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Today in Science History -
 "CRFS has launched a new Winter Webinar Series
aimed at maintaining discussions on key
RF Spectrum topics. Since the international lockdown began during March, and
with the cancellation of sector events, CRFS has provided a virtual stage to educate
and support audiences in the security, defense and spectrum monitoring community.
Adapting to the 'new normal' has seen diverse audiences from across the globe attend
the previous webinars and the CRFS Winter Webinar series will expand on this with
a range of new topics. The webinars will explore the growing importance of Electromagnetic
Spectrum Operations (EMSO) in military Electromagnetic Battle Management (EMBM),
the challenges faced..."
 "Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's
(DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have begun building a
quantum-enhanced
X-ray microscope at the National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II). This
groundbreaking microscope, supported by the Biological and Environmental Research
program at DOE's Office of Science, will enable researchers to image biomolecules
like never before. NSLS-II is a DOE Office of Science User Facility where researchers
use powerful X-rays to 'see' the structural, chemical, and electronic makeup of
materials down to the atomic scale. The facility's ultrabright light already enables
discoveries in biology, helping researchers uncover the structures of proteins to
inform drug design for a variety of diseases - to name just one example..."
 Artech House today announced the publication
of
Countermeasures for Aerial Drones by Garik Markarian and Andrew Staniforth.
This comprehensive resource explains the development of UAVs, drone threats, counter-UAV
systems, and strategies to handle UAVs, focusing on the practical aspects of counter-unmanned
aerial vehicle (UAV) systems and technologies. Theory, technical and operational
practice with insights from industry and policing are covered, and the full rogue
drone threat landscape and counter-drone technologies and systems is explored. The
book provides insight into counter-drone strategy, developing effective counter-drone
strategies and measures, as well as counter-drone programs and the regulatory frameworks
governing the use of drones. An New Release price of $111 is being offered for a
limited time...
 NorthEast RF's comprehensive
antenna testing
services include linear | circular polarized antenna measurements and OTA cellular
device pre-compliance. Up to 18" diameter and <10 kg weight. Antennas can be
rapidly evaluated and optimized using our fast near field spherical system. Test
results supplied in data file with pattern viewer software. A picture of the test
configuration is included to help aligned axis. Our selection of human head and
hand phantoms are ideal for verification of body worn devices. Turnaround time is
usually 3-days.
 Just as early cellphones (Motorola's Bag
Phone, e.g.) required large carrying cases to contain both the large electronics
and the large battery required to operate the phone, some of the first commercially
available portable personal radio sets came with shoulder straps. Those that didn't
have straps had wheels and a handle. The "walkie-talkie"
(originally called "handi-talkies") designs were first seen during World War II
and then in Korea. In fact, this 1955 article from Popular Electronics was printed
shortly after the end of the conflict in 1953. Don't confuse the radio-based portable
field telephones with the ones that had a pair of wires (sometimes thousands of
feet of it) that did not need complicated circuitry for over-the-air transmitting
and receiving...
 ConductRF is continually innovating and
developing new and improved solutions for RF Interconnect needs. See the latest
TESTeCON RF Test Cables
for labs. ConductRF makes production and test coax cable assemblies for amplitude
and phased matched VNA applications as well as standard & precision RF connectors.
Over 1,000 solutions for low PIM in-building to choose from in the iBwave component
library. They also provide custom coax solutions for applications where some standard
just won't do. A partnership with Newark assures fast, reliable access. Please visit
ConductRF today to see
how they can help your project!
 For the sake of avid cruciverbalists amongst
us, each week I create a new crossword puzzle that has a theme related to engineering,
mathematics, chemistry, physics, and other technical words. This November 29th
Radio & Radar Crossword Puzzle, as always, contains no names of politicians,
mountain ranges, exotic foods or plants, movie stars, or anything of the sort unless
it/he/she is related to this puzzle's technology theme (e.g., Hedy Lamarr or the
Bikini Atoll). The technically inclined cruciverbalists amongst us will appreciate
the effort. Enjoy!
 National Union Radio Corporation, located
in Orange, New Jersey, had been producing radios since its formation in 1929 when
this Radio Service Data Sheet for its
Model G−619 "Presentation" tabletop set appeared in a 1947 issue of Radio-Craft
magazine. That they survived the Great Depression which began in the year of their
founding is a testament the tenacity of its management, design staff, and production
workers. This 5-tube radio had a very nice mahogany case with a unique reverse-lettering
dial glass plate. A few years ago I posted an advertisement by Union Radio from
a 1945 issue of Radio-Craft appealing specifically to women engineers and technicians
because of the severe shortage of men available while serving in the armed forces
during World War II...
 "Army scientists have developed a first-of-its-kind
antenna that could change how ground vehicles and airborne systems communicate,
transmit, and receive radio frequency communications. The Army matured a manufacturing
process using a special class of engineered materials known as metaferrites to make
an
ultra-thin wideband antenna. The antenna conforms to curved surfaces, making
it ideal to integrate in unmanned aircraft systems, rotary wing aircraft, and ground
vehicles. Said Dr. Philip Perconti, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Research
and Technology and Chief Scientist for the Army, 'Our technical experts used their
knowledge in material properties, modeling, and test and evaluation to further advance
these materials..."
 60 years ago, when this article was originally
published in Popular Electronics magazine, most computers were constructed
either of gears or of vacuum tubes. The Univac in the photo below was a breakthrough
for having been
built entirely of transistors. Even with its "compact" size compared to is successor
the ENIAC, the total computational power and programmability was orders of magnitude
less than that of my handheld calculator, whose size is largely dictated not by
the volume of the electronic circuits, but by the size of the display and the need
for input keys larges enough to press reliably. Doesn't the photo of Pascal's calculator
of 1642 look like it could be a modern 19" rack-mount chassis, complete with handles?
 Modelithics, is pleased to announce the release
of version
20.8 of the COMPLETE+3D Library for use with Ansys HFSS. The library contains
over 325 highly scalable Microwave Global Models™ for capacitor, inductor, and resistor
families from many popular vendors, plus a collection of nearly 300 Modelithics'
3D geometry models for inductors, capacitors, filters, packages and connectors.
This library now represents a total of 22,000 individual components with circuit
and/or 3D EM models. Version 20.8 adds nine new part value-, pad-, and substrate
scalable models and over eighty new full wave 3D electromagnetic models. New scalable
circuit models include new models for AVX's MP01...
 Centric RF is a company offering from stock
various RF and Microwave coaxial
components, including attenuators, adapters, cable assemblies, terminations,
power dividers, and more. We believe in offering high performance parts from stock
at a reasonable cost. Frequency ranges of 0-110 GHz at power levels from 0.5-500
watts are available off the shelf. Order today, ship today! Centric RF is currently
looking for vendors to partner with them. Please visit Centric RF today.
 Amateur radio enthusiasts are very familiar
with
burying ground radials below the surface (or sometimes just laid on top) in
order to increase antenna efficiency by affecting impedance and, more importantly,
the radiation pattern. Long distance (DX) operators generally prefer low launch
angles over high angle "cloud warmers." Pittsburgh's KDKA, the country's first commercial
broadcast radio station, built what would have been the mother of all ground radial
arrays for its time - 360 (one every degree), 700-foot copper wires (8 AWG), for
a total of a quarter million feet! It was laid using a farm tractor drawing a non-motorized
trench cutter that looks like it came straight from the John Deere factory. It also
implemented a new type of passive vertical suppressor element array...
 "According to a recent report published by
Technavio, the
RF Filters Market is poised to grow at a CAGR of over 20% from 2020 to 2024
to reach USD $15.73B. The report offers an up-to-date analysis regarding the current
market scenario, the latest trends and drivers, and the overall market environment.
According to the report, the market is fragmented, and the degree of fragmentation
will remain the same during the forecast period. The increase in product launches,
organizational restructuring, M&A, and partnerships help market participants
expand their product portfolios, geographic presence, and distribution networks.
Skyworks Solutions Inc., STMicroelectronics NV, Tai-Saw Technology Co. Ltd., Taiyo
Yuden Co. Ltd., and TDK Corp. are some of the major market participants..."
 Here is a specially-made
Thanksgiving Day 2020 crossword puzzle compliments of RF Cafe containing a few
specific words commemorating the holiday along with the usual assortment of engineering
and science related words and clues. Thanksgiving is celebrated in America each
year on the fourth Thursday of November in commemoration of the 1621 feast where
the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians shared a harvest feast. Macy's 91st
Thanksgiving Day Parade occurs on the morning of Friday, November 26th and follows
a route along Central Park West and 6th Avenue. Interestingly, the parade was cancelled
during the World War II years of 1942, 1943, and 1944 in order to conserve
much needed raw materials. This year, 2020, it will be a hollow event with no spectators
allowed along the parade path...
 Since 1961, MECA
Electronics has designed and manufactured an extensive line of
RF & microwave components
for in-building, satellite, radar, radio, telemetry, mobile radio, aviation &
ATC. Attenuators, directional & hybrid couplers, isolators & circulators,
power dividers & combiners, loads, DC blocks, bias-Ts and adapters & cables.
MECA has long been the 'backbone' of high performance wired and air-interfaced networks
such as in-building applications, satellite communications, radar, radio communications,
telemetry applications, mobile radio, aviation & air traffic communications.
 Listen to the RF
Cafe Podcast! A November edition of "Mac's
Radio Service Shop" is appropriate given today's date, especially since author
John T. Frye nearly always had the story's setting coincide with the month
in which it appeared in Radio & Television News magazine; the year
was 1951. The unspecified dateline is somewhere in the upper Midwest, most likely
Indiana. Mac's mention of converting a black-and-white television set to color by
installing a "color wheel" really betrays the era. The NTSC (National Television
System Committee) had not yet adopted an industry standard for color TV, and the
various manufacturers were selling a mix of mechanical, electro-mechanical and all-electronic
sets. In 1953, the NTSC settled on a 525-line interlaced scan (only 468 lines are
part of the visible scan). Knowing that a better color system would be available
soon due to massive public demand, Mac put his efforts into talking customers out
of a color conversion...
 Stephen Barthelmes of Triad RF Systems talks
amplified radios, Doherty techniques, SDR, and UAVs with everythingRF. We talk
about everything from amplified radios and Doherty techniques to software defined
radio (SDR) systems and UAVs in an interview with everythingRF this week. everythingRF:
Can you give us a brief history about Triad RF? Stephen Barthelmes: Triad
RF was established in 2010 when the idea for the company began. In 2013, Dave, Dean
and I got together to begin the development of RF products that were underserved
by the market. By bringing the decades of knowledge that we had accumulated together,
we implemented solid processes in sales, design and manufacturing that produced
products that were cutting edge in performance and cost. We also understood the
market pressures for increasing RF power to enhance data transmission while simultaneously
improving overall efficiency. We stepped up to that challenge by creating some of
the most linear and efficient amplifiers in the market...
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