Gift to

(
NEW PRODUCTS
ATV DOWN CONVERTER
P. C. Electronics has in t rodu
ced a new fa st -scan ATV
down conv erter whic h tunes th e
entire 420- tO-450-MHz ba nd
down to your TV's channel 2, 3,
or 45-MHz i-t w ith fu ll bandwidth
for co lor and comput er video.
The stan dard model rve-r
contains a new microstrip converter
with a low -noise MRF901
preamp stage, 12 V de power
sup ply. BNC antenna in put connec
to r, and ty pe F ou t put con ­
nect or to t he TV set. The lownoise
figure prea m p st age
enables seeing sy nc bars down
to as low as .3 microvolts. An
ultra-lo w-n oise NE64535 preamp
stag e is also available as
an option to get yo u dow n to .2
microvolts in the TVC·4L.
The TVC-4 do w nconverter
comes in an attractive Ten-Tee
JW-5 en cl osur e meas ur i ng
approximately 5" x 5" x 21J4".
Ten-Tee ha s also s pec ia ll y
coated the Cycolac wood grain
side panels wi th a co nduc tive
co ati ng for excellent shi elding.
For furt her informati on, contact
P. C. Electronics, 2522 S.
Paxson Lane , Arc adia CA 91006;
)
(213)-447-4565. Reader Service
nu mber 480.
HEATH KIT AllBAND
VERTICA L ANTEN NA OFFERS
MAXIM UM PERFORMANCE IN
LIMITED SPACE
Heat h Com pa ny has added a
new five-ban d vert ical HF antenna
to it s am ateur radio line. The
HDP-1473 is a vert ica lly-polarized,
om nid irect io nal antenna
de si gn ed to gi ve c o m pl et e
CW and SSB cove rage of th e
80- th rough t o-met er amateur
band s.
The antenna emp loys specially-designed
high-Q traps to op ­
tim ize operating band widt h, and
th e sw r is 1.5:1 or less at
resonan ce on each ba nd. The
HDP-1473 may be used w ith any
transmitter o r t ranscei ver
empl oying nominal 5O-0hm input.
A built-in co ax co nnector
takes the PL-259 on the opera ­
to r' s feedUne. Measu ring 28
feet, four inches, the HDP-1473
is desig ned to acc ept maximum
legal power.
For more information on th e
HDP-1473, contact Heath Company,
Dept. 350-310, Benton Har-
ATV DOWNCONVERTER
420 450 MHZ
I
o
bar MI 49022. Reader Service
number 479.
THE AZDEN PCS·2800
10·METER FM TRANSCEIVER
Last summer, Ja pan Piezo
Company came out wit h thei r
fi rst prod uct aimed at th e US
amateur, the Azden PCS-2000
z-meter FM rad io. Now they are
marketing a t o-meter FM tran s­
ceiver usi ng the same microcomputer
design. 11 you have
been ho ldi ng bac k on 10-meter
FM because you don't wan t to
co nvert a CB radio or des ign
yo ur ow n un it, cheer up! The
PCS·2800 is s pec ific ally de ­
sig ned for this group of amateurs.
It shou ld help popularize
this interes ting band just as rece
nt commercia lly -made equi p­
ment has revoluti onized 160 meters.
For those not familiar with
tn. meter FM, th e band is structured
as fo llows. The nation al
simplex frequ ency is 29.60 MHz.
There is also a simplex channel
at 29.50 MHz that is helping to
thin out the congesti on at 29.60.
There are four repeater channels:
29.521.62 , .54/.64, .56/.66,
and .58/.68. (The input trequenctes
are 100 kHz below the output
frequenc ies.) Thus there are
six cha nnels at present, wi th
29.60 MHz functioning as a " priority"
channel. The PCS-2800
scans these six channels for
ON
'~
TVC- 4
P.C. ELECTRONICS
P.C. Electronics' TVC-4 ATV downconvert er.
either a busy or vacant sp ot.
The transmitter has two selec
table levels of outp ut power:
1 Watt and 10 Watts. The FM deviation
is ± 5 kHz, the same as
on 2 meters. The receiver is desig
ned for FM only, although it
covers the enti re band pl us a bit
ext ra (28.00 MHz to 29.99 MHz).
Tuning increments are 10 kHz.
Keyboard
The 12-butt on keyboard on
the PCS-2800 performs all frequency
control and scanning
operati ons. In this respect, it resembles
its 2-meter brother. But
the re are a few differe nces.
Four keys , l OOK UP, l OOK
DOW N, 10K UP, and 10K DOWN,
advanc e the frequency by the indicated
amount s w ithin either of
tw o ranges, 28.00-28.99 MHz or
29.00·29.99 MHz. The MHz range
is ch osen by the MHz UP key.
By holding down the 10K UP
or 10K DOWN key, th e MHz
range ca n be " swept" in an upwa
rd or downward direction at a
rap id rate. This give s th e feeling
of vfo tuning. As the desired frequen
cy is approa ched, the key is
released and th en actuat ed
o nce or tw ice as necessary to
get th e radi o on frequency.
Either MHz range can be
scanned in 10-kHz st eps by
pressi ng the AUTO SCAN key.
The SCA N MODE swit ch, in the
upper right-hand co rner of the
fro nt panel , select s " busy," " vaca
nt," or " free" scan. In free
scan, th e rang e is sca nned co n­
ti nou sly rega rdles s of channel
status. A quick check for band
openings might be one use for
this sca nning mod e; signals will
briefly open the squelc h and
ca use a bur st of noise.
There are six programmable
memo ry cha nnels. Channel 1 is
i m me d iately ac c es sible by
pres sing the M1 CALL key. This
key may be found in tw o places :
on the keyboard and on the microphone.
The nati onal simp lex
freque ncy, 29.60 MHz, might be
a good cho ice for memory channell.
Mem ory prog ramming, reca ll,
and sca nning are carrie d out by
means of the fo ur keys M ADRS,
M SCAN, M CAl l, AND M
WR ITE. The me mory is reprogrammable
at w i ll , and is
backed up by three sma ll cells
so th at memory wi ll not be lost
when the unit is off or in st orage.
Other Controls
The SCAN MO DE switch has
a second function: simple x/off-
30 73 Mag azine. Oct ober, 1980