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About RF Cafe

Kirt Blattenberger Alpena, MI rfcafe@yahoo.com

What (or Who) is RF Cafe ? (click here for... the rest of the story)

Copyright Acknowledgements Disclaimer

Update November 2013: RF Cafe has relocated to Alpena, Michigan, on Long Lake. Updates and photos coming soon!

RF Cafe began life in 1996 as "RF Tools" in an AOL screen name web space totaling 2 MB. Its primary purpose was to provide me with ready access to commonly needed formulas and reference material while performing my work as an RF system and circuit design engineer. The Internet was still largely an unknown entity at the time, and not much was available in the form of WYSIWYG editors; in fact, my early pages were written using Notepad. After a couple years of adding material to the website, I noticed that the hit counter would sometimes record a hundred or more hits in a single day, which clued me in to the reality that other people were finding my site useful. E-mails began arriving with suggestions, corrections, and even a few compliments.

New in April 2008 An RF Cafe Intro Video Here is a version of the video that was professionally re-worked by SavvyPaper

New in April 2009 RF Cafe Security Task Force Training

That was enough to convince me to expand the presence, so I hijacked web space from my kids' AOL area for storing files, and linked to them from RF Tools. In July of 1999, I purchased the rfcafe.com domain (and later rfcafe.net) and launched the RF Tools content as "RF Cafe." The RF Cafe name was chosen due to its brevity for typing, its simplicity for remembering, and, perhaps most importantly, because it hints at my appreciation for a good cup of coffee (starbucks.com was already taken!). Besides, names like "e-Something" and "Something Cafe" were in vogue at the time.

Please click here to find out about advertising on RF Cafe.

Reciprocal Links

If you are kind enough to provide a link from your website to RFCafe.com and want to use an image or just text, please consider using one of prepared formats presented here for simplicity. A large selection of commemorative logos are available.

The RF Cafe Empire RFCafeJobs.com RFCafe.com RFCafe.net RFCafe.org RFCafe.us RFCafe.co.uk RFCafe.eu RFCafe.mobi RFCafe.info RFCafe.biz RFCafe.co

After many years of handling all the webmaster duties myself, the demand increased to the point that I needed assistance to handle the many additions and revisions that are performed on a daily basis. I have always had a fulltime+ job while running RF Cafe, so maintenance consumed the evenings and a good part of the weekends. I scan the Internet daily for interesting headlines, write Kirt's Cogitations, research day in history items, create the crossword puzzles, constantly search for and generate new content, write the spreadsheets and other software, design advertiser ads, choose good books for display, manage the overall website format, and everything else that requires a more in-depth engineering knowledge. Finally, in April of 2007, I left RF Micro Devices (RFMD, a great company) after more than five years with them to work at RF Cafe fulltime. It has been three years now (April 2010), and I truly wonder how I ever got enough done because even now I spend all day and evening working on the website.

Custom RF Cafe Gear T-shirt, sweatshirt, coffee cup, mouse pad, baseball cap, etc. Just 50¢ over cost

RF Cafe currently enjoys the status of being one of the most highly rated engineering websites on the Internet. Typical weekday visitor counts are more than 7,000, and those are honest page hits that don't include every downloaded image file on the page like many sites report. The attraction for our much-appreciated regular visitors is the laid-back atmosphere, the extensive collection of resources, and the daily fresh content. Paying advertisers appreciate the huge amount of exposure to engineers for a ridiculously low price, and nearly instant access to me for service. I plan to grow this empire to the maximum extent possible  ;-)

Thanks for taking the time to read this, and be sure to drop us an e-mail or phone call any time with your suggestions, comments and questions. Please be sure to visit our advertisers in appreciation for their helping to fund the website. Oh, and buy stuff too!!!

Kirt Blattenberger

Dunn & Bradstreet:  005 660 324 DUNS


To the top right is a photo taken from our back porch on April 6, 2011! (click for larger version)

To the bottom right is a view of Canada from our back porch. On a clear day, the water tower of Port Rowan, Canada - 42 miles away - is visible. On a clear night, we can see the navigation hazard light. Photo taken May 11, 2011. RF Cafe altitude is 897 ft ASL. Lake Erie altitude is 571 ft. ASL. Port Rowan altitude is 602 ft ASL. Our porch is about 4 ft higher than the road, so it is at about 330 ft. above Lake Erie. The Port Rowan water tower is 170 ft tall, so the navhaz light is about 201 ft above Lake Erie. A Line of Sight calculator estimates a total LOS for these altitudes of 46 miles, which is consistent with my observations. The Canadian shoreline is in sight from east to west.

** Copyright Notice ** All editorial content and graphics on this site are protected by copyright law and may not be copied without the express permission of Kirt Blattenberger, which reserves all rights. Permission to use content on this site is granted on a case-by-case basis. We welcome your request. Please direct your inquiries to Kirt Blattenberger owner.	** Acknowledgments ** All trademarks, trade names, copyrights, etc., for entities listed in this production are hereby acknowledged. Inclusion of such references in this production are provided free of charge as a service to engineers and other technical persons in search of goods and services providers. It is the responsibility of any vendor that does not desire to be represented on this Site to provide formal notification for removal of references.
** Disclaimer ** Due to advanced features used in the creation of this web site, Microsoft Internet Explorer v4.0 or later is required to guarantee proper display of contents. For example, some equations are generated using an (Overline) character. If you do not see the line over the word (Overline) in these sentences, then your browser does not support necessary features. Additionally, the "Symbol" font must be installed on your system. Default font style for this site is MS Verdana. Access to and use of this RF Cafe Internet site (the "Site") is provided subject to these terms and conditions. PLEASE READ THESE TERMS CAREFULLY, BECAUSE USE OF THE SITE CONSTITUTES ACCEPTANCE OF THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS. The Site provides a range of information, and although it attempts to provide Information that is useful, I cannot possibly insure the accuracy of all of the Information at all times, and you should not rely on the information in situations where its inaccuracy would cause you to suffer any significant loss. THE INFORMATION IS PROVIDED "AS IS". RF CAFE, KIRT BLATTENBERGER, AND ITS ASSIGNEES MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND CONCERNING THE ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS OR SUITABILITY OF THE INFORMATION, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. This Site does not sell, resell or license any of the "Products" linked to or otherwise referenced on this Site, unless otherwise noted, and I disclaim any responsibility for or liability related to the Products. Any questions, complaints or claims related to any Product should be directed to the appropriate vendor. The Information is being provided without charge to the user. Accordingly, RF CAFE, KIRT BLATTENBERGER, AND ITS ASSIGNEES SHALL NOT BE LIABLE UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES OR UNDER ANY LEGAL THEORY FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, PUNITIVE, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES THAT MAY BE SUFFERED BY YOU OR ANY OTHER USER OF THE SITE IN CONNECTION WITH OR AS A RESULT OF THE INFORMATION OR THE PRODUCTS REGARDLESS OF HOW SUCH DAMAGES MAY ARISE AND EVEN IF PREVIOUSLY ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. The opinions expressed on this Site are solely those of Kirt Blattenberger, and do not necessarily reflect those of any persons or companies referenced on or sponsored by RF Cafe (although they should if they do not).
Privacy Policy for RFCafe.com The privacy of visitors to RFCafe.com is important to me. At RFCafe.com, I recognize that privacy of your personal information is important. Here is information on what types of personal information is received and collected when you use and visit RFCafe.com, and how your information is safeguard.  I never sell or provide your personal information to third parties. Cookies and Web Beacons RFCafe.com does use cookies to store information, such as your personal preferences when you visit the site. If you use the RF Cafe Forums, it does store your login on your computer so you can re-visit without signing in again (unless you clear your cache). I do not run any programs that attempt to deploy popups or any other obnoxious unrequested window. RFCafe.com uses third party advertisements via Google AdSense to help support the site. You can chose to disable or selectively turn off our cookies or third-party cookies in your browser settings, or by managing preferences in programs such as Norton Internet Security. However, this can affect how you are able to interact with this site as well as other websites. This could include the inability to login to services or programs, such as logging into forums or accounts.   In summary, I despise tricks used by other websites to encroach on my privacy and that throw unwelcome content in my face, so I do not do that to anyone else.

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