The Basic lessons · Station assembly, practice and safety · B-003-010

Receiver Performance: Bandwidth, Filters, and Sensitivity

Learn how to match your receiver's bandwidth to your signal type for clear audio. Understand how sensitivity, dynamic range, and filters keep your station working effectively.

This lesson is part of SignalPrep Pro. The subsection's 11 exam questions are free to practise: practise B-003-010.

What this subsection asks

• Which series of emission modes listed below is in order from the narrowest bandwidth to the widest bandwidth?
• The figure in a receiver's specifications which indicates its sensitivity is the:
• What are the two signal parameters presented to the user on the waterfall display (spectrogram) of a modern receiver?
• What is the function of automatic gain control (AGC) in a receiver?
• For which of the following emission modes is it important for the receiver to be tuned accurately (within 100 Hz)?
• A superheterodyne receiver has an intermediate frequency (IF) of 455 kHz. The local oscillator runs above the operating frequency. To which frequency should it be tuned to receive a signal on 3.54 MHz?
• When receiving a modulated signal, what is the adverse consequence of too narrow a receiver bandwidth?
• Apart from sensitivity and selectivity, which of these is the third main indicator of communications receiver performance?
• A communications receiver has four filters installed in it, respectively designated as 250 Hz, 500 Hz, 2.4 kHz, and 6 kHz. If you were listening to single sideband, which filter would you utilize?
• A communications receiver has four filters installed in it, respectively designated as 250 Hz, 500 Hz, 2.4 kHz and 6 kHz. You are copying a CW transmission and there is a great deal of interference. Which one of the filters would you choose?
• When receiving CW, which of these frequency ranges is optimum for a band-pass filter?