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Friday 2
Thursday 1
Wednesday 31
 Radio &
Television News magazine was not normally in the practice of instructing retail
outlet salesmen and service shop owners in techniques for hacking their wares, but
this article in the June 1951 issue of Radio & Television News is an
exception. In it, A.W. Bernsohn, Managing Director of the National Appliance &
Radio Dealers Association, extensively outlines many tried and true schemes for
use in convincing customers that they really do need a new, reconditioned, or rental
portable radio for those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer*. Those were the days
long before iPods, Walkmans, and smartphones, when 'portable' meant maybe ...
 "...timeframes are the enemy, they'll figure
out if you're behind schedule if you are too specific." - Jamie Davies, in a telecoms.com
article titled "Euro 5G Consortium Releases Roadmap with No Direction." Thanks
to RF Cafe visitor Bob Davis for the tip
...
 "Researchers have made a new discovery about
metal bismuth that shows potential for the semimetals unprecedented
use in electrical engineering and the development of new materials, they said. Researchers
at the Carnegie Institution of Washington used high pressure and temperature to
reveal what they refer to as 'structural memory' in samples of the metal bismuth,
which allows it to 'remember' its liquid structure even when it is in solid form,
said Guoyin Shen, a researcher in the Geophysical Laboratory at the institute who
led the project ...
 National Instruments (NI) has released
LabVIEW NXG as a return to more codeless development platform, as it began many
moons ago. I used the DOS versions in the 1990s. Maybe NXG stands for 'next generation,'
but more appropriately it would be 'native generation.' "LabVIEW NXG offers engineering
workflows for interactively acquiring, analyzing, and visualizing data sets. Combined
with built-in, drag-and-drop engineering user interface development and inherent
data exploration, LabVIEW NXG is the ideal tool to turn data collection ..."
 Remember Gary Breed
(left, w/me, right, at IMS 2009), editor of RF Design and High
Frequency Electronics magazine? He is a very nice guy and an avid Ham radio
operator (K9AY - weight=56). Gary has an article in the June 2017 issue of
QST magazine titled "2016 ARRL 160 Meter Contest Results." A search on his name returns
many instances of his writings. In 2001, Gary created AY Technologies to market his famous
K9AY Loop antenna.
 "Atomically thin layered transition metal
dichalcogenides such as tungsten diselenide or tungsten disulphide
have been reported to emit single photons, though from seemingly random locations
which makes the study of the actual sources of emission rather difficult, not knowing
precisely where to look for quantum light emitters. So far, the quantum emitters
(QEs) had been assigned to both defects and strain gradients, mostly unwanted and
unpredictable ..."
Tuesday 30
 Anatech has introduced 3 new products for
your convenience: a 10 MHz crystal notch filter with SMA connectors, a 2412 MHz
WiFi cavity bandpass filter with SMA connectors, and a 10-900 MHz LC multiplexer
with N connectors.
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 ...
 "Space technology is one of the military's
fastest growing sectors, and that is reflected in the U.S. Air Force budget request
for fiscal year 2018. The Air Force controls about 90 percent of the military's
space programs. The service is seeking a 20 percent increase for space systems,
requesting $7.7B in the 2018 federal budget the Trump administration sent to Congress
this week. The space request includes $4.3B for research and development and $3.4B
for procurement. Demands for new and improved ..."
 These six 'drive-by' schematics and parts
lists for vintage vacuum tube radios appeared in a 1948 issue of Radio News.
I refer to them as 'drive-by' because there was no description or maintenance verbiage
provided as was more often done. I posted hyperlinked thumbnails of models for which
I could locate photos.
-
Admiral Model 7C64 -
Arvin Model 182TFM -
Belmont Model 6D121 -
Crosley Model 58TK -
General Electric Models 60, 62 -
Westinghouse Model H-165
 Teledyne Defence & Space, a business
unit of Teledyne Microwave Solutions, announced today that it has been selected
to manufacture over 5,000
Filters and Diplexers to support a space payload application
for a large satellite program. In recognition of the company's expanding portfolio
of space-based products and capabilities, last year the former Teledyne Defence
changed its corporate name to Teledyne Defence & Space (TDS). This new contract
award underscores the commitment TDS is bringing to space market ...
 "Aloha! Amateur Radio-related activities will
be part of the IEEE
International Microwave Symposium (IMS) June 4-9 in Honolulu,
Hawaii. IMS is sponsored by the IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society (MTT-S)
and is part of Microwave Week, when the IEEE RFIC Symposium and ARFTG Conference
meet at the same location. Rick Campbell, KK7B, will moderate an Amateur Radio panel,
'Using Amateur Radio to Enhance Engineering Education.' The lineup of presenters
includes 'Mr. Moonbounce,” Al Katz, K2UYH ..."
Monday 29
 "U.S. Navy airborne radio communications
experts needed the ability for low-flying aircraft to receive and network data amid
radio interference caused by ocean wave action. They found their
solution from Rockwell Collins in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Officials of the Naval Air
Systems Command at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md., announced their intention
Tuesday to contract with Rockwell Collins to enable the company's AN/ARC-210 airborne
radio's Ethernet interface to accept data for transport ..."
 Antenova, manufacturer of antennas and RF
antenna modules for M2M and the Internet of Things, is announcing a new antenna,
Grandis, part number SR42I010. It is an SMD antenna that is
physically smaller yet provides enhanced performance in the 863-870 MHz and
902-928 MHz bands. It directly targets the growing number of M2M and IoT applications
using the LPWAN protocols. With Grandis, Antenova has reduced the footprint of the
LPWAN antenna to 12.0 x 11.0 x 1.6 mm, while also enhancing the antenna's performance ...
 "Wi-Fi can pass through walls. This fact
is easy to take for granted, yet it's the reason we can surf the web using a wireless
router located in another room. But not all of that microwave radiation makes it
to (or from) our phones, tablets, and laptops. Routers scatter and bounce their
signal off objects, illuminating our homes and offices like invisible light bulbs.
Now, German scientists have found a way to exploit this property to take holograms,
or
3D photographs, of objects inside a room from outside ..."
Sunday 28
 For
the sake of avid
cruciverbalists
amongst us, 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 26
 Get your SMA torque wrench oiled and calibrated!
VidaRF offers new 64-way power divider model VPD-3442A64,
with a frequency range from 3.4-4.2 GHz. Providing 30 W power as splitter
and low insertion loss. SMA connectors. This model also provides high isolation
port to port (≥20 dB) and excellent amplitude and phase balance (≤±10°). Operating
temp -55 to +85 °C. Sealed and painted to meet IP65 standards ...
 You will be excused for not knowing that
Norelco, famous today (or was it seemingly just yesterday?) for its line of
electric shavers, coffee makers, and cassette recorders, once was famous for its
radio loudspeakers. Norelco also offered a line of wooden speaker cabinets. This
advertisement appeared in the April 1957 issue of Radio and TV News magazine.
"Sink me, the copy writer's a poet," to paraphrase Sir Percy Blakeney from The
Scarlet Pimpernel ..."
 Assurance Technology Corporation has several
positions available for
RF Engineers to design and develop RF receivers for space, airborne and tactical
applications. Frequency ranges include HF, VHF, UHF and above (to K-band). Transmitter
and power amplifier design engineering positions are also available. The facility
is NW of Boston, Massachusetts, outside of the congested city, but near Lowell.
Take a look at the photo of their campus - what a place to work! ...
 Finally! This is the first mention I have
seen of
sixth-generation (6G) cellular networks and equipment... well,
at least since my 2015 article
Proposed
6G Cellular Standard Announced. "5G is not yet standardized, but wireless
carriers know that if they wait to invest they will fall behind... Meanwhile, engineers
at DARPA have created a competition for software defined radios that could completely
change the nature of wireless transmissions. Today's 5G testing and tomorrow's 6G
work were both on display this week ..."
 After a long, tough week, Friday is always
a good time for a little levity. These two
electronics-themed comics appeared in the August 1955 edition of Popular Electronics.
At the bottom of the page is a list with more than 70 other collections of electronics-themed
comics from vintage magazines like Electronics World, Radio and Television
News, Radio Craft, and others ...
 "Four years ago, theoretical physicists proposed
a new
quantum-communication scheme with a striking feature: it did
not require the transmission of any physical particles. The research raised eyebrows,
but now a team of physicists in China claims it has demonstrated that the "counterfactual"
scheme works. The group built an optical apparatus that it says can transfer a simple
image while sending (almost) no photons in the process. The theoretical proposal
was put forward by ..."
Thursday 25
 Fairview Microwave has released 18 new
4.3-10 connectors and adapters with low-PIM performance of -166 dBc
typical and a maximum operating frequency of 6 GHz. Typical applications include
wireless base stations, small cells, custom cable assemblies, antenna feeder cables,
mobile communications systems and distributed antenna systems (DAS). Fairview's
new 4.3-10 connectors and adapters deliver VSWR as low as 1.08:1 and low coupling
torque. They feature silver-plated center contacts and a tri-metal finish. They
feature silver-plated center contacts and a tri-metal finish on the body ...
 Crystalonics is not a name that immediately
comes to mind when thinking about semiconductor manufacturers. They appear in this
1969 article in Electronics World magazine about power field effect transistors
(FETs). Many semiconductor companies came and went in the last days of vacuum tube
active devices. Surprisingly, a Google search revealed that
Crystalonics is alive and well in Ronkonkoma, New York. Per their website: Formed
in 1958, CRYSTALONICS is a broad line semiconductor manufacturer ...
 "Researchers have developed the world's
thinnest metallic nanowire, which could be used to miniaturise
many of the electronic components we use every day. The researchers, from the Universities
of Cambridge and Warwick, have developed a wire made from a single string of tellurium
atoms, making it a true one-dimensional
material. These one-dimensional wires are produced inside extremely thin carbon
nanotubes (CNTs) - hollow cylinders made of carbon atoms. The finished 'extreme
nanowires' are less ..."
 Saelig Company, Inc. has announced the availability
of the BPA low energy
Bluetooth Protocol Analyzer from Teledyne LeCroy - a powerful,
portable protocol analyzer for wireless transmissions that adhere to Bluetooth low
energy specifications. Ideal for field or lab use, the BPA low energy analyzer is
USB powered, eliminating the need for an external power supply. This analyzer supports
all of the mandatory Bluetooth low energy features through Bluetooth version 4.2,
and ships with Frontline software allowing Bluetooth
...
 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 ...
 Glenn Robb, owner of Antenna Test Lab Company,
wrote a white paper titled "The
Benefits of Antenna Testing" which is now available on RF Cafe. Since 2001,
AntennaTestLab.com has evaluated countless antennas and RF transmitter
products. With a fully anechoic chamber, antennas can be quickly developed and RF
products refined and deployed. The key phrase in the paper is "...risks of non-testing
... often lead to impaired wireless system performance and poor product reputations."
That applies to stand-alone, surface mount, and printed antennas. Can you afford ..."
 "You can't see them, but swarms of electrons
are buzzing through the magnetic environment - the magnetosphere - around Earth.
The electrons spiral and dive around the planet in a complex dance dictated by the
magnetic and electric fields. When they penetrate into the magnetosphere close enough
to Earth, the
high-energy electrons can damage satellites in orbit and trigger
auroras. Scientists with NASA's Magnetospheric Multiscale, or MMS, mission study
the electrons' dynamics to better understand their behavior. A new study, published ..."
Wednesday 24
 Shown for the first time a NAB Troll's DMR
series receivers combines a
multi-channel microwave receiver with a remote site diversity
antenna controller. The combination provides a two (2) to eight (8) channel diversity
receiver for remote Electronic News Gathering (ENG) or law enforcement antenna sites.
The DMR processor performs video decryption, encryption, video and audio decoding
for local monitoring and secure IP transport to remote control centers. The DMR's
front panel touchscreen enables live video and audio preview, control and ...
 "A team of researchers from University
of Oklahoma's Advanced Radar Research Center have jointly developed the world's
first numerical
polarimetric radar simulator. The simulator will be used to
study and characterize scattering mechanisms of debris particles in tornadoes. Scattering
debris from a tornado is known to cause most of the damages. A tornado's debris
characteristics are generally poorly understood even though the upgradation of the
radar network to a dual polarimetric radar offers ..."
 "Wishful
thinking is not a good system test practice." -
Glenn Robb, owner of Antenna Test Lab Company of Raleigh, North
Carolina. Glenn happened to use that line in a note to me, and I asked permission
to use it as a Notable Quote ...
 Rod Newkirk was a frequent contributor to
the ARRL's QST magazine. In addition to writing the "How's DX?" column
from 1947 to 1978, he occasionally had humorous short stories related to Hamdom.
Here, Ms. Susie Sopenwater (a sort of 'soap and water' portmanteau;
i.e., pure and clean) gets interested in amateur radio after winning the
Miss America pageant and finds plenty of volunteers to help her earn her license
and set up a 'shack.' Susie's call sign was, WN5P!P. My guess is that the WN5 part
is an allusion ...
 Axiom Test Equipment
allows you to rent or
buy test
equipment, repair
test equipment, or sell
or trade  test equipment. They are committed to providing
superior customer service and high quality electronic test equipment. Axiom offers
customers several practical, efficient, and cost effective solutions for their projects'
TE needs and is committed to providing superior customer service and high quality
electronic test equipment. Please check out Axiom Test Equipment today! ...
 "An important element of any awards ceremony,
of course, is the award itself. And
BrightSparks
2017 would be no different. But to celebrate innovative and young winners we
wanted to avoid familiar, tried and tested trophies and statuettes. Step forward
Saar Drimer, a talented designer, who agreed to customise and create the BrightSparks
trophies. A distinctively unique 'supra-component' of the awards ceremony! The trophies
were certainly well received on the day. Comments we overheard ..."
 Empower RF Systems is conducting
remote live demonstrations of our broadband, high power 1 kW, 1 to 3 GHz
amplifier, Booth 1007. The amplifier will be housed in Los Angeles and viewed in
the Hawaii exhibit venue with live streaming video while remotely controlling the
amplifier from the exhibit floor through a standard web browser. What you will see
is a demonstration of remote operation of the Empower 2170 1 kW RF amplifier
in a test setup that includes a signal generator ...
Tuesday 23
 "The Air Force is working with Raytheon to
integrate
high power electromagnetic (HPEM) capabilities with cyber and
electronic warfare weapons systems to increase the effectiveness of EW weapons through
higher energy pulses and the use of new methods of backdoor penetration. Raytheon,
along with other industry developers, will experiment with and develop the most
efficient and effective way to integrate HPEM technology with cyber and electronic
warfare weapons systems. The goal is to identify the ideal radio frequency ..."
 The subject of
IC-based digital circuits was relatively new in 1969 when this story was printed
in Electronics World magazine and was probably considered expert knowledge.
Note that it was written by a research engineer at the Lockheed Missiles and Space
Company. Today, introductory digital logic courses begin with material presented
here and advance rapidly into programmable logic, ASICs microprocessors, and beyond.
Even if you have already taken courses on digital logic with counters and dividers,
the knowledge might ...
 Reports on which jobs are seeing the fastest growth in a
particular state are to be read with a bit of skepticism because intentional or
not, bias and error are always an integral part of the results. The Monster job
website presents just such a survey, and it is worth looking at since it does give
a good idea of what types of jobs are in demand overall. It might just be accurate
to boot. Evidently electrical and electronics repairers are ...
-
5 Ways to Open Your Next
Business Presentation (unique) -
How Headhunters Use LinkedIn
to Find Talented Candidates -
Engineering Dominates <more...>
 Microwave Journal, R&S, and Wolfspeed
present the free webinar titled
Electromagnetic Spectrum Operations (EMSO) Challenges for Military
Radar and Electronic Warfare Systems, on May 24 at 12:00 pm EST. Presented by Asif
Anwar. "With the commercial market radio spectrum land grab continuing unabated,
this webinar will look at the challenges for radar, EW and communications systems
will include being able to operate effectively in an increasingly congested spectrum
environment developing sharing mechanisms, while also combating new potential threats ...
 ConductRF's FPA
RF Cable
Assemblies provide a cost effective high performance solution for applications
typically supported by Semi-Rigid or high cost flexible precision cables. Our Multi-layer
shielded cable provides both flexibility and form-ability by combining a flexible
spiral foil over which is a tin plated copper braid which can be formed. This create
a half-way situation, but with added benefits of lower costs, improved performance
and enhanced shielding. FPA Cables are available on short lead-times with custom
...
 "A Stanford University research group has
created flexible,
organic semiconductor devices that degrade on the addition of
weak acid, such as vinegar (acetic acid). The results were published May 1 in the
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . The paper was co-authored with
researchers from Hewlett Packard Enterprise and University of California Santa Barbara.
The work is in part motivated by the need to reduce the production of electronic
waste. The proliferation of electronic products, particularly smartphones on two-year
upgrade cycles ..."
Monday 22
 Canadian Ham radio operator Neil Carleton,
a long-time member of the Almonte Amateur Radio Club, contacted me a few months
ago about his amazing collection of
radio-related stamps that has been a lifetime endeavor. Due to health issues,
he has put his entire collection up for bid with Sparks Auctions, a prime handler
of philatelic material. Neil's stamps are being offered on Tuesday, May 23 and Wednesday,
May 24. These sets are bound in hand-designed albums and would make an excellent
investment or gift for yourself, a deserving friend or relative, or even as a donation
to a museum. Please take a look:
Lot
846, Lots 1466, 1467, 1468, and Lot 1469 . Thanks!
 "Radar experts at BAE Systems will continue
maintaining, upgrading, and operating a global distributed radar network that provides
missile defense and early warning of enemy ballistic missile launches and potential
threats in space. Officials of the U.S. Air Force 21st Contracting Squadron at Peterson
Air Force Base, Colo., announced a $48.5 million contract modification Wednesday
to the BAE Systems Technology Solutions & Services segment in Rockville, Md.,
to manage, operate, maintain and logistically support the
Solid State Phased Array Radar Systems ..."
 "Researchers in the USA and Germany have
claimed the first radio frequency (RF) measurements on
β-crystal gallium oxide (β-Ga2O3) metal-oxide-semiconductor
field-effect transistors (MOSFETs). The team from Air Force Research Laboratory
(AFRL) in the USA, Leibniz Institute for Crystal Growth in Germany, and George Mason
University and KBRwyle in the USA further claim record-high transconductance and
frequency characteristics. 'The RF result is achieved through the reduction of contact
resistance, due to a highly doped cap layer, and through the use of a gate ..."
 Believe it or not, there are still radio operators
using
Citizen Band (CB) and Business Radio (BR) equipment. That's right, cellphones
(which are themselves radios) have not totally supplanted
traditional radio for person-to-person communications. Prior to the widespread use
of cellphones beginning in the mid-1990s, CB and BR were the only radios available
for use by laymen without an individual license. When I worked as an electrician
between high school and entering the U.S. Air Force, my service truck was equipped
with a radio dispatch transceiver in the LMRS band ...
 "Physicists have used interferometry to detect
the minute
tidal forces acting on individual atoms exposed to a local gravitational
field. This allowed them to measure the curvature of space–time on a very small
scale and argue that their observations are perhaps 'the first of gravity in a quantum-mechanical
system.' The team adds that its sensitive apparatus might also improve prospecting
for oil and minerals. Tidal forces arise due to the finite size of gravitating objects.
When one body is attracted to ..."
 "Quantum physicist Mikko Mottonen and his
team at Aalto University have invented a
quantum-circuit refrigerator, which can reduce errors in quantum
computing. The global race towards a functioning quantum computer is on. With future
quantum computers, we will be able to solve previously impossible problems and develop,
for example, complex medicines, fertilizers, or artificial intelligence. The research
results published this week in the scientific journal, Nature Communications, suggest
how harmful errors in ..."
 Dr. Andrei Muller, progenitor of the
world's first 3D Smith
Chart software program, has teamed with a handful of able colleagues to release
this commercial version of this paradigm-changing design and analysis tool. 3D Smith
Chart enables you to visualize S-parameter data in ways not possible from the Flatland
dweller's perspective that is the traditional 2D Smith chart. Flatland existed
in a plane, and from an observer's perspective a 3-dimensional object entering the
plane from along the Z-axis seemed to appear out of nowhere ...
 Planar Monolithic Industries (PMI) recently
introduced eight new products in their extensive line of RF and microwave components.
The most interesting is the
Feasibility Study on PMI RF Radar Sense & Avoid Systems for
Small UAS (Unmanned Aerial Systems), i.e., a drone carrying radar. Also
included are a couple 16-way power combiners, an EW receiver module, an and amplifier.
Contact PMI today for more information ...
Sunday 21
 For the sake of avid
cruciverbalists
amongst us, 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). This week's puzzle grid
is in the shape of a circulator. Enjoy ...
 Empower
RF Systems is a global leader in power amplifier solutions. Products include
high power RF amplifier modules, amplifier systems, and custom designed amplifiers.
 Investments in both hardware and software engineering
are yielding next generation products with significant size, weight, and interface
functionality advantages over legacy products in the market
...
Friday 19
 In 1969 when this article appeared in
Electronics World magazine,
laser technology was still in the realm of rare earth elements and bulky gas
chambers with monster power
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