IF AMPLIFIER

Transmitters and Receivers Glossary

Transmitters and Receivers — IF Amplifier

Information on Intermediate Frequency Amplifier (IF Amplifier)

The IF amplifier (intermediate-frequency amplifier) provides most of the gain and the selectivity of the superheterodyne receiver. Typically 50–70 dB of gain (approximately 100,000 to 10,000,000 times amplification) is provided in this stage to provide optimum gain.
     The selectivity of a radio receiver is its ability to discriminate between the wanted signal and all other signals received by the antenna, particularly adjacent-channel signals to avoid adjacent channel interference. The selective circuits must be narrow enough to avoid interference from adjacent channels and yet wide enough to prevent distortion of the highest frequencies in the desired sideband(s). Again, since the IF amplifier (intermediate-frequency amplifier) always operates at a fixed frequency, it can be designed with very selective filters to ensure that only the wanted bandwidth is passed.

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