High power on low-power antennas
I have some planar antennas that are designed for low-power applications and therefore they have no power ratings. What would happen if I put 50W of power on them?
Best Regards
Oyvind
calculate the power loss in the antenna. Find references on temperature rise.
Heating effects might cause your material properties to change
Look especially at the cables/connectors, 50W = 1A at 50 ohms, this can overload and burn out thin cables.
Frank
Thank you for your suggestions!
Is there any risk of damaging the amplifier or is it only the antenna that will be destroyed if it cannot take the power?
The higher the power, the more likely the amplifier will be to be damaged if the aerial is damaged by excessive power. For example a TV broadcast transmitter might have a rates power of 100 KW if the reflected power from a miss matched aerial exceeds 1KW, then the transmitters are tripped off as that is at the limit of their ability to accept reflected power. At a level of .1W this is not likely to be a problem and the amplifier can operate without any load at all.
Frank
Thank you for your reply.
But I didn't quite understand it. What is an 'aerial'?
For my case, putting 50W on an antenna rated for low-power, do you think there is a high probability for damage to the amplifier?
Oyvind