Abstract: An improved transmission line for RF communications. A transmission line comprising a center conductor; a dielectric layer surrounding the center conductor; a bimetallic outer conductor including an outer conductive layer and an inner conductive layer; wherein the outer conductive layer and the inner conductive layer are of differing materials; and the inner conductive layer is copper or copper alloy; and an insulating jacket surrounding the bimetallic outer conductor. Other aspects do not require the center conductor or the dielectric layer. Further aspects include a bimetallic center conductor. Advantages of the transmission line include imperviousness to signal loss due to surface abnormalities (due to inner conductive layer being interior to and encapsulated by outer conductive layer); the potential for significant cost savings in material; excellent RF communications signal propagation; and a significant reduction in weight.

Abstract: A polarized antenna for sending and receiving polarized radio frequency signals is disclosed which includes a dipole and a reflector plate. The dipole is formed as a single part including the radiating arms and feeding structures, thereby requiring minimum assembly. This dipole can be formed by molding conventional materials, such as copper, aluminum, and plastic, which can then be plated. The feeding structure through which the cable passes features a slotted aperture. The impedance of the dipole is based on the width of these apertures and the size of the cable conductor. By having a single-body construction, the dipole of the present invention provides, good impedance, low intermodulation distortion, good port-to-port isolation, and good pattern purity.

Abstract: A device for conditioning a signal includes a hybrid phase shifter and power divider. The power divider circuit includes a transmission line with an input port and two asymmetrical output ports, a first ground plane, a second ground plane, and a first dielectric region. The variable phase shifter includes the transmission line and a dielectric slab disposed to be variably positioned in the first dielectric region. The position of the dielectric slab in relation to the power divider circuit determines the amount of phase shift in the signal. With the above configuration, the invention requires much less space and reduces the number of parts and cable interconnects.

Abstract: A waveguide structure that has two rotating parts changes the polarization of a radio frequency signal in two steps or one step. The waveguide structure includes input and output waveguides and a polarization rotator. The output waveguide includes two cavities corresponding to two polarizations. The rotator includes cut-away portions of a rectangular shape which are rotated with respect to each other and the first wave guide by predetermined angles. When the second waveguide is rotated from one cavity to another, the rotator is also rotated, thereby changing the polarization of the signals passing through the waveguide. In addition, if the rotator and the second waveguide are interlocked, then the number of steps required to accomplish the polarization change can be reduced to one, because rotation of the second waveguide will cause the rotation of the polarization rotator.

Abstract: A waveguide structure that has two rotating parts changes the polarization of a radio frequency signal in two steps or one step. The waveguide structure includes input and output waveguides and a polarization rotator. The output waveguide includes two cavities corresponding to two polarizations. The rotator includes cut-away portions of a rectangular shape which are rotated with respect to each other and the first wave guide by predetermined angles. When the second waveguide is rotated from one cavity to another, the rotator is also rotated, thereby changing the polarization of the signals passing through the waveguide. In addition, if the rotator and the second waveguide are interlocked, then the number of steps required to accomplish the polarization change can be reduced to one, because rotation of the second waveguide will cause the rotation of the polarization rotator.

Abstract: A novel locking mechanism for mounting a radio to an antenna. The mounting face of a radio is secured to the mounting portion of an antenna. The mounting portion of the radio has a locking ring on which a plurality of radio locking tabs are located at equally spaced positions. The ring can be fixed to the radio, or in another embodiment, is still secured to the radio but can rotate independently. The mounting portion of the antenna has a corresponding number of equidistantly spaced tension springs, which have a plurality of spring fingers. To mount the radio to the antenna, the radio locking ring with radio locking tabs is twisted so that each antenna tension spring is deflected by a corresponding radio locking tab. The engagement of the radio locking ring to the antenna spring fingers secures the radio to the antenna. The deflection force also produces a friction force.

Abstract: An antenna control system is connected to an antenna in order to control the position of the antenna. The system includes a motor connected to the antenna for adjusting the position or vertical tilt angle of the antenna. A driver is provided for operating the motor. A sensor is also provided to detect the position of the antenna. In addition, an antenna controller is connected to an antenna memory, the driver, and the sensor, for reading the detected position of the antenna and for controlling the driver to adjust the antenna's position. A main controller is connected to the antenna controller for sending commands to and reading data from the antenna controller. In this manner, the main controller can interface with any number of antennas at a base station and control the position or down-tilt of each antenna. According to one embodiment of the control system, a user interface is also provided for entering commands to and reading data from the main controller.

Abstract: A polarized antenna for sending and receiving polarized radio frequency signals is disclosed which includes a dipole and a reflector plate. The dipole is formed as a single part including the radiating arms and feeding structures, thereby requiring minimum assembly. This dipole can be formed by molding conventional materials, such as copper, aluminum, and plastic, which can then be plated. The feeding structure through which the cable passes features a slotted aperture. The impedance of the dipole is based on the width of these apertures and the size of the cable conductor. By having a single-body construction, the dipole of the present invention provides, good impedance, low intermodulation distortion, good port-to-port isolation, and good pattern purity.

Abstract: A system for inductively cross coupling resonators. Two resonators are interconnected by a cross coupler with the two ends, each end having a hole. The holes secures each end of the cross coupler to one of the resonators. The use of a stamped piece as a cross coupler results in a repeatable placement between resonators that minimizes any variation in coupling between resonators due to human error during assembly. This repeatability reduces assembly time and assembly cost.

Abstract: This invention relates to an improved coaxial cable preparation tool (1) that is used to prepare a coaxial cable terminal end for connector installation. The tool comprises two stages. The first stage, the jacket stripper, is used to trim the cable jacket. The second stage (20), the cable trimmer, is used to trim the remaining center, the outer conductors and the foam insulation of the coaxial cable. The first stage (10) consists of a cup or cylinder (11) with an outer cylindrical wall (12). In addition, it also comprises a blade (13) and a scrap port (14). In addition, the first stage cylinder (11) has a bore (16) extending axially down its center. The diameter of the bore (16) is set to receive a coaxial cable. The second stage consists of a hub (21) (or cutter head), a collet bearing (22) and a body (23). In addition, like the first stage, it also contains blades (13) and scrap ports (14). The scrap ports or debris ports (14) allow trimmed cable media to escape from the bores in the tool.

Abstract: A multi-channel multiplexer has a substantially square shape and includes an N×N matrix with a common resonator. A plurality of input/output ports are connected to a common input/output port via respective resonators of the N×N matrix and the common resonator. The multiplexer provides a compact size, with balanced insertion losses and simple configuration to minimize phase difference of inter-resonator transitions.

Abstract: A microwave coupler has a planar form with a transmission line segment oriented at an angle relative to a main transmission line. The planar form of the transmission line, such as in a printed circuit board, helps reduce the size and manufacturing costs for the coupler. When placed a prescribed distance from the main transmission line and oriented at an appropriate angle, the directivity and coupling factor requirements can be met precisely with minimal tuning. Where fine tuning is required, a tuning screw and resistor disposed adjacent to the transmission line segment are provided.

Abstract: A tunable, temperature compensated, thermal and mechanical stable, dielectric loaded cavity resonator and filter assembly has high unloaded Q, wide frequency tuning range and simple structure suitable for high volume production. The cavity resonator consists of a conductive housing, a substantially cylindrical ring shape dielectric body with a low loss, low thermal expansion coefficient support, a tuning mechanism and a plastic support at the opposite side of the main cylindrical dielectric body, which holds the main cylindrical dielectric body in place. The tuning mechanism further includes a substantially cylindrical dielectric tuning element positioned in or near the hole of the main cylindrical dielectric body and a self-locked or equivalent nut locked rotor with a support using the same material as that of the main cylindrical body support.

Abstract: A cavity filter which provides for fine tuning of the bandwidth of the filter. The filter provides for both capacitive cross-coupling and inductive coupling between physically adjacent but electrically non-adjacent resonators in the filter. The isolation of the filter can be fine tuned by adjusting the inductive coupling between these resonators, which has the effect of attenuating the cross-coupling effect between these resonators.

Abstract: An array of antenna elements including a feed board that includes a power divider network and a balun section. According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided a horizontally polarized antenna arrangement including a feed board, a plurality of horizontally polarized antenna elements, and a reflector. The antenna elements are a plurality of dipole pairs. The feed board has two faces. The first face includes a power network and a balun section, that feeds power to the plurality of antenna elements, and the second face includes a ground plane. The fact that the feed board includes a balun section allows the antenna elements to be etched on an inexpensive board or, in the alternative, allows the antenna elements to be individual wires or plates. The antenna arrangement also includes two tuning means, line extensions in the power network and tuning stubs etched to the ground layer, which make it easier to tune the antenna.

Abstract: A repeater system for transmitting and receiving RF signals to and from an area obstructed by a mountain, a building, etc. One antenna is linked to the base station antenna of, for example, a cell in a cellular network, and another antenna is directed to the obstructed area. Signals are received by one antenna from the base station antenna and digitally separated into a number of different frequency channels. The separated channels are then transmitted by the other antenna into the obstructed area to mobile users. Also, signals from the mobile users are received by one of the antennas and similarly digitally separated into different frequency channels and transmitted to the base station antenna for delivery to a communication network.

Abstract: The present invention incorporates triple-mode, mono-block resonators that are smaller and less costly. The size reduction has two sources. First, the triple-mode mono-block resonator has three resonators in one block. This provides a 3-fold reduction in size compared to filters currently used which disclose one resonator per block. Secondly, the resonators are not air-filled coaxial resonators as in the standard combline construction, but are dielectric-filled blocks. The coupling between modes is accomplished by the corner cuts. One oriented along the Y axis and one oriented along the Z axis. In addition, a third corner cut along the X axis can be used. Corner cuts are used to couple a mode oriented in one direction to a mode oriented in a second mutually orthogonal direction. Each coupling represents one pole in the filter's response. Therefore, the triple-mode mono-block discussed above represents the equivalent of three poles or three electrical resonators.

Abstract: A delay filter uses the dielectric mono-block triple-mode resonator and unique inter-resonator coupling structure, having smaller volume and higher power handling capacity. The triple-mode mono-block resonator has three resonators in one block. An input/output probe is connected to each metal plated dielectric block to transmit microwave signals. Corner cuts couple a mode oriented in one direction to a mode oriented in a second, mutually orthogonal direction. An aperture between two blocks couples all six resonant modes, and generates two inductive couplings by magnetic fields between two modes, and one capacitive coupling by electric fields. The input/output probes, coupling corner cuts and aperture are aligned such that all six resonators are coupled in the desired value and sign, so constant delay on the transmitted signal within certain bandwidth can be achieved. By connecting the input and output probes to the base printed circuit board, the delay filter is surface mountable.

Abstract: A novel locking mechanism for mounting a radio to an antenna. The mounting face of a radio is secured to the mounting portion of an antenna. The mounting portion of the radio has a locking ring on which a plurality of radio locking tabs are located at equally spaced positions. The ring can be fixed to the radio, or in another embodiment, is still secured to the radio but can rotate independently. The mounting portion of the antenna has a corresponding number of equidistantly spaced tension springs, which have a plurality of spring fingers. To mount the radio to the antenna, the radio locking ring with radio locking tabs is twisted so that each antenna tension spring is deflected by a corresponding radio locking tab. The engagement of the radio locking ring to the antenna spring fingers secures the radio to the antenna. The deflection force also produces a friction force.

Abstract: A novel junction design was developed for use with in-line combiner networks to minimize electrical length between the resonators being combined and to optimize coupling. It consists of a combiner comprising a plurality of cavity resonators coupled to a combining mechanism. The combining mechanism is placed outside of each resonator a prescribed distance above the ground plane. Combiner pairs are created by connecting two cavities to each other using quarter-wave lines. The central combiner pair is directly connected to the output connector through a common port. The quarter-wave junctions not directly connected to the output connector are then connected to the output port through half-wavelength lines. Iris or aperture coupling is controlled by a sliding cover that is adjusted using a free-rotating screw and is secured with locking screws to ensure good electrical and RF grounding.