 Friday 9
 It's funny how often topics crop up bemoaning
the current state of society, technology, etc., as if they are suddenly new plagues
upon the entities concerned. That's not to say the subjects are not worthy of being
brought to the forefront of public awareness, but often times in fact those same
issues are exactly the same or reincarnations of former "emergencies" in need of
immediate attention. I have posted numerous articles and editorials from vintage
electronics and hobby magazines lamenting the
poor state of youth involvement, with blame being laid in the lap of some newfangled
hobby or activity that is presently stealing away erstwhile brethren. The effort
is usually not in vain since the intended effect of motivating fellow enthusiasts
to reinvigorate and motivate those drifting prodigals ...
 Rohde & Schwarz has released a new video
entitled, "Noise Power Ratio Measurements." In it, application engineer
Gareth Lloyd discusses a convenient and easy way to measure NPR over a maximum of
25 notches. A combination of the R&S®SMW200A vector signal generator and the
R&S®FSW signal and spectrum analyzer equipped with the R&S®FSW-K19 option
can be used to characterize two-port devices such as satellite transponders, power
amplifiers and converters. The R&S®FSW-K19 measures Noise Power Ratio (NPR)
using either a notched comb signal, a notched noise or a digitally modulated stimulus
signal to determine how the DUT will perform.
 Kenneth Wyatt has a good article on the EDN
website entitled, "Insertion Loss Measurements of Ferrite Absorber Sheets,"
using a method suggested by absorber manufacturer
Würth Elektronik. Who would have known it was
that straightforward? "The development of stealth aircraft brought about the use
of ferrite absorber sheets, which have proven useful for damping cavity resonances
at microwave frequencies. Since then, ferrite absorber sheets have become useful
at mitigating EMI. Most absorber sheets act as magnetic shields that help “redirect”
magnetic fields and become effective at gigahertz frequencies. As my measurements
show, some are effective even at much lower frequencies ..."
 The
Beverage Antenna, very familiar to amateur radio operators, is a simple but
efficient, highly directional, non-resonant antenna that consists of a single straight
wire of one or more wavelengths that is suspended above the ground. It is orientated
parallel to the direction of intended reception. One end is terminated to ground
through a resistor, and the other is connected to the receiver. The following quote
comes from the patent (US1,81,089) text: "In accordance with theoretical considerations,
if an antenna were to be freely suspended and if the surface of the earth constituted
a perfectly conducting parallel plane, current waves would travel through the antenna
conductor at a velocity equal to the velocity of light ...
 ConductRF offers an extensive line of
RF and mixed signal cable harnesses and assemblies with custom
configurations, lengths and markings. Thousands of combinations of coaxial, power,
and digital and analog signal connectors available. Flexible phase-stable, low-loss,
phase-matching, high power, and other options per your requirements. Broad insert
connector solution choices including BMA, SMPM, for cable sizes #8, #12 & #16
Custom marking and ruggedization enhancements capability. Contact ConductRF today
and let us help your project ...
 "Researchers based in Sweden, Belgium and
Ireland have developed 850nm-wavelength
vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs)
with a single-mode transverse polarized light output power up to a claimed record
of 6.5 mW. The team from Chalmers University of Technology and OptiGOT AB in
Sweden, Ghent University-imec in Belgium and Tyndall National Institute in Ireland
reports: 'The output power is more than 60% higher than previously achieved.' The
high power was attained by using a relatively large oxide aperture. The epitaxial
material design aimed for low resistance, low optical loss and high slope efficiency
in the resulting VCSELs ..."
 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
customers request PCB production that is outside the capabilities of normal circuit
board providers. Please take a moment to visit San Francisco Circuits today.
Thursday 8
 Television, in 1955, was still a relatively
new phenomenon to many - maybe even most - people. According to multiple sources,
the portion of American households with a TV set went from under 20% in 1950 to
nearly 90% ten years later in 1960. That was a meteoric rise, particularly considering
the expense of even a minimal TV. The technology was not even available commercially
when most people were born, so the rush to join in on the craze was akin to the
mass adoption of cellphones in the 1990s. "Carl & Jerry" creator John Frye used
his pair of electronics-savvy teenagers to help make the "magic" behind recreating
a moving picture on a
cathode ray tube (CRT) miles away from where it was created. Water flowing through
a garden hose has often been employed as an analogy for current ...
 Engineering whitepapers, pamphlets, books, magazines,
and chapter examples listed here are a small sample of a lot of new items that are
offered for FREE through TradePub. The publishers make them available to qualifying
people as a promotional campaign for their full line of offerings. Free e-books
like "Maximizing LinkedIn for Business" and "20 Questions You Should Never Ask in
an Interview" are examples. Magazine titles include Microwave Engineering Europe,
Electronic Design, and Microwave Product Digest.
 Skyworks Solutions is pleased to introduce
the
SKY85774-11, a highly integrated 5 GHz front-end module (FEM) that supports
simultaneous WLAN and licensed assisted access (LAA) protocols for mobile smartphones
and tablets. This advanced module incorporates a power amplifier (PA), low-noise
amplifier (LNA) with bypass, and an SPDT transmit / receive (T/R) switch. Its high
performance power amplifier increases range and saves power while eliminating external
devices and reducing PCB area. The SKY85774-11 comes in a compact 20-pin 2.2 x 3
package and is currently being leveraged across leading mobile connectivity reference
designs.
 As legend goes, the use of microwaves for
preparing food was pursued after a serendipitous discovery by Raytheon engineer
Percy Spencer whereby he noticed the chocolate bar in his pocket had melted while
he was working near a radar transmitter magnetron. Being a newly discovered phenomenon
in 1945, Mr. Spencer was probably not aware that his own body parts were being likewise
cooked, but he did recognize the commercial potential of an oven that used microwaves
to cook food. It only took Raytheon (Amana) to have the first
Radarange available for sale to professional kitchens. This article was printed
a full decade after the discovery and even then the size and power consumption was
too great for grandma's countertop ...
 The 44th
International Conference on Infrared, Millimeter, and Terahertz Waves (IRMMW-THz)
is being held in Paris, France, September 1-6, 2019. "The IRMMW-THz conference alternates
between Asia, Europe and America on a continuous three-year cycle. The venue is
the Maison de la Chimie Conference Center, in the heart of Paris. Given the diversity
of topics, comprising fundamental and applied research, and in view of the variety
of applications (communications, security, energy, astrophysics, medicine, environment...),
the conference gathers several communities of physicists, academics and industrials
who meet at this occasion each year to review the state of the art and determine
the axes of future works and future collaborations ..."
 "Investigators probing the sudden failure
of the Boeing-built Intelsat 29e geostationary relay station in April have concluded
an
electrostatic discharge, aggravated by a harness
flaw on the spacecraft, or a micrometeoroid strike prematurely ended the satellite's
mission, resulting in a $382M hit to Intelsat's quarterly financial report. Intelsat
said Tuesday that officials investigating the April 7 anomaly with Intelsat 29e
have narrowed the cause of the failure to one of two possibilities. 'The failure
review board concluded that the anomaly was either caused by a harness flaw in conjunction
with an electrostatic discharge event related to solar weather activity ..."
 Alliance Test sells
used / refurbished
test equipment and offers short- and long-term rentals. They also offer repair,
maintenance and calibration. Prices discounted up to 80% off list price. Agilent/HP,
Tektronix, Anritsu, Fluke, R&S and other major brands. A global organization
with ability to source hard to find equipment through our network of suppliers.
Please visit Allied Test Equipment today to see how they can help your project.
Wednesday 7
 Here is a short tutorial on
resistor-capacitor (R-C) combinations and the time constants created by their
combinations. It's pretty basic stuff, but there are new people coming into the
field of electronics all the time so it is worth posting. Discussed are coupling
circuits, filter networks, differentiators, and time-delay circuits. The "After
Class" feature is a series run by Popular Electronics magazine in the 1950s
and 1960s. As with this installment, "After Class" presented topics on electricity
and magnetism that served not just as new material for beginners, but was a good
review even for seasoned practitioners of the craft ...
 Custom MMIC, a leading designer and manufacturer
of high performance monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs), hosted U.S.
Rep. Lori Trahan, and a number of other press and industry influencers, as part
of a ceremonial celebration to officially open their
new twenty thousand square foot office / manufacturing space and to acknowledge
the Women in Engineering Scholarship Program that Custom MMIC debuted in 2018 and
just recently announced the 2019 scholarship winners. Paul Blount, President and
CEO of Custom MMIC, kicked off the event with opening remarks explaining what Custom
MMIC does and how they are a critical part of delivering advanced and reliable defense
systems to keep our warfighters safe ...
 For some reason the
subject of grounding has been very prominent in my reading in the last few days.
The chapter I just finished reading in one of David Herres' books on the National
Electric Code (NEC) covering grounding of commercial and residential services,
an article by H. Ward Silver in QST titled, "Grounding and Bonding
Systems," and now this article by John T. Frye (of Carl and Jerry
fame) on grounding, makes for a wealth of knowledge. Mr. Frye takes a unique approach
at teaching by exploiting his gift for story-telling. In this article, electronics
repair shop owner Mac gives technician Barney a nice bit of tutelage on what constitutes
a good Earth ground and what does not. In some environments, treating the soil with
an electrically conductive substance is necessary to establish a suitable ground
without having to drive ...
 "The sensor solutions provider HENSOLDT has
demonstrated the capability of its 'Twinvis'
passive radar system for air traffic control
during a comprehensive measurement campaign. A passive radar sensor cluster was
installed at four sites in South Germany for the tests, from which air traffic above
this region could be monitored and tracked in real-time. This showed that passive
radar systems can track aircraft with sufficient precision in order to be used for
air traffic control. The sensors were positioned in Nuremberg, Roth, Erding and
Ulm, while the data was processed centrally at HENSOLDT's Ulm site ..."
 At VidaRF, the phrase 'Providing Simple
Solutions for Complex Connections' is more than just a slogan – it's a mindset,
a mission, and a driving force behind everything we do. Their pledge is to design
and distribute high performance, cost effective
RF Microwave products to fit each customer's unique applications.
Please visit VidaRF today to see how their lines of attenuators & terminations,
directional couplers, power dividers, coaxial connectors, and circulator & isolators
can be of use to your project. "When the standard just will not do, VidaRF has the
solution for you!"
Tuesday 6
 Finding information on the
Osgood Lens, invented by James R. Cravath, is challenging. For as prominent
as it was in magazines like The Saturday Evening Post in the late 1910s
and 1920s, there is not even a Wikipedia entry for the lens type or the man according
to my searches. Although not exactly the same as the Fresnel lenses used by lighthouses
since the 18th century, the concept is basically the same. Of course the Osgood
company was careful not to use the term Fresnel in their literature for potential
patent infringement reasons. Some vehicles might have been fitted with them as a
factory installed option, but they were also sold as add-on items. According to
the literature the tiered stack of prism-shaped glass directed the headlight beam
toward the road ...
 NI AWR presents it July 2019 E-Newsletter.
Included in this issue are Designer's Primer: Internet of Things (IoT), Customer
Success: TMYTEK, Application Example: Diplexer, and Optimization Study. There are
also links to NI AWR technical publications (whitepapers and magazine articles),
industry events (European Microwave Week 2019, IEIEC Society Conference), and training
sessions. The new primer showcases recent advances in NI AWR software that help
designers meet the challenges of developing cost-effective IoT solutions using a
modular design approach that focuses on combining all the relevant components in
the RF signal path ...
With more than 780 custom-built symbols, this has got to be the most
comprehensive set of
Visio Stencils available for RF, analog, and digital system and
schematic drawings! Every object has been built from scratch to fit proportionally
on the provided A- and B-size drawing page templates (you can use your own page
if preferred). Components are provided for equipment racks (EIA and ETSI) and test
equipment, system block diagrams and conceptual drawings, and for schematics
...
 Did you know that the Hallicrafters line
of radios is
named after founder Bill Halligan (W9WZE)? Hallicrafters, founded in 1932, was
a major manufacturer of amateur radio gear. During the years of WWII they ruggedized
some of their products to survive the harsh environments of battle. Hallicrafters
was sold to Northrop Corporation in 1966, at which time the product line essentially
ceased. Their gear is still very collectible by aficionados of vintage Ham equipment.
This story from the February 1943 QST provided an inside look at the production
floor at Hallicrafters. Having cut my figurative electronics teeth on radar and
radio equipment built with tubes and point-to-point wiring while in the USAF, and
then later as an assembly/test technician at Westinghouse Electric building sonar
equipment ...
 Dave Watling, of pSemi, sent me a note about
the company's new "sNp Viewer"
multiport s−parameter plotting software that is available for free downloading on
the pSemi website. It is provided as an executable file that installs the Runtime
Vee (Keysight) framework needed for the program's operation. Look for the sNp Viewer
icon to appear on your desktop (not in the Start menu) when installation is complete.
You can drag the icon into the Start menu afterwards. My guess is this was an tool
developed for internal use by the engineering staff and it turned out so well that
they decided to make it available to everyone; it is quite handy. The example screen
shot at the right uses the pSemi* PE42430 UltraCMOS® SP3T Reflective RF Switch,
which is a 4-port device with a .s4p data file extension. I wanted to use a device
with more than just two ports. The plots would get really busy ...
 Anatech Electronics (AEI) manufactures and
supplies RF and microwave filters for military and commercial communication
systems, providing standard LP, HP, BP, BS, notch, diplexer, and custom RF filters,
and RF products. Standard RF filter and cable assembly products are published in
our website database for ease of procurement. Custom RF filters designs are used
when a standard cannot be found, or the requirements dictate a custom approach.
Sam Benzacar's monthly newsletters address contemporary wireless subjects. Please
visit Anatech today to see how they can help your project succeed.
 "More than 100 years after Albert Einstein
published his iconic
theory of general relativity, it is beginning
to fray at the edges, said Andrea Ghez, UCLA professor of physics and astronomy.
Now, in the most comprehensive test of general relativity near the monstrous black
hole at the center of our galaxy, Ghez and her research team report July 25 in the
journal Science that Einstein's theory of general relativity holds up. 'Einstein's
right, at least for now,' said Ghez, a co-lead author of the research. 'We can absolutely
rule out Newton's law of gravity. Our observations are consistent with Einstein's
theory of general relativity. However, his theory is definitely showing vulnerability.
It cannot fully explain gravity inside a black hole, and at some point we will need
to move beyond ..."
 RF Superstore launched in 2017, marking
the return of Murray Pasternack, founder of Pasternack Enterprises, to the RF and
microwave Industry. Pasternack fundamentally changed the way RF components were
sold. Partner Jason Wright manages day-to-day operations, while working closely
with Mr. Pasternack to develop RF Superstore into a world class RF and
microwave
component supplier. RF coaxial connectors & adapters, coaxial cable &
cable assemblies, surge protectors, attenuators. Items added daily. Free shipping
on orders over $99. We're leading the way again!
Monday 5
 Electric induction heating has been used in
manufacturing processes since shortly after Benjamin Franklin invented electricity.
Of course I jest about Franklin; he didn't invent electricity but discovered that
lightning was a form of electrical discharge. One of the most energy-consuming forms
of induction heating is that used by Alcoa for smelting aluminum. Beyond that are
many thousands of processes ranging from forming, tempering, and joining metal parts
to cooking food and curing adhesives. Both Tocco and Ajax-Northrup, now Ajax Tocco,
brands of equipment are featured in this 1955 article which appeared in Popular
Electronics magazine. Some processes work by directly inducing a high current
in the primary target object - usually metallic - being treated ...
 Innovative Power Products (IPP) has over
30 years of experience designing & manufacturing RF & microwave passive
components. Their high power, broadband couplers, combiners, resistors, baluns, terminations
and attenuators are fabricated using the latest materials and design tools available,
resulting in unrivaled product performance. Applications in military, medical, industrial
and commercial markets. Take a couple minutes to visit their website and see how
IPP can help you today.
 Come see the future (it used to be the future,
now it is now.) Thursday, August 8, at approximately 7:45 pm ET, Alan Dewey will
give a short demonstration of desktop circuit board printing and soldering (and
drilling if time permits). He will be using the
Voltera V-One PCB Printer. The demo will be held
for the Clearwater Electronics at the
Clearwater Amateur Radio Association, in - guess
where -Clearwater, Florida. Alan has written extensively on his
TwoHourCPBs.com
website to promote leading-edge desktop PCB prototyping printers.
 How is this for a prescient prediction from
the early 1960s? "As a result of modular and integrated circuitry techniques, all
future circuit design work, regardless of degree, will become the responsibility
of the component manufacturer instead of the equipment producer." Texas Instruments'
(TI) Jack Kilby is credited with designing the first
integrated circuit in 1958. The first commercial IC, Ti's
Type 502 flip-flop, had just hit the market in early 1960, and
already pundits were prognosticating and ruing the disappearance of circuit designers.
Maybe it was concerns over job security that they seem to favor forever building
every circuit from discrete transistors, resistors, capacitors, and inductors. Rumor
has it they also lobbied for the perpetual existence of the buggy whip and horse-drawn
farrow industries ...
 "Moore's Law has lost a lot of momentum in
recent years. Now it looks like Austrian researchers are preparing the next big
thing for semiconductor technology: Their breakthrough could well open the door
to the next step to again
shrink transistor structures. For decades the
transistors in microchips became smaller and smaller. About every two years the
number of transistors on commercially available chips could be doubled - this phenomenon
became known as 'Moore's Law.' But for some years now this has been a thing of the
past. Miniaturization has reached a natural limit because, on a scale of a few nanometers ..."
 Reactel
has become one of the industry leaders in the design and manufacture of
RF and microwave
filters, diplexers, and sub-assemblies. Through a continuous process of research
and development, they have established a full line of filters of all types - lowpass,
highpass, bandpass, bandstop, diplexer, and more. They offer the generally known
tubular, LC, cavity, and waveguide designs, as well as state of the art high performance
suspended substrate models. Established in 1979. Please contact Reactel today to
see how they might help your project.
Sunday 4
 This
RF Cafe Engineering & Science Crossword Puzzle contains at least 10 words
from headlines posted on the homepage during the week of July 29 - August 2, 2019
(marked with an asterisk*). These custom-made engineering and science-themed crossword
puzzles are done weekly for the brain-exercising benefit and pleasure of RF Cafe
visitors who are fellow cruciverbalists. Every word and clue - without exception
- in these RF Cafe puzzles has been personally entered into a very large database
that encompasses engineering, science, physical, astronomy, mathematics, chemistry ...
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