inductive output tube

K-- Electrostatically controlled types, including a resonator (klystrons and inductive output tubes)

The inductive output tube or IOT is a variety of vacuum tube which evolved in the 1980s to meet increasing efficiency requirements for high-power RF amplifiers.

The inductive output tube has re-emerged within the last twenty years after having been discovered to possess particularly suitable characteristics (broadband linearity) for the transmission of digital television and high-definition digital television.

The RF power budget is important since the RF source technologies, such as a Klystron, Inductive output tube (IOT), or solid state amplifier, have costs that increase dramatically with increasing power.

The transmitter is a liquid-cooled solid state system and quickly became known as a very reliable signal as other stations in the Toledo area struggled with the Inductive output tube type of transmitter during the birth of digital television in Northwestern Ohio.

Thyratrons are also used in high-power UHF television transmitters, to protect inductive output tubes from internal shorts, by grounding the incoming high-voltage supply during the time it takes for a circuit breaker to open and reactive components to drain their stored charges.

The subsequent addition of a linearizer (as for inductive output tube) can, by complementary compensation, improve the gain compression and other characteristics of the TWTA; this combination is called a linearized TWTA (LTWTA, "EL-tweet-uh").