[NLRS] What do these MMIC specs mean?

[Zack Widup]

Yes, you're right. The maximum power out of a MAR-6 is about +3 dBm.
That particular MMIC is mainly used in receiver chains as a preamp.
Better still is the Sirenza SGA-4586 with slightly more gain and a
MUCH better noise figure in a receive amp circuit.

If you want at least +10 dBm output and 18 dB gain I'd recomend the
ERA-3 or ERA-5. Better still would be the Sirenza SGA-6486 but they're
hard to come by. Note I've blown out a few SGA-6486's by overdriving
them. They seem to be particularly oversensitive to too much input
power. But -8 to -6 dBm wouldn't be a problem.

73, Zack W9SZ


On Mon, Sep 29, 2008 at 6:37 PM, Donn Baker - WA2VOI/0
<wa2voi at mninter.net> wrote:
>
>
> Simple answer is, NO, an MAR-6 won't provide +10dBm output.
>
> An amplifier maintains a constant gain for low-level input signals. However,
> at higher input levels, the amplifier goes into saturation and its gain
> decreases. The 1 dB compression point (P1dB) indicates the power level that
> causes the gain to drop by 1 dB from its small signal value.   Its a measure
> of the linearity of the amplifier, or the amount of distortion of the output
> signal.
>
> To get +10dBm output, you'd need something like a MAR-4 or ERA-2 (same
> package size as MAR-6).
>
> 73 Donn
> WA2VOI/0
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Scott" <acepilot at bloomer.net>
> To: "NLRS List" <nlrs at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Monday, September 29, 2008 10:03 PM
> Subject: [NLRS] What do these MMIC specs mean?
>
>
>>
>>
>> Looking at a MAR-6 MMIC...
>>
>> I have approx. -8 dBm to -5 dBm drive level (144 MHz) that I need to bump
>> up to +10 dBm or so.  So, the specs say gain at 100 MHz is 22 dB.  That's
>> good, I should be able to get somewhere between +14 dBm and +17 dBm out.
>>  However, DEMI website says MAR-6 has +10dBm at 1dB Gain compression.  What
>> does that mean?  +10 dBm output max?  Another however, MiniCircuits website
>> says (for MAR-6), Output power at 1 dB compression is +3 dBm and Output IP3
>> is +14.5 dBm.  Will the MAR-6 be able to deliver +10 dBm at 144 MHz or not?
>>
>> --
>> Scott N0EDV
>> http://corbenflyer.tripod.com/
>> Flying Corben Junior Ace - Building RV-4
>> Gotta Fly or Gonna Die
>>
>>
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