‘The rf units for 144 Me. (let) and 50 Me. are as much alike mechanically ond electrically ax posible, Shown here side by side, they have their erystalexilators atthe low end of the pleture. Provision ls made for measoring grid dnd plate current by plugging « meter into insulated tp jecks. The transmitters plug into the side ofthe modulator and power-supply hosts (Ho be described ing later ave, or they may be connected to I trough 4-wire cable of sullable length, A Two-Band Station for the V.H.F. Beginner Part II - The Transmitters BY EDWARD P. TILTON,* WIHDQ with fewer parts and simpler circuits than the ones shown here, You might even de- velop the same power output for a bit less money than we have spent. But simplicity and low cost can be delusions, We started with v.b.f. erystals, for example, and came up with a one-tube t-meter rig and a. two-tuber for 2. They were unstable, both as to warm-up drift and frequency shift under keying and modulation, so they were ruled out, ‘The same tube lineup we show ean be need with fewer tuned cirenits, but it may radiate strong unwanted harmonies, and be something of a neighborhood mnisanee. ‘These rf. units were designed to be ensy io build and adjust, They are stable in operation, and are relutively free of unwanted frequencies that could eause ‘EVE, They serimp on no essen- tials, and they have featnres that may save you money in the fong run. Both employ erystals that. ce inexpensive and reliable. By shopping for surplus erystals you can afford enough of thom to operate close to any desired frequency. Shifting from one spot to another is done with minimum of retuning, thanks to 2 reserve of Uriving power all along the lino. The oscillator circuit is readily adapted to v.£.0, control, should you want to xo to it eventually. The transmitters can be keyed for e.w., and the signal will sound Ys can build a transmitter for 50 or 144 Me. * VER, Baltor, O87 Part Uof this series appeared in the July issue, p12 30 like 1 c.w. signal should, without the annoying yoops so often heurd in v.b.£, ea. work. With this eauipment your signai will require no apologies, sand you will have a fine base on whieb to expand to higher power later on. The Circuits It will be seen that the transmitters are very similar. ‘They are so much alike, in fuct, that we did not repeat duplicate purts of the eircuit in the diagram of the H4-Me, model. ‘The two trans mittens will be deseribed concurrently, nd unless the text states otherwise, what is said will apply to both nits. ‘The erystal osvillator is the pentode section of a GOX8 dual tube. ‘The 6CX8 triode is a doubler stage. Crystals between 8000 and 2 ke. ure_used for the 2-meter band (8056 to S166 ke, for the Noviee-Technieian portion potween 145 and 17 Me.) and 8834 to 9000 ke. for the 80-Me. band ‘Those hetwoen 8334 an should be used for ¢ w. operation oly, y into the first: 100 ke, of the 50° which is set aside for that mode ont Appropriate erystals between 6000 and 6750 ke. also be used, us may 12- and 24-Me, erystals. The latter to sire overtone types, and will nob be_as stable ns those for 8 or 6 Me. The oscillator requires no adjustment other than moving the core in the plate « is tuned between 24 and 27 Me., depending on the crystal frequency. ‘She GUNS pentoule triples the frequency for 8-Me, erystals and quadruplesit for &-Me. ones. Loosely coupled tuned cireu Ly aud La, in the osillator plate and doubler grid emphasize the desired harmonic and help to reject unwanted other frequencies that ure developed in the oscillator. Attenuation of unwanted frequencies ix aided hy the use of inductive coupling between the doubler plate circuit, (La, and the following grid circuit, Cals. Note that here « single-ended stage is coupled to push-pull one. ‘The capacitor Cz is used to halance this vireuit for coupling to L4, Lt places 1 expueitanee similar to the plate-to- ground espacitanee uf the tube at the apposite end of La from the plate, Its adjustment is not critical, ‘The stage following the doubler looks the same in both schematie diagrams, but it isn amplifier for 50 Mc. und a frequency tripler for 144 Me. Lis platesereen circuit. is modulated when the 50-Me. transmitter is used for voice work. In the LE-Me, model this stage triples from 48 to 144 Me, aud drives a similar stage as an amplifier, Modulation is applied to the latter stage in meter phone operation. Both tripler and amplifier are 6360 dual tetrodes. Power input to the amplifier ruus about 15 watts on phone, but muy be inereased to 20 watts or more on ev. ‘The key is inserted in the amplifier eathorle jnek, Js. Tuned antenna coupling conveys the trans mitter output to a couxial line to the antenna, O8c-TRIPLER via sf ocxe pouBLER change-over relay, whieh is part of the modulator unit, to be described later. ip jacks are provided for measuring tripler and amplifier grid current, and amplifier plate current, Construction ‘Tho transmitters are built on aluminum plates that are screwed onto aluminum chassis 5 by 10 hy 3 inches in size, Leads are brought to a plug mounted in the right side of the transmitter chassis, for plugging into the powrer soeket:on the {oft side of the modulator chassis. ‘The transmitter and modulator units inay also be operated apart hy making up a suitable cable for connecting the two. Drilling templates for the transmitters are available on request from ARI! It will be seen that vations components come close to the edges of the plate on which the transmitter is built, ‘To avoid possible damage when the units are mounted on or removed from the chassis, it is desirable to eut- notehes in the folded-over cilges of the chassis to give plenty of clearance around these parts, This is particularly tre of the ontput tuning capacitors, which vulnerable in this respect. ‘Temniates for drilne the tranamitter ton platen, the tuner chris, and the priacipal striae ofthe two eamvest= fare qvaifable, no charge (fom ARRL. Send & stamped seaaldresed envelope, ant state which template you Wish. Awaye give the ARRE publlcation, edition, ue number nnd figure number, if any, in requesting teralates. AMPLIFIER +. S Soop TL * 0 ag 3M pom Pe ae Fig. 3 1, Cay Co—8-ut. minature butterfly variable (Johnson 160-208 or 9B). C1—87-suf. miniature variable (Johmon 160-104 or oun). Co—S0.uif mitre vorble Hemmarind MAPC- 50-0) Jy JJ buted tp ack, 1 6-pin male chosssfiting (Amphenol 86.CP6), Jer~Closed-cruit phone jack. Je—Coaxicl output receptocle, SO-239. Li te—3-ph. (approx) ironsiog coll (Mller 4404). Link 1 end te with 1-tum loops of insulated hookup wire, August 1961 ichematic diagram and parts information for the 50-Mc. transmitter. Fixed 10- and 100-uuf, capacitors are ‘mica; 0.01- and 0,001-uf. are ceramic disk. Decimal values are in uf. Resistors or ‘ohms. The oscillator and doubler stages of the 1/44-Me. trons Yawatt unless specified; L210 turns No. 20 tinned, Y-inch diam, 16 tp. (B & W No. 3011). L—8 turns tke Ls. ls ond Ls are side by side, 1 inch apart ‘center fo center, Ls<1T turns Ike Ls. Li—1% tums insulated hookup wire around center of Lie Ps, Po —keulated tip plug. RFC1—500-ph. rf. choke. RFC:—Single-layer ving. rf, choke, 4 to 7 uh. A2 turns No, 26 enamel, close-wound on a-inch dowel, 31Bottom view of the 50-Me. transmitter. The erystal oscillator Is atthe left. The amplifier plate cireuit and antenna loading control are at the righ The transmitters are shown together in the top view, with the H4-Me. model at the left ‘The crystal oscillator and doubler are at the bottom of the picture for exch, with the antenna jack and tuning capacitor at the opposite end. In the bottom viows the oscillator tube and eom- ponents are ut the left end of the assembly. ‘The oscillator plate and doubler grid coils appear in the upper left corner. ‘hese ure $f inch apart, enter to ceuter, in the I44-Me. transmitter, and Linch in that for 50-Me. Smuller-diameter coils were used in the former, though similar ones could have been used in each. The coupling link between these coils is made of a single picce of insulated wire looped around one crossed over sand then looped around’ the oth coil and then the ends soldered together. ‘The figure loop is visible in both pictures The spacing between the inductively coupled coils elsewhere in the transmitters is given below the schematic diagrams. It will be seen that the doubler plate and tripler-amplifier grid eails, Le and Ly, are side by side, whereas the tripler plate and amplifier grid coils in the H4-Me. rig, fas and Ja ute touted on the same axis Wiring of the transmitters is extremely simple. Lise tie-point strips liberally for terminating power leads and mounting resistors and bypass ewpacitons. Shielded wire ean be used for power eds, though it was not done in these units, Run power wiring flat against the plate, ‘Phe resuly-wound coil stock en be tapped most rendlily if the fm whore the tap is to be rnd is pressed down toward (he center of the coil with 32 small serewdriver. Connection to the tap is then made on the inside of the coil, using a small soldering iron, The euils wre supported by their own Heals, suldered to the tuning eapacitors as Aliroetly as possible. Cutting of Miniduetor stock was deseribed in Part I. Adjustment and Operation ‘The transmitters ean be tested with any power supply that will deliver 200 fo 800 volts dic. at 100 ma, and 6.8 volts ac, of de. at 244 amperes. \ single I-ma. meter ean he uscal for all tests, if it is provided with a 1000-ohm series resistor snd tiesible leads with terminals, as shown at. the lower left side of Fig. 3. (The ®.w.r, bridge meter will be used this way in the complete station.) If the supply detivers more than about, 200 volts, it ond be well to connect a 5000-ohm L-watt, resistor in the supply lead temporarily, to keep the transmitter from drawing excessive current ut the start of testing. Wo will test the oscillator and doubler first. Disconnect the serocu resistors from both 6360 stages in the 144-Me, transmitter, or from the suplifier in the 50-Me. rig, ‘This will keep these stages from drowing anything but grid errent Plug the fest. meter, with the 1000-ohm resistor in series, into J and Jo, It will read as if ite geale were 10 ma. CA reading of 0.4 will actually be 4 ma.) With the tubes already heated, apply plate voltage briefly, through Pin 2 of J If the first tov stages are functioning there will be some grid eurrent reading. Using only short test periouls at first, adjust QST for‘the cores in Ly and B Cs, for maximum grid eurrent. Now adjust Cs for maximum grid current. It will be seen that Crand, Cz interlock, Move first one and then the other until the combination is found that gives the highest grid current. ‘This should be at: least 1 ‘ma. in the tripler of the I44-Me, transmitter, and 2 ma, for the 50-Me. amplifier, when a supply. voltage of 250 is used, and it may be up to twice these values. If a dropping resistor was used in the power supply lead, it may now be removed, provided that, the plate voltage does not rise to over 300, And how do you read voltage? It’s niee to have a voltmeter, but you can make your own. Re- anember Ohin and his famous Law? Connect a Iemegohm resistor in series with your [-ma, meter, with or without ita 10U0-ohm resistor, for the latter will make only a 0.1 per cent differ= ence, Connect the negative side of the meter to the chassis, and the positive side (with the I-megohm resistor in series) to the point where you want to measure voltage. You can now read voltage on the meter seale. A meter reading of 0.3 ma. will meun 300 volts, 0.28 would be 280 volts, ete. It is desirable to have a fairly accurate resistor for this purpose, if you want to read voltage 0 useful accuracy. A precision resistor will bo a good investment here, but get one that is uccurate to plus or minus 5 per cent, in any case, Some resistors may be ue much as 20 per cent off, unless you specify otherwise. TRIPLER, Fig. 4—Schematic diagram and pars information for the ‘are shown, as the oscillator and doubler stages are Components not listed below Co, Co—S-yuf._minioture butterfly variable (Johnson 160-205 or SMBI1). Ce, Cr—B8-uuk. miniature butterfly variable (Johnson 160-208 or 9MBI1). Cs—30-yuf. miniature variable (Johnson 160-130 or 30m8), Jainsulated tip jock. 1, ta lin Fig. 3)—4-4h, (approx) Viinch iron-alug coil (Miller 4504), Link with 1 turn insulated hookup “wire; see photo and text August 1961 50-Me. Amplitior Adjustment The 0-Me, amplifier may now be adjusted, but first we need some kind of dummy (non- radiating) load. The best fond is bank of resis- tors that will total about, 50 ohms and be able to dissipate at least 8 watts? To use such a load properly requires some form of power output indi- cator, inserted in the line to the load. The s.w.r. bridge, to be described later, serves this purpose. ‘Lamps of various kinds ean be used, but they aro inferior loads. They do have one advantage, however: they give a rough visible indication of power output. Probably the best lamp lord is made of 4 or 5 blue-bead pilot lamps (No. 44 or 46) connected in parallel. A 25- or 4Q-watt lamp may also be used, but it will be far from a, 50-ohm load, und very misleading as to tuning of the final plate and loading circuits. If such a lamp is used, short out the loading eapacitor, Cs, temporarily. With the two previous stages having beon tuned for maximum amplifier grid eurrent, ro- connect the sereen resistors. Modulation is not needed at this stage, so Pins 2 and 6 of J may be connected together initially. Plug the meter and. 1000-ohmn series resistor into J7 and Js, to meas ure amplifier plate current and apply voltage. "Phe meter will now read as if it had a 100-ma, 2Buch « load wae dowcribed by the weiter in QST for March, 1960. The asus ig atill wvailable from ARRL, for 50 cents, postpaid. AMPUFIER oe Tl hi Fo in 144-Me. transmitter. Only the tpler cad amplifier portions tar to the 50-Me, unit, {re identical to those of Fig. 3. 19% tums No. 24 tinned, Yeinch diam, 92. tay 4. (B & W Miniductor 3004), L—Same os ts, but 10% turns, Mount Ls end Le Ye inch ‘part, center to center. Ls-3% tums No. 20 tinned, Veinch diam, 16 tpl. {8 & W No, 3003). Le 2% turns like Ls. Li=6 turns No. 18 finned, Yrinch diam. te inch longs ct. Le—1 tum insulated hookup wire around cenier of Lr. 33‘The 144-Me. transmitter is similar to that For 50-Me, bu tt the left end, Side-by-side coils in the doubler plate and Osciator end doubler circuits are ipler grid circuits come next. The tripler plate ond amplifier id coll, eight center, are mounted on the same axis. The amplifer plate and loading circuits ere at the far right. Adjust Cy quickly for minimum plate cwrent, which should be sbout 50 to 80 ma. if 1 Joad is connected to Ws. JE the load is a lamp or hank of lamps, adjust (efor maximam brilliance. With the pilot-lamp load ('s inay now be audjusted for maximum Irillinnes. Retune Cr and Cy several times for greatest output, If a regular hone Tight bulb is used tor the load, short temporarily omd adjust Cy for maximum brite fiance. Masimam output will occur at approsi- mately minimum plate current, but there inay not. be exact coincidence, so Cy should he al justed for tive lowest phate current that gives inasinmim output, ‘The 6360 is so designed that there is no need for neutralization if the transmitter is properly ned and built, but a stability cheek should wow be made, Plug the meter baele into the yrid- current jacks, turn ou the transmitter, and briefly Femove the erystal from its socket. ‘There should he no grid current with the erystal removed. The input to the amplifier will rin excessively high under this test, su do it, for i short check only, Another test for stability is to observe the grid and plate eurrent simultancously, while wate mitter will show maximum grid current, ini mum plate current and maximum output at a single setting of the plate eapacitor. Soine diver- xenee from this ideal is permisible, if other indications given above are achieved 144.Me. Adjustment ‘Thus far we've been talking about the 50-Me. 34 ing the ouiput. A perioctly stable’ trans transmitter, Adjustment procedure is similar for the 144-Me. model, Fig. 4, except that there is 4 hit more to it. Proceed ax above to the point where you haye gotten grid current in the triplet staze. Now connect the xereen resistor of the triplor and put the meter in tip jacks Jg and Js, to mensure cinplifier grid current. Apply voltae through piu 2, and tune ('s for maximum ampli- tier grid current. ‘This should he at least 2 ma., Jit ib may be as mueh as 5, Now plug the meter into w/z and Jy and apply plate voltage th i Adjustment from here on is similar to the 50-Me. amplifier. Becarise of the «rain imposed by the wxtra 6360 stage, the platesupply vollage will Ie a bit lower with the 2-meter transmitter, 1 fact to keep in mind when figuring the input you will have to modulate Once the transmitters xiven frequency you muy want to tune them so that shifting frequeney can be done with a mini- imum of rettining, ‘There is « surplus of grid drive with the tube lineups shown, so “staggortun- ing” is entirely practical, For instance, the -meter transmitter ean he adjusted so. # uny frequency between LH and 146° Me, eat he used merely by inserting the proper erystal sind retuning the final plate circuit. Plug. the r into the amplifier grid jacks, Je and Ja. With a erystal near 8000 ke. in place. tune for maximum grid current. It will be more than you eed. Now put in a erystal for some point near 146 Me. ‘The yrid current will probably be 1 ma. oo less, and the output somewhat fow, even when QST for © made to work on ahe final plate circuit is retuned. Adjust one of the core studs (either Ly or La) upward slightly, and sce if the grid eurrent: rises. Retime C or C3 slightly to further inerease the grid current. 1a the sume with either Cy or Cs. By judicious juz~ sling it will be possible to get atound ma, grid current on any frequeney over @ tivo- megieyele spread. simply by plugging in the proper crystal, You then merely retune (7 for the lowest plato current that will give maxinaum output, after changing the crystal. It is not neces sury to readjust either Cs or Cs ut any time, once have been properly set. Adjustment pro~ cedure for sprending the coverage nf the 50-Me. transmitter is similar, but simpler heeause of the lessor number of stages. Tdcal amplifier grid current in both traustit- ters is around 3 ma., though either will work well with down to about 113 ma, or up to 4. More than 4 ma. is likely to reduce the output, and either insulficient or exeessive rive will affect, the modulation adversely. ‘The sanount of grid drive for e.w. operation is much loss critical, it being merely necessury to hive enough to insure eflicient operation. Even 1 ma. will do. Keying the transmitters for e.w. work is done by plugging a Key into the cathode jack, Js ‘Phere will be more on transmitter sind antentia nudjustment in a later issue, when the modulator and sav.t, bridge are described. Mewnvhile, ‘you may want to check operation of the various Plate Voltage Plate Carrent Grid Current Screen age Voltage Transmitter LieMe, Ay. me, HOw, % 30ma. 15 v. AD mn, yt sv, 7Ome, 170¥. may 50-Me. Transinitter ose Tima. 150 Dbl toma, Amp. 250¥. 70ma, 170. bana stages. Plate current may be measured in any stage, to be sure thnt it is running at safe input. uncet a 1U-ohm resistor in sevies with the lower end of the 470-ohm isolating resistor in the plato revit of the stage to be checked. Now, connect the I-ma. meter (with its 1000-ohm resistor in series) across the 10-ohm resistor. ‘This will make the meter real ax if il had w 100-ma. seale, just sw when you plug into J and Js, Additional tin jacks shunted with 10-ohm resistors may, in fuet, be permanently 2 paré of the transmitters, thotugh there will be little ued to nse them after the stages are once checked and found to be operating sutisfactorily. The aecouipanying table shows typical voltages und currents measured in the original units. Ge] S@e-Strays 4s K7HDB points out that, QSIs to iron-eurtain nntries may not be handled if the stamps used are in our recent Champion of Liberty series. Several of his envelopes henring the Jam Massir stamp were returned. Walrath, 2783 Winona, ate anyone who served us radio operator with Headquarters Company, 85th Infaniry Regiment, 10th Infantry Division, in Bamberg, Germany, between January 1956 and Mareh 1957. KSYGN, (erry L. ISIGGG found a recent hospitalization slightly. easier to tako when KILGB brought in a, Com munieator foaned by WIRMZ, Then the Mobil- eens, a large group of 2-meter opemitors in westera New England, kept him busy with many QSO3. (ie was donbly rock-bound — quartz and gull stones.) This ot the right is all that remained of VESDIMZ after a fire wiped him out on Jan, 2. However, thanks to the generosity of VESK, the Scarborough Radio Club, the Lindsay An- toma Co, and World Radio Laboratories of Councl Bluffs, much of his ham gear hes been replaced. He also lost al his QSL, and if any of you remember working him, he'd appreciate a duplicate QSL from you. August 1961