From majordomo-owner@berlioz.nsc.com Tue Sep 2 14:09:13 1997 Date: Tue, 2 Sep 97 14:09:11 PDT To: jmoss From: majordomo@berlioz.nsc.com Subject: Majordomo file: list 'laser' file 'laser.9707' Reply-To: majordomo@berlioz.nsc.com Content-Length: 239787 -- >From owner-laser Mon Jun 30 21:46:47 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA13446; Mon, 30 Jun 97 21:46:47 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f Date: Mon, 30 Jun 1997 23:40:32 -0500 (CDT) Message-Id: <199707010440.XAA17039@firefly.prairienet.org> From: w9sz@prairienet.org (Zack Widup) To: cbuttsch@slonet.org Subject: Re: [LASER] Binocular lens cap & opt210 Cc: laser@qsl.net Reply-To: w9sz@prairienet.org (Zack Widup) Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk > >Hi all and Jim and John. I thought I would add this to the network >regarding optics. The Fair Radio Sales addendum just arrived. They have >six power rifle spotting scopes supposedly new for $15. In their view the >only drawback is that they do not have crosshairs. Sounds like an >advantage to us that do not need that function. Cliff Buttschardt K7RR > > Yes, and I just ordered one last week (maybe at that price I should've ordered two?) Zack W9SZ EN50vc Urbana IL -- >From owner-laser Tue Jul 1 08:44:37 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA00427; Tue, 1 Jul 97 08:44:37 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f From: daveaa1a@ssih.com Date: Tue, 1 Jul 1997 11:41:52 -0400 Message-Id: <199707011541.LAA09424@ssih.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: Re: [LASER] Laser diode driver setup To: Derek Weston , laser@qsl.net X-Mailer: SPRY Mail Version: 04.00.06.17 Reply-To: daveaa1a@ssih.com Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk derekw@alphalink.com.au> wrote: >How do those of you who build your own laser diode drivers set the diode >operating current? Gudday Derek.. Well in some cases I figure the resistance needed across VCC which will allow 100 ma. max. current. Most of my diodes are 100 ma. max. so even at their hardest conduction point can only reach 100 ma.. Take a 5watt variable 100 ohm resistor and put in series with the diode and D.C. Monitor DC current and then find 'R' value for SERIES limiting.. In another case I make a SHUNT type modulator with 100ma. drive bias on the diode and the driver transistor 'ACROSS' the diode.. Then bias the DC driver so to reduce laser current to 60 ma. static current.. This I monitor with a 1 or 10 ohm 'R' at the bottom of the series chain and place a scope probe on it for video/dc level monitoring 'through the diode' Also sees how linear the current modulation into the diode is.. "sometimes not too pure" With 12volt DC supply the series value here is usually around 50 ohm at about 2 watts.. Depends on the diode.. Never have tried the feedback sampler diode.. The modulator here is just a npn linear amp with adjustable bias and input gain.. Seems OK from low hz. to 100 khz. or so.. I can attach a schematic if attachments in PCX are OK to receive there.. 73s Derek, hope this helps.. de daveaa1a in the northern colonies.. >From owner-laser Wed Jul 2 04:39:16 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA05442; Wed, 2 Jul 97 04:39:16 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f To: laser@qsl.net Date: Wed, 2 Jul 1997 03:39:02 -0400 Subject: [LASER] New Data Posted... Message-Id: <19970702.033904.13630.0.K3PGP@juno.com> X-Mailer: Juno 1.38 X-Juno-Line-Breaks: 1-8 From: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Reply-To: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk Cryogenic Cooling of Laser Diodes and Some Observations on Laser Scatter and Cloud Bounce now on-line at: http://www.qsl.net/k3pgp/index.html John K3PGP@juno.com http://www.qsl.net/k3pgp/index.html -==- >From owner-laser Wed Jul 2 14:57:25 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA24295; Wed, 2 Jul 97 14:57:25 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f Date: Wed, 2 Jul 97 14:47:51 PDT From: jmoss@berlioz.nsc.com (Jim Moss) Message-Id: <9707022147.AA23914@berlioz.nsc.com> To: laser@qsl.net Subject: [LASER] laser Archives Reply-To: jmoss@berlioz.nsc.com (Jim Moss) Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk The laser archives and "who list" has been updated on the website. http://www.qsl.net/wb9ajz/laser/laser.html Some statistics on the mail reflector. We have 50 subscribers on laser@qsl.net (1 is laser@berlioz.nsc.com !) We have 62 subscribers on laser@berlioz.nsc.com a total of 112 subscribers (some are multi subscribed with different accounts and on both lists). Remember to always address your emails to laser@qsl.net So that everyone on both lists will get them. 73, Jim WB9AJZ/6 CM87xi Sunnyvale, CA >From owner-laser Wed Jul 2 17:16:19 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA28722; Wed, 2 Jul 97 17:16:19 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f From: daveaa1a@xensei.com Date: Wed, 2 Jul 1997 20:11:36 -0400 Message-Id: <199707030011.UAA18140@xensei2.xensei.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: [LASER] Address change To: laser@qsl.net X-Mailer: SPRY Mail Version: 04.00.06.17 Reply-To: daveaa1a@xensei.com Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk Gudday Favorite People, New address for Dave Riley, AA1A is daveaa1a@xensei.com tnx and 73s >From owner-laser Thu Jul 3 19:26:47 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA11480; Thu, 3 Jul 97 19:26:47 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f To: bpsk@qsl.net, laser@qsl.net Date: Thu, 3 Jul 1997 22:09:03 -0400 Subject: [LASER] Standards ??? Message-Id: <19970703.220905.9990.3.K3PGP@juno.com> X-Mailer: Juno 1.38 X-Juno-Line-Breaks: 0-1,3-14,16-19,21,23-27,34-35,38-39,44-45,54-55, 63-64,67-68,76-82 From: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Reply-To: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk To all: I tried posting this twice yesterday and got no reponse. So here it is again! If two copies show up toss one! :-^) ----- From: K3PGP To: cbuttsch@slonet.org, laser@qsl.net, bpsk@qsl.net Date: Thu, 3 Jul 1997 01:55:31 -0400 Subject: Standards ??? Message-ID: <19970703.015533.29854.7.K3PGP@juno.com> On Mon, 30 Jun 1997 21:12:07 -0700 (PDT) Clifford Buttschardt writes: >John: I was reading thru the COHERENT use messages on the LASER >postings and noted that John K3PGP was using ms20 for his tests. I >wonder if we should standardize rather soon in the game on this. It >seems that we have already proven ms25 using all kinds of computers under >varied conditions. What do you think? Seems we should remain off ET as well >until two way has been established. The Laser guys probably do not >know about the use of right, curely brackets either! > What is your experience using COHERENT John! Cliff K7RR I vary the speed depending on received signal strength. If signals are strong I'm at MS5 !!! However, most of the time I'm working with extremely weak over the horizon troposcatter signals and under some conditions even MS1000 sometimes isn't enough and I have to resort to the grab mode using a repetitive message. I expect to have to use MS1000 for laser EME later this year with the possibility of re-activating MS5000 if necessary! I can't speak for other's but the use of right curly brackets is pretty much standard here! Did you try to copy the laser troposcatter signal posted on my web site? As far as ET mode is concerned, I use that mode ALL THE TIME! The difference when used with laser signals is very dramatic! On an over the horizon troposcatter signal it makes the difference between no copy and solid copy and allows me to run at a considerably faster speed! Of course line of site work is an entirely different matter. Keep in mind that laser work is an entirely different propagation mode than HF and because it is a LOT more stable you can do things with laser BPSK that you can NOT do with HF under normal conditions. Also with laser work you don't have to worry about tuning the receiver or being concerned about VFO drift, etc. The laser is phase locked to the receiver and both stations are entirely xtal controlled, so drift between two stations is extremely small at 800 Hz. The phase stability in general is a LOT better than anything you could ever hope for on HF, or even VLF for that matter! At this point it's way to early for me to consider any type of standard. For line of site work I see no reason NOT to run the speed up all the way! However, since I am experimenting with extremely weak signals there isn't any such thing as a standard, at least not at this time. In fact, with laser BPSK work in it's infancy, I spend more time running FFTZZ and NOT COHERENT as I am still studying various propagation modes and setting up to run laser EME echo tests this fall when the humidity levels start to drop and the skies become clearer! As far as the subcarrier thing goes, I wouldn't consider anything other than a tunable receiver. Preferably one that can demodulate SSB as well as FM! PS - I may be running 500 mw (yes five hundred) shortly at 810 nm! According to my calculations, 500 mw used in conjunction with FFTZZ or COHERENT should produce about the same returned EME signal level as a pulsed ruby rod or Nd-Yag transmitter running approx. 5 kw peak power! Whether or not the system will work with lower power depends on the peculiarities of the EME path and how BPSK behaves with a moving target and distortions in the atmosphere. It's going to be an interesting winter to say the least! John K3PGP@juno.com http://www.qsl.net/k3pgp/index.html -==- >From owner-laser Fri Jul 4 07:49:34 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA21900; Fri, 4 Jul 97 07:49:34 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f To: laser@qsl.net Date: Fri, 4 Jul 1997 10:50:32 -0400 Subject: [LASER] Hamfest Calendar Message-Id: <19970704.105056.17182.2.K3PGP@juno.com> X-Mailer: Juno 1.38 X-Juno-Line-Breaks: 0-5,8-14 From: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Reply-To: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk Hamfest Calendar now on-line at: http://www.qsl.net/k3pgp/index.html Go get them laser parts! PS - Lists like this are very difficult to put together. I apologize if not all events are listed! I will ad events as I become aware of them, so it may pay to check back from time to time! John K3PGP@juno.com http://www.qsl.net/k3pgp/index.html -==- >From owner-laser Fri Jul 4 07:54:33 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA21922; Fri, 4 Jul 97 07:54:33 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f To: laser@qsl.net Date: Fri, 4 Jul 1997 10:57:14 -0400 Subject: Re: [LASER] PCX. pix?? Message-Id: <19970704.105716.17182.4.K3PGP@juno.com> References: <199707041444.KAA29313@xensei2.xensei.com> X-Mailer: Juno 1.38 X-Juno-Line-Breaks: 0-12,14-15,19-20,22-28 From: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Reply-To: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk On Fri, 4 Jul 1997 10:44:53 -0400 daveaa1a@xensei.com writes: > >Is it OK to send PCX type pix as an attachment on the laser >ref;ector?? > >Happy 4th.. Keep America Hummin... > >de daveaa1a ----- I've done this before and it works just fine. However, you have to watch the filesize. I think the system is presently set to reject anything over 40,000 bytes but I'd have to check. It helps to use .JPG as these are generally smaller in size for the same quality of pix. However, I usually play around with .GIF, .PCX. and .JPG and choose the one that gives the smallest size. Sometimes using .ZIP also helps :-^) ! If it's something of general interest to people working with lasers, I'd be happy to move it to the web site... John K3PGP@juno.com http://www.qsl.net/k3pgp/index.html -==- >From owner-laser Fri Jul 4 07:49:15 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA21869; Fri, 4 Jul 97 07:49:15 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f From: daveaa1a@xensei.com Date: Fri, 4 Jul 1997 10:44:53 -0400 Message-Id: <199707041444.KAA29313@xensei2.xensei.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: [LASER] PCX. pix?? To: laser@qsl.net X-Mailer: SPRY Mail Version: 04.00.06.17 Reply-To: daveaa1a@xensei.com Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk Is it OK to send PCX type pix as an attachment on the laser ref;ector?? Happy 4th.. Keep America Hummin... de daveaa1a >From owner-laser Fri Jul 4 08:23:37 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA22657; Fri, 4 Jul 97 08:23:37 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f To: laser@qsl.net Date: Fri, 4 Jul 1997 11:22:41 -0400 Subject: [LASER] PMT Specs 1166-05 ? Message-Id: <19970704.112243.16934.0.K3PGP@juno.com> X-Mailer: Juno 1.38 X-Juno-Line-Breaks: 0-1,4-10 From: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Reply-To: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk Can anyone look up the specs on a Hamamatsu 1166-05 PMT? I don't need detailed specs. Mostly interested in dimensions & spectral response. I don't need to add any more tubes with red droop problems to my overflowing collection of useless junk! John K3PGP@juno.com http://www.qsl.net/k3pgp/index.html -==- >From owner-laser Fri Jul 4 11:46:26 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA26763; Fri, 4 Jul 97 11:46:26 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f To: cbuttsch@slonet.org, laser@qsl.net, bpsk@qsl.net Date: Thu, 3 Jul 1997 01:55:31 -0400 Subject: [LASER] Standards ??? Message-Id: <19970703.015533.29854.7.K3PGP@juno.com> References: X-Mailer: Juno 1.38 X-Juno-Line-Breaks: 1-4,6,8-12,19-20,23-24,29-30,39-40,48-49,52-53,61-67 From: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Reply-To: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk On Mon, 30 Jun 1997 21:12:07 -0700 (PDT) Clifford Buttschardt writes: >John: I was reading thru the COHERENT use messages on the LASER >postings and noted that John K3PGP was using ms20 for his tests. I >wonder if we should standardize rather soon in the game on this. It >seems that we have already proven ms25 using all kinds of computers under >varied conditions. What do you think? Seems we should remain off ET as well >until two way has been established. The Laser guys probably do not >know about the use of right, curely brackets either! > What is your experience using COHERENT John! Cliff K7RR I vary the speed depending on received signal strength. If signals are strong I'm at MS5 !!! However, most of the time I'm working with extremely weak over the horizon troposcatter signals and under some conditions even MS1000 sometimes isn't enough and I have to resort to the grab mode using a repetitive message. I expect to have to use MS1000 for laser EME later this year with the possibility of re-activating MS5000 if necessary! I can't speak for other's but the use of right curly brackets is pretty much standard here! Did you try to copy the laser troposcatter signal posted on my web site? As far as ET mode is concerned, I use that mode ALL THE TIME! The difference when used with laser signals is very dramatic! On an over the horizon troposcatter signal it makes the difference between no copy and solid copy and allows me to run at a considerably faster speed! Of course line of site work is an entirely different matter. Keep in mind that laser work is an entirely different propagation mode than HF and because it is a LOT more stable you can do things with laser BPSK that you can NOT do with HF under normal conditions. Also with laser work you don't have to worry about tuning the receiver or being concerned about VFO drift, etc. The laser is phase locked to the receiver and both stations are entirely xtal controlled, so drift between two stations is extremely small at 800 Hz. The phase stability in general is a LOT better than anything you could ever hope for on HF, or even VLF for that matter! At this point it's way to early for me to consider any type of standard. For line of site work I see no reason NOT to run the speed up all the way! However, since I am experimenting with extremely weak signals there isn't any such thing as a standard, at least not at this time. In fact, with laser BPSK work in it's infancy, I spend more time running FFTZZ and NOT COHERENT as I am still studying various propagation modes and setting up to run laser EME echo tests this fall when the humidity levels start to drop and the skies become clearer! As far as the subcarrier thing goes, I wouldn't consider anything other than a tunable receiver. Preferably one that can demodulate SSB as well as FM! PS - I may be running 500 mw (yes five hundred) shortly at 810 nm! According to my calculations, 500 mw used in conjunction with FFTZZ or COHERENT should produce about the same returned EME signal level as a pulsed ruby rod or Nd-Yag transmitter running approx. 5 kw peak power! Whether or not the system will work with lower power depends on the peculiarities of the EME path and how BPSK behaves with a moving target and distortions in the atmosphere. It's going to be an interesting winter to say the least! John K3PGP@juno.com http://www.qsl.net/k3pgp/index.html -==- >From owner-laser Sat Jul 5 01:32:13 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA08636; Sat, 5 Jul 97 01:32:13 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f Message-Id: <33BE6721.1405@slip.net> Date: Sat, 05 Jul 1997 08:24:17 -0700 From: Walt AJ6T Organization: AJ6T X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.0 (Win95; U) Mime-Version: 1.0 To: John K3PGP Cc: laser@qsl.net Subject: Re: [LASER] PMT Specs 1166-05 ? References: <19970704.112243.16934.0.K3PGP@juno.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Reply-To: Walt AJ6T Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk John K3PGP wrote: > > Can anyone look up the specs on a Hamamatsu 1166-05 PMT? > > I don't need detailed specs. Mostly interested in dimensions & spectral > response. I don't need to add any more tubes with red droop problems to > my overflowing collection of useless junk! > > John > K3PGP@juno.com John, According to my Hamamatsu Photomultiplier Tubes catalog (revised April 1997) the R1166 series of tubes have the following specs: "For visible range and sintillation counting" 300-650 nm bialkali photocathode head-on tube, 15mm diameter (min), 88mm length, 12 pin base 8.1x10*4 A/W typ radiant sensitivity 9.5x10*5 current gain 1 nA typ dark current Probably not a good PMT for even the 650-670 nm laser pointer guys (like me), let alone the IR types like you. 73, Walt, AJ6T >From owner-laser Sat Jul 5 03:14:25 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA09656; Sat, 5 Jul 97 03:14:25 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f To: laser@qsl.net Date: Sat, 5 Jul 1997 06:11:02 -0400 Subject: Re: [LASER] PMT Specs 1166-05 ? Message-Id: <19970705.061104.21078.3.K3PGP@juno.com> References: <19970704.112243.16934.0.K3PGP@juno.com> <33BE6721.1405@slip.net> X-Mailer: Juno 1.38 X-Juno-Line-Breaks: 0-7,9-13,15-21 From: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Reply-To: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk On Sat, 05 Jul 1997 08:24:17 -0700 Walt AJ6T writes: >Probably not a good PMT for even the 650-670 nm laser pointer guys >(like me), let alone the IR types like you. > >73, Walt, AJ6T Walt: That's what I had figured on this tube. Another piece of useless junk like the collection I already have! Glad I passed them by.... THANKS... PS - Hamfest Calendar, Sun Radar Echo article and Active Mars Links now on the web site... John K3PGP@juno.com http://www.qsl.net/k3pgp/index.html -==- >From owner-laser Sat Jul 5 09:39:50 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA14872; Sat, 5 Jul 97 09:39:50 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f Date: Sat, 5 Jul 1997 09:31:00 -0700 (PDT) Message-Id: <2.2.16.19970705083136.269f3c80@mail.silcom.com> X-Sender: wlake@mail.silcom.com (Unverified) X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Pro Version 2.2 (16) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" To: laser@qsl.net From: Bill Lake Subject: [LASER] laser articles Reply-To: Bill Lake Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk Gentlemen, Some years ago there were several laser articles in Scientific American, Amateur Scientist column conducted by C.L.Stong.The first article was an ultra violet laser of 50 to 100 kilowatts 337.1 nm. The laser uses circuit board for energy storage capacitors and the laser itself looks very simple.This laser was designed by James G. Small,unfortunately there is no date on the clipped pages of the article,possibly a search of Sci. Am. web site would find it.Mention is made of using the UV laser to pump dye lasers in the visible spectrum. The second article is of a copper chloride laser,green at 510.6 and yellow at 578.2. THis laser is a bit more complex and requires heating to 400 C but still is interesting.This appears in Sci. Am. April 1990 pp114-117. 73's Bill wb6rij wlake@silcom.com >From owner-laser Sat Jul 5 10:27:48 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA15588; Sat, 5 Jul 97 10:27:48 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f To: laser@qsl.net Date: Sat, 5 Jul 1997 13:25:49 -0400 Subject: Re: [LASER] laser articles Message-Id: <19970705.132550.17446.0.K3PGP@juno.com> References: <2.2.16.19970705083136.269f3c80@mail.silcom.com> X-Mailer: Juno 1.38 X-Juno-Line-Breaks: 1-16,18-21,23-24,27-28,32-33,35-38,40-50,52-55, 58-71,73-79 From: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Reply-To: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk On Sat, 5 Jul 1997 09:31:00 -0700 (PDT) Bill Lake writes: >Gentlemen, >Some years ago there were several laser articles in Scientific >American,Amateur Scientist column conducted by C.L.Stong. >he first article >was an ultra violet laser of 50 to 100 kilowatts >337.1 nm. The laser uses circuit board for energy storage capacitors >and the >laser itself looks very simple.This laser was designed by >James G. Small,unfortunately there is no date on the clipped >pages of the article,possibly a search of Sci. Am. web site would >find it.Mention is made of using the UV laser to pump dye lasers >in the visible spectrum. ----- Thanks for the info Bill ! The Amateur Scientist Column has been a favorite of mine for years. The Nitrogen laser appeared in the following issue. Lasers, how to make: nitrogen type, 1974 Jun, pg 122 NOTE: Many people have (such an Information Unlimited) sell plans to make a Nitrogen Laser. All you get for $25 is a photocopy of this article! Keep in mind that this laser emits mostly invisible UV radiation at an extremely high power level so is to be considered an extremely dangerous device! Because of the high power output level, I looked into the use of a laser of this type for laser EME, but found out that atmospheric attenuation can be quite severe in the UV range. Also UV detectors are hard to come by and seem to deteriorate with use, most like from the UV radiation. Using it as a pump for a visible wavelength laser seems to be quite popular however, and this might be a good use for the above. ----- Here what a quick search turned up on other laser articles in Scientific American: ----- Lasers. how to make: argon type, 1969 Feb, pg 118 Lasers. how to make: dye laser, 1970 Feb, pg 116 Lasers. how to make: carbon dioxide type, 1971 Sep, pg 218 Lasers. how to make: helium-neon type, 1964 Sep, pg 227 Lasers. how to make: helium-neon type, 1965 Dec, pg 106 Lasers. how to make: mercury-vapour, 1980 Oct, pg 204 Laser emits powerful burst of green and yellow light, A homemade copper chloride, 1990 Apr, pg 114 Lasers. how to make: infrared diode type, 1973 Mar, pg 114 ^^^ Note: This refers to the PULSE (avalanche type) IR diode that doesn't seem to be very popular today. It is NOTHING like the CW lasers or laser pens that we know today. Helium-neon laser. experiments with, 1965 Dec, pg 106 Interferometer. laser. how to make a simple, 1972 Feb, pg 106 Laser light show, 1980 Aug, pg 158, 1981 Jan, pg 164, 1983 Sep, pg 190 Laser beam used to measure dirt content of water, 1973 Jun pg 112 ----- I think I have most of these articles if someone needs a copy. PS - There'a link to Scientific American on the * Links Page of my web site if you care to do more research... John K3PGP@juno.com http://www.qsl.net/k3pgp/index.html -==- >From owner-laser Sat Jul 5 12:08:46 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA17258; Sat, 5 Jul 97 12:08:46 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f To: laser@qsl.net Date: Sat, 5 Jul 1997 15:08:12 -0400 Subject: [LASER] Amateur Scientist Index Message-Id: <19970705.150814.13142.2.K3PGP@juno.com> X-Mailer: Juno 1.38 X-Juno-Line-Breaks: 2-7,9-15 From: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Reply-To: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk For those of you that may like to do further research I posted an Amateur Scientist Index that I put together a couple of years ago as a text document. I just recently converted it to HTML. You can access it right off the main page under: * Amateur Scientist Index Use the text search function of your web browser to find topics of interest! John K3PGP@juno.com http://www.qsl.net/k3pgp/index.html -==- >From owner-laser Mon Jul 7 05:21:07 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA29022; Mon, 7 Jul 97 05:21:07 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f Message-Id: <2.2.16.19970707111333.360f7ebc@personal.eunet.fi> X-Sender: oh2aue@personal.eunet.fi X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Pro Version 2.2 (16) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Date: Mon, 07 Jul 1997 15:13:33 +0400 To: laser@qsl.net From: Michael Fletcher Subject: [LASER] Just joined the SSB Laser club... Reply-To: Michael Fletcher Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk Hi all, Just finished my first version of a modulated laser module. The module output power is adjustable from 1 - 5 mW ( Korean manufacture - real cheap ). I am modulating it via the bias power supply from around 2.4 V to around 3.8 V pp. The linearity is very good if I use about 10 dB backoff from these figure ( measured at the detected baseband with a double tone ). These peak to peak voltages are good for SSB and CW ( tried FM too ) even though the modulation is by no means very linear, but boy is the modulation depth good ! Partially the limiting is caused by a Zener diode I am using as a means of protection ( I don't know what the damage level is - yet ! ) and parially at the lower end caused by vicinity of the lasing threshold. I can easily check the waveform integrity by viewing the optically detected signal in time domain with an oscilloscope and in the frequency domain with a spectrum analyser. The scope is entirelly sufficient, even when checking out the two-tone. The SSB and CW signals scattered off an uneven plastered wall about 300 m away are very solid copy. FM works fine too, but of course needs a certain amount of C/N to operate well. I am using the Burr Brown OPT210 with 10 Mohm of feedback, no ambient light compensation, no pre-amp. The AC coupled signal just goes straight through to the mixer for upconversion to 144 Mhz. The receiver is mounted on a 15 cm dia refractive telescope with a lens for focusing. I can first do the pointing optically and then replace the ocular with the laser rx. Michael _\\///_ _ _ _ (' O O ') (_()_()_) I.O.O.F. *------------ooO-(_)-Ooo---------------------------* * Michael Fletcher OH2AUE: 50 MHz * * Vanhaistentie 4 C 43 144 MHz * * FIN-00420 Helsinki 432 MHz * * 1296 MHz * * Phone/Fax + 358 9 566 62 63 home 2.304 GHz * * Cellular + 358 50 5505 293 3.400 GHz * * Phone + 358 9 5259 1890 work 5.760 GHz * * http://personal.eunet.fi/pp/oh2aue/ 10.368 GHz * * 24.092 GHz * * Life is above 1 GHz; 474 THz * * >99.9 % of the ham bands are there..... * *--------------------------------------------------* >From owner-laser Mon Jul 7 08:24:31 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA02932; Mon, 7 Jul 97 08:24:31 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f From: daveaa1a@xensei.com Date: Mon, 7 Jul 1997 11:18:54 -0400 Message-Id: <199707071518.LAA18938@xensei2.xensei.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: [LASER] Re: stuff To: JJ Cc: laser@qsl.net X-Mailer: SPRY Mail Version: 04.00.06.17 Reply-To: daveaa1a@xensei.com Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk On Sun, 06 Jul 1997, JJ wrote: >Ya I'm sure a photodiode would make a great diff but not to be had at the >local rat shack. I'm gonna have to break down and put an order into >digikey or buy one of your extra opt210's from ya. We need an old fashioned swap fest.. There is plenty of stuff to go around.. I am looking for a 5' dish or so for instance.... Maybe we need to post a "want/have for swap" list between us all..??.. I'm sure it would be cost effective.. >As for the b&w tv with audio and video inputs, nope can't say I've seen any Maybe old 12v b/w tv and just go in and put a switch on the video input, then have dual capability and also remote rabbit like repeater.. Geez, it sure works better when I say it out loud first.. eh?? >I was messing with the fresnel lens held at focus to the >seemed the beamwidth was reduced. Make sense? Well it seems to me that a 4" glass lense whatever focal length is about equal to a 8x11 fresnel cuz the fresnel seems to scatter and distort its pattern. Try looking at a scene with a bright spot or a small light,, go and run it past your eyeball focus and see what happens ( not in sunlight tho ) I think the 4" lense is about the same net gain and smaller.. I know a guy who has had enough astronomy for a while and think we can deal on his 6" reflector .. Guys seems to have real good antennas who are doing this.. Like a clip-on PD amp. or CCD camera.. Those ccd cameras are real nice and better IR than my eye.. While using the 4x scope sight I would run out of squint.. The ccd sees much better at night.. A recent comment here on the linear/ssb laser modulation, you will have to be happy with backed off gain just to get some linear sigs.. Good case for digital bit stream, and your dirty sidebands won't even cause QRM.. yet.. This is like going from a Marconi spark rig to a Fessenden/Alexanderson alternator.. I wonder who will be the first to offer a POOR MAN's Laser Set-up..??.. >I found a cardboard tube in a dumpster today in the industrial park. It's >about 4 feet long and maybe 3-4" dia. I was gonna cut it down to mount the My latest and still favorite is the 4" drain pipe pvc with the blackened inside.. The 'Connectors-Caps-Transitions' average about 90 cents per unit.. I cut a hole in an end cap and pass a pvc threaded 1.5" assy. inserted and glued..within this a Metal 6" x 1.5" chrome drain/transition tube.. ( all at your local hardware store ) Sliding this metal tube in and out will let you pick your favorite focus point as well.. Then cut a small bit of G10 pc board to just slide into the metal tube upon which your low noise amp will reside.. Decouple everything and treat it like it was uhf.. You are really looking for LOW NOISE just like at KU band.. The metal tube acts as a 'E' field short circuit for local 60 hz ++ fields. Try swapping the PD for a 3' hunk of wire and listen to all the LF sigints around the LOWFER BAND (10 khz - 500 khz.).. ++ (Name that tune) Makes a part time POOR MAN's Cesium clock by tuning in 100 khz. Loran 'C' and strobing to your local 'stable' oscillator. Now your in COHERENT Country.. That's all the accuracy you need.. VE2IQ DSP then does it's magic.. Some of the adaptations like using BPSK (coherent) ala VE2IQ are all working out fine.. Did you download the Coherent program?? The camera tri-pod and cross arm holders at the yard sales saved a lot of swet as to holding all this stuff together.. 73s Am always looking for a refinement or two.. de daveaa1a >From owner-laser Mon Jul 7 08:38:22 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA03299; Mon, 7 Jul 97 08:38:22 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f To: laser@qsl.net Date: Mon, 7 Jul 1997 11:21:01 -0400 Subject: Re: [LASER] Just joined the SSB Laser club... Message-Id: <19970707.113550.3846.2.K3PGP@juno.com> References: <2.2.16.19970707111333.360f7ebc@personal.eunet.fi> X-Mailer: Juno 1.38 X-Juno-Line-Breaks: 0-1,3-9,11-12,14,16-18,22-23,29-30,34-35,38-39, 47-48,56-62 From: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Reply-To: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk Welcome to the multimode club Michael! On Mon, 07 Jul 1997 15:13:33 +0400 Michael Fletcher writes: >Hi all, > >Just finished my first version of a modulated laser module. The module >output power is adjustable from 1 - 5 mW ( Korean manufacture - real >cheap Any more details on this module? I wonder if it's available here in the states? Is it IR or visible? >Partially the limiting is caused by a Zener diode I am using as a means of >protection (I don't know what the damage level is - yet ! ) and parially at the >lower end caused by vicinity of the lasing threshold. I don't know if it will be possible with your present laser, but you might want to try a shunt modulator. If set up properly these offer 100 % protection against blowing the diode with too much drive from the SSB rig! What you do is adjust a series resistor to the laser diode for the maximum rated safe power. Connect a transistor or a MosFet power transistor directly across the laser diode to ground. Bias the input of the transistor till the laser goes to half power. Apply the multimode (SSB/FM) signal to the base. If you accidently overdrive the laser rig the laser is cut off instead of blowing out! The above works well with homebrew laser rigs where the whole system is built around a bare diode. It may not be possible to implement a shunt modulator with some commercial lasers that have internal power limiting without extensive modification. I went to this system after blowing a couple of laser diodes using the series modulator system! It seems that current limiting isn't as effective with these. If you drive the base of an NPN transistor hard enough the drive will come right out the emitter and go directly into the laser diode even if the power supply is shut off! MosFets don't seem to have this problem but I only found this out after using an NPN series modulator and blowing the laser diode when the drive was accidently set too high! A suitable current limiting resistor in the base (in series with the drive) would also fix this problem and was a temporary fix till I decided to go with the shunt modulator. What freq. did you find works best with your laser rig? I usually stick below 20 Khz for SSB/FM work and usually stay around 7 to 10 Khz... My laser receiver is setup for max. sensitivity with the result that the response falls off above 10 Khz or so. It's excellent for 800 Hz BPSK and multimode as long as I keep the modulating signal low in frequency. If I bias the detector in the receiver the system works well beyond 10 Mhz and even video can be transmitted. However, when biased like this the sensitivity is terrible! John K3PGP@juno.com http://www.qsl.net/k3pgp/index.html -==- >From owner-laser Mon Jul 7 09:04:54 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA04114; Mon, 7 Jul 97 09:04:54 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f To: laser@qsl.net Cc: jonj@pcix.com Date: Mon, 7 Jul 1997 11:56:46 -0400 Subject: [LASER] Fresnel vs Lens Message-Id: <19970707.115647.3846.6.K3PGP@juno.com> References: <199707071518.LAA18938@xensei2.xensei.com> X-Mailer: Juno 1.38 X-Juno-Line-Breaks: 0-2,4-8,11-12,16-17,21-22,27-28,35-41 From: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Reply-To: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk On Mon, 7 Jul 1997 11:18:54 -0400 daveaa1a@xensei.com writes: >On Sun, 06 Jul 1997, JJ wrote: >Well it seems to me that a 4" glass lense whatever focal length is >about equal to a 8x11 fresnel cuz the fresnel seems to scatter and distort its >pattern. This all depends on the active area of your detector! If you are using something like an OPT-210 you HAVE to have a pretty decent lens in front of it or you will sacrifice a LOT of performance due to the poorly focused image that the fresnel produced. HOWEVER, if you are using a detector with a larger active area that can accommodate the larger diameter image that the fresnel produces you will find that fresnels work extremely well. I am using an 11 inch fresnel here with a PIN diode with an active area approx. 1/4 inch. Using this setup my 11 inch fresnel outperforms even the 10 inch glass lens! However, when I run the same test using the OPT-210, the 10 inch glass lens is approx. 23 dB better than the fresnel. When you look at the focused image you immediately understand why! What really appears to be important here is that the detector has to be matched to the lens in use. Much the same as a feed horn used to illuminate a dish antenna at radio frequencies. If the detector is smaller than the focused image any energy that does NOT hit the detector will be wasted! If you're using a detector with a small active area, remember you will have to put some money into acquiring a good glass lens. However, if you are using a detector with a large active area (PMTs generally fall into this area as well as the larger PIN diodes) then most any lens, including fresnels will produce outstanding results! An 11 inch square fresnel is only $12 from Edmund Scientific. It seems to work fine even on over the horizon troposcatter stuff. John K3PGP@juno.com http://www.qsl.net/k3pgp/index.html -==- >From owner-laser Mon Jul 7 10:51:43 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA07901; Mon, 7 Jul 97 10:51:43 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f Message-Id: <3.0.1.32.19970707124628.008d3ab0@colby.edu> X-Sender: aballen@colby.edu X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Light Version 3.0.1 (32) Date: Mon, 07 Jul 1997 12:46:28 -0500 To: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) From: "Art Allen, KY1K" Subject: [LASER] ultra weak sig ant ideas? Cc: laser@qsl.net In-Reply-To: <19970707.113550.3846.2.K3PGP@juno.com> References: <2.2.16.19970707111333.360f7ebc@personal.eunet.fi> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Reply-To: "Art Allen, KY1K" Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk Hi John and the list.... I've been thinking about John's eme attempt and wondering.... Is it possible to stack whole PMT/lens assy's? It seems to me that this might be possible.... By this, I mean to build an array of identical PMT/large fresnel lens assy's and mount them so they all pointed towards the same point in space. If we were to scale the output of the PMT's so that all had about the same noise level, then ran each input into a mixer, then the noise might cancel and the desired signal would be reinforced. I was also thinking of ways to make VERY LARGE light gathering equipment from polishing and aluminum sputtering of conventional LARGE f/d ratio dishes too.... The PMT has a fairly large admittance angle for received light and a large active area.. A 3 or 4 foot aluminum dish with 8 to 10 foot focal lengths sounds practical... Such a dish would probably need to be custom made, but it could be done. I sure wish I had bought one of those super big 4 foot X 4 foot frensels years ago when the market was flooded with them. GL and good dx...Art... >From owner-laser Mon Jul 7 17:08:00 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA20121; Mon, 7 Jul 97 17:08:00 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f Date: Mon, 7 Jul 1997 17:03:00 -0700 From: c1040@azfms.com (Rusty Carruth) Message-Id: <9707080003.AA02705@fmsserv99.azfms.com> To: laser@qsl.net Subject: Re: [LASER] ultra weak sig ant ideas? X-Sun-Charset: US-ASCII Reply-To: c1040@azfms.com (Rusty Carruth) Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk Wow. A regenerative PMT? Yikes, the mind boggles! ----- Begin Included Message ----- .From: music@Tempe.ate.slb.com (Doug Music) .Subject: Re: [LASER] ultra weak sig ant ideas? > > Is it possible to stack whole PMT/lens assy's? > > It seems to me that this might be possible.... Gents, I don't know about stacking the array, but I have used a super-regenerative PMT assy in the past to pull a good signal from way inside the noise floor. The idea goes just like you think it does if your a HAM. If not, here's the poop. You have a power supply that is regulated and voltage mode active with feed-forward from the signal output of the PMT to the main dynode supply voltage. You start with the feedforward gain at zero. You tune this feedforward path with something (455kHz ceramics work) and adjust the quiescent voltage to the optimal sensitivity. Now you adjust the feedforward gain up to where the noise floor begins to rise, BUT NOT OSCILLATE. At this point, you need to modulate the laser with the matching frequency. Poof! The PMT will select for energy on the tuned feedfoward frequency. I never tried this at high frequencies. If someone does, please let me know if it can do VHF regeneration. (bet it can't) -Doug Douglas E. Music Voice: (602) 345-3625 Home: (602) 854-0723 FAX: (602) 345-8793 Pager: (888) 710-1508 Pager email: 905071@pagenet.net (200 chars) Email: music@san-jose.ate.slb.com Email: music@goodnet.com __o _`\<,_ _______(*)/_(*)__________ ----- End Included Message ----- ----- End Included Message ----- >From owner-laser Wed Jul 9 08:12:24 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA19753; Wed, 9 Jul 97 08:12:24 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f Message-Id: <2.2.16.19970709140145.5f872222@personal.eunet.fi> X-Sender: oh2aue@personal.eunet.fi X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Pro Version 2.2 (16) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Date: Wed, 09 Jul 1997 18:01:45 +0400 To: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP), laser@qsl.net From: Michael Fletcher Subject: Re: [LASER] Just joined the SSB Laser club... Reply-To: Michael Fletcher Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk Hi John, >>Just finished my first version of a modulated laser module. The module >>output power is adjustable from 1 - 5 mW ( Korean manufacture - real >>cheap > >Any more details on this module? I wonder if it's available here in the >states? Is it IR or visible? It is visible. There are several versions available, the one I am using is a 650 nm unit. They are pretty cheap ( around 50 USD depending on the type of module ) and are of excellent quality, very low divergence ( not specified, but found out in practice ) beating three different types of laser pointers I have. >I don't know if it will be possible with your present laser, but you >might want to try a shunt modulator. If set up properly these offer 100 I think I'll give it a try. >What freq. did you find works best with your laser rig? I usually stick >below 20 Khz for SSB/FM work and usually stay around 7 to 10 Khz... My I found that 10 - 20 kHz is good, going up to 50 - 100 kHz drops off rapidly, mainly because of the laser control loop bandwidth I think. There is one large chip cap on the PCB. One day I'll remove it, measure it and replace it with a smaller one and find out the response with this new capacitor value to prove my point... >laser receiver is setup for max. sensitivity with the result that the >response falls off above 10 Khz or so. It's excellent for 800 Hz BPSK The OPT210 I am using now with 10 Mohm feedback is giving me excellent frequency responce to 100 kHz at least. >and multimode as long as I keep the modulating signal low in frequency. >If I bias the detector in the receiver the system works well beyond 10 >Mhz and even video can be transmitted. However, when biased like this >the sensitivity is terrible! Are you using a plain photodiode ? >John >K3PGP@juno.com _\\///_ _ _ _ (' O O ') (_()_()_) I.O.O.F. *------------ooO-(_)-Ooo---------------------------* * Michael Fletcher OH2AUE: 50 MHz * * Vanhaistentie 4 C 43 144 MHz * * FIN-00420 Helsinki 432 MHz * * 1296 MHz * * Phone/Fax + 358 9 566 62 63 home 2.304 GHz * * Cellular + 358 50 5505 293 3.400 GHz * * Phone + 358 9 5259 1890 work 5.760 GHz * * http://personal.eunet.fi/pp/oh2aue/ 10.368 GHz * * 24.092 GHz * * Life is above 1 GHz; 474 THz * * >99.9 % of the ham bands are there..... * *--------------------------------------------------* >From owner-laser Wed Jul 9 08:39:31 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA20569; Wed, 9 Jul 97 08:39:31 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f To: oh2aue@personal.eunet.fi, laser@qsl.net Date: Wed, 9 Jul 1997 11:39:19 -0400 Subject: [LASER] Detector Message-Id: <19970709.113954.13838.5.K3PGP@juno.com> References: <2.2.16.19970709140145.5f872222@personal.eunet.fi> X-Mailer: Juno 1.38 X-Juno-Line-Breaks: 1-9,14-15,17-22 From: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Reply-To: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk On Wed, 09 Jul 1997 18:01:45 +0400 Michael Fletcher writes: >Hi John, > >Are you using a plain photodiode ? Michael: Thanks for all the great info. Your findings are about the same as mine! I'm using a PIN diode for most of my work. It's set up for max. nighttime sensitivity since I don't do much work during the day. Although reverse bias greatly increases the bandwidth and also allows daylight operation, I find that it destroys the weak signal capability of the device. Unfortunately the PMTs that I've been able to come up with don't like 780 nm! John K3PGP@juno.com http://www.qsl.net/k3pgp/index.html -==- >From owner-laser Wed Jul 9 09:58:02 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA23247; Wed, 9 Jul 97 09:58:02 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f From: daveaa1a@xensei.com Date: Wed, 9 Jul 1997 12:53:06 -0400 Message-Id: <199707091653.MAA31523@xensei2.xensei.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: [LASER] New Page To: laser@qsl.net Cc: bpsk@qsl.net X-Mailer: SPRY Mail Version: 04.00.06.17 Reply-To: daveaa1a@xensei.com Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk Hello All, I opened a new page "qsl.net/aa1a" and will soon be adding pix.. Take a look and tell me if any of this interests you? It's still under construction.. 73s Am making pcx file schematics, working on new SHUNT MODULATOR now.. It don't get any simpler.. dave >From owner-laser Wed Jul 9 15:39:50 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA04455; Wed, 9 Jul 97 15:39:50 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f Message-Id: <33C41195.1FDA@prodigy.net> Date: Wed, 09 Jul 1997 17:32:53 -0500 From: KC5AN Organization: Prodigy Internet X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.0 (Win95; I) Mime-Version: 1.0 To: Laser Reflector Subject: [LASER] Fm Modulation? Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Reply-To: KC5AN Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk Thanks to all for your advice on subcarrier frequencies & modulation techniques, and for advice on mounting OPT-210 to binocular lens cover. I'm sorry that my server cobbered my system wth an "upgrade", so I lost all your names & can't thank you personally. But before they "help" me with another "upgrade", I would like to get another question in: Can someone send me th details of the favored method of modulation & demodlation of the subcarrier? Mine will be crystal-controlled 40-Mz. Many thanks to all, & I look forward to when I can contribute some know-how instead of just asking for it!! 73 de kc5an john N. Texas >From owner-laser Wed Jul 9 20:36:52 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA13641; Wed, 9 Jul 97 20:36:52 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f To: laser@qsl.net Date: Wed, 9 Jul 1997 23:33:36 -0400 Subject: Re: [LASER] Fm Modulation? Message-Id: <19970709.233343.4710.5.K3PGP@juno.com> References: <33C41195.1FDA@prodigy.net> X-Mailer: Juno 1.38 X-Juno-Line-Breaks: 0-13,18-19,25-26,35-36,45-46,50-51,54-60 From: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Reply-To: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk On Wed, 09 Jul 1997 17:32:53 -0500 KC5AN writes: > >Can someone send me th details of the favored method of modulation & >demodlation of the subcarrier? Mine will be crystal-controlled 40-Mz. > >Many thanks to all, & I look forward to when I can contribute some >know-how instead of just asking for it!! > >73 de kc5an >john >N. Texas I assume you mean 40 Khz and NOT 40 Mhz ??? Actually there's no need to crystal control the subcarrier. Most any RC oscillator will be stable enough for NBFM (+- 5 Khz). I think you will also find it a LOT easier to modulate. Shifting a crystal oscillator +- 5 Khz in the 10 to 40 Khz region is no easy task! It can be done but you usually end up with a multiplier and mixer setup. I'd also recommend that you keep the subcarrier a little lower than 40 Khz. It all depends on your optical receiver bandwidth but it's been my experience that I usually get better performance if I stick below 25 Khz or so. I've gone down as low as 7 Khz with no problem and the performance was excellent. Most of my SSB work is done between 7 and 10 Khz and NBFM around 10 to 15 Khz. BPSK is at 800 Hz. As far as the demodulator, anything that you've seen done with NBFM on radio links can also be done with lasers. Personally I prefer a tunable setup but it all depends on who you plan on working and what others may be doing in your area. I've had excellent results using a single stage op-amp as a bandpass filter feeding a CD4046 PLL. The CD4046 can be used barefoot for line of sight work but the preceeding op-amp filter helps a LOT when using bounced paths where the signal may not be as strong. Just don't make the filter too sharp. It should be around 10 Khz wide at the +- 3 dB points. My favorite setup though is an up converter feeding a communications receiver. This setup seems to have the ability to copy weaker signals than any other system I've tried. Several people are using two meter FM rigs for this. I use a multimode HF receiver so I can work SSB as well as MCW and NBFM but have recently been playing around with a CB (27 Mhz) SSB rig, a 10 meter multimode rig and a two meter multimode handheld! For portable work though the PLL or converter into a two meter handheld might be the way to go. That way you don't have to lug around a lot of extra equipment! :-^) Keep in mind that you can convert both ways. That is, down convert the RF transmitter to 20 Khz to modulate the laser and upconvert the optical receiver from 20 Khz back up to RF. All you need to do this is a mixer (DBM) and a crystal oscillator. There are many ways to do this. How much performance you need depends on the type of paths you plan to work and how portable the setup has to be! Pick a system that sounds good to you and go with it! John K3PGP@juno.com http://www.qsl.net/k3pgp -==- >From owner-laser Wed Jul 9 21:48:20 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA15621; Wed, 9 Jul 97 21:48:20 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f Message-Id: <33C45ABD.1C71@erols.com> Date: Thu, 10 Jul 1997 04:45:01 +0100 From: Tyler Stewart Organization: Stewart Communications X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.01GoldC-KIT (Win95; I) Mime-Version: 1.0 To: laser@qsl.net Subject: [LASER] Check out the Burr-Brown Web Page! Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Reply-To: Tyler Stewart Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk With the apparent popularity of the Burr-Brown Optical Detector IC's, I looked for a web page, and easily discovered it at www.burr-brown.com It's a great resource with data sheets and applications notes on line and also available by FAX. Be sure and look at App. Note AB-061. It's essentially a high-pass filter/AGC circuit that should work with any of them to compensate for variations in ambient light. It's also given as an example in the data sheets for the OPT-211. 73, Tyler K3MM >From owner-laser Thu Jul 10 01:44:44 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA22160; Thu, 10 Jul 97 01:44:44 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f Message-Id: <2.2.16.19970710073709.48efc752@personal.eunet.fi> X-Sender: oh2aue@personal.eunet.fi X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Pro Version 2.2 (16) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Date: Thu, 10 Jul 1997 11:37:09 +0400 To: KC5AN , Laser Reflector From: Michael Fletcher Subject: Re: [LASER] Fm Modulation? Reply-To: Michael Fletcher Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk >techniques, and for advice on mounting OPT-210 to binocular lens cover. What I have done is packageing my entire optoelectric unit into a tin box with the OPT210 integrated within. I have then fixed this to a regular film roll enclosure, one those round plastic containers with a pop off lid. The outer diameter is slightly tapered due to the manufacturing prosess and thus fits snugly onto my 15 cm refracting telescope in place of the ocular ( 32 mm ). >Can someone send me th details of the favored method of modulation & >demodlation of the subcarrier? Mine will be crystal-controlled 40-Mz. I simply use my VHF IC202S and my Standard C528 for the driving ( and demo- dulation at the other end ). I have simple 73 and 72.45 MHz crystal oscillators as local oscillators feeding RMS-1 mixers at the LO port. Having different LO frequencies at RX and TX ends helps resolving the correct optical path QSO in short range communication and testing from direct VHF leak through. I don't even care to double the LO, I just feed the sub-spec LO to the mixer. There is ample gain in the OPT210 to overcome the extra losses and linearity is not a real issue. The majority of nonlinearity evolves from my AM laser modulator and even this ( with reasonable backoff ) is very linear. Two tone third order IMD can be easily adjusted to -30 dBc which is excellent for this experimenting. I can easily combine FM and SSB/CW on the same laser carrier with no IMD problems. In this way I can generate a transmit signal in the range of near-DC ( virtually ! ) to around 200 kHz ( way beyond my laser tx bandwidth for the time being ) and receive in the virtually DC - 150 kHz range ( limited by the OPT210 with 10 Mohm feedback ). >73 de kc5an >john Michael OH2AUE _\\///_ _ _ _ (' O O ') (_()_()_) I.O.O.F. *------------ooO-(_)-Ooo---------------------------* * Michael Fletcher OH2AUE: 50 MHz * * Vanhaistentie 4 C 43 144 MHz * * FIN-00420 Helsinki 432 MHz * * 1296 MHz * * Phone/Fax + 358 9 566 62 63 home 2.304 GHz * * Cellular + 358 50 5505 293 3.400 GHz * * Phone + 358 9 5259 1890 work 5.760 GHz * * http://personal.eunet.fi/pp/oh2aue/ 10.368 GHz * * 24.092 GHz * * Life is above 1 GHz; 474 THz * * >99.9 % of the ham bands are there..... * *--------------------------------------------------* >From owner-laser Thu Jul 10 14:26:22 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA10978; Thu, 10 Jul 97 14:26:22 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f Date: Thu, 10 Jul 1997 14:14:52 -0700 (PDT) From: Clifford Buttschardt To: John K3PGP Cc: laser@qsl.net Subject: Re: [LASER] Fm Modulation? In-Reply-To: <19970709.233343.4710.5.K3PGP@juno.com> Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Reply-To: Clifford Buttschardt Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk Hi John and the group. Regarding simple communicators using FM in the supersonic range---in this case 65 KHz, check the article in the Spring 1995 Communications Quarterly on page 95. G6KSN has a small communicator using 788 nM IR Radio Shack lasers and a FM system. Full schematics are included which should allow any of us to make modifications easily. As an example, rather than LC tuned cirucits on 65 KHz, I used supersonic resonant elements found in sonic "bird chasers" to simplify the job. Good starting point! Cliff Buttschardt K7RR On Wed, 9 Jul 1997, John K3PGP wrote: > On Wed, 09 Jul 1997 17:32:53 -0500 KC5AN writes: > > > >Can someone send me th details of the favored method of modulation & > >demodlation of the subcarrier? Mine will be crystal-controlled 40-Mz. > > > >Many thanks to all, & I look forward to when I can contribute some > >know-how instead of just asking for it!! > > > >73 de kc5an > >john > >N. Texas > > I assume you mean 40 Khz and NOT 40 Mhz ??? > > Actually there's no need to crystal control the subcarrier. Most any RC > oscillator will be stable enough for NBFM (+- 5 Khz). I think you will > also find it a LOT easier to modulate. Shifting a crystal oscillator +- > 5 Khz in the 10 to 40 Khz region is no easy task! It can be done but you > usually end up with a multiplier and mixer setup. > > I'd also recommend that you keep the subcarrier a little lower than 40 > Khz. It all depends on your optical receiver bandwidth but it's been my > experience that I usually get better performance if I stick below 25 Khz > or so. I've gone down as low as 7 Khz with no problem and the > performance was excellent. Most of my SSB work is done between 7 and 10 > Khz and NBFM around 10 to 15 Khz. BPSK is at 800 Hz. > > As far as the demodulator, anything that you've seen done with NBFM on > radio links can also be done with lasers. Personally I prefer a tunable > setup but it all depends on who you plan on working and what others may > be doing in your area. I've had excellent results using a single stage > op-amp as a bandpass filter feeding a CD4046 PLL. The CD4046 can be used > barefoot for line of sight work but the preceeding op-amp filter helps a > LOT when using bounced paths where the signal may not be as strong. Just > don't make the filter too sharp. It should be around 10 Khz wide at the > +- 3 dB points. > > My favorite setup though is an up converter feeding a communications > receiver. This setup seems to have the ability to copy weaker signals > than any other system I've tried. Several people are using two meter FM > rigs for this. I use a multimode HF receiver so I can work SSB as well > as MCW and NBFM but have recently been playing around with a CB (27 Mhz) > SSB rig, a 10 meter multimode rig and a two meter multimode handheld! > For portable work though the PLL or converter into a two meter handheld > might be the way to go. That way you don't have to lug around a lot of > extra equipment! :-^) > > Keep in mind that you can convert both ways. That is, down convert the > RF transmitter to 20 Khz to modulate the laser and upconvert the optical > receiver from 20 Khz back up to RF. All you need to do this is a mixer > (DBM) and a crystal oscillator. > > There are many ways to do this. How much performance you need depends on > the type of paths you plan to work and how portable the setup has to be! > Pick a system that sounds good to you and go with it! > > > John > K3PGP@juno.com > http://www.qsl.net/k3pgp > -==- > >From owner-laser Fri Jul 11 00:09:45 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA26673; Fri, 11 Jul 97 00:09:45 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f Message-Id: <2.2.16.19970711060129.400764aa@personal.eunet.fi> X-Sender: oh2aue@personal.eunet.fi X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Pro Version 2.2 (16) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Date: Fri, 11 Jul 1997 10:01:29 +0400 To: laser@qsl.net From: Michael Fletcher Subject: [LASER] Upgrading laser to 50 mW... Reply-To: Michael Fletcher Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk Upgrading my laser SSB/CW rig to 50 mW today. The laser module is of Korean manufacture is reputably used on ice breakers reliably for viewing ice visibly. The module draws 160 mA at 3 V a is really bright. It is visibly brighter than my 30 mW HeNe, but then the wavelength is also more advantageous at 650/670 nm compared to 632.8 nm. This should improve my system quite a bit ! I have decided to run my laser modulator at near compression ( just thought I'd tell you guys ). I also tried a simple sine wave subcarrier modulator for FM, works nicely with several hi-cap varicaps in parallel. Nah. I like to mixing aproach - free to run any mode I like and even multicarrier if I apply suitable backoff. BTW the 50 mW laser module costs around 300 USD. The 20 mW is around 200 USD and the 5 mW one is in the 50 USD ball park, so high power is fairly expensive. I have spent more on microwave high power transistors, so what the heck ! Michael _\\///_ _ _ _ (' O O ') (_()_()_) I.O.O.F. *------------ooO-(_)-Ooo---------------------------* * Michael Fletcher OH2AUE: 50 MHz * * Vanhaistentie 4 C 43 144 MHz * * FIN-00420 Helsinki 432 MHz * * 1296 MHz * * Phone/Fax + 358 9 566 62 63 home 2.304 GHz * * Cellular + 358 50 5505 293 3.400 GHz * * Phone + 358 9 5259 1890 work 5.760 GHz * * http://personal.eunet.fi/pp/oh2aue/ 10.368 GHz * * 24.092 GHz * * Life is above 1 GHz; 474 THz * * >99.9 % of the ham bands are there..... * *--------------------------------------------------* >From owner-laser Fri Jul 11 00:36:23 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA27880; Fri, 11 Jul 97 00:36:23 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f To: laser@qsl.net, cbuttsch@slonet.org Date: Fri, 11 Jul 1997 03:32:38 -0400 Subject: Re: [LASER] Fm Modulation? Message-Id: <19970711.033647.13910.0.K3PGP@juno.com> References: X-Mailer: Juno 1.38 X-Juno-Line-Breaks: 1-7,10-11,13-19 From: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Reply-To: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk On Thu, 10 Jul 1997 14:14:52 -0700 (PDT) Clifford Buttschardt writes: >Hi John and the group. Regarding simple communicators using FM in the >supersonic range---in this case 65 KHz, check the article in the >Spring 1995 Communications Quarterly on page 95. > G6KSN has a small communicator using 788 nM IR Radio Shack lasers >and a FM system. Radio Shack sells 788 nm (IR ?) lasers ??? Do they list a part number for these? All I can seem to find in their catalog are visible laser pens and IR LEDs... Too bad neither the library nor I get Communications Quarterly! Can someone make a copy of the article for me? John K3PGP@juno.com http://www.qsl.net/k3pgp -==- >From owner-laser Sun Jul 13 20:57:30 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA09378; Sun, 13 Jul 97 20:57:30 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f Message-Id: <33C9A0EA.3BCD@prodigy.net> Date: Sun, 13 Jul 1997 22:45:46 -0500 From: KC5AN Organization: Prodigy Internet X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.0 (Win95; I) Mime-Version: 1.0 To: John K3PGP Cc: laser@qsl.net Subject: Re: [LASER] Fm Modulation? References: <33C41195.1FDA@prodigy.net> <19970709.233343.4710.5.K3PGP@juno.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Reply-To: KC5AN Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk John K3PGP wrote: > > On Wed, 09 Jul 1997 17:32:53 -0500 KC5AN writes: > > > >Can someone send me th details of the favored method of modulation & > >demodlation of the subcarrier? Mine will be crystal-controlled 40-Mz. > > > >Many thanks to all, & I look forward to when I can contribute some > >know-how instead of just asking for it!! > > > >73 de kc5an > >john > >N. Texas > > I assume you mean 40 Khz and NOT 40 Mhz ??? > > Actually there's no need to crystal control the subcarrier. Most any RC > oscillator will be stable enough for NBFM (+- 5 Khz). I think you will > also find it a LOT easier to modulate. Shifting a crystal oscillator +- > 5 Khz in the 10 to 40 Khz region is no easy task! It can be done but you > usually end up with a multiplier and mixer setup. > > I'd also recommend that you keep the subcarrier a little lower than 40 > Khz. It all depends on your optical receiver bandwidth but it's been my > experience that I usually get better performance if I stick below 25 Khz > or so. I've gone down as low as 7 Khz with no problem and the > performance was excellent. Most of my SSB work is done between 7 and 10 > Khz and NBFM around 10 to 15 Khz. BPSK is at 800 Hz. > > As far as the demodulator, anything that you've seen done with NBFM on > radio links can also be done with lasers. Personally I prefer a tunable > setup but it all depends on who you plan on working and what others may > be doing in your area. I've had excellent results using a single stage > op-amp as a bandpass filter feeding a CD4046 PLL. The CD4046 can be used > barefoot for line of sight work but the preceeding op-amp filter helps a > LOT when using bounced paths where the signal may not be as strong. Just > don't make the filter too sharp. It should be around 10 Khz wide at the > +- 3 dB points. > > My favorite setup though is an up converter feeding a communications > receiver. This setup seems to have the ability to copy weaker signals > than any other system I've tried. Several people are using two meter FM > rigs for this. I use a multimode HF receiver so I can work SSB as well > as MCW and NBFM but have recently been playing around with a CB (27 Mhz) > SSB rig, a 10 meter multimode rig and a two meter multimode handheld! > For portable work though the PLL or converter into a two meter handheld > might be the way to go. That way you don't have to lug around a lot of > extra equipment! :-^) > > Keep in mind that you can convert both ways. That is, down convert the > RF transmitter to 20 Khz to modulate the laser and upconvert the optical > receiver from 20 Khz back up to RF. All you need to do this is a mixer > (DBM) and a crystal oscillator. > > There are many ways to do this. How much performance you need depends on > the type of paths you plan to work and how portable the setup has to be! > Pick a system that sounds good to you and go with it! > > John > K3PGP@juno.com > http://www.qsl.net/k3pgp > -==- John,Michael,Clifford, and the rest of the group: Thanks very much for your help with my modulation question. Yes, I meant 40 kHz, not 40 MHz. The setup I am working on is built around your article on the Lyte Electronics laser pointer. I originally planned to run 25 kHz as you state in the article, and I was planning to AM that. After some replies to an earlier posting, I decided that the most common things going were 40 and 65 kHz, FM. I settled on 40 because of the rolloff in the Lyte Electronics regulator as f approached 100 kHz. I figured 40 would still be on the flat part of the curve. The crystal-control part came in not so much for control, as an attempt to simplify. I had a 1.2 MHz crystal clock module on hand. I figured with a few chips I could divide it into one signal at 40 kHz, and with a few more, I could also get an 800 Hz signal for MCW. But that was before I considered FM! I am so close to completion of the circuit that I will go ahead with it.... even if it winds up as nothing more than the reference signal to some kind of PLL FM circuit. But your mention of up/down conversion to allow use of a regular radio sounds MUCH more flexible, and will probably be the way I ultimately go. Hell.. maybe I'll even get some real use out of this FT-736R that usually just monitors the yak-yak on the local repeater. Guess I'll start looking in the local surplus shop for an xtal somewhere in the 144 MHz range. 73 kc5an john n. Texas >From owner-laser Mon Jul 14 09:36:21 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA25179; Mon, 14 Jul 97 09:36:21 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f Date: Mon, 14 Jul 97 09:34:35 PDT From: jmoss@berlioz.nsc.com (Jim Moss) Message-Id: <9707141634.AA25118@berlioz.nsc.com> To: laser@qsl.net Subject: [LASER] HeNe corrective lenses? Reply-To: jmoss@berlioz.nsc.com (Jim Moss) Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk Over the weekend I got a "deal" on a 8mW HeNe and PS. What I discovered at home was: 1) the divergence looks to be quite high. At 40 feet the spot grows to 1.5". See what I did below. 2) after 1/2 hour or more ON... the tube and/or power supply shuts down. Let it cool and it comes back.. Any ideas? To improve the divergence I took a couple lenses from a bar code gun and made a little "telescope"(beam expander). The lenses in the guns are )| and |) just perfect. Unfortunately they are different diameters. So I took a business card and rolled it up to form a tube. I also took a piece of black tape and put it stickyside up. I moved the lens position until the spot was smallest at the remote point and pushed them into the tape, and then slid the "tube" around them and tightened it. This approach reduced the spot size to about 3/4" at 40 ft. Anyone have some other ideas to improve this divergence? Jim WB9AJZ/6 Sunnyvale, CA CM87xi >From owner-laser Mon Jul 14 09:29:48 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA24991; Mon, 14 Jul 97 09:29:48 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f Date: Mon, 14 Jul 97 09:25:44 PDT From: jmoss@berlioz.nsc.com (Jim Moss) Message-Id: <9707141625.AA24902@berlioz.nsc.com> To: laser@qsl.net Subject: [LASER] subcarrier demodulation / modular approach Reply-To: jmoss@berlioz.nsc.com (Jim Moss) Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk Just to add, if you build your own stand alone demodulator, it reduces the amound of equipment and setup issues in the field! Also, a 4066 or variant, will "AFC" (pull) over to the TX frequency carrier, if it is anywhere nearby, eliminating a tuning issue. (of course it only works for FM) I have built a seperate demod box that I can simply insert between the RX and the AF amp. RX MODULE ----- DEMOD MODULE ------ AF MODULE ---- speaker I've used 1/8" jacks and shielded audio cable between each 2x2x2 box. This approach allows you to upgrade the station as you go along. I have several different RX modules, 1 demod module and 1 AF module at this point. For simple baseband, I skip the demod module. Jim WB9AJZ/6 CM87xi Sunnyvale,CA >From owner-laser Mon Jul 14 10:03:50 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA26076; Mon, 14 Jul 97 10:03:50 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f To: laser@qsl.net Date: Mon, 14 Jul 1997 12:51:33 -0400 Subject: Re: [LASER] Fm Modulation? Message-Id: <19970714.125135.16014.4.K3PGP@juno.com> X-Mailer: Juno 1.38 X-Juno-Line-Breaks: 0-1,3-10,14-15,19-20,25-26,29-30,34-35,38-39,43-44,50-56 From: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Reply-To: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk I sent this several times before but apparently the system doesn't like it. So here it is again... ----- On Sun, 13 Jul 1997 22:45:46 -0500 KC5AN writes: >Guess I'll start looking in the local surplus shop for an xtal >somewhere in the 144 MHz range. 144 Mhz xtals are available but they are notoriously fragile and unstable... You may have better success with a 48 Mhz xtal and a tripler... Or even a 72 Mhz xtal and a doubler... 36 Mhz and two doublers, etc... Another approach is a cheap SSB CB rig or a ten meter rig and a 27 / 28 Mhz LO. Radio Shack, as well as other's used to make these. Some of these rigs of course don't have provisions for FM so be careful if you need FM capabilities! For a two meter rig, Michael OH2AUE has had very good success just dumping the 72 Mhz oscillator into the mixer and NOT bothering with the doubler. I've also done the same at times and it seems to work quite well. Same with 48 Mhz. Since the desired output frequency is so low things like this seem to work quite well. If you want to play around with AM you don't even need a subcarrier. You can modulate the laser directly. Just bias it to half power and feed audio into it! Although the pen works at 40 Khz you must also consider your receiver. You may get better performance if you divide one more time and go for 20 Khz... When the roll off of the pen PLUS the receiver is considered you might end up with considerably more roll off than you planned! Just keep in mind that FMing a 20 Khz xtal controlled signal isn't the easiest thing to do! You won't be able to pull the 1.2 Mhz xtal far enough to produce +- 5 Khz at 20 or 40 Khz! However, you might be able to FM a PLL referenced to the 1.2 Mhz xtal. Most people end up using an RC coupled oscillator because of these problems. With some attention to using a good quality (temperature stable) capacitor, these are usually good enough for FM. No matter what system you choose it will work. The only question that remains is how much performance you need and what modes you might want to work in the future. The VLF up/down converter approach seems to offer the best sensitivity and will allow you to work ANY mode so you may ultimately end up with something like this. However, it does mean dragging along extra equipment if you have portable operation in mind... John K3PGP@juno.com http://www.qsl.net/k3pgp -==- >From owner-laser Mon Jul 14 13:27:32 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA02981; Mon, 14 Jul 97 13:27:32 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f Message-Id: <9707142022.AA13410@disney.dp.uop-net.com> From: CPMCGONE@uop.com (CPMCGONE) Date: Mon, 14 Jul 97 15:08 To: laser@qsl.net Subject: [LASER] Other uses for Coherent/BPSK Reply-To: CPMCGONE@uop.com (CPMCGONE) Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk Is BPSK in use for many other modes? Most of the discussion here seems to imply that it is mostly used for VLF (and now for some laser), but I was wondering if anybody has put it to use for VHF/UHF EME, or through satellites wih slightly harder link conditions (like AO-10)? Would a 2m BPSK signal make it through an auroral path? Chas.P. >From owner-laser Mon Jul 14 14:58:00 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA06415; Mon, 14 Jul 97 14:58:00 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f Date: Mon, 14 Jul 1997 14:53:12 -0700 (PDT) From: Walter Miller X-Sender: aj6t@slip-3 To: Jim Moss Cc: laser@qsl.net Subject: Re: [LASER] HeNe corrective lenses? In-Reply-To: <9707141634.AA25118@berlioz.nsc.com> Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Reply-To: Walter Miller Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk On Mon, 14 Jul 1997, Jim Moss wrote: > Over the weekend I got a "deal" on a 8mW HeNe and PS. > What I discovered at home was: > 1) the divergence looks to be quite high. At 40 feet the spot grows to > 1.5". See what I did below. > 2) after 1/2 hour or more ON... the tube and/or power supply shuts down. > Let it cool and it comes back.. Any ideas? > Regarding the power dropout after running for half an hour: Some HeNe laser tubes are made with an adjustable mirror mount on one end, usually using tiny screws to pivot a chesspiece-like metal holder. As the tube warms up and its parts expand thermally, the optical alignment can shift around. Sometimes a tube can be salvaged with a SMALL tweak on these screws. The adjustment can be very critical. Try peaking for max power output after the tube has warmed up. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Walter Miller, AJ6T Saratoga, CA USA CM87 >From owner-laser Mon Jul 14 16:06:00 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA08479; Mon, 14 Jul 97 16:06:00 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f From: stan@ccsnet.com Date: Mon, 14 Jul 1997 18:35:44 -0500 Message-Id: Subject: [LASER] Other uses for Coherent/BPSK To: laser@qsl.net Reply-To: stan@ccsnet.com Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk CP>To: laser@qsl.net CP>Subject: [LASER] Other uses for Coherent/BPSK CP>Sender: owner-laser@qsl.net CP>Precedence: bulk CP>Reply-To: CPMCGONE@uop.com (CPMCGONE) CP>Is BPSK in use for many other modes? CP>Most of the discussion here seems to imply that it is mostly used for VLF CP>(and now for some laser), but I was wondering if anybody has put it to CP>use for VHF/UHF EME, or through satellites wih slightly harder link CP>conditions (like AO-10)? CP>Would a 2m BPSK signal make it through an auroral path? CP>Chas.P. My original plan was to use the coherent CW capability of the VE2IQ package for long range 2M communications across the atlantic to europe. Plan is still in progress. With 1500W out on 2M, about 21 dBd of antenna gain and the DSP (threshold of detectability extension, 20 dB) cabilities in either CCW or BPSK, I expect to increase my probability of success with this terrestrial communications link. Looking NE to an ocean on the horizon may be helpful. My original thought was to use CCW because of the requirement for reduced duty cycle on the 2KW PIN diode T/R switches. That manufacturer has defaulted with my prepaid order, so I expect to either design my own high power PIN T/R realys (ala SM5BZE) or use mechanical ones. If I am not concerned about the RF duty cycle then BPSK is possible. Other folks are using BPSK on HF. All I see is another modulation scheme for more miles per watt useable on any band from DC (VLF) to daylight (LASER) to include the microwave bands like 10 Ghz. Right now I am finishing up the modulator end of the BPSK unit. The VE2IQ sigma-delta A to D converter is playing fine and working with AA1A I have been able to successfully demodulate his signals on 3591 Khz.... Upon suggestion, I am adding a dual D-type flip flop after the divide by 9 chip on the '4060 14.4 Khz output to get a symetrical 800 Hz to feed an output for scope sync and to use the other half of the SN74LS74N to feed the 800 Hz active filter, then the balanced modulator IF input. While I have a Parts list and schematic for the original 1800 Hz low pass active filter, does anyone have the R and C parts list for a 800 Hz active filter using the same MC3403N quad op amp chip ? Collectively what must happen , is we must generate more interest among hams, both here and internationally to use more modern modulation schemes such as the DSP in the VE2IQ BPSK package to get more "miles per watt". I think we are at the forefront of a new frontier... The difficulty initially will be the density of folks to communicate to on HF, 6M terrestrial, 2M EME, or LASER. This reflector is one vehicle to gin up some interest........ I hope to be QRV (and QRO) soon with the VE2IQ DPSK package . BTW this is my first posting to LASER@QSL.NET... I am now out of the closet..... Stan, WA1ECF Cape Cod, MA FN41sr to: INT:laser@qsl.net cc: INT:BPSK@QSL.NET >From owner-laser Mon Jul 14 19:38:56 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA14882; Mon, 14 Jul 97 19:38:56 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f Date: Mon, 14 Jul 1997 22:34:16 -0400 (EDT) From: "C. W. Wright" X-Sender: wwright@wayne.home.net To: laser@qsl.net Subject: Re: [LASER] Fm Modulation? (fwd) Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Reply-To: "C. W. Wright" Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk > Just keep in mind that FMing a 20 Khz xtal controlled signal isn't the I'd just use an NE566 which is a single chip ( 8 pin dip ) voltage controlled osc. It works great from a few hz to at least several hundred khz. It has a voltage input pin which controls the frequency; Instant FM! -Wayne >From owner-laser Mon Jul 14 19:45:26 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA15068; Mon, 14 Jul 97 19:45:26 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f Message-Id: From: chrise@n0jcf.com (Chris Elmquist) Subject: Re: [LASER] Other uses for Coherent/BPSK To: CPMCGONE@uop.com Date: Mon, 14 Jul 1997 21:35:51 -0500 (CDT) Cc: laser@qsl.net In-Reply-To: <9707142022.AA13410@disney.dp.uop-net.com> from "CPMCGONE" at Jul 14, 97 03:08:00 pm Content-Type: text Reply-To: chrise@n0jcf.com (Chris Elmquist) Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk CPMCGONE wrote: > > Is BPSK in use for many other modes? > > Most of the discussion here seems to imply that it is mostly used for VLF > (and now for some laser), but I was wondering if anybody has put it to > use for VHF/UHF EME, or through satellites wih slightly harder link > conditions (like AO-10)? > > Would a 2m BPSK signal make it through an auroral path? > And as long as we're on the subject-- where can we find details on this BPSK modem that everybody is using ? Is it a PC plug-in card ? Any clues on where it has been written up would be greatly appreciated. Thanks ! 73, Chris -- Chris Elmquist, N0JCF chrise@n0jcf.com n0jcf@amsat.org >From owner-laser Mon Jul 14 22:44:35 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA19833; Mon, 14 Jul 97 22:44:35 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f Message-Id: <2.2.16.19970715044035.3aaf23f8@personal.eunet.fi> X-Sender: oh2aue@personal.eunet.fi X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Pro Version 2.2 (16) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Date: Tue, 15 Jul 1997 08:40:35 +0400 To: laser@qsl.net From: Michael Fletcher Subject: [LASER] 50 mW laser module - ugh ! Reply-To: Michael Fletcher Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk Hi all, installed the 50 mW laser module ( a field operation at the annual national ham camp this weekend ) and found the divergence to be pretty awful. The modulation level I adjusted by briefly checking the modulating DC+AC waveform and level on a scope. The reflection tests were a success using a 'dustbin scatter' at around 200 m and removing the dustbin later even still copying the CW at the laser was mostly hitting forest and part of the diverged beam scattering from the rear end of a parked car. The incidence angle was around 60 degrees, so a vast majority of the laser carrier was reflected away back into the forest. Reflections off the VHF/UHF station rotator base around 100 m away was very loud of course, also the reflection off a street lamp reflector. The HF station mast at around 300 m gave a very good reflection too even though the ambient light level was still very high and the laser reflection was pretty difficult to see on the mast through my telescope. All experiments were with CW, SSB and FM. The bystanders were numerous and impressed ! Last night I had a check on the laser modulation operation and found that the beam was considerably improved by increasing the DC level going into the laser module but at the cost of decreased modulation depth. So I ended up optimizing the modulation depth + DC component level by listening to my scattered laser signal on FM ( easier to judge improvement on S/N audibly without extensive metering ). The final level ended up at around 2.3 V of DC and 0.8 V of AC superimposed. The AC component could be higher for even better modulation depth, but with additional intermodulation distortion. I want my SSB signal to be reasonably clean and have the dynamic range for multiple carrier operation. Still haven't modified the control loop bandwidth, been using a subcarrier frequency of around 20 - 30 kHz ( adjustable from my IC202S ). I also slightly adjusted the built-in collimating lense of the laser adding some improvement to the divergence. The 5 mW laser still has far better beam shape though, so el cheapo isn't a bad solution for beginners !!!! Ah, the modulator. I dumped the two transistor design as I was beginning to have current feed/DC gain problems. I went back to my old favourite, the LM317. I have used this fine regulator as an audio amp, a video modulator for Gunn oscillators and even a prototype class D/E modulator ! Now it is doing a very good job of acting as a laser modulator. What I had to do though was increase the bias resistors in value to increase input impedance at the adjust pin ( the laser module only needs 160 mA ) because by post amplifier ( a BC107 ) following the IF mixer doesn't have a very low impedance output. The aforementioned DC and AC levels I have set with this new regulator/modulator. Beware stray capacitance at the LM317 output ! I only have 1 nF at the output and any long leads ( like pigtails from the laser module ) WILL cause instability problems. So check the output under all modulation conditions with a good oscilloscope and suitable probe ( minding the probe stray capacitance while you are at it ! ). Michael _\\///_ _ _ _ (' O O ') (_()_()_) I.O.O.F. *------------ooO-(_)-Ooo---------------------------* * Michael Fletcher OH2AUE: 50 MHz * * Vanhaistentie 4 C 43 144 MHz * * FIN-00420 Helsinki 432 MHz * * 1296 MHz * * Phone/Fax + 358 9 566 62 63 home 2.304 GHz * * Cellular + 358 50 5505 293 3.400 GHz * * Phone + 358 9 5259 1890 work 5.760 GHz * * http://personal.eunet.fi/pp/oh2aue/ 10.368 GHz * * 24.092 GHz * * Life is above 1 GHz; 474 THz * * >99.9 % of the ham bands are there..... * *--------------------------------------------------* >From owner-laser Tue Jul 15 07:20:13 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA02203; Tue, 15 Jul 97 07:20:13 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f Message-Id: <3.0.1.32.19970715091504.00860310@colby.edu> X-Sender: aballen@colby.edu X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Light Version 3.0.1 (32) Date: Tue, 15 Jul 1997 09:15:04 -0500 To: Michael Fletcher From: "Art Allen, KY1K" Subject: Re: [LASER] 50 mW laser module - ugh ! Cc: laser@qsl.net In-Reply-To: <2.2.16.19970715044035.3aaf23f8@personal.eunet.fi> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Reply-To: "Art Allen, KY1K" Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk I have almost zero experience with SS diodes. But, it sounds to me like you are operating the diode BELOW its laser threshold current-therefore it is jumping back and forth between laser mode and led mode as you modulate it. This also accounts for the improved divergence when you slam it with a little more current and a little less modulation. My opinion (and it is strictly that) is that laser diodes should be operated in strictly cw (or mcw) mode. Seriously, if I spent $300 US for a big laser signal, I'd want it set up and running with a laser controller chip using the internal photodiode for a reference per the OEM's spec. I just couldn't afford another diode and running it with anything less is definately risking opening of the smoke valve. With that high power level, you are probably after dx-again, cw (or mcw) is the only way to go (IMHO). Hey Michael, are there any other laser experimenters in EU and is anyone interested in non-los over there? Looking at my topo map, it looks like you have some big hills there, and most likely there is very clean air. Are there any world record attempts for laser dx on the horizon over there? Good dx...Art.... At 08:40 AM 07/15/1997 +0400, you wrote: >Hi all, > >installed the 50 mW laser module ( a field operation >at the annual national ham camp this weekend ) and >found the divergence to be pretty awful. The modulation >level I adjusted by briefly checking the modulating >DC+AC waveform and level on a scope. The reflection >tests were a success using a 'dustbin scatter' at >around 200 m and removing the dustbin later even still >copying the CW at the laser was mostly hitting forest >and part of the diverged beam scattering from the >rear end of a parked car. The incidence angle was around >60 degrees, so a vast majority of the laser carrier was >reflected away back into the forest. > >Reflections off the VHF/UHF station rotator base around >100 m away was very loud of course, also the reflection >off a street lamp reflector. The HF station mast at >around 300 m gave a very good reflection too even though the >ambient light level was still very high and the laser reflection >was pretty difficult to see on the mast through my telescope. > >All experiments were with CW, SSB and FM. The bystanders >were numerous and impressed ! > >Last night I had a check on the laser modulation operation >and found that the beam was considerably improved by increasing >the DC level going into the laser module but at the cost of >decreased modulation depth. So I ended up optimizing the >modulation depth + DC component level by listening to my >scattered laser signal on FM ( easier to judge improvement >on S/N audibly without extensive metering ). The final level >ended up at around 2.3 V of DC and 0.8 V of AC superimposed. >The AC component could be higher for even better modulation >depth, but with additional intermodulation distortion. I want >my SSB signal to be reasonably clean and have the dynamic >range for multiple carrier operation. > >Still haven't modified the control loop bandwidth, been using >a subcarrier frequency of around 20 - 30 kHz ( adjustable from >my IC202S ). > >I also slightly adjusted the built-in collimating lense of the >laser adding some improvement to the divergence. The 5 mW laser >still has far better beam shape though, so el cheapo isn't a bad >solution for beginners !!!! > >Ah, the modulator. I dumped the two transistor design as I was >beginning to have current feed/DC gain problems. I went back >to my old favourite, the LM317. I have used this fine regulator >as an audio amp, a video modulator for Gunn oscillators and even >a prototype class D/E modulator ! Now it is doing a very good >job of acting as a laser modulator. What I had to do though was >increase the bias resistors in value to increase input impedance >at the adjust pin ( the laser module only needs 160 mA ) because >by post amplifier ( a BC107 ) following the IF mixer doesn't have >a very low impedance output. The aforementioned DC and AC levels >I have set with this new regulator/modulator. > >Beware stray capacitance at the LM317 output ! I only have 1 nF at >the output and any long leads ( like pigtails from the laser >module ) WILL cause instability problems. So check the output >under all modulation conditions with a good oscilloscope and >suitable probe ( minding the probe stray capacitance while you >are at it ! ). > >Michael > > _\\///_ _ _ _ > (' O O ') (_()_()_) I.O.O.F. > *------------ooO-(_)-Ooo---------------------------* > * Michael Fletcher OH2AUE: 50 MHz * > * Vanhaistentie 4 C 43 144 MHz * > * FIN-00420 Helsinki 432 MHz * > * 1296 MHz * > * Phone/Fax + 358 9 566 62 63 home 2.304 GHz * > * Cellular + 358 50 5505 293 3.400 GHz * > * Phone + 358 9 5259 1890 work 5.760 GHz * > * http://personal.eunet.fi/pp/oh2aue/ 10.368 GHz * > * 24.092 GHz * > * Life is above 1 GHz; 474 THz * > * >99.9 % of the ham bands are there..... * > *--------------------------------------------------* > > > >From owner-laser Tue Jul 15 09:03:24 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA04946; Tue, 15 Jul 97 09:03:24 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f From: hartley@smart.net Date: Tue, 15 Jul 1997 11:31:50 -0500 Message-Id: Subject: [LASER] [TowerTalk] New Lightning Protection Method To: laser@qsl.net Reply-To: hartley@smart.net Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk Received: from dayton.akorn.net [205.217.100.11] by ccsnet.com with smtp id BFBBBMBD ; Mon, 14 Jul 1997 21:17:28 -0500 Received: from dayton.akorn.net (majordom@dayton.akorn.net [205.217.100.11]) by dayton.akorn.net (8.8.5/8.8.5) with SMTP id VAA00216; Mon, 14 Jul 1997 21:41:16 -0400 (EDT) Received: by dayton.akorn.net (TLB v0.10a (1.23 tibbs 1997/01/09 00:29:32)); Mon, 14 Jul 1997 21:41:07 -0400 (EDT) Received: from gemini.smart.net (gemini.smart.net [206.27.242.109]) by dayton.akorn.net (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id VAA00178 for ; Mon, 14 Jul 1997 21:41:02 -0400 (EDT) From: hartley@smart.net Received: from hartley.smart.net (hartley.smart.net [206.153.50.100]) by gemini.smart.net (8.7.6/8.7.3) with SMTP id VAA07965 for ; Mon, 14 Jul 1997 21:41:07 -0400 Date: Mon, 14 Jul 97 20:49:41 PDT Subject: [TowerTalk] New Lightning Protection Method To: towertalk@contesting.com X-Mailer: Chameleon V0.05, TCP/IP for Windows, NetManage Inc. Message-ID: Sender: owner-towertalk@contesting.com Precedence: bulk X-List-Info: http://www.contesting.com/towertalkfaq.html X-Sponsor: W4AN, KM3T, N5KO & AD1C The August issue of Scientific American has an article that may be of interest to those looking for lightning protection. It describes using lasers to redirect lightning strokes to a "safe" destination. Just the thing for you experimenters out there! 73, Chuck KM3V -- FAQ on WWW: http://www.contesting.com/towertalkfaq.html Submissions: towertalk@contesting.com Administrative requests: towertalk-REQUEST@contesting.com Problems: owner-towertalk@contesting.com Search: http://www.contesting.com/km9p/search >From owner-laser Tue Jul 15 10:39:57 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA08596; Tue, 15 Jul 97 10:39:57 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f To: laser@qsl.net Date: Tue, 15 Jul 1997 13:26:30 -0400 Subject: [LASER] MCW vs CW vs BPSK Message-Id: <19970715.133029.12966.2.K3PGP@juno.com> References: <3.0.1.32.19970715091504.00860310@colby.edu> X-Mailer: Juno 1.38 X-Juno-Line-Breaks: 1-7,12,15-16,20-21,23-24,29-30,32-33,39-40,45-51 From: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Reply-To: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk On Tue, 15 Jul 1997 09:15:04 -0500 "Art Allen, KY1K" writes: >I have almost zero experience with SS diodes. > >But, it sounds to me like you are operating the diode BELOW its laser >threshold current-therefore it is jumping back and forth between laser >mode and led mode as you modulate it. When using MCW or BPSK the laser goes from full on to full off as it is usually modulated by a square wave at 800 Hz. Hopefully if you are using a good 50% duty cycle square wave you shouldn't have any problem with any "in between" power levels as the laser is ALWAYS either full on or completely off. (Actually keying it from laser threshold to full power is usually sufficient for these modes but it's often easier to just completely cut it off.) When trying to run linear modes such as SSB, it's vary easy to drive the laser below threshold. The result is much the same as the carrier cutoff that occurs when exceeding 100% modulation using an AM transmitter. Not a very pleasant sound! >With that high power level, you are probably after dx-again, cw (or mcw) is the only way to go (IMHO). You will EASILY gain over 20 dB SNR by going to BPSK! In actual practice it's usually more like 30 to 40 dB. In any event I can get 100% solid copy on a BPSK signal that I can't even hear. Copying a signal this weak on MCW is out of the question. BPSK is the ONLY way to fly for weak signal work! CW would be better than MCW if we had superhet receivers for 474 Thz! However, MCW and CW are two completely different modes! As far as I know no one has yet made a CW QSO using lasers! Remember to work CW you have to heterodyne the CARRIER down to audio so you can hear it! Think of laser MCW as someone running a code practice oscillator feeding an AM transmitter like the old time code practice that was done years ago on ten and two meter AM. The receiver is set up in the AM mode to copy an MCW signal. If you were indeed running CW for a laser QSO you would NOT modulate the laser at all! You would simple turn it on and off just like an HF CW rig. The guy at the other end would adjust his 474 Thz LO to produce a suitable audio tone. (And hope no one sneezed or the wind shifted :-^) !!! John K3PGP@juno.com http://www.qsl.net/k3pgp -==- >From owner-laser Tue Jul 15 10:39:56 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA08595; Tue, 15 Jul 97 10:39:56 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f To: laser@qsl.net Date: Tue, 15 Jul 1997 13:30:21 -0400 Subject: [LASER] BPSK Message-Id: <19970715.133029.12966.3.K3PGP@juno.com> References: X-Mailer: Juno 1.38 X-Juno-Line-Breaks: 1-11,14-25,27-28,30-31,37-43 From: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Reply-To: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk On Mon, 14 Jul 1997 21:35:51 -0500 (CDT) chrise@n0jcf.com (Chris Elmquist) writes: >And as long as we're on the subject-- where can we find details on >this BPSK modem that everybody is using ? Is it a PC plug-in card ? > >Any clues on where it has been written up would be greatly >appreciated. ----- Chris: Actually it's NOT a modem. It's an A/D converter called an S-D (Sigma Delta) board that plugs into the serial port of any IBM clone computer. Everything else is implemented in software. The software is available by doing the following: Go to my web site (adr below) and click on: *Links to other Sites ! Look under Weak Signal Software and click on: *VE2IQ BPSK & FFT Software / Email = bill@ietc.ca A schematic of the interface is available in the January 1992 issue of QST. Contact Bill, VE2IQ (a link to his Email adr is also on the web site) for info on ordering the S-D board, parts etc... I doubt very seriously that BPSK would make it through an auroral path, at least not on two meters! The signal needs a great degree of coherence to demodulate properly, something that auroral reflection usually completely destroys! I've seen a CW signal spread to several Khz wide on two meter aurora. I'd hate to try to recover any type of phase information from a signal like that! John K3PGP@juno.com http://www.qsl.net/k3pgp -==- >From owner-laser Tue Jul 15 13:54:06 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA14185; Tue, 15 Jul 97 13:54:06 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f Date: Tue, 15 Jul 1997 13:43:26 -0700 (PDT) From: Clifford Buttschardt To: Laser newsgroup Subject: [LASER] Burr-Browm Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Reply-To: Clifford Buttschardt Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk I've tried every address I can think of for Burr-Browm. I'd like a set of data sheets for the OPTO series of "light in/data out" Op Amps talked about here on the net. Anyone have a E-maill address> Cliff K7RR >From owner-laser Tue Jul 15 15:05:20 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA16704; Tue, 15 Jul 97 15:05:20 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f Message-Id: <33CBE52D.7EBC@lan.nsc.com> Date: Tue, 15 Jul 1997 14:01:33 -0700 From: Dave Fifield Organization: National Semiconductor Corp. X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.01 (Win95; I) Mime-Version: 1.0 To: Laser Email List Subject: [LASER] 50mW SS Lasers ??? Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Reply-To: Dave Fifield Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk Michael, I'd like to know where you can buy (legally? in the USA?) a 50mW solid state laser!? As far as I've been told, you have to be in the export trade and/or have a special government permit to buy or sell anything over 5mW. Where did you get it from? Please let me have the email/phone/address/www/ftp, manufacturer, part number and cost of this device, I'd love to get my hands on one!!! This could be what we need for the next world record attempt. Dave Fifield AD6AY >From owner-laser Tue Jul 15 18:33:50 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA22060; Tue, 15 Jul 97 18:33:50 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f Date: Tue, 15 Jul 97 16:54:58 PDT From: jmoss@berlioz.nsc.com (Jim Moss) Message-Id: <9707152354.AA19276@berlioz.nsc.com> To: cbuttsch@slonet.org Subject: Re: [LASER] Burr-Browm Cc: laser@qsl.net Reply-To: jmoss@berlioz.nsc.com (Jim Moss) Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk Cliff... It's Burr-Brown! you can access their website at: http://www.burr-brown.com there are copies of the OPT2xx parts on the laser website in the data section. http://www.qsl.net/wb9ajz/laser/data Jim WB9AJZ/6 CM87xi Sunnyvale, CA >From owner-laser Tue Jul 15 20:04:37 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA24421; Tue, 15 Jul 97 20:04:37 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f Message-Id: <33CC9B51.5ED8@slip.net> Date: Wed, 16 Jul 1997 02:58:41 -0700 From: Walt AJ6T Organization: AJ6T X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.0 (Win95; U) Mime-Version: 1.0 To: Chris Elmquist Cc: CPMCGONE@uop.com, laser@qsl.net Subject: Re: [LASER] Other uses for Coherent/BPSK References: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Reply-To: Walt AJ6T Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk Chris Elmquist wrote: > And as long as we're on the subject-- where can we find details on > this BPSK modem that everybody is using ? Is it a PC plug-in card ? > > Any clues on where it has been written up would be greatly appreciated. Chris, et al: I was also intrigued by the talk about the BPSK card, and ordered one from Bill de Carle, VE2IQ. He wrote a QST article about his SDC (Sigma-Delta converter) board in January 1992. "Sigma-Delta" is an analog-to-digital conversion technique. The board IS NOT a PC plug-in card. It is a small 4" x 1.75" PCB which connects to an audio source to be analyzed, and to the PC's serial port via a cable. Bill also has written software to decipher the digital data coming in via the serial port. I have constructed the kit, and I am just beginning to play with it. So far I have just used the FFT program to create a spectral analysis of the incoming audio. This program only runs under DOS or a WIN95 machine booted up under DOS mode, not inside a WIN95 DOS window. Another program (COHERENT) is used for two way communication via BPSK, and for this mode another small circuit is needed to generate the 800 Hz signal to modulate your laser/transmitter (you have to homebrew this part, but it looks easy). VE2IQ sells a $54 SDC kit which consists of the PCB, all board-mounted parts, and a program disk. The SDC board should be mounted in a metal box, and you supply the cables and connectors. For more information refer to the QST article and contact VE2IQ: Bill de Carle, VE2IQ 29 Sommet Vert St-Adolphe d'Howard, PQ, JOT 2BO Canada I have seen some practical information about BPSK on a VLF website (which I cant seem to locate again!). There are several others on the laser@qsl.net reflector who know a lot more about BPSK than I do, so perhaps we can get some dialog started. 73, Walt, AJ6T >From owner-laser Tue Jul 15 22:45:39 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA28366; Tue, 15 Jul 97 22:45:39 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f Message-Id: <2.2.16.19970716044219.3b1ff21a@personal.eunet.fi> X-Sender: oh2aue@personal.eunet.fi X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Pro Version 2.2 (16) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Date: Wed, 16 Jul 1997 08:42:19 +0400 To: "Art Allen, KY1K" From: Michael Fletcher Subject: Re: [LASER] 50 mW laser module - ugh ! Cc: laser@qsl.net Reply-To: Michael Fletcher Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk >I have almost zero experience with SS diodes. Suggest you give it a try Art. It is fun and easy + plus cheap if you are satisfied with say less that 5 mW. >My opinion (and it is strictly that) is that laser diodes should be >operated in strictly cw (or mcw) mode. So far I have about 20 hours operation time on the 5 mW laser and about 7 hours on the 50 mW laser, both with AM modulation. Also the technical feasability of AM modulating the diode is supported by my third order intermodulation measurements at various levels. It is possible to achieve fairly good linearity with at least 30 dB IMD levels ( I didn't try to improve this, since I don't need any more ! ). >Seriously, if I spent $300 US for a big laser signal, I'd want it set up >and running with a laser controller chip using the internal photodiode for >a reference per the OEM's spec. I just couldn't afford another diode and Life is BORING without risks Art !!!!! If you don't try, you don't get it..... Michael _\\///_ _ _ _ (' O O ') (_()_()_) I.O.O.F. *------------ooO-(_)-Ooo---------------------------* * Michael Fletcher OH2AUE: 50 MHz * * Vanhaistentie 4 C 43 144 MHz * * FIN-00420 Helsinki 432 MHz * * 1296 MHz * * Phone/Fax + 358 9 566 62 63 home 2.304 GHz * * Cellular + 358 50 5505 293 3.400 GHz * * Phone + 358 9 5259 1890 work 5.760 GHz * * http://personal.eunet.fi/pp/oh2aue/ 10.368 GHz * * 24.092 GHz * * Life is above 1 GHz; 474 THz * * >99.9 % of the ham bands are there..... * *--------------------------------------------------* >From owner-laser Tue Jul 15 22:38:15 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA28150; Tue, 15 Jul 97 22:38:15 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f Message-Id: <2.2.16.19970716043324.3b1f29bc@personal.eunet.fi> X-Sender: oh2aue@personal.eunet.fi X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Pro Version 2.2 (16) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Date: Wed, 16 Jul 1997 08:33:24 +0400 To: laser@qsl.net From: Michael Fletcher Subject: Re: [LASER] 50 mW laser module - ugh ! Cc: laser@qsl.net Reply-To: Michael Fletcher Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk At 09:15 15/07/97 -0500, Art Allen, KY1K wrote: >I have almost zero experience with SS diodes. > >But, it sounds to me like you are operating the diode BELOW its laser >threshold current-therefore it is jumping back and forth between laser mode >and led mode as you modulate it. > >This also accounts for the improved divergence when you slam it with a >little more current and a little less modulation. > >My opinion (and it is strictly that) is that laser diodes should be >operated in strictly cw (or mcw) mode. > >Seriously, if I spent $300 US for a big laser signal, I'd want it set up >and running with a laser controller chip using the internal photodiode for >a reference per the OEM's spec. I just couldn't afford another diode and >running it with anything less is definately risking opening of the smoke >valve. > >With that high power level, you are probably after dx-again, cw (or mcw) >is the only way to go (IMHO). > >Hey Michael, are there any other laser experimenters in EU and is anyone >interested in non-los over there? Looking at my topo map, it looks like you >have some big hills there, and most likely there is very clean air. Are >there any world record attempts for laser dx on the horizon over there? > >Good dx...Art.... > >At 08:40 AM 07/15/1997 +0400, you wrote: >>Hi all, >> >>installed the 50 mW laser module ( a field operation >>at the annual national ham camp this weekend ) and >>found the divergence to be pretty awful. The modulation >>level I adjusted by briefly checking the modulating >>DC+AC waveform and level on a scope. The reflection >>tests were a success using a 'dustbin scatter' at >>around 200 m and removing the dustbin later even still >>copying the CW at the laser was mostly hitting forest >>and part of the diverged beam scattering from the >>rear end of a parked car. The incidence angle was around >>60 degrees, so a vast majority of the laser carrier was >>reflected away back into the forest. >> >>Reflections off the VHF/UHF station rotator base around >>100 m away was very loud of course, also the reflection >>off a street lamp reflector. The HF station mast at >>around 300 m gave a very good reflection too even though the >>ambient light level was still very high and the laser reflection >>was pretty difficult to see on the mast through my telescope. >> >>All experiments were with CW, SSB and FM. The bystanders >>were numerous and impressed ! >> >>Last night I had a check on the laser modulation operation >>and found that the beam was considerably improved by increasing >>the DC level going into the laser module but at the cost of >>decreased modulation depth. So I ended up optimizing the >>modulation depth + DC component level by listening to my >>scattered laser signal on FM ( easier to judge improvement >>on S/N audibly without extensive metering ). The final level >>ended up at around 2.3 V of DC and 0.8 V of AC superimposed. >>The AC component could be higher for even better modulation >>depth, but with additional intermodulation distortion. I want >>my SSB signal to be reasonably clean and have the dynamic >>range for multiple carrier operation. >> >>Still haven't modified the control loop bandwidth, been using >>a subcarrier frequency of around 20 - 30 kHz ( adjustable from >>my IC202S ). >> >>I also slightly adjusted the built-in collimating lense of the >>laser adding some improvement to the divergence. The 5 mW laser >>still has far better beam shape though, so el cheapo isn't a bad >>solution for beginners !!!! >> >>Ah, the modulator. I dumped the two transistor design as I was >>beginning to have current feed/DC gain problems. I went back >>to my old favourite, the LM317. I have used this fine regulator >>as an audio amp, a video modulator for Gunn oscillators and even >>a prototype class D/E modulator ! Now it is doing a very good >>job of acting as a laser modulator. What I had to do though was >>increase the bias resistors in value to increase input impedance >>at the adjust pin ( the laser module only needs 160 mA ) because >>by post amplifier ( a BC107 ) following the IF mixer doesn't have >>a very low impedance output. The aforementioned DC and AC levels >>I have set with this new regulator/modulator. >> >>Beware stray capacitance at the LM317 output ! I only have 1 nF at >>the output and any long leads ( like pigtails from the laser >>module ) WILL cause instability problems. So check the output >>under all modulation conditions with a good oscilloscope and >>suitable probe ( minding the probe stray capacitance while you >>are at it ! ). >> >>Michael >> >> _\\///_ _ _ _ >> (' O O ') (_()_()_) I.O.O.F. >> *------------ooO-(_)-Ooo---------------------------* >> * Michael Fletcher OH2AUE: 50 MHz * >> * Vanhaistentie 4 C 43 144 MHz * >> * FIN-00420 Helsinki 432 MHz * >> * 1296 MHz * >> * Phone/Fax + 358 9 566 62 63 home 2.304 GHz * >> * Cellular + 358 50 5505 293 3.400 GHz * >> * Phone + 358 9 5259 1890 work 5.760 GHz * >> * http://personal.eunet.fi/pp/oh2aue/ 10.368 GHz * >> * 24.092 GHz * >> * Life is above 1 GHz; 474 THz * >> * >99.9 % of the ham bands are there..... * >> *--------------------------------------------------* >> >> >> > > _\\///_ _ _ _ (' O O ') (_()_()_) I.O.O.F. *------------ooO-(_)-Ooo---------------------------* * Michael Fletcher OH2AUE: 50 MHz * * Vanhaistentie 4 C 43 144 MHz * * FIN-00420 Helsinki 432 MHz * * 1296 MHz * * Phone/Fax + 358 9 566 62 63 home 2.304 GHz * * Cellular + 358 50 5505 293 3.400 GHz * * Phone + 358 9 5259 1890 work 5.760 GHz * * http://personal.eunet.fi/pp/oh2aue/ 10.368 GHz * * 24.092 GHz * * Life is above 1 GHz; 474 THz * * >99.9 % of the ham bands are there..... * *--------------------------------------------------* >From owner-laser Tue Jul 15 22:38:29 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA28156; Tue, 15 Jul 97 22:38:29 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f Message-Id: <2.2.16.19970716043051.3b1f3288@personal.eunet.fi> X-Sender: oh2aue@personal.eunet.fi X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Pro Version 2.2 (16) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Date: Wed, 16 Jul 1997 08:30:51 +0400 To: "Art Allen, KY1K" From: Michael Fletcher Subject: Re: [LASER] 50 mW laser module - ugh ! Cc: laser@qsl.net Reply-To: Michael Fletcher Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk >But, it sounds to me like you are operating the diode BELOW its laser >threshold current-therefore it is jumping back and forth between laser mode >and led mode as you modulate it. Art, the emitted light is very definately laser light at all modulation levels I am using. The coherence of light is very easy to see. The beam is also well defined and coherent, especially after correcting the collimation lense setting. I checked the beam last night at a distance of around 1000 m and the beam width is maybe 5 m. >This also accounts for the improved divergence when you slam it with a >little more current and a little less modulation. The divergence ( with the poor collimation ) improved by about 50 % after readjusting the operation point. As I mentioned, I installed the module in the field with minimum test gear... >My opinion (and it is strictly that) is that laser diodes should be >operated in strictly cw (or mcw) mode. I understand your point, but it works..... >and running with a laser controller chip using the internal photodiode for >a reference per the OEM's spec. I just couldn't afford another diode and I haven't touched the integrated controller/photodiode setup !!!! ( YET..... ) Whats more the manufacturer supplies virtually zilch specs on the module. My modulator can also do 100 % duty cycle on/off modulation for DX. >have some big hills there, and most likely there is very clean air. Are >there any world record attempts for laser dx on the horizon over there? I am not quite sure if clean air is good or bad for scattering QSO's, extra path loss or more scattering material in the volume ? I haven't heard of any experiments lately, but maybe the wizards are shy ? >Good dx...Art.... Michael _\\///_ _ _ _ (' O O ') (_()_()_) I.O.O.F. *------------ooO-(_)-Ooo---------------------------* * Michael Fletcher OH2AUE: 50 MHz * * Vanhaistentie 4 C 43 144 MHz * * FIN-00420 Helsinki 432 MHz * * 1296 MHz * * Phone/Fax + 358 9 566 62 63 home 2.304 GHz * * Cellular + 358 50 5505 293 3.400 GHz * * Phone + 358 9 5259 1890 work 5.760 GHz * * http://personal.eunet.fi/pp/oh2aue/ 10.368 GHz * * 24.092 GHz * * Life is above 1 GHz; 474 THz * * >99.9 % of the ham bands are there..... * *--------------------------------------------------* >From owner-laser Tue Jul 15 23:04:10 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA28832; Tue, 15 Jul 97 23:04:10 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f Message-Id: <2.2.16.19970716045616.3b1f1f90@personal.eunet.fi> X-Sender: oh2aue@personal.eunet.fi X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Pro Version 2.2 (16) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Date: Wed, 16 Jul 1997 08:56:16 +0400 To: Dave Fifield , Laser Email List From: Michael Fletcher Subject: Re: [LASER] 50mW SS Lasers ??? Reply-To: Michael Fletcher Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk >Michael, Hi Dave, >I'd like to know where you can buy (legally? in the USA?) a=20 >50mW solid state laser!? As far as I've been told, you have >to be in the export trade and/or have a special government >permit to buy or sell anything over 5mW. Really ?!? I know that 25 - 30 mW HeNe-lasers are for sale off the shelf for things like laser plotters ( spare parts ) an and so on. I would be surprised of such a purchase limitation, after all, it's only light ! Albeit coherent. >Where did you get it from? >Please let me have the email/phone/address/www/ftp,=20 >manufacturer, part number and cost of this device, I'd I purchased the laser module from a company here in Finland called Aseko Oy, Electronics Dept. Their home page is=20 http://www.aseko.fi There isn't much on this Dept. there though. The module is manufactured in Korea as far as I remember. You should be able to get these locally too.=20 You can e-mail the electronics dept. at elektroniikka@aseko.fi and the name of the engineer is Mr. Seppo Kytt=E4l=E4. >love to get my hands on one!!! This could be what we >need for the next world record attempt. If you run into problems, drop me a line and we will see what I can do for you. >Dave Fifield >AD6AY Michael _\\///_ _ _ _ (' O O ') (_()_()_) I.O.O.F. =20 *------------ooO-(_)-Ooo---------------------------* * Michael Fletcher OH2AUE: 50 MHz * * Vanhaistentie 4 C 43 144 MHz * * FIN-00420 Helsinki 432 MHz * * 1296 MHz * * Phone/Fax + 358 9 566 62 63 home 2.304 GHz * * Cellular + 358 50 5505 293 3.400 GHz * * Phone + 358 9 5259 1890 work 5.760 GHz * * http://personal.eunet.fi/pp/oh2aue/ 10.368 GHz * * 24.092 GHz * * Life is above 1 GHz; 474 THz * * >99.9 % of the ham bands are there..... * *--------------------------------------------------* >From owner-laser Wed Jul 16 02:35:56 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA04408; Wed, 16 Jul 97 02:35:56 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f Message-Id: <2.2.16.19970716082731.3e4f31c8@personal.eunet.fi> X-Sender: oh2aue@personal.eunet.fi X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Pro Version 2.2 (16) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Date: Wed, 16 Jul 1997 12:27:31 +0400 To: laser@qsl.net From: Michael Fletcher Subject: [LASER] Check out these URL's... Reply-To: Michael Fletcher Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk Hi gang, check these out: http://www.nvginc.com/index.htm http://www.plk.af.mil/PLhome/PA/FACTSHEETS/pocklasr.html http://www.osha-slc.gov/TechMan_data/TM30.html Michael _\\///_ _ _ _ (' O O ') (_()_()_) I.O.O.F. *------------ooO-(_)-Ooo---------------------------* * Michael Fletcher OH2AUE: 50 MHz * * Vanhaistentie 4 C 43 144 MHz * * FIN-00420 Helsinki 432 MHz * * 1296 MHz * * Phone/Fax + 358 9 566 62 63 home 2.304 GHz * * Cellular + 358 50 5505 293 3.400 GHz * * Phone + 358 9 5259 1890 work 5.760 GHz * * http://personal.eunet.fi/pp/oh2aue/ 10.368 GHz * * 24.092 GHz * * Life is above 1 GHz; 474 THz * * >99.9 % of the ham bands are there..... * *--------------------------------------------------* >From owner-laser Wed Jul 16 07:07:30 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA09609; Wed, 16 Jul 97 07:07:30 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f To: laser@qsl.net Date: Wed, 16 Jul 1997 09:49:05 -0400 Subject: Re: [LASER] 50mW SS Lasers ??? Message-Id: <19970716.095638.12966.4.K3PGP@juno.com> References: <33CBE52D.7EBC@lan.nsc.com> X-Mailer: Juno 1.38 X-Juno-Line-Breaks: 1-18,21-28,30-31,34-40 From: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Reply-To: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk On Tue, 15 Jul 1997 14:01:33 -0700 Dave Fifield writes: >Michael, > >I'd like to know where you can buy (legally? in the USA?) a >50mW solid state laser!? As far as I've been told, you have >to be in the export trade and/or have a special government >permit to buy or sell anything over 5mW. > >Where did you get it from? >Please let me have the email/phone/address/www/ftp, >manufacturer, part number and cost of this device, I'd >love to get my hands on one!!! This could be what we >need for the next world record attempt. > >Dave Fifield >AD6AY > Several people have bought 30 mw lasers from Lasermate. (Most recent KB1RP = $160 for 30 mw @ 830 nm.) There is a link to their site posted on my web page under: *Links to other sites Laser Vendors *Lasermate These are NEW complete lasers and are available all the time. There are several other places selling solid state lasers up to 1500 mw CW !!! I just recently bought a 500 mw 810 nm model... Oatley in Australia, also on my web site, has 5 to 500 mw (diodes only) from time to time. However, this is a SURPLUS place and stock changes daily. Right now I think I just about sucked them dry :-^) ! John K3PGP@juno.com http://www.qsl.net/k3pgp -==- >From owner-laser Wed Jul 16 07:07:29 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA09608; Wed, 16 Jul 97 07:07:29 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f To: laser@qsl.net Date: Wed, 16 Jul 1997 09:53:40 -0400 Subject: Re: [LASER] Burr-Browm Message-Id: <19970716.095638.12966.5.K3PGP@juno.com> References: X-Mailer: Juno 1.38 X-Juno-Line-Breaks: 1-6,8-17,19-25 From: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Reply-To: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk On Tue, 15 Jul 1997 13:43:26 -0700 (PDT) Clifford Buttschardt writes: >I've tried every address I can think of for Burr-Browm. I'd like a >set of data sheets for the OPTO series of "light in/data out" Op >Amps talked about here on the net. Anyone have a E-maill address > Cliff K7RR Did you check out the complete spec sheets posted on line at Jim's web site: www.qsl.net/wb9ajz ??? If you'd like a WWW adr directly to Burr-Brown, go to my site and follow: *Links to other sites Commercial Vendors Burr-Brown Sorry for all these links, but there's no way I can remember all these adr. That's why I posted them on the web site... :-^) John K3PGP@juno.com http://www.qsl.net/k3pgp -==- >From owner-laser Wed Jul 16 17:02:47 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA25948; Wed, 16 Jul 97 17:02:47 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f Date: Wed, 16 Jul 1997 16:57:38 -0700 (PDT) From: Walter Miller X-Sender: aj6t@slip-3 To: Clifford Buttschardt Cc: Laser newsgroup Subject: Re: [LASER] Burr-Browm In-Reply-To: Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Reply-To: Walter Miller Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk On Tue, 15 Jul 1997, Clifford Buttschardt wrote: > I've tried every address I can think of for Burr-Browm. I'd like a set of > data sheets for the OPTO series of "light in/data out" Op Amps talked > about here on the net. Anyone have a E-maill address> Cliff K7RR > > Cliff, I bookmarked the exact web page for the Burr-Brown OPT210 data sheet: http://www.burr-brown.com/Products/DataSheets/OPT210.html >From here you can easily find other data sheets and application notes, all of which are viewed with the free Adobe Acrobat viewer. Also take a look at the OPT211, which I think might be slightly better than the OPT210 (but I have only used the OPT210 myself). For maximum sensitivity use a BIG feedback resistor. I think you can go up to about 1 Gigohm before the bandwidth falls to 1 KHz, but I have only experimented up to 88 Mohms so far. 73, Walt ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Walter Miller, AJ6T Saratoga, CA USA CM87 Reply to aj6t@slip.net >From owner-laser Wed Jul 16 18:28:15 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA28398; Wed, 16 Jul 97 18:28:15 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f Date: Wed, 16 Jul 1997 18:17:36 -0700 (PDT) From: Clifford Buttschardt To: Walter Miller Cc: Laser newsgroup Subject: Re: [LASER] Burr-Browm In-Reply-To: Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Reply-To: Clifford Buttschardt Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk Great Walt....need that! I have a 50 megohm resistor here that probably was voltage multiplier in the past. At least a good start. Cliff K7RR >From owner-laser Wed Jul 16 19:12:59 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA29703; Wed, 16 Jul 97 19:12:59 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f Date: Wed, 16 Jul 1997 19:02:27 -0700 (PDT) From: Clifford Buttschardt To: Walter Miller Cc: Laser newsgroup Subject: Re: [LASER] Burr-Browm In-Reply-To: Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Reply-To: Clifford Buttschardt Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk Look guys, I 've tried all day and there is absolutely no way that any of these address will connect. Constant "not able to connect" messages. Christ! computer operation can not be this hard! Cliff K7RR On Wed, 16 Jul 1997, Walter Miller wrote: > On Tue, 15 Jul 1997, Clifford Buttschardt wrote: > > > I've tried every address I can think of for Burr-Browm. I'd like a set of > > data sheets for the OPTO series of "light in/data out" Op Amps talked > > about here on the net. Anyone have a E-maill address> Cliff K7RR > > > > > Cliff, > I bookmarked the exact web page for the Burr-Brown OPT210 data sheet: > http://www.burr-brown.com/Products/DataSheets/OPT210.html > > >From here you can easily find other data sheets and application notes, all > of which are viewed with the free Adobe Acrobat viewer. Also take a look > at the OPT211, which I think might be slightly better than the OPT210 (but > I have only used the OPT210 myself). For maximum sensitivity use a BIG > feedback resistor. I think you can go up to about 1 Gigohm before the > bandwidth falls to 1 KHz, but I have only experimented up to 88 Mohms so > far. > 73, Walt > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Walter Miller, AJ6T Saratoga, CA USA CM87 > Reply to aj6t@slip.net > > >From owner-laser Wed Jul 16 19:29:36 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA29928; Wed, 16 Jul 97 19:29:36 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f From: daveaa1a@xensei.com Date: Wed, 16 Jul 1997 22:25:04 -0400 Message-Id: <199707170225.WAA03150@xensei2.xensei.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: [LASER] Modulating diodes To: laser@qsl.net X-Mailer: SPRY Mail Version: 04.00.06.17 Reply-To: daveaa1a@xensei.com Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk Well a square wave going up/down at the junction of a laser diode is fine for FM and MCW but think of the 'spark rig' of it all.. I carefully bias my diodes into the middle of their conduction range ie: between 20ma and a max of 100 ma. So 60ma is average.. I then apply a waveform (ssb-cw tone-fm-tc etc) and adjust for max linear swing. To check this put a 10 ohm resistor from common to bottom of diode and check with scope.. You will soon see how far you can push it and be linear.. Looks like less net power but much cleaner especially for linear work.. 73s de dave www.qsl.net/aa1a/ pix of setup there soon.. >From owner-laser Thu Jul 17 07:51:49 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA18356; Thu, 17 Jul 97 07:51:49 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f Date: Thu, 17 Jul 1997 09:50:03 -0500 Message-Id: <199707171450.JAA00612@linux2.isrc.net> X-Sender: wi5s@isrc.net X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Pro Version 2.1.2 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" To: handi-hams@qsl.net, laser@qsl.net, marcnet@qsl.net, marrn@qsl.net From: Charles Knight Subject: [LASER] Free Morse code program Reply-To: Charles Knight Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk There is a Morse code testing and training program at: http://www.cq.net/users/wi5s/ Please download it and let me know what you think of it. >From owner-laser Thu Jul 17 07:48:39 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA18263; Thu, 17 Jul 97 07:48:39 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f To: laser@qsl.net Date: Thu, 17 Jul 1997 10:34:44 -0400 Subject: Re: [LASER] Burr-Browm Message-Id: <19970717.103456.13942.0.K3PGP@juno.com> References: X-Mailer: Juno 1.38 X-Juno-Line-Breaks: 1-7,10-13,16-22 From: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Reply-To: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk On Wed, 16 Jul 1997 19:02:27 -0700 (PDT) Clifford Buttschardt writes: >Look guys, I 've tried all day and there is absolutely no way that any >of these address will connect. Constant "not able to connect" messages. >Christ! computer operation can not be this hard! Cliff K7RR Have you tried Jim's laser web site: www.qsl.net/wb9ajz ??? The exact same spec sheets are posted there. If you can't seem to get this data any other way I'll break them down and Email or Snail mail them to you.... You should have no problems connecting to qsl.net ! PS - Are you getting this error when clicking on Burr-Brown from my web site? At least that would rule out any typo errors, etc. Some of these web sites are sensitive to case, etc... John K3PGP@juno.com http://www.qsl.net/k3pgp -==- >From owner-laser Thu Jul 17 08:26:23 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA19562; Thu, 17 Jul 97 08:26:23 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f To: laser@qsl.net Date: Thu, 17 Jul 1997 11:09:52 -0400 Subject: [LASER] Modulating diodes / BPSK / EME Message-Id: <19970717.110955.13942.1.K3PGP@juno.com> References: <199707170225.WAA03150@xensei2.xensei.com> X-Mailer: Juno 1.38 X-Juno-Line-Breaks: 0-20,25-26,32-33,40-41,46-47,53-54,63-64,70-71, 75-76,84-85,89-95 From: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Reply-To: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk On Wed, 16 Jul 1997 22:25:04 -0400 daveaa1a@xensei.com writes: > >Well a square wave going up/down at the junction of a laser diode is >fine for FM and MCW but think of the 'spark rig' of it all.. > >I carefully bias my diodes into the middle of their conduction range >ie: between 20ma and a max of 100 ma. So 60ma is average.. >I then apply a waveform (ssb-cw tone-fm-tc etc) and adjust for max >linear swing. > >To check this put a 10 ohm resistor from common to bottom of diode and >check with scope.. You will soon see how far you can push it and be >linear.. > >Looks like less net power but much cleaner especially for linear >work.. > >73s de dave www.qsl.net/aa1a/ pix of setup there soon.. ----- Well it might be a 'spark gap' but it produces better SNR on BPSK! In my mind all laser work to date is in the 'spark gap' era and will be till we figure out how to build a laser superhet with a tuneable 474 Thz LO! The we can work REAL CW and forget about MCW! At that point we'll probably find out just how bad our laser diodes really are! I think a lot of this depends on what you intend to use your laser for. Since my goal is laser EME I am trying to squeeze every last dB out of the system. I get better SNR on BPSK by modulating the laser diode with a 50% duty cycle square wave at 800 Hz. The diode also runs cooler which is also a factor to consider when you are using a 500 mw diode and is the most expensive component in the system! I only go to linear mode for SSB which I doubt very seriously that I'll be able to use on an EME path with the amount of laser power that I have. When using linear modes I've had better luck using an output meter and biasing to half optical power since some diodes don't seem to bias up correctly when using the DC method. (I'm in the process of writing an article on a simple self calibrating laser output power meter that anyone can build for under $10!) At one time I thought that biasing the diode for linear operation and modulating with an 800 Hz sine wave should produce better SNR as it would be a cleaner signal, (less power in harmonics). However, it doesn't work that way in actual practice. This may have something to do with the A/D converter and the demodulation / integration software that I'm using. Please keep in mind that my goals are different than most on here. I have practically ZERO interest in line of sight work and have discontinued all research using lasers for any mode other than BPSK since it seems to be the only real weak signal mode that we have to work with at the moment. I am concentrating all my efforts on laser tropo-scatter and laser EME. If I can't work someone from my backyard FORGET IT. I'm not the type to be dragging equipment all over the place and is one of the reasons you very seldom see any reports of QSO's from here. I have a great deal of respect for people that do this as it's something that doesn't appeal to me. I still enjoy reading about simple line of sight QSO's regardless of distance involved because I know what these guys went through to drag all that equipment to those mountaintops and then figure out how to point it at each other! Just getting my stuff set up in the back yard is a major undertaking for me! Part of this may be due to the fact that my laser setup now weighs over 100 pounds and just recently I was forced to mount it on four large diameter wheels just so I could get it outside! Once this is set up in the back yard, there's a rack full of equipment that has to be connected to it. There are also three computers that need to go along with it, only one of which is a laptop! I'm just finishing up the software and hardware to allow auto-tracking the moon to within .01 degree and it seems to be working. The CCD camera is mounted on the 6 inch reflecting telescope so I can see exactly what part of the moon I am auto-tracking. It appears as though only the first and last part of the lunar phase is going to be useable with the present setup as the sun noise reflected from the lunar disk causes too much noise even with an IR filter... Even the solar noise from the UNLIT part of the moon is detectable and unfortunately seems to lean toward the red end of the spectrum! The laser is set up so it hits the unlit part of the moon. I'm working on various schemes to mask off the brightly lit crescent which gets to be more and more of a problem as the lunar phase progresses each month. It seems as though I either have to put up with skies that are NOT dark during the first and last quarter as the moon is quite close to sunset or sunrise, or put up with more moon light as more and more of the lunar disk becomes lit as it moves away from sunset and sunrise. John K3PGP@juno.com http://www.qsl.net/k3pgp -==- >From owner-laser Thu Jul 17 09:15:57 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA21166; Thu, 17 Jul 97 09:15:57 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f Date: Thu, 17 Jul 97 09:13:28 PDT From: jmoss@berlioz.nsc.com (Jim Moss) Message-Id: <9707171613.AA21079@berlioz.nsc.com> To: laser@qsl.net Subject: Re: [LASER] Modulating diodes Reply-To: jmoss@berlioz.nsc.com (Jim Moss) Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk Dave mentioned watching voltage/resistance for laser diode operation... perhaps we should use the internal Pin Diode and monitor light amplitude and setup a feedback cct.... I've been thinking about this but haven't tried it yet. Jim WB9AJZ/6 CM87xi Sunnyvale. >From owner-laser Thu Jul 17 09:50:09 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA21979; Thu, 17 Jul 97 09:50:09 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f To: laser@qsl.net Date: Thu, 17 Jul 1997 12:40:48 -0400 Subject: Re: [LASER] Modulating diodes Message-Id: <19970717.124050.3902.2.K3PGP@juno.com> References: <9707171613.AA21079@berlioz.nsc.com> X-Mailer: Juno 1.38 X-Juno-Line-Breaks: 0-10,12-13,15-16,24-27,36-37,40-41,47,49-50,53-59 From: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Reply-To: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk On Thu, 17 Jul 97 09:13:28 PDT jmoss@berlioz.nsc.com (Jim Moss) writes: > >Dave mentioned watching voltage/resistance for laser diode >operation... >perhaps we should use the internal Pin Diode and monitor light >amplitude and setup a feedback cct.... >I've been thinking about this but haven't tried it yet. > >Jim >WB9AJZ/6 CM87xi Sunnyvale. This is an excellent idea and provides about the same results as using an external power meter to set the system up. I only problem I have one MAJOR problem and one smaller problem with feedback regulators. You absolutely MUST provide for some type of MAX current limiting. I have lost more diodes with feedback regulators than any other type of power control. If anything goes wrong with the feedback path the regulator tries to increase the bias to the laser diode and if no limiter is provided the diode is immediately turned into an expensive LED! Some circuits are so unstable that you have to turn them on SLOWLY by ramping the voltage up from the power source or you will blow the laser diode the first time you power the system up! The other problem relates to bandwidth and dynamic regulation. The feedback regulator seems to work fine for CW power control. However, when AM modulation is introduced (this even applies to FM subcarriers since the subcarrier is AMPLITUDE modulating the laser diode!) the feedback regulator tries to follow the modulation and cancel it out! Various overshoot and undershoot problems start to crop up. This can be especially troublesome when using modes like SSB! At the very least you can end up causing more non-linearities in the system instead of reducing them. At the worst you end up blowing out the laser diode when the control circuit overshoots and overbiases the laser diode. This is why I ended up going to a series resistor and a shunt modulator. If you accidently overdrive it the worst you can do is cut off all power to the laser diode! If you know of a feedback regulator that works well with 100 % sinewave modulating frequencies up to 100 Khz or so you might consider posting it. If done properly I would think this would be the equivalent of negative feedback as applied to audio and RF amplifiers and should go a LONG way toward reducing distortion. I've pretty much given up on them and haven't lost a laser diode since! Again part of this is due to the fact that I'm now pretty much only running BPSK with lasers. I'm just trying to point out some of the problems I ran into trying this in the past. Hopefully, by pointing out these problems it might prevent someone from blowing out a laser diode while setting up the regulator! John K3PGP@juno.com http://www.qsl.net/k3pgp -==- >From owner-laser Thu Jul 17 13:27:02 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA27413; Thu, 17 Jul 97 13:27:02 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f Date: Thu, 17 Jul 1997 13:16:49 PDT From: "Werdein,Tony" Subject: [LASER] Laser Communications ala Military style To: laser@qsl.net Message-Id: <2A79CE3381AB677C2A79CE3381AB677C#064#X-WB-0207-MS3.XN@SMF> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII Posting-Date: Thu, 17 Jul 1997 16:17:46 -0400 Hop-Count: 3 Reply-To: "Werdein,Tony" Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk Group, In the August 1997 issue of Popular Science on page 52, there is an article at the top of the page titled "Talking Lasers". The articles describes how military planners are using lasers integrated into binoculars made by Thermo Trax Corp. for communications, it furthers describes some of the problems encountered and how software will hopefully correct them. I thought this group might be interested. "Depending upon the power of the laser, data transfer can be as quick as 1.2 gigabits per second...", any body out done any BERT to see what rate their getting? From reading this news group I think that you guys are doing better than the military, with the possible 30 mile + bounce with using a "pocket pen laser", and all of the experiments and equipment along with software and schemes being developed out of fun and hobby sense. Still trying to cleanup a few loose ends before I can "play" with my 5mw HeNe or my Ramsey Infared Laser xmit and rcv kit. In the meantime I monitor and save the information that comes across this excellent group. 73 de Tony N2TRV Tony_Werdein@xn.xerox.com In the land of Imaging Rochester, NY >From owner-laser Thu Jul 17 15:54:22 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA02155; Thu, 17 Jul 97 15:54:22 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f Date: Thu, 17 Jul 97 15:46:06 PDT From: jmoss@berlioz.nsc.com (Jim Moss) Message-Id: <9707172246.AA01948@berlioz.nsc.com> To: laser@qsl.net Subject: [LASER] cloud bounce Reply-To: jmoss@berlioz.nsc.com (Jim Moss) Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk I set up my "new" 8 (?) mW HeNe modulated with a 12VDC fan and aimed it off into the western sky at 45 degrees last night. Listening on the PMT thru a 1/4" hole (to limit opening), I was able to get good returns off of a high cirrus clouds here in the SF Bay area. (flights into SFO were under the clouds, so they had to be up a ways.) I experimented with using a 40nM filter centered on 650nM... Really improved the S/N significantly. From just perceptable to easily copiable. Did some checking to see if I was getting a real return or if it was off the beam or side objects... I am sure it was from the cloud base, based on angles between the RX and TX, and other possible scatter sources. So, I've added the filter into the cct. (may want to try some narrower ones if I can find some.) RX is 8x10 fresnel book magnifier in file box with Mini-side view PMT mounted behind an L bracket (filter in front of L bracket). Where were all you other Bay Area cloud bouncers?? Jim WB9AJZ/6 CM87xi Sunnyvale, CA >From owner-laser Thu Jul 17 15:54:17 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA02148; Thu, 17 Jul 97 15:54:17 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f Message-Id: <3.0.1.32.19970717183936.006de764@shell1.shore.net> X-Sender: dmoisan@shell1.shore.net X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Light Version 3.0.1 (32) Date: Thu, 17 Jul 1997 18:39:36 -0400 To: laser@qsl.net From: David Moisan Subject: [LASER] What are some good ways to modulate HeNe? Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Reply-To: David Moisan Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk I've got a Metrologic 0.9 mW HeNe laser and I'd like to know how best to modulate it. What methods are available, and what kind of bandwidth can I expect? Dave | David Moisan, N1KGH Email: dmoisan@shore.net | | WWW: http://www.shore.net/~dmoisan n1kgh@amsat.org | | Invisible Disabilities Page: | | http://www.shore.net/~dmoisan/invisible_disability.html | | GE Superradio FAQ: | | http://www1.shore.net/~dmoisan/faqs/superradio/gesr_faq.html | >From owner-laser Thu Jul 17 16:33:05 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA03800; Thu, 17 Jul 97 16:33:05 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f From: daveaa1a@xensei.com Date: Thu, 17 Jul 1997 19:32:44 -0400 Message-Id: <199707172332.TAA13868@xensei2.xensei.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: Re: [LASER] What are some good ways to modulate HeNe? To: David Moisan , laser@qsl.net In-Reply-To: <3.0.1.32.19970717183936.006de764@shell1.shore.net> X-Mailer: SPRY Mail Version: 04.00.06.17 Reply-To: daveaa1a@xensei.com Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk Gudday Dave, >From what iv'e seen on here you can modulate the he-ne with a muffin fan, pull the D.C. filters from the power supply and FM the switcher oscillator for FM, but the best and easiest is a cheap laser diode that can be modulated in a variety of ways from high efficiency SPARK (on-off) to linear modulation right up to SSB.. 73s from dave2 >From owner-laser Thu Jul 17 16:38:14 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA04098; Thu, 17 Jul 97 16:38:14 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f Date: Thu, 17 Jul 1997 16:37:00 -0700 (PDT) From: Walter Miller X-Sender: aj6t@slip-3 To: "Werdein,Tony" Cc: laser@qsl.net Subject: Re: [LASER] Laser Communications ala Military style In-Reply-To: <2A79CE3381AB677C2A79CE3381AB677C#064#X-WB-0207-MS3.XN@SMF> Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Reply-To: Walter Miller Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk On Thu, 17 Jul 1997, Werdein,Tony wrote: > Still trying to cleanup a few loose ends before I can "play" with > my 5mw HeNe or my Ramsey Infared Laser xmit and rcv kit. In the > meantime I monitor and save the information that comes across this > excellent group. > > 73 de Tony N2TRV Tony_Werdein@xn.xerox.com Hi Tony, I was not aware that Ramsey has an IR laser kit. Please give us some more details on what it is and what it claims to do. 73, Walt ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Walter Miller, AJ6T Saratoga, CA USA CM87 Reply to aj6t@slip.net >From owner-laser Thu Jul 17 18:03:45 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA06694; Thu, 17 Jul 97 18:03:45 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f Message-Id: <33CEBF1F.72C8@prodigy.net> Date: Thu, 17 Jul 1997 19:55:59 -0500 From: KC5AN Organization: Prodigy Internet X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.0 (Win95; I) Mime-Version: 1.0 To: Jim Moss Cc: laser@qsl.net Subject: Re: [LASER] subcarrier demodulation / modular approach References: <9707141625.AA24902@berlioz.nsc.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Reply-To: KC5AN Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk Jim Moss wrote: > > Just to add, if you build your own stand alone demodulator, it reduces the > amound of equipment and setup issues in the field! Also, a 4066 or variant, > will "AFC" (pull) over to the TX frequency carrier, if it is anywhere nearby, > eliminating a tuning issue. (of course it only works for FM) > > I have built a seperate demod box that I can simply insert between the RX > and the AF amp. > > RX MODULE ----- DEMOD MODULE ------ AF MODULE ---- speaker > > I've used 1/8" jacks and shielded audio cable between each 2x2x2 box. > > This approach allows you to upgrade the station as you go along. > > I have several different RX modules, 1 demod module and 1 AF module at this > point. For simple baseband, I skip the demod module. > > Jim > WB9AJZ/6 CM87xi Sunnyvale,CA Thanks for the info. I have purchased a 4066. Can you give circuit details for a 4066 modulator? I will be using a 40-kHz clock signal for the reference input, with the option (via straps on my clock board) of 25 kHz. My ARRL handbook is not specific enough, and the Motorola Application notes are, frankly, over my head. Thanks, john kc5an n. Texas >From owner-laser Fri Jul 18 00:30:39 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA16443; Fri, 18 Jul 97 00:30:39 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f Message-Id: <33CFC5CD.98@alphalink.com.au> Date: Fri, 18 Jul 1997 12:36:45 -0700 From: Derek Weston Organization: Realtime Control X-Mailer: Mozilla 2.02 (Win16; I) Mime-Version: 1.0 To: laser@qsl.net Subject: Re: [LASER] Modulating diodes References: <9707171613.AA21079@berlioz.nsc.com> <19970717.124050.3902.2.K3PGP@juno.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Reply-To: Derek Weston Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk Thanks for an informative post on modulating laser diodes John (K3PGP). In it you mention overshoot problems when using the internal pin diode current as the basis for controlling laser diode current ("APC"). My experience regarding APC and overshoot may be of interest to anyone who plans experimenting with the modulation method Jim Moss suggested (using the pin diode output + modulating signal to control laser diode current). I blew a number of laser diodes with my earlier APC designs. I guessed (but had no means to prove) that the APC circuit was slower than the current rise through the laser diode, resulting in a brief overshoot. I added a .01 uF across the laser diode and a 1.5R in series with the supply to the laser diode. This seemed to slow the current rise on switch-on through the laser diode sufficiently that the APC circuit could "keep up". No more blown laser diodes!!! (yet...) I keep the APC circuit constantly powered up, and switch only the laser diode current. I also have a little current flowing through the laser diode when idle, so the .01 uF cap voltage "at rest" is the laser diode forward voltage. This means the cap voltage always starts from this known voltage and rise time to the lasing threhold is always the same. Without this, the leading edge first light pulse in a sequence was delayed more than later pulses in the sequence. I now successfully use this arrangement when pulsing laser diodes with 1.5 usec pulses, so I guess a similar overshoot protection method may be useful for linear modulation up to at least a few hundred kHz. Looking forward to your optical power meter design John. Derek VK3BIJ >From owner-laser Fri Jul 18 06:02:31 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA19225; Fri, 18 Jul 97 06:02:31 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f Date: Fri, 18 Jul 1997 05:53:10 PDT From: "Werdein,Tony" Subject: Re: [LASER] Laser Communications ala Military style To: laser@qsl.net Message-Id: <0B66CF3381AB677C0B66CF3381AB677C#064#X-WB-0207-MS3.XN@SMF> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII Posting-Date: Fri, 18 Jul 1997 08:54:26 -0400 Hop-Count: 3 Reply-To: "Werdein,Tony" Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk Walt and crew, I hope that I didn't mislead the group about my 5mw HeNe and the Ramsey infared kit. The Ramsey kit is a IR LED like the one used in a remote control, and uses a separate xmit and rcv pwb. Being here at work I have to rely on my memory, but It's a 6 transistor receive and transmit design that has inputs for audio and outputs for a earphone. I believe that the max distance between the units are limited to 30 ft. that's w/out filters and cases, but I've got a IR front-end unit from R.S. and want to experiment w/ that. What I really want to do is modulate the 5mw HeNe and aim it towards the sky, having a repeating signal going out so our friend in PA can try some FFT trying to receiving the signal, and to see if the mysterious signals are still around. Once I get home I'll send mail from home on more of the specs on the Ramsey unit. 73 de Tony N2TRV Tony_Werdein@xn.xerox.com In the land of Imaging Rochester, NY ---------- From: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com To: Werdein,Tony Cc: Walter Miller; laser@qsl.net Subject: Re: [LASER] Laser Communications ala Military style Date: Thursday, July 17, 1997 16:37 On Thu, 17 Jul 1997, Werdein,Tony wrote: > Still trying to cleanup a few loose ends before I can "play" with > my 5mw HeNe or my Ramsey Infared Laser xmit and rcv kit. In the > meantime I monitor and save the information that comes across this > excellent group. > > 73 de Tony N2TRV Tony_Werdein@xn.xerox.com Hi Tony, I was not aware that Ramsey has an IR laser kit. Please give us some more details on what it is and what it claims to do. 73, Walt ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Walter Miller, AJ6T Saratoga, CA USA CM87 Reply to aj6t@slip.net >From owner-laser Fri Jul 18 06:46:29 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA20451; Fri, 18 Jul 97 06:46:29 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f From: daveaa1a@xensei.com Date: Fri, 18 Jul 1997 09:42:15 -0400 Message-Id: <199707181342.JAA23043@xensei2.xensei.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: [LASER] Laser Signal Generator To: laser@qsl.net X-Mailer: SPRY Mail Version: 04.00.06.17 Reply-To: daveaa1a@xensei.com Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk Gudday! I'm using the TV remote control for a relative sig return as it is IR and while at it am trying the Rad/Shack IR (remote rx) module.. Seems like a good way to do cheap data and remote control.. 73s de dave >From owner-laser Fri Jul 18 07:36:46 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA21664; Fri, 18 Jul 97 07:36:46 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f To: laser@qsl.net Date: Fri, 18 Jul 1997 10:26:18 -0400 Subject: Re: [LASER] subcarrier demodulation / modular approach Message-Id: <19970718.102630.5062.6.K3PGP@juno.com> References: <9707141625.AA24902@berlioz.nsc.com> X-Mailer: Juno 1.38 X-Juno-Line-Breaks: 0-13,15-16,18-19,21-22,28-29,34-35,38-39,43-44, 50-51,55-61 From: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Reply-To: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk On Thu, 17 Jul 1997 19:55:59 -0500 KC5AN writes: >Thanks for the info. I have purchased a 4066. Can you give circuit >details for a 4066 modulator? I will be using a 40-kHz clock signal >for the reference input, with the option (via straps on my clock >board) of 25 kHz. > >My ARRL handbook is not specific enough, and the Motorola Application >notes are, frankly, over my head. > >Thanks, >john >kc5an >n. Texas You might have a little more success if you had the correct IC part number... As far I remember a CD4066 is a quad bi-lateral switch. I don't think that would make a very good FM demodulator! I think the correct number of what you are looking for is a CD4046 Phase Lock Loop !!! I still think you are going to have problems modulating a crystal controlled subcarrier at 25 or 40 Khz. If you divide your 1200 Khz crystal oscillator by 48 to derive the 25 Khz you will need to be able to swing the 1200 Khz oscillator +- 240 Khz to end up with +- 5 Khz deviation! You can do this with an LC oscillator but you can forget trying to move a crystal this far! If you insist on using a crystal controlled source for the Tx, about the only way you are going to be able to develop enough deviation is by using a PLL with a very low frequency reference, like 10 or 50 Hz. If the reference is much higher than this the loop will end up canceling out any attempt to FM the VCO. If I were you I'd think about a 555, 566, 8038 or any of the many VCO chips around for Tx. Even using the free running VCO out of the 4046 would also work. You can use this same chip for both Tx and RX. I used a CD4046 for an FM demod many years ago but unfortunately I didn't put the schematic on paper. Getting it to work was quite easy. Getting it to work as well as the VLF converter setup was a LOT harder but eventually I was able to make it work as well even on weak signals. I do remember that I got better weak signal performance by using ONE stage of RC op-amp filter just ahead of the CD4046. The filter didn't help at all when the signal was strong but when it was weak there was a tremendous improvement often going from very noisy to full quieting! Using two stages of op-amp filter is a bad idea as the bandwidth becomes too narrow and all kinds of phase shift problems start to crop up. If I come across what's left of this in my junk box, I'll try to sketch it out and post it on the web site as there seems to be quite a bit of interest in this. Right now I have my hands full with the lunar tracking system... John K3PGP@juno.com http://www.qsl.net/k3pgp -==- >From owner-laser Fri Jul 18 09:42:24 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA25111; Fri, 18 Jul 97 09:42:24 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f Date: Fri, 18 Jul 97 09:29:18 PDT From: jmoss@berlioz.nsc.com (Jim Moss) Message-Id: <9707181629.AA24829@berlioz.nsc.com> To: laser@qsl.net Subject: [LASER] FM Subcarrier Ccts rev 0 Cc: nyiri@pop.uky.edu Reply-To: jmoss@berlioz.nsc.com (Jim Moss) Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk A couple folks have asked for ccts for FM subcarrier mod/demod. Don't laugh at this cct.. it works, but is surely not optimum. It is made, again, from Radio Shack available parts. Cheepo FM Subcarrier Mod/Demod Modulator: Use the same 555 cct we used for MCW... change the Ra Rb C to "30 KHz" instead of 800 Hz. Then use pin 5 (control) as an AC input to the 555 instead of keying it. mike --- gain opamp cct ---\ / 10k \<--| |--- pin 5 of 555 pot / 1uF \ gnd I'm being lazy... if you can't do the gain opamp cct let me know. Adjust pot to set deviation. Demodulator: (assume you already have a Cheepo RX or other RX with audio out <2V p-p) PLL is 74HCT4046 (CD4046 doesn't need a 5v regulator!) audio --- / 10k \<--| |--- pin 14 (IN) pot / 1uF \ gnd LM340T5 (5v regulator) for 9v battery to drop to 5v for 74HCT4046 pin 16 place a 1uF and .01uF to ground across the 5v side. pin3 (Comp In) to pin 4 (VCO Out) Pin 6 (VCO Cap1) ----| |---- Pin 7 (VCO Cap2) .068 uF Pin 12 (VCO R1) thru 8.2k to ground Pin 11 (VCO R2) thru 6.8K to ground Pin 2 (phase out) thru 100K to Pin 9 (VCO in) Pin 9 (VCO in) thru .01uF to ground Pin 5 (inhibit) and Pin 8 (ground) to ground Note: R1,R2 and VCO cap set the frequency and the lock range. You can look at VCO Out with a scope and tweek them (put a 10K pot in instead). Pin 10 (Demod) thru 5.6K to ground (spec says 10K, but I didn't have one) Pin 10 (Demod) thru 10uF to an audio amp cct (like LM386, or RS pocket amp) If you you an LM386... feed input (after cap) to a 10K pot to ground. Connect wiper to LM386 pin 3 (+ input). This provides volume control. LM386 pin 2 (- input) to ground LM386 pin 4 (ground) to ground LM386 pin 6 (Vcc) to +9v LM386 pin 1 (cap1) thru 10uF cap to pin 8 (cap 2) put + side of cap at pin 1. LM386 pin5 (output) thru 220uF to speaker LM386 pin5 thru .05uF cap thru 10 Ohm resistor to ground My approach was to modularize all the different ccts. I have the RX in one box, the DEMOD in another, the Audio Amp in an other. Connected together with 1/8" jacks and shielded audio cable. Jim WB9AJZ/6 CM87xi Sunnyvale, CA >From owner-laser Fri Jul 18 14:34:26 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA04002; Fri, 18 Jul 97 14:34:26 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f To: laser@qsl.net Date: Fri, 18 Jul 1997 17:21:41 -0400 Subject: [LASER] Laser Diode Specs Message-Id: <19970718.172143.15158.1.K3PGP@juno.com> X-Mailer: Juno 1.38 X-Juno-Line-Breaks: 0-19,21-22,32-33,35-36,42-43,45-51 From: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Reply-To: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk I am setting up a Toshiba ML5415 laser diode. Here are the specs: ---------------------------------- Iop = 114 ma lm = 1.59 ma 827 nm at 25 degrees C PO = 30 mw ---------------------------------- Here's my actual operating parameters: ---------------------------------- Iop = 114.3 ma lm = 1.62 ma ---------------------------------- Pretty amazing it actually worked like the spec sheet! And here's my question !!! Is the 30 mw quoted in the manufacturers spec sheet measured BEFORE the collimation lens or after ??? My experience indicates that most collimation lens exhibit very low 'through the lens' loss. HOWEVER, there seems to be quite a bit of couping loss. That is the beam is coming out of the laser diode at a fairly wide angle, typically 26 degrees in the wider of the two planes, and SOME of the energy coming from the laser diode seems to be spreading out so far that it actually ends up missing the collimation lens! As a result I see quite a bit of difference in power level as measured at the diode vs what's coming out of the lens as the power meter sees this extra power when I stick it right in front of the diode and does NOT see it when it's out in front of the lens. So do the manufactures spec their diode power output as measured right in front of the diode or out in front of the collimation lens? I'm trying to verify the calibration of a laser power meter and that's why this question came up. I've located a local repair shop that has a calibrated power meter so I may be able to check my calibration against theirs for a second opinion... Once I am sure of that everything is OK and I have this all figured out I'll show everyone how to make a rather cheap laser power meter !!! PS - I need specs (Iop, Im, PO, etc.) for a Toshiba TOLD121... I'm told this is also a 30 to 40 mw IR diode ???? John K3PGP@juno.com http://www.qsl.net/k3pgp -==- >From owner-laser Fri Jul 18 17:19:19 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA09480; Fri, 18 Jul 97 17:19:19 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f From: daveaa1a@xensei.com Date: Fri, 18 Jul 1997 20:14:17 -0400 Message-Id: <199707190014.UAA29729@xensei2.xensei.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: [LASER] Big Savings To: laser@qsl.net, bpsk@qsl.net X-Mailer: SPRY Mail Version: 04.00.06.17 Reply-To: daveaa1a@xensei.com Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk Gudday!! Before you go out and spend another fistfull of greenbacks, try looking around that junk pile, you know, those projects/circuits that just didn't pass muster on the last go round.. We'll here are some local findings that maybe will help someone.. 1. Old 10 mhz pc xtal oscillator.. Just right for the next I.F. rig.. L.O. 2. Circuit made of 'Mini-Circuits' MAR stages and series 10 mhz xtals, ala TRF 10 mhz Rx.. Direct Modulation and reception on LASER?? Once I saw the sine wave from Boulder vary more than my 'Accutron' watch, it landed over there in the pile but now is mini receiver.. 3. A 317 voltage reg. ckt.,, Just right for setting the Full ON bias to the next generation Laser Modulator by just putting a 50ohm 2 watt in series with the diode and make the voltage regulator 'set' the FULL ON current.. 4. A good old VLF 'E' probe that will make a great dual bander (VLF-LASER) front end.. 5. An un-finished R/S voice RAM board that will make a nice beacon headed to Pittsburgh..woops better use bpsk for that.. 6. A R/S channel 3/4 modulator for the small 12v b/w TV for remote look-sees.. I stip out the 110vac and tie into 12vdc and making for cheap small 12 vdc video.. 7. The left over box of the MFJ E.M.E. audio filter.. Now is good laser driver stunt box.. But I really went down in the pile to find a nice small box say 6x6x4 or so >From owner-laser Fri Jul 18 17:37:20 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA09898; Fri, 18 Jul 97 17:37:20 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f Message-Id: <33D00908.261A@prodigy.net> Date: Fri, 18 Jul 1997 19:23:36 -0500 From: KC5AN Organization: Prodigy Internet X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.0 (Win95; I) Mime-Version: 1.0 To: Jim Moss Cc: laser@qsl.net Subject: Re: [LASER] FM Subcarrier Ccts rev 0 References: <9707181629.AA24829@berlioz.nsc.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Reply-To: KC5AN Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk Jim Moss wrote: > > A couple folks have asked for ccts for FM subcarrier mod/demod. > Don't laugh at this cct.. it works, but is surely not optimum. It is made, again, > from Radio Shack available parts. > > Cheepo FM Subcarrier Mod/Demod > > Modulator: > > Use the same 555 cct we used for MCW... change the Ra Rb C to "30 KHz" instead > of 800 Hz. Then use pin 5 (control) as an AC input to the 555 instead of > keying it. > > mike --- gain opamp cct ---\ > / > 10k \<--| |--- pin 5 of 555 > pot / 1uF > \ > gnd > > I'm being lazy... if you can't do the gain opamp cct let me know. Adjust pot > to set deviation. > > Demodulator: > > (assume you already have a Cheepo RX or other RX with audio out <2V p-p) > > PLL is 74HCT4046 (CD4046 doesn't need a 5v regulator!) > > audio --- > / > 10k \<--| |--- pin 14 (IN) > pot / 1uF > \ > gnd > > LM340T5 (5v regulator) for 9v battery to drop to 5v for 74HCT4046 pin 16 > place a 1uF and .01uF to ground across the 5v side. > > pin3 (Comp In) to pin 4 (VCO Out) > > Pin 6 (VCO Cap1) ----| |---- Pin 7 (VCO Cap2) .068 uF > > Pin 12 (VCO R1) thru 8.2k to ground > > Pin 11 (VCO R2) thru 6.8K to ground > > Pin 2 (phase out) thru 100K to Pin 9 (VCO in) > > Pin 9 (VCO in) thru .01uF to ground > > Pin 5 (inhibit) and Pin 8 (ground) to ground > > Note: R1,R2 and VCO cap set the frequency and the lock range. You can look at > VCO Out with a scope and tweek them (put a 10K pot in instead). > > Pin 10 (Demod) thru 5.6K to ground (spec says 10K, but I didn't have one) > Pin 10 (Demod) thru 10uF to an audio amp cct (like LM386, or RS pocket amp) > > If you you an LM386... > > feed input (after cap) to a 10K pot to ground. > Connect wiper to LM386 pin 3 (+ input). > This provides volume control. > > LM386 pin 2 (- input) to ground > > LM386 pin 4 (ground) to ground > > LM386 pin 6 (Vcc) to +9v > > LM386 pin 1 (cap1) thru 10uF cap to pin 8 (cap 2) put + side of cap at pin 1. > > LM386 pin5 (output) thru 220uF to speaker > LM386 pin5 thru .05uF cap thru 10 Ohm resistor to ground > > My approach was to modularize all the different ccts. I have the RX in one > box, the DEMOD in another, the Audio Amp in an other. Connected together with > 1/8" jacks and shielded audio cable. > > Jim > WB9AJZ/6 CM87xi Sunnyvale, CA Thanks, Jim Well, it looks like I may have "painted myself into a corner" on this one! I like the use of modules, also. The plan was for a single box that would provide an 800-Hz output for mcw, and a 40 or 25 kHz output to modulate for voice. Unfortunately, I did not do enough homework -- I assumed that the common mode of modulation would be AM. A bit late, I learned it was FM. FM of my 40-kHz (xtal source) with a PLL seemed like a solution... but I think now that it (along with any associated PLL demod for receiving) is just a bit too ambitious for me. So, (reluctantly, after the effort of bulding & testing the board) I am going to give up this approach & use rf up/down conversion with a regular radio instead. Sorry to be so long-winded, but I wanted to clarify the reasons for my questions on PLL modulation. Many thanks for the info. kc5an john n. Texas >From owner-laser Sat Jul 19 00:07:24 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA19930; Sat, 19 Jul 97 00:07:24 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f To: laser@qsl.net Date: Sat, 19 Jul 1997 02:55:44 -0400 Subject: [LASER] Biasing & Modulating Laser Diodes - Safely ! Message-Id: <19970719.025552.5022.1.K3PGP@juno.com> X-Mailer: Juno 1.38 X-Juno-Line-Breaks: 1-15 From: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Reply-To: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk I took the time to write up my current laser diode modulator and current limiter. It's on my web site under: Construction Articles *Biasing & Modulating Laser Diodes - Safely ! Hope it's of some help you someone out there! More construction articles to follow shortly... John K3PGP@juno.com http://www.qsl.net/k3pgp -==- >From owner-laser Sat Jul 19 06:40:13 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA26963; Sat, 19 Jul 97 06:40:13 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f To: laser@qsl.net Date: Sat, 19 Jul 1997 09:30:33 -0400 Subject: [LASER] Laser Diode Modulator Message-Id: <19970719.093036.32254.0.K3PGP@juno.com> X-Mailer: Juno 1.38 X-Juno-Line-Breaks: 0-1,5-11 From: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Reply-To: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk Note: I forgot to mention that the IRF510 or IRF511 used in the laser diode modulator posted on my web page is available at Radio Shack as well as all the other parts (except for the laser diode itself). :-^( I forgot to include this in the original file. It has been updated... John K3PGP@juno.com http://www.qsl.net/k3pgp -==- >From owner-laser Sat Jul 19 12:26:41 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA02690; Sat, 19 Jul 97 12:26:41 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f X-Sender: a.werdein@postoffice.att.net (Unverified) X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Light Version 1.5.2 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" To: laser@qsl.net From: "anthony m. werdein" Subject: [LASER] Ramesy Infra-Red Light Beam Receiver / Transmitter Cc: Tony_Werdein@xn.xerox.com Date: Sat, 19 Jul 1997 19:21:56 +0000 Message-Id: <19970719192151.AAB29169@LOCALNAME> Reply-To: "anthony m. werdein" Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk Here is more details on the Ramsey kit I mentioned previously taken from their instruction manual. 30KHz. carrier, hum-free operation, sensative mike input with gain control, operates on 9VDC. The LB-6 Infra-Red Light Beam Transmitter is a six transistor 30KHz. AM transmitter whose infra-red output has a range of 30 feet, as supplied, or up to a quater mile with lenses used on both transmitter and receiver. LB-6 I-R Transmitter: All six transistors (Q1-Q6)are NPN type 2N3904. Q1 is a high impeadance input (microphone) preamplifier feeding Q2 and Q3 which modulate the 30KHz. oscillator formed by Q5 and Q6. The osclliator is amplified by Q4 which powers thr IR diode, which is the "antenna" of the trransmitter circuit. LB-5 I-R Receiver: The four transistors (Q1-Q4) are NPN type 2N3904. The output of the IR detector is amplified by Q1 and Q2. The AM audio signal is detected by the 1N270 diode and amplified for listening by Q3 and Q4. An earphone or amplified utility speaker is connected to the audio transformer output. Further reading on the back indicates the circuit was designed by Dan F. Onley, K4ZRA. Like I said I have completed both units but have been finishing previous projects to have time to work with them both. Hope this helps, de Tony N2TRV Tony_Werdein@xn.xerox.com In the land of Imaging Rochester, NY >From owner-laser Sat Jul 19 12:26:34 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA02684; Sat, 19 Jul 97 12:26:34 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f X-Sender: a.werdein@postoffice.att.net (Unverified) X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Light Version 1.5.2 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" To: laser@qsl.net From: "anthony m. werdein" Subject: [LASER] Ramesy Infra-Red Light Beam Receiver / Transmitter Cc: Tony_Werdein@xn.xerox.com Date: Sat, 19 Jul 1997 19:21:53 +0000 Message-Id: <19970719192151.AAA29169@LOCALNAME> Reply-To: "anthony m. werdein" Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk Here is more details on the Ramsey kit I mentioned previously taken from their instruction manual. 30KHz. carrier, hum-free operation, sensative mike input with gain control, operates on 9VDC. The LB-6 Infra-Red Light Beam Transmitter is a six transistor 30KHz. AM transmitter whose infra-red output has a range of 30 feet, as supplied, or up to a quater mile with lenses used on both transmitter and receiver. LB-6 I-R Transmitter: All six transistors (Q1-Q6)are NPN type 2N3904. Q1 is a high impeadance input (microphone) preamplifier feeding Q2 and Q3 which modulate the 30KHz. oscillator formed by Q5 and Q6. The osclliator is amplified by Q4 which powers thr IR diode, which is the "antenna" of the trransmitter circuit. LB-5 I-R Receiver: The four transistors (Q1-Q4) are NPN type 2N3904. The output of the IR detector is amplified by Q1 and Q2. The AM audio signal is detected by the 1N270 diode and amplified for listening by Q3 and Q4. An earphone or amplified utility speaker is connected to the audio transformer output. Further reading on the back indicates the circuit was designed by Dan F. Onley, K4ZRA. Like I said I have completed both units but have been finishing previous projects to have time to work with them both. Hope this helps, de Tony N2TRV Tony_Werdein@xn.xerox.com In the land of Imaging Rochester, NY >From owner-laser Sun Jul 20 01:43:24 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA15918; Sun, 20 Jul 97 01:43:24 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f Message-Id: <2.2.16.19970720073545.474f820a@personal.eunet.fi> X-Sender: oh2aue@personal.eunet.fi X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Pro Version 2.2 (16) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Date: Sun, 20 Jul 1997 11:35:45 +0400 To: laser@qsl.net From: Michael Fletcher Subject: [LASER] Edmund Scientific Modulated Laser Reply-To: Michael Fletcher Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk Hi all, Edmund Scientific have a laser module with a built-in modulation option with a bandwidth of around 500 kHz. Don't know the price, but this sounds like a valid option for those tuning aces that are wary of building their own modulators. The URL is: http://www.edsci.com/industrial/laser_products/modulated_variable_power_diod e.html Michael _\\///_ _ _ _ (' O O ') (_()_()_) I.O.O.F. *------------ooO-(_)-Ooo---------------------------* * Michael Fletcher OH2AUE: 50 MHz * * Vanhaistentie 4 C 43 144 MHz * * FIN-00420 Helsinki 432 MHz * * 1296 MHz * * Phone/Fax + 358 9 566 62 63 home 2.304 GHz * * Cellular + 358 50 5505 293 3.400 GHz * * Phone + 358 9 5259 1890 work 5.760 GHz * * http://personal.eunet.fi/pp/oh2aue/ 10.368 GHz * * 24.092 GHz * * Life is above 1 GHz; 474 THz * * >99.9 % of the ham bands are there..... * *--------------------------------------------------* >From owner-laser Sun Jul 20 15:12:12 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA27899; Sun, 20 Jul 97 15:12:12 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f Message-Id: <33D37B53.6E87@alphalink.com.au> Date: Mon, 21 Jul 1997 08:08:03 -0700 From: Derek Weston Organization: Realtime Control X-Mailer: Mozilla 2.02 (Win16; I) Mime-Version: 1.0 To: laser@qsl.net Subject: [LASER] Laser diode optical power References: <19970718.172143.15158.1.K3PGP@juno.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Reply-To: Derek Weston Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk John K3PGP wrote: > > So do the manufactures spec their diode power output as measured right in > front of the diode or out in front of the collimation lens? > This reply is based on logic rather than knowledge, but it may be useful ... The diode mfr has no way of knowing the coupling efficiency and optical attenuation of a collimating lens a user may decide to use with their laser diode. Therefore, the diode mfr has no option but to use the total power output from the diode, measured right in front of the diode and without the collimating lens. This logic gives the same answer as the general rule that a mfr always states the biggest possible number for "good" things like power output. Derek VK3BIJ >From owner-laser Sun Jul 20 19:36:49 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA02728; Sun, 20 Jul 97 19:36:49 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f To: laser@qsl.net Date: Sun, 20 Jul 1997 22:27:50 -0400 Subject: Re: [LASER] Laser diode optical power Message-Id: <19970720.222753.18222.0.K3PGP@juno.com> References: <19970718.172143.15158.1.K3PGP@juno.com> <33D37B53.6E87@alphalink.com.au> X-Mailer: Juno 1.38 X-Juno-Line-Breaks: 1-10,12-15,17-30,37-38,41-42,44-45,49-50,53-54, 57-58,64-65,67-73 From: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Reply-To: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk On Mon, 21 Jul 1997 08:08:03 -0700 Derek Weston writes: >John K3PGP wrote: >> >> So do the manufactures spec their diode power output as measured >>right in front of the diode or out in front of the collimation lens? ----- >This reply is based on logic rather than knowledge, but it may be >useful ... > >The diode mfr has no way of knowing the coupling efficiency and >optical attenuation of a collimating lens a user may decide to use with their >laser diode. > >Therefore, the diode mfr has no option but to use the total power >output from the diode, measured right in front of the diode and without the >collimating lens. > >This logic gives the same answer as the general rule that a mfr always >states the biggest possible number for "good" things like power output. > >Derek VK3BIJ ----- Thanks for the response Derek, the only one I've got so far... Yes, this certainly is logical and is what I always assumed. The reason I am so confused is that I recently measured several commercial 30 mw IR lasers in an effort to check the calibration of laser power meter and found the output power exactly as spec'd at 30 mw when checked out in front of the collimation lens. When I peaked inside I noted that they were using a 30 mw diode. So far so good, or so I thought !!! I should have stopped here and been content that everything was working perfectly but I always have to mess things up! For some unknown reason I then measured the power directly in front of the diode and got 49.5 mw !!! The diode current and photodiode current were exactly as specified for 30 mw output... Being thoroughly confused I looked around for other systems to check and came up with a couple of 5 mw 780 nm lasers with focusing lens on them. Measuring these I noted the same exact problem. Power was very close to 5 mw out in front the lens but approx. 8 mw at the diode. The diode is spec'd at 5 mw output. Laser diode current and photodiode current seem to be within spec for 5 mw out. Out of frustration I took the whole mess over to a local repair shop that has a commercial 780 nm laser power meter used for CD work. The same problem was noted using this meter as well. What you say makes sense. It's hard to argue with logic and I always thought exactly as you do. However, my measurements seem to indicate otherwise and now I'm extremely confused... I think I'm going to have to contact Toshiba directly since this concerns their diodes that are spec'd at 5 and 30 mw and they indeed put out 5 and 30 mw AFTER the collimation lens... However, right in front of the diode I'm measuring close to 8 and 50 mw with laser diode and photodiode current exactly as specified. I've verified this with two new 30 mw diodes so far and more than two 5 mw diodes. I really don't know what to make of this since I always thought it worked exactly like you said... John K3PGP@juno.com http://www.qsl.net/k3pgp -==- >From owner-laser Mon Jul 21 10:04:32 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA19482; Mon, 21 Jul 97 10:04:32 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f Date: Mon, 21 Jul 97 09:53:44 PDT From: jmoss@berlioz.nsc.com (Jim Moss) Message-Id: <9707211653.AA19275@berlioz.nsc.com> To: laser@qsl.net Subject: [LASER] Motion Controllers Reply-To: jmoss@berlioz.nsc.com (Jim Moss) Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk Found a source for some very nice motion controllers.... looks like they were used in a servo writer for disks... They are Compumotor systems, and run on 120AC... they include a controller, driver, and motor. they are advertised for $175 ea. They micro step at 50,000 steps per rev... thats 0.1257 mR per step! about 8x our 1mR beamwidth with no gearing. They are waranteed from the surplus house. I picked up 2, and interfaced them to the leadscrew/rotation stuff I already had working at 0.1mR per step and now have 0.46uR ! on 2 axis. These are also available there for about $35 ea. So for about $400 you can be in the same league with the government! This is advertised in Nuts and Volts in July and June. RA Enterprises 2260 De La Cruz Blvd Santa Clara CA 408-986-8268 M-F 9-6, Sa 9-3:30 >From owner-laser Mon Jul 21 11:21:47 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA22189; Mon, 21 Jul 97 11:21:47 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f Date: Mon, 21 Jul 97 11:11:55 PDT From: jmoss@berlioz.nsc.com (Jim Moss) Message-Id: <9707211811.AA21773@berlioz.nsc.com> To: laser@qsl.net Subject: [LASER] SF: Thursday Dinner, laser get-together Reply-To: jmoss@berlioz.nsc.com (Jim Moss) Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk SF Bay Area Laser folks, Rusty (c1040@azfms.com), will be visiting the SF area this week. We are talking about getting together on Thursday night. (He will be in Downtown/SFO airport) 5PM-8:50 (takeoff). Thinking about dinner, near SFO and some laser talk... Call me, email me, or whatever... let me know what you think... Please contact Jim, WB9AJZ at 408-721-6906 (W) or 408-746-2789 (H). >From owner-laser Mon Jul 21 12:40:07 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA24729; Mon, 21 Jul 97 12:40:07 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f Date: Mon, 21 Jul 1997 12:34:55 -0700 From: c1040@azfms.com (Rusty Carruth) Message-Id: <199707211934.MAA05794@fmswksn06.azfms.dot> To: laser@qsl.net Subject: Re: [LASER] Laser Diode Specs X-Sun-Charset: US-ASCII Reply-To: c1040@azfms.com (Rusty Carruth) Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk ----- Begin Included Message ----- .From: music@Tempe.ate.slb.com (Doug Music) > > Is the 30 mw quoted in the manufacturers spec sheet measured BEFORE the > collimation lens or after ??? > Rusty, John, The power is measured at the device. It is the power level the device is intended to approach BUT NOT EXCEED!!! If the device is sold as a module, then they measure after the lens assy. At 820nM, you have some degree of protection by the water film on your eye. DON't COUNT ON IT TO SAVE YOUR EYESIGHT!!! These are VERY dangerous power levels. You would be well advised to wear blue tinted glasses whever you are goofing with it. -Doug Douglas E. Music Voice: (602) 345-3625 Home: (602) 854-0723 FAX: (602) 345-8793 Pager: (888) 710-1508 Pager email: 905071@pagenet.net (200 chars) Email: music@san-jose.ate.slb.com Email: music@goodnet.com __o _`\<,_ _______(*)/_(*)__________ ----- End Included Message ----- >From owner-laser Mon Jul 21 15:17:30 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA29303; Mon, 21 Jul 97 15:17:30 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f To: laser@qsl.net Date: Mon, 21 Jul 1997 18:07:00 -0400 Subject: [LASER] Laser Power Warnings... Message-Id: <19970721.180703.3726.1.K3PGP@juno.com> References: <199707211934.MAA05794@fmswksn06.azfms.dot> X-Mailer: Juno 1.38 X-Juno-Line-Breaks: 0-2,5-8,10-11,17-18,22-23,27-28,30-34,36-42 From: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Reply-To: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk >Name withheld! > >At 820nM, you have some degree of protection by the water film on your >eye. DON't COUNT ON IT TO SAVE YOUR EYESIGHT!!! These are VERY >dangerous power levels. You would be well advised to wear blue tinted glasses >whever you are goofing with it. I probably should just ignore this but enough is enough! PLEASE - I do NOT need any more warnings about the power level I am playing with! In the past I was working with an 800 watt pulsed ruby rod and I am well aware of proper safety precautions! Although the 500 mw laser that I am presently working with is a LOT less power, it is CW and NOT pulsed and I am well aware of the dangers. In fact, I've burnt several holes in various objects in it's path! I can just imagine what an unexpected reflection might do! Sorry to come off like this but after reading 23 pieces of Email this morning warning me about the dangers of lasers I'VE HAD IT. PLEASE - NO MORE !!! I have better things to do with my time, like trying to destroy my eyesight I guess... In my mind ALL lasers are dangerous including my 5 mw IR and even my laser pen! I don't even go outside without sun glasses as I feel the sun is also a LOT more dangerous than most people realize! So is my arc welder... I'm sure you guys are well meaning and are trying to look out for me, but enough is enough!!! Any future warnings will simply be dumped in the bit bucket! PS - Can I do it like only just enough so that like maybe I need glasses or sumptin ? ? ? ? John K3PGP@juno.com http://www.qsl.net/k3pgp -==- >From owner-laser Tue Jul 22 10:12:14 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA27488; Tue, 22 Jul 97 10:12:14 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f Message-Id: <199707221602.MAA20477@outpost.ietc.ca> X-Sender: bill@ietc.ca X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Light Version 1.5.2 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Date: Tue, 22 Jul 1997 13:02:47 -0400 To: laser@qsl.net From: Bill de Carle Subject: [LASER] Infrared detectors Reply-To: Bill de Carle Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk Hi folks: I was wondering what to use for an infrared detector. Then it dawned on me those "motion detectors" used in alarm systems operate on infrared so maybe they have something useful inside. Pulled several of them apart - they all seem to have the same detector. Looks like a TO3 can with a rectangular opening in the top, about 5/32 x 7/32 I'd say. The can has 3 leads, and judging from the circuit boards, I'd say one goes directly to ground, the other is used to provide some kind of bias current, the third has the detected signal as an output. All of the (phototransistors?) I've seen so far have no markings whatsoever on the cans. I haven't played with them yet, but it seems likely they'd make a pretty good detector because they can detect the heat from a human body at considerable distance. Does anyone know what these things are? Anyone have any technical data on them? Thanks, Bill de Carle VE2IQ >From owner-laser Tue Jul 22 22:35:07 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA17501; Tue, 22 Jul 97 22:35:07 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f Message-Id: <2.2.16.19970723042526.39771958@personal.eunet.fi> X-Sender: oh2aue@personal.eunet.fi X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Pro Version 2.2 (16) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Date: Wed, 23 Jul 1997 08:25:26 +0400 To: Bill de Carle , laser@qsl.net From: Michael Fletcher Subject: Re: [LASER] Infrared detectors Reply-To: Michael Fletcher Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk At 13:02 22/07/97 -0400, Bill de Carle wrote: >on the cans. I haven't played with them yet, but it seems likely >they'd make a pretty good detector because they can detect the >heat from a human body at considerable distance. Just out of interest: I have never tried one of these out, but I have spared some thought to the idea. The way I figured the detector works is that the optical fanning lense in front of the detector ( amplitude ) modulates the incoming thermal noise temperature of the the "hot" object, thus making the sensor insensitive to surrounding temperature ( and luminance )variation. i.e. I think there is no other compensation for background QRN. The sensor seems to be followed by a differentiating amplifier acting only on AC components ( the "modulated" low frequency DC variation caused by thermally warm moving objects in the field of the lense/detector system ). I suppose there are many different methods of doing the "human" detection. The IR movement sensor I installed in my ham shack uses the same optical modulation scheme, but the "fanning" component is the reflector, not the lense. I should imagine the sensors are very good for IR detection ? You'll need an optical filter though, as the IR sensors are propably very sensitive in the visible region too. I once used black electricians tape to block out visible light, but pass IR with some attenuation. There is scope for experimenting here i suppose. I used TV remote control IR LEDS as IR sources for comparative measurements. Michael _\\///_ _ _ _ (' O O ') (_()_()_) I.O.O.F. *------------ooO-(_)-Ooo---------------------------* * Michael Fletcher OH2AUE: 50 MHz * * Vanhaistentie 4 C 43 144 MHz * * FIN-00420 Helsinki 432 MHz * * 1296 MHz * * Phone/Fax + 358 9 566 62 63 home 2.304 GHz * * Cellular + 358 50 5505 293 3.400 GHz * * Phone + 358 9 5259 1890 work 5.760 GHz * * http://personal.eunet.fi/pp/oh2aue/ 10.368 GHz * * 24.092 GHz * * Life is above 1 GHz; 474 THz * * >99.9 % of the ham bands are there..... * *--------------------------------------------------* >From owner-laser Wed Jul 23 01:23:31 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA22192; Wed, 23 Jul 97 01:23:31 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f To: laser@qsl.net Date: Wed, 23 Jul 1997 04:03:53 -0400 Subject: Re: [LASER] Infrared detectors Message-Id: <19970723.041307.3438.1.K3PGP@juno.com> References: <199707221602.MAA20477@outpost.ietc.ca> X-Mailer: Juno 1.38 X-Juno-Line-Breaks: 0-7,16-17,20-21,24-30 From: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Reply-To: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk On Tue, 22 Jul 1997 13:02:47 -0400 Bill de Carle writes: >Hi folks: > >I was wondering what to use for an infrared detector. >Then it dawned on me those "motion detectors" used in alarm >systems operate on infrared so maybe they have something useful >inside. These detectors are designed to detect body heat and operate at a much longer wavelength, typically 10,000 nm. I have a spec sheet here somewhere but I'm not sure what I did with it. You will notice a what appears to be a black window on the front of the device. This window is transparent to very long wavelength IR but unfortunately seems to be opaque to shorter wavelength IR up in the 700 to 900 nm region. This is why it appears black to the eye and not deep red. I cut one of these detectors apart to get the filter off of it and found out that mine didn't pass anything at 780 nm. They might make a good detector to use with a CO2 laser that operates at 10,600 nm but I think you will have a LOT better success with a PIN diode when trying to detect optical IR in the 700 to 900 nm region. I'm not sure what might happen if you break the filter window in front of the detector and try to use the detector without the filter. My guess is you will still be better off with a standard PIN diode. John K3PGP@juno.com http://www.qsl.net/k3pgp -==- >From owner-laser Wed Jul 23 07:52:52 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA00619; Wed, 23 Jul 97 07:52:52 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f Date: Wed, 23 Jul 1997 09:49:46 -0400 From: askew@spica.net Message-Id: <199707231349.JAA30273@ns1.qsl.net> To: askew@spica.net Subject: [LASER] Do You Want One Too? Reply-To: askew@spica.net Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk $$ GUARANTEED APPROVAL OR WE SEND YOU A CHECK $$ $$ UNSECURED $5000 Major Credit Card and $15,000 credit line $$ $$ 6.95% APR on credit card and $15,000 Line of Credit $$ $$ Absolutely ANYONE, ANYWHERE in the world qualifies $$ $$ Bankruptcy, unemployed, credit history -it does not matter $$ $$ ABSOLUTELY NO CREDIT CHECK $$ $$ $100,000 Line of Credit possible in six months $$ $$ Earn Generous referral Bonus, $25/applicant $$ $$ Get Generous Commission on part of referrals transactions $$ $$ WEBPAGE available for those who sign up $$ $$ GLOBAL OPPORTUNITY $$ DO NOT WAIT! CLICK BELOW FOR DETAILS AND APPLICATION! http://www.quantcom.com/income/askew ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We belong to the Direct Email Advertisers Association and the On-line Marketers Association. Both of these organizations promote professional and responsible use of email marketing. If you need bulk email services, accounts, resources, flame-proof emailing, or any of a host of services, go to: http://www.thehitman.com Type "askew" in the "who referred you" field. We employ a universal remove system; to never receive another email from anyone in the above associations, go to Http://SpamNet.com >From owner-laser Wed Jul 23 11:17:58 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA05449; Wed, 23 Jul 97 11:17:58 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f Message-Id: <3.0.1.32.19970723131159.008b4920@colby.edu> X-Sender: aballen@colby.edu X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Light Version 3.0.1 (32) Date: Wed, 23 Jul 1997 13:11:59 -0500 To: laser@qsl.net From: "Art Allen, KY1K" Subject: [LASER] laser diode driver chip availability? Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Reply-To: "Art Allen, KY1K" Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk Hi everyone, I decided it was time to get something on the air, so, thats what I'm going to do! I am fortunate to have a NEW 3 mw laser diode with specs for that particular diode. I would like to use the internal PD as a reference per the manufactures spec and set the thing up properly with a laser driver chip. >From what I can tell from reading the reflector, I would be the first to actually use a REAL driver chip for this? I don't care about modulating the thing. Does anyone know what type of chip to get and where? Would be nice if Crap Shack had a driver chip available hi hi-I ain't holdin' my breath for that one! Suggestions or comments? Thanks.. Art. >From owner-laser Sun Jul 27 22:44:02 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA23151; Sun, 27 Jul 97 22:44:02 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f Message-Id: <2.2.16.19970728043501.480f9a96@personal.eunet.fi> X-Sender: oh2aue@personal.eunet.fi X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Pro Version 2.2 (16) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Date: Mon, 28 Jul 1997 08:35:01 +0400 To: "Art Allen, KY1K" , laser@qsl.net From: Michael Fletcher Subject: Re: [LASER] laser diode driver chip availability? Reply-To: Michael Fletcher Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk At 13:11 23/07/97 -0500, Art Allen, KY1K wrote: Hi Art, >I am fortunate to have a NEW 3 mw laser diode with specs for that >particular diode. I would like to use the internal PD as a reference per >the manufactures spec and set the thing up properly with a laser driver chip. There is one type available for a 30 USD sample price at: http://www.nvginc.com/ns102dri.htm >>From what I can tell from reading the reflector, I would be the first to >actually use a REAL driver chip for this? I have been using the ORIGINAL driver circuits in all my laser experiments thus far. The only thing you have to realize is that the circuit is slow, around 10 - 20 Hz ( thats why I can modulate the things ...! ). The upper modulation limit is set by a simple bypass capacitor. The APC circuits are all discrete component systems in SMD technology. >Art. Michael _\\///_ (' O O ') *-------------------ooO-(_)-Ooo----------------------------------------* * Michael Fletcher Phone + 358 9 5259 1890 * * Anritsu Wiltron Finland Fax + 358 9 4522 344 * * Kappelitie 8 Mobile + 358 50 5505 293 * * FIN-02200 Espoo e-mail michael.fletcher@oh2aue.pp.fi * * * * URL: http://personal.eunet.fi/pp/oh2aue/ * * http://www.anritsuwiltron.com * * http://www.anritsu.co.jp/index_e.html * *----------------------------------------------------------------------* >From owner-laser Mon Jul 28 03:09:27 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA28541; Mon, 28 Jul 97 03:09:27 PDT From: svetlana1@usa.net To: Sv-list@usa.net Subject: Free russian introduction: Meet russian ladies !!! Reply-To: X-Pmflags: X-Uidl: Comments: Authenticated Sender is Message-Id: <94177542_36220982> Content-Length: 1352 Date: Mon, 28 Jul 1997 11:26:13 +0200 Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk Dear friend, We are pleased to invite you to join our subscriber`s catalogue free of charge for the first 1000*. To join, please send us your photo and a personal profile with information about yourself by regular mail** and soon you will begin recieving letters from lovely, marriage-minded Russian ladies in St Petersburg, Russia. 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Please include your email address in your letter. >From owner-laser Tue Jul 29 08:58:28 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA12936; Tue, 29 Jul 97 08:58:28 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f To: laser@qsl.net Date: Tue, 29 Jul 1997 11:46:26 -0400 Subject: Re: [LASER] laser diode driver chip availability? Message-Id: <19970729.114634.-31410.3.K3PGP@juno.com> References: <3.0.1.32.19970723131159.008b4920@colby.edu> X-Mailer: Juno 1.38 X-Juno-Line-Breaks: 0-1,4-7,10-11,19-27,29-45,47-56 From: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Reply-To: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk Art: Check out Meredith Instruments. There's a link on my web page to the Meredith main page or you MIGHT be able to go directly to the drivers page there by clicking on this: http://www.mi-lasers.com/drivers.html They have feedback regulator drivers from $15 to $40. A number of people have used these with good results. I started out with one of these many years ago. However, keep in mind that most of these feedback circuits do NOT seem to offer absolute current limiting in the event of a component failure. You MIGHT be able to incorporate the series resistor and zener diode as a failsafe system like I did with the circuit on my web page. I tried this with the LM-317 adjustable regulator and it seemed to limit the current just fine when I cranked the pot full tilt to simulate a shorted regulator or component failure. Just as long as you pay some attention to absolute current limiting you should be OK. John K3PGP@juno.com http://www.qsl.net/k3pgp ----- On Wed, 23 Jul 1997 13:11:59 -0500 "Art Allen, KY1K" writes: >Hi everyone, > >I decided it was time to get something on the air, so, thats what I'm >going to do! > >I am fortunate to have a NEW 3 mw laser diode with specs for that >particular diode. I would like to use the internal PD as a reference >per the manufactures spec and set the thing up properly with a laser >driver chip. > >>From what I can tell from reading the reflector, I would be the first >to actually use a REAL driver chip for this? > >I don't care about modulating the thing. > >Does anyone know what type of chip to get and where? Would be nice if >Crap Shack had a driver chip available hi hi-I ain't holdin' my breath for >that one! > >Suggestions or comments? > >Thanks.. > >Art. -==- >From owner-laser Wed Jul 30 05:26:59 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA19975; Wed, 30 Jul 97 05:26:59 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f Message-Id: <199707301220.HAA17090@mailgw00.execpc.com> Comments: Authenticated sender is From: "Jack" To: laser@qsl.net Date: Wed, 30 Jul 1997 07:23:24 +0000 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Subject: [LASER] Information Please! X-Mailer: Pegasus Mail for Windows (v2.54) Reply-To: "Jack" Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk Hello Everyone, Being new to the nm wavelengths, I was excited when I found this list! Now, having followed it for a couple of weeks or so, my initial impression has been confirmed; the quality of the posts is consistently high, and its is evident that there is a great deal of experience and expertise concentrated here. As a newcomer, it is a tremendous resource and has already been of help to me. Hopefully, there will come a time when I'll be able to contribute something of use to one of you. Now that I've softened you up ; ), I've got a couple of questions. First, has anyone ever delt with a mail order company called TIGERDIRECT out of Miami? If you have, I'd like to know what your experience with them was like. Second, has anyone worked with laser pens marketed under the QUARTON name (they are being sold by TIGERDIRECTfor what seems to me to be pretty reasonable prices)? If you have any information in regard to this company and/or these laser pens, I would appreciate hearing from you. 73 for now Jack, WA9AZA gajewski@mail.execpc.com >From owner-laser Wed Jul 30 08:44:32 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA23405; Wed, 30 Jul 97 08:44:32 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f To: laser@qsl.net Date: Wed, 30 Jul 1997 11:34:10 -0400 Subject: Re: [LASER] Information Please! Message-Id: <19970730.113412.3406.1.K3PGP@juno.com> References: <199707301220.HAA17090@mailgw00.execpc.com> X-Mailer: Juno 1.38 X-Juno-Line-Breaks: 0-3,5-6,9-28,35-44,50-51,53-61,63-78 From: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Reply-To: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk Jack: Tiger Direct is OK as long as you don't have a problem! They do NOT offer a 30 day money back guarantee and even doing a simple exchange can be a pain in the &^%^%. If you want a cheap laser pen I suggest the one from Damark. If you don't like it, or it blows up, they will give you your money back or exchange it NO QUESTIONS ASKED!!! Here's the info: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lyte Optronics Laser Pointer Pen Model # CPP2 <5 mw 670 nm Uses 2 AAA batteries (included) Available from: Damark 1-(800) 827-6767 Quote the following Item # and get FREE SHIPPING! ($5.99 value!) Item # B-50051-509141 Price: $24.99 Non members / $22.49 for Damark Members NOTE: These pens typically put out 1 to 2 mw. The power can be increased to as much as 5 mw by using three or four 1.5 volt cells instead of two. However, it you raise the voltage too much you will end up destroying the laser diode. Most pens will tolerate 4.5 to 5 volts very well. Keep in mind though that the difference between 2 and 4 mw is only +3 dB. If may not be worth it. If you do try this I suggest it be done in the first 60 days as the pen will still be under warranty! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ More info is posted on my web site under: *** Construction Articles *** A $25 Multi-Mode Laser Pen Transmitter! These pens are getting more and more popular and the price if dropping so you might be able to get a better price elsewhere. However, Damark is one of the best companies I've ever dealt with. They will replace the laser pen under any conditions, even if you over voltage it and blow it up !!! And keep in mind the shipping is FREE when using the above order number... If the above order number has expired let me know and I'll look up the current order number... John K3PGP@juno.com http://www.qsl.net/k3pgp ----- On Wed, 30 Jul 1997 07:23:24 +0000 "Jack" writes: >Now that I've softened you up ; ), I've got a couple of questions. >First, has anyone ever delt with a mail order company called >TIGERDIRECT out of Miami? If you have, I'd like to know what your >experience with them was like. Second, has anyone worked with laser >pens marketed under the QUARTON name (they are being sold by >TIGERDIRECTfor what seems to me to be pretty reasonable prices)? >If you have any information in regard to this company and/or these >laser pens, I would appreciate hearing from you. > >73 for now > >Jack, WA9AZA >gajewski@mail.execpc.com -==- >From owner-laser Wed Jul 30 09:20:26 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA24664; Wed, 30 Jul 97 09:20:26 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f Date: Wed, 30 Jul 97 09:10:44 PDT From: jmoss@berlioz.nsc.com (Jim Moss) Message-Id: <9707301610.AA24262@berlioz.nsc.com> To: laser@qsl.net Subject: [LASER] laser pen sale again. Reply-To: jmoss@berlioz.nsc.com (Jim Moss) Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk Jack, Sorry don't know anything about Tigerdirect. But... our local electronics store FRY's is having another sale today. San Jose, California area. They are radio advertising laser pens. They say they have a 500 yard pen for sale for $35. My guess is this is a 650nM pen. Likely with no driver. There seem to be 2 main types of drivers used in recent pens I've looked at. One with no circuit, just a direct connection from the diode to the batteries thru a switch, and usually a pasted on plastic lens. (these are the <$25 ones) The other type usually has a blink function and has a small drive cct and variable resistor for power output adjustment. (these cost 40+). The other factor affecting price is the wavelength. The 670's are cheapest, then 650's, and lastly, 635's. For detection with PIN diodes, the 670's are the best, despite the fact that your eye may perceive it to be "dimmer". Jim WB9AJZ/6 CM87xi Sunnyvale, CA >From owner-laser Wed Jul 30 09:41:40 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA25249; Wed, 30 Jul 97 09:41:40 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f To: laser@qsl.net Date: Wed, 30 Jul 1997 12:19:22 -0400 Subject: [LASER] Timeline 5 mw IR module Message-Id: <19970730.123315.3406.2.K3PGP@juno.com> X-Mailer: Juno 1.38 X-Juno-Line-Breaks: 1-2,5-6,8-9,15-21 From: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Reply-To: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk Now that we have some new members, maybe it might be worth trying this again! Several people have now asked me about hookup info for the 5 mw IR module that Timeline sells for $20? This is supposed to be out of a Xerox Laser Printer. Anyone have this info or know anyone that works for Xerox that might be able to offer some help??? >From the descriptions I've had about the circuit there may be several different types that they are selling... Most people have simply dumped the on board regulator and substituted their own. However, many would like to use the module as is which should be possible once the circuit is figured out or we can find some data on the APC feedback regulator chip... John K3PGP@juno.com http://www.qsl.net/k3pgp -==- >From owner-laser Wed Jul 30 10:07:52 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA26354; Wed, 30 Jul 97 10:07:52 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f To: laser@qsl.net Date: Wed, 30 Jul 1997 12:59:16 -0400 Subject: [LASER] Higher Power IR laser diodes... Message-Id: <19970730.125927.3406.5.K3PGP@juno.com> X-Mailer: Juno 1.38 X-Juno-Line-Breaks: 1-16 From: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Reply-To: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk Several people have asked about the availability of laser diodes that can run greater than 5 mw. I just ran across some 15 mw devices... >The highest power laser diode I have at this time is a >780nm 15mW laser diode. These diodes run about $30.00 each. This is from Meredith and your contact is: lasers1@ix.netcom.com Tell them I sent you otherwise they may not know about this... John K3PGP@juno.com http://www.qsl.net/k3pgp -==- >From owner-laser Wed Jul 30 10:24:31 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA27033; Wed, 30 Jul 97 10:24:31 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f To: laser@qsl.net Date: Wed, 30 Jul 1997 13:13:06 -0400 Subject: Re: [LASER] laser pen sale again. Message-Id: <19970730.131310.3406.6.K3PGP@juno.com> References: <9707301610.AA24262@berlioz.nsc.com> X-Mailer: Juno 1.38 X-Juno-Line-Breaks: 0-3,5-11,14-19 From: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Reply-To: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk On Wed, 30 Jul 97 09:10:44 PDT jmoss@berlioz.nsc.com (Jim Moss) writes: >There seem to be 2 main types of drivers used in recent pens I've >looked at. >One with no circuit, just a direct connection from the diode to the >batteries thru a switch, and usually a pasted on plastic lens. (these are the ><$25 ones) > >Jim >WB9AJZ/6 CM87xi Sunnyvale, CA > Just as a point of interest the Damark pen uses an APC feedback power regulator. Looks like the typical two transistor circuit but so small that it's impossible to work on. Not bad for < $25 !!! John K3PGP@juno.com http://www.qsl.net/k3pgp -==- >From owner-laser Wed Jul 30 14:36:44 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA05963; Wed, 30 Jul 97 14:36:44 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f To: laser@qsl.net Date: Wed, 30 Jul 1997 17:27:34 -0400 Subject: [LASER] Lasercomms Message-Id: <19970730.172736.3686.1.K3PGP@juno.com> X-Mailer: Juno 1.38 X-Juno-Line-Breaks: 0-1,9-10,16-19,22-23,26-27,31-32,34-42 From: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Reply-To: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk >From Oatley Electronics, in Australia: LASERCOMMS: Ref: EA Feb 94. Communicate high quality audio on an IR laser beam. Circuitry employs FM techniques with a 200KHz carrier. The kit includes two PCBs (transmitter and receiver), all the on-board components, an electret microphone, a speaker, a 5mW / 780nM laser diode, a suitable collimating lens, and the instructions. That is everything you need to make a high quality IR laser communications link which has been tested to over 200m. Receiver PCB: 94 x 40mm. Transmitter PCB: 87 x 34mm: (K19) $66 A similar kit which does not include the laser diode and the collimating lens, but is supplied with an IR LED instead, is also available. This kit produces identical results over a much shorter range of 2 to 3 metres. All that is necessary to demonstrate communications on a light beam, a light beam relay, and "fibre optic" cable communications. Fibre optic cable is not supplied: (K30) $33 ----- Although I have NOT purchased the above kits, I have dealt with Oatley and have found them to be very nice to work with. Branco even called me on the phone (from Australia !!!) to confirm my order !!! (TWICE !!!) REMEMBER the current rate of exchange $US to $AUS is approx. 75 % meaning that something listed for $50 will only cost you $35 US and they do take Visa... I sent my order via Email and my credit card info via Fax. A 1 minute Fax is approx. $1.00 using AT&T after 3 am or 11 cents per 6 second increment (66 cents a minute) using LDI day or night. Even airmail is slow though so be prepared for a wait once you order... There is a link to Oatley on my web page under Laser Vendors.... Check them out, many interesting devices.... Tell Branco I sent you !!! John K3PGP@juno.com http://www.qsl.net/k3pgp -==- >From owner-laser Thu Jul 31 07:34:44 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA04956; Thu, 31 Jul 97 07:34:44 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f Message-Id: <3.0.1.32.19970731092921.008dc900@colby.edu> X-Sender: aballen@colby.edu X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Light Version 3.0.1 (32) Date: Thu, 31 Jul 1997 09:29:21 -0500 To: laser@qsl.net From: "Art Allen, KY1K" Subject: [LASER] Timeline module, repost tech report Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Reply-To: "Art Allen, KY1K" Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk Hi Everyone, One of the users on the list said they had some inquires regarding the timeline module. I mentioned that I had posted some info on this module previouly, but he said he couldnt remember my previous postings. He suggested that I might repost the info in light of the multitude of new users here. The timeline module is a 20 dollar IR module containg 3 mw IR diode, APC unit and collimator. It comes from a XEROX laser printer, so it should be capable of being switched on and off quickly, and should be capable of running constant duty too. Sounds perfect for our purposes hi hi. The only catch is that they do not give hook up info- So, here are my previous posts-if anyone wants the schematic, I can dig it up. GL...Art.... X-Sender: aballen@colby.edu Date: Fri, 04 Apr 1997 10:21:37 -0500 To: laser@berlioz.nsc.com From: "Art Allen, KY1K" Subject: timeline module? Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com hi everyone... I just got my timeline module yesterday-it seems like a good deal. It's built like a brick outhouse. I was going to reverse engineer the driver pcb but thought I would check with the GROUP first. Has anyone done this before? Incidently, BEWARE! Despite the fact that they advertise it as a 5 mw module, the diode supplied is only 3 mw! Also, the diode should come with factory specs for each individual diode, so they can be set up properly. These specs are NOT GIVEN-but there is a general spec sheet for the diode type (LT022). Is that driver board worth reverse engineering for our purposes? GL...Art... X-Sender: aballen@colby.edu Date: Sat, 05 Apr 1997 18:33:53 -0500 To: laser@berlioz.nsc.com From: "Art Allen, KY1K" Subject: timeline reverse engineering report Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Hi Everyone, I ordered a Timeline module and I'm very pleased with the quality of the thing. I would like to use the EXISTING power module tho, but it has no docs with it. The timeline module is a 20 dollar laser module available from timeline. It is an IR laser diode, collimator and power control unit for gain guided laser diodes. It is advertised as a '5 mw' power output, but it contains an LT022 diode, which is 3 mw max. It comes in a very heavy duty cast aluminum box which is solidly shielded and has a 10 wire ribbon conductor input cable. It says it is made for a XEROX laser printer. The only numbers on it are XEROX house numbers. The mounting block is detachable from the box and the collimator is plastic lens type. The box is triangular and odd shaped. The pcb containing the controller unit is also triangular shaped. I would like to be able to use the controller to power the diode, but no schematic or hookup info is given with the thing. So, I sat down and traced out all the etches and made a diagram. Having the diagram didn't help much! Even looking at the diagram, its not clear which wires are power supply inputs and which are signal inputs. There are 2 small variable resistors on the pcb, but their function is not labelled. It has a 28 pin inline chip which powers the diode and senses the PD output to keep the thing operating at the proper output. There is also a single small transistor, which looks like it might be a sub mini voltage reference supply rather than a transistor. I was able to identify the 'ground' trace on the pcb. It should be noted that the PCB and the diode holder are both FLOATING from the aluminum chasis, so they are playing games with the power supply inputs maybe. The sub mini 3 lead transistor appearing device (probably a voltage reference supply) appears to be a negative voltage input and output with respect to the ground etch because it has electrolytic caps that a positive to ground. I have a hand drawn schematic and I'd be happy to ship it via email to anyone who thinks they can make sense of it. Anyone care to take a shot at guessing how to power this sucker? GL...Art... >From owner-laser Thu Jul 31 09:58:40 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA09543; Thu, 31 Jul 97 09:58:40 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f To: laser@qsl.net Date: Thu, 31 Jul 1997 12:49:04 -0400 Subject: [LASER] Laser Diode Driver Chips & Diode Polarity Message-Id: <19970731.124905.14574.3.K3PGP@juno.com> X-Mailer: Juno 1.38 X-Juno-Line-Breaks: 0-3,5-6,8-11,14-15,22-28 From: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Reply-To: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk One thing to watch out for when looking for a driver chip: Laser diodes seem to come in FOUR different polarities! Some have a common negative case while others have a common positive case. To complicate matters some have the photodiode mounted with the same polarity as the laser diode while others use reverse polarity. That makes four different possibilities that I am aware of. Meredith makes at least one APC driver board that can handle ANY type of laser diode. Other boards and driver chips seem to handle only one specific type of laser diode. If you plan on doing a lot of experimenting with different diodes it might pay to make sure your driver circuit can handle ANY polarity diode. Although you can float the laser diode case, personally I feel a lot safer with the case grounded as I tend to play around with things a lot and I don't want to take a chance on accidently touching the diode case when the humidity is low and zap it with static electricity. Some of the diodes I am playing with are over $300 each! John K3PGP@juno.com http://www.qsl.net/k3pgp -==- >From owner-laser Thu Jul 31 10:02:25 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA09582; Thu, 31 Jul 97 10:02:25 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f To: laser@qsl.net Date: Thu, 31 Jul 1997 12:58:06 -0400 Subject: [LASER] Some thoughts on Laser Safety Message-Id: <19970731.125807.14574.4.K3PGP@juno.com> X-Mailer: Juno 1.38 X-Juno-Line-Breaks: 3-4,7-8,10-11,15-20,23-24,32-33,37-38,40-41,45-46, 51-52,62-63,65-66,70-76 From: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Reply-To: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk There has been some concern lately over laser diode safety. I share your concerns. I consider even a 1 mw laser pen dangerous if used improperly. However, once you get above this power level things can become extremely dangerous. Recently while setting up the lens system on my 500 mw 810 nm laser diode I noticed the spot that I was projecting across the room seemed to be flickering. I went over for a closer look and discovered the reason. The laser had burnt a hole through the target and was now working on the books behind the target! I had expected this to happen and was watching for it! That's why I was careful as to what I placed behind the target. The books weren't anything that I needed to keep around. I've now made up a test target that is more durable :-^) !!! ----- One very interesting thing that came out of all of this: Since I am working on a laser EME system I have to pay more attention to optics than most laser users. With that in mind I am using a two lens system on the laser diode. The 3 7/8 inch output lens is mounted approx. the focal distance away from the laser diode. Directly in front of the laser diode is a second lens. This lens is adjusted so that the beam is expanded to slightly smaller than the diameter of the final lens. The distance to the output lens is then moved slightly to achieve best focus on infinity. The lens directly in front of the laser diode is then tweaked to further refine the beam. It takes a couple of passes back and forth to optimize everything. This system of two lens produces a much more concentrated beam at a distance that what can be achieved with a single lens. The diameter of the beam can be changed by adjusting the two lens so if you need a beam that isn't so tight you can easily widen it out. The reason I bring all this up under the safety heading is I noticed the following: If I use the typical one lens collimation system the 500 mw laser is extremely dangerous to work around as the power is concentrated into an extremely fine beam directly in front of the laser. Anything in it's path is instantly heated to the combustion or melting point! HOWEVER, when using the two lens system the beam directly in front of the laser is approx. 3.5 inches in diameter. This makes the power density a LOT lower. I haven't done the math yet, but from probing around with a wattmeter it appears as though the power density is even lower than the collimated beam from my 5 mw laser. Although this is still to be considered a dangerous system to work around and I treat it with respect, I feel a LOT safer working around the system now that the two lens system is in use. It has the added advantage that it produces a tighter beam at a distance (exactly what I wanted for the EME project) while lowering the power density directly in front of the system where someone or something may accidently get in the path. The power density can be made even lower directly in front of the system by using an even larger diameter lens or mirror. The tracking system I currently have can easily handle the tighter beam so pointing it isn't an issue. I am in the process of modifying my 30 mw laser to use the same optics system. Once I get all this worked out I'll write it up on the web site. Just keep in mind you still have to be careful where you point something like this. However, since the beam is now 3.5 or more inches in diameter anywhere along the path the power density is a LOT lower and safer than it was when using a single collimation lens. John K3PGP@juno.com http://www.qsl.net/k3pgp -==- >From owner-laser Thu Jul 31 13:27:58 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA16292; Thu, 31 Jul 97 13:27:58 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f To: laser@qsl.net Date: Thu, 31 Jul 1997 16:16:58 -0400 Subject: [LASER] Email Adr ??? Message-Id: <19970731.161706.3486.5.K3PGP@juno.com> X-Mailer: Juno 1.38 X-Juno-Line-Breaks: 1-6,8-9,12-13,15-34,36-38,40-50 From: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Reply-To: k3pgp@juno.com (John K3PGP) Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk I don't like to use the laser reflector for stuff like this but I don't know any other way to do this: ----- Doug: I am trying to Email the laser data you requested but it keeps bouncing. I have sent five Emails to you so far and all have bounced. If you want to give me a valid Email adr I will send the stuff you wanted there. Otherwise I can cue it up to go out with the other fax transmissions scheduled for 3:01 am. (Rates are cheaper then :-^) ! I thought you might like to know about this since I'm probably not the only one having this difficulty... ----- Date: Thu, 31 Jul 1997 15:41:12 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Returned mail: User unknown ----- The following addresses had permanent fatal errors ----- Doug.Music.music@Tempe.ate.slb.com ----- Transcript of session follows ----- ... while talking to tempe.ate.slb.com.: >>> RCPT To: <<< 550 ... User unknown 550 Doug.Music.music@Tempe.ate.slb.com... User unknown Final-Recipient: rfc822; Doug.Music.music@Tempe.ate.slb.com Action: failed Status: 5.1.1 Remote-MTA: DNS; tempe.ate.slb.com Diagnostic-Code: SMTP; 550 ... User unknown Last-Attempt-Date: Thu, 31 Jul 1997 15:41:12 -0400 (EDT) On Thu, 31 Jul 1997 11:29:34 -0700 Doug Music writes: ----- The periods in your name field look suspect to me.... John K3PGP@juno.com http://www.qsl.net/k3pgp -==- >From owner-laser Thu Jul 31 14:28:31 1997 Return-Path: Received: by berlioz.nsc.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA18652; Thu, 31 Jul 97 14:28:31 PDT X-Authentication-Warning: ns1.qsl.net: majordom set sender to owner-laser@qsl.net using -f Date: Thu, 31 Jul 1997 14:22:50 -0700 From: c1040@azfms.com (Rusty Carruth) Message-Id: <199707312122.OAA11803@fmswksn06.azfms.dot> To: laser@qsl.net Subject: [LASER] doug's email addr. X-Sun-Charset: US-ASCII Reply-To: c1040@azfms.com (Rusty Carruth) Sender: owner-laser@berlioz.nsc.com Precedence: bulk Well, sorry for bugging the whole list, but... Doug's email address is actually one of: music@san-jose.ate.slb.com music@goodnet.com rusty