 Friday 10
Thursday 9
Wednesday 8
 Reading trade journals is always given as
one of the main ways cited by engineers on career surveys for continuing
education. Engineering 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. Whitepaper topics include
careers, manufacturing, and engineering, while magazine titles include Microwave
Engineering Europe, Electronic Design, and Microwave Product Digest. Note: I
earn a few pennies (literally) when you download one of these or the many other
pubs available, so please help yourself.
 The Design News website
published their list of engineering schools with alumni that earn the
highest salaries. As usual, all the familiar names appear, but with some
shuffling of positions. For a reason I still do not understand - and I'm not
knocking it - Harvey Mudd College leads the pack with an entry level salary of
$90,700 and a mid-career salary and $161,800. Stanford was #2 and MIT #3. For
reasons I do understand, military academies consistently rank highly (USNA #4,
USMMA #10, USCGA #19). Says, the article: "As part of Engineering Week, we're
presenting the
2020 report from PayScale (2019 report) shows which schools are turning out the
highest paid grads with a bachelor's or graduate degree. Two years ago we posted
the results of PayScale's study that only included grads with bachelor’s
degrees. The difference in the lists is surprising. PayScale defines engineering
schools as those public or private institutions that grant more than 50 percent
of their undergraduate degrees in math, sciences, computer science, engineering,
or engineering technology majors..."
 Use of a
load line chart is a fast way of selecting the bias (operating) point and
operational range for nonlinear devices. Notice that I didn't specifically say
for transistors because this particular article deals with load lines for vacuum
tubes. Almost nobody has any need for tube load line charts anymore, but the
skill needed to interpret load lines for transistors is fundamentally the same
as for tubes. Substitute Vce (collector-to-emitter voltage) for Plate Volts and
Ic (collector current) for Plate Milliamperes and you have equivalence.
Popular Electronics magazine ran this "After Class" tutorial series
covering a broad variety of topics for many years. There is a short quiz at the
end...
 And
now, the cousin of the
Flux
Capacitor --- the
Spin Capacitor!
"In what is claimed to be a world first, physicists have developed a so-called spin
capacitor that could herald new electronics that require less power and generate
less heat. The advance by scientists at Leeds University generates and holds the
spin state of electrons for a number of hours compared to previous efforts that
held the spin state for a fraction of a second. Their results are published in Science
Advances. A conventional capacitor holds energy in the form of electric charge and
the development from Leeds does this also whilst storing the spin state of a group
of electrons. According to the university, this could lead to a storage device measuring
one square inch that could store 100 terabytes of data..."
 Let
me start by saying this is NOT the COVID-19 form of coronavirus. It is patent
US10130701B2 issued
to a UK research entity. A CNIPA (China
National Intelligence Property Administration) website search does not show any
coronavirus patents - maybe the
Wuhan Institute
of Virology application is still pending. A search on the USPTO website for
"coronavirus"
(ttl) turns up 75 results. I'm not sure which makes me more uncomfortable - a communist
country's patent office that shows no coronavirus patents or a representative republic
country's patent office that shows scores of them, with 5 having
China (cn) as the assignee country (acn).
 MPDevice
(MPD) has become a trustworthy and reliable company in the global RF market as a
manufacturer of passive RF Devices. Included are attenuators and terminations,
coaxial connectors, adapters, and cable assemblies, DC blocks, surge arrestors,
power combiner / dividers, and directional couplers. The Korean Telecommunication
market is now entering into the era of hyperconnected society. With continuous enhancement
in R&D capabilities and quality control, MPD will continue in an effort to become
the No. 1 technologically innovative company with a focus on the emerging 5G
marketplace.
Tuesday 7
 Famous quotation
books are full of statements made by people - many of them "experts" -
throughout history which have proven to be hilariously wrong, and unfortunately
some have been tragically wrong. Thomas Watson, president of IBM, in 1943 famously predicted on
digital computers, "I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."
In 1946, 20th Century Fox's Darryl Zanuck declared, "Television won't be able to
hold on to any market it captures after the first six months. People will soon
get tired of staring at a plywood box every night." Virtually on the eve of the
PC revolution (1977), DEC founder Ken Olsen, "There is no reason anyone would
want a computer in their home." British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain
assured his countrymen regarding Adolph Hitler's assurance of nonaggression, "I
have returned from Germany with peace for our time". In 1947 when
Radio-Craft magazine founder and editor wrote this article telling of the
many in-the-know types who were predicting a
grave future for commercial broadcast radio once television became a common
fixture in households...
 RF 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 13,000 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. If you need your company news to be seen, RF Cafe is the
place to be. Advertising begins at $40/month.
 When it comes to low loss transmission media,
it's hard to beat waveguide and open wire. Open wire can exhibit less a couple tenths
of a decibel per hundred feet at low frequencies, but it is very susceptible to
perturbations from nearby objects, wind and moisture. Waveguide exhibits a few tenths
of a decibel per 100 feet at very high frequencies, but it is expensive and difficult
to work with. In the middle is coaxial cable, which for a good quality product of
appropriate size, you can get very low attenuation. As with most things, you get
what you pay for in coax cable. I once used really expensive Andrew (now Commscope)
Heliax coax cable on an S-band radar (2.8 GHz) system that had only a little
more than 1 dB/100 ft, which was necessary from a receiver noise figure
requirement rather than for transmitter power efficiency. This article from
QST covers some of the basics of low loss cable...
 "The
International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) has released
new guidelines for the protection of humans exposed to radio frequency electromagnetic
fields. The guidelines cover the upcoming 5G technologies, as well as AM and DAB
radio, WiFi, Bluetooth, and the currently used 3G/4G mobile phones. ICNIRP Chairman,
Dr. Eric van Rongen, said the new electromagnetic field guidelines have taken seven
years to develop and are more appropriate than the 1998 guidelines for the higher
frequencies that will be used for 5G in the future. He added that they know parts
of the community are concerned about the safety of 5G and they hope the updated
guidelines will help put people at ease. The guidelines have been developed after
a thorough review of all relevant scientific literature, scientific workshops, and
an extensive public consultation process. They provide protection against all scientifically
substantiated adverse health effects due to EMF exposure in the 100 kHz to 300 GHz
range..."
 Mr. Asem Elshimi has an article entitled
"Make
Sense of Antenna Design and Matching Networks" on the EDN website. He introduces
the basics of EM radiation and ideal antenna formats, then discusses acceptable
compromises based on the application. "When it comes to actual antennas in the real
world, much of our knowledge is empirical. We know very broadly theories that explain
how a point charge radiates (Maxwell’s equations), the need for matching (microwave
theory), and how dipole antennas drawn on paper radiate the way they do, but these
laws are nearly useless in solving the real-world problem of antenna design. By
sharing my intuition on how wireless electronics work on a physical level, I hope
to be useful in shaping a broad understanding of antenna design and matching networks
and underscore the value of best practices and hard-earned wisdom..."
(note Fig. 1
antenna drawings appear to be mine)
 "EE suspects telephone mast engulfed by
fire in Birmingham was an arson attack as celebrities claim Covid-19 caused by new
network ('ØG' video).
Ofcom has warned broadcasters to refrain from spreading rumors that
5G is linked to coronavirus. Telecoms engineers are facing verbal and physical
threats during the lockdown, as baseless conspiracy theories linking coronavirus
to the rollout of 5G technology spread by celebrities such as Amanda Holden prompt
members of the public to abuse those maintaining vital mobile phone and broadband
networks. Facebook has removed one anti-5G group in which users were being encouraged
to supply footage of them destroying mobile phone equipment, with some contributors..."
 Exodus Advanced Communications is a multinational
RF communication equipment and engineering service company serving both commercial
and government entities and their affiliates worldwide. Power amplifiers ranging
from 10 kHz to 51 GHz with various output power levels and noise figure
ranges, we fully support custom designs and manufacturing requirements for both
small and large volume levels. decades of combined experience in the RF field for
numerous applications including military jamming, communications, radar, EMI/EMC
and various commercial projects with all designing and manufacturing of our HPA,
MPA, and LNA products in-house.
Monday 6
 Whenever I post any of these Radio Data Sheets
from vintage electronics magazines, I attempt to find photos of actual units. Drawings
are good, but actually seeing a for-real example is the best option. This
Admiral Model 6RT44-7B1 phonograph appears on the Radio Attic's Archive website.
As mentioned previously, electronics service shops relied heavily on these Radio
Data Sheets that were printed in monthly magazines like Radio-Craft, Radio News,
and Radio & Television News. The alternative was purchasing service documentation
from the manufacturer (often only available to factory-authorized shops), from Sam's
Photofacts, or some other third-party supplier. Of course experience and intuitiveness
could substitute for documentation, but as many episodes of John T. Frye's
series of "Mac's Radio Service Shop" illustrates, quirky variations in circuits...
 "A new type of graphene amplifier could offer
researchers a unique way to access the electromagnetic spectrum. Engineers from
Loughborough University have designed an optical transistor out of graphene and
a high-temperature superconductor that can
amplify terahertz frequencies, and could unlock a whole new field of potential
technologies. Terahertz waves (THz) have long fascinated scientists, but unfortunately,
their use has been limited by their weak signals. Without an added boost of power,
the wavelengths have been too weak for researchers to harness their potential power
- until now, that is. The amplifier is deceptively simple, made up of two layers
of graphene and the superconductor..."
 "There's a tricky question asked at Google
and Amazon interviews that is bound to stump you. However, worry not as YouTuber
Zach Star is here with the solution in this fun video. The question goes like this:
let's say you have a stick that you will randomly cut in three pieces.
What are the odds that the three pieces created can form a triangle? If the
three pieces are about equal in size, you can make a triangle. If, however, you
have two much smaller pieces, you can not. It should also be known that for a triangle
to be made, the two shortest lengths combined need to be bigger than the third.
How does that relate to our question? Well, you have to watch the video for that..."
 Z-Communications, Inc., announces a new
RoHS compliant VCO (Voltage-Controlled Oscillator) model
SMV0912B-LF.
The SMV0912B-LF operates from 865 to 960 MHz within a tuning voltage range
of 0 to 2.5 Vdc. This low cost VCO features very clean spectral purity performance
of -100 dBc/Hz @10 kHz offset and covers the frequency range with an average
sensitivity of 80 MHz/V. The SMV0912B-LF is designed to deliver 3±3 dBm
of output power into a 50 ohms load while operating over the industrial temperature
range of -40 to 85°C. This high performance VCO is further enhanced by saving precious
energy. It consumes a mere 6 mA of current while operating off a 3.0 Vdc
supply. The SMV0912B-LF features a typical 2nd harmonic suppression of -10 dBc...
 Question: According to the legend on this
graphic, how many confirmed cases of coronavirus do the gray-colored areas have
(answer below)? Look at this "Countries
with Confirmed Cases of Coronavirus" map used in an MSN.com news story. According
to graphic creator Tara, it was provided by the World Health Organization. This
is an example of why the news media should not be unquestioningly believed when
presenting data. Its reporters are for the most part very scientifically and mathematically
ignorant (and some are plain stupid). They do not know how to assimilate and present
numerical information, while pompously demanding that everyone listen to the scientists.
Answer: Exactly 100. Do you understand why?
 Withwave manufactures an extensive line of
metrology quality coaxial test cable assemblies, connectors (wave-, end-, vertical-launch,
board edge, panel mount), calibration kits (SOLT), a
fully automated 4-port vector network analyzer
(VNA) calibrator, between- and in-series connector adaptors, attenuators, terminations,
DC blocks, torque wrenches, test probes & probe positioner. Special test fixtures
for calibration and multicoax cable assemblies. Frequency ranges from DC through
110 GHz. Please contact Withwave today to see how they can help your project
succeed.
Sunday 5
 Working crossword puzzles can be contagious.
This April 5, 2020,
tech-themed crossword puzzle may even go viral. It contains only clues and terms
associated with engineering, science, physical, astronomy, mathematics, chemistry,
etc., which I have personally built over nearly two decades. That includes the cause
for our planet's current dilemma. Many new words and company names have been added
that had not even been created when I started in the year 2002. You will never find
a word taxing your knowledge of a numbnut soap opera star or the name of some obscure
village in the Andes mountains. You might, however, encounter the name of a movie
star like Hedy Lamarr or a geographical location like Tunguska, Russia, for reasons
which, if you don't already know, might surprise you...
|
Morse Code
 In keeping with the effort to spread the
news about how to protect yourself from the Wuhan Flu until an inoculation can be
developed, here is the "Stayin'
Alive" YouTube sensation produced from disparate locations by some stay-at-homers
in Sweden. BTW, in case your weren't around during the 1970s disco era, the
Bee Gees are the (B)rothers
(G)ibb. If you find yourself quarantined (literally or effectively), then you can
relate to "My Corona Home,"
a parody of the Beach Boys'
"Kokomo" song.
 Part VI of the
multi-month series of articles
on antenna principles which appeared in Radio-Craft magazine covers directive
arrays with metal-screen reflectors. Metal-screen, wire, and mesh reflectors are
discussed as reflector surfaces for broadside array, the collinear array, and
billboard array collections of dipole elements. An interesting statement by
author Jordan McQuay is, "It is more practical and efficient to use a reflector screen
[as opposed to reflector dipole elements], particularly if there are a large
number of dipoles. Such a non-resonant reflector is easier arid cheaper to
construct, and provides a better broad-band response than a resonant reflector."
I don't know enough about antenna deign to determine whether with modern methods
of simulation and construction, if that still holds...
electronics-themed comics
February 1967 Electronics World
February 1969 Electronics World
May 1961 Electronics World
RF 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 13,000 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. If you need your company news to be seen, RF Cafe is the
place to be. Advertising begins at $40/month.
 RF 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...
 With more than 1000
custom-built symbols, this has got to be the most comprehensive set of
Visio Symbols available for RF, analog, and digital system and schematic drawings!
Every object has been built to fit proportionally on the provided A-, B- and C-size
drawing page templates (or can use your own). Symbols are provided for equipment
racks and test equipment, system block diagrams, conceptual drawings, and schematics.
Unlike previous versions, these are NOT Stencils, but instead are all contained
on tabbed pages within a single Visio document. That puts everything in front of
you in its full glory. Just copy and paste what you need on your drawing. The file
format is XML so everything plays nicely with Visio 2013 and later...
 This assortment of custom-designed themes
by RF Cafe includes T-Shirts, Mouse Pads, Clocks, Tote Bags, Coffee Mugs and Steins,
Purses, Sweatshirts, and Baseball Caps. Choose from amazingly clever "We Are the World's Matchmakers"
Smith chart design or the "Engineer's Troubleshooting Flow Chart." My "Matchmaker's"
design has been ripped off by other people and used on their products, so please
be sure to purchase only official RF Cafe gear. My markup is only a paltry 50¢ per
item - Cafe Press gets the rest of your purchase price. These would make excellent
gifts for husbands, wives, kids, significant others, and for handing out at company
events or as rewards for excellent service. It's a great way to help support RF
Cafe. Thanks...
 RF Cafe's raison d'être is and always has
been to provide useful, quality content for engineers, technicians, engineering
managers, students, and hobbyists. Part of that mission is offering to post applicable
job openings. HR department employees
and/or managers of hiring companies are welcome to submit opportunities for posting
at no charge (of course a gratuity will be graciously accepted). 3rd party recruiters
and temp agencies are not included so as to assure a high quality of listings. Please
read through the easy procedure to benefit from RF Cafe's high quality visitors...
|
 "A radar system known as
Space Fence, which can track material in space as small as 10 cm, is fully operational,
the U.S. Space Force announced. Using enhanced S-band radar, the Space Fence improves
on previous capabilities of the Space Surveillance Network in tracking objects such
as commercial and military satellites, depleted rocket boosters and space debris
in low, medium, and geosynchronous Earth orbit regimes, Space Force officials said
on Friday. The SSN has tracked 26,000 objects already accounted for in space, and
the new system is expected to vastly increase that figure, essentially offering
a catalog and location of every object in space. 'Space Fence is revolutionizing
the way we view space by providing timely, precise orbital data on objects that
threaten both manned and unmanned military and commercial space assets..."
 "It's 10,000 times more accurate than the
gyros in your cell phone, but costs just $50. As useful as GPS is, it's not a system
that we can rely on all the time. There are many situations in which GPS might not
be available, such as when you're inside a building, driving through a tunnel, on
a battlefield, in a mine, underwater, or in space. Systems that need to track location,
like your cell phone, an autonomous car, or a submarine, often use what are called
Inertial Measurement Units (a combination of accelerometers and gyroscopes) to estimate
position through dead reckoning by tracking changes in acceleration and rotation.
The accuracy of these location estimates depends on how accurate the sensors in
those IMUs are. Unfortunately, gyroscopes that can do a good job of tracking rotation..."
 "Pilots on reconnaissance missions could
immediately call in their findings. As soon as the first humans went up in hot air
balloons in the late 1700s, military strategists saw the tantalizing possibilities
of
aerial reconnaissance. Imagine being able to spot enemy movements and artillery
from on high - even better if you could instantly communicate those findings to
colleagues on the ground. But the technology of the day didn't offer an elegant
way to do that. By the early 20th century, all of the necessary elements were in
place to finally make aerial reconnaissance a reality: the telegraph, the telephone,
and the airplane. The challenge was bringing them together. Wireless enthusiasts
faced reluctant government bureaucrats..."
 "Testing last month at the Army's Yuma Proving
Ground in the Arizona desert showed a
precision-guided artillery shell that destroyed an enemy target from nearly
40 miles away during a recent live-fire exercise. The demonstration of the emerging
Long Range Precision Fires program had an Army 155-mm howitzer that blasted a Raytheon
Excalibur GPS-guided artillery round out to ranges twice that of what existing artillery
weapons. The new smart munitions weapon in development, called Extended Range Cannon
Artillery, not only preserves the GPS-guided precision attack options of the Excalibur
ammunition, but also extends attack ranges from roughly 19 miles to almost 44 miles..."
 "NASA has selected a mission to dispatch
six
CubeSats, each the size of a toaster oven, to an orbit more than 20,000 miles
from Earth to study massive particle ejections from the sun. The Sun Radio Interferometer
Space Experiment, or SunRISE, mission will launch no later than July 1, 2023, after
its selection by NASA as a mission of opportunity under the agency’s Explorers program.
SunRISE will consist of six CubeSats flying as close as 6 miles (10 kilometers)
from each other. The nanosatellites will together act as a giant radio telescope,
detecting low-frequency emissions from solar activity and downlinking the measurements
through NASA’s Deep Space Network. Data gathered by the SunRISE CubeSats will tell
scientists about the source of coronal mass ejections, which launch huge bubbles
of gas and magnetic fields from the sun. Employing a constellation of small satellites
will allow researchers..."
 Not sure how I missed this, but on July 21th,
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