Tutorials
Lessons 1 and 2 teach basic RF concepts, and are a mix of movies, pictures, and text. I'm aiming to be helpful for the High School, College, and Amateur level, and any professional who wants to refresh their understanding.
Lessons 3 through 8 show how to use Mason for computer simulations. If you are a professional or knowledgeable amateur, you might also want to check out my Advanced Topics section.
Lessons 9 through 14 show actual applications with Mason as a simulation tool. These pages try to show more than just how to use Mason, but also how to design some simple circuits, including the folded dipole antenna with balun circuits shown on the front page. Users might also be interested in the Advanced Topic section.
If you can't find the answer, I have a "circuitmason.com" account, the address is at "Gregory dot Kiesel". If you can't figure that out, you are probably a bot.
Mason Work Book
RF Concepts
An introduction to some of the basic RF terms that will be used throughout this tutorial.
An introduction to RF concepts, such as reflection and transmission, gain and loss.
Lesson 2: Reflections and Transmissions
Delving deeper into mathematical models for how RF behaves in a circuit.
RF Simulation with Mason
Lesson 3: Introduction to Simulation
Some of the basic concepts and practical considerations for modeling circuits in Mason.
Lesson 4: Optimization with Variables
Introduction to optimization with practical considerations for Mason.
Lesson 5: Power Dividers and Advanced Optimization Techniques
Introduction to Wilkinson Dividers and more advanced optimization tools in Mason.
Introduction to statistical design with practical considerations for Mason.
Lesson 7: Dynamic components versus subcircuits
Advanced topic: consideration on the inner workings of Mason's "dynamic" components, and how they relate to subcircuits.
Introduction to the Mason suite's "line calculator" tool.
Advanced Design Topics
Lesson 9: Lossless Taper Design
When summing the signals of an antenna array, it can be useful to use some flavor of a cosine taper. Rather than using attenuators, some clever arrangements of Wilkinson combiners can be used to produce a "lossless taper". This can be helpful in improving the overall noise figure of the system.
Lesson 10: Broadband Wilkinson Design
Wilkinson combiners work, in part, as a matching network. As such, broader bandwidths can be achieved by adding more elements. Some design techniques for efficiently creating a broadband combiner are presented.
Lesson 11: Broadband matching with Constant Q Lines
Some advanced tricks and thoughts about Smith Charts and broadband matching.
Lesson 12: Printed Circuit Board Layout with Circuit Mason
An introduction to laying out a printed circuit board with artwork generated by Circuit Mason.
Lesson 13: Antenna Array with WiFi Measurement
Builds on Lesson 12, with an application for an antenna array designed entirely with Mason.
Some final thoughts on general design principles.
Copyright 2010, Gregory Kiesel