FS-5000 Spy Radio

The Field Set 5000 is an H.F. transceiver that receives 50 kHz to 29.999 Mhz in CW, and USB data modes and transmits 0.25 to 30.199 MHz QPSK (or maybe OQPSK) data. A number of these were sold by Mike Murphy as new units, but missing whatever controlled the transmitter. They can be used as receivers, but not as transmitters with the Tx controller missing. My unit may have been made in Nov of 1988.

The receiver is tuned using select and increment pushbuttons with the frequency displayed on a five digit LED display. There is a switch on the receiver labeled 300 or 3000 which are common filter bandwidths for CW and SSB voice operation. But the transmitter module has no provision for a microphone input, so why the 3000 bandwidth, maybe for data?

There's speculation about why the Tx controller was removed from the system. It may be that the transmitter uses frequency hopping and so the hardware Tx controller is not available. A PC serial port can NOT be connected to the transmitter since this connector is very different from a PC COM port.

Made in Germany (probably by Siemens) and has a mechanical interlocking provision to hold the various modules in electrical and mechanical contact. There are a lot of very refined design elements in the radio indicating that this was not the first or only product made by whoever made it, but has incorporated design elements from a number of prior radios. Someone who has a number of European military radios looking at this set could probably say who made it.

6 Dec 2004 - I received the following email from a ham operator in Germany . . .

Hi,

the set was made by TELEFUNKEN, Germany, which later
became part of DASA Deutsche Aerospace....
Parts of SIEMENS have been used in this set....
The TX CONTROLLER (processor unit), which is missing,
contained a keyboard for data input, frequency,
selection of crypto-code etc. and a display for tx
frequency and text. Crypto was done internally. There
was no CW mode.... The ATU automatic antenna tuner was
also controlled by the processor unit, which have been
destroyed because of the crypto system....
The set was actually NOT intended for diplo emergency
use! It was intended for spies and for Special
forces..
One of the problems was the tuning of the receiver,
i.e. the frequency had to be set very accurate for the
tx mode used.
It was possible to use spit-frequency mode...

8 Dec 2004 - And another bit of information from Switzerland
may I assure you, that your efforts are highly encouraging myself as well to bother, press and urge all possible channels to gather any information possible, we have to hammer the iron while it is hot. I talked to a guy from Berlin today, who told me of a book, written by a certain Mr. Norbert Juretzko, who was working for the BND (German secret service). He was in charge of forming the stay-behind organisation. He described the work with the FS 5000: They typed in a message and the time, when it had to be transmitted. The actual transmission took place unattended, so if DFed by the enemy, they had the TRX and not the people operating it. The base station´s messages where also picked up without operators around. As the batteries are not of highest capacity, they might have been run down, when somebody found his way to look after the radio. That´s why the message device had these lithium backup batts, to retain received messages.

The book mentioned above is probably Bedingt dienstbereit and the English Amazon web page

This is all speculation, as is most of what's on this web page since there's no public documentation on this radio set. It's not intended for man portable use, like a military man pack or hand held radio. There is talk on the Spy Radio list about it being for use in embassies as an emergency radio. Note that a number of U.S. embassies have been bombed and afterwards the roof top antenna and maybe the roof will be missing so the ability to load a random wire antenna is important.

If the purpose is for emergency embassy communications then the modulation mode must match a mode that is supported by other embassies of the same country and by the home station of that country. That's because the embassy with the emergency will be communicating with them and probably not with other radio stations.

The QPSK (this has not been confirmed yet) modulation that the FS5000 transmits (and probably receives) is used for embassy communications with system names like Echotel and Farcos. There is not much public information on these modes.

Since this is a little know mode on HF it's logical that the Transmitter Controller was removed prior to surplusing these radios. The Wavecom W51 series decoders can handle both OQPSK and QPSK the others can handle only QPSK, but none of them are equipped to decode either Echotel or Farcos. These modes are not listed on the Klingenfuss sampler CDs Set1 and Set2.

A speculation is that this is a mode used only in an emergency like a "war mode" on other electronic equipment that's not used in peace time.

Millitary Collector Group Post

This was the equivalent of today's list servers, but was done by the hand of Dennis R Starkand I thank him for his effort. There was a series of 4 posts in October of 1999 about the FS5000 as follows:
Subject: MILITARY COLLECTOR GROUP POST, Oct.7/99
***********************************************
FS-5000 "SPY" RADIO!?
Dennis,

Here is some info I obtained in case you want to publish it. I know nothing about the radio.
-------------------------------------------
Harald Hermanns Wrote......

You asked about the FS-5000 manufactured by Telefunken. I gathered the following information :
This ( spy ) radio was produced at the Telefunken branch at St. Wendel, Germany. ( It is the same source my PRT's are coming from and for whom I made maintenance and service activities at the PRT radios. So I could ask formerly colleagues about this mystery.)

The radios were developed and constructed under a contract with the formerly Western German Army . ( Remember that Germany was separated in East and West and until 1990 the Cold War existed ). The background for this contract I could not get to know for different reasons, you will see later. The radios were tested by the Army at the " Erprobungsstelle 81 " and at Lager Lechfeld in Bavaria. The results were all other than encouraging. After only a few weeks the radios were given back to Telefunken and the army was no longer interested in this project. The units shall be very unreliable. Telefunken tried to sell them an other way and, really, a customer was found - the NSA ( by writing this name I will get some problems since all messages from overseas to USA are routed via this agency and they do not like it reading about themselves. But never mind.) For Telefuinken the world was ok again, but only for them. The NSA soon had to recognize what the German army already knew. This type of radio was not worth the money they had to pay for it. I got the information that some of the units were in service in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait during Desert Storm, but I do not know if they really were.

After this disastorous results the NSA sold the radios on the surplus market and a lot of them shall be to get at Michael Murphy and also the store of Telefunken found it's way to the surplus market in USA. My information from Telefunken are the following : All units still on stock were sold, spare parts or items of this system are not available. All TM's and documentation were destroyed, but not only for the reason of secretness. Telefunken was so frustrated about this failure that they tried to destroy all remembrance, and this hole in the memory they still have, and it seems to be chronic. This may be the main reason why I could not get much more information from staff members of Telefunken.

Now most of the radios are on US surplus market, but they are quite expensive, I asked some one today and he told me that the amount to get one shall be around $5000. But an other, more technical problem will occur when you by one. Before entering the surplus market a small but important module of the radios was deleted - the controller. Its task was it to control the frequency setting and other main functions of the radio by sending a serial code with a specific data frame to the corresponding modules. Without this controller the complete system is worthless. And even you will find a controller you have to know the specific codes for its use.

Conclusion :
For a collector the FS-5000 perhaps will by of a ( costly ) interest, even the system is incomplete without the controller. For a user with controller and the complete knowledge of the necessary codes the radio will be of less worth. He will get the same impression as long before him the German army and the NSA : very expensive scrap. Today I would not buy such a unit, but the time perhaps will bring the missing and destroyed controllers back together with the knowledge how to use them. I will try to find more information and I am sorry that I am not able to bring you better news If there are new information I will automatically send you.

ed) Last year, It was made known to me of the existance, and availability, of the FS-5000's along with the "Spy" radio claim. Alway's
sceptical of equipment so branded, I made some inquireries. The below was received from Keith Melton who in other messages confirmed the NSA use.

Yes, I have examined, briefly, the FS5000 and know where they came from. I have a photocopy of the set photograph and can send it to you if you have interest. The set appears incomplete and is apparently missing the small commercial controlling computer that was used in conjunction with the set. It may have been the old APPLE 2 unit, or another of that vintage. The set is extremely well made, but in an incomplete state was of little interest to me. I hope this helps.

Regards,
KEITH
***********************************************
Subject: MILITARY COLLECTOR GROUP POST, Oct.13/99
***********************************************
MEMBERS WRITE;
FS-5000 Correction,
DENNIS:

A CORRECTION TO THE FS-5000 ARTICLE.
I SELL THEM TO COLLECTORS FOR $1750 (MORE ON MY WEB SITE)
AND THE FREQ CONTROL FOR REC IS PART OF THE SET.

MIKE

MURPHY'S SURPLUS
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: MILITARY COLLECTOR GROUP POST, Oct.15/99
. . . .
ALSO, REGARDING THE FS-5000. I THINK DHALMER/BENZ AND DEUITCHE
AEROSPACE( NOT TELEFUNKEN ?) WAS THE MAKER OF THE SETS I HAVE. THEY
PUT OUT A MODEL HRS-7000 ( IN JANES) THAT IS SIMILAR, BUT HAS ALL THE
STUFF IN 2
CHASSIS, AND NOT SEPERATE.

MIKE . . .
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: MILITARY COLLECTOR GROUP POST, Oct.18/99
-----------------------------------------------------------------
More FS-5000, & PRC-55,
. . . .
As near as I can tell from Jane's, AEG Telefunken (at least the division that made the FS-5000) was sold to Deutsche Aerospace and they are now DaimlerChrysler Aerospace. . . .
Tom Bryan
-----------------------------------------------------------------

There are seven storage boxes to hold the system and all of these can be shipped in a box box 13" x 17" x 13" that weighs 34.1 pounds.
I have heard that the factory cardboard box is marked:

5820-00-H07-0015 (looks like an NSN but does not show up anywhere) Field Set FS5000 S-1 A-25 C-A Box C/BRNAll the large box tops have a shallow 80x100 mm depression where a label could be pasted. In addition there are three places where lettering could be moulded into the plastic, but these have been filled with blank plates using a couple of single slot "-" flat head scrws for each one. The labels could have been 95x42, 10x70 and 10x45 mm

This FS5000 system came in 7 boxes. There are two sizes of box, the small one is about 160x200x120 mm (6.3x7.8x4.7") and the large box is about 320x200x100 mm (12.6x7.8x3.9"). There are four of the larger boxes but only 3 of the smaller boxes. It appears from symmetry that there is a missing small box. The boxes have stick-on labels where the label reads a single letter a dash and the common hand written serial number 3186. The box tops have bumps in the four corners that point up (they are not feet). The box bottoms also have four dimples that match the bumps allowing the boxes to stack.

Letter(s)	Size	Weight lbs	Contents
A	Big	4.0	Antenna Auto Tuner banana sockets for Ant, ground & 3 coax DB-25(m) Silicon Sealed cover screws.
B	Small	5.5	2 each special Batteries
C	Big	4.5	Battery Charger
M	Big	4.5	A.C. Mains Power Supply
R	Small	4.0	Receiver
S, X have s/n H, F, S, S w/o s/n	Small	3.5	H = 4 connector block (2 Batt, pwr out & 4 coax db) marked "NOT RX" for the 2 parallel battery connection F = heatsink w/ one connector European line cord marked D, N, S, FI,S+, FH2, OVE, K, M, DE, 2.5/250 Accessory Box
T	Big	5.5	Transmitter w/ 4 connectors & 4 mechanical joining plates
?	Small	?	box missing Tx Controller?

There may be a number of reasons for the modular construction of this and other spy radios. The key reason probably related to the ability to pack the modules in normal luggage in such a way as to not draw attention to the fact that you are moving a radio station. The modules may be moved at different times by different people. If the FS5000 was shipped as a single unit it would draw a lot of attentions because of the combined weight and size.

The modules can be assembled to accomplish just the task at hand. For example if an agent desired to send a message and get a response instead of operating the FS5000 can instead take just the TARBB and Transmitter Controller to a remote location and leave them alone. The time clock in the Transmitter Controller will make the transmission on schedule and will record the response message. So the modular construction saves taking unneeded modules into the field.

The modules are logical divisions of the radio set and thus are helpful in troubleshooting any problem that might occur.

Major Components

Accessory Kit Contents

Telescoping Antenna 5.5" collapsed, 1 meter (40") extended
Single earphone with ear hanger

Red & Black shrouds for the pair of enclosed Banana plugs - probably for the Tx antenna and Gnd wires.
Under the Banana connectors are a number of spare fuses
A pair of Saft 3.5 Volt LS6 lithium batteries - there is no place for these in any of the equipment that came with the FS5000, so they must fit the missing transmitter controller. This type of battery is commonly used as a memory hold up battery to maintain a crypto key when the main power is disconnected. They are also used to hold a received message after the main rechargeable batteries have gone flat.
Plastic flat blade (-) screwdriver marked Siemens
Interface module labeled "X-3186" (X Box) with multi-pin connectors marked: Transmitter" and "DSU"
and three banana jacks: Yellow "Test", Red <Antenna symbol>, and Black <ground symbol>.
Two modules with a single multipin connector and maybe a green LED, one labeled S-3186 but the other is labeled S-5186 (note the different serial number).
Metal flat baled (-) screwdriver

The accessory box is designed so that it can be mechanically mounted to the other parts of the system. But why?

X Box

The lid screws are #1 Phillips and were installed with Locktite so plenty of down force is needed to keep from striping the (+) mating notches.

Dummy Load
The multipin connector marked Transmitter only has a coax connection inside the box. All the other pins are no connection. This coax is routed to a large chip that's mounted with two screws for good heat sinking. The chip is labeled with a large letter "E" and to the right of the "E" are two more letters that are 1/2 the height and go from top to bottom the top letter is "M" and the lower letter may be an "O" like:
E_O^M
This is not exactly correct but you get the idea of the logo.

The Transmitter coax goes to a pin on this chip marked "Input". The tab on the chip opposite the input is connected to the Red banana jack with the Antenna symbol. The Transmitter input coax shield is connected to the Black banana jack with the ground symbol.

The coax input (A2) is part of a DB-25 connector with 10 male pins and the coax has a female center conductor. It's very similar to the connector on the Antenna adapter and mates to the connector on the top of the transmitter.

I have heard that this is a transmitter test box. The large chip is probably an attenuator so that the transmitter sees a reasonable VSWR.

In addition the RF PCB has a connection to the Yellow banana jack marked "Test". On the board there's also what may be pot core inductor or transformer marked 2.044 and right next to it are a couple of mica caps. This may be a low pass antenna filter or a DC bias-T.

Near the green LED there's a 2N4416 transistor a diode, a resistor, a couple of caps and a test point pin. The test point pin is 10 k Ohms removed from the RF coax center conductor and so the LED is probably a Transmit on indicator.

The DB-25 connector with the single coax mates to the Tramsmitter connector on the large face. This means the Antenna Coupler has been removed.

DSU
The DB-25(f) connector has all it's pins soldered to a PCB that's at right angles to the RF board that holds the attenuator chip. There's a couple of surface mount 74HC86 Quad 2-Input Exclusive OR gates and a number of what's probably resistor chips labeled 100 and 392. This PCB has NO connection to the RF board, it's completely independent.

What does "DSU" stand for?

Digital Scrambling Unit is a guess. There are 8 Exclusive OR gates on the PCB behind the connector. Exclusive OR gates are commonly used in crypto gear to combine a key and a data stream. A "Y" cable connected to this unit could be used to combine an 8 bit word with an 8 bit key for either transmission or reception.

The problem with the above guess is that ther eare not enough pins on the connector. 8 XOR gates need 24 pins, plus a DC power and ground which is 26 pins, but the connector only has 25 pins.

Note that the DB-25f connector will not directly mate with the DB-25f connector on the receiver.

H Bar

There are two different uses for the H bar. When used with the battery charger-DC power supply it provides the means to connect one or two batteries to the charger. When used with the Receiver it allows a single battery to power the Receiver.

There are warning stickers on the side that accepts two batteries that these positions should NOT be used with the receiver. But it's not possible to connect batteries to either of these connectors and connect the H Bar to the receiver because there are sliding pins that go into holes in the Transmitter (T) and in the Charger (C) but that can not go into the receiver thus mechanically preventing this connection

The battery socket on the face with two battery connectors that's closest to the center is B1 the adjacent battery connector is B2 and the battery connector on the other face used by the receiver is B3 The large connector that mates to either the Charger (C) or the Transmitter (T) is H17.

The high current pins A1 and A2 fit into the high DC current sockets A1, A2 A4 or A4.

Note the the DB-39 shell has no high current sockets in the A1, A2, A3 or A4 positions. This allows it to mate with the Battery Charger that does have high current pins in these positions and to mate with the receiver that has male coax connectors in these positions. This is why the DC current is passes using the small pins in the center of the DB-39 connector.

H Bar wiring

B1	B2	B3 Rcvr batt	H17
A1+		A1+	16
2			1
3			8
A2-	A2-	A2-	17
	2		2
	3		9
	A1+		3
		2	nc
		3	nc

This means that the big charger connector (50) uses pin number 17 as a common battery ground, Pin 16 is the B1 positive, Pin 3 is the B2 positive and pins 1 & 8 are the B1 thermistor and pins 2 & 9 are the B2 thermistor.

When the H bar is used to connect a single battery to the receiver (16) the positive input to the receiver is on pin 16 and negative on pin 17. So the connector on the Transmitter (21) has pin 16 as a "+12 Volt" output and pin 16 as the 12 volt return.

Receiver Synthesizer

The Receiver is the heart of the FS5000 system. It contains not only the receiver but also a digital synthesizer with a number of outputs and also has the DB-25 connector that interfaces to the transmitter controller.

The receiver covers 50 kHz to 30 MHz USB (which will receive AM also) in 1 kHz steps. Uses either a 1 meter telescoping whip screwed into the top of the receiver or an external long wire connected to the antenna tuner - Transmitter combination.

When the Receiver is mated to the Transmitter and turned on the LED display shows 00000 with a decimal point on each digit and the frequency change buttons have no effect.

The synthesizer provides:

a fixed 50.0 Mhz LO to the modulator
an LO that varies with the tuned frequency to the modulator:
LO = Tuned Frequency + 50.2 MHz
a 200 kHz clock for the digital modulator in the Transmitter box
a 75 Hz clock to pace the transmitter controller when it's sending data to the transmitter

Controles & Indicators & Connectors

On a 45 degree sloping small panel, left to right:

1 = <Delta>F - fine receive frequency control
2 = Headphone Jack
3 = + red LED
4 = - red LED
5 = Volume Control

On the top surface is a threaded hole (15) that would accept the telescoping antenna.

A lower small panel has left to right:
6 = DB-25(f) connector, no coax porst - This is the interface to the missing Transmitter Control Box
7 = F <- button for frequency digit select
8 = f ^ button to change frequency of one digit
9 = 5 digit LED frequency display (1 kHz to 29,999 kHz)
10 = 300 - 3000 toggle switch for IF bandwidth
11 = OFF - On toggle switch

Just above this panel (12) is the mechanical latch mechanism to hold the Transmitter Controller.

On a side there's a DB-39 shell (16) with 17 male pins and 4 female coax connectors. This connector will mate to the one on the "H" 4 connector block in the "S,X" packing box. The "H" bar is a way to connect one battery to the Receiver for receive only use. This connector also mates to one on the Transmitter, but not to the other connector on the the transmitter that appears to be similar, not becasue it's the wrong connector, but because there are metal pins the prohibit making that connection. This design seems fool proof.

The "2" metal plate can be placed on the Transmitter, prior to attaching the Receiver, sitting in the groove with the hole nearest the edge of the transmitter and with the lugs facing the Receiver. Then, after the receiver connector is mated to the Transmitter the plate can be moved toward the batteries and it will "snap" into place by means of a plastic part (14) on the back (15) of the receiver.

The two each "1" metal plates are for latching the batteries to the transmitter.

The "3" metal plate is for latching the Transmitter controller to the transmitter.

Receiver Connectors Wiring

DB-25 (6)	17 pin (Con 16)	Function
1
2	2
3	3
4	4
5	5
6	6
7	7
8
9	9
10	10
11	11
12
13	13
14
15
16		75 Hz sq wave out
17		digital data out
18	12
19
20
21
22
23	15
24	16	+12 V in
25	17	12 V return

The reason there are a number of common pins may be that these are "pass through" lines where the Receiver does not do anything to these signals. There are 12 of these signal lines.

DB-25 Power
By powering the Receiver using pins 24 (+14 V) and 25 (gnd) the Tx interface connector can be probed with the receiver active. The receive current draw is about 200 ma.
The A3 connector has a 200 kHz sine wave output with about 350 mv pk-pk amplitude.
The A2 connector has a 50 MHz sine wave that's probably around 350 mv pk-pk, measures about 150 mv on my HP 54501A 100 Mhz scope.

Tx Interface Con 17 DC voltages in receive mode

Pin	VDC
1	0
2	0.28
3	0
4	0
5	0
6	0
7	5
8	0
9	0.94
10	0
11	0
12	0
13	0.45
14	0.94
15	0
16	13.98
17	0.0

Digital Data

Looking at the Rx DB-25 connector (6) pins with a scope shows a 75 Hz square wave on pin 16 and digital data on pin 17.

Bottom Digital PCB

On the PCB in the bottom of the receiver between pins 3 and 4 of the 4 coax connector (16) there are small drops of black and green dielectric that appear to be capacity tweaking. Just above this nest of traces is the stamped message: "-3,0 Hz". These dots are some type of revision marking, not tweaking. They appear on many of the other boards in close proximity to the long white silkscreen number that's the board ID, typically a group of 3 dots, probably using reisitor color code, so black black green would be 005.

The PCB ID may be "L.3601.01/01" that's etched in metal whereas "3.600.00/00" is printed in white paint.

The DB-25 connector is at the bottom right of the photo and is labeled "BU2". In the center of the PCB there's what appears to be a 38 pin IC and pins 1, 19, 20 and 38 are numbered. The ICs: 4011 (2 input NAND), 4013 (Dual D FF), 4023 (Triple 3 Input NAND) & 4093 (Quad 2 Input NAND) are inside the 38 pin pattern.

Opening up the bottom Synthesizer

Screws Not to be removed
The two (-) scrwes holding the 4 coax support blocks
and the 4 (+) screws in the center of the PCB
and the two (-) screw sholding the DB-25 connector hex nuts should NOT be removed when taking the PCB out of the box.

Screws to remove
After removing the 2 (-) screws near the shield can,
the screw and 5 mm nut on the top of the DB-25 connector and pressing it down to free the Silicon sealing,
the two (+) screws holding the 4 coax connector to the box can be removed.

The 4 (+) captive screws that release the bottom from the top of the receiver. Seperate the top and bottom by folding the two parts using the 4 coax cables as a hinge. Then unplug the 4 coax connectors from the bottom part. Note the 4 coax connectors have shrink tubing labeled to match the call outs on the bottom shield metal palate.

Now the PCB be lifted up on the edge furthermost away from the 4 coax connector. The 4 coax connector is holding the board now because of the Silicon seal. The 4 coax connector comes out with the PCB. I left the wires going to the bandwidth and On-OFF toggle switches.

There's a big screw on top of the bottom synthesizer housing, but it only holds a TO-5 heat sink which attaches to a transistor by fingers, so it does not need to be removed, the transistor just unplugs.

Bottom Synthesizer

There is a 10 MHz Tele Quarts OCXO marked - 3 Hz.
A 44 pin metal can IC marked KS 1075 and a 38 pin metal can IC marked KS1076.
Also a shield can has been constructed over a part of the PCB that about 88 x 31 mm.
A 16 pin IC SP8690A (prescaler) , CA3140T, and what may be a few op amps or transistors.

This is probably all synthesizer circuitry.

PCB is a 4 layer board, not a 3 layer as I previously thought. This can be seen by looking at the area adjacent to the DB-25 connector on both sides of the board.

Top RF & Mixer PCB

The inside of the bottom cover has a sheet of RFI gasketing with fingers that go all the way around the cover to box joint. Maybe T EMPEST level shielding.

The top cover also has TEMPEST type shielding. There are two compartments on the top side.

The First is associated with the antenna and it has only a red wire and a coax going to the other section. The PCB is marked 3.100.00/00 in white paint. There's a SPDT switch beside the antenna socket that's actuated when the telescoping antenna is installed. Also near the antenna socket there's a static snubber and some diodes maybe as signal level limiters.

The SPDT switch appears to be installed after a 3 transistor RF amp. This is a very hot amp and you may get better reception with the antenna not extended. There is one coax coming into this compartment to a spot on the PCB marked "ST1" which is not far from the SPDT switch. Most likely this is the RF feed from the Transmitter when in receive mode.
There are 6 shielded inductors (L7, L8, L9, L10, L11 and L12) which may indicate the frequency spectrum is broken down into 6 bands. Maybe:
Band 1 0.5 - 0.989
Band 2 0.989 - 1.957
Band 3 1.957 - 3.873
Band 4 3.873 - 7.663
Band 5 7.663 - 15.162
Band 6 15.162 - 30.0
This way each band is just under one octave wide, making for good filtering and low spurs. But it would be difficult to get good band separation with just the inductors in the front end. Maybe they are just part of the filtering scheme. There is another level or two in the receiver between this board and the bottom board.

The other compartment on the top level looks like the LO and mixer section. It's marked 3.200.00/00 in white paint.
There are 4 crystals fairly close to each other and centered in the compartment. The frequencies are 50.191, 51.556 & two others that can not easily be read. Interesting that they are close together in frequency. There are some wire gimmicks near the crystals and signs of tweaking with dielectric paint. This probably is a crystal filter at the frist LO frequency that's centered at 50.2 MHz.

Thre are a number of 0.1" type jumpers around the IF section:
12-13-16 may be between the RF and IF sections
3-4-5 is next to an RF/or IF transformer
2-14 is near another transformer
10-11-15 is near an IF can.

There are 2 coax cables going down from this compartment. The one marked "17" goes to A2 on the 4 coax connector (16). This is also the LO going to the transmitter connector 20-A2.

The other coax has a connector marked "310" and the jack on the PCB is marked "2" and it does not appear to be routed outside the receiver box. Jack "2" is right next to a BFT66 transistor marked "1". This might be the IF output going to the rest of the receiver.

Local Oscillator

The top receiver PCB coax connection "17" seems to be a LO comming from the synthysizer on the center level. This LO signal also goes to the transmitter by way of the A2 coax connection (16).

The LO is on the high side of the tuned frequency:
LO = Tuned Frequency + 50.2000000 MHz

The first IF is at 50.2 MHz.

Summary of the top PCB

The whip antenna always feeds a 3 transistor amplifier. Either the amplified whip RF or the RF from the Antenna Coupler by way of the Transmitter is selected by the switch in the whip antenna socket. The RF then goes to one of the 6 single pole band pass filters then via a 1" coax to the mixer compartment. After mixing it's put through the first IF filter centered at 50.2 MHz and fed down the "310" coax to the central IF boards. The LO (at the Rx frequency plus 50.2 MHz) is also fed to the transmitter on the A2 coax connector.

Tx top PCB shows A1 as the variable LO and A2 as a fixed LO freq. which seems different from A2 being the variable LO port?

Central IF PCBs

After the bottom cover is removed and the 4 captive screws down behind the notches in the bottom PCB are backed out the receiver case can be split open. Connecting the top and bottom portions of the receiver are 4 coax cables and a miniature DB-15 pin connector that may be identical to the one used for the SVM-68 to radio connection. The coax supplying the signal from the antenna tuner is marked 101 on the bottom half of the receiver. The LO comes up from the bottom through the 210 coax. It's not clear what the 311 and 411 coax cables are carrying.

There appear to be 2 PCBs in the top side. The deeper one has a couple of mechanical filters on it marked:
FZ2410 (200 Pf, 130 pF) and FE 223 (39 pF, 39 pF) The circuitry appears to be analog IF. There is a 24 pin chip marked:
TEZ, C 18081 S, 103707, what is this?

The top most PCB is marked 3.400.000/00 with ink dots of 001.
The copper shield with the spring fingers on the bottom part is marked 3.520 with color dots of 000.

There are no PCBs on the lower side, just a sheet copper shielding material with fingers all around the perimeter.

15 Pin Miniature Connector between top & Bottom of Receiver BU10

Note that this is the only non coax connection between the bottom of the receiver (where the DB-25 Tx control connector is located and the Top of the receiver containing the RF, IF and demodulator are located.

Pin #	Name	Function	Tx Interface Con
1		Digital data from receiver top	17
2	Tdc	+5v = Tx DC on T/R relay to T	9
3	Gnd	Ground	25
4
5
6	Gnd	Ground
7	TCL	T BU 1-6#4 TCL	12
8
9		R 75 Hz sq wave	16
10	Gnd	Ground	25
11
12		some top receiver i.e. RF, IF or demod related	14
13	Gnd	Ground
14	+12V	+ 12 V to R	24
15

There is also a flat in line10 pin connector ST2 that goes to the boards above the PCb visable when the top and bottom parts are parted.
BU1 is a 9 conductor buss connecting to the PCB directly below that connects to the two IF filters. There is a resistor between raised terminals 1 and 2 and another between terminals 6 and 7 that are factory select resistors that were installed after the box was assembled.

BU9 and test point 13 are the coax going to 411 on the receiver bottom.
Coax 311 on the bottom goes to the PCB holding the IF filters.

There is no indication that a microphone or key is used with this system. There are some clues that indicate this is a transceiver designed for sending and receiving encrypted digital traffic.

The two LEDs on the receiver marked "+" and "-" and the associated delta frequency screwdriver adjustment would be needed to get the Receiver tuned correctly to some type of digital transmission.

The single low quality ear phone could be used to hear the data and during the receiver tune process, but not for receiving a message.

The DSU may be for combining a key and the data stream or maybe as part of a test of the Transmitter Controller.

No micro controller in Receiver

There is no visible micro controller (or microprocessor) in the receiver. The lower section has the frequency synthesizer function. The synthesizer PCB has two hermetically sealed can large pin count custom ICs where the top IC is mounted to a daughter PCB that sits directly over the lower 38 pin part. There are a number of coax lines going from near the bottom chip and from the daughter board to the shielded box at the rear of the synthesizer PCB which must contain the VCO and related RF circuitry. These parts provide the digital synthesizer functionally. Although it's possible that they contain a micro controller which might be used for other things, it's extremely unlikely.

Note that the Antenna coupler does contain a micro controller and it is in the form of 5 seperate large pin count micro controller specific chips. Although it's possible for the Antenna coupler micro controller to respond to commands sent by means of the DB-25 connector on the receiver it's also very unlikely. If the Antenna coupler micro controller was running the rest of the system then the DB-25 connector would properly be on that box instead of on the Receiver box.

The Antenna coupler does have the F0, F1, F2, F3 and FC lines and so will know what frequency has been programmed into the FS5000.

If this section is correct and the Receiver does not have any intelligence then the command structure will be fairly simple and close to what is done using manual frequency entry.

Warning
If you are going to be working on making a controller you MUST fuse the hot and ground wires to the DB-25 connector
and make absolutely sure that none of the DB-25 wires can touch ground even for a microsecond.
I let the smoke out of my receiver PCB and needed to make a repair and someone else has had to go through the same pain.

When the following modules are combined: Transmitter, Antenna coupler, Mains power supply, battery Charger, Battery, Battery Receiver and accessory Kit there is a space under the accessory Kit and in front of the Mains power supply and charger and to the right of the Receiver where the Transmitter Controller fits.

On the left of the Tx Ctrlr there is a downward pointing DB-25m connector to mate with the connector on the receiver. Also pointing to the left are a couple of pins with heads (similar to pan head screws) that are captured by the lever on the Receiver and as the lever is closed the pins are forced down which mates the two DB-25 connectors. The Receiver has a 3.43 mm diameter pin that goes into a hole on the transmitter controller.

There are no connections to the Mains supply or to the battery Charger. This is logical since the FS5000 may be deployed in the field without them.

Based on the 6 & 8 Dec 2004 email the Transmitter controller would have the following functions:

Keyboard for data entry

Frequency input for Tx and Rx

Input of crypto key

Display for frequency or data

Clock to transmit automatically so agent wuld not need to be there

Lithium battery backed retention of received messages to allow NiCad batteries to go flat without loss of Rx msg

This is missing from the systems that have been sold as surplus. It probably fits in one of the small boxes. The space under the accessory kit suggests that the size is 45 mm high, 125 mm wide (150 mm including a DB-25m connector) and 100 mm deep

The controller has a DB-25m connector that mates to the Receiver's DB-25f connector (6) and is machannically attached to the system using the lever (12) on the Receiver. Note this lever is designed to press the Transmitter Controller down onto the Receiver's DB-25 connector (6).

10 Aug 2006 - Some speculation about the controller. It probably contained some type of encryption/decryption that was not a one type pad, but rather more like DES where a key is used that's much shorter than the message length. The Transmitter and Receiver were probably controlled by a timer in the control box. That way the spy would not be near the hardware during either transmission or reception. The crypto key would work in such a way that the data to be sent would be encrypted and the key erased prior to placing the transmitter. When receiving a message the encrypted message would be stored in the controller and only later when the key was entered could the plain text message be seen.

HFS7000 Radio and TCU7000 Control Box

The HFS 7000 military radio made by Telefunken has specs very similar to the FS5000. More interesting is the TCU7000 control box. At the top it has a 2 line by 40 character LCD. Directly under the LCD and evenly spaced are 5 keys marked F1, F2, F3, F4 and F5 that relate to legends displayed directly above them on the lower line of the LCD, i.e. a menu system.
The Telefunken HRM 7000 is very similar, Manpack, Vehicle & Fixed versions. Brochure for 7000 Family.

Below the function keys there is a 4 row typewriter style keyboard with 41 keys. To the left of "A" is what's probably the shift key. At the right of the row starting ASDF... is a larger key that's orange in color. This might be used with the shift key as a zeroize key.
F1      F2      F3      F4      F5
1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   0
Q   W   E   R   T   Y   U   I   O   P
^   A   S   D   F   G   H   J   K   L <Orange key>
Z   X   C   V   B   N   M   ;   .   -

A capital letter appearing in the Pin column means there is a connection to that box, a small letter means the connection has a resistance greater than 1 Meg Ohm. All measurements made with no batteries or power connected.

Note 1 - Digital TTL data from the receiver demodulator.

13 Dec 2004 - This data switches from about -0.060 Volts to +5.06 volts and is coming from the demodulator in the receiver. That's why sometimes it's there and other times it's not.

By sending in a 20.000000 MHz signal with a 100% AM square wave modulation at 420 Hz the output is not a square wave but quite a few pulses with flat tops. With the delta frequency control set fully CCW the output is about 0 volts and when fully clockwise mostly +5 volts.

Phase modulation also causes the TTL digital data. Adjusting the fine frequency control with a small screw driver will cause the data to come and go. This indicates that the receiver really should be able to tune in 0.1 kHz steps and not the existing 1.0 kHz steps. I have not found any combination of RF frequency, FM deviation and modulation frequency that will cause a digital output.

This means that the transmitter controller would need to take in this TTL serial data stream and convert it into a message. This probably included applying some cryptographic cipher.

Note 2 - The actual function of pin 7 is not yet known.

The email of 6 Dec 2004 indicates that the Tx and Rx frequencies can be split (set to different values). This would require a way to tell the FS5000 that the following frequency input was either for the transmitter or receiver. Pin 7 effects the input of frequency data and is adjacent to pins 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 which I think are used for remote frequency entry. This proximity in the pin numbering is a strong indicator that this pin is also related to frequency entry.

9 Dec 2004 - When 4.5 Volts is applied to this pin in the TARBBMC configuration the setting of a frequency is enabled. Without this pin high you can not change the frequency in the TARBB or TARBBMC configurations. Also if the main ON-OFF switch is turned off and later back on all the digits to the left are still there, but the right most digit is a zero with the decimal point indicating that it should be set. If the power switch is cycled the decimal point moves to the left and the next digit is now zero.

Note that when the Antenna coupler is attached to the system it pulls this pin low turing off the ability to manually set the receiver frequency. Connecting just the transmitter does not effect this pin.

Note 3 - This square wave could be used to drive a clock in the Tx Controller. Seems strange that it's not 60 or 50, but it would be no problem to divide it by 75 to get a one second tick. The advantage would be that the oscillator in the Receiver is a very high quality unit and so would allow keeping very good time. The problem is that when the main batteries go dead the clock would stop. This may or may not be a problem.

If the Transmitter Controller had an independent clock then it could turn the FS5000 on and off a number of times on some schedule of repeated attempts to both receive messages and to send a message. This could be done over and over where in the end the attempts were no longer effective since both of the batteries have gone dead. This type of approach would be good for getting a message through but not so good in terms of minimizing the talk time and hence the ability of the local DF unit to detect and locate the FS5000.

13 Dec 2004 - After seeing that pin 16 is the demodulated digital data output checking pin 16 shows a 75 Hz square wave with magnitude -0.06 to +5.06 Volts. Testing in the RBH configuration. Turning off the RF has no effect on the 75 Hz clock that comes from the synthesizer, not the RF-IF-audio part of the receiver.

14 Dec 2004 - This may be a clock used to synchronize data bits to be transmitted with the modulator. This clock is probably locked to the 200 kHz clock that drives the modulator. Since at every change on the TX pin causes some number of cycles of the modulator it's important that the modulator be driven synchronously. For testing this signal might be feed into the TX pin?

Note
This is extreamly dangerous.
If shorted it will smoke the bottom Receiver PCB!

Looking at the voltage on this line gives an indication of the signal strength.

1 Volt for noise
3 Volts for a strong signal

The AGC can be pulled up or down:

Pulling down increases the gain
Pulling up lowers the gain

Blown PCB traces & Repair

22 Nov 2004 - Found open trace from pin 25 and repaired it. When turned on in configuration RHB noticed that the Red wire from pin 24 had exposed conductor and started to get some tape to cover it, but it touched the black wire causing smoke. So now I know why the pin 25 trace was blown open. But my repair made this trace have higher current carrying capability. Now a trace that's in the center of this 4 layer board has blown. It will be more difficult to repair it.

8 Dec 2004 - By soldering a #30 wire wrap wire from the DB-25 pin 24 to the Tx interface connector pin 16 the Receiver has been restored to working condition.

In the RTBBX configuration when Tdc is pulled high a pulse train appears on pin 17. -4 V to + 1 V at a frequency of 1.25 kHz. High for 400 uS and low for 100 uS. In the RHB configuration this does not happen.

There are not enough unaccounted for pins for the transmitter controller to use pins (i.e. parallel data) to set the transmit frequency so it's probably done with a serial data stream or using the frequency butttons on the receiver. The F0, F1, F2 and F3 signals might be the high order frequency bits. 2 ^ 15 is 32768 so it would take 15 bits to specify the frequency to 1 kHz. The bit weights would be: 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024, 2048, 4096, 8092 and 16184 kHz. Then the meaning of the F0 through F3 bits might be: 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30 MHz

If BCD weighting was used then the 10 MHz digit would need 2 bits and the other 5 digits would use 4 bits each for a total of 22 bits. Then the F0 and F1 might be associated with 10 MHz (i.e. 0, 10, or 20 MHz would be valid) and the F2 and F3 would be the 8 and 4 MHz bits for the 1 MHz digit (i.e. 0, 4 or 8 MHz). If this was the case the the possible meanings would be: 0, 4, 8, 10, 14, 18, 20, 24, 28, 30 MHz. There are 9 small green LEDs next to the transmitter output filter bank so this may be more likley than a pure binary bit assignment.

The Transmitter needs to know how to select the correct output filter and the antenna tuner needs to know roughly the frequency that needs to be matched (this determines which matching elements are significant and which don't matter). This can be provided by the 4 Band select bits.

20 Nov 2004 - New Theory

The receiver can be manually tuned using just two momentary push buttons, one to change the Frequency column and the other to advance the selected frequency digit. One way to do this would be to have parallel switch contacts on the DB-25 connector. Maybe Frequency Advance and Frequency Column wires? Another way that would be faster is to have a nibble (1/2 of an 8 bit "bite" i.e. 4 bits is called a "nibble") to set the frequency digit and that takes 4 wires (F3, F2, F1, F0) and still needs the Frequency Column function, but no longer needs the Frequency Advance function. This would allow setting any frequency very quickly, supporting either hopping or a sweep. Testing this is the next order of business.

The FC line has the same effect as the "<-f" button. This means the new theory may very well be how the controller sets the frequency.

21 March 2005 - Remote Rx Freq Procedure

Ray Robinson has discovered the key to remote programming the receive frequency. This must have been difficult since the LED frequency is blanked during remote frequency entry. It turns out that the controller sets 7 digits of frequency like 12,345,670 Hz. where the 1 Hz digit can not be set but the 10 Hz and higher digits are set. This makes sense since setting to 10 Hz is about the same as using the manual fine tune knob.

Note that the LED display has only 5 digits (i.e. down to 1 kHz), but using the controller you might be able to set with 10 Hz resolution, although it's not clear if the least significant digits really are setting the frequency.

The procedure is:

go into Rx mode by setting RxOff high
Set IF BW to narrow by setting IFBW to ground or leave it wide by setting IFBW hi or open.
Set Fman high (when high it's Fremote)
<label loop> use F3, F2, F1 & F0 to set the frequency starting with the 10 Hz digit using BCD weighting (F3=8, F2=4, F1=2 and F0=1).
Pulse FC high to latch the frequency & move one column to the left
<go to loop to set all 7 digits>
set Fman low

Ray's Basic program to drive the printer port on a old PC needs an adapter board in line between the computer and the FS5000.
Note that Ray also suffered bad luck by allowing part of the adapter board to short out the power line and smoked part of his receiver bottom PCB.
So the recommended hookup is as follows:
[computer] [Centronics-----cable----DB-25f] [DB-25m---adapter board---DB-25f] [DB-25m----cable----DB-25f] [FS5000]
This way the connection at the FS5000 is clean with no chance of a problem there, but the adapter board is still critical.

28 March 2005 - Tx with Ant Coupler Proc (no Modulation)

This procedure activates the transmitter after the antenna coupler has tuned the antenna.

Set Rxoff high
Set Tdc high
Set Fman high
For I = 1 to 7

Set BCD frequency digit
Pulse Fc

Next I
Set Fman Low (now F0, F1 & F2 are the LPF select lines)
Set LPF (0 through 7 on F0, F1 & F2)
Wait for Synth Lock to go high indicating good antenna tune
SET RF high to transmit

Transmitter Low Pass Filter

The LPF is set using the F0, F1 & F2 lines (F3 does not seem to have any meaning for this). When Fman is low these lines select the LPF.

F2,F1,F0	LPF
0	Out 30 Mhz or 50 Ohms?
1	3 Mhz
2	4 MHz
3	6 MHz
4	8 MHz
5	12 Mhz
6	16 MHz
7	20 Mhz

3 April 2005 - Ray's Basic language program now allows setting the Rx and Tx frequency and switching back and forth between Tx and Rx modes. It also forces a the antenna coupler to tune when the Tx frequency is set. But the transmitter is only being keyed on and off, no modulation is being sent or received. The same adapter board is needed. There is a possibility that the receiver is still operational during transmit, so the radio may have full duplex capability. The Function keys on the PC keyboard are:

T = switch to transmit mode without changing the antenna tuner
R = switch to receive mode
8 = Input a 7 digit receive frequency Example 1400000 is 14 Mhz)
9 = Input a 7 digit transmit frequency (-200 kHz offset applied by synth) Example 1380000 is 14 Mhz & force antenna tune
X = eXit program

Note there is no fuse in the receiver box so if pin 24 is allowed to touch ground (pin 25 or any metal on the FS5000) traces on the receiver PCB will be destroyed and a repair will be needed. See the 21 March 2005 post for a suggested cabling scheme that will minimize the danger.

4 April 2005 - The controller lines should be shielded both to prevent computer generated hash from getting into the FS5000 and also to keep the FS5000 output RF from getting into the computer.

22 April 2005 - A note on the offsets needed for using the FS5000 for CW ops to work with the USB Rx mode of the FS5000.

- Tx freq 200kHz lower than the actual transmitted signal

- Rx freq 1 kHz lower than the operating freq.

Procedure from Chris Lumsden:

First you have to disconnect the purple-white wire that connects to the Tx 17 pin connector, from inside the Tx unit. This will enable the Rx controls to operate while connected to the Tx. This is not necessary if the Antenna Coupler is not installed.
Then by applying a TTL +5v signal to pin 9 (Tdc)of the DB-25 connector, the Tx unit will turn on. This also disconnects the antenna to the Rx. Green LED's will light in the Tx unit.
By applying a TTL +5v signal to pin 11 of the DB-25 connector (RF), the transmitter will key up, & transmit a signal. Interestingly though, the Tx signal is exactly 200 KHz higher than the Rx freq.
Note that the Antenna Tuning unit is not active at this point so you should have it disconnected from the transmitter and take the transmitter output directly to a matched antenna or the Transmitter test X Box. The frequency set into the receiver needs to be 200 kHz below the desired transmitter QPSK output frequency.

RF

When RF is active the counters and shift registers are allowed to count. When inactive they are locked in reset mode. 47k pull down resistor.

The RF line drives a couple of 4093 NAND gates in series and then drives the reset pins on the 4013, 4015 and 54HC390. These are the counters that drive the PROMs which in turn drive the A/Ds that do the SIN & COS modulation. They are only counting when RF is high and reset otherwise. Modulation will only be present when RF is active.

Note that RF does NOT turn the Transmitter RF off. Tdc must be used for that.

T0 aka TCL

Is a 1 kHz output clock with a 1 k Ohm source resistance from 4093 NAND pin 10 on the modulator PCB.
This is the same as pin 12 (TCL) on the Transmitter Controller DB-25 connector. This is strange since the function of TCL is to bypass the Transmitter Power Amp and send the low power modulator output signal directly to the Antenna Tuner.

Note that the 1 kHz clock does not appear when the RF line is inactive. It may be that the there are other logic states that keep the 1 kHz turned off, like during antenna tuning and the clock only appears when data is being sent.

This signal is not always connecteed the the Tx control DB-25 connector pin 12.

When in the RTBBX configuration DB-25 pin 12 has noise, but when Tdc is pulled high the noise goes away and the voltage goes to zero.

TX

Changes one PROMs A7 line, but NOT the other PROM. This could be for one of two different reasons (ony one of which is correct):
(1) when not TX then use a different PROM data pattern (i.e. a possible tune mode)
(2) when TX send a "1" and when not TX send a "0" (i.e. TX is the data input).

Tu

Most likley the Tune line. It is neither a pure input nor a pure output, but rather a buss line. It ends up controlling an input (pin 9) to the UA139 comparator. The other input to this gate (pin 8) is from the 200 kHz input. The U6 comparator also has another gate input (pin 10) that gets the 200 kHz input signal at the same level as pin 8 but the other input seems to be from a fixed DC level. The two comparator outputs from the UA139 are feed into (pins 1 & 2) one of the gates of the 4070 XOR and the output (pin 3) feeds the clock input of the 54HC390 counter that drives the A0 through A4 address inputs of both PROMs. The circuit surrounding the UA139 only has the Tu input (the only place Tu is used on

Tx Controller Rx con 6	Rx con 16 Tx con 20	Tx con 17 Ant Cplr con 24	DB15	Name	Function	RBH VDC	TRBB (no A) V DC	TARBB V DC
1				IFBW	open=3kHz, gnd=300 Hz Note 6	4.66	0.50	0.5
2 RA	2	3		F0	A F0 Note 11	0	0	0.2
3 RA	3	2		F1	A F1	0	0.4	0
4 RA	4	7		F2	A F2	0	0	0
5 RA	5	1		F3	A F3	0	0	0
6 RA	6	9		FC	A FC Note 10	0	0	0
7 RA	7			Fman	/Rcvr Man Freq Lock Note 2	5	5	0.9
8 r				RxOff	open=Rx on, gnd=Rx Off Note 5	5.2	5.1	5.1
9 T	9		2	Tdc	+5v = Tx DC on T/R relay to T Must be off for Rx	1.9	0.3	0.3
10 T	10			TX	T BU 1-6#1 TX	0	0	0
11 T	11			RF	T BU 1-6#2 RF +5v = RF on	0	0	0
12 TR			7 coax	TCL T0	T BU 1-6#4 T0 connects mod exciter directly to ATU for preliminary ant tune no connection to synth only top RF, IF Note 9	0	0	0
13 TR	13			SL/Tune	0.8 = Synth lock hi= no lock (floating?) Note 7	0	0	0
14 R			12 coax	AGC	Gnd = full gain high = no gian Note 8	1.2	0.8	0.8
15	-	-	-	-	no connection	0	-	-
16 RT			9	CLK	R 75 Hz sq wave out Note 3	2.5	2.5	2.5
17 RT			1	RxD	R digital data out Note 1	jumping	jumping	jumping
18 T	12			?		0	0	0
19				?		0	0	0
20	-	-	-	-	no connection	0	-	-
21	-	-	-	-	no connection	0	-	-
22	-	-	-	-	no connection	0	-	-
23	15			?		0	0	0
24 R	16			+12V	+ 12 to R Note 4	14.98	14.58 batt	14.58
25 RT	17	4	3, 6 10,13	Gnd	Ground	0	0.0	0.0

Pin	Name	Function
1	TX	Probably the Data Input
2	RF	Turns on Modulation & ...
3	9V	Powers Mod PCB
4	T0	Output from Mod PCB from PROM A4 address line maybe a bit clock output
5	Tu
6	Gnd	Ground

FS-5000 Spy Radio

Description

Purpose & Use