Friday 8
 "YL" is the shorthand used by amateur radio
operators when referring to female operators -
Young Lady.
Although still chosen as a hobby in larger number by men, ladies have long been
avid participants in the art/science of Ham radio. The American Amateur Radio League's
QST magazine devoted this "YL News and Views" column to their contributions many
years ago - trendsetting in its day. This particular issue introduces Louise Ramsey
Moreau as its new editor. Her interest in Ham radio was piqued when she realized
"all the women heard on their receivers were not 'just wives,' but licensed operators."
The rest, as said, is history ...
 Lou Frenzel has a short piece on the Electronic
Design website on a subject near and dear to me titled, "What You Need to Know About Radio Telescopes." I have owned
and enjoyed using a few optical telescopes, but what I have always really wanted
was a radio telescope. Aside from being tremendously expensive because of the extremely
low noise receivers required, the space needed to accommodate steerable, high gain
antennas is prohibitive on my meager budget. There are a few articles out there
on cobbling together amateur radio telescopes, but are basically to "real" radio
telescope what Galileo's first telescope was compared to my
Celestron CPC 800. An advantage radio telescopes have over
optical telescopes is the ability to operate in just about any weather, day or night ...
 NI AWR announces the latest release of the
antenna design, synthesis and optimization module,
AntSyn™
3.1, is now available for use by current customers and evaluators. IoT accounts,
like Striiv, have found this innovative EM-based synthesis tool valuable for designing
antenna solutions for their products. Highlights of the release include: Additional
antennas added to the library bringing the total number of templates to 537. New
antenna types for series-fed patch arrays, as well as new waveguide-fed, dual-ridge,
transverse electromagnetic (TEM) and multifunction horn antennas ...
 Call me obsessive, but the switch to and
from DST has bugged me not so much for its existence, but for butthead politicians
that won't keep their hands off of it. A few years ago I wrote a piece titled, "A Graphical Look at
Daylight Saving(s) Time," to deal with it, and then again last year with, "Daylight
Saving(s) Time vs. Standard Time." Research the history of DST and you will
see how often Congress has changed the days - always for good reasons, don't you
know. In 1958, the year of my birth, DST began on April 27th
 (vs. March 10th this year), and ended on September
28th (November 3rd this year) - See 1958 Old Farmer's Almanac pages. What else can
I say on the matter?
 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
...
 "Researchers have created an optical chip
that appears to solve one of the greatest challenges to developing
optical quantum communication systems, potentially providing
a reliable, cost-effective way to develop quantum communications. Many of the advanced
communications systems being developed today utilize quantum mechanics to process,
store, and transmit information. harnessing the principle of entanglement, where
two particles become so intimately connected that they act as a single system, no
matter how great the distance between the two particles might be. The problem for
optical quantum systems which rely on photons is that the components that process
and store information require visible-light photons ..."
 Centric RF is a company offering from stock
various RF and
Microwave coaxial components, including attenuators, adapters, cable assemblies,
terminations, power dividers, and more. We believe in offering high performance
parts from stock at a reasonable cost. Frequency ranges of 0-110 GHz at power
levels from 0.5-500 watts are available off the sheld. Order today, ship today!
Centric RF is currently looking for vendors to partner with them. Please visit Centric
RF today ...
Thursday 7
 Knowing that I am an avid consumer of literature
pertaining to time and astronomy, Melanie picked up a book at the library for me
titled,
Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem
of His Time, by Dava Sobel. When Christopher Columbus discovered America,
his intended target was, if you recall, the Indies. His original charter was to
find a direct westerly pathway from the Atlantic coast of Europe to the immensely
profitable trade production region of the Indies as an alternative to to sailing
around the treacherous Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa. How could
such an experienced navigator have missed his mark by so far, you might reasonably
ask? Didn't Columbus know how to use a sextant, or at least have a navigator who
could? The answer to the second question is, "no." The answer to the first question
is complicated ...
 Transient Specialists, a leader in electromagnetic
compatibility rentals for over 40 years, is excited to bring forward
EM Test Application Note 218 for the PA5840 and Autowave for OEM LV 124. This
test solution allows for a cost-effective option requiring minimum equipment and
can be utilized in conjunction with preexisting test equipment. Transient Specialists
conveniently located in the mid-west offers a variety of EMC test equipment rentals
to accommodate your testing needs. Our rentals include technical support on the
equipment, weekly and monthly rentals, and 2 days each way of transit time ...
 If you think
cathode ray tubes
(CRTs) are no longer used in new equipment, think again. Thomas Electronics, located
in Clyde, NY, has been manufacturing, repairing, and refurbishing cathode ray tubes
(CRTs) since 1948. TWTs, x-ray sources, and arc lamps are a few examples. Give new
life to your vintage equipment with a new phosphor coating or specify a custom replacement.
Thomas Electronics' product profile includes CRTs, high voltage power supplies,
LCD backlights, LCD ruggedized displays, electromagnetic components, deflection
coils, & monitors. Environments testing, magnetics, and custom glass working
services are available. Check out the cool stuff on their website ...
 Triad RF Systems' Q1 2019 Newsletter reveals
that our revenue grew over 40% from 2017 to 2018! A portion of the growth came from
our military ultra wide-band power amplifiers, our new CubeSat product line, and
continued strength from the MIMO radio market. Even though our staff grew over 23%,
our profit margins increased as expected, allowing us to continue to heavily invest
in new product development including high power radio systems. Our space product
line and further development of our high powered MIMO radio subsystems continue
to move forward with continued product releases coming throughout 2019. A summary
of new product releases is also presented ...
 The early 1960s was evidently a good time
for printing quizzes in electronics magazines. Popular Electronics was
no exception. As I look through my collection I am finding quite a few. Here is
the latest, from the January 1963 edition, that tests basic knowledge of
using analog multimeters (digital types were not around yet). All are pretty
straightforward; however, be careful with question 9. At first I thought maybe it
was a trick question, but the key to arriving at the correct answer is noting that
you are measuring a low resistance. Be sure to consider the properties of a standard
multimeter of the era. Give it a try for yourself to see how well you fare ...
 "By fabricating a nano-MEMS honeycomb lattice,
researchers developed a solid-state device that can function as a
voltage-tunable filter or unidirectional energy coupler for
electrical energy in the 10- to 20-MHz range that's been converted into acoustic-like
phonons. As electronic devices shrink, there's an increasing need for on-chip high-performance
functions such as unidirectional waveguides (isolators), filters, and delay lines,
especially those with key parameters that can be controlled on chip. A team of researchers
from ZTH Zurich and Caltech is using silicon-nitride (SiN) nanomembranes that operate
at high frequencies (10-20 MHz) as conduits for phonons, the acoustic-like waves
passing through a solid or liquid material ..."
 Since 1961, MECA
Electronics has designed and manufactured an extensive line of
RF & microwave
components for in-building, satellite, radar, radio, telemetry, mobile radio,
aviation & ATC. Attenuators, directional & hybrid couplers, isolators &
circulators, power dividers & combiners, loads, DC blocks, bias-Ts and adapters &
cables. MECA has long been the 'backbone' of high performance wired and air-interfaced
networks such as in-building applications, satellite communications, radar, radio
communications, telemetry applications, mobile radio, aviation & air traffic
communications ...
Wednesday 6
 Hugo Gernsback wrote this editorial about
the state of the art of
radio astronomy in a 1953 issue of his Radio-Electronics magazine.
He cites Dr. Jansky's discovery of radio frequency signals emanating from the
center of our Milky Way galaxy, and the subsequent work done by radio astronomers
in the interim. Little did Gernsback know that a mere decade later later, Bell Telephone
Labs engineers Dr. Wilson and Dr. Penzias would serendipitously discover,
using the company's "sugar-scoop" antenna, the ubiquitous cosmic microwave background
radiation (CMBR) believed to be a signature of the "Big Bang" era. He predicted
that, as is true for most realms of theoretical research, much collateral technology
would be created as a result. Ultra low noise, cryogenically cooled receivers are
an obvious example ...
 Don't wait
too long to make your plans for attending WAMICON 2019. It runs April 8th and 9th, in Cocoa Beach, Florida.
The 20th annual IEEE Wireless and Microwave Technology Conference (WAMICON 2019)
will address up-to-date multidisciplinary research needs and interdisciplinary aspects
of wireless and RF technology. The central theme of WAMICON2019 will be " Simulation
Driven Design of Emerging Wireless, Microwave and mm-Wave Circuits and Systems."
The committee welcomes submissions on all aspects of related technologies, including
antennas, passive and active circuits, communication theory, and system concepts ...
 The concept of
quantum computing has always been a bit fuzzy for me - ditto
for quantum entanglement (Einstein called it "spooky action at a distance"). Admittedly,
I haven't done a lot of reading on either technology. Both are still mostly laboratory
curiosities at this point in time. Design News magazine has a brief introduction
titled, "Quantum Computing 101: 5 Key Concepts to Understand" that presents
some of the common terminology. If you like the mathematics of statistics, eigenvalues,
superposition, complex coefficients, 2n-dimensional vectors, and
bra−ket
notation , then quantum computing might just be your thing. BTW, per Wikipedia,
"the ket is an element of a vector space, the bra is technically
an element of its dual space" - I didn't make that up ;-)
 Electronics magazines of the last century
regularly published theme-based crosswords, like this "Electronic
Terminology Crossword Puzzle" one from a 1960 edition of Electronics World.
Working crossword puzzles has been shown to be a simple activity that can help prevent
or at least stave off some forms of mental atrophy. It is a medical fact that as
you grow old and/or cease presenting yourself on a regular basis with mental and
physical challenges, your brain actually begins to lose gray matter and synapse
interconnections are lost. Working crossword puzzles is a healthy mental exercise
that helps increase your vocabulary and improve cognitive skills. That is one reason
I create my own weekly crossword puzzle for RF Cafe visitors ...
 Rohde & Schwarz USA has published a downloadable
white paper titled "Radio Fundamentals for Cellular Networks." In just four decades,
cellular technologies have advanced from 1G analog technologies to advanced high-performance
4G and 5G systems. Learn more about how LTE-A Pro paves the way to 5G NR and how
5G mmWave challenges design and testing of devices below in this newsletter. Also,
stay up to date on the latest industry trends by following our
Wireless Communications channel on LinkedIn for advanced information on the
test innovations we are showcasing, along with the latest technology trends and
our educational resources ...
 "An international team of researchers led
out of Macquarie University has demonstrated a new approach for converting ordinary
laser light into genuine
quantum light. Their approach uses nanometer-thick films made
of gallium arsenide, which is a semiconductor material widely used in solar cells.
They sandwich the thin films between two mirrors to manipulate the incoming photons.
The photons interact with electron-hole pairs in the semiconductor, forming new
chimeric particles called polaritons that carry properties from both the photons
and the electron-hole pairs. The polaritons decay after a few picoseconds, and the
photons they release exhibit distinct quantum signatures. The teams' research was
published overnight in the journal Nature Materials. While these quantum signatures
are weak at the moment, the work ..."
 ConductRF is continually innovating and
developing new and improved solutions for RF Interconnect needs. See the latest
TESTeCON RF
Test Cables for labs. ConductRF makes production and test coax cable assemblies
for amplitude and phased matched VNA applications as well as standard & precision
RF connectors. Over 1,000 solutions for low PIM in-building to choose from in the
iBwave component library. They also provide custom coax solutions for applications
where some standard just won't do. A partnership with Newark assures fast, reliable
access. Please visit ConductRF today to see how they can help your project!
Tuesday 5
 The General Agreement on
Tariffs and Trades (GATT) has been around for a really long time - since 1947, shortly
after the end of World War II. It changed its name to the World Trade Organization
(WTO) in 1995. Japan was admitted as a GATT signatory in 1964 according to this
Electronics magazine newsletter. One of the conditions for membership was
allowing foreign ownership of businesses on Japanese soil - previously prohibited.
Texas Instruments was the first American company to establish a presence there.
Japanese industry was just getting a foothold on manufacturing and selling into
foreign markets in the mid 1960s, and was still working to shed its reputation -
deserved or not - of producing inferior quality goods. Increasing foreign presence
and dependence on the country's economic well-being was a good thing for them. In
fact, many pundits believe that the globalization of production is key to preserving
peace (or at least not war) between certain countries ...
 The good folks over at IMS ExpertServices,
who have published many great summaries of
technology-related legal disputes, just posted this piece titled, "5G Creates Ripe Environment for Commercial Disputes and Disruptive
Innovation." "Innovations and novel commercial and industrial solutions related
to 5G roll-out will result in new business opportunities. They are likely to also
bring disruption to existing businesses, and intellectual property disputes. To
gain greater insight into how these disruptions and opportunities could effect the
commercial litigation community, IMS interviewed Robert Dezmelyk, IMS Elite Expert
in wireless communications. He offered his insights on the impact of the next generation
of wireless technology ..."
 The study of
parallel circuits typically follows on the heels of series circuits because
at least for resistance and inductance, the math is easier. Capacitance in parallel,
on the other hand, use the equations and methods of resistance and inductance in
series. Unfortunately, though, for newcomers, series capacitance uses the equations
and methods of resistance and inductance in parallel. Sure, most RF Cafe visitors
covered all that stuff years ago, but as I've mentioned before, there are always
new people coming into the electrical and electronics craft. These NAVPER Basic
Navy Training Courses were and still are heralded as being excellent introductory
material for students entering the realm. I don't know if it's still so, but back
in the post World War II era and up through the 1980s civilian employers assigned
great regard to and preference to for U.S. Navy (and, ahem, Air Force) electronic
technicians when hiring ...
 NI AWR has a new white paper exploring the
fundamental design challenges faced when
creating and producing high-frequency modules for a range of wireless system
applications is now available in the ni.com/awr resource library. The paper details
how the NI AWR Design Environment platform supports the design and integration of
these modules in the shortest time possible with the ability to perform circuit,
system and electromagnetic (EM) co-simulation within a single, integrated environment
that also supports interoperability with industry-leading computer-aided design
(CAD) tools ...
 Chris DeMartino, at Microwaves & RF
magazine, has a report on a new filter design and realization technology dubbed
XBAR that was pioneered by
Resonant. XBAR is a proprietary technique that boasts "a resonating
structure that has the strongest acoustic-wave coupling of any resonating structure
on the market right now. It offers three to four times more bandwidth than the 4G
resonators used in the mobile space right now." Doing so enabled bandwidths in the
hundreds of MHz, and eventually upper frequencies into the GHz realm. Resonant is
an IP company that develops the filter designs and then licenses the technology
to manufacturers for implementation ...
 "Scientists from the University at Buffalo
in New York are looking into a common but mysterious phenomena -
static electricity. Experts believe that this form of electricity
could be one day utilized to power all sorts of electronic devices, provided we
find out exactly how it works and functions. And a new study may shed some light
on this strange occurrence. Researchers believe that the actual cause of static
electricity is due to small structural changes at the surface of materials. These
changes arise when certain materials come into contact with each other, and friction
occurs. Scientists believe this revelation could help in the design and creation
of longer-lasting, sustainable power sources for many small electronic devices ..."
 Rohde & Schwarz develops, produces and
markets
test & measurement, information and communications technology.
Focus is on test and measurement, broadcast and media, cybersecurity, secure communications,
monitoring and network testing. Markets serviced are wireless, the automotive industry,
aerospace and defense, industrial electronics, research and education, broadcast
and media network operations, consumer electronics, cybersecurity for business and
governments, communications and security solutions for critical infrastructures
and the armed forces, reconnaissance equipment for homeland and external security,
and much more ...
Monday 4
 Amateur radio operators (Hams) and electronics
hobbyists are always on the lookout for a good deal on a good piece of test equipment
(TE). One way to accumulate a budget minded bench of TE is to find a way to combine
the functions of separate pieces to effect a new instrument. This
RF wattmeter was R.A. Thomason's method. It uses a simple application of
Ohm's law for converting electrical current into power values using a bank of high
power resistors and an external ammeter. Hand-dandy conversion charts are provided
for two different values of detector resistors, but the scales could easily be changed
to accommodate any resistor value. Note that the power dissipating resistor bank
is composed of two series-connected sets of eight parallel-connected ...
 Z-Communications, Inc., announces a new RoHS
compliant fixed frequency phase locked loop model
SFS7500D-LF operating in the X-band. The SFS7500D-LF is a plug and play PLO
allowing for quick integration and designed to produce a fixed signal at 7500 MHz
when utilized with an external 10 MHz reference oscillator. This simple to use PLO
features a typical low phase noise performance of -80 dBc/Hz, -95 dBc/Hz,
and -124 dBc/Hz at the 1 kHz, 10 kHz and 100 kHz offsets, respectively.
The SFS7500D-LF is designed to deliver a nominal output power of -3 dBm while
operating off a VCO voltage supply of 5 Vdc and drawing 120 mA. This unmatched
product features a typical harmonic suppression ...
 As radio equipment builders and operators,
we still battle two fundamental issues that have been around since the beginning
of time (well, from Marconi's time, anyway) -
grounding and power supply fluxuations. Both topics are addressed briefly here
in this editorial column from a 1932 The Wireless World magazine. Back
in the day, grounding was referred to as "earthing," and was/is essential to optimal
wireless and wired performance. Line voltage fluxuations are generally much less
severe today than in the 1930s thanks to better transformers, automated monitoring
and adjusting of line voltages, and better distribution designs. The worst type
of power line fluxuation - a lightning-induced surge - has been greatly reduced
thanks to superior engineering, primarily by the simple running of a grounded neutral
"static" wire running at the top of all the lines below it on utility poles and
transmission towers ...
 Gowanda Electronics, a designer and manufacturer
of precision electronic components for broadband radio frequency and power applications,
announces the introduction of new broadband microwave
RF conical inductors that provide DC current handling up to 10 Amps - the highest
level in the industry - and low insertion loss. The four new series - C305FL, C550FL,
C750FL and C1000FL - expand Gowanda's conical offerings and will be featured at
the 2019 Optical Networking and Communication Conference & Exhibition (OFC)
being held in San Diego, California from March 5 to 7. Visit Gowanda Components
Group booth #5417 for more information ...
 "A crash plan to scale up
solar thermal power generation struggles amidst overly-ambitious
timing and market uncertainty. In the final days of 2018 a 100-megawatt solar thermal
generating station capable of running around-the-clock, 365-days-a-year connected
to the Northwest China regional power grid. It was a race against time to commission
the plant in temperatures as low as −20C - and one that plant designer and
builder Beijing Shouhang Resources Saving Co could not afford to lose. 'We must
finish on time. Otherwise we may face a heavy financial problem,' says Chen Han,
Shouhang's director for international markets ..."
 Copper Mountain Technologies
develops innovative and robust RF test and measurement solutions for engineers all
over the world. Copper Mountain's extensive line of unique form factor
Vector Network Analyzers
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, field and secure testing environments ...
Sunday 3
 Beginning in 2000, I have created hundreds
of custom
electronics-themed crossword puzzles for the brain-exercising benefit and pleasure
of RF Cafe visitors who are fellow cruciverbalists. The jury is out on whether or
not this type of mental challenge helps keep your gray matter from atrophying in
old age, but it certainly helps maintain your vocabulary and cognitive skills at
all ages. A database of thousands of words has been built up over the years and
contains only clues and terms associated with engineering, science, physical, astronomy,
mathematics, chemistry, etc. 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 the name of a movie start like Hedy Lamarr or a geographical
location like Tunguska, Russia, for reasons which, if you don't already know, might
surprise you ...
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