ARG RX80 RECEIVER

Bojan Majhenič

The idea to build a simple receiver for fox hunting was born last April at the Association of
Radioamateurs of Slovenia (ZRS) we decided to organize together with ZOTKS summer camp in
Pekrah.
In the past few years, I was a spectator and a president ZRS is present in quite a few games in
amateur radio goniometry (ARG) or fox hunting, which exemplarily organizes them ARG-Manager
Franci (S57CT) with his team. Because I like to solder, I got Chinese kit of the receiver for 80 m
RD3500, which costs around 40 euros on eBay . It's a receiver with a direct mixing, equipped with
ferrite and rod Antenna for determining the direction of the ARDF Transmitters. Adjustment The
receiver is relatively simple, since only the oscillator and the input antenna circuit have to be
calibrated. Also, the case assembling does not causes major problems. We made 12 Such ARG
receivers with the youth camp participants in Pekrah.
Because the radio amateur electronic construction is my hobby since I was 17, I am coming to an idea
to make myself something like this. With Google and internet I quickly find several receivers for 3.5
MHz. Because some years ago, I have designed projects with TCA440 integrated circuit, I decided to
do the receiver with TCA440. The hardest thing was to find out how to put together in a suitable
casing, find material that will be as cheaper as possible, so that it will be be easy to get, and it will be
easy to tuning and suitable for performing at youth camps or soldering by interested young man.
I made prototype prints for versions by direct mixing, but when I am found that ceramic filters and
455 kHz resonators are very affordable via eBay, I made a prototype with single mixer heterodyne
receiver. It is showed that the price difference between Both versions are very small, so the idea of
building a direct receiver was quickly abandoned. This has resulted in quite a few receiver versions of
ARG RX80. The last version is V7.1.
I tested the reception antenna with ferrites diameter 10 mm of different lengths, from 80 to 200 mm.
The longer it can be made more precise to determine the direction of the fox. During use the RX80
receiver turned out to be the most suitable length is from 100 to 150 mm. On the ferrite core there
are three windings. The main ones is resonant at 3.650 kHz, and two others are additional. One is
intended for downloading a signal for processing in the TCA440, the other in the right phase with a
first auxiliary winding and a rod Antenna for defining direction "forward-back".

The beginnings and ends of auxiliary windings are at schemes marked with a dot. There was a
prototype tested some coils used in oscillator. This works at the upper frequency for mixing from
3955 KHz to 4055 KHz, kar in addition to receiving the CW signals they emit Fox-transmitters, also
allows the reception of phonics LSB signal in the area of 80 m. Already factory-ferrite coils HBCC type
22 μH Satisfying Frequency Stability for the needs of such a receiver. In this part I used the oscillator
for stability foil triple capacitor in conjunction with styrofoam condenser and powerful diode. For
ceramic interfrequency filters I used the LTM455IW filter with band width 2.5 kHz. Mixing with
auxiliary The BFO oscillator is made with a ceramic resonator SFB455 and integrated circuit NE602. So
obtained low frequency the signal goes through a 455 IF filter to a commonly used low frequency
amplifier LM386N and to a headphone jack.
Because I had the opportunity to fix it also ARG receivers from laboratory times ZRS, I realized that it
is necessary to turn on the receiver is resolved in a different way, such as this worked with auxiliary
contact of the connector for headphones. I'm on the basis of this in the receiver described the FET
switch.
Because the ARG receiver must operate in wide area battery area, I am used to stabilize the voltage
with "Low drop" 5-V stabilizer. Gain and thus the low frequency output signal level can be set in a
wide area. This allows trained users of the receiver to determine the distance from the transmitting
fox, based on reading of the position of this potentiometer.
I decided to set the frequency volume of the oscillator and the maximum I do not use trimmers, but
on the embroidered embedded riders on which we can directly get resistance appropriate values.
For easier testing of the receiver I used it for integrated circuits the base.
The ARG RX80 receiver is powered by 9V battery. The receiver's consumption is around 16 mA, which
allows for long enough use.
9-V batteries can be used for such consumption get at least 200 mAh or more 12 hours of operation
of the receiver.
One-sided prints The ARG-receiver RX80 measures 53 × 100 mm, which means that they go to a
standard 100 x 160 mm European photo frame with three such prints. The printhead is exactly the
right size so that it can be fitted with the four M3 screws into the standard two-piece casing of the
manufacturer Strapubox (type 6002), which measures 140 × 60 × 33 mm with a 9-V battery cover.
The base winding of the ferrite antenna is divided into two parts with twelve coatings of copper -
lacquered wire - Cul 0,15 mm on each side. In the middle of the ferrite rod, two helical windings with
six and four windings Cul 0.3 mm are coiled between the part of the main winding. The start of
auxiliary windings is indicated with a suitable color. The lead of the main navel is driven to the end of
the ferrite rod, where the foil capacitor 10-40 pF is first glued with hot glue. We get the beginning
and end of the main winding. Leave the ends of all windings as much as 15 cm longer so that they can
be dragged through the PVC tube into the receiver housing. The ferrite antenna is protected by a
suitable long plastic tube of 16 mm diameter, which is used in the manufacture of superficial
electrical installations.
This is attached to the base housing with two plastic couplings with an internal diameter of 15 mm,
such as those used for the installation of copper wires. This coupling is smaller compared to the
original electro coupling (Ø 16 mm), and in the lower fixing part, a plastic tube with a ferrite antenna
is straight and firmly held. The couplings are attached to the base housing by two M3 screws and
washers. For a stick antenna, I used a steel galvanized braid with a thickness of 1 mm and a length of
160 mm with a donut banana mini plug (Ø 2 mm). This performance is very robust and conveys all
possible sounds that occur when using a sprayer in nature. In the case of prototype receivers, the
front panel is drawn with the same program as the printed circuit board, then printed with a laser
printer, coated with 120 g foil and glued to the front of the base housing with a glue in the spray gun.
The front and rear inner sides of the housing are surrounded by self - adhesive aluminum foil, which
reduces the effect of the arm on the main oscillator and, consequently, the frequency change when
using the ARG receiver. The potentiometer for adjusting the frequency, VF gain, the "back-and-back"
push-button and the headphones on the headphones come to print with flexible bushes. The wired
connection to the 9-V battery is also paid to the printer. We must ensure that we supply such a
battery connector, which has an output at an angle of 90 °, otherwise it may be difficult to close the
battery cover.

Calibrating the RX80 receiver

As always, we begin to solder the lowest elements, bridges, resistors, diodes and terminate by
soldering the connectors on both the centimeters, the headphone connectors, the forward - reverse
and the winding on the ferrite rod. When all the elements arrive at the printout, it is advisable to
supply electronics at the first test of the receiver via an AC adapter that limits current and voltage
settings. If everything goes smoothly, when we slowly raise the voltage on the receiver, the current
without the integrated integrated circuits is 9 V 1.7 mA. Then, insert the integrated circuit LM 386 N.
into the base. Current consumption increases to 5.6 mA when an integrated mixing circuit is inserted,
the current rises to 8 mA, and the TCA 440 to 16 mA. The easiest way to calibrate the oscillator is to
find its frequency at the receiver near the frequency 4055 and 3955 kHz. We can also help with the
antenna analyzer by listening to its oscillator at 3500 and 3600 kHz on the ARG receiver via the
connected headphones. Similarly, we can also check the operation of the 455-kHz oscillator. The
input circuit on the ferrite antenna is set to the maximum signal strength, which is heard in the CW
range above 3500 kHz. We can also do an auxiliary oscillator with a crystal at a frequency of 3578 kHz
and set the input pulsing circuit with it. When all this is done, the RX80 receiver works and in the
evening it can be tested by listening to CW and LSB signals.
The desired frequency is set with a button of 3500 kHz at the far left to 3600 kHz at the far right. The
RF-gain can be adjusted with the lower button. With its setting, indirectly and with experience
gained, we can determine approximately the distance to the fox. The maximum damping of the
receiving signal is in the leftmost position, the number "0" is far right, and the number "10" has the
smallest damping or the maximum sensitivity of the receiver. Headphones with an impedance
greater than 8 Ω are connected to the standard 3.5 mm stereo jack of the "phone", which
simultaneously turns on the receiver, so it does not have a special switch on or off. At the end of each
training or contest, it is obligatory to pull out the headphone connector from the receiver. If anyone
interested in building the described receiver ARG RX80, I will be available with all amateur radio
information at [email protected]. Depending on interest, we can also prepare workshops
for the production and calibration of these receivers. Finally, let me state the prices and possibilities
of purchasing RX80 receiver material. I purchased something in domestic stores, some in Germany at
the largest supplier for radio amateurs in Europe, and the cheapest parts were purchased via eBay.
All material costs less than 40 euros. The most expensive part of this project is a casing that costs four
euros. In the Radio Amateur Association of Slovenia, we want to attract as many interested
individuals as possible, especially young people, to integrate them into their own species, thus
rejuvenating the membership. If there is enough interest, we will continue in this direction at the ZRS
in order to set up more simple radio amateur projects and also support them with puzzles.