Amplitude Modulation Receiver Figure 2-9 shows a block diagram with waveforms of a typical AM superheterodyne receiver developed to overcome

the disadvantages of earlier type receivers. Let s assume you are tuning the receiver. When doing this you are actually changing th e frequency to which the RF amplifier is tuned. The RF carrier comes in from the antenna and is applied to the RF amplifier. The output of the amplifier is an a mplified carrier and is sent to the mixer. The mixer also receives an input from the local oscillator. These two signals are beat together to obtain the IF thro ugh the process of heterodyning. (Heterodyning will be further discussed later i n this chapter and was covered in NEETS, Module 12, Modulation Principles.) At t his time you should note the dotted lines connecting the local oscillator, RF am plifier, and the mixer. This is used on block diagrams and schematics to indicat e GANGED TUNING. Ganged tuning is the process used to tune two or more circuits with a single control. In our example, when you change the frequency of the rece iver all three stages change by the same amount. There is a fixed difference in frequency between the local oscillator and the RF amplifier at all times. This d ifference in frequency is the IF. This fixed difference and ganged tuning ensure s a constant IF over the frequency range of the receiver. The IF carrier is applied to the IF amplifier. The amplified IF carrier is then sent to the detector. The output of the detector is the audio component of the i nput signal. This audio component is then passed through an audio frequency ampl ifier. The amplified audio component is sent to a speaker for reproduction. This allows you to hear the signal. You should note that a superheterodyne receiver may have more than one frequency -converting stage and as many amplifiers as needed to obtain the desired power o utput. (Additional amplifiers are not shown.) HETERODYNING. As you know the intermediate frequency is developed by a process cal led heterodyning. This action takes place in the mixer stage (sometimes called a converter or first detector). Heterodyning is the combining of the incoming sig nal with the local oscillator signal. When heterodyning the incoming signal and the local oscillator signal in the mixer stage, four frequencies are produced. T hey are the two basic input frequencies and the sum and the difference of those two frequencies. The amplifier that follows (IF amplifier) will be tuned to the difference frequency. This difference frequency is known as the intermediate fre quency (IF). A typical value of IF for an AM communications receiver is 455 kilo hertz. The difference frequency is a lower frequency than either the RF input or oscillator frequencies. This lower frequency gives slightly better gain but doe s increase the chances of image frequency interference. Image frequencies will b e discussed later in this chapter. DETECTION. Once the IF stages have amplified the intermediate frequency to a suffi cient level, it is fed to the detector. When the mixer is referred to as the fir st detector, this stage would be called the second detector. The detector extrac ts the modulating audio signal. The detector stage consists of a rectifying devi ce and filter, which respond only to the amplitude variations of the IF signal. This develops an output voltage varying at an audio-frequency rate. The output f rom the detector is further amplified in the audio amplifier and is used to driv e a speaker or earphones. Frequency Modulated Receiver The function of a frequency-modulated receiver is the same as that of an AM supe rheterodyne receiver. You will find some important differences in component cons truction and circuit design caused by differences in the modulating technique. F igure 2-10 is a block diagram showing waveforms of a typical FM superheterodyne receiver. Comparison of block diagrams in figures 2-9 and 2-10 shows that in bot

h AM and FM receivers, the amplitude of the incoming signal is increased in the RF stages. The mixercombines the incoming RF with the local oscillator signal to produce the intermediate frequency, which is then amplified by one or more IF a mplifier stages. You should note that the FM receiver has a wide-band IF amplifi er. The bandwidth for any type of modulation must be wide enough to receive and pass all the side-frequency components of the modulated signal without distortio n. The IF amplifier in an FM receiver must have a broader bandpass than an AM re ceiver. Sidebands created by FM differ from the AM system. You should recall that the AM system consists of a single set of side frequencies for each radio-frequency si gnal modulated. An FM signal inherently occupies a wider bandwidth than AM becau se the number of extra sidebands that occur in an FM transmission is directly re lated to the amplitude and frequency of the audio signal. You should observe that only two fundamental sections of the FM receiver are ele ctrically different from the AM receiver. These are the discriminator (detector) and the limiter. Beyond the IF stage, the two receivers have a marked difference. AM demodulation involves the detection of variations in the amplitude of the signal; FM demodul ation is the process of detecting variations in the frequency of the signal. In FM receivers a DISCRIMINATOR is a circuit designed to respond to frequency shift variations. A discriminator is preceded by a LIMITER circuit, which limits all signals to the same amplitude level to minimize noise interference. The audio fr equency component is then extracted by the discriminator, amplified in the AF am plifier, and used to drive the speaker. --------------------------------------------------------------------Over all Signals enter the front end circuitry from the antenna. This contains the front end tuning for the superhet to remove the image signal and often includes an RF amplifier to amplify the signals before they enter the mixer. The level of this amplification is carefully calculated so that it does not overload the mixer whe n strong signals are present, but enables the signals to be amplified sufficient ly to ensure a good signal to noise ratio is achieved. The tuned and amplified signal then enters one port of the mixer. The local osci llator signal enters the other port. The local oscillator may consist of a varia ble frequency oscillator that can be tuned by altering the setting on a variable capacitor. Alternatively it may be a frequency synthesizer that will enable gre ater levels of stability and setting accuracy. Once the signals leave the mixer they enter the IF stages. These stages contain most of the amplification in the receiver as well as the filtering that enables signals on one frequency to be separated from those on the next. Filters may con sist simply of LC tuned transformers providing inter-stage coupling, or they may be much higher performance ceramic or even crystal filters, dependent upon what is required. Once the signals have passed through the IF stages of the superheterodyne receiv er, they need to be demodulated. Different demodulators are required for differe nt types of transmission, and as a result some receivers may have a variety of d emodulators that can be switched in to accommodate the different types of transm ission that are to be encountered. The output from the demodulator is the recove red audio. This is passed into the audio stages where they are amplified and pre sented to the headphones or loudspeaker.