According to one aspect, a spread spectrum communications system is capable of automatically adjusting transmission power level so as to optimize one or more aspects of the spread spectrum communication system performance. The transmitters are coupled to select an operational mode from a group of operational modes and to operate in the selected operational mode. , complementary metal-oxide semiconductor integrated circuits is described. In one embodiment the system consists of a tabletop coil system, while another embodiment consists of a dedicated stretcher design. Further, various exemplary embodiments relate to a method of controlling a near field communications system, including: performing a low power poll of a tag; detecting a tag; initiating a first activation of the detected tag; receiving an indication that the first activation fails; reading a number of retries N from a memory; performing a second activation.