On Mon, 20 Apr 2009 12:36:12 -0700, Joerg
wrote:

Tim Shoppa wrote:
A terminology question I suppose about the derivation of the term
"Superheterodyne" more than anything else:

Does the "Super" actually mean anything? Is there a Subheterodyne?

Traditionally superhets mix a higher radio frequency down to a lower
IF frequency, but certainly in the past few decades radios with IF's
above the RF frequency have become very common in broadband
applications, and those are still called superhets, not subhets :-).

Google turns up a couple hits on subheterodyne but other than one that
might mean "IF higher in frequency than RF" I don't recognize what
they mean..

I suspect that "Super" was more a marketing term than anything
else :-).


If you want to file a new patent for old stuff you could try
subheterodyne and it just might sail through :-)

Oh wait, call it hyperheterodyne, has more glitz. Just like the
supermercados in Spain.

I think we're going to be doing a superhet receiver soon. Maybe we'll
do it in an FPGA!

John