Inside Frequency Control

“Good things come to those who wait,” as the saying goes, and while aging is a part of all life cycles, crystals shouldn’t age prematurely. The careful production stages and the time it takes to complete them are necessary to the efficient operation of OCXOs. 

One of the most common pieces of test equipment for any electronics lab is oscilloscopes.  Oscilloscopes, or o-scopes for short, are versatile pieces of test equipment that can be used in a multitude of different critical measurements.  While oscilloscopes are standard in almost every electronics lab, they come in many different shapes, sizes, and price points.

When trying to select the best oscilloscope for your electronics lab, it's important to understand which features drive the cost of the o-scope the most.  For example, one of the biggest cost drivers for oscilloscopes is the device's measurement bandwidth.  An o-scope that has a narrow bandwidth of 200 MHz can go for a few hundred dollars; however, a top-of-the-line oscilloscope with a measurement bandwidth of 1 GHz can go for almost $30,000!

We have done all the research and read all the reviews for more oscilloscopes than we'd be willing to admit.  We've done all this leg-work so you don't have to.  So without further ado, here is our list of the 3 best digital oscilloscopes for any budget.

Back in 2016, we wrote one of our most popular posts covering 12 popular Software Defined Radios or SDRs.  While the previous post still holds some extremely valuable information, a lot has changed... especially the technology related to SDR. So we thought it was time for an update.

Like last time, we tried to include as much diversity in terms of prices, applications, frequencies, and ease of use.  Our hope is the perfect software defined radio for your application is on this list. 

From smartphones to satellite service, GPS and more, RF technology is a feature of modern life that is so ubiquitous that many of us simply take it for granted.

Radio frequency engineering continues to help drive the world across many applications in both the public and private sectors. But technology advances so fast, it’s sometimes hard to predict what the world will look like in just a few years. Back in 2000, how many people outside the industry would have guessed that within 10 years, they’d be watching streaming videos on their phone?

Is your electronics lab in need of an upgrade? It's important to keep your equipment up to date with the latest and greatest technology to keep getting the best results (and therefore a more effective product). In this post, we're going to look at 6 spectrum analyzers that will work (and look) great in your lab. 

Quartz crystal oscillators are the high and mighty option for low phase noise and added frequency stability in circuit design. Yes, simple oscillators like those made with resistor-capacitor (RC) or inductor-capacitor (IC) resonators are fine for some circuits. But if you're dealing with higher performance applications in aerospace, military, and space industries... you're going to want a higher performance crystal oscillator that can maintain low phase noise & strong stability. Otherwise, you'll risk deviating from the very specific (and many times critical) center frequency selected for your design.

Hi there! You must be looking to upgrade your engineering electronics lab with the latest and greatest test equipment on the market today. Well good news...this is the place to be! Cool engineers only please...meaning all of you.

Do you find it difficult to identify what RF connector type you're going to use in an application? If so, don’t worry. In this article, you will learn about the different types of RF connectors and what applications they are commonly used for. 

RF (radio frequency) connectors are connectors that are designed to work at radio frequencies for signal transmission of products like radios, antennas, coaxial cables, etc. However, these connectors have a variety of types. 

Here are 5 of the most commonly used types of RF connectors.

5G Wireless is Right Around the Corner thanks to mmWave

Fifth generation wireless systems are not far from becoming a reality, thanks to recent research being done on the millimeter wave (mmWave) radio spectrum.

Experts agree the way forward is to manufacture mass deployable wireless devices across a range of markets and for different applications. Among other things, these applications include mobile computing and data processing over networks. The technology also has applications in the field of medicine and healthcare.

RF engineers would love to get their hands on ideal crystal oscillator circuits. That is, a quartz crystal oscillator that transmits at the designated frequency for the entire life of the device without any frequency deviation. Unfortunately, that ideal circuit world is a mathematical fantasy.

There are many factors that contribute to quartz oscillator stability and frequency drift issues. To prevent these problems as much as possible, having a firm understanding of precise frequency stability will help give you the tools to keep your applications performing optimally. But there's another problem...