inductor tempco

I don't think there's a need, if the comparator threshold is near ground. Amplitude is a second-order effect then.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

Pretty much. The first couple edges wobble a bit, but that could be all sorts of things, including stuff inside the comparator.

Your CRO can see it. Your comparator also has to see the crossings without moving them. You need a fairly high-impedance take-off in both cases, such as the RF probe amplifier I published here a few months back.

Yep, all good - but if you wanted a sudden-on sinewave generator as a test instrument, you need to get it right. I'm not sure what one would be indispensable for, but it seems like there must be some application.

Clifford Heath.

Yep; you trigger the oscillator on an event, then mix down the oscillator against a nearly-same-frequency time standard. Digitize and look at the phase of the beat signal, it tells you the event time offset from the time standard clock zero crossings.

It's a way to add a vernier scale to a time measurement, picoseconds resolution from megahertz clocks.

That's the heterodyne triggered-oscillator PLL technique used by HP in their 5359A Time Synthesizer, copied by BNC and LeCroy and others. They all used varicap-tuned delay-line oscillators. The heterodyne thing is OK, but it has some nasty n-squared math tradeoffs that limit jitter performance.

HP used two of them, and secondary heterodyning, in their excellent

The HP manuals are available, with full schematics and theory sections. Worth some study if you find that sort of electronics interesting.

your velcome

Mark