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Dilbert Electronic
Candy Dispenser Update
 No, it does not dispense electronic candy.
A few years ago my daughter gave me a second-hand Dilbert candy dispenser, but the
mechanism didn't work. It turns out the battery holder was wired backward from the
factory so it could never have worked. Anyway, there is one part that is especially
frustrating to remove (the
computer front panel),
and many people have written to me asking for details. Have just now received another
request, I decided to add that info to the web page.
RF Cafe Visitor Finds His Great Grandfather in 1944 QST
Article
 One of the reasons I go to the trouble of
posting the old magazine articles from SQT, Popular Electronics, Electronics World,
etc., is to allow people searching for stories about relatives a better chance of
finding information. A couple days ago the great grandson of a WWII reconnaissance
officer who died in the line of duty. Captain William H. Graham was a Ham radio
operator before the war, holding call sign W9BNC. The story was told in the July
1944 edition of QST under the title of "Hams in Combat - One
Life to Give." Read the note sent by his grandson.
Government Is Bombarding Citizens with Radiation!
Please, even if you sincerely believe that the
government is bombarding
you with radiation in order to control, maim, or kill you, do not call me. As
a former agent of the U.S. government's
National
Unit for ciTizen
Subduance (code word: NUTS),
all of my communications are constantly under surveillance, so merely contacting
me by telephone, e-mail, Skype, telegraph, message in a bottle, or smoke signals
virtually guarantees that "they" will find you and increase the attack already underway
against you. For all that is Holy, spare yourself from the personal torment and
hide while you still can! Seriously, four or five people call me every year wanting
to tap into my expertise on RF energy to help them validate their suspicion - no,
wait, absolute certainty - of currently being the victims of a huge government conspiracy
whereby special frequencies that have been determined to allow mind control are
attempting to turn them into mindless subjects. I just got off the phone with another
such individual. All sound genuinely friendly and inquisitive regarding some kind
of RF principle they are not totally knowledgeable about, and admit to being new
to the world of radio frequencies. Usually...
RF Engineering Theme Crossword for 12/30/2012
For the sake of avid cruciverbalists, each
week I create a new
crossword puzzle
that has a theme related to engineering, mathematics, chemistry, physics, and other
technical words. You will never be asked the name of a movie star unless he/she
was involved in a technical endeavor (e.g., Hedy Lamar).
This is the December 30, 2012 puzzle.
Loose Parts Comic 'Norse Code"
 I've recommended some tech-themed "Loose Parts" comics in the past (here and
here). This one will give you a chuckle, particularly if you are a CW
guy (or gal).
Notable Quote
 "I have an app on my phone that lets me talk
to all the people around me. It shuts the phone off." - Mark Simone, talk show guy
Tales from the Cube: A Dark Story
 This intriguing story of troubleshooting prowess
- and luck - will appeal to people like me who were around in the electronics industry
in the 1970s and 1980s when
CMOS logic was
just coming onto the scene. Everyone loved the low power aspect of CMOS and rushed
head-long into implementation, then had to put a lot of time into modifying circuits
to rectify issues. A new set of design rules were required. I won't spoil the solution,
but will say after you read this installment of
Tales from the Cube, you will likely recall from decades
ago at least one similar "ah-ha" moment in the lab.
Featured Book: RF andMicrowave Radiation Safety
RF and Microwave Radiation Safety, by Ronald
Kitchen. A practical handbook for all involved in electronic design and safety assessment,
RF and Microwave Radiation Safety covers the problems of RF safety management, including
the use of measuring instruments and methods, radiation hazards and risks resulting
from electromagnetic interference, as well as reviewing current safety standards
and the implications for RF design. The second edition takes into account a wide
range of technical and legislative changes, and has been revised in line with the
latest EU and international standards. Issues raised by increasing levels of microwave
pollution from mobile phones and other sources are also confronted.
Practical Applications of Simple Math
 Recognizing that many people were reluctant
to approach the theoretical aspect of electronics as it applied to circuit design
and analysis, QST (the American Radio Relay League's monthly publication) included
equations and explanations in many of their project building articles. Occasionally,
an article would be published that dealt specifically with how to use simple mathematics.
In this case, the June 1944 edition, we have the second installation of at least
a four-part tutorial that covers resistance and reactance, amplifier biasing (tubes
since the Shockley-Bardeen-Brattain trio hadn't invented the transistor yet) oscillators,
feedback circuits, etc.
IEEE: Engineering in Biology and Medicine
 Miracle inventions in medicine and biology
often require the assistance of electrical engineers to provide an interface for
measurement and/or control. Ingestible and implantable wireless probes and monitors,
wearable brain wave caps, robotic limb replacement and assistance devices, imaging
equipment, and nanotechnology are a few of the applications requiring an
EE partnership. Many doctors
were first engineers before getting a medical degree, and as such do their own circuit
and/or mechanical and/or software design. The
IEEE is executing (maybe the wrong verb
to use when addressing medical topics) an awareness effort to hopefully attract
engineers into the field. Some projects have you working directly with patients
and volunteer test subjects, so if you are one of those fabled non-introverted engineers,
this might be the career course for you.
2013 IEEE RFIC Symposium Call for Papers
 Plans are underway already for the
2013 IEEE RFIC
Symposium in Seattle, Washington, on June 2-4.. As such, a Call for Papers has
gone out
Please visit Noisewave in Appreciation of Their Support
Noisewave makes standard
and custom noise test solutions
to meet commercial and military wireless applications. Noise diodes in TO-8, DIP,
or SM pin packages. Calibrated broadband sources ideal for NF measurement &
BIT.
Improving the Receiver Using a Screen-Grid Coupling Stage
 In December of 1931, the discovery of deuterium
(aka 'heavy water) was announced by Harold Urey, Japan abandoned the gold standard,
the New York Metropolitan Opera broadcasted an entire opera over radio for the first
time (on Christmas day), and the ARRL's QST magazine published an article about
how to improve a receiver by using a screen-grid coupling stage on vacuum tubes.
A 'tickler
coil' is introduced via a tuned circuit to provide a small amount of positive
feedback to the grid in order to make the amplifier stage more sensitive in the
band of interest. Care needed to be taken to avoid so much feedback that oscillations
could occur. As with most of these old articles...
Many Thanks to JFW Electronics for Backing RF Cafe
JFW is a major manufacturer
of attenuators, RF switches,
specialized test systems for use in the cellular, telecom, OEM test equipment, medical,
automotive, defense, and automated test systems markets. JFW offers custom designs
at catalog prices, fast delivery and no NREs!
Please Visit Linx Technologies in Appreciation of Support
 Linx Technologies'
RF
modules, remote controls, evaluation kits and master development systems
feature straightforward hardware configuration and clear documentation, making it
simple for engineers and hobbyists to integrate wireless features without the hassle
and expense of engineering RF functionality from scratch.
Vintage Electro-Voice Microphone Advertisement
 Here is an advertisement for
Electro-Voice Manufacturing Company microphones that I scanned from page 101
of my copy of the February 1943 QST magazine. As with many companies during
the World War II era, this one's theme is the service their products are providing
to America's servicemen. Per the ad, "If you were receiving radio messages from
men in the midst of earsplitting battle noises, you'd hear crisp speech undistorted
by background sound effects. Electro-Voice Microphones, in military service, are
helping to make it possible. Similar microphones, designed to achieve such results,
will be available for specific commercial applications ... after our wartime job
is done..."
Thanks to Apex Wireless for Their Continuing Support
Since 1985, Apex Wireless has offered consulting,
engineering, and design services focusing on high-performance, cost-optimized products
that employ wireless RF transmitters, receivers, and transceivers. To complement
our RF design expertise,
they work with local experts in DSP, ultra low power design, packaging, certification,
and manufacturing.
How to Draw a Circle with a Square
 "Squaring the circle" may as yet be an unattainable
goal for even the best mathematicians, but the November 2012 edition of The Family
Handyman magazine had a tip for how to use a square (of the
framing type) and two nails to draw a circle. This is what it said: "Make a
Circle with a Square - Here's a tip for laying out small circles or parts of
circles. Tack two nails to set the diameter you want, then rotate a framing square
against the nails while you hold a pencil in the corner of the square. You might
need to rub a little wax or some other lubricant on the bottom of the square so
it slides easily. Don't ask us why this process works; all we know is that it does."
They're either very honest or they don't think the average reader would understand
the explanation. The Pythagorean theorem is the key, of course, for explaining the
reason. For any right triangle: a2
+ b2 = c2, where 'a' and 'b' are the lengths of the
two perpendicular sides, and 'c' is the length of the hypotenuse...
Tales from the Cube: Out-of- Spec Problem with a Long Tail
 I like the artwork that usually accompanies
these 'Tales from the Cube' stories of troubleshooting prowess on the part of fellow
engineers. This installment, "Out-of-Spec
Problem with a Long Tail," reaches way back to the dawn of computer-based circuit
analysis to tell how a particularly troublesome problem was solved by running a
Monte Carlo routine to discover
the culprit. Here is an explanation of a 'long-tail-pair differential amplifier' in case you've never
heard of it.
Many Thanks to Oscilent for Continued Support
Oscilent is a manufacturer of frequency control
products offering design and production expertise in SAW Filters, quartz crystals,
crystal oscillators & Filters, and ceramic resonators. Their product line includes
extensive custom and standard capabilities in TCXOs and VCXOs, in addition to full
design and development capabilities in each focus product category. Oscilent serves
OEM, design, and CM customers in all major world development and manufacturing zones.
Science & Engineering Theme Crossword for 12/23/2012
For the sake of avid cruciverbalists, each
week I create a new
crossword
puzzle that has a theme related to engineering, mathematics, chemistry, physics,
and other technical words. You will never be asked the name of a movie star unless
he/she was involved in a technical endeavor (e.g., Hedy
Lamar).
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