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Sunday 10
 This week's
crossword puzzle has an RF System Analysis theme. Most of the
longer words are terms you will find in cascade calculators such as
Wireless System Designer. Avid cruciverbalists amongst us appreciate
that each week I create a new crossword puzzle that has a theme related to engineering,
mathematics, chemistry, physics, 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 Lamarr). Enjoy!
Friday 7
 Withwave's
Probe Positioner
is designed for precise RF probing measurement using T-probe which have GSG &
GS contact structure. The magnetic switch on metal base plate can be turned on and
off to keep the positioner firmly to its position or moved and lifted to a new position
easily. Its articulated arm is controlled by arm knob at the middle joint that keeps
the arm firm and steady. Features include articulated and flexible joints, easy
to control to X-, Y-, Z- direction using arm knob, and stable test measurements.
Use for RF & microwave module signal
 We're approaching the Sunday, July 20, 1969
anniversary of Apollo 11's landing on the moon, so I figured this article would
be a timely reminder of the contributions made to electronics technology as part
of the immense effort.
Apollo 16 launched on April 16 of 1972 and landed on
the moon on April 19. By then, as with Space Shuttle flights, moon landings
were no longer front page news; The Evening Capital carried the story on page 2.
Popular Electronics magazine editor Snitzer wrote this short piece extolling the
critical role that electronics played in mission success. Apollo 17 flew next
and December 10, 1972, marked the last time mankind ever set foot
 everything RF
has been sponsoring RF Cafe's publication for many years through direct advertising.
They have a very wide presence across the Internet on engineering websites. "everything RF is a product discovery platform for RF &
Microwave Products/Services." They currently have 192,126 Products from more than
918 Companies across 229 Categories in their database and enable engineers to search
for them using the customized parametric search tool. Please visit everything RF
now to see how they can help your project
 "New King's College London research suggests
that sons of older fathers are more intelligent, more focused on their
interests and less concerned about fitting in, all characteristics typically seen
in 'geeks'. While previous research has shown that children of older fathers are
at a higher risk of some adverse outcomes, including autism and schizophrenia, this
new study published in Translational Psychiatry suggests that children of older
fathers may also have certain advantages over their peers in educational and "
 It is true that you can find just about any
type of information you want on the Internet, but do you trust it? Even after two
decades, stories abound regarding how errors are propagated repeatedly on websites
that copy and paste other people's data without any attempt to verify its veracity.
I have fastidiously avoided that on RF Cafe, preferring to use printed material
where available as a resource since it has more often than not been peer reviewed.
Errors still creep in, but relatively infrequently. Besides, having a physical entity
to thumb through, dog ear, and affix sticky notes to is a refreshing experience
compared to saving shortcuts to your computer desktop. "Engineering Formulas," by Kurt and Reiner Gieck costs < $25
 "A discovery of how to control and transfer
spinning electrons paves the way for novel hybrid devices that
could outperform existing semiconductor electronics. In a study published in Nature
Communications, researchers at Linkoping University in Sweden demonstrate how to
combine a commonly used semiconductor with a topological insulator, a recently discovered
state of matter with unique electrical properties. Just as the Earth spins around
its own axis, so does an electron, in a clockwise or counter-clockwise direction.
'Spintronics" is the name used to describe "
Thursday 6
 RF Cafe visitor Neil Blaho just sent me another
eight vintage cardboard slide rule calculators to add to the collection. He provided
eight others a couple years ago. Those, and many more can be viewed on the "Cardboard
Engineering & Science Slide Rule Calculators" page here on RF Cafe. Prior to
ubiquitous portable electronic calculators, most larger companies handed out these
kinds of cardboard slide rules that provided not just useful functionality, but
good advertising for the companies as well. I refer to these handy implements as
 "No one had ever come so close to the ideal
laser before: theoretically, laser light has only one single color (also frequency
or wavelength). In reality, however, there is always a certain linewidth. With a
linewidth of only 10 mHz, the laser that the researchers from
the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) have now developed together with
US researchers from JILA, a joint institute of the National Institute of Standards
and Technology and the University of Colorado Boulder, has established a new world
record "
 Robert Balin created many quizzes for Popular
Electronics over his years with the magazine. This one challenges your ability to
trace out connections without getting confused by crossovers - which is easy to
do. Each of the
six-position switches illuminate a different combination of lamps.
Your job, if you accept it, is to figure out which lamps light for positions 1 through
6. A big list of electronics quizzes is posted near
VidaRF offers a new series of
power dividers / combiners that operate from 0.7 to 6 GHz.
Available in 2-, 3-, 4-, 5-, 6-, 12-, 16- and 32-way configurations. Handles up
to 30 W of power, with low insertion loss. High port-to-port isolation. Excellent
amplitude and phase balance. Operating temperature -55 to +85 °C. Sealed
and painted to meet IP65 standards. Contact VidaRF today to see how they can meet
your needs
 I originally stated that I could not find
a single photograph of a Crosley 6625, 3-band radio. However, RF Cafe visitor Bruce C.
read that and sent me a link to a
Crosley
Model 6625 being advertised for sale in the Boston area on Craigslist (for $350).
A couple images of it can be seen by clicking on the thumbnail
 "Using a state-of-the-art device for measuring
mass, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have
made their most precise determination yet of Planck's constant, an important value
in science that will help to redefine the kilogram, the
official unit of mass in the SI, or international system of units.
Accepted for publication in the journal Metrologia, these new results come ahead
of a July 1 international deadline for measurements that aim to redefine the entire
SI in terms fundamental constants of nature "
Wednesday 5
 ConductRF's LMR RF Cable Assemblies are built
exclusively using Times Microwave Systems class leading LMR range of cable. Lower
loss alternatives to RG cables. DC to 6 GHz solutions. Low loss & low VSWR,
multi-layer 90 dB screening, foamed PE dielectric. Operating Temp -40 ºC
to 85 ºC. Indoor & outdoor jacket options and broad connector choices.
LMR cables are used extensively in military and commercial applications
 TiVO systems are just the latest incarnation
of programmable systems for recording television programs for playback at a later
time. In 1972, Sears announced "plans to market the first integrated videotape cartridge
recording-playback unit for the home." It was part of a package that included a
specially designed 25" color TV, a camera, and a recording / playback unit. The
projected price of $1,600 is equivalent to $9,435 in 2017 money. Earned
engineering degrees had leveled off in numbers by 1971, with a
grand total of 43,167 Bachelor's degrees, primarily electrical engineering. The
ASEE reports that 106,658 Bachelor degrees in engineering were
 "A simple way of encoding a large amount
of information in a single photon has been unveiled by an international team of
physicists led by Michael Kues and Christian Reimer of INRS-EMT in Montreal, Canada.
The technique involves firing a laser pulse into a tiny ring that traps light at
a set of equally spaced frequencies called a frequency comb. This
microring resonator is made from a material with nonlinear optical
properties, which allows two photons of the laser light to combine to create two
photons with frequencies that are distributed across the frequency "
 The IEEE
Spectrum website now has a large collection of stories in its
Chip
Hall of Fame. "To most, microchips are mysterious black boxes sprouting tiny
metal pins, labeled with seemingly random strings of letters and numbers. But for
those in the know, some chips stand out like a celebrity on the red carpet. Many
of these integrated circuits found glory by directly powering products that transformed
the world, while others cast a long shadow of influence over the computing landscape.
And some became cautionary tales in their failed ambitions. To honor tell "
Tuesday 4
 "The Canadian Government has announced that
one of their research teams have made significant progress towards enabling secure
quantum communication via moving satellites. The study, published
in the journal Quantum Science and Technology, demonstrates the first quantum key
distribution transmissions from a ground transmitter to a quantum payload on a moving
aircraft. With anticipated satellite mission, the team at the Institute for Quantum
Computing (IQC) and Department of Physics and Astronomy of University of Waterloo,
Ontario, designed their prototype "
 The Silvertone brand of radios was manufactured
for Sears, Roebuck & Company by Colonial Radio. This particular mid-1930s
Model 4488 that covered broadcast, shortwave, and police bands
was very popular, and the Radio Service Data Sheet published in the June 1937 issue
of Radio-Craft magazine was a full two pages. NostalgiaAir.com has the
more extensive Rider data pack. It had a very ornate wood laminate decor, along
with many 'extra' features found only in high-end radios of the day - such as a
Flash Tuner
 Anatech Electronics manufactures and supplies
RF and microwave filters for military and commercial communication systems, providing
standard and custom RF  filters, and RF products. StandardRF filter and cable assembly
products are published in their website database. Custom RF filters designs
are used when a standard cannot be found, or the requirements dictate a custom approach.
Please take a moment to visit Anatech's website to see how they might be able to
assist with your current project
 "In Congress, July 4, 1776. The unanimous
Declaration of the thirteen united States of America. When in the Course of human
events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which
have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the
separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle
them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare
the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident,
that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain
unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That
to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just
powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government
becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to
abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles
and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect
their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long
established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly
all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils
are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are
accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably
the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is
their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new
Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these
Colonies
Monday 3
 "Unlike most mechanical connectors, wireless
connectors offer the benefit of freedom of movement, which is particularly advantageous
in harsh environments. Wireless-power-transfer (WPT) technology using near-field
magnetic coupling (NFMC) has been gaining a lot of attention, primarily in the area
of wireless charging for applications like smartphone applications. However, there
exists another class of products commonly referred to as 'wireless connectors' (WiCo), or 'wireless couplers,' that utilize
the same physical principles "
 Like most people familiar with electronics,
when
negative resistance semiconductors are mentioned, I immediately
think of tunnel diodes. Negative resistance is the characteristic where in increase
in voltage across the p-n junctions results in a decreased current. Although the
tunnel diode was invented by by Leo Esaki (Sony) in 1957, it is not mentioned anywhere
in this 1969 article. Instead author Wesley Vincent (Motorola) describes the theoretical
operation of 4-layer (3 junction) semiconductors and how they can be biased to mimic
true negative resistance devices. Given that one of the most common applications
 "The Internet of Things' 'security through
obscurity' has been proven once again to not be terribly secure thanks to an angry
and possibly inebriated ex-employee. Adam Flanagan, a former
radio frequency engineer for a company that manufactures remote
meter reading equipment for utilities, was convicted on June 15 in Philadelphia
after pleading guilty to two counts of 'unauthorized access to a protected computer
and thereby recklessly causing damage.' Flanagan admitted that after being fired
by his employer, he used information about systems he "
 "The team at the Ultrasound Research Group
at Neurotechnology in Vilnius use the array of ultrasonic
pulses with feedback from a high resolution camera to move small objects around
in the printer. This is particularly suitable for tiny components such as
chip resistors. By increasing the frequency of the pulses, the
placement resolution can be reduced to a few microns, says Dr Osvaldas Putkis, research
engineer and project lead. Solder balls can be moved around with the array, and
the parts are soldered to the board with a laser for a completely non-contact process.
Neurotechnology develops "
Sunday 2
 This week's crossword puzzle was created
to highlight a specific
engineering school located in the southern hemisphere. Clues with
an asterisk (*) next to them are related directly to the honored school. All of
the rest of the clues and words are pulled from a hand-built dictionary of people,
places, things, and actions that pertain to the topics of science, engineering,
mathematics, physics, astronomy, etc. You will never find the name of a fashion
designer, Prime Time television show, or numbnut celebrity. Enjoy
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