MILITARY COLLECTOR GROUP POST, JAN.22/98 INDEX: EYES FOR YOUR RECEIVER - THE PANADAPTER PART 1 - Introduction, by John Mackesy WHATSIT'S; Bill Has Several HUMOR; ************************************************* EYES FOR YOUR RECEIVER - THE PANADAPTER PART 1 - Introduction, by John Mackesy Most of us will be acquainted with the "Panadapter", an oscilloscope-type device which displays signals within a receiver's passband. Although the word Panadapter tends to be used as a term to describe all devices of this type, it was in fact a trade name used by Panoramic Radio Products (later Panoramic Electronics, then Singer Metrics) for their PANoramic ADAPTER. Panoramic called it the Panadaptor, but popular usage is panadapter. Both spellings will appear in this article. Panoramic was one of those companies who derived a large part of their income from government agencies, both military and otherwise. All their equipment was built to MIL specs, only the nameplate changing between the military and the "other" versions. Panadaptors were used in aircraft, ground and shipboard applications. The panadapter is basically a scanning receiver in which the tuned frequency is swept around a CENTER FREQUENCY by the CRT horizontal deflection. The horizontal (X) position of any received signal is therefor a function of its frequency. The demodulated signal is applied to the (vertical) Y amplifier, Y deflection being a function of signal strength. This results in a "pip" appearing on the CRT, its X position being relative to center frequency, height proportional to signal strength. Sweep width for a panadapter used for signal monitoring is typically 50 Khz, 100 Khz, 0 Khz, 1Mhz or more, depending on the receiver frequency or application. One of the earlier application of panadapters was in aircraft, where it was important to be able to find slightly off-frequency signals. Input to the Panadapter is derived from the receiver converter stage. In practice, this means that the receivers IF frequency must fall within the Panadapters input center frequency. Although a 500 Khz (+/- 100 Khz) center frequency caters for a goodly proportion of receivers, there are many other IF's out there. And what if you want to test a transmitter (or oscillator), which could be on any frequency? Enter the Panalyzor (Panoramic trade name, as in PANoramic anaLYZER). This is essentially the same as the Panadapter, but input is to a broadband input converter. 2 signals are required: an input signal and a beat signal equal to n input + n center frequency. The resulting difference signal (typically 500 Khz)is then processed exactly as in the panadapter. For very little extra complication, our basic panadapter has suddenly become a very much more versatile instrument - the RF Spectrum Analyzer. It also provided Panoramic with a business opportunity for producing VFO's, Range Extending Converters, Band-Pass Amplifiers and two-tone generators. Input center frequency is commonly 500 Khz, tunable through one or two hundred Khz, although there are 10.7 Mhz models and other frequencies up to 30 Mhz. Microwave models go up to 44 Ghz! At this point I must confess to having a long-standing weakness for this type of equipment (due to a misspent youth in the military business). Currently, I own a couple of Singer/Panoramic "Panalyzor" RF Spectrum Analyzers, a (relatively) late Model SB12b-T100 (also known as SSB-4 and URM-134A) and an SSB-50. Prior to this I owned a Panoramic SB8b T-0 and an earlier-model SB12b. The SB8b was a general-purpose device, the SB12b more oriented towards SSB analysis. Both were of very rugged construction, beautifully built and excellent examples of vacuum-tube technology. The newer SSB-50 is all solid state, except for a 12AU7 X amplifier and a 12AX7 Y amplifier, and of course the 5ADP7 CRT. I guess this is probably a good time to explain the Panoramic (later Singer) model identification. This is quite straight-forward, although I'll cover only the more common variations. SA prefix =3D Panadaptor - a device with a (relatively) fixed input frequency SB prefix =3D Panalyzor - a device with a broadband input converter T-*** =3D max sweep range in Khz, commonly 100, 200 or 1000 Khz Z suffix =3D 5ADP7 CRT, illuminated graticule, camera mount bezel This last item deserves some explanation. On most models, the standard CRT is the 5UP7, which is used with a couple of different types of bezel, both unattractive. This is a curved-face tube, used with a somewhat flexible plastic graticule. As the (flat-faced) 5ADP7 requires both + and - HV, there are also power supply differences between models. PART 2 will cover circuit concepts - stay tuned! John Mackesy mack@melbpc.org.au ************************************************* WHATSIT'S; Bill Has Several Dennis, I was rearranging a closet and ran across a black box special. Some one has filed away the nomenclature. It is black wrinkle finish, about 10" x 6" x 6 1/2". Has a switch on top marked on/off which has a red data plate around it. Above the switch is what appears to be an antenna connector. Front and back covers have 2 twist off screws which allow the covers to be removed. One one side must be the battery compartment. Has four plugs, two 2 pin plugs and two 3 pin plugs. The other side has the works. On the left is a brass tube, about the size of a 40 mm shell casing cut down to 9 inches. The electronics consist of two tiers. The lower tier has two 958 tubes, 6 resistors, a small open air coil , a tightly wound coil that looks like a ferrite loopstick antenna and a mica capacitor connecting the lower tier with the upper tier of parts. The upper tier 2 more mica caps and 3 resistors, a terminal board, and something in a metal can which has three(3) connections on one side and two(2) on the other side. It resembles an IF transformer as it has an adjustment screw on the top. I suspect it is some sort of frequency generating device for calibrating something. It is Serial No 8100:CPY. It has an Order No of 9245WF43 which I assume means Wright Field 1943. Do you have any idea what it is? Does anybody need one of these? I would put it in the for trade list but do not know what to call it. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Dennis, Does anybody know Laci Radnay? Do they have an e-mail address for him? --------------------------------------------------------------------- Dennis, Have you ever heard of a Canadian WWII spy radio H-15 in suitcase,four long parallelled blocks,FT-171 crystals.Resembles SSTR-1 a bit.RX,TX w/key onto it,DC chopper,AC supply. Do not think the Canadians ever made spy radios, prefering to use British B 2 sets. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dennis, Do you have any information on a test oscillator: Test Oscillator TS 47A/APR (ORDER 28780-PHILA- 55) I just got one, would like to get some background/details on it. Assume the Order No places it about 1955 vintage. Thanks, Bill Howard THE WILLIAM L. HOWARD ORDNANCE TECHNICAL INTELLIGENCE MUSEUM e-mail wlhoward@gte.net Telephone AC 813 585-7756 ************************************************* HUMOR; GETTING OLD There was this couple who had been married for 50 years. They were sitting at the breakfast table one morning when the old gentleman said to his wife, "Just think honey, we've been married for 50 years today!!" "Yeah," she replied, "Imagine, 50 years ago we were sitting here at the breakfast table together." "I know," he said, "We were probably sitting here naked a jaybirds 50 years ago!!' "Well," Granny snickered, "What do you say? Should we, you know, get naked?" The couple stripped to the buff and sat back down at the table. "You know hun," the little old lady breathlessly replied, "My nipples are as hot for you today as they were 50 years ago." "I wouldn't be surprised," replied Gramps. "There is one in your coffee, and the other is in your oatmeal!!" ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- PINNOCHIO One day, Pinnochio and his girlfriend were in bed doing what girls and wooden boys do. As they were cudding later, Pinnochio could tell that something was bothering his girlfriend, being a sensitive guy, he asked her, "What's the matter, baby?" Pinnochio's girlfriend gave a big sigh, "you're probably the best lover I've ever had", she said, 'but every time we make love you give me splinters." This remark bothered Pinnochio a great deal, so the next day he went to seek some advice from his creator, Gepetto. Gepetto searched up and down for a solution. Eventually, he suggested that sandpaper might be able to "smooth out" Pinnochio's relationship with his girlfriend. Pinnochio graciusly thanked Gepetto and went on his way. A couple of weeks later, Gepetto was in town to have some blades sharpened at the hardware store when he ran into Pinnochio and noted that his little wooden friend was buying every package of sandpaper the store had in stock. "So," Gepetto remarked, "Pinnochio, things must be going pretty damn good with the girls, eh?" "Girls?" said Pinnochio, "Who needs girls?" ------------------------------------------------------------------------- A man came home from work sporting two black eyes. "What happened to you?" asked his wife. "I'll never understand women," he replied. "I was riding up in an escalator behind this pretty young girl, and I noticed that her skirt was stuck in the crack of her ass. So I pulled it out, and she turned around and punched me in the eye!" "I can certainly appreciate that," said the wife, "but how did you get the second black eye?" "Well, I figured she liked it that way," said the husband, "so I pushed it back in." ------------------------------------------------------------------------- GOOD, BAD, WORSE Good: Your hubby and you agree, no more kids Bad: You can't find your birth control pills Worse: Your daughter borrowed them Good: Your son studies a lot in his room Bad: You find several porn movies hidden there Worse: You're in them Good: Your husband understands fashion Bad: He's a crossdresser Worse: He Looks better than you Good: Your son's finally maturing Bad: He's involved with the woman next door Worse: So are you Good: You give the birds and bees talk to your daughter Bad: She keeps interrupting Worse: With corrections Good: Your wife's not talking to you Bad: She wants a divorce Worse: She's a lawyer Good: The postman's early Bad: He's wearing fatigues and carrying an AK47 Worse: You gave him nothing for Christmas Good: You came home for a quickie Bad: The postman had the same idea Worse: You have to wait ************************************************* EDITOR; Dennis Starks; MILITARY RADIO COLLECTOR/HISTORIAN military-radio-guy@juno.com