I have come to the conclusion that aligning IF stages by VTVM peak is less than optimal--especially for boatanchor communications receivers. Just because it peaked does not mean that the damn thing is centered. With that thought in mind I am thinking sweep generator with internal markers, or an external marker generator.
There are a couple ways to go about this from the marker perspective. I can inject an isolated signal into the output of the sweep with my Wavetec function generator. The "marker" or actually a ripple along the top of the demodulated sweep waveform can then be observed. One merely moves the second generator frequency (monitoring on the frequency counter) from one side of the top to the other noting the frequency of the top skirt edges. Dirty, but it will do the job.
I would like something a bit more elegant, like the clean markers I used to see on my B&K 415 back in the day. There seem to be a shitload of sweep generators out there, but not really anything targeted to communications receivers. Got any thoughts?
P.S. I want to keep the budget on this below $250...
Reply With Quote