What do i need for making and design RF circuits?

[rozeh]

Hi everybody
i want to start to make RF circuit. so, i have a question:
What device and software i need for design and make RF circuit?
logic analyzer? oscilloscope? HFSS software? SWR meter? PWR meter?...
any suggestion?

[bookaboo]

Depends a lot on exactly what you want to do and in what volume.
There are prebuilt radio modules for lots of applications. Unless you have something really specific or are trying to learn they are the most efficient way of getting something up and running.

In the UK you have LPRS, Radiometrix, RFsolutions, warwickwireless. Also I think quasar do hobby kits.

In most cases you won't need spectrum analyzers or SWR meters (though they come in handy), you will still need a scope to check data in and out etc.

[ElectroIrradiator]

You need to start by reading this: Experimental Methods in RF Design. Also available at Amazon and many other outlets.

[Rerouter]

for terminations an oscilloscope is handy, but good design practices can nearly omit the need for one, also the golden rule is termination is only needed for distances larger than inches = wavelength / 10
for filters and attenuators a spectrum analyser / vna can significantly speed up verification but in many cases simulation and calculation can get you close here

power and swf can generally be calculated with a spectrum analyser or vna,

i would probably say an oscilloscope with fft would be a starting point if you want to get into it without throwing out too much $$$,

[Psi]

It entirely depends on the frequency you intend to work at.

5800MHz is a completely different world to 433MHz  for example

[rozeh]

Thanks guys for reply,
well, i want to work on 1mhz-2.5ghz
i need to a complete list of hardware and software.
any suggestion?

[IanB]

Thanks guys for reply,
well, i want to work on 1mhz-2.5ghz
i need to a complete list of hardware and software.
any suggestion?

I think your list begins like this:

1. Learning about RF design
2. Knowledge of RF design
3. Understanding of RF design

With knowledge and understanding you will recognize what equipment you need and when you need it.

Without knowledge and understanding all the equipment in the world will be useless to you.

[PA4TIM]

I agree with IanB. First learn about RF.
1 mHz = 1 milliHerz, You prabably mean 1 MHz (MegaHerz)
1 MHz is almost audio. You need big coils and capacitors, for 2.5 GHz (not ghz) you use microstrip or stripline or other plumbing like constructions.
Because you talk about swr meter you probably thinking about transmitters. For transmitters you need other gear as for receivers.

I do a lot of RF.
You need:
- A very good knowledge about basic electronics and components.
- a good knowledge about wave theory (things like reflections, propagation, delay, phase, transmissionlines etc)
- Good books about RF like the book from Hayward as mentioned befor, RF circuit design of Bowick,  And handbook of microwave component measurements from Dunsmore, AC theory from Knight (free to download pdf)

Gear I use most:
- Spectrum analyser,
- Vector Network analyser with the right fixtures (this also gives you swr, but in RF design we most times talk about rho or return loss), a VNA can be replaced with a spectrum analyser with tracking generator and directional couplers and bridges for most things)
- directinal couplers for high frequencys and a directional bridge for a few hundered MHz.
- good calibration kit.
- Fixed inline Attenuators and switchable ones in 1 dB and 10 dB steps
- inline probeadapter
- probeadapters to solder to the pcb
- something like a sniffer antenna for the SA and H-field probes to couple the signal to the SA when using higher power
- trimmerset
- shielding material if you want to build stuff, and lots of sma, bnc and N chassismount connector. A crimper for coannectors to cable.
- for transmitters a good dummyload
- a high bandwidt scope (My DSO is 350 MHz but I have sample scopes upto 5 GHz and often use a max 3000 MHz scope downconverter.
- good high bandwidt 10X, 50 Ohm Zo,  and active probes
- inline terminators
- A lot of good RF coax cables (not the chinese ext ethernet bnc stuff but stick to amphenol or radial with something like belden cable
- Good quality adapters from bnc to sma, N, PL, smb etc end the otherway around
- A good LCR meter
I probably forget some stuff. But most important for me are a VNA, SA, LCR (meter and bridge) and scope

But all depends on what you want to build .

[M0BSW]

That sounds like a lifetimes learning, I've been a Radio amateur since 1997, I'm just really getting into the building side now, mine you I could be a slow starter

[komet]

1 mHz = 1 milliHerz, You prabably mean 1 MHz (MegaHerz)

If you're going to correct other people then I recommend getting it right yourself. The guy's name is "Hertz", and one does not put a capital letter in the middle of SI units.

[PA4TIM]

About the name, Sorry I normally only use it as Hz and never write it full. So yes , you are right abour that, it was Heinrich Hertz.
But before you correct someone the way you did, better look it up first yourself.

The SI unit it is hertz, not Hertz, and that is abriviated as Hz, with a capital and when used in the middle of a SI unit like MHz you use a capital !  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hertz

But that is not realy important and I corrected because of an other reason as you.

The point is mHz and MHz both exist and are not the same and that can be important. Like in the sentence "I have a 100 MHz frequency standard that is 1 mHz off" In this case it is important to know the difference between mHz and MHz.

[komet]

The SI unit it is hertz, not Hertz, and that is abriviated as Hz, with a capital and when used in the middle of a SI unit like MHz you use a capital !  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hertz

I meant to say that spelt out, it is "Megahertz", not "MegaHertz". The abbreviation is of course "MHz".

[c4757p]

Agreed, PA4, it is very good to get in the habit of care with unit prefixes. mHz/MHz is important. And it's not the same as spelling pedantry, it actually makes a difference.

[jamesb]

Hi everybody
i want to start to make RF circuit. so, i have a question:
What device and software i need for design and make RF circuit?
logic analyzer? oscilloscope? HFSS software? SWR meter? PWR meter?...
any suggestion?

Depending on your jurisdiction, you may require a license / certification to operate in the appropriate band(s) for which you intend to build your RF circuits.

[PA4TIM]

If the TS wants to build transmitters he may need a licence (depending the country he lives maybe), that is very good to mention. Not everybody knows and it can cost you a lot of money, or more, if the catch you.

But RF is more as building transmitters only. You can also build receivers or measurement gear.
I have build a spectrum analyser, a VNA, a satfinder and I'm now allmost finnished building a 25-2000 MHz (sweep)generator (in 10 ranges, with digital readout for frequency and power, AGC with pindiodes, FM and AM modulation , very steep LPF's and everything by my own design http://www.pa4tim.nl/?p=2662 the blog from that project)

[KJDS]

RFsim99 is a usedul freebie for analyzing RF design.

What you really need for understanding most RF is a qualitative and quantitative understanding of effect of pcb traces and ground length on circuit performance and how components can interact inadvertantly.

There's also the need to realize that all components have significant stray elements within them, so a capacitor will rarely have an impedance below an ohm for any significant frequency range and an inductor will rarely be quite as high an impedance as you'd like before it becomes self resonant and then a capacitor.

[WarSim]

Hi everybody
i want to start to make RF circuit. so, i have a question:
What device and software i need for design and make RF circuit?
logic analyzer? oscilloscope? HFSS software? SWR meter? PWR meter?...
any suggestion?

Depending on your jurisdiction, you may require a license / certification to operate in the appropriate band(s) for which you intend to build your RF circuits.

Very good point. Every country I have worked with publishes a Frequency Band chart. Unless you are working in a Faraday cage, stay out of the restricted bands. Especially the ones that are not shared and not explained. If one of the sensors pick up your emissions the default action is take the lab. RF equipment is not cheep and loosing everything is not a good experience. Even worse consequences if you disrupt something important.
Not trying to scare you just urging you to not get into trouble. 

[PA4TIM]

RFsim99 is indeed very handy. For RF Qucs (open source) is a good simulator. I use simetrix very much. Often measurements and simulation are very close (if you model it right including strays)
I just started using spice because the free version of simetrixs is limmited to the number of components. Most times is this more then enough but sometimes not.

But now it is up to the TS to tell what he wants more exact and what his knowledge / experience upto now is. Maybe he is already an analog guru 

[rozeh]

O! thanks guys,
actually, i'm a newbie in electronic.
please more suggest software and device.
hey PA4TIM,
i saw your blog. i just can say, Excellent!
i am eager to hear your suggestions, still, guys!

[KJDS]

O! thanks guys,
actually, i'm a newbie in electronic.
please more suggest software and device.
hey PA4TIM,
i saw your blog. i just can say, Excellent!
i am eager to hear your suggestions, still, guys!

What do you want to achieve?

The requirements for a 35GHz radar are somewhat different from a medium wave AM receiver which is different to interfacing a zigbee chip to a processor and an antenna

[rozeh]

What do you want to achieve?

Anything for making a transceiver! and especially a program for easy make filter, amplifir and etc.

[PA4TIM]

Desinging your own  tranceiver as a newby in electronics ? I do not think you will succeed.

http://www.pa4tim.nl/?p=1337 this is a schematic from one of the simpelest tranceivers I know. The bitx20, a simple 5W ssb HAM transceiver. But building this has no use, You can not use it whitout a license. Other HAM on the 20 m band will not come back to you because e it is not allowed to make a QSO with a non-HAM.

Look at that schematic and if you say, " hey, that is easy, I know all components and why they used them here"then grab a paper and design your own. Use Qucs and RFsim99 as simulators. But if you look and think, "Oh my god, what is this, I do not think I'm even able to build that" Then start with some good books, study them and in a year or 4 you will be able to design one if you study hard enough.

In the meanwhile build some receivers from existing schematics and maybe a FM-bug. Then find some RF test equipement.

If you now build for instance a 3 meter FM transmitter and it looks like it does not work it can be on the half frequency or double the frequency or somewhere in between. OK, you will now because if you are on half the frequency the army rings your doorbell and if it was double the frequency the radio control agency (I do not know how they name that in your country) In both cases you got a hell of a problem. The first probably jail, the others take a way all your gear and ask a lot of money. Be very carefull while playing with transmitters. Their range can, under the right conditions, be much further as you think. I once made a connection on 70 cm with two farmers who used lpd's on 433 MHz. They were very supprised I heard them because these things normally go only about 1 km in open field and I was about 200 km away from them. A fm-bug has much more power as a LPD.

Or become a HAM (radio amateur). you first must learn, then do an exam and if you pass you are alllowed to build transmitters. Probably there is some HAM club that give courses or some HAM nearby that will help and teach you. There probably are exams on internet that you can make to test if you are ready for the real test (that is, in my country they are there to practice)

Fred PA4TIM (my HAM call sign)
 
Two links about HAM radio in Iran.
http://www.qsl.net/oh2mcn/ep.htm
http://www.qsl.net/ep2fm/AmateurRadioInIran.htm

[KJDS]

A good filter design exercise is to create a spreadsheet to calculate element values for lowpass, highpass and bandpass filters using the equations in the link below,

http://www.rfcafe.com/references/electrical/filter-denorm.htm

And some prototype values from this link.

http://www.rfcafe.com/references/electrical/cheby-proto-values.htm

If you're feeling a little masochistic, then find the equations to calculate the element values yourself.

Verify that they work by putting the calculated values into RFSim99 and check that they do what is intended.

There's a lot of work there, but it's a tiny part of designing a tranceiver and will help you understand a basic part of RF design.

Once you've got something sensible in RFSim99, it's time to build a prototype and test it,.

[KJDS]

A good and free filter design software AADE FILTER DESIGN.

There's plenty of design tools about, but working through the maths at least once helps so much to understand what's happening, When the affects of component strays and pcb traces are added in, then unless you understand their influence getting good performance is far more difficult.

[olsenn]

What do i need for making and design RF circuits?

A cauldron, finely powdered unicorn horn, a dash of root bark from the tree of life, and a spectrum analyzer.