Tuesday the 7th
Westinghouse Electric Company is, alas,
yet another of America's great founding businesses that is fading into oblivion.
Many are already gone, usually having been bought up by foreign conglomerates. In
an effort to be a "global player," we have surrendered our technology, manufacturing,
and brainpower all over the Earth - far too often to countries who would prefer
our demise. Out of thirst for power and money, politicians and bureaucrats bring
citizens of those adversarial countries here to populate positions (usually unelected)
of policy making or enforcing power. Some seem to be here for the purpose of warfare
if called upon (witness the millions of single, military-aged men pouring over our
southern border with no vetting). I worked for Westinghouse at the Oceanic Division
in Annapolis, Maryland, as an electronics technician back in the 1980s. Lots of
very bright engineers motivated me to earn my electrical engineering degree. Northrup
Grumman (still American, surprisingly) now owns that division. Judging by their
website, I'm guessing the primary product there is diversity, equity, and inclusion.
They might also build sonars...
The newest release of RF Cafe's spreadsheet
(Excel) based engineering and science calculator is now available -
Espresso Engineering Workbook™. Among other additions, it now has a spurious
mixer product calculator and capacitance calculator calculator. Since 2002, the
original Calculator Workbook has been available as a free download. Continuing
the tradition, RF Cafe Espresso Engineering Workbook™ is also
provided at no cost,
compliments of my generous sponsors. The original calculators are included, but
with a vastly expanded and improved user interface. Error-trapped user input cells
help prevent entry of invalid values. An extensive use of Visual Basic for Applications
(VBA) functions now do most of the heavy lifting with calculations, and facilitates
a wide user-selectable choice of units for voltage, frequency, speed, temperature,
power, wavelength, weight, etc. In fact, a full page of units conversion calculators
is included. A particularly handy feature is the ability to specify the the number
of significant digits to display. Drop-down menus are provided for convenience.
Now that a more expandable basis has been created, I plan to add new calculators
on a regular basis...
A notice arrived in an e-mail from the ARRL
today saying that the print edition of QST and/or On the Air magazines
are no longer included with the cost of membership, which is increasing from $49/year
to $59/year. The online edition will be included, but it'll cost an additional $25/year
for the print version. I don't have a huge problem with that, but they also say
if I want to continue receiving the print edition which I already paid to receive
through March 2024, it will cost me an extra $6.25. That seems like a
breach of contract
to me. No offer is made to refund me for missed issues if I do not pay the extra
amount. The issue is not so much the money as the principle of reneging on a contract.
Any lawyers out there have an opinion on this?
Werbel Microwave presents a lineup of
50-ohm resistive power divider/combiner models that covers up to 7.2 GHz
with ultra-wide bandwidth. This unique design accomplishes extremely flat frequency
response in a small radial package. Our unique design approach provides higher than
expected isolation between outputs at far ports than would be achieved in a typical
star topology. It has applications in markets such as CATV, test and measurement,
and military radio. Its small size makes it easy to integrate into compact systems.
Werbel Microwave products now sport a unique green finish providing protection against
the elements and easy manufacturer identification in all environments. Designed,
assembled, and tested in the USA...
In July 1966, Popular Electronics
magazine invited its readers to submit examples of ridiculous - implausible remarks
- statements made by people supposedly "in-the-know" about electronics and/or technical
subjects. Space was allotted to it in four later issues, all of which I will eventually
post (update: now done). This initial request included a couple of the editor's
favorite lines. Some of them seem to be more like the speaker punking another person
rather than not really knowing any better. See if you agree.
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are serviced around the world. Products listed on the website link to detailed mechanical
drawings, electrical specifications, and performance data. If you cannot find a
product that meets your requirements on our website, contact us to speak with one
of our experienced design engineers about your project.
Monday the 6th
Fundamentally, not much has changed in the
way
binoculars are constructed versus in 1944 when this article appeared in
Popular Science magazine. Manufacturing methods have, of course, been updated.
At the time nearly all binoculars used a "porro prism" (PP) design (named after
inventor Ignazio Porro), but today many employ a "roof prism" (RP) configuration
(named after... a roof). A search of the pros and cons of each turned up mostly
a regurgitation of the same information, much of which I consider to be very biased
toward roof prism types, including claims that RPs are waterproof and PPs are not
(my Nikon Action EX 7x50 PP binocs are water proof), and that RPs use antireflective
coatings whereas PPs do not (my Nikon PPs have antireflective coatings). As is typical
with most products, the features largely depend on what you pay for the binoculars.
High-end telescope maker Celestron has a good write-up on porro prism vs. roof prism
binoculars. Astronomers, incidentally, prefer prefer prism binoculars over roofing
prism types...
This set of "Word
Charades and Riddles" was presented in the 1958 issue of The Old Farmer's
Almanac. The Charades puzzle solutions are each a single word formed from the
combination of two or more other possibly unrelated words inferred in the clues.
They are not portmanteaus, as in "coplay" for costume player, or "smog" for smoke
and fog. Instead, they are akin to "port," as in the left side of a boat, plus "age,"
as in years since birth, combined as portage, being the act of carrying something.
I have to admit to only getting one of these, and that's after looking at the answer
to another and guessing that there might be some similarity (spoiler: think of Roman
numerals). People must have thought differently in 1958 (the year I was born, BTW)...
"I always attempt to find a photo of the
radio whose Radio Service Data Sheets posted here on RF Cafe. However, none could
be located for this
Columbia Screen Grid 8 (SG-8) radio. It appeared in a 1930 issue of Radio-Craft
magazine, so it was manufactured almost 100 years ago. That might explain why there
are no images of them available, especially if the SG-8 was not a particularly popular
model. There may be, though, examples of this chassis under different brand names,
as mentioned in the date sheet. Wexmark Radio and Allied Radio are two specifically
given. If you have found this page because you have a Columbia SG-8 (in one of its
forms) and are restoring it, please consider sending me a photo for posting...
One aspect of advertising on the RF Cafe
website I have not covered is using
Google AdSense.
The reason is that I never took the time to explore how - or even whether it is
possible - to target a specific website for displaying your banner ads. A couple
display opportunities have always been provided for Google Ads to display, but the
vast majority of advertising on RF Cafe is done via private advertisers. That is,
companies deal with me directly and I handle inserting their banner ads into the
html page code that randomly selects and displays them. My advertising scheme is
what the industry refers to as a "Tenancy Campaign," whereby a flat price per month
is paid regardless of number of impressions or clicks. It is the simplest format
and has seemed to work well for many companies. With nearly 4 million pageviews
per year for RFCafe.com, the average impression rate per banner ad is about 280,000
per year (in eight locations on each page, with >17,000 pages). That's pretty
good exposure for $300 per month. Some companies have expressed an interest in being
able to manage their advertising accounts themselves a la the Google AdSense program...
Anritsu has been a global provider of innovative
communications test and measurement solutions for more than 120 years. Anritsu manufactures
a full line of innovative components and accessories for
RF and Microwave Test and Measurement
Equipment including attenuators & terminations; coaxial cables, connectors &
adapters; o-scopes; power meters & sensors; signal generators; antenna, signal,
spectrum, & vector network analyzers (VNAs); calibration kits; Bluetooth &
WLAN testers; PIM testers; amplifiers; power dividers; antennas. "We've Got You
Covered."
Sunday the 5th
As with my hundreds of previous
engineering and science-themed crossword puzzles, this one for November 5th
uses only clues and terms associated with engineering, science, physical, astronomy,
mathematics, chemistry, etc., which I have built up over more than two decades.
Many new words and company names have been added that had not even been added to
the world's technical lexicon when I started in the year 2002. As always, this crossword
contains no names of politicians, mountain ranges, exotic foods or plants, movie
stars, or anything of the sort unless it/he/she is related to this puzzle's technology
theme. You might, however, encounter the name of a movie star like Hedy Lamarr or
a geographical location like Tunguska, Russia, for reasons which, if you don't already
know, might surprise you. The technically inclined cruciverbalists amongst us will
appreciate the effort. A full list of all RF Cafe crosswords is at the page bottom.
Enjoy!
This assortment of custom-designed themes
by RF Cafe includes T-Shirts, Mouse Pads, Clocks, Tote Bags, Coffee Mugs and Steins,
Purses, Sweatshirts, Baseball Caps, and more, all sporting my amazingly clever "RF Engineers - We
Are the World's Matchmakers" Smith chart design. These would make excellent
gifts for husbands, wives, kids, significant others, and for handing out at company
events or as rewards for excellent service. My graphic has been ripped off by other
people and used on their products, so please be sure to purchase only official RF
Cafe gear. I only make a couple bucks on each sale - the rest goes to Cafe Press.
It's a great way to help support RF Cafe. Thanks...
Windfreak Technologies designs, manufactures,
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project.
Friday the 3rd
If this "War
Metals from Sand" article had appeared in a contemporary magazine instead of
a 1944 issue of Popular Science, I might think it was referring to all the semiconductors
being made from silicon --- sand. However, the story reported on the mining and
processing of sand, monazite sand in particular. At the time, it was the only known
commercial source for thorium. Other rare earth metals are also separated from the
"sand," including cerium, lanthanum, and erbium. The outbreak of World War II
forced the primary source for monazite sand to be changed from India to coastal
CONUS locations like Florida, the Carolinas, and Oregon. In fact, by the end of
the war, the U.S. produced the vast majority of its raw materials, which contributed
to the country establishing itself as a major global economic force in addition
to being a military force. Sadly, we are way too dependent on offshore sources for
both raw materials and manufacturing for some of our most vital products, including
medicine and semiconductors. It doesn't have to be this way, but scumbag politicians,
bureaucrats, and industry leaders (many of whom are foreigners) make far too much
money to allow any other system...
"There are many ways to convert the movement
of liquids into electricity, such as, in the form of hydropower or tidal power.
But there's another kind of movement available in liquids that has rarely been considered
for this purpose -
molecular
thermal motion or Brownian motion. (Albert Einstein famously developed the foundational
theory of Brownian motion, the basis of his Ph.D. thesis, at the University of Zurich
in 1905.) Molecular motion has traditionally been an impediment in engineering on
a nanoscale, but recent developments in nanotechnology have also allowed scientists
to use this phenomenon to their advantage. In a recent study from China, scientists
posit that the internal, molecular motion of liquids could be a source of energy
if only there was a way to harvest it. To demonstrate, they built a prototype of
a molecular thermal motion harvester (MTMH)..."
Radio-Craft magazine used to run a
feature where readers would write in with questions, and someone on the staff would
respond. This March 1935 issue's query requested a table containing
maximum current carrying (fusing) capacities for various wire gauge sizes. Values
of fusing current were provided for 10 through 40 GA, for copper, German silver,
and iron. The "B. & S. Gauge" wire size scale refers to Brown & Sharpe,
which now goes by the designation of American Wire Gauge (AWG)...
Reactel has become one of the industry leaders in the design and manufacture
of RF and microwave
filters, diplexers, and sub-assemblies. They offer the generally known tubular,
LC, cavity, and waveguide designs, as well as state of the art high performance
suspended substrate models. Through a continuous process of research and development,
they have established a full line of filters of filters of all types - lowpass,
highpass, bandpass, bandstop, diplexer, and more. Established in 1979. Please contact
Reactel today to see how they might help your project.
Have you ever heard of a
Mershon condenser? Me neither, but this Crosley Model AC-7 radio used one (or
more), whose Radio Service Data Sheet was published in the May 1930 issue of
Radio-Craft magazine, mentions it. Ohio State University alums are likely familiar
with the name Mershon, if not the man. Ralph Mershon was, among other things, an
early manufacturer of electrolytic capacitors. The data sheet mentions a propensity
of Mershon capacitors to experience breakdown of the electrolyte when the radio
is not used for many months. Rejuvenation is necessary via an included prescribed
procedure to ensure effective operation in removing the 60 Hz hum in the audio...
With more than 1000
custom-built symbols, this has got to be the most comprehensive set of
Visio Symbols available for RF, analog, and digital system and schematic
drawings! Every object has been built to fit proportionally on the provided
A-, B- and C-size drawing page templates (or can use your own). Symbols are provided
for equipment racks and test equipment, system block diagrams, conceptual drawings,
and schematics. Unlike previous versions, these are NOT Stencils, but instead are
all contained on tabbed pages within a single Visio document. That puts everything
in front of you in its full glory. Just copy and paste what you need on your drawing.
The file format is XML so everything plays nicely with Visio 2013 and later...
Anritsu has been a global provider of innovative
communications test and measurement solutions for more than 120 years. Anritsu manufactures
a full line of innovative components and accessories for
RF and Microwave Test and Measurement
Equipment including attenuators & terminations; coaxial cables, connectors &
adapters; o-scopes; power meters & sensors; signal generators; antenna, signal,
spectrum, & vector network analyzers (VNAs); calibration kits; Bluetooth &
WLAN testers; PIM testers; amplifiers; power dividers; antennas. "We've Got You
Covered."
Thursday the 2nd
Mr. Forest H. Belt was, in addition
to being an editor for Radio-Electronics magazine in the 1960s, a prolific
author of electronics handbooks. His publications included theory, design, components,
and operation of radios and various equipment and gadgets - even snowmobiles and
mobile home maintenance. He published this "Can
Electronics Get Much Smaller?," editorial article in the March 1967 issue of
Radio-Electronics. On the surface, it seems like a rhetorical question,
but this statement suggests maybe he thinks that current state of the art had about
reached the practical limit of size reduction: "There are practical limits to just
how small electronic devices can become. At least, there seem to be." The first
commercially available monolithic IC op amp, the μA702, appeared in 1963, just three
years earlier. Surely that could not have represented the pinnacle in electronic
component technology. Mr. Belt imagines miniaturizing existing vacuum tube
designs with newfangled semiconductor equivalents, but did he have the vision to
imagine entire mixed signal (analog and digital) radios on a single chip?...
"Physicists from University of Otago have
used a small glass bulb containing atomic vapor to demonstrate a new form of antenna
for radio waves. The bulb was 'wired up' with laser beams and could therefore be
placed far away from any receiver. Dr. Susi Otto, from the Dodd-Walls Centre for
Photonic and Quantum Technologies, led the field testing of the
portable atomic radio frequency sensor. Such sensors, which are enabled by atoms
in a so-called Rydberg state, can provide superior performance over current antenna
technologies as they are highly sensitive, have broad tunability and small physical
size, making them attractive for use in defense and communications. For example,
they could simplify communications for soldiers on the battlefield as they cover
the full spectrum of radio frequencies, rather than needing multiple antennas to
cover different frequency bands, and are super sensitive and accurate to detect
a wide range of critical signals..."
"One of the least orderly and most poorly
executed of NASA projects," was the description given to the
Surveyor program whose goal was to land on the moon and send back images, both
still and motion (in preparation for a manned landing). That, from a congressional
sub-committee. Yes, the very same Congress that famously cannot balance its own
budget or create successful programs of its own. It is a classic case of "The pot
calling the kettle black." NASA was and always has been at the bleeding edge of
new technology and as such lives in uncharted territory. Unexpected pitfalls lurk
everywhere - a minefield of "gotchas." Not that every organization can't benefit
from external oversight to prevent "blinders-on" engineering and management teams
from straying too far off the defined (though not yet beaten) path, but having the
notoriously pompous and buffoonish bureaucrats of Congress admonish largely creative,
brilliant minds of NASA staff (and their subcontractor teams) regarding landing
an automated craft on the moon for the first time ever is infuriating - then and
now. "Creativity cannot be scheduled," as the saying goes...
Back in the days when I built a lot of prototype
electronic gear, project enclosures were generically referred as a "Bud
Box." Lab stock rooms always had a good variety of sizes and configurations
of the soft aluminum and sometimes plastic boxes that were easily drilled, punched,
filed, and painted to make professional looking equipment. Not all the project boxes
were made by Bud Industries, but just as everyone knows you're talking about a cola
when you say "Coke," it was understood that a "Bud Box" was a chassis for a home-brewed
circuit. They are still seen in construction articles of electronics hobby magazines
today. I have even seen test equipment and utility items for sale that are obviously
in a Bud Box type of chassis. This full-page advertisement for Bud Radio appeared
in a 1930 issue of Radio Craft magazine - a mere two years after opening their doors.
Note the Bud Lightning Arrestor that included $100 of equipment damage insurance
(equivalent to $1820 in 2023 money)...
This assortment of custom-designed themes
by RF Cafe includes T-Shirts, Mouse Pads, Clocks, Tote Bags, Coffee Mugs and Steins,
Purses, Sweatshirts, Baseball Caps, and more, all sporting my amazingly clever "RF Engineers - We
Are the World's Matchmakers" Smith chart design. These would make excellent
gifts for husbands, wives, kids, significant others, and for handing out at company
events or as rewards for excellent service. My graphic has been ripped off by other
people and used on their products, so please be sure to purchase only official RF
Cafe gear. I only make a couple bucks on each sale - the rest goes to Cafe Press.
It's a great way to help support RF Cafe. Thanks...
SF Circuits' specialty is in the complex,
advanced technology of PCB fabrication and assembly, producing high quality multi-layered
PCBs from elaborate layouts. With them, you receive unparalleled technical expertise
at competitive prices as well as the most progressive solutions available. Their
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board providers. Please take a moment to visit San Francisco Circuits today. "Printed
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Wednesday the 1st
Puzzlemeister Edmund Braun refers to his
challenge as an "only-across-word
puzzle." It is similar to others he has created for Radio-Electronics magazine
- this one appearing in the August 1967 issue. Not having "cross-words" running
vertically can make things a bit more difficult, but he does provide at least one
letter for each word. In spite of its era, you shouldn't have too much problems
with most of it. There are a couple component types that are no longer part of the
electronics experience. Others, like number 5, now usually go by a different name
(I mistaken thought it was a variation of gutta-percha, based on the "tt" near the
end). The symbols shown have no bearing on the puzzle, BTW. Of the two longest words,
number 1 is easy, but number 15 will be known only by those familiar with older
analog calculator methods. I'll admit to knowing the root part of the word, but
not the prefix (hint: it begins with "a")...
"Capacitors are among the most commonly
used components on a circuit board. With the ever-increasing number of electronics
devices (from mobile phones to cars), there has been a growing demand for capacitors.
Covid 19 pandemic has [unnecessarily, KRB] disrupted the global supply chain of
components from semiconductors to passive components, and
capacitors have been in short supply. A discussion on the subject of capacitors
could easily become a book or a dictionary. To start with, there are different types
of capacitors such as electrolytic, film, ceramic capacitors, and so on. Then, within
the same type, there are different dielectric materials. There are also different
classes. As for physical construction, there are two-terminal and three-terminal
capacitor types. There's also an X2Y type capacitor which essentially is a pair
of Y-capacitors packaged in one. What about supercapacitors? The fact is, if you
sit down and start reading the capacitor selection guide of major manufacturers..."
This editorial commemoration was written
by Radio-Craft magazine publisher Hugo Gernsback to radio pioneer
Guglielmo
Marconi, who died on July 20th, 1937. He was only 63 years old. Gernsback states,
"The debt which the world owes to Marconi is staggering - if you figure only one
single result of his accomplishments - the saving of tens of thousands of lives
which would have perished in the sea and otherwise, if had not been for Marconi."
The January 1939 issue of Radio-Craft magazine featured an article titled,
"Marconi - Father of Radio?," wherein author Edward H. Loftin challenges the veracity
of Marconi receiving credit for the title. An obituary appeared in this same issue...
"NASA is demonstrating laser communications
on multiple missions - showcasing the benefits infrared light can have for science
and exploration missions transmitting terabytes of important data. The International
Space Station is getting a 'flashy' technology demonstration this November. The
ILLUMA-T (Integrated
Laser Communications Relay Demonstration Low Earth Orbit User Modem and Amplifier
Terminal) payload is launching to the International Space Station to demonstrate
how missions in low Earth orbit can benefit from laser communications. Laser communications
uses invisible infrared light to send and receive information at higher data rates,
providing spacecraft with the capability to send more data back to Earth in a single
transmission and expediting discoveries for researchers. Managed by NASA's Space
Communications and Navigation (SCaN) program, ILLUMA-T is completing NASA's first
bi-directional, end-to-end laser communications relay by working with the agency's
LCRD (Laser Communications Relay Demonstration)..."
Interestingly, a couple models of this
Atwater-Kent radio featured an untuned front end at the antenna interface, possibly
because the adjustment range of the provided variable capacitor would not handle
an extreme antenna impedance. With as basic as all the RF amplifier stages are,
it seems maybe adding a second adjustable capacitor in parallel to facilitate a
wider adjustment range would not have been too big of a cost burden compared to
the advantage of tuning the input in the presence of all the EMI spewing from crappy
electromechanical equipment and minimally filtered transmitters (it was the era
of AM, after all). Note the unusual aspect ratio of the case, being much longer
than it is deep or high. There are many YouTube videos of people having restored
various versions of the radio - models 30, 35, 40, and more...
It was a lot of work, but I finally finished
a version of the "RF & Electronics Schematic & Block Diagram Symbols"" that
works well with Microsoft Office™ programs Word™, Excel™, and Power Point™. This
is an equivalent of the extensive set of amplifier, mixer, filter, switch, connector,
waveguide, digital, analog, antenna, and other commonly used symbols for system
block diagrams and schematics created for Visio™. Each of the 1,000 or so symbols
was exported individually from Visio in the EMF file format, then imported into
Word on a Drawing Canvas. The EMF format allows an image to be scaled up or down
without becoming pixelated, so all the shapes can be resized in a document and still
look good. The imported symbols can also be UnGrouped into their original constituent
parts for editing. Check them out!
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