Today in Science History -
 Here is a bit of
history of the field effect transistor's (FET) history presented in a 1965 issue
of Electronics World magazine. Author Gene Jackson mentions how the FET was being
researched in laboratories toward the end of World War II, predating the junction
type transistor developed by Ball Labs, with the first working model announced in
late 1947. A primary difference between the bipolar junction transistor (BJT) and
the junction FET is that the BJT is current-controlled and the FET is voltage-controlled
(like a vacuum tube). The abbreviation JFET is not mentioned in reference to the
junction FET, although MOSFET is used for the metal-oxide-semiconductor FET. Magazine
editor William Stocklin adds a comment about the difference between electron current
flow (negative to positive) and conventional current flow (positive to negative),
which was a relatively new distinction at the time. See the follow-on article...
 "This simple gadget showed off the magic
of the first transistor. In 1949 an engineer at Bell Labs built three music boxes
to show off the new transistors. Each
Transistor Oscillator-Amplifier
Box contained an oscillator-amplifier circuit and two point-contact transistors
powered by a B-type battery. It electronically produced five distinct tones, although
the sounds were not exactly melodious delights to the ear. The box's design was
a simple LC circuit, consisting of a capacitor and an inductor. The capacitance
was selectable using the switch bank, which Bardeen 'played' when he demonstrated
the box. Bell Labs used one of the boxes to demonstrate the transistor's portability.
In early demonstrations, the instantaneous response of the circuits wowed witnesses,
who were accustomed to having to wait for vacuum tubes to warm up. The other two
music boxes went to Bardeen and Brattain. Only Bardeen's survives..."
 Victims of
electrical shock have been around as long as experiments in electricity and
electrical appliances have been around. For that matter, even ancient men unfortunate
enough to have come into contact with an electric eel or a lightning bolt, or even
those who rubbed against sheep's wool in an arid environment and then reached for
a metal implement, know the pain of an electrical shock... or worse. This article
in the August 1959 edition of Popular Electronics warns readers of the
dangers lurking at the end of every electrical cord. One of the cartoons shows a
guy being zapped while using an electric drill. About a year after graduating from
high school, a friend of mine was using a power saw in a garage that had a damp,
dirt floor. Even as late as the mid 1970s there were still a lot of power tools
that had metal bodies, and usually had no ground wire. Electrocutions were not uncommon.
My friend died from his contact with 120 VAC...
 Do you have any idea what the
curved lines and other patterns visible on the Orion Artemis moon probe are?
I cannot find any information on them. NASA assembly photos show only a bluish regular
matrix of solar cells with no hint of these patterns. They look like digital oscilloscope
displays resembling various waveforms and text blocks. I've never seen anything
like it. Are they circuit elements showing through from behind the PV cells? Maybe
this is a way of communicating with the space aliens who monitor Earth activity
and live among us ;-)
 Seeing an advertisement like this from a
national corporation - especially one that did work for the government - in a major
magazine would be rare these days. In 1945 when this Christmas advertisement was
proffered by
Jensen
Radio Manufacturing Company in Radio News magazine, it was meant as
an inoffensive message of thanks and goodwill to all people, and particularly to
servicemen. Today, some would like to prosecute the purveyor for the crime of "hate
speech," which is basically anything suggesting America's founding was fundamentally
righteous and just. "Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!"
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...
 Centric RF is a company offering from stock
various RF and
Microwave coaxial components, including attenuators, adapters, cable assemblies,
terminations, power dividers, and more. We believe in offering high performance
parts from stock at a reasonable cost. Frequency ranges of 0-110 GHz at power
levels from 0.5-500 watts are available off the shelf. Order today, ship today!
Centric RF is currently looking for vendors to partner with them. Please visit Centric
RF today.
 According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics,
inflation has increased the cost of goods by a factor of 9.4x since 1965 when this
article appeared in Electronics World magazine. Although the number does not apply
directly to semiconductors, the products made with them generally follow the trend.
If you apply 9.4x to the prices here, the cost of a
Fairchild uA914 dual, two-input NOR gate would have risen from 99¢ to about
$9.31, which is highly unreasonable. The article does mention the rapidly lowering
cost of semiconductors. Figure 2 projects the average price of integrated circuits
to decrease from $20 to $1 between 1963 and 1970, whereupon the curve flattens.
Of course that was based on a knowledge and limitations of existing technology.
A dual, two-input NOR gate will cost you 54¢ today from DigiKey (only 13¢ in quantities
of 25,000). The single-copy price works out to about 6% of the inflation-adjusted
1965 price...
 "Electronics
and electrical engineering job outlooks are on the decline due to interests
and global materials shortages, but that could change based on several dynamics.
The pandemic has done its best to hinder chip production on a global scale. But
while the shortage shows signs of subsiding, semiconductor companies are encountering
another problem that could set them back: a lack of qualified electronics and electrical
engineers. In June of this year (2022), Intel engineer Raja Koduri attended the
IEEE Symposium on VLSI Technology & Circuits and raised the issue of engineer
scarcity within the U.S., which painted a negative forecast for the near future
(to say the least)..."
 Here is a real cornucopia of attenuator
information from the May 1966 issue of Electronics World magazine. If you
need circuits diagram and
equations for "T," Bridged-T, Ladder, Pi, Balanced-H, Balanced Ladder, Potentiometer,
and Balanced (Dual) Potentiometer type attenuators, then you've come to the
right place. A discussion is included on attenuator selection and specification
for ordering rather than designing and building your own. The distinction between
a "pad" and an "attenuator" has always been vague to me and I, like most people,
use the terms interchangeably. Author Chester Scott seems to believe a "pad" always
has a fixed value whereas an attenuator can be either fixed or variable...
 Axiom Test Equipment, an electronic test
equipment rental and sales company has published a new press release entitled "Tracking
Testers for Radars & Communications Systems," that explains how ideal signal
sources for testing communications and radar equipment should combine high performance
with versatility. Communications systems transfer information between locations
while radars search for targets. A quick review of the essential differences between
communications and radar systems can help target the types of test equipment with
the capabilities needed to optimize the performance of each type of electronic system.
The types of signals used in communications and radar systems are as diverse as
the types of systems themselves. Communications systems range from short-range wireless
Bluetooth links, such as between a computer and printer, and more complex 5G wireless
networks with billions of users worldwide. Radars are now used in all markets, from
automotive safety to weather forecasting, with signals covering a wide range of
power levels...
 This is a very
interesting article about the
FCC's "Secrecy of Communications" rules. Manmade radio interference (QRM in
Ham lingo), has been a problem since the early days of wireless communications.
You might convincingly argue that it was worse at a time when many transmitters
were of the arc type that basically spewed out a mess of RF energy within a specified
bandwidth (very wide compared to today) to signal the presence of a "dit" (a digital
"1"), with the absence of a signal being a "dah" (digital "0"). Filter technology
for both the transmit and receive sides was also poor, allowing unintentional RF
noise to be sent over the air and to find its way into the detector circuits. The
Federal Communications Commission (FCC), first formed in 1934, nearly four decades
after Guglielmo Marconi first demonstrated his wireless set in 1896. Sometime around
1952, the FCC allocated a half dozen frequencies in the 27 MHz for radio control
(R/C) model use, mixed within the existing citizens band (CB) radio channels. As
you might imagine, interference problems were rampant, especially near metro areas
and highways with heavy truck traffic. This editorial in a 1969 issue of American
Aircraft Modeler magazine reports on just how bad things had gotten, especially
that caused by operators using faulty and/or illegally modified transmitters, and
even by malicious intentional attempts to "shoot down" model airplanes by keying
transmitters in the vicinity of flight activity. In 1965, the FCC allocated...
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...
 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!
 Founded in 2004,
LadyBug Technologies has quickly built a reputation as one of the world's premier
(they would argue "the" world's premier) manufacturers of RF and microwave power
measurement test equipment. Their line of fast, accurate and NIST-traceable power
sensors cover the 9 kHz to 50 GHz frequency range with 86 dB of dynamic range.
In the process, LadyBug engineers have produced many very helpful instructional
and educational videos for the benefit of their customers who use the power sensors,
but also for anyone interested in making precision power measurements. A few of
the videos are presented below, including titles such as "Peak and Pulse Power Demonstration,"
"RF Noise and Power Sensors Power Meters ," and "75 Ohm RF Power Measurements."
and you can access the entire collection on LadyBug Technologies' YouTube channel...
 Unlike many of the crossword puzzles found
in many magazines, the majority of the words and clues in this 1965 Electronics
World "Electronic
Crosswords" puzzle pertain to electronics, physics, mathematics, and other technical
topics. Only a couple pertain to items not used in modern electronics assemblies,
but you probably know what they are, anyway. I took the liberty of inserting alternate
clues for the non-technical words, thus effectively rendering the entire crossword
puzzle as totally compliant as my weekly RF Cafe Crossword Puzzles. You're welcome.
 Preparing for a
technician career in electronics today is not so different than it was in 1970,
when this article on resume preparation appeared in Popular Electronics
magazine. Sure, particular job descriptions have changed, but the basics are pretty
much the same. In 1970, being able to list television and radio repair on your resume
was a valuable indication of your schematic reading and troubleshooting prowess.
The keywords Sams Photofacts would jump right off the page at a knowledgeable interviewer
(you can still buy documentation packages from Sams Technical Publishing). Then,
as now, having a two-year college electronics degree or a stint in the armed forces
as an electronics technician - or both, preferably - is almost a requirement for
landing a job at a defense or aerospace electronics company...
 "Seventy-five years is a long time. It's
so long that most of us don't remember a time before the transistor, and long enough
for many engineers to have devoted entire careers to its use and development. In
honor of this most important of technological achievements, this issue's package
of articles explores the transistor's historical journey and potential future. In
'The First Transistor and How it Worked,' Glenn Zorpette dives deep into how the
point-contact transistor came to be. Then, in 'The Ultimate Transistor Timeline,'
Stephen Cass lays out the device's evolution, from the flurry of successors to the
point-contact transistor to the complex devices in today's laboratories that might
one day go commercial. The transistor would never have become so useful and so ubiquitous
if the semiconductor industry had not succeeded in making it small and cheap..."
 We recently passed the 62nd anniversary
of the first successful
earth-moon-earth (EME) communication path by amateur radio operators. What is
today a routine operation by Hams was a big deal back in the day. The moon was still
a mystery to most of the world since at the time not even an unmanned probe had
been sent for exploration. As reported in this 1960 issue of Electronics World magazine,
1,296 MHz was the frequency of choice using a 1 kW klystron on the transmit
end and a highly sensitive parametric amplifier on the receive end, with high gain
parabolic antennas on both ends. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has
allocated the 144.00-144.20 MHz, 222.0-222.025 MHz, 432.00-432.07 MHz,
902.8-903.0 MHz, 1295.8-1296.05 MHz, and 2303.9-2304.2 MHz bands
for various modes of EME operation per Part 97 rules...
 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...
 Copper Mountain Technologies develops innovative
and robust RF test and measurement solutions for engineers all over the world. Copper
Mountain's extensive line of unique form factor
Vector
Network Analyzers include an RF measurement module and a software application
which runs on any Windows PC, laptop or tablet, connecting to the measurement hardware
via USB interface. The result is a lower cost, faster, more effective test process
that fits into the modern workspace in lab, production, field and secure testing
environments. 50 Ω and 75 Ω models are available, along with
a full line of precision calibration and connector adaptors.
 My first exposure to
bare die integrated circuits was in the early 1980's, while working at the Westinghouse
Oceanic Division in Annapolis, Maryland. It was my first job as an electronics technician
after separating from the U.S. Air Force. After working there on the evening shift
for a couple years building sonar systems for the U.S. Navy, I had an opportunity
to move to the day shift if I could pass muster for a high level security clearance.
A small group of engineers, with just one technician, was formed to serve the needs
of a "special" customer. A couple other guys with more seniority them me interviewed
for the position, but they failed the background check, which included two polygraph
tests ...but I digress. Part of my job entailed building microcircuit assemblies
using bare IC die and surface mount passive devices epoxied to very tiny printed
circuit substrates, and then using a thermosonic wirebond machine to do the interconnections.
1 mil gold wire was used. A week-long class at the company's plant in Baltimore
provided the basics, but the work we did was very unique and required developing
new techniques that probably would not pass inspection by the crotchety Navy inspectors...
 Call me a snob, but IMHO except for rare
circumstances, if you expect to hold the title of "engineer," you really should
have
earned a college degree in engineering. Sure, there are talented people without
an engineering degree that can do certain engineering jobs more competently than
someone with an engineering degree; however, it certainly is not so in the majority
of instances. It is foolish to look around at all the technology you share your
life with and conclude that people without the benefit of a formal engineering education
could turn out so much at such a fast pace. When someone learns that you are an
engineer, there is an automatic assumption that you hold at least a Bachelor's degree
in engineering, software, or the physical sciences. If you tell someone you are
a technician, the assumption is that you have earned an Associate's degree and/or
received training in the military specific to your job's nature. When I see messages
like the one in this advertisement, I get a little perturbed because: 1) It is misleading
since unaware people will believe that becoming an engineer really is a easy as
taking some home instruction courses, and 2) It diminishes the accomplishments,
financial and time investment, and hard work of those who did earn an engineering
degree...
 If this 1960 Popular Electronics
magazine article was written today, the title would more likely be, "One
IC Pocket Radio," and rather than a couple dozen resistors, capacitors, and
inductors (and a transformer), and there might be one or two decoupling capacitors.
Everything else would be contained within the integrated circuit. There are plenty
of single-chip radio circuits available from distributors like Digi-Key, Newark
Electronics, etc. Oh, and how many of you even know what a phenolic board looks
like? Better yet, how many of you can identify the unique smell of one heating up
or burning due to component overheating? If you can't, then consider yourself lucky,
because that probably means you're 40-50 years younger than I am, and you have that
much longer to live then me...
 This set of six
electronics-themed
comics appeared in the March 1956 issue of Radio-Electronics magazine. The one
on page 84 is pretty clever, but would need to be modernized in our semiconductor
era. I'm not quite getting the page 114 comic. Computer dating is a fairly recent
phenomenon - or is it? The page 142 comic suggest otherwise. In fact, I know three
married couples who met via an online dating service, all within the last ten years;
my daughter is one of them! The shopper in the page 145 comic might have misinterpreted
the gist of the signs, but taken literally maybe her assumption isn't so unreasonable.
The page 148 comic shows how a "futuristic" concept proposed in the middle of the
last century has not only been realized by 2022, but has evolved much farther than
imagined...
 Copper Mountain Technologies (CMT) has a
whitepaper available entitled, "Near
and Far Field Measurement." It begins, "To obtain optimal performance in an
over the air RF system, the antennas must be chosen to meet specific requirements.
Performance parameters such as size, wind-loading, environmental ruggedness, transmission
pattern, bandwidth, and power handling capability should be considered. Especially
important in an RF system design is the 'link budget.' This parameter determines
the end-to-end RF loss and is affected by transmitter output power, feedline loss,
transmit antenna gain, path loss through the air, receiver antenna gain, feedline
loss once again and receiver noise-figure among other factors. A failure to meet
the link budget in an RF system design will result in noisy performance and loss
of coverage. In this application note, methods of measuring the transmission (or
reception) pattern which determines antenna gain with a VNA will be examined. Most
antennas possess some directionality to their performance..."
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