Engineering considerations for microwave communications systems

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There were several printings by Rebert F. White beginning in 1970. I purchased the second printing - 1972 - in 1975 while a communications engineer with the Arizona Department of Public Safety working with Bernie Flood's staff of engineers and technicians. I continued to use Robert White's guidelines working for Stu Rugg at Raytheon in Norwood, MA during the '80's and with CTI - formerly Telcom Engineering - in Austin, TX until 1992 when I changed career fields. I've reached for the book from my library shelf only a few times over the last 20 years. Each time I see it, it reminds me of the love affair with terrestrial point-to-point high capacity microwave engineering and have people like Robert F. White to thank for that. Here's how he prefaces the book: "This book is a lineal descendent of an earlier Lenkurt publication, "Microwave Path Engineering Considerations 6000-8000 MC", which was originally published in 1960..." He continues in the Introduction - "This book is intended to asssemble in one volume, in a readily usable and practical form, a compendium of the best available information on the planning and engineering of line-of-sight microwave paths for communications systems." So it was for low-, medium- and high-capacity terrestrial point-to-point analog microwave systems. As digital microwave began to overtake its analog ancestory, so did the algorithms. Yet, the underlying work for analog was retained for digital modulation and propagation. The analog algorithm was later enhanced to include dispersive components (distructive bit shifting in the polyphase modulation envelope) but at the core was the analog work done in previous decades. The core approach to line-of-light microwave propagation is still valid today but most high capacity transmission has gone underground (glassware). Digital wave envelope propagation models for current state mobile communications (cellular propagation and WiFi take on new meanings and have a language of their own. But at the core remains the analog model. If you can find the book on eBay or in the hand of a private owner, expect to pay a very respectable price. Maybe just a peek would be good enough. enjoy.... Larry Martin - Austin, TX

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