Topband: DX Engineering Preselector

[Tom W8JI]

>I just put in the above as it is the best one out there... However, when
> I put in the Array Solutions RF Limiter/Arrestor between the preselector
> and the K3 I get distortion in the signals. Any comments out there?
>
> The RX antenna is a Hi-Z 8-Circle array.

Antennas have a vector sum of all the accumulated signals arriving at any 
one time. Peak voltages can be very high. For example I can light the 
filament of a 12V incandescent 50 mA lamp to a red or yellow color with my 
Beverages at night, after the amplifiers.

The Hi-Z amplifiers, if they are older units, have an output TOI of about 10 
dBm.

The DXE amplifier has an output TOI of about 45 dBm.

You added a limiter that is advertised to "hard" saturate at -.5 dBm into 50 
ohms, or -2.2 dBm into 75 ohms. (It is spec'ed at .3 volts peak, which is 
.212 volts RMS.)

This means your system probably has a TOI of about 0 dBm or less. A limiter 
like that would make any receiver have Knight Kit Star Roamer dynamic range. 
:-)