Negative Resistance

RF Preselector
All easy way to SOlip lip that old superhet ,
Parker A. Cope W2G0Mf7
8040 E. Tranquil Blvd.
Prescott Valley AZ 8631 4
I
nterference. from whatever source, is
the bane of the radio receiver user.
Some interference is on the same fre-
quency as the desired si gnal, and there' s
nor much that can be done about that.
Bul there's hope for eliminating or at
least reduci ng off- frequency interference
with RF select ivity.
Off-frequency int erference falls into
two general categori es: strong signals
that drive the recei ver into nonlinear
operation and produce intcrmodul ation
distortion or cross-modulation. and spu-
rious receiver responses. RF selectivity
can reduce the amplitude of the int erfer-
ing signal 10 tolerable levels. The rub
comes in the selectivity thai can be
achieved with practi cal and economical
tunabl e tuned circuits. Narrow hand-
widths require high-Q tuned circuits, and
the Q tops out at about 100 for practical
inductors sui table for HF receivers.
All is nOI lost. though. The circuit de-
scribed in the following paragraphs can
increase the Qs of a tuned circuit 10 more
than 1,000 if need be. The theory and
desi gn equations arc given to allow
changes to he made 10 accommodate a
particular si tuation or the paris at hand.
Rece ivers fall into two general
cl asses: tuned radio frequency (T RF)
and superheterodyne. The TRF is con-
ccptuall y simple and free of spurious re-
sponses. Unfort unately. it is not very
selective. A crystal sci is a TRF without
RF amplifier( s), although it may have
post -detection audio amplifiers .
The supe rhet receiver converts the in-
put RF signal to a freque ncy that permits
greater selectivity. It offers many advan-
tages. but at a price; it has spurious re-
spo nses. The process of converti ng the
desired signal to the IF produces two
signa ls thai can be received equally
well. One is the IF above the local oscil-
lator, and a second one is the IF below
the local oscillator. These two responses
arc separated by twice the IF; one is the
desired signal and the other is the image.
Rej ecting the image response is a pri-
mary concern in superhet receiver de-
sign. When the fF is low. the image and
the desired frequency are close together
and it is more di ffi cult to suppress the
image. There have been two pri mary sol u-
tions to rejecting the image. One is to usc
one or more RF amplifiers in front of the
fi rst mixer for improved RF selectivity;
the other is 10 use two (or more) IFs. In the
dual conversion recei ver. the fi rst IF is
made high enough to case image rejection.
and the second made low enough to make
selectivity manageable. The mul tiple con-
version receiver is more complex, hut
enjoys greater popularity today than the
single conversion types.
The single conversion receiver usually
has an IF in the range of 455kHz. with
the local oscillator operating above the
desired frequency, Thi s arrangeme nt
puts the image 9 10k ii i. above the tuned
frequency. Tuning to 550kHz in the
broadcast band puts the: image at
1..60kHz. which is also within the
broadcast band and makes image sup-
pression critical.
The fi ve-t ube ACtDC receivers of the
' 4()s and ' 50s had only one tuned ci rcuit
between the antenna and the fi rst mixer.
In inexpensive receivers. a single con-
version is used and image response is of-
ten sacrificed on the altar of cost. Some
inexpensive shortwave receivers also
used the same design concept. Needless
to say, they received lots of signa ls. bUI
half of them were images.
Using RF amplifier stages bet ween
the antenna a nd the converter is effective
in suppressing the image. Each RF stage
increases off-frequency suppression by
6dB. The number of sections in the tun-
ing capaci tor indicates how many RF
stages there arc: one section (thc small-
est) for the osci llator; one section for the
antenna: and one for each of the RF
stages. A three-section capaci tor indi-
cates one RF stage.
An image response down 30dB from
the tuned frequency is pretty good. but
nothi ng to brag about. A recei ver with a
single RF amplifier can provide fair im-
age suppression for tuned frequenci es up
to 7MHz. Above 4-0m. the performance
fa ll s noticeabl y, A short wave receiver
without an RF amplifier will have seri-
ous image responses at 40m and can be
quest ionable even in the broadcast band.
If only reliable, high-Q RF ci rcuits were
available ...
The response of one single-tuned
stage falls &l B for every doubl ing of the
73 Amateur Radio TcxJay August' 997 21
02
2N3906
Rc OUT
+
ML....--I IN
The ratio of collect or current to base
c urrc r n. hie . of Q2 (lN3906) is assumed
to be 200 (speci fied as 100 minimum.
3(x) maximum at I
c
= l OrnA). Si nce I
c
is
very much greater than ld- the current in
R, is essentially I
c
. To produce Vgs =
2.66V I ld = O.05mA. Ie = lOrnA). R
s
must be 266U. 27012. the nearest stan-
dard 5% value. is used for R
s
. The effec-
ti ve transconduct ance G
rn
is:
The forward tnmsconductancc of Q I.
gfs. can be calculated with the expression:
Gill =gfshfe =O.l 5 x 10-4 x 200 =
O.OSmhos
Us = 2IQ_ =
(Voff _V
gs)
2.5 x 10--4 (Id = O.05mA)
This ma y he r e wri tt en to solve for
Vgs/Voff
01
2N5457
Rs
____--::t270 n
which can be re wri tten to solve for Voff
or Vgs for the typical values of Vgs- id.
idss:
V"rr = Vg,, 1 1 - v(_,ld_)1= 3.06V
dss
V
gs
= Voir [ 1 - -V (--'!d_)1=
Idss
2.66V (fur Id = 0.05rnA)
Fig. Z. A pracucul noninverting amplifier.
maxi mum. Vorl" must he either measured
or calculated for usc in calculating ld
and gfs. The relationship of ld to Idss-
Vgs- and Voff is:
( )
'
I-I I - Vgs -
tI - dss Voif
V
gs
_ J1.1
-- _ 1- -
VolT Idss
A pract ical noninvcrting RF amplifi er
is shoevn in FiR. 2. The gain of the
a mpl i fier is deter mi ned by the
transconductance of the pair of transi s-
tors. Gm- R
s
. and the rat io of Rc to R
s.
The gain may he expressed as:
T he N-cha nnel JFET. QI. is a
2N5457. 11 is similar to the MPFI02. but
has some typical values gi ven in the data
sheet whereas onl y maximum and mini -
mums arc given for the MPFI02. Typi-
cal values for the 2N5-t57 arc: lJ =
0. 1rnA for Vgs =2.5V: ldss =3.0mA for
Vgs = OV. Voff. the gate 10 source volt -
age that reduces lJ to zero. is given in
the dat a sheet as O.5V minimum 10 6V
When the junction of R and Rf is re-
moved from the amplifier in Flg, 1. the
open ci rcuit voltage of the source E ap-
pears at the input of the amplifi er and its
output is AE. Si nce the same current
fl o ws in R and Rf. when the voltage
across R is E. the voltage across Rf must
be AE-E or E(A- I ). When the value of
Rf is chosen so thai the vol tage across R
is E, Rr/R = A- I . When the voltage
across R is E and the j unct ion of the re-
sistors is reconnected 10 the input, no
current flows from the source into the
resistors. The resistance looking into the
j unct ion of the resistors is infinite. and
the conductance looking into Rf is ex-
actly equal 10 the negative conductance
of R.
VGsf is the voltage gai n o r the source
follower. The gai n of a so urce follower is
often assumed to he unity when. in fact . h
is always somewhat less than that.
The gai n of a so urce follower is:
The gain is ncar unity onl y when the
product GmR
s
is much greater than one.
G
m
is the change in the c urrent in R
s
for
a change in gate voltage. The current in
Rs is essentially I
c
. Since ld = Ih' and Ie
= Ihhfe, Gm can he expressed as :
I
!
AE
E rv
I
,
I
R
Rf
L
Fit: . I. A cone-cptual resisII/lin'
!('Il erll/or.
C = the circuit's reso nat ing
lance in pF
R = the equivalent parallel resi stance
in 12
When the tuning capacitance is 20pE
a bandwidth of 28.5kHI. requires a paral-
lel resistance o r about 2XOkf!. This par-
all el resistance is much higher than that
of any practical inductor. But. adding a
negative resistance across the resonant
circui t increases the effective resistance
as wel l as the Q.
1\ negat ive resistance is not a compo-
ne nt you can buy from your local elec-
tronics s upplier. bUI it is so mething you
can ge nerate wit h a simple ci rcuit. A
conceptual negative resistance generator
is shown in Fig. I. R is the total resis-
tance appeari ng 'II the input of the am-
plifier. the effective parallel resistance
of the source and the input resi stance of
the amplifier. The gain of the amplifier
is A and the output is in phase with the
input. Rr provides feedbac k from the
output ofthe amplifier bad to R.
22 73Amateur Radio Today . August 1997
where
BW3 = the 3dB bandwidth in HI.
fo = the center frequency in HI.
bandwidt h, Therefore. when the re-
sponse is down 301l B. the bandwidth is
32 (2
5)
times the 3US bandwidth. To
have a frequency (the image) 910kHz
off-frequency be down 30dB requires
the 3dB bandwidth to he about 28.5kHl.
A tuned circuit with a Q of 60 at 7!\Hb.
has an equivalent parallel resistance
of about 69k and a bandwidth of about
J I7kH/.. A bandwidth of 28.5kH1,
requires a Q of ahoul 246.
The bandwidt h of' a parallel-tuned ci r-
cui t is related to the circuit Q as follows:
The equation
"..;. 1,......, = _1_ + _1_
Rdesired Rtank Rn
The voltage gain of a source follower
is calculated with equat ion 5 to Oc 0.93:
73 Amateur Radio Today " August 1997 23

+
Q2
L 2N3906
'" r-,
'"
-
""
a,
2N5457
"'" "

I
"\-

Q so

".
c
pi' NaJ " ...
: Re ... zten
; 1
in
Fig . 3. A negative resistance can increase
RF selecti vit y,
increased gain could exceed the maximum
stable gain of the RF amplifier. This cau-
non is appropriate for hoth transistor- and
tube-type amplifiers. When the Rf" selcc-
tivity is used in the antenna section before
the signal experiences any amplification,
strong off -frequency signals can be sup-
pressed hefore they can drive a stage into
its nonlinear rcgrons and ge nerate
crossmodulation or intermodul ation prod-
ucts. Fig, -4 shows the simplified antenna
section of a receiver. The "negati ve resis-
tance'' block is the circuit shown in . ' ig.3.
The negati ve resistance gene rator can
hring the old si ng le conversion receivers
back to service for just a few dollars and
a couple of hours with a soldering iron .
Yard sales often have old shortwave ra-
dies that can yield the basic stuff for
turning a sow's car into a sil k purse . If
push comes to shove, you could use an
old shortwave receiver that otherwise
might not he worth reviving because it
doesn' t have tubes in the soc ket s (tubes
are expensive these days. if you can fi nd
them). If it has the RF section reasonably
intact, coils. band-switching. and tuning
capacitor, it can be used to build an
offboard preselector. True, the tracking
of the prcsclcctor and receiver is a prob-
lcrn. but the improvement in interference
rejection can be worthwhile-espccially
in the 40m band. where the high-powered
broadcast signals raise Cain. fa
I" 7
"'"
COOPS"",
"""""",,R
---
r-
# N'"'''''''' RESISTANCE
C
I
C .. 15pF kl365pF
Fig. 4. Pt/rtial schema tic of the antentla
section ofa simple receiver.
very stable ampli fier. If Ie tried to r ise
Vgs would rise, Id would decrease and I
c
would decrease.
The amplifier shown in 3 has Rc
composed of 30012 fixed and 500n vari
abl e. The gai n varies from 2.0 to 3.8
When Rf is 9 1k. Rn wi ll he va riable
from 91k to 33k. While the negative re-
sistance can be controlled with e ither A
or Rf, it is preferable to ha ve the gain
low because a lower Re results in greater
bandwidth of the amplifier and smaller
IX:' voltage drop across Re, which will
reduce the DC power supply voltage
requi rements.
The power supply for the negative re-
sistance generator is nOI crit ical ; the
only requirement is that the voltage be
high enough to keep the 2N3906 out of
saturation when Rc is maximum. The
DC voltage. collector to ground, can be
as hi gh as 14.4V with worst cusc compo-
nent values. which transl ates into a sup-
pl y voltage of about 15.2V. The
maximum VOG (drai n to gutc) of the
2N5457 is given as 25V. Therefore. the
supply voltage can be anything from
15.2V to 25V. The current drawn is
about lOrnA (I2mA worst case) which
can probabl y be stolen fro m the
receiver ' s supply without ill effect s.
The negative resistance generator can
be built on a one-inch-square pcrfboard
that fit s nicely on the RF (antenna) sec-
tion of the tuning capaci tor. Band-
switching usuall y entails switching
coils, and the Qs may vary from ha nd to
band and wit h frequency over a band.
Therefore. the selectivi ty control R
e
should be convenie nt to adj ust when
tuning. For maximum bandwidth, the
leads fro m Re should run din.. rctly to the
circuit board and not be dressed intu a
harness or against the chassis.
It is wort h noting that if the tota l resis-
tance across the tank is negative. the
circuit will have infinite Q and will
osci ll ate . He at hkit empl oyed thi s
techni que in one of the ir short wave TC-
ccivers years ago. They used it in the IF
to act as a combined selectivi ty control
and BFO. Needless to say, it was not a
very satisfactory arrangement.
Variable RF selecti-vit y can be use-
ful even in a receiver with an RF stage .
The only caution is to usc the hi gh selec-
ti vity in the antenna section. If the high-
Q tuned circuit is the plate or collec-
tor load. the gai n of the Rf amplifier
will inc re ase as t he Q increa ses . The
(G R + I ) = 0.93
m s
VGsf =
__1_ = _1 + _1
280k 6Yk R
n
I_ I 1 _1
R
n
-6Yk - 280k - Ylk
Rr
R
n
-
(A - I )
shows that a 9 1k negative resistance can
be generated with Rf Of 9 1k and an am-
pli fier gain of 2.0. or when Rf is 150k an
amplifier gain of 2.6 is required. Given
the uncert ainty of the Q of the tuned ci r-
cuit. it seems prudent to make the gain
variable by varyi ng Re. Changing Re
does not change the operating point of
the amplifier as long as Q23 does not
saturate. Thai is. as long as Vee is
greater than I V.
The DC operating poi nt of the ampli-
fier is determined as Rs.le. Si nce Ic is in-
dependent of collector voltage while
Vee is greater than Vccsat and I(( is inde-
pendent of Vlis while Vds is above
pinch-off. the operating point is inde-
pendent of the supply voltage. The oper-
ating point is determi ned by R
s
and .le.
The high negati ve feedback leads to a
Tbc negative resistance is controlled
by A and Rf. If the resistance across a
tuned ci rcui t is 69k and the resi stance
needs to be 280k for the desired band-
widt h. the negat ive resistance needed
can be determined as follows:
for the values of VGsf and R
s
estab-
lished. Rearranging the equation to solve
for Rc yields:
Rc= R,(VG;'_ I)
(
I-Rc )
A = VGsf R
s
The gain of the amplifier can now be
calculated with the equation