DEPARTMENT OF TECHNICAL EDUCATION

ANDHRA PRADESH

Name : N. Ramanjaneyulu.
Designation : Lecturer.
Branch : ECE.
Institute : G.P.W, Hindupur.
Semester : Third.
Subject : Analog communication.
Code : EC-305.
Topic : Transmitters & receivers.
Sub-topic : Receivers-TRF and Heterodyning
Duration : 50Mts.
Teaching Aids : PPTs,Diagrams.

EC305.48 1
Recap

In the previous topic, you learnt about

• Function of a radio receiver.
• Types of radio receiver.
• Crystal radio receivers and its working

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Objectives:

Opon completion of thistopic you will be able to know:

• The block diagram of TRF receivers.
• Working principle of TRF receiver.
• Advantages and disadvantages of TRF receivers.
• Principle of heterodyning.
• Benefits of heterodyning.

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TRF receiver:

• Basic function is to tune , amplify and demodulate.

• This is a straight receiver in which the incoming signal is

first amplified with one or more tuned RF amplifier
stages.

• The main idea in tuned radio frequency (TRF) receiver is

to improve sensitivity (gain) of the receiver

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Block diagram of TRF receiver

Fig.1
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 Basic blocks of TRF receiver

• Receiving Antenna.
• RF amplifiers.
• Detector
• Audio amplifier.
• Power amplifier.
• Loud speaker.

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 Working principle

• In the receiver the signal is amplified in a chain of RF

amplifiers that operate at the signal frequency.

• The output of the RF amplifier is applied to the detector

which demodulate the signal to get the modulating
signal.

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• The modulating signal is further amplified by the audio
amplifier and fed to the power amplifier.

• The power amplifier increases the power level of the

message signal.

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• The message signal after amplification is fed to the loud
speaker.

• Loud speaker converts the electrical signal into the

sound signal.

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 Advantages of TRF receiver

• Simple operation.
• Improved selectivity.
• Easy alignment of the receiver.
• Better sensitivity.
• Excellent for fixed frequency.

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 Disadvantages of TRF receiver

• Uniform gain cannot be obtained over the entire tuning

range.
• The sensitivity is not uniform.
• Alignment is difficult.
• Suffers from variation in BW over the tuning range.
• Insufficient selectivity.

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 Principle of heterodyning

• Heterodyning is basically mixing of RF signal and local

oscillator frequencies.
• The difference frequency of fs and fo is known as
intermediate frequency (I.F)

• If I.F falls in audio range, ( i.e.<20KHZ ) the frequency

conversion process is known as heterodyning.

• If I.F is in radio range (i.e.> 20KHZ), the frequency

conversion process is known as “super heterodyning”

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 Principle of heterodyning

• In the process of heterodyning, two high frequency

waves are mixed but only the difference frequency signal
is used.

• When two waves are mixed in a non-linear device the

resulting wave contains two original frequencies, plus
frequency equal to their sum and their difference,along
with their harmonics (multiples of frequencies).

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Process of heterodyning

Fig.2

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 Benefits of heterodyning

• Incoming signal frequency is converted into a single

convenient frequency by heterodyning the input with
another signal.

• Amplification is done at a single frequency rather than at

multiple frequencies of different carriers.

• This results in better selectivity of the receiver.

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 Summary

After this topic we have learnt about:

• Block diagram of TRF receiver.
• Working principle of TRF receiver.
• Advantages and disadvantages of TRF receiver.
• Principle of heterodyning.
• Benefits of heterodyning.

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 Quiz

1).which of the fallowing is the disadvantage of tuned radio

frequency receiver.
b) B.W variation
c) Instability
c) Insufficient adjacent frequency rejection
d) All the above

Ans. (d)

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2).which stage contains the primary of the first IF
transformer.
b) oscillator
c) detector
d) mixer
d) none

Ans. (c)

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3) A receiver having poor IF selectivity may be expected to
have poor

c) B.W
d) Blocking
e) Sensitivity
d) All the above

Ans. (b)

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Frequently Asked Questions:

• Draw the circuit diagram of TRF receiver and explain?

• List the advantages and disadvantages of TRF receiver?

• What is heterodyning? List the benefits of heterodyning?

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