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.
Measurement Challenges of
160 MHz 802.11ac
MIMO
Webinar:
Addressing Measurement Challenges of 160 MHz 802.11ac MIMO,
by Agilent, Thursday, August 9, 1:00 PM EDT. With the latest incarnation
of Wi-Fi, or 802.11ac, designers are leveraging signal frequencies,
modulation bandwidths, spatial demultiplexing and modulation schemes
to meet the throughput needs of 802.11ac. This has posed several
challenges for test equipment vendors as they try to meet the stringent
demands of 160 MHz bandwidths, MIMO streams, 256 QAM all at frequencies
of 5.8 GHz.
Hittite's MMIC LNA Covers 0.3-3 GHz, Only 4.5
sq.mm
The
HMC374SC70E is a high dynamic range pHEMT MMIC LNA which delivers
1.6 dB noise figure, +34 dBm output IP3 and 14 dB small signal gain
at 900 MHz. With saturated output power up to +19 dBm and output
IP3 to +36 dBm, the HMC374SC70E is also ideal for driving the LO
port of high linearity mixers and for transmitter pre-driver applications.
Engineering & Science News for August 8,
2012
•
LTE Revenues Expected to Grow 8x by 2016
•
National NFC Service to Go Live in Singapore This Month
•
Explore the Upper Reaches of the Amateur Radio Spectrum
in the ARRL 10 GHz and Up Contest
•
Apple Patent Trial: Samsung Scrutinized iPhone to Improve
Galaxy UI (will this set precedent
for teardowns & reverse engineering efforts?)
•
India Can Monitor BlackBerry Without Codes
•
Our Edisons are Alive and Well at NIWeek 2012
•
Nuclear Generator Powers Curiosity Mars Mission
(no solar
panels)
•
Discordant Bits and Single Photons Boost Quantum Power
•
Gov't Motors (GM) Outsources $559M Advertising Deal
(imagine Dinah Shore singing
"See
the UK in your Chevrolet")
RFMD Intros CW and CCW 860-960 MHz Circulators
RFMD’s
new small profile, low-cost, drop-in
RFCR220x circulators are designed for various wireless applications.
They feature robust construction for high reliability, low insertion
loss, excellent IMD (Inter-Modulation Distortion) performance, and
are magnetically shielded.
WB Downconverter Multi-Standard Diversity Receivers
Hittite
Microwave Corporation, the world class supplier of complete MMIC
based solutions for communication & military markets, has released
a new Broadband High IP3 Downconverter RFIC which operates from
700 to 3500 MHz. The
HMC1090LP3E is ideal for space constrained frequency conversion
applications in wireless infrastructure equipment such as base transceiver
stations, remote radio units, small cells and repeaters.
RFMW Introduces 30 W GaN PA from TriQuint
RFMW,
Ltd. announces design and sales support for TriQuint Semiconductor’s
TGA2576-FL, 30 W GaN on SiC power amplifier with frequency
coverage from 2.5 to 6 GHz. Designed for the rigors of electronic
warfare (EW) and test instrumentation, the
TGA2576-FL comes in a 11.4 x 17.3 x 3 mm flange package
with 25 mil CuW base for improved thermal management. Small
signal gain is 26 dB with a power added efficiency (PAE) of >30%.
The TGA2576-FL draws 1.55 A from a 30 V supply and is
fully matched to 50 ohms with integrated DC blocking caps on both
I/O ports.
RF
Cafe Forums visitor ljoseph posted the
following question: Suppose I have one GSM carrier with all 8 TS
on and each slot has 10W power. Because of the guard period in GSM
structure, the actual power read by the power meter will be 0.25
dB low. So in this case power meter will read 40-0.25=39.75 dBm.
Now consider the case where TS0 has 10W, TS1->8W, TS2->10W,
TS3->5W, TS4->3W, Ts5->10W, TS6->8W, TS7->9W. In
this case what will be the reading of power meter?
Engineering & Science News
•
Congressman Proposes "Cell Phone Right to Know Act" Requiring Cancer
Notice on Phones (Nov's time to clean
House)
•
Startup Demos 60-GHz Wi-Fi
•
Intelsat Demos Broadband Delivery to Airborne Terminal for Comms
on the Move
•
Apple Account Hack Raises Concern About Cloud Storage
•
Short-Duration Clock Approach Thwarts RFID Attacks
•
Rising Usage in Consumer Electronics Drives 22% Growth for Magnetic
Sensor Market
•
Is FM Chip Gaining Support in Congress?
Expanded Line of Precision Low PIM Adapters
Pasternack
Expands Line of
Precision Low PIM Adapters. The new low passive intermodulation
(PIM) adapters from Pasternack are perfect for applications requiring
high performance at ultra low VSWR. Pasternack's new line of precision
low PIM adapters is ideal for portable PIM testing and portable
sweep testing. Other low PIM adapter applications include installations
in cellular/PCS, RF wireless.
Miniature 0-180° Bi-Phase Modulator / Phase
Shifter
PMI
(Planar Monolithics) Intros Model
PS-90-2040-SY Miniature 0-180° Bi-Phase Modulator / Phase Shifter
with TTL Control Logic for 2,856 ±15 MHz. This model provides
low loss of 1.0 dB maximum and offers a fast switching time
of 50 nsec maximum. This model is designed to handle an input
power level of 1 watt.
Humans Have... Created Continent-Size Antennae
"Humans
have effectively created continent-size antennae - all exquisitely
tuned to soak up currents caused by space weather" - John Kappenman
of Storm Analysis Consultants, re the vulnerability of our massively
networked electrical supply grids. He was quoted in the July
2012 edition of Popular Mechanics in an article titled Welcome
to the Next Solar Maximum. Activities on our sun can effect
profound consequences here on Earth, both in the form of communications
disruptions and in the form of electrical supply grid disruptions.
Both can be dire with the potential of crippling worldwide commerce.
News agencies often to refer to the violent spewing of copious quantities
of high-speed electrons, protons, and neutrons as sunspot activity,
but in fact, the phenomenon is termed coronal mass ejection (CME).
Billion-ton belches of sun guts can be sent hurling earthward. Fortunately
for us, not all CMEs are directed toward...
Engineering & Science News
•
Seeing Through Walls: Laser System Reconstructs Objects
Hidden
from Sight
•
AT&T Continues to Hammer Away at PCAST's Shared
Spectrum
Vision
•
In the Olympics of Software Algorithms, a Russian Keeps
Winning
Gold
•
Organic Electronics Ready for Boom Years
•
'Scrapyard Challenge' to Make Nuclear Fusion More
Economical
•
Radio Still #1 Reason Consumers Purchase New Music
•
Wireless LAN Market to Expand by More Than 50% in 2016
•
Forum Responds to Black Hat Presentation on NFC
Vulnerabilities
•
Delay in Plans for a $1B Science Ghost Town
(I
wrote about it)
•
Wikipedia Goes Down Due to Cut Cables
Amateur Radio Quiz - ARRL
Amateur
Radio Quiz:
The Ins-and-Outs of the Bits-and-Pieces "Once the homebuilding
bug bites, you’ll be using a whole new set of jargon: acronyms,
color codes, numbering conventions, parameters, measurements and
more. Here are some questions about the many interesting methods
- and short-cuts - we use to describe our electronic components..."
NASA's Curiosity Lander
Arrives 1:31 am
EST
Update:
Curiosity Has Landed!!!
The Curiosity rover is set to alight
on Mars at 1:31 am EST on Monday. This will be by far the coolest
descent ever attempted. A mother ship will hover above the surface
to lower the rover via cable, then dispose of itself. This method
eliminates the need to harden the rover for a hard landing. Mars
is currently 154 million miles from Earth (14 minutes for communications,
calculator), so everything is totally automated. The Mars Odyssey
orbiter will relay messages to/from Curiosity. NASA has an amazing
interactive simulator that displays solar system spacecraft,
planets, etc., in 3D. The collective accomplishments most of mankind
boggles the mind (excluding the same old groups who elect rather
to destroy).
Many Thanks to RF Dude for Support
Expert
consulting experience in medium volume production where "design
for manufacturing", "design for test" and overall solution cost
have been very important. All phases of project execution...
Science Theme Crossword
for 8/5/2012
For
the sake of avid cruciverbalists, 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., Lamar)...
Engineering & Science News
•
India Approves Starting Price for Spectrum Auction
•
Boosting Transparent Conduction in Graphene with Gold
Nanoparticles
•
Hopes Dim for Sharp Amid Japan's TV Industry Sunset
•
Best Science Photos of the Week
Triad RF Systems' 5 Watt, 500-2800 MHz PA Module
The
Model TA1007 wideband GaAs amplifier module is
ideal for CW or pulsed applications. It is very linear, and highly
efficient. Due to several state-of-the-art circuits, this unit
is highly immune from damage due to any out of spec DC voltage conditions
that may be applied. It rugged construction guarantees fault-free
operation in the most extreme...
Thanks
to 3Gmetalworx for Support
RF/EMI
PCB-level shielding. Basic shielding cans for permanent installation
single-cavity shield sets. Cover can be removed and re-installed
on multi-cavity shield sets....
Microwave Engineering - David Pozar
Pozar's
new edition of Microwave Engineering includes more material on active
circuits, noise, nonlinear effects, and wireless systems. New and
updated material on
wireless communications
systems, including link budget, link margin, digital modulation
methods, and bit error rates...
Notable Quote
"The
radio craze... will die out in time" - Thomas Alva Edison
•
UK Tech Start-up Scene Boosted by New Investments
•
China Takes 27% of Global Smartphone Shipments
•
Electron-Electron Interactions in Graphene
•
Component Prices Plunging on Economic Uncertainty
•
Can You Get a Patent on Being a Patent Troll?
•
Wi-Fi Traffic Wardens Police Comms at Olympics
•
Telecom Italia Starts to Stem Decline in Italy
•
SK Telecom Profits Off by 3/4 on LTE Start-up Costs
•
June Global Chip Sales Stay Soft on U.S. Weakness
•
Chinese Buying U.S. Business at Record Pace
An Officially Bogus Patent Application
As
you might imagine, the staff at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
(USPTO) has seen some real doozies over the year in the form of
applications. An RF Cafe visitor who is a registered patent agent
sent a note about his office's reaction of hilarity to United States
Patent Application # 20040161257 . The link goes directly to the
official document on file with the USPTO, so it is real. Look at
number nine in the opening "Claims" section: 9. The method of providing
user interface displays in an image forming apparatus which is really
a bogus claim included amongst real...
Engineering
Articles & Resources
•
How to Measure High-Frequency Signals Over Multiple Channels,
Yves M. and Jean Manuel D.
•
Smokin' CFL, by Martin Rowe
•
Testing Radar and EW Systems for the Real-World
• Thanks to
everything RF for Ongoing Support
•
Sherlock Ohms: Inaccurate Measurements Skew Data
•
How a Cellphone’s Case Can Imitate Its Maker
•
Pulling a Wireless Signal Out of Thin Air
•
Oversampling Reduces Quantization Errors - Jon Titus
• Many Thanks to
Skyworks Solutions for Longtime Support!
•
Power Line Communication – Design archive
Northrop Grumman's 850 GHz Receiver
U.S.
defense contractor Northrop Grumman Corp has demonstrated an 850 GHz
integrated receiver that brings the firm much closer to being first
to reach a DoD goal for developing
transistor-based
electronics that can operate at center frequencies beyond 1
terahertz (THz)...
Engineering News
•
Is Balance of Power Shifting in Mobile Patent Disputes?
•
Navy Asks Industry for Rugged, High-G Electronics and Guidance for
Hyper Velocity Projectile Program
•
Mobile Communication is Breaking Down the Barriers • Between Work
and Leisure
•
Extraordinarily Strong Negative Refractive Index Obtained
•
Direct Imaging Confirms the Importance of Electron-Electron Interactions
in Graphene
•
$20K Fine for Failing to Properly Light Antenna
•
Electromagnetic 'Swamps' Don't Always Bog Electrons Down
•
Sharp to Slash 5,000 Jobs
•
Research in Motion Announces a 4G LTE Blackberry Playbook
•
NOAA Hi-Def Radar Gives You the Straight Scoop
•
AT&T to Acquire NextWave -and Its WCS Spectrum - for $650M
•
R Grammar Gaffes Ruining the Language? Maybe Not
Question from Antenna Forum Poster
A
new member of the RF Cafe Antenna Forum, who is a student, has a
question for the experts regarding signal power and conservation
of energy.
USAF Radar Tech Paul Fowler Checks In
Please
welcome Paul Fowler as the newest former radar technician to contact
me with his service info. Paul began his 20+ year career in the
1950s, working on the
MPN-1!
Read his extensive list of assignments...
RF & Microwave Webinar
IC,
Laminate, Package Multi-Technology PA Module Design Methodology,
by Agilent Technologies, Thursday, August 2, 1:00 pm EDT...
Electronics and IGY
"The
International Geophysical Year (IGY) was an international scientific
project that lasted from July 1, 1957, to December 31, 1958. It
marked the end, after Joseph Stalin's death, of a long period during
the Cold War when scientific interchange between East and West was
seriously interrupted. As many as 67 countries participated among
which were all major ones with the exception of mainland China.
The IGY encompassed eleven Earth sciences: aurora and airglow, cosmic
rays, geomagnetism, gravity, ionospheric physics, longitude and
latitude determinations (precision mapping), meteorology, solar
activity (communications)...
Lunar Libration with Phases
Tom
Ruen released this animation of the moon showing its monthly phase
progression. We have all witnessed the phases of the moon, but have
you noticed that its apparent size varies due to its elliptical
orbit
(0.0549 eccentricity) around
the earth? What the animation really emphasizes is something you
may have never noticed - a libration motion, also due to the elliptical
orbit and the moon's 6.7° axial tilt wrt its orbital plane. Libration
causes the pronounced rocking motion. If you viewed the planets
from the sun, they would all display the same combination of motions
because all have eccentric (elliptical) orbits
...
4-Level Wooden Bleacher Plans
I
designed these 4-level wooden bleachers for use at my daughter's
Equine Kingdom
Riding Academy in North Carolina. They are very sturdy and are
built to last forever. Pressure treated lumber, galvanized hardware,
and deck screws are used throughout. Closely spaced safety rails
help prevent small kids from crawling through. The 10-foot length
in a modular format lets you bolt them together for any length you
need. A high resolution PDF version of the bleacher plans is downloadable...
Please Welcome Bittele Electronics
Bittele
Electronics is a Turn-Key PCB assembly services provider for prototype
and low volume electronic contract manufacturing. Headquartered
in Canada, they offer low cost 1-Stop
PCB Assembly
Services including
PCB fabrication,
parts
procurement and final circuit board assembly. Circuit board
assembly services make use of their own PCB manufacturing facility,
electronic components procurement team and PCB assembly house. This
is an ideal service for PCB prototyping and low volume production
runs...
World Peace and Amateur Radio
It
hasn't been just Miss America contestants that have wished for world
peace over the years. In April 1967, this article titled "World
Peace and Amateur Radio" was published extolling the efforts of
Ham radio operators in attempting to break through communications
barriers erected by governments. Amateur signals could reach into
the USSR, Cuba, China, North Korea, and all the other hopelessly
oppressed regions of the world to let people know that there is
hope beyond the Iron...
RF Engineering Crossword - 7/29/2012
For
the sake of avid cruciverbalists, 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., Lamar)...
RF Systems Engineering Opportunity Wanted
John
Santillo: Highly experienced in the development of electronic systems
that result in marketable products for military and private applications.
Expertise in digital, RF and Microwave testing and the use of laboratory
test equipment...
RF
Cafe visitor Bob Stewart has generously made this fine handheld
digital multimeter (DMM) Visio model available at no charge. Click
on the image to download it. Both a grouped Visio format and a metafile
format are included...
Please Welcome Reliance Engineering
Reliance
Engineering is a specialized custom molder of Thermoplastics and
Thermoset Plastic materials with a focus on demanding applications
requiring high temperature materials and very close tolerance molding.
Many of these same applications require Insert Molding which is
one of our core disciplines. Strong background in material selection
and part design for moldability...
Molecular Electronics
"A
transistorized i.f. stage for a TV set can be built today to fit
into a match box. But molecular electronics has made possible the
production of a device that contains two such stages and is only
a fraction of the size of a single transistor!" Nobody talks of
molecular electronics today, but that really is an accurate term
for what we have when compound semiconductors like GaAs, GaN, or
any of the many-atomed exotic photovoltaic substrates are being
discussed. When referring to pure elements like silicon that are
being doped with impurities, I'm not sure those structures are considered
molecules...
Graph Interpretation Quiz
Here
is a quick test of your graph reading skills. It appeared in the
April 1967 edition of Popular Electronics. I missed #6 - a temporary
(hopefully) case of cranial rectumitis on my part. Maybe you will
do better...
Notable Quote
"I
do remember being very good at diagramming sentences. Diagramming
sentences must have been a precursor to a career drawing state diagrams
and schematics." - Bob Davis, RF Cafe contributor.
Knowing that I at least attempt to achieve proper grammar in
my writings, Bob sent me a link to an
online test of writing style.
Plugging in a few instances from past
Kirt's Cogitations
articles produced mixed results, with nothing exceptionally good
or bad. I'm just average.
RF & Microwave Webinar - Free
Wideband
Digital Pre-Distortion Modeling for LTE-Advanced, by Agilent Technologies,
Thursday, July 26, 2:00 pm EDT...
ITU-R Atmospheric Attenuation
RF
Cafe visitor Paul M., wrote asking where I got the data for my plot
of atmospheric
attenuation because he could not locate a table of data online.
I told him it was generated by entering frequency / attenuation
pairs from published charts into Excel and then plotting them. It
was done that way to avoid a possible copyright violation. A month
or so later, Paul wrote back providing a link to the
International Telecommunications
Union's (ITU) official document he finally found that provides
this and lots of other data and charts. Thanks, Paul.
Sr. Field Sales Account Mgr. (Radar Products)
Cobham
is seeking a Senior Field Sales Account Manager to join the team
in Exeter, NH to be responsible for the sale of all Microwave Components
product lines to military, defense and commercial avionics customers.
See Employment Forum.
Account Manager (Passive RF Products)
Cobham
is seeking an Account Manager for Passive RF products to join the
team in Exeter, NH to be responsible for overseeing all activities
associated with technical government program(s). See Employment
Forum.
Please Welcome Marvelous Microwave
Marvelous
Microwave is a manufacturer of microwave/RF components, for WiFi,
cellular, Bluetooth, GPS, DVB-T/S/C, and SatComm. Attenuators, adapters,
amplifiers, circulators & isolators, DC blocks & bias Tees,
directional couplers, filters & duplexers, power dividers, switches,
transformers. They are now helping to support RF Cafe through advertising...
The Amazing Maser
Early
masers (microwave amplification by simulated
emission of radiation), like the lasers
(light amplification...), began
life with the requirement of a rare earth-based mineral at its core
- in this case a ruby. Early applications of the maser, as reported
in this 1960 Popular Electronics article, were centered on radars.
High amplification and high power was beyond the capability of common
semiconductors like Si, GaAs, or GaN. Required substrate impurities,
gate widths, and thermal control was well beyond the state of the
art of the day. As always, the early pioneers like Dr. Charles H.
Townes, inventor of the maser, accomplished incredible feats with
rudimentary tools, including the venerable slide rule...
Lazy American Dream
Chances
are anyone reading this is a hard worker or, through no fault of
his/her own, would like to be so once again.
Government regulation
and political ineptitude has driven our economy into the crapper
with no relief in sight. Lavish Welfare "entitlements" and paying
people 99 weeks not to work exacerbate the situation. Politicians
love dependent voters. Those of us pulling the metaphorical wagon,
a shrinking portion of the populace, are fed up. This song came
on the radio this morning (needless to
say not NPR). It perfectly sums up the situation...
America's 1st Female Astronaut Dies
Dr.
Sally K. Ride died of pancreatic cancer at age 61. She became America's
first female astronaut with her flight on Space Shuttle Challenger
that began on June 18, 1983. She flew again in 1984. Sally left
NASA in 1987, then in 1989 she became a professor of physics at
U of C San Diego, and was director of the University of California's
California Space Institute. Can you believe it's been 30 years???
Free Book from IEEE
Through
July 31, the IEEE is making an e-book titled, "Personal Positioning
for Engineers," by Paul J. Kostek available at no charge to members.
I was able to download it without signing in, so maybe it's available
to everyone - at least until they figure out it is not locked. "In
this e-book, we’ll look at several different employment and career
options for engineers to help you determine which ones will work
for you. Not all of the options will work for each person, and the
key to succeeding is to understand yourself, how you respond to
change, and what level of risk you can deal with..."
RF Calibration Technician Needed
Advanced
Test Equipment has an immediate opening in the San Diego area for
an experienced RF Electronic Calibration Technician to work in our
Lab. This role is responsible to successfully troubleshoot, repair
and calibrate a wide variety of test & measurement equipment
in a fast paced environment. See Employment Forum.
While
torturing myself on the elliptical exercise machine in my basement,
I often do mental exercises to help pass time during the utterly
boring, albeit beneficial, endeavor. Often the routine is no more
complicated than dividing elapsed calories by time to get a burn
rate, then figuring how much longer it will take until my goal is
reached, all without the benefit of paper, pencil, or calculator.
Of course by the time I finally come up with a number, I'm way past
the point where the calculations began, so I start over. That reminds
me of the old episode of Beverly Hillbillies where Jethro is showing
off his new watch to Uncle Jed. Jed asks what time it is, and Jethro
says, "Well, the big hand is on the 2 and little hand is on the
12 and the second hand is on the 10, so that makes it...
Internet Created for Business
to Make $$$
?
"Government
research created the Internet so that all the companies could make
money off the
Internet."
- POTUS. Most people reading this are aware that what we now refer
to as the Internet began its life as ARPANet in October of 1969.
Dig this excerpt from the early ARPANet handbook in the
Rules and Etiquette section: "It is considered illegal to use
the ARPANet for anything which is not in direct support of Government
business... Sending electronic mail over the ARPANet for commercial
profit or political purposes is both anti-social and illegal." So
much for the veracity of the claim.
Embedded Software Engineer Needed
Symmetricom,
a manufacturer of precise time and frequency products for communication,
computation, transportation, space and electronic systems, is seeking
an Embedded Software (Firmware) Engineer with commercial product
experience developing for low-power microprocessors used in integrated
control environments, using TI MSP430, or similar microcontrollers.
See Employment Forum.
Why Good People Can’t Get Jobs
RF
Cafe visitor Bob B. read a story I linked to
(Why
Bad Jobs - or No Jobs - Happen to Good Workers) and suggested
it be featured more prominently. It has to do with the supposed
difficulty employers are having finding qualified employees. IEEE's
Steven Cherry talked to Peter Cappelli, author of
Why Good People Can't Get Jobs: The Skills Gap and What Companies
Can Do About It for some insight. Cappelli's opinion is
that employers have created the myth based on unreasonable expectations.
They tend to only want workers who have already done the exact job,
not ones who are capable of doing the job.
Internships,
mentoring, and in-house training are deemed too expensive because
of high employee turnover. Cappelli takes apart the argument of
inadequacy of schools (vo-tech, college) and wage expectations.
"Diamonds are very expensive. They cost a lot, but you can buy all
the diamonds you want as long as you’re willing to pay." - Peter
Cappelli is a professor of management at Wharton.
The Hobbyist - Techie Comics
Here
are a few comical, uh, comics from the April 1967 edition of Popular
Electronics depicting the perception of techies during the era.
Things really haven't changed much. Popular Electronics went out
of print in 1985 after a 31 year run...
RF & Microwave Webinar
Phase
Noise Measurement Methods and Techniques, by Agilent Technologies,
Thursday, July 19, 1:00 pm ET
Engineer Confesses to Pranks in Obituary
59-year-old
Val Patterson, who died of cancer, said his life motto was "Anything
for a laugh." In his auto-obituary he wrote , "Now that I have gone
to my reward, I have confessions and things I should now say." His
biggest secret: "What happened was that the day I went to pay off
my college
student loan at the U of U, the girl working there put my receipt
into the wrong stack, and two weeks later, a PhD diploma came in
the mail. I didn't even graduate, I only had about 3 years of college
credit." Read more...
Edison vs. Tesla Battle Correction
"...an
awful spectacle, far worse than hanging." You will find that quote
used many places in reference to the well-known battle between Thomas
Edison with his DC power distribution system and Nikola Tesla with
his AC power distribution system (aka the "War of Currents"). It
derives from a headline in the August 7, 1890 edition of the New
York Times that read thus: "Far Worse Than Hanging." Edison and
his attack dogs did constantly and mercilessly haunt Tesla and his
underwriter, corporate magnate George Westinghouse, with a lot of
vicious quotes and actions. Most nastiness attributed to Edison
is factual. As normally misrepresented, the article is an attack
directed specifically against the horror of Tesla's AC current being
used in an execution by electrocution as opposed to the - to be
inferred by the reader - more humane form of execution by Edison's
DC current. However, after scanning...
Carl and Jerry: El Torero Electronico
"So
if I can work out a really efficient way of changing part of this
wasted noise into electrical energy, it can be charging batteries
and taking some of the load off the plane's generating plant." That
passage, from the April 1960 Carl and Jerry adventure story,
reads like a modern day energy harvesting project. Each month Popular
Electronics included an electronics saga that normally included
some high tech sleuthing by the teenagers a la the Hardy Boys. This
is a particular favorite of mine because it involves a radio controlled
airplane model...
RF Engineering Crossword - 7/15/2012
For
the sake of avid cruciverbalists, 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., Lamar)...
Free Engineering Magazine Subscriptions
Most
of the "important" technical magazines offer you a free subscriptions
if you are qualified - often that means you still have a pulse.
Their advertisers pay according to circulation, so higher subscription
numbers mean higher sales prices for them. A few of the most useful
for us are
MicroWaves & RF,
Broadcast Engineering,
Mission
Critical Communications, and
Product
Design &
Development.
There are a couple hundred
magazines
and white papers to choose from (I
make about $1 on each one you subscribe to)...
Product &
Company
News
-
Archive-
RFMW Introduces 2W Highly Linear Amplifier from TriQuint Semiconductors
Q-Par Develops Novel High Power, 180° Power Divider
Empower’s “Compare for Yourself” Campaign
AWR Exhibits Within the RF and Wireless Pavilion During NIWeek 2012
M/A-COM Technology Solutions Introduces New Push Pull CATV Amplifier
MILMEGA is Pleased to Announce the Release of the New AS0728
Product Range
Richardson RFPD Introduces Three New Low Noise Amplifiers Available
from Stock for Prototype or High-Volume Production from Skyworks
Skyworks Intros Two New, Enhancement Mode, Low Noise Amplifiers
Analog Devices Expands Its Industry Leading D/A Converter Portfolio
Richardson RFPD Introduces 1/2-Watt RF Driver Amplifier from ADI
Radiometrix Intros Fast-Switching, Long Range, Wireless Link for
Industrial & Commercial Applications
Highland Technology Announces the T240 Single-Channel Externally-Triggered
Complementary-Output Pulse Generator
Hittite Expands Clocks & Timing Product Line
Reliance Engineering Completes Purchases of Automated Vision Inspection
System
Hittite's 2 Watt Power Amplifiers with On Chip Power Detectors Cover
9-14 GHz
After Class Feature: Crystals
The
fundamentals of crystals has not changed since this article appeared
in a 1960 edition of Popular Electronics. The way they are grown,
cut, and packaged has changed fairly significantly, however. An
understanding of how they work at the atomic level has advanced
significantly. The number of devices in which they are contained
has increased significantly. However, except for the vacuum tubes
in these oscillator circuits being replaced by transistors, nothing
much has changed...
Featured Book
RF-Fronted Design
RF-Frontend
Design for Process-Variation-Tolerant
Receivers,
Pooyan Sakian, Reza Mahmoudi, Arthur van Roermund
7/13/2012
Post Job Openings on RF Cafe - FREE
If
your company has opportunities available for engineers, technicians,
managers, sales, etc., in the tech arena, you are welcome to post
at no charge on the RF Cafe Employment Forum. If you do, please
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Notable Quote
-Archive-
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from
magic." - Arthur C. Clarke,
Profiles of the Future, 1961. This is also referred to
as Clarke's 3d Law. Flashback:
The Wireless World magazine articles by Mr. Clarke:
Extra-Terrestrial Relays, and
Peacetime Uses for V2
LEGO 1/2-Scale Rolls-Royce Turbine Engine
Did
you wish when you were a kid that you could get paid for building
stuff out of LEGO blocks? It probably never occurred to me at the
time (not much did), but obviously it occurred to the people at
Bright Bricks. While a lot of artists create their LEGO sculptures
out of a sense of artisty[sic] je ne sais quoi, for these folks
it's serious business. Bright Bricks has paying customers who use
the talent of the team to design and build promotional
props.
In this case, Rolls-Royce contracted with them to prepare a half-size
scale modela href="../cool-pics/lego-rolls-royce-trent-1000.htm">...
I also added a few new LEGO models of electronics gear like a
mobile radar van and the Motorola "Brick" phone...
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