If you don't mind having
your circuits in the public domain, then CircuitLab is a very
nice FREE, online SPICE type circuit simulator with a professional quality user interface and output graph function. CircuitLab
handles analog, digital, and mixed-mode simulations with DC, AC, swept time domain and frequency responses. After signing
up for an account, you have access to a large number of user-generated circuits that are available for use as-is or for
modifying to meet your particular needs. You can use CircuitLab without creating an account, but then you will not be able
to save or recall your circuits. A large library of pre-defined
components are available, and standard SPICE expressions can also be entered.
4 New Filters
Anatech Electronics has published its May 2013
newsletter. As always, it includes both company news and some tidbits about relevant industry events, regulations, and standards.
This month highlights a
1524 to 1560 MHz | 1626.5 to 1660.5 MHz cavity duplexer, a 55 MHz highpass filter, a 806 to 894 MHz/902
to 960 MHz cavity duplexer, and a 1515 MHz lowpass filter. Anatech Electronics' Sam Benzacar invites you to visit
them in booth #2710 at the IMS 2013 trade show in Seattle, Washington.
Started 5/15/2013
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and vote in this poll. No sign-in-required. Results are displayed automatically. Thanks!
See current.
VCO Tunes from 2.7 to 5.4 GHz
The new
V600ME31-LF operates from 2700 to 5400 MHz
with a tuning voltage range of 0-24 Vdc. This octave tuning VCO features a typical phase noise of -107 dBc/Hz
@ 100 kHz offset and an average tuning sensitivity of 140 MHz/V. The V600ME31-LF is ideal for satellite communication
applications. It is designed to deliver a typical output power of 7 dBm into a 50 ohm load while operating from
a 5 Vdc supply and drawing only 25 mA. It is designed to operate over the industrial temperature range of -40
to 85ºC while suppressing the second harmonic to better than -20 dBc.
Vintage Radios - Such a Bargain!
H. Ward Silver, N0AX, created the newest Amateur
Radio Quiz titled "Vintage
Radios - Such a Bargain!" N0AX says, "Who can resist taking a long look at the
vintage veterans sitting along the aisles of the
flea markets? Hey, I'm talking about the radios, not the attendees! 'Big iron' is making its comeback with Johnsons and
Hallicrafters and Swans shoulder-to-shoulder
at the hamfests. Before you test your lumbar regions by lugging one home, you might want to exercise your antique assessment
skills first!"
Appreciation of Their Support
Z-Communications
is a world leader in the design and development of surface mount VCO (voltage-controlled oscillator) modules & PLL (phase-locked
loop) frequency synthesizers for the commercial microwave/RF wireless market. RoHS compliant signal source products currently
range from 40 MHz to 13.5 GHz bands. PLLs available in integer, fractional-N and single frequency models.
Synchronize with Each Other
If you place those 32 metronomes on a rigid surface, they will continue to run out of synchrony forever. If instead
you place them on a moveable platform, it will begin oscillating side to side with increasing amplitude until the discordant rebels finally comply. There is
probably a social behavior parallel somewhere, but the more important principle at work is the likening the system (metronomes
+ moveable platform) to a resonant circuit with feedback. Surely someone reading this can supply an equation for us that
models the phenomenon.
(please help support RF Cafe)
Handbook of RF, Microwave, and Millimeter-Wave Components, by Sergey M. Smolskiy,
Leonid A. Belov, and Victor N. Kochemasov. This unique and comprehensive resource offers you a detailed treatment of the
operations principles, key parameters, and specific characteristics of active and passive
RF, microwave, and millimeter-wave components.
The book covers both linear and nonlinear components that are used in a wide range of application areas, from communications
and information sciences, to avionics, space, and military engineering. This practical book presents descriptions and clear
examples and of the best materials and products used in the field, including laminates, prepregs, substrates; microstrip,
coaxial and waveguide transmission lines; fixed and rotating connectors; matching and adjusting elements; frequency filters;
phase shifters; and ferrite gates and circulators.
for AMC and PMI
Raymond Sicotte, Chairman
and CEO of American Microwave Corporation
(AMC), and Ashok Gorwara , Chairman and President & CEO of
Planar Monolithics Industries, Incorporated
(PMI), wish to announce that they have completed realignment and separation of AMC and PMI. Mr. Sicotte and Mr. Gorwara
were formally colleagues at MIT Lincoln Laboratory in the late 1960's. Each is very well recognized for his extensive
expertise in the microwave electronics field and industry. Each Company has developed its own complete manufacturing, engineering,
research & development capabilities and facilities as the individual companies have grown and prospered
Broadband LNA
PMI Amplifier Model PEC-38-30M18G-12-SFF
is a broadband, low noise amplifier
that operates over the 30 MHz to 18 GHz frequency range. This model provides 38 dB of gain and has a gain
flatness of ±2.0 dB maximum. The noise figure is 5dB maximum and the OP1dB is +12 dBm minimum. This amplifier
maintains a maximum VSWR of 2.2:1 into a 50 ohm impedance. The operating voltage is +12 VDC and the current is
300 mA maximum.
Line of Isolators & Circulators
Kete Microwave Company announces a kind of new
product: Microstrip isolators and
circulators, provide frequency range from
5.2-40 GHz with full band. These devices have
microstrip dual junction circulators as well. These
parts are made of golden leads, ferrite material and thin film technology. They are stable performance with good
quality. To find more information, or to purchase these products, please you visit the links from Kete Microwave's
website.
as Our Newest Advertiser
RFIC Solutions offers RFIC/MMIC,
Analog, Mixed-Signal,
Digital IC and module, RF system design services, RF prototype
board development and RF testing up to 60 GHz. The RFIC team of 40+ staff, mostly engineers has delivered more than
30 million RF ICs for Wireless LAN, Cordless & Cellular Phone & wireless apps. The RFIC team has extensive RF industry
knowledge with many years of background in designing and deploying Wireless Systems. RFIC has a strong background in designing
wide range of products from RF amplifiers, Switch to complex Mixed-Signal SoC like 'RF CMOS Transceiver' & and other
ICs up to 60 GHz. Click here to download our Company Profile.
January 1948 was a mere two and a half years after
the end of World War II, so military planners strategized about what a future war, if one occurred, would look like.
Two implements that had a huge effect on the previous efforts were the atom bomb and the
guided missile; therefore,
they were prominent in discussions. Germany's use of the V-1 Buzz Bomb is a familiar example of a guided missile that struck
terror in the hearts of populations that experienced its devastating destructive power. The U.S. developed a few missiles
of its own, particularly immediately after WWII when it had the assistance of Werner von Braun and other notable rocket
scientists who worked for the U.S. space effort after the war. A few of the missiles are on display today at the
Udvar-Hazy
center of the National Air and Space Museum.
for Continued Support!
As a premier
manufacturer of RF connectors, cable assemblies and components, Dong Jin TI is highly recognized an
RF industry leader in Korea. Our premium products offer a competitive
price, on-time delivery and best quality in the industry. Attenuators, arresters, adaptors, bias tees, filters, terminations,
directional couplers, and power combiners and dividers, are among Dong Jin TI's offerings.
Added to Vendor Listings
Agile Microwave Technology, Hicksville,
NY. Agile MwT's motto says, "This company may be new, but we're not newcomers to the high reliability RF/Microwave industry."
The three founders have more than 100 years of combined experience. Agile MwT specializes in
RF amplifiers, limiters, switches, and multipliers. "Our goal is to
cut product cost by more than 50% by keeping our overhead low, by staying small and focusing on innovative designs which
are inspired by the commercial wireless market. Our goal is to provide same or better performance, size and quality at a
much lower cost through better engineering and outsourcing to U.S. based contract manufacturers."
"We tried everything from
seed oils to high-temperature lubricant to glycerin in search of the right liquid. It's the closest I've ever felt to Thomas
Edison when he was looking for the perfect element" -
Dave Horn, Switch Lighting CTO, regarding the liquid silicone cooling used in their 'game-changing'
LED light bulb.
Watchmaking...
It's probably a safe assumption that
most electrical engineers and technicians appreciate intricate, high precision mechanical creations. Gizmodo has an article that highlights some incredible wearable timepieces
(aka watches). As author Andrew Liszewski puts it, "Gadget nuts have
CES, kids at heart get Toy Fair, video gamers have E3, but if it's watches
that ring your bell, every spring you'll want to head over to Basel, Switzerland for Baselworld. It's where the world's
horological masters gather to unveil their latest timekeeping works of art.
And these are the most wonderful of this year's whole bunch. "
Puzzle for May 12, 2013
Every Sunday I create a
crossword puzzle using a word list
that I personally created and added to during over a decade of making puzzles. All of the words are related to engineering,
science, mathematics, chemistry, astronomy, etc. There are no numbnut clues about movie stars or clothing designers. Enjoy.
Laboratory
By 1950, say
the author of this story, "No longer are 'aerials' merely required to transfer electromagnetic energy into space," in reference
to airborne platforms. Following great advancements in radio and radar technology during World War II, great interest
lied in what would later become referred to as 'stealth' technology and in secure communications. The transition of aircraft
speeds into the realm of supersonic also mandated that projections beyond the main airframe outline be either eliminated
or very much minimized. The
long cable aerials that stretched from the cockpit area to the tip of the vertical fin, and the
round direction finding antennas hanging from below could not be accommodated at airspeeds above about 300 knots.
The aerodynamic drag would be excessive and the forces would tear the antennas apart. Douglas Aircraft set up one of the
first antenna measurement laboratories specifically to address those issues both for airborne and shipboard platforms.
D-Day Invasion
D-Day occurred on June 6, 1944. It was
the day that Allied forces stormed the French coastline with overwhelming numbers of battleships, landing craft, bombers,
fighters, and personnel. It broke the German stronghold on mainland Europe and marked the beginning of the end of Hitler's
dominion. These photos are the first official releases of
radar imagery
before and during the D-Day invasion at Normandy. Pre-invasion reconnaissance radar plots show a sparsely populated coastline
and English Channel. White areas that indicate radar targets were concentrated mainly in city regions. On the day of the
invasion, white returns nearly saturate the displays due to the incredible presence of all the aforementioned war machine
elements. Even the soldiers' presence contributed to the return because of all the metallic hardware being carried - guns,
ammo, radios, helmets, bayonets, canteens, etc...
as Our Newest Advertiser!
Asian Circuits, with its HQ
in Toronto, Canada, and production facilities in China, has emerged as a well known turn-key
PCB assembly service provider for mid- and high-volume
electronic contract manufacturing. Asian
Circuits is well known for providing economical one-stop PCB assembly services, including PCB fabrication, sourcing of components,
and complete. Our online PCB assembly quote
generator can help you estimate the assembly cost of your PCB project from the very beginning.
Low Noise Amplifier
PMI Model No.
PBB-20-218-16-LCA is a 2.0
to 18.0 GHz Low Noise Amplifier which provides 20 dB of gain while maintaining a gain flatness of ±2.0 dB
maximum over the operating frequency. The noise figure is 4 dB typical and offers a typical OP1dB of +14 dBm minimum.
The amplifier requires +12 to +15 VDC and the current draw is 150 mA typical.
Our experts routinely repair sophisticated and expensive instruments, often providing
the flexibility to defer capital investments in retooling and new equipment. We specialize in optical, RF and communications
test equipment repair, often considered too complex by other independent repair facilities.
RF Power Amplifier
NuWaves Engineering announces the release of the NuPower Xtender
bidirectional L- & S-band power
amplifier module, model number NW-BSSPA-10W-1.0-2.5. The product is the first in the company's new Xtender series of
bidirectional power amplifiers, which are based on the successful NuPower broadband, high-efficiency, miniature PA modules.
Designed for use with half-duplex RF transceivers running constant-envelope waveforms, the new bidirectional PA provides
a minimum of 10 Watts peak RF output power and 40 dB of gain with 30% average power efficiency from 1000 to 2500 MHz.
'Stratovision' sounds about as serious as 'Wonkavision,'
but unlike the candy maker's fictional machine that transported chocolate bars across the room,
Stratovision
was in fact a serious proposal. It was an early form of satellite television. Since orbiting communications satellites would
not be practical for another decade, Westinghouse devised a system in 1945 using aircraft flying at high altitude to relay
television signals. Engineers calculated that 14 airplanes circling at 25,000 feet could provide coverage to 78% of the
country. By 1950 they had a working system, but needless to say (because nobody has ever heard of it... except you, now),
the concept ultimately did not pan out. It was not because the system failed to work as designed, but because there was
not enough demand for coast-to-coast broadcasts at the time.
for Astronomers
A controversy brews
over the merits of breeding plants that glow like a lightning bug. Proponents say
glowing trees could eventually
replace electric street lights, thereby reducing pollution created by generating stations. Opponents say messing around
with tree genes is dangerous and should be disallowed since it could lead to unanticipated environmental ramifications on
both plant and animal species. The unique aspect of this effort is that it is being pursued primarily by genetic hobbyists
rather than corporations - at least for now. There is bound to be a huge financial potential for such a copyrighted line
of plants. My opposition to the concept is primarily a concern for light pollution projected skyward. Astronomers have a
difficult enough time with ever-encroaching sources of ambient light, but a planet overrun by cross-bred and mutated glowing
plants (and possibly animals), especially if they are capable of emitting levels high enough to replace street lights, would
effectively blind billions of dollars of investments in telescopes...
Please Support RF Cafe
Introduction to Modern EW Systems, by Andrea De Martino. Master the latest
electronic warfare (EW) techniques and technologies
related to on-board military platforms with this authoritative resource. You gain expert design guidance on technologies
and equipment used to detect and identify emitter threats, giving you an advantage in the never-ending chess game between
sensor guided weapons and EW systems. This unique book offers you deeper insight into EW systems principles of operation
and their mathematical descriptions, arming you with better knowledge for your specific design applications.
Naval communications and their communicators
have always been held in high regard. Operating and maintaining sophisticated electronics equipment is difficult enough
on solid ground, but doing it on the ocean with winds and waves tossing the platform (ship) relentlessly can exacerbate
the problem tremendously. It is a wonder that radar systems can even be useful with the antenna constantly rotating about
pitch, roll, and yaw axes while simultaneously shifting in the x, y and z axes. Sure, airborne platforms have the same sort
of challenge, but their perturbations are not typically as violent, as great in magnitude, or as prolonged as a naval vessel
in rough seas. For the record, I'm a former USAF radar guy so I'm not just trying to glorify my own branch of service. This
article from Radio & Television news gives some insight into the life a naval communicator during the 1950s.
Started 5/7/2013
Please take a moment and vote in this poll. No sign-in-required. Results
are displayed automatically. Thanks!
See current.
Book Winner Thomas K.
Each month I select a name at random for the RF Cafe Book Giveaway (sometimes I pick two). Anyone who buys my
engineering software is automatically entered
once for each item (you can also enter by sending me an e-mail). Thomas chose
SIP: Understanding the Session Initiation Protocol (Graciously provided
by Artech House).
in Appreciation of Support
Colby Instruments designs and manufactures
the world's finest high-precision Programmable Delay Line
(PDL) instruments and modules. All instruments are fully programmable via GPIB interface, and are suitable for use in high
frequency RF signal applications as phase shifters or where an extremely high precision and accurate amount of delay is
required. 125 Femtosecond steps have been achieved in some products!
Wireless Communications
Alan
Bensky, author of
Short-Range Wireless Communication (and ironically the book selected by
April's book drawing winner), is the presenter
in this online introductory level 1-day course (May 15, 9:00am - 4:30pm EDT) for individuals
interested in an overview of wireless telecommunications. "This course may be used as introductory training for students
pursuing IEEE's WCET professional certification. It is also ideal for anyone who wants a more firm grasp on what the technology
in the products they are selling is, the fundamentals of what it can do and what wireless communications professionals on
the engineering front are working on developing for future applications."
Their Support Again
"Since our inception in 1996 in Korea, ISOTEC has been a
leading manufacturer of RF and microwave connectors such as SMA,
MCX, SSMB, etc., and RF components such as attenuators, terminations, etc., for wireless service providers, etc. We provide
recognized and trusted products and service to our customers in more than 30 countries worldwide. ISOTEC offers also an
extensive product mix with RF filters and multiplexers etc."
Advertisement
It wasn't until February 1 1972, that Hewlett-Packard introduced the HP-35 electronic
calculator. Before that, when you spoke of an electronics calculator it referred to a computer (likely a vacuum tube type),
a human who specialized in electronics calculations, or this special slide rule sold by Cleveland Electronics Institute
- the 515-T. It had special scales for calculating reactance, and resonance, and had common circuit analysis
formulas printed on the back side.
Hardly Working?
Surely someone has greeted
you with the trite line, "Working hard or hardly working?" It used to be funny enough. Chances are you are working hard,
but nowadays the likelihood that someone is hardly working is
growing greater every day. The real unemployment rate (U6) in the U.S. is around 14% per the BLS website. About half the population pays no income taxes (yet receives the
most benefits), and a huge number of people are receiving food stamps. My county of Erie, PA, is at 19%
(find your area's rate here). Have you seen the stories of
SNAP abuse? Probably not
if all you watch is mainstream news.
Immigration Reform (a misnomer) is about to exacerbate the problem. A
smaller portion of us are pulling the wagon while more are piling in for the good ride. We have become the United States
of Greece (apologies to hard-working Greeks).
of the Lucky Touch
As both a technician and, after earning a
BSEE degree, an engineer, I have done a lot of circuit troubleshooting
in my life, so I really like reading the short accounts of other people's experiences in tracking down and solving problems.
The Sherlock Ohms series from Design News is a great source of such stories. This one is titled "The Power of Human Touch." I once had a very similar episode.
for Supporting This Website
everything RF is a search engine for RF & microwave components.
everything RF lists complete catalogs from various RF & microwave component manufacturers and enables engineers to search
through them by specification. There are over 60,000 components listed from more than 150 Manufacturers. Download
datasheets, request quotes or contact the suppliers for more information via everything RF.
Book Winner Patricia W.
Each month I select a name at
random for the RF Cafe Book Giveaway. Anyone who buys
my engineering software is automatically
entered once for each item. You are also welcome to send me an e-mail entry, which is how this month's winner,
Patricia W., of Tampa, FL, won. Most books have
been graciously donated by Artech House and
Cambridge University Press.
Continuing Support
JFW Industries designs and manufactures a wide range of attenuators,
RF Switches, Power Dividers, Test Accessories and systems within an ISO 9001:2008 certified quality system. These products
meet or exceed the requirements of the most demanding applications. All JFW products are designed to the most exacting
standards to provide innovative, high quality and cost effective solutions in a wide variety of global applications. JFW offers
custom designs at catalog prices, fast delivery and no NREs!
"Communications do not
just grow; they are planned." -
Brigadier General Wesley T. Guest, Planning Integrated Signal Communications
Inc.
magazine published a few statistics relating to trends in employee hiring
based on polling of employers. The upshot is that personal networking through current employees has greatly supplanted
job websites and headhunters for finding quality employees. Here are a few of the numbers from hiring companies:
- 50% of have abandoned
job boards.
- 98% use LinkedIn, 42%
Twitter, 33%
Facebook.
- 7% of applicants come
from referrals but account
for 40% of hires.
- 47% 3-year retention of
employee referrals, but
only 14% from job boards.
-
$1,200 average referral
bonus to employees
Crossword Puzzle
Take a break from
the drudgery by trying your hand at some of these goodies. Every word in the
RF Cafe crossword puzzles
is specifically related to engineering, mathematics, and science. There are no generic backfill words like many other puzzles
give you, so you'll never see a clue asking for the name of a movie star or a mountain on the Russia-China border.
100 Black Balloons
Got an old Blu-ray player from which you can cannibalize the laser unit? Scott Stevenson
did, and use used it produce this video. Blu-ray
players use a 405 nm (more violet than blue - see thumbnail) laser diode that emits
a 580 nm beam at around 5 mW. I'm guessing black balloons are used because they absorb more of the light energy
and therefore heat faster. A debate on the YouTube page argues between melting or air heating causing the balloon to burst.
My money is on local melting since it would take a long time to heat the air inside enough to expand enough to cause the
popping.
PCB Vendor Listings
Asian Circuits is a reliable mid to high volume
electronic contract manufacturer (ECM) and provider of printed circuit board (PCB) assembly services with surface-mount (SMT), through-hole (THT) and mix components. Headquarters is located
in Toronto, Canada, and production plants in Shenzhen, China. Workforce is totally committed to providing clients with excellent
service and quality products at a reasonable prices.
Did you know that ISOTEC stands for Iso Technology Corporation? "Since
our inception in 1996 in Korea, ISOTEC has been a leading manufacturer of RF and microwave connectors such as SMA, MCX, SSMB, and RF components such as attenuators, filters,
multiplexers, and terminations, for wireless service providers." ISOTEC provides recognized and trusted products and services
to customers in more than 30 countries worldwide.
Acquired by Solid State plc.
Q-par Angus Limited has been acquired 1st
May 2013, by Solid State plc, an AIM listed supplier of industrial / ruggedised computers, specialist electronic components
and battery power solutions to the electronics market. Q-par, will now be known as
Steatite Q-par Antennas, and will remain as one of Europe's leading microwave engineering experts specialising
in the design and manufacture of ultra-wideband antennas, subsystems, antenna components and consultancy.
Test Equipment Connection!
Test Equipment
Connection Corporation is your single source test &
measurement solution. "We offer over 300 test equipment manufacturers including Agilent, Tektronix, Anritsu, Rohde &
Schwarz, Advantest and Fluke, plus thousands of New, Used, Second Hand, and Refurbished test equipment products. We buy
and sell bench top, general-purpose test and measurement equipment. $2,000,000 is budgeted each month for the purchase of
surplus equipment."
Positive Gain Slope LNA
PMI Model No.
PE2-1020-R518-12-SFF
is a low noise amplifier that offers a positive gain slope versus frequency. This type of amplifier is useful when trying
to equalize frequency flatness over a broad bandwidth. This model provides 10 dB of gain at 500 MHz and 20 dB
of gain at 18 GHz. The noise figure is 10 dB at 500 MHz and 9 dB at 18 GHz. The OP1dB is +14 dBm
minimum and the maximum VSWR is 2.5:1.
On Fridays I usually comb the Web for relevant news stories related to engineers and technicians.
Here are a few you might find interesting.
There Are Only Four Jobs in the Whole World – Are You in the Right One?
BYOD
(Bring Your Own Device) Mandated by Most Employers by 2017
'Mismatch' Between Degrees and Jobs
The War for Talent Continues
for Engineers in Europe
An Engineer's
Guide to Internships
Month in Seattle, Washington!
Early Bird registration with reduced prices ends on May 6 (Monday). From the brochure:
"The RFIC Symposium brings focus to
the technical accomplishments in the area of integrated RF circuits, systems, and devices. This year's exciting technical
program will showcase the latest innovations with sessions that cover a broad spectrum of topics such as cellular and wireless-connectivity
system ICs, low power transceivers, reconfigurable and digital RF, broadband wireless communications, silicon millimeter-wave
ICs, power amplifier technology, and RF device modeling and characterization."
1970 just doesn't seem all that long ago,
buy holy moly that was going on half a century! This
quiz appeared in Popular Electronics to test the hobbyist's knowledge of the whereabouts of some of the
major components and products companies. Many of the businesses have gone defunct, been bought and absorbed by other companies,
or if they do still exist, are in new locations. It will take a real old-timer to score well on this quiz without resorting
to lucky guesses. Still, there are a couple stalwart manufacturers today that even a newcomer can get right. Good luck.
Debugging with a Laser
Tales from the Cube is an occasional
feature published by EDN. It is akin to Sherlock Ohms in that readers submit the stories. PETA members with a religious
level of fervor might want to avoid reading this one titled,
Debugging
with a Laser. I'm not ashamed to admit that given the same opportunity, I might have done the same sort of thing.
Here is an especially good line from the story: "An office joke was that 'L.A.S.E.R.' stood for Latest Angle to Secure Expensive Resources."
Communications System
As
a follow-on to the "Planning Integrated Signal Communications" story, this article is the next step in the U.S. Army Signal
Corps' implementation of
ubiquitous communications systems. Along with powerful transmitters and super-sensitive receivers at command
communications hubs are the many hand-held, back-pack, and vehicular radios needed to complete strategic and tactical operations
across the face of the Earth. It wasn't just wireless systems that Signal Corps engineers and technicians were responsible
for, but also all the wired equipment and interconnecting cabling. The possibility of software configuration for network
switches, radios, modems, telephones, antennas, and ancillary components had never been thought of in 1950 (by very few,
anyway). Everything was set up with patch panels, jumpers, and hard-wired connections. That's not to say modern communications...
Occasionally the IEEE USA
offers a free e-Book for download in PDF format. This is one of those times. "Launching Your Career: Lifelong Learning —Your Key to an Enjoyable and Rewarding Career." Enjoy.
Mount Limiter Diode
Skyworks Solutions, Inc.
has introduced a surface mount limiter diode for receiver protection applications. The
CLA4608-085LF is a low capacitance
silicon PIN limiter diode designed for high power applications ranging from 10 MHz to over 6 GHz. Maximum
resistance at 10 mA is 1.2 Ω and maximum capacitance at 38 V is 0.65 pF.
Signal Communications
The
U.S. Army's Signal Corps was set up to "exercise supervision over signal communications literally from
the Pentagon to the foxhole." Created in 1860 at the suggestion of a military doctor, the Signal Corps originally used a
system of flag waving for messaging dubbed 'wigwag' and graduated to overseeing the nationwide telegraph network six years
later. By 1870, members were tasked with establishing and operating a weather forecasting service, so in 1907 when they
created an aeronautical division it was just in time for facilitating the nation's rapidly growing cadre of aircraft pioneers
(recall the Wright brothers had flown four years earlier at Kitty Hawk) by providing en route weather information.
Having already mastered the state of the art that was radio and telephone by 1937...
"A Boy and His Atom"
Scientists from IBM have produced the
world's smallest movie, made by a stop-action photography type method. 242 individual still frames created and acquired
by an in-house scanning tunneling microscope were used to create "A Boy and His Atom." Guinness World
Records has certified it as a record-setter (although I cannot find it on their website yet). From the IBM press release:
"A Boy and His Atom" depicts a character named Atom who befriends a single atom and goes on a playful journey that includes
dancing, playing catch and bouncing on a trampoline. Set to a playful musical track, the movie represents a unique way to
convey science outside the research community. 'Capturing, positioning and shaping atoms to create an original motion picture
on the atomic-level...
This July in Asia
AWR Corporation, the innovation leader in
high-frequency EDA software, today announced the start of its AWR
Design Forum 2013 tour with a diverse schedule of dates and venues in the Asia Pacific region starting this summer.
ADF is an open event at which designers of microwave and RF circuits and systems such as MMIC, RF PCB, and LTE can network
and share useful information and resources pertinent to high-frequency design, discuss AWR products.
Introduction to Antenna Analysis Using EM Simulators, by Hiroaki Kogure,
Yoshie Kogure, and James C. Rautio. Written for novice engineers and engineering students, this easy-to-comprehend resource
offers readers thorough introductory-level treatment of antenna analysis
using electromagnetic (EM) simulators. This richly-illustrated book shows how to use EM software to analyze and tune wireless
antennas to meet specific requirements. Readers learn important wireless antenna design terminology and gain a detailed
understanding of how antennas work. Moreover, the book offers guidance in troubleshooting problems with wireless antenna
designs. This authoritative reference also provides a complete overview of the many different kinds of antennas and related
EM tools. DVD is included! This title contains Sonnet electromagnetics analysis software, featuring example files that are
described and illustrated in the book.
Fires up Check Engine Light
Design News' 'Sherlock Ohms' mysteries are submitted by their readers. They tell stories of electronics posers and
how the e-sleuths solve them. I only link to ones that RF Cafe visitors might enjoy. This installment proves that the
old adage "ground is ground the world around" is only
valid when it has a good connection.
