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Remem$er this while assem$lin the receiver( ," Shield the -*." +t should $e inside a metal $o!" + soldered pieces of copper clad $oard /$lan# 0C1 material2 around the -*. circuit" 3" + don)t thin# you understood how important it is" So' + am sayin it a ain' SH+45D &H4 -*." &his is a ma ic $ullet cure for common ills of a direct conversion receiver"
6" &he receiver layout is uncritical" 1ut #eep it clean" 7,' 73 and 76 form a tric#y circuit" Dou$le chec# the connections" 4" +t mi ht $e temptin ' $ut don)t use a $attery eliminator" +t will produce hum" Use a re ulated power supply with ade8uate filterin " A ,9 volt supply with 3300 u* capacitor followed $y a :;,3 re ulator is recommended" 9" + have included the volta es to $e e!pected at all the transistor leads" Use that as a uide to trou$leshootin the receiver" <" Dou$le chec# the two transformer windin s polarities" :" Usually' the *4&s have a very odd pin out' with the drain lead often put $etween the ate and source leads" 1e careful and sure that you solder it correctly" ;" +f the oscillator doesn)t oscillate' swap the two ends of the -*. coil and try a ain"
A simple definition of a ood receiver is that a ood receiver consistently' clearly receives only the intended si nal' such a definition hides a wide ran e of re8uirements" &he receiver has to $e sensitive enou h to pic# up the wea#est si nal ima ina$le /note( clearly2' it has to $e selective enou h to eliminate other si nals /only2' it has to $e sta$le enou h /consistently2" *or a ham or an en ineer' $uildin a usa$le receiver is a personal landmar#" +t esta$lishes a personal competency to $e a$le to understand the very fundamental operation of the radio and mastery over it"
!nitial Design
?e didn)t plan the receiver minutely" ?e #new that we re8uired somethin li#e in the fi ure $elow(
So' the initial desi n was to fill up these four $o!es in the followin way(
R* *ilter( Dou$ly &uned Circuit centered at :"090 Bh@ 0roduct Detector( a two diode sin ly $alanced detector A* amplifier( discrete transistors used as audio amplifier to drive ?al#man headphones" -*.( 1ipolar transistor $ased' low noise oscillator"
?e reasoned that a dou$ly tuned circuit will prevent stron out-of-$and si nals from AB $rea#throu h" &he sin ly $alanced detector would $e simply enou h /%ust one trifilar coil to wind2 and an audio amplifier $ased on discrete transistors would $e $etter than the 5B6;< /that + was $e innin to hate the 5B6;< for hi h noise2" Havin read in the 4BR*D /Ref" ,2 that the local oscillator radiation can cause tuna$le hum and microphonics' it was contended that an R* amplifier mi ht $e re8uired"
&he #ey issue pla uin us at this time was( what #ind of tunin mechanism should we useL By %un# $o! has a fast depletin stoc# of varia$le capacitors /%ust four more to o2" .n the other hand' varactor tunin would mean oin out and $uyin a decent ,00J linear potentiometer" -aractor tunin also adds noise to oscillator" +t was decided to par# this issue for the time $ein and et on with the rest of the oscillator" A Hartley oscillator $ased on a *4& was decided upon" +t is easy to et a Hartley oscillator wor#in " &he num$ers of crucial fre8uency determinin components are few" ?e started the wor# with windin a coil" A nylon tap washer was used as toroidal former to wind the oscillator coil" A toroidal coil)s inductance in micro-henries is iven as /# ! s8uare of num$er of turns2" &he # for these nylon toroids varies $etween ,nH per turns s8uared to ,"9 nH per turns s8uared" A coil with ;0 turns /with a tap at 30 turns2 was wound to ive an estimated inductance of 6"<uH" &he oscillator was fa$ricated at the other end of the main $oard" Some space was left out to accommodate a $i tunin capacitor if re8uired" +t was discovered that we didn)t have a Mener diode or a volta e re ulator chip in the %un# $o!" ?e decided to o ahead without it for the time $ein " ?e didn)t find a polystyrene capacitor either' so we used a disc ceramic ,00 pf instead" &o #eep the circuit simple' an elementary emitter follower was used as a $uffer to the -*." &he output of the emitter follower was hoo#ed to an oscilloscope pro$e and power was applied to the -*." Ao output was noted" 0ower was removed immediately and the $oard was ta#e out into the sun and e!amined carefully" *ortunately the Hartley is such a simple oscillator that one can easily visually verify the entire oscillator)s connections" &he $oard was $rou ht $ac# into the la$' power was applied a ain and the drain volta e was noted to $e around G volts" &he entire -*. was powered throu h a 4:0 ohms resistor" Hence a <mA current appeared to $e normal for the *4&" &he emitter follower was disconnected and the still no oscillations were o$served at the *4&)s source" At this time' %ust as + was fi htin the ur e to use the $oard as a pro%ectile' the coil started loo#in suspicious as the rest appeared proper and the DC volta es around the oscillator appeared normal" +t was decided to wind a new coil" &his is an advanta e of usin the tap washers( &hey cost 90 paise each /a$out , cent2 and you can throw away a $ad one" A new coil was wound and soldered in" &he old one)s enamel was pro$a$ly not scrapped well at the tap" &he oscillator was now wor#in well" &he output of the -*. was connected to a homemade fre8uency counter and the fre8uency was found to $e around 9"9 BH@ instead of : BH@" +t was also noted that the oscillator was 8uite sta$le considerin that the power supply to the -*. was not sta$ili@ed" &he ,00 pf tan# capacitor was chan ed to 4:pf to et the fre8uency down to :"< BH@" An air varia$le capacitor was soldered across the coil with hoo#up wire to ma#e it tuna$le" &his made the oscillator unsta$le" Any hand movement near the -*. would ma#e the fre8uency chan e" 4ven a li ht tap on the ta$le would ma#e the oscillator %ump its fre8uency" +t was clearly due to the varia$le capacitor)s addition" &he varia$le capacitors are 8uite temperature sta$le' and this $ehavior was pro$a$ly due to the loose hoo# wires that connected the tunin capacitor to the oscillator" Clearly' we needed a front panel that would mount the tunin capacitor and hold it firmly" At this point' we declared the day close"
selected such that it would not cover the oscillator components and #eep the shaft at mid hei ht from the $ottom of the panel to allow the $i est #no$ possi$le" Usin a hand drill' three holes were drilled for the tunin capacitor' the volume control and the ear-phones %ac#" &he tunin capacitor re8uired two screws to affi! it to the panel' these were mar#ed after insertin the shaft throu h the main hole and they were also drilled out" *rom a small piece of scrap copper clad $oard' three ri htan led trian les a$out an inch to a side were cut and smoothened with a flat file" &hese were soldered in standin position on the main $oard and the front panel was in turn soldered onto these an les /see the pictures2" &he main tunin capacitor was screwed in and so were the volume control and the phone %ac#" &he oscillator was found to $e oscillatin at :"<Bh@ so a 33pf trimmer was added in parallel with the 4: pf to )net) the oscillator at :"000 BH@" Aow the tunin ran e started at :"0 BH@ and went up to :"9 BH@" &his was 8uite a wide ran e especially $ecause we were not usin a slow motion drive" A 4: pf capacitor in series with the varia$le capacitor reduced the tunin ran e to ,;0 JH@" &he oscillator was set usin the preset to tune from <G;0 to :,<0 JH@"
?e 8uic#ly fashioned a coil and cap tan# for the front end that was coupled li htly throu h 33pf capacitors to the antenna lead and the diode mi!er" A :090 BH@ crystal was soldered into a test oscillator and used as a si nal enerator" ?e found that we could tune in the si nal" So the receiver was $asically wor#in " At this point' my cousin was losin coura e" &his was not the way she saw it" *rom her point of view' we had desi ned and $uild the circuit" All $loc#s were wor#in as e!pected $ut due to some evil spirit we were not havin a wor#in receiver" At this point' we decided to sleep over the pro$lem and revisit it the ne!t day" ?e needed a plan for the ne!t day to #eep the spirits up"
Day +# Completion
.ur pro$lems were clearly centered around our product detector' we decided to do somethin a$out it" +t could have $een any of the followin ( ," +nsufficient drive from the -*.( ?e had a simple emitter follower as a $uffer to the oscillator" &he oscilloscope showed that it had insufficient $ias and it was clippin on the down-swin " 3" Sin ly $alanced( &he R* input was not $ein $alanced out at the detector output" ?e needed a dou$ly $alanced detector" 6" Accordin to Ric# Camp$ell)s te!ts' -*. lea#a e into the R* input is responsi$le for tuna$le hum and microphonics" A trip was made to the mar#et and G",- Mener was procured that was soldered $etween the power line of the -*. and the round" &he supply resistor was chan ed from 4:0 to 330 ohms so that the Mener had reasona$le $ias current" &he -*.)s $uffer amplifier was chan ed from the s#impy sin le sta e desi n to usin a two sta e amplifier with feed$ac# with unity ain and the -*. was completely shielded from all sides $y solderin copper clad $oards all around it" /See the pictures2" A dou$ly $alanced detector was fa$ricated usin two trifilar coils and four diodes" A simple diple!er of a 0",uf in series with a 90 ohms resistor was added to the detector output to properly terminate the mi!er" A simple low pass filter was added on a trial $asis to the input of the detector" &he receiver was fired up" Success at lastK &he receiver was now wor#in %ust as well" Connected to a lon wire /actually' the shield end of the 30 meters inverted -2' it pulled si nals from all around" &he noise floor was sufficiently low to mar# a dramatic %ump in the noise when connected to the antenna"
,er-ormance
?e do not have the tools to ma#e performance measurements on the receiver" Hence' we rely on our actual receiver e!perience instead" &he receiver is clearly far more sensitive than is re8uired for this $and"
?e used a re ular disc ceramic capacitor in the -*.' $ut still' it is 8uite sta$le" &he local SS1 nets could $e monitored continuously without needin to retune" 4ven the initial warm-up too# less than a minute and the drift was less than , JH@ durin this period /not measured2" &he initial audio $andwidth was much reater than 6 JH@" A 0", u* at the output of the audio preamp $rou ht the $and-width down to accepta$le levels" +deally' an active first or second order low pass filter $ased on opamps should have $een used" However' the current arran ement is sufficient for us" + personally prefer a wider than normal $andwidth" At rare instances' a sli ht trace of AB $rea#throu h can $e heard' if we had an R*C' we could have inserted it $etween the A* amplifier and the detector to #eep the R* out of audio sta es" &he AB $rea#throu h' when it happens' it hardly percepti$le and it ta#es a $it of concentration to discern it a$ove the $and noise"
Conclusion
?e had started with an over-en ineered desi n that included an R* amplifier' etc" .ur first cut was a su$optimal desi n' and the final version was a reasona$le compromise $etween performance' effort and component availa$ility" &he receiver performance is very clean and the sta$ility is 8uite ood' it is now the standard ni ht-stand receiver $y the $ed"