[Premium-Rx] Tubes versus FETs

[Richard Reich]

Greetings.

For a few weeks now I have been messing around with receiver antenna 'impedance
matching' using a super-linear JFET. Effectively the antenna wire goes onto the
Gate of the FET, which is biased in its linear region. The output of the FET is
then matched down to a lower impedance, which is great for most comms receivers
at 50 or 75 Ohms. The problem is this: poof!  A little bit of static, or a
lightning strike nearby, and the FET dies. The Gate is already 'leaky' to ground
- but I suspect not enough to give protection, and reducing it any more defeats
the object. The FETs I have been destroying are $15 each! So I was thinking,
perhaps a tube would be better for this application. Does anyone have any prior
experience of this? I am not really looking for voltage gain in itself - but
obviously low noise is important. I have a box full of tubes which I could
experiment with, but don't want to embark on a fruitless excerise. Anyone have
any info on this?  Many thanks - Richard
***************************************************************
Richard Reich    
Principal Engineer Hardware
SAAT Technology Ltd
Web: http://www.saatt.co.uk

DDI: +44(0)1420 545388
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