broadband

double- balanced

I
modulator Doublebalanced ring modulators have
been used since 1915, when they were
developed by Bell Laboratories for carrier
telephone systems. The earliest models
were capable of good carrier suppression,
but they suffered from high conversion
losses because they used copper-oxide
rectifiers. This, as well as excessive diode
Practical noise, limited their use to audio and
low-frequency rf applications. With the
C OInstruction details improved semiconductor diodes that are
available today, the doublebalanced
mixer circuit can be used in many
o f a hot-carrier-diode communications applications that were
formerly impossible; the homebuilt ver-
d o u b le - b a l a n c e d mixer sion presented here provides outstanding
performance from 200 kHz to over 250
t h a t covers the r a n g e MHz.
Although doublebalanced ring modu-
0
> lators require relatively high local-oscilla-
200 % tor injection power, have some conver-
E sion loss, and must be followed by a
to 2 5 0 MH z :.-
. -
0
low-noise amplifier, they have a number
;5 of operational advantages:

1. High port-to-port isolation (same as

carrier suppression)
2. Wide dynamic range (large signal-
handling capability)
3. Low intermodulation and cross
modulation
4. Good noise figure

5. R eduction of spurious mixing

products

8 a march 1970
It is also simple t o build, easy t o re- offers higher efficiency and lower con-
produce, fairly inexpensive and has a version loss.
wide variety of applications in the radio
theory of operation
communications field.
Consider the circuit of fig. 4 with the
diode mixers r f input disconnected; with only local
The most simple diode mixer, of oscillator injection, there i s no i-f output.
course, is the single diode type shown in When point A is negative, current flows
fig. 1. This circuit is widely used in through T I , diodes 0 2 and D3, and
electronic equipment operating from transformer T2, as shown by the arrows.
audio through microwave - it's a good Since the currents on each side of the
bet that you'll find at least one circuit center tap are 180°0ut of phase, they
like this in the amateur radio gear in your cancel,and there is no output. When point
shack. However, this simple circuit has A is positive, current flows through T I ,
diodes D l and D4, and transformer T2,
LOCAL
OSCILLATOR
again with no output.
I f an rf signal is applied t o T2, an
output voltage appears across the i-f
RF SIGNAL I-F OUTPUT
output terminals; the local-oscillator
signal essentially switches the rf input
voltage on and off. With high-conduct-
ance hot-carrier diodes, switching is
nearly instantaneous and rectangular
fig. 1. Simple single-diode m i x e r lacks isolation pulses controlled by rf signal amplitude
between ports.

one very serious disadvantage: poor port-

to-port isolation.
The circuit of fig. 2 was developed t o
improve isolation. Since transformer T I is
electrically balanced (center tapped), the
local oscillator signal is split into two
equal, but out-of-phase signals in the
secondary, and cannot be induced into
fig. 2. T h e balanced transformer in this single-
the primary. I n the circuit of fig. 3 the r f balanced m i x e r effectively isolates the r f p o r t
and local oscillator signals are isolated f r o m the rest of t h e Circuit.
from the i-f output by virtue of the
balanced secondary of transformer T2. appear across the i-f output port.
Further performance improvements With a properly designed and con-
can be obtained by going t o the circuit of structed double-balanced mixer, carrier
fig. 4. This four-diode double-balanced suppression on the order of 40 dB is not
ring mixer allows energy t o be exchanged
on a full-wave cycle rather than half
cycles as in the previous circuits and

"Available from any Hewlett-Packard sales

office; consult the Yellow Pages or write t o
Hewlett-Packard, 620 Page Mill Road, Palo
Alto, California 94304. The matched quad,
HPA 5082-2805 is $4.40. HPA 5082-2800
($0.99 each) may be used but the matched
quad provides better port-to-port isolation. fig. 3. Basic double-balanced m i x e r circuit.
These diodes are also available from H A L
Devices, Box 365, Urbana, Illinois 61 801.
difficult to obtain. With this type of tribute very little noise to the circuit.
mixer, third-order distortion products are These requirements are best met by hot-
typically suppressed by 50 dB. Since the carrier diodes.
even harmonics are inherently suppressed The hot-carrier diodes currently on the
by the double-balanced circuit, the only market consist of a rectifying metal-to-
spurious signals that may give trouble are semiconductor junction; n-type silicon in
those created by odd-numbered har- conjunction with evaporated gold,
monics. platinum, palladium or silver. I n the
hot-carrier diode, current conduction is
mixer components based on majority carriers, and in normal
The modern broadband balanced operation the diode exhibits virtually no
mixer is possible through the use of stored charge carriers. I n practical terms
ferrite transformers and semiconductor

-
diodes -diodes that exhibit high front-
to-back ratios and ultra-fast switching
times. Great strides in ferrite device
technology has provided materials that
operate efficiently from dc to microwave. CENTER- TAP
With the proper ferrite and suitable
windings, transformers can be made that fig. 5. Schematic showing the connec-
will act as nearly purely resistive trans- tions of the trifilar windings.

formers over a wide range of fre-

quencies.' t t this means that the reverse recovery time
~ l t h nearly
~ ~ any~ hhigh-conductance i s Very short: t y ~ i c a l 100
l ~ picoseconds,
diode will give adequate performance in a more than times faster than the
fastest silicon junction diode. This results
r
0, _ I I in more efficient signal rectification at
09\i vhf.
e .O The construction of the hot-carrier
diode results in uniform contact potential
and uniform current distribution through-
e I-F O U W
out the junction. In terms of operation,
this means lower series resistance, lower
fig. 4. Double-balanced ring mixer circuit im- contributed noise, higher power capa-
proves performance. Transformer construction bility and greater resistance to transient
is shown in fig. 6. Diodes are Hewlett-Packard pulse burnout.
2800 series.

diode ring, many characteristics of the

transformer construction
hot-carrier diode make it the ideal choice. The transformers used in the practical
To achieve electrical balance in the mixer double-balanced mixer shown in the
for example, the diodes in the ring should photographs are wound on Indiana
have closely matched transfer charac- General Cfl02-Q1 ferrite cores. These
teristics - this is inherent in the fabrica- cores are available from Newark Elec-
tion of hot-carrier diodes. tronics*. Each transformer consists of 12
For lowest mixer conversion loss, the trifilar turns of number 32 enameled
ring diodes should have no forward re- wire; number 30 or 34 is also satisfactory.
sistance when conducting, and infinite I experimented with a number af dif-
resistance when turned off. The front- ferent cores and winding techniques to
to-back ratios of several different diodes find a wideband design that could be
are listed in table 1. For efficient opera-
'Newark Electronics Corporation, 500 N.
tion on the very-high and microwave fre- Pulaski Road, Chicago, Illinois 60624. Order
quencies, the mixer diodes should feature catalogue number 59F1509, $1.20 each plus
extremely fast switching speeds and con- shipping. ($2.50 minimum mail order).

10 march 1970
easily reproduced; the design described remaining set; this is the secondary center
here performed the best. tap. The two remaining wires will be the
To obtain the desired wideband per- two outer ends of the secondary.
formance, the coupling between windings Now all the wire in the secondary will
must be as tight as possible. To obtain show continuity, and the two wires in the
this, the three wires in each winding are primary will be isolated from the
twisted together: chuck two 2-foot secondary. The choice of wires for the
lengths of number 32 wire into a hand primary and secondary is completely
drill (electrical drill if you're extremely arbitrary -the only important thing to
careful); crank the drill until the wires observe i s the connection sequence.
have a reasonably tight twist. Then take To obtain the same wideband per-
this twisted pair and re-chuck it with the formance that I have achieved, the trans-
formers must be duplicated. I f you want
to experiment, you might try some of the
small cores from Indiana General in Q1,
0 2 or Q3 material. 0 3 material, for
example, will improve the high-frequency
performance at the expense of operation
on the lowfrequency end. Powdered-iron
toroids should not be used because they
will not operate over a very broadband
frequency range.

construction details
After the transformer windings have
been selected you are all set to assemble
the other parts of the cirucit. Here again I
fig. 6. Toroid winding; wires are recommend following the layout I have
shown untwisted for clarity.
developed; if at all possible, use the
printed-circuit layout shown in fig. 7. If
third wire and repeat the twisting process you use a different layout you won't
until you have a tight trifilar length of duplicate my results. However, don't be
wire. afraid to try your own design - you may
Each transformer consists of 12 turns end up with better balance than I did.
of this trifilar wire on a CF102-01 ferrite Just remember to use good vhf con-
core. A schematic of the complete trans- struction techniques: short leads and
former is shown in fig. 5; the pictorial short ground returns.
diagram in fig. 6 should explain the The printed circuit is one area where
windings more fully. The windings must
be connected properly, or the finished table 1. Front-to-back ratio of various diodes.
double-balanced mixer will not work.
f o r w a r d reverse
This can be simplified if you use different
diode type resistance resistance ratio
colored wire for each winding. I've been (ohms) (ohms)
able to find the wire in two colors and
even this is a big help. Copper oxide 400 350k 875
Small-junction
Pick one set of wires for the primary.
germanium ( l N 2 7 0 ) 5 500k lOOk
Wrap these two wires with a piece of tape Point-contact ger-
to identify them and keep them out of manium ( 1 N 9 8 ) 200 1M 5k
your way. You should have four wires Low-conductance
(two sets) left. Separate the two sets by silicon (1N457) 50 2400M 48M
High-conductance
checking for continuity with an ohm- silicon (1N645) 2.5 1200M 480M
meter. Take one wire from one set and Hot-carrier
twist it together with one wire from the (HPA 2800) 1.5 3000M 2000M

march 1970 11
Fig. 8. Conversion loss
vs local oscillator power
for this doublebalanced
mixer circuit.
LOCAL OSCILLAlVR FQWER fdBrn)

commercial manufacturers of these tion of the i-f output.

mixers use a touch of magic to obtain The graph of fig. 8 shows conversion
optimum balance. By using the stray loss versus local oscillator power for this
capacitances associated with the circuit double-balanced mixer. This curve is
board and the components, i t is possible typical of all passive mixers and shows
to obtain nearly perfect electrical sym- that conversion loss decreases with in-
metry. creasing local-oscillator power up to ap-
For proper operation, the completed proximately zero dBm ( 1 milliwatt or
mixer unit must be enclosed in a box that 0.22 volts across 50 ohms). Beyond zero
provides good rf shielding. I n the unit dBm more local-oscillator power does
shown in the photographs, I used a small little for conversion loss, but note how
cast-aluminum chassis manufactured by fast conversion loss rises as local-oscillator
Pomona (model 2428). This enclosure power drops below zero dBm.
sells for $1.50 at major electronics sup- Many active mixers work properly
pliers with as little as 0.1 mW (-IOdBm) of
local oscillator injection, and are usually
applications much more tolerant of variations in in-
Probably the most important applica- jection level. The relatively high local-
tion of the double-balanced mixer in oscillator power requirement of the
amateur equipment is as a frequency double-balanced mixer is a disadvantage,
mixer. To obtain optimum performance particularly at uhf and microwave where
as a mixer, three factors must be con- it is harder to generate.
sidered: local-oscillatorpower, conversion Conversion loss can be analyzed by
loss and the need for low-noise amplifica- putting an attenuator in front of the stage
that follows the i-f output port. As an
example, consider that you're using this
mixer as a 144-MHz down-converter to
28 MHz, and you run the mixer's i-f
output directly into the station receiver.
Assume that the noise figure of the
receiver is 10 dB at 28 MHz. Also assume
that the mixer has a conversion loss of 7
Fig. 7. Printed-circuit board for
dB.
the double-balanced mixer. The converter's noise figure i s the

12 march 1970
fig. 9. Typical conver-
sion loss for this double.
balanced mixer over the
range from 1 0 0 k H z to
4 0 0 MHz (local oscilla-
tor power +7 dBm, r f
-
input 5 dBn1).

receiver's noise figure plus the conversion bution from the image but adds insertion
loss, or 17 dB. This represents the noise loss. This must be added to the mixer's
contribution from both the mixer and conversion loss. It's obvious that the
receiver and assumes that the mixer is filtering must have the lowest possible
tuned to reject the image frequency. I f insertion loss. This can be accomplished
the rf port is not tuned to reject the with a wide bandwidth filter (same as low
image the noise power in the image can loaded Q). A good rule of thumb is to
add an additional 3 dB of noise; the choose a filter with a bandwidth one-
converter would end up with an effective third the i-f output frequency.
noise figure of 20 dB. This borders on the We must also reduce the noise figure
ridiculous for vhf converter applications of the i-f. This is most easily done by
but if we analyze the problem further we adding low-noise amplification ahead of
can find solutions that will change the the receiver. A properly designed ampli-
mixer into a very useful vhf device. fier using transistors or fet's can yield
To eliminate the images a filter i s noise figures as low as 1 dB at frequencies
needed in the rf input. This can be a up to 60 MHz.
simple tuned circuit with a 50-ohm tap. Let's take a look at an application
The filter will eliminate noise contri- using an rf input filter which has an

fig. 10. Mixer balance

in terms of isolation
from i-f port (rf fre-
quency at 0 dBm.
local oscillator at
+5 dBm).

march 1970 13
 insertion loss of 0.2 dB and a low-noise port-to-port isolation and conversion
amplifier ahead of the receiver which has losses as low as 6 dB.
a 2 dB noise figure. The mixer still has 7 I have discussed conversion loss of the
dB conversion loss. We must add this to double-balanced mixer, but have
the insertion loss of the filter for a total neglected noise figure. This is because the
of 7.2 dB; this 7.2 dB is added to the 2 hot-carrier diodes contribute so little
dB noise figure of the i-f amplifier so the noise that it can't accurately be meas-
converter has an effective noise figure of ured. Above about 1 GHz (1000 MHz)
9.2 dB. diode noise begins to become noticeable,
A front end with a 9.2 dB noise figur~ and in the microwave region more exotic
is useful for local ragchewiq, fm repeater hot-carrier diodes are available that per-
work and mobiling. For serious DX a
low-noise preamplifier is required, but a
9.2 dB NF mixer can handle 1 milliwatt ,
of signal before gain compression, cross
modulation or intermodulation becomes
a problem; only exotic active mixing
schemes can accomplish this.
When you use a preamplifier ahead of
the double-balanced mixer to reduce
noise figure remember that the amplifier
must have sufficient gain to overcome the fig. 12. Using the double-balanced mixer
mixer noise figure before you can realize for a phase detector.
the lower noise figure of the preamplifier.
It's a good rule of thumb to design the
preamplifier with at least 10 dB more form better than their more common
gain than the noise figure of the following silicon counterparts.
stage. In our example this would require I f you are using a diode mixer on 1296
MHz a properly selected hot-carrier
device will offer a slight improvement in
noise figure as compared to the old
standby 1N21 series. lmproved per-
formance is even more noticeable on
2300 MHz and up, since the noise figure

Q--@ MIXER
of hot-carrier diodes does not rise as fast
with frequency as does the noise contri-
bution of conventional point-contact and
p n junction devices.
In addition to its use as a simple
frequency converter, the double balanced
mixer is also useful for frequency
fig. 1 1 . T h e doublebalanced mix. do ub li ng, phase detection, current-
er as a frequency doubler.
controlled attenuation, amplitude
modulation, product detection and
balanced modulation as shown in figs. 11
19.2 dB preamplifier gain. Then the through 17.
converter's noise figure would be set by
the noise figure of the preamplifier. frequency doubler
I'd like to point out that the per- The double-balanced ring modulator
formance graphs for this mixer (fig. 8,9, can be used as a broadband frequency
and 10) compare closely with commer- doubler by simply applying the rf signal
cially available designs, although same to both the local-oscillator and rf ports as
mixers in the $100 class have improved shown in fig. 11. Since the sum and

14 Q m a r c h 1970
difference frequencies will appear across table 2. Current-limiting resistance versus con-
trol voltage.
the i-f port, the i-f output will be twice
the rf input (since the difference fre- minimum
quency is zero). voltage resistance
(ohms]
phase detector
When using the double-balanced
modulator as a phase detector as shown
in fig. 12 one rf signal is applied to the
local-oscillator terminals while the other
rf signal is connected to the rf port. The
dc signal available across the i-f port is

shown in fig. 13. With no current input a t

the i-f port, the signal at the local
Z a ) k H z - 2 5 0 M l h . 5mW ATTENUATED
MIXER
oscillator port will appear greatly attenu-
ated at the rf port. A curve of attenuation
versus control current i s shown in fig. 14.
1 CURRENT
g;rnTmY& When using the mixer as a current-
controlled attenuator, a current-limiting
resistor should be connected in series
with the i-f port to limit diode current to
40 mA. Appropriate values of resistance
fig. 13. Current-controlled attenuator; versus applied voltage are shown in table
performance is plotted in fig. 14.
2.
I f you refer to fig. 4 you can see that a
zero when the two input signals are 90° dc control voltage across the i-f terminals
out of phase; the dc voltage at the i-f port will cause two of the diodes in the ring to
is maximum when the phase difference conduct. When sufficient dc current flows
between the two signals is either zero or through the diodes they appear as very
180". small resistors connecting the secondaries
of T I and T2 together, and any signal a t
current-controlled attenuator the local-oscillator port will appear at the
I f you want to use the double- rf port with little attenuation. Varying
balanced mixer as a current-controlled the control current changes the resistance
attenuator, the rf input signal i s con- of the diodes, and hence, the magnitude
nected to the local-oscillator port as of the output voltage.

fig. 14. Attenuation vs

dc control current.
DC CONTROL CURRENT

march 1970 15
 PCObHr -2XAWz. W
f, * mxxul'E0 INFVr
product detector
MIXER
This is simply a mixer that has ~ t si-f
output in the audio range. A suitable
circuit is shown in fig. 17. The double
balanced ring mixer is particularly useful
in this application because of its very low
intermodulation performance and large
dynamic range.
fig. 15. Balanced modulator.
two-meter converter
The two-meter converter shown in
balanced modulator
fig. 18 is based on the hot-carrier-diode
To use this device as a balanced double - balanced mixer shown earlier.
modulator, it is connected into the circuit This converter has all the design features
as shown in fig. 15 with the rf signal that should be considered when using an
(carrier) at the local-oscillator port, the hcd mixer in the converter, including an
modulating signal a t the i-f port and the input filter, low-noise i-f amplifier and a
output signal across the rf port. The sig- spectrally clean local oscillator.
The two-meter converter shown in the

I - F SIGNAL
f, 1-Rl
Zmw-mw.5w
f,
-HI
MoWUlFO
-2SOHI BR) W C I L U T W ? -
2 m H r 250MH1
I N W T AT 5mW UP TO O d h
MIXER

LlMlnM

DC QlYTROLc(RREM

wit TD mm~

fig. 16. Amplitude modulator. fig. 17. Using the doublebalanced mixer as a
product detector.

photo has a noise figure of 9 dB; and

nal across the rf port consists of the local gain can be adjusted from zero to 20 dB.
oscillator plus and minus the modulating Main image rejection (84 to 88 MHz in
signal with the local-oscillator (carrier) this case) is 30 dB; all other images are
greatly attenuated. down at least 60 dB. Local oscillator
leakage at the input and output ports i s
amplitude modulator 500 microvolts. The gain compression
To obtain amplitude modulation from Construct~onof the hot-carrier-diode double
the double-balanced mixer, the opera- balanced mixer showing the circuit side of the
tions as a balanced modulator and cur- printed-circuit board.

rent-controlled attenuator are combined

as shown in fig. 16. A modulating signal
containing both ac and dc components is
applied to the Lf port. The ac com-
ponents will produce sidebands and the
dc component will vary the amplitude of
the carrier appearing at the rf port. For
100 percent modulation the modulating
signal should be about 200 mV rms and
the dc control current should be approxi-
mately 4 mA.

16 march 1970
 - - - - - DOUBLE-BALANCED
- - - - - - - - ~MIXER
~ ~ - ~ - - - - - - ~ ~ - ~ -OSCILLATOR
INPUT FILTER 7

Ll. L 2 Primary is 1 0 turns no. 24 o n Micromet- L3 7 turns no. 2 6 o n Micrometals T30-22 core
als* T 3 0 - 1 0 toroidal core; secondary is 4 turns L4 24 turns no. 28 o n Micrometals T 3 0 - 6 core
no. 2 4 o n c o l d end o f primary L 5 . L6 24 turns no. 2 8 o n Micrometals T30-6 core
Secondary o f L 6 consists o f 3 turns no. 28

fig. 18. High-performance two-meter Converter i s based o n t h e doublebalanced m i x e r package.

point the point where the output de- mixer used in this converter has dramati-
parts from linear change relative to the in- cally demonstrated to me the ability of a
put change is 1 volt rms. passive mixer to offer high dynamic range
In the converter shown in the photo, and resistance to overload, desensitiza-
each of the main components was built tion, cross modulation and intermodula-
into a separate chassis. This improves tion, while providing a respectable and
shielding between stages and facilitates useable noise figure.
experimentation with different converter
references
configurations.
The hot-carrier-diode double-balanced 1. R. Turrin, W2 1 MU, "Broadband Balun
Transformers," QST, August, 1964,p. 33.
Two-meter converter using t h e double-balanced 2. C. Ruthroff* Broadband Trans-
formers*" Proceedin@ of IRE. Augustl
mixer. T h e m i x e r is o n t h e rear o f t h e chassis;
i n f r o n t Of it, f r o m l e f t t o right, are t h e l o w - 19591p' 1337'
noise 3 0 - M H t i.f amplifier, 116-MHz local oscil- 3' Orr, W6SAI* Antenna
Baluns," ham radio, June, 1968,p. 6.
lator and 144-MHz i n p u t filter.
4.D. Thorpe, ''The Magic Tee," 73, September,
1969,p. 14.
5.E. Pappenfus, e t al, "Single Sideband Princi-
ples and Circuits," Chapter 5, McGraw-Hill,
New York, 1964.
6.J. Fisk, W1 DTY, "Double-Balanced Mixers,"
ham radio, March, 1968,p. 48.
7."The Hot-Carrier Diodes: Theory, Design
and Application," Hewlett-Packard Application
Note 907,15 May, 1967.
8.H. Sorensen, "Using the Hot-Carrier Diode,"
Hewlett-Packard Journal, December, 1965.

Micrometal toroidal cores are available from

Amidon Associates, 12033 Otsego Street,
North Hollywood. California 91607. Package of
SIXcores for the two-meter converter is $2.75
I postpaid.
ham radio

march 1970 17