wrote:
Similarly but not identically, and the top of the curve is what's important
in a switching application where you're trying to saturate the device. You
want something with as abrupt a transition in the curve as you can get, and
something with a huge amount of gain.

You mean, the device needs to be nonlinear?

It sure helps if it is. You're really fighting things otherwise.

But you also want something that
switches really, really fast.

Like the 12AF4 or one of the other tubes used in VHF tuners?

Hmm... maybe. A sharp-cutoff pentode for VHF service might do the trick.

Honestly, if you just want the carrier, though, it doesn't buy you anything
over normal Class C operation.

Then why are people putting so much store by class E operation for CW
amplification?

Damned if I know. Class C already gets you extremely good efficiency,
and it's not like with the legal limit being what it is that you're going
to save much on your power bill. If you're running 250KW, of course, every
little bit counts, and the ability to do AM modulation at the same time
makes it very valuable for high power broadcast applications.

I guess back to the drawing board. What I was thinking was to use a
genny as VFO to
inject a carrier into a buffer amp driving a CW amplifier.

What is a "genny?"
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."