Microwave Equipment for College Laboratories (Correspondence)

I should like to take advantage of this correspondence column to discuss briefly a problem which we at Clarkson College may have in common with many other private colleges. We believe that our undergraduate curriculum should include a course in microwaves and that this course to be effective must include some laboratory work. The problem is that it is very dificult to equip a microwave laboratory on the sort of budget existing in a small college. Commercial equipment is, in general, much too expensive and is really much higher quality than is required for simple student laboratory work. We have been able to meet our needs in part by constructing our own waveguide components and in part through the generosity of several concerns which have given us used or rejected equipment or made it available to us at very low cost. We have been given a variety of microwave tubes plus some oscillators and a number of waveguide and coaxial components which make it possible for us to operate our laboratory.