--- In BITX20@..., "felipetanaweb" <felipetanaweb@b...> wrote:
Please I do not have the 10MHz crystals to make the filter, but I
have 5 pieces of 8MHz crystals with this 8MHz crystals is possible to
make the filter with new values of resistor and capacitor?And to
modify the Bitx20 to Bitx40 is only to modify the Band Pass filter
and de oscillator?Somebody has this modification?
Thanks!
Felipe
I first buiilt the BITX20 and am now working on a BITX40 version.
That way I can compare DC voltages and RF & AF signals with a working
unit as I complete the 40 Meter version.
Here are some changes that are being incorporated into my BITX40 as I
modify Farhan's design for 40 Meters, and to fit the contents of my
junk box:
1) I used 10.7 MHz IF transformers from an old AM/FM radio to
build the front-end bandpass circuit. There is a photograph and
schematic of this in the "photos" section of this web forum under my
callsign, K7HKL.
2) Since I am using the original 10 MHz crystal filter design, my
VFO needs to tune 7.0 to 7.3 MHz below the IF frequency. That means
that the VFO range will be from 3.0 to 2.7 MHz. Since that is a bit
lower in frequency than in Farhan's BITX20, the oscillator coil will
need more turns. In my BITX40 version I did not use the BITX20 VFO
design. Instead I am using a PTO (Pearmability Tuned Oscillator)
design that is close to what WA6OTP is selling in kit form ( see
<www.wa6otp.com\pto.htm> for a picture of Jim's design ), but my PTO
is for 3.0 to 2.7 MHz. Using this PTO design for the VFO avoided the
need for the higher voltage (36 V) zener diode and also eliminated the
need for using two separate tuning capacitors (a larger band-set and
the smaller zener fine-tuning capacitor). My VFO capacitors are all
fixed-value with just a small trimmer cap to calibrate the upper band
edge. All tuning adjustments are accomplished with about 30 turns of
the brass screw in the PTO design. If you use a brass screw PTO
please note that the frequency will "increase" as the screw is
inserted into the coil. One negative part of the PTO design is that
the tuning knob will move forward and backward about an inch (2.5
cm)from your front pannel as the frequency is changed. A photo of
this unit in its current state of construction is shown in the photo
section.
3) To test my crystal filter I built the BFO circuit from the
BITX20 design on a separate of circuit board and added the inductor
and variable capacitor in series with the crystal. This gave me a
very stable oscillator that could be tuned across the filter passband
to determine the shape factor. This signal was injected into the
input of the filter and a simple diode & capacitor type RF detector
was used with my voltmeter to measure the output. I do have a
frequency counter so I was able to determine the exact frequency that
was being output by my test oscillator. As the frequency was varied I
was able to plot the output voltage on a sheet of grid paper. I would
assume that you might do something similar in building your filter
using 8 MHz crystals. Remember that the center capacitor in the
filter is double the capacitance of each of the end capacitors. So
you will need 4 capacitors of the same value ( one on each end and two
in parallel in the middle ).
4) In my BITX20 and also in my BITX40 I changed the audio output
circuit from Farhan's original design. Since I usually use headphones
there was no need to have the audio level provided by the LM-386
integrated circuit. I used a simple LM-741 Op-Amp in place of the
LM-386. My op-amp runs a voltage gain of 100 that was achieved by
using a 100K feedback resistor and a 1K input resistor on the
inverting input. I will try to place a schematic of the op-amp
circuit on this web site later today.
Later I did add speaker capability to my BITX20 by building a
separate amplifier (it is in the external speaker case) using an NPN
transistor driving an NPN & PNP pair for about 1/2 watt of audio. I
will try to also add a schematic of that to this web site later today.
5) For the tap washers in Farhan's design I substituted 1/4 inch
wide slices of 1/2 inch (1.25 cm) PVC pipe. These measure about 5/8
inch ID and nearly 3/4 inch OD so they are slightly larger ID than the
tap washers but they worked fine. I already had the plastic pipe so I
did not need to make a trip to the hardware store for the tap washers.
A picture of these PVC coil forms is in the photos section under my
callsign. Note that I cut a slot in the side of my PVC coil forms to
make it easier to wind the inductors. This allows the wire to be
passed through the slot instead of threading each turn through the
center of a closed loop of plastic. Since the PVC does not affect the
magnetic properties of the coil, adding this slot has no affect on the
resulting inductance.
I hope this helps you and others that want to make alterations to
Farhan's excellent design. Like you I needed to make some changes to
accomodate the parts that I already had available for this project.
My BITX40 is not complete yet, but as I finish construction and
testing of each section I will try to post pictures and comments on
this web site. Like I said earlier, it really helps to have a working
BITX20 available for comparison testing with the sections of my BITX40
that are significently different from the original design.
Good luck on your effort,
Arv - K7HKL
