UNIT 4

TRANSMITTERS & RECEIVERS

Prepared by
Dr.P.Sunitha,M.Tech,Ph.D,
Associate Professor,
Contents
Radio Transmitter:
• Classification of Transmitter
• AM Transmitter
• Effect of feedback on performance of AM Transmitter,.
• FM Transmitter – Variable reactance type and phase modulated FM
Transmitter
• Frequency stability in FM Transmitter.
Radio Receiver :
• Receiver Types - Tuned radio frequency receiver, Super heterodyne
receiver
• RF section and Characteristics - Frequency changing and tracking.
• Intermediate frequency, AGC,
• FM Receiver
• Comparison with AM Receiver
• Amplitude limiting
General block diagram of radio transmitter

Carrier Signal

Audio Signal
 Radio transmitters

• A radio transmitter consists of several elements that work together to

generate radio waves that contain useful information such as audio,

video, or digital data.

Power supply: Provides the necessary electrical power to operate the

transmitter.

Oscillator: Creates alternating current at the frequency on which the

transmitter will transmit. The oscillator usually generates a sine wave,
which is referred to as a carrier wave.
 Radio transmitters(Cont.)
• Modulator: Adds useful information to the carrier wave. There are

two main ways to add this information. The first, called amplitude
modulation or AM, makes slight increases or decreases to the
intensity of the carrier wave. The second, called frequency modulation
or FM, makes slight increases or decreases the frequency of the
carrier wave.

• Amplifier: Amplifies the modulated carrier wave to increase its power.

The more powerful the amplifier, the more powerful the broadcast.

• Antenna: Converts the amplified signal to radio waves.

General block diagram of radio receiver
• A radio receiver is the opposite of a radio transmitter. It uses an antenna to

capture radio waves, processes those waves to extract only those waves that are

vibrating at the desired frequency, extracts the audio signals that were added to

those waves, amplifies the audio signals, and finally plays them on a speaker.

• Antenna: Captures the radio waves. Typically, the antenna is simply a length of

wire. When this wire is exposed to radio waves, the waves induce a very small

alternating current in the antenna.

• RF amplifier: A sensitive amplifier that amplifies the very weak radio frequency

(RF) signal from the antenna so that the signal can be processed by the tuner.

• Tuner: A circuit that can extract signals of a particular frequency from a mix of

signals of different frequencies. On its own, the antenna captures radio waves of

all frequencies and sends them to the RF amplifier, which dutifully amplifies them

all.
• The tuner usually employs the combination of an inductor (for example, a
coil) and a capacitor to form a circuit that resonates at a particular
frequency.
• This frequency, called the resonant frequency, is determined by the
values chosen for the coil and the capacitor. This type of circuit tends to
block any AC signals at a frequency above or below the resonant
frequency.
• You can adjust the resonant frequency by varying the amount of
inductance in the coil or the capacitance of the capacitor. In simple radio
receiver circuits, the tuning is adjusted by varying the number of turns of
wire in the coil.
• More sophisticated tuners use a variable capacitor (also called a tuning
capacitor) to vary the frequency.
• Detector: Responsible for separating the audio information from the

carrier wave. For AM signals, this can be done with a diode that just
rectifies the alternating current signal. What’s left after the diode has
its way with the alternating current signal is a direct current signal that
can be fed to an audio amplifier circuit. For FM signals, the detector
circuit is a little more complicated.

• Audio amplifier: This component’s job is to amplify the weak signal

that comes from the detector so that it can be heard. This can be
done using a simple transistor amplifier circuit.
 Requirements of a Receiver
• A radio receiver is used to receive both AM band / FM band signals.

• The detection of AM is done by the method called as Envelope Detection and the
detection of FM is done by the method called as Frequency Discrimination.
Such a radio receiver has the following requirements.
• It should be cost effective.

• It should receive either AM /FM signals.

• The receiver should be able to tune and amplify the desired station.

• It should have an ability to reject the unwanted stations.

• Demodulation has to be done to all the station signals, whatever the carrier frequency
is.
• For these requirements to get fulfilled, the tuner circuit and the mixer circuit
should be very effective.
 AM Transmitter

• AM transmitter takes the audio signal as an input and delivers

amplitude modulated wave to the antenna as an output to be

transmitted. The block diagram of AM transmitter is shown in the
following figure.
 Working of AM transmitter

• The audio signal from the output of the microphone is sent to

the pre-amplifier, which boosts the level of the modulating

signal.

• The RF oscillator generates the carrier signal.

• Both the modulating and the carrier signal is sent to AM

modulator.

• Power amplifier is used to increase the power levels of AM

wave. This wave is finally passed to the antenna to be

transmitted.
• Detector: Responsible for separating the audio information from the

carrier wave. For AM signals, this can be done with a diode that just
rectifies the alternating current signal. What’s left after the diode has
its way with the alternating current signal is a direct current signal that
can be fed to an audio amplifier circuit. For FM signals, the detector
circuit is a little more complicated.

• Audio amplifier: This component’s job is to amplify the weak signal

that comes from the detector so that it can be heard. This can be
done using a simple transistor amplifier circuit.
 AM Transmitter

• Transmitters that transmit AM signals are known as AM

transmitters.•

• These transmitters are used in medium wave (MW) and

short wave (SW) frequency bands for AM broadcast.

• The MW band has frequencies between 550 KHz and

1650 KHz, and the SW band has frequencies ranging

from 3 MHz to 30 MHz.
 Low level modulation.

• In low level modulation, the generation of AM wave takes

place in the initial stage of amplification, i.e at a low power
level.
• The generated AM signal then amplified using number of
amplifier stages.
 Low level modulation(Cont.).

• The RF crystal oscillator is most stable mechanical device suitable to

generate high frequency carrier signal of particular frequency.
• The amplified modulating signal is applied to the modulator signal
along with carrier. At the output of the modulator we get the AM wave.
• This AM signal is then amplified using a chain of linear amplifiers to
raise its power level.
• The linear amplifiers can be class A, AB or B type amplifiers. The
linear amplifiers are used in order to avoid the waveform distortion in
AM wave.
 Low level modulation(Cont.).

• The amplitude modulated signal is then transmitted using

transmitting antenna.

• The transistorized modulator circuits can be used for low level

modulator due to the low power which is to be handled.

• The low level transmitter circuit does not require a large AF

modulator power so its design is simplified.

• However the overall efficiency is much lower compared to high

level modulation. This is due to the use of less efficient linear

amplifiers.
 High level modulation

• In high level modulation, modulation takes place in the final

stage of amplification and therefore modulation circuitry has
to handle high power.
 High level modulation(Cont.)
• It can be seen that stable RF source, buffer amplifier and
subsequent RF power amplifiers are common for both low
level modulation transmitter and high level modulation
transmitter.
• The stable RF source is provided by crystal oscillator with a
carrier frequency or submultiple of it.
• The buffer amplifiers are usually class-A amplifier where as
power amplifiers are class-C amplifiers in both, audio and
power audio frequency (AF) amplifiers are present.
• In fact, the only differnce is the point at which the modulation
takes place. In case of low level modulation, modulation takes
place at low power level, i.e before the final output amplifier.
 High level modulation(Cont.)
• In low level modulation system amplifier efficiency and
bandwidth preservations are important factors since audio
signal is having low power.
• For high level modulation other than efficiency of amplifier
power handling capability, distortion, capability of handling
amplitude variations are important parameter.
• The output of final amplifier is passed through an impedance
matching network that includes the tank circuit of the final
amplifier.
• For tank circuits, Q is kept low enough to pass all sideband
signals without amplitude and frequency distortion.
Effect of Feedback on Performance of AM
Transmitter

Figure: Negative Feedback Circuitry

 FM Transmitters
• FM signals have no amplitude variation, therefore FM
transmitter can employ class-C throughout, even after
modulation.

• There are two types of FM transmitters

1. Directly modulated (Variable Reactance Type) FM transmitter

2. Indirectly (phase) modulated FM transmitter.

 Directly Modulated FM Transmitter
• Direct frequency modulation can be employed using any of the
FM circuits. However, direct FM at the final carrier frequency
is not feasible because of the problem of maintaining high
frequency stability of the carrier while at the same time
obtaining adequate frequency deviation.
• To solve this problem, in directly modulated FM transmitters,
the frequency modulation is carried out at a lower frequency
and with a smaller frequency deviation. Then passing this FM
wave through frequency multiplier circuit, the desired carrier
frequency and desired frequency deviation is achieved.
• With frequency multiplication, the instantaneous frequency is
multiplied.
• With frequency mixing, the deviation is not altered.
 Indirect (Phase) Modulated FM Transmitter
• One of the difficulties encountered in FM transmitters which
depend upon the direct method of frequency modulation is that
because of the variable nature of the tuning of the tank circuit,
crystal-controlled oscillators cannot be used and therefore the
stability inherent in such crystal-controlled units is not
available.
• An alternative technique for the generation of a frequency-
modulated signal which permits the use of crystal –control is
called the ―Indirect Method‖. In this technique, the phase angle
is made to vary while holding the frequency constant.
• By this technique a phase modulated signal is generated and it
can be passed off as an FM signal.
Indirect (Phase) Modulated FM Transmitter

Figure: FM transmitter in which FM is achieved through Phase Modulation

FM Transmitter (Armstrong Method) Contd.,
• In this method, the initial modulation takes place as an
amplitude modulated DSBSC signal so that a crystal-
controlled oscillator can be used if desired.
• The crystal oscillator generates the subcarrier, which can be
low, say on the order of 100 KHz. One output from the
oscillator is phase shifted by 90 degrees to produce the sine
term, which is then DSBSC modulated in the balanced
modulator by Vm(t).
• This is combined with the direct output from the oscillator in
the summing amplifier, the result then being the phase
modulated signal.
• The modulating signal is passed through an integrator to the
modulated to get the frequency modulated signal. At this stage,
the equivalent frequency deviation will be low.
FM Transmitter (Armstrong Method)

Figure: FM transmitter in which FM is achieved through Armstrong Method

 AM Radio Receivers
• AM radio receiver is a device which receives the desired AM
signal, amplifies it followed by demodulation to get back the
original modulating signal.
• Radio receivers are broadly of TWO types
1. Depending on the application: AM, FM, COMM.,TV, RADAR
2. Depending on the fundamental aspect/ principle
• Based on principle of operation, the TWO popular radio
receivers are there, they are
i. Tuned Radio Frequency (TRF) Receiver
ii. Superheterodyne Receiver
 Tuned Radio Frequency (TRF) Receiver
• The TRF receiver is a simple ―logical‖ receiver.
• Two or three RF amplifiers, all tuning together, were employed
to select and amplify the incoming frequency and
simultaneously to reject all others.
• After the signal was amplified to a suitable level, it was
demodulated (detected) and fed to the loud speaker after being
passed through the appropriate audio amplifying stages.
• These are simple to design, align at broadcast frequencies, but
they presented difficulties at higher frequencies.
Drawbacks:
• It is difficult to achieve sufficient selectivity at high
frequencies.
• The bandwidth variation over the tuning range
• INSTABLE --Tendency to oscillate at HF
Tuned Radio Frequency (TRF) Receiver

Figure: Block diagram of TRF receiver

 Superheterodyne Receiver
• In this receiver, the incoming signal voltage is combined with
a signal generated in the receiver. This local oscillator voltage
is normally converted into a lower fixed frequency.
• The signal at this intermediate contains the same modulation
as the original carrier, and it is no amplified and detected to
reproduce the original information.
• The superhet has the same essential components as the TRF
receiver, inaddition to the mixer, local oscillator and
intermediate-frequency (IF) amplifier .
• A constant frequency difference is maintained between the
local oscillator and the RF circuit normally through
capacitance tuning, in which all the capacitors are ganged
together and operated in unison by one control knob.
• The IF amplifier generally uses two or three transformers, each
consisting of a pair of mutually coupled tuned circuits. With
this large number of double tuned circuits operating at a
constant, specially chosen frequency, the IF amplifier provides
most of the gain and bandwidth requirements to the reciever.
• The characteristics of the IF amplifier are independent of
frequency to which the receiver is tuned , the selectivity and
sensitivity of the superhet are usually fairly uniform
throughout its tuning range and not subject to the variations
that effect the TRF receiver.
• The RF circuits are used mainly to select the wanted
frequency, to reject interference such as the image frequency
and (especially at high frequencies) to reduce the noise figure
of the reciever.
• The IF signal output is amplified composite of the modulated
RF from the transmitter in combination with the RF from the
local oscillator.
• The detector eliminates, one of the side bands still present and
separates the RF from the audio components of the other
sideband.
• The RF is filtered to ground, and audio is supplied to the audio
stages for amplification and then to the speakers.
Advantages:
• No variation in bandwidth. The BW remains constant over the
entire operating range
• High sensitivity and selectivity.
• High adjacent channel rejection
 Various Blocks of AM Superheterodyne
Receiver

1. RF section and Characteristics

2. Frequency Changing and Tracking
3. Intermediate Frequencies and IF amplifiers
4. Detection and Automatic Gain Control
 Various Blocks of AM Superheterodyne Receiver
1. RF Section and Characteristics:
• A radio receiver always has an RF section, which is a tunable
circuit connected to the antenna terminals. It is there to select
the wanted frequency and reject some of the unwanted
frequencies.

RF input AM
signal from
antenna Input Output
RF To Mixer
Tuned Tuned
Amplifier
Circuit Circuit

Figure: A Simplified Block Diagram of RF Front-end

 Various Blocks of AM Superheterodyne Receiver
Reasons for use and functions of RF amplifier:
• Greater gain i.e better sensitivity
• Improved image-frequency rejection
• Improved signal-to-noise ratio
• Improved rejection of adjacent unwanted signals, i.e better
selectivity
• Better coupling of the receiver to the antenna
• Prevention of spurious frequencies from entering the mixer
and heterodyning there to produce an interfering frequency
equal to the IF from the desired signal.
• Prevention of re-radiation of the local oscillator through the
antenna of the receiver.
• The single tuned transformer coupled amplifier is most
commonly employed for RF amplification, as illustrated in
below figure.

Figure: (a) Transistor RF amplifer

(Mid frequency)

Figure: (b) Transistor RF amplifer

(VHF)
 Various Blocks of AM Superheterodyne Receiver
2. Frequency Changing and Tracking:
• The mixer is a non-linear device having two sets of input
terminals and one set of output terminals.
• The signal from the antenna or from the preceding RF
amplifier is fed to one set of input terminals, and the output of
the local oscillator is fed to the other set . Such a non-linear
circuit will have several frequencies present in its output,
including the difference between the two input frequencies in
AM this was called the lower sideband.
• The most common types of mixers are the bipolar transistor,
FET, Dual-gate MOSFET and integrated circuit.
 Various Blocks of AM Superheterodyne Receiver
• Separately Excited Mixer:
In this circuit, one device acts as a mixer while the other
supplies the necessary oscillations.
 Various Blocks of AM Superheterodyne Receiver
• In this circuit, T1 the FET, is the mixer, to whose gate is fed to
the output of T2, the bipolar transistor Hartley oscillator .
• If T1 were a Dual-gate MOSFET, the RF input would be
applied to one of the gates, rather than to the source as shown
in figure, with the local oscillator output going to the other
gate, just as it goes to the single gate here.
• The ganging together of the tuning capacitors across the mixer
and oscillator coils, and that each in practice has a trimmer
across it for fine adjustment by the manufacturer.
• The output is taken through a double tuned transformer in the
drain of the mixer and fed to the IF amplifier.
• In domestic receivers, a self-excited mixer is more likely to be
encountered.
 Various Blocks of AM Superheterodyne Receiver

• Self-Excited Mixer:
 Various Blocks of AM Superheterodyne Receiver

• At the signal frequency the collector and emitter tuned circuits

may be considered as being effectively short circuited so that
we have an amplifier with an input tuned circuit and an output
that is indeterminate.
• At the IF, we have an amplifier those input comes from an
indeterminate source, and whose output is tuned to the IF.
Both these amplifiers are CE amplifiers.
 Various Blocks of AM Superheterodyne Receiver

• Superheterodyne Tracking:

Figure: Superheterodyne Reciever

Various Blocks of AM Superheterodyne Receiver

• To understand the process, follow the below steps

1. The receiver is tuned to 550 KHz.
2. The local oscillator will generate a frequency of 1005 KHz
3. The mixer will produce usable output of 455 KHz
4. The mixer output is fed to the IF amplifier
5. The converted signal is rectified and filtered, to eliminate
the unusable portions, and amplified for listening
purposes.
Various Blocks of AM Superheterodyne Receiver
Tracking:
• The superheterodyne receiver has number of tunable circuits
which must all be tuned correctly if any given station is to be
received.
• The ganged tuning is employed to do this work, which
mechanically couples all tuning circuits so that only one tuning
control or dial is required.
• Usually there are three tuned circuits: Antenna or RF tuned
circuit, mixer tuned circuit and local oscillator tuned circuit.
All these circuits must be tuned to get proper RF input and to
get IF frequency at the output of the mixer.
• The process of tuning circuits to get the desired output is
called tracking.
Various Blocks of AM Superheterodyne Receiver
• Any error that exists in the frequency difference will result in
an incorrect frequency being fed to the IF amplifier. Such
errors are known as ―Tracking errors‖ and these must be
avoided.
• To avoid tracking errors standard capacitors are not used, and
ganged capacitors with identical sections are used. A different
value of inductance and special extra capacitors called
trimmers and padders are used to adjust the capacitance of the
oscillator to the proper range.
• There are three common methods used for tracking.
i. Padder Tracking
ii. Trimmer Tracking iii. Three-Point Tracking
Various Blocks of AM Superheterodyne Receiver
i. Padder Tracking:

Figure: (b) Tracking error in

Figure: (a) Padder Tracking
Padder Tracking

• In padder tracking, the oscillator tunes below the frequency it

should be in mid-band, so the IF created higher than it should
be, and positive error is created as shown in figure (b).
Various Blocks of AM Superheterodyne Receiver
ii. Trimmer Tracking:

Figure: (b) Tracking error in

Figure: (a) Trimmer Tracking
Trimmer Tracking

• In this tracking, the oscillator tunes higher frequency it should

be in mid-band, so IF created is less than it should be, and
negative error is created as shown in figure (b).
Various Blocks of AM Superheterodyne Receiver
iii. Three Point Tracking:

• The combination circuit called three point tracking can be

adjusted to give zero error at three points across the band, at
each end, and at the middle.
Various Blocks of AM Superheterodyne Receiver
3. Intermediate Frequencies and IF amplifiers:
The following are the major factors influencing the choice of
the intermediate frequency in any particular system
a. If the IF is too high, poor selectivity and poor adjacent
channel rejection result unless sharp cutoff filters are used in
the IF stages.
b. A high value of IF increases tracking difficulties
c. As the IF is lowered, image frequency rejection becomes
poorer.
d. A very low IF can make the selectivity too sharp, cutting off
the sidebands. This problem arises because the Q must be low
when the IF is low and therefore the gain per stage is low.
Various Blocks of AM Superheterodyne Receiver

e. If IF is very low, the frequency stability of the local oscillator

must be made correspondingly higher because any frequency
drift is now a larger properties of the low IF than of a high IF.
f. The IF must not fall within the tuning range of the receiver, or
else instability will occur and heterodyne whistles will be
heard, making it impossible to tune to the frequency band
immediately adjacent to the IF.
Frequencies Used:
• Standard broadcast AM receivers use an IF within the 438-
465 KHz range, with 455 KHz by far the most popular
frequency.
Various Blocks of AM Superheterodyne Receiver

• AM, SSB and other receivers employed for shortwave or VHF

reception have a first IF often in the range from about 1.6 to
2.3MHz, or else above 30 MHz.
• FM receivers using the standard 88-108 MHz band have an IF
which is almost always 10.7 MHz
• Television receivers in the VHF band and in the UHF band
uses an IF between 26 and 46 MHz, with approximately 36
and 46 MHz the two most popular values.
• Microwave and Radar receivers, operating on frequencies in
the 1-10 GHz range, use intermediate frequencies depending
on the application, with 30, 60 and 70 MHz among the most
popular.
• IF Amplifiers:
What Is IF?

• The abbreviation ―IF‖ refers to an intermediate frequency itself or,

more generally, to intermediate-frequency-based techniques.

• As the name implies, an intermediate frequency is somewhere

between the baseband frequency and the carrier frequency.

• IF circuitry can be incorporated into both transmitters and receivers,

though the benefits of IF techniques are more relevant to receivers.

• We’ll discuss IF in the context of receiver design, but as you’re

reading keep in mind that these beneficial characteristics could apply

to transmitters as well.
 Benefits of IF
• Many RF systems incorporate an intermediate frequency (IF) that is

lower than the carrier frequency and higher than the baseband frequency.

• An IF-based receiver is known as a heterodyne receiver.

• The use of an IF simplifies the design of tunable receivers and reduces

the number of components that must be compatible with high

frequencies.

• IF architectures simplify the design of bandpass filters because the

reduced center frequency results in a lower Q-factor requirement.

• An IF-based system allows for a more robust implementation of

demodulation.
• The IF amplifier is a fixed-frequency amplifier with the very
important function of rejecting adjacent unwanted frequencies.
It should have a frequency response with steep skirts.
• FET and integrated circuit IF amplifiers generally are double
tuned at the input and at the output, bipolar transistor
amplifiers often are single tuned.
• The above circuit is two stage amplifier, with all IF
transformers single tuned. This departure from a single stage,
double tuned amplifier is for the sake of extra gain and
receiver sensitivity.
• If a double tuned transformers were used, both sides of it
might have to be tapped, rather than just one side as with a
single tuned transformer. Thus a reduction in a gain.
4. Detection and Automatic Gain Control:
• This simple diode detector has the disadvantages that Vo,
inaddition to Vin proportional to the modulating voltage, also
has a DC component, which represents the average envelope
amplitude ( carrier strength), and small RF ripple. The
unwanted components are removed in a practical detector,
leaving only the intelligence and some second harmonic of the
modulating signal.

Figure: Simple Diode Detector

• Practical Diode Detector:
It can be seen from the figure that the DC diode load is equal
to R1+R2, where as the audio load impedance Zm is equal to
R1 in series with the parallel combination of R2, R3 and R4,
assuming that the capacitors have reactance's which may be
ignore. This will be true at medium frequencies, but at high
and low audio frequencies Zm may have a reactive
components, causing a phase shift and distortion as well as an
uneven frequency response.

Figure: Practical Diode Detector

• Principles of Simple Automatic Gain Control:
• Simple AGC is a system by means of which the overall gain of
a radio receiver is varied automatically with the changing
strength of the received signal, to keep output substantially
constant.
• A dc bias voltage, derived from the detector and explained in
connection with practical diode detector circuit, is applied to a
selected number of the RF, IF and Mixer stages.
• For correct AGC operation, the relationship between applied
bias and transconductance need not be strictly linear, as long
as transconductance drops significantly with increased bias.
The overall result on the receiver output is shown below.
• Delayed AGC:
 Delayed AGC:
• Delayed AGC uses two separate diodes: the detector and the
AGC detector. These can be connected either to separate
transformer windings, as shown, or both may be connected to
the secondary without too much interference.
• A positive bias is applied to the cathode of the AGC diode, to
prevent conduction until a predetermined signal level has been
reached.
Figure: Simple AGC Characteristics
Figure: Various AGC characteristics
 Rx
antenna
FM Receiver

RF input FM RF RF IF Amplitude FM
signal
Amplifier Mixer Amplifier Limiter Detector

De-emphasis
AGC Local AGC AGC
in in out
Oscillator
Audio Power
Amplifier

Figure: Block Diagram of FM Superheterodyne Receiver

 Amplitude Limiting
• In order make full use of the advantages offered by FM, a
demodulator must be preceded by amp. Limiter, any amplitude
changes in the signal fed to the FM demodulators are spurious.
They must be removed if distortion is to be avoided
• Since most FM demodulators react to amplitude changes as
well as freq. changes
• The limiter is a form of clipping device, a circuit whose output
tends to remain constant despite changes in the input signal.
Amplitude Limiter:

Figure: Amplitude Limiter

 Amplitude Limiting Contd.,
• The Drain supply voltage has been dropped through resistor
• The bias on the gate is leak type bias supplied by the parallel
Rg-Cg combination.
• Finally, FET is neutralized by means of capacitor , in
consideration of the high frequency of operation.
• Leak type bias provides limiting, as shown in figure. When the
input signal voltage rises, current flows in the Rg-Cg bias
circuit, and a negative voltage is developed across the
capacitor.
• The bias on the FET is increased in proportion to the size of
the input voltage. As a result the gain of the amplifier is
lowered, and the output voltage tends to remain constant.
Amplitude Limiting Contd.,

Figure: Amplitude Limiter Transfer Characteristics

Amplitude Limiting Contd.,

Figure: Typical Limiter response characteristics

• Shows the response characteristic of the Amplitude Limiter in FM

Receiver. It indicates clearly that limiting takes place only for a certain
range of input voltages, outside which output varies with input.

• Referring to Fig.,we see that as input increases from value 1 to value 2,

output current also rises. Thus no limiting has yet taken place.

• However, comparison of 2 and 3 shows that they both yield the same

output current and voltage. Thus limiting has now begun. Value 2 is the
point at which limiting starts and is called the threshold of limiting.

• As input increases from 3 to 4, there is no rise in output; all that happens

is that the output current flows for a somewhat shorter portion of the input
cycle. This, of course, suggests operation like that of a class C amplifier.
• Although some limiting is achieved by this process, it is
insufficient by itself, the action just described would occur only
with rather large input voltages.
• To overcome this, early saturation of the output current is used,
achieved by means of a low drain supply voltage. This is the
reason for the drain dropping resistor of Figure
• . The supply voltage for a limiter is typically one-half of the
normal dc drain voltage.
• The result of early saturation is to ensure limiting for
conveniently low input voltages.
 Pre-emphasis & De-emphasis
• The noise has a greater effect on the higher modulating
frequencies than on the lower ones. Thus, if the higher
frequencies were artificially boosted at the transmitter and
correspondingly cut at the receiver , an improvement in noise
immunity could be expected, thereby increasing the signal to
noise ratio (SNR).
• The boosting of higher modulating frequencies, in accordance
with a pre-arranges curve, is called Pre-emphasis, and the
compensation at the receiver is called De-emphasis.
• The usage of microseconds for defining emphasis is standard.
• The amount of pre-emphasis in U.S FM broadcasing has been
standardized as 75 microseconds whereas in European and
Australian broadcasing , it is 50 microseconds.
 Pre-emphasis
• In FM, the noise has a greater effect on the higher modulating

frequencies.

• This effect can be reduced by increasing the value of modulation

index (mf ) for higher modulating frequencies (fm).

• This can be done by increasing the deviation Δf and Δf can be

increased by increasing the amplitude of modulating signal at higher

modulating frequencies.

• Thus, if we boost the amplitude of higher frequency modulating

signals artificially then it will be possible to improve the noise

immunity at higher modulating frequencies.
 Pre-emphasis(Cont.)

• The artificial boosting of higher modulating frequencies is

called as pre-emphasis.

• Boosting of higher frequency modulating signal is achieved by

using the pre-emphasis circuit as shown in fig.1(a).

 Pre-emphasis(Cont.)
• As shown in the fig.1, the modulating AF signal is passed through a
high pass RC filter, before applying it to the FM modulator.
• As fm increases, reactance of C decreases and modulating voltage
applied to FM modulator goes on increasing.
• The frequency response characteristics of the RC high pass network is
shown in fig.1(b).
• The boosting is done according to this pre arranged curve.
• The amount of pre-emphasis in US FM transmission and sound
transmission in TV has been standardized at 75 μsec.
• The pre-emphasis circuit is basically a high pass filter. The pre-
emphasis is carried out at the transmitter.
• The frequency for the RC high pass network is 2122 Hz as shown in
fig.1 (b). Hence, the pre-emphasis circuit is used at the transmitter as
shown in fig.2.
FM transmitter including the pre-emphasis
 De-emphasis
• The process that is used at the receiver end to nullify or compensate

the artificial boosting given to the higher modulating frequencies in the

process of pre-emphasis is called De-emphasis.

• That means, the artificially boosted high frequency signals are

brought to their original amplitude using the de-emphasis circuit.

• The 75 μsec de-emphasis circuit is standard and it is as shown in fig.

3.
 De-emphasis(Cont.)

• It shows that it is a low pass filter. 75 μsec de-emphasis corresponds

to a frequency response curve that is 3 dB down at a frequency

whose RC time constant is 75 μsec.i.e.,

• The demodulated FM is applied to the De-emphasis circuit. With

increase in fm the reactance of C goes on decreasing and the output

of de-emphasis circuit will also reduce as shown in fig.3.
 RECEIVER CHARACTERISTICS
• Sensitivity, noise, selectivity, and fidelity are important receiver
characteristics.
• These characteristics will be useful to you when performing
receiver tests.
• They can help you to determine whether a receiver is working
or not or in comparing one receiver to another.
 Sensitivity
• SensitivityThe 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.
 Selectivity
• It 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
 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.
Fidelity
• The fidelity is the ability of a receiver to reproduce all the modulating
frequencies equally.
• The fidelity basically depends on the frequency response of the AF
amplifier.
• High fidelity is essential in order to reproduce good quality music
faithfully, i.e. without introducing any distortion. For this it is essential to
have a flat frequency response over a wide range of audio frequencies.
• Adjacent Channel Rejection

• Receiver adjacent channel rejection is the measure of how well a receiver

can receive the transmitted signal in the presence of a high-level
interfering signal in the adjacent channel.
Image Frequency Rejection

The Image
• An IF-based receiver uses a variable-frequency oscillator (VFO)
signal to shift a received spectrum down to an equivalent spectrum
centered around the intermediate frequency;
• The shifting is accomplished via multiplication.

• However, this multiplication operation affects not only the received

spectrum but also whatever spectrum is located symmetrically with
respect to the VFO frequency.
• In other words, multiplication will shift one spectrum down to the IF
and another spectrum up to the IF.
• As you can see, the image spectrum and the desired spectrum are both

present in the IF signal that will be demodulated. In this diagram we can

easily distinguish one from the other, but such is not the case in a real-life
circuit—the frequency information in the desired spectrum is corrupted by
the frequency information in the image spectrum.

• This symmetrically located image spectrum is a serious impediment to

reliable IF-based reception

Image Rejection

• To mitigate the effects of the image spectrum, heterodyne

receivers use image-reject filters. These are placed before the

mixer, such that the image spectrum is suppressed before the
mixer shifts it to the intermediate frequency.
Problems on radio receiver
For a super heterodyne receiver, the intermediate frequency is 15
MHz and the local oscillator frequency is 3.5 GHz .if the frequency of
the received signal is greater than the local oscillator frequency ,than
the image frequency is
 References
 Communication Systems by Simon Haykin, Wiley, 2nd Edition.
 Principle of Communication System by Taub ,Schilling & Saha,
TMH.
 Modern digital and Analog Communications system by BP Lathi,
Ding and Gupta, Oxford.
 Electronic Communication Systems by Kennedy and Davis, TMH.
 Radio Engineering by G.K.Mithal, Khanna Publishers
.No FM AM
Amplitude of FM wave is constant. It is Amplitude of AM wave will change with the
1.
independent of the modulation index. modulating voltage.
Hence, transmitted power remains constant. It is Transmitted power is dependent on the modulation
2.
independent of mf . index.
3. All the transmitted power is useful. Carrier power and one sideband power are useless.
4. FM receivers are immune to noise. AM receivers are not immune to noise.
It is possible to decrease noise further by
5. This feature is absent in AM.
increasing deviation.
Bandwidth = 2[Δf+fm]. The bandwidth depends on Bandwidth = 2fm . It is not dependent on the
6.
modulation index. modulation index.
7. BW is large. Hence, wide channel is required. BW is much less than FM.

Space wave is used for propagation. So, radius of Ground wave and sky wave propagation is used.
8.
transmission is limited to line of sight. Therefore, large area is covered than FM.
Hence, it is possible to operate several Not possible to operate more channels on same
9.
transmitters on same frequency. frequency.
FM transmission and reception equipment are
10. AM equipments are less complex.
more complex.
The number of sidebands having significant Number of sidebands in AM will be constant and
11.
amplitudes depends on modulation index mf . equal to 2.
The information is contained in the frequency The information is contained in the amplitude
12.
variation of the carrier. variation of the carrier.
13. FM Wave AM Wave :
Applications :Radio, TV broadcasting, police
14. Applications: Radio and TV broadcasting.
wireless, point to point communications