Friday 20
 There are few better ways to wind down
a work week than with some good old-fashioned (literally)
technology-themed comics. This three fifths of a handful of comics appeared
in a 1944 issue of Radio News magazine. You need to know when looking at these scenarios
that people in the 1940s cherished and revered their radio sets like people today
do with their cellphones. Magical and supernatural attributes were assigned to them
by some, especially the non-technically inclined. Entire families gathered around
the radio in eager anticipation of the latest episode of "The Shadow," The Lone
Ranger," "Little Orphan Annie," "Jack Benny," and "Inner Sanctum Mystery." BTW,
if you want to experience the aura of old time radio shows, many of them are available
for listening online on the Old Time Radio Catalog website and others ...
 If you are annoyed by
pop-ups and extraneous framework elements and/or SEO (search engine optimization)
tracking code accompanying application notes, white papers, and images, and videos,
many times you can get rid of them by editing the URL displayed in your browser
address bar. Compare the displays in this set of screen captures based on the original
URL provided in an e-mail (top) to the one where all the extraneous terms have been
removed from the URL (bottom). Note that the yellow highlighted components have
been eliminated. Often, I remove that stuff from hyperlink URLs before sending my
visitors to websites. Companies don't particularly like me doing that, but doing
so helps maintain your privacy. URLs in e-mails are particularly likely to contain
appended code that contains one or more "&utm_" parts. UTM is the Urchin Tracking
Module introduced by Google Analytics' predecessor Urchin and are now supported
by Google Analytics. They typically ....
 Rohde & Schwarz has published a application
note entitled, "MIL-STD-461 Testing Advantages Using Time
Domain Scan EMI Receivers," which pertains to standards for EMC testing of U.S.
military equipment. "Even when using various time-saving procedures, Electromagnetic
Interference (EMI) measurement times are still very long –typically several hours
for radiated emissions measurements. The introduction of spectrum measurements based
on fast Fourier transform (FFT) - also known as a time domain scan - allows a significant
reduction in measurement times and improves the probability of intercept (POI) without
affecting accuracy. EMI FFT based receivers ..."
 This could be one of the earliest reports
of
mobile communications between a private automobile and a home base station.
Using a personally designed and installed 5-meter transceiver both at home and in
his car, Mr. Wallace is able to talk to his 12-year-old son on the way from
work. My guess is that in 1935 there were not too many traffic jams, even in Long
Beach, California, so it is doubtful that was the cause for his announced expected
later-than-normal arrival home. The article states the automobile power supply needed
to produce 300 mA of current at 525 V, which is ~160 W per Ohm's
law, which seems unlikely considering car batteries were 6 V at the time ...
 "Murata has developed the first multi-layer
ceramic capacitor with a maximum capacitance of 0.1 μF. The GRM011R60J104M,
measures 0.25 x 0.125 mm and is available in a 0804 footprint. Mass production
of this new product is scheduled to begin in 2020. As smartphones supporting 5G
become more widespread and devices such as wearable devices become increasingly
multi-functional and more compact, the demand for smaller and higher density electronic
circuitry is growing. Among the components employed in this circuitry, multi-layer
ceramic capacitors are essential for electronic devices and are used for a wide
range of applications ..."
 QuinStar Technology designs and manufactures
mm-wave products for communication, scientific, and test applications
along with providing microelectronic assembly, rapid prototyping, and mass customization.
Amplifiers, Oscillators, Switches, Attenuators, Circulators, Isolators, Filters,
Waveguide, Antennas, Phase Shifters, Transceivers, Mixers, Detectors. QuinStar specializes
in cryogenic amplifiers, circulators, and isolators. Please
visit QuinStar today to see how they can help your project.
 Were strings of miniature Christmas tree
lights not available for purchase in 1955? This adventure of "Carl &
Jerry" seems to imply that was the case since it concerns the design and constructions
of such a circuit using low voltage panel lamps (light bulbs). Although usually
the two techno-teenager are co-conspiring on various tasks of high tech sleuthing
or radio-related pursuits, in this case it is Jerry who has been doing the hard
work. Author John Frye might not know how prescient he was when describing the two
inventions he conjured up for Carl and Jerry. The first is the aforementioned miniature
Christmas light string and the second is a voice recording device that can capture
a short message and then quickly play it back. The playback scheme involves kids
reciting their Christmas wish list to a fake Santa Claus and then having him read
it back to them in a different voice (slowed down). Regarding the light strings,
note that they are incandescent bulbs wired in series so if one goes out, they all
go out. Most, if not all, Christmas light strings these days are wired ...
 Success won in the realm of
space-based communications has been fraught with many failures. As with most
endeavors, it is thanks to the relative few who have sacrificed and endured against
overwhelming odds to bring significant technological advances in communications
to the many. Space presents a particularly difficult venue because of the harsh
deployment and operational environment, and inaccessibility after deployment. Personal
sacrifice has taken the form of depression, financial ruin, lost opportunity for
other endeavors, broken families, sickness, substance abuse, and other maladies
brought on by an obsession with success. Such sacrifice has built the modern world ...
 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 ...
 "Researchers at the University of Delaware
have created a high-electron mobility transistor with record-setting properties,
including record low gate leakage current (a measure of current loss), a record
high on/off current ratio (the magnitude of the difference of current transmitted
between the on state and off state) and a
record high current gain cutoff frequency
(an indication of how much data can be transmitted with a wide range of frequencies).
This transistor could be useful for higher bandwidth wireless communication systems.
For a given current, it can handle more voltage and would require less battery life
than other devices of its type. Yuping Zeng, an assistant professor of electrical
and computer engineering at the University of Delaware and her team of researchers ..."
 Copper Mountain Technologies (CMT), a USB
vector network analyzer manufacturer in Indianapolis, IN, USA, is proud to achieve
ISO 9001:2015 certification. International Organization for Standardization
(ISO) 9001:2015 is the original quality management standard and the world's most
widely recognized quality management system certification. The standard ensures
that businesses continuously improve their processes and comply with ISO 9001:2015's
stringent requirements that help products and services provided meet and exceed
customer expectations. Achieving ISO 9001:2015 certification demonstrates that CMT
has implemented quality management systems and processes that support its core mission
- extending the reach of engineers it serves. Following the ISO standard will ensure
that our customers continue to get vector network analyzer solutions ...
 KR Electronics designs and manufactures
high quality filters for both the commercial and military markets. KR Electronics'
line of filters
includes lowpass, highpass, bandpass, bandstop and individually synthesized filters
for special applications - both commercial and military. State of the art computer
synthesis, analysis and test methods are used to meet the most challenging specifications.
All common connector types and package form factors are available. Please visit
their website today to see how they might be of assistance. Products are designed
and manufactured in the USA.
Wednesday 18
 I and many people who visit RF Cafe tend
to do our own
repair and maintenance work whenever possible. Having had this obsession for
as long as I can remember, there is no doubt that the ready availability of service
information and how-to aids available on the Internet not only makes the job easier,
but also makes things possible that could never have been achieved a couple decades
ago. When I needed to put new rotors and brakes on my 2011 Jeep Patriot last month,
a quick search turned up multiple videos of people demonstrating how to do it. Sure,
I've done dozens of brake jobs and am fairly comfortable with what might be involved,
but being able to watch a beginning-to-end video before diving into it is really
nice. My trusty Hanes repair manual was on-hand, but a couple black and white photos
and terse instructions usually do not describe the complete environment. A couple
years ago when my gas-fired furnace would light and cut off after a few seconds,
an Internet search turned up the likely cause ...
QuinStar Technology designs and manufactures
mm-wave products for communication, scientific, and test applications
along with providing microelectronic assembly, rapid prototyping, and mass customization.
Amplifiers, Oscillators, Switches, Attenuators, Circulators, Isolators, Filters,
Waveguide, Antennas, Phase Shifters, Transceivers, Mixers, Detectors. QuinStar specializes
in cryogenic amplifiers, circulators, and isolators. Please
visit QuinStar today to see how they can help your project.
 Modelithics, Inc., the leading independent
provider of simulation models for RF and Microwave devices, seeks an Modelithics,
Inc. is looking for a
Programming /
IT Support person with a strong programming background with the ability to efficiently
multi-task in an ever−changing environment. Primary duties are to assist in the
development of our flag ship library product of electronic component software models
for use in multiple computer aided engineering(CAE)simulation products using SOP's
(standard operating procedures) as well as independent judgment, after suitable
training on each task. Duties may include model development, interfacing with each
of the supported simulators, packaging, building installers, testing, and documentation ...
 Werbel Microwave, a designer and manufacturer
of RF and microwave power couplers, dividers, terminations, and DAS equipment, introduces
model C-0218-06-001, a
6 dB directional coupler covering 2 to 18 GHz, with SMA female connectors.
Flatness is ±1.0 dB and maximum VSWR is 1.5:1 across the entire band. Less
than 2 dB insertion loss and a minimum directivity of 12 dB. Operating
temperature is -55 to +100 °C. Werbel Microwave is bringing electronics manufacturing
back to America! ...
 "The
Netherlands-China Low Frequency Explorer
(NCLE) is a prototype radio telescope built to record weak radio signals from a
period just following the Big Bang, called the Dark Ages. These signals are blocked
by the Earth's atmosphere, which is why the telescope was placed on a satellite
and brought to a location behind the moon. With this satellite, called QueQiao,
the China National Space Administration (CNSA) has been navigating a lunar lander
that has been driving around the back of the moon since early 2019. The Netherlands-China
Low Frequency Explorer was developed in the Netherlands by Radboud University (Nijmegen),
ASTRON (Dwingeloo) and the ISISpace company (Delft) ..."
 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.
Tuesday 17
 Most of us have heard of the National Association
of Broadcasters (NAB). Founded in 1922 at the dawn of commercial radio broadcasting,
it is still in existence today. When commercial television broadcasting "stepped
out" in a major way in the early 1940s, industry chieftains and station owners decided
that their new media paradigm was unique enough to warrant a separate union, so
the
Television Broadcasters Association (TBA) was formed. A lot of effort went into
establishing and building a coalition with enough influence in the marketplace and
with government regulators, independent of radio, to exist as a force to be dealt
with. Many people believed that radio as an entertainment and news media source
would decrease at a rate as great or greater than television was increasing. Once
again, experts were not successful at predicting behavior of the citizenry, which
was true both in the United States and around the world ...
 RF Cascade Workbook 2018 is the next phase in the evolution
of RF Cafe's long-running series, RF Cascade Workbook. 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 ...
 Sam Benzacar of Anatech Electronics, an
RF and microwave filter company, has published his November newsletter that features
his short op−ed entitled "My
Predictions for 2019: The Reckoning," which is a follow-up on his December 2018
newsletter main article entitled, "The RF and Microwave Industry in 2019: My Predictions,"
that included 5G, IoT, Defense, and rural broadband. Buried within this year's "reckoning"
are a few predictions for 2020. Will Sam be as prescient regarding 2020 as he was
for 2019? Check in this time next year to find out. In other news, Sam includes
a few other items related to our RF industry ...
 "Here are a few tips for developing documentation
that decrease the pain for developers and improve the quality of the documentation.
Writing documentation is not the most
exciting endeavor an engineer can embark on. It's often boring, time consuming,
and there are so many more interesting things that could be done. It sometimes amaze
me that development projects are documented so poorly - if they are even documented
at all. Documentation is meant to help preserve important concepts and information
about the development cycle. This information could be used to get up to speed on
the product, make decisions about updates and changes, or even to prove that proper
procedures ..."
 Another great article in the latest Aerospace &
Defense Technology magazine is entitled, "Software-Defined Analog Filters: A Paradigm
Shift in Radio Filter Performance and Capability." Joel Brand, of
Kumu Networks,
describes a standard CMOS implementation consisting not of digital elements but
of multi-tap cells consisting of an adder, a multiplier, and a delay element. His
company's application is a co-channel interference canceller for co-located radios.
Begins the article, "Among the most abundant components in all wireless system designs,
analog RF filters are used to block interference from various internal and external
sources. Limited spectrum divided among an ever-increasing number of users is further
driving the need for these ubiquitous but in some ways anachronistic devices. Currently,
interference is quite common among cellular base stations, satellite systems, radar
installations, and other types of access ..."
 Since 2003, Bittele Electronics has consistently
provided low-volume, electronic contract manufacturing (ECM) and turnkey PCB assembly
services. It specializes in board level turnkey
PCB assembly
for design engineers needing low volume or prototype multi-layer printed circuit
boards. Free Passive Components: Bittele
Electronics is taking one further step in its commitment of offering the best service
to clients of its PCB assembly business. Bittele is now offering common passive
components to its clients FREE of Charge.
Monday 16
 Modelithics, the leading independent provider
of simulation models for RF and microwave devices, seeks an
Engineering Technician or RF Test Engineer who will utilize, build and/or adapt
unique test equipment for complex tests using SOP's as well as independent judgment,
after suitable training on each task. Duties include applying working knowledge
of applicable test requirements and performing tests using general laboratory equipment
and routine care of designated test equipment and work area, as well as operate
a computer to extract/input readily available information and to use available software.
The RF test specialist will be responsible for examining test samples, reading measuring
instruments and reviewing test data with supervisor ...
 Although
somewhat off topic, this article entitled, "Reducing the High Cost Of Titanium," which appeared in the December
issue of Aerospace and Defense Technology magazine, contains some
really interesting information about the metal. "Titanium is neither a precious
metal nor rare, yet among industrial metals it has the reputation for being very
expensive. It's the fourth most abundant metallic element and the ninth most abundant
of all the elements in the earth's crust. Its commercially useful oxide ore occurs
in the minerals rutile and ilmenite and numerous iron ores, and exploitable ore
deposits are liberally scattered around the world. Due to its properties and high
cost it has often been referred to as unobtanium ..."
 Axiom Test Equipment allows you to
rent or
buy test equipment,
repair
test equipment, or sell or trade test equipment. They are committed to providing
superior customer service and high quality electronic test equipment. Axiom offers
customers several practical, efficient, and cost effective solutions for their projects'
TE needs and is committed to providing superior customer service and high quality
electronic test equipment. For anyone seeking a way to offload surplus or obsolete
equipment, they offer a trade-in program or they will buy the equipment from you.
Some vintage items are available fully calibrated. Please check out Axiom Test Equipment
today!
 The November 2019 issue of Astronomy
magazine included an interview with
Apollo 12 moon-walking astronauts
Alan Bean and Pete Conrad. It is the 50th anniversary of the world's second manned
excursion to the moon's surface on November 19, 1969. Amongst the science experiments
and tasks to be performed was the deployment of a plutonium fuel cell that would
power the equipment remaining on the surface after the Lunar Module blasted off.
Most of the gear had been set up without incident, but the fuel rod got stuck inside
its transport cylinder. None of that science gear would be of any use with out a
power supply. After unsuccessfully trying to free the rod without risking damage,
it finally came down to whacking it with one of those infamous
$400 NASA hammers to get it out. Bean's
comment to Houston upon completion was, "Don't come to the Moon without a hammer."
 BAW is "new technology?" "IoT building blocks
include sensors that use quartz crystals. Discrete clocking and quartz crystal devices
used to achieve wireless connections can be costly, time-consuming, and complicated
to develop, however, and are often susceptible to environmental stress in factory
automation or automotive applications. A new technology called
bulk acoustic wave (BAW) makes it possible
to create simpler, smaller MCU designs while increasing overall performance and
lowering costs. BAW can enable the next generation of industrial and telecommunication
applications by changing how we approach system designs today. BAW consists of a
piezoelectric material sandwiched between two electrodes that converts electrical
energy to mechanical-acoustical energy, and vice versa ...
 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.
Sunday 15
 This week's puzzle features words and clues,
marked with an asterisk (*), regarding a momentous event which took place this week
on
December 17, 1903. As with my hundreds of previous engineering and science-themed
crossword puzzles, this one contains only clues and terms associated with engineering,
science, physical, astronomy, mathematics, chemistry, etc., which I have built up
over nearly two decades. Many new words and company names have been added that had
not even been created when I started in the year 2002. You will never find a word
taxing your knowledge of a numbnut soap opera star or the name of some obscure village
in the Andes mountains. You might, however, encounter ...
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