Directional Coupler; Antenna Switch; Harmonic Filter; Power Control - Motorola GM328 Service Manual

UHF (403-470 MHz) Transmitter Power Amplifier (PA) 40 W
3.4

Directional Coupler

The directional coupler is a microstrip printed circuit, which couples a small amount of the forward
power delivered by Q4441. The coupled signal is rectified by D4451. The DC voltage is proportional
to the RF output power and feeds the RFIN port of the PCIC (U4501 pin 1). The PCIC controls the
gain of stage U4401 as necessary to hold this voltage constant, thus ensuring the forward power out
of the radio to be held to a constant value.
3.5

Antenna Switch

The antenna switch consists of two PIN diodes, D4471 and D4472. In the receive mode, both diodes
are off. Signals applied at the antenna jack J4401 are routed, via the harmonic filter, through
network L4472, C4474 and C4475, to the receiver input. In the transmit mode, K9V1 turns on
Q4471 which enables current sink Q4472, set to 96 mA by R4512 and VR4471. This completes a
DC path from PASUPVLTG, through L4437, D4471, L4472, D4472, L4473, R4496 and the current
sink, to ground. Both diodes are forward biased into conduction. The transmitter RF from the
directional coupler is routed via D4471 to the harmonic filter and antenna jack. D4472 also
conducts, shunting RF power and preventing it from reaching the receiver port (RXIN). L4472 is
selected to appear as a broadband lambda/4 wave transmission line, making the short circuit
presented by D4472 appear as an open circuit at the junction of D4472 and the receiver path.
3.6

Harmonic Filter

Components L4491-L4493 and L4472, C4448, C4494, C4496 and C4498 form a Butterworth low-
pass filter to attenuate harmonic energy of the transmitter to specifications level. R4491 is used to
drain electrostatic charge that might otherwise build up on the antenna. The harmonic filter also
prevents high level RF signals above the receiver passband from reaching the receiver circuits,
improving spurious response rejection.
3.7

Power Control

The transmitter uses the Power Control IC (PCIC, U4501) to control the power output of the radio. A
portion of the forward RF power from the transmitter is sampled by the directional coupler and
rectified, to provide a DC voltage to the RFIN port of the PCIC (pin 1) which is proportional to the
sampled RF power.
The ASFIC (U0221) has internal digital to analog converters (DACs) which provide a reference
voltage of the control loop to the PCIC via R4483. The reference voltage level is programmable
through the SPI line of the PCIC. This reference voltage is proportional to the desired power setting
of the transmitter, and is factory programmed at several points across the frequency range of the
transmitter to offset frequency response variations of the transmitter's power detector circuit.
The PCIC provides a DC output voltage at pin 4 (INT) which sets the drain current of the first
(U4401). This adjusts the transmitter power output to the intended value. Variations in forward
transmitter power cause the DC voltage at pin 1 to change, and the PCIC adjusts the control voltage
above or below its nominal value to raise or lower output power.
Capacitors C4502-4, in conjunction with resistors and integrators within the PCIC, control the
transmitter power-rise (key-up) and power-decay (de-key) characteristic to minimize splatter into
adjacent channels.
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