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    Beginners Guide To Radio Communications

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    Beginners Guide To Radio Communications

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    James Mason
    62 views80 pages
    Beginners Guide to Radio Communications

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    Beginners Guide to Radio Communications

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    Beginners Guide to Radio Communications

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    Download as pdf
    62 views80 pages

    Beginners Guide To Radio Communications

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    James Mason
    Beginners Guide to Radio Communications

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    By the sane tor A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO RADIO AN ELEMENTARY COURSE IN 27 LESSONS Py F. J. CAMM “Practical Wiclea” and Paci Televison With 104 Mluatons LONDON GEORGE NEWNES LIMITED ‘TOWER HOUSE SOUTHAMPTON STREET STRAND, W.C.2 Copyright All Rights Reserced Find pall 1055 Send iin ras PREFACE “Tims book is intended for those who are taking up studies in radio transmission and reoeption for the first time, and for that reason the text har been written in non-technical lan- guage, Each term as it occurs in the lessons is carefully Explained, and where calculations are necesary, as for ‘example in connection with Ohm's Lav, they have been Feduced to simple arithmetical terms. ‘This book is an ipa toy mre arc wera sch te ical Wireless iy the Radio” Training Manual, ‘the Siperket Manual, the Newnes Short Wace Manual and ‘companion volume to my Beginner's Guide To Television. Tn the belie that practical experiments are the best method of teaching theory, the early lessons explain how to build gud oly ple Fecciver, wih explanations as to the function of each part a8 succssive stages of construction ‘proceed. It is believed that this is an entirely new system ‘Of teaching radio principles. ‘This book is even more elementary than my Eoayman’s Wireless Book, which was written for those already possessing the knowlege which it is the object of the present book to [has been written at the express request of some hundreds of readers of Practical Wires, tne monthly journal of which 1 ‘am the Ealitor, and in the pages of which this book originally appeared as series of articles, F. J. Cao Leson CONTENTS: ADDING A FURTHER LOW FREQUENCY RECTINERS, CHOKES AND SOOTHING Pace 33 8 43 6 63 8 7 & cy 103, 108 i 17 133 137 uae 45, 7 158 Si wut ll 8 eli oe sa colt aei, gta se) ey ae li fel i o srl elf ich ARM Ho og a i a aa ah “Ta Swoxrmano oF Rasio—atine DE Ch OF “it G ®@ © Seen ae HE ive len oa ad =O 9994 Ed mene Gert ere ios ret peated CO Seseees bio roe RURAL Sess tat, de Hote cere egecseeee roe fot gates iat ram Sa en eeggeeees FS RE ee Bae SES Ge) Ge ence Ct ays roe Caio fa Tae le A te sation of cet! en. LESSON 1 Understanding the Circuit “Tw, umual method of explaining the fundamental principles af wireless transmission and reception i (o start atthe trans: initng end by desebing how wirlest waves are generated 4nd radiated fom the ransniticr, "The explanation ually = the analogy of stone being droppat into the centre St a pond (the transite) causing waves to form which iradually spread to the shore (the reeves) in thie book propose to stare atthe reeiving end and to explain how a receiver works by encouraging the reader to In "mple parti he ee tha the practical demonstration i more Hiely to teach than lengthy descrip None and. theoretical definéons, I shal, of course den ‘with theory and practice a the same time.” Hn this bok the ieginner wil build as he leans. ‘For thi purpas, therfore, T begin with constructional Fig, 1 Git dram of sine ees fr mation wats ay. A (Mla of the rater ba fs ta ia omfg 17. te Sn ow ome ya ed yo ate details of the very simplest one-valve set. The circuit em- ployed is shown in Fig. t, and in Figs. 1 to 9 ar illustrated {he elements of that circuit with pietorial illustrations of the Fe orien, © oy ees cnueau elec aL ee onae mectyactonc ere gener ye fone re ie ere eee ea a eee et eee Hi alk ra Sacre tne eal i es Sheed ety y eri Sian 5 oT te eee ee ae : eee eS peer Fe re te . ees ® Onegeige : pe ere eae UO as Seg es ate dis eee gees mis ws tothe nyse en wii oa ed ar Ce Ee teh eae ee sealant ows UNDERSTANDING IKE caRcUrT 13 vile, baseboard and pont (the two latter are of wood), and that he aa asemble the completereciver in about an ho and ain "For the sake of implicity the one-valver here dealt with is only intended to receive the medium wavebands ‘Bach part of the circuit has been separately ilhstrated and Fig. (eon fe ends, lg He ad fat cms gp the component each part repre- sey drain hacen i pe rate figures. Everyone knows that a receiver needs an arrial and, except in the ease of portables, an earth. Tt will beseen that the aerial (part 1) 5 ——O-— represented by a sign which looks Bke an um- Ieee tas bw aide out the earth (Gort asi opm ine rally Eminishing in length so tha they forme ain Serted cone. ‘There are many types ofaeral, Both indoor and outdoor and, in the case of portable receivers, frame aerials which are U7 ian “4 A mecuxnes’s GUIDE TO RADIO buileintothe set. Very few outdoor aerials are used to-day be- cause the strength ofthe signals radiated by the transmitter has {hereased enormnouly in latter years and receivers have become ive and able to secetve even very weak signals. An bho ae coure more cent ane wena de fet to reoelve programmes from stations located greater di tances uvay than is possible with an indoor aerial. The Sorter the serial the weaker will be the signal which it picks Up. Although the power of the signal i very great at the Fig 6-— The oe Fig The ep otepas transmitter, it gradually gets weaker as the distance from the transmitter increases, and the strength of the signal at dis tances of only twenty miles fiom itis very weak. This means « that unless many valves are used with several stages of ampli- fcatin (here at ast one stage of ampifcation in medern receivers of two valves of more; ina onewalve receiver DONDERSEANDING ‘IE GRCUEE 5 the valve acts both as a detector and an amplifier), the longest posible indoor aerial should be used, but preferably an outdoor aerial. ‘This must be placed as high as posible Within the limits of the length set by law—-namely, 150 fe Inclusive of the length of leattin, the lead-in, of course, being the wire connecting the acral to the set. "The sarth consists ofa metal plate ora piece of copper tube buried in moist earth. "Later on 1 shall explain the purpore of the earth and also the special properties of aerials. ' Whilst an earth is not absolutely necessary, itis beyond all doubt A |. Fig.8.—The sich, Fg. Te hihsfumg ce, vvery desirable, especially with mains sets. Should the aerial bbe struck by lightning it becomes a safety device if a switch is employed to connect the aerial to the earth when the Feeder # not in operation, By this means the eorsiderble ‘leetric charge picked up by the aerial is carried safely to ‘earth instead of pasing through the set. ‘There are other reasons which will emerge why an earth should be used. ‘The deeper the earth is buried the better; for deep soil remains moist and for good earthing moist earth is essential. "There is no need at this stage to explain how itis that the acrial, the receiver and the earth complete an clectrical ‘ireuit by meane of the ether. but that, in fact, is what these three units do. Part No. 2 Cour circuit is a series aerial or coupling condenser, 16 {A peomwen’s GUIDE TO RADIO which is a piece of apparatus designed to sore electricity. Many condnscrs of vations sas or eapaciies are employed ina rescves,the capacity beng deided according to the part Of the receter bn which ie i incorporated and the amount ft corner expect ove, ou ca cont le, Experiment to prove that a conderser will hald a charge of Ui, ‘Take one of the condensers which you have Shunined for ths simple. onewaiver and conned the eo ‘hes extending fem each side of tothe terminals of an ‘rdinary fash Temp battery, leving 1 $0. connected for a steond box" Thien disconect put the earphones on and ‘onnect one lead to one wie of the condense andthe oer fend tothe second connection. A distinct click wil be heard Inthe earplione, the cick indicating thatthe condenser as ipocane dachagpeds Thi in facts simple practical test AP you are in doubt at to whether a condenser has broken love. “There are several types of condenser, both xed and Serable. “The bet fied condensers const of alternate layer lees or lanine of mien snd tn the til layers belng connected together at each end ard to the connecting Wires, “Cheaper condensers twe paper and nfl whist acetic conve const of tv plates of ferent tetas fr thenallguid soln or paste. ‘They are called Glare cndeons tect they de, ot bec ce ‘mers nl voltage, or foto, © applied vo them, which aus fo ere of he plat tn orn the Botlatr which in other types const of the paper of Ica" comecting wires oles ae Pee and regi, respectively. ‘Te natal separating the plates ofa condensers known as the dele, in the cave of variable conden the crc ean be ait (aod usually), although inthe case of Shir uiple oneal lurate a sli dette tsed of Sie nag ati ch = palin, “A conde bs ‘apergy ad the capacity i expresal in Farad and the sl ‘talupls ofa Faro such as the micro-ared (one millionth CEMara ic rites a oenoy on HE), me smorefaradh, nowadays teed iene: (pF) which equals "Sesion Fre 2 walla ofa milena of a Farad, ae eyn or eooosocnaoor Fhe selection of the eapacty Gta ontenses foe a partctlar sage in a crit is ah ie fpovtane part of radio Jesgn as we shall fo in later lesors. [UNDERSTANDING THE EIRCUT 7 In th sere threat Seconds and two avable condenses (prs 6 a7 ue vata condenser {ke ned ting enn) enables the arial to be tuned fo the wavelength of the sation iis ceo rece whi he ec bran conde wn Si purposes it statod that reaction i ted to bull up the atength of weak signals Parts and are the collin tht cae simple hank-wound coils mate from 26 gauge cofton-covered wire. They can ffewound ina fey minutes ons poe of wood 1 i. diameter OF any round object of that ta The ama ei consists of {o tuts of wie wht the reaction col has 60 turns. Of Soumsey commercial colt are more efficent, and contain ‘hore than two windings a longewave winding, a shortwave Minding a reaction sanding and ether windings according to the furpoc for which the eal i to be wed. ‘There are ‘Sher cals wed na mulevlve set apart Ror aerial tuning 8 [A Broneven’s GUIDE TO RADIO coils, but I shall deal with these as we develop instruction from one-valvers to receivers employing several valves, ‘The Resistance and Valve—Part 8 is a resistane. A resistance i used to oppate the flow of current, and its value is decided by the amount of current its intended to hold back, Its valve is measured in ohms, the ohm being the unit of resistance, ‘The purpose of the resistance will emenge later. ‘As with condensers several resitances of different vals are tused in modern receivers, and the type selected is decided by the amount of current it has to pas or resist. Only one i used in this receiver. Part gis the aale. Tt has a filament cathode like an electric light bulb. Te also has a grid and a plate. ‘The accomalotr or ‘battery is connected to two of the pins or legs, which, in turn, are connected to the filament, and whten the lament is Thot it emits eleanens. "The plate is connected to the high inton bate. "The grid surrounds the filament and the plate sur rounds the ge. Some valves have atonal gi ecard. ing to the Circuit in which they are employed. The valve ‘employed in this receiver has only one ‘When the electrons are emitted from the filament they pass to the grid and are attracted to the plate, alo knowin as the ‘anode, fom whence they flow back to the Righ-tension battery. "The grid. is a spirally wound length of special wire to which the incoming wireless signals are fed. shall have more to say about the action of the thermionic sale a8 this book develope, Part 10.4 the on/off switch. It will be seen that it is com nected in the low-tension positive lead. In its open position it disconnects the battery supply. Tn its closed postion it acts just as though there sa continuous wire fom the battery totheset ‘The Choke and "Phones—Part 1 i the Hpkffeny es Mare ceri teonerte ae runny care Ae rincpal ose to dire he fljchey ecllations Bf the detec vale fr reaction pure post Iiust have alow scopy and to achieve Oi the Fete wound in ecto Part 12; of cous reprenents the Ulm, o earpiece, by meana‘of witch the Peeve signee fear, cont Rian eats wih a de or dapiapm of sf Son UNDERSTANDING THE CIRCUIT 19 Se ee gee fet en eet SOS ae rene ti i nc oe he wig wp of Be ea ai ee marl sew ser nae Se he ft kar eat I a a oe ee Fed ae scr ay eine ney he em leer ee ees ee teria eae ewe eecirs ee rope card oman geet, sere cig ae 2 ee algae roms he poste tr es oe pe i ro ma eat ate Sk ie pen Th REI AE Deu Te pom bee apn isa aren pt ee a pe eee ey a a cae eee eo eee sa eta etme wei ea 8 a dg cng ee tan on cuecion ihr pry sere ch rg iw come b+ ek ie Sorters ce a fu op Soa gn ae eee ge a eae cart, the awery and the earphones, tun the ail tin peer eel irene fiPedgna. Wen one hear, tn te excton condenser bby means ofits knob to build up the strength of its signal. Tt arta tat the sean condenser Eat doo that Bala in revee, that isto sy, when the ples all out Tn cage ws ely neteany Yo revere te onnections mn the teacken col tts condenses Nate sure of cout, : aie riick ihe Son tion. Ifyou sll onoteblansge sa hea the ; Tate venpcae Zi; fully by the ving dag ‘ (Fig. 12). Ord- covered we a fom oN | about 22. gm eet may be used for WY) wiring. IP sig <@S |g) seme a See ARSE wee 6 6 effect of connect- fig the serial idl direc on to the ining come disc ae coor a fined sete ara coe dower Theasty teresa ifs Saal bed rence to an Also try varying agpatlanchas feation cll Siding i lightly ig t4—Theal of a rin, i male fom Ta a cn eng ace to one side of the other coil. A sinooth control of reaction should be aimed st. Avoid tuning in with the set oscillating, 2s this will cause interference with your neighbours reception. It the set oscillates, reduce reaction immediately. ‘Tracing Faults,—Assume that the receiver gives no signals at ally” Disconnect the wire whieh is connected to the anode fr plate socket ofthe valve-holder (in the theoretical diagram, Fig 1s this is represented by the black line at the top inside the circle), and connect one lead of a pair of headphones to the terminal and take the other lead to HLT. positive. Switch fon the set and ascertain Whether signals come through. If Jou hear nothing at all tap the valve. If no signal is beard {he valve is defective, of the L-T. circuit is not complete, “You can check the LT. circuit fairly simply by carefully looking at the valve, preferably shielded by the hand so that it's more ot les in the dark, It should be posible to see the filament glowing a faint cherry red, and, i not, then the “Connections to the battery should be checked, the condition Of the accumulator checked, and the leads between the set and the accumulator traced out. Temporarily the accu- ‘ulator could be checked by connecting the valve direct seross the battery, using a shot piece of wire frm one of the legs to the other bawery terminal. Te-does not mater in dhs case which way round the Later is joined. Ifthe valve docs not light up, dhen the valves fuly or the aceumsts lator i too low and needs recharging. In the ewe ofthe battery-ype of valve using a 15 volt call the filament does not glow bright enough to be able to check iat described above. In this ease the valve may be replaced temporarily by small flashlamp bulb rated Bt 1g volt, and’ two shore lengths of wire may be inserted ih tie lament sockets of the valve holder, and the bulb ‘connected across them. It should light up when the set is fiche on 1 daze roy hen the beter rap down fr the connections tof are ful You ean proceed in ths ‘tanner to check each part of the eit. a sa nenr einen fect erento Pe nt Rodeos TEAC), ori eae eer One coil (sce text). Sree vad. re fave hdc See calc ece, Reema 2 par Hah Ressance headphones eo ype L554 battery (Vidor). Conne C wire (22 ¢, cotton covered), wood for ‘pacboetd and fund” : LESSON 2 Converting the One-valver into a Two-valver “The Function of Transformers.—In Fig. 13, the rcuit shove in Figy 1 has been altered to include a second valve, ‘The eld cra is shown by dot lines and the new com- Frente lowfequns trayorme) an the atonal wiring Ere. shown by . folid lines: “The theoretical sign for 2 low frequency teansiormer i shown in Fig. ‘ip which also ines 8 pers tive. #ketch, Browing what looks like. F 14 Thare en fr «la fregny tore Now: 2 low Mad igh pe cd orm iansidemer i'4 device for coupling valves together so that the volume of the signals is increaed. A low-frequency tandormer consists of & cere of sfeiron stampings, around hich are, wound two separate coils of ‘wire—either side By side or one upon the other. The ratio of these wind- fs determines the amplifcation given by the transformer, I thus'n three‘te-one transformer means that the primary iS (oughly) one tird the turns af the secondary. ‘The pri qnary winding connected in the anede circuit ofthe vale, Boke end of the primary joined to the anode and the Biner‘end t the LL. supply. The oscillations in this wind- Sigrare transferred by induction to the secondary, winding, Mish is connected tothe gril circuit ofthe following valve, ha therefore thisvalve receives similar impulses to this with the 4 [A BEOINNER’S GUIDE. TO RADIO exception that they are strengthened by the step-up due to the Fado of the windings. “the advantage of this type of Coupling es Sn this eprop strength or stage gol, but hese Ste'a number of advantages "A later Teton deals with induction. Tn cher words a transformer is a combination of two inductances (ck) s0\ arranged tat alternating current in fone will induce current in the other winding,” There are folds; high-fthueney Ganformerslerequenc frend ghstchuency tansormery lowebeqoenc fae fSemers and’ mains tesfomers Highfequency. tans: fers cre singly of cal of wr of lh eer the Primary or the secondary may be tuned. ‘The coupling is Bo'Geht thatthe eect of tuning one criti the same a hing tate selon betwen the winding oh ‘other words, the rato is governed By the type of sive with Sticilie tact tie acess conan cae STasimilar arrangement, with the inclusion of core of iron to increase the inductancl) LF transformers generally have S aeprup rao of fom 10 tot to 8; the most una ratio ates About Mains Transformers.—These const of a similar arrangement, except that the primary is wound for incl jn the A.C. mains circuit, and in place of one secondary, several secondaries are employed, to give voltage supplies for heating the heaters of maine valves and also for HT. supply ‘Transformation Ratio.—The usual ratio of primary to sezandary is known as the ronan rt; his a tran ‘with 100 primary turns and 1000 secondary turns ‘would have a trantfcrmation ratio of 100 to #,000 of # #0 10. Secondary turns Secondary EMF. When connecting a lowlrequency tansformer it is im- tant to note which ithe in (LP), the out-prinary DP.) the insecndary (LS.) ad outscondary (O.8.) otherwise it may. be necesary after testing to change over the ‘Some transformers are marked 1.P, O.P., LS. and OS. although most to-day are marked P. (or Aj, HLT, G. and ‘CONVERTING THLE ONE-VALVER DITO A TWO-VALVER 25 G.B. corresponding to plate (or anode), high tension, grid and gridcbias. ‘These, of course, correspond to 1.P.,'O. 158. and O. ‘The Anode Resistance.—In some designs it is necessary {to avoid the direct curent flawing through the primary and it is, therefore parallel fed. ‘This means that the terminal marked TT. should be joined to earth, the terminal marked P should be fed through a fixed condenser of about -or to 1 aE capacity to the plate of the valve, and the high tension applied to the plate through an arode redstance. The anode, js-of course, another name for the plate of the valve although the term has other meanings, “The anode resistance shonid have a value about four times the inpedance of the valve. Later on ‘when we deal with valves separately, we shall learn what the impedance of a valve means, but briefly it means the resistance to flow of current offered by a circuit. : "The ratio of the transformer must be chosen according t0 the position it occupies in the circuit. If, as in this ease, only’ one stage of low-frequency amplification is , 4 Bh rato warmer, can. be i ay 703 ou this to some extent ind upon the valve. if a Valve is used a tatio of about 5 to 1 would be suitable. Electrodes.—The valves used in this sct are triodes, that is to say they have three eietudes, an electrode being ‘either fof the two poles or terminals ofa valve, battery, dynamo, ete. ‘A pentode, as its name implies, thus Has five electrodes. In the case of a triode the electrodes are respectively, the plate, the grid and the flament. The filament is surrounded by the grid and this fy in turn surrounded by the anode or plate. Some valves, of course, employ more than one grid as stated fon page 18 ‘Action of the Valve—A battery valve functions when, as already described, a oe louion (low voltage) current i. through the filament. ‘This hat the effec of heating it, and, hen it has reached the correct temperature it throws off ‘minute electrical negative ‘known as elerons. ‘The lectrons are attracted to the grid and from there to the plate fan froin thence they flow back to the high tension battery. To 6 A mecnevEn’s GUIDE TO RADIO attract the negative electrons to the anode from the flament {he anode is kept positively charged, forts well-known fact tac pate charge aac ane change To charge the plate or anode positively itis connected to the positive a of the high-tension battery, the negative side of the battery being connected to low tention negative x3 explained earlier- Tn ths way the voltage applied to the filament remains unchanged, ut the voltage of the anode in relation to the filament #” greatly increased and with ft the electron flo. ‘The grid i a spirally wound length of special wire and to thi coming wireless signals are applied. These signals fare alternatively negative and postive and this changing of folarty tends to control the electron flow ftom the fl {o the anode; for when the gid is psitive it acts like a small ode and because iti nearer to fhe Blament its attraction fbr the electron is much greater. But this also means an increase in anode cure “The grid, however, is jut as often negative and has the effect of repelling electrons leaving the filament, for lke repels like and unlikes attract. A negative grid will therefore ‘ean a decrease in anode current. It vill be seen then, hat ifthe grid i biased negatively with a grd-biss battery it will tend. to prevent any positive signal voltages. from making the grid positive and the flow of grid current is thus Prevented, although the controlling action of the grid is Inaintained.” Tt is important, to use the Correct self i as thie eg not be able to dee properly with the signal voltages applied to it. "A valve acts as an amplifier owing to the fact that the anode current produced by the application of a poeta! or teltage, oF presi to the eathede (the filament) andl anode is rveh "greater than that which is passed to the grid. The signal oscillations ‘on the. grid_vary the anode current a ‘aplained above and as this is of greater magnitude than the Signal amplification takes place. in the onesvalver the valve, of couse, acts as a rectifier as well as an amplifer, a aeady explained. "A negative Potential i applied t0 the grid s0 that hen the signal om lations are passed to the valve a unidirectional current is produced in the anode circuit. "This i not the only method of rectification, of course, for i may be carried out by including in the grid circuit a fixed CONVERTING THE ONE-VALVER INTO A TWOWALVER 27 ‘condenser with a high resistance joined 10 the cathode. "The inclusion of this condenser and resistance has the same cliect, namely the production of @ uni-directional current in the anode cireuit. “The Grid Leak-—We have not yet dealt with the grid leak, whch in a detector circuit mist discharge the electrons ‘ontmulated on the gril during alternate halfeyeles, In the eastance-apacitycoupled stage, which we shall deal with nthe next fosony it has to compte the ge circuit of the trlve and discharge it continuoialy and rapidly so thatthe Yeltage at the grid at any instant accurately fellows the Signal voltage finctuatons For the average leaky” grit Rector a condenser of 0005 pi capacity and a ged leak SEabout 2 megohins resseance are’ usally recommended Mile "for the Toweteuency reaitanoeapaig couple ‘the condenser may be as great a8 “op pF and the grid fe oPabout 250000 chins reattance. The function ofthe oui cde picply to Conte he legen Sigel applied to the ged of the valve, and the ged leak aise Gacharge resstanc. “The reatana, or opposition, offered by the condenser to the pasage fan Mernating‘cuzent i Migh at low frequencies and lower at high fequencis. “Peg: the grid leak ie shove taken direct from he grid to the L-T, posive terminal, but in some Grea itanay be fund connected directly acrens the grid condenser (part No.6). Both arrangements are theoeteally the same, estept {hax the ater fon occ, i tal to Gonna the LT. postive battery to the earth or lower endo ning colenser, ‘The values ofthe ged condenser and the Sal ak alec the senvity and the quality of the signal Sic is obeained LESSON 3, Adding » further Low-Frequency Stage Is Lesson 2 T showed how to convert the Onewvalver into a ‘Two-valver. Tam now taking the basic circuit a. stage further, by adding another low-ftequeney stage (resstance- spac oupled o RCC.) so tat the reve wil operate 2 loudspeaker. ‘The additional parts required are a valve, a valve-holder, fa reastance, a fixed condenser and a tolione contol. ‘They fare illustrated in theoretical and actual form in Figs. 15-17. Experienced experimenters will notice that T not introduced. grid’ bins, because the valves employed will ‘operate quite satisfactorily, at the high tension voltage speci- fied, without it. Later I shall explain how to apply grid bias ‘and the changes whieh are necese SY must, ho ever, expl: here the of gid bias, In lowetrequency amplification, which we are mmploying here, itiesental that the rid of the valve shall be at patna of auch value that the applied signals wil ary By an ‘qual arounton Sian ce ee Sake 5A Vale ae Pe Si conra [ADDING A FURTIEER LOW-TREQUENGY STAGE 29 characteristic curve of a valve Swe shall under stand what this ‘means; for the present it can beexplained that io shertcgeey aC yee Te fet such as the st fiery ers Eee Res Teg tearm ih moet seal bor Bea eal tuned andthe low aa ede Bey tet the gd et ed ad i le a En he apt ie Volume Control.—Now regarding the Volume control, ‘A powerful local station will, of course, give much stronger Signal than a distant one and, therefore, it ‘would. overload Be ouput sage peeve: ‘operat out grid bi “To give the oper. ator a means of preventing this overloading a polume control fe used. ‘The PEELE ° ‘A meounen’s GUIDE TO RADIO Volume contol is @ variable reistnce incorporated in the Tedktancecapacty-coupled age. “The speaker will only handle a certain volume of sound, and if tg strong a sig ised into the valve connected to 1, Gverlading wil take place, and there are two tees fo {ik “The fist to increawe the handling capabilites of the ‘ale by applying more high tension, and the Seco is to ut oven the sgoal srry 'A number of recetvers have the reaction control labelled “Volume Control", but this is not strlly corect, A volume conte should be able to cut down the strength of ny signaly but the reaction control can only bulld up the Strength of received signals, and cannot cut down below the Grigial suength received ‘by the detector” ‘There. are re irr ry folie cnt ‘conjunction with the ordinary type of low-eequene) tramtirmer there are to posible avangements. One to employ a vavlablereshtance shied ncros the primary of {Be transformer, and its value should be chosen so that when ‘filin itdoes not have to great an efeet upon the quality ot reproduction, “Of courte, when the transformer i 8 highe das component, the presence ofan external resstance acto ‘ther primary or secondary wil mavealy affect the esporse ‘aurve, and the reproduction vil he affected. I some eases, frit wh chep tonne are wd he ro: ction my be wing to the fattening ofthe curve. “The value ofthe restance should be about 10,2000 hms hot more, The second method tt dhunt the secondary eich 2 component ofthe type shown in Fig. 15 (part 17)- By the team dant itis meant thatthe connec are in fara ‘The Loudspeakcer—The loudspeaker which replaces the earphones works on precisely the same’ principle. Tt is, ‘an enlarged earphone. ‘The type of loudspeaker selected will depend, of course, on the cirot. ‘The early ‘ype of loudspeaker consisted of a strip of iron, fixed at one tend, the free end Ling above and clee to the pole of a small it. To the strip of iron, oF armature as itis properly ‘alle, is secured thin rod on to which a cone diaphragm is fixed,” ‘The windings of the magnet are connected in the out- pteiruiofthe atte of tee the caren change, iue to either speech or music pasing through this magnet AnbING A FURTHER LOW-IREQUENOY STAGE St “winding, 9 the pull on the armature is varied, with the result that the vibrations are transferred to the cone, and so the Sounds are made audible, It will be obvious that the arma- {ure will always tend to return to its normal position and this hatural restoring force gives rise to it first fault, namely, ‘Resonance-—Again, the current fluctuations du to a very lon note such, fr instance, ae the beat of a drum, are ery reat andshould vealtin a largemovementfthearmature. As {Re annature i rather rigidly el, emust be arranged close to the pote picee in order thatthe weak impulbes may actuate it “rhe idled arate loudspeaker war inwoduced to avoid the rial fat of the st peo peak, mamely rene nod "The armature Islas figly arranged in between 10 Tragveta ‘There i therefore an equal pull in each direction End this tends to make the armature move about a central positon, avoiding the natural restoring force which was Pedic in the simpler typeof movement. ‘The gap between dhe aigets may be fy large andl so greater signal atength {an be handled without risk of chat.” "ihe inductor dynamic was the nearest approach obtained to the ileal in ovingion speaker. In both of the previous Iovements it obvious that a he iron armature i fied st ‘ne end there ‘must necesarly bea certain amount of Selanee to overoume in order to vibrate the armature and The tendency of the armature to return to its postion of rt Sell alwayp-be presen no matter what dedtical impulses Ire gt work “This present the soy ccladon nor To tice sy, low organ note, anc in addition, the cone is Piapcratal bya dvect puandepll movement The Actual retin of the move of the cone te, Prods The tue toney should be what might be termed a piston ” movement) that ftshould move in oe plane only. Now, 2B one end of the armature in the speaker movements 80 far ‘Seccrtbed is fred, Hie cbviows Ut the operating reed i {ben through a small are during ie trandro movement “This gives rs to a form of dstertion. "Toloveroome al these dfets in ataoving ion loudspeaker the moving cll speaker was produced Moving-coil Speakers.—The moving-eil speaker i, of course US best ype of speaker yet dese ahd provided 2 ‘a weomiven’s GUIDE TO RADIO © om et ste uch gir ponte age ere me hr eae re nes ate Pen nee Bebop Ae eas el SE a 1 eg. et aga i in a ence ai 2 te On Le ag See ants ar a rent So oe epee pe ce de ‘het vis dr et ae a a es ene he Si eed ee ge cig a a ae ee eh HN Ne Soettct See Cralrcearmonmally i, Next la mace ueh ae en ce ae a ab eee @ tea sie ee tg outa, eco rs c npn rah oe ec ape Heiman uh Me itera oe emg ey cies a Bein make Oy Pa eae i eat ee ks,» ty iat eyes tog tne a 3 seeped 3 On pega fe cl Er at este aise on ee a Re heal a te ee ey ee aioe Matching the Impedance—No matter which type, of speaker it intended to use there is one point which applies the caret employment of any speaker and that i, the Inpelane of te paler mat be, matte the output esis rete that a certain valve wi oly givestraight Tine reproduction with a. certain‘ ni ule and although valve manufacturers give this impodance figure’ in the Teaflets sccompanying their valves, unfor- tte epee marcy, ert says ete te finpodance of thelr products. Usually, only the D.C. TeBfance is given and this does not enable one correctly to Tiatch up the speaker, ‘There are on the market, however [ADDING A FURIITER LOW-FREQUENGY STAGE 93 ‘etain output matching transformers which have various ‘aio and the istener desires to get he best from the st, one of these transformers or matching units must be, ine Clided inthe output creat and by adjusting i to various Nalues its posible suitably to match up the speaker. One Tiral word, PAs the speaker can only repre what i fed into it the choice of reuit should receive as much, or even ing, cate tha te ce of peak “Tht normal valve needs & high impedance "in its anode cireut and due to the principles of design the ordinary type af movingoil dapat rade fa Tow reste. 12 eae al fora oe aon of we aed hi frould bee dificult to arrange on the moving-oll former of Ue spear, so afew turns of more rebust wire are wed, and this Fouls in the winding being only ofa low impedance, ually between and 15 ohms. ‘The high impedance for the vake cult obtained fom the winding on an output transformer which ix very silat in design and construction to the mains transformer or. lowfrequency_ transformer, Se cn he a ey nf 3 to Trthe ratio may be as high as 6o to 1, depending upon {ie tee pen or diay wale regan Wich impedance, and te peaker a very lw impedances” A further advantage of using the output transformer is that long Jens may be wed if dhe is required to be placed ata point some way fiom the receiver uel Ifthe speaker Wwere joined direct in the anode eireuit, the anode current Ul the valve would have to flow dhrough ty and i the leads rere taken some distance ava, the long length of wire would {usc a voltage drop and the FLT. applied to the vale itself would therefore be reduced to an unsatisfactory low level By placing the transformer direct in the ceiver, the secondary ‘Wulling, hich i of low resistance, may be extended for omidcrable lengths without causing any -ffects, and this the mangement ‘onully used for extension speaker points. LESSON 4 ‘The Purpose of Grid Bias “Twn threcvalve circuit shown in Leon g sepresented in its simplest fon a receiver incorporating deter valve with two amplifying valves The valves were anbiard. Now Salve veh are used for audio frequency Gow-requency mpllitation peed to operate at spect pare of care Subrnte curve of the fales “The ccut given in Fig. 20 soepen i de terse BON B ig The eit f ee engl, Td i : Siac ashe era eee steve the modifications necumry to Figs 18 andl 19, in ore to apply erect bas to Re vale A pietell Froese of hee mods edn in Figan. So St the valve ean fens a i beat according tthe characteristic curve, grid bias should be applied, and it now Eee cca explain what chance ae ‘The Valve Gurve—A vale curve is thown in Fig. 22, and wi be san atthe vereal nea te extreme ight ” [THE PURPOSE OF ORID MAS 35 (known as an ordinate) represents anedle current in milli amperes, and the bottom line (abscissa) the grid volts. "Not relationship. Some ‘how anode current in relation to anode volts. ‘The standard terms used in connection with characteristic curves are Vg, for grid volts, Va for anode volt, and Ia for anode current. “The grid vols Kine is sometimes divided into two parts, a zero Tine being placed near the righthand edge andthe volts to the let of this being marked mogative, those 1o the vight ppesitive. Now this set of curves will give us all the details ‘Of what are known of the characteristics of the valve. We Fig 19-— Ths i. fil range ofthe cats in Fi #8, Tabi oy be aie for te one olla, ga plot a characteristic curve ourlves, Fist obtain pplece of graph paper and mark it off as shown in Fig. 22. Connect ‘ip’ valve-holder, gribias battery, HLT, battery" and L-T. battery and connect @ milliammeter in the anode ead between plate and IT. postive. With no grid bias nd Go volts aed Emmeter. On the squared paper on the zero fine make a dot S iding with the anode current inter~ sere the Tne tects Nove ph the reba pg into the 15 voll socket. End note the ne cutrent, malign dt om the chare about 36 [A nrcmeven’s GUIDE TO RADIO 7 ae a oe the 15 wolt line atthe point of intencction with the new fide ent ered th wy wi win HT. and alu, finally joing up all the dot to form 8 ae. ‘The ret of is wil be, rsbould be, aset of carves exactly the same as the supplied by the salve maker, andthe various figures sch as ampere = rat lie ete ‘anode voltage change ingrid volts. When pre- Paring the curves he explained above, it will be noted that as the rid bias is ine Greased, the HLT. ‘voltage’ remaining ig 21. iron sheng ametion unaltered, the ‘hed ba Batry anode current ‘mn Funpose oF ORD RAS 37 decreases. For example, with 100 volts HLT. and no Solty on the grid the anode current may be, say, 50 milli amps. "When the grid-bias is increased by three volts the fanode current will drop to just under 10 milliamps, a drop of omailigmps”‘Theeie to btn the same ano curent Without altering the bias it will be neoasary to increase the FLT, and in the example quoted about 24 volts are required to obtain the same anode current. From this ican be con uded that it is necesary to add 2g volts HLT. for every 4 4 volts G.B, added and this ratio, — or 8:1, s the amplification 3 “The term slope is another name for midual conductance and it refers to the change in anode current divided by ‘Ghange in grid volts; or to put it another way, the anode ‘current change per grid potential Te Ehange. "For this A seo ae tan rolls Bust be left Cotte” Cay rege isk ree su brn dat wun Sede ante coe ahs See ate Sees ind Siew with . Sat Sel Tin io Se ‘milliamps. "for eer ee ee 22,—Tofcal camels ce of on amplifing la ne i ie a the slope would + Se am HY cage ies 8 ‘A muorsnn’s GUIDE TO RADIO be referred to at 2 milliamps, per volt of, as itis expressed fon the valve chart, 2mA/V. Tmpedance.—The impedance of valve has a bearing fon the value of resistance, ete, which is used in coupling = valve to its next stage. No further calculation needs to be Imade to obtain this figure at the two previous items, slope ‘and amplification ratio, are used to ascertain the impedance. ‘You ‘timply divide the amplification ratio by the slope, 8 hich in the example given will be — multiply the answer by 1,000, which is 4000, and this gives the impedance in ohms. Tt ie important to’ remember, however, that these figures ‘are slaic characteristics, which means that they are only. applicable toa valve’ which receives constant voltages. ‘When the valve is operating in the receiver, the grid and anode ‘voltages aze constantly changing and'its therelore impessible to ascertain from the curves such details as the maxinum inditrted ouput, the correct anode lead, the pereentage of second harmonic dtrton, ete, and it is therefore necessary 10 prepare a set of curves known as dmnanie curves, I shall not Explain how to plot these curves in this leson except to say. that when they are ploted it will be observed that the values ofboth ag an HT, ae ead ovale higher than 5s normally used. In order to make use of these curves the current at the correct working point must be shown, that is to say, the Correct anode volts and correct grid volts and, in addition, at half and double these values. ‘During the operation of the ‘valve (dealing with the valve as an LF. amplifier), the grid potential varies when the valve is operating, on the proper part of its characteristic from half the applied bias to double {hat bias, If it does not do this then distortion is taking, place. ‘The effect of the variation in bias is equivalent to 2 Change in anode volts and therefore the dynamic curves will Show the ancde current at various grid and anode volts. LESSON 5 Automatic Bias battery receivers to employ automatic bis. ‘The ect of bias in valve i to vender the potential of the ar lest dan that ofthe cathode or filament. With ordinary Frater bas the filament sata potential equal to the potent tthe negative end of the hightenon sopply, and by con ing the postive pole ofthe grid-ias hater to the HLT. ogatve the ri potent sequal to he voltage ofa much of the grid batery Woltage ae incaded in the gd ces In order to bine the valve it docs not matter whether the Cathode is at 2er0 Soltage. andthe al maome nee J po tal ar the ‘negative terminal of the high tension supply, Iwte the cathode ‘erased to a higher potent by he Inclusion of a resitance in th lead connecting the cathode {0 the negative high tension termina Batery auto-biar is Carried out by including aresitancein the HT lead. Fig. 23 Sows the arrangement of the two reisior: for the two Yale of bis voted. Experimenters may ty diferent ‘ales to se the effec.” For orample, a voltmeter may be Py A neonwven’s GUIDE TO RADIO ‘connected across the resistor to ascertain what value i applied. ‘The advantages of automatic or selibiasing are many. In the first place, if the value of the biasing resistance is correct there is no pessbility of under-biasing of over Biasing the valve. The biasing resstance automatically controls the value of the anode current, for should the anode Current rise, due perhaps fo an increase in anode voltage, the Noltage across the biasing resistance will rise in proportions the negative bias will be increased and the anode current reduced to a safe vale, Further, the biasing resistance dos not deteriorate as does gridbias battery; it docs hot vary in value, and needs no replacement. If desired, the biasing resistance can be made variable or semi-variable. “There is, however, one disadvantage. Any biasing voltage ‘thus applied i deducted from the total HLT. voltage, This, fof course, makes no practical difference to the efficiency of the average mains set where 220/250 volts HLT. is available from the maint and the maximuin bias voltage docs not cheeed go volts, In the case of some of the bigger output Salts, Howes, which are desgoel to operate at about ‘Yoo velts on the anode, as each valve requires over Too volts rid bias, the ese i this amount of bias were subtracted from the available 4o0 volts HLT. would be excessive. ‘Basing resistances generally should be of the stable type and must be capable of carrying the foll anode current of, the valve contituously without overheating. In the case of early-stage low-frequency amplifiers and sereened-grid valves, Grdimary fixed resistances are quite suitable, but for output Valves, where a certain amount of preliminary adjustment of brid Bias is usually necessary, itis advisable to we a variable Fesstor, or preferably a fixed resistor and a variable resistor in series. This allows of adjustment, but at the same time required, the resistance must naturally be of the variable Type The calculation of the corfect value of biasing resist ‘thee is a simple matter, and is merely the application of ‘Ohm's Lav. "The formula is: Desired bias in volts Value of basing resistance in ohms = - ‘Anode current in amps “AvTOMANE BIAS en As the anode current is usually exprescd in milliamps, the value of the biasing resistance is found by mullplying the ested bis voltage by 1000 and dividing by the anode Carrent in miliamps. ‘Ava typcal example, take an output valve requiring agri sia of goal ath cnet waa he ane Errest bee ge mille; the correct retance for selSbias would be {2 multiplied by 1,000 and divided by 90, or 1006-6 ohms. Retualyy a total Fedstance of ago ohms would be sed, Consisting o'2 7go-oum fixed resister in series with a variable feastor of joo obras maximum. Tm mise receivers, in addon to the biasing resistance itself, certain additional compenents are stally required for ofdecoupling. Irthe anode supply snot suicienty Enoothed, and a bad mains ripple i present, thre i a risk that this may be transfered to the grid by te bias arrange- mnenty when the anode ‘eurent will be correspondingly Inodlated and serious mains hum result. Mereover, there IPrlways a chance that the biasing circuit may piek up rains thom frm some other part ofthe apparats, while any other lovefequency component in the anode ciate will Have a similar efect. ‘To reduce this rsh, a grid. decoupling. or Smoothing ireuit may be employed. ‘This consists of a resistance, usually of about gojoo ols, included in the ge soar ad pol the’ eathode ‘through a con- fenser which, in the case of most lowlrequeney valves, Should be atleast 2 uP capacity. Such decoupling not exental, but should be auded without hesitation if serious hum eannot be cured by other nears.” Different designers prefer diferent arrangements of the auto-bias creul but the rents given on pages 36. and are ed arrangennts ad ite mabe Fo he yp oP battery cireut for which they are recommended. "The Inakner in which the automatic bass obtained in the ircuit Siow in Fig, i quite simple. "When a voltage is applied ‘cron the ends ofa estanoe there is a voltage drop though the estan caued by the arent owing, and i is dependent sspon the voltage which it applied, and the Sac of de eakeance, ee ‘Relationship of voltage, current and resistance forms the basis of Olim's Lave dealt with Inter. In the meantime due is diferenee ares the esstance it will be seen from the 2 [A EORNER’s GUIDE TO RADIO ton ofthe two resistances in Fig. 24 that at the lower end Frearet the LT. ~ connection) the voltage wil be mere Tesivethanatthe Kipper end. icine LT. Therefore, the point to which the Fret grid cient connected (the Fe. 24—Piil dopants wing, conte connect- ent owing from the valves in question the topend (HT. tend) of the two resistances will be about 7°5 volts negative and the junction about 3 volts negative. ‘course, if three biassing voltages are required, then a farther resistance is added between part No. 22 and the LT. ‘negative point, withthe bias voltage picked off at this junction, point. ‘The lowest voltage is at the end of the first resistance Working up from the LAT. negative connection, and the Higustwolage at che HAT negative pain ob 3 simple smatier to arrange for various voltage drops through appro te resistances to provide any bias value. Bear in mund, fowever, that the total voltage dropped across these resist- ances is actually deducted from the HLT. which is applied to the valves, LESSON 6 ‘The Parpose of Decoupling Iw the previous Ison, I mentioned the term deaypling, and He neRisaty now to explain what the term meant and why 1 neem ley eon eve te et Sd Sutput cenit ofa source of stage iy such asi provi ya thermione valve, in brit {can be ‘a tt or Chapling i employed to prevent cxcilation and distarton, Decoupling is carried out by means of resistances, chokes and anderen 'Sometanes the tm sper is employed, a3 Slnncction with the esitance iried nthe gril lead of ‘SEretecr valve, to reduce high-frequency potentials on the ial of de valve and the consequent buildup of parasitic 2—The insect hg by ig. 20th deligretanes 7 ‘clr oo ow ned oe (unwanted) oecillations. ‘The resistance-capacity combina tion for decoupling anode or grid supply circuits 30 a8 to ‘Obviate. oscillation, in amplifying. valves is a well-known Secoupling arrangement. “ {A necinnen’s GUIDE TO RADIO In Fig. 25 the components and wiring necessary to de- ‘couple and add tone control to our threevalve receiver are shown solid and the circuit before decoupling by dotted Hines The tae contd comppoent are showin perspective in Fig. 26. Te will be seen thatthe first two stages have been decoupled. Tn a straight three-valve set, the HLT. sides ofeach of the aponens in the anode Greuit ar jie together iter leet on trough the nerening ell ofthe HLT. batery, ‘with the result that the major part of the battery volt between the anode leads dearth, This portion the Higtenson battery may have a considerable high-frequency resistance which, being common to all three valves, Tus uth say" ecren as ave owing in ete anode circuit to the other anode cireuits, thus causing instability, ‘motor-boating or violent cscllation, Tn order to prevent this trouble, ite necessary to give other ‘than battery cuenta direct path to HLT. —, and to separate the anodes from each other by 7 ‘oF choke and condenser. In general practice the choke i seldom sed, as tis useful only when a very heavy high-tension eurrent ig passing. It is, however, generally used in the output stage {o choke-feed the loudspeaker and direct the speech current ‘through the loudspeaker winding to earth. Tn all sets the r ‘detector valve is probably. the most important. Here, it is necessary to make certain that the values are adequate. Unfortunately, if too high resistance is used, the HLT. value will be lowered, which is Undesirable below a certain ‘In order to ensure that ‘decoupling is efficent, the resistance in ohms when multiplied by the capacity of the condenser in microfarads should not bbe les than 40,000. It would appear that the simpler way ‘would be to use 40,000 ohms witht pF, but such a value of Yesstance may reduce the high-tension voltage, ‘The ammount fof voltage lost through the resistance is simple to calculate, it merely being necessary to multiply the resistance by the number of milliamps. passing and take off three noughts. For example, if the anode reastance were only 3ojoc0 ohms and the current three milliamps., multiply these two together jiu the Fouls ojoco; tale ff hes boughs and i wl be scen that the ‘would be go. (See Ohm's Yacr'on page a Decide hrs of all whet solage ts ‘nue runtose oF pecourravo 45 esr to apply to the dete stage ad mbt thi om the BLT. batery volt Iave the amount that tay be sacrificed inthe interests decoupling I 8 vals Js required on the detector and the battery voltage i 120, then 4o volts can be spared. Now, reference to the valve carve or the use of s millimmeter wil show what current the valve faking. Supprme ie taking gmilllampa it how desired to find what resistance will drop 40 vol when 4 plans Bovng. | This ace at by ding he inllampes into the voltage, when the answer will be the hhumber of thousands of elms required. Divide the 3 mic Amp into the go voll this gos approsimately 1 times and the anowes & in thousanch of oki the resotance will be 15,000 ohms. ‘The neatest value obtainable will be 15,000 chins, which will have to be associated witha 4 nF condenser. Ina first LE, stage the value can usvally be lowered to sev "The values choten for the circuit shown in Fig. a5 are suitable for most practical purpess, however ‘you with to introduce decoupling into a circuit because of instability, and the HLT. available is not adequate to Fermi of ent we of ie gevouping estes aay be posable to we jus one restante, Stage olf Ot cosy uch case expefients ald be ‘hewesary to ascertain which stage should be decoupled, and ‘may be found that only one stage requires i I LESSON 7 Adding Tone Controt “Tux reociver is now at a stage where it is good enough for ordinary purposes; it will make @ satiactory domestic receiver: "Those, however, with an ear for quality may care to add the refinement of tone control, It is not absolutely ‘necessary, of course, in a reesiver of this type, although with, mains receivers and others capable of high output it becomes

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