Advanced Communication Laboratory

EXPERIMENT NO: 6
RF TUNED AMPLIFIERS
AIM:
To measure the center frequency, gain and bandwidth of RF tuned Amplifier.
APPARATUS REQUIRED:
RFT-01 RF tuned Amplifier module
RFS-01 RF Signal Source
RFPD RF power detector module
GSP-810 Spectrum Analyzer with Tracking Generator(150KHz-1GHz),
Connecting cables,
Dual DC variable power supply.
THEORY:
A tuned radio frequency receiver (TRF receiver) is a radio receiver that is usually composed
of several tuned radio frequency amplifiers followed by circuits to detect and amplify the
audio signal. A tuned Amplifier that amplifies high frequency signal commonly used in radio
communications. The frequency at which maximum gain occurs in an amplifier is made
variable by changing their capacitance and inductance values of the tuned circuit.
1-dB compression point:
Devices, such as amplifiers can't be linear over all input values. At some point they just can't
output the required output power. I.e. an amplifier that increases input power by a factor of
10, may not be able to amplify a signal that comes in that is, let's say 10 watts. The point
where the device is outputing 1 dB less POWER (which is roughly running at 80%) than it
should is the 1 dB compression point. So lets say a 10 watt signal is input, and that the signal
should be amplified by a factor of 10, and should output 100 watts. Let's also say the system
output power is actually 1 dB down from the expected value and outputting roughly 80 watts,
10 watts is the input 1 dB compression point.
Directivity: is the difference between isolation and forward gain in dB.
Dynamic Range: is the power range over which an amplifier provides useful linear operation
with the lower limit dependent on the noise figure and the upper level is a function of 1 dB
compression point.

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Advanced Communication Laboratory

Gain Flatness: indicates the variation of an amplifiers gain characteristic over the full
frequency response range at a given temperature expressed in dB.
Forward Gain(G): for RF amplifiers =output power/input power
Gain(dB)=10 logG
CIRCUIT DIAGRAM:

PROCEDURE:
a) To measure the center frequency of RF tuned Amplifier:
1. Connect attenuators of 40dB at the output of RFS-01 and adjust the attenuation to 0dB.The
signal
level is now around -30dBm because full level of RFS-01 is around 10dBm.
2. Now connect the output of RFS-01 to the input of RFT-01.
3. Connect the output of RFT-01to the input of RFPD.
4. Power up the module by applying 15V to the VCC terminal and around 4V to AGC voltage
terminal.
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Advanced Communication Laboratory

5. Set the frequency of the RFS-01 at around 50MHz.Measure the DC level at the output of
the RFPD.
6. Increase the frequency of RFS-01 and check the frequency when the DC output at the
RFPD is maximum which gives the center frequency.

b) To measure the gain of RF tuned Amplifier:

1. Set the RFS-01 to the center frequency of the RFT-01 where the gain was maximum.
2. Connect attenuators of 40dB at the output of RFS-01 and adjust the attenuation to 0dB.
3. Connect the RFPD to the output of RFS-0.Measure the DC level at the output of RFPD.
From the
DC level to RF level conversion chart estimate the RF power output level of RFS-01.
4. Now connect the input of RFT-01to the output of RFS-01.
5. Connect the output of RFT-01to the input of RFPD.
6. From the DC output of RFPD estimate the RF power and the difference between two
power levels gives the gain of the RFT-01.
c) To measure the bandwidth of RF tuned Amplifier:
1. Set the frequency of the RFS-01 for maximum DC output from RFPD connected through
the RFT-01.
2. From the DC output estimate the RF power.
3. Now increase the RFS-01 frequency so the DC level from RFPD drops to a value
corresponding to -3dB of power and note the frequency.
4. Now reduce the frequency and note when the power drops to a level of -3dB.
5. The difference between the two frequencies is the bandwidth of RFT-01.

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Advanced Communication Laboratory

PROCEDURAL SETUP:

MODEL GRAPH:

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Advanced Communication Laboratory

TABULATION:
V1=

S.NO

V2=

FREQUENCY(MHz)

POWER(dBm)

RESULT:
The bandwidth and the center frequency of RF tuned amplifier is measured as:
Bandwidth=--------------------------Center Frequency=----------------------

Department of Electronics & Communication Engineering