Professional Documents
Culture Documents
50
IR £2.20
(incl. VAT)
01
9 770268 451012
111 EE
January 1988
x 400K 80T DS with psu TD35 2 E129 (b) P035 2 with psu £169 lb) Prog the Micro with Pascal _ . .£8.50 Disc Systems £6.95
1
As WS3000 V21/23 but with 1200 baud full 504 Disco fights 2708 E 4.80
duplex 505 Chess Intelekt . 2 x 2716 £14.60 522 C-arGen & video; Routine for ex-
£409 (a) 506 J C Tape Monitor . 2716E 7.30 tended junior 2732 a 2.2716 124.00
WS3000 V22 Ms Professional (Offer /inked to current crocks! 523 Char. Generator . _ 2732 £ 9.00
As V22 and 2400 baud IL' E537 (al 50714 J C Printer Mon & PME
WS30001B8C Data Lead - E7 (d) 2716 £ 7.30 524 Ouantisizer 2732 E 9.00
508 J C Bus Control 82523 E 4.80 525 Universal Term 2732 E 9.00
510 150 MHz Freq Meter 2.82523 526 Wind Dir Ind 2716E 7.30
SPECIAL OFFER PROJECTS: £ 9.60 527 Elabyrinth 2716 E 7.30
514 Dark Room Computer 2716 £ 7.30 530 Daisywheel Iface 2 2716 £11.00
EPROMs/RAMS Junior Computer Kit £86 (b)
2764-25 £2.80 Id)
Housekeeper kit £58 (b) ALL PRICES TECHNOLINE
Elekterminal Kit 11980) £50 (b) VIEWDATA SYSTEM
27128-25 £3.60 Id) ASCII Keyboard kit £75 (b) EXCLUDE VAT TeL 01-450 9764
27256 £5.00 Id) J C Books 1. 2, 3, & 4E6.90 (c) ea Please add carnage 50p unless Using Treste type protocols.
27512 £9.90 (d) Universal Terminal (6502) Kit £75 (b) indicated as follows: For information and orders
6264LP-15 Elekterminal Kit (1983) £70 (b/
£2.60 (d) fa1f8 1102.50 (clE1.50) fillf 1.00
available 24 hours. 7 days
a week.
MICROCONTROLLER-KIT ITT SCRIBE III WORKSTATION. Compact monitor sized unit with high quality high resolution
2- Green screen monitor (separated video & sincL 5V & 12V cased switchmode power
.pply. processor electronics incorporating TEXAS 9995 & 280H processors with
"28 kbytes & associated support chips. all BRAND NEW but with only monitor & power
supply guaranteed working. Original cost at least £2500.
I/O CONNECTIONS £39.95 (cam £5.00)
DATA GENERAL microNOVA Model MPTI100 SYSTEM with the following features: terminal
J iced desktop unit. mN602 processor with 64kbytes RAM. 2 x RS232 interfaces. connec-
!,:r for microNOVA 1.0 bus. dual D5013 5`.." floppy disc drives. 83 key keyboard, green
r5UFFERS ,,creen 12" monitor, 25 r 80
RS232 £165.00 lean. £10.001
CONVERTERS ?.1ATMOS TERMINAL MATMOS PC with terminal emulation. With set-up menu & with data
e. up to 9600 8.ad. Machine is easily modified for split Baud rate operation. 75:1200a
=ROAISpluos into ROM socket accessible from exterior. Emulation is VT -52 compatible for
TI142,40 / P1i1.1 PT - PRINTER :rsor addressing. MICROSOFTBASIC is available from the keyboard. BRAND NEW.
5052 -BASIC
-4' DUPLEX
PORT
£69.00 (can. (5.001
TRANSDATA MODEL 307 ACOUSTIC COUPLER. Low cost self contained modem unit allow -
micro or terminal connection to BT lines via telephone handset. V.24 interface. up to 300
Saud, originatetanswer modes. etc. BRAND NEW
CONTROLLER (19.95 (caw. £3.00)
EPROM PROGRAMMER DUPLEX Model 100 green screen high resolution monitor with composite video input. With
tilt & swivel stand. BRAND NEW. (can. £5.001
f 39.50
PLESSEY Model T24 V22,1/22 bis 2400 Baud MODEM. Compact. automatic modem offer -
^g both V22 & V22 bis comparability, 1200'2400 Baud duplex operation with auto bit rate
recognition, auto call and auto answer. BRAND NEW. NEW LOW PRICE.
32K BY £169.00 (cam £5.001
EPROM PANASONIC Model JU-363 3W' floppy disc drives. Double Sided Double Density 80 track
1 megabyte capacity unformatted. Latest low component 1,3 height design. SHUGART in-
MEMORY terface using 34 way IOC connector. Will interface to just about anything. BRAND NEW. Cur
rent model.
£59.50 tcarr. £3.001
HITACHI Model 305S,SX 3" disc drives. W,th SHUGART interface. Uncased. Single sided
250K (double density,: 40 track; 100 ipi: soft sector: 3rns track to track time: standard 34
...ay edge connector: 12V & 511 powered (standard connector) overall 3.7W. Suitable far BBC
AD CABB with DFS. AMSTRAD 6128. TATUNG EINSTEIN. AMSTRAD 664 & as a second drive for the
DATA
I\ 32K BY 8
STATIC
AMSTRAD 464. BRAND NEW. Data cables are available from us for the AMSTRAD 6128 &
FiRC at £7.50. and with data & power cables for TATUNG Einstein at £12.00.
£24.95 (can. £3.001
MEMORY FUJITSU Model M2230AS WINCHESTER disc drive. 6.66mbyte capacity unformatted.
CONTPOL. '5 32 sectors. 320 cy:',,ders. MIti ST508 interface. BRAND NEW.
£75.00 (care. £3.00)
DRIVETEC Model 320 high capacity 514" disc drives. 3.3Mbyte capacity drive 160 track.
gradab!e to 48 No further info at present. BRAND NEW.
BUFFERS POWER £45 00 (care. £3.00)
SUPPLY
X00
SHUGART Model 405R 5';;" disc drives. Full height. single sided. 40 track. untested vnth-
: :
66.95 Icon. (3.001
T ASTEC SWITCH MODE PSU. 5V f=8 A: 12V # 3A; -12V e0.3A - to a total 65W. Com-
= BCI cased Lni. BRAND NEW.
EXPANSION B TO 15V £14.50 (care. (3.001
CONNECTOR SUPPLY =,-ease note.- ' V/S4 :3; ACCESS 3CCe;7!:, VAT must be added to all prices quoted.
FEATURES INCLUDE
* Pov..,erful Enhanced Basic Interpreter,
* On Board EPROivl Programmer,
* Program Development from a VDU,
* 32K Bytes of CiviOS Static RAM,
1-1 Happy ernories
* 32K Bytes of CMOS EPROM (expandable to 56K Part type 1 off 25-99 100 up
Bytes), 4116 (Pulls) 1 00 .90 .85
4164 15Ons Not Texas 1 20 1.05 .97
* Two RS232 Ports, 41256 150ns 3.40 3.15 2.95
* Single Unregulated Supply Requirements, 41256 120ns 3.50 3.25 3.05
41464 12Ons 3 45 3.20 2.99
* Small Physical Size (80 by 100mm), 2114 200ns Low Power 1 75 1.60 1.55
* Expansion with range of Compatible Circuit 6116 150ns Low Power 1 40 1.25 1.20
6264 150ns Low Power 2.75 2.55 2.40
Boards. 62256 120ns Low Power 10.95 10.25 9.65
2716 450ns 5 volt 3 20 Call Call
KIT including all components, full instructions and 2532 450ns 5.40 Call Call
2732 450ns 3.20 Call Call
operating manual -E129 2732A 250ns 3.95 Call Call
Manufactured and Fully Tested Circuit Board - 2764 250ns Suit BBC 2 85 Call Call
27128 250ns Suit BBC 3.95 Call Call
£244. 27256 250ns 4.55 Call Call
27512 250ns 8.45 Call Call
"All prices exclude VAT.
Packaging and Postage FREE (UK onlyo. Low profile IC sockets: Pins 8 14 16 18 20 24 28 40
Pence 5 9 10 11 12 15 17 24
Overseas P&P : -- Europe £2.75
Please ask for quote on higher quantities or items not shown.
Elsewhere £6.50." Data free on memories purchased. Enquire cost for other.
Write or 'phone for list of other items including our 74LS series
For full details please contact and a DISCOUNT ORDER FORM.
Please add 50p post & packing to orders under £15 and VAT to
total. Access orders by 'phone or mail welcome.
Li Non -Military Government & Educational orders welcome
for minimum invoice value of £15 net.
11 electronics ltd
Happy Memories (EL), FREEPOST, Kington,
Herefordshire HR5 3BR. Tel: (054 422) 618
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DUNDEE DD5 4PJ Telephone: 0382 534944
-9:11
NO REAL SOLUTIONS
IN THE HAGUE
A Wolters Kluwer Company
Managing Editor: Len Seymour As was expected, at the end of their two-day meeting in The Hague last
Personal Assistant: L. Vousden
Technical Editor: J Suiting November, 12 of the 13 members of the European Space Agency -ESA -
Advertisement executive: gave their cautious approval to a toned -down multi -billion dollar plan that
P. O'Rourke will decide Europe's role in space for the rest of this century. Britain did not
Editorial offices: - and for very good reasons.
1 Harlequin Avenue
BRENTFORD TVi./8 9EW
England The three major projects on which a decision had to be made were: (a)
Telephone: 01-847 2618 (National) Ariane V, French -led and estimated to cost close to $4 billion; (b) the
or -44 1847 2618 (International) French -designed Hermes mini space -shuttle, estimated to cost almost $5
Telex: 917490 lelektr g)
billion; and (c) Columbus, Europe's contribution to the manned American
European offices: space station (EE, December 1987) and estimated to cost just over $4
Postbus 75
6190 AB BEEK IL) billion. ESA's total budget for the next 13 years is a staggering $37 billion. If
The Netherlands history is anything to go by, this figure may well be exceeded by an ap-
Telephone: 4-31 4490 89444 preciable amount.
Telex: 56617 letekt all
Fax: +31 4402 70161
Overseas editions: Ariane V, formulated ten years ago, is already out of date. The main reason
Publitron Publicacoes Tecnicas Ltda for this is that, in spite of what was thought then, satellites have not be-
Av Ipiranga 1100, 9° andar come much heavier in the intervening years, and are unlikely to do so in
CEP 01040 Sao Paulo - Brazil
Editor: Juliano Sarsali the foreseeable future. There is, therefore, no need for a heavy -lift rocket
Elektor sari
like Ariane V. Arianespace, which is responsible for the Ariane launches,
Route Nationale; Le Seau; B.P. 53 has said that the more powerful version of Ariane IV, which can lift over 4
59270 Bailleul - France tonnes into geosynchronous orbit, is more than adequate for its needs.
Editors: D R S Meyer;
G C P Raedersdorf
According to many experts, Hermes is likely to cost well in excess of its
Elektor Verlag GmbH estimated $4.9 billion. Mr Kenneth Clarke, Minister of State for Trade and In-
Sitsterfetd-Stralle 25
5100 Aachen - West Germany dustry, said at the meeting that the British Government believed the
Editor: E J A Krempelsauer Hermes was not justified on commercial, industrial, and scientific grounds,
Elektor EPE since it simply imitates what the Americans and Russians did in the 1960s.
Karaiskaki 14 Federal Germany, and some other members, have also expressed serious
16673 \Joule - Athens - Greece doubts about the viability of Hermes.
Editor: E Xanthoulis
Elektor Electronics PVT Ltd.
Chhotani Building Britain also believes that the ESA's policy as regards the development of
52 C, Proctor Road, Grant Road (El commercial products is a serious impediment to much of the European in-
Bombay 400 007 - India dustry. Compared with NASA's technology utilization programme, that of the
Editor: Surendra lyer
ESA is embryonic. There is also a feeling among British space contractors
Elektuur B.V.
Peter Treckpoelstraat 2-4
that the influence of the ESA is already on the wane, because satellite
6191 VK Beek - the Netherlands operators have begun to order satellites direct rather than through the ESA.
Editor: P E L Kersemakers Eutelsat, for instance, whose first generation of satellites was supplied by
Ferreira & Bento Lda. the ESA, has itself awarded the contract for four second generation Eutelsat
R.D. Estefania, 32-1° II satellites to Aerospatiale.
1000 Lisboa - Portugal
Editor: Jorge GongaIves
Ingelek S.A.
None the less, the meeting decided to go ahead with the development of
Plaza Reptiblica Ecuador Ariane V; a three-year further study, costing close to $600 million, of
2-28016 Madrid - Spain Hermes; and a three-year further study of Columbus, costing well over
Editor: A M Ferrer $700 million.
Electronic Press AB
Box 63
182 11 Danderyd - Sweden
Equally grave problems, such as the liberalization and deregulation of sat-
Editor: Bill Cedrum ellite broadcasting and telecommunications were not seriously discussed.
International co-ordinating The main obstacles to a deregulation programme remain the national tele-
& technical manager: communications agencies and their monopolies. Such monopolies
K S M Walraven threaten the economic success of telecommunications and direct broad-
International editorial secretariat:
GWPv Linden; M Pardo casting satellites.
Distribution:
SEYMOUR It is to be hoped that the liberalization of satellites, as put forward in the
334 Brixton Road EEC's green paper on telecommunications (EE, September 1987), which is
LONDON SW9 7AG. essential for the development of a strong European satellite manufacturing
Typeset & composed in the industry will be undertaken in the very near future.
Netherlands by GBS, Beek ILL
Printed in the Netherlands by
NDB, Zoeterwoude. Hasn't the time come for the other western European countries to follow the
Copyright 1988 Elektuur B.V.
example of Britain and Luxembourg, and America, and stop putting huge
amounts of taxpayers' money into satellite systems and leave it to com-
mercial (non -government) organizations to provide telecommunication
ABC links and direct -broadcasting satellite TV services? That way, we might even
see a pan-European standard for high -definition TV services in the not too
.1/1WAR G ME
MM./LI c CPCL,LATV5 distant future.
14' EE
January 1988
V Dish
Location EIRP diameter
-.
Germany 64.0 dBW 35-40 cm
Vienna 61.5 dBW 45 cm
Paris, Lyon 60.0 dBW 50 cm
London, Rome 57.0 dBW 70 cm
\ 1t .1...n
rig 81111111..
Alesituaililli Stockholm,
0/
50
Warsaw 57.0 dBW 70 cm
1 I1 I o v g_I i 411/4 Reference: ECS-1 boresight EIRP is
"API 42.5 dBW.
imaivitil. 1.4.0e
45
TV -SAT
1/519/13117
65.6 cal WAtt
1HC
65.6)
ment is broad -based: radio and tele- vices for shipping in the Atlantic,
TDF 63.4 sal OlitZE63.8) vision new brooms regardless of market Mediterranean, and Persian Gulf areas.
0.05 IX4tEE OM
11.41 POIMTING PRECISION 7 1E115
size have chosen BASYS as the most per- For the provision of distress and safety
TE04.104. I P.%5 fectly suited to their needs. services, it will be interconnected with
BASYS International Ltd 45 Mor- the Middle East Rescue Co-ordination
TY-SAT / TDF SATELLITES timer Street LONDON W1V 1PF Centre near Cairo.
COMMUNICATIONS PAYLOAD eurosateide Telephone 01-631 0286. Consideration is also being given to
equipping Maadi for satellite communi-
TRANSPONDER TRANSFER CHARACTERISTICS
cations services to aircraft, which will
TTANSPAIENT TEASSPONDEILS (PALJSECARIDMAC COHPATIELE)
become available via INMARSAT later
27/61z GAVYAIDTH PIM IPAASPONDEE
fliCaleCT HODULATIOR Marconi equipment for Hong this year.
MIME REMO CONVEISION Kong International Maritime Satellite Organ-
TIANSLATION FLEW:KIES TV -SAT AP,221 6 Gdz ization 40 Melton Street LON-
TOP 5.6 Oft An export order valued in excess of £1 DON NW1 2EQ.
oulfiff MAR
410 LEVEL CONTROL OF (433SITARLE)
million has been awarded to Marconi
Communication Systems by Cable &
,1-SII suns sow Isde mut Ssmuzz
Wireless (Hong Kong) for the upgrading
of the Hong Kong 4 satellite ground
is expected to be completed next month. station. Four -nation collaboration on
The Deutsche Bundespost has an- Under the terms of the contract, Mar- optical fibre systems
nounced that all transmissions via coni will upgrade the transmit system of Four European companies are col-
TV SAT -1 will be in the D2 -MAC for- the terminal, thereby facilitating the laborating in the development of
mat, so that earlier rumours of tests in transmission of Intermediate Data 2.5 Gbit/s optical fibre systems that can
PAL are false. Meanwhile, the German Rate-IDR-carriers. This international carry vast quantities of data, video traf-
TV industry is busily engaged in pro- digital satellite communication service, and telephone conversations. In
fic,
viding equipment for direct reception of recently introduced by INTELSAT, pro- simple terms, this represents 40,000 tele-
TV SAT -1. Notably set -top converters vides for the transmission of data at phone calls over two hair -thin glas
and transcoders for the new D2 -MAC rates of up to 8.44 Mbps. fibres. With the development of broad-
standard pose problems, since ITT band integrated services digital networks
Semiconductors have only recently (B-ISDNs) and managed local and
started the production of a suitable national optical networks, such very
decoder chip Type DMA2270. 6,000 INMARSAT users high capacity optical fibre systems will
A new Polish cargo vessel, m.v. find widespread application in the tele-
Wladislass, Gomulka, has become the communications networks of the 1990s.
Many and technical
abbreviations 6,000th user commissioned into the IN- The firms are GEC Network Systems of
denotations used in this report are ex- MARSAT global mobile satellite com- Britain, ANT Nachrichtentechnik
plained in: munication system. GmbH of Federal Germany, Societe
INMARSAT is the 48 member -country Anonyme de Telecommunications (SAT)
Satellite TV reception. Elektor Elec- co-operative that operates a system of of France, and Telettra, Telefonia Elet-
tronics, September 1986. nine geostationary satellites to provide tronica e Radio SpA, of Italy. The pro-
The MAC system. Elektor Electronics, maritime, and soon aeronautical, mobile ject has been given EUREKA status,
July/August 1987. satellite communications. Services of- which is a framework for promoting col-
fered on the INMARSAT system include laborative, advanced -technology pro-
Note: just before this issue was sent to telephone and voice communications, jects and exploiting research among 18
the printers, the control centre at Ober- telex, data, facsimile, and slow -scan tele- European countries and the European
pfaffenhofen reported difficulties un- vision. Commission.
folding one of the wings of the satellite.
SOFTWARE UPDATE FOR
UNIVERSAL EPROM EMULATOR
Judging from the reactions of a great E000H in the target system, the the special formats with the highest ad-
many of our readers, the universal assembler generates a data block to the dress of the EPROM in question, count-
EPROM emulator (reference "9 is a Intel format that looks like this: ing up from 0.
well -liked construction project for ad-
vanced microcomputer enthusiasts. Un- :02 E0 10 00 A9 IF 26 ... The update described here is not strictly
fortunately, a transcription error was required for the standard binary format.
made on the suggested layout for the Consequently, the EPROM emulator This mode of the EPROM emulator
front panel shown in Fig. 6. The follow- will not load this file, because it com- continues to be usable alongside the
ing switch indications on the front panel prises EPROM addresses higher than special formats used in conjuction with
should be interchanged: SI and S3; S4 7FFFH. an assembler that provides for an auto-
and S5; S6 and S7. The correct switch matic offset.
denotation is shown in the accompany- This, admittedly serious, shortcoming in
ing layout of the front panel. Please note the simulator software can be traced All 8748Hs supplied by us after
that the front panel foil is not available down to the use of the 2 assemblers used 1 November 1987 contain the update de-
ready-made through the Readers Ser- for developing and testing the EPROM scribed here (ESS 558-A).
vices. simulator in our design department. The Users wishing to avail themselves of the
assemblers offer the possibility of speci- free update service may send in their
As to the 8748H resident control fying an offset which is automatically 8748H, duly packed, with a stamped and
program for the emulator, it was found added to the originate (ORG) addresses addressed return enevelope, to
that an update may be required for the in the assembled object code. The above
special data transfer formats of Intel, problems in loading files with starting Elektor Electronics Software Service
Tektronix and Motorola. In the examples addresses higher than 7FFFH were 1 Harlequin Avenue Great West
given in Fig. 4, the addresses at the be- simply not encountered because Road Brent ford Middlesex TW8
ginning of each line are always con- assembled data blocks with an ORG ad- 9EW.
sidered as absolute for a simulated dress of, say, E000H were automatically
EPROM addressed from 0000H on- assigned an offset of 2000H during the Microcontrollers Type 8748H without an
wards. This means that the simulator ig- conversion to the Intel format. The original adhesive from Elektor Elec-
nores the actual address in the target result is that the blocks sent by the host tronics are not accepted for updating.Th
system. In other words, it does not take start invariably at 0000, since E000H +
into account that a simulated 2764 can 2000n = 0000H.
be adressed at, for example, 6000n to To help those users wishing to use the In-
7FFFH, but equally well at E000H to tel, Motorola or Tektronix formats in
FFFFH in the target system. The conjunction with an assembler that does
EPROM simulator considers the not feature the previously described off-
simulated memory block invariably set facility, a special updating service is
located between 0000H and IFFFu. available for programmed 8748Hs sup-
Likewise, a 2732 is invariably addressed plied by Elektor Electronics. Interested
between 0000H and OFFFH. The users are advised that the corrections
EPROM emulator, therefore, reports an and additions to the contents of the
error upon receipt of an address higher 8748H are effected without replacing or
than 7FFFH from the host system, erasing the device: the relevant bit lo- Reference:
because 7FFFH is the highest available cations reading 0 are simply changed
location in the 32 Kbyte RAM, corre- (programmed) to 1. In short, the up- ") Universal EPROM emulator. Elektor
sponding to the capacity of a Type 27256 dated software masks the addresses in Electronics, September 1987, p. 54 ff.
EPROM (see Fig. 3). Thus, when there
are adrresses higher than 7FFFH in, say,
a file to the Intel format, the simulator
refuses to load these although there is
sv RoT
essentially nothing wrong with the data I
or the format. In general, therefore, the 0
lowest address in the simulated EPROM ELEKTOR EPROM EMULATOR
must always be 0000H when either one
of the special transfer formats is used. S3 S2 51 EPROM SS 54 FORMAT S7 S6 BAU0FLATE
RE:.: - -0
Consider the following example relevant o o 0 2708 o o INTEL o o 1200
DCF77 is an AM, 25 kW (ERP), VLF ner to facilitate fitting it in a location The circuit diagram of the receiver in
time signal transmitter operating on well away from noise sources. The con- Fig. 2b shows that the VLF signal from
77.5 kHz. The station is located in nection to the receiver is made in the active aerial is filtered in network
Mainflingen, near Frankfurt am Main, screened or thin coaxial wire. The VLF Li -C3 -C4 and then applied to gate 1 of
in West Germany (co-ordinates: 50° 01' N, aerial itself is a parallel tuned circuit, dual gate MOSFET Ti, which functions
09° 00' E). The station is operated by the Ls -C34, resonating at 7-7.5 kHz. The RF as a mixer. The transistor is switched
Deutsche Bundespost, but the Physika- signal induced in the tuned circuit is hard at 78.125 kHz because the signal at
lisch-Technischen Bundesanstalt (PTB) magnified in a source follower, T13, and output Q7 of divider IC3 is applied to
in Braunschweich is responsible for the a further amplifier, Tis. FET Tit func- gate 2. The resultant heterodyned
stability of the carrier and the time tions as a current source to achieve opti- frequency -625 Hz-available at the
signals, which are used in many labora- mum bias for T13. Preset Pa enables drain is fed to a gyrator, T2 -Cs -C9,
tories and scientific institutions for ac- suppressing oscillation of the sensitive which ensures high local amplification.
curate timekeeping purposes. The range amplifier. It forms part of a damping re- The DC setting of Ti is controlled by
of DCF77 is claimed as 800 kilometres. sistance across Ls -C-14, and hence deter- the (negative) AGC potential applied to
The stability of the carrier is derived mines the quality (Q) factor of this gate 1. The 625 Hz signal is filtered in a
from a caesium atomic clock with an tuned circuit. The active aerial is fed by 700 Hz low-pass section Rs-Cio-R9-C12-
average deviation of 2 x 10-u over a the supply in the receiver via the core of Rio-Cii-T3 and a 550 Hz high-pass sec-
period of 100 days. The time signals the downlead cable. tion C13-Rn-C14-R12-05-R13-Ts. Transis-
from DCF77 are not the main concern An optional 77.5 kHz hand -pass filter tors 14 and T6, and resistors Rua and
here, however, and a detailed may be inserted between the active aerial Rio, provide the bias for the active
of their structure will be given in a forth- and the receiver input to limit the overall filters. Alternating voltage amplifier ICI
coming article in Elektor Electronics. bandwidth and thus cope with signal im- is dimensioned for an amplification of
DCF77 transmits in AM at a modulation pairment caused by interference. The about 100.
depth of 75%. This is in contrast to the band-pass is discussed further on in this The signal provided by ICI is fed to 4
Rugby MSF on 60 kHz-in this station, article. sections of the circuit.
the carrier is switched off completely
during pulse modulation. This unfortu-
nate fact makes Rugby unsuitable for
building a locked frequency standard as
described here. In addition to the AM
time signals, DCF77 transmits a number
of phase modulated services.
The block diagram of Fig. 1 shows how
the 77.5 kHz carrier is used for keeping
a crystal oscillator stable at 10.000 MHz
with the aid of a phase locked loop
(PLL). The oscillator signal can be used
as an accurate clock for a wide range of
equipment. The 10 MHz oscillator signal
is divided by 128 to give 78.125 kHz.
This signal is heterodyned with the
77.5 kHz carrier from DCF77 to give an
intermediate frequency of 625 Hz. The
oscillator signal is also divided down to
625 Hz through subsequent division by
32, 125 and 4. The two 625 Hz signals
are applied to a phase comparator,
which provides an error signal for con-
trolling the frequency of the 10 MHz os-
cillator.
Circuit description
The circuit diagram of the active aerial is
given in Fig. 2a. Fig. 1. Block schematic diagram of the DCF77 receiver and locked 10 MHz frequency stan-
This small unit is constructed in a man- dard.
EE
January 1988
a (>2-3V
0.1-3-2-3V
Cal I
(>11-4--13" 6F255C
TA
35124.1.24
TP
41/7 2x 15'1
4000M BC5ECC
BC RTC
73 550C
BC
T5 550C
IC2
504ZP
1
I CIS 03
mpl
11e1
70 tsa
BF256A BF256A AA119
TP313
AA119
c331 07
mit= A
2[ fir
UR APE SPE
112
so
i
0
n1
MX
91
0
R32 C30
711
BCSSOC
0 -0c a
IC3 IC4 220.,
4024 -C" 40103 CO ri FF1 FF2
BC a . es ed 0
434
ulir lit .71=
R S
770,
04
474
O
7E1 T
LP C31 55 7
ff
AA119
C35 I CIS R46
7PI
220n 2201
Rai
FF1,FF2=105=4013
Bz 1 Hi-M=1M = mna
15V
bbbb
IC3 - ICI- IC5 ICEI
S5124-1-26
Fig. 2. Circuit diagram of the active aerial (a), the receiver plus PIA, based 10 MHz frequency standard (b), and the power supply (c).
26 EE
January 1988
Symmetrical mixer IC2 is set up as an
analogue PLL. This circuit has the dis-
advantage of reducing the bandwidth
along with the signal-to-noise (S/N)
ratio of the input signal, but this
presents no problems as long as the PLL
remains locked. This feature is in con-
trast to a digital PLL, which would lose
lock as a result of strong spurious pulses
and a reduced S/N ratio. The 625 Hz
signal obtained from ICI is limited by a
"soft" clipper, Di -D2, and its phase is
compared to the complementary signals
Q and Q from FF1, applied to the sym-
metrical inputs of the S042P. The phase
error signal at pin 2 of the mixer is
filtered in low-pass R22 -Cm, and forms
the control voltage on varactor set D4.
The output of the 10 MHz oscillator is
thus corrected for minimum-theoreti-
cally, zero-phase difference between
the heterodyned 625 Hz signal and the
625 Hz reference from the timebase: in
other words, the central clock circuit is
forced to oscillate at 10.000 MI-lz pre-
cisely.
The output of ICI is also rectified by D3
to obtain an AGC (automatic gain con-
trol) signal which is fed to gate of 1
Miscellaneous:
X 1 =10 MHz quartz crystal la =30 pF; parallel
resonance).
Fig. 7. Circuit diagram of the PLL based PCB Type 87105 (not available through the
10 MHz clock circuit for the microprocessor Readers Services).
controlled frequency meter.
404'
x:
L
fiti
- 41k_,
)! '
11'
c '
r -
=-",
1-c
--
Reference:
The fully assembled receiver plus frequency standard. Details on fitting it in an enclosure will "' Microprocessor controlled frequency
be given next month. meter. Elektor Electronics January 1985.
30 EL.
The circuit described here is based circuit composed of two 3 A diodes Type L4960
around the integrated switch mode 1N5404, Dl -D2, and an electrolytic
power supply controller Type L4960 reservoir capacitor, Ct. Network RI -C3 - OUTPUT
from SGS. Briefly recapitulating the C4 defines the gain of the closed regu- SOFT Slam
OSCP.Lt04
general introduction in reference (2), this lation loop. A second network, C2 -R2, u NO
IC has the following features: is dimensioned for an oscillator fre- raEci COMP
a FEEDBACK INPUT
quency of about 100 kHz. The function INPUT
Built-in soft start circuitry. put voltage divider R3 -R4. OUTPUT S SOFT START
111 Stability of internal reference: ±4%. The output voltage, U0, of the L4960 is
NC
Requires very few external compo- calculated from rea,PLATOR
nents. NO 3 DUD
El Built-in current limiter for short- Remember that the minimum value of !I Put 1: FEEDBAG,.
Circuit description
Figures 3a and 3b show the circuit
diagram of the mains section, and the
DC power supply, respectively. The alter-
nating voltage from the secondary
winding is applied to the respective in-
puts on the supply board, while the
centre tap is connected to ground. The
unregulated input voltage, U., for the A prototype of the switch mode power supply. Note that this is set up for U°=5.1 V, since
L4960 is supplied by a full -wave rectifier R4 is a wire link, and R3 is omitted.
EE
January 1988
2a C5 =Wei.
wit
cral,pea cow
amp. output
norrmat error
current
arrrp. cutout Irriter
ouut
Calera soft start
ar
580001.2a
Fig. 2. Operation of the soft start (a) and current limit (b) circuits in the L4960.
3a 51
2x
R4
1N5404
F1
IDI
IC
7
L 4960
ti 02
03 *
* see text Cl C2
ami
R2
C3
C4
Nam
R3
* A at
==
C7 C6
2.
10005 2n2 21,2 60.a SOOn
40V 40V 2205
0 40V
8R05 0
860001-3a
Fig. 3. Circuit diagram of the mains section (a) and the switch mode power supply (b).
Parts fist
Resistors ( 5%):
RI =15K
R2=4K3
R3;84= dimension as required for Uo; see text
Capacitors:
C t =1000p; 40 V; radial (pitch 7.5 mm)
C2= 2n2
C3= 33n
C4= 390p
C5= 2p2; 40 V; radial (pitch 2.54 mm)
Ce;C7=220,u; 40 V; radial (pitch 5 mm)
Ca= 100n
Semiconductors:
DI;D2=1N5404
D3=8R05. (SGS-Ates) or BYV28 (Bullard)
ICI =L4960. (SGS-Ates)
inductor:
1_1=150...300pH toroid suppressor, e.g.
Newport 1400)11/3 or Siemens 882500-B- Fig. 4. The printed circuit board for the compact SNIPSU.
410 (axial). Home made: approx. 60 turns of
1 mm. enamelled copper wire on a suitably made variable by fitting R3=6K8 and and ripple suppression at the output of
rated 015-20 mm ferrite core. replacing R3 with a 25K potentiometer. the supply.
Power diode D3 is included as a safety
Miscellaneous: measure. This fast rectifier limits the
T0220 style heat -sink. negative potential at the input of choke Construction
T0220 style mica washer and bush. Li to a safe -0.6 to -1 V when the The compact primed circuit board for
In = toroidal mains transformer with centre output transistor in the reeulator is the SNWSLI is shown in Fie. 4. The com-
tap; ratings as required (see text). E.g. (LP pletion is extremely straight -forward.
series: Jaytee Electronic Services 143
switched off. In the absence of D3, the
Rcculver Road Beltinge Herne Bay voltage at pin 7 would increase Start off by selecting resistors R3 and R4
Kent CT6 6PL. Telephone: (0227) 375254. dangerously to several volts Below the as explained above. Fit the components
PCB Type 880001 (see Readers Services page). eround potential. Choke Li is an essen- in the centre, RI... R4 inclusive and
tial part in the L -C network for noise C2. . Cs inclusive. Prior to soldering
111 EE
January 1988
onto the board, regulator ICI and til the heat -sink rests securely onto the all times for proper operation. When the
power diode Di are bolted back to back board surface. Solder the leads and cut SMPSU is fed with 30 VAC, and loaded
onto a common heat -sink as shown on off their excess lengths. Now fit the re- with 2 A at an output voltage of 5 V, the
the component overlay. Do not forget to maining components, Li, CI, C6, C7, Cs, temperature of the heat -sink should not
keep the heat -sink electrically insulated Di and D2. Be sure to observe correct exceed about 60 °C at room tempera-
from the metal tab of D3 with the aid of polarization of the diodes and the elec- ture. The efficiency of the supply under
a thick mica washer and a plastic bush. trolytic capacitors. Great care should be these conditions is approximately 68%.
It is possible to use the Type BYV28 taken to avoid any likelihood of a short- With a load of 2 A, the efficiency in-
diode in position D3. This device is circuit between the winding on the choke creases from 80% at U0=10 V, 85% at
housed in an axial SOD64 enclosure, core and the heat -sink for the regulator. Uo =15 V, to 87% at at U0=25 V. Gb
however, and requires a different mount- It is recommended to secure Li with the
ing method than the TO220 style 8R05 aid of a central nylon bolt and nut.
from SGS. The BYV28 is mounted up-
right, but the anode lead is not bent
down until is has been soldered to a References:
cable eye. The eye is then insulated and Testing
fitted onto the heat -sink as detailed Check the position, insulation and ") Switch mode power supplies, Elektor
above. Whatever diode or mounting orientation of all the parts on the board Electronics October 1987, p. 49 ff.
system is used, check the insulation with before connecting this to the secondary ", High -current switching regulator IC
a continuity tester! Push the leads of of the mains transformer. It should be simplifies supply design, Elektor Elec-
ICI and D3 into the respective holes un- noted that the supply requires a load at tronics October 1987, p. 22 ff.
Thanks to its versatility, low cost, and put channel. The input signal for opamp
ease of construction and use, the VLF ICI is, of course, multiplexed according-
add-on unit for oscilloscopes published ly.
in reference In has become one of the
most popular construction projects
featured in Elektor Electronics. The fol- The modifications
lowing description shows that the circuit The bold lines and the shaded area in
is readily modified to achieve two -
Fig. 2 give all the necessary details on the
channel operation on a single -beam os- modifications and the extension circuit.
cilloscope. The required modification It is recommended to cut the connection
and the extension circuit are useful for between pins 23 and 22 of the socket that
many applications involving the simul- holds RAM IC2. This modification is
taneous analysis of 2 slowly varying performed at the track side of the board,
quantities. and effectively insulates pin 23-address
line A8 -of the RAM. Solder a wire to
Input multiplexing and 256 the insulated area that connects to socket
pin 23, and run it to pin 3 of 'Goo ( =
bytes more output 1QA). Construct the input
In the original design of the VLF storage multiplexing circuit in the shaded area
unit, address lines A8 to A10 incl. of on a small piece of prototyping board.
RAM IC2 are kept permanently logic and connect it to the VLF storage unit as
low. This means that only the first 256 of indicated by the bold, lines. The elec-
the available 2048 programmable lo- tronic switches in the 4066 toggle on
cations in the RAM are used for storage each pulse from output 1QA. This ar-
of converted data. The idea behind the rangement ensures that the correct data,
present extension is to drive address line i.e., the measurement values for each
A8 with a signal that creates an ad- channel, are stored in the relevant 256
ditional data block of 256 bytes. This byte area in the RAM. Zener diodes DA
block is written to during every second and Da protect the inputs of the 4066 Fig. 1 Output %uveform of the 2 -channel
display-conversion cycle, and can thus against overvoltages. To prevent distor- storage unit using incorrect (a) and correct
hold the digitized data for a second in- tion of the displayed image, the signal (b) trigger settings on the oscilloscope.
EE
January 1988
271V/ilia
CI 5
7.6Ctra
EE2fititA
iil
NU.
a C2 a JeaCT:a
a 71.CTS-11
105.-10 a 0a MCI 16/
CIS .7114CTI1/9
Fig. 2 Circuit diagram of the complete 2 -channel unit. The modifications are shol% n in bold lines. the extension in the shaded area.
applied to input B may not go negative. parasitic capacitance blocking the Reference:
Figures la and lb illustrate the effect ob- decimal counter, and may be remedied
tained with the modified and extended by fitting a 33 k52 series resistor on the (" VLF add-on unit for oscilloscopes.
VLF storage unit. TRIGGER output line to the oscilloscope. Elektor ElectrOnics, February 1987 p. 38
Finally, some constructors have reported This resistor also protects the output of ff.
the absence of count pulses on pin 7 of FF2 against short-circuits on the TRIGGER
1Cio on selecting display range b output. Th
(12.5 s). This effect is probably due to
SYNCHROTRON X-RAYS
REVEAL HOW ICE FLOWS
by Dr Robert Whitworth, Department of Physics, Birmingham University
Ice covers a great deal of the Earth's surface. Understanding the way it flows is important for many
practical purposes such as exploiting oil reserves and helping the engineer in an ice -bound environment.
An ice physics group at Birmingham University is employing a powerful research tool, the synchrotron
source of X-radiation at the UK Science and Engineering Research Council's Daresbury Laboratory, to
reveal detail of the flow mechanism of ice in a way not previously possible. Ice has been found to be
an especially suitable material for study by this means and the group's findings promise to yield new
insights into crystalline materials.
Everyday experience tells us that pieces
of ice are brittle. Yet glaciers, large
masses of ice, flow down the sides of
mountains. In the polar regions huge
sheets of ice flow out towards the
oceans. The significance of such flow is
brought home when something unusual
happens as, for example, when the Hub-
bard Glacier in Alaska advanced rapidly
during 1986 and blocked an inlet from
the sea.
Engineers who work in the ice -bound
regions of the world erecting buildings
or drilling for oil have a great interest in
the mechanical properties of ice, while
ice physicists seek to understand the fun-
damental principles of its behaviour.
With ice, or any other solid, there is still
a great deal to be done before we can
answer the question "Given the
crystalline structure of a material and The process of slip by which plastic deformation occurs in crystals. The original block at the
left is deformed to the shape on the right by one horizontal layer of atoms slipping over
the properties of a single molecule, how another by the spacing between two atoms. This does not take place all at once: in the in-
fast will the material deform when a termediate state shown here, slip starting at A has reached the broken line BC. This is called
stress is applied to it?" At that point the a dislocation line and is a region of distortion in the crystal. The deformation of crystals oc-
problems of engineering and of physics curs by the movement of such lines.
interact and progress in either field can
be of benefit to the other.
We can tell from the regular forms of
snowflakes or the patterns formed by Dislocation
line
frost that ice is crystalline. This means
that the molecules within it are arranged
in a regular pattern. Bulk ice consists of - ray beam
many crystals or grains of different
Central spot
orientation, all joined together to form a (very bright)
solid mass. When such polycrystalline
ice is deformed, several processes may
occur. With each grain, layers of mol-
ecules may slide over one another; this is Crystal
known as slip. In addition, grains may Topographs
move relative to their neighbours. Dur-
ing deformation the structure suffers
damage, which can be annealed out by ..--Screen
the diffusion of molecules or by the
nucleation and growth of new grains.
These processes occur in all crystalline Formation of images of a crystal by X-ray topography using the beam from the Synchrotron
materials, but their relative importance Radiation Source. Because the beam is highly parallel, each point on the crystal diffracts the
depends on the material and on the tem- X-rays to the corresponding point in each of the diffraction spots formed on the film.
perature. The basic process is slip; but
when ice is close to its melting point the realized that one layer of a crystal can- a region of distortion in the crystal. It is
other processes are important, too. not slip over another as a rigid whole. If called a dislocation line or, for short,
we imagine that slip over one atomic just a dislocation. Arrangements of the
Dislocations spacing starts at a corner, for example atoms near B and C are then as il-
point A in the first diagram, and con- lustrated. The plastic deformation of a
It is a little over 50 years since it was tinues up to the line BC, this line marks single crystal takes place through the
EE
January 1988
Three topographs from a sequence showing the movement and multiplication of dislocations during the plastic deformation of a single crystal
of ice at -20 °C. These illustrations are negative prints, so dislocations appear bright against a dark background. The width of the region
shown is 4 mm on the crystal.
movement of these dislocation lines. periments the diffraction spots are dislocations increases, as seen in the
How much stress is required to move recorded on photographic film, thereby series of topographs making up the third
them and the way in which they move providing images of the crystal known as illustration. This increase is essential to
have been extensively studied in metals topographs. Dislocations are clearly vis- the process of deformation. The dislo-
and many other materials: the most ible within them, usually as dark lines. A cation line is the boundary on the slip
powerful technique for observing dislo- sequence of such topographs taken while plane between the region which has
cation lines is transmission electron the crystal is under stress reveals the mo- slipped and the region which has not;
microscopy. A limitation of this tech- tion of dislocations as the crystal the rate at which the boundary moves
nique, however, is that the samples have deforms. Compared with a normal X- corresponds to the rate of deformation,
to be very thin foils held in a vacuum, ray source the synchrotron radiation but if all the dislocations that were pres-
and it has so far proved impossibly diffi- beam is very intense and exposure times ent to begin with merely moved across
cult to study the properties of dislo- are comparatively short (typically 15 s). their slip planes and out of the surface
cations in ice in this way. This makes proper dynamic experiments the deformation would stop. New dislo-
A different technique, which has in the a realistic proposition for the first time. cation lines are created by a process of
past been used successfully to observe multiplication, the mechanism of which
the dislocations in ice, is known as X-ray was first suggested in 1950 by F.C. Frank
topography. Great improvements to this Multiplication of Bristol University and W.T. Read of
technique have recently been achieved Crystals used in these experiments must Bell Telephone 'Laboratories. If a dislo-
through the use of X-rays from a syn- be of very high quality because the in- cation line does not lie entirely on one
chrotron radiation source. By using the itial density of dislocations has to be low slip plane, but makes a step from one
source at the UK Science and Engineer- enough for them not to obscure one plane to another, the dislocation lines on
ing Research Counsil's Daresbury Lab- another in the topographs. Large, single the separate planes form a spiral around
oratory we have been able to investigate crystals are specially grown in Birm- the step as shown in the fourth illus-
the motion of dislocations in crystals of ingham for the experiments. In the tration. This means that the dislocations
ice several millimetres in size in a degree course of deformation, the density of do not pass out of the crystal but con-
of detail that has not previously been
possible.
The Synchrotron Radiation Source is a
large installation in which a beam of
electrons with an energy of 2 GeV (giga-
electronvolts) is bent by magnets to cir-
culate in an orbit of diameter 30 m. As
it does so it emits intense electromag-
netic radiation in the plane of the orbit,
with a spectral range from infra -red to
X-rays. When the X-ray beam falls on a
suitably oriented single crystal, as shown
in the second diagram, the crystal dif-
fracts the X-rays to produce a number of
beams in accordance with Bragg's law of
diffraction. When the beams fall on a
screen behind the crystal they form
spots. In topography experiments at
Daresbury the X-ray beam travels 80 m
before it reaches the crystal, so it is virtu-
ally parallel. Because of this, every point
on each diffracted spot corresponds to a
particular position in the crystal. How-
ever, the diffraction from any point Dislocation multiplication by the so-called Frank -Read mechanism. The dislocation line is in-
itially at ABCD, with the sections AB and CD lying on different slip planes. Under stress the
where the crystal is distorted will be step BC does not move, but as AB and CD move forward to All and CD' and then to A"B
slightly altered in such a way as to pro- and CD" they generate spirals around B and C. Seen in projection on the slip plane it appears
duce contrast at the corresponding point as if loops are being generated from the point corresponding to BC. These are the 'loops' seen
in the diffraction spot. In our ex- in the lower right of the sequence of topographs.
EE
36
January 1988
tinuously grow longer. Near the centre of
the spiral, slip amounts to as many
atomic spacings as there are turns in the
spiral.
In the sequence of topographs, a pair of
opposite spirals can be seen developing
Shuffle
in the lower right-hand corner. The pos- plane
ition of the step from which they
originate is marked by the arrow in the
first topograph. Often, the multipli- Basal slip
- Glide plane
planes
cation is more complicated as is shown
in the topograph on the front page.
When we recall that the dislocation line
is the boundary of the region which has
slipped, it is remarkable how convoluted
the boundary can become. These
topographs of ice are some of the
clearest images of dislocations moving in
crystals of this size ever obtained in any
material; the study promises to yield an
understanding of the processes of
dislocation multiplication in bulk Prismatic
samples which will be significant in the slip planes
understanding of other materials, too.
The crystal structure of ice has a hex- Diagram of the crystal structure of ice. The circles represent water molecules, each of which
agonal axis of symmetry which is easily is linked to four others by hydrogen bonds. The hexagonal axis of symmetry is vertical and
seen in the shapes of snow flakes, and the normal slip planes (the basal planes) are horizontal. There are two sets of such planes,
deformation of single crystals is know to the glide set and the shuffle set, between which slip may occur. Possible prismatic slip planes
occur almost entirely by the slip of are shown as vertical. As in the case of basal slip, the slip direction on these prismatic planes
planes, called the basal planes, lying is horizontal, approximately into or out of the plane of the diagram.
This image shows part of a single crystal of ice after a small amount of plastic deformation. It is an X-ray topograph, formed diffraction
of X-rays from the Synchrotron Radiation Source al the UK Science and Engineering Research Council's Daresbury Laboratory. Deformation
takes place through the movement of defects in the crystal known as dislocations, seen here as bright lines. Dense bands of them are spreading
from the left-hand side and are just beginning to do so from the right, generated by a process of dislocation multiplication which can be seen
happening more clearly in the formation of the tangled loops at the lower right. The spiral to upper right of centre was formed by diffusion
of defects prior to deformation. Taken by scientists from Birmingham University, the topograph is of an area of crystals one centimetre across.
EE
January 1988
perpendicular to this axis. The final stances, dislocations on prismatic planes so learn more about the processes which
diagram of the structure shows that there move as fast as or faster than those on limit the rate of movement of the
are two kinds of basal planes between basal planes. This comes as a surprise to dislocations.
which slip might occur, in two sets called anyone who knows how difficult it is to A proper understanding of the physics
the glide set and the shuffle set. It has deform ice along the prismatic planes, governing dislocation movement in a
not yet been possible to find out by ex- and it looks as though the preference for material is necessary for a theoretical in-
periment which set slips. By comparison basal slip arises not because it is difficult terpretation of the strength of that
with other materials of similar structure, to move dislocations along other planes material. Metallurgists have made great
and for theoretical reasons, the glide set but because multiplication is easier in use of knowledge gained from electron
seems the more likely. From the diagram the basal plane. microscopy in developing new alloys for
it is far from obvious why ice should not Another effect that is important poten- use in aircraft, nuclear reactors and
deform just as easily by slip on vertical tially is that the strength of ice is very elsewhere under other extreme con-
planes known as prismatic planes. But sensitive to the presence of minute traces ditions. A similar understanding of the
experiment shows that it takes about 50 of certain impurities. Some years ago, physics of ice is needed to predict or
times more stress to deform ice in that Dr S.G. Jones ans Dr J.W. Glen in our modify the behaviour of ice in the en-
way. laboratory found that one part in a vironment. It is even more necessary
To deform a polycrystalline mass of ice,million of hydrogen fluoride reduces the when we wish to forecast how ice will
slip within the grains must take place in
stress needed to deform a single crystal behave in less familiar conditions. For
more than one set of parallel planes if of ice to as little as one -quarter of nor- example the recent discovery that some
the grains are not to come apart at the mal. It may be significant that small ad- of the moons of the planets Jupiter and
boundaries. This is the main reason why ditions of hydrogen fluoride also pro- Saturn are composed mainly of ice has
polycrystalline ice is stronger than a duce large changes in the electrical led to questions about how ice would
single crystal. From our topographs we properties. We hope to use X-ray top- deform on a geological time scale at high
have found that, in certain circum- ography to investigate these effects, and pressures and at low temperatures.
janua V REVOLUTIONIZE
1981VIMICS
WIDEBAND RF AMPLIFIER
DESIGN
A small 4 -pin device that, together with a few external passive components, can be used for building an
unconditionally stable RF amplifier which guarantees a moderate noise figure and high amplification
from DC (yes!) to well over 1,000 MHz, without the need of extensive bias circuits, decoupling, and
cable matching at input or output.
The latest dream of an RF designer? No, an MMIC from Avantek of Santa Clara.
What is an 111MIC?
,,..,,...:-..,...--
Avantek's MODAMP1) series of
MMICs is essentially a family of silicon 0$1.0":300 lOw.0 wourery Prtx--46
Si MIMS
bipolar wideband amplifiers that are elk0.....110411. dale Csscadabte 41.616,..1
,d A..re 194,1
available in a variety of ceramic and-
recently-plastic packages. MivIICs are 1.5 dBm), high gain (18.5 dB), and package for minimum parasitic in-
fabricated using nitride self alignment, moderate noise figure (WF=5 dB). ductance and capacitance.
ion implantation for precise control of 02: Medium output power 70: 70 mil, square, gold plated package.
doping, and nitride passivization for (PUB= 4 dBm), medium gain for high -reliability applications.
high reliability. They house an accurately (c. 11 dB), and moderate noise figure 85: low cost, 85 mil, round, plastic
engineered darlington transistor con- (NF= 6 dB). package similar to Micro -X.
figuration with extremely low stray in- 03: High output power (Pi dB =10 dBm), 86: surface mount package; decreased
ductance and capacitance. Internal series medium gain (c. 11 dB), and RF performance with respect to style
and shunt feedback ensures high re- moderate noise figure (NF = 6 dB). 85.
peatability from amplifier to amplifier. 07: 02 series with lower supply voltage
The complete family of Avantek MMICs and lower NF. I Digit 5. Supply voltage:
is listed in numerical order in Table 1. It 08: special device optimized for highest
is seen that the devices can be selected gain (30 dB) and lowest noise figure. 1: MMIC has an on -chip series bias re-
for highest amplification, lowest noise Medium output power sistor, and can be fed from +12 V
figure, and optimum 3rd order intercep- (Pup =12 dBm). Requires a non- via a small choke. Device has 1
tion point, as required for the appli- standard bias decoupling network to ground terminal.
cation in question. ensure stability. 2: MMIC requires an external series
The performance of the MMIC can be bias resistor plus choke to ensure an
deduced from the 4 or 6 digits following Digits 3 and 4. Package style: operating voltage of 5 to 6 V. Device
the letters MSA in the type number (re- has 2 ground terminals.
fer to Table 1): 04: low cost, 145 mil, round, plastic
package. Digit 6. Performance indication:
Digits 1 and 2. Electrical perform- 20: 200 mil, square, ceramic (BeO)
ance: package for optimum therMal con- 1: Premium device with extended fre-
ductivity. quency range.
01: Low output power (Pidg = 1 35: 100 mil. square, Micro -X glass sealed 2: Standard device.
EE
39
January 1988
1
The photograph of Fig. 3 shows the dif- voltage standing wave ratio, Zo/R) is
TYPICAL GAIN vs. FREOUENCY
20
ference in size between the plastic encap- never worse than 2:1 when the device is
18 I 1111=11111111111 sulated MMICs Types MSA0204 and fed with the recommended supply
16
MA 01
-imummull MSA0304, and 2 MSA0435s housed the voltage.
TT,.
Z 10
14
12 _ II MI ER111111
-03)0( 1111111111
SASA 0270071 NIMBI
Micro -X package. Note the type indi-
cation on the plastic MMICS; the
The blocking capacitors should present a
reactance of the order of a few ohms,
08 MSA 04XX
NEMPfflil_ I_ AIM Micro -X types are so small that a col- and have good RF properties. Silver
6 BUM oured band around the ceramic body is mica types can be used with satisfactory
111111111111111111MINIZEll used for type reference. Fortunately, results for HF and VHF, but leadless cer-
2
11111111M111111111111111
Avantek supplies all MMICs in separate amic chip, or SMA, types are a must
-5 2 10
plastic enclosures with the type indi- when frequencies higher than 1 GHz are
FRED GH2 cation printed clearly on the back. involved. Due care should be taken to
The performance of the MMICs in the allow for the stray capacitance at the
OUTPUT POWER AT 103 GAIN COMPRESSION
vs_ JUNCTION TEMPERATURE MSA series, excluding the special 07xx MMIC input and output.
Fo = 500 MHz, Ica TYPICAL VALUE
+20
and 08xx types, is shown in Figs. la and It is, of course, possible to dimension the
MSA O4XX b. The curves enable ready selection of a blocking capacitors such that a low fre-
suitable device for a given application. quency roll -off is created, purposely
+15
The gain of all devices exhibits a limiting the bandwidth of the amplifier
037JC remarkable flatness from 100 MHz up at the lower end of the spectrum. With
+10
to I GHz. Types MSA03XX and Zi=Z,=R =50 Q, and C fitted at the
MSA04XX reach up to 2 GHz with a input and output of the amplifier, the
+5
MSA 02XX
gain ripple of ±1 dB. In a standard 6 dB cut off frequency, fc, is calculated
MSA 01XX amplifier based on discrete components, from
0
-75 -2s +25 +75 +125
this son of performance is almost im-
possible to achieve without resorting to fc= 1/(2700C)
eleborate feedback networks and expens-
Fig. I. These curves enable quick selection of ive, gain controlled, active devices. Although MMICs work fine below, say,
an MMIC for a given application. MMICs are well suited to cascading in 30 MHz, some discrete or integrated
2- or 3 -stage wideband amplifiers with a VHF/UHF power amplifiers may re-
gain of up to 25 dB. In general, the RF quire bandwidth limiting capacitors to
input stage will be dimensioned for avoid spurious oscillation due to the
lowest noise figure, while the second high gain -bandwidth product.
stage is set up with an \IMIC that en-
sures high gain.
Figure 2 shows the remarkably simple Drop -in amplifiers
basic configurations of amplifiers based
on MMICs. The difference between the
circuits is mainly the connection of the MMICs are often referred to as drop -in
chip to the supply voltage, as dis- amplifiers by virtue of their direct
cussed above (Digit 5). The value of the matching to 50 Q sources and loads,
bias resistor in the circuit of Fie. 2b is their unconditional stability and im-
calculated from munity to source or load impedance
variations (filter drivers!), and the
R = (Vcc- Vmmic)/Immic absence of alignment points. Single or
cascaded MMICs enable quick and cost
effective building of accurately tailored
where VNIMIC and Immic are the optimum RF and IF sections in VHF, UHF and
values taken from the relevant data SHF receivers. In transmitters and
sheet. The resistor is preferably a carbon transverters, the more powerful MMICs
type to ensure an total reactance of the of Table 1 can be used in driver stages
Fig. 2. Basic connection diagrams for R -L combination greater than 500 Q at
MMICs with (a) and without (b) an on -chip and oscillator buffers. A wideband ac-
the frequency of operation. Without the tive probe for use with an 1 GHz oscillo-
bias resistor. The version is indicated by digit
5 in the part number. choke, the MMIC would see the supply scope or a frequency meter is yet another
resistor connected in parallel with the of the many applications that come to
load impedance, because the decoupled mind considering the low cost and ease
positive supply rails is simply ground for of use. The simple supply voltage ar-
RF signals. It is recommended to ensure rangement for MMICs makes it possible
a mimimum drop of 2 V across the re- to power the amplifier via the coax cable
sistor.
that carries the output signal to the in-
The only other components required to strument.
make a functional wideband amplifier
are 2 suitable RF sockets (BNC, SMA,
TNC) and 2 blocking capacitors. One of More power: more MMICs
the most striking characteristics of the
MMIC based amplifier is the absence of
11111111111111111111 \ 111111111\11 \1 any form of impedance matching cir- Identical MMICs with a high output
cuitry at the input and output. This ob- power compression figure may be con-
viates the need of difficult -to -make in- nected in parallel to increase the
ductors, and decoupling of the bias available power output. All MMIC out-
potential applied to the amplifier input. puts are simply connected and fed from
Fig. 3. The new plastic encapsulated MMICs The input and output impedance of any a common RF choke and biasing re-
Type MSAXX04 are considerably larger than MMIC in the MSA series is 50 Q, and sistor. This set up requires only I output
Micro -X types in a ceramic enclosure. the VSWR (reflection coefficient; the blocking capacitor between the supply
EE
40
January 1988
5
AVANTEK 04 PLASTIC PACKAGE TYPICAL PERFORMANCE CURVES. TA .25°C
090350 7.7177, 401117771.477
pass. vs 1.01.111.04
_030 75.
INPUT
RF OUTPUT
& BUS
.169
429
4 PLCS
.466 4 N
1 23-9
2 PLCS
020
Si ADO
047140 40.117 alt
254 GU% C010.4.74C7 11.1.0.771.774
1COT .145
I
L _006, of
3 65 AS. 02
ft.-. PEWS.
1
.747,6777017
14 .7.
2 Gan am io 73 c
blocking capacitor to the amplifier in- 13:15 1 .2 2A5 7 2 3 4I
put. With n MMICs in parallel, the in- FREQUENCY. GHz
0,1
lenA)
I
1 (GM)
152,12
reactance of the other's feedback circuit. Insen.on PD.*, Gav; 5 50 05 a8 70 85:
mation and balun. The reason that NF50 5011 Vase FL7L-i
71,40 07667
55 I 50 70 ea - 6
- - - 55 50 05 023,n 7 26 7
MMICs are so easily unilateralized is
;
has Fseq,^
that their internal feedback network is Mae 1 litsze,-3 3: v-
' 707917
elf 1701.11 100 5.2747
55 I 50 GPO I .
length. MMICs have substantial gain at 14amber 40410 gel Kiiiii tai ta-,,,, tAs.1 Toe
15 150
low frequencies, requiring due attention LISA -0104
1.1511.0204
2.5
25
183
125
03
08
5.5
60 40 170
4 -Pat- 530040
4 -1140 c4. -W-4-
supply decoupling. A 4.7 pF tantalum 1151A44207 30 8_5 25 6. 39 0 34-0 203 rrii Beta119A-0135-11
Avantek worldwide
[lead office: INDIA REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA WEST GERMANY -AUSTRIA
3175 Bowers Avenue Hinditron Services Pvt. Ltd. South Continental Devices (Pty.) Ltd. Focus Electronic GmbH
Santa Clara, CA 95054-3292 69-A.L. Jagmohandas Marg P.O. Box 56420 Pinegowrie, 2123 Nimrodstr, 1 Bergstetten
U.S.A. Bombay 400 006, India Republic of South Africa
Tel. (408) 727-0700.
8851 Kaisheim, West Germany
Phone: 8221529 or 8229677 Phone: (49)-9-09009/591
Semiconductor Customer Service: 5th Floor Randover House
Tel. (408) 970-2659. INDONESIA Dover Street YUGOSLAVIA
TWX: 310-371-8717 P.T. Subur Sakti Putera Randburg, Republic of South Africa Belram S.A.
J1 Cideng Timur 68A, P.O. Box 4467 Jkt. Phone: (27)-11-789-2400 83 Avenue des Mimosas
AUSTRALIA Jakarta Pusat, Indonesia 1150 Brussels, Belgium
G. Bendixen and Associates Pty. Ltd. Phone: (62) 359163 or (62) 359764 SWEDEN, NORWAY Phone: (32)-2-343-332
Suite 9, Level 5 FINLAND, DENMARK
10 Help Street ISRAEL Visitron All
Chatwood, Sydney ma -.1. Engineering Ltd. P.O. Box 6063
NSW 2067, Australia 182 Ben Yehuda Street Krosseatan 40
Phone: (02) 411-8005 P.O. Box 16349 S-16206 Vaellineby, Sweden
Tel -Aviv 61162, Israel Phone: (46)-8-38-01-30
Graphic Electronic Industries Pty. Ltd. Phone: (972)-3-249-273
168 Payneham Road SWITZERLAND
Evandale, So. Australia 5069 ITALY
Phone: (06) 363-0277 Walter Electronics AG
Sistrel Elettronica Micro-Onde S.P.A. Bruehlwiesenstrasse 17
BELGIUM Via Luigi Chiarelli N. 19 CH -9545 Waengi
00137 Rome, Italy Switzerland
Simac Electronics S.P.RPL Phone: (39)-6-827-8551 through 8554 Phone: (41)-5.1-512-277
Rue du Progres, 52 Boite 2
1000 Brussels. Belgium JAPAN
Phone: (32)-2-2192453 TAIWAN
Sogo Electronics, Inc.
3-13-15 Minami Karasuyama Evergo Corporation
CANADA 4th Floor, 75, Section 3
Setaeava-KU
Sheppard Agencies Ltd. Tokyo, 157 Japan P.O. Box 96-546
P.O. Box 8 Nan King East Road
Georgetown, Ontario 170 4T1, Canada Taipei 104, Taiwan
(416) 877-9846 Phone: (886)2-536-7451
FRANCE
Simac Electronics B.V. THAILAND
Serrgop Veenstraat 20
4, rue Paul Bert G Simon Radio Co.. Ltd.
5503 HR Wldhoven 30 Patpong Avenue
92150 Suresnes, France The Netherlands Bangkok, Thailand
Phone: (33) 45 06 3303 Phone: (31)-40-582911 Phone: (6)-2-340-9913
HONG KONG PHILIPPINES UNITED KINGDOM
Enrich Transworld Ltd. "Y Engineering Corporation Wave Devices
240M, 7 Seas Shopping Centre 2212 Marconi Street Laser House
121 Kings Road P.O. Box 3355 132/140 Goswell Road
Hong Kong Makati, Metro Manila London EC1V 7LE
Phone: 852-5-663-062 or Philippine Islands England
852-5-663-087 Phone: (63)-89-51-28 Phone (44)-1-251-5181
EE
43.
January 1988
APPLICATION NOTES
The contents of this column are based on information obtained from
manufacturers in the electronics industry, or their representatives,
and do not imply practical experience by Elektor Electronics
or its consultants.
A newly developed opto-triac (SITAC) obviates the need for manual line voltage selection any time
mains powered equipment is transferred between 110/117 and 220/240 VAC networks.
The application circuit discussed here is BUZ74, which in turn interrupts the Source:
a high voltage DC power supply as used trigger current for the SITAC. The pro-
in TV sets. With reference to the circuit posed control circuit accepts line volt- Siemens Components no. 25 (1987),
diagram of Fig. 1, the SITAC Type ages between 50 and 300 VAC. The issue 1,
BRT12 is turned off when the HV supply toggle point for the conductive or non- Siemens distributors in the UK are listed
is powered from a line voltage between conductive SITAC is reached at an input on InfoCard 509-sec EE May 1987.
180 and 270 VAC. This means that the 4 of about 165 VAC, and is determined by
diodes in GI form a full -wave rectifier the potential divider at the base of the Mr K Wetzel is with Siemens A.G., Com-
that provides about 300 VDC across the BC237. ponents Division.
series connected smoothing capacitors at The output power of the circuit is
the output of the circuit. governed by the SITAC type, the bridge
When the circuit is connected to a rectifier and the smoothing capacitors.
110 VAC mains network, however, the The application circuit as shown can
SITAC is conductive, causing a low re- supply a maximum continuous output Mr K Wetzel is with Siemens A.G., Com-
sistance connection between the rectifier current of 200 mA at Ta =45 °C. ponents Division.
and the junction of the smoothing
capacitors. The bridge rectifier then 1
functions as a voltage doubler, so that
the output voltage of the circuit is still
about 300 VDC. 85 to 270V
+ 310 V
The SITAC is driven by a simple control
circuit set up around the SIPMOS power V 1N4007 SITAC
FET Type BUZ74. The 22 V zenerdiode _ORTIZ
provides the reference voltage, while the
1N4001 plus the 22 pF capacitor form a 022MS/0220W L-Y-21__LI&j
single-phase rectifier. When a low AC in- 47 uF
put voltage (110 V) is applied, the small 1-3
114- 81E74
signal npn transistor Type BC237 is
switched off by the 220K -18K potential
BC 237
divider at the base. The SIPMOS FET is E 15V
conductive, because the gate is held at 11.- 220F
the zener voltage of 15 V. The source re- 18 kg 05.6 kfl
47 uF
sistor of 5K6 limits the current to about 4x1N4007
2 mA, however, even when the AC input
voltage is relatively high (>240 VAC). E 22 V
The SITAC is triggered by the drain cur- o
rent of the power FET. When more than 0%,
California's 'Silicon Valley', that conglomerate of many semiconductor and electronic equipment
manufacturers, has its roots in 'the Fairchild takeover'. Fairchild Semiconductor had been bought out in
1959 by Fairchild Camera and Instrument. With the takeover there came the implementation of new,
rigid management structures. The managers of the old style Fairchild found themselves the middle-
management of the 'new' company, and became dissatisfied and disillusioned. Resignations began.
Those who resigned began to set up their own semiconductor manufacturing companies, companies
such as the (now) familiar Signetics, Intersil et al emerged. In total, about 50 IC companies have their
roots in Fairchild.
Birth of the in earnest the switch from magnetic core The Busicom engineers had prepared
microprocessor to IC main memory. It was in the sum- preliminary designs which called for 12
mer of 1969, however, that Intel were ap- chips, performing logic and memory
It was in 1968 that Robert Noyce, general proached by Busicom, a now -defunct functions, in each calculator. By varying
manager at Fairchild, left the company Japanese calculator manufacturer, to de- the 'program' held in the ROM chips, a
to co-found Intel. Noyce had been one velop a set of chips for a new line of pro- whole line of calculators with different
of the founding fathers of Fairchild grammable electronic calculators. Intel capabilities and functions could be pro-
Semiconductor in 1957. He had been in- had recently announced the development duced. Intel assigned Marcian E. Hoff,
timately involved with semiconductor of new IC manufacturing techniques for Jr to the project. Hoff studied the
technology for most of his professional making 2,000 transistor chips and Busicom designs carefully and con-
life and had acquired a very considerable Busicom hoped Intel would be able to cluded that, whilst technically feasible,
expertise in that field. It was Noyce who make even more sophisticated devices. they would be too complicated to pro-
pioneered research and development of duce in a cost-effective manner; there
the monolithic integrated circuit at Fair- were simply too many chips per device.
child Semiconductor, quite literally from The more Hoff considered the problem,
sketchbook to production line in the the more he became convinced that one
early 1960s. Such was his reputation that particular route led to the solution of the
venture capital flooded into the newly - problem. Along that route lay the con-
founded Intel with Noyce's announce- cept of a general-purpose logic chip
ment that the company intended to which, like the central processor of a
specialize in memory chips; very much a computer, could perform any logical
growth sector in the IC market of the task. Such a micro -sized processor-a
day. microprocessor - would be program-
During the next two years, Intel's repu- mable, acting on instructions and data
tation grew, along with the sophisti- held in RAM and ROM.
cation of its products. By 1970 Intel had Fig. I. The IBM 7351 Computer. Photograph The advantages were clear. Busicom's
introduced a 256 bit RAM, stimulating courtesy of PPM Instrumentation. calculators could now be re -designed
46 EE
January 1988
into cost-effective 4 chip (microproces- far from being 'that'. To everyones sur-
sor, ROM, RAM and an I/O interface 2 prise, the 8008 was a big -seller and,
chip) machines, rather than the original almost overnight, microprocessors
12 chip uneconomic devices initially began to be perceived in a new light: as
mooted. As Hoff critically examined a growth market with attendant impli-
these proposals, he began to see the cations of large capital returns. The
promises such a device held. A reduced changes the 8008 imbued into the semi-
chip count meant fewer interconnections conductor manufacturers manifested
between discrete IC's, a simpler, more themselves in the explosion of 'me
flexible and powerful design specifi- too' microprocessor manufacturers:
cation could be issued. The most ex- Rockwell, Signetics, Motorola etc. all
citing prospect, however, lay in the announced their intentions to market
device's programmability, and program- CUOMO
their own microprocessors. Intel, realiz-
mability meant versatility. This scheme c1111111111111111111111111101 ing they were on to a good thing, hastily
was accepted by Busicom and in late re -assembled their design team and set
1970 the first microprocessor, the Intel them to work on the next processor, the
4004, began rolling off the production 8080. The commercial desirability of
lines. software compatibility had long been
The 4004, as its title suggested, was a 4- realized within the industry and the 8080
bit microprocessor. The 4 -bit architec- was designed to be software compatible
ture was, at that time, state-of-the-art with the 8008. A year after the introduc-
stuff. A wider data bus was not tion of the 8008 the 8080 was launched
technically possible at the time. This to an even more enthusiastic reception.
mattered little, however, as the 4 -bit ar- Fig. 2. Transferring schematics to PCB
layouts by computer. Photograph courtest of Competitors set to design and market
chitecture was perfectly suited to pro- Betroner Ltd. their own processor chips in direct com-
cessing single decimal digits. The other 3 petition with the 8080. It is significant
chips were similarly of limited capa- would have reached research stage had it that the next three years saw the in-
bility. The ROM, containing the not been for a CRT research project troduction of chips now regarded as in-
calculator program, had a capacity of undertaken by the Display Terminal Cor- dustry standards: the 6502, the 6800, the
just 2k bits, whilst the RAM held 320 poration (as they were then known). Z80, the TMSI000 series etc.
bits. The calculators were duly produced Texas Instruments and Intel had entered By 1976 the microprocessor had estab-
by Busicom, using the 4 Intel chips and into an agreement with DTC, the object lished itself in many applications,
the few months after the introduction of of which was to produce a monolithic proving itself a reliable, efficient, cost-
the calculators onto the market saw the processor capable of controlling a CRT effective component. The semiconduc-
chips prove themselves as reliable, flex- terminal. tor manufacturers had come to accept
ible, cost-effective pieces of hardware. A few months after drafting the agree- them as a necessary and lucrative part of
The 4004 had been developed exclusively ment, Texas Instruments pulled out, a manufacturing operation. The micro-
for Busicom and Intel had no marketing leaving Intel to continue development processor was here to stay!
rights to the device whatever. The
alone. Intel came up with the goods:
economics of the calculator business in almost. The chip worked well, but
the summer of 1971 saw Busicom ask In- slowly. Too slowly for its intended appli-
tel for a price cut on its chips. In ex- cation as a CRT controller and the Intel- Enter the minicomputer
change for this cut, Intel were to receive DTC contract was dissolved. This left In-
full marketing rights to the 4004 and its The late 1950s had seen the computer
associated support chips. With the
tel with an (apparently) unsaleable mi- evolve into a useful, if difficult and ex-
croprocessor on their hands; what were pensive, tool. The computer's place in
marketing rights to the chips firmly es- they to do? Almost unbelievably, the
tablished, Intel launched the chips onto the scheme of things seemed clear; scien-
the public market in November 1971. 8008 microprocessor was released on tific research, defence depts., large
general sale in 1972 on the assumption automated accounts depts., educational
The advertising hype used to promote that it would assist sales of memory
the 'new' MCS-4 family belies the uncer- establishments-they all found comfort-
chips! The Intel microprocessor research able uses for their new-found computer
tainty behind the launch. Intel's
marketing division really did have a team were duly disbanded and that, it power. The advent of time-sharing
was thought, was that. However, it was systems saw an even greater degree of
'fingers crossed' attitude towards sales.
No one was really certain if the public computer penetration. Aside from the
would buy the devices. The first advert obvious advantages of allowing many
says much about the type of application users within a single company or organ-
envisaged for the MCS-4 family. To isation to simultaneously 'use' the
quote from the advertisement: organisations computer, a new use for
time-sharing systems was spotted. Com-
mercial time-sharing services began to
"MCS-4 systems provide complete com- appear. Customers of the service would
puting and control functions for test use remote terminals to communicate
systems, data terminals, measuring with the time-sharing computer via
systems, numeric control systems and 'phone lines, buying time on the
process control systems ...MCS-4 machine on a minute -by -minute basis.
systems interface easily with switches, By 1960 time-sharing was very much a
keyboards, displays, printers, growth sector of the computer market
readers..." and was being confidently hailed as the
Orders were slow. The initial sales levels 'way of the future'.
attained by the 4004 were not high Fig. 3. Elektor Electronics' Junior Computer The big machines required to run any
enough to justify further microprocessor announced in May 1980 was built by sort of computing operation were still
development. It was most unlikely that thousands of computer enthusiasts all over costly, however: they were costly in terms
the next Intel microprocessor, the 8008, the world. of full-time operations staff needed,
EE
January 1988
costly in terms of physical space and other things) new markets for certain byists - people whose primary motiva-
power required and, above all, costly in products. A separate engineering study tion was technical rather than financial.
terms of initial outlay. In the early 1960s was being simultaneously pursued in the The introduction of the Intel 8008 mi-
a new need for a breed of smaller and R&D group, the object being to manu- croprocessor, the 8 bit successor to the
relatively less complex (and hence rela- facture a small business computer. Ahl 4004, stimulated the interest of one
tively inexpensive) machines was begin- became interested in the project and Jonathan A. Titus, an electronics hob-
ning to be identified. Thus it was that in began to eagerly investigate the byist. Studying the specifications of the
1963 the American computer manufac- marketing side whilst the engineering 8008, Titus realized that the chip was
turers Digital introduced the PDP-8. In chaps worked on perfecting two proto- powerful enough to run a microcom-
comparison with the mainframes of the types, which were eventually persuaded puter and set about designing his own
day it was a limited machine. The PDP-8 into working order in early 1974. Details such machine. By Autumn 1973 Titus
ran just one program at a time, pro- of these prototypes remain sketchy, but had a working prototype and, wishing to
cessed data in 12 bit words and had just one was a 'modified computer terminal', share the design with other members of
4K words of memory, but the advantages the circuitry being constructed from the hobbyist fraternity, contacted
the machine offered were obvious. The discrete logic and memory chips; no various amateur electronics periodicals,
PDP-8 was, physically, about the size of microprocessors were involved in its enquiring whether they would care to
a large domestic freezer, did not require
construction. The second prototype, publish his design. The offer was finally
a legion of trained support staff and, however, was quite a different prop- taken up by the (American) 'Radio -
most importantly, cost just 518,000; a osition. More radical and daring in its Electronics' magazine-a publication
fraction of the price of then available design philosophy, this machine was a firmly aimed at the hobbyist. The July
main-frame computers. The PDP-8 sold portable self-contained computer, about 1974 edition carried a constructional
extremely well, penetrating both old and the size of a thick attache case, compris- article on the Mark -8 (as it had been
new markets. Scientists, defence and ing a monitor, keyboard, floppy disc christened) together with a parts source
educational establishments, industrial drive and the main processor itself. guide and approximate costing. The
plants and financial institutions all Microprocessors were incorporated in Mark -8 was a strictly limited machine.
welcomed the new minicomputer with the design of this second machine. In Its innards contained 256 bytes of RAM
open arms. Every drop in the price of the May 1974 a management committee expandable up to 16K and no ROM:
PDP-8 captured new customers, hitherto convened at Digital's headquarters to Titus would have had to pay significant
unable to afford their very own com- discuss the future of the project. The amounts to Intel to produce ROMs to
puter power. technical half of the committee were, his specification. Input/output con-
By the end of the '60s a firm dichotomy understandably, enthusiastic. The sisted of lamp and switch technology.
had been established, with the main- machines worked well (aside from Despite its limitations, interest in the
frame and the minicomputer occupying teething troubles with the floppy disc Mark -8, and subsequent sales of the
two different and well-defined market drive) and could be manufactured econ- bare circuit boards, far exceeded expec-
sectors. A measure of the impact of the omically. The sales department, making tations. Yet, in spite of this, Titus did not
mini can be gained from the fact that by up the other half of the committee, were even consider forming a computer
1971 at least 70 American firms were far less enthusiastic. Why, it was company, regarding the Mark -8 as more
manufacturing them, with estimated reasoned, should educational depart- of an 'educational' project than a com-
sales running into many thousands of ments buy the machines? A time-sharing mercial proposition.
millions of dollars. The minicomputer computer would be much more cost-
had arrived. effective. Why should the ordinary The interest stimulated by the introduc-
householder buy them? There were no tion of the Mark -8, coupled with Intel's
newly released 8080 microprocessor,
conceivable 'home' applications. In the prompted a small electronics company
end the salesmen won the day and the
Birth of the microcomputer project was dropped. The computer in- called MITS to introduce the Altair
dustry, it seemed, was indifferent to the 8800. The 8800 was designed for the
The development of the first microcom- American hobbyist electronics publi-
puter is a story that is, economically prospect of a personal computer. It mat-
tered not that such machines were cation 'Popular Electronics'. The pro-
speaking, quite different from the devel- ject was intented to be printed as a series
opment of the minicomputer. technically feasible and, indeed, could
be manufactured and sold on a cost- of constructional articles in the maga-
The first serious, documented research zine and, like the Mark -8, was aimed
into the possibility of producing a home effective basis: no market for such
devices could be seen. The early develop- firmly at the hobbyist market. The basic
(or personal) computer occured at machine was designed with expand-
Digital (again) in the early '70s. It is ment of the microcomputer thus rested
squarely on the shoulders of the hob - ability very much in mind. The 256 byte
most probable that other companies in - memory supplied with the basic kit
t vestigated the personal computer idea could be expanded right up to the maxi-
also, but the Digital investigation re- mum 64k bytes possible with the 8080
mains the most documented experience. processor by means of slot -in memory
David Ahl joined Digital in 1969 as a boards. Other peripherals, such as a
market researcher. An engineer by trade, CRT terminal, printer, alphanumeric
Ahl became involved in marketing the keyboard and papertape reader were also
company's minicomputers to schools. on the drawing board. Combining
colleges and other 'small' institutions. peripherals, memory expansion boards
In addition to the 'regular' type of and the 8800 itself could produce, for
orders for machines from institutions the first time, a really useful, relatively
and groups, Ahl occasionally received low cost system. Such a system formed
orders from individuals for a Digital the first - the very first - fully fledged
mini. This set a train of thoughts in mo- personal computer on the market. The
tion in Ahl's mind as he began to 8800 made its first appearance in the
wonder if there would be a market for a January 1975 edition of Popular Elec-
simple, low cost personal computer. In Fig. 4. A stimulating application of the tronics and was an instant sensation.
1973 Ahl moved to Digital's research and microcomputer: Mailbox Chess, a British The machine was offered to readers of
development wing, investigating (among Telecom (Prestel) service. the magazine at a cost of S650 fully
48 EE
January 1988
assembled and 5395 in kit form. Such niak, meanwhile, had demonstrated the computer had arrived.
prices for a machine of such high speci- board to a gathering of other homebrew The establishment of a mass -market for
fication were unheard of and orders enthusiasts and the reception had been the personal computer shook other
poured into MITS, who had great diffi- so enthusiastic that he had approached manufacturers out of their complacency
culty in fulfilling customers orders. Hewlett-Packard, his employer, and tried and, in time-honoured fashion, began to
Customers experienced delays of up to 6 to interest them in manufacturing his jump onto the bandwagon. From here
months (sounds familiar!) before computer. Hewlett-Packard refused, on, market forces begin to take control
delivery of their computers, and the however, doubting the existence of a suf- and the story of further developments in
promised peripherals did not materialize ficiently large market. Jobs thought dif- the field of personal computing becomes
until early 1976: one year later (sounds ferently. He approached several potential less concerned with technical innovation
even more familiar!). The popularity of buyers and eventually signed a contract and more concerned with hard
the hardware stimulated an 8800 based for 100 boards at $500 each. Jobs and economics. One further development,
software market. A BASIC interpreter \Vozniak went into partnership and the however, merits a brief glance. In 1981
was written for the machine and Apple Computer Company was born. IBM entered the fray with its PC, the
marketed, with success, by MITS. The The Apple I (as it has subsequently be- machine becoming an instant success in
8800 can, justifiably, be said to have come known) had no keyboard, ter- its target area (the so-called middle -
been the first 'real' personal computer, minals, disc drives etc. and was clearly business market). With IBM sales of the
and its success helped fuel the belief that targeted at the hobbyist 'tinkerers' PC well established, the familiar
a significant market for personal com- market. In total, Apple sold around 175 scenario of 'me -too' PC clone manufac-
puters might exist after all. boards at $500 apiece, leading Jobs and turers, introducing machines in direct
As interest in the Altair 8800 grew, the Wozniak to consider the project a great competition with IBM appears again.
first 'computer clubs', run by and for success. So much of a success, in fact, The resulting economic morass is a
amateur enthusiasts, were being formed that the pair went to work on a second startlingly familiar cocktail of market
all over America. It was at one such club machine, Wozniak taking care of techni- forces.
in California's Silicon Valley that cal development and Jobs looking after
Stephen \Vozniak, a young self-taught the business side of Apple. In october
computer engineer, became interested in 1976 Jobs received significant help from
the possibility of fabricating a a venture capitalist who decided that the Conclusion
'homebrew' computer. Wozniak exam- newly -developed Apple II was just right With a well established trichotomy of
ined the specifications of available for the mass market. With a firm mainframe/mini/micro the future may
microprocessors and concluded that the business plan and significant financial well see significant technical develop-
comprehensive instruction set of the backing, the Apple II went on sale in ments, but in a capitalistic economy,
newly -introduced 6502 would serve his 1977. Sales of the machine rapidly grew, where market forces reign supreme, it
purposes best. Wozniak set to work, boosted by a hard advertising campaign, will be the businessmen, and not the
writing a BASIC interpreter before going and by the end of 1977 the Apple Com- scientist, who will decide what sees the
on to design and construct the hardware. puter Company's annual sales were light of day. With the benefit of hind-
The finished article was a single board estimated to be in the region of sight it is difficult to imagine that in the
computer with 4K of onboard RAM and S775 000. Next year's sales were even future technical constraints, rather than
circuitry to enable direct connection to a better and Apple were named as the economic ones, will form the sword of
monitor. Wozniaks friend, Stephen fastest -growing company in American Damocles over continued development.
Jobs, saw a market for the computer and history. The software base for the Time alone will tell.
tried to persuade Wozniak to enter into machine grew rapidly, helping to fuel
a business partnership with him. Woz- sales to further heights. The personal
EUROPEAN EDUCATION
SOFTWARE: A NEW APPROACH
TO EFFECTIVE LEARNING
by Christopher Dunn
Considering the growing importance of put matters right. objective of originating and distributing
computers in modern education, it is Fundamentally, the problem is that there relevant computer based learning
ironical that schoolchildren all over are so many different types of computer materials for every level of education,
Europe are currently missing out on the with no standard operating system. from primary schools to in-service in-
vast potential for effective learning now Modifying software to suit each type dustrial training.
made possible by microprocessor tech- puts too heavy a cost on publishing. The company has identified the market
nology. Now all that is changing. in Europe as about 300 million young
The reasons for this are commercial. European Educational Software (E2S), a people in need of computer software to
Despite the millions of young people in bright young British company based in help them get an education that will
need of educational computer materials, Cambridge, has brought together the equip them for living in the 21st century,
the European market is seen as too small resources needed to overcome the prob- not forgetting the 60 million adults
to attract the interest of those who might lems. It is already well on the way to its working in industrial and commercial
EE 49
January 1988
companies who have urgent need of in- visers who assist in shaping policies and European distribution. Language
service training materials as well. in defining the world's requirements of translation and the adjustment of
education at all levels. specific components to suit individual
The executive is advised by a board that countries, where necessary, are carried
includes British and other European in- out in the relevant country.
The virtual machine dustrialists and investors, and a panel The copying and distribution of soft-
The first task for E2S was to create the bringing together key people from all ware to schools within a local education
enabling technology that would stan- sectors with an interest in promoting authority is governed by a self -policing
dardize microcomputer operation. The educational advancement. This includes licensing system. The education auth-
result of its development work is a education authority advisers, poli- ority buys a master copy, labelled with
unique capability, at the heart of which ticians, industrial training specialists, its own unique code, which it then
are two key products. and representatives of government duplicates as necessary. The code allows
First is the Virtual Machine, a software agencies. the authority to keep a check on any
system that creates a common interface Where appropriate, the company de- unauthorized copying of the software.
between most makes of micro. Machine velops products in association with com- In tune with contemporary thinking in
independence means a single version of mercial and industrial sponsors. This education, many of the company's new
a program can now be run on virtually area of co-operation provides obvious applications programs are designed to be
any microcomputer. promotional attractions for sponsors largely open-ended or content -free. They
Secondly, there is the Author's Toolbox, and, in turn, enhances the relevance of make creative use of simulation and
a suite of utility programs designed to its software to contemporary issues in in- games techniques, designed to bring
help authors design educational soft- dustry and commerce. students to conclusions and solutions by
ware to run on the Virtual Machine. The It also collaborates with academic, reason and not by rote.
Toolbox provides a framework for stan- teaching and training institutions to de- Now that E2S has bridged the gap in
dardizing software and supportive tools velop innovative computer based train- educational software, millions of
which allow users who have limited com- ing materials. children all over Europe can look for-
puting skills to generate their own pro- E2S also works in partnership with ward to the benefits of a wider avail-
grams. leading software publishers in Britain ability of computer aided learning.
With this capability, E2S is now in a pos- and continental Europe, providing two
ition to generate a library of educational way channels through which software is
application programs suitable for each both acquired for development and
of the principal countries of Europe. In- distributed for marketing. Most of these
itial activities are concentrating on seven partnerships include joint development
territories: the United Kingdom, France, projects supported under the Eureka
West Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, scheme, the European government in-
Scandinavia and Spain. itiative set up to foster the development
and marketing of new technological European Educational Software PLC,
products. 8/9 Bridge Street, Cambridge CB2 1UA.
Tel: (0223) 462200.
Innovation and co-operation
In plain business terms, E2S is a perfect European Educational Software PLC,
example of a company identifying a gap Franchise agreement La Santoline, Chemin de Bibemus,
in the market, then setting out with pur- The company draws in software from 13100 Aix en Provence, France. Tel: + 42
pose and dedication to serve that need. Eureka partners and directly from 961554.
What separates it from the more conven- authors, while new programs are also de-
tional business approach, however, is the signed by its own team of software
unique physical structure it has created developers. A franchise agreement gives
as the means to achieve its business ob- partners access to the Virtual Machine
jectives. It aims at breaking totally new and Author's Toolbox, enabling them to
ground in productive co-operation be- convert existing software and to develop
tween industry and education-and be- new programs for use on any computer
tween nations. which has the Virtual Machine interface.
"We are opening up channels between Whether acquired or developed, all
industry, commerce and education on a products are subjected to the same rigor-
pan-European scale", says Christopher ous standardization and approval before
Curry, former managing director of release through its partners for
Acorn Computers and a co-founder of
E2S.
"We have involved representatives of all
professional sectors which have an in-
terest in education and placed them
alongside our own technical skills and
business resources. As a result, we are
rapidly overcoming those obstacles that,
in the past, have discouraged effective
creation of educational software."
Mr W.J. Wordingham has been ap- The Rt Hon. Norman Tebbit, MP, has
been appointed a non -executive director David Palser is the new Head of Test and
pointed Director of three of the associ- of British Telecom.
ations federated in BEAMA: the Elec- Measurement Product Sales for Elec-
trical and Electronic Insulation Associ- tronic Brokers.
ation (EEIA), the Membrane Switch Peter H. Rose, who is returning from
TEST & MEASURING EQUIPMENT
Julian Nolan's discourse on dual -trace oscilloscopes is continued this month with reviews of the Gould
0S300 and the Grundig M020.
Part 1: dual -trace oscilloscopes (B)
scope is probably best suited to environ- CATEGORY factory factory Good Good Excellent
ments where its high grade of construc- TRIGGER FACILITIES x
tion will be valued, such as educational TRIGGER PERFORMANCE x
establishments or servicing departments, CRT BRIGHTNESS x
and its few shortcomings will not be no- CRT FOCUSING x
ticed. 1' AMP PERFORMANCE x
INTERNAL CONSTRUCTION x
The Gould 0S300 was supplied by EXTERNAL CONSTRUCTION x
OVERALL SPECIFICATION x
Gould Electronics Ltd., Instrument
EASE OF USE x
Systems, Roebuck Road, Hainault, Il- MANUAL x
ford Essex IG6 3UE. It retails at £342 + X!Y PERFORMANCE x
VAT.
Conclusion
The Grundig M020 is certainly worth
considering, its particular strengths ly- good, producing a clear and bright trace,
ing in its construction and advanced even at the maximum deflection speed. Other Grundig scopes under
triggering facilities. The construction is To sum up, the Grundig M020 is cer- £1000
very good for an oscilloscope in this tainly worth buying if you require a well- M022-As the M020 plus automatic
price range and the two-year guarantee built oscilloscope with a good range of timebase selection, triggerable second
offered with the scope reinforces this. facilities. timebase, hold off control, Z mod. Cur-
The triggering facilities are good, with The Grundig M020 oscilloscope was rent price £499 + VAT.
the particular bonus of automatic peak supplied by Electronic Brokers and
value triggering, as well as comprehen- retails at £365 plus VAT. Electronic M053-As the M022 plus alternating
sive filtering. It is a pity, however, that Brokers are at 140-146 Camden Street, second timebase, digital timebase dis-
alternate triggering is not available. The London NW1 OPB; telephone 01-267 play, 50 MHz bandwidth, delay time
CRT and drive circuitry are also very 7070. multiplier. Current price £750 + VAT.
STEREO LIMITER
A quality limiter for use in tape recorders, transmitters, public address systems, and discotheques.
A limiter is an electronic volume adjust- buffer and a linearized, temperature provided by the gain cells controls the at-
ment circuit in which AF signals are compensated gain cell. All these operate tenuation introduced by AS and A6. In
amplified up to a predefined level of the independently from the corresponding the present application, the operation of
input amplitude. When this level is section in the other channel. The recti- the gain cells is, therefore, comparable to
reached, the gain of the amplifier is re- fier translates the AF signal from Ai that of a current controlled electronic
duced to ensure that a fixed, maximum, into a direct control current for the potentiometer. Output opamps A2 (L)
output level is not exceeded. In other buffer, which in turn controls the output and A_s (R) are dimensioned for an am-
words, the output amplitude remains current provided by the associated gain plification of about 4.7. The oscillo-
constant irrespective of fluctuations of cell, marked AG in the- circuit diagram. grams of Fie. 3 show the dynamic
the input signal above the limiting The attack and recovery constants of the response of the limiter.
threshold. Limiting is, therefore, often gain controlled buffers are determined It is evident that the technical character-
referred to as dynamic range compres- with the aid of external electrolytic istics of the proposed limiter are a com-
sion. Figure 1 shows the dynamic capacitors Cs -C6 (L) and C12 -C13 (R). promise between what is useful on the
response-U. as a function of LA-of The outputs of the current controlled one hand, and practical for most appli-
the proposed limiter. gain cells AG are connected to the feed- cations on the other. This means that the
The design described here is based on a back resistors of opamps As (L; Rs) and input threshold, the output level, the
pair of standard gain controlled AG (R; R12). Hence, the output current dynamic range and the tracking(gain dis-
amplifiers which ensure a dynamic range
compression of about 46 dB. The 2
limiting threshold is reached at an input
voltage of about 50 mV: the output
voltage is then about 670 mV.
252
_G
9
C6
signal for the limiter chip Type NE572 in RIG
111
position ICs. Although it is economical a 0 221.
to provide a gain control signal common EMI
to both channels, the result is, of course,
the likelihood of mutual and inap- 9 It IC 3
propriate gain reduction on the stereo Al 1_07v
outputs. Fortunately, this effect does not NE572
raise problems for programme material
played at average to loud levels, and the
differences in output volume on the MEI
channels are certainly tolerable at less ------ C
than 5 dB. -E 31
CN
Both channels in the Type NE572 dual I
-1V5
-6V2
111111MMIMIIIIIMIN 011, 0v
MIIMINIIIIIIM111111111111111111
IM1111111111111111n111 *Ste teat
1 tRIPIRTM.TINRIIMIN
UMMIIMEll
41111111111111WIll
..JEMIN11111111111ff 241144148
1111MM11111111111111111ii,
iiIIIIM111111111111MIMEN
31111111111111=111111111MM
c isi D=ic0 ci IC 2
C21 At-A4 = IC 1= TL074; 0P470
11111111111111111MIIIIMMIE AS, A6 = IC 2 = LF353; TL072
1111111111M1111101111111MINI i 0 0 220n 220n
-40 1111111MMI11111111111111111111111111
11111111111111111111111111
-70 C C21
-A -40 -SO -A -30 o 40 .20
47164-,
0 T "r" oN 37163-2
Fig. 1. Dynamic response of the stereo
limiter. Fig. 2. Circuit diagram of the stereo limiter.
EE
58 January 1988
tribution) of the channels are dimen-
sioned such that the circuit is suitable for b
a wide variety of applications. In some
cases, the technical characteristics may
need altering, however.
Resistor Rs (R12) sets the maximum am-
plification for an optimum signal to
noise ratio in the absence of an input
signal. The maximum usable resistance ,,111111,P1111,1111
is about 680K. The gain cells operate at
a bias potential of about -5 V, while
the + input of the associated oper-
ational amplifier (pin 5; 3) is connected Fig. 3. Automatic level control obtained with t to limiter. Small signal response Iht and large
to ground. This means that the maxi- signal response tat. Upper channel: output: timer channel: input.
mum drive for As (A6) is about 1.4 Vniis.
Both gain controlled opamps function ing, it is recommended to fitpresets v.ith Construction follows the usual pattern
as an alternating voltage amplifier, and a value of, say, 100 K2 at both limiter in- of fitting the components as per the
do not, therefore, need a coupling ca- puts. parts list and the white overlay on the
pacitor to the associated output driver. The tracking (gain balance) of the chan- PCB. Fit the ICs in sockets, and do not
The attack constant is determined with nels is optimized with the aid of Pi. The forget the 2 short wire links between C20
Cu; Cs (R; L), the release constant with correct adjustment is reached after and C21. The capacitors in the corners
Cu; C6 (R; L). checking, noting and comparing the of the PCB arc bipolar (non -polarized)
The main point in the dimensioning of dynamic response curves of the L and R types.
the control circuit concerns the selection channel with the aid of a calibrated sine-
of the control voltage for the gain cells. wave generator, an oscilloscope and a Attention: pin 5 of IC2 is erroneously
In practice, it was found that the :,drive true-rms meter. left unconnected on the PCB. This is
margin can not be set much higher than In the absence of these instruments, ac- readily amended by running a short
- 25 dB, corresponding to the already ceptable results are obtained when Pt is length of light insulated wire from pin 5
stated 50 mV (0 d132--' 1 m\V in 600 Q). set to the centre of its travel. to the ground connection of C20.
The input voltage should, therefore, not
exceed 130 mVinis to avoid overdriving The supply voltages for the limiter can
the limiter, since this would then operate Construction and use be obtained by stepping down ±10, ±12
linearly again, amplifying the input The ready-made printed circuit board or -±15 V rails available in the equip-
signal. To avoid any risk of this happen- for the stereo limiter is shown in Fig. 4. ment to incorporate the stereo limiter.
Parts list
Resistors t=5%):
lit;R3=39K
R2=4K7
R4;R1 1 = 33K
Rs;R12=330K
Ra;1113=4K7
R7;1114=22K
Re;Rts;RicRii=100K
R9 = 2K7
Rio=3K3
Pi = 1K0 preset H
Capacitors:
Ci;C3;C4;C9;Cio;C1i =2p2; 25 V
C2;Ce;C s;Cie= 10p; 16 V
C5;C12= lo; 25 V
Cs;C 13 = 22p; 25 V
C7;C14;C2d;C24=10p; 40 V; bipolar'
C17 ...C22 incl.= 220n
C25;C26 = 47p
Semiconductors:
Di;D2= 1N4148
ICI =T1074 or OP -470
IC2=LF353 or TL072
IC3=NE572. (ValvoiPhilips!Mullardi
Miscellaneous:
PCB Type 87168 tsee Readers Services page)
Fig. 4. Track layout and component mounting plan for the printed circuit board. PLEASE
REFER TO THE TEXT FOR THE CONNECTION OF IC2, PIN 5.
EE
59
January 1988
Zener diodes and discrete regulators are
equally suitable for providing the
regulated ± 7 V supply voltage.
The limiter is best connected perma-
nently between the outputs of a line
driver or mixer, and the inputs of the
power amplifier. After establishing the
drive margin of the system, the output
and input level presets (if used) are
sealed to avoid overdriving the power
amplifier and the limiter, respectively.Gb
The problems confronting airport motion detectors); and infrared, micro- passengers, their baggage and their hand
security are basically the same as those wave and underground pressure detec- luggage, each piece of which may be
involved in the custody of any major in- tors to discover intruders and vehicles in concealing weapons or explosives, or the
dustrial complex of national import- unauthorized areas. means for making or assembling them.
ance. These include theft, ranging from It is at these interfaces that, as the
petty larcency to bullion robbery, illicit criminal and would-be terrorist become
incursion, ranging from unauthorized Searching the public more ingenious, the detectors deployed
entry to military takeover, and specifi- Chubb Alarms is a major British secur- against them need to become more effec-
cally terrorist attack, either in the air- ity company marketing a comprehensive tive.
port or in the air. range of such devices, and has con- CCTV is an important general means of
Combatting these problems calls for ad- siderable expertise to advise how an area monitoring the concourse of the airport
equate surveillance by man or machine can best be protected. and noting irregularities. The recent de-
to discover illegal acts, and the appro- Of more critical concern at present, velopment of charge coupled device
priate detection of illicit devices or however, are the airport areas to which (CCD) cameras using solid state image
materials in sufficient time to apply the public have access-in particular the sensors is a major step towards improved
remedial action. interfaces between the public areas and CCTV surveillance. The units are ex-
Incidents at airports-such as bullion those restricted to passengers and air- tremely small, allowing covert oper-
robbery, the smuggling of drugs, or the port staff. Through these pass the ation; they have a long life, are robust,
discovery of explosives in hand lug- need negligible maintenance and work at
gage-are generally reported in iso- low voltage with power consumption of
lation. However, to be effective, an air- just a few watts.
port system must be comprehensive to
cover every aspect of security. For each
airport, the security system must first
take account of the particular site prob- Finding metal
lems. Coupled via a fibre optic taper to a
There are many security devices available microchannel plate image intensifier,
for use around the airfield, and these they are capable of operation over all
should be deployed to monitor various ranges of ambient illumination from
zones of increasing risk, starting at the bright sunlight to starlight. The English
perimeter fence: microphonic cable to Electric Valve Company Ltd has recently
detect break in; closed circuit television announced a comprehensive range of
(CCTV) cameras to scan various sectors Luggage inspected for explosives using the CCD cameras and sensors manufactured
of the airfield (possibly connected to A.I. Security Type 97. in its new factory at Chelmsford, eastern
EE
60
January 1988
England, the most advanced CCD fa- way or hand held metal detectors. trolled by a gating grid which allows the
cility in Europe. Accordingly, over the last two decades passage of the ions in discrete samples.
Firearms and most other weapons will several types of explosive detector have The drifting ions become ranged
incorporate a substantial amount of been developed. Explosive compounds, spatially in order of their mobilities,
metal, which may be detected by X-ray their additives and decomposition prod- and, on reaching the collector electrode,
machines or metal detectors. Passengers, ucts emit minute quantities of a charac- present a current waveform character-
on entering the airport's departure area, teristic vapour, which is possible to
istic of the ions in the sample. The
and possibly also before embarking, sample and identify-although with internal air stream is circulated by a
may be required to pass through an arch- some modern military, explosives this is pump and dried. Then certain dopant
way incorporating a metal detector (and far from easy. chemicals are added in minute quantities
perhaps including an explosives detector The simplest sniffer devices available to enhance the sensitivity.
as well, as in the A.I. Security Entry rely on direct ionization of the vapour The waveform received by the collector is
Scan Type 85). from the explosives in air. These include digitized and fed to a microprocessor, in
The threshold sensitivity of the detector typically the Graseby Dynamics PD4C which its characteristics are assessed
will be set to discriminate between, say, and the A.I. Security Model 35, which against patterns for various explosives,
a small pistol and loose coins in the are light, compact and easy to use. while vapours derived from other
passengers' pockets: warnings of signifi- Although they perform a useful func- substances are disregarded. The PD5 has
cant metal detection may then prompt tion, their sensitivity is limited, their a hand-held unit with digital readout
further investigations by means of a discrimination medial, and they are connected by an umbilical to a briefcase,
physical body search or hand held metal unlikely to respond to certain military making it ideally portable.
detector such as the GN,I2 made by explosives. In many aspects the means for ensuring
Graseby Dynamics. good airport security are becoming bet-
Baggage and hand luggage is normally ter and more sophisticated. It remains
inspected via an X-ray machine, tended Finer sampling only for airport authorities to develop
by an operator trained to identify sus- A more sensitive and selective range of security systems that use these means ef-
picious opaque profiles. Recent products instruments is available, based on gas fectively.
from Astrophysics Research, which has chromatography. It includes the A.I.
supplied over 2000 such machines world- Security Model 97. These devices rely on
wide, include a combined check -in desk a constant and very pure supply of inert
and X-ray screening system and mobile gas, and the means for introduction of
systems for spot checks. the atmospheric sample into the gas
stream. The penalties for increased
sophistication, however, appear in terms
Explosives threat of increased size, weight, warm-up time, A.I. Security (Division of Analytical In-
Detection of illegal objects depends at response time, and cost. struments Ltd), Pampisford, Cambridge
present on the operator's alertness and The only other detectors in being are the CB2 4EF.
experience, but the advent of micro- very complex and accurate instruments
processors operating at several million mostly confined by their size and lack of Graseby Dynamics Ltd, 459 Park
instructions per second heralds the de- portability to laboratories, except for a Avenue, Bushey, 'Watford WD2 2BW.
velopment of expert detection systems in recent product of Graseby Dynamics,
which the X-ray responses will be com- the Ion Mobility Spectroscope (ISIS), EEV Solid State Devices, (English Elec-
pared automatically with a multitude of Model PD5 which shows considerable tric Valve Company Ltd), Waterhouse
those from known weapon types. promise. Lane, Chelmsford, Essex CM 1 2QU.
Explosives represent the most deadly of The EMS operates by first drawing an air
the armaments available to the terrorist sample through a probe and over a mem- Chubb Alarms Ltd, 42-50 Hersham
and also, even when made into impro- brane, which excludes dust and moisture, Road, Walton -on -Thames, Surrey
vised bombs, the most difficult to detect. but permits the diffusion of the vapour KTI2 1RY.
The minimal amount of metal in the molecules. The molecules are then ion-
detonator or triggering device is unlikely ized by a weak Nickel -63 beta emitter Astrophysics Research Ltd, 100 Vale
to reach the alarm thresholds for arch- and subjected to a 1000 V DC field, con- Road, Windsor, Berkshire SL4 SJP.
3
EE
61
January 1988
111111111
Ur MI EASTLEIGH SO5 5RR. Telephone:
(0703) 619841.
BROXBOURNE E N10 7NQ.
phone: (0992) 444111. Telex: 22478.
Tele-
NNW
01111111'
11
WIIIII MI
NEWER
M1111111111
WINNER
1111 11 In -field RF power
measurement
New power sensor heads introduced by
Need a BNC connector?
A comprehensive range of BNC connec-
tors is available from Watts for appli-
Cirkit provide an extremely cost-effec- cations up to 4 GHz.
tive and rugged way of measuring RF The Lynics Corporation plugs, recep-
The new, increased frame frequency of powers in the range 0.5 Watt to 75 Watts tacles, jacks, and adaptors can be sup-
100 Hz puts an end to flickering pic- and DC to 2 GHz. The only additional plied with an impedance of 50 or
tures: The upper picture (50 Hz) with an equipment required is a standard 75 ohms. Over 37 different types of con-
exposure of 1/60 second clearly shows 200 mV digital voltmeter (DVM) and nector feature in the range with vari-
the shadow of the blanking interval in leads. ations such as crimp/solder or screw -
which the line -by-line TV picture syn- The new products have been designed lock wiring, straight or right-angled
thesis is restarted each time. The missing specifically for the service engineer or body, and priel or PCB -mounting.
bar on the lower picture is the (in)visible radio amateur who needs to make quan- Adaptors offered include in -line,
sign of this progress (also for videotext) titative measurements of multi-fre- through -panel, and Tee. Body and con-
achieved with nine DRAMs (256 kbits) tact platings can be chosen to suit re-
and the digital. VLSI logic circuits from quirements.
Siemens. The TV concept is suitable for
PAL, SECAM and NTSC.
Siemens AG Zentralstelle fiir Infor-
mation Postfach 103 D-8000
MUNCHEN 1 Federal Republic of
Germany.
NOISE BLANKER
A noise blanker is indispensable for im- matic gain control) to ensure effective to maintain correct termination of FL!.
proving the reception of very weak suppression of relatively weak inter- Properly constructed, this circuit
signals on the SW bands. In most com- ference also. Preset Pi and poten- achieves noise suppression of the order
munication receivers, the selectivity of tiometer P2 enable precise adjustment of 85 dB. Alterations to suit operation at
intermediate frequency (IF) filters cause of the noise blanker for various levels of an IF other than 455 kHz involve Li
interfering pulses to be widened, blot- interference. The circuit can be con- and FLI, although due account should
ting out the wanted signal. It is useful, trolled digitally via R23; a logic high be taken of the parasitic capacitance of
therefore, to suppress interference before level renders the noise blanker ineffec- the electronic switches at relatively high
this can wreak havoc in the IF sections tive. The interfering pOlses are made frequencies. (B)
of the receiver. logic compatible with the aid of opamp
The 455 kHz IF signal is first buffered in IC2. LED D3 lights when noise is
T2, and then processed separately in two detected.
circuits. In the upper section of the circuit, the IF
The lower section of the circuit is a signal is first delayed in FLI to compen-
TCA440 based receiver for the interfer- sate for the processing time in the pulse
ing pulses. The TCA440 is in itself a vir- receiver. ES1 is opened when a suf-
tually complete receiver, since it com- ficienly strong interfering pulse is recoe-
prises an RF amplifier, a mixer, and an nized, so that the IF sienal is no longer
IF amplifier. All stages in the latter are applied to output buffer T2. Also, the
used since pin 4 is grounded here. The gate of this FET is then grounded for RF
pulse receiver has its own AGC (auto- signals via ES3-C4, while ES2 is closed
15V
FL I
LF - 5 2E ES1 914
U U
T2
5 97 911
C6
0
71 BF 103
BF R13 R12 R15
2E6 C
494 CBE EMI C7
R8 560r
ES2 ES 3
3
C2
560n
ES4
910
T003
C4
1007
Cl5V
R32
C19
D T4
R17
41
169931 BC
928
0 560 C
LI 3 ER27
C9 C11
OEM LMCS 4102. 1N
02
4n7 7 4148
5 14 R29
AA 119 R25
3.3
Dl
1C2
1C1 13
R22 CA
TCA 440 r 1
3130
1326
BC
10 '3 11
550 C
R20
P2
4700
CB R30
C13
imm
R19 100n R21 P1
CIO C12 C14 C15 C16
=NI Moo mim 2200 C16
E7492
EE
64
January 1988
LIGHT POWERED
THERMOMETER
An accurate, automatically operating electronic thermometer that indicates temperature on a digital
readout without the need for batteries or a mains supply.
04
C5
[113 LT fa
=1 23
470P
° 0 0 41 g Th° az
85170
ISV
11 10 3 3 124 15 14 2120 19 18 17
*87 +VSi IE CND 9
Vogt 23. 15 18 11 10 14 4 3. 2 6,
bias n es es es n n et et et et et et
setA Ic 10 0 u- .4 se 0 a a., tr- O< 012 O
20 ABA 7
+Vs POL GI
2
IC2 V. BP 21
P1
TLC 31
271 Vout MEM IN HI TEST 37
L/435 C3
IC 1
2008
4 GNI) ICL7136 REF in
iretItibans
32
C3 30 14 LO C0101
29 a - REF LO 85170
__J 01
-e.
R11
OSCI OSC2 OSC3 C REF C REF P.I2 BUFF INT
40
-a 9 *
39 38 34 33 211 281 27 1
/15 a C5 C2 C4
T2
02 PS 177p CI 77.0- 1124
a 100n
8C547B
0 S 87188-2
*see 1091
411
. elri .
,
ig .
Re = 220K
R5 = 270K
is Lciv; 1 ,
Re=1M8
R7= 10M
Rs = 1M5
Re =470K
Rto=680K
RI 1=33K
11 (2 Ea.__ PI =200K or 220K multiturn preset
..) .. .__ 9._ P2 = 'IMO preset H
\-_.- _. _./ "'
I 7 'Cl Capacitors:
C i;C2;Ca =100n
C4 =82n
40-$' C2 C3 Cl c5 Cs=47p
CH F43 FO FO 1C)i C6 = 470p; 16 V
01R6 }0 0.11=45 10;
serniCanciuctors:
C40--1 1-0 0 to rn
DI:D2=LED: 3 mm; red
rLEr cti Do;
C<OJ
IC2
la OqR 1-43 11 Da=AA119
Da= zenerdiade 12 V; 0.4 W
Ti=BS170÷
T2 =8C5478
ICt =ICL7136CPL"
IC2=LM35CZ (Maplin order no. UF51F)
-o _ L
E 1 T0--900 0
00 +
Fig. 3. Track layout and component mounting plan. The completed printed circuit hoard can
IC3=TIC271-
available from Cricklewood Electronics
Limited.
"available from Universal Semiconductor
Devices Limited.
Miscellaneous:
be fitted in a transparent Heddic enclosure. LCD= the following types may be used:
LTD221-001 (Multard/Videlec; for distributors
refer to InfoCard 507 in the April 1987 issue
monitor that switches the thermometer supply voltage to 12 V when there is in- of EEl;
off via T2 when the potential supplied tense sunlight on the solar cell. 43D5R03 (Data ModulIXD; 2D Electronics
by the solar cell falls below 7.0 V. This Wellington House 2 Kentwood Hill
protective measure effectively prevents Reading. Tel. (0734) 420440);
erroneous read-outs: for accurate oper- Construction and setting up 3901 or 3902 (Hamlin; Hamlin Electronic Europe
ation sensor IC2 requires a minimum The printed circuit board for the light Limited Park Road Diss Norfolk (P22
supply voltage of 5.5 V, while the refer- 3AY).
powered thermometer is shown in Fig. 3. Solar Cell= Lk 8- 12 V, size: 48 x 96 mm. e.g.
ence source internal to ICI should be The completion of the board should not Solems Type J0887J801
fed with 7.0 V or more. Schmitt -trigger present difficulty, but care should be Enclosure Heddic Type 222-G'.
IC3 in the voltage monitor switches T2 taken handling and mounting the fragile PCB Type 87188 (refer to the Readers Services
on again at an input voltage of 8 V, i.e., LC display. Do not overlook the 2 wire pane).
the circuit is dimensioned for a hysteresis links on the board. PP3 battery (optional).
of 1 V. The switch -on threshold is set at Do not yet fit IC2, and apply +1.000 V Heiland Electronic Design & Development
7.0 V with the aid of preset Pa. The cur- to the points intended for the V.it and Hermann Loens Strasse 11 D-4410
rent consumption of the thermometer in GND terminals of the sensor. Adjust Pt Warendorf 3 West Germany. Telephone:
the de -activated and activated state is for a display reading of 100 °C. Remove +49 (2582) 7550.
about 10 and 200 pA, respectively. Availability in the UK: Chartland Electronics
the voltage source connections, and fit Limited Chartland House Twinoaks
When the circuit is in the de -activated IC2. The completed PCB and the solar Cobham Surrey Kill 2041. Telephone:
state, and there is moderate incident cell are made to fit in a transparent Hed- (037 284) 2553.
light, the solar cell can only supply dic enclosure. The space is quite tight, For further details on distribution: Baorne.s
about 100 pA, so that C6 is charged to and the drop of sealing resin on the LCD Newman International Limit:: o Off,ca Sate
8 V. The thermometer is switched on, may have to be flattened by careful fil- The Square, Forest Rc.. East Sussex
and draws more current than can be sup- ing. One side of the enclosure of ICI is RH18 5ES. ielepho- 04 282) 270& T
plied by the solar cell. This means that treated likewise. Use wire -wrap terminal 95637.
C6 is discharged: the supply voltage strips so that the face of the LCD is
drops below 7.0 V, and the thermometer pressed against the inside of the lid. Drill
is switched off again after a few seconds. a few holes in the enclosure to prevent
This automatic on -off arrangement heat building up inside, The response of
enables taking temperature readings even the sensor to rapid temperature changes
in less favourable weather conditions. can be improved somewhat by glueing a
The hysteresis of 1C3 can be increased small piece of thin metal sheet onto the
by reducing the value of R7, and re- flat side of the 1092 enclosure.
adjusting Pa. It is possible to use a Some spare room is available in the
smaller capacitor for C6, so that the enclosure for an optional 9 V (PP3) ba.
thermometer is switched on rapidly tery. A switch can be fitted to select be- of the light pLIv.erol
when the light intensity increases. Fi- tween the battery or the soL..:cil as the Fig. 4. Promo. pes
nally, the function of D7 is to limit the power supply for the thermometer. Tii- mometer.
66 EE
Jinuar 1988
Many people buy a second TV set for "signal" and I µV noise, i.e., the signal
use in a location other than the living to noise (S/N) ratio is 100:1. When the
room. After experiencing the disap- downlead coax has an attenuation of 4,
pointing reception obtained by the use the TV set receives 25 pV "signal" and
of the built-in or set -top aerial, it is often 0.25 pV noise. Thus, the S/N ratio is not
decided to connect the new TV to the affected by the coax cable.
same antenna input as the main set. When the aerial amplifier is fitted at the
However, the assumption that the signal low end of the downlead coax, i.e., close
strength is high enough to feed 2 TV sets to the TV set, it receives a signal of
is immediately proved false by ghost ef- 2.5 yV, which it amplifies to 25 pV. The
fects and considerably increased noise noise level at the output is, again, 1µV,
on...both sets! however, so that the resultant S/N ratio
is only 25:1. The signal amplitude is still
25 ,uV, but the noise level is quadrupled
from 0.25 yV to I pV. The conclusion is
Aerials and coax obvious: the amplifier should be fitted
A good quality directional aerial is the as close as possible to the aerial, and
best RF amplifier. It is often frequency the connection between them should be
selective, consumes no power, introduces made in high quality (low loss) cable. In
no noise, and gives considerable amplifi- general, the amplification of the aerial
cation. A typical multi -element Yagi booster ensures that the available S/N
aerial for UHF TV reception has a half ratio is not ,.affected by the downlead
power opening angle of about 15*, and cable, even if, this has considerable at-
a power gain of 12 to 16 dBi. Since the tenuation.
aerial is usually mounted in the highest
possible location on the roof, its output
signal needs to be fed down to the re-
ceiver via a cable that ensures minimum Wideband aerial booster
signal loss, freedom of induced inter- The amplifier described here is a wide -
ference, and correct matching at both band design with a frequency range of
ends. The loss introduced by a cable of about 80-800 MHz. Its advantages are
any type (coax, twin -feed) is directly mainly the ease of construction, and the
related to its length, and the frequency absence of tuned circuits. Its inherent
of the signal it carries. For coax, the loss disadvantages, are, however, equally im-
is generally lower with increasing cable portant to note. The absence of any
diameter. At 100 MHz, for instance, form of selective filters in the circuit may
Type RG213/U cable has an attenuation give rise to cross -modulation and
of about 5.7 dB per 100 m, while blocking in the vicinity of powerful
RG58/U is specified at 14 dB. RG2I3/U transmitters (mobile radios, TV
(A, = 50 Q) and RG58/U (Zo = 53.5 Q) transmitters, cellular radio repeaters,
have an outside diameter of 10.3 and etc.).
5 mm, respectively. The commonly With reference to the circuit diagram of
used, general purpose, white coax for Fig. 1, the amplifier is based on low
use in the home is certainly not better noise RF transistor Type BFG65 from
than RG58/U. Mullard. Components Pi-Ri-L3-Co are
Although it is assumed here that con- fitted close to a mains adaptor that pro-
structors are familiar with the general vides a regulated output of 12 V. The
rule that an RF amplifier should be fit- amplifier is fed via the core of the
ted as close as possible to the aerial, the downlead coax cable. Choke L3 prevents
following example may prove helpful to the RF signals being short-circuited in
illustrate the practical consequences if the supply, while C6 keeps the ampli-
this is not the case. fier's supply voltage away from the TV
Any electronic amplifier produces noise. input. The RF signal provided by Ti is,
Assuming that the circuit in question therefore, superimposed on the supply
receives an input signal of 10 pV, and voltage.
amplifies this, say, 10 times while adding Zenerdiode Di keeps the base of Ti at
I pV noise, it is readily seen that its out- Fig. 1. Circuit diagram of the wideband 4.7 V below the collector potential. In-
put signal is composed of 100 pV aerial booster. ductors Li and L2 prevent RF feedback
EE
January 1988
67
Parts list
Resistors (±5%):
R1= 270R
P1 =2K5 H
Capacitors:
Ci;C2;Ca = 100; SMD
C4=24,2; 16 V
Cs=47p;16 V
Cs=1n0; ceramic
Semiconductors:
Di = zenerdiode 4V7; 400 mW
Ti=BFG65
Inductors:
1_1;1_2;1.3= see text.
Miscellaneous:
PCB Type 87700X (not available through the
Readers Services).
Mains adaptor, 12 VDC; 100 mA.
Fig. 2. The printed circuit board for the amplifier and its downlead power supply.
between the collector and the base whilst glued into position before soldering. In-
passing current through Di. The combi- ductors Lt and L2 are wound as 6 turns
nation of electrolytic and SMD of 00.2 mm (36SWG) enamelled copper
capacitors (Cs -Ca and C4 -C3) ensures wire through miniature (3 mm) ferrite
optimum decoupling for the entire fre- beads. The enamel coating is carefully Signal divider
quency range of the amplifier. scratched off the connecting wires, these The previously described amplifier has
are tinned, pushed through the respec- sufficient gain to enable dividing its out-
The aerial booster plus supply section is tive holes, soldered at the copper side, put signal between a number of TV sets
constructed on the PC board shown in and cut off at the other side of the in the home. All the signal dividers to be
Fig. 2. All parts are fitted at the copper board. The fitting of the zenerdiode and described should obtain their input
side. The PCB is cut to separate the the 2 electrolytic capacitors should not signal from C6, i.e., they must not be
amplifier and the supply section. Drill a present difficulties. Mount a small tin or fitted between the amplifier output and
5 mm hole to receive Ti, whose leads brass screen across the transistor as the supply.
are cut to size, and soldered flat onto the shown on the component overlay. Figure The signal dividers are assumed to be
relevant copper areas. Ascertain the pin- 3 shows the completed aerial 'booster terminated in 75 Q. Figure 4 shows the
nine before fitting the BFG65! SMD plus supply. Note that the coax cables most elementary set-up of a coax signal
capacitors CI, C2 and Ca are carefully are clamped onto the boards to ensure divider. Although the input signal is cor-
68 EE
January 1988
rectly terminated in 75 Q, both TV sets (25+75)/2=50 Q
at the outputs see a source impedance of
so that the characteristic impedance is
75 + (75//75) =112.5 Q. 50 + 25 = 75 Q. In the circuit of Fig. 5b,
the signal amplitude on each of the 3
A better circuit is shown in Fig. 5a. In outputs is one third of that at the input.
this, there are three 25 Q resistors and 3 For an n -way divider, the value of R is
termination resistors for the input and calculated from
the 2 outputs. Each .signal path has a
Fig. 4. This signal divider is too simple to 25 Q resistor and a parallel combination
give optimum results. with an equivalent resistance of R -nn +1
-1 x 75[Q].
Fig. 5. Signal dividers that maintain the correct termination and source impedance in 75 Q
cable networks.
Among the most important technical available of the 3 DBMs stated. Tuneable the fact that the IF output easily delivers
characteristics of a VHF preamplifier local oscillator T2 produces very little 10 mW, which may well give problems if
are the noise figure, and the large signal phase noise, and DG MOSFET T3 pro- the IF amplifier is not properly dimen-
handling capability. Although these are vides a LO power of.50 to 100 mW at a sioned.
in principle conflicting requirements, a drain current of about 25 mA. FET T4
compromise can be found in the use of enables driving a prescaler or a syn- Inductor data for this project:
high -quality RF components. The re- thesizer with the LO signal. Series net- Li ...Ls incl. =E526HNA10014 (Toko).
ceiver's ability to withstand high input work R9 -C20 is fitted at the input of the L6 =E526HNA10013 (Toko).
levels can be enhanced by providing suf- IF amplifier because any passive DBM . . L9;L14 = 6 turns 36SWG
ficient selectivity ahead of the active el- should be correctly terminated on at (0 0.2 mm) enamelled copper wire
ement(s). This is especially important least two of its ports. To compensate for through a ferrite bead.
for the mixer, since it generates most in- the 6 dB conversion loss in the DBM, = 9 turns 24SWG (0 0.6 mm) en-
termodulation products. and to ensure some spare IF gain, amelled copper wire on a T25-12 ferrite
In this FM tunerhead, the aerial signal is medium power RF J-FET Ts is dimen- core; tap at 3 turns from C35-Ri5-Ri6.
first passed through a slightly over - sioned to provide a gain of about 12 dB B
critically coupled band filter, amplified at a drain current of 25 mA.
with the aid of low noise UHF transistor The proposed front-end gives fairly good
Ti, and again filtered. The overall gain results: its third -order intercept point is
between the aerial input and the mixer
better than 0 dB when a mixer is used
input is about 12 dB at 87 MHz, and with IP = +20 dBm, while the noise
17 dB at 108 MHz. The difference is figure is about 4 dB. This sort of per-
caused by the adopted method of filter formance should enable the reception of
coupling. A wideband Schottky DBM quite weak transmissions even with a
(double balanced mixer) is used for the powerful transmitter within a few miles
mixer in this design. The Type SBL-1 from the receiver.
(LO = + 7 dBm) is probably the best Finally, due account should be taken of
15V
( .E100mA;
RS I9
H C21 L12
P 8002
- IHI
17 Iga
LIB
L7
39011
10.
60115
1.1
a 114
ill) TS
BFG65
BFQ 69
RI BFR 96
C3 CI C5 C9 a
a 15
inn
520 Sy 52 622 470 -IT I
Cz2 2600 COB C23
mim
O
a T- T- 600 411.
RB
a
C12 C15 Ct6 TAX Is
C's
TAX 110;
I
IHI I 11 3
17 172
-643-
"
L3 LS 15 V I
03 C/9
195
Sy 70 L.
C 615 , 622
12 a
II
337 (Lb R16
LII I , C3?
1.
BF
MN=
T
mme
C30
2
256 C T3
BF
256 C
R19
IL
11 3N 211
1323 c3g PR ES CALEB
II
C26 Ili? CIS
11
RI2 Rt3
C32
RIB
C3s COO C35
7.2
mom
mom
mow
200 72n
a
22; 22m set?
V" 1 M°
EE
70 January 1988
EDITORIAL CALENDAR
Publication Copy deadline
Issue Main theme
date Advertisements* Articles
January 1988 17 Dec. 1987 9 Nov. 1987 26 Oct. 1987 HF & VHF Techniques
February 1988 14 Jan. 1988 4 Dec. 1987 20 Nov. 1987 Telecommunications
March 1988 18 Feb. 1988 15 Jan. 1988 28 Dec. 1987 Sensors
April 1988 17 Mar. 1988 12 Feb. 1988 29 Jan. 1988 Etectrophonics
May 1988 14 Apr. 1988 11 Mar. 1988 26 Feb. 1988 Artificial Intelligence
June 1988 12 May 1988 8 Apr. 1988 25 -Mar. 1988 Electronics & Art
JulyiAugust 1988 16 June 1988 13 May 1988 29 Apr. 1988 Amateur Radio & TV
September 1988 18 Aug. 1988 15 July 1988 1 July 1988 Com:.,.:e.s u Microprocessors
October 1988 15 Sep. 1988 12 Aug. 1988 29 July 1988 Pow-. - - :
November 1988 20 Oct. 1988 16 Sep. 1988 2 Sep. 1988 Optce c_...." :s
December 1988 17 Nov. 1988 14 Oct. 1988 30 Sep. 1985 Corr: _._
. -- ---
_ cect test & measurement
January 1989 15 Dec. 1988 11 Nov. 1988 28 Oct 1988 Aud . .i HA,
February 1989 19 Jan. 1989 5 Dec. 1988 21 Nov. 1985 TV & ,.aeo
March 1989 16 Feb. 1989 13 Jan. 1989 30 Dec. 1988 Knowledge -based systems
April 1989 16 Mar. 1989 10 Feb. 1989 27 Jan. 1989 Telecommunications
May 1989 20 Apr. 1989 17 Mar. 1989 3 Mar. 1989 .
Robotics
._
provides the
sarking without the
(-. transformer)
to mak: a sa°a4- --.
Giant size. 90mm dia giving 0.45V is rite .' ' , ... - . -
BARGAIN Of THE 1.1A output. £4 each; 10 4 £3.50.
The -deg- ran be ..criu, 5,,
froma Tattier to anA
-....,, barks
and con-
True ::-: a - an transmittercar.
operates f :am a 9V PP3 .. ..--.:. .1,.
.e. . =.7
Mega size - 300 x 300mm. These in- tails circuitry to produce a r-- -_-:-, series es range of LIP to 60ft T.,.= .,21...arl,
Z811. Cumana Touch Pad for the BBC Full details of these on BIL 33
%-'
computer. This remarkable add-on K568 GIANT PLASTIC PACK .. __
enables you to draw on the screen Approx 1000 pieces - standard and e71 --JA--- _-
using a stylus with the touch sensitive miniature PCB supports, self adhesive
pad. Supplied with 2 stylli, power/data ribbon cable clips, straps, ties, cord SEND 9"x6" SAE & 60p FOR
connecting lead & demo tape with 4 clips. This lot would normally cost ELECTRONICSn CATALOGUE OR CALL AT
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ALL PRICES EXCLUDE VAT
AM
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bran Access order £10 Ilis rarer. cwo). Ofkrsl.
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come - rnin M.:
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Barclaycard/Access No. with order. Giro No. 529314002.
LOCAL AUTHORITY AND EXPORT ORDERS WELCOME
9-5. - a:. r_:bthe and see _s'"
ELECTRONIC Serd SAE lor = ern Lst GOODS BY RETURN SUBJECT TO AVAILABILITY
COMPONENTS
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SO1 OHX Tel 107031 772501 783740
1988 BUYER'S GUIDE TO ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS
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