 Friday the 27th
 Is that an early
tin foil hat prototype the lady on the cover of this month's
Radio−Electronics magazine is modeling? Tin foil hats for RF radiation
conspiracy kooks were probably not even a thing back in 1960. In some ways it
fits in with the x−ray subject of the Bell Telephone Laboratories infomercial in
the same issue. As you can see from the large and ever-growing list of Bell Labs
promotions at the bottom of the page, the world's premier telephone company
didn't get to the top by luck. Bell engineers and scientists were continually
conducting research and development to assure service would be as efficient,
affordable, and reliable as possible. Bell Telephone Laboratories was at the
leading edge of communications technology, both wired and wireless, since day
its founder uttered the words, "Mr. Watson, come here... I want to see you..."
 Modelithics is pleased to announce the release
of
version 23.5.1 of the Modelithics Qorvo GaN Library for use with Keysight Technologies'
PathWave Advanced Design System (ADS) and Cadence AWR Design Environment®. This
latest version offers new models for Qorvo's QPD1025, QPD1028, QPD1425, and QPD1425L
discrete GaN-on-SiC HEMTs. Version 23.5.1 also offers 2 new embedding models for
the T2G6000528-Q3 and T2G6003028-FL devices. The QPD1025 is an 1,800-W device intended
to operate from 0.96 to 1.215 GHz, while the QPD1028 is a 750-W device intended
to operate from 1.2 to 1.4 GHz. The QPD1425 and QPD1425L are 300-W devices intended
for operation from 1.2 to 1.4 GHz. All four of the new models are Angelov-based
models that include features like temperature scaling, self-heating effects, and
intrinsic I-V sensing...
 When this
Standardized Wiring Diagram Symbols & Color Codes feature appeared in a
1956 issue of Popular Electronics magazine, semiconductors were just coming into
common use. Therefore, only the simplest components like a diode and bipolar junction
transistor (BJT) are included. In fact, the only two types of diodes shown are vacuum
tube and selenium. The semiconductor diode is labeled as a crystal rectifier. There
is no light emitting diode (LED), field effect transistor (FET), metal oxide semiconductor
FET (MOSFET), integrated circuit (IC), or other commonly used modern device. Note
also that the "Receptacle 117V" does not show a safety ground connection. The "Vibrator"
was a device commonly used to convert direct current (DC) to alternating current
(AC). About the only people who will find a use for this information are those who
service and/or restore vintage electronic equipment...
 "An era of breathtaking
palladium rallies is likely to be ending, analysts said, as rising supply and
stagnant demand erode prices of the metal used to neutralize vehicle exhaust emissions.
Palladium, once the cheapest major precious metal, rocketed from less than $500
an ounce in 2016 to above $3,400 last March, leaving platinum and gold for dust.
Powering the rally was rising demand from automakers who needed more palladium per
vehicle to meet tightening emissions standards. Supply could not keep up, leading
to huge deficits. That is now changing. Electric vehicles (EVs) that do not need
palladium are gaining market share and automakers are substituting some palladium
for cheaper platinum in combustion engine vehicles..."
 At first I thought maybe this was intended
to be an April Fools joke, being that it appeared in an April issue of QST
magazine, but it is probably just a coincidence. One of the two topics refers to
a "door knob for UHF,"
which in reality was a glass-encased vacuum tube that was shaped a lot like one
of the old glass door knobs. The author penned a humorous take-off. On second thought,
maybe this is a Fool's edition now that I have read the second item. All kidding
aside, "Strays" concludes with a poem dedicated to those who became "Silent Keys"
as a result of World War II...
RF Cascade Workbook is the next phase in the evolution of
RF Cafe's long-running series, RF Cascade Workbook. Chances are you have
never used a spreadsheet quite like this (click here for screen capture). 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...
 Windfreak 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.
Thursday the 26th
 The
National Inventors Council (NIC) mentioned by Hugo Gernsback in this 1960
Radio-Electronics magazine "Inventions Wanted" article was established
in 1940 by the U.S. Department of Commerce. It served as a collection point for
inventions that had possible national defense and military uses. In the mid-1950's,
NIC's functions were transferred to the National Bureau of Standards (NBS, now NIST).
An initial list was published six months earlier, and this list includes both updates
to the former items and new requests. A few examples that have been realized at
this point are: 913) Low-Loss High-Power Ferrites for Use as Microwave Phase Shifter
| 914) A Broad-Band Maser Amplifier for Use in the Microwave Region | 975) A New
Method of Electronically (not with frequency change) Scanning an Antenna | 1024)
High-Power Broad-Band Solid-State RF Amplifiers | 1057) Solid-State Microwave Oscillators
| 1139) Field Portable Digital Radar. What might a 2023 list include? Maybe a fully
autonomous robotic foot soldier, an invisibility cloak for man and machine...
 Innovative Power Products has been designing
and manufacturing RF and Microwave passive components since 2005. We use the latest
design tools available to build our baluns, 90-degree couplers, directional couplers,
combiners/dividers, single-ended transformers, resistors, terminations, and custom
products. Applications in military, medical, industrial, and commercial markets
are serviced around the world. Products listed on the website link to detailed mechanical
drawings, electrical specifications, and performance data. If you cannot find a
product that meets your requirements on our website, contact us to speak with one
of our experienced design engineers about your project.
 "KIMS developed the world's first continuous
manufacturing technology for
millimeter wave-absorbing magnetic materials. A research team led by Dr. Youn-kyoung
Baek and Dr. Jung-goo Lee succeeded in developing the world's first technology to
consecutively manufacture epsilon iron oxide that can absorb millimeter wave with
a high coercive force equivalent to that of neodymium (Nd) magnets. The researchers
are in the Department of Magnetic Materials in Powder Materials Division at the
Korea Institute of Materials Science (KIMS), a government-funded research institute
under the Ministry of Science and ICT. Iron oxide material with a high-coercive
epsilon crystal phase is almost the only magnetic material that absorbs ultra-high
frequencies which is a potential 6G frequency band. Until now, it was only formed
in a nano-sized particle of 50 nanometers or less. Japan succeeded to produce pure
epsilon iron oxide through batch-type wet process, but it involves time-consuming
multi-stage process, resulting in a low yield..."
 TotalTemp Technologies, a worldwide
leading provider of benchtop temperature chambers and thermal platform equipment,
introduces their
VmSD49N Thermal Vacuum Test Chamber capable of +175°C to −75°C at 10−6
Torr. It is designed specifically for testing aerospace equipment. 10−6
Torr (1.333224*10−6 mbars, 1.93367810−8 psi) is the equivalent
of 1/760,000,000th of an Earth atmosphere. Aerospace environmental testing in a
thermal vacuum chamber allows for the exposing and weeding out potential failures
due to temperature extremes and atmospheric pressure or the lack of it in space.
With equipment destined for space, the stakes are always higher with the cost to
launch, the chance of a failure being catastrophic plus the lack of service calls
in space. The process of basic thermal testing in space is a little different than
testing for land based systems, mainly because the lack of heat transfer by air.
The intentional and unintentional transfer of heat by convection makes a big difference
from what might otherwise be a common sense solution in an environment with air.
Outgassing of many materials is another consideration that is usually not such a
big deal on earth...
 We are accustomed these days with stores
having "no questions asked" return policies for just about anything. I once watched
a guy successfully return a 4" PVC plumbing fitting that had clearly been smeared
with glue in the coupling areas. Another time a guy returned a painting drop cloth
that was full of paint, declaring that it wasn't what he wanted. The return counter
bins of Walmart and other stores are always chock full of stuff. Such was not always
the case, though. This episode of
Mac's Radio Service Shop from a 1955 issue of Radio & Television News
magazine, mentions, among other things, how busy he and sidekick Barney had been
right after Christmas doing troubleshooting and repair on various electronic equipment
that had been received as gifts. Imagine receiving a radio for Christmas and not
being able to simply return it to the store where it was purchased - even with a
sale receipt. Nobody would stand for such a situation today...
 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. 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...
 SF 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. "Printed
Circuit Fabrication & Assembly with No Limit on Technology or Quantity."
Wednesday the 25th
 Although the
Hall effect had been known for 80 years when this article appeared in Radio−Electronics
magazine in 1960, it was not until research in semiconductor compounds during that
same era generated substantial enough voltage potentials for detection and use by
circuits of the day that Hall effect sensors became useable in mass production.
Indium arsenide (InAs) and indium antimonide (InSb) are two of the early examples.
A single Hall effect sensor in 1960 would set you back around $25 - that's $253
in today's money... ouch! Hall effect sensors in small quantities can be bought
now from Digi-Key for $2 and change. Modern Hall effect sensors are still made with
InAs and InSb, along with gallium arsenide (GaAs), indium phosphide (InP), and even
graphene. There is obviously something special about indium (In) that makes it the
ideal base metal for Hall sensors. All the elements involved are in the p−block
group of the periodic table...
 Back in my days at defense contractor companies,
first as a technician and then as an engineer, it was virtually unheard of for anyone
with the title of "Engineer" to
not have at least a Bachelor's degree in engineering or science. Only one instance,
while at Westinghouse Oceanic Division in Annapolis, MD, comes to mind. I suspect
the requirement was dictated by the government, since many times (if not always),
part of a proposal included submitting resumes for many of the key personnel who
would be working on the project being bid upon. In the commercial realm, again,
only one person that I can recall (at Comsat) had achieved the rank of engineer
without a degree. Now, after working at a commercial communications IC design and
manufacturing company for many years, I have yet to run into any "engineers" who
do not have at least a BSEE degree. Is it because people with engineering degrees
are so easy to come by that there is no need to even consider someone without the
degree? Are there any non-degreed engineers remaining? If so, are they a dying breed
that will not be replaced? Probably you, and definitely I...
 "As part of CES 2023, NXP Semiconductors
announced a new 28-nm
RFCMOS radar one-chip IC family for next-gen autonomous driving systems and
advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS). The new SAF85xx one-chip family works
alongside NXP's high-performance radar sensing and processing technologies in one
device to address short-, medium-, and long-range radar that meets more NCAP safety
requirements. This advanced radar sensing technology plays an essential part in
accelerating the development of next-generation ADAS,' said Mr. Hiroshi Kondo, Head
of the Safety Systems Business Unit at DENSO Corp. 'We know DENSO will extend its
leadership position in ADAS by leveraging NXP's compact high-performance SAF85xx
radar SoC..."
 The stability and therefore usefulness of
a system depends heavily on the quality of its reference oscillator. Understanding
the cause and ramifications of oscillator imperfections is essential successful
system design. Julian Emmerich and Harald Rudolph of KVG Quartz Crystal Technology
have a great article on the Microwave Journal website entitled, "The
Trinity of Inaccuracy: Phase Noise, Jitter and Short-Term Stability - What Everyone
Should Know About Their Measurement and Interrelationships." It begins: "In electrical
components and circuits, noise effects with different physical causes occur everywhere.
In crystal oscillators there are three primary noise generating mechanisms: A ubiquitous
background noise due to the thermal motion of the atoms and molecules of all components
creates an insurmountable noise floor, which mainly affects noise far from the carrier
(white noise). Noise caused by semiconductor components is called shot noise which
has a 1/f dependence on the frequency. The dominant noise source close to the carrier
is called flicker noise, which largely depends on the quality of the crystal..."
 Telemetering - the remote sensing and reporting
of system parameters via radio link - was just coming of age in the late 1950s when
this article appeared in Popular Electronics magazine. It was the age of
space payload rocket development (as opposed to artillery and fireworks rockets),
high speed jet airliners, and the Pioneer 1 space probe. There was a great
need to collect data during the developmental and operational engineering project
stages in order to ascertain causes for failures when they occurred and to know
what went right when success triumphed. A pinnacle of the newborn telemetering era
was Pioneer 1, which carried an image scanning infrared television system to
study the Moon's surface to a resolution of 0.5 degrees, an ionization chamber to
measure radiation in space, a diaphragm/microphone assembly to detect micrometeorites,
a spin-coil magnetometer to measure magnetic fields to 5 microgauss, and temperature-variable
resistors to record the spacecraft's internal conditions*. Unfortunately, the launching
rocket experienced a malfunction that buggered the flight trajectory, but the craft...
 New Scheme rotates
all Banners in all locations on the page! RF Cafe typically receives 8,000-15,000
website visits each weekday.
RF Cafe is a favorite of
engineers, technicians, hobbyists, and students all over the world. With more than
16,000 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.
 Alliance Test Equipment 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.
Alliance Test will purchase your excess test equipment in large or small lots. Blog
posts offer advice on application and use of a wide range of test equipment. Please
visit Allied Test Equipment today to see how they can help your project.
Tuesday the 24th
 Not really on point regarding
infrared guided missiles as reported in this 1960 issue of Radio−Electronics
magazine, but the photo of a Sidewinder missile on the wingtip of an F−104 Starfighter
reminds me of back in the early 1980's when I visited the Smithsonian Air &
Space Museum in Washington, D.C., and the wingtip of the F−104 hanging there was
nearly close enough to touch. I marveled over how incredibly thin it was for an
airplane capable of flying at Mach 2 (1,482 mph)*. Missiles or auxiliary
fuel tanks (and sometimes experimental instruments) could be attached to that diminutive,
yet evidently extremely strong wingtip. AIM−9 Sidewinder missiles went into service
in 1956, so they were relatively new when this story was published. As many as 50
countries, including the U.S., still use them today. The current version is Block III,
AIM−9M(R). That's the same time (1955) that B−52 Stratofortress bombers, also still
in service, were deployed...
 Sam Benzacar of Anatech Electronics, an
RF and microwave filter company, has published his January 2023 newsletter that
features his short op−ed entitled "Cellular
to Smartphones from Space is Coming." He writes about the rapidly evolving direct-satellite-to-cellphone
service being pioneered by AST SpaceMobile. The photo shows their world's largest
space-borne phased array BlueWalker 3 antenna, which was lofted into orbit
late last year. Using the online Satellite Orbital Decay Calculator to estimate
the likely orbital lifetime of the 1,500 kg (3,300 lb), 64.4 m2 (693 ft2),
BlueWalker 3 antenna array, initially in a 515 km (320 mi) high orbit,
re-entry can be expected in a little under 6 years. It probably has some amount
of propellant onboard to help maintain orbital height, thereby extending its lifetime.
No doubt the orbit height and antenna size was a tradeoff of coverage area and path
loss between the transmitter and receiver. If these LEO antenna arrays get physically
and/or numerically much larger, we may experience more frequent solar eclipses.
Maybe the companies should lobby governments for funds based on their lowering the
global temperature due to decreased sunlight. The way governments work, though,
instead they'll fine satellite companies for lowering the efficiency of solar arrays...
 The late 1950s and early 1960s were the
dawn of the
Space Age, beginning unofficially with the launch of Sputnik. Popular Electronics
magazine put a lot of effort into educating the public on advances in space electronics,
including not just the spaceborne platforms, but also ground tracking and communicating
equipment. Much hardware was launched into orbit in the early years without giving
much thought to the hazards or space debris. Failures in the form of explosions
scattered chunks widely, but fortunately most were low enough to have their orbits
degrade and re-enter the atmosphere. One interesting tidbit reported in this article
that I didn't know was that the TV camera lens on the TIROS 2 weather satellite
was defocused during launch (due to positional shifting from vibration and G forces,
I suppose) and crippled the image quality severely...
 "The head of the National Transportation
Safety Board expressed concern Wednesday about the safety risks that
heavy electric vehicles pose if they collide with lighter vehicles. The official,
Jennifer Homendy, raised the issue in a speech in Washington to the Transportation
Research Board. She noted, by way of example, that an electric GMC Hummer weighs
about 9,000 pounds, with a battery pack that alone is 2,900 pounds - roughly the
entire weight of a typical Honda Civic. 'I'm concerned about the increased risk
of severe injury and death for all road users from heavier curb weights and increasing
size, power, and performance of vehicles on our roads, including electric vehicles,'
Homendy said in remarks prepared for the group. The extra weight that EVs typically
carry stems from the outsize mass of their batteries. To achieve 300 or more miles
of range per charge from an EV, batteries have to weigh thousands of pounds..."
 Isn't an
anagram a word game where letters of one word are rearranged to spell another
word or series of words? For instance, an anagram for "microwave" is "warm voice,"
one for ''resistance" is "ancestries," and for "vector" is "covert." If so, then
this puzzle is misnamed; it is really a crossword puzzle. Maybe back in 1961 the
word anagram included this type of puzzle which appeared in the October issue of
Electronics World magazine.. Regardless of the naming error, I did learn
a new word: "inertance," which means "the effect of inertia in an acoustic system,
an impeding of the transmission of sound through the system..."
 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...
Reactel has become one of the industry leaders in the design and manufacture
of RF and microwave
filters, diplexers, and sub-assemblies. They offer the generally known tubular,
LC, cavity, and waveguide designs, as well as state of the art high performance
suspended substrate models. Through a continuous process of research and development,
they have established a full line of filters of filters of all types - lowpass,
highpass, bandpass, bandstop, diplexer, and more. Established in 1979. Please contact
Reactel today to see how they might help your project.
Monday the 23rd
 The
decibel is not a concept unique to electronics - power, volts, current - although
it is undoubtedly most often used there. Probably the next most often used realm
for decibels is with sound (audio), which is the subject of this 1964 Radio−Electronics
magazine article. The decibel, abbreviated nowadays as "dB" ("db" in the article's
era) is nothing more than a logarithmic representation of a dimensionless ratio
of increase (positive dB) or decrease (negative dB). As the numerical "deci" implies,
a decibel is one tenth of a bel ("B," named in honor of Alexander Graham Bell).
It can be applied to any numerical magnitude comparison. Although not normally done,
a decibel ratio could be applied to dissimilar units; for instance, a ratio of 100
apples to 50 oranges is 3 dB. Conversely, a ratio of 50 apples to 100 oranges
is -3 dB. Mr. King provides the gory mathematical details...
 Here are a few tech headlines from the January
1957 issue of Popular Electronics magazine. Sky-High Radar by Sikorsky
is a new high-powered
airborne search radar. The electronic Trial & Error Machine "differentiates
between right and wrong decisions and profits from its own mistakes," making it
the perfect gadget for today's environment where any freakish act gets rewarded
and eventually normalized. Lab Aloft Chases Cosmic Rays uses a UASF KC-97 Stratofreighter
for researching those mysterious and ubiquitous high energy entities which perpetually
bombard our Earthly existence. This Brain That Squirts reports on Bendix's prototype
carburetor that uses an electronically controlled "electrojector" to inject fuel
directly into the cylinder. Now, all of our internal combustion vehicles contain
an electrojector...
 "Researchers in Drexel University's College
of Engineering have developed a thin film device, fabricated by spray coating, that
can
block electromagnetic radiation with the flip of a switch. The breakthrough,
enabled by versatile two-dimensional materials called MXenes, could adjust the performance
of electronic devices, strengthen wireless connections and secure mobile communications
against intrusion. The team, led by Yury Gogotsi, PhD, Distinguished University
and Bach professor in Drexel's College of Engineering, previously demonstrated that
the two-dimensional layered MXene materials, discovered just over a decade ago,
when combined with an electrolyte solution, can be turned into a potent active shield
against electromagnetic waves. This latest MXene discovery, reported in Nature Nanotechnology,
shows how this shielding can be tuned when a small voltage - less than that produced
by an alkaline battery..."
 The weekend is over and it's time to hunker
down for five long days of grueling work. Most of the
electronics-themed
comics that appeared in QST magazine were associated directly with
particular columns. For example, the cartoons featuring "Jeeves," the overtaxed
manservant of a never-seen house master, was part of the "How's DX" feature. Drawn
by artist Phil Glidersleeve (aka "Gil"), W1CJD, poor Jeeves was often found doing
his boss's will in the most precarious situation with intemperate weather making
his assignments tough to complete. Situations involving Podunk Hollow Radio Club
were frequent subjects of Gil's drawing pen as well. If the fellow Ham in the page
13 comic trying to find an errant peanut tube was bad, he'd really fret over today's
grain-of-salt size components...
New Scheme rotates
all Banners in all locations on the page! RF Cafe typically receives 8,000-15,000
website visits each weekday.
RF Cafe is a favorite of
engineers, technicians, hobbyists, and students all over the world. With more than
16,000 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.
 Aegis Power Systems is a leading supplier
of AC-DC and
DC-DC power supplies for custom and special applications. Aegis has been designing
and building highly reliable custom power supplies since 1995. They offer a complete
line of switch mode power supplies and power converters for a variety of markets
including defense, industrial, aircraft, VME, and telecom. Supports military, aircraft,
EV, telecom, and embedded computing applications. Design and manufacture of custom
power supply solutions to meet each customer's exacting specifications. Please visit
Aegis Power Systems today. Manufactured in the USA.
Sunday the 22nd
 Buzz Aldrin has always been
my favorite astronaut. He is the subject of my
January 20th RF Cafe website logo. Aside
from being the second human to set foot on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission,
the West Point alum has a reputation as brilliant engineer, decorated fighter pilot,
pull no punches opinions, and sharp witticism. No modern being has earned the right
to be considered a role model than Dr. Aldrin (astronautics, MIT). Legend has
it that Buzz Lightyear
was named in honor of him. At 93 years old, he is still outspoken on matters of
science and infinitely more lucid than many people decades his younger and even
some presidents. It came as no surprise when this headline appeared last Friday:
"Astronaut
Buzz Aldrin gets married to 63-year-old girlfriend on 93rd birthday: 'As excited
as eloping teens.'" In this age of compromised masculinity, it is good to have an
authentic "man's man" (and evidently "woman's man") in our midst.
 This week's
crossword puzzle for January 22nd sports an electronics theme. Many of the words
begin or end with the letter "K." Their clues have been marked with an asterisk
(*). All RF Cafe crossword puzzles are custom made by me, Kirt Blattenberger, and
have only words and clues related to RF, microwave, and mm-wave engineering, optics,
mathematics, chemistry, physics, and other technical subjects. As always, this crossword
contains no names of politicians, mountain ranges, exotic foods or plants, movie
stars, or anything of the sort unless it/he/she is related to this puzzle's technology
theme (e.g., Reginald Denny, Hedy Lamarr, or the Tunguska event in Siberia). The
technically inclined cruciverbalists amongst us will appreciate the effort. Enjoy!
 Berkeley Nucleonics Corporation (BNC) is
a leading manufacturer of precision electronic instrumentation for test, measurement,
and nuclear research. Founded in 1963, BNC initially developed custom pulse generators.
We became known for meeting the most stringent requirements for high precision and
stability, and for producing instruments of unsurpassed reliability and performance.
We continue to maintain a leadership position as a developer of custom pulse, signal,
light, and function generators. Our designs incorporate the latest innovations in
software and hardware engineering, surface mount production, and automated testing
procedures.
|
Mathematics of equity versus equality
https://phys.org/news/2022-12-panama-huge-copper-dispute.html
The New "Mystery Ray"
https://chargedevs.com/features/a-closer-look-at-power-factor-correction/
New Scheme rotates
all Banners in all locations on the page! RF Cafe typically receives 8,000-15,000
website visits each weekday.
RF Cafe is a favorite of
engineers, technicians, hobbyists, and students all over the world. With more than
16,000 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.
RF Cascade Workbook is the next phase in the evolution of
RF Cafe's long-running series, RF Cascade Workbook. Chances are you have
never used a spreadsheet quite like this (click here for screen capture). 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 stencils, this has got to be the most comprehensive set of
Visio Stencils available for RF, analog, and digital system and schematic
drawings! Every stencil symbol has been built to fit proportionally on the included
A-, B-, and C-size drawing page templates (or use your own page if preferred). Components
are provided for system block diagrams, conceptual drawings, schematics, test equipment,
racks (EIA 19", ETSI 21"), and more. Test equipment and racks are built at a 1:1
scale so that measurements can be made directly using Visio built-in dimensioning
objects. Page templates are provided with a preset scale (changeable) for a good
presentation that can incorporate all provided symbols...
 It was a lot of work, but I finally finished
a version of the "RF & Electronics Schematic & Block Diagram Symbols" that
works well with Microsoft Office™ programs Word™, Excel™, and Power Point™.
This is an equivalent of the extensive set of amplifier, mixer, filter, switch,
connector, waveguide, digital, analog, antenna, and other commonly used symbols
for system block diagrams and schematics created for Visio™. Each of the 1,000 or
so symbols was exported individually from Visio in the EMF file format, then imported
into Word on a Drawing Canvas. The EMF format allows an image to be scaled up or
down without becoming pixelated, so all the shapes can be resized in a document
and still look good. The imported symbols can also be UnGrouped into their original
constituent parts for editing. Check them out!
 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. 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...
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 "A transdisciplinary Northwestern University
research team has developed a revolutionary transistor that is expected be ideal
for lightweight, flexible, high-performance bioelectronics. The
electrochemical transistor is compatible with blood and water and can amplify
important signals, making it especially useful for biomedical sensing. Such a transistor
could enable wearable devices for onsite signal processing, right at the biology-device
interface. Potential applications include measuring heartbeat and levels of sodium
and potassium in blood as well as eye motion for studying sleep disorders. 'All
modern electronics use transistors, which rapidly turn current on and off,' said
Tobin J. Marks, a co-corresponding author of the study. "Here we use chemistry to
enhance the switching. Our electrochemical transistor takes performance to a totally
new level. You have all the properties of a conventional transistor but far higher
transconductance..."
 "It's not at every university that laser
pulses powerful enough to burn paper and skin are sent blazing down a hallway. But
that's what happened in UMD's Energy Research Facility, an unremarkable looking
building on the northeast corner of campus. If you visit the utilitarian white and
gray hall now, it seems like any other university hall - as long as you don't peak
behind a cork board and spot the metal plate covering a hole in the wall. UMD Physics
Professor Howard Milchberg and his colleagues transformed the hallway into a laboratory.
Their efforts were to temporarily transfigure thin air into a fiber optic cable
- or, more specifically, an
air
waveguide - that would guide light for tens of meters. Like one of the fiber
optic internet cables that provide efficient highways for streams of optical data,
an air waveguide prescribes a path for light. These air waveguides have many potential
applications related to collecting or transmitting light, such as detecting light
emitted by atmospheric pollution, long-range laser communication or even laser weaponry.
With an air waveguide, there is no need to unspool solid cable..."
 "A class of nonvolatile memory devices,
called MRAM, based on quantum magnetic materials, can offer a thousandfold performance
beyond current state-of-the-art memory devices. The materials known as
antiferromagnets were previously demonstrated to store stable memory states,
but were difficult to read from. This new study, now published in Nature, paves
an efficient way for reading the memory states, with the potential to do so incredibly
quickly too. You can probably blink about four times a second. You could say this
frequency of blinking is 4 hertz (cycles per second). Imagine trying to blink 1
billion times a second, or at 1 gigahertz, it would be physically impossible for
a human. But this is the current order of magnitude in which contemporary high-end
digital devices, such as magnetic memory, switch their states as operations are
performed. And many people wish to push the boundary a thousand times further, into
the regime of a trillion times a second, or terahertz. The barrier for realizing
faster memory devices may be the materials used..."
 "Sophisticated antenna arrays paired with
high-frequency wireless chips act like superpowers for modern electronics, boosting
everything from sensing to security to data processing. In his lab at Princeton,
Kaushik Sengupta is working to expand those powers even further. In recent years,
Sengupta's lab has designed antenna arrays that help engineers make strides toward
peering through matter, boosting communications in canyons of skyscrapers, putting
a medical lab on a smart phone, and encrypting critical data with electromagnetic
waves instead of software. In a new article in Advanced Science, Sengupta's research
team presented a new type of antenna array based on the paper-folding art of origami.
The
shape-shifting array, designed like a folded paper box called a waterbomb..."
 Regular EV chargers are bad enough with
power factor and harmonics issues, but the gross
inefficiencies in power transfer with contactless charging will make matters
even worse. Imagine a world full of them! "Consumers are eager to cut the cord on
their electronics charging devices, a trend that could soon benefit drivers of electric
vehicles (EVs). HD Radio developer and licensing company Xperi is seeking to raise
awareness about a potential new threat to AM radio broadcast reception: the proposed
introduction of wireless power transfer systems for electric vehicle charging, or
WPT-EV, that use switching frequencies that generate harmonics in the lower
AM band. Xperi recently filed comments about this concern in response to a notice
of inquiry at the FCC about radio receiver performance. It hopes to raise awareness
and also believes its HD Radio technology can be of help. Interference to AM from
unintentional radiators including low-cost switching power supplies in EVs is a
concern..."
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