UHF superhet receiver - RF Cafe Forums

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Victorb
Post subject: UHF superhet receiver Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2005 12:31 pm
Hi people,
I was hoping somebody could give me some advice on an upcoming RF college project. I have to design and construct a simple superhet receiver to pick up an aircrafts pulse modulated transponder signal operating at 1.09 Ghz. At this stage I just have more questions than answers!

How selective should my bandpass filters be, would passive LC filters work at such a high input frequency?

Should I consider using active pin-programmable digital filters instead, would the necessity of an onboard clock be worth the effort? Would power consumption be acceptable? (Device needs to be portable)

For the VCO, should I look for an IC with an external resonant tank or one where it is included?

What kind of intermediate frequency should I be aiming for? Hoping to have the option to drive both audio earphones and input to laptop through parallel port.

Could somebody recommend a good company with a wide range of RF components?

Any information would be greatly appreciated, even if it's just point me in the direction of some decent literature.


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Guest
Post subject: SuperhetPosted: Sun Nov 20, 2005 2:16 am
Hi!

Bandwidth needs to be enough to handle the pulse modulation - what's the PRF and the duty cycle? That'll give you a starting point on BW.

LC filters are getting a bit "iffy" at that frequency - try using transmission-line resonators or cavities. Microstrip would also do - but there are whole books on THAT subject!

You won't find a digital filter with a center frequency of 1 GHz that anyone other than the government can afford...

Pulse systems are usually not picky about close-in noise, so either internal or external tank VCO's should do.

For chips, try National Semi and Analog Devices for PLLs, RF Micro Devices for various parts, Sirenza, and the old groups from Motorola (Freescale and On Semiconductor). There are a whole lot of specialized suppliers. You find them by Googling.

Good Luck!



Posted  11/12/2012