[Amps] Attenuator needed

[Vic K2VCO]

The attenuator is inside the amp, so it doesn't affect anything when the amp is bypassed. 
One nice feature when using a solid-state driver is that a 6 db attenuator guarantees that 
the swr to the exciter won't exceed 1.5:1. Of course it's only practical with an amp that 
has extra gain, like a grid-driven one.

On 11/15/2010 1:50 PM, Jim Brown wrote:
> On 11/15/2010 12:38 PM, Vic K2VCO wrote:
>> I made a 6 db attenuator for the input of my grid-driven amplifier in order to bring the
>> drive requirement up a bit and to provide a better SWR for the exciter during tuning.
>
> Another downside to using an attenuator between the rig and the amp is
> that unless you provide bypass switching,  it's still inline when you
> want to operate without the amp.
>
> W8JI has noted the importance of using the attenuator with some more
> primitive rigs that create a full power spike when set for less than
> their max output power.  This is not an issue with the K3, and I don't
> think with the MP series either, but Tom did specifically mention a
> couple of the 100W $1000 160-440 wonders as having this problem. :)
>
> 73, Jim K9YC
>
>
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-- 
Vic, K2VCO
Fresno CA
http://www.qsl.net/k2vco/