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VINTAGE RADIO
By RODNEY CHAMPNESS, VK3UG
The Barlow Wadley XCR-30 MkII
communications receiver
Developed during the 1960s, the BarlowWadley Loop principle gave rise to a new
generation of up-market communications
receivers. Here’s a look at one such set and
how it operated.
The Barlow Wadley XCR-30 multi-band receiver was made by the
Barlows Manufacturing Company
Ltd in the Republic of South Africa
between 1969 and 1981. The model
number “XCR-30” indicated that it
was a “crystal-controlled receiver with
30 bands”.
This was a relatively rare receiver
in Australia, despite the fact that
about 20,000 of them were produced.
The reason for this is quite simple:
Australia (and many other nations)
boycotted products from South Africa
during that period due to the latter’s
apartheid policies. However, some of
these advanced receivers did make it to
Australia and I was fortunate enough
to obtain one for personal use (I used
them in my work as well).
They were not cheap, selling for
around $225 in 1975. The first model
arrived in late 1970 and subsequent
upgrades occurred until at least 1974. I
believe that an FM converter was also
made to work with the receiver but I’ve
never seen one of these.
At first glance, the set appears
to be just another large multi-band
portable receiver with a telescopic
whip antenna. This is true, of course,
but on closer inspection it becomes
evident that the set is more than just
a multi-band transistorised portable
radio. It has a total of 31 bands and
tunes from 500kHz to 31MHz in 1MHz
segments. And it has the ability to tune
AM, single sideband (SSB) and Morse
code (CW) signals.
Furthermore, its dial calibrations
are quite accurate and it is an extremely stable receiver which exhibits
only very slight drifts in the tuned frequency, even at 30 MHz. This means
that you can tune to a frequency up
around 30MHz and be confident that
an AM station on that frequency will
be heard as soon as it commences
transmission, without the need for
retuning. It is not quite as stable as
this on SSB, however.
Construction
This rear view of the XCR-30 receiver shows how the back is hinged down so
that the batteries can be replaced.
78 Silicon Chip
The set itself is mounted in a steel
case which provides reasonable
shielding for the electronic circuitry.
This case measures 292mm wide by
190mm high by 98mm deep and is
www.siliconchip.com.au
covered with black vinyl over foam
plastic sheeting. It also weighs in at
just over 4kg with batteries, so it’s
hardly a “lightweight”.
The physical appearance of the set
puts it somewhere between a domestic
entertainment portable and a professional receiver. And realistically, that
is what the set’s market segment is –
sub-professional.
Sensibly, the manufacturers provided a decent-sized source of power in
the form of a pack of six D-cells. The
set can also be used with an external
6-12VDC power supply via a 2.5mm
DC socket. This was then regulated to
around 6.5V in most instances, with
the set protected against reverse polarity by a germanium diode.
Strangely, the set has a positive earth
which means that it cannot easily be
used with a supply with a negative
earth, as in most vehicles. Most of
the transistors in the radio are NPN
silicon types, with just a sprinkling of
germanium PNP types, so you would
think that a negative earth would have
been used.
A 3.5mm miniature phone socket is
mounted alongside the power socket
and this can drive either an external
speaker or headphones. The antenna
used for all frequencies is an 870mmlong telescopic whip.
An interesting feature is the use
of electronic band chang
ing, thus
eliminating the need for a very complex 31-position mechanical switch.
To tune the set, the lefthand dial
(bandswitch if you like) is set to the
particular Megahertz range required
and the righthand dial is then rotated
until the desired station is heard.
For example, Radio Australia on
9580kHz would be tuned by setting
the MHz dial to “9”, then the kHz
dial to “550”, then three more small
divisions further up the dial brings
the set to 9580kHz.
Even if the transmitter wasn’t operating at that time, the station would
be heard as soon as it commenced
operation. How many portables of the
early 1970s could boast that degree of
tuning accuracy?
The other controls are more conventional. The on-off-volume control
is quite conventional, for example. An
antenna tune control was a feature
of a number of portable receivers
(particu
larly imported multi-band
types) and this Barlow Wadley receiver has one too. However, it tunes
www.siliconchip.com.au
The Barlow Wadley XCR-30 multi-band
receiver is a good performer. This set is
relatively rare in Australia.
from 0.5-30MHz in one sweep of the
control. The control is either rotated
to obtain the best quality signal or if
there is no signal, is peaked on the
background noise.
As mentioned earlier, the set is
multi-mode, being able to resolve SSB
and CW signals in addition to AM. As
a result, a mode switch is included on
the front panel. Its left position selects
upper sideband, the centre position
AM and the right position lower sideband. In the sideband positions, Morse
code (CW) can also be resolved.
Tuning SSB signal is quite critical
so the knob above the mode switch is
an SSB clarifier. This latter control is
used to accurately tune SSB for clear
reception.
Performance
Because it is so different from anything else of the era, it is interesting
to see how this rather sophisticated
receiver works.
The six D-cell batteries are fitted by
first undoing two screws on the top
edge of the back using a screwdriver
or a small coin. The back can then
be laid down, after which the cells
can be inserted into the holder. Note
that the back can also be completely
removed by lifting it out of the gutter
at the bottom of the cabinet, while the
battery connections can be removed
from the battery holder.
Once the antenna has been fully
extended, the broadcast band is a
good place to start our check on the
performance of the set. Let’s say that
we want to tune to 693kHz. First, the
set is turned on and the volume control
rotated part way. The antenna trim
(tuning) is then set to approximately
the position where 693kHz would be
(this is a vague setting).
Next, the megahertz dial is set at
“0” and the kilohertz dial is rotated
until it is just below “700”. The mode
switch should be in the AM position.
If the station is within range, it should
now be heard.
It is then necessary to peak the “Antenna Trim” and adjust the MHz and
September 2002 79
elled-copper wire is used for the coils
and transformers (this was done to
maintain alignment stability and to
ensure a stable tuning range for the
VHF oscillator). However, because
these parts are so heavy, they tend to
break the solder joints and tracks on
the back of the board.
As a result, it’s a good idea to re-solder these areas of the board, as this
seems to fix most problems.
How it works
This view shows the front of the receiver with the front panel removed. The
1MHz crystal oscillator is shown at the top left of the photograph.
kHz dials for best reception. The small
signal-strength level meter, just to
the left of the frequency setting dials,
gives an idea of the relative strength
of received signals. Once it’s tuned,
you can adjust the volume control to
the desired level.
Although a bog-standard transistor
set may perform well on 693kHz, the
Barlow Wadley is a bit disappointing at this end of the dial. However,
the higher the frequency tuned, the
better the receiver performs. In fact,
its performance is sparkling in the
higher shortwave regions and it will
outperform most receivers of the era
on its whip antenna.
What’s more, it doesn’t drift off
station and has good dial calibration.
Even on SSB stations, it will remain in
tune for considerable periods of time.
The audio quality is also good and
with around 400mW into its 100mm
speaker, the volume is adequate for
most situations.
Another feature of the set is the
provision of separate antenna and
earth terminals. These can be used
to improve the reception at low frequencies and the use of an external
antenna does help in this regard.
However, I was still not satisfied
with the performance, so I modified
the antenna circuit to improve the
80 Silicon Chip
reception. We’ll take a look at this
modification later.
Restoring the XCR-30
Not surprisingly, the cabinet on my
set has suffered a few blemishes over
the years but is otherwise intact. The
grille also has a number of marks and
I’m not sure whether I can remove
them without doing further damage.
Internally, the set is well protected
and damage is unlikely unless it is
run over by a truck! Removing the rear
panel gives access to a double-sided
PC board of quite high quality. This
board carries all the circuitry and has
the component numbers marked on
it, as well as five test points. However,
without the service manual, identifying what does what is quite difficult,
as this is not a conventional superhet
receiver.
To really get serious about servicing
this receiver, it is necessary to remove
the front panel. First, the knobs are
re
moved, followed by nine screws
through the PC board. This allows the
front panel to come away and you now
have access to both sides of the board,
which is great for servicing.
Speaking of servicing, these receivers have a common fault in the VHF
sections of the circuit. This is due
to the fact that quite heavy enam-
As already mentioned, this receiver
isn’t a conventional superhet, so let’s
see how it works.
At the antenna input, the signal is
coupled via a low-value capacitor to
the top of one of three antenna coils.
These three coils are switched in or out
of circuit by two microswitches and
are tuned by a ferrite slug attached to
the dial cord. As the dial cord moves,
this ferrite slug is slid through each
of the coils in turn, the proximity of
the slug also triggering the relevant
microswitch.
This nifty idea means that the antenna can be peaked anywhere between
500kHz and 31MHz with just one
sweep of the antenna trim control.
The tuned signal is then amplified
and applied to a diode balanced
mixer (converter), where it is mixed
with the VHF local oscillator signal
(tuning range 45.5-75.5MHz) to give
an output at 45MHz ± 650kHz. This is
then applied to a 45MHz broadband
IF amplifier.
This high first IF (intermediate frequency) permits the use of relatively
simple RF circuitry in the front-end
while still achieving very good image
response (and there’s no complicated
31-position band switching). With a
13.7MHz input signal (MHz dial set to
“13” and the kHz dial set to “700”), the
image is at 103.3MHz. The 13.7MHz
signal beats with a 58.5MHz local
oscillator signal, giving an output on
44.8MHz.
Note that the 45MHz IF channel is
quite broad in response and will ac-
Fig.1 (right): this is the full circuit
diagram for the Barlow Wadley XCR30 MkII communications receiver.
It has a no less than 31 bands, tunes
from 500kHz to 31MHz in 1MHz
segments and can receive AM, single
sideband (SSB) and Morse code (CW)
signals.
www.siliconchip.com.au
www.siliconchip.com.au
September 2002 81
Photo Gallery: Airzone Models 529 & 511
The Airzone Model 529: this was an AC/DC broadcastband receiver with the following valve line-up: EK2
converter, CF2 RF amplifier, CBC1 detector/audio, CL2
output, CY2 rectifier and C1 ballast. (Photo courtesy Bill
Adams, VK3ZWO).
cept signals from around 44.35MHz to
45.65MHz (1.3MHz bandwidth) with
little attenuation.
Next, the 44.8MHz signal is amplified and applied to another diode
balanced mixer on 42.5MHz. This produces an output on 2.3MHz (44.8MHz
- 42.5MHz = 2.3MHz). An image of
the 44.8MHz signal would occur at
40.2MHz but will be insignificant due
to the selectivity of the 45MHz IF amplifier and the very high frequency of
the image response at the first mixer.
The signals at the input of the
2-3MHz tuneable second IF amplifier
cover a whole megahertz, so it is necessary to tune this stage to 2.3MHz. This
section of the receiver can be consid
ered quite standard. In this particular
scenario, all the signals in the range
13-14MHz can be selected as desired
by the tuneable IF (kHz dial).
However, it is possible to have
breakthrough of an image signal which
is located 910kHz (ie, twice the IF
frequency) higher than the wanted
82 Silicon Chip
The Airzone Model 511: this AC broadcast-band model
featured a circular dial and carried the following
valves: 6A8 converter, 6K7 RF amplifier, 6Q7 detector/
audio, 6F6 output and 5Z4 rectifier. (Photo courtesy Bill
Adams, VK3ZWO).
signal. Thus, a signal on 2050kHz
will have an image at 2050 + 910 =
2960kHz. To overcome this problem,
an RF amplifier stage makes sure that
the image is rejected.
The 455kHz amplifier (3rd IF amplifier) is straightforward. It only uses
one conventional IF transformer and
most of the selectivity is achieved by
two ceramic resonators. The signals
are then applied to a conventional
diode detector for AM signals, or to a
product detector for SSB/CW signals.
Finally, the signals are amplified by
a conventional audio amplifier. This
consists either of discrete transistors
or an audio amplifier IC.
Local oscillator stability
Although the VHF oscillator in the
receiver is stable, it’s certainly not
stable enough for SSB (or even AM)
reception without the received signal
drifting well outside the passband of
the IF amplifier.
In a conventional broadcast-band
receiver, the local oscillator drifts over
time and this may be as much as 5kHz
when the oscillator is on 1500kHz (ie,
for a tuned frequency of 1045kHz).
However, in the Barlow-Wadley receiver, the oscillator for the first mixer
may be on 75MHz and if it suffered
the same percentage of drift, it would
drift 50 times as far – ie, 250kHz. That’s
not good as it would mean that the
dial calibrations would be out and,
even worse, just moving the set ever
so slightly would completely detune
SSB signals.
Fortunately, the drift in the oscillator is noticeably less than this but
in a conventional receiver, it would
still be too much for listening to AM
or SSB without having to regularly
adjust the tuning.
So how is the VHF oscillator set up
so that it remains exactly on the correct
frequency? Well, that’s not possible
but it is made as stable as practical.
Any drift is then corrected for using
the “Wadley Loop” principle so let’s
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Fig.2: this simplified block diagram will help you understand how the Barlow-Wadley Loop works. Follow it in
conjunction with the description given in the text.
see how this works.
Fig.2, which is a block diagram of
the receiver, will help you understand
the basic principle. As shown, a 1MHz
crystal oscillator is incorporated into
the receiver and its output is processed
in an harmonic generator to provide
harmonics extending beyond 33MHz.
It also sets the 1MHz tuning range for
each band.
The VHF local oscillator tunes nominally from 45.5-75.5MHz and whenever its output minus an harmonic of
the 1MHz oscillator equals 42.5MHz,
a particular band is selected.
For example, if the receiver is tuned
to the 13MHz band, the oscillator
will be on 58.5MHz. This 58.5MHz is
mixed with the 16th harmonic of the
1MHz crystal oscillator in balanced
mixer 1. This gives 58.5 - 16 = 42.5MHz
which is then fed to a 42.5MHz IF
amplifier stage.
Note that this IF amplifier does not
amplify the received signal – instead,
it amplifies only the 42.5MHz mixing
product of the two oscillators. This
42.5MHz “local oscillator” signal
then mixes with the band of signals
centred on 45MHz in balanced mixer
3 to give signals in the 2-3MHz range
as previously explained.
Earlier in the article, an example of
a received frequency of 13.7MHz was
used. It mixed with 58.5MHz (mixer
2), giving a 44.8MHz output (45MHz
IF). This was then mixed with the
42.5MHz signal to give 2.3MHz. This
is the case where the VHF oscillator
is exactly on 58.5MHz.
But what if the VHF oscillator drifts
to 58.6MHz? The signal in the 45MHz
IF will now be on 44.9MHz and if
mixed with 42.5MHz, the tuneable
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IF stage would need to be reset to
2.4MHz. And that’s quite unsatisfactory, as this would mean that the kHz
dial would have to be retuned.
However, all is not lost. The
58.6MHz signal is mixed with the
16MHz signal from the crystal oscillator and gives an output of 42.6MHz
which is still within the passband
of the 42.5MHz IF amplifier. This
42.6MHz signal is then mixed with the
44.9MHz IF signal (mixer 3) and this
gives an output of 2.3MHz.
This is exactly the same as when
the VHF oscillator was on 58.5MHz.
So even though the oscillator has
drifted 100kHz, the Wadley loop
system has cancelled this drift out.
The VHF oscillator can therefore drift
±150kHz (the acceptance bandwidth
of the 42.5MHz IF amplifier) and the
front end of the receiver will still have
crystal-locked frequency stability!
All in all, it’s a very nifty way of
cancelling the VHF oscillator drift.
Improving sensitivity
Because I was dissatisfied with
the sensitivity of the receiver at low
frequencies, I decided to install conventional primary windings over the
aerial coils. First, some 20 turns of
36-40 gauge enamelled copper wire
was wound at the earthy end of the
0.5-2MHz aerial coil. One end of this
coil was soldered to the nearby PC
board earth and the other to a 3-position single-pole switch mounted near
the headphone socket.
The 2-8MHz coil had 7-8 turns
wound onto its earthy end and the
active wire was also taken to the 3-position switch, while the other end went
to the PC board earth, as before. These
new primary windings were held in
place with a dab of nail polish.
The 8-30MHz coil was directly
tapped at the seventh turn from earth
and this tap was taken to the third
position on the switch. The moving
contact of the switch was then connected via a thin coaxial cable to a BNC
cable socket mounted near the earth
terminal. These simple modifications
greatly improved the performance on
SC
the lower frequencies.
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September 2002 83
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