"In what may
provide a potential path to processing information in a quantum computer, researchers have switched an intrinsic property of electrons from
an excited state to a relaxed state on demand using a device that served as a microwave 'tuning fork.' The team's findings could also
lead to enhancements in magnetic resonance techniques, which are widely used to explore the structure of materials and biomolecules, and for
medical imaging ..."
Many format changes to RF Cafe have occurred since its inception in 1999, primarily
to optimize the layout and content for presentation to my targeted audience - engineers, technicians, hobbyists, managers, and salesmen who
make a living and/or pastime of electronics. This latest format change, however, comes in response to Google deciding to penalize website search
ranking for any page or pages that do not pass its Mobile-Friendly
Test. With 2/3 of the world's search business, they set the rules. If a page is not deemed Mobile-Friendly, it will likely be demoted to
a lower spot on the search result page compared to if it was compliant. In some cases a website that would
...
"After more than half a decade of speculation, fabrication, modeling and testing,
an international team of researchers led by Drexel University's Dr. Yury Gogotsi and Dr. Patrice Simon, of Paul Sabatier University in Toulouse,
France, have confirmed that their process for making carbon films and micro-supercapacitors will allow microchips and their power sources
to become one and the same. The discovery, which was reported in the February 12 ..."
Fellow USAF radar tech
Baker "Donnie" Jones contacted me with his service information for inclusion in my ever-growing
list of members. Donnie spent his entire career with mobile communications groups, having served with the 1st CCG in Wiesbaden, Germany, the
2nd CCG at Patrick AFB, FL (which is where the
I Dream of Jeannie air base shots were gotten), the 3rd CCG at Tinker AFB, OK, and the 5th CCG at Robins AFB, GA.
Here's a chance to be famous (or more famous if you're famous already). National
Semiconductor's Bob Pease, RIP, had a notoriously
messy lab and office. He was stiff competition for engineers vying for the dubious honor of having the most clutter, but Bob was also an electronics
genius. "If a cluttered desk signifies a cluttered mind, then what does an empty desk signify?" With Bob out of the way now, a new champion
needs to be crowned. Maybe it will be you - or the gal who works in the cubicle next to you. This could be your 15 minutes of fame. Enter now...
Tech News for February 15, 2016
AT&T Partners with Ericsson, Intel for 5G Tests
USAF Rolls out FY 2017 Space Budget
Silicon IC with Laser:
Light from a Nanowire
Gravitational Waves Finally Detected 100 Years After
Einstein's Prediction
"The 'Ham TV digital Amateur Radio television
system onboard the International Space Station was used for the first time ever this week for an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station
(ARISS) school contact. UK and ESA Astronaut Tim Peake, KG5BVI, inaugurated the system as
he spoke on February 11 with students at a school in Rickmansworth, England. The DATV system in the Columbus module of the ISS allowed students
at Royal ..."
Saelig Company is a marketer and distributor
for more than 100 manufacturers from all over the world. Founded in 1988 by Alan Lowne, Saelig has earned a growing reputation for having notable
products not found elsewhere. "Saelig" is an Olde English word for "happy, prosperous,
blessed." They sell and support a wide range of electronic control and instrumentation equipment and components to customers ranging from Fortune
500 industrial users, military, educational institutions and hospitals to individual end-users. Please visit Saelig to see how they might help you.
Saelig Company announces that it has been appointed an authorized distributor
of EXOSTIV™ FPGA debug products by Byte Paradigm, a leading supplier of embedded development solutions. Exostiv Labs is a division of Byte Paradigm which focuses on creating innovative solutions
for FPGA debugging. This agreement will make Exostiv Labs' patent-pending FPGA debug tools available to Saelig's huge customer-base of electronic
design engineers ...
Another Record
Year for Silicon Wafer Shipment Volumes in 2015
Amateur Radio Parity Act Gets
Favorable Subcommittee Report
How I Quit My
Smartphone Addiction and Really Started Living (lots of these articles showing up)
Keysight Technologies' application note
Using Fast-Sweep Techniques to Accelerate Spur Searches discusses the
latest advances in signal processing, which enable you to make remarkable improvements in sweep speeds. Implementing a new type of digital RBW
filter allows sweep speeds up to 50x faster without compromising amplitude and frequency accuracies. I remember back in the early 1990s while
working for Comsat writing spur search software using Visual Basic and a
National Instruments HPIB interface card to control an HP8568 spectrum analyzer to test programmable synthesizers for
Inmarsat earth station RF modems.
"The spin wave remains trapped in the domain
wall, which is formed in the middle between the differently oriented magnetizations. Researchers at the HZDR could thus control its propagation
purposefully. But the more tightly electronic circuits are packed together, the more heat they produce, making them more likely to fail. Now
an alternative to using electronic charge carriers for information processing is being developed, in the form of magnetic spin waves. These
are faster than electronic ..."
Orbel
Corporation, designer and manufacturer of custom EMI/RFI shielding, photo-etched precision metal parts and stamping; and
Nolato, developer of EMC and thermal management solutions made of conductive silicone rubber, will
partner to present a range of products at IMS 2016. In addition to extrusions, molded components, and dispensed gaskets, products on display
will include: Board Level Shielding (BLS) ...
The February 1947 issue of Radio News only had two
electronics-themed comics. Many months have
up to half a dozen comics. Maybe the winter blues had set in with the magazine's illustrators. The first comic is a tad bit prescient in that
it depicts a robber running past a television store and seeing a TV in the front display window showing a real-time video of the cop chasing
him. That was way before there was a video surveillance camera on every street corner. I haven't discovered a vintage magazine yet with someone
taking a 'selfie.' There is a growing list ...
World's 1st 1,000 pF Ceramic Capacitor
in 0201 Size
Navy to Double Money for Shipboard
Radar Research
Electromechanical
Trees Generate Electricity for Self-Powered Sensors
Battery Research Claims 10x Gain
Tesla Will Unveil Its $35k
Model 3 on March 31st
Physicists
Plan to Seek Higgs Force in Atomic Spectra
Included in this month's collection of interesting RF and microwave engineering
articles is RF Cafe advertiser Windfreak Technologies, maker of, among other things,
USB-controlled signal generators, with an article featured in Microwave Product Digest about those devices. If you have never been involved
in defense contracting and manufacturing, you cannot appreciate the figurative 'hoops' that need to be jumped through
...
"Researchers at North Carolina State University (NCSU), led by Jay Narayan, have
developed a new method for converting hexagonal-boron
nitride (h-BN) directly into cubic-boron nitride (c-BN) that is faster and less expensive than previous processes and promises to make a
material that is more viable for high-power electronics, transistors and solid-state devices. Boron nitride (BN) comes in four basic forms.
Two of these forms of boron nitride, namely ..."
"There aren't too many professions
that marry creativity with the prospect of making a real change to the world but as an engineer you'll have opportunities to do just that. Just
ask Ceri Linton, an engineering student at Durham U. and recipient of a Diamond Jubilee
Scholarship, a programme that for the past four years has been providing beneficiaries with at least £1,000 per academic year. By way of
a recap, the Institution of Engineering and Technologys Diamond ..."
So You Want to Be an Electrical Engineering Technician?
EcoTech Institute has an interesting Infographic titled "So You Want to Be an Electrical Engineering
Technician?" (circa 2015) that presents statistics on how many engineering technician jobs are currently in existence in the
U.S., what the top industries are that use engineering technicians, and how much one can expect to earn. Way back in the mid 1980s when I was
last an electronics technician (prior to earning my BSEE), my highest pay was somewhere around $25k/year. According to the BLS's
Inflation Calculator, that is
the equivalent to $54k today, which is not too far from EcoTech's reported $57,850 is median for a Tech ...
e2v,
global leader in the high-reliability semiconductor market, and Peregrine Semiconductor, founder of RF SOI and pioneer of advanced RF solutions,
have signed a strategic reseller
agreement. Effective today, e2v will be the sole provider of Peregrine's high-reliability ICs for the worldwide space market. This strategic
RF relationship combines Peregrine's expertise and proven track record in high-reliability RF and power management products with
...
"Everybody already knows that
semiconductors are quickly approaching the atomic-level at under 5 nanometers, but most proposed solutions are based on variations-on-a-theme,
such as going to a different "semiconductor" like graphene. Why not scrap semiconductors, instead, and use tunneling field effect transistors
(TFETs)? The answer is that most materials require cryogenic
cooling to make TFETs, according to Professor Yoke Khin Yap ..."
Last month when I noticed a
couple small snowballs in our back yard here in Erie, PA, I remarked to Melanie that the squirrels must have been having a little fun the previous
night. There were no foot tracks of any sort to betray the mischief maker, so it seemed like the neatly made snowballs must have come from nowhere.
They could not have fallen from the sky, though, because there were clear ruts in the snow leading up to them. I took a couple photos and promptly
forgot about them.Then, a couple days ago there was a news story ...
It is amazing
to me how many times I read an article, whether in a vintage magazine like this 1947 issue of Radio News, or a current edition of
QST, how when discussing maximum power transfer from a source to a load, the author states merely that the load impedance must equal
the source impedance. The fact of the matter is that the source and load impedances must be the
complex conjugates of each other in order
for maximum power transfer to occur. That is to say that if the source has a complex impedance of R + jX, then the load must have a complex
impedance of R - jX (and vice versa) ...
Tech Headlines for February 11, 2016
Final GPS II Satellite
Goes into Orbit as Air Force Readies for GPS III
Army and Air Force
MARS Communications Exercise Set for February 12
U.S. House Subcommittee to
Consider Amateur Radio Parity Act
New Thin Film Transistor May Lead to Flexible Devices
G teases 'Always-On' Display for G5 Phone
Army Aviation Budget Plunges Earthward
"Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) are the first research group in the world to
have built an optical single-ion clock which attains an accuracy which had only been predicted theoretically so far. As early as 1981, Hans
Dehmelt, who was to be awarded a Nobel prize later, had already developed the basic notions of how to use an ion kept in a high-frequency trap
to build a clock which could attain the - then unbelievably low - relative measurement uncertainty in the range of 1E-18 ..."
Cognitive Radio: Interoperability Through Waveform Reconfiguration, by Leszek Lechowicz and Mieczyslaw
M. Kokar. In the span of a century, radio technology advanced from spark transmitters, through analog radios based on vacuum tubes to solid
state radios to finally software defined radios where most of the transmit and receive functionalities are implemented as programs running on
specialized microprocessors. In recent years, cognitive radio emerged, which combines a software-defined
...
"It's simple: the
Air Force 'simply cannot afford' to buy what it needs to buy over the next decade. The emphasis is the Air Force's own, published on its
budget website ahead of the official budget release. 'The Air Force is facing a modernization bow wave in critical nuclear and space programs
over the next ten years that, under current funding levels, we simply cannot afford,' the statement says. The fiscal 2017 budget request
'restores some capacity in
..."
These
are the schematics and parts list for vintage Emerson
vacuum tube radio models 501, 502, and 504; Crosley
model 56TD-W; and Arvin model 140P as they appeared
in the November 1947 issue of Radio News magazine. I scan and post these for the benefit of hobbyists and historians seeking such information.
As time goes by, there is less and less likelihood that records of these relics from yesteryear's archives will be made available. As with all
historical information, it takes someone with a personal interest in preserving the memories in order to fulfill the mission
...
Windfreak Technologies
announced today the launch of its new and much-anticipated ecommerce website at www.windfreaktech.com.
Now customers can place orders directly on the website for faster service. Windfreak is a leading provider of low cost, high-quality
USB-based RF products. The site's simplified look, enhanced content, and mobile device
optimization, allows consumers to better interact with Windfreak Technologies online. The new features include a more attractive design, easier
navigation enhancement, faster purchase checkout procedures, and mobile-friendly capabilities
...
"Implantable medical devices
usually have to trade smarts for size. Pacemakers and other active devices with processors on board are typically about a cubic centimeter in
size, and must be implanted surgically. Smaller implantable electronics tend to be passive, lacking computing smarts and the ability to actively
broadcast signals, says David Blaauw, a professor of electrical engineer and computer science at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor
..."
Tech News for February 10, 2016
BMW Owners Want Their AM Radio Back
Something
New to Worry About: Connected Toy Security
Comcast Eyes Launching Own Mobile Network
Google Boss Becomes Highest-Paid in U.S. (seems awfully Capitalistic)
Hate Your Job But Can't Bring Yourself to Leave? You May Be Too 'Embedded'
New ARRL President
Happy to be Part of "Exciting Times for Amateur Radio"
"Earlier today, in a strange twist of fate I exchanged emails with Georgetown University professor Salil Mehta
regarding Facebook. I replied to Mehta with a comment not regarding Facebook but rather regarding Linked-In: 'Pray tell, what the hell good
is it for everyone in the world to link to everyone else in the world?' I had not yet seen the carnage in Linked-In. I looked just now thanks
to an email from reader Tibor who writes 'I know it's not quite a FANG, but dang! A $50B company
..."
Since 1996,
Isotec has designed, developed and manufactured an extensive line of
RF/Microwave connectors, components and filters for wireless service providers. Isotec's
product line includes low PIM RF connectors and also low PIM RF components such as power dividers and directional couplers. Frequencies up to
40 GHz and our low PIM products can meet -160 dBc with 2 tones and 20 watt test. ISOTEC offers quick prototyping and, advanced in-house
testing. Please visit Isotec today to learn how their products and services can be of use to you.
NI AWR Design Environment™
V12.02, inclusive of Microwave Office, Visual System Simulator™ (VSS), Analog Office, AXIEM, and Analyst™, has been released and is now available
to download. This new release builds upon the load-pull features introduced
in V12 as well as offers dozens of improvements to Analyst 3D finite element method electromagnetic simulator and layout and to NI AWR Design
Environment modeling, scripting and stability analysis
...
Unlike today
when resources of all types seem to be endlessly available, during World War II countries needed to
collect and recycle much in
the way of metal, rubber, cloth, and other basic materials for re-purposing into products used in fighting the enemy. Media coverage of bottle,
metal, and tire drives showed children pulling Radio Flyer wagons loaded to overflowing with such items gathered from trash piles and soliciting
neighborhood residents for anything that could be spared. Raw materials were not the only type of items needed, however. "Use it up, Wear it
out, Make it do, or Do without" was the
...
Notable Science Quote: Carl Sagan on Johannes Kepler
"When he found that his long cherished beliefs did not agree with the most precise observations, he accepted the
uncomfortable facts, he preferred the hard truth to his dearest illusions. That is the heart of science." - Astronomer Carl Sagan referring
to Johannes Kepler in the
Cosmos series, The Harmony
of the Worlds [Episode 3].
Prolific Inventor Artur Fischer Dies at Age 96
Prolific inventor Artur Fischer, holder of over
than 1,100 patents, died on January 27, 2016, at age 96 in his hometown of Waldachtal (Black Forest), Germany. According to his company -
Fischer Innovative Solutions - website, Mr. Fischer's success began
with the invention of the very familiar nylon screw anchor for inserting
into drywall. Most RF Cafe visitors will also be familiar with his company's extensive
FischerTechnik line of mechanical construction toy sets. RIP, Mr. Fischer.
Tech Headlines for February 9, 2016
Qorvo's (RFMD) Quarterly Revenue Falls
12% after Demand Pause from Largest Customer
T-Mobile Wins OpenSignal Speed
Tests
Consistency
of Earth's Magnetic Field History Surprises Scientists
Cautious Expectations
for Semi Amid Slow-Growth Global Economy
Glonass Navigation System
Reinforced by Soyuz Launch
Chiral Magnetic Effect Generates Quantum Current
"China plans to launch nearly 40 Beidou navigation satellites
in the next five years to support its global navigation and positioning network, a spokesperson said Wednesday. By the end of 2018, another
18 satellites will be put into orbit for Beidou's navigation service, said Ran Chengqi, spokesperson of the Beidou Navigation Satellite System
and also director of the China Satellite Navigation Office. Ran said the positioning accuracy of the Beidou Navigation ..."
A momentous development that changed the field of radio communications warranted merely a half-page announcement
in 1935 when frequency modulation inventor
Edwin Armstrong had his article
published in Radio-Craft magazine. Spread spectrum modulation / demodulation would be the next big advance. I cannot think of any fundamentally
new communications technology since that time, other than maybe the still-in-the-laboratory method of quantum entanglement ('spooky action
...
The Etymology of 'Quintessential'
'Quintessential'
is one of those oft-used words of which probably most people do not know (or have forgotten) its etymology, sort of like the phrase 'third rail' when discussing taboo subjects and 'fifth column' when addressing subversives. A quintessential example
of something is the ultimate. In his article titled "That's Astronomy, Too" (3/2016 Astronomy), Dr. Jeff
Hester reminds readers that Aristotle expanded
on the concept of four fundamental elements - earth, air, fire, and water - with a fifth (quint) necessary (essential) element that is incorruptible:
ether, or the heavens. We call it astronomy. You're welcome.
Keysight Technologies today introduced
the latest release of its powerful Advanced Design System (ADS) software, ADS 2016. The software improves design productivity and speeds circuit and electromagnetic simulation performance. ADS 2016
provides new RF printed circuit board, laminate, module, and silicon RFIC products, as well as technologies, capabilities and other enhancements.
"ADS users represent some of the best and brightest engineers in the industry, with their
...
"In the age of big data, cloud and the internet of things, our thirst for computing
power has never been greater. Many of our readers will be familiar with Moore's law, the observation that predicts
a doubling of computing capability every two years, as integrated circuits are packed ever denser with increasingly smaller transistors. This
general rule of thumb has held firm over the past number of decades, but the pace of progress is now beginning to slow, with Intel's CEO noting
..."
Tech News for February 8, 2016
Australia's 2-Month 1800-MHz Auction Raises A$543.5M
Get the
Skinny on the Smart Manufacturing Revolution
TI's Hack-Resistant
RFID Chip
ARRL Signs New
Memorandum of Understanding with American Red Cross
For the sake of avid cruciverbalists amongst us, each week I create a new
crossword puzzle that has a theme related to RF, microwave,
electrical and mechanical engineering, mathematics, chemistry, physics, astronomy, mathematics, 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). Enjoy!
"LinkedIn
shares fall 26% on lower profit forecast. LinkedIn shares dropped 26% after the company projected lower than expected profits for the first
quarter of 2016. The social media site forecast earnings of $0.55 per share - far below analysts expectations of $0.74 per share. LinkedIn also
reported a loss of $8m (£5.4m) for the year, compared with a $3m profit in 2014. LinkedIn ..."
Tech Headlines for February 7, 2016
Single Atom Optical
Modulator
Tech-Stock Wreck
Destroys $529B This Year
Fastest
Light Pulses Show Electrons Are Sluggish
There
are still many old-timers and beginning nostalgic collectors out there who nurse heirloom and otherwise procured vacuum tube radios - like these
for the Hoffman Model A500,
Stewart-Warner Model 9003-B, and
Zenith Models 6D014, 6D029 - back to health
and/or keep them in good health. While it is possible to purchase schematics, parts lists, and service instructions from many different models,
there are still some that have escaped the scanners of those publishers. For those kindred spirits in search of such reference materials, I
happily scan, clean up as ...
Empower RF is pleased to announce
the release of the Low Power Series of our Next Generation family of RF amplifier systems.
Leveraging our patented architecture, these broadband RF and microwave amplifiers are housed in a compact 3U air cooled chassis and are equipped
with feature rich software control, making these amplifiers configurable to a wide variety of applications requiring digital modulation, multi-tone
/ multi-carrier, pulsed, and ...
"Moore's Law has a long life, but pure vanilla CMOS process technology - not so much. That's the view of Intel's
top fab executive, speaking to an audience of chip designers. 'The economics of Moore's Law are sound if we focus on reducing cost per transistor,'
William Holt told about 3,000 attendees of the International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) here. But 'beyond CMOS we'll see changes
in everything, probably even in computer architecture ..."
Carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) was a common cleaning agent used commercially through about the early 1950s
when it began receiving a lot of bad press due to a linkage to severe kidney damage from exposure even in vapor form. I notice that Mac mentions
having read an article about the potential danger of 'carbon-tet' in an edition of Radio & Television News, not coincidentally
the publication where the "Mac's Radio Service Shop"
series appears. He also mentions a publication called International Projectionist, which included instructions for cleaning movie film
with carbon tetrachloride, and had
...
Tech Headlines for February 5, 2016
How to Market to Young Engineers
Could Vietnam Become the Next Silicon Valley?
No Proof That
Radiation from X-Rays and CT Scans Causes Cancer
Russian Telcos Under Pressure from Rising Competition and
Weakening Economy
ARRL Announces
Partnership with RFinder
Report Outlines Cyber
Activity from Top U.S. Adversaries
The F-35's Terrifying
Bug List
This would have
been a great April Fool's joke, but alas it's not. The brilliant idea is to mount a wireless camera on the front of trucks and broadcast the
image to a
large screen display on the back, all to the benefit of a trailing car driver contemplating a lane change. Hackers and lawyers worldwide
must be salivating over the opportunities this scheme will offer. Imagine the massive liability lawsuit against the trucking company, camera
and display manufacturers, a state DOT that permits such systems, and anyone else in the demonstrable line of responsibility for assisting a
driver in making an ultimately bad decision to move into an adjacent lane based on information displayed on the screen!
It is hard to believe this type of error can happen. "Several companies were
hit by hours of system warnings after GPS satellites broadcast the wrong time, according to time-monitoring company Chronos. The company observed
problems last week, after noticing some GPS time signals were 13 microseconds out. Such a discrepancy is considered severe and several Chronos
telecoms clients faced '12 hours' of system errors. Previously, the GPS errors ...
X-COM Systems, a subsidiary of Bird Technologies, today introduced the
IQC5255B,
the latest model in its IQC5000 Series of RF record and playback systems that expands their signal-capture bandwidth to 255 MHz to address the
increasingly-demanding requirements for evaluating the performance of electronic warfare, radar, and communication systems. In addition, the
IQC5255B combined with the new N9040B UXA Series or N9030B
...
This article on the IEEE Spectrum website reports on Dutch police
training
eagles to snatch drones out of midair. While clever, it does raise the issue of potential harm to the bird by multiple, very sharp-edged,
rapidly spinning rotor blades. As usual, reader comments are as good or better than the story itself. To wit, "Chopping up eagles, hawks &
falcons in the U.S. is legal, as long as it's a windmill that's doing the
chopping," and "It's also legal in the U.S. to turn Eagles into
streamers when they fly over solar panel farms." ...
Here is a short piece written
by Nuts &
Volts magazine editor Bryon Bergeron on how old-fashion electronic components with leads sticking out of them (vs. surface mount) are
still preferred by many do-it-yourselfers. The title, of course, alludes to Benjamin Franklin's famous - and often misquoted (including here) - line regarding rumors
of his demise after having not been seen on the streets for a long time.
In the early
1950s, the U.S. Navy built what was at the time the world's largest and most powerful radio broadcast transmitter station at the
Jim Creek Naval Station on Wheeler
Mountain in Washington state. Its 1.2 MW, 24.8-to-35 kHz VLF transmitter (call sign NLK) can reach anywhere in the world, even to submarines.
A half wavelength at 24.8 kHz is 19,830 feet. Photos indicate that the transmitter is located in the middle of a dipole arrangement. 'Catenary
cables,' if you are unfamiliar with the term, refers to the sagging shape assumed by both the antenna cables and the tower support
...
Tech News for February 4, 2016
Electrons
and Liquid Helium Advance Understanding of Zero-Resistance
Spin Dynamics in Atomically
Thin Semiconductor
Threats from Russia, China Drive 2017 DoD Budget
Indian Mobile Phone Manufacturing Passes 100 Million Mark
Microsoft Tests Underwater Data Centre
U.S. CEOs Unleash Recession
Fears in Earnings Calls
"Tokyo Institute of Technology and Fujitsu Laboratories have jointly developed
a
CMOS wireless transceiver chip that can process signals at up to 56Gbps, a world's first, across a broad range of frequencies, from 72 to
100 GHz. Millimeter-waveband (30-300 GHz) could bring high-capacity wireless communications in places where fibre-optic networks would be difficult
to lay. But designing CMOS integrated circuits running at such high frequencies
..."
This batch of
career advice articles is a mix of actions both employees and employers can take
to facilitate finding a new job, improving the environment of the current job, and how retain good employees. There are no articles here on
how to dump poor performers; maybe I'll look for some of those types next time ...
- Here's Why
You Didn't Get a Raise – and What to
Do About It
- 101 Career Tips You Can Learn in 3 Seconds
-
Is Your LinkedIn Profile
Missing Vital Information?
-
When It's OK to Tell Your Boss You're Looking for
a New Job <more>
Innovative Power Products introduces
their latest 90 Degree coupler that operates over the full 20 – 1000 MHz. band. Our new Model IPP-2315 handles 50 watts CW and comes in a Drop-In Style package which is only 1.71 x
1.90 x 0.76 inches. The IPP-2315 will combine two signals up to 50 Watts CW of total output power. This coupler has a remarkable amplitude balance
of <± 0.30 dB across the whole band. This design is a 3 port device with an
...
At least for now,
I am going to only scan and post schematics and parts lists like these three for the
Coronet Model C-2,
Sparton Models 7-46, 7-46PA, 8-46, 8-46PA,
and Stewart-Warner Models 9001-C, D, E, F
radios in graphical format, rather than run OCR on them to separate the textual content. There are still many people who restore and service
these vintage radios, and often it can be difficult or impossible to find
...
Introduction to RF
and Microwave Passive Components, by Richard Wallace. This authoritative new resource provides an overview and introduction to working with
RF, microwave, and high frequency components. From transmission lines, antennas, millimeter waves, ferrites, hybrids, power dividers and filters,
this book focuses on practical, time-to-market issues to help with projects in the field. Keeping mathematics to a minimum, this comprehensive
volume is packed with over 700 illustrations that help clarify key concepts. The reader will gain an in-depth understanding of the special
...
"In another example of the military's growing focus on electronic warfare, the
Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division has awarded AAI Corp. a $49.8 million contract for test environment system upgrades to the division's
Electronic Combat Simulation
and Evaluation Laboratories. The contract covers 5 years with work to be performed in Hunt Valley, Md., and is expected to be completed
by January 2021. The air weapons division, based at ..."
Tech News for February 3, 2016
Safe Harbour: Tech Firms Shudder as Watchdogs Meet
Ukraine Power Grid Attack
Is Wake-up Call; U.S. Not Ready
Google SkyBender Drone Project Aims to Deliver 5G Wi-Fi
(6G coming soon)
Coupling
2 'Tabletop' Plasma Lasers Form Ultra Powerful Accelerators
Apple Opening EU's 1st IOS App Development Center in Italy
USAF Stands
up Space Mission Force to Counter Russia, China
Pasternack, a leading
provider of RF, microwave and millimeter wave products, has just added an all new product line of voltage controlled oscillators
covering select bands from 10 MHz to 11 GHz in a variety of package options. This line of voltage controlled oscillators is most commonly deployed
in applications such as phase locked loops, frequency synthesizers, electronic jamming equipment and function generators. Pasternack's new voltage
controlled oscillators ...
"Military officials
recently gathered to discuss the proliferation wireless electronic devices of all kinds—from weapons systems to smartphones—and the importance
of managing and securing those devices in contested environments. The goal is the development of an Electromagnetic Battle Management
system. The January 12-14 sessions included over 70 participants from across the military spectrum—combatant commands, the military services
..."
The January 2016
RF Cafe Book Drawing winner is Gregg B., of California City, CA. Gregg wisely
selected
Information Warfare and, Electronic Warfare Systems, by Richard A. Poisel (Graciously provided by
Artech House). Each month I draw a name from a combination of the people who
have ordered RF Cafe items and anyone who enters by sending me an e-mail with
"<Month> Book Drawing Entry" in the Subject line (be sure to name the month). In more than 15 years I have never sold, traded, or otherwise
given out e-mail addresses.
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit" -
Aristotle quoting from his writing in Nicomachean Ethics, Book II, 4; Book I, 7.
Windfreak Technologies
designs, manufactures, tests and sells high value USB powered and controlled radio frequency products such as RF Signal Generators, RF
Synthesizers, RF Power Detectors,
RF Mixers, RF Upconverters and RF 
downconverters. Worldwide customers include Europe, Australia, and Asia. *NEW* SynthHD: 54 MHz - 13.6 GHz USB controlled
Dual Channel RF Signal Generator
The sea water antenna is
not a new idea, as reported here on RF Cafe back in 2009. "Branded SeaAerial,
it shoots a column of water into the air to create a conductive plume for transmission and reception. 'A plume of seawater can be used as an
antenna if it is insulated, so Mitsubishi Electric developed an insulated nozzle that transmits radio waves to the antenna even when the plume
is physically connected to the sea surface. Effective insulation is achieved with ..."
"A package of two satellites
carrying Amateur
Radio payloads has been deployed into orbit from the International Space Station (ISS) as part of a collaborative Texas A&M and University
of Texas at Austin research effort. Built by Texas A&M students, AggieSat4 (AGS4) will release UT's Bevo-2 CubeSat in about a month, once
it is far enough away from the ISS. Both schools received support from NASA's Johnson Spaceflight Center (JSC) for the ..."
Tech Headlines for February 2 2016
GM Forms Team for Self-Driving Electric Cars
Hackers Allegedly Hijack Drone
After Massive Breach at NASA
TVs
with Microphones, Web-Connected Cars Let Big Brother Track You Everywhere
Many NYC students So Tech-Oriented They Can't Even
Sign Their Own Names (I'd label it as stupidity)
Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle Designed to Intercept Nuclear Missiles Tested
The free
whitepapers, pamphlets, books, magazines, and chapter examples listed here are a small sample of a lot of new items that are offered for FREE
through TradePub. The publishers make them available to qualifying people
as a promotional campaign for their full line of offerings. Note: I earn a few pennies (literally) when you download one of these
or the many other pubs available, so please help yourself ...
"Qualcomm given permission
to evaluate performance of spectrum-sharing technology; WiFi Alliance to submit coexistence plan. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission
late last week gave Qualcomm permission to test LTE-Unlicensed (LTE-U). The decision paves the way for the mobile chip maker to evaluate the
technology's performance using six Verizon base stations in three locations: Oklahoma City, and Cary and Raleigh ..."
Tech News for February 1, 2016
College Kids Spend
1/5 of Class on Phones Instead of Learning
New Record in Nanoelectronics
at Ultralow Temperatures
Laid-off IT Workers
Muzzled as H-1B Debate Heats Up
49% of Union Members
Worked for Government in 2015
U.S. Lacks Full
Space Launch Capability Beyond 2019 w/o Russian Engine
'Bijels,' a Complex New Form of Liquid Matter
