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IDEAS FOR DESIGN

Circle 521 the JFET is pulled to +5 V, pinching its


channel off and creating a very high re-

Effective AGC Amplifier sistance from drain to source. This es-


sentially removes it from the circuit.
At input levels above 40 mV p-p, Q1

Can Be Built At A Nominal Cost is turned on at the positive peaks of the


output of U1A, lowering the JFETs
gate to source voltage. The channel re-
JOSEPH P. GEORGE sistance decreases and attenuates the
New Venture Prototypes, 20082 Moontide Circle, input signal to maintain the output of
Huntington Beach, CA 92646; (714) 968-2476. U1A at approximately 1.2 V p-p.

U
sing the circuit presented here, C2 R5 R6
you can construct a very inexpen- 10 mF 470 33k
sive AGC amplifier with the fol- +
lowing features: a dynamic range
5.0 V 5.0 V
greater than 50 dB; negligible distor-
tion to the output waveform; fast attack R3 2
C1 8
and slow decay; an adjustable output R2
10 mF 240k – 1
120k
level from 0 to 1.2 V p-p; operation from Audio input + 3 +
a single 5-V supply; less than 1-mA cur- 40 mV - 20 V p-p 4
U1A R7
rent drain; and low cost (uses one half of R1 R4 10k
240k LM358
1k
a dual 8-pin op-amp package at less than
$2.50 in parts). Better yet, if you need a 5.0 V
second channel, the remaining half of + C3
the op amp can be used for that circuit.
R8 10 mF
100k
ELECTRONIC DESIGN / AUGUST 3, 1998

Referring to the diagram, Q2 (a P- Q2


channel JFET), coupled with R2 and J176
the equivalent resistance of R3 and R4,
Q1
form a voltage divider to the input sig- 2N3904
nal source. With input levels below 40 C4 + Audio output
10 mF P1
mV p-p, the input is evenly divided be- 10k 0-1.2 V p-p
tween R2 (120k) and R3  R4 (120k).
The output amplitude of U1A isn’t
large enough to turn on Q2, which acts This inexpensive, yet effective, AGC amplifier has a dynamic range greater than 50 dB and is
as a positive peak detector. The gate of built using only half of an LM358 dual 8 pin op-amp package.

90
IDEAS FOR DESIGN

The circuit, as shown, was tested with the input waveform. With a 40 2N5116, should work equally well in
with a sine-wave input ranging from mV to 20 V p-p input signal, the ampli- this circuit, although they haven’t
300 Hz to 30 kHz at 40 mV to 20 V p-p, tude of the signal across the JFET been tried. To use JFETs with higher
a 54-dB range. It maintained the out- (VDS) measured less than 20 mV p-p. VGS(OFF), such as the 2N3993 (it was
put level at 1.2 V p-p, ±0.5 dB, with no Other JFETs with VGS(OFF) of 5V tried and worked equally well), in-
visible distortion when comparing it or under, such as the 2N5019 or crease the supply voltage to 12 V.
ELECTRONIC DESIGN / AUGUST 3, 1998

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