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E9F05

ANTENNAS AND TRANSMISSION LINES · Transmission lines: characteristics of open and shorted feed lines; coax versus open wire; velocity factor; electrical length; coaxial cable dielectrics; microstrip

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What is microstrip?

  1. ASpecial shielding material designed for microwave frequencies
  2. BMiniature coax used for low power applications
  3. CShort lengths of coax mounted on printed circuit boards to minimize time delay between microwave circuits
  4. DPrecision printed circuit conductors above a ground plane that provide constant impedance interconnects at microwave frequencies
Why Microstrip is a planar transmission line formed right on a printed circuit board: a narrow trace of controlled width running above a continuous ground plane on the other side of the dielectric substrate. The trace width, board thickness and dielectric constant set the characteristic impedance, so designers can print 50 ohm (or other) lines directly into the layout. At microwave frequencies, where connectors and coax jumpers add loss and reflections, these printed constant-impedance interconnects are the practical way to move signals between circuit blocks.
Watch out The idea of tiny coax soldered to the board is tempting because microstrip does the same job, but microstrip has no outer shield at all, just a trace and the ground plane beneath it.
Micro-STRIP = a strip of copper over a ground plane; width plus board thickness set the impedance.
HamSandwich explanation, first draft. The question and answers are the NCVEC text.
← E9F04 All of E9F E9F06 →

The rest of E9F

  1. E9F01 What is the velocity factor of a transmission line?
  2. E9F02 Which of the following has the biggest effect on the velocity factor of a transmission line?
  3. E9F03 Why is the electrical length of a coaxial cable longer than its physical length?
  4. E9F04 What impedance does a 1/2-wavelength transmission line present to an RF generator when the line is shorted at…
  5. E9F05 What is microstrip?
  6. E9F06 What is the approximate physical length of an air-insulated, parallel conductor transmission line that is ele…
  7. E9F07 How does parallel conductor transmission line compare to coaxial cable with a plastic dielectric?
  8. E9F08 Which of the following is a significant difference between foam dielectric coaxial cable and solid dielectric…
  9. E9F09 What impedance does a 1/4-wavelength transmission line present to an RF generator when the line is shorted at…
  10. E9F10 What impedance does a 1/8-wavelength transmission line present to an RF generator when the line is shorted at…
  11. E9F11 What impedance does a 1/8-wavelength transmission line present to an RF generator when the line is open at th…
  12. E9F12 What impedance does a 1/4-wavelength transmission line present to an RF generator when the line is open at th…
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