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E7B03

PRACTICAL CIRCUITS · Amplifiers: class of operation; vacuum tube and solid-state circuits; distortion and intermodulation; spurious and parasitic suppression; switching-type amplifiers

E7B03E7B →

What circuit is required at the output of an RF switching amplifier?

  1. AA filter to remove harmonic content
  2. BA high-pass filter to compensate for low gain at low frequencies
  3. CA matched load resistor to prevent damage by switching transients
  4. DA temperature compensating load resistor to improve linearity
Why Switching amplifiers (Class D, E and F) drive the active devices fully on or fully off, so the raw output is essentially a square wave rather than a sine wave. A square wave is loaded with harmonics of the operating frequency, so a low-pass or band-pass filter (often a resonant tank) must follow the amplifier to strip those harmonics and leave a clean carrier. Without it the amplifier would violate the spurious emission limits of 97.307 and splatter energy across other bands.
Watch out A high-pass filter is exactly backwards: the problem is energy above the operating frequency, not weak low-frequency response. Load resistors do not belong there either, since a switching amplifier gets its efficiency by delivering all its power to the antenna, not burning it in a resistor.
Switching amp = square wave out; square waves are full of harmonics, so always follow with a low-pass filter.
HamSandwich explanation, first draft. The question and answers are the NCVEC text.
← E7B02 All of E7B E7B04 →

The rest of E7B

  1. E7B01 For what portion of the signal cycle does each active element in a push-pull, Class AB amplifier conduct?
  2. E7B02 What is a Class D amplifier?
  3. E7B03 What circuit is required at the output of an RF switching amplifier?
  4. E7B04 What is the operating point of a Class A common emitter amplifier?
  5. E7B05 What can be done to prevent unwanted oscillations in an RF power amplifier?
  6. E7B06 What is a characteristic of a grounded-grid amplifier?
  7. E7B07 Which of the following is the likely result of using a Class C amplifier to amplify a single-sideband phone s…
  8. E7B08 Why are switching amplifiers more efficient than linear amplifiers?
  9. E7B09 What is characteristic of an emitter follower (or common collector) amplifier?
  10. E7B10 In Figure E7-1, what is the purpose of R1 and R2?
  11. E7B11 In Figure E7-1, what is the purpose of R3?
  12. E7B12 What type of amplifier circuit is shown in Figure E7-1?
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