Stability of Gunn oscillators

The purpose of the present paper is to show experimentally the effect of circuit parameters and environmental conditions on the performance characteristics of a Gunn oscillator, especially electronic tuning, noise, and stability. The temperature is the most serious factor limiting the stability of the oscillator. By utilizing temperature-compensation methods as well as paralleled devices, the overall frequency deviation of a 300 mW Ku-band Gunn oscillator has been reduced to 4 × 10^-4for the temperature range from -30°C to +60°C. Also described are the Gunn oscillators that operated successfully in a practical TV relay link as early as 1968.