Basis of Presentation	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2013
Basis of Presentation/Balance Sheet Information [Abstract]
Basis of Presentation	1. Basis of Presentation The accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles for interim financial information and with the instructions to Form 10-Q and Article 10 of Regulation S-X. Accordingly, they do not include all of the information and footnotes required by U.S. generally accepted accounting principles for complete financial statements. In the opinion of management, all adjustments (consisting of normal recurring accruals) considered necessary for a fair presentation have been included. For further information, refer to the audited consolidated financial statements and footnotes thereto included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012. Nature of Operations PCTEL is a global leader in propagation and optimization solutions for the wireless industry. The Company develops and distributes innovative antenna and engineered site solutions and designs and develops software-based radios (scanning receivers) and provides related RF engineering services for wireless network optimization. PCTEL was incorporated in California in 1994 and reincorporated in Delaware in 1998. Our principal executive offices are located at 471 Brighton Drive, Bloomingdale, Illinois 60108. Our telephone number at that address is (630) 372-6800 and our website is www.pctel.com. The information within, or that can be accessed through our website, is not part of this report. Segment Reporting Effective January 1, 2013, PCTEL operates in two new segments for reporting purposes. The Company’s Connected Solutions segment includes its antenna and engineered site solutions. Its RF Solutions segment includes its scanning receivers, related RF engineering services, and its PCTEL Secure engineering program. Each of the segments has its own segment manager as well as its own engineering, sales and marketing, and operational general and administrative functions. All of the Company’s accounting and finance, human resources, IT and legal functions are provided on a centralized basis through the corporate function. The Company manages its balance sheet and cash flows centrally at the corporate level, with the exception of trade accounts receivable and inventory which is managed at the segment level. Each of the segment managers reports to and maintains regular contact with the chief operating decision maker to discuss operating activities, financial results, forecasts, or plans for the segment. As of January 1, 2013, the Company’s chief operating decision maker uses the profit and loss results through operating profit and identified assets for the Connected Solutions and RF Solutions segments to make operation decisions. The 2012 segment information presented in the financial statements has been presented on a retrospective basis reflecting the new Connected Solutions and RF Solution segments on a consistent basis with the current period. For the year ended December 31, 2012, the Company operated in two different segments, PCTEL Secure, and the rest of the Company. The Company’s chief operating decision maker used the profit and loss results and the assets to make operating decisions. Connected Solutions Segment PCTEL is a leading supplier of antennas for private network, public safety and government applications, and site solutions for both private and public network, data, and communications applications. PCTEL’s MAXRAD^®, Bluewave™ and Wi-Sys™ antenna solutions include high-value YAGI, land mobile radio (“LMR”), Wi-Fi, GPS, In Tunnel, Subway, and Broadband antennas (parabolic and flat panel). PCTEL’s Connected Solutions™ products include specialized towers, enclosures, fiber optic panels, and fiber jumper cables that are engineered into site solutions. The vertical markets into which the antenna and site solutions are sold include supervisory control and data acquisition (“SCADA”), health care, energy, smart grid, precision agriculture, indoor wireless, telemetry, offloading, and wireless backhaul. Growth for antenna and engineered site solutions is primarily driven by the increased use of wireless communications in these vertical markets. PCTEL’s antenna and site solution products are primarily sold through distributors, value added reseller, and original equipment manufacturer (“OEM”) providers. We established our current antenna and site solutions product portfolio with a series of acquisitions. In 2004 the Company acquired MAXRAD, Inc. (“MAXRAD”), as well as certain product lines from Andrew Corporation (“Andrew”), which established its core product offerings in Wi-Fi, LMR and GPS. Over the next several years we added additional capabilities within those product lines and additional served markets with the acquisition of certain assets from Bluewave Antenna Systems, Ltd (“Bluewave”) in 2008, and the acquisitions of Wi-Sys Communications, Inc (“Wi-Sys”) in 2009, Sparco Technologies, Inc. (“Sparco”) in 2010, and certain assets of TelWorx Communications LLC, TelWorx U.K. Limited, TowerWorx LLC, and TowerWorx International, Inc., in July 2012. There are many competitors for antenna products, as the market is highly fragmented. Competitors include such names as Laird (Cushcraft, Centurion, and Antennex brands), Mobile Mark, Radiall/Larsen, Comtelco, Wilson, Commscope (Andrew products), Kathrein, and others. We seek out product applications that command a premium for product performance and customer service, and avoid commodity markets. PCTEL maintains expertise in several technology areas in order to be competitive in the antenna engineered site solutions market. These include radio frequency engineering, mobile antenna design and manufacturing, mechanical engineering, product quality and testing, and wireless network engineering. RF Solutions Segment PCTEL is a leading supplier of high-speed, multi-standard, demodulating receivers and test and measurement solutions to the wireless industry worldwide. Our SeeGull ^® scanning receivers, receiver-based products and CLARIFY^® interference management solutions are used to measure, monitor and optimize cellular networks. PCTEL’s network engineering services (“NES”) Group provides value-added analysis of measured data collected during the optimization process. Revenue growth for these products and services is driven by the deployment of products based on new wireless technology and the need for wireless networks to be tuned and reconfigured on a regular basis. PCTEL develops and supports scanning receivers for LTE, EVDO, CDMA, WCDMA, GSM, TD-SCDMA, and WiMAX networks. Our scanning receiver products are sold primarily through test and measurement value added resellers and to a lesser extent directly to network operators. The engineering services are sold primarily to network infrastructure providers and cellular carriers. Competitors for these products are OEMs such as JDS Uniphase, Rohde and Schwarz, Anritsu, and Berkley Varitronics. We established our scanning receiver product portfolio in 2003 with the acquisition of certain assets of Dynamic Telecommunications, Inc. (“DTI”). In 2009, we acquired the scanning receiver business from Ascom Network Testing, Inc. (“Ascom”) as well as the exclusive distribution rights and patented technology for Wider Network LLC (“Wider”) network interference products. In 2011, we purchased certain assets from Envision Wireless Inc. (“Envision”), an engineering services business based in Melbourne, Florida. The NES business focuses on the radio frequency (“RF”) issues pertaining to in-building coverage and capacity and its target market is relevant to our antenna and scanning receiver businesses. NES provides value-added analysis of collected data to public cellular carriers, network infrastructure providers, and real estate companies. In 2011 we formed PCTEL Secure LLC (“PCTEL Secure”), a joint venture limited liability company with Eclipse Design Technologies, Inc. (“Eclipse”) PCTEL Secure designs Android-based, secure communication products. The Company purchased all of Eclipse’s interests in the joint venture during 2012. PCTEL Secure has operated as an engineering program within RF Solutions. PCTEL maintains expertise in several technology areas in order to be competitive in the scanning receiver and related engineering services market. These include radio frequency engineering, DSP engineering, manufacturing, mechanical engineering, product quality and testing, and wireless network engineering Basis of Consolidation The condensed consolidated balance sheet as of March 31, 2013 and the condensed consolidated statements of operations, statements of comprehensive loss, and cash flows for the three months ended March 31, 2013 and 2012, respectively, are unaudited and reflect all adjustments of a normal recurring nature that are, in the opinion of management, necessary for a fair presentation of the interim period financial statements. The interim condensed consolidated financial statements are derived from the audited financial statements as of December 31, 2012. Through May 2012, the Company had a 51% ownership interest in PCTEL Secure. The Company purchased an additional 19% membership interest on May 29, 2012 and purchased the remaining 30% membership interest on July 2, 2012. With the purchase of the final 30% interest, PCTEL Secure became a wholly-owned subsidiary of PCTEL. For the three months ended March 31, 2012, the pro-rata percentage of the noncontrolling interest of PCTEL Secure’s net loss is recorded as noncontrolling interest in the condensed consolidated statements of operations. All intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated. The unaudited interim condensed consolidated financial statements of the Company have been prepared pursuant to the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). Accordingly, certain information and footnote disclosures normally included in financial statements prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the U.S. have been condensed or omitted. The significant accounting policies followed by the Company are set forth within the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012 (“the 2012 Form 10-K”). There were no changes in the Company’s significant accounting policies during the three months ended March 31, 2013. In addition, the Company reaffirms the use of estimates in the preparation of the financial statements as set forth in the 2012 Form 10-K. These interim condensed consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the Company’s audited consolidated financial statements and notes thereto included in the 2012 Form 10-K. The results for the operations for the period ended March 31, 2013 may not be indicative of the results for the period ending December 31, 2013. Foreign Currency Translation The Company is exposed to foreign currency fluctuations due to its foreign operations and because products are sold internationally. The functional currency for the Company’s foreign operations is predominantly the applicable local currency. Accounts of foreign operations are translated into U.S. dollars using the exchange rate in effect at the applicable balance sheet date for assets and liabilities and average monthly rates prevailing during the period for revenue and expense accounts. Adjustments resulting from translation are included in accumulated other comprehensive income, a separate component of shareholders’ equity. Gains and losses resulting from other transactions originally in foreign currencies and then translated into U.S. dollars are included in the condensed consolidated statement of operations. Net foreign exchange losses resulting from foreign currency transactions included in other income, net were $11 and $10 for the three months ended March 31, 2013 and 2012, respectively. Recent Accounting Guidance In February 2013, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued ASU No. 2013-02, “Comprehensive Income (Topic 220) - Reporting of Amounts Reclassified Out of Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income.” The objective of this update is to improve the reporting of reclassifications out of accumulated other comprehensive income. The amendments in the update require an entity to report the effect of significant respective line items in net income if the amount being reclassified is required to be reclassified in its entirety to net income. For amounts that are not required to be reclassified in their entirety to net income, an entity is required to cross-reference other disclosures. The amendments in this update are effective prospectively for reporting periods after December 15, 2012. The adoption of this update did not have a material effect on our financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

Basis of Presentation

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2013

Basis of Presentation/Balance Sheet Information [Abstract]

1. Basis of Presentation

The accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles for interim financial information and with the instructions to Form 10-Q and Article 10 of Regulation S-X. Accordingly, they do not include all of the information and footnotes required by U.S. generally accepted accounting principles for complete financial statements. In the opinion of management, all adjustments (consisting of normal recurring accruals) considered necessary for a fair presentation have been included. For further information, refer to the audited consolidated financial statements and footnotes thereto included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012.

Nature of Operations

PCTEL is a global leader in propagation and optimization solutions for the wireless industry. The Company develops and distributes innovative antenna and engineered site solutions and designs and develops software-based radios (scanning receivers) and provides related RF engineering services for wireless network optimization.

PCTEL was incorporated in California in 1994 and reincorporated in Delaware in 1998. Our principal executive offices are located at 471 Brighton Drive, Bloomingdale, Illinois 60108. Our telephone number at that address is (630) 372-6800 and our website is www.pctel.com. The information within, or that can be accessed through our website, is not part of this report.

Segment Reporting

Effective January 1, 2013, PCTEL operates in two new segments for reporting purposes. The Company’s Connected Solutions segment includes its antenna and engineered site solutions. Its RF Solutions segment includes its scanning receivers, related RF engineering services, and its PCTEL Secure engineering program. Each of the segments has its own segment manager as well as its own engineering, sales and marketing, and operational general and administrative functions. All of the Company’s accounting and finance, human resources, IT and legal functions are provided on a centralized basis through the corporate function. The Company manages its balance sheet and cash flows centrally at the corporate level, with the exception of trade accounts receivable and inventory which is managed at the segment level. Each of the segment managers reports to and maintains regular contact with the chief operating decision maker to discuss operating activities, financial results, forecasts, or plans for the segment. As of January 1, 2013, the Company’s chief operating decision maker uses the profit and loss results through operating profit and identified assets for the Connected Solutions and RF Solutions segments to make operation decisions. The 2012 segment information presented in the financial statements has been presented on a retrospective basis reflecting the new Connected Solutions and RF Solution segments on a consistent basis with the current period.

For the year ended December 31, 2012, the Company operated in two different segments, PCTEL Secure, and the rest of the Company. The Company’s chief operating decision maker used the profit and loss results and the assets to make operating decisions.

Connected Solutions Segment

PCTEL is a leading supplier of antennas for private network, public safety and government applications, and site solutions for both private and public network, data, and communications applications. PCTEL’s MAXRAD^®, Bluewave™ and Wi-Sys™ antenna solutions include high-value YAGI, land mobile radio (“LMR”), Wi-Fi, GPS, In Tunnel, Subway, and Broadband antennas (parabolic and flat panel). PCTEL’s Connected Solutions™ products include specialized towers, enclosures, fiber optic panels, and fiber jumper cables that are engineered into site solutions. The vertical markets into which the antenna and site solutions are sold include supervisory control and data acquisition (“SCADA”), health care, energy, smart grid, precision agriculture, indoor wireless, telemetry, offloading, and wireless backhaul. Growth for antenna and engineered site solutions is primarily driven by the increased use of wireless communications in these vertical markets. PCTEL’s antenna and site solution products are primarily sold through distributors, value added reseller, and original equipment manufacturer (“OEM”) providers.

We established our current antenna and site solutions product portfolio with a series of acquisitions. In 2004 the Company acquired MAXRAD, Inc. (“MAXRAD”), as well as certain product lines from Andrew Corporation (“Andrew”), which established its core product offerings in Wi-Fi, LMR and GPS. Over the next several years we added additional capabilities within those product lines and additional served markets with the acquisition of certain assets from Bluewave Antenna Systems, Ltd (“Bluewave”) in 2008, and the acquisitions of Wi-Sys Communications, Inc (“Wi-Sys”) in 2009, Sparco Technologies, Inc. (“Sparco”) in 2010, and certain assets of TelWorx Communications LLC, TelWorx U.K. Limited, TowerWorx LLC, and TowerWorx International, Inc., in July 2012.

There are many competitors for antenna products, as the market is highly fragmented. Competitors include such names as Laird (Cushcraft, Centurion, and Antennex brands), Mobile Mark, Radiall/Larsen, Comtelco, Wilson, Commscope (Andrew products), Kathrein, and others. We seek out product applications that command a premium for product performance and customer service, and avoid commodity markets.

PCTEL maintains expertise in several technology areas in order to be competitive in the antenna engineered site solutions market. These include radio frequency engineering, mobile antenna design and manufacturing, mechanical engineering, product quality and testing, and wireless network engineering.

RF Solutions Segment

PCTEL is a leading supplier of high-speed, multi-standard, demodulating receivers and test and measurement solutions to the wireless industry worldwide. Our SeeGull ^® scanning receivers, receiver-based products and CLARIFY^® interference management solutions are used to measure, monitor and optimize cellular networks. PCTEL’s network engineering services (“NES”) Group provides value-added analysis of measured data collected during the optimization process. Revenue growth for these products and services is driven by the deployment of products based on new wireless technology and the need for wireless networks to be tuned and reconfigured on a regular basis. PCTEL develops and supports scanning receivers for LTE, EVDO, CDMA, WCDMA, GSM, TD-SCDMA, and WiMAX networks. Our scanning receiver products are sold primarily through test and measurement value added resellers and to a lesser extent directly to network operators. The engineering services are sold primarily to network infrastructure providers and cellular carriers. Competitors for these products are OEMs such as JDS Uniphase, Rohde and Schwarz, Anritsu, and Berkley Varitronics.

We established our scanning receiver product portfolio in 2003 with the acquisition of certain assets of Dynamic Telecommunications, Inc. (“DTI”). In 2009, we acquired the scanning receiver business from Ascom Network Testing, Inc. (“Ascom”) as well as the exclusive distribution rights and patented technology for Wider Network LLC (“Wider”) network interference products. In 2011, we purchased certain assets from Envision Wireless Inc. (“Envision”), an engineering services business based in Melbourne, Florida. The NES business focuses on the radio frequency (“RF”) issues pertaining to in-building coverage and capacity and its target market is relevant to our antenna and scanning receiver businesses. NES provides value-added analysis of collected data to public cellular carriers, network infrastructure providers, and real estate companies. In 2011 we formed PCTEL Secure LLC (“PCTEL Secure”), a joint venture limited liability company with Eclipse Design Technologies, Inc. (“Eclipse”) PCTEL Secure designs Android-based, secure communication products. The Company purchased all of Eclipse’s interests in the joint venture during 2012. PCTEL Secure has operated as an engineering program within RF Solutions.

PCTEL maintains expertise in several technology areas in order to be competitive in the scanning receiver and related engineering services market. These include radio frequency engineering, DSP engineering, manufacturing, mechanical engineering, product quality and testing, and wireless network engineering

Basis of Consolidation

The condensed consolidated balance sheet as of March 31, 2013 and the condensed consolidated statements of operations, statements of comprehensive loss, and cash flows for the three months ended March 31, 2013 and 2012, respectively, are unaudited and reflect all adjustments of a normal recurring nature that are, in the opinion of management, necessary for a fair presentation of the interim period financial statements. The interim condensed consolidated financial statements are derived from the audited financial statements as of December 31, 2012.

Through May 2012, the Company had a 51% ownership interest in PCTEL Secure. The Company purchased an additional 19% membership interest on May 29, 2012 and purchased the remaining 30% membership interest on July 2, 2012. With the purchase of the final 30% interest, PCTEL Secure became a wholly-owned subsidiary of PCTEL. For the three months ended March 31, 2012, the pro-rata percentage of the noncontrolling interest of PCTEL Secure’s net loss is recorded as noncontrolling interest in the condensed consolidated statements of operations. All intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated.

The unaudited interim condensed consolidated financial statements of the Company have been prepared pursuant to the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). Accordingly, certain information and footnote disclosures normally included in financial statements prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the U.S. have been condensed or omitted. The significant accounting policies followed by the Company are set forth within the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012 (“the 2012 Form 10-K”). There were no changes in the Company’s significant accounting policies during the three months ended March 31, 2013. In addition, the Company reaffirms the use of estimates in the preparation of the financial statements as set forth in the 2012 Form 10-K. These interim condensed consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the Company’s audited consolidated financial statements and notes thereto included in the 2012 Form 10-K. The results for the operations for the period ended March 31, 2013 may not be indicative of the results for the period ending December 31, 2013.

Foreign Currency Translation

The Company is exposed to foreign currency fluctuations due to its foreign operations and because products are sold internationally. The functional currency for the Company’s foreign operations is predominantly the applicable local currency. Accounts of foreign operations are translated into U.S. dollars using the exchange rate in effect at the applicable balance sheet date for assets and liabilities and average monthly rates prevailing during the period for revenue and expense accounts. Adjustments resulting from translation are included in accumulated other comprehensive income, a separate component of shareholders’ equity. Gains and losses resulting from other transactions originally in foreign currencies and then translated into U.S. dollars are included in the condensed consolidated statement of operations. Net foreign exchange losses resulting from foreign currency transactions included in other income, net were $11 and $10 for the three months ended March 31, 2013 and 2012, respectively.

Recent Accounting Guidance

In February 2013, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued ASU No. 2013-02, “Comprehensive Income (Topic 220) - Reporting of Amounts Reclassified Out of Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income.” The objective of this update is to improve the reporting of reclassifications out of accumulated other comprehensive income. The amendments in the update require an entity to report the effect of significant respective line items in net income if the amount being reclassified is required to be reclassified in its entirety to net income. For amounts that are not required to be reclassified in their entirety to net income, an entity is required to cross-reference other disclosures. The amendments in this update are effective prospectively for reporting periods after December 15, 2012. The adoption of this update did not have a material effect on our financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

- Definition

The entire disclosure for the organization, consolidation and basis of presentation of financial statements disclosure, and significant accounting policies of the reporting entity. May be provided in more than one note to the financial statements, as long as users are provided with an understanding of (1) the significant judgments and assumptions made by an enterprise in determining whether it must consolidate a VIE and/or disclose information about its involvement with a VIE, (2) the nature of restrictions on a consolidated VIE's assets reported by an enterprise in its statement of financial position, including the carrying amounts of such assets, (3) the nature of, and changes in, the risks associated with an enterprise's involvement with the VIE, and (4) how an enterprise's involvement with the VIE affects the enterprise's financial position, financial performance, and cash flows. Describes procedure if disclosures are provided in more than one note to the financial statements.

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