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48783

Electronics
NOW
Combined with

Electronics
Radon

BUILD THE THUMB DRUM


This fun electronic drum
can output either audio
signals or MIDI data !
eid hostage
BUILD THE MUSICIAN'S FRIEND again!
Three great projects in one: instrument
tuner, headphone amplifier, and visual
metronome!

TELEPHONE
AUTO- COUPLER
Connect your projects
to the phone line
automatically

UNIVERSAL
REMOTE CONTROL
Turn your PC into an
"invisible robot"

RC FILTERS
Learn how resistors and capacitors
combine to form a wide variety
r 5-DIGIT 95067
of frequency -selective filters .X".Y.'.X'.X'.X'.Y:.Y.'.X'.X'.Y.".X'.X'.Y.'.X'

3031766Rf:P0667397 06 P62
sttttfttttltt ut n tttt n ttttttt
06 APR 94
CHRIS PARKER RE
$3.50 U.S. GERNSBACK
arIQN
$3.95 CAN 1
HL IB l

i i
o 091 2 48783 o

www.americanradiohistory.com
www.americanradiohistory.com
We Only Skimped OnThe Price.
Introducing The Fluke Series 10 From $69Y5

Fluke quality: Made in the USA by Fluke, Large, easy -to -read display:
with the same rugged reliability that's made 4000 count digital readout.

Count on hard -working high performance


and a two -year warranty to back it up.
-
us the world leader in digital multimeters.

Actual size: Easy to carry, New! Min/Max record with relative


easy to use. time stamp and Continuity Capture°:
Makes intermittent problems easier to
find. Records highs and lows -and
"time stamps" when they occurred. In
continuity mode, opens or shorts as brief
New! V Chek".: For fast accurate as 250 its are captured and displayed.
checks on power sources and
supplies, set your meter on V Chek-
and let it do the rest. V Chek will
determine continuity /ohms; if voltage
is present, it will automatically
change modes to measure AC or DC
volts, whichever is detected. For most
initial troubleshooting checks, here's Capacitance: Autoranging from
the only setting you need to make. .001 µF to 9999 µF. No need to carry
a dedicated capacitance meter.

For high performance at Fluke's lowest price, get


Autoranging with manual option: your hands on the new Series 10. Stop by your
Your choice. depending on your situation. local Fluke distributor and feel what a powerful
difference the right multimeter makes the -at
right price. For a free product brochure or the name
Sleep Mode: Shuts itself off of your nearest distributor, call 1 800 -87- FLUKE.
if you forget, extending long
battery life even further. Fluke 10 Fluke 11 Fluke 12
$69.95' 579.95' $89.95'
4000 count digital V Chek. V Chek.
display Capacitance, Min /Max recording
1.5% basic dc volts .001 to 9999 pF with relative
New! Slide switch and a accuracy 4000 count digital time stamp
2.9% basic ac volts display Continuity
few pushbuttons control accuracy 0.9% basic dc Capture
all functions: Designed for 1.5%braasic ohms volts accuracy Capacitance,
true one -hand operation. accuracy 1.9% basic ac volts .001 to 9999 uF
Fast continuity accuracy 4000 count digital
beeper 0.9% basic ohms display
Diode Test accuracy 0.9% basic dc
Sleep Mode Fast continuity volts accuracy
Fast, accurate tests Two -year warranty beeper 1.9% basic ac volts
and measurements: Diode Test accuracy
Sleep Mode 0.9% basic ohms
AC and DC voltage Two -year warranty accuracy
measurements to Fast continuity
600 volts, ohms to beeper
Diode Test
- ----
40 Mfg; audible Sleep Mode
continuity test; Two -year warranty
and diode test. 'Suggested U.S. lis price. Optional holster with
tilt-stand available.

The New Series 10.


Safety -a Fluke standard:
A Small Price For A Fluke.
Designed to meet UL1244,
Audible Continuity:
IEC 1010, CSA and VDE safety
requirements; extensive
To perform fast continuity FLUKE AND PHILIPS
overload protection built in.
checks, just listen for T H E T&M A L L I A N C E
the beep; no need to watch
®1991 John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc. Prices and specifications
the display. subject to change. Ad no 00130.
New! TL75 Hard Point° Test Leads:
Comfort grip with extra strong tips
for extended service life.

CIRCLE 121 ON FREE INFORMATION CARD


FLUKE®
June1993 Electronics
Vol. 64 No. 6

ON THE COVER
Music's in the air at Elec- portable FM receiver, with no ca-
Electronic'
El+ïnapnl.
tronics Now this month!
the beat going strong, we have
To get bles or separate power sources.
Finally, our Musician's Friend, the
BUILD THE THUMB DRUM
This tun etectrna¢ arum the ThumbDrum on page 33. The Perfect Pitch, helps you hone your
output either audio
musical skills. The micro-
Can
Signals or MIDI data!
electronic drum set turns finger -
BUILD THE MUSICMH S FRIEND
Woo. picas
vi one !catmint. tapping into real drum sounds that processor-based device com-
you can output as either MIDI or bines an instrument tuner, a
audio signals. The Wireless headphone amplifier, and a met-
Guitar Transmitter, on page 40, ronome. Musicians can put it to
lets you move freely around, with- good use in practice sessions,
out tripping over a mess of cords. and everyone else can use Per-
RC FILTERS
LAMM The transmitter plugs into your fect Pitch to get the most out of
coot:one to forgo a variety
guitar's output jack and plays other audio-based projects. Turn
s V'

* And taa through your FM stereo tuner or a to page 47 for details.

Hone your male* ads with OerrostPFhErA HI!


Two Your complrtor into an invisible household robot! AlldgplOgl101'-aoesoi ibo4eeYH Wm* readpepe

-
/ RC FILTERS illelrrNof. god lleasa1U1111.'

PC BASED aPEaaaa,

UNIVERSAL
REMOTE
CONTROL Understand
¡rp
s01:Ve-cep.ariM7
filters and learn how to use
them in your projects
cod experiments
l _ ß_1.[ _

PAGE 68 PAGE 58 PAGE 47


As a service to readers, ELECTRONICS NOW publishes available plans or information relating to newsworthy products, techniques and scientific and technological developments.
Because of possible variances in the quality and condition of materials and workmanship used by readers, ELECTRONICS NOW disclaims any responsibility for the safe and proper
functioning of reader -built projects based upon or from plans or information published in this magazine.

Since some of the equipment and circuitry described in ELECTRONICS NOW may relate to or be covered by U.S. patents, ELECTRONICS NOW disclaims any liability for the infringement
of such patents by the making, using, or selling of any such equipment or circuitry, and suggests that anyone interested in such projects consult a patent attorney.

ELECTRONICSNOW, (ISSN 0033 -7862) June 1993. Published monthly by Gernsback Publications, Inc., 500 -B Bi-County Boulevard, Farmingdale, NY 11735. Second -Class Postage paid
at Farmingdale, NY and additional mailing offices. Second -Class mail registration No. R125166280, authorized at Toronto, Canada. One -year subscription rate U.S.A. and possessions
$19.97, Canada $27.79 (includes G.S.T. Canadian Goods and Services Tax Registration No. R125166280), all other countries $28.97. All subscription orders ayable in U.S.A. funds only,
via international postal money order or check drawn on a U.S.A. bank. Single copies $3.50. C 1993 by Gernsback Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in U.S.A.

POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to ELECTRONICS NOW, Subscription Dept., Box 55115, Boulder, CO 80321 -5115.

A stamped self- addressed envelope must accompany all submitted manuscripts and/or artwork or photographs if their return is desired should they be rejected. We disclaim any
responsibility for the loss or damage of manuscripts and/or artwork or photographs while in our possession or otherwise.

PLEASE TURN PAGE FOR COMPLETE CONTENTS


SUND THIS Electronics
NCIW,
33 BUILD THE THUMBDRUM Hugo Gemsback (1884.1967) founder

Output audio signals or MIDI data with this electronic drum. Larry Steckler, EHF, CET,
John Simonton and Kent Clark editor -in-chief and publisher

EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
40 WIRELESS GUITAR TRANSMITTER Brian C. Fenton, editor
Get rid of those patch cords with this handy FM transmitter. Marc Spiwak, associate editor
Dinesh Batia Neil Sclater, associate editor
Teri Scaduto, assistant editor
47 MUSICIAN'S FRIEND Jeffrey K. Holtzman
The Perfect Pitch is an instrument tuner, headphone amplifier, and computer editor
metronome in one compact package. Robert Grossblatt, circuits editor
Larry Klein, audio editor
Fred Eady David Lachenbruch
contributing editor
63 PART -68 INTERFACE Don Lancaster
Add an autocoupler to the MPC -2 interface. contributing editor
Mike Hagans and Kyle Magrill Kathy Terenzi, editorial assistant
ART DEPARTMENT
Andre Duzant, art director
Injae Lee, illustrator
Russell C. Truelson, illustrator
PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT
58 RC FILTERS Ruby M. Yee, production director
Learn how they work, and how to use them in your projects. Karen S. Brown
Ray Marston advertising production
Marcella Amoroso
production assistant

( ,
` Lisa Rachowitz
editorial production
CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT
Jacqueline P. Cheeseboro
68 PC -BASED UNIVERSAL REMOTE CONTROL circulation director
Use the Invisibot to operate all your IR- remote -controlled gear. Wendy Alanko
Jon Bek circulation analyst
Theresa Lombardo
circulation assistant
Michele Torrillo
reprint bookstore
Typography by Mates Graphics
Cover photo by Diversified Photo
6 VIDEO NEWS 82 AUDIO UPDATE Services.
What's new in this fast- Loudspeaker power ratings. Electronics Now is indexed in
changing field. Larry Klein Applied Science Technology Index,
&

David Lachenbruch 84 DRAWING BOARD


and Readers Guide to Periodical Liter-
ature, Academic Abstracts, and
Real world considerations. Magazine Article Summaries.
Robert Grossblatt Microfilm & Microfiche editions are
available. Contact circulation depart-
73 HARDWARE HACKER 88 COMPUTER ment for details.
Thermodynamic basics, and CONNECTIONS Advertising Sales Offices listed
more. A confluence of technologies. on page 102.
Don Lancaster Jeff Holtzman Electronics Now Executive and
Administrative Offices
1.516- 293.3000.
Subscriber Customer Service:
AND MORE 1 -800- 288.0652.
Order Entry for New Subscribers:
100 Advertising Sales 28 New Lit 1 -800- 999 -7139.
Offices 22 New Products
100 Advertising Index 12 Q&A
95 Buyer's Mart 4 What's News
Audit Bureau
of Circulations
2 16 Letters Member
DC-2000 MHz

AMPLIFIERS
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(ex. MAR -ISM) +MAV -2 +MAV -3 MAV -11
board layout available on request. MAV -1
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MAV-4
1.65 2.15
It's just as easy to create an amplifier that meets CERAMIC RAM-1 RAM-2 RAM-3 RAM-4 RAM-6 RAM-7 RAM-8
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or medium power. Select from Mini -Circuits' wide PLASTIC MAV -1 +MAV-2
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1.50
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MAV -11
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connect layout, and the design is done. Each model 0.99 1.35 1.45 1.55 1.29 1.75 1.70

is characterized with S parameter data included in our Freq.MHz,DC to 1000 2000 2000 1000 2000 2000 1000 1000

740 -page RF /IF Designers' Handbook. Gain, dB at 100MHz 18.5 12.5 12.5 8.3 20 13.5 32.5 12.7

All Mini -Circuits' amplifiers feature tight unit -to -unit Output Pwr. +dBm 1.5 4.5 10.0 12.5 2.0 5.5 12.5 17.5

repeatability, high reliability, a one -year guarantee, tape NF, dB 5.5 6.5 6.0 6.5 3.0 5.0 3.3 3.6
and reel packaging, off- Notes: + Frequency range DC- 1500MHz ++ Gain 1/2 dB less than shown
the -shelf availability, with
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prices starting at 99 cents 40 AMPLIFIERS IO MAR -1. 10 MAR -3. 10 MAR-4. 10 MAR -8
Mini-Circuits' monolithic 150 CAPACITORS* 50 100 pf, 50 1.000 pf. 50 10.000 pf
amplifiers...for innovative 740 page RF /IF DESIGNER'S HANDBOOK
MIXERS POWER SPLITTER /COMBINERS AMPLIFIERS ELECTRONIC ATTENUATORS
do- it- yourself problem 180 /OPSK MODULATORS ATTENUATORS /TERMINATIONS DIRECTIONAL COUPLERS
RF TRANSFORMERS DIGITAL ATTENUATORS PHASE DETECTORS SWITCHES /DRIVERS
solvers. Models above shown actual size FREQUENCY DOUBLERS
FILTERS LIMITERS
without notice, Typical
yP Circuit Arrangement
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or models may be substituted
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COLOR DOT RFC (optional)

finding new ways ..


setting higher standards
IN .l
Colock
4
3

Vd
I-
Cblock
OUT

COMini-Circuit
Distribution Centers /NORTH AMERICA
P 0. Box 350166, Brooklyn, New York 11235 -0003
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F155 REV A
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WHAT'S NEWS
A review of the latest happenings in electronics.

Interactive program guide box. The card authorizes the recep- tronic programming information to
An interactive electronic program tion of TV Trakker and forthcoming the cable industry, and United Video
guide in selected markets is now services. Those services are ex- Satellite Group.
available from Trakker Interactive pected to include news, entertain-
Services (Tulsa, OK). The service is ment, weather, business, and the Cable company to build
delivered to the homes of cable sub- latest sports information. digital data system
scribers by an FM subcarrier. TV Trakker is developing an ad- An 8000 -mile fiberoptic "elec-
The homeowner installs a "side- vanced version that will offer point - tronic superhighway" that could
car" box on the back of his televi- and -shoot VCR programming with a provide digital data services (DDS)
sion set, and his remote control can remote control to make recording to homes in the metropolitan New
access the service. Information is TV programs off- the -air easier. York region has been proposed by
presented in colorful on- screen win- The first full -scale commercial Long Island -based Cablevision. In
dows. It includes eight hours of var- roll -out of the system began in addition to initial coverage in
ied programing. November 1992 on the Cox Cable Nassau and Suffolk counties,
The Trakker system is designed system in Omaha, Nebraska. The Bronx, and parts of Brooklyn could
to be upgraded easily to other inter- service costs less than $30 a year. be served.
active services by inserting a TV Trakker is affiliated with Prevue The network could deliver video
"smart card" circuit board into the Networks, Inc, a supplier of elec- on demand, home shopping and
banking, interactive games, and
"telecommuting" for those em-

.t
N.% .

ployees who work out of their own


homes.
ta# Fiberoptic cables made up of bun-
\\X dles of hair-thin glass fibers will car-
't ry pulses of laser light. Capable of
Satelll te Data
Subcarrier
transmitting far more messages
than much larger copper cables, the
system will convert digital signals
Cable System
from various sources into to light
Headend pulses at one end and will then re-
MAKIICOMAN
convert them back to digital data at
Transmission Computer the other end without the need for a
Chicago International Teleport (CIT) Cable Video and TV Service
modem.
Uplink Facility (FM Suboarrier Does Not Cablevision expects to compress
Require a Separate Channel)
the data to provide as many as 1100
channels initially. The fiberoptic op-
tic cables will be run to within 1000
Data Provider Services Cable Subs n er's Home
feet of each home being served,
Unit
Attached and each cable will serve a cluster
Behind TV Program
by Consumer Guide of only 750 homes. Because the
TVPlotr- _.
Subscriber
Snort,. cables will be underground, the sys-
Service Center Nevis
Weather
tem will be less susceptible to out-
ages and interference than cable
strung on telephone poles.
Under the plan, conventional
coaxial cable will carry the signals
nR
Smart Card
Customized from the fiberoptic cable terminal
or Existing
Remote Control into each home. Over short dis-
Smart Card
Insert for Services tances, the coaxial cable is capable
of meeting the needs of each home.
THE TRAKKER TV SYSTEM TRANSMITS DATA BY SATELLITE to a computer at the Cablevision plans to start with
cable system front end. An FM subcarrier transmits the data to a small Trakker receiver only 77 channels and use the extra
unit on the viewer's TV set. Once installed, viewers can access the programming guide
4 and other services with subscription "smart cards" that activate the services. continued on page 80

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www.americanradiohistory.com
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VIDEO NEWS
What's new in the fast-changing video industry.
DAVID LACHENBRUCH

HDTV "grand alliance." Commission use its authority under the system in a three -year project at
Negotiations are under way among the All- Channel Act to require that a cost of more than $25 million,
proponents of the four digital HDTV all television sets made after a cer- "working with various Russian tech-
systems on the possibility of getting tain date be able to tune HDTV as nology institutes." According to
together and developing a single well as standard NTSC channels. Samsung, a disc -based camcorder
system combining the best features The group argues that since the would have portability advantages
of all four. As of our deadline, "se- FCC will make HDTV broadcasting over tape, and "the video -rental in-
rious talks" were under way, but mandatory, it should also mandate dustry would benefit from the com-
there appear to be plenty of snags in that sets be required to receive the pact size and durability of the disc."
the path to any such alliance. broadcasts (but not necessarily in The D -VDR, said Samsung, will
The prime mover in the push to- high definition). It proposes that have two to three times more stor-
ward a single compromise system HDTV reception become mandato- age capacity than "the next genera-
is Richard Wiley, chairman of the ry no later than six years after an tion of magneto -optical disc."
FCC's Advanced TV Advisory Com- HDTV standard is adopted.
mittee (ATAC). One report indicates That's ridiculous, replied Zenith in Big tubes grow. The largest
that all proponents except the Ad- comments to the FCC. Zenith said picture tubes in general consumer
vanced TV Research Consortium that studies have indicated "a retail use became increasingly popular
(ATRC), composed of Philips, price premium in the area of $500 last year, according to figures from
Thomson, NBC, and others, have per set [for] receiving, demodulat- the Electronic Industries Associa-
agreed in principle on the idea. The ing, and decompressing digital tion. As prices gradually came down
other three systems could combine [HDTV] signals in a non -HDTV re- and interest in home -theater in-
to present a united front against ceiver." Zenith added, "It is clear stallations increased, sales of color
ATRC. Of course, many hurdles re- that a $500 premium would put mil- TV sets with 35 -inch picture tubes
main. For example, how does one lions of Americans out of the market increased by 52% over 1991. Com-
compromise between interlaced for new TV receivers," in view of the pared with total color-TV sales of
and progressive scan? fact that 70% of all TV sets are pur- 22.4 million sets, the 35 -inch
Because the tests have shown no chased for less than $350 each. number was relatively small. Never-
digital system markedly superior to theless, some 244,000 sets with
any other digital or analog system, Video disc recorder. While 35 -inch tubes were sold last year.
ATAC has decided on a new round of Japanese manufacturers discuss Sets with tubes 30 inches and
tests, which will be conducted if the standards for a new generation of larger totaled 787,000 in 1992, and

will delay the choice of a system


once scheduled for February
-
idea for a grand alliance fails. That home digital high- definition video-
cassette recorders (Electronics
Now, May 1993), a major Korean
if projection TV is included, the total
came to 1.2 million -the first time
the 30- inch -and -over category total-
1993 -until this fall. After the pre- manufacturer is proposing that the ed more than a million sets.
liminary choice, on the basis of lab next home video recorder use a Sales of projection TV's totaled a
tests, one or all of the systems disc rather than tape, foreshadow- record 404,300 units last year.
could go into field testing. If there ing a video battle comparable to the United States Precision Lens Co.
should be an alliance and only one current digital audio recording con- (USPL), which makes plastic lenses
system remains, there would be a test between the Mini Disc and the for most projection TV sets, fore-
30-45 -day development period, fol- Digital Compact Cassette. casts that about 445,000 will be
lowed by six months to build the Samsung, Korea's largest elec- sold this year. Thé trend to larger
combined system. tronics company, announced that it screen sizes will continue, the corn -
will introduce a digital videodisc re- pany says, predicting that 41% of
Compulsory HDTV tuning? corder (D -VDR) in 1995. Samsung the total will be in the 50-54 -inch
The All- Channel Act, passed by has developed a green laser for both size, with 9% of them 55 inches and
Congress many years ago to help recording and playback of a magne- larger.
provide an audience for UHF TV sta- to- optical disc, providing 55 min- Despite some inroads by liquid
tions, should be applied to HDTV as utes of digital recording on a 4.75 - crystal device (LCD) projection sys-
well, according to a proposal made inch disc. When the product is com- tems, USPL says that for the next
to the FCC by a broadcast group. mercialized, Samsung says that it few years the cathode -ray tube will
The Association for Maximum Ser- will record for 120 minutes per disc. continue to be the primary picture
vice Television has urged that the Samsung says that it developed source for projection TV. i2
6

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H OME WORK
For Electronics
Compartment for text books/
manuals and/or wire jumper kit
(optional)

Custom Molded Carrying Case


folds into briefcase size

Large Breadboard area holds


24 lCs...2, 500 tie points

Function Generator
Triple Power Supply.. +5V fixed,
...sine, square, triangle...plus TTL
plus two variable 5 -15V

Holds Digital Multimeter 8 7TL Logic Probe Indicators


PROTO- METER® 4000
(optional)

Audio Speaker
Debounce Push - Buttons

Two BNC Connectors for


oscilloscopes and counters

Here's PB- 503 -C. It has every feature that our famous Power Supply with fixed 5VDC, plus two variable
PB -503 offers, but we added one more, portability. outputs ( +5 to +15VDC). Throw -in 8 TTL compatible
Work on your projects at the office or school, take it LED indicators, switches, pulsers, potentiometers,
home at night... its for the engineer or student who wish audio experimentation speaker... plus a life -time
to take their lab with them. Instrumentation, including guarantee on all breadboarding sockets! And, because
a function generator with continuously variable sine, its portable you will always have everything you need
square, triangle wave forms and TTL pulses. right in front of you! PB- 503 -C, one super test station
Breadboards with 8 logic probe circuits. And a Triple for under $350! Order yours today!!

FOR MORE INFORMATION GLOBAL Global Specialties', 70 Fulton Terrace, New Haven, CT 06512
Tele: 203.6243103/Fax: 203.16800060 gD1990, Interplex Electronics
All Global Specialties' breadboarding products are made in the U.S.A.
e -

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en

(Industries
CALL 1- 800 -572 -1028 SPECIALTIES ProtoBoard is a registered trademark of Global Specialties' A033 oompeny

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No other training
to troubleshoo
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Complete breadboarding system
the step -by -step assembly of DIAGNOSTIC HARDWARE

a powerful 486sx computer


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NEW! AND SOFTWARE
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-
LESSONS
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COMPUTER LANGUAGE PRINT, INPUT, and so on), and runs Wiring a single light so that it can
I was a bit late getting inter- a series of low -level instructions be controlled by two switches is a
ested computers, but I got a PC that implement the statements. The common practice. A trip to your lo-
last year. I'm now interested in tradeoff made for ease of program- cal hardware store will show you
learning about programming. ming is a loss of control over how that there are switches and dim-
I've been studying BASIC but things are done -it's a "Take the mers designed specifically for this
I'm wondering whether I ought bus and leave the driving to us" kind purpose. The only difference be-
to spend my time getting famil- of situation. tween these specially designed de-
iar with some of the other com- The lower the level of language, vices and their single -control
puter languages such as as- the more control you have over how cousins is that the single ones are
sembly language or C. Is any things happen, but the more work two -wire switches and the others
one of them better to know or you have to do when you're writing a are three -wire switches.
more powerful than any of the program. In general, the approach Simple switches are single -pole,
others, or are they all equally to low -level programming is to single -throw devices, and the more
useful ? -G. Benjer, Faffel, IN create subroutines that do common complex ones are single -pole, dou-
Learning how to program is the tasks (such as putting stuff on the ble -throw switches. Working out
best way know to take the mystery
I screen), and then calling them as the wire layout so a single light can
out of computers. Picking the lan- they're needed. In a certain sense be controlled by two separate
guage to use, however, is far from you try to structure things as if you switches is an interesting exercise
being a clear-cut issue. The decision were dealing with a high -level lan- in logic but, to save you the trouble,
ultimately has to be based on what guage in the first place. the schematic for the circuit is
you want to do with the software There is no computer language shown in 1.
you write, how much time you want that's best suited for all jobs and all As you can see, when the light is
to spend on it, and, most important, programmers, and choosing the off, it can be turned on with either
how much you already know about language to use is as important a switch, and when the light is on, it
the inner workings of computers in decision as deciding what the pro- can be turned off with either switch.
general. gram is going to do. You always Switches and dimmers designed for
All languages are designed to have to weigh the requirements of this application have three wires
give specific instructions to the mi- the job against the time you can connected to them, and the center
croprocessor and other hardware spend to make it happen. If you're pole is identified with a different
that make up your computer. It usu- programming for your own amuse- color. When you wire them, make
ally takes a lot of these individual ment, you can pick any language sure you use cable that has three
instructions to get a task done. A you want. But if you have a client wires as well as the ground wire. All
good example of that is getting a breathing down your neck to get the three wires have the ability to carry
character typed on the keyboard to job done, the choice of language current so make sure you don't use
appear on the screen. A simple GET can mean the difference between the bare ground wire for this pur-
statement in BASIC has to read the getting paid for a job well done and pose.
keyboard, transfer the typed getting sued. Tell the person behind the hard-
character that's found in the key- ware counter exactly what you want
board buffer to the appropriate loca- TWO SWITCHES, ONE LIGHT to do, and they'll tell you which
tion in video memory, and then put I'm having a problem rewiring switches and cable are the right
that character on the screen loca- the lights in my house. In some ones for the job. When you're play-
tion of the cursor. of the rooms I want to be able to ing around with house wiring, the
High -level languages have state- control a single light from two most intelligent course to follow is
ments that can do a lot of work for different switches. In rooms to make sure you know exactly what
you and, as a result, program de- with two entrances, I want to be you have to do before you start
velopment is usually a lot faster and able to turn the lights on from doing it.
easier. Things are easier because switches at both doors. I know Most localities require that all
high -level language statements are this is a simple problem but I electrical work be done by licensed
often English -like and intuitive. haven't been able to figure out a electricians and that it be inspected
When a language like BASIC ex- solution. Can you show me a afterward. There's a reason for that:
ecutes a program, it takes each of schematic for this ? -F. Stone, miswiring electrical switches can be
12 the program statements (such as Albany, NY catastrophic.
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Be an FCC The quality of the sine waves pro-


duced by this circuit will depend on
how closely you match the compo-
LICENSED
ELECTRONIC TECHNICIAN!
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MAKING WAVES There are ways to make the 741
I do a lot of amplifier testing operate with a single -sided supply,
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LETTERS
Write to Letters, Electronics Now, 500 -B Bi- County Blvd., Farmingdale, NY 11735

AUDIO UPDATE OPPOSITION grounds, that such differences can't Practices. also study the sche-
I

As an electrical engineer and a be heard. matics in the Japanese MJ Audio


devoted enthusiast who builds, de- It is obvious that Larry Klein Technology because the text is in
signs, and listens to high -end audio doesn't listen to the music listen to I Japanese and do not read that lan-
I

equipment, have to give a vote of


I and he doesn't listen for the same guage. Although don't agree com- I

"no confidence" to Larry Klein. In


his zeal to represent our hobby as a
sordid enclave of knaves, fools, and
things in that music. Moreover, he
doesn't listen in my living room
and most important of all he doesn't
- pletely with the views expressed in
any of those publications, each has
provided me with some useful infor-
reprobate hucksters, he has al- listen to it with the audio receptors mation so will continue to read
I

lowed himself to spout a mixture of that are in the space between my them.
"factoids" and opinion that have no ears. JOHN BERGLUND
place in a reputable publication for Because, in the final analysis, I Quincy, IL
electronic hobbyists. can't listen to music through Mr.
To put it more bluntly, some Klein's ears, am not calling him a
I ANOTHER VIEW
equipment for reproducing record- liar. am certain that he cannot per-
I I'm writing in response to the
ed music just sounds better -in ceive any difference between a anonymous reader whose letter at-
other words, it reproduces music $799 shopping -mall rack system tacking Larry Klein's methods of
more accurately as perceived by the and a Stereophile "Recommended evaluating audio equipment ap-
extremely sensitive but inherently Class A" system correctly matched peared in the March issue of
subjective human ear-than some and set up-but can. I Electronics Now. I'd like to establish
other gear. Come to think of it, might even I my credentials: I've been in the au-
Some of that difference can be prefer the rack system, although dio industry many years, and in the
explained by measuring such pa- that's very unlikely, but I'm quite early 1970's manufactured what
I

rameters as frequency response, confident that there would be a big were then state -of- the -art "home
power, bandwidth, slew rate, total difference. speaker systems."
harmonic distortion, intermodula- don't own class -A-rated units.
I At that time, a typical "Faber Sys-
tion distortion, and several other My system consists of speakers tern" cost about $800 for two satel-
tests that are industry standards. from a reputable up -scale manufac- lites and a subwoofer. That might
However, as much as Mr. Klein and turer (purchased used for a reason- sound like a lot for the 70's, but at
others might not like to hear it, able price), a pair of power that time such a system did not ex-
some of that difference simply can- amplifiers built on a discarded pub-
I ist until introduced it at the 1972
I

not be explained by such tests. lic- address amplifier chassis with Consumer Electronics Show in Las
That doesn't make the concept of surplus and flea market parts, and a Vegas.
measuring performance objectively preamplifier made by an upstate The design of those systems was
invalid. Nor does it make the current New York manufacturer not consid- the result of many years of work.
battery of tests useless. And it ered to be a favorite of the sound Simply put, agree with the letter-
I

doesn't mean that there is anything experts. writer about the ability of the drivers
supernatural or inexplicable about I have replaced every resistor and and crossover network to affect the
why amplifier Y and preamplifier X capacitor with surplus parts; use I solid -state amplifiers being made
and CD player V driving Z speakers speaker wires and interconnects today. Even the choice of speaker
makes a string quartet sound far that bought from commercial elec-
I cable affects the overall sound.
superior in my living room to some trical supply shops for less than a But think that most audiophiles
I

other set of components (each of dollar a foot. Each of these choices who have become accustomed to
which might make better measure- was made after many hours of lis- the smooth sound of tube -type am-
ments in one parameter or another tening and testing. If couldn't hear I plifiers with audio -output transfor-
than its equivalent). any difference, it would have wasted mers and speakers matched to the
It does mean that Mr. Klein might my time and money, wouldn't it? system are bothered by the new sol-
not be able to hear -or compre- Finally, what find most galling is
I id -state equipment. They seem to
hend that he is hearing -or even Mr. Klein's shameless plug for one be annoyed by direct -coupled ampli-
admit to himself or anyone else that audio magazine. regularly read or I fiers that connect directly to a
he can hear any difference between peruse Stereophile, The Absolute speaker system capable of re-
sound systems. He simply is not Sound, The Sensible Sound, Audio producing even the most complex
16 justified in saying, on scientific Amateur, Glass Audio, and Sound audio waveforms.
Established 1945
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- THIS MONTH. SPECIAL! FUNCTION GENERATOR
BONUS 600018 741C OP-AMP 1.30 ea
uest Your INTERNALLY COMPENSATED
RE E-
r1 KELVIN 100 600026 1458 OP-AMP 1.35 ea
DUAL 741C OP -AMP
Laptop Oigi W lrwrrr
comes with 100 page Multimeter
osetimema with you Scope order.
instruction manual, power supply. bilt -in t 630041 2N2222 1.20 ea
digit tue hetadedrnelc9splay, two independent
100 Basic 150 Basic+ 200 Advanced PRO 400 docks wih user adjustable teq 8 duty cydes,
630383 PN2222 1.08 ea
Standard Features - Models 100, 150, 200 & 400 4 dala bit switches and 4 LED displays 600023 7805 Voltage Rao 3.36 ea
AC & DC VOLTAGES DC CURRENT Stock Na. 840480 $9995
RESISTANCE CONTINUITY TEST- Buzzer SIUCON CONTROLLED RECTIFIER

v'
COMMUNICATION TRAINER Minds/ to GE C106C1) 4.0 amp, 100PIV
DIODE TEST 3 1/2 Digit LCD LOW BATTERY 600014 .... 1.89 ea 3.79 ea/10+
INDICATOR ACCURACY +/- 0.5% RDG WIRE - FIBER OPTIC - INFRARED
BATTERY TEST TRANSISTOR 20MHzFREO THERMISTER - 100 ohm
KELVIN 110097 '1.35 ea
.... 11.00 ea/20+
*99 0087
CAPACITANCE COUNTER
ACiDC AC/DC CURRENT ó é ó t ó 20 MHz SCOPE
Due Trace 2 Yr Warranty -Pw0 8 Labor
THERMISTER - 10Kohm
110097 .... 31.35 ea $1.00 ea/20+
100 Basic
$1905
CURRENT
KELVIN
CAPACITANCE
LOGIC TEST ..- IE w
Stock No. 740088 $385
PROJECT PARTS
7 #990091 TRANSISTOR
LED TEST
3-t 4
I_ _1 40 MHz SCOPE
Dual Trace will Dalayed Seeap Project
TRANSISTOR 200 Advanced Speaker
BATTERY TEST
VERIFY GOODA3AD
KELVIN Ideal for schools/
: Yr Wrra ty-Pre 8 Labor
Stock No. 740086
a
$655 2-, 8 Ohm, .1 Wett
KELVIN *990092 Eapore the technology of communications with Stook No. 350006
100

¡
8 990090 WIRE. FIBER OPTICh INFRARED; one seup MHz SCOPE 59 Q
50 Basic+
150 30 DAY PRO 400 which incorporates 3 technologies.
3 Civics*, 8 Tram wi h Delayed Swop
MONEY $6095 Stock No. 840515 PACT $275 2 Yr Wrrarly-Pate A Labor Project
$2995 BACK Stock No. 740088 $1,295 BUZZER
BREADBOARDS 3 . 9Volt DC, 60 db
2 Year Warranty (Parts & Labor) HITACHI - DIGITAL STORAGE Stock No. 680056
31.59 ea
MODEL VC -6025 50 **Ns SCOPE
AUTORANGE 201AS/e, RS232 PORT $1.39 ea/lo +ay
3 Yr Wrralry-PW it Labor
Stook Na.
No. 700074
f 2,595 Soldering
krw o0
FLUKE - SCOPEAEIER
IRON
will STAND
MODEL 97 RILL YLOADED LONG LIFE TIP
HANDHELD, 50 MHz, DUAL CHANNEL Stock No. 990088
51,795 $3.95 ea

1
Stock No. 710046

DISCOUNTED PRICES! LEDT13 _`1


two.
FLUKE Stock No. Color
260020 RED
100. ow
3.05 ea
ow
1.045 ea
AUTHORIZED DEALER 260027 GREEN 108 ea 107 ea
FLUKE 79 series o $175 260026 YELLOW 1.08 ea 1.07 ea
Stock No. Poet Conte. t. r0uacCOT 260078 2 COLOR 3.32 ea 129 ea
680093 0 500 $ 4.25 FLUKE 87 True ms $295 RED/GREEN

680097 0 840 $
5,65 FLUKE 45 $595 XENON STROBE
680098 2 1380 511.75 Stock No. TUBE
260050
680100 4 2390 622.66 FLUKE 3 YEAR WARRANTY
12.95 ea
WIRE JUMPER KIT
Pre-art, Pe Stlppd
2 MHz FUNCTION GENERATOR $2.50 ea / 20. Oty
Outpub SINE, TRIANGLE, SQUARE WAVE
330289 140 Piece Set $ 4.65 TRIGGER COIL
PULSE, RAMP SLEWED SINE WAVE
330290 35O Piece Set $ 8.65 Stock No. 72009 $19965 1erXenonStrobe Tube
KELVIN 94 The Ultimate Meter
Stock No. 320037
WALL TRANSFORMERS 11.25 ea
100 Mill MULTIFUNCTIONCOUNTER
LCR -Hz- dBm - True RMS - Logic Probe e DIGIT LED DISPLAY ern.; DECIMAL POINT
$ .89 ea / 20« Oty
e on y meter wit t .1% ccua rcy on I WALL TRANSFORMER
Stock No. 720099 5189$5
BATTERY INFRARED LED
Voltages, built-in True RMS, Frey Counter ELIMINATOR IR Pair, LED Infrared
to 20MHz Res: 10 Hz, LCR -Inductance CENTER NEGATIVE
150 MU, RF SIGNAL GENERATOR transmitter
Tester Res: 10 uH, DC /AC Voltages STOCK NO. TYPE- P., -S. 100KHz b 1509510 COVERAGE
45064Hz IN HARMONICS, AM MODULATION,
and receiver
Res:0.1 mV, Ohm Meter Res: 0.1 ohms 220084 9V DCJ500 mA $3.95 ee INTERNAL OR EXTERNAL 0 100%
Stock No. 260061

12 INSTRUMENTS IN ONE - 220068 12V DCJ500 mA $4.25 se $...


$219
$1.95 ea
TRUE RMS PLUS AC & DC VOLTMETERS,
Stock No. 720022
MALE JACK NEON LAMP
Model 94 AC & DC CURRENT, dBm, ROCA NCI TYPE
DC POWER SUPPLY NE2, 2- Lad
OHMMETER, DIODE TESTER, 370048 2.1 mm Male Stock No 260003
CONTINUOUSLY VARIABLE -
#990111 AUDIBLE CONTINUITY TEST, 1.49 se 3.39 /10+ TWO SEPARATE LED DISPLAYS, GREEN 1.15 ea
20 MHz FREO COUNTER, READOUT FOR VOLTAGE & RED READOUT $ .12 ea / 100.015
$1 9995 CAPACITANCE METER,
INDUCTANCE METER,
TEST ACCESSORIES
FOR CURRENT
Sock N. 66000e... 30V ®3A $295 PHOTO CELL
LOGIC PROBE seek No woods .. 60V ® 1.5A $295 Photo Cell 450 ohm
SCOPE 411111w- Stock No. 260017

ENGINE
ANALYZER
Standard Features plus -
TEMP,TACHOMETER &
PLUS
DWELL ANGLE TESTER,
PROBES
e0 MHz,
SPECIAL
700072
Xl & X10

$18$5
-a POWER SUPPLIES
WITH ANALOG DISPLAY METER
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$ .65 ea
Photo AO
5

Stock No. 260016


$.65 ea
,45 ea
1.5K ohm

$.45
ea
/20.

/20.Oty
ay

Model95 #990112 DUTY CYCLE, 10M OHM 150 WO, X10 18V / 1 A Single Output
IMPEDANCE, ANALOG BAR 700073 $39$5 acct N.. M0040 $155 PUSH -BUTTON SWITCH
$1 9995 GRAPH, K -TYPE TEMP
PROBE, ALLIGATOR CLIP
IC CLIPS
18V /1A, 30V / 0.5A Duel Output
a... N.. 680041 $215
PUSH -ON, PUSH -OFF
Stock No 270021
TEST LEADS, INDUCTIVE
'
8.55 ea
SOLDER TYPE
PICKUP CLIP, 6'TEST LEADS SPRING LOADED
LOGIC PROBES $ .49 ea / 100. Oty
Sock Ne. COLOR COST 25+ Oly
& DELUXE CARRYING CASE t .65 MEASURES TTL, OIL RTL, OROS
990104 BLACK es t .50 ea SUB- MINIATURE MOMENTARY
Standard Features - Models 94 & 95 $80105 RED 3.65 e 3.50 es Stock No. Modal YOUR COST
SWITCH
DC /AC VOLTMETERS AC /DC CURRENT 740071 LP10A - 17 MHz $19$5 Stock No. 800002
OHM METER DATA HOLD RELATIVE MODE IC TEST 740087 LP25A - 25 MHz $39$5 1.35 ea
FREQ COUNTER to 4 MHz (Model 95) LEAD SET 740088 LPSOA - 50 MHz 149$5 $ .28 ea / 100. Oty
5 COLOR CODED
AUDIBLE CONTINUITY TEST DIODE TEST MINIATURE TOGGLE SWITCH
1e- LEADS WITH LOGIC PULSER
MAX/MIN AVERAGE MEMORY RECORD e1M1ATDIE 00015 -011
SWITCHABLE 0.5/400 PULSE RATE 100eS 3.90 No.
PEGO AT 110111 EMDS
10A HIGH -ENERGY FUSE PROTECTION Stock No. YOUR COST 3+Qly Stock No. Model YOUR COST 1.90 ea Typ. - SPST
AUTO SLEEP & AUTO POWER OFF noise 18.95 ea 18.25 740073 PR41 $4985 $.79 ea/ so. ay 17
CIRCLE 179 ON FREE INFORMATION CARD

www.americanradiohistory.com
www.americanradiohistory.com
A1!b 7A0 That setup generally results in a
technically correct musical output,
over California. After listening
through their switching systems, I

but it does not allow for the fact that determined that nothing could
most instruments are "close touch the correctness of the output.
ELECTRONIC miked" when in a recording ses-
sion. Because we do not normally
However, we could see the tech-
nical differences with an oscillo-
COMPONENTS listen to instruments with our ears
pressed against them, an extremely
scope. In other words, both Mr.
Klein and his unnamed critic are cor-
Whether you order 1 part or sharp grating feeling is created by rect to a degree. It depends on how
all 42,398...MOUSER stocks long exposure to a musical score you define "correct audio" to the
and...ships same day!! played on those exacting systems. listener.
The mass of air between the lis- believe that in our quest for tech-
I

CALL... tener and the instrument is missing. nical perfection we have lost sight of
The air acts like a massive spring objective -pleasing the listener.
(800) 992 -9943 and modifies the sound, slightly, Some people enjoy ultra -sharp
rounding off the "sharp edges." In highs and the harmonics associated
for your normal operation tubes with trans- with them. They turn their volume
FREE former output amplifiers provided controls "full on" to create clipping
that effect. Therefore, although not and extreme driver overloads. Per-
CATALOG technically correct. they did give the sonally, enjoy music that sounds as
I

"correct" sound to simulate the if were in an auditorium with an


I

2401 Hwy 287 N.


proper distance from the instru- audience listening to a superb per-
Mansfield, TX 76063 ments to the listener. formance that doesn't rupture my
For a short time, Macintosh man- ears from excessively high deci-

MOUSER ufactured a solid -state stereo ampli-


fier with massive output transfor-
mers. hauled one of those
bels.
still have one of my original Faber
I

System Il's, my old Macintosh am-


ELECTRONICS
I

amplifiers and the speakers de- I plifier, and a compact disc player.
Sales & Stocking Locations Nationwide
signed from recording studios to up- And yes, Mr. Unknown, CD's do
scale audio equipment retailers all sound better than records for more
CIRCLE 117 ON FREE INFORMATION CARD
reasons than Mr. Klein mentioned in
his article. (It would take a book to
explain them all.) A properly tuned

Superior 100 MHz Probe system that includes a compact


disc makes every other recording
medium seem like the difference
The new generation of between a Chevrolet and a Cadillac
TPI's SP100 - the world's automobile. Both will get you there
most popular probe
in the same time, with the same
1 x - 10x switchable
kinds or engines and wheels, but
Fits all scopes the difference is in the grace and
Faster risetime - equal style of the Cadillac as your mode of
to a 200 MHz probe transportation.
Sharper pulse I'd like to see more solid-state,
response - clean high -quality amplifiers driving out-
leading edge put transfórmers between them and
Replaceable ground the speaker system. The hysteresis
lead and probe tip
of the transformer coupling would
Slim design for easier put the missing factor of distance
handling
back into the loop and satisfy those
Satisfaction guaran- of us who enjoy music for the sheer
teed - 10 day return
pleasure of it -not just those who
privilege
want to brag about the specifica-
tions of their systems.
Model SP1006 Call for free catalog of probes to 500 MHz - Incidentally, from input to driver
Active Probes - Differential Probes - Test Leads output, my system delivers ± 1.5
$45 and Accessories dB from 150 -20 kHz if want a total-
I

ly flat output. But that's impractical

TEST 9178 Brown Deer Road San Diego, CA 92121


TEL: 619 -552 -2090 FAX: 619 535 -1260
because most listening rooms need
compensation.

18
PROBES, INC. TPI Toll Free: 1- 800 -368 -5719 LELAND R. RABER, C.E.T. 269
Elk Grove, CA i2

CIRCLE 123 ON FREE INFORMATION CARD

www.americanradiohistory.com
www.americanradiohistory.com
.10 .
aaaa

'CD
O
O CD
O ci) At 500 Megasamples /sec, our ne
c4.
= ß
ci)-

TDS 320 combines the storage


1:21.
and data manipulation benefits
-
G>.7_ of digital with the signal fidelit
. . . . . _ . . analog real -time. So you can
- »----i--f t ! Ç-..i....;....i--i
_ make precise, confident measure-
.. .«
au
"3" - ments quickly. What's more,
co
its intuitive user interface mea
you'll actually spend more tim
tÁ working with this digital scop
than learning, how to use it.
And.finally, we cgnsider its pri.
tag (a mere $2,795) yet another
spike the competition can't catc
co So call youráuthorized Tektro
distributor today. Or call us at
(800) 426 -2200, ext. TDS3 to p
your order.

f
- time scope.

Tektronix
i .11111r-

5HW-283507 Copyright, 1993, Tektronix, Inc.


CIRCLE 187 ON FREE INFORMATION CARD
NEW PRODUCTS
Use the Free Information Card for more details on these products.

The Model 5942 dif-


UNIVERSAL FREQUENCY ferential probe kit has a
COUNTER. The Philips PM price of $315. -ITT
6685 portable frequency Pomona, 1500 East Ninth
counter from John Fluke Street, P.O. Box 2767,
Mfg. gives accurate fre- Pomona, CA 91769;
quency measurements at Phone: 909 -469 -2900;
high speed. It has a spec- Fax: 909 -629 -3317.
ified resolution of 10 digits
per second of measuring AUTOMOTIVE EDUCA-
time, and a wide range of TIONAL SOFTWARE.
oven-stabilized oscillator Informative Graphics' Auto
timebase functions. Insight is a computer
The frequency counter's database that lets you ex-
rated stability is up to amine the inner workings of
5 x 10-10 /day. This can be an automobile through its
maintained with the internal selectable computer
rechargeable battery while CIRCLE 16 ON FREE INFORMATION CARD graphics. Animated dis-
the instrument is being plays explain how auto-
moved to the job site. The surements per second to lyze pulse -train signals. mobile components and
base input frequency range internal memory or 1000 Pulsed RF signals, such systems work.
is DC to 300 MHz. That measurements per second as radar bursts, can be A pan and zoom feature
can be extended to 1.3, with the optional standard measured because the PM permits the examination of
2.7, or 4.5 GHz with a GPIB interface. 6685 measures both the the internal details of the
choice of optional RF in- The fully -programmable carrier frequency and the automobile at various lev-
puts. frequency counter sup- pulse repetition frequency els of complexity. Specific
An AUTOSET button pro- ports IEEE -488.2 and SCPI without an external sync parts can be located with a
vides fast, error-free, "con- standards. It can measure signal. word searching feature,
nect- and -go" measure- non -repetitive events, tele- The PM 6685 frequency and illustrations can be
ments, and a digit -blanking vision signals, pulse trains, counter is priced at printed out or transferred
function eliminates "dis- and amplitude -modulated $1860. -John Fluke Mfg. to other files.
play rattle" from irrelevant waveforms. Its standard Co., Inc., P.O. Box 9090,
digits. The PM 6685 can pulse width and duty- factor Everett, WA 98206;
execute up to 1600 mea- functions also lets you ana- Phone: 1- 800 -FLUKE.

ACTIVE DIFFERENTIAL probe can measure dif-


PROBE KIT. ITT Pomona's ferential inputs to 700
MX9000 differential probe volts. The lead for con-
lets an oscilloscope user necting it to an os-
measure and compare dif- cilloscope lead is termi-
ferences in voltage inputs. nated with a standard BNC CIRCLE 18 ON FREE
It is available in kit form connector, and its two in- INFORMATION CARD
(Model 5942) with a ver- CIRCLE 17 ON FREE put probe leads are termi-
satile selection of tips. INFORMATION CARD nated with sheathed pop - Auto Insight is a useful
According to ITT jack plugs. reference for students, am-
Pomona, the probe can low- voltage BNC output The Model 5942 kit also ateur mechanics, and any-
safely analyze floating sig- with its built -in differential includes interchangeable one who wants to be better
nals. This makes it useful in amplifier. Its attenuation test probe handles, spade informed about the modern
taking voltage measure- ratio is switchable to 1:20 lugs, fully insulated al- automobile. To run this
ments on thyristors, power or 1:200. ligator clips, and leads. All software the user needs an
transistors, and power Both the positive and the accessories can be IBM PC or compatible with
MOSFET's. The probe negative sides of the bal- stored in a pouch. Four AA a 286 or better micro-
scales and converts dif- anced input offer high im- batteries and instructions processor. It should have
22 ferential voltage inputs to a pedance to ground. The are included. 512K of memory, DOS 3.0
TROUBLESHOOTING Easy PC
AND REPAIRING
Maintenance
AUDIO & VIDEO THE and Repair
CASSETTE
ELECTRONICS
PLAYERS
w`..T
& RECORDERS
ads, i'aa5.
a>dTIs
fa dc BaóbyiM

3672P 518.95

-memn
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Softcover

BOB GROSSBLATT'S
GUIDE TO COMPACT Build Your Own
CREATIVE DISC PLAYER PostScript -
CIRCUIT !U1mff18MG Ano
RGPete Laser Printer
DESIGN and Save a Bundle

36108 528.95 2790P S15.95 37388 526.95


SOflcover

TItUUHLhsIP a 111](,
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d

If coupon is missing, write to: Electronics Book Club, Blue Ridge Summit, PA 17294 -0810

As a member of
the Electronics Book Club ... Electronics
you'll enjoy receiving Club bulletins every 3 -4 weeks
Book Club® Blue Ridge Summit, PA 17294 -0810
containing exciting offers on the latest books in the field YES! Please send me the books listed below, billing me for just $4.95 plus shipping/hand-
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If you select abook that counts as 2 choices, write the book number Name
to one box and XX in the next. If you select a Counts as 3 choice, write
the book number in one box and XXK in the next 2 boxes. A ship- Address
ping/handling charge and sales tax will be added to all orders. All books
are hardcover unless otherwise noted 1993 EBC City /State

Your most complete and Zip Phone


Valid for new members only, subject to acceptance by EBC. Canada must remit in U.S. funds drawn on U.S. banks.
comprehensive source for Applicants outside the U.S. and Canada will receive special ordering instructions. All books are hardcover unless otherwise 23
the finest electronics books. noted. Publishers' prices shown. A shipping /handling charge 8 sales tax will be added to all orders. RPIE693

www.americanradiohistory.com
www.americanradiohistory.com
When the measurement matters,
take matters in hand.
With a Tektronix 220 Series scope, you can count on getting

results which are clearly, visibly better. Anytime, every time.


All at the touch of a button. No other handheld scopes offer
as much in the way of performance or convenience for rugged

applications, from troubleshooting industrial PLCs and


vehicle electronics to power systems, motor
controls and medical electronics.
The 222A, 224 and 222PS Power
Scout"' make routine work of measure-
ments that pose a danger to users or tax the
capabilities of other so- called "scopes." At
a mere 41/2 pounds, they pack a lot more
power than their size and price suggest:

IsolatedChannelTM ARCHITECTURE.
Two fully isolated input channels ensure sate,
easy floating measurementswith no danger to
you or your equipment.

SUPER SHARP CRT. Industry-leading


technology delivers excellent viewability at all
angles at any temperature, even in direct sunlight.

DIGITAL STORAGE. Powerful features


include 10 MS/sec sampling on two channels simultaneously and 100 ns glitch
capture at any sweep speed.

Useful Storage BW
FAMILIAR FRONT PANEL. The logical grouping of front panel controls
Single Shot 1 MHz 1 MHz 1 MHz makes operation remarkably intuitive.
Repetitive 60 MHz 10 MHz 10 MHz
AUTO SETUP. Just push a button for signal acquisition and display.
Channels 2 2 2
AUTO TRIGGER. Automatically locates trigger points and selects the correct
Sensitivity 50 my - 50 mV - 5 mV - voltage for a stable display of complex waveforms, even in video and motion
Range 500 V/div 500 V /div 50 V/div
control applications.
Max. Sampling Speed 10 MS/sec 10 MS/sec 10 MS /sec
SAVE/RECALL. Pre -define and store up to four front -panel displays, and
Record Length 512 bytes 512 bytes 512 bytes recall them instantly.
Vertical Resolution 8 bits 8 bits 8 bits SAVE REFERENCE MEMORY. Acquire up to four waveforms for later analysis.
Timebase Range 20 sec - 50 ns 20 sec - 50 ns 20 sec - 50 ns RUGGED CONSTRUCTION. High- strength, impact -resistant plastic gives
Horizontal Magnifier x10 xio x10 ample protection in harsh environments.

Glitch Capture too ns 100 ns 100 ns DETACHABLE PROBES. An attached carrying case provides convenient
Custom Triggers video motor storage and prevents loss.
N/A

Maximum Safe +850 V dc +850 V dc +400 V dc


On -board rechargeable batteries, an RS -232 -C interface and 3 -year
Input Voltage + peak ac + peak ac + peak ac
warranty are included. Tektronix offers a wide range of accessories from
600 VAC, 600 VAC,

rn Price
a>
6 kV peak surge

$2750
6 kV peak

$2950
surge

$2450 CSA certified -


printers and current probes to computer software. And each scope is UL and
for the ultimate in quality and safety. To order, contact your
authorized Tektronix representative or distributor.

z0
U)
U
C
o
Ú
w Tektronix
i
24

Copyright O 1993, Tektronix, Inc. All rights reserved. 40W- 283 -444
CIRCLE 92 ON FREE INFORMATION CARD
www.americanradiohistory.com
www.americanradiohistory.com
Just pickup or above, VGA or EGA dis-
play, 3.5 megabytes of
the phone! available hard disk, and ei-
ther a 1.2 megabyte 51/4 -
inch or 720 kilobyte 3Y2-
Take matters in hand: call your authorized
inch floppy drive. A mouse
Tektronix representative or distributor and
will be a handy accessory.
order your 220 Series scope today. The program also in-
Frigid North, ALASKA, (907) 561 -4633
cludes electric cars, diesel
engines, four-wheel drives,
Jensen Tools, ARIZONA, (800) 426 -1194
and on -board car comput-
Metermaster, ARIZONA, (800) 366 -3837 ers. It offers useful advice
Carlton- Bates, ARKANSAS, (800) 482 -9313 on how car owners can re-
duce air pollution, and his-
Instrument Engineers, CALIFORNIA, (800) 444-6106 CIRCLE 19 ON FREE
tory of the automobile and INFORMATION CARD
ITC Electronics, CALIFORNIA, (800) 225-5482
its impact on society. Util-
Marshall Industries, CALIFORNIA, (800) 877-9834, ext. 422 ities for printing, searching pacitance, and 60 -Hz AC
Mitchell Instrument Co., CALIFORNIA, (619) 744 -2690 for parts locations, and ex- fields. High- and low- resis-
porting graphics to PCX tance limits verify the pres-
EMSCO Division /Hammond Electronics, FLORIDA,
(800) 275-3554
files are included. ence of the wriststrap's
Auto Insight is priced at current -limiting resistor
Dow Electronics, GEORGIA, (800) 627 -2910
$79.95.- Informative necessary to protect the
Tycom Industries. Inc., GEORGIA, (404) 378 -6160 Graphics, 706 East Bell wearer against shock.
Joseph Electronics, ILLINOIS, (800) 323 -5925 Road, Suite 207, Phoenix, The GAM -7 has a com-
Klaus Radio Supply, ILLINOIS, (800) 545-5287
AZ 85022; Phone: mon point ground, two
602-971-6061; Fax: pairs of red and green
Allied Broadcast, INDIANA, (317) 962-8596
602 -971 -1714. LED's, an audible alarm and
Electronics Supply, KANSAS, (800) 669 -3752
continuity tester, a resis-
HARCO Electronics, MARYLAND, (800) 638 -7616 ESD WORKSTATION tance -test button, a six -
TESSCO, MARYLAND, (800) 638 -7666 MONITOR /TESTER. Pilgrim second disconnect delay,
Electric's Model GAM -7 and a six -foot line cord.
Contact East, MASSACHUSETTS, (508) 682 -2000
ESD monitor/tester is test The price of the GAM -7
MSB Tool, Inc., MASSACHUSETTS, (617) 551 -0190 instrument for maintaining ESD monitor /tester is
Kendall /Great Lakes Electronics, MICHIGAN, the effectiveness of elec- $169. -Pilgrim Electric
(800) 321-8434 trostatic discharge (ESD) Company, 76 Summit Ave-
R.S. Electronics, MICHIGAN, (800) 366-7750 protective tools, accesso- nue, Sea Cliff, NY 11579;
Instrumentation Services, Inc., MINNESOTA, (612) 544 -8916
ries, and facilities. It can Phone: 516- 674 -3649.
measure the resistance of
Stark Electronics, MINNESOTA, (800) 334 -6154
shoe ground straps, con- GLOBAL POSITIONING
Olive Electronics, MISSOURI, (314) 997-7709 ductive shoes, work sur- SOFTWARE. DeLorme
Beta Lambda, Inc., NEW JERSEY, (800) 282 -5632 faces, antistatic smocks, Mapping is offering its
toteboxes, grounded tools, GPS MapKit SV, software
Brownell Electro, NEW JERSEY, (800) 828 -1552
and packaging and ship- that permits personal com-
Transcat, NEW YORK, (800) 828 -1470
ping materials. puter users to link Global
Electronic Parts, NEW MEXICO, (800) 456 -0057 The line- powered Positioning System (GPS)
Inotek Technologies, NORTH CAROLINA, (704) 527 -5000 monitor/tester can verify satellites to maps. Data
the polarity of an AC outlet from one of the many popu-
NW Test & Measurement, OREGON, (503) 645 -9000
to which it is connected. It lar- priced GPS satellite re-
Leff Electronics, Inc., PENNSYLVANIA, (412) 351 -5000 can also determine the in- ceivers is processed so
Sunshine Instruments, PENNSYLVANIA, tegrity of the ground straps that it can place a blinking
(800) 343-1199 and other grounded tools symbol on a computer-gen-
Dixie/Resource Electronics, SOUTH CAROLINA, (803) 779 -5332 and appliances at ESD -pro- erated map to represent
tected workstations to as- the location of the receiver.
EnTest, TEXAS, (800) 955 -0077
sure that they comply with A standard laptop corn -
Inotek Technologies, TEXAS, (800) 492-6767
OSHA's regulations for op- puter linked to a CD -ROM
Radar Electric, WASHINGTON, (206) 282 -2511 erator safety. drive and a GPS receiver
Dist -Tron, Inc., WISCONSIN, (608) 835 -5527
The wriststrap monitor- will permit users to display
ing circuitry allows the in- their locations anywhere in
For more information, you can also
call Tektronix toll-free: 1-800-426-2200.
strument to measure all the United States on de-
conventional operator tailed maps. The GPS
grounding wriststraps with MapKit SC includes a map
Tektronix
i coiled cords, operator ca- database of all roads, 25

www.americanradiohistory.com
www.americanradiohistory.com
counting, frequency syn- mium batteries on the
thesis, coincidence modem board.
alarms, or complex pulse The system is sold with
generation. Monicor's TurboLink 2.0
The boards are both operating system that ac-
compatible with industry commodates up to 48 ter-
standards for registers and minal nodes. It resides in an
CIRCLE 20 ON FREE
connectors. They offer 1- EEPROM on the modem
INFORMATION CARD or 5 -MHz internal clocks board. However, users can
for application flexibility. install their own operating
streams, and lakes in the Many different internal fre- systems. The output level
United States, even in rural quency sources and out- can be set from 1 milliwatt
areas. In major metro- puts can be selected as for connectivity of ten feet
politan areas, street ad- inputs for individual coun- CIRCLE 22 ON FREE to 2 watts for two miles or
dresses can be located. ters. Each counter can be INFORMATION CARD more.
A GPS receiver is con- gated by hardware or under The System 200 is
nected to one serial port of
an IBM -compatible porta-
ble computer with Win-
software control. They can
be programmed to count
be specified.
The price of the BCL-1
up or down in either binary loop antenna is $125 plus
priced at $465 per set
quantities of 1000.
Monicor Electronic Corpora-
-in

dows 3.0 or higher (2 or BCD. The counters can $5 for shipping and han- tion, 2964 NW 60th Street,
megabytes of RAM, 4 also be connected to- dling.- Electron Process- Fort Lauderdale, FL 33309;
megabytes of hard -disk gether by computer soft- ing, Inc., P.O. Box 68, Phone: 305 -979 -1907;
drive with VGA graphics) ware to form 32 -, 48 -, or Cedar, MI 49621; Phone: Fax: 305 -979 -2611.
the second serial port is 80 -bit counters. 616- 228 -7020.
connected to a portable The five -channel WIRE- TRACING SYSTEM.
CD -ROM drive. The map CTRTM -05 is priced at OEM RADIO MODEM TheAmprobe AT-2000
database is contained on a $255, and the 10- channel BOARD. Monicor Elec- wire -tracing system will lo-
single CD -ROM disk. CTRTM -10 is priced at tronic's System 200 is a ra- cate opens, ground faults,
The system can be used $390.- Analogic Corpora- dio modem board set that and shorts in wiring and ca-
in a moving verhicle or air- tion, 360 Audubon Road, allows computer and pe- ble systems (including
plane. By monitoring the Wakefield, MA 01880; ripheral manufacturers to
moving symbol on the map, Phone: 508 -977 -3000; ext. eliminate the interconnect-
the system can display 2089; Fax: 617 -245 -1274. ing cables in their systems.
such information as speed, It consists of a set of two
direction, and altitude. AM BROADCAST LOOP AN- boards that can communi-
The GPS MapKit SV is TENNA. The Electron Pro- cate any RS232C port and
priced at $795. -DeLorme
cessing's BCL -1 indoor it allows computer systems
Mapping, Lower Main loop antenna can improve to be mobile.
Street, P.O. Box 298, Free- your reception of distant ra-
port, ME 04032; Phone: dio stations in the crowded
207 -865 -1234. AM broadcast band. It is
said to have excellent di- CIRCLE 25 ON FREE
COUNTER TIMER BOARDS. rectional and low -noise INFORMATION CARD
Analogic's CTRTM Series characteristics, making it
of counter timer boards suitable for receiving weak LAN's), metal piping, and
for IBM PC /AT- compatible signals. metal -shielded fiberoptic
computers offers either 5- The BCL -1 is a compact cable. The modular system
or 10- channel general pur- 8 x 8 -inch square un- CIRCLE 24 ON FREE is available in four different
pose 16 -event counters. shielded loop that brings in INFORMATION CARD
configurations with compo-
They are intended for event standard broadcast band nents that are interchange-
stations from 530 to 2000 One of the boards is a able to permit the user to
kHz without picking up ex- digital transmitter /receiver upgrade a basic system to
cessive noise. An internal and the other is a modem. meet future needs.
30 -dB signal intensifier The two are linked by flexi- The AT-2000 includes
preamplifier boosts incom- ble cable that carries only three handheld primary
ing signals. The antenna is low- frequency signals and components: receiver, sig-
powered from the 120 -volt direct current. The sys- nal generator, and transmit-
AC line by means of an tem's power requirement is ter. The receiver has a 20-
adapter. A jumper cable for 7.5 volts DC, 250 milliam- foot range, high noise im-
connecting the antenna to peres, maximum, supplied munity, and a display that
CIRCLE 21 ON FREE your receiver is included by the RS -232C connector can be read easily in bright
26 INFORMATION CARD and its end connector can or rechargeable nickel -cad- sunlight. The signal gener-
ator is suitable for making
tests on any circuit that car-
ries between 9 and 600
NEW LIT
volts AC or DC.
According to the man- Use The Free Information Card for fast response.
ufacturer, the power to any
circuit being traced need
not be interrupted, so the Multimedia: Making It Work; from scratch, and how to
tracing not cause any sys- by Tay Vaughan. Osborne find and select the right
tem downtime. The wire McGraw -Hill, 2600 Tenth text, sound, graphic, and
tracing equipment does Street, Berkeley, CA 94710; video elements for a

not generate RF so the in- Phone: 800 -227 -0900; unique presentation. It also
strumentation will not af- $27.95, including 31/2cinch explains how to perfect
fect sensitive electronics. diskette. your original concept.
The transmitter and its This book with its in- The disk, a special edi-
clamp -on accessory can in- cluded diskette gives you tion from Mathematica, in-
duce a signal on any line, information you need to (_ IRCLE 40 ON FREE cludes two programs:
INFORMATION CARD an image -editing
whether or not it is ener- make decisions on how to TEMPRAOIF,

gized. set up a multimedia system and video elements face an program, allows you to cap-
The basic AT-2000 kit is and use it to create profes- overwhelming array of ture, paint, edit, and print
priced at $439.85, but the sional multimedia presen- choices. There are dozens images in popular industry-
complete AT-2004 system tations. Multimedia is the of multimedia hardware standard formats, and
(pictured here) is priced at hottest trend in computers products on the market, TEMPRA SHOW is a multimedia

$699.85. -Amprobe In- today, and it is fast becom- and hundreds of titles on authoring program for inte-
strument, 630 Merrick ing an integral part of the CD -ROM. grating audio, full- motion
Road, P.O. Box 329, computing environment. Vaughan's handbook ex- video, graphics, text, ani-
Lynbrook, NY 11563; However, those who plains hardware require- mation, and special effects
Phone: 516 -593 -5600; want to combine text, ani- ments, how to design and into all of your interactive
Fax: 516-593-5682. f mation, sound, graphics, build multimedia projects presentations.

EVEN AT $39,
THE BLUES CAN LAST

A LONG, LONG liME.


Conventional wisdom says if you spend less than

forty bucks on a probe, it won't be long until the thrill is

gone. But Duraprobe$'M start at $39, live practically

forever, and work with almost any scope around, so it

won't surprise us if you pick up a whole case.

For the name of your nearest Duraprobe distributor,

call us at 1- 800 -426 -2200. After all, some folks were just

born to have the blues.

Tektronix i 27
CIRCLE 188 ON FREE INFORMATION CARD

www.americanradiohistory.com
www.americanradiohistory.com
Software Engineering Tools This book provides ideas to solve interference prob-
Catalog No. 6; from BSOFT and guidance for amateur lems presented to or orig-
Software, Inc., 444 Colton radio operators who want inating from your ham
Road, Columbus, OH 43207; to operate their gear with- station. Because many
Phone: 614- 491 -0832; Fax: out attracting attention. If low- profile stations depend
614 -497 -9971; free. you are a ham operator on indoor antennas, the
This engineering soft- who lives in an apartment, complete guidelines of the
ware and hardware tool condo, or dormitory, set- ARRL Bioeffects Commit-
catalog for personal com- ting up a traditional ham tee are included.
CIRCLE 38 ON FREE
puters and IBM compati- INFORMATION CARD shack might not be possi-
bles offers professional, ble. Moreover a standard The Phone Book; by Gerald
low -cost, stand-alone engi- covered include network- setup is not feasible if you Luecke and James B. Allen.
neering programs and ing, optimizing battery life, want to get on the air from Prompt Publications, How-
hardware designed for en- computing in foreign coun- your car or while you are on ard W. Sams & Company,
gineers, technicians, and tries, on -line tips and a camping trip. 2647 Waterfront Parkway
hobbyists. tricks, faxing, memory ex- Kearman's book begins East Drive, Indianapolis, IN
pansion, and attaching with an historical review of 46214 -2012; Phone:
color displays. spies who have managed 317 -298 -5710; Fax:
The 31/2 -inch disk con- for decades to keep a low 317- 298 -5604; $16.95.
tains the Roadside As- profile while operating a
sistance Kit, powerful lap- transmitter. The book goes
top utilities software worth on to show you how to set
more than $325 including: up an operate an amateur
Applicon 2.2 lets you station in an apartment,
set up applications files condo, or campesite with-
loaded into memory any- out attracting unwanted at-
where on the screen. tention or annoying others.
CIRCLE 39 ON FREE Dynodex 2.0.1, an elec- The author recommends
INFORMATION CARD tronic Rolodex and address low -power operation, but CIRCLE 36 ON FREE
book. INFORMATION CARD
Programs are offered for QuickKeys for Nomads
drawing schematics, sim- that lets you toggle back- This book explains the
LOW PROFILE
ulating logic- control cir- lighting ON and OFF, spin ,1b1,YPl'sUll
RADIO basic principles of tele-
cuits, FFT analysis, and down the hard drive, shut phones and how they work.
Opo.ating a Mom Station
circuit analysis. CAD pro- down or put the Power- from Almost Anywhere
It also provides guidelines
grams for structural analy- Book to sleep, and locate to help you evaluate exist-
sis, circuit design, and PC- the cursor instantly. ing phone systems.
board layout are also of- SuperClock! 3.9.1, a util- According to Luecke
fered, along with new PC ity that displays a clock in and Allen, a telephone in-
bus board products for the menubar. stalled in your home by the
control and data acquisi- Synchro, a file sorting phone company, or a com-
CIRCLE 37 ON FREE
tion applications. utility. INFORMATION CARD plete phone system in-
A demonstration version stalled in your office by a
PowerBook: The Digital of AgentDA 2.1.2, a per- this is not another QRP private contractor can be
Nomad's Guide; by Andrew sonal calendar /appoint- CW book. He discusses expensive and involve long
Gore and Mitch Ratcliffe. ment book program. the problems you will en- waiting periods for service.
Random House Electronic Spiral 1.0, a RAM -resi- counter in operating the This book will help you
Publishing, 201 East 50th dent notetaker that works digital modes with low avoid those problems. It in-
Street, New York, NY 10022; like a word processor but power and hidden anten- cludes instructions and ex-
Phone: 800 -733 -3000; also allows you to add tab- nas. He also describes tensive illustrations on how
$24.00, including diskette. bed sections with tables of techniques for low-power to install a single phone or
This combination book contents linked to specific voice, CW, RTTY, AMTOR, complex, multi -line sys-
and disk package explains passages in a designated packet- radio, and VHF/ tems. Detailed information
how to turn the Macintosh section. UHF radio operation. is also given on modular in-
PowerBook laptop into a You'll find out how to stallations, wiring new sys-
total mobile office. Written Low Profile Amateur Radio: obtain a good RF ground in tems, installing business,
by two Mac Week editors, Operating a Ham Station a tall building, and how to private home, and apart-
the book applies to all the from Almost Anywhere; by install a rig in a compact ment installations as well
latest models, including the Jim Kearman, KRIS. The car. The book also de- as modem operation. A
160, 180, and PowerBook American Radio Relay scribes small HF and VHF separate chapter covers
Duo models. League, 225 Main Street, antennas for apartment troubleshooting and sys-
28 The wide range of topics Newington, CT 06111; $8.00. dwellers, and explains how tem checks.

www.americanradiohistory.com
www.americanradiohistory.com
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SINCE 1921

CIRCLE 78 ON FREE INFORMATION CARD

www.americanradiohistory.com
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um
Let your fingers do the tapping with the ThumbDrum.
e] rum
JOHN SIMONTON and KENT CLARK

PLAYING THE DRUMS MAY LOOK Underneath each rubber The output of sensor PZI is
easy, but ifyou've ever picked up thumb pad is a piezoelectric wired to trimmer R2, which
a pair of sticks and tried to play transducer. or sensor, which is controls the sensor's output
real drums, you probably realize normally used as a buzzer. level. The trimmer can compen-
that it takes a littlé practice to These piezoelectric discs de- sate for differences in individu-
sound like Buddy Rich-or even form or distort when a voltage is al sensor outputs or differences
Ringo Starr. On the other hand, placed across them. More im- in finger strength.
you probably sound great when portant for our purposes, they After attenuation, the piezo-
you finger-drum on a table top. produce a voltage when they are electric output is processed by a
That's the idea behind the physically deformed by a me- simple peak -detector consisting
ThumbDrum. a controller that chanical force. of D5, C3. and R3. That con-
converts finger drumming into
real drum sounds.
MIDI (Musical Instrument
Digital Interface) users will
want to build the Thumb -
Drum's computer board. which
turns taps on the Thumb -
Drum's foam percussion pads
into MIDI NOTE -ON. NOTE -OFF,
and VELOCITY data which can
control sounds from MIDI key-
boards, sound modules. and
many MPC (Multimedia Person-
al Computer) computers.
Would -be drummers who are
not interested in MIDI will want
to build the ThumbDrum tone
board, which contains analog
circuitry for creating a drum kit
with bass, tom-tom. snare, con-
ga, wood -block, clave, and syn-
th drum sounds. The tone
board uses ringing oscillators, a
noise source, and diode "tricks"
to get a classic -or at least re-
tro -set of electronic drums
that can plug right into guitar
amplifiers or hi-fi equipment.
Sensor board
The sensor board is common
to both MIDI and analog ver-
sions. It converts the force of a
finger striking a pad into volt-
age pulses with peak ampli-
tudes that are proportional to
how hard the pad is hit. The
schematic is shown in Fig. 1.
Because the same basic circuit
is repeated eight times, we'll
look at only the circuitry around
verts the transient signal from plication of the 8031 micro - the processor's TxD output is
the transducer into a more pre- controller. The 12 -MHz crystal buffered by IC6 -a and IC6 -b, two
dictable pulse with an almost XTAL1 is the timing source for of the six inverters in the
instantaneous attack and a the microcontroller's (IC3) 74HC04 package. A third inver-
slightly slower decay. The peak clock, and R1 and C3 provide ter (IC6 -c) drives the SEND AC-
level of the pulse is proportional power-on reset. TIVE indicator LED1, which is a
to the force of the strike, which A 74HC373 octal latch, IC2, convenient means for seeing
makes the pads touch -sen- under control of the ADDRESS that data is actually being out-
sitive. The signal is then buff- LATCH ENABLE Output (pin 30) of put.
ered by IC1 -d and becomes the the 8031, demultiplexes the ad- On the MIDI input side,
trigger output for that channel. dress and data lines and pro- ground isolation required MIDI
The arrangement of R4, where vides the lower eight address is provided by an HIIA1 op-
the output is taken from within bits to the 2764 EPROM (IC4) toisolator, IC7. The output of
the feedback loop, permits indi- and optional RAM (IC5). A IC7 is routed to the 8031's UART
vidual outputs to be wire-oRed 74HC138 1 -of -8 decoder (IC8) input, RXD. There are provi-
together to drive a single out- changes the states of the ad- sions on the circuit board for a
put. One reason for that ar- dress lines Al2-A14 into one of second MIDI input (J4, IC9,
rangement is because it's easier eight ENABLE lines. etc.), but these are not used in
to do drum rolls on two pads TWo NAND gates (IC10 -c and this application -and are
than one IC10 -d) combine one of the shown in the schematic to be
A light- emitting diode, LEDI, ENABLE lines (IC8 pin 15) with consistent with the circuit
serves two functions: it acts as a the processor's read (Kb) and board artwork. Similarly, the
power indicator and also pro- write (wR) lines (pins 17 and 16, general -purpose indicator
vides a simple way to calibrate respectively) to select and con- LED2 is not used.
the sensitivity of the sensors trol IC11, an ADC0809 eight -in- The eight inputs to the ADC,
without test equipment. The put analog -to-digital converter which are the outputs from the
voltage dropped across the di- (ADC). Address lines AO -A2 sensors, as well as the 5 volts
odes D1 -D3 causes the junction select the ADC's input to be con- needed to power the processor,
of D3 and D4 to be at about 3 verted. The remaining two NAND are fed from the sensor board to
volts with respect to ground. gates (IC10 -a and IC10 -b), along the computer board through 14-
When the output of IC1 -d with R11, R12, and C13, form pin DIP connector J5. Expan-
reaches a voltage slightly less the 500 -kHz clock that is re- sion connector J1 provides ac-
than 4 volts, D6 is forward bi- quired by the ADC. cess to the processor's control,
ased and begins to add current Serial MIDI data streams are address, and data lines. The
to the current already flowing handled by a UART (universal connector isn't used in this
into LED1 through D1 -D3. As a asynchronous receiver /trans- project, but is provided for fu-
result the LED glows more mitter) that is built into the ture expansion.
brightly. The increase in bright- 8031. MIDI data coming from The software for the comput-
ness becomes noticeable when er board is contained in IC4, a
the output of IC1 -d begins to ap- 2764 EPROM. The computer's
proach its maximum allowable SENSOR BOARD PARTS LIST
biggest job is monitoring the
output of slightly less than 5 All resistors are e. -watt, 10%. eight peak- detector outputs for
volts. R1-1500 ohms rising and falling voltages that
Because the sensor board is R2, R5, R8, R11, R14, R17, R20, R23- indicate that a sensor has been
required for both analog and 100,00 ohms, trimmer potentiometer hit. The outputs are monitored
MIDI versions, the power supply R3, R6, R9, R12, R15, R18, R21, R24-1 on a scanning basis, so that no
megohm
is located there. Power from a R4, R7, R10, R13, R16, R19, R22, R25- pulses are ignored while an-
12 -volt DC wall- mounted adapt- 1000 ohms other input is processed: each
er is switched by Si, filtered by Capacitors input gets checked about every
Cl, and becomes the unregu- Cl, C2-100 µF, 15 volts, Electrolytic 2 milliseconds.
lated + V supply for the op- C3-C10 --0.01 µF, ceramic disc To find the maximum value of
amps. The 7805 5 -volt reg- Semiconductors the sensor -board outputs,
IC1, IC2-LM324 quad op-amp
ulator, IC3, provides power for IC3 -7805 5-volt regulator which is used to calculate ve-
the MIDI computer or is used as DI-D3, D5 -1N914 diode locity, the firmware looks at the
an internal audio ground for the D4-not used last two readings from the ADC.
tone board. The individual sen- LED1 -red light- emitting diode If a reading is larger than the
sor outputs and power are Other components previous one, the old value is
routed to a 14 -pin DIP header, S1-SPST slide switch
T1 -12 -voll DC wall transformer thrown away and the new one is
J1, which serves as the connector PZ1-PZ8---piezoelectric disc saved. When the software sees
to the MIDI or tone boards. transdcuer two consecutive readings that
J1 -14-pin DIP socket are smaller than the largest
MIDI computer Miscellaneous: PC board, foam -rub- reading, the pulse is assumed to
A schematic for the MIDI com- ber pads, double-sided tape, wire - be decaying, and the largest
puter is shown in Fig. 2. The wrap wire, ribbon cable, project case,
hardware, solder
ADC value is saved.
34 circuitry is a traditional ap- Since the ADC is an eight -bit
+ 5V

+V
LED1 Ar R1 J1
150051 14t +5V
1
0
+ 5V 2--0 1sT f
D1 D2 D3
111914 111914 1N914
POWER/
á
3
0 o 12.
5-0 O0--10*
OVERLOAD
J

I R2
D5
111914
13
-
+V
4 .
4
R4
1K
yy jRl4
D13
111914
13

12
+V
14
R16
1K 7 ó-8
6
O 9

100KV
1
-11 00K 11

0 ICt-d PZ5 0 IC2-d


TPZ1
C3
PIC
R3
1/4 LM324 {
D6
í7C
C7 * R15
1/4 LM324
D14
.01 1MEG .01 1MEG
1N914 1N914

R7 D15 R19
1K 111914 1K
V11N VW
1R1 7
00K
1/4 LM324
PZ6
1

-
C8
R18
D8 1MEG D16
.01
111914 111014

D9 R10 D17

jK
111914 1K 111914

R8 3
Wl R20 3
1C1-a 100K 1C2-a
LM324 LM324
0 1/4
PZ7
1/4

TPZ3 C5 R9 R21
C9

-
1MEG D10 1MEG D18
.01
1N914 T 01
111914

011 019 R25


1/1914 111914 1K
R11 R23
VK 4
5
j00KF- 100K C2-b

P- Z4 7C
1/4 LM324
PZ8 ó 7C
1/4 LM324

s
C6
.01 í R12
1MEG D12
111914
C10
.01
R24
1MEG D20
1/1914

FIG.1-THE SENSOR BOARD converts the force of a finger striking a pad into voltage
pulses with peak amplitudes proportional to how hard the pad is hit.

device and the MIDI data word As the input pulse decays, the P12.and 1'13 of IC3) and sends it.
for velocity is only seven bits, firmware sends a MIDI NOTE -ON Finally, the velocity data is
the least -significant bit (LSB) of message; the MIDI channel fetched and either sent directly
the ADC output is discarded. number is determined by the or used as a pointer to a log-
The second least -significant bit four DIP switches connected to arithmic value in a look -up ta-
is also ignored so that the value lines P14 -P17 of IC3. The firm- ble depending on the lin /log
is well above the "noise floor" of ware next fetches the MIDI note option selected by the last DIP
the sensors. The rest of the bits number assigned to the sensor switch (connected to line Plo of
are saved to determine the ve- in the map (selected by the DIP IC3). After about '/1 second, the
locity. switches connected to lines P11. firmware sends a NOTE -OFF 35

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o

SENSOR BOARD foil pattern.

message to cancel the NOTE -ON. sion instruments generated Acoustically, the biggest dif-
The firmware checks for addi- drum sounds with the "ringing ference is that, while real drums
tional RAM and sets remapping oscillator" approach that is (and all "natural" instruments)
capabilities accordingly. It also used here. When sampling in- generate a complex spectrum of
merges the NOTE ON /OFF struments were first intro- subtle overtones, electronic
messages generated by sensor duced, the realistic sounds drum circuits generate a fairly
activity with MIDI data appear- resulting from playing what is pure tone. They sound like
ing on MIDI In Port 1. We'll see essentially a recording of a drums because they capture
why merging and remapping drum made electronic sounds what is the essence of all percus-
are important when we talk unfashionable. But, what goes sion instruments, an envelope
about using the system. around comes around, and now that rises rapidly to some peak
the electronic units are regain- when the instrument is first
Tbne board ing popularity because they struck (the definition of "per-
In the days before digital sam- don't sound exactly like drums. cussion") and then log-
36 piing, most electronic percus- Go figure! arithmically decays back to O.
+ 5V 8 AO RD
+5V ni
NSI XTAL1
+ Cl íG5
R1
103 XTAL1 C2 41.-1 4l
C3 330
8031 C"' 12MHz 0118
10µF 4.7K 18 330 27 A2
A2
FA XTAL2
22 Urv PON ADO 9
11 ADO A3
PSEN 0 .101
S1 t

12 AD1 A01 10
DEFAULTS 0, 4
C IC4 A02 AD2
11 13 11
PIO ALE C OC 2784 03 DO3 A5
ADO_ 3 15 AD3 13 ADO 7
10 10 10 AO 04 AD3 DO4 A6
P11 P30/RXD
16 AD4
P12 P31/TXD 2D 20 Al
12 17 AD5 AD5 15
P32/INTO 3D 30 A2 D06 Al
P13
3 8 A06
P33/IÑT1 4D 40 A3 D07 AY
P14
19 AD7
P15 P34/T0 50 50 A4 D08 A1O

P16 P35/Ti 6D 60 A5

P17 P36AÑR 7D 70 A6 W
AD7 14
P37/RD 8D 80 A7
15
P00/ADO P20/A8 Al
62 A9
P01/AD1 P21 /A9
1r
37 A10
P02/AD2 P22/A11
18
P03/AD3 P23/A11 Al

104/004 P24/Al2 Al? 5V


+5V-
15 19
P05/AD5 P25/A13
14
P06/AD6 P26/A14
13
P07/AD7 P27/A15 ADDRESS
5V 12
ADDRESS/DATA

R13* 10 24
68013 8 9 25
YV
IC6-4 \ D1
IC11
ADCp09
V741W114
74LED2

1/e 74NC04
II, +5V
INO
R2
2
220(1 04 IN1
4 IC6-b
II 2
44 I4741104
1C6-a
'!74004
74N
05
06
162

IN?
3
4
13
: D7 IN4
J2 3 AO
ADO INS
114
MIDI
OUT 6800
4 6 5
IC6-c +5V
Al
A2
AD1

AD2
166
167
MIDI
%IYlED1 /e 74HC04 CV
R6 SEND ACTIVE 2 STCNV
115 INPUTS
IN 1 1

iA
K
22013 3.3K CLK
B6 3 C4 C11
OE +5V
CMIN
2 IC7 .1
02 1010 -a 2
111914
3
DIME 1/4 7411002 C13 REF+
5 16
1001E REF-
R7 +5V
011
100K 5 100K
R9* R8*
2200 3.3K

03* 6 012
111914 3.9K 015 018 C17 018
1010 -b
01µF .010 .010F .010
1/4 7441902
1410
1001( * OPTIONAL

FIG. 2 -THE MIDI COMPUTER BOARD is used if you want the ThumbDrum to be MIDI -
compatible.

Although the schematic for and the circuit oscillates at the source is an avalanching base -
the drum circuits shown in Fig. frequency set by the filter com- emitter junction of NPN tran-
3 might seem imposing at first, ponents. As gain is reduced, the sistor Q1. The low-level noise
notice that it's primarily one cir- circuit will stop oscillating, and from the transistor is amplified
cuit duplicated six times. That it acts as a resonant bandbass by op -amp IC2 -b.
basic building block is typified filter-but not a very good band - High -level noise is then gated
by the circuit built around IC1- pass filter because of its tran- on by IC2 -c by the simple expe-
a, one of four LM324 op -amps sient response. If the filter is hit dient of having the trigger pulse
within IC1. with a pulse input, it tem- bias the op -amp out of satura-
This circuit, which is de- porarily breaks into oscillation tion into a linear operating
signed to sound like a wood and rings like crazy. However, range. Components C25 and
block, is basically a "twin -T" what's not good for a bandpass R44 stretch the relatively short
notch filter (R3, C2, and R4 filter is great for producing pulse from the drum sensor to
makes up one "T" and C3, R5, drum sounds. Input pulses are hold the noise burst on a little
and C4 make up the other) in coupled into the circuit by Cl longer than the sensor pulse
the inverting feedback loop of and Rl. alone would.
an amplifier. DC gain of the The snare drum sound starts Be aware that this technique
stage is set by R6 and R7. When with a burst of white noise to is not universally applicable to
the gain is high, it overcomes simulate the rattle of the snares switching audio because the
the losses in the filter section, when the drum is hit. The noise change in DC level at the output 37

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www.americanradiohistory.com
J
R3 R4 R10
+V R11

t
2.2MEG 2.2MEG
1

2
0-

0
74S +5V
13 }
'
2
J2
18
15 C2t
2.2MEG
M
C8
M
2.2MEG

3
O 0 .01 04 C8
12 3 14 .01
O
1/T
J

O 0 +5V K' 4700pF


4 4
O 0 13 K +5V K

8
10 5 12 R5 BASS
6 0 9 6 ó _ 11
WOOD BLOCK .001
C3
10K
C7
4700pF
R 2
15K
7 o-10 --4A44--+5V
o
R1
R8 7
1K
K M 3
1C1-a
K
5 +
1C1-b
Cl V41.11024 C5 '/4 LM824
.01 R2
1M R7
.01
R9
3
of 1114
10K
R8 -S 100K 10K7
R3 7100K
3.9MEG 2.2MEG 1
+5V +5V +5V +5V
R32 R33 R17 R18 D2 D1 R24 R25
2.2MEG

C19ñC
2.2MEG
M C10t M
2.2MEG 2.2MEG
l 1144148
N
1N4148
14
2.2MEG

C147S
2.2MEG

.01 C21 C12 8


Ot .01
+5V .001 .001 SYNTH DRUM

TOM-TOM
K
020
R34
CONGA
K C11
R19
+SV
C17 R29
K.
K
C15
t+5V '

39K 68K .22 MEG


y`
1 1 RMÉ6G
-41A4,--.. +5V .001 .001
101 +5V _LN
ï
M
D5
1N4148
C18
.01
R30
33K
M
R31
10K
$
S
3 +

W
R35
IC2-a
1/4 LM824

tt R36
it00K
C9
.01
R15
33011
M
R16
10K i
13

12

M
R20
+/fC1-d
14

'/4 LM324
ttR21
$100K
D3
15414

C13
01
1122
33K
M
R23
10K
9 10 +

R27 /4
3.9MEG
8

ICi-o
LM324

4100
1128

+5V +5V.K
D4
1N4148
+5V t 3.9MEG V +5V 3.9MEG r
+5V +5V
SNARE
R47 R48
R52 1159

M
2.2MEG 2.2MEG
M M47K 22K

C27
C29 1153
580pF
560pF 47K
v t+ 5V v .

CLAVE R54
C28 R49 C30
5600
-yy 47K
+5V
47K .005

1145
7
330II
K W. 1C3-0
C26 '/z 5582
.01 R48
10K
R50
M 1151
IOOK
IC2-c
2.2MEG
'74 LM324 +5V +5V
R44
1MEG

FIG. 3 -DRUM CIRCUITS. One circuit, basically a "twin-T" notch filter, is duplicated
six times.

of the stage, as it goes into its 'O o


linear range, generates a large OO O DO OO O OO
O
OO O
0
O

pop. We can get away with it


e e 0
oo coco ooc

here, though, for two reasons: 000 coo

áyi- .é P
c

roQe
e

the first is that the output of the oevoé aj// -


eo
000 00e00000000
.0000 00000000 o

gate drives a high -pass voicing I

1
1 I

filter (IC2 -d, C23, C24, R42, and e .


n n no
R43) that has the primary func-
e
DO
e e
...p
R
r , o
.- .
coe.
3
tion of brightening the noise to
stimulate more closely the
sound of snares but also dissi-
g 777:1
i ,.

.
pates much of the energy in the fi} i

level shift. Second, what little


"pop" that might get through

deil I,
l

the filter is acoustically masked e4ee . -


by the noise being gated on in eo
`
the first place.
Just the noise burst alone ..,_..1 ,
1

would do a credible job of sim-


ulating a snare sound, but be- -O a o04_
cause we already have a tom - i 4 INCHES -{ . 4 INCHES
38 tom sound built around IC2 -a MIDI BOARD component side. MIDI BOARD solder side.

www.americanradiohistory.com
www.americanradiohistory.com
TONE BOARD PARTS LIST MIDI COMPUTER PARTS LIST

All resistors are 1/4 -watt, 10 %. All resistors are 1/4 -watt, 10 %.

R1 -1000 ohms R1 -4700 ohms R2, R3, R6, R9-220


R2, R5, R9, R16, R23, R31- 10,000 ohms
ohms R4, R13-680 ohms
R3, R4, R10, R11, R13, R17, R18, R24, R5, R8 -3300 ohms
R25, R32, R33, R39, R47, R6, R20, R7, R10, R11- 100,000 ohms
R27, R35 -3.9 megohms R12 -3900 ohms
R7, R14, R21, R28, R36, R51-100,000 Capacitors
ohms, trimmer potentiometers Cl, C2 -33 pF, ceramic disc
R8, R15, R45, R60-330 ohms C3-10 µF, electrolytic
R12-15,000 ohms C4- C11 -0.1 p,F, Mylar
R19 68,000 ohms C12 -1 electrolytic
p,F,
R22, R30- 33,000 ohms C13 -100 pF, ceramic disc
R26, R29, R44-1 megohm C14-100 µF, electrolytic
R34-39,000 ohms C15-C19 0.01 µF, ceramic disc
R37, R43 680,000 ohms Semiconductors
R38-2200 ohms IC1 -7805 5 -volt regulator
R40 -R42, R46, R48, R50 -2.2 IC2- 74HC373 octal latch
megohms IC3 -8031 8 -bit microcontroller
R49, R52- R57- 47,000 ohms IC4 -2764 EPROM
R58, R59-22,000 ohms IC5 -6116 static RAM
R61- 10,000 ohms, potentiometer IC6- 74HC04 hex inverter
4 INCHES Capacitors IC7, IC9- TIL111 optolsolator
TONE BOARD foil pattern. Cl, C13, C18, C26, C9 -0.01 p.F, ce- IC8- 74HC138 -of -8 decoder
1

ramic disc IC10- 74HCO2 quad NAND gate


C2, C6, C10, C14, C19, C22-0.01 µF, IC11-ADC0809 8 -input ADC
(and a snare drum is nothing Mylar Di -not used
but a tom -tom with snares), di- C5-0.05 µF, Ceramic D2,D3 -1N914 diode
ode D5 couples the tom -tom os- C7, C8 -4700 pF, Mylar LED1, LED2-red light- emitting diode
cillator to the snare trigger so C3, C4, C11, C12, C15, C16, C20, C21- Other components
0.001 p.F, Mylar J1- optional expansion header
that it rings when the snare pad C17-0.22 µF, Mylar J2 -J4 -5-pin DIN (MIDI) socket
is hit. Diode D5 also prevents C23, C24, C27 -C29-560 pF, Mylar S1-8- position DIP switch
the snare from sounding when C25 -0.1 µF, Mylar S2- normally open pushbutton switch
C30 -0.005 p.F, Ceramic XTAL1 -12 MHz chrystal
C31 -10 p,F, 15 volts, electrolytic Miscellaneous: PC board, ribbon
Note: The following items are Semiconductors cable, solder
available from PAIA Elec- IC1, IC2 -LM324 quad op -amp
tronics, Inc., 3200 Teakwood IC3-5532 dual low -noise op-amp notch frequency of the filter net-
Lane, Edmond, OK 73013, D1- D5-1N914 diode work (R24-R26, and C14 -C16).
Q1 -NPN silicon transistor (selected for
Phone (405) 340 -6300, Fax noise, see text)
A pulse raises the frequency
(405) 430 -6378: Other components which then glides down as the
Sensor PC board only (item -14 -pin input connector
J1 charge on Cl drains away.
# 9301pc)- $16.50 J2 -16 -pin DIP socket While the input triggering
MIDI PC board only (item # J3-1/4 -inch phone jack pulse coupled by C13 and R22
9201 pc)- $27.25 Miscellaneous: PC board, ribbon knocks the circuit into oscilla-
Tone PC board only (item # cable, solder
tion and provides the per-
9302pc)-$19.25 cussive edge, the circuit would
Sensor board kit (item # only the tom -tom trigger is hit. oscillate spontaneously just be-
9301k, includes PC board and
parts)-$54.25
Whereas all the other drum cause of the change in imped-
MIDI computer kit (item #
circuits operate at a constant ance of the diodes. The result is
9201k, includes PC board, DIN pitch, the SynthDrum built that this drum is capable of
jacks, and PROM with firm- around IC1 -c is a little different. much longer "sustains" than
ware)-$89.50 It slides down in pitch as it de- the others because as the trig-
Tone board kit (item # 9302k, cays. The circuit is a ringing os- ger decays it effectively turns
includes PC board and cillator like the others, but here the tone off.
parts)- $34.75 the frequency can be adjusted Finally, the audio outputs of
Complete MIDI ThumbDrum by varying the current flow all the drum circuits are mixed
kit (item # 9300m, includes through diodes D1 and D2. It's by the summing amplifier built
case, PC board, all parts, and not typical to see diodes used from IC3 -a and R52 -R59, AC-
firmware in PROM)- $165.00 that way, but as current flow coupled by C31 to the level po-
Complete audio Thumb - through a diode increases, its tentiometer R61, and appear at
Drum kit (item # 9300a, in- equivalent impedance goes the audio -output jack J3. The
cludes case, PC board, and all down. Diodes D1 and D2 are 5532 dual low -noise amplifier
parts) -$99.00 "controlled" by the current flow can directly drive high- efficien-
Case only (item # 9300c, in- through R29, which is a trigger cy headphones.
cludes wood side panels) pulse stretched by D3 and Cl. That's all we have room for.
$28.50 The "control" is done by the Next month we'll finish up. 12
39
DINESH BHATIA

TRANSMIT YOUR GUITAR CHORDS


through the air to a nearby FM
receiver, and get rid of those
cords on the floor. Your FM re-
WIRELESS
ceiver can feed one or more am-
plifiers if you really want to
boost the sound and fill the
room with music. Simply plug
this transmitter into your
guitar's output jack, make a few
GUITAR
adjustments, and start playing
"wireless" through your FM ster-
eo tuner or a portable FM re-
ceiver.
With this Guitar Transmitter,
you won't have to plug in cables,
TRANSMIT
Why doesnt't every guitar player IC -based transmitters have
hook up guitar- effects pedals, have one? Probably because of usually included some form of
and turn on a lot of different price. Until now it has just been companding to reduce back-
power sources. Moreover, you a lot less expensive to plug your ground noise. Companding is a
can build your own transmitter guitar into your amplifier with a technique for compressing the
for a lot less money than you patch cord. signal's dynamic range at the
would pay for a factory-built Commercial wireless guitar transmitter and then expand-
unit -and you'll end up with a transmitters have available ing it back to its original range
better product. The parts for the since the late 1960's, but those at the receiver. Dynamic range
Guitar Transmitter described early units were either too noisy is the difference in volume be-
here cost less than $40. This or too expensive for most ama- tween the lowest and highest
transmitter has a built -in dis- teurs. It seemed that only rock audio levels.
tortion effects unit, so you stars could afford them. How- Companding usually works
won't have to fumble with an ever, integrated circuitry cut the well as a noise -reduction tech-
effects pedals every time you cost of transmitters and led to nique, but it has drawbacks:
play your guitar. significant improvements in the most common of these is a
Today many professional signal -to -noise (S /N) ratio over response known as
guitar players have their own the earlier models. "breathing-" the background
wireless guitar transmitters. However, recent "affordable" noise gets softer and louder as

LA=3,
FM VHF
CARRIER
VW
DISTORTED

CJ ;3 X4.8 ANTENNA
1/4 INCH,, - LEVEL
INPUT
PLUG
TO GUITAR BUFFER DISTORTION TONE
HIGH
VHF FM
IMPEDANCE
OSCILLATOR

LOW
IMPEDANCE

TOUCH SENSORS ono


FREQUENCY

ti
TUNE
FLIP- CLEAN VOLTAGE
FLOP REGULATOR

FIG.1 -BLOCK DIAGRAM OF THE WIRELESS GUITAR TRANSMITTER showing the

40 separate channels for the distorted and clean sound and the VHF FM oscillator.
Build a wireless
FM guitar transmitter
that is better than what you
can purchase
-and save money.

TER
the guitar is played. The latest
commercial wireless guitar
transmitters include modifica- Capacitor C2 attenuates un-
tions of companding that re- wanted ultrasonic frequencies,
duce background noise and while capacitor C3 lowers the
suppress "breathing," but that impedance of the bias voltage at
improvement has increased audio frequencies to yield a
their price. cleaner bias -voltage supply. Ca-
A transmitter must have a pacitor C4 performs the same
high signal-to -noise ratio (S/N) function on the supply voltage
if it is to be used with a distor- for IC1.
tion- effect unit because it is es- can expect a consistent 60 -dB The clean signal is then
sentially a high-gain audio am- overall S/N. routed to IC2, a CD4066 CMOS
plifier. Therefore, if the distor- Figure 1 is a block diagram of switch, and
tion effect is inserted after the the Guitar Transmitter with also amplified from 1 to 214
receiver (as in typical wireless typical waveforms shown at times by IC1 -a, depending on
guitar transmitters), all sound various stages of signal process- the setting of DISTORTION control
including background noise ing. Notice that the complete potentiometer R7. Resistor R6
will be amplified. The result is a transmitter has three func- and capacitor C5 establish a
lower overall S/N ratio. tional circuits: distortion, low- frequency roll -off (i.e., at-
Typical S/N ratios for wireless touch switch, and VHF FM volt- tenuation of low frequencies) of
transmitters rarely exceed 70 age-controlled oscillator (VCO). approximately 160 Hz.
dB unless some form of corn - lb produce a distorted signal
panding is present. However, if How it works from IC1 -a, three 1N4148 di-
you assume that a commercial Figure 2 is the schematic di- odes, D1, D2, and D3 clip the
wireless transmission system agram for the Guitar 'ß-ansmit- amplified voltage at asymmetric
has an S/N of 100 dB and a dis- ter. The plus and minus signs levels of about 0.7 volt and -1.4
tortion effects unit is inserted on the schematic near the po- volts, producing a distortion
between the receiver and ampli- tentiometer symbols indicate similar to that obtained with
fier, the overall S/N will drop to that clockwise rotation is from an overdriven vacuum-tube
about 54 dB. This is based on the minus sign towards the amplifier.
the assumption that voltage plus sign. The distorted signal is then
gain is 200, therefore: This circuit will produce both sent to the tone- control sec-
S/N reduction = 20 log (200) = undistorted and distorted audio tion centered around IC 1 -b
46 dB output. The undistorted output where frequencies above
The Guitar Transmitter dif- is produced by non -inverting about 1KHz are attenuated
fers from the latest commercial amplifier IC1 -d with a gain of: when TONE control potentiome-
products because it has a dis- R4/R5 +1 = 68K/18K +1 = 4.8. ter R10 is set full counter-clock-
tortion- effects unit which pre- Capacitor Cl blocks the DC wise (i.e., the wiper is at the
cedes its transmitter. As a components of the input signal, non -inverting input of IC1 -b.
result, the effects unit amplifies and resistors R2 and R3 form a This stage amplifies frequen-
only the pure guitar signal and voltage divider to bias the input cies above 1KHz when R10 is
not the background transmis- of an LM324 operational ampli- fully clockwise.
sion noise. Therefore, noise is fier IC1 at about half of its sup- Resistor R8 and capacitor C6
reduced, component cost is ply voltage of 9 volts. Resistor Rl form a low -pass filter that at-
lower because no companding sets the input impedance of the tenuates the high- frequency
circuity is required, and you circuit to 1 megohm. components of the clipped 41

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PLI +V
INPUT
K
R1
Cl
0.1µF

C2
+
IC1-d
100pF LM324 + 4
+
C4
1011F

= R8 C9
4Ak
R12
1K

C
10K TONE + 1µF R13
IC1-a 3
1MEG + 4 p IC2-c B
LM324
2 IC1-b LEVEL CD4066
+V C5
11 LM324
TO +V/2
R3 R5 / VV`
R4
.01 RF
'
+V/2 22K 18K . 68K
- Ccv '4M-* R21
R7 R10 10K
O .001NF R11 R22
100K
47K 100K
R2
22K
^ + C3
10µF R6
4.7K
,t
_1VM/EG+
I } D3
104148
R9---.-1(
1K
C8
.001µf Cl

.
R14 .0022µF
-Of DISTORTION
47K L1
D1
C5 11
1N4148 D2 C7 10µH
9 0.1 µF A
R15 0.01µf
B 7' 47K 41N4148 IC2-b
10 CD4066 C12
1C2-d 6
0.1µF
CD4066 C
OV A 12
C13
7 8 R25
3.3pF
2 R16
47K 7
+V
-L-
w
100K
IE--
10 R20
1. 1M
+V
R17
47K
`O 4
2.2K

D4
R23
110K MPSA05
Q1

N.C.
L2
.08µH
LEDI 'VW 00
(RED) 1N751A TUNE
R18 +V
4.7MEG
R19
ANTI ~CF15
13 10pF

C
IC2 a 14
CD4066 + 470K C18
B 22pF
K OUT A
C14

n1
TOUCH
C10
0.11F +V
0.041E1
R24
C21
.001µF
R27
10K
.44A IC4
C17
22pF
SENSORS P' 110K N E602 C16
2
R9 22pF
IC3
K
B1
1----VI LM2931AZ-5.0V0 .01µF 3
GND + C20 C22
- POWER 10µF 0.01µF á ND W.
Vcc R27
8 22K

FIG. 2- SCHEMATIC FOR THE WIRELESS GUITAR TRANSMITTER. The touch sensors
permit fingertip control of the sound.
Now, if IC2 -a were closed mo-
waveform produced by IC -a. feedback resistor R16. The ref- mentarily (pins 1 and 2 short-
High- frequency roll -off for ICl -b erence for this voltage corn- ed), IC1 -c would change state
is set by C8 and R11. The AC parator is set slightly higher (i.e., output drops to zero volts).
voltage gain is determined by re- than half the supply voltage by Resistor R15 provides the inver-
sistors R9, RIO and R11. R16 and R17. se of the output level of IC1 -c
The output level from IC1b is The entire comparator circuit from IC2 -d, keeping IC1 -c in
controlled by LEVEL control po- performs a flip -flop function by static equilibrium. Then C10
tentiometer R13. Capacitor C9 combining an inverter IC2 -d discharges through R19 and
AC- couples R13 from the output and R14 with low-pass filter R19 once discharged, IC2 -a closes
of IC -b. Resistor R12 limits the and C10. That filter has a time momentarily, causing IC1 -c to
maximum output voltage to constant of 47 milliseconds to change state again.
prevent overmodulation of the prevent false triggering and This process causes a "push -
transmitted carrier. high- frequency oscillations. pull" action, thus forming a
To understand the operation "touch-on/touch-off' switch.In
Touch control: of this flip -flop, assume that practice, the touch sensors will
livo sections of IC2 switch be- C10 is initially discharged, be shorted by a finger tip, caus-
tween the clean and distorted IC2 -a is open, and IC1 -c is in its ing control input pin 13 of IC2 -a
signals. Sections a and b of IC2 true state (the voltage at the in- to be grounded, opening the
are operated as complementary verting input is less than at the switch.
switches by the touch -control non -inverting input; thus its The EFFECT /BATTERY LED 1
section of the transmitter. Oper- output is at supply-voltage level. lights only when the distorted
ational amplifier IC1 -c forms a Capacitor C10 charges through sound channel is selected.
voltage comparator with hys- R19 to a value higher than the Zener diode D4, resistor R20,
42 teresis produced by positive reference voltage. and LED1 form a measuring cir-

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REAR REAR
cuit to indicate when battery VIEW
CW
LED15 VIEW
CW

voltage falls below about 7 volts. R7


1M-- R13

Replace the 9 -volt battery if the


effect /battery LED dims when
the distorted sound channel is
selected.
VHF FM oscillator:
The clean or distorted audio
signal is fed into the VHF FM
oscillator section of the trans-
mitter. Resistors R21 and R22 B1

and capacitor C11 form a pre -


emphasis network to comple-
ment the de- emphasis network TOUCH
SENSORS
found in most FM receivers. The
values chosen for this network
attenuate frequencies below
about 700 Hz to produce a
"brighter" sound with a lot of
"edge."
Low -power VHF mixer /os-
cillator forms an oscillator with
an operating frequency of about
100 MHz, a frequency that can
be adjusted across most of the R10

FM broadcast band of 88 to 108


CW
MHz by tuning variable coil L2.
Caution: It is unlawful to REAR
VIEW
broadcast above or below the
FM band with this transmitter.
The oscillator is frequency mod-
ulated by using transistor Q1 as
a varactor diode. The tran-
sistor's collector -to -base junc- RadioActive
tion capacitance varies directly TRANSIII11ER
with the applied audio voltage. (c) 1991 dRE
The output of voltage reg-
NOTE:RESISTORS INSERTED VERTICALLY
ulator IC3 powers IC4 and sup-
plies a stable DC bias for FIG. 3 -PARTS PLACEMENT DIAGRAM for the wireless guitar transmitter. Three
control potentiometers, the LED, and touch sensors are located on the case cover.
transistor Ql through resistors
R23, R24, and R25. Capacitor 0 000000
C14 and resistors R23 and R24 0
form a low-pass filter that pre-
orbe
o
vents unwanted RF from affect-
ing the DC bias supply. Capaci-
tor C13 limits the capacitance
FOrne
bo

o
0000 0
oo èèèèèè
0
o-oo

0
change of transistor Q1 as seen o o bo 0
by the inductor-capacitor tank o
0
0
o

0
0 0 oo
000
tuning section made up of vari- 0 0 0
able coil inductor L2 and capac- 0 0 0 0.0
itor C15. 0 0 00 0 o
00 00--0
The tank limits the frequency 0 00 0
deviation of the FM carrier to a Q,__ ,O.poo
00 000000091
maximum of ± 75 kHz in accor- RadioAOli 0.00 0
dance with the Canadian De- rRANSYITrER
O O O
0
00
partment of Communications (<) 1991 dB(

(DOC) and the U.S. Federal 17he INCHES { i' 17118 INCHES

Communication Commission COMPONENT-SIDE FOIL PATTERN for SOLDER -SIDE FOIL PATTERN for the
(FCC) regulations. The VHF FM the two -sided circuit board of the guitar two -sided circuit board of the guitar
sinewave is generated by the in- transmitter. transmitter.
ductive- capacitive tank section,
and amplified and buffered by C21, which also helps to mini- Building the transmitter
IC4. This signal is then AC cou- mize antenna loading effects on Most of the components in
pled to the antenna by capacitor IC4. the Guitar Tl ansmitter are stan- 43

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PARTS LIST
input effect/
tune batt
All resistors are '/8-watt, 5 %, un- C13 -3.3 pF ceramic Philips 09338
less otherwise specified. or equivalent
R1 -1
megohm C15-10 pf ceramic, Philips 10109
I+ R2, R3, R26- 22,000 ohms or equivalent
R4- 68,000 ohms C16, C17, C18-10 pF ceramic, Phi-
FM L_ L.1 R5-18,000 ohms lips 10229 or eqivalent
R6 -4,700 ohms
I

Inductors
Effect R7 -1 megohm miniature potenti- L1 -10
µH, fixed, 5% Toko FL-4 or
ometer equivalent
R8-10,000 ohms L2-0.08 µH variable molded, Q =
R9 -1000 ohms 130 @ 100 MHz, Toko MC -120 or
lo hi R10- 100,000 ohms miniature po- equivalent
tentiometer Other components
Dist Tone Level R11, R14, R15, R16, R17- 47,000 81- battery, 9 -volt, alkaline tran-

(+) ohms
R13- 10,000 ohms miniature po-
tentiometer
R12-1000 ohms
tr-
sistor
S1- switch,
SPDT
subminiature slide,

PL1 -input plug, 1/4-inch, mono


min max min max R18-4.7 megohms phone
R19-470,000 Miscellaneous: double -sided
FM Wireless Guitar Transmitter R20-2,200 printed circuit board, 9 -volt bat-
R21, R27- 10,000 ohms tery clip, plastic project case with
R22, R25--100,000 ohms cover with inside dimensions of 4
R23, R24- 110,000 ohms 1/4x 21/8x 11/,6 -inch deep, three
Semiconductors miniature black knobs, 28 AWG
IC1- LM324N quad low -power op- stranded, black-insulated hookup
erational amplifiers, Motorola or wire, multicolored ribbon cable,
off on ant y equivalent plastic coil alignment tool, solder,
IC2- CD4066BCMOS quad bilat- epoxy cement, RTV silicone ad-
eral switch, Harris or equivalent hesive.
2114 INCHES IC3- LM2931Z -5.0 low- dropout Note:The following parts are
voltage regulator, 5 -volt, Motorola available from RadioActive
DRILLING TEMPLATE FOR THE COVER or equivalent
of the wireless guitar transmitter. Holes Transmissions, P.O. Box 6714,
must also be made in the case for the IC4- NE602NIow-power VHF mix- Station "A ", Simcoe SL, Toron-
input plug and the switch. er /oscillator, Signetics or equiv- to, Ontario, M5W 1X5 Canada
alent (519) 974 -0163, Fax (519)
dard, off-the -shelf parts avail- Q1- MPSA05 NPN transistor Na- 974 -0165.
tional or equivalent
able from electronics retail D1, D2, D3- 1N4148 fast- switching Kit 1- complete kit of all
stores and mail -order dis- diode parts including double-sided
tributors. Although not sur- D4-1N751A Zener diode, 5.1 -volt, PC board, plastic coil align-
face- mount, the components 500 mW ment tool, and screened pre-
were selected to conserve PC LED1- light- emitting diode, gener- drilled case -$39.95 plus
board space and miniaturize al purpose, T1 case size, red, $5.00 shipping and handling.
the circuitry. Capacitors
All resistors are specified as Vs Cl, C5, C10, C12-0.1 µF ceramic Kit 2- silk -screened and
-watt, metal-film units because monolithic radial -leaded, 10%
,
pre-drilled case with cover and
they generally produce less C2 -100 pF, ceramic disc, 10% three knobs -$10.00 plus $2.50
noise in audio circuits than car- C3, C4, C20-10 µF, tantalum, sol- shipping and handling.
bon- composition or carbon -film id dip, 10 %, 10 volts
resistors, and they are smaller. C6, C7, C14, C19, C22 -0.01 µF Assembled and tested unit
Radial -leaded monolithic ce- ceramic monolithic, 10 %, $54.95 plus $5.00 shipping and
ramic capacitors were selected C8, C21, C23 0.001 µF ceramic handling. Please send U.S.
because of their small size, and monolithic, radial leaded, 10% money order only. Canadian
dipped solid tantalum capaci- C9-1 pF tantalum, solid dip, 10%, residents please call for prices.
10 volts Other countries add additional
tors were specified in place of
aluminum electrolytics for 1 -mi- C11- 0.0022 µF polyester film, 5% $5.00 for shipping.
crofarad and 10-microfarad val-
ues to save space. Moreover, (RF) noise from the power sup- cuit board designed for it. Both
tantalum capacitors retain ply. component- and solder -side
their rated capacitance values foils are included in this article
at higher frequencies better Board assembly: if you want to make your own
than aluminum electrolytics, The Guitar Transmitter will boards. Notice, however, that
and they do a better job of filter- perform better if it is built on plated- through holes are recom-
44 ing out stray radio frequency the double -sided printed -cir- mended so that you do not have

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to solder leads on both sides of
the board to assure a sound sol-
der joint. If you do not want to
make the board yourself you
can purchase a finished circuit
board from the source listed in
the Parts List or build the cir-
cuit on perforated board.
You can obtain the full perfor-
mance capabilities of the circuit
with perforated board if you are
aware of the possible pitfalls in
building an RF circuit on that
substrate -and take extra care
in placing components and
dressing wires. Nevertheless,
the use of perforated circuit FIG. 4 -PHOTO OF THE COMPLETED guitar transmitter circuit board showing wiring
board stock is not recom- to off -board components. Note the star-shaped tuner body.
mended.
When building the transmit- capacitance and inductance in- Mechanical assembly
ter, refer to schematic Fig. 2 and troduced by the interconnect- After all of the components
Parts Placement diagram Fig. 3. ing wires. are inserted and soldered on the
Follow standard practice in in- Do not use IC sockets for any PC board, refer to exploded as-
serting the components and of the ICs because all lead sembly drawing Fig. 4 as well as
soldering them in place. Use a lengths must be kept as short as the Parts Placement diagram
grounded, 15- to 30 -watt, pen- possible. The components can Fig. 3 for the location and orien-
cil -type soldering iron, es- be inserted and soldered in any tation of off -board components.
pecially for soldering the semi- order, but it is a good idea to If you purchase the case and
conductor devices to avoid check off each part on the Parts cover from the source given in
damaging or destroying the de- List after you insert and solder the Parts list, all holes will be
vices with excess heat or elec- it. drilled.
trostatic discharge (ESD). Observe all polarities shown If you elect to provide your
There is a choice of three dif- on the schematic for the diodes own case, use the cover tem-
ferent values for capacitor C15 and tantalum capacitors. plate provided to drill:
because the tuning coil L2 for Mount all resistors vertically, Three control potentiometer
this transmitter has a high Q and mount all capacitors flush mounting holes.
(130 at 100 MHz). The letter Q against the circuit board. After Four 3/32 -inch holes for the
-a
stands for quality factor ref- soldering, trim all lead lengths touch sensor.
erence to the ability of the cir- as short as possible to reduce One 'As-inch hole for access to
cuit to present a well defined os- stray noise pick-up in the au- tuner L2.
cillator frequency. The higher dio- frequency section of the One 3/32 -inch hole for LED1.
the resolution, the smaller the transmitter. Then drill a 0.39-inch diame-
tuning range if the range of the ter hole centered in the end wall
tuning slug is limited to the Antenna length of the case for plug PI,1, taking
length of the coil body. Cut a 38.2 centimeter (15.3 - care that the plug fits snugly.
Variable coil L2 specified in inch) length of black stranded (The plug will be the sole sup-
the Parts List has a tunable fre- 28 AWG insulated hookup wire port for the completed transmit-
quency limit of about 15 MHz. for the antenna. Trim one end ter when it is plugged into the
Because the FM broadcast band and solder that end in position guitar, so it is important that it
spectrum is 20 MHz wide (from as shown in Fig. 3. The Guitar be rigidly mounted.)
88 to 108 MHz), select one of Transmitter operates at 98.00 Finally, cut a slot in the op-
three standard values for C15: MHz, so one wavelength equals posite end wall of the case for
10 picofarads gives a tuning 3.0612 meters. switch Si, and drill one or two
range 15 MHz wide centered at Transmitted signal strength holes beside the slot, as neces-
approximately 98 MHz. (The is generally proportional to an- sary, for fastening the switch to
ends of the FM broadcast band tenna length up to one wave- the case. With a hacksaw, cut a
can be obtained with slightly length, but if its length is more slot about 'As-inch deep in the
higher or lower values for C15.) than 76 centimeters (30 inches) end wall of the case near the
12 picofarads permits tuning the transmitted carrier will ex- switch slot for the antenna wire
in the lower end of the band. ceed the maximum allowable to permit it to pass under the
8.2 picofarads permits tun- signal strength level specified by cover without interference
ing in the upper end. the DOC and FCC regulations. when the cover is closed.
The exact tuning range ob- That's why the 38.2 centimeter Assemble the touch sensor
tained will vary with each trans- antenna length was selected for from four 1/4 inch, No. 4 -40 Phi-
mitter because of the parasitic this transmitter. llips -head screws with match- 45
KNOB CASE
COVER
COVER
SCREWS BATTERY
(4) CLIP
9 -VOLT
TUNER BATTERY
ACCESS
RED

/B (
HOLE A

ANODE
TONE

CATHODE
R10
iC 6\¡
+
BLACK

SLOT ANTENNA
3114 TOUCH 7
SENSORS
S1
SWITCH

GND
CASE

NOTE: WIRES 1 TO 7 AND A TO C


ARE COLORED RIBBON CABLE

INPUT PLUG

FIG. 5-
EXPLODED VIEW OF THE TRANSMITTER showing the locations of the off-
board components and wiring. The input plug attaches the transmitter to the guitar.
and solder them to the PC
ing nuts. (1Wo of the four nut - tom to permit making the con- board. Bend the leads of LEDI
bolt combinations will be non- nections.) Then crimp the bared 90 °, insert the LED in the
functional.) However, be sure ends of the off-board wires drilled hole in the cover, and ce-
that the two to be wired as active around the lugs of the potenti- ment it in position with epoxy
sensor elements are electrically ometers, and the leads of the cement. Carefully check all wir-
isolated. LED and plug before soldering: ing to be sure that you have
Assemble the three miniature The terminal lugs of potenti- made no mistakes, and make
control potentiometers R7, R10 ometers R7, R10, and R13 (as any corrections necessary.
and R13 to the underside of the shown in Figs. 3 and 4): 8 wires. Position the circuit board as
cover with the ring nuts pro- Light-emitting diode (LEDI): shown in Fig. 4, being certain
vided, orient their terminals as 2 wires. that the top of inductor L2 is
shown as shown in Fig. 4, and Input plug PLI: 2 wires. aligned under the access hole
tighten the nuts. Insert plug Insert capacitor C23 between drilled in the cover. Apply one
PLI and secure it in position the terminals of potentiometer drop of RTV silicone (or other
with its nut. Insert switch Si in R7. (It reduces the possibility of appropriate adhesive) to each of
the case and fasten it with one audible feedback in the high - the four corners of the circuit
or two rivets or self- tapping gain distortion stage.) Solder all board on the solder side, and
screws. wires to the potentiometer lugs position the board correctly in
and the leads of LEDI. the bottom of the case. Also
Off -board wiring Loosen two of the touch -sen- place a drop of adhesive in the
Cut 6- to 7 -inch lengths of sor nut -bolt combinations, and slot for the antenna wire cut in
standard multicolored ribbon wind one turn of the bare end of the edge of the case, and posi-
cable (28 AWG 7 x 36 stranded the "ground" wire around one of tion the wire in the slot to keep
tinned copper), strip about 1/16 - the screws and one turn of the it in position. Allow time for all
inch of insulation from the bare end of the "touch" wire adhesives to set.
ends, and insert one set of wires around the other screw. Then Snap a fresh 9 -volt alkaline
in the board and solder them in tighten both nuts to clamp the transistor battery to the battery
position. (As many as ten wires wire ends securely in place. clip. Check to see that the
can remain bonded together for Cut, and strip the ends of EFFECT /BATTERY LED lights
most of their length if they are about 3 -inch lengths of the red when you bridge the screw
46 separated only near top and bot- and black battery-clip wires, continued on page 87
Hone your musical skills with Perfect Pitch, the
microprocessor-based instrument tuner, headphone
amplifier, and metronome.

FRED EADY

THERE ARE FOUR VERY IMPORTANT


things that anyone who wants
to be a good musician must do:
practice, practice, practice, and
play in tune. Perfect Pitch will
help you do all four! Perfect
Pitch, which is based on the
8751H microprocessor, is an in-
expensive and easy-to -build in-
strument tuner /frequency
counter with a built -in head-
phone amplifier and a visual
metronome. Perfect Pitch con-
verts the audio signal from your
instrument to a digital signal,
and displays the musical note
you are playing and its frequen-
cy in real time on a 16- character
liquid -crystal display. It also has
an auxiliary audio input for ra-
dio, tape, or CD players so you
can tune up and play along with
MUSICIAN'S
your favorite artists.
The not -so- musically inclined
can use the Perfect Pitch's 60-
kHz frequency counter /period
FRIEND
measurement system to get the The 8751H Port 1 of the 8751H provides
most from other audio -based The 8751H is an 8 -bit micro - the ASCII display data used by
projects. Perfect Pitch not only controller that contains four 8- the LCD, with bit 7 doing dou-
processes audio signals; any bit ports with 32 bidirectional ble -duty as an LCD BUSY input.
TTL- compatible digital signal and individually addressable I/ Only five bits of Port 3 are in
up to 60 kHz can also be mea- O lines, 4 kilobytes of on -chip service as common UO. Bits 5,
sured. Building Perfect Pitch EPROM, 128 bytes of on -chip 6, and 7 of Port 3 supply binary
will demonstrate the concepts data RAM, two 16 -bit timer/ control sequences for LCD read/
behind driving liquid -crystal counters, and extensive write operations. Bits 0 and 1 of
displays (LCD's), performing Boolean processing (single -bit Port 3 monitor the multipur-
mathematical calculations, logic) capability. Its maximum pose switch, Si, which is used
sensing and reacting to switch clock speed is 12 MHz, with a for scrolling through the menu
closures, and digitally process- corresponding instruction -cy- selections as well as for pacing
ing audio signals. cle time of 1 microsecond. Fig- the visual metronome when the
ure 1 shows the 8751's block metronome function is invok-
Operation diagram. ed. The processor's external
As previously stated, Perfect Note that we're more inter- clock is connected to pins 18
Pitch is based on the popular ested in the processing power of and 19, and the processor-reset
8751- series microcontroller. the 8751H than the abundant I/ circuit, consisting of R1 and C3,
The circuitry is not particularly O capabilities it contains. The is attached to pin 9 of IC1. A
complex when divided into five complexity of the design is re- reset switch is not necessary, a
major areas: processor, LCD, duced because the 8751H in- but if you think you might need a
signal processing/conditioning, struction set and internal one, place a normally open mo-
audio amplifier, and power. Let's hardware structure is very effi- mentary switch across C3.
start by examining the 8751 cient and powerful. Take a look Port 3 can be configured as a
and its directly associated com- at the Perfect Pitch schematic in bidirectional I/O port, or its
ponents. Fig. 2. pins, under software control. 47

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imum, with the usable resolu-
i 32 tion of our circuitry ending at
OSCILLATOR
AND
33 just below 62 kHz. The 1- second
TUNING 34
timebase is implemented in
XTAL2 35
software, which allows easy
PORT PORTO customization or fine tuning if
36
0 it's necessary for your particular
37
application.
31
38
64K BYTES
EA
30 BUS
39 The LCD
ALE
EXPANSION 8 The Perfect Pitch display is a
PSEN CONTROL
7
16- character x 1 -line dot -ma-
6
trix LCD module that is based
vcc 40 4K BYTES
on the HD44780 controller and
20
EPROM
PORT
5
PORTI
driver chip. The 8751H (ICI)
vss
1
provides ASCII data and associ-
RST ated control sequences to the
128 BYTES 2 HD44780, which controls the
RAM
display of alphanumeric
RXD 28 characters on the LCD. Con-
11
I/O
PORT 27
trast control is provided by po-
TXD
12 3 26
tentiometer R2.
INTO
13
There are several advantages
PORT 3
SECONDARY SERIAL Iro 25
to using an LCD instead of
T 14
PORT
PORT 24 PORT2 LED's. For one, they are easier to
FUNCTIONS 0 2
23 interface to a microcontroller.
16 TIMER/ 22 They also have alphanumeric
COUNTER
21 output capability, and are low in
power consumption.
FIG. 1 -THE 8751 BLOCK DIAGRAM: The 8 -bit microcontroller
contains four 8 -bit I/O Processing/conditioning
ports, 4K bytes of EPROM, 128 bytes of RAM, two 16-bit timer/counters, and Boolean If you were to take a snapshot
processing. of an electric-guitar signal on
an oscilloscope, you would see
can be used for timer /counter The resolution of Timer 0 is 1 that the base or fundamental
inputs and gates, serial com- microsecond. Thus, if 1000 frequency exhibits the max-
munications, or control of exter- microseconds were counted in imum peak -to -peak amplitude,
nal memory access. Perfect Timer 0 during one complete cy- and all of its harmonics would
Pitch takes advantage of the cle of a sampled signal, the fre- be distributed around its center
timer /counter functions pro- quency of the measured signal line at reduced amplitudes. lb
vided by bits 2 and 4 of Port 3. would be computed by Perfect get an accurate frequency deter-
Bit 2 of Port 3 (INT.) is organized Pitch to be 1 kHz. The frequency mination, only the fundamental
by software to provide the gat- would be computed using the frequency should be measured.
ing function for timer/counter 0 formulaf = 1/T, wheref is fre- And to get the most accurate
for period measurement. which quency in hertz and T is one readings, it is necessary to mea-
is used for tuning. Bit 4 of Port 3 cycle time in seconds (the sure the desired signal peaks as
(T0) is the input for the frequen- period). This is a very fast and many times as possible during
cy- countingfunction. accurate way to determine the the life of the signal.
Period measurements are frequency of a signal that varies Perfect Pitch begins at the
made while a TTL high state is in amplitude over time, as first cycle and measures and
present at INT.. The program guitar signals do. Perfect Pitch displays the frequency of a sig-
loads a bit pattern into the requires only 1 cycle of the in- nal until the amplified signal
8751H TMOD (Timer/Counter coming signal at proper ampli- amplitude is too low to drive the
Mode Control) register to enable tude to determine its frequency. input of IC4 -d. If there is no sig-
or gate Timer 0 when a high For frequency counting, the nal, or if the amplified signal
condition is detected on INTO. To counter input detects 1 -to -0 negative peaks cannot reach the
(Both source code and executa- transitions of an incoming TTL 0.8-volt threshold of IC4 -d, the
ble code is available from the signal on a timebase of 1 sec- software embedded in the
Electronics Now BBS, ond. Those transistions provide 8751H provides an auto -zero
516- 293 -2283, 1200/2400, 8N1, the logical trigger that incre- function that automatically
as a self- extracting compressed ments Timer /Counter 0 on each zeros the display. That allows
file called PERFECT.EXE. A pre- transition. Since the timer/ multiple repetitive readings
programmed microcontroller is counter registers are 16 bits without manual intervention.
available from the source men - wide, the maximum count is The software also suppresses
48 tinned in the Parts List.) limited to 65.535 kHz max- the display of leading zeros.

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+5V +5V + 5V
+ 5V
14
31 40
2
18 15 LEDI
X2 E RS LIQUID
GATE LED IC4-a
19 1/4 741314 7
X1 RW RW R2
XTAL1 RS E CRYSTAL 5K
12MHz CONTRAST
DO DO

C2 D1 D1 DISPLAY
27pF
D2 D2
D3
MODI
D3
Cl HD44180
IC1
27pF +5V 8751H
D4 D4

C3 + PROCESSOR D5 D5

10µF D6 D6 SIGNAL CONDITIONING

1R1 RST D7 07 IC4-c 104-cl


-1"" R1 1/4 741814 1/4 741814
10K + 5V
+ 5V t.
20 1 3
CLK
R12 4 IC3 D1 2
10K 1/2 741874
11 14 6
TXD
SLOW/ 12 5 7
PERIOD INTO Q1 + 5V
S1 ENTER FREQ/2
R13 ,t C17 R7
y gFAST/SEL COUNTER TO
14
FREQ
100K S
32
,1 R9
2.2MEG
10K

10
RXD AUDIO /HEADPHONE AMPLIFIER AUX INPUT C5 w
+5V .i
R11 IC5-d 10
10K +9VDC 1/4 LM3900
INPUT 6 11 R6 .t
+ 5V J3 1M 1MEG
OUTPUT 5 IC6 C6 1 C4 R5

C7
LM388 3 .1 iv .1 100K

2200 4
J1 1
SIGNAL
I

FIG. 2-
PERFECT PITCH SCHEMATIC: The complexity of the design is reduced be-
side in a "dead zone" where they
cause the 8751H instruction set and internal hardware structure is efficient and
powerful. cannot trigger IC4 -d. Only the
fundamental frequency will
Most electronic instruments and the Schmitt trigger, you can have enough amplitude to tog-
and microphones emit audio produce clean TTL- compatible gle the output of IC4 -d. That en-
signals in the millivolt range. square waves that will be suit- ables you to use signal peaks as
An average electric guitar pro- able as input to the 8751H pro- timing markers to calculate
duces a 65- to 100-millivolt sig- cessor. your results.
nal into a high- impedance Because musical instru- For the 74LS14 Schmitt trig-
input. That is plenty of ampli- ments can generate many har- ger, the dead zone is nominally
tude to drive an audio amplifier monics that will also be ampli- 0.8 volts wide with a minimum
preamp circuit, but far below fied, and possibly converted and positive -going threshold of
the level needed to drive a TTL analyzed, you have to get rid of +1.6 volts and a minimum
gate (in our case, IC4 -d, a the harmonics. "Filtering" is negative -going threshold of
Schmitt trigger). The incoming the first thing that comes to + 0.8 volts. Audio amplifiers are
signal must be amplified so that mind, but in this case that normally designed to allow the
it can be converted to a TTL- would be complicated and re- output signal to swing sym-
compatible waveform that the quire additional circuitry. Am- metrically around a DC value of
8751H can interpret. A voltage plifying the input signal one half of the power-supply
gain of around 25 is the mini- enough to force signal clipping voltage. But since you want to
mum required. would be another solution, but convert your signal to a digital
An LM3900 quad Norton am- that generates even more un- pulse with a Schmitt trigger,
plifier (IC5) is configured as a wanted harmonics. You can sol- you can waive the symmetrical
two -stage audio amplifier with ve the harmonic problem easily output rule.
an overall voltage gain of 27. by using a feature inherent to Ideally the center line should
Given a sinewave with an ampli- the Schmitt trigger: hysteresis. be set at or above the + 1.6 -volt
tude of 65 millivolts or greater, As shown in Fig. 3, in effect, you DC level because that will pro-
an amplifier with a gain of 27, will force the harmonics to re- duce a TTL high level at the in- 49

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TTL HIGH

OUTPUT OF IC4 PIN 6

TTL LOW L
PERIOD

TTL HIGH -'- OUTPUT OF IC3 PIN 5 DURING MEASUREMENT

TTL LOW
FUNDAMENTAL
(OFFSET)
HIGH TRIGGER
POINT
U
Jó 1.9 r^
n`/ HARMONICS

FUNDAMENTAL DEAD ZONE


LOW
TRIGGER POINT

.8 o

o
TIME
PERIOD

FIG. 3-HARMONICS ARE FORCED to reside in a "dead zone" so that only the
fundamental frequency will have enough amplitude to cause the output of IC4 -d to
toggle.

PARTS LIST
All resistors are'/4-watt, 5 %, un- IC6-LM386 audio amplifier plugs and jacks, ribbon cable,
less otherwise noted IC7 -7805 5 -volt regulator or rocker switch)-$59.00 +
R1- 10,000 ohms LED1-light- emitting diode, any $5.00 S &H
R2 -5000 ohms, trimmer potenti- color Programmed 8751H micro -
ometer Q1- PN2222A NPN transistor controller- $25.00 + $2.50
R3-33 ohms Other components S &H
R4 -1000 ohms MOD1- Hitachi H2570 16- Blank 8751H micro -
R5, R13- 100,000 ohms character x 1 -line LCD module controller- $18.00 t $2.50
R6-1 megohm (uses HD44780 controller chip) S &H
R7, R11, R12-10,000 ohms XTAL1 -12 -MHz crystal PC board only -$20.00
R8- 27,000 ohms S1 -SPDT center -off momentary 2.50 S &H
R9 -2200 ohms rocker switch 8751H source code on 5.25 -
R10-82,000 ohms J1-J3 -audio jacks and plugs of inch diskette -$5.00 postpaid
Capacitors your choice 8751H modification plans for
Cl, C2 -27 pF Miscellaneous: PC board, project 874X programmer (includes
C3-10 µF, 16 volts, Tantalum case, ribbon cable, 9 -volt DC source code, terminal pro-
C4, C5, C8-C17-0.1 µF power supply (500 mA), hard- gram, and schematic)- $10.00
C6 -1000 µF, 16 volts, electrolytic ware, IC sockets, solder postpaid
C7 -220 µF, 16 volts, electrolytic Note: The following items are
rn
°' Semiconductors
IC1 -8751H microcontroller (must
available from Fred Eady, PO
Box 541222, Merritt Island, FL
874X programmer kit and
8751H modification plans
$59.95 + $5.00 S &H
-
be programmed) 32954:
IC2-not used Kit of parts with a pro- Please send check or money
z IC3- 74LS74 D flip -flop grammed microcontroller and order only
IC4- 74LS14 Schmitt trigger PC board (does not include For technical assistance call
IC5- LM3900 quad op -amp batteries /power supply, case, (407) 454 -9905

w put of Schmitt trigger IC4 -d. offset resistor R10, which sets the minimum positive -going
You can set that center line by the output of IC5 -c. The data threshold value is + 1.6 volts,
50 adjusting the value of output sheet for the 74LS14 states that and the maximum positive -go-

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ing threshold value is + 1.9
volts. 'Ib compensate for devices
that toggle at the + 1.9 volt val- 0
ue, the output of IC5 -c is set at
+ 1.9 volts. Note also that a TTL I 4p

high threshold for most TTL de- IR6 R7 1f

vices is + 2 volts DC, and the *-RS- 0.* s


low threshold is + 0.7 volts DC. C6
When referring to TTL levels a
in this discussion, we are IC5
avà.
speaking specifically about the J3 7 +9VDC
74LS14 Schmitt trigger, unless OUT C11 Ç 2

otherwise stated. With the out-


put center line of IC5 -c set at
TTL high ( + 1.9 volts DC in our Cl

case), you will trigger and sub-


sequently toggle the Schmitt - LEDI

trigger chain when the output


of IC5 -c swings negative about SLOW/ENTER
O
the + 1.9 -volt DC line to +0.8 oS1
volts. Approximately 80 milli-
volts of incoming audio signal FAST/SELECT
at IC5 -d would be the minimum
required to initiate a measure- TO

ment when using the + 1.9 -volt LCD


O 0
reference.
MODULE 1413
PINS 1211
When alternating high and R2
.10.9
low thresholds are reached at 87 LCD MODULE
the input of IC4 -d, its output is 65 FRONT VIEW

a clean TTL square wave that 43


provides the input for the To 02 i1
frequency counter. Schmitt
trigger IC4 -d also triggers IC4 -c, FIG. 4- PARTS-PLACEMENT DIAGRAM. The main board connects to the LCD module
with a length of ribbon cable.
which in turn triggers IC4 -a.
Schmitt trigger IC4 -c also
drives the clock input of IC3, a
74LS74 D flip -flop, which is
configured to divide by two. The
division is required because a
period is the time required to
complete one cycle. Also, the LCD
MODULE
8751H Timer 0 measures time
only when INT0 is presented with
a TTL high. MAIN
Because one complete cycle BOARD
consists of a high and low state
of varying duty cycle that is not
always 50 %, the 8751H will
measure time only for some
fraction of a period that de- INPUT/
OUTPUT
pends on a high percentage for JACKS
the duty cycle. By dividing the NI -Cd
incoming signal with a flip -flop, BATTERY
you produce a TTL signal with a PACK
50% duty cycle that doubles the
input signal's period. Since we
measure time only at the TTL FIG. 5-
INSTALL PERFECT PITCH in an enclosure of your choice. This is the author's
high level, and the TTL high completed prototype.
level is one time period, the
8751H will log the period of the measured, the algorithm con- ASCII and displayed for the
incoming signal. Note that the tained in the 8751H EPROM user. A lookup table is used to
divide -by-two output of IC3 (pin performs the math necessary to determine the musical note as-
5) feeds the INTO, or period input solve the equation J = 1/T. The sociated with the frequency
(pin 12) of IC1. result of that equation is then that has been calculated by per-
Once the period (T) has been formatted and converted to fect pitch. 55

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Audio amplifier
o
O
00
0
a o So far we have discussed the
signal -processing circuitry con-
o
0
0000 00 o taining IC5, an LM3900 quad
Norton amplifier, IC3, a 74LS74
00 o o o o D flip -flop, and IC4, a 74LS14
o o o 000000 Schmitt trigger. Although Per-
o o fect Pitch displays the musical
o o 0o p000000
note and its frequency, the user

O
00
o
° .o
O 000000-,

4000000 q00000000
olo
o- o
still has to be able to hear the
note. Therefore, headphone am-
plifier IC6 is included in the cir-
cuit. The amplifier also allows
o o O 000000 oog000 op external audio to be mixed in at
its noninverting input.
o o ór0000000ob0000000000 Note the absence of volume
O 00 and tone controls. Most elec-
tronic instruments have their
own volume and tone controls,
00 ó0 0000000000000 0000000 so why not use them? The same
oo
o 0 00000000000000 o 0 O
goes for the auxiliary input: mix
with the controls provided on
00 O 0 the auxiliary device. If you re-
O 00 o o quire a volume control, put a 1K
o o potentiometer in series with the
output of IC6 pin 5.
38/4 INCHES

COMPONENT-SIDE foil pattern for Perfect Pitch.


Power
The Perfect Pitch prototype is
battery powered, but any stable
o 9 -volt DC source will work. A
7805 regulator, IC7, outputs 5-
volts DC from the 9 -volt input.
4E Capacitors C8 and C15 perform
bypass functions, while C6 pro-
vides some additional stability,
and C9 C14 are standard TTL
bypass capacitors.
The battery pack used in the

0
0000000 prototype is composed of eight
1200- milliampere /hour sub -C
00 0000 rechargeable nickel-cadmium
8 006 bl
(Ni -Cd) cells. Perfect Pitch
draws about 200 milliamps and
battery life averages 4 to 5
00 hours. You can use smaller Ni-
Cd cells but battery life will de-
tt crease accordingly.
00 00 0 1 Construction
1
0--8 l 4 Because we are combining
audio and digital circuitry in
° 11 close proximity, parts layout is
critical. PC board construction
o o is recommended. You can fab-
ricate your own PC board or pur-
Sap INCHES chase a factory-made version
SOLDER -SIDE foil pattern for Perfect Pitch.
from the source mentioned in
the Parts List. If you decide to
Schmitt trigger IC4 -a drives amplitude to cross IC4 -d's breadboard or wirewrap, the au-
the base of transistor Q1 which + 0.8 -volt threshold on negative dio sections will be more sus-
provides a path to ground for peaks. Keep in mind that period ceptible to digital noise from the
LED1, the gate indicator; LED1 and count measurements are processor and the LCD. Use
is illuminated when the ampli- made only when LEDI is illumi- short lead lengths and shielded
56 fled audio signal has sufficient nated. cable. Regardless of the method
you choose, you can mount all should reveal a pulsating dis- When you turn on Perfect
components in a case of your play that can be made to oscil- Pitch, the "PERFECT PITCH"
choice. late faster or slower with banner is displayed, followed by
Figure 4 shows the Parts "FASTER" and "SLOWER" ap- the first menu selection,
Placement diagram. Begin con- pearing as you toggle and hold "TUNER." At this point you can
struction by installing the Si. If all is well at this point, scroll through the remaining
power components IC7, C6, C8 remove power and install LED1 two menu items (Counter and
and C15. Mount IC7 with the with an appropriate length of Metronome) or select any of the
metal heatsink tab against the two- conductor ribbon cable. three when displayed using Si.
heatsink pad on the PC board. Using shielded cable and the As pointed out earlier in the
Use No. 6 -32 nuts and bolts to audio jacks and plugs of your construction section, "00000
secure IC7 to the heatsink pad. choice, connect the input and Hz T" or "00000 Hz C" appears
Be careful with C6's polarity. headphone jacks to the PC when the 'Diner and Counter
lèmporarily attach a 9 -volt DC board as shown. The prototype mode are selected, respectively.
supply, and verify + 5 -volts DC has standard 1/4 -inch phone Connect the audio source and
at the output of IC7 (pin 3). jacks. The prototype has an in- select Tuner or Counter and pro-
Next, install all resistors and re- put jack (J1) that contains a ceed. Only the Tuner mode will
check your 5 -volts DC. Install all DPDT switch which applies display notes on the musical
capacitors, being careful to note power to Perfect Pitch when a '/c- scale along with frequencies.
the polarities of C3 and C7. In- inch phone plug is inserted. A An added feature places a" + " or
stall Ql and XTAL1, and again recharge jack that disconnects - " immediately following the
recheck the 5 -volt DC line. power to Perfect Pitch when the note to designate one cycle
Install the IC sockets and ver- charger is plugged in is also in- above ( + or below - ) the mu-
) (

ify that 5 -volts DC is present at corporated in the prototype. sical note shown in the display.
all pin locations shown in Fig. 2. Install IC6, the LM386 audio For example, "A - 439 Hz T" de-
Once you are sure the power dis- power amplifier. Plug a set of notes a signal that's one cycle
tribution is correct, connect an headphones into headphone - below the universal A 440 Hz.
appropriate length of 14 -con- jack J3 and apply power. Touch Conversely, the display 'A+ 441
ductor ribbon cable between the ungrounded input conduc- Hz T" denotes 1 cycle above A
the LCD display module and PC tor of J1; you should hear a buzz 440 Hz. The Tuner mode's musi-
board using the pin- connection or pop that corresponds to your cal -note identification function
information given in Fig. 4. Use touch. If not, recheck the work spans from C 32 Hz to C 1046
a 3- conductor ribbon cable to done in the audio -amplifier sec- Hz, or five musical octaves.
connect contrast- potentiome- tion. Install a jack for the auxili- Above a frequency of 1046 Hz,
ter R2. If you expect to adjust ary input (J2), and perform the only frequency is displayed.
the contrast often, mount R2 so touch test on it. In the Counter mode, Perfect
it is accessible without having Install IC3, IC4, and IC5. Con- Pitch is a frequency counter.
to open the enclosure. The nect a signal source to J1 and You can also bypass IC5 com-
lengths of the ribbon cable headphones to J3 (the signal pletely and feed TTL signals di-
should not be excessive, but source can be a guitar, elec- rectly into pin 9 of IC4 -d. You
should allow for easy access to tronic keyboard, etc.) Apply can also use the Tyner function
the PC board when you open the power and select the Tuner if you bypass IC5 in favor of TTL
enclosure. function. When notes are inputs. Be sure to remove IC5 if
Install ICI, the 8751H, and struck, strummed, or keyed, you choose to run TTL only.
apply power. "PERFECT PITCH" you should see the gate LED il- The Metronome function,
should appear on the display for luminate and hear the audio in which alternately turns on the
a few seconds and then your headphones. The LCD left and right sides of the LCD,
"TUNER" should appear and re- should show a reading other and is the only function that
main on the display. than "00000" and possibly a you can control in real time; Si
Use a three -conductor ribbon note will appear at the far left of selects either "FASTER" or
cable to connect S1 to the PC the LCD. If so, everything is OK "SLOWER" while the function is
board. Apply power and wait for and you can mount Perfect invoked. A visual metronome al-
"TUNER" display to appear. Pitch in a permanent enclosure. lows you to keep time without
Center-off switch S1 will let you Figure 5 shows the inside of the having an audible tone or click
toggle through the menu selec- author's completed prototype. mixed into the headphones
tions "TUNER," "COUNTER," with your music.
and "METRONOME," in one di- Using Perfect Pitch The auxiliary input (J2) is ex-
rection and select the displayed Perfect Pitch is as easy to use clusively for mixing in head-
function in the other. If you se- as it is to build. There are only phone output from a radio, CD
lect the liner function, expect one switch, two inputs, and one player, or tape player. Inputs at
to see "00000 Hz T" on the dis- output to deal with. The con- J2 will not reliably trigger the
play. The same legend appears trast adjustment is usually counting circuitry. By adding
for the counter function except made once and forgotten. Use another output jack to the exist-
that "T" is replaced by "C." Se- your own judgement with re- ing output jack, you and a
lecting the Metronome function gard to contrast. friend can practice as a duet. n 57

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./ _ RC FiLTERS

Fj44

Understand
resistive-capacitive
filters and learn how to use
them in your projects
and experiments RAY MARSTON

THE TERM FILTER DESCRIBES A ters in greater detail. The big simple RC, low -pass filter that
wide variety of frequency-selec- advantage of active filters is that passes low- frequency signals
tive circuits. Certain frequen- they do not require inductors, but rejects those with higher
cies pass through a given filter which can be large and heavy at frequencies. Resistor R1 is in
while others are attenuated. low frequencies. Active filters series with the load, and capaci-
There are four basic filter need only R and C components, tor Cl, the reactive element,
types:low -pass, high -pass, but they require some kind of shunts the load. This filter ex-
bandpass, and band rejection power supply. hibits a gradual rolloff begin-
or notch. Filters composed of re- A capacitor by itself has inher- ning at the upper cutoff
sistive (R), inductive (L), and ca- ent filtering capability for alter- frequency where capacitive re-
pacitive (C) elements are called nating current because capaci- actance equals the value of re-
passive filters. Activefilters in- tive reactance, Xc, is inversely sistor R. Because it is a low-pass
clude high -gain operational am- proportional to frequency filter, there is only one cutoff fre-
plifiers with passive filter feed- fe = 1 /2nRC quency, and it can be deter-
back networks.
Filter circuits that contain
only resistors and capacitors
It blocks direct current com-
pletely and opposes the passage
of low- frequency signals al-
f
mined by the formula:
= 1 /27(RC = 1/6.28RC =
0.159/RC
are called resistive -capacitive though signal passage becomes The cutoff frequency (fe) is
(RC); those that contain only in- progressively easier as frequen- that frequency at which the sig-
ductors and capacitors are cy increases. nal output voltage is 6 decibels
called inductive -capacitive (LC). (dB) below its peak level.
Filter circuits generally com- Low-pass and high-pass Table 1 lists the formulas for
bine inductive and capacitive Filters contribute to the oper- determiningfc, R, and C for the
components because inductive ation of many different circuits schematics in this article that
reactance increases with fre- by screening out unwanted fre- do not include component val-
quency, and capacitive reac- quencies and allowing only the ues. In these formulas 2n has
tance decreases with frequency. wanted ones to pass. Resistive - been converted to the number
The two opposing effects permit capacitive filters are better suit- 6.28.
many possibilities in all filter ed for low- frequency filtering The cutoff-frequency can also
design. (up to 100 kHz), whereas induc- be measured at the half-power
However, this article will tive- capacitive filters are better points as shown in Fig. 1 -b.
focus on RC filters and applica- suited for high- frequency filter- These are at 70.7% of the peak
tions. Later articles will review ing (above 100 kHz). power with the real power dissi-
58 LC filters and look at active fil- Figure 1 -a is the circuit of a pated at 50% of maximum. The

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half-power point is the upper that a band of frequencies not
cutoff frequency of a low-pass R1 stopped by either filter is
filter. VIN
passed.
Cl A typical bandpass filter re-
High-pass filter sponse curve, as shown in Fig.
The high -pass filter passes 5 -b, has a generally trapezoidal
high frequencies and opposes shape with a positive slope on
or blocks the passage of low fre- the low- frequency (left) end in-
quencies. As shown in Fig. 2a,
Od B
dicating the limit of the high -
the simplest high -pass filter -3dB pass stopband and a negative
consists a single capacitor in se- Vow slope on the high- frequency
ries with the load and a resistor VIN
SLOPE
6dB /OCTAVE
(right) end defining the low-
that shunts the load. Capacitor pass stopband. The flat top of
Cl opposes current flow that the curve (0 dB) indicates con-
0
stant signal gain.
varies inversely with frequency.
The higher the frequency, the
o
FREQUENCY -I. The bandwidth of the filter is
smaller the opposition, mea- the frequency difference be-
sured in ohms. The filter com- FIG. 1-LOW-PASS RC FILTER circuit (a), tween the half-power, or - 3dB
pletely or partially blocks sig- and frequency response curve (b). points. These are the points
nals at low frequencies, but
permits their passage as fre-
quency increases. TABLE i
Figure 2 -b shows the positive FORMULAS FOR DETERMINING
FILTER COMPONENT VALUES
slope at the high- frequency end
of the frequency vs. gain re-
sponse curve for a high -pass fil- High- and Low -Pass Filter (Figs. t to 5)
ter. The pass band is defined as Balanced Wien Tone Filter (Figs. 6 to 10)
the area under the curve and 'Win -T Notch Filter (Figs. 11, 14, and 15)
the stop band is the area to the
left of the curve.
The high -pass filter cuts off or 1
fc=kHz
blocks all frequencies below the fc =
6.28 RC
cutoff frequency, fc, permiting 1
all those above that frequency to R= R = kilohms
pass. The half-power ( -3dB)
point of a high -pass filter is the
C=
6.28fcC
1 } C = microfarads
lower cutoff frequency. Both
6.28 fcR
high -pass and low -pass filters
have just one cutoff point, but
as will be explained later, both
bandpass and band-reject (or about 'ha of the product of R and
notch) filters have two cutoff fre- C. Thus the complete circuit
quencies. has a loop shift of 360 °, and it
Both of the filter circuits will oscillate at this frequency if
shown in Figs. 1 -a and 2 -a have the op-amp has sufficient gain.
a single RC stage and are known An op -amp with a gain of about
as a first -order filters. If a x 29 will compensate for filter
number (n) of these filters are losses and yield a loop gain fe
cascaded, they will form what is greater than one. 0dB ;

known as an nth -order filter. Figure 4 is a schematic for an


-3dB
800 -Hz phase -shift oscillator.
Phase -shift oscillator Potentiometer R4 must be ad- Your

Filters can be effectively cas- justed to give a clean output VIN SLOPE

caded by including them in the sinewave and potentiometer R6 ' 6d B/OCTAVE

feedback networks of opera-


tional amplifiers. Figure 3 is a
will vary the output gain. I n

FREQUENCY-
circuit for a third-order, high - Bandpass filter
pass filter that converts an op- A bandpass filter passes a
amp into a phase -shift os- specified frequency band while FIG. 2-HIGH -PASS RC FILTER circuit
cillator. The filter is inserted be- rejecting adjacent frequencies (a), and frequency response curve (b).
tween the output and the input above and below that passband.
of the inverting (180° phase - A bandpass filter can be made where the filter response is 3 dB
shift) amplifier. by combining (or cascading) a down from the maximum point
The filter will provide this high -pass filter with a low -pass on the curve. The bandwidth is
phase shift at a frequency of filter as shown in Fig. 5 -a so between fil (high pass and fc2 59

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Figure 6 -a is a special band -
pass filter called the Wien -tone
filter made by cascading a low -
pass and a high -pass filter with
the same cutoff frequencies.
This permits the filter to select R1=R2
tones with minimum attenua- Cl =C2 a
tion at a single frequency.
Resistors R1 and R2 have the 9.5d B
same values and they are equal
FIG. 3 -THIRD-ORDER HIGH -PASS
as a component in a
filter
phase -shift os- to the capacitive reactances of 1
cillator. Cl and C2 at the desired cutoff Vour

frequency. The Wien -tone filter VIN

(low pass). The formula for is called a balanced filter, a o


bandwidth is: term that always means with re-
Bandwidth in herz = f.2 -frl spect to ground.
o
FREQUENCY

The passband of a filter is the Figure 6 -b is the frequency - b

range of frequencies that pass response curve of the balanced


through the filter. Insertion loss Wien -tone filter with an at-
is the loss of signal strength ex- tenuation factor of 3 ( -9.5 dB) at to
perienced by the frequencies in L. The circuit's principal fea-
the passband passing through ture is its ability to shift input
the filter. If the filter were ab- signal phase + 90° and - 90 °, 00
sent, and the source and load and set it precisely at theft of 0°
were connected directly to each as shown in the phase -shift - 90°
other, the output signal would curve Fig. 6 -c. FREQUENCY
increase by the amount of the This filter can be combined
insertion loss. with an operational amplifier to
FIG. 6-
BALANCED WIEN -TONE FILTER
(a), frequency -response curve (b), and
phase-shift curve (c).
+9V TO +18V
R4
R1
56K
R2
10K
R3
10K
4.7K + become a sinewave oscillator as
(OUTPUT
C4
shown in Fig. 7. The outout of
LEVEL)
10µF the non -inverting amplifier
Cl C2
with a gain of about x 3 is fed
C3
.01 .01 .01 01 back to its input through R1
ISO 2N3904 Vour and CI to give a unity loop gain.
C5
R6
R5
220f1
100µF Band- reject filter
10K (SET
GAIN)
MEW A band -reject or notch filter
has a function that is the inver-
se of the passband filter. It is
able to reject one specific fre-
FIG. 4-PHASE -SHIFT OSCILLATOR produces 800Hz sinewaves.
quency, the stopband, but pass
all others. Figure 8 -a shows a
o band -reject filter that is a modi-
Cl R2 fication of the circuit shown in
VIN
Fig. 7.
R1 In this circuit resistors R2
and R4 divide the voltage with a
o
HIGH PASS
nominal attenuation factor of 3.
LOW PASS
As a result, the voltage divider
a and Wien filter outputs are iden-
0dB fc.IHIG f (LOW PASS) tical at f,
and the output,
T
volli
-3dB SLOPE
6dB /OCTAVE
which equals the difference be-
tween the two signals, becomes
I

zero.
VIN
SLOPE
The Wien- bridge band -reject
6dB/OCTAVE filter network can close a loop
10
i

around a high -gain operational


FREQUENCY
amplifier to form an oscillator as
b
shown in Fig. 9 -a. It might ap-
pear that the Wien filter's output
FIG. 5 -HIGH -PASS AND LOW-PASS FILTERS cascaded to make a bandpass filter (a), is fed to the input of the high -
60 and frequency response curve (b). gain amplifier that has its out-

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ganged switch Si permit fine
tuning and decade switching
tions above and below
Both the balanced twin -T and
f .

and trimmer potentiometer R6 the Wien-bridge filter have very


performs null trimming. low effective Q's. The value Q is
calculated by dividing the value
Twin-T filter off, by the bandwidth between
Figure 11 -a is a schematic for the filter's two -3 dB points. A
a twin -T notch filter. A prime typical value for a twin -T filter is
advantage of the filter is that its 0.24. The filter attenuates the
input and output signals share second harmonic off, 9 dB. By
a common -ground connection, contrast, an ideal notch filter
FIG. 7 -BASIC WIEN- FILTER -BASED would not attenuate the input
oscillator.
and its off -frequency attenua-
tion is less than that of the signal.
Wien- bridge filter. However, it This shortcoming of the twin -
also has a drawback: To work T filter can be overcome by
effectively, the values of all three "bootstrapping" the common
resistors (and the capacitive re- terminal of the filter, as shown
actances at a specified frequen- in simplified block diagram Fig.
cy) must be varied simulta- 12. High effective Q values can
be obtained with this circuit,
and attenuation of the second
harmonic off will be negligible.
An explanation of how a bal-
anced twin-T filter works can be
quite complicated, so the equiv-
.3 alent diagram Fig. 13 is pre-
sented here to simplify that
explanation. The filter has been
resolved into a parallel- driven,
low -pass filter (fe/2) and a high -
FREQUENCY
pass filter (2fr) whose outputs
b are connected to an RC voltage
a divider (fe). This output divider
+90° loads the two filters and affects
1-
their phase shifts.
I
As a result, the signals at
= °
points A and B are identical in
amplitude, but have phase
- 90° FREQUENCY
shifts of - 45° and + 45° respec-
C

FIG. 8-WIEN- BRIDGE NOTCH FILTER


(a), frequency- response curve (b), and R1 s R2
phase -shift curve. INPUT 910n S 10K

put fed back to the Wien filter's b


O r----
R3-a
10K
input to complete a positive FIG. 9 -THE WIEN -BRIDGE OS- OUTPUT
feedback loop. CILLATOR (a) is the equivalent of the
However, if the circuit is re- oscillator shown at (b). -0 e--
drawn as in Fig. 9 -b, it is clear 3PC
that the op-amp actually func- neously. This filter is balanced Cl
p
C2 C3 I
t R5
4.7K

tions as a x 3 non -inverting am- when its components have the 1 0.1 .01
R6
plifier, and that the circuit is precise ratios shown in Fig. 1 500s1

similar to that shown in Fig. 7. 11 -a. For perfect nulling, the --


R3-b (SET NULL)
10K
R1 /2 resistor value must be
1

Some form of automatic gain 2a1. b-


control will be needed if high - carefully adjusted. R4
3

quality sinewaves are to be gen- The distinctive notched fre- 9100


Cl
1pF
C2
0.1
C3
.01
erated from this circuit. quency- response curve for the
The tuned frequency of the balanced twin -T filter is shown
Wien- bridge network can be in Fig. 11 -b. Notice that atf the FREQUENCY RANGES
changed by simultaneously al- notch has a value of zero. The (POSITIONS ON S1)
tering its two resistor or capaci- abrupt phase shift curve is 1. 15Hz TO 150Hz

tor values. Figure 10 is the shown in Fig. 11 -c. The filter has 2. 150Hz TO 1.5kHz
3. 1.5kHz TO 15kHz
schematic for a wideband (15 Hz zero phase shift at fer, but that
to 15 kHz) variable -notch filter. phase shift changes sharply to FIG. 10- VARIABLE -FREQUENCY,
Ganged potentiometer R3 and + 90° or - 90° for slight varia- Wien- bridge notch filter (15 Hz to 15 kHz). 61

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tively at f
At the same time, the
.

impedances of the R and C sec-


anced twin -T filter has a zero
output and zero phase shift at
tions of the output divider are L. As shown in Fig. 11 -c, if the
equal and introduce a 45° phase frequency is slightly below ff,
shift at L. Thus the divider the output is dominated by the
2C1 R1/2 effectively cancels the two phase response of its low-pass filter,
differences and gives a precise and is shifted in phase by - 90 °;
VIN
C1=C2
R1=R2
a
- VOUT
output of zero, the phase -can-
celled difference in amplitudes
f
at frequencies above , the out-
put is dominated by the re-
le
between the two signals. sponse of its high -pass filter,
Therefore, a perfectly bal- and is shifted in phase by + 90 °,
0.8 An unbalanced version of the
0.6
twin -T filter can be made by
V UT changing the value of the R1 /2
VoN 0.4
resistor to one that is not ideal.
0.2 If this resistor has a value great-
+ 0
er than R1 /2, the circuit will be
FREQUENCY positively unbalanced. It will
b
---,- act the same way as was just
+90°
VIN VouT described, but its notch will
have limited depth (it will not
T
PHASE
reach zero). However, it still of-
fers a zero phase shift at f .

If, by contrast, the resistor
0.6
has a value less of than R1 /2, the
= s0°
VOUT
0.4
circuit, as shown in Fig. 14 -a,
C
VIN
will be negatively unbalanced.
0.2 It will also give a notch of limited
FIG. 11- BALANCED TWIN -T NOTCH 1
0 depth, as shown in Fig. 14 -b,
FILTER (a), frequency- response curve
(b), and phase shift curve (C).
FREQUENCY
b
but it has the useful charac-
teristic of being able to produce
+ 160° output. There
will be a 180° phase shift atff, as
PHASE
shown in Fig. 14 -c.
180 Figure 15 is a schematic of a
negatively unbalanced twin -T
notch filter that can be a compo-
-200° nent in either a 1 kHz oscillator
c or a tuned acceptance filter. The
twin -T filter is connected be-
FIG. 14- NEGATIVELY UNBALANCED
TWIN -T FILTER provides a 180° phase
tween the input and output of
shift at fc (a), its frequency- response the high -gain inverting ampli-
curve (b), and phase -shift diagram (C). fier so that an overall shift of
360° occurs at ff.
The circuit will oscillate if po-
FIG. 12- BOOTSTRAPPED HIGH -Q AUDIO
tentiometer R6 is adjusted so
notch filter. FREQUENCY
INPUT Cl that the twin -T notch gives
.47 enough output so the system
has an overall gain greater than
unity.
2.= -45° ®f°
C2 C3
LOW -PASS
.01 .01 To convert the circuit to a tone
FILTER (lc /2) if= 0° f, ta
@ %I _
filter, adjust trimmer potenti-
2C1 ometer R6 to give a loop gain
R1 R2 that is less than unity, and feed
fo
VOLTAGE
an audio input signal through
DIVIDER C2
- C4 Cl and R1. Under this con-
'.02 dition, R1 and the twin -T filter
Cl
VIN
Votif
interact to form a frequency -
R1/2 0=4-45°©f, R4
15K:
sensitive circuit that gives high
negative feedback and low gain
R1=R2 to all frequencies except fc. The
HIGH -PASS
circuit gives little negative feed-
FILTER (2fb)

FIG. 13- EQUIVALENT CIRCUIT DI-


C1=C2

FIG. 15-A 1 KILOHERTZ OSCILLATOR/


ACCEPTANCE FILTER based on a nega-
OUTPUT
back and high gain at f
mer potentiometer R6 can vary
Tì-im-
.

62 AGRAM of the balanced twin -T filter. tively unbalanced twin -T network. the sharpness of the tuning. n
PHONE -LINE
AUTOCOUPLEA

//
+
- / \j..
/'c
-:_./ff`.'ir.-t ar
-
` %"'¡
1I I

1
~- `i
-
``- \ `Ñb 1 £

i7'\
-

-'
°zs t
Build this autocoupler
and you can automatically connect
your telephone line to a variety of projects.
MIKE HAGANS and KYLE MAGRILL

LAST MONTH WE DESCRIBED THE phone coupler that incorpo- lease the line to be ready for the
MPC -2 telephone interface. The rates an entire MPC -2 circuit. next call.
MPC -2 provides ring detection, The autocoupler's logic The autocoupler contains an
line- current detection, a caller- monitors the RING DETECT and isolated relay that can signal the
ID compatible audio path, and LINE -CURRENT DETECT lines from beginning of a call, or that can
all the isolation, audio limiting, the MPC -2 circuit and causes it stay latched for the duration of
and protective elements to to "pick up," or go off -hook, the call to control external
make it-and anything con- after detecting an incoming equipment. Remote pick -up
nected to it-
comply with the ring. When the line- current de- and hang -up switches can be
connected to the autocoupler,
FCC's Part 68 rules. This month tector signals that the calling
we'll discuss and build an auto - party has hung up, the auto - and LED's can indicate ring and
answer /auto-disconnect tele- coupler forces the MPC -2 to re- on -line conditions. 63
á Electronics Now, June 1993

IC6
Vcc
6 1111M1
JUMPERS
R13 < J3-10 >
JUl -AUTO PICKUP ENABLE. 1K
yV J3 11
EXTERNAL ENABLE SIGNAL
R15
REQUIRED WHEN Off. 6 1K
JU2 -AUX RELAY MODE SELECT
1 -2 = MOMENTARY

2-3 = LATCHED FOR DURATION Of CALL LED2


8
RING 10 J3-9
JU3 -AUTO HANGUP ENABLE. IC5c >
1/4 4003 IC3-a
R7 1/4 4011
19 R3
Vcc 100K 100K
MPC -2 CIRCUIT IC2
< J3-13
Cl R6
J1 1111M1 C7
.56 10K 40
RJ_1' TIP 2 1
IC5-a IC3-b
2 1
1/4 4913 OO1 j 2 1/1 4011
MOV1 Jul IC4
o R1 RY2 PICKUP MODE NE556
300V C6+
22K4 RING DETECT
OPEN COLLECTOR OUT 4,7µF RIOS
C4 < J3-4 1K
RING RY1
p > 13
.1 4 C5
J3-3 1 IC3-d
> PICK UP R9
.01 1/4 4011
tt
J2-4 C8)4+ 100K
1 1
J3-1 _ 2
Slo
' 1N270
D1 D2
111370
C2
01
'
q J3-2
>
Vcc
.o
O
4.7µF Vcc

HANG UP
J3-5 t-
J2 2 9
R2 I D4
AUDIO IN/OUT1 10 IC3-c R8 S
1K VCC AUX RELAY I 1114004 100K
600 OHMS V4 4011
R11
LINE SEIZE 8
+ J2-8 JU2 ¡ 5.1K
1 1
° 62
D3
AUX MODEI I 2114401
12VDC 3 11
1114084 I 01
RELAY POWER
2114401
_ J2-6
12
IC5-0
13 1/4 4093
4

IC1 6 LINE CURRENT DETECT' JU3 O I


N11M1 OPEN COLLECTOR OUT R4 AUTO
L I 2.7K 2
-- __1 HANGUP Q
LEDI 'M
V,.c
. ONLINE R10
ViN o OUT
1 10K
C9 VI 1C7 VO -46---/) +12VDC CURRENT- R5
.01 LM7812 100K J3-8
+ LIMITED
GND 7C
12 -18 VAC OUTPUT
2 BLANK
Cl 0 VN J3 -7 o PIN
C12 <J3 -12 I < > J3 -14 TO J3 -25 >
1010µF
100µF R14
( <J3-6>
470
FIG. 1 -THE AUTOCOUPLER CIRCUIT shown with the included MPC -2 section. The
MPC -2 interface meets all technical requirements in the FCC Part 68. rules,
PICK UP

OFF o. oS1
HANG UP

o
AUDIO IN
o

POWER IN

12 7018 VAC

--/
FIG. 2- PARTS-PLACEMENT DIAGRAM. Voltage -regulator IC7 should be heatsinked. The duration of the 555
Note that the MPC -2 section must be built exactly as described to be type-approvable.
timer's high output is con-
trolled by C8 and R3, and lasts
Circuitry timer (IC4), which is set up in for about half a second. The
A stand -alone MPC -2 board monostable (one-shot) mode. 555's output turns on two tran-
can be connected to the auto - The cleaned -up ring- detect sistors; Q2 is the open-collector
coupler board with an 8 -wire signal from IC5 -a also feeds the momentary output that ap-
ribbon cable or the parts for the ring- detect LED circuit consist- pears on J3 pin 3; Q3 is one of
MPC -2 section can be installed ing of IC5 -b and IC5 -c in paral- two transistors (selectable via
directly on the autocoupler lel. The inputs of those two Jumper JU2) that can operate
board. Figure 1 shows the auto - gates are pulled high during a the auxiliary output relay. The
coupler along with the MPC -2 ring, causing their outputs to 555 also feeds NAND gate IC3 -b,
circuit. go low. When that happens, ring which is set up as an inverter.
The RING -DETECT output of the indicator LED2 turns on. When A set -reset latch is formed by
MPC -2 interface is pulled up by manual -pickup switch S1 (a NAND gates IC3 -c and -d. One in-
resistor R6 and conditioned by momentary SPDT switch with put of each gate is tied to the
capacitor C6 and IC5 -a, a 4093 center-off) is activated, pin 2 of output of the other, and the re-
Schmitt-trigger NAND gate con- the 555 gets pulled low as if a maining two inputs (one on
figured as an inverter. The hys- ring had occurred. The 1K re- each gate) are pulled high by re-
teresis action of the 4093 sig- sistor (R16) connected to Si lim- sistors R8 and R9. Before a ring
nificantly cleans up the RING DE- its C7's instantaneous current occurs, the latch's output (pin
TECT signal, presenting a flow when the switch is acti- 11 of IC3 -d) is low, and stays that
square wave (high during the vated, protecting IC5 -a. way because it holds one input
incoming ring signal) to one Jumper All is located be- of IC3 -c (pin 9) low, which
side of capacitor C7. That ca- tween pin 3 of IC5 -a and C7. If causes IC3 -c's output to be
pacitor is normally charged JU1 is left open, optocoupler high. That output keeps pin 12
through the 100K pull -up re- IC6 provides the pickup-enable of IC3 -d high, and the circuit is
sistor (R7) while the output of signal. The two inputs to the in stasis until triggered by the
IC5 -a is low. When the output of optocoupler (pins 1 and 2) are previous stage (IC3-b) after an a
IC5 -a goes high, C7 discharges. connected to pins 10 and 11 of incoming ring. á
When IC5 -a's output goes low the DB -25 connector J3. An ex- Pulling the SET input of the
again at the end of the ring, C7 ternal AC or DC voltage from 5 latch (IC3 -d pin 13) low causes
momentarily loads down R7 (as to 30 volts will turn on IC6, en- IC3 -d's output to go high. That
it charges). The momentary low abling the ring signal to trigger causes IC3 -c's output, and the
triggers the input of the 555 the 555. other input of IC3 -d. to go low. 65

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phone line current is estab-
lished again.
When the coupler is on -line,
the only time the latch's RESET
line should go low (and cause a
reset) is when both inputs of
IC5 -d are high. That happens
only when the 555's output is
low and the output of the line -
current detector (IC1) is off, or
high, as happens briefly when
the telephone company's cen-
tral office signals that the call-
ing party has hung up.
The output of the latch, when
set, turns on transistors Q1,
Q4. and Q5. Transistor Q1 sup-
plies ground for the line -seize
relay RY1, Q4 can turn on the
auxiliary-output relay RY2 (if se-
lected by jumper JU2), and Q5
turns on the on -line indicator
LEDI through current -limiting
resistor R12.
FIG.3-AN ASSEMBLED, type -approved autocoupler board. You can purchase an Construction
assembled one from the source in the Parts List. You can make your own dou-

PARTS LIST
All resistors are 1/4-watt, 5 %. Q1 -05- 2N4401 NPN transistor (0.1" jumpers for JU1 -JU3)
R1- 22,000 ohms BR1 -DT102 DIP bridge rectifier Note: The following items are
R2, R12, R13, R15, R16 -1000 (1A, 100V) available from CircuitWerkes,
ohms LED1, LED2- light- emitting diode, 6212 SW 8th PI, Gainesville, Fl
R3, R5, R7, R8, R9- 100,000 ohms any color 32607 (904) 331 -5999:
R4.-2700 ohms Other components
R6, R10- 10,000 ohms
R11 -5100 ohms
J1- RJ -11c right -angle, PC -mount
telephone jack (must be 50
Double- sided, silkscreened
autocoupler PC board only
$14.95
-
R14-47 ohms micro -inch gold -plated) Autocoupler PC board with
Capacitors J2 -8 -pin male header, 2 x 4, pre -built Part-68 registered
C1 -0.56 µF, 250 -volts, Mylar matching female IDC connector, MPC -2 section -$39.95
C2, C5, CO 0.01 µF, 50- volts, ce- and ribbon cable (optional, see Complete autocoupler kit
ramic dise text) with pre -built Part -68 regis-
C3, C4-0.1 µF, 250 -volts, Mylar J3- short -style right -angle PC- tered MPC -2 section (no en-
C6, C8-4.7 F. radial electrolytic mount DB -25 connector closure)-$69.95
C7, C12 -0.1 .F, metal -film JU1, JU3-1 x 2 jumper block Fully assembled and tested,
010, C11 -100 µF, 35 volts, radial JU2 -1 x 3 jumper block Part -68 registered autocoupler
electrolytic T1 -Telco line- isolation transformer (no enclosure)-$99.95
Semiconductors (Dale TA- 40 -01) Screen- printed black plastic
IC1, IC2, IC6- H11AA1 AC -input MOV1- 300 -volt axial metal -oxide enclosure with machined end
optoisolator (GE) varistor panels for the autocoupler-
103 -4011 CMOS quad NAND gate RY1, RY2 -12 -volt DPDT relay $26.00
104-555 timer (Midland Ross 190- 22B100) Include $3.50 for shipping and
105 -4093 CMOS quad Schmitt - Miscellaneous: PC board, three 6- handling. Add $4.50 for COD
trigger NAND gate pin DIP sockets, one 8 -pin DIP (cash or certified funds only).
IC7- LM7812T 12 -volt regulator socket, two 14 -pin DIP sockets, Arizona and Florida residents
D1, D2 -1N270 germanium diode T0- 220-type stand-up heatsink must include appropriate sales
D3, D4- 1N4001 diode (for IC7), three shorting blocks tax.
The circuit remains in that con- pin 12 of IC5 -d low, preventing ble -sided PC board using the
dition until the RESET input the latch from resetting for the foil patterns we've provided, or
(IC3 -c pin 8) goes low, toggling duration of the 555's pulse. purchase one from the source
the latch back to its original After about a quarter of a sec- mentioned in the Parts List.
state. This takes us back to in- ond, the line- current detector Kits are available from the same
verter IC3 -b whose output does (IC1) prevents the latch's RESET source.
two things: It triggers the SET line from going low by holding Note that two 2 x 4 -pin head-
66 input of the latch, and it holds pin 13 of IC5 -d low while tele- ers with mating IDC connectors

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uuuuuuuuuuuu sink. The indicator LED's can
OD either be board -mounted or
D O o 0 panel- mounted and connected
0 o
00 D
o °
00D ° with wire jumpers. When the
00 board is finished, insert the IC's
o o 0 into their respective sockets.
O o o o o
o o
000 0 o
Figure 3 shows a completed
ooo o
o 00 o unit.
o o
O o o0
D o o
NN
zu o o Initial testing
D-
U
0 o o o Verify that all IC's are properly
ID
o0 o installed and that polarity -sen-
JZ o
o sitive devices are oriented prop-
o o
00 D 000 o o erly before connecting power,
0 0 oD
o o°0 audio, or a phone line to the au-
o o D tocoupler. Then, you can con-
o

te
o nect 12 to 18 volts (AC or DC) to
o
00 the board's power -input pads.
o o When power is applied, the two
o o relays will energize for about a
o D half second, and then drop out.
o That indicates the initial opera-
D o 0 0 0 o D tion of the one -shot and latch
circuits. If the unit is connected
Vie INCHES to a phone line when powered
COMPONENT SIDE for the autocoupler board. up, it will seize the line and hold
it until a line current zero- cross-
ing occurs, at which point the
unit will drop the line.
Almost every modern central
office in this country generates
a zero -crossing in the tele-
phone -line battery voltage less
than a minute after dial tone is
applied to the line-if no ac-
tivity is detected in that period
of time. That also occurs after
the calling party hangs up. If
your local central office is one of
the rare systems that does not
support that signaling, you
might have to include a preset
timer or, preferably, a dial -tone
detector that will hang up your
autocoupler automatically.
If the initial power-up occurs
as has been described, you are
ready to test the device on the
phone line. Remember that the
phone line carries voltages that
are high enough to give you a
Os INCHES nasty shock if you happen to be
1.<
SOLDER SIDE for the autocoupler board.
touching the tip and ring con-
ductors on the bottom of the
and a piece of 8- conductor rib- board. Otherwise, you can MPC -2 coupler section during a
bon cable can be used to attach mount all of the parts on the ring.
a stand -alone MPC -2 board (see autocoupler board. Connect the RJ -11 jack to
Electronics Now, May 1993) to Solder the components on the your phone line with a standard
the autocoupler board, and board following the Parts- Place- modular cord, and have some-
then you would just leave out ment diagram in Fig. 2. one call your line. As soon as the
the MPC -2 parts on the auto - Voltage -regulator IC7 should phone starts ringing, you
coupler board. An 8 -pin header have a heat sink attached to it. should see LED2 light up. The
can also be used to mount the Be sure to apply heat-sink com- coupler should answer at the
MPC -2 board as a daughter pound on the back of the reg- end of the first ring: when it
board on top of the autocoupler ulator before attaching the heat continued on page 72 67

www.americanradiohistory.com
www.americanradiohistory.com
\ \\\\\
\\\\\\\\\.. s
a\\\\\\\\ s ; ..'
\A\\\\\u\\\ ..a..a,a\\ d
q
ur computer into an invisible household robot!
::::::üü:
,......,............,,,.,.,.
\.\\. \..\.\\.\ ..,.\,....,\.
.,,,...,,..:::
......., ... ...., .,\,,..
...,

a..::::.....\\%1
........ .............. .. :-a

PC BASED .® :

UNIVERSAL
REMOTE
CONTROL
o

JON BEK
INVISIBOT IS THE NAME OF THE AU- "smart" units that can control The other type of "smart" re-
thor's home -control system. It several devices, even ones from mote is preprogrammed with
stands for Invisible Robot. In- different manufacturers, but the signal patterns for many
visibot started off by combining the thought of buying yet one popular devices. lb set up a pre-
X-10 control with a voice- recog- more remote holds limited ap- programmed remote, you enter
nition and synthesis system. peal. Invisibot was created to a code corresponding to the
That gave the author the ca- eliminate the need to push any model of TV or VCR you want to
pability to say things like remote -control buttons again. control; henceforth, the remote
Please dim the lights, and have will use those codes. The advan-
Invisibot respond accordingly. Universal remotes tage of the preprogrammed re-
(Note that our sidebar contains There are two types of univer- mote is that it's faster and
detailed information on the sal remote controls: learning simpler to set up; in addition,
X -10 and voice -control parts of and preprogrammed. Typically you can use one to replace a lost
the system.) both can remember the codes or damaged original. This proj-
The one thing he wanted In- for several devices. In addition ect uses a Memorex AV-4 pre-
visibot to do that wasn't avail- to its infrared transmitter, the programmed "smart" remote,
able "off-the- shelf' was to con- "learning" control also has an IR that can be purchased from a
trol TV's, VCR's, and other IR- receiver that it uses to learn how corner drugstore for about $40.
controlled consumer -elec- to control your devices. You put
tronics gear. Even though we all the universal remote into a Rows and columns
have several remotes to control "learn" mode, point your other The AV-4 consists of one IC, a
these toys, they always seem to remote at it, and press a button. few resistors, several diodes,
hide under seat cushions, in The universal remote then the infrared transmitter LED's,
magazines, and other unlikely memorizes the pattern it re- a capacitor, and a simple row-
places. When we do manage to ceives. That pattern can be as- by-column, or matrix keyboard.
locate a remote, it's usually the signed to a button on the Picture a tic -tac -toe board with
wrong one, or the batteries are learning remote so that each columns labeled 1, 2, 3, ... and
dead. We're sure you've experi- time you press that button in rows labeled A, B, C, Each
enced the same problem. the future, the remote will send button on the keyboard corre-
se Of course, there are the the corresponding pattern. sponds to one letter/number

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pair. The goal was to devise a only a single uo line. combination to all five 4051's,
circuit that would connect to an The computer's parallel port but as long as the software driv-
existing PC simply and inex- connects to J1. Of the eight es only one of the five ÉN lines
pensively, and activate the rows lines, three form a bus that high, only a single row-column
and columns of the keyboard drives the address inputs, and connection can be made at any
matrix under software control. each of the other five lines driv- one time.
A standard parallel port pro- es a separate EN input on the To understand how the cir-
vides a suitable interface. All 4051's. That arrangement pre- cuit works, let's go through an
signals run at five volts, so con- sents the same binary input example. Assume first that the
necting to the remote is PC has set all the ÉN lines high,
straightforward. In addition, so all the 4051's are off, and no
the printer port is directly ad-
dressable, even in BASIC, so
SUPPLY -V
POSITIVE 16

4051
Vss
7 NEGATIVE
SUPPLY
row-column connections exist.
Now assume that we want the
programming wouldn't be a 13
0 ÉN
6 CHIP computer to "press" the key cor-
challenge. The only' problem 14
ENABLE
responding to intersection Al in
was how to control a 5 -by -8 15
1
the matrix. That corresponds to
2 I/O -3 a binary value of 001 at the ad-
switch matrix using only the 12
eight bits that comprise a stan- INPUT j 3 dress inputs. By driving AO high
dard parallel port. Five CMOS CHANNELS - .
4 AO
11
and the other two (Al and A2)
4051 8- channel analog multi- 5
5 Al
10 ADDRESS
INPUTS
low, we obtain 001.
plexers make the job easy. 2
6 A2
9 With the 4051's still disabled,
The 4051's, shown in Fig. 1, 4
7 GND GROUND
the PC drives the line of ICI
have three address inputs (Ao. Al, low, which turns the device on.
and A2), eight channel inputs FIG. 1 -THE 4051's have three address
That makes the connection be-
(0-7), and an input/output (uo) inputs, eight channel inputs, and an I/O tween row A and column 1, just
pin. Each 4051 internally con- pin. One of the eight channels is con- as if we'd physically pressed
nects one of its eight channel nected to I/O pin. that key.
lines to its uo pin. The channel
selected depends on the com- MY FRIEND, INVISIBOT
bination of signals applied to
the input -select lines. I've always been fascinated by robots. Modules vary in price and func-
The address inputs are Since the first time I saw "Forbidden
Planet" as a child, I was certain that
tionality, but their average cost is about
$12. You can purchase compatible mod-
weighted in a binary fashion (Ao someday one of those electronic ser- ules from Radio Shack, Sears, and
=1, Al = 2, A2 = 4). You select the vants would cater to my every whim. I Stanley hardware dealers.
desired channel by applying still don't have anything that looks like The CP290 controller attaches di-
"highs" to the appropriate ad- Robby the Robot, but do control many
I rectly to the serial port of your PC, and is
dress inputs. For example, to se- of the lights and appliances in my house sold with software that allows you to start
lect input channel 5, you would with spoken commands -and my invisi- controlling your home immediately. The
ble robot responds verbally as well! CP290 typically sells for about $40; you
apply + 5 volts to the AO and A2 The primary elements of "Invisibot" can purchase one from Egghead Soft-
address inputs. The three ad- came as two off-the -shelf accessories ware or Radio Shack. I was fortunate
dress inputs provide a total of for my PC: the X -10 CP290 computer enough to be able to purchase mine
23, or eight combinations, interface, and the Covox Voice Master some time ago for $19 on a close -out
ranging from 0 to 7. Key system. sale.
The 4051 has one other in- The X -10 product has been around for The other major component of the In-
visibot consists of a Covox Voice Master
put, chip enable, or i-N for short. years; it consists of a master control unit
Key, which provides both speech recog-
and one module for each appliance you
When i:N is brought high, the IC want to control. The modules can be nition and synthesis. The Master Key
prevents any connection be- installed in place of normal light switch- plugs into a standard PC bus; it can
tween 1io and the input chan- es in the wall, or plugged in between the record and play back speech or other
nels, regardless of the states of AC power outlet and the device being sounds, and includes an excellent
the address inputs. controlled. speech -recognition package.
The X -10 system communicates corn - A memory- resident software module
mands to the control modules by taking allows you to store a set of commands,
Circuit details advantage of the fact that higher fre- each of which can be sent to DOS when
The complete circuit, shown quencies can piggyback on top of lower the board recognizes a given phrase.
in Fig. 2, consists of five 4051's, frequencies. The power service in your For example, when speak the com-
I

some pull -up resistors, and a home is low- frequency 60 -Hz alternat- mand, "Oh butler, brighten the den," the
connector. Note that the eight ing current. The X -10 system injects system sends the proper commands to
high- frequency signals via the power DOS to: 1) Play back a prerecorded
columns from the remote's key- outlet on the 60 Hz. The information en- voice file containing the words, "Yes sir!
board form a "bus" to which the coded in those high- frequency signals Right away sir!" and 2) Run the X -10
eight channel lines of all five then travels over your existing house control program with the proper param-
4051's are connected in parallel. wiring to the control modules, which de- eters to increase brightness in the den to
Also note that each of the re- code and act on it. 100%.
mote's five rows connects to the Each module must normally be set to Not being content to control things
through X -10 modules, I then designed
uo line of a different 4051. Thus, a unique address; the control module
the universal remote control project de-
sends one command at a time to a
all the channel lines will be se- unique address. scribed here. 12
lected simultaneously, but with 69

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COLUMN PC board patterns are provided.
+6V The following are instructions
AV-4 KEYBOARD MATRIX
13
0 Vec
16 t for disassembling the remote
r
14
1 I/O
3 control, mounting its PC board
15 6 on a piece of perforated board,
r 2 EN
wiring the 4051's, making the
/ 12 11

8
IC1
1
3
4051
AO
10
remainder of the connections,
4 Al and installing the device in a
9
r
5
5 A2 suitable enclosure.
r
2
6 GND First, remove the PC board
r
4
7 Vss from the AV-4 and clip off the
metal battery contacts, leaving
+6V long power leads. Next, identify
r
13
0 Vcc
16 t the row and column locations of
14
I/O
the keyboard matrix. Then,
15 6 using a hobby knife, carefully
r IC2
ÉN
scrape a small patch of insulat-
12 11
4051 AO
ing paint from each trace of the
10
4 Al matrix, leaving its shiny copper
5
/ A2 surface exposed.
r
2
GND Carefully solder connecting
r
4
Vss
7 wires to the exposed traces of
the AV-4 board. Cleaning them
+6V with a new rubber eraser or al-
13 16 cohol swab will help make a bet-
Vcc
14 ter solder connection. Tinning
I/0 the wire and the traces before
15 EN 6
r
12 IC3
11
J1 soldering will also help.
r 4051 AO DB-25
Mount the components on
/ 4 Al
10 19 the perforated construction
/
5
A2 AO
board, leaving enough space for
GND 8 the AV-4, as shown in Fig. 3.
/ 4
3
Mount five 16 -pin DIP sockets
4 for the 4051's, and a sixth to be
Vss 7
+6V
o used as a socket for the eight
13 16 t 6
pull -up resistors. Then make all
cc
14 3
connections, using Fig. 2 as a
/
15
ua
6
wiring guide. Remember to con-
12
IC4 EÑ
11
nect pin 16 of each IC to Vcc,
r 4051 AO
131 R3 R5 R7
9 and pins 7 and 8 to ground.
/ Al
10
2.2K 2.2K 2.2K 2.2K Connect the power leads of
/
5
A2
9 the circuit and the AV-4 to the
r
2
GND
8 wall -mount transformer, care-
/ 4
Vss
R2 R4 R6 R8 fully observing polarity. Bend
2.2K 2.2K 2.2K 2.2K the resistor leads to fit cleanly
+6V into the DIP socket, remove ex-
13 16
cess lead length, and insert the
14
cc resistors. Now insert the 4051's,
I/0
15
/ IC5 EN
6
12 4051 AO
11
+6V PARTS LIST
10 Vcc
/ 4 A1 R1 R8-2200 ohms, '/a-watt
5
A2 IC1IC5--4051 CMOS -of-8 decoder
1
2
GND J1-25-pin female DB -25 connector
4 7
6-volt DC, 300 mA, wall-mount trans-
Vss former
Six 16-pin DIP sockets
FIG. 2-
INVISIBOT DRIVES A UNIVERSAL REMOTE CONTROLLER with five 4051 1- Perforated construction board
of-8 multiplexors. Universal remote control (Memorex
AV-4 or equivalent)
6 -foot male -to -male DB -25 ribbon cable
Remember that until i-N goes Construction Metal project case large enough to ac-
high again, the remote control Because of the simplicity of commodate construction board and
will act as if the key remains the circuit, the prototype was remote control
PC -board standoffs and mounting hard-
pressed. Hence the software built using wire -wrap and ware
70 must reassert point -to -point techniques. No

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observing normal rules for han-
dling electrostatic discharge -
sensitive devices. Now we're
ready to test the controller.
Important: Always apply
power to the interface before at-
taching it to the PC, and discon-
nect it from the PC before
turning off the controller. Be-
cause the interface draws very
little power, you might want to
leave it on all the time.
Use a nibbling tool (or a drill
and a file) to make openings in
the project enclosure for the
DB -25 connector (J1), the
power cable, and the AV-4's in-
frared LED's. Mount the board
in the enclosure using four
stand -offs, and the interface is
complete.
Programming considerations FIG. 3 -MOUNT THE CONTROLLER AND CIRCUIT BOARD in the case as shown here.
We don't have enough space
to present a complete listing of
the entire program. Moreover, if LISTING 1- LISTING 2 -STALL ROUTINE
you don't use an AV-4 and a INVISIBOT CONSTANTS REM * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * **
Sony TV, the commands won't REM * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * **
REM * STALL ROUTINE
REM *
work for you anyway. However, REM * INVISIBOT INTERFACE CONTROL
* * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
*
** REM * make a URC keypress long *
we present enough information REM
REM
REM * enough to ensure command
REM * gets sent, then clear the *
*

so that you can test the unit and REM 1pt 1 port = 378h = 888 decimal REM * keypress and allow circuit *
REM data lines: A = 1, B = 2, C = 4
modify the command structure REM chip inhibit lines: chip i = 8,
REM * to settle
REM * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * **
to suit your needs. In addition, REM
REM
chip 2 = 16, chip 3 = 32,
chip 4 = 64, chip 5 = 128
stall:
the code will be posted on the REM hold the button down
REM for a time
Electronics Now BBS REM * *
chipl
* ***
= 255
chip ENABLES table * * * * *
- 8 - 7
FOR i = 1 TO 1500
NEXT i
(516- 293 -2283, 1200/2400, chip2 = 255 - 16 - 7
8N1) as a file called chip3
chip4
=
=
255
255
- 32 - 7
- 64 - 7
REM
REM
let all buttons up and wait
for a time ...
NVISIBOT.BAS. All code was de- chip5 = 255 - 128 - 7
OUT 888, 255
veloped in Microsoft Quick - REM * * * * ** data channel table
REM
REM
FOR i = 1 TO 5
NEXT i
BASIC. data° = 1
datai = 2
The interface uses only the data2 3
RETURN
REM * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * **
data lines of the port, and ig- data3 = 4
data4 = 5
nores the control lines, so the data5 = 6
data6 = 7 OUT 888, ROWA + COD
software does not use the famil- data? = 0
iar LPRINT command. Instead, REM * * * * ** chip correspondence * * **
Next execute a short delay, and
it uses the OUT instruction, REM 1 chip# 1URC Row then disable all rows and col-
which sends a byte of data di- REM
REM 2
1 A
B umns. Listing 2 shows a sub-
rectly to the specified port. REM
REM
3 C
D
routine that delays processing
Listing 1 shows a set of con- REM
4
5 E after "pressing" a key, followed
stants that makes it easy to rowa chipl
by a "release" of all keys.
specify different rows and col- rowb = chip2 Listing 3 shows a demonstra-
umns in the software. The first rowc
rowd
=
=
chip3
chip4 tion routine that selects the TV
group (Chip1- Chip5) provides rows = chip5 mode of the AV-4, turns on the
the values to enable each 4051; REM * * * * ** data correspondence * * * * TV, ramps up the volume,
the second group shows the val- REM
REM
ABC
000
URC Column changes the channel, and turns
ues to enable each row of the REM 001
1
2 the TV off again. Unless you use
matrix; and the third group REM
REM
010
011
3
4
an AV-4 and a Sony TV, these
shows the values to enable each REM 100 5 commands probably won't work
column. Enabling a particular REM
REM
101
110
6
7
for you.
position in the matrix is simply REM 111 0 Listing 4 shows a diagnostic
a matter of executing an OUT routine that enables each row
statement. (Editor's Note: Deter- LPTI at an address of 0378 and column of the matrix, re-
mining the address of your LPT hex, or 888 decimal.) 'R) enable questing that you press Enter
port can be tricky; more on that position Al in the matrix, ex- after each position. The routine
below. For now, assume use of ecute the command: will be useful for verifying that 71
AUTOCOUPLER
LISTING 3- LISTING 4-
EXERCISE FUNCTIONS SONY TEST COMMANDS continuedfrom page 67
REM * * * ** ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * **rrr REM the next piece of code
REM the following code exercises REM initializes the URC for
REM some basic command functions REM a SONY TV (000) does, LED1 will light up. Con-
REM select the tv
REM the "INPUT x" statements
REM aren't necessary, they're nect an audio source to the au-
REM as the device to control REM just here so you can dio leads and try sending some
REM observe each command.
PRINT "sending tv: a5"
OUT 888, rows 4 col5 REM The AV -4 has a surface - audio down the line. Your call-
GOSUB stall REM mounted LED that blinks
REM once as each command is
ing party should hear it loud
INPUT x
REM received, and multiple and clear. Next, connect an am-
REM turn on the tv
PRINT "sending POWER: e6"
REM times when e valid device
REM code has been
plifier and speaker, to the audio
OUT 888, rows + col6 REM successfully programmed. port and listen to the calling
REM
GOSUB stall
INPUT x PRINT "sending A: e5" party. Shortly after the caller
OUT 888, rowe + col5
GOSUB stall
hangs up, the coupler should
REM crank up the volume
FOR k - 1 TO 20 automatically drop the line.
PRINT "sending VOLUME UP: b6" INPUT x With your amplifier still con-
OUT 888, rowb + col6
GOSUB stall PRINT "sending V: e3" nected, pick up an extension
INPUT x
NEXT k
OUT 888, rowe + col3
GOSUB stall
phone; you should hear the dial
tone through your off-line cou-
REM change the tv channel
PRINT "sending CHANNEL DOWN: c6"
INPUT x
pler. That confirms the audio
OUT 888, rowe + col6 PRINT "sending 4: el"
OUT 888, rowe + coil
pass- through from the MPC -2
GOSUB stall
INPUT x GOSUB stall section that makes the coupler
REM turn off the tv INPUT x
caller-ID compatible.
PRINT "sending POWER: e6" The remote connections can
OUT 888, rowe + col6
GOSUB stall
PRINT "sending #0: b2"
OUT 888, rowb + col2 be tested with a VOM. When the
GOSUB stall coupler first picks up, pin 5 of
END
INPUT x the DB -25 connector will go low
PRINT "sending #0: b2"
for a moment. Depending on
OUT 888, rowb + col2 which way you set jumper JU2,
GOSUB stall the contacts of relay RY2 (avail-
INPUT x able at J3, the DB -25 connector,
the circuit is wired properly. You PRINT "sending #0: b2" pins 1-4) will close either mo-
should see a change in the state OUT 888, rowb + coil
GOSUB stall
mentarily or will latch as the
of each line as it is tested. unit picks up. A ring signal will
'lb determine which LPT port INPUT x
REM * * * * * * * * * * ** end URC snit
produce a high output at pin 9
to use, run the program shown of J3.
in Listing 5. It will display the You should be able to force the
decimal and hexadecimal ad- coupler to pick up by momen-
dresses of those parallel ports tarily grounding pin 13 of J3 via
that are installed on your ma- LISTING 5-LPT ADDRESSING switch Si. Be sure you don't
chine. REM display addresses of 1pt ports
ground pin 13 directly (R16
REM jkh 2/21/93 must be in place) or you might
DEF SEG = &H40
Adapting for other devices 1ptl - 8118: 1pt2 = &HA: 1pt3 = &HC damage IC5. You can force the
When writing your own con- a = PEEK(lptl) + 256 * PEEK(lptl + 1)
b - PEEK(lpt2) + 256 * PEEK(lpt2 + 1)
coupler to hang up by ground-
trol program, keep the following c = PEEK(lpt3) + 256 * PEEK(lpt3 + 1) ing pin 8 of J3 via Si. Tèst the
in mind: Because the interface PRINT "Decimal ", "Hex"
PRINT "LPT1: "; a, HEXS(a)
external inhibit by connecting
does not include a backup bat- IF b > 0 THEN PRINT "LPT2: "; b, HEX$(b) pins 11 and 12 of J3 together.
tery, the control program should IF c > 0 THEN PRINT "LPT3: "; c, HEXS(c)
Then remove JU1 and have
send the proper setup com- someone call the coupler; it
mands for your particular de- should not answer. Next, con-
vice when you first start the pro- not specific to the Memorex nect pin 10 of J3 to ground; the
gram. Because the PC can AV-4; it could be attached to al- coupler should answer.
"press" the remote control's but- most any device with a 5 x 8 or
tons much faster than a human smaller keyboard matrix. Conclusion
being, you could even program With only slight modifica- The couplers can send or re-
it to send keystrokes on-the -fly, tions, it could control much ceive audio signals and they
each time you send a command. larger layouts. One way to in- have been used as outgoing
Doing so would allow you to crease the capacity of the inter- message centers, listen lines,
overcome the four-device limit face while still using only eight and remote -control interfaces,
typical of inexpensive remotes, data lines would be to add more just to mention a few. Youil find
allowing you unlimited control 4051's. With additional decod- that it is an excellent and ver-
over TV's, VCR's, CD players, ing, the five control lines could satile telephone -line interface
video -disc players, and other IR- control 25 = 32 different 4051's. suitable for automatically con-
controlled devices. That's a 32 x 8 matrix, or a necting your telephone line to a
72 The circuit described here is whopping 256 keys! it variety of projects. ci
HARDWARE HACKER
Communication trade journals, micropower oscillators, thermodynamic
basics, steam calliope sources, and avoiding energy scams.
DON LANCASTER

Electronics cannot stand on its field has been studied to death, and Heat energy always travels from
own. It has been built on the there are tons of readily available higher temperatures to lower ones.
underlying foundations of literature out there. Systems always move toward their
math, physics, chemistry, and engi- Unless you can bring something most chaotic and lowest energy -
neering disciplines. truly new to the table, the chances level states. Energy can neither be
This month, figured I'd take a
I are that your "new" heat -engine created nor destroyed in any ther-
back -to- the -basics tack over a topic concept has been thoroughly modynamic process.
that has been causing more than its trashed decades ago. Or even cen- If you do build a heat engine, only
share of helpline grief lately. In turies before. a small fraction of the total energy
short, we are long past overdue in For instance, got this model heat
I can ever be recovered as useful
taking a close look at the... engine in the mail. It was a clever work; the rest is irretrievably lost as
example of how crucially important waste heat.
Fundamentals of reversibility is in preventing you from Ah yes, that fraction. How big and
thermodynamics getting useful economic benefits. just how much? Enter one of the
As Fig. shows, a heat engine is
1 Reversibility is a very sticky ther- most brilliant hardware hackers of
some device or machine that ac- modynamic problem that was first all time, a French scientist named
cepts thermal energy at a high input solved in a brilliant analytic break- Sadi Carnot. Like most hardware
temperature TH, performs some through by James Watt in 1784. hackers, Carnot did not have the
useful mechanical work, and finally foggiest idea what he was really
loses its remaining Thermodynamic It took the establishment de-
to a sink at a lower temperature TL. Any study of thermodynamics cades to understand how utterly
Nearly all auto and airplane power starts off with the laws of ther- profound and fundamental Carnot's
sources are heat engines, as are modynamics. To the best of my discovery was.
most electrical generators. Varia- knowledge, nobody has ever been Typical heat engines depend on a
tions on the heat -engine theme lead able to find any exception to these working fluid. The more important
us to heat pumps, ice makers, vac- laws. At least not on a practical heat -engine fluids include air,
uum systems, refrigerators, and scale. steam, ammonia, freon, mercury, ni-
compressors. And, for that matter, Countless individuals have blown trogen, hydrogen, helium, and even
to life itself. incredible amounts of their time and liquid sodium. The working fluid
The study of heat processes is money trying to crack those ther- goes through a number of individual
known as thermodynamics. While it modynamic laws. And all of them steps or processes to trace out a
is more of a mechanical engineering have failed miserably. Without any cycle. A heat -engine cycle must
topic than an electrical one, elec- exception. close upon itself and return to initial
trical- engineering students are usu- The laws are pretty fundamental, conditions so that the gngine can
ally required to take at least one and they range well beyond heat en- continue to produce useful work.
thermodynamic course. That's be- gines. For instance, cell biology, the These thermodynamic cycles can
cause nearly all modern heat en- very life process itself, photo- usually be plotted in your choice of a
gines need lots of support elec- synthesis, all chemical reactions, pressure- volume 1p -v) diagram or a
tronics, and many home -power and and solar power all must rigorously temperature -entropy It-s) diagram.
new energy- recovery schemes are obey these laws. The area inside the cycle on ei-
actually heat engines in disguise. ther a pressure- volume or tempera-
Knowing the fundamentals of ther- ture- entropy diagram is related to
NEED HELP? the amount of useful work that can
modynamics lets you instantly sort
out the perpetual- motion rip -offs be extracted from your heat engine.
and the outrageous pipe dreams Phone or write your Hardware The efficiency of any engine is the
from the realities of physics and Hacker questions directly to: ratio of the useful work you extract
real -world economics. Don Lancaster compared to the energy that must
We should note up front that Synergetics be dumped as waste heat ex-
more people have spent more time Box 809 pressed as a percent.
Thatcher, AZ 85552 Many different heat -engine cy-
hacking heat -engine ideas than on
(602) 428 -4073 cles have been dreamed up. The 73
any other engineering topic. The

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Otto cycle applies to gasoline en- In both examples, you have an
gines, while the Diesel cycle ob- irreversible process. But your sec-
viously applies to diesel power ond one is clearly much better. As a
plants. Electric -power turbines use third try, put a feather on the piston.
a Rankin cycle. Or some multi -stage Wait till things settle, and then put
improvement on it. A lot of alternate - another feather on the piston. Re-
energy people get real excited over peat this until you have accumulated
a Stirling cycle, since it is a kind of eight pounds of feathers, and you
"external combustion" engine that will also end up with the gas com-
can accept heat from diverse or low- pressed by a foot. And only 4.0 foot -
grade sources. pounds of total work will be needed.
Every few years or so, somebody This is a reversible process and the
reinvents the old Stirling engine, FIG. 1-A HEAT ENGINE accepts energy best you can do. And twice as effi-
from a high -temperature source, does
and then builds a bunch of pro- useful mechanical work, and then re- cient as your first attempt.
totypes that just barely miss. Then jects a portion of that energy to a lower- One more time: You must be able
they will just barely go bankrupt. To temperature sink. Only a fraction of the to undo what you just did. At all
date, the old Stirling cycle has available energy can ever be converted. times, you do have to be willing and
Most electronic devices must also obey
largely proven to be both a sucker able to stuff the Genie back into the
the same thermodynamic laws that
bet and an economic rathole. Ex- govern heat engines. bottle. That's what reversibility is all
cept possibly for arcane cryogenic about.
cooling applications. engine must be able to undo any- There are several important rever-
Carnot asked two questions: thing it just did without losing any sible processes. One of them is
What is the finest theoretical ther- heat to friction or other losses. That called an isothermal process, where
modynamic cycle you could possi- means "no sudden moves" and "no everything takes place at a constant
bly create, and what are the rapid changes," with everything temperature. The heat -energy re-
efficiency limits to that cycle ?" changing as incrementally and as ceiver must be at a temperature
It was obvious that each part of a slowly as possible. That also means only a tad lower than the energy
Carnot cycle had to be lossless. zero friction, lossless seals, and source. And the heat source must
More precisely, all the processes perfect insulation. Figure 2 helps to be so large that taking a small
involved had to be reversible. A heat explain the concept of reversibility. amount of energy out of that source
you want to use a piston does not significantly change its
to compress the gas inside a non - temperature.
NEW FROM insulated cylinder. Some work is A second one is an adiabatic pro-
DON LANCASTER needed to reduce the gas to a re- cess, in which heat energy is nei-
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Hardware Hacker Reprints II or III 24.50
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Midnight Engineering Reprints 24.50 Let's say you build up your cylin- pansion of a working fluid should be
Resource Bin Reprints 16.50
Incredible Secret Money Machine 18.50
der and throw an eight pound weight adiabatic.
CMOS Cookbook 24.50 on it. You note that this particular At any rate, the Carnot cycle
TTL Cookbook 24.50
Active Filter Cookbook 24.50
piston happens to drop by a foot, obeys fully reversible processes to
Micro Cookbook vol or II
I 19.50 doing work to compress the gas. In trace out the best approximation of
Lancaster Classics Library 119.50
this case, eight foot pounds of work the theoretically ideal heat -engine
POSTSCRIPT STUFF are expended, because the eight - cycles. Figure 3 shows some more
Ask The Guru Reprints I, II or Ill 24.50 pound weight dropped by one foot.
PostScript Secrets (Ile/Mac/PC)
Carnot cycle details. Once again,
39.50
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PostScript Beginner Stuff
39.50 instead, you put a one -pound ever build. Why? Because of the full
39.50
PostScript Cookbook (Adobe) 18.50 weight on the piston, waited until eversibility. You just can't get better
PostScript Ref. Manual II (Adobe) 28.50 things settled down, added another
PostScript Program Design (Adobe) 22.50
than this.
Type Font Format (Adobe)
I 15.50 one -pound weight, and so on, you In the Carnot cycle, one starts
LaserWriter Reference (Apple) 19.50 now have the first pound pushing with a working fluid at a low temper-
Real World Postscript (Roth) 22.50
PostScript Visual Approach (Smith) 22.50 the piston a full foot and the final ature. Then the gas is adiabatically
Thinking in PostScript (Reid) 22.50 pound pushing the piston down only compressed by doing work on it.
Undst PS Pgrmmg (Holtzgang) 29.50
The Whole Works (all PostScript) 349.50 an eighth of a foot. Your total work is Typically, the new external energy
8/8 + 7/8 + 6/8 + 5/8 + 4/8 + 3/8 + 2/8 required can come from a flywheel
BOOK-ON- DEMAND STUFF
Book -on- demand resource kit 39.50
+ 1/8 = 4.5 foot -pounds. or a second cylinder in the engine.
GEnie PSRT sampler (Ile/Mac/PC) 39.50 Yet, in each case, you corn- Compressing the fluid raises its
FREE VOICE HELPLINE VISA/MC pressed the gas by the same temperature and reduces its vol-
amount, raising its energy state by ume. Extreme care is needed so
SYNERGETICS the same value. The extra 3.5 foot - that heat energy is neither added
Box 809 -RE
Thatcher, AZ 85552 pounds of work has dropped nor removed during compression.
(602) 428 -4073 through that irrecoverable low - The temperature rise has to result
74 CIRCLE 205 ON FREE INFORMATION CARD grade heat rathole. solely from the volume reduction.

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Compression will continue until a grees above Fahrenheit. Absolute Or a mere 8.5 percent, under ide-
temperature very slightly under that degrees Kelvin are 273 degrees alconditions. That's assuming a per-
of the heat source is reached. After above Centigrade. And any efficien- fect Carnot cycle. In the real world,
compression, an isothermal pro- cy is a hundred times the efficiency you'd be lucky to get a tiny fraction
cess transfers its heat energy into stated as a fraction from 0.0 to 1.0. of that -say three percent net. For
the fluid, expanding it, and increas- Down my street is an impressive every kilowatt hour generated,
ing its pressure. The temperature, artesian hot well that's spewing thirty-two are thrown away!
of course, stays the same. In the forth mightily at 125 degrees F. Sadly, it makes sense to ignore
third step, the gas adiabatically ex- Could we get some electricity out of some $20,000 worth of electricity
pands while delivering useful output it? each year just by dumping it into the
work. The fluid volume goes up and Assume the local average ground Gila River. Why? Because any prac-
the temperature goes down. A final temperature is 75 degrees (The well tical recovery project of this size and
isothermal process dumps the re- sits in the Upper Sonoran life zone.) temperature differential could never
maining heat energy to the waste The best possible energy recovery pay for the engineering, materials,
heat sink, reducing the volume and efficiency here would be... operating costs, flood zone risks,
closing the cycle. ((125 + 460) (75 + 460))/ and the time value of money needed
Once again, that area inside the (125 + 460) = 0.085 to do the job properly.
curve on the pressure -volume di-
agram determines how much work
is delivered.
Because every process is reversi-
ble, one can introduce heat energy
As one process in a heat engine cycle, assume
you have a fluid you wish to compress by adding
at a high temperature to produce
weight to the piston such that your piston drops
mechanical work output. Or, one
by exactly one foot...
can apply mechanical work to pump
heat from the low side to the high
side.
A gas engine runs "forward." A
refrigerator runs "backward." And a
heat pump can either heat or cool, On your first try, you throw an eight pound brick
by swapping the heat from the high - on the piston and note that the piston does in fact
side to the low -side. drop by one foot. You have done 8.0 foot pounds
When you go through the math of work. As we will shortly see, this is a useless
(the derivation takes a full lecture and BADLY IRREVERSIBLE process, because
one -half of your work will get lost as irrecoverable
hour in any university physics low grade heat...
course), this stunningly elegant and
simple result pops out...
eta = (TH TL) /TH
On your second try, you place a one pound rock
Restated in English: The very on the piston, wait till things settle, and then add
best possible efficiency that can be another one pound rock. You will still need eight
obtained from any heat engine is pounds of rocks, but this time, the work needed is
determined solely by the ratio of its only 8/8 + 7/8 + 6/8 + 5/8 + 4/8 + 3/8 + 2/8 + 1/8
source temperature to its sink tem- = 4.5 foot pounds of work. This is a useful but
perature-no matter what cycle, MODERATELY IRREVERSIBLE process in which
fluid, or engineering is used! And one -eighth of your work gets thrown away...
my key point: To get useful work out
of any heat engine, lots more ener-
gy must be thrown away as irrec-
overable waste heat. On your third try, you place a feather on the
For example, a modern auto en- piston, wait till things settle, and add another
feather. You still need eight pounds of feathers,
gine has a theoretical efficiency of
but this time the work needed is only the tiniest
55 percent, with something like 38 amount above 4 foot pounds. This is a FULLY
percent being a typical real -world REVERSIBLE process in which virtually none
value. That is at the engine's of your work gets thrown away...
flywheel. The actual efficiency of
the automobile as a transportation
system is far lower. Any fully reversible scheme to compress or expand a fluid is also
Oh yeah. One minor gotcha. Ab- called an ADIABATIC process. Heat is neither added nor removed
solute temperatures must be used in any reversible adiabatic process.
for the Carnot formula to work. Ab- FIG. 2 -AN EFFICIENT HEAT ENGINE absolutely demands that all of its processes be
solute degrees Rankin are 460 de- fully reversible. Here are some good and bad examples of reversibility. 75

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COMMUNICATIONS TRADE JOURNALS


All in Communications Global Communications Is there any way you can beat the
8250 NW 27th Street, Ste 301 6300 S Syracuse Way, Ste 650 thermodynamic laws? Generating
Miami, FL 33122 Englewood, CO 80111 electricity won't hack it, because
(305) 594 -7735 (303) 220 -0600 always use your electricity
CIRCLE 316 ON FREE INFORMATION CARD CIRCLE 323 ON FREE INFORMATION CARD
to run a motor, which instantly gets
Cellular Business Lightwave you back to a heat engine which has
9800 Metcalf One Technology Park Drive to rigorously obey the laws.
Overland Park, KS 66212 Westford, MA 01886 You can switch to a binary or even
(913) 341 -1300 (508) 692 -0700 a trinary cycle which uses multiple
CIRCLE 317 ON FREE INFORMATION CARD CIRCLE 324 ON FREE INFORMATION CARD
stages and different fluids. But
Communications Mobile Radio Technology these often will only marginally im-
6300 S Syracuse Way. Ste 650 9800 Metcalf prove the efficiency while doubling
Englewood. CO 80111 Overland Park, KS 66212 or even tripling the costs.
(303) 220 -0600 (913) 341 -1300 The only other way know of is to
I

CIRCLE 318 ON FREE INFORMATION CARD CIRCLE 325 ON FREE INFORMATION CARD do something useful with the re-
jected waste heat. Say by heating
Communications News Network Computing
2504 N Tamiami Trail
water, equalizing process tempera-
600 Community Drive
Nokomis, FL 34275 Manhasset. NY 11030 tures, or starting your own catfish
(813) 966 -9521 (516) 562-5000 farm.
CIRCLE 319 ON FREE INFORMATION CARD CIRCLE 326 ON FREE INFORMATION CARD A solar panel that also heats
water should have much better eco-
Communications Technology RCR Wireless Communications nomics than one that solely gener-
PO Box 3208 777 E Speer Blvd
ates electricity. Schemes such as
Englewood, CO 80155 Denver, CO 80203
(303) 792-0023 (303) 832 -6000
these are sometimes called
CIRCLE 320 ON FREE INFORMATION CARD CIRCLE 327 ON FREE INFORMATION CARD cogeneration, and they are now a
very hot topic indeed. There's even
Communications Week Telecommunications a World Cogeneration trade journal.
600 Community Drive 610 Washington Street
Manhasset, NY 11030 Dedham, MA 02026 A reality check
(516) 562 -5000 (617) 326 -8222 FAX
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So, how do you separate the
"real" heat engines from the scams
Data Communications Teleconnect and the wishful- thinking
1221 Avenue of the Americas 12 West 21 Street daydreams? First, calculate its Car -
New York, NY 10020 New York, NY 10010 not efficiency and see what that re-
(212) 512 -2000 (212) 691 -8215 veals about the claims involved. Be
CIRCLE 322 ON FREE INFORMATION CARD CIRCLE 329 ON FREE INFORMATION CARD
76 especially suspect of statements

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Earn Your B.S. Degree
in
isothermal
ELECTRONICS
heating or
COMPUTERS
P adiabatic
adiabatic
R compression
expansion
E
S
S
U isothermal
R cooling
E

VOLUME

The AREA inside the Carnot cycle determines


how much useful mechanical work is output.
By Studying at Home
The EFFICIENCY of a Carnot cycle is determined
Grantham College of Engineering,
solely by this elegantly simple formula:
now in our 43rd year, is highly ex-
n = (TH - TO/TH = OT/TH
perienced in "distance education"
teaching by correspondence- through
-
You can multiply this 0 -1 value by 100 to get the printed materials, computer materials,
percentage efficiency. Note that an ABSOLUTE fax, and phone.
temperature scale must be used such as Kelvin No commuting to class. Study at
(Centigrade + 270) or Rankin (Farenheit + 460). your own pace, while continuing on
your present job. Learn from easy -to-
Note that the best possible efficiency of any heat
understand but complete and thorough
engine depends ONLY upon the highside /lowside
temperature differential and nothing else!
lesson materials, with additional help
from our instructors.
FIG. 3 -THE MOST EFFICIENT HEAT ENGINE you can possibly build conforms to the Our Computer B.S. Degree Pro-
Carnot Cycle. All four processes are fully reversible. Even the best Carnot cycles must gram includes courses in BASIC,
dump a lot of non -recoverable energy as waste heat.
-
PASCAL and C languages as well as
Assembly Language, MS DOS, CADD,
like "this is not a heat engine," or tricity that you can avoid. And that a
Robotics, and much more.
the thermodynamic laws do not gallon of water weighs eight Our Electronics B.S. Degree Pro-
apply to me." pounds. And that the time value of
money normally triples the cost of a
gram includes courses in Solid -State
Then carefully look at the p -v or t-
project.
Circuit Analysis and Design, Control
s diagrams (these will always be
Note that the time to break even Systems, Analog/ Digital Communica-
very obvious on any legitimate de-
can easily be infinite! If you produce
tions, Microwave Engr, and much more.
vice). Then check carefully for any-
An important part of being pre-
thing that is obviously non- less revenue from electrical genera-
reversible. Any sudden changes or tion per year than the interest on the pared to move up is holding the right
construction financing, the longer college degree, and the absolutely neces-
the need to add coolant to close a
sary part is knowing your field.
cycle are both dead giveaways that
all is not well. Always ask Can each
you run, the more you will lose.
Finally, be extremely wary of the Grantham can help you both ways
to learn more and to earn your degree
-
and every process be run backward word "Stirling." When and where it
just as well as forward ?" happens to occur. in the process.
Then throw in some economic My favorite popular ther- Write or phone for our free
analysis. This could be your time to modynamic book is Heat Engines catalog. Toll free, 1- 800 -955 -2527, o-
break even. That's the length of time by Sanford. It is found in the Double- see mailing address below.
needed for generated power to pay day Science Series. Beyond that 0
for the materials, the design, and one, pick up any of the dozens of Accredited by m
college -level course texts. Impor- the Accrediting Commission of the m
time value of the money needed to National Home Study Council
o
create the device. Assume that tant thermodynamic resources in- o
17.58 watts is a heating rate of one clude the SAE Library from the
BTU per minute, and that it raises Society of Automotive Engineers, GRANTHAM z
one pound of water by one degree F. and the EPR/ Publications from the
And that a nickel per kilowatt -hour is Electric Power Research Institute. College of Engineering
a sensible ballpark cost for elec- Of the many trade publications, Grantham College Road 77
Slidell, LA 70460
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Power Engineering is typical; it tar- New tech lit tems. From Hitachi, there's a new
gets large -scale electrical genera- There are some new integrated HD49049FS picture -in- picture con-
tion. And, of course, virtually any circuits for this month: The SSI troller chip, also intended for video -
and all thermodynamic papers ever 67F687 is a new engine interface insertion applications. The Grass
published are instantly available peripheral offered by Silicon Sys- Valley Group has a fine video
through Dialog. tems. It receives gasoline- engine Dictionary of Technical Terms newly
crank and cam input signals for use available. A good bookstore for nav-
Communications resources as timing and pollution manage- igation texts and GPS satellite se-
Where can you go to get a crystal ment. crets is the Navitech Book &
for a pager? Or to find out more on From Trident, a new Video View Software Store.
fiber-optic communication? Or infor- video -processing chip set offers One source for Apple II repairs
mation on wireless modems? Or scalable, full- motion video windows and supplies is Rolf Taylor. The best
phone testing? Or computer local and frame capture for VGA sys- Apple II magazine is still Resource
area networks? As always, your first
and foremost source of insider infor-
mation in any field is in the trade NAMES AND NUMBERS
journals. Dialog Ragtime
As our resource sidebar for this 3460 Hìllview Avenue 4218 Jessup
month, have gathered together a
I
Palo Alto, CA 94304 Ceres, CA 95307
bunch of the more obscure and (415) 858-2700 (209) 668 -0366
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more fragmented communications
trade journals for you. have a hunch
I Electric Power Research Inst. Resource Central
I might have missed a few here, so PO Box 10412 PO Box 11250
be sure to let me know if you have Palo Alto, CA 94303 Overland Park, KS 66207
any other favorites. (415) 855 -2000 (913) 649 -0567
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Crystal oscillator GEnie Silicon Systems


Hacking a crystal oscillator is no 401 N Washington Street 14351 Myford Road
big deal these days. You just bias Rockville, MD 20850 Tustin, CA 92680
any old CMOS gate into its active (800) 638 -9636 (714) 573 -6000
region and hang a crystal in the CIRCLE 332 ON FREE INFORMATION CARD CIRCLE 341 ON FREE INFORMATION CARD
feedback path. But things get tricky
Grass Valley Group Society Automotive Engineers
fast if you try to run at ultra -low sup-
PO Box 1114 400 Commonwealth Drive
ply currents or want to start oscilla- Grass Valley, CA 95945 Warrendale, PA 15096
tion reliably at unusually low (916) 478-3000 (412) 776 -4841
voltages. CIRCLE 333 ON FREE INFORMATION CARD CIRCLE 342 ON FREE INFORMATION CARD
Most hackers have discovered
that typical CMOS transistors run Harris Semiconductor Synergetics
1301 Woody Burke Rd CB -25 Box 809
out of gain at ultra -low currents. And 1

Melbourne, FL 32902 Thatcher, AZ 85552


they ultimately find that the best (407) 724 -3739 (602) 428 -4073
route to micropower oscillators is to CIRCLE 334 ON FREE INFORMATION CARD CIRCLE 343 ON FREE INFORMATION CARD
use bipolar transistors instead of
CMOS gates. Hitachi Rolf K. Taylor
Harris Semiconductor has just in- 2000 Sierra Point Parkway RFD #1 Keeler Lane
troduced a cheap and very simple Brisbane, CA 94005 North Salem, NY 10560
(415) 589 -8300 (914) 669 -5421
HA7210 all -CMOS crystal -os- CIRCLE 335 ON FREE INFORMATION CARD CIRCLE 344 ON FREE INFORMATION CARD
cillator chip. It costs under a dollar
and free samples are available. As Industrial Laser Review Trident Microsystems
Fig. 4 shows, you simply hang a One Technology Park Drive 205 Ravendale Drive
crystal on the chip, and away you go. Westford, MA 01886 Mountain View, CA 94043
The current consumed by this os- (508) 692-0700 (415) 691 -9211
CIRCLE 336 ON FREE INFORMATION CARD CIRCLE 345 ON FREE INFORMATION CARD
cillator is a mere five microamps at
32 kilohertz. Navtech Books & Software Voltek
Pin 6 is an enable; keep it high to 2775 S Quincy Street, Ste 610 100 Shepard Street
run and make it low to disable the Arlington, VA 22206 Lawrence, MA 01843
chip. Pins 7 and 8 can program the (800) NAV -0885 (508) 685 -2557
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operating current. Make them both
high for low frequencies (10 -100 Power Engineering World Cogeneration
kHz) and both low for high frequen- 1250 S Grove Avenue. Ste 302 PO Box 1589
cies (5 -10 MHz). The supply -volt- Barrington, IL 60010 Dallas, TX 75221
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78 volts. CIRCLE 338 ON FREE INFORMATION CARD CIRCLE 347 ON FREE INFORMATION CARD

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+2 to +7 vdc output
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FIG. 4-THIS MICROPOWER CRYSTAL
OSCILLATOR from Harris Semiconduc-
tor needs only five microamps of supply
current from a source as low as two
volts. It costs under a dollar. Free sample Electronics Workbench
kits are available.
The electronics lab in a computer
Central. And the A2 GEnie Round - "...you can do 10 times as many experiments with Electronics
Table has just seen its 20,000th li- Workbench than you'd get done with the real stuff."
brary uploads. Yet another trade - Jerry Pournelle, Ph.D.. Uyle Magazine
publication for this month is the
Industrial Laser Review. A good
Building and testing circuits is fast and Includes two independent modules:
source for steam calliopes is Analog Module with passive and active
Ragtime. It offers a $5 catalog. easy with Electronics Workbench. Just
components including transistors, diodes,
Free samples of Volara, Volextra, click-and -drag with a mouse to add and op- amps; a function generator, an

and Minicel foams are available from parts, run wires, and adjust oscilloscope, a multimeter, and a Bode plotter.
instruments. The traces on the Digital Module with gates, flip-flops, adders,
Voltek. Ask for their specifier kit. aword generator, a logic analyzer, and a
A reminder here that have auto-
I
simulated instruments are the sanie as unique logic converter and simplifier.
graphed copies of my Incredible Se- you'd get on real equipment.
cret Money Machine ll here for you DOS Professional Version - $299 Call (416) 361 -0333
at my own Synergetics. This book is DOS Personal Plus Version - $199 Fax: (416) 368 -5799
a must if you are starting up your Macintosh Version - $199 Interactive Image Technologies Ltd.
own tech venture. Plus a reminder Prices are in US dollars. Shipping $ l5. Offer valid in the USA and
908 Niagara Falls 700 King St. W., Ste 815
about my Hardware Hacker Round - Canada only. Macintosh and D05 Personal Plus versions are in Boulevard Toronto, Ontario
monochrome only. All trademarks are the property of their North Tonawanda, NY Canada
Table on GEnie PSRT at (800) respective owners. 14120-2060 xi5V 2Y6
638 -9636. And our no- charge tech-
nical helpline is found at (602)
428 -4073. Best calling times are
8 -5 weekdays, Mountain Standard
time.
Most of the items I've mentioned
appear in our Names & Numbers or
Communications Trade Journals
sidebars. Be sure to check here first
before calling our helpline. Let's
hear from you. 1t

tnsnnFn
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real
arn

cmrrnsa:
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I
' Sh
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Fred then realized that he fi rgot to build
in an off button.
OS o,` $vcvok
79
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LEARN VCR WHAT'S NEWS
continued from page 4
However, it is legal to correct those
signals to permit more accurate
Cleaning /Maintenance /Repair "fixes" on land and at sea and re-
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in Your Spare interactive long- distance educa- tion are precisely known, the station
Time! tional programming. In addition, he
you are able to work with common small hand
IF
can measure any errors in each sat-
tools. IF you possess average mechanical ability, said Prodigy has been talking to ellite's signal and calculate correc-
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native route for subscribers to reach tronic Systems Co. (Torrance, CA)
I Name I long- distance telephone carriers, and Cue Network Corp.(Irvine, CA).
I Address I bypassing the local telephone com- The system is expected to be used
City pany. The new telephone service by:
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Wireless, pocket -sized telephones manage traffic flow more efficiently.
would be needed. Emergency vehicle dispatchers
CABLE TV Under Cablevision's ambitious
plan, 100,000 homes on Long Island
responding to 911 calls in directing
fire trucks, police cars, ambulances
DESCRAMBLERS could be connected by early 1994. and tow trucks.
How You Can Save Money on The network is expected to reach Commercial and utility vehicle
Cable Rental Fees the rest of Cablevision's 1.1 million dispatchers to keep track of the
Bullet Proof customers in the tri -state area by
the end of 1995. There are also
movements of buses, trucks, taxis,
and delivery vans.
plans to extend the service to sub- Radio data links of this kind have
scribers in 16 other states. been difficult to organize because of
999 the congestion in suitable radio fre-
Global positioning network quency bands that are strictly regu-
NM
1 Unit 5+ A nationwide network called Pin- lated by the FCC. However, Pinpoint
BFST Super Tri-Bi Auto/
Var. Gain Adjustment 5119.95_$85 US Cable'u Beat point will permit the determination overcame this obstacle because
Jerrold Super Tri-Bi _ S109.95379 Anyone's Price
Scientific Atlanta .__ 5109......S79
of the positions of vehicles within a the system is based on frequency
Pioneer_ -
$109.._...$79
Advertised in few feet of their true positions. Sig- allocations that are assigned to
Panasonic TZPC145_. $99.95._579 this Magazine!
Starpte Converter.- $95-..v$69 nals from U.S. Naystar Global Posi- Cue, a large paging and message
Digital Video Stabilizer. $59.9&_529
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tioning System (GPS) satellites are forwarding service.
30 Day Money Back Guarantee being corrected to improve their ac- Cue's satellite paging system
FREE 20 page Catalog curacy before being retransmitted transmits on subcarriers- unused
Visa, WC, COD or send money order to: by local FM radio stations. bands within the assigned band -
U.S. Cable TV Inc. Dept. KRE0693 Most of the commercial GPS re- withs of more than 300 commercial
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Pompano Beach, FL 33073 ceivers now available for private FM stations. It can reach 90% of the
1 -800- 772 -6244 yachts and commercial vessels can continental U.S.and Canada. The
For Our Record deterine a ship's position to an ac- differential GPS data is "piggy-
I,the undersigned do hereby declare under pena lty of perjury curacy within about 300 feet. (For backed" on the FM subcarriers
that all product purchased, now and in the future, will only be
used on Cable TV systems with proper authorization from what it says are security reasons, along with Cue's paging signals.
local officials or cable company officials in accordance with all
applicable federal and state lawn FEDERAL AND VARIOUS the Department of Defense re- Pinpoint plans to expanded to as
STATE LAWS PROVIDE FOR SUBSTANTIAL CRIMINAL
AND CML PENALTIES FOR UNAUTHORIZED USE. stricts the accuracy of the signals many as 50 North American cities
Date:
that civilian GPS receivers can re- this year, beginning with Houston
80 Signed: ceive directly from the satellites.) and New Orleans. si
No Florida Sales!
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AUDIO UPDATE
Loudspeaker Power Ratings: What do they mean ... and how do you
avoid problems?
LARRY KLEIN

Do you have a sense of im- speaker system, it is also the fre- Damaging circumstances
pending disaster involving quency of the signal and length of Because of the unequal power
smoke and flame because time it is applied. distribution to the drivers within a
your expensive speakers rated for The reasons become clear when system. a tweeter designed to with-
50 watts are being driven by a 100 - you examine the the features of the stand 4 watts of power within its
watt amplifier? The salesperson drivers in a typical system. To tweet frequency range is considered to be
who sold you the system claimed effectively at the upper end of the a fairly heavy-duty unit suitable for
that you'd have no problem, but nev- human hearing range, a high -fre- use in, say, a system rated for 150
er explained why. You recently read quency driver must have a small, watts. But if that 4 watts were ex-
that CD recordings of reed instru- low -mass radiating surface. The ceeded for a sustained period,
ments such as clarinets and sax- smaller a tweeter's diaphragm, the damage is likely to occur. So al-
ophones can produce enormous wider its dispersion. And the lower though comparatively little energy
instantaneous signal peaks. Will the mass of the device, the greater reaches the tweeter with the normal
those peaks drive your amplifier to its efficiency. playing of music, there are several
speaker-damaging levels? In short, Unfortunately, miniaturization re- circumstances that can effectively
given your setup, is it possible to sulting in such low mass implies char-broil its voice coil.
have absolutely safe sax? both fragility and the speaker's in- For example, the same 10 -band
ability to handle a lot of potentially octave equalizer that shows how
Speaker power: min destructive heat. Where does the much audio energy is being fed to
and max heat come from? As in most your tweeters can also blow them
Most speaker-system specifica- powered products, heat results out if you use it to boost the upper
tion sheets expound at length about from inefficiency; it has been shown octaves excessively on loud materi-
their computer- designed fourth - that typically more than than 95% of al. Pink noise can also cause
order Butterworth filters with an amplifier's output fed to a speak- damage if applied carelessly-as I

phase- compensated 24-dB- per-oc- er ends up doing nothing more than discovered by blowing out a pair of
tave slopes, and so forth. That kind heating the drivers and crossover very expensive beryllium -dome
of language might be meaningful to network. units during some acoustic tests.
speaker designers, but it certainly Fortunately for tweeter design- As recall, the tweeters didn't seem
I

doesn't mean much to the typical ers, music energy is not distributed to be producing very much sound
speaker buyer. uniformly throughout the audio -fre- before they suddenly weren't pro-
On the other hand, significant in- quency range. The spectral display ducing any sound at all!.
formation such as a speaker's of music viewed on a 10 -band real - Marginally unstable amplifiers
power rating usually gets short time analyzer (as found in many au- can be a mysterious source of
shrift in specifications with such diophile equalizers) shows that tweeter blowout. When connected
brief cryptic notations as "Power most musical energy is concen- to a reactive speaker system, such
rating: 10 watts minimum, 70 watts trated in the midrange of the audio killer amplifiers will, under certain
maximum. "To that bare -bones spectrum. In addition, the display signal conditions, oscillate ultra-
specification some manufacturers shows that the frequencies which sonically and /or generate large
add "RMS" or "Peak," as if that normally reach the tweeter, except high- frequency transients.
clarified anything. for a few high -level transients, are An underpowered amplifier driven
Aside from the near impossibility both low in amplitude and short in into severe signal clipping is likely to
of being able to buy an amplifier with duration. be more dangerous to the health of
a power rating as low as 10 watts, You can confirm that distribution their speaker systems than a high -
what have you been told? Not for yourself by placing your ear powered unit with sufficient head-
much -and here's why. A speaker close to the high- frequency driver in room to avoid clipping. An over -driv-
system's maximum power rating an operating three -way system. If en amplifier operating in the hard -
necessarily includes amplitude, fre- the crossover to the tweeter is suffi- clipping region produces far more
quency, and time. In other words, it ciently high, very little sound will be high- frequency energy than can nor-
isn't just the strength of an incoming heard compared to the sound at mally be found even in loud program
82 audio signal that can damage a midrange. material.

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/SUPER 12 HOUR RECORDER
CALL TOLL FREE
CLIPPING netic structure-an inefficient pro-
t! cess at best. However, in 1977 the Modified Panasonic Slimline,
situation improved dramatically 6 hrs per side
when ferrofluid was introduced to 120 TDK tape furnished.
loudspeaker manufacturing. Today AC/DC Operation.
ferrofluids are at work in more than Quality Playback.
200 -million speakers. .4111111111111111111111111111.

Digital Counter. d
Technically, the ferrofluid used in
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speakers can be described as a col- $119.00*
FIG. 1- LOUDNESS PEAKS of amusical
loidal suspension of magnetite
waveform shown reaching an amplifier's PHONE RECORDING ADAPTER
maximum rated power level, (a). When (Fe304) particles in a low- vapor-
Starts & Stops Recorder
the amplifier is driven harder to achieve pressure carrier fluid. It was origi- Automatically When
greater loudness, the tops and bottoms nally developed as a highly stable Hand Set is Used.
of the peaks are clipped as shown. When
lubricant for aircraft turbines. Solid State!
viewed on an oscilloscope, clipped
areas appear as bright spots on the Ferrofluids consist of about 5% FCC Approved $28.50*
trace, (b). microscopic, coated, spherical sub - VOX VOICE ACTIVATED CONTROL
micron -sized magnetite (about 0.02
Solidstate Adjustable
The high level of this spurious en- micrometer in diameter) suspended
Sensitivity. Voices &
ergy, combined with the high -fre- in synthetic lubricating oil. The coat- Sounds Activate Recorder
quency oscillations that frequently ing on the magnetic particles con- Adjustable Sensitivity
accompany hard clipping, is a com- trols clearances, preventing the Provisions for Remote
mon cause of tweeter failure. It is particles from clumping together. Mike $28.50*
likely that more tweeters have been Thus ferrofluids are rather like sub - * Add for ship. & handling. Phone Adapter & Vox
$2.00 each, Recorders $5.00 each. Colo. Res add
killed by overdriven 20 -watt ampli- micron ball bearings, each a perma- tax. Mail Order, VISA, M /C, COD's OK. Money Back
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overdriven by oversized power am- lubricating oil. Free data on other products.
AMC SALES INC. 193 Vaquero Dr.

\-
plifiers. (I once solved a tweeter- In practical applications, a mea-
Boulder, CO. 80303
popping problem for a discotheque sured drop of ferrofluid is deposited Phones (303) 499-5405 1- 800 -926-2488
owner by recommending that he in the voice -coil gap where, re- ` FAX (303)
Mon -Fri 8 -5 MTN. TIME
MT N. TIM
use higher power amplifiers.)
In short, tweeters are seldom de-
stroyed by playing music too loudly.
Some unusual circumstances such
sponding to the tweeter's normal
magnetic flux field, it instantly dis-
perses uniformly throughout the
gap where it is held in place magnet-
----
CIRCLE 108 ON FREE INFORMATION CARD

as those mentioned are usually in- ically. In brief, ferrofluid is a special Learn VCR
volved. Incidentally, overstressed
tweeters don't go out with a bang;
magnetizable fluid that provides effi-
cient heat transfer between the repair at home!
they usually don't even whimper. tweeter's voice coil and its sur- MAKE GOOD MONEY IN YOUR
They just quietly quit working. For rounding metal structure. OWN FULL- OR PART-TIME JOB
that reason, days might pass before Ferrofluids not only provide heat
you notice that the highs are miss- transfer without interfering with nor- Professional -
ing from a defunct tweeter in a mal speaker performance, but they level home study
three -way system. can also improve other variables.
course. You will
master easy-to-
For example, their viscosity can be learn, high- profit
The magnetic solution adjusted to provide a desired de- repairs with-
On the subject of power handling, gree of voice -coil damping. out investing
woofers and, to some extent, mid- Ferrofluids also provide stability in in high -tech
ranges have a large advantage over voice coil centering. During speaker instruments
tweeters: Their cone movements construction ferrofluid is injected or a costly
pump air around their cylindrical into the voice -coil gap. The material workshop.
wire voice coils and help carry off stays there because of the intense Want more
some of the heat that inevitably magnetic field.
independence
and higher
builds up. With tweeters, the dia- Recently manufacturers have be- income? Send
phragm movements are so minute gun using ferrofluids in woofers and or call today!
that there's no convection or forced sub -woofers. The latest fluids can
air movement to provide cooling. withstand long -term operation at Free career kit:
Conduction doesn't help either 200 °C.
because there's only a pair of thin Next month we'll conclude our 800 -223 -4542
wires connecting the tweeter voice discussion of power ratings with a Name
coil to the rest of the structure. look at midrange and woofer power- Address
City State Zip
About the only way that the voice handling capabilities, sources of
coil can cool itself is by radiation of distortion, and the meaning of mini- The School of VCR Repair
heat to the surrounding metal mag- mum power ratings. d2 2245 Perimeter Park Drive 83
Dept. VG342 Atlanta, Georgia 30341

CIRCLE 182 ON FREE INFORMATION CARD


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DRAWING BOARD
Real -world considerations.

ROBERT GROSSBLATT

Before we close this subject during active video (when the pic- cause any problem. If had to make
I

(for the time being at least), ture was showing up on the TV), but a guess as to why the "woop -dee-
you all should be aware that that has changed. The video wave- doo" has been added to the hori-
the SSAVI system is several years form in Fig. -a shows the state of
1 zontal interval, I'd say that it's to
old and has undergone some the horizontal interval as of fifteen keep people from doing what we're
changes. The basic principles are minutes ago (as of this writing) on doing-adding a single sync pulse
the same, and the circuitry we've my cable. I've drawn it with an un- to restore the signal.
developed is the way to go if you scrambled horizontal interval so you When was designing the section
I

want to descramble it, but the can see how the scrambled signal of the descrambler that put the hori-
chances of building our design, relates in time to the normal one in zontal sync pulse back in the inter-
hooking it up to your TV, and seeing Fig. -b. A change has been made to
1
val, I had to modify the circuit
an unscrambled picture, are about the 4.7- microsecond position nor- slightly to make it work. Basically, all
the same as finding any intelligent mally occupied by the horizontal Idid was add some gates to the
life on Pluto. sync signal. There are also two 1- output of the 4040 line counter to
The two most significant changes microsecond spikes at the very be- create a pulse that started 2 micro-
in the SSAVI system involve hori- ginning and end of the horizontal seconds into the horizontal interval
zontal sync and picture inversion. interval. If you watch a scrambled and had a width of 4 microse-
The first is no problem, but getting picture, you can see these at both conds -the approximate length of
around the second one is going to ends of the interval as it weaves its the horizontal sync pulse. used it to
I

take a bit of brain activity on your way down the middle of your screen. gate the incoming video, com-
part. These spikes peak at 100 IRE pletely eliminate the change from
In the original SSAVI system, units but since they're not really in the transmitted signal, and make
horizontal sync was never inverted the horizontal interval, they don't sure that the only thing that ap-
peared in that section of the line was
the generated horizontal sync from
/oo IRE Iv- the phase -locked loop.
During the vertical interval, of
course, this entire activity was dis-
abled to allow the transmitted sync
o IRE .av - (which is still being sent in the clear)
to be passed through the de-
- NO IRE OV
scrambler.
The polarity indicator for the pic-
CONTR OL - P/C TL/RE ture still works as described, but
I

the newer SSAVI systems (at least


the one in my area) move it around
ONE LINE OF NTSG 3T, 0«D COLOR Y7.0é0 between lines 20 and 22. This is
actually a dangerous thing for cable
companies to do, since line 22 is
usually considered to be active
video.
The information as to where it will
be is probably buried in the sub-
scriber codes, which are difficult to
NORC<o3cNOS/ri V. oK.KAr/oN
5.2. V M/CiP03G310í' decode. The code format is usually
as a series of 32 -bit words with bits
that are about 2- microseconds wide
FIG.1-This video waveform shows one variation on the SSAVI system. A change has
been made to the 4.7- microsecond position normally occupied by the horizontal sync at a data rate of 504 kHz (which
signal, and there are 1- microsecond spikes at the beginning and end of the horizontal should be a somewhat familiar
84 interval. number).

www.americanradiohistory.com
www.americanradiohistory.com
Using Windows' 3.1
How to handle this problem de- codes as well as being able to
and your sound cod
pends on the nature of the change the format of the codes
scrambled signal in your area. You themselves.
can decode the marketing code and If you go through the trouble of
Audio Frequency
figure out which bits indicate the building something to detect the
correct line to examine for deter- state of video by looking at line 20, it
mining the polarity of the following can all be made useless if the cable FUNCTION
video frame, but that is an involved company moves the information
subject and there's just not enough somewhere else. Restoring hori-
room here to go into it. It's also not zontal sync is pretty much locked in GENERATOR
the best approach since there's stone, but can definitely think of a
I

nothing stopping the cable compa- few ways that even that could be
nies from putting the code some- changed.
where else or, to make matters even Remember that large- capacity
worse, change the encoding al- EPROM's are cheap, and there's Sal 435 piss 43.50 Nipping G Wing
gorithm. nothing stopping the cable compa- (SIM resilits pious ill Wu taw)
A second way to deal with the ny from putting several encoding I ye lc woof wig ta:
problem is to examine the vertical techniques in the chip. To guarantee TEYNHAM AUDIO SYSTEMS
interval on a scope, see where the your work against obsolescence, 7120 Wyoming NE, Suite 349
polarity- indicating lines are, and the techniques you use to clear up 87109
Albuquerque, NM
work out some circuitry that exam- inverted video have to depend on
ines them all. Remember that what things that can't be easily changed
has changed is the location of the by the cable company.
Or *cc 1 -800- 793 -1150
line (it now moves around from There's a much more interesting
way to deal with the problem. for information or COD Orders
place to place), and not the struc- I

ture of the line. In essence, if there haven't worked out the circuitry yet, (we gnat ark seapd)
are three lines to examine, a high in but I'll pass it along for all of you to
the second half of any of them kick around. Pkrw Yliliate 354' w 5W lkk
would indicate that the next video The vertical interval provides a lot
frame is inverted. That's the ap- of information. One thing we haven't CIRCLE 192 ON FREE INFORMATION CARD

proach I took. talked much about is the white and


One interesting piece of informa- black levels. don't bother too much
I

with these because the TV (or VCR)

ALE!
tion can pass along to you is that,
I

again in my area only, the video is has excellent circuits to clamp the
always inverted. Check the signal in levels and condition the video signal
your area and see if that's true for before it reaches the sync sepa-
you as well. If it is, the design of the rator. I've found that if feed the
I

video in at anywhere from 1.2 to 1.5


descrambler is much simpler.
Before you get to work, however, volts DC, the TV or VCR doesn't
have any truble working out the lev-
CABLE TV
some thought has to be given to the
things that might be done in the fu- els for itself. DESCRAMBLERS
ture. Since the SSAVI system has
changed over the years, there's no
The black level (0 IRE) should be
about 0.3 volt and the white level
WE'LL BEAT
guarantee that the way you go (100 IRE) should be about 1 volt.
Super black is the bottom of sync
ANY PRICE!
about detecting inverted video to- CALL TOLL -FREE
day is going to hold up tomorrow. (- 40 IRE) and is at 0 volts. Even if
Put yourself in the shoes of a cable you can't find the polarity line to get 1 -500- 284 -8432
company executive and look at the the white level, you can always get JERROLD TOCOM ZENITH
problem from his point of view. the black and super -black levels OAK PIONEER HAMLIN
You're spending a lot of money from the unscrambled transmitted SCIENTIFIC ATLANTA
for the cable boxes and, while the sync that's sent in the vertical inter- 24 HOUR SHIPMENTS!
QUANTITY DISCOUNTS!
fundamental scrambling method val. You can even get the black level MONEY BACK GUARANTEE!
can't change (it's built into the basic of the video signal in the horizontal FREE CATALOG & INFORMATION
circuitry of the box), the hooks and intervals during active video from
signals that tell the box what to do the 5- microsecond section con-
ENUM
GIPNEtiS
11.l
can certainly be moved around the taining the back porch. Mastercard American Express Visa C.O.D.

-BOO- 284 -8432


MC MODEL NUMBER OF EQUIPMENT USED N YOUR AREA
vertical interval. If I were designing Once you know the black level, HAVE MAKE

1
their system, I'd put a bunch of alter- you can integrate the picture part of FOR ORDERS ONLY
the line to get the average DC volt- For technical & customer service: 305- 749 -3122
nate encoding methods in the ALL SHIPPING 8 HANDLING FEES AT CUSTOMERS EXPENSE
EPROM. They would include the age of the signal. That's the same
ability to store the inverted -video in- sort of thing we had to do to isolate CABLE WAREHOUSE
10117 WEST OAKLAND PARK BLVD., SUITE 515, SUNRISE, FL 33351
dicator directly in the marketing vertical sync from the composite NO FLORIDA SALES 85
CIRCLE 180 ON FREE INFORMATION CARD

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sync signal. If it's below the black
level, you know that the line has
GET THE LATEST ADVANCES been inverted, and if it's higher, then
you know that the line was normal.
You'll probably have to filter out the
IN ELECTRONICS chroma and look at the luminance
(DC level) of the line, or else the
WITH A SUBSCRIPTION TO circuit might have a hard time telling
the difference between a dark nor-
mal video line and a bright inverted
line.

Electronics
E/ecrrvnicsA
Rí1dm ith
If you do that, one other clue that
will help detect an inverted line is
that the picture's DC level should
never get below about 20 IRE. If it
does, the TV's vertical sync detec-
tor might sense it and falsely trigger
a vertical retrace. That's the sort of
thing that frequently happens when
you try to view a scrambled video
signal -even if the transmitted sig-
nal isn't doing anything to the origi-
nal vertical interval.
Since video is inverted (or not) by
the cable companies on a frame-by-
frame basis, it's safe to assume that
finding an inverted line means that
the next one will be inverted as well.
ENJOY THE WORLD OF Remember that the descrambler is
Electronics
^VA
ELECTRONICS EACH completely reset during the vertical
WORLD BAND RECEIVER
MONTH! interval when vertical sync is de-
DIGITAL VOICE CHARGER
tected.
Subscribe to the best electronics There's no way that can provide
I

REMOTE PC
POWER CONTROL

SSA DESCAAMBLING
magazine -the one that brings
you the latest high -tech
construction projects, feature
you with an absolute method to de-
scramble the video in your area -
there are just too many subtle varia-
articles on new technology, tions that can be added to the basic
CRYSTAL OSCILLATORS
practical troubleshooting SSAVI system. The ones just de-
I

TALI ON A MALL BEAM


techniques, circuit design scribed are only a few of the many
Finn Voidee, Rws
fundamentals, and much more.
ew UNn possible twists that can be done to
AN Lon Abu'
Electronics Now looks to the future a video signal.
Electronics Now gives you
exciting articles like:
Buyer's Guide to Digital Oscilloscopes
and shows you what new video,
audio and computer products are
on the horizon. What's more you'll
The approach and circuitry we de-
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as well as the theory- should give
-
find helpful, monthly departments
Build A Scanner Converter you a good head start for working
Single -Chip Voice Recorder such as Video News, Equipment
Build A MIDI Interface for your PC Reports, Hardware Hacker, Audio out the details that have to be added
Troubleshoot Microprocessor Circuits Update, Drawing Board, Computer to deal with the particular scram-
Build A High -Power Amplifier for your Car
Connections, New Products, and bling method used by your cable
Add Music On Hold to your Phone
All About Binaural Recording more. All designed to give you company.
VGA-to -NTSC Converter instruction, tips, and fun. Here's an offer. If you've been fol-
lowing this topic, have been design-
ing a circuit that will work in your
SUBSCRIBE TODAY area, and are having a problem, drop
me a note and I'll help you out. The
Just fill out the order card in this magazine more information you give me, the
and mail it in today. more help I'll be able to give you. At
a minimum, what want to see from
I

FOR FASTER SERVICE CALL TODAY you are schematics, block di-
agrams, concise descriptions of the
1- 800 - 999 -7139 problem you're having, and I'd like
either scope photos or drawings of
86 the video signal. 12

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and "distorted" audio signals. NA srtronirs
GUITAR TRANSMITTER
continued from page 46
Verify that the DISTORTION. TONE.
and LEVEL controls are function- brM
ing properly. The DISTORTION 1, .... . .., ,,,.,.,. AM

should transition from clean to


heads with your fingers and highly distorted sound when
that it goes out when you re- the EFFECT is on (i.e., EFFECT
move your fingers and touch the LED is lighted).
sensors again. The operations The TONE control will permit
should be "touch -on/touch- off." you to adjust the high- frequen-
If this happens, position the cy response of your electric Your Ticket To
battery in the space provided in guitar, and the LEVEL control
the case behind the circuit will permit you to adjust the
board, and carefully dress all output volume of your "dis-
wires to avoid stressing any torted" sound only. When Over 28,000 technicians have gained admit-
wire terminations or interfering EFFECT is bypassed, only "clean" tance worldwide as certified professionals.
with cover closure. Close the sound is transmitted. Let your ticket start opening doors for you.
cover, and fasten it with four ISCET offers Journeyman certification in
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transmitter and tune it to any with the touch sensor so that Fort Worth, TX 76109; (817) 921 -9101.
station or blank location deter- you can adjust the level control Name
mined by your selection of C15. to match the output volume of Address
Then tune L2 with a plastic IF the distorted channel with that City
core alignment tool until the of the clean channel. State Zip
transmitted carrier cancels the The volume of the clean chan- Send material about ISCET and
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COMPUTER CONNECTIONS
A confluence of technologies
JEFF HOLTZMAN

Many believe that computer fits together. Viewed this way, the production, delivery, and presenta-
technology is the prime activities in Fig. 1 industries cut tion of information takes hold.
mover in the merging of across the information -delivery pro- Early evidence of these changes
publishing, telemommunications, cess shown in Fig. 2. For example, is visible. One emerging area is
consumer electronics, and enter- the entertainment industry is pri- called Disktop publishing; it involves
tainment, with computer tech- marily concerned with the capture extremely low -cost production and
nology, but it turns out that the real and creation of information; tele- distribution of information with flop-
locomotive is digital technology. In communications is primarily con- py disks and CD -ROM's as media.
last month's column the business cerned with the transmission and, For example, a recently formed
side of the computer industry was to a lesser extent storage of infor- company called Allegro New Media
discussed. At the end of that col- mation on film and tape. Publishing has developed Turbo Books -elec-
umn it was suggested that you visu- traditionally has been focused at the tronic books intended to be read on-
alize a diagram of those five ends of the process- creation and screen under Microsoft Windows.
important economic activities with presentation of hard copy. Initial titles include a business travel
computers in the middle-as shown But changes in commerce and guide, science fiction books, corn -
in Fig. 1-
indicating some areas society are forcing the publishing puter reference works, books on Ja-
where they overlap. In effect it industry to pay more attention to the pan and college selection, and
shows a confluence of five endeav- transmission and storage of infor- more. All are floppy- based; prices
ors. mation in formats other than the range from about $25 to $50.
Confluence is defined as ''a flow- printed page. Consumer elec- Who wants to read books on-
ing together of two or more tronics has been primarily con- screen? Perhaps children, perhaps
streams, or the point of juncture of cerned with presentation, but the visually impaired, perhaps the
such streams." That definition is recent partnerships have moved it person forced to kill time in waiting
taken from the latest in information into the area of creation as well. rooms. A business traveler can now
interchange, The American Those who earn a living in the pack a travel guide in a laptop corn -
Heritage Dictionary, Houghton computer industry tend to have a puter. A translation dictionary will
Mifflin, 1987; Microsoft Bookshelf, "computer- centric" view of the help to interpret a foreign language,
1992, a dictionary on a disk. The world, as shown in Fig. 1. But in and can encourage and simplify the
confluence of the business ac- reality, the computer industry is task of learning useful words and
tivities diagrammed in Fig. is exert-
1 doing little more than supplying the phrases for those who have no in-
ing a tremendous influence over the hardware for the digital- technology- tention of studying another lan-
way we work, play, and learn. While based changes sweeping society. guage formally. Electronic games
the computer industry is central to The computer industry is respond- can help the traveler pass "dead
this concept, some people believed ing to a need, not creating new time" in airports or on trains.
that it was the only driver in the styles for business and living, as There is a huge potential market
merger. some think. here, but the user interface -the
It has now become apparent, presentation aspect -needs a lot of
however, that digital technology is Disktop publishing work. And that's where Apple Com-
the true cause of these changes. The traditional publishing industry puter and the Japanese consumer
What is digital technology and how (including newspapers, books, and electronics inductry could succeed
does it relate to these changes? magazines) has resisted change un- and the rest of the worldwide com-
less it is forced on it. It did not em- puter industry fail.
Digital technology brace computer typesetting with In 1993 several more CD -ROM
Digital technology is the creation, enthusiasm, and accepted it only formats will be introduced, along
capture, storage, transmission, and after it found that it could reduce with portable display /interaction
presentation of information in a bin- staff (typesetters, printers, copy devices. Sony has already intro-
ary format (text, graphics, sound, editors) and perhaps break the hold duced one; look for others from Ap-
animation, or video), irrespective of of entrenched unions. ple, Toshiba, Sharp, Casio, and
the system on which it was created, Electronic publishing, on the Tandy. Expect high prices, limited
captured, stored, transmitted or other hand, is growing rapidly in title availability, and total incom-
presented. popularity, accessibility, and utility. patibility with existing systems. If
88 Figure 2 shows how this definition Look for big changes -as digital you think the VHS vs. Betamax war

www.americanradiohistory.com
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RESOURCES
Turbo Books, Allegro New Media,
387 Passaic Avenue, Fairfield, NJ
07004. (201) 808 -1992.
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Derive 2.5 ($295), Derive XM


($375), Soft Warehouse, 3660
Waialae Avenue, Suite 304, Hono-
lulu, HI 96816 -3236. (808)
734 -5801.
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Outside In 2.0 ($89), Systems


Compatibility Corp., 401 N.
Wabash, Suite 600, Chicago, IL
60611. (312) 329 -0700.
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FIG. 1- LEADING ACTIVITIES ARE CONVERGING to meet increased demands for Microsoft Word for Windows &
information. Bookshelf, Multimedia Edition
($595; academic and upgrade
prices available), Microsoft Corpo-
ration, 16011 NE 36th Way, Box
///i%//íGr; 97017, Redmond, WA 98073-9717.
(206) 882 -8080.
CIRCLE 44 ON FREE INFORMATION CARD

Katron PE -300B ($225), Micro -


PRESENT
Ian Integration, Inc., 7400 Harwin
Drive, Suite 120, Houston, TX
77036. (713) 266-3891.
CIRCLE 45 ON FREE INFORMATION CARD

FIG. 2-HIGH -TECH INDUSTRY is merging as a result of a growing appetite for two 64- kilobit data channels and a
information. Entrepreneurs will make and losew fortunes controlling the major steps
of the process. 16- kilobit signaling channel) to every
phone jack in the world.
was a disaster, get ready for the cally in the next decade; en- That should pronounce the death
upcoming blood bath in consumer trepreneurs will probably make and knell on analog modems, presage
CD -ROM formats. lose fortunes in these ventures, but more efficient data transfer, and
The many host -based services they could spin -off a lot of interest- pave the way for videophones, effi-
such as CompuServe, Prodigy, and ing new technical jobs. cient access to host -based pub-
America Online are other forms of The integration of telecom- lishers, increased use of telecom -

electronic publishing. If you haven't munications with the other digital - muting, and even lead to electronic
subscribed to one of these services information technologies is about to town meetings.
recently (or ever), you're cheating explode on the scene. But it's not Some believe that ISDN suffers
yourself. CompuServe offers an in- here yet. However, different from the too -little- too -late syn-
credible variety of services includ- branches of the telecommunica- drome. It simply cannot supply
ing shareware files, "forums" or tions are engaged in a wide variety enough bandwidth to move the tre-
meeting "grounds" for discussions of experiments in storing and trans- mendous amounts of audio and vid-
on subjects of mutual interest: com- mitting information. For example, eo data required in a multimedia
puters, politics, human sexuality, there are about a half dozen experi- information environment. This has
art, literature, sports, language, ments in interactive TV across the led to proposals for replacing the
news, stock quotes, etc. United States. In France a nation- nation's wired telephone and cable -
The other services don't offer wide interactive system is already TV infrastructure with optical fiber,
CompuServe's depth, but they cost operational. thereby providing gigahertz of band-
less and are more user-friendly. In ISDN Integrated Services Dig- width (vs. the kilohertz of basic
general, as with Disktop publishing, ital Network has not lived up to ex- ISDN). But the cost of such massive
there is a huge potential market for- pectations because of the stagger- projects scares many who wonder if
on -line services. ing technical, political, and cost consumers will pick up the tab.
impediments it must overcome. The Clinton administration has
Telecommunications However, it now appears poised to announced that it favors a "national
The transmission of information take off. It is expected that ISDN will data highway." Parts of that highway
in digital form will grow astronomi- provide a digital conduit (comprising would certainly support gigahertz 89

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95
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bandwidth, but other parts would be The new version 2.5 adds many reference works. A CD -ROM and a
expected to support lower data enhancements to its mathematical sound card are needed to access all
rates that could be received by con- functions and user interface. In ad- its multimedia features. Following
sumers. We can expect to see dition, its publisher has introduced the extensively hyperlinked material
some resolution of this concept in an extended version, Derive XM, can keep one fascinated for hours.
the next 12 to 18 months. that runs on a 386 -based computer Multimedia Word for Windows is a
Cellular Digital Packet Data or higher. It can handle as much as 4 must -have item for any serious writ-
(CDPD), a related technology could gigabytes of memory to solve large er or researcher.
provide universal wireless digital problems. No student should be The market for portable Ethernet
connectivity. But there's a lot of in- without Derive! adapters is exploding. In response,
fighting in the CDPD community Contact the company for its cur- several companies have introduced
about how to do what needs to be rent listing of more than a dozen low -cost, but capable units. For ex-
done. But there's no question that it books about Derive that will be ample, Katron's PE -300B (BNC)
does need to be done! helpful in learning algebra, trig- and PE -300T (10Base -T) has a list
Similarly, several firms are now onometry, and calculus. price of $225, and is sold with a
marketing simple programs that al- Outside In is a Windows file view- complete set of drivers: Novell, Lan -
low messages to be sent from a er with a twist: it allows you to copy tastic, TCP /IP, PC -NFS, and NDIS
computer to a beeper. And MCI and paste data out of the file being (for Windows for Workgroups). You
Mail has announced a service that viewed. That's handy when you've don't get a pass- through parallel
will deliver text -based messages got a file created by someone else port, but at that price, who cares?
from its Email service to beepers. in a format you don't have. Sup- Good stuff!
Computer networking faces a re- ported files include dozens of word
lated set of problems: How do you processors, spreadsheets, Newsbits
interconnect several geographically databases, and graphics. MS -DOS 6.0 should be available
dispersed local -area networks effi- These include Word, WordPer- when you read this, but sans some
ciently so that it will serve different fect, Excel, Lotus, Quattro, dBASE, networking, Email, and disk -corn-
parts of one company -or even sev- Paradox, BMP, GIF, PCX, EPS, TIFF, pression capabilities. Microsoft's
eral companies? The recent newly and WMF. Outside In even allows application programming interfaces
coined concept of the Virtual Cor- you to view the contents of ZIP files (API's) are multiplying like fruit flies.
poration could be the answer. (See (however, the new version 2.0 of Originally there was the standard
the February 8, 1993 issue of PKZIP is not yet supported). The Windows API, which was subse-
Business Week or the book by the company should make it available quently joined by Win32, the 32 -bit
same name for more information.) for more users on a BBS or Corn - basis of Windows NT.
Why can't worker A at company X puServe network. Then Microsoft introduced
simply send a message to worker B Microsoft has released a "multi- Win32s, a subset of Win32 that
at company Y without a hassle? media" version of Word for Win- would run 32 -bit code in the 16 -bit
That kind of transparent con- dows on a CD -ROM. The CD -ROM Windows 3.x environment. Now we
nectivity is urgently needed, but it's contains the complete word pro- have Win32c, ostensibly for the
still a long way off. cessor which includes several ver- "Chicago" version of Windows,
To sum up, the long -term objec- satile extras: a drawing module, an due in 1994, that splits the dif-
tive of telecommunications is to equation editor, and a charting mod- ference in capabilities between 3.x
provide an easy-to -use, high -band- ule, among others. It also contains and NT, including an object- oriented
width, on- demand connectivity be- an incredible amount of documenta- file system, and preemptive multi-
tween every node in a country-and tion accessible through the Win- tasking.
perhaps eventually an integrated dows help engine, and half a dozen The U.S. Semiconductor industry
global network. reference works. has staged a comeback, with sales
Next month the computer and en- These include The American moving slightly ahead of those of
tertainment industries will be exam- Heritage Dictionary, Roget's The- Japan in 1992. Projections look
ined and this discussion will be saurus, the Hammond Atlas, the even better for 1993. General Mag-
wrapped up. Concise Columbia Encyclopedia, ic, an Apple Computer spinoff, has
the World Almanac 1992, and two attracted the attention of several in-
Product watch books of quotations. The reference ternational heavy- hitters in comput-
Probably the mot unusual soft- works include many sound, anima- ers and consumer-electronics; their
ware program ever reviewed here is tion, and video clips integrated with focus will be on a scripting language
a small masterpiece called Derive the word processor. for personal communicators. More
(see the July 1990 installment of A send button permits the send- later.
this column for an in -depth review). ing of all or part of an article to the IBM has recently brought its mul-
It is a symbolic math program that word processor, complete with a timedia- related development
can solve equations numerically and footnote citing the source. Con- groups and partnerships (including
symbolically. Unlike most of the pro- versely, one can highlight a word in Kaleida and the venture with NBC)
grams in this genre, Derive can run the word processor, press a button, together under an umbrella organi-
on low -end machines. and see a definition in one or all zation called Fireworks Partners. a
94

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BUYER'S MART
PLANS AND KITS SINGLE -Board computer Semi -kit $69.00. REMOTE CONTROL KEYCHAIN
68HC11A1P based. Kits include firmware, soft- Complete w(mini- Uansmìlter
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C heck,Visa:rho, M!C
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CLASSIFIED AD ORDER FORM
To run your own classified ad, put one word on each of the lines below and send this form along with your check to: HOBBY/ broadcasting / HAM. CB.' surveillance
transmitters, amplifiers, cable TV, science, bugs,
Electronics Now Classified Ads, 500 -B Bi- County Boulevard, Farmingdale, NY 11735 other great projects! Catalog $1.00. PANAXIS,
Box 130 -F6, Paradise, CA 95967.
PLEASE INDICATE in which category of classified advertising you wish your ad to appear. For
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) Plans /Kits
Complete satellite kit $49.95. Add $5.00 shipping.
( ( ) Business Opportunities ( ) For Sale
Free brochure. No New York sales. SUMMIT RE,
( ) Education /Instruction ( ) Wanted ( ) Satellite Television
Box 489, Bronx, NY 10465.
( )
SURVEILLANCE transmitter kits tune from 65
Special Category: $25.00 to 305 MHz. Mains powered duplex, telephone.
room, combination telephone:room. Catalog with
PLEASE PRINT EACH WORD SEPARATELY, IN BLOCK LETTERS. Popular Communications, Popular Elec-
(No refunds or credits for typesetting errors can be made unless you clearly print or type your tronics and Radio -Electronics book reviews of
copy.) Rates indicated are for standard style classified ads only. See below for additional "Electronic Eavesdropping Equipment De-
charges for special ads. Minimum: 15 words. sign," $2.00. SHEFFIELD ELECTRONICS, PO
Box 377785 -C, Chicago. IL 60637 -7785.
60 SOLDERLESS Breadboard Projects in two
1 2 3 4 5
easy-to -read pocket books. Complete with circuit
descriptions, schematics, parts layouts, compo-
nent listings, etc. Both books (BP107 & BP113)
only $11.90 plus $3.50 for shipping. USA and Can-
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sapequa Park, NY 11762 -0240.
DESCRAMBLING, new secret manual. Build
11 12 13 14 15 ($46.50) your own descramblers for cable and subscription
TV. Instructions, schematics for SSAVI, gated
sync, Sinewave, (HBO, Cinemax, Showtime,
UHF, Adult) $12.95. $2.00 postage.
16 ($49.60) 17 ($52.70) 18 ($55.80) 19 ($58.90) 20 ($62.00) CABLETRONICS, Box 30502R, Bethesda, MD
20824.
FM Transmitter Amplifier. Produces powerful
21 ($65.10) 22 ($68.20) 23 ($71.30) 24 ($74.40) 25 ($77.50) 15 -25 watt signal. Broadcast farther! Plans
$16.00: PROGRESSIVE CONCEPTS, 1313
Grand #291, Walnut, CA 91789.
26 ($80.60) 27 ($83.70) 28 ($86.80) 29 ($89.90) 30 ($93.00) TESLA coils Plans- kits -parts. Send $2.00 for one
tesla coil plan plus complete catalog. SUPER
CIRCUITS CO., Rt 2, Box 334, Nunnelly, TN
37137.
31 ($96.10) 32 ($99.20) 33 ($102.30) 34 ($105.40) 35 ($108.50)
CREDIT card read write theory $49.00, design for
We accept MasterCard and Visa for payment of orders. If you wish to use your credit card to pay for your ad fill PC $49.00. kits info $5.00. CPU ADVANCE, Box
in the following additional information (Sorry, no telephone orders can be accepted.): 1089, Waltham, MA 02154.

How To Get A High -


Card Number Expiration Date
Paying Job In

ELECTRONICS
Please Print Name Signature
Become more
IF YOU USE A BOX NUMBER YOU MUST INCLUDE YOUR PERMANENT ADDRESS AND PHONE competitive
NUMBER FOR OUR FILES. ADS SUBMITTED WITHOUT THIS INFORMATION WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.
in the job
CLASSIFIED COMMERCIAL RATE: (for firms or individuals offering commercial products or services)
$3.10 per word prepaid (no charge for zip code)...MINIMUM 15 WORDS. 5% discount for same ad in 6 market with
issues; 10% discount for same ad in 12 issues within one year; if prepaid (not applicable on credit card
orders). NON -COMMERCIAL RATE: (for individuals who want to buy or sell a personal item) $2.50 per EDUCATION
word, prepaid.... no minimum. ONLY FIRST WORD AND NAME set in bold caps at no extra charge. Specialized Associate degree and diploma
Additional bold face (not available as all caps) 55C per word additional. Entire ad in boldface, $3.70 per programs in electronics technology, computer
word. TINT SCREEN BEHIND ENTIRE AD: $3.85 per word. TINT SCREEN BEHIND ENTIRE AD PLUS repair, communications, and industrial
ALL. BOLD FACE AD: $4.50 per word. EXPANDED TYPE AD: $4.70 per word prepaid. Entire ad in electronics by
boldface, $5.60 per word. TINT SCREEN BEHIND ENTIRE EXPANDED TYPE AD: $5.90 per word. TINT
SCREEN BEHIND ENTIRE EXPANDED TYPE AD PLUS ALL BOLD FACE AD: $6.80 per word. DISPLAY DISTANCE EDUCATION
ADS: 1" .. 2v8"- $410.00; 2" x 21/2"- $820.00; 3" x 21/4"-$1230.00. General Information: Frequency Call or write for College catalog and booklet
rates and prepayment discounts are available. ALL COPY SUBJECT TO PUBLISHERS APPROVAL. "How to Get a High- Paying Job in Electronics.','
ADVERTISEMENTS USING P.O. BOX ADDRESS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED UNTIL ADVERTISER
SUPPLIES PUBLISHER WITH PERMANENT ADDRESS AND PHONE NUMBER. Copy to be in our 1- 800 -765 -7247
hands on the ist of the third month preceding the date of the issue. (i.e., Aug. issue copy must be received by PEOPLES COLLEGE OF INDEPENDENT STUDIES
May 1st). When normal closing date falls on Saturday, Sunday or Holiday, issue closes on preceding working 233 Academy Dnve P.O. Box 421768
day. Send for the classified brochure. Circle Number 49 on the Free Information Card. Kissimmee. FL 34742 -1768
Member. D.L. Peoples Group Accredted Member, NHSC 95

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MARK V ELECTRONICS, INC.
Inp,.liti,,. II ;,.. :n.t ,hipping SATELLITE TV
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SAVE MONEY. VIDEOCYPHER II descrambling manual. Sche-


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III
Schematics for Videocypher Plus, $20.00. Sche-

a
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AMPURERS KIT AM$*.I $12.95 + $3.00 S&Ai. MATRIX MARKETING, PO
Box 33127R2, Kansas City, MO 64114.
MODEL
300W Mown Audio Mom POW Amplifier
DESCRIPTION ANTIQUE RADIO CLASSIFIED
AF ,6500 19500
CARJACKING can happen to anyone. Protect tt
TA-2896K2
TA -50A/ß
TA -50C
Droal Voice Memo
Mum Purpose Melody Generator

Birthday Wed ng Mate() tc


TA- 120ÁK2 3691 Class 'A' Man Power Mono Amp
AA
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1
3000
13.85

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3150
1720

18.71
4280
your car with a proven anti -carjacking device.
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Tá201 Mkrophom/Aue Lary Miser Power Amp ... 1279 27.79


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TA -300
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2850
2500
38.50
31.00
Beechmont Avenue, #234, Cincinnati, OH 45255. Articles, Ads & Classifieds.
60W 60W Stereo Power Amplifier (with Mk input case
SM-302
8 vansrorme, Included)
_.....__.._.......__. 73.00 85.00 CRYSTAL radio set kits; complete for an old style 6 -Month Trial: $15. 1 -Yr: $27 ($40 -1st Class).
TA -323A
TA-377A
3051( 30W Stereo Pre -Main Amp _._ _
State of the M Fully Complementary sysammetrical
3150 4280
radio. $35.00. CARL & GRACE ENT., 5636 Ro- A.R.C., P.O. Box 802 -L9, Carlisle, MA 01741
TA-400
Fn Pre-Amp
4058 SOLID STATE MONO AMP ..
5995
2800
7500
3485
meyn, Detroit, MI 48209.
TA-477 120W Mostet Power Mono Amp AA 6800 8500
DESCRAMBLE cable with Radio Shack RF mod-
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SM-720 120W MOW AC/DC Stereo HIFI a Pr, Mein Amp


ram 8 transformer included) AA* 7500 89.00
TA- 8001412 120W s 1204 Low Om Pre-Main Stereo Power luny. AA 6192 7395 ulator add simple circuit instructions. $7.95. GAS - Build this kit which removes lead
TA-602 BOW 80W Pure DC Stereo Man Power Amp
TA-1000A 100W Dynamic Glass 'A' Man Power Mono Amp
TA-1500 100ws100W New Cass'A' DC Stereo Pre Fain
A
Amp
4514
5000
7370
59 72
6500
9581
PARD, 7180-20 South River Road, Addis, LA
70710.
REMOVE vocals from standard stereo records,
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TA-2200
TA-2500
TA-2800
DC Fey Super Class
HO Pre-Auto. w/10
BI -FET IC Pre -Amp
bath graphic
'A' Pr, seep

w/3 way tone contra AA


maim
47.70

4890
58.24
7800
6157
LEAD along with the background music.
Use with any home component
TA-3000
Tá3500
Stereo Smu00or (For Mono 7V or My Mono Source)
300W HO Audio Power Mona Amp
7 Band Stereo Hi-fi Graphic Equalizer AAA
_.
AA 33.00
85.00
4200
11900
3280
VOCALS stereo. Additional kit adds reverb to
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SM -222
SM -328 4 Channel Professional Color LigM Controller
26.80
165.00 Quality Microwave TV Antennas From Pre-assembled boards also avail-
SY -333 AuoNideo Surround
Trans-loaner included )
Sound Processor (case 8
7300 8500
WIRELESS CABLE - IFTS - MMOS - Amateur TV able. Write for free info.
SM-686 Dynamic Nam Reduction _. 2600 3490 - Ultra High Gain 50db( +) Tuneable 1.9 to 2.7 Ghz. Records & CD Weeder Technologies, P.O. Box
SM -866 Unrwlsa Aud,oN,deo 66630KE Muer PIe.Amp 155.00
55- Channel Dish System $199.95 421, Batavia, Ohio 45103.
MISCELLANEOUS KIT AS$M$. 36- Channel Dish System $149.95
TY -1-014x5 Battery Fluorescent L,OM Onus, 1197 1417 20- Channel Dish System $124.95
TY -7 Electron[ Touch Svntch 920 11.20
Optional Commercial Grid Antenna snot shown) Add SSO ode
TY-8 Electronic Lotto 1500 2100
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850
2500
1050
3200
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1Y -13 Color Led Audio Level Meter 20.15 2620 PHILLIPS -TECH ELECTRONICS
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YOUR own radio station! Licensed /unlicensed
TY -18 Hroh preaswn Sound Contra Switch _... 10.22 14.50
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TY -25
3 Channel Color Light Controller
Stereo Loudspeaker Protector 15.85
7300
20.85
WARRANTY MasterCard Visa American Express COOT Quantity Pricing CASTING, Box 130 -F6, Paradise, CA 95967.
TY -35 FM Wireless Microphone 12.50
TY -36 AC/DC Duero d,OHl Clock 1900 2620 LET the government finance your small business.
TV -38 Sound/Touch Control Switch 1210 15.50
Grants/loans to $500,000. Free recorded mes-
TY -41MK5

TY-42
TY-45
Infrared Remote Control Um(Case iransmmer 8
)Inver solo5e6) AAA
Bar/Dot Level Meter AA
20 Steps Ba0ot Audio Leser Display
__. _. 2415
_. _.._ a
38.45
3381
46.14
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CB RADIO OWNERS! sage: (707) 449 -8600. (KS1).
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0019
8017
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7021 NOBEL (Single) Venable Resistor (Suggested for 753600,
TA-477 'WINOS )5 T11200941(2) 1200 10 -Meter and FM conversion kits, repair books, HOME assembly work available! Guaranteed
4022 ALPS ( DWI) Venable Resrnor ( Suggested for TA77A
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REGULATORS KIT ASSISI.
TN -3554 0-154 Regulated DC Power Supply (ram transformer
not included) _ _.... 16.50 2276 CBC INTERNATIONAL MAKE $75,000.00 to $250,000.00 yearly or more
TN -3558 0-30V 34 Regulated DC Power Supply base transformer
not included) 1250 22.75 P.O. BOX 31500RE, PHOENIX, AZ 85046 fixing IBM color monitors. No investment, start
TR -593 0-505 3A Regulated DC Power Supply w/SMn Guard S doing it from your home (a telephone required).
Overload Pr meow (case. transformer not Imlu6ed)4* 17.75 24.65
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current- ¡rmrbng A Shod- circuo protecled) 6275 78 75
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SM -105 150 MC Oros Frequency Counter 8500 10500
515.95 each. Different turn -ohs. bypasses, ECM's, schematics and counter ECM's in
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PATENTING
Super Powerful
ORDER IN CALIFORNIA 1- 800 -521 -MARK
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ORDER BY FAX (213) 888 -6868 _', ell Fm catalog of Transmiters. Voice Scramblers and
other spectate cents. enclose 02 00 to USI Cap
ferred but not required. Free information kit. Call 1
(800) 835 -2246 ext 67.
96 XIII') I'., paean \%v.. \Iunlcl llu, (' \ i 91164(
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18008314242
Your Resource for Value. Only a Phone Call Away.
Metex Digital Jameco Solderless Function Fiber Optics Kit
Multimeters Bread Generator Kit
' Handheld high accuracy
Measures AC/DC voltage, Our long-lasting
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transistor hFE 6R27158
coordinates and are
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protection suitable for many kinds of
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' One -year warranty backing with voltage and grounding posts. circuits, whether analog or digital! principles of fiber
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No. Strips Strips Points 1 -9 frequencies continuously variable from transmitter and receiver circuit
-Part
-No. Description Price I kHz to 100 kHz.
boards, fiber optics cable and all
6R20343 0 2 200 $3.49
5R27078 3.5 digit multimeter $59.95 connectors for interfacing cables
6R20600 1 2 400 4.95 (Requires 12 VDC supply or ±6 VDC with the circuit boards. Either a
íR27086 3.5 digit multimeter
w /frequency & 61120669 split supply; recommended power square -wave or TTL signal from
I 0 630 5.95
capacitance 74.95 supply #20626) 200 Hz to 5 kHz can be input.
6820722 1 2 830 6.95
5R27115 3.5 digit multimeter 39.95
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5R27140 4.5 digit multimeter,
w/tach/dwell 59.95 6820773 2 4 1,660 17.95
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hold switch 99.95
61120790

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Crystals Radial Lead Carbon Film 1/4 Watt 5%
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6R10719 each 70 values (every other value From RIO ohu,- and Prototyping
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61110663
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íR14681 CY6 6.000MHz 1.19 61129831 1µF 50V $.12
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Call for kit pricing
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íR27991
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Order toll -free 1.800.831.4242
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Integrated Circuits' 6833806 4.70 35V 45
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íR48979 7400 $.29 Machine Tooled
íR49015
íR49040
7402
7404
39
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Pias between 7AM -5PM P.S.T. Belmont, CA 94002
íR50593 7476 59 6R51625 8 pin $.55
SR50665 7486 39 CA Residents please add applicable FAX: 1.800.237.6948 I Ia,mruic)
íR50681 6R37196 14 pin 59
7489 2.95 sales tax. FAX: 415.592.2503 (Intrma,iona4
íR50690 7490 79 6R37401 16 pin 69
íR49322
íR49912
íR49939
74121
74192
74193
49
99
99
61139351
61140328
6R41136
24 pin
28 pin
40 pin
99
1.09
1.25
$30.00 Minimum Order
Terms: Prices subject to change without notice. Items subject to availability spins
® Mention
V.I.P.,

'Name brand IC's in stock Additional components available


and prior sale. Complete list of terms/warranties is available upon request.

1993 /erurro 6/9.3 All tradetwirks are registered


w
trademarks of Their respectsc <omp.mlo.
683

CIRCLE 114 ON FREE INFORMATION CARD


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www.americanradiohistory.com
FOR SALE ENGINEERING software and hardware, PC/
TUBES. "oldest ", "latest ". Parts and schematics. MSDOS. Circuit design /drawing, PCB
SASE for lists. STEINMETZ, 7519 Maplewood
Ave., R.E., Hammond, IN 46324. RE
layout, FFT analysis, mathematics, circuit
analysis. Data acquisition, generation, I/O
TUBES, new, up to 90% off, SASE, KIRBY, 298
West Carmel Drive, Carmel, IN 46032. PCB's. Call or write for free catalog. (614)
491 -0832, or fax (614) 497 -9971, BSOFT
SOFTWARE, INC., 444 Colton Rd., Co-
REMOVE
SINGERS VOCALS!
Unlimited Backgrounds -
lumbus, OH 43207.
> Te Most Complete Une of Deuramblers From Standard Records & CD's with the CABLE test chips. Jerrold, Tocom, S.A
Thompson Vocal Eliminator'" Call for Free Zenith. Puts cable boxes into full service
> Friendly, professional servite Catalog & Demo Record.
Phone (404)482-4189 Sol 72 mode! $29.95 to $59.95.1(800) 452 -7090, (310)
Singer's Supply. Dept RL- I 867 -0081.
> FREE Catalog 7987 Hightower Trail
Lithonia. GA 30058 SECRET cable descramblers! Build your own
24 Hour Demo/Info Request
Une (404)482.2485 Lot 72
Singer's Supply -We Have Anything & Everything For Singers
r descrambler for less than $12.00 in seven easy
steps. Radio Shack parts list and free descram-
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Send $10.00 to: HARRY WHITE, PO Box 1790,
Baytown, TX 77522.
WIRELESS CABLE RECEIVERS 1.9 to 2.7 GHz CABLE TV converters: Jerrold, Oak, Scientific
Go to the Source 36 CH 20" Parabolic Dish Sys. `173.90 Atlanta, Zenith & many others. "New MTS" stereo
36 CH 28" Rod Ant. Sys. '193.90 add-on: mute & volume. Ideal for 400 and 450
CH 16x20" Grid Ant. Sys. (photo) '289.00 owners! (800) 826 -7623, Amex, Visa, M/C ac-
NUTEK ELECTRONICS 36
36 CH 24x36" Grid Ant. Sys. '314.95
1

cepted. B & B INC., 3584 Kennebec, Eagan, MN


3250 Hatch RD it
SUN MICROWAVE INT'L INC. Send S1°° for 55122.
Cedr Parie TECAS 786 13 iiIAPO BOX 34522
PHOENIX, AZ 85067
product catalog.
Dealer discounts available.
(602) 230.1245 FAX (602) 269 -6069
300 Experimenters Circuits - Complete in 6
practical books using diodes, relays, FET's,
VISA/MC /AMEX ORDERS ONLY -800-484 -4190 code 9793
LED's, IC 555's, and IC CA3130's for building
1

blocks. Only $33.00 plus $5.50 for shipping. USA


and Canada only. US funds. ETT, INC., PO Box

' CABLE TV DESCRAMBLERS


STABILIZERS AVAILABLE & Bullet Protectors "'
VIDEO
n1ULTrr'r'.Illll ELECTRONIC'. '.O IRD CT ,TE.=12I OMAHA IIE.
BEST BUYS BEST SERVICE
I.r+111
((FEATURING))
1.

3.
-1.
Call Identifiers
2. Power Antennas
Mind -Machines
Wireless Cable
240, Massapequa Park, NY 11762-0240.
EPROMS, Assorted, i.e., 27128A -15 $3.00 each
minimum quantity 13 pieces. C.O.D., American
Express. H.E.A.R.T. Inc., (800) 677-3773.
1

1- 800 -835 -2330 STARTS MTTH A


CATALOG
MX Receivers T.V.
1.9 -2.7 GHz
CABLE Converters, accessories below whole-
sale! Immediate delivery from giant stock! COD
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rgryonunto LIMA 1101.MANCIM 1/11.1111(101 MT:WM TO
TECH UNE (402)3314228
1.0.11 TO Cdre WITH11471
5.
6.
Stun-Guns
Surveillance
orders only. 1 (800) 995-1749.
OAK Sigma descrambler, CH3 output, rare hard -
7. Dual Deck VCR
to-find units, $100.00 postpaid, only moneyorders
please, SURPLUS ELECTRONICS, Box 10009,
Colorado Springs. CO 80932.
RESTRICTED technical information: Elec-
THE FT IFCTRONIC GOLDMINE tronic surveillance & schematics; locksmithing;
CABLE BOXES -. The Electronic Goldmine
cable phreaking; hacking; etc. Free brochures:
MENTOR, Box 1549 -Z, Asbury Park, NJ 07712.
r l-Rpp
_

BELOW WHOLESALE y"j.' _

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' dykes of CABLE TV converters. Jerrold, Zenith, Pioneer,

`:
p e.lebonlcproj ct kits C `'v
n1 Oak, Scientific Atlanta, and many more. 12 years
CREDIT CARD OR COO
r ¡--
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inebN29
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- DESCRAMBLERS /'K Ád
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mime bargain
1WI

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cOD1

1 (800) 952 -3916 1125 Riverwood Dr., Burnsville,

MN 55337.

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components in our
mw 8. page catalog!
TBI3 SUPER 7 WATER powered watch, 2 year guarantee. Men's,
TB-2 or 3 FTB-2 or 3 MINIxAI'LRE MOTOR 2 CELL BATFERY HOLDEN women's, childen's size S, $12.50 each. ALPHA

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SP-200D (PIONEER° )
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TEST equipment pre -owned now at affordable
prices. Signal generators from $50.00, os-
- COMBINATION UNITS about I
I°DOtt
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ml°iave tans et. Operates torn
brph arr. Gut W
1 S
knit* leads. 110- cilloscopes from $50.00. Other equipment includ-
w WUC ing manuals available. Send $2.00 U.S. for
DRXDIC, DRZ -DIC, G2846 .496EA G971 3/1.00
JERROLD® :
10
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..,t t/ ULTRABRIGHT COPPER CLAD (708) 982 -1973.

4
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SCI -ATLANTA° : SA-8536 + , SA-8555, RED LED

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by HP. Par HLMP -3750, pane is.042standard
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CONVERTERS W /REMOTES - V Rut lsadwiha5551C circuit
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Opp is 40 and will RARE 1e
CABLE TV descramblers All major brands.
Ides Have make /model used in your area when calling,
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TIMELESS PRODUCTS° M en.
below.

N1700 $1.25 EA.1Do /$80.00


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G993 $1.75 EA. 1003160.00 VIDEO, PO Box 29538, Minneapolis, MN 55429.


PANASONIC° - JERROLD®
STROBE TUBES LASERS, light shows, plans, books, .5mW to 20
YOU MUST CHECK WITH YOUR LOCAL CABLE COMPANY AND PAY FOR
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\t"rfìv
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MWK IND., 198 Lewis, Ct., Corona, CA 91720.

- - -
DEFRAUD ANY TELEVISION OPERATOR AND WE WILL NOT ASSIST ANY rrtS rnaainp strake
COMPANY OR INDIVIDUAL IN DOING THE SAME Indodes SdelabL
shoeing thistles)] High pEtiyatambly consisting
o* in
Memo*
da

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CELLULAR Hackers Bible. Theory hacks

- -
our standard 3 bad -3/4' lap won strobe a
programming $53.95. Cellular
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modifications
LAKE SYLVAN SALES, INC. tipper eet tab:ta assembly (2 -3/F L a I' H).

-
platen
ledges snap co cda certain troll lern. Cloning Video $39.95. Cellular Programmers
SORRY NO MINNESOTA SALES A1033 $2.49 10 /522.00 Bible $84.45. Catalog $3.00 TELECODE,
G936 $1.39
MINIMUM ORDER: $10 00 plus $3.50 shipping and handling PO Box 6426 -RE, Yuma, AZ 85366 -6426.
CALL FOR A CATALOG NOW!! $5 00 for U.S. Mail. We accept MC. VISA and Money Orders.
SEND ORDERS TO: THE ELECTRONIC GOLDMINE OSCILLOSCOPE 50MHz, dual channel, solid

98
800 -800 -4582 P.O. Box 5408 Scottsdale. AZ 85261
PHONE ORDERS 602 451-7454 FAX ORDERS 1602) 451-9495
state calibrated, manual $250.00
835 -8335 X -123.
1 (800)

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CABLE TV filters, cylinder type. The best made. VCR repairs, over 1,600, all makes, 60 pages,
All channels available. Low prices. Quantity dis-
counts. Call 1 (800) 331 -2156 ext. #2156.
$35.00. CI ELECTRONICS, 1115 N. Higley Rd.,
Suite 106 -119, Mesa, AZ 85205. CABLE BOX
NEON tubes: new surplus, many sizes, shapes,
colors. Catalog $1.00. SPECTRUM NEON, 18374
CABLE converters, Zenith Ztac 1600 $250.00,
ST1086 $215.00, ST1082 $199.00, S.A. 85XX Ça' 1
WHOLESALERS, INC.
Locust, Suite A, Lansing, IL 60438. $170.00, 5 (a, $155.00 each, Jerrold Starcom call,
Pioneer call. Most makes in stock. C.O.D. OK,
MOUNT HOOD ELECTRONICS, (206) BEST BOXES -BEST PRICES
"YOUR FREE 260 -0107.
SELLING test chips for Zenith, S.A. and Jerrold, Immediate Shipping-COD's
CATALOG KNOCKED also turned -on boxes at best prices. Buying raw
boxes. Call (305) 425-0751. Satisfaction Guaranteed
SOCKS OFF" FREE Catalog -Call Now
We get that sort of comment all the EDUCATION & INSTRUCTION
time. People are impressed that our
free Consumer Information Catalog
lists so many free and low -cost
F.C.C. Commercial General Radiotelephone li-
cense. Electronics home study. Fast, inexpen-
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800 -841 -7835
2824, San Francisco, CA 94126.
government booklets. There are ELECTRONIC engineering. 8 volumes com-
more than 200 in all, containing a
wealth of valuable information.
plete. $109.95. No prior knowledge required. Free
brochure. BANNER TECHNICAL BOOKS, 1203 CABLE TV
Our free Catalog will very likely
Grant Avenue, Rockford, IL 61103.
TV trainer. Build 5" color TV. Complete instruction
DESCRAMBLERS
impress you, too. But first you have book. $272.00. Call QUANTUM ELECTRONICS,
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FREE CATALOG
GUARANTEED BEST PRICES IMMEDIATE SHIPPING
address to: APPLE ELECTRONICS
3389 Sheridan St. Suite 257
Consumer Information Center WANTED Hollywood, FL 33021

Department KO INVENTORS: We submit ideas to industry. Find


out what we can do for you. 1 (800) 288-IDEA.
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81009 INVENTORS FAMOUS "FIRESTIK" BRAND CB ANTENNAS
AND ACCESSORIES. QUALITY PRODUCTS
INVENTORS! Can you patent and profit from your
A public service of this publication and idea? Call AMERICAN INVENTORS CORP. for FOR THE SERIOUS CB'er. SINCE 1962
the Consumer Information Center of the free information. Serving inventors since 1975. 1
FIRESTIK ANTENNA COMPANY
(800) 338 -5656.
U. S. General Services Administration 2614 EAST ADAMS
PHOENIX, ARIZONA 85034

-Parts Polydax
6 -1/2" Audiophile Test CD
F xpress Fiberglass Woofer /Midrange
This woven fiberglass cone features a
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Best of Cheskv Jazz and More Audiophile
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Impedance: 8 ohms SPL: 90 dB ment is used. Part Two otters eight test
CALLTOLL FREE 1W /1m VAs: 1.24 cu. tt. QTs: .37 Fs
44Hz Power handling: 50 watts RMS.
tracks that check for imaging, dynamics and
resolution. Excellent for fine tuning your system.
#296 -070 $49901, #510 -130 $18 %EACH
1-800-338-0531 3) $4650Id uPl

THE B.I.R.D., Battery Powered


8" Two-Way Ported
Thirty day money back guarantee In -Wall Speaker System Infrared Detector Pen
$20.00 minimum order We accept 8" paper cone woofer with The B.I.R.D. instantly recognizes infrared light
Mastercard, Visa, Discover, and polymer resin coating and a 1" from television, VCR, stereo remote controls,
company C.O.D. orders 24 hour and thousands of other IR controlled products.
textile dome tweeter. Ported
ship3ing Shipping charge = UPS plate speaker system for better No longer do you need to turn the lights out to
chart rate + $1.00 ($3.50 minimum see the phospho, on an infrared detector card.
bass response. Integral
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EST, Monday - Friday, 9:00 am - 5:00
crossover with a tweeter pro- #390-200 $3496EACH
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please call for shipping estimate on
nals. 8 ohm impedance. Fre- Minor Camcorder Repair Video
quency response: 30- 25,000 This instructional video will imroduce you to the
orders exceeding 5 lbs. Foreign
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destination customers please send power handling capability. Sensitivity: 92 dB Step by step. you'll be guided through cover
$5.00 U.S. funds for catalog postage. 1W /1m. Dimensions: 10 -5/8" (W) x 13" (L). removal, disassembly and proper cleaning and
Net weight: 17 lbs. per pair. $274.95 list price. lubricating procedures. Belt replacement.
#300 -425 $1699011.3 common adustments and alignment are also
PRS) $1599°0 PRS -UP)
covered. VHS format. 48 minutes.
Quick Box Software #505 -040 S3995EACt+
This versatile program was created to al-
low rapid design of sealed, vented and 4th Idler Tire Kit
order bandpass enclosures. The program This comprehensive idler tire
calculates enclosure volume, vent size kit contains 180 of the most
and even plots predicted low frequency tl commonly used tires in an
response. Knowledge of loudspeaker theory easy -to -use case. Includes a
and terminology is required. Runs on IBM cross reference with 80 manu-
compatibles with DOS 3.0 or higher. Supports facturer assembly numbers
Hercules, CGA, EGA color and VGA color moni- crossing to over 200 VCR model num-
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1

#500-915 $3495EACH #400-900 JJ9%KIT


FIRST ST. DAYTON, OHIO 45402 LOCAL 513/222 -0173 FAX 513/222 -4644

99
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Courteous Service Discount Prices Fast Shipping,

la,
P.O. Box 567
E ECTRORICS
Van Nuys, CA 91408 ADVERTISING Gernsback Publications, Inc.
500 -B Bi -County Blvd.
VIDEO SWITCHER Farmingdale, NY 11735
INDEX

i
W & S System (Div. of 1 -(5161 293.3000

h
Westinghouse) # VCM -2001 Larry Steckler, EHF /CET
The VCM -2001 video control
module allows you to record
from a cable converter or other
\ Electronics Now does not assume any
responsibility for errors that may appear
President

program source while watching


1 in the index below. Christina Estrada
regular TV, or you can record
i assistant to the President
from TV while watching cable
or other source. Easy to
hook-up and operate, the front -
- - Free Information Number Page For Advertising ONLY
panel has 3 soft-touch pushbuttons and LED indicators.
Eliminates the need for cumbersome and inefficient me- 516 -293 -3000
chanical AB switches and splitters. 9" X 5" X 2.4 ". 108 AMC Sales 83 Fax 1- 516 - 293 -3115
CAT # VCM -2001 $19.95 each
107 All Electronics 100
Larry Steckler
ULTRASONIC TRANSDUCERS Amazing Concepts 14
publisher
MATCHED SET 190,191 American Reliance Inc. 81
Arline Fishman
Panasonic transmitters receiver pair. Ideal for remote 77 B &K Precision CIV
advertising director
B.I. -A Division of WaveTek...
control systems, burglar alarms, flow rate detectors etc.
Transmitter:# EFR- OHB40K24 98 13
0.5 "d:#X
Denise Mullen
109 C & S Sales
c,.;,

15
advertising assistant
7
Receiver: #EFR- RU640K25.
0.63" dia. X 0.48 ".
CIE 5 31
Kelly Twist
I

Center frequency: 40 KHz.


Band width: 4Khz +
180 Cable Warehouse 85
CAT# UST -23 $2.00 per set
credit manager
110 Chenesko 8l Subscriber Customer Service
TWO CHANNEL Command Productions 14 1- 800 -288 -0652
COLOR ORGAN 127 Deco Industries 81
Create your .4%,
Order Entry for New Subscribers
125 Electronic Goldmine 98
own light shows. 11 r
1- 800 -999 -7139
-1 Pi-
Electret mike on
control board _1 Ir.li . -

,- Electronics Book Club 23, 90 7:00 AM - 6:00 PM M -F MST

r.
I

responds to I 121 Fluke Manufacturing CII


music or other - -

sounds causing 177 Foley -Belsaw Company 80


lights to brighten and dim ADVERTISING
depending on frequency and volume. 120 Vac input and 186 Global Specialties 7
SALES OFFICES
output. Provisions for two light strings, up to 200 watts
per channel. Separate sensitivity controls for each
Grantham College 77
channel. 0.25" qc terminals for output. Lights not includ-
194 Howard W. Sams & Co 87
ed. 4.25" X 3.85 ". Hook -up diagram included. EAST /SOUTHEAST
CAT# CORG -1 $6.50 each 184 Interactive Image Tech 79
Stanley Levitan
4 DIGIT ALPHANUMERIC 114 Jameco 97 Eastern Advertising
INTELLIGENT DISPLAY 179 Kelvin 17 1 Overlook Ave.
Siemens # DL-2416T
End- stackable, four digit
module with built -in CMOS
display 176
89
Lake Sylvan Sales, Inc.
MAT Electronics
98
87
Great Neck, NY 11021
1- 516- 487 -9357

memory/decoder /driver. High Fax 1- 516 -487 -8402


contrast, .160" high magnified 93 Mark V. Electronics 96
red characters. Direct access to each digit independent-
MIDWEST/Texas /Arkansas /Okla.
ly and asynchronously. ASCII format. 5 volt logic, TTL 193 Mini- Circuits 3
compatible. Module size: 1" X 0.8" X 0.25 ". Includes Ralph Bergen
specs and instructions. Sells elsewhere for as much as 117 Mouser 18 Midwest Advertising
$19.95. CAT# DL-2416T $4.95 each
NRI Schools 8 One Northfield Plaza, Suite 300

I
12 VDC 500 MA Nu -Tek 98
Northfield, IL 60093 -1214
WALL TRANSFORMER 1- 708 -446-1444
Optoelectronics

l
183 Clll
Fax 1- 708 -559 -0562
Panasonic # KX-A11
WHITE - U.L. listed. 56 Parts Express 99
12 Vdc wall transformer.
People's College 95 PACIFIC COAST
2.1 mm co -ax plug
with center negative.
Pamela Kuster
,, 101,189 Pomona Electronics 81
CAT# DCTX -125W Pacific Advertising
$4.50 each 10 for $30.00 100 for $265.00 78 Radio Shack 32 Pattis /3M
Star Circuits 1800 North Highland Avenue
TOLL FREE ORDER LINES 81
Suite 717
1- 800 -826 -5432
CHARGE ORDERS to Visa, MasterCard or Discover
185 TECI 76
Hollywood, CA 90028
92,187 Tektronix 21, 24 1- 213 -462 -2700
TERMS: Minimum order $ I0.00.Shipping and handling
188 Tektronix 27 FAX 1- 213 -463 -0544
for the 48 continental U.S.A. $4.00 per order. All others
including AK, HI, PR or Canada must pay full shipping. 123 Test Probes 18
All orders delivered in CALIFORNIA must include state Electronic Shopper
sales tax (7.25ßi, 7.5%, 7.75 %, 8.25 %, 8.5 %) .Quantities 192 Teynham Audio Systems 85
Joe Shere
Limited. NO C.O.D. Prices subject to change w/out notice.
182 The School Of VCR Repair 83 National Representative
Call or Write For Our P.O. Box 169
105 WPT Publications 76
FREE 64 Page Catalog Idyllwild, CA 92549
(Outside The U.S.A. Send $2.00 Postage) 178 Xandi Electronics 81
1- 909 -659-9743

100
ALL ELECTRONICS CORP. 181 Zentek Corp 80 Fax 1- 909 -659 -2469

/ P.O. Box 567 Van Nuys, CA 91408


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111%0Lam&NANN

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the air. The TC200 5821 NE 14th Ave, Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33334
signal level received
through the built can also be used with 5% Ship /Handling (Max $10) U.S. & Canada.
in antenna. scanners and 15% outside continental U.S.
communications receiver to Visa, Master Card, C.O.D., Cash or Money
5119. monitor sub audible tones. 5179. Order only.
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Meet the new TEST BENCH' ANALOG


DMMs, with more of what made BAR GRAPH
the original a best seller.
B* K PRECISION's original TEST BENCH
testers became overnight best sellers CAPACITANCE

because they fused the power of many


instruments in one compact meter. These
new models also out -feature ordinary FREQUENCY
DMMs, and outperform them as well.
All are ruggedized, offer long battery
life and carry a three -year warranty.
LOGIC LEVEL

With True RMS, 41 digit, 20,000


counts and 0.05% DCV accuracy,
the Model 391 is a BEST BUY. AUTO POWER
OFF
TEMPERATURE

Now you can have very high accuracy,


extra resolution and True RMS reading at RUGGEDIZED,
a very affordable price. The Model 391 RUBBER BOOT
Test Bench DMM also has frequency,
logic, duty cycle and data hold. It's even
water resistant. PRICE $179 $159 $139 $119

There's a TEST BENCH DMM to fit


every application and budget.
Choose from three, 33/4 digit TEST BENCH
DMMs, starting with the Model 388A.
All measure AC /DC voltage or current, CO O
ohms, frequency, logic levels and test
componentspnd continuity. The Models
389 and 390 add 41 segment bar
graphs for smooth peak, null or level
adjustments; Min /Max, memory and
relative modes. The 390 also has a
temperature probe.
MAXTEC INTERNATIONAL CORP.
So why carry an ordinary DMM, when Domestic and International Sales
you can grab a TEST BENCH! See your 6470 W. Cortland St.. Chicago, IL 60635
local distributor for immediate delivery. 312 -889 -1448 FAX: 312- 794 -9740

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