Login or Register for FREE!
Subelement G7

PRACTICAL CIRCUITS

Section G7C

Receivers and transmitters; filters, oscillators

Which of the following is used to process signals from the balanced modulator and send them to the mixer in a single-sideband phone transmitter?

  • Carrier oscillator
  • Correct Answer
    Filter
  • IF amplifier
  • RF amplifier

Hint: A FILTER - PROCESSES

Modulation is the process that combines the audio signal with the radio frequency. In AM (amplitude modulation) this encodes all of the information about the audio signal in the sidebands, at which point the carrier frequency serves no further purpose.

A balanced modulator first modulates and then also suppresses the now superfluous carrier signal.

The output of the balanced modulator gets passed to the filter, which removes one of the sidebands. That single sideband is then forwarded on to the mixer which will produce a signal with the desired frequency.

For more info see Wikipedia: Single-sideband modulation - 3.1 Bandpass filtering

Last edited by edponce@yahoo.com. Register to edit

Tags: none

Which circuit is used to combine signals from the carrier oscillator and speech amplifier and send the result to the filter in a typical single-sideband phone transmitter?

  • Discriminator
  • Detector
  • IF amplifier
  • Correct Answer
    Balanced modulator

Hint: A BALANCED MODULATOR is used to combine signals from the CARRIER OSCILLATOR and SPEECH AMPLIFIER and then send the result to the filter in a typical single sideband phone transmitter.

The balanced modulator "removes" the signal at the carrier frequency and leaves the two side-band signals to be sent on for filtering.

For more info see Wikipedia: Single-sideband modulation

Warning - The COMBINE hint may be misleading as both G7C02 and G7C04 use the word 'combine' and have differing answers:

Carrier Oscillator + speech amp -> balanced mod. -> filter

BFO + IF amp -> product detector -> AF amp

Last edited by mlitty. Register to edit

Tags: none

What circuit is used to process signals from the RF amplifier and local oscillator and send the result to the IF filter in a superheterodyne receiver?

  • Balanced modulator
  • IF amplifier
  • Correct Answer
    Mixer
  • Detector

The mixer is the circuit used in a superheterodyne receiver to process signals from the RF amplifier and local oscillator and send the result to the IF filter.

The mixer combines the two input frequencies, f1 and f2 and creates a new common intermediate frequency which is the new carrier wave.

Also produced are two new sideband signals which are the input frequency sum (f1 + f2) which becomes the upper sideband and the input frequency difference (f1 - f2) which becomes the lower sideband frequency. The signal is then sent to the filter for band selection.

For more info see Wikipedia: Single-sideband modulation, Frequency Mixer


Hint: Remember that an Oscillator “Mixes” things

Mixer Use Memory Table

All these are types of mixers.

  • supermixer = superheterodyne receiver + mixer
  • transmit balanced SSB = balanced modulator generates SSB
  • SSB produces voice = product detector demodulates SSB
    [KQ4AEY]

Last edited by atrottier. Register to edit

Tags: none

What circuit is used to combine signals from the IF amplifier and BFO and send the result to the AF amplifier in a single-sideband receiver?

  • RF oscillator
  • IF filter
  • Balanced modulator
  • Correct Answer
    Product detector

Hint: Think BFO = BYPRODUCT

The product detector is the circuit used to combine the signals from the intermediate frequency (IF) amplifier and beat frequency oscillator (BFO). The product detector is a type of frequency mixer that acts as a demodulator for SSB signals. The result is then sent to the audio frequency (AF) amplifier in the single-sideband receiver.

Silly tip: BFO sounds like UFO and we all want to "Detect(or)" those.

For more info see Wikipedia: Product detector

Last edited by socalheadgrinder. Register to edit

Tags: none

Which of the following is an advantage of a transceiver controlled by a direct digital synthesizer (DDS)?

  • Wide tuning range and no need for band switching
  • Relatively high power output
  • Relatively low power consumption
  • Correct Answer
    Variable frequency with the stability of a crystal oscillator

Variable frequency with the stability of a crystal oscillator is an advantage of a transceiver controlled by a direct digital synthesizer (DDS). The DDS can be used over a wide range of frequencies and can be precisely controlled to create finely stepped sine wave forms while producing very little phase noise.

For more info see Wikipedia: Direct digital synthesizer


Silly Hint: A synthesizer in a music instrument creates variable frequencies

Last edited by gconklin. Register to edit

Tags: none

What should be the impedance of a low-pass filter as compared to the impedance of the transmission line into which it is inserted?

  • Substantially higher
  • Correct Answer
    About the same
  • Substantially lower
  • Twice the transmission line impedance

(B). The impedance of a low-pass filter as compared to the impedance of the transmission line into which it is inserted should be about the same.

Just like any filter, a low-pass filter needs to appear to pass all signals with frequencies of the intended passband, while rejecting signals of all other frequencies. To accomplish this, it needs to match the transmission line for the passband frequencies and exhibit high impedance for all others. This way, at passband frequencies, the filter will appear to be part of the transmission line, with close to the same impedance.


Silly Hint: A quarterback usually throws a low-pass just so not to get sacked and lose yards; maintain status quo (keep it the same)

Last edited by noji-instructor. Register to edit

Tags: none

What is the simplest combination of stages that implement a superheterodyne receiver?

  • RF amplifier, detector, audio amplifier
  • RF amplifier, mixer, IF discriminator
  • Correct Answer
    HF oscillator, mixer, detector
  • HF oscillator, pre-scaler, audio amplifier

You might not need an RF amplifier, because the signal could be strong enough. That eliminates two of the distractors.

You also might not need an audio amplifier at the end of the process (the sound might be loud enough already). That eliminates the third distractor.

Per wikipedia, a superheterodyne receiver is:

a type of radio receiver that uses frequency mixing to convert a received signal to a fixed intermediate frequency (IF) which can be more conveniently processed than the original carrier frequency. —wikipedia

The oscillator is used to generate the frequency that will be combined with the signal.

The mixer actually combines the signal and the generated frequency in order to create the intermediate frequencies.

The detector takes the output of the mixer and demodulates it.

Silly HINT: The correct answer is the only choice that does not include an amplifier.

For more info see Wikipedia: Superheterodyne receiver

Last edited by jedimasterphilip. Register to edit

Tags: none

What type of circuit is used in many FM receivers to convert signals coming from the IF amplifier to audio?

  • Product detector
  • Phase inverter
  • Mixer
  • Correct Answer
    Discriminator

Hint: to CONVERT is to DISCRIMINATE

The frequency discriminator will demodulate the audio signal by converting signal frequency variations to amplitude variations.

Note that product detector is a tempting answer, but this is used in AM, not FM, receivers.

The mixer comes before the Intermediate Frequency (IF) amplifier, not after it.

A phase inverter makes no sense.

Last edited by mk2019. Register to edit

Tags: none

Which of the following is needed for a Digital Signal Processor IF filter?

  • An analog to digital converter
  • A digital to analog converter
  • A digital processor chip
  • Correct Answer
    All of the these choices are correct

(D). A Digital Signal Processor (DSP) IF filter uses all of the components listed for processing the signal, so all of these choices are correct. The DSP converts the analog signal to a digital format (analog to digital converter), then uses software for producing a modulated, filtered, clear signal (using a digital processor chip). The last step is to then convert the digital signal back to analog (digital to analog converter.)

For more info see Wikipedia: Digital Signal Processing (DSP)

Last edited by n1rvn. Register to edit

Tags: none

How is Digital Signal Processor filtering accomplished?

  • By using direct signal phasing
  • Correct Answer
    By converting the signal from analog to digital and using digital processing
  • By differential spurious phasing
  • By converting the signal from digital to analog and taking the difference of mixing products

(B). Digital signal processor filtering is accomplished by converting the signal from analog to digital and using digital processing. Once converted to digital format the DSP can remove unwanted noise, convert, or decode the signal in any number of ways. The signal is then returned from digital to analog form.

For more info see Wikipedia: Digital Signal Processor

Last edited by kk6bdw. Register to edit

Tags: none

What is meant by the term "software defined radio" (SDR)?

  • Correct Answer
    A radio in which most major signal processing functions are performed by software
  • A radio which provides computer interface for automatic logging of band and frequency
  • A radio which uses crystal filters designed using software
  • A computer model which can simulate performance of a radio to aid in the design process

Hint. A software defined radio (SDR) does MOST FUNCTIONS by software.

(A). A software defined radio (SDR) is a radio in which most major signal processing functions are performed by software. Software handles the functions of mixing, modulating/demodulating, amplifying the signals rather than larger analog systems. Also notice that two of the other answers/distractors don't even have the word software in them.

For more info see Wikipedia: software-defined radio (SDR)

Last edited by sebob. Register to edit

Tags: none

Go to G7B Go to G8A