- RF Cafe Homepage -
          RF, Microwave, Wireless, Cellular, Radar, Satellite, & Analog Engineering

Tech Headline News

- Archives -

FCC More Than Quintuples Legal Definition of 'Broadband' (this is sure to be challenged in court)

Belichick's 'DeflateGate' Explanation Falls Flat on Technical Details (who really cares?)

FCC: Hotels That Block Personal Wi-Fi Hotspots Will Get Busted

Global Public Wi-Fi Network Grows to 50M Worldwide Wi-Fi Hotspots

Office Puts Chips Under Staff's Skin (IF I were to ever to voluntarily get chipped, don't think I'd have that guy do it)

SSTV Transmissions Scheduled from the International Space Station

Sniffing RF Emissions to Secure the Internet of Things

FCC's AWS-3 spectrum Auction Ends at Record $44.9B in Bids

Insiders Pose Top Threat to DOD Networks

Space Probe Launched to Study Aurora Borealis

Software Firms Resist Giving China Source Code So They Can Insert 'Back Door' Capability

Intel 5th Gen vPro Goes 60 GHz Wireless

Tesla Model S P85D's 'Insane Mode' Lives up to Its Name (definitely watch the video)

Apple Reports Largest Profit in History of Mankind (thanks in part to OWS types who love Apple products - I'm just say'n)

Black Hawk Helicopters, Truck-Sized X-Ray Machines to Secure Super Bowl...

FCC "Paperless" Amateur Radio License Policy Goes into Effect on February 17

Samsung and Apple Continue to Lead as Top Global Semiconductor Customers in 2014

War Advertising Council Advice:
Pay Raises Are Bad

Pay raises are bad for the country. That was according to the Office of War Information's War Advertising Council's full-page spread in the 1945 edition of Radio News magazine. According to their logic, you requesting or expecting - even accepting - a pay raise was damaging to the country's war effort because the ultimate result was increased prices for end users of products and services. It was an argument against inflation at a time when inflation was low . At the time, people had the best interest of the country at heart and, especially with the fate of the free world on the line, were largely willing participants. Having so many family members serving in foreign lands in a battle to beat back …

Notable Tech Quote
David Sarnoff

"Television is likely to do more to revolutionize politics than sound broadcasting did. Political candidates may have to adopt new techniques to benefit from visual radio: their dress, their smiles and gestures, all will be important. How they look, as well as what they say, may determine to an appreciable extent their popularity. The eyes of the public will be upon them." - David Sarnoff, head of RCA, in his annual report on the state of television and radio. March 1948 Radio Craft magazine.

Cosmic Radio Signals
from Sun and Stars

National defense needs have pushed back the frontiers of science and technology since time immemorial. Mechanics, chemistry, medicine, mathematics, psychology, astronomy, electricity, and as of the late nineteenth century, electronics. Astronomy was useful as a navigational tool and required a very sophisticated knowledge of geometry and algebra to make it accessible to seafaring men, cartographers, and land surveyors. Since the early 1900s, radio astronomy has played a huge role in the advancement of super-sensitive receiver designs. Most people think of information arriving to them in two or maybe three forms: sound, visible light, and some (but not many) even consider radio waves. As over-the-air AM and FM radio broadcasts die out, even fewer people are aware of radio …

Author:
Kirt Blattenberger

Practical Radar

After having begun my electronics career in the USAF as an airport surveillance radar technician, my interest is always piqued by articles on the subject. Like so many other types of electronics, radar is so common today that not many people think it is anything special - just another convenience that has been around for as long as they can recall - and indeed it likely has been since radar was first put into practical operation in the early 1940s. In 1945, the last year of World War II, Radio News magazine ran a multi-month series on radar system theory of operation and design. When I look at the detailed block diagram, it brings back …

Werbel Microwave Intros
12-18 GHz Power Divider

Werbel Microwave designs and manufactures custom power dividers to your specification with no minimum order. The 2PA1500 shown here covers 12-18 GHz with 1.5:1 VSWR, 17 dB minimum isolation and 0.6 dB maximum insertion loss. Its footprint is only one square inch. SMA female.

Super Bowl XLIX:
A Roman Numeral Review

If you have a hard time interpreting - or even care about - the Roman numerals used to designate which number in the Super Bowl series this Sunday's game represents, you're in good company. My guess is that most people might be able to interpret a number like III as 3, or even XXXVIII as 38, but something like XLIX (49 - this year's Super Bowl number) causes Excedrin headache number XXIV to set in. Even if you are are familiar with the Roman numeral system, did you realize that there is no character to represent zero (0) or that negative Roman numerals do not exist, formally, either? Zero was considered sacrilegious back in the day because it was considered an affront to a Creator who, it was reasoned, could never create nothing so there was no need for a number to represent what didn't exist …

Hogarth in Echophone Radio Ads

Hogarth is a comic character invented by the Echophone Radio Company. Their bespectacled Army grunt was one of the first technology nerd types who always managed to appear with pretty girls. His caricature evolved quickly over the two or three year run of the advertisements. Most Echophone Radio ads I have seen either feature Hogarth and his woman/women or Hogarth and a demanding sergeant. This full-page advertisement appeared in the August 1945 edition of Radio-Craft magazine. Echophone radios can still be found on eBay for fairly low prices - often less than the … 

Pasternack Announces
New Product Manager

Pasternack Enterprises, Inc., a leading manufacturer and supplier of RF, microwave and millimeter wave products, welcomes Mr. Tim Galla as the company's Product Manager for Active RF Components. Mr. Galla brings 25+ years of product development, applications engineering and business development expertise to Pasternack from many of the RF/microwave industry’s most recognized names. Mr. Galla has a successful track record of developing and introducing market-differentiating products and creating new market …

RF & Microwave Articles

This is my second batch of useful RF & microwave articles for 2015 editions of the industry's premier engineering magazines. The selection, as always, reflects my personal preferences, but I do throw in a few that just plain look interesting. It's shaping up to be a great year for articles.

- Software-Designed Instrument
   Revolution,
   B. Driver & V. Fernandez
- Internet of Things Focus,
   M. Ouzillou, R. Yu,
- Wideband Omnidirectional
   Microwave Cloaking,
   N. Cohen
- Extracting Space from
   Aerospace & Defense,
   D. Robinette
- Metamaterial Resonators:
   Theory and Applications,
   U. Rohde, A. Poddar
- The Myth Called "Ground,"
   B. Archambeault <more>

Ultrasonic Communications

That ultrasonic communications has not proved to be a reasonable means of transmitting information from one location to another - even over fairly short distances - is borne out by the obvious lack of such systems today. With all the technology available in the form of electronics, mechanics, and software, if it were possible to efficiently and effectively implement systems of ultrasonic communications, such devices would be as common as the current plethora of wireless systems. Some early research efforts at ultrasonic communications were published in a 1945 edition of Radio News. Regardless of the era, the electromagnetic frequency bands are always deemed to be too crowded so researchers …

Lee de Forest: Broadcasting
- As I Imagined It ...

Dr. Lee DeForest might have had something like National Public Radio (est. 1970) in mind when he penned this article in 1933. In it, the famous vacuum tube amplifier inventor lamented and criticized the commercialization of broadcasts because of all the paid product announcements (aka commercials) that had been steadily increasing over the years. He also was critical of the "hit-or-miss, higgeldy-piggeldy mélange program basis" of programing; i.e., the same station playing a mix of jazz, opera, swing, syndicated story-telling, etc. The good doctor did not elaborate on where funding for such dedicated, uncorrupted broadcasts would originate if not from paying advertisers, and I do not recall ever reading about a DeForest Radio Network paid for by his vast fortune. I don't …

Sivers IMA Launches
77 GHz Radar Sensor

Sivers IMA is expanding its radar sensor portfolio by launching a 77 GHz radar sensor. "The need for measuring distance, depth, speed or position in different products operating in harsh environments is growing and our radar sensors provide an excellent and cost effective way of doing that," says Robert Ekström, CEO of Sivers IMA. The new 77 GHz sensor complements the existing sensors in the 10 and 24 GHz frequency bands. With its higher frequency, it delivers a signal …

BeRex Intros WB Digital VGAs
Needing Only Single 3V Supply

State-of-the-art digital variable gain amplifiers provide very low power consumption. BeRex today announced the BVA303 and BVA305, 6-bit DVGA (Digital Variable Gain Amplifiers) offering high linearity, low noise and require only a single 3V power supply, thereby reducing the power consumption. Both DVGAs are capable of working at up to 4GHz without external matching components and are provided in a space saving 4x4mm, 24- pin QFN package. Designed primarily for 3G/4G wireless infrastructure equipment, satellite radio and other high …

A.C. Generator for Automobiles

AC alternators replaced DC generators back in the 1940s as demand for conditioned electrical power in vehicles rose beyond that needed for ignition and lighting. Radios are the most notable additions, and because AM broadcasts were the dominant method of the day for commercial stations, noiseless electrical supplies were required. Spark-induced noise from ignition systems was bad enough since its frequency varied with engine RPM, but the DC generator's commutator sparking noise - much of it right smack in the audio frequency range - was just too much for the public to endure if widespread acceptance of radio was to be realized. Remember that in the era, a radio was not standard equipment in cars and trucks so customers needed …

Technical Punography

One of Melanie's old (and getting older...☺ ) college friend posted this list on Facebook. There is evidently no end to the amount of cleverness out there. Enjoy.

- When chemists die, they
   barium. 
- I know a guy who's addicted to
   brake fluid. He says he can
   stop anytime.
- I'm reading  a book about
   anti-gravity. I can't put it
   down.
- Broken pencils are pointless.
-  √☺ * √☺ = ☺
- They told me I had Type A
   blood, but it was a Type O.
        <many more>

Super Bowl XLIX Partyware

You have just enough time to get your last-minute Super Bowl party gear at a good price. Standard shipping is free, as is 2-day service if you're a Prime member. I justify promoting the Super Bowl as an RF Cafe Featured Product because of its relevance to the posting I just did on Roman numbers. Anything you buy on Amazon after than clicking on this thumbnail helps pay my bills. Thanks.

Electronic, Distributed Configurations

The extensive unification of Byzantine fault tolerance and SMPs has investigated flip-flop gates, and current trends suggest that the study of agents will soon emerge. In our research, we verify the evaluation of linked lists, which embodies the essential principles of cryptoanalysis. Here we prove that Markov models and superpages can synchronize to fulfill this objective. Unified ubiquitous communication have led to many natural advances, including the partition table and lambda calculus. In this position paper, we prove the improvement of access points …