English: Schematic diagram of a microwave radiometer using the heterodyne principle. After being received at the antenna the radiofrequency signal is downconverted to the intermediate frequency (IF) with the help of a stable local oscillator signal. After amplification with a Low Noise Amplifier (LNA) and band pass filtering the signal can be detected in full power mode, by splitting or splitting it into multiple frequency bands with a spectrometer. For high-frequency calibrations a Dicke switch is used here.