 Friday the 10th
Thursday the 9th
Wednesday the 8th
 When this "Four
New Sources of Power" article appeared in Radio−Electronics magazine
in 1960, most people had never heard of a fuel cell, the Seebeck effect, thermionic
effects, or magnetohydrodynamics. All had been around as features embedded in common
products in some manner, like thermionics in vacuum tubes. It is pointed out that
Sir Humphrey Davy invented the fuel cell technique in 1802, thermoelectricity by
Thomas Seebeck in 1821, thermionic effects by Thomas Edison in 1878, and magnetohydrodynamics
by Michael Faraday in 1831. Today, all four types of power sources have been integrated
into a host of products. Whereas thermionics was among the most common in 1960,
it might be the least common of the four nowadays...
 This
Bulova Accuquartz wristwatch is not the first quartz-controlled wearable timepiece;
however, it was the first to be manufactured in the U.S. Interestingly, it is not
a fully electronic watch because the quartz crystal stimulates a mechanical tuning
fork which ultimately drives the hands. Bulova's first tuning-fork-driven "Accutron"
was introduced in 1960. It sported a 360 Hz tuning fork that was stimulated
by a pair of electromagnets. The story appeared in a 1972 issue of Popular Electronics
magazine. The retail price at the time (pun intended) was $395, which in 2023 money
is equivalent to $2,832 (per the BLS Inflation Calculator)! I found a couple nice
photos of the Accuquartz...
 "'This partnership will build on SPL's
world-first 5G demonstration from the stratosphere in 2022,' said SPL CEO Richard
Deakin. Funded by Innovate UK, the trials will be at BT's labs at Adastral Park
and 'could offer transformational opportunities for sectors operating in remote
areas such as transport, maritime security and search and rescue,' said BT.
Stratospheric Platform's
(SPL's) antennas are designed to communicate directly with standard 3G, LTE/4G,
5G phones. The eventual aim is to create a 20 kW >3 m diameter version
for flight, with 500 individually steerable beams, each intended to be equivalent
to a cell created by traditional terrestrial masts - delivering up to 150 Mbit/s,
and covering a 140 km diameter, or 15,000 km2 land area. 'Virtually
any shape of beam coverage can be painted on the ground,' according to SPL..."
 There are still many old-timers and beginning
nostalgic collectors out there who nurse heirloom and otherwise procured vacuum
tube radios - like this
Arvin Models 150TC, 151TC combination radio / phonograph - back to health (operating
condition) and/or keep them in good health. While it is possible to purchase schematics,
parts lists, and service instructions from many different models, there are still
some that have escaped the scanners of those publishers. For those kindred spirits
in search of such reference materials, I happily scan, clean up as necessary, and
post this collection (see complete list at bottom of page). I have dozens more that
will eventually be added over time, so check back later or send me an e-mail if
I have an issue (check the lists first, please) of Radio News, Radio-Craft,
etc. known to contain the information you need...
RF Cascade Workbook is the next phase in the evolution of
RF Cafe's long-running series, RF Cascade Workbook. Chances are you have
never used a spreadsheet quite like this (click here for screen capture). It is a full-featured RF system
cascade parameter and frequency planner that includes filters and mixers for a mere
$45. Built in MS Excel, using RF Cascade Workbook 2018 is a cinch
and the format is entirely customizable. It is significantly easier and faster than
using a multi-thousand dollar simulator when a high level system analysis is all
that is needed. An intro video takes you through the main features...
 Triad RF Systems designs and manufactures
RF power amplifiers
and systems. Triad RF Systems comprises three partners (hence "Triad") with
over 40 years of accumulated knowledge of what is required to design, manufacture,
market, sell and service RF/Microwave amplifiers and amplifier systems. PA, LNA,
bi-directional, and frequency translating amplifiers are available, in formats including
tower mount, benchtop, rack mount, and chassis mount. "We view Triad more as a technology
partner than a vendor for our line-of-sight communications product line." Please
check to see how they can help your project.
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 Why go to the trouble and expense when you
can get away with floating a cheap
balloon over all North America? "In the sky over southwest China, a team of
researchers has been testing a new wing design that they said could help unmanned
aircraft better
evade radar. The drone, which has no tail, appears to be a scaled-down version
of the United States Air Force's B2 Spirit bomber, and can fly without the use of
elevators, ailerons or flaps - the hinged moving parts known as elevons that help
control flight direction - according to the researchers. 'Our work is a first,'
the team from the China Aerodynamics Research and Development Centre in Sichuan
province said in a paper published on January 19 in the peer-reviewed journal Acta
Aeronautica et Astronautica Sinica..."
 Direct signal sampling at the antenna has
been the goal of receiver designers since the early days of digital radio. Doing
so eliminates the noise added by the transmission line, and simplifies circuitry
by eliminating mixers, filters, amplifiers, etc. Steady progress has been made toward
the goal, and
direct sampling receivers have been around for many years - limited by the operational
frequency of the integrated circuit semiconductor technology. Here is a good synopsis
of the state of the art, on the Microwaves & RF website (9-minute
video). "Mercury Systems' Ken Hermanny and Rodger Hosking discuss the company's
deployment of Direct RF technology in its signal-processing products for defense
and aerospace applications. While it's not a brand-spanking-new technology, Direct
RF receiver architectures are now coming to the fore in numerous aerospace and defense
applications, such as radar and electronic warfare. Direct RF architectures bring
a host of advantages. For one, they eliminate the need for a mixer or local oscillator
for frequency downconversion...."
 This sort of thing happens all over the
place, and the public is rarely made aware of it. I'm a big supporter of alternative
energy sources, electric cars, etc., but I resent the gas-lighting and outright
lies put out by government, academia, and industry regarding the "greenness" of
it all. "Dozens of giant turbines on Scotland's windfarms have been
powered by diesel generators, the Sunday Mail can reveal. Scottish
Power admitted 71 of its windmills were hooked up to the fossil fuel supply after
a fault developed on the grid. The firm said it was forced to act in order to keep
the turbines warm during very cold weather in December. But a whistleblower has
told the Sunday Mail the incident is among a number of environmental and
health and safety failings.'" Amongst other problems reported is "over 4000 litres
of [hydraulic] oil leaked from hydraulic units on turbines and sprayed over the
countryside." Also does 95% availability seem good to you? That's 57.6 minutes out
of every 24 hours...
November 1969 P-E, p40
AMRAD Model 81 Radio
June 1969 P-E, Kohler p40, Math Quiz p46, I/O Impedances p69
July 1969 P-E, B-Quiz p64
August 1969, Hobnobbing Harbaugh p68
September 1969, Bridge Quiz p68
October 1969, Op Amp Quiz p58
 Here is
Bendix Models 636A, C, D schematic and parts list as featured in a 1947 edition
of Radio News magazine. No operational or alignment information was provided. The
636A is a tabletop radio using five vacuum tubes in the detector and amplifier stages,
and a single vacuum tube rectifier in the power supply. Its shiny Bakelite cabinet
sported an Art Deco style, which was popular back in the day. The images to the
left are from a recent eBay listing, for $60, where the seller says it is in working
condition. As mentioned many times in the past, I post these online for the benefit
of hobbyists looking for information to assist in repairing or restoring vintage
communication equipment...
Supernova bombarding cell frequencies, akin WEF EMP event
Mathematics of equity versus equality
https://chargedevs.com/features/a-closer-look-at-power-factor-correction/
https://phys.org/news/2022-12-panama-huge-copper-dispute.html
 New Scheme rotates
all Banners in all locations on the page! RF Cafe typically receives 8,000-15,000
website visits each weekday.
RF Cafe is a favorite of
engineers, technicians, hobbyists, and students all over the world. With more than
16,000 pages in the Google search index, RF Cafe returns in favorable positions
on many types of key searches, both for text and images. New content is added on
a daily basis, which keeps the major search engines interested enough to spider
it multiple times each day. Items added on the homepage often can be found in a
Google search within a few hours of being posted. I also re-broadcast homepage items
on LinkedIn. If you need your company news to be seen, RF Cafe is the place
to be.
RF Cascade Workbook is the next phase in the evolution of
RF Cafe's long-running series, RF Cascade Workbook. Chances are you have
never used a spreadsheet quite like this (click here for screen capture). It is a full-featured RF system
cascade parameter and frequency planner that includes filters and mixers for a mere
$45. Built in MS Excel, using RF Cascade Workbook 2018 is a cinch
and the format is entirely customizable. It is significantly easier and faster than
using a multi-thousand dollar simulator when a high level system analysis is all
that is needed. An intro video takes you through the main features...
 With more than 1000
custom-built stencils, this has got to be the most comprehensive set of
Visio Stencils available for RF, analog, and digital system and schematic
drawings! Every stencil symbol has been built to fit proportionally on the included
A-, B-, and C-size drawing page templates (or use your own page if preferred). Components
are provided for system block diagrams, conceptual drawings, schematics, test equipment,
racks (EIA 19", ETSI 21"), and more. Test equipment and racks are built at a 1:1
scale so that measurements can be made directly using Visio built-in dimensioning
objects. Page templates are provided with a preset scale (changeable) for a good
presentation that can incorporate all provided symbols...
 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!
 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...
 This assortment of custom-designed themes
by RF Cafe includes T-Shirts, Mouse Pads, Clocks, Tote Bags, Coffee Mugs and Steins,
Purses, Sweatshirts, and Baseball Caps. Choose from amazingly clever "We Are the World's Matchmakers"
Smith chart design or the "Engineer's Troubleshooting Flow Chart." My "Matchmaker's"
design has been ripped off by other people and used on their products, so please
be sure to purchase only official RF Cafe gear. My markup is only a paltry 50¢ per
item - Cafe Press gets the rest of your purchase price. These would make excellent
gifts for husbands, wives, kids, significant others, and for handing out at company
events or as rewards for excellent service. It's a great way to help support RF
Cafe. Thanks...
 RF
Cafe's raison d'être is and always has been to provide useful, quality content for
engineers, technicians, engineering managers, students, and hobbyists. Part of that
mission is offering to post applicable job openings. HR department employees and/or managers of hiring
companies are welcome to submit opportunities for posting at no charge. 3rd party
recruiters and temp agencies are not included so as to assure a high quality of
listings. Please read through the easy procedure to benefit from RF Cafe's high
quality visitors...
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 "White LEDs' reign as the top light source
may soon come to an end with the advent of a new alternative that offers superior
directionality. A photonic crystal or
nanoantenna, a 2D structure with periodic arrangement of nano-sized particles,
is being developed as a cutting-edge optical control technology. Upon exposure to
light, combining a nanoantenna with a phosphor plate produces a harmonious mix of
blue and yellow light. White LEDs have already been improved upon in the form of
white laser diodes, or LDs, which consist of yellow phosphors and blue LDs. While
the blue LDs are highly directional, the yellow phosphors radiate in all directions,
resulting in an undesired mixing of colors. To address this issue, researchers have
developed phosphor plates combined with nanoantennas using metallic aluminum, enabling
increased photoluminescence..."
 "'All things are numbers,' avowed Pythagoras.
Today, 25 centuries later, algebra and mathematics are everywhere in our lives,
whether we see them or not. The Cambrian-like explosion of artificial intelligence
(AI) brought numbers even closer to us all, since technological evolution allows
for parallel processing of a vast amounts of operations. Progressively, operations
between scalars (numbers) were parallelized into operations between vectors and,
subsequently, matrices. Multiplication between matrices now trends as the most time-
and energy- demanding operation of contemporary AI computational systems. A technique
called "tiled
matrix multiplication" (TMM) helps to speed computation by decomposing matrix
operations into smaller tiles to be computed by the same system in consecutive time
slots. But modern electronic AI engines, employing transistors, are approaching
their intrinsic limits and can hardly compute at clock frequencies higher than ~2
GHz..."
 "Scientists in Beijing say they have developed
a generator that can turn hot gas moving at hypersonic speeds into an
intense electric current capable of powering futuristic weapons. The electricity
produced could be used to charge military lasers, microwave weapons, rail guns and
other pulsed energy weapons, according to the team led by assistant researcher Zhang
Xiaoyuan with the Institute of Mechanics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
According to the researchers, the technology could also be used for civilian purposes,
such as devices for producing nuclear fusion energy or to send a burst of strong
SOS signals in an emergency. The reusable air defence system that could protect
China from hypersonic weapons. The device produced more than 10 times the power..."
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