Sunday 10
This 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'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 ...
We'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 ...
everything 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
...
"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 ..."
It 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 ...
"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
RF 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 ...
"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 ..."
Robert 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 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 ...
I 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 ...
"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'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 ...
TiVO 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 ...
"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 ..."
The 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
"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 ..."
The 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 ...
Anatech Electronics manufactures and supplies RF and
microwave filters for military and commercial communication systems, providing standard and
custom RF filters, 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
...
"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
"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 ..."
Like 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 ...
"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 ..."
"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
This 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 ...
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