3dB 20W and 20dB 20W attenuators in series. What is the max power?

[CaptDon]

Excellent that they gave both specs!! MiniCircuits is a great company although they have 'military' pricing!! For my own experimentation I can only afford their products at used Ebay prices 'with return guarantee' since a lot of that stuff on Ebay comes 'Pre-Destroyed' saving you the effort of blowing it up yourself!!

[mag_therm]

I think LM21's question is not trivial and can't properly be answered by the anecdotes and vendor ratings etc.
I would agree with jonpaul reply 8:
The Tee and Pi impedances per network are cast in stone and element values can be measured (o/c , s/c, thru)  or calculated, for example
https://www.everythingrf.com/rf-calculators/attenuator-calculator

Nest step is to connect networks in series as LM21 requests, and solve using Kirchoff.

That will give the current, voltage and power in each element of each network.

Above is how old guy like jonpaul,  myself would have done it on slide rule or calculator  ( and now easier in sim) ,
 but young guy would probably use S-parameters and get the same results.

[fourfathom]

I think LM21's question is not trivial and can't properly be answered by the anecdotes and vendor ratings etc.
I would agree with jonpaul reply 8:
The Tee and Pi impedances per network are cast in stone and element values can be measured (o/c , s/c, thru)  or calculated, for example
https://www.everythingrf.com/rf-calculators/attenuator-calculator

Nest step is to connect networks in series as LM21 requests, and solve using Kirchoff.

That will give the current, voltage and power in each element of each network.

Above is how old guy like jonpaul,  myself would have done it on slide rule or calculator  ( and now easier in sim) ,
 but young guy would probably use S-parameters and get the same results.

Fine, but those resistance measurements tell us nothing about power dissipation ability, or if the attenuator is symmetric.  This is why you want vendor ratings.
An yeah, I still have my slide rules, but what's wrong with using the attenuation values to figure out the power input at each of the series-connected attenuators?  Sounds simple and accurate to me.

[mag_therm]

Hi fourfathom,
" This is why you want vendor ratings."
https://app.box.com/s/sxy8ctepb6ay4ijfk3c69gcbdcsmiu6v
( just for fun)
regards

[CaptDon]

I swear, that crazy lash up looks like something my college grad engineers would do!!! Then after the destruction they would put all the attenuators back in the drawers and do a Sgt. Shultz "I know nothing.....nothing"!!! There are times when I wonder why smoke isn't rolling out of the storage bins. It gives you a sad feeling when you walk into the test equipment storage room and smell burned electronics!!! Hence, the now implemented signout sheets!!