[sci.electronics] Detecting s-l-ooooow AM

rrw@naucse.cse.nau.edu (Robert Wier) (04/26/91)

 Many thanks to those who responded to my message of about
 a week ago about decoding weather satellite transmissions.
 Most suggested some type of phase - locked loop detection.

 In starting to check on this, I ran across Application Note
 AN-46 from National (1986 Linear Applications Databook), and 
 guess what?  On page 153, they have a circuit for a "Weather
 Satellite Picture Demodulator" which uses a LM565 PLL and a
 LM1596 double balanced demodulator.  Talk about hitting the
 nail on the head!

 It should be pretty stable, since it was designed with the
 application in mind of taking the 2.4Khz subcarrier and 
 recording it onto audio tape.  On playback, the PLL should
 track the carrier and "...will track any flutter and instability
 in the recorder, and effectively filter out noise..."

 They also have a divide by 600 circuit so that the 2.4Khz
 subcarrier will produce the horizontal sync frequency of
 4 Hz...

 Again, many thanks!


 - Bob Wier

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