J
Jamie
- Jan 1, 1970
- 0
M. Hamed said:I am getting ready to start working on my first radio receiver (not counting the crystal radio). I plan to start my experimentation first on the AM and FM broadcast bands and then move to the amateur bands once I get my license, so I initially won't go much higher than about 100 MHz.
Can I get by without a spectrum analyzer? I have a 100 MHz scope at home, and intermittent access to a 1 GHz scope at work. Would that be enough for circuit verification?
If not what would be the max frequency I should be looking for in my spectrum analyzer (presumably from ebay)? I had read somewhere that even with low frequency stuff my oscillators or mixers could be giving out spurious oscillations at several GHz that I should be aware of.
I have also searched the group and found some leads to signal hound analyzers and I wonder if those would be adequate for this kind of experimenting.
Aside from crystal radios and a few low frequency oscillators that I built, I have very little experience with radio and so I expect there could be plenty of things going wrong spectrum-wise.
At your entry level what you need to do is not design receivers or
transmitters, accept maybe a little tiny bug type, is to get a radio kit
receiver and follow the instructions. There are many of them out there
and they work just fine for people like you.
Read fully the operation details and theory of the design to get a full
understanding of it.
As for getting a Ham license, you must remember that HAM operators and
electronic design isn't quite the same. Although there are many that
actually started with design work and then at some point got a license.
I was in design work for years before I even became a ticketed
operator. I had/have friends that I assisted in getting their advanced &
extra license for the theory part but never had a ticket myself. I just
didn't seem to have the time to sit and just gab on the radio! I was
more interested in talking about the movement of electrons.
P.S.
One day we had some clients visit our place and when they got to my
mid evil work center, they were amazed at all the instrumentation I had
lit up on the bench.. One of them asked me exactly what job I did, and I
thought it was kind of obvious with all that was taking place on the
bench but evidently it wasn't. So I told them I was an Electronologist.
Jamie