| |
What's
new for May 2008?
As is always the case, we've
been busy this month adding plenty of new features to Microwaves101.
We ain't been slack, Cap'n Walker!

- Last month we ran a contest
on determining the reason why a certain Plextek MMIC
switch has "bond pads" at the interior of the chip.
Let's begin the discussion by extending our thanks to everyone
who responded! The reason for them according to Plextek's Liam
Devlin is that the design called for tight amplitude and phase
tracking between all four possible paths, and whatever phase/amplitude
disturbance that bond pads create on the paths that need them,
the designer attempted to instill onto paths that didn't need
them. There were two correct answers submitted, Matt's was first
(he's our winner) and Don came in just a little later. We'll send
the $50 prize off to Matt, and of course we already asked them
both for resumes... For the record, we're not convinced that this
approach is 100% valid, loading due to bondpads will be different
depending on the presence or absence of a wire bond, how long
the wirebond is, and what the wirebond is connected to...
- After a message board post
on the Klopfenstein
taper looking for help, we now have an Excel spreadsheet that
can provide correct impedance taper thanks to Chip from NAU! The
spreadsheet is available in our download area, we have a page
on this topic that explains why the taper is useful and how
the spreadsheet works. Trust us, the page doesn't do Chip's spreadsheet
justice!
- Thanks to the Unknown Editor
there's a free alternative to AutoCAD for you to use when planning
a layout of an amplifier or your company's next office recubing
initiative. FraudoCAD
is the the name of this great new design tool! We have an accompanying
page where we'll attempt to describe the powerful features of
this AutoCAD clone that runs in Microsoft Excel. OK, maybe we've
raised your expectations just a little too high, but you can plot
up to 50 polylines and 50 arcs by entering their characteristic
coordinates (start point, width, angle, etc.) What do you want
for free? If we get some requests we'll try to add more features
one of these days, and by all means if anyone actually uses it
for something productive send us some screen shots and we'll post
them!
- A new Lim-Eom
3-way power combiner
example has been posted. We could use some expert help here...
it turns out when using this three-way splitter to combine three
amplifiers, one of the combined ports is trapped inside the network.
Take a look at the schematic and offer your assistance!
- Freespace rule
of thumb page was added thanks to
- Here's a new page on calculating
airbridge
inductance.
- Thanks to several Microwaves101
readers the Navy Electronic Warfare and Radar Systems Engineering
Handbook has been
posted on its own page. Now we won't have to worry about the
Navy's flaky web postings of this public domain document. Our
page offers the information as a zipped file, an unzipped file
and chapter-by-chapter. No need to download the thing it will
always appear on Microwaves101 until the Unknown Editor's future
"estate sale" discards the site along with all of the
broken stuff in his garage... Now someone be a sport and tell
RFCafe their link to this document is broken and maybe they want
to fix it by pointing to our new page...
- There's three new sets of
pictures in the Microwave Mortuary.
We've got a radio that was hit by a bus, a space-qualified sense
resistor that caused a small fire, and a lightening arrestor that
suffered an untimely demise due to a poorly tuned antenna!
- Last month the
Unknown Editor some controversial
material on America's best recognized 7000 pound SUV. As we predicted
we got some "negative feedback" from readers that confused
Microwaves101 with that scholarly web site that charges money
for their nerdly publications or a microwave trade journal that
can't afford to be controversial. Like Britney,said, oops we did
it again!
-
We've got some new questions--and
answers--on our Microwave
Message Board. We've have hundreds of topics posted on various
microwave engineering subjects, with many more replies; our
message board is an industry resource. Post your own questions,
or help us answer some of the ones that are already posted.
Some of the posted material may eventually get captured in our
encyclopedia, so do your part for posterity! We'll remove any
postings that we consider inappropriate.
Attention forward thinking
microwave marketeers: check out information on advertising with
us. Sponsorship information
is but a click away... come and share the magic of 10,000
page views per weekday. Hey that rhymes! Join our best friends
in the Virtual Lobby!
As always, we want you to
sign up for
the MW101Stuff
newsletter, or submit a photo for our Microwave
Mortuary. We'd love to hear from you, whether you have nice
things to say about Microwaves101.com or just want to tell us
how we've ruined your life!
|
|