What are the basics of AM radio receivers?

In the early days of what is now known as early radio transmissions, say about 100 years ago, signals were generated by various means but only up to the L.F. region. Communication was by way of morse code much in the form that a short transmission denoted a dot (dit) and a longer transmission was a dash (dah). This was the only form of radio transmission until the 1920's and only of use to the military, commercial telegraph companies and amateur experimenters. Then it was discovered that if the amplitude (voltage levels - plus and minus about zero) could be controlled or varied by a much lower frequency such as A.F. then real intelligence could be conveyed e.g. speech and music. This process could be easily reversed by simple means at the receiving end by using diode detectors. This is called modulation and obviously in this case amplitude modulation or A.M. This discovery spawned whole new industries and revolutionized the world of communications. Industries grew up manufacturing radio parts, receiver manufacturers, radio stations, news agencies, recording industries etc. There are three distinct disadvantages to A.M. radio however. Firstly because of the modulation process we generate at least two copies of the intelligence plus the carrier. For example consider a local radio station transmitting on say 900 Khz. This frequency will be very stable and held to a tight tolerance. To suit our discussion and keep it as simple as possible we will have the transmission modulated by a 1000 Hz or 1Khz tone. At the receiving end 3 frequencies will be available. 900 Khz, 901 Khz and 899 Khz i.e. the original 900 Khz (the carrier) plus and minus the modulating frequency which are called side bands. For very simple receivers such as a cheap transistor radio we only require the original plus either one of the side bands. The other one is a total waste. For sophisticated receivers one side band can be eliminated. The net effect is A.M. radio stations are spaced 10 Khz apart (9 kHz in Australia) e.g. 530 Khz...540 Khz...550 Khz. This spacing could be reduced and nearly twice as many stations accommodated by deleting one side band.

Unfortunately the increased cost of receiver complexity forbids this but it certainly is feasible - see Single Side Band. What are the basic types of radio receivers? basic reflex regenerative superhetrodyne fm radio crystal radio radio radio set receivers receivers receivers receivers

tuned radio frequency - TRF receivers 1. The first receiver built by a hobbyist is usually the plain old crystal set. If you are unfamiliar with the design then check out the crystal set page. 2. The T.R.F. (tuned radio frequency) receiver was among the first designs available in the early days when means of amplification by valves became available. The basic principle was that all r.f. stages simultaneously tuned to the received frequency before detection and subsequent amplification of the audio signal. The principle disadvantages were (a) all r.f. stages had to track one another and this is quite difficult to achieve technically, also (b) because of design considerations, the received bandwidth increases with frequency. As an example - if the circuit design Q was 55 at 550 Khz the received bandwidth would be 550 / 55 or 10 Khz and that was largely satisfactory. However at the other end of the a.m. band 1650 Khz, the received bandwidth was still 1650 / 55 or 30 Khz. Finally a further disadvantage (c) was the shape factor could only be quite poor. A common error of belief with r.f. filters of this type is that the filter receives one signal and one signal only. Let's consider this in some detail because it is critical to all receiver designs. When we discuss bandwidth we mostly speak in terms of the -3dB points i.e. where in voltage terms, the signal is reduced to .707 of the original.

If our signal sits in a channel in the a.m. radio band where the spacing is say 10 Khz e.g. 540 Khz, 550 Khz, 560 Khz.... etc and our signal, as transmitted, is plus / minus 4Khz then our 550 Khz channel signal extends from 546 Khz to 554 Khz. These figures are of course for illustrative purposes only. Clearly this signal falls well within the -3dB points of 10 Khz and suffers no attenuation (reduction in value). This is a bit like singling one tree out of among a lot of other trees in a pine tree plantation. Sorry if this is going to be long but you MUST understand these basic principles. In an idealised receiver we would want our signal to have a shape factor of 1:1, i.e. at the adjacent channel spacings we would want an attenuation of say -30 dB where the signal is reduced to .0316 or 3.16% of the original. Consider a long rectangle placed vertically much like a page printed out on your printer. The r.f. filter of 10 Khz occupies the page width at the top of the page and the bottom of the page where the signal is only 3.16% of the original it is still the width of the page. In the real world this never happens. A shape factor of 2:1 would be good for an L.C. filter. This means if the bottom of your page was 20 Khz wide then the middle half of the top of the page would be 10 Khz wide and this would be considered good!. Back to T.R.F. Receivers - their shape factors were nothing like this. Instead of being shaped like a page they tended to look more like a flat sand hill. The reason for this is it is exceedingly difficult or near impossible to build LC Filters with impressive channel spacing and shape factors at frequencies as high as the broadcast band. And this was in the days when the short wave bands (much higher in frequencies) were almost unheard of. Certain embellishments such as the regenerative detector were developed but they were mostly unsatisfactory. In the 1930's Major Armstrong developed the superhetrodyne principle. 3. A superhetrodyne receiver works on the principle the receiver has a local oscillator called a variable frequency oscillator or V.F.O. This is a bit like having a little transmitter located within the receiver. Now if we still have our T.R.F. stages but then mix the received signal with our v.f.o. we get two other signals. (V.F.O. + R.F) and (V.F.O. - R.F).

In a traditional a.m. radio where the received signal is in the range 540 Khz to 1650 Khz the v.f.o. signal is always a constant 455 Khz higher or 995 Khz to 2105 Khz. Several advantages arise from this and we will use our earlier example of the signal of 540 Khz: (a) The input signal stages tune to 540 Khz. The adjacent channels do not matter so much now because the only signal to discriminate against is called the i.f. image. At 540 Khz the v.f.o. is at 995 Khz giving the constant difference of 455 Khz which is called the I.F. frequency. However a received frequency of v.f.o. + i.f. will also result in an i.f. frequency, i.e. 995 Khz + 455 Khz or 1450 Khz, which is called the i.f. image. Put another way, if a signal exists at 1450 Khz and mixed with the vfo of 995 Khz we still get an i.f. of 1450 - 995 = 455 Khz. Double signal reception. Any reasonable tuned circuit designed for 540 Khz should be able to reject signals at 1450 Khz. And that is now the sole purpose of the r.f. input stage. (b) At all times we will finish up with an i.f. signal of 455 Khz. It is relatively easy to design stages to give constant amplification, reasonable bandwidth and reasonable shape factor at this one constant frequency. Radio design became somewhat simplified but of course not without its associated problems. We will now consider these principles in depth by discussing a fairly typical a.m. transistor radio of the very cheap variety. THE SUPERHETRODYNE TRANSISTOR RADIO I have chosen to begin radio receiver design with the cheap am radio because: (a) nearly everyone either has one or can buy one quite cheaply. Don't buy an A.M. / F.M. type because it will only confuse you in trying to identify parts. Similarly don't get one of the newer I.C. types. Just a plain old type probably with at least 3 transformers. One "red" core and the others likely "yellow" and "black" or "white". Inside will be a battery compartment, a little speaker, a circuit board with weird looking components, a round knob to control volume.

(b) most receivers will almost certainly for the most part follow the schematic diagram I have set out below (there are no limits to my talents - what a clever little possum I am). (c) if I have included pictures you know I was able to borrow either a digital camera or had access to a scanner. Important NOTE: If you can obtain discarded "tranny's" (Australian for transistorised am radio receiver) by all means do so because they are a cheap source of valuable parts. So much so that to duplicate the receiver as a kit project for learning purposes costs about $A70 or $US45. Incredible. That is why colleges in Australia and elsewhere can not afford to present one as a kit.

Fig 1 - a.m. bcb radio schematic Now that's about as simple as it gets. Alright get up off the floor. You will be amazed just how you will be able to understand all this fairly soon. Unfortunately the diagram is quite congested because I had to fit it in a space 620 pixels wide. No I couldn't scale it down because all the lines you see are only one pixel wide. Further discussion on the transformers and oscillator coils can be found in the tutorial on IF amplifier transformers.

So lets look at each section in turn, maybe re-arrange the schematic for clarity and discuss its operation. Now firstly the input, local oscillator, mixer and first i.f. amplifier. This is called an autodyne converter because the first transistor performs as a both the oscillator and mixer.

Figure 2 - autodyne converter Let's have a look inside a typical AM transistor radio. In figure 3 below you can see the insides of an old portable Sanyo BCB and SW radio. I've labelled a few parts but it is a bit difficult to get the contrast. What are the basics of AM radio receivers - Part 2? In Part 1, I finished by saying let's look at each section in turn, maybe rearrange the schematic for clarity and discuss its operation. Now firstly the input, local oscillator, mixer and first i.f. amplifier. This is called an autodyne converter because the first transistor performs as a both the oscillator and mixer.

Figure 1 - autodyne converter Now let's re-arrange the autodyne circuit into two circuits. The oscillator section and the mixer section.

Figure 2 - AM mixer and oscillator sections Now obviously some components get duplicated across both sections not the least is our transistor. OSCILLATOR SECTION At power on, random noise produces a slight variation in the base current of Q1 which of course is amplified many, many times by the transistor producing

a large variation in collector current. This a.c. signal from the collector induces a current in the secondary circuit which is tuned by our variable capacitor to the desired oscillator frequency. The coupling capacitor then couples the resonant frequency back into the emitter. With proper phasing (pri - sec winding turns in relation to one another) the feedback will be positive or regenerative and of sufficient voltage to keep the oscillator going. The tuned secondary is an auto-transformer which matches the high tank impedance to the low impedance emitter. MIXER SECTION Here the .02 capacitor bypasses the base bias resistors to ground so the transistor as an oscillator is essentially a grounded base configuration. What happens is the ferrite rod antenna picks up passing waves and tunes with the ganged tuning capacitor to the desired station whilst the other part of the ganged capacitor tunes the oscillator which is always a constant 455 Khz higher in frequency. Because of the transistor being biased in a non-linear region it also operates as a mixer. The IF load transformer is tuned to the difference frequency of 455 Khz and rejects all others. Because the emitter is bypassed and the rf is injected into the base, the mixer is a grounded emitter configuration. I.F. STAGES AND A.G.C. There is nothing remarkable with the I.F. Amplifier stages. The gain of the first stage Q2 is controlled by an A.G.C. voltage (audio derived). The agc line is the purple (yuk!) line.

Figure 3 - I.F. Amplifier and A.G.C. What happens is the signal passes through the if stages and is detected (rectified) by D2. Part of the rectified signal is applied across the volume control and transferred to later audio stages. Another part (purple) is applied back to the input of Q2 as opposing d.c., the strength of which varies in proportion to the received signal. On strong received signals the gain of Q2 is reduced while on weaker signals the gain becomes greater. In theory, with such a mechanism the recovered audio signal going to our audio amplifier would be a constant level irrespective of the strength of our received signal on the loop antenna. This circuit has a number of limitations so D1 is used as an "extra agc circuit" in that on very high signals some of the signal gets shunted to ground. On the whole the entire radio circuit has a great many limitations but please remember this is probably the cheapest receiver and definitely the most mass produced receiver produced in history. In 1976 they were available in lots of 10,000 (put your own brand label on) for eighty cents each. - I know, I sold them. On the other hand a fancier unit I purchased 14 years earlier (1962), cost me a full two weeks pay (about $800 today), it was a Sony and it still works fine to this day! - well ya just had to listen to the top 40 at the beach didnya? - wasn't I just the "wild one" back then. Oh where did it all go?.

More in part 3 What are the basics of AM radio receivers - Part 3? In relation to am radio, a frequent email request I receive is for an "am radio kit". Previously on this page I said such a kit wasn't feasible, now it is. AM/FM RADIO PROJECT KIT AM/FM radio kit and training course contains 14 transistors and 5 diodes, a 52 page manual is divided into 9 lessons. Superheterodyne receiver of standard AM and FM broadcast frequencies. Makes an excellent classroom project.

Photo courtesy Parts Express Scroll down this Parts Express Electronics Project Kits Page for the AM/FM Radio Project Kit. A site I'm affiliated with. Alternatively what you can and should do of course is: (a) scrounge as many unserviceable radios from relatives and friends as you can lay your hands on. Not the real old valve types, they're too valuable. (b) cannibalise those radios for parts. (c) design and build your own radio from those parts. A Shortwave Receiver Everything here assumes you have access to suitable soldering / desoldering equipment and are reasonably experienced. Basic test equipment is also necessary. If not then this is all a purely theoretical discussion.

O.K. let's consider the prospect of building our own short wave receiver from some scrounged bits and pieces. Please note this will NOT be a high performance unit because: (a) we can't afford high class crystal filters for the selectivity. (b) we're not going to have a high class digital synthesiser as a tuning aid. (c) we will not have a digital frequency display. (d) and for practical reasons we with be limited to one band Let's look at what we can do with our shoestring budget as against what we would like, i.e. what compromises to we need to make? Obviously we will need to buy some extra bits and pieces. For this purpose we will work backwards (often a smart way to go). Speaker got plenty of them from spares. Headphone or earphone Surely we can scrounge one. Audio amp Obviously we can use that portion from a scrounged radio. We only need 200 500 mW of audio power output. Volume control Well the little transistor radio ones are a pain to use so we'll consider scrounging or buying one of the regular potentiometers (log type only NOT linear). I.F. Amplifier Now it's going to get a bit tricky. We want good gain with reasonable A.G.C. Mixer Active or passive mixer? R.F. Amplifier

Below about 15 Mhz we don't want or need one, above that maybe. Bandwidth How wide a band is our single band receiver going to cover? I'd suggest 500 Khz is probably too much but we'll look at that prospect. Case How are we going to package this technological marvel of ours? Should look reasonably nice to show off to relatives and friends. Summarising There you go, I've left more questions hanging in the air than I have answered. See if we can refine our goal a bit. We need to reconcile what we would like against what we can do for relatively next to nothing. I think the way to go is to build a fixed band tunable receiver and use converters to get to other bands. Now there are a lot of drawbacks with this approach but hey, an inferior radio is better than none at all. Assuming we use one good cheap yet functional AM transistor radio as a fixed permanent I.F. we can do quite a lot. I did this back in 1957, but that was with a valve set. We will for the moment assume we will be permanently setting this fixed I.F. receiver at 1500 Khz, nearly the end of the AM radio band. That figure is not sacred, you can change it to whatever you want - JUST MAKE SURE THERE IS NO RADIO STATION OPERATING IN YOUR AREA ON THAT FREQUENCY - DAY OR NIGHT. Frequency Coverage For the moment we'll consider the band 5 - 5.5 Mhz. With our fixed I.F. of 1500 Khz we need a local oscillator which covers 3.5 Mhz to 4 Mhz. This is a frequency ratio of 4/3.5 or 1.1428:1 which when squared comes to 1.306:1 this is the ratio our tuning capacitance will vary.