Rex Frobenius has been working at Besser Associates for over 20 years, where he is VP of Engineering and co-owner. To date he has presented nearly one hundred courses to over one thousand students in the United States, Europe, and Asia. His main focus has been course development for linear RF circuit design and test and measurement courses, with his latest project having been the online RF Technology Certification program. He has been the co-author of several articles and has co-authored the text "RF Measurements for Cellular Phones and Wireless Data Systems" with Al Scott. Working for Besser Associates has given Rex the unique opportunity to be mentored by many of the industry's leading engineers including company founder Les Besser. He received his BSEE from UC Davis and also has a BA in Rhetoric from UC Berkeley, which makes him uniquely qualified to develop and present materials for training in the RF industry. Rex has developed several Java-based RF-related utility applets which are featured in Besser training courses and available for free on the Bessernet.com website.
Take a look at an early prototype open courseware/study guide that relies on reading assignments from a text together with online guides and exercises using a freeware RF simulator. We are judging the level of interest among users here on RFMentor.com and your feedback is appreciated. You will need a free account to access the material.
This online program has been designed for applications, production, manufacturing engineers and technicians as well as other professionals who need to have a solid background in the fundamentals of working with RF and wireless products. This four part program provides a thorough understanding of RF analytical tools, communications signals, RF devices and test instruments. Starting with basic analytical tools such as the decibel scale, S-parameters and the Smith Chart, this program covers test instrumentation, RF components, and modulation.
We are excited to announce that our Impedance Matching course is now available on Udemy. Udemy is a "learning aggregation" site offering courses from many different sources. They accept payments in local currencies from around the world, making it easier to sign up for the course, especially if you already have an account with them.
Based on Les Besser's famous RF course material, this program has been reworked and updated to meet the needs of today's engineers looking for online self-paced study. Video lectures are followed by our exclusive online workbooks featuring interactive problem sets and quizzes along with optional supplemental reading for those who wish to explore topics in more depth. This course is the first part of an RF Engineering Certificate program currently under development by Besser Associates.
This workbook from the RF Technology Certification program demonstrates how to convert from dBm to milliwatts using approximation techniques without a calculator. An interactive calculator at the end demonstrates the process with values that you can enter yourself to practice.
This interactive web page allows you to look at the output waveforms from a switching-type mixer, as well as a pure multiplication. You can change the RF and LO frequencies and update the graph.
This demo is included in the Online RF Technology Certification program from Besser Associates.
Workbooks from part 1 of the RF Technology Certification program are being gathered here for your reference.
Workbooks contain a summary of formulas for each subject, exercises, suggestions for further reading, and a problem set/quiz. Workbooks posted here are the newest revision being used in the current offering of the program.
Access is restricted to registered users who have completed the certification program.
Workbooks for this part:
•Wave Parameters
•dB and dBm
•Complex Numbers and Impedances
•Mismatch and Reflection
•Transmission Lines
Use this handy Smith Chart web app to create matching networks. Easiest tool to use: drag elements right on the chart! Supports multiple frequencies, transmission line elements, etc.
Online Smith Chart course now available at Udemy.
This is a sample of the RF Technology Certification lecture material. The online RF Technology Certification from Besser Associates is a four-part self-paced program that covers the essential skills for working with RF and wireless components:
Update November 2021: login no longer required to use this app! Visit the reflectometer page (HTML5/JavaScript version)
The old Java version is still available.