I

EVERYTHI NG THAT'S NEW IN RADIO DESIGN

R. M. E. u ps .hud of the field with the new things in r.d ig _ first.
Our eng ineering st.f1 h., tomorrow's R. M. E. equ ipment rudy lor you.~. i1.ablf: u

soon

.1

milit.Ary dern .nds .re. fulfilled . Ag. in R. M. E. h..

t.ken lon9 str ides in introducing ncw futures 01 des ign which will ut the
p. Cf:. Ag. in we offer th c new things fi rst. Since 1933 R. M. E. ,.d io commun ic.tions eq uipm ent hon d eve loped such ouht.nd ing ,.dig firsts

.IS

the c. libr.ted DB sigu l stren gt h meter, the mod ulation mon itor, the sp lit

FIRST THinGS FIRST

sh l or tun ing system . nd the ph.u . djush: d cryshl filter unit.

In scores of othe r ,.dio .dv.nce menh , R. M. E. h., bu n .. lu d in g

p io ncer . nd will be . mo ng the first to offe r ne w d esign when it's ne w.
W e will be gl.d to se nd you det.l ils on th~ R. M. E. series rece ivers
t h ~ y . rt: .nnou nce d .

equipment.

oil S

W,ite us c.,d tod.y u~ in9 fo, 'olids on R. M. E.

JIistory 01 Comnumin ltion". !'IlImber T welt:e 01 a Serle"

COMMUNICATIO N BY THE BLINKER

The Blinker. a n adaptation of the Heliograph w ith its own source of
light, has been found invalu able for night and d ar Naval Commu nications. While limited by "hue-of- sigh t" transmission and the elements of
weather. it has been an aid to ou r cautious convoys during "radio
silence."
When Victory is ours and th e days of "rad io silences" are gone forever,

private citizens again will have electronic voice communication equipment for th eir yachts and other pleasure craft. \ Vith th e release of
civilian rad io hands Universal will again offer the many elec tronic voice
components for usc in ma rine craft.

lOin,. DIVISIO.: 301 CUT stent, SAM IRANCISCO n ,

January. 1945

umon'A -

CAMADIU DIVISION,

s.o

liN' STlU, WIST, tOIO.TO 1. O.TAlIO,

U.ADA

__ ___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 4

IN TIME OF EMERGENCY

FOR

SUPPLIES

N EVERY na tural ca tast rophe

th a t h as str uck this coun tr y- in
ti me of fl ood , of storm , of forest
fire - the radi o ham ha s played a
vital r ole in maintaining necessary
com m u nica tions and helping t o
direct r escue ope rations. In ma ny
instan ces, t he ham wa s the only
means of makin g contact in in un d at ed a nd isola ted a r ea s.
T od ay, the hams a re barred fro m
th e ai r by g overnmen t o rd er , but
t hey will be back one of these days
looking for new equipmen t to imp rove th ei r shor twa ve ri g s - equip ment that is m ore effic ient, more
serviceable, m or e d ependable.
Am on g th e n ew e st dev el op m ents fo r t he a mateur a re th e
E lectronic L aborato ri es V ibrator
P ow er Supplies for m obil e and

port ab le applications. The se p ower supplies h ave stood th e test of

th e m ost rugged co m bat use in
military service. Efficient a nd dependable, E -L units will be a va ila ble just as soon as war co nditio ns
permit.
E -L are pioneers in the fi eld
of vibrator con ver sion of curr en t.
M any excl usi ve developments in
this meth od of power adapta tion
have led to suc h a d va n tages as
co nsta nt o utput voltage despite
wide fluctu a tions of in put volta ge,
power o ut puts up to 1,000 watt s,
and a ny wa ve form, includin g

pure sine
wave.
F or your postwar ri g, pl an for
E.L Vibrator P ower Supplies.
Give your name to your dealer n ow
for early supply a fte r the war.

E_L STANDARD POWER SUPPLY

Mod. r 6DI E-L (01tf' r,l r , if iJ,al fo'

pro"J",g Ihr ;Iau .",J g,id I" ppl , of

,aJ,o , ra i, ," , ,m d I,.." ,miu rrl. /0'
,1..liolt..,) , mobllr 0' pOrl..blr "pp/' .
(",io" , f.om " 6 ,'olt llO,,,gr b"u ..,) .
INP UT : 6 1'01/1 DC.
OU T P UT; 22' I'oft, DC IlI'O "'<t. ; 2' 0
I'olt, DC at 6' ", a. ; 2n 1"OIu DC
al /10 "'<t. ; 300 1'01/1 DC ..I 100 ",a.
O UTPUT PO W U : 30 " '.1It<.
F lnF ~IN G ' Fltll RF fill..,lItl. p,OI;d ..d .
SIZE : -l V.x-lx6 i 'll . WE IGHT : 6 pOMlldJ.

INC.
INDI A N AP OLIS
, r.....VIBRArOR POWER SUPPLIES fOR lIGHTIHG. COMMUHICATIOHS A N~ m CJRIC MO IOROPIRmON mC IRIC, mCIRONIC AND OIHER EOUIPMENI

C9

The Radio Amateurs' Journal

Publishedby RADIOMAGAZINES, INC.
John H. Polls
Sanford R. (owan

.Edilor
Publisher

-VOL.

1, No.1

JANUARY, 1945

C ONTENTS

CQ, Published by RADIO MAGAZINES, INC.

CO V E R

Executive Be Editorial Offices

Communications equipment in action aboard a destroyer.

342 MADISON AVENUE

NEW YORK 17, N. Y.

ARTICLES

Telephone MUrra y Hill 21346

Bell

Ed i'or ,Presiden'

Ze h Bouck, W8QMR.WLNG, ell.2PI.

ex.W4PC , u l U4 A . ... . A ssociat. Edilor
Frank C. Jones, W6AJF . Co nfrib ut ing Edilor
Ro b . " Y. (hopman , W 1Q V . Advisory Ed ito r

Business Stall
Sanfo rd R. Cowan

Sec'y.Treos.

Char le s H. Fa rr ell . . . . . . . A d v. Ma nog er

Ann Lim berg

A d v. Prod uct ion

Mir iam Birnb a u m

Ci,eI. Manog e,

GREAT BRITAIN REPRESENTATIVE

Ra dio Soc iety of Great Br ita in,
New Ruskin House. l ittle Russell St.,

london,

w.e.

I, England

$ uhc: ript ion Ali b i in U.S. .and Pan . $2.50 ptf

nar, 2 yurs $~ . J , taU 55. All ot ht r ul"tllr in .
$3.50 Dt' ,,"' in fl uinl t llt U.S. cutnc)'. Sin, lt
COPitl. 25 unh. Su""ri bt, IIIUlt Illow J wit h for
I dd't n chl n;n. Edit oril l ml tttr cOllt rllluh d Ind
ilCCtPttd will bt pilid for At CUHt nt SPHt fl tn I lld
will bt l ubjtct to I II)' rnilionl or omiu ions dH mtd
ulltditnt " y t ne EditDl'. Ml h rl al l ubmlthd must
contl in I nlfl ddrn n d. $ll mptd. 'tturn tnwlopt
Ind tht aut hor must a,. n t o hold tht publilht. of
CO harmltU from any milnnt. of luil or dlmi llt
tllim r n ulling Irom tht publ iut ioll t htn ol and /or
an)' illui t n tiolll accompan, in!! U mt . Pullli, htr re $Inn r illht t o I cu Pt 0, rtj tc t In)' Id~tr ti s i n,
mlttt. iut. mithd .
Il. inttd in U.S.A. Cop)'r i, ht
1945 by Rldio Maur inti, I nc .

ca.

H ams, Past - Present - Future, by Z eb BOlick,

1l 7 8Ql\IR.1l7L N G
Rig s, from the simp lest to the most elaborate, and what th eir owners do wit h them

What You Can Do W ith M icrowaves, by AI. G.

Edilorlal Stall
J oh n H. Potb

{Coast Gllard photo)

11

Microwave rad io for hams has real possibilities, and there should be lots doing
on these bands-when we get them
Why 100 % Modulation ? by AIcMllrdo Sil ver............
H ow to put out a good, clean signal at
lower cost

16

A Voltage-Reg ulated Power Supply, by W illiam

D onau/a
_
_
_ _ _
_ __ _.......... 18
Here's a power supp ly that you can depend upon. You 'll find it indispensable
for experimental work around the shack
Building a

2 ~ 0 Watt

Phone and CW Transmitter,

by f. f . A nlage, W 9 IFU IF/ 2.....................................
Complete data on a multiband transmitter
for use on ham fr equencies from 30 me
down

Improve Your Code ! by fohn M . BOrJt

First aid to sloppy fists

22

26

..

W ash ington Report, b) Robert Y . Chapman, 1171QV

30

Advert ising Index

40

MISCELLANEOUS

QUA (Editorial )

w.w _ M . M

_.M M _

M _

from this point on, it's craftsmanship!

In one important respect there
is a stri king sim ilar ity between
the millions of B liley crystals
which we now produce a nd t he
m ere hand ful of custom m a de
units t hat constituted ou r a nnual produ ction when radio
wa s st ill you ng.
] n those early d a y s o f ra d io,
when each quart z crystal was
painstakingly cu t and grou nd
b y hand , a t rad ition was bor n .
It w a s a tradition of craftsm a n ship t hat ha s grow n wit h t he
yea rs-a tradition t h at B liley
e ng in e e r s h a v e s ucce ssfully
tra nsla t ed int o t he m ore intnicate tech n iq ues of volu m e p r'odueticn.

Etched crystals are an outstanding discovery and development of

Bliley research engineers. T his
techn ique, by means of which
crystals are finished to frequency
by acid action rather than abrasive action , was an established
p art of Bliley production long before Pearl H arbor. I t has since
p roven to be an essential element
in the manufacture of crystals
that have the dependable characteristics necessary for military
communication inglobal warfare.
We h a ve bee n called upon to

so lve some k notty p roblems.

B ut t hat is n o thing new a t
B liley . It ha s been o u r habit t o
parallel new d e velopm ents in
rad io w ith t he right cryst a l for
each appl icat ion.

Things will be differen t soon .

P ea cetime p rojects w ill a gain
com e first. B ut our e ngineers
a nd craftsm en will he ready.
a s a lwa ys, with t he right a nswer
to y ou r req u ire m ents. D on 't
fa il to include B liley cryst a ls in
t he com ponen t s pecifi ca tions
for you r pea ce t ime eq u ipm en t.

Do more thon b efore

buy e x t ra War Bonds

BULEY ELECTRIC COMPANY

UNION STATION BUILDING . ERIE, PENN.

CQ

Introducing CQ
Though this is Volume I , Num ber I, CQ
is not a new magazine from the point of
view of publishing experience and an intimate knowledge of amateur radio. Act ually
it is hoary wi th ham trad itions da ti ng back
to World War I, when its companion pu blication RADIO made its debut as a n amateur magazine. In those distan t days,
ama te ur wirel ess telegraphy was a large
part of a ll things r adio. There was little
technical discrimination between the cornmercial and amateur services , and so it w as
natural that RADIO, while d evoted pr-imarily to the . ham, should be d edicated to
radio in the broader sens e. And with equal
logic it so conti nued for the next decade
when the development of amateur radio
closely paralleled th e progress of radio in
ge neral a nd contr ibuted so vita lly t o this
advancement . Th e cross roads were never
clear ly defined, a nd RADIO, t he mag azine,
g rowing up with radio the a rt, impercepti bly diverged t o t he engineer ing s ide,
eventually being converted by its former
publishers to a strictl y enginering journal.
And it will conti nue as s uch.
It is inevitable that new devotees should
gravitate every y ear toward the greatest
hobby in the world- amateur radio. The
average rate of increase over mortality,
between the two World Wars, was 3000 a
year- the actua l mean number of new
hams per year being of course in excess of
this figure. It is generally believed t hat the
rate of enlis tment in the amateur ranks
will be g reatly a ugmented when pea ce
again lifts transmitting bans. Conservative
es timates place the number of hams five
years from V-Day a t better t han 200,000-

January. 1945

cont rasti ng wi t h some 60,000 a mateurs

s hor t ly prior to Pearl Harbor. Ex-servicemen who have learned enough from
wa lk ie-ta lkies, radar and field equ ipment
to fee l the ni p of t he amateu r bug. will add
to the normal civilian increment of youth
and oldster similarly and perennially infected.
This , t hen. is t he raisoll d'etre for CQ-a
magazine for the radio amateur, with a
particular invi tation to the newcomer. It
s hould not, however, be inferred that we
s hall confine ourse lves to t he ABC's of ham
radio. We vlsualize CQ as a magazine that
will stick with the ham lon g after the parts
o f his first rig a re dus t-l aden in the junk
box, and as a monthly refresher course for
t he old timer. While placing some emphas is on the elementary, we are s ti ll under
obligat ion t o earry through with a rticles
on modern techniques and apparatus. S imilarl y, we s hall follow up tradition (with
wh ich every true ham must be fa miliar)
with a ll vital news of amateur r a dio today
and tomorrow.
We have not hes itated in launching CQ
while ou r country is at war and a quietus
temporar ily pla eed on a ll a mateur t ransmissions exeepti ng in t he WERS ( Wa r
Emergency Radio Service ); By s tar t ing
now , we s hall be in the most advantageous
position to cooperate with every individual
and organization in secur-i ng adequate postwar recognition of the amateur and his requirements . Also, as we all g et better
aeq uainted, a nd CQ r ounds out wi th a dd iti onal departmen ts a nd balanced features ,
we s hall emerge from th is s hake-down period with the kind of a magazine you want
j ust about the time the smoke a nd stench
of TNT all over the wor ld vanishes like t he
morning mist.
In radio transmissions, the letters "CQ"
have somew hat different meaning s in the
commercia l and amate ur fields. With commercial wireless, "CQ" is in the na ture of
a general call announcing a broadcas t. In
ham radio it is most often a friendly invitation to get together and r ag-chew, As a
publication, CQ will s im ilar ly play a dual
role-in the broadcast sense as a disseminator of what one s hould know to make
t he most out of ham r adio, a nd in th e less
formal cha racter as your own mag azine,
welcoming cri ticism as well as bouquets,
a nd, above a ll, the cordial exehange of
ideas that is so vita l a part of ham radio
on the air.

MEN OF MEISSNER
., ON TNEIRIICESIRE TNESM ILES or PRIOE IN WORK WElL OONE

I n the litt le city of l\1t. Carmel, Ill inois - fa mous

for music and electron ics-t he men of the Meissner
M a nu factu ring Compa ny a re now d evoting their
s kill a nd expe rience t o s peed ing the fi nal day of

Skill PLUS "Know How" - The secret of M eissner 's repu tation for
superb quality prec ision work is
more than just great skill and
int rica te machines. It is a combination of these t wo, I'LL' S t he
"know how" t ha t comes on ly
from years of experience.

Victory. All were hand-picked for their jobs-many

" grew-u p" in the b usiness, d oing their share t o ward
making the name Meissner sta nd for the ulti mat e
in rad io quality. They h ave had t he plea sure of
turning out perfect work-felt the thr ill and sa t isfact ion t ha t comes with achieve ment . A nd in th e
brigh t , po st war world o f tomorrow, it will be these
same men of Meissner that add new fame to the na me
of M eissner rad io a nd othe r elect ronic equipment.

Expert- H is is a' h erita ge for producing far-fa med q ualit y. M t .

Carmel, Ill inois, is said t o ha ve
more electronic t ech nicia ns per
thousand population t ha n any
other city in A merica ,

Meissner's Precisio~ el -

that 's the

name earned by t he M eissn er personnel for t heir skill , and for the
pride t hey ha ve t a ken i n d oing
t heir precision wor k right.

ill EISSilTER

MANUfACTURING COMPANY MT. CAlMfL. IlL

ADIAXCED lCTRO.l1C RSE.4RCH AJ D JlHl'F.I CTl!RE

E:xp",.t D i ";s;,,,,: 2) W arten Street , N ew Yo rk ; Cable, Simon trice, New Yo rk

CQ

6
_

Fig. I. The ham's first ri g may be relativ.ly simple

end inex pe nsive, but it won't stay that way long

-PAST - PRESENT - FUTURE

ZEH BOUCK, W89MR.WLNG

T H OUGH t he r a dio
a mate ur himself has
A lot of fo lks are g oing to maio the acq uaintance of hams shortly
after the sm oke dea rs away over Berlin and Tokyo. Thousands of
long s ince lived down
exG Is will want to ca rry o n with th e kn owledg e of radio they g ained
any derog atory impliin the armed se rvices. Manufactur ers forc ed into so me form of radio
cations in the epit het
production in the war e ffort, will find their re conversion problem slmpll"ham," such connotafi ed by recognit ion of the expa nding ham market. Her. the n is II brief
tions may well carry
introduetio n to the redia amoteur.
over to the uninitiate.
J ust why a nd when the
term was fi r st applied
is open to conjecture. It is generally a dmit- den certainly hammed it on the Nort h
ted tha t t he " ham actor" displays an in- Carolina beaches a half dozen years before
ferior grade of histrionics. He was sup- he "turned commercial" and broadcast the
pos ed to have been so designated because fir st Christmas E ve program ("Adeste Fiin early times he wore a ham rind. Thus , delis" and all the trimmings ) from Brant
to be termed a ham of any kind is a du- Rock, Mas s. , in 1906. Marconi always disbious compliment. According to tradition played a genuine interest in ham radio, and
the radio amateur was first called a ham at the Century of Progress Exposition,
ba ck in the o ld da ys of American Morse . Chicago 1933, stated fra n kly, " You know,
(1900 to 1912 ) by the early crop of com- I have always considered myself an amamercial operators-who had been am a- teur."
teurs thems elves only th e da y before!
Other early a mateurs have hlazed their
Hence the hams could never have been an y paths to the ni che of fame. Alfred N.
worse than their professional brethren , Goldsmith g ave us our earliest radio t extand, in fact, often proved themselves a books. Pickard invented t he crystal d etecsuperior breed.
tor a nd contributed a goodly bit t o ou r
Jus t who the original amateur was is a knowledge of radio wave propagation. DeF ores t t hought up the vacuum tube a nd
moot question. It could have been Hertz, discovered, along with Armstrong, that the
but F essenden and Marconi are more con- device could produce as well as detect osventional candidates for the honor. F essen- cillations-a phenomenon that is the basis

January. 1945

,,~

...
...

Fig. 2. A typieol amat eur installatio n. WICTW',

shad is eleen -eut nea., and efficie nt

of all modern radio commu nication, from

tel evision to t he wa lkie-talkie. And t his
same lad A rms t r ong (a member of the
Junior Wireless Club, la ter the Radio Club
of America ) went on to invent the superheterodyne, the s upe r-regenerative receiver and FM. Pioneer broadcast station
KDKA was g ra d uated fro m Dr. Frank Conrad's ham ri g W8XK.
No one will den y th at the amateur, legislated to s u pposed ly worthless wavelengths,
pi oneered the high and ultra-high frequencies, and was thus directly responsible for

the utilization of our present-day long-distance channels. And the ham promises to
carryon in that misty regi on above 1000
megacycles. To stretch th e above list in
g iving adequate credit to every amateur
who has made notable contributions to th e
advance of radio would ex tend this artic le
- t his magazine-beyond the bounds of its
covers .
Technical excellence is an outstanding
cha racteristic of th e ham, a nd this cannot be acquired overnig ht . The ama teur
therefore is no callow you th haphazardly
n ookin g up coils and tubes with the particula r goal of a nnoying hi s neigh bors. The
a ve rage age of the ham is thirty years.
True, he may and often does s tart in as a
youngster (if his old man can affor d it )
wi th s imple and rel ati vely inexpen si ve
eq uipment s uch as s hown in Fig. 1. Some
time la ter th e layout will be considerably
more elabo ra te a nd costly. A t ypica l ham
rig a t ma turity is illustrated in Fig. 2. A
few hams pour more money into their
shacks th an the individual cost of many
broadcasting stations-as you may guess
from Figs. 3, ~ and 5. Your full-fledged am ateur may be your dentist, lawyer, garage
owner, engineer, minister, coll ege professor, broker, bus iness executi ve favorite actor (or ac tress. Jud y Garland is a ham ).
writer. editor or aviator. Put them all t ogether a nd they form a group capable of
supporting an industry of no minor magnitude.
Fig. 4. Control desk at W4EDD. The dots around
the fr amed map are lamps showing the direction the motor-driven rotary antenna is beamed
Fig. 3. Sometim es th e ham ends up like W4EOO
of Co ral Gables, Fla. Th e po.....er supply panel
tor all five transmitten is across the top

CQ

., .,

Fig. 5. Antennas at W4EDD. The motor.driven

rotary beam pntenna is shown atop th e roof

The ham's co n tr ibu t ions to society have

by no means been confined to his scientific
endeavors, cred itable as t hese ma y be. The
a mateur is well organized in the NCR
(Nava l Commu nications Res erve ) , the
Army Ama teur Ra dio System (the AARS ) .
the ARRL ( Amer ica n Ra dio Relay League ) .
a nd by emergency hook-ups in both peace
and war. The NCR is pr imar-ily inter ested
in t ra in ing na va l operators, while t he
AARS and the networ ks of t he ARRL a re
t raffic-handling groups, the fo rmer employing Signal Corps procedure in the
transmission of messa ges. It is not u nusual for a n a mateur s tation to handle between 200 a nd 300 messages a monthfree-of-charg e a nd wit h r emarka bly fa st
a nd r elia ble service half-way around the
g lobe. State fa ir stations clear as many as
2000 r adi og rams a week. and W2 USA. the

January. 1945

New York World's F air shack. built up a

tota l to NR23000 plus !
The work of a mateur r adio in emer gencies is leg end. When storm a nd floods
str ike, commu nication wires topple with
t he firs t t rees, lea vin g t he u biquitous ham
as th e sole means of communicat ion with
t he outside world. It's a j ob for which
s ham battles wit h the elements have long
since p re par c d him . While opera t ing
conditions may not be so comfor table
as on a practice " field d ay," hi s proced u re is second natur e, and t he ernerge ncy r igs are qu ickly functioning w here t hey,
will do the most good ( F ig . 6) In t he New
E ngland-Long Is la nd h urrican e of 1938,
the Army Ama teur Radio System alone
handled more than 8000 messages vita l t o
relief efforts and succor.
T he ham has pounded brass fr om scientific ex peditions to t he fa r r ea ches of the
earth. MacMillan on t he Bowdoin, Bob
Bartlett wi th t he schooner Morrissey, Wi).
kins flying t he Southern Cross, Wi lkins a nd

Ellsworth on the submar ine N allt i llls, a nd

Admiral Byrd on a ll his explorations t oss
laurels to t he hams that accompanied t hem.
Shakespeare said something to the effect
t hat men's evil deeds live in brass, their
virtues we write in water. So be it with
the ha m who is blamed by his BCL neighbor for j ust about everythi ng that afflicts
the latter 's radio-from diathermy rnachines to x-ra ys, nat ura l static, fading , the
neon sign down the block, the traffic light
on the corner, sun-spot blackouts, automo.
tive ignition. snow static , noisy resistors
a nd t ubes, poorly bonded bx, defective
house wiring, electric razors, vacuum
cleaners , elevator motors, light flashers,
thermostats in gold fish bowl heating contrivances, oil burner ignition sys tems, flourescent lights, ultra-violet ra y ma chinesand we could continue ad nauseam . And
the ham (to quote a book once more ) , turn.
ing the ot her cheek, ha s been known to
build and ins tall a wavetrap for his n eigh.
bor so tha t the BCL can separate WGY
fro m WJZ.
There's enough justification in the ham's

peacetime activities to demand his perpetuation. And we all like to think that wars
will end with World War II. However, it
is genera lly a greed that som e degree of national and international preparedness is in
order for many decades to come. Amateur
radio provides a vast reservoir of highly
competent radio talent upon which our
governme nt has gratefully drawn in two
eme r gencies. In the first World War, 3500
of our 6000 a mateurs served in the armed
forees. Prior to Pearl Harbor, when our
ranks numbered some 60,000, 10,000 hams
were already in uniform. Every amateur
is today serving his country in some capacity, and the large majority of those
who are not at Saipan, Leyte, Cologne,
Ravenna, Athens or Guam, are in the factories building radar and ot her apparatus
for t he fighting hams-designing, building
a nd testing equipment that might not even
have a pproached the drawing board had it
not been for a liberal education in ham
radio!
Fig- 6. W9PKW with portable e quipment in a
"field day" set-up simu lating an e merg e ncy

10

Ctjl

What You Can. Do With

lCRO

AVES

M. G. BELL

T HE R E is no point in making whether or

not the radio amateur will work in the
new part of the spectrum where wavelengths are only a few eentimeters long,
and whieh has beeome generally known as
the microwave band. He requires only two
th ings to try only almost anything pertaining to radio, the availability of a few
parts and a vista of interesting possibilities. He will surely get the parts once the
dema nds of the armed forces really drop
off because the whole electronic industry
has expanded to the point to which it can
and will s upply even rather eomplicated
items at a reasonable cost. The interest is
also surely there because of the many
.things that are possible with these miniature waves. The 'amateur will, for example,
find that at microwave frequencies he can
have Q's of 10,000 or more instead of 10
or a 100, and that he can really know where
his radiated energy is going instead of just
sending it up to the antenna and then wonderin g.
This matter of control over radiant energy is really the heart of the whole microwave business. Radio waves of any kind
are definitely a three-dimensional proposition. At broadcast frequencies a vertical
half-wave antenna is a directional device of
sort inasmuch as it transmits most of the
energy out horizontally, but it does not do
a very thorough job and, as everyone
knows, the coverage of a given station is
affected by all sorts of meteorological eonditions, all the way from the night-and-day

effeet to the conditions of the soil near the

transmitting antenna. If the ground is wet :
or covered with snow the energy striking it
is reflected quite differently and the overall pattern of the transmitting antenna is
radically changed, A single conductor a

Fig. I. Typic;al ,hope, of wave guide plumbing

January. 1945

11

half wavelength long, or even a combination of such conductors as they are used in
arrangements such as the rhombic type of
antenna, is s imply not enoug h to give the
con t rol over r adiant ene rgy that we would
like, Wi th th e very short waves of microwave radio, however, antennas can be built
for the r oof of a ny house and made several
or many wavelengths big, not in just one
dimension but in two or three. Thes e sam e
antenna schemes, if used with more ordinary rad io, would be monstrous devices ind eed. Because microwaves are things the
size of s ma ll la bo ra tory objects. they can
be penned in a nd mad e to go where they
are wanted. A hundred-meter radian t wave,
on the other hand. can't even be gotten into
the wor kshop to say nothing of handling it.
Because microwaves can be caged and
nandIed in containers of reasonable size,
there is much to be learned about how the
actua l waves work and what their properties are in space. E ven if the "ham" never
really gets on the ai r he ma y want t o usc
these mid get waves to set up dipole an tennas a nd the like in or der to make pattern
measurem ents. It has been found , for ex ample, that hollow pipe may be us ed t o
carry th e radio waves around the laboratory . The attenuation in wave guides, as
this hollow pipe is frequently ca lled, may
be excepti ona lly low. The s ize of the pipe
must bear a definite relation to the waveleng t h but that r el ation is not cr itica L The
wave gu ide mus t in g eneral be large
enough or severe attenuation is experienced but it ma y be an y amount larger
withou t very bad r esults , except that a condition ana logous to turbulence is finally
encountered and the efficiency of the wave
guide goes down because waves get to
traveling a round inside in just eve ry which
wa y.
So, after the wa r when you huild a
microwave rig , you may be dealing wi th
the hardware man a bit and buy ing copper
pipe, one, two, or th ree inches in diameter.
You'll do some of that j ust for th e fun of
it because you believe you can fix up a corner that will carry the energy around ins tead of reflect ing part of it that is a little
better t han the stuff they try t o sell. Also,
however, you s hould be able to buy all
s orts of prefabricated pieces of pi pe a nd
put it tog ether with screws to s uit yourself.
The s am e pi pe can wi thout doubt be broad banded enough to cover any amateur band
12

COAXI AL
LINE

WALL
--- OF

,,,
,

CAVITY

,/
INSULATING

BEAO

WALL OF

COAXIAL
LINE

~- CAVITY

,,
I

Fic;_ 2 . Cross-sectiona l v iews o f

mie ro....dVe eo<!IX and rad iator

th a t is set up. First, of cour se, the band

does have to be set and a few manufacturers have to get an these nice parts
r eady for that ba nd so it will be a few d ays
yet a t the least.
The va cuum tubes that g ene rate these
microwaves are almost as much mechanical
affairs as electric, too. When you work
with . waves small enough to keep perched
on the wo rk bench you have to have houses
for them. They are not controlled with ordinary tank circuits strung out on th e
bench; instead the tank circuit ha s to be
right in t he transmitting tube and a whole
wave is in t here, too, You will probahly
tun e by mechan ically changing the tube.
It's all going to be a mechanical job as
much or more so than was televis ion in the '
days of th e spinning spiral car d bu t the
results will be bet ter and the possibilities
much, much greater.
Before going a bit further with what is
so far quite a build-up for microwave radio
we had better look at the ot her side of the
picture. Two things come to mind which
might be considered as discouraging. One
of th es e has to do with the relative corn plexity of microwave transmission and the
control of its frequency; the principles involved in the construc tion of the components are many and mostly unfamiliar.
All this I discount considerably because of
my confidence in the ing enuity of the average "ham". The other fact, however, may
s poil the field fo r one completely. It is a ll
ti ed up with the little phrase "microwa ves
follow line-of-sight transmission paths:'

CQ


This seems

to say that unless you can

drum a con tact with the man in the moon
or a Martian ham, your chances for DX
are pretty nil. The fact is tha t there is very
strong evidence t ha t these very high frequency wa ves can go only where light can
go a lthough th ey can, of cou rse, t ravel in
foggy a nd stormy wea t he r as well as in
clear . This doesn't quite mean t hat you
can only tra nsmit as fa r as you can see
becaus e t here is some tendency for the
waves to bend with t he earth's surface,
so you may get out a 100 miles and a lot
more if you live on the side or top of a
mountai n. No trace of a t r ue sky wave
ha s ever been observed a nd t here is t heoretical reason to believe t hat t he ionosphere doesn't do much of anyt hing to
microwaves but let them go right on
through. Thus it seems likel y t hat our
signals do r each the moon, a lthough calculations show them to be might y wea k
upon thei r arrival. In order fo r them to
reach t he moon in enough strength to
be reflected a nd then detect ed on their
r eturn t o ea r t h, a n a nten na of g reat size
and a transmitter of considerable power
is required even a microwaves.

Privacy
A much better way to work up ent hu-

siasm for a n a ma teur band a t microwaves

is t o r eali ze some of the advantages of
line-of-sight transmission. Your microwave conser vati ons will have a lmos t the
privacy of a telephone, not just because

PARABOLIC

REFLECTOR

HEM'SPHERE
/ REFl ECTOR

,
,
,

~XIAL
fEE D

I
I
I
I
I
I
I

Fig _ 3. A typic al microw..... rad ia tor syst em .

The hemisphe re a nd pere belie reflectors
make it highly d irectiona l and effi cie nt.

January. 1945

your signal can't travel halfw ay around t he

world, but because you send your s ignal
over towards Joe's house and no where
else. Only J oe and the people living on a
line betwen your stations ca n find your
car r ier a t a ll. By this toke n you won't have
to worry about there being too many stations on the band. In fa ct, you and all your
friends may agree to use just one freq ue ncy. T hen, if you all use pencil-beam
t ransmitt ing a nte nnas and non-directional
recei vers, calli ng a stat ion may be onl y
a matter of poi nti ng a t it and beg inning
to ta lk. Because your anten na has a lmos t
complete control of the r adiated energy
a nd doesn't allow a ny to be wasted by reflection from the g round a nd, because a ll
evidence to date indicates tha t microwaves
a re completely free fro m both man-made
and na tura l static, you will know that J oe
is receiving you wi th t he same signal
strength as yesterda y provided he has left
his receiver alone. Again, to keep from
pain ting too rosy a pictur e, however, it
s hould be mentioned that violen t temperat u re grad ients in the atmosphere may
bend th e beam, but it is not believed that
t his will happen often.
Many questions may legi timately be initi ally asked by anyone who is thinking of
taking up mi crowaves a s a hobby or as a
s ide line t o his ama teu r's station at more
common wavelengths. These include qu eries
a s to what s or t of tube can produce
s uc h freque ncies, how the frequencies can
be cont r olled, what sor t of modulation is
used, what the receiver is like, and what
sort of test equipmen t is needed. These
are diffi cult to a nswe r in a few words and
some of the facts a re covered up by military secrecy, bu t that which follows will
g ive some indication.

Special Tubes
T he transmittin g tu bes t ha t are now at
least parti all y free from secrecy orders
and which can be made to perform at
frequenc ies which a re near or eq ua l to
t hose of t he microwaves band includes the
Gener al Electri c Lighthouse tube, the
Sperry Klys tron, a nd certain t ypes of split
a node magnetrons. All have some things in
common a nd there are t he distinguishing
featu res t ha t ma ke such high frequencies
possible. The crux of the s it uation lies in
t he fact t ha t it is impossi ble to make ordinary ta nk coils of inductance a nd capacitance which will t une to frequencies of

13

t housands of megacycles because distributed capacity in the vacuum tube elements

of all ordinary tubes amounts to more t han
the total needed for the tank. An apparent
step toward a solution may be made by redesigning the tubes in such a way as to
reduce this capacity. This scheme has been
carried to its logical limit in tubes such
as the RCA acorn type and the Western
Electric "door knob" series but does not
get very far for the simple reason that as
the tube elements are made smaller and
smaller to reduce their capacity, their
ability to absorb power also becomes
smaller so that all too soon the point is
reached where there may be a bigh frequency but if there is, there is practically
none of it.

Resonant Cavities
The solution of this dilemma lies in the
use of resonant cavities to take the place
of coils and condensers. Their action may
be interpreted in several ways. To keep
from thinking of anything new we may
even push the difficulties just described
back into one corner of our mind and pretend that the cavities are only tank coils
and capacities after all. We may define
Q's, shunt resistance, and even inductance
and capacitance for the cavities if we wish.

On the other hand, however, i t is at leas t

more interesting to jump into the middle
of th e thing and look at r esonant cavit ies
tor what they are-hollow metal boxes
which contain a microwave just as the
space alongs ide a broadcast antenna contains a longer rad io wave. The electron
beam in the transmitting tube actually
radiates microwaves much as docs the
charge moving up and down an antenna.
These microwaves then - move back and
forth across the confines of the resonant
cavity which is adjacent or coupled to the
electron beam. The waves are multiply
reflected at the walls of the cavity and in
doing so they build up strong electromagnetic microwave fields which can be tapped
off with a coaxial line or wave guide.
The thing is that a radio wave is generated whenever charge is suddenly accelera ted. In ordinary radio this is thought
of as occurring only at the antenna and
the transmitter is described only in terms
of current and voltages. At microwave
frequencies this sort of logic runs into
trouhle at the transmitting tube because

14

Fig. 4. A section of a wave guide slotted for measuring standing wave ra tio

currents and voltages cannot be confined

to wires at such frequencies. When, however, we allow ourselves to think of rad io
waves being created at the transmitting
tube rather than at the antenna, we see
how to overcome the difficulties. 'Ve manage to make the electron stream of the
tube accelerate and slow down its electrons
so as to generate the rad io waves we want
and then immediately it becomes possible
to understand that various types of hollow
box resonators may be able to store up
th is radiat ion and build it up to the level
that is desi red. A ll three of the t ypes of
tubes me ntioned do t his sort of thing in
one way or another. The Klystron has the
cavities built integ rally with t he tu he a nd
uses them not only to extract energy but
a lso to give t he elect ron beam a proper
acceleration to cause the radiation. The
Lighthouse tu be may be operated with
externa l cavities but is essentially a triode.
The ma gnetron may be built to utilize
roughly t he same sor t of idea but depends

--

GRI DS "'::.:::--- ---~

<,

~-

. ,,--

-'--,

--~e,~T
' (ll1

CAVITY

-- CAVITY

./

Fig. 5. Diag rlllm of a double-cavity Klystron. You'/I

be usin9 this type of tube in microwave rigs

C9

upon a spirally rotating elec t ron beam to

generate th e high frequency rather than a
linear beam wh ich changes only the velocity of th e elec t rons which it contains .

Frequency Control
As for the cont rol of these microwave
frequ encies to an a ccuracy in kilocycles
that is equal to the present usage, less can
be said fo r th e com mon practice of the
present . It is obvious ly impossible to use
quartz cr ys ta ls directly to approach any
such frequencies a nd even with fairl y
"trick" systems that make the crysta ls vibrate in shear or torsion, it is possible to
obtain only a few megacycles. The frequency of a q uar tz crysta l depends in the
main on its thickness. Above about 5 me
,- .._CI RCULAR

WAVE- GUIDE

Fig. 6.

A circular WiIlV . guide and

radiator. looh like (I funn el , doesn 't it?

the crys ta l becomes SO thin that it is

rather too fragile for most work. One
scheme that is used with cr ystal cont rol
operates with the aid of frequency multipliers. Th e signal of only a few megacycles
from the quartz crystal is fed through a
ser ies of vacuu m tube circ uits a nd is successively multiplied by a factor of two or
three u nt il th e desir ed microwave frequency is obtained. The ea r ly multiplication
stages may be or di na ry tubes and the
latter stages must of course be of th e
special type which we have mentioned.
Unfor t u na t ely the process o f multiplication
also m ultiplies any er ror which may be
p resent in the crystals. To combat this the
crystal manufacturers have gone to great
ext remes t o improve the accuracy a nd
s tabilit y of their crystals an d the r esults

Modulat ion
E it her FM or AM can be used qu ite
satisfactorily at microwave levels. If anyth ing , FM is probably somewhat the easier
of the two. Simply modulating the voltages
a pplied to th e transmitting tube will g enerally prod uce F~I or in t he case of the
crystal controlled system t he FM may be
a pplied in conventio na l wa ys at a lower
frequency point of the chain. A~I is h arder
beca use th e microwave tu bes a re a pt to
have limiting character is t ics which effectively elimin at e some of th e modulation.
A microwave receive r is in principle j ust
about the simplest thing imaginable. That
is , it is essent ia lly just a n ordinary receiver plus a heterodyne microwave stage.
Of cou rse, there ma y be ot he r bet te r ways
of doing business bu t at least a common
procedure makes use of a mi crowave local
oscillator, a resonant cavity as a mixer,
and a rectify ing crys ta l. The input from
the a n ten na a nd a microwave frequency
from a local oscillator a re comb ined in the
cavity. These two mi crowave frequencies
are chosen to be a f ew megacycles apart.
Th e crystal therefore r esponds to a frequency that is the difference between the
two microwaves a nd s ince that frequ ency
is in the range of ordina ry receivers, it ca n
be amplified and detected in the usual way.
As was pointed out befo r e, the main
thing about microwa ves is that one deals
with the act ual radio waves right in the
transmitter and right in the r eceiver rather
than thinking only of cur rent and voltage
and permitting the radio part to be dele[ Con tinu ed on page ""OJ

15

J anuary. 1945

1_ _-

at the present are g ratifying even at the

microwave en d.
More commo n ly the microwave frequency
is determined on ly by the size of the resonant cavities proven very r elia ble in a n
a bsolu te sense, still th e re has to da t e also
been plenty of s pectrum s pace so no one
has been g reatly concer ned. The reason
the cavit ies have not been generally made
to determine frequency as accurately as
quartz crystals is mostly because of the
elect r ical and thermal cha nges that must
always be encou ntered wh en a device is
intimately connected with the electron
s t ream of a va cuum t u be. There is very
little dou bt but th at circ uit s ca n be worked
out to use ex ter nal temperatu re stabilized
cavit ies which will gi ve r emarkable Irequency control.


McMURDO SILVER
Vice-President, Gre nby M.nuf.cluring C om peny

I T IS t heoretically foolish and was teful to

modulate a c-w carr ier less than 100 %.
There is no merit in paying for car r ier
power t o push out a lso beyo nd the r ange at
whi ch th e voice modu lation ceases to be
us eful. T he re is also h a rm in such practice,
s ince the car rier , even though not usefu lly
modulated , ca n cause int erfe rence beyond
th e effec ti ve modulation distance range if
the modulation percentage is significan tly
low.

What Is " Low"

But jus t what is "significantl y low" ?
Considering only the qu estion of how much
effec ti ve loss of useful r adia ted power will
Occur if we decrease mod u lation below
100 %, t h e curve of F ig . 1, prepared by
Al bert H. Carr, pre-war Ch ief Engineer of
WTHT, Hartford, is illuminating. Plotted
at the left are decibels "down" from the
effectiveness of t he 100 % modulated signal versus percen tage of modulation a long
t he t op. If we accept the good " rule of
th um b" t hat a 3 db decrease is effective
radia ted power is just about a udible t o
th e distant r eceiving oper ator and then
look a t the curve, we see t hat dropping
to 50 % modula ti on will di min is h our s ignaling effecti veness by on ly 3 d b, But
wha t a savi ng on modul ator power in terms
of the invaria bly over -st rained pock etbook! Pursuing this heretical t hough t into
Fig. 2, wher ein percen tage modulation is
plotted vertically and the percentage of
power needed to produce differen t percentages of modulation (i n ter ms of tha t
needed for 100 % modulation ) is plotted
horizo ntally at top, we find that to effect

16

50 % mod ulation of ou r ca r r ier we r equire

only 25 % of the power needed to modulate
it 100 % (seen from the top horizontal
figu res ).

Why W aste Ma ney?

Des pite t he fac t that it is today well
recognized in engineer ing circ les that 3 db
powe r ga in is ordinaril y in loudness, it is
s ti ll rather d iffic u lt t o acce pt this unconventional thought. But lives there the ham
or eng ineer who mainai ns that 1 th d b
means anything except money wasted in
t he seeking of it ?

- 2
-3

-,.

35

to

203050
~ MODULAn ON

100

Fig . I. Graph of output pow er vs. per ce nt modu lation

CQ

Considering the possi bility of spending

fewer dollars to modulate effect ively that
post-war "dream" 'phone transmitter, D O
sensible amateur need lose sleep over the
t ho ught of abandoning that last 1 Yz db of
modulation necessary to reach the theoretically ideal 100 % mod ulation. The loss of
1 \1:, db just simply isn't audible, and probably represents much less in the way of
signal impairment than do the viccissitudes
of signa l travel such as practically constan t slight fadi ng, QRN, etc. Certainly it
is a profitable t ho ught to reali ze that by
sacrificing this ins ign ifica nt 1 Yz db of signal strength, we need, according to Fig . 1~
to provide but approximately 71 % modulation-especially when scrutiny of F ig. 2
indicates that to get 71 % modulation we
require only one- half the modulator power
needed to obtain 100 % modu lation. Never
d id the sacr ifice of a substantially meaningless 1 V2 db buy as much as this before
- a cut in half of required modulator
plate input power to t he modulated r-f.
In plate modulation, 1(0 % modulation of
the carrier requires that the modulator be
able to supply 50 % in a-f power of the
amplifier or oscillator. The two curves
s ho w that, if t he substantially inaudible
1 Yz db differential in modulated power
(t he n et difference between 100 % a nd 71 %
modulation ) be sacrificed, the required
modula tin g power drops to 51% of the
100 % modulation requirements- to become
but 25Yz % of t he modulated Class C r-f
amplifier plate power input (see upper
horizon ta l figures, Fig. 2). This means t hat
one 6N7, good for about 10 watts a u dio
output, can modulate 70% an r.f. plate input of 40 wa t ts ! Or a pair of 6L6's, operated Class AB1 wi th cathode bias resistor

90

30
fO

ro

40

ro

ro

80

100

~ MODU l.ATING POWER ROUIREO

Fi9. 2. TIl;s curve shows the moduletion power reo

quired to produce erious modulation percentages

January. 1945

a nd 26.5 watts of a -f output; can modulate

70 % a plate input power of 106 watts to
the final r-i amplifier. These two quick ex
amples , plus the curves, should provide
food for profitable thought during presentday silent amateur evenings.
Lest the above comments be cons idered
as just plain heretical, it would be well to
s tudy the two cur ves in th e light of present.
day knowledge, bearing in mind that they
were prepared by the former chief engineer of a well-known broadcasting station,
whose business it was to know his decibels
and all things r elated thereto.
Other factors, t oo, may be profitably
considered. Among these are the question
as to what the interference will be caused
by this 70 % modulation (30 % "under modulation" ) to fellow operators. The answer
appears to be that the un-usefully modulated carrier will cause 1 V2 db more
interference that would be the same carrier reduced to that power which could be
100 % modulated by the halved audio modulating power. Th is seems ins ig nificant,
though maybe F.C.C. has ideas upon t he
subject. Wh en switching f rom phone to
c.w., however, the full carrier power is
useful, though what actual good the extra
1 Vz db does is most questionable-but see
" Wat ts- Or Decibels," June, 1943, QST.
A possibly more important aspect is that,
under conditions of 71 % modulation, the
possibility of over-modulation, with consequent hash, splatter, distortion, etc., is materially reduced. Further, it must not be
forgotten that "100 % modulation," using
complex voice waves, of volume varying
with the operator's emotions (and so rising with DX ) is some thing of an abstraction anyhow. If average modulation percentage be about 25 % on speech, then
100% modulation will be reached on voice
peaks only, and will probably be frequently
exceeded if the modulation capability be
initially establis hed on a 100 % basis and
the fond operator cranks the audio gain
control up so he can be sure, by occasional
plate current flickers, that he really is hitting the legally allowa ble 100 % modulation. Under such circums tances he will
probably over -s hoot 100 % modulation
mu ch m ore frequ ently than he will notice
by plate current flicker .
It seems a good idea to establish modu-

Jato r power required upon the basis of

[Contitauf"d on pa g e

~OJ

17

A VOLTAGE-REGULATED
A good, dependable power supply unit is one of the
handiest units to have around the sheek. You can hook
up experimental setups with the knowledge that, if they
don't work out, it isn't the fault of the power supply.

IT IS OFTEN desirable and sometimes

necessary to have available a source of
dirrect-current power which is independent
of the input voltage or the output load.
By the use of electronic voltage regulators,
voltages of almost any value can be obtained with excellent stability. It is not
difficult to s upply 300 volts, cons tant to
within 1 volt for line o r load cha ng es of
25 % .
T here are several additinal features of
an electronically r egula ted power supply.
A r egula tor that eliminates sporadic
changes in voltage will eliminate the rippl e
voltage a nd a lso r educe the internal impedence of the power supply. This latter
quality is especially desirable in power fed
to a mplifiers having an extremely low frequency r es ponse, and when regeneration
due t o common B-sup ply impedance would
be desirable. A well -r egulated power su pply is desirable fo r circuits in which pulsating dir ect cu rrent would effec t frequency
or stability.
It is advisable t o r eview a few voltage
stabilizing circuits and devices before descr ibing the all-purpose vol tage r egulated
s upply.

circuit consists of a glow-discharge tube

and a resistance as shown in F ig. 1. An
increase of input voltage resul ts in a n
increased IR drop through the series r esistance due to increased current through
the tube. The drop a cross the t ube increases only slightly. An increase in current through the load results in a n a lm os t
equal reduction of tube cur rent a t nearly
constant tube drop voltage. Gas tubes VR75, VRI05 and VR-I50 are gas-filled cold
cathode voltage regulators.
The voltage stabilizing feature of a gas
tube is only true over a limited r ange of
potentials for anyone tube, so that various
tubes must be used for stabilizing different
voltages. For example, the VRI05/ 30 tube
regulates potentials in the neighborhood of
105 volts. The number 30 refers to the
maximum current in milliamperes which
ca n be passed through the tube without
damaging it. The maximum load cu r r en t
is 25 milliamperes.
If the series r esistor R is a s small as
3000 ohms, th e voltage cont rol of the

Gas Regulators
F or small voltages and cu rren ts, glow
tubes may be used. The glow tube, or gas
tube, has, in its simplest form, two electrodes between which a self-maintained
gas discharge takes place. The nature of
t he discharge through the gas in the tube
is such that when the voltage across the
electrodes tries to increa se, more cu rrent
passes through but the voltage drop a cross
the tube does not change.
The simplest type of voltage-s tabilizer

18

Front Vi... of Power Supply

C(j)

POWER SUPPLY
WI LLIAM DONAWA

VR-105 will be limited. If R is 20.000 ohms

or more. the control range around 105 volts
will be much greater. The control feature
is lost if t he cu r rent through the tube falls
below 5 milliamperes. The size of the series
resistor should always be such so as never
to allow an operating current of more
t han 30 rna. to flow through the tube In
case the load is disconnected. A starting
voltage somewhat h igher t han the oper ating voltage is required to initiate the discharge. T his generally occurs a utoma tically, as the h ea t er-type tubes in the circuit connected to t he power supply draw
no cur rent during t h e warm-up period and
the voltage ava ila ble will be high enough.
Two or more glow-tubes may be connected in series to handle higher voltages;
taps ma y be taken off between the glow.
tubes to obtain lower voltages. This circu it is illustrated in Fig. 2.

Vacuum Tube Regulators

Vacuum tubes may be em ployed to obtain stabilized voltages . The circu its genera lly fall into one of the t our following
types :

Under-chassis view 01 pow., supply

January, 1945

a. The single s tage degenerative doc

amplifier t ype ( F i g. 3).
b. The design d erived fro m the bridge
circuit tor measuring the variational transcond uctance of t ubes ( Fig. 4) .
c. The bridge circuit type that depends
upon the variational amplification factor
of a vacuum tube ( Fig. 5),
d. A combinat ion composed of one of the
three basic circuits mentioned above with
one or more stages of amplification.
The circu it to be described herein is a
variation of the degenerative regulator circuit and is illustrated in ( Fig. 6) . Regula tion curves are shown in Fig. 7.

Analys's of Action
The voltage a pplied to the regu lating
circuit is the voltage delivered by the ordina ry power supply. Tube V, acts a s a
series res istor controlling the amount of
cu rrent delivered to the load, and t herefo re, controls the voltage E a. Tube V, amplifies the voltage applied to its g rid by
the voltage dividing n etwork R" R" R, a nd
R,. Any change in the ou put voltage is
amplified by V, and impressed on the grid
of V I which either decreases or m creasee
the cu rrent flowing t h rough it. A detailed
ana lysis of the action follows:
a. An increase in Ea will produce a cor responding increase in Eg which will be
applied to the g rid of V,.
b. An increas e in Eg will cause the grid
of V, to beeome more positive.
c. If the grid of V, becomes more positive, the plate current will increase.
d. An increase in current through V,
will increase the voltage drop across R I
driving the grid of VI more negative.
e. When the grid of V, becomes more
n egative, the load current passing throug h

19

it decreases, a nd E a falls to its original

+
+
R
value. Should the voltage Ea decrease, the
opposite will occu r .
The des ire, therefore, is to a mplify as INPUT
OUTPUT
much as possible t he voltage fluctua tions
'- .~
that ap pear across the out put t erminals of
the power unit, and to impress these amplified fluctuations on the grid of the series .
Fig . I. Fundamenta l regulator tube circuit
resistor tube.
There a re several it ems included in t he
circ uit in or der to obtain smoot her and
+
+H i
R
more comp lete s tabilization of the load

volta ges. If a gaseous r ectifier is used a low

capacity, C. s houl d be placed in the circuit
'-

to prevent "hash." Resistor Rz, V~ . a nd the

INPUT
voltage dividing network form th e bleeder
+lA
circuit which draws suffiicien t current to
Q
per m it operation somewhere in the "fiat"

portion of t he r ectifier out put cha racter -0

,
istic.
0
The r esistance of R, s hould be of such
Fig. 2. C ircuit with .two tub., in series
a va lue as to insu re a current of lea st 5
rna. t hrough t he R-I05 when the potentiometer, R... is ad j usted for minimum voltage,
+
+
E a , across the output termina ls. For sma ll f
changes in E a , relatively la rge changes in t
V, plate curre nt are in order. This mea ns
IN"'"
that we want to cause wide swings in th e
cu r ren t through the VRI05. It is desira ble
therefore to operate t he VR-I05 with a
low d-e ignition cu r rent so t hat a Jarge
+

cu r rent change is possible before saturati on is r eached.

Fig. 3. Single-stage de gen eratie circuit

, .,

Elim inating Ripple

An y varia t ion in E a due to r ipple voJtage
is a pplied to the grid of V. by C.. The reactance of C1 is low and the a-c voltage
a pplied to the grid of V, has the same effect as the d. c. varia ti ons applied to it
through the vo ltage dividing network. The
add ition of t he condenser resul ts in t he
elimi nation of about 90 % of a ny r ipple
voltage existi ng a fter the regular filter
circuit.
The cathode of the amplifie r pen tode V,
is main tained at a constant poten tia l above
the nega tive side of the line by the gas
tu be Va, a properly aged neon Jamp, or by
battery. Under cer ta in conditions oscrllations ma y be s tar ted by t he regulat or tu be.
This may be prevented by condenser C:.
Grid bi as on the a mplifie r t ube is obtained from the combination voltage divider and bleeder network across the
ou t pu t t erminals. Screen g ri d voltage must
a lways be higher than t he cont rol g rid

INPUT

Fig. 4. Regulation is secured by usin g a circuit

d eried from tube brid ge fo r Gm mea,ure me nh

+
OUTPUT
INPU T

Fig . 5. It is laewise possible to obtain regulation by employing a tube bridg e circuit used
for measyring amplification factor

CQ

20

,
, ,
Fi9 . 6. Sche matic of re 9ulated power supply

o
6.3V.
o

puting the values of R.. Ro, Ro, a nd R, for a

particular r ange of voltage in whic h the
regulating circuit is t o operate.

vol tage a nd is, therefore, obtained higher

up on t he voltage divider.
R6
The exact a mount of change in Ea that I
is a pplied to the grid of V, depends upon
Rb - (E a m ax /Ea m in )- l
the r a tio Ra to Ra + Rb. If this r atio is
Ra- Rb [ ( Ea max / Eg ) - l J-R6
very small, poor regulation will r esult.
The potential about which th e voltage
Ra is th en divided into two r esis tances
will stabilize is determined by the value in the following manner. Compute the
of E g and the resistance circuit Ra and
value of the cu rrent flow ing t hrough th e
R b. Since it is a n advantage t o be able to e ntir e voltage dividing network. Calculate
vary t hi s potential, Ra and Rb are broken the resistance, with that value of cur rent
up into th ree fixed resistors and a potentio- flowing through it which will produce the
meter.
cor rect value of screen volta ge m ust be at
The value of Eg can be determined by least 20 volts greater than t he maximum
makin g it a few volts less than the cu t-off bias voltage to be applied to th e cont rol
voltage fo r V " ~ Eg is subt racted fro m Ec as g rid by means of R; Subtract R, and R,
the bias on Vt , because of Vz, is very h igh. from the resistance valu e obtained which
Th e follo wing equations a re used in corn[ C o n ti nu ed on p a g e 38 1
I

oJ

4 00

::;

"s

""

, .300
w

400

It - 100 Mo.

' 300
w

, ~L.:. +

~200

"200

L - 6O "'0 .

~
il ' 00

il ' 00

..

30
..,
60
~
90
f05 t20
LOAD CURRENT - ... .LLIAMPfRES

f35

Fi9. 7. Va riation of output 'f'oltage with load Ileft)

January. 1945

"

to

' -0+'

fa

.,

20

25

CHANGE IN UNE VOl..TAGE - PERCENT

and (right l effect of line 'f'oltag e chuge, on output

21

BUILDING A 250 WATT

JOSEPH ANLAGE, W9WVW/2

T HE pre-war transmitter herein deLike automobiles , it is probable that our first post-war rig s will closely
scr ibed is capable of
approxim ate those of pre-Pea ri Harbor days. Here's. transm itt.r th. t
will fill the g ap until the new-fang led g adgets invade hamdom.
highly satisfactory r f
energy emission. Properly operated, it is a
convenient medium power, multi band trans. la yout having heen developed through a
mitter for use on the ham frequencies from series of experimental tests designed to
30-mc down. T hi s rig was operated ri ght realize the utmost per stage. A 6L6 crysup until the news t hat December 7th Sun- tal-cont r olled oscillator is employed with
da y afternoon when it was silenced to circuit components fo r 7 and 14-mc crys clear 14,153 kc channel for more important tals. T he oscillator is keyed, fo r break-in
ha m traffic direct fro m the H awa iian K6 operation, a nd wi th p roper tunin g and loadgroup. Since t hat t ime this station has ing provides a smoo th, even s igna l at high
been dismantled a nd t rans por ted half-wa y speeds. For operation with a 7-mc crysta l,
across the country. However, time and t he plate tsn k circuit may be tuned to the
full occu pation in war activity have not fu nd amental frequency of the crystal, or
d immed my memory of circuit a nd layout ; to double the frequency with g ood output
and so in a few s pare minutes between a va ila ble at the second harmonic. The
work a nd sleep t he old mill is given a 14-mc harmonic will in mos t cases prowh ir l to r elate its outstand ing merits. vide more t han a mple power to the followW hile its potential u tili t y will depend s ome- ing buffer stage. With careful tuning, the
what upon t he avilability of new and bet- 28-mc harmonic of the 14-mc crystal will
ter types of tubes and circuit componen ts, be sufficient to excite the 807 amplifier to
there is every reason to believe that it will full output.
hold its own in practicability and efficiency Buffer Stage
00 the medium frequency a mateur bands.
The loading to the succeed ing stage is
Versatile Band Range
made by tapping a long the oscillator pla t e
The main bands of operation incl uded inductance, providing an optimum means
the 7, 14 a nd 28-mc channels, t hough excel- for a ll-arou nd desirable oscillator con t rol.
lent r esults were a lso obtained in t he 56-mc
The buffer utili zes a n 807 beam power
s pectrum. It can be r easonably assu med pentode, operated eit her as a straight amthat the pos t-war amateur a llocations will plifier or as a frequency multiplier. Both
not be g reatly a ltered, with t he possibili t y fixed and self-bias a re ap plied to the grid,
of a n a dditional band in the 21.5 meg acycle t he latter fo r protection when d epartures
reg ion-which new frequency would be fro m resonance occur. The fixed bias was
right in the center of this t r ansm itter's found advantageous when breaking excitamost efficient operating range.
tion a s a r es ult of oscillator keying. While
The circuit in Fig. 1 shows a convention. the 807 may appear to be overloaded when
al approach in the various branc hes, the driving the pus h-pull 812s, t he tube does

22

CQ

PHONE & TRANSMITTER

Here's a completely engineered rig . tried and proven in
pre-Pearl Harbor days, for ham bands from 30 me down

...
..,:

<

- R,

R.

8<2

c,

R.

'------0 - ecv

, ,
I-~ N,

60 -

-.:=
'
N,
N,

.DO>

foI,

"" LAMfNT TRANSF.

SEC. 6.3 v., 8 Amp.

"'HER SWITCH

H 5V.

C"

CO'

O-f() MA.

N,

c,; "--::L

l,

C"

RFe

+ 600 v
125 o\IA

", - -1
To
Mod"'rotor - - - +1 2S0

v.

2SO MA.

Fig. I. Schematic of r-f unit. Pa rts values below

Rl
R2
R3
R4
R5
R6
R7
Rs

-50 ,000 obm s, 1 Watt

-50 ,000 ohms , 1 Wa tt
-20,000 ohms, 5 Watt
-500 ohms , 10 Watt
-25,000 ohms, 10 Watt
-25,000 ohms, 10 Watt
-2,500 ohms, 10 Wa t t
-100 o hms , 5 Wa t t ,
P arasitic Cbok e

Cl
C2
C3
C4
C5
C6
C7
C8
C9

-.001 pid Mica

-.003 pid Mica
-.01 pid, 400
-.1 I'fd , 400
-.001 pid Mica
-.1 pid , 400 V.
-.01 I'fd, 400 V.
-.001 I'fd Mica
-ufd Mica

RFC-2.5 MH cbok e
Ll -1 MH inductance
L2 -Oscillator tank inductance ( See t ex t )
L3 -Buffer amplifier inductance ( See t ext)

January. 1945

Cl 0-150 I'f ( .031 a ir gap )

cn -i,o pid, 800 V.
C12-225 pi per s ect ion
(.031 air gap )
C13-150 pi per section (.72 a ir ga p)
C14-.001 I'fd , mica
C15-.01 nfd , mica 3,000 V.
C16-Neutralizing capacity 2-10 /lfd.
C17-Neu t ralizing capacity 2-10 I'f d.

L4 -Flnal amplifier g rid circuit inductance

L5 -Final a mplifier plate tank inductance
X -Crystal

23

e,

OSJ7

R~

ON7

e,

OVO

S07

ro R.F.
"'NAl
AMPL' F"'R
,

R.

T,

T,

,,
,,
,

R.

e,

R,

,
R,

e"

R,
R,

R"
R.

R,

SOT

OVO

R"

-,,

e'J:

CRYSTAL ",/e.

:ce.
fo J50 V.

+ 600 V.

+ 1250 V.

Fig . 2. Spe ech e nd mo d ulator unit o f transm itter

C18-100 ppJ
Cl -,1 pf d , 300 volts
C2 -10 pf d , 300 vol ts
C3 -.1 " fd, 300 volts
C4 -4 ,.rd, 400 volts
C5 -.1 pf d , 300 volts
C6 -_I " fd, 300 volts
C7 -.1 }lfd, 300 volts
cs -4 " fd, 600 volts
C9 -4 ,.rd, 600 volts
CI0-25 " fd, 50 volts
cn.i.o " fd, 800 volts

C12-25 " fd, 50 volt s

CI 3-.05 " fd, 3000 volts
C14-l0 " fd, 25 volt s
Rl -I megohm, 1 watt
R2 -1000 ohms, 1 watt
R3 -500,000 ohms, 1 watt
R4 -100,000 ohms, 1 watt
R5 -50,000 ohms, 1 wa tt
R6 -500,000 potentiomet er
R7 -3,000 oh ms
R8 -10,000 potentiometer
R9 -50,000 ohms, 1 wa tt

a very capable j ob of excita tion. The 807

has been deliberatel y overloaded, and was
found to hold up under such adverse treatment wit h apparently no ill effects. However, overloading is unnecessary for satisfactory operati on under average conditions,
as t he effic iency established fo r a mplifier

"

L,

, - -0
-

lOO u

''''\
I
.
1''''''.

1:;:=;::------<> 6.' v.
sao v.

E----r=1 ~--_S
TR-f
115 v. 60-

24

r .o J, I/IP.

-sao II.-

-----.TRA~M[R
1200 v. C.T.

excitation, with buffer and amplifier on the

same frequency , is assured. when operated as an amplifier-multi plier on the higher.
freq uency bands, the efficiency drops off
somewhat, and the 807 will not ex ci te the
a mplifie r full y for fone opera tion a t 300
wa tts input.
.

+ 600 v.

-0 ...

R,

RI 0-50 ,OOO oh ms, 1 watt

Rll-lOO,OOO ohms, 1 watt
R1 2-200 oh ms, 1 watt
RI 3-10,OOO oh ms, 5 watts
R14 -25,OOOoh ms, 5 watts
R15-1,500 oh ms, 10 watts
Tl -In terstage audi o cou pling
transformer
T2 -Mod, output t ransfo r mer ,
m ulti-imped-ance secondary
X -Crystal microphone

Fig . 3. Pow er supply for r-f e xcit e r, A

simila r one is used for the mcduleter

T R-l Power Trans former,

600 V. - 0 - 600 V., COt.
fil ament windings fo r Rectifier and
6.3 V. for other fil ament requirements.
Ll - 25 H. 250 rna, choke
L2 - 15 H. 250 rna, choke
Cl - 4 " fd, volt capacit or
C2 - 2 mfd, BOO-volt capaci tor
Rl - 30,000 oh m hleeder, tapped, 100 watt
T R-l Power Transformer, Tapped secondary.

CQ

P::!WE"R TRANSFOR MP

10 - 20H'I'
CHOK

2.0 MFD. CONO. - ~

1500

TR -2
11.5 V.

,,,

~ ""

,
,,

v.

4 .0 MFD. COND.:
1.500 V.

,,
j

,+

R,

2 .5 V fO AMP.
FILA MeNT
TRANSFORMCR

TR ~

..

~tSO

c,
,

"-use

c,

I~

60-

v.

1.5 HENRY
CHOKe

2.5.000 OHMS
fOO WA TT

11.5V..60...

Fig. 4. Final rf amplifier power supp ly. The power tlans,

fo rme r is tapped at 1250 and 1500 volts each sid e o f center ta p

Uses Plug-in Coils

Plug-in t ype inductors are em ployed
throughout t he radi o-frequency portion of
the transmi tter. This minimized mechanical and elec t r ical problems, though plugin coils may not be quite so convenien t as
the multiband switching units. The link
coupling between the buffer a nd final a mplifier must be ad j usted individually for
each set of coils . Home-made coils were
constructed on readily obtainable com mercial coil forms, thus allowing flexibility in
adjusting the Lie ratios for top efficiency
in th e oscillator, buffer and final a m plifie r
stages.
The 812 push-pull amplifier is operated
on fone at a plate potential of approximate.
ly 1,250 volts from a power s upply capable
of furnishing 250 millamperes. The push.
pull stage is ea s ily neutralized, and once
set requires no re-adjustment with band
changes. The final amplifier is built around
a Hammarlund PA-300 foundation unitits elf an efficien t layout leavin g little room
for improvement. The "finals" are link.
coupled to a remote a nten na tunning circuit consisting of a parallel r esonant cir cuit with t wo se r ies varia ble condensers for
antenna t un ing.

s upply is requ ired for the add itional load.

The modula tion transfonner is shown insu lated from the common point of potential, a nd bypassed through a high-voltage
conde nser wi th low r-f im pedance. The
s econdary of th is t ransformer is tapped to
facilitate matching the modulator load impedance to the final r adi o-frequency amplifier. The potentials set up during modulation make this a weak point, and ex t r a
precauti ons were in order.

Three Power Supplies Used

The circ ui t dia gram of a 600volt power
s upply is shown in Fig. 3, using an 83
mercury vapor rectifying tube with sufficien t filter to reduce ripple percentage to
negligible proportions. Two of these units
a r e r equired, one for the r-f excit er with
t he bleeder tapped a t 350 volts for the
speech am plifie r section. The second 600vol t s upply takes ca re of the modulator
a lone. A t h ir d, 1250-volt power unit, with
sepa rate fil ament transformer, is used for
the 812's. As shown in Fig. 4, a pair of
866's are com bined in full-wave r ectifleat ion. For cw opera tion, the modulator and
[ Co ntinu ed on page "~l
0- 15 AMP.
R.F. AMMETER

FROM

The Speec h Circuits

The speech a m plifie r a nd modula tor a re
iHustrated in the sch ematic of F ig. 2. The
main fea tures a re r ela tively hi gh gain a nd
adjus ta ble phase in version. The choice of
807 modula tors was a convenience rather
than a planned calcula tion for the job.
Though slightly overloaded on peaks, t bey
nevertheless handled the power satisfactorily. A push-pull parallel s cheme was
tried with good r esults, but a heftier power

January, 1945

TRANSM ITTeR

iI

r-~--l r--f--o I

TO RCSMA NT
WITH FINAL R.F.
AM P(J FICR OUTPUT

,,/
Tl.JIVED FeeDERS AND
DOUBl er ANTENNA.

OR MULTI-CLEMCNT BCAM
FOR FReoueNCY
AND BAND ReOUIRCO

Fig. 5. Antenna coup ling unit

25

IMPROVE YOUR CODE

JOHN M. BORST

Useful dope on send inq by a former code instructor

INorder that we s hall

know how to make
It is esti mated tha t th e ranh of a ma teur radio ..... i11 be augmented immen sely b y return ed end ret urning ve tera ns who, in th e arm ed forc e.
the letters of the Inhave been a n oei"ted with rad io in som e fo rm or another. Many of
te r natio nal Morse Code
th ese eK G Is wi ll have been ta ught just e no ug h code to g et by - and
cor rectly. t heir fo r it is to th ese futur e ham s, u well a, th e regular annua l infi ltratio n, that
mation ha s been dethis article is directed.
fined by interna tional
agreemen t . At the Telcomm unicat ions Conference in Cairo. 1938, some minor code the r evised code. ( If you think - - changes w ere made in punctuation cha r- is a com ma, you 're pre-1938, and a re in for
acters. Not t oo much attention was some exasperat in g un learning. ) Students
paid to th ese revisions by amateurs prior studying code with the aid of a n automatic
to P earl Harbor-s-from force of habit t ransmitter, sh ou ld make sure that the
and because in formal comm unica t ions recor d or ta pe is transm itting post-Cai ro
"period" a nd " comma " a re often spelled morse.
out . In rag chewing, punctuation is Good and Bad Habits
pretty much disreg arded. except fo r
th e ques tion mark (u nchanged) and
There a re definite r el ations between the
t he exc lama tion point (r u led out com- leng ths of dots a nd d ashes a nd the s paces
pletel y , a nd t he old ! is th e new comma,
(- - - - ) . However, th ere will be a vast
new crop of post -wa r hams who wi ll pla y
the game strictly according to Hoyle, a nd
it is therefore desirahle t hat you get
started off with t he revised code. (But
don't think t hat every 111M, t hat is
- - - - , you will h ear is a comma. Old
ti mers, ma ny w ho'll remember t ha t it once
meant "war ning, hi gh power," will s t ill
use it as a n exclamation point.} A lso , in
improving your code, you are bou nd to encounter plenty of pu nctuation in copying
the slower press d ispatches-not to mention running into a bit of it when you 're
up before t he R. 1. ( " Rad io Ins pector" )
for you r code t est. If your code sym bol
for period is - - - , you h ave studied
A convenient layout with 10k of elbow room

26

CQ

.__

-- --_._--- -_

___a

a __

---~--

00_'-

V -MAIL

YES- and this National U nio n postwar

plan for radio service men will be a bigger,
better plan, with more of everything it
takes to help you equip your shop and get
the service business of your community.
Yes-from National Union you will
again be able to get the finest shop and
testi ng equipment on the famous N. U.
Plan and we will make it even easier for
you to get it, than before the war. There
will be more free N. U. Technical litera-

,
ture-more advertising-more of those
simplified for ms and r eco rds to help you
manage your business and make every
possible dollar of profit out of it.
Yes-you can count on N. U' 9 with its
greatly increased resources, for more of
everything you need. Co u nt on National
U n io n - " A ft er the War, MORE than
Before!"
NATIONAL UN ION RADIO CORPORATION. NEWARK. N.J.
F,ul(}ri~J at N~u 'iI"" N. J.; M a/Jkv'OfJd. N. } .
Lt..s,J.k. P#tPU-; RoM_ iii. P#tPU-

NATI
RADIO AND ELECTRONIC TUBES
Ja nua r y, 1945

27

that separate them. The dot has a length

determined by the speed of transmission.
A dash is three times as long as a dot. The
spaces between th e parts that make up a
lette r a re individuall y equa l to one dot. The
space between two letters is as long as
three d ots, while t he rest between two
words is equal to five dots.
Good sending consists in maintaining
these rel ation s. Obviously. one must not,
when sending the letter L for instance,
hesita te a fte r the dash. The operator on the
receiving end will then not be sure wh ether
one or two letters was sent, and he may
copy it as AI.
Other typical fau lts are irregular leng ths
of dots a nd dashes, a nd poor spacing be.
w '" "" .,
1.

"#II.., II.

'DO"': P

., , "T\ PI,I \" ,. re ,. "lin. 0 '

1''D, ll \S'YATt:~U~..

t' "t."1'\,!<\l4,

er

w~ o -

"""'I..

'Pil.I. Ulo"lo\ ) -,JI,)''(" ('''loUt>

t

I,!Q - .... "' 1>

~I$

S \G.M. ~'l>

c. ... l.L. I

(Cou rtesy APe D )

tween both letters and words. To avoid

th ese errors , whi ch can read ily be solidified
into iron-bound habits, it is permissible to
exaggerate the correct spacing and the
leng t h of dashes in t he ea r ly stages of the
g ame. That is, make the spacing between
letters much g reater than the s pacing between pa rte of a letter; similarly exagg erate th e s pacing between words, and
stretch th e dashes twice as long as they
should be. Your sending will tighten automaticall y as you increase speed, and the
chances are you'll end up transmitting exce llent code.

Automotic Tran smitters Help

As to eq uipment in code practice, e ither
an inex pensive buzzer or a simple oscillator
ca n be keyed. T he la tter is prefera ble because the tone is exactly the same as a
radio signal . It is presumed that the
reader has learned the code by the sound
system , and is ca pable of recognizing individual letters, transmitted slowly, without
writing down th e dots and dashes of whi ch

28

they a rc composed. ( The code s hou ld be

memorized as simulated sound. Think of
the letter A as "dit dah"-not as dot da sh
- and never write down the dots and
dashes. T his latter is an improper tec hniqu e, and will hold y ou back- slow you
up-because you'll simply have to unlearn
it. )
In the begin ning, it is a g reat help to
have an ex perienced operator s end to you ,
so th at t he sou nd of properl y made ch a r acters can be impressed upon the memory.
A utomatic transmitters are not too expensive, and are also of cons iderable aid
in t he home study code. They will transmit
perfec tly formed characters a t a ny desired
speed. (Incidentally, a lways set th e transmitter just a trifle faster than is comfortable. )

Key Technique
According to th eory a nd the bes t t exts,
t he key s ho u ld be placed and h andl ed in a
certa in wa y. It shou ld be fastened to a
table Or a large board which can be positioned on th e table so th at th e k ey will
s tay put. The k ey should be about 18 inches
from th e edge of th e t abl e. Grasp the
knob by th e thumb and two fingers ( somewhat as one might hold a pencil ), th e
elbow resting o n the table. All motions
are to be made with the wrist and forearm
- not with the fi nger s .
Actually, most operators develop a techniqu e at variance with the rules. It's like
learning, in school, to write according to
some specia l system-Palmer Me thod of
Spencerian. In the end , you 'll scribble
y our own way, and probably turn out perfectl y good and individualistic script. Some
of th e best operators don't hold the key at
a ll , and merely sort of tap on th e to p of
th e knob with the first and s econd fingers.
In some commercial installations, th e key
is mounted at the edge of th e ope rati ng
table-which we definitely do not recom mend. ~Iany operator s place the k ey at
somewhat of an angle in a natural writing
positio n. Begin with practicing a series
of dots and dashes- and as th e song says,
"take it easy!" When this elementa ry
transmission is no longer strange , try combining the dots and dashes into letters.
A Metronome May Help
As we have said , an exaggeratio n in th e
length of dashes and the proportionate
length of s pa ce is tolera ble in the early
[ Continu ed on page 32]

C(j)

January. 1945

29

ASHINGTON REPORT
ROBERT Y. CHAPMAN, W1QV

ON

OCTOBER 6th, 1944, P r esiden t

George W. Bailey and Secretary-General Manager Kenneth B. Wa rner , repr esenting the American Rad io Rela y ~ague
at the FCC hearings, did a yeoman Job In
presenting the future picture of the h am
field, by and for the amateur. T hey both
stressed things to come as concerning an
estimated 250,000 amateurs five years after
the war, and asked for me re frequencies
above 60 megacycles. George Grammer,
also on deck, was briefly questioned by
F CC General Counsel Denny on inte rference experienced by amateurs from automobiles and diathermy apparatus. These
queries were in conjunction with the longconsidered F CC's idea of leg islation to pre.
vent interference f rom such sources.
George told them about the beating we
used to tak e on the 14, 28, 56 a nd 112-lIfc.
bands.
.
Leland C. Quain tan ce, ch ief of the FCC
amateur service section, placed on record
a two-page statement concerning amateur
r a dio, w hich h e declared was one of t he
oldest rad io services- its developmen t
pa ralleli ng that of the enti re r adio art.

Hew Band Requested

K. B. Wa r ner asked the F CC for a n additional band of 21,000 to 22,000 kilocycles,
because he believed there wou ld be a substantial post-war increas e in foreign amateurs-particularly the English-spea king
hams. I n "tot o, the following bands were
requested:
1750 to 2050 kc
224 to 230 me
3500 to 4000 kc
448 to 480 me
7000 to 7300 kc
896 to 960 me
14,000 to 14,400 kc
1792 to 1920 me
21 ,000 to 22,000 kc
3584 to 3890 me
28,000 to 30,000 kc
7168 to 7680 me
56,000 to 60,000 k c
14,336 to 15,360 me
112 to 116 me
28,672 to 30,720 me

30

- a n d it was also asked that righta be

shared above the 30,OOO-megacyle band.
Warner offered an alternative plan of
allocations if military requirements make
it difficult to provide the requested "harmonic family" in the amateur allocations.
Mr . Wa rner admitted, as part of his con elusion, that the demand for frequencies
was great, but added that the a mateur allocation was small, and the elimination of
the ham would in n o wa y greatly contribute to any other particular service for
a ny leng th of time. He poi nted out t he
contribution of amateur radio to the welfa re an d secu r ity of the n ation, a nd a m p ly
justi fied our use of the amateur frequencies.
I ha ve tried to j ot down t he f undamen t -

als as I saw them during my attendance at

th e hearings. There are many more things
tha t cou ld be r ela ted-eonversations with
others there, and the usual lunch-time discussions about the future of amateur radio.
These las t considered the possihle loss of
some frequencies and the s upport a nd nonsu pport by certain groups. It is st ill too
early to state t hat we a re going to h a ve
amateur radio as we knew it in the past.
Bu t if and when we do, it s hould be remem bered that it will be no one person or
one group t hat ma de it possible. Cred it
can go to everyone, from the r epres en tative body of the ARRL to t he sales manager of Dots and Dashes, I nc.

Posf-War Planning
I know that ham radio is well enough
established to support itself with t he ai d
of continued representation which up to
now has been mos t im press ive. Let us all
find t ime and make sure that Ama teur

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trom page 281

stages of the game. However, exact tim109 can be practiced if the student has
access to a metronome. For a dash, the
key will be depressed during three beats
or counts; then it will be up for one, three
or fi ve counts depending on whether th e
nex t s pace separates parts of a letter,
letters, or words. For a dot, the key will
be down fo r one beat. This method does
not a llow of much speed, but it d oes assist in o bta ining the right timing , a nd ha s
been successfully employed in some rad io
s chools.
It's a good idea to send t o a friend, especially in the beginning. If he can r ead the
message there is that much more cha nce
that th e sending is okay. Regular pra ctice
is necessary to obtain speed and reliability.
If a tape recorder is available, recording
should be made at regular intervals. This
shows visually such sending defects as
exist, a nd th e student will probabl y be
surprised to see how bad his "list" is when
he was under the impression that he was
doing well.
When sufficient progress has been made,
and some of th e slowest material on the
air can be copied, there is an unlimited
op por t unity for copying perfect sending. As
a matter of fact you can start in almost
at the beginning on a commercial station
which, in a no- traffic period, keeps the
cha nnel open by sending a test signal over
and over again. This test signal is usually
the letter V or the sequence ABC, followed
by DE (mea ning "from" ) and th e callletters of the station r epeated twi ce. You
will quickly learn to r ecognize letters a t
surpris ingl y good speed with this practice.
In addition, you can often locate a transmitter slowl y sending coded code (cipher )
in g roups of five letters with each g roup
repeated. Even if you do not possess a
c.w, receiver, any all-wave radio will pick
u p a modulated (m us ical ) code signal.
When a letter is missed, don't try to think
and reca ll what it could be. Doing this
will prevent concentrating o n the succeeding letters, and you may miss several
words instead of just one letter. As we
have sugges ted, it's an excellent idea to
copy material which is not plain English
- so that the coming letters can not be
a nticipa ted (often a wrong guess! )
[Cont inued on page 331

CQ

After at taining a copy s peed of about

fifteen words per minu te, it will be difficult
to increa se speed without "copying behind."
The inexperienced opera torhea rs only one
letter at a time, and writes that down.
However , in order t o keep u p at higher
speeds , it becomes necessary to r ecognize
whole words a s th e unit, a nd not write
down a letter of the word until the en ti re
word ha s been understood. This t echnique
will be acq uired g rad ually-and naturally
- as ability incr ea ses a nd one learns t he
often r epeated s ho rt words such as "the,"
"and " "of"
" etc
" for" " from
Event ua lly
t he good operator will copy several words
behind.
To make fast a nd cor rect sending easier, many opera tors use a n a utomat ic or
s emi-automatic key- the " bu g: ' But r emember , the go ve r nment examiner s till requires sending with th e "st raigh t key. One
t ype o f bu g cons ist s of a weight and spring
a rrangement which will vibrate horizontall y w hen a lever is pushed to the righ t.
Da shes a rc made individually by act ua ting
the knob to t he left. T he s peed of the dots
is adjustable by moving the weight-a
pendulum effect . It is up t o the oper a to r
t o make his dashes at a speed cor related
with th e do tting s peed. He must a lso connect th e do ts a nd dashes cor rectly- with
smooth , even spacing,
Progress in code speed will a ppear er rati c-but t his is normal. There seem to be
certain stages where a n a ppr eciable increa s e in s peed ta kes a long time, But
don't worry- you'll get by.

Universa' Portfolio
"T he His t o r y of Comm unications," i n t e r esting illus tra t ed full pa g e series of pictures
and copy r un In 1944 by the Universal ~lI c
r opho n e Co., I ng lew oo d . Cali f. in radio magazines w ill be available in J a n u a ry as a p ict orial portfolio wit h free distribu tion.
Sf o r e than a dozen pictures w ill graphically show t he advance of communications
m e thod s through the years w ith t he creative work by K e it h Thomas. Los A n g e le s
artist. T h e scenes will include d rawin g s
f ro m the Spanish-American as well as 'wo rld
\ Va r s I and II .
S chools and colleges, and army encampments ahve us ed the series in cram courses
and all of t he illustrations will be of in t e r est to h a m o pe.
Th ey w ill be printed in size for framing
for r a d io d e n or the h am s hack, den or
hobby room. A s hort d e sc r iptive of each
stage i n communications w ill be included.

January, 1945

ours
yoU R

1U~

GENERAL ELECTRONICS
TUBES fOR AMATEURS

DR 17
2<G

DR 575

DR 812

10'

113

IOOTH

807

'00
300

101

172

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It's the extra-long life of every G e ne ra l Electronics tube that makes them favorites with
amateurs and professionals alike. Such economy -coupled with superb performance -isn't
accidental. It is the planned result of the designing and manufacturinq experience of one
of America's pioneer and lead ing vacuum tube
engineers, combined with a young and virile
organization utilizing the most advanced production methods.
Check this list of Genera l Electronics tubeseach with unu sual characteristics adaptable to
the amateur's requ irements-and plan now to
equip or replace with the tubes that offer "most
hours for your tube dollars".

33

AN OPEN LETTER!

TRANSMITTER
[Cont inu ed from page %5]

Dear O. M.:
CQ has given us this opportunity to
te ll us of s um of the qud things that are
coming after V Dayl-But. we've promised
our manufactu rera that we'd keep m um .

Ye t there will b e many new things such

:IS (Rumor has it) xmtrs by Ha mme rlund.
Revrs by Millen. e pcl revrs by National
and s o many new it ems that w e hav e UJ.o
to now only dreamed cl.-That Ham radio
a s w e kne w it will have vanished to he
replaced by a vastly improved te chniqu e.
Remember. w e have a vailable almost
e verythi ng in e lectronics a nd Ham rad io
g ear fer immediate d elivery. "NO PRIOR.
ITY REQUIRED", and if by sum accid ent
it's not in s to ck w e 'll g el it ler u.
Cum in fer a rag chew sometime. as
le ts g et tog ether.

-73' CUL-

RADIO TELEVISIO N SUPPLY CO.

170 I S. Grand Ave. Los Ang eles IS, Cal.

Since Ame rica's "Hams" marc hed

of; to war. we he re at SCElI 'S
have made every effort to supply
sorely ne ede d rad io and e lectronic co mpone nts to war industries.
But wh en you co me march ing
home. "0. M.," you'll fin d us
still doing business at the old
stand: still makin g good our slogan : "Whatever you want, we
have it."

H. G. Scel! & CO.

227 A sylum Street

Hartford. Conn .

34

speech amplifier can be disconnected, a nd

a dditional output secured by feeding t he
812's from the 1500-volt position on the
power s upply.

New Taylar 813 Tube

Continuing the manufacture of beam
power transmitting tubes under the R CA
license, Rex L . Munger , Sales Manager of
Ta ylor Tubes, Inc., 2312 Waba ns ia Avenue,
Chicago, has a nnounced t hat production
ha s been s t a rted on the 813 tube.
The Ta ylor 813 is a beam power tube of
extremely hig h sensitivity with a maximum
plate dissipation of 100-wa tts. It requires
less than L wa t t of driving power to produce about 260 watts when used on CW;
and it need not be neutra lized in circuits
which provide adequate shielding. The tube
utilizes low screen current and, when used
as a f requency multiplier, is able to generate a high harmoni c output at high efficiency. It can be operated at maximum
ratings up to freque ncies of 30 MC a nd
with red uced ratings up to 60 MC. Maximum CW output is 360 watts, and plate
modulated output is 240 watts, when oper ated in class C. Moun ting is either vertical
or horizontal, but in t he latter case the
filament mus t be kept in a vertical pl ane.
The tube is 7 '12 inches maximum overall
length, a nd has a maximum diameter of
2 9/16 inches. It has a medium metal plate
cap a nd is fitted with a giant 7-pin base of
ceramic construction surrounded by an
aluminum shell.
Electrical characteristics: Filament ( t horia t ed tungsten) voltage-10 volts a-c or
d-e at 5 amperes; transconductance for
plate current of 50 rna is approximately
3750 umhos ; interelectrode capacitances g rid to plate (wit h exter nal s hield)-<l.2
(max.) mmf, in put-16.3 mmf, output -14
mmf .

CQ

Secure YOUR Monthly Copy

of CQ by Subscribing NOW

Due to paper restrictions, CQ will

not be sold on newsstands for th e
duration. A selected list of Ham Dist ributors will have a limited number
of copies on sale at 25c each.

.~

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C. II

Sirs: He r. is my 0 check (or 0 money order for $

Se nd me
issues of CO.
12 issues $2.50--2-4 issue, $".-36 iuues $5. C one d;. n e nd fo re ig n subscriptions ere $3.50 4nnuelly

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W}-.ot h your occupation or' profession 1

Zone

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--------------------------------

January, 1945

35

NATION-WIDE
MAIL ORDER
DISTRIBU TORS
SINCE 1928

WASHINGTON
[Conti1tued from page 301

RADfO
LlICfRoA/tc
AND

DEVICES

';O'f, . ..

TRADE INDUSTRY
COMMUNICATION
PUBLIC UTILITY
VOCATIONAL AND
EXPERIMENTAL
APPLICATIONS

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AMPLIFIERS and SOUND SYSTEMS
COMMUNICATIONS APPARATUS
PURCHASING AGENTS ! ENGINEERS !
Write o n your compa ny letterhead fo r FR [ cop)' of ou r
800 page ca talog. Address Dept. NY.

SUN RADIO

& EI.ECTRONICS

co.

212 Fulton Street. New York 7. N. Y.

36

R adio has a post-wa r plan that is so sound

a n d pra ctical that the powers that be will
r ecognize i t as such . Le t' s m ake ou r b iggest pos t -war program the assign men t of
good , practica l frequ encies. R ather n ot
worry a bout whether th ey a re for fan e,
t elevision or fa x. L et's ge t the f requencies
first! After we h ave th em, they s h ou ld be
used as t he maj ority wi shes-just as befo re.
You fellows no doubt kn ow that pres sure
is on for cer tain spec t ra in ou r band s . The
ole 160 band is h aving a t ough s t r u ggle,
Then ther e a re th e television and freq uency m odula tion ser vices bangin g the 56 a nd
1I2-mc sectors. The RTPB d emonstrated
t hese facts , a nd from s uch pressures came
t he n ew 21 ,000 t o 22,000-kc ban d proposal.

One Class of License

This band would offe r us a new fieldone th a t would keep t he dx boys h appy on
bot h code a nd fane. It would be a n exce llen t int ern ational ba nd, open ing up many
n ew opportu nities for t he gang, with very
little conversion of the old ri gs. I feel, in
a ll fa irness, t hat the n ew band (if and
when we get it ) shou ld be open t o the
holde r of a Class B ticket. As a m atter of
fa ct , I h op e some da y that we shall h ave
only one class license-a t icket identifying
us as a mateu r r adi o operators. The requ irements would cover a s pecified code
r eceiving a n d transmi tting s peed, a nd ' a
practical exam ination. I hope tha t it s tays
with in t he r ange of the average fellowbelow the grade of a sen ior engineer. And
m y r eas on is pl a in a n d s im ple. There will
be youngsters who have not g rown up with
t he r adi o industry, the ARRL, ou r h am
t raditions a nd training. Le t 's n ot r equ ire
t hem t o be g rad uated from a n e ngineer in g
college before they ca n pass th e t est fo r a n
a mateu r license. *
This is a ll post-war planning, Yes, g ang,
t hese were some of the s u bjects r a g-chewed
a rou nd the luncheon t ables in Washin gton.
I t su re m eed good t o find everyone s t ill
in t eres t ed eno ugh t o t h in k a nd t alk h am
r adi o! And, brot hers, I want t o tell you
r ight now, there's only a few of the ga ng
who doesn't dream a bou t th e rig he's g o.
ing t o h ave as s oon a s t h is m ess is s quared
away! N ew a n ten nas, tubes, circu it s, be t.

CQ

ter receivers, more stable E.C.a.s, better

power supplies, more wa tts per dollar,
cheaper s copes. It's gonna be a g reat
world !

eq
A welcome and
famili ar call, introd ucing a new
friend and source of information.

CQ does not ag rce 100 % w it h \V1 Q V o n t h is

issu e. \Vh il e we d on't belie v e t h a t breaking
into h am r adio s h ou ld be made t oo d iffi cult,
t he p r es e nt Class B lic e n s e la kes care of the
'ent ranc e requirements." The more advanced
C lass A ticket has a lways been s omething for
t he amateur to shoot at in the pe r fec tion of his
abilit y and t ec h n iq u e. It h as d one muc h to
m in im ize congestton o n vita) bands. And le t
us not forget that. in fi g hting f or our prtvileges , our bands, our very ex is t e n ce on t h e a ir,
w e m ay, a g ain a n d again. have to demonstrate
o ur t ech n ica l fi tness on a h ighe r a nd h ig h er
p lane .

\X' e. at RdJ io Electronic SaieI Co.,

offer best wishes to the Publishers

in this welcome venture, and, to
our many friend s, and customers
in and out of t he Service,

FCC Extends Hom Licenses

At a session of t he F ed e r a l Communications Commis sion h eld at its o ffices in
W a s h in gto n , D . C., on the 28th day o f N ovem be r , 19-14 ;
\VH E R E AS . The Commission h as , pursua n t to Ord er 115. a dop te d May 25. 1943. r einsta t ed and ex te n ded fo r a p eriod of t h ree
y ears fro m the ir ex piration d ates the t e rm s
o f ce rta in a m a t e u r radio operator licenses
w h ic h by t heir t erms h a d ex pired or would
ex pire between Dec. 7, 1941 a n d D ec. 7,
1944; and
\ VH E R E AS , The w a r ti m e conditions w hich
made a doption of t he said Order No. 115
n ecessa ry continue t o ex ist;
I T IS ORDERED T H AT :
1. E ve r y amateur radio ope r ato r li cen s e
w hich by its t e r m s expi red du r ing th e
peri od D ece m b e r 7, 19H to D ec e m b e r 7,
19-1 2. incl us ive , b ut t he d uration of which
h a s bee n extended by Commission Order
N o. 115 f or a period o f three years from
the da t e of expiration provided t h e r ein . is
extended for a pe riod of one year from the
d ate o f expira tion a s extended by Ord e r
115.
2. E v ery a mateur radio ope rator lIcen s e
is su ed du r in g t he p e r iod D ecembe r 7, 1941
t o D ecembe r 7. 1942. inclusive. is h e r e b y ext e nd ed fo r a period of o n e year from the
date o f ex piration provided t herein .
PROVIDED . H ow e v e r . T h a t t he p r ov is ions o f this order s hall not apply to any
amateur radio operator license t ha t h a s
been o r may h e r ea ft e r be fi nally s uspe n ded
by Co m m ission o r der. 01' v oluntart ly s u rrendered b y the li cens ee . nor t o a ny a mat e u r ra d io o perator li ce n s e w ho fails or h a s
failed to co m p ly with provisions of the
Commission's Order N o. 75 a s am ended .
3. Th e provisions of Section 12.26 of the
Commission's Rules a n d R egulations to the
extent suc h p r ov is io n s arc inconsistent with
th is ord e r a r e h ereby s uspended unti l fu r t her or d e r of th e Commission.

January. 1945

'
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.\ .... yu u nn d lng you ......U In a rou tl n~ joob - . job

t h at a ny o' lwr m a n l". n hll ll, lI.. j ll~t .'" ....,11 u you r
Tnd ll ~' . rll,llo .ru lI!'l Il r , l\I an y hut r llllio C.\ HEEItl'l
..... f ew ! :\0"" III
Ol'l'ortlllw tin... fu r )'OU 10 f'(IulD
)"" r....lf ",-1111 th.. n.~ _.n' lechnl u l t ra lnl nl to
qua lify r"r all hn purta nf ~ "clll('4;"rlna: VOI'iUon ,,-1m a

tI.,

8Oun.1

~ lt\\'

,"Oil

In

fUlU""

In.!uMtrY Il eed . mf'tl. i. th.. Umf' for

hl'....li". I.. ,..11 0 ... !'t'oPl If.lnlna:. Your l a.no
,,-Ilton

..x t...r l...l .... hal"k... i by mn I..m e M ):1 If'f"hnh.. i trainln.

..Ill
11th ' )'<>U to "h a ... In the l(OOtl pay:!n. ~ that
a wa ll lra tn... 1 nwn ~ . . and w mak.. loud in !hot
!mJl'!lna'l! IM"Qd on. Ih a l !t'ad to DOlt-war c~n

W'\dl

~r1tf

a nd

ha l>l'lIl

W R ITE T O D.... y ! It 1"u ar e a

I' rof......loll.. o r a ma l"'" radlomall
an,! w .nt ,,, m ak .. mor" mom')'I.t II I I' ro,1' t o )'011 \I... 11." f' "om e
t h lll" yo" n...." 10 'lIIlI U f)' fu r Ih..
btt!H j" h ol'llonunltlt... th at " a n

I". Y"llr~ , To h eir. u. Intell ige nt ly

1I1l1wer you r Inq u ry _ plea Nl . tat.
brieny yo ur educatlo ll. n d io
..erie ne. a nd preNlllt po.i1ion _

C AP I TO L
RA 0 I 0
ENG INE ER ING IN STIT UTE
De" l . C . I. 322-1 I& tll S t . N.W. , W" " III I tOll 10. O. C.

111m::

37

ONE CENTRAL SOURCE FOR

POWER SUPPLY

Radio Communications
Parts & Equipment

[Conti nllPd from pa ge 21J

Allied carries the largest

and most co m p le te stocks
ot parts and equipment

under one

roof,

ready

for quick s h ipm e n t . . .

for
production.
radio
tratntng. r esearch and
m aintenance.

A I' s oon 8 9 available ( or

ci vilian u s c . Allied be-

comes a ce n tral sou rce

for Hallierafters, National . Hammarlund. and
other

well-known

muni cation

com-

r e ceiver s .

- - -

- -1

BUYING
GUIDE

These receivers are now

available on proper pri- :

A v a il a bl e on

'I

ority.

request.

W ri t e for it.

=====' - - - - =. "~

Everything in Radio and Electron ics

will give R o, Subtracting R. from Ra pro

vides the r esistance of R.
The theoretical minimum output vo ltag
E a is limited by the value of the bias 0
t he a mplifie r tube, obtained by the dro
across t he gas tube. The grid volta ge r e ~
quired to neutralize the voltage in this
particular case must be at least 105 volts
If the g r id voltage was tapped directly
from the plus t ermin al, t his volta ge a va il
able a t tha t point would ha ve to be g rea te
than 105 volts.
By s h un ti ng the gas tu be with a voltag
dividing network a s in Fig, 8, a nd ob tain
ing t he cat hode bias volta ge from a po
tentiome ter, the minimum ou t p ut voltag
can be made t o approa ch zero.

ALLIED RADIO
C ORPO RATION
833 W. J a ch o n BI'td ., Dept . 5&-A-5, Chica90 7, Ill.

METERS
W tJ have th e m - for immedia te
d elivery - no pri orities I

Vita l meters - Priorit ies req uired

- are else available.

Write for p rices.

Fig . 8. By reducing t h., cathode bias of the pentode

HATRY AND YOUNG '

_'t.,

HARTFORD

CONNECTICUT

.r.

w r.

proud of t he lpl.ndid l how inq ou, .mat.u, fri.nd, and old cullom.r,
m. Unq t oda y.
W . will b. r.ady to se r.... you aqain a, loon a ,
th ro uq h with you r jo b .nd w. ar. throuq h
you
t.k inq ca r. of mint.,., rrquir.m.nh. Ma y w. h.....
ha p py r.union loon.

.r.

SEATTLE RADIO SUPPLY, INC.

2117 Seeced Avenue

Seattl. I, Walh.

Phone: Seneca 2345

38

t o zero, , a very low outp ut volt a ge can b e obtained

In or der to obtain good r egulation over a

wide r an ge o f voltages, th e r atio of Ra a nd
Rb can be changed by means o f a selec tor
switch. or a ny combination of this resista nce circuit, there are definite maximum
and minimum ou t put voltages which can be
obtained wi th some degree of r egulati on.
If a milliammeter is a vailable, th e a ddition of switc h SW-3 and the proper multiplier Rm will per m it the use of t he meter
to measur e ou tpu t voltage in switch posit ion A a nd load cur rent in sw itch position
B. The va lue of the multiplier r esistor Rm
mus t be determined fo r t he pa r t icula r
meter that is used.
The jumper A-B in the positi ve lea d from
the r ectifier is con tained in the base of the
gas tube be t ween pins 3 a nd 7. If the gas

CQ

tube should be r emoved accidentally no

bias would be applied to t he grid of t he
series t ube V, and possible damage to the
load may r esult because of the increase

in cu rrent V 1
t
T he following comments concer n possibl e faul t y oper ation of t he r egula tor
circuit.
r 1. Excessive Hum:
a . Operation beyond the limit of t he
power s upply.
b. Line voltage less tha n 100 or mor e
t ha n 130.
c. Defective t ubes.
d. Open filter condensers.
2. Low voltage.
a . Defective rectifier .
b. Defecti ve series re gulato r t ube.
3. High V oltage :
a . Defeetive VR05 or V,.
b. Defective r esis tors in th e regu lating cir cuit.
4. Poor R egula tion :
a . Oper ation beyond the limits of th e
unit.
b. Chan ge in t he operation point of
the tubes.
c. Exces sive line or load fluctations.

Hallicrafters Ham Shack

Th e H all icra ft e r s Com pa n y. C h icago, prod uce r s o f the SCR-299, m obile radio comm un ications unit , a n d ot he r hi gh fr equenc y
r a d io w ar equip m ent. sal uted the warttme
a chi evements of t he nation's a mateur r adio
ope rators w it h th e official o pening on Oct.
16 o f a r ad io h am "shack" at 643 North
:M ich iga n Avenu e, C hicago.
The "shack," f u lly equip ped from the
c ompany's s tock, w a s d edi ca t ed to the more
than 25,000 r ad io h a ms In t he m ili tary
services . A se r v ice fl a g , com memorating the
h ams ' mili t a ry service, w a s p r es e n t ed by
C het H orton, m e m b e r o f t he H n m feste r s
R ad io Clu b of t h e Chicago a rea. to the
A m e r ica n R adio R elay Lea gue, n ational
o r g a n iza tion o f r ad io a mate urs. Carat K.
W itt e, acting comm u nications m a n a ge r of
the A. R . R . L:.
, accep ted t he serv ice fl a g for
th e Lea gue. ~I o r e t h a n 50 m embe r s of t he
H a m fes t e r s Club were present at the ce rem ony.
T h e "ha m s hack on t he bo ul e va r d " features , bes id es a n ex hibit of H alJie r a lte r s
e lec t ro n ic eq uipment, two d e t a iled scale
mod els as w in dow di splays . On e s how s a
P a clflc battle area a n d the ot h er a s m a ll
town a n d ru r al sce ne typical of w hat the
nation is flghtin g t o p r eserve ,

January. 1945
1

Prepare to get
vour " ticket" with

DREW'S
HOW TO PASS
RADIO LICENSE
EXAMINATIONS
By CHARLES E. DREW, I.R.E., A.I.E.E.
"'

FOR
A ", . h ur Radi o Opera tort,
Ra d lotl lu ho ll. ..d
Tlle,rap h Opera to"

COV E RS
Bro a d euUIlI_ Marlll l _
Ar1'O rllluti ul
or any t1 eld 0'
R.d lo Tr, ",,,, ln lorl . Il d
Recr ptio ll

If you are an amat eur and want to

win your " tic ke t" this is the book for

you. It will h elp you pass your radio
license e xa min a tions.
Now brought up 10 dale. for you
'w ho w a n t 10 win your mark in Ih e
radio profession . Ihis edition cov ers
e ve ry type of radio activity wheth er it
is marine . a eronautical. police or amateur broad ca sting.
Pres ented in e c s v-te-Ie lle w question
and answer form. Drew's HOW TO
PASS is Ih e " b ible" of radio operators.
radiot el ephone and telegraph m en.
Take the s u re way to knowl edge and
e quip yourself with this book. S end
lor your copy loday.

CO;\T E;\T S
Bu lo R. d lo L. ...$ . Bille Thlo ry a lld P r. ctlce.
Ra d iotel f ph an e. Ad .... lleed Ra di otel uh oll i . R. dl o_
te legra ph - Ad .... llced Ra d lote legr. phy.

Second Ed ition. 320 Pag es

$3.00

- - -ON- APPROVAL
- - - -- COU
- - PON
--- JOHN Wi l EY & SO NS. lne,
440 Fou rth Ave . New York 16, N. Y.
l' it"'A-'Ie ..w i me a '-"I'J" of nre.. ' $ IiOW TO PASl'l on
I..n ,I&H' .11l.ro...I. .\t Ihfo fnd of Ih., nme, If I didclOl
tll I",...p thf book. I ,,"iii ",1Il1t U .oo pl U& poa,tap: o th.. e...1"" I ..ill r",um thoe l>ook poaIP.I<l.

...................... ............. -.. _.... , .....

.\,Itl"""f
1' , 1)'

,.,

/1 11 I S ,",tt

, ...........

. . . . . . . . . . ,

............ .. .... ... ,

..

,,
CQ I-U

39
.,_

MODULATION
( C on ti nu ed from pa g e 17 )

iO % to i1 % modulation, and th en install

a compressor on th e modulator which will
permit raising the aver age modulation percentage t o br ing it up to what it would
be were 100 % modulation em ployed with
no com pressor- possibly even a bit further up for the a verage modulation percenta ge, wh ich is wh at alone is really
useful. But that's another story.

MICROWAVES
[Cont inu ed from page 15]

gated t o whatever happens ou t in s pace

between th e antennas. Conseq uently, when
you work with microwaves, you not only
r ead cu r ren ts and volta g es on the various
elect rodes of your tubes, but you a lso
plan to measure what goes on in the wave
guide through which your radiant energy
is traveling. You can do this by cut ting
slots in th e guide at chosen points where
they do no harm and inserting toops or
probes. P r oba bly a small r ectifying crystal
is con nected to the p robe and the r esults
a re read on a microarnmeter.
The thi ng that is usually desired in a
wa ve g uide is th at there be a lot of energy

In The
Rody Mo unta in Reg ion It's

RADIO & TELEVISIO N SUPPLY CO.

Phone 5729

808 Euclid Ave., Pue blo, Colo.

If we d on't hu e it . we' ll ge t if

or it can 't be had

Address ChangesSubsc rib ers to CQ should notify ou r

Circulation Dep 't . at least 3 wee h
in advance regard ing any change in
add ress. The Post Offic e Dee't. does
no t forward magazines sent to a
wrong add,ess unless you pay additiona l postag e . W e can not duplicate
eeple s of CO sent to your o ld add ress.
CO C irculation Dep't.

RADIO MAGAZINES, INC.

342 Madison Ave., New York 17, N. Y.

40

th ere and that it t ravel in the di rection

that is desired. I f every t hing isn't tun ed'
up properly, this won't be the case. T h
energy will be r eflected at various pointSi
al ong the way and head back to w her
it came from. If a pro be is inserted into a
wave guide and then moved along the guide
this cond it ion ca n b eas ily d etected. If
t he energy is a ll moving in one direction1
the strength of the signal found by the
probe will be uniform. If, on th e other
hand, there a re waves traveling in both
directions a standing wave is crea ted an
more ene rgy is present a t some points than
at other s. The ratio of the maximum signal that is obser ved in sliding a probe
a long a wave guide s lot is called t he SWR
(sta nding wave ratio ). This is a n important
measure of how a wave guide system is
working a nd o ne you will hear more a bout.
Unity SWR indicates opt imu m transmiss ion while larger values indicate the presence of a r ea ctive component .

Advertising Index
3.
ALLIED RADIO CORPORATION
Ha m Part. and Equipment
BLiLEY ELECTRIC COMPANY _
Quartz Crystells
BURSTEINAPPLEBEE CO. _._
_
Ha m Pact. and Equipment
37
CAPITOL RADIO ENGI NEERING INSTITUTE
Ed uca tio nal
2
ELECTRONIC LABORATORIES _,_.__._.
Communications Equipment
33
GENERAL ELEC TRO NICS. INC.
HATRY & YOUNG _ ._.
.__.
. 38
Me ters and Equipment
McELROY MANUFACTURING CORP. __
_ 40
Tele9raphic Ap p a ra tus
MEASUREMENTS CORPORATION _ _ Co. .r 4
In.trument. and Te st Equipment
MEISSNER MANUFACTURI NG CO. _ _
Electronic Equipment
NATIONAL COMPANY _ _~_
Receiver. and Ha m Equipment
NATIONAL UNION RADIO CORP. _
27
RadioElectronic Tub e.
RADIO AND TELEVISION SUPPLY CO. _ _ 40
Ham Parts and Equipment
_ 37
RADIO ELECTRONIC SALES CO. _ _
Ham Par'- and Eq uipment
RADIO MFG. ENGINEERS. INC.
_
Conununications Equipment
RADIO TELEVISION SUPPLY CO.
_ 3'
Ham Par'- and Equipment
RADIO WIRE TELEVISION. INC.
_
32
HaDl Parts and Equipment
3.
SCEtI & CO.. R. G . - ,C::::::::; - Ham Parts and Equ.ipment
SEATTLE RADIO SUPPLY. INC. _ _
_ 3'
Ham Part. Clnd Equipment
SUN RADIO & ELECTRONICS CO.
Ham Parts and Equipment
UNIVERSAL MICROPHONE CO. _ _
I
Microphone.
_ 31
WHOLESALE RADIO LABORATORIES
Ham Parts 4n d Equipment
WILEY & SONS. INC. 'OHN
3.
Boole.

3'

CQ

NATIONAL COMPANY
MALDEN
rloliAL

aICllv.a.

Aa.

III

S l aVlcr

MASS, U. S. A.
THROUGHOUT

THI

WORLD

-~