Microwave Projects Andy Garter Ed download

https://ebookbell.com/product/microwave-projects-andy-garter-
ed-1472042

Explore and download more ebooks at ebookbell.com

Here are some recommended products that we believe you will be
interested in. You can click the link to download.

Development Of Products And Packaging For Use In Microwave Ovens 1st

Edition M W Lorence

https://ebookbell.com/product/development-of-products-and-packaging-
for-use-in-microwave-ovens-1st-edition-m-w-lorence-2485480

Development Of Packaging And Products For Use In Microwave Ovens

Woodhead Publishing In Materials 2nd Edition Ulrich Erle Editor

https://ebookbell.com/product/development-of-packaging-and-products-
for-use-in-microwave-ovens-woodhead-publishing-in-materials-2nd-
edition-ulrich-erle-editor-11184018

Microwave Ablation Of Bone Tumors Qingyu Fan Ed

https://ebookbell.com/product/microwave-ablation-of-bone-tumors-
qingyu-fan-ed-45009434

Microwave And Radio Frequency Heating In Food And Beverages Tatiana

Koutchma

https://ebookbell.com/product/microwave-and-radio-frequency-heating-
in-food-and-beverages-tatiana-koutchma-46553570
Microwave And Millimeterwave Vacuum Electron Devices Inductive Output
Tubes Klystrons Travelingwave Tubes Magnetrons Crossedfield Amplifiers
And Gyrotrons A S

https://ebookbell.com/product/microwave-and-millimeterwave-vacuum-
electron-devices-inductive-output-tubes-klystrons-travelingwave-tubes-
magnetrons-crossedfield-amplifiers-and-gyrotrons-a-s-46750878

Microwave Material Applications Device Miniaturization And Integration

David B Cruickshank

https://ebookbell.com/product/microwave-material-applications-device-
miniaturization-and-integration-david-b-cruickshank-48706164

Microwave Circulator Design Second Edition Douglas K Linkhart

https://ebookbell.com/product/microwave-circulator-design-second-
edition-douglas-k-linkhart-48706170

Microwave And Millimeterwave Antenna Design For 5g Smartphone

Applications Wonbin Hong

https://ebookbell.com/product/microwave-and-millimeterwave-antenna-
design-for-5g-smartphone-applications-wonbin-hong-48740694

Microwave Chemistry Unknown

https://ebookbell.com/product/microwave-chemistry-unknown-50339372
... __-_._-----
..-.,_----
.-,._......r......_---_._----
-----
..__-------
:et::lm:a:~mEl':~IlUl::a::;;:~

_
..-_-- _---
i1
•
~
Ili."{.J
_
_
Microwave Projects

Edited by Andy Barter, G8ATD

Published by The Radio Society of Great Britain, Cranborne Road, Potters Bar,
Herts, EN6 3JE.

First published 2003 reprinted 2005

© Radio Society of Great Britain, 2003. All rights reserved. No parts of this
publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any
form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or
otherwise, without the prior written permission of the Radio Society of Great
Britain.

ISBN 1-872309-90-9

Publisher's note
The opinions expressed in this book are those of the authors and not necessarily
those of the RSGB. While the information presented is believed to be correct, the
authors, the publisher and their agents cannot accept responsibility for the
consequences arising for any inaccuracies or omissions.

Cover design: Anne McVicar

Production: Mark Allgar, M1MPA
Typography: Andy Barter, K M Publications, Luton

Cover photographs were kindly supplied by Giles Read of www.G1MFG.com

Printed in Great Britain by Latimer Trend & Company Ltd of Plymouth

Acknowledgements

The articles in this book have been supplied by radio amateurs from around the world. The
editor would like to thank the following people and organisations for their contributions:

Andre Jamet , F9HX

Paolo Pitacco , IW3QBN
Daniel Uppstrorn, SM6VFZ
Kerry Banke, N61ZW
Tom Mayo, N1MU
Grant Hodgson, G8UBN
Harold Fleckner , DC8UG
Ian Bennett G6TVJ
Sigurd Werner, DL 9MFV
Carsten Vieland , DJ4GC
Carl G. Lodstrom , SM6MOM
E.Chicken MBE, BSc. MSc, CEng, FlEE, G3BIK
Alexander Meier, DG6RBP
Harald Braubach, DL1GBH
Gunthard, Kraus, DG8GB
VHF Communications Magazine
UKW Berichte Magazine
San Diego Microwave Group

Finally the book would not be what it is without the help of my proof reader, Pat Brambley, who
has hopefully found all of the major mistakes.
Contents

Chapter Title Page

1 Signal Sources
• 144MHz transceiver 1

• Microtransmitter for L band 29

2 Transverters
• Building blocks for a 23cm transverte r 37
• 1OGHz Transverte r from Surplus Qualcomm OmniTracks Units 46

• A "building block" 5750MHz transverter design 61

3 Power Amplifiers
• GH Quad linear amplifie r for 23cm 69

• A 10 watt power amplifier for the 13cm band using 78

GaAs technology
• A 13cm power amplifier using a GaAs MMIC 88

• Amplifier for 47GHz using chip technology 90

4 Test Equipment
• A sensitive therma l power meter 97
A grid dip meter 105

• A SINAD meter 112

• A +10 5GHz pre divider 120

• Made to measure directional couplers 125

• A + 10 10GHz prescaler using state-of-the-art ICs 134

5 Design
• Modern design of band pass filters made from coupled lines 143

• Using TRL85 for synthesis and analysis of microwave problems 170

Index 179
Preface

After editing The International Microwave Handbook in early 2002 the RSGB contacted me to
ask if I could produce a book of weekend projects for the microwave enthusiast. I explained that
most microwave projects were much more that just weekend projects , so the title microwave
cookbook was discussed but it was thought that there may well have been many disappoihted
purchasers of such a title! Finally the title of Microwave Projects was chosen.
The microwave amateur radio bands still attract keen constructors who experiment with
diffe rent designs and technologies to achieve that moment of joy when a rare contact or contact
on a new band is made . The content of this book has been chosen to wet the appeti te of these
amateurs with designs from all around the world using everything from tried and tested designs,
through modification of second hand equipment, to new designs using state of the art
components.
\
I have tried to organise the various articles in a logical sequence. This starts with generating
your signal with a transceiver or a synthesised transmitter, followed with a number of transverter
designs. Having produced rf on the required band there are some useful amplifier designs. Of
course you will need some test equipment to help persuade your new equipment to work , if like
me you do not have rf "green fingers ". In true amateur style if all else fails you will need to resort
to the theory of how your equipment should be working , so there is a chapter with some design
aids.

Andy Barter, G8ATO

Chapter

Signal Sources
In this chapter :
• A 144MHz transceiver /
Microtransmitter for L band

he most pop ula r method to operate on the microwave bands is to use a com mercial
transceiver followed by a transverter to change the operating frequency to the desired
band. As described in the first article of this chapter the commercial equipment available
nowadays often has lots of bells and whistles but lacks some of the basic characteristics that
have been superseded in the name of progress. So the way forward is to make your own
transceiver. This is a very big project but fortunately And re Jamet has done all of the hard work .
The other technology that is used as a matter of course in commercial equipment is the Phase
Locked Loop. There are also many examples of designs for the amateur constructo r. With the
explosion in the mobile telephone market and other consumer market commu nications devices,
the tech nology required by amateurs to make the job easie r is becoming more and more
available . The second article of this chapter is a neat design using some of the latest devices.
"

A 144MHz transceiver for SHF, Andre Jamet F9HX

Why make things simple when you can make them complicated? (Gribouille, misunder-
stood philosopher)

Typical equipment for SHF operation

For operating on the 5.7,10, 24 and 47GHz bands and beyond a transverter is usually used to
reduce the signal to be received or transmitted to lower freque ncies. The 144MHz band is in
frequent use as an intermediate frequency up to 10GHz, but the 432M Hz and 1,296MHz bands
are also used for higher frequencies.
We therefore need a VHF or UHF transceiver with the characteristics required to work in
combination with the transverter i.e. one that can generate SSB and telegrap hy, but also has
certain accessories which are very useful for SHF traffic.
One transceive r very widely used for this applicatio n on the 144MHz band is the famous IC-202.
In spite of its faults:
• An imprecise frequency -display
• An S-meter which is just as imprecise

1
Microwave Projects

Fig 1: A picture
of the
completed
transceiver.

• No receive selectivity adjustment (to adjust the pass band to improve the signal-to-noise
ratio)
• No transmit power control
• No pip generator (to make it easier to get into contact)
• Very frequently poor health
Also bear in mind the great age of those in service and the amount of travelling they have had to
endure.
So among the OMs working with SHF a wish has often been expressed to replace this old
companion with a more modern transceiver that performs better. Unfortunately, tests carried out
using modern transceivers fitted with a very large number of accessories have not always given
the results expected . If the various faults mentioned above have disappeared, a new one has
seen the light of day. The spectrum purity of their local oscillator is not up to that of the older
equipment! This is a hindrance to the reception of weak signals [1,2], when high amplitude
.signals are received, and to the generation of a narrow transmission. It may appear
presumptuous to criticise these transceivers , they benefit from all of the current technology.
However using PLLs and, above all, DOSs, their spectrum purity close to the carrier frequency
(and also at a distance, in spite of numerous filters) does not attain that of a simple crystal
in
oscillator, even when pulled frequency in a VXO, as used in the IC-202.
All this is perhaps slightly exaggerated, but the 1OGHz specialists (and not only in France) have
a lot of trouble in replacing their IC-202s, and several have reconditioned them to give them a
new lease of life, adding on the new equipment required.

2
log . amp. I • [/ S meter

ZIF amp ZIF amp

VHF 10 Demodulato r
3000 Hz
.6,cp + 45 0

low-pass

3000 Hz
low noise MOS-fet MMIC d 'l' .450
lew-pas s

. 120 dBm SIN ~ 10 dB frequency

meter

Relay multiplier frequency

range RIT

"parrot"

+ 30 dBm 1 w alt
d 'l' +45 0

band-pass

PA driver MMIC d 'l' - 45 0 audio amp

fig ~: Block diagram of the zero intermediate frequency 144MHz transceiver.

VJ
Microwave Projects

What if we replaced our IC-202s?

Thats the title of several articles which have appeared over the last two years or so in the
French SHF magazine [3], written by your humble servant. The original idea was to create a
144MHz transceiver that would have precisely the characteristics required, without any
unnecessary accessories. A transceiver is now functioning efficiently , and allows for 10GHz
operation that gives the same results as the IC-202.
In the specifications laid down at the start, there were also plans to have three transceivers as
an ideal. One used to drive the transverter as explained above, the second with an external PA
supplying about fifty Watts, intended for traffic on the path being used for making contact, and
the third as a back-up in case one of the other two broke down! The first and the last
applications may well be possible, but the second is much less so, as we shall see below.

The transceiver principle implemented

It would have been simple to retain the IC-202 structure, i.e.:

• A simple intermediate-frequency conversion receiver operating around 10MHz,
comprising a quartz filter to obtain the desired selectivity followed by a product detector
for the demodulation of the CW and SSB.
• A transmitter using the same quartz filter to reject the unwanted sideband and generate
SSB.
This solution was adopted by F1BUU, and has been described in articles in the amateur press
[4]. But, following the precept of the philosopher mentioned in the heading, why not do things
differently and perhaps in a more complicated way? After all, it is one of our tasks as radio
amateurs to look for new paths in both equipment and propagation and transmission modes.
As Uncle Oscar has reminded us [5], we can also generate and demodulate SSB using the
method known as phasing i.e. using phase converters to cancel the unwanted sideband. The
intermediate frequency can be HF, as for the quartz filtering method, or even in the audio
frequency range.
This method had been practically abandoned, but it has been taken up again for the
transceivers used in mobile phones. So why not try it? .
Reception is based on simple conversion i.e. a single frequency change. But, since the local
oscillator is on the same frequency as the signal received, the intermediate frequency is directly
in the audio range. This is referred to as being at zero intermediate frequency, since if the
modulation signal is at zero frequency , the intermediate frequency is as well (and not at
10MHz). In English publications , the expression "direct conversion" refers simultaneous ly to the
single frequency change and'to the zero intermediate frequency [6,7], whereas in France some
assume that direct conversion corresponds to the single frequency change, without the
intermediate frequency being at zero. The block diagram of the transceiver is shown in Fig. 2.
In the receiver the antenna is matched to a low noise FET by a simple LC circuit. The output is

4
Microwave Projects

fed to an MMIC through a band-pass filter. This feeds a Mini Circuits double balance mixer to
demodulate the signal into I and Q audio signals. These very low level audio signals (in the
order of a microvolt for VHF reception in nanovolts) these are amplified by two identical
channels of amplifiers fitted with automatic gain controls. They also have active low-pass and
high-pass filters in order to limit the pass band received. Then the level is sufficient , the I and Q
signals are phase-shifted in what are known as Hilbert filters , in such a way that, when they are
subsequently added together , the signals from the wanted sideband are added and those from
the other are cancelled out. An elliptic 8th order filter using a capacitor switching IC gives an
adjustable bandwidth from one to three kilohertz. A one watt audio amplifier ensures a loud
signal from the speaker. The demodulator is fed by the LO which comprises four VCXO's
switched from the front panel and multiplied to give VHF reception. A logarithmic high dynamic
range IC is used for the S-meter.
In the transmitter modulation is obtained from a microphone or a one kilohertz signal for CW,
Tune or Dots. This signal is initially amplified, then rigorously filtered to allow only the band
needed for SSB to pass. Two Hilbert filters produce I and Q signals to feed the double balanced
modulator that produces a VHF SSB signal that only needs to be amplified up to the desired
power. A voice record and playback IC stores a twenty second message for calling CQ.
This all seems complicated, and in fact it is, but not that much! For those interested in the
theory, articles have been published in the amateur press [8,9] explaining mathematically the
functioning of this method and also that of Weaver, which is a refinement of it. A Siovenian radio
amateur [10] has described some intermediate-frequency direct conversion UHF and even SHF
Weaver transceivers, up to 1OGHz, which are models of application for modern techniques. Lets
also recall the article published by F61WF in [11], which describes a direct conversion zero
intermediate frequency decametric receiver.

Review of various functions of transceiver

To study the behaviour of the transce iver, modules were created to handle one or more related
functions, each on a printed circuit. This also proved to be of interest for the final design, and the
idea of a single printed circuit was set aside for the final assembly.
Starting from the antenna, we first find a 50 Ohm relay, which handles the transmit receive
switching for the VHF section.

Receive section

VHF module (Fig . 3)

The VHF signal is amplified by a low noise selective stage that is fitted with a robust BF 998
dual gate FET transistor, with a performance level at least equal to that of the CF 300, which is
only too well known for its fragility over voltages. A filter limits the pass band to the limits of the
2m band and feeds an untuned amplifier fitted with an MMIC. The amplified VHF signal feeds a

6
Microwave Projects

Mini Circuits quadrature demodulator, which also receives the signal from the local oscillator
that is described below. The output signals from the demodulator are in-phase and quadrature
signals referred to as I and Q.

Intermediate frequency amplifier (Figs. 4 and 5)

The printed circuit comprises two identical amplification channels with a low noise transistor at
the input of each of them, followed by a low pass filter and a variable gain amplifier acting as an
automatic gain control. Next is another low pass stage and another variable gain stage. The
outputs from this module are thus always two square wave audio signals, but amplified,
calibrated for the pass band and amplitude compressed.

Audio demodu lator (Figs. 6 and 7)

On another printed circuit, we first of all find two channels with different phase conversion.
These are the Hilbert circuits that bring the signals from the desired sideband into phase and
those from the other sideband into opposition. A passive circuit combines the two channels to
obtain only the desired sideband. A first order active high pass filter and an eighth order elliptical
low pass filter actively limit the pass band and play the major role in defining the transceiver
band. A knob on the front panel can control the low pass filter. This adjusts the cut off frequency
from 700 to 3,000Hz to cover the SSB and CW requirements (Fig. 20).
Finally, a power amplifier stage can feed the internal loudspeaker and/or a headset.

Transmit section

As shown in Fig. 8, the signal from the microphone, which can be ceramic, electret or magnetic,
is amplified by a stage followed by an adjustable compressor. Then high pass and low pass
filters, as efficient as those used in the receiver, limit the pass band to 300 to 3,000Hz. An input
is provided for the signal from the parrot and 800Hz generator incorporated in the equipment,
for CQ calls, CW and the generation of pips to assist when aligning parabolic antennas.
The signal is then fed to two channels, each including Hilbert phase-shift filters to generate I and
Q signals (Fig. 9).
. On the same printed circuit as the receiver section, we find the transm it section (Fig. 3). It
receives square wave audio signals and feeds a Mini Circuits modulator, which is also fed by
the signal from the local oscillator. The local oscillator is on a separate module, and is divided
into two outputs by a 3dB resistive divider to feed the receive demodulators and transmit
modulator. The output from the modulator is amplified by an MMIC, followed by two temperature
stabilised class AB stages, each having a diode thermally linked to its casing. The output power
can be adjusted using a knob located on the rear face of the transceiver by controlling the level
of I and Q signals feeding modulato r.

10
Random documents with unrelated
content Scribd suggests to you:
back
back
back
back
back
back
back
back
back
back
back
back
Welcome to our website – the perfect destination for book lovers and
knowledge seekers. We believe that every book holds a new world,
offering opportunities for learning, discovery, and personal growth.
That’s why we are dedicated to bringing you a diverse collection of
books, ranging from classic literature and specialized publications to
self-development guides and children's books.

More than just a book-buying platform, we strive to be a bridge

connecting you with timeless cultural and intellectual values. With an
elegant, user-friendly interface and a smart search system, you can
quickly find the books that best suit your interests. Additionally,
our special promotions and home delivery services help you save time
and fully enjoy the joy of reading.

Join us on a journey of knowledge exploration, passion nurturing, and

personal growth every day!

ebookbell.com