[time-nuts] Locking gunn diode

David Forbes dforbes at dakotacom.net
Mon Dec 18 13:39:42 EST 2006


At 5:11 PM +0000 12/18/06, stork3264 at comcast.net wrote:
>12-18-06
>
>Is it possible to lock a 10ghz gunn diode transceiver (supply 
>voltage 10.00 vdc) to a 10 mhz standard?  Signal applied to either 
>gunn diode or varactor supply voltages.
>
>Rick

Rick,

Sure it's possible. I work on radiotelescopes that use 100 GHz gunn 
diode oscillators, phase-locked using a box called the STS XL-800. 
Unfotunately, those boxes cost several thousand dollars and aren't 
readily available on ebay.

The basic method is the same as any voltage-controlled oscilator, but 
you have to supply a good bit of current to the diode and you need to 
have a well-controlled driver so that you don't burn it out.

The usual method of sampling the Gunn frequency is to mix it down 
using a harmonic mixer to produce an IF frequency that's usable in a 
generic PLL, some tens of megahertz.

All of the above is a rather complicated piece of hardware by the 
time you're done. It's not a task for the timid.

-- 

--David Forbes, Tucson, AZ
http://www.cathodecorner.com/



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