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 By popular request, a new set of shapes has been
added to RF Stencils for Visio:
Panel
Components. These are built to the same scale as the test equipment and equipment
racks in v3.0 so they will fit right in with your existing drawings. There are now more
than 780 shapes in v3.1! Still only $35 (free to v3.0 owners) ...
 "Electronics miniaturization has put high-powered
computing capability into the hands of ordinary people, but the ongoing downsizing of
integrated circuits is challenging engineers to come up with new ways to thwart component
overheating. Scientists at U. Cal., Irvine made a breakthrough recently in verifying
a new material configuration to facilitate cooling. In a study in the journal
Nanotechnology, members of UCI's Nano Thermal Energy Research Group
highlight the attributes of holey silicon, a computer chip ..."
 "The 2018 International Microwave Symposium (IMS),
this year, will be held in Philadelphia from the 10 to 15 of June. This year one of the
projects in the Student Design Competition is a 16-quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM)
radio. The competition will be based on a course offered by Dr. David S. Ricketts from
North Carolina State University. The competition leverages Dr. Ricketts' hands-on workshop,
known as 'From Bits to Waves: Building a Modern Radio in One Day,' which successfully
combines the use of NI AWR Design Environment with design labs to ..."
 The April issue of Aerospace Defense magazine
has an interesting article titled, "Designing with Plastics for Military Equipment," that discusses how
plastics are replacing metal parts in military equipment. Included is a useful table
of plastic types, their properties, and examples of their applications ...
 Transient Specialists, a leader in electromagnetic
compatibility rentals for over 40 years, announces that they will be offering a discount
price on the AVI 3000 for the month of May. This all-in-one 6 waveform portable
test unit allows easy on-site testing to full level 3 threat under all load conditions.
This product is ideal for testing to DO 160 Sec. 22 Level 3 and Mil Std. 461 CS 117 Waveforms
1, 2, 3, 4, 5A, and 6. Transient Specialists, conveniently located in the mid-west, offers
a variety of EMC test equipment rentals to accommodate your testing needs ...
 Yonghui Shu, president of SAGE Millimeter, offers
a primer on
Gunn diodes used as mm-wave oscillators. It appears on the HFE website.
"The semiconductor used in the Gunn oscillator is called the 'Gunn diode.' The Gunn diode
is a two-terminal 'negative' resistance device. The Gunn diode is also referred to as
a 'Transferred Electron Device' which was invented by J. B. Gunn in 1963. Since their
invention, Gunn oscillators have been playing a unique role in replacing the tube to
generate low to medium level ...
 "A manufacturer of III-V photonic devices claims
to have proven the feasibility of 60-GHz radio over fiber (ROF) transmission at a 1,270-nm
wavelength, paving the way to potential solutions for 5G networks. CST Global, a Scotland-based
subsidiary of Sivers IMA Holdings AB in Kista, Sweden, carried out the feasibility study
as part of an EU Horizon 2020 research project. The company says that ROF networks are
emerging as a completely new and promising communication paradigm for delivering broadband
wireless access services and ..."
 Mr. Matt Spexarth, of National Instruments, offers
his insight into the
future of automotive radar testing in his Microwave Journal
article. "Radar has multiple advantages over alternative sensing technologies, securing
its role in automotive active safety and autonomous driving well into the future. Radar
has the unique abilities to instantaneously detect the velocity of detected objects via
the Doppler shift of their radar signatures, and to penetrate inclement weather conditions
such as rain, fog and snow. These benefits are driving automakers ..."
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 John Frye, creator of fictitious electronics repair
shop owner Mac McGregor and his sidekick technician, Barney, must have been an amateur
student of
brainology[sic]. This episode in a 1969 issue of Electronics World, and
a recent story titled, "Biological Effects of Electrical Shock," which appeared in the
May 1973 edition of Popular Electronics are proof of that. A very good introduction
to the workings of nerve cells, axons, synapses, dendrites, etc., is given here. In a
role reversal, Barney is educating Mac this time based on a psychology course he is taking
at the community college. He goes beyond the "your brain is a ...
 Satellite communication is growing rapidly. Recent
and anticipated launches of new satellite equipment are spurring interest in and demand
for wireless communication. Several companies have stated the intent to provide large
throughput, high-speed communication networks in the coming years. Along with the increased
access to space, this is driving interest in new
satellite communications. Accordingly, we need new communications
technology to supply bandwidth and data rate to support these applications. One challenge ...
 I have to laugh a bit when seeing this article
on how to wire up a set of
3-way switches "[i]f you only have a two-wire cable to work with." There have been
many times when I needed to wire a set of 3-way switches and only had 2-wire Romex cable
on-hand. The simple solution is to simply run two pieces of 2-wire cable and only use
one wire from the second piece. A 250' roll of 14-3 w/ground costs about $79 at the hardware
store. A 250' roll of 14-2 w/ground costs about $45. For short runs, the additional cost
of using two pieces of 14-2 compared to a single piece of 14-3 is diddly. However, if
you want ...
 April 26, 2018, 11 am ET. NI AWR Design Environment
will be featured in a webinar on designing a
printed balun for a wide bandwidth L-band 200 W power amplifier (PA).
The design begins with an idealized circuit simulation in Microwave Office circuit design
software using closed-form transmission line models, followed by a more rigorous EM simulation
conducted using AXIEM 3D planar EM solver. The webinar is presented by Dr. Dominic FitzPatrick
of PoweRFul Microwave, who ...
 Here's a gimmick that never really caught on.
In the 1960's, Antenna Specialists promoted their Model M−148 Co-Ax Omni Antenna
"with
visual RF indicator." That indicator was a neon light bulb at the tip which lit up
when the transmitter was keyed on. Not only would this novel feature let you know when
your transmitter was broadcasting, but it would also "guide mobiles visually to your
10-20." OK, maybe at night, but it certainly wouldn't have been bright enough during
the day to even see. Alas, the public evidently didn't impress the buying public as much
as it did the designers. Maybe it had something to do with ...
 Here are a couple more
electronics-themed
comics from a 1969 edition of Electronics World magazine. I like the radio
astronomy comic. Enjoy ...
 RF Cafe's continued existence depends on companies
like ERZIA providing support. ERZIA produces microwave and mm-wave modular amplifiers and integrated assemblies
operating from Low frequencies up to 100 GHz. Their catalogue of standard amplifier
modules comprises more than 100 different models, having also a high capacity of customization
for amplifiers and integrated assemblies. Some of products have space heritage and are
used in aerospace, commercial, military and scientific systems, having a wide range of
final applications ...
 Testing multi-antenna systems such as phased array
or beamforming antennas requires a test system capable of providing
multiple signals with constant phase relationships between them.
The coherent test signals must have a specific or definable phase difference (relative
phase) and definable amplitude. Some of the challenges for such a test system include
compactness, phase control capability and simplicity in handling. In particular, phase
stability between the channels is of importance. This application note ...
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Archive -
Smartphone Addiction Similar to Substance Abuse
20 Entangled Qubits Bring Quantum Computer Closer
Indian Telcos to See 40% Drop in Revenue
UK Government Biggest Hurdle to Infrastructure Rollout
Sweden's Gun Violence Problem...
FCC Launches Honors Engineering Program
Google May Team with Nokia re Acquiring In-Flight Tech Unit
ARRL Requests Expanded HF Privileges for Technician Licensees
Ofcom Puts the Breaks on Dark Fibre Access Plans
Telcos Create Global Alliance to Fight Cyber Crime
Take Part in The Engineer's 2018 Salary Survey
 You probably won't find too many people
stacking television antennas these days, but many Hams still do it. Vertical stacking
is used primarily to increase overall gain without appreciably altering the azimuth beam,
while horizontal stacking forms a tighter azimuth beam without appreciably affecting
the overall gain. When it comes to optimizing antenna designs installations for operations
below about a gigahertz, Amateur Radio practitioners have pretty much written the book
on the subject - actually, they have written hundreds of books on the subject. Antenna
stacking is often used ...
 Anatech Electronics (AEI) manufactures and supplies
RF and microwave
filters for military and commercial communication systems, providing standard and
custom RF filters, and RF products. Standard RF filter and cable assembly products are
 published in our website database for ease of procurement.
Custom RF filters designs are used when a standard cannot be found, or the requirements
dictate a custom approach. Please visit Anatech today to see how they can help your project
succeed!
 This thankful commemoration of the 20th anniversary
of U.S. Air Mail service from
Burgess Battery Company, which appeared in a 1941 issue of QST magazine, encompasses
most of my major lifetime interests. First and foremost, from my earliest memories, is
a love of airplanes (and all things that fly for that matter). A DC−3 (my favorite multi-engine
propeller plane) is shown in one of the photos as is a Ford Trimotor, which Melanie and
I have flown on. Next comes the electrical, electronics, and radio communications aspects,
which encompasses the aircraft wiring ...
 Each week, for the sake of all avid cruciverbalists
amongst us, I create a new
technology-themed crossword puzzle using only words from my custom-created lexicon
related to engineering, science, mathematics, chemistry, physics, astronomy, etc. You
will never find among the words names of politicians, mountain ranges, exotic foods or
plants, movie stars, or anything of the sort. You might, however, see someone or something
in the exclusion list who or that is directly related to this puzzle's theme, such as
Hedy Lamar or the Bikini Atoll, respectively ...
 Rohde & Schwarz (R&S) is promoting the
availability of their free
RF Component Pocket Guide. I posted an article about it and some
of their
posters
and pocket guides. R&S develops, produces and markets test & measurement,
information and communications technology. It focuses on test and measurement, broadcast
and media, cybersecurity, secure communications and monitoring and network testing, areas
that address many different industry and government-sector market segments. Specifically:
test and measurement for the wireless market, automotive industry ...
 When is the last time you heard someone refer
to electronics as "solid
state?" It was a necessary differentiator during the era of transition from vacuum
tubes to semiconductors. Mere utterance caused fear in some, and futuristic hope in others.
"Solid State" was a big buzz phrase in marketing to household consumers and industry
planners. Why, I ask, was "solid state" chosen as the term to counter vacuum tube electronics?
Did we ever refer to tubes as "gaseous state" or "plasma state" devices? Maybe the "solid"
part of "solid state" evoked a sympathetic emotion with the coincident hippie / beatnik
era population's usage ...
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