## Do I ‘need’ a masthead preamp to work satellites on 2m? – G/T vs G/Ta

A reader of Do I ‘need’ a masthead preamp to work satellites on 2m? – space noise scenario has written to say he does not like my comments on the hammy adaptation of G/T.

Above is an archived extract of a spreadsheet that was very popular in the ham community, both with antenna designers and sellers and end users (buyers / constructors). It shows a column entitled G/T which is actually the hammy calculation. The meaning possibly derives from (Bertelsmeier 1987), he used G/Ta.

Ta is commonly interpreted by hams to be Temperature – antenna. It is true that antennas have an intrinsic equivalent noise temperature, it relates to their loss and physical temperature and is typically a very small number. But as Bertelsmeier uses it, it is Temperature – ambient (or external), and that is how it is used in this article.

Let’s calculate the G/Ta statistic for the three scenarios in Do I ‘need’ a masthead preamp to work satellites on 2m? – space noise scenario.

## Base scenario

Above is a calculation of the base scenario, G/T=-29.74dB/K.

Also shown in this screenshot is G/Ta=-23.98dB/K. Continue reading Do I ‘need’ a masthead preamp to work satellites on 2m? – G/T vs G/Ta

## Do I ‘need’ a masthead preamp to work satellites on 2m? – terrestrial noise scenario

Do I ‘need’ a masthead preamp to work satellites on 2m? – space noise explored a scenario for a high gain antenna pointed skywards. This article explores the case of a omni antenna which basically captures ‘terrestrial’ noise.

Base scenario is a low end satellite ground station:

• 144MHz;
• terrestrial noise (satellite with omni antenna);
• IC-9700, assume NF=4.8dB;
• omni antenna;
• 10m of LMR-400.

## Do I ‘need’ a masthead preamp to work satellites on 2m? – space noise scenario

A question asked online recently provides an interesting and common case to explore.

Base scenario is a low end satellite ground station:

• 144MHz;
• satellite;
• IC-9700, assume NF=4.8dB;
• high gain (narrow beamwidth antenna);
• 10m of LMR-400.

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

I see online discussions struggling to try to work out if a receiving system is sufficiently good for a certain application.

Let’s work an example using Simsmith to do some of the calculations.

Scenario:

• 20m ground mounted vertical base fed against a 2.4m driven earth electrode @ 0.5MHz;
• 10m RG58A/U coax; and
• Receiver with 500+j0Ω ohms input impedance and Noise Figure 20dB.

An NEC-4.2 model of the antenna gives a feed point impedance of 146-j4714Ω and radiation efficiency of 0.043%, so radiation resistance $$Rr=146 \cdot 0.00043=0.0063$$.

Above, the NEC antenna model summary. Continue reading Quantifying performance of a simple broadcast receive system on MF

## Active monopole + RTL SDR + RPi Spyserver experiment

A brief experiment was conducted of a remote HF receiver using:

• 1m active monopole;
• RTL-2832U v3 SDR dongle;
• RPi 3B+ running Spyserver; and
• SdrSharp client.

Above is the active whip antenna. Not optimal mounting, but as you can see from the clamps, a temporary mount but one that does not confuse results with feed line common mode contribution. Continue reading Active monopole + RTL SDR + RPi Spyserver experiment

## SDR# (v1.0.0.1732) – channel filter exploration

With plans to use an RTL-SDR dongle and SDR# (v1.0.0.1732) for an upcoming project, the Equivalent Noise Bandwidth (ENB) of several channel filter configurations were explored.

A first observation of listening to a SSB telephony signal is an excessive low frequency rumble from the speaker indicative of a baseband response to quite low frequencies, much lower than needed or desirable for SSB telephony.

### 500Hz CW filter

The most common application of such a filter is reception of A1 Morse code.

Above is a screenshot of the filter settings. Continue reading SDR# (v1.0.0.1732) – channel filter exploration

## Noise figure of active loop amplifiers – the Ikin dynamic impedance method

Noise figure of active loop amplifiers – some thoughts discussed measurement of internal noise with particular application of active broadband loop antennas.

(Ikin 2016) proposes a different method of measuring noise figure NF.

Therefore, the LNA noise figure can be derived by measuring the noise with the LNA input terminated with a resistor equal to its input impedance. Then with the measurement repeated with the resistor removed, so that the LNA input is terminated by its own Dynamic Impedance. The difference in the noise ref. the above measurements will give a figure in dB which is equal to the noise reduction of the LNA verses thermal noise at 290K. Converting the dB difference into an attenuation power ratio then multiplying this by 290K gives the LNA Noise Temperature. Then using the Noise Temperature to dB conversion table yields the LNA Noise Figure. See Table 1.

The explanation is not very clear to me, and there is no mathematical proof of the technique offered… so a bit unsatisfying… but it is oft cited in ham online discussions.

I have taken the liberty to extend Ikin’s Table 1 to include some more values of column 1 for comparison with a more conventional Y factor test of a receiver’s noise figure.

Above is the extended table. The formulas in all cells of a column are the same, the highlighted row is for later reference. Continue reading Noise figure of active loop amplifiers – the Ikin dynamic impedance method

## Review of noise

Let’s review of the concepts of noise figure, equivalent noise temperature and measurement.

Firstly let’s consider the nature of noise. The noise we are discussing is dominated by thermal noise, the noise due to random thermal agitation of charge carriers in conductors. Johnson noise (as it is known) has a uniform spectral power density, ie a uniform power/bandwidth. The maximum thermal noise power density available from a resistor at temperature T is given by $$NPD=k_B T$$ where Boltzmann’s constant kB=1.38064852e-23 (and of course the load must be matched to obtain that maximum noise power density). Temperature is absolute temperature, it is measured in Kelvins and 0°C≅273K.

## Noise Figure

Noise Figure NF by definition is the reduction in S/N ratio (in dB) across a system component. So, we can write $$NF=10 log \frac{S_{in}}{N_{in}}- 10 log \frac{S_{out}}{N_{out}}$$.

### Equivalent noise temperature

One of the many methods of characterising the internal noise contribution of an amplifier is to treat it as noiseless and derive an equivalent temperature of a matched input resistor that delivers equivalent noise, this temperature is known as the equivalent noise temperature Te of the amplifier.

So for example, if we were to place a 50Ω resistor on the input of a nominally 50Ω input amplifier, and raised its temperature from 0K to the point T where the noise output power of the amplifier doubled, would could infer that the internal noise of the amplifier could be represented by an input resistor at temperature T. Fine in concept, but not very practical.

### Y factor method

Applying a little maths, we do have a practical measurement method which is known as the Y factor method. It involves measuring the ratio of noise power output (Y) for two different source resistor temperatures, Tc and Th. We can say that $$NF=10 log \frac{(\frac{T_h}{290}-1)-Y(\frac{T_c}{290}-1)}{Y-1}$$.

AN 57-1 contains a detailed mathematical explanation / proof of the Y factor method.

We can buy a noise source off the shelf, they come in a range of hot and cold temperatures. For example, one with specified Excess Noise Ratio (a common method of specifying them) has Th=9461K and Tc=290K. If we measured a DUT and observed that Y=3 (4.77dB) we could calculate that NF=12dB. Continue reading Noise figure of active loop amplifiers – some thoughts

## SimSmith – looking both ways – an LNA design task

This article shows the use of SimSmith in design and analysis of the input circuit of an MGF1302 LNA.

The MGF1302 is a low noise GaAs FET designed for S band to X band amplifiers, and was very popular in ham equipment until the arrival of pHEMT devices.

An important characteristic of the MGF1302 is that matching the input circuit for maximum gain (maximum power transfer) does not achieve the best Noise Figure… and since low noise is the objective, then we must design for that.

The datasheet contains a set of Γopt for the source impedance seen by the device gate, and interpolating for 1296MHz Γopt=0.73∠-10.5°.

Lets convert Γopt to some other useful values.

The equivalent source Z, Y and rectangular form of Γopt= will be convenient during the circuit design phase. Continue reading SimSmith – looking both ways – an LNA design task