hartley oscillator

The Hartley oscillator is as popular as Colpitt’s os cillator and is widely used as local oscillator
in radio receivers. The circuit arrangement is shown in figure. Hartley oscillator circuit is similar
to Colpitt’s oscillator circuit, except that phase-shift network consists of two inductors Lr and
L2 and a capacitor C instead of two capacitors and one inductor. The output of the amplifier is
applied across inductor Lx and the voltage across inductor L2 forms the feedback voltage. The coil
L1 is inductively cou pled to coil L2, the combination functions as an auto-transformer. However,
because of direct connec tion, the junction of L1 and L2 cannot be directly grounded. Instead,
another capacitor CL is used. The operation of the circuit is similar to that of the Colpitt’s
oscillator circuit.

Considering the fact that there exists mutual inductance between coils L1 and L2 because the coils
are wound on the same core, their net effective inductance is increased by mutual inductance M.
So in this case effective inductance is given by the expression

L = L1 + L2 + 2 M and resonant or oscillation frequency is given by the expression

F = 1 / 2∏√[C (L1 + L2 + 2M)]

Hartley oscillator can also be suitably used for generating RF signals. The frequency can be easily
varied by varying the inductances which can be done by making the core movable. Another
method of varying frequency is of varying capacitance. Hartley’oscillator is not suitable for low
frequency work because at low frequency, the value of inductance required becomes large.