 Friday 10
 Illustrating (literally) once again the fascination
the public had with television during its heyday from the late 1940s to the 1960s,
this set of
electronics-themed comics from a 1948 issue of Radio-Craft magazine
depict the humorous situations both real and imagined for the technology. Artist
Frank Beaven, a frequent contributor to the publication, took suggestions by reads
and turned them into comics. The concept of multi-sensory TV experiences were common,
including not just sight and sound, but also smell and tactile sensations. 3-D projection
and large screens were also envisioned in the comics. The page 124 comic is my favorite
as it exhibits a tried and true sales technique for securing business from guys.
Interestingly, note that the comic on page 86 is credited to someone from Tel-Aviv,
Palestine...
 Empower RF Systems, a leading provider of high-power
ultra-broadband radio frequency (RF) amplifier solutions is seeking a qualified,
dynamic, successful
/2019/Empower-RF-Systems-Associate-RF-Engineer-1-9-2020.htm" target="_top">
Associate RF Engineer. Headquartered in Inglewood, California, the company was
founded in 1999 and designs and manufactures solid-state, high-power RF amplifier
systems and modules for commercial, scientific, and military customers worldwide.
This position is located in our Inglewood headquarters and reports to the Chief
Technology Officer. An Associate RF Engineer at Empower will participate in the
process from proposal to end of life in the design, development, and maintenance
of high power Solid-State Amplifiers and Systems targeted to the industrial, commercial
and military markets. The incumbent will work with other engineers, managers, Product
Management, QA, and Operations teams to develop innovative solutions that meet market
needs with respect to functionality, performance, scalability, reliability, realistic
implementation schedules, and adherence to goals and principles...
 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.
 While listening to the radio the other day, I
heard a guy who is very technically astute and is a Ham radio operator pronounce
the word "schematic" as skem-E-at-ik. He wasn't just joking because he kept saying
it that way throughout the show. It came to mind while posting this chapter entitled,
"The
Electrical Circuit Diagram," and I thought you might appreciate it (especially
if you also routinely mispronounce the word). But I digress... The U.S. Navy over
the years has produced a number of series of training courses for electricity, communications,
mechanics, navigation, etc., that are held in high regard by the military and private
industry. Graduates of the courses who served a term of enlistment performing equipment
maintenance have always been preferred by employers looking for high quality technicians...
 ConductRF LSA series of
Low Loss, Performance flexible RF Cable Assemblies, provide microwave system
designers with a versatile solution for most applications. Here we offer customers
a solution for 0.086" diameter cable that facilitates greater flexibility and handling
or, 0.141" diameter that exploits the same great performance but with almost half
the loss. Connector options include SMA, Type-N, TNC & SMP that provide excellent
VSWR between DC and 18GHz, also solutions for MCX & SMB are available in a wide
array of configurations. These assemblies are built using our own double shielded,
FEP jacketed cable, that was developed specifically for performance solutions. With
shielding effectiveness exceeding 90 dB through 18 GHz...
 Custom MMIC is a
fabless RF and microwave MMIC
designer entrusted by government and defense industry OEMs. Custom and off-the-shelf
products include switches, phase shifters, attenuators, mixers and multipliers,
and low noise, low phase noise, and distributed amplifiers. From next-generation
long range military radar systems, to advanced aerospace and space-qualified satellite
communications, microwave signal chains are being pushed to new limits - and no
one understands this more than Custom MMIC. Please contact Custom MMIC today to
see how they use their modern engineering, testing and packaging facility to help
your project.
Thursday 9
 Bell Labs' first positive gain semiconductor
amplifier was of the point contact type where the n−type germanium base contact
was conductively bonded to a metallic plate and the emitter and collector connections
were made by point contact "cat whiskers." Such a contact is not mechanically robust
and would not be a long term solution to semiconductor manufacturing. This full-page
advertisement appearing in a 1958 issue of Radio & TV News magazine touts Bell
Labs' development of a
thermocompression wire bonding process whereby the combination of heat and concentrated
pressure causes an atomic-level reaction between the semiconductor material and
a gold interconnect wire. It proved to be very effective and reliable and paved
the way for greater circuit density and packaging diversity (plastic and ceramic
encapsulation vs. metal cans). Thermosonic wire bonding...
 Electro-Photonics, a market leader in RF and
microwave components, has released a new thin film, surface-mount technology (SMT)
power divider/combiner. The
EP2D-1200R-M-001 delivers exceptional performance in a compact size due to the
use of a high dielectric material, total thin film process, and integrated resistors.
Its 6-18 GHz bandwidth, low insertion loss, high isolation, and low phase unbalance
is perfect for use in intermodulation measurements, signal distribution for antenna
arrays, and beam forming. Package size measures 0.185 x 0.160 x 0.020 inch (4.7
mm by 4.06 mm by 0.51 mm).
 RF Cafe typically receives 8,000-15,000
website visits each weekday and about half that on weekends.
RF Cafe is a favorite of engineers, technicians, hobbyists, and students all
over the world. With more than 7,000 pages in the Google search index,
RF Cafe returns in favorable
positions on many types of key searches, both for text and images. New content
is added on a daily basis, which keeps the major search engines interested enough
to spider it multiple times each day. Items added on the homepage often can be found
in a Google search within a few hours of being posted. I also re-broadcast homepage
items on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. If you need your company news to be seen,
RF Cafe is the place to be. Banner advertising begins at $175/month...
 Res-Net microwave has posted a short white paper
entitled, "RF & Microwave
Terminations." As a manufacturer of many forms of terminations including chip,
flange, stripline, coaxial rod, and connectorized, both convection and conduction
cooled, Res-Net Microwave has a great deal of knowledge on the subject. The article
touches on test setups, use with power dividers, combiners, circulators, and isolators
with regard to VSWR, capacitance, power dissipation, temperature range, physical
size, weight, and package type.
 On January 23, 2020 at 11 am ET, Günter
Pfeifer, Product Manager OTA, Rohde & Schwarz, will be presenting a webinar
entitled, "5
Things you Need to Know About OTA Chambers for 5G NR mmW Testing." There is
no cost, but registration is required for viewing. "Over the air (OTA) testing is
gaining a lot of momentum in 5G NR, especially when it comes to mmW FR2. For OTA
testing, a mobile device or base station under test must be placed in a chamber
environment that provides shielding from surrounding signals. This webinar explains
the main criteria for making decisions with regard to selecting a shielding chamber
and provides guidance on selecting the right OTA test solution for your testing
needs, from design and conformance to production testing..."
 Nova Microwave is a leader in technically differentiated
electronic and radio frequency Ferrite Circulators and Isolators that connect, protect and control
critical commercial and military wireless telecommunications systems. Our staff
is dedicated to research and development of standard and custom design quality Ferrite
Circulators and Isolators from 380 MHz to 26.5 GHz. Available in single
or multi-junction topographies, the Nova Microwave product line of is specifically
designed for use in varied environmental and temperature extremes.
Wednesday 8
 Contrary to the fantastic claim made by the author
of this article from a 1964 issue of Popular Electronics magazine, the
"bug
battery," also known as a biobattery, did not revolutionize rechargeable battery
technology. In the ensuing 55+ years we have seen nickel cadmium (NiCad), nickel
metal hydride (NiMH), and now lithium polymer (LiPo) batteries, respectively, do
the revolutionizing. It's not that bacteria-based energy production was a bad or
impractical endeavor; it's just that advances did not proceed quickly enough to
keep up with the other technologies. Research and development efforts inevitably
moved away from bug and onto chemicals. D.S. Halacy, Jr., of course had no way of
knowing that at the time, so his enthusiasm might have been justified. I say might
have been because then, as now, every new idea and technology has its die-hard evangelists...
 Advancements in phased-array antenna systems
have brought about major developments in radar, mobile communications and satellite
broadcasting. The Berkeley Nucleonics Model 855B,
300 kHz to 40 GHz Multi-Channel RF / Microwave Signal Generator, is
used as an internal LO source in many of the new state of the art phased array antennas.
Communication with conventional satellites requires one to focus a narrow electromagnetic
frequency beam at the satellite (parabolic surface). Due to the antenna's size and
weight, it can be quite difficult and costly to track a satellites' movement. Phased
arrays, however, are composed of several smaller, fixed antennas. By changing the
relative phase for the signal that each unit transmits...
 Atenlab has been operating in Taiwan for more
than a decade, and has sold and installed hundreds chambers around the world. Holistic
Over-the-Air (OTA) measurement systems perform
comprehensive measurement and test in a controlled environment. Compact Antenna
Test Range (CATR) with one-touch operation supports multiple systems - 2G, 3G, 4G,
5G - and major instrument brands. [M]ulti-probe OTA measurement systems offer reduced
time measurements over single-probe systems.
 Mac McGregor, owner of
Mac's Radio Service Shop, can always be counted on to provide his apprentice
technician, Barney, with a lesson from his own life-long attendance at the School
of Hard Knocks. Barney is your stereotypical young buck whose level of seriousness
needs occasional alignment, just as do the radio and television sets he services.
In this episode, I can't find where Mac actually solved the intermittent electrical
condition believed to be causing the problem - weird. The "Mac's Radio Service Shop"
series ran in Radio & Television News magazine for many years prior
to a similar electronics story series called "Carl & Jerry" that appeared in
Popular Electronics. Both were created by consummate storyteller John T. Frye.
 Mr. Kenneth Wyatt posted on the EDN website
part 4 of his series entitled, "Design
PCBs for EMI," this time covering partitioning on the PCB. It addresses a long-standing
debate about how to best isolate analog and digital grounds on mixed signal boards.
He begins, "Part 3 of this series on PC board design for low EMI discussed partitioning
and why that's important to keep 'noisy' signal fields from cross-coupling to 'quiet'
signal fields within the board's dielectric space. In this article, I'll provide
more detail on partitioning. While the concept of partitioning is simple enough,
real boards usually require a little more thought. Partitioning is especially important
when it comes to mixed-signal designs, such as a combination of analog and digital
or wireless and digital..."
 PCB Directory is the largest directory of
Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Manufacturers,
Assembly houses, and Design Services on the Internet. We have listed the leading
printed circuit board manufacturers around the world and made them searchable by
their capabilities - Number of laminates used, Board thicknesses supported, Number
of layers supported, Types of substrates (FR-4, Rogers, flexible, rigid), Geographical
location (U.S., China), kinds of services (manufacturing, fabrication, assembly,
prototype), and more. Fast turn-around on quotations for PCB fabrication and assembly.
Tuesday 7
 You've to to take a look at this article if
only to see the comic. Mentioned but not expounded upon is the man who was the progenitor
of the
U.S. Army's Signal Corps (beginning in 1860), Major Albert J. Myer, a medical
doctor who took up long distance communications as a hobby. As an extension of his
interest in Morse code, he developed a system of using a lantern (nighttime) or
a signal flag (daytime) to effect a visual form of code. It was dubbed "wig-wag
signaling," or "aerial telegraphy." Unless some sort of cryptographic encoding was
used, the messages could be easily intercepted by enemy forces, but it served both
sides well until wireless sets were available. Coming in the middle of World War II,
this Radio News magazine article summarizes the electronic communications
capabilities...
RF Cafe typically receives 8,000-15,000
website visits each weekday and about half that on weekends.
RF Cafe is a favorite of engineers, technicians, hobbyists, and students all
over the world. With more than 7,000 pages in the Google search index,
RF Cafe returns in favorable
positions on many types of key searches, both for text and images. New content
is added on a daily basis, which keeps the major search engines interested enough
to spider it multiple times each day. Items added on the homepage often can be found
in a Google search within a few hours of being posted. I also re-broadcast homepage
items on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. If you need your company news to be seen,
RF Cafe is the place to be. Banner advertising begins at $175/month...
  On December 10, 2019, the FCC released a very
interesting report entitled, "Results
of Tests on Cell Phone RF Exposure Compliance." It included certain models by
Apple, BLU Products, Motorola, and Samsung that were accused by the Chicago
Times newspaper on August 21, 2019, of exceeding radiation levels deemed to
be safe. The article, "We tested popular cellphones for radio frequency radiation.
Now the FCC is investigating." Guess what? It was more grandstanding Fake News by
the media seeing to whip the public into a frenzy with much ado about nothing. The
Federal Communications Commission declares, "...all tested sample devices comply
with the FCC RF radiation exposure." If a retraction is printed, it'll likely be
buried deep inside next to the obituaries.
 Artech House today announced the publication
Cyberwarfare: An Introduction to Information Age Conflict, by Isaac R.
Porche, III. Conflict in cyberspace is becoming more prevalent in all public and
private sectors and is of concern on many levels. As a result, knowledge of the
topic is becoming essential across most disciplines. This book reviews and explains
the technologies that underlie offensive and defensive cyber operations, which are
practiced by a range of cyber actors including state actors, criminal enterprises,
activists, and individuals. It explains the processes and technologies that enable
the full spectrum of cyber operations. Readers will learn how to use basic tools
for cyber security and pen-testing, and also be able to quantitatively assess cyber
risk...
 With 2019 now officially in the history books,
Custom MMIC is proud to have set a new company milestone with the release of
39 new high performance GaAs and GaN MMICs in 2019. This impressive accomplishment
highlights our ability to quickly introduce high quality production ready MMIC products.
This includes low noise amplifiers, low phase noise amplifiers, driver amplifiers,
distributed amplifiers, mixers, phase shifters, switches, and variable attenuators.
View our newly redesigned 2020 Product Selection Guide to see our latest GaAs and
GaN MMIC products.
 A.H. Systems has a nice free webinar entitled,
"Choosing
the Right Antenna for Today's Testing Requirements." Per the webpage, "How to
choose the correct EMC test antenna based upon the requirements of the standard.
A simple guide to determining the correct choice of antenna to match the test required.
RF veteran Tom Mullineaux in collaboration with the experts at A.H. Systems presents
the basics and a framework for beginners, as well as more advanced topics for intermediate
and advanced test engineers - such as antenna beamwidth and how to address it. All
levels of EMI test engineers, technicians and managers will benefit from this presentation."
 Empower RF Systems
is a global leader in power amplifier solutions. Empower RF Systems is an established
and technologically superior supplier of high power solid state RF & microwave
amplifiers. Our offerings include modules, intelligent rack-mount amplifiers, and
multi-function RF Power Amplifier solutions to 6 GHz in broadband and band
specific designs. Output power combinations range from tens of watts to multi-kilowatts.
Unprecedented size, weight and power reduction of our amplifiers is superior to
anything in the market at similar frequencies and power levels.
Monday 6
 The
Allen B. Du Mont Laboratories was one of the earliest manufacturers of television
sets for consumer purchase. They were in operation long before committees like the
NTSC were formed to standardize television broadcast signal formats. There were
various methods competing for reproducing the image at the receiver end - including
electromechanical and purely electronic schemes. Regular readers of electronics
magazines like this edition of Radio-Craft followed the evolution of TV
with great, though somewhat guarded, enthusiasm. As with many technologies
that seemed at the time to have mostly commercial and consumer applications, development
during the war years yielded to the needs of victory for the Allied forces. Television
prices were relatively high even in the late 1940s, so most households still did
not have a TV set; radios still ruled in the domestic entertainment realm...
 VidaRF, a manufacturer of high performance RF
and microwave high performance circulators, isolators, couplers, power dividers,
and other passive components, has expanded it line of broadband
RF power dividers / combiners with low VSWR and insertion loss and high port-to-port
isolation to cover 2 to 18 GHz for all wireless applications from cellular
through 5G mm-wave with SMA connectors. The Model VPD-20180AX series offers 2-,
3-, 4-, 6-, 8-, 32-, and 64-way splits. Operating temperature is & −55°C
to −85°C. Sealed and Painted to meet IP65 standards.
 Exodus Advanced Communications is a multinational
RF communication equipment and engineering service company serving both commercial
and government entities and their affiliates worldwide. Power amplifiers ranging
from 10 kHz to 51 GHz with various output power levels and noise figure
ranges, we fully support custom designs and manufacturing requirements for both
small and large volume levels. decades of combined experience in the RF field for
numerous applications including military jamming, communications, radar, EMI/EMC
and various commercial projects with all designing and manufacturing of our HPA,
MPA, and LNA products in-house.
 "The radio frequency environment in which wireless
networks and devices operate is incredibly complex - and completely invisible. But
what if instead of sending out teams for drive-testing to get a snapshot of that
RF environment on a given day in a given place, you could pull up a dynamic map
that showed links, congested areas, coverage holes and other features as layers
of information, down to moment-by-moment changes? Aurora Insights is a start-up
that began with the idea of better information for RF planning through 'dynamic
mapping' for RF and RF links, according to CEO and co-founder Brian Mengwasser.
He compares traditional drive-testing..."
 IEEE and Dassault Systems is presenting a free
online seminar entitled "3D
Electromagnetic Simulation of Antennas Installed on an Aircraft." Per their
website, "Learn about the importance of using a range of methods in the 3D electromagnetic
(EM) simulation of installed antenna performance. 3D EM full-wave simulation is
a common practice for antenna designers and Analyst. The variety in antenna topologies
and design specifications necessitate a range of simulation algorithms to ensure
an efficient or even feasible solution is available. This range of technology becomes
even more important as antennas' operation in the installed environment is considered.
The application of different EM methods as well as hybridization..."
 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 for your military and commercial communications needs.
Sam Benzacar's monthly newsletters address contemporary wireless subjects. Please
visit Anatech today to see how they can help your project succeed.
Sunday 5
 As with my hundreds of previous
engineering and science-themed crossword puzzles, this first one of the new
decade, January 5, 2020, 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 the name of a movie star like
Hedy Lamarr or a geographical location like Tunguska, Russia...
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