[time-nuts] OT: Practical PLL low noise?

francesco messineo francesco.messineo at gmail.com
Tue Feb 2 15:50:18 UTC 2010


Hello all,
sorry for the OT, but I know there're many real electronic artists here.

As an amateur radio operator I often use transverters, some home made.
They usually can be made sigthly better (RF and noise-wise) than
japanese transceivers. However often the LO xtal oscillator drifts too
much for comfortable digital and weak signal work.
Now the big question: is there any PLL design that can lock 22 MHz and
42 MHz xtal oscillator to a 10 MHz reference (typically from a GPSDO)
without adding significant noise to the oscillators? The LOs usually
go to a single or doube balanced diode mixer like the famous
minicircuit ones, and at that point the RF signal has been already
amplified by 10 or 20 dB stage(s).
Other options would be "ovenizing" the LOs or making a DDS sinth.
Now, what would be more practical approach from the home construction point?
Thanks
Frank IZ8DWF



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