suitable amplifier type to power LO ports

[john23]

Hello ,I need to choose an amplifier to power an LO port of two mixers with 17dBm power level at 10GHz without he following datasheets:
for this purpose I need to choose and amplifier with at least P1dB of 21dBm .
one amplifier is VGA (voltage regulated gain amplifier) and the other is a driver type.
What does it mean driver type amplifier does it fit to power the LO ports of my mixers?

mixers:
MM1-0320HSM-2_GaAs Double-Balanced Mixer
The MM1-0320HSM is a passive GaAs double balanced MMIC mixer suitable for both up and down-conversion applications. As with all Marki Microwave mixers, it features excellent conversion loss, isolation and spurious performance across a broad bandwidth and in a small form factor. The MM1-0320HSM...
markimicrowave.com markimicrowave.com
https://www.custommmic.com/resources/cmd258c4_ver_1.0_1017.pdf

amplifiers:
1. VGA type
http://www.analog.com/media/en/technical-documentation/data-sheets/hmc996.pdf
2.driver type
http://www.analog.com/media/en/technical-documentation/data-sheets/hmc608.pdf

[jwet]

My non expert opinion, seeing that you got no responses.

Either would work certainly.  The driver amp is overkill for an LO amp.  A driver amp is designed to be in the power output path of a radio, close to the PA.  At these frequencies and at its power level, it could be the PA.  It's provides more power than you need but is ok.  Its kind of a power hog. (3x of the VGA)  The VGA's P1 db of 21 db gives you a little headroom and would do well at 17. You don't need the VGA function but its probably a better fit overall than the driver amp.  The output RL of the VGA is kind of going to pot at 10G.  Mixers can be a tough load.  Maybe the driver amp would be best for this reason.

[radar_macgyver]

Use two drivers, one per mixer. This will improve the channel isolation. Once the max power requirement is reduced, you could use something like the HMC451 - much simpler to use (and cheaper) than the other devices. Add a 1 dB attenuator between the LO buffer output and the mixer LO port to improve the matching.

[Gerhard_dk4xp]

I have used the HMC-451 with the HMC-220 mixer with quite good results.
Just saw that the hmc220 is EOL, still available but you want a single sideband mixer anyway.