Portable harsh-environment bench-top RF amplifiers

New lines of portable bench top amplifier modules that cover extremely wide frequency bands up to 40GHz have been introduced by Pasternack. They are designed to meet MIL-STD-202F environmental test conditions for humidity, shock, vibration, altitude and temperature cycle which makes them ideal for use inside high-traffic test labs in industries such as aerospace, defence, optical, industrial, telecom and R&D. The offering includes four models covering multi-octave bandwidths between 1GHz to 40GHz and exhibit flat gain response. The new bench top amplifiers offer up to 60dB small signal gain with high dynamic range, low noise figure of 5dB and output P1dB compression power ranges from +10dBm to +22dBm. Additionally, these portable and compact amplifiers have an internal AC voltage power supply of 115-120VAC at 60 Hz, an operating temperature range -40C to +85C and allow a storage temperature of -40C to +100C. The 20 GHz modules use SMA female connectors, while the 40GHz versions utilize 2.92mm connectors. The ultra-broadband portable bench-top RF amplifiers from Pasternack use a single AC voltage supply with internal voltage regulation, are fuse protected, and are designed with convenient front panel access with an on/off switch and RF input/output connectors. Each unit also comes with a 6-foot power cord, says he company. “This new line of portable bench top amplifiers is a great compliment to our broad and diverse RF amplifier portfolio,” explains Tim Galla, active RF components product manager, Pasternack. “These amplifiers also offer designers an ultra-broadband source for small signal gain from 1GHz to 40GHz in a small rugged package design, with convenient front panel access for the on/off switch and RF input/output connectors.”