|
 The 1958-59
International Geophysical Year was an unprecedented eighteen-month global scientific
initiative involving 30,000 participants from 66 nations who invested up to 1.5
billion dollars to study Earth's interior, oceans, and atmosphere. Utilizing military
rockets and emerging satellite technology, researchers achieved major breakthroughs,
most notably Dr. James Van Allen's discovery of the radiation belts surrounding
Earth and enhanced understanding of ionospheric radio propagation, solar flares,
and geomagnetism. While the project aimed to improve communications...
 When I first saw an
Erie Resistor Corporation advertisement in the December 1958 issue
of Popular Electronics, I decided to research its history here in Erie,
Pennsylvania, where I live. Click on that hyperlink if you are interested in what
I discovered. This advertisement appeared in the January 1952 issue of Radio &
Television News magazine, so I figured I'd post it as well...
 Windfreak Technologies is proud to announces
the availability of our
FT108, an innovative
programmable bidirectional filter bank spanning a frequency range of 5 MHz
to 8 GHz in 15 bands. Band selection can be controlled through USB, UART or
at high speeds through powerful triggering modes. Each unit is factory tested via
network analyzer with unique data stored in the device to help with its use. Crossover
frequencies are stored so the user can send a frequency command and the FT108 will
utilizes Intelligent Band Selection logic to automatically toggle the optimal
filter path based on minimum insertion loss. Readback of FT108 insertion loss at
any frequency between crossover points allows for easy amplitude leveling...
 An article title with both "radar" and "Great
Lakes" in the title is sure to catch my attention, as did this. Author Norman Schorr
reports on the state of the art of radar equipment and usage for the purpose of
maritime navigation. Research and development, along with an ample
surplus of components left over from World War II facilitated a rapid adaptation
of radar to many venues. Included among its applications were airway and waterway
navigation, rocket trajectory tracking, security systems, speed measurement, weather
observation, and aerial mapping...
 Johanson Technology (originally part of
Johanson Dielectrics), located in Camarillo, CA, has for over 25 years designed
and manufactured high quality RF & microwave ceramic chip capacitors, inductors
and integrated passives. These includes chip-format antennas, capacitors, lowpass,
highpass, and bandpass filters, couplers, inductors, baluns, power dividers, substrates,
chipsets.
 Details the evolution of infrared technology,
tracing its origins from William Herschel's 1800 discovery to its deployment in
military and industrial sectors, are presented in this 1959 Radio &
TV News magazine article. It emphasizes the shift from active, illuminating
systems to passive, sensitive detectors capable of identifying thermal signatures
in total darkness. The piece highlights infrared's superior resolution compared
to radar, noting its utility in applications ranging from missile guidance and ballistic
tracking to industrial quality control and chemical analysis. Since the publication
of this article, infrared technology has achieved remarkable sophistication, evolving
from bulky lab instruments into the invisible, ubiquitous...
 An ample supply of surplus coaxial cable
after the end of World War II provided an inexpensive and easy to use form
of transmission line. Not having to worry about cable routing and unintentional
radiation makes transitions through walls, running along metal surfaces, and routing
high power transmission lines near habitable areas a no-brainer. Issues like power
handling, bend radius, and higher attenuation need more attention during the installation
design phase, but that pales in comparison to coaxial cable's advantages. Author
Byron Goodman addresses some of the issues Hams accustomed to using
flat
transmission lines...
 Not surprisingly, there is a website dedicated
to only the
Regency TR-1 transistor radio and its history from development
through retail sales. As reported in this January 1955 issue of Radio and Television
News, The TR-1 was the world's first commercially available, fully transistorized
portable radio. A complete schematic and functional description is provided. It
used four germanium transistors and operated on a 22-1/2 volt battery, which provided
about twenty hours of listening pleasure. The unit weighed eleven ounces and cost
$49.95...
 This
is a must-read article for all persons interested in the history of wireless communications.
Seriously. Stop what you are doing and read it. I guarantee the vast majority have
never heard of this challenge to the veracity of
Mr. Guglielmo Marconi's bestowed title of "father of wireless
telegraphy." Most of us are at least passingly familiar with challenges to Samuel
Morse's, Thomas Edison's, and a few other notables' claims to being the first at
a particular technical breakthrough, but herein, as penned by of
Lieutenant-Commander Edward H. Loftin, is a first-hand account
of multiple successful challenges by the U.S. Patent Office against...
 ConductRF is continually innovating and
developing new and improved solutions for RF Interconnect needs. See the latest
TESTeCON RF Test Cables
for labs. ConductRF makes production and test coax cable assemblies for amplitude
and phased matched VNA applications as well as standard & precision RF connectors.
Over 1,000 solutions for low PIM in-building to choose from in the iBwave component
library. They also provide custom coax solutions for applications where some standard
just won't do. A partnership with Newark assures fast, reliable access. Please visit
ConductRF today to see
how they can help your project!
 This nomograph from a 1959 issue of
Radio & TV News magazine simplifies matching a source (sending - s) impedance
(Zs) and a load (receiving - r) impedance (Zr) using a
quarter-wave transmission line. To use it, locate your Zs value on the left
vertical scale and your Zr value on the right scale. Lay a straightedge across these
points; the intersection with the center vertical scale reveals the required surge
impedance - also called characteristic impedance - (Z0). Surge impedance is the
ratio of voltage to current for a wave traveling along an infinite transmission
line, dictated by the physical geometry and dielectric properties of the cable,
defined as Z0 = sqrt (L/C), where L is inductance per unit length and C is
capacitance per unit length. The quarter-wave transformer relies...
 Here is a batch of
electronics-themed comics that appeared in the January 1949 edition
of Radio & Television News. The scene seen (hey,
homonyms) on the page 138 comic was commonplace in the 1940s when televisions
were relatively new and not every household had a set. The scenario repeated itself
in the 1960s when color sets were hitting the consumer market. Now, people can watch
TV on their smartphones while not at home so gathering 'round the television display
in a store is relegated pretty much to little kids watching the Disney movies that
seem to always running on them. There is a growing list of other comics at the bottom
of the page...
 December
1942 was just a year into America's "official" involvement in World War II.
Already, both wired and wireless communications had made major advances and were
indisputably vital in both the logistical and strategic aspects of troop movement,
supply chains, fighting battles, and evacuation of wounded personnel. It also played
a large part in propaganda campaigns. This was all true for both Axis and Allied
forces. Ham radio operators provided a huge boost to the Signal Corps
because they came at least partially trained for the jobs. These dozen and a half
photos from the field exhibit the state of the art at the time. Maybe you'll
recognize a father, grandfather, or uncle in one of them. For that matter, you might
even recognize a mother, grandmother...
 Exodus Advanced Communications, is a multinational
RF communication equipment and engineering service company serving both commercial
and government entities and their affiliates worldwide. Exodus'
AMP20026 is a rugged 2.0 to 6.0 GHz solid state amplifier delivering a
minimum of 200 W with clean, stable 53 dB gain. It offers excellent gain
flatness, a 20 dB control range, and full protection circuitry. Built for EMI/RFI,
lab, CW/pulse, and EW environments, it delivers instantaneous bandwidth, superb
reliability, rack mount configuration...
 In April of 1952 when this article appeared
in Radio & Television News magazine, the
bipolar junction transistor (BJT) had only made it out of the
experimental laboratory of Messrs. Bardeen, Shockley, and Brattain at Bell Labs
a mere three years earlier in December of 1948. It did not take long for commercial
production to begin. Along with being a great primer for anyone new to transistors,
herein is also some background on how the now ubiquitous BJT schematic symbol was
created. Interestingly, only Dr. William Shockley is mentioned, making me wonder
whether the contributions of Dr. John Bardeen, and Dr. Walter H. Brattain was
not widely publicized early on. Not to worry, though, because all three were duly...
 Mac's Service Shop captures here a moment
of technological transition in 1961 where a new "Loud-speaking
Telephone" impresses his right-hand man, Barney. The device utilizes vacuum-tube
amplifiers and a bulky external control box to allow hands-free communication, enabling
Mac to work while handling customer inquiries. Mac, ever the mentor, contrasts this
tube-based unit with the emerging technology of transistorized speakerphones, which
eliminate the need for external control boxes, external power supplies, and warm-up
times. The 1961 "Loud-speaking" setup, occupying significant space under a workbench,
has been completely replaced by modern smartphones and integrated VoIP systems...
 As with all
RF Cafe
crossword puzzles, this one uses only words pertaining to engineering, science,
mathematics, mechanics, chemistry, astronomy, etc. As always, this crossword puzzle
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!
  The microwave klystron was invented in 1937
by brothers
Russell and Sigurd Varian. If you have been in the microwave design
business for a couple decades, you undoubtedly recognize the company name of Varian
Associates, especially if you worked in the aerospace or defense electronics business.
There is a video on YouTube of a segment on Varian done sometime around 1990 by
Walter Cronkite. There is also a historical piece on Varian Associates on the Communications &
Power Industries website. This circa 1952 article covers the fundamentals of klystron
operation and reports on the increasing use of klystrons in high frequency application
- including by amateur radio operators exploring...
 Werbel Microwave began as a consulting firm,
specializing in RF components design, with the ability to rapidly spin low volume
prototypes, and has quickly grown into a major designer and manufacturer with volume
production capacities. The
WMRD02-7.2-S is a resistive splitter that covers up to 7.2 GHz with ultra-wide
bandwidth. This design is useful when there are many low power signals within a
wide spectrum. By design, the nominal insertion loss and isolation is 6 dB,
hence it is often referred to as a "6 dB splitter." Its small size makes it
easy to integrate into compact systems. Designed, assembled, and tested in the USA.
"No Worries with Werbel!"
 Contributors to the Wikipedia article on
the
Yagi–Uda antenna credit Japanese professor Shintaro Uda primarily for the antenna's
development, with Hidetsugu Yagi having played a "lesser role." Other sources assign
the primary role to Yagi. Regardless, history - and this article's author, rightly
or wrongly, has decreed that this highly popular design be referred to commonly
as the Yagi antenna and not the Uda antenna. I don't recall seeing advertisements
for "'Uda" television or amateur radio antennas. Harold Harris, of Channel Master
Corporation, does a nice job explaining the fundamentals of the Yagi antenna. Another
Yagi article appeared in the October 1952 issue of QST magazine...
 Established in 1990,
dB Control supplies mission-critical,
often sole-source, products worldwide to military organizations, as well as to major
defense contractors and commercial manufacturers. dB Control designs and manufactures
high-power TWT amplifiers, microwave power modules, transmitters, high- and low-voltage
power supplies, and modulators for radar, ECM, and data link applications. Modularity
enables rapid configuration of custom products for a variety of platforms, including
ground-based and high-altitude military manned and unmanned aircraft. Custom RF
sources and receivers, components and integrated microwave subsystems as well as
precision electromechanical switches. dB Control also offers specialized contract
manufacturing and repair depot services.
 The production of high-performance transistors
necessitated new methods to achieve extreme purity levels, far beyond standard industrial
capabilities. To reach the required purity of
one part in ten billion, engineers adopted zone melting, a sophisticated technique
pioneered by W. G. Pfann. In this process, radio-frequency heating coils melt a
narrow zone of a semiconductor rod, which is then moved along the crystal to sweep
impurities to one end. Beyond purification, zone melting allows for the precise,
uniform introduction of "dopants" like antimony or indium, which are essential for
creating p-type and n-type semiconductor characteristics. By refining these methods
through continuous processing and floating-zone techniques, manufacturers significantly...
 Here's another advertisement that you probably
wouldn't see in a contemporary RF / microwave engineering magazine. For that matter
you probably wouldn't see it on a contemporary RF / microwave engineering website
... except on RF Cafe where political correctness gets no respect.
Adson Radio & Electronics was located on Fulton Street in New York City,
just a block from the 911 Memorial. the original building might have been destroyed
when the...
 My first thought when seeing the cover for
this edition of Radio-Craft magazine was that it was an April Fools gag,
but it turns out the "hat" being worn by the radio receiver's designer is a
loop antenna for AM reception. Ya' know, he does look like he
could be a suicide bomber. In a way it is the opposite of a tinfoil hat in that
this headgear invites electromagnetic energy around the wearer's head rather than
shielding it. Back in 1936, being seen in public donning a contraption like this
radio would have been akin to Google Glass today - you'd be a superhero to fellow
nerds, and just be confirming your otherworldly nerd status to non-nerds...
 Vreeland Corporation was an early radio
manufacturer located in Hoboken, New Jersey, with multiple patents on file for innovative
circuits. The
Vreeland band selector system mentioned here was originally filed
in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in August of 1927 and had not been awarded
by the time of this November 1929 article in Radio-Craft magazine. In fact,
it wasn't until five years later, in 1932, that the patent was finally assigned.
The official description reads in part, "The general purpose of the invention is
to receive the component frequencies of such a band with such uniformity as to avoid
material distortion of the modulated wave, and to exclude frequencies outside of
the band which the system is designed to receive. Another purpose of the invention
is to provide means for shifting the position of the band...
 In this 1959 Radio-Electronics
magazine promo, Bell Telephone Laboratories showcased its advanced
radio-inertial guidance system, a technological breakthrough enabling precise
long-range missile flight. Developed for the Air Force's Ballistic Missile Division,
this innovation proved its efficacy by guiding a Thor-Able nose cone to a precise
target five thousand miles away, allowing for a successful aerial and maritime recovery.
The system utilized a missile-borne transmitter to feed continuous data to ground-based
radar and a Remington Rand Univac computer, which calculated real-time steering
corrections. By keeping the primary command equipment on the ground...
|
 • Ham
HOA Antenna Protection in Indiana
• FCC Expands
Use of Broadband Spectrum
• UK's
Fractile Chip Facility Gets £100m Expansion
• Choosing an
Antenna for Compliance Testing
• Huawei
Wins 8 GLOMO Awards at MWC Barcelona
 The
RF Cafe Homepage Archive
is a comprehensive collection of every item appearing daily on this website since
2008 - and many from earlier years. Many thousands of pages of unique content have
been added since then.
 By adding several shunt resistors in the
meter case, with a switch to select the desired resistor, the ammeter will be capable
of measuring several different maximum current readings or ranges. Most meter movements
in use today have sensitivities of from 5 microamperes to 1 milliampere. Figure
1-22 shows the circuit of meter switched to higher ranges, the shunt an
ammeter that uses a meter movement with a sensitivity of 100 microamperes and
shunt resistors. This ammeter has five ranges (100 microamperes; 1, 10, and 100
milliamperes; 1 ampere) selected by a switch. With the switch in the 100 microampere
position, all the current being measured will go through the meter movement. None
of the current will go through any of the shunt resistors...
 Here is an interesting photo montage of many
ground-breaking events in the
history of radiotelephony, which appeared in a 1939 issue of
Radio News magazine. A mere 35 years had passed since Guglielmo Giovanni
Maria Marconi sent and received his first wireless signal in the attic of his house.
The equipment might seem crude compared to today's technology - and it is - but
it is miraculous considering both the electrical and mechanical ingenuity that went
into producing it. Engineers, scientists, technicians, manufacturing specialists,
and managers from (primarily) the U.S. and Europe combined their collective genius
and determination to advance the state of the art at a blinding pace. Many of you
have seen some of these pictures before. An identification key to each is provided...
 This quiz tests your awareness of the many
mergers
and acquisitions that occurred in the RF, microwave, and analog electronics industries
during 2017. Mr. Raghav Kapur, of the everythingRF website, compiled a good list
of events with a short description of the transactions, so I used it to generate this
10-question quiz. It was made using Google Docs. Winners receive a free subscription
to the RF Cafe website for a full month. Good luck...
 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...
 When becoming a licensed Ham a few years
back, I learned that when broadcasting over amateur bands, the FCC requires you
to transmit your station identification at the beginning of each session and then
at least once every ten minutes. I hate to nit pick a "Carl &
Jerry" story, but in this episode John Frye's intrepid electronics hobbyist
duo rigs up their basement "shack" to automatically transmit the letter "A" in Morse
code as a beacon signal to test reception in a cave. A timer would start the broadcast
and it would run continuously for half an hour. Maybe things were different in 1961.
The experiment intended to test a signal's ability to propagate through the Earth
rather than through the air. It is an interesting twist on the skin effect of high
frequency signals along a conductor. As you might suspect, the plan did not go exactly
as intended, requiring Carl and Jerry to apply a bit of radio knowledge to get themselves
out of peril...
 The August 1958 issue of Radio News
marked the merging of All-Wave Radio with Radio News, both founded
by Hugo Gernsback. Radio News began publication in July 1919 (actually titled
Radio Amateur News for the first year) and All-Wave Radio debuted
in September 1936. "All-wave" radio referred to a class of radios popular at the
time which could tune in most of the worldwide commercial broadcast stations, spurring
the accompanying "short wave listening" craze. This instance of the monthly "Within
Earshot of the Editor" column received a lot of attention because it fired a shot
across the bow of the ARRL for not sufficiently lobbying the FCC for the
electromagnetic spectrum access rights currently enjoyed and the
serious threat of loss. Many people subsequently accused Radio News of
attempting to torpedo the ARRL and replace it with another organization of Ham operators...
 A decade after
tunnel diodes were first invented by Nobel Laureate Leo Esaki, grand plans for the
unique device never played out. Predictions included its use for computer solid state
memories to replace magnetic core arrays. Tunnel diodes benefitted from the aura surrounding
their exploitation of the quantum mechanical tunnelling phenomenon, which had a futuristic
ring to it. Conventional diodes, having a relatively wide depletion region, require the
current carriers (electrons and holes) to overcome a potential hill in traveling from
the valence band to the conduction band of energies. Since high doping levels are used
in the tunnel diode, a narrow depletion region is formed at the junction. This allows
electrons...
 As with my hundreds of previous
engineering and science-themed crossword puzzles, this one for November 5th
uses only clues and terms associated with engineering, science, physical, astronomy,
mathematics, chemistry, etc., which I have built up over more than two decades.
Many new words and company names have been added that had not even been added to
the world's technical lexicon when I started in the year 2002. 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. 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. The technically inclined cruciverbalists amongst us will
appreciate the effort. A full list of all RF Cafe crosswords is at the page bottom.
Enjoy!
 When electronics was relatively new and accessible
to the common man, it was not unusual to find comical articles, poems, and even
odes to the trade and those who plied it. To be an
Electronics Technician was to wear a title of distinction, even awe. Radios
and TVs were still using tubes and had chassis with point-to-point wiring, and everyone
knew that the mysterious components within needed TLC to keep working optimally.
Much as RF and microwave electronics is still considered a "black art" by many people,
having any serious technical knowledge in circuit design, construction, and/or repair
could earn a fellow a decent living, even without a college degree. Technical schools
were popping up all over the country in the 1950s when this article was written.
You will get a kick out of this story...
 If somebody today told you there are "Two
New Approaches to Amplification," one being a
Spacistor and the other a
Solion, you would be justified in thinking he was putting you on - especially
the Spacistor. In 1957 when this article appeared in Radio-Electronics magazine,
you would more likely gasp in awe at the mere mention of such a Space-Age sounding
devices. In fact, both devices were real, and were stepping stones in the evolution
from point-contact transistors to molecular diffusion semiconductor junctions. They
were more mechanically rugged than the point-contact transistors, worked at higher
frequencies, and had higher current and voltage (and therefore power) handling capabilities.
This is an interesting and important part of semiconductor development history...
 The velocity of propagation of a wave along
a
waveguide is less than its velocity through free space (speed of light). This
lower velocity is caused by the zigzag path taken by the wavefront. The forward-progress
velocity of the wavefront in a waveguide is called Group Velocity and is somewhat
slower than the speed of light. The group velocity of energy in a waveguide is determined
by the reflection angle of the wavefronts off the "b" walls. The reflection angle
is determined by the frequency of the input energy. This basic principle is illustrated
in figures 1-28A, 1-28B, and 1-28C. As frequency is decreased, the reflection angle
decreases causing the group velocity to decrease. The opposite is also true; increasing
frequency increases the group velocity. The waveguide analyzed in the previous paragraphs
yields an electric field configuration known as the half-sine electric distribution...
 One of the many advances in radio technology
during World War II - transmission lines - is reported on here in a 1952 issue
of Radio & Television News magazine. If you are less than maybe 30
years old there is a good chance the only kind of
RF transmission line you have ever been exposed to is coaxial cable. I say 30
years old because by the early 1990s the majority of homes had either cable TV service
or rooftop TV antenna lead-ins were using 75 Ω coaxial cable rather than the
traditional 300 Ω twin lead (with the assistance of an impedance transformer
at the antenna end). Author R.C. Graham rightly credits an efficient method
of high-volume commercial polyethylene for use as a dielectric both for twin lead
and coaxial cable. Prior to that some compound of rubber or steatite (had not heard
of it, aka soapstone) was commonly used. If you are researching the history of RF
transmission lines, this article will be a valuable collection of information...
 Early investigations into RF signal
atmospheric "ducting" was reported in this 1956-era article in Popular Electronics.
Ducting effects were first noticed during World War II when Nazi broadcasts
from occupied Paris were received occasionally in London. Scientists discovered
that a small change in the humidity of the air near the surface has the effect of
trapping radio waves, a trapping process dubbed "ducting." These waves are conducted
as if they were inside of a metallic waveguide. Research by the U.S. Army Signal
Corps determined a sudden temperature rise at around 50 to 200 feet above the surface
appears to have the strongest effect...
 My Uncle Brian was a
radioman in the U.S. Navy during the end of the Korean War era. A great story
teller, he used to talk about his Navy experiences and later times as a United Parcel
Service (UPS) tandem semi trailer driver when he and others from my Buffalo side
of the family would come to visit during summers when I was a kid. He spent most
of his enlistment on a gravy assignment at the U.S. embassy in Australia, relaying
messages between self-important bureaucrats at the Pentagon and self-important bureaucrats
at the U.S. embassy in the Down Under. His favorite saying about his time in the
service was, "I joined the Navy to see the world, and all I saw was the sea." I
laugh every time I hear it...
 During my electronics technician days at
the Westinghouse
Electric Company's Oceanic Division in Annapolis, Maryland, I spent the first
couple years building printed circuit boards, wiring harnesses, and system-level
assemblies for U.S. Navy sonar systems. We had some really slick stuff like towed
vehicles with transducer arrays along the sides, nose cones for smart torpedoes,
flow sensors, proximity fuse elements, etc. Exposure to all that, and the super-smart
people that designed it, fuelled my desire to go to the trouble of earning an engineering
degree. One of my tasks for a while was to build the transducer arrays, which entailed
building the hundreds of tiny transducer elements. One of the phased array acoustic
antennas was mounted on each side of the AN/AQS-14 towed sonar vehicle...
 The medical x-ray machine shown here reminds
me of the "Illudium
Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator" contraption Marvin the Martian wanted to use
in "Hare-Way to the Stars" to disintegrate the Earth (because it blocks his view
of Venus). Of course our hero Bugs Bunny thwarts his plan, whereupon Marvin asks,
"Where's the kaboom?" Can you imagine being fraught with cancer and getting strapped
into a chair with that huge hypodermic-needle-looking thingy pointed at you, as
shown in this 1959 issue of Popular Electronics magazine? The Caduceus
sword in the pic doesn't help matters, either. The trauma of such an experience
might have been worse than the treatment for some people. As usual the pioneers
took the arrows so that we can benefit from the treatments enjoyed today, and the
equipment does not look nearly as intimidating. See also "After Class: X-Rays" for
more info...
 My first encounter with a
parametric amplifier was in the S-band search radar system I worked on in the
U.S. Air Force. That was in the late 1970's - early 1980's, and the radar was an
early 1960's era vacuum tube system with a few solid state upgrades. A silicon diode
in the receiver detector circuit, and a transistorized parametric amplifier in the
receiver front end are the only two that come to mind. I remember the etch school
instructors making a big deal out of the parametric amplifier being so great because
it could actually improve the SNR of the received signal. Even at the time, in my
youthful ignorance, it seems too good to be true, but if an ambassador of Uncle
Sam - especially one wearing five times the number of stripes on his sleeve that
had I - then surely it must be so. Leap forward a decade in time and I'm working
at General Electric Aerospace Division in Utica, New York, freshly endowed with
a BSEE degree, and while researching a design for an airborne early warning ECM
system, a thought of that miraculous parametric amplifier came to mind. There was
no Internet back then, but the place had a very nice technical library. Not much
information was available, so I asked a couple of the seasoned radar gurus about
it, but none were particularly enthusiastic, so I moved on. Over the years...
 Since I live in Erie, PA, an erstwhile very
industrial, albeit small town, it is always nice to run across information on the
area in my electronics magazines. There are still a few electronics businesses in
Erie, but as with most of the manufacturing from long ago, high tech here is found
mostly on the shelves of Best Buy and not on manufacturing lines. One notable exception
is Bliley Electric Company, maker of crystal oscillators, who was established in
Erie in 1930. Bliley still operates today in a building about two miles from my
house. This advertisement from the December 1958 edition of Popular Electronics
magazine is by
Erie Resistor Company. In doing a Google search, I found a brief history of
the company on a UK website. According to the author, Erie Resistor opened a
division in Yarmouth in 1932. Here is a reference to Erie Resistor Company being
credited for discovering the ferroelectric oxide... |
