Questions tagged [rf-power]
Questions about power ratings and restrictions, including maximum power by law or for certain components, or about calculating power in certain situations.
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Low power indicated on tuner
Please forgive my extremely basic question, I am brand new on HF and have issues with my setup.
I have a Chameleon MPAS antenna in vertical configuration connected to an AT-100 ProII tuner with a 50 ...
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Waveguide size for 2.4 GHz
I'm thinking to make a wave guide that has diameter 1/8 of the wave length.
At 2400mhz the full wave length is about 125mm.
I have aluminum pipe that is 16mm. So 8*16 = 128mm (very close to 125mm).
If ...
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What happens with LNA in bidirectional communication? [closed]
I want to ask that if you have a cable that has started with 40dbm source signal and has reached -10dbm then you put LNA (the end of the cable will be plugged to RFIN), then attach the RFOUT to ...
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Coaxial cable loss, dbm, db correlations
I am very confused how ham operators deal with all this, because most of the information in internet is controversial.
I have coaxial cable with loss of 34dB at 100 meters at 2400mhz.
People say that ...
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Can an oscilloscope be used as an RF voltmeter?
I just recently acquired a slightly functional Icom IC-735 HF radio, and am trying to resurrect it.
The service manual outlines procedures that specify the use of an RF Voltmeter, which I do not own. ...
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Decibel subtraction in dBm and dB
If i have equations for subtraction of 27dBm-3dBm=27dBm how can this be written as 24 dB.
I convert the 27dBm and 3dBm -> 10^2.7-10^0.3.But how can we simply ...
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What this E(EL) symbol does mean?
I can't understand what this E(or EL) symbol does mean. I know that Zo means impedance and I can calculate trace width according it, but what E symbol does mean?
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Extracting radio signal strength from multiband TIFF file
I have N number of TIFF files corresponding to each radio stations in my data, and I am trying to measure the approximate signal strengths from each of these stations at K geographic locations(say for ...
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How do you choose an inductor wire gauge for high-power RF?
At 100 watts in a 50-ohm system, the current flowing through an inductor would be about 1.41 A, thus a 26-AWG wire should be plenty since they are chassis-rated for 2A and for just a few windings that ...
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How do you protect your radio when testing custom RF circuits at ~100W?
We are designing a UHF/VHF diplexer for a satcom project and targeting support for 100W. Our radio can transmit near 100W but of course we want to protect it in case there is a failure of some kind.
...
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Why measuring Voltage and Current becomes difficult at Microwave frequencies? Why measure Power?
I have been reading some Classic books viz. Techniques of Microwave Measurements - Carol Montgomery, Foundations of Microwave Engineering - Collins, and some other google searches and they all claim ...
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Does ERP power depend on transmitter duty cycle?
I’m building a transmitter and I’m trying to stay under the ERP power limit of my country , which is 0.5 Watt at the frequency I’m working on .
I was thinking about increasing the transmission range . ...
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Ferrites losses calculation
I am new on RF design. I would like to know more about ferrites. I am looking for information about how to calculate ferrite losses and saturation points for a given application. I also would like to ...
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Design of an LNA housing box for a UHF/VHF satellite ground station
I'm currently designing a waterproof metallic case to house LNAs, power cables, and RF switches for a UHF/VHF satellite ground station. As shown in the diagram below, the antennas are connected to an ...
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How to find or derive the maximum safe input power to a receiver?
A number of my RF devices have a specified safe maximum input power, for example:
"The maximum RX power of HackRF One is -5 dBm. Exceeding -5 dBm can result in permanent damage!" source
"If you look ...
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Does a filter or inductor's power rating matter in its passband, or only in the attenuated frequency range?
I would like to build a high-pass filter that would block reception of signals from the United States' FM broadcast range (88–108 MHz) while still allowing me to transmit VHF ham signals (around 146 ...
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What is the difference between antenna input impedance and its radiation resistance?
I got to know that the input impedance of the halfwave dipole antenna is given as:
Zin=1/Im* sin(β(H-|Z|))
where Im is the maximum current on the antenna( when excited with a 1 volt supply),
H is the ...
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What power levels do the Baofeng UV-5R/5RA/5RE have? [closed]
What are the power settings of handheld radios of the Baofeng UV-5R series in watts?
CommunityBot
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Why does path loss decrease as frequency decreases? [duplicate]
The Friis transmission equation can be given as:
Pr = Pt + Gt + Gr + 20 log10 (λ / 4πR)
Where the variables represent:
...
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What can be used to protect an SDR receiver against bursts?
I am using a USRP B205 to detect electromagnetic pulses. Sometimes the signal power bursts to 100 dB, average power is around 10 dB. What can be used to protect the SDR receiver against bursts?
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Power rating of a selfmade air coil
A colleague was winding an air coil himself. It's a 110µH coil with 200 windings for an 80m antenna, intended to be used on a 600 W transceiver. He used a copper lacquer wire with 0.6mm diameter. ...
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How do you calculate peak voltage given VSWR caused by impedance mismatch in a 50-ohm system?
I would like to choose a feedline that is safe for the wattage at a given VSWR to avoid coax arcing.
How do you calculate peak voltage given a peak power in watts and maximum expected VSWR from ...
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What safety procedures should be followed when developing and testing a high power amp?
I'm designing a 300W power amplifier using the MRF300AN from NXP targeting a center frequency of 146 MHz.
Obviously I need to keep my fingers out of it and test into a dummy load, but generally ...
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What is a "feed-through load" and how does it work?
While browsing some miscellaneous RF test equipment supplies I stumbled across a two-port component sold as a "feed-thru load".
Take for example the Pasternak PE6026 (datasheet), which looks ...
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Output power from the TX/RX port of the USRP N210 decreases as the frequency increases
I am trying to build an FMCW radar using a USRP N210 with a CBX40 daughterboard. I generate a sweep from 1.5GHz to 5GHz. According to their respective datasheets, the daughterboard and the USRP should ...
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How does the Maximum Power Transfer Theorem relate to RF power amplifiers?
The Maximum Power Transfer Theorem says that maximum power transfer occurs when the source impedance equals the load impedance, when the power transferred to the load is 50%, the other 50% being ...
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Why is there so little difference in the gains of Yagi Uda antennas with omnidirectional antennas? Shouldn't the power at the back be at the front?
Consider an omnidirectional antenna with X dBi gain. Intuitively I understand that the power that would have been dispersed in now-dead directions is directed around the antenna.
What I don't get is ...
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How do you take into account the SNR of a transmitter in a fade margin?
I have a fade margin for a RF bridge, but it only compares the sensitivity of the receiver to the received power - or alternatively calculates the Eb/N0 from the net received power divided by the ...
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Acoustic Communication issues [closed]
[![I've attached schematic, I am connecting transducer directly to that header pins on receiver side. On transmitter side I am connecting op-Amp to boost voltage to +10v -10v.][1]][1]I am working on ...
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What is the power increase required to double the range of RADAR?
Studying for a Pivate Pilot's Licence (PPL) and I've hit something in the study material that doesn't make sense to me. Typical of the PPL study material, it's quite shallow, so the full explanation ...
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Is power output or something else to blame for my duplexer failing?
A Ham buddy of mine and I were trying to setup a UHF repeater in our area due to a lack of them. We had two Motorola CDMs, one a 1250 and one a 1550, and we purchased a $200 or so reject only duplexer ...
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Is the 1.5kW power limit per antenna? What about antenna arrays?
My son KJ7NLL just got his general, and while we don't (yet?) have plans to transmit at 1.5kW, he asks if the 1.5kW limit is per-antenna?
If it is per-antenna, and you use an antenna array of 8 ...
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What is dBm and why is it used rather than watts?
Reading through an RF power amplifier datasheet, I found the sheet only referenced dBm output power, rather than watts.
What is dBm?
How do I convert it to watts?
Why, or when, would you use dBm to ...
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Acceptable RF radiation exposure to electronic equipment
I'm wondering if there are any general guidelines or rules of thumb about the exposure of electronic equipment to RF transmissions, 150 MHz - 900 MHz.
The background is that we are looking to install ...
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Troubleshoot ICOM IC-745 intermittently shows no power on transmit
I have an old IC-745 I bought used last year. Recently it seems to be malfunctioning intermittently. It is receiving well on all bands as far as I can tell. Sometimes when transmitting, there is no RF ...
CommunityBot
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How do I power my radio in a vehicle mobile install?
I want to install a 30W mobile UHF radio in my car. I already have an antenna and mounting bracket - but how do I get power to this radio? It has an SAE bullet connector on the back - do I just need a ...
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How to make an RF probe for accurate power measurement at QRP power levels?
Typical SWR meters don't measure forward power very accurately at the lower end of the scale, which can be a real problem at QRP power levels. Better power meters like the Bird model 43 are expensive,...
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Increasing communication range by boosting output and input power
ORIGINAL QUESTION
I am trying to increase the range of communication between two SDRs to simulate near space communication. The output power of TX is 10dBm but I would need 37dBm for near space ...
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Yaesu FT-891: power drops to 50% when TNR is ON and SWR is 1.5:1
I noticed a weird behavior of my Yaesu FT-891 transceiver. I'm using it with an external autotuner mAT-30 (120W SSB/CW, 30W PSK31), which is compatible with Yaesu FC-50.
When I connect a 100W 50 Ohm ...
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Repeater design using round robin transmitters to increase duty cycle?
I would like to build an FM repeater using a short stack of Kenwood TK-890H rigs adjusted to 70cm USA amateur band, but the model has a 100W rating with a duty cycle of only 20%. 20% isn't nearly ...
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Does 3 W vs 5 W TX power make a huge difference in QRP CW operation?
I've bought the QCX+ 40 m band radio. I will be powering this off a 12 V battery. I read on the manual the RF power at 12 V is just 3 W whereas on 15 V it is 5 W. Should I buy a boost converter for ...
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Where can I find a table listing the maximum PEP per band?
I'm building myself an Excel Cheat Sheet.
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What is the maximum antenna cable length allowed in GNSS application?
I am beginner in designing GNSS receiver design and facing concern while testing the high precision GNSS survey.I am using GNSS survey grade antenna for my GNSS receiver application testing, the ...
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Can a carrier operated relay be used for T/R switching in a HF linear amplifier?
I am building the T/R switching circuit for an HF linear amplifier covering 80m band to 20m band. The current circuit takes a potential-free contact from the exciter and use this contact to turn on/...
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Can a Loop Antenna send and receive 10,000 miles away
Can we expect a Loop Antenna such as a Chameleon F-Loop Antenna transmit and receive from the USA's midwest to Australia on HF using an average 100 watt SSB transmitter and an average receiver?
If so,...
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Importance of Ferrite Size in Coax Choke Balun
The question is quite simple: When making a coax choke balun, does the size of the ferrite matter, and if so, why?
I have seen design notes that say to use a single FT240-43 toroid for powers up to ...
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SNR measurement for a BPSK/QPSK signal
I have created a software (gnuradio) that performs modulation/demodulation and supports a number of modulation schemes and error correcting codes. I'm in the process of evaluating the BER vs SNR for ...
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Power vs. Bandwidth
A 10 watt transmitter is transmitting a 700 hz tone in a 3 kHz wide band. If the power is increased to 1000 watts will that not increase the bandwidth if the data (700Hz tone) remains constant?
What ...
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Signal power measurement
I have a radio with a nominal output of 1-30mW (frequency dependent) and amplify this with a 21.8dB capable amplifier (frequency dependent, but should be ~150mW). The signal output then passes through ...
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Estimating near-field electric field strength at LF (137 kHz)
I'm experimenting with low frequencies, but due to the inherent nature of LF, I strive for more transmit power and bigger antennas.
Now of course I want to comply with regulations, which allow (in my ...
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