En 1993 06

48783
Electronics
NOW
Combined with
Radon
Electronics
BUILD THE THUMB DRUM

This fun electronic drum
can output either audio
signals or MIDI data !
eid hostage
BUILD THE MUSICIAN'S FRIEND

Three great projects in one: instrument
tuner, headphone amplifier, and visual
metronome!
again!
TELEPHONE
AUTO- COUPLER
Connect your projects
to the phone line
automatically
UNIVERSAL
REMOTE CONTROL
Turn your PC into an
"invisible robot"
RC FILTERS
Learn how resistors and capacitors
combine to form a wide variety
of frequency -selective filters
r
5-DIGIT 95067
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06 P62
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06
CHRIS PARKER
$3.50 U.S.
$3.95 CAN
091
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GERNSBACK
1
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www.americanradiohistory.com
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APR 94
RE
We Only Skimped OnThe Price.

Introducing The Fluke Series 10
Fluke quality: Made in the USA by Fluke,
with the same rugged reliability that's made
us the world leader in digital multimeters.
Count on hard -working high performance
and a two -year warranty to back it up.
From $69Y5
Large, easy -to -read display:
4000 count digital readout.
Actual size: Easy to carry,
New! Min/Max record with relative

time stamp and Continuity Capture:
Makes intermittent problems easier to
find. Records highs and lows -and
"time stamps" when they occurred. In
continuity mode, opens or shorts as brief
as 250 its are captured and displayed.
easy to use.
New! V Chek".: For fast accurate

checks on power sources and
supplies, set your meter on V Chekand let it do the rest. V Chek will
determine continuity /ohms; if voltage
is present, it will automatically
change modes to measure AC or DC
volts, whichever is detected. For most
initial troubleshooting checks, here's
the only setting you need to make.
Capacitance: Autoranging from

.001 F to 9999 F. No need to carry
a dedicated capacitance meter.
For high performance at Fluke's lowest price, get

your hands on the new Series 10. Stop by your
local Fluke distributor and feel what a powerful
Autoranging with manual option:

Your choice. depending on your situation.
-at
difference the right multimeter makes

the
right price. For a free product brochure or the name
of your nearest distributor, call 1 800 -87- FLUKE.
Sleep Mode: Shuts itself off

if you forget, extending long
battery life even further.
New! Slide switch and a

few pushbuttons control
all functions: Designed for
Fluke
11
Fluke 12
$69.95'
579.95'
$89.95'
Chek.
Chek.
Capacitance,
.001 to 9999 pF
4000 count digital
display
0.9% basic dc
Min /Max recording

with relative
time stamp
Continuity
volts accuracy
Capacitance,
.001 to 9999 uF
4000 count digital
display
0.9% basic dc
volts accuracy
1.9% basic ac volts
accuracy
0.9% basic ohms
accuracy
Capture
1.9% basic ac volts

accuracy
beeper
0.9% basic ohms
Diode Test
accuracy
Sleep Mode
Fast continuity
Two -year warranty
beeper
Diode Test
Sleep Mode
Two -year warranty
true one -hand operation.
Fast, accurate tests

and measurements:
AC and DC voltage
measurements to
600 volts, ohms to
40 Mfg; audible
continuity test;
and diode test.
Fluke 10
4000 count digital

display
1.5% basic dc volts
accuracy
2.9% basic ac volts
accuracy
1.5%braasic ohms
accuracy
Fast continuity
Fast continuity
beeper
Diode Test
- ----
Sleep Mode
Two -year warranty
'Suggested U.S. lis price.
-a
Safety
Fluke standard:
Designed to meet UL1244,
IEC 1010, CSA and VDE safety
requirements; extensive
overload protection built in.
Audible Continuity:
To perform fast continuity
checks, just listen for
the beep; no need to watch
the display.
New! TL75 Hard Point Test Leads:

Comfort grip with extra strong tips
for extended service life.
Optional holster with

tilt-stand available.
The New Series 10.

A Small Price For A Fluke.
FLUKE AND PHILIPS
T H
T&M
A L L
A N C E
1991 John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc. Prices and specifications

subject to change. Ad no 00130.
FLUKE
CIRCLE 121 ON FREE INFORMATION CARD
June1993
Electronics
Vol. 64 No. 6
ON THE COVER
Music's in the air at Elec-
Electronic'
tronics Now this month!
BUILD THE THUMB DRUM

This tun etectrna arum
output either audio

Signals or MIDI data!
Can
BUILD THE MUSICMH S FRIEND

vi one !catmint.
Woo.
picas
RC FILTERS
LAMM
variety
V'
* And
get
the beat going strong, we have

the ThumbDrum on page 33. The
electronic drum set turns finger tapping into real drum sounds that
you can output as either MIDI or
audio signals. The Wireless
Guitar Transmitter, on page 40,
lets you move freely around, without tripping over a mess of cords.
The transmitter plugs into your
guitar's output jack and plays
through your FM stereo tuner or a
El+napnl.
coot:one to forgo a
To
taa
portable FM receiver, with no cables or separate power sources.

Finally, our Musician's Friend, the
Perfect Pitch, helps you hone your
musical skills. The microprocessor-based device combines an instrument tuner, a

headphone amplifier, and a metronome. Musicians can put it to
good use in practice sessions,
and everyone else can use Perfect Pitch to get the most out of
other audio-based projects. Turn
to page 47 for details.
ads
Two Your complrtor into an invisible household robot!
RC FILTERS
PC BASED
Hone your male*

with OerrostPFhErA HI!
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UNIVERSAL
REMOTE
CONTROL
Understand
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cod experiments
rp
_1.[
PAGE 68
PAGE 58
PAGE 47
As a service to readers, ELECTRONICS NOW publishes available plans or information relating to newsworthy products, techniques and scientific and technological developments.
Because of possible variances in the quality and condition of materials and workmanship used by readers, ELECTRONICS NOW disclaims any responsibility for the safe and proper
functioning of reader -built projects based upon or from plans or information published in this magazine.
Since some of the equipment and circuitry described in ELECTRONICS NOW may relate to or be covered by U.S. patents, ELECTRONICS NOW disclaims any liability for the infringement
of such patents by the making, using, or selling of any such equipment or circuitry, and suggests that anyone interested in such projects consult a patent attorney.
ELECTRONICSNOW, (ISSN 0033 -7862) June 1993. Published monthly by Gernsback Publications, Inc., 500 -B Bi-County Boulevard, Farmingdale, NY 11735. Second -Class Postage paid
at Farmingdale, NY and additional mailing offices. Second -Class mail registration No. R125166280, authorized at Toronto, Canada. One -year subscription rate U.S.A. and possessions
$19.97, Canada $27.79 (includes G.S.T. Canadian Goods and Services Tax Registration No. R125166280), all other countries $28.97. All subscription orders ayable in U.S.A. funds only,
via international postal money order or check drawn on a U.S.A. bank. Single copies $3.50. C 1993 by Gernsback Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in U.S.A.
POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to ELECTRONICS NOW, Subscription Dept., Box 55115, Boulder, CO 80321 -5115.
A stamped self- addressed envelope must accompany all submitted manuscripts and/or artwork or photographs if their return is desired should they be rejected. We disclaim any
responsibility for the loss or damage of manuscripts and/or artwork or photographs while in our possession or otherwise.
PLEASE TURN PAGE FOR COMPLETE CONTENTS
Electronics
NCIW,
SUND THIS
33 BUILD THE THUMBDRUM
Hugo Gemsback (1884.1967) founder
Output audio signals or MIDI data with this electronic drum.
Larry Steckler,
40 WIRELESS GUITAR TRANSMITTER

Get rid of those patch cords with this handy FM transmitter.
Dinesh Batia
47 MUSICIAN'S FRIEND
The Perfect Pitch is an instrument tuner, headphone amplifier, and
metronome in one compact package.
Fred Eady
EHF, CET,
editor -in-chief and publisher
John Simonton and Kent Clark
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
Brian C. Fenton, editor
Marc Spiwak, associate editor
Neil Sclater, associate editor
Teri Scaduto, assistant editor
Jeffrey K. Holtzman
computer editor
Robert Grossblatt, circuits editor

Larry Klein, audio editor
David Lachenbruch
contributing editor
63 PART -68 INTERFACE

Add an autocoupler to the MPC -2 interface.
Mike Hagans and Kyle Magrill
Don Lancaster
contributing editor
Kathy Terenzi, editorial assistant

ART DEPARTMENT
Andre Duzant, art director
Injae Lee, illustrator
Russell C. Truelson, illustrator
58 RC FILTERS
Learn how they work, and how to use them in your projects.
Ray Marston
(
PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT
Ruby M. Yee, production director
Karen S. Brown
advertising production
Marcella Amoroso
production assistant
Lisa Rachowitz
editorial production
68 PC -BASED UNIVERSAL REMOTE CONTROL

Use the Invisibot to operate all your IR- remote -controlled gear.
Jon Bek
CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT
Jacqueline P. Cheeseboro
circulation director
Wendy Alanko
circulation analyst
Theresa Lombardo
circulation assistant
Michele Torrillo
reprint bookstore
6 VIDEO NEWS
What's new in this fastchanging field.
David Lachenbruch
73 HARDWARE HACKER
Thermodynamic basics, and
82 AUDIO UPDATE
Loudspeaker power ratings.
Larry Klein
84 DRAWING BOARD
Typography by Mates Graphics

Cover photo by Diversified Photo
Services.
Electronics Now
is indexed in
Technology Index,
and Readers Guide to Periodical Liter-
Applied Science
&
ature, Academic Abstracts, and
Real world considerations.
Magazine Article Summaries.
Robert Grossblatt
Microfilm
88 COMPUTER
CONNECTIONS
&
Microfiche editions are
available. Contact circulation department for details.
Advertising Sales Offices listed
more.
A confluence of technologies.
on page 102.
Don Lancaster
Jeff Holtzman
Electronics Now Executive and

Administrative Offices
1.516- 293.3000.
Subscriber Customer Service:
AND MORE
-800- 288.0652.
Order Entry for New Subscribers:
100 Advertising Sales
Offices
100 Advertising Index
95 Buyer's Mart
16 Letters
28 New Lit
22 New Products
12 Q&A
4 What's News
-800- 999 -7139.
Audit Bureau
of Circulations
Member
DC-2000 MHz
AMPLIFIERS
In plastic and ceramic packages, for low -cost solutions to dozens of application requirements, select Mini Circuits' flatpack or surface -mount wideband monolithic
amplifiers. For example, cascade three MAR -2 monolithic
amplifiers and end up with a 25dB gain, 0.3 to 2000MHz
amplifier for less than $4.50. Design values and circuit
board layout available on request.
It's just as easy to create an amplifier that meets
other specific needs, whether it be low noise, high gain,
or medium power. Select from Mini -Circuits' wide
assortment of models (see Chart), sketch a simple interconnect layout, and the design is done. Each model
is characterized with S parameter data included in our
740 -page RF /IF Designers' Handbook.
All Mini -Circuits' amplifiers feature tight unit -to -unit
repeatability, high reliability, a one -year guarantee, tape
and reel packaging, offthe -shelf availability, with
prices starting at 99 cents
Mini-Circuits' monolithic
amplifiers...for innovative
do- it- yourself problem

solvers.
Models above shown actual size
Unit price $ (25 qty)
add suffix SM
to model no.
(ex. MAR -ISM)
+VAM-6
+ +VAM -3
PLASTIC
SURFACE-MOUNT
1.45
+ +VAM -7
1.29
1.75
MAR -1
MAR -2
MAR -3
MAR-4
MAR-6
MAR -7
MAR-8
1.04
1.40
1.50
1.60
1.34
1.80
1.75
MAV -1
+MAV -2
+MAV -3
MAV -11
MAV-4
2.15
1.15
1.45
1.55
1.65
CERAMIC
SURFACE-MOUNT
RAM-1
RAM-2
RAM-3
RAM-4
RAM-6
RAM-7
RAM-8
4.95
4.95
4.95
4.95
PLASTIC
FLAT -PACK
MAV -1
MAR-6
MAR -7
MAR -8
4.95
4.95
1.10
MAR
0.99
-1
4.95
+MAV-2
+MAV-3
MAV -11
+MAV -4
1.40
1.50
1.60
MAR -2
MAR -3
MAR-4
2.10
1.35
1.45
1.55
1.29
1.75
1.70
Freq.MHz,DC to
1000
2000
2000
1000
2000
2000
1000
1000
Gain, dB at 100MHz
18.5
12.5
12.5
8.3
20
13.5
32.5
12.7
Output Pwr. +dBm
1.5
4.5
10.0
12.5
2.0
5.5
12.5
17.5
NF, dB
5.5
6.5
6.0
6.5
3.0
5.0
3.3
3.6
Notes:
Frequency range DC- 1500MHz
++
Gain 1/2 dB less than shown
designer's kit, KH -1 available only $59.95 includes

IO MAR -1. 10 MAR -3. 10 MAR-4. 10 MAR -8
150 CAPACITORS* 50 100 pf, 50 1.000 pf. 50 10.000 pf
740 page RF /IF DESIGNER'S HANDBOOK
40 AMPLIFIERS
ELECTRONIC ATTENUATORS
AMPLIFIERS
POWER SPLITTER /COMBINERS
MIXERS
DIRECTIONAL COUPLERS
ATTENUATORS /TERMINATIONS
180 /OPSK MODULATORS
SWITCHES /DRIVERS
PHASE
DETECTORS
DIGITAL
ATTENUATORS
RF TRANSFORMERS
FREQUENCY DOUBLERS
FILTERS
LIMITERS
Typical
Arrangement
Circuit
yP
9 ement
notice,
without
or models may be substituted
Rbias
depending on supplies.
COLOR DOT
finding new ways ..

setting higher standards
IN
COMini-Circuit
P 0. Box 350166,
Distribution Centers /NORTH AMERICA
Brooklyn, New York 11235 -0003
800 -654- 7949.417- 335 -5935
Fax 417- 335 -5945

F155 REV A
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OUT
WHAT'S NEWS
A review
Interactive program guide
box. The card authorizes the reception of TV Trakker and forthcoming

services. Those services are expected to include news, entertainment, weather, business, and the
latest sports information.
TV Trakker is developing an advanced version that will offer point and -shoot VCR programming with a
remote control to make recording
TV programs off- the -air easier.
The first full -scale commercial
roll -out of the system began in
November 1992 on the Cox Cable
system in Omaha, Nebraska. The
service costs less than $30 a year.
TV Trakker is affiliated with Prevue
Networks, Inc, a supplier of elec-
An interactive electronic program

guide in selected markets is now
available from Trakker Interactive
Services (Tulsa, OK). The service is
delivered to the homes of cable subscribers by an FM subcarrier.
The homeowner installs a "sidecar" box on the back of his television set, and his remote control can
access the service. Information is
presented in colorful onscreen windows. It includes eight hours of varied programing.
The Trakker system is designed
to be upgraded easily to other inter-
active services by inserting
"smart card" circuit board into the

N.%
of the latest happenings in electronics.
.t
ta#
\\X
't
Cable company to build

digital data system
An 8000 -mile fiberoptic "electronic superhighway" that could
provide digital data services (DDS)

to homes in the metropolitan New
York region has been proposed by
Long Island -based Cablevision. In
addition to initial coverage in

Nassau and Suffolk counties,
Bronx, and parts of Brooklyn could
be served.
The network could deliver video
on demand, home shopping and
banking, interactive games, and
"telecommuting" for those employees who work out of their own
homes.
Fiberoptic cables made up of bundles of hair-thin glass fibers will carry pulses of laser light. Capable of
transmitting far more messages
Satelll te Data
Subcarrier
Cable System
Headend
MAKIICOMAN
Transmission Computer
Chicago International Teleport (CIT)
Uplink Facility
tronic programming information to

the cable industry, and United Video
Satellite Group.
Cable Video and TV Service

(FM Suboarrier Does Not
Require a Separate Channel)
Cable Subs n er's Home
Data Provider Services

Unit
Attached
Behind TV
by Consumer
Subscriber
Service Center
Program
Guide
_.
TVPlotrSnort,.
Nevis
Weather
than much larger copper cables, the

system will convert digital signals
from various sources into to light
pulses at one end and will then reconvert them back to digital data at
the other end without the need for a
modem.
Cablevision expects to compress
the data to provide as many as 1100
channels initially. The fiberoptic optic cables will be run to within 1000
feet of each home being served,
and each cable will serve a cluster
of only 750 homes. Because the
cables will be underground, the system will be less susceptible to outages and interference than cable
strung on telephone poles.
Under the plan, conventional

nR
Smart Card
Customized
or Existing
Remote Control
Smart Card
Insert for Services
THE TRAKKER TV SYSTEM TRANSMITS DATA BY SATELLITE to a computer at the

cable system front end. An FM subcarrier transmits the data to a small Trakker receiver
unit on the viewer's TV set. Once installed, viewers can access the programming guide
and other services with subscription "smart cards" that activate the services.
coaxial cable will carry the signals

from the fiberoptic cable terminal
into each home. Over short distances, the coaxial cable is capable
of meeting the needs of each home.
Cablevision plans to start with
only 77 channels and use the extra
continued on page 80
a Shocking Offer!
Now you don't have to be enrolled at CIE to receive our
introductory Electronic and Electricity Lesson Modules.
This program is available for a limited time to nonstudents for the shockingly low price of only $99.50.
With CIE's patented AUTO -PROGRAMMED method
of learning you will quickly learn and then master the
basics of electronics and electricity and then move on to...
DC/AC circuit theories, fundamentals of bi -polar junction
transistors (BJT), field effect transistors (FET), wiring,
diagram and schematic readings, component identification, soldering techniques... and much, much, more. This
introductory offer includes
the first 39 lessons in CIE's
Associate in Applied Science
in Electronic Engineering
Technology Degree.
Your commitment to CIE
ends with your payment, but
CIE's commitment to your
success just begins when
you receive your lessons,
exams, binder and equipment. This special introduc-
tory price includes all the benefits and assistance CIE

normally extends to its full time students. You'll be entitled
to unlimited access to CIE's faculty and staff to assist you
in your studies via a toll free 800 number six days a week,
24 -hour turnaround on grading your submitted exams,
CIE bookstore privileges, a patented learning method,
reference library, access to CIE's electronic bulletin board
and a free issue of CIE's school newspaper The Electron.
And best of all, when you decide to continue your
electronics education in any of CIE's programs you'll
receive full academic credit for successful lessons

submitted and a $100.00
Tuition Credit Certificate.

All this knowledge and
support will put you on the road to
understanding digital electronics,
automotive and industrial
electronics, microprocessing
principals, computer systems,
telecommunications and much,
much, more.
$100.00 Tuition Credit
Academic Credit
Free issue of The Electron
Build your personal burglar alarm
Toll Free Instructor Assistance
24 -hour grading
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Electronic and Electricity Lessons
A7322
and Equipment.
$99 50
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VIDEO NEWS
What's new in the fast-changing video industry.
DAVID LACHENBRUCH
HDTV "grand alliance."

Negotiations are under way among
proponents of the four digital HDTV
systems on the possibility of getting
together and developing a single
system combining the best features
of all four. As of our deadline, "serious talks" were under way, but
there appear to be plenty of snags in
the path to any such alliance.
The prime mover in the push toward a single compromise system
is Richard Wiley, chairman of the
FCC's Advanced TV Advisory Committee (ATAC). One report indicates

that all proponents except the Advanced TV Research Consortium
(ATRC), composed of Philips,

Thomson, NBC, and others, have
agreed in principle on the idea. The
other three systems could combine
to present a united front against
ATRC. Of course, many hurdles remain. For example, how does one
compromise between interlaced

and progressive scan?
Because the tests have shown no
digital system markedly superior to

any other digital or analog system,
ATAC has decided on a new round of
tests, which will be conducted if the
idea for a grand alliance fails. That
will delay the choice of a system
once scheduled for February

1993 -until this fall. After the preliminary choice, on the basis of lab
tests, one or all of the systems

could go into field testing. If there
should be an alliance and only one
system remains, there would be a
30-45 -day development period, followed by six months to build the
combined system.
Compulsory HDTV tuning?

The All- Channel Act, passed by
Congress many years ago to help
provide an audience for UHF TV stations, should be applied to HDTV as
well, according to a proposal made
to the FCC by a broadcast group.
The Association for Maximum Service Television has urged that the
Commission use its authority under

the All- Channel Act to require that
all television sets made after a certain date be able to tune HDTV as
well as standard NTSC channels.
The group argues that since the
FCC will make HDTV broadcasting
mandatory, it should also mandate
that sets be required to receive the
broadcasts (but not necessarily in
high definition). It proposes that
HDTV reception become mandatory no later than six years after an
HDTV standard is adopted.
That's ridiculous, replied Zenith in
comments to the FCC. Zenith said
that studies have indicated "a retail
price premium in the area of $500
per set [for] receiving, demodulating, and decompressing digital
[HDTV] signals in a non -HDTV receiver." Zenith added, "It is clear
that a $500 premium would put millions of Americans out of the market
for new TV receivers," in view of the
fact that 70% of all TV sets are purchased for less than $350 each.
Video disc recorder. While

Japanese manufacturers discuss
standards for a new generation of
home digital high- definition videocassette recorders (Electronics
Now, May 1993), a major Korean
manufacturer is proposing that the
next home video recorder use a
disc rather than tape, foreshadowing a video battle comparable to the
current digital audio recording contest between the Mini Disc and the
Digital Compact Cassette.
Samsung, Korea's largest electronics company, announced that it
will introduce a digital videodisc recorder (D -VDR) in 1995. Samsung
has developed a green laser for both
recording and playback of a magneto- optical disc, providing 55 minutes of digital recording on a 4.75 inch disc. When the product is commercialized, Samsung says that it
will record for 120 minutes per disc.
Samsung says that it developed
the system in a three -year project at

cost of more than $25 million,
"working with various Russian tech-
nology institutes." According to

Samsung, a disc -based camcorder
would have portability advantages
over tape, and "the video -rental industry would benefit from the compact size and durability of the disc."
The D -VDR, said Samsung, will
have two to three times more storage capacity than "the next generation of magneto -optical disc."
Big tubes grow. The largest

picture tubes in general consumer
use became increasingly popular
last year, according to figures from
the Electronic Industries Association. As prices gradually came down
and interest in home -theater installations increased, sales of color
TV sets with 35 -inch picture tubes
increased by 52% over 1991. Compared with total color-TV sales of
22.4 million sets, the 35 -inch
number was relatively small. Nevertheless, some 244,000 sets with
35 -inch tubes were sold last year.
Sets with tubes 30 inches and
larger totaled 787,000 in 1992, and
if projection TV is included, the total
came to 1.2 million -the first time
the 30- inch -and -over category totaled more than a million sets.
Sales of projection TV's totaled a
record 404,300 units last year.
United States Precision Lens Co.
(USPL), which makes plastic lenses
for most projection TV sets, forecasts that about 445,000 will be
sold this year. Th trend to larger
screen sizes will continue, the corn pany says, predicting that 41% of
the total will be in the 50-54 -inch
size, with 9% of them 55 inches and
larger.
Despite some inroads by liquid

crystal device (LCD) projection systems, USPL says that for the next
few years the cathode -ray tube will
continue to be the primary picture
source for projection TV.
i2
H OME WORK
For Electronics
Compartment for text books/
manuals and/or wire jumper kit
(optional)
Custom Molded Carrying Case

folds into briefcase size
Large Breadboard area holds

24 lCs...2, 500 tie points
Function Generator
Triple Power Supply.. +5V fixed,

plus two variable 5 -15V
...sine, square, triangle...plus TTL
Holds Digital Multimeter
7TL
Logic Probe Indicators
PROTO- METER 4000

(optional)
Audio Speaker
Debounce Push - Buttons

Two BNC Connectors for
oscilloscopes and counters
Here's PB- 503 -C. It has every feature that our famous
PB -503 offers, but we added one more, portability.
Work on your projects at the office or school, take it
home at night... its for the engineer or student who wish
to take their lab with them. Instrumentation, including
a function generator with continuously variable sine,
square, triangle wave forms and TTL pulses.

Breadboards with 8 logic probe circuits. And a Triple
FOR MORE INFORMATION
CALL 1- 800 -572 -1028
Power Supply with fixed 5VDC, plus two variable

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MICROCOMPUTER SERVICING
TV/Video/Audio Servicing
Industrial Electronics & Robotics
I
1
1
Computer Programming
Security Electronics
Electronic Music Technology
Desktop Publishing
Programming in C ++ with Windows
Telecommunications
Basic Electronics
(Please print)
Name
Age
Address
-- - ----- ifs- ---- -- --- -lf

City/State/Zip
Ifs
Accredited Member, National Home Study Council
fib
ifs
3 -0693
ifs
Write to Q & A, Electronics Now, 500-B 8i- Counter Blvd,. Farmingdale, NY 11735
COMPUTER LANGUAGE
was a bit late getting interested computers, but I got a PC

last year. I'm now interested in
I
learning about programming.

I've been studying BASIC but
I'm wondering whether I ought
to spend my time getting familiar with some of the other computer languages such as assembly language or C. Is any
one of them better to know or
more powerful than any of the
others, or are they all equally
useful ? -G. Benjer, Faffel, IN
Learning how to program is the
best way know to take the mystery
out of computers. Picking the language to use, however, is far from
being a clear-cut issue. The decision
ultimately has to be based on what
you want to do with the software
you write, how much time you want
to spend on it, and, most important,
how much you already know about
the inner workings of computers in
general.
All languages are designed to
give specific instructions to the microprocessor and other hardware
that make up your computer. It usually takes a lot of these individual
instructions to get a task done. A
good example of that is getting a
character typed on the keyboard to
appear on the screen. A simple GET
statement in BASIC has to read the
I
keyboard, transfer the typed

character that's found in the keyboard buffer to the appropriate location in video memory, and then put
that character on the screen location of the cursor.
High -level languages have statements that can do a lot of work for
you and, as a result, program development is usually a lot faster and
easier. Things are easier because
high -level language statements are
often English -like and intuitive.
12
When a language like BASIC executes a program, it takes each of

the program statements (such as
PRINT, INPUT, and so on), and runs
series of low -level instructions

that implement the statements. The
tradeoff made for ease of programming is a loss of control over how
a
things are done -it's a "Take the

bus and leave the driving to us" kind
of situation.
The lower the level of language,
the more control you have over how
things happen, but the more work
you have to do when you're writing a
program. In general, the approach
to low -level programming is to

create subroutines that do common
tasks (such as putting stuff on the
screen), and then calling them as
they're needed. In a certain sense
you try to structure things as if you
were dealing with a high -level language in the first place.
There is no computer language
that's best suited for all jobs and all
programmers, and choosing the
language to use is as important a
decision as deciding what the program is going to do. You always
have to weigh the requirements of
the job against the time you can
spend to make it happen. If you're
programming for your own amusement, you can pick any language
you want. But if you have a client
breathing down your neck to get the
job done, the choice of language
can mean the difference between
getting paid for a job well done and
getting sued.
TWO SWITCHES, ONE LIGHT
I'm having a problem rewiring

the lights in my house. In some
of the rooms I want to be able to
control
single light from two
different switches. In rooms
with two entrances, I want to be

able to turn the lights on from
switches at both doors. I know
this is a simple problem but I
haven't been able to figure out a
solution. Can you show me a
schematic for this ? -F. Stone,
Albany, NY
Wiring a single light so that it can

be controlled by two switches is a
common practice. A trip to your local hardware store will show you
that there are switches and dim-
mers designed specifically for this

purpose. The only difference between these specially designed devices and their single -control
cousins is that the single ones are
two -wire switches and the others
are three -wire switches.
Simple switches are single -pole,
single -throw devices, and the more
complex ones are single -pole, double -throw switches. Working out
the wire layout so a single light can
be controlled by two separate
switches is an interesting exercise
in logic but, to save you the trouble,
the schematic for the circuit is
1.
shown in
As you can see, when the light is
off, it can be turned on with either
switch, and when the light is on, it
can be turned off with either switch.
Switches and dimmers designed for
this application have three wires
connected to them, and the center
pole is identified with a different
color. When you wire them, make
sure you use cable that has three
wires as well as the ground wire. All
three wires have the ability to carry
current so make sure you don't use
the bare ground wire for this purpose.
Tell the person behind the hardware counter exactly what you want
to do, and they'll tell you which
switches and cable are the right
ones for the job. When you're playing around with house wiring, the
most intelligent course to follow is
to make sure you know exactly what
you have to do before you start
doing it.
Most localities require that all
electrical work be done by licensed
electricians and that it be inspected
afterward. There's a reason for that:
miswiring electrical switches can be
catastrophic.
The DMM our

customers designed.
7115e
5im/e
iyena-Dirctmn
fiGeitOtic 13a-hitiht
Detecior
feafriie 5eiectia7
PeaE Wee
rite k'AJ5 (r4C+,%1

Yhitective fiEster
CT:ritare iyeter to 2?,vf
firfexr Carn7ter to Oyffz

Complete Au/'o Foyer Poet
fxte.nsiye 5nf'etY feet/m.5
Before we built the new generation Beckman

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Measurement capabilities. Plus, the Series 2000
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recording and relative modes.
You want a DMM that's easier to use. The
Series 2000's display is 25% larger, with bigger
digits and backlighting for easier reading, even
in the worst light. Plus the fast 4 digit display
provides the high resolution needed for adjusting
.power supplies and generators down to lmV.
And only the Series 2000 features a menuing
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INLD,..;
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13
Be an FCC
LICENSED
ELECTRONIC TECHNICIAN!
1-TYPICAL TWO-WAY switch wiring. When the light is off, it can be turned
on with either switch, and when it's on, it
can be turned off with either switch.
FIG.
MAKING WAVES
do a lot of amplifier testing

on my job and it would help a lot
if I had a small device to generate sine waves. I don't need to
I
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vary the frequency continuously because I'm interested

only in measuring the distortion
at several frequencies in the au-
dio range.
small battery -
manufactured pieces of equipment

that will do this job for you, but if
PRODUCTIOnS
STATE
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powered device that I could carry with me in my toolkit would be

ideal. -M. Bill, San Diego, CA
There are lots of commercially
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what you need.

The quality of the sine waves produced by this circuit will depend on
how closely you match the components in the twin -T network in the
op -amp's feedback loop. You'll never be able to get the kind of sine
wave purity produced by a good
bench generator but, then again,
you can't put together equipment
like that for under five bucks either.
There are ways to make the 741
operate with a single -sided supply,
but this is one of those times when
it's a good idea to stick with a bi741 operating with
polar supply
a single -sided supply just can't produce good sine waves. The circuit
can be assembled with any technique from wire wrap to PC board.
you're looking for
circuit that's
easy to assemble, cheap to build,

and small enough to fit in a match
box, the circuit in Fig. 2 is exactly
ZIP
fV
o OUTPUT
AMAZING
Remember those Martian
Space Ships in HG Wells
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Levitating Device
Pen sized laser, great for movies,

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ban's. LAPN1 Laser Pen . $149.50
Objects float on air and move to the

touch. Defies gravity! Amazing gift,
conversation piece, magic trick or
great scientific project.
3mw or 5mw kits, with solid state

670nm diode. Caution, Class Illa item.
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children, invalids. Be the local DJ!
MVP1 Plans
MVP1K Kit/Plans
3 MILE
Telephone
Transmitter!
$7.00
$39.50
- -
Automatically transmits 2 sides of

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Tunable, easy -assembly PC board.
Operates only when phone is in use.
VWPM7 Plans
$7.00
VWPMK7 Kit/Plans
$39.50
Pocket Laser Kit

TV & FM Joker /Jammer
Pocket size device lets you remotely
disrupt TV or radio reception. Great
gag! Discretion required. Easy -build
electronic kit. EJK1KM
$19.50
....
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Electronic module, may be enclosed
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ITM2 Plans (creditable to kit) $10.00
ITM2K Kit & Plans
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VRL3KM 3mw Laser Kit

VRL5KM 5mw Laser Kit
-V
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PRODUCTS a d' KITS
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LAS4KM 3mw Version, Kit $99.50
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Other parts available separately.
Great Low Budget Science Project!
Shocker Force Field

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electrify objects, charge capacitors.
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SHK1KM Easy -Assembly Kit$24.50
CATALOG!
with many more items!
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generator. The quality of the sine wave

depends on how closely you match the
components in the twin -T network in the
op-amp's feedback loop.
Once you have it working, you can

experiment with the component values to find out how much flexibility
you have in producing sine -waves.
The output frequency of the circuit is determined by the values of
the components and follows the
simple formula:
f = 1/2 rRC
You can vary the frequency a bit
with the potentiometer, but it's a
good idea to use a small trimmer,
tune the circuit to a particular frequency, and lock the trimmer in
place with a drop of nail polish. You
can make one for each frequency
you need.
11
ELENCO & HITACHI
48 HOUR
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AT DISCOUNT PRICES
ELENCO OSCILLOSCOPES
B +K
S -1340
Dual Trace Oscilloscope
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Automatic beam finder
Built -In component tester
1
Digital Capacitance Meter
Digital
LCR
CM-1550B
pf- 20,000u1d
.5% basic accy.

Zero control w/ Case
Big 1- Display
Quad Power Supply
Triple Power Supply
$69.95
12V@
1A
5V @ 3A
and
Fully regulated and short circuit protected
Function Generator
Blox
$259
#9600
Elenco
$28.95
Model GF -8026
Sine, Square, Triangle, Pulse, Ramp
.2 to 2MHz, Freq Counter .1 -10MHz
Internal Linear 8 Logic Sweep
Learn to Build and Program

Computers with this Kit
Provides sine, triangle, square

wave from 1Hz to 1MHz
AM or FM capability
Kit
$26.95
Elenco Wide Band

Signal Generators
Includes All Parts, Assembly and Lesson Manual
Series
$62.95
$79.95
70 Serles
Model 7011
Model 7711
Model 7911
80 Serles
Model 87
$65.00
$145.00
$169.00
$289 00
True RMS 41/2

Digit Multimeter
with Training Course
M -7007
$135
Model AM/FM 108
$27.95
51@ 3A
All the desired features for doing experiments.

Features short circuit prdtection, all supplies
Sweep /Function Generator

with Freq. Counter
1,549.00
1,795.00
Model 10
Model 12
(or 4 to 30V @ 1A)
-5V @ .5A
Call
(All Models Available Call)

$1,225.00
AM /FM Transistor
Radio Kit
XP -620
Assembled $75
Klt $50
2to15V @1A,
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2-20V @ 2A
10
Current, Capacitors,
Transistors and
Diodes / with case
Big 1- Display
XP-580
Model 93
Model 95
Model 97
Reads Vohs, Ohms
.102118793117/
$1,650
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Call
FLUKE MULTIMETERS
$55 CM-1500B
Measures:
Coils 1uH -200H
Caps .1pf -200uf
Res .01 -20M
$409
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$949
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$625
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$1 325
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$2,195
$2,695
VC -6023 - 20MHz, 20MS/s

VC -6024 - 50MHz, 20MS /s
VC -6025A - 50MHz, 20MS /s
VC -6045A - 100MHz, 40MS /s
VC -6145 - 100MHz, 100MS /s
Scopemeters
Transistor Tester
$125
9 Ranges
Multimeter with
-boot Capacitance &
LC -1801
$58.95
.1
$2,595.95
Meter
V -525
Hitachi RSO Series
table)
Fixed bandwidth setting for viewing TV signals
Field calibratible with internally generated
100MHz, 80dB signal
mV sensitivity
Dual time base
V -212
RSO's feature; roll mode, averaging, save

memory, smoothing, interpolation, pretriggering, cursor measurements.
AC /DC operation (battery included)

70dB dynamic range
Resolution bandwidth of 10kHz
500 and 750 input impedance (switch selec-
S -1360 60MHz
-800- 292 -7711

(Can.)
1- 800 -445 -3201
20MHz Dual Trace

50MHz, Cursors
V -523 - 50MHz, Delayed Sweep
V -522 - 50MHz, DC Offset
V -660 - 60MHz, Dual Trace
V -665A - 60MHz,DT, w /cursor
V -1060 - 100MHz, Dual Trace
V -1065A - 100MHz, DT, w /cursor
V -1085 - 100MHz, OT, w /cursor
V -1100A - 100MHz, Quad Trace
V -1150 - 150MHz, Quad Trace
1.0GHz PORTABLE
SPECTRUM ANALYZER
$495
40MHz
CALLTOLDLFREE
1
Hitachi Compact Series Scopes
OSCILLOSCOPES
2120 - 20MHz Dual Trace

$395
2125 - 20MHz Delayed Sweep
$539
1541B - 40MHz Dual Trace _
$749
2160 - 60MHz Dual Trace, Delayed Sweep,
Dual Time Base
$949
2190 - 100MHz Three Trace Dual Time Base,
Delayed Sweep
$1,395
2522 - 20MHz / 10MS/s Storage
$895
1442 - 20MHz Portable
$1,229
1443 - 40MHz Battery / AC operated with
Cursor & Readouts
$1,439
$349
S -1325 25MHz
Dual Trace Oscilloscope
$775
& B+ K
Transistors
5 Diodes
Makes a great school project
14
.05% DC Accuracy
.1% Resistance
with Freq. Counter
Data Hold
XK -500 Digital / Analog Trainer

A
complete mini -lab for building, testing, prototyping analog and digital circuits
Elenco's Digital /Analog Trainer is specially designed for school projects, with 5 built-in power
supplies. Includes a function generator with continously variable, sine, triangular, square wave
forms. All power supplies are regulated and protected against shorts.
Power Supplies
Variable Power Supply
,1.25 to20VDC @.5 Amp
( +1.25 to 15VDC @ 1 Amp)
-1.25 to -20VDC @ .5 Amp
(-1.25 to -15VDC @ 1 Amp)
.12VDC @ 1 Amp
-12VDC @ Amp
.5VDC CO 1 Amp
30VAC Center tapped
@ 15VAC at Amp
1
Model
Analog
MM-8000
Section
Function Generator Sine,

Triangular, Square wave forms
Frequency adjustable in live
ranges from 1 to 100KHz
Fine frequency adjust
Amplitude adjust
DC offset
Modulation FM -AM
$129.00
Digital
Section
Eight data swiches
SG -9000
Starling from scratch you build a complete system. Our
Micro -Master trainer teaches you to write into RAMs,
ROMs and run a 8095 microprocessor, which uses
similar machine language as IBM PC.
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RF Freq 100K-450MHz AM Modulation of 1KHz Variable RF output
SG -9500 w/ Digital Display &

150 MHz bullt-ln Counter $249
C &S
Two no bounce logic switches

e LED readouts TTL buffered
Clock frequency to 100KHz
Clock amplitude 5VPP square wave
1
Breadboards
2 breadboards. each contain:
$159.95
840 be points (total 1,680)
SALES INC.
1245 ROSEWOOD, DEERFIELD, IL 60015

FAX: 708- 520 -0085
(708) 541 -0710
$129.95 Kit
Assembled
15 DAY MONEY BACK GUARANTEE
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IYii
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15
LETTERS
Write to Letters, Electronics Now, 500 -B Bi- County Blvd., Farmingdale, NY 11735
AUDIO UPDATE OPPOSITION
As an electrical engineer and a

devoted enthusiast who builds, designs, and listens to high -end audio
equipment, have to give a vote of
"no confidence" to Larry Klein. In
his zeal to represent our hobby as a
sordid enclave of knaves, fools, and
I
reprobate hucksters, he has allowed himself to spout a mixture of

"factoids" and opinion that have no
place in a reputable publication for
electronic hobbyists.
To put it more bluntly, some
equipment for reproducing recorded music just sounds better
other words, it reproduces music
more accurately as perceived by the
extremely sensitive but inherently
subjective human ear-than some
other gear.
Some of that difference can be
explained by measuring such parameters as frequency response,
power, bandwidth, slew rate, total
harmonic distortion, intermodulation distortion, and several other
tests that are industry standards.
-in
However, as much as Mr. Klein and

others might not like to hear it,
some of that difference simply cannot be explained by such tests.
That doesn't make the concept of
measuring performance objectively
invalid. Nor does it make the current
battery of tests useless. And it
doesn't mean that there is anything
supernatural or inexplicable about

why amplifier Y and preamplifier X
and CD player V driving Z speakers
makes a string quartet sound far
superior in my living room to some
other set of components (each of
which might make better measurements in one parameter or another
than its equivalent).
It does mean that Mr. Klein might
not be able to hear
comprehend that he is hearing
even
admit to himself or anyone else that
he can hear any difference between
sound systems. He simply is not
justified in saying, on scientific
-or
-or
16
grounds, that such differences can't

be heard.
It is obvious that Larry Klein
doesn't listen to the music listen to
and he doesn't listen for the same
things in that music. Moreover, he
doesn't listen in my living room
and most important of all he doesn't
listen to it with the audio receptors
that are in the space between my
ears.
Because, in the final analysis,
can't listen to music through Mr.
Klein's ears, am not calling him a
liar. am certain that he cannot perceive any difference between a
$799 shopping -mall rack system
and a Stereophile "Recommended
Class A" system correctly matched
and set up-but can.
Come to think of it, might even
I
prefer the rack system, although

that's very unlikely, but I'm quite
confident that there would be a big
difference.
don't own class -A-rated units.
My system consists of speakers
I
from a reputable up -scale manufacturer (purchased used for a reason-
able price),
pair of power
amplifiers built on a discarded public- address amplifier chassis with

surplus and flea market parts, and a
preamplifier made by an upstate
New York manufacturer not considered to be a favorite of the sound
experts.
have replaced every resistor and
capacitor with surplus parts; use
speaker wires and interconnects
that bought from commercial electrical supply shops for less than a
dollar a foot. Each of these choices
was made after many hours of listening and testing. If couldn't hear
any difference, it would have wasted
my time and money, wouldn't it?
Finally, what find most galling is
Mr. Klein's shameless plug for one
audio magazine. regularly read or
peruse Stereophile, The Absolute
Sound, The Sensible Sound, Audio
Amateur, Glass Audio, and Sound
I
Practices. also study the schematics in the Japanese MJ Audio

Technology because the text is in
Japanese and do not read that language. Although don't agree completely with the views expressed in
any of those publications, each has
provided me with some useful information so will continue to read
I
them.
JOHN BERGLUND
Quincy, IL
ANOTHER VIEW
I'm writing in response to the
anonymous reader whose letter attacking Larry Klein's methods of
evaluating audio equipment ap-
peared in the March issue of

Electronics Now. I'd like to establish
my credentials: I've been in the audio industry many years, and in the
early 1970's manufactured what
were then state -of- the -art "home
speaker systems."
At that time, a typical "Faber Systern" cost about $800 for two satellites and a subwoofer. That might
sound like a lot for the 70's, but at
that time such a system did not exist until introduced it at the 1972
Consumer Electronics Show in Las
I
Vegas.
The design of those systems was
the result of many years of work.
Simply put, agree with the letterwriter about the ability of the drivers
and crossover network to affect the
solid -state amplifiers being made
today. Even the choice of speaker
cable affects the overall sound.
But think that most audiophiles
who have become accustomed to
the smooth sound of tube -type amI
plifiers with audio -output transformers and speakers matched to the

system are bothered by the new solid -state equipment. They seem to
be annoyed by direct -coupled ampli-
fiers that connect directly to a

speaker system capable of reproducing even the most complex
audio waveforms.
K E L
10 HUB DRIVE,
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That setup generally results in a

technically correct musical output,
but it does not allow for the fact that
most instruments are "close
miked" when in a recording session. Because we do not normally
listen to instruments with our ears
pressed against them, an extremely
sharp grating feeling is created by
long exposure to a musical score
played on those exacting systems.
The mass of air between the listener and the instrument is missing.
The air acts like a massive spring
and modifies the sound, slightly,
rounding off the "sharp edges." In
normal operation tubes with transformer output amplifiers provided
that effect. Therefore, although not
technically correct. they did give the
"correct" sound to simulate the
proper distance from the instruments to the listener.
For a short time, Macintosh manufactured a solid -state stereo amplifier with massive output transformers.
hauled one of those
amplifiers and the speakers designed from recording studios to upscale audio equipment retailers all
I
Superior 100 MHz Probe

The new generation of
TPI's SP100 - the world's
most popular probe

1 x - 10x switchable
Fits all scopes
Faster risetime - equal
to a 200 MHz probe
Sharper pulse
response - clean
leading edge
Replaceable ground
lead and probe tip
Slim design for easier
handling
Satisfaction guaranteed - 10 day return
privilege
Model SP1006
$45
TEST
PROBES, INC.
Call for free catalog of probes to 500 MHz Active Probes - Differential Probes - Test Leads
and Accessories
9178 Brown Deer Road San Diego, CA 92121
TEL: 619 -552 -2090 FAX: 619 535 -1260
TPI
Toll Free: 1- 800 -368 -5719
18
over California. After listening

through their switching systems,
determined that nothing could

touch the correctness of the output.
However, we could see the technical differences with an oscilloscope. In other words, both Mr.
Klein and his unnamed critic are correct to a degree. It depends on how
you define "correct audio" to the
listener.
believe that in our quest for technical perfection we have lost sight of
I
objective -pleasing the listener.

Some people enjoy ultra -sharp
highs and the harmonics associated
with them. They turn their volume
controls "full on" to create clipping
and extreme driver overloads. Personally, enjoy music that sounds as
if were in an auditorium with an
audience listening to a superb performance that doesn't rupture my
ears from excessively high decibels.
still have one of my original Faber
System Il's, my old Macintosh amplifier, and a compact disc player.
And yes, Mr. Unknown, CD's do
sound better than records for more
reasons than Mr. Klein mentioned in
his article. (It would take a book to
explain them all.) A properly tuned
I
system that includes a compact

disc makes every other recording
medium seem like the difference
between a Chevrolet and a Cadillac
automobile. Both will get you there
in the same time, with the same
kinds or engines and wheels, but
the difference is in the grace and
style of the Cadillac as your mode of
transportation.
I'd like to see more solid-state,
high -quality amplifiers driving output transfrmers between them and
the speaker system. The hysteresis
of the transformer coupling would
put the missing factor of distance
back into the loop and satisfy those
of us who enjoy music for the sheer
pleasure of it -not just those who
want to brag about the specifications of their systems.
Incidentally, from input to driver
output, my system delivers 1.5
dB from 150 -20 kHz if want a totally flat output. But that's impractical
because most listening rooms need
compensation.
LELAND R. RABER, C.E.T. 269
Elk Grove, CA
i2
I
.10
aaaa
'CD
O
O
CD
At 500 Megasamples /sec, our ne

TDS 320 combines the storage
ci)
c4.
ci)-
1:21.
G>.7_
----i--f
..
au
-..i....;....i--i
.
"3"
co
co
and data manipulation benefits

of digital with the signal fidelit
analog real -time. So you can
make precise, confident measurements quickly. What's more,
its intuitive user interface mea
you'll actually spend more tim
working with this digital scop
than learning, how to use it.
And.finally, we cgnsider its pri.
tag (a mere $2,795) yet another
spike the competition can't catc
So call youruthorized Tektro
distributor today. Or call us at
(800) 426 -2200, ext. TDS3 to p
your order.
f
-
time scope.
Tektronix
i
5HW-283507 Copyright,
1993, Tektronix, Inc.
.11111r-
NEW PRODUCTS
Use the Free Information Card for more details on these products.
The Model 5942 differential probe kit has a
UNIVERSAL FREQUENCY
COUNTER. The Philips PM
price of $315. -ITT
6685 portable frequency

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Mfg. gives accurate frequency measurements at
high speed. It has a specified resolution of 10 digits
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The frequency counter's
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Fax: 909 -629 -3317.
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ACTIVE DIFFERENTIAL
PROBE KIT. ITT Pomona's
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It is available in kit form
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According to ITT
22
Pomona, 1500 East Ninth
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Phone: 909 -469 -2900;
measured because the PM

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graphics. Animated displays explain how automobile components and

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necting it to
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nated with a standard BNC

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Please send me the books listed below, billing me for just $4.95 plus shipping/handling & tax. Enroll me as a member of the Electronics Book Club according to the terms outlined in this ad. If not satisfied, may return the books within 10 days without obligation and have
my membership cancelled.
I
you select a book that counts as 2 choices, write the book number in one box and XX in the next.
If you select a Counts as 3 choice, write the book number in one box and XXX in the next 2 boxes.
If
Name
Address
City /State
Zip
Phone
Valid for new members only, subject to acceptance by EBC. Canada must remit in U.S. funds drawn on U.S. banks.
Applicants outside the U.S. and Canada will receive special ordering instructions. All books are hardcover unless otherwise
RPIE693
noted. Publishers' prices shown. A shipping /handling charge 8 sales tax will be added to all orders.
23
When the measurement matters,

take matters in hand.
With
a Tektronix 220 Series scope, you can count on getting

results which are clearly, visibly better. Anytime, every time.
All at the touch of a button. No other handheld scopes offer
as much in the way of performance or convenience for rugged
applications, from troubleshooting industrial PLCs and

vehicle electronics to power systems, motor
controls and medical electronics.

The 222A, 224 and 222PS Power
Scout"' make routine work of measurements that pose
danger to users or tax the
capabilities of other so- called "scopes." At

a mere 41/2
pounds, they pack
lot more
power than their size and price suggest:

IsolatedChannelTM ARCHITECTURE.
Two fully isolated input channels ensure sate,
easy floating measurementswith no danger to
you or your equipment.
SUPER SHARP CRT. Industry-leading

technology delivers excellent viewability at all
angles at any temperature, even in direct sunlight.
DIGITAL STORAGE. Powerful features

include 10 MS/sec sampling on two channels simultaneously and 100 ns glitch
capture at any sweep speed.
Useful Storage BW
Single Shot
Repetitive
MHz
60 MHz
MHz
10 MHz
MHz
10 MHz
Channels
Sensitivity
50 my 500 V/div
500
Range
50 mV
5 mV
V /div
50 V/div
Max. Sampling Speed
10 MS/sec
10 MS/sec
10 MS /sec
Record Length
512 bytes
512 bytes
512 bytes
Vertical Resolution
Timebase Range
20 sec
Horizontal Magnifier
x10
xio
x10
Glitch Capture
too ns
100 ns
100 ns
bits
50 ns
bits
20 sec
50 ns
bits
- 50 ns
video
motor
N/A
+850 V dc
+850 V dc
+ peak ac
+400 V dc
rn Price
$2750
peak ac
600 VAC,
6 kV peak
$2950
button for signal acquisition and display.
AUTO TRIGGER. Automatically locates trigger points and selects the correct
voltage for a stable display of complex waveforms, even in video and motion
control applications.
recall them instantly.
RUGGED CONSTRUCTION. High- strength, impact -resistant plastic gives

ample protection in harsh environments.
DETACHABLE PROBES. An attached carrying case provides convenient

storage and prevents loss.
Maximum Safe
Input Voltage
peak ac
600 VAC,
6 kV peak surge
SAVE REFERENCE MEMORY. Acquire up to four waveforms for later analysis.
20 sec
Custom Triggers
AUTO SETUP. Just push
SAVE/RECALL. Pre -define and store up to four front -panel displays, and
8
FAMILIAR FRONT PANEL. The logical grouping of front panel controls

makes operation remarkably intuitive.
On -board rechargeable batteries, an RS -232 -C interface and 3 -year
warranty are included. Tektronix offers a wide range of accessories from
printers and current probes to computer software. And each scope is UL and
surge
$2450
CSA certified
for the ultimate in quality and safety. To order, contact your
authorized Tektronix representative or distributor.
a>
z0
U)
Tektronix
i
24
Copyright O 1993, Tektronix, Inc. All rights reserved.
40W- 283 -444
Just pickup
the phone!
Take matters in hand: call your authorized
Tektronix representative or distributor and

order your 220 Series scope today.
Frigid North, ALASKA, (907) 561 -4633
Jensen Tools, ARIZONA, (800) 426 -1194
Metermaster, ARIZONA, (800) 366 -3837

Carlton- Bates, ARKANSAS, (800) 482 -9313
Instrument Engineers, CALIFORNIA, (800) 444-6106
ITC Electronics, CALIFORNIA, (800) 225-5482
Marshall Industries, CALIFORNIA, (800) 877-9834, ext. 422
Mitchell Instrument Co., CALIFORNIA, (619) 744 -2690

EMSCO Division /Hammond Electronics, FLORIDA,
(800) 275-3554
Dow Electronics, GEORGIA, (800) 627 -2910
Tycom Industries. Inc., GEORGIA, (404) 378 -6160

Joseph Electronics, ILLINOIS, (800) 323 -5925
Klaus Radio Supply, ILLINOIS, (800) 545-5287
Allied Broadcast, INDIANA, (317) 962-8596

Electronics Supply, KANSAS, (800) 669 -3752
HARCO Electronics, MARYLAND, (800) 638 -7616
TESSCO, MARYLAND, (800) 638 -7666
Contact East, MASSACHUSETTS, (508) 682 -2000

MSB Tool, Inc., MASSACHUSETTS, (617) 551 -0190
Kendall /Great Lakes Electronics, MICHIGAN,
(800) 321-8434
R.S. Electronics, MICHIGAN, (800) 366-7750
Instrumentation Services, Inc., MINNESOTA, (612) 544 -8916

Stark Electronics, MINNESOTA, (800) 334 -6154
Olive Electronics, MISSOURI, (314) 997-7709

Beta Lambda, Inc., NEW JERSEY, (800) 282 -5632
Brownell Electro, NEW JERSEY, (800) 828 -1552

Transcat, NEW YORK, (800) 828 -1470
Electronic Parts, NEW MEXICO, (800) 456 -0057

Inotek Technologies, NORTH CAROLINA, (704) 527 -5000
NW Test & Measurement, OREGON, (503) 645 -9000
Leff Electronics, Inc., PENNSYLVANIA, (412) 351 -5000
Sunshine Instruments, PENNSYLVANIA,

(800) 343-1199
Dixie/Resource Electronics, SOUTH CAROLINA, (803) 779 -5332
EnTest, TEXAS, (800) 955 -0077
Inotek Technologies, TEXAS, (800) 492-6767

Radar Electric, WASHINGTON, (206) 282 -2511
Dist -Tron, Inc., WISCONSIN, (608) 835 -5527

For more information, you can also
call Tektronix toll-free: 1-800-426-2200.
Tektronix
i
or above, VGA or EGA display, 3.5 megabytes of

available hard disk, and ei-
ther
a 1.2
megabyte
51/4 -
inch or 720 kilobyte 3Y2inch floppy drive. A mouse

will be a handy accessory.
The program also includes electric cars, diesel

engines, four-wheel drives,
and on -board car computers. It offers useful advice
on how car owners can reduce air pollution, and hisCIRCLE 19 ON FREE
tory of the automobile and
INFORMATION CARD
its impact on society. Utilities for printing, searching pacitance, and 60 -Hz AC
for parts locations, and ex- fields. High- and low- resisporting graphics to PCX tance limits verify the presfiles are included.
ence of the wriststrap's
Auto Insight is priced at current -limiting resistor
$79.95.- Informative
necessary to protect the

Graphics, 706 East Bell wearer against shock.
Road, Suite 207, Phoenix,
The GAM -7 has a comAZ 85022; Phone: mon point ground, two
602-971-6061; Fax: pairs of red and green
602 -971 -1714.
LED's, an audible alarm and
continuity tester, a resisESD WORKSTATION tance -test button, a six MONITOR /TESTER. Pilgrim second disconnect delay,
Electric's Model GAM -7 and a six -foot line cord.
The price of the GAM -7
ESD monitor/tester is test
instrument for maintaining ESD monitor /tester is
the effectiveness of elec- $169. -Pilgrim Electric
trostatic discharge (ESD) Company, 76 Summit Aveprotective tools, accesso- nue, Sea Cliff, NY 11579;
ries, and facilities. It can Phone: 516- 674 -3649.
measure the resistance of
shoe ground straps, con- GLOBAL POSITIONING
ductive shoes, work sur- SOFTWARE. DeLorme
faces, antistatic smocks, Mapping is offering its
toteboxes, grounded tools, GPS MapKit SV, software
and packaging and ship- that permits personal computer users to link Global
ping materials.
The line- powered Positioning System (GPS)
monitor/tester can verify satellites to maps. Data
the polarity of an AC outlet from one of the many poputo which it is connected. It lar- priced GPS satellite recan also determine the in- ceivers is processed so
tegrity of the ground straps that it can place a blinking
and other grounded tools symbol on a computer-genand appliances at ESD -pro- erated map to represent
tected workstations to as- the location of the receiver.
A standard laptop corn sure that they comply with
OSHA's regulations for op- puter linked to a CD -ROM
drive and a GPS receiver
erator safety.
The wriststrap monitor- will permit users to display
ing circuitry allows the in- their locations anywhere in
strument to measure all the United States on de-
conventional operator tailed maps. The GPS

grounding wriststraps with
coiled cords, operator ca-
MapKit SC includes a map

database of all roads,
25
counting, frequency syn-
mium batteries on the
thesis, coincidence
modem board.
The system is sold with
alarms, or complex pulse

generation.
Monicor's TurboLink 2.0
The boards are both
compatible with industry

standards for registers and
connectors. They offer 1or 5 -MHz internal clocks

for application flexibility.
CIRCLE 20 ON FREE
INFORMATION CARD
streams, and lakes in the

United States, even in rural
areas. In major metropolitan areas, street addresses can be located.

A GPS receiver is connected to one serial port of
an IBM -compatible portable computer with Windows 3.0 or higher (2
megabytes of RAM,
megabytes of hard -disk

drive with VGA graphics)
the second serial port is
connected to a portable
CD -ROM drive. The map
database is contained on a
single CD -ROM disk.
The system can be used
in a moving verhicle or airplane. By monitoring the
moving symbol on the map,
the system can display
such information as speed,
direction, and altitude.
The GPS MapKit SV is
priced at $795. -DeLorme
Many different internal frequency sources and outputs can be selected as

inputs for individual counters. Each counter can be
gated by hardware or under
software control. They can
COUNTER TIMER BOARDS.
Analogic's CTRTM Series

of counter timer boards
for IBM PC /AT- compatible
computers offers either 5or 10- channel general purpose 16 -event counters.
They are intended for event
26
CIRCLE 21 ON FREE
INFORMATION CARD
CIRCLE 22 ON FREE
INFORMATION CARD
more.
The System 200 is

be specified.
The price of the BCL-1
priced at $465 per set
be programmed to count
up or down in either binary loop antenna is $125 plus
or BCD. The counters can $5 for shipping and han-
quantities of 1000.
ware to form 32 -, 48 -, or Cedar, MI 49621; Phone:

80 -bit counters.
616- 228 -7020.
Fax: 305 -979 -2611.
in
Monicor Electronic Corporation, 2964 NW 60th Street,

Fort Lauderdale, FL 33309;
also be connected to- dling.- Electron Processgether by computer soft- ing, Inc., P.O. Box 68, Phone: 305 -979 -1907;
The
five -channel
CTRTM -05 is priced at

$255, and the 10- channel
CTRTM -10 is priced at
$390.- Analogic Corporation, 360 Audubon Road,
Wakefield, MA 01880;
Phone: 508 -977 -3000; ext.
2089; Fax: 617 -245 -1274.
AM BROADCAST LOOP ANTENNA. The Electron Pro-
cessing's BCL -1 indoor

Mapping, Lower Main loop antenna can improve
Street, P.O. Box 298, Freeport, ME 04032; Phone:

207 -865 -1234.
operating system that accommodates up to 48 terminal nodes. It resides in an

EEPROM on the modem
board. However, users can
install their own operating
systems. The output level
can be set from
milliwatt
for connectivity of ten feet
to 2 watts for two miles or
your reception of distant radio stations in the crowded

AM broadcast band. It is
said to have excellent directional and low -noise
characteristics, making it
suitable for receiving weak
signals.
The BCL -1 is a compact
8 x 8 -inch square unshielded loop that brings in
standard broadcast band
stations from 530 to 2000
kHz without picking up excessive noise. An internal
30 -dB signal intensifier
preamplifier boosts incoming signals. The antenna is
powered from the 120 -volt
AC line by means of an
adapter. A jumper cable for
connecting the antenna to
your receiver is included
and its end connector can
WIRE- TRACING SYSTEM.
OEM RADIO MODEM

BOARD. Monicor Electronic's System 200 is a radio modem board set that
allows computer and peripheral manufacturers to
eliminate the interconnecting cables in their systems.
It consists of a set of two
boards that can communicate any RS232C port and
it allows computer systems
to be mobile.
TheAmprobe AT-2000
wire -tracing system will locate opens, ground faults,
and shorts in wiring and ca-
ble systems (including
CIRCLE 25 ON FREE
INFORMATION CARD
CIRCLE 24 ON FREE
INFORMATION CARD
One of the boards is a

digital transmitter /receiver
and the other is a modem.
The two are linked by flexible cable that carries only
low- frequency signals and
direct current. The system's power requirement is
7.5 volts DC, 250 milliamperes, maximum, supplied
by the RS -232C connector
or rechargeable nickel -cad-
LAN's), metal piping, and

metal -shielded fiberoptic
cable. The modular system
is available in four different
configurations with components that are interchangeable to permit the user to
upgrade a basic system to
meet future needs.
The AT-2000 includes
three handheld primary

components: receiver, signal generator, and transmitter. The receiver has a 20foot range, high noise immunity, and a display that
can be read easily in bright
sunlight. The signal gener-
ator is suitable for making

tests on any circuit that carries between 9 and 600
volts AC or DC.
According to the manufacturer, the power to any
circuit being traced need
not be interrupted, so the
tracing not cause any system downtime. The wire
tracing equipment does
not generate RF so the instrumentation will not affect sensitive electronics.
The transmitter and its
clamp -on accessory can induce a signal on any line,
whether or not it is energized.
The basic AT-2000 kit is
priced at $439.85, but the
complete AT-2004 system
(pictured here) is priced at
$699.85. -Amprobe Instrument, 630 Merrick

Road, P.O. Box 329,
Lynbrook, NY 11563;
Phone: 516 -593 -5600;
Fax: 516-593-5682.
NEW LIT
Use The Free Information Card for fast response.
from scratch, and how to
find and select the right
text, sound, graphic, and
Multimedia: Making It Work;

by Tay Vaughan. Osborne
McGraw -Hill, 2600 Tenth
Street, Berkeley, CA 94710;
video elements for
Phone: 800 -227 -0900;

$27.95, including 31/2cinch
explains how to perfect
diskette.
This book with its included diskette gives you
information you need to
make decisions on how to
set up a multimedia system
and use it to create professional multimedia presentations. Multimedia is the
hottest trend in computers
today, and it is fast becoming an integral part of the
computing environment.
unique presentation. It also
your original concept.

The disk, a special edition from Mathematica, in-
cludes two programs:
(_ IRCLE 40 ON FREE
INFORMATION CARD
overwhelming array of
choices. There are dozens
of multimedia hardware
products on the market,
and hundreds of titles on
CD -ROM.
Vaughan's handbook ex-
However, those who plains hardware requirewant to combine text, ani- ments, how to design and
mation, sound, graphics, build multimedia projects
EVEN AT
an image -editing
program, allows you to capture, paint, edit, and print
images in popular industrystandard formats, and
TEMPRA SHOW is a multimedia
authoring program for integrating audio, full- motion
video, graphics, text, animation, and special effects
into all of your interactive
TEMPRAOIF,
and video elements face an
presentations.
$39,
THE BLUES CAN LAST
A LONG,
LONG
liME.
Conventional wisdom says if you spend less than

forty bucks on a probe, it won't be long until the thrill
gone. But
Duraprobe$'M start at $39,
is
live practically
forever, and work with almost any scope around, so it
won't surprise us if you pick up a whole case.

For the name of your nearest Duraprobe distributor,
call us at
1- 800 -426 -2200.
After all, some folks were just
born to have the blues.
Tektronix
27
Software Engineering Tools

Catalog No. 6; from BSOFT
Software, Inc., 444 Colton
Road, Columbus, OH 43207;
Phone: 614- 491 -0832; Fax:
614 -497 -9971; free.
This engineering software and hardware tool

catalog for personal computers and IBM compatibles offers professional,
low -cost, stand-alone engineering programs and
hardware designed for engineers, technicians, and
hobbyists.
CIRCLE 39 ON FREE
INFORMATION CARD
Programs are offered for

drawing schematics, simulating logic- control circuits, FFT analysis, and
circuit analysis. CAD programs for structural analysis, circuit design, and PCboard layout are also offered, along with new PC
bus board products for
control and data acquisition applications.
PowerBook: The Digital

Nomad's Guide; by Andrew
Gore and Mitch Ratcliffe.
Random House Electronic
Publishing, 201 East 50th
Street, New York, NY 10022;
Phone: 800 -733 -3000;
28
This book provides ideas

and guidance for amateur
radio operators who want
to operate their gear without attracting attention. If
you are a ham operator
who lives in an apartment,
condo, or dormitory, setting up a traditional ham

CIRCLE 38 ON FREE
shack might not be possiINFORMATION CARD
ble. Moreover a standard
covered include network- setup is not feasible if you
ing, optimizing battery life, want to get on the air from
computing in foreign coun- your car or while you are on
tries, on -line tips and a camping trip.
tricks, faxing, memory exKearman's book begins
pansion, and attaching with an historical review of
color displays.
spies who have managed
The 31/2 -inch disk con- for decades to keep a low
tains the Roadside As- profile while operating a
sistance Kit, powerful lap- transmitter. The book goes
top utilities software worth on to show you how to set
more than $325 including: up an operate an amateur
Applicon 2.2 lets you station in an apartment,
set up applications files condo, or campesite withloaded into memory any- out attracting unwanted atwhere on the screen.
tention or annoying others.
Dynodex 2.0.1, an elecThe author recommends
tronic Rolodex and address low -power operation, but
book.
QuickKeys for Nomads
that lets you toggle backlighting ON and OFF, spin
down the hard drive, shut
down or put the PowerBook to sleep, and locate
the cursor instantly.
SuperClock! 3.9.1, a utility that displays a clock in
the menubar.
Synchro, a file sorting
utility.
LOW PROFILE
RADIO
,1b1,YPl'sUll
Opo.ating a Mom Station
from Almost Anywhere
station. Because many

low- profile stations depend
on indoor antennas, the
complete guidelines of the

ARRL Bioeffects Committee are included.
The Phone Book; by Gerald
Luecke and James B. Allen.
Prompt Publications, Howard W. Sams & Company,
2647 Waterfront Parkway

East Drive, Indianapolis, IN
46214 -2012; Phone:

317 -298 -5710; Fax:
317- 298 -5604; $16.95.
CIRCLE 36 ON FREE
INFORMATION CARD
This book explains the

basic principles of tele-
phones and how they work.

It also provides guidelines
to help you evaluate existing phone systems.
According to Luecke
and Allen, a telephone inCIRCLE 37 ON FREE
INFORMATION CARD
A demonstration version
of AgentDA 2.1.2, a per- this is not another QRP
sonal calendar /appoint- CW book. He discusses
ment book program.
the problems you will enSpiral 1.0, a RAM -resi- counter in operating the
dent notetaker that works digital modes with low
like a word processor but power and hidden antenalso allows you to add tab- nas. He also describes
bed sections with tables of techniques for low-power
contents linked to specific voice, CW, RTTY, AMTOR,
passages in a designated packet- radio, and VHF/
section.
UHF radio operation.
You'll find out how to
Low Profile Amateur Radio: obtain a good RF ground in
Operating a Ham Station a tall building, and how to
from Almost Anywhere; by install a rig in a compact
Jim Kearman, KRIS. The car. The book also deAmerican Radio Relay scribes small HF and VHF
$24.00, including diskette.

This combination book
and disk package explains
how to turn the Macintosh
PowerBook laptop into a
total mobile office. Written
by two Mac Week editors,
the book applies to all the
latest models, including the
160, 180, and PowerBook
Duo models.
League, 225 Main Street,
The wide range of topics Newington, CT 06111; $8.00.
to solve interference problems presented to or originating from your ham
stalled in your home by the

phone company, or a com-
plete phone system installed in your office by a

private contractor can be
expensive and involve long
waiting periods for service.
This book will help you
avoid those problems. It includes instructions and extensive illustrations on how
to install a single phone or
complex, multi -line systems. Detailed information
is also given on modular installations, wiring new systems, installing business,
private home, and apartment installations as well
as modem operation. A
separate chapter covers

antennas for apartment troubleshooting and sysdwellers, and explains how
tem checks.
Just like these

Fully Trained
Electronics
Professionals
'Thanks to CIE I have tripled my previous

salary, and am now in a challenging and
rewarding new field where only the sky is
the limit."
Daniel Wade Reynolds
1
Industrial Electrician
OreIda Foods
'CIE was recommended to me by my boss.

t was appealing since I could study at my
own pace at home and during business
ravel."
Dan Parks
Marketing Manager/Consumer Products

Analog Devices, Inc.
loved the flexibility CIE offered. It was the

only way I could continue both school and
"I
my demanding job."
Britt A. Hanks
Director of Engineering
Petroleum Helicopters, Inc.
liked the way the school was set up with

laboratory assignments to enforce
conceptual learning. The thing which
impressed me the most about CIE's
curriculum is the way they show application
for all the theory that is presented."
Daniel N. Parkman
"I
Missile Electra-Mechanical Technician

U.S. Air Force
Graduate with an Associate

Degree from CIE!
CIE is the best educational
value you can receive if you
want to learn about
electronics, and earn a good
income with that knowledge.
CIE's reputation as the world
leader in home study
electronics is based solely
on the success of our
graduates. And we've
earned our reputation with
an unconditional commitment to provide our students
with the very best electronics
training.
Just ask any of the
150,000 -plus graduates of
the Cleveland Institute of
Electronics who are working
in high -paying positions with
aerospace, computer,
medical, automotive and
communications firms
throughout the world.
They'll tell you success
didn't come easy...but it
did come...thanks to their
CIE training. And today, a
career in electronics offers
more rewards than ever
before.
career skills. Each lesson is

designed to take you step by -step and principle -byprinciple. And while all of
CIE's lessons are designed
for independent study, CIE's
instructors are personally
available to assist you with
just a toll free call. The result
is practical training... the kind
of experience you can put to
work in today's marketplace.
CIE'S COMMITTED TO
BEING THE BEST...IN ONE
AREA...ELECTRONICS.
CIE isn't another beeverything-to-everyone
school. CIE teaches only
one subject and we believe
we're the best at what we
do. Also, CIE is accredited
by the National Home Study
Council. And with more than
1,000 graduates each year,
we're the largest home study
school specializing exclusively in electronics. CIE has
been training career- minded
students for nearly sixty
years and we're the best at
our subject...
ELECTRONICS...
IT'S THE ONLY SUBJECT
WE TEACH!
Course
and the first
Microprocessor
Course. Today, no
other home study
school can match CIE's
state-of- the-art equipment
and training. And all your
laboratory equipment, books
and lessons are included in
your tuition. It's all yours to
use while you study and for
on-the -job after you
graduate.
CIE PROVIDES A
Completing the course gave me the ability

o efficiently troubleshoot modern
microprocessor based audio and video
systems and enjoy a sense of job security."
Tony Reynolds
Service Manager/Technician
Threshold Audio & Video
LEARNING METHOD SO
GOOD IT'S PATENTED.
CIE's AUTO -PROGRAMMED lessons are a
proven learning method for
building valuable electronics
LEARN BY DOING...WITH
STATE -OF-THE -ART
EQUIPMENT AND
TRAINING.
CIE pioneered the
first Electronics
Laboratory
PERSONALIZED
TRAINING....TO MATCH
YOUR BACKGROUND.
While some of our students
have a working knowledge of
electronics others are just
starting out. That's why CIE
has developed twelve career
courses and an A.A.S.
Degree program to choose
from. So, even if you're not
sure which electronics career
is best for you, CIE can get
you started with core lessons
applicable to all areas in
Send for CIE's FREE Course Catalog and

See How We Can Help Your Career Too!
*/934
electronics. And every CIE
Course earns credit towards
the completion of your
Associate in Applied Science
Degree. So you can work
toward your degree in stages
or as fast as you wish. In fact,
CIE is the only school that
actually rewards you for fast
study, which can save you
money.
ED ecie
NHSC
YES!
Send
want to get started.
me my CIE course catalog

including details about the
Associate Degree Program. (For
your convenience, CIE will have a
representative contact you - there
is no obligation.)
Please Print Clearly
AE51
Name
Address
City
State
Zip
Age
Phone No.
Check box for G.I. Bill Benefits.

Veteran
Active Duty
Cleveland Institute of Electronics, Inc.
1776 East 17th Street
Cleveland, OH 44114
A School of Thousands.
LA Class of One. Since 1934.
31
THE kL1SiVI
PARTS
PLACE
TECHLINETM Tools
MU
with PC Wert
Incredible Value. Rugged 32 -rang

meter includes PG- compatible cable
and software on ash" disk for measure
ment logging. V/A /ohms plus 200 kHz
counter, continuity, hFE and capacitance, data hold, more! #22-182, 129.99
-The new standard in strength and precision!

Precision -crafted with top -quality materials
Designed for long life and ease of use
Backed by Radio Shack's 1 -Year Limited Warranty
New TECHLINE tools represent Radio Shack's uncompromising dedication to quality. Each is precision -crafted of
long- lasting, hard -working materials and employs the latest design innovations for comfort and ease of use. And,
each is backed by our full 1 -year limited warranty.
TECHLINE 5 -Piece Mini Hand Drill.

Ideal for many electronic, assembly
and hobby jobs. Fits in the palm of
your hand. Features precision gear
drive and comes with 3/32' t/8 5/32"
and 3/16" bits. #64 -1979
12.99
Mini Butane Torch. De-
velops up to 5000 F! Perfect for brazing and silver

soldering. With two tips,
butane and two micronox
cylinders. #64 -2165, 27.95
TECHLINE Mini Bar Clamp. Fast and

easy pistol -grip adjustment! Use this
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The extra-strong jaws open to 6"
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14.99
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Micronta AC Power Inverter. For

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powering a TV, VCR, light or tool.
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99.99
Automotive Blade -Type

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vehicle. One each of most needed types: 5, 71/2,10, 15
and 20 amps.
#270-1201, Set of 5/1.99
Coax Cable Stripper. Adjustable. Get perfect strips

on RG6, RG59, RG58,
RG8M, RG62 and other cables 3/16" to Sh6" dia.
#278 -240
12.95
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Prices apply
at participating
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32
D4i
a elhaek
SINCE 1921
AMERICA'S TECHNOLOGY STORES"

um
e]
rum
Let your fingers do the tapping with the ThumbDrum.

JOHN SIMONTON and KENT CLARK
PLAYING THE DRUMS MAY LOOK
easy, but ifyou've ever picked up

a pair of sticks and tried to play
real drums, you probably realize

that it takes a littl practice to
sound like Buddy Rich-or even
Ringo Starr. On the other hand,
you probably sound great when
you finger-drum on a table top.
That's the idea behind the
ThumbDrum. a controller that

converts finger drumming into
real drum sounds.
MIDI (Musical Instrument
Digital Interface) users will
want to build the Thumb Drum's computer board. which
turns taps on the Thumb Drum's foam percussion pads
into MIDI NOTE -ON. NOTE -OFF,

and VELOCITY data which can
control sounds from MIDI keyboards, sound modules. and
many MPC (Multimedia Personal Computer) computers.

Would -be drummers who are
not interested in MIDI will want
to build the ThumbDrum tone
board, which contains analog
circuitry for creating a drum kit
with bass, tom-tom. snare, conga, wood -block, clave, and syn-
th drum sounds. The tone

board uses ringing oscillators, a
noise source, and diode "tricks"
to get a classic -or at least retro -set of electronic drums
that can plug right into guitar
amplifiers or hi-fi equipment.
Sensor board
The sensor board is common
to both MIDI and analog versions. It converts the force of a
finger striking a pad into voltage pulses with peak amplitudes that are proportional to
how hard the pad is hit. The
schematic is shown in Fig. 1.
Because the same basic circuit
is repeated eight times, we'll
look at only the circuitry around
Underneath each rubber

thumb pad is a piezoelectric
transducer. or sensor, which is

normally used as a buzzer.
These piezoelectric discs deform or distort when a voltage is
placed across them. More important for our purposes, they
produce a voltage when they are
physically deformed by a mechanical force.
The output of sensor PZI is

wired to trimmer R2, which
controls the sensor's output
level. The trimmer can compensate for differences in individual sensor outputs or differences
in finger strength.
After attenuation, the piezoelectric output is processed by a
simple peak -detector consisting
of D5, C3. and R3. That con-
verts the transient signal from

the transducer into a more pre-
dictable pulse with an almost
instantaneous attack and
slightly slower decay. The peak

level of the pulse is proportional
to the force of the strike, which
makes the pads touch -sensitive. The signal is then buffered by IC1 -d and becomes the
trigger output for that channel.
The arrangement of R4, where
the output is taken from within
the feedback loop, permits individual outputs to be wire-oRed

together to drive a single output. One reason for that arrangement is because it's easier
to do drum rolls on two pads
than one
A light- emitting diode, LEDI,
serves two functions: it acts as a
power indicator and also provides a simple way to calibrate
the sensitivity of the sensors
without test equipment. The
voltage dropped across the diodes D1 -D3 causes the junction
of D3 and D4 to be at about 3
volts with respect to ground.
When the output of IC1 -d
reaches a voltage slightly less
than 4 volts, D6 is forward biased and begins to add current
to the current already flowing
into LED1 through D1 -D3. As a
result the LED glows more
brightly. The increase in brightness becomes noticeable when
the output of IC1 -d begins to approach its maximum allowable
output of slightly less than 5
volts.
Because the sensor board is
required for both analog and
MIDI versions, the power supply
is located there. Power from a
12 -volt DC wall- mounted
adapt-
er is switched by Si, filtered by
Cl, and becomes the unregulated + V supply for the opamps. The 7805 5 -volt regulator, IC3, provides power for
the MIDI computer or is used as
an internal audio ground for the
tone board. The individual sen-
sor outputs and power are
routed to a 14 -pin DIP header,

J1, which serves as the connector
to the MIDI or tone boards.
34
MIDI computer
A schematic for the MIDI computer is shown in Fig. 2. The
circuitry is a traditional ap-
plication of the 8031 micro
controller. The 12 -MHz crystal

XTAL1 is the timing source for
the microcontroller's (IC3)
clock, and R1 and C3 provide
power-on reset.
A 74HC373 octal latch, IC2,
under control of the ADDRESS
LATCH ENABLE Output (pin 30) of
the 8031, demultiplexes the address and data lines and provides the lower eight address
bits to the 2764 EPROM (IC4)
and optional RAM (IC5). A
74HC138 1 -of -8 decoder (IC8)
changes the states of the address lines Al2-A14 into one of
eight ENABLE lines.
TWo NAND gates (IC10 -c and
IC10 -d) combine one of the
ENABLE lines (IC8 pin 15) with
the processor's read (Kb) and
write (wR) lines (pins 17 and 16,
respectively) to select and control IC11, an ADC0809 eight -input analog -to-digital converter
(ADC). Address lines AO -A2

select the ADC's input to be converted. The remaining two NAND
gates (IC10 -a and IC10 -b), along
with R11, R12, and C13, form
the 500 -kHz clock that is required by the ADC.
Serial MIDI data streams are
handled by a UART (universal
asynchronous receiver /transmitter) that is built into the
8031. MIDI data coming from

SENSOR BOARD PARTS LIST
All resistors are e. -watt, 10%.
R1-1500
ohms
R2, R5, R8, R11, R14, R17, R20, R23-
100,00 ohms, trimmer potentiometer

R24-1
R3, R6, R9, R12, R15, R18, R21,
megohm
R4, R7, R10, R13, R16, R19, R22, R251000 ohms
Capacitors
Cl, C2-100
F, 15 volts, Electrolytic
C3-C10 --0.01 F, ceramic disc
Semiconductors
IC1, IC2-LM324 quad op-amp
IC3 -7805 5-volt regulator
DI-D3, D5 -1N914 diode
D4-not used
LED1 -red light- emitting diode
Other components
S1-SPST slide switch
-12 -voll DC wall transformer

PZ1-PZ8---piezoelectric disc
transdcuer
J1 -14-pin DIP socket
Miscellaneous: PC board, foam -rubber pads, double-sided tape, wire wrap wire, ribbon cable, project case,
hardware, solder
T1
the processor's TxD output is

buffered by IC6 -a and IC6 -b, two
of the six inverters in the
74HC04 package. A third inverter (IC6 -c) drives the SEND ACTIVE indicator LED1, which is a
convenient means for seeing
that data is actually being output.
On the MIDI input side,
ground isolation required MIDI
is provided by an HIIA1 optoisolator, IC7. The output of
IC7 is routed to the 8031's UART
input, RXD. There are provisions on the circuit board for a
second MIDI input (J4, IC9,
etc.), but these are not used in
this application -and are

shown in the schematic to be
consistent with the circuit

board artwork. Similarly, the
general -purpose indicator

LED2 is not used.
The eight inputs to the ADC,

which are the outputs from the
sensors, as well as the 5 volts
needed to power the processor,
are fed from the sensor board to
the computer board through 14pin DIP connector J5. Expansion connector J1 provides access to the processor's control,
address, and data lines. The
connector isn't used in this
project, but is provided for future expansion.
The software for the computer board is contained in IC4, a
2764 EPROM. The computer's
biggest job is monitoring the
eight peak- detector outputs for
rising and falling voltages that
indicate that a sensor has been
hit. The outputs are monitored
on a scanning basis, so that no
pulses are ignored while another input is processed: each
input gets checked about every
2 milliseconds.
To find the maximum value of
the sensor -board outputs,
which is used to calculate velocity, the firmware looks at the

last two readings from the ADC.
If a reading is larger than the
previous one, the old value is
thrown away and the new one is
saved. When the software sees
two consecutive readings that
are smaller than the largest
reading, the pulse is assumed to
be decaying, and the largest

ADC value is saved.
Since the ADC is an eight -bit
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1-THE SENSOR BOARD converts the force of a finger striking a pad into voltage
pulses with peak amplitudes proportional to how hard the pad is hit.
FIG.
device and the MIDI data word

for velocity is only seven bits,
the least -significant bit (LSB) of
the ADC output is discarded.
The second least -significant bit
is also ignored so that the value
is well above the "noise floor" of
the sensors. The rest of the bits
are saved to determine the velocity.
As the input pulse decays, the

firmware sends a MIDI NOTE -ON
message; the MIDI channel

number is determined by the
four DIP switches connected to

lines P14 -P17 of IC3. The firmware next fetches the MIDI note
number assigned to the sensor
in the map (selected by the DIP
switches connected to lines P11.
and 1'13 of IC3) and sends it.

Finally, the velocity data is
fetched and either sent directly
or used as a pointer to a logarithmic value in a look -up table depending on the lin /log
option selected by the last DIP
switch (connected to line Plo of
IC3). After about '/1 second, the
P12.
firmware sends
a NOTE -OFF
35
o
SENSOR BOARD foil pattern.
message to cancel the NOTE -ON.

The firmware checks for additional RAM and sets remapping
capabilities accordingly. It also
merges the
NOTE ON /OFF
messages generated by sensor

activity with MIDI data appearing on MIDI In Port 1. We'll see
why merging and remapping
are important when we talk
about using the system.
36
Tbne board
In the days before digital sampiing, most electronic percus-
sion instruments generated
Acoustically, the biggest difference is that, while real drums

(and all "natural" instruments)
generate a complex spectrum of
duced, the realistic sounds
drum circuits generate a fairly

pure tone. They sound like
drums because they capture
what is the essence of all percussion instruments, an envelope
that rises rapidly to some peak
when the instrument is first
struck (the definition of "per-
drum sounds with the "ringing

oscillator" approach that is
used here. When sampling instruments were first introresulting from playing what is
essentially a recording of a
drum made electronic sounds
unfashionable. But, what goes
around comes around, and now
the electronic units are regaining popularity because they
don't sound exactly like drums.
Go figure!
subtle overtones, electronic
cussion") and then logarithmically decays back to
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OPTIONAL
FIG. 2 -THE MIDI COMPUTER BOARD is used if you want the ThumbDrum to be MIDI -
compatible.
Although the schematic for

the drum circuits shown in Fig.
3 might seem imposing at first,
notice that it's primarily one circuit duplicated six times. That
basic building block is typified
by the circuit built around IC1a, one of four LM324 op -amps
within IC1.
This circuit, which is designed to sound like a wood
block, is basically a "twin -T"
notch filter (R3, C2, and R4
makes up one "T" and C3, R5,
and C4 make up the other) in
the inverting feedback loop of
an amplifier. DC gain of the
stage is set by R6 and R7. When
the gain is high, it overcomes
the losses in the filter section,
and the circuit oscillates at the

frequency set by the filter components. As gain is reduced, the
circuit will stop oscillating, and
it acts as a resonant bandbass
filter-but not a very good band pass filter because of its transient response. If the filter is hit
with a pulse input, it temporarily breaks into oscillation
and rings like crazy. However,
what's not good for a bandpass
filter is great for producing
drum sounds. Input pulses are
coupled into the circuit by Cl
and Rl.
The snare drum sound starts
with a burst of white noise to
simulate the rattle of the snares
when the drum is hit. The noise
source is an avalanching base emitter junction of NPN transistor Q1. The low-level noise
from the transistor is amplified
by op -amp IC2 -b.
High -level noise is then gated
on by IC2 -c by the simple expedient of having the trigger pulse
bias the op -amp out of satura-
tion into a linear operating

range. Components C25 and
R44 stretch the relatively short
pulse from the drum sensor to
hold the noise burst on a little
longer than the sensor pulse
alone would.
Be aware that this technique
is not universally applicable to
switching audio because the

change in DC level at the output
37
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"twin-T" notch filter, is duplicated
six times.
'O
of the stage, as it goes into its
linear range, generates a large

pop. We can get away with it
here, though, for two reasons:
the first is that the output of the
gate drives a high -pass voicing
filter (IC2 -d, C23, C24, R42, and
R43) that has the primary function of brightening the noise to
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"pop" that might get through
the filter is acoustically masked
by the noise being gated on in
the first place.
Just the noise burst alone
38
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stimulate more closely the
would do a credible job of simulating a snare sound, but because we already have a tom tom sound built around IC2 -a
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4 INCHES
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MIDI COMPUTER PARTS LIST
TONE BOARD PARTS LIST

All resistors are
R1 -1000
1/4
All resistors are
-watt, 10 %.
ohms
R2, R5, R9, R16, R23,
R1
R31- 10,000
ohms
R3, R4, R10, R11, R13, R17, R18, R24,
R25, R32, R33, R39, R47, R6, R20,
R27, R35 -3.9 megohms
R7, R14, R21, R28, R36, R51-100,000
ohms, trimmer potentiometers

R8, R15, R45, R60-330 ohms
R12-15,000 ohms
R19 68,000 ohms
R22, R30- 33,000 ohms
R26, R29, R44-1 megohm
R34-39,000 ohms
R37, R43 680,000 ohms
R38-2200 ohms
p.F,
Note: The following items are

available from PAIA Electronics, Inc., 3200 Teakwood
Lane, Edmond, OK 73013,
Phone (405) 340 -6300, Fax
(405) 430 -6378:
Sensor PC board only (item
# 9301pc)- $16.50
MIDI PC board only (item #
9201 pc)- $27.25
Tone PC board
9302pc)-$19.25
Sensor board kit (item #
9301k, includes PC board and
parts)-$54.25
MIDI computer kit (item #
9201k, includes PC board, DIN
jacks, and PROM with firmware)-$89.50
Tone board kit (item # 9302k,
includes
PC
parts)- $34.75
board and
Complete MIDI ThumbDrum
kit (item # 9300m, includes

case, PC board, all parts, and
firmware in PROM)- $165.00
Complete audio Thumb -
Drum kit (item # 9300a, includes case, PC board, and all

parts) -$99.00
Case only (item # 9300c, in-
cludes wood side panels)

$28.50
-1
p,F,
Semiconductors
ce-
C2, C6, C10, C14, C19, C22-0.01 F,
Mylar
C5-0.05 F, Ceramic
C7, C8 -4700 pF, Mylar
C3, C4, C11, C12, C15, C16, C20, C210.001 p.F, Mylar
C17-0.22 F, Mylar
C23, C24, C27 -C29-560 pF, Mylar
C25 -0.1 F, Mylar

C30 -0.005 p.F, Ceramic
C31 -10 p,F, 15 volts, electrolytic
Semiconductors
IC1 -7805 5 -volt
regulator
octal latch
IC3 -8031 8 -bit microcontroller
IC4 -2764 EPROM
IC5 -6116 static RAM
IC6- 74HC04 hex inverter
IC7, IC9- TIL111 optolsolator
IC8- 74HC138 -of -8 decoder
IC10- 74HCO2 quad NAND gate
IC11-ADC0809 8 -input ADC
Di -not used
D2,D3 -1N914 diode
LED1, LED2-red light- emitting diode
IC2- 74HC373
Other components
J1- optional expansion header
J2 -J4
-pin DIN (MIDI) socket
-5
S1-8- position
DIP switch
S2- normally open pushbutton

XTAL1 -12 MHz chrystal
switch
Miscellaneous: PC board, ribbon

cable, solder
IC1, IC2 -LM324 quad op -amp
IC3-5532 dual low -noise op-amp

D1- D5-1N914 diode
Q1 -NPN silicon transistor (selected for
noise, see text)
Other components
-14 -pin input connector
J1
J2 -16 -pin DIP socket
J3-1/4 -inch phone jack
Miscellaneous: PC board, ribbon
only (item #
pF, ceramic disc

F, electrolytic
p,F, Mylar
electrolytic
C13 -100 pF, ceramic disc
C14-100 F, electrolytic
C15-C19 0.01 F, ceramic disc
ramic disc
(and a snare drum is nothing

but a tom -tom with snares), diode D5 couples the tom -tom oscillator to the snare trigger so
that it rings when the snare pad
is hit. Diode D5 also prevents
the snare from sounding when
Capacitors
Cl, C2 -33
C12
megohms
Capacitors
Cl, C13, C18, C26, C9 -0.01
ohms
C4- C11 -0.1
R49, R52- R57- 47,000 ohms

R58, R59-22,000 ohms
R61- 10,000 ohms, potentiometer
4 INCHES
1/4 -watt, 10 %.
ohms R2, R3, R6, R9-220
R4, R13-680 ohms

R5, R8 -3300 ohms
R7, R10, R11- 100,000 ohms
R12 -3900 ohms
C3-10
R40 -R42, R46, R48, R50 -2.2
TONE BOARD foil pattern.
-4700
cable, solder
only the tom -tom trigger is hit.

Whereas all the other drum
circuits operate at a constant
pitch, the SynthDrum built
around IC1 -c is a little different.

It slides down in pitch as it decays. The circuit is a ringing oscillator like the others, but here
the frequency can be adjusted
by varying the current flow
through diodes D1 and D2. It's
not typical to see diodes used
that way, but as current flow
through a diode increases, its
equivalent impedance goes
down. Diodes D1 and D2 are
"controlled" by the current flow
through R29, which is a trigger
pulse stretched by D3 and Cl.
The "control" is done by the
notch frequency of the filter network (R24-R26, and C14 -C16).

A pulse raises the frequency
which then glides down as the
charge on Cl drains away.
While the input triggering
pulse coupled by C13 and R22
knocks the circuit into oscillation and provides the percussive edge, the circuit would
oscillate spontaneously just because of the change in impedance of the diodes. The result is
that this drum is capable of
much longer "sustains" than
the others because as the trigger decays it effectively turns
the tone off.
Finally, the audio outputs of
all the drum circuits are mixed
by the summing amplifier built
from IC3 -a and R52 -R59, ACcoupled by C31 to the level potentiometer R61, and appear at
the audio -output jack J3. The
5532 dual low -noise amplifier
can directly drive high- efficiency headphones.
That's all we have room for.
12
Next month we'll finish up.
39
DINESH BHATIA
WIRELESS
GUITAR
TRANSMIT YOUR GUITAR CHORDS
through the air to a nearby FM

receiver, and get rid of those
cords on the floor. Your FM receiver can feed one or more amplifiers if you really want to
boost the sound and fill the
room with music. Simply plug
this transmitter into your
guitar's output jack, make a few

adjustments, and start playing
"wireless" through your FM stereo tuner or a portable FM re-
TRANSMIT
ceiver.
With this Guitar Transmitter,

you won't have to plug in cables,
hook up guitar- effects pedals,
and turn on a lot of different
power sources. Moreover, you
can build your own transmitter
for a lot less money than you
would pay for a factory-built
unit -and you'll end up with a
better product. The parts for the
Why doesnt't every guitar player

have one? Probably because of
price. Until now it has just been

a lot less expensive to plug your
guitar into your amplifier with a
patch cord.
Commercial wireless guitar
transmitters have available
since the late 1960's, but those

early units were either too noisy
or too expensive for most amateurs. It seemed that only rock
stars could afford them. However, integrated circuitry cut the
cost of transmitters and led to
significant improvements in
signal -to -noise (S /N) ratio over
the earlier models.
However, recent "affordable"
Guitar Transmitter described

here cost less than $40. This
transmitter has a built -in distortion effects unit, so you
won't have to fumble with an

effects pedals every time you
play your guitar.
Today many professional
guitar players have their own
wireless guitar transmitters.
IC -based
response
known
VW
DISTORTED
CJ
X4.8
;3
1/4 INCH,, INPUT
PLUG
TO GUITAR
BUFFER
HIGH
IMPEDANCE
ANTENNA
LEVEL
DISTORTION
TONE
VHF FM
OSCILLATOR
LOW
IMPEDANCE
ono
TOUCH SENSORS
FLIPFLOP
1 -BLOCK DIAGRAM OF THE WIRELESS GUITAR TRANSMITTER showing the

separate channels for the distorted and clean sound and the VHF FM oscillator.
FIG.
40
ti
CLEAN
as
"breathing-" the background

noise gets softer and louder as
FM VHF
CARRIER
LA=3,
transmitters have
usually included some form of

companding to reduce background noise. Companding is a
technique for compressing the
signal's dynamic range at the
transmitter and then expanding it back to its original range
at the receiver. Dynamic range
is the difference in volume between the lowest and highest
audio levels.
Companding usually works
well as a noise -reduction technique, but it has drawbacks:
the most common of these is a
FREQUENCY
TUNE
VOLTAGE
REGULATOR
Build a wireless
FM guitar transmitter
that is better than what you
can purchase
-and save money.
TER
the guitar is played. The latest
commercial wireless guitar

transmitters include modifications of companding that reduce background noise and
suppress "breathing," but that
improvement has increased
their price.
A transmitter must have a
high signal-to -noise ratio (S/N)

if it is to be used with a distortion- effect unit because it is essentially a high-gain audio amplifier. Therefore, if the distortion effect is inserted after the
receiver (as in typical wireless
guitar transmitters), all sound

including background noise
will be amplified. The result is a
lower overall S/N ratio.
Typical S/N ratios for wireless
transmitters rarely exceed 70
dB unless some form of corn panding is present. However, if

you assume that a commercial
wireless transmission system

has an S/N of 100 dB and a distortion effects unit is inserted
between the receiver and amplifier, the overall S/N will drop to
about 54 dB. This is based on
the assumption that voltage
gain is 200, therefore:
S/N reduction = 20 log (200) =
46 dB
The Guitar Transmitter differs from the latest commercial

products because it has a distortion- effects unit which pre-
cedes its transmitter. As a

result, the effects unit amplifies
only the pure guitar signal and
not the background transmission noise. Therefore, noise is
reduced, component cost is
lower because no companding
circuity is required, and you
Capacitor C2 attenuates unwanted ultrasonic frequencies,

while capacitor C3 lowers the
impedance of the bias voltage at
audio frequencies to yield a
cleaner bias -voltage supply. Capacitor C4 performs the same
function on the supply voltage
for IC1.
can expect a consistent 60 -dB

overall S/N.
Figure 1 is a block diagram of
the Guitar Transmitter with

typical waveforms shown at
various stages of signal processing. Notice that the complete
transmitter has three func-
tional circuits: distortion,
touch switch, and VHF FM voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO).

How it works
Figure 2 is the schematic diagram for the Guitar '-ansmitter. The plus and minus signs
on the schematic near the po-
tentiometer symbols indicate

that clockwise rotation is from
the minus sign towards the
plus sign.
This circuit will produce both
undistorted and distorted audio
output. The undistorted output
is produced by non -inverting
amplifier IC1 -d with a gain of:
R4/R5 +1 = 68K/18K +1 = 4.8.
Capacitor Cl blocks the DC
components of the input signal,
and resistors R2 and R3 form a
voltage divider to bias the input
of an LM324 operational amplifier IC1 at about half of its supply voltage of 9 volts. Resistor Rl
sets the input impedance of the
circuit to 1 megohm.
The clean signal is then

routed to IC2, a CD4066 CMOS
switch, and
also amplified from 1 to 214
times by IC1 -a, depending on
the setting of DISTORTION control
potentiometer R7. Resistor R6
and capacitor C5 establish a

low- frequency roll -off (i.e., attenuation of low frequencies) of
approximately 160 Hz.

lb produce a distorted signal
from IC1 -a, three 1N4148 diodes, D1, D2, and D3 clip the
amplified voltage at asymmetric
levels of about 0.7 volt and -1.4
volts, producing a distortion
similar to that obtained with
an overdriven vacuum-tube
amplifier.
The distorted signal is then
sent to the tone- control section centered around IC 1 -b
where frequencies above

about 1KHz are attenuated
when TONE control potentiometer R10 is set full counter-clockwise (i.e., the wiper is at the
non -inverting input of IC1 -b.
This stage amplifies frequencies above 1KHz when R10 is
fully clockwise.
Resistor R8 and capacitor C6
form a low -pass filter that at-
tenuates the high- frequency

components of the clipped
41
PLI
INPUT
+V
Cl
0.1F
R8
C9
TONE
10K
IC1-a
C5
.01 RF
11
R3
R5
+V/2 22K
18K
/
.
VV`
+ C3
10F
_1VM/EG+
,t
R6
104148
-Of
D1
C5
0.1 F
R15
D2
1N4148
41N4148
7' 47K
R21
R11
10K
C8
OV
L1
11
C7
10H
A
0.01f
IC2-b
CD4066
10
C12
0.1F
12
+V
-L-
R20
10
Ò
R17
47K
2.2K
MPSA05
'VW
1N751A
(RED)
+V
IC2
CD4066 +
00
~CF15
10pF
C18
0.041E1
R27
10K
.001F
.44A
R24
P' 110K
+V
B1
C21
C10
0.11F
TOUCH
SENSORS
1----VI LM2931AZ-5.0V0
GND
IC4
N
E602
R9
IC3
POWER
22pF
OUT A
C14
n1
+ C20
10F
C22
0.01F
.01F
ND
Vcc
C17
22pF
W.
R27
22K
2- SCHEMATIC FOR THE WIRELESS GUITAR TRANSMITTER. The touch sensors
permit fingertip control of the sound.
waveform produced by IC -a.

High- frequency roll -off for ICl -b
is set by C8 and R11. The AC
voltage gain is determined by resistors R9, RIO and R11.
The output level from IC1b is
controlled by LEVEL control potentiometer R13. Capacitor C9
AC- couples R13 from the output
of IC -b. Resistor R12 limits the
maximum output voltage to
prevent overmodulation of the
transmitted carrier.
42
C16
22pF
FIG.
L2
.08H
N.C.
R19
470K
14
IE--
TUNE
ANTI
13
3.3pF
Q1
R23
110K
D4
LEDI
R18
4.7MEG
C13
R25
100K
1. 1M
+V
R22
100K
Cl
.0022F
DISTORTION
TO +V/2
R16
47K
CD4066
'4M-*
CD4066
7
IC2-c
'
.001f
1K
1C2-d
47K
R9---.-1(
D3
4.7K
R14
47K
R10
100K
R7
.001NF
LM324
- Ccv
R13
LEVEL
R4
68K
1F
+
IC1-b
LM324
+V
22K
1MEG
R2
1011F
4Ak
C2
IC1-d
100pF LM324
R1
R12
1K
C4
Touch control:
livo sections of IC2 switch between the clean and distorted
signals. Sections a and b of IC2
are operated as complementary
switches by the touch -control
section of the transmitter. Operational amplifier IC1 -c forms a
voltage comparator with hysteresis produced by positive
feedback resistor R16. The reference for this voltage cornparator is set slightly higher
than half the supply voltage by
R16 and R17.
The entire comparator circuit

performs a flip -flop function by
combining an inverter IC2 -d
and R14 with low-pass filter R19
and C10. That filter has a time
constant of 47 milliseconds to
prevent false triggering and
high- frequency oscillations.
To understand the operation
of this flip -flop, assume that
C10 is initially discharged,
IC2 -a is open, and IC1 -c is in its
true state (the voltage at the inverting input is less than at the
non -inverting input; thus its

output is at supply-voltage level.
Capacitor C10 charges through
R19 to a value higher than the
reference voltage.
Now, if IC2 -a were closed momentarily (pins 1 and 2 shorted), IC1 -c would change state
(i.e., output drops to zero volts).
Resistor R15 provides the inverse of the output level of IC1 -c
from IC2 -d, keeping IC1 -c in
static equilibrium. Then C10

discharges through R19 and
once discharged, IC2 -a closes
momentarily, causing IC1 -c to
change state again.
This process causes a "push -
pull" action, thus forming a

"touch-on/touch-off' switch.In
practice, the touch sensors will
be shorted by a finger tip, causing control input pin 13 of IC2 -a
to be grounded, opening the
switch.
The
EFFECT /BATTERY LED 1
lights only when the distorted

sound channel is selected.
Zener diode D4, resistor R20,
and LED1 form a measuring cir-
REAR
cuit to indicate when battery

voltage falls below about 7 volts.
Replace the 9 -volt battery if the
effect /battery LED dims when
the distorted sound channel is
VIEW
REAR
CW
R7
CW
LED15 VIEW
R13
1M--
selected.
VHF FM oscillator:
The clean or distorted audio
signal is fed into the VHF FM
oscillator section of the transmitter. Resistors R21 and R22
and capacitor C11 form a pre emphasis network to comple-
B1
ment the de- emphasis network

found in most FM receivers. The
values chosen for this network
attenuate frequencies below
about 700 Hz to produce a
"brighter" sound with a lot of
"edge."
Low -power VHF mixer /oscillator forms an oscillator with
an operating frequency of about
100 MHz, a frequency that can
be adjusted across most of the
FM broadcast band of 88 to 108
MHz by tuning variable coil L2.
Caution: It is unlawful to
broadcast above or below the
FM band with this transmitter.
The oscillator is frequency modulated by using transistor Q1 as
a varactor diode. The transistor's collector -to -base junction capacitance varies directly
with the applied audio voltage.
The output of voltage regulator IC3 powers IC4 and supplies a stable DC bias for
transistor Ql through resistors
R23, R24, and R25. Capacitor
C14 and resistors R23 and R24
form a low-pass filter that prevents unwanted RF from affecting the DC bias supply. Capacitor C13 limits the capacitance
change of transistor Q1 as seen
by the inductor-capacitor tank
tuning section made up of variable coil inductor L2 and capacitor C15.
The tank limits the frequency
deviation of the FM carrier to a
maximum of 75 kHz in accor-
dance with the Canadian Department of Communications

(DOC) and the U.S. Federal
Communication Commission
(FCC) regulations. The VHF FM
sinewave is generated by the inductive- capacitive tank section,
and amplified and buffered by
IC4. This signal is then AC coupled to the antenna by capacitor
TOUCH
SENSORS
R10
CW
REAR
VIEW
RadioActive
TRANSIII11ER
(c)
1991
dRE
NOTE:RESISTORS INSERTED VERTICALLY
FIG. 3 -PARTS PLACEMENT DIAGRAM for the wireless guitar transmitter. Three
control potentiometers, the LED, and touch sensors are located on the case cover.
000000
bo
FOrne
orbe
o
000
0 0
oo
o
o
0 0
0
0
bo 0
oo
000
0 0
00
o-oo
0.0
00 00--0
00 0
Q,__
,O.poo
0
000000091
00
0.00 0
0
00
RadioAOli
rRANSYITrER
(<)
1991
dB(
O O O
17he INCHES
COMPONENT-SIDE FOIL PATTERN for

the two -sided circuit board of the guitar
transmitter.
C21, which also helps to mini-
mize antenna loading effects on

IC4.
i'
17118
INCHES
SOLDER -SIDE FOIL PATTERN for the
two -sided circuit board of the guitar

transmitter.
Building the transmitter

Most of the components in
the Guitar Tl ansmitter are stan-
43
effect/
input
tune
batt
PARTS LIST
All resistors are '/8-watt, 5 %, unless otherwise specified.
I+
FM
R2, R3,
L_ L.1
Effect
lo
Dist
hi
Tone
(+)
min
max
Level
min
-1
megohm
R26- 22,000 ohms
R4- 68,000 ohms
R5-18,000 ohms
R6 -4,700 ohms
R7 -1 megohm miniature potentiometer
R8-10,000 ohms
R9 -1000 ohms
R10- 100,000 ohms miniature potentiometer
R11, R14, R15, R16, R17- 47,000
ohms
R13- 10,000 ohms miniature potentiometer
R12-1000 ohms
R18-4.7 megohms
R19-470,000
R20-2,200
R21, R27- 10,000 ohms
R22, R25--100,000 ohms
R23, R24- 110,000 ohms
R1
max
FM Wireless Guitar Transmitter
Semiconductors
ant
2114
INCHES
DRILLING TEMPLATE FOR THE COVER

of the wireless guitar transmitter. Holes
must also be made in the case for the
input plug and the switch.
dard, off-the -shelf parts available from electronics retail

stores and mail -order distributors. Although not surface- mount, the components
were selected to conserve PC
board space and miniaturize
the circuitry.
All resistors are specified as Vs
-watt, metal-film units because
they generally produce less
noise in audio circuits than carbon- composition or carbon -film
resistors, and they are smaller.
Radial -leaded monolithic ceramic capacitors were selected
because of their small size, and
dipped solid tantalum capacitors were specified in place of
aluminum electrolytics for 1 -microfarad and 10-microfarad values to save space. Moreover,
tantalum capacitors retain
44
their rated capacitance values

at higher frequencies better
than aluminum electrolytics,
and they do a better job of filtering out stray radio frequency
Inductors
-10
H, fixed, 5% Toko FL-4 or

equivalent
L2-0.08 H variable molded, Q =
130 @ 100 MHz, Toko MC -120 or
equivalent
L1
Other components
81- battery,
9 -volt, alkaline tran-
sistor
tr-
S1- switch,
subminiature slide,
SPDT
PL1 -input plug, 1/4-inch, mono
phone
Miscellaneous: double -sided

printed circuit board, 9 -volt battery clip, plastic project case with
cover with inside dimensions of 4
1/4x 21/8x
11/,6
-inch deep, three
quad low -power operational amplifiers, Motorola or

equivalent
IC2- CD4066BCMOS quad bilateral switch, Harris or equivalent
miniature black knobs, 28 AWG

stranded, black-insulated hookup
wire, multicolored ribbon cable,
plastic coil alignment tool, solder,
epoxy cement, RTV silicone adhesive.
low- dropout
Note:The following parts are
IC1- LM324N
off on
C13 -3.3 pF ceramic Philips 09338

or equivalent
C15-10 pf ceramic, Philips 10109
or equivalent
C16, C17, C18-10 pF ceramic, Philips 10229 or eqivalent
IC3- LM2931Z -5.0
voltage regulator, 5 -volt, Motorola

or equivalent
IC4- NE602NIow-power VHF mixer /oscillator, Signetics or equivalent
Q1- MPSA05 NPN transistor National or equivalent
D1, D2, D3- 1N4148 fast- switching
diode
D4-1N751A Zener diode, 5.1 -volt,
500 mW
LED1- light- emitting diode, general purpose, T1 case size, red,
Capacitors
Cl, C5, C10, C12-0.1 F ceramic
monolithic radial -leaded, 10%
C2 -100 pF, ceramic disc, 10%
C3, C4, C20-10 F, tantalum, sol,
id dip, 10 %, 10 volts
C6, C7, C14, C19, C22 -0.01 F
ceramic monolithic, 10 %,
C8, C21, C23 0.001 F ceramic
monolithic, radial leaded, 10%
C9-1 pF tantalum, solid dip, 10%,
10 volts
C11- 0.0022 F polyester film, 5%

(RF) noise from
the power sup-
ply.
Board assembly:
The Guitar Transmitter will
perform better if it is built on
the double -sided printed -cirwww.americanradiohistory.com
available from RadioActive
Transmissions, P.O. Box 6714,

Station "A ", Simcoe SL, Toronto, Ontario, M5W 1X5 Canada
(519) 974 -0163, Fax (519)
974 -0165.
Kit 1- complete kit of all

parts including double-sided
PC board, plastic coil alignment tool, and screened pre-
drilled case -$39.95 plus

$5.00 shipping and handling.
Kit
2- silk -screened
and
pre-drilled case with cover and

three knobs -$10.00 plus $2.50
shipping and handling.
Assembled and tested unit

$54.95 plus $5.00 shipping and
handling. Please send U.S.

money order only. Canadian
residents please call for prices.
Other countries add additional
$5.00 for shipping.
cuit board designed for it. Both

component- and solder -side
foils are included in this article
if you want to make your own
boards. Notice, however, that
plated- through holes are recommended so that you do not have
to solder leads on both sides of

the board to assure a sound solder joint. If you do not want to
make the board yourself you

can purchase a finished circuit
board from the source listed in
the Parts List or build the circuit on perforated board.
You can obtain the full performance capabilities of the circuit
with perforated board if you are
aware of the possible pitfalls in
building an RF circuit on that
substrate -and take extra care
in placing components and
dressing wires. Nevertheless,
the use of perforated circuit
board stock is not recommended.
When building the transmitter, refer to schematic Fig. 2 and
Parts Placement diagram Fig. 3.
Follow standard practice in in-
serting the components and
soldering them in place. Use a

grounded, 15- to 30 -watt, pencil -type soldering iron, especially for soldering the semiconductor devices to avoid
damaging or destroying the devices with excess heat or electrostatic discharge (ESD).
There is a choice of three different values for capacitor C15
because the tuning coil L2 for
this transmitter has a high Q
(130 at 100 MHz). The letter Q
stands for quality factor reference to the ability of the circuit to present a well defined oscillator frequency. The higher
the resolution, the smaller the
tuning range if the range of the
tuning slug is limited to the
length of the coil body.
Variable coil L2 specified in
the Parts List has a tunable frequency limit of about 15 MHz.
Because the FM broadcast band
spectrum is 20 MHz wide (from
88 to 108 MHz), select one of
three standard values for C15:
10 picofarads gives a tuning
range 15 MHz wide centered at
approximately 98 MHz. (The
ends of the FM broadcast band
can be obtained with slightly
higher or lower values for C15.)
12 picofarads permits tuning
in the lower end of the band.
8.2 picofarads permits tuning in the upper end.
The exact tuning range obtained will vary with each transmitter because of the parasitic
-a
FIG. 4 -PHOTO OF THE COMPLETED guitar transmitter
circuit board showing wiring

to off -board components. Note the star-shaped tuner body.
capacitance and inductance introduced by the interconnect-
Mechanical assembly
After all of the components
are inserted and soldered on the
PC board, refer to exploded assembly drawing Fig. 4 as well as
the Parts Placement diagram
Fig. 3 for the location and orientation of off -board components.
If you purchase the case and
cover from the source given in
the Parts list, all holes will be
it.
drilled.
If you elect to provide your
own case, use the cover template provided to drill:
ing wires.
Do not use IC sockets for any
of the ICs because all lead
lengths must be kept as short as
possible. The components can
be inserted and soldered in any
order, but it is a good idea to
check off each part on the Parts
List after you insert and solder
Observe all polarities shown
on the schematic for the diodes
and tantalum capacitors.
Mount all resistors vertically,

and mount all capacitors flush
against the circuit board. After
soldering, trim all lead lengths
as short as possible to reduce
stray noise pick-up in the audio- frequency section of the
transmitter.
Antenna length
Cut a 38.2 centimeter (15.3 inch) length of black stranded
28 AWG insulated hookup wire
for the antenna. Trim one end
and solder that end in position
as shown in Fig. 3. The Guitar
Transmitter operates at 98.00
MHz, so one wavelength equals
3.0612 meters.
Transmitted signal strength
is generally proportional to antenna length up to one wavelength, but if its length is more
than 76 centimeters (30 inches)
the transmitted carrier will ex-
ceed the maximum allowable

signal strength level specified by
the DOC and FCC regulations.
That's why the 38.2 centimeter
antenna length was selected for
this transmitter.
Three control potentiometer

mounting holes.
Four 3/32 -inch holes for the
touch sensor.
One 'As-inch hole for access to
tuner L2.
One 3/32 -inch hole for LED1.

Then drill a 0.39-inch diameter hole centered in the end wall
of the case for plug PI,1, taking
care that the plug fits snugly.
(The plug will be the sole support for the completed transmitter when it is plugged into the
guitar, so it is important that it
be rigidly mounted.)
Finally, cut a slot in the opposite end wall of the case for
switch Si, and drill one or two
holes beside the slot, as necessary, for fastening the switch to
the case. With a hacksaw, cut a
slot about 'As-inch deep in the
end wall of the case near the
switch slot for the antenna wire
to permit it to pass under the
cover without interference

when the cover is closed.
Assemble the touch sensor
from four 1/4 inch, No. 4 -40 Phillips -head screws with match-
45
KNOB
CASE
COVER
COVER
BATTERY
SCREWS
(4)
CLIP
9 -VOLT
BATTERY
TUNER
ACCESS
HOLE
R10
TONE
ANODE
CATHODE
3114
/B (
iC
6\
A
TOUCH
RED
BLACK
SLOT
ANTENNA
SENSORS
S1
SWITCH
GND
CASE
NOTE: WIRES 1 TO 7 AND A TO C

ARE COLORED RIBBON CABLE
INPUT PLUG
5-
EXPLODED VIEW OF THE TRANSMITTER showing the locations of the offboard components and wiring. The input plug attaches the transmitter to the guitar.
FIG.
ing nuts. (1Wo of the four nut bolt combinations will be nonfunctional.) However, be sure
that the two to be wired as active
sensor elements are electrically
isolated.
Assemble the three miniature
control potentiometers R7, R10
and R13 to the underside of the
cover with the ring nuts provided, orient their terminals as
shown as shown in Fig. 4, and
tighten the nuts. Insert plug
PLI and secure it in position
with its nut. Insert switch Si in
the case and fasten it with one
or two rivets or self- tapping
screws.
Off -board wiring
Cut 6- to 7 -inch lengths of
standard multicolored ribbon
cable (28 AWG 7 x 36 stranded

tinned copper), strip about 1/16 -
inch of insulation from the

ends, and insert one set of wires
in the board and solder them in
46
position. (As many as ten wires

can remain bonded together for
most of their length if they are
separated only near top and bot-
tom to permit making the connections.) Then crimp the bared

ends of the off-board wires
around the lugs of the potentiometers, and the leads of the
LED and plug before soldering:
The terminal lugs of potentiometers R7, R10, and R13 (as
shown in Figs. 3 and 4): 8 wires.
Light-emitting diode (LEDI):
2 wires.
Input plug PLI: 2 wires.
Insert capacitor C23 between
the terminals of potentiometer
R7. (It reduces the possibility of
audible feedback in the high gain distortion stage.) Solder all
wires to the potentiometer lugs
and the leads of LEDI.
Loosen two of the touch -sensor nut -bolt combinations, and
wind one turn of the bare end of
the "ground" wire around one of
the screws and one turn of the
bare end of the "touch" wire
around the other screw. Then

tighten both nuts to clamp the
wire ends securely in place.
Cut, and strip the ends of
about 3 -inch lengths of the red
and black battery-clip wires,
and solder them to the PC
board. Bend the leads of LEDI

90 , insert the LED in the
drilled hole in the cover, and cement it in position with epoxy
cement. Carefully check all wiring to be sure that you have
made no mistakes, and make
any corrections necessary.
Position the circuit board as
shown in Fig. 4, being certain
that the top of inductor L2 is
aligned under the access hole
drilled in the cover. Apply one
drop of RTV silicone (or other
appropriate adhesive) to each of
the four corners of the circuit
board on the solder side, and
position the board correctly in
the bottom of the case. Also
place a drop of adhesive in the
slot for the antenna wire cut in
the edge of the case, and position the wire in the slot to keep
it in position. Allow time for all
adhesives to set.
Snap a fresh 9 -volt alkaline
transistor battery to the battery
clip. Check to see that the
EFFECT /BATTERY LED lights
when you bridge the screw
Hone your musical skills with Perfect Pitch, the

microprocessor-based instrument tuner, headphone
amplifier, and metronome.
FRED EADY
THERE ARE FOUR VERY IMPORTANT
things that anyone who wants

to be a good musician must do:
practice, practice, practice, and
play in tune. Perfect Pitch will
help you do all four! Perfect
Pitch, which is based on the
8751H microprocessor, is an inexpensive and easy-to -build in-
strument tuner /frequency

counter with a built -in headphone amplifier and a visual
metronome. Perfect Pitch converts the audio signal from your

instrument to a digital signal,
and displays the musical note
you are playing and its frequency in real time on a 16- character
liquid -crystal display. It also has
an auxiliary audio input for radio, tape, or CD players so you
can tune up and play along with
your favorite artists.
The not -so- musically inclined
can use the Perfect Pitch's 60kHz frequency counter /period
measurement system to get the
most from other audio -based
projects. Perfect Pitch not only
processes audio signals; any

TTL- compatible digital signal
up to 60 kHz can also be measured. Building Perfect Pitch
will demonstrate the concepts
behind driving liquid -crystal
displays (LCD's), performing
mathematical calculations,
sensing and reacting to switch
closures, and digitally processing audio signals.
Operation
As previously stated, Perfect

Pitch is based on the popular
8751- series microcontroller.
The circuitry is not particularly
complex when divided into five
major areas: processor, LCD,
signal processing/conditioning,
audio amplifier, and power. Let's
start by examining the 8751
and its directly associated components.
MUSICIAN'S
FRIEND
The 8751H
The 8751H is an 8 -bit micro controller that contains four 8bit ports with 32 bidirectional
and individually addressable I/
O lines, 4 kilobytes of on -chip
EPROM, 128 bytes of on -chip
data RAM, two 16 -bit timer/
counters, and extensive
Boolean processing (single -bit

logic) capability. Its maximum
clock speed is 12 MHz, with a
corresponding instruction -cy-
1 microsecond. Figure 1 shows the 8751's block

diagram.
Note that we're more interested in the processing power of
the 8751H than the abundant I/
O capabilities it contains. The
complexity of the design is reduced because the 8751H in-
cle time of
struction set and internal
hardware structure is very efficient and powerful. Take a look

at the Perfect Pitch schematic in
Fig. 2.
Port 1 of the 8751H provides

the ASCII display data used by
the LCD, with bit 7 doing double -duty as an LCD BUSY input.
Only five bits of Port 3 are in
service as common UO. Bits 5,
6, and 7 of Port 3 supply binary
control sequences for LCD read/
write operations. Bits 0 and 1 of
Port 3 monitor the multipurpose switch, Si, which is used
for scrolling through the menu
selections as well as for pacing
the visual metronome when the
metronome function is invoked. The processor's external
clock is connected to pins 18
and 19, and the processor-reset
circuit, consisting of R1 and C3,
is attached to pin 9 of IC1. A
reset switch is not necessary,
but if you think you might need
one, place a normally open momentary switch across C3.
Port 3 can be configured as a
bidirectional I/O port, or its
pins, under software control.
a
a
47
OSCILLATOR
AND
TUNING
imum, with the usable resolution of our circuitry ending at

just below 62 kHz. The 1- second
timebase is implemented in
software, which allows easy
customization or fine tuning if
it's necessary for your particular
application.
32
33
34
XTAL2
35
PORT
0
36
PORTO
37
31
EA
ALE
30
PSEN
38
64K BYTES
The LCD
The Perfect Pitch display is a
16- character x 1 -line dot -matrix LCD module that is based
on the HD44780 controller and
driver chip. The 8751H (ICI)
provides ASCII data and associated control sequences to the
HD44780, which controls the
39
BUS
EXPANSION
CONTROL
8
7
vcc 40
vss
20
4K BYTES
EPROM
PORTI
PORT
1
RST
128 BYTES
RAM
INTO
PORT 3
SECONDARY
FUNCTIONS
11
I/O
PORT
27
12
26
13
display of alphanumeric
characters on the LCD. Contrast control is provided by po-
28
RXD
TXD
14
SERIAL
PORT
Iro
25
PORT
24
tentiometer R2.
There are several advantages
to using an LCD instead of
LED's. For one, they are easier to
interface to a microcontroller.
They also have alphanumeric
output capability, and are low in
power consumption.
PORT2
23
16
TIMER/
22
COUNTER
21
1 -THE 8751 BLOCK DIAGRAM: The 8 -bit microcontroller

contains four 8 -bit I/O
ports, 4K bytes of EPROM, 128 bytes of RAM, two 16-bit timer/counters, and Boolean
processing.
FIG.
can be used for timer /counter

inputs and gates, serial communications, or control of exter-
nal memory access. Perfect

Pitch takes advantage of the
timer /counter functions provided by bits 2 and 4 of Port 3.
Bit 2 of Port 3 (INT.) is organized
by software to provide the gating function for timer/counter 0
for period measurement. which
is used for tuning. Bit 4 of Port 3
(T0) is the input for the frequency- counting
function.
Period measurements are
made while a TTL high state is
present at INT.. The program
loads a bit pattern into the
8751H TMOD (Timer/Counter
Mode Control) register to enable
or gate Timer 0 when a high
condition is detected on INTO.

(Both source code and executable code is available from the
Electronics Now BBS,
516- 293 -2283, 1200/2400, 8N1,
as a self- extracting compressed
file called PERFECT.EXE. A preprogrammed microcontroller is
48
available from the source men tinned in the Parts List.)
The resolution of Timer 0 is
microsecond. Thus, if 1000
microseconds were counted in

Timer 0 during one complete cycle of a sampled signal, the frequency of the measured signal
would be computed by Perfect
Pitch to be 1 kHz. The frequency
would be computed using the
formulaf
= 1/T,
wheref is fre-
quency in hertz and T is one

cycle time in seconds (the
period). This is a very fast and
accurate way to determine the
frequency of a signal that varies
in amplitude over time, as

guitar signals do. Perfect Pitch
requires only 1 cycle of the in-
coming signal at proper amplitude to determine its frequency.

For frequency counting, the
To counter input detects 1 -to -0
transitions of an incoming TTL
signal on a timebase of 1 second. Those transistions provide
the logical trigger that increments Timer /Counter 0 on each
transition. Since the timer/

counter registers are 16 bits
wide, the maximum count is

limited to 65.535 kHz max-
Processing/conditioning
If you were to take a snapshot
of an electric-guitar signal on
an oscilloscope, you would see
that the base or fundamental
frequency exhibits the maximum peak -to -peak amplitude,
and all of its harmonics would
be distributed around its center
line at reduced amplitudes. lb
get an accurate frequency determination, only the fundamental
frequency should be measured.
And to get the most accurate
readings, it is necessary to measure the desired signal peaks as
many times as possible during
the life of the signal.
Perfect Pitch begins at the
first cycle and measures and
displays the frequency of a signal until the amplified signal
amplitude is too low to drive the
input of IC4 -d. If there is no signal, or if the amplified signal
negative peaks cannot reach the
0.8-volt threshold of IC4 -d, the
software embedded in the
8751H provides an auto -zero
function that automatically

zeros the display. That allows
multiple repetitive readings

without manual intervention.
The software also suppresses
the display of leading zeros.
+5V
+ 5V
+ 5V
+5V
14
40
31
18
19
X2
2
E
15
RW
X1
XTAL1
LEDI
LIQUID
RS
RW
E
DO
DO
D1
D1
D2
D2
D3
D3
D4
D4
D5
D5
D6
D6
D7
07
12MHz
C2
1/4 741314 7
R2
5K
CONTRAST
CRYSTAL
RS
IC4-a
GATE LED
DISPLAY
27pF
Cl
+5V
27pF
C3
IC1
8751H
PROCESSOR
10F
RST
1R1
-1""
MODI
HD44180
SIGNAL CONDITIONING
IC4-c
1/4
R1
+ 5V
741814
t.
20
R12
10K
CLK
4
11
SLOW/
14
TXD
PERIOD INTO
ENTER
1/4
+ 5V
10K
S1
104-cl
741814
gFAST/SEL
10
COUNTER TO
12
IC3
1/2
D1
741874
3
2
6
7
+ 5V
Q1
FREQ/2
,t
C17
R13
100K S
14
FREQ
RXD
AUDIO /HEADPHONE AMPLIFIER
R7
R9
,1
10K
2.2MEG
32
AUX INPUT
C5
+5V
R11
10K
IC5-d
+9VDC
1/4
INPUT
+ 5V
J3
OUTPUT
IC6
C7
2200
1M
LM388 3
C6
.1
iv
J1
SIGNAL
C4
R5
.1
100K
11
.i
10
LM3900
R6
1MEG
.t
2-
PERFECT PITCH SCHEMATIC: The complexity of the design is reduced because the 8751H instruction set and internal hardware structure is efficient and
FIG.
powerful.
Most electronic instruments

and microphones emit audio
signals in the millivolt range.
An average electric guitar produces a 65- to 100-millivolt sig-
and the Schmitt trigger, you can

produce clean TTL- compatible
square waves that will be suitable as input to the 8751H pro-
input. That is plenty of amplitude to drive an audio amplifier

preamp circuit, but far below
the level needed to drive a TTL
gate (in our case, IC4 -d, a
Schmitt trigger). The incoming
signal must be amplified so that
it can be converted to a TTLcompatible waveform that the
8751H can interpret. A voltage
gain of around 25 is the minimum required.
An LM3900 quad Norton amplifier (IC5) is configured as a
two -stage audio amplifier with
an overall voltage gain of 27.
Given a sinewave with an amplitude of 65 millivolts or greater,
an amplifier with a gain of 27,
ments can generate many harmonics that will also be amplified, and possibly converted and
analyzed, you have to get rid of
the harmonics. "Filtering" is
the first thing that comes to
mind, but in this case that
would be complicated and require additional circuitry. Am-
nal into a high- impedance
cessor.
Because musical instru-
plifying the input signal
enough to force signal clipping

would be another solution, but
that generates even more unwanted harmonics. You can solve the harmonic problem easily
by using a feature inherent to
the Schmitt trigger: hysteresis.
As shown in Fig. 3, in effect, you
will force the harmonics to rewww.americanradiohistory.com
side in a "dead zone" where they

cannot trigger IC4 -d. Only the
fundamental frequency will
have enough amplitude to toggle the output of IC4 -d. That enables you to use signal peaks as
timing markers to calculate
your results.
For the 74LS14 Schmitt trigger, the dead zone is nominally
0.8 volts wide with a minimum
positive -going threshold of

+1.6 volts and a minimum
negative -going threshold of
+ 0.8 volts. Audio amplifiers are

normally designed to allow the
output signal to swing symmetrically around a DC value of
one half of the power-supply
voltage. But since you want to
convert your signal to a digital
pulse with a Schmitt trigger,
you can waive the symmetrical
output rule.
Ideally the center line should
be set at or above the + 1.6 -volt
DC level because that will produce a TTL high level at the in-
49
TTL HIGH
OUTPUT OF IC4 PIN 6
TTL LOW
PERIOD
TTL HIGH
-'-
OUTPUT OF IC3 PIN 5 DURING MEASUREMENT
TTL LOW
FUNDAMENTAL
(OFFSET)
HIGH TRIGGER
POINT
1.9
r^
n`/
HARMONICS
r
DEAD ZONE
FUNDAMENTAL
LOW
TRIGGER POINT
.8
PERIOD
TIME
3-HARMONICS ARE FORCED to reside in a "dead zone" so that only the

fundamental frequency will have enough amplitude to cause the output of IC4 -d to
toggle.
FIG.
All resistors are'/4-watt, 5 %, unless otherwise noted
R1- 10,000 ohms

R2 -5000 ohms, trimmer
LED1-light- emitting diode, any

potenti-
ometer
R3-33 ohms
R4 -1000 ohms
R5, R13- 100,000 ohms
R6-1 megohm
R7, R11, R12-10,000 ohms
R8- 27,000 ohms
R9 -2200 ohms
R10-82,000 ohms
Capacitors
Cl, C2 -27 pF
C3-10
rn
'
F, 16 volts, Tantalum
C4, C5, C8-C17-0.1 F
C6 -1000 F, 16 volts, electrolytic
C7 -220 F, 16 volts, electrolytic
Semiconductors
IC1 -8751H
microcontroller (must
be programmed)
w
50
PARTS LIST
IC6-LM386 audio amplifier
IC7 -7805 5 -volt regulator
IC2-not used
IC3- 74LS74 D flip -flop
IC4- 74LS14 Schmitt trigger
IC5- LM3900 quad op -amp
put of Schmitt trigger IC4 -d.

You can set that center line by
adjusting the value of output
color
Q1- PN2222A NPN transistor
Other components
MOD1- Hitachi H2570 16character x 1 -line LCD module

(uses HD44780 controller chip)
XTAL1 -12 -MHz crystal
S1 -SPDT center -off momentary
rocker switch
J1-J3 -audio jacks and plugs of
your choice
Miscellaneous: PC board, project
case, ribbon cable, 9 -volt DC
power supply (500 mA), hardware, IC sockets, solder
available from Fred Eady, PO
Box 541222, Merritt Island, FL
32954:
Kit of parts with
pro-
grammed microcontroller and

PC board (does not include
batteries /power supply, case,
offset resistor R10, which sets

the output of IC5 -c. The data
sheet for the 74LS14 states that
plugs and jacks, ribbon cable,

or rocker switch)-$59.00 +
$5.00 S &H
Programmed 8751H micro + $2.50
controller- $25.00
S &H
Blank
8751H
micro -
controller- $18.00 t
$2.50
S &H
PC board only -$20.00

2.50 S &H
8751H source code on 5.25 -
inch diskette -$5.00 postpaid

8751H modification plans for
874X programmer (includes
source code, terminal program, and schematic)- $10.00

postpaid
874X programmer kit and

8751H modification plans
$59.95 + $5.00 S &H
Please send check or money

order only
For technical assistance call
(407) 454 -9905
the minimum positive -going

threshold value is + 1.6 volts,
and the maximum positive -go-
ing threshold value is + 1.9

volts. 'Ib compensate for devices
that toggle at the + 1.9 volt value, the output of IC5 -c is set at
+ 1.9 volts. Note also that a TTL
high threshold for most TTL devices is + 2 volts DC, and the
low threshold is + 0.7 volts DC.
When referring to TTL levels
in this discussion, we are
speaking specifically about the
74LS14 Schmitt trigger, unless
otherwise stated. With the output center line of IC5 -c set at
TTL high ( + 1.9 volts DC in our
case), you will trigger and subsequently toggle the Schmitt trigger chain when the output
of IC5 -c swings negative about
the + 1.9 -volt DC line to +0.8
volts. Approximately 80 millivolts of incoming audio signal
at IC5 -d would be the minimum
required to initiate a measurement when using the + 1.9 -volt
0
I
*-RS- 0.*
trigger IC4 -d also triggers IC4 -c,

which in turn triggers IC4 -a.
1f
s
C6
a
IC5
av.
J3
OUT
+9VDC
2
C11
Cl
LEDI
SLOW/ENTER
O
oS1
FAST/SELECT
TO
LCD
MODULE
PINS
reference.
When alternating high and
low thresholds are reached at
the input of IC4 -d, its output is
a clean TTL square wave that
provides the input for the To
frequency counter. Schmitt
4p
IR6 R7
R2
1413
1211
.10.9
87
65
43
02
LCD MODULE
FRONT VIEW
i1
FIG.
4- PARTS-PLACEMENT DIAGRAM. The main board connects to the LCD module
with
length of ribbon cable.
Schmitt trigger IC4 -c also
drives the clock input of IC3, a

74LS74 D flip -flop, which is
configured to divide by two. The
division is required because a
period is the time required to
complete one cycle. Also, the
8751H Timer 0 measures time
only when INT0 is presented with
a TTL high.
Because one complete cycle
consists of a high and low state
of varying duty cycle that is not
always 50 %, the 8751H will
measure time only for some
fraction of a period that depends on a high percentage for
the duty cycle. By dividing the
incoming signal with a flip -flop,
you produce a TTL signal with a
50% duty cycle that doubles the
input signal's period. Since we
measure time only at the TTL
high level, and the TTL high

level is one time period, the
8751H will log the period of the
incoming signal. Note that the
divide -by-two output of IC3 (pin
5) feeds the INTO, or period input
(pin 12) of IC1.
Once the period (T) has been
LCD
MODULE
MAIN
BOARD
INPUT/
OUTPUT
JACKS
NI -Cd
BATTERY
PACK
5-
FIG.
INSTALL PERFECT PITCH in an enclosure of your choice. This is the author's
completed prototype.
measured, the algorithm contained in the 8751H EPROM

performs the math necessary to
solve the equation J = 1/T. The
result of that equation is then
formatted and converted to
ASCII and displayed for the

user. A lookup table is used to
determine the musical note as-
sociated with the frequency

that has been calculated by perfect pitch.
55
00
0
00
o
o
o
o
o
o
000000
0o p000000
O
o-
000000-,
.o
O
4000000 q00000000
00
olo
o
O 000000
oog000 op
r0000000ob0000000000
o
0000 00
00
00 0
0000000000000 0000000
oo
o 0 00000000000000
o
0
O
00
O
00
0
o
Audio amplifier
So far we have discussed the
signal -processing circuitry containing IC5, an LM3900 quad
Norton amplifier, IC3, a 74LS74
D flip -flop, and IC4, a 74LS14
Schmitt trigger. Although Perfect Pitch displays the musical
note and its frequency, the user
still has to be able to hear the
note. Therefore, headphone amplifier IC6 is included in the circuit. The amplifier also allows
external audio to be mixed in at
its noninverting input.
Note the absence of volume
and tone controls. Most electronic instruments have their
own volume and tone controls,
so why not use them? The same
goes for the auxiliary input: mix
with the controls provided on
the auxiliary device. If you require a volume control, put a 1K
potentiometer in series with the
output of IC6 pin 5.
38/4 INCHES
COMPONENT-SIDE foil pattern for Perfect Pitch.
4E
00
8
0000000
0000
006
bl
00
tt
00
0--8
00 0 1
11
o
Sap INCHES
SOLDER -SIDE foil pattern for Perfect Pitch.
56
Schmitt trigger IC4 -a drives

the base of transistor Q1 which
provides a path to ground for
LED1, the gate indicator; LED1
is illuminated when the amplifled audio signal has sufficient
amplitude to cross IC4 -d's
+ 0.8 -volt threshold on negative

peaks. Keep in mind that period
and count measurements are
made only when LEDI is illuminated.
Power
The Perfect Pitch prototype is
battery powered, but any stable
9 -volt DC source will work. A
7805 regulator, IC7, outputs 5volts DC from the 9 -volt input.
Capacitors C8 and C15 perform
bypass functions, while C6 provides some additional stability,
and C9 C14 are standard TTL
bypass capacitors.
The battery pack used in the
prototype is composed of eight
1200- milliampere /hour sub -C
rechargeable nickel-cadmium
(Ni -Cd) cells. Perfect Pitch
draws about 200 milliamps and
battery life averages 4 to 5
hours. You can use smaller NiCd cells but battery life will decrease accordingly.
Construction
Because we are combining
audio and digital circuitry in
close proximity, parts layout is
critical. PC board construction
is recommended. You can fab-
ricate your own PC board or purchase a factory-made version

from the source mentioned in
the Parts List. If you decide to
breadboard or wirewrap, the audio sections will be more susceptible to digital noise from the
processor and the LCD. Use

short lead lengths and shielded
cable. Regardless of the method
you choose, you can mount all

components in a case of your
choice.
Figure 4 shows the Parts
Placement diagram. Begin con-
struction by installing the
power components IC7, C6, C8

and C15. Mount IC7 with the
metal heatsink tab against the
heatsink pad on the PC board.
Use No. 6 -32 nuts and bolts to
secure IC7 to the heatsink pad.
Be careful with C6's polarity.
lmporarily attach a 9 -volt DC
supply, and verify + 5 -volts DC
at the output of IC7 (pin 3).
Next, install all resistors and recheck your 5 -volts DC. Install all
capacitors, being careful to note
the polarities of C3 and C7. Install Ql and XTAL1, and again
recheck the 5 -volt DC line.
Install the IC sockets and verify that 5 -volts DC is present at
all pin locations shown in Fig. 2.
Once you are sure the power distribution is correct, connect an
appropriate length of 14 -con-
ductor ribbon cable between
the LCD display module and PC

board using the pin- connection
information given in Fig. 4. Use
a 3- conductor ribbon cable to
connect contrast- potentiometer R2. If you expect to adjust
the contrast often, mount R2 so
it is accessible without having
to open the enclosure. The
lengths of the ribbon cable
should not be excessive, but
should allow for easy access to
the PC board when you open the
enclosure.
Install ICI, the 8751H, and
apply power. "PERFECT PITCH"
should appear on the display for
a few seconds and then
"TUNER" should appear and remain on the display.
Use a three -conductor ribbon
cable to connect S1 to the PC
board. Apply power and wait for
"TUNER" display to appear.

Center-off switch S1 will let you
toggle through the menu selec-
tions "TUNER," "COUNTER,"

and "METRONOME," in one direction and select the displayed
function in the other. If you select the liner function, expect
to see "00000 Hz T" on the display. The same legend appears

for the counter function except
that "T" is replaced by "C." Se-
lecting the Metronome function
should reveal a pulsating display that can be made to oscillate faster or slower with
"FASTER" and "SLOWER" appearing as you toggle and hold
Si. If all is well at this point,
remove power and install LED1
with an appropriate length of
two- conductor ribbon cable.
Using shielded cable and the
audio jacks and plugs of your
choice, connect the input and
headphone jacks to the PC
board as shown. The prototype
has standard
1/4
-inch phone
jacks. The prototype has an in-
put jack (J1) that contains a

DPDT switch which applies
power to Perfect Pitch when a '/cinch phone plug is inserted. A
recharge jack that disconnects

power to Perfect Pitch when the
charger is plugged in is also incorporated in the prototype.
Install IC6, the LM386 audio
power amplifier. Plug a set of
headphones into headphone jack J3 and apply power. Touch
the ungrounded input conductor of J1; you should hear a buzz
or pop that corresponds to your
touch. If not, recheck the work
done in the audio -amplifier section. Install a jack for the auxiliary input (J2), and perform the
touch test on it.
Install IC3, IC4, and IC5. Connect a signal source to J1 and
headphones to J3 (the signal
source can be a guitar, electronic keyboard, etc.) Apply
power and select the Tuner

function. When notes are
struck, strummed, or keyed,
you should see the gate LED illuminate and hear the audio in
your headphones. The LCD
should show a reading other
than "00000" and possibly a
note will appear at the far left of
the LCD. If so, everything is OK
and you can mount Perfect
Pitch in a permanent enclosure.

Figure 5 shows the inside of the
author's completed prototype.
Using Perfect Pitch
Perfect Pitch is as easy to use
as it is to build. There are only
one switch, two inputs, and one
output to deal with. The contrast adjustment is usually
made once and forgotten. Use
your own judgement with regard to contrast.
When you turn on Perfect

Pitch, the "PERFECT PITCH"
banner is displayed, followed by
the first menu selection,
"TUNER." At this point you can
scroll through the remaining

two menu items (Counter and
Metronome) or select any of the
three when displayed using Si.
As pointed out earlier in the
construction section, "00000

Hz T" or "00000 Hz C" appears
when the 'Diner and Counter
mode are selected, respectively.

Connect the audio source and
select Tuner or Counter and proceed. Only the Tuner mode will
display notes on the musical
scale along with frequencies.
An added feature places a" + " or
- " immediately following the
note to designate one cycle
above ( + or below - ) the musical note shown in the display.
For example, "A - 439 Hz T" denotes a signal that's one cycle
below the universal A 440 Hz.
Conversely, the display 'A+ 441
Hz T" denotes 1 cycle above A
440 Hz. The Tuner mode's musical -note identification function
spans from C 32 Hz to C 1046
Hz, or five musical octaves.
Above a frequency of 1046 Hz,
only frequency is displayed.
In the Counter mode, Perfect
Pitch is a frequency counter.
You can also bypass IC5 completely and feed TTL signals directly into pin 9 of IC4 -d. You
can also use the Tyner function
if you bypass IC5 in favor of TTL
inputs. Be sure to remove IC5 if
you choose to run TTL only.
)
The Metronome function,

which alternately turns on the
left and right sides of the LCD,
and is the only function that
you can control in real time; Si
selects either "FASTER" or
"SLOWER" while the function is
invoked. A visual metronome allows you to keep time without
having an audible tone or click
mixed into the headphones

with your music.
The auxiliary input (J2) is exclusively for mixing in headphone output from a radio, CD
player, or tape player. Inputs at
J2 will not reliably trigger the
counting circuitry. By adding
another output jack to the existing output jack, you and a
friend can practice as a duet. n
57
./
RC FiLTERS
Fj44
Understand
resistive-capacitive
filters and learn how to use
them in your projects
and experiments
THE TERM FILTER DESCRIBES A
wide variety of frequency-selective circuits. Certain frequencies pass through a given filter
while others are attenuated.
There are four basic filter

types:low -pass, high -pass,
bandpass, and band rejection
or notch. Filters composed of resistive (R), inductive (L), and capacitive (C) elements are called
passive filters. Activefilters include high -gain operational amplifiers with passive filter feedback networks.
Filter circuits that contain
only resistors and capacitors
are called resistive -capacitive

(RC); those that contain only in-
ductors and capacitors are

called inductive -capacitive (LC).
Filter circuits generally combine inductive and capacitive

components because inductive
reactance increases with frequency, and capacitive reactance decreases with frequency.
The two opposing effects permit
many possibilities in all filter
58
design.
However, this article will
focus on RC filters and applications. Later articles will review
LC filters and look at active fil-
ters in greater detail. The big

advantage of active filters is that
they do not require inductors,
which can be large and heavy at
low frequencies. Active filters
need only R and C components,
but they require some kind of
power supply.
A capacitor by itself has inherent filtering capability for alternating current because capacitive reactance, Xc, is inversely
proportional to frequency
fe = 1 /2nRC
It blocks direct current completely and opposes the passage
of low- frequency signals although signal passage becomes
progressively easier as frequency increases.
Low-pass and high-pass
Filters contribute to the operation of many different circuits
by screening out unwanted frequencies and allowing only the
wanted ones to pass. Resistive capacitive filters are better suited for low- frequency filtering
(up to 100 kHz), whereas inductive- capacitive filters are better
suited for high- frequency filtering (above 100 kHz).
Figure 1 -a is the circuit of a
RAY MARSTON
simple RC, low -pass filter that

passes low- frequency signals
but rejects those with higher

frequencies. Resistor R1 is in
series with the load, and capacitor Cl, the reactive element,
shunts the load. This filter exhibits a gradual rolloff begin-
ning at the upper cutoff
frequency where capacitive reactance equals the value of resistor R. Because it is a low-pass
filter, there is only one cutoff frequency, and it can be determined by the formula:
= 1 /27(RC = 1/6.28RC =
0.159/RC
The cutoff frequency (fe) is
that frequency at which the signal output voltage is 6 decibels
(dB) below its peak level.
Table 1 lists the formulas for
determiningfc, R, and C for the
schematics in this article that
do not include component values. In these formulas 2n has
been converted to the number
6.28.
The cutoff-frequency can also
be measured at the half-power
points as shown in Fig. 1 -b.
These are at 70.7% of the peak
power with the real power dissipated at 50% of maximum. The
half-power point is the upper

cutoff frequency of a low-pass
filter.
R1
VIN
Cl
High-pass filter
The high -pass filter passes
high frequencies and opposes

or blocks the passage of low frequencies. As shown in Fig. 2a,
the simplest high -pass filter

consists a single capacitor in series with the load and a resistor
that shunts the load. Capacitor
Cl opposes current flow that
varies inversely with frequency.
The higher the frequency, the
smaller the opposition, measured in ohms. The filter completely or partially blocks sig-
nals at low frequencies, but

permits their passage as fre-
quency increases.
Figure 2 -b shows the positive
slope at the high- frequency end
of the frequency vs. gain response curve for a high -pass filter. The pass band is defined as
the area under the curve and
the stop band is the area to the
left of the curve.
The high -pass filter cuts off or
blocks all frequencies below the
cutoff frequency, fc, permiting
all those above that frequency to
pass. The half-power ( -3dB)
point of a high -pass filter is the
lower cutoff frequency. Both
high -pass and low -pass filters
have just one cutoff point, but
as will be explained later, both
bandpass and band-reject (or
notch) filters have two cutoff frequencies.
Both of the filter circuits
shown in Figs. 1 -a and 2 -a have
a single RC stage and are known
as a first -order filters. If a
number (n) of these filters are
cascaded, they will form what is
known as an nth -order filter.
Phase -shift oscillator
Filters can be effectively cascaded by including them in the

feedback networks of operational amplifiers. Figure 3 is a
circuit for a third-order, high pass filter that converts an opamp into a phase -shift oscillator. The filter is inserted between the output and the input
of the inverting (180 phase shift) amplifier.
The filter will provide this
phase shift at a frequency of
Od B
-3dB
Vow
SLOPE
6dB /OCTAVE
VIN
0
o
FREQUENCY
-I.
FIG. 1-LOW-PASS RC FILTER circuit (a),

and frequency response curve (b).
that a band of frequencies not

stopped by either filter is
passed.
A typical bandpass filter response curve, as shown in Fig.
5 -b, has a generally trapezoidal
shape with a positive slope on
the low- frequency (left) end indicating the limit of the high pass stopband and a negative
slope on the high- frequency
(right) end defining the lowpass stopband. The flat top of
the curve (0 dB) indicates constant signal gain.
The bandwidth of the filter is
the frequency difference between the half-power, or - 3dB
points. These are the points
TABLE i
FORMULAS FOR DETERMINING
FILTER COMPONENT VALUES
(Figs. t to 5)
(Figs. 6 to 10)
(Figs. 11, 14, and 15)
High- and Low -Pass Filter

Balanced Wien Tone Filter
'Win -T Notch Filter
1
fc
fc=kHz
=
6.28 RC
1
R=
R = kilohms
6.28fcC
1
C=
C = microfarads
6.28 fcR
about 'ha of the product of R and

C. Thus the complete circuit
has a loop shift of 360 , and it
will oscillate at this frequency if
the op-amp has sufficient gain.
An op -amp with a gain of about
x 29 will compensate for filter
losses and yield a loop gain
greater than one.
Figure 4 is a schematic for an
800 -Hz phase -shift oscillator.
Potentiometer R4 must be adjusted to give a clean output
sinewave and potentiometer R6
will vary the output gain.
Bandpass
filter
A bandpass filter passes a

specified frequency band while
rejecting adjacent frequencies

above and below that passband.
A bandpass filter can be made
by combining (or cascading) a
high -pass filter with a low -pass
filter as shown in Fig. 5 -a so
fe
0dB
-3dB
Your
VIN
'
SLOPE
6d B/OCTAVE
FREQUENCYFIG. 2-HIGH -PASS RC FILTER circuit

(a), and frequency response curve (b).
where the filter response is 3 dB

down from the maximum point
on the curve. The bandwidth is
between fil (high pass and fc2
59
Figure 6 -a is a special band pass filter called the Wien -tone

filter made by cascading a low pass and a high -pass filter with
the same cutoff frequencies.
This permits the filter to select
tones with minimum attenuation at a single frequency.
Resistors R1 and R2 have the
same values and they are equal
to the capacitive reactances of
Cl and C2 at the desired cutoff
frequency. The Wien -tone filter
is called a balanced filter, a
term that always means with respect to ground.
Figure 6 -b is the frequency response curve of the balanced
Wien -tone filter with an attenuation factor of 3 ( -9.5 dB) at
L. The circuit's principal feature is its ability to shift input
signal phase + 90 and - 90 ,
and set it precisely at theft of 0
as shown in the phase -shift
FIG. 3 -THIRD-ORDER HIGH -PASS
as a component in
cillator.
filter
phase -shift os-
(low pass). The formula for
bandwidth is:
Bandwidth in herz
f.2 -frl
The passband of a filter is the

range of frequencies that pass
through the filter. Insertion loss
is the loss of signal strength experienced by the frequencies in
the passband passing through
the filter. If the filter were absent, and the source and load
were connected directly to each
other, the output signal would
increase by the amount of the
insertion loss.
curve Fig. 6 -c.

This filter can be combined
with an operational amplifier to
+9V
R1
R2
56K
10K
Cl
C2
.01
.01
+18V
TO
R4
R3
10K
C3
.01
C4
ISO
9.5d B
1
Vour
VIN
o
o
FREQUENCY
b
to
00
- 90
FREQUENCY
FIG.
6-
BALANCED WIEN -TONE FILTER

(a), frequency -response curve (b), and
phase-shift curve (c).
the non -inverting amplifier
10F
01
2N3904
become a sinewave oscillator as

shown in Fig. 7. The outout of
4.7K
(OUTPUT
LEVEL)
R1=R2
Cl =C2
Vour
with a gain of about x 3 is fed

back to its input through R1
and CI to give a unity loop gain.
C5
R6
R5
220f1
10K
(SET
GAIN)
Band- reject filter

A band -reject or notch filter
has a function that is the inverse of the passband filter. It is
able to reject one specific frequency, the stopband, but pass
all others. Figure 8 -a shows a
band -reject filter that is a modification of the circuit shown in
100F
MEW
FIG. 4-PHASE -SHIFT OSCILLATOR produces 800Hz sinewaves.
o
R2
Cl
VIN
Fig. 7.
In this circuit resistors R2
and R4 divide the voltage with a
nominal attenuation factor of 3.
As a result, the voltage divider
and Wien filter outputs are iden-
R1
o
HIGH PASS
LOW PASS
a
0dB
fc.IHIG
-3dB
volli
SLOPE
6dB /OCTAVE
VIN
10
(LOW PASS)
SLOPE
6dB/OCTAVE
FREQUENCY
b
60
FIG. 5 -HIGH -PASS AND LOW-PASS FILTERS cascaded to make a bandpass filter (a),
and frequency response curve (b).
f,
tical at
and the output,
which equals the difference between the two signals, becomes
zero.
The Wien- bridge band -reject

filter network can close a loop
around a high -gain operational
amplifier to form an oscillator as
shown in Fig. 9 -a. It might appear that the Wien filter's output
is fed to the input of the high gain amplifier that has its out-
ganged switch Si permit fine

tuning and decade switching
and trimmer potentiometer R6
performs null trimming.
Twin-T filter
Figure 11 -a is a schematic for
a twin -T notch filter. A prime
advantage of the filter is that its
FIG. 7 -BASIC WIEN- FILTER -BASED
oscillator.
input and output signals share

a common -ground connection,
and its off -frequency attenuation is less than that of the
Wien- bridge filter. However, it
also has a drawback: To work
effectively, the values of all three
resistors (and the capacitive reactances at a specified frequency) must be varied simulta-
.3
FREQUENCY
b
a
+90
1-
- 90
FREQUENCY
tions above and below

Both the balanced twin -T and
the Wien-bridge filter have very
low effective Q's. The value Q is
calculated by dividing the value
off, by the bandwidth between
the filter's two -3 dB points. A
typical value for a twin -T filter is
0.24. The filter attenuates the
second harmonic off, 9 dB. By
contrast, an ideal notch filter
would not attenuate the input
signal.
This shortcoming of the twin T filter can be overcome by
.
"bootstrapping" the common
terminal of the filter, as shown

in simplified block diagram Fig.
12. High effective Q values can
be obtained with this circuit,
and attenuation of the second
harmonic off will be negligible.
An explanation of how a balanced twin-T filter works can be
quite complicated, so the equivalent diagram Fig. 13 is presented here to simplify that
explanation. The filter has been
resolved into a parallel- driven,
low -pass filter (fe/2) and a high pass filter (2fr) whose outputs
are connected to an RC voltage
divider (fe). This output divider
loads the two filters and affects
their phase shifts.
As a result, the signals at
points A and B are identical in
amplitude, but have phase
shifts of - 45 and + 45 respec-
FIG. 8-WIEN- BRIDGE NOTCH FILTER

(a), frequency- response curve (b), and
put fed back to the Wien filter's

input to complete a positive
feedback loop.
However, if the circuit is redrawn as in Fig. 9 -b, it is clear

that the op-amp actually functions as a x 3 non -inverting amplifier, and that the circuit is
similar to that shown in Fig. 7.
Some form of automatic gain
control will be needed if high quality sinewaves are to be generated from this circuit.
The tuned frequency of the
Wien- bridge network can be
changed by simultaneously altering its two resistor or capacitor values. Figure 10 is the
schematic for a wideband (15 Hz
to 15 kHz) variable -notch filter.
Ganged potentiometer R3 and
R1
phase -shift curve.

b
FIG.
-THE
r----
neously. This filter is balanced

when its components have the
precise ratios shown in Fig.
11 -a. For perfect nulling, the
R1 /2 resistor value must be
carefully adjusted.
The distinctive notched frequency- response curve for the
balanced twin -T filter is shown
in Fig. 11 -b. Notice that atf the
notch has a value of zero. The
abrupt phase shift curve is
shown in Fig. 11 -c. The filter has

zero phase shift at fer, but that
phase shift changes sharply to
+ 90 or - 90 for slight variawww.americanradiohistory.com
10K
R3-a
10K
WIEN -BRIDGE OS-
CILLATOR (a) is the equivalent of the

oscillator shown at (b).
R2
910n
INPUT
OUTPUT
-0
Cl
1
e--
3PC
C2
0.1
C3
.01
-R4
9100
R3-b
10K
R5
4.7K
R6
500s1
(SET NULL)
2a1. b3
Cl
1pF
C2
0.1
C3
.01
FREQUENCY RANGES
(POSITIONS ON S1)
1. 15Hz TO 150Hz
2. 150Hz TO 1.5kHz
3. 1.5kHz TO 15kHz
FIG. 10- VARIABLE -FREQUENCY,

Wien- bridge notch filter (15 Hz to 15 kHz).
61
tively at
R1/2
2C1
C1=C2
R1=R2
VIN
At the same time, the

impedances of the R and C sections of the output divider are
equal and introduce a 45 phase
shift at L. Thus the divider
effectively cancels the two phase
differences and gives a precise
output of zero, the phase -cancelled difference in amplitudes
between the two signals.
VOUT
a
le
Therefore, a perfectly bal-
0.8
0.6
V
UT
VoN
0.4
0.2
0
FREQUENCY
---,-
VouT
VIN
+90
positively unbalanced. It will

act the same way as was just
described, but its notch will
have limited depth (it will not
reach zero). However, it still offers a zero phase shift at
PHASE
0
0.6
VOUT
VIN
0.4
0.2
FIG. 11- BALANCED TWIN -T NOTCH

FILTER (a), frequency- response curve
(b), and phase shift curve (C).
0
FREQUENCY
b
+ 160
PHASE
180
-200
c
FIG. 14- NEGATIVELY UNBALANCED

TWIN -T FILTER provides a 180 phase
shift at fc (a), its frequency- response
curve (b), and phase -shift diagram (C).
FIG. 12- BOOTSTRAPPED HIGH -Q

notch filter.
Cl
.47
LOW -PASS
FILTER (lc /2)
2.= -45 f
if= 0
f,
.01
%I
unity.
To convert the circuit to a tone
filter, adjust trimmer potentiometer R6 to give a loop gain
that is less than unity, and feed
C3
.01
C2
_
ta
2C1
R1
R2
fo
VOLTAGE
DIVIDER
VIN
R1/2
HIGH -PASS
- C4
C2
Cl
'.02
Votif
0=4-45f,
R1=R2
C1=C2
FILTER (2fb)
FIG. 13- EQUIVALENT CIRCUIT DIAGRAM of the balanced twin -T filter.
negatively unbalanced twin -T

notch filter that can be a component in either a 1 kHz oscillator
or a tuned acceptance filter. The
twin -T filter is connected between the input and output of
the high -gain inverting amplifier so that an overall shift of
360 occurs at ff.
The circuit will oscillate if po-
tentiometer R6 is adjusted so
that the twin -T notch gives
enough output so the system
has an overall gain greater than
AUDIO
FREQUENCY
INPUT
by contrast, the resistor

has a value less of than R1 /2, the
circuit, as shown in Fig. 14 -a,
will be negatively unbalanced.
It will also give a notch of limited
depth, as shown in Fig. 14 -b,
but it has the useful characteristic of being able to produce
output. There
will be a 180 phase shift atff, as
shown in Fig. 14 -c.
Figure 15 is a schematic of a
If,
= s0
62
anced twin -T filter has a zero

output and zero phase shift at
L. As shown in Fig. 11 -c, if the
frequency is slightly below ff,
the output is dominated by the
response of its low-pass filter,
and is shifted in phase by - 90 ;
at frequencies above , the output is dominated by the response of its high -pass filter,
and is shifted in phase by + 90 ,
An unbalanced version of the
twin -T filter can be made by
changing the value of the R1 /2
resistor to one that is not ideal.
If this resistor has a value greater than R1 /2, the circuit will be
R4
15K:
OUTPUT
FIG. 15-A 1 KILOHERTZ OSCILLATOR/

ACCEPTANCE FILTER based on a nega-
tively unbalanced twin -T network.
an audio input signal through

Cl and R1. Under this condition, R1 and the twin -T filter
interact to form a frequency sensitive circuit that gives high
negative feedback and low gain
to all frequencies except fc. The
circuit gives little negative feedback and high gain at
T-immer potentiometer R6 can vary
the sharpness of the tuning. n
PHONE -LINE
AUTOCOUPLEA
+
//
- / \j
..
/'c
-:_./
~-
ì
ff`.'ir.-t ar
i7'\
zs t
1I
` %"'
-'
b 1
``- \
Build this autocoupler

and you can automatically connect
your telephone line to a variety of projects.
MIKE HAGANS and KYLE MAGRILL
line- current detection, a caller-
phone coupler that incorporates an entire MPC -2 circuit.

The autocoupler's logic
monitors the RING DETECT and
ID
LINE -CURRENT DETECT
LAST MONTH WE DESCRIBED THE
MPC -2 telephone interface. The

MPC -2 provides ring detection,
compatible audio path, and
all the isolation, audio limiting,
and protective elements to

make it-and anything con-
it-
comply with the

nected to
FCC's Part 68 rules. This month
we'll discuss and build an auto answer /auto-disconnect tele-
lines from
the MPC -2 circuit and causes it
to "pick up," or go off -hook,
after detecting an incoming

ring. When the line- current detector signals that the calling
party has hung up, the auto coupler forces the MPC -2 to re-
lease the line to be ready for the

next call.
The autocoupler contains an
isolated relay that can signal the
beginning of a call, or that can
stay latched for the duration of
the call to control external
equipment. Remote pick -up
and hang -up switches can be

connected to the autocoupler,
and LED's can indicate ring and
on -line conditions.
63
--
RJ_1'
J1
ViN
.01
C9
D3
1114084
300V
MOV1
RY1
'
.1
C4
100F
Cl 0
LINE SEIZE
22K4
R1
.56
Cl
R2
1K
VI
IC1
GND
LM7812
1C7
1N270
D1
1111M1
IC2
N11M1
MPC -2 CIRCUIT
-AUTO HANGUP ENABLE.
-AUX RELAY MODE SELECT

1 -2 = MOMENTARY
2-3 = LATCHED FOR DURATION Of CALL
-AUTO PICKUP ENABLE.

EXTERNAL ENABLE SIGNAL
REQUIRED WHEN Off.
VO
12VDC
RELAY POWER
+
1
J2-6
J2-8
J2 2
__1
VCC
1010F
C12
7C
rules,
LIMITED
OUTPUT
<J3 -12
'
01
470
R14
LEDI
ONLINE
<
<
IC5-a
1/4 4913
4003
IC5c
1/4
p
RY2
2114401
VN
4,7F
C6+
10
AUX RELAY
Vcc
R6
10K
RING
LED2
-46---/) +12VDC CURRENT-
o OUT
V,.c
LINE CURRENT DETECT'

OPEN COLLECTOR OUT
01
C2
AUDIO IN/OUT1
600 OHMS
D2
111370
J2-4
OPEN COLLECTOR OUT
RING DETECT
R13
1K
Vcc
FIG. 1 -THE AUTOCOUPLER CIRCUIT shown with the included MPC -2 section. The
MPC -2 interface meets all technical requirements in the FCC
Part 68.
RING
TIP
JU3
JU2
JUl
JUMPERS
Electronics Now, June 1993
12 -18 VAC
J3 -7
J3-2
J3-1
J3-3
J3-4
19
Vcc
>
Slo
.o
PICK UP
1K
11
'M
R4
2.7K
R15
1K
yV
C8)4+
J3-5
>
100K
R5
5.1K
R11
4.7F
2114401
.01
C5
J3 -14 TO J3 -25
HANG UP
62
BLANK
PIN
D4
1114004
JU2
AUX MODEI
>
>
>
NE556
PICKUP MODE
RIOS
40
100K
100K
R3
R7
IC4
C7
>
Jul
OO1
< J3-13
J3-9
IC6
6 1111M1
13
J3-8
AUTO
HANGUP Q
JU3
IC5-0
4093
1/4
IC3-c
V4 4011
IC3-d
1/4 4011
<J3-6>
13
12
10
IC3-b
4011
1/1
IC3-a
4011
1/4
J3 11
< J3-10 >
tt
R10
10K
R8 S
100K
tVcc
R9
100K
PICK UP
OFF
o. oS1
HANG UP
o
AUDIO IN
POWER IN
12 7018 VAC
--/
FIG.
2- PARTS-PLACEMENT DIAGRAM. Voltage -regulator IC7 should be heatsinked.
Note that the MPC -2 section must be built exactly as described to be type-approvable.
Circuitry
A stand -alone MPC -2 board

can be connected to the auto coupler board with an 8 -wire
ribbon cable or the parts for the
MPC -2 section can be installed
directly on the autocoupler
board. Figure 1 shows the auto coupler along with the MPC -2
circuit.
The RING -DETECT output of the
MPC -2 interface is pulled up by
resistor R6 and conditioned by
capacitor C6 and IC5 -a, a 4093
Schmitt-trigger NAND gate configured as an inverter. The hysteresis action of the 4093 significantly cleans up the RING DETECT signal, presenting a
square wave (high during the
incoming ring signal) to one
side of capacitor C7. That capacitor is normally charged
through the 100K pull -up resistor (R7) while the output of
IC5 -a is low. When the output of
IC5 -a goes high, C7 discharges.
When IC5 -a's output goes low
again at the end of the ring, C7
momentarily loads down R7 (as
it charges). The momentary low
triggers the input of the 555
timer (IC4), which is set up in

monostable (one-shot) mode.
The cleaned -up ring- detect
signal from IC5 -a also feeds the
ring- detect LED circuit consisting of IC5 -b and IC5 -c in parallel. The inputs of those two
gates are pulled high during a
ring, causing their outputs to
go low. When that happens, ring
indicator LED2 turns on. When
manual -pickup switch
S1 (a
momentary SPDT switch with

center-off) is activated, pin 2 of
the 555 gets pulled low as if a
ring had occurred. The 1K resistor (R16) connected to Si limits C7's instantaneous current
flow when the switch is activated, protecting IC5 -a.
Jumper All is located between pin 3 of IC5 -a and C7. If
JU1 is left open, optocoupler
IC6 provides the pickup-enable
signal. The two inputs to the
optocoupler (pins 1 and 2) are
connected to pins 10 and 11 of
the DB -25 connector J3. An external AC or DC voltage from 5
to 30 volts will turn on IC6, enabling the ring signal to trigger
the 555.
The duration of the 555

timer's high output is con-
trolled by C8 and R3, and lasts

for about half a second. The
555's output turns on two transistors; Q2 is the open-collector
momentary output that appears on J3 pin 3; Q3 is one of

two transistors (selectable via
Jumper JU2) that can operate
the auxiliary output relay. The
555 also feeds NAND gate IC3 -b,

which is set up as an inverter.
A set -reset latch is formed by
NAND gates IC3 -c and -d. One input of each gate is tied to the
output of the other, and the remaining two inputs (one on
each gate) are pulled high by resistors R8 and R9. Before a ring
occurs, the latch's output (pin
11 of IC3 -d) is low, and stays that
way because it holds one input
of IC3 -c (pin 9) low, which
causes IC3 -c's output to be
high. That output keeps pin 12
of IC3 -d high, and the circuit is
in stasis until triggered by the
previous stage (IC3-b) after an
incoming ring.
Pulling the SET input of the
latch (IC3 -d pin 13) low causes
IC3 -d's output to go high. That
causes IC3 -c's output, and the
other input of IC3 -d. to go low.
65
phone line current is estab-
lished again.
When the coupler is on -line,
the only time the latch's RESET
line should go low (and cause a
reset) is when both inputs of
IC5 -d are high. That happens
only when the 555's output is
low and the output of the line current detector (IC1) is off, or
high, as happens briefly when
the telephone company's central office signals that the calling party has hung up.
The output of the latch, when
set, turns on transistors Q1,
Q4. and Q5. Transistor Q1 supplies ground for the line -seize
relay RY1, Q4 can turn on the
auxiliary-output relay RY2 (if selected by jumper JU2), and Q5
turns on the on -line indicator
LEDI through current -limiting
resistor R12.
3-AN ASSEMBLED, type -approved autocoupler board. You can purchase an
assembled one from the source in the Parts List.
FIG.
Construction
You can make your own dou-
PARTS LIST
Q1
ohms
R2, R12, R13, R15, R16 -1000
ohms
R3, R5, R7, R8, R9- 100,000 ohms
R4.-2700 ohms
R6, R10- 10,000 ohms
R11 -5100 ohms
R14-47 ohms
BR1 -DT102 DIP

(1A, 100V)
R1- 22,000
Capacitors
-0.56 F, 250 -volts, Mylar

C2, C5, CO 0.01 F, 50- volts, ceramic dise
C3, C4-0.1 F, 250 -volts, Mylar
C6, C8-4.7 F. radial electrolytic
C7, C12 -0.1 .F, metal -film
010, C11 -100 F, 35 volts, radial
C1
electrolytic
Semiconductors
IC1, IC2,
IC6- H11AA1
AC -input
optoisolator (GE)
103 -4011 CMOS quad NAND gate
104-555 timer
105 -4093 CMOS quad Schmitt trigger NAND gate
IC7- LM7812T 12 -volt regulator
D1, D2 -1N270 germanium diode
D3, D4- 1N4001 diode
The circuit remains in that con-
dition until the
66
-05- 2N4401
All resistors are 1/4-watt, 5 %.
RESET input
low, toggling
(IC3 -c pin 8) goes

the latch back to its original
state. This takes us back to inverter IC3 -b whose output does
two things: It triggers the SET
input of the latch, and it holds
NPN transistor
bridge rectifier
LED1, LED2- light- emitting diode,

any color
Other components
J1- RJ -11c
right -angle, PC -mount

telephone jack (must be 50
micro -inch gold -plated)
J2
-pin male header, 2 x 4,
matching female IDC connector,
and ribbon cable (optional, see
text)
-8
J3- short -style
right -angle PCmount DB -25 connector

JU1, JU3-1 x 2 jumper block
JU2 -1 x 3 jumper block
T1 -Telco line- isolation transformer
(Dale TA- 40 -01)
MOV1- 300 -volt axial metal -oxide
varistor
RY1, RY2 -12 -volt DPDT relay
(Midland Ross 190- 22B100)
Miscellaneous: PC board, three 6pin DIP sockets, one 8 -pin DIP
socket, two 14 -pin DIP sockets,
T0- 220-type stand-up heatsink
(for IC7), three shorting blocks
pin
12 of IC5 -d low, preventing

the latch from resetting for the
duration of the 555's pulse.
After about a quarter of a second, the line- current detector
(IC1) prevents the latch's RESET
line from going low by holding
pin 13 of IC5 -d low while tele-
(0.1" jumpers for JU1 -JU3)

available from CircuitWerkes,
6212 SW 8th PI, Gainesville, Fl
32607 (904) 331 -5999:
Double- sided, silkscreened

autocoupler PC board only
$14.95
Autocoupler PC board with

pre -built Part-68 registered
MPC -2 section -$39.95
Complete autocoupler kit

with pre -built Part -68 registered MPC -2 section (no en-
closure)-$69.95
Fully assembled and tested,

Part -68 registered autocoupler
(no enclosure)-$99.95
Screen- printed black plastic
enclosure with machined end
panels for the autocoupler$26.00
Include $3.50 for shipping and
handling. Add $4.50 for COD
(cash or certified funds only).
Arizona and Florida residents
must include appropriate sales

tax.
ble -sided PC board using the

foil patterns we've provided, or
purchase one from the source
mentioned in the Parts List.
Kits are available from the same
source.
Note that two 2 x 4 -pin headers with mating IDC connectors
uuuuuuuuuuuu
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Vie INCHES
COMPONENT SIDE for the autocoupler board.
Os INCHES
1.<
SOLDER SIDE for the autocoupler board.
and a piece of 8- conductor ribbon cable can be used to attach

a stand -alone MPC -2 board (see
Electronics Now, May 1993) to
the autocoupler board, and

then you would just leave out
the MPC -2 parts on the auto -
coupler board. An 8 -pin header

can also be used to mount the
MPC -2 board as a daughter
board on top of the autocoupler
board. Otherwise, you can
mount all of the parts on the

autocoupler board.
Solder the components on the
board following the Parts- Placement diagram in Fig. 2.
Voltage -regulator IC7 should
have a heat sink attached to it.
Be sure to apply heat-sink compound on the back of the regulator before attaching the heat
sink. The indicator LED's can

either be board -mounted or
panel- mounted and connected
with wire jumpers. When the
board is finished, insert the IC's
into their respective sockets.
Figure 3 shows a completed
unit.
Initial testing
Verify that all IC's are properly
installed and that polarity -sensitive devices are oriented properly before connecting power,
audio, or a phone line to the autocoupler. Then, you can connect 12 to 18 volts (AC or DC) to
the board's power -input pads.
When power is applied, the two
relays will energize for about a
half second, and then drop out.
That indicates the initial operation of the one -shot and latch
circuits. If the unit is connected
to a phone line when powered
up, it will seize the line and hold
it until a line current zero- crossing occurs, at which point the
unit will drop the line.
Almost every modern central
office in this country generates
a zero -crossing in the telephone -line battery voltage less
than a minute after dial tone is
applied to the line-if no activity is detected in that period
of time. That also occurs after
the calling party hangs up. If
your local central office is one of
the rare systems that does not
support that signaling, you
might have to include a preset
timer or, preferably, a dial -tone
detector that will hang up your
autocoupler automatically.
If the initial power-up occurs
as has been described, you are
ready to test the device on the
phone line. Remember that the
phone line carries voltages that
are high enough to give you a
nasty shock if you happen to be
touching the tip and ring conductors on the bottom of the
MPC -2 coupler section during a
ring.
Connect the RJ -11 jack to

your phone line with a standard
modular cord, and have someone call your line. As soon as the
phone starts ringing, you
should see LED2 light up. The
coupler should answer at the
end of the first ring: when it
67
\ \\\\\
\\\\\\\\\.. s
a\\\\\\\\
s ; ..'
\A\\\\\u\\\ ..a..a,a\\ d
,......,............,,,.,.,.
\.\\. \..\.\\.\ ..,.\,....,\.
......., ... ...., .,\,,..
,,,...,,..:::
a..::::.....\\%1
ur computer into an invisible household robot!
:::::::
.
...,
........ ..............
..
:-a
PC BASED
UNIVERSAL
REMOTE
CONTROL
o
o
JON BEK
INVISIBOT IS THE NAME OF THE AU-
thor's home -control system. It

stands for Invisible Robot. Invisibot started off by combining
X-10 control with a voice- recognition and synthesis system.
That gave the author the capability to say things like
Please dim the lights, and have
Invisibot respond accordingly.
(Note that our sidebar contains
detailed information on the
X -10 and voice -control parts of
the system.)
The one thing he wanted Invisibot to do that wasn't available "off-the- shelf' was to control TV's, VCR's, and other IRcontrolled consumer -electronics gear. Even though we all
have several remotes to control
these toys, they always seem to
hide under seat cushions, in
magazines, and other unlikely
places. When we do manage to
locate a remote, it's usually the
wrong one, or the batteries are
dead. We're sure you've experienced the same problem.
se
Of course, there are the
"smart" units that can control

several devices, even ones from
different manufacturers, but

the thought of buying yet one
more remote holds limited appeal. Invisibot was created to

eliminate the need to push any
remote -control buttons again.
Universal remotes
There are two types of universal remote controls: learning
and preprogrammed. Typically
both can remember the codes
for several devices. In addition
to its infrared transmitter, the
"learning" control also has an IR
receiver that it uses to learn how
to control your devices. You put
the universal remote into a
"learn" mode, point your other
remote at it, and press a button.
The universal remote then

memorizes the pattern it receives. That pattern can be assigned to a button on the
learning remote so that each
time you press that button in
the future, the remote will send
the corresponding pattern.
The other type of "smart" remote is preprogrammed with

the signal patterns for many
popular devices. lb set up a preprogrammed remote, you enter
a code corresponding to the
model of TV or VCR you want to
control; henceforth, the remote
will use those codes. The advantage of the preprogrammed remote is that it's faster and
simpler to set up; in addition,
you can use one to replace a lost
or damaged original. This project uses a Memorex AV-4 preprogrammed "smart" remote,
that can be purchased from a
corner drugstore for about $40.
Rows and columns
The AV-4 consists of one IC, a
few resistors, several diodes,
the infrared transmitter LED's,

a capacitor, and a simple rowby-column, or matrix keyboard.
Picture a tic -tac -toe board with
columns labeled 1, 2, 3, ... and
rows labeled A, B, C,
Each
button on the keyboard corresponds to one letter/number
pair. The goal was to devise a

circuit that would connect to an
existing PC simply and inexpensively, and activate the rows

and columns of the keyboard
matrix under software control.
A standard parallel port provides a suitable interface. All
signals run at five volts, so connecting to the remote is
straightforward. In addition,
the printer port is directly addressable, even in BASIC, so
programming wouldn't be a
challenge. The only' problem
was how to control a 5 -by -8
switch matrix using only the
eight bits that comprise a standard parallel port. Five CMOS
4051 8- channel analog multiplexers make the job easy.
only a single uo line.

The computer's parallel port
connects to J1. Of the eight
lines, three form a bus that
drives the address inputs, and

each of the other five lines drives a separate EN input on the
4051's. That arrangement presents the same binary input
-V
POSITIVE 16
SUPPLY
The address inputs are
weighted in a binary fashion (Ao

=1, Al = 2, A2 = 4). You select the
desired channel by applying
"highs" to the appropriate address inputs. For example, to select input channel 5, you would
apply + 5 volts to the AO and A2
address inputs. The three address inputs provide a total of
23, or
eight combinations,
ranging from 0 to 7.
The 4051 has one other input, chip enable, or i-N for short.
When i:N is brought high, the IC
prevents any connection between 1io and the input channels, regardless of the states of
the address inputs.
Circuit details
The complete circuit, shown
in Fig. 2, consists of five 4051's,
some pull -up resistors, and a
connector. Note that the eight
columns from the remote's keyboard form a "bus" to which the
eight channel lines of all five
4051's are connected in parallel.
Also note that each of the remote's five rows connects to the
uo line of a different 4051. Thus,
all the channel lines will be selected simultaneously, but with
NEGATIVE
SUPPLY
4051
13
CHIP
ENABLE
14
1
15
12
INPUT
CHANNELS
j
5
2
The 4051's, shown in Fig. 1,

have three address inputs (Ao. Al,
and A2), eight channel inputs

(0-7), and an input/output (uo)
pin. Each 4051 internally connects one of its eight channel
lines to its uo pin. The channel
selected depends on the combination of signals applied to
the input -select lines.
Vss
I/O
-3
3
4
AO
Al
A2
GND
11
10
ADDRESS
INPUTS
GROUND
1 -THE 4051's have three address

inputs, eight channel inputs, and an I/O
pin. One of the eight channels is connected to I/O pin.
FIG.
combination to all five 4051's,

but as long as the software drives only one of the five N lines
high, only a single row-column
connection can be made at any
one time.
To understand how the circuit works, let's go through an
example. Assume first that the
PC has set all the N lines high,
so all the 4051's are off, and no
row-column connections exist.
Now assume that we want the
computer to "press" the key corresponding to intersection Al in
the matrix. That corresponds to
a binary value of 001 at the address inputs. By driving AO high
and the other two (Al and A2)
low, we obtain 001.
With the 4051's still disabled,
line of ICI
the PC drives the
low, which turns the device on.
That makes the connection between row A and column 1, just
as if we'd physically pressed
that key.
MY FRIEND, INVISIBOT
I've always been fascinated by robots.
Since the first time I saw "Forbidden
Planet" as a child, I was certain that
someday one of those electronic servants would cater to my every whim.
still don't have anything that looks like
Robby the Robot, but do control many
of the lights and appliances in my house
with spoken commands -and my invisible robot responds verbally as well!
The primary elements of "Invisibot"
came as two off-the -shelf accessories
for my PC: the X -10 CP290 computer
interface, and the Covox Voice Master
Key system.
The X -10 product has been around for
years; it consists of a master control unit
and one module for each appliance you
want to control. The modules can be
installed in place of normal light switches in the wall, or plugged in between the
AC power outlet and the device being
controlled.
The X -10 system communicates corn mands to the control modules by taking
advantage of the fact that higher frequencies can piggyback on top of lower
frequencies. The power service in your
home is low- frequency 60 -Hz alternating current. The X -10 system injects
high- frequency signals via the power
outlet on the 60 Hz. The information encoded in those high- frequency signals
then travels over your existing house
wiring to the control modules, which decode and act on it.
Each module must normally be set to
a unique address; the control module
sends one command at a time to a
unique address.
I
Modules vary in price and functionality, but their average cost is about
$12. You can purchase compatible modules from Radio Shack, Sears, and
Stanley hardware dealers.
The CP290 controller attaches directly to the serial port of your PC, and is
sold with software that allows you to start
controlling your home immediately. The
CP290 typically sells for about $40; you
can purchase one from Egghead Software or Radio Shack. I was fortunate
enough to be able to purchase mine
some time ago for $19 on a close -out
sale.
The other major component of the Invisibot consists of a Covox Voice Master
Key, which provides both speech recognition and synthesis. The Master Key
plugs into a standard PC bus; it can
record and play back speech or other
sounds, and includes an excellent
speech -recognition package.
A memory- resident software module
allows you to store a set of commands,
each of which can be sent to DOS when
the board recognizes a given phrase.
For example, when speak the command, "Oh butler, brighten the den," the
system sends the proper commands to
DOS to: 1) Play back a prerecorded
voice file containing the words, "Yes sir!
Right away sir!" and 2) Run the X -10
control program with the proper parameters to increase brightness in the den to
100%.
Not being content to control things
through X -10 modules, I then designed
the universal remote control project de12
scribed here.
I
69
13
14
15
Vec
I/O
12
4051
5
r
EN
IC1
AO
Al
A2
GND
Vss
16
board patterns are provided.

The following are instructions
for disassembling the remote
control, mounting its PC board
on a piece of perforated board,
wiring the 4051's, making the
remainder of the connections,
and installing the device in a
suitable enclosure.
First, remove the PC board
from the AV-4 and clip off the
metal battery contacts, leaving
long power leads. Next, identify
the row and column locations of
PC
COLUMN
+6V
AV-4 KEYBOARD MATRIX
3
6
11
8
10
+6V
13
16
Vcc
14
the keyboard matrix. Then,

using a hobby knife, carefully
I/O
15
IC2
4051
12
N
AO
Al
6
11
10
A2
GND
r
4
Vss
+6V
13
Vcc
14
I/0
15
EN
4051
AO
Al
4
5
6
J1
IC3
12
16
11
DB-25
10
4
Vss
13
+6V
16
cc
14
ua
/
15
12
IC4
4051
AO
Al
5
A2
/
2
GND
board, leaving enough space for

the AV-4, as shown in Fig. 3.
Mount five 16 -pin DIP sockets
for the 4051's, and a sixth to be
used as a socket for the eight
pull -up resistors. Then make all
connections, using Fig. 2 as a
wiring guide. Remember to connect pin 16 of each IC to Vcc,
and pins 7 and 8 to ground.
Connect the power leads of
the circuit and the AV-4 to the
wall -mount transformer, carefully observing polarity. Bend
the resistor leads to fit cleanly
into the DIP socket, remove excess lead length, and insert the
resistors. Now insert the 4051's,
AO
GND 8
the perforated construction
19
A2
11
10
9
R3
2.2K
131
2.2K
R5
2.2K
R7
2.2K
9
8
R2
2.2K
Vss
R4
2.2K
R6
2.2K
R8
2.2K
+6V
13
cc
14
6
IC5
12
4051
4
5
2
16
I/0
15
EN
AO
A1
11
+6V
10
Vcc
PARTS LIST
R8-2200 ohms, '/a-watt

IC5--4051 CMOS -of-8 decoder
-25-pin female DB -25 connector
R1
IC1
J1
A2
GND
2-
INVISIBOT DRIVES A UNIVERSAL REMOTE CONTROLLER with five 4051

of-8 multiplexors.
70
Remember that until i-N goes

high again, the remote control
will act as if the key remains
pressed. Hence the software
must reassert
6-volt DC, 300 mA, wall-mount trans-
7
Vss
FIG.
scrape a small patch of insulating paint from each trace of the

matrix, leaving its shiny copper
surface exposed.
Carefully solder connecting
wires to the exposed traces of
the AV-4 board. Cleaning them
with a new rubber eraser or alcohol swab will help make a better solder connection. Tinning
the wire and the traces before
soldering will also help.
Mount the components on
1-
Construction
Because of the simplicity of

the circuit, the prototype was
built using wire -wrap and

point -to -point techniques.
No
former
Six 16-pin DIP sockets
Perforated construction board
Universal remote control (Memorex

AV-4 or equivalent)
6 -foot male -to -male DB -25 ribbon cable
Metal project case large enough to accommodate construction board and
remote control
PC -board standoffs and mounting hardware
observing normal rules for handling electrostatic discharge sensitive devices. Now we're
ready to test the controller.
Important: Always apply
power to the interface before attaching it to the PC, and discon-
nect it from the PC before

turning off the controller. Be-
cause the interface draws very

little power, you might want to
leave it on all the time.
Use a nibbling tool (or a drill
and a file) to make openings in
the project enclosure for the
DB -25 connector (J1), the
power cable, and the AV-4's infrared LED's. Mount the board
in the enclosure using four
stand -offs, and the interface is
complete.
Programming considerations
We don't have enough space
to present a complete listing of
the entire program. Moreover, if
you don't use an AV-4 and a
Sony TV, the commands won't
work for you anyway. However,
we present enough information
so that you can test the unit and
modify the command structure
to suit your needs. In addition,
the code will be posted on the
Electronics
Now BBS
(516- 293 -2283, 1200/2400,
8N1) as a file called
NVISIBOT.BAS. All code was de-
veloped in Microsoft Quick BASIC.
The interface uses only the

data lines of the port, and ignores the control lines, so the
software does not use the familiar LPRINT command. Instead,
it uses the OUT instruction,
which sends a byte of data directly to the specified port.
Listing 1 shows a set of constants that makes it easy to
specify different rows and columns in the software. The first
group (Chip1- Chip5) provides
the values to enable each 4051;
the second group shows the values to enable each row of the
matrix; and the third group
shows the values to enable each
column. Enabling a particular
position in the matrix is simply
a matter of executing an OUT
statement. (Editor's Note: Determining the address of your LPT
port can be tricky; more on that
below. For now, assume use of
FIG. 3 -MOUNT THE CONTROLLER AND CIRCUIT BOARD in the case as shown here.
1-
LISTING 2 -STALL ROUTINE
LISTING
INVISIBOT CONSTANTS
REM
REM
REM
REM
REM
REM
REM
REM
REM
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * **
INVISIBOT INTERFACE CONTROL
* * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
**
1 port = 378h = 888 decimal

data lines: A = 1, B = 2, C = 4
chip inhibit lines: chip i = 8,
chip 2 = 16, chip 3 = 32,
chip 4 = 64, chip 5 = 128
1pt
REM * *
chipl
chip2
chip3
chip4
chip5
* ***
=
=
=
=
=
chip ENABLES table * * * * *
255
255
255
255
255
8 -
16 - 7
- 32 - 7
- 64 - 7
- 128 - 7
-
REM
REM
OUT
REM
REM
REM * * * * ** data channel table

data = 1
datai = 2
data2
3
data3 = 4
data4 = 5
data5 = 6
data6 = 7
data? = 0
REM
REM
REM
REM
REM
REM
REM
* * * * **
rowa
rowb
rowc
rowd
rows
chip#
chip correspondence
URC Row
=
=
=
=
REM * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * **
REM *
STALL ROUTINE
REM *
REM * make a URC keypress long
*
REM * enough to ensure command
*
REM * gets sent, then clear the *
REM * keypress and allow circuit *
REM * to settle
REM * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * **
stall:
REM hold the button down
REM for a time
FOR i = 1 TO 1500
NEXT i
* * **
chipl
chip2
chip3
chip4
chip5
REM * * * * ** data correspondence * * * *

REM
ABC
URC Column
REM
000
1
REM
001
2
REM
010
3
REM
011
4
REM
100
5
REM
101
6
REM
110
7
REM
111
0
LPTI at an address of 0378

hex, or 888 decimal.) 'R) enable
position Al in the matrix, ex-
ecute the command:
* * * * * * * **
OUT 888, ROWA + COD
A
B
NEXT
RETURN
REM * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
3
4
let all buttons up and wait

for a time ...
888, 255
FOR i = 1 TO 5
Next execute a short delay, and

then disable all rows and columns. Listing 2 shows a subroutine that delays processing
after "pressing" a key, followed
by a "release" of all keys.
Listing 3 shows a demonstra-
tion routine that selects the TV

mode of the AV-4, turns on the
TV,
ramps up the volume,
changes the channel, and turns

the TV off again. Unless you use
an AV-4 and a Sony TV, these
commands probably won't work
for you.
Listing 4 shows a diagnostic

routine that enables each row
and column of the matrix, requesting that you press Enter
after each position. The routine
will be useful for verifying that
71
3-
LISTING
EXERCISE FUNCTIONS
REM * * * ** ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * **rrr
REM the following code exercises
REM some basic command functions
REM select the tv

REM as the device to control
PRINT "sending tv: a5"
OUT 888, rows 4 col5
GOSUB stall
INPUT x
REM turn on the tv
PRINT "sending POWER: e6"
OUT 888, rows + col6
GOSUB stall
INPUT x
REM crank up the volume
FOR k - 1 TO 20
PRINT "sending VOLUME UP: b6"
OUT 888, rowb + col6
GOSUB stall
INPUT x
NEXT k
REM change the tv channel

PRINT "sending CHANNEL DOWN: c6"
OUT 888, rowe + col6
GOSUB stall
INPUT x
REM turn off the tv
PRINT "sending POWER: e6"
GOSUB stall
4-
LISTING
SONY TEST COMMANDS
REM the next piece of code
REM initializes the URC for
REM a SONY TV (000)
REM the "INPUT x" statements
REM aren't necessary, they're
REM just here so you can
REM observe each command.
REM The AV -4 has a surface REM mounted LED that blinks
REM once as each command is
REM received, and multiple
REM times when e valid device
REM code has been
REM successfully programmed.
REM
PRINT "sending A: e5"
GOSUB stall
INPUT x
PRINT "sending V: e3"
GOSUB stall
INPUT x
PRINT "sending 4: el"

OUT 888, rowe + coil
GOSUB stall
INPUT x
PRINT "sending #0: b2"
GOSUB stall
END
INPUT x

GOSUB stall
INPUT x
the circuit is wired properly. You

should see a change in the state
of each line as it is tested.
'lb determine which LPT port
to use, run the program shown
in Listing 5. It will display the
decimal and hexadecimal addresses of those parallel ports
that are installed on your machine.
Adapting for other devices
When writing your own control program, keep the following
in mind: Because the interface
does not include a backup battery, the control program should
send the proper setup commands for your particular device when you first start the program. Because the PC can
"press" the remote control's buttons much faster than a human
being, you could even program
it to send keystrokes on-the -fly,
each time you send a command.
Doing so would allow you to
overcome the four-device limit
typical of inexpensive remotes,
allowing you unlimited control
over TV's, VCR's, CD players,
video -disc players, and other IRcontrolled devices.
72
The circuit described here is

OUT 888, rowb + coil
GOSUB stall
INPUT x
REM * * * * * * * * * * ** end URC snit
LISTING
5-LPT ADDRESSING
REM display addresses of 1pt ports

REM jkh 2/21/93
DEF SEG = &H40
1ptl - 8118: 1pt2 = &HA: 1pt3 = &HC
a = PEEK(lptl) + 256 * PEEK(lptl + 1)
b - PEEK(lpt2) + 256 * PEEK(lpt2 + 1)
c = PEEK(lpt3) + 256 * PEEK(lpt3 + 1)
PRINT "Decimal ", "Hex"
PRINT "LPT1: "; a, HEXS(a)
IF b > 0 THEN PRINT "LPT2: "; b, HEX$(b)
IF c > 0 THEN PRINT "LPT3: "; c, HEXS(c)
not specific to the Memorex

it could be attached to al-
AV-4;
most any device with a 5 x 8 or

smaller keyboard matrix.
With only slight modifications, it could control much
larger layouts. One way to increase the capacity of the interface while still using only eight
data lines would be to add more
4051's. With additional decoding, the five control lines could
control 25 = 32 different 4051's.
That's a 32 x 8 matrix, or a
whopping 256 keys!
it
AUTOCOUPLER
continuedfrom page 67
does, LED1 will light up. Connect an audio source to the audio leads and try sending some
audio down the line. Your calling party should hear it loud
and clear. Next, connect an amplifier and speaker, to the audio
port and listen to the calling
party. Shortly after the caller
hangs up, the coupler should
automatically drop the line.

With your amplifier still connected, pick up an extension
phone; you should hear the dial

tone through your off-line coupler. That confirms the audio
pass- through from the MPC -2
section that makes the coupler

caller-ID compatible.
The remote connections can
be tested with a VOM. When the
coupler first picks up, pin 5 of
the DB -25 connector will go low
for a moment. Depending on
which way you set jumper JU2,
the contacts of relay RY2 (available at J3, the DB -25 connector,
pins 1-4) will close either momentarily or will latch as the
unit picks up. A ring signal will
produce a high output at pin 9
of J3.
You should be able to force the
coupler to pick up by momentarily grounding pin 13 of J3 via
switch Si. Be sure you don't
ground pin 13 directly (R16

must be in place) or you might
damage IC5. You can force the

coupler to hang up by grounding pin 8 of J3 via Si. Tst the
external inhibit by connecting
pins 11 and 12 of J3 together.
Then remove JU1 and have
someone call the coupler; it
should not answer. Next, connect pin 10 of J3 to ground; the
coupler should answer.
Conclusion
The couplers can send or receive audio signals and they

have been used as outgoing
message centers, listen lines,
and remote -control interfaces,
just to mention a few. Youil find
that it is an excellent and versatile telephone -line interface
suitable for automatically connecting your telephone line to a
variety of projects.
ci
HARDWARE HACKER
Communication trade journals, micropower oscillators, thermodynamic
basics, steam calliope sources, and avoiding energy scams.
DON LANCASTER
Electronics cannot stand on its

own. It has been built on the
underlying foundations of
math, physics, chemistry, and engineering disciplines.
This month, figured I'd take a
back -to- the -basics tack over a topic
that has been causing more than its
I
share of helpline grief lately. In

short, we are long past overdue in
taking a close look at the...
Fundamentals of
thermodynamics
As Fig. shows, a heat engine is
some device or machine that accepts thermal energy at a high input
1
temperature
TH,
performs some
useful mechanical work, and finally

loses its remaining
to a sink at a lower temperature TL.
Nearly all auto and airplane power
sources are heat engines, as are
most electrical generators. Variations on the heat -engine theme lead
us to heat pumps, ice makers, vacuum systems, refrigerators, and
compressors. And, for that matter,
to life itself.
The study of heat processes is
known as thermodynamics. While it
is more of a mechanical engineering
topic than an electrical one, electrical- engineering students are usually required to take at least one
thermodynamic course. That's because nearly all modern heat engines need lots of support electronics, and many home -power and
new energy- recovery schemes are
actually heat engines in disguise.
Knowing the fundamentals of thermodynamics lets you instantly sort
out the perpetual- motion rip -offs
and the outrageous pipe dreams
from the realities of physics and
real -world economics.
We should note up front that
more people have spent more time
hacking heat -engine ideas than on
any other engineering topic. The
field has been studied to death, and

there are tons of readily available
literature out there.
Unless you can bring something
truly new to the table, the chances
are that your "new" heat -engine
concept has been thoroughly

trashed decades ago. Or even centuries before.
For instance, got this model heat
engine in the mail. It was a clever
example of how crucially important
reversibility is in preventing you from
getting useful economic benefits.
Reversibility is a very sticky thermodynamic problem that was first
solved in a brilliant analytic breakthrough by James Watt in 1784.
I
Thermodynamic
Any study of thermodynamics
starts off with the laws of thermodynamics. To the best of my
knowledge, nobody has ever been
able to find any exception to these
laws. At least not on a practical
scale.
Countless individuals have blown
incredible amounts of their time and
money trying to crack those thermodynamic laws. And all of them
have failed miserably. Without any
exception.
The laws are pretty fundamental,
and they range well beyond heat engines. For instance, cell biology, the
very life process itself, photosynthesis, all chemical reactions,

and solar power all must rigorously
obey these laws.
NEED HELP?
Phone or write your Hardware
Hacker questions directly to:
Don Lancaster
Synergetics
Box 809
Thatcher, AZ 85552
(602) 428 -4073
Heat energy always travels from

higher temperatures to lower ones.
Systems always move toward their
most chaotic and lowest energy level states. Energy can neither be
created nor destroyed in any thermodynamic process.
If you do build a heat engine, only
a small fraction of the total energy
can ever be recovered as useful
work; the rest is irretrievably lost as
waste heat.
Ah yes, that fraction. How big and
just how much? Enter one of the
most brilliant hardware hackers of
all time, a French scientist named
Sadi Carnot. Like most hardware
hackers, Carnot did not have the
foggiest idea what he was really
It took the establishment decades to understand how utterly
profound and fundamental Carnot's
discovery was.
Typical heat engines depend on a
working fluid. The more important
heat -engine fluids include air,
steam, ammonia, freon, mercury, nitrogen, hydrogen, helium, and even
liquid sodium. The working fluid
goes through a number of individual
steps or processes to trace out a
cycle. A heat -engine cycle must
close upon itself and return to initial
conditions so that the gngine can
continue to produce useful work.
These thermodynamic cycles can
usually be plotted in your choice of a
pressure- volume 1p -v) diagram or a
temperature -entropy It-s) diagram.
The area inside the cycle on either a pressure- volume or temperature- entropy diagram is related to
the amount of useful work that can
be extracted from your heat engine.
The efficiency of any engine is the
ratio of the useful work you extract
compared to the energy that must
be dumped as waste heat expressed as a percent.
Many different heat -engine cycles have been dreamed up. The
73
Otto cycle applies to gasoline engines, while the Diesel cycle ob-
viously applies to diesel power

plants. Electric -power turbines use
Rankin cycle. Or some multi -stage
improvement on it. A lot of alternate energy people get real excited over
a Stirling cycle, since it is a kind of
"external combustion" engine that
can accept heat from diverse or lowgrade sources.
Every few years or so, somebody
reinvents the old Stirling engine,
and then builds a bunch of prototypes that just barely miss. Then
they will just barely go bankrupt. To
date, the old Stirling cycle has
largely proven to be both a sucker
bet and an economic rathole. Except possibly for arcane cryogenic
cooling applications.
a
Carnot asked two questions:

What is the finest theoretical thermodynamic cycle you could possibly create, and what are the
efficiency limits to that cycle ?"
It was obvious that each part of a
Carnot cycle had to be lossless.
More precisely, all the processes
involved had to be reversible. A heat
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SYNERGETICS
Box 809 -RE
Thatcher, AZ 85552
(602) 428 -4073
74
1-A HEAT ENGINE accepts energy

from a high -temperature source, does
useful mechanical work, and then rejects a portion of that energy to a lowertemperature sink. Only a fraction of the
available energy can ever be converted.
Most electronic devices must also obey
the same thermodynamic laws that
govern heat engines.
FIG.
engine must be able to undo anything it just did without losing any
heat to friction or other losses. That
means "no sudden moves" and "no
rapid changes," with everything
changing as incrementally and as
slowly as possible. That also means
zero friction, lossless seals, and
perfect insulation. Figure 2 helps to
explain the concept of reversibility.
you want to use a piston
to compress the gas inside a non -
insulated cylinder. Some work is

needed to reduce the gas to a required volume. Any work above that
is lost as waste or exhaust heat.
Let's say you build up your cylinder and throw an eight pound weight
on it. You note that this particular
piston happens to drop by a foot,
doing work to compress the gas. In
this case, eight foot pounds of work
are expended, because the eight pound weight dropped by one foot.
Is this the best you can do? If
instead, you put a one -pound
weight on the piston, waited until
things settled down, added another
one -pound weight, and so on, you
now have the first pound pushing
the piston a full foot and the final
pound pushing the piston down only
an eighth of a foot. Your total work is
8/8 + 7/8 + 6/8 + 5/8 + 4/8 + 3/8 + 2/8
+ 1/8 = 4.5 foot -pounds.
Yet, in each case, you cornpressed the gas by the same
amount, raising its energy state by
the same value. The extra 3.5 foot -
pounds of work has dropped

through that irrecoverable low grade heat rathole.
In both examples, you have an

irreversible process. But your second one is clearly much better. As a
third try, put a feather on the piston.
Wait till things settle, and then put
another feather on the piston. Repeat this until you have accumulated
eight pounds of feathers, and you
will also end up with the gas compressed by a foot. And only 4.0 foot pounds of total work will be needed.
This is a reversible process and the
best you can do. And twice as efficient as your first attempt.
One more time: You must be able
to undo what you just did. At all
times, you do have to be willing and
able to stuff the Genie back into the
bottle. That's what reversibility is all
about.
There are several important reversible processes. One of them is
called an isothermal process, where
everything takes place at a constant
temperature. The heat -energy receiver must be at a temperature
only a tad lower than the energy
source. And the heat source must
be so large that taking a small
amount of energy out of that source
does not significantly change its
temperature.
A second one is an adiabatic process, in which heat energy is neither added nor removed. For full
reversibility, any compression or expansion of a working fluid should be
adiabatic.
At any rate, the Carnot cycle
obeys fully reversible processes to
trace out the best approximation of
the theoretically ideal heat -engine
cycles. Figure 3 shows some more
Carnot cycle details. Once again,
this is the best possible one you can
ever build. Why? Because of the full
eversibility. You just can't get better
than this.
In the Carnot cycle, one starts
with a working fluid at a low temperature. Then the gas is adiabatically
compressed by doing work on it.
Typically, the new external energy
required can come from a flywheel
or a second cylinder in the engine.
Compressing the fluid raises its
temperature and reduces its volume. Extreme care is needed so
that heat energy is neither added
nor removed during compression.
The temperature rise has to result
solely from the volume reduction.
Compression will continue until a

temperature very slightly under that
of the heat source is reached. After
compression, an isothermal process transfers its heat energy into
the fluid, expanding it, and increasing its pressure. The temperature,
of course, stays the same. In the
third step, the gas adiabatically expands while delivering useful output
work. The fluid volume goes up and
the temperature goes down. A final
isothermal process dumps the remaining heat energy to the waste
heat sink, reducing the volume and
closing the cycle.
Once again, that area inside the
curve on the pressure -volume diagram determines how much work
is delivered.
Because every process is reversible, one can introduce heat energy
at a high temperature to produce
mechanical work output. Or, one
can apply mechanical work to pump
heat from the low side to the high
grees above Fahrenheit. Absolute

degrees Kelvin are 273 degrees
above Centigrade. And any efficiency is a hundred times the efficiency
stated as a fraction from 0.0 to 1.0.
Down my street is an impressive
artesian hot well that's spewing
forth mightily at 125 degrees F.
Could we get some electricity out of
it?
Assume the local average ground

temperature is 75 degrees (The well
sits in the Upper Sonoran life zone.)
The best possible energy recovery
efficiency here would be...
(75 + 460))/
((125 + 460)
(125 + 460) = 0.085
Or a mere 8.5 percent, under ideconditions. That's assuming a perfect Carnot cycle. In the real world,
you'd be lucky to get a tiny fraction
of that -say three percent net. For
al
every kilowatt hour generated,

thirty-two are thrown away!
Sadly, it makes sense to ignore
some $20,000 worth of electricity
each year just by dumping it into the
Gila River. Why? Because any practical recovery project of this size and
temperature differential could never
pay for the engineering, materials,
operating costs, flood zone risks,
and the time value of money needed
to do the job properly.
As one process in a heat engine cycle, assume

you have a fluid you wish to compress by adding
weight to the piston such that your piston drops
by exactly one foot...
side.
A gas engine runs "forward." A

refrigerator runs "backward." And a
heat pump can either heat or cool,
by swapping the heat from the high side to the low -side.
When you go through the math
(the derivation takes a full lecture
hour in any university physics
course), this stunningly elegant and
simple result pops out...
eta = (TH
TL) /TH
Restated in English: The very

best possible efficiency that can be
obtained from any heat engine is
determined solely by the ratio of its
source temperature to its sink tem-
perature-no matter what cycle,

fluid, or engineering is used! And
my key point: To get useful work out
of any heat engine, lots more energy must be thrown away as irrecoverable waste heat.
For example, a modern auto engine has a theoretical efficiency of
55 percent, with something like 38
percent being a typical real -world
value. That is at the engine's
flywheel. The actual efficiency of
the automobile as a transportation
system is far lower.
Oh yeah. One minor gotcha. Absolute temperatures must be used
for the Carnot formula to work. Absolute degrees Rankin are 460 de-
On your first try, you throw an eight pound brick

on the piston and note that the piston does in fact
drop by one foot. You have done 8.0 foot pounds
of work. As we will shortly see, this is a useless
and BADLY IRREVERSIBLE process, because
one -half of your work will get lost as irrecoverable
low grade heat...
On your second try, you place
a one pound rock

on the piston, wait till things settle, and then add
another one pound rock. You will still need eight
pounds of rocks, but this time, the work needed is
only 8/8 + 7/8 + 6/8 + 5/8 + 4/8 + 3/8 + 2/8 + 1/8
= 4.5 foot pounds of work. This is a useful but
MODERATELY IRREVERSIBLE process in which
one -eighth of your work gets thrown away...
On your third try, you place
a feather on the
piston, wait till things settle, and add another
feather. You still need eight pounds of feathers,
but this time the work needed is only the tiniest
amount above 4 foot pounds. This is a FULLY
REVERSIBLE process in which virtually none
of your work gets thrown away...
a fluid is also
called an ADIABATIC process. Heat is neither added nor removed
in any reversible adiabatic process.
Any fully reversible scheme to compress or expand
FIG. 2 -AN EFFICIENT HEAT ENGINE absolutely demands that all of its processes be
fully reversible. Here are some good and bad examples of reversibility.
75
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Is
there any way you can beat the
thermodynamic laws? Generating

electricity won't hack it, because
always use your electricity
to run a motor, which instantly gets
you back to a heat engine which has
to rigorously obey the laws.
You can switch to a binary or even
a trinary cycle which uses multiple
stages and different fluids. But

these often will only marginally improve the efficiency while doubling
or even tripling the costs.
The only other way know of is to
do something useful with the rejected waste heat. Say by heating
water, equalizing process temperatures, or starting your own catfish
I
farm.
A solar panel that also heats
water should have much better economics than one that solely generates electricity. Schemes such as
these are sometimes called

cogeneration, and they are now a
very hot topic indeed. There's even
a World Cogeneration trade journal.
610 Washington Street
Dedham, MA 02026
(617) 326 -8222 FAX
A reality check
So, how do you separate the
"real" heat engines from the scams
wishful- thinking
Data Communications
Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
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New York, NY 10010
(212) 691 -8215
daydreams? First, calculate its Car not efficiency and see what that reveals about the claims involved. Be
especially suspect of statements
Earn Your B.S. Degree

in
ELECTRONICS
or
COMPUTERS
isothermal
heating
adiabatic
compression
P
R
E
adiabatic
expansion
isothermal
cooling
U
R
E
VOLUME
The AREA inside the Carnot cycle determines
how much useful mechanical work is output.
By Studying at Home
The EFFICIENCY of a Carnot cycle is determined

solely by this elegantly simple formula:
Grantham College of Engineering,

now in our 43rd year, is highly experienced in "distance education"
teaching by correspondence- through
n = (TH - TO/TH = OT/TH
You can multiply this 0 -1 value by 100 to get the

percentage efficiency. Note that an ABSOLUTE
temperature scale must be used such as Kelvin
(Centigrade + 270) or Rankin (Farenheit + 460).
Note that the best possible efficiency of any heat

engine depends ONLY upon the highside /lowside
temperature differential and nothing else!
FIG. 3 -THE MOST EFFICIENT HEAT ENGINE you can possibly build conforms to the
Carnot Cycle. All four processes are fully reversible. Even the best Carnot cycles must
dump a lot of non -recoverable energy as waste heat.
a heat engine," or
the thermodynamic laws do not
apply to me."
Then carefully look at the p -v or ts diagrams (these will always be
very obvious on any legitimate device). Then check carefully for anything that is obviously nonreversible. Any sudden changes or
the need to add coolant to close a
cycle are both dead giveaways that
all is not well. Always ask Can each
and every process be run backward
just as well as forward ?"
Then throw in some economic
analysis. This could be your time to
break even. That's the length of time
needed for generated power to pay
for the materials, the design, and
time value of the money needed to
create the device. Assume that
17.58 watts is a heating rate of one
BTU per minute, and that it raises
one pound of water by one degree F.
And that a nickel per kilowatt -hour is
a sensible ballpark cost for elec-
like "this is not
tricity that you can avoid. And that
gallon of water weighs eight

pounds. And that the time value of
money normally triples the cost of a
project.
Note that the time to break even
can easily be infinite! If you produce
less revenue from electrical generation per year than the interest on the
construction financing, the longer
you run, the more you will lose.
Finally, be extremely wary of the
word "Stirling." When and where it
happens to occur.
My favorite popular thermodynamic book is Heat Engines

by Sanford. It is found in the Doubleday Science Series. Beyond that
one, pick up any of the dozens of
college -level course texts. Important thermodynamic resources include the SAE Library from the
Society of Automotive Engineers,
and the EPR/ Publications from the
Electric Power Research Institute.
Of the many trade publications,
printed materials, computer materials,

fax, and phone.
No commuting to class. Study at
your own pace, while continuing on
your present job. Learn from easy -tounderstand but complete and thorough
lesson materials, with additional help
from our instructors.
Our Computer B.S. Degree Program includes courses in BASIC,
PASCAL and C languages as well as
Assembly Language, MS DOS, CADD,
Robotics, and much more.
Our Electronics B.S. Degree Program includes courses in Solid -State
Circuit Analysis and Design, Control
Systems, Analog/ Digital Communications, Microwave Engr, and much more.
An important part of being prepared to move up is holding the right
college degree, and the absolutely neces-
sary part is knowing your field.

Grantham can help you both ways
to learn more and to earn your degree
in the process.
Write or phone for our free

catalog. Toll free, 1- 800 -955 -2527, osee mailing address below.
0
Accredited by
the Accrediting Commission of the
National Home Study Council
m
m
GRANTHAM
College of Engineering
Grantham College Road

Slidell, LA 70460
77
Power Engineering is typical; it targets large -scale electrical generation. And, of course, virtually any
and all thermodynamic papers ever
published are instantly available
through Dialog.
Communications resources
Where can you go to get a crystal
for a pager? Or to find out more on
fiber-optic communication? Or information on wireless modems? Or
phone testing? Or computer local
area networks? As always, your first
and foremost source of insider information in any field is in the trade
journals.
As our resource sidebar for this
month, have gathered together a
bunch of the more obscure and
more fragmented communications
trade journals for you. have a hunch
might have missed a few here, so
be sure to let me know if you have
any other favorites.
I
Crystal oscillator
Hacking a crystal oscillator is no
big deal these days. You just bias
any old CMOS gate into its active
region and hang a crystal in the
feedback path. But things get tricky
fast if you try to run at ultra -low supply currents or want to start oscilla-
tion reliably at unusually low

voltages.
Most hackers have discovered

that typical CMOS transistors run
out of gain at ultra -low currents. And
they ultimately find that the best
route to micropower oscillators is to
use bipolar transistors instead of
CMOS gates.
Harris Semiconductor has just introduced a cheap and very simple
HA7210 all -CMOS crystal -oscillator chip. It costs under a dollar

and free samples are available. As
Fig. 4 shows, you simply hang a
crystal on the chip, and away you go.
The current consumed by this oscillator is a mere five microamps at
32 kilohertz.
Pin 6 is an enable; keep it high to
run and make it low to disable the
chip. Pins 7 and 8 can program the
78
operating current. Make them both

high for low frequencies (10 -100
kHz) and both low for high frequencies (5 -10 MHz). The supply -voltage range for the chip is 2.0 to 7.0
volts.
New tech lit

There are some new integrated
circuits for this month: The SSI
67F687 is a new engine interface
peripheral offered by Silicon Systems. It receives gasoline- engine
crank and cam input signals for use
as timing and pollution management.
From Trident, a new Video View
video -processing chip set offers

scalable, full- motion video windows
and frame capture for VGA sys-
tems. From Hitachi, there's a new

HD49049FS picture -in- picture controller chip, also intended for video insertion applications. The Grass
Valley Group has a fine video
Dictionary of Technical Terms newly
available. A good bookstore for navigation texts and GPS satellite secrets is the Navitech Book &
Software Store.
One source for Apple II repairs
and supplies is Rolf Taylor. The best
Apple II magazine is still Resource
NAMES AND NUMBERS
Dialog
Ragtime
3460 Hllview Avenue

Palo Alto, CA 94304
(415) 858-2700
4218 Jessup
Ceres, CA 95307
(209) 668 -0366
Electric Power Research Inst.
Resource Central
PO Box 10412
Palo Alto, CA 94303
(415) 855 -2000
PO Box 11250
(913) 649 -0567
GEnie
Silicon Systems
401 N Washington Street
14351 Myford Road
Rockville, MD 20850
(800) 638 -9636
Tustin, CA 92680
(714) 573 -6000
Grass Valley Group
Society Automotive Engineers
PO Box 1114
Grass Valley, CA 95945
(916) 478-3000
400 Commonwealth Drive

Warrendale, PA 15096
(412) 776 -4841
Harris Semiconductor
Synergetics
1301 Woody Burke Rd CB
Melbourne, FL 32902
(407) 724 -3739
Box 809
Thatcher, AZ 85552
(602) 428 -4073
Hitachi
Rolf K. Taylor
RFD #1 Keeler Lane
-25
2000 Sierra Point Parkway

Brisbane, CA 94005
(415) 589 -8300
North Salem, NY 10560

(914) 669 -5421
Industrial Laser Review
Trident Microsystems
One Technology Park Drive

Westford, MA 01886
(508) 692-0700
205 Ravendale Drive

Mountain View, CA 94043
(415) 691 -9211
Navtech Books & Software
Voltek
2775 S Quincy Street, Ste 610

Arlington, VA 22206
(800) NAV -0885
100 Shepard Street
Power Engineering
World Cogeneration
1250 S Grove Avenue. Ste 302

Barrington, IL 60010
(708) 382 -2450
PO Box 1589
Dallas, TX 75221
(214) 691 -3911
Lawrence, MA 01843
(508) 685 -2557
+2 to +7 vdc
"YOUR FREE CATALOG

KNOCKED MY SOCKS 0FF"
output
square
wave
Our free Catalog of free and low -cost government

booklets will very likely impress you, too.
But first you have to get it.
Just send your name and address to:
Consumer Information Center
Department KO
Pueblo, Colorado 81009
FIG. 4-THIS MICROPOWER CRYSTAL
A public service of this publication and the Consumer Information Center of the U. S. General Services Administration
OSCILLATOR from Harris Semiconduc-
tor needs only five microamps of supply

current from a source as low as two
volts. It costs under a dollar. Free sample
kits are available.
Electronics Workbench
Central. And the A2 GEnie Round -
"...you can do 10 times as many experiments with Electronics

Workbench than you'd get done with the real stuff."
Table has just seen its 20,000th li-
brary uploads. Yet another trade

publication for this month is the
Industrial Laser Review. A good
source for steam calliopes is

Ragtime. It offers a $5 catalog.
Free samples of Volara, Volextra,
and Minicel foams are available from
Voltek. Ask for their specifier kit.
A reminder here that have autographed copies of my Incredible Secret Money Machine ll here for you
at my own Synergetics. This book is
a must if you are starting up your
own tech venture. Plus a reminder
about my Hardware Hacker Round Table on GEnie PSRT at (800)
638 -9636. And our no- charge technical helpline is found at (602)
428 -4073. Best calling times are
8 -5 weekdays, Mountain Standard
time.
Most of the items I've mentioned
appear in our Names & Numbers or
Communications Trade Journals
sidebars. Be sure to check here first
I
computer
The electronics lab in a
- Jerry Pournelle, Ph.D.. Uyle Magazine
Building and testing circuits is fast and

easy with Electronics Workbench. Just
click-and -drag with a mouse to add
parts, run wires, and adjust
instruments. The traces on the
simulated instruments are the sanie as
you'd get on real equipment.
Includes two independent modules:

Analog Module with passive and active
components including transistors, diodes,
and opamps; a function generator, an
oscilloscope, a multimeter, and a Bode plotter.
Digital Module with
gates, flip-flops, adders,

word generator, a logic analyzer, and a
unique logic converter and simplifier.
a
Call (416) 361 -0333
Professional Version - $299

Personal Plus Version - $199
Macintosh Version - $199
DOS
DOS
Fax: (416) 368 -5799
Interactive Image Technologies Ltd.

908 Niagara Falls
Prices are in US dollars. Shipping $ l5. Offer valid in the USA and
Canada only. Macintosh and D05 Personal Plus versions are in
monochrome only. All trademarks are the property of their
respective owners.
Boulevard
North Tonawanda,
14120-2060
700 King St. W., Ste 815
Toronto, Ontario
Canada
NY
xi5V 2Y6
before calling our helpline. Let's

hear from you.
1t
tnsnnFn
rrn
cmrrnsa:
ssRit
._
arn
real
ra.(a n-azac
ian
__ ta rae
I
'
Fred then realized that he fi rgot to build

in an off button.
OS
pe
o,`
$vcvok
79
LEARN VCR
WHAT'S NEWS
continued from page 4
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CABLE TV
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How You Can Save Money on

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999
Wireless, pocket -sized telephones

would be needed.
Under Cablevision's ambitious

plan, 100,000 homes on Long Island
could be connected by early 1994.
The network is expected to reach
the rest of Cablevision's 1.1 million
customers in the tri -state area by
the end of 1995. There are also
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in 16
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Global positioning network
NM
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Jerrold Super Tri-Bi _ S109.95379
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long- distance telephone carriers,
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1 -800- 772 -6244

For Our Record
the undersigned do hereby declare under pena lty of perjury
that all product purchased, now and in the future, will only be
used on Cable TV systems with proper authorization from
local officials or cable company officials in accordance with all
applicable federal and state lawn FEDERAL AND VARIOUS
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I,
Date:
80
gramming, video conferencing, and

interactive long- distance educational programming. In addition, he
said Prodigy has been talking to
Cablevision about introducing its
electronic banking and shopping
services to the system.
Newsday, a Long Island regional
newspaper, has discussed the possibility of providing on -line newspaper articles and information
Signed:
A nationwide network called Pinpoint will permit the determination

of the positions of vehicles within a
few feet of their true positions. Signals from U.S. Naystar Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites are
being corrected to improve their accuracy before being retransmitted
by local FM radio stations.
Most of the commercial GPS receivers now available for private
yachts and commercial vessels can
deterine a ship's position to an accuracy within about 300 feet. (For
what it says are security reasons,
the Department of Defense restricts the accuracy of the signals
that civilian GPS receivers can receive directly from the satellites.)
No Florida Sales!
CIRCLE 181 ON FREE INFORMATION CARO
However, it is legal to correct those
signals to permit more accurate

"fixes" on land and at sea and retransmit them from ground -based
stations.
Pinpoint, which went into operation in February in Los Angeles, can
improve the GPS signal because it
maintains a reference position that
constantly monitors the satellites
navigational signals. Because the
coordinates of that reference station are precisely known, the station
can measure any errors in each satellite's signal and calculate correction factors that are used to offset
those errors.
Those correction factors are
transmitted by local FM radio stations by radio data link to mobile
GPS receivers, where the differential data is applied to the raw GPS
data.
Pinpoint is operated as a joint

venture between Magnavox Electronic Systems Co. (Torrance, CA)
and Cue Network Corp.(Irvine, CA).
The system is expected to be used
by:
Municipal traffic authorities to

manage traffic flow more efficiently.
Emergency vehicle dispatchers

responding to 911 calls in directing
fire trucks, police cars, ambulances
and tow trucks.
Commercial and utility vehicle
dispatchers to keep track of the
movements of buses, trucks, taxis,
and delivery vans.
Radio data links of this kind have
been difficult to organize because of
the congestion in suitable radio frequency bands that are strictly regulated by the FCC. However, Pinpoint
overcame this obstacle because
the system is based on frequency
allocations that are assigned to
Cue, a large paging and message
forwarding service.
Cue's satellite paging system

transmits on subcarriers- unused
bands within the assigned band withs of more than 300 commercial
FM stations. It can reach 90% of the
continental U.S.and Canada. The
differential GPS data is "piggybacked" on the FM subcarriers
along with Cue's paging signals.
Pinpoint plans to expanded to as
many as 50 North American cities
this year, beginning with Houston
si
and New Orleans.
Bectm, EordoLQ
Keypad Programmable and
LCD
Readout at Analog Prices
TWO TRANSMITTERS IN ONE! 5 MINUTE

A New Standard in Low Cost Linear
Programmable Power Supplies
Output Voltage /Current Programming and Readbark via LCD
Power -off
Data Entry with Front -Panel Keypad
Panel
Voltage and Current Step-up/Step -down Function
Memory
Microprocessor Controlled
Superior Line/Load Regulation
Output Enable/Disable
Optional
Interface for
RS -232
Remote Operation (standard on LPS -305)
Intelligent Forced -
iJr Fan Operation
American Reliance, Inc.

9952
E.
Baldwin Place,
(800)654 -9838
El
Monte,
CA
91731
Fax: (818) 575 -0801
ASSEMBLY! MONEYBACK GUARANTEE!

New Law Enforcement grade device on a
single chip is the most sensitive, powerful,
stable room transmitter you can buy. Uses
any 3V-12V battery. Or attach to telephone
line to monitor all telephone conversations
over 1 mile away without batteries! 100mW
output! 80- 130MHZ. Receive on any FM radio
or wideband scanner. VT-75 microtransmitter.
$49.95 + 1.50 S &H. VISA, MC, MO. COD's
add $4.00. DECO INDUSTRIES, Box 607,
Bedford Hills, NY 10507. 914 -232 -3878.
POMONA ELECTRONICS SMT /IC TEST

ACCESSORIES CATALOG...Pomona Electronics has introduced their new 24 -page Surface Mount and IC Test Accessory catalog.
Highlights include Pomona's expanded line of
popular FIN (Flexible Interface Network) clips
and SMT-PGA converters and adapters. The
catalog also introduces Pomona's newest
SSOP and SQFP test clips designed to access chips with lead densities of 0.5mm or
less and heights of 1.4mm. ITT POMONA
ELECTRONICS, 1500 E. Ninth St., P.O. Box
2767, Pomona, CA 91769; Telephone:
909 -469 -2900; Fax: 909-629-3317.
echioR
CABLE TV 50d13 NOTCH FILTERS for interference removal or channel censoring. Filters
are user-adjustable to desired channel # or
frequency. Eight Models available, each for
certain channels: 2 & 3; 4 to 6; 7 to 13; 14 to
17; 18 to 22; 23 to 29; 30 to 36; 95 to 99 plus 0
& 1. Just $30 each or 3 for $75, includes
shipping. ONE MONTH MONEY BACK, fast
delivery. Visa, MC, check or M.O. (C.O.D. is
$5 extra) Huge discounts for higher quantities. STAR CIRCUITS, P.O. Box 94917, Las
Vegas, NV 89193. Call 24 hours

1- 800 -535 -7827.
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WORLD'S SMALLEST FM TRANSMITTERS! New Surface Mount Technology

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Transmitter -powerful 3 transistor audio amplifier, transmits whispers up to 1 mile.
XSP250 Telephone Transmitter -line
powered, transmits conversations up to 1/4

mile. Both tune 88 -108 MHz. Easy to assemble E -Z KITS (SMT components pre -assembled to circuit board)! XST500- $44.95,
XSP250- $34.95, VISA/MC. COD add $6.
XANDI ELECTRONICS, 201 E. Southern
Ave., Suite 111, Tempe, AZ 85282.

1- 800 -336 -7389.
CALL NOW
GET YOUR RECHARGE CATALOG

FREE...EARN BIG $$ IN YOUR SPARE
TIME-All supplies and Do -It- Yourself kits

with complete instructions available. Supplies cost from $9.95 in qty and you can sell
recharged toner cartridges for $40.00 to
$55.00 each. Printers include HP Laser -Jet
Series I, II, III, IV, Apple LaserWriter, QMS,
etc. Canon PC Copiers also. CHENESKO
PRODUCTS, 2221 Fifth Ave., Suite #4,
Ronkonkoma, NY 11779, 516- 467 -3205.
FAX 516-467 -3223, 1- 800 -221 -3516
Programmable Power Supplies
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Fast reader service cycle.

Short lead time for the placement of
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We typeset and layout the ad at no
additional charge.
Call 516-293 -3000 to reserve space.
Ask for Arline Fishman. Limited number
of pages available. Mail materials to:
mini -ADS, ELECTRONICS NOW, 500 -B
Bi-County Blvd., Farmingdale, NY
11735.
FAX: 516-293-3115
WORLD'S FIRST FINE PITCH (0.025") DIP

CLIPS...Pomona Electronics has released
Test Clips for four SSOP (Shrink Small Outline Package) chips in 20, 24, 48 & 56 pin
configurations. The 48 and 56 pin Clips (5893
and 5894) fit on Texas Instruments' Widebus
ICs. The Clips allow access to all the low
profile, 0.300 inch wide chips. The 20/24 pin
Clip (5962) fits all of Quality Semiconductors
plastic and ceramic 20 and 24 pin 0.150 inch
wide chips. ITT POMONA ELECTRONICS,
1500 E. Ninth Street, Pomona, CA 91769
(909) 469 -2900, FAX (909) 629 -3317.
...
for the Price of Standard

Linear Power Supplies
SPIB
Interface
Voltage/Current
Standard
Programming and Readback via

Off Memory
Function
LCD
Output Enable /Sisable
Power
Superior Line /Load
Remote Sense Function
Regulation
Panel
Voltage and Current Step -up/Step -down

Programmable
Overvoltage and Overcurrent Protection
Software
Voltage /Current Outputs Controllable with
Calibration
External Voltage (single output models only)
American Reliance, Inc.

9952
E.
Baldwin Place,
(800) 654-9838
El
Monte, (A 91731
Fax: (818) 575 -0801
81
AUDIO UPDATE
Loudspeaker Power Ratings: What do they mean ... and how do you
avoid problems?
LARRY KLEIN
you have a sense of impending disaster involving

smoke and flame because
your expensive speakers rated for
50 watts are being driven by a 100 watt amplifier? The salesperson
who sold you the system claimed
that you'd have no problem, but never explained why. You recently read
that CD recordings of reed instruments such as clarinets and saxophones can produce enormous
instantaneous signal peaks. Will
those peaks drive your amplifier to
speaker-damaging levels? In short,
given your setup, is it possible to
have absolutely safe sax?
Do
Speaker power: min

and max
Most speaker-system specification sheets expound at length about
their computer- designed fourth -
order Butterworth filters with

phase- compensated 24-dB- per-octave slopes, and so forth. That kind
of language might be meaningful to
speaker designers, but it certainly
doesn't mean much to the typical
speaker buyer.
On the other hand, significant information such as a speaker's
power rating usually gets short

shrift in specifications with such
brief cryptic notations as "Power
rating: 10 watts minimum, 70 watts
maximum. "To that bare -bones

specification some manufacturers
add "RMS" or "Peak," as if that
82
clarified anything.
Aside from the near impossibility
of being able to buy an amplifier with
a power rating as low as 10 watts,
what have you been told? Not
much -and here's why. A speaker
system's maximum power rating
necessarily includes amplitude, frequency, and time. In other words, it
isn't just the strength of an incoming
audio signal that can damage a
speaker system, it is also the frequency of the signal and length of

time it is applied.
The reasons become clear when
you examine the the features of the
drivers in a typical system. To tweet
effectively at the upper end of the
human hearing range, a high -frequency driver must have a small,
low -mass radiating surface. The
smaller a tweeter's diaphragm, the
wider its dispersion. And the lower
the mass of the device, the greater
its efficiency.
Unfortunately, miniaturization resulting in such low mass implies
both fragility and the speaker's inability to handle a lot of potentially
destructive heat. Where does the
heat come from? As in most

powered products, heat results
from inefficiency; it has been shown
that typically more than than 95% of
an amplifier's output fed to a speaker ends up doing nothing more than
heating the drivers and crossover
network.
Fortunately for tweeter designers, music energy is not distributed

uniformly throughout the audio -frequency range. The spectral display
of music viewed on a 10 -band real time analyzer (as found in many au-
diophile equalizers) shows that

most musical energy is concentrated in the midrange of the audio
spectrum. In addition, the display
shows that the frequencies which
normally reach the tweeter, except
for a few high -level transients, are
both low in amplitude and short in
duration.
You can confirm that distribution
for yourself by placing your ear
close to the high- frequency driver in
an operating three -way system. If
the crossover to the tweeter is sufficiently high, very little sound will be
heard compared to the sound at
midrange.
Damaging circumstances
Because of the unequal power
distribution to the drivers within a
system. a tweeter designed to withstand 4 watts of power within its
frequency range is considered to be
a fairly heavy-duty unit suitable for
use in, say, a system rated for 150
watts. But if that 4 watts were exceeded for a sustained period,
damage is likely to occur. So although comparatively little energy
reaches the tweeter with the normal
playing of music, there are several
circumstances that can effectively
char-broil its voice coil.
For example, the same 10 -band
octave equalizer that shows how
much audio energy is being fed to
your tweeters can also blow them
out if you use it to boost the upper
octaves excessively on loud material. Pink noise can also cause
damage if applied carelessly-as
discovered by blowing out a pair of
I
very expensive beryllium -dome

units during some acoustic tests.
As recall, the tweeters didn't seem
to be producing very much sound
before they suddenly weren't producing any sound at all!.
I
Marginally unstable amplifiers

a mysterious source of
tweeter blowout. When connected
can be
to a reactive speaker system, such

killer amplifiers will, under certain
signal conditions, oscillate ultrasonically and /or generate large
high- frequency transients.
An underpowered amplifier driven
into severe signal clipping is likely to
be more dangerous to the health of
their speaker systems than a high powered unit with sufficient headroom to avoid clipping. An over -driven amplifier operating in the hard clipping region produces far more
high- frequency energy than can normally be found even in loud program
material.
/SUPER 12 HOUR RECORDER

CLIPPING
t!
CALL TOLL FREE
netic structure-an inefficient process at best. However, in 1977 the
Modified Panasonic Slimline,

6 hrs per side
situation improved dramatically
1- LOUDNESS
musical
waveform shown reaching an amplifier's
maximum rated power level, (a). When
the amplifier is driven harder to achieve
greater loudness, the tops and bottoms
of the peaks are clipped as shown. When
viewed on an oscilloscope, clipped
areas appear as bright spots on the
trace, (b).
FIG.
PEAKS of
The high level of this spurious energy, combined with the high -fre-
quency oscillations that frequently

accompany hard clipping, is a common cause of tweeter failure. It is
likely that more tweeters have been
killed by overdriven 20 -watt amplifiers than have been killed by being
overdriven by oversized power amplifiers. (I once solved a tweeterpopping problem for a discotheque
owner by recommending that he
use higher power amplifiers.)
In short, tweeters are seldom destroyed by playing music too loudly.
Some unusual circumstances such
as those mentioned are usually involved. Incidentally, overstressed
tweeters don't go out with a bang;
they usually don't even whimper.
They just quietly quit working. For
that reason, days might pass before
you notice that the highs are missing from a defunct tweeter in a
three -way system.
The magnetic solution

On the subject of power handling,
woofers and, to some extent, mid-
ranges have
large advantage over
tweeters: Their cone movements

pump air around their cylindrical
wire voice coils and help carry off
some of the heat that inevitably
builds up. With tweeters, the diaphragm movements are so minute
that there's no convection or forced
air movement to provide cooling.
Conduction doesn't help either
because there's only a pair of thin
wires connecting the tweeter voice
coil to the rest of the structure.
About the only way that the voice
coil can cool itself is by radiation of
heat to the surrounding metal mag-
when ferrofluid was introduced to

loudspeaker manufacturing. Today
ferrofluids are at work in more than
200 -million speakers.
Technically, the ferrofluid used in
speakers can be described as a colloidal suspension of magnetite
(Fe304) particles in a low- vaporpressure carrier fluid. It was originally developed as a highly stable
lubricant for aircraft turbines.
Ferrofluids consist of about 5%
microscopic, coated, spherical sub micron -sized magnetite (about 0.02
micrometer in diameter) suspended
in synthetic lubricating oil. The coating on the magnetic particles con-
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gap where it is held in place magnetically. In brief, ferrofluid is a special
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tweeter's voice coil and its surrounding metal structure.
Ferrofluids not only provide heat
transfer without interfering with normal speaker performance, but they
can also improve other variables.
For example, their viscosity can be
adjusted to provide a desired de-
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Ferrofluids also provide stability in
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stays there because of the intense
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Recently manufacturers have begun using ferrofluids in woofers and
sub -woofers. The latest fluids can
withstand long -term operation at
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Thus ferrofluids are rather like sub micron ball bearings, each a permanent magnet floating in a vehicle of
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In practical applications, a measured drop of ferrofluid is deposited
in the voice -coil gap where, responding to the tweeter's normal
magnetic flux field, it instantly dis-
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83
DRAWING BOARD
Real -world considerations.
ROBERT GROSSBLATT
Before we close this subject

(for the time being at least),
you all should be aware that
the SSAVI system is several years
old and has undergone some

changes. The basic principles are
the same, and the circuitry we've
developed is the way to go if you
want to descramble it, but the
chances of building our design,

hooking it up to your TV, and seeing
an unscrambled picture, are about
the same as finding any intelligent
life on Pluto.
The two most significant changes
in the SSAVI
system involve horizontal sync and picture inversion.

The first is no problem, but getting
around the second one is going to
take a bit of brain activity on your
part.
In the original SSAVI system,
horizontal sync was never inverted
/oo IRE
Iv-
o IRE
.av -
- NO
IRE
during active video (when the picture was showing up on the TV), but
that has changed. The video waveform in Fig. -a shows the state of
the horizontal interval as of fifteen
minutes ago (as of this writing) on
my cable. I've drawn it with an unscrambled horizontal interval so you
can see how the scrambled signal
relates in time to the normal one in
Fig. -b. A change has been made to
the 4.7- microsecond position normally occupied by the horizontal
sync signal. There are also two 1microsecond spikes at the very beginning and end of the horizontal
interval. If you watch a scrambled
picture, you can see these at both
ends of the interval as it weaves its
way down the middle of your screen.
These spikes peak at 100 IRE
units but since they're not really in
the horizontal interval, they don't
1
OV
CONTR OL
P/C TL/RE
ONE LINE OF
NORC<o3cNOS/ri
NTSG 3T,
0D
COLOR
Y7.00
V.
oK.KAr/oN
5.2. V M/CiP03G310'
1-This video waveform shows one variation on the SSAVI system. A change has
been made to the 4.7- microsecond position normally occupied by the horizontal sync
signal, and there are 1- microsecond spikes at the beginning and end of the horizontal
FIG.
84
interval.
cause any problem. If had to make

a guess as to why the "woop -deedoo" has been added to the horizontal interval, I'd say that it's to
keep people from doing what we're
doing-adding a single sync pulse
to restore the signal.
When was designing the section
of the descrambler that put the horizontal sync pulse back in the interval,
had to modify the circuit
slightly to make it work. Basically, all
did was add some gates to the
output of the 4040 line counter to
create a pulse that started 2 microseconds into the horizontal interval
and had a width of 4 microseconds -the approximate length of
the horizontal sync pulse. used it to
I
gate the incoming video, completely eliminate the change from

the transmitted signal, and make
sure that the only thing that appeared in that section of the line was
the generated horizontal sync from
the phase -locked loop.
During the vertical interval, of
course, this entire activity was disabled to allow the transmitted sync
(which is still being sent in the clear)
to be passed through the descrambler.
The polarity indicator for the picture still works as described, but
the newer SSAVI systems (at least
the one in my area) move it around
between lines 20 and 22. This is
actually a dangerous thing for cable
companies to do, since line 22 is
usually considered to be active
video.
The information as to where it will
be is probably buried in the subscriber codes, which are difficult to
decode. The code format is usually
as a series of 32 -bit words with bits
that are about 2- microseconds wide
at a data rate of 504 kHz (which
should be a somewhat familiar
number).
I
How to handle this problem depends on the nature of the

scrambled signal in your area. You
can decode the marketing code and
figure out which bits indicate the
correct line to examine for determining the polarity of the following
video frame, but that is an involved
subject and there's just not enough
room here to go into it. It's also not
the best approach since there's
nothing stopping the cable companies from putting the code somewhere else or, to make matters even
worse, change the encoding algorithm.
A second way to deal with the
problem is to examine the vertical
interval on a scope, see where the
polarity- indicating lines are, and
work out some circuitry that examines them all. Remember that what
has changed is the location of the
line (it now moves around from

place to place), and not the structure of the line. In essence, if there
are three lines to examine, a high in
the second half of any of them
would indicate that the next video
frame is inverted. That's the approach I took.
One interesting piece of information can pass along to you is that,
again in my area only, the video is
always inverted. Check the signal in
your area and see if that's true for
you as well. If it is, the design of the
descrambler is much simpler.
Before you get to work, however,
some thought has to be given to the
things that might be done in the future. Since the SSAVI system has
changed over the years, there's no
guarantee that the way you go
about detecting inverted video today is going to hold up tomorrow.
Put yourself in the shoes of a cable
company executive and look at the
problem from his point of view.
You're spending a lot of money
for the cable boxes and, while the
I
fundamental scrambling method

can't change (it's built into the basic
circuitry of the box), the hooks and
signals that tell the box what to do
can certainly be moved around the
vertical interval. If I were designing
their system, I'd put a bunch of alter-
nate encoding methods in the

EPROM. They would include the
ability to store the inverted -video indicator directly in the marketing
Using Windows' 3.1
codes as well as being able to

change the format of the codes
cod
and your sound
themselves.
If you go through the trouble of
building something to detect the
state of video by looking at line 20, it
can all be made useless if the cable
company moves the information
somewhere else. Restoring horizontal sync is pretty much locked in
stone, but can definitely think of a
few ways that even that could be
changed.
Remember that large- capacity
EPROM's are cheap, and there's
nothing stopping the cable company from putting several encoding
techniques in the chip. To guarantee
your work against obsolescence,
the techniques you use to clear up
inverted video have to depend on
things that can't be easily changed
by the cable company.
There's a much more interesting
way to deal with the problem.
haven't worked out the circuitry yet,
but I'll pass it along for all of you to
kick around.
The vertical interval provides a lot
of information. One thing we haven't
talked much about is the white and
black levels. don't bother too much
with these because the TV (or VCR)
has excellent circuits to clamp the
levels and condition the video signal
before it reaches the sync separator. I've found that if feed the
video in at anywhere from 1.2 to 1.5
volts DC, the TV or VCR doesn't
have any truble working out the levels for itself.
The black level (0 IRE) should be
about 0.3 volt and the white level
(100 IRE) should be about 1 volt.
Super black is the bottom of sync
40 IRE) and is at 0 volts. Even if
you can't find the polarity line to get
the white level, you can always get
the black and super -black levels
from the unscrambled transmitted
sync that's sent in the vertical interval. You can even get the black level
of the video signal in the horizontal
intervals during active video from
the 5- microsecond section containing the back porch.
Once you know the black level,
you can integrate the picture part of
the line to get the average DC voltage of the signal. That's the same
sort of thing we had to do to isolate
Audio Frequency
FUNCTION
GENERATOR
Sal
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85
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IN ELECTRONICS
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Electronics
R1dm
ith
E/ecrrvnicsA
sync signal. If it's below the black

level, you know that the line has
been inverted, and if it's higher, then
you know that the line was normal.
You'll probably have to filter out the
chroma and look at the luminance
(DC level) of the line, or else the
circuit might have a hard time telling
the difference between a dark normal video line and a bright inverted
line.
If you do that, one other clue that
will help detect an inverted line is
that the picture's DC level should
never get below about 20 IRE. If it
does, the TV's vertical sync detector might sense it and falsely trigger
vertical retrace. That's the sort of

thing that frequently happens when
you try to view a scrambled video
signal -even if the transmitted signal isn't doing anything to the original vertical interval.
Since video is inverted (or not) by
the cable companies on a frame-byframe basis, it's safe to assume that
finding an inverted line means that
the next one will be inverted as well.
Remember that the descrambler is
completely reset during the vertical
interval when vertical sync is detected.
There's no way that can provide
you with an absolute method to descramble the video in your area
there are just too many subtle variations that can be added to the basic
SSAVI system. The ones just described are only a few of the many
possible twists that can be done to
a video signal.
The approach and circuitry we developed over the last few months
as well as the theory- should give
you a good head start for working
out the details that have to be added
to deal with the particular scrambling method used by your cable
company.
Here's an offer. If you've been following this topic, have been designing a circuit that will work in your
area, and are having a problem, drop
me a note and I'll help you out. The
more information you give me, the
more help I'll be able to give you. At
a minimum, what want to see from
you are schematics, block diagrams, concise descriptions of the
problem you're having, and I'd like
either scope photos or drawings of
the video signal.
12
a
Electronics
^VA
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86
Verify that the DISTORTION.
move your fingers and touch the
the case behind the circuit

board, and carefully dress all
wires to avoid stressing any
wire terminations or interfering
with cover closure. Close the
cover, and fasten it with four
screws. Position control knobs
on the potentiometer shafts and
secure them with setscrews.
Place an FM receiver near the
transmitter and tune it to any
station or blank location determined by your selection of C15.
Then tune L2 with a plastic IF
core alignment tool until the
transmitted carrier cancels the
FM station.
Plug the Guitar 11-ansmitter
into an electric guitar, pluck the
strings, and listen for "clean"
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Tuning the transmitter

During tune up, play your
guitar through the clean channel, and then switch channels
with the touch sensor so that
you can adjust the level control
to match the output volume of
the distorted channel with that
of the clean channel.
The volume of the clean channel has been set to a pre- determined level so that the guitar
signal will remain undistorted
12
when played vigorously.
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guitar, and the LEVEL control

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srtronirs
TONE.
and LEVEL controls are functioning properly. The DISTORTION

should transition from clean to
highly distorted sound when
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heads with your fingers and

that it goes out when you re-
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and "distorted" audio signals.
GUITAR TRANSMITTER
continued from page 46
49
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87
COMPUTER CONNECTIONS
A confluence of technologies
JEFF HOLTZMAN
Many believe that computer

technology is the prime
mover in the merging of

publishing, telemommunications,
consumer electronics, and enter-
tainment, with computer technology, but it turns out that the real
locomotive is digital technology. In
last month's column the business
side of the computer industry was
discussed. At the end of that column it was suggested that you visu-
alize
diagram of those five
important economic activities with

computers in the middle-as shown
in Fig.
indicating some areas
where they overlap. In effect it
shows a confluence of five endeav-
1-
ors.
Confluence is defined as ''a flowing together of two or more

streams, or the point of juncture of
such streams." That definition is
taken from the latest in information
interchange, The American
Heritage Dictionary, Houghton

Mifflin, 1987; Microsoft Bookshelf,
1992, a dictionary on a disk. The
confluence of the business activities diagrammed in Fig. is exerting a tremendous influence over the
way we work, play, and learn. While
the computer industry is central to
this concept, some people believed
that it was the only driver in the
merger.
It has now become apparent,
however, that digital technology is
the true cause of these changes.
What is digital technology and how
does it relate to these changes?
1
Digital technology
88
Digital technology is the creation,

capture, storage, transmission, and
presentation of information in a binary format (text, graphics, sound,
animation, or video), irrespective of
the system on which it was created,
captured, stored, transmitted or
presented.
Figure 2 shows how this definition
fits together. Viewed this way, the

activities in Fig.
industries cut
across the information -delivery process shown in Fig. 2. For example,
the entertainment industry is primarily concerned with the capture
and creation of information; telecommunications is primarily concerned with the transmission and,
to a lesser extent storage of information on film and tape. Publishing
traditionally has been focused at the
ends of the process- creation and
presentation of hard copy.
But changes in commerce and
society are forcing the publishing
industry to pay more attention to the
transmission and storage of information in formats other than the
1
printed page. Consumer electronics has been primarily concerned with presentation, but
recent partnerships have moved it
into the area of creation as well.
Those who earn a living in the
computer industry tend to have a
"computer- centric" view of the

world, as shown in Fig. 1. But in
reality, the computer industry is
doing little more than supplying the
hardware for the digital- technologybased changes sweeping society.
The computer industry is responding to a need, not creating new
styles for business and living, as
some think.
Disktop publishing
The traditional publishing industry
(including newspapers, books, and
magazines) has resisted change unless it is forced on it. It did not embrace computer typesetting with
enthusiasm, and accepted it only
after it found that it could reduce
staff (typesetters, printers, copy
editors) and perhaps break the hold
of entrenched unions.
Electronic publishing, on the
other hand, is growing rapidly in
popularity, accessibility, and utility.
Look for big changes -as digital
production, delivery, and presentation of information takes hold.

Early evidence of these changes
is visible. One emerging area is
called Disktop publishing; it involves
extremely low -cost production and
distribution of information with floppy disks and CD -ROM's as media.
For example, a recently formed
company called Allegro New Media
has developed Turbo Books -electronic books intended to be read onscreen under Microsoft Windows.
Initial titles include a business travel
guide, science fiction books, corn puter reference works, books on Japan and college selection, and
more. All are floppy- based; prices
range from about $25 to $50.
Who wants to read books onscreen? Perhaps children, perhaps
the visually impaired, perhaps the
person forced to kill time in waiting
rooms. A business traveler can now
pack a travel guide in a laptop corn puter. A translation dictionary will
help to interpret a foreign language,
and can encourage and simplify the
task of learning useful words and
phrases for those who have no intention of studying another language formally. Electronic games
can help the traveler pass "dead
time" in airports or on trains.
There is a huge potential market
here, but the user interface -the
presentation aspect -needs a lot of
work. And that's where Apple Computer and the Japanese consumer
electronics inductry could succeed
and the rest of the worldwide com-
puter industry fail.

In 1993 several more CD -ROM
formats will be introduced, along
with portable display /interaction
devices. Sony has already introduced one; look for others from Apple, Toshiba, Sharp, Casio, and
Tandy. Expect high prices, limited
title availability, and total incompatibility with existing systems. If

you think the VHS vs. Betamax war
RESOURCES
Turbo Books, Allegro New Media,
387 Passaic Avenue, Fairfield, NJ
07004. (201) 808 -1992.
CIRCLE
41
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FIG.
1- LEADING
ACTIVITIES ARE CONVERGING to meet increased demands for
information.
///i%//Gr;
Microsoft Word for Windows &
Bookshelf, Multimedia Edition

($595; academic and upgrade
prices available), Microsoft Corporation, 16011 NE 36th Way, Box
97017, Redmond, WA 98073-9717.
(206) 882 -8080.
PRESENT
Katron PE -300B ($225), Micro Ian Integration, Inc., 7400 Harwin
Drive, Suite 120, Houston, TX

77036. (713) 266-3891.
2-HIGH -TECH INDUSTRY is merging as a result of a growing appetite for

information. Entrepreneurs will make and losew fortunes controlling the major steps
of the process.
FIG.
was a disaster, get ready for the

upcoming blood bath in consumer
CD -ROM formats.
The many host -based services
such as CompuServe, Prodigy, and
America Online are other forms of
electronic publishing. If you haven't
subscribed to one of these services
recently (or ever), you're cheating
yourself. CompuServe offers an incredible variety of services including shareware files, "forums" or
meeting "grounds" for discussions

on subjects of mutual interest: computers, politics, human sexuality,
art, literature, sports, language,
news, stock quotes, etc.
The other services don't offer
CompuServe's depth, but they cost

less and are more user-friendly. In
general, as with Disktop publishing,
there is a huge potential market foron -line services.
Telecommunications
The transmission of information
in digital form will grow astronomi-
cally
in the next decade; entrepreneurs will probably make and

lose fortunes in these ventures, but
they could spin -off a lot of interesting new technical jobs.
The integration of telecommunications with the other digital information technologies is about to
explode on the scene. But it's not
here yet. However, different

branches of the telecommunications are engaged in a wide variety
of experiments in storing and transmitting information. For example,
there are about a half dozen experiments in interactive TV across the
United States. In France a nationwide interactive system is already
operational.
ISDN Integrated Services Digital Network has not lived up to expectations because of the staggering technical, political, and cost
impediments it must overcome.

However, it now appears poised to
take off. It is expected that ISDN will
provide a digital conduit (comprising
two 64- kilobit data channels and a

16- kilobit signaling channel) to every
phone jack in the world.
That should pronounce the death
knell on analog modems, presage
more efficient data transfer, and
pave the way for videophones, efficient access to host -based publishers, increased use of telecom
muting, and even lead to electronic
town meetings.
Some believe that ISDN suffers
from the too -little- too -late syn-
drome. It simply cannot supply

enough bandwidth to move the tremendous amounts of audio and video data required in a multimedia
information environment. This has
led to proposals for replacing the
nation's wired telephone and cable TV infrastructure with optical fiber,
thereby providing gigahertz of bandwidth (vs. the kilohertz of basic
ISDN). But the cost of such massive
projects scares many who wonder if
consumers will pick up the tab.
The Clinton administration has
announced that it favors a "national
data highway." Parts of that highway
would certainly support gigahertz
89
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DRE693C
93
bandwidth, but other parts would be
expected to support lower data

rates that could be received by consumers. We can expect to see
some resolution of this concept in
the next 12 to 18 months.
Cellular Digital Packet Data

(CDPD), a related technology could
provide universal wireless digital
connectivity. But there's a lot of infighting in the CDPD community
about how to do what needs to be
done. But there's no question that it
does need to be done!
Similarly, several firms are now
marketing simple programs that allow messages to be sent from a
computer to a beeper. And MCI
Mail has announced a service that
will deliver text -based messages
from its Email service to beepers.
Computer networking faces a related set of problems: How do you
interconnect several geographically
dispersed local -area networks efficiently so that it will serve different
even sevparts of one company
eral companies? The recent newly
coined concept of the Virtual Corporation could be the answer. (See
the February 8, 1993 issue of
Business Week or the book by the
same name for more information.)
Why can't worker A at company X
simply send a message to worker B
at company Y without a hassle?
That kind of transparent connectivity is urgently needed, but it's
still a long way off.
To sum up, the long -term objective of telecommunications is to
provide an easy-to -use, high -bandwidth, on- demand connectivity between every node in a country-and
perhaps eventually an integrated
global network.
Next month the computer and entertainment industries will be examined and this discussion will be
wrapped up.
-or
Product watch
94
Probably the mot unusual software program ever reviewed here is

a small masterpiece called Derive
(see the July 1990 installment of
this column for an in -depth review).
It is a symbolic math program that
can solve equations numerically and
symbolically. Unlike most of the programs in this genre, Derive can run
on low -end machines.
The new version 2.5 adds many

enhancements to its mathematical
functions and user interface. In addition, its publisher has introduced
an extended version, Derive XM,
that runs on a 386 -based computer
or higher. It can handle as much as 4
gigabytes of memory to solve large

problems. No student should be
without Derive!
Contact the company for its current listing of more than a dozen
books about Derive that will be
helpful
in
learning algebra, trig-
onometry, and calculus.

Outside In is a Windows file viewer with a twist: it allows you to copy
and paste data out of the file being
viewed. That's handy when you've
got a file created by someone else
in a format you don't have. Supported files include dozens of word
reference works. A CD -ROM and a

sound card are needed to access all
its multimedia features. Following
the extensively hyperlinked material
can keep one fascinated for hours.
Multimedia Word for Windows is a
must -have item for any serious writer or researcher.
The market for portable Ethernet
adapters is exploding. In response,
several companies have introduced
low -cost, but capable units. For example, Katron's PE -300B (BNC)
and PE -300T (10Base -T) has a list
price of $225, and is sold with a
complete set of drivers: Novell, Lan tastic, TCP /IP, PC -NFS, and NDIS
(for Windows for Workgroups). You
don't get a pass- through parallel
port, but at that price, who cares?
Good stuff!
processors, spreadsheets,
Newsbits
databases, and graphics.

These include Word, WordPerfect, Excel, Lotus, Quattro, dBASE,
Paradox, BMP, GIF, PCX, EPS, TIFF,
and WMF. Outside In even allows
you to view the contents of ZIP files
(however, the new version 2.0 of
PKZIP is not yet supported). The
company should make it available
for more users on a BBS or Corn puServe network.
Microsoft has released a "multimedia" version of Word for Windows on a CD -ROM. The CD -ROM
contains the complete word processor which includes several versatile extras: a drawing module, an
equation editor, and a charting module, among others. It also contains
an incredible amount of documentation accessible through the Windows help engine, and half a dozen
reference works.
These include The American
Heritage Dictionary, Roget's Thesaurus, the Hammond Atlas, the
MS -DOS 6.0 should be available

when you read this, but sans some
networking, Email, and disk -corn-
Concise Columbia Encyclopedia,

the World Almanac 1992, and two
books of quotations. The reference
works include many sound, animation, and video clips integrated with
the word processor.
A send button permits the sending of all or part of an article to the
word processor, complete with a
footnote citing the source. Conversely, one can highlight a word in

the word processor, press a button,
and see a definition in one or all
pression capabilities. Microsoft's

application programming interfaces
(API's) are multiplying like fruit flies.
Originally there was the standard
Windows API, which was subsequently joined by Win32, the 32 -bit
basis of Windows NT.
Then Microsoft introduced

a subset of Win32 that
Win32s,
would run 32 -bit code in the 16 -bit

Windows 3.x environment. Now we
have Win32c, ostensibly for the
"Chicago" version of Windows,

due in 1994, that splits the difference in capabilities between 3.x
and NT, including an object- oriented
file system, and preemptive multitasking.
The U.S. Semiconductor industry
has staged a comeback, with sales
moving slightly ahead of those of
Japan in 1992. Projections look
even better for 1993. General Magic, an Apple Computer spinoff, has
attracted the attention of several international heavy- hitters in computers and consumer-electronics; their
focus will be on a scripting language
for personal communicators. More
later.
IBM has recently brought its mul-
timedia- related development

groups and partnerships (including
Kaleida and the venture with NBC)
together under an umbrella organization called Fireworks Partners. a
BUYER'S MART
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PEOPLES COLLEGE OF INDEPENDENT STUDIES
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73.00
85.00
3150
4280
5995
2800
6800
7500
3485
8500
7500
6192
4514
5000
7370
89.00
47.70
58.24
4890
33.00
7800
6157
4200
AA
85.00
11900
27.79
38.50
31.00
7395
59 72
6500
9581
SM-686
SM -866
Trans-loaner included )
_.
Dynamic Nam Reduction
Unrwlsa Aud,oN,deo 66630KE Muer PIe.Amp
TY-8
TY-11A
1Y-12A
1Y -13
TY -18
1Y -20
TY -238
TY -25
TY -35
TY -36
TV -38
TY -41MK5
8500
3490
KIT
AS$M$.
TY-47
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8017
7021
4022
Battery Fluorescent L,OM Onus,

Electron[ Touch Svntch
Electronic Lotto
1197
1417
920
1500
11.20
Mum- Farichonal Control Switch

Droner Poch wfnmer
850
2500
1050
3200
2620
_...
925
10.22
21
14.50
25.00
45
7300
Channel Color Light Controller

Stereo Loudspeaker Protector
FM Wireless Microphone
AC/DC Duero d,OHl Clock
Sound/Touch Control Switch
3
15.85
12.50
20.85
1900
1210
2620
28.00
_.
3150
KIT ASSISI.
REGULATORS
-3554
0-154 Regulated DC Power Supply (ram transformer
-3558
not included)
_....
_
0-30V 34 Regulated DC Power Supply base transformer
not included)
TR -593
0-505 3A Regulated DC Power Supply w/SMn Guard S

Overload Pr meow (case. transformer not Imlu6ed)4*
TR -2025
6 5V m IFIV zoA Regulated DC Power Supply (re /4 steps
5M-43
5M-48
5M-48A
5M-49
SM -105
Shod- circuo
protecled)
DIGITAL METERS AND CMNITERS
3,
22.43
LG -1684
44.50
10500
10.1924
L0-1925
L6 -1983
4'
4.
16'
8'
S-
14
14
23/419
5209
MATCHING
TA -2900, 543774. 16.2200
TA -3234, TA -377A, T2200
1181A-802.1A-1500
PRICE
_. 2385
_. 28.50
TA- 1201412. TA-80341(2, TA-1000A
3450
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TA -377& TA -2800 TA-2200 TA-12914582 ................._..... 32.50
POKIER TRANSFORMERS
MODEL
4001
DESCRIPTION
28V 26A70305
364 a 2 3R
409,2 6A
8002
0093
26A TA-800MK2 TA -802 TA- 1002.T1500

19-503 TA -3230. 70400. T300.
TA- 477
2465266
286x23A
1,004
8000
007
80084009'
5305
2 84
28V A2.309
48y it
2,
26
5308 280
4010
30V x 2. 364 x 2
0011'
445x2220
400o
2300
1700
30-3534
1703
TA-3600....
T800 MKT. TABU.
TA -3800 AF -3
TA -3779 1A-2200
TR-2025
45.00
T tamp.
TA
Iwo
8.50
6000
1 -800- 423 -FIVE

INFORMATION (213) 888-8988
ORDER BY FAX (213) 888 -6868
I'.,
&
paean
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COOT
Quantity Pricing
CB RADIO OWNERS!
We specialize in a wide variety of technical
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10 -Meter and FM conversion kits, repair books,
plans, high -performance accessories. Thousands
of satisfied customers since 1976! Catalog $2.
PAY TV AND SATELLITE DESCRAMBLING

1993 EDITION
Includes programing cable box chips, hacking B -MAC, Wireless cable (MMUS) descrambling. bullets. PLUS fixes and much more ONLY 518.95. Other PAY TV and
$ATEWTF DESCRAMBLING volumes, Volume 1 (BASICS), 1989. 1991, and 1992.
515.95 each. Different turn -ohs. bypasses, ECM's, schematics and counter ECM's in
each THE COMPLEAT WIZZO6D. Using the VCII data stream. $15.95. Any 3432.95
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cable descrambling. Everything that's new 532.95/yr. OUR BEST DEAL everything
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Scrambling News. 1552 Hertel Ave.. #123. BUFFALO, NY 14216

Voice /FAX (7161874-2088 COD's are OK. ADD $6
\Iunlcl llu, (' \

i
91164(
VIDEOCYPHER II descrambling manual. Schematics, video, and audio. Explains DES, Eprom,
CloneMaster, Pay -per -view (HBO, Cinemax,
Showtime, Adult, etc.) $16.95, $2.00 postage.
Schematics for Videocypher Plus, $20.00. Schematics for Videocypher 032, $15.00. Collection of
software to copy and alter Eprom codes, $25.00.
VCII Plus Eprom, binary and source code,
$30.00. CABLETRONICS, Box 30502R, Bethesda, MD 20824.
SUPER low satellite prices. Free U.S. and International catalog. SATMAN, (309) 692 -4140 (Intl),
1 (800) 472 -8626 in U.S.
i
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ANTIQUE RADIO CLASSIFIED

tt
Free Sample! .J t
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Mont
Articles, Ads & Classifieds.
6 -Month Trial: $15. 1 -Yr: $27 ($40 -1st Class).
A.R.C., P.O. Box 802 -L9, Carlisle, MA 01741
Build this kit which removes
lead
from standard stereo records,

REMOVE vocals
CD's, tapes or FM broadcasts. Sing
along with the background music.
LEAD
Use with any home component
Additional kit adds reverb to
VOCALS stereo.
your voice, then mixes It with music.
From
Records & CD
Pre-assembled boards also available. Write for free info.

Weeder Technologies, P.O. Box
421, Batavia, Ohio 45103.
BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES
YOUR own radio station! Licensed /unlicensed
AM, FM, TV, cable. Information $1.00. BROADCASTING, Box 130 -F6, Paradise, CA 95967.
LET the government finance your small business.
Grants/loans to $500,000. Free recorded message: (707) 449 -8600. (KS1).
EASY work! Excellent pay! Assemble products at

home. Call toll free 1 (800) 467 -5566 Ext. 5192.
HOME assembly work available! Guaranteed
easy money! Free details! SASE. HOMEWORK R, Box 520, Danville, NH 03819.
MAKE $75,000.00 to $250,000.00 yearly or more

fixing IBM color monitors. No investment, start
doing it from your home (a telephone required).
Information, USA, Canada $2.00 cash for brochure, other countries $10.00 US funds. RANDALL DISPLAY, Box 2168-R, Van Nuys, CA
91404 USA. FAX (818) 990-7803.
BUY BONDS
RECEIVING TUBES
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warranty Quamey or Volume discount available upon request. We are not responsible for typographical errors.
CATALOG
LIFETIME
WARRANTY
28.00
74-120.4K2
186,256
7006
Dish System
PHILLIPS -TECH ELECTRONICS

P.O. Boo 8533 Scottsdale, AZ 85252
15021 947 -7700 (53.00 Credit all phone orders)
PRICE
MATCHING
a
78 75
46.03
ode
Antennas. Components. Custom Tuning Available

"FREE" Catalog
Call or write SASE for
24.65
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Y3g1
17.75
3600
D'
Optional Commercial Grid Antenna snot shown) Add SSO
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$199.95
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$124.95
55- Channel Dish System

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Ultra High Gain 50db( +) Tuneable 1.9 to 2.7 Ghz.
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38.00
41.20
If a W
DESCRAMBLE cable with Radio Shack RF modulator add simple circuit instructions. $7.95. GAS PARD, 7180-20 South River Road, Addis, LA
2276
METAL CAIINETS 07N ALUMINUM FRONT PANEL

MODEL
1G- 1273
CRYSTAL radio set kits; complete for an old style

radio. $35.00. CARL & GRACE ENT., 5636 Romeyn, Detroit, MI 48209.
1250
2200
Oros
CARJACKING can happen to anyone. Protect

your car with a proven anti -carjacking device.
Plans $10.00, kit $37,50. Ask for automatic ignition lock. JABAR SECURITY SYSTEMS, 8190A
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16.50
Digital Panel Meter

__
3h Mum- Functional Led D.P.M.
(w/ABS Paso[ Cam)
41/2 Hi- Preciaron D
M. AAA
4'h Hi-Precision D.P.M. (w/ASS Omen rase) AAA
150 MC
parts list, board layout with artwork, instructions.

$12.95 + $3.00 S&Ai. MATRIX MARKETING, PO
Box 33127R2, Kansas City, MO 64114.
15.50
Infrared Remote Control Um(Case iransmmer 8
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FREE catalog
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faction guarantee on everything sold
upgrades, parts, all major brands factory iresh
and warranted. SKYVISION, 1012 Frontier, Fer gus Falls, MN 56537. 1 (800) 334 -6455. Outside
US (218) 739-5231.
RADAR Jammer: Complete with schematics,
2100
20.15
-
Hroh preaswn Sound Contra Switch

V Shape color Led Level Meter
current- rmrbng
CABLE READY
COMPANY
155.00
__. _. 2415
Bar/Dot Level Meter AA
3381
_. _.._
46.14
20 Steps Ba0ot Audio Leser Display
38.45
Superior Elenroac Roulette AA
2150
2950
10,000u/I 80VCaoacysr(Sugpened for TA-380D.7M77TA- 1000AMTA- 02) 2200
8.20001 50V Capacitor (Suggested lor 74.802.TA120IX2)
14.00
NOBEL (Single) Venable Resistor (Suggested for 753600,
TA-477 'WINOS )5 T11200941(2)
1200
ALPS ( DWI) Venable Resrnor ( Suggested for TA77A
TA -2200 8 TA -602)
22.00
TY-42
TY-45
AND MORE LOWEST PRICES. FREE CATALOG.
3280
26.80
7300
2600
Color Led Audio Level Meter

Electron a shock
1Y-14
PANASONIC, JERROLD, OAK,

PIONEER, SCIENTIFIC ATLANTA
Sound Processor (case 8
MISCELLANEOUS
TY -1-014x5
TY -7
SAVE MONEY.
DONT RENT.
165.00
AuoNideo Surround
TN
AM$*.I
4 Channel Professional Color LigM Controller
SY -333
TN
KIT
DESCRIPTION
AF
*CONVERTERS*
and ACCESSORIES.
TA -477
III
SATELLITE TV
CABLE TV DESCRAMBLERS
att
sits
cu. in.
peke Of
Record Connects conversations
home
between net
Of uf,
recorder and your telephone line. Slays
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matte ally when phone rs answered Records SOIR
sides of tonversauon
Slops recorder when
phone is hung up
$19595
EACH
0500
aval'
Super Powerful
FM TRANSMITTER
Many limes mote powerful man aine, transmitters
Transmits up to
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Assemble Ka . up e 9V battery (sol ncl .)
Fm catalog of Transmiters. Voice Scramblers and
other spectate cents. enclose 02 00 to USI Cap
Also hard -to -find transformers, capacitors and parts for tube equipment.
Send $2.00 for our 32 page catalog.
ANTIQUE ELECTRONIC SUPPLY

6221 S. Maple Ave.Tempe, AZ 85283.602- 820-5411
PATENTING
INVENTORS: THE CONCEPT NETWORK represents people who want to patent and market their
new product ideas. Schematics or prototype preferred but not required. Free information kit. Call 1
(800) 835 -2246 ext 67.
18008314242
Your Resource for Value. Only a Phone Call Away.

Metex Digital
Jameco Solderless
Bread
Multimeters
' Handheld high accuracy

Measures AC/DC voltage,
AC/DC current, resistance,
diodes, audible continuity test,
27086 & 27158 only:

Also measures frequency and capacitance
-Part
Description
Price
5R27078
3.5 digit multimeter
R27086

w /frequency &
capacitance
5R27115
5R27140
5R27158
$59.95
bread-boards feature
screen printed color
coordinates and are
suitable for many kinds of
prototyping and circuit design. larger
models feature heavy-duty aluminum
backing with voltage and grounding posts.
Part
6R20343
6R20600
74.95
39.95
4.5 digit multimeter,

w/tach/dwell
59.95
4.5 digit w/frequency &

capacitance & data
hold switch
99.95
Crystals
(Requires 12 VDC supply or 6 VDC

split supply; recommended power
supply #20626)
12.95
Part No.
Product No.
Part No.
Product No.
1,660
17.95
6R20685
JE2206
6R21135
JE310
2390
24.95
3,220
32.95
Price
1
-9
200
$3.49
400
4.95
630
5.95
6820722
830
6R20757
1,360
6820773
61120790
61120811
Great for prototyping electronic

circuits, whether analog or digital!
Produces sinusoidal, triangular
(saw -tooth), and square wave -forms at
frequencies continuously variable from
I kHz to 100 kHz.
Discover the intriguing

principles of fiber
optics data communications.
The kit includes separate
transmitter and receiver circuit
boards, fiber optics cable and all
connectors for interfacing cables
with the circuit boards. Either a
square -wave or TTL signal from
200 Hz to 5 kHz can be input.
Terminal Bus Contact

Strips Strips Points
No.
61120669
Generator Kit
Our long-lasting
6R27158
transistor hFE
Manual ranging w/overload
protection
Comes with probes, batteries, case
and manual
' One -year warranty
-No.
6.95
Radial Lead
Electrolytic Capacitors
Carbon Film 1/4 Watt 5%

Resistor Assortments
Description
6R10719
Product No. Frequency
R14533
R14592
R14681
R14402
R14517
CY3.57
CY4
CY6
CY12
CY20
Price
3.579545M1-lz$1.19
1.19
4.0000MHz
6.000MHz
1.19
12.000MHz
1.19
1.19
20.000MHz
mw.
..
mt.mo
Product No Frequency
OSCI
OSC8
OSC32
OSC80
R48979
R49015
R49040
R49091
R49120
R49146
R49189
R49728
R50008
R50235
R50420
R50551
R50593
SR50665
R50681
R50690
R49322
R49912
R49939
Product No
7400
7402
7404
7406
7407
7408
7410
7417
7420
7432
7447
7474
7476
7486
7489
7490
74121
74192
74193
'Name brand IC's in stock
Volt.
Price
1F
50V
50V
50V
50V
16V
$.12
6829891
101,1F
61131114
61129962
470
6R30015
10001F
100F
13
15
19
35
Price
1.0000MHz $3.95
8.0000MHz 3.95
32.0000MHz 3.95
80.0000MHz 4.95
Integrated Circuits'
'art No.
Cap.
Dipped Tantalum
Capacitors
Clock Oscillators
'an No
R27861
R27991
R27941
R77489
61110663
Pan No.
61129831
Price
$.29
39
39
45
45
45
29
35
29
45
89
25
59
39
2.95
79
49
99
99
Part No.
Cap.
Volt.
Post
6R33486
.111F
i5V
$.19
61133662
1F
35V
6R33734
6833806
2.2F
35V
35V
25
25
45
4.70
Part No.
Pias
8 pin
14 pin
61140328
16 pin
24 pin
28 pin
6R41136
40 pin
61139351
Price
each 70 values (every other value From RIO ohu,meJ 1/4 Watt C.F. Resists Values(.tSO pa.)
RS.6
$9.95
100 each (27 values) 1/4 Wan C.F. Resisto,,

RIO thm RI OM (2.700 po.)
39.95
1 /2 Watt Linear
Taper- Single Turn
Cermet
Potentiometers
Part No.
6842964
6R43001
Ohms
61143027
IOOK
6842981
Price
$.89
89
89
10K
MEG
Price
$19.95
Other Jameco
Resources
Test/Measurement
and Prototyping
Equipment
Computer Upgrade
and Accessory
Products
Full line of Integrated
Circuits and Electronic
Components
Call for kit pricing
89
Order toll -free 1.800.831.4242

Call or write for your
FREE 1993 Annual Catalog.

1.800.637. 8471
Machine Tooled
Low Profile Tin
Plated IC Sockets
6R51625
6R37196
6R37401
Price
$19.95
See our Catalogfor more kits
Part No.
'art No.
Fiber Optics Kit
Function
JAM ECG
Pria
$.55
59
CA Residents please add applicable
69
99
$30.00 Minimum Order
1.09
1.25
Additional components available
For International Sales, Customer

Service, Credit Department and all
other inquiries: Call 415.592.8097
between 7AM -5PM P.S.T.
sales tax.
ELECmOMC COMPONENTS
COMPUTER PRODUCTS
1355 Shoreway Road
Belmont, CA 94002
FAX: 1.800.237.6948 I Ia,mruic)
FAX: 415.592.2503 (Intrma,iona4
Terms: Prices subject to change without notice. Items subject to availability

and prior sale. Complete list of terms/warranties is available upon request.
1993 /erurro 6/9.3
All tradetwirks are registered
spins
trademarks of Their respectsc <omp.mlo.
Mention
V.I.P.,
683
FOR SALE
TUBES. "oldest ", "latest ". Parts and schematics.
SASE for lists. STEINMETZ, 7519 Maplewood
Ave., R.E., Hammond, IN 46324. RE
TUBES, new, up to 90% off, SASE, KIRBY, 298
West Carmel Drive, Carmel, IN 46032.
REMOVE
SINGERS
VOCALS!
Unlimited Backgrounds -
> Te Most Complete Une of Deuramblers

> Friendly, professional servite
>
Thompson Vocal Eliminator'" Call for Free

Catalog & Demo Record.
Phone (404)482-4189 Sol 72
867 -0081.
Singer's Supply. Dept RL- I

7987 Hightower Trail
Lithonia. GA 30058
Catalog
FREE
24 Hour Demo/Info Request

Une (404)482.2485 Lot 72
Singer's Supply -We Have Anything & Everything For Singers
to 2.7 GHz
WIRELESS CABLE RECEIVERS 1.9
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to the Source
36
36
36
36
NUTEK ELECTRONICS
3250 Hatch RD
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it
ORDERS ONLY
VISA/MC /AMEX
'
'.O
n1ULTrr'r'.Illll ELECTRONIC'.
((FEATURING))
IRD CT
,TE.=12I OMAHA IIE.
1- 800 -835 -2330

1- 800 -327 -8544MOW.
rgryonunto LIMA 1101.MANCIM 1/11.1111(101 MT:WM
5.
Mind -Machines
Wireless Cable
Receivers T.V.
1.9 -2.7 GHz
Stun-Guns
6.
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3.
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MX
CATALOG
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1.0.11 TO Cdre WITH11471
TO
7.
-.
BELOW WHOLESALE
SUPER 7
FTB-2 or 3
SP-200D (PIONEER )
HAMLIN MLD 1200
COMBINATION UNITS
DRXDIC, DRZ -DIC,

Tocom 5503
SCI -ATLANTA : SA-8536 + , SA-8555,
JERROLD
`:
/'K
DESCRAMBLERS
OAK N12
SB-2 or 3
SALE
SA -8580, SA -8590
SYLVANIA : 4040-3 DIC -Ch 2 or 3
PIONEER : BA -6110
ZENITH : ST- Series
OAK : RTC -56 -Ch 2 or 3, M35B
motor made
Maklxhi, F61
-IA'
IDOtt
mliave tans et. Operates torn
JERROLD
WUC
SORRY NO MINNESOTA SALES
98
NOW!!
Has
'e`
lap cdaclkea
knit* leads.
t/ ULTRABRIGHT
RED LED
Extremely
COPPER CLAD
biphtdear
lens
red T13/4 junto LED made

by HP.
So
Par
HLMP -3750,
Ripe can lx
seen in
7/$100 any lip coMdors.

G33101oo/Se 1000/S75
Min peon PC boards with hex

wweserlq,
Attie sided FR4 laminate
comet clad panels.
-yx
Eat
pane is.042standard
li0Vess Rh
sis
N,"..
d5'r Enna of5
G3022 $5.00
4KV TRIGGER COIL
MEDIUM INVERTER
TRANSFORMER
V
(weiss Raided) Paled b
G993 $1.75
EA.
M en.
1003160.00
Rise. (e lsedwih many did9a4 strates.

Opp is 40 and will RARE 1e
Ides
below.
N1700 $1.25
EA.1Do /$80.00
STROBE TUBES
BripNenon tab Ite
:
rrtS rnaainp strake
300 Experimenters Circuits
Complete in 6
practical books using diodes, relays, FET's,

LED's, IC 555's, and IC CA3130's for building
blocks. Only $33.00 plus $5.50 for shipping. USA
and Canada only. US funds. ETT, INC., PO Box
240, Massapequa Park, NY 11762-0240.
EPROMS, Assorted, i.e., 27128A -15 $3.00 each
minimum quantity 13 pieces. C.O.D., American
Express. H.E.A.R.T. Inc., (800) 677-3773.
1
CABLE Converters, accessories below wholesale! Immediate delivery from giant stock! COD
orders only.
(800) 995-1749.
OAK Sigma descrambler, CH3 output, rare hard to-find units, $100.00 postpaid, only moneyorders
please, SURPLUS ELECTRONICS, Box 10009,
Colorado Springs. CO 80932.
RESTRICTED technical information: Electronic surveillance & schematics; locksmithing;

cable phreaking; hacking; etc. Free brochures:
MENTOR, Box 1549 -Z, Asbury Park, NJ 07712.
Oak, Scientific Atlanta, and many more. 12 years
experience gives us the advantage. Visa'MC
Amex COD ADVANTAGE ELECTRONICS, INC.,
1 (800) 952 -3916 1125 Riverwood Dr., Burnsville,
MN 55337.
WATER powered watch, 2 year guarantee. Men's,
women's, childen's size S, $12.50 each. ALPHA
COMPANY, 2 Klarides Village Drive, Seymour, CT
06483.
cilloscopes from $50.00. Other equipment including manuals available. Send $2.00 U.S. for
catalog refunded on first order. J.B. ELECTRONICS, 3446 Dempster, Skokie, IL 60076.
(708) 982 -1973.
ATTENTION consumer electronics technicians! "The Dog Catcher" is a new program which
gives instant access to the latest repair tips from a
network of America's finest technicians. Monthly
updates, and your own tips can be added to the
database of VCR, camcorder, TV and stereo repairs. Take advantage of the introductory price
now! $99.95 DATABASIC, (800) 967-5924.
a 12VDCto ceer750
Rut lsadwiha5551C circuit
wade stokes.8Sil
Atlanta, Zenith & many others. "New MTS" stereo

add-on: mute & volume. Ideal for 400 and 450
owners! (800) 826 -7623, Amex, Visa, M/C accepted. B & B INC., 3584 Kennebec, Eagan, MN
55122.
prices. Signal generators from $50.00, os-
3/1.00
G971
CABLE TV converters: Jerrold, Oak, Scientific
TEST equipment pre -owned now at affordable
110-
SPECIAL ITEMS
..,t
/vA.
Indodes SdelabL
thistles)]
tipper eet
High
1
pEtiyatambly
consisting
-3/4' lap won strobe
da
o* in
Memo*
tab:ta assembly (2 -3/F L a I' H).

ledges snap co cda certain troll lern.
platen
A1033 $2.49 10 /522.00

MINIMUM ORDER: $10 00 plus $3.50 shipping and handling
$5 00 for U.S. Mail. We accept MC. VISA and Money Orders.
SEND ORDERS TO: THE ELECTRONIC GOLDMINE
P.O. Box 5408 Scottsdale. AZ 85261
PHONE ORDERS 602 451-7454 FAX ORDERS 1602) 451-9495
G936 $1.39
All major brands.

Have make /model used in your area when calling,
1 (800) 327 -3407. For a free catalogue write: K.D.
VIDEO, PO Box 29538, Minneapolis, MN 55429.
CABLE TV descramblers
LASERS, light shows, plans, books, .5mW to 20

watts, free catalog call 1 (800) 356 -7714 or write
MWK IND., 198 Lewis, Ct., Corona, CA 91720.
\t"rfv
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Kit
our standard 3 bad
LAKE SYLVAN SALES, INC.
800 -800 -4582
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CALL
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YOU MUST CHECK WITH YOUR LOCAL CABLE COMPANY AND PAY FOR
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TIMELESS PRODUCTS
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SECRET cable descramblers! Build your own

descrambler for less than $12.00 in seven easy
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Send $10.00 to: HARRY WHITE, PO Box 1790,
Baytown, TX 77522.
CABLE TV converters. Jerrold, Zenith, Pioneer,
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VIDEO
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CH 20" Parabolic Dish Sys.

CH 28" Rod Ant. Sys.
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CH 24x36" Grid Ant. Sys.
Send S1 for
SUN MICROWAVE INT'L INC.
iiIAPO BOX 34522
product catalog.
PHOENIX, AZ 85067
Dealer discounts available.
(602) 230.1245 FAX (602) 269 -6069
Parie TECAS 786 13
layout, FFT analysis, mathematics, circuit

analysis. Data acquisition, generation, I/O
PCB's. Call or write for free catalog. (614)
491 -0832, or fax (614) 497 -9971, BSOFT
SOFTWARE, INC., 444 Colton Rd., Columbus, OH 43207.
CABLE test chips. Jerrold, Tocom, S.A
Zenith. Puts cable boxes into full service
mode! $29.95 to $59.95.1(800) 452 -7090, (310)
CD's with the
From Standard Records &
ENGINEERING software and hardware, PC/

MSDOS. Circuit design /drawing, PCB
- -
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hacks
CELLULAR Hackers Bible. Theory
modifications
programming $53.95. Cellular
Cloning Video
$39.95. Cellular Programmers
Bible
$84.45. Catalog
$3.00 TELECODE,
PO Box 6426 -RE, Yuma, AZ 85366 -6426.
OSCILLOSCOPE 50MHz, dual channel, solid
state calibrated, manual $250.00

835 -8335 X -123.
(800)
CABLE TV filters, cylinder type. The best made.

All channels available. Low prices. Quantity discounts. Call
(800) 331 -2156 ext. #2156.
NEON tubes: new surplus, many sizes, shapes,

colors. Catalog $1.00. SPECTRUM NEON, 18374
Locust, Suite A, Lansing, IL 60438.
"YOUR
CABLE converters, Zenith Ztac 1600 $250.00,

ST1086 $215.00, ST1082 $199.00, S.A. 85XX a'
$170.00, 5 (a, $155.00 each, Jerrold Starcom call,
Pioneer call. Most makes in stock. C.O.D. OK,
1
MOUNT HOOD ELECTRONICS, (206)

260 -0107.
FREE
CATALOG KNOCKED
SOCKS OFF"
We get that sort of comment all the
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wealth of valuable information.
Our free Catalog will very likely

impress you, too. But first you have
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address to:
SELLING test chips for Zenith, S.A. and Jerrold,

also turned -on boxes at best prices. Buying raw
boxes. Call (305) 425-0751.
U. S. General Services Administration
1-800-338-0531
Thirty day money back guarantee
$20.00 minimum order We accept
Satisfaction Guaranteed
F.C.C. Commercial General Radiotelephone license. Electronics home study. Fast, inexpensive! "Free" details. COMMAND, D -176, Box
2824, San Francisco, CA 94126.
ELECTRONIC engineering. 8 volumes complete. $109.95. No prior knowledge required. Free

brochure. BANNER TECHNICAL BOOKS, 1203
Grant Avenue, Rockford, IL 61103.
TV trainer. Build 5" color TV. Complete instruction
book. $272.00. Call QUANTUM ELECTRONICS,
1 (800) 858 -WATT.
800 -841 -7835

CABLE TV
DESCRAMBLERS
FREE CATALOG
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INVENTORS: We submit ideas to industry. Find

out what we can do for you. 1 (800) 288-IDEA.
81009
-Parts
BOX
CABLE
WHOLESALERS, INC.
WANTED
Consumer Information Center

Department KO
Pueblo,
Colorado
VCR repairs, over 1,600, all makes, 60 pages,

$35.00. CI ELECTRONICS, 1115 N. Higley Rd.,
Suite 106 -119, Mesa, AZ 85205.
INVENTORS! Can you patent and profit from your

idea? Call AMERICAN INVENTORS CORP. for
free information. Serving inventors since 1975.
(800) 338 -5656.
1
FAMOUS "FIRESTIK" BRAND CB ANTENNAS

AND ACCESSORIES. QUALITY PRODUCTS
FOR THE SERIOUS CB'er. SINCE 1962
FIRESTIK ANTENNA COMPANY

2614 EAST ADAMS
PHOENIX, ARIZONA 85034
6 -1/2"
Audiophile Test CD
This woven fiberglass cone features a

rubber surround, high sensitivity and
superb sonics. Ideal for 2 or 3 way
systems.
Impedance: 8 ohms SPL: 90 dB
1W /1m VAs: 1.24 cu. tt. QTs: .37 Fs
44Hz Power handling: 50 watts RMS.
Best of Cheskv Jazz and More Audiophile

TestsNol. 2. Part One of this CD begins
with 12 tracks of very natural sounding
Jazz, recorded with minimalist milung
techniques. No overdubbing or enhancement is used. Part Two otters eight test
tracks that check for imaging, dynamics and
resolution. Excellent for fine tuning your system.
Polydax
Fiberglass Woofer /Midrange
#296 -070
$49901,
$4650Id uPl
3)
#510 -130
THE B.I.R.D., Battery Powered

Infrared Detector Pen
8" Two-Way Ported

In -Wall Speaker System
The B.I.R.D. instantly recognizes infrared light

from television, VCR, stereo remote controls,
and thousands of other IR controlled products.
No longer do you need to turn the lights out to
see the phospho, on an infrared detector card.
8" paper cone woofer with
Mastercard, Visa, Discover, and

company C.O.D. orders 24 hour
ship3ing Shipping charge = UPS
chart rate + $1.00 ($3.50 minimum
charge) Hours: 8:30 am - 7:00 pm
EST, Monday - Friday, 9:00 am - 5:00
pm Saturday. Mail order customers,
please call for shipping estimate on
orders exceeding 5 lbs. Foreign
destination customers please send
$5.00 U.S. funds for catalog postage.
polymer resin coating and a 1"

textile dome tweeter. Ported
plate speaker system for better
bass response. Integral
crossover with a tweeter protector and pushbutton terminals. 8 ohm impedance. Frequency response: 30- 25,000
Hz. 50 watts RMS, 100 watts maximum
power handling capability. Sensitivity: 92 dB
1W /1m. Dimensions: 10 -5/8" (W) x 13" (L).
Net weight: 17 lbs. per pair. $274.95 list price.
#300 -425
$1699011.3
PRS)
$15990 PRS -UP)
Quick Box Software
#500-915
$3496EACH
Minor Camcorder Repair Video

This instructional video will imroduce you to the
profitable field of camcorder maintenance.
Step by step. you'll be guided through cover
removal, disassembly and proper cleaning and
lubricating procedures. Belt replacement.
common adustments and alignment are also
covered. VHS format. 48 minutes.
S3995EACt+
Idler Tire Kit

This comprehensive idler tire
kit contains 180 of the most
tl commonly used tires in an
easy -to -use case. Includes a
cross reference with 80 manufacturer assembly numbers
crossing to over 200 VCR model numbers. Net weight: -1/2 lbs.
1
$3495EACH
DAYTON, OHIO 45402
#390-200
#505 -040
This versatile program was created to allow rapid design of sealed, vented and 4th
order bandpass enclosures. The program
calculates enclosure volume, vent size
and even plots predicted low frequency
response. Knowledge of loudspeaker theory
and terminology is required. Runs on IBM
compatibles with DOS 3.0 or higher. Supports
Hercules, CGA, EGA color and VGA color monitors. Includes both 5 -1/4" and 3 -1/2" diskettes.
FIRST ST.
$18 %EACH
#400-900
LOCAL 513/222 -0173
JJ9%KIT
FAX 513/222 -4644
99
Courteous Service Discount Prices
la,
Fast Shipping,
ECTRORICS
P.O. Box 567
ADVERTISING
INDEX
Van Nuys, CA 91408
VIDEO SWITCHER
W & S System (Div. of

Westinghouse) # VCM -2001
The VCM -2001 video control
module allows you to record
from a cable converter or other

program source while watching
1
regular TV, or you can record
from TV while watching cable
or other source. Easy to
hook-up and operate, the front
panel has 3 soft-touch pushbuttons and LED indicators.
Eliminates the need for cumbersome and inefficient mechanical AB switches and splitters. 9" X 5" X 2.4 ".
CAT # VCM -2001 $19.95 each
ULTRASONIC TRANSDUCERS
MATCHED SET
Panasonic transmitters receiver pair. Ideal for remote
control systems, burglar alarms, flow rate detectors etc.
Transmitter:# EFR- OHB40K24
0.5 "d:#X
c,.;,
Receiver: #EFR- RU640K25.

0.63" dia. X 0.48 ".
Center frequency: 40 KHz.
Band width: 4Khz
responds
.4%,
-1
_1
Pi-
Ir.li .
r.
CAT# CORG -1
$6.50 each
DIGIT ALPHANUMERIC
INTELLIGENT DISPLAY
display
Siemens # DL-2416T
End- stackable, four digit
module with built -in CMOS
memory/decoder /driver. High
contrast, .160" high magnified
red characters. Direct access to each digit independently and asynchronously. ASCII format. 5 volt logic, TTL
compatible. Module size: 1" X 0.8" X 0.25 ". Includes
specs and instructions. Sells elsewhere for as much as
$19.95.
CAT# DL-2416T $4.95 each
12 VDC 500 MA
WALL TRANSFORMER
Panasonic # KX-A11
WHITE - U.L. listed.
12 Vdc wall transformer.
2.1 mm co -ax plug
with center negative.
CAT# DCTX -125W

$4.50 each
10 for $30.00
AMC Sales
107
All
14
190,191 American Reliance Inc.
Precision
81
77
B &K
98
B.I. -A Division of WaveTek...
13
109
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31
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85
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8l
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Command Productions
14
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127
Deco Industries
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125
Electronic Goldmine
98
121
Fluke Manufacturing
177
Foley -Belsaw Company
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Global Specialties
23, 90
80
7
Grantham College
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Howard W. Sams & Co
87
184
Interactive Image Tech
79
114
Jameco
97
179
Kelvin
17
176
Lake Sylvan Sales, Inc.
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MAT Electronics
87
93
Mark
96
193
Mini- Circuits
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Mouser
V.
Electronics
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Optoelectronics
56
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99
People's College
95
101,189 Pomona Electronics
,,
100 for $265.00
Christina Estrada
180
Nu -Tek
CHARGE ORDERS to Visa, MasterCard or Discover
Clll
81
78
Radio Shack
32
Star Circuits
TECI
81
185
76
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Stanley Levitan
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Overlook Ave.
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123
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192
Teynham Audio Systems
85
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182
The School Of VCR Repair
83
National Representative
105
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76
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178
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81
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80
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100
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music or other
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output. Provisions for two light strings, up to 200 watts
per channel. Separate sensitivity controls for each
channel. 0.25" qc terminals for output. Lights not included. 4.25" X 3.85 ". Hook -up diagram included.
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II
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ALL OF
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Handi-
Bench/Portable Multifunction
Counter Model 8030
Counter.
3
The world's
finest hand held
multifunction
counter incorporates
many unique
functions usually
found only in
very expensive
bench models.
Designed for virtually every measurement
application from near DC through Microwave including measuring RF transmission
frequencies at the maximum possible
distance. The 3000 is also the world's first
HandiCounter* with Period, Time
Interval and Ratio measurement
5259.
capability.
MIN
M
1161
101
- 3G11 eytrenmly
Ugh N.nsiti itv,
High Resolution and Accuracy, includes a
Bargraph, 1 PPM TCXO, Two Inputs,
Adjustable Trigger Level, Trigger
Variable and Hold Button
'579.
Optional .1 TXCO: $135.
I
:ing
Handi Counter"
Model 2300 mi
Our tull range
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bargraph 10Hz to
3GHz. Ultra -high
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quality-low,
R10 FM
low price.
Communications
Interceptor
The Original Pocket

Sized Counter.
1MHz to 2.4GHz -
digit LED.
Maximized
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TCXO. Includes
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and Charger/ sna
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.
8
5.
ALL NEW
TECHNOLOGY!!
The Interceptor
follows & locks on
even when frequency
changes and intercepts
ALL FM Two-Way
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Spectrum to
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CCls.
FCC
Classified as
Communication Test Instrument

Increase your RF Security!!
$359.
11.
7ESSORIES
'
Our Active
Vinyl Carry Case
Preselector allows
you to pick-up
transrrussrons or
frequencies at 10
times the
distance. Use
CC12 - Padded Black Vinyl carrying case for

2300 size LED Counters
$ 12
CC30 - Padded Black Vinyl carrying case for
3000 size LCD counters.
$ 15
with our
HandiCounte0
or
R -10
Interceptor''
10MHz - 1GHz
Tunable over 5
octaves
995.
Antennas
TA100S Telescoping Whip Antenna
$ 12
Antenna Packs:
Ant -Pak 1 (includes RD27, RD800,
TA100S - Save $11)
$ 65
Ant -Pak 2 (includes five assorted rubber
ducks, 27- 1000MHz - Save $32.)
$ 99
Probes
- Counter /Oscilloscope probe - for direct
coupling to signal sources or circuit test
points. Ix /10x, switchable
$ 35
P101- Low-Pass probe attenuates RF noise
from Audio frequencies. Has two stage low
pass filter.
$ 20
P30
R20 AM
Interceptor`
NEW! The
Tone Counter.
"R
R20 is both
sensitive RF signal
strength meter (for ALL
RF signals) and a near
field AM receiver. The 10
segment LED bargraph
responds with nominal
3dB increments to RF
signal level received
through the built
in antenna.
5119.
TC200`
NEW! Ideal companion for use with
the R10 FM
Communications
Interceptor' to
measure sub audible
signalling tones off
the air. The TC200
can also be used with
scanners and
communications receiver to
5179.
monitor sub audible tones.
WirwI1M1 Nit
vliMilh.i
MOWN Ill Mira
41111e7V1/1119
WM
OF
1-800-327-5912
305-771 -2050 FAX 305 -771 -2052

5821 NE 14th Ave, Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33334
5% Ship /Handling (Max $10) U.S. & Canada.
15% outside continental U.S.
Visa, Master Card, C.O.D., Cash or Money

Order only.
HOLD
/1111111
AUTO
U.'.J U
1111,11II1I1mug1111MIlplPIIIIII
Meet the new TEST BENCH'

DMMs, with more of what made
the original a best seller.
0.1
0.25
0.5
$179
$159
$139
$119
ANALOG
BAR GRAPH
B* K PRECISION's original TEST BENCH

testers became overnight best sellers
because they fused the power of many
instruments in one compact meter. These
new models also out -feature ordinary
DMMs, and outperform them as well.
CAPACITANCE
FREQUENCY
All are ruggedized, offer long battery

life and carry a three -year warranty.
With True RMS, 41 digit, 20,000

counts and 0.05% DCV accuracy,
the Model 391 is a BEST BUY.
0.05
1Iil+
LOGIC LEVEL
OFF
AUTO POWER
TEMPERATURE
Now you can have very high accuracy,

extra resolution and True RMS reading at
a very affordable price. The Model 391
Test Bench DMM also has frequency,
logic, duty cycle and data hold. It's even
RUGGEDIZED,
RUBBER BOOT
water resistant.
PRICE
There's a TEST BENCH DMM to fit

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

Domestic and International Sales
6470 W. Cortland St.. Chicago, IL 60635

312 -889 -1448 FAX: 312- 794 -9740

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What features does the Fluke Series 10 multimeter have?

What features does the Fluke Series 10 multimeter have?

What electronic projects are described in the document?

What electronic projects are described in the document?

48783

BUILD THE THUMB DRUM

BUILD THE MUSICIAN'S FRIEND

We Only Skimped OnThe Price.

Actual size: Easy to carry,

New! Min/Max record with relative

New! V Chek".: For fast accurate

Capacitance: Autoranging from

For high performance at Fluke's lowest price, get

Autoranging with manual option:

difference the right multimeter makes

Sleep Mode: Shuts itself off

New! Slide switch and a

Min /Max recording

1.9% basic ac volts

true one -hand operation.

Fast, accurate tests

4000 count digital

'Suggested U.S. lis price.

New! TL75 Hard Point Test Leads:

Optional holster with

The New Series 10.

1991 John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc. Prices and specifications

tronics Now this month!

BUILD THE THUMB DRUM

output either audio

BUILD THE MUSICMH S FRIEND

the beat going strong, we have

portable FM receiver, with no cables or separate power sources.

musical skills. The microprocessor-based device combines an instrument tuner, a

Two Your complrtor into an invisible household robot!

Hone your male*

PLEASE TURN PAGE FOR COMPLETE CONTENTS

Hugo Gemsback (1884.1967) founder

Output audio signals or MIDI data with this electronic drum.

40 WIRELESS GUITAR TRANSMITTER

editor -in-chief and publisher

John Simonton and Kent Clark

Robert Grossblatt, circuits editor

63 PART -68 INTERFACE

Mike Hagans and Kyle Magrill

Kathy Terenzi, editorial assistant

68 PC -BASED UNIVERSAL REMOTE CONTROL

Typography by Mates Graphics

ature, Academic Abstracts, and

Real world considerations.

Magazine Article Summaries.

Microfiche editions are

available. Contact circulation department for details.

Advertising Sales Offices listed

Electronics Now Executive and

Order Entry for New Subscribers:

100 Advertising Sales

-800- 999 -7139.

do- it- yourself problem