stages to become less stable. ate conf iguration.

b. The collector of Q4 is AC-grounded in the FM c. Circuit test - test will usually be different for
function to short the AM-HF collector load. vendor and customer.
c. The AM-RF tap capacitor is the FM-IF bias The FM-IF transistors are Philco MADT types
bypass. which are presently used in AM automotive radios.
Apart from the usual static specifications, the tran-
d. The secondary of the AM input can is capacit- sistor's performance is determined by 10. 7 MC
ively tapped to bypass the FM bias. parameters. These include an Rin minimum, Cb'c
maximum, Rout minimum, and gm minimium at 6 volts
e. The AM antenna circuit is series fed to Q4 and I milliampere. As the transistors are on the 6-db
base-the FM bootstrap capacitor does not affect AM per-octave curve of power gain, these parameters
performance. satisfy the gain needs for the AM front end. In addi-
tion, the AM-RF transistor is specified for noise fig-
f . The Q4, FM neutralizing capacitor is used for ure at 2 MC and base-to-emitter breakdown to mini-
large signal AM feedthrough. mize AGC clamping. Transistor Q8 is a small signal
(lc-- ma) PNP type, and Q9 is an NPN type with a
FM -AM Interference dissipation rating of 100 MW at 25CC. The power out-
put transistor is required to have a low thermal re-
The radio specification requires that no interaction sistance, high gm, and low leakage for high-tempera-
occur between AM and FM and vice versa, therefore ture performance. All three audio transistors are
it was necessary to disable the FM front end by switch- specified for minimum beta, which is the important
ing its A+ and grounding the AM antenna circuit to gain parameter in the audio circuit.
meet this requirement.
Alignment Procedure
Common Audio
An FM receiver in an automobile must operate
The audio circuit, shown in Figure 5, is a PNP- satisfactrily in rapidly changing signal conditions and
NPN-PNP DC-coupled system which uses series volt- in an unfriendly ignition interference environment.
age feedback to stablize gain, increase input resist- These conditions demand' a symmetrical IF response,
ance, and increase speaker damping. This is an ar- which is centered in the discriminator for all signal
rangement which permits FM and AM detector design inputs. For high-volume production, it is desirable to
at comparable audio and impedance levels. At the have an alignment procedure which is quick and accur-
1000-microvolt level, the output on AM and FM with ate and does not require "touch-up" tuning operations. In
30 per cent modulation of both is approximately the the design phase, it is necessary to design each IF
same. stage for safe AC stability and eliminate all causes of
overall regeneration.
The AM audio starting from 100, 000-microvolt RF
input is 3 db down at 100 microvolts. The FM is flat The IF alignment of the receiver is done by the CW
in this signal region, and little difference can be de- method with the receiver covers on. An IF signal is
tected in an AM and FM simulcast with the same modu- injected via a probe into the mixer collector and an IF
lation indices. The AM section is approximately 12 db detector is placed on the last IF collector, Q6, to indi-
down at 5 KC due to IF selectivity and the FM is flat to cate IF output as DC. Starting at the large signal end
5 KC so there is a noticeable difference in the high- of the IF, the secondaries and then the primaries are
frequency performance. The bass boost and treble cut peaked for maximum output; the input signal is reduced
function is common to both. as alignment progresses to avoid limiting in the Q6
stage. The input signal is now increased until Q6 is in
In addition to the AC feedback, the audio amplifier hard limiting, and the discriminator primary and sec-
has DC feedback from the positive temperature coef- ondary are peaked at 75-KC deviation for maximum
ficient resistor in the emitter of the output transistor. audio. This discriminator alignment, as far as we
This DC feedback tends to compensate for potential can determine, is as accurate as the AM rejection, S
changes in output current due to A+ change or high- curve, or zero DC output methods and is far more con-
temperature leakages in any of the three audio transis- venient. The probe is now lifted from the mixer col-
tors. The DC loop gain is between 3 and 4. lector and sufficient signal induced at this point to tune
the last primary core. A test is now made of bandpass
Semiconductors symmetry and center tuning by reducing signal input
from well above limiting to well below limiting and
The FM front end uses Amperex PADT28 transis- noting the audio output on a scope. If the audio develops
tors for the RF amplifier and mixer and Amperex noise on one side only or becomes asymmetrical, a
2N2089 for the oscillator. The specifications are in detuning of the IF or a poor bandpass of the IF exists,
three parts: and the radio is rejected.
a. Static requirements - breakdowns, DC betas, For RF alignment, the oscillator trimmer is ad-
Icbo and dissipation. justed at the high end of the FM band. The radio is
now tuned to 98 MC where the RF and aniteina trimii-
b. Parameter measurements - feedthrough capa- mers are peaked on audio out with signal levels below
city Cb'c, 100 MC gm R in and Rout in the appropri- limiting. Tests are then made for limitin,, sensitivity

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(RF input for audio 1 db down), usable sensitivity, sible. At high temperatures, the oscillator will tend
oscillator stability, and distortion at 75-KC deviation. to go down in frequency due to Tcbo leakage in the
All testing, both AM and FM, is performed on a con- transistor, no matter how stable the bias components
tinuous 'hot" track, ending with an air check position are. By keeping the overall drift low', with most of
where pushbutton operation, tone control effectivity, the change occurring at the temperature extremes,
speaker output with A-line modulation, and perform- satisfactory pushbutton operation can be guaranteed
ance under vibration conditions are checked. provided mechanical resetting is not the limiting factor
The FM detector is another source of frequency shift
Construction Details and has been compensated for.
Components such as resistors, diodes, and axial Vibration of the receiver under average driving
lead capacitors are automatically placed in the printed conditions can cause FM-type modulation of the oscil-
circuit board assembly. All other components, tran- lator which is reproduced in the speaker. In extreme
sistors, IF cans, capacitors, hook-up leads, etc., are cases where the speaker is mounted in the same dash
placed in their positions on a moving line. The board region as the radio, acoustic feedback can cause a
moves over a flow solder bath and becomes a complete high-frequency howl or a low-frequency motorboat.
subassembly, as shown in Figure 6. The printed-cir- These conditions can usually be overcome by damping
cuit board assembly consists of the main board, vol- all components in the FM oscillator circuit which are
ume control board, and the FM front end board. subject to a vibration and liable to change tuning capa-
Break-off tabs enable each board to be separated for citance or inductance. The main components are the
final assembly on the main production line. trimmer, oscillator coil form, and core, as well as
poor grounds and loose wires.
Environment Requirements
Mechanical Detail
When the receiver is tuned to the center of a signal
transmission satisfactory listening performance is The heart of the receiver is the tuner, which is a
limited at low levels by the receiver's noise and limit- combination of two tuners. The main tuner is an AM
ing performance, at slightly higher levels by ignition tuner with five pushbuttons. The FM tuner (a manual
interference. Ignition interference is difficult to speci- 'truck" tuner) is attached to the rear of the AM tuner,
fy except by an A-B comparison test, but it is a func- and the two carriages are linked for common manual
tion of the receiver's ability to limit AM interference, tuning and pushbutton operation. Figure 7 is a rear
reduce phase modulation of the carrier by noise, audio view showing the connection of the two tuners and the
frequency response, and the suppression measures slide switch and slide glide which operate them.
taken on the automobile in which the radio is installed. Operation of a pushbutton performs three functions.
At any signal level, good performance depends on the 1) The manual clutch is disengaged by movement of
ease of tuning the receiver to the signal where mini- the declutch slide, 2) this enables the cam sets on the
mum distortion and lowest ignition interference are pushbutton to set the treadle bar at the required posi-
achieved. A method of tuning in many FM tuners is to tion, and 3) the slides of the pushbuttons also engage
provide an AFC disable switch (this switch enables the a switch slide which has appropriate cam slopes to
signal to be tuned without AFC), then switching in push the function switch to FM or AM. The arrange-
high-gain AFC to hold the receiver in tune. This tun- ment in this case is FM-FM-FM-AM-AM on the push-
ing method was not considered because the driver buttons, but any order can be arranged by suitable de-
must first tune and then switch the AFC and is not sign of the switch slide and cam slopes.
necessary when pushbutton tuning is available.
A shield is inserted in the printed-circuit board to
The two main factors which can cause detuning are provide electrostatic shielding between low- and high-
A-line voltage change and an ambient temperature level signal in the radio. This shield connects to two
change. In the development of the receiver it became blank terminals on the switch and further serves as a
apparent that little reliance can be placed on AFC to low-impedance ground path.
correct either of these conditions. The amount of cor-
rection required makes it impossible to tune usable Heat sinking for the power transistor is provided by
signals next to stronger signals. When tuning manu- 1/8-inch aluminum which is painted black for better
ally or with a pushbutton, it is necessary to tune thermal performance.
through the stronger signal.
Conclusion
The specification for voltage change requires that
with changes of from 11 volts to 16 volts the receiver This all transistor FM-AM receiver is just one ap-
would not detune more than ±30 KC. This was proach to a combination automotive radio. Other ar-
achieved by regulating the FM front end with a zener rangements of audio, audio detectors, FM-IF and AM
diode. front end sharing, and FM front end may suggest
themselves as either a performance improvement or
The problem of keeping ambient oscillator changes economy. In the FM section, better signal-to-impulse
within reasonable limits is a more difficult problem noise ratio at the antenna terminals and the audio in-
because of the many factors which can cause a shift. put is required for improved performance. The pres-
Among these are the temperature coefficients of all ent small radio packages call for economical improve-
components associated with the oscillator circuit. If ments in component packaging and circuit simplifica-
some of these coefficients change radically with temp- tion for high-volume production.
erature, compensation becomes difficult if not impos-

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 Figure 5-Common Audio.

Figure 6-P.C. Board Assembly.

Figure 7-FM-AM Tuner. 90

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 Table 1-Sensitivities.
FM Performance AM Performance
Usable sensitivity at antenna 1.6 uv nom. Sensitivity for 10 db S/N 4.5 uv nom.
terminals
Limiting sensitivity (1 db down)
at antenna terminals 3 uv nom.
S/N at 10 uv >40 db S/N at 1000 uv (30% modulation) >42 db
(75-KC deviation)
Maximum S/N >60 db
(75-KC deviation)

Table 2-Rejections.
FM Performance AM Performance
Image rejection >46 db Image rejection >80 db at 1600 KC
IF rejection >60 db IF rejection >90 db at 600 KC
6 db B.W. 190 KC nom. 6 db B.W. 7.3 KC nom.
60 db B.W. 900 KC nom. 60 db B.W. 34 KC nom.
AM rejection (at 100 uv >40 db
75-KC deviation)

Table 3-Audio Performance.

FM (100 uv input) AM (5K uv input)
1W, 400-cycle distortion <2% 1W, 400-cycle distortion <2%
22. 5-KC deviation 30% modulation
1W, 100-cycle distortion <4% 1W, 1000-cycle distortion <5%
75-KC deviation 80% modulation
Power output (FM or AM) for 10% distortion at 100 cycles with 30% 4.6W
modulation
FM-AM gain ratio (ratio of power out for 30% modulation signals of +3 db
1000 uv)
Intermodulation distortion <2%

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 INDUSTRY STANDARDIZATION OF NOISE FIGURE MEASUREMENT
OF RF AMPLIFIER TUBES
By
T. E. Gausman, Advanced Applications Engineer
Electronic Tubes Division
Sylvania Electric Products Inc.
Emporium, Pennsylvania

Introduction Noise Source

For some time the electron tube industry Theprimary requirements for the noise
has recognized the need for a standard method source demanded that it be a 50-ohm generator
of measuring the noise figure of RF amplifier which would rapidly measure the noise-matched
tubes. During the years 1955 and 1956, the noise figure to a high degree of repeatability.
J 5.4 Subcommittee of JEDEC 5 conducted a This is best accomplished by an instrument
series of round robin tests on the noise fig- like the Hewlett Packard Noise Figure Meter,
ure and input impedance of cascode RF ampli- Model 342A, with the Hewlett Packard VHF Noise
fier tube types. The object of the tests was Source, Model 343A. This type of instrument
to obtain a specification of the noise figure will continually monitor the noise figure of
of a tube expressed either directly as noise an amplifier as the input is tuned for noise
figure or indirectly by describing the noise matched conditions.
parameter of the tube. Due to the poor cor-
relation that was obtained with these tests,
the J 5.4 Subcommittee formed a task force to
Tube TestJi
study the problem. This task force was des- The second link in the noise figure chain
ignated "Noise Advisory Group" and consisted is the jig for the tube under test. Primary
of engineers from member companies who were requirements for this equipment are:
familiar with noise figure measurements. This
report is a summary of the results of the work 1. 200 megacycle center frequency
performed by the Noise Advisory Group of the
J 5.4 Subcommittee. Complete details on the 2. A 3-db bandwidth of 10 ± 2 megacycles
specification of equipment and measurement 3. A pi input circuit adjustable to noise
procedures will be available in a forthcoming matched conditions
JEDEC publication.
4. A pi output circuit tunable to 50 ohms
In measuring the noise figure of a tube, impedance
the basic equipment consists of a noise source, 5. Single frequency neutralization for
a jig for the tube under test and a high gain triodes, including the grounded cathode
amplifier, as illustrated in Figure 1. To section of cascode tubes
6. Rated voltages applied to the tube
These specifications might be more readi-
ly understood by considering the circuit of
the cascode tube jig, Figure 2. Cl, LI and C2
form the input pi section which is designed to
match from the 50-ohm input to the tube input
impedance and yet have sufficient range to
match to the optimum source resistance for
Figure 1 - Basic Noise Figure noise matched conditions. The output section
Measurement Equipment plate coil is shunted with a 1.5 K ohm 5%o re-
sistor to load the output to approximately 10
,tandardize on a method of measurement, the
megacycles bandwidth. The output pi network
is tapped to the center of the output coil and
equipment must be specified and measurement matches down to the 50-ohm output. The peak-
procedures outlined. During the course of the ing coil L2 is adjusted for minimum noise fig-
Noise Advisory Group's work, a great many ure with one bogey tube of the cascode type to
specifications, equipments, and procedures be measured. Then additional measurements of
were evaluated. Therefore, only those speci- tubes of this same type require no further ad-
fications and procedures which affected the justment of L2. The neutralizing coil "Ln" is
final result will be discussed. resonated with the grid-to-plate capacity at

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