Amplifier 3-rd order inter-modulation product - RF Cafe Forums

The original RF Cafe Forums were shut down in late 2012 due to maintenance issues - primarily having to spend time purging garbage posts from the board. At some point I might start the RF Cafe Forums again if the phpBB software gets better at filtering spam.

Below are the old forum threads, including responses to the original posts.

-- Amateur Radio
-- Anecdotes, Gripes & Humor
-- Antennas
-- CAE, CAD, & Software
-- Circuits & Components
-- Employment & Interviews
-- Miscellany
-- Swap Shop
-- Systems
-- Test & Measurement
-- Webmaster

PavelM
 Post subject: Amplifier 3-rd order inter-modulation product
Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2010 3:58 pm 
 
Lieutenant

Joined: Wed Mar 31, 2010 2:46 am
Posts: 3
Hello,
I have some problem in prediction of 3-rd order inter-modulation product level :?: . Usually, IMP3 is defined analytically for the case that both tones are of the same level and frequency difference between them is less than 5% of their frequency (in-band conditions).
I have a different case: f1 tone is of 49 dBm at 430 MHz, and f2 tone is of 29 dBm at 549 MHz. So, they have different levels and are spread wide.
I am interested to predict the level of lower IMP3 (2*f1-f2) at 311 MHz.
I am looking for analytical equation and physical/mathematical explanation, which will take in account the wide distance between tones at frequency axes and also their difference in power levels.
Any theoretical explanation and/or links will be appretiated.
I look also for translation between measurement results taken by classical approach and my special case.
For example, I have to understand whether results of classical measurement of OIP3 may be applied somehow to my special case and reliably predict "my" IMP3 at 311 MHz.
Thanks
Pavel




Posted  11/12/2012