Automated Forward Gain Measurement
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.
Thermal Design Basics | Practical Example
Thermal design is one of those things engineers don’t really learn in school and hobbyists often don’t even think about. This article is going to show some basic math with a practical example. One of my portable police scanners has an external 6V jack. To use it in my car I used my standard linear … [Read more…]
Hacking a Strobe Light Controller
Not too long ago I bought some white strobe lights with a strobe controller of Amazon. This exact controller is spread all over Amazon and eBay but only provides strobe patterns that I didn’t particularly like. So it’s time for a hack. The strobe lights I purchased were white in color but they have the … [Read more…]
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
Tektronix TSG4106 Introduction & Teardown
Quick look both at & inside the brand new Tektronix TSG4106 6 GHz vector signal generator. They say real beauty lies on the inside and this beauty certainly measures up, inside and out.