Bat
-l
11 Bc547B
BC547B
Guy Boniface and
Jean Rowenczyn (France)
Here's a novel way of listening to bats over the
Summer. Put the receiver- powered by four
AA (R6) cells - on a window-ledge, for exam-
ple, preferably aiming the ultrasonic detector
towards an outdoor light or some trees. Run
out a few metres of cable so as to install the
small loudspeaker inside the house. Wait for
nightfall and, if there are bats around, you'll
hear a sound lil<e bursts of cracl<ling from
Flashing Lights for Planes and Helicopters
Jean-Louis Roche (France)
There are two sorts of lights on aircraft: red
or white flashing lights, which are called
'anti-collision lights', and steady lights, red
on the tip of the left wing, green on the tip
of the right wing, and white at the tail, called
'position lights', which enable an observer
to see if the aircraft is approaching or going
away. On the tip of each wing, in addition to
54
tc1.A lc l.B
the loudspeal<er. Do note that bats won't fly
about under some weather condition (rain,
strong winds, etc.)
The detector receives the ultrasonic sig-
nals, which are amplified by T1, T2, and T3,
then sent to lC1 which is wired as a thresh-
old detector. lt converts the analogue signal
into digital pulses which it sends to lC2, which
divides the signal by ten so as to mal<e it audi-
ble to the human ear. The gain of the LF ampli-
the steady lights, there may also be flashing
white strobe lights. The position light simu-
lator given here tal<es a few liberties with the
real position lights, mal<ing them flash (it's
more fun!) and using a little trick to simulate
the strobe effect.
The well-known NE555 is found in its 5MD ver-
sion forthe timebase, combined with a 4017
I
(+)
*1" _Y_
T
I Brl
l6v
x
IY
100u
10v
fier lC3 is adjusted automatically by transistor
T4 and T5 depending on the amplification of
the signal by T3, filtered by R7 and C14. The
impedance between lC3 pin 2 and ground is
what determines the amplifier gain.
The 40 kHz ultrasonic receiver used (MA40-R
or SQ40-R) is available from Conrad Electron-
ics (# 182281-62) or Farnell (#213226).
(oqo6:l-l)
decade counter with ten decoded outPuts,
also in SMD version. Normally, each output is
used independently. ln this circuit,two out-
puts are coupled with a one-output gap: Q0
and Q2 (front left, red LED), Q1 and Q3 (rear
left, red LED), Q5 and Q7 (front right, green
LED), Q6 and Q8 (rear right, green LED). To
avoid the low output's shorting the High out-
put, a diode is used in series with each output.
718-zoto elektor