Topband: RF attenuators

[Bill Wichers]

It would be easy to check if an attenuator is resistive or capacitive by
checking if it will pass any DC. If the attenuator is all resistive you
should be able to measure a low (relatively, i.e. not megohms)
resistance between the ports and between the center pin and ground.

Regarding the splitters not being useable down low in frequency, I think
I have one of their 10-1000MHz 2-way splitters at home that I can test
down around 1 and 2 MHz easily enough and post the results.

  -Bill

[snip]
> In general, many VHF/UHF attenuators are built with capacitive
dividers
> rather than resistive dividers, and are unlikely to be useable at HF
and
> below.  Conversely, simple resistive attenuators are quite suitable in
> the 2 MHz range, provided that they are made with resistors that are
not
> inductive, whereas their stray L and C would render them useless at
> higher frequencies.
> 
> 73, Jim Brown K9YC
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