-- o ICOM

Photo B. An SS receiver. It is a doubly-balanced
enclosure, where a locally-generated
PNsignal mixes with the incoming RFsignal
from the preamplifier. Note th~ strip-lineconstruction
, and th~twoMMICs. c1~arly visible
n~ar the two BNC connectors on the l(>ft and
right ofthe phorograph.
$5. This is an undisguised invitation for you
to try your hand at spread-spectrum experimenting!
But. you will say. why bothe r with spreadspectrum
in the first place? For one thing,
because of the spectru m utilization problems
we are all facing. We all want to squeeze
more and more tran smissions into well-defined
bands, and something will have to give.
With spread-spectru m. you can get add itional
frequency utilization.
Another fascinating angle of th is technology,
surely. is that there is still so much
to discover. improve upon, and develop in
spread-spectrum. This would be a fabulous
way to put our virtually unused microwave
bands to good use-there, in spreadspectrum.
you could try all sorts of new
modulation schemes! High speed data
transmissions and spread-spectrum tefe-
vision come readily to mind.
If this article has bee n able to whet your
appetite to learn more on the subject. the
references mentioned below and the ARRL
Handbook are a good place to start.
AMRAO. the nonprofit Amateur Rad io
Research and Developme nt Corporation, has
bee n experimenting with ama teur spreadspectrum
since 1980. If interested. write to
AMRAD, PO Box 6148, McLean . Virginia
22/()(j.6/48. 111
Reff'n-nce!i
' R. Scholtz. "The Origins of Spread-Spectrum
Communications." Spuad-Spt'et'Um Comnlullicanoes,
p. 7. New York: IEEE Press, 1983. R.
Price, " Funher Notes and Ane