This week's engineering
crossword puzzle has a theme of
radar. There are more than a dozen words and clues specifically
related to radar, but all words and clues are related to engineering and science.
You will need to print it out on paper for working. Good luck.
DS Instruments
is dedicated to providing quality RF & microwave test equipment and specialized
hardware in smaller form-factors and at lower cost than previously available. All
hardware design, firmware development, and assembly is based in the USA. We pride
ourselves in using genuine components from the top semiconductor manufacturers.
Current offerings include tracking and microwave signal generators, microwave
digital step attenuators,
and in the near future a compact signal power meter and frequency counter capable
of reaching nearly 8 GHz.
Today is Black Friday,
which means we're only month away from beginning a new year. Sure, it's just an
artificial demarcation point on the calendar, but target start dates for achieving
goals are a good psychological tool that have been shown to be effective at helping
attain a new and/or improved job, lifestyle, living location, family situation,
etc. I can't help much with lifestyle, living location, and family situation (although
I have an opinion on nearly everything*), the job thing is a place where I might
do some good. Here is my latest roundup of useful
career advice.
Go for it.
Spectrum Allocation Poster
Compliments
of
Microwaves & RF: Keeping track and updated on the latest
frequency allocations isn't easy, so we've compiled the information into an easy-to-view
poster. Get access to frequency allocations by country or scan by specific transmission
bands. Download the digital version now. Plus, the first 500 engineers receive a
printed copy 40" x 26". Hurry, while supplies last.
Wirewound inductors
(as most are) can be mysterious entities even when you are familiar with their many
interdependent physical and electrical properties. Because of interwinding capacitance
and a sometimes (when a large number of turns are involved) rather significant series
resistance, the equivalent circuit model gets quite complex - literally in a mathematical
sense. If you have the luxury of staying far away from the self-resonant frequency
(SRF) of the coil, your component will behave very much like an ideal inductor,
that is, XL = 2πfL. This article
delves into what causes inductors to
…
Plymouth, Massachusetts
Mourt's Relation: A Journal of the Pilgrims at Plymouth,
1622, Part VI, Edward Winslow, William Bradford:
"… We set the last spring some twenty acres of Indian corn, and sowed
some six acres of barley and peas, and according to the manner of the Indians … God
be praised, we had a good increase of Indian corn, and our barley indifferent good …
Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might
after have a special manner rejoice together after we had gathered the fruit of
our labors … many of the Indians coming amongst us, and among the rest their
greatest King Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained
and feasted … And although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this
time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want that we often
wish you partakers of our plenty. We have found the Indians very faithful in their
covenant of peace with us; very loving and ready to pleasure us; we often go to
them, and they come to us … yea, it has pleased God so to possess the Indians
with a fear of us, and love unto us, that not only the greatest king amongst them,
called Massasoit, but also all the princes and peoples round about us, have either
made suit unto us, or been glad of any occasion to make peace with us …" <Not what you were taught?
Read it all>
Trapped in a Chimney
All
three of my hobbies are contained in this episode of
Carl & Jerry - electronics, astronomy, and airplanes! For
as clever as the two teenagers are, they sure do manage to get themselves into some
sticky situations due to what can only be termed as stupidity. This is not the first
time their future relied on a fairly large number of people being 'out there' who
were familiar with Morse code. Supporting the claim that trends run in cycles, the
ignition-type model engine common in the mid 1950s eventually gave way to glow fuel
engines, but nowadays miniature electronic ignition systems have made
…
This
RF & Microwave Toolbox app has more than 50 calculators
that includes noise figure, microstrip, filters, amplifiers, attenuators, electric
fields, series & parallel RCL circuits, mixers, antennas, radar cross section,
capacitance & inductance, color, baluns, voltage dividers, directional couplers,
and much more.
Biographical
historians spend endless hours searching old media for bits of information on their
subjects. Finding useful material on more renowned personalities is not a problem,
but filtering out relevant bits for a particular theme can be daunting. On the other
hand, finding useful information on lesser known people can be frustrating because
there is so little information readily available. Great Britain's World War II
era superstar
Winston Churchill undoubtedly falls into the former category.
While scanning through my many vintage
…
Use
of load line charts is a fast way of selecting bias (operating) point and operational ranges for nonlinear devices. Notice
that I didn't specifically say for transistors because this particular article deals
with load lines for vacuum tubes. Almost nobody has any need for tube load line
charts anymore, but the skill needed to interpret load lines for transistors is
fundamentally the same as for tubes. Substitute Vce (collector-to-emitter voltage)
for Plate Volts and Ic (collector current) for Plate milliamperes and you have equivalence.
for Radio Astronomy!
This would be my dream
job! All astronomy, all the time. Day or night, rain or shine, radio telescopes
are on the job. Are you an experienced microwave engineer who is ready for a next
challenge? Do you want to work in a dynamic international scientific environment
and do you have a solid understanding of
RF engineering concepts and principles? Perhaps this is the
job you are looking for!
"In fifteen years, more electricity
will be sold for automobiles than for light." - Thomas Alva Edison, 1910, as quoted in Science Digest
in 1982. This might turn out to be correct after all, fifteen years from now.
Unlike
the article on making your own foil capacitors, this one advising how to
'reactivate' leaky capacitors might be of use to a lot more people.
The process is called 'reforming,' and consists of applying a DC voltage to the
faulty capacitor, beginning at a very low voltage, and then slowly raising the voltage
until the rated working voltage (WVDC) is reached.
Doing so, if the capacitor is not beyond rehabilitation, will reconstitute the oxide
layer that serves as the dielectric. This particular item was presented as the answer
to a question
…
Here is another
instance that shows how much expectations have changed over the years. Except maybe
for an experimenter or someone set on reproducing original equipment as closely
as possible, nobody would even consider trying to
build capacitors from scratch. Components are so inexpensive
that it's just not worth the trouble. If you are one of the latter type people,
then this story is for you. Come to think of it, another use for this article is
to provide material for a physics class laboratory exercise where the student calculates
a predicted value
…
Turkey Week Articles
Thanksgiving week can be a little
slow while waiting for the long weekend. Here are a few good RF & microwaves
articles to pass the time and make you smarter. Enjoy.
-
Choosing Microwave PCB
Materials for Wireless
Communications Components,
J. Coonrod
-
For Long-Range Comms, Is
Narrowband 'It?', J-J DeLisle
-
10 More Tricks to Extend
O-scope Usefulness, A. Pini
-
Temperature-Compensated
Filter Technologies Solve
Crowded Spectrum
Challenges, P. Warder &
D. Schnaufer
- A Guide to the Design of
Laminate PCBs at Microwave
Frequencies, L. Devlin &
G. Pearson
-
100G and Things to COM,
R. Stephens
Only a
couple decades prior to when this article on a newfangled
wireless automatic garage door opener appeared in Radio Craft
magazine, there would have been no demand for such a device ... although maybe an
automatic horse barn door opener would have been in demand if a battery was available
on the coach. Amazingly, the system employed an early, albeit crude, form of both
spread spectrum and digital communications in order to trigger the receiver for
opening the door. The spread spectrum nature of the
…
Directional Couplers to 18
GHz
The 10CN600 is one model of the series of
directional couplers
that cover octave and multi-octave bands up to 18 GHz. These directional couplers
are offered with SMA or N-female connectors in standard and custom configurations.
Values of 6, 10, 20, 30 dB and between. Made in U.S.A.
Microwave Engineering
Crossword for 11/23/2014
Take a
break and work this week's
microwave engineering themed crossword puzzle. All the words are
pulled from a hand-built list of terms, names, and abbreviations that have only
to do with science, mathematics, and engineering. If you want a crossword with names
of movie stars and obscure countries, try the local newspaper. If you want to exercise
your nerd knowledge, this is the one for you.
- An Insider's Viewpoint -
Marc
Edwards is a Data
Systems and Security Engineer for a chain of retail stores, whom
I was fortunate to get acquainted with via my amateur astronomy hobby. He and his
teenage daughter are avid and highly capable telescope operators. During one of
our conversations at the time earlier this year when a major retailer's credit card
data breach was in the headlines, Marc explained how the typical point-of-sale (P.O.S.)
system works in stores and why the most commonly installed type is so much more
vulnerable to intrusion than the newer and much more secure system his company is
implementing. It was an amazing story. Rather than my attempting to summarize Marc's
explanation, I asked him to write a short
…
1941 Crosley 03CB Radio
Restoration - Electronics
Chassis
As
promised, here are the first of the 1941
Crosley 03CB electronics chassis restoration photos. It was decided
from the beginning that the chassis would be stripped of all its components so that
the metal box could be completely sanded and re-painted. That involved not just
unsoldering all the individual components, but also drilling out the rivets that
secured the tube sockets and solder terminals. My plan was/is to someday rebuild
the original circuitry, but because I have so many other projects (both electronic
and woodworking) in the works and in the queue, for now I am just going to re-install
all the major hardware and wait until later to solder back in all the resistors,
inductors, and capacitors - all of which will
…
"Non-Degree Engineer"
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 some engineering jobs more competently
than some 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
…
SMT Directional Coupler
RFMW announces design and sales support for a
50 W, surface mount, directional coupler serving 15–18.5 GHz applications.
The EMC Technology
DN05W20F provides a 20 dB coupling factor with only 0.6dB
insertion loss. Directivity is 32 dB min from 17-18.5 GHz while the DN05W20F
maintains a maximum VSWR of 1.6:1. The DN05W20F operating temperature is -55 to
+85 degrees Celsius. EMC passive couplers offer highly repeatable, low loss alternatives
to microstrip-on-PCB solutions and provide excellent reliability
Here is a
real cornucopia of
attenuator information. If you need circuits diagram and equations
for "T," Bridged-T, Ladder, Pi, Balanced-H, Balanced Ladder, Potentiometer, and
Balanced 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
…
RF Cafe - Free of Charge
RF Cafe typically receives
more than 8,000 page views each weekday. That is a lot of opportunity for your company
to place available engineering
and technician jobs in front of people who are most likely to be able to respond
to your needs. I am providing this service at no charge, although a gratuity
would be appreciated. Please read the Terms of Use before e-mailing a job description for posting. Direct
hiring companies only - Absolutely No Recruiters.
Amplifier Available
from ATEC
Advanced Test Equipment
Rentals (ATEC), supplier of complete testing solutions for EMC, now offers, for
rent, the recently released Instruments for Industries (IFI) S31-500-900P solid
state pulsed amplifier. The S31-500-900P has a 500W continuous rating and the ability
to deliver more than 900W in the pulsed peak mode. IFI is a leading instrumentation
and systems developer for EMC emission and immunity testing. Optimal for use in
test labs and automotive OEMs, the S31-500-900P generates 600V/m radar
Little did Hugo Gernsback
know when he wrote the 1938 editorial about the potential of
television just how prescient he was - particularly in the realm
of eventually enabling remote commerce and banking. His vision involved having a
camera-phone type device that would allow real-time interaction between shoppers
and depositors, respectively, without either party needing to meet face-to-face.
76 years later we are not at that point (at least on a widespread basis); however,
the advent of online shopping and banking has fully permitted the kind of impersonal
transactions that Gernsback foresaw. Even with the growing popularity
…
Incarcerated & Others
This week's
collection of career-related articles and news tidbits includes a topic I've never
seen before: "Been Arrested? How to Survive Background Checks and Land a Job." I
suppose if you've done time in The Big House, legitimately paid your debt to society,
and are truly reformed, then there's no reason you shouldn't have a fair shot (maybe
poor choice of words depending on your crime) at a job you are otherwise qualified
for. There's also an article on attire color choices for interviews - you might
need more than a red power tie.
-
Been Arrested? How to
Survive Background Checks
and Land a Job
-
Why a Closing Statement is
Essential for Your Next
Interview
-
How to Graciously Decline an
Offer <more…>
In the early 1990s a decent flatbed scanner
from HP cost started at about a kilobuck - the price of a nicer notebook computer
today. 3D printers are at that price point now, and in all likelihood will be in
the $250 realm by 2020. You could easily justify the investment for company use
and/or use it to provide an impetus for getting your kids interested in high tech
and in using computers for something other than Facebook. The
Dremel Idea Builder 3D printer is quite affordable and has the
reputation of a great company to instill confidence and very high customer ratings!
Software is included for designing printable items.
Software v5.7.6 Available
An innovative company located in Madrid and
Guadalajara that develops and commercializes NewFASANT, a simulation software for electromagnetic fields
for the study of antennas, radar cross section, radiation patterns, advanced telecommunications
systems and other studies. Our multidisciplinary team of engineers is dedicated
to the research and development of new software techniques that facilitate innovation
and the satisfaction of our customers.
Are Westinghouse War
Weapons
My civilian
career began at
Westinghouse's Oceanic Division in Annapolis, Maryland. It was
long ago bought out by Northrop Grumman and re-named Undersea Systems. Their AQS-24
towed sonar system looks outwardly very much like the
AQS-14
that I worked on while there in the 1980s. Our parent organization was the Westinghouse
Electronics Systems Division in Baltimore, MD, adjacent to the Baltimore-Washington
International Airport tarmac so that military aircraft could fly in and out to be
retrofitted with radar systems. Headquarters
…
Advertisements
Believe
it or not, there are people who pay for vintage advertisements like these. eBay
is chock full of auctions for original pages from the old magazines that contain
ads for products and services. Often, if you know where to look, you can buy the
entire magazine in which a particular ad appeared for only a little more. People
sometimes frame them and either hang them for decoration or present them to a parent
or grandparent as a memorial to their lives. Stranger things are done. These ads
for
Connecticut Telephone and Power,
Detrola Radio, and
Jensen Radio appeared in the January 1945 edition of Radio
News
…
"We learned
in school today that there are sixteen ozzes in a lib." - Lucy Van Pelt to Charlie
Brown, from
You've Got a Friend, Charlie Brown, 1972, by Charles Schulz
A recent
headline announced where a guy hacked his hearing aid to enable
listening to Wi-Fi signals as he walked around town. Why would
a person do that? I suppose now that the audible digital handshaking tones of telephone
modems and fax machines are all but gone from everyday life, he must have really
been missing the nerve-grating melodies. I don't recall ever seeing a story about
anyone picking up Wi-Fi signals from a faulty metal tooth filling like used to occur
occasionally in the presence of high power AM transmitter towers. This
…
RF/MW Engineer: MW Imaging
Needed by EMTensor
GmbH
EMTensor GmbH is seeking to recruit
an engineer with a background and preferably PhD in microwave / radiofrequency engineering.
Hands on experience in engineering and R&D of modern devices and technologies
in low GHz is essential. A track record in engineering solutions for electromagnetic
(MW) imaging is highly desirable. EMTensor GmbH is developing a novel biomedical
imaging modality using electromagnetics (microwave tomography)
Restoration Update
A
couple months ago I finally picked up on the restoration of my circa
1942 Crosley 03CB console radio. All of the hardware was removed
from the wooden console in preparation for restoration. Paint stripper was used
to remove the bulk of the original finish, and then sandpaper along with a lot of
muscle power took care of the rough and final sanding. As can be seen on some of
the "before" photos, there were many places where the walnut veneer had delaminated
and other where small areas where pieces had broken off. I obtained some replacement
wood from a vendor on eBay and spliced in the missing areas. A few of the wood corner
gussets needed
…
Stan Goldberg is a familiar name to comic
book aficionados for his artistry in Spider Man, the Incredible Hulk,
and the Archie series. QST magazine had him listed in the "Silent Keys"
column in the November 2014 issue because he passed away in August. A Silent Key,
in Hamdom, is usually a title reserved for a deceased licensed operator, but a search
of the Internet and the FCC license database web page did not turn up a call sign
for him. Unless his record has been dropped from the database, Mr. Goldberg might
never have actually been a Ham, but earned the Silent Key acknowledgement because
of his involvement in a 1986 special edition comic book titled "Archie's Ham
Radio Adventure." It was quite an...
Test your vacuum
tube knowledge with this week's crossword puzzle. Many of the words and clues are
directly related to vacuum tubes. The rest of the words have to do with science
and engineering - no numbnut movie star names or obscure species type from remote
regions in Sub-Saharan Africa.
