Today in Science History -
 Here is another trio of vintage electronics-themed
comics from Radio-Craft magazine. Two are part of illustrator Frank Beaven's
"Radio
Terms Illustrated" series, where readers would write in with suggestions and
Mr. Beaven would put the ideas in ink. These two are "Poor Reception, and "Regeneration."
If you look at the bottom of the page, you will find a big listing of other comics,
with many of the other "Radio Terms Illustrated" instances ("High Potential," "Signal
Generator," "Overload Capacity," "Amplitude," "Transmission Loss," etc.) labeled.
Enjoy!
 Each autumn I used to anxiously await the
appearance of the newest edition of The
Old Farmer's
Almanac on the store shelf, and such was the case with this 1982 issue. It is
not that I was/am an avid farmer, just that I enjoy reading the anecdotes, tales,
and interesting historical tidbits included amongst the pages along with tables
of high and low tides, moon and sun rising and setting times, astronomical events,
and weather patterns expected for the year that lay ahead. Most of all, I liked
working the puzzles and riddles. Over the years the difficulty levels gradually
got lower and lower (aka dumbed down), to the point where for the last decade or
so I have not even bothered buying the OFA. Now it is full of numbnut stuff. Because
quite a few of the Mathematical Puzzles from the older editions are worthy of an
engineer's cerebratio
 Rohde & Schwarz has produced a webinar
entitled "Pulse
Stability Measurement of Radar Signals," which is available for viewing on their
website. They appreciate your registering, but if for some reason it doesn't work,
click on the thumbnail above to go directly to it. "With the arrival of sophisticated
radar and communication systems, phase noise has become the most important factor
engineers focus on during the design and validation phase. Phase stability is the
key parameter for defining target acquisition in radars, spectral integrity in communication
systems and precision beam steering capabilities in active electronic scanned array
antennas (AESA)..."
 It is important to concentrate your transmitter
power into the proper beam if you wish to deliver the best signal to the other fellow's
receiving antenna. This has logically led to the popularity of the Yagi beam antenna
on the higher-frequency amateur bands. A beam antenna for the 80-meter band should
have a 140-foot reflector and a 77-foot boom on a 250-foot tower. This makes the
beam antenna impractical for the 80-meter band, and even for 40-meter operation
a full-size Yagi is a forbidding structure to the neighbor's narrow-minded view
- even a well-trained XYL might view such a monster beam with alarm. There is no
easy solution to the need for a good DX antenna at low frequency, but the conical
monopole antenna may be of interest to the more eager radio amateur as a more practical
solution. The
conical
monopole antenna is a base-fed vertical antenna that has an omni-directional
pattern in azimuth but with an elevation...
 Axiom Test Equipment, an electronic test
equipment rental and sales company, has published a new blog post that aims at informing
people about the importance of carbon neutrality and about the different test equipment
that support it with the help of
regenerative energy. It suggests a thinking-out-of-the-box approach regarding
how "test applications can strive for low carbon footprints by characterizing the
quality of a device under test (DUT) that supports carbon neutrality, such as regenerative
energy in an EV's charging system. Efficient use of energy is possible by feeding
power generated by a DUT during the measurements back to the power grid, rather
than dissipating the energy as heat lost to the environment." On a single DUT (Device
Under Test) basis that might seem insignificant, but when hundreds of millions of
vehicles are being tested of time, the energy saved can be enormous...
 Exodus Advanced Communications is a multinational
RF communication equipment and engineering service company serving both commercial
and government entities and their affiliates worldwide. Power amplifiers ranging
from 10 kHz to 51 GHz with various output power levels and noise figure
ranges, we fully support custom designs and manufacturing requirements for both
small and large volume levels. decades of combined experience in the RF field for
numerous applications including military jamming, communications, radar, EMI/EMC
and various commercial projects with all designing and manufacturing of our HPA,
MPA, and LNA products in-house.
 It is little wonder that advancements in
technology, mathematics, finance, medicine, chemistry, and other disciplines requiring
massive
numerical
computation began accelerating at a rapid pace following the invention of computers.
The mechanical computers of Blaise Pascal and Charles Babbage were some of the earliest
attempts to make laborious, repetitious calculations faster and less error prone,
and they quickly led to many other types of general- and special-purpose machines
that by the mid-twentieth century were calculating ballistic flight paths, astronomical
positions, electrical circuit functions, probabilities, and other quantities. Programmable
electronics computers like the ENIAC greatly enhanced the ability to apply mathematics
to just about any problem. However, even by the early Apollo era the government
and private institutions employed teams of human calculators to crank out large
volumes of tabular data...
 "China launched the first module for its
space station into orbit late Wednesday, but the mission launcher also reached orbit
and is slowly and unpredictably heading back to Earth. The Long March 5B, a variant
of China's largest rocket, successfully launched the 22.5-metric-ton Tianhe module
from Wenchang Thursday local time... Designed specifically to launch space station
modules into low Earth orbit, the Long March 5B uniquely uses a core stage and four
side boosters to place its payload directly into low Earth orbit... this core stage
is now also in orbit and is likely to make an uncontrolled reentry over the next
days or week as growing interaction with the atmosphere drags it to Earth. If so,
it will be one of the largest instances of uncontrolled reentry of a spacecraft
and could potentially land on an inhabited area..."
 Windfreak Technologies designs, manufactures,
tests and sells high value USB powered and controlled radio frequency products
such as RF signal generators, RF synthesizers, RF power detectors, mixers, up /
downconverters. Since the conception of WFT, we have introduced products that have
been purchased by a wide range of customers, from hobbyists to education facilities
to government agencies. Worldwide customers include Europe, Australia, and Asia.
Please contact Windfreak today to learn how they might help you with your current
project.
 Anyone who has done a lot of
electronics troubleshooting - especially on a wide variety of hardware - knows
that proficiency depends on acquiring a 'feel' for how things ought to be. An oft-given
example is that bank tellers and store clerks are taught to spot counterfeit bills
not by showing them what all the different phony currency looks like, but what real
money looks like. That way, anything that does not look familiar is readily apparent.
The same philosophy has served technicians and engineers well since the beginning
of electrical and electronic circuits. The more senses that can be drawn upon to
facilitate troubleshooting, the more quickly you are likely to pinpoint the problem.
Depending on the symptoms of the failure, sniffing the assembly for toasted or cracked
components and looking for discolored areas is a good first step for catastrophic
scenarios. Broken wires and failed solder joints are very common causes, as are
partially plugged-in or contaminated...
 Triad RF Systems, a leading designer and
manufacturer of innovative RF/Microwave amplifiers and integrated radio systems
for challenging environments, is proud to announce that in partnership with Blue
Canyon Technologies (BCT), now a wholly owned subsidiary of Raytheon, a Triad RF
amplifier is providing high
RF power in the transmitter of a BCT nano-satellite. The units are presently
stored in the Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft which docked with the International
Space Station (ISS) in February of this year. The spacecraft is part of the NG-15
commercial resupply mission and will remain attached to the ISS until May. The BCT
nano-satellite powered by the Triad RF amplifier will be released from Cygnus on
the return trip. Once launched, it will be enabling the ultra-long range data communication
link needed to continuously monitor the spacecraft from earth...
 "There were few bright spots in the pandemic
summer of 2020. One of the most dazzling was the flight of U.S. astronauts to the
International Space Station and their safe return to Earth aboard a commercial spacecraft
from SpaceX. This demonstration was significant for many reasons, one of which was
that it suggested a future in which NASA, freed from the demands of getting people
to low Earth orbit, could aim much farther. Perhaps as far as Venus. Excitement
over a possible mission to Venus was stoked by the (now somewhat disputed) discovery
of phosphine gas - a possible sign of microbial life - in that planet's atmosphere.
But the second planet from the sun has such an
extreme environment that the longest-lasting lander, the Soviet Venera 13, was
able to send data for only 2 hours and 7 minutes. The average surface temperature
on Venus is 464 °C..."
 Withwave manufactures an extensive line of
metrology quality coaxial test cable assemblies, connectors (wave-, end-, vertical-launch,
board edge, panel mount), calibration kits (SOLT), a
fully automated
4-port vector network analyzer (VNA) calibrator, between- and in-series connector
adaptors, attenuators, terminations, DC blocks, torque wrenches, test probes &
probe positioner. Special test fixtures for calibration and multicoax cable assemblies.
Frequency ranges from DC through 110 GHz. Please contact Withwave today to
see how they can help your project succeed.
 At the end of World War II, much of
the basic technology developed under the cover of secrecy was made available to
the public for the purpose of stimulating research and development for commercial
purposes. As with selling surplus material to the American public at significant
discounts, the plan was to reward citizens for a five-year-long sacrifice in the
effort to beat back the advances of Communism, Socialism, Marxism, and the other
oppressive forms of "isms" around the world. History shows that the effort resulted
in a major post-war era of prosperity and a general feeling of well-being by the
country. This
Sperry Gyroscope Company advertisement appeared in a 1946 issue of Radio-Craft
magazine, promoting its development of gyroscopically stabilized marine radar. Other
magazines of the era and into the 1970s...
 Here is an interesting article on the EE
Times website entitled, "Radar
Safety Warning: 'Don't Cross the Streams'." In it, author Junko Yoshida tells
a tale of potential problems that can emerge when a highway filled with radar-equipped
vehicles need to content with each other's broadcasts. He begins, "The little-noted
issue of radar safety is emerging as a potential Achilles heel of driver-assist
and highly automated vehicles: radar signals interfere with each other. Radar has
become an essential sensing modality complementing CMOS imaging cameras. Radar works
in all weather conditions and enables a range of automated driving features, including
automatic emergency Brakes (AEB). But radars can be foiled or faulty if they end
up, like Ghostbusters' particle accelerators, crossing each other's streams..."
 Here is an interesting article that appeared
in a 1962 issue of Popular Electronics magazine discussing some of the
early electronic system developments that were based on
sensory elements found in nature. I'm a bit surprised and disappointed that
the author made the mistake of equating a bat's sound-based detection and navigation
system to radar rather than sonar. Yes, the principles of operation are the same
regarding transmitting a signal and then computing the distance based on the round-trip
time of the reflected signal, but there is a fundamental difference between radar
which uses radio (the 'ra' part of radar) signals and sonar which uses the sound
(the 'so' part of sonar) signals. I would bet that if I had the following December
or January edition of the magazine, I would find a letter to the editor...
 Each autumn I used to anxiously await the
appearance of the newest edition of
The Old
Farmer's Almanac on the store shelf, and such was the case with this 1981 issue.
It is not that I was/am an avid farmer, just that I enjoy reading the anecdotes,
tales, and interesting historical tidbits included amongst the pages along with
tables of high and low tides, moon and sun rising and setting times, astronomical
events, and weather patterns expected for the year that lay ahead. Most of all,
I liked working the puzzles and riddles. Over the years the difficulty levels gradually
got lower and lower (aka dumbed down), to the point where for the last decade or
so I have not even bothered buying the OFA. Now it is full of numbnut stuff...
 PCBONLINE supplies complex rigid and flex-rigid
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the need for multiple phone call and/or e-mails.
 This
Wireless Theme Crossword Puzzle for May 2nd has many words and clues related
to RF, microwave, and mm-wave engineering, optics, mathematics, chemistry, physics,
and other technical subjects. 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 (e.g., Reginald Denny or
the Tunguska event in Siberia). The technically inclined cruciverbalists amongst
us will appreciate the effort. Enjoy!
 To some extent, I agree with the readers
of Radio-Craft magazine who wrote to editor Hugo Gernsback complaining
about the lack of opportunity available to radio servicemen returning from the battlefield
at the end of World War II. As noted in this editorial entitled, "Radio
Industry Unfair?," many are people who sold or took leave from their established
electronics service and/or stores in answer to their country's call to go abroad
to fight for the free world. However, Radio-Craft was, throughout 1945,
filled with advertisements by electronics manufacturers promising jobs and opportunities
and anticipated demand for representation by service shops and sales outlets. Evidently,
it did not turn out to be so, at least to the degree predicted. Gernsback does have
a good point, though, that if the letters submitted to him are an indication...
 Artech House today announced the publication
High-Throughput Satellites, by Hector Fenech. This exciting new book discusses
the motivation for the evolution of a new breed of High Throughput Satellites (HTS)
that have emerged from traditional communications satellites. It explores the commercial
sectors and technical context that have shaped HTS. The historical underpinnings
of HTS are provided to highlight the requirements that dimension these satellites.
A survey of operational GEO HTS systems is also included. Readers will understand
the technical, operational and commercial context of HTS systems, as well as the
performance of the current HTS system. This initial breed of satellites was limited
to geostationary satellites, but it is quickly projecting into low earth orbit (LEO)
constellations, often referred to as mega-constellations. The industrial and operational
facets of LEO constellations are challenging...
Exodus Advanced Communications is a multinational
RF communication equipment and engineering service company serving both commercial
and government entities and their affiliates worldwide. Power amplifiers ranging
from 10 kHz to 51 GHz with various output power levels and noise figure
ranges, we fully support custom designs and manufacturing requirements for both
small and large volume levels. decades of combined experience in the RF field for
numerous applications including military jamming, communications, radar, EMI/EMC
and various commercial projects with all designing and manufacturing of our HPA,
MPA, and LNA products in-house.
 The
Victorian era ran from
1837 through 1901, years prior to the 1955 advent of
Nixie tubes, but
I get what Clive "Max" Maxfield means when he wrote his article entitled, "Add
Victorian Charm with Segment Displays and Nixie Tubes." Only a valvephobe (my
word) could fail to appreciate the pleasing ambience contributed by the warm, orange
glow of a vacuum tube. Max's article on the Design News website begins,
"Modern incarnations of the technologies of yesteryear - such as Nixie tubes and
21-segment Victorian displays - add charm to modern devices. My current hobby project
involves creating a 21st Century incarnation of a super-tasty 21-segment Victorian
display technology. I will explain more in a moment, but first... I don't know about
you, but I'm a big fan of the
steampunk aesthetic, which I feature in many of my hobby projects. This is especially
true in the case of display technologies. Take Nixie tubes, for example..."
 "In my judgment, it will be only a few years
before all
police departments will be equipped with radio," Superintendent A. A. Carroll,
Grand Rapids Police Department. Such a statement could have been deemed risky -
or even career-ending back in the late 1920 to early 1930s when radio communications
was still in its infancy. A lot of public figures denounced radio for anything other
than a means of receiving entertainment at home. After all, the equipment was physically
large and very power hungry. It was considered folly by many people to believe that
an automobile's electrical generation capability would ever be able to power a vacuum
tube receiver, much less a transmitter that would have enough range to be useful.
Still, police and fire departments forged ahead and became some of the leaders in
technology implementation. It was a huge deal in 1930 when a police station installed
radios in its fleet of patrol cars, often requiring special fund raising activities
or raiding of funds originally set aside for other projects...
 The
2021 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium (IMS2021) and Microwave Week,
the world's largest event for RF and microwave technology will be presented in a
hybrid format, comprised of in-person and virtual participation options. With 200
exhibiting companies, IMS2021 will be host to the industry's top innovators. The
in-person event will be held June 7-10, 2021 at the Georgia World Congress Center
in Atlanta, GA. A virtual event will follow on June 20-25, 2021 with on-demand content
available through the end of July. The theme for both events is "Connecting for
a Smarter, Safer World." Registration is now open and there are a variety of options
to provide as many people as possible the opportunity to participate. Registration
for in-person IMS or RFIC gives access to the merged IMS and RFIC symposiums, technical
lectures on Monday, and the exhibition...
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