1 Last updated on 9

th
February 2014
EXPERIMENT E3: RADIO FREQUENCY OSCILLATORS

Related course: KEET 4206 (Electronics Communications)

OBJECTIVES:
To analyse radio frequency oscillators

EQUIPMENT:
Oscilloscope, signal generator, power supply, voltmeter, frequency counter, 741 op-amps, N
Channel JFET - 2N5486, Resistors (R
1
= R
2
= 10k, R
0
= 10k, R
b
= 50k potentiometer, R =
50k potentiometer, R
G
= 100k, capacitors (C
1
= C
2
= 0.01uF, C = 0.1 uF)

PRECAUTIONS:
Follow the demonstrator instructions throughout the experiment

REFERENCE(S):
Refer to the main references of KEET 4206 (Electronics Communications)

TESTS:
TEST 1: WIEN BRIDGE OSCILLATOR
TEST 2: AUTOMATIC GAIN CONTROL

TEST 1: WIEN BRIDGE OSCILLATOR


(a) WIEN bridge oscillator (b) Amplifier circuit
Figure 1

1. An oscillator circuit is shown in Figure 1. Connect the circuit. The voltage supply is to be
set at 10V
dc
.
2. With a V
pp
sinusoidal signal source connected to terminal x, observe waveform at
terminal y with an oscilloscope.
3. Adjust R
b
so that an undistorted waveform is observed at terminal y.
4. Vary the frequency of the signal source and locate the frequency at which the sinusoid at
terminal y is exactly in phase with the one at terminal x. Record the exact frequency.
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th
February 2014
5. Adjust R
b
until the two amplitudes are exactly equal.
6. Remove the signal source and connect terminal x to terminal y with a conductor.
7. The circuit should oscillate, if it does not repeat steps 1 through 6, but adjusting R
b
so
that voltage at y is 5 or 10% larger than that at x.
8. Record the frequency of oscillation at the op-amp output and sketch the waveforms at V
0

and V
p
. Record their peak to peak values.
9. Measure the value of R
b
without disturbing its setting.


TEST 2: AUTOMATIC GAIN CONTROL

It can be observed that the output waveform of the WIEN Bridge oscillator is somewhat
distorted. This is due to the fact that the circuit poles must be placed just a bit to the right of the
imaginary axis for the oscillation to build up. The amplitude then builds up until the nonlinearity
of the amplifier reduces the small signal gain sufficiently to move the poles back to the left half
plane. This part of the experiment will be concerned with using FET in the voltage controlled
resistance region in a circuit which automatically senses the output voltage peak level and
adjusts the gain to just precisely place the poles on the imaginary axis.



Figure2: Automatic Gain control Circuit

1. Replace the gain block (amplifier block) from circuit shown in figure t with the circuit
shown in Figure 2.
2. Adjust potentiometer R so that the movable contact is close to the bottom. The
resistance between the movable contact and ground must be ensured to be low (a few
hundreds).
3. Adjust R
b
for oscillation with a minimum amount of distortion. Measure its value.
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th
February 2014
4. Slowly vary R
g
and observe V
0
with the oscilloscope. (V
0
can be adjusted to any desired
value between 2V and approximately 15 V peak to peak. The output should be an
almost undistorted sinusoid of constant frequency).
5. Measure the peak to peak value of V
0
and V
p
. The value of R
x
should be measured for 5
values between the two extremes (minimum and maximum values of V
0
).
6. Replace C with a larger capacitor in the 5 to 10uF range. Repeat steps 1 through 5.

DISCUSSION:

1. Derive the loop gain T(s) for the circuit of Figure 1 in terms of R
1
, C
1
, R
2
, C
2
and A.
Evaluate for s = j and find the frequency
0
at which L T(j) = 0
o
. Then find the
required value of voltage gain A. Using the measured values of R
1
, C
1
, R
2
, C
2
, evaluate
these values numerically. Compare the theoretical value of f
0
=
0
/2 with the
experimental value. Also derive for A. Note that the experimental value for A can be
obtained by taking the ratio of measured V
pp
to V
Fpp
or from measured l+(R
b
/R
a
).

2. Derive the peak output amplitude for the WIEN Bridge oscillator with the automatic gain
control as a function of R
g
. Assume that the peak detector is ideal, that is V
G
= V
0(peak)
is
a de voltage (this is equivalent to assuming that R
G
C
G
time constant is very large
compared to the period of oscillation. Also assume that the FET is ideal and recall that
r
DS
= r
DS(on)
/[1-(V
GS
/V
p
)]. Draw a graph of V
opp
versus R
x
for both theoretical and
experimental results.


Figure 3: VCR characteristics of N-channel JE






END OF EXPERIMENT