[NLRS] MGA-86576 wrap up

[Zack Widup]

I have a few MGA-86576's saved up for future use. I also have some
MGF-1302's, which are also starting to become either scarce or expensive.

The SGA-6486 puts out close to +20 dBm, which makes it one of the highest
output devices up to 2 GHz in a SOT-86 package. However, they are very
intolerant of input level exceeding a certain point and I have lost quite a
few of them due to overdriving them. Most other similar devices seem to be
more tolerant.

73, Zack W9SZ


On Mon, Dec 9, 2013 at 9:09 AM, <w0zq at aol.com> wrote:

>
>
>
> To close out the story, having heard from several of you, yes the
> MGA-86576 is past its end-of-life.  I used my last one to resolve my "dead"
> 2304 DEMI transverter.  For some reason I seem to pop them.  I don't know
> if its because of my rover set-up with closely spaced antennas on 6m
> through 3456 running higher-ish power, or perhaps I need sequencing as the
> 2304 system runs about 30 watts.  I am thinking the latter as I am using an
> older SMA relay for T/R and I am unsure of its isolation as well as PTT
> race.
>
> Several have pointed out the MSA-86563 is a possible replacement part.
>  Both devices are GaAs MMICs.  Our friends at DigiKey have stock on this
> part at just under $3.00 in eachs .... very reasonable.  Bad news is that
> the package is a SOT-363 rather than the "standard" 76 package.  The
> SOT-363 package is about the size of coarsely ground pepper albeit you can
> grab the corners as RF-in is on pin 1 and RF-out is kiddie corner on pin 4
> with pins 2, 3, 5 and 6 as ground.  Both devices are biased by a 5 volt
> source.  At 2.3 GHz, the 86563 has about the same noise figure (1.6 dB) but
> about 3 dB less gain (20 dB vs 23.7).  I think that one could use one of
> these as a replacement part albeit you would need to figure out out to
> place it onto the PCB with a proper ground.  Also, the missing 3 dB may
> need to be made up further down the chain.
>
> For now I think I am going to try to figure out how to do some sequencing
> for that set-up.
>
> 73, Jon
> W0ZQ
>
>
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