Functionality And Application Of Receiver Multicouplers

The receiver multicoupler is an antenna subsystem component that allows for the operation of two or more receivers connected to a common receive antenna. Resulting signal quality to the receiver is equal to, or superior to, a dedicated antenna for each receiver. By maximizing the effective utilization of the tower-mounted receive antenna over several base stations, increased capacity can be achieved without additional tower loading by antennas. Wind loading on towers will limit the number and type of antennas placed on a tower in a given geographic region.

What makes one receiver multicoupler better than another is the optimum performance provided by the key operating components.

• Preselector (Filter)
• Low Noise Amplifier
• Power Divider

PRESELECTOR FILTER
The functional purpose of this component is to selectively pass desired signals and exclude unwanted signals from entering the amplifier. Band pass filters can vary in their degrees of selectivity and should be specified on the basis of end-use application. For rural applications where the RF signal density is reasonably low, a filter offering lower selectivity could be deployed. However, as geographic areas become more populated and additional RF activities (such as Paging, SMR, Data Transmission, and Cellular) increase, high selectivity performance is necessary to exclude unwanted signals. The Narda filter used in our standard catalog receiver multicoupler unit uses a band pass filter offering greater than 65 dB rejection of unwanted signals. Our OEM receiver multicoupler unit features a band pass filter typically providing greater than 75 dB rejection. It is critical to obtain as much information as possible with regard to the conditions of RF density in which the receiver multicoupler will be used.