|
 Charles Babbage, born on December 26, 1791, in London, England, was one of the foremost mathematicians and inventors of the 19th century, best known for his pioneering work on the concept of a programmable computer. He was the son of Benjamin Babbage, a banker, and Betsy Plumleigh Teape, who hailed from a relatively affluent family. His upbringing was comfortable, allowing him access to an education that would later foster his intellectual pursuits. His father's wealth enabled Charles to attend some of the finest schools of the time, although his formal education started somewhat later than usual due to early childhood illness.
Babbage's schooling began at a local academy in Alphington and later at the King Edward VI Grammar School in Totnes,
Devon. He was a highly curious child...
 "Yesterday, NASA successfully launched the
Europa Clipper, the largest spacecraft the agency has ever built for a planetary
mission. Clipper is now successfully on its multi-year journey to Europa, bristling
with equipment to study the Jovian moon's potential to support life - but just a
few months ago, the mission was almost doomed. In July, researchers at NASA found
out that a group of Europa Clipper's
transistors would fail under
Jupiter's extreme radiation levels. They spent months testing devices, updating
their flight trajectories, and ultimately adding a warning “canary box” to monitor
the effects of radiation as..."
 The October issue of Electronics World
magazine included many articles written by
printed circuit board (PCB) industry leaders regarding the state of the art.
Multi-layer PCB technology was still in its infancy at the time, with most prototype
and production boards being 1- or 2-sided. As with the switch from vacuum tubes
to transistors, there were hold-outs who resisted the change to PCBs - for good
reason in some cases. A list of advantages and disadvantages is presented both for
and against, respectively, use of printed circuit boards. One of the biggest advantages
to point-to-point wiring (i.e., in the PCB disadvantage list) was that circuit modifications
in production was more easily accommodated, unless the change was simply...
 Along with the advent of FM (frequency modulation)
radio came an entirely new variety of
antenna shapes and configurations, compared to primarily a simple long, straight
wire for AM (amplitude modulation) radio antennas. Amateur radio operators (Hams)
of course had been designing, tuning, and using such antennas (as FM) for decades,
but the average radio listener was facing a whole new world of options for getting
the most out of his receiver. It is not that AM radio cannot benefit by similar
antenna configurations, it is just that the relatively long wavelength of AM station
frequencies (540 to 1,700 kHz) compared to FM station frequencies (88 to 108 MHz)
represents a two-order-of-magnitude...
 "Researchers have developed a novel
graphene-germanium hot-emitter transistor using a new hot carrier generation
mechanism, achieving unprecedented performance. This advancement opens new possibilities
for low-power, high-performance multifunctional devices. Transistors, the fundamental
components of integrated circuits, encounter increasing difficulties as their size
continues to shrink. To boost circuit performance, it has become essential to develop
transistors that operate on innovative principles. Hot carrier transistors, which
harness the extra kinetic energy of charge carriers, offer the potential to enhance
transistor speed and functionality..."
 When this was originally published, it was
Labor Day in the USA, so most people were off work (which seems antithetical to
the "labor" part of the holiday name). For those unfortunate enough to be at work,
here is a bit of vintage electronic comic relief from a 1969 Electronics World
magazine for your office-bound condition. Actually, during my years of working for
someone else, I used to work the holidays (except Christmas) if I could get another
day off instead. With very few managers around, those of us at work would enjoy
what we termed "IPV," or "In-Plant-Vacation." Very little work got done on those
days, and lunches and break-times were pretty long. I was always surprised the scheme
never caught on more widely...
 Exodus Advanced Communications, is a multinational
RF communication equipment and engineering service company serving both commercial
and government entities and their affiliates worldwide. We are pleased to announce
the model
AMP2083P-2KW solid state pulse amplifier (SSPA) is designed for Pulse/HIRF,
EMC/EMI Mil-Std 461/464 and radar applications in the C-band, 4.0-8.0 GHz frequency
band. Providing superb pulse fidelity and up to 100 μsec pulse widths. Duty
cycles to 6% with a minimum 63 dB gain. Available monitoring parameters for
Forward/Reflected power in watts & dBm, VSWR, voltage, current, temperature
sensing for outstanding reliability and ruggedness in a compact...
 By the time most of us who even remember
cathode ray tubes (CRTs) were first introduced to them, the technology and manufacturing
processes had been pretty much perfected - especially for the standard 525-line
(or 625-line outside the U.S.) resolution type. The National Television System Committee
(NTSC) published a standard for black and white (B&W) television in 1941 and
then for color in 1953. This "Picture Tubes" article in a 1955 issue of Popular
Electronics provides a look inside a CRT manufacturing plant at General Electric.
For some reason the photos in the magazine were very poor quality (maybe for secrecy).
If you want one of the best explanations I have ever seen on how a TV picture scan
is implemented, check out this video entitled
What is 525-Line Analog Video? If you don't understand raster scanning after
watching it, you never will. You might be surprised to learn that there were not
actually 525 lines of picture information...
 The March 1962 "News Briefs" feature in
Radio-Electronics magazine was chock full of interesting developments.
Space flight was a big deal in the day, not that it isn't today, but the difference
is everything about it was new then. Fundamental technology was in the process of
being developed, and then continual improvements would be made during the ensuing
decades until we get to where we are today with a permanent presence of men in orbit,
interplanetary science probes, space-borne telescopes, Earth environment sensors,
and space weapons, and thousands of active
communications satellites. The sky is awash with manmade objects. In other news,
satellite TV was quickly gaining in capability (including live transmissions and,
gasp, "Living Color" per NBC)...
 The distinction between
direct conversion, heterodyne, and superheterodyne receivers represents a significant
evolution in radio technology. Each type of receiver plays a crucial role in the
development of modern communications, and their invention marks important milestones
in the history of radio engineering. To understand these differences, we will explore
the invention history, technical descriptions, and practical implementations of
each type, including their inventors, patents, and notable applications. A direct
conversion receiver (also known as a "zero-IF receiver") represents the simplest
type of radio architecture. It was first conceptualized in the early 20th century
as a way to simplify radio designs by eliminating the intermediate frequency (IF)
stage...
 Dealing with the problem of
lightning strikes was of concern long before electronic equipment needed to
be protected from its effects. Fires that were the result of lightning have always
been a problem in nature, but they were really catastrophic to civilization once
cities crowded with close-quartered wooden buildings became the norm. Benjamin Franklin
observed that when the many lightning-induced fires of Philadelphia were sparked
(pun intended), it was almost always the tallest structures in the area that were
hit. Those fire often spread to neighboring buildings and burned down entire city
blocks. It was a devastating and frequency...
 "By observing
spintronic magnetic tunnel junctions in real-time, researchers found these devices
fail at unexpectedly low temperatures, offering valuable insights for improving
future electronic designs. Next-Generation Electronics Degradation A new study led
by researchers at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities is providing new insights
into how next-generation electronics, including memory components in computers,
breakdown or degrade over time. Understanding the reasons for degradation could
help improve efficiency of data storage solutions. The research is published in
ACS Nano, a peer-reviewed scientific journal and is featured on the cover..."
 Arthur C. Clarke's writings and contributions
to science are vast and influential, intertwining his imaginative narratives with
profound scientific concepts. Clarke is credited with proposing the idea of
geostationary
satellites in a paper he published in the October 1945 issue of Wireless World
magazine. Titled "Extra-Terrestrial Relays: Can Rocket Stations Give Worldwide Radio
Coverage?," he described the concept of using a network of geostationary satellites
to provide global radio coverage. Geostationary satellites are satellites that orbit
the Earth at the same rate as the Earth rotates, so they appear to stay in the same
place in the sky relative to a fixed point on the Earth's surface. This makes them
ideal for telecommunications and broadcasting, as they can provide constant coverage
of a particular area without the need for multiple satellites or complicated ground
infrastructure...
 Here we go with three new "What's
Your EQ?" challenges from the July 1961 issue of Radio-Electronics
magazine. Readers submit the problems, which typically involve creating a circuit
to perform a specified function, or determining how a given circuit works. The first
of these is more of a puzzle, since the author shows you how to go about arriving
at the answer. Since incandescent light bulbs are not overly familiar to a lot of
people these days, it might be to the advantage of pre-Millennials who grew up using
them and are acquainted with their properties. The second is an old-fashioned Black
Box challenge that some readers will solve without much...
 "Japanese operator SoftBank announced that
the Sunglaider, its large-scale solar-powered uncrewed aircraft system (UAS) designed
for
High Altitude Platform Station (HAPS) stratospheric telecommunications, was
utilized in a field trial conducted by AeroVironment and the U.S. DoD in New Mexico,
the U.S. During the trial, carried out in early August, Sunglider succeeded in achieving
stratospheric flight, the Japanese operator said. With a wingspan of 78 meters and
the capability to carry payloads weighing up to 75kg, the Sunglider is larger than
other publicly announced HAPS UAS..."
 Monday (any day, for that matter) is a good
day for Carl and Jerry stories, Mac's Electronics Service Shop sagas, Hobnobbing
with Harbaugh, electronics-themed comics, electronics quizzes, and other forms of
nerd entertainment. Here is another of Robert P. Balin's great challenges titled,
"Diagram
Quiz," this one from a 1966 issue of Popular Electronics magazine.
Most RF Cafe visitors will easily identify eight or nine of the ten diagrams. Relatively
few will be familiar with the Rieke diagram (hint: power amplifier designers will
know about it). The Biasing diagram is a bit misnamed IMHO, and could cause confusion...
 Anatech Electronics offers the industry's
largest portfolio of high-performance standard and customized RF and microwave filters
and filter-related products for military, commercial, aerospace and defense, and
industrial applications up to 40 GHz. Three new ceramic bandpass filters have
been announced for October 2024 - a 2275 MHz center frequency filter with a
bandwidth of 250 MHz, a 2275 MHz center frequency filter with a bandwidth
of 250 MHz, and a 6245 MHz center frequency filter with a bandwidth of
360 MHz. Custom RF power filter and directional couplers designs can be designed
and produced with required connector types when a standard cannot be found, or the
requirements are such that a custom approach is necessary.
 When you read this 1963 Electronics
World magazine article's title, I doubt you immediately assumed it would be
about a vacuum tube circuit, or even one that uses discrete transistors to implement
the circuit. Rather you most likely though it would be about an integrated circuit
(IC).
Operational amplifiers (opamp) are building blocks characterized (ideally) by
their infinite input impedance, zero output impedance, infinite open-loop bandwidth
and gain, zero input offset voltage, amongst other defined parameters. The first
commercially produced integrated circuit (IC) opamp came to market in 1964 via Fairchild
Semiconductor (the µA702, brainchild of Bob Widlar)...
 Nickel-cadmium (NiCad) batteries have a
long and significant history in energy storage, with their invention attributed
to Swedish engineer Waldemar Jungner in 1899. Jungner's work laid the foundation
for an electrochemical power source based on nickel oxide hydroxide and cadmium,
leading to the development of the rechargeable NiCad battery. It was a pioneering
breakthrough because it represented one of the earliest forms of rechargeable energy
storage systems. This battery technology found widespread use in various industries
due to its robust performance and ability to be recharged multiple times. At its
core, the chemistry of NiCad batteries involves the reaction between cadmium (the
negative electrode) and nickel oxide hydroxide (the positive electrode), with potassium
hydroxide as the electrolyte. During...
 These two
tech-themed comics from the September 1969 issue of Electronics World
magazine are pretty good. I especially like the one where the guy's wife entered
his printed circuit board layout in an art contest. PCBs were just starting to gain
momentum in production electronics as they replaced the old point-to-point wiring
method. Also popular in that era was high fidelity stereo equipment. Owning a system
with speakers that operated from 1 Hz through 30 to 40 kHz was major evidence
of an audiophile's technical savvy, even though the human ear con only detect frequencies
in the 30 Hz to 20 kHz range. Dogs can hear frequencies up into the 45 kHz
range. Porpoises can hear up to 150 kHz. A ferret can hear from 16 Hz...
 TotalTemp Technologies offers advanced
and innovative methods for meeting and optimizing your thermal testing requirements.
We specialize in benchtop thermal testing because small batches are typically the
most cost-effective approach. We offer heat transfer by conduction with thermal
platforms, forced convection as in traditional temperature chambers, combined systems,
and thermal vacuum for Space Simulation.
Thermal testing of Traveling Wave Tube Amplifiers and other devices with dramatically
uneven power dissipation can easily be achieved with a dual zone thermal platform.
Managing the heat produced by the electron gun side allows for the RF outputs side
to be tested at various required temperatures. The Dual Zone Thermal Platforms allows
the user to maintain safe controlling...
• Ham
Radio Serving Southeast U.S. Recovery Efforts
• Radio
"A Godsend for So Many" in Helene's Aftermath
• Estate
Planning for Hams
• Intel's Woes Damaging
U.S. Chip Indpendence
• Is
Gen-Z Low Car Ownership a Threat to Radio? (they
can't afford cars due to massive inflation - not because they don't want a car)
 Amrad, American Radio & Research Corporation,
was based in Medford Hillside, Massachusetts and was founded in 1915 with funds
from J. Pierpont Morgan. The company's first manager, Harold James Power, was an
amateur radio enthusiast and built a research laboratory. In 1916, Amrad made its
first broadcast to J. Pierpont Morgan Jr., who was aboard the ocean liner "Philadelphia."
Amrad received orders for military radio equipment during World War I, but discontinued
these orders after the war ended. To keep the company afloat, Amrad produced items
such as electric egg beaters and cigar lighters. In 1919, Amrad was awarded a contract
to make 400 SE1420 receivers, and it began advertising components for amateur radio
enthusiasts...
 This "Which
Dry Battery for You" article is a follow-on from the previous month's "Dry Cell
Battery Types" in Radio-Electronics magazine. It was a time long before the dominance
of rechargeable lithium batteries. In 1963, battery-powered devices were nowhere
near as widespread and diverse as they are nowadays. Hand tools like drills, saws,
routers, planers, and screwdrivers got their power either from a wall outlet or
the user's arm and hand muscles. Lawn mowers, grass and hedge trimmers, chain saws,
and snow blowers were powered mostly by gasoline, although some models plugged into
the wall. Those devices which did use batteries most often had no built-in...
 "Researchers have developed a new architecture
for optical computing called
diffraction casting, offering power-efficient processing by using light waves.
This method promises better integration and flexibility for high-performance computing
tasks and could be used in fields like AI and machine learning. As artificial intelligence
and other complex applications demand ever more powerful and energy-intensive computers,
optical computing emerges as a promising solution to enhance speed and power efficiency.
However, its practical application has faced numerous challenges..."
 The Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) was established
in 1946 as a result of the Atomic Energy Act, signed into law by President Harry
S. Truman. This legislative decision marked the United States' formal entry into
managing and controlling atomic energy, a rapidly advancing field that had been
essential in concluding World War II through the development and use of nuclear
weapons. The AEC was conceived to handle not only military applications of atomic
energy but also to develop peaceful uses, such as energy production, medical research,
and industrial applications. The creation of the AEC emerged from the Manhattan
Project, the secret wartime effort to develop atomic bombs. The Manhattan Project
brought together prominent scientists like J. Robert Oppenheimer, Enrico Fermi,
and Niels Bohr. After the war, however, the question arose...
 Empower RF Systems, the technology leading
provider of high-performance RF amplifiers, is proud to announce the launch of the
Model 2221 X-Band Pulsed High Power Amplifier. The Empower RF 2221 amplifier
operates in the 9-10 GHz X-band, delivering an impressive 8000 W peak
output power with long and short pulse widths. Its applications encompass radar
systems, electronic warfare, HPM research, and electromagnetics effects testing.
With a rugged, modular design, the 2221 offers a reliable, high-performance solution
for applications demanding significant X-band power. Key Features and Specifications
The model 2221 amplifier operates in the 9-10 GHz X-band frequency range, delivering
an impressive 8 kW of peak pulsed output power...
 Although not in the title as it used to
be, this 1964 Electronics World magazine piece by John T. Frye is
a "Mac's
Service Shop" story. If Mac and Barney are the stars of the saga, then it can
be none other. The story is about how the misdeeds of a few dishonest operators
can taint the reputation of an entire industry - nothing new there. Barney is telling
Mac about a "sting" ploy pulled by a consumer protection group whereby TV sets with
a specific easy-to-troubleshoot problem introduced to see how repair technicians
from a suspect company would bill the service. I'll not spoil the ending for you;
however, a comment mentioned that $10 would have been a reasonable price for a house
call that included the fix. According to the BLS's inflation calculator, $10 in
1964 was the equivalent of about $102 in 2024...
 Ever the futurist, in 1962 Radio-Electronics
magazine editor Hugo Gernsback was making the case for occupying
millimeter- and submillimeter-wave bands. In fact, he first proposed the concept
back in 1959. He refers to it as "gap between the infrared (IR) and radio regions."
IR is generally understood to include wavelengths from around 750 nm (400 THz)
to 1 mm (300 GHz). Gernsback cites work done by Professor Gwyn O. Jones,
of Queen Mary College of the University of London, with the claim that among other
advantages of millimeter-wave (mm-wave) is an ability to penetrate certain wavelength
"windows" in the atmosphere where lower frequencies do not propagate efficiently,
more "channels" of communications can be accommodated, smaller antennas could be
used, and narrower focused transmission beams possible...
 Werbel Microwave's WMRD10-7.2-S is a
10-way resistive splitter that covers up to 7.2 GHz with ultra-wide bandwidth.
This unique design accomplishes extremely flat frequency response in a small radial
package. Our unique design approach provides higher than expected isolation between
outputs at far ports than would be achieved in a typical star topology. It has applications
in markets such as CATV, test and measurement, and military radio. Its small size
makes it easy to integrate into compact systems. Designed, assembled, and tested
in the USA.
 Hugo Gernsback, often heralded as the "Father
of Science Fiction," was an extraordinary figure whose influence extended beyond
the realm of speculative literature into the world of electronics, radio communication,
and futurism. His life, inventions, and publications shaped not only popular science
but also the practical development of radio and electronics, making him a pivotal
figure in early 20th-century technological advancements. Gernsback was born Hugo
Gernsbacher on August 16, 1884, in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg, to a wealthy family.
His father, Moritz Gernsbacher, was a winemaker and merchant, while his mother,
Bertha, came from a prominent local family. Hugo had several siblings, though details
of his early family life remain somewhat obscure. From a young age, Hugo showed
a strong interest in science and technology, particularly in electricity and wireless
communication. He attended local schools in Luxembourg and later pursued formal
education at the Technikum in Bingen, Germany...
 These government programs take forever to
implement, then a major portion of the money gets wasted in bureaucracies, payoffs,
and misappropriations (e.g.,
8 EV charging stations after spending $7.5B). "If you know CostQuest at all
you probably think of it as the company that the FCC hired to clean up and refine
its national broadband map. But the company is also working with state broadband
offices on their
Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) programs. To give a little background,
CostQuest works with the FCC on its national broadband map. But it was also hired,
separately, by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA)
to work with states..."
|
 Listen to the
Podcast! Just in time for Halloween, John T. Frye's teenage sleuths
Carl & Jerry unexpectedly recorded a late-night conversation between two
men where they plot how to dispose of the "body" when death occurred as a result
of prolonged choking. Employing their trademark technical prowess and scheming ability,
the pair sets a trap for the perpetrators and dutifully summon the authorities as
they complete their nefarious act of the night before. Halloween comes into play
because the recordings were made for use in creating sound effects during the reading
of Edgar Allen Poe's "The Pit and the Pendulum" and "The Cask of Amontillado." This
story, which appeared in a 1955 issue of Popular Electronics magazine,
is a little dark compared to a typical story...
 By 1945 everyone of importance in the electronics
industry was blowing the figurative horn of television. The country would transform
from "a chicken in every pot" to "a
TV in every living room" (OK, I just made that up). The NTSC (National Television
System Committee) had set the standards for transmission, but hardware implementation
was by no means agreed upon. If my memory is correct, there were still some manufacturers
clinging to the mechanical spinning disc with a projection screen rather than using
electronic circuits and a CRT (cathode ray tube). Entire industries - not only electronics
- were bursting at the seams in anticipation of the war ending and being allowed
to release all the pent up knowledge and inventions developed during the years working
toward the defeat of Axis powers across the globe being applied to creature comforts
for the civilian marketplace. Television, with its countless dependents and dependencies,
truly changed the planet. Some say for the better, others say for the worse...
 These custom-made
engineering and science-themed crossword puzzles are done weekly for the brain-exercising
benefit and pleasure of RF Cafe visitors who are fellow cruciverbalists. The jury
is out on whether or not this type of mental challenge helps keep your gray matter
from atrophying in old age, but it certainly helps maintain your vocabulary and
cognitive skills at all ages. A database of thousands of words has been built up
over the years and contains only clues and terms associated with engineering, science,
physical, astronomy, mathematics, chemistry, etc. 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 ...
 Before comprehensive coaxial and optical
cable or even microwave relay networks were available for commercial use, an experimental
aircraft-based system was tested for broadcasting educational television and other
messaging data. The "Stratovision"
platform essentially provided a couple 20,000-foot-high antennas with a footprint
covering hundreds of miles. This 1945 Radio-Craft magazine article entitled
,"Stratovision" was one of the earliest to report on plans to provide a coast-to-coast
nationwide matrix of coverage as shown in the accompanying illustration. Two outfitted
airplanes would be in the air within each region at all times to ensure redundancy
and high quality service. Boeing B-29 Superfortress airplanes (the Enola Gay was
a B-29) were used at least in part because they provided a human-friendly environment
at high altitudes for long period of time...
 1976 is the year I was emancipated (aka graduated)
from high school, and this issue of The Old Farmer's Almanac (OFA) happens to be
from that year. For as long as I can remember, the OFA has included a set of
Mathematical Puzzles in its annual publication. They range in difficulty from
1 (very easy) to 5 (sometimes quite difficult). Having been a faithful buyer and
reader of the OFA for as long as I can remember, I have spent many hours toiling
with some of the more challenging examples. In fact, there were a lot which I never
did figure out and needed to look up the answers in the back (come to think of it,
I experienced the same dilemma with my college engineering textbooks). Because quite
a few of the Mathematical Puzzles are worthy of an engineer's cerebration, contemplation,
and deliberation, all I have will be eventually posted here on RF Cafe. Enjoy!
 For the sake of avid cruciverbalists amongst
us, each week I create a new crossword puzzle that has a theme related to engineering,
mathematics, chemistry, physics, and other technical words. This December 13th
Electronics Theme crossword puzzle, as always, 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., Hedy Lamarr or the
Bikini Atoll). The technically inclined cruciverbalists amongst us will appreciate
the effort. Enjoy!
 Radio Service Data Sheets were published
by various electronics trade magazines back in the early to middle decades of the
last century. SAMS Photofact document sets were published on just about every appliance
made, and those had much more detail than these briefs. However, for the low-budget
repair shop or the do-it-yourselfer, the Radio Service Data Sheets were a godsend.
I have been scanning, cleaning up, and posting all the ones I find in my vintage
electronics magazine collection. See a complete list at the bottom. Many fine examples
of restored vintage radios can be found on the Internet. A restored example of the
RCA Victor Model 102 s appears on the RadioMuseum.com
website...
 Some of the best electronics-themed comics
appearing in these vintage magazines are the "Radio
Term Illustrated" type - IMHO, anyway. Most of them are ideas suggested by readers,
then illustrators like Frank Beaven created the visuals. The comic on page 79 is
pretty self-explanatory, but the page 66 pun might need some explanation to those
unfamiliar with vacuum tube circuits. The "B" battery is a term created by Mr. Lee
de Forest as a designation for the second battery required for the plate bias
(the "B") of his Audio tube. Typical voltages were 45 volts, 67½ volts, and 90 volts.
If that doesn't completely clear up the pun, then you also need to know that an
alternative definition of battery which is a military artillery installation...
 When you think about it, the speed at which
a human being is able to accurately copy
Morse code is limited by the same kinds of processes that limit the speed at
which binary data can be sent between electronic transceivers (modems). Noise introduced
into the signal at both the transmitting and receiving ends or in the transmission
path connecting the two, degrades the ability of the receiver (electronic and human)
to discern between a "1" and a "0." It can take the form of electrical or audio
interference and distortion. Phase noise in the electronic realm is sort of the
equivalent of an irregular sending human hand that cannot maintain equal dwell times
for dits and dahs, thus making the recognition of characters error-prone. The operational
speed of circuitry on an electronic assembly can also limit the speed at which Morse
code can be copied similar to how a particular person's gray matter can limit his
comprehension speed...
 This 1970s-era Mac's Service Shop story made me
think about all the
cellphones today being dunked in toilets, swimming pools, lakes, and washing machines.
Of course back in Mac''s day not everyone was walking around with an electronic device
tucked into his or her pocket waiting for its absentminded owner to bend over or drop
his/her drawers. At the time, far more wallets made the dive than transistor radios.
I won't bother linking to any articles about how to best dry your dunked phone because
there are hundreds - nay, thousands - of them out there. They contradict each other about
which absorbent materials to use...
 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, and
more. Page templates are provided with a preset scale (changeable) for a good presentation
that can incorporate all provided symbols...
 This is the final installment of an 11-part
series in Radio News magazine entitled "Theory
and Application of U.H.F.," written by Milton Kiver. It spanned from December
1943 to June 1945. Topics included basic electrical, magnetic, and electromagnetic
theory, cavity resonators as tuning units of klystron and magnetron oscillators,
waveguide, free space propagation, high frequency amplifiers, transmission lines,
and coupling energy to/from cavity resonators. As the list suggests, there was a
great concentration on field theory. Being that the Radio News readership covered
a broad range of experience and education, Mr. Kiver went light on use of equations
and heavy on use of diagrams, charts, and textual descriptions. Everything described
throughout the series is as valid and applicable today as it was 75 years...
 In keeping with a very common practice of
using water flowing through a garden hose as a teaching aid analogy for newcomers,
the title of this chapter of the NAVPER 10622 Basic Navy Training Courses, "Generators - Electrical Pumps," is likening electrical generators
to water pumps. It is an apt analogy, but whereas a water pump can cause water pressure
and flow of a physical substance already on-hand, electrical "pumps," aka generators,
literally creates its "flow" from thin air (even a vacuum with no air). An electrical
generator exploits the phenomenon discovered by (or at least credited to) Michael
Faraday whereby a conductor moving through a magnetic field - or a magnetic field
moving past a conductor ...
 This
RF & Microwave themed crossword puzzle for December 5th contains only clues
and words are directly to RF, microwave, and mm-wave engineering, optics, mathematics,
chemistry, physics, and other science 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 or the Tunguska event in Siberia). The technically inclined
cruciverbalists amongst us will appreciate the effort. Enjoy!
 One aspect of advertising on the RF Cafe
website I have not covered is using
Google AdSense.
The reason is that I never took the time to explore how - or even whether it is
possible - to target a specific website for displaying your banner ads. A couple
display opportunities have always been provided for Google Ads to display, but the
vast majority of advertising on RF Cafe is done via private advertisers. That is,
companies deal with me directly and I handle inserting their banner ads into the
html page code that randomly selects and displays them. My advertising scheme is
what the industry refers to as a "Tenancy Campaign," whereby a flat price per month
is paid regardless of number of impressions or clicks. It is the simplest format
and has seemed to work well for many companies. With nearly 4 million pageviews
per year for RFCafe.com, the average impression rate per banner ad is about 225,000k per
year (in eight locations on each page, with >17k pages)...
 Anyone visiting RF Cafe (other than by
accident) almost certainly knows of Drs. Bardeen, Brattain and Shockley fame for
their
transistor invention while jointly working at the Bell Telephone
Laboratories. The trio shared The Nobel Prize in Physics in 1956. Bell was so proud
of their employees' efforts that they ran full page advertisements to boast of the
accomplishment. This one appeared in the February 1957 edition of Radio &
Television News. Alas, Ma Bell's moment of glory was a bit diminished by needing
to add a footnote admitting that Drs. Bardeen and Shockley no longer work there.
Note that while the ad says the transistor was announced in 1948, the first demonstration
to Bell managers was in December of 1947...
 Here is the Radio Data Sheet for
Zenith radio models 8H032, 8H033, 8H050, 8H052, 8H061 as published in
a 1947 issue of Radio-Craft magazine. Some of the electronics magazines
used to include this type of high level documentation so that hobbyists and
even service shops with budgets too small to afford cabinets full of SAMS
data packets could work on the radios. Most of the radio manufacturers would
not even sell factory-prepared documentation to anyone who was not an "authorized"
service center. The RadioMuseum website has nice examples of restored
versions
of both the Zenith 8H032 and the Zenith 8H034 tabletop radios. The electronics
are similar but the chassis designs are completely different. They sport three
bands: the 540-1620 kHz AM band, the pre-WWII 42-48.5 MHz FM band,
and the current 88-108 MHz FM band...
 Contrary to the scenario presented in this
light-hearted mockery of housewives attempting to assemble some electronics kits,
there were actually many women during the height of the radio and television age
who were quite adept at handling soldering irons and test equipment. In fact, the
case could be made that, given the 1947 appearance of this "Housewives
and Television" piece in Radio-Craft magazine, women of the post-wartime industrial
period were probably the most experienced and adept assemblers of electronics equipment.
After all, it was Rosie the Riveter who built airplanes, ships, and tanks while
Sally the Solderer built the bulk of the tens of thousands of radios, radars, sonars,
medical and test instruments, vacuum tubes, amplifiers, and other electronics while
the brothers...
 Here's a gimmick that never really caught
on. In the 1960's, Antenna Specialists promoted their Model M-148 Co-Ax Omni Antenna
"with visual RF indicator." That indicator was a neon light bulb
at the tip which lit up when the transmitter was keyed on. Not only would this novel
feature let you know when your transmitter was broadcasting, but it would also "guide
mobiles visually to your 10-20." OK, maybe at night, but it certainly wouldn't have
been bright enough during the day to even see. Alas, the public evidently didn't
impress the buying public as much as it did the designers. Maybe it had something
to do with...
 "Hello Americans, This is
Paul Harvey..."
Radio legend Paul Harvey produced and performed a daily show that featured news,
commercials, and commentary. For nearly 75 years, dedicated listeners looked forward
to his show on the local AM radio stations - especially The Rest of the Story.
Scores of wars, natural disasters, crises, deaths, scientific advances, miracles,
and acts of human kindness were commented upon in Mr. Harvey's unique delivery style.
On March 19, 2003, Mr. Harvey did a pitch for the role of Amateur Radio operators
in emergency response roles. The mention was the second item on "page four" of his
Paul Harvey Noon News and Comment program. "America's quiet warriors are
the legion of ham radio operators, 700,000 of them, who are always at ready for
backup duty ..."
 If you have never read the story of
Lee de Forest's journey from initial experiments to finally achieving success
with his amplifying vacuum tube, the Audion, then you might want to take a few minutes
to look over this article. It was published in a 1947 issue of Radio-Craft
magazine as part of the 40th anniversary of the invention that changed the electronics
world. With so many other things which are nowadays very commonplace, we tend to
not think about or appreciate the ingenuity and effort that went into them. It is
one thing to make incremental improvements in an existing technology, but to conceive
of and created an entirely new realm of science is quite another. As with Albert
Einstein's relativity and Robert Goddard's liquid-fueled rockets, and the Wright
brothers' powered aeroplane...
 Did you know that you are likely a TLV? That's
right, a
Television Looker. The modern equivalent is CP - Couch Potato. In the early
years of television, TLVs were as fascinated with the device itself and the technology
as they were with the information being displayed. As this story tells, Hams were
involved in TV transmission (ATV) early on. I did not know that amateur television
was banned during World War II. During WWII, all amateur radio operations were suspended
with the exception of those authorized to continue under the Radio Amateur Civil
Emergency Service (RACES)...
 How is this for a prescient prediction from
the early 1960s? "As a result of modular and integrated circuitry techniques, all
future circuit design work, regardless of degree, will become the responsibility
of the component manufacturer instead of the equipment producer." Texas Instruments'
(TI) Jack Kilby is credited with designing the first integrated circuit
in 1958. The first commercial IC, Ti's
Type 502
flip-flop, had just hit the market in early 1960, and already pundits were prognosticating
and ruing the disappearance of circuit designers. Maybe it was concerns over job
security that they seem to favor forever building every circuit from discrete transistors,
resistors, capacitors, and inductors. Rumor has it they also lobbied for the perpetual
existence of the buggy whip and horse-drawn farrow industries ...
 This
Radio
Theme Crossword Puzzle for June 13 has many words and clues related to RF, microwave,
and mm-wave engineering, optics, mathematics, chemistry, physics, and other technical
subjects. Also, it contains at least five (5) instances of this puzzle's theme word.
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 or the Tunguska event in
Siberia). The technically inclined cruciverbalists amongst us will appreciate the
effort. Enjoy!
 According
to a 2001 paper published by the National Institute of Standards and Technology
(NIST, formerly National Bureau of Standards, NBS), "The end of the era of quartz
frequency standards began in 1949 with the development at NBS of the world's first
atomic frequency standard based on an ammonia absorption line at 23.87 GHz."
Further, "The Bureau supported work on both technologies for the next decade, but
the rapid advances in the accuracy of atomic frequency standards could not be matched
by
quartz devices, and the work on quartz frequency standards was
stopped in 1959." This article from a 1957 edition of Popular Electronics
claims that the "master of all master-clocks" resided at the U.S. Naval Observatory
at the time - not quite accurate from what my research indicates ...
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 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...
 The RETMA referenced in this 1954 Radio &
Television News magazine article entitled "New
Standards for TV Antennas" was commonly known back in the day, but not many
would recognize it nowadays. RETMA, founded in 1953 at the dawn of the commercial
television age, was the Radio Electron[ics] Television Manufacturing Association.
It set standards for electronics components like resistors (e.g., the 1%, 2%, 5%,
10% series), capacitors, inductors, equipment racks, and antennas. After many name
iterations, what began as the Radio Manufacturers Association (RMA), it changed
to RETMA in 1953, then to Electronic Industries Association (EIA, well-known for
its 19" rack standards) in 1957, and today it is known as the Consumer Technology
Association (CTA). The cost of letterhead and promotional material changes over
the years must have been enormous ;-) Tracing the full history is difficult, but
between Wikipedia and the JEDEC websites you can get a pretty good picture. The
"Antenna Section" spoken of here is the area of the RETMA manual pertaining to antennas...
 If you want to know what was really going
on at some point in the past, there is usually nothing more reliable than reading
a print story or advertisement from the era. That way you're getting the news "straight
from the horse's mouth," so to speak, rather than being interpreted or filtered
by some unassociated source. This report on "The Transistor in Industry" was written in 1956 by Mr. Frank
Durat, a product manager at Raytheon, at a time when transistors were first making
inroads for replacing the venerable vacuum tube (valve) which had launched and propelled
the electronics industry since 1908 when Lee de Forest introduced the triode Audion
amplifier. Germanium and silicon were the semiconductor base crystals du jour, and
achieving the requisite purity was a primary concern for advancing the state of
the art for higher frequencies, power handling, and circuit density (for integrated
circuits)...
 At least 10 clues with an asterisk (*)
in this
technology-themed crossword puzzle are pulled from this past week's (5/21
- 5/25) "Tech Industry Headlines" column on the RF Cafe homepage. For the sake
of all the avid cruciverbalists amongst us, each week I create a new
technology-themed crossword puzzle using only words from my custom-created
related to engineering, science, mathematics, chemistry, physics, astronomy,
etc. You will never find among the words names of politicians, mountain ranges,
exotic foods or plants, movie stars, or anything of the sort. You might,
however, see someone or something in the exclusion list who or that is directly
related to this puzzle's theme, such as Hedy Lamar...
 When really good researchers set out to
write books on history, they do not simply cull information from the publications
of fellow contemporary authors; instead, they look for sources that were published
during or around the time of the subject being covered. Doing so helps minimize
the possibility that inaccuracies have crept into the knowledge pool and that information
other authors might have either deemed insignificant or have missed can be recovered.
With a bit of luck, sources are discovered that have never been used before. That
is part of my motivation for going to the trouble of buying these vintage magazines
and posting articles like this one which reports on early maser developments. It
delves fairly deeply into the solid state physics of rare earth minerals that some
of the first masers and lasers relied upon to function, including energy band diagrams
and cryogenics. If the
"sugar scoop" antenna looks familiar, it might be due to its rising to fame... |
