Laser Transmitter Circuit
This laser transmitter uses a simple laser pointer module. Any of the normal 3 or 5mW devices will function well. Imports from the USA or Hong Kong are frequently a higher power than the UK approved units.
The modules normally contain 2 or 3 1.5 Volt mercury cells. The external modulated supply should duplicate the voltage used in your particular module. The electronics contained in the module will include the semiconductor laser diode and a constant current source. The ability of the constant current source to be switched on and off at audio frequency will change between manufacturers, but below 1kHz, this is not normally a problem. However, there are applications where the supply can be switched at 20 to 200kHz and voice or high speed data can be modulated onto this sub-carrier. For these high speed applications the circuit should be tested carefully with an oscilloscope. If unsuitable, the constant current source can be modified or replaced with a circuit that has a faster response.
4060 Pins
16 Supply, 8 Ground, 2 Output,
10+11 Crystal, 12 reset.
The two diodes are 1N4001 etc. The capacitor on the key input is 10nF.
This circuit uses a crystal and a 4060
oscillator / divider to produce a square wave output in the audio range. In this
case a 4MHz crystal giving 488Hz on pin 2.
The 5Vp-p square wave is buffered by 3 transistors which includes a totem pole
driver. Two diodes reduce the voltage by 1.2V which then supplies the laser module.
One switch is attached to the reset pin of the 4060. This is used to select CW ( constant laser output) or Modulated CW.
Another switch wired between the key input and ground allows the laser to be keyed via the phono socket or it can be
switched permanently on. This is very useful when aligning the beam onto a
distant receiver.
Some circuits have been published using 555 timers but I felt that a crystal source would give greater potential for weak signal working. The high accuracy and stability allows the use of DSP software to detect signals below normal noise level. These programmes are available free via the internet and use your computer's soundcard to provide the DSP functions.
Caution:
1) Always use talkback to coordinate
transmissions with the other station. Looking at a laser over long distances
through your receive optics can be very dangerous.
2) Most laser modules use positive earth.
3) Heating the module to solder wires can damage the optics and increase the beam
divergence.
4) A laser diode can fail but still appear to be working. However, what you'll
have is an expensive LED with a light output that is a fraction of the laser and
a beam that is not a coherent light source.
A huge catalogue of laser parts can be found at: www.roithner-laser.com