I'm new to these groups, so please alert me if I break any rules which I
don't know about. I generally lurk longer, but I'm quite desperate for
answers.

I have successfuly built the intercom from this web page:
http://www.uoguelph.ca/~antoon/circ/intercom.html
It seems to work quite well, however I do have some questions. At the
moment I'm only using fairly short, normal, thin wires to connect the
circuits. What wire would be the best to use - will interference be a
problem? what length of the current type of wire could I use?

Also, I'm not sure which resistor I might change with a variable resistor
to allow the adjustment of volume, or if that's even possible?

Finally - I don't really understand how the whole circuit works. I've
modelled the circuit on a simulation program called Crocodile Clips, so I
understand some of it, but for instance I don't understand what the job of
the capacitors is. If anyone would be willing to take some time to
explain/point me in the right direction I would be very grateful.

Please don't feel you have to answer all my questions! but any answers you
can give would be greatly appreciated.

Thankyou
Alex Bradbury

On Fri, 03 Oct 2003 18:07:29 +0100, smelialic wrote:

I'm new to these groups, so please alert me if I break any rules which I
don't know about. I generally lurk longer, but I'm quite desperate for
answers.

I have successfuly built the intercom from this web page:
http://www.uoguelph.ca/~antoon/circ/intercom.html
It seems to work quite well, however I do have some questions. At the
moment I'm only using fairly short, normal, thin wires to connect the
circuits. What wire would be the best to use - will interference be a
problem? what length of the current type of wire could I use?

Also, I'm not sure which resistor I might change with a variable resistor
to allow the adjustment of volume, or if that's even possible?

Finally - I don't really understand how the whole circuit works. I've
modelled the circuit on a simulation program called Crocodile Clips, so I
understand some of it, but for instance I don't understand what the job of
the capacitors is. If anyone would be willing to take some time to
explain/point me in the right direction I would be very grateful.

Please don't feel you have to answer all my questions! but any answers you
can give would be greatly appreciated.

Thankyou
Alex Bradbury
The wire shouldn't be too critical unless you have an electrically
noisy location. The application is low impedance which should buy you
a high degree of noise immunity. There is little current involved.
The resistance of the wire should be small relative to the speaker
impedence. Offhand, I'd use something like 22 AWG wire.

Some twisted pair "bell" wire should be adequate. Avoid running it
parallel to the mains wiring if possible.

Caps:

The large 1,000 µf cap is to supply energy quickly when it is needed.
It lowers the effective impedance of the battery.

The 220 nf is used to couple the AC signal into the amplifier without
unbalancing the transistor bias with a DC level. It is a "coupling
cap." It also serves to make the "listen" position a zero battery
drain position.

To that end, both switches should be spring return to the top position
(as shown) so you won't inadvertently discharge the batteries.
(unless, of course it is a baby monitor)

The 47pf cap looks like it may be some degenerative feedback on the
input stage, probably to improve the stability and limit the
bandwidth. It may help to prevent the amp from picking up nearby
radio stations, and keep it from oscillating.




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Other than explained on web-page , the bc558 transistors are set-up as
"Emitter Followers" ( very high resistance(AC impedance), basically
what it boils down to is this :

You can use resistors in wire 1 and thusly reduce the volume without
effectively reducing the speakers " microphone pickup "

The speaker is used as a speaker in one switch position , and as a
poor-mans microphone in another...just like very cheap toy
walkie-talkies .

If you want less volume , the easiest way to do it is with some 10 ohm
resistors in paralell on wire 1.

tim

Once you determine the wanted values for say low-medium-high (zero) ,
you can use a cheap switch to select the approximate volume you want .

smelialic wrote in message ...
I'm new to these groups, so please alert me if I break any rules which I
don't know about. I generally lurk longer, but I'm quite desperate for
answers.

I have successfuly built the intercom from this web page:
http://www.uoguelph.ca/~antoon/circ/intercom.html
It seems to work quite well, however I do have some questions. At the
moment I'm only using fairly short, normal, thin wires to connect the
circuits. What wire would be the best to use - will interference be a
problem? what length of the current type of wire could I use?

Also, I'm not sure which resistor I might change with a variable resistor
to allow the adjustment of volume, or if that's even possible?

Finally - I don't really understand how the whole circuit works. I've
modelled the circuit on a simulation program called Crocodile Clips, so I
understand some of it, but for instance I don't understand what the job of
the capacitors is. If anyone would be willing to take some time to
explain/point me in the right direction I would be very grateful.

Please don't feel you have to answer all my questions! but any answers you
can give would be greatly appreciated.

Thankyou
Alex Bradbury

220 nf and 1k resistor seem to me to be the amplified speaker output .

First before trying the 10 ohm resistors , try to changing the value
of the 1k resistor ( at 220nf and switch to 5 or 10k or more )

tim

smelialic wrote in message ...
I'm new to these groups, so please alert me if I break any rules which I
don't know about. I generally lurk longer, but I'm quite desperate for
answers.

I have successfuly built the intercom from this web page:
http://www.uoguelph.ca/~antoon/circ/intercom.html
It seems to work quite well, however I do have some questions. At the
moment I'm only using fairly short, normal, thin wires to connect the
circuits. What wire would be the best to use - will interference be a
problem? what length of the current type of wire could I use?

Also, I'm not sure which resistor I might change with a variable resistor
to allow the adjustment of volume, or if that's even possible?

Finally - I don't really understand how the whole circuit works. I've
modelled the circuit on a simulation program called Crocodile Clips, so I
understand some of it, but for instance I don't understand what the job of
the capacitors is. If anyone would be willing to take some time to
explain/point me in the right direction I would be very grateful.

Please don't feel you have to answer all my questions! but any answers you
can give would be greatly appreciated.

Thankyou
Alex Bradbury

"smelialic" schreef in bericht
news
I'm new to these groups, so please alert me if I break any rules which I
don't know about. I generally lurk longer, but I'm quite desperate for
answers.

I have successfuly built the intercom from this web page:
http://www.uoguelph.ca/~antoon/circ/intercom.html
It seems to work quite well, however I do have some questions. At the
moment I'm only using fairly short, normal, thin wires to connect the
circuits. What wire would be the best to use - will interference be a
problem? what length of the current type of wire could I use?

Also, I'm not sure which resistor I might change with a variable resistor
to allow the adjustment of volume, or if that's even possible?

Finally - I don't really understand how the whole circuit works. I've
modelled the circuit on a simulation program called Crocodile Clips, so I
understand some of it, but for instance I don't understand what the job of
the capacitors is. If anyone would be willing to take some time to
explain/point me in the right direction I would be very grateful.

Please don't feel you have to answer all my questions! but any answers you
can give would be greatly appreciated.

Thankyou
Alex Bradbury

Alex,

As for your first question:It depends. Nobody can say from her/his desk how
noisy your environment is. The best way is to try it yourself. Start to use
ordinary, cheap twisted pair. Low power wire of 0.5mm diameter will do. You
can even twist them yourself if you want to. Taking to different colors of
isolation will make things easier. My guess is that you can go for some tens
of meters and you may find the volume decrease with increasing cable length.
Try to keep distance from mains cables, TL's and other electrical equipment.
If this all is not enough can you try shielded twisted pair. Make sure the
shielding is firmly tied to ground.

In this application the senders amplifier is used and the receiver can't do
much to it except lowering its battery voltage. Which make things too
complicated. The best I can imagin is a 56-100Ohms resistor in series with
let's say a 1KOhm variable resistor. A logarithmic one may be better then a
linear one. Connect this combination parallel to the speaker. But beware.
You will decrease the sensitivity of your "microphone" as well. You can
prevent this by using a double pole send/receive switch to switch off the
attenuater while sending.

The 1000microFarad elco is meant to shortcut the internal resistor of the
battery. It reduces the voltage changes of the battery due to changes of the
load and is a shortcut for (AC) signals.

The 47 Pf capacitor prevents oscillation of the amplifier.

The 220nF decouples DC on the speaker from the input of the amplifier.

So how it works?
When both switches are up, both batteries are effectively switched off.
Nothing happens.
When S1 is pushed:
- The left amplifier is powered by the right battery via the right speaker.
- When you speak in the left speaker it is used as a microphone. Its signal
goes via the 220nF cap to the input of the left amplifier. The amplified
signal goes from the output (the collector of the BC558B) via Wire 1 to the
right speaker.

pieter



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I would just like to say thankyou for all of your responses. I sort of
understood which section of the circuit was doing what and when, but the
job of the capacitors was a little beyond me. Thankyou for clearing that
up, and thankyou for the wire reccomendations. If anyone has anything else
they'd like to say, then please post but other than that I think I'm ok
with this circuit now. If there's anything else I get stuck on I'll be
sure to ask here again.

Alex Bradbury One happy customer!

Fred Abse wrote:

On Sat, 04 Oct 2003 14:33:25 -0700, JeffM wrote:

My advice: Play it safe; go twisted.

Balanced, too, if you can.

--

Balanced? On Usenet? Bite your tongue! ;-)

--


Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

I think of capacitors as batteries , they hold a charge , and oppose a
change of voltage between their terminals .

tim

smelialic wrote in message ...
I would just like to say thankyou for all of your responses. I sort of
understood which section of the circuit was doing what and when, but the
job of the capacitors was a little beyond me. Thankyou for clearing that
up, and thankyou for the wire reccomendations. If anyone has anything else
they'd like to say, then please post but other than that I think I'm ok
with this circuit now. If there's anything else I get stuck on I'll be
sure to ask here again.

Alex Bradbury One happy customer!