Considering the following circuit
I am confused and can't understand how the tank circuit, which is open at resonance, and the transistor pass the 2nd or any other harmonic of a crystal of a fundamental frequency of, say, 48 MHz.
What frequency is at the output if the tank is open at resonance 48MHz for example?
1. How does the tank circuit contribute to or govern the choice of the desired Harmonic at the output if a parallel LC is "open circuit" at resonance?
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The oscillator, in the presented circuit, is built in a common collector configuration (the input is the base and the output the emitter). Due to the positive feedback, the circuit tends to produce a non sinusoidal signal. Using the collector current we produce a signal voltage and with the tuned circuit we favor whatever harmonic frequency we want.
Some more notes:
- the 48MHz is also a harmonic of the crystal and not the fundamental frequency.
- an ideal tuned circuit does not exist. All have a "quality factor". There is not open or short but higher and lower impedance, phase shift and losses.
- if we had to produce a clean sinusoidal signal, on the fundamental frequency of the crystal, then we had to adjust the capacitors of the divider between base and emitter to match the respective impedances. In that case a mechanism to control the amplitude would be a necessity, to avoid clipping.
That is the way that I understand how this circuit operates.