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Grid-leak detector
A grid leak detector is an electronic circuit that demodulates an amplitude modulated alternating current and amplifies the recovered modulating voltage. The circuit utilizes the non-linear cathode to control grid conduction characteristic and the amplification factor of a vacuum tube. Invented by Lee De Forest around 1912, it was used as the detector (demodulator) in the first vacuum tube radio receivers until the 1930s.
Early applications of triode tubes (Audions) as detectors usually did not include a resistor in the grid circuit. First use of a resistance in the grid circuit of a vacuum tube detector circuit may have been by Sewall Cabot in 1906. Cabot wrote that he made a pencil mark to discharge the grid condenser, after finding that touching the grid terminal of the tube would cause the detector to resume operation after having stopped. Edwin H. Armstrong, in 1915, describes the use of "a resistance of several hundred thousand ohms placed across the grid condenser" for the purpose of discharging the grid condenser. The heyday for grid leak detectors was the 1920s, when battery operated, multiple dial tuned radio frequency receivers using low amplification factor triodes with directly heated cathodes were the contemporary technology. The Zenith Models 11, 12, and 14 are examples of these kinds of radios. After screen-grid tubes became available for new designs in 1927, most manufacturers switched to plate detectors, and later to diode detectors. The grid leak detector has been popular for many years with amateur radio operators and shortwave listeners who construct their own receivers.
The stage performs two functions:
The control grid and cathode are operated as a diode while at the same time the control grid voltage exerts its usual influence on the electron stream from cathode to plate.
In the circuit, a capacitor (the grid condenser) couples a radio frequency signal (the carrier) to the control grid of an electron tube. The capacitor also facilitates development of dc voltage on the grid. The impedance of the capacitor is small at the carrier frequency and high at the modulating frequencies.
A resistor (the grid leak) is connected either in parallel with the capacitor or from the grid to the cathode. The resistor permits dc charge to "leak" from the capacitor and is utilized in setting up the grid bias.
At small carrier signal levels, typically not more than 0.1 volt, the grid to cathode space exhibits non-linear resistance. Grid current occurs during 360 degrees of the carrier frequency cycle. The grid current increases more during the positive excursions of the carrier voltage than it decreases during the negative excursions, due to the parabolic grid current versus grid voltage curve in this region. This asymmetrical grid current develops a dc grid voltage that includes the modulation frequencies. In this region of operation, the demodulated signal is developed in series with the dynamic grid resistance , which is typically in the range of 50,000 to 250,000 ohms. and the grid condenser along with the grid capacitance form a low pass filter that determines the audio frequency bandwidth at the grid.
At carrier signal levels large enough to make conduction from cathode to grid cease during the negative excursions of the carrier, the detection action is that of a linear diode detector. Grid leak detection optimized for operation in this region is known as power grid detection or grid leak power detection. Grid current occurs only on the positive peaks of the carrier frequency cycle. The coupling capacitor will acquire a dc charge due to the rectifying action of the cathode to grid path. The capacitor discharges through the resistor (thus grid leak) during the time that the carrier voltage is decreasing. The dc grid voltage will vary with the modulation envelope of an amplitude modulated signal.
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Grid-leak detector AI simulator
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Grid-leak detector
A grid leak detector is an electronic circuit that demodulates an amplitude modulated alternating current and amplifies the recovered modulating voltage. The circuit utilizes the non-linear cathode to control grid conduction characteristic and the amplification factor of a vacuum tube. Invented by Lee De Forest around 1912, it was used as the detector (demodulator) in the first vacuum tube radio receivers until the 1930s.
Early applications of triode tubes (Audions) as detectors usually did not include a resistor in the grid circuit. First use of a resistance in the grid circuit of a vacuum tube detector circuit may have been by Sewall Cabot in 1906. Cabot wrote that he made a pencil mark to discharge the grid condenser, after finding that touching the grid terminal of the tube would cause the detector to resume operation after having stopped. Edwin H. Armstrong, in 1915, describes the use of "a resistance of several hundred thousand ohms placed across the grid condenser" for the purpose of discharging the grid condenser. The heyday for grid leak detectors was the 1920s, when battery operated, multiple dial tuned radio frequency receivers using low amplification factor triodes with directly heated cathodes were the contemporary technology. The Zenith Models 11, 12, and 14 are examples of these kinds of radios. After screen-grid tubes became available for new designs in 1927, most manufacturers switched to plate detectors, and later to diode detectors. The grid leak detector has been popular for many years with amateur radio operators and shortwave listeners who construct their own receivers.
The stage performs two functions:
The control grid and cathode are operated as a diode while at the same time the control grid voltage exerts its usual influence on the electron stream from cathode to plate.
In the circuit, a capacitor (the grid condenser) couples a radio frequency signal (the carrier) to the control grid of an electron tube. The capacitor also facilitates development of dc voltage on the grid. The impedance of the capacitor is small at the carrier frequency and high at the modulating frequencies.
A resistor (the grid leak) is connected either in parallel with the capacitor or from the grid to the cathode. The resistor permits dc charge to "leak" from the capacitor and is utilized in setting up the grid bias.
At small carrier signal levels, typically not more than 0.1 volt, the grid to cathode space exhibits non-linear resistance. Grid current occurs during 360 degrees of the carrier frequency cycle. The grid current increases more during the positive excursions of the carrier voltage than it decreases during the negative excursions, due to the parabolic grid current versus grid voltage curve in this region. This asymmetrical grid current develops a dc grid voltage that includes the modulation frequencies. In this region of operation, the demodulated signal is developed in series with the dynamic grid resistance , which is typically in the range of 50,000 to 250,000 ohms. and the grid condenser along with the grid capacitance form a low pass filter that determines the audio frequency bandwidth at the grid.
At carrier signal levels large enough to make conduction from cathode to grid cease during the negative excursions of the carrier, the detection action is that of a linear diode detector. Grid leak detection optimized for operation in this region is known as power grid detection or grid leak power detection. Grid current occurs only on the positive peaks of the carrier frequency cycle. The coupling capacitor will acquire a dc charge due to the rectifying action of the cathode to grid path. The capacitor discharges through the resistor (thus grid leak) during the time that the carrier voltage is decreasing. The dc grid voltage will vary with the modulation envelope of an amplitude modulated signal.