PrePractical Practice Exam ECE206 Lab 12

Names: Sung Joo An, Benjamin Domash Due Date: 11/20/2013

Statement of Purpose:
Learn to use transistors to make a circuit so that we can send AM signals to a radio.

Challenge:
a) Construct an AM modulator using the PC audio output as the signal and the function generator as the carrier b) Construct an AM detector, using a diode (1N4148) and a capacitor (100pf)

Figure 1

Plan:
Use various parts to construct the two circuits shown above in Figure 1 and use the oscilloscope to analyze the wave forms.

Execution:
Using the circuit diagrams shown above in Figure 1, we constructed the AM modulator as well as the detector. Finished circuit is shown below in Figure 2.

Modulator Detector

Figure 2: Finished Circuit

Then using the function generator as the "carrier" we sent the pc audio out as the "signal" and received it on our small radio. Then using the oscilloscope we analyzed the AM encoding, the same node as the antenna, and the detected signal, the out from the detector. The initial settings for the function generator is shown below in results in Table 1. The screen-grabs are shown below in results in Figure 3. Afterwards we tweaked the settings on the function generator to try getting the best possible sound quality from the radio. The settings used is shown below in Table 2 in the results and conclusions.

Results and Conclusions:

Figure 3: Screen-grab with default settings

Table 1: Default settings Frequency 550 kHz Offset 1V Amplitude 0.25 V

Table 2: Optimal settings Frequency 552 kHz Offset 0.9 V Amplitude 0.6 V

For the optimal settings we did not hear much of a change when we changed the offset or amplitude. We changed the settings to what we believe is the one with the lowest amount of extra noise.