Thanks for sharing your advice. You are exactly right that there will
be aliasing if I digitize the RF directly. I'll actually be running it
through a system of bandpass and lowpass filters, amplifiers, and a
programmable attenuator. This system expects a maximum input of 20 dBm.
That's why I think I'll need to boost the signal out of the antenna.

My customers typically use a multicoupler between the filters and the
antenna, but I don't have one. I need some sort of pre-amp, but I don't
know how much gain I should get to as close to 20 dBm as possible
without going over ("The Price Is Right" rules).

How much gain should I get in an amplifier? 20 dB, 40 dB, 60 dB? I know
it's highly dependent on my RF environment, but I need to make some
assumptions to at least get close.

BTW, what's the right way to measure the signal level produced by an
antenna?


THANKS!
John