Webmaster:

BSEE - KB3UON

RF Cafe began life in 1996 as "RF Tools" in an AOL screen name web space totaling 2 MB. Its primary purpose was to provide me with ready access to commonly needed formulas and reference material while performing my work as an RF system and circuit design engineer. The World Wide Web (Internet) was largely an unknown entity at the time and bandwidth was a scarce commodity. Dial-up modems blazed along at 14.4 kbps while tying up your telephone line, and a nice lady's voice announced "You've Got Mail" when a new message arrived...

All trademarks, copyrights, patents, and other rights of ownership to images and text used on the RF Cafe website are hereby acknowledged.

My Hobby Website:

AirplanesAndRockets.com

rf information request - RF Cafe Forums

RF Cafe Forums closed its virtual doors in 2012 mainly due to other social media platforms dominating public commenting venues. RF Cafe Forums began sometime around August of 2003 and was quite well-attended for many years. By 2010, Facebook and Twitter were overwhelmingly dominating online personal interaction, and RF Cafe Forums activity dropped off precipitously. Regardless, there are still lots of great posts in the archive that ware worth looking at. Below are the old forum threads, including responses to the original posts.

-- Amateur Radio

-- Anecdotes, Gripes, & Humor

-- Antennas

-- CAE, CAD, & Software

-- Circuits & Components

-- Employment & Interviews

-- Miscellany

-- Swap Shop

-- Systems

-- Test & Measurement

-- Webmaster

Justice

Post subject: rf information request

Posted: Mon Apr 11, 2005 7:02 am

Lieutenant

Joined: Mon Apr 11, 2005 5:57 am

Posts: 1

helow,

Am actually new to RF,and would appreciate any training material or information that would be of assistance to me.

thank you for ur time

Bayo

Post subject: RF materials

Posted: Fri Apr 29, 2005 9:13 pm

Captain

Joined: Fri Apr 29, 2005 8:37 pm

Posts: 6

Location: Kano, Nigeria

I am in Rf planning and optimisation of a GSM network, if u need materials in this area I will send you some. Do u?

If u can afford it u can also take a GSM/GPRS/3G intro courses from United Kingdom Telecom Academy(www.ukta.co.uk) The course is subsidized. Or try Aircom for very good trainings in RF, www.aircom.co.uk

Send me ur mail for the other materials if u need them

Bayo

adebayob@mtnnigeria.net

AMS

Post subject: RF Test engineer

Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2005 12:41 am

Hey Bayo Can u pls send me some information about RF planning and optimization. I have completed my Masters and looking for jobs but i dont know where to start from. I thought i might get into RF test engineer or may be Telecoms test engineer but i am not getting any institute which gives some training in this area. Your help much appreciated.

Thanks

AMS

Bayo

Post subject:

Posted: Tue May 03, 2005 4:27 pm

Captain

Joined: Fri Apr 29, 2005 8:37 pm

Posts: 6

Location: Kano, Nigeria

I believe there are about 3 career paths in RF: RF designer-making Rf circuits and components (software and/or hardware) : test engineer- fielding testing components, products or software and : planning/optimisation-designing and deploying wireless networks and managing(optimising) them.

I believe the first of these require no training other than the university education as such there is rarely any organisation I know of that is into it. Most of the time you get a job and get trained on the job but you must have very strong theoretical understanding of rf circuits, electronic designing (including PCB design) and some exposure to the use of software for such designs.

The second is similar to the first but is often less stringent. There are some easy ones like drive testing a cellular network but that requires previous exposure except the employer is willing to show u( though it is actually very simple). Others are a little more technical but I am not aware of any institution offerring training hence u can get it on the job

The last often requires some previous work experience or specialised knowledge and is mostly Vendor based (i.e Ericsson, Nokia, Motorola etc). You can obtain training in this area very easily. All vendors have training centers in most parts of the world and you can get the adresses easily on the Internet, just use a search engine or guess(like www.ericsson.com). To get a very good start in the industry I advise that you attend a training with the vendor that has the largest market share in your locality-this increases ur chances and gives you higher mobility. Otherwise attend a training with Ericsson as they have a very large share of the Telecom industry(my personal opinion)

But it is good if you have a job to start with, so try out some of the telecom operators in your locality, anyone will be good for a start. Never mind contract jobs- you need a start, with time you will get a better grip.

To get a good view of the skills, opportunities and current rate of the industry's market go to www.jobserve.com, type 'rf engineers' ('rf planning engineers' 'rf planning and optimisation engineers' etc one after the other to get max results) in the search box . Pls do that right now

Though no one gives a guarantee but I like to tell you that with some careful planning on your part and hard work you will do very well in a short while. I will be happy to hear of ur success soon

_________________

Bayo