HOW TUBES WORK IN TYPICAL RADIO STAGES 10FR-4 NATIONAL RADIO INSTITUTE Pena WASHINGTON, D.C.STUDY SCHEDULE NO. 10 For each study step, read the assigned pages first at your usual speed. Reread slowly one or more times. Finish with one quick reading to $x the important facts firmly in your mind, then answer the Lesson Questions for that step. Study each other step in this same way. (1 |. How Radio Systems are Divided into Stages. .. Pages 1-5 Now that you have learned the characteristics of radio parts, you are ready to combine them with tubes into ra Thie section gives an introduc- y are found throughout understand just how each Lesson Question 1. .. Pages 5-13 Radio stages work beeause it is possible to arrange parts and voltages so that tabes will do certain things, The more you can learn about tubes, the easier you can understand stages. Answer Lesson Questions 2 and 3. (1 3. Basic Amplifying Stage 2.0.2... 0.00. Pages 13-18 All tube amplifying stages can be reduced to Je, basic stage—an input device or signal source, a load to which the eignal is delivered, and a power supply. Here are the details of how this basic cirenit worke; how changes in voltage or load value affect the operation; how signals are kept in their cor- reet paths by by-pass condensers; how a tube can produce its own bias. This is a VERY IMPORTANT section. Read it over and over, until you feel you know everything in it. Then review it from time to time, Answer Lesson Questions 4, 5 and 6. (4. Typical Amplifying Circuits ‘Now that you understand the basic variations, The major difference is in the type of coapling—that is, different ways of getting tignals into and out of the stage. [J 5. Tubes as Signal Generators and as Signal Mixers. . Pages 23-28 Here ie a brief introduction to radio stages which do other things in addition You are not expected to fully understand oscillators, frequency converters from this discussion, but you should ges do to the radio signal. Answer Lesson Question 7. 6. The Diode in Radio Systems Pages 28-33 Power supplies and demodulator stages commonly use the two-element (diode) tube. This introduction to these stages shows how it is used. Answer Lesson Questions 8, 9 and 10. (1 7. AComplete Superheterodyne Receiver Circuit . Pages 33-36 A schematic diagram is uted to show how radio signals progress through a superheterodyne re This review of the lesson shows the i which ali kinds of stages are brought together in a receiver—how se performs a necessary operation eo that the reproducer can deliver the in- telligence we want, (0 8. Mail your Answers for this Lesson to N.R.I. for Grading. (1 9. Start Studying the Next Lesson. you go cena .... Pages 18-22 age, you are introduced to some of its the COPYRIGHT 1942 BY NATIONAL RADIO INSTITUTE, WASHINGTON, D. C. FM\5Me48 1948 Edition Printed in U.S.A nat. poHOW TUBES WORK IN TYPICAL RADIO STAGES How Radio Systems are Divided into Stages HIS lesson is a milestone in your Course in Radio Fundamentals. Up to this time you have been learning the characteristics of radio parts. You will now begin to learn how these parts are combined into groups in which tubes are used—groups that are called radio stages. In this lesson, we are going to do two things: 1, give you a preview of the radio stages you will study in detail in the next few lessons; and 2, give you a basic understand- ing of the requirements underlying ALL stages. Once you understand stages, it will be easy for you to com- bine them into sections and thus form a complete receiver or transmitter. > To help you see the relationship be- tween stages, we will first describe a complete radio system. Pay particular attention to the names and functions of the stages—and refer to this “radio map” from time to time so that you can keep these stages properly in mind. (Later in this lesson, we will give a description of a complete superhet- erodyne receiver in somewhat more detail.) Naturally, we will not try to give every detail of the operation of radio stages in this one lesson. A preview of this kind is intended to give you enough basic facts to help you understand the full details to be found in later lessons. RADIO SYSTEMS All radio systems have one object— to convey intelligence from one point to another. The intelligence can be anything—a sound or sight (televi- sion) program; commercial (voice or code) messages going from point to point; a guide-path for aircraft or ships; or messages intended for police or fire departments. The original intelligence cannot be carried to distant points without some form of conversion or without the use of a carrier. Even the loudest sounds cannot be heard more than a few rodyne receiver using the basic stages ‘you are studying in this ler Fafa tenting eee a eta neta ised eet, Leveesmiles and close-up details of a scene are visible for only a few feet. We can record sounds or take photographs, but these are not instantaneous meth- ods of transmission. It is also true that by converting sounds or scenes into electrical impulses it is possibletocarry them over wire lines. However, at best, wire circuits have limits, so radio steps in and provides a means of sending intelligence instantly to any desired receiving point. Radio transmission is made prac- tical by the fact that high-frequency signals will travel through space, and it is possible to make these signals “carry” the intelligence. At the receiv- ing point, a copy of the original in- telligence signal can be obtained from the “carrier” signal and used to operate a reproducer system. Fig. 1 shows just such a system in block-diagram form. Let’s review the basic actions in each stage, THE TRANSMITTER The Carrier Signal. At the trans- mntter, the “carrier” signal is generated by a vacimm tube stage known as an oscillatar (indicated at A in Fie. 1). The carrier is called an r.f. (radio fre- quency) signal since it is in the r.f. range. At each station, the frequency of this signal is set at the value as- signed to that particular station. An American broadcast station using the amplitude modulation (a.m.) system will be assigned a frequency within the 550 ke.-to-1600 ke. broadcast band, while an fm. (frequency modulation) broadeast station will be assigned a carrier frequeney somewhere within the 88- to 106-me. range. Amplified copies of this rf. signal are obtained from a series of vacuum tube amplifying stages (in section B of Fig. 1) which deliver the amount of power needed to make the proper com- bination with the intelligence signal. The Intelligence Signal. The in- telligence (sound waves or visible scenes) is converted into a correspond- ing electrical signal by the pickup device at D. Amplified copies of this electrical signal are obtained from the amplifiers at B. Modulation. At C, the carrier and the intelligence signals are combined. This process of combining is called modulation, because the intelligence signal modulates or varies the carrier signal. At present, two systems of modulation are in use: amplitude mod- ulation (a.m.) and frequency modula- tion (f.m.). In amplitude modulation, the amplitude of the carrier signal is varied in proportion to the amplitude of the intelligence signal; in frequency modulation, the frequency of the car- rier signal is varied in proportion to the amplitude of the intelligence sig- nal, In either system, the rate at which variations in the carrier signal occur corresponds to the frequency of the intelligence signal. > The modulated carrier signal may be, and frequently is, amplified before being applied to the transmitting an- tenna or radiatar G. In later lessons, we'll go into the subject of antennas and find why they radiate—here, all we'll say is that the signal is radiated into space in the form of a varying electromagnetic field which is known as a radio wave. THE RECEIVER When the radio wave encounters receiving antenna A, it induces a volt- age in the antenna. This voltage causes a varying current flow through the lead-in; this, in turn, induces a voltage in the r.f. preseleetor 7. All radio waves striking the antenna—whether they come from the desired station or from other stations—induce voltages in therf. preselector, so we use “tuned” or resonant circuits (coil-condenser com- binations) in the preselector section to start the process of selecting the de- sired signal from all the others re- ceived. (Here you see the reason for assigning different frequencies to transmitters; only by frequency sep- aration can we select the signals of the desired stations from among all others broadcasting at the same time.) The preselector usually must tune over a wide range of frequencies, since, of course, we generally like to tune to different stations. Now, it is difficult to obtain the same amount of amplifi- cation and selectivity at different fre- quencies over wide ranges. It is far easier to obtain high gain and good selectivity from an amplifier operating at a fixed frequency, especially if this fixed radio frequency is in the lower rf. range. These facts have led to the creation of the superheterodyne re- ceiver, in which incoming signals, re- gardless of frequency, are converted into a fixed lower frequency for amplification. The Superheterodyne. Briefly the fundamental principle of the super- heterodyne circuit is: The incoming signal is combined with a “local” rf. signal so that a lower frequency rf. signal is produced. ‘Now, let’s see what stages are used in a superheterodyne receiver to perform the action we have just described. In Fig. 1, preselector J is used to give an initial separation of the signals present in the receiving antenna H. The pre- selector is not required to give much amplification nor much selectivity; these are obtained after the frequency mixing has occurred. The mixer-first - detector stage J is fed the modulated rf, signal from the preselector and is also fed another (unmodulated) rf. signal from the local rf. oscillator stage K. (This is called a “local” and in handled the reproducer. This block once frequen st the transmitter, the combined si RECEIVER " PRESELECTOR m can be applied to ALL radio systems. rem G. At the INTELLIGENCE sigvataMeLirien ® mr awrurien POWER SUPPLY EE TRANSMIT THTELLIGENGE stewat Pic ® cane [4 applies to both a.m. and fim. sound systems as well at to te the types of modulation and demodulation stages. Hence, this dioscillator to distinguish it from the oscillator in the transmitter.) The result of the frequency com- bination (called “frequency -conver- sion”) is a new earrier which has a fre- quency known as the intermediate fre- quency (abbreviated if.) and which is modulated by the intelligence signal. The if. is usually equal to the differ- ence between the carrier frequency and the local r.f.* > The preselector and the local oseil- Istor are tuned simultaneously by a single control which rotates their tun- ing condensers or varies their coil inductances in step. Thus, as we tune to a particular station, the local oscil- lator is automatically adjusted to the frequency necessary to produce the desired combination. > The tuned circuits at the input of the if. amplifier (L in Fig. 1) tend to select the desired i.f. carrier (carry- ing the intelligence signal) from among all others offered by the mixer-first detector. Each stage in the if. am- plifier makes an amplified copy of the desired signal, and the resonant cir- cuits in each stage serve to further select the desired signal from among others. When the modulated if. carrier signal has been amplified to the limits of the if. amplifier, it is fed into a demodulator stage. (This stage is an- other detector, and is called the second detector to distinguish it from the mizer-first detector.) Demodulation. The demodulator M serves a very important purpose; it is here that the intelligence signal is ‘Here {s an example: If the local oscll- lntor of a receiver generates a 1460-Ke. sig-- nal when the rf. section of the receiver is tuned to a 1000-ke. station, the Lf, will be 460 ke. (1460 — 1000 = 460 ke.), This is called the i.f. value because it is normally intermediate in value between the r.t. ear- rier frequency and the frequencies of the intelligence signal. 4 separated from the carrier. The car- rier has been necessary to convey the intelligence signal through space. The intelligence signal must remain with the carrier until the desired carrier can be selected from among all others. Then, when the carrier hag served its purpose, it is cast aside and a reason- ably accurate duplicate of the original electrical intelligence signal is ob- tained. > The intelligence signal is similar to that existing at D in the transmitter, and usually must be amplified further before it can operate the reproducer. The intelligence signal amplifier N is called an audio amplifier if the signal corresponds to sound, or is called a video amplifier if the signal corre- sponds to a television picture scene. Reproduction. After the intelli- gence signal has been sufficiently am- plified, it must pass through a repro- ducer O which will convert the elec- trical signal into the original form of the intelligence. For audio signals (voice or music), a loudspeaker is used. This device produces sound waves in accordance with the varia- tions in electrical current. For televi- sion, an image reconstructor tube “paints” the television seene on a sereen at one end of the tube. Code signals may operate a sounder or an automatic typewriter. Facsimile sig- nals may operate a device which chem- jeally reproduces a picture on special paper. And so it. goes—whatever the original signal, a suitable device re- stores the original sound, scene, or impulse into a recognizable or usable form. ® This completes the journey of our intelligence signal. It has travelled through many radic stages at both the transmitter and the receiver. Most of the stages made amplified copies, which in turn were amplified by suc-ceeding stages. Some stages did noth- ing but amplify, others performed specialized duties, while still others did both. This has been just a bare outline of the process of radio transmission and reception—we have not tried to show the number of stages in each sec- tion nor have we shown all that may be done in some of the more elaborate systems. Instead, we have given you a brief over-all picture to make it easier for you to see the relationships between the stages you are about to study. Importance of Tubes. One im- portant fact stands out about these stages: whatever their function, vac- uum tubes are used in all of them, except possibly the intelligence pickup D and the reproducer O. (In a televi- sion system, special tubes are used at D and O too.) Because of this widespread use of tubes, you must have a thorough un- derstanding of fundamental tube op- eration before you study stages. We will now expand some of the informa- tion presented in your earlier lesson on tubes, thereby giving you a more com- plete picture of tube action under different operating conditions, Then we will be ready to study the opera- tion of each basic radio stage. More Facts About Tubes ‘There are many kinds of tubes— some designed for specific purposes and some for general purposes. Basic- ally, they all operate over rather sim- ilar characteristic curves; the particu- lar actions obtained depend upon the operating point chosen and upon the devices used as “loads.” Although tubes with two, three, and four grids are better than triode (single grid) tubes for certain purposes, we will consider only diode and triode tubes in this lesson. This will let you concen- trate on the important features of the stages described without becoming confused by extra grids. (You ,will take up multi-grid tubes as you study each stage in detail in later lessons.) HOW THE GRID CONTROLS THE PLATE CURRENT From your earlier studies you know that, in a triode tube with a fixed plate voltage, the grid voltage determines the amount of plate current which will flow at any particular instant. When no signal voltage is applied to the grid, the bias voltage (a d.c. voltage placed between the grid and the cathode) determines the amount of plate current, flow; the plate current which flows under these conditions is often called the “operating” current. (This value is the initial or starting plate current which is then varied by the signal.) In most receiver circuits the grid is ° not allowed to become positive with respect to the cathode, because this would cause an undesirable flow of grid current. (In transmitter rf, power amplifier circuits and in oscillator cir- cuits, the grid is allowed to go positive, as we shall see later.) Hence, we usually have a negative grid bias. The amount of bias depends on the point at which we desire to opérate on the characteristic curve. A typical characteristic curve is shown in Fig, 2, For a tube which has this characteristic, a negative bias of —3 volts places the operating point atfe curves. ar pply to only on iculer supply voltage val similar in and to one pa A (on the straight portion of the curve). A bias of —8 volts causes the operating point to move to B, while a bias of more than —9 volts will “cut off” the plate current. If a different plate voltage is used, then the curve will “move” so that other bias values will be required for these conditions. For this reason, curves must be labeled as to what plate voltage is being applied > Naturally, tubes differ in their plate currents and bias requirements, al- though the general shape of their char- acteristic curves may be very similar. FIG. 3. Typical bias and plate voltage con tions are shown here. However, the filament lament terminals and must be of the ue to produce temperature sa on diagrams is purely to simplify the circuit so that you can concentrate on the actions being described. Another tube may require a bias of —50 volts to operate at point A, and may then pass a current of 30 ma. in- stead of the 6-ma. value shown in Fig. 2. Thus, the same curve may fit both tubes, except that the values of current and voltage differ. Therefore, charac- teristic curves must be labeled also for the particular tube to which they apply. > Now, with our operating point de- termined by some suitable bias, let’s see what happens when we apply a sine-wave signal to the circuit shown in Fig. 8. Fig. 4 ix an E,-1, (grid voltage-plate current) curve for the triode tube used in Fig. 8. With the plate and bias volt- ages shown in Fig. $ (which are typical for this tube), the operating point is at S, and the operating plate current value is nearly 9 ma. We know that the applied signal makes the grid volt age alternately more and less negative than the grid bias, so when the signal shown at A (in Fig. 4) is applied, the grid voltage will be made up of the bias value x plus or minus the value of the signal voltage y at that instant. Since the bias voltage is greater than thelargest value of the signal voltage, the grid remains negative at all times and there is no grid current flow. The grid ix purely a potential-operated device— its voltage at any instant determines the plate current value. Let’s see how a change in the grid voltage affects the plate current. Suppose the grid voltage changes from point J to point 2 on curve A (making the grid less negative by 3 volts). Tracing vertically from each of these points up to the Z,-1, curve, then hori- zontally over to curve B, we find that this grid voltage change causes a plate current change from point 1 to point 2 on curve B. The plate current changes from its operating value of 9 ma. (point 1) to a value of about 15.5 ma. (point 2)—an increase of about 6.5 ma. Similarly, changes in grid voltage from point 2 to point 3, from point 3 to point 4, and from point 4 to point 5 or curve A cause plate current changes as shown by similarly-numbered points on curve B. Each grid voltage swing in a less negative direction causes an increase in plate current, while each swing in a more negative direction causes a decrease in plate current. ® Another important fact is that the plate current is a pulsating d.c.; that is, it is made up of a d.c. component v (equal to the no-signal operating eur- rent) and a sine-wave a.c. component w which causes the total plate current to vary above and below its no-signal operating value. (The plate current cannot reverse its direction of flow; hence, the a.c. variation can exist only as a component or part of the pulsat- ing plate current. When we speak of an a.c. plate current, we mean only this varying component, not the total plate current.) > The signal actually applied to an amplifier rarely has a sine-wave shape; it usually is more complex. However, 7 ‘a complex signal is made up of many different sine-wave voltages in com- bination, so the tube response to a sine- wave signal corresponds to its response to that component of a complex signal This makes it possible to use sine-wave signals when studying radio circuits. However, as Fig. 5 shows, if we know the exact wave shape of a complex sig- nal, we can prove that the plate current, has the same form as the grid voltage, provided that the £,-I, curve is linear (straight) over the operating region, as is the section M-N of Figs. 4 and 6. oe ignal currents and television tubes have much like that shown h by mathematics, howe ter how complicated, our work by considering only sine-wave for we know that radio circuits will b r sine wave as th complex w. CLASSES OF AMPLIFIERS Not all amplifying stages operate on the straight portion of their character- istie curves; sometimes an exact “car- bon copy” of the grid voltage is not wanted. This means that amplifiers must be classified according to the part of the characteristic over which they operate. > When an exact duplicate of the en- elCLASS B AMPLIFIER OPERATION FIG. 6. In class B amplifiers, only half of the incoming signal is effective in producing plate current pulses. tire input signal is wanted, the operat- ing point is chosen near the center of the straight portion between the zero grid-voltage value and the lower bend or curved portion of the characteristic curve, and operation is confined to this straight portion. This is called class A amplification. Class A amplification is relatively clistortionless (the output is practically proportional to the input at all times) provided: 1, that the signal voltage is not so large that some curved portion of the characteristic is encountered; and 2, that the grid never goes positive. > For some purposes, we do not want the plate current variations to be ex- actly like the entire signal applied to the grid circuit. We may, for example, apply a bias sufficient to cut off plate current, as shown in Fig. 6, Now when we apply a signal, we will get half- wave pulses in the plate cireuit—in other words, very little (if any) plate current will flow until the positive signal alternations overcome the bias. This is called class B operation and is very necessary for certain purposes. > Going a step further, we may even apply a bias many times that required for plate current cut-off, as shown in Fig. 7. Only the positive tips of the grid signal can cause plate current to flow. This is called class C operation. > If we allow the grid signal to swing over into the positive region (Figs. 6 ard 7), class B and class C amplifiers become far more efficient than class A (that is, they produce more output for the same plate supply power). How- ever, the resulting distortion generally limits such operation to special stages where the distortion can be overcome or does not matter, We shall explain these uses in later lessons. FAMILIES OF CURVES In practical radio work, tables of tube characteristics furnish practically all the needed information, so curves are rarely used. However, characteris- tie curves are extremely valuable to you now as a student in helping you to understand just how tubes work—so let’s take a few minutes to sce Low these curves are plotted and what they reveal, Plotting Curves. To ‘make curves, the tube manufacturer uses a circuit similar to that shown in Fig. 8. This circuit is arranged so that any desired C voltage can be applied, the plate voltage is variable, and the plate cur- rent can be measured. Norma! fila- CLASS © AMPLIFIER ‘OPERATION FIG. 7. In class C operation, even less than half of the incoming signal is used to produce plate current puliesment voltage is applied. To make £,-1, curves, the first step is to choose some value of plate volt- age, by adjusting tap Pz on the B bat- tery. Then the grid voltage is varied in steps from zero to a maximum nega- tive value by moving the slider from terminal / toward terminal 2 on the potentiometer P; in the grid circuit. The plate current is measured and plotted for each particular grid voltage value. The resulting eurve is the E,-I, characteristic curve of the tube for that particular plate voltage, ‘This process is repeated for other values of plate voltage until a series or family of E,-I, characteristic curves is secured. They are similar to those shown in Fig. 9 (which are for a 6Cé tube). > Although a family of curves ean be made to tell almost everything about the behavior of a tube, radio men compress some of the most important information in characteristic curves into quickly usable forms. Ratings like horsepower, maximum speed, and gasoline consumption tell much about the performance of an automobile; tube performance is likewise expressed by the following ratings: 1. Amplification factor. 2. AC. plate resistance. 3. Mutual conductance. You've already met the first two of these in an earlier lesson. We'll re- view them briefly, then discuss the third rating (which is really a com- c BATTERY 8 BATTERY FIG. 8. A laboratory circuit used to di .ctoristics of tubs io ls Ip IN WILLIAMPERES. 9 ae see Eg IN vouTS. FIG. 9 A family of characteristic curves. bination of the other two). AMPLIFICATION FACTOR ‘This factor is important because it tells us how good a tube is as a voltage amplifier, Suppose we use Fig. 10, showing two curves taken from Fig. 9, to illustrate this. If the 6C5 tube is operating at point a on curve B (for a plate voltage of 200 volts), then a plate current in- crease of 4 ma. can be obtained by changing the grid voltage 2.5 volts (from —8.5 to —6 volts) ; this moves the operating point to c. Similarly, with the bias voltage fixed at —8.5 volts, a 4-ma. change can be obtained by increasing the plate voltage 50 volts, from a on curve B to b on curve A. (Curve A is for 250 volts, which is 50 volts higher than curve B.) We can thus get a certain change in plate cur- rent either by leaving the plate voltage fixed and changing the bias, or by leav- ing the bias fixed and changing the plate voltage. However, notice that the plate voltage change is far larger than the grid voltage change needed to give the same plate current change. If we now divide 50 (plate voltage change) by 2.5 (grid voltage change) we get 20. This means that the grid is twenty timea as effective as the plate(for this particular tube) in controlling the plate current. This value is called the amplification factor, and in plain language it means that, for this tube, a L-volt grid change will affect the piate current just as much as will a 20-volt. plate-voltage change. In other words, a I-volt signal on the grid can act like a 20-volt variation in the plate circuit of this tube. . » The amplification factor does not tell directly how much the grid con- trols plate current, but it does express the relative effects of the grid and plate voltages on the plate current. The amplification factor can be de- fined technically as follows: Amplification factor is equal to the plate voltage change which will produce a certain plate current change, divided by the grid voltage change which will produce the same plate current change. Amplification factor, also called am- plification ability, amplification num- ber, or amplification constant, is generally designated by the Greek let- ter mu (u),*which is pronounced “mew.” Amplification factor depends mostly upon the construction of the tube — particularly upon the position of the grid between the cathode and plate and upon the spacing between the meshes or turns of the grid wire. The closer the grid is to the cathode and the closer together are the grid wires, the larger will be the g of the tube, be- cause the grid then will have a greater control over the electron movements. > The values of » given in tube char- acteristics charts are only averages, as tubes of the same type may vary as much as 20% from the rated value. This deviation applies to other tube ratings as well, for radio tubes are delicate devices, made so compactly that errors of a few thousandths of an inch in the position of an electrode will greatly affect the tube ratings. These differences in tube characteristics are permitted because close similarity is generally not necessary. A.C. PLATE RESISTANCE The opposition which the plate- cathode path of a tube offers to the flow of a.c. is expressed in ohms, just as is any other resistance, and is com- monly abbreviated as r,. The value of r, for a tube is found by applying to the plate-cathode an 803} bi} | » D af+8 sf |s oy z b = f i 2: Nf |g : Fils A ts : BA f 1 i 2 t | ! ee eg in yours “4 FIG. 10. Two of the curves teken from the family in Fig. % ac. voltage and measuring the result- ing change in plate current, or it can be found from the characteristic curves. For example, referring to Fig. 10, a plate voltage change of 50 volts (a to b) produces a plate current change of 4 ma. when the tube is biased at —8.5 volts. As we can consider the change to be equivalent to an a.c. variation, we need only use Ohm’s Law to find the a.c. resistance. In this case. then, r, is equal to 50 + .004, or 12,500 ohms. Notice—this value applies only 10to the particular operating point chosen (—8.5 volts biast. Uther op- erating voltages would result in a dif- ferent a.c. plate resistance. D.C. Plate Resistance. A radio tube is peculiar in that it offers a dif- ferent plate-to-cathode resistance to a steady voltage than it does to a vary- ing voltage. When only d.c. voltage is applied to the grid and the plate.a defi- nite ammunt of d.e. plate current will flow. By dividing the de. plate voltage by the d.c, plate current (Ohm’s Law), we get the dic. plate resistance of the tube for that particular grid bias value. Thus, at point a in Fig. 10, the dic. plate voltage is 200 volts and the dc, current is 3 ma., so the d.c. re- sistance is 200 + .003, which is about 66,000 ohms. (This is for the chosen value of grid bias only—since changing the grid bias changes the plate current and therefore changes the d.c. plate re- sistance, the bias must always be spec- ified when a value of d.c. plate re- sistance is given.) This is quite dif- ferent from the a.c. resistance. > Strictly speaking, the designations “ao.” or “dc.” should always be given when the name “plate resistance” is used. However, for amplifiers, the a.c. behavior of a tube is the most im- portant, for it tells us what the tabe will do when signals are applied; d.c. resistance is seldom of interest. When- ever you see the plate resistance of a tube mentioned, you can assume the a.c, value is meant, unless it is definite- ly marked “d.c.” . MUTUAL CONDUCTANCE The third important tube rating, called mutual conductance or trans- conductance, is equal to the amplifica- tion jactor divided by the a.c. plate re- sistance. This rating tells directly how much the grid voltage controls the plate current; it is defined as follows: 11 Mutual conductance of a tube is equal to the a.c. plate current divide ed by the a.c. grid voltage, when there is no load in the plate circuit. Mutual conductance, abbreviated as Qu (07 Sm). is expressed in mhos (pro- nounced “mose”). If we divide the a.c. plate current (the varying portion of the plate current) in amperes by the ac. grid voltage in volts, we obtain mhos, However, the mutual condue- tance of tubes is but a smul! fraction of a mho. so, to avoid an awkward deci- mal number, the micromho, equal to one-millionth of a mho, is used in radio work. (Incidentally, “mho” is “ohm” spelled backwards.) Mutual conductance (sometimes known as transconductance) shows how much ac. plate current will be produced by an a.. signal in the grid circuit. If the grid voltage in volts and the mutual conductance in mhos are known for a tube circuit, such as an amplifier tube circuit whose load has negligible resistance, the a.c. plate cur- rent in amperes is obtained simply by multiplying the two vahies together. > When a tube ages, its electron emis- sion is lowered and its gm is reduced. This is why gm is often measured when testing radio tubes, because it indi- cates the worth of the tube. > Values of mutual conductance are given on tube charts. They can also be obtained from the E,-I, curves. In Fig. 10, a grid voltage change of 2.5 volts (from @ to c) produces a plate current change of .004 ampere. Since a change corresponds to an a.c. value, the mu- tual conductance of the 6C5 tube (for operating point d in the middle of the operating region of curve B) will be .004 + 2.5 or .0016 mhos. This is the same as 1600 micromhos. > An example of a tube chart is given in Fig. 11, Note that r,, ga, and » vary greatly among the tubes listed. aEQUIVALENT TUBE CiRCUITS The tube ratings we have discussed 80 far are those of the tube alone, with no load in the plate circuit. These rat- ings are useful, but they do not tell di- rectly how much amplification can be obtained in a practical stage, where a load must be used. When we wish to find the actual stage gain, it is far simpler to consider an equivalent ofr- cuit (such as was shown in an earlier lesson). This circuit deals only with the a.c. voltages and the ac. currents in the plate cireuit of the tube, Equivalent A.C. Plate Voltage. First, let us explain what is meant by equivalent a.c. plate voltage. You know a0. grid voltage in its effects. ‘We use the tube amplification factor to find this equivalent voltage. Since this factor shows how many timesmore effective is a change in grid voltage than is a change in plate voltage, the plate voltage change is equal to the grid voltage change multiplied by the p» of the tube. Hence, we say that the a.0. grid voltage ¢, multiplied by the » of the tube is the equivalent a.c. plate voltage pes. This equivalent a.c. plate voltage is ueed in calculations just as if it were an actual voltage; in fact, most engineers speak of it as the ac. plate voltage. ‘The Circuit Without a Load. Now, let us draw the equivalent cirouit of ax Eee Tra Towa) wey lectel 2] BEBI nar | Iara pence rar, aca tlt ie aes | Ga [Ea reve | cass las use ies] |eceey cid S48 DSc SEES and ami output. This chart only shows the charact used in modern radio receivers. Not that an a.c. grid voltage, or signal, act- ing in one circuit of a tube (the grid circuit) produces an a.c, plate current in another circuit (the plate circuit). ‘Thus, we are dealing with two different circuits connected only by the action of a tube. It is always simpler to study a single circuit at a time. For this reason, we transfer the effects of the a.c. grid voltage to the plate circuit; we forget the grid circuit and assume that there is only a plate circuit containing an a.c. plate voltage equivalent to the screen grid and control gi fication fact the columns give: of tubo, whether chart (not shown 4 and 5, the amplifier having no plate load. Consid- cring only thé a.c. actions, we find that the only opposition to the flow of cur- rent in the plate circuit is the .0, plate resistance T,, and that the only a.c. voltage acting in the circuit is the equivalent a.c. plate voltage ne,. ‘Therefore, we can consider the a.c. plate eircuit to be as shown in Fig, 124 —an ac, source and a resistance ty. The a.c. plate current flows through r, and all the equivalent a.c. voltage is dropped in this internal tube resistance.(ME EQUIVALENT TUBE CIRCUITS iT (EU A: NO LOAD MEEEENNNNN 8: WITH LOAD Sm FIG, 12, Equivalents of plate circuits with and without a lod. Equivalent Tube Circuit With Load. The circuit without a load is useless, as all the signal energy is lost in the tube plate resistance. Hence, in a practical amplifier, we have to use a jead in the plate circuit so that some of the signal energy can be developed out- side the tube where it can be put to use. This load Ry is in series with the re- sistance rp, as shown in the equivalent cireuit of Fig. 12B. The insertion of this load will not change the operation of the tube, provided the same d.c. op- erating voltages are still applied to the tube. (If the load is a resistor and we want to operate the tube at a definite plate-to-cathode d.c. voltage, then the supply must furnish this plate voltage plus the drop which occurs because of the dc. plate current flow through the load resistor. The values of » and rp will then be those shown in the tube characteristics chart.) With a load in the plate eireuit, the equivalent a.c. plate voltage is divided between rp and R,." That portion of the a.c. plate voltage which is devel- oped across Ry is the useful portion of the signal voltage and can be applied to other circuits. *For example, let's suppose é, is 2 volts ; x is 10; 7, is 10,000 ohms; and R,, is 50,000 ohms, The voltage division will be in the ratio of Ry to the total (R, + 17) Te sistance, so the amplified signal voltage de- veloped across Ry, will be: Ru =X Be Wt 50, 9X2) X saa UDOT = 16.66 volts ‘Thus, in this case, the original 2-volt signal has produced a voltage of about 17 volts neross the load resistor. With a » of 10, the value of ué, is 20, but we can never get all this as there is always some loss across rp. The Basic Amplifying Stage Any amplifier, whatever its purpose, can be reduced to the simple circuit shown in Fig, 18, As shown here, the basic requirements for a tube amplifier are: 1, a signal source; 2, the proper operating voltages; 8, a load to which the signal is delivered. Signal Source. The signal source which feeds into the grid-cathode ter- minals of a tube may be any device capable of supplying the desired signal voltage. The basic operation of a tube stage will be the same regardless of the 13 source—whether the signal source is @ photoelectric cell, a microphone, or a television camera tube, or whether the signal is obtained from a preceding stage. Amplifier Load. The load is the device to which the tube delivers a copy of the voltage applied to the grid. As there must be a path for the d.c. supply voltage to the tube, the load (or a coupling part) will be a resistor, a coil, or a transformer. Supply Voltages. We have already _ eediscussed the importance of supply voltages in this and other lessons. The plate voltage and grid voltage are chosen to cause operation at the par- ticular point on the characteristic curve desired for that particular am- plifier. Under those conditions, the ap- plied signal will cause the proper vari- ation in the plate current to give the desired output voltage across the load. VOLTAGE AND POWER AMPLIFICATION Amplifiers can have one of two pur- poses: 1, if an amplifier makes the signal voltage across its load as large as possible (much larger than the grid signal voltage), it is called a voltage amplifier; or 2, if an amplifier makes the signal power in the load as large as possible, it is called a power amplifier. In this latter case, the a.c. load current multiplied by the a.c. load voltage should be as large as possible. Voltage amplifiers are needed to build up the strength of weak signals, C BATTERY 8 BATTERY BASIC AMPLIFIER STAGE FIG. 13. the proper volteger, this basie circuit can be made to. ft ANY AMPLIFIER USEL proper si while power amplifiers are needed to operate most reproducers and to build up the power at the transmitter to the desired level. The basic circuit shown in Fig. 18 will be the samt in either cuse—we can get either maxiraum sig- nal voltage or maximum signal power by the proper choice of a tube and by adjusting the value of the load. To see just how the load can have this effect, let’s go back to our equiva- lent circuit shown in Fig. 12B. To get the greatest voltage amplification, we T6000 2000 36060 wis —saG00 FIG. 14. These curv end power show th higher the the source imped. itput. 5000 AL-LOAD RESISTANCE IN OHMS 700 6500inns ene nenaaaaas want V, (i, times R,) to be as large as possible, while for power amplifica- tion we want the power absorbed by the load (V, times 7) to be as large as possible. To illustrate the effects of the load resistor, let’s assume that rp is 10,000 ohms, that » is 10, and the a.c, grid voltage is 1 volt. A.C, Plate Current. From Ohm’s Law, the a.c. plate voltage divided by the total a.c. resistance in the plate cir- cuit gives the a.c. plate current i,. (This a.c. plate eurrent is only a part of the total plate current—it is just the vari- ation caused by the signal. We are not interested in the d.c. current, so we ignore it.) By assuming different val- ues of I, and plotting the resulting plate current* we would get the curve A of Fig. 14. As we expect, increasing R,, (that is, inereasing the total re- sistance) causes i, to be reduced, A.C. Output Voltage. The load voltage is simply the product of i, and R,. By multiplying together these val- ues for each size of load resister, we will get curve B of Fig. 14. Although i, is decreased by larger values of R,, their product is increasingly larger— that is, Ry, increases faster than i, de- creases.* This voltage across Ry, is the output voltage; the larger Ry, is the larger the output voltage becomes. The true stage gain is equal to the output divided by the input, and since we chose an input *The ac. plate voltage is ue, and the total resistance is Ry + Tp, 0 R+r, tWe could arrive at the same result by remembering that the ac. plate voltage ue, divides between R, and the plate re- sisiance r,; as Ry, is increased, a greater part of the a.c. plate voltage 1s developed across it. In fact, we can calculate the load voltage for any particnlar input voltage from the relation : Vi = bey 15 grid voltage of 1 volt, in this particular ease the voltage V;, is equal to the true voltage amplification. * Power Output. The load power is the produet of i, and V.—the ac. plate current multiplied by the a.c. voltage across the load. By multiplying to- gether the values obtained on curves A and B of Fig. 14, we get curve C, which represents the load power for various values of load resistance. > There are a number of very impor- tant facts revealed by the three curves in Fig: 14. These are the points you should remember: 1, Effect of Load on A.C. Plate Current: The insertion of a load in the plate circuit of an amplifier tube decreases the a.c, plate current; the greater the ohmic value of the load, the less the current.t? Wher the plate load resistance is exactly equal to the a.c. plate resistanee, the a.c. plate cur- rent will be reduced to exactly half its no-load value (the value when Ry is not in the circuit) . 2. Effect of Load on Amplifica- tion: Increasing the plate load re- sistance increases the stage gain, so the maximum gain is obtained when Ry, is many times larger than 7,. The maxi- mum possible amplification is », the amplification factor of a tube, but this limit can never be reached in actual practice, since there is always some loss in voltage across r,. When R,, is equal to ry, only 50% or one-half the total possible amplification is obtained, and when R, is nine times the value of rp, about 90% of the maximum amplifica- tion is obtained. (Practical voltage amplifying stages using triode tubes usually have load values about 7 to 10 times the value of 75.) ttt is assumed chat the supply voltage is adjusted so the dc. plate-cathode volt- age and the d.c. plate current do not change,3. When Maximum Power is De- livered to the Load. The load in a triode tube amplifier gets the maxi- mum power when the resistance of the load is equal to the a.c. plate resistance of the tube; the power then decreases gradually as Ry is further increased. _ Thus, maximum power output is ob- tained when the load resistance equals or matches the a.c. plate resistance. > From this, you ean see that the value of plate load resistance used in a stage is important. In your service work, you will be ealled upon, many times to replace the part used as a load. Naturally, the replacement part should be approximately the same value as the original, although generally you ean How the effects of the power supply by @ by-pass condenser, use a somewhat higher value if an exact replacement part cannot be ob- tained. > Incidentally, maximum undistorted power output is not obtained with the same load value as is maximum power, as we shall see later, With triode tubes, distortion is less when the load value is about twice the a.c. plate resistance. Tube charts give load values for maxi- mum undistorted power output. BY-PASS CONDENSERS Returning to the circuit of Fig. 13, you will notice that condensers C, and Cz are connected across the batteries. Now, batteries have some internal re- sistance and, as they grow older, this resistance increases. Also, all power supplies (used in place of batteries) have considerable impedance. If the signal current has to flow through this impedance or resistance, several unde- sirable actions will occur. & Tho equivalent circuit containing this added resistance is shown in Fig. 185A, Obviously, the added Rg in- creases the total resistance, thus re- ducing ¢, and reducing the output volt- age (ip times Ry) across Ry, We can minimize this effect by con- necting a condenser C; across the power supply, as shown in Fig. 15B. By choosing a capacity large enough to have a very small reactance to the signal current, we find that the con- denser will act practically as a short circuit for signals around Rs, so that little signal energy is lost in Rs. We can then ignore Rs and ean consider the a.c. cireuit to be rp-Ru-Ci, with the opposition of C, so low that the circuit is, for all practical purposes, the same as was shown in Fig, 12B. (Of course, the condenser, if in good condition, does not pass appreciable d.c., so the d.c. operating voltages are still supplied to the tube through Ry in the usual manner.) Because C; of- fers another path for a.c. around the undesired path, it is called a by-pass condenser. & There is another reason for keeping the signals out of the power supply. Usually the power supply furnishes d.c, voltage to more than one stage. If we let signals get into the power supply, they may flow into the other stages powered by the supply. Such coupling is undesirable—it may cause squealing and howling, or it may reduce the gain; you will learn about this in later lessons. > Finally, we don’t want stray a.c. voltages to come from the supply, along with the desired dc. The same 16by-pass condenser helps here too. If we represent the unwanted a.c. in the supply by generator e in Fig. 16, you can see that there are two paths for its current; 1, through Rs-Ri-ry; and 2, through Rs-Cy. As C; has a low re- actance, it forms a filter with Rs, such that most of the undesired a.c. is dropped in Rs. Thus, the condenser again acts practically like an a.c. short circuit, reducing the a.c. voltage be- tween terminals 1 and 2 to the point where very little undesired current will flow through Ry andr». » These reasons for using a by-pass condenser across the power supply in the plate circuit also apply to the grid circuit, where a by-pass condenser gen- erally is used across the d.c. bias sup- ply. Condenser C; in Fig. 13 does not interfere with the d.c. bias supply, but does prevent a signal voltage drop across the supply; it also prevents any a.c. voltage in the bias supply from af- fecting the grid circuit. > Thus, by-pass condensers across op- erating voltage supplies serve three important purposes: 1, They prevent an undesirable lose of signal. 2 They prevent undesirable cou- pling between stages. 8. They prevent undesired signals from the power supply from get- ting into the amplifying stage. ® Should a by-pass condenser become defective, the stage operation is certain to be upset. If the condenser open-cir- cuits (perhaps because a lead pulls away from a foil plate), then the eon denser is in effect “not there.” We will consequently get. a loss of gain, unde- sirable coupling between stages, and perhaps hum or noise voltages from the power supply. On the other hand, if the condenser short-circuits, it will provide an unwanted path for d.c. This “short” would act like a direct wire connection between terminals 1 and 2 of Fig. 16, so it would remove alll d.c. plate voltage and cause a “dead” stage. SELF-BIAS The amplifier circuit in Fig. 13 shows a C battery as the grid bias sup- ply. However, if the radio is equipped @® sepP4Bliseo Sheek siewaL ‘SOURCE, FIG. 17. The tube can turnish its own C bias when thi current moving from 2 voltage drop across jon the grid and ths ‘acts as the bias. cathode, with a power pack so it can operate from a power line (as most sets are to- day), obviously we don’t want to have to use batteries too. While it is possible to obtain bias voltages from the power pack, it is not alwsys convenient to do so, particularly if the pack must sup- ply a number of different stages. 17The circuit shown in Fig. 17A makes it unnecessary to use any external source to furnish the proper d.c. bias voltage for the tube. In this circuit, the electron flow in the plate circuit is from the cathode of the tube to the plate, through Rz, through the plate power supply (B+ to B—), and then through resistor R: back to the cath- ode. Thus, the d.c. plate current must flow through Ry. This current flow through Ry pro- duces a d.c, voltage drop across it. ‘The polarity of this voltage drop will be as shown, because electrons enter the end of Ri connected to B—; this end of re- sistor Ry is, therefore, more negative than the other end. . This voltage is between the grid and cathode, because the grid return from the signal source connects to the nega- tive end of Ry, while the postive end of Rx is connected to the cathode. In other words, the d.c, voltage across Ry makes the grid more negative than the cathode. This is exactly what a C bat- tery or other bias supply does. Effectively, with this circuit, the tube biases itself—since its own d.c. plate current furnishes the bias volt- age, which in turn sets the plate cur- rent! That’s why such an arrangement is called self-bias. Service hint: the proper value of resistor R; is rather easy to determine, as the normal d.c. plate current and the required grid bias voltage are known from the tube chart characteristics. By dividing the grid bias voltage by the plate current (in amperes), we get the value of Ry. & 1! we did not use by-pass condenser Cu, there would be an a.c. voltage drop across Ry just as there was across Rs in Fig. 15. (The equivalent circuit in Fig. 17B shows this more cleariy.) Such a drop is undesirable both be- cause it will reduce the output across R,, and because it will be introduced into the grid cireuit (since the voltage across R, acts on the grid). Therefore, R, is usually by-passed by a condenser such as Cin Fig. 174. If by-pass condenser Cy open-cir- cuits, the stage gain will be reduced. If it short-circuits, the bias voltage will be removed; this will cause a high d.c. plate current and operation on the wrong part of the characteristic curve. Compare this with what you just learned about the effects of an open or a short in the by-pass condenser across the plate supply. Notice — although the two condensers serve much the same purposes, defects in them may have quite different effects on the set. Typical Amplifying Circuits While all amplifiers are basically alike, there are differences between them — differences in the methods of coupling into the grid cireuit, in the signal source used in the grid cireuit, and in the types of plate loads. The ex- act circuit depends upon the use to which the tube is put; whether, for example, it is to amplify low-frequency intelligence signals or high-frequency 18 carrier signals, or is to be used in tele- vision or in sound systems. Suppose we now briefly introduce you to some typical amplifiers, which you will study fully in your next few lessons. RESISTANCE-CAPACITANCE COUPLING Fig, 18 shows an amplifier circuit that is frequently found in audio or neSET _— = \ { | | video frequency amplifiers (intelli- gence signal amplifiers similar to 2 or N of Fig. 1) Resistors and condensers are used to couple (connect) this stage to the stages before it and after it, so it is called a “resistance-capacitance cou- pled amplifier.” As you can see, the d.ec. plate voltage is obtained from the B supply in the usual way. The stage is self-biased by resistor Rz. By-pass condensers Cz and Cy have already been explained. When an input signal is applied to terminals J and 2, the a.c. portion of this signal will pass through condenser Ci and develop a voltage across re- sistor Ry. If there is also a d.c. voltage between terminals 1 and 2, condenser C, will prevent this d.c. component from entering the stage. Thus, C and R, form a filter, blocking any d.c. volt- age which may be between terminals 1 and 2, but passing on the a.c. signal. (The dc. blocking is necessary to pre- vent interference with the bias—the dc. voltage from the previous stage could force the grid highly negative or highly positive, and thus cause opera- tion at some undesirable point on the tube characteristic.) The varying ac. signal voltage across R; is alternately added to and subtracted from the bias voltage pro- duced by Re. This produces an a.c. variation in plate current, whieh in turn produces an amplified copy of the Genel voltage across the load resistor 2: The voltage across Rs is passed through another filter, C4-Rs, which passes on only the ac. signal and blocks the d.c. voltage in the plate cir- cuit from the following stage. Notice that condensers Cy and Cy serve to isolate the stage. On the input, side, C, prevents any external d.c. voltage from interfering with the grid circuit and, on the output side, C, pre- vents the plate operating voltage from causing an undesirable action in any following stage or device. P In case you're not sure how an ac. voltage gets across Ry from Rs, notice the ground connections. You can trace a complete circuit (for a.c. only) from Ry to Cs, Ca to Ri, Ry to ground, ground to Cs, and from Cs back to Rs. RESISTANGE-GAPACITANGE COUPLING FIG. 18, This ba the most commonly used type of audio amplifier. Thus, any a.c. voltage appearing across Re is applied to R, through condensers Cs and C,. In effect, these condensers place R, in parallel with Rg insofar as a.c. is concerned. Very many radio circuits are com- pleted in this manner through ground connections, so remember—when you are tracing a circuit, don’t stop when you meet a ground connection; trace from the other end of the source until you come to ground again. You can consider that all grounded points are connected just as if wires were run between them. > However, just because ground points are connected together, don’t make the mistake of thinking of cur- rents as wandering about aimlessly. Currents only flow in complete circuits because of the voltages in those cir- cuits. Thus, in Fig. 18, the current flow from R, will be through Cs; it will not flow through R; as there is no path 19from the grid end of R, to the B+ end of Ra. LOW-FREQUENCY (AUDIO) TRANSFORMER COUPLING Another amplifying circuit is shown in Fig. 19. Here, resistor R, furnishes the self-bias and C; is the by-pass con- denser preventing any appreciable sig- ‘nal voltage drop across this resistor. Condenser C2 by-passes the B supply. The grid circuit is completed through the secondary S of transformer Ty, while the plate circuit of the tube is completed through the primary P of transformer T's. When an a.c. signal is applied to ter- minals 1 and @, the resulting current flow through primary P of transformer 7, sets up 8 varying flux which induces former T;. This current flow produces a flux change which induces another {but similar) voltage in the secondary winding. This acts as the input signal for the tube, which varies the plate cur- rent of the tube. In turn, this plate current flow through the primary of transformer T, causes a flux change which induces a final voltage in the secondary S of this transformer. Thus, while the original voltage applied to terminals 1 and 2 gets no farther than the primary of transformer 7, succes- sive “carbon copies” are produced by each transformer and by the tube; finally, an amplified copy of the orig- inal signal can be abtained from ter- minals 3 and 4. » The transformers act as “isolators” like the condensers C, and C, of Fig. an a.c. voltage in the secondary S of 18, in that d.c. has no influence on their secondary circuits. Basically, there- fore, we use d.c, to get proper tube op- eration, but then we usually separate the signal from the d.e. before passing 4 “AUDIO FREQUENCY TRANSFORMER COUPLING FIG, 19. Transformer coupling is employed when high gain is desired, as you will learn later. this transformer. This a.c. voltage is between the grid and cathode of the tube, and produces a varying plate current. The plate current variation must pass through the primary P of trans- former 7's. This produces a flux change in this transformer, and so induces a voltage in the secondary S which can be applied to a reproducer system or to another stage P Notice the voltage changes which take place. One voltage causes a cur- rent to flow in the primary of trans- 20 it along. R.F. AMPLIFIER STAGES ‘The low-frequency amplifier shown in Fig. 19 uses laminated iron-core transformers, which cannot be used at frequencies higher than about 15,000 cycles per second. RF. carrier fre- quencies are far higher than this, so air-core or powdered-iron core trans- formers must be used in r.f. amplifiers. A typical circuit for an r.f. amplifier stage is shown in Fig. 20. It is customary to tune radio fre- quency transformers so that the ampli- fier stage will give both amplification and selectivity. Condensers Cy and Cs in Fig. 20 are variable condensers which are used to tune Lz and Lg (re- spectively) to some desired radio fre- quency. Let’s see what effect the addi- tion of these condensers has on opera- tion of the circuit.An rf. voltage applied to terminals 1 and 2 causes a current flow in Ly which sets up a varying flux. This in- duces in coil Ly a voltage which acts as if it were in series with this coil. Hence, the tuned circuit Ly-C; is series resonant (has minimum impedance) for the frequency to which the cireuit is tuned. If the voltage induced in Le is of the resonant frequency, it will undergo R.F_AMPLIFIER CIRCUIT FIG, 20. This tuned amplifier cir: asa tinf. stage, resonant voltage step-up and appear across C, in amplified form®; if it is not of the resonant frequeney, it. will appear across Cy, but will not be much amplified by the action of the resonant circuit. Thus, if the signal applied to terminals 1 and 2 consists of a mixture of several frequencies, only the reso- nant-frequency voltage will appear across C; in greatly amplified form (though voltages with frequencies near ‘*Remember, the action of a series reso- pant clreult in stepping up 2 voltage 1s as follows: The coil and condenser together have a resonant frequency at which their reactances cancel each other; when the voltage induced in the coll is at this resonant frequency, a large a.c. current flows in the resonant cireult. This a.c. eur- rent naturally produces a large a.c. voltage drop across the coil and another aeross the condenser, as each one alone has a high a.e, reactance, The resulting voltage across either the coil or the condenser Is therefore many times greater than the original in- duced voltage. the resonant frequency may be slightly amplified). The rf. voltage developed across Cy is between the grid and the cathode, so it causes a varying plate current through Ls, which in turn induces a voltage in Ly. Again there is a series resonant, circuit (Ly-C4); and again the resonant-frequency voltage will appear across the condenser (C4) in amplified form. ‘This voltage can be passed on to the next stage for further amplification. ‘Thus, this r.f. amplifier has variable gain: it amplifies the resonant frequency signal much more than other signals. We can (and, in fact, do) use such a circuit as a sélec- tor as well as an amplifier. When we tune its two resonant circuits to some desired frequency, signals of that fre- quency will receive far more amplifi- cation than will signals of other fre- queneies which may be present in the input to the amplifier. In other words, the circuit will select signals of the desired frequency. > Fig, 20 looks very much like Fig. 19. However, the use of air-core trans- formers (instead of laminated iron- core transformers) and the fact that tuning condensers are used tell us that this is an r.f. circuit exclusively; air- core transformers and tuning con- densers are not used in a.f. stages. > An interesting variation of this cir- cuit can be had by using C, to tune Lz instead of Ly. This would form a parallel resonant circuit in the plate circuit which would offer maximum impedance at its resonant frequency but far less impedance at other fre- quencies. In other words, at the reso- nant frequency the load resistance js a maximum—which, as you have learned, means that the stage gain will be highest at this particular frequency. As a result, the greatest possible amount of the signal voltage will be 21 § i ; 5 i‘ecognited in two way: fed: A, 110 volt a. developed across Ls at the resonant frequency. Again we have a selective circuit which provides maximum gain at the resonant frequency, but less gain at other frequencies. > Naturally, the coil and condenser combination in each of these circuits must be properly chosen so that their L-C values will give resonance at the desired’ frequency. It is possible to is a photograph of the chassis of a six-tube ry the types of tub loads. [You will learn more about this in other lessons. ine cord: B, power transformer: & ovelator 9 parts a filter conde: , condensers: |, first cond detector (called the demodulator) ¢N. power amplifas tube: 0. loudesealer cable, change the frequency to which the cir cuit is resonant (or, as radio men say, to “tune” the circuit) by varying the tuning condensers C, and Cy in step. > We have given you this brief intro- duction to amplifiers to show you how similar they are, even though they are designed to perform different jobs. You are going to study the details of these cireuits in the next few lessons.Tubes as Signal Generators and as Signal Mixers © The amplifying stages we have dis- cussed so far have been purely relaying devices. Each has taken a signal from the signal source, made an enlarged copy of it, and passed it. along to an- other stage. The signal itself has not been changed, except that it has been made larger. There are stages which perform other functions instead of amplifying, or in addition to amplifying. We now will discuss several of these briefly, so you will see the important parts they play. THE OSCILLATOR The radio stage we call an oscillator is the stage in which an rf. signal is generated. This signal is an a.c. volt- age which varies between positive and negative values just like the a.c. volt- age in your power line. In fact, the only differences between power line voltages and rf, voltages are in their voltage values and frequencies. Essentially, here is how an oscillator works, As you know, an a.c. grid volt- age in an amplifier stage causes af a.c. plate current. This current produces an a.c. voltage drop across the load which is an amplified version of the grid signal voltage. To make such an amplifier into an oscillator, all we need do is to feed part or all of this a.c. load voltage back into the grid circuit with the proper phase. Then the a.c, load voltage will act as a grid signal, which in turn will cause more a.c. load volt- age. and so on. An oscillator, in other words, is simply an amplifier which supplies its own grid signal from its plate circuit. A typical oscillator cireuit is shown in Fig. £1. Here, the a.c. plate current flowing through the feedback coil Lr produces an a.c. flux. ‘This flux links with Ly, inducing a corresponding a.c. voltage in it (much as if Ly were the primary and I, the secondary of a transformer). The grid voltage thus developed is fed to the grid (through the parallel R,-C, combination, the function of which we will discuss shortly) and there produces a con- tinuation of the plate current varia- tions, which in turn keeps the grid volt~ age changing! Obviously, this action can keep on indefinitely, once it gets started. But how does it start? Because of the Ly-C; circuit, all we need do is to -cause some change in plate current. The act of turning on the circuit (applying operating volt- ages) is sufficient. The rise in plate current as the tube warms up will cause a pulse to be induced in L, from Ly. From here, the resonant circuit takes charge and controls the oscil- lator. The initial pulse of energy causes a current flow which charges the con- denser Cy, Then, when no further energy is induced, C; discharges through Ly. Electrons flow from the condenser with a rush at first, then, as the condenser voltage drops, the dis- In other charge current decreases. FEEDBACK OccuRS HERE € Pe bs FIG. 21, A basic excillator circuit. i |words, the condenser discharge pro- duces a varying current through the coi]. And, as you know, a coil opposes cbanges in the current flow through it. ‘Therefore, when the condenser tries to discharge through the coil, energy is stored in the magnetic field of the coil. When the electron movement has caused the condenser voltage to reduce to zero, the current flow would tend to stop. However, now, the coil field collapses and keeps the current flowing in the same direction as it was going. This results in the condenser being charged up again, this time with the opposite polarity. rents smaller physical! When the magnetic field is com- pletely collapsed, the condenser will try again to make current flow through the circuit, this time in the opposite direction. ‘Thus, if a pulse of energy is fed into the circuit, an oscillatory (back and forth) electron flow will toke place in the L1-C; circuit. This oscillating current flow keeps reversing the polarity with which con- denser C; is charged. In fact, it follows a sine-wave pattern, with a frequency which is equal to the resonant fre- quency of the L;-C; cirouit. Thus, our resonant circuit is able to convert the initial pulse of energy into a sine-wave voltage. If there were no resistance in the circuit, current oscillations would keep on indefinitely. However, any prac- tical circuit always has resistance in the coil and leads. Current flow through this resistance produces power losses (IR) which rapidly reduce the amplitude of the current oscillations. This is where the tube comes in. The sine-wave voltage across C; controls the plate current, which in turn induces pulses of energy from Ly into L; at just the right time to keep oscillations go- ing. This feedback makes up for the power lost in the resistance of the reso- nant circuit, so the oscillations are maintained. > We can make use of the a.c. power produced in the oscillator circuit Ly-C, by placing a coil Ly near coil Ly. A sine-wave voltage will then be induced in Ly. which we can feed to other cir- cuits, where it can be used as an input signal. Automatic Bias. Perhaps the easi- est way to see why Ry and C, are used in the grid circuit is to imagine what would happen if they were not present and the C; voltage were fed directly to the grid. ‘Then, when the a.c. voltage across the condenser went through its positive alternation, the grid would be- come higbly positive and a large plate current would flow. In fact, under these conditions, a high-power tube could actually pass enough current to melt the tube elements. R, and C, sup- ply a bias voltage which keeps the grid voltage low enough to prevent thia action. When the grid is driven positive by the voltage across C;, grid current, will flow because the grid will attract some of the electrons emitted by the cathode. This grid current flow develops a volt- age across R, with the polarity shown in Fig. £1. This voltage charges up 244 condenser C,. When the Ly-C; circuit drives the grid negative, the grid electron flow stops, but condenser C, now partially discharges through R,. This discharge current replaces the grid current and maintains the voltage across 2, prac- tically constant. Then, on the next positive swing, Cy is recharged, and events repeat themselves. This is called an automatic bias. It is another form of self-bias; here the grid current flow produces the bias, while in those circuits we studied earlier the plate current flow produced the bias. (1) as the generator of the carrier wave in a transmitter; (2) as the local oscil- lator in a superheterodyne receiver; and (8) as a test signal generator used by servicemen. These are all rf. oscil- lators, Audio oscillators are used mostly in test and measuring equip- ment. > This is by no means the only oseil- lator circuit. You'll find many others in later lessons. But while these oscil- lators are different in some respects— some to the extent that they produce sawtooth or square waves instead of sine waves—they are alike in being 7a) ct, This layout The positions of the stagi there will always be relatively used for adjusting the 3, the functions of th gives: | SAT fi 6SK7 if. frequen jerter); 3, 85Q7 second detector (demodulator) and Rist af. tube: 5, a 6F6G output tube: 5Y3G rectifier tube. nt in each radio, but ‘short signal paths from stage to stage, - Oscillator Uses. With the oseil- lator we've described, we could pro- duce sine-wave voltages of almost any frequency we desire—from audio to radio frequencies—merely by using the proper values of inductance and ca- pacitance in the tuned circuit. The chief radio uses of oscillators are: 25 amplifiers which supply their own grid signals, MODULATED AMPLIFIERS Now that we know how a carrier signal can be generated, let us see how we can modulate it with an intelligence signal. (This is accomplished in sec-tion C in Fig. 1.) At this point in your Course, we won’t give a detailed Giseussion of the circuits used for mod- ulation, but-you should learn the es- sentials of the process.. And, the method used determines the kind of demodulator necessary in a recerver. There are two systems now in wide use; we shail describe both briefly, > In one important method of modu- lation, the amplitude (the strength) of the carrier is varied by the intelligence signal, This method—called amplitude modulation (or a.m.)—is used in the standard broadcast stations, in the majority of commercial stations, and for the video television signal. ® Another method is to have the in- telligence signal vary -the frequency of the carrier. This frequency modu- lation (f.m.) is used for the sound por- tion of a television program, and for broadcasts on the very high frequen- cies. In particular, it is used for some police radio and other special services where its unique freedom from atmos- pheric and man-made interference makes frequency modulation highly desirable. Amplitude Modulation. Fig. 224 represents an unmodulated carrier which has a constant amplitude NV. We want this carrier to be varied in ampli tude by the audio signal shown in Fij 22B. In other words, we want to pro- duce an r.f, signal like that shown in Fig. 22C, where the amplitude of the carrier varies as the audio signal varies. (Actually there are hundreds of rf. cycles to each modulation eycle. We can’t show them all in this drawing.) A simple way to get this action is to feed the carrier into the grid cireuit of an rf. amplifier, and to arrange the amplifier so that the intelligence signal can vary its plate voltage. With no intelligence signal, the plate current pulses follow the r.f. variations; the amplitudes of these pulses are hxed by the operating voltages. When an intelligence signal is ap- plied, its positive alternations will add to the dc. plate voltage, while its negative alternations subtract from the d.c. voltage. ‘Thus, the plate volt- age is varied up and down. You know that the amount of plate current de- pends on the plate voltage, sv you can see that this variation forces the piate current to vary. Thus, the rf. pulses are made larger and smaller, accord- ill = TANT AMPLITUDE MoouLaTeD ‘CARRIER FIG. 22. When the carrier at A is modulated by the audio signal, B, the rosult can be represented by C. ing to the intelligence signal varia- tions. Frequency Modulation. In fre- quency modulation, the amplitude of the carrier is unchanged, but its fre- quency is varied. This is quite differ- ent from amplitude modulation. ‘The carrier signal is just like the carrier used in an a.m, system, but the “carrier” frequency is known as the resting frequency; it is the frequency radiated when there is no modulation. Suppose we modulate the resting signal with an intelligence signal. Our 26sere (2m | ea, ee BERERS | AES | LAU tl tnt WT FIG. 23: A fundamental reprosontation of a frequency-modulated wave. fm. eireuit then produces an output which consists of a signal of constant amplitude that varies in frequency. The frequency increases when the in- telligence signal cycle is positive, and decreases when it is negative; the amount of inerease or decrease from the normal value depends upon the amplitude of the intelligence signal (the greater the amplitude, the greater the frequency change). Fig. 28 shows this process in a sirm- plified form. The resting frequency is represented at 1. When modulated by an intelligence signal of medium- strength, the frequency changes up and down as shown at 2, 8, 4, and 6. A stronger intelligence signal causes a wider frequency change, as shown by 6,7, 8, and 9. (These represent peak values.) > To cum up: in an fn. system, the rate at which the carrier frequency changes corresponds to the intelligence frequency, while the amount of carrier frequency change depends on the am- plitude of the intelligence signal. P The actual circuits used for fre- quency modulation contain a number of stages and are rather elaborate. However, their fundamental operation can be shown by Fig. 24. This is the circuit of an oscillator which generates a carrier signal at a frequency determined by the tuned circuit L;-C,. Condenser C; isattached to ® microphone go its capacitance can be varied by movements of the micro- phone diaphragm. When no sound waves are striking the microphone dia- phragm, the condenser has a normal or resting value, and the oscillator will produce an rf, earrier at a frequency known as the “resting” frequency. When sound waves strike the micro- phone M, the diaphragm is moved back and forth. This varies the capacity of C; and so varies the resonant frequency of the L-C, circuit. This, in turn, varies the output frequeney of the os- cillator—in other words, gives us a fre- quency-modulated carrier. This is a crude example, but it does show the es- sentials of this system of modulation. FREQUENCY CONVERTERS The frequency converter, which combines two different radio frequen- TT EE MIGROPHONE FIG. 24. This simple circuit shows ono possible way of frequency-modulating an oscillator. Of course, practical circuits are far more complex 27WIXER- FIRST DETECTOR Fie. 25. irst detector stag. incoming signal is mixed and combined local oscillator signal. The result is « new frequency krown es the Intermediate frequency. In the mi the the cies to form a third frequency, is a very important section of a superheterodyne receiver. You will recall that this is the section which takes the incoming sig- nal and combines it with a signal from a local oscillator so that they produce an intermediate frequency (i.f.). This frequency conversion takes place in a mixer-first detector circuit like that shown in Fig. 26, The name of the stage comes from the fact that two rf. voltages (the incoming carrier and the output of the local oscillator) are fed into the grid circuit, where they mix, and from the fact that the C bias voltage is adjusted so it causes plate current cut-off, which makes this a special form of class B amplifier called a detector. If the tube were a perfect amplifier, its plate current would be just a mix- ture of the signals fed to the grid of the tube. However, by using the charac- teristics of a detector (to be fully ex- plained elsewhere), we find that the plate current pulsations contain not only the two original signals but also frequencies equal to the sum of, and the difference between, these two. This difference-frequency component is the if. we want, so we tune the resonant circuit Ls-C4 in Fig. 25 to this differ- ence frequency, thereby making the stage output consist almost solely of if. voltage. This same action occurs on both a.m. and f.m. signals, because the modulations are just transferred to the new i-f. carrier. The Diode in While all the circuits we have dis- cussed so far use tubes with control grids, diode tubes (which have only a cathode and a: plate) are also used widely in radio—particularly as recti- fiers in power packs and as detectors for separating the intelligence signal from the if. signal. Let’s touch briefly on each of these important uses. POWER PACK CIRCUITS The power pack of an a.c.-operated radio or television apparatus is used to convert the a.c. line voltage to the var- Radio Systems ious a.c. and d.c. voltages required by the apparatus. The power pack in the average su- perheterodyne receiver (as well as in the average transmitter) has four im- portant. components: 1, The power transformer, which changes the a.c. line voltage to a higher a.c. value for the rectifier tube, and to lower a.c. values for the filaments of all tubes in the apparatus. 2. The rectifier tube, which converts the stepped-up a.c. voltage into a-pul- sating dic. voltage. 283. The filter section, which smooths out or filters the variations in the pul- sting d.c. voltage. 4. The voltage divider, which divides the resulting d.c. voltage into the var- ious values required by the grids and plates of individual tubes. > A basie power pack, similar to those used in superheterodyne receivers, is shown in Fig. 26. Let us learn a little more about the purpose of each part. windings are used for each voltage ‘Thus, when 110 volts a.c. are sup- plied to primary P; in Fig. 26, sec- ondary S; provides 440 volts a.c.; sec- ondary S2 provides volts a.c. for the diode rectifier tube filament; secondary S; provides 6.3 volts a.0, across ter- minals z and y for the filaments of all other tubes in the receiver. The Rectifier Tube. The simplest and easiest way of converting a.c. into SOWER PACK: - Fe POWER Tenor ecru outage —| wider oBttt WU wormee © Witace Oyeaaet © youn A TUBE FIG, 26. A simple power supply (There is a complete lesson on power supplies later in your Course.) The Power Transformer. The voltage induced in each secondary winding will depend upon the number of turns in the winding. If the sec- ondary has more turns than the pri- mary, its voltage will be higher than the primary voltage; if the secondary has fewer turns than the primary, its voltage will be lower. If different volt- ‘ages are required, separate secondary Uff) 7 Zi ©current © vourace Sarooce yy, i, yy @younce Ovomce Gover AEROSS ACROSS across SVOUIAGES ci 2 3 using a diode tube as a rectifier. pulsating d.c. is by means of a diode, as you learned in a previous lesson. This tube allows electrons to flow from its cathode K to its plate P when the a.c. voltage makes the plate positive, but completely blocks the flow of electrons when the a.c, voltage reverses polarity. Thus, if the voltage across P; is repre- sented by gfaph A and the voltage across S; is represented by B, the cur- rent through the diode tube is repre- sented by C. — saaThe Filter Section. The plate cur- rent flowing through the diode rectifier tube is varying or pulsating: as you have learned, this means that it con- tains a d.c. component plus one or more a,c. components. Since we want only the d.c. for our tube plates and grids, we use a low-pass filter to remove the a.c. components. The chokes offer lit- tle opposition to d.c., but Li-C2 and Lz-Cy form voltage dividers for a.c., in which most of the a.c. is dropped across the high-reactance chokes rather than across the low-reactance condensers. The exact manner. of fil- tering, and the special action of C; will be covered fully in later lessons on power supplies. However, notice that graphs D, E, and F show that the re~ sult, is a progressive reduction in a.c., leaving a relatively pure dc. voltage across Cy, The Voltage Divider. The output voltage at Cs may be too high for many of the tubes, so a resistor, having taps or terminals along it, is sometimes con- nected across the output of the filter to divide the d.c. voltage. The arrange- ment is shown in Fig. 26 and the volt- age division is represented at G. It is customary, when a power pack has several output voltages, to mark B+ on the circuit diagram at the terminal which has the lowest positive voltage; the next higher voltage is indicated by B++4+, the next by B+-++, and so on. AMPLITUDE DEMODULATORS A typical a.m. demodulator stage is shown in Fig. 274. This corresponds to the demodulator stage M in Fig. 1, and is the place where the intelligence signal is separated from the i.f. carrier. (You will recall that the intelligence signal was transferred from the orig- inal r.f. carrier to the i.f. carrier in the mixer-first detector stage.) In an amplitude-modulated system, the modulated i.f. fed into the demodu- lator stage has a form like that in Fig. 27B. The envelope of the high-fre- quency voltage — that is, the dotted Tines drawn through the peaks of the if voltage—represents the intelli- gence signal we want. There are ac- tually two envelopes in this diagram, one drawn through the positive peake and the other through the negative peaks. We want either one but not D: VOLTAGE VOLTAGE ACROSS Cp ACROSS Ito commonly used as both, since the two are just opposite. If we attempted to send both into some reproducer they would cancel one an- other and produce no net effect. ‘Therefore, we apply the modulated if to the diode circuit shown in Fig. 27A. The diode does not permit cur- rent flow during the negative alterna- tions of the voltage, so the output of the tube consists of only half of the modulated if. (Fig. 27C). Remember, now—what we actually want is just the peak voltage of these half-cycle pulses. Therefore, we feed the diode output into condenser Ca. During each half-cycle that the tube 30conduets, condenser Cz charges rap- idly to the full peak voltage of the pulse; during the rest of the cycle, when the tube is not conducting, Cz discharges through resistor R1. How- ever, R, is made so large that Cy is able to discharge only small amount be- fore the next pulse comes along and charges it up again. Therefore, the voltage across Cy (Fig. 27D) remains at or very near the peak voltage of the modulated i.f, pulses all the time. Since Cz is in parallel with resistor R,, the voltage across R, (Fig. 27E) also re- “mains just about at the modulation peaks—in other words, the voltage across Ry is the intelligence signal we want. FREQUENCY DISCRIMINATORS The “detector” or “demodulator” for a frequency modulated signal has another function, in addition to that just described. As you learned earlier, frequency modulation changes the am- plitude variations of the original in- telligence signal into a frequency shange. This produces a signal which varies in frequency but has a constant amplitude (Fig. 23). We must convert the frequency variation back into an amplitude change before we ean re- claim the original intelligence signal. The processes of conversion and de- modulation both occur in a single stage known as a frequency discriminator, Before we study the circuit, let's review one more fact about resonant circuits, ° Resonance Curves. You know that an L-C resonant circuit responds best to a signal that has the frequency to which it is resonant—in fact, it ac- tually “amplifies” or steps up such a signal. However, this does not mean that a resonant cireuit excludes signals of other frequencies. It responds best to the frequency to which it is tuned, 31 but it will respond somewhat to nearby frequencies, with its response becoming less and less the farther away from resonance we go. This fact is shown by what is called a “resonance curve,” which shows the response of the circuit to the resonant frequency and to other nearby fre- quencies, A typical curve is shown in Fig. 28. The scale at the left represente the response of a circuit which is tuned to 100 ke. This is indicated by the fact that this is the highest point on the curve, In this ease, 100 ke. signals would receive @ step-up of 30. Other frequencies are also stepped up, though not as much: frequencies of 90 and 110 ke. are stepped up by a factor of 15, while frequencies of 80 and 120 ke. are stepped up only about 3 each. Let’s see how we can use this vari- able step-up effect of d resonant circuit FIG. 28, The response curve of a resonant circuit. to convert frequency variations into amplitude variations. Frequency Discrimination. One kind of frequency discriminator cireuit is chown in Fig. 294. The circuit Ls-C1 is tuned to the i.f. “carrier” or resting signal, but responds well to frequencies on both sides of this value. The input signal induces voltages in both La and _ 4La, thus causing electrons to flow through diodes VT, and VT. Since electrons move only from the cathode to the plate, electrons flowing through V's come upward through re- sistor Ry, producing across this resistor a voltage drop with the polarity shown. Similarly, electrons flowing through VT, move downward through resistor Ry; the voltage drop across this re- sistor is therefore of opposite polarity from that across resistor Ry. The resonant cirouit M (La-C2) is ee TLedrnows orcut ‘i oircur f FREGUENCY IN MC, 39 FIG. 29. One type of f.m. discriminator. tuned to a frequency somewhat lower than Ly-Cy, while N (Ls-C) is tuned to a frequency somewhat higher. If the frequency of 4 me, in Fig. £9B represents the Ly-Cy resonance fre- quency, then 3.9 me. may represent the resonance frequency of M, and 4.1 me that of N. Hence, neither M not N is tuned to favor the center frequency, although both pass it along toa certain extent. The circuits are adjusted so that, at the resting frequency, the voltages ap- 32 plied to VT, and VT are equal, and equal currents flow through Ry and Rs. ‘As these are equal resistances, their voltage drops are equal, and, since their voltage drops are opposite in polarity (see Fig. 294), there is NO VOLTAGE between terminals X and Y when only the resting frequency is fed into this stage. > Now let us suppose the signal fre- quency is rhodulated so that it swings from 4 to 3.9, back through 4 to 4.1, then back toward 3.9, ete. ‘As the frequency approaches 3.9. more voltage will be developed by M. This causes larger voltages to be ap- plied to VT; larger currents result and produce larger voltages across Ry. At the same time, the signal is moving away from the resonant frequency of N, 80 less voltage is being applied to VT. The resulting smaller current produces less voltage across Rp. Hence, for this swing, the voltage across Ry increases while that across Rz de- creases. The two voltages no longer cancel one another, so a net voltage (equal to the difference between them) appears between terminals X and Y. For example, suppose the Ry and Re voltages are initially 50 volts each, and cancel exactly. On the swing just de- seribed, the R voltage may go up to 90 volts and the R; voltage may go down to 10 volts. The difference is 90 minus 10 or 80 volts, which will appear between X and Y. Terminal X will be positive, as the polarity will be that of the voltage across resistor Ry. > When the swing reverses toward 4.1 me. exactly the reverse action occurs. Now, N develops the larger voltage, VT passes the larger current, and the drop across Ry is larger than that across Ry. This reverses the polarity of the difference voltage existing across X and Y, since the polarity now is that of the voltage across Rs.Summary: A signal, shifting in modulation; inthis like the diode frequency, is introduced into thie detector fscussed for ampli- stage. The frequency variations pro- duce a varying voltage across ter- minals X and Y. Smal) frequency changes produce smal} voltages, as fre- quencies near 4 me, do not “climb” as high on the Lz-Cz and Ls-Cs resonance curves. Larger changes, out to the lim- ita set by the resonance points (3.9 and 4.1 in Fig. 29B), produce larger voltages. Thus, we have a circuit which produces an amplitude veciation) from a varying frequency signal. —"~” tude-modulated systems. The diodes VT; and VT; rectify the rf. signal, while condensers C, and Cy reproduce the modulation peaks. Thus, the orig- inal intelligence signal appears across terminals X and Y. > Remember, we don’t expect you to grasp all the details of operation of these circuits from the brief descrip- tions we've given! This has been just a preview of what you'll be studying in your coming lessons—we are introduc- ‘ircuit also gives us de-.) ing you to practical radio stages. A Complete Superheterodyne Receiver Circuit To shew you how the stages you have studied are used in a modern ra- dio receiver, we have sketched a basic amplitude-modulation type superhet- erodyne circuit in Fig. 30. (This same circuit would do for f.m. if the second detector were changed to a discrim- inator circuit and the resonant circuits were arranged for the proper frequen- cies. A television receiver is also sim- ilar, but there would be differences in the tuned circuits and in the output stage, as well as in the reproducer.) Let’s go through its operation briefly, ‘a8 a summary of what you've learned in this lesson. >The antenna system intercepts many different modulated r-f. signals, causing modulated r.f. currents to flow in coil Ly. A number of signals are in- duced in coil Le, but only the signal at the resonant frequency of Le-C will undergo the full resonance step-up. Thus, the resonant circuit serves as a preselector which partially separates the desired signal from all others. The desired signal and such others as get through this resonant cireait then are applied to tube V7';. This tube is a class A amplifier, and its plate current variations through coil Ly induce a voltage in Ly. The whole stage acts as a combination preselector and r.f. am- plifier, Resonant circuit Ly-C, is tuned to the same frequency as [»-C2 and serves to separate signals further. Again resonance step-up occurs in this circuit at the desired frequency. (While other frequencies may be get- ting through, they are not being stepped up as much and so are rapidly being “swamped” or drowned out by the desired signal.) > At the same time, tube V7. in an oscillator circuit is producing a fre- quency which is higher in value than the incoming carrier frequency, The oscillator tuning condenser Cy, which is operated by the same shaft as tuning condensers Cz and Cy, is adjusted so that the oscillator frequency alwaysdiffers from the desired incoming sig- nal by a chosen amount—the i.f. value. The coil Ly provides the necessary feed-back action in this oscillatory circuit. Then, coil Lio couples the o8- cillating cireuit Li1-Cr1 to the input or grid-cathode circuit of tube VT. > The oscillator and desired input sig- nals are mixed in this mixer-first de- tector stage, producing the modulated if. signal (as well as signals of various other frequencies) in the plate circuit of VT. The resonant circuit Ls-Cy is tuned to the intermediate frequency, and so maximum voltage is induced in coil Le at this frequency. Resonant circuit Le-C¢ is also tuned to the i-f, value. It assists in separating this particular intermediate frequency from among any others that mav be produced by the mixer-first detector tube. & The if. amplifier tube VT, is a voltage amplifier, delivering maximum signals to the parallel resonant circuit L;-C7, which is also tuned to the if. value; thus, maximum i.f. signals are transferred to Ls-Ce. a By now, the combined selective ef- fects of all these circuits should have made the desired signal so much larger than any other signals that little or no interference can occur. We get most of our selectivity in the i.f. amplifier; earlier selector circuits are used prin- cipally to keep down certain kinds of interference caused by signals far re- moved from the one desired. > The signal is now applied to the sec- ond detector; here it is rectified by diode V7, which, together with con- denser C14, causes the intelligence sig- nal to appear across resistor Ry. > The intelligence signal variations across Ry are then passed through Cas, appearing across resistor R in the grid circuit of V's. This voltage amplifier then develops an amplified intelligence signal across R:, which is transferred to the grid of VT; through Cx. This last tube is arranged to deliver power to the reproducer, which is a loud- speaker in this diagram. (Of course, this were a television set, the repro- ducer would be a television image- reconstructor tube.) > A power supply circuit using lube VT; is also shown in this diagram, As you see, this power supply is exactly like the one previously discussed in this lesson. Fig. 30 thus shows all the basic cir- cuits you will find in a superheterodyne receiver intended for an amplitude modulated signal. Of course, this 1s a simplified diagram; actual sets usually have variations from these basic cir- cuits which give certain desired ac- tions, Furthermore, multi-element. tubes are generally used in place of tubes VTi, VTs, and VT,, and some- times in place of tube VT7. (In fact, unless sereen grid or pentode tubes are used as VT, and VT, these stages would have to be modified to prevent undesired oscillations from oceurringANTENNA —|[Rf: AMPLIFIER MIXER-I8! DETECTOR ___LF. AMPLIFIER. 24 _ DETECTOR _ISt AUDIO. __ POWER Al wh | oS | > — S \Ss uy = I | R 1 = 3 t | FIG, 30. This is a simpl |, basic circuit of a superheterodyne re more complex, as you will see later. Also, sometimes the r.f. stage migh: tery receiver would use a different power supply. It is important to real can be reduced to a basic circuit like this one. As you read the text, notice how this schematic diagram is drawn to show the orderly progress of th al from the antenna to the roducer. However, schematic diagrams are intended to show only the ELECTRICAL connections, not the PHYSICAL positions of parts. Compare this diagram with some of the layout sketches shown elsewhere in this lesson. . Of course, the actual circuit would use different tubes and would be somewhat jot be used, and more than one i.f. stage frequently is found. An a.c.-d however, that regardless of the "extras" on the receiver, all superhiwithin them.) However, this diagram shows you the relationships between stages and prepares you for the de- tailed discussions of separate stages that are coming in your neat lessons, REVIEWS AND PREVIEWS Looking back over the lessons you have studied, you will realize that we have gone over the complete radio sys- tem more than onee. The first time, in an elementary form, we showed how certain radio parts—coils, condensers, resistors, and tubes — were found throughout the radio system. We studied these parts individually, then in small groups and simple cir- cuits. Finally, in this lesson, we have put these parts together into groups that we call stages. Now that you have learned the names and purposes of ra- dio stages, and know the order in which radio signals progress from one to another, you are ready to learn the details of operation of each of them. > Now, let’s look at the lessons just ahead. Your next one will be on iron- THE NRL COURSE PREPARES YOU TO BECOME A RADIOTRICIAN & TELETRICIAN 36 core choke coils and iron-core trans- formers. You have already been in- troduced to these devices, but they have a number of important character- istics which have much to do with the workings of intelligence frequency am- plifiers and power supplies. Once these characteristics are understood, you will plunge right into a study of power supplies, and from there into other stages, Soon, you will have a complete “how and why-it-works” un- derstanding of radio equipment. Remember, once you understand fully how stages and sections work when normal, you will know what to expect when trouble occurs. As you go along, you will see that certain break- downs produce certain easily recogniz- able effects. For example, the output of the radio device may be distorted in a special manner, or there may_be noise or hum, ete., caused by certain particular breakdowns. This is vital knowledge—the kind that leads you right to the trouble, so you are going to find future lessons more and more interesting and valuable! -—_—_--—+ Lesson Questions Be sure to number your Answer Sheet 10FR-4. Place your Student Number on every Answer Sheet. Send in your set of answers for this lesson immediately after you finish them, as instructed in the Study Schedule. This will give you the greatest possible benefit from our speedy personal grading service. . Briefly state the fundamental principle on which the superheterodyne re- ceiver operates. . Which one of the following amplifier classes duplicates the entire grid signal in its plate current variations: 1, class A; 2, class B; or 3, class C? . What important tube rating tells directly how much the grid controls the plate current? . When does the plate load in a tube amplifier absorb maximum power? . Name the three important purposes served by the by-pass condenser C's in Fig. 13. If the by-pass condenser C; in Fig. 17A short-cireuits, does the bias voltage: 1, inerease; 2, drop to zero; or 8, remain the same? . In the oscillator cireuit shown in Fig. 21, which two parte develop the auto- matic C bias? - . What are the four important components of an average power pack? Which component of the power pack converts a.c. to pulsating d.c.? . What two processes occur in the frequency discriminator stage of an fm. receiver? 7