13
votes
Accepted
What limits a PIN diode or varicap from being used in a "Software Defined [Radio] Filter"?
What limits the use of "solid state variable capacitors" like these for dynamically filtering (low power/received) RF signals?
The main issue is bandwidth.
Although there are some varicaps ...
- 246
10
votes
Accepted
Where are the baluns for VHF and higher? How can one be made?
Let's clarify some terminology: a balun is any device used to convert between a balanced system (ladder line, dipoles) and an unbalanced one (coax, vertical monopoles). There are a lot of ways to make ...
- 51.6k
9
votes
What is a "roofing filter"?
The roofing filter is the filter through which the first IF must pass. The roofing filter is an IF filter, specifically the first one. AB4OJ provides a block diagram:
As for why it's called a "...
- 51.6k
8
votes
Accepted
Looking for a convenient audio frequency spectrum analyzer
So, requirements:
runs on OS X and windows
easy to work with
quicker than "tone and excel" method
If you don't like writing software yourself, this should still be pretty doable with just ...
- 15.5k
7
votes
Why do today's transceivers use LC filters rather than crystal filters?
As Phil Genera says, the KX3 uses a different type of receiver that requires a different kind of filter. A traditional superheterodyne receiver, which is what you'd find in most older radios, uses a ...
- 171
7
votes
Looking for a schematic of a DIY circulator
Puh! That's a big one you're planning:
Most circulators are passive, magnetic material circulators:
These circulators are basically a three-port resonant cavity in a cylindric shape, where the ...
- 15.5k
7
votes
Accepted
How to measure quartz crystal motional parameters using a VNA?
I don't know if this counts as "easy", but:
Find the series resonant frequency. Multiply this frequency by $2\pi$ to convert it to an angular frequency, and call that $\omega_s$.
Note the ...
- 51.6k
7
votes
Accepted
How do you choose an inductor wire gauge for high-power RF?
First: yes, it's mostly about $I^{2}R$ loss, but if your inductor is part of any kind of resonant circuit, you can't assume that $I^2 = \frac{P}{50}$. The current circulating between reactive ...
- 11.8k
6
votes
Accepted
How to effectively test and interpret the "working range" of a ferrite core with a signal analyzer?
It appears that all three 'scope probes are set to their "X1" position.
As such, each probe includes the oscilloscope's internal 1M input resistance in parallel with about 20pF input ...
- 876
6
votes
What limits a PIN diode or varicap from being used in a "Software Defined [Radio] Filter"?
Technically, the utility of a variable capacitor in a receive filter depends on the amount of available capacitance variation and its Q - the quality factor, which is the ratio of the capacitor's ...
- 7,818
5
votes
How does selecting the opposite sideband when receiving CW on HF reduce interference?
If you are using (or building) a vintage radio that does not have a narrow CW audio filter, the audio bandwidth above and below a listenable CW audio side-tone frequency can be quite unsymmetric. By ...
- 13.2k
5
votes
Diplexer termination?
Terminated! An open end would have a reflection coefficient of |R| = 1 (because, where would the energy go).
- 15.5k
5
votes
SSB filtering in the frequency domain?
For DSP with complex samples, whether you are working in the time domain or the frequency domain, you don't need an AM demodulator, or complex conjugation, or a Hilbert filter.
You say you have ...
- 24.4k
5
votes
Under what circumstances does intermodulation become an issue in a filter after LNA setup?
Simply put, the LNA amplifies everything that comes into it. If you think about it, it's actually kind of amazing. It's dragging its output value up and down in response to nanosecond-by-nanosecond ...
- 11.8k
5
votes
Looking for a schematic of a DIY circulator
A circulator can probably be constructed from coaxial cable. However, you will also need ferrite and magnets.
From https://wa8dbw.ifip.com/Circulator.html :
A circulator is best thought of as a "...
- 7,864
5
votes
Accepted
What is the current state of the art in CW filters?
I like your PLL approach, because it doesn't try to "recover the original signal from noise", but actually goes ahead and detects what you're actually interested in, the presence of a specific ...
- 15.5k
5
votes
Accepted
How to select capacitor for diplexer use
Many of these specs are different ways of expressing the same thing.
Q and ESR (equivalent series resistance) both express the loss in the capacitor.
$$ Q = {\left| 1 / (2 \pi f C)\right| \over \text{...
- 51.6k
4
votes
Accepted
What function do high-pass filters in a direct conversion receiver perform?
So, I don't know the Softrock personally, but from your description, it's a switching mixer architecture.
Receiver side
What that means is that you mix not by multiplying the input signal with a ...
- 15.5k
4
votes
What function do high-pass filters in a direct conversion receiver perform?
They prevent (or at least reduce) front end overload due to strong and/or messy nearby signal sources at lower frequencies. Think of the 80 meter station at Field Day blanking the 40 and 20m receivers ...
- 1,834
4
votes
Accepted
Are directional couplers ever used in duplex repeater systems?
Are you thinking something like this?
simulate this circuit – Schematic created using CircuitLab
Let's say you have a really good directional coupler with a directivity of 55dB. And the ...
- 51.6k
4
votes
Accepted
What dimensions to choose when winding your own inductor
It boils down to practical issues — you want to make it as small as possible, but no smaller.
The power-handling requirements will dictate the wire diameter (to handle the current) and the end-...
- 1,210
4
votes
Accepted
Filtering for PSK31 demodulation
So, to maximize SNR you'd use a matched filter (which is the conjugate complex of the time-reversed TX pulse shaping filter), and assuming the pulse shaper has been reasonably chosen, that'd also a ...
- 15.5k
4
votes
Accepted
Small band-pass filter for HT?
If you want cheap, building your own is not difficult. Here's a simple low pass pi filter:
simulate this circuit – Schematic created using CircuitLab
The values of the components should be ...
- 51.6k
4
votes
Baud rate/frequency/bandwith/characters per second
The issue of filtering RS-232 (or any slow digital signal) is not so much the baud rate as it is the required rise and fall time of each bit.
There are two ways to quantify this rise/fall time issue: ...
- 18.5k
4
votes
SSB filtering in the frequency domain?
If you want to do SSB in the frequency domain:
1) Compute the complex FFT.
2) Pick the frequency band of interest.
3) Perform a backwards FFT on the bins that contain the
signal of interest.
...
- 989
4
votes
Accepted
In which cases do SAW filters improve performance?
You've got it right already:
Does it only help when there is a lot of noise on nearby frequencies or does a filter like that improve always performance?
It helps by attenuating strong out-of-band ...
- 10.5k
4
votes
Problem of two SAW fitler?
So, probably a combination of different things:
You physically can't isolate things arbitrarily much. My experience with well-designed RF PCBs is that they have -60 dB to -49 dB crosstalk – simply ...
- 15.5k
4
votes
What is the current state of the art in CW filters?
Ringing in narrow filters may already have an answer here: https://dsp.stackexchange.com/questions/2170/why-do-i-see-ringing-in-the-output-of-a-digital-filter-with-a-narrow-transition
"looking into ...
- 13.2k
4
votes
Tradeoffs: varicap vs. air variable capacitor for Rx bandpass?
First and foremost, varicaps aren't mechanical. If you want a rapidly tunable thing, that's a necessity; even if you just want something tunable by electronics, it's very desirable (otherwise you'll ...
- 15.5k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible