Spreadsheets for System Planning - RF Cafe Forums

 Post subject: Spreadsheets for System Planning

Posted: Sun Apr 16, 2006 9:37 pm 

Greetings:

As many RF Cafe visitors know, I have provided a series of "RF Cascade Workbook" spreadsheets for performing high-level RF system analysis. The latest version is 2005. I am trying to decide whether to continue the series with a new version, but honestly do not know what additional features would be considered valuable by users. Theoretically, an infinite number of new calculations could be added, but at some point the interface becomes too crowded and navigation difficult. The alternative would be to undertake the significant task of developing an executable software program.


One of the most useful aspects of a spreadsheet is the ability of the user to modify it to either add or delete features to meet his particular needs. Excel has extremely powerful built-in functions and charting capabilities that are laborious to reproduce in software. Excel even has, and I exploit in the "RF Cascade Workbook" series, the ability to error-trap user inputs for data type and range. A disadvantage of spreadsheets, according to some users, is that they do not create as much of a refined presentation for use in reports, etc. I personally like to see spreadsheet work in reports and slideshows because it gives the appearance of a tailored effort. You might not agree.

So, I am creating this poll in hopes of ascertaining your opinion on the usefulness of spreadsheets vs. hard-coded software. Thank you for your time.

_________________
- Kirt Blattenberger
RF Cafe Progenitor & Webmaster

 Post subject:

Posted: Mon Apr 17, 2006 1:25 pm 

Kirt,
I have long used all of your tools to good effect. I recently started using the latest version of RF Cascade Workbook for a new design and it is really great. Yes! By all means, continue the series.

I think what I would like to see is the spur web capablity from RF Workbench (Tx/Rx) on a more modern platform (other than DOS). It still works well but it is kind of slow and difficult to use with other applications - can't copy n' paste, for example. It would be nice to calculate, but perhaps not plot on the spur web, spurs higher than 9th order. I would like to be able to cut and paste all the calculated spurs into a Word document. Also, I would like to be able to have a predicted signal level associated with each spur. This is possible with RF Workbench but it is somewhat tedius to do since you have to manually select which spur to calculate. With the increased computational power of the machines these days, I think those spur levels could possibly be generated automatically without slowing things down too much. I don't think that such a capability would have to be within the same file as RF Cascade Workbook but Excel is a decent platform.

Just my thoughts.