[CIRCUIT IDEAS]

MUDIT AGARWAL

AM Transmitter
Jayanto Deka

This transmitter is basic but allows transmission of
audio to an AM radio. It consists of an RF oscillator
operating in the AM broadcast band, together with
a modulator stage, which mixes the incoming
audio and the RF. A signal appears on the output,
which has an AM component that can be picked up
on a near by AM radio receiver.
The transmitter consists of oscillator stage Q1 and
modulator/buffer stage Q2. Q1 is biased via R1,
R2, and R3. L1, C3 and C4 form the tank circuit
short wire antenna. Audio is fed to modulator Q2
via C8 and isolation resistor R5 and mixes with the
RF signal in the collector circuit of Q2, producing a
signal that has sum and difference frequencies. An
AM signal appears at the collector of Q2. Audio
with an RMS voltage equal to about 0.7 times the
collector voltage of Q2 is needed for full
modulation of the output. Because of the high level
of audio needed, the modulation obtained from

+
+9V
R5 C8
+ 470 10uf/16V
C1 C6
0.1uf 10uf/16V +

L1 Modulation
400-500 uH Input
400-500 uH
C7
0.1uf
L2

R1
22K C9
C5
330pf
33pf
Q1
2N3904 RF
Output
C10
C3 330pf
150pf Q2
C2 2N3904
R4
0.1uf 2.2K

R2 R3 C4
4.7K 470 0.002uf

Fig.1:Circuit Diagram of AM Transmitter

with feedback network C3-C4 providing feedback
to the emitter of Q1. RF voltage at the junction of
C3 and L1 drives buffer/modulator stage Q2. Q2
is biased by base current produced by RF
rectification in the base emitter junction of Q2. C6
is an RF and AF bypass capacitor. C9, C10 and L2
form the tank circuit for the collector of Q2. RF is
taken from the junction of C9 and C10 and fed to a
this circuit is somewhat limited with conventional
audio sources because several volts of audio into a
few hundred ohms is needed. The circuit
demonstrates the principle of an AM transmitter,
however, and with a suitable audio drive level,
produces a well modulated AM signal. L1 and L2
are chosen to resonate with the circuit capacitances
of about 150 and 165 pf, respectively, and in the
test circuit, inductances of 400-500 uH were used
to obtain the desired 600 KHz output frequency.