PRO34.1 From: parnass@ihuxz.ATT.COM (Bob Parnass, AJ9S) Subject: Eliminating a birdie in the PRO-34 portable scanner Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories - Naperville, Illinois PRO-34 BIRDIE ELIMINATED by Bob Parnass, AJ9S Birdies are unwanted signals generated within a receiver, which cause the receiver to "hear itself." Some birdies are caused by the unwanted product of the local oscilla- tor. Another cause is a stage, which oscillates but isn't meant to oscillate, such as a high gain intermedi- ate frequency (IF) amplifier. Most birdies, especially those generated by a local oscillator, are frequency stable. It's difficult to rid a radio of these birdies, and solutions usually involve better internal shielding and isolation among the stages. A "wandering birdie" is one which changes frequency. Wandering birdies, and birdies which appear and disappear suddenly, may be caused by intermittent ground connec- tions within the radio, or defective bypass capacitors. CONTINUED IN FILE PRO34.8