checking a 1MHZ xtal

[Richard Post]

Al,

Here are a couple of unorthodox "mad scientist" approaches for checking
crystal activity.

Try plugging the crystal directly into the grid dip meter.  I made a little
adapter from a crystal socket and a couple of heavy short wires which plug
directly in place of the two-terminal Heath grid dip coils.  Listen for the
crystal  on a nearby receiver.

No test equipment?  Try connecting one terminal of the crystal to a
receiver antenna terminal.  Simply stroke a piece of wire (just a few feet
of hook up wire is fine) that might normally be used as an antenna to the
other terminal of the crystal so as to make static in the receiver.  When
the receiver is tuned at the crystal frequency, you can hear a noticeable
change in the tone of the scratching static noise.  Recommend using a tube
boatanchor receiver for this rather than a portable shortwave set with a
FET front-end.   I suppose I could use a signal generator instead of the
scratching RF wide-band noise but have not yet tried that.

73,
Rich
Boatanchor Pix website - KB8TAD
<http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~postr/bapix/>



>Sender: Heathkit Owners and Collectors List
>From: Ken Dupuis  Wn2Sqc <wn2sqc at JUNO.COM>
>Subject:      Re: checking a 1MHZ xtal
>To: HEATH at LISTSERV.TEMPE.GOV
>
>I saw this tip in a book about uses for a grid dip meter. If you have a
>grid dip meter that goes down to1mhz you can check the resonant frequency
>which should also indicate the ability to oscillate, put a one turn loop
>across the crystal and see if it dips. Ken
>
>On Thu, 23 May 2002 21:44:38 -0400 Multi-Volti Devices
><multi-volti at SOFTHOUSE.COM> writes:
>> No - best test for an xtal is actually to build a simple circuit.
>>
>> Murray
>>
>> AL ROYCE wrote:
>> >
>> > Are there any ways to check a 1mhz xtal out of the circuit to see
>> if
>> > it functions?
>> >
>> > Thanks Al
>> >
>> >
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