|
 Pasternack
debuts a new line of
semi-rigid test probes designed to assist in testing microwave circuits. By soldering the outer conductor
to the signal ground and the exposed center conductor to the trace carrying the signal of interest, sampling measurements
with these probes can be made without having to create a separate subassembly circuit board or add a connector to the circuit
layout which can take up valuable real estate. Pasternack's new test probes are offered in 3 different diameters of semi-rigid
...
Webinar: Faster Analysis of Complex RF Signals (Using Power Sensors)
Faster Analysis of Complex RF Signals (Using Power Sensors), by Boonton
and MWJ. "Today's rapidly evolving communications standards provide challenges for the Test and Measurement industry. Modern
Wi-Fi and LTE signals, as well as the new 5G mobile communications technology, must comply with specifications determined
by international standards organizations. The Boonton family of wideband USB Power Sensors can make fast and accurate time
and statistical domain power measurements of these types
..."
 As someone who spends a lot of time surfing the Web in search of interesting electronics
and technical news, I am painfully aware of the annoyances caused by intrusive, overwhelming advertisements. The most detestable
are the full-screen ads that get in your face before ever seeing the webpage, and/or once on the page some cursed ad with
video and audio plays automatically. It is no wonder that an exponentially increasing portion of Internet users are employing
ad blocking software. If you are an advertiser
paying for proprietary representation on a website, you are advised to determine whether your ads can be blocked.
...
MIT Researchers Turn Graphene Light On and Off
 "A team of international researchers from the
U.S. (MIT), Israel, Croatia, and Singapore, have discovered that under certain circumstances, a flow of electric current
running through a sheet of graphene can exceed the speed of slowed-down light and produce a kind of optical 'boom': an intense,
focused beam of light ..."
 Since this is a presidential
election year, I figured it would be a good time to post a tongue-in-cheek- story that appeared in the November 1952 issue
of QST magazine about a fictional American president
J. Willoughby Winkelspoof. The American
Radio Relay League (ARRL) always has been and still is apolitical, so don't take seriously
anything you read here. If you are an astute follower of politics, you might pick up on the nuances woven into the story,
and might even marvel on how much the political landscape has changed in the half century since Pres. Winkelspoof graced
the Oval Office ...
 Our UltraCMOS® high frequency
portfolio debunks the industry's perceived boundaries of RF silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology. It is our UltraCMOS technology
platform that enables Peregrine to reach these high frequencies without compromising performance or reliability. At the
International Microwave Symposium (IMS) 2016, we announced the addition of the UltraCMOS
PE41901 image reject mixer into our growing portfolio
...
 "The W1720
Phased Array Beamforming Kit provides system architects in 5G, Radar/EW, and Satellite communications
with the essential tools to evaluate phased array and beamforming subsystems, including RF, Digital, and Hybrid beamforming
architectures. Consider RF nonlinear & noise effects, Gain/Phase quantization, and Monte Carlo variations effects on
total beam quality, sidelobe levels, and effective radiated power. Also supports dynamic system-level scenarios with algorithms
for adaptive beamforming
..."
 Unashamedly I offer up these vintage yet timeless electronics-themed comics for your
enjoyment. I freely admit to reaching for the comics page(s) of the newspaper to read the latest antics of Beetle Bailey,
Dilbert, Hagar the Horrible, Peanuts, Blondie, and many others. As if that was not bad enough in some people's opinion,
what would really keep me from getting invited to any more high class dinner parties if the word got out is the fact that
I actually try to spot the 6 differences in Bob Weber, Jr.'s drawings
...
 "The knock against using graphene
in digital electronics has been that it
lacks an inherent band gap. However, over the years there have been a number of approaches that have
been able to engineer a band gap into the material. One of the most promising methods has been nitrogen doping,
which actually increases the material's conductivity rather than reduces it. Now researchers
..."
 "Bluetooth 5 is set to make its formal
debut June 16 at the Discover Blue media event in London, reported the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG). The wireless
standard is getting a major upgrade from Bluetooth 4.2. The newest version of Bluetooth will pack twice the speed, and four
times the range, of existing low-energy Bluetooth transmissions
..."
 This advertisement for the Collins
Radio 17D Autotune transmitters serves a couple purposes. The first and to me the most important is that it features the
magnificent Douglas DC-3 twin engine commercial airliner. The military version, the C-47 Skytrain transport, was listed
by Dwight D. Eisenhower as being among the four most important pieces of hardware (the others were
the bazooka, the jeep, the atom bomb) that helped win World War II in the European theater. It dropped the paratroopers
and towed troop gliders during the D-Day invasion. Interestingly, although Collins claims the 17D Autotune transmitters
were widely installed ...
 When semiconductor devices first came
onto the electronics scene, there was a lot of resistance (no pun intended) to adopting and
designing them into circuits. Some of the reluctance (doh, another unintentional pun) was
justified in that reliability could be an issue, due primarily to the mechanical contacts that interface wire leads to the
semiconductor elements. In an effort to mitigate some of the fear of a new type of component, often times familiar names
were given to them, such as with this duo-diode.
Duo-diode vacuum tubes, the integration of two separate diodes into a single glass enclosure, were commonly used in balanced
...
  "In a deal between companies
that promise to unite "the world's leading professional cloud and network,"
Microsoft and LinkedIn have reached an agreement for Microsoft to pay $196 per share to acquire the
professional networking service. That equals $26.2 billion or to put it in terms runners will understand, roughly one billion
dollars for each mile of a marathon. The companies say that the deal has received the unanimous approval of both
..."
 Ham radio operators
who build their own equipment have never shied away from tackling leading-edge, technically challenging projects. Indeed,
many Amateurs have pioneered radio circuit, antenna, and propagation concepts that were later adopted by military and commercial
concerns. One of the first examples was the relegation of hitherto believed to be unimportant shortwave frequency bands
for amateur radio use. Quite unexpectedly, Hams quickly took up the challenge and exploited the unique long range communications
capabilities possible due to atmospheric channeling and reflection phenomena. Here,
coaxial resonant cavities
are used to ...
On-Chip Supercapacitors Dump Carbon in Favor of Silicon
 "Tiny supercapacitors that can fit right
on a chip have been hotly pursued for at least the last half decade. We've seen the usual suspects—graphene, titanium carbide
and porous carbon—proposed for making the electrode material for these on-chip supercapacitors
..."
 P1dB, an RF and Microwave component supplier,
releases its improved
YouForm™ conformable cable assemblies that can be built to an ultra low VSWR, such as 1.08:1, and at a comparable price
to standard conformable cables. YouForm™ cables can also be phase matched to 1 degree, depending on the frequency and configuration.
YouForm™ cable assemblies are available in 0.034 inch (0.86mm), 0.047 inch
(1.19mm), 0.086 inch (2.18mm), 0.141 inch
(3.58mm) and 0.250 inch (6.35mm) coax
...
 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!
...
 The
TTRM1081 is an L-Band bi-directional SSPA suitable for high
data-rate wireless links. Applications include UAVs and military mesh networks. Rx noise figure is approximately 1.3 dB
and Tx/Rx switching speed is 1 µS. This class AB LDMOS module is designed for both military and commercial applications.
It is capable of supporting any signal type and modulation format, including but not limited to 3-4G telecom, WLAN, OFDM,
DVB, and CW/AM/FM ...
 A regular feature in the ARRL's
magazine QST during the early days of radio was "New Receiving Tubes." It usually had your standard editorial listing
of products, but the May 1941 installment included a comic commissioned my the Magnolia Radio Lab people that is done in
the manner of Ripley's Believe It or Not. I'm guessing that there really is no Magnolia Radio Lab because nothing
came up on a fairly extensive Internet search for the company. Most good humor has an element of truth in it that makes
the subject matter believable - almost
...
 This could be a modern day
photo of an American DHS or an Israeli IDF agent displaying a body bomb found on an attempted suicide bomber after thwarting
an attack, but it's not. In actuality, it is a 1934 Burgess battery advertisement that appeared in QST magazine
with the intent of demonstrating to Hams the kinds of research the company was doing. This design was called a 'ribbon battery,' and it could conveniently
be wired in a flexible manner with almost any number of series and parallel connections to accommodate required voltage
...
 Neon bulbs used to show up in lots of
commercial, military, and consumer products, but have given way to LEDs because of efficiency in cost, size, weight, and
reliability. The 1950s vintage radar I worked on in the USAF used lots of them as indicators. Before the availability of
Zener diodes, they were used quite often as constant voltage references because of their characteristic of maintaining a
fairly steady voltage value over a wide range of currents. One of the more useful tasks remaining for
neon bulbs is for troubleshooting RF circuits because
of their ability to glow in the presence of a strong electromagnetic field while only having physical
...
 Since the majority of people no longer receive paper
copies of the magazines, I try to drive a little traffic to their websites by highlighting titles that appeal to my interest
and like-minded RF Cafe visitors.
- 11 Myths About Antenna Design,
Dustin M. and Kyle S. -
Proper O-Scope Setup for Correct
ESD Measurements, Mike H., Loren D., Mark M. & Dan S. -
Preventing PIM in Microwave
Systems, Jack Browne -
ESR Losses in Ceramic Capacitors,
Richard Fiore < more>
 Southwest
Antennas is pleased to announce the introduction of two new S-Band RHCP & LHCP patch antennas to their growing line
of body worn antenna products. These two new
products offer superior directional antenna performance over existing designs available on the market, and feature a best-in-class
form factor that only weighs 1.3 ounces. Designed to be light weight and easily worn and hidden in tactical clothing, these
body ...
 I beg your indulgence again. Here are 4 more Radio Service Data Sheets for those who
might be searching for such information as part of a restoration project. The
Brunswick Panatrope
was billed as the world's first all-electric phonograph (as opposed to the mechanical crank-up models),
combined with an AM radio. It was designed with the assistance of RCA, many of whose components were integrated into the
unit. A video of a restored Panatrope is embedded on the page.
Brunswick Model
31 Combination Radio and Panatrope Radio Service Data Sheet,
Stewart-Warner Series
900 Radio, Zenith 5-Tube
Triple-Wave Superhet. Chassis nos. 5508 and 5509 Radios,
Emerson Models 38, 42 and 49, 6-Tube
Dual-Wave Super. (Chassis U6) Radio.
 October 29, 1929, aka 'Black Tuesday,'
is a date that will live in infamy. It was the beginning of the U.S. stock market crash that resulted in The Great Depression.
Since magazines, particularly in the pre-digital era, went to press a month or two prior to hitting the postal system and
store racks, almost nobody had any idea that by the time this issue of QST was being read, investors would be hurling
themselves out of high rise building windows and off tall bridges. As the country was coming to grips with what would ultimately
be a nearly two decade long financial struggle, nonessential creature comforts like concert quality recorded and broadcast
music equipment like that facilitated by
Sangamo Electric Company's ...
 In this second part of a 3-part
series, author Yardley Beers discusses propagation effects,
modulation systems, and receiver techniques.
A particularly interesting topic included in this installment is that of using a form of pulse modulation in FM broadcasting
in order to exploit the 'capture effect' whereby a signal in the presence of noise will tend to suppress the noise. I don't
think modern stations use that method, possibly because of incompatibility with stereo channels and data added for digital
readouts ...
The Shack Is Back
 Lou Frenzel, over at
Design News, posted an article reporting on the - at least temporary - reemergence of the classic American electronics
parts store Radio Shack, now formerly 'General Wireless Operations
Inc. dba RadioShack.'
 Radio Shack, if you recall, filed for bankruptcy
in 2015, and was bought by a hedge fund company. 1,700 of the original 4,000 brick-and-mortar shops were retained, and their
online presence has been enhanced. The new management is hoping to exploit the growing Maker and DIY community as well as
STEM education efforts. Read Lou's article and a follow-up here.
 Since I do not
have time to watch television on a regular basis, paying for a cable or satellite subscription cannot be justified. My plan
was to install a traditional FM/VHF/UHF
television antenna on the roof along with a rotator. Some pretty nice models are still available from Channel Master,
RCA, and a few others. TV broadcast stations in the Erie area are all within 10 miles or so, so signal strength would not
be an issue. I listen to both AM and FM radio most of the day, so being able to get an FM signal boost from a steerable
antenna would be a nice bonus since occasionally reorienting the FM dipole was needed to get a clear signal. The entire
outfit would cost less than a year's
...
 According to
a tally crafted by Radio & Television News magazine in 1949, the total number of
television sets
sold in the United States in 1947 and 1948 was 964,206. There were approximately 146 million people at the time per the
U.S. Census. If there was an average of 4 people per household, that works out to around one television set for every 36
houses. Some households already had TV sets during that time, but far fewer than half owned a television. Nobody owned
...
 DIY
(do-it-yourself) is the relatively new term adopted to describe any activity engaged in by
laymen and even professionals plying their trades after hours. Subjects range from hanging a kitchen cabinet or planting
a tree, to a total engine rebuild or building a robot. Reasonable quality and capability tools for performing around-the-house
chores are fairly cheap and available for purchase or rent for projects most people undertaking such challenges. Cordless
saws and drills, stud finders, airless paint sprayers, and electronic readout levels can be had for under
...
Post Office Efficiency - Not
 While on the subject of
RF Cafe Book Drawing winners, you might find it interesting
that that March 2016 winner, who lives in Canada, reported his book, which was mailed from Erie, PA, on April 18, finally
arrived in Ottawa on May 22. It made its way to the Canada Post Office in three days, and then sat in Customs
(per the online package tracking service) for more than a month! Books that have been shipped
to Australia have gotten there in three weeks, and past books to Canada arrived in just a few days, so I can't imagine what
took that one book so long in customs.
 This 1955-era photo of the "Portaphone" might be considered one of the world's first commercially available portable phones. It
cannot be considered to be a cellphone in that there were no "cells" of transceiver stations capable of servicing sets moving
between cell coverage boundaries. Early portable - or mobile - phones were serviced by a central tower that performed a
relay service between the RF device (handset) and the local telephone service. The earliest of those systems, prior to automation,
relied on a human operator to patch
...
 VidaRF offers high performance
"SMD" circulators and isolators with Low IMD
covering the frequency band of 0.7-3.0 GHz. This rugged design uses a screwed in cover and machined housing. Units
are fully tested to perform vibration, thermal shock and moisture making suitable for base station and other infrastructural
environments. RoHS Compliant
...
 Ivor
B., of San Diego, CA, is the lucky winner of my May 2016 Book
Drawing. Ivor wisely selected
Quantum Mechanics of Nanostructures, by Vladimir V. Mitin, Dmitry I. Sementsov, and Nizami Z. Vagidov.
Each month I choose one or more names from people who have e-mailed to order
RF Cafe software or to let me know about an error somewhere
on the website. Ivor pointed out a typo in a capacitance quality factor equation. Two other people have been notified re
winning, but have not responded. The book was graciously provided by
Cambridge University Press.
 Dilbert creator Scott Adams has often incorporated
- albeit usually stealthily - his views on the economy, social mores, political correctness, or even pure politics for that
matter  within the comic strip. He recently posted an article on his blog titled "My Endorsement
for President of the United States." When reading it, look for the nuances of his message, the same type skill needed
to fully appreciate Dilbert, Wally, Alice, Dogbert, and Catbert. I believe I figured out his position on the upcoming election,
which is not necessarily as it seems on the surface. What say you?
New Online Resource Library
 A new
resource library has been added to the NI AWR Design
Environment™ website so that visitors can quickly and easily find and choose the specific/targeted content they need. The
site contains a breadth and depth of resources for using NI AWR software and is organized by resource type, application,
technology, product and industry
...
 If you think paying
$80-$100 per night for a relatively low end chain hotel/motel is outrageous, then this advertisement in a 1930 issue of
Radio-Craft magazine will help justify your indignation. While in California for the IMS 2016 show two weeks ago,
a convention-goer likely paid $200 or more per night for a room within walking distance of the Moscone Center in downtown
San Francisco. Compare that rate to, say, the Eastgate Hotel or St. Clair Hotel in Chicago in 1930. Room prices started
at $2.50 - including free garage parking
...
 Triad RF Systems has introduced a 1.7 to
2.5 GHz, 5 W Solid State Power Amplifier (SSPA). The TA1025
produces over 1 W of linear COFDM power and 5W peak. The amplifier is protected from high, low, and reverse DC bias, thermal
overload, and high output VSWR. The amplifier draws 0.8 A (100% duty cycle), and measures only 3.75" x 1.9" x 0.5"
...
 Take a break and work this week's
RF Engineering-themed crossword
puzzle. All the words are pulled from a hand-built list of terms, names, and abbreviations that have only to do with
science, mathematics, and engineering. If you want a crossword with names of movie stars and obscure countries, try the
local newspaper ...
 Most people engaged
in circuit design and adjustment in a professional environment own or have access to a spectrum analyzer and/or digital
oscilloscope with an FFT function, so measuring the
harmonic content of
a signal is a fairly simple job. A lot of instruments will display a listing of frequency makeup and the percentage of the
whole signal it occupies. Many, though, particularly hobbyists, use simple analog o-scopes where determining harmonic content
requires a largely subjective assessment of the displayed waveform. In 1939 when this article
...
 A good
primer on the physics behind and use of
thermistors
was published in the November 1956 edition of Popular Electronics. Thermistors are fundamentally substances that
exhibit a large change in resistance for a given change in temperature, called temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR,
or RT). Standard resistors would ideally maintain the exact same resistance regardless of temperature, but in
reality most resistor types increase in resistance with an increase in temperature; i.e., a positive TCR. Most thermistors
have a negative TCR, which makes them useful for cancelling out
...
 X-COM Systems,
a subsidiary of Bird Technologies, today announced that it has been awarded a Government Services Agency (GSA) contract
that allows federal agencies to purchase X-COM Systems products online via GSA Advantage! in the shortest time, at the lowest
cost, and with the least difficulty. GSA Advantage! is the agency's online shopping and ordering service designed to provide
a streamlined and efficient purchasing portal for federal agencies to acquire
...
 "Enhancing the company's expertise
in RF and microwave, cyber security, and anti-tamper technologies are cornerstones of the recent acquisition by Mercury
Systems of the embedded security, RF and microwave, and custom microelectronics businesses from
Microsemi
Corp. Mercury has completed its acquisition of the Microsemi embedded security, RF
..."
 Carl Kohler
has done it again with his saga of a DIYer-gone-overboard saga titled "Operation Chaos." Nobody
knows for sure whether the over-enthusiastic husband in the series of techie stories that ran in Popular Electronics magazine
in the 1950s was actually Carl himself or maybe an alter ego version of himself. Carl was also the artist of numerous tech-related
comics. His wife, affectionately referred to as "Old Big Eyes" and a certified "lady-telepath" is always quick to recognize
the impending disaster about to ensue, often with her as an unwilling participant. This particular project is not one
...
 "The Radio Club of America, Inc. (RCA) and the Electronic Technicians Association
International (ETA) have signed a
memorandum of understanding of partnership. Both RCA and ETA will offer reduced membership rates to
the other's members. Each will list the other's meetings and events on their respective websites. ETA provides industry-recognized
certifications with career training from approved providers. RCA members who join ETA will be able to avail themselves of
those services. RCA
..."
 Without warning, a couple
days ago our hot water heater became just a cold water storage tank. Our
A.O. Smith GCV 40 100
HWH had been functioning perfectly since we acquired it with the house in 2008. Being a gas hot water heater, I was a bit
trepeidacious about messing with it since gas has a way of exploding at the most inconvenient times - like when your face
is staring into a burner chamber. I attack electrical problems with near-reckless abandon from having dealt with AC and
DC supplies and controls for nearly five decades. Nevertheless, last December when our Trane VX95 gas furnace decided it
was time to be a cold air storage ...
 Southwest
Antennas is pleased to introduce their new
small form factor "Turbo Cloverleaf" family of circularly polarized (CP) Omni antennas in 1.98 - 2.2 GHz and 2.3 - 2.5
GHz frequencies. These new and innovative antenna products deliver substantial increases in high data rate throughput and
signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in a very compact, rugged radome that measures two inches or less on each side. Each antenna
...
 All of the 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.
 Early automobiles presented significant
challenges to mobile radio designers due to a combination of a fledgling understanding of electrical and electronic circuits
and quickly evolving automotive materials and configurations. A 1935 issue of Radio-Craft magazine presented eight
automotive radio designs that represented break-through
techniques for dealing with some of those innovations. All of the technical issues involved here have been pretty much solved
in modern radios. Ignition interference is nearly invisible to FM and satellite reception, although audio frequency circuits
can still pick up noise if not properly filtered
...
 Who Should Attend: Engineers who use
wideband oscilloscopes to measure 5G, WiGig, and Automotive RADAR signals. With emerging communication
standards (e.g. 5G, WiGig) becoming more prevalent today, R&D groups to manufacturing teams are looking for easy and
accurate methods to measure these wideband signals. Keysight can show you how to unlock the potential of your oscilloscope
for these demanding applications
...
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