[Premium-Rx] real basic question on stability etc.

[Eugene Hertz]

Ok, here's a novice question. I know that receiver stability is a big topic of discussion. The more stable the better. But it seems to me stability for a receiver is only as useful as the stability on the transmitter?! Of course, if both Tx and Rx are drifting, then unless they are drifting in the same direction at the same rate it certainly would be better to have only one node drifting as opposed to both.

I recently acquired a receiver (not premium) P-1524(P)/WRR submarine countermeasures receiver 30Mhz-1,000Mhz with plug in RF tuning stages and it has this neat feature (probably common, but new to me) where it has AFC automatic frequency control. It works pretty well (to my unsophisticated mind). Essentially adjusts the LO up or down to match the carrier of the transmitter. I would imagine a feature like that to perhaps be more valuable than stability. Who cares what the LO of the receiver actually is, as long as its locked onto the transmitter. Imagine being able to track the tx no matter how much it is drifiting. That to me should be a great design goal. Now, I would imagine AFC would be darn near impossible for ssb. But FM, AM and maybe even CW could benefit.

I am sure I am missing something. Why the emphasis on stability and not tracking?

Eugene


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