By Dana W. Atchley, Jr. and Edmond J. Forbes, Microwave Associates, Inc.
This paper summarizes the efforts expended by Microwave Associates, Inc. during the past year resulting in the design and placing into production a line of compact CARS band FM microwave receivers and transmitters using cost effective techniques borrowed from those used by the Company in mass producing microwave Gunn diode RF powered transceivers for the police radar and intrusion alarm markets. The compact new CARS band units, produced at a fraction of the cost of traditional designs, also rely heavily on the latest linear and digital integrated circuits which have appeared on the market during the past two years. The paper covers both digital and analogue methods of stabilizing Gunn diode oscillators that are compatible with high quality video modulation. The authors also discuss both the technical and cost considerations of systems interfacing with TVRO terminals and CATV head ends incorporating these new designs.