Homepage Archive - September 2019 (page 4)

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 27

Carl & Jerry: Cow-Cow Boogie

Carl & Jerry: Cow-Cow Boogie, August 1958 Popular Electronics - RF CafeBeing that this episode of John T. Frye's "Carl & Jerry" series appeared in a 1958 issue of Popular Electronics magazine, it would have been in the era while the techo-sleuthing buddies were still high schoolers. Having already assisted the local law enforcement solve a few challenging conundrums by exploiting their electronics knowledge, the sheriff enlists them to help locate a moonshine operation that thus far has eluded discovery by his force. Being Ham radio enthusiasts, Carl Anderson and Jerry Bishop were particularly inclined to devise wireless technology to achieve their objective to, a la Dudley Do−Right, "always get [their] man." Such is the case here. As always, a technical learning opportunity is enmeshed with the storyline.

RF Cascade Workbook 2018

RF Cascade Workbook 2018 Is Available Now! - RF CafeRF Cascade Workbook 2018 is the next phase in the evolution of RF Cafe's long-running series, RF Cascade Workbook. 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 ...

ConductRF Phase & Temperature Stable Cables

ConductRF Phase & Temperature Stable Cables September 2019 - RF CafeConductRF is the brand name for Electronic Assemblies Manufacturing, Inc.'s, complete range of RF interconnect products. ConductRF products include solutions for both commercial and precision RF applications for both RF cable assemblies and connectors. Our manufacturing capabilities include solutions built at our ITAR registered facility in Methuen as well as partner facilities in the U.S. and around the world. ConductRF offers cost effective equivalent and improved RF solutions to all major interconnect manufacturers, specializing in phase stability over temperature ...

Radio Amateurs in Navy Radio

Radio Amateurs in Navy Radio, April 1945 QST - RF CafeIn times of peace and times of war, Amateur radio operators are the first in line to serve their countrymen and citizens all over the world. As documented in the pages of the American Radio Relay League's QST magazines throughout the years of World War II, Hams proved to be invaluable to the effort. Even though probably none had previous radar system experience, their practiced aptitude for electronics made them perfect candidates for the task. In appreciation for their heroic efforts to help ultimately win the war on all fronts, the U.S. military put a lot of effort into preparing radiomen and radarmen for life in the civilian world. This article from April 1945, nearing the end of the war, discusses the value of military experience ...

Wafer-Level Backside Processing of High-Frequency Indium Phosphide Chips

Wafer-Level Backside Processing of High-Frequency Indium Phosphide Chips - RF Cafe"Japan's Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp has been working to reduce substrate resonance and ground-bounce effects in indium phosphide (InP)-based chips through wafer-level backside processing. The aim is to ensure stable operation of the chips at frequencies needed for sub-millimeter-wavelength electromagnetic radiation and high-speed applications. The high frequencies of such devices are needed to support future mobile communications: smartphones, 5G, IoT, autonomous motor vehicles, and so on. The 5G sector is looking to 10 Gbits per second data rates using V- and E-band radio frequencies of 40-75 GHz and 71-76 GHz/81-86 GHz, respectively. Beyond 5G at 100 Gbps data rates, even higher carrier wave frequencies of ~300 GHz will be needed. Also, InP-based ICs ..."

QuinStar Technology: mm-Wave Active & Passive Components

QuinStar Technology mm-Wave Products - RF CafeQuinStar Technology designs and manufactures mm-wave products for communication, scientific, and test applications along with providing microelectronic assembly, rapid prototyping, and mass customization. Amplifiers, Oscillators, Switches, Attenuators, Circulators, Isolators, Filters, Waveguide, Antennas, Phase Shifters, Transceivers, Mixers, Detectors. QuinStar specializes in cryogenic amplifiers, circulators, and isolators. Please visit QuinStar today to see how they can help your project.

Thursday 26

After Class: Speaking of Magnetism - Part 1

After Class, Speaking of Magnetism, August 1958 Popular Electronics - RF CafeFor some reason, a lot of people seem to have a harder time grasping the concepts of magnetism than the concepts of electricity. Maybe it is because most of the machines and appliances we are familiar with run off of electricity supplied by the electric utility distribution system - not the magnetism distribution system. The fact that motors, transformers, and relays, which are present in one form or another in every household, office, and factory, are as reliant upon magnetic effects as they are electrical effects is lost on the multitudes. Maybe if we received monthly magnet bills to pay instead of electric bills, there might be more interest in understanding the phenomenon. At the most fundamental level, electric and magnetic circuit equations exist that are nearly the same, but with magnetism terms used rather than electricity terms; i.e., duality ...

U.S News & World Report's 2019 Best Grad Schools

U.S News & World Report's 2019 Best Grad Schools - RF CafeThe Spring 2019 U.S. News University Rankings for graduate programs have just been released, showing the most innovative schools and the best engineering colleges. Not surprisingly, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) comes in at #1, Stanford University is #2, and University of California - Berkeley takes #3. Full-time tuition for out-of-state students at MIT is $51,520/year, SU gets $54,015/year, and UC Berkeley charges $26,544/year. Parvoo University ranked #8, with $29,132/year for tuition. My alma mater, UVM, ranked an embarrassing #128 ...

How Are Shortwaves Propagated?

How Are Shortwaves Propagated?, December 1931/January 1932 Short Wave Craft - RF CafePrior to atmospheric sounding rockets and orbiting satellites, all information gained and theories developed on the nature of Earth's upper atmosphere and its interaction with electromagnetic waves (radio in particular) were purely academic, not the result of empirical data. That is not to say the theories were wrong (although some were), just that they were incomplete. For that matter, even today there is still much to be learned and, according to an excellent article in the October 2015 issue of the ARRL's QST magazine titled "Five Myths of Propagation Dispelled," there is still a lot of misinformation being believed and promulgated about shortwaves and how they travel in the atmosphere. This work (very much worth your time) is a great testament to the level ...

QuinStar Enhances Test Capabilities for Space-Qualified mmWave Hardware

QuinStar Enhances Test Capabilities for Space-Qualified Millimeter-Wave Hardware - RF CafeQuinStar Technology was recently certified for flight hardware testing by Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). After administering the JPL System Safety Survey and Vendor Chamber Verification Survey, JPL certified QuinStar's thermal vacuum chamber for testing flight hardware for JPL/NASA missions. The chamber enables hardware testing under a simulated space environment. The 6.5 cubic ft. (0.2 cubic meter) chamber handles a temperature range of -100°C to 150°C and achieves a vacuum level of 5 x 10-7 torr. In addition to the thermal vacuum chamber, QuinStar's environmental test lab includes thermal, shock, vibration, and humidity testing capabilities. With these testing processes, our class 10,000 clean room, in-house design and fabrication capabilities ...

U.S. Air Force Developing Origami Antennas

U.S. Air Force Developing Origami Antennas - RF Cafe"The Air Force Office of Scientific Research has awarded FIU a $4.8M grant to launch the Center for Physically Reconfigurable and Deployable Multifunctional Antennas. The center will be led and directed by researcher Stavros Georgakopoulos, associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at FIU's College of Engineering and Computing and inventor of foldable origami antenna systems. The goal of the center is to develop innovative and advanced origami-based antenna technologies for next-generation Air Force and Department of Defense systems ..."

KR Electronics: RF & Microwave Filters

KR ElectronicsKR Electronics designs and manufactures high quality filters for both the commercial and military markets. KR Electronics' line of filters includes lowpass, highpass, bandpass, bandstop and individually synthesized filters for special applications - both commercial and military. State of the art computer synthesis, analysis and test methods are used to meet the most challenging specifications. All common connector types and package form factors are available. Please visit their website today to see how they might be of assistance.

Wednesday 25

Nuclear Radiation & Detection - Types of Radioactivity

Nuclear Radiation & Detection - Types of Radioactivity, October 1972 Popular Electronics - RF CafeThis is an instance where I scanned and posted later parts of a multi-month article because I had not yet purchased the edition with the first in the series, but I have it now. Author J.G. Ello, of the Radiation Measurements and Instrumentation Electronics Division of Argonne National Laboratory, introduces the physics of nuclear radiation along with the genesis and evolution of nuclear technology. Alpha, beta, and gamma radiation is explained, as is the decay phenomenon and energy levels. It is all at an introductory level, and from a classical Bohr model perspective. If you are new to nuclear physics, these four articles are a good starting place.

Skyworks Named in Top 50 by STEM Workforce Diversity

Skyworks Named in Top 50 by STEM Workforce Diversity - RF CafeSkyworks Solutions is excited to share that we were just honored as a Top 50 Employer by STEM Workforce Diversity magazine in their 18th annual ranking of U.S. firms. Based on the magazine's reader survey, the list recognizes the top companies who provide a positive work environment for diverse groups and people with disabilities in the science, technology, engineering and math professions. We are proud to promote diversity through inclusion of all employees - empowering them to help shape the future of wireless through collaboration and innovation. To see our past recognitions and awards, please visit the Awards page on our website.

R&S September 2019 Newsletter

R&S September 2019 Newsletter - RF CafeThis edition of Rohde & Schwarz's monthly newsletter includes topics like "PAM4 Makes S-parameter Accuracy Critical!," "Explore an EMC Chamber and Control Room Without Leaving Your Desk" (with a très cool 3D virtual environment), and "Tips & Tricks on How to Verify Control Loop Stability." There is also an announcement for a seminar for their "RF Fundamentals Seminar Tour" which kicks off in October.

Third Eye for Space Explorers

Third Eye for Space Explorers - RF Cafe"This must be the early prototype for Google Glass," was the first thing that came to mind when I saw this story in a 1962 edition of Popular Electronics. It is intended to allow 'future' astronauts to have improved situational awareness by providing means to look behind himself without needing to turn around, and to receive mission data via a miniature CRT embedded within the viewer. Voice communications is featured as well. Hughes Aircraft Company might just want to consider assigning a handful of its highly paid attorneys to look into a patent infringement action based on the original content of its "Electrocular" headset paperwork. A small percentage of any award will be appreciated ...

Nanoscale Vacuum Channel Transistors

Nanoscale Vacuum Channel Transistors - RF Cafe"Vacuum tubes initially played a central role in the development of electronic devices. A few decades ago, however, researchers started replacing them with semiconductor transistors, small electronic components that can be used both as amplifiers and switches. Although vacuum tubes are now rarely used in the development of electronics, they have several important advantages over transistors. For instance, they typically enable faster operation, better noise immunity and greater stability in extreme or harsh environments. In a recent study, researchers at the NASA Ames Research Center have demonstrated that nanoscale vacuum channel transistors can be fabricated on silicon carbide wafers. Fabricating this type of transistor ..."

Innovative Power Products: RF & Microwave Passive Components

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.

Tuesday 24

Metal Circuit Systems Corporation

Metal Circuit Systems Corporation, September 1974 Popular Electronics - RF CafeThe claim of a "non-conducting metal sheet" as a substrate for drawing electronic circuit traces seemed suspicious, so I did a search for non-conducting or at least low conductivity metal, and there is no such thing. The advertisement says components can be soldered directly to the board without effecting a connection. Even low conductivity metals to which solder will adhere are good enough electrical conductors to prevent components from being attached on a common surface without significant conduction (i.e., short circuits) between them. A pen with conductive ink is used across the surface to create interconnecting paths. My guess, although I could not locate any information on the company's substrate fabrication, is that the board had an array of isolated copper pads that would be bridged by the conductive pen. Metal Circuit Systems Corporation was ...

Whitepaper: Tactics for Improving Distortion Measurements

Tactics for Improving Distortion Measurements - RF CafeKeysight Technologies has just published a whitepaper entitled, "Tactics for Improving Distortion Measurements." This involves intercept points and mixer spurious product characterization by injecting the proper test signals. "In today's wireless communications and digital radio systems, frequency channel spacing is close to achieving spectral efficiency. Testing for unwanted and nonlinear spectral distortion is critical for narrow frequency channel spacing and wide bandwidth communication systems. Components, modules, sub-systems, and entire devices generate distortion. The distortion products might be in-channel, in-band, and out-of-band unwanted spectral signals. Distortion not only degrades ..."

Anatech Electronics Intros Line of Power Dividers

Anatech Electronics Intros Line of Power Dividers - RF CafeAnatech Electronics offers the industry's largest portfolio of high-performance standard and customized RF and microwave filters and filter-related products for military, commercial, aerospace and defense, and industrial applications up to 40 GHz. Anatech has introduced three power divider / combiner designs: a 4-way version covering 1-40 GHz that handles up to 20 watts, an 8-way version for 0.5-18.0 GHz and 30 watts, and a 16-way version for 800-960 MHz for up to 10 watts. Custom RF power combiner / divider designs can be designed and produced when a standard cannot be found, or the requirements are such that a custom approach is necessary.

Enjoy Private Messages with a Voice Scrambler

Enjoy Private Messages with a Voice Scrambler, September 1974 Popular Electronics - RF CafeOne of the best ways to learn about how something work is to build and operate it yourself. This article from a 1974 issue of Popular Electronics magazine presents a voice scrambler that exploits a simple spectral inversion technique to create a mirror image of the original voice spectrum. Spectral inversion occurs whenever the difference frequency is taken during a mixing process, so that low frequencies are translated to the high end of the band and high frequencies are translated to the lower end of the band. The result in the case of audio (voice) is garbled sounding speech. It is probably the simplest form of scrambling that is easily unscrambled, but it serves as a good learning tool ...

Synthetic Hall Effect to Achieve 1-Way Radio Transmission

Synthetic Hall Effect to Achieve 1-Way Radio Transmission - RF Cafe"Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have replicated one of the most well-known electromagnetic effects in physics, the Hall Effect, using radio waves (photons) instead of electric current (electrons). Their technique could be used to create advanced communication systems that boost signal transmission in one direction while simultaneously absorbing signals going in the opposite direction. The Hall Effect, discovered in 1879 by Edwin Hall, occurs because of the interaction between charged particles and electromagnetic fields. In an electric field, negatively charged particles (electrons) experience a force opposite to the direction of the field. In a magnetic field, moving electrons experience a force in the direction perpendicular to both their motion and the magnetic field. These two forces combine in the Hall Effect, where perpendicular electric and magnetic fields ..."

Bittele Electronics: PCB Fabrication & Assembly

Bittele Electronics PCB Fabrication - RF CafeSince 2003, Bittele Electronics has consistently provided low-volume, electronic contract manufacturing (ECM) and turnkey PCB assembly services. It specializes in board level turnkey PCB assembly for design engineers needing low volume or prototype multi-layer printed circuit boards. Free Passive Components: Bittele Electronics is taking one further step in its commitment of offering the best service to clients of its PCB assembly business. Bittele is now offering common passive components to its clients FREE of Charge.

Monday 23

Secrecy Through Electronics

Secrecy Through Electronics, September 1974 Popular Electronics - RF CafeSecure communications has been a concern to governments, corporations, and even private individuals since the beginning of time. Lives and fortunes depend upon being able to guarantee confidentiality in data and messaging. Guarded meeting rooms, secret couriers, and trusted comrades were the earliest forms of secure communications when word of mouth and written messages were the only means available. Once electronic transmission and reception came onto the scene, new methods were needed to help protect message content since access to the signaling media was often as simple as tapping into a telegraph or telephone wire or tuning a wireless receiver to the frequency of interest. A need for real-time encoding and decoding of messages in order to support convenient conversation required the development of not just sophisticated and efficient cryptographic techniques ...

Promote Your Company on RF Cafe for as Little as $45/Month

Sponsor RF Cafe for as Little as $35 per Month - RF CafeRF Cafe typically receives 8,000-15,000 website visits each weekday and about half that on weekends. RF Cafe is a favorite of engineers, technicians, hobbyists, and students all over the world. With more than 7,000 pages in the Google search index, RF Cafe returns in favorable positions on many types of key searches, both for text and images. New content is added on a daily basis, which keeps the major search engines interested enough to spider it multiple times each day. Items added on the homepage often can be found in a Google search within a few hours of being posted. I also re-broadcast homepage items on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. If you need your company news to be seen, RF Cafe is the place to be. Banner advertising begins at $175/month ...

Electro-Photonics Intros 2-18 GHz Hybrid Coupler

Electro-Photonics Intros 2-18 GHz Hybrid Coupler - RF CafeElectro-Photonics LLC, a market leader in RF and Microwave components, announces the availability of an SMA connectorized hybrid coupler: Q3XP-10000R-SMA. Our new Q3XP-10000R-SMA 90° hybrid coupler operates from 2-18 GHz, dissipates 20 W, and offers excellent coupling flatness and isolation for the most critical applications. Applications include signal splitting / combining, antenna beam-forming networks, balanced amplifier circuits, and I/Q modulators / demodulators. This coupler has an extremely small package of 1.85 x 1.39 inches (47 mm x 35.29 mm). The Q3XP-10000R-SMA is RoHS compliant.

More Problems - More Questions and Answers

More Problems - More Questions and Answers, February 1967 QST - RFCafeHere is a good old fashion Q & A session on Ham radio topics, with the emphasis on 'old.' QST magazine published a couple of these columns in the 1960s, and this is the second in the series. It is the half-century-ago equivalent of the contemporary "The Doctor Is In" column by the ARRL's Joel Hallas, W1ZR. I didn't read anything that wouldn't be applicable today, especially if you have some vintage gear. As with most such articles, there is something to be learned by just about anyone who deals with electronics, especially in the RF realm. One particularly interesting part is where the author, in response to a question about building and tuning your own radio, states, "Too many beginners are concerned about making 'Chinese Copies' of [manufactured] equipment ...

Many Thanks to ConductRF for Continued Support!

ConductRF coaxial cables & connectors - RF CafeConductRF is continually innovating and developing new and improved solutions for RF Interconnect needs. See the latest TESTeCON RF Test Cables for labs. ConductRF makes production and test coax cable assemblies for amplitude and phased matched VNA applications as well as standard & precision RF connectors. Over 1,000 solutions for low PIM in-building to choose from in the iBwave component library. They also provide custom coax solutions for applications where some standard just won't do. A partnership with Newark assures fast, reliable access. Please visit ConductRF today to see how they can help your project! 

PCBs and Embedded Capacitors in One 3D-Print Job

PCBs and Embedded Capacitors in One 3D-Print Job"Additive electronics provider Nano Dimension has developed 3D printed capacitors with its DragonFly additive manufacturing system. The capacitors are embedded in the body of the additively manufactured printed circuit boards (PCBs), saving space and eliminating the need for assembly. Nano Dimension's extensive testing with capacitors of different 3D dimensions have shown consistent results with statistically validated data. The repeatability results show less than 1% variance. The technology uses the same dielectric and metal traces as in the additively manufactured PCB yielding capacitors with a capacitance range from 0.1 nF to 3.2 nF. The successful results are based on over 260 tests ..."

Windfreak Technologies: USB-Powered RF Synthesizers, Mixers

Windfreak TechnologiesWindfreak Technologies designs, manufactures, tests and sells high value USB powered and controlled radio frequency products such as RF signal generators, RF synthesizers, RF power detectors, mixers, up / downconverters. Since the conception of WFT, we have introduced products that have been purchased by a wide range of customers, from hobbyists to education facilities to government agencies. Worldwide customers include Europe, Australia, and Asia. Please contact Windfreak today to learn how they might help you with your current project.

Sunday 22

Engineering & Technical Headlines Crossword Puzzle for September 22

Engineering & Technical Headlines Crossword Puzzle September 22, 2019 - RF CafeThis RF Cafe Engineering & Technical Headlines Crossword Puzzle contains at least 10 words from headlines posted on the homepage during the week of September 16 through September 20, 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, etc. Let me know if you would like a custom crossword puzzle built for your company, school, club, etc. (no charge).