Building and Operating a Digital Sony SRF-39

John Bryant, Orcas Island, WA July 2008

I began MW DXing in 1953 using a 5-tube Arvin

“kitchen radio.” I don’t remember the markings on the
lower part of the dial, but on the upper half of that
Arvin, all that was marked was 11, 14 and 16.
Identifying a station by frequency was a physical and
intellectual exercise that I do not care to ever repeat.

When I joined the new Ultralight community, I

naturally focused on the several digitally-dialed
models that Gary DeBock and others had already
identified for us. My initial favorite was the Sangean
DT-200VX, modified with an upgraded aftermarket IF
filter by Guy Atkins. In the past several months, I
built and have operated the “National SRF-39,” with
a large 7” diameter analog dial and 5 to 1 reduction
tuning drive, using the Type ACN dial marked in the
pre- and post- WWII era by the National Radio
Company. I like that radio quite lot, but there was still
some guess work in reading the upper third of the
dial. I began to fanaticize about the after-market
digital frequency displays that I used on several Boat
Anchor receivers in the 1980s. These were solid
state devices about the size of two paperback books,
stacked and costing, in those days, about $150. I did
not stop to think that the forces of miniaturization and
economy that have been at work on the rest of
electronics might have also affected the design and
cost of digital displays in the past 20 years.

While looking for an inexpensive but reliable LC

meter, I was directed to aade.com the web home of
Almost All Digital Electronics of nearby Auburn, WA.
After looking over their outstanding meters, I
happened on a whole series of AADE Digital
Frequency Displays. These units had the entire
electronics package attached to the back of the
beautiful one and two-line LCD digital displays and
were less than half the cost that I remembered from
the 80s. ($49.95 + $15 for the fancy two-line
display.) Each Digital Display consists of the main
unit, as just described, and a very small “probe”
circuit board that is connected to the receiver chassis
by two SHORT leads. The radio + probe unit is
connected to the main digital display by a length of
RG-174 mini-coax.
After looking over the AADE web site, it did not take me long to contact Neil, the proprietor of
AADE to talk about hooking one of their displays to a stripped-down SRF-39. Neil volunteered to
give the task a shot, tho’ both of us knew that there might be some hiccups along the way,
thanks to the odd IF frequency of the ’39 and some unusual math related to the proprietary Sony
CXA1129NIC chip. I sent Neil an aligned SRF-39 chassis and in a very short time, I had the
makings of a Digital SRF-39 back in my mail box. Neil related that he had to reprogram the main
chip of the Digital Display to respond to Sony’s unusual design. Beyond that, he identified a
point from which to pick up a signal on the SRF-39 circuit board (see Photo 3), and we were on
the way. I was overjoyed!

Rather than produce a finished receiver in a nice cabinet, I decided to first “breadboard” the
Digital SRF-39, using lessons learned from the previous “National” model. For power, I used two
AAs in parallel, plus an auxiliary AAA in series to provide 3 VDC for the LED pilot light. I also
learned from past mistakes and included a volume control on the new front panel. I used a 10K-
Ohm twin pot, stereo control and ran the chassis volume control at a level to give me a loud
output as a maximum with the front panel pot. Twin pots of 2.5K Ohms would probably have
given me finer control, but the 10K units work just fine.

You may note that, for convenience of layout, I used about 3” leads between the back of the
SRF-39 board and the small probe circuit board. That was a mistake. These leads (of any
length) add capacitance to the basic tuning circuit. The “2 o’clock” trimmer (marked in Photo 3)
adjusts the upper end point of the radio. Unfortunately, with 3” leads, even with full use of the
trimmer, I cannot tune above 1660 kHz. Slightly shorter leads would have solved that problem.
The Digital Display itself and its 9 volt battery was
mounted in a 5”W x 2.5” H x 2” D plastic project box and
separated from the main radio by an 18” piece of RG-174
mini-coax. Initially, I was concerned about digital noise
from the display playing havoc with weak signal DX while
using only the small inboard ferrite bar antenna. As it has
turned out, I was needlessly concerned. I found no digital
interference from the display unless I brought the display
to within an inch or so of the stock SRF-39FP bar. If I
were to mount this design in a nice cabinet, I’d just make
sure that the display and the bar were separated by a
couple of inches. Picking up digital whine from the display
did not seem to be a problem, even when using the 7.3”
ferrite bar antenna shown on the next page.

Operating the Digital SRF-39 was the dream that I thought

it would be, with only a few surprises. The Frequency
Display sports an adjustable resistor to fine tune the offset
from the IF, so dial accuracy was assured. Even with the
reduction drive tuning knob, though, I was not able to take
advantage of the 100 Hertz digit on the new dial.
Tuning to any finer resolution than a single kilohertz was an exercise in frustration and not really
necessary. The whole experience, though, gave me a new appreciation for why the Sony circuit
designers did not pursue narrower IF filtering: with that thumb wheel, any sharper IF would have
resulted in an untunable radio!

As shown here, the digital SRF-39 is a good DX radio for VERY quiet, low noise environments. I
was able to log several Trans-Pacific stations with this radio coupled to a Wellbrook Phased
Array while at the beach at Grayland, WA. The AADE Digital Display, coupled with the 5-to-1
vernier tuning knob make for a very useable radio, one that is quite nimble an easy to move
around the band hunting DX. However, the basic SRF-39 circuitry is such that it tends to
overload when using major outside antennas and the odd IF frequency makes inserting the
sharper IF filters nearly impossible and they are really necessary for TA and TP work. I think
that I will stick to various versions of the Eton E100 for trans-oceanic DXing. HOWEVER, for
domestic DXing where the nulling capability of a hand-held portable with a ferrite bar antenna
aboard is so useful, I think a new version of the Digital SRF-39 might be just the thing. I plan to
use a naked ‘39 Family chassis, the AADE Digital Display, vernier tuning (as in this first
generation unit) along with a 7.3 inch x .5” ferrite bar antenna. That might be a very effective
machine for the domestic section of the Ultralight Sprint in October.

I was very impressed with AADE as a supplier. They offer lightning fast order fulfillment and Neil
is a wonderful designer/manufacturer to deal with. The AADE LC meter, Model IIB is now a
constant companion on my work bench, an excellent device at a modest price and the Digital
Display is nothing short of wonderful. Besides being incorporated in all sorts of analog ham
gear, Neil relates that several Digital Displays have been successfully attached to GE Super
Radios. I’m sure that they would make very nice (and easily reversible) additions to various
Panasonic, Grundig and even Zenith portables. Highly recommended!

As you might have guessed, one display can be used with several different ’39 Family radios, if
you get multiple probe units from Neil at $5.00 each.