heat
and with th e power upped, a s indi ca t ed above,
th e FM is way ahead.
One very peculiar r eport which ha s left the
w r iter pu zzled is tha t man y ham s who have
r eceived other Fl\I s ig-na ls say that Fl\I by th is
method is much cleaner and eas ier to copy.

You would think tha t FM is FM no m a tter

how you get it, but such seems not to be the
case. P ossibly the curve presented by the rate
of chang e of capacity better com plemen ts the
selectiv ity curve of most recei vers th an d oes
r eactance tube modulation or some other
method. Di scrimina tor detection ha s been reported a s exce llent.
The Vari cap m a kes a firs t class Fl\I m odulato r em body ing si m plicity itself. The rea der
might be in terested to know that a high impedance m ik e driving' a s in g le tran sistor will
opera te th e Vm-i cap m odulator. A kilowa tt
t r a nsm itte r with one t ra ns istor as t he only
s t ag e of audio is a litt le unu sual to sa y the
least. We will perhaps see many other uses
f or th e Vari cap in th e futur e.
rum

the past few years, s ince t he V HF operation s took deep roots, many manufacturers,
together with some of the braver amateurs
embarked on a rather new idea of building and
marketing converters for most fr equencies in
t he a mat eur s pect r u m . Each one claimed better perf ormance, m ore gadget s and a lower
pri ce. Some of the manufacturers incorporated
ex pe nsive tubes, others u sed common tubes
with tricky dolled up circuits cla iming- r idi culou aly low noi se figure t hat could only be
a chieved by parametric amplifiers or tunn el
dicd es.
The consensus of op in ion amon g many
bret hen is that t he m ore tubes and gadgets
t hat are s pla ttered in the circuit , th e better
th e performance. N othing is farth er from the
truth in t he majority of cases. Of course there
are circuits with desirable gadgets that can
be found in many good converters whose s pecs
N

s ib ili ties of u aing a common drug-store variet y

of tubes to do a man s ize job in the VHF
region. Making a page by page search in t he
tube manuals for data and cu r ves on variou s
inexpensive tubes, the 6US offe red favorabl e
an swers and wa s given th e acid test by building a 144 me converter arou nd them. S everal
circuit s and com pone n ts lay-outs were tried
and eva lu a ted in th e frequen cy range of 50
me to 220 me a nd work ing model s bu ilt. Upon
completion of these models and opti mizing of
their circuits, reduction of components and
miniaturization wa s und ertaken for si m p licit y,
s pace sav ing' and r eduction in cost. As you
will n oti ce, t here are n o su per fl uo us g imm icks,
rf chokes or ex pe nsive f eed-tbru ca p a ci tors
that are almost universall y used in commercial gear. These items were completely ignored
by p roper parts lay-out and point to point
wiring that is clean and s t r a ig ht forward.

Bantam
Converters
J ohn W o nso wlcz. W9 DUT
4227 N. Ori ole Aven ue
Norridge 34. Illi nois

ca n be checked and f ound as ad vertised. Bu t

there are many on the market that do not
meet the advertised cla ims a lthough they pos sess t he sa me number of components or pe rh a ps even more gadgets. Now, how is one
to k now without first buying and su ffer in g
with the unit until somet h in g better, or a t
least different, comes along for an other bi tter
ex per ie n ce? That type of oper a tion is n ot too
bad for t h ose that can easily afford it, bu t h ow
abou t the ham with a limited budget and a
bur n ing des ire t o own s omet h ing good the fi r st
tim e?
T h is article wa s written especially fo r th ose
who wa n t the mos t f or t he ir dollar and perso nal s a tis f action in const r uct ing a fin e uni t
ca pa ble of maximum performance with t he
minimu m of components. The s im ple bantam
converters her ewit h described, we s pa r ked
about two years ago while exploring t he posI?

71:

A"AATJ:I I D

DAniA

Lay-out
The mechanical lay-out of all converters except t he 220 me are identical , and a typ ical
chass is lay-out will se r ve them all. Coil fo rms
are % " O.D. C.T.C. s lu g tun ed and all b ias res ist ors a n d isolation r esistors are typical.
However, the by-pas s capacitors and cou pling
capacitors are chosen f or optimu m performance at the oper a t ing f r eq uencies and these
are indicated in the parts list.
I n laying ou t the m in i-box chas si s care mu st
be exercised not to deviate from dimen sions
given for they are important in so far a s
proper coupling between coils and g ood s h ield ing between input and out pu t ci r cu its is co nce r ned . The mini-box chass is is a Bud prod uct, No. CU-3 016 ( 4"A x2 "A x 1 %) natural
fini sh aluminum. The sh ield , a s seen in t he
photo, is 1/32" brass plate s h a ped a n d cu t

L..

0E-4-40 TAP.
F-*30 DRIL12
G-2-56 TAP

ut fo r the tube socket a nd mounted as shown

n t he drawing. It is held in pl ace by t wo
-56 screws a nd soldered to t he ce nter of t he
ube socket. T his also serves as a 100v reist ance grou nd pla te to wh ich all com ponents
et urning to grou nd are soldered.
The m echan ica l difference in the 220 m c
onve r ter is t he add ition of a no t he r 3 / 16"
loll' for an extr a coi l a nd s light juggling
f other parts to fi t the sa me t y pe of chass is.
'his ca n be seen in th e f u ll s ize dr awings.

Circuits
In describing the circuits let s start w ith
he hi g hes t freque ncy converter first , t he 220
rIC u nit. In this co nverter, as in all others,
he first tube, a GUS, performs two functions.

T he triode section is used as a low noise

grounded grid a m plifi er and the pe ntode section is used as a mixer. T he s igna l is fed
through the var iable capacitor C l to a ta p on
t he cathode co il Ll wh ich is slug tuned , a nd
t he ampl ified signal a t the plate of L2 is ind uct ively cou pled by the close proximity of
t he co ils to t he g ri d of t he mix er. The g r id
is cou pled to t he coi l by l a mmf ca pac it or and
a test point sepa r ated by two 470K r esistors
is pr-ovided for measuring osc ill ator inj ection,
a s will be exp la ined in " testing". Th e pl ate of
t he m ixe r is t u ned to l a mc t he if fr equency
a nd t he outp ut is link coupled fo r low impedan ce ou t p ut to the receiver . Incid ent a lly,
t his 13 mc if coil is %" od C.T .C., t he same
size form a s in all other converters.
The second 6US is a generator th at provides

SH I ELD DETAILS

three functi ons in one envelop e ; oscillator,

tr-ipler and doubl er . The grid of the pentode
section and its screen is us ed a s a t h ird overtone crystal osci llator. The scr een is tu ned t o
s lig htl y higher t han th e crystal frequen cy of
:34 .5 me. T he sign a l appeari ng at t he sc re en
ha s a h a r m on ic con t en t st ro ng enough so that
t he plate circui t can pick off t he third h a rmo ni cs and is tuned t o 103.5 me. This ou t p ut
is t hen ca paci t ivel y coupled t o th e grid of the
triod e sec t ion a n d t he p late of t h is t r iode is
tu ned to t he second h ar mon ic making i t r es on an t a t 207 me. This sign a l, beating wi th t he
incom ing sig n a l of 220 me p r oduces an if freq uency of 13 me . S ince the r eceiver tunes from
13 to 18 m e a cove r a ge of 220 to 225 me is
ach ie ved.
Th e 108, 144, a nd 152 me conver ters use
%" ad coil form s in a ll circuits and the fir st
(i U 8 performs t he sa me function a s in th e
220 me unit. However . the secon d 6U8 differs
in t h a t it is used a s a n oscillato r in t h e triod e
s ec t ion a nd a tt-ipler in t he pen tode sect ion ,
a s s hown in t he sch ema t ic.
The 50 me and lower f requency converters
differ from the above by isola t ion of the cryst al oscill a to r onl y. The tri ode sect ion is us ed
a s t he s t r a ig h t through crystal oscilla tor
oper ati ng on t he cr ysta l fundam ental frequency, and t h e pentode section is tuned to
t he oscill ator f requency and cont rolled by adj usti ng t he core in the outpu t coil L5 fo r
p rope r inj ection voltag e to t he mi xer, by sli g h t ly det u n in g it. F or best si g na l-to-no ise rati o
and best sensit iv it y of all these converters it

was f ound that injection voltage of .6 to .8

volts at t he t est p oint measured with a Simps on Mod el 260 Volt-O h mmeter was optimum.
H igh er or lowe r inj ecti on brough t hig he r noise
or lower sensitivity.
Although the author ha s built converters
be low 50 me, t he coil data is not g iven since
mo st commercia l receivers tun e up to 30 m e.
However , th ose int erested in constr uct ing converters below thi s range sh ou ld u se a grid
d ipper fo r r esonating the coils and pi ck ou t
the s ize and t y pe of coils a s a sta rte r from
t he coil ch a rt given under the head ing of R es.
F'req.
Construction
The construction of these converters is quite
sim ple and compone nts are in expens ive. However, proper sequ en ce of parts placement is
impo rtant for ease of a ssembly. Bear in m ind
th at a ll components excep t the coils a re placed
a nd so ldered in t hei r respective positio ns; then
ma ke u p t he coils f or t he d esired ba nd, secu r e
them t o the chas sis a nd solder in the neces sary
parts to the coils.
Step one. After the chas sis ha s been layed
out and drilled, fasten in the two sockets or ienting them a s shown. Next fa sten in the bra s s
sh ield solder in g it t o the cen ter lug and pins
5 and 9 of the rf socket .
Step tw o. Fasten the antenna, if ou t p u t and
power conn ectors into place a s s ho wn in t he
photo and make th e necessary con nections to
them.

Step th ree. Solder in the re si stors and capaitors.

S tep f ou r. S ecure and solder in t he coils.
'his seque nce proved to be bes t for t he many
onver-tet-s t ha t ha ve been buil t and elim inated
he scor ch ing of com p onents w it h the solder ing
ron or leavi ng col d solder j oint s in hard to
:et at places.

B + and notice if your r eceiver S-meter kicks

up with addition al n ois e. If n ot , the oscillator
is not wor king and t he osc. core s ho u ld be adj usted to s lig h tl y higher frequ ency. \Vhile adj us t ing thi s core obser ve the S-meter for a
slig'ht s win g or liste n to yo ur s pea ker for an
increa se in noise, then leave t he core set a t
t h is position. If the oscilla tor kicks out a
good sig na l t h e voltmeter at the te st point will
al so ind icat e a sli g ht r eadi ng. Now, obse r v ing
t he voltmet e r, t u ne t he trlple r coil L 5 f or the
hi gh es t r eading. N ext, tune in a s ig na l on
your receiver and peak the r est of the coi ls
for t he loud est s ig n a l. After all coils are
t uned , r et urn to t he tripler co il L5 a n d adju st
the inj ec t ion voltag e fo r .6 to .8 v olts. At
th is point th e s ig na l a p pea rs cleanest. During
thi s ad justment it m ay be neces sary to s lig h t ly touch up on t h e mixer g r id coil L3. After thi s
is done a n d t he s ign a l is t u n ed in, t r y playing
with th e cathod e coil Lj and the s er ies ant enna capaci tor C1, juggling them f or t h e best
s ig nal-to-noise r ati o.
In t he 220 mc co nverter t he t r i p le r coil L7
sh ou ld be peak ed fo r th e highest indication on
t he meter and left al one. T hen j u g gle for injection voltage between th e d oubler coil L5,

Tuning
Tuning of all conver ters is rather t y p ica l ;
.nly s lig h t deviations may be n eces sary on
orne fr equencies, and these w ill be a pparent
o t he bu ilde r .
Let's st a rt t u n in g the mo s t popular one, the
A4 me converter. If a grid d ipper is hand y,
.he en t ir e unit ca n be closely t u ned and t hen
rea ked on t he a ir . H owever, to optim ize t he
rerform a n ce, a n oise gene r a tor s hould be
tsed. A s suming tha t neither is on hand le t's
rt ar -t by set ti ng the cores in all coils about half
vay: next, inser t t he n egati ve lead of your
{olt-Oh m meter into t he test j ack and th e pos i.ive lead to ch a ss is. S et the Volt-met er to its
owest de rang e. Connect th e an t enna to the
nput a nd if out pu t t o you r r eceiver tu ned to
l4 mc. Appl y power to t he conve rte r ; 150 volts

(Continued on page 46)

R6

150

.-

IK
.

C3
R5
47K

R2
IK

RI
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GUS
C5

, ,

C2 l

L5

-----..,
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~RASS SHIEL D

R3

AMPLIFIER

lI,MPHENOL

---

TP.

MALE
POWER

CONNECTOR

..

--_
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OFF

JONES MALE PLUG

R4

R-C

4 70 K

COMB.

POWER CONNECTOR

~ SOLDER TO

'~'5

CONNECTOR

JONES

R- C COMB.

I
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7

470K

NOT.' ALL RESISTORS ARE 1/2 W

C7

BRASS SHIEL D

(MODIFIED)

3 -8+
~HEATER

i -GROUND

6.3v

I
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I +150

R-C
COM B.

+15 0

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R9

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SCHEMATIC FOR 152 MC CONVERTER

14 4 "
"
108 "
"

50"

11

':l..

RIO

e12 2 : : :

p' .;IO K

OSCILL ATOR

XTALS
M C ~4 6 .3 3 3
M C ~43 .3 3 3

108 MC- 3 1.33 3

50 MC- 36

---_

GUS

144

L6

152

{..;9

..

R7

--a

R8

lOOK

TRIPPLER
7 ' 001<7

,(\.

+6~3v

NOTE -" TUNE THE PENTOO, SECTION

TO THE OSCIL L ATOR FREo.

73 AMATEU R RA DI O

15

The Risky
Hobby
of Hamming
fol ks th ink t hat h ams are the world' s
worst at hletes, but t he truth is that amateur radio has put the daring young- man on
the flying trapeze in second place, The cause
for t he confusion may be that magazines usually picture a ham r eclining in a plush swivel
cha ir sur veying a tabl e full of gear, not gi ving the slig h test hint that there is more t o the
game than meets the eye. H ow is the casual
reader t o know t ha t the limp-looking guy in
the photograph s pent half the day wrapped
around the weaving top of a IOO-foot tower
juggling a handful of 00015 and a fifteen
pound rotator in a gale wind? As a general
rule, it's safe to sa y that for every set of call
letters heard on the bands, somebody hu ffed
and puffed to t ie a long wire or install a beam
a ntenna.
" My X YL worries about extra pou nd s,"
sa ys one limber fe llow, "but all I ha ve to do
to stay t rim is run up a nd down my tower
a couple t imes a day."
H a ms can st ill buy life insurance, but there
are certainly lots less hazardous hobb ies. The
wildest game of tiddly-winks r esults in nothing
worse than a sore tiddling finger, but anybody
OME

~!----Worri e d about a fe w extra pounds1

K9A MD advocates tower-cli mbing for loss of
weig ht.

Pa rt I of a 3-part Story:
W9EH H, Mike Hrtnde k. of G a ry, Ind iana, is
"u p a tree." With a bea m ante nna, lead -in , end
t ools, he's wonde ring " W ha t 'll I do nowT '
...

16

73 AMAnllD

Dnll",\

C ar ole F. Hoover K9AM D

401 Ea st W ood Street
H ill sboro, Ill inois

who takes an unchartered flight from a sloping roof or slippery pole may end up in
enough plaster casts for an a r my to autograph.
Moat neighbors beat it to t he nearest window w hen "that electronic n ut next door"
sta rts sca ling hi s roof or t ower . The a ntics
they see for f ree in hi s back ya r d beat t elevision by a mile. A pai d hum an fl y won 't t ote
thirt y pound s of wobbling metal elements
t hrough t ree limbs and power lines without a
safety net below but a ha m will, and gladly.
Of course, the same fellow would s hudder if
offered a "risky" job like painting the house,
a nd his wife has long since given up the
perilous thought of getting him to fix the leaky
roof.
Compared t o a red -hot signal report f rom
F or mosa or Nepal, t he da nger of a compou nd
fr a cture is nothing, so without batting an
eye, am ateur r ad io op era tors scram ble over
r ooftops, sca le t owers, a nd shi nny up t ree
t r unks to get t heir an t enna s in t he best possi ble places. An s we ri ng the call of the wild
blue yo nder, they can be s potted almost anywhere, anytime. I n fact, if you see some skyhigh object that is n' t a bird, plane, or an outof-orbit astronaunt, it's probably a ham.
ml1l
Par t 2-so mething's ca ught! Jim , K9 RUH ,
a not he r Gary Ham , go es up t o see if he can
help get his bu dd y untan g led. IWh o says ham s
don 't g et exercise 7J

-,--

-)
r--_
I

O n to p of th e t ower, Di d Pattie , W9VWJ, ....

isn' t qu it e sure wh at he' ll do whe n t he 20 me ter
beam reach es his hei ght , but he'l l give it all
he's got. Thi s is just on e exam p le of t he "g reat
sp ort" of a ma te ur radi o.
W 9 EZA, Dan H oove r, of H il lsboro, Ill in ois, is
a t ypical ha m da re-devil. Repairi ng the lead-in
wire of his a nte nna 40 feet up is nothing, but
he wouldn't th ink of doing a dangerous job
... like fix ing the leaky roof.

Par t 3-Mike is making progress now, but he

has t o lea ve the be a n be hind. Whe n he gets to
the t op of t he pole, he'll worry about th e en t enne . (This story ha s a happ y e nd ing as Mike
has worked a lot of OX since thi s sunn y d a y in
Ga ry.)

Tu b el e ss
El e ct ro ni c
Key
OW would you like t o try someth ing old,
with a new twi st? H er e is an item t hat will
stir t he imaginati on of many a cw ope r ator ,
who can't afford t o s ink a weeks wa g es int o
one of t hose "new f a ngled" g a dg ets ca lled an
Electr onic Key. The offsp r ing of my junk box
is shown in the photograph; a tubeless, t r a naistor less E lectronic Key. H ow does it sound ?
I'll be t you can't di sti nguish it fr om one of
those high price j obs!
T he key has its own built-in power su p ply,
and f orms the dot a nd da sh cha r a cters through
the use of high impedance r elays operating in
sim ple RC time constant circuits. The dots and
da shes are self-com plet in g , and the s pa ces are
automatically formed between t he characters.
If the component valu es shown in t he circuit diagram arc u sed, the s peed range of t he
unit will be approximatel y 10 to 25 wpm. However , after reading the circuit analysis (wh ich
f ollows) it will become clear that a circuit of
this t ype can be mod ified to cover almost any
s peed r ange sim ply by cha nging the compon ent values of t he RC t ime con stant, cha r acte r for ming circuits.

Circuit Analysis
Line power (115 v no cv ) is appli ed t o terminals 1 & 2 on th e t erminal s t ri p . The conventional lh wave rect ifier power s upply su pplies
approximately 90 v dc, whi ch drops to about
75 v de when t he unit is keyed. Terminals 3,
4, and 5 on the terminal st r ip are wired to
the key. T er minal 3 en erg izes t he D ASH relay (K l), terminal 4 is t he common lead to
th e key, which s upplies B + power to termi nal s
3 or 5, depending upon the position of t he key,
and terminal 5 energ izes the DOT relay (K3) .
The oper a t ion of both th e dot and da sh circuits are sim ila r . In t he dot circuit, however,
t he actual speed of K3 is controlled by th e potentiometer a cross the r elay coil. The capacitor
(C5) in trod uces a slight amount of d elay helpin g to for m t he weigh t of t he dots. Otherwi se,
t he operation of t he dot and da sh circu its are
identical; t hus , only t he oper a tion of the dash
circuit will be di scussed in detail.

w hen terminal #4 is shor t ed to terminal

#3 (the key being pushed to select a dash),
de power will be passed through a set of normally closed contacts on relay K2 (the s pace
relay) directly to the coil of r elay KI (the
dash relay), energ izing relay Kt and charging
capacit or C3. when KI energizes, contacts on
Kl apply de power to the coil of K2, energizing
K2 and charging ca pacitor C4. Another set of
KI contacts close, keying the tran smitter.
When K2 en ergizes, the de power is removed
from t erminal # 4 through action of another
set of now open K2 contacts (assuming that
the key is being held in the da sh position) .
DC power is t h us removed from Kl. H owever ,
Kl does not r elea se Immed iately due to t he
charge held by ca pacitor C3. When the charge

------------ ------

_.- _.- - --

------ 0

on capac itor C3 ha s fa llen below t he hold-in

voltage of K l (the time r equired depend s upon
t he setting of PI), Kl de-energize s, breaking
the transmitter circuit and removing de power
from the coil of relay K2 . Relay K2 does not
relea se immediately, due to th e charge on
capacitor C4 (the time interval depends upon
the set t ing of P2). The set of K2 contact s in
se ri es with t erminal # 4 thu s prevents B +
power fr om rea ching the coil of Kl until 04
ha s falle n below th e hold-in voltage of coil K2.
When K2 does de-energize, Kl immediately fires

Devid l. Ce ben iss W ITU W

165 Matt hews Street
RFD #2 , Bri stol, Conn.

aga in, a nd th e cycle is re peated, prov ided t he

key is hel d closed.
Rela y K3 (the dot relay) operates in the
sa me manner a s relay KI , in conjunction with
relay K2, except for the di fferences pointed out
earlier.
Norm ally open contacts on bot h Kl and K 3
are wired in para llel acro ss te rm inals # 6 and
#8, t o wh ich th e keyed circ uit is con nected.
I n some s peed ranges. capaci tor C5 does not
control the actual weight (or leng t h ) of the
dot character. The weight (or length) of the
dot character is controlled by the sh u n t ing ef fect of P 3, changing th e pull-in and drop-ou t
point of K3.
T he ex tra set of contacts on K 2 (see te rmina l #4) a r e not nece ssa ry, bu t were wired in

pa rallel w ith t he other se t of K2 contacts because t hey were a vai lable a nd we r e u sed to
help p rolong relay li f e.
The power supply, a s expla ined before, is a
conventional lh wave type. Although the circuit d iagram shows 2 filament tran sformers
back-to-buck, a sing le isola t ion tran sformer
m a y be used if one is a va ilable. If an isolatio n
t r a ns forme r is used, the pilot ligh t should, of
course, be cha nge d to operate on 115 v a c.
Four factors s hould be pointed out when
discussing the operation of thi s key. They are
li sted a s f ollows:
1. Due to the mechani cal and electrical
limi tations of the relays. complete
coverage of the " s peed ra nge" is not
(C ont inued on p"ge 56 )

-- ... . __ .. _

_._.-

A Digest of
Surplus
)j GEWERALGRAN ~f}iEE!l{..,tH ", ~
All."

~""" ~ v'''''''1 ''''~ 'f ' ~ 1 "<" f

[! ~~'ii'&

wAIt-

" ",,It"1

1l""_1'

Rad io
Gordon E. H opper, W I MEG
75 Ke nd a ll Ave .
Fra ming ha m. Mass.

s ur plus radio equipment--today, after

some twelve years of seeing ads a nd read in g articles, even book s, on it, we fi nd is st ill
with us. This articl e is written mainly to assist
th ose w ho wish to ex per iment w it h commer cially bui lt equ ip me nt. It is a well-known f act
that making changes in amateur commercially
built gear will materially affect the resale
value of the piece (as the author ha s found
out the hard way) .
If you are the type of ham who thinks of
making changes in the construction or performance of a p iece of commer cia l gear , t hen,
t h is a r ti cle is f or you . If yo u d es ir e t h e sat isf a ction of s eeing a p iece of equ ipme nt desig n ed
fo r a s pecified service r eva m ped into something that you , a s a h a m, can make good use
of, then th is article is for you. If you are a
newcomer and want to get on the air with a
minimum of cabbage outlay, then thi s article
is for you. If you have r ead complicated art icles on converting su r plus gear a nd dec ided
t here was too mu ch work in volved, t hen t his
a r ticle is for you . If yo u have looked into a
unit a n d fo un d a maze of cables and m ulticontact u nidenti fi ed connectors and t hought "I
can never figur e thi s out" then t h is article is
for you . If you are a .:\.f A R S member with unconverted gear, then this article is for you .
Now that everyone is digging out p ieces of
gear bought years ago, or getting ready to
take off for t heir nea r est su r plus su pplier, or
starting to r ea d mo re closely t he nu m erous
s ur plus ads, let us consider one th ing . Most
hams who have never converted an y gear h a ve
refra ined probably because they don't know

R :>.I Y

Equ ipme nt
where to st a r t the j ob. This article will id entify t he p ower connectors of a few of the most
usable and m ost easily obtained pieces. It will
not show yo u h ow to complete ly convert a u nit,
bu t it will s a ve you many h our s of circuit
tracing by sh owing you where to apply voltages. Once you g et the unit operating then
changes can be made t o adapt it t o your use.
The first connector t o be sh own is that of
a BC-603, an Fl\1 rec eiver built like the proverbial brick battleship, designed to operate 2027.9 rue. Articles in September and October
1958 CQ tell you how to get thi s receiver up
to six mete r s AM , a formi dable ach ievement.
A p plyin g voltages to the p ower connector,
with no other changes , will get this receiver
operating in the ser v ice it wa s designed for.
Make the power su pp ly connections t o a J on es
S -318CCT plug.

-I

I I I I I
I I I
I I

Next is t he conn ector on the rear of the

HBM -3 a nd HBM-4 r eceiver s. Th e RB M-a covers 2 to 20 me. while t he RBM -4 covel's 20 to
2000 kc. B ot h are su per hets and require on ly
the addition of power su p p lies.

300-500 V. D.C.

o
o

1.4 V.O.C

o
o
o

o
o
o
o

6.3 V.O.C.

1.4 V.O.C.

GROUND

6.3 V.D.C.

Now comes t he BC-1306. This is a t r a nsmitter and r eceiver hou sed in one unit covering
3800 to 6500 kc. p hone and cw . It r equires an
exter na l d e power s u pp ly and no m odificati ons .
This un it has r ece nt ly appeared on the ' 8 U I'nlus market and the fo llowing- connector ident ifica t ion t og ether with a s uit a ble power s upply should be of interest to t hese who are
members of Army l\IAHS who have not tried
it ye t. T he author u sed a connector f rom a

defunct B C-375 E , however, s u it a ble connectors

can be obtained fr om F a ir Radi o Sales, 132
South Main St., Lima, Oh io, and from Connecto r Cor p. of America, 137 Hamilton St.,
N ew Haven, Conn. Al so worth nothing- is the
fa ct that a 6/ 12/2 4 volt mobile s u p ply. PE-237,
is available from the sa me Fair Rad io Sales
and als o fr om T elernarine Comm u n ica t ions , 140
' Vest Broadway, N . Y. C.
(C ont inued on pag e 57)

A Suitable Powe r Supply for the BC 1306

RECTIF.IER STACKS

6.3 V. D.C.

110Y-AC.

T--

- ----- ... _- ..

73 AMATEUR RADIO

21

Roy A. M cC art hy, K6EAW

73 7 W . Maxzi m Ave.
Full e rt on. C aliforn ia

"The Capacity Meter is a compact yet versatile

test instrument."

Direct Reading
Capacity "M e te r
..
all th e variou s methods of capacity meas0 urement, the direct reading ca pacit y
meter has the greatest appeal from the standpoint of operating convenience a nd rapidity
of m ea s u r ement. The capacity meter is of
course a great help to those who have difficulty remembering the myriad of color codes,
a s well a s those of us who may have color
perception defic iencies. Equally useful is the
ability to mea sure t he capacity of a leng t h of
coax cab le to determine if there is a break
close to the end whe re it is eas ily accessib le
for repa ir. Odd leng th s of antenna ca n al so
be readily measured to enable ca lcula t ing the
amount of series inductance needed for resonan ce at lower than t he natural resonant frequency of the antenna. Many other odd jobs
ca n be quickly acco mp lis he d with t he aid of
a portable ca pa cit y meter, such a s measuring
st r a y wiring- capacitance, locating breaks close
to the s u r f ace in coils, breaks in line cords,
etc. An oh mmet er will t ell you a cord or cable
is open, but a capacity meter will tell you
where.
T he instrument was tra nsi storized to add
to the convenience of operatio n and eliminat e
the need for power cords, or waiting- for it
to warm up and settle down. Along thi s sa me
line, the meter is large and easy to r ead accurately, and the s ma ll case with a carrying
??

7'1

~J

Ii. Tell D

It

1"\11"\

handle compares f a vor a bl y with most st a nd ar d

multi meters.

Ranges
Fou r bas ic ranges were provided, calibrated
at full s ca le by means of the built-in s t a nd a r d
capacitors of 100 mmfd, 1000 mmfd, .01 mfd ,
and .1 mfd. By means of the built in st a nda r ds
and the calibration con trol other ranges may
be used to incr ea se the ease of meas urement.
F or example, a cap acity which r ea d j ust off
sca le on one range would be s lig h tly above
1/ 10 sca le on the next range. I nst ea d , by readjusting the calibration cont rol, so the calibrating capacitor read % of full sca le, an unknown capacitor j ust sfijrht l y la r g e r ca n be
r ea dily determi ned , u sing a m ent a l mult iplier
of two. Although the auth or's instrument ha s
an appar ent r esidual capacity of about 0.8
mmfd, capacitora a s low a s 1 mm f d ca n be
mea sured if thi s re sidual capacity is allowed
for and su btr acted fro m the indicated reading.

Accuracy
Th e accuracy, a s well a s the cost of the inst r u ment will depend mainly on the basic
meter selected and the four st a nda r d or selected capacitors. The trans istor s are f a ir ly

Use of a component board g reatly simplifies

wiring. with connections made to the underside
of t he board.

Inside view of t he capacity meter shows the

compact construction made possible by use of
miniature compo nents.

inexpensive rf or if type PNP units. The mercu r y battery s hown in the photographs is not
really a necessity for any dry-cell type can be
used if it has enough voltage and can maintain
a steady full scale reading on a ll operating
ranges. The multivibrator u sed in the circuit
is quite stable, hardly changing frequ ency
over wide s u p ply voltage variations, and in
any case each range is normally calibrated by
t he built-in stand a r ds bef ore use. T he a uthor
obtained 1.0 % of full sca le accuracy on the
three higher ranges, and 3 to 4% of full sca le
accuracy on the 100 mmfd range. This does
not me an that a very low capacity may be off
::3 or 4 mmf d , s ince zero is mechanically set

by the meter adju stment scr ew. T he error wa s

greatest near the center of the sca le.

Theory of Operation
The circuit operates by measuring th e
amount of charge which the ca p ac it or under
test receives by the application of a squa r ewave from the multivibrator. A pair of diodes
in a s im ple r ectifier circuit enable a microammeter to be used a s the ind icator. Since the
amount of charge on a ca pa citor , with a given
voltage applied, is directly proportiona l to the
[Continu ed on pag e 41)

Fig . I. By pro per wiring the residua l capacity indication is easily redu ced below I mmfd.

<,

, ,

<,

f-o
I 0

't

0
~.

,
I

--

I
I
I

I
I
I

I
I

I
I
I

/
/

I
f-o
I

.
"

I
I
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-,
<,
<,
<,

,,
,
<,

- ------ ._.-

" , '- _ _

I
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_ __ _ ___ ...1

73 AMATEUR RADIO

23

RAFFle through the medi um of t he "phone

patch" is becom ing increasingly p opular
and is a nother ser vice a dded to t he already
long list of th ose provid ed by th e radio ama -

teur.
Dis r eg a r d ing the technic al aspects of t he
"phone patch", th is type of t ra ffic is t r icky to
han dle. T h is is du e t o th e human ele ment i njected by the usuall y uninitiated person on the
other end of the telep hone li ne. There a re several do's and don'ts t hat a re well worth your
attention if yo u h a n dle or inten d to hand le thi s
type of t ra ffic.
Bef or e p la ci ng t he te le phone call, be s u re
you have all of the necessary inf or ma t ion; t h at
is, t he add ressee's n ame a nd com p let e ph one
number, a s well a s the n a me of th e ori g in a t or .
You shou ld a lso che ck to see if there is an y
toll cha rge involved. If t here is, be sure to g et
t he approval of the origi n ator before placing
a collect call.

ca use of amateur radio. \Vho knows, this perso n may be the one who's giving the "ham",
two do ors down th e block from him, multiple
fit s with his TV I comp laints. Do n't mis s the
chance. Explain briefly, but tho r oug h ly, what
is g oing to take pla ce. Be s u r e to mention t h a t,
a s a radio am ateur, both you and the operator
of th e originating st a t ion a re proud and happy
that your hobby permits you to perform thi s
se rvice f or him. Al so, info rm h im that there
is no charg e or oblig a tion on hi s part.
Determine whether or not h e is familia r with
"phone patch" operation. If not, instruct him
a s to the procedure you wish him to f oll ow
and t o s pea k slowly a nd clea rl y so that hi s
voice may be easily understood at the r eceiving
st a t ion.
After swit ch ing t he "patch" into the circu its, it may be advi sa ble t o turn it back to
t he or ig ina t in g st a t ion. This is particularly
useful w hen the person is n ot used to "patch-

"C o tta' Phone Patch?"

Ken J o hnson W6NKE
21 835 Rodex Street
Can oga Park, California

T he "phone patch" shou ld n ot be s witched

int o your station's circ uits whi le you are placing the cal l. In so me cases, your tran sm itter
will be on the ai l' and t he in itia l remarks
made by the party you are ca lli ng m ay be
confusing or even d isas t rous. F or exam p le , the
fo llowing re act ion of s u r p r ise cou ld happen .
Su ppose you 've just infor med the person on
t he other end of the line t hat hi s old service
buddy, J oe, is go ing to t alk to h im through
yo ur a ma te ur r adi o sta t ion . " J oe ! l\ly old
bu dd y, J oe", t he voice on t he ot he r en d of the
li ne says, "the h- yo u say ! I h aven't hear d
from that dog-face for ten yea rs . P u t h im on
so 's I ca n heal' h is d- old ugl y voi ce".
See wh a t I mean? It may read funn y but
can't you j ust see yo u rself f ranticall y s n a tching at the switches?
This, too, is im portant wh ile pla cing a collect ca ll. Most tele p hon e oper a to rs seem to be
fa m iliar wit h a m a teu r radi o and ph one patches. It has been my experience t ha t a ll of t hem
a re cooperative. However, occasiona lly it bece rnes neces sary to ex pla in wha t you are trying t o do and it's needl ess t o put the ensuing
conversation on t he a ir . Al so, h er p lacemen t
of the call m ay create so me excitement and
confusio n on the pa rt of t he ad dr essee until
he unders t a nds what is g oing on. There is the
possi bili t y of unn ecessary emba rr ass ment if
you r patch is in the ci rcuit during th is time.
\Vhen yo u h a ve th e addressee on t he line,
you have on e of the most desirable sit ua tions
poss ible to do a li ttle publicity work for the
24

73 AMATEU R RA DIO

ing". It sh if ts the responsibilit y of st a r t ing

t h e conversation t o th e ori ginator who ha s had
plenty of time to th ink of what he wants to
sa y.
Carefu lly mon ito r the conversa t ion from beginnin g to end . R emember that there are
defin ite regulation s a s to t he type of traffic
that may be handled via amateur rad io. Rem ember also the typ e of la ng ua ge t h a t rna)'
(C ont inued on page 54)

~e,

=1

.,

1=

Mr-A'I4NrKALLY /fRAB8,"'''
Ft119 T?I~ :r~~TC.#'FS" wbo<.

(.. . de W2N SD from pege 4)

advertisers that you see in these p ages. Mak e

thi s generosi ty w orth t he ir while .. . r ead the
ads carefu lly . . . se nd for m ore informat ion
on their -prod ucts . . . give them a boost . . .
ma ybe even d rop them a card of appreciat ion.
A nd w hen you wr ite to them be sure to tell
'em you saw it in 73.

Coming Up
Naturall y we wa nted to put a lot of good ies
in t his fir st issue of 73. Bu t we were ca re f u l not
to unba lan ce it at t he expe nse of future iss ues.
H er e arc som e of the art icles sch ed u led for the
November issue that may be of interest to
~'O U :

"VH F Receiver" This is a rat her com plete bas ic

r eceiver t hat is designed to go wi th the B antu.m: Converters des cribed in t h is is su e. It gives
you eve rything you could a sk. T h is is quite
an el aborate construction article, running to
five pag es, but you'll ha ve a heck of a job
fi ghting off t he urge to b uild when you see it.
"Four Hand Cryst a l Con ve r te rs" Th is is a
com bi nat ion p roduct r eport a nd construct ion
article which shows how to use t he I n te r n ational Crystal converters to good advantage.
I n this package we find the 20-15-10-6 meter
converters a ll bu ilt into one band -switching
conver ter unit, complete w ith power s u p ply.
"An F lU VF O Excit e r" A BC-459 is convert ed
in to an FM VFO for u se on 10, 6 a nd 2 meters,
us ing either na r row-band or wide-band Fl\I.
W it h more a nd more F lit! turning up in our ham
VHF ba nd s it is nice to have an exciter around
t hat w ill generate a us able s ig na l for eit her
Fl\[ or AM type VHF r eceivers.
" Not es On ~ lo b i le Power" H igh er power f rom
t he ca r using a n a lter nator and a t hree-pha se
power supply. Output is 520 volts at 500 rna.
"S t op That Xoise" I n t his issue we have a
good tech nical a r ti cle on mod ulation . In Nove mbe r we go into detail on the subject of
noise li m iters a nd gi ve th e cir cuits of a ll t he
pop ular ty pes, complete with an in teresti ng
d iscussion of the adva ntages a nd dis a dvan tages of each .
"$5 Frequ ency ) Ieter" T wo transistors are used
in a new t ype of circuit which will p r obab ly be
tu rni ng up in a commerc ia l un it very s hortly.
T h is w ill gi ve you a d irect read in g of a ny
fr eq uency in t he r an g es of 300 cps, 1 kc, :3 kc,
10 kc , a nd 30 kc. If t h is a rtic le doesn't get you
to the work bench then you're an ou t and out
non-building type ham.
T her e wiII be about ten ot her articles. \Ve
don't want t o gi ve a way t he whole t hing ri gh t
here. It w ill be a good iss ue a nd worth we ll
over t he yea r ly s u bscr ipt ion price a ll by it sel f.

Policies
Here are the basic policies which will
guide 73.
Policy # 1 :

W e are not ma d at anybody.

Pelley # 2:

Amateur Ra d io, in its dual rol e a s

a mean s of arous ing t he interest
of youngsters and providing the basic training
for entry into the field of elect r on ics, one of
the largest and most promising fields we can
s ee a head, and a s one of the most impor t a n t
means of comm unications between the peoples
of the world on a peop le-to-peo ple basis inst ea d
of through the press or government channels,
is probably the most important hobby in the
world today. we ca n keep it important by being aware of what is going on in our hobby
a nd by being technically up to date. 73 Magazine is ded ica t ed to bringing into focu s the
f ron tiers of a mateu r r a di o. It will s t rive to
br oad en the tech n ica l interest of the amateurs
and to encourage them to higher technica l attainment s and abilities by mean s of t ech n ical
and construction arti cles wri tten by the best
ta lent available.
Policy # 3 :

F ew t a lented wr it er s h ave cont inued to b uck t he p re sen t syst em

whereby they either receive nothing for their
efforts or else have to wa it fr om one to three
years for m inimal pay. 73 ha s established t he
pol icy of paying for a ll accepted articles with
im med ia t e cash. This seems to be bringing new
li f e to t he field for we are receiv ing top notch
ar ticl es by some of t he best author s in the
hobby.
It is ou r inten tion, th e SEC permitting, t o open t he ownersh ip of
A m a t eur Ra d io P u blis h in g , I nc., t o interested
amateurs so t hat the ownership of the magazine ca n be w ides p read and t he m a gazine will
be t r uly ow ned a nd ru n enti rely by licensed
h am s. 73 is being run under a very tight economy until th e break-even point of 15,000 circulation is r eached.

Polley # 4 :

Policy # 5 :

\Ve intend to encourage and prom ot e t he p u blica t ion of b ulletin s

t o b ri ng specia lized opera ting news of the
many fa cets of amateur ra dio: V HF, RTT Y ,
DX," Traffic H andling . TV, et c. The Club Bul letin of Mar-vin L ipt on VE 3DQX will be one
of the firs t under thi s progra m. This publicat ion, which is s en t t o the editors of all known
ham club bulletins to provide them with a
m ean s of excha ngi ng id ea s, should be back in
bus iness t his fall.
....

. "

.. T~I ID

DAnl"

') 1:

"
0 you have need for a 6 or 12 volt power
D supply for your new Citizens Band transceiver or amateur rig? would you also like
to use the same supply for line voltage operation? Do you have a six volt automobile now
and have held off building a mobile supply
because you are going to buy a new car with
a 12 volt system in the near future? Here is
a power su p pl y which will fit these requirements and more!
The power supply shown in the photos ha s
these features:

Deluxe
Three-Way

1. The supply will operate from 6 or 12

volts de and 120 volts ac.
2. NO circuit changes are required to

Power Supply

change from one input voltage to another!

3. The supply has built-in change over
relay, permitting B+ output voltage
to be switched from receiver to trans-

Donald A . Smith W3UZN

P.O . Box 45
Heq erst cwn . Mervlend

mitter.
4. Thi s B+ change over may be eccom -

plished by throwing the s wit ch

marked "HI VOLTAGE," or it may
be done from a remote location.
5. The antenna is al so s wit ched fr om
receiver to tran smitter when this
s wit ch is thrown.
6. A green pilot lamp indicates when the
power supply is on and a red one
lights when the supply ha s been
swit ched from receiver to transmitter.
This changing from one input voltage to
another is accomplished by making a separate
power cord fo r each input voltage. As can be
seen in the photographs and the diagram, an
18 prong Jones plug is used as the input voltage connection. Depending on what input
voltage is desired, a Jones plug is wired for
the connections required for that voltage. For
using the supply on all three input voltages,
three different cords are made. The connections
for each input voltage are s how n in the table.
Output from the supply is approximately
275 volts de at 100 rna, more than ample for
many Citizens Band rigs which do not have
this three way feature, a s well a s a number
~

....... --.. -

.,._.-

of amateur transmitters. If desired, the supply

can be u sed to operate your favorite communications receiver in your car. Many of these
receivers are provided with a connector on the
rear of the chassi s for just such a purpose.
The s u pply uses the parts from two basic
kits available from International Crystal Co.
in Oklahoma City. The additional parts re(wired are li sted in the parts li st. T hese two
kits are used rather t han purchasing- the parts
ind ividua lly because the power Xformer is
special, and t he cost of the ind iv idual pa r t s
is considerably higher than t he price of t he
two kits. The total price of t he Del uxe Thr eeW a y Sup ply should be a r ou nd $35.00, if yo u
have n o parts on hand.
Note t hat only one J ones power connector
comes with the kit. It may of course be wired
for a ny of t he three input voltages. Ad d itional
plugs may be purchased from I nt er na tional.
or from your local parts supplier. T he part
number is Jones S-318-CCT. Amphenol UHF
jacks are used for the antenna connectors to
keep losses to a minimum. These are positioned
on the rear of the box chassis as shown in the
photos.
[Ccnflnued on page 461

Vie w, Fa ci ng Rel a y C onne ctions

I Re la y

H a s No

Num bers)
CONNECTIONS

fO R INPUT

VO LTA G E POWER

PLUG S-

6 Vo lts d e
o r - ) Pin 1
6 Volt " Ho t" lead (Ma y be e it he r
6 Volt Ground lead-Pin 14
Plece Jumpers b etw een the f ollowing pins
2 & 5
&
8 & 11
7 & 10
9 & 12
5 & 17
lS & 18
lS & 16
12 Voh. d c
o r - ) Pin 1
12 Volt " Ho t" le Cld (MClY be eit he r
12 Voh Ground lead-Pin 14
PIClce Jumpers between the followin g pin s
2& 5
& 9
9 & 10
5 & 18

120 Volt ac
Line cord, one lead to Pin 1 (lnd the o lher 10 Pin 4
Jumpe rs b etwe en t he following pins
2 & 3
13 & 17
lS & 18

PARTS LIST

I -Thre e way basic power supply kit, PW-2F.

I -Relay Kit for obove .
llhe obove hom In ternotional Crystof Co., 18 N . lee St .,
Oklohomo City, O klo .).
l -L.M.B. Bo x chassi s No. 20.
PI -Jone s ,::-S. 30 6 AB, 6 prong powe r output p h.: g .
51 -52 Single pole. si n gle th row t0991e s w it ch e s.
Jl -J2-J3 Am~henol UHF conne ctors, .::83-IR.
Pl -P2 Diolco .#81410-1' 1 Je w eled p il ot Icunp hol d e rs. Red
for P2 (t rCl nsm itte r) Clnd green for Pl .
R4-41 ohm, 2 wen resistor.
RS-41 ohm, 2 WCltt res istor.
R6-1 .S ohm, 10 WClIt resistor.
NOTE : All other ports ore s u p p lied with th e two kits
liste d ebeve .

:~O---II

~---

:>------=:;
: .h-J
I
-

..... ..... T ,... .... ..

.... ~n

n AMATF UR RAD IO

17

Shock
Pe g g y Bate s

IN on1917a field
a sq u ad of sol diers was being drilled
at Niagara, during a thunderstorm. Bayonets were fixed, and stood up in
a row in the hands of the men. Suddenly, the
unexpected happened- a bolt of lightning
crackled down from the darkened sk ies, st r uck
the bayonet held by the en d man, and rolled,
a blue flame, down the entire row, to that h eld
by the man at t he ot her end of the line.
Every man in that row wa s knocked uncon scious for a wh ile, but the two men on
either end of the line fa iled to recover . Upon
examination, they s howed all recognized sig ns
of death . . . no breathing, no eye reflex, and
no heartbeat.
The officer in charge thoug-ht that thi s would
provide a good opportunity for the men t o
practice artifi cial respiration, and instructed
t hem t o work over on e of t he bodies, then left
the field t o r eturn t o h eadquarters. A f ew
hours later, one of hi s men came running,
breathless, t o announce t h a t the "body" they
had been practicing on was exhibiting a r emarkable reluctance to d ie, a nd wa s sitti ng up
and ins isting u pon the fa ct that he wa s a live
at the top of h is lungs.
This wa s one of the first in ti m at ion s th at
vi ctims of electrical shock may not n eces sarily
be dead a t a ll, but may be r evived through
immediat e and prolonged applicaticn of artificial respiration.
On May 20t h, 1927, a you n g' lineman workin g f or the hydro came into contact with
26,000 volts at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. H e
was uncon scious, and not breathing. However,
he wa s lowered on the ground, and art ificial
re spiratio n wa s st a r ted by fellow emp loyees.
This wa s conti nued on t he floor of the
a mbulance wh ile h e was being tran sported to
the hospital, and al so on boards on top of a
cot at the hosp ital. Communication wa s established between the local doct or and consultant s
in a large city, and it was not until 10 o'clock
at night tha t the man was b reathing by h imself.
In t h is case, eigh t h ou rs of a r t ificia l respiration were applied continuously until the vi ctim revived. This is the longest case of
r esuscitation fro m electrical sh ock on record .
Th er e are m a n y in stan ces of su ch d ramatic
revival of v ictims of electrical shock , a nd yet
only th is summe r, a man visiting Orillia, Onta rio, s t a ndi ng on the wet concrete su rrou nd ing a s wimm ing pool received 110 volts while
helping to in stall a PA system , and di ed.
There is n o indica tion in th e newspaper r eport

.... -

_...

of the incident that any attempt was made to

revive him.
Every year, a p p rox ima tely 100 radio ham s
di e through the ir hobby in the Un ited States
a lon e, and man y ot hers t h rough ot her f orms
of el ectrical shock. 'V ere these people r eally
dea d ? H ow many of them would be a li ve t oday
if artificial respi ration had been st a rted a t
once and contin u ed un til rig or 1nOrtiR-t he
only unmi stakable s ig n of death- set in?
Th e victim of electrical sh ock will look just

a s "dead" a s a v ictim of drowning or of gas

asp hyx iation-dead enoug h to convince even
doct ors and coroners. One drowning vi ctim in
Ca na d a wa s indeed pronounced dead f our
t imes by the same ph ysician, an d yet revived
a f te r eig h t h ou r s of artificial res pir ation applied by relatives a nd n eighbors who refu sed
to g ive up h ope. T od a y, some 30-odd yea rs
later, that victim in st ill alive.
The H ealth League of Canada became interested in the matter of r eviving apparently
drown ed per son s in 1938, u nder the leadership
of the late Sir Frederick Ba nting, and wer e
imp r es sed by the s imila r it y between revival of
drown ing vi ctims and those of electrical sh ock.
T h e League collaborated with the late Will is
Macf.achlan, of the Ont ario H ydro Commission, which bod y had been a ctivel y interested
in the matter s in ce 1917.
It wa s d iscover ed that while it still h eld
tru e that r evi val depended upon immediat e
and prolonged application of artificial respiration in the case of both electrical shock and
drowning victims, there were some important
differences.
In th e ca se of d r owni ng , victims have been
revived who have been under the wat er for period s of up to half an hour. I n th e case of electrical shock , 110 :w ch long pe 1-iod i.<J possible.
Resuscitation mu st be st a r t ed a s immediate iu
after the con t act a s possible. I t has been foun d
that wh ere artifi cial r es piration was star ted
within one m in ute of t he electrica l s hock , 90
per cen t of th e victims were r evived; where
there wa s a delay of six minutes, only 10 per
cent were revived . Vi ctims of electrical sh ock
have been returned to life after a delay of t en
mi n u t es , but the ch a nces of revival lowe I'
with t he de lay.
The outwa rd deathlike s ym p toms of drowning a nd electrical shock seem the sa me-no
breathing, no eye r eflex, a nd n o p erceptible
heartbeat. H owever, the inside s tor y is dif fere nt. Death ma y come throu gh a la reng ea l

s pas m in drowni ng, and th e victim dies

mg to note that in the entire experience of
through a sph yxin tl on-c-ct-, a s oft en occurs, t he
t he Ontario H ydr o- E lect r ic P ower Com misvictim may seem dead , but the heart is s t ill
sion no person ha s yet been s uccessf u lly r ebeating, not no r mall y, bu t in a st ate of fr ibilvived from elect rica l s hock t h rough the u se of
lation , detect a ble onl y with t he use of a n
a mec ha nical r esuscita to r . T hese machines, of
electroca r diog raph, an indication tha t life is
va ry ing kinds, have been of use in the case
s t ill a ctually present, alth ough the victim is
of dr own ing- vict im s, hu t never in th e case of
often given up f or dead, and no atte mpt mad e elect rica l s hoc k.
to revive hi m.
H ard and fa s t rules ca n not be la id down
With electrical shcck. the respiratory ne rve
in electr ical shock - depend ing upon t he cir cent er is para lyzed . The cu r re nt in its pascumsta nces, 30 volt s ca n kill-c-or a s ha s been
sa ge through th e body da mages t he sens it ive
s hown, a man can s u rv ive 26 ,000 volts.
nerve cells of t he resp iratory center. T hey
T he main thing is that victims w ill look
become paralyzed and in sensitive both to the
dead, and may remain so, if immed iate help is
accumu lation of carbon dioxid e and th e Jack
not given-umi kept lip until rigo-r mo-rt is se ts
of oxygen in t he blood. No st im uli a re sent t o in . Th is is so important t ha t t he Ontario Hydro
the r espiratory m uscles, and breathing s t ops. insi s t s upon every me mber of its 17,000 work
force knowi ng how to a pp ly artificia l r espiraHer e ag a in , are t he sy m ptoms of "death"
which are appare nt in ca ses of drowning vict ion. All t ho se work ing directly with elect ims-sym ptoms which have prevented attrical a ppa r a t us must have r egular practice
tem pts a t revival which may well save the
sessions , and the head office sta ff can take lesvictims' life.
sons durin g vacat ion period s. They all have
The nerve cells tend to rec over if they have
inst r uct ions not to cease until rigor mo rti s
an ad equate su pply of oxyge n. An a dequa te
sets in . It is interesti ng t o note that in the
s u pply of oxygen depends not only upon ef - a nna ls of men , women a nd children who have
fective a rti ficia l resp iration, but al so u pon the
been revived f rom d rowning or gas a sphyxiap resence of circul at ion-in ot her wor ds, the
tio n, t he life sa ved ha s been due to the prompt
heart must be bea t ing.
act io n of a H yd r o employee who ha s been in
I n some case s, where t he vict im ha s been the neighborhood at the time.
well grounded, and the cu rrent passes directl y
A wife or fri end, coming int o the room a nd
to t he heart, revival ma y be im poss ible. How- fi nding th e ham prone on th e floor, looking
ever , a s in t he case of drowning, t he heart may extremely dead, is a pt to r un f or th e doctor, or
beat so gentl y, t ha t a doctor cannot pi ck up
was t e tim e scr ea ming. Don't do t h is ! Death
th e beat with hi s s tet hoscope, and the vi ctim
may rea lly come in the time it ta kes to r un
may yet be al ive.
up stair s, look up the teleph one number, a nd
T his beat , in electrica l s hoc k, and although dial.
t he heart ma y have r ece ived t he current , may
T a ke a stick, r emove all w ires touching the
yet be effective e noug h t o provide s uffic ient
" body" - an d sta rt working! The ham you
circ ulation to provide oxygenated blood to the save may be your own!
nerve cells in the brain, but t he heart itself
needs oxygen. It is essential, th erefore, that
Th e Schaefer Method
a rtificia l r es pira ti on be sta rted at once, in
1) Tu rn victim on stomach wi th head slig htly
orde r t hat su pplies of oxygen be mad e ava illower t ha n feet .
able both t o t he heart a nd to th e nerve centers
in t he brain .
2 ) Make s ur e mouth is clear for breathing.
Two method s of artificial respiration are :n Extend both urm s beyond head . Bend one
used by electrica l ut ilit ies com pa nies - the
a t el bow and place victim 's cheek on back
Holg er- Ni elsen, w here t he operato r works
of hand.
4) St ra dd le victi m and place hand s on victim's
fac ing t he prone body of t he victim, and the
back, fingers close t oget he r over th e lower
Scha effer, where t he operator works a str ide
ri bs.
t he vic tim. Of th e two, the Schaeffer is consi de red the most effective, fo r in cases of elec- 5 ) Keep ing your elbows st ra ig ht r ock forward
trical shock t he bl ood ha d a tendency to leave
a nd br ing yo ur sho ulde rs ove r the heel of
the uppe r part of th e body, a nd concent r ate
you r ha nds , bea ring dow n on t he vict im 's
around the a bdominal region . The Schaeffer
back and lower ribs to ex pel a ir from t he
method is mo st effective in r ecir cu la ti ng t he
lu ngs.
6) Rock backward to an upright posit ion, r eblood t o th e upper parts of the bod y more
swiftl y t ha n t he H olg er-Nielsen.
m oving t he hand s witho ut a push. This perOnce aga in, though, much depends upon cirmits the a ir to enter t he lungs.
cumst a nces. If a ma n ha s been shocked while
7 ) A llow a bout t wo seconds for ea ch move, five
seconds per complete cycle (12 t o t he minwork ing on a pole, cha nces are t h a t the upper
pa r- t of hi s body will be burned too badly to
ute) .
bea r handling-in whic h case the Schaeffer 8 ) Cont in ue without int er r u pt ic n to rhythm
method is employed. If t he r eve rse is t he case,
until normal breathing is res umed or until
rigor mortis sets in.
rnrn
t hen t he H olger-Nielsen is used. It is int eres t 73 AMATEUR RADIO

29

ALASKA
ARGE NTINA
AUSTRALIA
CANAL ZONE
ENGLAND
GERMANY
HAWAIIINDIA
JAPAN
MEX ICO
PHILIPP INE'S
PORTO RICO
SOUTH AFRICA
U.S.S.R .

AL ASKA
ARGENTINA
AUSTRALIA
CANAL ZONE
ENGLAND
GERMAN Y
HAWAII
INDIA
JAPAN
ME XICO
PHI LIPPINE'S
PORTO RICO
SOUTH AFRICA
U.S.S. R.

ALA SKA
ARGENTINA
AUSTRALIA
CANAL ZONE
ENGLAND
GERMANY
HAWAII
INDI A
JAPAN
MEXICO
PHILIPPINE'S
PORTO RICO
SOUTH AFRICA
U.S.S.R.

.~

~ -=

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.
I

I . . . .

..
. c__ - . .

..,c

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.
'

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..

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I

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t::

I
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1

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I:.:.II!I

1= =;

. .:

Propagation Charts
These cha rts are t o be used as a guide to ham band openings
for t he month of Octobe r, 1960 to t he various co unt ries list ed. I
will be interested to hear of yo ur result s in using these charts and
to know what ot he r areas yo u might wish included in future charts.
To H AVE r eliabl e com m un ications betwee n
any two points we mu st choose a f requency
t hat is low e nough to be r eflected from the
upper layers of th e ionos p h er e and yet n ot so
low that ionosp he ri c absorption makes it necess a ry to r un excessive power. T oo h igh a frequency. one t hat is a bove the Ma xi mu m Usable
F r eq uency (l\1UF), will sk ip over the in t end ed
receiving point.
w e can predict the l\IUF by interpretation
of charts made by the National Bu reau of
Sta n d a r ds' Centra l Ra dio Propa g a tion Laboratory. From t he se charts I h a ve made u p three
Adva nce Forecast : O cto ber 1960
G ood : 2-6, 8-10, 13-16, 18-20, 28-3 1.

O"",id A. Brown K21GY

60 New York A venue

West Hempstead, N. Y.

chart s covering transm ission from eastern,

cen t r a l, and wester-n United States to variou s
countr-ies. The bands listed are :\IUFg and a
higher ba nd w ill not work for the time period
listed . Lower band s will work , but not nearly
a s wel l. Ti m es are Gl\l T, not local time.
IIlIll
Fa;" I, 7, 12, 17, 21 22, 262 7.
Ba d : II , 2325.

New Products
Allied C atalog

National 270

Th is is 0 little re d undant since All ied hes token a

fu ll pe qe ed in this issue [bless their heart) to try
to get this ceteloq int o your hand s. They don 't ctl rry
every brand of equipment, but you will be herd put
to d iscove r what obscure brand s they have om itted .
This is, as fo r as we know, the most comple te radio
parts and equ ipment catalog put out by any distributor. Where e lse can you get 444 pages of int e resting reading absolutely free? The ne w Knight-Kit
line of hom qeer is worth looking into else .. . like
t heir 400 watt t ra nsmitter kit and 0 who le b unch of
other items. But don 't tell 'e m you 're writing in
from this paragraph. point o ut that it was thei r ad
that forced you to write . .. t heir ad in 73 on page 64.

Somehow, down through the years, there seems t o

have been a we lter of receivers that have hit the
market with much hoopla, only to di sappear from ell
but the most edu cated of memories in a short time .
This is particu larly true of the medium priced receivers. The specs on the 270 loo k mighty good.
This may well be 0 receive r thet will be with us for
o while. It looks g ood, has all of the features we
need for ham communications, and is strictly a hamband (80 thru 61 receiver. If you want to have all
the Fects to mull over drop a line (mentioning t his
refe re nce ) to Notiona l Radio Company, Melrose 76,
Moss. The price tog read s $249.95 plus 7.98% more
for a matching speaker.

73 AMATEU R RADIO

31

Capt. John J. Su ry KBNIC/5

139 Nebraska Re e d
Dye ss AFB, Texe s

Tube Tube

J ube

Watt Watt W a tt Watt Watt

Meter Meter Meter Meter Meter Meter
tubes, five wa tts , s ix mete rs . A nd
this li'I '01 peanut whi st le re all y p uts out
a bi r d ca ll : I've worked over 30 mile s with an
in door halo ant enna plu s many fine DX sess ions when the band opened. \Vhich isn 't bad
fo r a little h and f ul of stu ff wh ich knocks together in a cou ple hou rs a nd won't even sli m
down th a t b ig fat wa llet of yours t o w here
it will st op wearing out your ba ck pocket.
Sim plici t y, si m plicity. An overtone oscillator a nd power ampl ifier occupy one set of tube
prongs with the nu mber 6CX8 above t hem .
There m a y b e a g ood pentode-tet.rode tube
arou n d, bu t since I didn't have one I used a
GAU6 s peech amplifie r wi t h a 6AQ5 Rei sing
modu lator. w hat you lose in modulation you

IlREE

-T

make up in sa vings 'w hen you price a cheap

filter cho ke fo r t h e exec utive position usually
occupied by a modulation transformer. No
on e will ever n otice t he differ en ce a nyway, so
why fus s about it.
W h ile n ot much arti stic effort went into the
layout, it is elect ron ica ll y O K and may be
im itated by you if you are in a r ubber st a m p
mood, or if you' re not su r e enough of yo urse lf
t o venture off t he beated paths. A 5" X 7" X
2" aluminum chassis wa s u sed.
The oscill ator coil was made by w ind ing
fi ve t urns of # 28 enamel coated wire on a
Ca mbridge (C TC ) s lu g tu ned coil fo r m type
LS5 (or equ iva lent ) . T he coil is sh u n ted w ith
a 5 mmfd ceram ic ca p a citor . L2 is five tu rns

------

I-

'1:'

,.---)1--...-

32

73 AMATEUR RADIO

"

Phot ogn illh i'l t ak e n by S /Sgt. wilaon Dodson , Dy es s Ai r For ce Ba se.

of a B&W #3007 or Ail' Dux 516T coil ( %"

diameter, 16 turn s t o th e inch, #16 wire).
T he antenna coupler is one turn of solid hook
up wire.
Since there will be fa irly high vol tage on
the choke lea ds it is prudent to grommetize the
feedt hrough hole.
Power S U}}]Jly. Surely you must have something around that will give 200-250 vdc @ 90
mao \Vit h 250 v you will have an input of 5
watts ( 20 rna) t o the PA sect ion of the 6CX 8.
This may go up to 25 ma wi th modulation.
Tuning is easy. You can a lways bu ild in
sever a l doll a rs worth of panel meters, but you
get the same end r esults by ma king a #49
pilot lamp and solderi ng it to a %, " loop of

"'I"'T'" ReD

I oU\

hook- up wire. H old the loop close to L1 and

adju st the sl ug f or maximum brightness. N ext
hold it near t he fina l coil and t une the fina l
tank and antenna trimmer f or maximum
br-ightness. An rf wattmeter or field-strength
meter will al so tell you all you need. to know
f or tun ing.
T he r ig is designed for a high impedance
dynamic mi ke and will give plenty of pu nch
wi th most of t he inexpensive ones on the market. Dit to cr yst a l mikes . Ju st about any type
of antenna will load up easily. A halo is fine
for general ragchewi ng, a beam is better for
DXing . Give t he rig a try a nd j oi n t he local
gang on six meters, you 'll get a lot of f un
out of it.
mm

73 AMATEUR RADIO

33

How To Be An Amateur
J ohn W. Cempbell W2ZGU

Ht-: good amateur-that is, the amateur who

T is

useful in caus ing progress in the field

he's in- h a s certain basic characterist ics that
a re t he sa me, n o m atter what tha t field ma y be.
He may he a n a mate ur in ra d io, elec t ronics,
chemistry, pa inting, or anything else; to be
useful he must have a certain basic codethe Code of the Amateur.

A Good Amateur is .. .
1. Ignorant.
2. Egocentric.
3. Im p r a ctica l.
4. Dis r esp ectful of a uthority.
5. Mater ialistic, or pragmatic idealist ic-theoretical.
6. I n con s ist ent.
7. Illogical.
8. Discontented.
9. Aggressive.
10. Unfair.

not

Everyone of those characteristics, you no

doubt noticed, is generally considered antisoc ial. The Good A mateur is anti -social; he's
egocentric, and enjoys h is own company, his
own work, more than the best ch it-chat of the
cocktail-party group that is, of course, the
highest ideal of the extrovert-social type. The
Amateur is anti-social, in that he likesactually en j oys !- t h ink in g ! He actually prefers usi ng his brai ns to fl a p pin g h is jaw; he
normally t h inks bef o re open ing h is mouth. Th is
is, of course , a nt i-social, beca use it imposes t he
necess it y of t h inking on t hose aro u nd h im which naturally makes them very uncomfortable. They're not used to it.
The Amateur is Ignorant ; this is nece ssary,
because he wants to learn-and you can't learn
somet h in g you already know. The th ing that
makes a n amateur's ignorance so useful, however, is that you ca n't lea r n if you already
think you k now, either. Th e old line about
"It a in't a ll t hem th ing s you do n't k now t hat
causes trouble; it's t hem things you do know
that ain't so." The Amateur is ignorant, and
escapes that trouble. Throughout history, amateurs have been lousing things up for professionals by doing what everyone who knew
anything about the business knew was imposs ible .. . . until the a mateur, who did n't know
any better, d id it.
Like "Mad An thon y W a yne", du ring t he
Re volution-the a mate ur soldier. H e attacked
a perfectly im pr egn a ble B r iti sh position. A n y34

7] A lt.A ATI= Il R RAn in

one with military knowledge knew it was impregnable, because t here were sheer , 300-foot
cliffs protecti ng it on three s ides, making att ack fro m th ose directi ons imp ossible. " Mad
Anthony" , not knowin g a ny bette r, lead hi s
men up t he P a llisades at night, an d cleaned
out the British.
The Amateur has to be Egocentric. That
is, nobody's going to pay him for all the hard
work he does, so he'd better enjoy what he's
doing because it pleases him. All hi s work will,
99.99 % of the t ime, yield nothing b ut discarded ma teria ls, a nd passed time. In t he course of
ten years, a n Amateu r m ay spe nd $10 ,000 on
h is hobby, wind up with $2 worth of j u nk, a nd
nothing else . . . . except the self-satisfyi ng
fun he had doing it.
That, by the way, is on e of the ways in
which the Amateur is impractical and unfair.
Amateurs happily tackle a research project
that ha s one chance in 10,000 of s ucceed ing ,
s pen d ten years an d $10,000 on it. Obviously,
t h is is econom ically unsou n d ; no prof ession a l
re search organ ization would cons ider so risky
a venture; it would be economic s uicide. For
one thing, the Amateur in question may be a
$lOO,OOO-a-year executive in a major corporation; he's worth that to hi s company, because
of the extremely high level of judgment h e
has. T h a t high ability to j u dg e, to select between alternatives, is being app lied in hi s
hob by- t he $10,000 worth of mater ial h e invests in hi s hobby is n othing com pared to t he
$1,000,000 worth of high ly trained j udgement
he's al so investing!
But the Amateur can, of course, charge off
all those expenses, all the investment of time,
effort, energy and money, to "Entertainment".
I t 's a h ead- Lwin-tni ls-you-lose set -u p ; if hi s
resea rc h does not yi eld the des ired result- it
s t ill y ields ten years of fine entertainment.
This is very un f ai r com petition f r om t he
viewpoint of the pr of ession al , who has to
charge a ll t he time, effort, and money in vest ed
to "expenses" - he can't call it "entertainment". The Amateur's research project, in
other word s, can never wind up bankruptin the red-a net loss. The fun of doing it, not
the result, is the main p roduct ; any workable
r esu lt is, then, pure gravy-a bon us over and
above the call of ente rta inment.
Time and t ime aga in in the hi st or y of Science, the great b reak-throughs h ave been made
by amate urs; the great breakthroughs always

will, for all ti me t o come, be made by amateu rs. T h e rea son's simp le : a t r u e Amateur
ca n tackle a probl em with no r easonable hope
of su ccess, an d not s uffer a ny los s. No p rofession al ca n do so.
T he esse nce of a breakthrough discover y,
howeve r , is that it cou ld no t hav e been predieted, on t he basis of previousl y known fa cts.
P a steur, a ch emi st, not a b iolog ist or do ctor,
a chi eved the great breakt hrough in medicalbiological science - t h e discovery of germ
di sease. It could not have been pred icted beforeha nd . N o one could have, a year previously, rea soned that in vestigation of mi croscopic
life-forms would be t he way t o s olve th e problem of dilil.p~ ~(>
Pu t i t th is way: Today, in th e race for
spa ce, we need something a darned sig h t bett er than rockets. Rockets can never be developed t o a n eco nom ica ll y practical method of
comm ercia l u se of s pace ; chem ica l-f ueled rocket s mu st consu m e t ons of st art ing fu el for
eve r y pound of pa y-load put into s pace.
N uclear, or photon rockets ca n never be u sed
to t ake off f r om Earth-the exhaust from s uch
a r ocket motor necessarily has an a pa Ilin g
energy intens ity. It would s lag down half a
county behind it as it t h r ust itself up into
s pace.
We must develop either a n anti-gravity device, or a true spa ce -d r ive-some k ind of a
device t h a t can sink its claws into t he str ucture of em pty spa ce, and climb like a squir r el
g oing up a tree.
No professiona l will ever a chieve such a
breakthrou gh inve n tion ; if Dr. Quiddius Q.
Quidnunk of the Research & Development divis ion of the B r ontosauric Manufactur ing Comp any d oes t u r n up a s t he di scoverer- you can
bet he did it a s a ho bb y-amateur proj ect, not
in h is official ca pactiy a s an R&D man for
B rontosaur!c.
T he r ea s on's eas y to see. Gi ven : W e want a n
a nt i-gravity dev ice. It' s wo r t h $500,000,000 to
t he company tha t gets it. With a prize that
s ize dan gling, su rely it pa ys to do research on

.t 1
1

It would indeed . . . . . if someo ne cou ld s ug gest some pla ce t o start!

In 1935, Dr. Robert A. Millikan, one of the
world's t op atomic physicist s, sa id it would be
"250 years , at least" before we could release
ato mic ener gy. He was wrong b y 243 years.
Wh a t he mea nt was that a s of 1935, no one
had the slig ht es t idea where t o st a r t look in g
fo r th e answer! In 1940, they did know where
t o sta rt ; uranium-Zdf wa s th e st a r t ing point.
It t ook only two yea rs to get an engineer in g
device, once th a t was known .
T he Amat eur, because it's " entertainmen t",
ca n sta rt looking for t he place-to-start; he
doesnt' have to wa it for it t o be di scovered befor e laun ching hi s r esea rch .
The great Bell Laboratories had, of course,
been look ing f or so me way of amplifying elec-

t r ica l s ig na ls for yea rs , bef ore t hat kid. Lee

de Forest ca me up with the triode vacuum
tube. T he tran scontinenta l t elephone line wa s
impossib le until a n amplifier wa s in ven ted. Bell
needed on e, knew t hey need ed one, and couldn't
imagine wher e t o sta rt looking for one, of
cou rse.
There's a lot of government-sponsored r esea r ch being d on e today ; Com missions, Authorities, Department s and Divisions of the
g overnment set up boards, com m ittees, and
Ag encies to a ssign r esearch projects.
Let' s imagine that g ove r n m en t -sponsor ed resea r ch had been common t hroughout t he history of t he United States, and consider the
probability that a governmen t agency would
have mad e the actually-correct ass ig n men t .
The boards mu st, of course, act logi cally"
with careful cons id erat ion of th e opinions of
the authoriti es in t he field. Project assig nmen ts mu st be all otted f a ir ly, logically, on t he
basis of th e best available t heor etica l knowl-

prle:e.
Would they, then, have a ssigned:
1. Deve lopment of a rapid, long-di stance communication technique to
a s econd -ran k portrait painter by
t he name of Sam Morse?
2. Development of a tech n iq ue for
voice communication t o an obscure
te a cher of t he deaf in the Boston
area, Al ex Bell?
3. Development of a heavier-than-air
flying m a chine to a two-man b icycle shop in Ohio?
Other project s would not have been a ssigned
a t all, by a committee whi ch, not being amat eur, wa s log ical, had r espect for auth orities
in the fie ld, and acted on theoretical ground s.
They would never, f or instance, have a ssigned
th e proj ect of developing a n elect r ic lighting
syst em t o an ybody; it wa s proven math ematica lly b y t op physici st s of t he tim e, that such
things could never be practical. The rea son is
one a ny rad io ham can under stand :-It was
" known" t hat t he m aximum energy-transfer
in an electrical circui t was a chieved when th e
resistance of the generator equaled the res is t a nce of the load. Therefore, in an electric
lighting s ystem , on e-half of the energy would
be d issipated in th e g ener a tor , and only half
would be availabl e f or lighting. This made
the maxim um possible efficiency 50 % - but
worse, it m eant t hat, for any siza ble elect ri c
system , a tremend ou s amount of heat wou ld
be gen erated in the dynamo. Large machines
would be impossible, because they would simpl y m elt t hem selves into scr a p.
It's most certainly t r ue that if modern gene r ators w eren't 99 % efficient, th ey wou ld melt
t he mselves in to scr a p. It's hard enough to get
r id of 1 % of ten megawatts, or 100 megawatts
of heat; if th e learned authorities had been
properly r espected by Edison, he'd have recognized th e f u t ilit y of inven t in g incandescent
., ~

.U,AATE:.I ID

DAnlf"l

11:;

lights.
T he Amateur can, of course, expect all kind s
of t rouble when he docs ach ieve somet hing.
Th e Lear ned Aut horit ies a ssure him he's a
crackpot; no t in frequently the s a id Learned
Authorities have the poli ce arrest him to protect the public from hi s phoney racket. Ale xander Graham Bell was arrested f or trying'
to sell st ock in his t elephone company, I un derstand. Lou is P a st eur threw hi s future into
jeopardy when h e fi r st u sed hi s anti-ra bies
t reat me nt on some Ru ssians who h ad been
bitten by rabi d wo lves. No 1\1.0. would g ive
t hem the treatment ; Pasteur wa s not an :\I.D.
and ri sked trial for murder if one of hi s
patients died. (Things are different now; under modern laws, Pasteur would ha ve been
j ailed for cu ring the dying patients. Now it's
ill egal t o t ry to cure someone, s uccessfully or
not, unless you're a licensed M.D .)
I t's inte resting to r ealize that three of the
most famou s criminals in history were, technically, amateurs. J esus, Galileo and George
W a sh ing t on were all, technically, criminals
a nd a mateurs. (Jesus defied the theocratic
la ws of the J ewish government; Galileo
taught, without bei ng pro perly accred ited by
the orthodoxy of h is time, and W a shi ngt on
was, of course, defying the British Crown,
a s an amateur st a tesma n-gener al. Meanwhile,
Ben Franklin, amateur diplomat, wa s doing
a bang-up job in France, to England's most
acute an noyance.)
A considerable am ount of aggress ive determin a ti on is, t herefore, a sine-Qua-non r equirement f or the Good Amateur. H e can expect
a battle when he does achi eve his goal.
Obviously, he's achi eved it illogically. If it
could be achieved log-ically, from the accepted
facts, professionals would have beaten him
to it. Th e criminal-a mateur must have achieved
the goa l by some ill ogical , unfa ir ste p. ("Unf a ir" , when looked at closely, means " You di d
it by a method I didn't consider proper !" Obviou sly, if the professional had considered the
method proper, and had tri ed it, he'd have
beaten the amateur to the punch.)
Go back and ch eck over the ten points that
make f or the Good Amate ur, a nd you' ll see
why they uro necessm-y. If he we ren 't discontented, of course, he wouldn 't be trying to do
somet hing that "can't be done", or trying t o
do better a thing that ca n be done.
But the Good Ama t eur must be practical in
one r espect; he m us t not seek to compete 'w it h
t he professional on any f air, even-steven basi s.
H e mu st al wa ys seek some un de r ha nded, u nf air trick. Th e a mate ur m ust not wa ste hi s
time-effort-money on trying to do what t he professional lab can do a thou sand times better,
faster, and easier. Don't build your ow n voltmeter ... unless you want to learn, by actual
bu ilding, what a voltmeter really is . Then,
of cou rse, you 're really building your own
k nowledge-un derst a nd ing, not a voltmeter.

You sim ply can't wind as perfect a moving

coil, or ma ke a s precise and perfectly aligned
bearings, a s a h uge production machine-complex can : it's inefficient to try. Don 't t ry to
make your own tran si stors. Don't try t o solve
any problem that t he professional research
labs are working on in th e U'u y th e 1n'o lullS
a re t rying.
The pro labs are now, just a s a n example,
trying to find a better method of long- dist a nce
com mu nication . Th ey' ve se nt up t ha t E cho
sa teloon r eflect or; t hey've invest iga t ed troposphere sca tter , they've explored single sideba nd,
pulse code modulation , pulse time modulation.
a thou sand variati on s. Don't compete; you'd
be "fighting fair", and would be s ur e t o lose.
Be unfair ; try finding out how telepathy
work s. Solve t hat one, and you'll junk all the
m ult i-meg abuck proj ects th e pros have invested in. No pro r esea rcher can tackle the
problem, because, of course, it's one of those
things that y ou can't t ell where t o s t a rt workmg.
Legend ha s it that Alexander cracked the
Gordian Knot problem by slash ing through the
knot with h is sword. Now there's an interesting t h ing abo ut t his; any amateur k nows th at
it's a damn sigh t easier to untangle a sna r l
of wire that ha s only two ends than one that's
been cut in two and ha s about 50 ends. The
two-ended knot you can, at least, s t a rt her e.
and know that, by sim ply keeping at it, you'll
necessarily come out there.
An y pro lab can be at you six ways f rom
zero on that sor t of problem ; they 've got electronic com put ers , la r ge st a ffs, and megabucks
to grind away a t th e st a r t ing end, and follow
it through.
The one that st ops the pros, th ough, is
the Gord ian Knot after Alexander slash ed
t hrough. It's got 100 ends. none of wh ich can
lead t o "the" en d.
T he real fu ndamental research scient ist is a
Good Amateur; that's why governme nt resea rch programs sim ply can't do a decent job
of su ppor t ing true basic research . To be truly
basic research, the proj ect must not know
where it's going to wind u p, it must not know
how it's goi ng t o get t here, and m us t ' not be
logica lly ded uct ible from k nown factor s.
T he "tunnel d iode" wa s the result of a Good
A ma teur type experiment; th e r esult obtained
not only could not have been predicted by previou s knowledge-previous knowledge s pecifica lly predicted that it cou ld n't happen! Since
it is theoretically impossible for electrons to
t r avel at t he s peed of light , it cou ld be shown
t hat, t heoretically, no electronic mechanism
can have sig na l-t r a nsit times a s shor t a s lights peed would make possible.
Happily thumbing its mini sucle nose at
theory, the tunnel di ode is an electronic device
with sig na l-t ra nsit velocity equal to lights peed .
It a lso viola tes all proper tra nsis tor solid-

....

..

s t ate sem i-conduct or theoretical approaches.

on ly their chemica ls, but their apparatu s a s
To be any good, a sol id -st a te semi -conducto r
well. Ba ekland was by no m eans the first t o
mu st have very, very, VERY little impuri t ywind up with a mess th at nothing k now n t o
"dopin g"- in it. The tun nel d iode resu lts fr om
chemis t ry wo uld r emove,
dop ing t he germani um or s ilicon like cra zy.
Baekla nd wa s simply the first t o be a Good
Do the w r on g t hing- that's wh a t works!
A ma t eur about it; he was incons isten t . "I,"
I n t he early days, t he ham s got s ho r t -w a ve
he dec ided , "am n o t sy n t hes izin g 1, z-alpha,
r adio g oing by doing wrong t hi ngs li ke taking
be t aomic ron a fte r a ll. I'm s y nt hesizin g somethe ca ref ully manufa ct ured t ubes right out
t hi ng a s useful a s the fabl ed Universal Solof t heir carefully cemented on bases, and
ve n t- t he U n iversa l I nsolu ble! Since I can't
sol de ri ng the leads directly in to their circuits.
get rid of the damn st uff . . . t here must be
The r eal m otto of t he amateur mu st be,
so mebod y that wants a mater ial t hat s t u bbor n ,
" Never g ive a pro an even brea k! Be unfair!"
so I'll sell it. " \ Vit h that in consis t ency of apTo be a Good Amateur, don 't compete w ith
proac h, t h ings were ea sy, It wa s a sna p to
the p ros-do what no p r o wou ld ever th ink of
r emove the a p para tu s fr om the m a ss of bakedo ing. An d be egocentric-whatever project
lite- the g lass wo uld break, or dissolve in
you pick, pick it because you like it, not behydrofluo r ic acid .
cause some body sa ys it is your duty. That way,
Rem ember, too, that Bell wa s work ing to inyou're playing t he head s-l-win-ta fl s-vou-los e
ve nt t he "musical t eleeraph v-c-wbat we now
g ame; no matter whether your proj ect suck now a s ca rr ier -f requency telegraphy-when
ceed s or not, you'll ha ve had a hell of a lot
he go t t he wrong r esult. H e wa s a Good Amaof fun! Tackle t he absolu tely impractical proteu r , a nd immediat ely d ecided he was inventj ects-the ones where you'll have no p ro comin g a tele phone instead of a mu sical telegraph
petit ion . And always d is r ega r d Au th orities;
T her e are lots of pa t ents to be gained by
of course t hey're s u r e it's im possible. If they
seein g how bad a job you ca n do. The bodywer en't th ey'd ha ve g one after it t hem selves.
ca pa cita nce bu rgla r -ala r m, fo r instance, is t he
A t h ing ca n be econo m ica lly impossible f or
wo r st possible approach t o a st a ble VFO exprofessional r esearch-a nd be com plete ly prac- a ggerated and patented. A lmost anything th at
tical for th e h appy litt le a ma t eu r. Lord knows
is ext reme ht one th in g or another ha s some
cli mbing Mt. Everes t is econo m ica lly imposuseful a ppl ication . Vide Bakelite. Transistors
s ibl e in an y profit-a nd-l oss s ense. what poste nd to be ver y t emperature-sensitive; they
s ible financial profit can be mad e up there '?
mak e wonderful hig-h-se ns itivity t hermometer s
And the amateur doesn't have t o exp lain
becau se of that. The H-C oscillator s s uch a s
why h is gadget works; to he ll with t heory ! t he m ul t ivibra t or are ho rri bly unstable . .
Be pragmatic; s imp ly us e it. Show that it
wh ich makes them won de rfully u seful a s freworks, and let the r ed-h ot th eor et icians worry
quency multipliers and / or divider s. Being inabout w h y if they want to.
herentl y un stable, t hey'll hap pily lock in with
Als o, be r eady and willin g- t o be comp letely
t he frequency of a ny nea r by oscillator.
inconsistent at any mom ent. If, one day, while
Each of the char a cte ri st ics I've listed a s necworking on a new idea fo r a t wo-me ter half- essa r y to the Good Amateur is cons idered antik ilowatt rig, t ha t you've to ld everybody is
socia l. Each of th em is . . . . in th e wrong'
goi ng to be a t wo-meter t r a ns m itter , sa id unit
place, or wrong d egree. But be incon sistent
s hould s uddenly s t a r t r ising off the bench and
about t hat , t oo; in t he ri gh t place, and right
floating up t oward the ceiling-be incons istent ! d eg r ee, each of t hem is t reme ndo usly useful.
Say, "I'm building an anti-grav ity m a chine,"
I d o not , f or instance, r ecommend disrespect
a nd if s omebod y protes t s that you s a id it wa s
of Au thorities when th ey s a y " T he human
a rad io t r a ns m itter- why , poi n t out that it
or g a n is m does not normally oper a t e well after
obviously is a n a n ti -gr a v ity ma chine, so, obbei ng connected t o a 2000 volt power s u p ply."
vi ously, that's what you were a ctually buildIt is a lso necessary to respect a u t hor it ies in
ing. T ha t's common sense, is n 't it? \Vh y s hould
an other sense ; they should be res pected just
you ca re that it consu m es a full gallon, and
a s you s hould respect rattlesnakes, m ules '
peeps out wit h onl y 2 watt s on 2 ? It floats,
hee ls , a nd dynamite. T hey fre quen tly have
does n't it '?
powe r , and s ho uld be t reated accordingly.
The crackpot is t he bird who not only fa ils
A lways be willing to cha nge your p roject if
to respect authority, bu t a lso fa il s to respect
someth ing better s lug s you alon g the way.
g ood j udgem en t .
Like Georg-e Baekland ; he wa s t r ying to synThe Good A mat eur, of course, fulfill s t he
t hes ize so me com plex organi c chem ical, when
on ly useable d efinition of a Genius: "A Genius
hi s chemical s in t he apparatu s clobbered,
is a cr ack pot who m ak es money a t it."
t ur ned in to goo, and fina lly set into a solid
Nat ura llv
. , .. becau se "makes m oney a t it "
mess. Effor t s t o clea n hi s ap para tu s of t he

is s im ply another wa y of s a y ing "has an idea

st uff p roved tot a lly f uti le ; he could n't di ssolve
which is econom ica lly sou nd and workable."
the mess in anythi ng he could fi nd; it just sa t
Remem ber t hat almost a n y cr a ck pot ca n g d
t here s neeri ng a t a ll hi s high-powe r solven ts,
a paten t ; it takes a ge niu s t o get one U1ul se ll
Of course, ot her chemists had had simila r
it!
moo
s a d acc ide n t s, and had ha d to t h row away not
13 A MATEUR RADIO

37

Testing
the

....- -

Heath
Mohican
Do nald A. Sm ith. W3UZN
Assc ciete Ed itor
P.O . Bolt 45
Hage rstown, Mervle nd

CC-1A
Transistor

Communications Receiver
you ca n imagine the doubts which
would build up in your m ind. if you were
to take on the job of writing someth ing good
about a one h u nd r ed dollar "Communications"
receiver. Ad d to th is, that i t is t ran sistorized
a nd you've had sou r experiences with previously available amateur tran sistor gear.
After the receiver had been a s sembled
( Heath sells kits, you kn ow). which took me
about 30 hours, the r eceiver wa s ready f or
alignment. I foll owed the rather complete and
thorough instructions provided. Alignment requires a s ig na l gen erator (like the H eath
SG-7) and a VTVM (lik e t he H ea t h V-7a) .
Once aligned, I antenna'd it with the whip
which comes with th e kit and st a r ted tunin g
to d etermine the magnitude of the di saster.
HMMM, Well, what do you know? H MMM.
HMMMMMMMMM! Well I'll be darned ! By
George! H ey ! Thi s thing is rea lly som et h in g .
T he advertised specs of 2 micr ovolt s sens it ivit y
(except on t he broadcast ban d ) , were f ou n d
to be qu it e conservative, even on t he ten meter
band where mo st r eceiver s are strangely qu iet.
T h is li ttle bo x of parts hel d it s own r ight
alongside of receivers costing up to twice a s
much. Let's see what makes it tick.
The biggest secret is probably in the fr ont
end. After all , if it doesn't have it up front,
it doesn't have it. Three tran si stors are used
in th e front end. One f or r f amplifier, one
ea ch f or oscillator and mixer. These tran si s t ors
are n ot run of th e mill j obs, but are good at
frequen cies up to 100 me! Thus it's not much

38

ERH APS

13 AMATFlJR RADI O

of a problem getting perfor mance up t o 80

me. The way t he front end layout was designed
hel ps t o kee p lead s s hor t . T he tra n si stors are
mo un ted on shie lds and t he band change switch
is in stalled th rough t he se sh ields .
B y us ing adjustable coils in the front end,
plus trimmer capacitors, fa irly constant se nsitivity across the dial is obtained. This eliminates the "dead s pots " t h a t we all have ex perienced.
w hat about select ivit y ? The figur es are
3 kc to the half power point (6 db down).
which is mad e p ossible by the u se of "transfilters". These little j obs are unusual in tha t
they do the job of an if transformer, crystal
filter and coupling capacitor, but are n on e of
the se. They are somewhat sim ila r to a crystal
la ttice filter in t heir operation, though not a s
efficient. They g ive much better selecti vit y
t ha n could be ach ieved from st a nd a r d if tran sfor mers, are rugged and neve r need ad ju stment! ( T hough t hey h ave been u sed by t he
S ignal Corps, thi s is t he fi r st comme rcia l ap plica tion of t hem).
W hat's t he li n e up? 10 tra n sistors, 3 ge r manium diodes, 2 compensating diodes and 1
voltage regulating Zener diode are used. This
gives an rf st a ge, a sep a r a te oscillator and
mixer, three if st a ges, a diode detector, an
audio driver and a push-pull ou t pu t st a g e.
A se p a r a te tran sistor is u sed f or the var iable
BFO. Diodes are used f or automatic noi se
limiter and Ave.
And that's not all! A Zener di ode is u sed
()r..T() R ~ R

IQhn

Th e rf section is con structed first . Note ihat

"II paris are moun ted on a fl ai she et, simplify ing const ruction .

.
.,.
.

A printed circuit board is used for mounting

and wiring of the if and audio sections of the
receiver.

.,

'

The co mplei ed rf section and t he print ed circuit board ar e mounted o n th e main c h" ssis
a nd wire d to eac h oth e r.

Completed receiver, cabinet removed. Wire

g oing off tc ihe left connects tc speaker
mounted in cabin et. l arge hole in upper left
corner is where W hip" antenna goes.

Rear of completed rec eiver wah power supply

rem oved. Plug shown in the cut-o ut, is powe r
plug which is plugg ed int o power supply.

Battery supply on left is furnished with the kit,

(less betterles], The supply on the right is ac
operated supply which is purchased separately,
if desired.

a s a voltage r eg ulator for the loca l oscillator.

-6.8 volts is a pplied fr om t he diode to t he
t ru nsisto r oscilla tor base, holding drift down
to a very low amount. It is t he na ture of a
Zener diode t hat when a voltage is applied to
the diode backward s, r everse current is very
low. If the voltage should exceed t his a mount,
t he break down potenti al of the diode occurs

and the reve r se cur rent t hrough the diode increases , bring th e voltage back down t o th e
pre-set a moun t , which is -B.8v in our case.
Anoth er in t er esting circ uit is in t he pushpull a udio output s t a ge. Two IN2326 compensa ti ng diodes are used, one in eac h of t he
output st a g-es, connected to the t r a nsistor base
circu it s. These di odes have a negati ve tern-

...... ,...T,..,"~n

,nLn

73 AMATEUR RADIO

39

rate section. Steel is also u sed for the main

chassis and the cabinet.
The tuning capacitors (bot h the bandspread
and main tuning capacitors), have anti-backla sh gears which are quit e effective in provid ing good vernier tuning. The bandspread,
by the way, is good.
Construction begins with the a ssembling of
the front end and the printed circuit board
which contains the if s ta ges, audio noise lim-

perature coefficient so that a s the transistors

increase in temperature (as class B tran sistor output stages do) the diodes will compensa t e for this increase . By so doi ng, excessive
battery dra in is prevented and audio quality
is maintained.
T hese sa me two diodes al so act like voltage
regulators, which is important for battery
life. A s the batteries begin to fall off, they
compensate f or it (within certain limits, of

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course). Perhaps you have noticed how the

audio becomes di storted as soon a s the battery
voltage begins to decrease a little in your transist or portable.
By usi ng- a pu sh-pull class B output stage
more than enough a udio is ava ilable. A 35
ohm (low impedance) phone jack is provided
on the real' of the receiver chassis. The volume
is considerably lower ' if high impedance earphones are used.
Ordinary flashlight batteries of the "C" size
a re used and t hey last up to 400 hours! Replacement costs you less than one dollar. Not
bad eh? If you intend using the receiver mostly for s hack operation an ac power su pp ly is
available for $9.95 which fit s in the spa ce
provided for the battery case.

Mechanical Aspects
Steel con struction g ives excellent mechanical
and elect ri ca l s ta bili t y. The front end is built
on a sing le sheet of st eel, simplif ying to some
extent thi s important part of the receiver.
The coil s, trimmers, band-switch, shields and
tran sistors are built on thi s plate a s 8 sepa 40

73 AMATFLJR RADin

.j.

II

"ii:'

: _~

'

. . ,..--, ,:
K"

( ..
_..
<'

Jii!

,.

. ,l;o

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"

iter, and BFO. These two sections are then

bolted to the main chass is and interconnected.
Tuning capacitors and front panel follow. N o
difficulty wa s experienced.

In Use
The GC-l'k wa s tested rather thor oughly
using th e built-in whip, the regular st a t ion
antenna s, and a t beach parties. I t pulls 'em
in no matter how you use it. After several
week s of constant u se I was convinced that
it did everything I wanted or expected it
t o do. The select ivit y and sensit ivit y were
fine, it worked well on SSB (though a product
detector would be somewha t easier t o use, of
coursej cand it was a Kern for use with, my 6
and 2' meter converters.
)
The s pri ng loaded pilot lamp s witch lets you
light up the dial s ' when need ed and conserves
t he batteries f or more' impoi'tan t uses of the
amperes.
A close look at the photos will tell you all
about th e controls on the receiver. It ha s about
everything you really need. . includin g the Smeter. Quite a bundle for t he low price and
one you'll have a ball with . if you give it a
moo
t r y.

............. --- ._.-

( CAPAC ITY M ET ER from page 23)

ca pa cit a nce, the sca le is linear and there is

no need for ot he r t ha n f ull-scal e calibration.
Hence, a variable resisto r , R5 in Fig. 1, i s
used t o s h u nt a b it of ex t ra cu rrent around
the meter, to allow f or battery aging- and a lso
to eliminate th e neces sity of se tt ing t he multivibrator exactly on fr-eq ue ncy.
By operating the MV at four fixed f requencies, in decad es , t he r ang e of ope r atio n covers
pr act ica ll y a ll s ma ll color -code d ca pac itors.
Th e frequ enci es u sed a r e 100 cy cles, 1 k e, 10
kc a nd 100 k c.
T he MV, in Fig . 1, h a s three possible s t a t es
of nor mal opera tion. They a re : Ql co nd ucti ng
a nd Q2 cut off, or Q2 on a n d Ql cu t off or a
tran s itiona l s ta t e wh ere both condu ct. Wh en
t he power sw itch, SI, is first turned on either
Ql or Q2 st a r t s to conduct mor e readily than
the other due to in heren t circuit unbalance.
D ue to t he r eg enera t ive a ction of t he cross
cou pled amplifier s on e or t he oth er soon is

driven to s a t u r a tion , with the opposite ampli fier cut off by t he large p ositive bias devel oped
by t he ch a rge on t he coupli ng ca pacitor. The
plus charge d rains off t oward the B - thru
t he ba se hi a s r esi s t or, a nd at a bout - 0.1 volts
of ba se bias, the cut off tran sistor th en con ducts, a n d r egeneration qu ickly ca us es thi s
t ran s istor t o become sa t u r a t ed , with the opposite one cut off. T hi s p r ocess r e peats it self
at a r ate gove rned mai nly by the base bi a s
res is to rs , R 2 a nd R3 in Fig', 1, and the intercou p li n g capa ci tors, Cl thru Cx. Th e r esult is
m ore or les s a square-wa ve. A ca pacito r, Cx, is
connected across t he termina ls .II and J2
with t he instrume nt tu rned on . \Vh en Ql
is condu cting' a n d Q2 is cut off , Cx is cha r ged
t o pra ct ically the full battery voltage t h ru
CR l. On the n ext half cycle Cx di sch arges
t h ru CR 2 and the meter, 1\11, and recharges
again in the opposite pola rity, to t he su pply potent ia l. T h e r esu lt is , of course, a
(Contin ued on page 50)

Telrex C atalog

_.- . ...
-...........

New

'1If

~=

Produc t

---_.- -- --~ _. -

~etters

to the Editor
CAS I
at

:\lY AGE
neec me a
Hotel Ext'culive:'
D l'8 r Lead er :
J us t a n o t e to r e m in d you that we reti r ed a ir m a r s h a ll s
and ad rniruls tendi ng' ou r beds o C floweri ng concu b ines
lind s cm-le t p a n de m on iu m s i n the C olden Su nset W('8t u f
the s mo~ hank-uh, whe r e WIlS I ? A n yhow d on't Ior a et
to enter our s u bsc r iptio n and bill u s when YOU get that
mngaaine for a d u lt amat eurs printed a nd p a s sed b y the
post office , the legio n o C dece nc y and Alexand e r King.
H o pe you haven't r-e n e g -ed on the project, W n y n e. there's
s o much R'ood h u r d wor k to be done, Meanwhile, hang'
onto t he boat lind le t t he water s u p p o r t m oa t oC YOUI'
weta ht ,
K en Cole W7I D F
Vashon. \\' a s hi n Kt o n
T o: H e r r w av ne Gre-e n
De a r w a y ne :

Wh a t H opp en ? H e r e I s it , IHltien tly wait.i n g- _f or the

njmea ra ncc of "n " . Pu t me on t he li s t to s t a r t w ith
Vo l. I , No.1. I w ill t ake a ny lonR' -term s u bs d e a l )' O U
come up with, a s suming that you r or-ig-i'na l fig u res o f $:i
a year; five fo r two years , e tc. Five years f or ten bucks"!
I ' ll take it. H o w a bo u t fl "Lifetime" d ea l for. say. 25
bucks:' W e bot h gamb le---you be t t hat I d on' t live too
Ion g- a n d I bet th a t 7a d oe s . ( I a m du.m ned well s u r e
t hut a ny a ood t echnioa l mu lit"azi ne w il l s u r v ive and mn ke
money. ] . . .
7:l es all that r ot.
Fritz H e r-vey W 9U U
Chilton. Wis co n si n
................. P' . .

Drop a cord to Te lrex La bs, Asb ury Pa rk. Ne w

Je rsey and esk for their catalog PL-77. They've listed
rathe r co mplete da ta on 100 d iff e rent ha m ba nd
a nt e nnas t hat they man ufact ure , priced from $6.50
for a 10 Me te r Mi ni-Bowf ie t o $985 for a fo ur b an d
10- 1520 40 Me ter array. A nd . say, whe n you' re writing, be sure to tell 'em a bout 73.
D ea r MI'. G ree n :
llrit'fl y , m o r e power to you.
B y keep i ng- the tec hnica l level a bo ve t hat of t he
beg-inner, but below that oC the professiona l ( each oC
w h ich ha s his o w n s p ec ia liaed literature n ow J, the maga z i ne s h o u ld be D s uccess, A Connat of technical articles
r u t her than o C operati ng detuils s ho u ld have con siderable
nppeul . M ig h t I s u srg est , however , t h at you n e ve rth e le s s
ha ve a variety. C W a n d F S K r ig h t th rou a h t o sidebe nd
lind a nten nas . Althoug-h I'm n o t really a d e s k jockey. it
seems to me that i n t e llig e n t com pone n t and equipment
m anufactur-ers w ould be m ost willing t o buy s pace in
the m a g , . . .
Ji m W 5 S U C
Ft. Huck cr-, A lubamn
Dear \Va )' n e.
I am verv happy to hea r about 73 ::\Iagazi ne, li nd I
want to wish you e ve r)" s uccess. Yo u r proposed editorial
pol icy s ou nds li ke j us t what is needed in a h am radio
magazi ne. I r eattee tha t I a m p r oba b ly i n t he mi n o ri t y .
hut I d on ' t li ke t o s ee h am rad io becomin g s o "com m erciali zed ." Mos t b eg inn t ng- h ams t o day see m to b e
c once r n ed m ain ly with which factory built equi pment
to buy. Ma y be the)' s ho u ld n' t be blamed for this. a fter
being s u b j ected t o a barragt> o f a d vert ts tn a, but somebody s ho u ld tell them that t his is a t echn tca l hobby, a nd
there wo n 't be m uch j us t i ficu t io n Co r our u se o f the
a ma teu r bands i f w e d egen ern t e i nto II bu n c h o C " c itizen's
hand broadca s ters " w ho never b u ilt! lln y equipment , and
have to se n d t he r ig back t o t he I uc t o r v Co r repa i rs. I
hope 73 s e lls p 'ent y of adl'er~i sinR' s p a c e , but at the
sa m e time, if it can s teer hams i nto doing more ex peri menting' anrl c o ns t r uc t io n work, I'm a ll for i t . Pl eas e
n u t m e d o w n a s a ch arter s u bscri ber.
I hope I h nvr- undc r a tood the fh-s t pnrap ruph o C your
te tt e r correct ly , w it h r~a ro l t o e rnphaaiz f n g- technic al
and construction articles. and w ill be eagerl) awaiti ng
you r first i ssue. I might e ven whip up a few articles
m ys elf for s-ou r- constderat ton . Lots of luck !
R . V. McGraw \\' 2LYH

... . ..

."

A ~iA T C ll D

D Anl f"l

AI

Modulation
Fundamentals
Robed W . Schoening, WTKX
10040 Broo ksid e Ave nue
Mi nnea p olis 20, Minn.

s ys tems used by r a dio amateurs today are increasingly complex.

Perhaps in attempting to understand them all,
we have neglected the fundamental s. \ Vha t ever the reason, the bases of ampl itude modulation are widely misunderstood. T he same
basic t heory applies to a ll t he variations of
AM, no matter how ma ny sidebands or carriers are transmitted. H er e, t hen, is a rev iew
of the AM p icture, w ith a g lim pse of the
f uture of rad iotelephony.
F irst, let us defi ne a few ter ms. " S platter "
is a somewhat ambiguous expression, but as
used here it means "side-frequencies corresponding to components which are not present
at the output of the modula t or. " Side-freqencies wh ich correspond to au dio fre quencies
which are not in the original int elligence, but
are produced somewhere in the aud io system
of a radiotelephone transmi tter, are not neeessarily malignant, and will not be termed
s pla t ter here.
"Carrier shift" is a disease properly defined
as any "change in carrier ampl itude during
modulation". In s pit e of widespread misinterpretations, there is a great deal of difference between carrier shift and simple
asymmetry of the modulating function. Of
course, carrier shift implies nothing with respect to carrier frequency . .. only its amplitude. "Positive carrier shift" is an increase in
carrier amplitude during modulation, while
"negative carrier s hif t " is the opposite. A
change in carrier amplitude (in voltage or
current) is indicated by a change in the average voltage or current output of the transmitter when amplitude modulated. Remember
that wh ile the rms antenna current (and
hence the rms voltage) increases during modulation, and while the peak antenna voltage
and current double on 100 % positive modulation peaks, the average values should remain
constant.
MODULATION

....

... ..

" . . . . T f". l l n

I'lo " .........

"Downward 11/{l{lulation" is negative carrier

shif t so seve re that the decrease in carrier
output is greater than the sideband power
pr od uced by modulation. ' Vit h downward modu lation a decrea se in total power output occurs
when modulation is applied and the a ntenna
ammeter (or neon bulb) kicks down instead
of up.
"Ra<Uatcd modu lating power" is a good descr ipti on of sideba nd power. T he more of this
tha t actua lly gets to the r eceiver detector, t he
greater t he volume of sound produced at t he
loud s pea ker . I n orde r to be useful , the aud io
produced at t he receiver should be that which
contr ib utes to int elli gibilit y. T here are two
types of sideba nd power which do no good :
the power contained in sidebands which do
not get to the detector due to receiver selectivity; and the power, which, when detected,
merely excites the loudspeaker cone without
co ntributing to the intelligibility. For thi s
reason, sim ply increasing the radiated modu lating power is no assurance that the sig n a l
will "get out" better. Even a decrea se in total
sideba nd power may improve sig na l reception
on a selective receiver at a distant point, if
the sideband components remaining are rearranged to do their job properly.
It is important to remember (as if the SSB
contingent would allow us to forget) that the
carrier's function in AM is only to accommodate the intelligence-bearing components.
Lea ving sideba nd power and distribution unchanged and increasing the carrier power will
make absolutely no change in the volume at
t he receiver. Did you ever try thi s and find
that the signal became weaker a s you increased the carrier thus decreasing the modulation percentage? If so, you forgot to disable
the ave, so that the receiver's gain wa s reduced as you fed in more carrier. T here is
some adva ntage, however, to a strong carrier.
T he signal will not overmodulate itself so

...

_.-

as ily when selective fa ding is encou ntered at

he receiver, a nd t he heterod ynes fr om a dj a ent ca r r ie rs may seem less objectionable.
'here are, in s p ite of some semi-se ri ous alle-a t ions to the cont r a r y , absolutely no logical
.rg uments in fav or of reducing the carrier uness the power sa ved can be ut ilized in increa sng t he ra d iated modulating power, a s wit h

;SB .
Methods of ext ending the positive modu laion peaks do not, a s has been s ug gest ed , offer
Fig . I
nore sideba nd power without s pla t t er ; nor
10 they necessarily improve the received aigpens In the pr ocess, the posit ive pea ks ( P)
ral's inte lligi bility. Any s yst em which prod uces
and t he nega ti ve peaks ( N) will include pre.a rri er shift mu st prod uce spla t te r ; mor eover cise ly t he sa me area . The aver a ge height of
tplat .ter may exist without carrie r s hift.
t he r f wave envelo pe is st ill E c, j us t a s it
The normal dc plate input to the final radio
wa s wi t h no modu lation.
'requency amplifier produces the carrier. F or
\Vit h a good transmitter, we should be able
.his reason, carrier sh if t can occur only if to increase t he ampl itude of the mod ulating
.his de power changes a s t he resu lt of mod us ig na l to obta in 100 % m odu la tion ( F ig. I- C)
.a t .i on, or if th e efficiency of t he mod ula ted
w hile still maintaining- a n a verage amplitude
(or linea r) a mplifier does not behave accordof E c : no carrier s hift.
.ng to the requirements for the type of modu If t he transm itter is capable of extended
.a t ion used . Since de cannot "get through " a
positive peak modulation (and few really a r e ) ,
tr a nsfor me r , nothing we do in the audio sysa fu rther increase in the mod ulatio n gives
.em s hor t of overmod ulat ion ca n possibly ca use
the patte r n of Fig. I-D. H ere t he trans mitter
carrier sh ift. N o m atter how lop-s ided or d is- sh uts it self off f or a brief portion of t he negatorted t he mod ulati ng waveform becomes in t ive pea k, so tha t th e positi ve peaks' areas
the mod ulator, it ca nnot produce splatter as
( P) are greater t han t hose of t he nega ti ve
we define it. ' Ve automatically rule out defec- peaks (N) . Now t he average rf amplitude intive modulation tran sformers, autotransform- creases to Ec-j-: pos itive carrier shift. T he
are an d choke coupling, of cou r se.
clipped nega ti ve peaks represent a source of
A pure a c wa ve is one w hich has an average vicious splatter . Their sha r p corners correspond t o modu la t ing fr equencies much higher
value of zero beca use t he t wo altern ation s endose exactly equal areas. Th e two a lternations
t han t he a ctu al output of t he modu lator, and
need not be the sa me s ha pe nor have the sa me the resulting sidebands are muc h fa rther f rom
peak amplitude; however if the peak of one th e carrier t han normal. Mod ula t ing frequenalter na t ion goes farther from zero than that cies t his high would not ord inarily be pa ssed
of the other , t he lowe r al t er na ti on's values
by the mod ulation tra nsforme r , so that the
broadening will be mor e seve re th an t hat
stay nea r t hei r pea k longer. Wh en such a
waveform is used to mod ulate a ra d io fr ewhich a udio di s t ortion a lone could ca use.
If t he t ra nsmitte r distorts t he positive
quency wave, the maximum increase a nd depeaks, splatter may a lso be prod uced. I n F ig.
cr ease in rf wave amplitude need not be equal,
but if the increase (positive modulation peak)
I - E the negative peak is the sa me a s I-C, but
is greater, t he decrea se ( negative mod ulati on
t he fla ttened positive pea k m akes area Pless
pea k ) mu s t la st longe r . S ince th e a ver age int h a n a r ea N , so t ha t a nega ti ve sh ift in carcr ease a nd decrea se are th en equ a l, t he a verrier a m plit ude occ u rs , a nd t he average rf amage amplitude of the rf voltage is uncha nged
plitude becomes Ec-. A ctuall y t h is fl atten ing
from its unmodulated level-no carrier shift is u sually more gradua l t han in I -D, so the
occurs. When we view "modulated envelope "
sig-na l may not be quite as broad, I t can still
patterns on a n oscilloscope, we do not see the clutter up several adjacent cha nnels, however.
ind ividu al rf cycles, but only t he envelope
Let us consider t he ca uses of co nd ition I -E .
(whose h eight is propo rt iona l to the peak t o
First the flat t enin g did not occur in the aud io
peak rf voltage) a s it va r ies in am pli tu de a t
s yst em, fo r if it ha d, th e mod ulatio n tr-an ssome rate corresponding to the mod ulati ng
forme r would have automatica lly ma de areas
function . The t op or bottom outline of the
P and N equa l and no carrier s hift could have
envelope corresponds to the actual modulating occurred. T he wave might have looked almost
waveform, whether or not thi s is t he modu lathe same on t he 'scope, bu t th e a r eas would
ha ve been r e-distribut ed s ym metr ica lly around
tor's output wa vef orm. A linea r detector receiving t he signal will prod uce a n out put
the average a m plit ude, E c.
W it h pl ate mod ulation, positive mod ula t ion
voltage in t h is form .
If no modulation is applied, t he rf envelope
peaks occur when t he positive a udio a lterna height remai ns constant a s in Fig. IA. F ig . tion add s to the de plate voltage to increase
the plat e volt age on t he modula t ed rf a mpliI -B shows t he envelope sinuso ida lly mod ul ated
at about 70 0/0, an d if not hing- u nsan ita r y hap- fier stage. Durin g t h is peak, plate cur rent
.......... Tr:IID

o.nl"

....,

sho uld ri se in direct proportio n, and rf amplifier efficiency sho uld r ema in const ant. I ns ufficient reserve of ca tho de emission could
prevent a linear increase in pla t e current .
P erha ps t he rf a m plifi er uses a screen grid
t ube and the screen voltage (which has considerably more effect on plate current than
the plate voltage) is not being increased along
wit h t he pla te voltage. Ma ybe the tube is ru nnin g too close to cu t-off bias, so th at while it
re ma ins in cla ss C on negati ve pe aks ( r ed uced
pl ate voltages), it en ters cla ss B or even class
A a s the plate voltage r-ises. T h is could prod uce a drop -off in efficiency on the positive
peaks. Remembe r that "cut-off bias" is proportional to plate voltage, so that an rf a mplifier w ith bias beyo nd cut-off and 1000 volts
on th e plate ma y be r unning at less than cutoff when the plate voltage doubl es as on posi t ive pea ks of 100 % am pl itu de modu la tion.
A very common cause of negative carrier
shift in this sor t of stage is insufficient rf grid
dr ive. E xcit a t ion may suffice for the normal
unmod ulated plate voltage, but on positive
modu lation peaks t he limit of possible plate
current ( a func tion of load impeda nce and
pla te voltage) increases, so tha t mor e d r ive is
necessa r y to maintai n full plate efficiency du ring these peaks.
If Fig. 1- E represents the output of a linear
rf amplifier or a grid-modulated stage, other
causes suggest themselves. In t hese systems,
t he r f am plifiers' plate efficiency mu st a pproxima tely dou ble on positive modula tion peaks,
so if' the gri d dri ve is too hi gh, t he unm odulut ed efficiency will ru n too high and the positive peaks must suffer. Some relief is available here by using a lower plate load impedance to raise the limit of plate current. By
juggli ng drive a nd loading , we can usua lly
r es tore t he posi t ive pea k.

--, , \~~"
.,;\

.."

Fig . 2

Figure 2-B shows that two wrongs don't

make a rig ht. Her e a rare combi nation of circumstances ha s resu lted in overmod ul ation
w ithout carrier s hift , si nce positive peak fla tte ning exactly ma t ches t he nega ti ve clippi ng
ca used by overmodulat ion. T he a ver a ge rf
amplitude is unchanged from its un modulated
value ( F ig. 2-A) . Splatter, however, is abundant . . . . the modulator is putting out a sine
wave. Wha t if the mod ula t or 's outp ut wavefor m a ctua lly was that sho wn '? In t hat case
we woul d ha ve no s platter by our de fi nitio n,
,A,A

'7~

A~JATc.lln

bAn i .....

although t he wave would occupy exactly the

same spectrum and includ e t he same interf erence potential. Remember, however, t h at
mod ulation w it h t his shar p-corne red waveform
would be in some special service (hardly telephony unless the modulating frequency is a
very low one), and a suitable spectrum assignment would be provided.
F ig ur es 2-C and 2-D show the re uson inz
behind "extended pos itive peak" modu latio n.
Voice a nd m usi c mod ulat ion often pr odu ces
waveforms with unequal pea ks. H ere a waveform of that type is shown; 100% modu lating
a radio wave, first in one polarity and then
in the other. The drawing is intended to indicate that in both cases the positive peak ( P)
and t he negative peak (N) include the same
area . In F ig. 2-C however, t he smaller peak
is a pp lied negat ively, a nd ( ass umi ng again
that t he tra nsmitter can handle the extended
positive peak) modulation in the positive direc tion can actually exceed 12.5 % without splatter. No carrier shift exists. If. as in Fig. 2-D,
t he modulating signal is applied in t he opposite polarity, t he gain control m us t be
backed off, and th e sideba nd power decreased
a ccordi ngl y to prevent negati ve pea k overmodu lation, carrier shift, and splatter. T he
correct polarity for your particular voice may
be found by reversing any two wires in the
audio system . . . . or even, with some types
of microphones, by speaking into the other
side of t he m icrophone. T he pattern is most
easily inte rpreted for voice mod ulat ion if a
slow linea r sweep (under 100 cycles) is applied to the hor izontal plates and the tran smitter's rf output sample directly to the vertical plates of the 'scope.
Even if your voice waveform exh ibits as
muc h unbal a nce as in F ig. 2-C, there is a very
good possibili ty t hat your t ransmitter ca nnot
hand le t he exte nsio n of positive peaks, fo r t he
reasons listed in reference to Fig. I -E. If you
decide to carry the extension farther than
can be done by finding the favo rable audio
polarity, systems have been evolved where
a sine wave output from the modulator causes
extended pos itive peak mod ula t ion as in F ig .
2-E. \Ve recognize thi s as curr- ier sh ift, and
we m ust ad mit t hat it will prod uce splatter
since t he modulat ed wave outline does not conform to the modulator's output waveform.
T here is a posaibility that, if not carried t o
excess, the spurious side-frequencies produced
will not cause serious adjacent cha nnel interference. \Ve have no assura nce that the a ddit iona l sideba nd power t hat we a ttain in this
way will not be objectionable, or t hat it will
contribute to intelligi bifit y a t t he receiver.
Systems of this sort which have been suggested in amateur publications do not g uar-antee ag-ainst adjacent channel interference even
tho ug-h th e negative peaks are not clipped;
nor do they put a ll t he ext ra sideba nd power
t hro ugh th e selective por- ti ons of the rece lv-

---- ---

er- into the detector. Only by shaping the

modu lating signal before it gets t hrough t he
modulation tran sformer, and by carefully distributi ng its content through the de sired audio
range can we be s u r e (assuming a healthy rf
amplifier syst em in th e transmitter) that by
enha ncing the s ideba nd power transmitted, we
really improve th e s ig na l.

Fi g . 3 -1

Bef or e we make a n y s ug g est ions , let us

review the 'scope patte rn s by ins pecti n g t heir
cor respo nd ing tr apezoidal di splays. F ig . 3-A ,
of cou rse, ' represents the t ra pezo idal patter n
f or no modula t ion . F ig s. a-B, C, D , a nd E COrres pond t o F ig s. I -B, C, D, a nd E res pectively.
Fig. 3-F s hows th e h ig hly im p r obable cas e ou t lined a s a modula t ed envelo pe in Fig . 2- B.
Drawn to t he same sca le, F ig. 3-G, in its ent irety, is larg er (by t he cross-hatched a rea)
t han 3-C. Due to th e greater peak am plitudes
obtained with the extended pos itive peak mod ulation encountered in th e corresponding Fig.
2-C. The s ha ded triangle of 3-G s hows the
reduction of pos itive peaks nece ssary t o prevent overmodulation with improperly polarized
aud io (2-D) . You may have noticed that any
bends or corners in the non-parallel sid es of
our trapezoid r epresen t carrier shift. I n 3-D,
E, and F, the d epartures from linearity are
abrupt. In 3-H , the bending is gradual, but
carrier s hi ft still exists, r eflecting the condition (2 -E) of artificially extended pos itive
peaks.
Trapezoidal patterns are useful for monitoring voice modulation, bu t t hey must be produced correctly t o prevent mi sleading indication s. If the audio wave used f or horizon tal
deflecti on is t aken from any point in the audi o
syst em ot he r t h a n the seconda r y of the actual
modulation transformer, no n-lineart ties may
appear which do not ind icate carrier sh ift . If,
on the other hand, the audio d eflection is obtained from a detector wh ich rectifies the
rf signal . perfect linearity might be indie ated even though carrier shift ex ists. It is
often inconveni ent or even da ngerous, es pecia lly w ith plate mod ul a tion, to s a mple the

secondary of the mod ul a tion t r a nsf orm er , b ut

t hi s is t he only way to get a coherent trapezoid . Rea ders u nfam iliar wi th these common
'scope d isplays a r e advised to look up the connectio ns requ ired in a ny re fer ence book or
ha ndbook covering rad iotele phony, a nd to examine the corres po nd ing patter ns shown he re,
pi ece by piece, unt il the r ela tion shi p is clea r .
H ow can we incr ea s e our ra diated modul ating power without produci ng s ide f requencies
which are eit her redundant or un sportsmanlike? It mu st be done w ithin the a udio system.
and ou r old fri ends clipping and filteri ng seem
to offer th e best path f or telephone commun ications. Filtering alone can improve i nt elli g ibili ty by rem cving lows (long on power wh ich
clutters up your aud io channel's capabilities,
and shor t on intelligibility) . The experts recom mend taking out everythi ng below 300
cycles. If th is is done, your voice qu a lit y will
not be appreciably affected, but you will be
able to advance the gain control to get mor e
s ideba nd power correspondi ng to t he importan t audio area s. If you wan t to go a ll t he
wa y (good for DX b ut a lit tle extreme for loca l
rag-chewing), a t t en ua t e everyth ing below 800
cycles.
Rem ov in g the hig h f reque ncies above 2500
or 3000 cycles should be done at th e la st poss ible point in the aud io syst em ; the modulati on tra nsfo r me r. Th is will not, in f a ct, affect t he sou nd of yo ur voi ce noticeabl y- tr y
s ing ing 2500 cycles and see. The componen t s
fi lter ed out w ill be, f or th e m ost pa rt, di stortion p r odu cts. If filterin g take s place t oo early,
s ubseque nt a udi o st ug 'es ma y re-introdu ce high
f requency d is t ortion components whi ch whil e
not s pla t t er (by ou r de fin ition ) ca n ca use
s ide-f r eq uencies which your neighbor s will res en t . Most commu nicatio ns-qua lity m odula ti on
t ran sforme r s drop off qu ite well by t hem selves
aro u nd 5000 cycles, so "bu ild in g ou t" the
windings wit h a bit of s h u nt capacitance ca n
take care of the h ighs; especially if low-level
filtering is al so employed.

Fig. 3-2

Peak-clipping can give tremendou s sock t o

a s ig na l, by increasing average sideband power to a level w hich would requ ire perhap s te n
times a s much carrier power were cl ip ping
not employed. Volum e compress ion wit hout
cl ipping (as used by br oadca st ers ) can a t
(Continued on page 54)
.....

A " A T " " ...

DAnlt""l

. . .~~

(AUDIO BOOSTER hom pege 9 J

feet bala nce to begin with , oscillation will develop. Adjust R1 3, the ba lance control, until
the howls s top. Adva nce R l som e more, readj usting R13 a s neces sary. u ntil it becomes impos sible to sto p oscillations by adjusting R1 3.
T his will mark the usable lim it of the Boost er 's

gain.

Adjust your tran smitter for 100 percent

modulation on peaks, using your favorite
method of monitoring modulation depth. T hen
remove the s hor t from t he Boost er 's A Ge lin e
and connect it to the microphone input using a
Y-t ype connector. Set the lim iting threshold
control, R12, at maximum resi stance.
Say a f ew word s and check modulation
depth. Advance R12 toward minimum resistance until your voice begins to sound like a
SA t this poi n t . your voice will h a ve long s i nce ceased
to sou nd natural. Ou r objectt ve i n this adju stment is
to set the IimitinR' t h res hold so t h a t t he booster completely was hes out all a mplttuds- va r iation in the s ig n a l
(see note 1 ) . Ope r ating a dj us t m e nt to rega in naturalnees
in the voice is m ade with HI.

(POWER SUPPLY {rem pege 27)

A circuit breaker device is u sed for power

s upply protectio n when t he su pply is u sed on
t he 120 volt ac line. If a short should exist in
yo ur equ ipment , loading t he supply t oo hea vily,
it will cut out, r emoving the a c su pply voltage.
T o reset it, sim ply press t he bot tom on t op of
t he cut-out. On de operat ion a fuse is u sed
in stead. The circ uit layout is not a t all cr itical, t houg h t he wires from U H F jacks t o the
r elay should be kept shor t .
Notice that a ll ou t puts fr om t he supply,
( fi lament a nd B + volt age, a s well as r ela y ) ,
a re br ought out of the su pply t h ro ugh the use
of a 6 termi na l J ones socket . T er mina l #6 is
used to contr ol the B + - Antenna change over
re la y. If you desi re t o operate t he change over
re lay fro m a loca t ion ot her t hen t he chassis
of t he su pply it is only necessa r y to connect
a lea d from #6 through a s wit ch to ground.
\V hen term inal #6 is g rou nded , the rel ay is
energized, operating the changeover.
(CONVERTERS Ircm peg e 15)

the mixer coil L3, and then the antenna series

capacitor Cl and the cathode coil Ll.
A fter yo u have al igned the unit you will
be amazed by the performance of t hi s inexpensive converter. A s sim ple a s it is, it has
out-performed many fancy brothers using expensive tubes and many more components.
T he noise generator, usi ng a 5722 Sylvania
diode, u sed for evaluation was built and caref ully cali brated by the author, using the circu it a nd method of calibrat ion f rom the VH F
handbook by Willia m I. Orr and H . G. J oh nson. T he sensitivit y tests were made wi th a
Mea surements Corporation sig na l generator
Model 80.
AL

..

.,.,

AIUATI:IID

DAn."

monoton e witho ut inflect ion". Lock R1 2 at that

position a nd ad va nce Rl t oward minimum resista nce until the sound of your voice is sa t isfactory aga in. All operating a dj ustments after
initi al cali bration a re made with Rl , wh ich
can be marked in db. of limi t ing if desired.
At minimu m resi stance of R l the Booster is
effectively out of t he circuit, wh ile at the maximum usable set ting compression ratio will be
in the neighbor hood of 25 db (depending upon
your mike).
If you're using a scope to check your modulation, you should at t hi s poi nt be able to see
th e difference between the modulation percentage with and without the Booster. So far as
your effective talk-power is concerned, that
gets boosted r igh t a long with the modulation
index.
The Booster is not limited to AM u se, either.
I t will work w ith any type of voic e modulat ion , since it s only effect on the waveform is t o
compress the dyn am ic range. No distortion is
ge nerated in t he Booster; consequently, no filter s or s platte r chokes a r e necessar y.
11111l
The change-over relay, which is a 6 volt dc
ty pe , ope rates on any of t he three input voltages. This is a ccomplished with a miniature
powe r s upply t o furni sh t he proper voltage.
Loo king at the diagram you w ill see th a t a
s mall r ectifier, X'l., is connected to the 6 volt
winding of th e power tran sfor mer, T l. On
120 volt ac operation , the 6 volt s ac is rect ified by X t and fil tered in to good de by R2 and
C4 for t he relay. On 6 a nd 12 volt dc operat ion , even t ho ug h no filament voltages a r e fu r nished by th e power t r a nsfo rme r, Xt a nd its
filter circuit is st ill r eceivi ng 6 volts a c, permittin g opera ti on of t he relay on a ll three
in put voltages.
T he power su pply shown ha s been used in
both 6 vo lt and 12 volt cars a nd i n a 12 volt
a irplane! It has been used extensively on 120
volts ac a s well. Neither the vibration of
mobile operation, nor the consta nt changing
fro m one input s upply voltage to another has
caused any trouble with the un it.
lllllJ
T es t s performed and evaluated on many typi cal converters in t he frequency range of 220,
144, 108, and 50 me the averages are a s f ollows:
FREQUENCY
220
144
108
50

me
me
me
me

NOISE FIGURE
5'/2
4'/2
4
) '/2

SEN SITIVITY

.2

db
db
db
db

IJ V

. 1 P.V
. I ~.
.1 fL V

I II conclusion the author wi shes to e xtend

his t hanks to J oe Kw etn ews k i ' V9 U-T D for hi s
excellent photog r a ph y.
III 00
COIL DATA is on pege 47 -

CAPACITOR VALUES
FREQ UEN CI ES OF CONVERTE RS

M.e.

4-35

4 -35

270
.001
270
13

50 M .e. ond Lower

MMF
CERAM IC
TYPE 8
RMC
"
" 8
"
" 8

108

50

..35

" -35

4 35

470
.001
470
15

470
.0 1
470
27

.00 1
.01

.001

.001

.00 1

.00 1
.00 1
.00 1
.005
25

.001
.001

.001
.00 1

.00 1
.0 1
.00 1
33
.01
.0 1
.0 1

50
.01
.01
.01

"
"
"
"

"
"

8
8
8

.005

.0 1

.0 1

.02

"

"

25
470
.005
.00 1

33
470
.01

50
680
.0 1

50
.00 1
.02

" NPO

.00 1

.00 1

.00 1

"
"
"
"

220

C
C 1
C 2
C 3
C
C 5
C 6
C 7
C 8
C 9
Cl0
C11
C1 2
C13
C"
CI S

...

M.e.

M .C.

(W 9DUT CONVERTERS)
M .e.
M .e.

--.001

152

.00 1

TRIMMER

" NPO

"

"
"
"

8
8

RC COMBINATION
( R. F. AMPLIfiER )
( CATHO DE BIAS)
(A N D MIXER BIAS)

68 {J
270

RC-

68{J
470

68{J
470

68 {J
.001

68{J
.00 1

TYPE B

RMC

RESISTOR VALUES
A LL RES iSTOR 1/2 WA TT

COI L DATA

Coil

Res.
Freq.
M .C.

Turn s

W ire
Size

#22

No.

0.0.
Inches

Ll

'j.

l2 "
l3 "

L4 %
L5 V4
l6 "
l7 "

0 .0.
Inches

Ll %

220
220
220
13
207
3" .5
103.5

...
..

l2 "
l3 "

1..
1. .

l5
l6

130

L4

"
"
"

2V2

.,2
23

3 1/2

'0

"
"

#30

;'22
~30

# 2"

# 22

"
"

# 30
""'2

"3.+

"h

12

""'.

lS2

#22

0 .0.
I nches

1I %
l2

"
13 "
L4 "
l5 "
l6 "

2V2

152
152
13
139

.,3

10

108
108
108

6
5
7
'0
6
26

..+

0 .0.
I nches

Ll %

l2 "
l3 "

L4 "

l5 "
l6 "

..

9.
31. +

0 .0.
Inches

Ll %
l2 "
l3 "

L4

"

l5 "
l6

50
50
50

..

36

36

10
12
12
'0
16
11

"
"

#30
.:=22

""'.

#22

"
"
#30

""'.

#30

""'..".
':=30

#2'

"

Le~~th

All Coil Forms CTC Slug Tuned

W inding
(220 M .C. CONVERTER)

l/4"
l/4"
3/16"

Space w ound (Ta p a '

"
"
Close

Spac;e
Cl ose
Space
5/16"
(1 44 M .C. CO NVE RTER )
5/16"

5/ 16"

"

"

1,4 "

(2T Link a' Cold End)

"

"

"

0'

ll/.ll)

(2T Link

0'

Space w nund (Top a'

IT)

Close
1,4 .
Speee
Close
( 152 M .C_ CO NVERTER)

V,,"

"
"
"

Space wound (Top

1/4 "

'/4 "

"
"

P/d)

""

l/4"

Close
Space
5/16"
Close
( 108 M .C. CONVE RTER )

"

"

Cold

End)

"n

"

(2T Li nk

"

0'

"

Spece w ound (Top

%"

"
"

Sp e ee
Close
(50 M .C. CONVERTER)

End)

"

%"
%"
%"

"
"
Clo se

Col d

"
"

"

0'

2T)

(2T link a' Cold End)

Close w ound (Ta p al 31)

"
"

"
"

"

"

"

f2T Li 11 II a '

.,.~

Cold End)

......... TE:IIQ RAnl ()

47

'1~-4 BANDS .. Small size

Light enough for any
TV Rata, ...

For the ham with limited space and those desiring mo xrmum

efficiency in the smallest size, Mini - Products takes pride in intro-

Model 8-24
2 elements
, Amateur Net

ducing the first truly Miniaturized multi bond antenna, using the
new Multiple-Hot principlet a new concept in Multiband anten-

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two octave ronge with a single antenna.

$54.95*

End load ing employed on all bands-universally accepted by

'1~

antenna designers as the most efficient method of miniaturizing

Four Bands-6, 10, 15, 20

and maintaining the high radiation resistance and radiator current

Maximum element length

11 '-6 ", boom 6'Ml0 "

necessary for effective radiation.

Turning radius 7 '

Weight -

11 Ihs.

Gain-comparable fa any
antenna of equivalent size

I.
I

SWR -leu than 2:1 on

all bands

Model M-4 MOBI LE

Amateur Net

$16.95*

6061-T6 aluminum

elements and boom

e

diameter elements
for maximum band width
j "

Can be assembled in
smallest garage
I Palen t Pen d ing

'to NQTE -

Four Bands - 6, 10, 15, 20

Overoll height - S' ~8 "
Up to 5 db. goin over bose loaded 'antenna's of
equivalent height
SWR -Less than 2:1 on 011 bands
.1 " diameter Radiator for maximum bond width
Yil~24 base slud-Fits all standard mobile mounts

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1001 WEST 18th ST., ERIE, PENNSYLVANIA

4R

71.to.

"',La. T~II D 0 A nlro.

THE MULTIPHASE MODEL MM2

RFANALYZER

MM -2 Kit

(less IF a da pto r). $119.50

Wir- ed
(l ess IF adaptor) . $149 .50
Plug - in IF adaptors (wi red only )
.
RM- 50 (50 KC). RM-80 (60 - 80 KC).
RM -45 5 14 50- 500 KC ). .. ea . . . $12. 50

Monitor s the RECE IVED a nd TRANSMITTED signa ls .

Shows flat-t opping, over modulation, parasitics . key ed
wave s hape et c . Sil ent e lec tronic switc hing keyed by
transmitted RF .
No tuning r equired . Broadband response flat 1 Me to
55 Me at power lev els of 5 watts to 5 KW.
New va r iabl e swe ep control [or transmit and r ec ei ve .
RF attenuator control s height of pattern . Calibrated in
3 DB s teps .
Function selec tor for ENVELO PE, TRA PEZOID and
BOW -TIE patterns on transmit.
For SSB, DSB, AM
and CWo
Built -in 1 KC audio oscillator, le s s than O. 5% distortion.
With 3" sc ope, is ideal fo r complete alignment of SSB
exciter s .
For us e in serie s with 52 -72 ohm coax lines . A s hort
pickup antenna may be used with other systems .
Plu g-in adaptors available to matc h 50 KC, 60 KC, 80 KC
or 455 KC rec eiver IF systems .
Only one simple
connec tion to r ec eiver.
THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FO R A SCOPE I F YOU WANT
THE C L EANEST .
MOST PERFECTLY MODU LATED
SIGNAL YOUR TRANSMITTER CAN PROVIDE . T HE MM- 2
IS BY FAR THE MOST DEPENDABLE and EASIEST TO
USE, SINCE IT WAS DESIGNED STRICTLY FOR T HIS
PURPOSE .

ENVELOPE

R F TRAPEZOID

MM -2
SSB TONE

AM TOKE

LIN EAR

FLAT TO P PING

c
o

RF

r-

'f IKC

SSB-AM

SSB VOICE

AM VOICE

~ IKC RF

RF OUT

RF
IN EXCTR. OVER BIAS

A F TRAPEZOID

A M TRAPEZOID

MM-2
AM 100%

PARASITICS

AM
OVER MOD .

MM -2
100%

75%

RF AF IKC
La -LEVEL MOD.

IKC

AM 75%

NON-LINEAR

RF AF
HI- L EVEL MOD.

REGEN .

OVER MOD.

O TH ER FINE C.E. PRODUCTS

Model
Model
* Model
* Mode l
* Model
* Model

l OOV . " . New 100 Watt Broad-Band Exciter -Transmitt er

600L
Broad -Band Linear Amplifier
"
.
20A
Bandswttching SSB Exciter
,.,.,
.
lOB
Multiba nd SSB Exciter
.
GC-l
Gated -Compression Amplifier
.
B
Sideband Slic er with Q Multiplier
.
Also avarlabl e in kit form
AND MA NY OTHERS . . . WRITE FOR LI T E RATURE

THE

SSB
PIONEER

$795.00
$495.00
$299.50
$193 .50
$ 66 .50
$104.50

(CAPACITY METER from pag e 41J

cu r r en t ind i ~ a t i o n on t h e mete r, the exact
va lue .depen dIn g u pon t he su p p ly voltage, the
capacity of ex, a n d the rate at which thi s
charge and di scha r g e effect take s pl a ce.
In order to protect t he meter fro m damage
d ue to sh or t ed capacitors, CR 3, a s ilicon diode
b iased in it s f orward conduction direction
wa s in cl uded . This lim its t he max imum voltag~
acro ss the m et er to about 0.5 or 0.6 volts. Th e
m~te r movement itself wa s t hu s p r otect ed, but
sp ik es due to the capacitor charge caused
er r oneous r ea ding s when t he diode con d uct ed
prem a tu r el y. T o preven t t hi s , CI3 was inclu ded, a nd in addition C13 pr ovides dampi ng
wh ich f urther preven t s meter damage.
I n a ctu a l use, t he range swit ch is set t o a
po sition which give s an on-scale reading . The
p ower swit ch is then s et to CA L I B RAT E and
R5 is set to g ive a readi ng of 100. T hen sw itc h
back to ON, r ead the meter, an d use t he a ppropri a t e .m u lt ipli er ind icat ed on t he ra ng e
swit ch. Since leak y cap acitors wou ld g ive
er r oneous ind icati ons , a leak ag e tes t p osi t ion
was incl ud ed on t he range s witch . F or t hi s
t est, Ql is cut off, Q2 con ducting, a n d the full
bat tery voltage con nected a cr oss J1 and J 2.
An y indi ca ti on of cou r se mea n s a def ective
capacitor.

Construction
The entire circuit includin g the b at t ery a n d
a 4 1/z inch p anel meter wa s buil t int o a 3 x 4
x 5 in ch LMB chas sis box. Most of t he compone nt s were mou nted on a pi ece of 1/16 in ch

e pox y glass boa rd, using eyelets a nd j umper

WIres. U se of 100 volt r a ting capa citor s he lped
cut down t h e size. The 9 volt merc ury ba t t er y
was mounted in a cli p fro m a cab inet la t ch.
T he CUITent dra in is in th e or der of 20 r na
and the r equ ired volt a g e slig htl y above 6 volts:
so a 7.5 or 9.0 volt d r y battery could be su bst it u t ed if desired .
The ra nge s wit ch , S 2, sho uld be of the shorting t yp e to prevent t he multivib r a t or from
st op ping when switch in g r a n ges , wh ich wou ld
r equ ir e turn ing t he power swit ch off t hen on
aga in . A si de f r om t h e usu al preca ut.icn s to obser ve pola r ity of the diodes and battery, t he
only critical wir ing is in the n eed for sho r t
d irect lea ds to J 2 fro m t he power switch, and
f rom t he p ower swit ch , S2, to CR I a n d CR2.
The ca p ac ity of t h e lea d to t he st a n da r d 100
m mfd capacitor, C12, wa s about 3 m mfd in
th e au t h or s instr u ment, and was allowed for
in the select ion process. The stand a r d capacit or s (C9-10-11-12) were mea sured on a n a ccu rate br idge, and were padded where necess ar y to obtain t h e correct valu e. All other
capacitors can be whatever is on h an d in t h e
ra nge required, eithe r paper or myl ar dielectric ty pe being s u it a ble. F or red uction of st r a y
ca pacity effect s a ground from the meter circuit to t he case is qu it e es sential. Only t y pe
2N4 14 a nd 2N 247 t r an sistors have been tried
bu t sim ila r ty pes sho uld be sa ti sf a ct or y. Th~
sili con diodes r ecommen ded f or CR3 wer e t he
least ex p en s ive available, a n d oth er type s
sh ould do a s well. U se of decals h elps improve
t he a p pearance an d operating convenie nce of
t he unit , but if t he meter case is opened, u se
ca re to avoid dust 0 1' other dam age.
moo

El
with

"TRI-BAND"
SYSTEMS
There's long term dependability, scientific
leadership, world-wide respected performance plus quality of material too, at a price
even the modest budget can afford.
ASBURY PARK 40
NEW JERSEY, U.S.A

Telephone :
PRospect 57252

E;.n

71

AkAAT~ IID

DAntn

SIX METER
TRANSCEIVER

SOLAR SYSTEM VI

TRANSMITTER

RECEIVER
Better than 112 microvolt se ns it ivity.
10 kc se lectivity (6 db down).
Dou ble conversio n for sel ectivi ty , image rejection.

Voltage regulated osc illa t o rs for stability.

Up to 5 watts audio o utput for externa l
spe a ke r.
Self cont ai ned spe a ke r.
La rg e 6 : I vernier d ial fo r ea sy tuning.
Jack for headset o ut put .

for ma ximum " punch."

Uses popu lar and inexpen sive 8 me crystal s

(FT-24 3 hold ers).

Provision for VFO operation.

Pre ss-to-ta lk .
Metered .
M icrophone: cryst al. ceramic or carbon

Built-in noise limiter.

Spotting switc h for zero ing

t re nsm itter.

12 Watts input to a 5763 .

High efficiency pla te and sc ree n mod ulat io n

rece iver and

50-75 o hm o ut put (wil l match sta nda rd au t o

receiving whip).

SOLAR ELECTRONICS
---- _

..

Corp. 149 Wooster Street

New York 12, New York

73 AMATEUR RADIO

51

New York Convention

October 15th

The Hudson Amateur Radio Counc il is ma sterminding the fi rst ham

radio co nve nt io n in New York City in well ove r ten yea rs. While this is
billed as a H ud so n Division ARRL Co nvention, it is actua lly expected to
be la rg e r than even the biggest o f pa st National ARRL C on venti ons.
There wi ll be a fu ll da y o f techni cal di scu ssions and forums o n just about
every amateur specia lty and in terest (RTTY-SSB-V H F-An te nnas-ARRL-YLCD-MARS-T raffic-DX-ete'). Most of the major manufacturers of ham
e q uip me nt will be there to e xplain the detai ls of their late st prid e and
jo y. Prizes? Wow! The whole works will c ulmina t e in a banquet with Jean
Shephe rd K20RS as Master of Ceremonies and Bi ll Orr W 6SAI as the
ma jor speaker.
See yo u a ll O ctobe r 15th, Statler-Hilton Hotel, st a rt ing at 9 A.M.
73 will ha ve a booth where you can bring friends and get them t o
subsc ri be t o 73.

SIX METER RECEIVER

MODEl 505A-50-54mc

,-

TWO METER RECEIVER

MODEL 506A-144-148mc

the ideal low-cost receiver to

start your six or two meter station

Here's

only 3 inches high

Ex celle nt sensitivi ty w ith stab le superregenerative defector

Built-in 110 volt AC power suppl y

Full y transformer operated, no volta ge doubler

Compact, fully enclosed in cabinet-onl y 3 inches high

RF stage for increased sensitivity and isolation
Send-re ceive switc h for muting receiver
Bond set capacitor for full 4mc bandspread

Features stable operation and dependability

Mod.1 SOSA, S06A , KIT, compl.te as above : $29 .95 WIRED : $49.95

MOBILE OPERATOR5: Model 505A, 506A are available with mobile power supply
instead of AC supply at slight additional charge.
Send for data on the complete line of NEI L2, 6 and 10 meter fixed station,
mobile, and portable receivers , transmitters and fransceivers.
~ E F.

Y OU R

THE
IC: "

.. ",

UF.AI.f<~R .

OR ORU};R

}'RO~I

NEIL COMPANV \1336 Calkins Rd. ' BAker 5-6170 Pillsford, N. Y.

A "

A ~ " II "

ft .

..... . -

 A 100-wall S18 transmitter for amateur and comm ercial

on the 3.S. 7,14. 21 ond 28 to 10 M(S bond, .

101'.

Separat e dial scale lor each band , or port ion of 10 .( bond.

All <rystal included lor all amateur bonds - nothing extre
to buy .

SSB TRANSMITTER

Frequency readability to 200 cps, or better.

Stabil ity after warm-up better thon 100 cps.

Providu choice of upper , lower. double sideband, CW. fM .

me fo r RfTV plu s 40 cyde identificotion key ed shift.

ALC adjustabl e t o pr event overdrive.

SO ohm fixed pi output.

Built-in antenna changeover with receiver ant enn a input

connection.
Adjustable Rf level eentrets output power when employed
with high pow er lineor .

mi ~r

wppressten SO db or better.

Unwont ed sldebcnd suppression SO db or better ,

3rd ond 5th eeder dislorlion prodU(fS down 30 db or
Spuriou s
r" '''-

..,

"

VOX and anliYO X controls

H)'-500

~,.

conv~niently lo cal ~d

on front

pan~1.

.......... 1..

down SO db or better.

T.V.1. suppressed.

HAMMAR/UNO

fr ~qu ~nd u

b ~lt ~r .

K~y

and

Rf level
control.

mik~

input provided on front panel.

m ~l ~r r ang~

S ~If-ba 'an dng diod~

Ov ~rall

audio

60 db with

odiustabl~ s ~ n 5i t i v it y

balanced modulator.

, ~sponse

300 to 2300 cps.

Shap ~d CW k~ying .
fMfSK

$695.00

( ~nt er Ir equ ~n(y adiustm ~nt

60 ku tilter

typ~

Provision for

m ~t~ting

on front pcnet.

SSB g ~n ~ratot .
final

p lat ~

eurrent.

Unitized construction.

Amateur net.

ASK YOUR DEALEROR WRITE FOR DETAILS

Establislled 1910

MANUFACTURING CORPORATION, INC.

460 W. 34th STREET, NEW YORK 1, N. Y.
A DIVISION OF TELECHROME

(PHONE PATCH Ir cm peg . 24)

TA PETONE 'S NE W
WT C -4 32 .
3 / 4 METER ,
L O W -N OIS E .
C RY S T A L
MI XER
CO NV E R TE R

Thi s a dvance d d es ig n app roach, seldom u sed b y

ama teu rs but w ide ly used in co mm erci a l UHF rec ei ve rs,
achie ve s o uts ta nding p e rfo rm ance . It consi sts of a
d o ubl e-tu ned cavity pre sel ector, fol lo w e d by a crysla l
mixer a nd lew-nor se IF p rea mpl ifie r.

10 ARDlOCK PLACE,
WEBSTER, MA SS.

TAPETONE, INC.

NEW
VHF

COLLINEAR ARRAYS
430 Me. 16 El.
220 Me. 16 El.
144 Me. 16 EI.

$ 9 .85
12.85
16.00

also available with

32 and 64 elements
SEE YOUR DISTRIBUTOR or

write for free catalog

CUSHCRAFT

.21 HAYWARO ST.

MANCHESTER, H. H.

~--- SURPLUS BUYS - - - RG 8/U C ~ - Ax lu mpe- s 12 f t.) W / 1'1.2 ~ \1 on I'a. I' IHI. ~ for $2.00
Pan el Met er (1- 200 M il H .e . 3" H OUtHl--X {'W .. ... , . $3.9 5
P an el Moler 0 - 200 xrn H .C. :I" Hmtnd - X {'\\' , . . ,
$3 .95
S na p-o ut Ant en na - .\ n - 131 A- 13 tt , 1';x((,l1 01 e,\
$ 1.00
Acorn TUb es -~J 5~ , H5.; , il;;G-An}' et x ., . . ,
n .oo
OB 2 M ini a tu re VII Tu h
_
3 fur 12. 00
t1 u d lo Ampli fler Il(' lIH - C- W /e a se, scbvmntlc, t U!J ('S $2.1)5
BC. 733----10 T ube V H F reevr-c-compt. w/t uh es , rlyna. and
conversi on ( I:. (j . .\la g , ) fnr 2 an d f Jl lI't H S . 12x7xl,;.
Cle on . ..... , .. "
,
,
, .. ,
$5. 1)5
2 Volt Pl a sti c Cas e w {,t ee n. BII -~ ,L\ - ~ hi ll]l e d dry ~l\",,\\' 12, 9;;
Car te r 6V . D yn am e ! o r- ~ o :; V . - :! ; O ~ t" . IIr. n ew. ; s l x \ .. $::;.11;;
Kell ogq Hand Set ( Orcy) Bra nd nell" O'!){' "'/eoll ('(lrd . . $ " .~J5
Tel eph one D i al - ~ t a n d a rrl-L a t e s t t ype-c-Xew. ,
$3.95
Rlllr<Y - 1 ~V I X :-HI' llT- ~ c a l {'d- ' 'ia n ' ~ 1\ - i 30 Ut -:\"ew ., . $1.9 5
Rei ~.y- l1 , 000 ,,1 11 U ~ ' - 1 ) I' IlT- ~ ca lcd - II Il l( lie s !1500 HI
(1'II IIc, 1. nell" J.( l'ar)
$ 1. !)"
R el a y- l ~ V I I{ ~- I) I 'I ) 'f - O llCl\ Frume. I'rf re illll - l'\cll' .. $ . 69
Rel ilY- f) \ .\ C-lll' ])T - O pen F ra me. Kc ll oJl: R , . . . . "
$ 1. .tfJ
Rela Y- !i,OIUi oh llls- Il I ' IIT-OllCtl lceame, K cll o!(R ,
$ I. Sil
Re laY- 2 H' IlC- ~ 1'1)'r- H{'aled - 211H,\ 1t.\ - l' u ll{d - lX{' w . $1.i.J;;
RelaY- :!G. !'iV IlC-I) 1'1)1' - Hc a l",I-Alli"d .\IIIX " C, 1 1'1I 1l",1- :\"{,,,- "
"
,
$ 1.95
[ aqlh on es - 10 .HOU "htll s~.\ lu T<I()('k 1 1 !'i ~ /I -:\" l'lI' /w 1'1.-5!'i $2JI!'i
[ arphone$- 3(J1I ull tlls- l t H -:W ( 1l1uK mtc \' :~ rs l - :'; ,' \\ , .. , $1 . 2!l
Selsy ns- I L; v- r. n ("y- T)'llC fif;- lIcaV)' 11u ty- (' lea n- l',Li r $;;.95

REX RAD"O SUPPLY

~

~.,

84 Co rtla nd t

.. _- ,. __ . _.-

s-,

N.Y. 7, N.Y.

be used. Occasionally du r ing t he exci tement

of hea r ing from a f riend or loved one, t he
person may blu rt out some ex p r ession t hat
v iolates the FCC rules. If t his h a ppens, "hit
the switch", then fir ml y bu t cour t eou sly inform
hi m of t he r egulat ion s regardi ng such action.
T r y not to let the conversation drag. Once
in a wh ile a littl e well t imed prompting on
you r part will el iminate t he long a nd em barr a ssing pauses t hat a ppeal' when the pa rties
a re not u sed to t he " phone pa t ch" system .
Upon conc lusion of t he pa t ch , agai n as sure
t he per son t hat there is no charge or obligation involved and t ha t this ser vice is part of
the enjoyment that you and your f ell ow operator s get f rom their hobby,
As to " phone pa tch" p roced ure, thi s may
va ry between st a t ions. H owever, t he m ost
p ractical fo r A M is to have each part y s tay
"over" a s he fi n ishes talk ing. This s ig nals each
ope ra tor to swit ch from " send" to " receive"
without t he necess ity of s ig n in g each t ime.
P at ches s hould ha ve a rea sonable t .i me . Hmitat .ion. If t he t ra ffic is of a critical n ature and
time cons u ming, don't fo r get t o break fo r at a ti on ide n t ific ation at the proper period of t ime.
Since t he ad ven t of th e "phone pat ch", many
oper ator s have been per son all y involved in
dramatic an d t ou ch ing s it uat ions. T hi s is especially t r ue of the pa tches r u n between m embers of our Armed Forces and t he ir fa milies
a t hom e. From both a technic a l an d ser v ice
sta ndpoint, each ama teu r operato r should a ttem pt to ha ndle " phone patch" t r affic with a ll
t he effici ency a nd cou r tesy possible. H er e aga in
is an other chance t o be nefit h u man it y t h rough
the most fabul ou s hobby of all-Amateur
'
lIlllJ
Radio.
(M ODULATION From peg. 45)

lea st double t he r adi at ed m odula t in g power

without objection ab le di st orti on. In either ca se,
t he m odu lat or will be fu rnishin g m or e average
power t han if no lim iting were employed, so
t hat extra power-handling ca pabili t y must be
available in the au d io syst em . Norm al design
limits us ually allow you r modulator at lea st
3 db of t his r- eserve w it hout mod ificat ion.
\Vhen clip ping is used, filteri ng m ust follow to ease t he r a t e of change rep resented b y
t he fl attened a udio peaks. W hen carried to
an unu sual degree, aud io qua lity becomes less
pleas ant at fi r st, (who wants to sou nd pleasa nt and be b uried by QR M? ) and then intelligibil ity begi ns to suffer . Going beyond thi s
poin t is usele ss when the s ig nal is r ecei ved
norm a lly, but there is some indication that a
s pecia l t ranslation s yst em used at t he receiver
can r ecla im speech wavefo rm s clip ped well
beyond in t elligibility. P erhap s t hi s is a r ou t e
worth ex ploring f or f u t ure a ppl ications.
Wi t h sing le - s ideba nd su pp r essed - carr-ier
r adi otelephon y, the cl ipping and filter ing tech-

niques are even more r ewa r d in g , since the additional radi ated modulating power is conce ntrated in one sideba nd where most of it mu st
find it s way to the detector wh ich will then
g ive eve n more push to the lou dspeaker cone.
Wh ut ot her mean s m ight we fin d to narrow
a nd int ensify our ra di o tele phone sign a ls ?
What a bout su p pressi ng t he aud io carr ier g en er a ted by your vocal chor ds? S peech, wh en
ana lyzed, cons ists of t he generation of a n
au d ible t one which is am plitude, fr equency,
a nd phase mod ul ated, sim ult a neously, at a s yllabic rate. T he sy lla bles t hemselves are s u baudio and if on ly their information were transmitted our radio t elephone signals could be
as narrow a s fa st telegraphy. Speech can be
re-bui lt around a mechanically-generated tone
as is done by persons whose vocal chords do
not fun ction. T his sor t of speech is monotonous, bu t perfec tly r ea dable. Th e mai n obs tacle
with tra nsmitting on ly t he s yll a bic in fo r ma ti on a nd re-in serting t he a udi o t on e a t th e
receiver is th e loss of un-voi ced soun ds : t he
hiss ing and clicking which con tributes to intell igfbi lity, a nd requires a wider-ra nge au dio
system t ha n purely s yllabic modulation would
allow. At any rate, here's a project t o consider .
Already with us is the multiple ch annel A :\I
tra nsmitte r wh ich can use a sing le carrier for
sever a l sim ulta neous communications. Present
band width req ui rements for t hese systems are
qui t e reasonable. T he Kahn Al\I st ereo sys tem
for ex a mple, occupin g no more s pect r um t ha n
a single dual-sideband st a t ion mod ulating w it h
simila r a ud io f requencies. Broadban d systems
such a s Fl\f broadcasti ng a nd te levision, perm it
the use of subcarriers (as with Fl\1 multiplexing or color t elevision) for a considerable
quantity of useful information, and with no
increase in bandwidt h. A ma t eur s haven't
found much u se for these techn iques yet. P erha ps some of the ha m f amilies could u se a
single tra nsmitter with cha n nels labelled " his"
and " hers".
Let us, first of a ll, concentr a te our in t ellige nce- beari ng side ba nds int o as narrow a band
as poss ible, a nd put a s much power a s possi ble
into thi s ba nd. This shou ld be done bef ore t he
modulation transformer. The t ime is here
whe n, even w ith a single sideba nd , we must
do this to keep pace with t he competition. A s
present techniques become fully exploited, let
us thoroughly analyze any new idea s wh ich
come along a nd even develop s yst ems of our
ow n. \Vith present commu nications s peeds in
t he thousands-of -wol'ds-per-m inute rate ava ilable . it's hard t o jus ti fy even a six kilocycle
ba ndwid th for sim ply ta lking. T he CW opera tor
is an ar tist who does not h a ve t o j ustify his
methods on scie nt ific bases. Th e phone ma n,
however , s hould h a ve some technical a chievements of w hich he can be proud . Let's get
busy : don't wa it f or the commercial manufacturers to do it!
~u:::

- ------ .- ..

i !~~~~~~'~I~?~!~Ety~~~!~

un its are t he heav iest t y pe of t he 3

sizes w hich we re forme r ly ava ila ble.
( F OB, Ga. via economica l motor frei g ht )
$39.0 0.
Mobile T'runsrn it ter . . . Uses 561 8 cr ys t a l
oscilla t or into CBS - 55 16 a m plifie r .
Modern desig n. Only 7 lbs. net wt. in.
cludi ng built-in enclosed in a lum inum
cabinet (51) '' H x 8"W x 8" D) . Furnished
w/crystal that doubles near 10 meter
band . Requires slig ht & ea sy modi fications for 10 meter operation . A real deal.
$13.95.
VHF Transm itter ... P e rfect f or 2 met er
a nd /o r 1 l,4 meter conversio n. Late,
mode r n desi gn. Uses two 6201's into
single Ampe r ex 6360 t win tetrod e. Xmtr
onl y 4" x 4" X 11 " . Only 3 %. lbs. See
Sept. 1960 issue of " CQ" magazin e (Page
82 & 83) for det ail ed conversion t o 2
meter s. Get 20 wa tts on 2 mete r s with
ease. T his is t he best va lue we have ever
ha d. F ur nished complete with Battery
pack and connection cable. $15.00 .
The Whole Wide World or USA in t hird
dimen sion. Beaut if ul colored plastic relief
maps. Self-framed . I dea l for Den or
Shack. Convers ion piece. Educational.
28% " x 18 th " . . . $9.95 , 26 " x 41" .. .
$24.95, 42" x 60" . . . $49.95. (Sp ecify
USA or World Map.)
Glas -Line. Non-Metalli c Guy Line-Perfect fl exi ble insulator - Revolutionizes
H am R ad io & TV An tenna S yst ems.
( E lim ina tes need f or Glass "Break-u p"
ins ula t or s. ) 100' Spool $3.75, 600' Reel s
$17.84.
Brand X ew H & W ylodel 381 Til Switch.
P er f ect for SS B or CW Break-I n.
t Ma t ches 52-75 Ohm coaxial line. H and les
f ull K\V. Switchab le Ba nd change for
optimum performance. 80-10 Met ers.
$60.00.
New B & ' V Co nverter Transfor mer
Model TT120'V. Rugged precision xfmr
for home-built P ower Supplies. 12 V. inpu t . 120 Watt s. 500 V. @ 200 Ma.
( Br idge Rectifl er) , or 250 V. @ 200 Ma.
(wind ing C.T.) or a com bina t ion of both
voltages using a max imum of 120 watts
of current. $15.25.
Hamma rlund Receiver-s in stock HQ I 00C,
HQll 0C, H QI45C. Bra nd new. E xcellent
trade-in s offered .
! T housa nds of electron ic T UBE TYPE S
I N S TOC K. S EN D US YO UR T UBE
~ REQ UIHEMENT S AND WE WILL
QU OTE.

SEND FOR O UR LATE ST CATA LOG. ~

.. . FULL OF BARGAI NS ON H A M
GEAR, COM PONENTS, TUBES. ETC.

BARRY ELECTRONICS CORP.

512 Broadway, N.Y.C. 12 , N. Y.

Dept. 76 :

~.- -+

~
.,.,

A .. ~AT C.1I0

OAn , , ,

l:.l:.

Technical Broadcasts
The Ail' Force MA RS has a ver-y interesting
t ech nical series goi ng every Sunday afternoon.
This mon th the subject is sem i-con d uct ors .
Time : 2 p m to 4 pm. T une in a nd lis ten. The
f requencies a re : 32 95 kc, 7540 kc, a n d 15,71 5
kc.
Oct.
Oct.

2- W olt e r S. Mi ll e r (Armo C orp.). The Diod e

9- C . D. Simmons (P hilco ). Tra nsisto r Para meters
Oct. Ib- Bud Me rrihe w [ Philco ], Tra nsi stor Circuits
Oct. 23- J ohn Ek iss [ Philco]. Tunne l Diode Applica tions
Oct. 30- C horles Gray [Philcc]. Tra nsistor Ap plice tions
( ELECTRO NIC KEY Ircm page 19)

p r actical in a s ing le unit. \Vit h t he

com po nen t s shown in t he circu it d ia g r a m , t he speed r ange of t he uni t is
a p proximately 10 to 25 w pm. Speeds
a bove t his range m a y be obtained si mply by changing the compone nt values
of the time constant circuits form ing
the characters. A s wit ch ing arrangement could he inserted to perform th is
function, but f or s im plicit y sake it
was omitted (and 25 wpm is almost
my tops a nywayl} .
2. w hen changing speeds, a ll t hree potentiometer s m us t be a d j usted to ob-

t ain t he desired speed and weight of

keying at the chosen speed. If the
controls were ganged , the unit would
1I0t be a s versatile.
:I. P otter & B r um field L M-ll (5 K coil)
rela ys are used in my pa t-ticu laru n it.
However , a n y h igh s peed plate relay
with a hi g h imped ance coil shou ld oper ate s atisf actoril y. Rela ys with t ai l
s pri ng a djustments sho u ld be used so
t h at ad ditiona l con trol of t he pull -in
and drop-out point of the relays may
be obtained when adju sting the key,
prior to u sing it on the air.
4. 'Vhen all relay adjustments have been
completed the adjustments should be
locked with a drop of glue.
The unit s hown in the phot og raph is bui lt
on a 5"x7"x2" cha ss is. Th e cab inet is h ome
b r ew (alu min um), a nd was m ade t o fi t t his
p a r ticu la r un it. All con nections t o th is un it
a r e made at t he te r mi nal st rip bolt ed t o t he
back of the chassis.
O ne word of caution: The key termi nals are
hot (90v de ) , so a su it a ble lucite 01' plast ic
s h ield shou ld be used.

The Key Head

T he key head u sed wit h an electronic
key is es sentially a S PD T s wit ch . Rece ntly
there h a ve been severa l of these put on t he
market. T h e Vibroplex Com pa ny h as the V i-

6-MI!TER
2-METER

HALO ANTENNAS
"?ixed a nd Mobile, for bo th 6 and 2 mete rs , b y
the pion eers in horizo nt al po la riza tio n fo r mob il e
communica tio ns.

~i . Pa r

also manufactu re s a q ua lity line of

antennas for a mat eur, TV, FM a nd co mme rci a l

AT YOUR
DISTRIBUTORS

services.

OR

6-METER

HI-PAR PRODUCTS CO

WR ITE DIRECT

FITCHBURG,

MASS.

brokeyer wh ich sells fo r $15.95 a nd t he E lectrophys ics Cor po ration ha s th e A ut r onic Key
for $16.95. Bot h of th ese uni t s w ill work well
wit h th is keye r.
A chea pe r s olu t ion is t o con ver t your b ug.
T his can be do n e eas ily b y th e a dd ition of an
ext ra te rmi na l. On t he bug t he dot and da sh
contacts are con nected t ogether . All you have
to do t o conve r t f or an electron ic keyer is run
the dot a nd d a s h contacts to se p a r a te ter mina ls. Connect the da sh contact to T er minal
# 3, t he key arm to #4 a nd th e dot con t act
to #5. T h is will put 115 vdc between th e k ey
base and ground so it is a good idea to make
a lu cite sh ield to k eep you fr om being el ectrocuted.
Adj ust ment of th e key is s im ple. 1\Iove the
v ibr a tor weight a s far a s it will go towar d
the key ha ndl e a nd tighten the t humb screw.
Adjust t he dot contact until it j ust touches t he
dot cont act on the arm. Turn t he dot contact
scr ew 1,4 t urn counte r-clock wise. T he dot and
da sh s tops should be a dj ust ed to s uit your ow n
fi st .
The author has been usi ng th is u nit for
about 5 mont hs now, and th e r esults are gra tifying! This un it was also used in the well
known 24 hour grin d, F ield Day, a good t est
for an y piece of gear, and is s t ill going st rong !
Hope to wor k you soon wit h your new Tubeless
Electron ic Key.
moo
(SURPLUS from pag e 211
Interest ed in U H F? H ere is a beau t y. ASB-5
or CP R-46A CJ . Originally a ra dar rece iver,
a nd f ollowing th e conversio n in Oct . 1956 CQ
you will ha ve a gem of a receiver on 420 me.

GROUND

o
o

THE NEW ~ LA-400-C

800 WATTS PEP SSB

LINEAR
AMPLIFIER

NOW 800 WATTS PEP

FOR ONLY $164.95
THE "BEST BUY YET
NEW modern styling I NEW high efficiency 3 element
bandsw itching pi net. Puts more power into any
antenna or load from 5070 ohms. for SSB, DSB, Linear
AM, PM, CW and fSK . All bonds 8010 meters. May be
driven to 800 WATTS PEP SSB with popular 100 watt
SSB exciters . Uses four modified 1625's in grounded
grid . On customers order, will be furnished with 837's.
(note: 1625's and 837's are not directly interchangeable,
sin ce sockets are different .) Typical P&H Low Z untuned
input. TVI suppressed . Parasitic free . Meter reads grid '
drive, plate current, Rf amps output. Heavy duty power
supply us ing 816's. NEW modernistic grey cabinet
measures approx . 9" x 15" x 10lh". Panel is recessed.
WANT TO SAVE MONEY? BUY IT IN KIT fORM. It's a
breeze to assemble and w ire. BEfORE YOU BUY - SEE
THE NEW lA400-C AT YOUR DEALERS.
LA -400-C Kit comp lete w ith tubes . . . . . . $164.95
lA 400-C Wired and Tested . . .... . ... . . . $219.95

o
VIBROKEYER

l
\
\

\
\
\
\
\

The Vibr opl ell Com pa ny

hM a boon for th ose
a ma te urs that need th e
meehanteal end of an
e teet re nte keyer-, The
Vi bro K eyer Is cons tr ucted In l in e with th e hig h- c ua llt y
work ma nshi p for .... hich Vib ropl u has long been fam oos. Th e
unit hilS lar ge. non . corroding contac ts. heavy beig e colored
t ll$8. color l ul red fin ger and thu mb pieces. a nd s moot h. eMy
GIl6l"a ti ng tr unlon Irver . It Is ad jus ta ble to a ny a mateur ' s
taste. On ly Sl5.95.
T H E V IB ROPl EX CO. IN C. 833 Broad....a y. N. Y. 3. N. Y.

Only $15.95

I n case a nyone is in te rested in usi ng only

t he r eceiver sect ion sepa r a ted f r om t he -complete un it, here are t he r eceiver r ear deck
connect ions. Use a J ones plug here.

------- .-.-

- -- -..,.-

- -..,. - - . . , . - - - - - - -

~1

\
\

MOBILE
POWER
SUPPLY
MOD El
A12 /600 !200

A nother U H F band? T he R-l/ ARR-l when

co nverted will tur n out t o be a 220 mc converter with a 50 me I.F . Complete conversion
for t hi s unit ca n be f ound back in J a n ua r y
1949 Rad io and T elevision News.

NOW

$59.50
This 12V input de to d e tra nsistorized converter is
ccnservctively ra ted for cootinuous output of 120
wotts a t 600V or 300V, or ony combination of 600
o nd 300 volt loads totaling 120 watts.

High efficiency, small size, and light weight. plus

freedom from maintenance, conse rve your battery
a nd incre a se the e njoyment o f mobile operation.

o
o

ElECTRONICS DIVISION
GLOBE INDUSTRIES, INC.

525 MAIN STREET

BELLEVILLE, NEW JERSEY

R-F WATTMETER
Mod el PCA- I

$14.

95

H ere is the ever -popular BC-625A (S CR522 ) , Th e com ple te conversion is in Ju ly 1947
CQ an d infor mat ion on how t o put it on 220
me is cover ed in November 1953 CQ,

FEATURES
Tu ning: C itizens Band
Xm trs
Tunin g Low P ow er
H am Bigs
T uni ng Mobile Xmtrs
Police-Fi re-Taxi -Bu s-H am

Tuning Antenn as

Checki ng Modulat ion

Quality

SPECIFICATIONS

Reads Power to 10 Watts

Field Strength Meter
Modulation Monitor
Built-in 10 Watt S2 Ohm Load

"'anul..."' u ",'".

/I'U'

""p ~
" ~,,.a

an ,l did,-;I.u'
' >f'nni.. . pi

;n''''' I'.,.,.1 in n
",ri,.. .

t:.''

Or.I.'r ' '' r ....

.,"" u r '
al ,oar,.
,/ h' ril",'..r "r ,,, ,1 ,fir,'r' tf> :

PRECISION COMMUNICATIONS
ACCESSORIES
6 74 Ei9 ht h Ave., N e w York 36, New York

And
meter .

the

well-k nown

B C-221

frequency

Now, the AR C-5 tran smitter ser ies. Rea d n y

avail abl e and ca pa ble of fifty watts on cw, a
nice u nit f o r th e new gener-al. T hese will oper ate on 80 a nd 40, can be conv e rted t o wo r k
on 20 an d one model ca n he cha ng-ed t o a t wo
or six meter vf o. A wea lth of informati on on
t he A HC-5 ca n be fo und in t he CQ publication
"C .m mand Sets" .

T V Ca meras, P a nada ptors, R ecei vers ,

T r a nsmi tting Tu bes, Tra nsistor s, SSB
Gea r .

' Ve a lso stock:

ARC-5

A mate ur C a ll Beeks
G on se t
Solar
AR Rl Pu bli cations
Na tio nal
Rad iart Rotato rs

Te c h-Craft
H y. Gain

Intern ational Crysta l Mosle y Antenn a s

i-GROUND
2-12V.D,G.

3-300\iRI2G
4-18v.0.C.
5+6-12VAC ,
7- 470 \I.0.C.

J ohnson

Dow Key Rel ays

UTe

E
RM
Be ll Ta pe De cks
and
Ampl ifiers

W e sting house
Tungsol
Pre mie r Tre nsb tc rs
Polyco m
Cushcraft
B & W C o ils

D yn a~it
Eko
Pa co
Preci sion Test
Equipm ent

llI umtro nics C o ils

Blile y Crysta ls

Wri t e f or barga in li st .

Spera Electronic Supply

37- 10 33rd St., Long Island C ity I, N. Y.
STillwell 6-2199
STillwell 6-2190
A nd fin a ll y, t he RA K- 7 r ecei ver . This is a
low-fr equency TRF r eceiver and h a s bee n iss ued to Arm y MARS mem be rs. You d idn 't get
th e ma nua l eith er, did you ?

----~-

-,
I

0 :

o
O
o
o
o

owers I
I

f or . . .

limns
Research at Schools
Ceodetic Survey
\ Vincl Measu rement
A ntenna T esting
GoveTll ment Research

I
I
I
I

SEN D FOR
I LLUSTRATED FOLDER

So, now yo u have th e easy way to do it. T he

author is not a n expert on war s ur plus , but
he ha s had th e uni t s men t ioned in opera ti ng
cond it ion. If you a re a newcomer , if you like
to ex peri ment a nd if you like t o o per a t e ham
rad io, investiga te t he sur plus field, it is a lot
[!Jl1.l
of fu n.

. .' l:l:l;fEr{;:'{'{:::mlllMIl

.t.. KTV :iktii6U~::

;:::::::::::?:\ I Owert ::::::::::::{::: :,:
: ;ij;~~;:Qii~;~

...
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11.1111:
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,:{t;':j;;::::;'o;';::;:;;:::::;:;Yo.f'::;::;:;:::::i;:::::::;::::::":;::;:::::;!'t:":':::l; : ;li t;:;:'I: : N:: : ':o': : : l: :S::::;::;?::;?;::

i!....

.....................
.

Ox..
.........
.....
.
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.........: . :
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'::" '::.': . : ::: . :

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Radio Bookshop
O ME three yea rs ago o ne of o ur mo re o bsc ure a ma te urs got th e notio n
that since there were spec ialized nautical boo kshops for th e yachty
ga ng and spo rts car booksh ops for the adult hot-rodders, that th ere just
might be a need for a radio book sh op for amateurs. After three yea rs of
exha ust ion pro vidin g good service to the few people wh o answered the
monthly ad s it became o bvious that the idea was a fia sco. Unfortunatel y
he was in too deep by this time . Wh at had started as a few books in the
vestibule at home had grown t o ove rwhelming stacks, impo rt ed co mputers, stopwatches, and an amazing va riety of goodies.
.
So , the next tim e yo u feel the need for expanding yo ur library, check
through th is li st. A ham sha ck isn't really co mpl ete with out a good collection of reference boo ks.

l -El ECTRO NIC5 & RADI O ENGI N EERI NG-Terman. One

o f t he mo st com plete led baoh e ver p r in ted . 1078
pages. Theory, b ut e asy o n t he moth.
$14.50
2 -ELECTRICA l
EN GI N EERI N G HANDBOO K- M ci lw a i n.
f ormula s, tc bles, circuih. A real handbook. 1618 pag e s.
$10.00
5 -ANTENNAS- Kra us ( W8J K). The most comp lete book
on antennas in print, but lorgely design and th e or y,
complete wi th math.
$11.50

10-1 , LIBERTINE - Shep he rd (K20 RS). Racy 3.5 b ook, a

best-selle r. Specia lly priced for you a t . . .
50~
20-RTTY HANDBOOK- Kretz mon (W2JTP). A-Z of hom
Teletype. Ve ry popu lo. book. low s up p ly.
$3.00
21 -VHF HANDBOOK- Johnson (W6Q KI) . Types of V HF
propogation, VHF circuitr y, componen t lim ita ti ons, antenno design o nd constructi on, test equ ipment. Ve ry
th orough b ook and one that sho uld be in eve ry VHF
sho ck.
$2 .95

22- BEAM ANTENNA HANDBOO K- O rr (W6SAI). Basics,

theory and construction of bea ms, tran ~mi ~~i on line s,
matchin g devices, and test e q uipment. A lmo ~t all hom
st otion ~ need 0 beam o f some ~o rt . . . here i ~ th e
o nly source of bealc info to he lp you decide what bea m
to b uild or b uy, how to instoll it, ho w to tune it. $2.70
23 - NOV ICE
&
TECHNI CIAN
HANDBOOK - Stoner
(W6 TNS). Sugar cooted th e ory: recei vers. transmitte rs,
powe r supplies, ontennos; s imp le construction o f a
com p lete stat ion, convert ing surp lus eq uipment. How to
gel a ham license, build 0 sta tio n ond get o n t he air.
$2.85
2 4- BETTER SHORT WAVE RECEPTIO N-Or r ( W6SAI).
How to b uy a re ce ive r, how to tune it, a lign it; bu ild .
ing accessories; better an tenna s; QSl' s, maps, auro ra
zones, CW re ce pt io n, SSB reception, e tc. Ha nd bo o k f o r
~hort wave Ii~tener s and rod io omoteu rs.
$2.8 5
28-TElEVISION INTERFERENCE- Rand (W lD BM). Thi s is
th e aut ho rita tive book o n the sub ject of getti ng T.... I ou t
$1.75
o f your rig s and the neighbo rs se ts.
32-RCA RADIOTRON DESIGNERS HANDBOOK- 1500
page s o f des ign notes o n e ver y possible t ype of circuit.
Fabulou s. Every design engineer needs this o ne .
$7.50
40-RAD10 HANDBOO K, 15th EDITION - O r r (W6SAI).
Thi~ i ~ for and away the best amateu r rad io ha nd book
ever printed. Over 800 page s.
$7 .50
4S-CURTA COMPUTER. The w orld's s malles t co mpute r.
Send f or detailed information. Makes the s lide rul e look
s ick. like a b ig Monroe com puter o nly hand si ze .
$125 .00
47 - PRACTICAL
ELECTRONICS _ Hertzberg
(W2 DJ J).
Al mo st solid with picture s. To uches lig htl y o n ma n y

....

_. .

a spects of e lec t ro nics : hom rad io, TV, tra n~ istar radios ,
hi fi, microwaves, troubl e -~hoat ing , No vice sta t io n, a nte nnas, test e qu ipment, e tc.
$2 .50
48 -BASIC ELECTRONICS- Co ve rs subject completely.
Written f or use w ith RCA Institute training co urse. $9.25
49-ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION - Sh ra d er. Huge b ook
a imed at gi ving all information necessary f or FCC
commerciol and amateur license s.
$ 13.00
SO-MICROMINIATURIZATION -This is t he sta nd o rd text
on t he subject. Don ' t see how a company library call
be wi thou t t hi s o ne. Everythillg is goillg to have to be
bui lt smo ller, you kn ow.
$1 1.00
52-HOW TO READ SCHEMATIC DIAGRAMS- Morks.
Components & diag rams; e lectrica l, e lectro nic, ee, de,
audio, rf , TV. Sto rts w ith lndlvld c el ci rcuits a nd ca rrie s
through complete equipments.
$3.50
53-BASIC ELECTRONiC TEST PROCEDURES-Tur ne r. This
book covers just a bout eve r y poss ible t y pe of e lect ro nic
te st equipment and exp la ins ill de tai l how to use it f or
e ve r y purpo se. Test ing : audio equipment, receivers ,
transmitters, transi sto rs , p ho toce ls, distort ion, tube s,
power . etc.
$8.00
54-HAM RADIO HANDBOOK- He rt zberg (W2 DJ J). This
is a lavishl y illustrated book to inte rest people ill the
ho b by of ham radio. Tell s how to get yo ur t icket, select
a re ceiver and transmitter, leem the code. Picture s and
info on just a bout ever y commercial p iece of ho m
$2.SO
e q uipme nt. Better thall 0 catolog.
55 -TRANSISTOR CiRCU IT HANDBOO K- Simp le , easy to
ullderstand ex planat ion o f transi stor circu its . Dozens
$4.95
o f interesting applicat ion s.
56 - RADIO
TElEPHONE
LICENSE MANUAL _ Smith
(W6 BC X) . Brand new qvestlcn and answer study guide
f o r FCC commercia l lice nse s.
$5.00
57-QUAD ANTENNAS- O rr (W6SAI). The or y, design,
ccnstr uct tc n and o pe ra tio n of cubica l quads. Build -it
$2 .85
yo urself info. Fe ed systems, t unin g.
SB-ANTENNAS FOR CITIZENS RADIO- Orr (W6SAI).
Gene ra l coverage, mobile a lld di rectiona l an tennas fo r
27 mc. bend. Build & tune ' e m.
$1.00
69-59 SIGNALS- O rr (W6SAI). A man ual of proct ical ,
detailed da ta co vering de sigll and constructioll of highly
e ffi cie nt, illexpen si ve an tenna s f o r the amoteur bonds
that you can build yo urself.
$1.00
70-CITIZENS RA DIO CALL BOO K- li sts all ca tls issued
ulltil J anuor y 1960, p lus lots o f C B info.
$3.95
7 1- CITI ZENS RADIO CALL BOOK SUPPLEMENT- Ca lls
fr o m Jan uar y 1960 until Jul y 1960.
$3.95
7 2- ABC's OF HAM RADIO -Pyle (W70 E). Des igned f or
the Novice ham. Ind ude s all o f t he informat ion needed
to qualif y for the No vice License. 112 page s.
$1.50

73-1 01 WAYS TO USE YOUR HAM TEST ECUIPMENTMiddleton. Grid -dip meters, an tenna impedance meters,
oscilloscopes, bridges, sim ple noise generators, and
reflected power mete rs are covered . Tell s how to chase
tr oubl e out of hom gea r. 168 pages.
$2.50
74-HANDBOO K OF elECTRONIC TABLES & FORMULASFo rmula s & laws, constants, s ta nda rds, symbols and
codes. Math tables, m isc. data.
S2.95
75 -BUILD-A.WARD CSL ALBUM- Mount your p rize QSL' s
in this album. Room for 100 cords in ea ch album plus
labels for just about all pon ible operating awards. A
fine way to sh ow off your cord s.
S1.95
76 -MODERN OSCILLOSCOPES & THEIR USES- Ruite r.
Second edition . Shows what a ' scope is, what it d oes
ond how to use it for rod io, TV, tro nsmitte rs, etc. 346
pages.
$6.50
77 -BASIC ELECTRICAL MEASUREMENTS- Sto ut . Sec ond
ed it ion. Covers aids to comp uto tion, measurement of
re si stance, gal vanometers, s hunts, stondord cells, potentiometers, alternating current bridges, mutual inductance
meas urements, bridge accessories, in strument transformers, magne tic measurements . . ond lots more .
$11.65
7a - INTRO DUCTIO N TO ELECTRICAL CIRCUITS-J o ckson.
Deals w ith e xa ct ly what el ectronics and electrical eng inee ring te chn icians nee d to know. Comp lete coverage
of e lectrica l circu it the or y, from beg inning level. Deve lo ps concepts of curre nt, voltoge. re sist a nce , wo rk, and
power. Shows how to expand basic concepts to solve
e la bora te di rect ond alternating curren t networ ks used
in modern electrical and e le ctroni c circuitr y.
$11 .65
79- TRANSISTOR PROJECTS- Skip the theory a nd start
ha ving fun . Radios: se lf pow e red, s hirt pocke t, regene ra tive, carrier-power, hea dp hone. In struments and accenorie s: sine-sq ua re wove generator, preamps for
VTVM's, ga in checker, sh ortwave cal ibrator, phase
s hifte r, substitution box . Plus remote tra nsist or ear, e le ctronic co mpass, simple oscillotor, lomp control, multiimpedance amplifier, e le ctronic coun te r, porto b le power
supply etc.
$2.90
80 -SURPLUS RADIO CONVERSION MANUAL VOLUME
NO . I (se cond edition). This book gi ves circuit diagroms, photo s of most equ ipment, and rather good and
complete conversion ins truct ions for the foll owing: 8e221 , 8C 342, 8C -312, 8C -348, 8( 412, 8C-645, BC-946B,
SCR 274N 453A serie s recei vers conversion to 10 meter
receivers, SCR-274N 457A series tra nsmitte rs (conve rsion to VFOj, SC R-522 (BC624 ond BC625 convers ion
to 2 mete rs), TBY to 10 a nd 6 meters, PE-I03A , 8C1068A / 1161A re ceiver to 2 meters, Surplus tube index,
cron inde x of A/ N tube s vs . commercio l type s, TV &
FM channels.
$2 .50

81 -SURPLUS RADIO CONVERSION MANUAL VOLUME

NO . II . Origina l and conversion circuit diagrams, p lus
photos of mos t equipments and fu ll conversion discussion of the following : BC-4 54/ARC-5 receivers to 10
mete rs, AN/A PS-13 xmtr/ rcv r to 420 me, BC457/ARC-5
xm trs to 10 me ters, Se le niu m rectifier powe r un its, ARC -5
power ond to incl ude 10 mete rs , Coi l d oto -simplified
VHF, GO 9/T BW, BC357, TA-1 2B, AN/ART -13 to ac
wind ing charts, AVT1 12A, AM-26/ AIC, LM frequency
meter, ro totors, power ch a rt, ARB diag ram.
$2 .50
82 -5URPLUS RADIO CONVERSION MANUAL VOLUME
NO. III - O rig ina l and conversion diagrams, plus some
photo of these: 701A, AN/A PN l , AN/C RC-7, AN/ URC-4 ,
CB Y-291 25, 50083, S0141 , 52208, 52232, 52302 -09, FT
AR A, 8C-442, 453-455, 456-459, BC-696, 950, 1066, 1253,
241A fo r xta l fi lter, MBf (CO L-43065) , MD7/ ARC-5.
R-9/APN -4, R23-R 28 / ARC5, RAT, RA V, RM-52 (5 3),
Rt. 19/ARC-4 , SCR-274N, SC R-522, T 15/ARC-5 to T23/ ARC -5, LM, ART13, B( 31 2, 342, 348 , 191 , 375.
Schematics of APT-5, ASB-5, BC -659, 1335 A, A RR 2,
APAIO, APT-2 .
$2.50
83-THE SURPLUS HANDBOOK, VOLUME I- Re ce ive rs ond
Transmitters. Th is book consi sts e ntire ly of circuit diagrams of su rp lus eq uip me nt and photos of th e geor.
One of the first things yo u really have to have to
even sta rt considering a conversion of surp lus equip ment is a g ood circuit diag ram. Th is book has the
fo llowing: APN -1 , APS-13, ARB, ARC-4 , ARC-5, ARC -5
VH.F, ARN 5, ARR-2, ASB-7, BC-222, _3 12, -3 14, 342,
-344, -348, -603, -6 11, 624 (S( R-522), BC-652, -654,
-659, -669, -683, -72 8, -745, -764, -799, _794, BC-92 3,
- 1000, - 1004, -1066, . 1206, - 1306, -1335, BC_A R_231 ,
CRC -7, DAK 3, c r-u . Mark II, MN-26, RAK-5 , RAL-5,
RAX , Super Pro, TBY, T(5, Resistor Code, Capacitor
Color Code , JAN /VT tube index.
$3.00
54-SURPLUS SCHEMATIC HANDBOOK- Th is, too, is a
book o f , chematics . . . and just a hin t of conversion
stra te gy he re ond there. Contains: APA38, APN1, AP R1,
APR2, APS I3, ARB, A RC1, A RC3, ARC4 , A RCS,
ARC5 VH F, ARJ , ARK , ATJ , ARN7, "'RR2, ART1 3, AS87,
AS81G R, ATK , BCAR23 1, AC189, BC-19 1, 221 , 31 2, 342,
3 14, 344, 348 , 37 5, 438, 474A, 603, 61 0, 6 11 , 620, 640,
645 , 652, 653, 654 , 659, 683, 68 4, 728, 733, 745 , 77 9,
794,906,969, 1000, 1004, 1023, 1206 , 1335, BN, BP , C3,
F3, CRC7, CRO-208, CRT3, DAE, G F-lI , G09, GRR5,
1122, I1n, 1208, JT350A, LM, MD7, MN26, PRC6, PRS3,
R174, RAK, RAl , RAO, RA5, RAX , RBH , RB L, R8M, R85.
RC56, RC57, DC, DR, RDl, 5CR-274, 284, 288, 300, 506,
522, 578, 585, 593, 608, 610, 624, 628, SPRI , SPR2,
T8599, TEW, TBY, TCK , TeS, TG34 , T534AP, T525 1UP,
VRC -8 -9 -1O, VVX -1.
$2 .50
85 -50 YOU WANT TO 8E A HAM-Hertzberg (W2DJJj.
Second editio n. Good introduction to the hob by. Has
photos and brief descrip tions of a lmost every comme rcially a vailable tra nsmitte r and receiver, plus accessories. Lavishly ill ust ra ted ond readable .
$2 .95

Ha nd y order form fo, p eop le .... ho don't mind rlpplng

thei r magazine, to pie c es.

I
45
69
81
163

2
47
70
82
168

5
48
71
83
169

10
49
72
84
170

21
52

20
50
73
144
172

74

145
173

22

53
75
149
174

24
55
77
153
177

23
54
76
152
175

28
56
78
154
178

Circle t he b ook numbers yo u wish t o o rd e r. Plee se incl ud e c as h, c hec k. mo ney o rd e r

we c an d e p osit in t he b en k.

Nem e :
Ad dress :
C ity :

Ca ll :

Zo ne :

4(J

58
80
16 1
185
0 ' some t hi ng

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . .

. . . .. . . . . . . . . .. .. .. .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..
_

J2
57
79
157
I81

.
Slat e :

Ra d io Boo ksh o p, 1379 Ea st 15th Stre et , Brooklyn 30, Ne w York

- ~

_ , _

to

Adve rtise rs Index

ReceIve" . Tra nsmitters. Mlel'1lp hon " .
Meten . Head sets, Amllll fl en . Gen.
erators , Tu t Equ!llmtnt. Telephone Ellulp .
ment , M o l o ~l. Dyn:,rn oton , Power S up pUn .
Antenn... Ca ble. Tra nsfor mers. Inver ters ,
Etc. Etc.

T h.,

,. .~ 51 T,.;S T

11"0".

, .. lull',
. . .. 11 ..,. . wa l'

Ifa m eNlrl

$1 [] ye or bring s yo u 24 issue s of bargains 90 10rePLUS t he " Fa ste s t Way in t he Wo rld " to p rofitably
d ispo se o f you r o ld o r excess ports and equ ipment.
fREE o d cert ifi cate and late st e di tion ret urne d imme d io t.l y if you send $ 1 N O W 10 :
HAM.SWAP, Inc" 35-F EOII Woc ke r Dr., Ch ica go 1, III.

TELETYPEWRITER EQUIPMENT
Mod e l 14, 15, 19 , 26 & 28 Teletype Machine s, T. lew r,le ' Rece :vi nq Converter and others.
Coll in s SIJ Re ce ivers .54- 30 .5 me.
Fo r genera l inf orm at ion & equipme n t lis l w ri te:

Tom WI AFN, Alltronics-Howard Co .

BOX 19, BOSTON 1, MASS .

Richmo nd 2-004B

WANTED:

Ne w, current . :11Il! sl igh t ly used

(old t ime r) II a ms to ta ke :1(1
vnutnae of N ew E ng land 's "Il ly
j.rt'lrlSit,l' /l am olrtl ft, h:l1ull iug all o f the mos t popula r ne w and used ama teur items. \Ve buy . sell,
t ra d e. s wa p, rent, awl service H am gear on ly. For
t he he st d eal arouud -c- tey B ub G ra ha m , \\') KT].

Graham Company, 505

.M a s sa c h us etts.

:'I l a in
T el. R E 24000.

S treet ,

Readin g,

Allied Rad io C orp.

Altrc nics-H owerd C o.
Ba rry Electro ni cs C orp.
Ce ntre ! Electroni cs. Inc.
Cu sh-Craft

EICO . . .. . . . .

64
62
55
49
54

..

Fair Radi o Soles

62
G lo b e Industrie s, Inc.
58
G ra ha m Co.
62
He mm erlun d Mfg. Corp. Inc. .
. . . 53
H e m-Swa p . Inc.
62
H i-PM Prod ucts C o.
56
lntemeflon e! Crvste! Mfg . Co
C over I, I
KTV To we r a nd C ommunicati on C o.
59
Mini- Prod uc ts. Inc.
40
Nati ona l C o., Inc
C over 4
Nei l C o., The
52
P & H Electro nics Inc.
57
58
Precision C ommu nicetions Accessori es .
Peterson Redic C o. Inc.
7
60, 61
Radi o Bock shcp
Radio A ma te ur Ca ll book Inc.
62
Rex Redi c Supply C o.
54
R-F W attmeter. . . . . . . . . . ..
. . . .. .. .. 58
Scientific Ind ustri e s, In c.
62
Spera Electroni cs Supp ly
59
51
Solar Electroni cs Co rp .
Ta pe to ne , lnc
54
Telre~. Labs
50
5
Technice! Ma te ri el C orp.
57
Vibroplex Co. lnc., The .. .. . .. . .
World Redic La bs
6

24-HOUR DIAL ELECTRIC CLOCK

IJi 15 " illu ... in a, 1 .lio l / .... ,a.v ....a.lin g. II a n .I. .. ..... a n.1
.Iu..a b l.. d , h 1:' 0
r ryu al , a lu min u m r o ... a n d II lain l....
. ...1 I... U'1. 1.I..a t o. a i/, .
SEND CHE CK OR MON EY O RDER TO :

SCIENTIFIC INDUSTRIES, Inc.

15

Park Stre e t, Dept . 73- 10, Sprin gfield 3, Massac hu setts

o r w r ite f or f re e Litera ture

NEW ISSUES
JUST OUT

ORDER YOUR CALLBOOKS NOW!

United States Section listi ng ell K & W c a lls (ove r 2 15,000 ). Ne arly
14.000 newly li ce nse d radio a mat e urs ad d ed since th e previo us issue .
Singl e copy $5.00 postpaid ( add 25 per co py o uts ide U.S.A.)
Forei9n Section listing rad io am a te urs th roug hout t he world , o utside t he 50 United Sta t es-up t o da te .
Single copy $3.00 postp aid (add 25 pe r co py o utsi de U.S.A. I
On sale at your fa vorite ra dio parts dist ri butor, o r d irect from th e
pu bli sher.

RADIO AMATEUR CALLBOOK, Inc.

4B44 full e rton Avenue , Ch ica go 39, Illinois, Dept . ST

...

,.

-..- -

..

Subscriptions
written quite a few heart-rending s ubscr ip t ion ad s down through the years. N ow
I 'm faced wi th my m oment of greatest need
and I can 't think of anything clever to get you
to chuckle while you're fi lling out a check or
st a n ding in t hat long line a t t he p ost office t o
b uy a m on ey or de r. There's n o need for m e t o
ex p la in all of the p rob lems that f ace a ne w
publication. B r iefl y put, it is t his : no ci rculation mea n s no advertising ; no a dvertising
mean s no money; no money means the publisher t ak es a long walk on a s hor t pier. S o,
if you're going to put off subscribing then at
least come d own and watch my bubb les.

73 is d istribu ted v ia direc t s ubsc ription and

through some of t he more cooperative rad io
parts dist ributo r s. 'Ve can not , a t t hi s ti me, a f fo rd to go on the newsstand s. This mean s that
word of t his new maga zin e will have to be
s prea d t hr ough you , the reader. If you like
t hi s first issue and some of the id eas expressed
here plea se t ell your f rie nds about the magazine a nd get t hem to s ubscr ibe. We ha ve some
attrac tive g ift ca r ds in case yo u want t o su r prise someone who ha s done someth ing fo r yo u.
T he first 10,000 subsc ribers will receive
Charter Subscriber ca rds, giving t he date of
t he ir or iginal s ubscr ipt ion.

'VE

73 S ubscri pt ion : $3.00 one yea r ; $5 t wo years ; $7 three years. DX : Add $1.00 per year.
Se nd t o : 73 Magazine, 1379 East 15t h St., ' Brooklyn 30, N. Y.

N ame . .. . . . . ..

Address

.. . ..

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City

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. . . years.
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send for the

VALUE-PACKED

1961

ELECTRONICS CATALOG
444 PA G ES . MOST COMPLETE

~~ IN

ElECTRONICS

FOR THE AMATEUR

get every
buying advantage:

BESY DEAL o n the new

equipment you want, wr ite or call
J im Sommerv ille, W 9WH F . c /o
ALLIED or stop in at our H am S hack
a nd meet Joe Hu ffm a n, W 9BH D ;
J oe Gizzi. W9H LA;JackSchneider,
W8CZE, . .
FOR tHAT

W r ite for the 1961 ALLIED Catalogthe most widely used electronic supply
sou rce for Amateurs . You'll want it
hand y a lways-to fill a ll your station
equipment need s - t o supply you
with everything in electronics at lowest,
money-saving p r ices. F ea t ures t he
larges t a nd lates t selection o f: ..
Ham Receivers
Ham Transmitters

Station Supplies
Electron Tubes

HAM-YO-HAM HELP - O ur staff of 35

Hams will go a ll-out to give you
the help you want, whether you
write, call or visit us in person .
You'll like the frien d ly atten tion
and interest you get all-ways at

Semiconductors
Test Instruments, Meters
Knight-Kit!> Equipment

Everything in Stereo Hi~Fi

Recorders & Accessories
Everything in Electronic Parts,
Tools & Tech Books

ALLIED .

For everything in electronics, get the

444-page 1961 ALLIED Catalog now!

ONLY $2 DOWN
on ord ers uP 'o $ 50; onl y
$ 5 do wn on ord e rs up to
$ 2 0 0; on ly $ 10 down
o v e r $ 2 0 0. Up to 2 4
mo nth s to pa y !

ALLIED RADIO
serving

Ama'eur for over 40 yeors

--------------------,
ALLIED RADIO, Dept. ' SO-K
100 N. Weslern A v e Ch icago 80, III.

order to Allied
fills the whole bill

.I

Save t ime , effort and

money; fill all your e lec tronic supply needs from
your 1961 Allied Catalog .

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ALLIED

Catalog

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State

111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111I1I11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111I111111111111111111

Other Ham Publications

N E of ou r ba sic pol icies , as you will see o n page 6 , is
to e ncou rag e the publ ica tio n of sp eca lized ham bu llet ins a nd papers. Here are lis t e d some that we can heartil y
re c ommend.

HAM.SWAP. Published by Hom-Swap . Inc .. 35 Eest

W ader Drive. Chicag o I. Ill ino is. Ed itor is Ed Shue y,
K9BDK. Subs ere $1 per ye ar by 3rd d . rss meil. $3 for
l s t cles s. $ 5 air meil, e nd $ 7.20 spec ia l d e livery. Publishe d twice <'l mon th. C o nta ins c la ssifi e d li ds en tirely.
This is you r be st bet fo r a n ine xp e nsive way t o sell
o r swa p so me gear in a hurry. W it hin two weeks
pe o p le are eo sweri nq you r ed.

FLORIDA RTTY BULLETIN. Fred W. De M otte

W4 RWM . P.O. Box 6047, Dev tcne Bea ch , Floride. $3
per yea r in cluding mem bership in Flor ida RTTY
So cietv. Most ly o pe refinq ne ws with a bit o f t e c hoice !
info no w en d t he n. A ll TT men should be g ett ing
th is.

SO UTH ERN CALIFORNIA RTTY BULLETIN. M. ,,;II

L. Swan W 6A EE, 372 W est W a rre n W a y, Arcad ia ,
Ca lifornia. $2.75 pe r vee r. not in cluding membe rs hip in
Society. Oc e re t inq ne ws an d so me tec hni ca l e rfic les.
This is the old es t TT bul letin cci nq . All TT me n sho ul d
a lso get thii on e . Mon thly.

73 H AM CLUB BULLETIN. Marvin Lipto n VE30QX ,

3 11 Rosem ary Road, Toronto 10, O nt ar io, Ca nad a.
Se nt free to " II edi tors of ham club b ull e t ins monthly
t o kee p t hem e b ree st of what is going o n with <'I II
t he oth e r hem clubs. This is e n excelle nt so urce of
news for p utting toget he r yo ur club bu llet ins. To subscri be to th is ne ws bu llet in just se nd a copy of your
own club bulletin t o Ma rvin.

W ESTERN RAD IO AMATEU R.

Don W ill ia mso n
W6JRE , 105 17 H a ve rly Street. EI Mo nte . Celiiomie.
Mo nt hly. Subs ere $2 per year, $3.50 for two years. $5
for t hree veers. Opere tinq news of west ccest activity,
col umns on OX , SSB , YL, <'JOd som e art icles. 48 pages.

SIOEBAND ER. Officie l org an of the Sing le Sideband

Ame te ur Radio Association, 12 Elm Street , Ly nbrook.
L. I., N. Y. Subs include membe rship to SSBARA: $3
per yea r. Mo nt hly. Prime-ilv opera ting news en d chit.
c hot for t he SS B OX g ang . Col umns by W 8YIN .
K5 MWU, K6EXT a nd c cce slo ne ! techni ce ! info.
THE MONITOR. Ma r-J OJ( Publisher s, 507 We st Davis
Street. Delles 8. Te r es. $1 a year, 3 years for $2.50.
Mo nt hly. Lar ge ly operating news. Columns: YL, C lub
Mee t ing s, Ar ka nsas News, Mississipp i Ne ws, Florida
News, OX, Missouri News, MA RS, C elifc rnie News,
Lo uisia na Ne ws, VHF News, O klebome Ne ws, Ri o
Gre nde Va lley News, Novice New s.
VH F AMATEUR. 67 Russe ll Ave nue , Rehwev. Ne w
J e rse y. $2 veer. $3.50 two veers. $5 t hree years.
Monthly. Opera ting new s for VH F men . Some te ch ni ca l info.

DX-OSL News Lette r. C lif Even s. K6BX , Box 385.

Bonito , Ca lifor nia. Published qu arter ly. 40 each: Annue ! subsc rip t ion $ 1.25 (fou r co pies ) by first cle ss
moil {$ 1.50 for OX stations). li sts a ll QSL Bureau s.
manl')ge rs for rare OX st at ions , etc .

DI RECTORY OF CERTIFICATES AND A WARDS. cia

Eve ns. K6 BX , Box 385 , Bonita . Ca l. C omp lete Dire ctory plus o ne year of revisi ons (quarterly) $3.50. Add
~O for 1st class ma il: $1 for airmai l: OX stations
Ist cla ss mail odd $ 1.25. Need less to say, this is t he
most com ple te co ll ect ion of d e !e on the hundreds 0 1
ce rtific a tes end e werd s ava ilable.

ox

BULLETIN. Do n Che sser W 4KVX, RFO I, Burli ng.

ton. Ke ntucky. OX ne ws in de pth. $5 .00 per yr. weekly.

1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 iiIll!!! I11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111

vith built-in PRODUCT DETECTOR

THE "COSMIC BLUE" NATIONAL'S NEW HAMBAND RECEIVER

This newest and fi nest precision double conversion amateur receiver with 6 meter coverage, brings you
an ease of sideband tuning previously available only in the most expensive equipment. The NC-270
features an exclusive "Ferrite Filter" for instant upper-lower SSB selection and a degree of selectivity
to conquer even the toughest A M and CW signal conditions. The solid Ys" steel panel, ceramic coil
forms, double-spaced tuning gang, and full ventilation cabinet combine to give mechanical and
thermal stability that will surprise even the most critical operator. Even the color of the I"C-270 is
outstandingly different, National's new duo-tone "Cosmic Blue." Write for detailed specifications.

Only $24.99 down'

Suggested cash price: $249.95 . NTS-3 Matching Speaker . S19.95 (slightly higher west of
the Rockies and outside the U.S.A.). "Most National distributors offer budget terms
and trade-in allowances.

NATIONAL RADIO COMPANY, INC.

A WHOUY OWNED SUBSIDIARY OF NATIONAL CO., INC.

A"d ....'arlo"ol Radio's patented "Flip Fo ol" makes

operating the SC-110 so e05Y.

MELROSE 76, MASS.

Export: AD AURIEMA, INC., 85 8 road St., New Yo rk, N. Y.

Canada : CA NADIAN MARCON I CO., 830 Ba yvi ew Ave., Toron to 17, a nt.