27MHz Field Strength Meter

http://talkingelectronics.com/projects/27MHz Fiel...

27MHz
Field
Strength
Meter
Home
To buy a kit: 27MHz FSM kit

$6.50 plus $4.00 post

When building 27MHz transmitters (and receivers) it is essential to have a simple piece of
test equipment called a FIELD STRENGTH METER to make sure the transmitter is
transmitting and to determine the frequency of transmission.
This project has both features.
It is an ESSENTIAL piece of test equipment because you need to know a transmitter is
working and hen you need to know it is transmitting at the correct frequency.
If the frequency of the transmitter is slightly different to the frequency of the tuned circuit of
the receiver, the two will not communicate and it will be a very difficult job to work out if the
problem lies in the transmitter or the receiver.
The reason is due to the TUNED CIRCUIT in the transmitter and receiver.
This allows the transmitter to produce a signal on a very narrow band and the tuned circuit in
the receiver performs the same task.
When you are trying to "matchup" the two units, you do not know if the transmitter is higher
or lower than the receiver and if you don't have a STARTING POINT, you can spend hours
trying to get the two to communicate.
That's why you need a Field Strength Meter.
It lets you now the transmitter is working and allows you to tune it to 27MHz.
Now, you only need to tune the receiver.

THE CIRCUIT

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27MHz Field Strength Meter

http://talkingelectronics.com/projects/27MHz Fiel...

27MHz Field Strength Meter

The project consists of two separate circuits with the current for each section going through a
500uA meter. When either of these circuits detects energy in the form of electromagnetic
radiation, it gets rectified by the diode and passed to the transistor where it turns the
transistor ON more. This causes more current to flow through the 500uA meter and the
pointer moves up-scale.
The first section we use when testing a transmitter is the BROADBAND detector. This is
identified by Antenna 1. This is called an UNTUNED amplifier and simply picks up RF.
This is designed to let you know the transmitter is working.
But you don't know the frequency of operation.
This is the function of the other circuit.
It is has a TUNED front end consisting of a coil and capacitor in parallel.
When the natural resonant frequency of these two components is the same as the frequency
of the transmitter, the voltage produced will be greater than 1.2v and the transistor will turn
ON to move the pointer up-scale.
In this case, the two components are not called a TANK CIRCUIT but a TUNED CIRCUIT
and they are not loaded AT ALL until the voltage reaches 1.2v. This means it is very easy for
them to generate a voltage. You can see the circuit does not provide them with any voltage
and so all the voltage produced comes from the RF energy absorbed from the surroundings.
When the antenna is connected to the PC via a pin called a machine pin, a very small signal
will be picked up, consisting of all the "hash" in the surroundings. This will deliver a voltage to
the coil and capacitor but the signals will be coming at all different frequencies and they will
be adding and subtracting so that nothing observable will be produced.
If a transmitter is brought near the antenna, the signal will be larger than all the background
"hash" and it will consist of a single waveform (single frequency). It will deliver energy to the
capacitor and the capacitor will deliver energy to the coil and the coil will deliver energy back
to the capacitor but at a slightly different time to that of the next wave from the transmitter.
The result will be a very small signal being passed from capacitor to coil and back again.
But by adjusting the air trimmer, a position will be reached where the waveform produced by
the capacitor and coil will be reinforced by the incoming signal from the transmitter and the
waveform will get larger and larger. Eventually it will increase to 1.2v. If the diode is
removed, this voltage will be even higher. But the diode drop of 0.6v and the base-emitter
drop of 0.6v limits this amplitude to 1.2v and the extra energy produced by the circuit is
passed to the transistor to turn it ON.
This section is effectively your reference for a 27MHz transmitter.

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27MHz Field Strength Meter

http://talkingelectronics.com/projects/27MHz Fiel...

That's why the coil must be exactly as supplied in the kit and shown in the photos. Adjusting
the spacing of the turns will alter the frequency at which the tuned-circuit resonates and this
change will be quite considerable.

FITTING THE ANTENNA

The antenna is firstly placed in position 1 on the board to get an indication that the
transmitter is working and then it is taken to antenna point 2.
Rotate the air trimmer and the pointer on the multimeter will rise and fall as the peak of
oscillation is reached and passed.

CONSTRUCTION
A kit of components is available from Talking Electronics.
All the components are included in the kit and everything is identified on the board.

The 27MHz FSM PC board

27MHz Field Strength Meter fully assembled

The most critical part of construction is the tuned circuit for antenna point 2.
The coil supplied in the kit has the correct dimensions for a 27MHz transmitter.
This is very critical and the coil must not be stretched or squashed as the tuned circuit will

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27MHz Field Strength Meter

http://talkingelectronics.com/projects/27MHz Fiel...

not produce a peak amplitude for 27MHz. Just the last two turns need to be extended to
produce 27MHz as shown in the photo above.
Use fine tinned copper wire to hold the cell in place and make sure the wires do not create a
short-circuit.

CONNECTING THE METER

The PC board is connected to a multimeter via two paper clips.
They are connected to the board at the holes identified by 500uA. The paper clips are made
from spring steel and are very hard. They must not be cut with delicate side cutters. Simply
use a file to score a mark on the side of the wire and bend it back and forth a few times and
it will break.
Squeeze the paper clip together so it fits down the holes in the multimeter and makes a good
SLIDING connection.
Almost any meter can be used on the 1mA or 0.5mA range.
When you turn the project ON, the meter will show about half-scale deflection to represent
the quiescent current taken by the circuit.
When the antenna detects RF, one of the circuits will turn ON more and take more current.
This will show on the meter.
That's about all you need to know.
This 27MHz link is designed to get you into understanding the concepts of transmission - it's
the place to start.
The 27MHz link consists of a 27MHz Transmitter - 2-Channel
27MHz receiver - 2-Channel

27MHz FSM
PARTS LIST
$6.50 plus $4.00 post
Order a kit
2 - 2k2 resistors
2 - 1M resistors
1
1
2
2

5-30p air trimmer

100p ceramic
1N4148 diode
BC547 transistors

1 - 16 turn coil
2 - paper clips for meter
3 - machine pins for antenna
1 - 10cm 0.5mm wire for antenna
1 - AG1 cell
ne tinned copper wire for cell
1 - mini slide switch
20cm very ne solder

1 - 27MHz FSM PCB

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27MHz Field Strength Meter

http://talkingelectronics.com/projects/27MHz Fiel...

MORE TEST EQUIPMENT

Talking Electronics has a number of pieces of TEST EQUIPMENT to help in the design and
testing of projects.
Of course you can use a multimeter for most of the testing but some of the "tricky" faults
need a special piece of equipment.
You may only need a LOGIC PROBE once a month, but the project you are designing will
come to a stand-still if you can't locate a problem.
We designed all these projects because we needed them ourselves.
Add one of them to each order you place with Talking Electronics and eventually you will
have the whole range.

LED TESTER
Tests LEDs.
$1.50 plus $4.00 post
(buy a number of kits and pay
only one postage)

CONTINUITY TESTER
Only responds to resistance less
than 50 ohms.
Ideal for digital projects as it tests
connections very quickly.
$12.50 plus $6.50 post
(buy a number of kits and pay
only one postage)

LOGIC PROBE with

PULSER - slimline
Detects HIGH and LOW signals on
both TTL and CMOS circuits.
The piezo allows you to hear low
frequency signals and the signal
injector (Pulser) will over-ride clock
signals to make a circuit operate at
a reduced frequency.
$8.00 plus $6.50 post

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27MHz Field Strength Meter

http://talkingelectronics.com/projects/27MHz Fiel...

SUPER PROBE
20 different functions.
See article for the complete list of
functions.
$18.00 plus $6.50 post

COMBO-2 TRANSISTOR
TESTER
Tests transistors and shows the
gain of the transistor.
Also has Signal Injector probe.
$21.50 plus $6.50 post

Simple Transistor and LED

Tester - 3
Tests PNP and NPN transistors
and LEDs.
Also teaches the amazing property
of an air-cored coil in producing a
high fly-back voltage.
$4.00 plus $3.00 postage.
(buy a number of kits and pay
only one postage)

MAINS TRACER
Detects 240v AC mains hidden in
walls etc.
Will also pick up RF signals from a
keyboard to show you where
Electromagnetic Radiation is
coming from and giving you a
headache.
$10.00 plus $4.50 post

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27MHz Field Strength Meter

http://talkingelectronics.com/projects/27MHz Fiel...

CABLE TRACER - 100MHz

Traces cables when the power is
OFF.
Uses an FM radio to pickup beeps.
$10.00 plus $4.50 postage.
(buy a number of kits and pay
only one postage)

OP-AMP TRAINER and

TESTER
Teaches how an op-amp works by
using pots to control the voltages
on the two inputs.
$24.50 plus $6.50 post
(comes with instructions)

PIC Fx-1 MICRO (8 pin)

PROGRAM DEVELOPER
and TESTER
Learn to program PIC chips.
Comes with a pre-programmed
PIC12F629 chip with 3 routines.
$12.00 plus $6.50 post

Model Railway POINT

MOTOR
CONTROLLER and
TESTER CDU-Inline
The cheapest CDU project you can
get.
$8.50 plus $6.50 post

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