Fred Kawabata
Frederick Y. Kawabata (? – ?) worked in Tek's Sampling Group, led by Al Zimmerman, in the 1960s.
Please add referenced biography.
Documents Authored by Fred Kawabata
Products by Fred Kawabata
| Manufacturer | Model | Description | Designers | Introduced |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tektronix | 284 | Pulse generator | Fred Kawabata | 1967 |
| Tektronix | S-50 | Pulse Generator | Fred Kawabata | 1969 |
| Tektronix | 7M11 | Dual Delay Line | Fred Kawabata | 1969 |
| Tektronix | PG503 | high speed pulse generator | Fred Kawabata • Lee Jalovec | 1990 |
Components by Fred Kawabata
Patents by Fred Kawabata
| Page | Office | Number | Title | Inventors | Company | Filing date | Grant date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Patent US 3510690A | US | 3510690A | Transmission line coupled tunnel diode pulse generator | Fred Kawabata | Tektronix Inc | 1967-07-17 | 1970-05-05 |
| Patent US 3575618A | US | 3575618A | Apparatus for providing an accurately delayed output pulse of accurately predetermined duration | Fred Kawabata | Tektronix Inc | 1968-07-24 | 1971-04-20 |
| Patent US 4223968A | US | 4223968A | High-frequency etched circuit board connector | Fred Kawabata • William M. Wane | Tektronix Inc | 1979-05-08 | 1980-09-23 |
| Patent US 5384781A | US | 5384781A | Automatic skew calibration for multi-channel signal sources | Fred Kawabata | Tektronix Inc | 1991-02-11 | 1995-01-24 |
| Patent US 6072356A | US | 6072356A | Apparatus for deriving a trigger signal from the AC line | Fred Kawabata | Tektronix Inc | 1998-06-08 | 2000-06-06 |
| Patent US 6518744B1 | US | 6518744B1 | General purpose oscilloscope having digital television signal display capability | Jim Tallman • Erik Teose • David Sailor • Alex Barkume • Steven Herring • Fred Kawabata | Tektronix Inc | 2000-05-23 | 2003-02-11 |
"My Tek History", written in 2025 by Fred Kawabata
Tek History for my time at Tek, the best that I can remember by Fred Kawabata
I joined Tektronix in 1962 after graduating from Oregon State University. I joined Norm Winningstad’s sampling oscilloscope group. Jack Rogers was the manager. Others in the group were Al Zimmerman, Ray Underwood, Bob Ragsdale, Leo Heinick, Andy Chears, George Frye, Stu McNaughton, and a man I don’t remember his name but he was a former auto race car mechanic. The group was working on 200ps Type 4S2 Plugin for the Type 661 mainframe. Having just graduated from college I had a LOT to learn. Jack and others were very good mentors. However, they made fun of me because they said “Who the hell hired him? He does not play anything”. Jack and Andy played the trumpet, Al the Clarinet, and Bob the Guitar.
Al Zimmerman hired Barrie Gilbert from Plessy in the UK. Barrie later developed the character generator for the 7000 series and also worked with Motorola and developed the Gilbert Gain Cell. He went on to Analog Devices and became a highly regarded engineer there. Unfortunately, he died as a result of a fall in 2020. While on vacation in London in 1971, my wife and I visited Barrie and his family in Bournemouth, England.
Our group was on the south east corner of Building 81. The switchboard operators were Maridel White and Julie Aungst. Years later I would marry Julie.
At that time our bench scopes (Type 545, etc.) were new production units that were regularly rotated. I understood that it provided “ageing” to check for short-term failures. There is a word for this but I cannot remember it. Harvey Simmons was the guy who rotated the scopes. Harvey was in the hospital for an ailment I don’t remember and when I went to visit him I talked to the nurse who cooperated with me to play a trick on Harvey. While I was talking to Harvey, she came in and announced “Mr. Simmons we regularly rotate beds so we’re gonna have to move you”. Harvey was very surprised at that unheard of procedure. After thinking about that and looking at me smiling, he realized that this was a trick on him and there was laughter all around.
Later I joined John Kobbe’s special instruments group. John Gates was our manager and two people in the group who I remember were Hans Springer and Tom Beach. I worked on the Type 134 Current Probe Amplifier.
In 1963 Tek sent me to the first Motorola Integrated Circuits class in Scottsdale, AZ. It was a two-week course and was very well done. We had homework every day. Since it was the first time Motorola did a class like this, Motorola’s president C. Lester Hogan was interested in how the class was progressing so he joined the class for lunch practically every day. I remember the clear sky in Scottsdale. You could see stars all the way to the horizon. Can’t remember the name of the other Tek person who attended.
I moved to Building 50. Al Zimmerman was my manager and my project was the Type 284 Pulse Generator. In the group were Murlan Kaufman, John McCormick, Tom Charters, Gene Cowan, and George Frye. I also worked on the S-50 Pulse Generator.
I moved to Building 48 and my first project was a simple assembly of existing Tek products for one of the instruments for the F15 Test Set. Bob Webb was my manager. Dick Erath worked with us until his calling to make excellent Pinot Noir caused him to leave.
Al Zimmerman started the S-3260 Semiconductor Test System (STS). There were numerous managers and engineers involved with this project. They include Tom Long, Bob LeBrun, Dick Lemke, Steve Sullivan, Ken Jacobs, Bob Turner, Dave Corsen, Ron Kinder, Ralph Karls, Dave Chapman, Ross Gifford, Mike Kyle, Bruce Keefer, Joe Abid, Mike Boer, Tom Charters, Chuck Mallison, Chris Hseih, David McCracken, Ben Demise, Gary Hoselton.
I worked on the ECL version of the system called the S-3280. People there were Mike Chalkley, David McCracken, Mike Stansell, David Suryan, Steve Palmquist and Bill Wane.
I moved to Building 94 and was project leader for the 128-channel Test System called the S-3295. Jim Fisher was division manager and Bill Boggs managed our group. People were Steve Sullivan, Sylvia Rockwell, Morris Green, Ken Hillen, Chris Branson, Ralph Karls, Don Murray, Haydn Piper, Nancy Elliot, Bill Wane, Bob Palen, John Worcester, Warren Kumley, Gordon Mery, Steve Brice, Jerry Sherell, Chris Branson, Janet Brewer, Gene Lupo, Chris Shirkoff, David Grover, Bob Perry, David Suryan. Ron Kinder and David McCracken did the analog design for the system.
In 1988 I left STS and moved to Tek Vancouver. worked on the Type PG503 GaAs Pulse Generator with Lee Jalovec, my manager. The product was based on the PG502 but with much faster risetime using a Gallium Arsenide IC developed at Tek Labs. Some people were Matt Hadwin, Ross Hoag, Skip Hillman, and Mike Roy. Ron Kinder was in our group working for Bill Mark.
In 1990 I moved to Building 55 and worked on another pulse generator. Dick Lemke was manager. The project was cancelled.
In 1991 I worked for Joe Peter and worked on the TDS300 Digital Scope which incorporated the custom FISO (Fast in Slow out) CMOS IC that Steve Sullivan invented. It provided very fast sampling rates at moderate cost.
In 1993 I worked on the Tek Meter. The project Manager was Wayne Olmstead.
In 1994 I worked with the TDS200, which was the first 100 MHz digital scope with 2GHz sampling rate that retailed for less than $1000. Again the FISO by Steve Sullivan made the low cost possible. The marketing proposal was for 40,000 units the first year. However, sales for the first year was 75,000 units. Mike Fitzgerald was an excellent project manager and their project skills made possible the price target. George Danko was briefly our group manager.
My next project was the TDS3000, a digital scope that had a battery-powered option. Mark McPherson was the manager. Others included Ken Dobyns, Dave Maguire, and Bill Pooley.
The last project before I retired was a Digital TV to NTSC adapter for the TDS3000. The main objective for this project was to increase sales of the TDS3000. The module plugs in the back of the TDS 3000. It allows users to view the new ATSC digital TV signal by converting it to NTSC so it can be analyzed with the scope.
I retired in the year 2000.