On Jul 11, 12:19*pm, Kickin' Ass and Takin' Names
wrote:
On Mon, 11 Jul 2011 10:29:08 +1000, atec77 wrote:
Wouldn't a simple power divider do the job ?
*some sort of resistor arrangement acting as a pad

Or maybe a few feet of lossy coax.

It would, and I aim to use one of these. The plan is a small module
with two SMA connectors (or similar) plugs in and provides the
attenuation. A resistive pad… the amount of coax needed here would
not be practical unless it was *very* lossy. A few feet would be
quite inconvenient, and again, would offer fixed-value attenuation
only, unless I missed something.

However, I can design an attenuator to give me 50mW from 500mW
(-10dB), all will be fine, but the moment 5W gets pumped in, for
whatever reason, up goes the amp in smoke, as it will be 500mW, not
50mW that gets through.

I'd just like something cheap that can let out the smoke rather than
the amplifier module. Smoke isn't a bad thing in itself, as it'll
tell me I've done the wrong thing, and if it's a cheap part/module
that can be field-replaceable, that is even better. An amplifier
module does not classify as a cheap field-replaceable part however.