Noise blanker

Typically this is a network in the intermediate frequency section of the receiver; when a pulse of noise passes through the IF amplifiers, it is usually of greater amplitude than the desired signal. The noise blanker circuit momentarily reduces the gain of the IF stage during the impulse. More complex noise blankers may use a secondary IF stage and have adjustable threshold and timing characteristics so as to reduce the noise passed through to the audio stages of the receiver. A noise blanker is best applied before any narrow-bandwidth filters in the signal path, so as not to introduce "ringing" and distortion in the filtered signal. Noise blankers are most useful with amplitude modulation or single sideband signals. Frequency modulation receivers generally include a signal limiter stage which tends to reject noise pulses. ==See also==