Laboratory Activity no.

2
Cascaded Systems: RC Coupled Amplifiers

Montaos, Ecclesiastes Jr.

Erojo, Joshua
Bondaug, John Vincent
Doloriel, Chandler

Objective
 To design a RC coupled amplifier
 To study/determine the frequency response of a RC coupled amplifier on each stages and
as a whole circuit

Basic Concept
An RC Coupled Transistor Amplifier is the most popular type of coupling because it is
cheap and provides excellent audio fidelity over a wide range of frequency. It is usually employed
for voltage amplification.
The figure below shows two stages of an RC coupled amplifier. A coupling capacitor Cc is
used to connect the output of first stage to the base/input of the second stage and so on. As the
coupling from one stage to next is achieved by a coupling capacitor followed by a connection to a
shunt resistor, therefore, such amplifiers are called resistance - capacitance coupled amplifiers.
The resistances R1, R2 and Re form the biasing and stabilization network. The emitter bypass
capacitor offers low reactance path to the signal. Without it, the voltage gain of each stage would
be lost. The coupling capacitor CC transmits ac. signal but blocks dc. This prevents dc.
Interference between various stages and the shifting of operating point.
Materials and Equipment
 (2) BJT transistor – NPN (2N4401*)
 Resistors: 100Ω, 500Ω, 3kΩ, 15kΩ
 (4) 1µF Capacitors
 (2) DC Variable Source (Power supply)
 Function Generator
 Multitester
 Oscilloscope
 Connectors
 Breadboard

Procedure
 Design two voltage divider BJT amplifier circuit
 Set a value for VCC then compute VCE and VRE using the ratio VCE=1/2VCC and
VRE=1/10VCC
 Set a value for the current IC
 Solve the currents: IB , IE ;voltages: VTH=VRB2 and the resistors: Rc, RE, RB1, RB2
 Construct the designed circuit shown below by placing the elements into the breadboard.

 Make sure the circuit works in the active region having the DC source, after knowing that
it is not saturated connect an AC input on both circuits individually as shown below.
 Observe the AC input voltage on both circuits individually such that it operates in the
middle frequency FM.
 Measure the output voltage at the collector of the first stage circuit and second stage
circuit, respectively, include its frequency.
 Adjust the signal generator such that it reaches the maximum amplitude.
 Vary the signal generator such that the output voltage (Vo) Vo=1/2Vmax, record the
frequency of the AC input as FH.
 Vary the signal generator such that the output voltage (Vo) reaches its maximum
amplitude (Vo=Vmin), record the frequency of the AC input as FL.
 Connect both circuits through a capacitor connected at the collector of the first stage
circuit to the base of the second stage circuit as shown below.
  Repeat procedures D-H to gather data for the RC Coupled Amplifier circuit

Data
A. Voltage Gain – Mid frequency
Vi Vo Av
1st stage 600 mV
2nd stage 1.16 V
RC Coupled Amplifier 2.20 V 4.84 V 2.20 V

i) 1st stage

ii) 2nd stage

iii) RC Coupled Amplifier

B. Frequency Analysis
Flow Fmid Fhigh
1st stage 4.642 kHz 42.518 MHz
2nd stage 73.26 Hz 254.335 MHz
RC Coupled Amplifier 233.449 Hz 52.8747 kHz 131.87 MHz

i) 1st stage
ii) 2nd stage

iii) RC Coupled Amplifier