Designers Council Chapter Reports

AHOT/AUSTIN
Next meeting: Dec. 7
Topic: General meeting/party
Location: Buffalo Billiards (Austin)

Our end of the year party will be held Dec. 7. We plan to combine our AHOT
general meeting with a billiards/pool tourney at Buffalo Billiards on the
infamous Sixth Street. New board members will be introduced, as will the
winners of the "Design of the Year" contest. Valor has offered a $250 prize
for the contest winner. The time will be 7 to 11 p.m.; Buffalo Billiards
address is 201 E. Sixth Street.

ATLANTA
Next meeting: Dec. 8
Topic: Plant tour
Location: ACT Manufacturing (Duluth)

The meeting starts at 6:00 pm. ACT is an assembly company. A holiday social
will follow. Directions and an update will be sent by email.

AUSTRALASIAN
Next meeting: Dec. 14 and Dec. 16
Topic: Electrical safety considerations
Location: Sydney, Melbourne

The next meetings of the chapter are in Sydney on Dec. 14, and Melbourne on
Dec. 16. The topic is Electrical Safety Considerations in PCB Design. Some
Christmas cheer will follow each meeting.

The Surface Mount '99 Conference held recently in Sydney was a feast for
designers. John Sabo, president of the Designers Council, joined us Down
Under to present the designer certification workshop and exam.  He was
assisted by a local certified designer, Leon Fonstin, from Melbourne who has
now been accepted by the Council as an Instructor for the workshop and
examination in Australia and New Zealand. Thirteen
designers attained certification, bringing the total certified in Australia
and New Zealand to 26.

Designers were also treated to sessions by Chris Zombolas and Barry
Sutcliffe, on EMC compliance; Peter Jansen, on programmable logic; IBM's
Marie Cole, on ball grid array design and assembly; Martin Cotton of
ViaSystems, on the latest advancements in high density interconnection and
high speed design; and Sabo also presented a session on geometric
dimensioning and tolerancing.

Highlights of the conference were many: Designers who attended Cotton's
session said that the material presented was "mind blowing." The conference
was an outstanding success, with the 336 delegates
treated to a technical feast (and a great conference dinner!).

Dates for monthly meetings in Melbourne alternate between Wednesday (odd
months) and Thursday (even months) at 6:30 p.m. at the SMCBA offices. Further
details on all programs are at www.smcba.asn.au.

CANADA (Toronto)
On Nov. 23 we sponsored a talk on EMI compliance by design, presented by
Victor Kee P.Eng, a principal at Ultratech Engineering Labs Inc., a provider
of product approval and compliance services.

Eng discussed everything a designer needs to know about EMI compliance and
how to provide a successful platform for today's electronic devices. He
presented the basics of understanding how to design product compliance into a
unit. Eng covered board design, layout, and integration into a chassis
housing, and the impact of the design consideration for regulatory compliance
for the product.

CASCADE (Seattle)
Next meeting: Jan. 13
Topic: High speed design
Location: Prototron Circuits (Redmond)
On Nov. 18, 1999, we featured Patrick G. Andre of CKC Labs in Redmond, who
gave a very informative talk on EMC testing and design.

Next month, Doug Brooks from UltraCAD Design Inc. (www.ultracad.com) will
talk on high speed design. The meeting will be held at Prototron Circuits
(www.prototron.com ). Social hour: 6 p.m. to 7; speaker: 7 to 8:50; wrapup:
8:50 to 9. For more information contact Cherie Litson ([log in to unmask] )

CENTRAL OHIO
Next meeting: Dec. 4
Topic: Holiday party
Location: Hops Microbrewery (Beavercreek)

Everyone is invited to attend a holiday gathering for our chapter, Dec. 4, at
4:30 at Hops in Beavercreek, OH (hopefully we will beat the mall dinner
crowd). Hops is a microbrewery/eatery that recently opened at the Fairfield
Commons Mall. Spouse, significant others, and friends are invited to share in
this event. Hops address is 2711 N Fairfield Rd. Its phone number is
937-320-0600.

If you have any questions and to RSVP, call Mike Floyd at Alpha-C Inc.
(937-252-9496 ext. 120).

COLORADO
Next meeting: Jan. 7
Topic: DfM/DfT
Location: Holiday Inn (Northglenn)

The Holiday Inn is located is at I-25 and 120th Ave. The meeting time is 2
p.m. to 6. The topics are designing for manufacturability and testability,
and designing tips. Also, an update on IPC Designer Certification will be
presented.

Sponsors will be available to answer questions and show you their products.
Sponsors for this meeting will be: Hadco Corp., MentorGraphics/Veribest, and
Valor.

GREATER PHOENIX
No meeting for December. The members have elected new representatives for the
new year. They are: president, Cyrus Ringle; vice president, Eric Lassele;
treasurer, Lew Burnett; secretary, Frank Macias.

For the November meeting, we asked that one representative from each company
or location give a presentation on how they document their PWBs. All the
presenters did an outstanding job of giving
designers ideas on documentation and the reasons why the documentation was
created the way it was. It also pointed out that different divisions of the
same company may handle the documentation in a completely different manner.
Upon completion of the presentation each presenter received a plaque for the
effort and time put into the presentation.

Presenters were:
Cyrus Ringle, Inter-Tel
Vicki Manfredi, Motorola (SPS)
Larry Gauthier, Motorola (SSG)
Doug Cole, Lockheed Martin (MDS)
Jeff Grammer, Motorola (SATCOM)
Ben Whittaker, Honeywell
Tony Valente, Unisys
Rick Moore, Medtronic
Clyde Fouts, Honeywell (IAC)
David Baldwin, Baldwin Tech
Lew Burnett, Honeywell
Frank B. DeArmond, DeArmond Enterprises

NORTHEAST OHIO
Next meeting: Dec. 15
Topic: Elections/part 2 of high-speed design
Location: TBD

The meeting will begin with executive elections, then proceed directly to the
second half of high-speed design. This meeting will focus on signal integrity
and controlling emissions at the circuit level using HyperLynx software.

Mark Sinreich, president of Avid Technologies, will demonstrate the software.
HyperLynx is used by Avid for its critical layouts; Sinreich will show some
of the techniques Avid uses. Meeting time is 4:00 to 6:20.

NORTH TEXAS
Next meeting: Jan. 6 or 13

In November, the chapter was honored to have Gary Ferrari presenting on the
GenCAM format, as well as the benefits of becoming a certified designer. This
in-depth presentation provided much information and was an excellent overview
of the format. Also in November, we held a certification workshop, led by
Glenn Wells, a certified instructor, with 15 people joining the ranks of CID.
This was a 100 percent pass rate - well done!

There will be no meeting in December and we will resume meetings on Jan. 6 or
13; we wish you all the very best of holiday seasons.

PACIFIC NORTHWEST (Portland)
Next meeting: Dec. 8
Topic: Board planning meeting
Location: The Keg Restaurant (Aloha, OR)

Our Nov. 17 general membership meeting was held at the Jones Farm location of
Intel Corp. Our guest speaker was David Coleman, a senior design engineer,
presenting The Three T's of Routing Topologies. The three T's include timing,
topology, and termination. PCB features make the difference in good designs.
Many considerations come together to make the topology work with all the
variables. These include material layup, trace widths for performance,
voltage margins and termination determinations. The
best approach to these designs is the "approach and conquer" design scheme.

Divide the portions of the board and thoroughly think through the
requirements for each section.  From the beginning of design, consider these
conceptual design issues: cost effective, manufacturable, guaranteed
performance, low defect rates, and the ability to meet or beat the schedule.

The upcoming executive board meeting will cement the plans for 2000 developed
at the last board meeting. Meeting time is 5:30 p.m. to 8. Future topics
include future technologies, improved fabrication processes, RF layout
technology, high density interconnect design concerns, and an EMI workshop.
Tours of local fabrication and assembly sites are also part of the schedule.
Speakers for the first half of the year are already set and locations are
also nearly firm.

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK
Next meeting: Jan.  19
Topic: Chapter kickoff
Location: Ericsson

The Gary Ferrari will be the guest speaker for the kickoff of a new DC
chapter located in the RTP area of North Carolina. We will discuss what the
DC is, what the benefits of joining are, and what educational opportunities
are available for designers. We will also discuss the startup and
organization of the chapter. Free pizza and soft drinks will be served
beginning at 5:30 and the general meeting will begin at 6:30. You must RSVP
by Jan. 12 to get in on the free food and drinks.

Contact: Steve Trasatto, Ericsson (919-472-4783; [log in to unmask]).

SMOKY MOUNTAIN (Knoxville)
Next meeting: January
Location: Philips Consumer Electronics

The next meeting will be in January (if we survive Y2K!). The location is
unknown, but Dwayne Beeler is working on CSI. The guest speaker will be from
Pads Software (also the sponsor) and the subject will be signal integrity.

SOUTHEASTERN MICHIGAN
Next meeting: Jan. 13
Topic: Chapter business
Location: Farmington Public Library

The SeMIs presently are reviewing the bylaws that are to be ratified at our
next meeting, Jan. 13, at the Farmington Public Library, from 7 p.m. to 9. We
will make some decisions then about our next activity. Our last meeting was
held on Nov. 8. We had our local representative from ACCEL Technologies,
Chris Keil, show the latest advancements and how to use them. We hope to
establish a regular meeting day and time in the future.

SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND
Next meeting: Dec. 8
Topic: Year end summary
Location: Connie's (Derby)

Our December meeting will focus on a the year in summary, featuring the
highlights of our most effective meetings. Special recognition will be made
to our 16 certified designers. Holiday festivities will commence immediately
following the business meeting. The Southern New England Chapter would like
to wish the IPC and all chapters a Happy, Healthy, Prosperous Holiday Season
and New Year.

RSVP by noon on Dec. 7 to Vin Stabile at (203-968-1403; [log in to unmask])

SOUTH JERSEY
Len Roach of Lucent Technologies (Princeton) is attempting to arrange for a
plant tour after January. The tour will include BGA and surface mount design
and assembly. Email Leon Cohen at [log in to unmask] if you are interested and
can attend a daytime meeting.

SPACE COAST
Next meeting: Dec. 16
Location: China Buffet (Palm Bay)
Topic: Luncheon

The luncheon starts at 11:30 a.m., and is open to paid members only. The cost
is $5 per person, drink and tip included (a great price for the fine buffet).
RSVP to Bill Cardew at Harris ([log in to unmask]) by Dec. 13 if you want to
attend.

We will have lots of terrific door prizes, with values up to $25. We will
discuss plans for next year, and want to know what our members would like to
see.

We are accepting nominations for officers for 2000 (president, vice
president, secretary, treasurer). Elections will be held in January. Please
submit all nominations to Chuck Fisher at Harris ([log in to unmask]) by
Dec. 31. The January meeting will also be the time to present your personal
Board from Hell 1999. If you are interested in competing for the coveted
Board from Hell honors and prizes, contact Fisher by Jan 10 so we know how to
plan the meeting.

SUSQUEHANNA
We toured the Hadco PWB plant in Owego last month. The meeting was very well
attended by local
designers and a few designers who traveled from Syracuse. Our thanks to Hadco
and Steve Zimmer, who led the tour. In coming months we hope to have a tour
of an assembly shop and some roundtable discussions.



Mike Buetow
IPC
2215 Sanders Road
Northbrook, IL 60062
847-790-5335