Line Amplifier vs LNA or GPA

Hi,

I am a little unclear w.r.t the difference between a Line Amplifier and the general power amplifier or LNA? Is the difference only interms of applications like CATV and transmitters? Also, can the linearity of a Line Amplier be increased by using a hybrid?

Thanks.

Yes, generally a Line Amplifier is a linear wideband amplifier, when generally PA's and LNA's are narrowband.
Linearity depends by multiple factors, but hybrids in general are optimized for good linearity.

Thanks for the reply. Definitely clears up the difference. So, the line amplifier is matched in terms of reflection and noise matching is not a big factor?

Noise of the line amplifier should have decent values, otherwise is not worth to use it. But definitely is not as good as the noise of a narrow band LNA.

"Line Amplifier" term is used for wideband and low distortion CATV amplifiers that are used to distribute TV channels over cable environment.Those amplifiers have very wide bandwidth and very low distortion characteristics.They are 75 Ohm amplifiers and also all A-Class.They can be implemented either with CATV modules or discrete components.These modules are very expensive but nowadays the prices are falling down due to highly competition.A high linearity can be obtained with some discrete solutions but using modules is more practical.
LNAs and Power Amplifiers are generally dedicated amplifiers so that the amplifier works in relatively narrowband and they have been optimized ( Noise Figure for LNAs, Output Power and Efficieny for PAs etc.) for that band.

@ vfone and BigBoss:

Thanks a ton for clearing this up. I'm marking this thread as "Solved". Thanks again.