Week 10 FM Radio 1.10 ELEX 221

Week 10
FM RADIO 1.10 ELEX 221

Frequency division multiplexing is used in radio and television receivers. The main
use of FM is for radio communications. Let us take a look at the structure of FM
transmitter and FM receiver along with their block diagrams and working.
a. FM Transmitter
FM transmitter is the whole unit which takes the audio signal as an input and delivers
FM modulated waves to the antenna as an output to be transmitted. FM transmitter
consists of 6 main stages. They are illustrated in the following figure.
The working of FM transmitter can be explained as follows.

 The audio signal from the output of the microphone is given to the pre-amplifier
which boosts the level of the modulating signal.
 This signal is then passed to the high pass filter, which acts as a pre-emphasis
network to filter out the noise and improve the signal to noise ratio.
 This signal is further passed to the FM modulator circuit.
 The oscillator circuit generates a high frequency carrier, which is given to the
modulator along with the modulating signal.
 Several stages of frequency multiplier are used to increase the operating
frequency. Even then, the power of the signal is not enough to transmit. Hence,
a RF power amplifier is used at the end to increase the power of the modulated
signal. This FM modulated output is finally passed to the antenna to get
transmitted.
b. Requirements of a Receiver
A radio receiver is used to receive both AM band and FM band signals. The detection
of AM is done by the method called as Envelope Detection and the detection of FM is
done by the method called as Frequency Discrimination.
Such a radio receiver has the following requirements.
 It should be cost effective.
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 It should receive both AM and FM signals.
 The receiver should be able to tune and amplify the desired station.
 It should have an ability to reject the unwanted stations.
 Demodulation has to be done to all the station signals, whatever the carrier
frequency is.
For these requirements to get fulfilled, the tuner circuit and the mixer circuit should
be very effective. The procedure of RF mixing is an interesting phenomenon.
c. RF Mixing
The RF mixing unit develops an Intermediate Frequency (IF) to which any received
signal is converted, so as to process the signal effectively.
RF Mixer is an important stage in the receiver. Two signals of different frequencies
are taken where one signal level affects the level of the other signal, to produce the
resultant mixed output. The input signals and the resultant mixer output is illustrated
in the following figures.

When two signals enter the RF mixer,
 The first signal frequency = F1
 The second signal frequency = F2
Then, the resultant signal frequencies = (F1 + F2) and (F1 - F2)
A mixer of two signals of different frequencies are produced at the output.
If this is observed in frequency domain, the pattern looks like the following figure.
The symbol of a RF mixer looks like the following figure.

The two signals are mixed to produce a resultant signal, where the effect of one
signal, affects the other signal and both produce a different pattern as seen
previously.
d. FM Receiver
The FM receiver is the whole unit which takes the modulated signal as input and
produces the original audio signal as an output. Radio amateurs are the initial radio
receivers. However, they have drawbacks such as poor sensitivity and selectivity.
Selectivity is the selection of a particular signal while rejecting the
others. Sensitivity is the capacity of detecting a RF signal and demodulating it, while
at the lowest power level.
To overcome these drawbacks, super heterodyne receiver was invented. This FM
receiver consists of 5 main stages. They are as shown in the following figure.
A superheterodyne receiver, often shortened to superhet, is a type of radio

receiver that uses frequency mixing to convert a received signal to a
fixed intermediate frequency (IF) which can be more conveniently processed than the
original carrier frequency. It was long believed to be invented by US engineer Edwin
Armstrong, but after some controversy the patent is now credited to French radio
engineer and radio manufacturer Lucien Lèvy. Virtually all modern radio receivers use
the superheterodyne principle.
e. RF Tuner Section
The modulated signal received by the antenna is first passed to the tuner
circuit through a transformer. The tuner circuit is nothing but a LC circuit, which is
also called as resonant or tank circuit. It selects the frequency, desired by the radio
receiver. It also tunes the local oscillator and the RF filter at the same time.
f. RF Mixer
The signal from the tuner output is given to the RF-IF converter, which acts as a
mixer. It has a local oscillator, which produces a constant frequency. The mixing
process is done here, having the received signal as one input and the local oscillator
frequency as the other input. The resultant output is a mixture of two frequencies [(f1 +
f2),(f1 − f2)] produced by the mixer, which is called as the Intermediate Frequency (IF).

The production of IF helps in the demodulation of any station signal having any carrier
frequency. Hence, all signals are translated to a fixed carrier frequency for adequate
selectivity.
g. IF Filter
Intermediate frequency filter is a bandpass filter, which passes the desired frequency.
It eliminates any unwanted higher frequency components present in it as well as the
noise. IF filter helps in improving the Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR).
h. Demodulator
The received modulated signal is now demodulated with the same process used at
the transmitter side. The frequency discrimination is generally used for FM detection.
i. Audio Amplifier
This is the power amplifier stage which is used to amplify the detected audio signal.
The processed signal is given strength to be effective. This signal is passed on to the
loudspeaker to get the original sound signal.
This super heterodyne receiver is well used because of its advantages such as better
SNR, sensitivity and selectivity.
j. Noise in FM
The presence of noise is a problem in FM as well. Whenever a strong interference

signal with closer frequency to the desired signal arrives, the receiver locks that
interference signal. Such a phenomenon is called as the Capture effect.
To increase the SNR at higher modulation frequencies, a high pass circuit
called preemphasis, is used at the transmitter. Another circuit called de-emphasis,
the inverse process of pre-emphasis is used at the receiver, which is a low pass
circuit. The preemphasis and de-emphasis circuits are widely used in FM transmitter
and receiver to effectively increase the output SNR.


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Week 10

FM RADIO 1.10 ELEX 221

The working of FM transmitter can be explained as follows.

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BTVTED ELEX 221 2 | P a g e rey.lacandalo@gmail.com

The symbol of a RF mixer looks like the following figure.

BTVTED ELEX 221 3 | P a g e rey.lacandalo@gmail.com

A superheterodyne receiver, often shortened to superhet, is a type of radio

BTVTED ELEX 221 4 | P a g e rey.lacandalo@gmail.com

The presence of noise is a problem in FM as well. Whenever a strong interference

BTVTED ELEX 221 5 | P a g e rey.lacandalo@gmail.com

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