RF Recorders are unique instruments that are transforming RF test and measurement. This is our “religion”. We have made the mistakes to learn the hard lessons.
Video Transcript:
– Hi, there. I’m Sean Wallace, principal engineer at Spectra Lab, and I’d like to thank you for taking time to learn about our RF Instruments.
Now, I know you’re probably tired of reading boring case studies about customer success, so don’t worry. I’m not gonna ask you to sit through anything like that. Instead, I’d like to share with you some of my stories about real world RF engineering.
See, the last 20 years of my engineering career have been a rollercoaster ride of discovery, tragedy, and a little bit of triumph, and I’m gonna share all of that with you, the good, the bad, and the ugly. As a fellow engineer, I’m sure you’ll see a little bit of yourself in some of these stories.
For our first story, imagine it’s the early 2000s. I’m sitting in front of my Windows XP machine, trying to figure out how to land my first big customer, and suddenly, out of nowhere, an email arrives from a potential client. He wants me to run a major field test campaign, making hundreds of RF recordings in east coast cities. Hallelujah.
There’s just a few little problems. I mean, I don’t have a field test van or any decent equipment. Actually, I don’t even have an RF recorder or any employees. Plus, technically, I still have a day job.
So, obviously, I accept the gig.
Somehow, I find a helper. We managed to build a field test van from scratch. We borrow an RF recorder from a friend and head out into the field to fill hard drive upon hard drive with RF recordings.
It takes a whole month of 10 hour days.
But finally, we proudly deliver the recordings and wait for the check to arrive.
Shortly after, the client calls to tell us that the signal noise ratio on every single one of the 223 RF recordings is so poor they’re unusable.
Good thing I didn’t try to cash that check. So, how do we get it so wrong day after day? Well, I can’t wait to tell you exactly what happened in our next episode.
See you soon.
