NOTE! On July 1, 2020, this post will become obsolete as the 2020 Extra Class question pool goes into effect. Please refer to the post from the 2020 No Nonsense Extra Class Study Guide instead.
E4C – Receiver performance characteristics, phase noise, noise floor, image rejection, MDS, signal-to-noise-ratio; selectivity; effects of SDR receiver non-linearity
In the past, sensitivity was one of the most important receiver performance specifications. Today, instead of sensitivity, we speak of a receiver’s minimum discernible signal, or MDS. The MDS of a receiver is the minimum discernible signal. (E4C07) This is the weakest signal that a receiver will detect. One parameter that affects a receiver’s MDS is the noise figure. The noise figure of a receiver is the ratio in dB of the noise generated by the receiver compared to the theoretical minimum noise. (E4C04)
A related specification is the noise floor. When we say that the noise floor of a receiver has a value of -174 dBm/Hz, it is referring to the theoretical noise at the input of a perfect receiver at room temperature. (E4C05) If a CW receiver with the AGC off has an equivalent input noise power density of -174 dBm/Hz, the level of an unmodulated carrier input to this receiver would have to be -148 dBm to yield an audio output SNR of 0 dB in a 400 Hz noise bandwidth. (E4C06)
Another important receiver specification is selectivity. A receiver’s selectivity is the result of a lot of things, including the filters a receiver has. 300 Hz is a desirable amount of selectivity for an amateur RTTY HF receiver. (E4C10) 2.4 kHz is a desirable amount of selectivity for an amateur SSB phone receiver.(E4C11)
In addition to a 300 Hz filter and a 2.4 kHz filter, high-end receivers also have filters called roofing filters. A narrow-band roofing filter affects receiver performance because it improves dynamic range by attenuating strong signals near the receive frequency. (E4C13)
Back in the day, when superheterodyne receivers had intermediate frequencies, or IFs, in the 400 – 500 kHz range, image rejection was a problem. If there was a strong signal present on a frequency about two times the IF away from the frequency your receiver was tuned to, you might hear that signal. Accordingly, 15.210 MHz is a frequency on which a station might be transmitting if it is generating a spurious image signal in a receiver tuned to 14.300 MHz and which uses a 455 kHz IF frequency. (E4C14)
One solution to this problem is to select an IF higher in frequency. One good reason for selecting a high frequency for the design of the IF in a conventional HF or VHF communications receiver is that it is easier for front-end circuitry to eliminate image responses. (E4C09) A front-end filter or pre-selector of a receiver can also be effective in eliminating image signal interference. (E4C02)
Another way to get rid of image signals is to use a narrow IF filter. An undesirable effect of using too wide a filter bandwidth in the IF section of a receiver is that undesired signals may be heard. (E4C12)
Because most modern transceivers use digital techniques to generate a local oscillator signal to tune a receiver, synthesizer phase noise might be a problem. An effect of excessive phase noise in the local oscillator section of a receiver is that it can cause strong signals on nearby frequencies to interfere with reception of weak signals. (E4C01)
Software-defined radio (SDR) is becoming more popular in amateur radio. It is, therefore, necessary to know something about SDR receiver characteristics. The SDR receiver’s analog-to-digital converter sample width in bits has the largest effect on an SDR receiver’s linearity. (E4C17) An SDR receiver is overloaded when input signals exceeds the maximum count value of the analog-to-digital converter. (E4C08) Distortion is caused by missing codes in an SDR receiver’s analog-to-digital converter. (E4C16)
Finally, here are two miscellaneous questions on receiver performance characteristics. Atmospheric noise is the primary source of noise that can be heard from an HF receiver with an antenna connected. (E4C15) Capture effect is the term for the blocking of one FM phone signal by another, stronger FM phone signal. (E4C03)