- - --

7/
/

..

on your
desk top ...
or on wheels

Sparkling new smDDth,wDrking cDmbD ... a pDwerful

100 watt AM transmitter, sensitive dual,cDnversiDn
receiver .. twDway aperaticn en 80-40201510 and 6
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slightly over one fDDt IDng, less than six inches high,
mDunts handily under the dash of jaur car-blends in
too, belDngs. Transistorized DC supply is separate, mDunts
in any small cDnvenient space.

6-band
100 watt AM
transceiver

You can take this G-76 out 01 your car, use it- wi th matching AC power supply and speaker
assembly- for excellent 6band fixed station operation. Here's opportunity to add new enjoyment
- and OX -with operation on another lively amateur band, 6 meters. G76 is a fullblown, star
performer on 6 as well as the other fivewidely used 10, 15, 20, 40 and 80 meter bands.
While G-76 is properly called a transceiver becauseof some common audio circuitry, transmitter
and receiver are separately tunable. Receiver can be set to outofband OX, transmitter VFO
anywhere within theband. Transmitter VFO is intended to be spotted on receiver dial. Frequency
control may be either by VFO or quartz crystal. (Except on 6 meters which is crystal controlled
only.) Transmitter and receiver oscillators are both compensated so that drift with temperature
is negligible. Oscillator circuit has very low drift even with exceptionally wide excursions in
both plate and filament supply voltages.
HIGHLIGHTS: Transmitter power input 100 watts AM , 120 watt s CW pi network OUlp'ut for 52 ohms Dual
conversion reeerser BfO for CW/SSB recept ion Automatic noise limiter Sensit ivity: appror. 1 microvolt
at 50 ohms for 6 db S+N/N ratio Select ivit)': J to 3.5 kc bandwidth at 6 db down, 14 kcs or less at

&0 db down.

6761ess power supply and speaker, '3338

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G76 transistorized 12V DC power supply (neg. ground), '3350

G76 power supply for 117VAC w/speaker, '3349

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AM-CW
50 MC-54 MC
144 MC-14~ MC
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to outperform even many kilowatt rigs

(3.5 )IC30 )IC and 220 Me adapters available soon t

tVom some of the many features found

only in

this outstanding new VHF TransmiUer:

High Level Plate and Screen lIIodulation

Highly Efficient Type 7034 Final
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Self-Contained Stahle VFO
Built-In Automatic Modulation Controt

Simple Band Switching and Tune-Up

lARC H 19b1

Two Un it Construction with Remote

Modulator and Power Supply Con.
ser ves Space at Operating Position

Attractive Styling

Amateur Net Price: Only 8559. Completely wired and tested with all tubes,
Modulator, Power Supply, VFO, cables,
etc.

~6M.. Malchlng

VHF RECEIVER!

13 MAGAZINE

INTERNATIONAL
1961
CATALOG

AMATEURSComplete data on I n te rna t ion al's all

transistor su bassem b lies; 6 and 2
meter transmitting and receiving gear;
crysta l controlled converters for 75 ,
-lO , 20, 15 and 10 m eters.

CITIZEN L1CENSEESIn ternat ion al tran sceive rs , accessories

and an tennas for dependable 2-Way
rad io comm unication. See I n te r n ational's k it for constr ucting y ou r own
Citizens transceiv er.

EXPERIMENTERS Printed circuit oscillators, RF conver ters, IF units. audio u n its. transisto r s u basse m b lies, c rys ta ls an d
crystal ovens.

Mail today for your FREE Catalog!

o.
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I nternational Crystal Mfg. Co., Inc .

18 North Lee, Oklahoma City, Okla.
Se nd Free 1961 International Catalog
Name'

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Address;

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_ _ z one_ _

Sta te'

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0

73 MAGAZ IN E

MARCH 196 1

73

Magazine

1379 East 15th Street

Brooklyn 30, N. Y.

Ta ble of Contents

March, 1961
Vol.I,No.6

Jim Kyle KSJKXj b

Melvin Lie bowih W 3KET

10

Cha rles Sch ecter W 8 UC G

13

H owa rd Burgess W5WGF

14

16

18

20

22

Cha rles Spitz W 4API

24

Roy Paf en be rg

25

Alli e C. Peed K2DHA

26

27

29

'" K5JKX/ b

30

Staff

32

38

42

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

43

Fred C ollins W IFRR

44

Roy McCarthy Kb EAW

46

48

54

56

Hertlend Smith W 8VVD

62

J ohn Velamo OH2YV

68

Tra nslating Technical J ournals

O?'!1 rea d this one to a nyune who w ill Hsten .

Tranll5tome d Grid Dip O scilla tor

Sen'rinll the fie umbilica l cord with a trans is tor.

C uring Ign ition Interference

St(>J>-by-steu a ssKSi inat ion of the notev car gre mlins.

Superre ge nrative Rece ive rs

Ten rul es for ll('ttinK good results from a su pervregen

Decreasing Debugging Tim e

illustrated.

J. Kyle K5J KX/ b

H ow to gt't things back ca st wf-en t hey JW west _ . . in

Top load ed Wh ip

_.. '"

hurry.

__

AI Ne wla nd W2 1H W

W hy not make your o w n m ob fle wh ip ?

CW Tra.n smission with Telety pe Equipment

Roy E. Pafenberg
S imple con ve rs ion ot RTTY (or that hated C W id e ntification by IT tape.
All Ban d An ten na
Kyle K5JKX/ b
Yo u' VI.' been waling (o r s om eo n e to adapt that Lo g P e r-iodic Ante n na.

Double Your Power Supply Voltage

Not difficult wit h a c ou nle s flt co n rectifler-s,

Impeda nce s of Sur plus Equipme nt

Input a nd output irnpeda nees for m os t popu la r- s u r p lus gear.

Patch Patch

Quic k met hod of hooking your phone patch in lind out o f the te-lep hone li ne.

432 me Transistorized Converter

J. Specialny W 3HIX

Good n ight! H o w hig h w il l t hey go w ith tra nsts tors j C r ys t al cont ro lled

Two Meter Transmitt er

tiM).

J ohn Sury K8NIC/5

S light mod i fi ca tio n o f t he 6:\1 riR" f r om Octo ber is -su e of 73.

Squawk Box

'"

T'r a n siatu r-i ze d louds peaker n m p fifi e r-.

Up Front

R u t he r thoroug h look at reeetver front e nd s, o ur b ig toch nlc a.l article.

Don 't Bug Me Dad

Ken J ohnson WbNKE

Our cover- n s-tls t ulao writes. I ns t r uctio ns fo r ne w bUR" ow nera.

Varicap Tun ing Device

Robert Baird W7CSD

Helps the b lin d ha m t o tu ne u p his ri R"

o r u n yone ('hw fo r t hu t mu tt...r .

Noise Clipper, Semiconductor Style

AI Newland W21HW

T in y c li p per for Iuse r t bm i n cur rudlos , i nc ludi n g trR nlli" t,, )"
Wor~in9

80 Meter Phon e OX

lIet li.

W A C in o n e nhzht w hen you kn o w w he r e t o li s t e n .

DC Transistorized Meter Amplifier

Get ama zi n R" sensitivity out o f normal me t e n

w it h thi s a rn n lifler-.

Bervl Dassow W9H KA

Motorola Test Set

H a m-ba nd tn g t he o ld Motu r ol ll m obil e t t-a n se ej ve r-s ill pop u la r . th ill h e lps.

Propag ation Ch arts for March

Wha t ti me t o w here, w he n

Da ve Brown K21GY
p loh nbly .

Names, Sines a nd Handles

, . Howard Pyle W70E

W hy " Y B" calls hi mael f " Y B."

Save, l earn , Ha ve Fun

It rea lly ill c hea per t o bu ild than b uy.

How To File Your 050'5

Mo r e ide a s on card fill'S for contacts.

Misc.:
Te ble of C ontents
.
Editoriel . . d e W2N SD
.
-..
Lette rs to the editor
.
Advertisi ng Re tes for 73
.
G rounded G rid Triod e Circ uit
.
How t o d raw e pe -ebcle for VH F ante nnes
.
Plugs for the e s ~in g
C ut O ut vote for a rticles
.
.
Air Force MARS Tec hnic e! Brced cests
He m Head lines
.
Cha ssis mounting t he Pl 2S9
.
New Produ cts
.
Subscripti on Plea
.
.
O ther Hem Publice tic ns
" '
, ..
Don't talk to these cou ntries
Adve rtiser's In de . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Tu ne Up W ith A Sole r Bette rv
.

COVER: Pe n a nd

3
4
6

St off:
W dyne G ree n W 2NSD

editor-p ublish er
pub lications ma ne ge r

Da vid Fish

6
12

essocie te edi tor

Don Sm ith W 3UZN

I5

e ssoct ete editor

Jim Kyle K5J KX/ b

19

43
49
49
50

essccie te edit or . .... " ... .. Ma rvin l ipton VE3DQX

associate ed itor .............. . Ch arles Spitz W4API

51

sales representetive ........ J im Morriss ett WA6EX U

55
58
67

seles re prese nte tiva

70
71

Ja ck Gutzeit W 2l ZX

subscriptions ... Incred ible Announcem ent Ned Month

Trenspc rte ticn

Peeseh e

i n ~ sketch by Ke n J ohnson, W6N KE.

- 3 ) 1 n zt nl" t s publl.htd month ly Ly Amat eur Ra.d lo P ublh hln I nc. 116 :\o b ll'l ~lre l"l . :\"or....alk. Conn~t tcn t. Bu.lneu Ol'ftce. 1319 E.-t
i- l h ~ t N B rook trn 30 x ew York 'I'elephene : ~A 9 0360. Sub. crlptlon ni H : U .8.' . a nd pOllelllol'l' . APO. F PO. Canada and ) Iulco;
~e year; 13 00 ' two }'e~r i $3.00 ; thr ee yea n si.oo. F oret.,n : one )'P8r s ~ . oo ; two r un $1.00. ~erond ct a ll po.IIIt' paid at .sorwall.;.
Conn ecticut . ' P ri nted In t be U.S.A . Entire con tent. ropyrllth~ 196! by .' mate nr R ad io Pubttshtn.,. Inc. P os tmas te r : P lease lend form
3519 to 73 :\o[IK"ul no. 1379 E I H 15th ~treet. Brook1)T1 30, :" l'W '\: ur k.

de W2NSD

Here is the sixth issue of 73. We're still

around, still bringing you good articles and
lots of 'em .. . plus eig-ht more pages, t ha nks to
the adverti ser s. Our original policies a re sti ll
fairly intact. 'Ve're st ill not mad at anybody.
Disgusted maybe, but not mad. we've been
bringing you the promised technical and const r uction articles and, if the mail is to be
believed, a lot of fellows have sta r ted building
home-brew gear a s a result.

Your C autious Editor

Unfortunately for my piece of mind I am
mi s- or iII-informed on many subjects other
than ham radio. Thi s manifests itself, a s
with most would-be writers, in an ambition to
write on these subj ects. In an attempt to
keep from lo using u p th is otherwise ( possi bly)
interesting- pamphlet with s uch drivel a s
mig-ht erupt when I attempt to over-compensa te for a well developed inferiority complex,
but st ill to provide a limited outlet for the-e
psychic di sturbances, I will channel my creative (?) energies to the office Ditto machine.
The point is thi s: if anyone is in te r ested
or morbid ly cu riam; enough to take t he tim e
and send a stamped self addressed envelope
then I'll st uff som e of my stuff and return it.
Look what you get for 4c! All sorts of nonrad io (u sually) chatter on subj ects you'd
rath er not read about and are su r e to violently
di sagree with, st uff which I'd be out of my
mi nd to publish in 73. Consolat ion : only one
Ride of the pa per will be used so you can teal'
the pages up and use the back for notes.

RTTY Dinner, Ma rch 20th

The Sixth Annual RTTY Dinn er and General Conflab will be held Monday even ing
March 20th at the \ Vhite Turkey T own House,
260 Mad ison Avenue (at 39th Street) in New
York. T he gathering commences at 5 pm,
dinner at 7. Formalities will he interesting and
brief. Reservations are extremely important
thi s time : send $6 .00 to El ston Swanson, c/o
Instruments for Industr-y, 101 X ew South
Road, H icksville , L. I., N. Y. Please make VOUI'
reservation a s soon a s possible.

New York Sid eband Dinner

Ten years ago a sma ll group of amateurs
held a clandestine meeting during the heighth
of the I. R.E. show. The way was hard for the
Sideband pioneers and they needed to encour4

73 MA GAZ INE

(never say die)

age each other . . . and perhaps the)' wanted

to hear what someone's vo ice sou nded like
without the phasing r ig between t hem.
T his ca utiou s gathering of avant-g a rde
amateurs ha s now grown to a full fledged hamfe st, complete with di splays by manufacturers
and a huge banquet at the Statler-Hilton. Send
$10 for your ticket to the 10th Annual SSE
Din ne r to the SSBARA, c /o Mike Le Vine
W A2 B L H, 33 Allen Road , Rockville Centre,
L. I. , N. Y . 10 u.m . March 21st at the Statle r H ilt on , with dinner at 7 :30. Naturally 7:1 will
have a booth.

Phoenix, May 26-29

The Southwestern Division AHRL Convention is g-irding itself for a rea l whingdi ng a ffa ir over t he long Memor-ial Day weekend. Th is
shou ld he one of the best Conventions in the
western U. S. thi s year, so how about all you
Southern Californians bu zzing on over for a
real western holiday. It may be a bit of a
damper, but I'll be there wearing' my western
outfit. To make up for thi s we will al so have
on display our entire subsc r ipt ion department
(see Decembe r cover.') This isn't enough? \ Ve'll
also have on display our western representative J im Mort-issett 'V A6EXU, formerly A ssis t a n t Editor of CQ and foreign correspondent
on "Frozen Jim" trip to Antarctica.
There will, fo rt un a t ely , be a lot more interesting things than a vacationing' 73 sta ff to
look at . Like they will have prizes: a Viking
K ilowatt & Ra ngel' , un SS B station, a tower,
a V II I" tru nclever, a nd scads of (Ither goodies.
Be s u re to bring' at least a s ta t ion wag-on so
you can cart all that st uff home afterwards.
Regi stration is $8 .!: per. Send for info or
sen d dough to George Mezey K7NIY, P .O. Box
814, Sun City, Arizona. Thi s includes regi stration, the big banquet, and a bre a k f uat .

Swampscott
Being' only in the throws of preliminary
organization and planning- of 73 magazine la st
year- at the time of the now hi storic Swampscott Convention, I unfortunately mi ssed out
on it. That is a blunder that I don't intend to
d up lica te thi s year. Po ssibly, for some reason
of your own, you a lso mi ssed th is event last
year . . . if so it would seem prudent for you
to correct this er-ror, if you are within driving
di stance.
There s ure mu st have been a vacuum on
the ham band s in the first di strict la st year
MARC H 196 1

*EICO nremeunts, prewtres, pretunes, and seals the ENTIRE

transmitter oscillator c i rc u i t to conform with FCC regul ations
(Section 19.71 SUbdivision d). EICD thus gives you the transceiver in kit farm that you can build and put on the air without
the supervision of a Commercial Radio-Telephone Licensee!

Kit

..

If I'r- I fl

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Wired

$99.95

NEW! 60WATT CW
TRANSMITTER # 723
Kit $49.95
Wired $79.95
Ideal f or novice or adva nced ham
ne ed ing low-power, st and-by r ig .
60W CW, SOW ext ernal plate modutation . 80 through 10 mete rs.

COLOR &. MONO DC5MC LAB &.

TV 5 OSCILLOSCOPE # 460
Kit $79.95
Wired $129.50
5" PUSH-PUll OSCILLOSCOPE
# 425 Kit $44.95 Wired $79.95

90-WATT CW TRANSMITTER
# 720 Kit $79.95 Wired $119.95
U. S. Pat. No. 0184,776
" Top ouality" ELECTRONIC
KITS GU IDE. Ideal f or veteran or
novice. 90W CW, 6SW ext ernal
plat e modulation. 80 through 10
meters .

PEAK-TO-PEAK
VTVM # 232 &. *UNI PROBE@
Kit $29.95
Wi red $49.95
-u. S. Pat. No. 2 ,790.051
VACUUM TUBE VOLTMETER # 221
Kit $25.95
Wired $39.95

HIGHLEVEL UNIVERSAL
MOOULATOR-DRIVER # 730
Kit $49.95
Wired $79.95
Delivers SOW unc tstcrted audio.
Modulates transmitters having
RF inputs up t o 100W. Unique
over-mecu tancn indicat or . Cove r
t-s $4.50.
_

$69.95

# 7 61: 117 VAC & 6 VDC

# 762 : 117 VAC & 12 VDC
incl. mtg. bracket (Pat. Pend.)

GRID OIP METER # 710

' ."
Kit $29.95
Wi red $49.95
Includes complet e set of coi ls
. '. " . c: f or full band cove rage. ccntrnu~!Jr-- ous coverage 400 kc to 250 mc.

sao ua meter.

Q'

ICO, 33-00 N. Bl Vd. , LtC.1 , N.Y.

~~~~I~eo~of6~~q~~my~O~ o ~:~

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rd;

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RF SIGNAL GENERATOR # 324

(150kc435mcj
Kit $26.95
Wired $39.95
TVFM SWEEP GENERATOR
&. MARK ER # 368
Kit $69.95
Wired $119.95
DYNAMIC CONDUCTANCE TUBE
&. TRANSISTOR TESTER # 666
Kit $69.95
Wi red $109.95
TUBE TESTER # 625
Kit $34.95
Wired $49.95

':i

73-]
Add ress
City

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Name

Zone

State

EICO di stributor. Send 36page Stereo HIFI Cu ldebook: 25t encl osed for postage &. handling

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

"l

SE E EICO .f IR E BOOTH 3509

MARCH 196 1

7J MAGAZIN E

wi th 3500 ha ms we re off t he a ir a ll a t once.

Im agine the poor g uy with the lit tle DX-aS.
He gets on th e air on 20 a nd ca lls a CQ. Sudden ly t here are st at ions calling him from all
over . . . he's t he only 'VI on the band ! He
doesn't know th is is because eve r yone else is
j a zzing it up down in S wampscot t , all he knows
is that everyon e is caIli ng him and he is the
loud est WI on the ba nd. T his is a n even ing
he'll never fo r get.
T he ot her asoo are havi ng a n even ing t hey 'll
never forget too. Decide now wh ich it will be
for you : the Convent ion or lot s of DX all t o
yourself. \Vr ite Radio Convention, 15 MacArthur Blvd ., Da nver s, Ma ss., for reg istration f or ms which are go od u ntil March 25th.
The Conven tion is April 8 -9, t wo days.
73 will be there, complete with t he Subscripti on Depart ment. Virg ini a wa nts to know if
anyone will volun teer to hel p her keep eager
su bgcr iber s orderl y ?
.. W2NSD

NO MONKEY BUSINESS
(climbing)

with

the

KTV
Hy-Track

LETTERS

Tower

Deur- Wayne :
The Mi cI'oWIl Vlo" Society o f Lo n g Hench hal! j u ~t been
fo rmed lin d club meetjn~l! u r o he ld o n the s ec o n d wed n ea,
da y of e a c h mon t h a t t he ll a Yllho r e P u blic Libra ry, 2 n.1
S t reet a nd HlIysho r e A ve n ue, Lena Bea ch a t 8 p.rn. We
ha ve pla ns for constru ct ion p rojects thllt you m igh t be
a ble t o u se in 13 , Can you put th is in 73 !
Ralph St ~in"tr.. K6GKX

Ra i!<l' and lower YO II T an ten na in minutes , but

leav e the

100\('f

si mp le

malt' adjus tment - o n your bea ms ,

In

1(-'",1 I1I"W

lip. The Hy-T rack makes it

a n tennas, UT prot ec t yOUT arrays from

wind da mage. KT\'

are available ill a

"a ri d)" of !'o iZt'" 10 ma lt.. h t h ~ helgh t a nd load
you have i ll mi nd.
In Wt-'T "

..

\lI'e hope

)'O U

top it lucks in place. It automa tica lly unlocks

when you want 10 low er it agai n. No te how
Hn le gr ound ar ea is needed .
)' 0 /1

do next : Send for nrices,

S/If'('S,

" 'rit e to :

KTV Towers
TOWERS , P. O. Box 294, Sullivan. III.

13 MAGAZINE

I I is rclrcslii"[1 t o find such Ilait'{fe at this latr d at e, I

'I'otldl" hO'7(' [ast L cD 'I'D/lid "'lSh in lIis sllb.rc,ipt;OIl to 7J
il hc had to se-nd in $10 a )I,'ar! Tllis is 11,hat it u'(Iuld haN'
to cost 'l"ithOlIt the ads. It costs lIS orrr SOt per copy to
trOdlle, ; 1I ' "'r1'/a::i"r at its /,1('se"t sicc t .\'0, Leo . j'OI/
look eare/lllly at lire ads and Ihank coch one lor their coO/,I'ru tion in bnllpi'l[l .\'OU I1ris mayu::in(' , , 1('it1l01lt them
it ,"mlld br imrossible to pllbli,dl an)' hom maga::i'les.

Advertising Rates

ca n see in the photo how the

array a nd the rota tor hoth go li p and down the
l i y-T ra ck un rail s. Wllf'n you cra nk it 10 th e

If' hal

Dear S ir :
I s a w one iss ue a nd I thin k yo u h uve somet h in R' t her-e.
whut we need ilt mo r e tec h nicn l a nd conat r-uct.io n ))r. dcots and I f'll !! lid ,.. WE' cnn eot n il the cn taloea we wan t
f o r nothtna . W.' ,!on't han' to s u bse r ibe t o them . H i. Hi.
. , 1."0 l\In.'lter!4t'.l n W3 1XO

etc.

Th ere are proba bly hundreds of likely

adver t is ing prospects t hat we haven't
cont acted. S ince ou r ra tes a re s o ridiculously low it might just be clever to unveil what rem a in ing s h ro uds of secrecy
there are a bou t t hem. They 'll be going
up shor tly a n yway. Note that our 1" ads
are only $12 on a 12X basi s,. mak ing it a
fine deal for s ma ller compan ies t ha t wa nt
to keep their na me alive.
1 page $120
I<
pa ge $40 ( 4 ")
% page
70
% page 25 ( 2")
i. P a ge $ 15 (I " )
Frequency di scoun t : 6X- lO % ; 12X20% . Closing date: 5th of the previou s
mon th.

MARCH 1961

;:::

>
'"o
I

c-

,"",>:

sss

,.

;:::

>
(j)
~

~,

DRAKE ;~A
RECEIVER

$2&9!~""

m
ill
~
~
~
~
~
~

..

ill~
~

Discrim inat ing sidebanders have accla imed th e performance of t he Drake 2A

yet its low price and simp licity of opera tion make it an ideal receiver for novices
who have t he assurance th at it wi ll contin ue t o serve thei r needs, whethe r CWo
AM or SS B, when t hey gra duate to general class or highe r. For detailed free
brochure, wri te t o R. L. Drake Company, Miami sburg, Ohio.

ANNOUNCES

THE NEW

2 0 0 'V"

BROAD-BAND
Exci ter-T rQ n sm itte r
Amateur net. ... $795

NEW FEATURES IN TIlE 200V

NEW! Silicon rectifier power supply . Better regulation. Less heat.

Higher voltage. 200 watts PEP input on SSB.
NEW I Frame grid (6EH7-6EJ7) mixers. Extrem ely high gainLess
heat. Unwanted mixer products down in excess of 50 DB.
NEW ! Temperature compensated c r y sta l oscillator circuits (or extrem e, long term stability .
NEW ! Increased mike pre-amplifier gain. Compensates for weak
voic es or low output microphones.
NEW! Smooth as silk two speed tuning knob with 5 KC per turn
vernier tuning ratio.

PLUS
THESE
ORIGINAL
FEATURES

THERE IS
NOTHING
FINER THAN
THE

200V

COMPLETELY BROAD -HANDED. You tune only the VFO . inherently matches output impedances of 50-72 ohms .
COMPLETE HAND COVERAGE. ALL of the 80 -40 - 20 -1 5- 10 meter
bands, plus generous ov erlap and position for ext r a band.
INPUT 175 watts on CWo FSK and PM. 100 watts o n AM.

" TAILORED" audio fUt er-Audio limiter .

ADJUSTABLE POWER OUTPUT c ontr ol. 2" MONITORING SCOPE.
CALIBRATION ACCURACY better than 1 KC .
UNWANTED SIDE HAND SUPPRESSION 50 DB.
CARRIER SUPPRESSION at least 50 DB.
HARMONICS down in exc e s s of 50 DB.
Third order DISTORTION PRODU CTS down in exc es s o(
40 DB.
EASIER TO OPERATE THAN EVER I Choice of USB-LSB -AM-PM
CW-FSK at the flip or a switch. Perfected VOX, PTT, CW break1n
4 ways to key.

Available soon - write (or literature .

How To Read
What the PhD Writes
H andy Translator f or Scholarly P ublications

1
'
T HAT w ith t he r a pid advances being made
\

Jim Kyle. KSJKX/6

"
by the commercial boys these days, not
to mention the research carried on by government-sponsored laboratories, the ham who
wa nt s to keep ahead of t he game almost has
to read sever a l of the "Scholarly Publications "
devoted to electron ics at t he design-e ngineer in g' leve l.
H owever, the se people h a ve a la nguage a ll
t heir ow n-or at least t hat's the w ay it seems
to the ty ro bravi ng' t he t hin air of the highlevel resea rc h report for the fir st time. T ranslating thi s language into ordinary ham-style

E ng li sh is one of t he fine points of the prepara tion of 73.

But , s ince many of u s like to keep even
fart her a h ead of th e ga me than is p ossible
wi thi n t he cove rs of j ust one magaz inc-even
so chock-f'ull-o'ccon tent a p ub licati on as t hi s
- we' r e about to open our top-secret file and
p r ovid e you a Gu idebook to t he H igh-Level
Repor t. \V it h it, you can at least fi nd out w hat
the engineer mea nt to sa y. Rea dy ? H er e goes:

A s Writt en

) Iea nin ~

It is common knowl edge in t he field

.
. . of extreme t heoretical a nd practical importance
.
While it ha s not been pos sible to provide
defi nite a nswers t o all of t h ese questions . .
. . on a s broad a bas is a s possible
.
.
. . ste ps are being taken
. . r equ ires compu tational facilities of consider a ble complexity
.
Reasonably st a ble sig nal
.
Ultra-stable sig na l
Extremely precise sig na l
. . presently u nde r s tu dy
It is sug gested t hat
It is ge ne rally believed
With in a n or der of ma gn itud e

.
.
.
.
.
.

T ypical results are shown

. . wel l be low
.. s ur prfslngly low er ro l'

.
.
.

.. to a first approximation
.. introducing th e cons ta nt factor B

.
.

.. opt imum performance was ach ieved wit h

th e circuit shown
.
. . a ppears enti rely pract ical for our use
.
It is t o be h oped t hat t hi s effor t w ill stim ulate
a ddit ional r esearch
.

MARCH 1961

I didn't bother to look up all my references.

I f ound it interesting, you shoul d too.

T he exper imen t s did n't work , b ut I though t I
could at lea st get a w r ite-up .
Th e budg et was slim.
I' m trying to conv ince the boss we n eed more
money.

wbere's anoth er box of scrat ch pads?

Y ou can track it with th e tuning knob if you're
fa st.
You don't have t o track it.
See "reasonably st a ble signal."
\ Ve talk about it at coffee time.
I th in k.
A cou ple of other guys t h ink so too.
B etween a ten t h an d t en ti mes wh a t I sa id it
was .
T he best results are shown.
Greater than
.
Something's wrong-it agreed with my calculations!
to a random guess.
By introducing B, I ca n solve the equati on.
Any other way, it doesn't make sense.
T h is circu it wo rked . A ll the rest faile d .
H a ms have been doing it fo r years, why can't
we?
I st ill don't un der st a nd it , and neit her does
anyone else I coul d locate. \Von't somebody
please t ry it too and explain it to u s ?
. . K 5JKX / 6
73 MAGAZINE

-'. - -' .
.
<: ~I'I"' ''' '''

Grid D ip Meter,
Trans istorized,
Improved
M elvin Leibowitz, W3K ET

220 We st Fo urt h Street

W ilmington I, Dele we re

10

73 MAGAZINE

MARCH 1961

T usefulg ri dpi ece

dip

meter is probably the most

of t est equ ipment available
to the ham . Battery operat ion is des irable for
sever a l rea sons:
1. Th e instr ument may be used outdoo rs
f or antenna work.
2. La ck of "warm -up" time.
3. No trailing cord to get in t he way.
If th e i nst rume nt is to be ba t tery operated it
s ho uld be tran si stor ized for maxim um battery
econ omy and light weight. Such grid dippers
have appeared in ham literatu re 1.2, but they
ha ve seve r a l common fau lt s :
1. T he mecha nical design is difficult fo r
the average ham to duplicate.
2. Calibration sca les are hard t o make
and look sloppy unless the con str ucto ris a sk ill ed d raft sman .
3. T he coil form s are u sually requ ired to
have more than two contacts. This dictates the Use of an Amph enol series 24
coil fo rm an d socket. Th ese fo rms do
not lend themselves to quick a nd easy
cha ng ing which is h ighly desirable.
4. The usual design is awkward to hold
and use. Consider the design shown in
Fig . A with t he dia l a t the t op of t he
instrument and the meter below it.
This type is easy to make but unfortun ately the use r 's arm obscu res the meter
wh en t urn ing the di al. T he di al m ig ht
be placed below t he me ter a s in F ig .
B. T his results in long lea ds between
the coil and condenser and is undesira ble, Com merc ia l in str ume nt s get
around t hi s p rob le m by bringi ng th e
rim of the tuning dial ou t t h e s ide of
th e case. Thi s type of in strument is
difficult to hold , build, a nd cal ibr ate .
Th e type of const r uction s how n in t he photograph and Figure C eli mi nates all of the
above problems . Th e condenser is located close
to t he coil and is turned by an extension sh a ft
coming out the en d of th e box. Th e ins t r u ment is comfortable to h old. Th e only meta l
fabricati on involved is a s im ple "L" mou nting
bracket for the variable condenser. T he calibratio n sca le is a fl a t st r i p of pa per g lued to
the r im of a National H RT k nob . S ince t he
calibration marks are on a s t r a ig ht line they
can be typed in on an ord ina r y typewriter for
neatness.
Sha r p eyed r ead ers will note t he u se of
A nvphenoi series 24 coil fo rm s wh ich I h a ve
previously cond emned. The electrica l circuit
ha s been rev ised so that only two pi n s are
needed on the co il form . T he un used con ta ct s
are removed fro m the co il socket. Thi s r edu ces
the fr iction conside r a b ly and t he coils are ea sy
to change yet a good el ectri ca l conta ct is st ill
ma intai ned.
The oscill a tor s show n in previou s a rticles
employ t he unu sed pins on t he co il f orm t o
vary the bias on the tran si stor as the Irequeney is rai sed. Since we have limited ourHE

MARC H 1961

COII..-

r (::"JI~
-,

VARI ABL E CO HO _

-f

--!

. / lA'
SHA F T

METER

'0'

EJ
/ J::,.'\
)"- ..I

""'"
I

"

"'0

10,

,, :,
,"" ,
"

I"

TOP VIEW

SL AC K

: : ::::::1

RED

selves to only 2 pin s we ca nnot u se t hi s

approach a nd a potentiometer ha s been substit uted for t he fixed r esi stors. Thi s produced
a bon u s in t hat it is poss ible to set t he pot
f or r ela tive ly weak oscillations. Un der such
cond it ions the meter w iII g ive a good di p with
very loose coupl ing t o the tuned circuit.
Most of the constructional details should be
eviden t from t he photographs , except f or the
moun tin g of t he A nl lJhenol 78858 coil socket.
Thi s socket is desi gned to be mounted by means
of a retaining s pr ing . Th is does n ot give a
good solid moun t. Obta in a top mountin g, bakelit e, 9 p in m ini ature t ube socket . Cr umble t he
bakelite part by squeezing it in a v ise. The
obj ect here is to fre e t he metal mounting ring
so that it ca n be u sed to mo u nt the coil socket.
File 2 r ound notches i n t he coil socket so th at
the retaini ng r ing w ill s lip ove r the socke t f r om
th e top . T he socket may now be bolted to t he
chass is just like a ny other socket . P lace two
or th ree sma ll wa she r s under th e ea rs of the
mount in g r ing to make up f or the d iffe rence
in thickness of the ring and socket . Re move all
but two of the contacts from the socket befor e mo u nti ng it in the cha ssis .
Th e u nused con ta cts a r e r em oved b y bend ing them with a pai r of fine -nose plier s un t il
they break off. T he contacts inside the socke t
will then fall out. Sub-rni niatu re t ie points are
mount ed on each of t he m ete r te r minal s to
aid in poin t-to-point wi r ing,
The mete!" will oscillate readily up to approximately 35 megacycles us ing a 2N247 trans is tor . U se a 2N384 in pla ce of t he 2N247 if
th e six mete r band is desired.

Calibration
Ca li bratio n is div ided into fo ul' over-la pping
ranges. T wo of t he ranges occu py 180 degrees
of the dial. The sca les may be typed on a
typewriter as already me n t ioned. It is prefer13 MAGAZIN E

II

Iol' mmf

'0

4. 7 K

lN3 4

02

2.7K
CK722
2 NIQ1
07222

'='

0-'

MA

the pot is set so that th e meter read s half scale

or slig htly less. Th e met er is most sensiti ve
at thi s point. Th e a ctual set t ing of t he pot
will vary wit h the diffe rent f req uency ban ds
covered. Do not allow the meter to r ead more
than half sca le a s it will be diffi cult to get a d ip
u nder such conditio ns.
. . . W3KET
I. R ud in A m a t eu r s ' H an dboo k : 37 t h. t :d itiun llage 5 2U.
2. C Q ; page 5 1;. Sept. 1958 .

'"

2N2 41

Parts li st
QI - 2 N 247 o r 2 N :J84 [ see text) .
(~2 --AIl Y PN I' tea n ais for- t hat wor-k s (not critical).
Il I -H u r R" t'ss
B 2 -H u r~ l'l.< S N ul" NF. ( if t y pe N i ~ used , wrap i ll in s u lat i ng tapoj . Si nh D o u b le pole s tn gle t h ro w el id e
" w itc h.
I{J -IOK s u b m i n ia t ure pot, P h i !m o r ", :: P C5 1 .
Cu bin("t - LM B ::TF77t'. 2% x 2 1~ x 5 .
~lll . 11 ~. " 0 1 Mil. D C

zun.

9.

"

B2

~<Y'Co>--<._i",,'---<oo""":o---J
SIA

SIB

Coil Ch art
tr~u t'n (")

H and

a ble to use a two color ribbon su ch a s a r ed

and black. Thi s will help to sepa rate the sca les.
The fini shed calibration will then look like
that in F igu r e D. Cu t a sh eet of good quality
paper the sa me w idth a s the rim of t he knob
and long e nough to go a round t he r im wi th
about a half in ch overl a p . A ttach one end of
th e st ri p to t he knob by mean s of Scotch tape.
\Vrap the st r ip a round the knob and hold it
in place with a r ubber band. Ca l ibr a t ion is
most easil y accom plished by listening to the
oscillato r on a continuou s coverage r eceiver.
As ea ch point is f ound, mark the paper with
a light pen cil mark. Pencil in lightly the freq uency for each pa rk t o avoi d conf usion . After
a ll cali br ation point s have been f ound, transfe r the pape r to the t y pewriter and t ype in
t he fi gures. The lines m a y be inked in with
Ind ia ink or a ball p oin t pen. Era se t he pencil
marks with a soft erase r and re-attach the paper to t he r im of th e dial usi ng a piece of Scotch
tape. Wi nd t he sca le arou nd the dial just as
before except t his time anchor the free end of
t he sca le with tape. Con t inue wi ndi ng the t ape
completely a rou nd the sca le being careful to
a void wrinkling the tape. The tape will protect t he scale a gai nst wear an d soili ng. Tune
a r eceiver to one of t he ca lib ration f r eq uencies, inse rt t he appropria t e coil in th e dip per
and set the dial t o a f oresaid calibration fr equ en cy. Lo osen th e set scr ew in t he sha ft
cou pler be tween the var iable condense r and
knob s ha f t. Rota te t he var ia b le conde nser u ntil
the osc ill ator is hea rd in t he rece iver . Tigh ten
t he set screw and the j ob is done.

( rod

Turn s

2.1 - 4 . :~
63
. ... . . . ... ... 4.:J- 8.6 .. .. . .. .. 2 4
. . ..... .... ..
8.6 17.2
()
. . ..... . . .. 17.031 .4 . . . . . . . ... . . 4
All cofls excep t ::01 close wound on %" form
Amphenol 245H ) .
I
2
:J
.1

: 01 " pa ced diameter of wi re.

.;:-2 1:> D. C. C. u sed for n il coils .

SHORT ITEM
H is a cir cu it whi ch may be of ge ner a l
ERt}

interest. It has been bu ilt into sever a l rigs

here a nd has been pr oven qui te satisf actory.
It s th eor y of operat ion is qui te sim ple. In
sta n d by positi on t he zero bias triode sees blocking bias across the 5K portion of t he bleed er,
the cathode seeing the positive end of the fi K
r esistor through th e 20K resi stor. I n transm it
posi tion t he g ri d is g rounded by t he VOX relay
result ing in a sim ple grou nde d gri d circuit.

""

'I'

O peration

20<

I,

The vari ous applications of t he dip pe r are

well know n and will not be repea ted here. T he
trun aistori zed dipper shou ld not be used a s an
ubsorbt.ion wa vcmeter a s the transi stor will
like ly be dama ged due to excess ive rf, I n use,
12

73 MAGAZINE

",.."

"--,

M'' 'OC

" "'"

Robert li le K6QG E, WA6LFD

J r. Eng. J ennings Redic Mfg. C orp.
MARCH 1961

followin g instructions represent th e

most common cures for mobile interferenc e
to radio recep tion. These instructions appl y to
a ll freq uencies from the Broadcast h and
through the Very H igh F requencies and include Amat eur, Commercial and Ci tizens
Badia Services. Ever y possible source of noise
is not necessarily cove red ill detail. It is suggested that each ste p be followed in the
seq ue nce shown-s topping whenever the interference has been reduced to a satisfactory
level. Steps 1,2 a nd 3 genera lly provide about
80% noise reduction.
li E

I. GENE RATO H-Install a Sprague 48PI 8

Eliminating
Ignition
Interference

('0-

axial condense r in series with the wire on

the " A" ( Armature) terminal ami fasten
the mounting bracket secu rely to the
genera tor fram e. See diagram . A clean
commuta tor and good b ru shes are also imp ortant.
2. SPA RK PLUGS- "R esistor" plugs are the
firs t choice a nd a re th e most effective. They
should, of course, he kept properly
"gapp ed ." Second cho ice would he a good
g m de of suppressor-5, OOO ohms for each
plllg and 10,000 ohms for th e di stributor
"hot" lead. E ngine performance is XOT
affected. Also check the metal "tips" on
EA CH END of the coil and plug wires to
he sure that there are NO "gaps" here!
Clean and solder th ese wires to the tips.
3. \'01.TAGE
HE G ULATOH - Install one
Sprague 48P1 8 in series with the wire on
th e "A" ( Armature) terminal and also one
of the same in series with the wire on the
"H" ( battery) terminal of the regulator. See
d iagram . Secure the mounting b racket to a
good "ground" on thc bod y C LOS E to the
regula tor. Install a 3.9 ohm, 1 watt carbon
resistor with one e nd connected to the "F"
( F ield) termin al of the regula tor and the
other end connected to one of the wire
lead s of a Sprague 46P12 coaxial condenser.
C lip off th e other wire lead of this condenser and secure th e mounting b racket to
a nearby bod y "ground." See di agram.

Chud Schecter W8UC G

630 G le nwood
Muskeg on, Mich.

choke, temperature und control cables to

the body or fra me ich ere the y pass th rough
the [aescatl. Use heavy-dut y braid 8662 to
bond th e exha ust p ipe, muffler, steering
colu mn, engine block a nd firewall to the
car frame.
(L

GAUGES - T he gas, oil, heat and other

gau ges can be checked for noise by disconnecting temporarily. An y noise generated
may be eliminated by installing a Spragu e
48P9 in series with the "hot" lead of the
offend ing gauge AT T IlE GAUGE.

7, WH E ELS AN D TIH ES- W heel noise may

be eli minated b y installing special sp ringtype sta tic collectors in th e front wh eel
bearin g caps. Tire noise may be e liminated
by injecting a special graphit e p owder into
the tires with a special injector.

It will very seldom be necessary to comp le te

all of the above a nd genera lly sa tisfac tory
radi o reception is obtained a fter comp leting
as few as one, two or three steps .

10
''''
DlSTRIfllIToR
caL

4. CO IL-Install a Spragu e 48P9 coaxial co ndenser in series with the coil p rimary hattery lead at the coil a nd ground th e mounting bracke t at a nearb y poi nt. See d iagra m.
5. BO NDING- Add itional noises are often
eliminated hy "boud mg' various portion s of
th e vehicle toge th er by means of a Hexible
tinned- copper bonding bra id suc h as Belden 8668 and 8662. Use the 8668 to "bond"
MARCH 1961

"n

''''''''

lWATT
4 6Pl2

H.V

..,

IGN .SW

01"'"

TICS LEAD

,
BATTERY

73 MAGAZINE

13

Rul e 4.

"U se plenty of filtering . . . ."

10 Rules of
Thumb for the
SUPERRECENERATIVE RECEIVER
Hcwerd F. Burgess, W5WGF
180 1 Do rothy Street. N.E.
Alb uq ue rq ue, New Mexico

many new u ses for radio receivers, which

include the Citizens Radio and paging
se r vices , have created a need for sm a ll receivers. As a result superregenerative receivers
are enj oyi ng- a r eturn to popularity. Their
high sensit iv it y and their ability to reject certain type s of noi se make them very useful
when low current drain is important. However
the auperreg enerutor is tricky a nd many of t he
technique s that help to make a good receiver
see m to have been lost since th eir la st peak of
popularity. The work of many ex pe r ime nter s
ca n be su mmed up in a few "rules of thumb"
to guide the de signer and builder.
1. Operate the su perreg uneruf ive detector with 30 volts or less on the plate.
\Vith m odern t ubes a well-designed
ci rc uit ma y oper a te with a s low a s
4 or 5 volts. By using low plate voltage, interference to other receiver s is
reduced and se ns it ivit y is often increased.

HE

,
I "

" Reduce interfe rence with low plate voltage.

14

13 MAGAZINE

Ru le 5.

" Use che a p t ransformers.

"l

2. Avoi d u sing a tuned amplifier stage

ahead of a super-regen detector if it
is tuned to the sa me frequ ency a s the
detector. In stabili ty will u sually r esult . Try usin g an untuned grounded
grid st a ge.
3. U se a low quench frequency (10 kc
to 20 kc) for improved select ivity. A
higher quench f requency will give
better audio quality and greater sensit ivit y. However, a high quench fr equency may cause multiple spot
tuning.
4. U se plenty of filtering to r emove the
quench fr equency from the audio out put of the detector. The first audio
sta ge on many r eceivers is overdriven w ith a q uench voltage that is
above audibility. Thi s will reduce the
effectiven ess of the receiver.
5. If it is practical, u se an audio transformer to coupl e the detector to the
first audio sta ge. Usually the cheaper
the tran sformer t he better, as a poor
transformer will pass less of the high
frequ ency quench voltage.
6. U se a v ariable padd er for the grid
condenser of the detector. Thi s will
solve many of t he h ea da ch e!'! of getting proper operation. Thi s adju stable capacitor will give con t rol of t he
MARCH 1961

Rule 8.

" Separa te quench requires a few more parts....11

ti me-consta nt that determines smooth

quenching ac tion in t he se lf-quenched
detector .
7. Satisfactory su per regener a t ion becomes increasingly difficul t below 4
mega cycles. Operation is very good
upwa r ds f rom 10 me well into t he
kilomegacycle region.
8. I n most cases a sepa rate que nch oscillator will prove su perior to a selfquench ed detect or but suc h a cir cu it
r equ ires a f ew more pa rts and adjustments.
9. A su per r eg en will g ive the best res ults
when tigh tly coupled to th e ant en na
or p r ecedi ng stage. If it has been d es igned to ope r a te on low pla te voltage,
t ight coupling will no t ca use objectionable r a diation.
10. Contrary to popular beli ef, a g ood
su per -rege ner -a t ive detector does not
sou nd like a power sa w in a pine knot.
\Vhen pr operly ad j us ted a good detector wiII have very littl e more ba ckg rou nd noise t han a s u per het r eceiver.

Rule 9.

"Tight coupling helps. .. "

Of cou rse
a nd a very
break in g a ll
t he od ds are

Ru le 10.

all rul es are made t o be broken

good receiver ca n be made by
of the above suggestions . . but
against yo u if you insist .
. . W5WGF

"C ont rary to pop ula r belief. . . ."

DRAWING A PARABOLA
V HF men , particu la r ly t hose interested in
bu ildi ng a ntenna s for 1296 me, m ay be int erested in a simple method of drawi ng a n a ccurate parabolic curve.
When we t ake t he b a sic idea t hat in a
pa r abolic curve with the focal point (f) at the
mouth of the parabola, the width is 4f and x
plu s y is al ways 2f, then we can set up a
mech an ical method of trac ing t his curve.

W7FGG via W9ALU

C hoose th e mo uth width you wa nt a nd d raw
a line (L J. The ce nte r of this line will be the
focal point (fp J. Tie th e end of a string which
rea ch es fro m fp to L to a na il a nd nail it at
fp. Th e o the r e nd ca n be tie d t o a not he r nail
whic h yo u can run a long t he lin e Ip-L By letting
the string slide aro und a pencil a t po int A !!I nd
.ee pin g y perpe ndic ular to f p-L your pen cil will
d ra w a pa rabolic curve .

A
I'

1 'X
I y -,
1

L
MARCH 1961

B
73 MAGAZIN E

15

D . D . T.
" D ecreasi ng D ebll f!f!illf! Ti m e

Jim Kyle, KSJKX/6

Associa te Editor

who h a s eve:- attempted even the

sim plest bit of homebrew construction
undoubtedly has Mu r phy's L a w of the I nnat e
Perversity of Ina nim a t e Objects-"If any
ite m can possibly fail to ope r a te properly, it
will !"--comm itted to memory the hard way.
On e of the major se Iling point s of f a etor ybuilt a nd kit-styled equ ipment , in fa ct, is that
all design bu gs ha ve alre ady been elim inated
f rom it.
Despite the bugs, though, t her e 's a certain
sat is f a ction in homebrewing that no amount
of fa ctory-b uilt gear ca n duplicate. Bes ides,
what else ca n you do if no one is marketing
the kind of equipment you need?
Since every de sign , by Mu r ph y's Law, will
contai n a few bugs in u n predictable locat ions, the h a p piest way to solve t he p roblem is
to e stablish a procedure for "debugging" ea ch
new proj ect a s painlessly a s possi ble imme<Ha tely upon completion . The p urpose of t hi s
article is to describe s uch a procedure in a
f orm which ca n be adapt ed to any need s.
For t he purpose of chas in g them down, bug 's
can be grouped into two major clas ses : t hose
due to design, and those due to construction
practices . \Vit h in ea ch of these classes, subdivisi on s may be established .
Des ign bugs freque ntly encountered includ e
oscill a t ion, para sitics, ot he r form s of instabilit y, and overheati ng of components. All of t hese
may be fo und in t r ans mitter s, receivers, a ud io
eq ui pmen t , and most other el ectron ic gadget s.
Co nst r uct ion bugs include all of the above,
a s well a s u nwa nted hum a nd noi se, and spu r iou s s ig na ls .
One of the first ste ps in the d ebugging process st a r ts before construction comme nces: a
ca r ef ul review of the plan ned proj ect to try
to detect any possible de sign trouble a r ea s.
Since this step has been adequately covered
elsewhere, it will not be described fur ther.
For our pu rposes , debugging w ill be consi dered a s st a r t ing at the compl etion of const r uction.
Befor e applying- power to t he equipment, a
detailed in spect ion of the fi nis hed job is in
or der . w hi le it's u sually hard to wait before
tu rn ing it on, t hi s in spection can freque ntly
save val uable components f r om damage if you

I.

N YON E

73

MAGAZ IN~

detect inadvertent wiring mi stakes such a s

havi ng the high-volta g e li ne connected to g r id
in stead of to plate on a 4X25 0B.
S hake out all th e bi ts of solde r and other
construction debris after your inspect ion , bu t
don 't t urn t he g-ea r on yet. Ste p number t wo
is a point-to-po int check, using your ohmmeter.
Thi s double-checks your inspection. T est for
con t inu it y in all fila ment a nd other a pplicable
circ uits. Measure r esist an ce f rom t he hig-h voltage line to grou nd; this reading should
be almost zero initially, increasing rapid ly to
the value of the power-sup ply bleeder resistor .
The t hird st ep----S ta y away from that power
s witch for a few minutes more !- is to di sconnect the high-voltage lea ds t em porarily a nd
connect j u mper w ires leadin g outs ide the
chassi s. \Vit h h igh voltage circu its b roken,
you can now t u r n the equipment on-but be
carefu l to keep clear of the expose d high volt age lead s.
If no sm oke POUl'S forth, and all filaments
light properly, you're doing fine. A t thi s point
you can be rea sona bly certa in tha t you ha ve
made no w iri ng goofs; you st ill don't know
about all the ot he r possible bugs.
In the next step, you have a choice . T he
objective is to ope rate the eq ui pment at reduced plate and scree n voltages. You can
either connect a heavy-duty r esi stor of the
a ppropriate val ue in the exter nal high-volt a ge
jumpers, or you can st ea l power from a lower voltage sup ply in other equipment .
If you stea l power elsewhere , be certa in
th at you n ever a p ply vo ltage t o t he screen of
any t ube u nless plate voltage is app lied a t t he
sa me tim e. Application of sc r een voltage only
will pe r m a nen tl y dam a ge the t ube, by permitting excessi ve scr ee n cu rrent fl ow. You ca n,
however, apply voltage to the plate on ly if
you like without damage.
Th e va lue of red uced voltage t o u se will
vary wit h the equ ipme nt being tested and
w ith the availability in your shack of suitable r esi stors and /or lower-voltage power
sou r ces . The best sta r ting point is a pproximately 50 percent of opera ting value.
If the equipment und er test is a transmitter, be sur e to loa d it w ith a d u mm y a ntenna .
Any signals em itted d u r in g the test pr ocedu r e
MARCH 19.1

are su r e to be sour, and might earn you a

pink t icket if sent into the ether! Besides,
FCC regulations call fo r all tests and adj u st.
merits to be mad e into dummy loads .
A t thi s point, turn on the power. Observe
any bu ilt-in metering for indications of improper performance (but be s ur e to make
allowance for the departure from design vo lta ges in assess ing what constitutes "improper"
ope ration) . If a ll goes we ll a nd the re's st ill
no smoke, goo th rough the entire pla nned operat ing procedure, watch ing carefully for any
s ig ns of para sitics, Instabili ty, or over h ea t ing .
If neutralization will be r equired , make the
necessary ad justme nts during thi s portion of
t he test. They will have to be touched up later
when full voltage is ap plied, but will be at
least in the r ight ball park at t hat ti me.
W ith everyth ing work ing properly at t hi s
stag e, you're ready t o cut power, r emove the
extension j u mper s , r eplace the internal powersu pply conn ections, and try at full oper a t ing
powe r.
Test procedure here will be a repeat of that
performed at reduced voltage. If you find no
troubles, congratu late you r self-you will have
produced a virtua lly bug-free design.
Tests for s pu r ious s ig na ls, noi se, and fr equency in sta bil it y are best made on the air
with assi stance of a coope r a t ive fri end. Ke ep
in touch with h im by landline and make sure
your test tran smissions are a s sho rt a s poss ible. Ha ve him check your s ig n al for all li sted
fau lts, as we ll a s anythi ng else he ca n th ink
of. And make su r e he gives you a n hon est report; it's better to hear the bad news from him
t ha n from an Official Observer or. worse yet,
an F CC monitor.
So far, we've a ssumed that the eq uipmen t
passed eve ry test with flying colors. What if
bugs make themselves known?
Ex istence of the t roublesome bugs is easy
t o detect. P a r a siti cs u sually man ifest themselves in a tran sm itter by a buzzing sou nd,
and can be heard on a r eceiver tuned n ear
th e sig na l f requency. Parasitics in a receiver
or a n audio amplifier a ppea r as a squa wk in
the s pea ke r.
In sta bili t y in a transmitter appears as a
s udden cli mb in am plifier plate current, as a
"wandering dip" in plate circuit tuning, or a s
a " squeal" in a receiver tuned to sig na l fr equ en cy. Instabili ty in a receiver or an audio
a mplifier shows up in t he spea ker .
Frequen cy drift shows up a s a slow movement of th e sig n a l when it occurs in a transmitter, and in a receiver is manifested by drift
of all sig n a ls incl ud ing broa dca st st a t ions a nd
' VW V (ne ither of wh ich drift a rletectab le
amount within a 24-hour peri od) . Overheating
is de tected v isu ally (by looking for red plat es
in t ub es and for s moke curling up fr om beneath ) and by nose (for the s moke ) .
Us ual ca uses of t hese bugs are listed in
Table 1. Cures are listed in Table 2.
M ARCH 1961

BUG
Parasit ics

Instability

Freque ncy
Drift

USUAL C AU SE
Unwa nted re sona nce s In a mp lifi e r Circ uit s;
Improper time cc nst ent 10 o scillator
qridleek ci rc uit ry.
U n w e n t e d r e q e n e r e tiv e feedback
eround <'!Implifier steqe :
Imp rope r shie ld ing o f tr a n s m itt er
steqes :
St ray co upling.
Insufficie nt iso lation b et we e n c scllletcr
end ot he r circ uits ;
Improper meche nice ] con str uction of

oscllle to r:
O verh ea t ing

Improper control o f osc ill <'!l to r vo lt<'!lge s.

W ro ng connection :
Insuffi cie nt sa fety I ect or in componen t
ra t ing :
Loss of grid bia s (in t ube s);
Unbe le nced drive (to push- pull t ub e s ) ;
Defective co mponent.

Ta ble I. Usual Causes of Equip me nt Bugs

C AUSE
Unwanted re son an ce

Imp ro per oscillator

time constant

Unwant ed fe edb ack

Improper shie lding

Stray coupl ing

Insu ffi cient isolation
Improper mec hanical
construction of esc.
Improper voltage
cont rol

CURE
Inst a ll "pere slti c t ra p " t une d
t o unwa nted re so ne nce fre q uency t o tra p o ut energy.
Red uce e ither resist a nce of
grid leak o r va lue o f g rid
c a p aci tor until pere sific diseppeers.
Isolat e i nput an d o ut p ut of
a mplifier fr om each othe r:
d e coup le powe r lea d s.
Sh ie ld each steqe.rleevi nq no
hole s and b yp a ssing all lea ds
which pass through shie ld
plates.
See b oth Unwanted Fe ed b a ck
and Imp rop e r Shie ld ing .
Inst a ll buffer amp lifie r be t ween
os cill a t or an d essocieted
stages.
Improve me chenlcel fe atures
of osc ill at o r con struction:
make sure no co mpo ne nt is
eble t o vibrate.
Inst a ll VR -tube o r electron ic
vo ltage regu lato r circuit .

Table 2. Cures f or C omm on Bu g C au ses

Of course, th ese brief t a bles ca n 't list e ver y

pos sible bug whi ch may s how up in new gear.
H owever, if your own pet bu g s aren't listed,
you can usu ally determine the ca use a nd proba ble cure by apply ing a little concentrated
t hought to the problem, once you know the bug
ex ists.
An d by foll owi ng th e procedures desc ribed
her e, as a st a nd ing operat ion upon comple tion
of ea ch item of newly built equipm ent, you'll
be ce rta in th a t you've located all the bug s at
no ri sk to the eq ui p me nt or to your r epu ta ti on
with t he F CC. Good luck, a nd happ y homebrewing!
73
73 MAGAZIN E

17

Top

Loaded
Whip

AI Ne wla nd W2 1HW
206 Sou th H ig hwood Aven ue

G le n Rod. Ne w Je rsey

interest in shor t efficient mobile whips

is ever increasing. If one can conveniently
make his own ,vh ip to help cut costs it becomes
more interesting. Some added attractiveness
lies in the fact that the whips can be selected
or cut to the exact length you.. desire. \Vith the
proper length to clear your garage door there
will be no need to bend it down . If you do not
bend it down there will be no need for purchasing a spr ing or tie down clip. The method
of mounting, of course, is quite optional. A
method of t erminating the fibre-glass rod for
attachment to a sta nda r d mount is shown in
Fig. I.
If a 52" rod is u sed (a s shown) then a close
wound coil 7" long made of No. 22 enameled
or Formvar wire is suggested. No pruning of
the coil is done on the upper end of the whip
so a small hole is drilled as shov.... n to anchor
the wire prior to winding. A piece of electronic
tape is applied over the la st few turns to pre-

HE

AI R RELIEF HOLE,

DlA. ORILL

vent unraveling and the wire is then extended

for the balance of the rod using about a 3 turn
spir al. If a r od less than 52" long is used then
it will be neces sary to start with a longer coil.
Scrape in sulation from end of wire and fa sten
secu rely under scr ew head. Attach antenna to
car and add a jumper wire from the antenna
to the car frame as shown in Fig. 2. It is suggested that the coax be removed from the antenna mount when grid dipping.
With an excess of turns in the coil, a frequency so mewha t lower than that required for
28 me will be observed. In order to raise the
frequency proceed as follows. Unfasten wire
from under scr ew head, r emove turn s from
the lower end of the coil, pull the wire taut,
clip off t he excess wire, scrape off t he insula tion a s before and refasten wire under screw
head. It will be noted that the d ip fro m t his
type antenna is qui t e shar p-so tune carefully.
When the whi p ha s finall y been trimmed to

s
:~;;;;;~=7.=======
:r-------------l

'i

,1 J: =cl:.:::..::-.:.:.:-----"""
-=------=---

"

"

"
I

r.::.=.:_-_-_-_-_-.::: ..::-_-_-_-_-..::-.:_

1----,-----.1
.. -24
('ULL

ne

ADAPTER

L.NTlil

FIBER GLASS ROD

~~-~~-----"

(SEE NOTE)

TEMPCJRARY TAPE
SEE NOTE 3

.. -

I,

h''-----, - -

- --- ...e

l'-

ANTENNA ASSEMBLY
!!Qill

CD APPLY CEMENT

TO 80T H HALVES

@salE W HALVES TOGETHER

18

13 MAGAZINE

MA RC H 19.1

the desired frequency, it will be necessa ry to

coat it w it h severa l protective layer s of va rn ish or lacquer. K r ylon or lacqu er in p r essu r ized ca ns is very conven ie nt. After t he fi rst
coat is dr ied t he tape m a y be removed a nd the
additional coats applied. Allow ample drying
t ime between coats.
The use of thi s type whip is not limited to
10 meters but may be used on any fre quency
where a full length is not desirable. A g rou nd
plane or beam ant enn a may be const r ucted
u sing t hi s ty pe whi p. Wh en used on marine
equ ipment, a much nea ter boa t a ppea ra n ce is
obtained.
Xote : Fibre-glass fi shing rod may be purchased from your s por t s goods store. Available
fr om the writer at $2.00 post paid.
. . . W 21HWR

WHlJ>

SCHE MATIC

Plugs for the Asking

A short treatise on a fine point in the Scrounge's Art

Staff

major bot t leneck in ma ny h ome constr uction projects ha s been location of a

conven ient octal-base plu g wh ich ca n be fasten ed to other compo nents.
\Vhen just the plug is needed, the old standby, the base of an octal tube, less all glass and
cement-works fine. B ut the plastic base
proves di fficu lt, if not impos sible, to attach
secu r ely to other parts of the proj ect.
Th ere's a n easy wa y out of t h is problem ,
t hough, and it shou ldn't cost yo u much more
than a cup of coffee.
It's sim ply this-transmitting tubes s uch
a s the 2E26 and 6146 have a metal-shelled
base, made of plated brass, which takes solder
perfectly.
If you r emove all glas s, t ube eleme nts and
ceme nt from th e base of one of th ese tubes ,
all you h a ve left is t he brass case a nd a lowloss plug wh ich fit s an octal socket -per f ect fo r
solder ing into a chass is box or flash ing copper,
and big enough for many receiving acces sories
to fit r ight inside.
The on ly remain ing p r oblem is where to locate t he tu bes. Wi th 6146's going for nea rly
$5 each , most people are p r etty careful abo ut
burn ing t hem out. Cha nces are yo u won't have
very ma ny in t he j unkbox,
But there's a perfect sou r ce of supply in
virtually any part of the country, if you know
where to look. Nine out of 10 commercial twoway rigs such as police, fire, and t a x icab r adio
use either a 2E26 or a 6146 f or the final.
T echn ici an s working on th ese sets must test
tubes by s ubst itu ti on, since many of t he t ubes
check out fi ne on a tester but won 't wor k at 152
me when they get old. T he sou r tube goes into
t he wa stebasket.
To find the service s hop, check with your
s her iff. He's a n elec ted offic ial and usually is
NE

MARCH 19b1

frien dly to a ny voter who 's civil t o him. If

yo u ex pla in what yo u 're looking fo r- the shop,
t hat is, not the tu bes- he'll u ndoubtedly t ell
you who work s on h is radios.
At t he sho p, try to fi nd the technician in a
fair'Iy good mood . This is difficult, and in many
cases impossible, s ince all h is customers bring
in work wh ich must be delivered yest erday a nd
want it back r ight now. It's a h ard life, as the
t ec hn icia n will be on ly too happy t o t ell yo u.
B uy him a cu p of coffee-c-or so met h ing
s t r ong er , if you and /or h e doesn 't object (he
won't) . Sympathize with his troubles. About
the time he's thinking you're a friendly sort
of fellow, a sk him how he ever m anages to get
r id of t he old tubes.
He ma y prove cagey and th ink yo u 're trying
to pu t somet hing ove r on him. T wo-wa y t echnida ns a re a nervous breed . But yo u ca n prove
to h im you 're n ot t rying to s nea k a free t ube
by bashing the glass out of two or three an d
telling him you'll be glad to take the remnants
away.
Odd s are you'll go home with enough weak
an d dead t ubes to keep yo u in business f or
mon th s. Who knows, yo u may even find a job
servicing two-way!
And in case he doesn't make yo u break all
the tubes, it will never hurt to r un them
through a checker somewher e before s mash ing
t hem.
Most of t he tubes which fail in this service
st ill have plent y of life left fo r f requen cies
below: a bout 80 me, and all of them that aren't
broken, ga ssy or bu r ned out h ave enough poop
left to ma ke fi ne mod u lator tubes.
So you can get the free tubes, as well as the
tube bases you went after. Ju st don't let the
ser vice ma n know. You may want some more
some ti me.
73 MAGAZINE

19

CW Transmission
with
Teletype Equipment
Roy E. Pefe nbe rq
P.O. Boll. 8-44

Fo rt C layton
Canol Zo ne

amat eu r s in genera l an d many a cti vely engaged in the com mu nica t io ns field
are appa r entl y n ot awa re t h a t perfect C\V
cod e tran smiss ion is possi ble w ith s t a nda r d
Tel etype tape equipme nt. At the risk of boring
the a vid RTT amateur, a bri ef review of basic
Teletype theory will be helpfu l in und er-standing th e method used.
T he standard Amer ica n T el et ype code consists of the presence or absence of a total of
five code im pulses. T he teletypewriter keyboard sets up t he combination app ropriate to
t he key depressed and thi s information is sequen tially r ead out by t he inter na l mechanism
of the mach ine a nd t r a ns m itted a s a ser ies of
el ectrical impul ses . Add ed t o t he actual code
are t he star t a nd sto p impulses whi ch are
used t o effect sy nch ron ization between t he
sendi ng and r ece ivin g equipments.
Act ua l keyboard to page pri nter communication is rarely used for the passing of traffic
fo r several reasons. L ea sed commu nications
channels a r e qu ite expens ive and are usua lly
obta ined on a sc hedu led or call up ba si s. Since
few op erators are ca pable of sust a ined, error fr ee ope r a tion a t the ma xim um rate of t ransm ission t hat the system a llows, it i s more
econom ical to store the tra ffic in the form

A DIO

S~ E~"'--.,..,-----<.
TO llMTIl KEY TER~NAI.-S

CONTACTS HOR MALD' OPEN

WITll \/fljPERFOflATEO TAPE
IN POSITION

POLAR RELAY

"'
.
.
.
J
- l~MARK

r
20

COf(fACT

-....0

73 MAGAZINE

of m anually perforated paper tape. Then, as

ci rcuit ti me becomes available , the tapes a re
tra n smitted b y a s pecial t a pe read ing d evi ce
k nown a s a t r ansm itte r di stributor or , a s it
is com mo nly know n, a TD. Tape prepar-atio n
is a ccomplish ed by a pe rf'crutor which is elec t ro-mechani cally link ed t o t he T eletype keyboard or by a reperforator w hich a cce pt s
T e lety pe signals a nd simultaneously pu nches
and prints the intelligence on the tape.
The prepared tape has a total of six rows
of pe rfora tions, five of wh ich constitute the
fi ve element T elet ype code. The si x th r ow
engages a s procket in t he t ape hea d a nd is
used to advance th e tape. T he t ape head h a s
fi ve se nsi ng' pin s, one for each ele ment of t he
cod e. T hese pin s a r e li nked to a ssociated contacts w hich close if a ta pe perforation is
sensed. Once the code combination is sensed
by the tape head, the distributor sequentially
read s out this information. I n addition, the
distributor ad ds a s pa ce impulse at the beginn ing a nd a mar k impulse at t he end of the
code combina t ion. Th e ta pe is a utom atica lly
a d va nce d one set of ho les and th e di stribu to r
makes on e read out r evolution at a fi xed rat e
o f 368 tim es per m in u t e. Th is results in a
no minal rate of transmi ssion of no wo rd s per
minute .
E nou g h for T ele t y pe theory and now a
look at t he construct ion of I n t ern a t ional Mor se
Code . The dot is t he bas ic element of t his code
an d t he dash is t hree ti mes a s long a s th e d ot.
An interva l equ a l t o one d ot se pa rates dot s
and da sh es with in a chara cte r , a n int erval
equu l t o t hree dot s se parates cha racte rs w ithin a word and a n interval equ al to five dot s
separates words .
By ar bit r a r ily selecti ng t he presence o f one
element of the T elet y pe code a s a key closed
condit ion and its absence as a key open condi t ion, it woul d appear pos sibl e to form C W
churncters by pu nch in g a series o f character s
t hat cont a in t hi s element for key closed cond iti on and a se r ies of cha racte rs t hat do n ut
MARCH 1961

contain t hi s element for key open condition.

Dot duration wou ld be one machine ope ration
or 1/ 368 minute. This is feasible if two additional conditions are met. First, the contact
a ssociated with the code element designated
a s the key closed or mark condi t ion mu st be
isolated from the di stributor which introd uces
the st a rt and sto p impulses and also sa mples
the other code elements. Th e secon d requirement is that a memor-y device mu st be provided which will , duri ng the open contact
period of tape advance, maintain the key open
or key closed cond iti on se t up by th e preceding set of per for ati on s.
The polar r elay is just such a device. Due
to t he magneti c latching action inheren t in
t his type rela y, it will r emain in the position
in which it is s witched unt il a si gn al of opposite polar-ity is appli ed t o the ,~' indin~.
Further impulses of t he sa me polarity Will
n ot change th e sta te of the relay. The sa me
effect may be obtained by selecti ng a r elay
with two identi cal windings and r eversing one
of the windings. Use of a two windi ng relay
introduces th e req uirement for the as sig n ment of a second code element to rep resent the
key open condition . This, however, poeee n o
problem s ince a la r g e num ber of pans of
Teletype code characters are so constituted
that a specifi c impulse is present in one chara cter bu t not t he other a nd that for a second
imp ulse t he cond it ion is reve r sed. F ig. 1 s hows
a circu it t hat will for m C\V cha racter s from
a ser ies of high er speed pulses.
It is simple to connect t he ci rcu it of F ig . 1
to your p r esen t t a pe equ ipment. Merely l:un
wires from t he pola r relay to the se nsm g pms
for holes on e and two on the tape or to t he
first two seg me nts on th e di stributor, wh ich
are th e sa me con nections. You will want to
ha ve a s witc h in the circuit to return t he tape
equipment to normal Teletype operation. C? ne
con ta ct of thi s can break one of the sens ing
con nect ions , one can r emove t he de f~om the
relay, and the third ca n be used to sW ltc.h t he
tran smitter from CW t o the TT connection.
Extra toggle switch mounting holes are provid ed in most Model 14 bases and one of these
may be used to mount the switch. A sa t isf actory location f or the polar relay poses .a more
difficult problems if the ' Vester n Electr-ic 255A
is used . The relay socket may be mounted on
an ou tboa r d b r acket or box which may be attached t o the TD base or installed in another
location. Details will be dependent on station
layout and personal preferen~e', Sigma I nst r uments manufactures a mirriature polar
relay which is housed in a r ound, octal based
can. Thi s r elay, Sigma t ype 72AOZ-160TST CP, is a su it able r eplacement for the West ern El ectric unit and is sm all enoug h t o
mount under the TD base.
Tape preparation is sim plicit y itself. Select
two adjacent keys on th e second r ow of the
keyboard, chosen so t ha t the on e on the lef t
MARC H 19b 1

contains t he first impulse but n ot the second

a nd t he key on th e ri gh t contains th e second
impu lse bu t not the fi r st. "F" and "G" were
chosen bv the writer a s being most convenient.
Dep ress 't he "F" key once for a dot and three
ti mes for a da sh, using the f orefinger of the
rig ht hand. Using the middle finger of the
r igh t hand , depres s the "G" key once for the
s pace betw een dots and dashes, three times
for t he s pace between cha r a cters a nd five times
for the s pace between word s. F igure 2A s hows
the word "TEST" perforated in the st a nda r d
T elety pe code on a Model 19 mac hine. F ig.
2B s hows th e sa me word punched for CW
tran smissi on.
S ignalling rate in the C' V mode is li mit ed
by the p redetermined Teletype equ i pment oper at ing s peed . Assu ming five let t er g roups
and using t he fo rm ulations of \V4CF in the
recent ser ies of Ha ll icr af t ers a dver t isement s
on keye rs;' the re are some 52 code eleme nts
in a standard five lett er group. This includes
the characte r eleme nts and t he s paces between
ch aructe r clements , characters an d g'ro ups.
Si nce eac h set of pe rforat ions (or Telet ype
"oper-ation") is equal to a code eleme nt, t hi s
368
figures a s - - or sligh tl y over seven words
52

per minute on a 60 ' VP l\I tape head. A 100

WP M tape head wou ld tran sm it at slig ht ly
over 11.5 words pel' minute.
Application of t hi s method of t~ansmissi~n,
in the st age of development described herel.n,
is limited by the maximum code s peed ava ilable. Obvious uses of thi s system are the aut omatic C' V tran smissi on of amateur call
identification ,...h ich is r equired by the FCC
wh en using RTT, code pr actice and commercial a nd military applications where equipment failure or adverse condit ions preclude the
use of the normal mode of communication.
The most obvi ou s improvement in this system would be t o increase the speed of the tape
head. This would, of course, prevent the u se
of the TD for normal Teletype tran smission.
The motor s ha f t is geared to a main shaft
which revolves once for each character transmitted. Attached to the main sh a ft is the
(Co ntinue d on pd ge 71 )
l A more com p rehe nsh'e reference wa s no t a vai lable t o
t he w rite r at the time t his a rtic le was prep a red.

73 MAGAZINE

21

A New
All-Bond Antenna
Jir.'l Kyle. KsJKX/6

185 1 Stanford Ave.

Sente SU S~M, Celif.

N all -ba nd anten na which gives perfect

perform ance on ever y amateur band
fr om 160 down to 10 is the dream of almo st eve r y ham . Many suc h devices have been
described in the past, but all ha ve represented
comp r om ises of one form or another. Some required additional tuners, a few utilized tricky
traps, a nd seve r a l fl a tl y failed to live up to
t heir design er s' claims.
Here's a new version of the all-hand ant enna, which offe rs les s compromise than many
of it s predecessors. It involves no tra p circu its,
a nd will work without an a ntenna tu ner (provid ed your tran smitter ca n t olerate a load
wh ich varies between 50 and 450 ohms, always
r esistive) although u se of a tuning circuit will
give improved r esults.
Old-timers will r ecognize the layout of the
ant enna (see Fig'. 1) a s a derivative of the
de lta match, wid ely u sed some years ago to
match the then-popular 600-ohm fee d line to
beam antenna s. H owever, there's a major difference.
Th is a nten na, dubbed the "Exponential
Array" by the de signer, matches the transmi ss ion line to free s pace.
The general theory em ployed in its des ign
is a logical outgrowth of that used to develop
t he Discone antenna, once highly popular and
st ill wid ely used in commercial circuits. I n
some re spects, al so, it is simila r to the logperiodic antenna. And before t he sli de-r ule
boys r ise in arm s, we will adm it that other
theories insist that the thing can't possibly
work. A bumblebee can't fly, eit her , by the laws
of a eronautical engineer ing .
At t hi s point, it should be em phasized that
the dimension s shown in Table 1 have been
measured and tested. Whf le other dimensions
s hou ld give equal r esults , not h ing can be
guara nteed if either leg leng t h or fee d-l ine
length is varied . Don't let this stop you,
though. Try it and let us know what happen s
for you .
The easiest way of building a n Exponential
Array is to sta ke out a pattern in the back

22

73 MAGAZINE

yard (or a han dy city park if no back yard is

availabl e) . Measure off a lin e some 25 to 30
feet long, t hen mark off other lines at right
a ngles to it every foot in a sor t of herringbone pattern . Mea s ur e out the proper lengt h s
a nd st a ke them.
N ow, take your 1'\0. 14 wire and st r etch it
from st a ke to s t ak e in the sha pe show n in
F ig. 1. U se plastic clothesline for t he horizon tal st r etchers-t hey 'r e neces sary to hold th e
array in sha pe once its erected. W hen spa cing
gets dow n to less t han a foot, the t rad itional
wax-soaked dowels can be used.
Once built, the ar-ray mu st be rai sed into
position. The original wa s hoisted to an altitude of some 24 f eet a nd su ppor t ed by more
pla st ic cloth esli ne at each end. The feed-l ine
was brought off horizontally so that the entire
antenna was horizontal to the ground-but
equa lly good or m a ybe better resu lts should be
atta inable with t he fa n pointing skywa r d.
I n theory, the Exponential Array's operat ion is sim plici t y itself. A s you know, two
parallel cond ucto rs (the fam iliar ope n line or
twi nlead) won't rad iate if current in each is
balanced, s ince the field of one cancels the
field of the other. At the sa me time, the line
ex hibits a defi nite characte ristic or "surge"
impedance w hich is, in part, a fun ction of t he
spacing between the wires.
If the s pa cing is increased (gradually, so
that there's no sudde n im pedance "bump" on
t he line) the im pedance will a lso increase. T he
line st ill won't radiate, so long a s the conductors are spaced closer than about one-t ent h
wavelength.
As the s pa cing incr ea ses past the one-tenth
wave dimension, the fields no longer cancel
and part of the energy in the line is radiated
into space. A nother way of expressing t he
sa me re su lt is to sa y that t he impedance of
spa ce (377 ohms) effectively shor t-cir cu its the
mu ch high er impedance of the line at this
point, and the power flow s into the lesser impedance.
From t he point a t which the line is " shortMARCH 1961

ed" by space, on to the end of the array, the

wi re might as we ll not be t here. Its only fu nction is to suppor t the active portion of the
array.
As you can see, the only part of the action
which is frequ ency-sensitive is the point at
w hich the a rray st ops bei ng a li ne and becomes a n a ntenn a . T heoretic ally, there sh ou ld
be no resonance in such a n ar ray, and impedance shou ld be a constant 300 ohms f rom
f ar below design frequency all t he way up to
SH F regions.
In p r acti ce, it doesn't qui te work ou t this
way. Much of t he operation is n ot f ully understood, but apparently the array acts a s a
cross between a dipole and a delta match.
Usin g th e di men sions of Table 1 a n umber of
low-Q r esonan ces we re f ound. A t t hese point s
(located in semi-harmonic relation, see T able
2) the impedance was a s high a s 450 ohms resistive. I n between, the array exhibited mild
r eacta nce.
However, a t no p oint in t he r a nge fro m 1700
kc to 30 mc d id the impedance vary so widely
that the array refu sed to accept power. W h en
fed by a p i-net output n et wor k , the anten na
loaded a homebrew fi nal to r a t ed p ower at a ll
fre quencies t r ied wi th in this r a nge.
At lower freque ncies, t he anten na is om n idirectional. 'V hen the broadside dimension approximates a half wave, t he familiar dipole
pattern appea r s. As fre quency incr eases , t he
pat t ern a p proach es that of a V-beam as would
be expected .
I ncide nt a lly , though no tests were run at
U H F , t he ant enna was connected to the TV
r ecei ver- and pulled in Chan nel 10 from S a n
Dieg o, some 250 m iles to t he south .
I n s umma ry, the E xp onen t ial A r ray offers
a new approach to the all-band antenna situ ation , with promise of attai n ing the longsought goal of p er fect perfor ma nce wi th n o
adj ustment s. More st udy by others is needed
to develop full design inf or ma t ion. The onl y

MARCH 1961

cla im made by
men tal mode l
mea surem ents
at your QT H,
f or you !

the designer is that the ex per i.

worked, a s evidenced by the
tabul ated in Table 2. Try one
a nd let us know how it works

Distance from s ta r t
(in fe et)

S pacing

% inch

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

9rl6 inch
1 inch
1-11 116 inch
2- 'h in ch es
4- % inches
8- t,4 inches
13- * inches
23- % inches
3 feet 4 inches
5 feet 7 in ches
9 feet 6 inches
15 fee t 10 inches
26 feet 8 inches
45 feet 10 in ches
75 feet 10 inches

9
10
11
12
13
14
15

TA BLE I. Dim ens ions of Exponen tial Array made

of No. 14 Wi re t e Match 300-ohm Feed line.

Frequency
2450 kc
3850 kc
4900 kc
7500 kc
10 me
15.25 me
21.0 me
27 .5 me
27. 9 me
28.1 me
29 me

Impedance
300 ohms
50 ohms
450 ohms
75 oh ms
50 ohms
75 ohms
125 oh ms
450 ohms
20 0 oh ms
200 ohms
450 ohms

TABLE 2. Variations o f Imp eda nce of Expo

nentle ! Array of Fig. I with Variafions in
Frequ e ncy; me a sured wHh Heath Imp edanc e
Brid q e a nd Grid D ip O sellleter,

73 MAGAZINE

23

5R4GY

Charle s E. Spitz W-1A PI

1420 S. Reodolph St.,

A rling to n 4, Ve.

II
A Different Approach
+

Doubling Your Power Supply Voltage

are many times when it should be
advantageou s to double your power su pply
voltage, particularly when you have a project
to bu ild a linear amplifier for SSB, or change
amplifier tubes to higher voltage and lower
current for greater efficiency, yet would like
to u se the sa me power su pply. T he purpose of
this article is not t he construction of a particular pi ece of gear to be followed implicitly,
bu t to suggest a method anyone may employ
to fit their particular power supply problem.
The classic method in voltage doubli ng for
tran smitter su pplies has been to employ the
well k nown bridge rectifier circu it. Voltage
doubling by the capacitor method has not been
so popular when voltages really g et up there
due to r egulation problems and the need for
such large electrolytic filter cond ensers. Part icularly when such good oil impregnated types
are pl entiful and r elatively cheap and reliabl e.
A maj or di sadvantage of the bridge circuit is
th e four rectifyi ng elements required and the
three heater or filament sou r ces. \Vhen you
have an existing power su pply, the addition of
two more rectifier tubes and two more high
voltage breakdown fi lament transformers, or
a triple transformer, usually r epresents imposs ible space problems a s well a s a high cost
fa ctor.
To rip out the rectifier tubes in your supply
and r eplace them with silicon rectifiers at first
g lance appears to be the solut ion, however thi s
approa ch costs a lot of money today a nd it
seems fooli sh to throwaway u sable rectifying
capability. A hybrid power su pply-half silicon
and half rectifier tubes-appear to represent
th e happy med ium as a solut ion of space and
economy. Many ex isti ng su pplies could use thi s
method wi th a minimum of cons t r uct ion and
cost.

24

H ERE

13 MAGAZINE

T he reader should not be lulled into forgetting the requ irements for any method of altering a power su p ply to double your voltage
output. Her e are the key facto r s ;
1. Be su r e the rectifier filament winding
insulation (and tube or tubes) will
st and the new double peak voltage.
2. \Vhen the voltage output is doubled, the
current will be halved. Your gain is
through the use of amplifier tubes
wh ich are more efficient at the hig her
voltage. The amplifier input watta ge
may be no higher, but the output probably will be.
3. Your fi lter choke or chokes must sta nd
t he higher voltage breakdown r equired.
A common "dodge" is to put the choke
in the negative lead.
4. Your filt er condensers mu st be repla ced
or be capable of with standing the new
higher voltage.
5. The bleeder resistor mu st also be of
the proper value to meet the needs of
the higher voltage.

Fig. 1 ill u st r a tes a hybrid power su pply.

Note the su r ge resistors to limit cu r rent. These
are usually fr om 5 to 30 ohms, depend ing upon
fi lter capacity, an d are placed in each leg of
the power transformer secondary. A word about
s ilicon rectifier ratings to be used would also be
in ord er. A full wave circuit with 250 ma rectifiers would yield 500 ma, whic h is usually
enoug h for most amateur applications. These
sizes would be much cheaper, of course, than
the 750 rna variety wh ich, for example, wou ld
give you 1.5 amperes. However , nothing could
be gained in a hybrid circuit with the larger
r ectifiers since thi s would be beyond the capability of commonly used rectifier tubes which
MARCH 1961

would be in the other half of your rectifier

sys tem .
There also a ppears to be m uch confusion a s
to rms and piv ratin gs to be used . I have ofte n
hea rd people express the belief that a dvert ised
va lues were incorrect. T he enol', [ think,
origina tes with the user. Fig . 2 is a s implified
f ull wave schematic dra wn to ill ustrate th is
poin t . When r ecti fier A is con duc t ing, th e fu ll
seconda r-y voltage appears across rectifier B.
~h i s mean s th at although you may ha ve a
SImple 300 volt s u pply, 600 volt s appears across
each r ecti fi er on alternate cycles, not 300 !
Th e mor a l is to be s u r e t hat t he rm s value of
each half of your rectifier st r ing will more
than meet the [ull rms value of the t ransforme r seconda r y, not one-ha lf to the center
tap .
The use of t hi s hybrid method sh ou ld become
popular. Among the s uggested conversions are

Impedance Matching

Roy E. Pe fen be rq
P.O. Boll. 844
Fort Ctevtc n. Cene l Zo ne

Rad io Set
SCR.I77-B
SCR.188-A
SCR. 19l -(
SCRl99-A

-+---0.
eeeee

t o change 750 volt su pplies t o 1500 volts for

SU A's 0 1' 2000 volt su p plies, at which voltage
4-250A's and 4-400A's are notoriou sly inefficient, to 4000 volts. The spa ce sa ved by this
ap plication will readily s t r ike t he prospective
user and mak e poss ible a conversion t hat may
have not otherw ise been con sidered fea sible.
. .. W 4A P I

Transmitter
BC.1 9 1-C
BC-19 1C
BC-1 9 1C
BC-b IO- E

SCR-499-A

BC-b IO-E

SCR-50b-A
5C R-508. ( I
SCR-528.( )
5CR-509.A
5CR-510
5CR-5 4l- ( I
5C R-b08-A
SCR-b28-A
SCR-b09-A
SCR-bIO-A
SC R-b I9-( I
5C R-b94-C
SCR-808
SCR-B2B
AN/TRC- I-( )
AN/TR C8
AN /PR C -B.I O
AN/ GR C-l B
AN/ G RC .9

BC-b5 l
BC -b04
BCb04
BC.b20
BC-b20
BC-b99
BC-b84
BC-bB 4
BC-b59
BCb59
BC- I335
BC.Il Ob
BC-92 l
BC-924
T-14-( I/ TRC- I
T.lO/T RC -8

Surplus Equipment
Receiver
BC-l I4-C
BC-H2-C
BC lI2 C
BCl I2( I
BCH 2.! I
BClI2- ( )
BC-l 42.! )
BCb52
BC-bOl
BC -bOl
BCb20
BCb20
BC -b99
BC-b8l
BC-b8l
BCb59
BC.b59

Trans. In
35 to 200
35 to 200
3S to 200
200
200
200
200
200
200
200
200
200
100
200
200
200
200
200
IbO
200
200
500
500
150
150
I bO

Re c. Out
4,000
4,000
4,000
4,000
4.000
4,000
4,000
8,000
8,000
B,OOO
250 o r 4.000
250 o r 4.000
100
8.000
8,000
250 o r 4,000
250 o r 4,000
250 o r 4,000
250 o r 4.000
B,OOO
8.000
500
500

and output impedance of

military equipment is
sc. ms
ofte n unknown to t he
sc.uos
per son co n side ring
BC 92 l
amateur application of
BC-92 4
these items. I mped an ce
R-1 9-1 I/TRC I
match ing is impo r ta nt
R- 48/TRC-8
bOO
and t he use of matched
. . . .. .....

bOO
. .. . . .... .
audio accessories will
250 o r 4,000
RT.77/GRC-9
RT-77/GRC-9
do much toward correcting the fa irly combe gi ve n to the use of extern a l lin e ma tchin g
mon and ofte n u nj usti fied com pla int of insufficient a ud io gai n.
transformers. Small com mercial u n its are
The chart lists a number of surplus radio
availab le to meet a wid e range of impedance
equipments and t heir a udio input output immatch ing requ irements and these transformers
pedances.
will of te n mount d irectly on t he loudspeaker
I mped ance var iatio ns in tran smitte r in put
fra me.
circuitry are not too g reat a nd in mo st inCareful attention to impedance matching resta nces match either a carbon microphone or quirements will result in improved performa nce of sur-plus conversions and u se of exa 500-600 oh m lin e. On t he other ha nd, r etern al, speaker mou nted li n e ma tch in g tra nsceive r ou t put imped ances va ry widely a nd
formers will mini mize t he work in such p rojmore 01' less unpred ictably S ince it is usually
desirable to effect a minimum number of in- ects. The results more than justify the
expense.
ternal equipment changes, consideration should

H E I NPUT

MA RCH 19b1

73 MAGAZINE

25

Patch
Patch
A llie C . Peed , Jr. K2DH A
34 Ashley Drive
Roc heste r 20, N. Y.

of the articles and instructions on phone

patches end up by directing you to connect
the line terminals of the patch to the red and
green lead s in your telephone's junction block.
This leaves you more-or-less on your own from
there on. A s you can readily imagine, most
telephone companies take a very dim view of
anyone not in their employ connecting or disconnecting anything in their installations.
So, in s pit e of thi s, you're determined to
have phone patch facilities (after all, other
people have them) and you are willing to bear
the possible wrath of the telephone company.
If ) 'OU take the st ep and are perman ently connected, then in case of trouble on your line,
the ser viceman is likely to discover your connection, cut it off, report it to the company
and blame you for a ny trouble on the line.
Thus can begin a fir st-class rhubarb with you
in the role of underdog.
wouldn't it be better to have a patch ins talla t ion which could be connected to the line
by a plug-in connector and which could be
plugged in when you want to run a patch
and taken out when not needed-all of thi s to
be a ccomplished without making any unauthorized changes in the telephone installation
itself?
Fortunately, this is fairly easy to accomplish. The key to the whole thing is to have
the telephone company install extension jacks
in your house. For a small installation charge
they will fit jacks at any and all locations
where you might wish to plug in the telephone in your hou se. This doesn't add to your
monthly billing. There is only the one-timeonly installation charge. However, you must
have at least two jacks installed.
Once the jacks are installed, you can unplug your t elephone and plug it in at any
jack in the hou se. Thus, when you want to
run a patch, you can simply go and get the
t elephon e a nd plug it in at the oper at ing
position.
Ma ke up a patch cord with your phone
patch connection in the cord. Plug this cord

LL

26

73 MAGAZINE

into the jack and plug your t elephone into the

other end of thi s cord. \Vhen you are finished,
put your patch patch cor d back in a drawer,
return your t elephone to its regular resting
place and there is no sig n of your installation.
Unfortunatel y, the telephone company uses
a rather odd type of four -pronged jack in its
extension installations and these have until recently been hard to come by u nless yo u had
a friend at the t elephone com pa ny. Recently,
Olson Radio in Toledo, Ohio has st a r t ed to
market th ese plugs and jacks and a patch
patch cord is practical for all now.
All that you n eed are one male and one f emale t elephone extension jack connectors, a
few feet of three wire cable and a few min utes
of your time. The screw terminals in both the
j a ck and the plug are marked with the color
of the leads. Be sur e to connect a wire between the terminal s marked similarly, i.e.,
red to red, green to green, and brown to
brown. Make this wire a s long or as shor t a s
you need for your convenience in placi ng the
telephone and phone patch unit at your operating position. The jack is made for su r f ace
mounting with two scr ews and can be mounted
permanently on the desk by the rig if you
choose.
Then, in either the plug or jack of your
patch patch cord, connect the two line leads
from your phone patch unit to the terminals
marked r ed and green r espectively. This can
be a permanent type connection s ince the
whole patch patch cord can remain at the operating position connected to the phone patch
unit.
It's simple to use . Ju st plug the male end of
t he patch patch cord into the extension jack
installed f or you by the telephone company.
Then, plug your tel ephone instrument into the
female jack on the other end of the patch
pat ch cor d and r un you r patch traffic. When
you are fini shed , merely unplug and sto re your
patch patch cord and retu r n the telephon e to
it s usual position. Neat, eh?
MARCH 1961

A
432

436mc
Transistor Converter
J . Spe cle lnv, J r. W3HIX
Philco Corporation
l a nsd ale Divi sio n
Lonsd a le , Penne .

THIS article presents a fully transistorized

conve r ter operat in g in t he 432 to 436 me
frequency ba nd . It employs a cr yst al controlled local oscillator to improve frequ ency
sta bilit y. A commun ications r eceiver capable
of tu n ing the 28 to 32 me range is used for
th e if system. It f eatures an overall power gain
of 31 db with a noise figur e of 7.1 db. Th e
3 db bandwith was mea sured to be five megacycles.
Th e UHF spect r um present s a n ew ch a llenge in t he u se of tra nsistors. There h a s
been very little in the way of published mater ia l on the usage of th e transi stors at these
frequ encies.
This converter wa s const r uc ted with the
idea of determining how effective transi stors
would be in fun ctions previously accomplished
by t he use of vacuum tubes. The Philco sma ll
area MADT* transistor wa s selected becaus e
of its su per ior performance in t he V HF
spect r um .
The r esult was a 432 me convert er whose
oper a t ion su r passes that of most tube types.
Compact ness and low power requirements
Trudem a rk - RI 'R'. U .S . P a l . O ff .

MARCH 1961

make the trans istors even more des irable.

RF Section
The two RF st a ges are operating a s common-base ampli fiers a nd the mixer a s a
common-em itter s t ag e. A seri es capacitor,
C2, cou pl es th e signa l from th e antenna t o
t he emitter of the first RF amplifier s ta ge. A
variable capacitor, Cl, is inser t ed between the
input and g roun d. In operating an amplifier
common -base, t here exists some in phase feedback from the output back to t he input circuit
th rough t he transistor. C l is adju sted t o
minimize any tendency t owards instability r esu lt in g from t hi s feedba ck.
Th e output circuit is tuned by ca pacitor C3
and coil Ll. A coupli ng ca pac itor C4 feeds
the output to the emitter of the secon d rf
s ta g e. The ou t put of thi s st a ge is tuned by
ca pacitor C5 and coil L2 . A coupling capacit or. C6, feeds the sig n al to the base of the
mi xer. A 30 me trap is inserted between th e
base and ground of thi s st ag e. 'I'his trap s hort
circu its the in pu t admittance of the m ix er a t
30 me p r oviding- hi gher convers ion power guin.
The output is coupled t o th e load through a
13 MAGAZINE

27

30 me transform er con si sting of coils L5

and 1.6.
The local oscillator sig-na l is injected into
the em itter through capacitor C7. Coil L4
provides a high impedance at t he loca l osc illator fr equ ency and form s part of the emitter
bypass network for the if s ign a l.

Harmonic G enerator
The first three sta ges are operat.ing a s
common-emitter st a ges. The last sta ge is u sed
a s a grounded base doubl er.
A crystal cont rolled osci lla tor is used for
frequency generation. Capacitor C8 and coil
1.7 tune the output to 50.5 me. A 6.8 mmfd
capacitor matches th e ou t put to the base of
th e fi r st freque ncy doubler. The output of
thi s st a ge is tuned to 101 me. An 8.2 mmfd
ca pac itor matches th e output to th e base of
the se cond freq uency doubler. Th e output of
thi s stage is tuned to 202 me by capacitor
CI 0 and coil 1.9. The out put is f ed t o the
em itte r of the thi rd frequency doubler by a
tap on 1.9 and a 100 mmfd blo cking capacitor.
The out pu t of t he last sta ge is tuned to 404
me bv condenser C ll and co il 1. 10. Capacitor
C7 c~upl es the powe r to the em it te r of th e
m ixer. C7 is peaked fo r m a ximum drive into
the mixer.
The resi stors located in th e em it t er cir cu its
of the t r a ns istors p rov ide t he necessary de
st a biliza t ion. The others form bias network s
to fix the o pe r ating point.

A wave meter/grid dip oscillator is very u sefu l. In grid dipping t he tank circ uits, it is
r ecommended that t he t ra nsistors are r emoved
from thei r sockets . Ca pacitor C7 is set to a
mid value and then ca n be peaked up later.
N ext, tune the ou tput coil of the mi xer to
30 me . The 30 me trap in ser ies with the
mixer base and ground should be di scon nected
d uring this t un ing procedure. Aft er the 30
me output coil is a li gned. the trap is resolde red back in to the circuit. The trap is
set with a g rid dip osc illa to r by removing the
m ixer transistor and in serting a short between
the emitter a nd base term inal. T he sl ug of L:~
is now ad j usted for a dip at 30 me. Remove
the shor t and replace the mixer tran si stor.
A sign a l generator is very hel pful in alig-n ing th e RF stages. With C4 set at ma xim um
and C6 to about mid capac ity, ad just C3 and
C5 for max imum ga in . The sett ing of Cl iR
not cri t ical and can be left out if th e firs t
rf amplifier shows no sign of b reak ing into
oscillation. If a no ise generator is available.
C l can be ad j usted in t he followin g- mann er.
Sta rting from minimum ca pac it y . vary it un til the noi se fig ur e begin s to increase, then
back otf about one t u rn . At th e point where
the noise figure st a rts to increase, t he powe r
gain is decreasing- rapid ly due to a decrease in
t he r egen eration of t he fi rs t s ta ge. A s t he g ai n
of the fi r st stage d rops below a certa in va lue ,
the noise contributed by the second amplifie r
st a ge is on th e in crease, h ence th e overall
noi se fi gu re becomes high er .
Chart I indicates the current drai n of th e
converter.

Chart I
Stag e Current Drain {mal
Current
Doublers

",.

1s t

1.5 rn a

2rll!
X lIII
Ht' ;l.1 i xt' r 0"1:-

2.0

2.0

2.0

l s t " 2nd2.5
3.0

[ Hleede r I
T ot al
in ,

~rd-

dra in eluded
3.0
20.5

"Not __ l ne lu dea dc blas c urrt' nt.

Construction
Th e photographs and coil data should a ssi st
in the construction of the conve r te r. A 7 x 5
inch brass st ock 1/16 in ch thick ser ves a s a
mounting plate for the components. An aluminum chassis 7 x 5 x 2 in ches se r ve as a
shielded enclosu re. Although silver plating the
brass is r ecommended, it is not necessary.
Good ground connect ions are necessary for
propel' ope r a t ion.

Tuning Procedure
It is fi rst. de sirabl e to align t he harmoni c
generator sta ges to the prope r freque ncies.
28

13 MAGAZINE

Driving powe r al so infl uences the current

flow to some extent.
The high gain cha r ac terist ics of th e front
end resu lt s f r om r egenerative amplificati on
due to the common-base opera tion . Equiva lent
ga in figures ca n be had by usin g sfig htl y
ove r neut rali zed common -emitte r stages. N eutralization above 400 me becomes diffic ult. Desp ite this , the ove rall 3 db bandwidth is over
5 me wi th g ood sta bility. On e di sadvan t a ge
of a com mon-base amplifier is that power
gain and bandwidth varies cons idera bly wi~h
transi stors . Tabulated below a r e some gam
and ban dw idt h s that we r e obse r ved using a
nu mbe r of transistors.

o ve-rn 11
P u we r (; ain
22 - :U . Ih

O n ' rall
:~ ,Ih HW

Nt' u sillJ:
I. 12G2A
diu,lf>

NF using'
5722 ,lio, lt<

&.5 hI 1i.2

5.2

db

to s.s
db

MARCH 1961

Th e reason that the noi se figure readings

a re g iven fro m two t~.. pes of noise gener a to rs
is t hat t he 5722 noise diode is st ill used bv
some in determ ini ng noise fi g u re. The lead
inducta nces of the 5722 at thi s freq uency
tend to produce a bett er noise figure than the
sta ge really exh ibits, A com me r cia l unit prod uced by the H ew lett Packard Com pa ny employs a L1262A noise diode as its gener ator.
The readi ngs using t h is type of diode prod uce
a mor e a cc urate rea ding, The H ew let t Packard noi se diode is g ua r a nt eed a ccurate to
600 me.

Parts List
C l , C3 , C5, C I I -O.5-S.0 m mfd Pis ton Capaci to r
JF D VCS
C4 , C6--1.0-!l.O mmfd Pill to n Cfll'nc itor J FD V C!l
C7 - 7-45 Ce r-nmic T r imme r
Cll . C~ - l - l~ mmrd Pis t o n Capacitor JF D VC4-G
CIU-O.5-11 mmfd Pisto n Cunac ft or- JFD V CI-G
xte tc-Ove rtone Xtal P ete .....en t ype Z-9A

Coil Dat a
1.1. 1.2- :'>l a d e u p ( r om 2 y': '" x ~.t '" b r a s s s t oc k 1!:l2 '"
th ick , s il v e r p la ted.
1.3-14 T u rn s # 28 N y cl ad copper- wire c lo se wou nd on
l~ " ro-m ( Ca m b lon type 1.86 w it h powder-ed iron
core ;;2006;1-0 , .

lA - I Tu rn # 22 tf nn ed co pper 3/ 16" ln stde d iameter.

1.5-1 8 T urns ~2 8 Nvclud cop per w ire closewou n d o n
:t.:." for-m r Cnmb ton t yp e I'LS 5-2C4L w it h pow dered
iron core ,;;':2 0063-N j .
1.5- :1 Turns #2 8 Nyclad eonper- wire closewound OVE'r
ground e n d o f primary w i n ,linK 1.5.
I.i- to T u r n s .#20 ti n n ed coppe ri n side dfamete r-,
%" lo ng (U & W Min iducto r # aoo a . Air-du x #4 16T) .
" ' - 3 T u rn s #20 t.i n ned co pper wi r e (n & W # 300:q .
1.9- 5 Tur n s .:tI R tln n ed COPI>('r ~~ " In aide dia mete r , 1,f"
length . tap l ! ~ Turn (rom Kroun d end .

v.:"

Converting the Tube Tube Tube, Wa tt

Watt Watt Watt Watt, Meter Meter Meter

Meter Meter Meter to the Tube Tube
Tube, Watt Watt, Meter Meter
is a qu ick way to g et on 2 wi t h the
least a moun t of effort and dou gh ray me.
It is amazingly s im ple and quick. First of all
look up t he first H73" issu e (O ct. '(0) and on
page 32 you will find a little 6 met er rig by
t he author. Only 3 modification s n eed be mad e
to con vert t h is rig t o 2 meters , This should be
an excellent proj ect for th e Novice who would
like to take a cr ack at thi s VHF band. If t he
in str uc tion s are foll owed carefully t her e shou ld
be no probl em s s uch as getting on the right
frequency.
T he first t hing needed is a 48 mc t h ird
ove rto ne r ock. F or t he N ovi ce approximatel y
48.5 me is needed which w ill have a fina l f r equency of 145.5 me well in th e Nov ice band.
Th e coil mo difications to be mad e are t he
follow ing ; Add a 3 mmfd capacitor to L1
parallel t o the 5 mmfd t o reduce t he oscillator resonan t f requency. Take a pi ece of # 14
w ir e and w ind 4 turn s 74 inches in diameter.
Remove th e 6 meter fi nal coil L2 and in stal l
the 4. 't u r-n coil in series !w
, it h th e plate of th e
6C X8( B) a nd th e 25 mm fd variable capacitor.
Pad the 25 mm fd ca pacitor with a 30 mmfd .
Mak e a ' I th t urn antenna coupler coil from
a pi ece of soli d hookup wire
inch es in
dia mete r . P la ce the an tenna co upler coil L3

E Rf;

MARCH 19b1

r----~--

6CX8A :

, <1:

r~~,,.....

-.-

-p .

__ ~~_
>r~
_

r-,

1L. a, ,""T' /"

L_:+-_-'

I OSC' , Il.TOfl

-L

PAO:

'

~ IOIt

~IW

,r-------

.-:----

l 6 CX8 S

, ...

."..
"'C
F INAL

.'---.
::...'
\

---1

... ,

t-~

_L_
"'T,
,

"'"

between turn 1 a nd 2 from the pl ate end of

t he final coil. Sold er t he 2 ,uh RF C cho ke 1
t urn f rom t he ca pac itor end .
N ow t he power can be turned on and tune'er
up . The tu n ing procedures are the sa me as
w it h the 6 meter rig.
Sin ce th e frequency is t ri pled in the final
it is not the most efficient 2 meter rig, but
you ca n have a lot of fun getting on the air.
It's fin e for loca l rag chewing . Better results
can be expected if a shi eld is u sed between

t he oscillator and final.

. .. K8NIC/5
73 MAGAZINE

29

Transistorized
Loudspeaker
tActual
Sizel

Squawk Box
amount of excellent equipment,
much of it virtually ready to use, is st ill
availabl e in sur plus throughout the country.
For VHF and /or mobile u se, especially, sur plus stock s st ill prove a gold mine.
An d since conver sion of t he standard auto
voltage from six to 12 volts, the same a s the
long-established military st a ndar d, many it ems
require no conversion before installation. No
conversion, that is, except to provide for loudspeaker operation....
Al most every milita ry use for the equi pment
requ ired hea dphone output; virtually n one of
the mobile-adaptable gear now to be h ad was
originally equipped to drive a s pea ker . But
phones are inconvenient, to sa y th e least, in
the amateur mobile se r vice.
The simple way out of this problem is not
to convert t he equipment at all, bu t to add an
outboa r d power ampli fier. Since the tran sistor
works excellentl y at 12 volts, its use is a
natural. But thi s is not just another article

SURPRISI NG

30

73 MAGAZItJ;

Ji m Kyle. K5JKX/6

on how to build a tran si stor aud io power amplifier-it introduces a completely different
type of audio output circuit, which can only
operate with tran sistors. I n addition to the
four tran sistors , though, you need only two
r esi st or s , one transforme r (for input, not
output!), and t he speaker itself. A power amplifier can hardly be s impler than that.
This amplifier oper a tes on the bridge principle, thereby eli mina t ing any dc from the
loud speaker whi le st ill doing away with the
output tra nsfor mer. A simplified schem at ic
is shown in Fig. 1, with t he t ra nsistors represented by variable resistors. As sume that the
set ti ng of each resi stor is a ccomplished aut omatically by the input sig n al a s shown by
dotted lines : a positive-going input increases
the resi stance wh ile a n ega t ive-going input red uces resistance.
If, at t he begi nni ng, all r esistor s are set t o
the sa me value, the bridge will be perfectly
balanced and no current will flow through the
MARCH 1961

'--~
+ III-=
-----:'i:-

---'

FI G . I. Basic bridge amplifier, si mplified

sche matic dia g ra m. See text for deta ils of
operation .

voice coil.
However , if t he voltage at in p ut A goes
nega tive while th at at point B goes positive
(both voltages r eferred t o ground pot ential).
t hen Ql wiII decrea se in resista nce while Q2's
resi sta nce in cr eases. Forget Q3 and Q4 for a
mom ent-even wi thout them the bridge is no
longer balanced. This makes the voltage at
point C less negative (or more positive) than
it was at bala nce, wh ile the voltage a t point D
goes more negative than before.
XO\V look at Q3 and Q..L They derive their
resi stance-control inputs from points D and
C, r espectively. As point C goes more positive,
the resi stance of Q4 increases. At th e same
time, with point D go ing negative, Q3's res ist a nce drops.
Th is actio n p ushe s the br idge even fa rther
out of balance, with r esistance of both Ql and
Q3 lowered and Q2 and Q4 increased. Cur ren t
flows from poi nt D to point C, through the
voice coil.
The action just described takes place on each
cycle of audio frequ ency power, and the s ame
action with r eversed polarity occurs on the
other ha lf-cycles. As a resu lt, the curr ent
through the voice coil is that of t he af waveform applied to the input t erminals.
Du r ing th is act ion, each transistor is acting
mor e like the automatically-variable resistor
we have a ssumed for explanation than it is
act ing like an amplifier. Its res istance will
vary f rom approximately ha lf an ohm a s minimum to a maximu m of several thou san d ohms.
This means that current flow through the
voice coil is limited, not by the t r a ns is tors, but
by t he impedan ce of the voice coil itself. To
be more exact, t hi s circu it is capable of producing approximately 18 watts in an 8-oh m
speaker , or 36 watts in a 4-ohm unit, p r ovided
only that the tran sistors are capable of ha ndlinrr t h at variety of power.
The unit shown in schem atic f orm in Fig.
MARCH 196 1

2 is n't t hat powerful. I t wa s bu ilt for the express purpose of bringing output from a B C1306 up t o speaker level f or mobile u se. Its
powe r is approximately half a wa tt, using
ty pe 2NI07 tr ansis tors.
T o protect the tran si stors from over loa d, the
input wa s deli be r ately m isma tched . Since the
case conta ining the sp ea ker a nd amplifier was
al so to ser ve a s the control unit for the B C1306, the 500-ohm gai n control, m icrophone
j a ck, and switch (vi sible in the photos) were
added. A six-wir e cable connects t he squawbox to t he trunk-moun ted 1306.
Constructi on of the unit is simplicit y itself.
Th e transformer, transistors, and resistors
arc first mounted on the cardboard chassis
and a ll int er con n ection s are made. P ower , input, and out p ut lea ds are brought out with
st ra nd ed hookup wire, and the chassis card is
t he n attached to the back of the s peaker with
two 8-32 scr ews. I nput leads are connected to
the gain control, output leads to the speaker
voice coil, and th e proper power lead (depending on polarity of your car's ignition system)
is run to th e p ower switch. The other power
lead is g r ou nded .
To use t he unit in a non-mohile application,
just add a sma ll battery (anything u p to 30
volts is fine ; the t ran si stors are effectivel y in
ser ies, so ma ximum-voltage ratings won't be
exceeded ) and you're in business.
To adapt thi s gadget to higher-powered use,
sim ply match the input imp edan ces of t he firs t
two tran sistors (Ql and Q2) for max imum
power tran sfer, a nd su p ply enough driving aignal to push th em to sa t u r at ion. Presto, power!
Va lues of the two r es istor s might be trimmed
in either d irection for maximum power outpu t, also-i t didn't prove necess a r y here.
73

03

0'

INPUT

'00'"

.,

.,

TO

1.

SPEAKER

3 300 A

""''''

! - 16A
PM

GAIN

. 3

0'

! !OO .J'l..

l.w 0 4

' - - - - --<> 12 VOLTS 0-

~
...1

FI G. 2. Schematic d iagram . QI-Q2 .Q3 -Q4

should be PNP tran sist ors of the same type
... such as 2 N 107 o r C K72 2. TI -I nput o r interstage t ran sist or transformer. A Sta nco r TA-32
with pri ma ry and seco ndary reverse d and only
ha lf of t he origina l second ary conne cted was
used in the prototype for d e liberate mismatch
to protect the tra nsistors fro m overload.

73 MAGAZ INE

31

a t e c hnic a l discu ssion of receiver front ends

Up Front
Staff

"Y OU ca n't work 'em if you can't hea r 'em,"

is one of t he oldest maxims in ham radio.

Since virtually no one is certa in that his receiver posses ses ultimate se ns it ivit y . everyone
wants to improve that department of his
shack's eq uipm e nt.
F ortunately, se nsit ivity of most r eceivers
can be improved-and it doesn't cost a fort une,
either. Tube design s developed d uri ng t he past
10 years far exceed the wildest dreams of pre1950 receiver designers, a nd as a result, improved r eceiver sens it ivit y is sim ple fo r older
sets. Although newer rigs make use of t he new
tubes already, there are gimmicks for them

too.
In m odifying an e xisti ng r eceiver for greater
sensit ivit y, you have a choice of three courses:
subst it u ti ng of hott er tubes, changing circuitry, or using p lug-in adapters. The choice
is up to you, but to make it intell igently you
need full inform a t ion a bout all res u lts to be
expected, bot h good and bad. That's t he pu rpose of thi s article. I n addition to a su rvey
of the design fac tors you will encounter, you'll
find a select ion of circuits. At lea st one of them
should, with on ly minor modifications a s dictated by your requirement s, prove s uita ble f or
your own receiver,
whi le there a r e sever a l poi nts in a rece iver
at whi ch changes can provide greater ga in,
the "front end" (rf stages and mixer cons idered a s a un it) controls t he set 's sensitivity.
Any gain which follows the front end will
amplify only receiver noise, and will be of no
practical u se in hearing those weak s ig na ls.
The gain will make st rong sig na ls stro nger,
t o be su re, but the w eak ones can be captured
only by improving matters up front. S ince this
is the case, let's look at the first rf stage for
a st a r t .
An rf st a ge , to t he set des igner, ha s three
major fu nction s. P r ovid in g se nsit ivit y for t he
set is only one of the three. The ot her two are
to isolate the local oscillator from the antenna
and t hus prevent r adiation, and to elimin ate or
min imi ze image r e spon se. Frequently, commer cia l designs are ba sed on isolation or selectivity rather than on sens it ivit y-a nd so
can st a n d improv ement in the matter s of noi se
and gain.

32

73 MAGAZI NE

Mu ch ha s been wr itten on the subj ect of

noise in rf uru plifl ers , a nd ma ny pe rson s are
now convi nced t hat a ll rf amplifiers sho uld u se
only triode tubes to achieve low-noise r esu lts .
Don't you beli eve it ...
\ Vhile triodes, with their few er elements, do
show lower noi se than their pentod e counterparts, the difference becomes sig n ifi ca nt only
at VH F f requencies a nd above. Even at 50 me,
a well-designed pentode amplifie r will r ea ch
below t he level of antenna noise-a nd whe n
you've gone t hat f ar , you 're at the en d of the
line. No amount of im p rovem ent of your set
can reduce antenna noise.
At thi s point, before reading much more,
you can perform a s im ple test to determine
whether your r eceiver is already at the lim it
of usable se nsit .i vity If it is, concentrate on
the a ntenna-work on the receiver f ront end
under t he se conditio ns is only wasted effort.
T he t est is th is: Turn on the r ece iver a nd
adj ust all gain controls to t he wide-open pos ition . A ft er t he rig warm s up, discon nect t he
antenna. Substitute a ~ - w a tt carbon resi stor
with the sa me resistance a s the antenna, at
the receiver ANT terminals (u se either 5 1
ohms, 75 ohms, or 330 ohm s) . Reduce rf gain
until noise hi ss from the spea ke r is barely
audible. Di sconnect the resi stor and reconnect
the a ntenna. If noise output increa ses, yo u 're
a lready a ble to receive an tenn a noise. If no increase results, your r eceiver can sta nd improvement. The test, incidenta lly, shou ld be
performed at your receiver's highest operating
fr equency s ince noi se level from the antenna
decreases with frequency.
If you're st ill with us , the next ste p is to
decide whether you want to (a) u se newer
tubes (b) change t he i-f-stage circuits, or (c)
use a pl ug -in gadget.
U se of a la ter-mod el t ube wh ich can be simply plugged into the set is al wa ys tem ptingbut th is way lies disaster. T ubes vary in many
factors besides that of gain; input and output
ca pa cit y may be so far off that the set can't
be aligned, the grid cutoff characteristic may
prevent proper Ave action, the hotter tube
may cross-modulate all sig na ls. . . . The list
is long and the p itfa lls many. H owe ver , with
proper care, excellent results a re possible.

Circu it changes, s imilar ly, ca n create ma ny

problems. Lead dr ess is critical above 25 me .
Circuits which are excellent at 30 me give up
and die a t 3.5. Th e set may fail to t r ack after
modificat ion. In other words, thi s too t akes
some prior pla nn ing.
P lug-i n gadgets combine the advantagesand t hus s ha r e t he disad va nt ages-of both the
othe r types of changes. I n add itio n, t hey have
pecu lia r it ies all t heir own. T he worst is t heir
tendency to oscillate, caused by necessarily
long grounded leads. This can be cured by an
external grou ndi ng st ra p-but it's a n awk ward device at best .
One aid to making your choi ce is to lis t
ever y t hing you hope to achieve. If sens tt ivtt y
(g reater ga in and /or les s set noi se) is t he only
goa l, a s imp le tube switch with mino r ci r cu it
cha nges will usua lly achieve it . On the other
hand, if you need greatly improved sens it ivity ,
better image rejection, and increased oscilla to r isola tion yo ur only h ope is to ch a nge t he
com plete circu it. In -bet ween r esu lts ma y be obt a ined in any of the three poss ible ways.
Naturally, if you're swit ch ing from pentodes
to t riodes 01' vice ve r sa you 'll h ave to mak e
ci rcu it chang es. Theref ore, one of t he early decisions leading to the big choice is t hat of
which tube type to use.
To sta rt with, all discuss ion of triodes vs.
pent od es is ba sed on t he idea t ha t on ly the
best of each t ype are be ing compa red. It 's
only logical that a fair triode wif l outperfo rm
a poor pentode, and t han an excellen t pentodc
will r un rin gs a rou nd ei t he r.
But wh en you compa re t he best of each
breed, you'll find that triodes are characterized
by ext remely low noise, moderate gain, and
sever e insta bility when used in conventional
circu itr y. P en t acl es, on the othe r hand, h ave
excellent gai n and good at a bilit y, but show
higher noise than their three-element cousins.
For operation at 50 mc a nd below, the nod
goe s to pe n t od es when consider ing only t he

to

:i":
"

r-~Ii

-cc

"00

.""
Fig . I. Typic a l circuit of receive r first- rf sta ge .
Tub e ma y be a lmost a ny rem ote-cut off p entod e.
Screen re t urns t o low-volt age line esta blishe d
fro m re cei ver power supply.

--r-;---

+2>.

.""
Fig. 2. Adding a high-valued resistor from
screen to plate sup p ly in the circuit of Fig . I
results in th e tube's g a ining se mi-re mo te-cutoff
c ha ra cte ristics. No ot her changes are ne cessary.

bes t of each type.

In practice, quality is usually expensive. As

a res ult, triode!' hold a s lig-ht edge in t he 2050 me f reque ncy range , si n ce the p opula r cascade circuit give!' th em bot h the pen tode's
advantages and retain s their low-noise chara cteri st ic- a Il at a moderate p rice .
In a ddit ion, any rf stage ca n be conve rted
to a cascode by means of a plu g-in a da pte r
( see the references) at low cost.
For u se below 20 mc alm ost any recentmodel pentode gives good r esults. E ven the
a nc ie nt GSK7 series performs well at these
freque nc ies, bu t it ca n be improved. In this
ra nge, tube s ubst it ut ion is the best policy.
T o s ubst itu te t ubes, start by obtai n ing a
good tube handbook. The best ar e t he RCA
Tu be Han db ook HB-3, in fi ve volum es and
priced at $17.50, a nd the G E Elect r on ic T ube
Ma nua l. al so in five volu mes a nd similar ly
pri ced. T hese book s list a ll chara cte ristics of
a ll t ubes produced b y these firms , r a t her th a n
the abbrevi ated listi ng of popular tu bes fou nd
in t he s ma ller manual s , and are h ighly recommended . However, information in t he $1ra nge t ube ma nuals is accurate and ca n be
used.
Wit h handbook in hand, first look up characteristics of the tube now used in you r receive r . Wri te them do wn. Be su re to check
input an d outpu t ca pacit ies, opera t ing bia s
range, electrode voltages, and tran scondu ctance.
Then, s ta r t through the ha ndbook looking
f O I' t ubes wh ich match yo urs in a ll cha r acte ri stics except tra nsconductance , which mu st
be greater. The best areas to sea r ch first are
the 6B A- through 6E8- type prefixes, since
those a r e the n ewest types.
\Vhen yo u ha ve sever a l cand idates , check
to see that basing arra ngement s a r e compatibl e. It's easy to change socket connections,
but not so easy to cha nge th e socket itself.
73 MAGAZINE

33

..~
II
::

TO NEXT
Rf S TAG[

"

...

Fig. 3. The simplest triode amplifier circuit is

the grounded-grid arrangement, shown here. Its
ma jor disadvantage is low gain , requiring at
lea st two stages of rf ampl ification .

Finally, look at th e characteri stic curves for

both th e exi stin g tube a nd your r eplacement

ca nd id a tes. If th e g eneral sha pe is t he sa me ,
the candidates will probably perform sa t is fact orily.
Whe n all thi s preliminary paperwork is complete, the on ly thing left t o d o is to t ry the
t u bes a nd see wha t h appens . P lug in th e replacem ent t u be ( m a k in g wir ing cha nges if
neces sary) and try it. Check carefu lly for
proper AV e a ction a s well a s improved sens it ivity, and t est f or cross-mod ulation by tu ning
to weak sig-na ls ne a r st rong ones. If the strong
signal rid es in on the weak one, yo u have
c ross-mod ulati on which mu st be co r r ect ed by
changing to a nother type of tube .
One of the biggest com pr om is es you mu st
make wh en choosi ng fr ont-end tubes is th a t
between m aximum g ain and minim um crossmodul a t io n. Remot e-cutoff t u bes are usually
better when a void ing c ross-mod ul a t .ion , but
maximum gain is a chi eved on ly with sha r pcutoff tubes. Fortunately, it's usually possible
to r each t he ant enna-noise level wi t h g ood r emote-c utoff t u bes.
Tube su bsti t utions u sually t a ke care of a ny
p roblems below 20 me . At higher frequenci es
the choice is between t he USe of plug-in adapte rs a nd ch a nging the circuit r y. Sin ce plu g-in
a da pte rs sha re m an y of t he features of circuit
changes , let's ex a mi ne ci rcuitry first.
T he basi c c irc ui t used for the first rf amplifi er in most rece iver s is show n in F ig . 1.
Com po nen t va lues s how n are only typica lex act va lues, natu r a lly, will vary fr om set t o
set depend ing on t he t ube an d the designer's
wh im. All band swit ching ci rcuit ry ha s been
om it ted f or si m pl icity.
Thi s ci r cuit has no inherent noi se pro perties,
but the tubes most adaptable t o usc in it are
not the most se nsit ive r f a mplifiers available.
As mention ed ea r lier, se nsit ivity and f reed om
from cross-mod ula t ion seldom g o hand in h and .
And in the circuit of F ig. I, fre edom from
cr oss-m od ula t ion requires remote-cutoff tubes.
T he sim ple change shown in Fig. 2 will make
34

13 MAGAZINE

a ny sharp-cutoff tube act like a semi-remotecutoff des ign, for reason s too comp licated t o
go into in detail here . Com ponent va lues in
thi s diagram, also, are ty pical-wit h the exce pt ion of the screen resistor, R 3, whi ch is a pplicable to any tube .
With t his change, yo u can sa fely use s uch
tubes a s the 6BC5, 6BC6, and 6DK6, all of
which give higher gain than most r emote-cutoff tubes.
If you decide t o switch t o triod es for th eir
lower-noise p roperties, you ca n take your pick
of a n umber of circu its . As mentioned before,
th ere is lit tle advantage in triodes below about
60 me, but in a f ew cases they work better
t h a n pe ntod es.
One of the sim plest triode circuits is the
grounded-grid a mplifier, shown in Fig', S. U se
of t hi s circu it requires t hat two st a g es he
employed, and overall gain will und oubtedly
be lower than with the older pentod e. N oi se ,
however, will drop more than sig na l st ren g t h ,
which mean s that a hotter tube can be u sed
in the if strip to bring back a ll t he lost gain
with lower front-end noi se.
The t wo st a ges r equired by most tri ode ci r cuits ca n be combined in the sa me s pace occu pied by a sing le pentode. One way of doing
thi s is by u sing t he cathode-coupl ed am plifier,
F ig. 4. Signal st r eng t h , again, will show a
slig h t drop compared t o the r eplaced pentod e
- bu t noi se will be much lower.
The only triode amplifi er ci rcui t ca pable of
com pet ing at equal st a t us with pentodes in
t he " stage gai n" department is the cascode,
show n in Fi g . 5. Gain is eq ua l to or greater
t ha n that of most pentode st a g es , while noi se
level is even lower than that produced by most
ot her t r iode circuits. Since compl ete analyses
of the circui t ha ve recently been p ubli shed

.BK7:...r=~~=h
---

",...-+-.,L'F-~

II

"

::(":
II

~--,:I

""II

~::

.,..::::l"'t'''''i1r----...,.-.....-----'

..."'

Fiq. 4. This cat ho de-co uple d amplifier can be

substitu t e d fo r stan da rd pe ntodes in a ny receiver. The on ly part ad ded to the receive r will
be the rf choke in the cathode lead .

el sewhe r e (see bibliography), it wo n't be gone

into in deta il here.
Any of th ese circuits can be const r uct ed on

*
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Patent Re 24 ,413
Other patents pending
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STACKING KIT
AS-IV.. $1.26

DEPT. 20, 34 W. INTERSTATE ST., BEDFORD, OHIO

73 MAGAZINE

35

681<1

"
"'"

,",r"'~

"n

... I '

,1

ez
"'

1,l,.
=

,iiI

~""
,",
""

"(

Fig . 5. This ceseede circu it is th e only triod e

rf a mpl ifie r which be a ts pen todes in their own
field. It can be built in with ad dition of only
four compon e nts .

a s ma ll plate of copper or tin- t an stock using

Vector turret sockets, and subs t it ut ed fo r t he
old octa l socket in the set. Naturally, t he receive r mu st be realigned after any such
change. .
T hese circuit s (except t he g roun ded-grid)
a re also adaptable to being constructed in the
form of plug-in units wh ich s im ply subst it ute
fO I" t he e xi sti ng rf tube . Com plete un its of thi s
nature are t he S-ge r, t he Im pr oved S-ger,
and the S-ger Ma r k II (see bibliogra phy
again ) . T he pentade circuit cha nge can al so
be incor por a t ed into a plug-in ad apter .
With noi se in the first rf st a ge minimized,
it 's time to check elsewhere in you r efforts to
attain t he u ltimate in sens itivit y. P reque ntly,
the mixer st a ge of a receiver makes a su bst a nt ia l noise contribution an d masks weak
sig na ls. This is especially true if the fir st rf
stage is not doing it s job properly, but by n ow
that portion of your set should be at peak performancc.
The d iffer e nce betv..een a quiet and a noi sy
mixer is largely a matter of tube choice. ~ li x e r
tubes de signed es pecia lly for low-noi se se r vice
include t he 6B A 7 a nd t he 6S B 7 ~ Y (now almost
ob solete.) T he GUS is a good one also but usually r equires ci rcuit changes.
If yo u don 't m ind exten sive su r ger y inside
the set . substi t u t ion of a 6AC7 operated a s a
pentode mixer a s shown in Fig. 6 will yield exceptiona lly low- noi se mixing a ction . H owever,
you may exper ience a bit of difficulty in r ea ligning the set aft er this change due to the
drastica lly differe nt circuit an d resulting
ch ange in circu it capacities .
Once the proper tube type is subs t it uted , a
few cha nges in circu it constant may increase
mi xi ng se nsit ivit y. Lowest noi se and g reatest
freedom from cross-modulation are obtained
with a non-gr-id-leak-bia sed mixer . Howe ver ,
s uch m ixers a re a lso t he me at sens it ive to va r iations in oscillator output and so are usually
avoided by set designers.
Bia s val ues for t he m ixer t ube of yo ur choice

as n

MAGAZINE

ca n be obt a ined fr om the tube-handbook c ha rts .

E it he r fixed grid bia s obta ined fr om the power
su pply 0 1' from a mer cury cell, or cathode bias
developed across a resistor of the prop er size
(as sho wn in Figures 6 and 7), can be used
instead of t he or igina l grid -leak bia sin g . The
gri d resistor can t hen be red uc ed in va lue, or
left unchanged.
W it h a ny biasing a rrangement ot her t han
t he g ri d- lea k circuit , m ixer pe rforma nce is
extrem ely dependent upon proper oscillator
inj ect ion voltag-e. Oscillator output mu st be ad j usted while listening to r eceived sig na ls , for
best results. At th e right point, you will notice
low noi se, good gain, and little distorti on.
E xcessi ve oscilla tor ou tput will resul t in red uced ga in and increased noise. while too little
out pu t gives relatively noise-free r esults but
little mixing gain.
A cir cui t for use of t he GUS is show n in Fig.
7. Note that no cou pli ng between oscill a tor
and m ixe r is indicated. All necessary couplin g
is provided by t he pr o xim ity of t he t ube section s wit hin the envelope. Th is circuit, ad apt ed
from the Lnte rna t ic nol Cr ystal .llig. Co. model

rc

"'",,) hr..,
r:'" r:
$llIQ;

:
i
3
II

"

"

_;:1--1--'"
"""

"(
",,""
"
"

Fig. 6. Th e 6AC7 mixer circuit show n here give s

lowest mixer stage noi se o ut p ut of a ny f re
quency con ve rters t e st ed . according t o resea rc h
reports. Its major d isadvantage is t he exte nsive
set surge ry requi red f or installa t io n.

F CV -2 converter , provi des exce ptional results

whe n preceded by one s ta ge of rf amp lification, even at 144 me,

W it h bot h th e rf sta ge and the mixer clea ned

u p. the re's littl e m ore to do in yo u r sea r ch for
se ns it ivit y. It's a good idea, howeve r , to check
A VC a ction after all modifications ha ve been
mad e. Tube a nd circuit ch a nges some t im es upset normal f unctioning of th is important circuit,
s ince action of the front e nd at low bias vol t a ge s may be vastly diffe rent f rom its a ct ion
ne ar t ube cutoff.
T o check AVe. tune across the broadcast
ba nd if you r receiver has one. Lackin g t hat ,
listen t o t he k ilowatt down t he block. E xa min e
t he sig na l carefully to see if you can detect
distortion , spla tte r , or oth er objectionable fea tures ( t he broadca st st ati on is r ecommend ed

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182 Roote 17

MARCH 1961

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....,

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..
iI

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DT1tEllOClTIOKS

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..***********************
13 MAGAZIN E

37

for t his test, s ince the cha r a cte r ist ics of it~
sig n a ls are more closel y controlled.} If you
s pot trouble. repea t the test on a weak sig n a l.
If troubl e is apparent on ly on st r ong signals , th e A ve ci rcui t probably is at fault .
Most usu al cause of t h is difficulty is ind iscriminat e tube s ubst it u t ion w ithout regard fo r
cut off c ha r a cte r ist ics ; a tube which goes dead
at 10 volts bias can't gi ve good results wh en
used on an A ve line developi ng 20 volts .
Double-check t he cutoff cu rves a nd values
fo r both t he old and the new tubes. If there's
much difference , r ig voltage divider s using the
AV e r esi stors (RI, Fig. 1) a s the upper leg
of the divid er to cu t AV e voltage down to
size. Thi s usually cu res th e problem.
After fi nish in g t his test and any necessary
rework, go back and repeat the senait ivit y
test. You s hould , now, have no difficulty in
r ea ching the antenna-noi se level. Tune a cross
10, 15, or 20, and note the difference . Your
receive r now has what it takes, wh ere it counts
-up fron t!

Fig. 7. Using half of a bUS t ube for the oscilla tor ond the other half os a miller. this circuit is
eepeble of ouhta nding perfo rmance et freq uen cies up t o 148 me. It req uires o nly one sta ;e of
rf amplificat ion ahead of it.

6UO

..

::,.........
".

II

::f
"
0

,--'00
, ....._ _....... eo

Bibliography
I.a n l(ronl-S m ilh . R a d io t r o n n ""ill'nt>r ,. He ndb....k. Foui-th
!': di t io n . Orr . W 6S AI. The Redt.. Handbook. 15t h t :diti"n . K y le. K flJKX . The S 9.., M a r k II . CQ. M a y . 1 9 f1~1.
Kyl (>. K flJK X. M.. r e o n t ht> S-9t>r Ma rk II. C Q . Decemh-r,
1959.
K j-le, K 5JK X. C a lW."od" nrtuits. 11 0 00' and Wh)", Elect ron il' lI Wo rld . Sep t em be r. 1960.
Feder-al T elephone and Rad io C". Rf' fer"nr" Uala for
Rad io ":nll"hl"t>U. 4th Ed ition.!'; a lltm a n . Fundam.ntalll or V a ruum Tub"".
Ca nter. W 6 T SQ. Th" S 9u . CQ. Ma y . 1956.

- --

Don 't Bug

lht> Imp royt'd s-se-. C Q. AU J,::tI"t. Hl.-,Ii.

H fld lork. Duill' n ('on"iut>rllti"nli o r 5 11\1 C'. t'en ...e r t e re.
QST. Mn rch, 19 57 .
Jones, W 6AJF. I."w .(~ro lill;a lk S;:\-.\lrt t' r ('"nyuln.
~ST. J un E'. 19 !t7 .

- A Iai/a M... fr"m R ar/i,. Hook.llto f' .

Dad I

Ke n

"THE O!"i LY g ood bug is a dead bu g," sa ys one '

Johnsen . W 6NK E

the message. N ow that one of th ese de sirable

lit tl e doohinkies graces you r operating table
of the TV commercials. A little listening
a re you r eady to step up and master it ?
on the C W bands may convince u s that t h is
You ca n an swer t his qu estion only after an ru le should be applied t o ham radio too. Not
so. Despite all of the horrible examples we
sweri ng a couple of others. First, can you
heal' on t he air it is true that any opera tor, handle a st r a ig ht key sa t isfa cto r ily at twenty
can master t hese s lip pe r y cu stomers. If you
\..-ords pel' minute? Second , ca n you m a ke solid
get the bug to use a bug get the bug'S out of
copy at le ast t he sa me speed or better'? If th e
th e hug' before you bug people.
'WS W(' l" is yes to t hese two latter questions , it
The first co ns ide r a t ion, of course, is ",'hat
will be yes to the first one . You a re now r ead y
kind of bug to buy. There are seve r a l fin e
to t ake the sac red oa th and vow of a ll good
models on the ma rket which boils th e sit ua - bug twiddlers, Repeat after me .
tion down to your own personal preference in
" I, Sam Lieberknocker," do take thi s oa t h
st yli ng, size and weight. Weight is an imand vow that I forever more w ill keep thi s
little monster under cont rol at all t imes and
pot-taut f a ctor since t here is nothing more
annoying than to ha ve th e bug go j umping ' never exceed the speed limit set by my own
around on your operating table from the f orce
capabilities. Thi s, I swea r to on a stack of
of your fi st. You ca n a lwa ys sc r e w it down to TVI com pla ints."
the de sk top, but a properly weighted base
Now th at thi s impressive ceremony is over
will r esult in one less hol e in your ex pensive
a nd we have dried t he t ear s of emot ion fr om
ham shack furniture.
We 'll gloss over the dub iou s finan cial
-In r-ase your n am e d Of. 1l n o t happen 10 be Sam Liebes-;
k nocker it i>l per-mis eab le to m ak e a r ellllu na bly a Cl'ura t e
h
1
st r -at egems you may ave . to emp o~ to promote
su bst tt u t fon fi ll lo n g as y ou do not make an y "th ~ r
yourself to bug ownership and skip ahead tc ... .m odifil'atif>fl>l. huweve r s lht ht. o f t his ritual.
)8

13 MAGAZINE

We Buy - Sell and Trade

TEST EQUIPMENT
( RECOND ITIONED )
SIGN A L

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TRIPLETT

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f REQ. METER. Some as above len CcUb. book .
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SCOPE, Tektronix 511 A
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SIGNAL GENERATOR, f ico 322, 150 k.c,102 m.e,
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G. Il. 80.5-A, Stando rd Sig . Gen., 16 k.c.-SO m.c .
G . Il. 916A, Radio Fre q ue ncy 8r id g e
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SIG. GEN ., Meosurements Corp. Mad. 7.5, 50 400
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COLLINS 7.5AI
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S27, AM-fM, 27-14.5 m.e., 11 0 v
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4.50 m.c., FM, RCA C IlU-1A, new
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GONSET COMMUNICATOR III , 6 m lr
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GONSET G -33, .5-3 4 m .c., new ...............
8. C. 344-0, 1.50-1.500 k.e., 11 0 v , .
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RAO2, .3- 17 m.c., 11 0 v
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IlBM, 2 -20 rn.c , 110 v
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APR.4, 38-1000 m .c
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GONSET M081LE CON VERTER, 10-20 15 ml r
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IlME, MC-.53 M08ILE CON VERTEIl, 2 -6-10 mlr
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GO NS ET MOB ILE CONVE RTER, 3 30 m.c
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SONA Il MO BILE Il ECEI VER, 10 -20 -7.5 mtr
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GONSEl M081 LE CONVEIlTER, 6 mfr. _
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GO NSET MOBILE CONV., 1.6-4 m.c. & 3 .6-6 m.c
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JOHNSO N Viking Chollenger . .....
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HEATH CO. OX 40 , 60 -7.5 wolt
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HEATH S81 0 , SSB odopter
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1 Mfd. .sooo v. oi l cond. . . _
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Vo cuu m Variable Cond., 30-300 m mf.
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500 , 0 .C. 280 mo., 310 v. 0 .C. -180 mo., 22 v. 8io s
12 v . 0 .C.-2 omp ., new
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18.00
900 v. 0 .C.-300 mo
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12 .00
Dual supply, 600 v. D.C. & 400 v , D.C.-2oo mg
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18 .00
SUPER-PRO power su pply by Hommorlund
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15 .00
Supp ly , 12-24 v , D.C.-.5 amp. . ... ... .. ... . ...
Slug - Se t heod DYNAMOTORS
.. .
9 .00
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1100 v. C.T.-300 mo .
2.500 v. C.T.300 mo.,
2 .5 v.- IO om.o., 10
2 .95
2 .5 v. -l0A .,6v.
kv. _...... . ....
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1400 v. no C.T. 100 m o ., 6 v.-4 omp., use tw o : or
6 .50
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8.50 -e , C.T.-4.50 mo., 750 -e , C.T.-2oo mo., and
4 .50
6 v.- 2 amp., .5 v.-3 omp., .5 v.-6 omp. . ...
1100 v. no (.T.-100 mo ., 71h v.-4 omp., use two
5 .50
fo r 1100 v.-2oo mo. f ull wave
2 for
18 .00
MO DUL ATiO N TRAN Sf ., 200 wo tt mu ltimotch
.

MISCELLANEOUS
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fREQ . SHIFT ADAPTO R, RCA -CfA 4.5, new
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2 .50
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freq . me'er, No v y LM type, new but Incomplete,
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le ss cover co nd., lllol, tubes .... - . . .. . . . . .
CO A X, RG-B/U .52 ohms, 50 ft. w ith 2 p lug s, new
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se o led pocks
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TG-34 A Keye r 524 .00,
Instruct og ro p h
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Si9nol generators, 172 , 100 k.c.32 m.e. . . .. . .. . . .
24 .00
Teletype receiver, Incl. 11 tubes & pow e r supply ..
19.00
Wilco)l( re ce ive r, F 3 or CW-3 .. .. . .. ... .. ..
4 .95
RU-16 re ce iver with 6 lub e s
.
4 .95
B. C. AR-231 receive r wi th 6 tubes

30.00
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Price s ere ba sed on {eir- reletlve value s. some it e ms Me new e nd some Me used .
Encl ose s uffi c jen ~ po ste q e . e_c ess wilt be retu rned.
F. 0

B. He mp ste ~d -25 % wit h C . O . D. ord e rs.

PHONE IV 90808

ALCERADIO CO.

37 GREENWICH ST., HEMPSTEAD, N. Y.

73 MA G AZINE

MARC H 19b1

3q

our eyes, let's get to work. First, blow some

of the heavier encr ustations of dust off old
code osci lla tor. Hook the bug to it and plug
it into the wall socket. \Vh oops ! There went
t he fu se! Now just replace it and the fried
filter condenser.
Once you have t he oscillator worki ng it is
time to ad j ust your bug'. F ir st , check t he adj ust ment of the pivot bearings on t he dot arma t u re. These should be loose enough to allow
the arm to move freely in a horizontal direction between the two stops but there sh ould
be very lit tl e vert ical play. Next , move t he
weig hts ou t t o the end of t he dot armature
and tighten them secu r ely. Loosen the right
hand dot armature stop adju stment. Operate
the armature with your left hand and set the
stop so that when the p addle of the bug is relea sed , t he a r mat ure damper st ops all a rma ture vibration at t he in stant it comes to re st
agains t the sto p. Screw down the locknut and
take a drag on your. cig a r ette. Relax, you
should never have to make this adju stment
agai n. Now set t he left hand a rmature stop
so th at the ti p of the armatu re t ravels in approx imately a half inch arc.
\Vith th e dot armature pushed over against
the left hand stop, screw the adju stable dot
contact up until it touches the spr ing contact.
Check to see that th ey align perfectly, t hen
back the adj ustm ent off again. Operate the
dot armature and adjust the contacts until
you can hear approximately ten good clean
dots before the armature quits bouncing. Lock
the adjustment and relax again. Set the da sh
cont act s pa cing and spring tensions to your
liking and we're ready to g ive the lit tle ra scal
a tri al twiddl ing.
The- proper way to handle the paddles is up
to: you. Of course, there's no way out of using
your t humb on the dot s ide. Fo r the da sh
side, pick a fi nger that's handy and comfortable a nd relax your arm. The secr et of good
clean sendi ng on your bug is to keep your
arm and wrist relaxed and use a smoot h combination of wrist and finger motion, plus
rhythm. A good exercise is to sit and practice
sen ding a se r ies of V's.

Fire up your receiver and tu ne around on

the commercial freq uencies until you fi nd a
s ta t ion r unning arou nd twenty to twenty-five
words per minute wi th tape sending. If you
happen to have the type of receiver that tunes
only the ham bands, don't be d iscouraged ,
t here are ple nty of commer cials u sing t hese
freq uencies too .
Nov.. that you've found on e, listen to the
dots. Cock your ot her ea r t oward your oscillator and punch th e dots on your bug. Adju st
the weights on the dot armature until they are
t he sa me speed a s the ta pe. If t hey seem too
heavy or light after th is maneuver, a slight
adj ust me nt of th e spa cing between the dot
cont a cts will remedy thi s. Of course, if you
are lucky enough to have your own tape machine, you can forget about the above system
an d check your b un ag ainst its sendi ng. W e
all know t hat a da sh is s up posed to be three
times a s long a s a dot. Remember this and
get your la test copy of "73" off the shelf and
practice sending t ext from it. Try to make
your fi st a s identical a s you ca n to t a pe se nd ing and don 't worry about picki ng up speed.
On e of the common faults of some bug tw iddlers is that they send their dots at sixt y
wpm and their dashes a t twenty. Speed will
come with pr-actice.
You 've no doubt not iced that between us we
haven't eve n menti oned trying your bug out
on the air. I know you're anxi ous to give it a
whirl bu t please think of the guy who would
ha ve to try and unscramble your fir st efforts.
Listen arou nd for awhile and you'll find the
ty pe of cha racter who ha s learned to sen d
CQ and his call very n eatly on hi s bug. Th en
listen to what happens when he comes back
to a call. li e sends 6s for d's and b's, i-n for
t, etc. etc. The point is that you certainly have
more respect for you r repu tat ion a nd th at of
your st at ion than to get on the a ir before you
can handle yours. It may be boring but keep
at it with the oscilla tor an d practice, but t he
practice you get in t his manner will make the
di fference bet ween the s mile of appreciation
whe n an other ham t une s you r sig na l or h a ving
him la ugh a s he tunes aw ay from "that Li d !"

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DX Amateurs.

40

73 MAGAZINE

~~~I
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Price tor either design $1.95

each. Add 4% tax in Calif.
Approx. size H '4 " x 9 '" . Mailed
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Mod. 4/111 dnicned for ne

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Mod. 4/112 is dl!Sicned for us.
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Versalile Miniature Transformer

Same as used in W2EWL SSB Rl( - March
1956 QST. Three sets of CT windings for
a combination of Impedances: 600 ohms,
5200 ohms, 22000 ohms. (By using eentertaps the impedances are ouartered.) The
Ideal t"nsformer for a SSB transmitter.
Otller uses: rnterstase, transistor, high
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etc. Size only 2" h. I 4" W. I ,," d.
New and fUll, shielded.

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SAME DAY SHIPM~NT FROM STOCK

..

A Voricop

Rob ert E. Belrd W 7C SD

Box 2381 Oretec h Bre ac h
Kleme th Fa lls. O reqcn

Tun ing Device

For the Blind 0 perotor

F RO~I time to time variou s devices have been

rigged up to make it possible for the blind

operator to tune hi s transmitter. The basic
problem is always to furnish an audible sig na l
that will indicate maximu m or m ini mum current norm a lly noted visually on a mete r. Si nce
t he advent of modern t r ansmitter s t ha t switc h
a single met er, in ma n y mo de ls w ith t he mete r
on t he ground side, to severa l circu its t he
problem has become less complex.
The unit to be described in this article centers around the Varicap and a few other small
components. w e will a ssume the tran smitter
to be u sed ha s a basic meter movement of
0 - 1 ma , a s th is is very common. If such is
not the case modi fy R to a va lue th at w ill
h a ve about 2 volts IR drop a cro ss it f or f ull
sca le met er r eadi ng . The fo llowing circu it w ill
make ope ration of t his device a lmost self
evident.
wi t h a maximum of 2 volts IR drop across
R it can be see n the voltage applied to the
Varicap will vary from 1 to 5 volts depending
on the magnitude and polarity of the current
to be mea sured . Since t he voltage a ppl ied to
t he V a r icap determines the cap acity of th e
Vat -i cup it w ill a lso t u ne t he B F O of the r eceiver an d hence ch a nge t he p itch of t he note
if t he receiver is t uned to a ny fi xed carrier.

O peration
After the components have been installed ir;
the receiver, t une to a ny fixed carrier. with the
BF O t ur ne d on and pitch control t uned t o
midrange, a djust whatever parallel contr ol
t here may be, (ca pacitor w ith screw driver adjust or varia ble slug) u ntil the beat note
zeros . T he receiver is now back to normal. Now
tu ne the pitch control 150 or 200 cycles on the
high s ide. Plug t he metering cord into the connection in transmitter which will put R in
series with basic meter movement. Energize
low power stages a nd turn switch to amplifier
gri d. If a ny g rid cur rent is being dra wn a t a ll
the pitch of t he BFO will increa se. The higher

42

73 MAGAZ INE

r-<> .. ... <>-;:)

...AR ICAP
'1C4 7

2 5 1ll H

'--<> ..... 0---+

PITCH CO" TI'IOl.
I" R CVR O R

,\C ROM PART

0 " GRID CII'ICUIT

TO IllE TER
I" KW T I'I
( SU HES)

t he current t he highe r the p itch w ill be. T une

for ma ximu m pit ch wh ich w ill be maximum
g r id cu rre nt. N ow tu r n switch to amplifier
pla t e and t u ne for m inimu m p itch. Minimum
pit ch will ind ica t e m inimum plate cu rrent.

Note
In case it is not known which is the low or
h igh frequency side or in case you wired
the Va r ica p and battery u si ng reversed pola r ity it m a y be desir abl e t o get visua l a id th e
first time. Wh ich ever side w ill g ive a n increase in p itch w ith an in crea se in cu rrent an d
a decr ea se in pi tch with a decrea se in current
is the proper s ide to u se. \Vit h a little practice a blind person will be able to tune as
close by ea r a s others can by eye. Sensitiv ity
is a functio n of how far off zero you tune the
BFO a nd also the s ize of the variable ceram ic
capacito r i n ser ie s with t he Vari cap. A li t tle
ad justment of both may be necessary.
The ill ustra tion shows t he components in
pla ce directly on the arid of t he BFO on a n old
lIRO. " 'i r ing wou ld be eq ually s imple on a ny
comm un ications receiver.

C aution
Don 't try to use thi s circuit if your transm itter is met er ed in the h igh voltage side of
t he circuit.

MARCH 1961

Noise Clipper
Semi-Conductor Style

EVANS OFFERS

A I Newland W2 1HW

the current t ren d towards miniaturizatio n a nd the a ttract ive pr ice of s ilicon
diodes, we now can co nst r uct a sm a ll inexpensive sem i-cond uct or noi se clipper. A s sh ow n
in F ig. 1, the pre-fabricated clipper is s m a ll
enough to conveni ently fit i nto a printed circuit
t ype radi o. If you do not care fo r the pre-fabricated version, you may wire t he component s
in directly, a s they are all sm a ll and se lf sup porting.
In selecti ng the diode, we are interested in
its back r esist ance and a value of a t least 100
megohms is desired . T he back resistance may
be ca lcul a ted by di vidi ng the P IV by the ba ck
current . T he two latter values can be obtain ed
from the publi shed cha r a cte r ist ics of t he diode .
\Ve mention t he foregoin g to p reven t the builder from s pe nding unn ece ssary time looking for
t he exact diode that we used .
It is s ugg ested t hat th e va lue of t he capacitor C1 be found e xperim entally aft er the un it
is in o pe r a t ion . A valu e between .001 and
.005 is s ugg ested . In the schem a t ic, we show
a .005. In t he photo of th e actual u nit , a .001
is show n . In cr e a sin g t he value will incr ea se the
clipping- a ction. Excessive clipping will clip
too much audi o. If you desire t o make provisi ons for s w it ch ing the clipper in and out,
a s ingle pole single throw sw itch connected
a cross t he di ode is s a t isf a ctor y.
N ote : The unit show n in photo is l "x % ". 73

COMPLETE SERVICE

IT H

,,,..----

----,
I

,
,

To HAMS - - By HAMS
(12 licensed e mpl o ye e s)

TRADE INS
(o n new or used units)

TIME PAYM ENTS

jrle ..ibl e , finonced ourselves)

ENG IN EE RING DEPARTMEN T

(bac king a ll equ ip men t sa les)

RECONDITION ED EQUIPM ENT

largest in ven to ry in the Northeast

EXP ERIENC E 26 years as :

CUT THIS OUT'

W ell , you d on't rea lly have t o cut this page.
W hat we want you to do is let us know which
articles In 73 you found most interesting .
W inner gets edra money and all that. Helps
us give you whot you li ke in the future too.
Num ber at Ieest t he fi rst five best liked articles.

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

DETECTOR

,.J''

,1-

"YOUR FRIENDLY SUPPLIER"

I
I

,
,

EQUIPMENT a nd COM PON ENTS

(Hom - He ctr c ni c Ele ctri cal)

- - Tra nsl<'lt ion

- -Xsisto r G OO
- - I a n Interfer
--~S u p e r re g e n

T=
VOL....
CONTROL

MARCH 1961

-'

-+A""'"

- -De bug ging

- -Top Load ing
- - CW Xmissio n
- -All Band Ant
--IDouble PS V.
- -Po tch Petch
- - ,432 me Xsistcr
- -2M Xmlr

1
\

--Sq uaw k Box

--Up Front
- -Don't Bug
--V<'Iric<'lp
- - Noise Li m
- - 8 0M DXing
- - DC Me te r Amp
- -Moto rol a Test
- - Propagotio n
--Sine YB
- -Save- Lee rn
- -F;le QSO',

'""

>

73 MAGAZI NE

43

80 Meter
Phone DX
Sam Harris WI FZJ, Chief Op at W IBU
Fred Collins WI FRR
Microwave Associate s, Inc.
Bu rl ington, Mess.

"CQ IlX80:' This is a familiar ca ll heard on

the low end of the 75 meter phone ban d d uring- the winter seas on. Usually one th ink s of
DX on 75 meters to mean a contact two s ta tes
away, but we mean a cont act in excess of 3000
miles such a s Europe or Asia or some far
exot ic country. In ot he r words OX on 75 meters
mean s the same a s it does on 20 or 15. Working
OX on 75 takes a s pecial type of operation,
if you want to work OXCC as fa st as poss ible t hen you had better st ick to 10, 15 or
20; but if you are interested in doing it the
hard way, 75 is your band. If you are interes ted in working DX r eliably, it is very des ir able to ha ve some so r t of vertical antenna
and medium to high power, Although when
conditions are good almo st any antenn a confi g u r at ion will produce excellent r esult s.
A great deal of exp erimenting- ha s gone in to
75 meter DX anten nas both for tra nsmittingand r ecei ving. T o date the most sa tisf actory

all-rou nd a ntenn a h as been a sl oping vertical

antenna. I n or der to cons t r uct thi s antenna
you mu st have one high ma st preferabl y in
the 100 foo t region, a nd st r ing' a di pole toward s the groun d at a 30 to 40 angle. If
necessa r y, because of li mit a ti ons in height,
the dipole may have loading coils at the ends.
This type of antenna will be directive towards
t he low end with a front-to-hack ratio of 15
to 25 db depending upon the angle of the r eceived s ig na l. It ha s been fo und that a tru e
vertical ha s t oo Iow an angle for most 75 met er
DX work . T he sta nda r d 75 meter (quarte r
wave) high fl at d ipole un der most conditions
will do qui t e well.
:\lost of t he European st ations oper ate fr om
3780 to 3800 a ltho ugh if r equested they will
go down into t he CW band about 3600 kc. The
44

73 MAGAZINE

Sout h Afri can st at ions operate between 3690

and :WOO. Th e New Zealand, A ustralia, Central a nd South American boys are a pt to appear anyw here from 3HOO kc all the way up
to and including our phone band. F or the
most part the Un it ed States st a tions transmit
between 3800 and 3830 kc on lower s ideba nd.
Most of t his work is done on aingle sideb and
using lower sideba nd, but is n ot necessary
limited to SS B as ma ny of the DX stat ions
worked are operating AM a nd have a good de al
of success. A receiver with select a ble sideba nds,
good select ivity and sensit iv it y is almost a
necessity due to t he very high interference on
the DX st at ions frequ ency.
T he received s ig-na ls usually ra nge from S l
to S8, therefore some sor t of notch filter or
Q m ultip lier is qu ite helpf ul in eli min ating
dead carriers and C\V st at ions that appear in
the form of interference. As far a s eliminating A:\I or SSB interference th ere is not mu ch

Ga rland Tomlin KIIDR and his medium power

OX final amplifier
MARCH 19b1

tha t can be do ne about it if it's in t he passband

exce pt sha r pe n up the rece iver and try to
ignore it.
The European st a t ions have been coming
throug-h i n the late afternoon around 2100
GMT t hroug-h 0800 GMT. Whe n the E uropean s
st a r t coming- t hroug-h it is s t ill dayligh t he re
and of course it's well into the evening there.
Because of t his lig-ht and dark zone a type
of one way s kip is quite a ppa re nt . About one
hour after su nset they are abl e to st a r t hearing u s . T h is one-way sk ip is ca used by the
nu mbe r of t imes ou r s ig na ls mu st get re flected
in the high absorption lig-ht area versus t he
long rela tively low absor-ption dark area they
are I n.
The results obta ined i n the pa st few years '
DX test s h a ve been ve ry g r atify i ng indeed.
\VIB U work ed \ VA e in t he course of one
e ve ning t ha nks to 4X.J.DK a ppea r ing on 80
meters SSB . Early evening skeds have been
held with GW3 E IlI-:, F7HC, GW5TJ and several ot her E uropea ns with good s uccess.
W IB U and \V I F OS h a ve been h old ing la t e
schedules with G2 IlX, PAffFM, GW3E HN,
G6VX, D I~P I, YV5ANS, ON~ZA, 4X4DK,
UAID2 and many ot he r thi s la st winter with
only one or two except ions . ZC4 A K has been
coming t hrough from Cyp r u s with fai l' s ignal s. ZLI ACG and ZL2A IX with good s ig na ls
have been heard and worked con si stently anytim e after 0500 Z. ZS6Al\lV, ZS6AJ H and
ZS6K D ha ve come through with fair sig na ls.
If your in terest ha s bee n aroused a nd you
don 't mind working fo r your DX drop in on
the low end of 75 and try your hand at it.
We su r e could u se more DX s ta tion s on 80
phone. CU on 75.
. . . \VI FRR

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71011: $2 9 9 5

" EICO " GOO Kit #71 0K

ond 0 50ms b ook, " 101
TEM - 6 . $2' 50 Woys
to use your Hom T~ sl
Equ ip ment." This b ook hO I 6 7 poges on ho w t o
UIC th e G OO
He re i : m y DEA L b o th o f ebeve 5 31. 45 Pre -p cld
10 you
Dele W9NZJ /ex W BGDE

Dale' s Electro n ic S " fl lll" Co .

1125 Eo sf Mich igon

St r~~1

M ICH IG A N CIT V. INDIANA

with

Send f or (o r, at yo ur d istr ibutor), PL 77 Technical Speci f icat ions an d Perform ance Bull et in desc ribi ng 10 6 Ant en nas f ro m % th rou gh 80 meters
incl udi ng " BAL UN"- FED ROTATA BLE DIPOLES,
MONO, DUO, TRI . 4 BAND AND " SPIRALRAY"
ANTE N NAS. ROTATOR/I N DICATOR SYSTEMS,
TOWER S, BR OADBAND "BALUNS ," ACCES
SORIES AND " NI CE TO HAVE AROU ND YOUR
SHACK" INFO.

For TOPMANON
THEFREQUENCY results,

ANTE NNA S

Install a Telrex anten na . .. dollar for

doll ar better in eve ry way! Antenn a

1921

systems from $6.95 t o $1 2 ,000 .00

MARCH 1961

SI NC E

C o mmun ic ation a n d TV A ntennas

rex LABORATORIES
ASBURY PARK 40, NEW JERSEY, U.S.A.

73 MAGAZINE

45

A Transistorized
DC Meter Amplifier
Roy A . M cC <'.lrt hy. K6EAW

737 W. Mexrim Ave.

Fu llerton . C a lif.

RAGrICALLY everyone has an inexpensive

P0 -1

rna meter around the sh a ck or in the

junk box. By using this sim ple ampl ifier circu it t he sensitiv ity can be increased to 10
mic roamps f ull scale, a nd th e zero can be adjust ed to the cen ter or right end a s well as
the u sual left en d. B y a dd ing a fe w selected
m ultiplier res istors and a ra nge swi tc h a voltmeter with 100,000 ohm s/volt can be quickly
a ssembled. Or, if u sed with the capacity meter
in the October '60 issue, a s low a s 10 mmfd
full sca le can be measured. Field Strength
meters al so benefit by the addition of a linear
current amplifier with a gai n of 100.
The circuit is the f amiliar b alan ced amplifier, w ith the addit ion of bot h pos iti ve and
neg a t ive fe edback. T he positi ve f eedback obtained w ith Rl and R3 in Fi g. 1 increases the
gai n of the circu it by a sli gh t amou nt to compensate for transi stors which have a bit less
gain than desired. Negative feedback is provided by R4 and R6 and is controlled with R5
to set the gain to exactly 100. The two tra nsistor s are first select ed a s closely matched
as is conve nient for Bet a and Ic O. Fu r ther
bala nci ng- is done w ith R3 and R2 . R2 is also
used to set th e ze ro posi tion of the pointer.
T he battery, Bl, can be a r eg ul ar or penli ght
fla shl ight cell, s ince the circuit is relatively inse nsit ive to wide changes in the voltage. Zer o
drift with a temperature change fr om 75" F

ZERO SET

0-1",,,

sr

'"0'

TRI- TR2

2N138A

"' 0'

BALA N'CE

"

'00

4b

73 MAGAZ IN E

"roc

:"'- 8 1
- l 5_

6 ",,,

to 115" F was less than ten percent.

The tran si stors u sed were a pair of 2N l38's
with Bet a of 130 and l eO of 6 u A. Other su itable types would be the Raytheon 2N467 or the
General E lectric 2N508.
A n inex pensive t rim pot was used fo r R5
s ince it is a " set a nd f or g et " control. A screwdr iver adj u st pot was used f or R3 since it is
also a set-up control. The zero set , R 2, and the
switch 8 1 are all that are requ ired to be u sed
in normal operation, and could be combined
if desired. TR1 and TR2 should be mounted
close together and away from any sources of
heat if t he ampli fier is mou nted in a ny ex isting vacu um t ube gear. T he m eter u sed had a
resi stance of al most exactly 100 ohms. Use of
me te rs w ith a different r esistan ce ma y r equ ire
adding a sl ight am oun t of fi xed res istance in
series in order to avoid changing the other
circu it constants . Obv iou sly the iron-va ne type
meters which require seve r al volts for operation cannot be used .
:\' othing is ever obtained free and the h idden price he r e is the increase in im peda nce.
T he ci r cuit tu r ned out to have an input i mpedance of 8400 ohms, a s co mp ared t o the
or iginal 100 ohms of the basic met e r moveme nt . F or a current gai n of 100, we h ave the
impedance increa se of a lmost 100. A ctu al
measured voltage sensitivity was 84 mv at
10 p'a full seale, which is still much better than
a popular 100,000 ohm /volt multi meter.
T he init ial set -u p consists of setting R3 to
a pproximately 10K, adj usting R 2 to g ive a n
on - scale readi ng, t hen shorti ng the input
a nd noting the r ead ing. R emove t he short , set
U:3 to t he noted read ing, t h en se t R2 t o zero
the met er and apply a known cu rrent or voltage. A separate fla sh light cell and a 300K
ohm resistor will su p ply 5 ua . R 5 is then adjusted to give the deaired gain for 10 IJ-a or
..... 5 fla . The controls have some interaction so
nil adju stments should be repeated several
times until the circuit is bala nced and calibru ted . Th e in put im pedance s houl d be a llowed
1'0 1" in cnlcu lu t.l ng low voltage multi plie rs .
73
MARCH 19b1

COAXIAL TYPE SWITCHES

. . . now available in single or multi-position
N ow }'OU ca n switch coaxial line circuits quickly and
without e rro r. T hese handy, inexpensive uni ts a re
available with " UH F", " B NC', "N" a nd Ph ono type
connectors [or use with either 52 or 75 ohm lines.
Phono connector types are specifi c for Hi-Pi applications. Othe r types a re des igned to handle RF Power
up to 30 M e, 1 K W input.

Stock items ready for shipment a re:

Model SSOA-S i n g r ~ gang, single pele, 5 position switch
with UHF connectors. Pr ice : $8.25 eoch,
Model 551A- Si ng l. gang. 2 pole, 2 position special purpose
switch w it h UHF co nne cto rs . Id e al f o r swit ch ing a ny d ev ice
in o r ou t of series connection in COOl( line cir cuits. Price :
$7 .95 e o ch.
Model 560-5 in91. gong, sing le pole .5 position swit,h. some
as Model 550A ex,ept with aNC type een neetere. P, k e :
S11.95 eeeh,
Model 561- Single go ng. 2 pcle, 2 position special purpose
switch. same a s Model 55 1A except with aNC t ype co nnectors. Price : $9.95 each.
Model 570--Sing le ga ng. single pole. 5 pos ition switch, sa me
a s Model 550A exce pt with N t ype connectors. Price :
$13.35 each.
Model 580--Sing le ga ng, s ing le pole, 5 positio n switch,
same as Model 550A except with Pho no type connectors.
P,ice : $7.35 e e eh,

For. irn Sl ln-Royll H,Itionl l Colp., 1SO West

Mult iple ga ng types, up to 6 gan g for single pole-5

posit ion switches. a nd as requ ired fo r 2 pole-2 position switches. a rc made to order with any connector
types listed above. Prices on request.

OTHER B&W EQUIPMENT: Trl nsmitt. r, AM CWSSB Tun' ~tor iled Pow!'\'
COll v"I", I nd lllVlfl. rs Dip MII.iS M..tchmasl.n FI'QuIMY Muttipl 'lf'
low PISS f illers . T.R S..." ,hes . R.F. fil ..mltll Chokes . rr..nsmittin. R.F.
Pili' Chokes . B.nd_Sw;tctlin. PiN. IWl)lk Induclors Cydom.I.rs . Anl.nn.
COll i.1 Connectors . Baluns Vlrilble C.p",ilon . Toroidal Trlnslorm.rs . FIled
and Rolary edalWOu nd Indlldoll PIII. -in Coils with Iixed iJ nd vlliiJbl.links
Stniaht l yp. l ir Wl)lInd (Oils in I , "",v 01 dimen'ions.

13adut s qy~. ci~.

Ca nal & Beaver

Bristol , Penna.

~ 1tll

st., N_ YOlk 19, N.Y.

A COMPLETE 6 OR 2 METER RECEIVER

f or on ly

95

including built-in I 10 volt AC power supply and loudspeaker

Only 3 inches high, compl etely e nclose d in ca binet

exce llent se ns itivi ty with sta ble, sc pe rreq e ne reflve detector
RF stage fo r incre esed sensiti vity an d enten ne lsoletion
re ceiver mut ing sw itc h for ste ndbv-re cei ve
fully tren sfcrme r ope ra ted
fe e teres d e pe nda b ility e nd steble ope ration
kit incl udes pre- tuned coils for e ese of cons truction
q uelitv componen ts used t hro ug ho ut assure d epe ndability

Mode l SOS A (s ix meters) or Model SObA (two mete rs) kit, complete with ste pby-step co nstruct ion ma nu al
,. .,
. $29.95
Mod e l SOSA o r Mod el SObA , wired , factory tested
. 49.95
Ne il Model ALPH A six meter transmitter ki t , feat ure s fi nest qu ali ty modulati on, crystal switchi ng, front panel controls, tuni ng mete rs, cabinet 3 inc hes
high, 20 watts inp ut, lo w freq uency oscillator not ove rto ne type
. 58.50

See your d ealer or order from:

THE

NEIL CO. 1336 Calkins Road, Pittsford, N. Y. Baker 56170

MARCH 19b 1

13 MAGAZINE

47

20lC S W

0:="1/

::
o--J I :.
( ?O =:',
,
0

0-'"
,0

4 711I lWATT

...

0 6

-.\A

47MlWATT

,,
,
,

-- -.
SPEAKER

M otorola Test
Set
Be ryl Dassow W9 HKA

RF D 2. Clifton, Illi nois

BE unit pictured is a handy gadet to have

around on one's workbench w hile converting t he popula r Fl\1 two-way rad io sur plus
eq uipmen t to th e s ix a nd two meter a ma te ur
frequencies.
Thi s used out-dated commercial gear is d ri ft ing' into our amateur cha nnel s in an eve r i ncreasing r a t e a nd a s im ple switch box is cert a inl y a we lcom e a dd iti on fo r alignment checks .
A r eg ul ar test set can be obt a ine d f or someth ing a litt le ove r $150, however th is is u suall y
out of the question even to most Civ il Defense
or g a niza tions.
T he unit a s descri be d was design ed wit h t he
idea of checki ng the al ignm ent of the Motoro la
;W-D a nd !:t V un its of which our loca l CD is
equip pe d. T he older 30-D u nit s provide a meter
switch and a ll that is necessar y is a good 0-5 0
micro ammeter. However the 5V and la ter
uni t s pr ovid e a 11 pi n test socket in both t he
r ece iver a nd tran smitte r sections f or ext e r na l
mete!" switching and hence the need f or th e
sw itc h box ar-rangement.
Ot her features of th is unit are t he push-totest s wit ch , micro phone j a ck and rf j a ck for
overall check of the t runsmitter output.
Ma ny othe r ide as will no doubt co me to th e
rea de r's m ind pa rt icularl y those who have
s pent some time in converting t hese u nits . F or
exam ple, a transi stor ized crysta l osc illa tor
could be wired in for checking- purposes. Th e
exte rna l spea ke r co uld be m ou nt ed intern ally
by us ing a la rge!' box.
W hil e a meter movement of a h igher b a s ic
range may be used with almost equa l result s,
the 0 to 50 microummete r wi ll g-i ve s im ilar
read ings a s described in t he Motorola m a intcn a nce ma nual s.

(Continued on pa g e 50 J
48

73 MA GAZ INE

MARC H 196 1

Ham Headl ines

If ham radio ''lokl's tilt: " nt's/,opers in )'0 ' 1" I OU '" /'l ease
send a clipping to .\10"'11$ L ipt on J' E JD QX, 3 11 R osema r)' R oad , T oronto 1 0, O nta rio . Can ada. ,\[ ll yt' i " J"I," S til e
73 X r;('.r S e n-i,"c . a monthly /,u Ni,-at ioll SCllt t o all cdit ar s
0/ cl ub bltl!rti,I S. /II' Tr, U di!lcst t he 1II (lst i m!, ortollt
stories that arc s ubm itted cadi mOllth f or liS to prillt ill 73.
A JI) HJ. ISD nov
( T h ", E nninK H u tt e un, Prevtd enee , R . I 8u b m itt"d b y
WDI U Z ) H . Ha ymond Alexand er, Sr., KIGR(i, w a s t he
fi r~t to t r a n ami t lin uppea l for funds t h at w o u ld he t r u n eIa ted i nto n receiver- with H rullle dilll ,. a nd k nobs (o r a
12Yt'llr_old hoy: R oy Sas si. Ap proximatel y $8 0 of th e
$fiOO so u g- h t 11l1l' been ra i"et! t o d a t e for the fund w hic h
closely r esem bles a d r-ive held abou t 2% yea r-s ago, when
a 9-y('a r-old gi rl, req ui rinl':' I:H; s k i n I':'raltll, received 2 16
tons o f QSI. card s fro m wel l wish inlC hams.
II A ~I S

HRITO N H E AnS n AIHO W AR NI N (; T O S J-: L ASS n-:

( D a il y Mail , E n gle nd , su b ml t t e d by ( ; 2Il1IV ) F i r s t n ew s
of the J-:th ioll ian coup w a s recei v ed by John Turrl"lI,
G2CnN, on h i" 10 tube. e il':' ht y ea r o ld , 25 pound r ec e ive r ,
C I'M h in j{ throul':'h th e c h irp inl':' o f Hilly, J ohn' s budae r tKa r, came t h e messaze o n 15 meters " C Q C Q lit" ET3XY.
In fo r m h is lmpel"ia l Maj es ty th e Empe ro r now in B r a zil,
tha t a l' U U JI d ' e t at h a s tak en pluee." Ef hlopiun offlciula in
London we re notified im m edintelv .
D RlJ(; TO C III L D I S B UEN O S AmES
( T hl" E nn in ll: RuU l"tin , Phil ad elph ia , Pa., K u b mi tt ~ b y
J . R os..n we ld, 2 nd ) A lbe rt Fernand e s , H , o f C roydo n ,
picked up an emerg ency me"""j{t" b ef nz fl a shed ov er- S ou t h
A merk u u n d came to the r e"c ue u f younK MIL Iin G rlmi"e lli , cl"il icaJl y i ll i n hOll p ital in Buen os A i r e s . Fer nundez
contacted a docto r in the Lowe r B u cks Coun t y H os p it a l,
who i n t urn ar ra n g ed t o h ave a new an t ibiot ic drug r-u ahed
to Arl{en t ina b )' a ir. \ \o'i thin 2 -1 h ou rs t he Kirl had r-ec e ived the m ed ici ne a n d res po nded to it.
HA~ I

c um es

W 6 AL ERTS 1".8 .1. WITH I LI. E G A I. Hl G

( S a n IH E'g o Hail y Press , Ca li f. . s u b m ft fed b y lI u g h
Com p t o n, W HIKW ) J am E'S P , Green, 18 , o r Sa n Dieao ,
Cal if . a freshman at Collt"gt" an d h am operato r plan t ed
an u nide n t i fied , r adiating r iJ,:" o n ~It . Solebad caus inJ,:" a
g e n era ! alarm in the a r ea. A fter a 5 d a y s e a rc h b y t he
F .C.C.. e. D .. and F .B.I ., th t' Intermitt en t sig na l aou r ce
W Ill! loented. T b e yo u th . whu WI(>! n ot t aken i n t o custody ,
was q uoted a s !<lly i nll that he hid the r ig "to t es t ou r
em e r sre ncs- networ-k II. KJl. in"t e n emy jam m tn e ." At last
r eport t he F .e .C . w a s cu ns id eri n g pu nj ti ve act io n reaa rd inl{ t he m isdemeano r .
, . , VE3 1lQ X

IN THE

Illuminated Sign,
just like broad.
cast stations.
Reall y dre sse s u!? t he sho ck . Wall o r to b le moun t . Stee l
ca se in b lock o r g rey , bright red le tters on whi te bClc k ground. 10112 " x 3 112 " x 3" . Avoilo b le in other Ion.
gou g l"S, wi th yo u r call leiters, o r what do you won t it to
soy ? . . . a dol la r e xt ra. AC /DC 6 -12-120v (s pe cif y).
Can sh ine ou t b ack wi ndo w of your car a t n igh t,
moun t o n )our ri g , o u ts ide shoc k d o or, o r where have
you

a t yo ur distributor
STELLAR ELECTRONICS, 80x 82, Garland. Tex,
ANNOUNCING THE

.eborrctr1>t

2M CONVERTER
SU PER LOWNOI SE-CUSTOM BUILT
US ING RCA', NEW NU VISTOR
PAUL A, REVEAL W2ADD BOX 575
Church Street Stat ion, Ne w York 8 , N . Y.

l 'm .El'YI' EUIHT.;n . ;C! UII,UENT

COL LI N S 5 1J2. S1J3 , R-390Aj URR Re ce ivers (.50 30 .5 MC)
TE LE TY PE Printe rs ';;14, # 15. ~ 1 9. ::20, # 26 .::28.
KLEIN SCHM IDT Printers # TT-4 A, TT76 , TT-98, TT-99.
TT HiO, GGC 3 .
TELE W RITER Freq uency Sh ift Con verter.
For gene ro l inform a fion & e q u ipme nt list w rite :
To m W 1A FN

ALLTRONICSHOWARD CO.
Bo x 19, Boston I , Man.

Ric hm o nd 2-0048

Air Force MARS

Eastern Technical Net
Sundays 24 pm EST, 3295, 7540, 157 15 kc .
March 5- Phy sics a nd C hem istry of P:; ~ e
Me ta ls.
March 12- Se mico nd ucf ors.
Me ech 19- The rmio nic Powe r Gen e ro tio n.
Mar ch 26- The rmo nuclea r Powe r.
Apr il
2- Sing le Side b and C o nsi d e re fions .
April
9- So me Aspe cts o f Rece iver Desig n.

WEST It'

===---

V\VIESotIEI~ 'N li~ID>IIO

rtf]

.,

~~Jiili:'o1"''''''

-~

and nUYISION
SUPPLY
) CO.

- ~
_.<

fOR OVER 25 YEARS ONE OF THE WEST'S OLDEST AND LARGEST fIRMS
DEVOTED EXCLUSIVElY TO AMATEUR AND ElECTRONIC EQUIPMENT.

1331 India St.

P. O. Box 1728
M ARCH 196 1

San Diego 1, Calif.

BElmont 9-0361
13 MAGAZIN E

49

(Continu ed from pag e 48)

I n order to determine which position of the

selecto r s witch corresponds to what section of
t he ci rcu it under test, a small na me plate
holder is affixed to t he s ide of th e cabinet with
the fo llowing informat ion .
Receiver
# 1-3rd IF G rid
# 2- ht Limiter
# 3- 2nd Lim ihr
# 4-Disc. (Se c)
# 5- Disc. ( Pri)
# b-Multiplier G rid

# 7- 81."
# 8- Sla nk

Transmitter
Mod ulat or G rid
1st Quadrupler G rid
Trip ier Grid
I st Doubler Drive r
Doubler Driver G rid
P. A. Gri d
P. A. Plate
B Plus

The a ctu al method used in a lig n ing these

units is beyond the scope of th is a r t icle. All
parts are mounted as per t he usual con struct ion p ra ctices. T he r ota r y switch a s shown in
t he ph otog raph happ en s t o have more contacts th an required but does afford an easy
t ie place for the two multipl ier resistors..
These two r es istor s were simply selected to
give a pproximately t wo-thirds scale r eadi ng
when r eading t he h igh voltage. The 30-D to
Test PL. switch needs only to be a S PDT instead of a s shown in t he photograph . T he small
f use clips on each end of t he box are used to
hold t he test pl ug ca ble when th e u nit is n ot
73
used.
Pe rfs List
1- 0-50 mic r oammeter.
' - D P DT Bat H a n d le T og g l(' Switches.

1--8 P DT Bat Hand le Toggle Switch.

I-SPST l\lomentnry P ush S witch .
1-9 pos lt ton rotary s w itc h.
I-S ingle ci rcuit ' phone jack.
I-Banana J a ck f or RI-' input .
t -c-z -termtnal board for ext er na l speake r.
I -II pin soc ke t ( amphenol 78SI1) .
I - l l prong plul{ [urrr nhe no l 8fi -C I' 1l) .
1-4 contac t mic. s oc ket (a m p he no l 9 1- P C4F).
I - I N34 diode or s im ilar .
1-20K % watt resistor.
2-4.7 meechm 1 wa tt resis to rs.
I-M i n iboJ!> (10 x .( x 2% ).

Chassis Mounting the PL-259

na U H l<' se ries of coaxial connectors, t ypifi ed by t he PL-259 plug and the 5 0 -239
chassis receptacle, is widely used on both com mercial a nd mil it a r y eq uipment. Also, these
fi tting s a re st ill r eadily available, at r easonab le cost, fro m sur plus outlet s.
It is often desi r able to su ppor t sma ll chassis
mou nted accessories, such as T R switches, by
t he coax ial connecto r s moun ted on ex ist ing
equ ipment. T his g enerates a r equ irement for
fittings that a re not available as st andar d
items. It is possible to mount later prod uction

50

13 MAGAZINE

P L-259 plugs on a chassis by using a stan da r d

Nat ional Coarse thread cap scr ew. A h ex head,
7/ 16-14 brass bolt, about !h it long, is ideal for
this p ur pose since the t hre ads mate perfectly
with the cable r eta ining t hreads in t he plug
body. A cleara nce h ole for the connecting lead ,
up to 5/16" in diameter, should be drilled the
len gth of the bolt . A lock washer should be
used f or secu re mou nting.
The second item that ca n n ot be obtained
commercially is a double ended male plug.
Such a fitting is ideal for mounting a n antenna cha ngeover relay di r ectly on a transmitt er an t enn a r eceptacle. A sho rt stud, about
1" long , cut from a 7/1 6-14 bra ss bolt, serves
as a perfect coupling for joining two PL-259
pl ugs. A cleara nce hole must be drilled t he
lengt h of t he st ud to acco mmodate t he wiring.
T he photog r aph shows the a ssembly details
of these fittings, along with the fini shed double
male ad a pt or. T his method of construction does
m uch to alleviate the haywire m a ze of cables
t ha t alwa ys seem to complicate even t he simplest installation.
. . . P a fenberg
MA RC H 1961

New Products
. . . the ed itor

Anybody w h o th in ks abou t it f or a m oment

will rea li ze that on ly in s h o r t - li ved magazin es
do y ou find New P rod uct s reviews which tell
you how t ert- ible th ings r eall y are. The normal
fun ction of the N ew Produ ct R eview is to
inform the r eader and butter th e a d vertise r.
We endor se both of these policies and m u s t
also confess to a t hird : the editor li kes t o
write a bo ut what is going on in th e commercial
end of our hobby, but doesn't wan t to upset
adverti se r s by lu mp ing e ver yt hi ng in t he
ed it or ia l column.
The respon se ha s been so en thu s ia sti c t o
some of ou r con struction p roject s t hat li ttle
knots of amateurs have been ga t her ing all
around the cou nt r y discussing the possibility
of putt ing som e of them on the market. One
new company is ca lled G ldeets a nd Gadgets,
a s u n li k e ly a name a s we 've heard recently,
and t hey're already putting out kits of part s
f or the \V9 D U T Bantam Converters and
K8NI C's 6!\1 Tran smitter, both of t he October
issue of 73. They're hard a t wor k getting some
mo re kit s ready. Jus t in case they r un in t o
any obviou sly lazy cu s t omers th ey ha ve mad e
arrangement s wi th a couple of ex pe r ts to wire
the k its f or a f ew bucks e x t r a,
You might know that someth ing w ould be
brewing ou t California w ay al ong this line
t oo. A ca ll ca me in from P .G .B. E lectronics
sa y in g tha t t hey we r e wor king a long s im ilar
lin es.
I r v in g Electronics, d own T exas wa y, will be
preparing printed circuit board s for any art icles we r u n. R ig h t now we're getti ng a p.c.
n oise limit er circuit ready f or th e next iss ue
of 73. You ought to se n d f o r th e catalog of
p. c.'s Irv ha s avail ab le, you 'll be amazed and
e nt h used.
Ca n anyone t ell us h ow i n the devil Alli ed
can sell a com p let e s ix m eter t r a nsceive r , co m plete w ith m ike, for only $57.50? It just doesn 't
seem possible ! A s u per het t oo.
I g ot to r ead ing som e of our own ad s and
the first thing you know I was driving over
t o visit Ru ss S pera \V2 UF U and talking d eal s
ove r one o f those U R A -6 T el etype co nver ters.
After mu ch haggling we set tled on f ull list
pr ice and set about fitting t he three rack s full
of ge ar in t he back sea t of t he P orsche. Made
it , but it was a t ight fit. Now if there was
o n ly time to g et it hooked up! I wanted t o
see Ru ss's s t ock of s u r plus, but th e store w a s
so full we co u ld n 't even edge ou r w ay in t o
see wha t wa s there.
(Continued on page 52)

MARCH 1961

100% MODU LATION-W ITHO UT DISTOIl.TlO N is pra,l i,ally

impossible to atla in with most hom r ig s . NOW- Thanh 10
P&H-y ou ,on have your , o ke and e e t il too !
Sim p ly eooneet a P&H MODel AFCI or AFC-2 belween the
m ;k~ and th~ mike inpul of any 558, 058, AM, PM or FM
transmitter_Set Ihe Iranlm iller audio go in , onlrol for 1000/0
modu lo ti on and FORG ET IT! Fro m a W HI5 PEIl. 10 a 5HOU TIhe compressor oulpul level N EV EIl. VARI ES MOR E THAN
60 8. Ma y a ha be uaed on PA SYl le ml 10 main to i., h ig h
audio ou lpu t w il hou t blOlli ng .
NO T A C UPPI NG DEVICE! Th is is on AVe Iype ccmpres so r,
like broadcoll Ilations use. Operalion il inltan taneoul. w ilh
no pumping effe'l . 8uilt.in audio fillers ond 5EPAIl. ATE
HIGH and lOW IMP EOANCE Clll.eUITS.
HIGH IMPEDANCE thr~lhold il leI at - 5 2 08 a.,d w ill pro.
v ide up to 50 08 o f ,ompren ion w ilh n~gligobl~ d illortio n .
lOW IMP ED ANCE Ihrelho ld il set 01 -25 08, and will pro .
vide up to 40 08 of , ompren ion wh ~n used b~lwee n Ihe
lpeaker ond th e audio output of a receive r j ru ult ing in
ex ce tlen t AVC a'lion from rece ive rs wilh poo r RF AVC

ehcrcetertstles .

MOD EL AFCI (3" Il. 3 " Il. 5 " ) req u iru on ~1l.1~rn al power
s eeree (of ten available f ro m Iran lm ille r or re, e iv er) and
' on to in l 0 90-3500 evele bandpan oudio filter .
MODel AFC2 (5" Il. 5" Il. 7 " ) hOl a bu ilt . ;n p ower supply
and a sw ilch ,onrralled 81l.0Ao-M EDIUM 5HARP audio fille r,
MODel AFC-2CW il id enl i'al to Ih~ AFC -2 u,epl for much
lhorper audio Iilters , It il in l ~nded for vse wilh filter type
~Il.cit~rs ond for CW r~,eption whe n u l ed in the speaker line
of reee lvers.
MOD el AFCl Wi th lubel {le n p ower l Up p! y }
532. 95
MODel AFC2 o r AFC -2CW Compl ~ te ....... , . , ., . $54.95

-s:?~ . elECTRONICS INC .

.

424 Columbia

lafoyene. Ind.

GIDGETS & GADGETS

as yo u ca n see in t he col um n to th e left, is a
new com pan y se t up to make avai la ble co rnpre te kits of pa rts for construct ion a.rtides
appearing in 73 .

Bantam Converters (specify band),

W9DUT IOct. 73 ) . .... .. . .. . 522.50

6M Transmitter. KSNIC/5 (Oct. 73) 522.50

All kits a re a bsol utely complete: punched
c hassis, co py of a rticle, etel, t ubes, wire, so lder,
e tc ., a nd a nyt hing else we ca n thi nk of that will
help. All pric es post paid. Lu cky NYC dwel le rs
add 3 % .

GIDGETS & GADGETS

P.o . 80 X 117

fOREST HillS 75, N. Y.

Laz y? Ad d $7 . .50 f or unit wired and test~d .
Wat,h for eve n more of these kits ned month.

73 M A G AZ IN E

51

(New Prod ueh from page 51)

One of ou r inqu ir ing repor ter s st uck their

no se in t o Ba rry Electroni cs and di scovered a
couple interesting su rp r-ises. F ir st of a ll the
1961 Ba rr)' Green S hee t is off the presses and
is gua runtecd t o ma ke any r ed blooded ham
d ro ol. This a nd the new Inter nati onal Cr ysta l
cata log r a t e a s the best literatur e o f the new
yea r that we've see n for the hom e-brew type
ham, excluding th e 440 page reference work
put out by Allied.
A lden P r od ucts informs us t hat sev era l of
our read ers ha ven't yet bought their operating
bench. Thi s we can on ly a scribe t o an ove rs ig-h t . You must have f org ott en t o send for
literature and sec what a d eal they ha ve. Or
maybe ).'OU don't cure what your shack looks
like. T h is is one of the nicest operating tables
we've eve r seen .

Shure
A letter came r olling in t he othe r day fr om
;\11'. H . T . Harwood , the Advertising Ma na g er
of Shure Brothers. )Olr. Harwood explained
that he had a r r a ng ed to send me, compliments
of S hure Brother s, and at the r equest of B ill
S imo ns W 9YXJ , a model 440S L Si ngle-S ideba nd Microphone.
\VeIl, here it wa s. I'd been fearing the day
when so meone would se nd so met hing directly
t o me f or a "test ." I put the letter a side and
tried t o forget it. Th en, a day later, it arrived.
With a sin k ing he a r t I cou ld feel all my a ltruist ic plan s di sintegrating a s cu pidi ty took over. I
wa nted th a t microphone . I opene d t he box
and screwed t he mike to t he st a nd . . . I had
to have that mike . . . gad, what a beauty! I
fel t all the sym ptoms of drug withdrawal
every time I even t hou g ht about send ing thi s
fabulou s mik e to someone who cou ld d o a n
adequate job of testing it.
The rationa lization s ca me t hi ck and fa st.
Wh a t kin d of a test can a nyone d o on a m ike
anyway? About the best you ca n do is repeat
the manufacturer's literature and give the output level and frequ ency range. Beyond that
all you ca n sa y is that you u sed it on the air
and the fell ows sai d you sou nded g ood. S hure
wou ld be sa tisfi ed with a s im ple new products
release, I wo uld n't even have to dummy up a
"tested" r eport.
So f ar I had been able t o avoid all this
mental torture by having equipment ship ped
directly t o ot her ham s f or t hem to t est. A s
long a s it didn't get into my hand s I didn't f eel
too bad . Well, I felt bad ... but I could st a nd
it. There were times when it got rough . . . for
in stance when D on Sm ith W 3 U Z N sent in a
p hoto of hi s station with a He ath T e ne r, Sixer
and Twoer all st a cked o n top of one a nother.
T ha t wa s traumatic. I really wouldn't mind
ot he r fell ows gettin g' all that gear free . . .
if I just didn't know abou t it.
So here I am with a brand new desirable
52

73 MAGAZI N E

mike. I d on't know why it bugs me so . . . a fter

a ll, I already have a perfectly good mik e that
I've been using' fo r five years now .. . a little
S h ure hand mi ke th a t I won out at the Dayton Hamve n tion in 1956. I su p pos e that I
mig-ht part with the new o ne . .. probably give
me n ightmares. T ell j'OU what, I'll put t ogether
a quick New Produ ct s Review for thi s issue
of i 3 and then we'll offer the m ike a s a prize
to t he s ideba nd o p that sends in the most
subscriptions b y Ap r il 5th. One catch . .. t he
winner ha s to u se the mi ke on the ail' a nd
send m e a let t e r telli ng what the re ports were
on it. H ow's that? BOj'! I f eel better already
. . . bu t g ee, I' m s u re goin g t o mi ss that peachy
m ike.

New Books
O ne of our most consiat a n t con tr ibutors,
Howa r d Pyle \ V70 E , ha s just become th e
proud author o f a Sams Photo fa ct book (NH P1) ca lled "Building Up Your Ham S hack." Thi s
is a fine book for t he newcomer to ou r hobby
for it will acquaint h im with what he is going
to need in the way of equ ipment and will put
t hi ng'S in to per s pective. T here is a chapter on
receiver s, one on tra nsm itter s a nd one on
a n t en na s. Thi s is a well illu strated 128 page
book and se lls for only $2.50. Thi s book will
probably be avai lable through most parts di stributors and the Radi o Bookshop.
Gernsback Library has just com e ou t with
a book that I wou ld have r eally enjoyed when
I wa s ten to fifteen . It is called "Fun With
El ectr icity" and it has a b unch of experime nts
that you or your kid ca n have a ball with . T he
price is $2.65 (GL-83.) Thi s shows you how to
make a sim ple d e motor, an a c generator, a
solenoi d, a s pa r k co il, a Tesl a co il, etc. Literature like thi s a rou nd th e sha ck might get more
of a r ise out of the j r op than anything else
you've thought of.
Sa m s has a new book on "Eliminating- Manylade Int erference" which will solve problem s
for a lot of hams. A lot of us r un into this
mi sery now and then and wi sh for som e text
to help us through the difficulty. Thi s is th e
n ewest (a nd the only, t o my knowledge) reference on th e su bj ec t now available. $2 .95 .
The book is quite thorough . .. 160 pages.
Another of our author s ha s been snea k ing
some time away from hi s n writi ng. The resu lt , publi shed by Sams, is the "Seco nd -C lass
Radiot el ephon e Licens e Handbook" by Edward
Noll W3FQJ . The $3 .95 book ha s ever y t hing
you'll need to get the license. This is a lot
more than the usual question a nd an swer
manual, w ith a lmost half of the book devoted
to genera l in f orm a t ion a nd technical discu ssion. The other ha lf covers the actual exam
and give s details on regulation s. Thu s th e book
not o nly will shep he rd you through the FCC
exam, but will g ive you practical operating and
maintenance da ta t o st a r t you in th e fi eld.
MARCH 19.1

New Shure Mike

Her e is a m ike that is
designed s pecia ll y fo r SS B
cps . It ha s sha r p cutoff
below 300 cps and above
3000 cps, mak ing' it id eal
f or ham com m u nication s .
It is r ug g ed , bein g of m agnetic design, and won 't
boil away in the su n or
di solve when it rains . O utput is - '> 2.5 db at 100,000
ohm s. For $28.50 t he i\Iodel 4408 1. comes complete wi t h g ri p-to-ta lk
swit ch , mi ke st a nd a nd ca ble. Same d eal,
m arked :\lodel 440, less st a nd, sw itch and m ike
connector is o nl y $ 15 !

Call -D-Cal
I ' ve see n t hese
d ecals advertised
for the la st f ew
month s , but
I
hadn't real i zed
w hat a nice looking deal t hey r eall y are . Th ey a re 8 " long by
4" high a nd a r e beau t.ifully colo red: gold
letters ou tl ined in yellow, r ed number ou t lined
in gold, and a blu; state with a black sh a dow
beh ind it. This will st a nd out fabul ou sly on th e
rea r win dow of your car. You ca n ha ve a
world design ins t ea d of you r s t a t e i f yo u wis h.
P r ice is o nly $ 1.95!

GO FIRST CLASS
ON SIX
The LW-51
Deluxe

$57.50
Features:
.~ o w u tts input . fully neutralized
Uses inexpe nsive 8 IlW xrals or ," FO
P la te mo d ula ted fo r efficie ncy a nd pun ch
In put for crvstul ur carbo n microphone
'TYl -p roofed e ven ill Channel 2 fringe a re-a
In kit for m 10 cui co-t s
:\ 11 hard part" mounted (over 1(0)
6 or 12 vult filament
S peech cl ipp ing & limiting for max
modula tion
Order Direct:
LW.st Delux e kit, le n tubes & x ta l ....
LWSI Delu xe ki t, w it h tube l & any x tal.
LW-S t De luxe ki t, wi re d & te lte d
.
Ship weight 7 Ib s.: 77, Easl Coa st ; $ 1.S 9
We sle ,n_
LW. 72 AC Po we r Supp ly, lWSl companion,
wired ._ . . . . . . . . .. . . . . .
LW -61 VHF Converters
.
LW-80 Pre_Ampli fiers . . . . . . ... ... . .. . .

ssr.se
69 .S0
84 .50

49 .9S
18 .50
12 .50

LWELECTRONIC LABORATORY

ROUTE 2

JACKSON , MICHIGAN

MOBILE
POWER
SUPPLY
MODEL
Al 2!600 !200

NOW

O n The Air

Dil l' of t he m ino r lit tl e j ea lo usie s d ow n

t hrough t he year's be t ween a m a t eu r s and
broadcaste r s has been those little (and very
ex pens ive ) sig ns which light up and announce
you are on the air. X o wonder th en that there
ha s been q uit e a r u sh to t ake advantage of a
small ou t fit do wn T ex a s w ay t hat is offe ri ng
p rofe saiona l-Iook lng s hms at Novice p rice s:
$H.95 complete. Th ese a r e p rofess ional enough
1'0 a lot of broad casting s t a tions h ave been laying in a su p ply . T hey are 10 % " long , 3 .? " x
:1" deep, You can get 'em with 6, 12 0 1' 120 volt
b ulbs . F or a dolla r ext ra you ca n get yo ur call
le tters in stead o f the "On Th e Ai r " m essa g e,
01' yo u ca n get it i n some other lan gua g e, or
think u p som et h ing clever of your own . All
k ind s o f possib ilities .

$59.50
This 12V input de tc d e tra nsistoriz ed converter is
cOfnerva live ly rated for continuous ou tp ut of 120
waHl al 6 00V or 3 0 0V, or any combina tion o f 6 0 0
a nd 3 0 0 volt loads to la ling 120 watts .
High e fficie ncy, small size, and lig ht weight, plus
fre e d om from maintenance, conse rve your battery
and increase the e njoyme nt of mobile o pera tio n.

ELECTRONICS OlVISION
GLOBE INDUSTRIES, INC.
525 MAIN STREET
BELLEVILLE, NEW JERSEY

. . W2N SD
MARCH 196 1

7J MAGAZI N E

53

II.I. ~.

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Propagation

METERS! METERS!! METERS!!!

TWO 73 SPECIALSt0-300 v , e c. 4" face , sq ua re
0-100 ma d c , 2" or 3" ro und o r sq ua re

Charts
Permlnqdale. N. Y.

3529 East Col orodo, Pasadeno, Col if.

re cog n iJe d J oh nso n dis t ri butor

hand will not work for th e time period listed.

Lower bands will work, but not nearl y as well.
Times are G ~ I T, not local time.
These charts a re to be used as a guide to

Now!

W r ite for f REE b ulleti n

JIM CLARK * Wl ULU

KIT W IR ING & TESTING LAIlS

REPAIRS & SERVICE ON ALL MAKES Of HAM GEAR

AND
TE ST EQUIP MENT. CITIZENS BAND GEAR & HIfI
2 Aike n St.
Te l. HE mlock 23600
Derry, N. H.
A LL WO RK G UA RA N TEED

- --BOSTONIANS!--....,

I ..

Arise ! You ',e su rro u nde d by Bob Grahom W1KTJ.

Skeptical? We ll, look for you rse lf. Visit e it he r of the
Graham sto re s a nd see no thi ng else but ne w
and re(ond it io ned hom g eor o t Ne w Eng land's only
e xcl us ive ho m sIores. It's w o rt h th e tr ip .
Nort h

ot 8 0.l on

S o u t h at Be at en al

at
5 0 :; ~laln , n.... din ..
Phon., : 9.J..1-4000

----

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

SY 6-5521

J ohnson Messe ng e r $134.95

ham load openings fo r t he mo nth of March ,

1961 to the various countries listed . I will be
in teres ted to hear of your res ults In u smg
t hese ch arts a nd to k now what ot her a r eas
you might wish included in future cha rts.

Advan ced Forecasl : Ma rch 1961

L R ELECTRONICS

from

T h e b ands listed are ~ lUFs and a hi gh er

Fa ir 5-6

S2.9S !

Be t he first to take odva nloge o f us a t the se p ri ceso tr act io n o f t he goi ng p rices for t he se new me le r, l
While t he y le st!
Tho usa nd s of o ther s urp lus items in stoc k. Mo n y
ex citing borgo ins . Ge t
SURPLUS AT ITS BEST

David A. Brown K21G Y

30 LlI mb e rt A ve nue

All good exce pt

Sl.9S!

]]0:; N . ~laln . R a n do lp h
Phone : wo 3 .5005

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

MESSAGE TO NON-SUBSCRIBERS:

SUBSCRIBE!

----

Distributors tell us over and over of t he dozens of fellows who com e in ti me afte r t ime
lookin g for a copy of 73. Gloryowsk y! If you wou ld s pend a fra ct ion of all that effort a nd
ma il us a miniscule check yo u 'd make both of u s a whole lot ha ppi er. Ba ck is sues are getting sca r ce : incl ude 50 each, while they last.

Name

Call . . . . . . . . . . .. .

Address . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . .. .. .. .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . .. . . . ......... . ...

City

Zone
year s. S tart with

State . . . . ... . .. ..

$3 yr.

$5 2 yrs,
$4 y r. DX

issue.

73 Magazine ; 1379 East 15th si., Br ookly n 3D, N. Y.

Na me

Call

$3 yr.

Add r ess

$5 2 yrs.

City

Zone

. .
. '

year s. Start with

State

$4 yr. DX

. Issu e.

73 Mag a zine; 1379 East 15th se., Brookl y n 3D, N. Y.

MARCH 1961

7J MAGAZIN E

55

'Sines' and 'Handles'

Hewa rd S. Pyle W70E

" , .. th e hand le he re is Sehast ian; what's

you r name old boy?" Bad enough on p hone
hu t imag ine spelling it ou t 0 11 C \ V! Yet
there are mall Y ju st as tou gh to tra nsmit ami
for the rccc lviu g operator to interpret. N ames
like Ji m, Joe, Doc, T om and even Bill and
o ther sim p le one-syllab le contractions aren't
too had but th ey too ca ll he even simp lified
a hi t. Iut cnnediatc names, genera lly of two
sy lla bles like m y OWI1 , arc not too much of a
p roblem either hut, part icul arl y in C \ V opera tion, still a bit long to spell out. For exam ple, ". . . handle here is H owa rd", E igh teen
code characters to trans mit. l seldom use it;
my custo mary p rocedu re is to say ". .. sine
YB .. :'. Onl y six characters b u t it tags me
as an iud ividuul apart fro m my sta tion call
which is i SSUl ' <1 to cover the gear itself, not
the opera tor! ~I y eq uipme nt is \ViOE ; I'm
I1 0 t !
I'm "YB", owner-operator of station
\V70E. '1'0 11 wouldn't in troduce a sh ip board
operator to someone by savi ng. "T h is is
KUHS ( or wha tever his call letter might h e )
would you? Nor a b roadcast stat ion operator
h v th e cull lette rs of the station at w hich he
works. More p ro perly, you would say , "T his
is D ick of 1\:0\10". T he sa me in ham practice ; inform al int roduct ion of m yself for examp le, woul d 1I0 t he, ". , . thi s is \V70 E" ;
correct ly it wo uld he somethi ng like this .. .
" this is YB of \V70E". Sec the point? Neverth eless trad ition and long usage has tagged
th e indiciduals wi th the cu ll let ters of an inert
bunch of eq uip ment ra ther than a more personal idcnttficntiou. No th ing wro ng with it I
suppose as the vast majority of ham stations
are man ned h y only one operator who, ill most
eases, is the sta tion ow ner as wel l. The p ra ctice will no dou bt cont inue; it has gone on for
too man y yea rs now to cha nge overn ight.
"Shades of Emil y Post" some of you wi ll
say, "arc you trying to tell liS that we must
obse rve formal social custo m rather tha n the
somewha t looser cn murudcrie of ham rad io?"
No t at a ll; handle it any wa y you like, All
I'm tryillg to d o is to point out a fl'w usa ges
ill cou ru-ction with tudi viduul ide ntifi cation
w hich. whill' not necessarily confusing to the
ham, can be Improved u pon both on-t ile-a ir
and in face-to-face ( 1 hate the expression
56

13 MAGAZINE

'eye-ball' ) QSO's. Tn add ition, I'd like to a ttem pt to clear lip th e apparent m ystification
w hich so many h am s have wh en some rela tivclv
'old-timer' casuallv savs
". . , sine hr

XX , , ," or some sim ila r group of two letters. Let's find ou t w hat th is "si ne" busin ess
is a ll abou t , , , shall we?
As far as I can determ ine ( I'm not that
ancient, you know!) , it all started shortly
after Sam Morse invented th e electric tel egra ph in the middle 1800s. Messages w ere
soon fl yin g ( well, stumbling anvwovl ) along
the th in cop per th reads st re tched from pole
to pole uud from city to city. As th e telegraph
began to prove increasinulv p ra ctical and
speedy, m essages b ecame of in creasing im portance . Often messages were filed whi ch
dea lt wit h impressive transact ions , fin ancial
an d otherwise. An imp roperl y sent or re ce ived message could, and freq uently did , involve serious losses to either the sender or
re cipient or ha th . O ften the telegraph CO Illp un y had to 'ta ke the hump' in th e wa y of
lawsu its which very often proved plent y
costly . Th ey in tu rn cast about for some m eans
of recovery from th e operator o r operators
on their circuit who were responsihle for
errors in tran sm ission or reception or both .
Hut whut operator (s)? T elegraphers chan ged
shifts, swapped around ami ad ded to the
confusio n of id en tificati on ill other ways. Heco verv of an y finan cial loss from an operator
d ue to his error was, o f course, a rather forlorn hope on th e part of the telegraph com p:lIl y. T elegrapher's pay was low and , in the
ea rly days, a good many of them were "d rifters" and p retty good examples of th e old
adage , " . .. a rolling stone gathers no moss
.. . ". Xove-rthcless the teleg raph com pa n ies
d ecided to attem pt to do someth in g abou t it ;
thu s th e "s ine" was born. Where th e spellin g
originated is nnvbody's guess. It is pretty
obvious thou ght th at 'sine' was probabl y a
c-ontraction, speakin g code- wise, of th e word
'sign'. '1'0 11 'sign' a receipt, a letter, a check
am i by so doing acknowled ge it. Telegraph
opera to rs were n-qui red to sigll for each IIl l'S sugc received by making; th eir 'sig;lI attl rc' in
code characters. TIl e sending opera tor wa s
re q uired to p lace his sig nature on the fa ce
MARCH 1961

of each message he tra nsm itted.

O ften. signatures were lon g . . . you know.
"George W ashington, Evel yn Bclideau , Ben
Franklin . . . " ( ha d th ey been ope rat ors )
took va luable circuit time to write . It was
not lon g b efore m erel y the initials of the opera tors w ere s ubstitu ted. Often th is caused
confusion whe re two or m ore opera to rs in
the same office might h ave the same in itials.
T o offset thi s, a cou ple of lette rs which did
not co nflic t w it h others, were ar b itrarily selected . George w ash in gt on mi ght remain
'C \ V' w it hou t conflict, but ma ybe E vel yn 's
initials ( E B) might clash with Ed Bak er's.
So . . . E velyn probabl y became ' E \" while
Ed re tain ed h is 'Elf. Ma ybe Ben F ra nklin
kep t hi s bu t h e co u ld conceiva b ly h ave ru u
into Bob Freeman who was a lrea dy lIsing
'13 1" as a 'sine'. One or th e ot her changed ;
usuall y tho junior man at tha t office. What ever th ey turned li p w ith b e cam e the operators' signatu re or ' sine ', th e con tract ion fr om
'sig n' to 'sine' sa ved two dashes in transmissio n w hen some operator asked for your sign
or m erely said \ VO" which , in teleg ra p h ic
p h raseology, sen t on Morse lin es as 'd lt d ah
duh: d it space d it' ( ill continental code it's
'd it d uh d ah space d ah d uh dah ) m ean t
" \ \1)10 p
,

T he practice of arbitra rily select ing a group

of two letters, your init ia ls or otherwise as
circumstance dictat ed , soon achieved int ernation al recognition as tel eg raphi c 'signa tures'
in th e operating field . An opera to r kept h is
' sine ' th roughou t h is teleg raphic career regard less of w h ere h e moved, Unless , . . h e
accep ted a job at an office where some ot her
opera tor was already using the same sine. I n
such cases, the y sq uab bled it ou t among th emselves an d the office m anag er based m ainly
on who had h eld the sine th e long est! \\'hen
the losin g opera tor m oved on to so me other
offi ce, h e gen era lly ret rieved an d used h is
tempora ril y lost sine.
\Vhen ] sta rted my xl orse telegraph caree r
as a studen t telegraph er in th e Portland ,
Oregon ma in office of W estern U n ion in HJl 6 ,
my initia ls ( H P) were already in use as a
sine J>y a sen ior man. Be ing junior, it w as
Incumbent on m e to pick a sine not then
being used. ] chose "NX" as I liked the
rhythm; N X in M orse code is the same combi nation of :do ts and d ashes w h ich make u p
th e lett ers "N L" ill Con tinenta l or Int crnutiona] radio code.
Bad ia h ad always been m y fi rst love . Startin g as a rad io ( or wire less " as we then
knew it ) ham in 1908 at the tender age of
ten years, the romance of the air waves conMARCH J9bJ

Give your shack that

professional lookinstall an

ALDEN
HAM
BENCH

....._-

with power facilities.

See our full page ad in the J a nu ary 73
(pag e 4 5) a nd ord er yo urs tod ay. For
furt her info rmat ion see yo ur d ealer or
write to

ALDEN PRODUCTS CO.

2186 No rth Maine Street, Brockton, Mass.

I ~=====

tl uued to intrigue me. A M orse telegraph

office to me was a hu mdrum of rout ine; sa me
old p lace, same old faces every shif t. I didn 't
slay long as a w ire tel eg rapher. A sh ip board
job opened for which I cou ld quali fy as I
h ad mea nwh ile acq uired a com mercial radio
opera tor licen se . I snagged th e joh an d took
my sine w ith me .. . N X. Li king th e rhyth m
of the storse N X, I used the same characters;
"dnh d it dlt d ah d it d it". Using th e Cont in ent al or In te rn ational Morse code in the radi o
service, th is combination of characters became
"0: L", That was it ; N L became m y sine in
HH7 and stayed w ith m e during m erchant
marine operati ng, at Nava l radio shore stations a nd during a year 011 a Naval transport
b etween the Un ited Sta tes an d Europe , durin g
\Vorld \Var I. Must ered out of th e Navy
after the 191 8 armistice, 1 retu rned to th e
merchant m a rine in the Alaskan p assenger
service, still keep ing N L as a sine. Still later,
as opera to r at a com mercia l shore station
( KJA) at [ ual ln, Alaska, N L was stilI with me.
In the fall of 19HJ I re tu rned to Naval
service an d was assi gned dut y as an opera tor
at the n aval 'h igh-power' station, N " H, a t
Ketchikan, Alaska, st ill carrying N L as m y
sine. Trouble developed on m y first w atch!
No one else on the statio n was usin g th e
sam e sine but the Ketch ikan station, in addi73 MAGAZI NE

57

tion to handlin g mu ch of the official naval

traffic for Alaska, also handled a grea t deal
of commercia l radio message traffic to the
territory ( then, before sta tehood), sharing this
with the Arm y Signal Corps cable and radio
system . This involved th e conventional 'fast'
messages, da y-letters and night-letters. The
designation for a night-let te r were t he letters
'NL' following the check. Each time rd OK
for a message received from our sister station , N UZ, ill Astoria, Oregon b y using th e
sta nd ard form , "R N'L" ( meaning received OK

hy operator NL ) , I'd get a heef from the

Astoria opera tor to the effect ". . . no, no ;
th at's not a night-letter; it's a 'b lack' (fast)
or a day-letter". Obviously my sine must be
changed . I determined thi s tim e to choose
one whi ch had only a remote chance of duplication in my future operating career. Thus
was "YB" horn . I have since served as operator aboard many freight and passenger vessels and at a number of commercial shore
stations. I have ne cer since choosing "YE"
for a sine in 1919, been in conflict with the
sine of any other operato r! I still use it in
ham nets and in general ham communication,
without challenge. I am in fa ct, known better
in ham and co mmercial rad io circles as "Y8"
than by my formal nam e. To answer the many
mystified inquiries which I receive, the letters
'YB' do not stand for anything in the way
of actua l words. Call them "young boy", "yellow belly" or "you b - - - - - d" as you prefer but th ey have 110 real association with
words. Like "50S" wh ich means 'distress';
not "save our ship" or "send us succor" and
simila r phrases invented by an imaginative
la y public, "), B" means me as an individ ual!
I would most certai nly encourage more frequent use of sines, self-chosen, on ham circuits, particularl y C\ V. It shorte ns the number
of chara ct ers in almost every instance and immediately identifies you as an indiv id ual.
T here arc a few exceptions, of course such
as using the nicknames 'Ed', 'AI' a nd similar.
Nothing wron g with th em for a sine; most
certainly they are short enough although, as
names go, rather commo n. Pick yourself a
comb ination of two characters which appeal
to you for perha ps rhy thm, case of send ing
or read y interpretati on ; mak e those two letters yo ur sine and become known by th em .
You can drop the 'ha ndle' or ' name' business
then and do a more professional job of operating, even in the ham hand s.
And that, dear reader, is that ; I do hope
it clears up the oft repeat ed question of
'what is a sine?'.
"73" de " YB"
58

73 MAGAZINE

II11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111I11111111

Other Ham
ATH ER than devote half or more
of 73 t o the printing of news of
int e rest to specialize d groups we b elie ve that it is our fu nction to do everything possible t o e ncourage the publishe rs of bulletins which cate r t o these

HAM.SWA P. Published by Ha m-Swa p , Inc.. 35 Eest

Wader Drive, Chlceqc I, Illinois. Ed ito r is Ed Shuey,
K9 BOK. Subs Me $1 pe r yeM by 3rd class ma il, $3 for
1st class. $5 e irmeil. and $7.20 specia l del ive ry. Published on ce a month . Ccnteins classified eds en t irely.
This is your best bet fo r an ine xp e nsive way to se ll
or swep some geo r in 0 hu rry. Within two weeks
people ore onswering you r ed.

FLORIDA RTTY BU LLETIN. Pred W . DeMotte

W4RWM . P.O. Box 6047, Devtcne Beech. Ho ride . $3
per yeo r incl uding membership in F1orido RTIY
Society. Mostly ope rating news with a b it o f technical
info now end then . All IT me n should b e getting
this.

SOUTH ERN CALIFORN IA RTTY BULLETIN. Me-ril l

l. Swan W 6AEE. 372 West Wa rren WtJy. Arce d !e.
C alifo rnia . $2.75 p er vee r, not including membership in
Society. Operating news and some technlcel ertlcle s.
Th is is t he old est n bulletin going . All IT men should
also ge t this one . Monthly.

73 HAM CLU B BU LLETIN. Me rvin Lipton VE3DQX,

3 11 Ro se me rv Reed, Toronto 10. On tario. C e ne d e.
Sen t fre e to 011 editors of ha m club bulle t ins monthly
to ke e p t he m e breest of whet is g oi ng o n with a ll
the othe r hom clu bs. This is a n excell ent source of
news for puttin g toget he r you r club bull eti ns. To sub.
sc ribe to th is news bulle t in ju st send a copy of your
own club b ulletin t o Marvin.

WESTERN RADIO AMATEUR.

Don W illiam so n
W6J RE. 10517 Haverly Street, EI Monte, Celliomie .
Mont hly. Subs ere $2 pe r yee r, $3.50 for two yee rs. $5
fo r t hree ye ars. Ope rating news of west ccest a ctivity.
columns o n OX, SSB, YL. end so me a rt icles. 48 p eqes.

SIDEBAN DER. OfficicSl orqe n of the Sing le Sld eb e nd

Amoteur Redic Associotion , 12 Elm Street, l ynbrook.
L. I.. N. Y. Subs inc lud e membe rship to SSBARA: $3
per yee r. Monthly. Primorily cperetinq news and chit.
c ha t for the SSB OX gong.

MARCH 19b1

11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111II111111
TEu S

"'"

Publications
in terests . The se bullet ins bring yo u the
ne ws you want in fa r greater d etail a nd
in much less t im e t ha n is possible in a
mo nthly mag azin e whe re it usually take s
two months for news t o get int o
p rint.
TH E OLD TIM ER'S BUll ETIN. Published by Bruce
Kell y W21C E. Main Street. Holc omb, New York , Fou r
times" year. $1 per year. Pictures and d isc ussions o f
o ld ham gear, old hern O p S end o ld hom d oing s.

HAM. HO P NEWS. Published qU<!lrter ly by the Internatio na l H om-H o p C lub, G . A. Part ridge G3C ED, 17
Eth el Roa d , Brc e d stel rs, Ke nt. Eng la nd . 75 per yell f
for bu lletin, $1.50 full mem bership. C lub devoted to
errenqi nq visits b etwe e n hams and
o v er t he world.

ham fami lies all

VH F AMATEUR. Publ ished month ly b y Bob Brown

K2ZSQ(T). 67 Russell Ave nue . Rtlhw"y, New Jersey.
$2 pe r yeM. Op ere tinq news for VHF e rs.
THE MONITOR . Mer-J ex Publishers, 507 W est Davis
Stree t. Delles 8, Te xe s. $ 1 e veer, 3 veers fo r $2.50.
Mont hly. Le-qely c p e re finq news. C o lumns : YL, C lub
Me et ing s, Arktlnse s News, Mississip p i News, Florid "
News. OX, Missou ri News, MA RS. C el lfo rnie Ne ws,
Lc ulsie ne News. VH F News. Oklohom" News. Rio
G ren d e Vo lley Ne ws. Novice Ne ws.
DX.QSL News Letter, C lif Evans. K6BX, Bolt 385.
Bc nite. Cel ifcm le. Pub lished qu erte rly. 40 ee ch : A nnuel subsc ription $ 1.25 (fo ur copies ) by fi rst cle ss
mel l ($1.50 fo r OX ste flon s}. lists e ll Q SL Bureeus.
me neqe rs for rera OX stations, etc . W hy not se nd
you r old Cellbcc k t o " OX hern? Write Cl if for the
no me o f som eon e who needs it.

DIRECTO RY O F C ERTIFICATES AND AWARDS. C li!

Eve ns. K6BX. BOlt 385, Bon ito . Cel. C o mplete Oirec-.
t o ry p lus on e yeM of revisio ns [q uerterlv I $3.50. Ad d
75 for 1st cless ma il: $ 1.25 fo r e irm a il ; OX st ations
1st cle ss ma il odd $ 1.00. Need le ss t o soy. this is t he
most comp lete collect ion of d ete o n t he hund red s of
cerfific e te s lind "words evelleble.
MOBILE N EWS. Publ ished mo nthly by th e Ame teur
Red ic Mobile Soci ety, 79 Murch ison Rd., Ley t o n, E.
10. Enqle nd . Jo inin g fe e e nd I yee r sub . is $2 .50.
OX BULLETIN. Don C he sser W 4 KVX, RF O I. Burling t o n. Kent ucky. OX news in d ept h. Publ ishe d weekly.
3rd Cless rne il $5 veer : 1st cless $6 ; Ai rm" i1 $7.50.
OX re te s o n req uest.

111 11 11 11111 1111111111111111111111111111 111111111111111111111111

MARCH 1961

CITIZEN BAND
CLASS "D" CRYSTALS
All 22 Fre que ncie . in Slock

$2 95

3rd overtone.

.005"';' toler anee-to meet aU

. ' C C r OQu ir&rll onti .
H enn etlca lly l uled
lI C6/ U holden . 14" p in
I pad ng-.O;;O p ln l . (. 093
pin s a"a llable. ad d 1St pe r crntall.

EACH
The followinl ClalS " D" Cit In n Ba nd freQu ,nei " 'n It Mk
(freQu eneies IIsled In meg aeyelas) : 26 .9ii5. 26.975. 26.985.
27.00;;. 27.015. 27.025. 27.035. 27.055. 27.065. 21.015.
27.085. 27. 105. 27. 115. 27. 125. 27.1 35. 27.1 55. 27. 165.
27. 175. 27. 185. 27.205. 27.215. 21.225.

.\Il1lehe<.! enl ta l iell for G lobe. Gonset . CIU }o' onfl an d H a meee rters Un it . . . $5.90 ~r IH. 8pl.'Clry equi pmen t makfl.

RADIO CO NTROL CRYSTALS IN HC6jU HOLDERS

SpecHy fr eq uency. ~ .. p in I p acl na: . p in di ameter .05
(.U93 pt n d ia mete r. ad d 15.. 1 $2.95 . ..
FUNDA M ENTAL FREQ . SEA LED CRYSTALS
In n C6/ holden
From 1400 KC to 4000 I{C .005% Tolera nce. . S4.95 ...
From 4000 l';C to 15.000 KC any fr .... uen cy
.005 % T olerane . S3.50 ...
SEALED O VERTON E CRYSTALS
Supplled In ml"tal lI e 6/ V holdera
l' in , pacl ng .4116. dtamete r . 050
15 to 30 ac .00.:1 Tol.r.ne
$3.85 . a.
30 to 45 nc .005 Tolera rw
S IO ....
4" to 60 MC .005 Toleran ce . . . . ... . . .. $4.50 ea.

QUARTZ CRYSTALS
FOR EVERY SERVICE

All CT)' l tals made f rom Qrade "A"

Imponed 'luntz.-vound and e tched to
exac t r r e c u e n et e e . Uncondl tional iJ'
ll' uar.nteed! Supplied In :

F T . 213 holden
i -r I pa ci na: ~"
l ' ln d iameter . 093

MC-7 hlllde"
l'ln I Pacl n c ~ "
Pi n d la.m eter .U.S

DC. 34 hllld , .,
P ln I p aelng % "
r'rn d iame ter . Hi S

FT ol11 hold,"
P in I paeine %. ..
B an l na p lnl

Speelfy hllider ..ant,d

MA DE T O ORD E R C RYS TALS

100 1 KC til 2600 KC :

.6 1% t" lera oc . . . . . . . . . . . S2.00 ea.
.005 '1'0 Lul e r an~ , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . S2.7 5 N..
260 1 KC t o 9000 KC :
.00.'; % tolera nce
S2.50 , .
900 1 KC t il 11.000 KC
.00,,4;. toll" ran..t ........... ... ... .. .. . . . .. S3.0 0 ...

Amateur, Novice, Te ch n iciQn !ond CrvstQI I

.01% 'rc te rance . . $ 1.50 ' a.-80 mete.. (3101-3149 KCI,
(0 meters H I.';2 1198 K C) , 15 mete.. (103( 1011t K e ). 6 met'".
(8335-86::'0 I';C) within 1 K C
FT 2U Lat tice Cn "a ta ll In a ll rrecueneles f rom 310 KC to
5~ 0 (,; C (all e:n t pt 45;; Ke a nd 500 K C)
50t ea.
l'ln Ipa rlnll: 'Ii" Pln d Iam eter . 0~3
lI l a hhe<.! Pliin + Hi cycles $2.50 pe r pa ir
200 tee Cryat all. S2.00 ea.: (55 K C ern tal l . $ 1.50 , a. : 500 KC
l.:nstall. $ 1.50 ea . ; 100 K e F reQuency S ta ndard CrY l ta la In
H l.: 6/ U holtlen $4.50 ea.: Socket for 1"01'- 243 e rYl tal I5t .1.;
n uet sO'." ke t for FT- 243 cr)' Htall , 15' ea. ; Socketa for MC-7 and
FT ln cultau 25' ea.: Ce rami c IlX IleL for D C6/ V [lYi tall
20" " .
Wr ile fllr new tree eata lllll :: 860 ellm p!el' with "ei llator ,Ireulh
AS K YOUR PARTS DEALER FOR TEX AS CRYSTALS
see LIe red d isp lay . . If he doesn' L Ito<;k them, n nd ua
hll nam e a nd ente r d frect f rom ou r nor lda rac tory.
NOW I t; n a: i n ~ r l n e u lIl plea and . ma ll Quan ti ties for protou -pel now matle eithe r aL Ch ies" or Ft. lIlyen PlanL. 2i
H our g e rvtee !
IN C H IC A GO, PHONE GLa dltllne 3 3555

RUSH YOUR O RDER TO OU R NEW PLAN T

Un coupon bel ow I fIt" li t Class I hi pment.

TEXAS CRYSTALS
Oellt. G. 21. 1000 C RYS TA L DR IVE. FORT MYERS. FLA.
For u lra fut servIce , Phlln, WE 6 21 00

I ATT ACH THI S CO UPO N TO YO UR O RDER FOR SHIPMEN T

I
VIA 1ST C LASS M A IL AT NO EXTRA COST
: TERMS: A ll ite ms su b je ct to prior sa le and chang e of
I p rice wi thou t notice. All c. ysto l o rd e rs mu s! be occom o
I p on ied b y che ck, cash o r M.O . wi th PA YMENT IN FULL.
I No CO D's. Dep t . G 21.

I
I
I
:

I
I

,------------ -----------------73 MAGAZINE

S9

Radio Bookshop
GOOD GRIEF, don 't you ever ge t the yearn t o
IMrn? RB shipping d e p t. is M~iously awa iting your
slightest stir. You know, if you buy one book do
month you might e nd up with do fai rly decen t ref.
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l-ElECTRONICS & RADIO ENGINEERING-Terman. One
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2 - ELECTRICAL ENGINEERS' HANDBOOKPender. Mci lwa in. This huge book sho uld keep you
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5 -ANTENNAS-KrOUI (W aJK). The mos t comple te bo ok
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6-VACUUMTUBE CIRCUITS AND TRANS IS.

rORS- Arg uimb" u. Desig ned fo r both beginners
end engineers. Moth kept to " minimu m. Sim ple
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more "bout radio .:!fter you reed t his book. 646
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a -RADIO_TELEVISION & BASIC ELECTRONICS- Old fi eld.
Lo g ical p resent o tion a nd d e script ive illus t ra t io n mo ke
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10-1, L1BERTINE-Skep kerd (K20 RS). Racy 3S b ook, a
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IJ-REFERENCE DATA FOR RADIO ENGINEERS.

Febles. Icrmules. graphs. You will find th is refere nce
boo k on the desk of "Imost every electronic engine e r in t he co untry. Published by Inte rnational
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/ 6-HA M REGISTER- Lew;, I W 3VKD) . Thumbnell sketc hes of 10,000 of the most acti ve lind well
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22-BEAM ANTENNA HANDBOOK - O rr (W6SAI). Ba sics,
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HANDBOOK - St OMr
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t he outhoritative bo ok on t he sub ject of gelling TVI o ut
of your r ig s ced Ihe ne ig hbo rs sets.
$1.75

60

73 MAGAZINE

32 -RCA RADIOTRON DESIGNERS HAND800K-1 500

pa g e s of design notes on every possible type of circui t.
Fabulous. Every des ig n el'lgil'leer needs th is o ne .
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33-WAVE PROPAGATION & ANTENNAS - Welch . Hig kl y
re com me nd e d by the p ropoga tion e xpe rts as t he best

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40-RADIO HANDBOOK , 15th EDITION-Orr (W6 SAI).

This is for a nd a w a y the be st ama te ur ra d io ko nd book
$8 .50
e ver printe d. O yer BOO pa g e s.

49-ELECTRONIC COMM UN ICAT10N-Sh,.de,.

Eve rything you need to ~now ebcut electronics.
electrici ty, and redlc t o pe ss FCC emete ur or commercia l li ce nse e xeminefions. This ted has wha t
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50-MICROMINIATURIZATION-Th is is the standa rd text
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52 -HOW TO READ SCHEMATIC DIAGRAMS- Marks.
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53 -BASIC ELECTRONIC TEST PROCEDURES-Turne r. This
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55 -TRANSISTOR CIRCUIT HANDBOOK - Simple , easy to
unders tand explanation o f tronsis tor circuits. Do zens
of intere sting op plicatio ns.
$4.9 5

56- RADIOTELEPHONE LICENSE MANUAL_

Smith (W6BCX). One of the editors of the old
"Redic" has done <'I beeutiiul job of presenting
study meterie l in this 0 & A license guide. Even
if you Me not going for your comme rcial ticke t,
which is eccepted es proof of tec hnical knowledge.
you may want to use this menuel to keep trod of
how far you heve progressed in radio theory. $5.00
57-QUAD ANTENNAS -Orr (W6S A I). The ory, des ig n,
cons trUcliol'l a nd operat ion of cubical quads. Build -it
yourself info. Fe e d systems, t un il'l g.
$2 .85
58-ANTENNAS FOR CITIZENS RADIO- O rr (W6SA I).
Ge ne ra l coverage, mo bile a nd di rec t iona l a nte n nos f or
27 mc. bo nd . Build & tu ne 'em.
$1.00
09-5-9 SIGNALS-O rr (W6 SAI). A monual of p rocticc],
de ta iled da ta covering desigl'l al'ld const ruction of highly
e fficient, ineltpensive a ntennas fo r the amo teu r bonds
that yo u can build you rself.
$1.00
72 -A8C's OF HAM RADIO-Pyle (W70 E). De si g ned f or
t he Novice ham. Includ e s a ll of the informat ion needed
to qua lify for t he Novice License. 112 pages.
$ 1.50
74-HANDBOOK OF ELECTRONiC TABLES & FORMULASFormula s & lo w s, constants, standa rds, sy mbols a nd
$2. 95
code s. Ma t h table s, misc. dato.
75 -BUllD-AWARD QU AL8UM- Mou nt you r p ri ze QS L's
in this o lb um. Room for 100 co rd s i" e ach al b um plus
la bels f or just abou t 011 po ssib le opera ti ng a wo rds. A
$1.95
fine way to show off yo ur cards.
76-MODERN OSCILLOSCOPES & THEIR USES-Ruiter.
Second edi tion. Shows what 0 'scope is, what it does
o nd ho w t o use it for radio, TV, tro nsmill e rs, e tc. 346
$6.50
page s.
77-BASIC ELECTRICAL MEASUREMENTS-Sto ut. Second
edifion. Covers oids to camputo tian, measu remen t of
re sista nce , golvanomelers, shunts , standard cells, potent io me te rs, a lternati ng cu rren t bri d g e s, mu t uo l in d uctance
measurements, brid g e a cce ss o rie s, instru me nt tra nsformers, magnetic meosureme n ts and lots mo re .
$1 1.65

MARCH 1901

l 8- INTRO DUCTIO N TO ELECTRICAL CIRCUITS-Ja ckson.

Deals w ith e xact ly what e le ct ro nics and electrical en.
g ineering te chnicians need to know. Camplet. coverage
of e lectr ical circui t t he or y, f rom beginning le vel. De .
ve lo ps concepts of cu rrent, vo lt a ge, re sist a nce, work, a nd
power. Show s how to expand basic co nce p ts to solve
e lcbcrete dire ct ond alternating cu rrent netwo rks use d
$ 11.65
in modem electricol and e le ct ro nic circuitr y.
79 - TRANSISTO R PROJECTS- Skip the theo ry ond stort
having fun. Radios: self powered, shirt po cket, rege nerative, carrie r-powe r, he a d ph o ne . Instruments a nd ac
cessorie s: sine-square wo ve g enerotor, p reamps for
VTVM 's, g ain checker, s ho rtwave col ibrotor. phose
shift e r, sub st itu tion bO:ll . Plu s remote trons is tor ear, e le ctronic compou, simp le osci llo to r, lo mp contro l, mu lt iimpeda nce am pl ifier, e lec tronic counter, porta b le power
supply . . e tc.
$2.90
80-S UR PLUS RADIO CONVERSION MANUAL VOLUME
NO . I (second e d it ion). This book g ives circ...it diagrams, ph otos of most equipmen t, and ra ther good and
complete convers io n inst r uct io ns for t he fo llo w ing : 8C
221 , 8C-342, 8C -312, 8C348, 8C-412, 8C-64S, 8C946 8,
SCR -274N 453A se ries receivers con ve rs io n to 10 me ter
receivers, SCR-274N 457A series transmitters (co nve rsion to VfO), SCR-522 (8C6 24 and BC -625 convenion
to 2 meters ), T8 Y to 10 and 6 meters, PEI 03A, BC
106 BA/11 61A re ce ive r to 2 me te rs, Sur plu s tube Inde x,
cross inde:ll of A/N tube s vs. commercial t ype s. TV &
fM channel s.
$3.00
81 -SURPLUS RADIO CONVERSION MAN UAL VOLUME
NO . II. Origina l and conversion circuit diag rams, p lus
photos of mo st eq uipments a nd f ull conversio n discussion o f t he fo llowing: BC-4S4/ ARC-5 re ceivers 10 10
meters, AN/APS-T3 :Ilmtr/rcvr to 420 me, BC457/ARC-5
xmtrs to 10 meters, Selenium rectifier power un its, ARC -S
power and to include 10 meters, Coil data -s implified
VHF, GO-9/ TBW, BC -357, TA-1 2 B, AN/ ART 13 to ee
winding charts , AYT -1 12A, AM2M AIC, LM f requen cy
$ 3.00
me ter, rolotors, power chart, ARB d iagram .
82 -SURPLUS RADIO CONVERSION MAN UAL VOLUME
NO . III - O rig ina l and convers ion diagrams, plus some
photo of the se : 70 1A, A N/A PNl , AN/C RC-7, AN/U RC-4,
CBY-29 125, 500B3, 50 141, 5220 B, 52232, 52302 -09, FTARA, 8C442, 453 -455, 456-459, 8C -696. 950, 1066, 1253,
24 1A for :Illal filter, MB F (CO L-43065). MD-7/A RC -S,
R9/APN -4, R23-R-28 /ARC-5, RAT, RAY, RM-52 ( 53),
Rt-19/ARC-4, SCR -274 N, SCR:-522, T1 S/ ARC-S to T23/ ARC5, LM, ART1 3, BC-31 2, 3 42, 34B, 191 , 375.
Schematics of APT-S, AS8-5, BC-659, 133SA, ARR-2,
APA10, APT-2_
$3.00
83-THE SURPLUS HANDBOO K, VOLUME I- Re ce ive rs and
Tra nsmitte rs. This book consists ",nti re ly o f circu it d iag ra ms of surplus equ ipment a nd p hotos of t he gear.
O ne of t he firs t t hing s you re a lly have to ha ve to
e ve n sta rt consid e ri ng a con ve rs io n of surplus equipment is 0 g ood c ircuit diagram. This book has the
follow ing : APN -l. APS -13, ARB, ARC-4, ARC-5. ARC -S
VI-l F, AR N-S, ARR-2, ASB-7, BC-222, 3 12, 3 14, -342,
-3 44, -3 48, -6 03, -6 11, -62 4 (SC R-522), 8C652, -6 54,
6 59, -669, 683, -728, 7 45, 76 4, 799, -794, BC-923,
- 1000, 100 4, -1066, -1206 , - 1306, -1335, BC-A R-23 I,
CRC -7. DAK -3. GF-11 , Mork II, MN -26, RAK -5, RAL-S,
RAX , Super Pro, TBY, TCS, Re sistor Code, Capocitor
Co lo r Code, JA N/VT tube index .
$ 3.00
85-50 YOU WANT TO BE A HAM-He rt l berg (W2DJ J).
Second e di t ion. Good introduction to the hobby. Ha s
photos and br ief d e scriptions of almost e very ccmmercially available trCl nsmitt e r and receive r, plus eeees 52.95
so rie s. Lavish ly ill u stra te d Clnd re adable .
Rl70-BASIC ELECTRON ICS- Rid e r. Five volume se t of
really illustrated b ooks. (I ) Power su p ~ li e s . (2) Ampli.
fiers. (3) Oscillators. (4) Transmitters. (5) Receivers. Soft
covers.
$10.00

R23S-RADI0 CO NTRO L FOR MO DEl BUILDERS- W inle r.

One of t he best and newes t boo b a vailable o n RC.
$4 .25
R245- HOW TO USE GRID.DIP OSCILLATORS- Tu rne r
$2. 50
(K6 AI). Co nstruct ion & use s, a n importan t bo ok.
SNS8- S0UNDNSIGHT COD E COURSE . Th ree 10" LP
re cord s ond in~l ructions fo r No vice code, 08 wpm. $9.50
SNS20 - S0U ND-N _SIGHT CODE COURSE 20 WPM. Ad va nced course from 9 20 w pm, thr ee 10" LP 's.
$8 .95
SNS28-S0UND-N SIGHT CODE COURSE CO MPLETE . All
si:ll LP re cord s. 0 -20 w pm and full instruct ions.
$15.9$

R261-MAGNETIC AMPLI FIERS. This new Rider

b od is a co mplet e home-st ud y course in M-A . Exp li ci tl y ill ust ra t ed . W e d on' t fin d M-A in ha m
use yet, bu t t hey ore g rowing in ind ust ria l USe es
more eng ineers underst oo d the application s of this
$2 .45
rela tive ly new device. J 12 peqe s.

R270-REPAIRING TRANSISTOR RA DIOS. Rathe r

t ho ro ug h Rid e r bo oks wh ic h shou ld re move som e
of the mystery e nd fe e- from se rvic ing these little
b und les of t re nslstcrs. The b oo k is expen sive, but
you'll save more then t he p rice o n t he first set
you fix so rnevbe it is a bargain, eh7 The y hove
all o f t he t yp ica l ci rcuits t o help you a lo ng .
$3 .50
G -83-FUN W IT H ElECTRICITY. This b oo k ought
t o fi re t he imaginatio n of the tee nage r. Build a
qefvencroeter, a d e moto r, an e c qe ne retor. e
so len oid, 0 spe ek coil , 0 Teste coil, etc. H e lps teech
th e basic s of electri city while hevinq fu n with simp le
p ro ject s. 128 peqes.
$2.65

MMD-ELIMIN ATING MAN MADE INTERF ER.

ENCE. W hat make s it, how t o find it, how t o cure
it in homes, fecto ries. automobi les, eircre ft. b o ats,
etc. Or maybe you have n't been p lagued la tely.
160 pag es.
$2 .95

NHP-BUI LDING UP YOUR HAM SHAC K- Pyl.

{W70E}. A p rectice l discussion of points to co nside r when you are buying hom e q uip me nt , co mp le te with d e sc ripti on s of mu ch of th e evelleble
com me rc ial g ear. It' s just po ssible th at Pyle might
keep you from making 0 mistok e which would cost
a lot more than his boo k.
$2 .50

QAN -

SECOND

C LASS

RA DIOTELEPHON E

HANDBOO K- Noll (W3 FOJ). Everythi ng you

need +0 know t o P<'lSS t he FCC exam and get ste-ted se rvicin g two-woy e quipment. Much more than
iust a 0 & A rnenu el.
$3 .95

Order Form
8 10 r 3
I 2 S 6
24 28 32 33 40 49 50
S8 69 72 74 75 76 77
RI99 R221
83 8S R170
SNS20 SNS28 R261 R270
Q AN

16 20 2 1 22 23
52 53 55 56 57
78 79 80 81 82
R235 R24S SNS8
G83 MMD NHP

Name

C all

Address ..

. .

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

. .

..

. .

C ily . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Siale .

. .. ...

R199-GETTING STARTED IN AMATE UR RAD IO - Be re ns

(W2 PIK). Fu nd o me llfals for getting No vice License. $2.40

RADIO BOOKSHOP

R221 -BUILDING THI AMATEUR RADIO STATION - Bere ns

(W2 PIK). Sequel to ebcve. Everything you need to know
to build your first hom sta t io n.
$2.95

1379 Easl 151h Sir eel. Brooklyn 30, N. Y.

MARCH 1961

(N.Y.C. add 3% lax)

73 MAGAZINE

61

Save I Lea rn I Have Fun-

Build!
x recent years the myth tha t it's cheaper to
buy Own to b uild has been gaining acceptance as fa ct among a g reat man y rad io am ateurs. Thanks to the prosperity wh ich our
country now enjoys, a large number of U .S.
hams can alford to pu rchase the ultimate in
ch rome p lat ed kilowatts, p recision receivers
and delu xe beam untcnuns. \ Vhile attem p ting
to emulate these fortunat e fellows, less ulllucnt
hams resort to all sorts of lud icrou s rationalizations in order to salve thei r consciences for
spend ing so mu ch un what is, afte r all, ouly
a hobby.
O zzie (short for O strich ) Ham, the one who
prefers to bury his head in the sand rat her
than to look at unpleasant facts, will tell you
that his new rig set him back only $200. H e
neglects to mention th at he had previously
paid $150 for th e transm itter he traded in on
the new one a nd he happily ignores the $20
to $30 carry ing charges he's going to donate
to the fin ance company as part of his time
payment .
T rade-in Tommy has co nv inced himself
that, in the long run , home-brew eq uipment
costs a Jot more tha n facto ry bu ilt gear. H e
points out that nowad ays it is very difficult
to locate a bu yer for a used compos ite rig.
Furthermore , a dealer won't even consider
such equipment as a down payment on a factory produced transmitt er. T ommy p refers to
overlook the fact that the p arts fro m an old
hom e built rig either fi nd their way in to a ncw
transmitt er or else they are stored in the junk
box for futu re use. True , these parts won't
bring much at resale, but to the ham who owns
them they a re just as good as mon ey ill th e
bank. Maybe even bett er, if you weigh inflation caused p rice advances against bank interest rates.
Cautio us Kenneth naivel y assumes that a kit
or a factory wired piece of eq uipment is bound
to p ut out a superior sig nal that won't get
him in trouble with the F CC . \Vhilc th is is
usuall y true, a poor qualit y signal can be
generated by a rig carrying a famous man ufacturer's label. A friend of mine, for examp le,
ow ns a $400 transmit ter th a t wob bles all over
th e place w hen amp li tude mod ulated 0 11 10

62

73 M A G A Z IN E

Hertle od B. Smith W 8VV D

46 7 Perk Ave.
Birmingha m, Michlqen

meters. Another fe llow 1 kn ow also has one

of these beautifully styled instruments.
Beca use of TVI, he w as p ut off the air by a
visiting F CC inspector.
Almost every case of really objectio nab le
spla tter I've heard on th e phone bands in th e
last 3 or 4 years has resulted fro m over m odulation of on e very pop ular transmitter model.
Another well kn own produ ct puts a truly obnoxious signa l right in the midd le of the 160
meter Loran assignment when it is supposed ly
tu ned to 7 ,~ meters. So you see, even though
a lot of engineering kn ow how is behind the
des ign of a commercial rig, now and then
somewhere a long the prod uction line somebody goofs.
H ig h Po wer H arry bought his costly commercial rig because it is rated at 2000 watts
PEP. An old time A~ l'er . H arry didn't read the
fine print which claims an output of only 300
watts on that mod e of transmission .
Hu rry Up H al says he's too busy to b uild.
He ju st ca n't stay off the air long enough to
roll his own . H al's forgotten that it 's possible
to derive a great deal of satisfaction from crea ting something with a soldering iron and a
screw driver. In fa ct, buildi ng can he just as
much fu n as yakking on 75 w ith the natives
of New H aven, Nashville or X utlev.
- y con1 you've read this far, you've probabl
cluded that I'm one of those miserable old d ie
hard s who spends most of his tim e w rit ing
nasty letters to ham magazines a bout the
bumper crop of kn ob twisting nitwits who inhabi t the a mateur band s these da ys. On the
contrary, I believe it is a privilege to live in a
country w here so man y individ uals can truly
afford the fi nest ma nufact ured eq u ip ment that
mon ey can b uy. Fu rthermore, I'm proud th at
my chosen hobby is one which p rovid es year
'round pay checks to hundreds of American s
who a re em ployed lry receiver. tran smitter a nd
antenna manufacturers. H owever, I do feel
that a lot of newly h atched hams, the kind
who've never wound a coil, held a soldering
iron or bu ilt a beam, get too litt le pl easure for
each dollar th ey invest ill th e radio game.
]f you ha ve a well padded bank account
or if you live ill a small apart me nt 01' a house
MARCH 1961

tra il er where you ca n't fi nd room to set up a

mod est workshop, factory built gem obviously
is th e ans wer to your requirements. On the
o ther hand , if you must think twi ce before
spend ing a dollar and if you can locate enou gh
space for a small workbench somewhere in
your hom e, I contend that it will pay you to
cons ider th e advantages of building as much
of your ham gear as possible . \Vhat are th ese
advantages? Am on g th e morc important ones
a re the follow ing:
\VH EI\ YOU nUIL.D IT YO UH SELF YO U I :\' CH EASE
YO UH STORE OF P HACTICAL K:\' OWLEDG E. -S ome

hams attempt to lord it over th eir Citizens

Badio breth ren by boasting of the difficult
theoretical examin ation w hich must be passed
before a license is gra nted . Actuall y, though,
just about any halfwa y intelligcnt hum an being
has th e ab ility to memorize the contents of
the License Manual a nd sq ueak b y th e amateur exam w ith a passing g rade. In view of
this fact, it is hardl y surpris ing th at so many
ama te ur operators know little more about what
goes on beh ind the fron t p an el of a transmitter
than do their mail ord er counterparts on the
Citizens Band.
You ca n read all kind s of text b ooks. You
can commit to memory every word in th e instruction manual tha t ca me with your commerd ally built rig. Never theless, until you've actu ally worked w ith p arts and have assemb led
them into a prop erly functi oning electronic
device, you ca n hardly claim to he a well
round ed master of th e amateur radio art.
A ham who d oesn't build is analogous to a
chem istry or physics major wh o has never b een
inside a lab. I t's tru e that the ans wers to most
techn ical qu estions will be found in hooks.
H owever, if you discover the ans wers while
actually working with a rig you've cons tr ucted,
yourself, the information you glean will take
on added significa nce and will really stick wi th
you.
As the home constructor assem b les an electronic gadget, ail e pi ece at a tim e, h e becomes
fa miliar w ith the location of each p art in his
rig. During the debu ggin g p rocess which
us ually follows the completion of home built
gear, th e experimenter learn s the effect of a
little more resistan ce here, a sma ller coil there ,
etc. H e gets the feel of his eq uip ment and
therefore doesn't hesitate to di g in when something needs to be repaired. U nlike many
"buyers," a "builder" is seldom overawed by
the com p lex wiring so often encountered in
today's receivers and transmitters.
H o ~rt: BUILT GEAR CAX BE :\ L\ IlE TO OUTPEJlFOIIM

S I:\IILAHLY

MARCH 19b1

r-ru cun

CO :\ I :'\ I E HC I .-\ L

MONOBAND BEAMS
10 METER-3 Elem ent

full

Sized

W ide Spoced
Light Weight

$21.50
Model No. A28-3. boom 10' x 11h"
10 METER--t Elem e nt
$42.50
Model No. A28 -.4. boom 18' x1 %;"
15 METER -3 Elem ent
$32.50
Mode l No. A21-3 boom 12' x 1%;"
20 METER-2 Ele ment
$45.00
Model No. AU3. boom 10' x 1%"
20 METER-3 Ele ment
$62.50
Mode l No. AU-3. boom 20'6".. 1% "
See your d istributor o r w r ite f or
~fREE CATAl OG ",.'l'I

__ ....._ ST.
MANCHESTER N . H.

CUSHCRArl

50 ,000 SOLO IN 6 MO NTHS! LE KTRON EXCLUSIVE

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W ORTH $85

mill

BUY 4 PAKS
Fr e e

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Disc Condensers &

W OltT H $50

Di sc Cenmies,
Preci sion.
W O RTII $70

p er pound l

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pollllI:e;
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Writel
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24 ~ zveeett Ave .. Che lsea 50. Mas I'() ~T.\L ZO:\f; 1n addre...

co tolog

RICEs

EDUCED

We take great pride in prod ucing the very

fin est Vlf F equipme nt th at can be mad e. If
rc u are interested in serious VHF a nd U HF
work the n you'll wan t a T apeton e Conve rter.
Fe w amateur worksho ps ha ve th e tools and
equ ipment needed to produ ce th ese fi nely
cra fte d conver ters.
In order to serve you faster and more personally we a re now sel l ing ou r unit s directly
fro m our laborat or y. Th is i!'o the only practi cal
syste m si nce each con vert er is pract icall y cus10 m built a nd tuned.

Converters for :
50__108__144__220 __432__1296 me
Send fo r a complete descrip tion of our ma ny
models anti th e lat est prlce list. Prices have
been red uced on all conver ters.

TAPETONE

10 Ardlod Place
Webster, Mass.

73 MAGAZINE

b3

EQU1P~ IEXT .- ~ lass

produced items m ust , of

necessity, con tain com promises b etween perf nrmnncc and price. H ere is where the h obbyist h as a distinct advan tage. H is lab or costs
not h ing and if h e's ingen ious , he call h old
com ponent cost to a relativel y low figure. T ak e
for example VF Os. I've wired tip two d ifferent
"FO kit s and have extensively experimented
wit h a th ird . Not o ne of th ese ap p roach ed in
performance ( m ech an ical a nd electr ica l stability, case of tuning ) a \ ' FO which I built.
myself, at a cost approxi mately eq ual to th at
of th e least expensive kit.
I know a fellow who wanted an antenna
wit h so mu ch ga in th at it wou ld put him wa y
above the Q H ~ I and would provide consistent
QSO's, even under the most adverse conditions. Il l' had to build it, him self, b ecau se
there is nothin g in the catalogs th at can approach its performance. You see it's a 10 meter
Quad - wi th tu:clce d em ent s.
H o vnc BU ILT GE ..\ H CAX BE T ..\I LOHED TO
voun SPECIFIC XEEDS. - I wanted an effec tive
beam th at wou ld cover 10, 1.:5 and 20 m eters.
Becau se of nearb y tree branches, no element
could exceed 18 feet ill lengt h. Out of respect
to my fl imsy mast, th e weight , incl u d ing rotator, cou ld n't be m uch more thail 10 p ou nd s.
To top off my requirements, the radiator,
director and reflector must h e tunable, b y rcmotc control. from the shack . Th e fin ish ed
product met everyone of my specifications at
a cash ou tlay of less th an ten d ollars.

Tne 1I0 "I E COXSTHUCTOR XEED XOT P.\Y F01\

U:'\ :\ ECESSAHY FEATUHEs.- ln order to please
the vari ed tastes of p rospective bu yers, a m allufncture r mu st Includ e as many Features as
possible in the g ear he markets. T his may
mak e for versatile performance, hu t it a lso
adds to the sell ing price . I'm not in terested in
HT TY so wh y should I pay to have FS K b u ilt
into my rig? I don't like VOX. For th is r eason ,
w hen I built m y SB rig , I left ou t this an noying ( to me ) feature. Thc money I saved by
th e omission h elped pay for other fea tures th at
1 wa nted to incl ude .
A FELLOW WIIO HUi LUS OUTA IXS EXT1\A
I'LE AS UII E
F IlO" 1 ill S 1I0BB y.-\Vhether yo u
follow a ci rc uit that h as ap peared in a magazine or design your own rig from scratch , O!lCA
yo u have it co mpleted and on th e air, you'll
exper ience a ft'elill g of accomplis h ment that
can never be enjoyed by the fe llows who b u v
kits or factory wired gear. \ Vhen a fa r off
station comes h ack to a call from "your baby"
b4

73 MAGAZINE

you'll be filled with a pride th at must be exp erien ced to be appreciated. An d when n ontechn ical visitors eomc to the shack yOll ca ll
rig htfull y b oast that "you made it, yourself."
HOM E COXSTnUCTIo=, GETS YOU OUT O F -rtu:
STE HEOTYI'ED QSO uu-r.c-Hnve yo u really
liste ned to the kind of QSO's that are preva lent
today? A typ ica l transm ission gees someth ing
like th is: " Hig In's an 1'\'300 feeding an NC 47
beam with an XX 22 for a hearing aid ." That's
all th ere is to it. 0:0 more d escription of the
la yout is req uired , b ecause everyone knows
just what these mass produced items look like .
W he n the home constructor goes on the air,
h ow e ver, th is is not th e case. Ea ch piece of
gea r he's put together is a c ustom job. E ven
th ou gh much or all of it may have been cop ied
from a simila r un it, 1I 0 ot her h am gad ge t is
exact ly like it. Conseq uen tly, a tho rough over
the air description is in order. This takes tim e
and before yo u realize w hat is h appening, a
goo d old fa shi on ed rag chew is in progress,
since the boys involved are d oing more than
ju st spouting model nu mb ers.
True FELLO W W IIO B UILDS illS o w x DOEs~lT
SHY .\ \\"AY FHO),[ CIHCUIT CIIAxGEs.-T he owner
of a commercia l u n it seldom cares to m ake
revision s that m ight adve rsely af f ect the r esale
va lue of h is eq u ip men t. O n the other h a nd ,
a home constructor has no such q ualms.
\\'hen cver he wants to improve p erform an ce
b y tryin g out a new circuit , he merely p lugs in
his soldering iron and goes to work.
IT COSTS LESS TO HU ILD TIlA;-'; TO HUY. -U nd onbtedly the most important reason for constructi ng your own ham gear, as far as the
fellow wit h a thin b illfo ld is concerned , is
th at b y so doing you ca n save money.
About a year ago I decided to up-date my
rig by adding a bundswitchi ng fi nal fo r C \V,
A~I and SB. Th e am p lifier I hn ilt is capab le
of 1000 wa tts PEP inpu t as a linear. In C lass
C service it is rat ed at 500 watts C \V and 400
watts plum e. From th e time I firs t thou gh t
of bu ildin g th e am p lifier, until I h ad it comp leted and on the air, 1 paid out less than
S8.00 for new m at erials. All the rest of th e
pa rt s came fro m m y junk b ox. Usin g todu y's
ham logic, the entire amplifier cost me less
th an a penny a P EP watt.
Actually, so me time ill the past, I had to p ay
for most of th e parts I took from the junk box.
T hus, in order to fairly evalua te the tota l cost
of the amp lifier, the orig inal amou nt paid for
all co mponents prohah ly sh ou ld Ill' fi gured in .
Wh en this is done. the pri ce tag reads $27 .H-t.
Even if 1 d id n 't have a ju nk b ox to rel y on nnd
had found it necessary to purchase every part
MARCH 1901

new fro m a current catalog, the price of the

linear would be only $95.00. This is somewhere
between ]~ and ~ of the cos t of a kit or factory
wi red amplifier with simila r characteristics.
The true hom e builder, of co urse, seldom
buys a ll of his pa rts a t 40 and 2 off list. Instead, he is consta ntly on the lookout for b arga ins. li e picks up usable tubes and transmitter components for a fraction of thei r
original cost a t ham club swap and sho p
sessions. IIe cannibalizes war surplus equip ment for needed parts. li e purchases small
items such as res istors and capacitors in kit s
or by the pound . He carefully scrutinizes the
ads in the back pages of ham p ublications
while searching for low priced items. E ven
throngh th e heyday of surpl us, with its 5U
beam rotators and 79 30 I'I'L's is long gon e,
a fellow with a sharp eye can still save plent y
of mone y when buyin g mat erial for eq uip ment
construction.
" 'HAT A BOUT A P PEAHA:'\CE?-~ Iany home
constructors lack the shop facilities and mecha nical know-how required to give th eir gear
that sleek fact ory styled look. This is, however, a rat her insignifi cant drawback, because
the fellow on the other end of a QSO isn't
interested in the appearance of yo ur rig. All
he cares about is how it sounds over the air.
By observ ing th e ru les' of good engi neeri ng
p ractice , the home const ructor should he ab le
to produce a rig that rivals or even exce ls
the performance of the average p iece of commercial gear.
Of course there is no law wh ich says th at
home b uilt eq uipment must have a n amateurish look about it. Take th e case of one of
mv fri ends. Alth ough he owns a top notch
c(;mmerd a l kilowatt, he still enjoys building
accessories for his station. Recent ly he pu t
together a keyer that is a superb example of
craftsmanship . The unit works perfectl y and
vet
it cost him on lv one third as much as the

KEEP CANDEE HAN DEE!

FAMOUS Q 5' E R I l I
T h is 11 t he lllntaloulou s one ! 1!10 - .'I ~O ke.
,.elvH .'0'01.1 '\'0 heen leoklng ror al on III
BC -454 : 3 -6 M e
I3C- 455 : 6 -9.1 1I:
MD _7 MOn UlATOR : !'Ireda l

The r e ,
$9 .95
7.9 5
7.95
3,95

A TRIO OF HEADSET BARGA INSl

HS -23: H I Im pedanre. Leather eecerea h eadb and .
Hrand ntw. G reat tuy. On ly _. ... .. .. ..... $4 .95
HS 33 : Low Im peda nee. Leather coreeed headhand. B r and new. A. J . J . Ca ndee S Ilf"C i:ll _ . 5.95
HI F i Head set : 15 ,000 ellel esl Ura ml li e ", '11 t h
rh am OI! cushion s, I I " terr l ne l O nly . . . . . , . ... 8.95
CO 3~7A
Hea dset Exten ai on Cord : n r and new.
,\ nnroxlmlllf'l." Ii ft, len l!Ih, On l."
"
"
.49

AP H- I FM TRANSCE IVER
4 ~O 4 60 ?of e. Comnt. wnn 111 10. . Ext . t:a
$2 .'lfi
.' I>p ros. s ill>. "I . per u n il 25 II;B
TW O for 5.00
YO U GOT IT! WE WANT IT ! LET 'S DEAL ?
We 're payl n\( top
tor GHC~9; I'UC -6. - 8. -9. - 10 ;
G~-:; ~A : All electron ic 1"'5t e,,"ln.

sn

APX - 6 TRANSPONDER
A m idget warehous e ut I ' il ttl ~ u tc were. t hree " e",der '
n "ot ecunre rs . I . F . st ri ps. ,a. l\y, m' t'r 30 l ulJu. ere.
Inel ud es 3 E29 h lbe. Good r un d. A HTJo:,\ J. AT O"" I.Y
(2 for $UJ ,Oll)
$9 .95
R- 4 A /ARR 2 RECE IVER
23 4 -~ :;S .\ f l'. :1 IU I)~ s . ' ~ Il l<' . II.Ul ~ hl e le.'eh-cr, ~ ..e
AlI ./ :;l< l: ,Q .\ fa g Dzl ne for eon. er etcn. 1';lo:l'e lJ e llt etllll.!.
T W O for u.oe. Each
$2.95
1- 208 FM S I GN AL GENERATOR
FrI'Q. ran J:"n : 1.9- 4.5 ) It. and 1!l-4 5 )I e. Fre qu ",Ilf'Y
d nlat llJlI ",ay be adjulIl'tf 0.:-' ke. to r 1.9 4 .5 ~I ". a nd
0- :-'0 kc. each d de for the 1\1-45 ~Ic. ba nd . W ith
output meter and 5pnke r, 11;). 60 cycles or 12 VIl C
Input . Jo:sc" lI ~nt cumUU"n..... .. . .. . ........ 549 .95

'0

All i 'e".. "011 Bu rba"" , Calil , ,, b jed

prior , .. I...
1" (:0.1 /1. a,I,1 4 0/0' su, order $3.95.

J. J. CANDEE CO.

D.pl. MS

501 No . V ict o r y Blvd., Burb';l n k , C al if.

Pho ne : Vittorio 92411

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

CO R- M AC CUBICAL QUAD ANTENNAS

FOR 2 AND 6 METER S
W ill I' TO\' I<I,> nre ater Kaln ,.-lIt> less elem.. nts t ha n Ya gl tHJoe
;lrrJln

.\ lll l'lllla

Input 11TIIw,'anl"O " 'Ill mutch a ll}' s ta n<l ll r <l "(I-adal

"lIhl,., .. lJlIlln 'lIln K need tor l r lr ky mutr-hlng d,'\' ''''~ that can
'. U' f' sever.. l~ '" t"I" tos se s.
Hroa ,l t u nlnK l 'ro\"I" ~ s row sl and inll \\'a\'e r a Uog OHr enure
ha nd ,
l.arJ; " ..a nture area. 10... engle of radiation and wme l' md f'fH")'
rur ~!O d ellrt-e "'(>SB I>Ola r lzcd Jlg n.:!.1 Ir a nsm ls sion and r ocept l on .

l 'llm plf'll' kil l . II'S! e tem em ..-Irl' . re'lul rln\( 0111) 8trr'l" d r iver
an,l pl il'U roe a "~"mhly . .\11 ma.. h inl'<1 aluminum co.,. t rut'1jon
"lt h ut'l'flli<>n rJI 6 m..lf'r ,,'ood li"''''" 1 "j, rf'a li..-n.
2 mel",,". 2 e l""e nt por ta b le qu ~ d wi t h eleme nt wire @ $ 12.50
P ~t

" aid

CUSTOM BUILT 2 AND 6 METER QUADS

4 ele ment 2 @ $ 19.50. 5 element 2 @ $24.50,
2 element 6 @ $ J 8.50, 3 eleme nt s @ $24.50 ,
4 elem ent /) @ $29.50
All p rice s f ,O .B.: Worehouse o n cus tom o ntennos

J. S. MacELROY CO., INC.

(Cont inued on p age b7)

Trin ity P lace, N .Y. 6 , N .Y.

sr~~~~~~SUE SPRING 1961 CALLBOOKS

The SPRING issues of the CA LLBOOK e re now on sal e at you fav.
c rite rad io p e rts st ore . Be sure to ask for your copies of the latest
edition. Or ord e r d ire ct by m.. i1 fro m the pub lishe r;

United States Sedion. per copy

(All K & W 0011,)
Foreign Seetion.

copy
(All countries outsid e U.S.A. )
pe r

$5.00 p lu s 25 for
mailing .
,

,.,

$3 .00 plus 25 for

mailing.

RADIO AMATEUR CALLBOOK, Inc.

4844 Fullerton Avenue , Chica go 39, Illinoi s , D ept. SY-2

MARC H 196 1

73 MAG AZINE

65

SPERA ELECTRONICS
37-10 33RD STREET

LONG ISLAND CITY, NEW YORK

Phone: STillwell 6-2190-STiliweli 6-2199

GELOSO Two Meter VFO-Transmitter

Me d el 4/ 103
VFO with
dial
$2 9.95
(less t ub e s & xta l)

Stable YFO or Xtal

144-148 me
Calibrated
Wired ready to use,
not a kit
6CL6 YFO
6CU Xtal Osc
12AT7 Multiplier
5763 Output
12 me Xtal$
Will drive an 832 or 2E26

This GelO!'H \' FO makes an ideal exciter or low power transmitter. Th e "FO opera tes on 18 me
and is mult iplied to 144 0 1(' . The xtal osc. opera ted Oil 12 me a nd multi plies li p 10 144 me. Ha ndy
for nel s, ope rating nea r ba nd edges, CA1\ )IAH S, etc . A set o f tubes for the r ig are only ...6.75.
)I ode! 4/102 Yf'O, 5 Lands (80-10.\1), a-sembled , wired, tested anti cal ibrated. Will drive a pair
of 807 ' ", or 6146'". Price, with di al, but le-e tubes : 29.95
P I Tu ning Coils. complete with Land chan ge swit ch . )Iodel 4/111 for usc with parall el 807\, or
6146"s a nd Mudd 4-/112 fur usc wi th ;;i ll ~d e 807 or 6146 (60 wans ) . T unc 80-10 met er". Coil is
l % " x 3=}'l " a nd mounts to 3}1" dept h . Price for either: $-'1 .95.

MINITRIP
Th is is a real fan cy fuse. It costs a Lit extra, but
it provides safe prot ection fur your gear without
burni ng out every tim e you have a brief overload
or a q uick short. If the overload persis ts the
1\1 initrip will blow oul. T hey are availab le in curn-u t ra tings of 100, 150, 200, 300, 500, 750, and
lOOO mao They will stand a 100% overload for
about 45 second", a 200% overload for about 12
seconds , 300 % for 7 seconds, a nd 500% for about
four seconds. Cur re nts up to 4-0 tim es th e rated
will he tolerated for a fra ction of a secund.
)I ini trip ... 69 each

Modulation Xfmr for Geloso VFO .. ,. $4.95

Crystals Type FT-243, any frequency
50
7725 7900 8000 8025 8050 8075
8100 8150 8175 8225 8275 8300
8325 8350 8375 8400 8600 . . . .
Cry.tal Type CR27/U freq 28.55556
me, fine for Heath or Johnson riCJs
for 10 meter band
. 1.95
Crystals, RCA Type VC-5, 100 kc
. 4.50
Crystals. RCA Type VC-5, 100 kc
. 4.50
Meter: 0-500 micro-amps 2 1/2" round . 2.95
Helipot Linear 10K pot type SG354
5i'0 . .. . . . . . .. . ... ..... . 1.95
Resistors, 1 i'o V2 watt. well known
.06
make .. . ....... . .. . . .. . . . . . .
4.3K 5.1K 7.5K 8.2K 9.1K 24K 27K
33K 36K 39K 43K 47K 56K 62K 82K
240K
GE Xfmr 6.3 /5.6a, 6.5/8a: 120v 60cy
p rl . . . 3.25
Fats. General Radio 471A 10 or 20K . 4.50
Relay. SiCJma 4F 8000 ohms. 1 ma, 5
prong can ..... . ....... .... 4.75
Relay. time delay, WestinCJhouse, 2 sec
- 50 min. . . .. .. . . . .. . ..... . 6.50

And this is just a tiny fr action of the int erestin g ~ t ll fT I' ve got around . How'd you like 10 rea lly
see some li;;,t ;;, of equ ipment a nd parts ? Drop me a line or drop in and che w the rag. . . . Ru ss
\V2Ur U. And hey, don't pa ss up th at Celoeo VFO, you' II love it.

66

13 MAGAZINE

MARCH 1961

(C ontinu ed fro m pag e 651

factory mad e
fashioned .
\\' H AT A BOUT

article

a fter

which

it

VHF. UHF ~.s~~~~i~~68

was

FAIRFIELD. CONN.

DIRECTIONAL POWER COUPLER

C O ~ I P ACTN E SS AN D C ONV EN I-

so TO 500 MCS -

you have the p atience to d esign and

redesign, and if you d on't mind working in
cra mped qu arters, you can come u p w ith some
prett y comp ac t gad gets . In m ost in stances,
however. the average prod uct of a ho me workshop is la rger than its commercial cou n terpa rt. Alth oug h small size is often considered
a virt ue, un d er ce rtain ci rc u msta nces it is a
drawback, es pecia lly w hen rep airs b ecome
necessa ry. A lot fewer headaches a re genera ted b y rack and pan el rigs with easily
accessible com ponen ts than by com pact table
toppers w ith the ir la yer upon layer of parts
sq ueezed int o the sma llest p ossible space.
E XCE?- ]f

sp ite of the great variety

of kits and rea d y made eq u ipme nt now on the
market, and in sp ite of the convenience, compactn ess a nd excellen t ap peara nce of this gear,
I believe that there is still a place in ham
ra dio for the fellow who rolls h is OWIl .
If you want th e best p ossible p erform ance
for each dollar expended- If you w ant a rig
which boasts features not ordinarily includ ed
in manufactured gear- If you want a transmitter or rece iver ta ilored to you r ow n special req uiremen ts-If you w ant to increase your
p ractical and th eoretical knowl ed ge of electron ics, th en try you r ha nd at hom e cons tr uction.
I think you'll enjoy that wonderful feeling
of accom plish men t wh ich comes only to those
w ho operate eq uip m ent that the y, th emselves,
have p u t toget her.

41NSTRUMENTS IN

OK between U.S. and Canada , Chile,

C osta Rica , C uba , Ecuador, Haiti, Hond uras, Li be ria, Mexico , Nicara g ua ,
Pa na ma , Para g ua y, Pe ru a nd Venezuela .
Pue rto Rico and Virgin Islands co unt a s
part of U.S.. as do U.S. licensed ove rse a s st at io ns using W - or K- prefixes
(exce pt KA2- KA9).

ONE

STANDING WAVE RATIO

MODULATION MONITOR
FiElD STRENGTH METER
LINE LOSS
52 ohm model: L52
75 o h m model , L75
BULLET IN E527 5
Each un it indiv id u o lly. o li g~ed 10 iro

su re pe rfe ci me ie r co flb-o t to n.

$24 50

NUVISTOR PRE-AMPLIFIER
EX CEl LEN CE IN PERFORMANCE

MODELS TO COVER :
4860 MCS-

MODEl G50
140150 MCSMODEl G-l44
210~240 MC5 MODel G-220
410450 MCS
MODEl G 432

C Or-;'C L US IO X . - ! 1l

Phone Patching

10 TO 1000 WATTS

19
9S
$

BUllETIN E5 12.4
E.och un it. individually o ligned fo r o p
t ,m u m no ne figu re .

417A GROUNDED GRID PREAMPlIFIER

$39.90 WITH TUBE
$2 1.95 LESS TUBE

SELECTED DEALERS :

KAUFMAN ElECTRONICS
73 Fro n k St ree t
Br id g e p ort, Co nn.
DEALER INQUIRIES WelCOMED

.--_HAIL, COLUMBIA!_--.
NOW!

Largest Store-W areh ouse in the co u ntry

Hu ge stock of elect ronic com p onents
Giga ntic surp lus d epartment
Like E lectron icsville, ma n, all under one
roof!
Free Bull etins. \ Vrit e. T ry resistin g ou r irreslstu ble b nrguin sl
w e bu y u sed equi pment. TS . C UC, P RC,
vue, etc. Lei us hear from you.

COLUMBIA ELECTRONICS
.4365 W. Pica Blvd . (ne o r Crensha w )
W E 8 -3731
l os Ange le s, Ca lif
Wh y b uy e lse w he re- w he n COLUMBIA u nde rse lls
e"""yone l

<3 ;
Red uces
interference
and
Noh e on All Makes Shor t
Wa ve Recei vers . M ak u Wor ld
Wide
Reception
Slrl nge r.
Clcarer on All Band a l

,/--G j

-.

;D '-

For A LL Ama teur Trlns

mltt ers. Guara nt eed for
SOD Wi th P ower for Pi .
Net or Link Di rect Feed .
Light , Nea t. Weath cTll roof

r'omptete n shown tot .1 Il'n gth 102 f t. wi t h 81 ft . of 12 ohm

ha la nN'd fl'l'd ll nf'. H i- Imp act molded r eson a nt t rap s. (w t. 3 Oll .
1" X" 5" If,ng). You just tu na to d esired b.nd for beatnltke reo
sults. E l celle nt for Af.T. wortd-wtde "~ort"'a\'C r eeet vera and

Incommunicado
Don 't talk with t he follow ing : Cambod ia
FI 8, XU; Indo nesia PK, YB-YH ; Laos
XW8; and Viet Nam FI8, XV, 3W.

amateur t rensmnters. For NOVIC E ,,:S D ALL CLASS AMA

:'\'0 . :XTR .-\ ruSE RS OR G AJlG ETS :SEEDED!
Ell ml n .tes 5 Sft'a ", l e antpnnn with u:cl'lIenl t>I',fonn.nce

TE I ' R~ !

ltu.l1I nlf'f'i!. Use as Inve rt ed V for I II ban d powa r ga in. :-00

HAYWIR E HO e SE .-\ P I'EARA:SCE I EASY I:-OSTALLATIO:'\' 1

!<O 40 :?0 15- 10 meter banda. Complete .. . .. . . . $'4 .95

40 , 20 1.'1 10 mete r ban d s. 54 ft. ant. (beBt for w w 1'01'1'1) 13.95
:? 0 1.~ 1 0 mete r ha nd l . D ual Trap. 24 -ft. alllenn . . . . . . 19. 95
S E ND ONLY $3.1:;0 (<'I lh. ck. mo l and pa y postman b.lance
COD plul poUage on . r rir al or I l'nd full pri ce for postpaid
dl'lI n ",.
Aull able only trcm :

WESTE RN RAD IO _ DeDt. A7 3

MARCH 1961

73

Kea rne y, Neb,os5t:a

MAGAZIN E 67

RW SURPLUS SPECIALS
Co llins Tra nsce iver, 2-9Mc. Cost
$2250. Snippi ng w i. leo lbs. fo b Chicago or los Ang e le s . While the y la st! . . . .
ARC 3 Receiver AM 100156 Me wi th sche-

Who .When

ARC 2

$59.50

matic ........ ......................

12 .95

ARC-S " Q'Se t" 190-550Kc. Used good . . . . . .

A RCS 8(- 458 Tra nsm itt e r 5.3-7 Me. Used,

11.95

good

5 .95

aC60J NBFM Rece iver, 2027.9 Me.

BrCII'ld

Newl

15.95

8(604 N BFM Transmitter, 2027 .9 Me. See

CQ N o v. 1960 f or conversion 30 Wo th.

Bro nd Ne w ! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.95
Send Mone y Order or Check with order.
Wr it . for Bulletin ::32- l 0 ADS OF BARGAINS.

RW ELECTRONICS
2430 S. Michig an Avenu e

Phone : CAlum et 5128'

Dept. 73
Chlce qc 16, III.

CONTROL your FREQUENCY

WEll

MATCHED
THAT

ANTENNA SYSTEMS GIVE

STAND OUT SIGNAL

YOU

ANTENNAS FOR EVERY PURPOSE

G4ZU Minibeams and Birdcages

Hy Gain
Telrex
Andrews

HF

VHF

UHF

ROHN TOWERS-A Si;[e ond Height for ony occosion.

Rotolors, Cables, SWR Bridges, ete., Avoiloble .

\Vrite for

lliform(/ti()n- ~ Mention

" 73"

\\"rite N O\V

HOUSE OF ANTENNAS
1153 Ead 82nd St. C hicag o 19. III ,

The Curta Computer

This. t he world 's smallest computer. is mode in (I
tiny factory up in t he mountains of liechtenstein. Almost unlcnown in t his coun try, t his is an incredible
inven tion. It will do everyth ing tha t 0 big d e sk type
ca n do, th o ugh it is only 2" in diamete r (2 ~!.l"
fo r the "big" Cu rt a) . If yo u hove to do a lot of
co lcu lo t ing in you r business and you woul d llke
something smaller or le ss ellpensive t ha n t he Mon roe or Frid e n. then send for lite rat ure . The " b ig"
Curta has e leven Ice ys and will g ive em answer accurate to 1.5 dig ih. You can mu ltiply on 11 dig it
n um b er t ime s on 8 digi t nu mber a nd ge t you r onswe r to 1.5 p laces. Adds, sub t rach, m u ltip lies, d iv ides q uiclcly and accu rote ly. Talce s on ly a f e w
minutes to learn how to use. Rug g ed .

Cu r t. :\1 0,1<-1 1-( 11 I. I.....

r.. r r ..~ u lt . . . . . " $ 125.00

,.la....

Curl. :\1 ..<1.1 11-( 15

I.. .. r ..su l! ) . " .. $ lb5.0 0

Further Information?
Write

RADIO BOOKSHOP
1379 East 1.5th Street

b8

73 MAGAZINE

Broolclyn 30, N. Y.

I T'S

fun to tell a QSO-paI : "don't you remember our first QSO on Februa ry 7th
eight years ago, but frie nd, I haven 't received
you r QSL yet. . . ." \Vell, we still ' remember'
h is name, his QT H, and maybe we can tell
him some more details of that QSO, too. And
the chap is amazed at our mem or-y.
' Veil , he re's the real truth: The contact really was eight years ago , but by my honor we
d idn 't dig out t he det a ils from the fi nal stage
bet ween our narrow s houlders . No, the info
was picked up from the file system.
If you have no file s ys te m yet, here's one
which certainly is interesting enough to get
acquainted with. I do not aim to present thi s
a s the best and only one, but I have done well
w ith it fo r some yea rs .
Originally I printed a card quite different
from thi s one. It had s pa ce for the call, name
and QTH plu s date/QSL for the first QSO on
each band plu s s pa ce for the date of every QSO.
T his was alright a s long as I wa s operating
only CW on the bands. H owever , t he X Y I.
got he r ticket and wanted fone, so I ha d to
change the cards. It became essential to reserve s pa ce for more details. Finally the present card was made to meet the requirements
of any active amateur u sing any mode of
t ransmi ssion, C'V, Al\I or ssn.
There are two si des p rinted of the cards.
The curd s are filed alphabetically a ccord ing
to the calls, and naturally the s ide with the
call s ig n is kept in s ig ht . So, here we go:
Look a t the Fig. 1. The 'box' in the upper

J ohn. l:cl s i n}:i

Bnd

S SB

3,5

O!I2n-
cw

PHO NE

,- 1-----'"'-;--1
I
!
I

1 /1 / 151 Ix

I-To- 11LU,Q. X--Jl2Lai<7 'iX+.8.L:lJ.

'-" /' 8

1.2! 1/1/l5q x

7 / 6/ 60

ri gh t corne r is reserved fo r t he call sign of

the station worked, the long space left from
the call-box is for the name and QTH. T ha t ' s
enoug h to tell the chap : "gld cuagn." For simplicity I have taken my OW.l call a s an example. If you find th e card in your file it
mea ns that you have contacted me before.
If you don't , just take an empty ca rd and
fill it. So we QSO'd, and y ou see : OH2YV
name is J ohn and QTH Hel sinki. Look st ill
at the picture No. 1. You see we have con MARCH 19b 1

"New 19 61

Catal og"

Vhere .. and How

Joh n Velemo. O H2 YV

ta cted at lea st the foll owing : C' V on three

bands (7, 14 and 28 m e), A:\l on on e band
( 14 m e) and two-way SS B on two bands
(28 an d 14 me ) . Good, an d st ill you fi nd out
th at you have rece ived my QSL for a ll ot her
QSO s e xcept that on 28 me C W.-i.e. on th is
s ide of the ca r d you enter the first QS O on
each band and in e ac h e m iss ion type. The small
'box' is reserved for an " x" or a " v" or whatever ~'OU li ke to u se, whe n t he QSL f or th a t
ver y QSO ha s been rece ived . So now you un derstand the system.
T urn t he ca r d ove r ( F ig . 2). There I S

E lec t r .. ni c T UB E S li nd CO M PONENTS . . . fea.

t u ri n sr B a r r y Elect r unics s nvi n g s t o H A M S . Serv ice m e u a nd !<:x pE'l"i m{'n t e l"s,
We h a ve hu ndr eds a f Buy s. Fird Quality at Sens ible
Price s . Buy wi t h confid ence ,
Pro ve the se va lues to you r$e lf! Co m pl ete and moil
the couoon b e low fo r you r co p y o f t he *G ree n $hee t .
Sp ecial s , .

11 .1.

Hickok Mut ual Co ndu ctan ce Tu be Te $tersLimited Quant ity -Used , in goo d ope rat ing condi tio n,
..
Hickok t yp e 533
Hick Ok t y pe 533A. .
,
.
Hickok t yp e 531A . . .. "
.

fI

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,,

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,I

,,

MA RC H 1961

$110.00
110.00
110 .00

Ken yon Pla te Tra nsf or mers :

Mo de l T-6S4 . Un ive rs a l tri p le w ln d :ng s.
1220 V. C.T. @ 250 Mo.; 157 J V,C .T.
@ 250 Mo .; 1570 V.C.T. @ 250 Mo. 33
Ib $. $52.75 li st . . , Specia l p rice .. . "
Model T-659 . Unive r$o l trip le w in d in g s.
1300 V.C ,T. @ 300 Mo.; 1420 V. C.T,
@ 300 Mo .; 1420 V.C.T. @ 300 Mo , 48
lbs , 56 3.70 list. , . . Specia l p rice ., ..

I I
.I

spa ce for 36 co nt acts . H e r e I write t he detail s

o f e1H' I' JI QS O, incl ud ing even t hose on t he
ti t le side. H e r e is spa ce fo r da te , band . emi ss ian type, and QSL received . For the em i...sion ty pes I am u sing following abbreviations:
C ~ CW, F = AM P hone , S = 2-way SS E .
Someone may th ink the ' QS L box' u seless . but
a s a n a ctive " aw ard hunter" I h a ve f ou nd it
essen ti a l beca u se ma ny certificates require t he
QSO t o be ma de after ce r ta in date. H er e you
ca n check both the date and QS L. Use just
any mark, my self I have used " v" when QSL
is o.k.-A s sa id th er e is space for 36 QS O's
O lt th is ca r d . A ctuall y t here a re not very
ma ny cases where I have got t o take a nother
car d after t he first one ha s been filled up to
the 36. H owever , due to the lim ited s pace in
my drawer I had to print these li t tl e cards
( size only a bout 3" x 5" .) If you h a ve m or e
s pa ce for t he file pr int larger car ds.
There is some s pa re s pace on both s ides of
the ca rd for possibl e ex t ra notes (club st a tion
ope r a tor nam es , p ower, etc).
\Ve ll, there it is. Now you k now my "damn ed
good me mory." A n yway, you ma y be su re t hat
the n ext t ime we meet I will not n eed to pick
u p you r card to r emember your n a me ; good
pal s re member th e names of each ot her with out a ny files . Just for sa fety sake le t me look
a t that card, how ever, h i.
Thanks f or t he interest ! H ope you got a n
id ea f rom t his.

A como'ete cata~uK of apecialized H AM (a:AR ,

We

o r.

$ 17.50

$ 22.50

aut h oriled fa ctory d istributo rs f or :

ADJ UST-A-VOLT, AM PERITE, BARKER &

W ILLIAMSO N , BURG ESS, CBS, CHICAGO
XF MR, COR N ELl-DUB l lI ER, R. t . DRAKE
RE CE IVERS, ElECTRO IMPULSE,
FOSTO RIA LA MP S, G ElOSO, G EN ERAL
ELECTil:OWCS, G LAS -lI N E, HA MMAR LUND ,
HE VI.D UTY XfMRS , HEXACON SOLDERI NG
IRO NS, HI PAR AN TE NNA S, IND USTRI Al
DEVI CES, IN DUSTR IAl IN STRUMENTS,
E. f . J OHN SO N , MOS LEY ANTENN AS,
NAT:ON AL CO ., NA TI O NA L ELECTRON ICS
POW ER TUB ES, OSBO RN E TRANSC EIVERS,
STANCO R XfM RS , TEC H. MATE RI EL
CO il:P. RE CVRS/ XMTRS, TRI-EX TO W ERS,
UN ITED El ECTRO NI CS IN DUSTRIAL
TUBES, VIBROP LEX WESTING HOUSE & O th ers.
" .. 11 .1.0 purr-ha se )'uur plJ"lpn,.."t and unu<pd l ui '.... S..nd
d ..ta ll$: BAR RY ELE CTRO NI CS COR P . 5 12 Bru,d.... y,
New Yor k 12. N. Y. Dept. 31 .

r--------- j
I
I

I
I

I'lt'a '" ",'nd IIll' n ("Ol)}' or 11,,. 11("'" 1~I,il ~ ( ; "" 'n ~h l't' t and add
Ill)' u.nne to )oa r ,ulll l:llK Iht,
( 37)

" arn e

( ['mllaoy

Add:eu

, . . , .... .. ... . . . . ,
, .. ,

r ur,
," ' , .. ..
,'

I
I

- - - - - - - - - _ .....
Ci ty

s tat e

13 MAGAZIN E

69

THE MIRACLE IS POSSIBLE THE IMPOSSIBLE CAN

BE DONE
ITS NEW, ITS COM PACT, ITS POW ERF UL,
ITS LOW IN PRI CE

ADVERTISERS INDEX
Ad Spec
Alden . . . . . . .
.. ...... .... .
Algeradio
. . . . . . . . . ..
Allied Ra dio
All t ronics-Howa rd . . . . . . . . . . . . ..
Amber Industr ia l . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..

PRICE

$39.95
N.t to Amot.un,
Campi.,. with Tube .
5 Your Dealer.
SEND MO NEY
OROE Il:.
Price s Sub iect to
Cha nge without
Notice.
TUBE COMPLEMENT
5763 finol Amplifier
6AQ5 Modulolor
6U8 Oscillator Multipli.r
12AX7 Speech Amplifier
EXCELLO ELECTRONICS PRESE.NTS .
A Ne w Lo w Pr ice V.H.f . Six Me ier Tra nsm,tte r wlred
and te ste d w ith tube s. The Excello Mark II Six Me te r
Tro nsm itter is t he lo we st p riced six meter t ra nsm itter
o n t he morket today. Th is is no t a kit, but a co mplete
unit, read y to put o n th e a ir w ith a ny power sup p ly
sup p ly ing 300 v, at 100 m.e.
TRANSMITTER FEATURES
Me te r In d icato r- Prov idi ng moni to ri ng of fi nal Tuni n g ,
G rid Dri ve and Mod ulation, a t a glo nce .
Tu ning Co ntrols-Tuning Contrals are a ll a n the fr a nt
Pa nel.
Acce ss to Compon,:nls-Removoble Endosure gives access 10 a ll Components.
T. V.!. Suppre ssion- T. V.1. Suppression is a ccomp lished
by sh ie lding a nd design:
. . . . " ..
Compoc t Size - Co mp lete size o f. urut IS '" x~ x6 mo.king it one o f the Smo llest SIX Me te r Xmllters a vail a b le.
Low Power Consu m pli on - 2 50 300 v , a t 75 m.O. 10
Wa tts on the Ant e nna .

A rrow Ele ctronics, Inc. . .. .... . . .

Barker & Williamson . . . . . . . .

Barry Ele ct ro ni c s

196-10 116TH AVENUE

ST . ALBANS 12, N. Y.
LAurelton B-381)4

Hou se of Antenna s .

Get Smart!
le arn

Ham Radi o

the Easy Wa y

R-F Signa l Ge nera to r

AM XMTR

A ll t he necessar y parts
and simple, easy to u ndersta nd instructions accom pany each RTTA
K it, wh ic h is desig ned
and engineered to meet
th e most ri g id require.
me nte.
Co rrespo ndence courses or residen t instruction a re
a va ila ble Ior bot h the beginner a nd for t he advanced
s tuden t ill a ll phases of Ra d io and E lectronics.
for information write to:

1--------------------------------1

!I

I
I
I

Radio Television Training of Ame;tc~

52 East 19th Street

Name
Address .
City

New Yor. , N. Y.
"

.. . ..

1.------------------70

73 MAGAZINE

. .. ..
..
.
State . . .. . . .

57

39
73
49
71
41
47
69
65

Ca llbook
Call-D-Cal
40
C a ndee
. . . . . . . . . .. 65
Central Electronics
.. _. . . . . . . .
8
C lark
..........
55
Clegg
. . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . .
I
Columbia
.. ...
67
C ushcraft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 63
Dale' s
. . . . . . ..
45
Dra ke
_
7
EICO
_..
5
Evans Radio . . . ..
43
Excello
70
Finney
35
Gidge ts & Gadgets
51
Gl obe Industr ies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
G onset
C over II
G raham
_ 55
Hi-Par
71

Excello Electronics Co. , Inc.

Build t hese and 13 other

pieces of equipment wh ich
will enable you to learn
the in's and out's o f Rad io
constr uct ion and ser vicing
lIa m gear.

71

!I

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....

International C rystal . . . . . . .
Jeff- t ro nics
KTV Towers . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Lafayette Radio
.........
Le ktron
......
L-R Electronics
. _.
LW Elect ronics ...
..... ..
McElroy ... . . . .
. . . . . ..
Nationa l
C over
Neil
. ..
.
Pete rsen
C over
P&H
Radio Ama teur Ca llbook .
R-W Electronics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..
RTTA
Sho recre st
.... ..........
Spe ra
Stella r
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..
Subscriptions to 73
.. . .. . . .. .
Tapetone
Telrex
.. .
Texas Crystals . . . . . . . . . . . .
US # I Electronics . . . . . . . . . . . . .
VHF-U HF Associate s . . . ..
Weste rn Radio (Neb raska)
Western Radio (San Dieqo]
. ..

68

2
45
6
37

63
55
53
65

IV
47

III
51
65
68
70
49
66
49
55
63
45
59
71
67
67
49

MARCH 1961

(CW-Rny fro m p a g e 2 1)
rotary distribu tor contact an d a s ingle peak ed
cam which actuates a n ope rati ng lever th a t
adva nces the tape head one character for each
shaft revolution. T wo ap pr oa ches to t he p r oblem bear prom ise. The s implest a nd th e chea pest woul d be to re place the ex is ti ng, single
throw cam with a unit shaped to actuate the
operating lever t wo or more ti mes per r evolution of t he main s ha ft. The second approach ,
which is not eas ily accomplished or r ead ily
r estorable, would be to increase the main sha ft
speed by the installation of s pecial gears. T he
maximum operating s peed of the tape h ead
has not been determined, although the writer
has hea rd repor-ts of a 240 ' VPl\I mod ification
applied to similar equipment.
In su mma r y, the sys tem a s presented is
workable a nd will meet a number of amat eur
requi rements. The cost of t he mod ification is
negligible and th e or ig in al util ity of the equ ipment is not im pai r ed. Further, th e way is
open for those with the inclination, eq uipment
an d t ime t o in cr ea se the operati ng speed of
the system.
. . . Pafenberg

Tune Up With a So lar Batte ry

u. S. #1ELECTRONICS
o d ivision o f AMBER INDUSTR IA L CORP.
1920 E. EDGAR ROAD IRight on Highway U.S. T)
Dept. A7
LINDEN , N. J .- a cro ss f ro m ESSO RESEARC H LABS

PLENTY OF FREE PARKING!

30 minute s by Pu b lic Serv ice f rom N. Y. C.
TERRifiC BARGAIN ! GO 9 XM1R, 100 W. 0.318 MCS 8 RAND NEW
$59.50
8C-603 RCVR G ood used w / tubes
.
8C-603 RCVR Use d " o s is" I/ tubes
.
BC-604 RCVR Junker for porh .........
BC-604 XMTR Brand new .............
8C-458 XMTR 5.3-7MCS Brand new .......
SCR-522 XCVR W /lubes I;new . ........ .
8C 620 or 8C-659 XCVR Use d
.
PE-120 or PE-1I7 Vib pwr supply ..... ..

$ 14.95
4 .95
2.9:5
8 .50
7 .50
22.50
10.9:5
3 .4:5

R-B /ARN -a 75 MC 8EACON RCVR 7 TUBES . 56 .00

AN /CRY. I SO NO BUO Y 7090 MCS New 512.95
DM-34 DYN 12 "
used 3 .50; new :5.00
1-26 Mike s for mob ile s .......... . $1.00 eo. :5/3.00
TS-9 Telephon" Ha nd se ts
3 .7:5
TSII Telephone Handsets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.9:5
HS-JO He o d se ts
1.50 eo. 41:5.00
.5f o r 5G Sync hro s 115 v 60 cycles
15.00 212.5.00
10 HfD 600 v GE o il co nd new . . . . . . . . . .
1.00
15 MfD 600 " GE o il cond new
1.50
.00025 MfD 8000 v peak [ond ..... 1.00 eo. 6 15.00

THO USAN DS O f ITEMS-THOU SANDS O F BARGA INS I

human eye is probabl y the most sensiWrite for fr ee lis ti ng-25% depo sit o n C.O.D. o rd e utive homegrown transducer kn own, yet it
Min im um o rd er S.5.00. All prices f.o.b . Linden, N. J .
does not diffe rentiate read ily between sma ll
Price s Subject t o Change Wi thout Natice
ch a nges in light intensities, especially at high
ligh t levels.
w hen tuning a rig with a lamp for a dummy load, it is d ifficu lt to tell, by eye, whe n t he
no YO U NE IW S S S S S
r esonant point ha s been r eached. The lamp
appear s a s bright a few degrees eit her s ide of
OWN YOUR OWN BUSI NESS
resonance a s it does at reso nance.
JFr;h~ Tmlay
A sola r battery, connect ed in ser ies with a
microarnmete r and held nea r the dumm y load
AJ)SPEC INC. - 6 LAMBEHT
lamp, wiII give a posit ive indication wh en the
S I' Il IJ\G Fl ELD, ILUJ\OI S
ci I' cui ti s tun ('d t ore:; 0 n a nce.
, . . W2"V Y l\[~d;;:;;:;;:;;:;;:;;:;;;;:;:;;:;;:;;:;;:;;:;;:;;:;;:;;:;;:;;:;;::;:;:;;:;;:;;:;;:;;:;;:;;:;;:;;:;;:;;:;;:;;:;;:;;:;;:;;:;~

HE

Long .J011l1 Anienna

for 6 ~Ieiels
fEATURES
De signed fo r ma ximum forward goin .
Gomma Match for co-a x f eeder.
f inest g ra de aluminum tub ing.
Exceptionolly st ron g . ince ther" are no drilled
hole s .
All oluminum construction e lim ina tes e le ct ro ly sis .
Entir" b" om and s up p o rts can b e g ro unde d for
li gh t ni ng protection.
D. . i" n Crn l.-,. . . _ . .. .. . . . 5 0.5 ;\IC
Ga in . . .. . . _
_. . .
1 :1 un
rtn Hal i .. .. . . . . ..... .. .. . .. . . . . 23 DB
, .s.F.R. . .'.. _. _. .. I : I. I. t loan 1.3: I .. ithi n 2 lUC
110 ,.... n pa m If'i,llh, . , . ,. "
, .
(~ po ..',.,.. p o l n h )

.., 0

Im p e .lan c .. any .. t a"oI a roi .... .a. la l "ab l..

O,.. ,...U ' '''' ll th _ . , . , . " . , . . . " " . , . 21 ' . (,"

1\'.., If'"illht , . , . , .. , , . , . 15 II. ~ .
Shippi". If'piCh' .. . . . .. . . . 20 lb

We o re proud of this new Lo ng J oh n Ante n na . We 've

tried t o put in every fea tu re you could wo nt. The re su lt is a reasonoble cost h igh gain beom which con
easil y b e put up and which will stay there procticolly
forever. It hos 0 w ide e no ug h lobe so you don't hove
to sw in g it oround 011 the ti me , ye t g ives you tre mendou s go in whe re y ou wont it.
AT l't)t' H D IST R IRVTORS O R W R ITE DIR ECT

HI-PAR PRODUCTS CO
M ARCH 1961

FITCHBURG. MASS .

73 M AGAZIN E

71

big
IIIEO clearance sale
of reconditioned equipment

,
I

ALL WITH 90-DA Y

NEW EQUIPMENT
WARRANTY!

B&W
51 00 T ransmitter

,$219.00

Cenhal Electronics
2O- A Exc iter
GC-l Ga te d A mp lifi er
600-L A m plifier

. 164.50
. 29.00
. 279.00

Collins
32Vl T rans mitter ,
32V-2 T ransm itter
32V-3 Tran sm itter

KWM -l Transceiver
310-B Tran smitter
75A -3 Rec eiver
75A-4 Rec eiver

. 225.00
. 249.00
_. 329.00
. 475 .00
. 99.00
. 349.00
. 495 .00

Eico
720 Tran sm itter . . . . . . . . .. .. .
730 Mod ul at or . . . . . . . .. . . .. .
Elmac
A54H T ra ns m itt e r . . . . . . .. ..

P MR-7 Receiver
Globe
LA ' A mpl ifi er.
,
Chi ef 90A Tran smitter
Cham p 300A T ransmitter
S co ut 680 T ran smitter
Scout 680A Tran smitter
755 V FC
D SB 100 T ran smitter
Knight
R 100 Receiver . . . . .
C1l CB T ran sceiver
Lakeshore
Ph a semaster liB
400GG A m pl ifi er

79.00
49.00

54 .00

109.00
. 69.00
. 32.50
. 259.00
. 69.00
. 79.00
. 32.50
. 89.00
79.00
29.00
199.00
149.00

Gonset
6 M eter C onverter
$ 49.00
G -28 T rans ceiver
169.00
189.00
C om m u nicator 1\1 6 Met er
Comm u nicato r II 2 Meter .. . . 149.00
GSB-1 00 Exciter
379.00
GSB101 A m plifier . . . . . . . 359.00
G 77 T ransmi tter ... ... ..... 169.00
G77 A T ransmitter .... . .. . . 179.00
G66B Receiver .. . .. ..... 129.00
Hallicrafters
S40B Rec ei ver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59.00
S X4 3 Rec eiver . . . . . . .. .. . . .. 79.00
S77A Rec eiver . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59.00
SX-100 Rec ei ver ....... . . . .. 189.00
199.00
S X- 101 MK-1 Rec ei ver
SX-l 01 MK-2 Rec eiver
239.00
SX101 A Recei ver
299.00
S X104 Recei ver . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59.00
S X-62 Rec eiver
169.00
SX-99 Receiver ..... ........ 114.00
HT-30 Tran smitter
199.00
HT-31 Am plifi er
199.00
HT-33 A m p li fier
299.00
329.00
SR-34 A CD C Tran sceiver
Hammarlund
HQ1 29X Recei ver
129.00
HQ1 50 Rec eiver
199.00
269.00
HQ-1 60 Rec ei ver
HQ-l 80 Rec ei ver
329.00
HQ.180C Rec eiver
339.00
Heath
R X1 Mohawk Rec eiver
249.00
229.00
T X-1 A pache Transmitter
MT1 Mob ile Tran smitter . . . . 89.00

Johnson
M obil e T ransm ltter
$ 49.00
Challenger T ran smitter . . .
99 .00
A d vent ur er T ransm itter. . . .".. 29.00
275W Match Bo x Indic at or. .. 39.00
GN 2 C onverter
, 49.00
V ik in g I Tran smitter . . . .. . . . . 99.00
Viking II T ran smitter
159.00
Pacemaker Exci t er
199.00
Thu nderbolt A m p lifier
399.00
Cou rier A m p lil ier
169.00
Morrow
MBR-5 Recei ver . . . . . . . . . . ... 99.00
Falcon Rec eiver W / BC Band . 109.00
MB-S60 T ransm itter
119.00
MB-S60A T ransmitter
129.00
159.00
MB565 Tran smitter
MB-6 T ran sm itter
129.00
National
HC -88 Rec eiver . . . . . . . . . . . .. 69.00
Ne g8 Rec ei ver . . . . . . . . . .. . 89.00
NC-173 Recei ver
119.00
139.00
NC-183 Recei ver
NC-l 83D Receiver
199.00
NC-1 88 Rec eiver . . . . . . . . . . . . 89.00
NC-303 Rec eiver
329.00
HRC-SOTI Rec eiver
229.00
HRC-SOT Rec eiver
199.00
329.00
HRC-GOT Rec eiver . .. .
P& H
LA-400 Grou nd ed Grid Linear 79.00
RME
4301 Sid eb and Se lecto r . . . . .. 49.00
129.00
4300 Rec ei ver
, . .. 149.00
4350A Rec eiver

EASIEST TERMS: A vail ab le on all lS-DAY FREE TRIAL: T ry any of 90-DAY WARRANTY: Allied Re-
orders over $20 ; on ly $2 d ow n up
10 $50; $5 dow n fr om$SO-200;o nly
$10 down from $200 up . U p t o 24
months to pay . Fast ha ndling-no
red tape.

thi s eq uip ment under you r o wn

conditions; if i n 15days you ' re no t
complete ly satisfied, re turn it for
full refund . less only transpcrtation cos ts .

c ond ilion ed equ ip ment Is covered

b y th e same 90- d a y wa rran ty
agains t defects in material or
workmanship which co ver s brandnew equipment.

SELECT YOUR NEW GEAR

from our complete 1961
444-page value-packed
calalog. If you haven't a
copy, wrile for it todoy.

IMPORTANT: S ome It ems above are one of a ki nd . all ilems

are subject to p rior sal e . .. send deposit to hold any Item .
For reconditioned DrlIew equipment, wrileto JimSommerville,W9WH F. C/ ll Allied. or slcpinand
meet Joe Hullman, W9BHO ;Joe Gizzi, W9HlA, Burl Fisthel. W9VOB ; Jack Schneider, W8CZE.

ALLIED RADIO
100 N. Western Ave., Dept. 150-C 1, Chicago 80, III.

73

73 MAG AZINE

MARCH 19b1

It pays to

U1SlSt

on

sta s
STANDARD OF EXCELLENCE SINCE 1934
AMA T EUR T YPE S
Fundam enta l, PR Type Z-2
Freq u e n c y R an g e s i n K cs . : 3 ,500 t o 4,000 (80 M ) ; 7,0 00 t o 7,425 ( 40 M ) ;
8 .000 t o 8 .222 ( 2 M) ; 8 .334 t o 9,000 ( 6 M) .

Ru g g ed . L ow drift . fundan u.-. n t al os cill a t o r s. Hi gh activitv an d

p o w er o u t p u t. S tand s u p u n d e r m a x imum c ry s tal cu r ren t s. Stahle,
__
__..
-- 52.95 Net
lo n g -la sti n g ; 300 cyc les

Th ird Overtane, PR Type Z-9A

H e rm e ticall y sea te d : ca lib rat e d 24,000 t o 24,666 :11111 2.; ,000 to

27. 000 K c., + 3 K c. : .050" pin s_-_

__

S4.95 Net

6 Meters, PR Type Z-9A

F ifth O\"crI OHe; for o pe ra t in g directly in ti-rnctc r band : he r-

m etically sealed ; ca lib ra ted 50 to 54 Xl c., + 15 Kc. : .0.i O" pins.

56.95 Net

CITIZENS BAND CLASS " 0"

Type Z-9R, Transmitter
FC C assign ed freq uencies in megac y cles: 26.965, 26.975, 26.98 5,
27.005, 2 7.0 15, 27.02 5, 27.035,

27.055, 27.065, 27.075, 27.085,

\

\'

27. 105, 27. 115, 27. 125, 2 7.135,

'~\

27. 155, 27.165, 27.175, 27. 185.

. \ 27.205, 27.2 15, 27.225; calibrated
.... ~ to .005%. (13e sure to specify manu facturer of equipmen t)
$2.95 Net

CITIZENS BA ND CLASS " 0"

Type Z-9R, Receiver
Specify I. F. frequency, also wheth er receiver oscilla tor is above or
below transmitter frequency. C alibra ted to .005 %. (13l' su re to specify
manufactu re r of equipme n t.)
$2.95 Net

Type Z-9R, Radia Cantral

2XP

fCC assigned f req uencies in m ega c vc l e s : 26.99 5, 2 7.04 5, 27 .095 ,

27.14 5. 27. 195, 27.255; calibrated

to .00 5%. (Be su re to specify ma n u fac tu re r of eq uipmen t)

$2.95 Net

Type 2XP
S u it a b le for conver te r s , ex per im e n tal, e tc.

12001 t o 25 000 Kc. (3rd O ve rtone ) 10 Kc

ALL

PR

CRYSTALS ARE UNCON DITIONA LLY

ORDE R FROM YOUR JOBBER.

Commerc ial Cryst a ls ava ilable from

100 Kc. t o 70 Me. Prices on req uest.

Type Z-I , MARS and CAP

O ffic ial a s si g n e d Irc qu e n cies in

t he ra ng-e. Calibra te d to .00.1 % .

1600 t o 10000 Kc

Same ho ld er

53.45 Net

Type Z 1, TV Marker
Channels 2 thru 13... 56.45 Net

4.5 Me. Interearrier ,

52.95 Net

.01 %

5.0 Me. Signal Gen era to r,

.01 %
10.7 M e. F M, I F ,
.0 1 %

52.95 Net
52.95 Net

Type Z-6A,
Frequency
Standard
T o deter-mine hand
N.R~. To keep the
\' 1'0 and recei veer
prOI )~r1y

calibra ted,

100 K <. . .

dime n sions a s Ty pe 2 -2.

1600 t o 12000 Kc.. (Fu n d .) + 5 Kc

COMMERCIAL TYPES

56.95
Net

53.45 Net
54.45 Net

Z-6A

GUA RANTEED.

EXPORT SA LE S: R o yal Natio n al Corporation , 250 \V. 5 7t h Street, New York 19 , N. Y U . S. A .

_ _ _ _ _1

with buill-ill PR ODUCT DETECTOR

THE "COSMIC BLUE" NATIONAL'S NEW HAMBAND RECEIVER

This newest and finest precision double conversion ama teur receiver wit h 6 meter coverage, bri ngs you
an ease of sideba nd tuning previou sly 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~t and C\V signal condition s. The solid }/s" steel panel. ceramic coil
forms, double-spaced tuning gang, and full ventilation cabi net combine to give mechanical and
thermal sta bility that wil l surprise even the most critical operator. Even the color of the NC~27 0 is
outstandingly d ifferent, National's new duo-to ne "Cosmic Blue." Write for detailed specifications.

Only $24.99 down'

Suggested cash pr ice: $249.95. N TS 3 Matchin g Speaker. $19.95 [slightly hi gher west of
th e Rockies a nd outside the U .S.A.). "Most Natio nal distri butors offer budget terms.
and trade-in a llo wances.

NATIONAL RADIO COMPANY, INC.

MELROSE 76, MASS.
Expo rt : AD AUR IEMA, I NC.. 85 Broad St .. New York, N, Y,
Canada : CAN AD IAN MARCON I CO., 830 Bayview Ave ., Toronto 17 , Ont.
A WHOLLY OWNED SUBSIDIARY OF NATIONAL CO ., INC .

And N ationai Radia'~ pat.

t'n tt'd " Fli p Foo t " m atces
Opl'rating the S C1 70 ~a 'Q1)'.