AM super heterodyne receiver works on the principle of super heterodyning. In the super heterodyne receiver, the incoming signal voltage is combined with a Signal generated in the receiver. The local oscillator voltage is normally converted into a signal of a low fixed frequency with the help of mixer.
The signal at this intermediate frequency contains the same modulation as the original carrier and it is now amplified and detected to reproduce the original modulating signal.
Functions of each blockReceiving antenna- AM receiver operates in the frequency range of 540 KHz to 1640 KHz.
RF stage- Selects wanted signal and rejects all other signals and thus reduces the effect of noise.
Mixer- Receives signal from RF stage Fs and the local oscillator Fo, and are mixed to produce intermediate frequency signal IF which is given as:
IF=Fo-Fs
Ganged Tuning- To maintain a constant difference between the local oscillator and RF signal frequency, gang capacitors are used.
IF stage- The IF signal is amplified by the IF amplifier with enough gain.
Detector-Amplified signal is detected by the detector to get original modulating signal. The detector also provides control signals to control the gain of IF and RF stage called as AGC.
AGC- Automatic gain control controls the gain of RF and IF amplifiers to maintain a constant output level at the speaker even though the signal strength at the antenna varies.