We need 28 volts p-p at 14 MHz to test our IQ modulator box. I've bought two Chinese RF amps from Amazon and both are garbage. So we're going to build our own class C amp, as a dremel'd prototype.
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I get to teach a young engineer my Dremeling secrets.
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John Larkin Highland Technology, Inc
picosecond timing precision measurement
The link doesn't work here right now but if it's for a bench test you could also use a shortwave transceiver for ham radio. They all do 14MHz because that is one of the ham bands.
Make sure the first aid kit is nearby when the engineer tries.
If it's for testing and not sale, then sometimes parts will work a few volts over the max... you'd have to test. (I blew up an lt1013 at ~52 V... it ran fine at 50V for ~1 hr. I only 'looked' at my schematic after I blew it up.)
Well, it's in a loop driving a darlington so no power.
We use to slice thin walled stainless with dremel grinding discs. 'eye protection' required!
George H. And you should never be in the machine shop alone... though I've broken that rule many times in my stupid youth. (How is it most boys/ men live to reproduce?)
The class C thing has a lot of distortion in Spice.
This might be OK.
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I think I can make the 1:1 transformer on a pot core that we have, maybe 2 turns twisted pair wire-wrap wire, bifilar.
The THS6022 amp has a power pad on the bottom, which would be tricky to cool on a proto board. Maybe we can glue a heat sink to the top. The dual THS would dissipate a half watt maybe, not too bad. Or we could use two separate amps, just to spread the heat.
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John Larkin Highland Technology, Inc
lunatic fringe electronics
What is the load impedance ? If 50 ohms, that is just 2 W, any amateur radio transmitter could provide it.
If much less than 50 ohms, just use a bigger transmitter and a step down transformer to transfer 50 ohms down to your low required impedance.
If you insist of doing it all yourself with a few volt op-amps, use some op-amp followed by a very beefy complementary emitter follower and a step-up transformer to get 28 Vpp.
I've flipped opamps with power pads over.. dead bug, and then strapped a piece of copper tape front to back, soldered to copper clad and pad. (Probably too ugly for a gold plated proto. :^)
I'd just buy a boxed RF power amp if I could find a decent one for a low number of kilobucks. My frequency, 14-15 MHz, excludes a lot of possibilities. I can find some nice stuff for $8K.
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John Larkin Highland Technology, Inc
lunatic fringe electronics
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