Today in Science History -
 In 1958, most people were not accustomed to seeing the now-familiar maps plotting the sinusoidal courses of satellites across the face of the earth. It had only been in October of the previous year that any object other than the moon was in orbit around our home planet - that was U.S.S.R.'s Sputnik. Just as people of all ages and all backgrounds enthusiastically joined in the newfangled phenomenon of aeroplanes after the Wright Brothers flew their fragile craft at Kitty Hawk, electronics communications and scientists worldwide hopped aboard the satellite train (so to speak). This article from a 1958 issue of Radio & TV News magazine provided insight into the construction and flight characteristics of early U.S. satellites, and offered advice on how to participate in the ongoing International Geophysical Year (IGY) research effort by tuning in and reporting your signal reception characteristics. Activity was not just the domain of operators with sophisticated equipment ...
 Sam Benzacar of Anatech Electronics, an RF and microwave filter company, has published his November newsletter that features his short op−ed entitled "Is 5G Safe for Humans? No One Knows." The controversy over whether or not RF radiation from wireless devices - cellphones, notebook computers, tablets, smart meters, et al, is harmful to human body cells has been with us since the early 1990s, when the Wireless Revolution began. Industry standards groups have defined Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) levels for exposure that model human anatomy and cell structure in order to scientifically assess the effects of RF radiation. As with studies done with other controversial topics like tobacco and pharmaceuticals, the "truth" is as much subjective as it is objective, and the two side of the argument will never agree ...
 This quiz from Popular Electronics magazine challenges (not too much, though) your knowledge of energy conversion in common devices. A few of them might be unfamiliar to people born after about 1990, but even so, you've probably seem them all at some point, especially if you are a regular RF Cafe visitor (meaning you're probably smart). It won't be giving anything away by telling you that item B is a heater that screws into a light bulb socket, and item F is a phonograph stylus Robert P. Balin constructed many quizzes of this kind in the 1960s and 70s. A complete list of all the Popular Electronics Quizzes is lower on this page ...
 Axiom Test Equipment, an electronic test equipment rentals and sales company headquartered in San Diego, has published a blog post entitled "Turn on the Temperature with Thermal Test Systems," explaining the need to properly evaluate product function across the full range of expected ambient temperature conditions. Doing so helps guarantee favorable customer experiences and online ratings, as well as reduces costs of warranty service. It begins: "Electronic device performance is sensitive to temperature, with most electronic devices and components specified according to operating and storage temperature ranges. Those ranges differ according to the type of component and application, with electronic products for industrial and military applications usually ..."
 "Electromagnetic interference (EMI) can plague bus bars just like it does with cables. Here are the answers to some common questions. Do bus bars need EMI filters? Yes, they do. Just because they’re large imposing structures, they can cause interference in other systems if you don't measure the EMI and take steps to get it under legal limits. In some cases, you might want to reduce EMI even further than the legal requirement to make a quiet electrical environment for your sensors or control system. EMI noise is created by any fast-changing currents, often represented by the calculus term di/dt, that is, the change of current over time. Fast-changing currents have high di/dt. If those currents ..."
 Since 1961, MECA Electronics has designed and manufactured an extensive line of RF & microwave components for in-building, satellite, radar, radio, telemetry, mobile radio, aviation & ATC. Attenuators, directional & hybrid couplers, isolators & circulators, power dividers & combiners, loads, DC blocks, bias-Ts and adapters & cables. MECA has long been the 'backbone' of high performance wired and air-interfaced networks such as in-building applications, satellite communications, radar, radio communications, telemetry applications, mobile radio, aviation & air traffic communications.  Proving once again what a visionary Hugo Gernsback was regarding science and engineering, he published in his Radio-Craft magazine this prognostication for the eventual supplanting of point-to-point wiring with printed circuit boards. Admittedly, by 1948 the electronics industry had begun to outgrow hand-wired chassis assemblies with a rats nest of wires, components, and terminal strips. It was in dire need of a new paradigm that reduced labor costs and reduced the opportunity for wiring errors. Less than a year earlier (December 1947) the trio of engineers at Bell Labs announced their transistor invention, so Mr. Gernsback knew the world was about to change significantly. Bulky transformers, vacuum tubes, and high voltage circuits would soon be relegated - at least in the consumer product realm - to the newfangled television products, so miniaturization would follow quickly. Even the smaller fingers of women on the assembly lines ...
 RF Cafe's raison d'être is and always has been to provide useful, quality content for engineers, technicians, engineering managers, students, and hobbyists. Part of that mission is offering to post applicable job openings. HR department employees and/or managers of hiring companies are welcome to submit opportunities for posting at no charge (of course a gratuity will be graciously accepted). 3rd party recruiters and temp agencies are not included so as to assure a high quality of listings. Please read through the easy procedure to benefit from RF Cafe's high quality visitors ...
 Skyworks is pleased introduce the SKY66318-11, a new addition to our family of high-efficiency power amplifiers (PA) that are designed for the stringent requirements of enterprise small cell applications. The PA offers wide instantaneous bandwidth (100 MHz) and is fully input/output matched with high gain and efficiency. On-chip active biasing circuitry is also integrated to compensate for PA performance over temperature, voltage, and process variations. The device comes in a compact 5 x 5 mm package, operates from a single 5 V power supply, and is ideal for 4G LTE and 5G NR systems from 3300 to 3600 MHz. The SKY66318-11 is also part of major transceiver reference designs ...
 Here is a little electronics hobbyist humor in the form of a comic series titled "Hobnobbing with Harbaugh," compliments of Popular Electronics artist Dave Harbaugh. Citizens Band radio and dirty hippies were the topic of the day in the 1970s, so that's what you see in a couple of these comics. I got my first 23-channel CB radio (FCC mandated 40 channels in 1977) in 1976 and installed it in my 1969 Camaro SS hot rod. It required a Class D radio operator license at the time, but shortly thereafter no license was needed. The "Inventions Wanted" comic is my favorite, followed by "Mayday... Mayday!" You don't need to be an amateur radio operator to appreciate these comic strips ...
 "Satellites do a lot of things - they help people navigate from one place to another, they deliver television programming, they search for new stars and exo-planets and they enable the U.S. nuclear deterrence strategy. But until recently, one thing they haven't done - or needed to do - is defend themselves. That may soon change. Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories launched a seven-year mission campaign this month to develop the science, technology and architecture needed for autonomous satellite protection systems. The campaign, called STARCS (Science and Technology Advancing Resilience for Contested Space), will fund dozens of Laboratory Directed Research and Development projects that focus on three critical areas ..."
 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!
 Forgive me if I sound like a broken record (a scratched record, actually), but when selecting articles for posting here on RF Cafe, I like to include ones that are directed toward newcomers to the field of electronics as well as for seasoned veterans. This piece from a 1958 issue of Radio & TV News magazine entitled "Basic Electronic Counting," is a prime example in that it introduces the concept of binary numbers. We've all been there at some point in our careers. A big difference between now and when this article appeared is that in 1958, almost nobody was familiar to binary numbers, and fuggetabout [sic] octal and hexadecimal. Only those relatively few people designing and working with multimillion dollar, vacuum tube-based digital computers installed in universities, megacorporations, and government research facilities ...
 "The 2020 Cubesat Developers Workshop will be held May 4 - 6 at the Cal Poly Performing Arts Center in San Luis Obispo, California. The planning team has announced a call for abstracts. All abstract and poster applications should be submitted using the online submission form on the conference website by Friday, January 10, 2020."
 Exodus Advanced Communications' model AMP2070C power amplifier designed for broadband EMI/RFI, lab, communications and EW applications. Class A/AB linear design for all modulations and industry standards. Covers 700 MHz - 6.0 GHz, produces 100 W minimum, 50 W P1dB, 50 dB gain. Excellent gain flatness, optional monitoring parameters for forward / reflected power, voltage, current and temperature sensing for superb reliability and ruggedness. Suitable for CW, pulse and all single channel modulation standards Built-in protection circuits ...
 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 ...
 "Circuits made from thread are combined with thread-based sensors to create flexible devices. A transistor has been made from linen thread, enabling the creation of electronic devices made entirely of thin threads that could be woven into fabric, worn on the skin, or implanted surgically for diagnostic monitoring. The flexible electronic devices could enable a range of applications that conform to different shapes and allow free movement without compromising function. The thread-based transistors (TBTs) can be made into all-thread-based logic circuits and integrated circuits. The circuits replace the last remaining rigid component of many current flexible devices and when combined with thread-based sensors, enable the creation of completely flexible ..."
 This assortment of custom-designed themes by RF Cafe includes T-Shirts, Mouse Pads, Clocks, Tote Bags, Coffee Mugs and Steins, Purses, Sweatshirts, and Baseball Caps. Choose from amazingly clever "We Are the World's Matchmakers" Smith chart design or the "Engineer's Troubleshooting Flow Chart." My "Matchmaker's" design has been ripped off by other people and used on their products, so please be sure to purchase only official RF Cafe gear. My markup is only a paltry 50¢ per item - Cafe Press gets the rest of your purchase price. These would make excellent gifts for husbands, wives, kids, significant others, and for handing out at company events or as rewards for excellent service. It's a great way to help support RF Cafe. Thanks.
 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.
 For two decades, I have been creating custom engineering- and science-themed crossword puzzles for the brain-exercising benefit and pleasure of RF Cafe visitors who are fellow cruciverbalists. This November 17, 2019, puzzle uses a database of thousands of words which I have 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 location like Tunguska, Russia, for reasons which ...
|
- 
