The Radio Amateur's Microwave Communications Handbook

Somewhere on a country mountaintop an amateur microwave
repeater system sits in a heated and dimly illuminated building.
The large dish antennas outside the building give only a brief
glimpse of the futuristic activity happening inside. The system is
handling various communications, ranging from computer interlinks
and amateur-television operations to multiple voice relays between
various cities. An additional dish antenna is relaying signals to wide-
band amateur communications satellites placed in geostationary or-
bits at various points around the world. Many miles away, the
amateurs accessing this system use small hand-held transceivers,
or computer terminals; yet their operations can reach the world.
Fantasyland? Indeed not ; this is the shape of amateur trends that
are being developed and activated at this time. Operational con-
cepts of these systems are outlined in this book. I sincerely hope
you find this information both beneficial and inspiring. Once in-
volved in microwave pioneering, you'll surely agree this is ama-
teur radio's ultimate frontier. As I' ve said many times-in previous
books and in magazine columns-the Golden Age of Radio is very
much alive and well. It lives in the highly specialized areas of mod-
ern communications technology.