A analog oscilloscope display has the property to multiply the audio
deviation on a frequency modulated RF subcarrier without multiplying the RF
frequency.
A analog oscilloscope display has the property to multiply the audio
deviation on a frequency modulated RF subcarrier without multiplying the RF
frequency.
Feed the audio input of the subcarrier generator with an audio tone of fixed frequency, such as 1000 hz, and feed the RF output of the subcarrier generator into an oscilloscope.
Adjust the horizontal sweep to 'delayed' and 'expand' and adjust the period to easily see each individual cycle of sine wave. Adjust the 'horizontal position' to see the peaks as moving away from the trigger point. Use + trigger.
The 'marker' is the waveform, as shown in the drawing at above right, where the thickened trace causes the valleys between peaks, from both positive and negative directions, to just touch the 'zero' axis.
Commercial audio FM subcarriers using preemphasis usually have the deviation set at 75 Khz peak at 1000 hz of audio input, causing the 'marker' condition to appear approximately twenty-two peaks from the trigger point. As there are several cycles which approach this condition, the trick is to do an 'eyeball' interpolation to find the middle. By slowly adjusting the 'horizontal position' one can count the peaks back to the trigger point.
The 'marker' condition, as shown in the drawing, indicates where the
multiplied peak deviation is 1/4 of the period of one cycle of the RF.
The derived formula for peak FM deviation of the subcarrier is:
Peak deviation in Khz = fsc / (4Nc - 1)
where fsc is the frequency of the subcarrier in Khz, and
Nc is the number of waveform peaks minus one, counted back from
the 'marker' to the trigger point on the oscilloscope. It is actually the
number of periods between waveform peaks which is being counted.
For example: there are 27 waveform peaks counted back from the
'marker' on a subcarrier with an RF frequency of 5.76 Mhz.
Nc = 27 - 1 = 26, and peak deviation = 5760 / (4 * 26 - 1) =
approximately 56 Khz peak deviation.
A 6.2 Mhz (6200 Khz) subcarrier with a peak deviation of 75 Khz will have 20.9 periods (22 waveform peaks approximately) from the 'marker' back to the trigger point. A wrong count by only one peak will result in approximately five percent error. It is best to practice this estimating method on a subcarrier which has been carefully calibrated using the Bessel null procedure, in order to get the feel of the oscilloscope, and counting a long line of waveform peaks while adjusting the horizontal position to allow their counting.
If the peak audio deviation on the RF subcarrier is low, one may not be
able to get to the 'marker' waveform while obtaining an oscilloscope
display which is readable. In this case, adjust the vertical gain so the
peak to peak amplitude of the display is eight units on the graticule. Then
move away from the trigger point until the valleys between peaks from
positive and negative are 3/4 the total amplitude. For example, if the
total peak to peak amplitude is four units positive and four units
negative, the positive valleys should extend to the -2 graticule
line, and the negative valleys should extend to the +2 graticule line. Do
an 'eyeball' interpolation to find the middle of the group of valleys which
seem to fulfill this condition.
Count the waveform peaks minus one, back to the trigger point and multiply
the result by two for use in the formula above.