EST D - 1999 - ISO 9001:2000

SECTOR – 4, ROURK ELA – 7690 02

( AFF ILI ATE D T O BPU T , R OURKELA )

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Sonali Mishra,

Balaram Panda, Sanyasi Barad, Pulkeshu
Dash, Gaurav Singhdeo,Sambit Padhan,
Ipsa Nayak students of Padmanava
College of Engineering, Sector-4, Rourkela-
002, successfully completed a project
“Low Power AM Transmitter” in 7th
semester at Department of Electronics &
Telecommunication Engineering.

This report has not been submitted to any

other Organization & does not form part of
any Course undergone by then, for the
award of B-Tech Degree.

Head of Dept (ETE)

Project Guide
Prof (Dr).K.C.Mohapatra
Ms Suman Bala
By:-
Sonali Mishra 0401216004
Balaram Panda 0401216105
Sanyasi Barad 0401216106
Pulkeshu Dash 0401216107
Gaurav Singhdeo 0401216108
Sambit Padhan 0401216109 7 Th
Semester
Ipsa Nayak 0401216004 Electronics &
Telecommunication Engineering

Acknowledgement
Here I would like to extend my heartiest obligations to the
following person for their sincere help and co-operation during
the project presentation without whose help this report would
have never been completed.
Much credit and heartful thanks are owed to Prof.
(Dr).K.C.Mohapatra HOD of Electronics Department of my
Institution, Padmanava College of Engineering, Rourkela for
encouraging and allowing me to present the project on the topic
“Lo w Po we r AM Tran sm itt er “at our department premises
for the partial fulfillment of the requirements leading to the
award of B-Tech degree.
I am indebted to Lect. Suman Bala for assisting me to
prepare the project.
Also I would like to express my deep sense of gratitude and
thanks to all the faculty member of Electronics department of
PCE for their kind co-operation and assistance throughout the
modeling of the project.
 Last but not the least I would like to
extend a special word of thanks to all my friends and well
wishers for giving me a helping hand whenever needed and for
making the project a grand success.
Sonali Mishra
0401216004
Balaram Panda
0401216105
Sanyasi Barad
0401216106
Pulkeshu Dash
0401216107
Gaurav Singhdeo
0401216108
Sambit Padhan
0401216109
Ipsa Nayak
0401216004

CONT EN TS

1) O bj ec tiv e.

2) I nt rod uct io n.

3) M ate ri al s & Eq uipm ent s.

4) E xp er im ent al P roc ed ur e.

5) W or ki ng.

6) T est ing t he Tra ns mi tte r.

7) C oncl usi on .

8) B ibli og ra phy .

Obj ect iv e
The goal of this project is to build a simple AM radio transmitter and to
test its broadcast range with a radio receiver.

In this project, we will make a simple low - power broadcast circuit,

using a crystal oscillator integrated circuit and an audio transformer. We
can connect the circuit to the headphone jack of a portable music player
(e.g. mp3, CD or cassette tape player). We'll see that we can receive the
signal through the air with an AM radio receiver. Although the circuits
used in radio stations for AM broadcasting are far more complicated, this
nevertheless gives a basic idea of the concept behind a broadcast
transmitter.
 In tr odu cti on
Electromagnetic (EM) radiation is pretty much all around us. For e.g.,
light is electromagnetic radiation and so are x-rays. When we listen to an
AM or FM radio station, the sound that we hear is transmitted to our
radio by the station using EM radiation as carrier—radio waves.

Electromagnetic radiation is a propagating wave in space with electric

and magnetic components. In a vacuum, electromagnetic waves travel at
the speed of light.

Electromagnetic waves such as light, x-rays, and radio waves are

classified by their frequency or wavelength. For e.g. EM radiation at
frequencies between about 430 THz and 750 THz can be detected by the
human eye and are perceived as light.

EM radiations at frequencies ranging from 3 Hz to 300 GHz are classified

as radio waves. Radio waves are divided into many sub-classifications
based on frequency. AM radio signals are carried by medium frequency
(MF) radio waves (530 to 1710 KHz), and FM radio signals are carried by
very high frequency (VHF) radio waves (88 to108 MHz).
So h ow doe s a ra di o w ave car ry soun ds s uch as v oice or mu sic
to y our r ad io rece ive r?

The radio station broadcasts a carrier wave at the station’s assigned

frequency. The carrier wave is modulated (varied) in direct proportion to
the signal (e.g., voice or music) that is to be transmitted. The modulation
can change either the amplitude or the frequency of the carrier wave.
The “AM ” in AM radio stands for “am pli tu de mod ul atio n," and the
“F M” in FM radio stands for “fre quenc y mod ulat ion. " A radio
receiver removes the carrier wave and restores the original signal (the
voice or music). Figure 1, below shows graphically how amplitude
modulation works.

Figure 1. Illustration of amplitude modulation of a carrier wave by a signal.

The top diagram shows a carrier wave at a set frequency and amplitude and
a signal to be broadcasted. The signal is used to modulate the amplitude of
the carrier wave.
The bottom diagram shows the resulting output signal .
Note how the peaks of the output trace (its envelope) follow the form of the
input signal.
 Mate ri al s a nd E qu ipmen t
To do this experiment we will need the following materials and
equipment:

• Crystal oscillator

The oscillator is the heart of the transmitter. It has four leads,

but we only use three of them. When the power is connected to
two of the leads, the voltage on third lead starts jumping betw-
een 0 volts and 5 volts, one million times each second.

• Solder less breadboard,

• 1000 ohm to 8 ohm audio transformer

The other main part is the audio transformer. In this circuit it is

used as a modulator. The modulator changes the strength of the
radio waves to match the loudness of the music or voice we want
to transmit.

The transformer has two leads on one side, (red and white in the
picture) and three leads on the other side (blue, black and green in
the picture). The two leads are the low impedance side of the
 transformer, (the 8 ohm side). The three leads are the high
impedance side (the 1000 ohm side). The middle of the three leads
is called the center tap, and we won't be using it in this circuit.

• 1/8 inch mono phone plug,

• A 6 V AA battery holder (holds four batteries),
• Four 1.5 V AA batteries,
• A set of alligator jumpers,
• Jumper wires for breadboard.

Exp er im ent al P roc ed ur e

Figure 2, below, shows the connections we need to make to build the
circuit. The transformer isolates our music player from the rest of the
circuit, and also amplifies the signal from our music player. The amplified
signal from the secondary coil of the transformer modulates the power to
the oscillator chip (+ power at pin 14 and − power at pin 7). A wire
connected to the oscillator output (pin 8) serves as the antenna for
broadcasting the amplitude-modulated radio wave.

Figure 2. Simple AM transmitter circuit diagram. The square corner of the oscillator corresponds to pin 1.
The pins are numbered according to standard positions for a 14-pin integrated circuit.
Bui lding t he Cir cuit!

1. Two alligator jumpers were used to connect the terminals of the

phone plug.
2. The other ends of the alligator clips were connected to the 8 ohm
side of the transformer (red and white wires).
3. The oscillator was inserted across the gap in the breadboard, so
that pins 1 and 7 were on one side of the gap, and pins 8 and 14
were on the other. We can identify pin 1 of the oscillator because
it is next to the square corner (the other three corners are
rounded).
4. The breadboard was used to connect the + (red) and − (black)
terminals of the battery holder and the 1000 ohm side of the
transformer (blue and green wires) as shown in the diagram and
in the picture below. Note that the 1000 ohm side of the
transformer has a center tap (black wire) which is not used in this
project.
5. A long jumper wire was connected to the output of the crystal
oscillator (pin 8) which serves as the antenna.
6. The connections were doubly-checked to make sure that all of
the connections corresponded to the circuit diagram.
 This picture is a detailed view of the completed circuit on the breadboard. On the Radio Shack audio
transformer, the blue and green wires are the 1000 ohm side, and the red and white wires are the
8 ohm side.The 8 ohm side of the transformer is connected to the phone plug (yellow oval). The
1000 ohm side of the transformer is connected to the positive terminal of the battery pack ("+6 V")
and the oscillator, pin 14 (blue oval). The black wire from the transformer is a center tap from the
1000 ohm side and is not used in this project. Pin 7 of the oscillator is connected to the negative
terminal of the battery pack ("ground"). The wire from pin 8 of the oscillator is the antenna.

WOR KIN G
The oscillator is connected to one end of a long wire antenna. It
alternately applies 9 volts of electricity to the end of the wire, and then 0
volts, over and over again, a million times each second.
The electric charge travels up and down the wire antenna, causing radio
waves to be emitted from the wire. These radio waves are picked up by
the AM radio, amplified, and are used to make the speaker cone move
back and forth, creating sound.
The sound source (CD player or tape recorder) is normally connected to
drive a speaker or earphone. It drives the speaker by emitting electricity
that goes up and down in power to match the up and down pressure of
the sound waves that were recorded. This moves the speaker in and out,
recreating the sound waves by pushing the air in and out of our ears.
Sound waves

In our transmitter, the sound source is connected to the transformer

instead of to a speaker.
The transformer is connected to the power supply of the oscillator. The
sound source causes the transformer to add and subtract power from the
oscillator, just as it would have pushed and pulled on the speaker.
As the power to the oscillator goes up and down, the power of the
electricity in the antenna goes up and down also. The voltage is no longer
simply 9 volts. It is now varying between 0 volts and 10 volts, because the
power from the transformer adds and subtracts from the power of the
battery.
Power into antenna

The varying power in the antenna causes radio waves to be emitted. The
radio waves follow the same curves as the waves in the antenna.
However, because the transmitter and the receiver are not connected, the
receiver does not know what the transmitter is using for the value of
zero. All the receiver sees is a radio wave whose amplitude is varying. In
the receiver, zero is the average power of the wave. This makes the wave
look like this:
Radio waves in free space

If we sent this wave to the earphone, we would hear nothing, because the
average power is zero. This is why our crystal radio has a diode.
The diode does a neat little trick. A diode only lets electricity flow in one
direction. This means that the part of the graph where the power is rising
up from zero can get through the diode, but the part where the power is
going down from zero is blocked.
Electrical signal after the diode

All those little peaks of power happening a million times per second are
too fast for human ears, and too fast for the earphone to reproduce. But
since they are all pushing on the earphone diaphragm, all those little
pushes add up, and the earphone moves. Since some of the little pushes
are stronger than others (taller black bars in the illustration) they move
the earphone more than the weaker ones. We hear this variation as
sound.

Sound waves reaching our ears

The sound is a faithful reproduction of the original sound wave at the

transmitter.
 Test ing t he tr an sm itt er

We are now ready to test the transmitter.

The phone plug is plugged into the earphone jack of convenient
sound source, such as a transistor radio, tape player, or CD
player.
The batter is plugged into the batter clip.
The transmitter is placed near an AM radio, and is tuned to 1000
Khz, so that we can hear the sound source in the AM radio. The
volume controls on the sound source are adjusted and on the
AM radio to get the best sound.
Without any connection to any antenna or a good ground
connection, the transmitter will only transmit to a receiver a
few inches away. To get better range, the ground wire is clipped
to a good ground, such as a cold water pipe, and the antenna to a
long wire, like the one we used for the crystal radio.
 CONCL US ION

A Transmitter plays a very vital role in radio communication

and the use of crystal provides it with a great deal of precision.
The use of this crystal makes life much easier for both, sender
and receiver. This project is meant for the complete practical
understanding of different types of modulation techniques
which are being applied to a weak baseband signal.

This project also beautifully defines how electromagnetic

radiations help carrier radio waves to transmit different
information carrying signals through long distances.
 Bi bli og rap hy
• This site has cool way of explaining electromagnetic phenomena.
Electromagnetic radiation and waves:
Goldman, M.V., et al., date unknown. "Electromagnetic Waves,"
Physics-2000, University of Colorado, Boulder [accessed April 10,
2006]
http://www.colorado.edu/physics/2000/waves_particles/index.ht
ml.
• Amplitude modulation:
o This webpage has an applet that lets you play with carrier
and modulating signal to produce AM waves:
Nyack, C.A., 1996. "Amplitude Modulation," Cuthbert
Nyack [accessed April 10, 2006]
http://cnyack.homestead.com/files/modulation/modam.htm
o Wikipedia contributors, 2006a. "Amplitude Modulation,"
Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia [accessed April 10, 2006]
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Amplitude_mod
ulation&direction=next&oldid=44559258.
• Information on crystal oscillators:
Wikipedia contributors, 2006b. "Crystal Oscillator," Wikipedia,
The Free Encyclopedia [accessed April 10, 2006]
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Crystal_oscillator&oldi
d=46562927.
• Information on AM (medium wave) radio:
Wikipedia contributors, 2007. "Medium wave," Wikipedia, The
Free Encyclopedia [accessed January 24, 2007]
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mediumwave&oldid=1
02931548.