homodyne receiver

homodyne receiver

Also called a "regenerative receiver," a radio receiver that detects and demodulates the carrier frequency broadcast by the station without using an intermediate frequency (IF) stage. The homodyne method uses a local oscillator that is tuned to the carrier frequency of the desired station and mixed with the incoming signal to boost the power of that frequency before being filtered. Along with the direct conversion receiver, the homodyne receiver was one of the earlier methods of building radios, both of which were superseded by the superheterodyne approach. See superheterodyne receiver.