Design Article
Bird Technologies celebrates 70 years of helping others be heard loud and clear
Steve Taranovich
11/15/2012 7:34 AM EST
As a pioneer in radio frequency (RF) communications dating back to the ‘40s, Bird Technologies is excited to be at the forefront of yet another remarkable and enviable accomplishment: the celebration of its 70th year in business.

Founded in 1942 by J. Raymond Bird, the Bird Technologies’ has nearly 50 patents under its wings. Bird has continued to innovate its radio frequency products, systems, services, and educational solutions.

RF loads have come a long way since the 40s. Modern day Air-Cooled Dry RF Loads are designed as precision, heavy-duty 50-Ohm terminations for isolators and specialized hybrid combining applications operating up to 1000 MHz. These loads have high power density factors (ratio of rated power to heat sink surface area) which means lower heat sink surface temperatures for a particular power dissipation.

The product history goes back the TS70, a terminating wattmeter developed for the United States Army Signal Corps in the early 1940s. In recent years, Bird has supported the United States Military RF engineers and its allies with products such as the Site Analyzer, SignalHawk VNA & Spectrum Analyzer, Calibration, Precision Power Sensors, and a variety of Radio Test Sets.
Next: Bird's 40 patents


mmaddox
11/20/2012 3:21 PM EST
Great article on Bird Technologies. I have a very early copy of Bob Widlars resume that was given to me by his brother and on the resume it shows that a very young Bob Widlar worked briefly at Bird Technologies. Bob grew up in the Cleveland area. When you were researching for this article it would be interesting to know if anyone at Bird is even aware that Bob Widlar at one time was one of their employees.
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