Wobulator
Encyclopedia
A wobbulator is an electronic device primarily used for the alignment of receiver or transmitter intermediate frequency
strips. It is usually used in conjunction with an oscilloscope
, to enable a visual representation of a receivers passband
to be seen, hence, simplifying alignment; it was used to tune early consumer AM radios. The term "wobbulator" is a portmanteau of wobble and oscillator. A "wobbulator" (without capitalization) is a generic term for the swept-output RF oscillator described above, a frequency-modulated oscillator, also called a "sweep generator" by most professional electronics engineers and technicians. A wobulator was used in some old microwave signal generators to create what amounted to frequency modulation. It physically altered the size ot the klystron cavity, therefore, changing the frequency.
When capitalized "Wobbulator" refers to the trade name of a specific brand of RF/IF alignment generator. The Wobbulator was made by a company known as "TIC" (Tel-Instrument Company) although some units branded Allen B. Du Mont Laboratories" and "Stromberg-Carlson" are rumored to exist. These were apparently made under some form of license and branded with the name of the licensee, much as Radio Corporation of America through subsidiary Hazeltine Corp., licensed its KCS-20A television chassis design (used in models 630TS, 8TS30, etc.) to other television manufacturers (Air King, Crosley, Fada, et al.) for production under their brand names. The Wobbulator generator, designated model 1200A, combined both sweep and marker functions into a single, self-contained, pushbutton-controlled device which, when connected to an oscilloscope and television receiver under test, would display a representation of the receiver's RF/IF response curves with "markers" defining critical frequency reference points as a response curve on the oscilloscope screen. Such an amplitude-versus-frequency graph is also often referred to as a Bode plot or Bode graph.
Intermediate frequency
In communications and electronic engineering, an intermediate frequency is a frequency to which a carrier frequency is shifted as an intermediate step in transmission or reception. The intermediate frequency is created by mixing the carrier signal with a local oscillator signal in a process called...
strips. It is usually used in conjunction with an oscilloscope
Oscilloscope
An oscilloscope is a type of electronic test instrument that allows observation of constantly varying signal voltages, usually as a two-dimensional graph of one or more electrical potential differences using the vertical or 'Y' axis, plotted as a function of time,...
, to enable a visual representation of a receivers passband
Passband
A passband is the range of frequencies or wavelengths that can pass through a filter without being attenuated.A bandpass filtered signal , is known as a bandpass signal, as opposed to a baseband signal....
to be seen, hence, simplifying alignment; it was used to tune early consumer AM radios. The term "wobbulator" is a portmanteau of wobble and oscillator. A "wobbulator" (without capitalization) is a generic term for the swept-output RF oscillator described above, a frequency-modulated oscillator, also called a "sweep generator" by most professional electronics engineers and technicians. A wobulator was used in some old microwave signal generators to create what amounted to frequency modulation. It physically altered the size ot the klystron cavity, therefore, changing the frequency.
When capitalized "Wobbulator" refers to the trade name of a specific brand of RF/IF alignment generator. The Wobbulator was made by a company known as "TIC" (Tel-Instrument Company) although some units branded Allen B. Du Mont Laboratories" and "Stromberg-Carlson" are rumored to exist. These were apparently made under some form of license and branded with the name of the licensee, much as Radio Corporation of America through subsidiary Hazeltine Corp., licensed its KCS-20A television chassis design (used in models 630TS, 8TS30, etc.) to other television manufacturers (Air King, Crosley, Fada, et al.) for production under their brand names. The Wobbulator generator, designated model 1200A, combined both sweep and marker functions into a single, self-contained, pushbutton-controlled device which, when connected to an oscilloscope and television receiver under test, would display a representation of the receiver's RF/IF response curves with "markers" defining critical frequency reference points as a response curve on the oscilloscope screen. Such an amplitude-versus-frequency graph is also often referred to as a Bode plot or Bode graph.