Homepage Archive - July 2017 (page 1)

These archive pages are provided in order to make it easier for you to find items that you remember seeing on the RF Cafe homepage. Of course probably the easiest way to find anything on the website is to use the "Search RF Cafe" box at the top of every page. About RF Cafe.

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See Page 1 | 2 | 3 of the July 2017 homepage archives.

Sunday 10

RF System Analysis Crossword Puzzle for July 9

RF System Analysis Crossword Puzzle for July 9, 2017 - RF CafeThis week's crossword puzzle has an RF System Analysis theme. Most of the longer words are terms you will find in cascade calculators such as Wireless System Designer. Avid cruciverbalists amongst us appreciate that each week I create a new crossword puzzle that has a theme related to engineering, mathematics, chemistry, physics, and other technical words. You will never be asked the name of a movie star unless he/she was involved in a technical endeavor (e.g., Hedy Lamarr). Enjoy! ...

Friday 7

WithWave Intros Probe Positioner for T-Probe

WithWave Intros Probe Positioner for T-Probe - RF CafeWithwave's Probe Positioner is designed for precise RF probing measurement using T-probe which have GSG & GS contact structure. The magnetic switch on metal base plate can be turned on and off to keep the positioner firmly to its position or moved and lifted to a new position easily. Its articulated arm is controlled by arm knob at the middle joint that keeps the arm firm and steady. Features include articulated and flexible joints, easy to control to X-, Y-, Z- direction using arm knob, and stable test measurements. Use for RF & microwave module signal ...

Editorial: Apollo Without Electronics

Editorial: Apollo Without Electronics, August 1972 Popular Electronics - RF CafeWe're approaching the Sunday, July 20, 1969 anniversary of Apollo 11's landing on the moon, so I figured this article would be a timely reminder of the contributions made to electronics technology as part of the immense effort. Apollo 16 launched on April 16 of 1972 and landed on the moon on April 19. By then, as with Space Shuttle flights, moon landings were no longer front page news; The Evening Capital carried the story on page 2. Popular Electronics magazine editor Snitzer wrote this short piece extolling the critical role that electronics played in mission success. Apollo 17 flew next and December 10, 1972, marked the last time mankind ever set foot ...

Many Thanks to everything RF for Continued Support of RF Cafe

everything RFeverything RF has been sponsoring RF Cafe's publication for many years through direct advertising. They have a very wide presence across the Internet on engineering websites. "everything RF is a product discovery platform for RF & Microwave Products/Services." They currently have 192,126 Products from more than 918 Companies across 229 Categories in their database and enable engineers to search for them using the customized parametric search tool. Please visit everything RF now to see how they can help your project ...

Older Dads Have 'Geekier' Sons

Older Dads Have 'Geekier' Sons - RF Cafe"New King's College London research suggests that sons of older fathers are more intelligent, more focused on their interests and less concerned about fitting in, all characteristics typically seen in 'geeks'. While previous research has shown that children of older fathers are at a higher risk of some adverse outcomes, including autism and schizophrenia, this new study published in Translational Psychiatry suggests that children of older fathers may also have certain advantages over their peers in educational and ..."

Engineering Formulas by Gieck

Engineering Formulas by Gieck - RF CafeIt is true that you can find just about any type of information you want on the Internet, but do you trust it? Even after two decades, stories abound regarding how errors are propagated repeatedly on websites that copy and paste other people's data without any attempt to verify its veracity. I have fastidiously avoided that on RF Cafe, preferring to use printed material where available as a resource since it has more often than not been peer reviewed. Errors still creep in, but relatively infrequently. Besides, having a physical entity to thumb through, dog ear, and affix sticky notes to is a refreshing experience compared to saving shortcuts to your computer desktop. "Engineering Formulas," by Kurt and Reiner Gieck costs < $25 ...

Spinning Electrons Open Door to Future Hybrid Electronics

Spinning Electrons Open Door to Future Hybrid Electronics - RF Cafe"A discovery of how to control and transfer spinning electrons paves the way for novel hybrid devices that could outperform existing semiconductor electronics. In a study published in Nature Communications, researchers at Linkoping University in Sweden demonstrate how to combine a commonly used semiconductor with a topological insulator, a recently discovered state of matter with unique electrical properties. Just as the Earth spins around its own axis, so does an electron, in a clockwise or counter-clockwise direction. 'Spintronics" is the name used to describe ..."

Thursday 6

More Cardboard Engineering Slide Rule Calculators!

Cardboard Engineering Slide Rule Calculators - RF CafeRF Cafe visitor Neil Blaho just sent me another eight vintage cardboard slide rule calculators to add to the collection. He provided eight others a couple years ago. Those, and many more can be viewed on the "Cardboard Engineering & Science Slide Rule Calculators" page here on RF Cafe. Prior to ubiquitous portable electronic calculators, most larger companies handed out these kinds of cardboard slide rules that provided not just useful functionality, but good advertising for the companies as well. I refer to these handy implements as ...

The Sharpest Laser in the World

The Sharpest Laser in the World - RF Cafe"No one had ever come so close to the ideal laser before: theoretically, laser light has only one single color (also frequency or wavelength). In reality, however, there is always a certain linewidth. With a linewidth of only 10 mHz, the laser that the researchers from the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) have now developed together with US researchers from JILA, a joint institute of the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the University of Colorado Boulder, has established a new world record ..."

Ganged Switching Quiz

Ganged Switching Quiz, April 1972 Popular Electronics - RF CafeRobert Balin created many quizzes for Popular Electronics over his years with the magazine. This one challenges your ability to trace out connections without getting confused by crossovers - which is easy to do. Each of the six-position switches illuminate a different combination of lamps. Your job, if you accept it, is to figure out which lamps light for positions 1 through 6. A big list of electronics quizzes is posted near ...

VidaRF Intros 0.7 to 6 GHz SMA Power Dividers / Combiners

VidaRF Intros 0.7 to 6 GHz SMA Power Dividers / Combiners - RF CafeVidaRF offers a new series of power dividers / combiners that operate from 0.7 to 6 GHz. Available in 2-, 3-, 4-, 5-, 6-, 12-, 16- and 32-way configurations. Handles up to 30 W of power, with low insertion loss. High port-to-port isolation. Excellent amplitude and phase balance. Operating temperature -55 to +85 °C. Sealed and painted to meet IP65 standards. Contact VidaRF today to see how they can meet your needs ...

Photo of Crosley Model 6625 Found!

Crosley Model 6625 Console Radio (Craigslist images) - RF CafeI originally stated that I could not find a single photograph of a Crosley 6625, 3-band radio. However, RF Cafe visitor Bruce C. read that and sent me a link to a Crosley Model 6625 being advertised for sale in the Boston area on Craigslist (for $350). A couple images of it can be seen by clicking on the thumbnail ...

New Measurement Helps Redefine International Unit of Mass

New Measurement Helps Redefine International Unit of Mass - RF Cafe"Using a state-of-the-art device for measuring mass, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have made their most precise determination yet of Planck's constant, an important value in science that will help to redefine the kilogram, the official unit of mass in the SI, or international system of units. Accepted for publication in the journal Metrologia, these new results come ahead of a July 1 international deadline for measurements that aim to redefine the entire SI in terms fundamental constants of nature ..."

Wednesday 5

ConductRF LMR Low Loss Flexible RF Cables DC to 6 GHz

ConductRF LMR Low Loss Flexible RF Cables DC to 6 GHz - RF CafeConductRF's LMR RF Cable Assemblies are built exclusively using Times Microwave Systems class leading LMR range of cable. Lower loss alternatives to RG cables. DC to 6 GHz solutions. Low loss & low VSWR, multi-layer 90 dB screening, foamed PE dielectric. Operating Temp -40 ºC to 85 ºC. Indoor & outdoor jacket options and broad connector choices. LMR cables are used extensively in military and commercial applications ...

News Highlights, April 1972 Popular Electronics

News Highlights, April 1972 Popular Electronics - RF CafeTiVO systems are just the latest incarnation of programmable systems for recording television programs for playback at a later time. In 1972, Sears announced "plans to market the first integrated videotape cartridge recording-playback unit for the home." It was part of a package that included a specially designed 25" color TV, a camera, and a recording / playback unit. The projected price of $1,600 is equivalent to $9,435 in 2017 money. Earned engineering degrees had leveled off in numbers by 1971, with a grand total of 43,167 Bachelor's degrees, primarily electrical engineering. The ASEE reports that 106,658 Bachelor degrees in engineering were ...

Single Photon Encode Quantum Information in 10 Dimensions

Single Photon Encode Quantum Information in 10 Dimensions - RF Cafe"A simple way of encoding a large amount of information in a single photon has been unveiled by an international team of physicists led by Michael Kues and Christian Reimer of INRS-EMT in Montreal, Canada. The technique involves firing a laser pulse into a tiny ring that traps light at a set of equally spaced frequencies called a frequency comb. This microring resonator is made from a material with nonlinear optical properties, which allows two photons of the laser light to combine to create two photons with frequencies that are distributed across the frequency ..."

IEEE Chip Hall of Fame

IEEE Chip Hall of Fame - RF CafeThe IEEE Spectrum website now has a large collection of stories in its Chip Hall of Fame. "To most, microchips are mysterious black boxes sprouting tiny metal pins, labeled with seemingly random strings of letters and numbers. But for those in the know, some chips stand out like a celebrity on the red carpet. Many of these integrated circuits found glory by directly powering products that transformed the world, while others cast a long shadow of influence over the computing landscape. And some became cautionary tales in their failed ambitions. To honor tell ..."

Tuesday 4

Canadian Researchers Enable Quantum Satellite Communications

Canadian Researchers Enable Quantum Satellite Communications - RF Cafe"The Canadian Government has announced that one of their research teams have made significant progress towards enabling secure quantum communication via moving satellites. The study, published in the journal Quantum Science and Technology, demonstrates the first quantum key distribution transmissions from a ground transmitter to a quantum payload on a moving aircraft. With anticipated satellite mission, the team at the Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC) and Department of Physics and Astronomy of University of Waterloo, Ontario, designed their prototype ..."

Silvertone Models 4488 and 4588 Radio Service Data Sheet

Silvertone Models 4488 and 4588 (Chassis No.101412) and 4488A and 4588A (Chassi No. 101412A) Set Radio Service Data Sheet, June 1937 Radio-Craft - RF CafeThe Silvertone brand of radios was manufactured for Sears, Roebuck & Company by Colonial Radio. This particular mid-1930s Model 4488 that covered broadcast, shortwave, and police bands was very popular, and the Radio Service Data Sheet published in the June 1937 issue of Radio-Craft magazine was a full two pages. NostalgiaAir.com has the more extensive Rider data pack. It had a very ornate wood laminate decor, along with many 'extra' features found only in high-end radios of the day - such as a Flash Tuner ...

Please Thank Anatech Electronics for Continued Support of RF Cafe!

Anatech ElectronicsAnatech Electronics manufactures and supplies RF and microwave filters for military and commercial communication systems, providing standard and custom RF Anatech Electronics RF Filtersfilters, and RF products. StandardRF filter and cable assembly products are published in their website database. Custom RF filters designs are used when a standard cannot be found, or the requirements dictate a custom approach. Please take a moment to visit Anatech's website to see how they might be able to assist with your current project ...

The Declaration of Independence

Declaration of Independence - RF Cafe"In Congress, July 4, 1776. The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America. When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies ...

Monday 3

A Guide to Wireless Connectors

A Guide to Wireless Connectors - RF Cafe"Unlike most mechanical connectors, wireless connectors offer the benefit of freedom of movement, which is particularly advantageous in harsh environments. Wireless-power-transfer (WPT) technology using near-field magnetic coupling (NFMC) has been gaining a lot of attention, primarily in the area of wireless charging for applications like smartphone applications. However, there exists another class of products commonly referred to as 'wireless connectors' (WiCo), or 'wireless couplers,' that utilize the same physical principles ..."

Using Transistors as Negative-Resistance Devices

Using Transistors as Negative-Resistance Devices, June 1969 Electronics World - RF CafeLike most people familiar with electronics, when negative resistance semiconductors are mentioned, I immediately think of tunnel diodes. Negative resistance is the characteristic where in increase in voltage across the p-n junctions results in a decreased current. Although the tunnel diode was invented by by Leo Esaki (Sony) in 1957, it is not mentioned anywhere in this 1969 article. Instead author Wesley Vincent (Motorola) describes the theoretical operation of 4-layer (3 junction) semiconductors and how they can be biased to mimic true negative resistance devices. Given that one of the most common applications ...

RF Engineering Charged with Hacking Smart Meters

RF Engineering Charged with Hacking Smart Meters - RF Cafe"The Internet of Things' 'security through obscurity' has been proven once again to not be terribly secure thanks to an angry and possibly inebriated ex-employee. Adam Flanagan, a former radio frequency engineer for a company that manufactures remote meter reading equipment for utilities, was convicted on June 15 in Philadelphia after pleading guilty to two counts of 'unauthorized access to a protected computer and thereby recklessly causing damage.' Flanagan admitted that after being fired by his employer, he used information about systems he ..."

Ultrasonic 3D Printer Builds Circuit Boards

Ultrasonic 3D Printer Builds Circuit Boards - RF Cafe"The team at the Ultrasound Research Group at Neurotechnology in Vilnius use the array of ultrasonic pulses with feedback from a high resolution camera to move small objects around in the printer. This is particularly suitable for tiny components such as chip resistors. By increasing the frequency of the pulses, the placement resolution can be reduced to a few microns, says Dr Osvaldas Putkis, research engineer and project lead. Solder balls can be moved around with the array, and the parts are soldered to the board with a laser for a completely non-contact process. Neurotechnology develops ..."

Sunday 2

Massey University School of Engineering Crossword Puzzle

Massey University School of Engineering Crossword Puzzle July 2, 2017 - RF CafeThis week's crossword puzzle was created to highlight a specific engineering school located in the southern hemisphere. Clues with an asterisk (*) next to them are related directly to the honored school. All of the rest of the clues and words are pulled from a hand-built dictionary of people, places, things, and actions that pertain to the topics of science, engineering, mathematics, physics, astronomy, etc. You will never find the name of a fashion designer, Prime Time television show, or numbnut celebrity. Enjoy ...