[TowerTalk] amplifiers for phased arrays

[Tom Rauch]

> scenario. Say for instance, I can put three 20' whips
along a chain
> link fence (no additional ground beyond that provided by
the fence).
> A typical urban CC&RVille lot might be 50 x 100' with a
chain link
> fence running around the backyard perimeter (say a 50' x
30'
> rectangle with the back of the house comprising one of the
4 sides
> of the rectangle). Looking at that kind of environment
(and assuming
> the IMD problem could be solved with some kind of DSP
based
> linearizer), what, if any, advantage would there be to
using the
> distributed solid state amps versus those same amps
combined
> into a single output and then split back with passive
couplers to
> drive the 3 array elements?

No advantage I know of. But then sometimes people build
things just to build them.

Arrays like this are generally confined to large broadside
collinear arrays with nothing but "open air" around the
well-planned array with a fixed passive reflecting sheet
behind the elements.

The minute it becomes something other than a broadside array
and/or has unidirectional characteristics with active
elements element power requirements vary wildly from element
to element in order to have maximum GAIN, not just a clean
pattern. This would be true for randomly placed elements or
planned elements.

73 Tom