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Monday 19
 Here is another one of those advertisements that you
would probably never see in today's
electronics
magazines, but its theme was fairly prevalent up through about the 1970s. There is fundamentally
nothing offensive about it; men have always endeavored to gain the favor of women. However,
society has since been bullied by name-calling, finger-pointing, full-of-themselves celebrities
and media into being afraid to acknowledge innate, harmless propensities of everyday people.
The natural has been ...
 This e-book probably applies to most RF Cafe visitors.
"Electrical and Electronics Engineers - Occupational Outlook" is available
as a free download. "Considering a career as an electrical and electronics engineer? These
professionals design, develop, test and supervise the manufacturing of electrical equipment,
including motors, communication systems and power generation equipment. This guide provides
all the necessary information and resources to get started. Find out everything you ..."
 Long-time EDN columnist
Martin Rowe just published a short piece about the issue of storing archival
data. His example included family photos and movies as well as data files from vintage software.
Mr. Rowe points out that most programs only open files from a couple generations back,
so unless you are diligent about re-saving files in newer versions as they are released, you
could find yourself having to keep or re-acquire (try eBay) older versions if you want to
access your information. Go back into the 1990s and you'll need an OS that can run 16-bit
software ...
 At IMS 2017, everything RF has introduced the most
powerful
website builder tool for product driven engineering companies. You no
longer need to go to a developer or agency and spend large amounts of money to get your website
developed. BuildBot.io starts at only $100 / month and enables you to build a powerful website
where you can add your complete product catalog, press releases / news stories, events, distributors,
application notes and white papers and much more. Lead generation is also built in to the
platform, allowing you ...
 'All-wave' radios were all the rage in the 1930s. Such
technological marvels (they truly were back in the day) gave listeners access to not just
local commercial broadcasts, but to radio stations around the world. Farm families and suburb
dwellers suddenly became nouveau cosmopolitans. It was akin to how the Internet, aka the 'Information
Superhighway,' provided on-demand access to stored data in the 1990s. 'Onramps' like RF Cafe
provided organized, classified venues for the teeming masses. But, I digress... Not only were
new radios being designed as all-wave, but tuning ...
 "In the semiconductor industry, there is currently
one main strategy for improving the speed and efficiency of devices: scale down the device
dimensions in order to fit more transistors onto a computer chip, in accordance with
Moore's
law. However, the number of transistors on a computer chip cannot exponentially increase
forever, and this is motivating researchers to look for other ways to improve semiconductor
technologies. In a new study published in Nanotechnology, a team of researchers at SUNY-Polytechnic ..."
Sunday 18
 This week's tech-themed
crossword puzzle,
as is the case every week, contains only words pertaining to engineering, amateur radio, science,
physics, mechanics, mathematics, etc. If you want to exploit your knowledge of movie star
names, obscure towns in obscure countries, movies, literature, television shows, or clothing
designers, then you will need to find yourself an edition of the NY Times or
the Boston Herald ...
Friday 16
 There's not a much better way to wrap up a work week
than to read through a short
technohumor (I just made up that word) novel by Carl Kohler
or John T. Frye. Reading a few technocomics (another made-up word)
by various illustrators is a great resource, too. This story, which appeared in a 1970 issue
of Popular Electronics, is another episode in the life of technotinkerer
(a "Maker" in today's lingo) Kohler (who
also drew a lot of the technocomics) and his skeptical helpmeet
(for good reason) 'Friend-Wife,' as he unveils his repurposed
homebuilt UNIversity computer ...
 "Huawei has successfully completed testing the second-phase
of
5G radio technology in China. During the C-Band test in the Huairou District
of Beijing, Huawei adopted 5G New Radio (5G NR), Massive MIMO and other technologies using
the entire available 200 MHz bandwidth to achieve over 6 Gbps of single-user downlink throughput
and over 18 Gbps of cell peak rate. The world's first Huawei 5G test terminal, utilized for
radio technology verification, enabled more than 100 channels of on demand 4K UHD video from
a single 5G base ..."
 Queen's University Belfast researchers have discovered
a way to create and move extremely thin
electrically conducting sheets inside a solid, possibly leading to movable
ephemeral transistors. The material concerned is the 'improper' ferroelectric Cu-Cl boracite
Cu3B7O13Cl. Within this material, even a single crystal of this material, multiple electrostatic
domains - regions in which electric charges are aligned - can be created. The boundaries between
these domains - the domain walls, which are 2D sheets a few ...
 For more than a decade, RF Cascade Workbook 2005™
has been the de facto standard for spreadsheet-based RF system cascade analysis.
Wireless System Designer™ is the next phase in the evolution. If you know how to
use Excel and you know anything about cascaded system calculations, then you know
how to use Wireless System Designer™. This is significantly easier and faster than
using the multi-thousand dollar simulators when a quick system analysis is all that is needed.
An intro video takes you through the main features ...
 "Germanium is beginning to replace gallium arsenide
(GaAs) for fast radio frequency transistors that are less expensive and also compatible
with silicon and CMOS. At the 2017 Symposia on VLSI Technology and Circuits in Japan earlier
this month, European research institute Imec presented a pair of papers showing gate-all-around
(GAA) transistors that outperform standard CMOS below the 10-nm node plus have source/drain
contacts with billionth-of-an-ohm resistance. The super fast sub-10-nm SiGe GAA transistors
used strained Ge ..."
Thursday 15
 'DXing' is amateur radio shorthand for long distance
communications. While there is no formal exact distance beyond which an operator has officially
made a 'long distance' contact, a generally accepted range is maybe 50 miles or so. To some
extent,
DX is relative to the equipment and power being used. For instance if you have a maximum
legal transmitter output power of 1500 watts and an optimally sited, mounted and tuned, high
gain antenna, with low loss transmission cable, and super sensitive receiver, etc., and make
a successful contact 100 miles away, no one would ...
 "The Army is 'taking a hard look' at its flagship tactical
communications network after receiving more negative reviews from the field, said Chief of
Staff Gen. Mark Milley. He listed several issues plaguing the Warfighter Information Network-Tactical,
known as WIN-T: it is too complex to operate in combat conditions, it is not as
transportable as it needs to be, and it is not completely secure from cyber intrusions. This
is clearly bad news for the Army, as deployed soldiers depend on WIN-T for voice and data
communications around the world ..."
 Withwave's
Vertical Launch Connectors
are specially designed for solderless vertical PCB launch on test & measurement board.
These connectors have excellent electrical transition performance up to 50 GHz as well
as reduce installation time by eliminating soldering. DC to 50 GHz, 2.4 mm type
(female, male), excellent vertical transition
(VSWR <1.3), easy & solderless installation on designed
substrate ...
 The free whitepapers, pamphlets, books, magazines,
and chapter examples listed here are a small sample of a lot of new items that are offered
for FREE through
TradePub. The publishers make them available to qualifying
people as a promotional campaign for their full line of offerings. Note: I earn a few pennies
(literally) when you download one of these or the many other
pubs available, so please help yourself ...
 Since 2001,
Antenna Test Lab Co has evaluated countless antennas and RF transmitter
products. With a fully anechoic chamber, antennas can be quickly developed and RF products
refined and deployed. Mounting surfaces like drywall, glass, wood, and even curved metal
simulated
automobile available. The price for a standard resolution
2D or 3D field pattern plot is only $450 - for
a passive or radiating antenna. That is an incredible deal!
 "Europe's
Galileo SatNav system has received a boost with the addition of two new
satellites to its existing network. The total number of satellites in the Galileo Network
is now 16 (including these two). These two satellites are part of the the four Galileos that
were launched by Ariane 5 on 17 November. The new satellites will now accordingly broadcast
timings and navigate signals worldwide while also picking up distress calls across the planet.
The growing number of Galileo users around the world will draw immediate benefit from the ..."
Wednesday 14
 As mentioned often here on RF Cafe, especially
with an ever-increasing amount of devices and appliances with "no user serviceable parts inside,"
the demand for electronics technicians is as great today as it was decades ago. Associated
equipment is significantly different now and a lot more of it consists of swap-out modules
and assemblies rather than performing repairs in the field. However, there still exists a
significant amount of
legacy electronics everywhere, and it all needs to be maintained until upgrades are installed.
There ...
 "NASA's
Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) has awarded rides for three small spacecraft on
the agency's newest rocket, and $20,000 each in prize money, to the winning teams of citizen
solvers competing in the semi-final round of the agency's
Cube Quest Challenge. The three winning teams secured space to launch
their CubeSats on Exploration Mission-1, the first integrated flight of NASA's Space Launch
System (SLS) and Orion spacecraft. Once deployed, the CubeSats will vie for a share of a $5
million prize in the first-ever competition in deep ..."
 Anatech Electronics 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 products for your convenience: a 6000 MHz stripline bandpass filter with
SMA connectors, a 105-115 MHz
user-tunable
VHF filter with TNC connectors, and a WiFi cavity bandpass filter SMA connectors ...
 Friends, former
employees, and fellow lovers of all things electronic, we are gathered here today to remember
and honor our lifelong friend and enabler of our hobby and passion,
Radio
Shack - once a Tandy company, as we are familiar with it. Radio Shack has lingered in
failing health for a decade, all the time keeping a brave face on its dwindling number of
stores. Caretakers attempted a variety of infusions and transplants in an attempt to save
the American stalwart electronics retailer. Alas, a confluence of poor management ...
 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. Whitepaper topics include careers,
manufacturing, and engineering, while magazine titles include Microwaves & RF,
Military & Aerospace Electronics, and Microwave Product Digest ...
 "Researchers based in Belgium and Finland have used
silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrates to improve the
electrical isolation of p-type gallium nitride (p-GaN) high-electron-mobility
transistors (HEMTs). The team, from imec and KU Leuven in Belgium and Okmetic Oy in Finland,
sees electrical isolation as being vital for monolithic power circuits such as half-bridge
layouts with transistors biased at significantly different levels. Such isolation is difficult
when devices are placed on a common conductive substrate ..."
Tuesday 13
 If you have of know a young'un who is trying to decide
on a career path, you might want to download this
STEM 101 - Intro to Tomorrow's Jobs e-book - for free via your Facebook
or LinkedIn account. "Science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) jobs are the way of
the future. These fields employ the world's top innovators to solve the problems of today
for a better tomorrow. If you want to pursue a career in STEM, look no further. This Career
Outlook will show you the wages, employment opportunities ..."
 What were some of the top issues of the radio and television
industry 50 years ago? In a lot of respects, the same things that concern it today. A ready
supply of
service technicians was a concern that was taken seriously by the Electronics Industry
Association (EIA). While there are not many local repair shops for electronics products nowadays,
there is still a huge demand to techs who are willing and able to do the hard work of keeping
the world's communication infrastructure operational - climbing towers, repairing cell equipment
(BTS units, network computer racks, landlines, etc.). Now, as then, good pay ...
 The
TTRM1010 is a Bi-Directional SSPA for small to medium size UAS applications.
In addition to its broad frequency range it also contains internal DC conversion circuitry
that allows it to be powered by an input voltage range of 9-36 VDC. This class A GaAs
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. The latest device technologies and design methods are employed ...
 ConductRF is
continually innovating and developing new and improved solutions for RF Interconnect needs.
See the latest TESTeCON
RF Test Cables for labs. ConductRF makes production and test coax cable assemblies as
well as standard & precision RF connectors. Over 1,000 solutions for low PIM in-building
to choose from in the iBwave component library. They also provide custom coax solutions for
applications where some standard just won't do. Please visit
ConductRF today
to see how they can help your project!
Quasiparticles Could Lead to Faster Circuits,
Higher Bandwidths
 "Zhe Fei pointed to the bright and dark vertical lines
running across his computer screen. This nano-image, he explained, shows the waves associated
with a half-light, half-matter
quasiparticle moving inside a semiconductor. 'These are waves just like
water waves,' said Fei, an Iowa State University assistant professor of physics and astronomy
and an associate of the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory. 'It's like dropping a
rock on the surface of water and seeing waves ..."
Monday 12
 The 2017 Electromagnetic Spectrum Summit, June 20-21,
in Alexandria, Virginia, will focus on emerging concepts, technologies and challenges that
exist within the ever-growing domain of
electromagnetic spectrum operations. As EW warfighting continues to evolve in complexity,
it is clear that EW systems must work collaboratively across multi-domains. Management and
manipulation of the EMS by the DoD allows our nation to gain ...
 This nomogram (aka nomograph) provides a 'simple' method
for determining the
coupling coefficient (ke) of air core transformers for RF circuits where the
operational wavelength is much longer than the physical length of the transformer. Modern
circuit simulators can calculate such quantities at the blink of an eye, but in 1969 there
was no simple method for doing it. In fact, a lot of design work back in the day was done
using nomograms because given all the impreciseness of circuit layout and component tolerances,
there were enough tunable elements provided ...
 The Electronic Design Innovation Conference and Exhibition
(EDI CON) USA, the first industry event to bring together RF/microwave and high-speed digital
design engineers and system integrators, announced today the addition of the
European Radar Summit to its conference program at the Hynes Convention
Center, September 11-13 in Boston, Mass. EDI CON USA 2017 is building on its inaugural 2016
conference with multiple parallel tracks covering RF/microwave, high-speed digital and EMC/EMI
topics. The conference features extended tutorials and short courses on ...
Cheaper, Easier Resistance Standard Ohm
on a Chip
 "Researchers at the U.S. National Institute of Standards
and Technology (NIST) and Carnegie Mellon Univ. in Pittsburgh, Pa., have deposited a
graphene film on silicon carbide to produce a
quantized ohm-on-a-chip. The advance, several years in the making, promises
a practical device for measuring electrical-resistance that is easier and less expensive to
make, and less demanding to operate, than the current generation of standards fabricated from
GaAs and AlGaAs. Both the graphene and the GaAs/AlGaAs standards depend on ..."
 A team of researchers at the Israel Institute of Technology
has developed a new capacitor with a metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) diode structure that
istunable by illumination. The capacitor, which features embedded metal
nanoparticles, is similar to a metal-insulator-metal (MIM) diode, except that the capacitance
of the new device depends on illumination and exhibits a strong frequency dispersion, allowing
for a high degree of tunability. This new capacitor has the potential to enhance wireless
capability ...
Sunday 11
 This week's crossword puzzle has a wireless technology
theme with words which are terms you will find in news stories and text books. 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. Enjoy ...
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