RF Cafe Homepage
Your  Favorite RF, Microwave, Wireless, Radar, & Analog Engineering Website
This Day in History - 1618: Johannes Kepler discovered his harmonics law. 1836: Francis Baily observed "Baily's Beads" during an annular solar eclipse. 1863: Frank Hornby, English toy manufacturer who patented the Meccano construction set, was born. 1859: Nobel laureate Pierre Curie, who along with his wife, Marie, ...
Technical Headlines
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GE May Sell or Spin Off Appliance Unit (another American cultural icon gone?)
Mobile Phones Could Be Affected by IP Address Shortage
Ants Swarm over Houston Area, Fouling Electronics
New Cars are Gathering Information on You that Might Interest Insurance Companies, Advertisers, Government (Big Bro strikes again)
TSMC Board Approves $1B Share Buyback
Ericsson Eyes Margins, Outlines $25B R&D in Spending
NFC to Be in 50% of Mobiles by 2010
Qualcomm, Broadcom Leap Up Top-20 Semiconductor Rankings
Electric-Powered Exciton-Polariton Light from InGaAs
RadioFrame Readies 2nd Gen Femtocell Chip
TerraSAR-X and NFIRE Fire Up The Pipe with Laser Data Transfer
Worldwide Services Spending to Surpass $965B by 2012
Optimism for VC-Backed Chip Start-Ups
USPTO to Host Sally Ride Science TOYchallenge East Coast Showcase
Infineon Merger Speculation Flares Up -- Again
Russia Plans to Team with Europe on Moonship
Lab-on-a-Chip Made of Paper
Toronto Transit Finds Expen$ive Hybrid Busses Fall Way Short on Fuel Savings
Software by RF Cafe
-Complete List-
RF Cascade Workbook
  RF Cascade Workbook is a very extensive system cascaded component Excel workbook that includes the standard Gain, NF, IP2, IP3, Psat calculations, input & output VSWR, noise BW, min/max tolerance, DC power cauculations, graphing of all RF parameters, and has a graphical block diagram tool. An extensive User's Guide is also included. - Only $35.

RF system analysis now includes frequency conversion & filters

Free OOo edition
for limited time.

RF Workbench
Probably the most downloaded Shareware in RF engineering history
Smith Chart™ for Excel
This will amaze you - Free!
Smith Chart™ for Visio
Built on the Visio grid
RF & EE Symbols Word
Built on the Word grid
RF & EE Stencils for Visio
Built on the Visio grid
Calculator Workbook
Download for FREE - Excel & OpenOffice versions
Your Host
Click here to read about RF CafeKirt Blattenberger... single-handedly
re-defining what an engineering website should be.

Listen to "Seize the Day" by Carolyn Arends - it requires installation of Rhaposody player (free)Carpe Diem!
(Seize the Day)

View the YouTube RF Cafe Intro video New in April 2008
An RF Cafe Intro Video
Hobby
Airplanes and Rockets: My personal hobby website

Spektrum DX6: World's first spread spectrum R/C system

Equine Kingdom: My daughter Sally's horse riding business website - lots of info   Mt. Airy News

Online Calculators
These engineering calculators are created with Office Web Components (OWC) and include filters, voltage dividers, attenuators and more.
RF Cafe is a Certified
Green Website.
RF Cafe: Certified Pb-Free Website - Tin Whiskas Found!RF Cafe:: Certified RoHS Compliant Website - Tin of Whiskas Found!
Pb-Free   RoHS

Our Promise to You:
No Pb, CFC, PCB, LSD, PCP, or other hazardous/illegal material has used in the production of RF Cafe. No animals have been harmed.

Smorgasbord
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_Engineers of Jihad_

A sociology paper from the University of Oxford has suggested there is a tie between the mindset of Electrical Engineers and that of extreme Islamic terrorists.

"Abstract. We find that graduates from subjects such as science, engineering, and medicine are strongly overrepresented among Islamist movements in the Muslim world... We also find that engineers alone are strongly over-represented among graduates in violent groups... Do engineers have a 'mindset' that makes them a particularly good match for Islamism..."

I suggest printing out the entire 90 pages and using it as bathroom material - not necessarily for reading.

Cool Video
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RF Cafe Cool Video: Takao Doi's famous boomerang toss in spaceJapan's Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has finally released the video of astronaut Takao Doi's famous boomerang toss in space. Q: Will it work outside the ISS.
Cool Product
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Kikusui PLZ6000R 6kW Regenerative DC Electronic LoadKikusui does not provide an estimate of how long it will take their PLZ6000R 6kW Regenerative DC Electronic Load to pay for itself, but the concept uniqueness alone makes worthy of further investigation. Regular electronic loads consume load power by having semiconductor devices convert it into heat. By contrast, PLZ6000R converts load power into reusable electric power, rather than converting it into heat as is typically done, and feeds this power to the AC line.
Press Releases
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Skyworks Supports More than 10 New Samsung 3G Handset Models – Including First European Mobile TV Slider Phone
Z-Comm Introduces L-Band Coaxial Resonator Oscillator w/Extremely Low Phase Noise for Test Equipment and Digital Radio Apps
Y-Lynx Announces New YLX-TRM8053-025 ISM Band Wireless Xcvr with Module Communication Controller
RFMD Releases 2.4 GHz to 5.8 GHz Frequency Transverter
GreenPeak Technologies Establishes New U.S. Office
GigaLane, Manufacturer of RF Connectors and Components, Launches New Website Design
Z-Communications, Inc. is Pleased to Announce a New Division Named Z-Comm Microwave
Radiocrafts Launches World’s First Wireless M-Bus RF Module
Reciprocal Links
If you are kind enough to consider providing a reciprocal link from your website to RF Cafe, then here are a few pre-prepared formats that you might consider.
Notable Quote
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"Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun's rays do not burn until brought to a focus." - Alexander Graham Bell
Cool Pic
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U.S. National Gas Temperature MapSince the cost of energy affects engineering, from transportation to powering industry, this U.S. National Gas Temperature Map should be of interest. Maybe the old saying that "Misery Loves Company" inspired the topic. Here is a version for Canada. Venezuelans pay about 20˘/gal, Iranians about 35˘/gal - less than what the government takes in taxes per gallon. U.S. crude oil suppliers: #1 is Canada, #2 is Saudi Arabia, #3 is Mexico.
Featured Book
Project Management for Business and EngineeringProject Management for Business and Engineering: Principles and Practice
by John M. Nicholas
May Giveaway
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Click here to see the book listEach month, the winner can choose from a list of my engineering books. Click on icon for details. Robert S. and Kevin A. are Winners in the April 2008 RF Cafe Book Giveaway!
Kirt's Cogitations
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Choose Your
Welfare System

I will pose here a question with a seemingly obvious answer – a rhetorical one of sorts. Most likely to you and definitely to me, the answer indeed is obvious, but unfortunately for far too many, the answer is what is termed a non sequitur. Here is the question: If you accept the fact that the government is going to extort outrageous tax dollars from the producers of society, would you rather that the money be spent distributing handouts to people who have no intention of contributing positively to the economy, or to companies who employ those willing to be productive and thus ease the overall burden on everyone? Most politicians, whose primary function in life is, based on empirical evidence, to get elected and then remain in office, know from ample experience that rewarding certain types of bad behavior can have its advantages. For instance, if a lazy person knows that he can indulge his inclinations and is content with just eking out a continued existence, then he is happy to spend his days living off the hard work of others. If we are fortunate, he will at best cause no trouble for the rest of us beyond the bite he takes out of our paychecks. At worst – and this is all too often the case – his idle lifestyle will provide opportunity for causing mischief. That, of course, will require that more be withheld from our paychecks in the form of taxes to police, prosecute, incarcerate, rehabilitate, and then monitor him his entire life. Generations of such people have been created and coddled all for the sake of maintaining a nice, fat, somewhat reliable voter ... (more)

Recent Additions
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Future IEEE Web Seminars: Tell Us Which Topics You'd Like to See
Click vire current Miami Dade County jobs
ETSD Infrastructure Systems Manager
IEEE Tech Insider Webinar: "RF Trends"
Modular Approach Provides Fast And Easy Prototyping, by Jenny Jiayan Shen
Opinion Piece: Analog TV Ripped Off by the Government
Click to view current Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory jobs
Check Out These 4 Great RF Engineering Opportunities
The 2007 Ig® Nobel Improbable Research Prize Winners Have Been Announced
Free Webinar: Six Best Practices to Design Test Systems for Scalability and Maintainability
Radio Communications and Tunnels Don't Mix, Or Do They?
Carole Raynal - RF Engineer - Resume Added
Artemis Announces an Opening for an RF/Microwave Test Engineer
Please click to visit Star MicrowaveStar Microwave Is Continuing to Help Bring RF Cafe to You
Keithley Creates Precision Sourcing and Measurement Resource Guide CD
Click to visit RadiotronixThanks to the Folks at Radiotronix for Their Continued Support
Click to view current ARRIS job opportunities
ARRIS Just Added 2 New RF Engineering Jobs
Jeff Philips - RF Engineer - Resume Updated
AMT Microwave Corporation Listing Added to Antenna Vendors
1st Used Network Hardware Listing Added
Thanks to Stealth Microwave for Supporting RF Cafe
New Paper: "Polynomial Model of Blocker Effects on Small Signal Gain and Noise Figure for LNA/Mixer Devices Used in Wireless Receivers"
5-9-2008 Crossword Puzzle
IEEE Spectrum Survey: How Green is Your Company?
Click to visit the TestParts.com websiteTestParts Has Renewed Its Assistance in Bringing RF Cafe to You
Raytheon Baltimore Career Event - May 20th
Click to visit antennas.usThanks to antennas.us for Their Continued Support
Clemson University Vehicular Electronics Laboratory - Lots of Resources for EMC & Modeling
PCBDesign.org - Extensive PCB Design Resource
ABC Vacuum Tubes - 2,000 Varieties, 3.5 Million Parts
Qualcomm Interview Forum
RF Cafe has become the  the de facto place to visit for questions, answers, and sharing of interview experiences with Qualcomm. Check out the Forum here. We have no affiliation of any sort with Qualcomm.
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