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See Page 2 of the
January 2016 homepage archives.
 "Forget hoverboards, fridges that talk to
the Internet, and self-driving cars. Three of the most popular items at this month's
annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas -- a cine camera, a record turntable
and a new Polaroid snapper -- suggest there's a back-from-the-future movement gaining
ground that reflects a growing fatigue with the virtual world of digital products,
and a renewed enthusiasm for the old-fashioned analog experience
..."
 "If graphene is going to make a splash in
electronics, it more than likely is going to be in the form of
nanoribbons. What makes them attractive is that their width determines
their electronic properties: Narrow ones are semiconductors, while wider ones act
as conductors. This essentially provides a simple way to engineer a band gap into
graphene. Last summer, this blog reported on news that a bottom-up approach to manufacturing
graphene
..."
 This article by
Annie Dike, writing for IMS ExpertServices, discusses patentability
of computer algorithms and the mostly subjective tests applied by courts when determining
veracity of claims. Per Ms. Dike's assessment, a 'Thought Police' aspect of adjudication
is employed by justices, often in courtrooms where the only people truly qualified
to render informed decisions are the plaintiff, defendant, and various experts in
the field. For many judges, the 'you don't know what you don't know' scenario exists,
meaning that while he/she may be brilliant concerning objective law, not being well
versed in requisite technical issues can result in a judge not realizing how deficient
in knowledge he/she is. The 'Alice' decision referenced in her article includes
...
 "Researchers are using a technology likened
to "mini force fields" to independently control individual microrobots
operating within groups, an advance aimed at using the tiny machines in areas including
manufacturing and medicine. Until now it was only possible to control groups of
microbots to move generally in unison, said David Cappelleri, an assistant professor
of mechanical
..."
Tech News for 1/15/2016
Internet Set to Cut Cord with U.S. Government This Year
EU Rules
Against Boss Snooping on Employees' Internet Activity
Huawei Shipped >100 Million Smartphones in 2015
Service leaders Call for More Focus on EW Training
3D Mapping of Entire Buildings with Mobile Devices
Annihilating Nanoscale Defects
U.S. Government Announces $4B Self-Driving Car Program
 Many of the old-timers out there will fondly
remember Hewlett-Packard's AppCAD software back in the days when DOS was king. AppCAD
was originally released in 1990 by Hewlett-Packard as version 1.02. I remember receiving
it on a 5-1/4" floppy disk from an HP application / sales engineer while working
at GE in Utica, NY. Everyone in the office wanted a copy. That was the era when
IBM XT's ATs, Gateway, and Packard Bell PCs ruled. The latest version,
AppCAD 4.0,
was released sometime in 2012 according to the copyright date listed in the Help->About
AppCAD window. It claims Windows 7/8 compatibility, and I've confirmed that it does
just fine in Windows 10 as well. The original
...
 "Developing novel materials from the atoms
up goes faster when some of the trial and error is eliminated. A new Rice University
and Montreal Polytechnic study aims to do that for
graphene and boron nitride hybrids. Rice materials scientist Rouzbeh
Shahsavari and Farzaneh Shayeganfar, a postdoctoral researcher at Montreal Polytechnic,
designed computer simulations that combine graphene, the atom-thick form of carbon,
with either carbon
..."
 Thanks to RF Cafe visitor Dave D. for
letting me know about the URL change for downloading
Applied Radio Labs' SimPLL
software. I had the old address with a '.co.au' domain extension listed on the 'Engineering, Scientific, & Hobby Software' page. "SimPLL is
the easy way to design, optimise and simulate PLL frequency synthesizers. SimPLL
accurately predicts the phase noise, reference spurs, lock time, modulation response
and more. Use SimPLL and get tough PLL designs right first time
..."
 "Quantum entanglement has been created and measured between pairs
of two different kinds of nuclei for the first time. Carried out by two independent
research groups, the work is a key step towards the creation of ion-based quantum
computers, in which different nuclei perform different functions. One of the groups
is based at the University of Oxford in the UK and the other at NIST in Boulder,
Colorado. Information in a quantum computer
..."
Anatech Electronics,
a manufacturer of RF and microwave filters, has published its . As always, it includes
both company news and some tidbits about relevant industry happenings. This month,
Sam Benzacar's main story surveys last year's RF-related news-making happenings
and prognosticates about the year ahead - all from the perspective of what amateur
radio operators call QRM, or manmade interference. Sam is in the business of building
filters, so he is well
Millimeter Wave Active Component Characterization
for 5G
 This "Millimeter
Wave Active Component Characterization for 5G" presentation by IEEE COMSOC and
Keysight Technologies will explore the tools that enable the performance verification
of millimeter wave active devices and will address the challenges with making a
single connection measurement for multiple measurements of transceiver modules designed
for the 5G environment. We will discuss the measurement of E-band transceivers as
well as the measurement of the performance of a millimeter
...
Tech Headlines for 1//14/2016
Palm-Sized Atomic Clock Could Reduce Reliance on GPS
Semi Capital Spending to Decline 4.7% in 2016
FCC Publishes Broadband Report
DoD Working on A/D Converters for Adaptive Radar and EW
Bronx Science Bans Cellphones from Wi-Fi as Students Devour It
IBM Granted Most U.S. Patents in 2015
ARRL President Kay Craigie, N3KN, Concluding Nearly 3 Decades
 "Now, Airbus has revealed a new 'drone killer' system that can automatically monitor an area -
and disable the drone by jamming its signals if it spots one. The system can even
analyse signals from the drone to work out exactly where it is being controlled
from. It uses operational radars, infrared cameras and direction finders from Airbus
Defence and Space's portfolio to identify
..."
Has GPS Security Been Compromised?
 Has the security of the United States' Global
Positioning System (GPS) been compromised? In 2011,
the Iranians successfully hijacked our most high tech and top secret
RQ-170 drone and landed it unscathed on their soil. Now, the U.S.
Navy's top
riverine craft with advanced technology has been captured by the
Iranians. We have recently agreed to give Iran
billions of dollars in seized funds and assist them with their
nuclear program. Videos show Iranian military types surveying their spoils of war.
Our sailors suffer the disgrace of being shown on their knees, hands over their
heads. The girl sailor is forced to wear an Islamic hijab while the Navy commander
apologizes. Then, we thanked them. What's going on here?
 I know there are
some DIY types out there who like reading house renovation project stores, so here
is a continuation of mine. Our kitchen is pretty small by 2016 standards. For that
matter, our entire 920 sq. ft. rancher house is pretty small by 2016 standards.
Melanie does a lot of baking and needed to store a lot of supplies in the basement
because they would not fit in our cabinets. We considered trying to shoehorn another
cabinet into the kitchen area somehow, but there was no reasonable location. So,
she came up with the idea of converting the base corner cabinet from its original
Lazy Susan configuration to fixed shelves. Lazy Susan units are
convenient in terms of not having
...
 "A 'Maxwell's demon' that operates without external control has been
created by physicists in Finland. The device separates electrons in terms of their
energies and prevents the higher-energy electrons from reaching a transistor – thereby
cooling the transistor. The process occurs without the direct exchange of heat between
the demon and the transistor and uses information about the energies of the electrons.
While the demon does not
..."
PMI Model No.
P1T-12G18G-65-T-SFF is an absorptive, high speed, single pole
single throw switch capable of switching within 50 ns maximum. The frequency
range is 12.0 to 18.0 GHz. This switch has a minimum of 65 dB isolation
 The use of electronically scanned phased arrays
is increasing in systems such as radar, wireless networks, and satellite ground
terminals. An important and necessary component for these systems is the
transmit receive
(T/R) module, which provides the amplification and electronic beam steering
that is required for proper function. This new resource presents a comprehensive
overview of all design, fabrication, integration, and implementation issues associated
with T/R modules for radar and communications. This book provides engineers and
researchers with practical designs and 44 examples of analysis, circuits, and components
...
Tech News for 1/13/2016
Nearly 1/2 of College Grads Are Underemployed
(not much demand for <fill-in-the-blank> Studies degrees)
Wi-Fi Device Shipments Expected to Surpass 15 Billion by End of 2016
Army Adding Gigabit Wireless to Its Tactical Network
Chip
Forecasts, Drivers Diverge
Samsung Gives Ground over Chip Workers' Cancers
Static Electricity Generator Harvest 1 mW
Gravitational Wave Rumors Ripple Through Science World
Skyworks introduces two high power, surface mount, series connected PIN diodes
suitable for high-power, high-volume, large signal switch and attenuator applications
ranging from 10 MHz to beyond 6 GHz. Typical resistance for the
SMP1331-085LF
and SMP1331-087LF is 0.50 Ω at 100 mA is and the maximum capacitance
is 0.35 pF at 30 V. The low capacitance, low parasitic inductance devices are ideal
for use in land mobile radios and
 My first thought when seeing the cover for
this edition of Radio-Craft magazine was that it was an April Fools gag, but it
turns out the 'hat' being worn by the radio receiver's designer is a
loop antenna for AM reception. In a way it is the opposite of
a tinfoil hat in that this headgear invites electromagnetic energy around the wearer's
head rather than shielding it. Back in 1936, being seen in public donning a contraption
like this radio would have been akin to Google Glass today - you'd be a superhero
to fellow nerds, and just be confirming your otherworldly nerd status to non-nerds
...
 This, I'd like to see succeed. The cost, manufacturing
complexity, hazardous materials needs, the huge amount of RFI generated, power factor
corruption, and eventual e-waste generated by all the CFL and LED replacement bulbs
is ridiculous. Overall electricity savings is found somewhere in the 4th or 5th
decimal point of worldwide consumption. A lot of dummkopfs feel better about themselves
for using them, though. "Incandescent lighting could make a comeback thanks to a technological
breakthrough in the U.S. The development, from Purdue University and MIT, is said
to recycle infrared photons and improves efficiency.' 'Researchers have now developed
a potential solution in the form of a new type of filter to recycle wasted photons
that is made out of alternating layers of materials including silicon dioxide and
'
..."
Notable Tech Quote: Dick Rutan
 "Burt and I were issued flight plans instead
of birth certificates." - Dick Rutan,
record-setting
test pilot and brother of equally accomplished flyer and aircraft designer
Burt Rutan.
This comment is the opening sentence in an article in the October 2015 issue of
Popular Science magazine. Scaled Composites is responsible for many aerospace and aviation
'first,' with a concentration on composite airframes.
 "'MesoGlue was founded by Huang and two of his PhD students: They
had a dream of a better way of sticking things together.' Those 'things' are everything
from a computer's central processing unit and a printed circuit board to the glass
and metal filament in a light bulb. The 'way' of attaching them
..."
Tech Headlines for 1/12/2016
Mathematicians Reveal Perfect Way to Cut Pizza
UK Astronaut Tim Peake, KG5BVI, Notes Death of Space Oddity's "Major
Tom"
HASC StratForces Chair Slams Air Force Space Management
IoT Will Drive Consumer Tech Industry to $287 Billion in Revenues
U.S. Lab Generates 1st Space-Grade Plutonium Sample Since 1980s
Battery Shuts Down at High Temp, Restarts When Cool
 Thomas Edison applied on November 4, 1879
to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for a patent on his "Electric-Lamp." Patent number 223898 A was awarded on January
27, 1880. Remember those years. While searching for technical headlines today, I
ran across an article in the New York Times where they point out the first-ever
mention of electric lights in their newspaper. Per the article "The Arrival of Electric
Light," The New York Times first wrote of the technology on April 15, 1858.
On that day, 'Our Own Correspondent' in Havana described celebrations of Holy Week
that included 'an electric light' cast across the harbor
...
 "The
imec research center
in Belgium claims beyond state-of-the-art performance for a p-type gallium nitride
(p-GaN) high-electron-mobility transistor (HEMT) on silicon operating in enhancement-mode
(normally-off). The threshold voltage was +2V. Low on-resistance of 7Ω-mm enabled
high drive current of 0.4A/mm at 10V drain bias. imec presented its results at the
IEEE
..."
 Sometime around 1985, I was enrolled in a
second-semester physics class while working on earning my BSEE. Along with covering
topics like electricity, magnetism, heat conduction, optics, etc., my professor,
a moonlighting oceanography instructor from the nearby U.S. Naval Academy, conducted
a laboratory exercise wherein he wanted to demonstrate the action of sea waves breaking
against the shore and underwater shelf discontinuities. He used an impressive contraption
that was comprised of coplanar parallel metal rods that were attached in their centers
to a spring steel bar for torsional continuity. The tips of the rods were painted
white so that when the end bar was perturbed
...
 The Engineer website, which I visit daily looking for tech
news, posted this
Executive Summary on the outlook for manufacturing in 2016. The
report begins: "In the fifth year of our survey, an annual look at manufacturing
executives' views of the years ahead, we see a muted outlook for 2016 with business
confidence subdued under the lingering cloud of risks across the global economy."
The report ends: "The outlook for manufacturers is much the same as it was a year
ago, with expectations of a slowing global economy and at best minimal growth in
the UK
..."
Tech News for 1/11/2016
Chip Market Shrank 1.9% in 2015
2/3 Americans Have Back & Eye Pain, Headache from Computer Use
Professional Women Find Strength in Numbers
ARRL Files Complaint with FCC over Electronic Lighting Ballasts
When Will the Stock Market Eliminate Your Job?
Flexible Hybrid Electronics Market Heating up in 2016
 Contributors to the Wikipedia article on
the Yagi-Uda antenna credit Japanese professor Shintaro Uda primarily for the antenna's
development, with Hidetsugu Yagi having played a 'lesser role." Other sources assign
the primary role to Yagi. Regardless, history - and this article's author, rightly
or wrongly, has decreed that this highly popular design be referred to commonly
as the
Yagi antenna and not the Uda antenna. I don't recall seeing advertisements
for 'Uda' television or amateur radio antennas. Harold Harris, of Channel Master
Corporation, does a nice job explaining the fundamentals of the Yagi antenna
...
RFMW, Ltd. announces design and sales support for
Carlisle Interconnect Technologies
enhanced performance H5610 series, SMA field replaceable connectors. The H5610 series
provides mode free performance to 27 GHz. Drilled for standard SMA, 0.5 inch,
4-Hole flange mounting, these connectors support use in military, defense, space
and commercial systems for applications that include phased array radars, missiles,
satellites, and test instruments. Low RF leakage (less than 90 dB) is combined with
ultra-low VSWR performance (typically
 Jerry Rappel (WWØE), current VP of
the Eastern Iowa
DX Association (EIDXA) and newsletter editor, contacted me about using one of
the weekly engineering-themed crossword
 puzzles in the group's newsletter. I responded
by offering to create a custom crossword for them. The result is this week's puzzle.
Clues for words specific to EIDXA have asterisks (*)
after them. All the rest of the words are related to engineering and
...
Kid Spends $5900 Playing Jurassic World on Dad's iPad
Graphene-Like Boron Made for 1st Time
BlackBerry Moving to Android over BB10 for Smartphones in 2016
Most Americans Just 1 Paycheck Away from the Street
(wait... Fed's raising interest rates due to strong economy)
 It's Friday afternoon as I post this installment
of
Mac's Radio Service Shop from a 1952 edition of Radio &
Television News magazine - the perfect way to burn off the last few minutes
of your work week while waiting for the shift-ending whistle to blow. John T.
Frye authored many of these stories that used main characters Mac McGregor, proprietor
of Mac's Radio Service Shop and sidekick technician Barney to set up a situation
and dialog whereby the highly experienced Mac imparts sage advice to Barney regarding
things electronics in nature. Topics range from safely troubleshooting a high voltage
power supply to tracking down noisy capacitors and how to treat customers equitably.
Today's lesson is on the employment of 'repurposed' (a term
not yet invented in 1952) implements for use other than their original intended
uses. One
...
 "Phone booths: they're so retro. So inextricably tied to
Clark Kent and the quick donning of leotards. Wherever you find them,
payphones seem antiquated in this era of cellular telephones.
But in a sprawling metropolis such as New York, even though they're outdated, they're
still ubiquitous. What to do with all that infrastructure? In New York, you replace
them with Wi-Fi hotspots. On Monday, the city finally launched LinkNYC: a plan
..."
 The death knell has sounded for Ramsey Electronics
Kits production. It all started with the
LED Blinky Kit and ended on December 31, 2015. Per their website, "For
more than 4 decades, the name Ramsey Kits has been synonymous with some
 of the neatest and the greatest electronic
products and hobby kits for the do-it-yourself hobbyist." "The rapid changes in
technologies have made it difficult for the do-it-yourself hobbyist. You just don't
go out and build yourself an 802.11ac wireless router these days! You buy one at
the corner big-box store for fifty bucks!" That about summarizes the situation.
Some
Ramsey Kits are still available on Amazon.com, but hurry.
 Defense Engineering Corporation has an
immediate opening for a full time Antenna
Designer. Responsibilities include researching and designing advanced
conformal and other antennas for military applications, developing prototypes using
state of the art additive manufacturing and other technology, and characterizing
antenna performance via anechoic chamber experiments. Candidates should have a BS
or MS in Electrical Engineering and 5+ years of experience with antenna design including
familiarity computational electromagnetic tools such as HFSS, CST, and FEKO. The
job location is in Dayton, Ohio at Wright Patterson Air Force Base ...
Tech Headlines for 1/8/2016
New iPhone Feature Can Drive Bill Up
Hackers Caused a Power Blackout for 1st Time
Global Semiconductor Sales Dip Slightly in November
Nanowalls for Smartphones
Digital Eye Strain Worse for Multitaskers
Recipe for New Materials Includes Dash of Statistical Physics
Google Translates
Russia to 'Mordor' in 'Automated' Error
Why Wireless Power Is the Most Exciting Thing at CES 2016
 "Our
digital lifestyles and desk-based workplaces are contributing
to serious health problems and could be shortening our lives, technology's wellness
firms want us to believe. 'Americans will risk their lives for convenience,' Philo
Northrup told the Consumer Electronics Show on Wednesday. Slouching over his chair
and hanging his head down, he said: 'When you say digital lifestyle, we're talking
about sitting, and over the day gravity is doing this to you
...'"
 Here's another advertisement that you probably
wouldn't see in a contemporary RF / microwave engineering magazine. For that matter
you probably wouldn't see it on a contemporary RF / microwave engineering website
... except on RF Cafe where political correctness gets no respect. Adson Radio &
Electronics was located on Fulton Street in New York City, just a block from the
911 Memorial. the original building might have been destroyed when the
...
 The microwave klystron was invented in 1937
by brothers
Russell and Sigurd Varian. If you have been in the microwave design
business for a couple decades, you undoubtedly recognize the company name of Varian
Associates, especially if you worked in the aerospace or defense electronics business.
There is a
video on YouTube of a segment on Varian done sometime around 1990
by Walter Cronkite. There is also a historical piece on Varian Associates on the
Communications & Power Industries website. This circa 1952 article covers the
fundamentals of klystron operation and reports on the increasing use of klystrons
in high
 frequency application - including by amateur
radio operators exploring
... Update:
Joe Molon sent photos of klystron he used at TV station WEDW.
 "Funded by the US National Science Foundation
(NSF), researchers at the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science
at UCLA have identified a new way to make a semiconductor laser that operates at
terahertz frequencies . Using the UCLA Nanoelectronics Research Facility for device
fabrication, a team led by
..."
Triad RF Systems today introduced the Model TA1167, a compact GaAs RF power amplifier
module that delivers over 5 W peak power from 6400 to 7200 MHz (other bands available)
and is designed for wireless communications applications that require a boost in
linear RF power. The TA1167 incorporates circuits that produce over 1 W of linear
COFDM power when amplifying a +19 dBm signal. It has gain of
 RFMW Ltd. and
Southwest Antennas of San Diego, CA, have announced a distribution
agreement effective November 30, 2015. Southwest Antennas manufactures over 600
RF and microwave antennas and accessories operating in frequencies up to 8.5 GHz,
with capabilities beyond 20 GHz. RFMW Ltd. is a specialized distributor providing
customers and suppliers with focused distribution of RF and microwave components
as well as specialized component-engineering support. Under the agreement, RFMW
is ...
Tech News for 1/7/2016
Apple Stocks Dip Below $100
Mothers Using Cellphone During Child Care Affects Brain Development
Redesigned FCC Website Makes it Easy to File Interference Complaints
Private Firms Shun Italian Broadband Plan
'Holy Grail' New State of Hydrogen Found at Sun's Core
5 Technologies to Watch in 2016
ESA Announces Plans to Build a 'Moon Village' by 2030
Universities Come Together for New IoT Hub
 How
to Live with an Engineer, by Camille Minichino Ph.D. If you are visiting
RF Cafe, somebody you know can probably use this book ;-) "It's hard to escape the
techies that surround us, both at work and at home. We wouldn't want to live without
them: They're immensely helpful in this high-tech world, but when it comes to social
and personal interactions, engineers' skills and training often work against them.
How to Live with an Engineer
is a blueprint for understanding and dealing with the slightly peculiar traits of
the techies we can't live without
..."
 "'Phantom vibration syndrome,' or perceived vibrations from a device
that is not really vibrating, is a recent psychological phenomenon that has attracted
the attention of the media and medical community. Most (89%) of the 290 undergraduates
in our sample had experienced phantom vibrations, and they experienced them about
once every two weeks, on average. However, few found them bothersome. Those higher
in conscientiousness experienced
..."
Electronics-Themed Comics January 1949 Radio &
TV News
 Here is a batch of
electronics-themed comics that appeared in the January 1949 edition
of Radio & Television News. The scene seen (hey,
homonyms) on the page 138 comic was commonplace in the 1940s when televisions
were relatively new and not every household had a set. The scenario repeated itself
in the 1960s when color sets were hitting the consumer market. Now, people can watch
TV on their smartphones while not at home so gathering 'round the television display
in a store is relegated pretty much to little kids watching the Disney movies that
seem to always running on them. There is a growing list of other comics at the bottom
of the page
...
 "Apple Inc. fell after Japan's Nikkei Asian
Review reported the U.S. company would reduce the output of its latest iPhones by
about 30 percent in the first quarter of 2016. Shares of the world's most valuable
company dropped 2.8% to $102.42 at 12:17 p.m. in New York. They declined 4.6% in
2016. Apple had initially told parts suppliers to keep production of the
..."
 Thanks to Joe Cahak for alerting me to this:
"As of late researchers found arrangements of unique
Nikola Tesla drawings that uncovers a guide to increase that contains
all numbers in an easy to utilize framework. The drawings were found at a relic
shop in focal Phoenix Arizona by neighborhood craftsman, Abe Zucca. They are accepted
to have been the aspiration in most recent years of Tesla's Free Energy lab, Wardenclyffe.
The composition is thought to contain numerous answers for unanswered inquiries
regarding math. The Sketches
..."
 VidaRF serves the Microwave and RF industry
with high performance Isolators, Circulators, Power Dividers, Couplers, RF
 Connectors, Adapters, Cable Assemblies, Attenuators,
and Terminations. VidaRF was founded on a simple premise – service. Sure, we offer
reliable, high quality RF components
that are cost  effective and custom built to fit each customer's
application. From the beginning, our goal has been to make VidaRF different by way
of an overwhelming commitment to our customers' RF component needs.
Tech Headlines for 1/6/2016
ARRL Board of Directors to Elect New President, Officers in January
Wi-Fi Alliance Introduces Low Power, Long Range Wi-Fi HaLow
Twitter Now Considering 10,000-Character Limit for Tweets
Samsung,
LG, Sony and Panasonic TVs Adopt HDR
Army 2016 Forecast: A Year of Peril
Indian Navigation Satellite to Launch on January 20
U.S. Engineers Hail Ceramic 3D Printing Breakthrough
 "Talk about a flight
of fancy. Faraday Future Inc., the electric vehicle startup backed by Chinese Internet
billionaire Jia Yueting, showed a concept car that would probably struggle to gain
mass acceptance even if produced. For starters, the
FFZero1 concept car, shown Monday for the first time in Las Vegas
before the Consumer Electronics Show this week, has but one seat. The car's space-age
style white cockpit was inspired by NASA
..."
 Anatech Electronics (AEI) manufactures and
supplies RF and microwave
filters for military and commercial
 communication systems, providing standard and
custom RF filters, and RF products. Standard RF filter and cable assembly products
are published in our website database for ease of procurement.
 Custom RF filters designs are used when a standard
cannot be found, or the requirements dictate a custom approach.
 "NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NASDAQ:NXPI), global
market leader in secure connected car technologies, today announced the next step
in innovation for its market-leading automotive radar portfolio: the world's smallest
single-chip
77 GHz radar transceiver (7.5x7.5 mm) with very high resolution
performance. Radar is a core technology in existing and future Advanced Driver Assistance
Systems (ADAS), as it
..."
 In April of 1952 when this article appeared
in Radio & Television News magazine, the
bipolar junction transistor (BJT) had only made it out of the
experimental laboratory of Messrs. Bardeen, Shockley, and Brattain at Bell Labs
a mere three years earlier in December of 1948. It did not take long for commercial
production to begin. Along with being a great primer for anyone new to transistors,
herein is also some background on how the now ubiquitous BJT schematic symbol was
created. Interestingly, only Dr. William Shockley is mentioned, making me wonder
whether the contributions of Dr. John Bardeen, and Dr. Walter H. Brattain was
not widely publicized early on. Not to worry, though, because all three were duly
...
Notable Tech Quote
 "There's more than one way to look at a problem,
and they all may be right." -- General Norman Schwarzkopf, U.S. Army, leader of
all Coalition forces in the
Persian Gulf
War.
offers the industry's largest portfolio of high-performance standard and
customized RF and microwave filters and filter-related products for military, commercial,
aerospace and defense, and industrial applications up to 40 GHz. Anatech has
introduced 3 new filter designs: a 2450 MHz cavity band pass filter, a 5550 MHz
cavity band pass filter, and a 1593 MHz cavity band pass filter. Custom design are
available
 "LG
is set to unveil at the world's first 18-inch display that can be rolled-up like
a newspaper. The paper-thin product was announced by the Korean giant ahead of the
CES technology show taking place in Las Vegas this week. Details of the
foldable display have yet to be released, but experts suggest
the technology could soon be used on smartphones and in-car screens that curve around
a vehicle's
..."
 Please
thank everything RF for continuing to help deliver RF Cafe. everything RF is
a product discovery platform for RF & Microwave products/Services. They list
over 169,000 Products from more than 700
 Companies across 188 Categories in their database
and enable engineers to search for them using a customized parametric search tool.
The parametric product search tool on everything RF has been designed to replace
paper and PDF catalogs. It is fast, easy to use and very powerful – You can enter
your specs and find products from multiple manufacturers that meet your requirement
...
Tech Headlines for 1/5/2016
•
Hamvention Seeks 2016 Award
Nominations
• Net
Reaches New Addressing
Scheme Milestone
• 4G Smartphone Shipments
Overtake 3G Devices for 1st Time
•
Navy Awards Big Deal to Upgrade
Satellite Communications
•
5G's Impact on IoT
•
New Electronics Technologies to
Spur Auto Sales for Decades
(hasn't that been so since tube radios?)
•
Solid State Technology 2015
Year in Review
 "The Chinese military is undergoing a gradual
shift to cyber and space warfare, and the move is more visible now as a new command
structure has been created. After testing an anti-satellite weapon last fall, China
moved one step forward in its preparations for future warfare, with the emergence
of a brand-new Space Force, as reported by Washington Times
..."
 "This isn't exactly how Wall Street was hoping
to kick off 2016: The Dow Jones Industrial Average has plummeted more than 450 points
at one point on reignited
fears about China's economy. Joining the Dow industrials's DJIA,
-2.02% carnage are the S&P 500
SPX, -1.98% and the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, -2.45% which
are both tumbling the most since last
..."
 There's a new online interactive Smith chart
s-parameter plotter in town, and it goes by the name of
QuickSmith. Justin Coulston, designer of QuickSmith, sent me an
e-mail asking that I take a look at it. I did, and I like what he has done. Assuming
that anybody reading this is already at least somewhat familiar with the Smith chart,
this report will concentrate on the features of QuickSmith. Keep in mind while checking
out
QuickSmith for yourself that it is still in Beta phase, so your
feedback to Justin will be appreciated. An overall screen shot is provided below.
QuickSmith takes as an input standard format
SnP s-parameter files and plots them on the graph. 'n' is the
number of ports, so S2P would be a 2-port s-parameter file. A reliable source for
...
 "When the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention published new guidelines 18 months ago regarding the radiation risk from
cellphones, it used unusually bold language on the topic for the American health
agency: 'We recommend caution in cellphone use.' The agency's website previously
had said that any risks 'likely are comparable to other lifestyle choices we make
every day
..."
 At Yortec, we
enjoy a good challenge! Bring us your precision machining requirements. Small lots, or large, we will
deliver to your schedule and offer the quality and price you require to meet your
goals. Catering to the telecommunications industry, we understand the quality and
tollerancing requirements involved in machining housings and components for microwave
filters, LNAs, diplexers, SSPAs, receivers, amplifier housings, circulators and
isolators, waveguide, antennas,
and custom components to your specifications.
Tech News for January 4, 2015
•
Anadigics Receives 'Superior Offer'
of 58¢ per Share
•
Optoelectronic μprocessors Built
with Existing Chip Manufacturing
•
NewYork Payphones Become
Wi-Fi Hot Spots
•
Technology Trends to Look for
in 2016
 "A further slowdown in China's vast manufacturing
sector has intensified worries about the year ahead for the world's second largest
economy. The latest in a string of downbeat reports from showed that activity at
China's factories cooled in December for the fifth month running, as overseas demand
for Chinese goods continued to fall
..."
 "U.S. stocks had their worst annual performance
since 2008, closing out a rocky year that tempered investors' expectations for gains
in 2016. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, a basket of 30 stocks, lost 2.2% in 2015,
while the broader S&P 500 fell 0.7%. The S&P's loss ended three years of
double-digit gains for the index, but was far from the nearly 40% dive it took in
2008, a year
..."
 This first
crossword puzzle of 2016, as with all past RF Cafe puzzles, uses
only words pertaining to engineering, science, mathematics, mechanics, chemistry,
astronomy, etc. You will never find a reference to some obscure geological feature
or city, or be asked to recall the name of some numbnut movie star or fashion designer.
Enjoy
...
 "Government
plans for the next frontier in the UK's digital revolution early next year in a
new Digital Strategy for the UK. Digital Economy Minister Ed Vaizey has called on
public and industry to share their ideas on how the UK's digital revolution can
be taken to the next stage. In 2010 changes were afoot in east London as a cluster
of tech start ups began a digital transformation. Tech City UK was born and in the
last five years, the UK's digital economy
..."
 "ATEC is seeking multiple Entry Level Inside
Sales candidates. Our growing company is seeking multiple strong individuals that
can assist our Inside Sales Department with serving our customers in a fast paced
environment. You will receive and distribute inbound and make outbound calls, via
phone and or web from our customers such as Qualcomm, NASA, Boeing, and other military
and contract work. This position can lead into career path to a Sr. Sales position
..."
 "Temporary permission for radio amateurs in
Spain to operate at 5 MHz ended in November, but World Radiocommunication Conference
2015 established a new 15 kHz Amateur Radio allocation at 5 MHz. At the request
of URE, Spain's IARU member society, the secretary for telecommunications and information
in the Ministry of Industry, Energy, and Tourism has authorized
..."
Japanese
Research Institute Earns Right to Name Element 113
Microsoft to Warn Email Users of Suspected Hacking by Governments
Australia: Debate Down Under
Russian Manufacturer to Make 16 Satellites to Fulfill 2015 Contracts
China's Internet Tightrope Walk
 "A team of researchers working in China has
found a way to dramatically improve the energy storage capacity of supercapacitors
- by doping carbon tubes with nitrogen. In their paper published in the journal
Science, the team describes their process and how well the newly developed supercapacitors
worked, and their goal of one day helping supercapacitors compete with
..."
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