Unit J.K.
Harmonic detector-amplifier. Bristol basement, 2026. Four sheets. These drawings were produced from memory during the Ceres Station period — Kirby's original notebook having been misplaced during the second displacement.
Construction Notes — Joel Kirby — Ceres Station 2157 — written from memory
HOUSINGAluminium project box, 280×180×60mm. Purchased from Maplin, Bristol. Spray-painted black.
COIL16-turn air-core coil, 0.8mm enamelled copper wire. Former: PVC pipe, 35mm diameter. Ferrite rod through centre, recovered from a dead AM radio.
PRE-AMPLNA board, 30–3800MHz, bought online. Powered by USB 5V rail.
FILTERHelical bandpass filter. 1420MHz. Centre frequency tunable. Built from drawings in a 1978 ARRL handbook.
DETECTORI thought it was an envelope detector. I'm not sure what it actually is. Output: 0–5V DC proportional to signal intensity. The proportionality function is non-standard.
POWER9V DC input. Linear PSU — switched-mode creates too much noise on 1420MHz band.
OUTPUTBNC port, 50-ohm. Also: 3.5mm jack for headphone monitoring. The headphone output produces a tone I have not been able to explain.
INDICATORSThree 5mm LEDs: POWER (green), SIGNAL (yellow), THRESHOLD (red). The threshold LED has never been off.
NOTE AThe device activates before power is applied. I have tested this twelve times. I do not know what power source it is using when unplugged.
Dad says to write down what I don't understand as well as what I do. This is the what I don't understand list.