RF Components and Circuits

Some basic knowledge of electronics is assumed, but the essential features of RF are fully described, including the important topic of receiver dynamic which is often overlooked in basic textbooks. The theory and circuit descriptions are geared towards genuine design applications rather than the oversimiplifications and skeleton circuits of many college texts. During his career, the late Joe Carr was one of the world's leading writers on electronics and radio, and an authority on the design and use of RF systems. Whether you are looking for a complete self-study course in RF technology, or a concise reference text to dip into, this book has the solution. A complete course in understanding and designing RF circuits Practical design knowhow from a world-class author RÒ C EMI/RFI protection......Page 0 Remembering Joe Carr, K4IPV......Page 15 Preface......Page 17 Part 1 Introduction......Page 19 What this book covers......Page 21 Repetitive signals......Page 23 Fourier series......Page 27 Waveform symmetry......Page 29 Transient signals......Page 35 Sampled signals......Page 36 Noise......Page 39 Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR or Sn)......Page 45 Noise factor (FN)......Page 47 Noise temperature ( Te)......Page 48 Noise reduction strategies......Page 49 Example......Page 50 Signals, noise and reception......Page 52 The reception problem......Page 53 Strategies......Page 55 Origins......Page 56 Superheterodyne receivers......Page 57 Heterodyning......Page 60 Receiver performance factors......Page 62 dBm......Page 63 Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR or Sn)......Page 64 Sensitivity......Page 65 Selectivity......Page 68 Front-end bandwidth......Page 70 Image rejection......Page 71 IF bandwidth......Page 72 IF passband shape factor......Page 73 Stability......Page 75 Dynamic performance......Page 76 Intermodulation products......Page 77 Third-order intercept point......Page 78 Dynamic range......Page 80 Cross-modulation......Page 81 IF notch rejection......Page 82 Internal spurii......Page 83 Part 2 Circuits......Page 85 4 RF amplifiers......Page 87 Transistor gain......Page 88 Common emitter circuits......Page 90 Transistor biasing......Page 91 Collector-to-base bias......Page 92 JFET and MOSFET connections......Page 93 JFET preselector......Page 94 MOSFET preselector......Page 97 Broadband RF preamplifier for VLF, LF and AM BCB......Page 99 Types of push-pull RF amplifiers......Page 102 Actual circuit details......Page 104 Broadband RF amplifier (50 ohm input and output)......Page 106 Linear-vs-non-linear mixers......Page 109 Simple diode mixer......Page 112 Image......Page 113 IF feedthrough......Page 114 High-order spurs......Page 115 Mixer distortion products......Page 116 Third-order intercept point......Page 117 Mixer losses......Page 119 Noise balance......Page 120 Single-ended active mixer circuits......Page 121 Balanced active mixers......Page 122 Gilbert cell mixers......Page 131 Passive double-balanced mixers......Page 132 Diplexers......Page 134 Bandpass diplexers......Page 135 Image reject mixers......Page 140 VHF/UHF microwave mixer circuits......Page 142 Feedback oscillators......Page 143 General types of RF oscillator circuits......Page 144 Piezoelectric crystals......Page 146 Crystal packaging......Page 147 Oven-controlled crystal oscillators......Page 151 Miller oscillators......Page 152 Pierce oscillators......Page 154 Butler oscillators......Page 156 Colpitts oscillators......Page 161 Overtone oscillators......Page 163 Frequency stability......Page 165 Thermal isolation......Page 167 DC power supply......Page 168 Coil-core processing......Page 171 Capacitor selection......Page 172 Varactors......Page 173 Frequency synthesizers......Page 175 Output section......Page 177 Automatic level control (ALC)......Page 178 IF filters: general filter theory......Page 179 Crystal filters......Page 183 Crystal ladder filters......Page 185 Mechanical filters......Page 188 SAW filters......Page 189 Filter switching in IF amplifiers......Page 191 Amplifier circuits......Page 192 Cascode pair amplifier......Page 193 Coupling to block filters......Page 196 MC-1590 circuit......Page 197 Successive detection logarithmic amplifiers......Page 198 AM envelope detectors......Page 203 Double sideband (DSBSC) and single sideband (SSBSC) suppressed carrier demodulators......Page 208 FM and PM demodulator circuits......Page 215 Ratio detector......Page 218 Pulse counting detector......Page 222 Quadrature detector......Page 224 Part 3 Components......Page 225 Units of capacitance......Page 227 Circuit symbols for capacitors......Page 229 Mylar dielectric capacitors......Page 230 Ceramic dielectric capacitors......Page 231 Other capacitors......Page 232 Variable capacitors......Page 233 Air variable main tuning capacitors......Page 235 Special variable capacitors......Page 238 Differential capacitors......Page 239 Variable capacitor cleaning note......Page 240 Varactor tuning circuits......Page 241 Temperature compensation......Page 246 Varactor applications......Page 248 Inductor circuit symbols......Page 250 Inductance and inductors......Page 251 Inductance of a single straight wire......Page 252 Combining two or more inductors......Page 253 Air-core inductors......Page 254 Adjustable coils......Page 255 Amidon Associates coil system......Page 257 Materials used in cores......Page 258 Powdered iron......Page 259 Making the calculations......Page 260 Toroid cores......Page 262 Example......Page 264 Inductors and transformers......Page 265 Broadband RF transformers......Page 267 Counting turns......Page 269 Winding styles......Page 270 Mounting multiple coils......Page 272 Special mounting methods......Page 274 Binocular cores......Page 275 Winding styles on binocular cores......Page 277 Winding a binocular core......Page 278 Ferrite rods......Page 279 Bobbing along with a bobbin......Page 281 Ferrite beads......Page 282 Mounting ferrite beads......Page 284 Vectors for RF circuits......Page 285 Series resonant circuits......Page 288 Parallel resonant circuits......Page 289 Tuned RF/IF transformers......Page 291 Construction of RF/IF transformers......Page 292 Bandwidth of RF/IF transformers......Page 294 The RF amplifier/antenna tuner problem......Page 299 Example......Page 300 The local oscillator (LO) problem......Page 301 Trimmer capacitor method......Page 302 Impedance matching in RF circuits......Page 303 Transformer matching......Page 304 Resonant transformers......Page 305 Resonant networks......Page 306 -network......Page 307 Split-capacitor network......Page 308 Transistor-to-transistor impedance matching......Page 309 Characteristics of splitter/combiner circuits......Page 311 Resistive splitter/combiner......Page 312 Transformer splitter/combiner......Page 313 Mismatch losses......Page 316 Modified VSWR bridge splitter/combiner......Page 317 Transmission line splitter/combiners......Page 319 90 degree transmission line splitter/combiner......Page 321 RF hybrid couplers......Page 323 Combining signal sources......Page 324 Transmitter/receiver isolation......Page 325 Quadrature hybrids......Page 327 RF directional couplers......Page 330 Conclusion......Page 334 13 Monolithic microwave integrated circuits......Page 335 Internal circuitry......Page 337 Basic amplifier circuit......Page 338 Other MAR-x circuits......Page 339 Multiple device circuits......Page 345 Broadband HF amplifier......Page 351 Part 4 Measurement and techniques......Page 353 VSWR method......Page 355 Voltage divider method......Page 357 Signal generator method......Page 358 Frequency shifted oscillator method......Page 360 Using RF bridges......Page 362 Maxwell bridge......Page 363 Hay bridge......Page 364 Finding parasitic capacitances and inductances......Page 365 Conclusion......Page 368 Types of RF power measurement......Page 369 Thermistor RF power meters......Page 370 Bolometers......Page 371 Self-balancing bridge instruments......Page 373 Thermocouple RF power meters......Page 374 Diode detector RF power meters......Page 376 Practical in-line bridge circuits......Page 378 Micromatch......Page 379 Monomatch......Page 381 The Bird Thruline sensor......Page 382 Calorimeters......Page 384 Absolute flow calorimeters......Page 385 Micropower and low power measurements......Page 388 Mismatch loss and mismatch uncertainty......Page 390 Filter circuits......Page 392 Feedthrough capacitors......Page 395 General guidelines......Page 398 17 Noise cancellation bridges......Page 399 A simple bridge circuit......Page 401 Bibliography......Page 406 Index......Page 409 This book is a comprehensive introduction to designing and understanding RF circuits, and essential reading for a wide range of electronics and communications engineers and technicians. Developed from a highly popular series in Electronics World magazine, Introduction to RF is not a typical textbook. It also covers the practicalities of designing and building circuits, including fault-finding and use of test equipment.Joe Carr is one of the world's leading writers on electronics and radio, and an authority on the design and use of RF systems. Whether you are looking for a complete self-study course in RF technology, a concise reference text to dip into or a course text that is readable and straightforward, Joe Carr has the solution. Joe Carr has also designed this book to match a range of courses run in the UK and USA up to first degree level. Some basic knowledge of electronics is assumed, but the essential features of RF are fully described, including the important topic of receiver dynamic which is often overlooked in basic textbooks. The theory and circuit descriptions are geared towards genuine design applications rather than the oversimiplifications and skeleton circuits of many college texts.

During his career, the late Joe Carr was one of the world's leading writers on electronics and radio, and an authority on the design and use of RF systems. Whether you are looking for a complete self-study course in RF technology, or a concise reference text to dip into, this book has the solution.

A complete course in understanding and designing RF circuits
Practical design knowhow from a world-class author
Some basic knowledge of electronics is assumed, but the essential features of RF are fully described, including the important topic of receiver dynamic which is often overlooked in basic textbooks. The theory and circuit descriptions are geared towards genuine design applications rather than the oversimplifications and skeleton circuits of many college texts. During his career, the late Joseph Carr was one of the world's leading writers on electronics and radio, and an authority on the design and use of RF systems. Whether you are looking for a complete self-study course in RF technology, or a concise reference text to dip into, this book has the solution. Describes the features of RF, including the important topic of receiver dynamic. This work is a course in understanding and designing RF circuits, and includes practical design knowhow. It includes the theory and circuit descriptions that are geared towards genuine design applications.