Confining water inside carbon nanotubes changes its physical
properties so much that it can be solid at 100°C. This discovery, while not fully understood, could
lead to new advances in nanoelectronics. One of the few scientific facts that everybody knows is that
water freezes at 0°C and boils at 100°C. One of the unusual properties of water is it is a very good
conductor of protons: 10 times better than conventional conductive materials
..."
"Raytheon is being awarded a $9.6M
Navy contract to provide engineering technical services and field services for the AN/APG-65/65(V)/73/79
Active Electronically
Scanned Array (AESA) Radar, associated systems, and support equipment in support of the F/A-18,
EA-18G, and AV-8B aircraft. Many Navy aircraft use AESA radars because of their superior ability . to
thwart jamming attempts and reduce the possibility of detection by
..."
Hard to believe it happened 30 years ago in 1986! "The construction
of theNew Safe Confinement at Chernobyl is entering its final stage. The giant structure
has been erected over the past four years in a secure area near the damaged reactor in two pieces which
are about to be joined together. Meanwhile, a sophisticated ventilation system which will keep the structure
corrosion-free during its lifespan is being installed, a technological building as the
..."
As I have said before, there is no such thing as too many
reactance
charts. This one appeared in a 1952 issue of Radio & Television News. If you do a lot
of experimenting with circuit design, then having a chart like this one handy can save a lot of time
compared to punching numbers into a calculator. A quick scan of the chart give you a useful overview
of where your component value lies within the realm of operating frequency. Smartphone apps and computer
programs are nice for calculating exact values, but when you're futzing around with optimizing
...
Master Bond has been around
a long time - since 1976 in fact (the year I graduated from high school- yikes!).
I remember using their products for electrical assemblies when building U.S. Navy equipment at Westinghouse
Oceanic Division in Annapolis, Maryland, during the 1980s. They have many nice white papers, including
ones on both
electrically conductive and
electrically insulative epoxies. "Versatile Epoxy Compounds for Electronic Applications" is an overview of various
types and uses.
No mention
is made in the article regarding an ongoing battle waged by the Ham radio community against companies
who thus far have been unable to conform to unintentional radiation issues that wreak havoc with radio
signals. "Nowadays,
power
line communications (PLC) has become a well-understood and established technology that enables data
transfer over your existing electrical cabling; yet, it's a technology that's not ordinarily associated
with extending your home network in hard-to-reach
..."
Tuesday
"The annual
Youngsters
on the Air (YOTA) event takes place during the entire month of December, with YOTA stations attempting
to contact many other young radio amateurs around the world. The event offers an excellent opportunity
for get radio amateurs in their teens and early 20s to get together on the air. 'The idea of this is
to show the Amateur Radio hobby to youth and to encourage youngsters to be active within the hobby,'
said International Amateur Radio Union Region 1
..."
![Can America's [RF-]Quietest Town Be Saved? - RF Cafe](images2/green-bank-radiotelescope.gif)
"There's a town in
West Virginia where there are tight restrictions on mobile signal, WiFi and other parts of what most
of us know as simply: modern life. It means Green Bank is a place unlike anywhere else in the world. But that could be set to
change. 'Do you ever sit awake at night and wonder, what if?' I asked. Mike Holstine's eyes twinkled
like the stars he had spent his life's work observing. 'The universe is so huge,' he began. 'On the
off chance we do get that hugely lucky signal, when we look in the right place, at the right frequency.
When we get that… can you imagine what that's ..."
The
Yagi–Uda
antenna (usually referred to as a Yagi), is a relatively simple to
construct multielement structure consisting of a combination of driven (director)
and reflective (reflector) diploes. Careful phasing of the configuration
results in a directional radiation pattern that is use often for long distance
(DX) and direction finding work. It is also useful in a dense signal environment
where there is a need to exclude received signals not emanating from a preferred source. Common
(or what used to be) rooftop television antennas were of the Yagi type
...
"Physicists
in Germany have created a new
optical device that can absorb exactly one photon. They say that this device, which
exploits the physical properties of giant micron-sized atoms known as Rydberg atoms, could be used in
optical quantum computing networks of the future. Sebastian Hofferberth of the University of Stuttgart
explains that the device first behaves like a dark sunglasses lens, but once it absorbs its first photon
it becomes
..."
evissaP
("Passive," backwards) is the one of the world's leading manufacturer of high performance products
such as cable assemblies, adapters, connectors
for RF and microwave applications. We work closely with our customers to accelerate the pace of innovation
and to create breakthrough and timely solutions that are ahead of what's possible. evissaP is driving
a more innovative and connected world for the future. evissaP has been added to RF Cafe's
Coaxial Cables and
Connector / Adapters vendor
pages.
"A
new sensor that measures the local acceleration due to gravity using a
Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC)
of ultracold atoms has been made by physicists in Germany, the US and Canada. While the prototype device
is not as accurate as commercial gravimeters, its makers say it could be made much smaller and much
more accurate than existing devices. Atoms can be used to measure the acceleration due to gravity by
cooling a gas of them to near absolute zero and ..."
Monday
Performance
review time has never been one of my favorite parts of career management. Fortunately, my reviews
have always been pretty good so there never really has been any trepidation involved, but just the hassle
is more than I cared to endure. Most of the managers I've had over the years were pretty
...
-
Getting Through Your Year-End
Job Performance Review
- Where The Tech Jobs Are in
Europe : Engineers Needed
- Syncing LinkedIn with Your
Resume for Optimal Impact
-
Workplace Negotiating Tips for
Women <more>
"D-Link
and Microsoft have collaborated to deliver the next generation of Wi-Fi, known as "Super Wi-Fi," to rural communities across the globe. They are planning to tackle
some of the world's greatest technology gaps, and laying down a future network in currently underdeveloped
areas. The Microsoft-led mission would give communities a foundation for an enriched digital future.
A first-phase pilot is commencing in a US state, with three potential countries for future stages, and
is the culmination of years of research and development already invested
..."
Achieving what we consider relatively simple results with electronics
indicators used to be cutting edge technology. This 6AL7-GT
Electron-Ray Indicator
Tube by Ken-Rad (a division of General Electric) provided a dual-channel
electrofluorescent (i.e., cathode ray) display of relative signal strength
or tuning the new-fangled FM radio stations. The tube could also be used, of course, for many other
applications where signal strength from any measured process: fuel level, voltage, temperature, stock
price, phase angle, sound volume, speed, etc. Today, we have electrochemical indicators so
...
VidaRF offers
a new 32-Way Power Divider, model
VPD-20180A32. Frequency range from 2 to 18 GHz and providing 30 W power as splitter with low insertion
loss. This model also provides high isolation port to port and low amplitude and phase balance. Operating
temp -55 to 85 C. Sealed and painted to meet IP65 standards
...
"The police, NHS and the tax man will now be able to hack into
your phones and check your browsing history after the
Snoopers' Charter was passed by Parliament last week. The bill, officially called
the Investigatory Powers Bill, forces electronic data to be stored by internet providers for 12 months,
which can be subsequently collected by law enforcement. Now a blogger has created a list of all the
people who will be able to request to view your internet history if the bill
...
Side
Note: The Iridium system was thusly named because it originally was to consist of a constellation of
77 satellites. 77 is the atomic number of elemental iridium, hence an allusion to the Bohr model of
electrons orbiting a nucleus. "Iridium Satellite
has been awarded a potential five-year, $8M contract to support commercial satellite-based network services
for the Department of Defense in the areas of satellite, ground node, user equipment / terminal software
and hardware development, integration
..."
This
week's crossword puzzle contains the usual collection of science, math, engineering terms, amateur radio,
but also has many words specifically relating to
antennas
(those are the clues marked with an asterisk *). As always, you'll never
be 'challenged' to know terms relating to movie stars, leaders of obscure countries, or archaic pottery
making terms. Enjoy ...
Friday
Anatech Electronics, a
manufacturer of RF and microwave filters, has published its November 2016 newsletter. As always, it
includes both company news and some tidbits about relevant industry happenings. This month, Sam Benzacar
discusses the topic of "Coming: The Small Cell Invasion," which is a big part of the coming 5G tidal
wave of information broadcasting. Anatech's business is to make certain that system and circuit designers
have capable filters available to assure successful implementation
...
"Including large numbers of
mathematical equations in a research paper could impede the effective communication
of the physics it describes. That is the controversial conclusion of a study of citation numbers by
researchers from the University of Exeter in the UK, who advocate for the more accessible reporting
of theoretical research. However, some physicists disagree with their analysis and conclusion. Mathematics
plays a fundamental role across the
..."
Electro-Photonics, a market leader in RF and Microwave components
has released a new series of surface mount
directional couplers featuring frequencies from 800 - 2200 MHz. Our new directional couplers
have nominal values of 10, 15, and 20 dB and can dissipate from 50-80 Watts of power in a small
0.283 x 0.197 inches (7.19 mm x 5.00 mm) package. These SMT couplers offer excellent directivity,
coupling flatness and low insertion loss for the most critical applications
...
"There's
new evidence that
excessive screen time early in life can change the circuits in a growing brain.
Scientists disagree, though, about whether those changes are helpful, or just cause problems. Both views
emerged during the Society for Neuroscience meeting in San Diego this week. The debate centered on a
study of young mice exposed to six hours daily of a sound and light show reminiscent of a video game.
The mice showed 'dramatic changes everywhere in the brain
..."
Thursday
Here in the USA, it is Thanksgiving Day when this is posted,
so most people reading today are probably concentrating on sharing a nice turkey dinner and all the
trimmings with friends and/or family. Many also take off Black Friday as well to make it a four-day
weekend. Work is not on the top of priority list right now. Perhaps the only holiday more anticipated
is Christmas. While waiting for those last few minutes to pass until you can check out for the day,
enjoy these electronics-themed comics from a vintage editions of
Electronics World
and
Radio &
Television News magazines. Have a nice holiday!
A headline news story appeared today that reported on president-elect
Donald Trump's meeting with the New York Times editorial board. My eye was immediately drawn
to the large photograph of
Thomas Edison on the
wall behind Trump's campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway. Many other recognizable people of note are there
as well. From what I can find out, those are all autographed pictures of people who have visited the
boardroom. I have identified
...
Wednesday
Many RF Cafe
visitors are avid craftsmen and have appreciated my posting of projects over the years, so here is another
you might find interesting. Sometime around the year 2000, while we were living in Fairfield, Ohio,
our daughter, Sally, made a diorama of a Tae Kwon Do martial arts dojo that was inspired by the school
she was attending at the time. Unbeknownst to Sally, Melanie and I had kept the diorama in a cardboard
box for lo these many years. We decided to make a nice wood and Plexiglas
display case for it and present it to her for her birthday. The case is made from
some scrap walnut given to me by a friend. Korean, Chinese, and Japanese versions of "Greensboro Martial
Arts Academy" and a few
...
VidaRF offers a wide selection of
Isolators and Circulators
designed to cover 80 MHz to 60 GHz. Configured for Coaxial, Drop-In, Surface Mount or Waveguide. Standard
connector SMA female, other connectors available upon request. Magnetically shielded, clockwise or counter-clock
wise rotation, Low IMD of -80 dBc, reflected power from 1 W to 250 W on pending models, single or double
junction. RoHS compliant
...
I rarely use a cellphone - almost never while driving
(only if someone else does the dialing). Even glancing at the dashboard
GPS display can require more attention than I deem truly safe. My dedication to events outside the car
allow me to see many instances of other drivers being oblivious to their surroundings while driving
(or stopped at a light). Accordingly, this
NY Times story is no surprise. Airplane pilots flying on instruments
(IFR) must have visual contact with the runway within the legal
decision height or abort the landing because he/she cannot properly fly the plane
and concentrate on instruments inside the cockpit at the same time. Sometimes you get lucky when ignoring
the rules; other times you damage yourself and/or innocents
..."
Alliance Test sells used / refurbished test equipment, we offer short- and long-term rentals. We also
offer repair, maintenance and calibration. Prices discounted up to 80% off list price. Agilent/HP,
Tektronix, Anritsu, Fluke,
R&S and other major brands. A global organization with ability to source hard to find equipment
through our network of suppliers. Please visit Allied Test Equipment today to see how they can help
your project ...
Tuesday
"Russian
and U.S. researchers have developed a technique whereby the direction of light can be manipulated using
a novel optical
nanoantenna. The researchers believe that this nanoantenna could help lead to a
new era in optical information processing in telecommunications systems. Of course, replacing electrons
with photons is the basis of optical computing. However, realizing this switch is fraught with difficulties
— not the least of which is the fact that because a photon
..."
Windfreak Technologies and Saelig are offering Special Sale Prices
on the very popular SynthUSBII
and SynthNV RF frequency
synthesizers during Cyber Week 2016, running from November 21 through December
4, 2016. The Windfreak SynthUSBII is a 34.4 MHz to 4.4 GHz software tunable RF signal generator
controlled via USB port. The SynthNV is a 34.4 MHz to 4.4 GHz software tunable RF signal generator,
sweeper and RF power detector controlled via software
...
When this article was published in 1952, the
transistor was not quite five years old, and the first commercially available transistor had been
on the market for a year. Germanium was the semiconductor of choice at the time since silicon had not
been refined enough yet. The term 'point contact' refers to the manner in which early transistors were
built where the emitter and collector connections with the base material were metal pieces pressed against
a doped germanium slab. The obvious mechanical weaknesses
...
"Based on an application for
Special Temporary Authority (STA) filed with the FCC, it looks like Nokia
wants to demonstrate its 5G gear at
28 GHz for Charter Communications at Charter's Englewood, Colorado, facility. The
application didn't name Charter, but it included an address to demonstrate 5G wireless equipment 'to
one of our customers located in Englewood Colorado.' The STA period would be from
..."
Saelig Company has announced the
1908 and 1908P Digital Multimeters
- high accuracy, high resolution dual-measurement benchtop instruments with USB and other optional interfaces.
Additional features include frequency, capacitance, and temperature measurements, as well as a wide
range of math and data logging functions. Unlike most high performance bench multimeters, these DMMs
include internal rechargeable batteries for 'use anywhere' versatility. This enables
...
Charles
Murray, over at Design News, posted an interesting piece on where to earn a for-real
engineering degree without going broke. The thumbnail image here is instantly recognizable
as the interior of the chapel at the U.S. Air Force Academy, in Colorado Springs. There, as with the
U.S. Naval Academy (Annapolis), the U.S. Military Academy
(West Point), and the U.S. Coast Guard Academy
(New London), a duly appointed person can earn not only a highly respected engineering degree,
but get paid for doing it to boot. None of the four academies has ever made the
Top Party Schools
list, but as with Ivy League colleges will gain you favor by many alumni in industry and government
who favor fellow travelers
...
Monday
$5B in
government subsidies can buy a lot of innovation: "Elon Musk's SpaceX wants to launch
thousands of satellites into space with the aim of providing super-fast global internet coverage, according
to a regulatory filing. SpaceX – the company on a mission to colonize Mars – outlined plans to put
4,425 satellites into space in an FCC filing from earlier this week. That's 3x the
1,419 satellites that are currently in space, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists, a not-for-profit
group made up of scientists
..."
Finding
current information on the ARRL's
Brass Pounders League (BPL)
is difficult, and in fact a search on the ARRL.org website does not get you to a page with a date more
recent than around 2012. I don't know whether the BPL has been 'obsoleted' or just does not enjoy the
promotion level it once did. This article in The Dipole publication reviews a bit of the history
of the Brass pounders League, and even mentions Mae Burke, who is featured in this 1953 QST
article. If I wasn't so busy, I would do some research to find out what the percentage of licensed female
Hams was in 1953 compared with today. I wouldn't
...
You have heard the referenced
cheerleading call but do you know its origin? Me neither, until last night when I read about it in the
December issue of QST magazine. That
makes it a legitimate RF-related topic for consuming column space here. ARRL CEO Tom Gallagher wrote
in "Cheers for College Amateur Radio:
Sis-boom-bah!,"
"Dating back to 1867, the onomatopoetic phrase 'sis-boom-bah' imitates the sound of a skyrocket flight (sis),
the burst of the fireworks (boom), and the reaction of the crowd (ah)." You're welcome.
"A research team in Japan developed a technique to quantitatively
evaluate the internal magnetic structure of permanent magnet materials using a neutron beam. A research
team led by postdoctoral researcher Tetsuro Ueno, Elements Strategy Initiative Center for Magnetic Materials
(ESICMM), Research Center for Magnetic and Spintronic Materials (CMSM), National Institute for Materials
Science ..."
Skyworks Solutions is empowering the
wireless networking revolution. Our highly
innovative analog semiconductors are 
connecting people, places and things spanning a number of new and
previously unimagined applications within the automotive, broadband, cellular infrastructure, connected
home, industrial, medical, military, smartphone, tablet and wearable markets.
Skyworks is Hiring! View current openings for SOI
and RF Design Engineers today! Careers at Skyworks
This week's RF Cafe crossword puzzle contains the usual assortment
of engineering and science related words and clues, but there are also a few specific words commemorating
our Thanksgiving Day
holiday (indicated by a asterisk *) that is celebrated each year on the
fourth Thursday of November. Macy's 90th Thanksgiving Day Parade occurs on the morning of November 24th
and follows a route along Central Park West and 6th Avenue. Interestingly, the parade was cancelled
during the World War II years of 1942, 1943, and
...
Friday
Peregrine Semiconductor Corp., founder of RF SOI
(silicon on insulator) and pioneer of advanced RF solutions, announces
the UltraCMOS®
PE45361, a monolithic 100-watt power limiter. The next generation in Peregrine's power limiter product
family, the PE45361 builds on the success of the award-winning 50-watt UltraCMOS power limiters and
adds higher pulsed power handling, a lower limiting threshold and positive threshold control. UltraCMOS
power limiters provide a monolithic alternative to discrete, PIN-diode
...
KR Electronics designs and manufactures high quality filters for
both the commercial and military markets. KR Electronics
manufactures all filter types and individually synthesizes filters for special applications. State
of the art computer synthesis, analysis and test methods are used to meet the most challenging specifications.
Please visit their website today to see how they might be of assistance
...
"Light has been confined to volumes smaller than the size of
a single atom for the first time. The feat, which seemed completely impossible even just a few years
ago, has been achieved by researchers in the UK and Spain. They say that the "picocavity" that confines the light can be thought of as the world's smallest magnifying
glass. It could be used to study how light and matter interact at tiny
..."
The U.S. Patent and Trademark
Office (USPTO) is constantly advertising for examiners. Its workload is
overwhelming and the consequences are significant. Based on information on an extremely well-written
and researched article in the July/August 2016 issue of Popular Mechanics magazine titled "The Greatest American Invention,"
the situation is practically out of control. Similar to many other pieces published in the last few
years, author Scott Eden meticulously outlines the systematic failures of the current patent bureaucracy
and how, as is typical, mostly unqualified lawmakers in an attempt to 'reform' it pass regulations that
make matters ...
"Physicists successfully measured time in
zeptoseconds while watching an electron escape from an atom. This is now the smallest
observed span of time. A team from the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics led the research. They
used lasers to hit a helium atom. They were able to observe Einstein's photoelectric effect in full
swing. Einstein proposed the effect in 1905 and said it happens when light particles (photons) hit an
atom's
..."
"SK Telecom and Ericsson are claiming a first after conducting
5G trials with BMW at a BMW driving center in Yeongjong Island, Incheon, South Korea,
using the 28 GHz band. The companies said the trial showed that 5G performance will support V2X
(Vehicular Connectivity) services that require low latency and consistent
high bi-directional throughput. SK described it as the world's largest millimeter wave 5G trial network
using the 28 GHz band. Known as “T5,” the 5G-based vehicle was
..."
Thursday
Way back around 1996, I slipped
on an icy sidewalk in Colorado Springs, landing on my back and whacking my head on the concrete.
Ever since then, I have had recurring nerve-related issues in my right arm and hand due to cartilage
damage in the
C4-C5 cervical vertebrae region. It is strange to experience a pain that seems to
originate in my fingers, upper arm... The design is neither elegant nor sophisticated;
it's even a little embarrassing. Why embarrassing, you might ask? If you look at the labeled assembly
photo, you will see that the bottom and top mounting components are
...
"Scientists from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology
(MIPT), Semenov Institute of Chemical Physics of the Russian Academy of
Sciences (ICP RAS), and Chuiko Institute of Surface Chemistry of the National
Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (ISC NASU) have proposed a model nanosized
dipole photomotor based on the phenomenon of light-induced charge redistribution.
Triggered by a laser pulse, this tiny device is capable of directed motion at a record speed and is
powerful enough to carry
..."
Skyworks
has released the SKY13592-689LF, a new single-pole, double-throw (SPDT) switch for
mode switching in WLAN applications such as ISM band radios, smartphones and connectivity modules. This
1.0-6.0 GHz device uses advanced switching technologies to maintain low insertion loss and high isolation
for all switching paths. It also delivers high-linearity performance, making it an ideal choice for
low-power transmit/receive applications. Integrated DC blocking capacitors
...
Capacitor
science has evolved at a very rapid rate since the beginning of electronics and electrical circuitry.
Since the early Leyden jar (named after the city where it was invented by Ewald
Georg von Kleist) type capacitor, continual advancements in materials for electrolytes and metal
plates, as well as in packaging, have led to incredibly high storage density, miniature size, high voltage
and current, mounting configuration
...
"The latest edition
of an annual space security index emphasizes that it's getting congested up there, that
space debris
is a growing problem and new space situational awareness tools are needed to detect and track a growing
constellation of satellites used for military and commercial purposes—often both. Along with crowding
at prime slots in geosynchronous orbits, the annual index released this week warns
..."
Codename
"Titanpointe,"
commissioned in 1974, pales in comparison to the
spy centers
built in the last 8 years, but is still looms mysteriously in downtown lower Manhattan. "They called
it Project X. It was an unusually audacious, highly sensitive assignment: to build
a massive skyscraper, capable of withstanding an atomic blast, in the middle of New York City. It would
have no windows, 29 floors with three basement levels, and enough food to last 1,500 people two weeks
in the event
..."
Wednesday
Throughout the design process of the
RTSA 7500 series Wideband Receivers,
Berkeley Nucleonics Corporation's focus on end-user functionality was paramount. On a platform that
supports Real-Time measurements—with the ability to be daisy chained for multi-channel phase coherence—BNC
has shown the world once more that big things come in small packages. With BNC's Wideband Receivers,
a solution is now available for any
...
"The
EO-79/FUNcube-3 satellite has transitioned to Amateur Radio service, now that its
primary mission has been completed. AMSAT-UK and AMSAT-NL have announced that the FUNcube U/V transponder
on the 2U CubeSat QB50p1 has been activated with a regular schedule. Due to power budget constraints,
the transponder cannot be operational 24/7, and an orbit-specific schedule has been developed. The transponder
will commence operation 27 minutes
..."
"Remcom
has announced the release of
Wireless InSite MIMO, a new version of its site-specific radio propagation software
that simulates the detailed multipath of large numbers of MIMO channels while overcoming the increased
level of computations required for traditional ray tracing methods. With a tremendous increase in the
number of connected devices and mobile data demand predicted over
..."
Ryan Aeronautical Company was founded in 1934, and became part
of Teledyne in 1969, and eventually being owned Northrop Grumman in 1999. Ryan, which produced many
airplanes and drones, was perhaps most famous for building the Spirit of St. Louis (Ryan NYP) used by
Charles Lindbergh on his historic transatlantic flight. Ryan also dabbled in jet engines and electronics.
The 'packaged
radar' concept described in this 1952 article was the precursor to modular
...
"Terahertz
radiation can peer through objects to spot hidden items and analyze their chemistry, but today's THz
detectors are typically inflexible and bulky. Now scientists in Japan have for the first time created
a portable, flexible, wearable
terahertz scanner in order to better image objects with curves, including the human
body. Terahertz rays, which lie between the infrared and microwave bands
..."
"Two
proven technologies have been combined to create a promising new technology that could meet future navigational
challenges in deep space. It also may help demonstrate - for the first time -
X-ray communications in space, a capability that would allow the transmission of
gigabits per second throughout the solar system. The new technology, called NavCube
..."
