[Boatanchors] oscillator waveform

[Paul Kraemer]

A tecnical question for the group:
Should the waveform from a hetrodyne oscillator in a receiver front-end be a 
clean sine wave? Does it matter if it is a skewed or not symmetrical 
waveform?
I'm working on a receiver which seems (to me) to have a lot of birdies or 
tweets and I'm wondering if that waveform could be significant contributing 
factor.
Alignment of the xtal oscillator "by the book" looking for maximum voltage 
produces somewhat distorted waveform.
A slight mis-tuning while observing the scope to make the waveform more pure 
is possible on some bands but not all.
Paul K0UYA