Continuous-wave and pulsed power amplifiers cannot be selected from the same headline power number. CW operation is limited mainly by sustained RF output, DC input, heat flow and long-term gain stability. Pulsed operation adds peak voltage and current, pulse width, repetition frequency, duty cycle, rise/fall time, droop, recovery and protection behavior.
- CW: verify rated output at the stated frequency, baseplate or ambient temperature and cooling boundary until thermal equilibrium.
- Pulsed: verify peak output across the complete pulse, not only at its center; record pulse width, PRF, duty cycle, gating timing, droop and recovery between pulses.
- Modulated signals: add bandwidth, PAPR and EVM, ACPR or spectral-mask limits. Peak capability does not prove linear modulated performance.
- Mismatch: state the expected VSWR, phase coverage, duration and whether protection may reduce or interrupt output.
Planning example: a 100 W CW output with an assumed 40% DC-to-RF efficiency requires about 250 W DC and leaves roughly 150 W to remove as heat. A 1 kW pulse at 10% duty cycle also averages 100 W RF, but it is not thermally or electrically equivalent: the supply, transistor, matching network and protection still experience the 1 kW peak condition and pulse-to-pulse temperature cycling.
Reject a rating when the vendor does not state waveform, frequency, temperature, cooling, pulse conditions and measurement reference plane. For an RFQ provide average and peak output, pulse width, PRF, duty cycle, modulation and PAPR, linearity limit, burst length, expected VSWR, supply transient limit, cooling interface, ambient/baseplate range and required acceptance test.