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Today in Science History -
 This assortment of custom-designed themes
by RF Cafe includes T-Shirts, Mouse Pads, Clocks, Tote Bags, Coffee Mugs and Steins,
Purses, Sweatshirts, and Baseball Caps. Choose from amazingly clever "We Are the World's Matchmakers"
Smith chart design or the "Engineer's Troubleshooting Flow Chart." My "Matchmaker's"
design has been ripped off by other people and used on their products, so please
be sure to purchase only official RF Cafe gear. My markup is only a paltry 50¢ per
item - Cafe Press gets the rest of your purchase price. These would make excellent
gifts for husbands, wives, kids, significant others, and for handing out at company
events or as rewards for excellent service. It's a great way to help support RF
Cafe. Thanks...
 "Faster, smaller, smarter and more energy-efficient
chips for everything from consumer electronics to big data to brain-inspired computing
could soon be on the way after engineers at The University of Texas at Austin created
the
smallest
memory device yet. And in the process, they figured out the physics dynamic
that unlocks dense memory storage capabilities for these tiny devices. The research
published recently in Nature Nanotechnology builds on a discovery from two years
ago, when the researchers created what was then the thinnest memory storage device.
In this new work, the researchers reduced the size even further, shrinking the cross
section area down to just a single square nanometer..."
 Something happened
at work that reminded me of a funny event from way back during my time at
Westinghouse Oceanic Division (now part of Northrop Grumman), in Annapolis, MD.
There is a moral to this story. During my electronics technician days there, I
spent the first couple years building PCBs, wiring harnesses, and system-level
assemblies for
Navy sonar systems. We had some really slick stuff like towed vehicles with
transducer arrays along the sides, nose cones for smart torpedoes, flow sensors,
proximity fuse elements, etc. One of my tasks for a while was to build the
transducer arrays, which entailed building the hundreds of tiny transducer
elements. The assemblies were made of a machined aluminum base plate, onto which
a precisely cut low density foam block was attached. On the top of that was a
set of two machined aluminum plates that sat on either side of a piezoelectric
ceramic transducer element...
 L3Harris is dedicated to recruiting and
developing diverse, high-performing talent who are passionate about what they
do. We are in need of a
Scientist, Advanced Concept Engineer (ACE) at our Van Nuys, CA location.
L3Harris Technologies is an agile global aerospace and defense technology
innovator, delivering end-to-end solutions that meet customers' mission-critical
needs. The ACE will identify and/or define customers emerging needs and develop
solutions to those needs. The ACE will maintain a macro view of existing and
emerging products and technologies. The ideal candidate will have significant
experience and knowledge in the Radar Engineering field. Although not a
requirement, additional knowledge of Electronic Warfare (EW) or Electronic
Support Measures (ESM) systems will be considered a plus. This position will
focus on breadth rather than depth and will have technical interface to
customers to discover, qualify, and pursue business opportunities...
 Anatech Electronics (AEI) manufactures and
supplies RF and microwave
filters for military and commercial communication systems, providing standard
LP, HP, BP, BS, notch, diplexer, 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 for your military and commercial
communications needs. Sam Benzacar's monthly newsletters address contemporary wireless
subjects. Please visit Anatech today to see how they can help your project succeed.
 The RETMA referenced in this 1954 Radio &
Television News magazine article entitled "New
Standards for TV Antennas" was commonly known back in the day, but not many
would recognize it nowadays. RETMA, founded in 1953 at the dawn of the commercial
television age, was the Radio Electron[ics] Television Manufacturing Association.
It set standards for electronics components like resistors (e.g., the 1%, 2%, 5%,
10% series), capacitors, inductors, equipment racks, and antennas. After many name
iterations, what began as the Radio Manufacturers Association (RMA), it changed
to RETMA in 1953, then to Electronic Industries Association (EIA, well-known for
its 19" rack standards) in 1957, and today it is known as the Consumer Technology
Association (CTA). The cost of letterhead and promotional material changes over
the years must have been enormous ;-) Tracing the full history is difficult, but
between Wikipedia and the JEDEC websites you can get a pretty good picture. The
"Antenna Section" spoken of here is the area of the RETMA manual pertaining to antennas...
 Gowanda Electronics, a designer and manufacturer
of precision electronic components for broadband radio frequency and power applications,
announces the introduction of a new
broadband microwave RF conical inductor series - C070 - available in Surface
Mount (C070SM) and Flying Lead (C070FL) configurations to enhance utility for the
electronic design community. Gowanda's new C070 series was developed to address
market needs and industry trends calling for ever-increasing performance from broadband
conical components. It was designed for use in communication applications for bias
T's (filter signals, remove noise), broadband chip manufacturing, communication
platforms, high frequency, microwave circuitry...
 "IEEE has released the results of a survey
that they conducted with Chief Information Officers (CIOs) and Chief Technology
Officers (CTOs) in the U.S., U.K., China, India and Brazil. The objective of the
survey was to identify the
most important technologies for 2021, understand the impact of the COVID-19
pandemic on the speed of their technology adoption and figure out which industries
are expected to be most impacted by technology in the year ahead. Among total respondents,
nearly one-third (32%) say AI and machine learning, followed by 5G (20%) and IoT
(14%). Manufacturing (19%), healthcare (18%), financial services (15%) and education
(13%) are the industries that most believe will be impacted..."
 "These pulses speed toward the moon at the
fantastic speed of light… through the ionosphere and on into the unknown void surrounding
the earth's atmosphere." Hard as it might be to imagine nowadays, in 1946 there
was no empirical data regarding the Earth's upper atmosphere other than the few
instrumented sounding rockets that had been launched for studies. Orbiting man-made
communications satellites were still a decade away when engineers at the Evans Signal
Corps Engineering Laboratory in New Jersey made the first
Earth-Moon-Earth
(EME, aka "moon bounce") signal bounce using a massive radar and antenna that blasted
10 MW EIRP pulse at the lunar surface. It was a big deal then; it's no big
deal today. Amateur radio hobbyists routinely conduct EME communications from the
comfort of their home-based Ham shacks, using equipment vastly superior to and less
expensive than the 1946 setup...
 RF Cafe website visitor and contributor Joseph B.
sent me a note about this article by Lou Frenzel on the Electronic Design
website entitled, "Heathkit:
An Employee's Look Back." It begins: "For those of you who do not know or remember,
Heath Company was the largest kit company in the world. Heath designed and put
practically every type of electronic product into kit form. Its products, called
Heathkits, were exceptionally popular and many are still in use today. Over the
years, Electronic Design has published many Heathkit-related articles and blogs.
Recently, I had a chance to talk with Chas Gilmore, who was a Heath executive. For
those of you who fondly remember Heathkit and miss its products, here's a look back
at this amazing company and the lessons it offers..."
 RF Cascade Workbook 2018 is the next phase in the evolution
of RF Cafe's long-running series, RF Cascade Workbook. Chances are you
have never used a spreadsheet quite like this. It is a full-featured RF system cascade
parameter and frequency planner that includes filters and mixers for a mere $45.
Built in MS Excel, using RF Cascade Workbook 2018 is a cinch and
the format is entirely customizable. It is significantly easier and faster than
using a multi-thousand dollar simulator when a high level system analysis is all
that is needed. An intro video takes you through the main features...
 Teledyne Defense Electronics (TDE) this week
unveiled a new interactive
Virtual Trade Show online as a vehicle to promote key product lines and capabilities
to customers in a permanent, ongoing manner. Once customers enter the Virtual Trade
Show (VTS) they begin an immersive online experience, the perception of being physically
present in a non-physical world. That experience includes a 360º panorama view that
surrounds the VTS user, enabling customers to "look" left, right, up, down, and
move freely from one area on the VTS floor to another navigating by a laptop mouse.
This multi-media experience showcases the flagship offerings of TDE's 15 business
units, each of whom have their own booth...
 Res-Net Microwave has a complete line of
precision RF & microwave
components including attenuators, terminations, resistors, and diode detectors
for commercial, military, and space applications. Products range from the small
flange type to large 2,000 watt connectorized power attenuators and/or terminations
at frequencies up to 26.5 GHz. In-house photo etch and laser trim capability.
The company is a leader in development and production of the films required for
these type of RF/microwave components. Please check out Res-Net Microwave's website
to see how they can help with your current project.
 Radio Corporation of America (RCA) was not
the inventor of the telegram, but it did decide that the status quo transmitting
and delivery services available like the Marconigram were in need of improvement.
Accordingly, in 1929 the company initiated its
RCA
Radiogram, as promoted in this 1947 issue of Radio-Craft magazine. A promotional
brochure printed by RCA in 1950 entitled, "What it is - What it does," contrails
a lot of detail about the radiogram, including many photos of the operational offices.
RCA Radiograms initially could be sent from ship to shore, shore to shore, ship
to ship, or shore to ship. No mention was made of being able to send them to/from
aircraft. At the time, the cost was 21¢ per word. As with most things, authentic
RCA Radiograms...
 For many years Melanie and I have been collecting
and reading
The Radio
Boys series of thirteen books, which were written in the 1920s by Allen Chapman.
It was a time in history when the miracle of radio communications was capturing
- even enrapturing - the public with its seemingly miraculous ability to convey
messages across town and around the world without the need for wires, hence "wireless."
The stories center around four teenage buddies, namely Bob Layton, Joe Atwood, Herb
Fennington, and Jimmy Plummer (aka Doughnuts") who, with the assistance of a local
pastor, Dr. Dale, took an avid interest in radio and built from scratch a successful
crystal radio. Their enthusiasm compounds upon itself as adventures and experiences
using wireless foster interest in building better receivers and then building transmitters
for sending Morse code and audio ("phone"). In order to appeal to his intended audience
- primarily young boys - villains, good guys, hapless bystanders, government agents,
local law enforcement, family, and even the occasional damsel in distress...
 Withwave's W6 Series are complete line of
high performance flexible microwave cable assemblies. Specially, W601 Series have
low density PTFE structure to achieve velocity propagation of 80%. These series
have excellent
RF performance up to 110 GHz with 1.0 mm Connectors. Features include
silver-plated copper center conductor, low density PTFE dielectric, silver-plated
copper outer conductors, and an FEP jacket. Please contact Withwave for your project's
needs.
 Part 1 of this 3-part article, titled
"Influence of the Antenna of the Choice of Wavelength for Best Communications,"
appeared in the February 1952 issue of QST magazine. Unfortunately, I do
not yet own that edition. However, I do have Part 3, which subsequently appeared
in the August 1952 edition. It will eventually get posted here. QST does
not have a publicly available archive, but if you happen to be an ARRL member, you
can access Part 1 after signing in. In this series, author Yardley Beers discusses
propagation effects,
modulation systems, and receiver techniques. A particularly interesting topic
included in this installment is that of using a form of pulse modulation in FM broadcasting
in order to exploit the 'capture effect' whereby a signal in the presence of noise
will tend to suppress the noise. I don't think modern stations use that method,
possibly because of incompatibility with stereo channels and data added for digital
readouts...
 The SourceToday website has posted their
2020 Salary & Career Trends survey. It is broken out into five different
sections: The Impact of Onshoring on American Manufacturers, How Automation is Affecting
the Purchasing Profession, Key Demographic Trends Impacting Purchasing Professionals,
Compensation Trends for the Purchasing Profession and Workforce Dynamic Trends.
A slideshow summary of results is openly accessible, but you will need to register
to download the full report..."
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