Bob,

For LNAs: I'll throw in a vote for ARR as well. I personally own both their receive only pre-amps and the model referenced in the link below for 2m/70cm. The VT amateur radio club has used them in the past as well (and will be again in the near future). Additionally, the big ground station we are building at VT (separate from the amateur radio club, calling it the VTGS) will also be using them on 2m, 70cm, and for the NOAA 137MHz birds. I have had great success with them.

I did a massive survey to try to answer this question for the VTGS design and finally settled on the ARR devices. Down East Microwave and Kuhne Electronics were high on the list, but they only sell RX only pre-amps, requiring you to come up with your own solution for the bypassing/sequencing for TX. I think M2 Antennas has an option or two, but they are super high quality and super expensive (I think geared more towards kW operations and EME work). The models referenced KB1PVH below have a built in RF Sense circuit for automatically switching for TX operations, but if you are like me and nervous about the RF sense stuff failing and cooking your pre-amp, they have a PTT signal built in for use with an external sequencer. They can handle up to 160W when in TX state. For the quality of the product (RX performance, and weather proof mast mountable), ease of use on TX (rf sense or ptt), and the price point, ARR was the way to go for us. One final bump for them is their customer service. I discussed this with them during my survey for the VTGS design and they basically said that if you accidentally cook one of their pre-amps, the cost to repair it is minimal (not much more than the cost of shipping).

For PAs: I also did a big survey to try to answer this question as well. The options I looked at included some designs from W6PQL based on the mitsubishi RF MOSFET modules (with the right filtering!!!, www.w6pql.com), the designs from Down East Microwave based on the MOSFET modules (no filtering though), some commercial broad-band amps that cover 2m/70cm, the very common Mirage brick amps, and finally Kuhne Electronics (out of Germany). For the VTGS we have a bit different setup that uses SDRs on the backend instead of traditional HW radios. The devices we are using (Ettus USRPs with WBX/SBX daughterboards) only put out about 100mW max output on the Amateur Satellite bands. So I needed to get from about 100mW to about 100W and ensuring that I meet FCC limits for out of band performance. I finally settled on some products from Kuhne Electronics that can achieve full drive of 60W with about 10mW on the input and have built in filtering to meet FCC limits.

If your looking for a mast mounted PA, you might want to consider the Mitsubishi RF Modules (be careful about harmonics, and out of band emissions!) and the designs from W6PQL. He also offers some good filters that provide (1) the required suppression for out of band emssions and (2) RF detection ports for monitoring fwd/rev power levels. This could be a fairly compact design that could be integrated into a weatherproof enclosure and mounted on the mast. Its not a canned solution that you can just buy though. Someone would have to do the detailed design work, and then actually build everything, I'm just throwing it out there as an idea.

It sounds like the simplest "swap option" to replace your existing hardware might be the Mirage amps (http://www.mirageamp.com/). They have built in pre-amps, can get you up to around 160W or so on 2m (model: B-1018-G) and 100W on 70cm (model: D-1010-N) with about 10W drive, have the TX/RX circuitry built right in, and have the right filtering. I have only ever used them with the manual ssb/fm switch, so for mast mounting I think they have a remote control head that can be used to pick which mode your in from the schack (instead of going up on the roof and flipping the ssb/fm switch). It sounds like you might be able to directly replace your existing gear with these devices, and it might be the easiest route. Maybe some of these with better weather proofing (they're not designed for outdoor use), and maybe better cooling (though at low duty cycle use like packet, that might not be much of a concern).

Even though the Mirage amps have built in pre-amps, I'd still think about putting the ARR gear inline closer to the antennas and using sequencers, they are really good performers on RX.

-Zach, KJ4QLP

On 6/4/2015 12:01 PM, David L Warnberg wrote:

I can second that, I have them on my egg beaters and they work very well..

David KK4QOE

-----Original Message----- From: AMSAT-BB [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Dave Webb KB1PVH Sent: Thursday, June 04, 2015 10:04 AM To: Bob Bruninga Cc: AMSAT -BB Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Best Mast mount PA/LNA?

Bob,

I've had good luck with ARR preamps.

http://www.advancedreceiver.com/page10.html

Dave-KB1PVH

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