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4 of the March 2019 homepage archives. Friday 8
 "YL" is the shorthand used by amateur radio
operators when referring to female operators -
Young Lady.
Although still chosen as a hobby in larger number by men, ladies have long been
avid participants in the art/science of Ham radio. The American Amateur Radio
League's QST magazine devoted this "YL News and Views" column to their
contributions many years ago - trendsetting in its day. This particular issue
introduces Louise Ramsey Moreau as its new editor. Her interest in Ham radio was
piqued when she realized "all the women heard on their receivers were not 'just
wives,' but licensed operators." The rest, as said, is history...
 Lou Frenzel has a short piece on the Electronic
Design website on a subject near and dear to me titled, "What You Need to Know About Radio Telescopes." I have owned
and enjoyed using a few optical telescopes, but what I have always really wanted
was a radio telescope. Aside from being tremendously expensive because of the extremely
low noise receivers required, the space needed to accommodate steerable, high gain
antennas is prohibitive on my meager budget. There are a few articles out there
on cobbling together amateur radio telescopes, but are basically to "real" radio
telescope what Galileo's first telescope was compared to my
Celestron CPC 800.
An advantage radio telescopes have over optical telescopes is the ability to
operate in just about any weather, day or night...
 NI AWR announces the latest release of the
antenna design, synthesis and optimization module,
AntSyn™
3.1, is now available for use by current customers and evaluators. IoT accounts,
like Striiv, have found this innovative EM-based synthesis tool valuable for
designing antenna solutions for their products. Highlights of the release
include: Additional antennas added to the library bringing the total number of
templates to 537. New antenna types for series-fed patch arrays, as well as new
waveguide-fed, dual-ridge, transverse electromagnetic (TEM) and multifunction
horn antennas...
 Call me obsessive, but the switch to and
from DST has bugged me not so much for its existence, but for butthead politicians
that won't keep their hands off of it. A few years ago I wrote a piece titled, "A Graphical Look at
Daylight Saving(s) Time," to deal with it, and then again last year with, "Daylight
Saving(s) Time vs. Standard Time." Research the history of DST and you will
see how often Congress has changed the days - always for good reasons, don't you
know. In 1958, the year of my birth, DST began on April 27th
 (vs. March 10th this year), and ended on September
28th (November 3rd this year) - See 1958 Old Farmer's Almanac pages. What else can
I say on the matter?
Since 2003, Bittele Electronics has consistently
provided low-volume, electronic contract manufacturing (ECM) and turnkey PCB assembly
services. It specializes in board level turnkey
PCB assembly
for design engineers needing low volume or prototype multi-layer printed circuit
boards. Free Passive Components: Bittele
Electronics is taking one further step in its commitment of offering the best service
to clients of its PCB assembly business. Bittele is now offering common passive
components to its clients FREE of Charge...
 "Researchers have created an optical chip
that appears to solve one of the greatest challenges to developing
optical quantum communication
systems, potentially providing a reliable, cost-effective way to develop quantum
communications. Many of the advanced communications systems being developed
today utilize quantum mechanics to process, store, and transmit information.
harnessing the principle of entanglement, where two particles become so
intimately connected that they act as a single system, no matter how great the
distance between the two particles might be. The problem for optical quantum
systems which rely on photons is that the components that process and store
information require visible-light photons..."
 Centric RF is a company offering from stock
various RF and
Microwave coaxial components, including attenuators, adapters, cable assemblies,
terminations, power dividers, and more. We believe in offering high performance
parts from stock at a reasonable cost. Frequency ranges of 0-110 GHz at power
levels from 0.5-500 watts are available off the sheld. Order today, ship today!
Centric RF is currently looking for vendors to partner with them. Please visit
Centric RF today...
Thursday 7
 Knowing that I am an avid consumer of literature
pertaining to time and astronomy, Melanie picked up a book at the library for me
titled,
Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem
of His Time, by Dava Sobel. When Christopher Columbus discovered
America, his intended target was, if you recall, the Indies. His original
charter was to find a direct westerly pathway from the Atlantic coast of Europe
to the immensely profitable trade production region of the Indies as an
alternative to to sailing around the treacherous Cape of Good Hope at the
southern tip of Africa. How could such an experienced navigator have missed his
mark by so far, you might reasonably ask? Didn't Columbus know how to use a
sextant, or at least have a navigator who could? The answer to the second
question is, "no." The answer to the first question is complicated...
 Transient Specialists, a leader in electromagnetic
compatibility rentals for over 40 years, is excited to bring forward
EM Test Application Note 218 for the PA5840 and Autowave for OEM LV 124.
This test solution allows for a cost-effective option requiring minimum
equipment and can be utilized in conjunction with preexisting test equipment.
Transient Specialists conveniently located in the mid-west offers a variety of
EMC test equipment rentals to accommodate your testing needs. Our rentals
include technical support on the equipment, weekly and monthly rentals, and 2
days each way of transit time...
 If you think
cathode ray tubes
(CRTs) are no longer used in new equipment, think again. Thomas Electronics,
located in Clyde, NY, has been manufacturing, repairing, and refurbishing
cathode ray tubes (CRTs) since 1948. TWTs, x-ray sources, and arc lamps are a
few examples. Give new life to your vintage equipment with a new phosphor
coating or specify a custom replacement. Thomas Electronics' product profile
includes CRTs, high voltage power supplies, LCD backlights, LCD ruggedized
displays, electromagnetic components, deflection coils, & monitors. Environments
testing, magnetics, and custom glass working services are available. Check out
the cool stuff on their website...
 Triad RF Systems' Q1 2019 Newsletter
reveals that our revenue grew over 40% from 2017 to 2018! A portion of the
growth came from our military ultra wide-band power amplifiers, our new CubeSat
product line, and continued strength from the MIMO radio market. Even though our
staff grew over 23%, our profit margins increased as expected, allowing us to
continue to heavily invest in new product development including high power radio
systems. Our space product line and further development of our high powered MIMO
radio subsystems continue to move forward with continued product releases coming
throughout 2019. A summary of new product releases is also presented...
 The early 1960s was evidently a good time
for printing quizzes in electronics magazines. Popular Electronics was
no exception. As I look through my collection I am finding quite a few. Here is
the latest, from the January 1963 edition, that tests basic knowledge of
using analog multimeters (digital types were not around yet). All are pretty
straightforward; however, be careful with question 9. At first I thought maybe
it was a trick question, but the key to arriving at the correct answer is noting
that you are measuring a low resistance. Be sure to consider the properties of a
standard multimeter of the era. Give it a try for yourself to see how well you
fare...
 "By fabricating a nano-MEMS honeycomb lattice,
researchers developed a solid-state device that can function as a
voltage-tunable filter or unidirectional energy coupler for
electrical energy in the 10- to 20-MHz range that's been converted into acoustic-like
phonons. As electronic devices shrink, there's an increasing need for on-chip high-performance
functions such as unidirectional waveguides (isolators), filters, and delay lines,
especially those with key parameters that can be controlled on chip. A team of researchers
from ZTH Zurich and Caltech is using silicon-nitride (SiN) nanomembranes that
operate at high frequencies (10-20 MHz) as conduits for phonons, the
acoustic-like waves passing through a solid or liquid material..."
Since 1961, MECA
Electronics has designed and manufactured an extensive line of
RF & microwave
components for in-building, satellite, radar, radio, telemetry, mobile radio,
aviation & ATC. Attenuators, directional & hybrid couplers, isolators &
circulators, power dividers & combiners, loads, DC blocks, bias-Ts and
adapters & cables. MECA has long been the 'backbone' of high performance wired
and air-interfaced networks such as in-building applications, satellite
communications, radar, radio communications, telemetry applications, mobile
radio, aviation & air traffic communications...
Wednesday 6
 Hugo Gernsback wrote this editorial about
the state of the art of
radio astronomy in a 1953 issue of his Radio-Electronics magazine.
He cites Dr. Jansky's discovery of radio frequency signals emanating from
the center of our Milky Way galaxy, and the subsequent work done by radio
astronomers in the interim. Little did Gernsback know that a mere decade later
later, Bell Telephone Labs engineers Dr. Wilson and Dr. Penzias would
serendipitously discover, using the company's "sugar-scoop" antenna, the
ubiquitous cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR) believed to be a
signature of the "Big Bang" era. He predicted that, as is true for most realms
of theoretical research, much collateral technology would be created as a
result. Ultra low noise, cryogenically cooled receivers are an obvious
example...
 Don't wait
too long to make your plans for attending WAMICON 2019.
It runs April 8th and 9th, in Cocoa Beach, Florida. The 20th annual IEEE
Wireless and Microwave Technology Conference (WAMICON 2019) will address
up-to-date multidisciplinary research needs and interdisciplinary aspects of
wireless and RF technology. The central theme of WAMICON2019 will be "
Simulation Driven Design of Emerging Wireless, Microwave and mm-Wave Circuits
and Systems." The committee welcomes submissions on all aspects of related
technologies, including antennas, passive and active circuits, communication
theory, and system concepts...
 The concept of
quantum computing has always been a bit fuzzy for me - ditto
for quantum entanglement (Einstein called it "spooky action at a distance"). Admittedly,
I haven't done a lot of reading on either technology. Both are still mostly laboratory
curiosities at this point in time. Design News magazine has a brief introduction
titled, "Quantum Computing 101: 5 Key Concepts to Understand" that presents
some of the common terminology. If you like the mathematics of statistics, eigenvalues,
superposition, complex coefficients, 2n-dimensional vectors, and
bra-ket
notation , then quantum computing might just be your thing. BTW, per Wikipedia,
"the ket is an element of a vector space, the bra is technically
an element of its dual space" - I didn't make that up ;-)
 Electronics magazines of the last century
regularly published theme-based crosswords, like this "Electronic
Terminology Crossword Puzzle" one from a 1960 edition of Electronics World.
Working crossword puzzles has been shown to be a simple activity that can help
prevent or at least stave off some forms of mental atrophy. It is a medical fact
that as you grow old and/or cease presenting yourself on a regular basis with
mental and physical challenges, your brain actually begins to lose gray matter
and synapse interconnections are lost. Working crossword puzzles is a healthy
mental exercise that helps increase your vocabulary and improve cognitive
skills. That is one reason I create my own weekly crossword puzzle for RF Cafe
visitors...
 Rohde & Schwarz USA has published a downloadable
white paper titled "Radio Fundamentals for Cellular Networks." In just four decades,
cellular technologies have advanced from 1G analog technologies to advanced high-performance
4G and 5G systems. Learn more about how LTE-A Pro paves the way to 5G NR and how
5G mmWave challenges design and testing of devices below in this newsletter. Also,
stay up to date on the latest industry trends by following our
Wireless Communications channel on LinkedIn for advanced information on the
test innovations we are showcasing, along with the latest technology trends and
our educational resources...
 "An international team of researchers led
out of Macquarie University has demonstrated a new approach for converting ordinary
laser light into genuine
quantum light. Their approach uses nanometer-thick films made
of gallium arsenide, which is a semiconductor material widely used in solar cells.
They sandwich the thin films between two mirrors to manipulate the incoming photons.
The photons interact with electron-hole pairs in the semiconductor, forming new
chimeric particles called polaritons that carry properties from both the photons
and the electron-hole pairs. The polaritons decay after a few picoseconds, and
the photons they release exhibit distinct quantum signatures. The teams'
research was published overnight in the journal Nature Materials. While these
quantum signatures are weak at the moment, the work..."
 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
for amplitude and phased matched VNA applications 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. A partnership with Newark assures fast, reliable
access. Please visit ConductRF today to see how they can help your project!
Tuesday 5
 The General Agreement on
Tariffs and Trades (GATT) has been around for a really long time - since 1947, shortly
after the end of World War II. It changed its name to the World Trade Organization
(WTO) in 1995. Japan was admitted as a GATT signatory in 1964 according to this
Electronics magazine newsletter. One of the conditions for membership
was allowing foreign ownership of businesses on Japanese soil - previously
prohibited. Texas Instruments was the first American company to establish a
presence there. Japanese industry was just getting a foothold on manufacturing
and selling into foreign markets in the mid 1960s, and was still working to shed
its reputation - deserved or not - of producing inferior quality goods.
Increasing foreign presence and dependence on the country's economic well-being
was a good thing for them. In fact, many pundits believe that the globalization
of production is key to preserving peace (or at least not war) between certain
countries...
 The good folks over at IMS ExpertServices,
who have published many great summaries of
technology-related legal disputes, just posted this piece titled, "5G Creates Ripe Environment for Commercial Disputes and Disruptive
Innovation." "Innovations and novel commercial and industrial solutions related
to 5G roll-out will result in new business opportunities. They are likely to also
bring disruption to existing businesses, and intellectual property disputes. To
gain greater insight into how these disruptions and opportunities could effect the
commercial litigation community, IMS interviewed Robert Dezmelyk, IMS Elite
Expert in wireless communications. He offered his insights on the impact of the
next generation of wireless technology..."
 The study of
parallel circuits typically follows on the heels of series circuits because
at least for resistance and inductance, the math is easier. Capacitance in
parallel, on the other hand, use the equations and methods of resistance and
inductance in series. Unfortunately, though, for newcomers, series capacitance
uses the equations and methods of resistance and inductance in parallel. Sure,
most RF Cafe visitors covered all that stuff years ago, but as I've mentioned
before, there are always new people coming into the electrical and electronics
craft. These NAVPER Basic Navy Training Courses were and still are heralded as
being excellent introductory material for students entering the realm. I don't
know if it's still so, but back in the post World War II era and up through the
1980s civilian employers assigned great regard to and preference to for U.S.
Navy (and, ahem, Air Force) electronic technicians when hiring...
 NI AWR has a new white paper exploring the
fundamental design challenges faced when
creating and producing high-frequency modules for a range of wireless system
applications is now available in the ni.com/awr resource library. The paper details
how the NI AWR Design Environment platform supports the design and integration of
these modules in the shortest time possible with the ability to perform circuit,
system and electromagnetic (EM) co-simulation within a single, integrated environment
that also supports interoperability with industry-leading computer-aided design
(CAD) tools ...
 Chris DeMartino, at Microwaves & RF
magazine, has a report on a new filter design and realization technology dubbed
XBAR that was pioneered by
Resonant.
XBAR is a proprietary technique that boasts "a resonating structure that has the
strongest acoustic-wave coupling of any resonating structure on the market right
now. It offers three to four times more bandwidth than the 4G resonators used in
the mobile space right now." Doing so enabled bandwidths in the hundreds of MHz,
and eventually upper frequencies into the GHz realm. Resonant is an IP company
that develops the filter designs and then licenses the technology to
manufacturers for implementation...
 "Scientists from the University at Buffalo
in New York are looking into a common but mysterious phenomena -
static electricity.
Experts believe that this form of electricity could be one day utilized to power
all sorts of electronic devices, provided we find out exactly how it works and
functions. And a new study may shed some light on this strange occurrence.
Researchers believe that the actual cause of static electricity is due to small
structural changes at the surface of materials. These changes arise when certain
materials come into contact with each other, and friction occurs. Scientists
believe this revelation could help in the design and creation of longer-lasting,
sustainable power sources for many small electronic devices..."
 Rohde & Schwarz develops, produces and
markets
test & measurement,
information and communications technology. Focus is on test and measurement,
broadcast and media, cybersecurity, secure communications, monitoring and
network testing. Markets serviced are wireless, the automotive industry,
aerospace and defense, industrial electronics, research and education, broadcast
and media network operations, consumer electronics, cybersecurity for business
and governments, communications and security solutions for critical
infrastructures and the armed forces, reconnaissance equipment for homeland and
external security, and much more...
Monday 4
 Amateur radio operators (Hams) and electronics
hobbyists are always on the lookout for a good deal on a good piece of test equipment
(TE). One way to accumulate a budget minded bench of TE is to find a way to combine
the functions of separate pieces to effect a new instrument. This
RF wattmeter was R.A. Thomason's method. It uses a simple application of
Ohm's law for converting electrical current into power values using a bank of
high power resistors and an external ammeter. Hand-dandy conversion charts are
provided for two different values of detector resistors, but the scales could
easily be changed to accommodate any resistor value. Note that the power
dissipating resistor bank is composed of two series-connected sets of eight
parallel-connected...
 Z-Communications, Inc., announces a new RoHS
compliant fixed frequency phase locked loop model
SFS7500D-LF operating in the X-band. The SFS7500D-LF is a plug and play PLO
allowing for quick integration and designed to produce a fixed signal at 7500 MHz
when utilized with an external 10 MHz reference oscillator. This simple to use PLO
features a typical low phase noise performance of -80 dBc/Hz, -95 dBc/Hz,
and -124 dBc/Hz at the 1 kHz, 10 kHz and 100 kHz offsets, respectively.
The SFS7500D-LF is designed to deliver a nominal output power of -3 dBm while
operating off a VCO voltage supply of 5 Vdc and drawing 120 mA. This
unmatched product features a typical harmonic suppression...
 As radio equipment builders and operators,
we still battle two fundamental issues that have been around since the beginning
of time (well, from Marconi's time, anyway) -
grounding and power supply fluxuations. Both topics are addressed briefly here
in this editorial column from a 1932 The Wireless World magazine. Back
in the day, grounding was referred to as "earthing," and was/is essential to
optimal wireless and wired performance. Line voltage fluxuations are generally
much less severe today than in the 1930s thanks to better transformers,
automated monitoring and adjusting of line voltages, and better distribution
designs. The worst type of power line fluxuation - a lightning-induced surge -
has been greatly reduced thanks to superior engineering, primarily by the simple
running of a grounded neutral "static" wire running at the top of all the lines
below it on utility poles and transmission towers...
 Gowanda Electronics, a designer and manufacturer
of precision electronic components for broadband radio frequency and power applications,
announces the introduction of new broadband microwave
RF conical inductors that provide DC current handling up to 10 Amps - the
highest level in the industry - and low insertion loss. The four new series -
C305FL, C550FL, C750FL and C1000FL - expand Gowanda's conical offerings and will
be featured at the 2019 Optical Networking and Communication Conference &
Exhibition (OFC) being held in San Diego, California from March 5 to 7. Visit
Gowanda Components Group booth #5417 for more information...
 "A crash plan to scale up
solar thermal power generation struggles amidst overly-ambitious
timing and market uncertainty. In the final days of 2018 a 100-megawatt solar thermal
generating station capable of running around-the-clock, 365-days-a-year connected
to the Northwest China regional power grid. It was a race against time to commission
the plant in temperatures as low as -20C - and one that plant designer and
builder Beijing Shouhang Resources Saving Co could not afford to lose. 'We must
finish on time. Otherwise we may face a heavy financial problem,' says Chen Han,
Shouhang's director for international markets..."
 Copper Mountain Technologies
develops innovative and robust RF test and measurement solutions for engineers all
over the world. Copper Mountain's extensive line of unique form factor
Vector Network Analyzers
include an RF measurement module and a software application which runs on any
Windows PC, laptop or tablet, connecting to the measurement hardware via USB
interface. The result is a lower cost, faster, more effective test process that
fits into the modern workspace in lab, production, field and secure testing
environments...
Sunday 3
 Beginning in 2000, I have created hundreds
of custom
electronics-themed crossword puzzles for the brain-exercising benefit and
pleasure of RF Cafe visitors who are fellow cruciverbalists. The jury is out on
whether or not this type of mental challenge helps keep your gray matter from
atrophying in old age, but it certainly helps maintain your vocabulary and
cognitive skills at all ages. A database of thousands of words has been built up
over the years and contains only clues and terms associated with engineering,
science, physical, astronomy, mathematics, chemistry, etc. You will never find a
word taxing your knowledge of a numbnut soap opera star or the name of some
obscure village in the Andes mountains. You might, however, encounter the name
of a movie start like Hedy Lamarr or a geographical location like Tunguska,
Russia, for reasons which, if you don't already know, might surprise you...
These archive pages are provided in order to make it easier for you to find items
that you remember seeing on the RF Cafe homepage. Of course probably the easiest
way to find anything on the website is to use the "Search
RF Cafe" box at the top of every page.
About RF Cafe. I also
have an extensive list of
Recently Added topics.
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