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L-band Amplifier - Variable Gain
Variable Gain L-band Amplifiers can feature manual only rotary attenuators (such as model 2544 and 2547), but the introduction of digital variable attenuators has meant that there can be local and remote control of gain levels.
The ETL Variable Gain L-band Amplifiers typically have 0-28 dB gain ranges or +/- 14 dB gain ranges with ½ or 1 dB gain control steps. These can be adjusted to meet specific customer requirements. Linearity is generally very good with high 1 dB Gain Compression Points and again special high linearity versions are available.
As well as variable gain, several of ETL's L-band Amplifiers also feature variable L-band Slope Compensation or L-band Equalisation (typically 0,3,6 or 9 dB of positive slope over 850-2150 MHz). The combination of these two features has been used by many large satcoms users to balances the losses and negative slope of extended cable runs, ensuring that all signals are coming into the RF processing chain at similar levels across all frequencies.
For more demanding applications, some of ETL's Variable Gain L-band Amplifiers also benefit from Dual Redundant Amplifiers, with amplifier current monitoring normally triggering automatic switchover from a main to standby amplifier. The standby amplifier can be on hot or (more usual) cold standby.
In general, these redundant amplifiers can be hot swapped so that a failed amplifier module can be changed out during a planned maintenance break.
