Radio Receivers

Important terms in Radio Receivers

• Reception: Reception occurs when a transmitted electromagnetic
wave passes through the receiver antenna and induces a voltage in
the antenna.
• Selection: Selection is the ability of the receiver to select a
particular frequency of a station from all other station frequencies
appearing at the antenna of the receiver.
• Detection: Detection is the action of separating the low (audio)
frequency intelligence from the high (radio)frequency carrier. A
detector circuit is used to accomplish this action.
• Reproduction: Reproduction is the action of converting the
electrical signals to sound waves, which can then be interpreted by
your ear as speech, music, and the like. An example of this might be
the stereo speakers in your car
 Receiver's Characteristics
• Sensitivity
The ability of a receiver to reproduce weak signals is a
function of the sensitivity of a receiver. The weaker a signal
that can be applied to a receiver and still produce a certain
value of signal output, the better the sensitivity rating.
Sensitivity of a receiver is measured under standardized
conditions. It is expressed in terms of the signal voltage,
usually in the microvolts that must be applied to the
antenna input terminals to give an established level of the
output. The output may be an ac or dc voltage measured at
the detector output or a power measurement (measured in
decibels or watts) at the loudspeaker or headphone
terminals.
 Receiver's Characteristics
• Noise
All receivers generate a certain amount of noise, which you
must take into account when measuring sensitivity.
Receiver noise may originate from the atmosphere
(lightning) or from internal components(transistors, tubes).
Noise is the limiting factor of sensitivity.
You will find sensitivity is the value of input carrier voltage
(in microvolts) that must be applied from the
signal generator to the receiver input to develop a specified
output power.
 Receiver's Characteristics
• Selectivity
Selectivity is the degree of distinction made by the receiver
between the desired signal and unwanted signals. You will
find the better the ability of the receiver to reject unwanted
signals, the better its selectivity. The degree of selection is
determined by the sharpness of resonance to which the
frequency-determining circuits have been engineered and
tuned. You usually measure selectivity by taking a series of
sensitivity readings. As you take the readings, you step the
input signal along a band of frequencies above and below
the circuit resonance of the receiver; for example, 100
kilohertz below to 100 kilohertz
 Receiver's Characteristics
• Fidelity
of a receiver is its ability to reproduce the exact replica of
the transmitted signals at the receiver output. In other
words, the fidelity of a receiver is its ability to accurately
reproduce, in its output, the signal that appears at its input.
 TRF Receivers
• A tuned radio frequency receiver (or TRF receiver) is a
type of radio receiver that is composed of one or more
tuned radio frequency (RF) amplifier stages followed by a
detector (demodulator) circuit to extract the audio signal
and usually an audio frequency amplifier.
• This type of receiver was popular in the 1920s .
• However tuning took a little while as each stage in the
early radios needed to be adjusted separately.
• Later ganged tuning capacitors were introduced, but by
this time the super heterodyne receiver was becoming
more widespread.
TRF Receivers
 Limitations of TRF Receivers
1] TRF receiver suffers from variations in BW over the tuning
range ( 40 - 1650 KHz)
2] The gain of TRF is not uniform over the tuning range.
3] The TRF is unstable at high frequency.
4] Gang tuning of more number of capacitors simultaneously
is difficult
 Superheterodyne Receiver
Definition: Superheterodyne receiver works on the principle
of heterodyning which simply means mixing.
• It is a type of receiver which mixes the received signal
frequency with the frequency of the signal generated by a
local oscillator.
• The output of mixer provides a lower fixed frequency also
known as intermediate frequency.
• These receivers are called Superheterodyne receivers
as the frequency of the signal generated by the local
oscillator is more than the frequency of the received
signal.
 Superheterodyne Receiver
Definition: Superheterodyne receiver works on the principle
of heterodyning which simply means mixing.
• It is a type of receiver which mixes the received signal
frequency with the frequency of the signal generated by a
local oscillator.
• The output of mixer provides a lower fixed frequency also
known as intermediate frequency.
• These receivers are called Superheterodyne receivers
as the frequency of the signal generated by the local
oscillator is more than the frequency of the received
signal.
Superheterodyne AM Receiver
 Superheterodyne AM Receiver
1. RF Filter: The first block is the ferrite rod antenna coil and
variable capacitor combo, that serves two purposes - RF is
induced into the coil and the parallel capacitor controls the
resonant frequency of it, as ferrite antennas receive the best
when the resonant frequency of the coil and capacitor is equal
to the station's carrier frequency – this way it acts as an input
filter of the receiver.
2. Heterodyne Local Oscillator: The second block is the
heterodyne, also known as the local oscillator (LO). The
frequency of the local oscillator is set, so either the sum or the
difference of the RF signal’s frequency and the LO’s frequency
is equal to the IF used in the receiver (usually around 455 kHz).
 Superheterodyne AM Receiver
3. Mixer: The third block is the mixer, the RF signal and the LO signal is fed to
the mixer to produce the desired IF. Mixers found in common AM receivers
output the sum, the difference of the LO and RF’s frequencies and the
LO and RF signals themselves. Most often in simple transistor radios, the
heterodyne and the mixer are made using one transistor. In higher-quality
receivers and those that use dedicated integrated circuits, such as the
TCA440, these stages are separate, allowing for more sensitive reception due
to the mixer outputting only the sum and difference frequencies. In one
transistor LO-mixers, the transistor operates as a common-base Armstrong
oscillator and the RF taken from a coil wound on the ferrite rod, separate from
the resonant circuit’s coil, is fed to the base. At frequencies different from the
resonant frequency of the antenna resonant circuit, it presents low
impedance, so the base stays grounded for the LO signal but not for the input
signal, due to the antenna circuit being of parallel resonant type (low
impedance at frequencies different from resonance, almost infinite impedance
at the resonant frequency).
 Superheterodyne AM Receiver
4. First IF Filter: The fourth block is the first IF filter. In most AM
receivers, it is a resonant circuit placed in the collector of the mixer
transistor with the resonant frequency equal to the IF frequency. Its
purpose is to filter off all signals with a frequency different from the IF
frequency because those signals are unwanted mixing products and
don’t carry the audio signal of the station we want to listen to.
5. First IF Amplifier: The fifth block is the first IF amplifier. Gains of 50 to
100 in each IF stages are common if the gain is too high, distortion can
take place, and if the gain is too high, IF filters are too close to each
other and not properly shielded, parasitic oscillation can take place. The
amplifier is controlled by AGC (Automatic Gain Control) voltage from the
demodulator. AGC lowers the gain of the stage, causing the output signal
to be roughly the same, regardless of the input signal amplitude. In
transistor AM receivers, the AGC signal is most often fed to the base and
has a negative voltage – in NPN transistors pulling the base bias voltage
lower, reduces gain.
 Superheterodyne AM Receiver
6. Second IF Filter: The sixth block is the second IF filter, just
like the first one it is a resonant circuit placed in the collector of
the transistor. It only lets signals of the IF frequency – improving
selectivity.
7. Second IF Amplifier: The seventh block is the second IF
amplifier, it is practically the same as the first IF amp except it is
not controlled by AGC, as having too many AGC controlled
stages, increases distortion.
8. Third IF Filter: the eighth block is the third IF filter, just like the
first and the second one is a resonant circuit placed in the
collector of the transistor. It only lets signals of the IF frequency –
improving selectivity. It feeds the IF signal to the detector.
 Superheterodyne AM Receiver
9. Detector: The ninth block is the detector, usually in the form of a
germanium diode or a diode-connected transistor. It demodulates
AM by rectifying the IF. On its output, there is a strong IF ripple
component that is filtered out by a resistor-capacitor low pass filter,
so only AF component remains, it is fed to the audio amp. The audio
signal is further filtered to provide the AGC voltage, like in a regular
DC power supply.
10. Audio Amplifier: The tenth block is the audio amplifier; it
amplifies the audio signal and passes it onto the speaker. Between
the detector and the audio amplifier, a volume control potentiometer
is used.
11. Speaker: The last block is the speaker (usually 8 ohms, 0.5W)
that outputs audio to the user. The speaker is sometimes connected
to the audio amplifier through a headphone jack that disconnects
the speaker when headphones are plugged in.