Category: Receivers

The article The oft asked question of how much an LNA improves a 70cm weak signal station solicited some comment on optimal configurations. This article deals with the notion / Rule of Thumb that optimal LNA gain is just sufficient to offset line losses.

This article explains with graphs the relationship between Signal / Noise degradation (see Signal to noise degradation (SND) concept) and LNA gain in the configurations discussed in the original article. See The oft asked question of how much an LNA improves a 70cm weak signal station for documentation of the scenario assumptions.

The critical value for SND is a personal choice, but for the purpose of this discussion, let’s choose 1dB. That is to say that the S/N at the receiver output is less than 1dB lower than the ultimate that could achieved with the antenna system given the external noise environment.

The total line loss in the example configurations was 2.6dB. The model assumes that LNA Noise Figure is independent of LNA Gain, though in the real world, there is typically some small dependence.

Often the choice of LNA Gain drives the choice of a single stage or two stage LNA, which has cost implications.

Terrestrial external noise – 495+5K

Above is a chart showing SND vs LNA Gain. It can be seen that as LNA gain is increased, SND improves rapidly with a knee around 15dB LNA gain above which SND improvement is slower. Continue reading The oft asked question of how much an LNA improves a 70cm weak signal station – Rules of Thumb

A recent online post seeking opinions on the chap’s 70cm weak signal configuration is an interesting subject for study, and one that should be of interest to many weak signal DXers.

This article focusses on just one question in a quite similar configuration, what is the advantage given by the LNA?

Study configuration

The scenario will be evaluated for both terrestrial and satellite paths.

Above is the assumed ambient noise environment, it has great bearing on the results. More on that later. Continue reading The oft asked question of how much an LNA improves a 70cm weak signal station

Receiver sensitivity is commonly given as some signal level, say in µV, for a given Signal to Noise ratio (S/N), say 10dB. For AM, the depth of sinusoidal modulation is also given, and it is usually 30%. In fact these are power ratios in the context of and some nominal reference receiver input impedance.

In fact what is commonly measured is Signal + Noise to Noise ratio, and of course this ratio is one of powers. For this reason, specifications often give (S+N)/N.

This article discusses those metrics in the context of ‘conventional’ receivers and introduces the key role of assumed bandwidth through the concept of Equivalent Noise Bandwidth..

Let’s consider the raw S/N ratio of an ideal AM detector and ideal SSB detector.

Raw Signal/Noise

AM

Above is a diagram of the various vector components of an AM signal with random noise, shown at the ‘instant’ of a modulation ‘valley’. The black vector represents the carrier (1V), the two blue vectors are counter rotating vectors of each of the sideband components, in this case with modulation depth 30%, and the red vector is 0.095V of random noise rotating on the end of the carrier + sideband components. Continue reading Comparing sensitivity figures of an AM receiver and SSB receiver