[time-nuts] Low-Cost 6+ GHz Prescaler

Bob Camp lists at rtty.us
Fri Mar 26 01:18:20 UTC 2010


Hi

From a quick eyeball look at the S parameter data, there may be a simple L network that would give you a few more db in the top couple of GHz. Certainly a lot cheaper than an amp. 

Bob


On Mar 25, 2010, at 9:07 PM, Samuel DEMEULEMEESTER wrote:

> About MMIC, that's true for the Minicircuits parts. Roll off is high at the
> top of the range (from 13 dB to 8 dB), but the NBB-300 from RFMD seems to
> have flat gain curve from DC to rated freq. This said, that's only paper and
> I don't know the real behavior of this chip.
> 
> About sensitivity, 0 dBm is for 8 GHz, exceeding the rated specs of the
> components (7 GHz for the ADF4107 for exemple). So, my "real" target is 6
> GHz, but even at those freq, sensibility without amp stage is -10 dBm in the
> worst case (it began to drop after 4 GHz). Doesn't looks sensitive enough,
> does it ?
> 
> 
> -----Message d'origine-----
> De : time-nuts-bounces at febo.com [mailto:time-nuts-bounces at febo.com] De la
> part de John Miles
> Envoyé : vendredi 26 mars 2010 01:50
> À : Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement
> Objet : Re: [time-nuts] Low-Cost 6+ GHz Prescaler
> 
> 
>> RFMD seems to produce some nice MMIC, for example the NBB-300
>> (http://www.rfmd.com/CS/Documents/Nbb-300.pdf), but I never used a RFMD
>> amplifier. I used Agilent/Avago MMIC since years with great results, but
>> always with frequencies no more than 3 GHz.
>> 
>> Anyone have some experience with DC-8/12 GHz MMIC and which's the best ?
> 
> My experience is that they roll off pretty quickly right where you are
> looking for extra gain.  You'll probably end up with more gain where you
> don't need/want it, and not as much as you'd like at the very top end of the
> range.
> 
> The best off-the-shelf performance will probably come from Hittite's parts.
> Compared to the Mini-Circuits parts, they are relatively power-hungry,
> expensive, and hard to work with.  They're available only as LFCSP packages
> or bare dice, and only in lots of 10 or more.
> 
> IMHO few users would reject your prescaler board due to a sensitivity spec
> of 0 dBm.  At lower signal levels people are more likely to be using a
> spectrum analyzer than a high-precision counter.
> 
> -- john, KE5FX
> 
> 
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