This article is going to take you into the world of automation. Using MATLAB and commercial off-the-shelf bits and pieces, this article will show how to measure the forward gain of a RF device. For a long time now I had a bunch of Mini Circuits portable test equipment bits and pieces sitting around. S […]
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Radio Frequency (RF)
Secondary Surveillance Radar | An Introduction
Quick introduction to Secondary Surveillance Radar and how it works. After explaining the absolute basics, I am showing how one can simulate transponder responses using off-the-shelf test equipment. RTL1090 is used to verify the generated signals as valid. If you want the arb waveform file for the 7777 Mode A response, here it is: https://baltic-lab.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/SQUAWK_7777_IDENT.zip
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What is a Gunnplexer? | Police Radar Gun
This video shows a couple of 10 GHz and 24 GHz gunnplexer, briefly explains what they do and shows how they can be used to determine an object’s speed.
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14 GHz Ku Band Block UpConverter
A quick look at what it takes to make a Block UpConverter (BUC) for the 14 GHz Ku-Band satellite uplink band work. A BUC is used in professional Broadcast TV environments to convert a video signal from a L-Band intermediate frequency to the 14 GHz range to be received by broadcast satellites.
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Instrument Landing System Testing
This video shows how easy it is to test an Instrument Landing System, ILS for short, receiver for localizer and glideslope accuracy. This video was shot in DNxHD using the Blackmagic HyperDeck shuttle I showed in another video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cc83-Cc-vtw). After editing in Adobe Premiere and finishing it off in SpeedGrade, I exported it to h.264 […]
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ILS Localizer / Glide Slope Test Signal Generation
In a previous video I have shown how to generate test signals for a VOR radio navigation system for aircraft.. This article will take a look at another radionavigation system, the Instrument Landing system or “ILS” for short. The ILS is used by aircraft around the world every single day. It is designed to guide […]
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Video Distribution Amplifier | 10 MHz Reference Distribution
Three Sigma VDA-100 Video Distribution Amplifiers (DA) have been sitting on my shelf for a while. The DAs have been waiting to be repurposed for something useful. When Jackson Labs sent me a custom variant of the FireFly-IIA GPS-Locked double ovenized 10 MHZ reference oscillator, I decided to repurpose one of the VDA-100 as a […]
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Tektronix RSA 306 | GPS Receiver and Clock Reference
The Tektronix RSA 306 is a great low-cost USB 3.0 spectrum analyzer for up to 6 GHz in an ultra low-profile format. If paired with the RSA Map function of SignalVu-PC and a GPS receiver, it becomes an extremely powerful tool for interference hunting and signal strength mapping. This article shows a possible way to […]
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Lumped-Element Wilkinson Splitter / Combiner Design
This is a supplemental article to two of my videos on my YouTube channel about the theory and design of Wilkinson splitters and combiners. A Wilkinson divider is a specific class of power divider with high isolation between the output ports. This feature is particularly useful when used as a combiner. This article will show […]
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