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zorgrian
modified 9 years ago

RADIO - FM VHF Oscillator works with construction hints

10
8
540
11:59:08
NOTE! It takes some time to stabilize. To get it going depress the switch for a couple of seconds and let rip! Okay so what seems to be true with this simulation circuit is the possible increase by ten fold of output voltage swing. This is done by placing a third cap to ground below the buzzer (feedback cap) that's wrapped around the collector and emitter. UPDATE! After experimentation with this circuit at VHF frequencies, it seems that the value of the emitter cap can be raised to 1nF. In so doing, this oscillator produces a peak swing of plus and minus the rail voltage. Note: I have lowered the supply to 3 volts. This puts the transistor into a zone of operation that promotes more stability. I have tested this circuit carefully. It will run for weeks without drifting more than a few HZ! This is amazing considering there is NO crystal or resonator. HOW TO BUILD IT (Please also read my comments posted in response to @usernames) WARNING!!! Do not use veroboard or solderless breadboards! At VHF the capacitance and inductance, created by these rapid prototyping systems, will strongly affect the circuit. Instead use plane copper PCB material. You can get this from an electronics supplier or from EBAY. Mount all the components using what's called Manhattan style construction. Check you tube, etc Keep all the leads as short as possible. The complete circuit should be no bigger than 3 X 3 CM. You do NOT need the switch (shown on the simulation). The oscillator will start perfectly well without this. How to make the coil ( inductor ) Wind 6 turns of 0.5 mm copper single core wire over a 3 mm drill bit. Then space or pull out the coil so it is appropriately 5 mm in length. If you are not using enamelled or otherwise insulated wire this is OK, but make sure that the windings do not touch each other. The capacitor and resistor values in the simulation will have to be brought to the nearest standard value available and this will work fine within a 10% approximation. You can use a 2n2222, 2n3904 or similar transistor. NOT SURE ITS A COLLPITS! My understanding is that a true collpits uses two capacitors as a kind of impedance division; the feedback is applied without loading the circuit too much. This is the reason for saying that this might not be considered as a true collpits oscillator. you can remove the lowest capacitor and the oscillator will function. Above the lowest capacitor is the capacitor that creates feedback. However this might be thought of as a kind of uncontrolled buzzer. Without the tank circuit above the oscillator is un - tuned out of control and useless. I am sure that @hurz will say that if we move the components around we will see a phase delay or impedance divider circuit created from the 20pf across the emitter and collector. I have had to increase my normal value of cap here from 10pf to 20pf as the transistor has capacitance which seems to be in series with the cap and thus lowers the effective value rather than increasing it as would be intuitive from a glance at this circuit!
published 10 years ago
zorgrian
10 years ago
I have built this and it works. Don't try to build it on a solderless breadboard as it most likely won't work. I soldered it together on a baked bean tin pull ring lid. I got this tip from Hans summers and it's great for smaller prototype circuits also it's free and actually works really well.
usernames
10 years ago
Dude, can u explain concept of physical layout? I understand a plate of metal under your circuit running at 90+ mhz would offer some rf grounding. Are you saying solder together normally but mount a metal sheet near the bottom of board?
zorgrian
10 years ago
Yes Dude, I can explain the physical layout. You should google ´dead bug´ or ´ugly style´ circuit construction. For example the transistor (2n2222 or similar NPN) is inverted so the plastic case is touching the ground plane. The leads or terminal wires are carefully bent. Put a spot of superglue or use a hot melt glue gun to fix the transistor to the metal substrate (baked bean tin). On the emitter, solder one lead of a pre-tinned 300 ohm resistor, cut so that only a few mm of the lead is left, onto the emitter lead. The other side of the resistor is then bent down and soldered to the ground plane. Again keep all the leads as short as possible! So, the positive rail is up in the air above the ground plane and consists of the leads of the components soldered together. Yes it will look messy but it will work!
zorgrian
10 years ago
And Dude! you will need one of those helping hands contraptions. I have heard of people who use clothed pegs but that is going way way to far! If yo haven't got a helping hands contraption you can pick one up from EBAY at low cost and they normally come with a magnifying glass. Another tip is to use a hot iron. i.e. a feeble 15 watt soldering iron is not going to help you here. You need to have a 40 watt iron or if you have a temp controlled one, max it out while soldering. The idea is to solder rapidly, Pre-tin the leads, get them into position and then put the tip of the iron on the leads for two seconds. Apply multi-core style solder and then move on to the next joint.
zorgrian
10 years ago
Use a fixed 47pf capacitor in the tank circuit at the top of the transistor. You can tune the oscillator by compressing or expanding the coil.
zorgrian
10 years ago
Oh and the tank is best mounted just above the ground plane. You need insulated pads (pcb material ) or use a 1 meg ohm resistor. If you have a sheet metal nibbler then you can make pads very easily. Normally the nibbler chops out a small piece of pcb material that is sufficient for soldering a couple of component leads onto. However you can chop out a bigger hunk of pcb material say 5 x 5 mm. Make two of these for your tank circuit. Place this as close as possible to the emitter of the transistor.
sasa999
7 years ago
really such high stability? a few Hertz, and no quartz resonator??
sasa999
7 years ago
Attention! if you change the scale of the time-sweep oscillogram scale, the conditions of self-excitation change! This is a bad thing. where is the truth?

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