Ramsey Electronics BS1 Instruction Manual

BS-1 • 1

THE BULLSHOOTER

ENDLESS LOOP
VOICE RECORDER

Ramsey Electronics Model No. BS1

Announcing an event is now easier than ever! Just say it once
and hear it over and over. Easy transmitter hookup for
broadcasting.

• Compact design stores up to 8 full minutes of audio.

• Provides endless looping playback of any message…FOREVER !!

• Add a transmitter for error free broadcasting of repetitive

announcements. “This Cape Cod rests on 12 acres with…”

• Easy to use, pushbutton operation - No fumbling around!

• Convenient line and speaker level outputs for any application.

• Handy built in microphone for use “on the fly” and external input for

pre-recorded messages.

• Operates on 9 to 15 Volts DC.

• Clear, concise instructions guide you step-by-step to a finished

product that works FIRST time.

BS-1 • 2

RAMSEY TRANSMITTER KITS

• FM100B Professional FM Stereo Transmitter

• FM25B Synthesized Stereo Transmitter

• AM1, AM25 AM Transmitters

• TV6 Television Transmitter

RAMSEY RECEIVER KITS

• FR1 FM Broadcast Receiver

• AR1 Aircraft Band Receiver

• SR2 Shortwave Receiver

• AA7 Active Antenna

• SC1 Shortwave Converter

RAMSEY HOBBY KITS

• SG7 Personal Speed Radar

• SS70A Speech Scrambler

• SP1 Speakerphone

• WCT20 Wizard Cable Tracer

• PH10 Peak hold Meter

• LC1 Inductance-Capacitance Meter

RAMSEY AMATEUR RADIO KITS

• DDF1 Doppler Direction Finder Kit

• HR Series HF All Mode Receivers

• QRP Series HF CW Transmitters

• CW700 Micro Memory CW Keyer

• CPO3 Code Practice Oscillator

• QRP Power Amplifiers

RAMSEY MINI-KITS
Many other kits are available for hobby, school, Scouts and just plain FUN. New
kits are always under development. Write or call for our free Ramsey catalog.

ENDLESS LOOP VOICE RECORDER INSTRUCTION MANUAL

Ramsey Electronics publication No. MBS1 Rev 1.0

First printing: August 1999

COPYRIGHT 1996 by Ramsey Electronics, Inc. 590 Fishers Station Drive, Victor, New York

14564. All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be copied or duplicated without the
written permission of Ramsey Electronics, Inc. Printed in the United States of America.

BS-1 • 3

THE BULLSHOOTER

ENDLESS LOOP

VOICE RECORDER

Ramsey Publication No. MBS-1

Price $5.00

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction ........................ .....................4

Circuit Description ..................................5

BS1 Parts List .........................................6

Parts Layout Diagram .............................8

Assembly Procedure ..............................9

Schematic Diagram ..............................10

Initial Testing and Operation .................16

Troubleshooting .............................. ......18

Warranty ...............................................19

KIT ASSEMBLY

AND INSTRUCTION MANUAL FOR

RAMSEY ELECTRONICS, INC.

590 Fishers Station Drive

Victor, New York 14564

Phone [phone]

Fax [phone]

www.ramseykits.com

BS-1 • 4

INTRODUCTION

Each of us at one time or another has probably heard an endless loop player
repeating a list of movies playing at the local theatre, or advertising a house for
sale through your car radio. Sure could be handy around the house
occasionally, or maybe down at the local flea market. Could you modify a
cassette or CD player to duplicate this function? Good luck! Where could you
even find that sort of machine anyway, and how much would it cost? Enter the
BS1 Bullshooter.

As a stand alone unit, the BS1 is perfect for the task of, say, announcing
repetitive instructions at an event: “All vendors please report to the registration
desk located at the …“. Connected to one of our personal broadcasters like the
FM-25, the BS1 is ideal for advertising neighborhood garage sales or school or
church functions. How about a look at the BS1?

You will notice right away that the Bullshooter isn’t your average tape player. In
fact, utilizing one of the latest voice recording chips on the market, the BS1
performs its job without need of a tape. There are no motors, drive belts, or
gears to wear out. With the exception of the front panel controls, there are no
moving parts at all! In addition, the endless loop playback feature makes the
Bullshooter a truly unique device.

A quick push of the “Record” button sets up the BS1 to record up to a full eight
minutes of audio. Use the on-board microphone to record a quick message or
move the pc board mounted jumper to enable use of the line level input for
recording from other sources; cassette, CD, radio, etc. A “Record” LED serves
as the record mode indicator and extinguishes when the maximum memory
capacity has been reached.

The “Play” button selects playback mode which is automatically set up for
endless loop operation. The message recorded will continue playback
indefinitely, looping over and over for as long as the unit remains in play mode.
Through programming of the internal microcontroller the message will always
start from the beginning, thus negating the need for rewinding. The “Play” LED
simply serves as an indicator for playback mode.

The Bullshooter features two sets of audio outputs to best suit the application
at hand. The speaker output (volume controlled by the front panel volume knob)
has sufficient power to drive most speakers well into normal listening volumes.
Although being a monaural device, twin line level outputs are provided for
connection to equipment such as mixers, amplifiers, or transmitters which
would normally require left and right inputs.

BS-1 • 5

BS1 CIRCUIT DESCRIPTION

In the BS1, as in all electronic devices, specific power and voltage
requirements exist. Although appearing quite simple at a glance, the power
supply of this unit provides three separate outputs (+12V unregulated, +5V, and
+3V regulated.) The +12V comes from an external source such as battery or
wall adapter and is filtered or “smoothed” by capacitor C21. D4 is a reverse
polarity protection diode which acts as a switch for the applied voltage. If proper
polarity is observed, D4 is forward biased and simply turns on like a switch.
However, if for some reason the applied voltage is reversed, D4 becomes
reverse biased and turns off, thus protecting all components. VR1 is a voltage
regulator which takes the raw +12V and provides a very clean +5 volts output.
D1, D2, and D3 together drop about 2 volts leaving a nice clean +3 volts
required by U2.

Most of the “magic” inside the BS1 lies within the ISD4004 IC (U2). This unique
chip manages all the recording, audio storage, and playback functions requiring
only address and control information from the microcontroller. An internal 8kHz
sampling frequency provides high quality voice reproduction. A four-wire serial
peripheral interface provides the means of data transfer into and out of the chip.

If the ISD4004 IC were the “heart” of the BS1, then the 68HC705K1
microcontroller (U4) would be the “brains” of the outfit. The micro takes inputs
from the pushbutton switches and through the use of an internal program,
processes this information in order to light the LEDs and send data to control
the voice chip. R15 and C18 with U4 set up an oscillator used for timing
purposes.

U1, the LM358 is a dual opamp by trade. One side (U1:A) is used as an active
low-pass filter with supporting components R9, C4 and R10, C10. A low-pass
filter is used to prevent any undesired high frequency noise from U2 and U4
from passing on to the audio amplifiers, degrading the audio output. U1:B is
used as an audio amplifier to increase the small signal of U2 to a line level
sufficient for driving a high power amplifier or to feed into a transmitter for
broadcasting. The LM386 is self contained audio amplifier which is used here to
amplify our audio up to about half a watt, which will drive the average sized
speaker to comfortable listening levels.

The on-board jumper J2 selects either the microphone or external line level
inputs for recording.

BS-1 • 6

PARTS SUPPLIED WITH BS1 VOICE RECORDER KIT

Capacitors

 1 .0047 µF or .005 µF disc capacitor (marked 472, .005, or 502) [C4]
 1 .002 µF or .0022 µF disc capacitor (marked .002, 202 or 222) [C10]
 3 .01 µF disc capacitors (marked .01, 103, or 10 nF) [C14,C16,C17]
 4 .1 µF disc capacitors (marked .1, 104, or 100 nF) [C3,C5,C9,C19]
 1 100 pF disc capacitor (marked 100 or 101) [C18]
 1 1 µF electrolytic capacitor [C11]
 8 10 µF electrolytic capacitors [C1,C2,C6,C7,C8,C13,C20,C22]
 2 220 µF electrolytic capacitors [C12,C15]
 1 470 µF electrolytic capacitor [C21]

Resistors

 1 2 ohms (red-black-gold) [R14]
 1 100 ohms (brown-black-brown) [R3]
 1 470 ohms (yellow-violet-brown) [R16]
 3 1K ohms (brown-black-red) [R4,R7,R15]
 1 4.7K ohms (yellow-violet-red) [R6]
 7 10K ohms (brown-black-orange) [R1,R8,R9,R10,R11,R13, one for the

bottom of the board]

 1 15K ohms (brown-green-orange) [R5]
 1 1K ohm potentiometer (marked 102) [R2]
 1 PC mount 10K ohm trimmer potentiometer (marked 10K) [R12]

Semiconductors

 3 1N4148 diodes (small glass diodes) [D1,D2,D3]
 1 1N4002 diode (epoxy case marked 1N4004) [D4]
 1 Red LED [D5]
 1 Green LED [D6]
 1 7805 +5 Volt voltage regulator [VR1]
 1 LM358 Dual Opamp IC [U1]
 1 ISD4004 Voice Recorder IC [U2]
 1 LM386 Audio Amplifier IC [U3]
 1 68HC705K1 Microcontroller IC (marked with white sticker) [U4]

Hardware, Misc.

 3 Horizontal push-button switch [S1,S2,S3]
 1 3 pin vertical header strip and jumper block [J2]
 1 .5 mm center pin type power jack [J5]
 3 RCA-style jacks [J1,J3,J6]
 1 Subminiature speaker jack [J4]
 1 16-pin socket for U4
 1 28-pin socket for U2
 1 MC-1 microphone cartridge [MIC1]