Electronics
Articles
Various articles related to electronic design.
Writing Technical Specifications in the Present. A discussion of how to write technical specifications. Sept 2000. Written for Ionocom Communications.
Engineering and Production Drawings. A discussion of the difference between engineering and productions drawings, and what information should appear on each. Oct 2000. Written for Ionocom Communications.
Handling Substitutions in Bills of Materials. A discussion of the difference between alternate and equivalent parts, and practical strategies for dealing with substitutions. Oct 2004. Written for Ionocom Communications.
Drawing Sets for Electronic Products. A discussion of the items that should appear in a drawing set for an electronic product, and some additional considerations if the design is contracted-out. Dec 2005. Written for Ionocom Communications.
Component Manufacturers and Vendors. A discussion of the difference between component manufacturers and vendors. June 2006. Written for Ionocom Communications.
Production Volumes and Design Trade-offs. A discussion of the different decisions that are appropriate in the design of products intended for low, medium or high volume manufacturing. Jan 2009. Written for Ionocom Communications.
Getting Started with Contract Design. What to expect in your initial meeting with a contract design company, and how to prepare. Jan 2010. Written for Ionocom Communications.
Spilsbury Information
General information, technical information and memorabilia of historical interest about various products produced by Spilsbury Communications Ltd.
From November 1994 to April 2000 I worked for Racal Canada Inc, part of the UK-based Racal Electronics group. Racal Canada was formed when Racal bought Spilsbury Communications. Racal was primarily interested in the products of the RACE Technologies subsidiary, but also inherited a range of Spilsbury-branded products.
All the Spilsbury products were discontinued in 1999. Racal Canada closed in 2000. Subsequently Racal Electronics merged with Thomson CSF and the group is now known as Thales. Thus the Spilsbury products are well and truly dead.
However, when the company closed a significant quantity of material was donated to the local radio museum, and I and others managed to take copies of some historically interesting photos and documents. These pages present those artifacts, and the items I have acquired subsequently.
STA-240 Low Frequency Beacon Antenna.
Spilsbury Equipment Development and Sales. An internal Spilsbury paper providing an historical overview of the Spilsbury company's product development and sales efforts, written in 1982 by Jim Spilsbury. Covers the period 1941 to 1982 and includes the history of the development of the SBX-11A.
I'm afraid I have no information on the SBX-40.