Understanding PLLs and their Importance when Receiving/Transmitting on QO-100

Over on YouTube Andreas Speiss has uploaded a video that explains what the geostationary QO-100 satellite is, and explains about the parts needed to receive and transmit to it. In particular Andreas goes into depth explaining the low noise block (LNB), and the PLL inside it. A PLL or phase locked loop is a common design used in RF electronics as it allows us to increase the frequency of crystal oscillators.

This PLL explanation ties into the fact that most commercial LNBs available do not have a stable enough crystal oscillator to properly receive or transmit the narrowband amateur radio signals used on QO-100. A PLL can increase the frequency of a crystal, but it will also increase the frequency drift and jitter/phase noise of the crystal. He notes that in later videos he'll show how to modify the LNB to improve these factors. We note that a commercially available stable LNB is the Bullseye LNB which we have posted about previously.