Essential Guide to RF and Wireless, The

SOURCES

Block Diagram

Figure 3-19. Block diagram of an oscillator.

The last of the major building blocks is called a source or an oscillator (see Figure 3-19). An oscillator which provides one of the inputs to a mixer is referred to as a local oscillator or LO. (I guess this is to distinguish it from a remote oscillator, which is located on Venus.) Now you know what the LO port in a mixer does: it gets connected to an oscillator.

How Oscillators Work

While the actual workings of an oscillator is somewhat involved, it is very simple to understand conceptually. A power supply is connected and, in an ideal world, out comes a perfect sine wave ...