"The situation is one that is difficult, if not wholly impossible to eradicate,
because of all modern, 20th Century machine age products, the radio receiver of
today undergoes more violent and more radical changes than almost any other single
item we can think of." That was the lament of electronics inventor, publisher, and
industry visionary
Hugo Gernsback in 1939! He wrote of the practice of electronics
component manufacturers vastly overproducing products and then, when they are quickly
obsoleted due to newer better ones entering the market space, selling at below cost
in hopes of recovering at least some of their investment. For man who otherwise
encouraged, welcomed, and participated in the pushing forward of technological frontiers,
the attitude seem strangely at
...
Galaxy Note 3 - "Will It
Blend?"
There
is no denying Blendtec founder Tom Dickson has earned the title of überBlendermeister
with his online "Will It Blend?" series of videos. Using his company's Total Blender,
Tom has over the years inserted, among many other things, popular and often expensive
high-tech devices, and then pressed the appropriate button on the machine to start
the action. Since its beginning in 2007, "Will It Blend?" videos have documented
in a combination of full speed and slow motion the pulverizing of iPhones, iPads,
Galaxy phones, Windows phones, Kindles, laser pointers, wii remote controls, Xbox
360 Kinect, a hearing aid, a video camera, magnets, and even a cassette tape. In
the most recent episode, Tom hosts a
...
Are Propagated
If you
or someone you know is just starting in the realm of radio and want a really nice
pictorial presentation of the basics of
radio wave propagation, then this one-page article from a 1935
edition of Short Wave Craft is just what you need. Phormula phobia
(aka formula fobia) will not be an issue for anyone.
The fundamentals have not changed in the intervening 80 years.
Radio Never Failed
Plenty of intrigue still
surrounds the July 2, 1937, disappearance of
Amelia Earhart in the South Pacific on her way to completing an
around-the-world flight. This article appeared two years prior to that fateful flight
proclaiming the soundness of her onboard radio. Back in the day, shortwave radio
installations in aircraft required long wires trailing behind, particularly for
long distance requirements like flying from the U.S. mainland to Hawaii. Those wires
were a constant source of trouble due to destructive mechanical oscillations while
waving in the airstream, airframe damage due to striking during the haul in/out
procedure, and breakage. According to an article that appeared in the January 2015
edition of Smithsonian magazine, it is suspected
...
Despite all
the prefabricated, relatively inexpensive products available these days, there are
still many people who like to build their own projects. Whether electrical or mechanical
- or both - some sort of
enclosure is usually involved. Often, you can cannibalize an existing,
retired project to use its chassis or find a product at Walmart or a home improvement
store that does not cost too much that you can buy just to get its enclosure. Buying
a pre-formed
chassis for your project can get expensive, so there are times when the best
option is to obtain a piece of sheet metal (which can also
be expensive) and bend it yourself. If you have never attempted such an endeavor,
believe me it can be pretty challenging, especially with heavier gauge
...
Driver Amplifier from
Qorvo
RFMW-Wideband-GaN-Driver-Amplifier-Qorvo-1-13-2015.htm" >
RFMW, Ltd. announces design and sales support
for a 2-6 GHz RFMW-Wideband-GaN-Driver-Amplifier-Qorvo-1-13-2015.htm" >GaN
driver amplifier from Qorvo, the new company name for the merger of TriQuint and
RFMD. The RFMW-Wideband-GaN-Driver-Amplifier-Qorvo-1-13-2015.htm" >TGA2597 provides
a saturated output power of 31.5 dBm with >31% PAE. Small signal gain of
the TGA2597 is greater than 24 dB with large signal gain >13.5 dB.
Qorvo offers the TGA2597 for radar, EW and communication applications requiring
low current (40 mA) from a 25 V supply.
Offered as die, a packaged version is available RFMW-Wideband-GaN-Driver-Amplifier-Qorvo-1-13-2015.htm" >...
China mocked
a hapless 'iPhone armour' smuggler. "Customs officials suspicious
of a man's 'weird posture' made a startling discovery when they searched a man attempting
to leave Hong Kong: a suit of armour made of 94 iPhones and several rolls of cling
film." The poor guy must not have been very bright if he didn't think anyone would
notice. Even if he managed to pass visual inspection, the x-ray machine would have
nailed him.
Looking for SQL Report
Writer
Advanced
Test Equipment Corp. is a nationwide test & measurement equipment company and
for more than 33 years, we demonstrate our commitment to providing quality equipment
support by meeting our customer's needs. We are currently looking for an SQL Report
Writer to assist the IT department with installation, configuring, monitoring, troubleshooting
servers, applications network infrastructure and assist in the integration of our
in house GP and CRM software programs. Duties will include validating report data,
converting Crystal ...
Coding to Review
Documents
This
article by
Joshua Fruchter, writing for
IMS ExpertServices, expands on the subject of
predictive coding as submissible evidence on court proceedings
that began with an article written in 2006 by Maggie Tamburro, The Future of
Predictive Coding - Rise of the Evidentiary Expert? Ms. Tamburro noted, "At
the heart of predictive coding lies the concept of 'supervised learning,' defined
as 'an algorithm that learns from human decisions and then has the ability to apply
those decisions to new data.'" It seems from reading both stories that the courts
are not allowing results from predictive coding to be used as conclusive evidence
of wrong-doing, but merely as a tool during the discovery process to uncover potential
wrongdoing, and then to investigate farther. While that seems innocent enough, I
equate it somewhat with the claim that if you have nothing
...
for January 13, 2015
"We think the new
IP is speed. People who can move fast are going to win." -
Kevin Nolan, VP of GE Home & Business Solutions, in January
2015 Popular Science, "Make, Inc."
Well, I finally got around to taking the test for
my Amateur Radio license to advance to the
General Class!
It is somewhat embarrassing to admit that I bought the study material nearly 3 years
ago, but a lot of things kept bumping priority to a lower level. My Technician Class
license was earned on May 24, 2010, so nearly 5 years have passed. There is no statute
of limitations for how long you have to advance to the next level, although licenses
are issued for 10-year terms. The impetus at this point was that the question pool
is due to change again in July of 2015, so I wanted to make sure to git 'er done
before then; otherwise, it would require becoming familiar with the new material.
The ARRL is responsible for administering the test on behalf of the FCC. My local
Ham radio club administers exams an hour
...
Mr. Alok K. Tiwari, of Idea Cellular Ltd.,
has graciously made this
UMTS Transmission Link Planning workbook available. Says
Mr. Tiwari, "I have formulated Link Budget calculation in Excel spreadsheet for
WDCMA. The spreadsheet uses comprehensive detail of RF fundamentals and formulas
to decide cell radius, numbers of cell sites, and different types of clutter. The
spreadsheet has been designed to help new engineers to understand the WCDMA RF concept
in more details." As with his Transmission Link Planning Tool, this spreadsheet
provides a very large number of essential calculations for planning purposes based
on user-provided parameters. Examples include receiver thermal noise density, noise
figure, noise power, interference margin, processing gain, sensitivity, and path
loss. Cell radius, range,
...
If MacGyver
had been around in 1935, every episode would have included a
Fahnestock Clip as part of a scheme to get Angus
(his first name - no kidding) out of perilous situations.
The handy little devices were very popular in electronics, both for hobbyists and
for commercial products, until fairly recently (within the
last two decades) because they provide a simple, reliable electrical connection
that does not require any tools for use - other than your finger. If you have never
heard of a Fahnestock clip, you will probably be surprised to learn what one is
and chances are you have seen one and maybe even used one. If you work in an electronics
prototyping lab area that has been around for
...
Minor Update
Mr. Alok Tiwari, of Idea Cellular
Ltd., Delhi, India, has provided a minor update to his very nice
(and free)
Link Planning Tool spreadsheet. Says Mr. Tiwari, "Based
on users feedback regarding some of the buttons not working properly, I have just
gone through the sheet to make those necessary corrections in the macro used. Almost
no change has been made in formulas." This is a very extensive calculator. As supplied,
the spreadsheet is locked to prevent accidental overwriting of formula cells. You
are invited to e-mail him for the passwords. Also, Mr. Tiwari sent a new spreadsheet
titled Link Budget UMTS, which I will be posting soon.
$4M for 30s Super Bowl
XLIX Spot
Companies will pay $4 million for a 30-second spot for
Super Bowl XLIX this year. "We are standing on
the threshold of the
Age of Television!" "Television will enliven and broaden your
life more than you can now appreciate. It will become part of your daily life just
as radio is today." "The best evidence that the public thinks well of television
is the universal response that comes from those who have a chance to see it." Broadcast
television which will add a new dimension to home entertainment and will provide
one of the most powerful mass advertising media ever developed." So proclaimed spokesmen
for Dumont, Farnsworth, Philco, and General Electric, respectively, in 1945. GE
clearly had its future pegged on the real revenue potential
...
Puzzle for January 11,
2015
This weeks
Radio and Radar Engineering Crossword Puzzle uses words and clues
that come from my hand-selected file of items that pertain exclusively to science
and engineering. Enjoy.
Automotive Superhet Radio
I
did not see anything particularly stand-out-ish about the
Wells-Gardner Series 062 automotive superheterodyne radio. The
'eliminator' option of the 'eliminator or battery' label presumably refers to an
AC-to-DC power supply that can be used either during maintenance or if the listener
chooses to employ the radio in use outside of a vehicle - or else has a very long
extension cord ;-) As with all these radio data service pages, this one is posted
for the benefit of both researchers and for restoration types who need
...
Automotive Receiver
What
the heck is an Elkonode? That was my response to its mention in this Radio Service
Data Sheet for the
Galvin Motorola Model 61 Automotive Receiver. A Google search
turned up a datasheet on the Mallory Elkonode. Per the info, "The series 60, 70,
and 80
Mallory Elkonodes are described as single-reed, full-wave inverters,
with self-contained synchronous rectifiers. These units within themselves supply
direct current, high voltage for radio receiver plate supply. No tube rectifiers
as required with these types." This 1932 vintage article recommends against attempting
self-repair of Elkonodes, so restoration
...
C.O.D. Invoice from
1958
Although it is
not my motivation for buying vintage electronics magazines, I do keep hoping that
some day I will turn a page and find tucked inside an initial issue preferred stock
certificate of a company like Westinghouse Electric, Lockheed Aircraft Corporation,
American De Forest Wireless Telegraph Company, or any other similar company. Alas,
thus far it has not happened. However, I have found interesting inscriptions from
previous magazine owners who evidently planned to build one of the circuits presented
in an article, as well as an occasional item like this C.O.D. (collect on delivery)
invoice from the Electro Sonic Supply
Co. Ltd. (c.1958).
ESSCO, as
...
for January 9, 2015
If one of your New
Year's resolutions was to find a new company to work for, start your own company, or just
improve your situation with your current employer, then this is the time to begin.
As always, there are plenty of 'experts' out there ready and willing
(but not always qualified) to offer assistance. You
have to see the cartoon on the "Finally! This is Exactly How You Research a Potential
Employer" page ...
-
Annoying Coworkers
Infographic - Are You Guilty of
One of These Deadly Office
Sins?
-
CareerBliss 50 Happiest
Companies in America for
2015
-
How to Make the "Greatest
Weakness" Question a
Strength <more>
Empower-RF-Systems-80-1000-MHz-500-W-PA-1-7-2015.htm" >
Empower is pleased to be releasing additional,
industry leading power amplifier models that compliment the frequency coverage and
power level "footprint" of our next generation, high power PA product family.
Model 2175, covering 80 to 1000 MHz and
delivering 500 W of broadband output power in a 3U, air cooled chassis is market
released and available for immediate purchase. Offering unrivaled size / power advantages
and building on a design architecture that has been a catalyst for technology upgrades
from customers with diverse requirements from multiple Empower-RF-Systems-80-1000-MHz-500-W-PA-1-7-2015.htm" >...
Delcross Technologies
is offering free seminars on antenna and site design based on its software product
offerings. This appeared on LinkedIn today, but since not every RF Cafe visitor
gets the memo, I figure it's worth presenting here.
- RF Cosite EMI Analysis and
Mitigation for an Unmanned
Aerial System (UAS), Jan. 14
- Using Ray Visualization
in
Savant as a Diagnostic Tool
for Installed Antenna
Performance and Reflector
Design, Jan 28
- Preparing CAD models
for
Installed Antenna
Performance Simulations in
Savant, Feb. 11
- Antenna Models in Savant -
Feb 25
Senior RF Hardware Engineer
Epiq Solutions
is seeking a full-time Senior Hardware Engineer with at least 5 years of experience
to join our team developing both custom and commercial wireless communications systems.
The ideal candidate would have a passion for developing board-level analog and RF
hardware designs, along with previous experience developing digital hardware designs.
The candidate should have experience with the entire hardware design cycle, from
concept to production. Specific job tasks include the following: Develop block diagrams
of potential hardware design concepts from high level requirements, rapid prototyping
and/or simulation of hardware ...
Importance of Upfront Planning
Orbel-Avoiding-Redesign-Importance-Upfront-Planning-1-5-2015.htm" >
Orbel has published a white paper on planning
Orbel-Avoiding-Redesign-Importance-Upfront-Planning-1-5-2015.htm" >photo-etched
components. "I wish we had thought about that when we started our design effort."
Because of outside stresses—delivery dates, quality expectations, and budgetary
limitations—a metal component being developed to prove a concept is often not ready
for a high-speed stamping press. If the end goal is not addressed early, a redesign
is looming in the future. What should an engineer responsible for a project be thinking
in order to avoid delays and cost escalations? Photo-etching is Orbel-Avoiding-Redesign-Importance-Upfront-Planning-1-5-2015.htm" >...
for Receiving
Any mention
of a 'Zeppelin' conjures up thoughts of disaster in the form of the famous Hindenburg
incident at Lakehurst, New Jersey, back in 1937. Fortunately, not all things 'Zepp'
are bad news. The
end-fed Zepp (short for Zeppelin)
antenna is as popular today as it was when the Germans developed it for use in the
Zeppelin airships. One of the major advantages to an end-fed Zepp is that it is,
as the name suggests, fed from the end rather than in the center like a dipole.
The configuration makes installation simpler than a dipole. Being so simple in construction,
the Zepp handily functions as a multi-band harmonic antenna so it is useful on,
for instance, the 160, 80, 40, 20, and 10 meter Ham bands. Many companies
...
of DOCSIS 3.1 Compliant
Passives
MACOM-DOCSIS-3p1-Compliant-Passive-Components-1-6-2015.htm" >
M/A-COM
Technology Solutions, a leading supplier of high-performance RF, microwave,
millimeterwave and photonic products, today announced a comprehensive new portfolio
of passive components for MACOM-DOCSIS-3p1-Compliant-Passive-Components-1-6-2015.htm" >DOCSIS
3.1 compliant cable TV (CATV) and broadband Internet
systems. This new product family, spanning upstream and downstream transformers
/ baluns, couplers and power dividers/combiners, is the industry's broadest portfolio
of passives specifically designed to comply with the DOCSIS 3.1 standard for high-bandwidth
MACOM-DOCSIS-3p1-Compliant-Passive-Components-1-6-2015.htm" >...
the December 2014 Book Winner!
Justin W.,
of Vero Beach, Florida, is the drawing winner for December 2014. Justin wisely selected
Troubleshooting and Repairing Commercial Electrical
Equipment, by author David Herres. Mr. Herres personally provided
the book to me as a gift for writing a review of his earlier book titled
2011 NEC
Chapter-by-Chapter. Each month I randomly select one or two people from
a list of purchasers of my
software
to receive a free book, and I even pay the postage costs. The value of the book
typically far exceeds what is spent on software. Am I a nice guy or what? ;-)
Data Fraud or Incompetence?
Never
send a J-school graduate to do a mathematician's job. Most journalists are quick
to admit - even boast of - their fear of and incompetence in math. Either because
of it or in spite of it, they tend to rely heavily on statistical results published
by other entities, which unfortunately are equally incompetent journalists. It is
an incestuous relationship that can be found over and over again. Sometimes, though,
writers armed with numbers and cool graphing software attempt their own versions
of serious data analysis. Caveat emptor to anyone reading such an article. To wit:
The following headline appeared in The New York Times, "How Nonemployed
Americans Spend Their Weekdays: Men vs. Women." Looking to feed my sense of
...
Articles for January
7, 2015
This is
my first batch of useful
RF &
microwave engineering articles for 2015 editions of the industry's premier engineering
magazines. The selection, as always, reflects my personal preferences, but I do
throw in a few that just plain look interesting. Hopefully, 2015 will be as replete
with good articles as was 2014.
- Microwaves & RF's Top
Products of 2014 List,
D. Brown & J.J. DeLisle
-
Merger Movement in 2014,
P. Hindle
-
Quick & Dirty Impedance,
Noise, and Jitter
Measurements, G. Chenier
-
View from the Top, R. Hawkins
-
View from the Top,
B. McCutcheon
-
Microwave Week Makes a
Splash in Tampa Bay,
J.J. DeLisle
<more>
Last night I received a call from my daughter, Sally,
following an encounter she had with a deer standing in the road. The
yearling buck was just standing
in the road as if it had already met a taxidermist, not moving at all. Unlike me,
who would never even consider approaching the beast, Sally, who owns and works with
a dozen horses on her Equine Kingdom farm every day, got out of her car and went over
to the deer. She cautiously reached out and petted it, and it remained motionless
- not even a blink. It was in fact alive, but once she noticed the blood seeping
from its nose and mouth, it was apparent that the poor thing had been hit by a
...
High-Performance Systems
This
paper addresses TriQuint's (now Qorvo) integrated
approach to thermal design that leverages modeling, empirical measurements
(including micro-Raman thermography), and finite element
analysis (FEA) for high performance microwave
GaN HEMT devices and MMICs. This methodology
is highly effective and has been empirically validated. By properly addressing FEA
boundary condition assumptions and the limitations of infrared microscopy, resulting
model calculations are more accurate at both the product and end application level
than traditional methods based on lower
...
Looking for a Repair Lab Tech
Advanced
Test Equipment Corp. has in immediate need for a Repair Lab Technician to, among
other duties, calibrate, troubleshoot
and repair a wide variety of equipment, including:
RF, microwave, fiber optic, scopes, meters, and power supplies. Proficiency in solder
/ desolder rework required. 5 years minimum experience ...
Needs a Calibration Technician
Advanced
Test Equipment Corp is a nationwide company that focuses on the rental of a wide
variety of equipment working in a fast paced environment. We are looking for and
experienced Calibration Technician to calibrate, troubleshoot, and repair a wide
variety of equipment, including but not limited to: analyzers, GPTE, fiber optic,
scopes, meters, power supplies, and more.
A History of Science
The
Scientists: A History of Science Told Through the Lives of Its Greatest Inventors,
by John Gribbin. "A wonderfully readable account of scientific development over the
past five hundred years, focusing on the lives and achievements of individual scientists,
by the bestselling author of
In Search of Schrödinger's Cat. In this
ambitious new book, John Gribbin tells the stories of the people who have made science,
and of the times in which they lived and worked. He begins with Copernicus, during
the Renaissance, when science replaced mysticism as a means of explaining the workings
of the world, and he continues through the centuries, creating an unbroken genealogy
of not
...
When my kids were young
and we lived in a wooded area, I bought a set of Motorola
Family Radio Service (FRS) radios
for them to carry so that Melanie and I could keep track of them while they were
outside playing. There was a little fishing pond a few hundred feet into the woods
that they liked to visit (and occasionally catch a trout).
The radios were palm-sized and had a range of about a mile and operated on a few
AAA batteries. That represents a huge advance in technology compared to the first
'portable' hand-held radios that appeared on the battlefields during World War II
- the
Handy-Talkie. Handy-Talkies used vacuum
...
Advertisement
Theodore Audel, a pen name
and company name (Audel Publishers) used by
Nehemiah Hawkins, published many technical handbooks covering
electronics, mechanics, electric motors, mill working, carpentry, machining, plumbing,
masonry, automotive, steam fitting, physical plant engineering, power generation
systems, hydraulics, home appliances, oil burners, sheet metal working, refrigeration,
and even gardening. I have a 1945 edition of Audels Carpenters and Builders
Guide #1 that came from my grandfather, who was a carpenter. It is chock full
of useful information, and I suppose the Radiomans Guide is as well. The title page
quote is, "By Hammer and Hand All
...
European Sales Director
RFMW-Announces-New-European-Sales-Director-1-5-2015.htm" >
RFMW, Ltd. announced that RFMW-Announces-New-European-Sales-Director-1-5-2015.htm" >Christian
Grieswelle has been promoted to the position of Director of Sales for RFMW Europe.
Mr. Grieswelle has served as RFMW's Germany Country Manager for the past 3 years.
As such, he has established a successful track record of developing RFMW's presence
in Germany. In recognition of Mr. Grieswelle's business development and keen managerial
skills, he will be leading and further developing the European sales team who now
report to him in their RFMW-Announces-New-European-Sales-Director-1-5-2015.htm" >...
I have to admit
to not being real certain why I selected this article on feedback tone control for
posting. Although it is a good write-up on some simple audio frequency filtering
circuits, and the principles can be applied to any frequency, it is most likely
this page was marked because it contained an electronic-themed comic on it. Oh well,
Melanie already scanned and OCRed it for me, so you might as well go ahead and read
it.
.com vs. .whatever
"I see 98
percent of your sales last quarter were URLs that end in the traditional dot-com."
-
Christine Lagorio-Chafkin, Inc. magazine writer,
interviewing $35M/year Domain Holdings co-founder Chad Folkening. I've always recommended
to people that they buy a '.com' domain name for a business because even with the
hundreds of '.whatevers' available now, nearly everyone assumes you have a '.com.'
for Servicemen
Hallicrafters
was a premier manufacturer of radios for commercial, hobby, and military use before
World War II broke out. Once the United States was drawn in by the Imperial
Japanese Navy's December 7, 1941 surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, no time was wasted
converting the majority of production for electronics, transportation, and other
realms into almost exclusively war production.
Hallicrafters was, of course, onboard. Life took a sudden turn
for many Americans as fathers, husbands, cousins, uncles, and brothers went off
to fight battles in foreign lands. Communications to and from loved ones back home
were difficult as priority was assigned to military
...
Product Update
anatech-product-update-1-5-2015.htm" >
Anatech
Electronics offers the industry's largest portfolio of high-performance standard
and customized anatech-product-update-1-5-2015.htm" >RF and microwave filters
and filter-related products for military, commercial, aerospace and defense, and
industrial applications up to 40 GHz. Anatech has released three new bandpass filter
designs: A 480 MHz helical BPF, a 100 MHz LC BPF, and a 10.5 kHz crystal BPF. All
can be ordered directly through their AMCrf web store.
... & Capacitance &
Inductance
If you have
ever placed a fixed resistor in parallel with a potentiometer to reduce the total
resistance, then you are familiar with how you also convert a linear relationship
of the wiper movement with resistance to one that is nonlinear. That is because
the equation changes from Rtotal = xRpotentiometer
(where x is the potentiometer position) to Rtotal
= (xRpotentiometer • Rparallel) / (xRpotentiometer
+ Rparallel). The graph of it looks like one of the curves in this chart.
Since the
total parallel resistance is always smaller than the lowest value
of the two resistances, the greater the ratio of the two is, the more dominant the
smaller resistance value becomes. That means as the potentiometer
...
Crossword Puzzle
This is 2015's
first
Microwave Engineering Crossword Puzzle. As with all my other custom
generated crosswords, you will find only engineering and science related words and
clues. Enjoy, and have a Happy New Year!
Electronics on the Hurricane Ship
If
you enjoy reading about instruments with names like the
Eppley pyrheliometer and the conductivity bridge salinometer,
then this article is for you. Long before there were Earth-imaging and environment-monitoring
satellites, sonobouys, and autonomous robotic dolphins perpetually roaming the world's
oceans, it was up to ships and crews to do the often perilous work. Even with the
aforementioned remote sensing technology, it is still necessary for the detailed
work to be carried out by humans at the study sites. Raging, swelling, stormy seas
imperil the lives and well-being of everything aboard, but don't pity the scientists
- they are there because they love what they are doing and thrive on the challenge.
It is a seafaring tradition and trait that
...
In-flight
telemetry systems have in the past and still do play an important role in aircraft
development - both manned and unmanned. Formerly almost exclusively in the domain
of large corporations due to its high cost and complexity, telemetry is now performed
routinely, often by people who cannot pronounce the word or even know its definition.
For a mere couple hundred bucks, you can buy an off-the-shelf quadcopter 'drone'
that provides a wireless link back to the pilot that includes not only a live video
feed of an onboard camera, but also information on battery voltage, position, altitude,
and other parameters. 'Real' model aircraft pilots have flight telemetry available
via
...
You Missed During Vacation
A lot of people
have been off work since Christmas and have missed all the new items that have been
posted. It would be a shame to start off the new year with such a vast knowledge
deficit. Get caught up by looking on the RF Cafe December 2014 Homepage Archive.
I said I was going to do it, and I did it.
You might (hopefully) notice a major difference in
the way RF Cafe looks on this first day of 2015. Changes have been made slowly throughout
the last few months to enable what is now a much more clutter-free environment.
Most notable is the absence of the array of vendor logos in the upper right corner
of all the pages, and there is now just a single column of banner ads in the right
page border. This is so for every page on RF Cafe. More than 200 pixels have been
shaved off the page width without robbing any real estate from the website content.
In this age of mobile Web platforms - small notebooks, tablets, and smartphones,
it is imperative that websites be comfortably viewable in any format. Back
...
Being a great
appreciator of good humor, and especially
technology-related humor, I made sure to scan these comics from
the pages of vintage Radio-Electronics magazines. Some of the same themes
from half a century ago are still applicable today - like inventing a device that
will block television commercials. There are a couple huge differences between then
and now, though. For one thing, the percentage of each hour consumed by commercials
has nearly doubled since 1958. A Prime Time TV show in 1958 like The Untouchables
ran 50 out of 60 minutes. Shark Tank, a 2014
...
