Well, I think the contact problem was the least of their worries. I suspect
the is a fundamental problem with the product which I don't believe they ever
overcame. To accurately reproduce a ssb signal you need to accurately reproduce
both the amplitude and phase simultaneously. It is no problem with AM but is
with SSB. Some of you may remember the Central Electronics SSB products, they
had two balanced modulators and one you could throw out of balance to produce
AM and the other PM. But, in a since it took both to produce PHASE and
AMPLITUDE information to produce an SSB signal.
The problem with the Mini Lini was that since they used a switching power
supply/modulator the amplitude information was delayed in the processing to PWM
and then in the filtering that followed and the signal from the class-E
amplifier was amplitude and phase modulated but they were no longer in time
sync. and under dynamic situation spurious signals would appear above and below
the intended frequency. They could have used a linear modulator and overcame
the problem but the efficiency would then be no better than a Class AB
transistor amplifier. Also there may be issues with phase shifts within the
class E amplifier as it is amplitude modulated. The class E amplifier is in a
way similar to the DAF amplifier and I always had mixed feelings about that
one. And I suspect that it's IMD products are dependent on the filtering
between the screen modulator and the screen grid along with the modulators
linearity.
Tonight seeing the stuff on the other SGC amplifier I came up with a possible
solution but I was hoping that I could find one out there to experiment on.
Having more free time now days I may have time to investigate these things, I
hope.
73
Bill wa4lav
________________________________________
From: amps-bounces@contesting.com [amps-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of
ToddRoberts2001@aol.com [ToddRoberts2001@aol.com]
Sent: Sunday, August 09, 2009 10:54 PM
To: amps@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [Amps] SGC-Mini Lini
In a message dated 8/9/2009 10:26:25 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, wlfu
qu00@uky.edu writes:
Does anyone out there actually own a Mini Lini?
73
Bill wa4lav
______________________________________________________________
I don't think SGC ever actually produced any of the Mini-Linis for sale.
They had reliability problems with the plug-in band modules
that used banana plugs and sockets and problems with the
output spectrum. The owner of SGC died a year or two ago I think
and they never finished the product. SGC
is still in business though selling tuners, some ham accessories
and the 500 watt linear amplifier the SmartPowerCube.
The Mini-Lini used a Class-E
amplifier and EER to amplify an SSB signal. Apparently
they never overcame some technical problems with it
to make it cost effective to market.
I'm surprised no one else has come up with a commercial
Class-E amplifier yet for the Ham Bands.
73 Todd WD4NGG
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