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(P)
STGNALTRACER
methodforservic-
Signaltracingbymeansof a signaltracerotfersa valuable
equipment.
inga varietyof electronic Thismethodis oftenemployed whena
AMandFMreceiv-
dead,butrathermalfunctioning.
circuitis notcompletely
ers,CD players, multimedia TV sets,etc.,canbe servicedusing
amplifiers,
thissimplesignaltracer. I
l
I
The circuitwe showhereconsistsof a two-stage direct-coupled transistor i
Thecircuithastwoinputs.
amplifier. Whentheprobeis usedin theRFmode .l

thedetectordiodeis insertedintothecircuit.Whenthe probeis usedin the I

audiomodethe signalis applieddirectlyto the baseof the firsttransistor
(o1).
As the circuithas a low-poweroutput,a gaincontrolis not used.

The circuitis poweredfromtwo M cells,and currentdrainis onlyfew milli-

amperes.Sincethe circuitdrawssuch low current,long batterylife can be
expected.

Figure I showsthe schematicdiagramof the signaltracer.R1 determines

the gain of the amplifierstageand can be alteredto get betterperformance
dependingon the transistorsused.

Figure2 showsthe signaltracermountedon a terminalstrip,whichis used

one is an NPNandthe otheris a
as a chassis.liakecarewiththe transistors;
PNP.lf you switchone withthe otherthe will not work.
circuit

This projectcan be housedin a smallplasticbox.The sizeof the plasticbox

is determinedby the speakersize.Positionof the polarizedpiecesshouldbe
observed.

Itf
 Ftdcct80 $llmllnecr

Dl 1
RF 1N34
A+Fl
I
B+ C 2 +
AUDIO C1
0.1pF 100pF

SPKR
4l8A

Cr-
(coMMoN)

Figure I

Figure2

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PartsList - SignalTracer
Ql - 8C548general-purpose
NPNsilicontransistor

Q2 - 8C558general-purpose
PNPsilicontransistor

D1 - anygermanium
- 1N34or equivalent transistor

R1 - 1,500,000 resistor
ohm,114W,5%
C1 - 0.1uFceramic
or metalfilmcapacitor
C2 - 100uF,6 WVDCelectrolytic
capacitor

SPKR- 4/8 ohms- 2 or 4 in.smallloudspeaker

S1 - SPSTslideor toggleswitch

81 - 3V - twoAAcells

ldeasto ExPlore
Tolearnmoreaboutthecircuitor to getbetterperformance:
o Explainhowsignaltracersareusedforservicework.
o ChangeRl valueto achievebetterperformance.
o Usethetracerin a smallAM radioto studyitsoperation.
o Replacethe speakerby a low-impedance earphoneto get a por-
plastic
tableunitthatcanbe housedin a verysmall box.

Scienceprojects:
o Thetracercanbe usedto detectsignalsproduced in experiments
in thisbook.
currentfields,as described
involving
o The tracercan be usedas an experimental with
audioamplifier
pickupsor microphones.
suchas piezoelectric
transducers
-
rt0