Monthly Archives: December 2012

2012 in review

Posted on December 31, 2012 | Leave a comment

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog. Thanks to all those who follow this blog. Happy New Year!

Here’s an excerpt:

These are the posts that got the most views on design-4-emc.com in 2012.

1 First Impressions – Rigol DSA815TG Spectrum Analyzer, July 2012

2Using A Tracking Generator, September 2012

3 Time for Business Cards, June 2012

4 iPhone and iPad Engineering Apps, April 2012

5 Low-Cost Handheld Spectrum Analyzer, February 2012

I was a bit surprised to see the business cards posting rate so highly. I figured the others would be of interest.

Click here to see the complete report.

Cheers, Ken,

Wyatt Technical Services, Woodland Park, CO

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Posted in General

Tagged 2012 Review

Review: Com-Power PAP-501 Broadband Preamp

Posted on December 27, 2012 | Leave a comment

I had a chance to visit Com-Power Com-Power (http://www.com-power.com) in Brea, California, this last October, just prior to an EMC seminar I was presenting for the IEEE EMC Society – Orange County Chapter at CKC Laboratories just next door. Com-Power makes a variety of EMC measurement tools and probes and they graciously allowed me to review their broadband preamp.

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Posted in Reviews, Troubleshooting

Tagged Com-Power, preamp

DIY 6 GHz Comb Generator

Posted on December 27, 2012 | Leave a comment

Most simple DIY comb generators seem to run out of steam about 1 GHz. I recently ran into David Bowman’s 2.4 GHz circuit and measured an upper usable range of about 6 GHz. While greatly attenuated above 3 GHz, this circuit should still be valuable for measuring semi-anechoic chambers in the GHz ranges.

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Posted in Articles, Troubleshooting

Tagged Comb Generators

Unusual EMC Antennas

Posted on December 27, 2012 | Leave a comment

Is there anyone who has tried using unusual antennas for EMC troubleshooting or measurement? I’ve recently posted several ideas – some of which I’m actually using for troubleshooting.

Using a DTV antenna: http://www.tmworld.com/electronics-blogs/the-emc-blog/4403939/Using-a-DTV-antenna-for-EMC-troubleshooting

Using a PC board LP antenna: http://www.tmworld.com/electronics-blogs/the-emc-blog/4403451/PC-board-log-periodic-antennas

A simple DIY dipole antenna (Part 1): http://www.tmworld.com/electronics-blogs/the-emc-blog/4398406/Playing-with-antennas—part-1

A simple DIY dipole antenna (Part 2): http://www.tmworld.com/electronics-blogs/the-emc-blog/4401568/Playing-with-antennas—part-2

An EMC troubleshooting kit (Part 1a): http://www.tmworld.com/electronics-blogs/emc-emi-rfi-esd/4378152/An-EMC-Troubleshooting-Kit–Part-1a-Emissions-

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Posted in Articles, EMC Measurements, Reviews, Troubleshooting

Tagged antennas