[time-nuts] Low-Cost 6+ GHz Prescaler boardforHP/Agilent53181A/53131A/53132A

Samuel DEMEULEMEESTER sam at canardpc.com
Fri Mar 26 00:06:14 UTC 2010


Well, I just done some tests and I will not be able to avoid a MMIC in the
front stage if I want to preserve sensitivity in the lower and upper range.
Without a MMIC, sensitivity drops to -10 dBm at 200 Mhz and -5 dBm at 100
Mhz. The same for the top of the range (-10 dBm at 6 Ghz, -5 dBm at 7 Ghz
and -2 dBm at 8 GHz). This looks bad compared to the -20 dBm to -30 dBm I
got on the 1-4 GHz range.

I think I will use a ERA-1+ MMIC. Spec'd at DC-8 GHz and "Unconditionally
stable" according to the datasheet :-D


-----Message d'origine-----
De : time-nuts-bounces at febo.com [mailto:time-nuts-bounces at febo.com] De la
part de Samuel DEMEULEMEESTER
Envoyé : jeudi 25 mars 2010 23:17
À : 'Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement'
Objet : Re: [time-nuts] Low-Cost 6+ GHz Prescaler
boardforHP/Agilent53181A/53131A/53132A

That's 100% true. I tried the MSA-0x86 from Avago and got some strange
auto-oscillation and many noise at some frequencies. I will try my best to
avoid a MMIC, but sensitivity might be lower on the < 100 MHz and > 5 GHz
area.




-----Message d'origine-----
De : time-nuts-bounces at febo.com [mailto:time-nuts-bounces at febo.com] De la
part de Bob Camp
Envoyé : jeudi 25 mars 2010 22:06
À : 'Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement'
Objet : Re: [time-nuts] Low-Cost 6+ GHz Prescaler
boardforHP/Agilent53181A/53131A/53132A

Hi

Every time I've ever done much "amp in front of the counter" stuff, I've
discovered a great way to make a doubler / tripler / quadrupler / random
number generator. There always seems to be some magic combination of
frequency and level that does strange things, often multiple combinations.
They rarely pop up when testing the front end design it's self. They are
amazingly easy to come up with when actually using the device.

Strange how things always seem to work that way. 

If you really need to amplify, something like a very high speed ECL gate
biased in it's linear region is a good thing to try. At no extra charge it
would give you a differential signal to route into the divider. You are
already pretty sensitive so it may not help at all.

Bob

-----Original Message-----
From: time-nuts-bounces at febo.com [mailto:time-nuts-bounces at febo.com] On
Behalf Of paul swed
Sent: Thursday, March 25, 2010 4:42 PM
To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement
Subject: Re: [time-nuts] Low-Cost 6+ GHz Prescaler
boardforHP/Agilent53181A/53131A/53132A

Well if you do want a amplifier/fuse. The mini circuit gali-1 0-8Ghz is $2
in small quantites.
Just a thought.

On Thu, Mar 25, 2010 at 4:37 PM, John Miles <jmiles at pop.net> wrote:

>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: time-nuts-bounces at febo.com [mailto:time-nuts-bounces at febo.com]On
> > Behalf Of Samuel DEMEULEMEESTER
> > Sent: Thursday, March 25, 2010 10:42 AM
> > To: 'Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement'
> > Subject: Re: [time-nuts] Low-Cost 6+ GHz Prescaler board
> > forHP/Agilent53181A/53131A/53132A
> >
> >
> > I'm thinking about the need for a MMIC amplifier before the ADF4107.
> > I was unable to find a cheap DC-8 GHz GaAs amplifier to put there
> > for a try.
>
> Bob's right; if anything, you want an attenuator in front of that chip,
not
> an amplifier.
>
> -- john, KE5FX
>
>
>
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