Homepage Archive - July 2017 (page 3)

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.

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See Page 1 | 2 | 3 of the July 2017 homepage archives.

Monday 31

Shakespeare CB Antenna Advertisement

Shakespeare CB Antenna Advertisement, February 1970 Popular Electronics - RF CafeUh-oh, here we go again. This is yet another advertisement from a vintage electronics magazine that would never make it past the politically-correct editors of today's cowardly corporations. We live in a time of hypersensitive weaklings who benefit from an army of lawyers standing ready to come to the aid of anyone who is the least bit offended. The same people who tell the rest of us that we must not just tolerate, but accept and endorse their idiosyncrasies, are the first to cry foul when faced with something that insults their sensibilities (a lot are just compulsive agitators). My guess is that Shakespeare's antenna sales were boosted by the ad ...

With Narrowband the Path to IoT Is Wider

With Narrowband the Path to IoT Is Wider - RF Cafe"If Machina Research, and countless other analyst firms are right, and the number of IoT connected devices grows to something like 27bn by 2025 - then the networks available to carry all the data they will produce are going to need a whole lot more capacity, and quickly. Of course, there is no shortage of work taking place within standards bodies such as the 3GPP as they try to figure out the best way to service the anticipated explosion in demand. And maybe unusually - at a time when businesses demand, figuratively speaking, ever wider bandwidth for data - one ..."

ConductRF Flexible RF Cables to Replace Semi-Rigid or Hand Formable

ConductRF Flexible RF Cables to Replace Semi-Rigid or Hand Formable - RF CafeConductRF's LSA coaxial RF cables provide one of the most optimum and cost effective solutions for applications as diverse as alternatives to Semi-Rigid cabling, where complex forming is required, to easy to install jumper cables inside densely packaged RF enclosures where EMI is of concern. Features: DC to 18 GHz, low loss & low VSWR, multi-layer 90 dB screening, broad connector ...

Microstrip Cross-Coupled Filter Design

Webinar: Microstrip Cross-Coupled Filter Design - RF Cafe

Technical Education Webinar Series Title: Microstrip Cross-Coupled Filter Design, Date: August 2, 2017, Time: 8am PT/ 11am ET, Sponsored by: Sonnet Software, Presented by: Daniel G. Swanson, Jr., Abstract: This presentation builds on a previous webinar where we designed a microstrip combline filter. In this webinar we will explore adding a cross-coupling to the microstrip combline. We will add a capacitive cross-coupling that will produce a transmission zero on the low side of the passband. There are several ways to physically realize the desired cross-coupling. We will explore these options before choosing the final ...

Tech-Themed Comics

Electronics-Themed Comics, June 1969 Electronics World - RF CafeThese couple tech-themed comics appeared in the June 1969 issue of Electronics World magazine. The one on page 52 is a bit short-sighted even for its era given that any advanced civilization would likely no longer use vacuum tubes. The comic on page 61 made me chuckle out loud when I saw it. That one is worth printing out and framing to hang in the lab or outside an electronics professor's office door. A big list of other electronics-themed comics is at the bottom of the page ...

Poll: What Is Your Job Title?

Poll: What Is Your Job Title? - RF CafeRF Cafe often receives more than 15,000 page views each day (about half that on weekends). An average of 2.5 pages viewed per visit calculates to about 6,500 unique visitors per day. That is 39,000 visitors per week, and 2,000,000 visitors per year (4-5 million page views / year). It would be nice to get a good profile on visitors. Nearly all the e-mail I receive comes from engineers, technicians, students, and hobbyists, but I do not know the degree to which they represent the website visitor cross-section. Please cast your vote to help decide the issue. Thanks ...

Sunday 30

Please Welcome Copper Mountain Technologies !

Copper Mountain TechnologiesPlease welcome Copper Mountain Technologies as RF Cafe's newer advertiser. Copper Mountain Technologies develops innovative and robust RF test and measurement solutions for engineers all over the world. Copper Mountain Technologies Vector Network Analyzers - RF CafeCopper Mountain's extensive line of unique form factor Vector Network Anaalyzers 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 ...

Radar & Radio Engineering Crossword Puzzle for July 30, 2017

Radar & Radio Engineering Crossword Puzzle for July 30, 2017 - RF CafeThis week's radar and radio engineering-themed crossword puzzle, as is the case every week, contains only words pertaining to science, engineering, amateur radio, physics, mechanics, mathematics, etc. Herein you will never find words having to do with numbnut actors or world leaders, mountains in places nobody has ever heard of, or portmanteaus constructed from words describing freakish social behavior ...

Friday 28

The Field-Effect Transistor

The Field-Effect Transistor, August 1972 Popular Electronics - RF CafeAlthough the first patent for a field effect transistors (FET) was assigned to Julius Edgar Lilienfeld in 1925, it was not until sometime around 1960 that the first commercial product was available - a MOSFET designed by Dawon Kahng and Martin M. (John) Atalla at Bell Labs. This article from a 1972 issue of Popular Electronics introduces the hobbyist readers to properties and uses for the by-then common junction FET (JFET) and MOSFET. Nowadays, MOSFETs are the backbone of the vast majority of integrated circuits ...

Fairview Microwave High-Rel Hermetically Sealed SMT VCOs

Fairview Microwave Launches High-Reliability Voltage-Controlled Oscillators in Hermetically Sealed SMT Packages - RF CafeFairview Microwave, a supplier of on-demand microwave and RF components, has released 16 new voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) models covering bands from 10 MHz to 4350 MHz. Unlike traditional oscillators with a single fixed frequency, VCOs allow the frequency of the output signal to be varied by adjusting the amplitude of the input tuning voltage. These products are used in military electronics, SATCOM, test and measurement and wireless communications. Typical applications include phase locked loops, function generators, frequency synthesizers, receivers, electronic jamming ...

DoD to Open Online Exchange Shopping to All Veterans

DoD to Open Online Exchange Shopping to All Veterans - RF CafeRF Cafe visitor Gary S. sent me a note about the DoD opening access to the online base Exchange to all honorably discharged veterans, rather than only to retired members. Army and Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES) installations do not collect sales tax, and they offer free shipping for purchases over $49. I signed up and will check them out as an alternative to Amazon. Access is slated to begin on November 11, 2017 - this Veteran's Day ...

Spintronic Logic Circuit Can Operate 1000x Faster Than CMOS

Spintronic Logic Circuit Can Operate 1000x Faster Than CMOS - RF Cafe"An engineering breakthrough at the University of Texas at Dallas could lead to computing devices that can operate as much as 1000 times faster than current processors. Assistant Professor Joseph S. Friedman came up with the idea, which is based on the quantum mechanical phenomena underlying spintronics, where electron spin is manipulated in addition to electron charge. Friedman's proposal exploits a relatively obscure property of graphene - its magnetoresistance. Friedman likens his device, in a sense, to a standard potentiometer ..."

Thursday 27

RF Cafe Forums Are Back!

RF Cafe Forums Are Back!After a 5-year absence, the RF Cafe Forums are back! I took them down because the amount of crap being posted got to be a lot of work to trim out. This time, not only is the built-in spam filtering better, but I subscribed to a service (at a co$t) that validates users based on a huge blacklist. The good news is that means signing in to submit a post is not required. I will continue to monitor and intervene as needed to keep everything clean. You can, if you wish, log in using your LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook credentials. I primed the forum with some good posts, but your participation is needed again to make it successful. Please check out the new RF Cafe Forums today!

Arecibo Observatory Ionospheric Heating Campaign Under Way

Arecibo Observatory Ionospheric Heating Campaign Under Way - RF CafeNote: "Ionospheric heating" is a Ham radio insider term similar to "cloud warming" for blasting a lot of RF power into the sky at a nearly vertical angle. "Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico is conducting an ionospheric heating campaign July 24-31, using HF. 'The new Arecibo ionosphere HF heater nominally transmits 600 kW net power and has a unique Cassegrain dual-array antenna design that increases gain of three crossed dipoles for each band, using the signature 1000-foot spherical dish reflector,' explained Chris Fallen ..."

Ampere's Law

Ampere's Law, December 1972 Popular Electronics - RF CafeHere is a brief but informative introduction to the story behind French physicist Andre Marie Ampere's discovery of the eponymously named law that governs the relationships between current flow and a magnetic field. As most RF Cafe visitors know, both a steady state and time-varying current will generate a magnetic field, but only a time-varying magnetic field can generate a current flow. In less than a week after witnessing Hans Christian Ørsted's demonstration of a current-carrying wire influencing a compass needle, Ampere discovered the Right-Hand Rule of current flow direction based on the direction of the magnetic field ...

Webinar: Introduction to Direction Finding Systems

AOC Webinar: Introduction to Direction Finding Systems - RF CafeAOC Virtual Series: Introduction to Direction Finding Systems, Thursday, July 27, 2017 (that's TODAY) 2:00 pm EST, presenter Kyle Davidson. "Direction Finding (DF) is a critical technology across the spectrum of Electronic Warfare (EW) applications and domains, with increasing demands for accuracy even as the electromagnetic spectrum becomes more congested. The goal of this presentation is to provide an understanding of how radio frequency DF systems work in both communications and radar applications. Starting with amplitude and phase comparison DF ..."

Sylatech Wins Long-Term Radar Contract

Sylatech Wins Long-Term Radar Contract - RF CafeSylatech has secured a multi-million pound 10 year contract to supply a major European defence contractor with passive microwave antenna components and assemblies. Sylatech's Managing Director Charlie Breese commented, "as a strategic supplier to our customer, we have proudly supported their antenna and microwave assembly requirements for over 25 years. Our microwave design, manufacturing and testing capability provides a strong customer fit whilst our reputation in the sector continues to strengthen. Sylatech is currently enjoying rapid growth with several of our International Prime customers ...

Bits to Waves Workshop w/NI AWR Cal Poly Student's Senior Project

Bits to Waves Workshop Featuring NI AWR Software Inspires Cal Poly Pomona Student's Senior ProjectThe gift of a seat at the popular Bits to Waves: Building a Modern Digital Radio in One Day workshop, which features NI AWR Design Environment, inspired Wilson Chung, a senior at California Polytechnic University Pomona to produce more than 100 microstrip circuits, including antennas, amplifiers, couplers, phase shifters, and more, for his senior project. The workshop, presented by Dr. David S. Ricketts, a professor of electrical engineering at North Carolina State University, is offered at select IEEE conferences ...

Advancing Knowledge Toward More Efficient Electronics

Advancing Knowledge Toward More Efficient Electronics - RF Cafe"A recent discovery by a team of researchers led by Tulane University advances fundamental knowledge that could one day lead to more energy-efficient computers, televisions, cell phones and other electronics. The researchers' discovery of a new magnetic topological semimetal is featured in the latest edition of the journal Nature Materials. The Tulane team was led by physics professor Zhiqiang Mao, the Tulane School of Science and Engineering's Outstanding Researcher for 2017. Mao's research, which focuses ..."

Wednesday 26

Saelig Intros PicoVNA 106 Low-Cost Vector Network Analyzer

Saelig Intros PicoVNA 106 Low-Cost Vector Network Analyzer - RF CafeSaelig Company has introduced the Pico Technology PicoVNA 106 Low-Cost Vector Network Analyzer - an economical USB-controlled, professional-grade 300 kHz to 6 GHz Vector Network Analyzer (VNA) with excellent performance, portability, and affordability. Despite its small size and low cost, its full-function, minimal-error, 'Quad RX' four-receiver architecture supports both 8- and 12-term calibration without the uncorrectable switching errors, delays, and unreliability of traditional three-receiver designs. The instrument supports convenient calibration methods such as 'enhanced isolation correction' ...

Growth in Rad-Hard and Small Sat Space Electronics Market

Growth in Rad-Hard and Small Sat Space Electronics Market - RF Cafe"Demand for radiation-hardened electronics for space applications continues to grow, with opportunities in traditional rad-hard spacecraft, as well as for radiation-tolerant small satellites, industry experts say. Electronic component suppliers for space applications find themselves serving two distinctly different market segments today, say company officials this week at the IEEE Nuclear and Space Radiation Effects Conference in New Orleans. The first rad-hard market segment is the traditional QML-V, in which ..."

Where the Jobs Are: 2017

Where the Jobs Are: 2017 - RF Cafe"Hot fields in the U.S. include embedded engineering, control engineering, and robotics. The key word used in describing electrical engineering job trends this year is 'high,' according to Angela Keller, vice president of recruiting at the U.S. recruiting firm Randstad Engineering: 'High growth, high salaries, high demand, high competition among hiring companies.' That competition is benefiting EEs, giving them both a plethora of choices and better entry-level paychecks. By the end of last year, fresh electrical engineering graduates in the United States earned salaries that averaged U.S. $73,078—nearly $5,500 more than the prior year ..."

MIA: The Other Half of the Antenna and Cable Loss Equation

The Other Half of the Antenna and Cable Loss Equation, Kirt's Cogitation #288 - RF CafeFor some inexplicable reason, it seems that most of the articles I read dealing with antenna and feedline efficiencies do not address the receive side of the equation. Yes, transmit power is expensive and there is a legitimate reason to reduce losses when converting power amplifier output to in-the-air power, especially for DX operations. However, it doesn't do much good to launch the full permissible 1,500 watts PEP and make a contact on the other side of the world if your system cannot receive a reply because of the excessive line loss and/or mismatch loss between your antenna and your receiver. Antennas and feedlines are reciprocal elements so if ...

Anatech Electronics Newsletter for July 2017

Anatech Electronics Newsletter for July 2017 - RF CafeAnatech Electronics, a manufacturer of RF and microwave filters, has published its July newsletter. As always, it includes both company news and some tidbits about relevant industry happenings. In it, Sam Benzacar discusses, among other topics, an apparent demise (or near demise) of the Commercial-Off-the-Shelf (COTS) component usage philosophy that once was a keystone in the Department of Defense's cost containment strategy. A telling chart illustrates the progressive decrease in COTS parts begin designed into defense systems. My guess is the same type of trend occurred in the aeronautics and space industries ...

Meshing with Bluetooth

Meshing with Bluetooth - RF Cafe"The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) has released a standard for Bluetooth mesh networking. The mesh capability is based on Bluetooth Low Energy (LE) and utilizes the PHY and link layer for Bluetooth 4.x. So supporting it on existing hardware will typically be a matter of providing a suitable protocol stack and application support. For example, Silicon Labs' Bluetooth mesh stack builds on the existing Bluetooth link layer ..."

Tuesday 25

25 Highest Paid Executives in Cable, Telecom & Wireless

25 Highest Paid Executives in Cable, Telecom & Wireless - RF CafePoor 'ol Marcelo Claure is at the bottom of the heap with a mere $7.5M for 2016, while Tim Cook received $145M. Google's Sundar Pachai topped the list with a cool $200M - not being evil pays well. "It's that time of year again when we sift through an avalanche of regulatory filings to find the highest paid executives. This year, we present the highest paid execs across pay TV, telecom and wireless as a unified list, since many of the names are prominent figures in all three industries. These figures are from last year, but are the most recent available. Click through the above slideshow to see the 25 highest paid executives ..."

Engineering Career and Job Hunting Advice for July 2017

Engineering Career and Job Hunting Advice for July 2017 - RF CafeNo list of engineering job hunting and career issues is complete without an article on LinkedIn, so the obligatory bit of advice from one source is included. There is also a collection of recommendations gathered from the standard 'experts' (at least in their opinions) in the art of professional career enhancement counselors. I have to admit to being glad of now residing outside the realm of job hunting and its requisite machinations. After being self-employed for over a decade, it is hard to imagine needing to craft a resume and cover letter, or go on another interview. But, for those who do, happy hunting! ...

Peregrine Intros High-Power Receiver Protection RF Switch

Peregrine Semiconductor Introduces High-Power Receiver Protection RF Switch - RF CafePeregrine Semiconductor, founder of RF SOI (silicon on insulator) and pioneer of advanced RF solutions, introduces the UltraCMOS® PE42823, a high-power receiver protection RF switch. Ideal for wireless infrastructure applications, this reflective switch is optimized for emerging radio architectures such as massive multiple input, multiple output (MIMO). The PE42823 delivers excellent single-event peak power handling, low power consumption and high linearity. Offered in a compact form factor, this high-power switch features built-in ESD protection—a key benefit for systems that ...

Phosphorous Tipped as 2D 5nm Transistor Material

Phosphorous Tipped as 2D 5nm Transistor Material - RF Cafe"Researchers from nanoelectronics research institute IMEC (Leuven, Belgium) have shown how to optimize field effect transistors based on 2D materials high performance logic beyond the 10nm node. The researchers worked with scientists from KU Leuven in Belgium and the University of Pisa in Italy and also presented guidelines on how to select 2D materials in a paper in Nature Scientific Reports. The benefit of 2D materials, such as graphene, is that they physically constrain electrons in the plane of the material while creating enhanced mobility in that plane ..."

Improving Plug-In Coils

Improving Plug-In Coils, February 1935 Short Wave Craft - RF CafeBefore plug-in crystals were widely available for band selection on radios, LC tank circuits did all the frequency discrimination heavy lifting. Accordingly, owners often had a selection of swappable inductors on-hand to enable listening to a variety of shortwave transmissions. During the time period of this article in a 1935 Short Wave Craft magazine, new 'all wave' radios were hitting the showroom floors that largely mitigated the need for swapping components for ...

Semiconductor Content of Systems to Hit Record High

Semiconductor Content of Systems to Hit Record High - RF Cafe"The semiconductor content of electronics systems is forecast to be 28.1% in 2017 breaking the previous record of 25.9% set in 2010, according to IC Insights. This is because while electronic system market growth will be just 2% to take the market to $1.49T the global semiconductor market is expected to surge by 15% in 2017 to $419.1B. IC Insights forecasts that the total semiconductor market will exceed $500B in 2021. The growth in global unit shipments of cellphones (0%), automobiles (2%), and PCs (-2%) forecast to be weak in 2017 ..."

Monday 24

Poll: How Much Vacation Do You Get Each Year?

Poll: How Much Vacation Do You Get Each Year? - RF CafePlease take a few moments and vote in this new poll. Thanks for your participation. - Kirt B.

New Technique for Manipulating Polarization of Terahertz Radiation

New Technique for Manipulating Polarization of Terahertz Radiation - RF Cafe"Researchers at Brown University have developed a new kind of polarizing beam splitter for terahertz radiation, which could prove useful in imaging and communications systems. The technique uses stacks of carefully spaced metal plates to make a polarizing beam splitter, a device that splits a beam of light by its differing polarization states, sending vertically polarized light in one direction and horizontally polarized light in another. Such a beam splitter could be useful in a wide variety of systems that make use of terahertz radiation, from imaging systems to future ..."

Mac's Service Shop: Shelf Life of Capacitors & Batteries

Mac's Service Shop: Shelf Life of Capacitors & Batteries, August 1972 Popular Electronics - RF CafeOne of the first things a knowledgeable restorer of vintage electronic gear does prior to plugging in a newly acquired piece of hardware is to replace all of the original paper capacitors. Those things notoriously lose the internally contained smoke that makes them work soon after power is applied. Episodes of conflagration often ensue. According to Mac McGregor, the typical shelf life of a paper capacitor (and some mica and ceramics back in the day) is about five years. In that time the insulation resistance can drop from 5000 MΩ to less than 2 MΩ. Ohm's Law quickly reveals that with used across ...

Royal Mint to Welcome Amateur Radio

Royal Mint to Welcome Amateur Radio - RF Cafe"The Royal Mint Experience in Wales will host 'The Royal Mint Radio Experience,' July 30 until August 5 at the Royal Mint's new visitor center in Llantrisant, Wales. School children and members of the public have been invited to enjoy a fun, informal, and interactive Amateur Radio workshop. According to an announcement from the Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB), visitors will get the chance to use the FUNcube-1 CubeSat, launched in 2013 and used by schools and educational groups around the world. 'We're delighted to be supporting this event which will give visitors to the Royal ..."

Tips for Increasing Yields When Wire Bonding Small MESA Chips

Tips for Increasing Yields When Wire Bonding Small MESA Chips - RF CafeMany moons ago (early-mid 1980s), I did quite a bit of microcircuit assembly and wire bonding in an engineering prototype lab at Westinghouse. It was a unique and valuable experience. When this app note notice showed up in a recent edition of NASA tech Briefs, I though it would be good to let you know about. "The common failure modes of wire bonds, for instance cratering / peeling, bond wire damage, trailing wire bond tails, poor adhesion, and missed bond pads, are exacerbated when wire bonding small MESA chips. There are many variables that need to be balanced to optimize a wire bond process, and limit the amount of time consuming and costly ..."

Samsung Starts Production at World's Biggest Fab

Samsung Starts Production at World's Biggest Fab - RF Cafe"Samsung Electronics has announced that its wafer fab at Pyeongtaek, South Korea, has started shipping products and that it will focus on the production of 64-layer vertical NAND ICs. According to reports Samsung Electronics has earmarked 15.6T won ($13.5B) over the past two years and coming years to build out Pyeongtaek's line 1. The company has announced it now plans to spend another 14.4T won ($12.5B) to expand its semiconductor production capacity there with a Pyeongtaek line Samsung also plans to invest 6T won in its Hwaseong, South Korea, site ..."

Sunday 23

RF Cafe Engineering Crossword Puzzle w/Weekly Headlines for July 23

RF Cafe Engineering Crossword Puzzle w/Weekly Headlines July 23, 2017For the sake of avid cruciverbalists amongst us, each week I create a new crossword puzzle that has a theme related to engineering, mathematics, chemistry, physics, and other technical words. Clues in this puzzle with an asterisk (*) are pulled from this past week's (7/17 - 7/21) "Tech Industry Headlines" column on the RF Cafe homepage (see the Headline Archives page for help). Enjoy! ...

Friday 21

Electronics-Themed Comics, January 1969 Electronics World

Electronics-Themed Comics, January 1969 Electronics World - RF CafeI chuckled out loud when I saw this comic. Of course the situation would never really occur (then again, maybe it could...). The artist is G. Lyons, who does not appear to have made many other appearances in Electronics World magazine. He might have been a loyal reader who submitted it as a one-time stint at fame ...

The Use of COTS Components in Space

The Use of COTS Components in Space - RF Cafe"The use of selected Electrical, Electronic, and Electromechanical (EEE) commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components in space applications is slowly expanding - too slowly - and not free of myths. It is imperative to be aware of the pitfalls posed by these myths to reach a decision whether to use COTS parts in a specific space mission. Myth 1: The main drive to use COTS in space is cost savings. The use of COTS in space is not a paved road to cost savings. In order not to misinterpret the term 'cost savings,' it should be emphasized that for an EEE component the following applies ..."

RCA-Victor Model 15U, Radio-Phonograph Data Sheet

RCA-Victor Model 15U, Radio-Phonograph, April 1938 Radio-Craft - RF CafeThis Radio Service Data Sheet for the RCA-Victor Model 15U, which appeared in the April 1938 issue of Radio-Craft, is the first 3-page instance I remember seeing in all the vintage electronics magazines. The Model 15U is a fairly sophisticated outfit, but not that much more so than some other pieces. There is a nice example of the Model 15U on the RadioMuseum.org website (thumbnail at left). It appears to be fairly clean, but not yet fully restored. A lot of adjustments needed to be made during the alignment of both the radio (commercial broadcast and shortwave bands) and the turntable. The electronics repair ...

Triad RF Systems Intros TTRM1081 Bi-Directional SSPA

Triad RF Systems Intros TTRM1081 Bi-Directional SSPA - RF CafeTriad RF Systems announces the availability of their TTRM1081, an L-Band bi-directional SSPA suitable for high data-rate wireless links. Applications include UAVs and military mesh networks. Rx noise figure is approximately 1.3 dB and Tx/Rx switching speed is 1 μS. This class AB LDMOS module is designed for both military and commercial applications. It is capable of supporting any signal type and modulation format, including but not limited to 3-4G telecom, WLAN, OFDM, DVB, and CW/AM/FM. The latest device technologies and design methods are employed ...

Wireless System Designer Is Now Available!

Wireless System Designer v1 Is Available Now! - RF CafeFor more than a decade, RF Cascade Workbook 2005™ has been the de facto standard for spreadsheet-based RF system cascade analysis. Wireless System Designer™ is the next phase in the evolution. If you know how to use Excel and you know anything about cascaded system calculations, then you know how to use Wireless System Designer™. This is significantly easier and faster than using the multi-thousand dollar simulators when a quick system analysis is all that is needed. An intro video takes you through the main features ...

Claude Shannon's New York Years

Claude Shannon’s New York Years - RF Cafe"By day, Claude Shannon labored on top-secret war projects at Bell Labs. By night, he worked out the details of information theory. Looking back on the last months of 1940, Claude Shannon was quite open about his desire to avoid the World War II draft: 'Things were moving fast there, and I could smell the war coming along. And it seemed to me I would be safer working full-time for the war effort, safer against the draft, which I didn't exactly fancy. I was a frail man, as I am now.... I was trying to play the game, to the best of my ability. But not only that, I thought I'd probably contribute ..."