UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Powered By Google Custom Search Vintage Radio and TV Service Data

Go Back   UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum > Other Discussions > Homebrew Equipment

Notices

Homebrew Equipment A place to show, design and discuss the weird and wonderful electronic creations from the hands of individual members.

Closed Thread
 
Thread Tools
Old 6th Jul 2019, 1:14 am   #1
radiograham
Hexode
 
Join Date: Oct 2017
Location: Manchester, UK.
Posts: 361
Question UHF tuner use.

Hi I am hoping someone can advise me about this,i have a uhf tuner u943c made by Philips i think.This is the tuner sold by Maplins and used in their Nicam tv tuner in feb/mar 1990 magazine.This is meant to be fed to a saw filter,i was hoping to use it with a valve if strip but not having much luck.Can anyone tell if me if it's possible to use it in this way or am i wasting my time? Graham.
radiograham is offline  
Old 6th Jul 2019, 9:45 pm   #2
Restoration73
Nonode
 
Restoration73's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Surbiton, SW London, UK.
Posts: 2,801
Default Re: UHF tuner use.

In general, any varicap uhf tuner has a lower gain compared to a mechanical type, and even that often used the vhf tuner (on a 405-625 set) switched to "U" to give additional
IF gain. Therefore you may need an outboard IF preamp based on a transistor or MMIC
to overcome the losses. This site gives excellent background development of tuners;
https://www.maximus-randd.com/tv-tuner-history-pt4.html
Restoration73 is offline  
Old 7th Jul 2019, 3:25 pm   #3
Nuvistor
Dekatron
 
Nuvistor's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Wigan, Greater Manchester, UK.
Posts: 9,426
Default Re: UHF tuner use.

RBM used transistor or valve UHF tuners straight into the IF strip in their Bush TV125U and TV135RU televisions. The 125 used EF85/80’s the 135RU used EF183/184’s.

Others makes used the VHF Mixer for extra IF gain, perhaps if you look at Bush circuits it may help.
__________________
Frank
Nuvistor is online now  
Old 7th Jul 2019, 11:49 pm   #4
radiograham
Hexode
 
Join Date: Oct 2017
Location: Manchester, UK.
Posts: 361
Default Re: UHF tuner use.

Hi,i was wondering if this tuner which is fed into a saw filter rather than a conventional if strip whether the if output would be suitable for use with a valve if strip. Graham.
radiograham is offline  
Old 8th Jul 2019, 12:51 am   #5
Nuvistor
Dekatron
 
Nuvistor's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Wigan, Greater Manchester, UK.
Posts: 9,426
Default Re: UHF tuner use.

Direct drive SAW filter Tuner units such as the u943 have a low impedance output, this will need matching to the IF strip, some valve iF inputs probably have a much higher impedance although those Bush tuners were fed by 75 Ohm coax.
You could possibly cure two problems with a transistor matching stage between tuner and IF, it will give some extra gain and match the units.
The matching is the problem you have to solve.
__________________
Frank
Nuvistor is online now  
Old 8th Jul 2019, 2:33 pm   #6
G6Tanuki
Dekatron
 
G6Tanuki's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Wiltshire, UK.
Posts: 13,951
Default Re: UHF tuner use.

Yes, the impedance-matching is likely to be an issue!

Either use a tuned-circuit with a tapping for the input, or maybe consider using an emitter-follower. Do you know the impedance of the SAW filter the tuner is designed to drive??

See fig.4 here:

https://www.robkalmeijer.nl/techniek...e71/index.html

for an idea though when I've done this for HF-band crystal filters (either homebrew ones using ex-TV crystals or commercial KVG ones) my trick has been to remove what's shown as "Rterm" and then replace what's shown as the two 22K base-bias resistors with a pair of resistors each double the value of Rterm.
G6Tanuki is offline  
Old 10th Jul 2019, 1:58 am   #7
radiograham
Hexode
 
Join Date: Oct 2017
Location: Manchester, UK.
Posts: 361
Default Re: UHF tuner use.

Hi thanks for all the help,not had a lot of success using this tuner for anything other than its original purpose ie with a saw filter,in this it works fine.Think i need to find an earlier type. Graham.
radiograham is offline  
Old 10th Jul 2019, 7:32 am   #8
Nuvistor
Dekatron
 
Nuvistor's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Wigan, Greater Manchester, UK.
Posts: 9,426
Default Re: UHF tuner use.

Is the IF strip home made or from an old TV set and by not a lot of success do you mean poor pictures or it just doesn’t work?
__________________
Frank
Nuvistor is online now  
Closed Thread

Thread Tools



All times are GMT +1. The time now is 12:16 pm.


All information and advice on this forum is subject to the WARNING AND DISCLAIMER located at https://www.vintage-radio.net/rules.html.
Failure to heed this warning may result in death or serious injury to yourself and/or others.


Powered by vBulletin®
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Copyright ©2002 - 2023, Paul Stenning.