On Mon, 13 Oct 2003 14:05:57 +0100, Paul Burridge
wrote:


Hi,

Let's say I'm trouble-shooting a circuit board with several stages of
RF amplification in addition to a primary source in the form of a
VCXO. I'd like to be able to bypass certain parts of the signal path
by the use of a jumper wire. This wire may need to be up to 4 inches
in length to have sufficient reach between stages. Can anyone see a
problem with this? I mean, rather than a single wire, should I use
some sort of grounded outer lead like coax to carry the signal?

at HF
at VHF
at UHF

Don't hack up the board just to troubleshoot...(if it is a pcb)
make a rf sniffer instead. one method I use is a piece of coax
connected to a spectrum analyzer with a dc block connector.
the other end of the coax is stripped to expose the center conducter
as a probe tip.
course if this is a hobby project you probably don't have a spectrum
analyzer...if that's the case...my heart bleeds...