Not likely linear.
An amp has to operate within some reasonable set of parameters. You would
not usually use a 100 watt device for a 5 watt circuit for example, both
because of the cost, and the current and voltage the 100 watt device
expects to see to develop its design power. Many 100 Watt semiconductors
really want to operate at 28 volts or more on collector, while a 5 watt CB
final is happy with a nominal 12 to 14 Volts auto system.
An engineering rule of thumb, is that you likely could go down in power an
octave, or 1/2 in a linear manner, ie from 100 watts, it might easily be
operable at 50 watts. But, it takes more complicated circuitry like
Automatic Load Control to throttle back more, like the external DC supply
to take a Yaecomwood down to 5 watts from 100 watts, and many of those, if
you read the archives of this list, require you to reset a couple of pots
inside the rigs to change the power extreme ranges.
Another way of saying, there is no free lunch.
:-)
Stuart K5KVH
=========================================================================
But when the audio input to the mike is at a low level (resulting in a 5w
drive from the 100 w rig into
the amp) you either get the proper fraction of the output from the amp or
you get distortion on the rx audio. It HAS to be linear!
Bill Ames
KB1LG
--
FAQ on WWW: http://www.contesting.com/tentecfaq.htm
Submissions: tentec@contesting.com
Administrative requests: tentec-REQUEST@contesting.com
Problems: owner-tentec@contesting.com
Search: http://www.contesting.com/km9p/search.htm
|