Raycap News

Radio Frequency Protection

A discussion of RF protection needs to begin with its definition.  The industry term which is most often used in description of the protective devices which are installed into systems to shield and protect their radio frequencies is “RF protection.” This form of protection system is typically involved with modern transceiver equipment which means that located in base station units.  Most cases of RF protection revolve around coaxial data lines which are severely damaged or impacted by lightning strikes and the power surge that will follow. Raycap is a world leader in the design and manufacture of these types of protective devices and systems, which assist in providing uninterrupted service within the enclosed areas of telecommunications setups.  Raycap products protect against spikes and surges which produce outages and data failures due to the destruction of communication equipment.  To provide uninterrupted and continual communication within appropriate areas of service, our commitment to excellence is our driving force.

Communication lines as well as data transfer cables are highly susceptible to the power surges and electrical transients which are produced by lightning strikes, as well as to failure incidents within standard power distribution systems.  Even though data lines are designed to carry far less electrical current than a power line, as well as the fact that data lines are almost always directly connected to critical operations equipment, the need for protection to be installed along these lines and pathways is imperative.  The single lightning strike to a connection line can easily have a catastrophic impact on the critical communications capabilities within the network, and subsequent surges can destroy data which is housed within storage components and equipment connected to the lines themselves.  There are multiple solutions for providing protection against damage of this kind, all have been specifically designed for the application.

In addition to protecting against transients, the cellular surge protection devices which are manufactured by Raycap will also protect against electromagnetic pulses, these also being produced by lightning strikes.  When a strike happens directly to a cable or nearby it, there is a steep rise in electric fields that happens almost instantaneously after the strike.  These fields produce extremely high voltages and pulses which then could travel to any unprotected antenna or radio system via transmission lines leading to the primary communication equipment.  Losses because of customer dissatisfaction as well as equipment damage repair is a serious negative force to the bottom line of almost every business.  The costs of equipment repair are easily factored into planning, but the costs associated with customer loss as a result of outages is far more difficult to predict.  Only through the maintenance of a happy customer base as well as a network that remains stable and online for a majority of time can cellular networks be assured that they will be able to maintain a competitive edge in today’s landscape.  In situations where data is lost, customer dissatisfaction rates can be extreme, leading to major problems.  Through the integration of the appropriate RF protection the systems from Raycap, business can not only survive but thrive. Hence the Raycap tagline “It’s our business to help yours thrive.”