Power Attenuator by Mark DL6YYM

Mark DL6YYM designed a power attenuator for 5 watt, using resistors of 1/2 watt. The attenuation of the attenuators, from the left to the right, is 20 dB, 10 dB, 3 dB and 3 dB. Seen from the front. This enables Mark to lower the power from 0 dB to 36 dB, in steps of 3 dB or 4 dB.

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Mark built a beautiful enclosure for the attenuators.

This picture shows the interior. Seen from the back, you can see the 20 dB section on the right, behind the coax. This section has the larger number of resistors. The 10 dB is visible to the left of the 20 dB section.
At the left you can see the two 3 dB sections, each built with a total of 7 resistors.

Click to enlarge, to see all the details.

Mark used the PA1B Power Attenuator Calculator, to design the attenuators.
You can find the Calculator on the PA1B QRPp page,  This Calculator in Excel enables you to design an attenuator for any power, using common resistors from the E12-series. E.g. 1/2 watt. Mark used Open Office. Please note, that in Excel or Open Office you must use the decimal COMMA or POINT according to your national language. These attenautors are what I had in mind, when I developed the Power Attenuator Calculator. hi

The shack of DL6YYM.

I thank Mark for sending the pictures and for the great feedback on the attenuators.