The document describes the main sections and functions of a heterodyne receiver. It has five sections: 1) RF section which intercepts signals and amplifies them, 2) Mixer/converter section which selects the desired signal and converts it to an intermediate frequency, 3) IF section which amplifies the intermediate frequency signal, 4) Audio detector section which detects the signal and amplifies the audio, 5) Audio amplifier section which amplifies the audio for output. It discusses the roles of components like the preselector, RF amplifier, mixer, oscillator, and filters.

1.  Intercept the electromagnetic waves in the receiving antenna to
produce the desired RF modulated carrier.
 Select the desired signal and reject the unwanted signal.
 Amplify the RF signal.
 Detect the RF carrier to get back the original modulation frequency
voltage.
 Amplify the modulation frequency voltage

2.  Simplicity of operation
 Good fidelity
 Good selectivity
 Average sensitivity
 Adaptability to different types of aerials

7. Pre
selector
RF
amplifier
Mixer
IF
Amplifier
Band pass
filter
AM
Detector
Audio
Amplifier
Local
Oscillator
Mixer / Converter
Section
RF Section IF Section
Audio detector
Section
Audio amplifier
Section
speaker
Gang tuning
RF signal
IF signal
Audio Frequencies

8. Heterodyne receiver has five sections
 RF section
 Mixer/converter section
 IF section
 Audio detector section
 Audio amplifier section

9. Preselector stage
Broad tuned band pass filter with adjustable frequency that is tuned to
carrier frequency
 Provide initial band limiting to prevent specific unwanted radio
frequency called image frequency from entering into receiver.
 Reduces the noise bandwidth of the receiver and provides the initial
step toward reducing the over all receiver bandwidth to the
minimum bandwidth required to pass the information signal.

10. It determines the sensitivity of the receiver.
 RF amplifier is the first active device in the network it is the primary
contributor to the noise. And it is the predominant factor in
determining the noise figure.
 Receiver may have one or more RF amplifier depending on the
desired sensitivity.

11.  Greater gain and better sensitivity
 Improved image frequency rejection
 Better signal to noise ratio
 Better selectivity.

12. It consists of two components
 Mixer
 Local oscillator
Mixer stage :
 Heterodyning takes place in the mixer stage.
 Radio frequencies are down converted to intermediate frequency
 Carrier and sidebands are translated to high frequencies without
effecting the envelope of message signal.

13. Local oscillator
frequency is tuned
above RF
High side injection Low side injection
Local oscillator
frequency is tuned
below RF
f LO = fRf + fIF f LO = fRf - fIF
Frequency conversion
 The difference between the RF and Local oscillator frequency is always
constant IF.

14. RF-to-IF conversion
Preselector
535 - 565 kHz
Mixer
IF filter
450 – 460
kHz
Oscillator
1005 kHz
Receiver RF input (535 – 1605 kHz)
565 kHz
535 545 555
470 kHz
440 450 460
450 460 kHz IF Filter output
high-side
injection
(fLO > fRF)
lo RF IF
f f f
 

15.  The adjustment for the center frequency of the preselector and the
adjustment for local oscillator are gang tuned.
The two adjustments are mechanically tied together and single
adjustment will change the center frequency of the preselector and
the local oscillator

16.  TRACKING:
It is the ability of the local oscillator in a receiver to oscillate
either above or below the selected radio frequency carrier by an
amount equal to the IF frequency through the entire radio frequency
band.

17.  Tracking error: the difference between the actual local oscillator
frequency to the desired frequency.
 The maximum tracking error 3KHz + or -.
 Tracking error can be reduced by using three point tracking.
 The preselector and local oscillator each have trimmer capacitor in
parallel with primary tuning capacitor that compensates for minor
tracking errors in the high end of AM spectrum.
 The local oscillator has additional padder capacitor in series with
the tuning coil that compensates for minor tracking errors at the low
end of AM spectrum.

18. Image frequency :
It is any frequency other than the selected
radio frequency carrier that is allowed to enter
into the receiver and mix with the local
oscillator will produce cross product
frequencies that is equal to the intermediate
frequency.
flo =fsi+fif → fsi=flo-fif when signal frequency is mixed with
oscillator frequency one of the by products is the difference
frequency which is passed to the amplifier in the IF stage.
The frequency fim= flo+fsi the image frequency will also produce
fsi when mixed with fo .
For better image frequency rejection a high IF is preferred.
If intermediate frequency is high it is very difficult to design
stable amplifiers.

19. LO
RF
SF
IF IM
fif fif
2fif
frequency
Image frequency rejection ratio
It is the numerical measure of the ability of the preselector to reject the
image frequency.
Single tuned amplifier the ratio of the gain at the desired RF to the gain at
the image frequency.




















im
RF
RF
im
f
f
f
f
Q
IFRR

2
2
1
(

20. If the IF is too high
 Poor Selectivity and Poor adjacent channel rejection.
 Tracking Difficulties.
If the IF is too low
 Image frequency rejection becomes poorer.
 Selectivity too sharp and cutting off sidebands
 Instability of oscillator will occur.

21.  It contains detector and AGC or AVC
 Detector: Rectifies the modulated signal, then filters out the 455
KHz. Leaving only the audio frequency or intelligence of 50 Hz – 20
KHz Which is sent to the AF amplifiers.
 Automatic Volume Control or gain control is taken at the detector
(demodulated and fed back to the first IF amplifier base). Required
to overcome atmospheric and terrain conditions that adversely affect
signal strength between the transmitter & receiver.

22. The resultant audio signal is amplified in this section and fed into the
output device(ex: loudspeaker)……
In this section we have
 Audio preamp stage
 Audio driver stage
 Audio push pull stage

23. Although the basic idea for the superheterodyne receiver works very well, to
ensure the optimum performance under a number of situations, an extension of
the principle, known as the double superheterodyne radio receiver may be used.
Improves image rejection ratio and adjacent channel filter performance.
Double superheterodyne receiver