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A Spectrum Analyser In
Spurious Output Sharp And Steady
I
A spectrum decided to try my hand at
building a spectrum
analyser after seeing a Without the helical filter, there will Smoothing at the input to IC5
analyser is an design by Roger
Blackwell G4PMK, in The
be many spurious output signals at
26.45, 31.8, 38.833, 45.967 and
(pin 3) is essential for a sharp,
steady display when zooming in.
home-built 170MHz.
Although I’ve not shown it in
sweep rate. Variable resistor Ra
sets the speed, while an integration
outlined above. The inductor,
RFC, in the supply feed of the
any of the diagrams, a low-pass function circuit around IC2 IC6, is made of two turns of
version. filter is required at the input,
otherwise there would be
generates the ramp voltages.
Integrator capacitor Ca is a
0.45mm (26 s.w.g.) enamelled
copper wire on a ferrite bead. The
many more spurious signals, polyester layer type. helical filter, a Toko 272MT-
due to unwanted inputs. There Other controls are: Rb, which 1007A, was purchased from
have been several low-pass filter sets the sweep width and Rd Barend Hendricksen.
designs in PW that would be (coarse) and Rc (fine) variables, set For this application, the i.f. and
suitable. the display centre frequency as r.f. ports of the SBL-1 mixer are
Before filtering, the mixed coarse and fine ‘tune’. I could have reversed. The analyser input (0-
signals from the first mixer are used a 10-turn pot to set the centre 50MHz) is fed to pins 3/4 because
broadband amplified (20dB) frequency, but frequency changes these pins are directly coupled to
before passing through the helical are faster to achieve with separate the internal diode ring mixer,
filter (centred on 170MHz). The controls. enabling very low input
first i.f. was chosen to suit a The sweep output on IC4 pin 6 is frequencies to be up-converted to
helical filter I had in stock. directly connected to the v.c.o. the first i.f. stage. The
There’s no real reason why control input. The oscilloscope is transformer-coupled ports, of the
another frequency (such as triggered using the flyback pulses SLB-1, don’t work down to low
145MHz) couldn’t be used on IC1 pin 3. Most spectrum frequencies.
instead. The helical filter’s analyser circuits usually have the
bandwidth of 2MHz, serves only oscilloscope’s X-input driven by a
● Fig. 1: The block diagram to reduce or remove spurious ramp voltage. But my ‘scope Optimum Balance
of Andrew’s design. responses. doesn’t have an X-input! For optimum balance, the SBL-1
requires a 50Ω broadband
resistive termination on all ports.
The 4dB attenuator at the output
Mixer IF amplifier Helical filter Mixer Crystal filter Log (i.f.) Video out port was an attempt to provide
(SLB-1) +20dB (170MHz) (NE602) (10.7MHz) (NE604)
Input this. A 2.5dB pad was used on the
(0 - 50MHz)
v.c.o. input. The SBL-1 requires
+7dBm (1.4V peak to peak) drive
from the local oscillator (l.o.). The
Voltage controlled output of my v.c.o. amplifier is
oscillator Sweep out
Crystal controlled
(170-220MHz) oscillator +9.5dBm. The POS-300 output
level is +10dBm so a 3dB pad
would be required if that were
Sweep WT2144 used.
159.3MHz
generator
The MMIC, IC6 provides 20dB
of gain to compensate for the
SBL-1’s insertion loss. The signal
n Your Shack!
suffers 6dB loss in the mixer,
4dB more in the attenuator and WS2130
● Fig. 4: The signal levels are detected in the second i.f. circuit shown here.
CF1
CFSK10.7M
R3
+6V
390 100n
Input (2nd l.o.)
L1 159.3MHz
100n
4.7µ 1n 100n
R1
56
100n 10n
T1
10.7MHz 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9
8 7 6 5
100n
IC9
R2 NE604
IC8 82p 820
NE602 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
XL1
1 2 3 4 10M15A
+6V
22p L2 L3
I IC10 O
40n +12V
Input 78L06 Video out
(170MHz) + G 100n 100n 100n
Tantalum 1n R4
100p 100n WS2128 4µ7 100k
0V
● Fig. 8: The ● Fig 11: An un-modulated -85dBm carrier at 50kHz per division.
second i.f. ● Fig. 12: An f.m. signal with a deviation of 50kHz modulated by a 1kHz sine
and detector
wave.
board from
● Fig. 13: The analyser shows the response of its 2-pole 10M15A filter at
below.
approximately 50kHz per division.
● Fig. 14: The narrower, steeper sided passband of the 8-pole 10F15D at 20kHz
per division.
● Fig. 15: A comb of ‘pip’ markers produced by a 1MHz square-wave crystal
oscillator.
● Fig. 16: Signals down to 1µV e.m.f (-113dBm) are visible above the noise ‘lawn’
(4MHz per division).
and 6, was built on double- ‘one-offs’ are quicker by hand. I simultaneously see
sided copper clad printed just pushed the legs of the and hear individual
circuit board, though single helical filter through the paper c.w. signals.
sided board was used for the to mark its pinout. Without an
other r.f modules. The boards were drilled with antenna, I can see
The front-end circuit itself a small craft drill. The residual the base and handset
was built on double-sided copper from around the holes, carriers of my
copper clad board. The MAR-6 was cleared using a Vero cordless telephone at
amplifier was surface mounted cutting tool. Heat breaks in the 31 and 40MHz and I
by burring out a shallow recess copper foil were scored with a can also see my
with a sanding bit. scalpel to make soldering to the neighbour’s wireless
Underneath, unwanted copper top easier. baby alarm at
was removed by peeling it up The prototype was 49MHz!
whilst simultaneously applying constructed as six modules: An un-modulated - ● Fig. 9: A perf-board layout for the control and
heat. 1 Sweep generator 85dBm carrier is sweep oscillator.
I also used SMA connectors 2 Voltage controlled oscillator shown in Fig. 11, at
and miniature coaxial cable to (v.c.o.) 50kHz per division
route signals between the 3 An amplifier for the v.c.o. using the 2-pole
separate boards. The second i.f. 4 Front-end (first mixer, i.f. filter. The display is
board is shown in Figs. 7 and amplifier and filter) very stable. The
8, which like the first mixer 5 Second local oscillator screen of Fig. 12
follows the circuit diagram in 6 Second mixer and shows an f.m. signal
layout. The i.f. strip was built logarithmic i.f. amplifier / with a deviation of
on single sided copper clad detector 50kHz modulated by
board with the copper acting as You may wonder why I a 1kHz sine wave.
a ground plane. A few created so many modules. Well, Varying the
components, including R3, are my answer to that, is that the deviation,
mounted underneath the board. design was experimental. I modulating
I built a second i.f. strip to didn’t know how much gain frequency and sweep
try out the 10F15D 8-pole filter. would be needed to raise the rate produces ● Fig. 10: Interconnections on the control oscillator
To match this filter’s 3kΩ- output of the first oscillator to interesting effects! board.
termination impedance, a the required level until I’d built The analyser can
1.5kΩ resistor was inserted in and tested it. curve trace its own crystal e.m.f (-113dBm) are visible
series with the filter input, and I also didn’t want to put too filter, as Fig. 13 shows the above the noise lawn. The
the value of R2 was increased much of the circuitry on one response of the 2-pole 10M15A r.s.s.i. is fairly logarithmic up to
to 2.7kΩ. board in case something went at approximately 50kHz per -30dBm where it limits, giving
The sweep generator Figs. 9 wrong! This way, each module division. The second peak is a dynamic range of about 80dB.
and 10 was built on 0.1in could be tested separately. As it 34dB below the top. Inputs above -20dBm increase
perforated board using Molex was experimental, I also built The well defined curve of the noise level across the band -
connectors for external two versions of the second i.f. to Fig. 14 is the narrower, steeper except near the carrier. I
connections. The circuitry try different crystal filters. sided pass-band of the 8-pole suspect the MAR-6 output only
around IC1 and IC2 is 10F15D at 20kHz per division. sees a 50Ω load in this quiet
‘borrowed’ from Roger Passband ripple is visible. The zone.
Blackwell’s design. Fun To Play character of these filters is not Although both, the NE602
The spectrum analyser is fun to ideal for a spectrum analyser! and the NE604 i.c.s have been
play with! Activity in the h.f. They were designed for f.m. discontinued, samples can still
spectrum can be seen using a communications. be obtained. I found Barend
Drilling Templates short antenna. I’ve also A comb of ‘pip’ markers Hendricksen in Holland a
I made drilling templates, connected the analyser to the produced by a 1MHz square- useful source for r.f.
marked out on 0.1in graph panoramic output of a Racal wave crystal oscillator is shown components.
paper first. I could have created RA1217 Receiver. It’s in Fig. 15. The span was 0.5 to I can also recommend
them on a computer, but often sometimes possible to 13.5MHz. Note the level of the another source at Sycom
first few even harmonics where Robin G3NFV will
14 15 16 relative to the other peaks. A often look specifically for many
perfect square wave is components for PW and similar
composed of only odd projects. The SMA plugs and
harmonics. sockets, along with other
The trace of Fig. 16 shows a ‘professional’ parts, can often
-10dBm signal at 4MHz per be picked up cheaply at rallies
division. Signals down to 1µV and ‘junk sales’. PW
http://www.xs4all.nl/~barendh
analysers on the Internet. Some to try are:
Sycom: Tel: 01372 372587
http://www.nitehawk.com/rasmit/sa50.html
Philips application note AN1983 Crystal oscillators and frequency
multipliers using the NE602 and NE612 (available in PDF format; http://www.qsl.net/n9zia/wireless/pdf/9808035.pdf
search the Internet for AN1983)
http://www.qsl.net/n9zia/wireless/pdf/9809037.pdf
Wes Hayward W7ZOI, and Terry White K7TAU, A Spectrum
Analyzer for the Radio Amateur QST, August and September of 1998 http://www.bright.net/~kanga/w7zoi/SAphotos.html
Roger Blackwell, Simple Spectrum Analyser Radio Communication
http://www06.u-page.so-net.ne.jp/ga2/semba/speana/e_speana.htm
Handbook, 6th Edition, RSGB.