When you see a decibel readout, you’re measuring a relationship. You’re not measuring power. It sounds like semantics, but that difference matters when you think … Read More

Every wireless link designer starts with same annoying question: how tall does my mast actualy need to be? VHF and microwave band radios is basically … Read More

Even if a radio antenna’s path seems free of obstructions when viewed visually, it may actualy be blocked by something beyond its reach. That’s due … Read More

When two radios talk to each other over a radio link, they use a running tally of decibels called a radio frequency link budget. This … Read More

The key take-away here: antenna gain isn’t magic. Passive antennas does not magically add any more power to your signal; they can’t make energy from … Read More

In radio work, reference antenna is the half wave dipole. It consists of one straight conductor cut to half a wavelength, with the feed point … Read More

The design shown here is a good one to use for radios, it’s a quarter-wave antenna. It has a single vertical element suspended over a … Read More

A solder paste volume calculator takes a stencil’s aperture geometry to generate four values. These include the volume of paste deposited into each opening, total … Read More

Rarely does a printed circuit board travel solo. More often than not, it’s part of a family that travels together on a big sheet of … Read More

Once your fabricator has pressed those layers together, some PCB designer needs to know how thick the final board becomes. It sounds like a trivial … Read More