Homepage Archive - August 2019 (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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Friday 9

Amateur Radio - CW Is Dead (?)

Amateur Radio - CW Is Dead (?), February 1967 Popular Electronics - RF CafeIt's funny how often topics crop up bemoaning the current state of society, technology, etc., as if they are suddenly new plagues upon the entities concerned. That's not to say the subjects are not worthy of being brought to the forefront of public awareness, but often times in fact those same issues are exactly the same or reincarnations of former "emergencies" in need of immediate attention. I have posted numerous articles and editorials from vintage electronics and hobby magazines lamenting the poor state of youth involvement, with blame being laid in the lap of some newfangled hobby or activity that is presently stealing away erstwhile brethren. The effort is usually not in vain since the intended effect of motivating fellow enthusiasts to reinvigorate and motivate those drifting prodigals ...

R&S Noise Power Ratio Measurements

R&S Noise Power Ratio Measurements - RF CafeRohde & Schwarz has released a new video entitled, "Noise Power Ratio Measurements." In it, application engineer Gareth Lloyd discusses a convenient and easy way to measure NPR over a maximum of 25 notches. A combination of the R&S®SMW200A vector signal generator and the R&S®FSW signal and spectrum analyzer equipped with the R&S®FSW-K19 option can be used to characterize two-port devices such as satellite transponders, power amplifiers and converters. The R&S®FSW-K19 measures Noise Power Ratio (NPR) using either a notched comb signal, a notched noise or a digitally modulated stimulus signal to determine how the DUT will perform.

Insertion Loss Measurements of Ferrite Absorber Sheets

Insertion Loss Measurements of Ferrite Absorber Sheets - RF CafeKenneth Wyatt has a good article on the EDN website entitled, "Insertion Loss Measurements of Ferrite Absorber Sheets," using a method suggested by absorber manufacturer Würth Elektronik. Who would have known it was that straightforward? "The development of stealth aircraft brought about the use of ferrite absorber sheets, which have proven useful for damping cavity resonances at microwave frequencies. Since then, ferrite absorber sheets have become useful at mitigating EMI. Most absorber sheets act as magnetic shields that help “redirect” magnetic fields and become effective at gigahertz frequencies. As my measurements show, some are effective even at much lower frequencies ..."

Harold Beverage of the Eponymously Named Antenna Type

Harold Beverage of Eponymously Named Antenna Type, August 1944, Radio-Craft - RF CafeThe Beverage Antenna, very familiar to amateur radio operators, is a simple but efficient, highly directional, non-resonant antenna that consists of a single straight wire of one or more wavelengths that is suspended above the ground. It is orientated parallel to the direction of intended reception. One end is terminated to ground through a resistor, and the other is connected to the receiver. The following quote comes from the patent (US1,81,089) text: "In accordance with theoretical considerations, if an antenna were to be freely suspended and if the surface of the earth constituted a perfectly conducting parallel plane, current waves would travel through the antenna conductor at a velocity equal to the velocity of light ...

ConductRF Precision D38999 RF & Mixed Signal Cables

ConductRF Precision D38999 RF & Mixed Signal Cables - RF CafeConductRF offers an extensive line of RF and mixed signal cable harnesses and assemblies with custom configurations, lengths and markings. Thousands of combinations of coaxial, power, and digital and analog signal connectors available. Flexible phase-stable, low-loss, phase-matching, high power, and other options per your requirements. Broad insert connector solution choices including BMA, SMPM, for cable sizes #8, #12 & #16 Custom marking and ruggedization enhancements capability. Contact ConductRF today and let us help your project ...

Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers

Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers - RF Cafe"Researchers based in Sweden, Belgium and Ireland have developed 850nm-wavelength vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) with a single-mode transverse polarized light output power up to a claimed record of 6.5 mW. The team from Chalmers University of Technology and OptiGOT AB in Sweden, Ghent University-imec in Belgium and Tyndall National Institute in Ireland reports: 'The output power is more than 60% higher than previously achieved.' The high power was attained by using a relatively large oxide aperture. The epitaxial material design aimed for low resistance, low optical loss and high slope efficiency in the resulting VCSELs ..."

San Francisco Circuits: PCB Fabrications & Assembly Service

San Francisco CircuitsSF Circuits' specialty is in the complex, advanced technology of PCB fabrication and assembly, producing high quality multi-layered PCBs from elaborate layouts. With them, you receive unparalleled technical expertise at competitive prices as well as the most progressive solutions available. Their customers request PCB production that is outside the capabilities of normal circuit board providers. Please take a moment to visit San Francisco Circuits today.

Thursday 8

Carl & Jerry: TV Picture

Carl & Jerry: TV Picture, June 1955 Popular Electronics - RF CafeTelevision, in 1955, was still a relatively new phenomenon to many - maybe even most - people. According to multiple sources, the portion of American households with a TV set went from under 20% in 1950 to nearly 90% ten years later in 1960. That was a meteoric rise, particularly considering the expense of even a minimal TV. The technology was not even available commercially when most people were born, so the rush to join in on the craze was akin to the mass adoption of cellphones in the 1990s. "Carl & Jerry" creator John Frye used his pair of electronics-savvy teenagers to help make the "magic" behind recreating a moving picture on a cathode ray tube (CRT) miles away from where it was created. Water flowing through a garden hose has often been employed as an analogy for current ...

Free Engineering Magazines & Whitepapers

Engineering White Papers & Books, August 2019 - RF CafeEngineering whitepapers, pamphlets, books, magazines, and chapter examples listed here are a small sample of a lot of new items that are offered for FREE through TradePub. The publishers make them available to qualifying people as a promotional campaign for their full line of offerings. Free e-books like "Maximizing LinkedIn for Business" and "20 Questions You Should Never Ask in an Interview" are examples. Magazine titles include Microwave Engineering Europe, Electronic Design, and Microwave Product Digest.

Skyworks Front-End Module for WLAN and LAA

Skyworks Releases New Front-End Module for WLAN and LAA - RF CafeSkyworks Solutions is pleased to introduce the SKY85774-11, a highly integrated 5 GHz front-end module (FEM) that supports simultaneous WLAN and licensed assisted access (LAA) protocols for mobile smartphones and tablets. This advanced module incorporates a power amplifier (PA), low-noise amplifier (LNA) with bypass, and an SPDT transmit / receive (T/R) switch. Its high performance power amplifier increases range and saves power while eliminating external devices and reducing PCB area. The SKY85774-11 comes in a compact 20-pin 2.2 x 3 package and is currently being leveraged across leading mobile connectivity reference designs.

The Amana Radarange

The Amana Radarange, March 1955 Popular Electronics - RF CafeAs legend goes, the use of microwaves for preparing food was pursued after a serendipitous discovery by Raytheon engineer Percy Spencer whereby he noticed the chocolate bar in his pocket had melted while he was working near a radar transmitter magnetron. Being a newly discovered phenomenon in 1945, Mr. Spencer was probably not aware that his own body parts were being likewise cooked, but he did recognize the commercial potential of an oven that used microwaves to cook food. It only took Raytheon (Amana) to have the first Radarange available for sale to professional kitchens. This article was printed a full decade after the discovery and even then the size and power consumption was too great for grandma's countertop ...

IRMMW-THz 2019, September 1-6

IRMMW-THz 2019 - RF CafeThe 44th International Conference on Infrared, Millimeter, and Terahertz Waves (IRMMW-THz) is being held in Paris, France, September 1-6, 2019. "The IRMMW-THz conference alternates between Asia, Europe and America on a continuous three-year cycle. The venue is the Maison de la Chimie Conference Center, in the heart of Paris. Given the diversity of topics, comprising fundamental and applied research, and in view of the variety of applications (communications, security, energy, astrophysics, medicine, environment...), the conference gathers several communities of physicists, academics and industrials who meet at this occasion each year to review the state of the art and determine the axes of future works and future collaborations ..."

ESD Killed Intelsat Satellite

ESD Killed Intelsat Satellite - RF Cafe"Investigators probing the sudden failure of the Boeing-built Intelsat 29e geostationary relay station in April have concluded an electrostatic discharge, aggravated by a harness flaw on the spacecraft, or a micrometeoroid strike prematurely ended the satellite's mission, resulting in a $382M hit to Intelsat's quarterly financial report. Intelsat said Tuesday that officials investigating the April 7 anomaly with Intelsat 29e have narrowed the cause of the failure to one of two possibilities. 'The failure review board concluded that the anomaly was either caused by a harness flaw in conjunction with an electrostatic discharge event related to solar weather activity ..."

Alliance Test Equipment: Used & Refurbished, Purchase & Rental

Allied Test Equipment Products - RF CafeAlliance Test sells used / refurbished test equipment and offers short- and long-term rentals. They also offer repair, maintenance and calibration. Prices discounted up to 80% off list price. Agilent/HP, Tektronix, Anritsu, Fluke, R&S and other major brands. A global organization with ability to source hard to find equipment through our network of suppliers. Please visit Allied Test Equipment today to see how they can help your project.

Wednesday 7

After Class: Resistor and Capacitor Combinations 

After Class: Resistor and Capacitor Combinations, June 1955 Popular Electronics - RF CafeHere is a short tutorial on resistor-capacitor (R-C) combinations and the time constants created by their combinations. It's pretty basic stuff, but there are new people coming into the field of electronics all the time so it is worth posting. Discussed are coupling circuits, filter networks, differentiators, and time-delay circuits. The "After Class" feature is a series run by Popular Electronics magazine in the 1950s and 1960s. As with this installment, "After Class" presented topics on electricity and magnetism that served not just as new material for beginners, but was a good review even for seasoned practitioners of the craft ...

Custom MMIC's New Facility Opening Ceremony

U.S. Congresswoman Lori Trahan Applauds Custom MMICs Outstanding Achievements - RF CafeCustom MMIC, a leading designer and manufacturer of high performance monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs), hosted U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan, and a number of other press and industry influencers, as part of a ceremonial celebration to officially open their new twenty thousand square foot office / manufacturing space and to acknowledge the Women in Engineering Scholarship Program that Custom MMIC debuted in 2018 and just recently announced the 2019 scholarship winners. Paul Blount, President and CEO of Custom MMIC, kicked off the event with opening remarks explaining what Custom MMIC does and how they are a critical part of delivering advanced and reliable defense systems to keep our warfighters safe ...

Down-to-Earth Discussion - Resistance of a Ground

Down-to-Earth Discussion - Resistance of a Ground, October 1963 Electronics World - RF CafeFor some reason the subject of grounding has been very prominent in my reading in the last few days. The chapter I just finished reading in one of David Herres' books on the National Electric Code (NEC) covering grounding of commercial and residential services, an article by H. Ward Silver in QST titled, "Grounding and Bonding Systems," and now this article by John T. Frye (of Carl and Jerry fame) on grounding, makes for a wealth of knowledge. Mr. Frye takes a unique approach at teaching by exploiting his gift for story-telling. In this article, electronics repair shop owner Mac gives technician Barney a nice bit of tutelage on what constitutes a good Earth ground and what does not. In some environments, treating the soil with an electrically conductive substance is necessary to establish a suitable ground without having to drive ...

Passive Radars Monitor Air Traffic over South Germany

HENSOLDT's Passive Radars Monitor Air Traffic over South Germany - RF Cafe"The sensor solutions provider HENSOLDT has demonstrated the capability of its 'Twinvis' passive radar system for air traffic control during a comprehensive measurement campaign. A passive radar sensor cluster was installed at four sites in South Germany for the tests, from which air traffic above this region could be monitored and tracked in real-time. This showed that passive radar systems can track aircraft with sufficient precision in order to be used for air traffic control. The sensors were positioned in Nuremberg, Roth, Erding and Ulm, while the data was processed centrally at HENSOLDT's Ulm site ..."

VidaRF: Passive RF & Microwave Components

vidaRF passive RF & microwave components - RF CafeAt VidaRF, the phrase 'Providing Simple Solutions for Complex Connections' is more than just a slogan – it's a mindset, a mission, and a driving force behind everything we do. Their pledge is to design and distribute high performance, cost effective RF Microwave products to fit each customer's unique applications. Please visit VidaRF today to see how their lines of attenuators & terminations, directional couplers, power dividers, coaxial connectors, and circulator & isolators can be of use to your project. "When the standard just will not do, VidaRF has the solution for you!"

Tuesday 6

Osgood Lens Advertisement

Osgood Lens Advertisement from the August 11, 1917, The Saturday Evening Post - RF CafeFinding information on the Osgood Lens, invented by James R. Cravath, is challenging. For as prominent as it was in magazines like The Saturday Evening Post in the late 1910s and 1920s, there is not even a Wikipedia entry for the lens type or the man according to my searches. Although not exactly the same as the Fresnel lenses used by lighthouses since the 18th century, the concept is basically the same. Of course the Osgood company was careful not to use the term Fresnel in their literature for potential patent infringement reasons. Some vehicles might have been fitted with them as a factory installed option, but they were also sold as add-on items. According to the literature the tiered stack of prism-shaped glass directed the headlight beam toward the road ...

NI AWR Software E-Newsletter | July 2019

NI AWR Software E-Newsletter | July 2019 - RF CafeNI AWR presents it July 2019 E-Newsletter. Included in this issue are Designer's Primer: Internet of Things (IoT), Customer Success: TMYTEK, Application Example: Diplexer, and Optimization Study. There are also links to NI AWR technical publications (whitepapers and magazine articles), industry events (European Microwave Week 2019, IEIEC Society Conference), and training sessions. The new primer showcases recent advances in NI AWR software that help designers meet the challenges of developing cost-effective IoT solutions using a modular design approach that focuses on combining all the relevant components in the RF signal path ...

RF Stencils for Visio v3.1 Available!

RF Microwave Wireless Analog Block Diagrams Stencils Shapes for Visio - v3 - RF Cafe

With more than 780 custom-built symbols, this has got to be the most comprehensive set of Visio Stencils available for RF, analog, and digital system and schematic drawings! Every object has been built from scratch to fit proportionally on the provided A- and B-size drawing page templates (you can use your own page if preferred). Components are provided for equipment racks (EIA and ETSI) and test equipment, system block diagrams and conceptual drawings, and for schematics ...

An Avocation Becomes a Vocation

An Avocation Becomes a Vocation, February 1943 QST - RF CafeDid you know that the Hallicrafters line of radios is named after founder Bill Halligan (W9WZE)? Hallicrafters, founded in 1932, was a major manufacturer of amateur radio gear. During the years of WWII they ruggedized some of their products to survive the harsh environments of battle. Hallicrafters was sold to Northrop Corporation in 1966, at which time the product line essentially ceased. Their gear is still very collectible by aficionados of vintage Ham equipment. This story from the February 1943 QST provided an inside look at the production floor at Hallicrafters. Having cut my figurative electronics teeth on radar and radio equipment built with tubes and point-to-point wiring while in the USAF, and then later as an assembly/test technician at Westinghouse Electric building sonar equipment ...

pSemi Intros Free "sNp Viewer" Software

sNp Viewer Software by pSemi - RF CafeDave Watling, of pSemi, sent me a note about the company's new "sNp Viewer" multiport s−parameter plotting software that is available for free downloading on the pSemi website. It is provided as an executable file that installs the Runtime Vee (Keysight) framework needed for the program's operation. Look for the sNp Viewer icon to appear on your desktop (not in the Start menu) when installation is complete. You can drag the icon into the Start menu afterwards. My guess is this was an tool developed for internal use by the engineering staff and it turned out so well that they decided to make it available to everyone; it is quite handy. The example screen shot at the right uses the pSemi* PE42430 UltraCMOS® SP3T Reflective RF Switch, which is a 4-port device with a .s4p data file extension. I wanted to use a device with more than just two ports. The plots would get really busy ...

Many Thanks to Anatech Electronics for Long-Time Support!

Anatech Electronics logo - RF CafeAnatech 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. Sam Benzacar's monthly newsletters address contemporary wireless subjects. Please visit Anatech today to see how they can help your project succeed.

Einstein's General Relativity Theory Questioned - Stands for Now

Einstein's General Relativity Theory Questioned but Stands for Now - RF Cafe"More than 100 years after Albert Einstein published his iconic theory of general relativity, it is beginning to fray at the edges, said Andrea Ghez, UCLA professor of physics and astronomy. Now, in the most comprehensive test of general relativity near the monstrous black hole at the center of our galaxy, Ghez and her research team report July 25 in the journal Science that Einstein's theory of general relativity holds up. 'Einstein's right, at least for now,' said Ghez, a co-lead author of the research. 'We can absolutely rule out Newton's law of gravity. Our observations are consistent with Einstein's theory of general relativity. However, his theory is definitely showing vulnerability. It cannot fully explain gravity inside a black hole, and at some point we will need to move beyond ..."

RF Superstore: Supplier of RF & Microwave Components

RF Superstore coaxial cable, connectors, adapters - RF CafeRF Superstore launched in 2017, marking the return of Murray Pasternack, founder of Pasternack Enterprises, to the RF and microwave Industry. Pasternack fundamentally changed the way RF components were sold. Partner Jason Wright manages day-to-day operations, while working closely with Mr. Pasternack to develop RF Superstore into a world class RF and microwave component supplier. RF coaxial connectors & adapters, coaxial cable & cable assemblies, surge protectors, attenuators. Items added daily. Free shipping on orders over $99. We're leading the way again!

Monday 5

Heat Without Flame

Heat Without Flame, June 1955 Popular Electronics - RF CafeElectric induction heating has been used in manufacturing processes since shortly after Benjamin Franklin invented electricity. Of course I jest about Franklin; he didn't invent electricity but discovered that lightning was a form of electrical discharge. One of the most energy-consuming forms of induction heating is that used by Alcoa for smelting aluminum. Beyond that are many thousands of processes ranging from forming, tempering, and joining metal parts to cooking food and curing adhesives. Both Tocco and Ajax-Northrup, now Ajax Tocco, brands of equipment are featured in this 1955 article which appeared in Popular Electronics magazine. Some processes work by directly inducing a high current in the primary target object - usually metallic - being treated ...

Please Thank IPP for Their Long-Time Support!

Innovative Power ProductsInnovative Power Products (IPP) has over 30 years of experience designing & manufacturing RF & microwave passive components. Their high power, broadband couplers, combiners, resistors, baluns, terminations and attenuators are fabricated using the latest materials and design tools available, resulting in unrivaled product performance. Applications in military, medical, industrial and commercial markets. Take a couple minutes to visit their website and see how IPP can help you today.

Live Demo: Desktop Circuit Board Printing

Live Demo: Desktop Circuit Board Printing - RF CafeCome see the future (it used to be the future, now it is now.) Thursday, August 8, at approximately 7:45 pm ET, Alan Dewey will give a short demonstration of desktop circuit board printing and soldering (and drilling if time permits). He will be using the Voltera V-One PCB Printer. The demo will be held for the Clearwater Electronics at the Clearwater Amateur Radio Association, in - guess where -Clearwater, Florida. Alan has written extensively on his TwoHourCPBs.com website to promote leading-edge desktop PCB prototyping printers.

The Vanishing Circuit Designer

Texas Instruments Type 502 Integrated Circuits - RF CafeHow is this for a prescient prediction from the early 1960s? "As a result of modular and integrated circuitry techniques, all future circuit design work, regardless of degree, will become the responsibility of the component manufacturer instead of the equipment producer." Texas Instruments' (TI) Jack Kilby is credited with designing the first integrated circuit in 1958. The first commercial IC, Ti's Type 502 flip-flop, had just hit the market in early 1960, and already pundits were prognosticating and ruing the disappearance of circuit designers. Maybe it was concerns over job security that they seem to favor forever building every circuit from discrete transistors, resistors, capacitors, and inductors. Rumor has it they also lobbied for the perpetual existence of the buggy whip and horse-drawn farrow industries ...

Ultra-Thin Transistors Could Revive Moore's Law

Ultra-Thin Transistors Could Revive Moore's Law - RF Cafe"Moore's Law has lost a lot of momentum in recent years. Now it looks like Austrian researchers are preparing the next big thing for semiconductor technology: Their breakthrough could well open the door to the next step to again shrink transistor structures. For decades the transistors in microchips became smaller and smaller. About every two years the number of transistors on commercially available chips could be doubled - this phenomenon became known as 'Moore's Law.' But for some years now this has been a thing of the past. Miniaturization has reached a natural limit because, on a scale of a few nanometers ..."

Reactel: RF & Microwave Filters of All Types

Reactel Filters - RF CafeReactel has become one of the industry leaders in the design and manufacture of RF and microwave filters, diplexers, and sub-assemblies. Through a continuous process of research and development, they have established a full line of filters of all types - lowpass, highpass, bandpass, bandstop, diplexer, and more. They offer the generally known tubular, LC, cavity, and waveguide designs, as well as state of the art high performance suspended substrate models. Established in 1979. Please contact Reactel today to see how they might help your project.

Sunday 4

Engineering & Science Crossword Puzzle for August 4

Engineering & Science Crossword Puzzle August 4, 2019 - RF CafeThis RF Cafe Engineering & Science Crossword Puzzle contains at least 10 words from headlines posted on the homepage during the week of July 29 - August 2, 2019 (marked with an asterisk*). These custom-made engineering and science-themed crossword puzzles are done weekly for the brain-exercising benefit and pleasure of RF Cafe visitors who are fellow cruciverbalists. Every word and clue - without exception - in these RF Cafe puzzles has been personally entered into a very large database that encompasses engineering, science, physical, astronomy, mathematics, chemistry ...