The in-duct acoustical sources of fluid machines are often characterized by the source impedance and strength using the linear time-invariant model. However, negative resistances, which are physically unreasonable, have been found throughout various measurements of the source properties in IC-engines and compressors. In this paper, the effects of the time-varying nature of fluid machines on the source characteristics are studied analytically. For this purpose, the simple fluid machine consisting of a reciprocating piston and an exhaust is considered as representing a typical periodic, time-varying system and the equivalent circuits are analyzed. Simulated measurements using the analytic solutions show that the time-varying nature in the actual sources is one of the main causes of the negative source resistances. It is also found that, for the small magnitude of the time-varying component, the source radiates large acoustic power if the piston operates at twice the natural frequency of the static system. or integral submultiples of that rate.