 Sunday the 21st
 This
Engineering-Theme Crossword Puzzle for March 21st has many words and clues
related to... you guessed it... engineering - including RF, microwave, optics,
mathematics, chemistry, physics, and other technical subjects. As always,
this crossword contains no names of politicians, mountain ranges, exotic foods
or plants, movie stars, or anything of the sort unless it/he/she is related
to this puzzle's technology theme (e.g., Hedy Lamarr or the Bikini Atoll).
The technically inclined cruciverbalists amongst us will appreciate the effort.
Enjoy!
 It was a lot of work, but I finally
finished a version of the "RF & Electronics Schematic & Block Diagram Symbols"
that works well with Microsoft Office™ programs Word™, Excel™, and Power
Point™. This is an equivalent of the extensive set of amplifier, mixer, filter,
switch, connector, waveguide, digital, analog, antenna, and other commonly
used symbols for system block diagrams and schematics created for Visio™.
Each of the 1,000 or so symbols was exported individually from Visio in the
EMF file format, then imported into Word on a Drawing Canvas. The EMF format
allows an image to be scaled up or down without becoming pixelated, so all
the shapes can be resized in a document and still look good. The imported
symbols can also be UnGrouped into their original constituent parts for editing.
Check them out!
Friday the 19th
 Electric Tech (E-TECH) Construction,
Inc. has immediate opportunities for experienced
RF Technicians with a wide range of knowledge in Cell Site construction,
modifications, new site builds, and 5G in the Bay Area, market. We offer industry
leading pay, paid time off, medical, dental, and vision insurance, and 401k
with match once eligible. Duties will include performing all trades and duties
associated with cellular / electrical construction, being adaptable to learning
new technologies, working in elevated areas in man lift, and working varied
shifts. Must be proficient at using industry testing equipment and must be
able to read and understand construction drawings. Anritsu certification highly
desirable along with previous / current tower climber experience...
 Occasionally an unbuilt vintage Heathkit
item appears on eBay with really nice photos of the contents. In fact, I have
a Saved Search that sends me an e-mail whenever one shows up. This morning,
a
Heathkit DG−140 Two-Station Intercom kit appeared on auction. The instruction
booklet has a publish date of 1972, so I looked for a copy of it on the WWW
but the only thing I could find was a PDF for purchase. Despite the 1972 date,
it appears it was 1973 when the DG−140 was first available. The 1971 catalog
still shows the previous version, the DG−141 (which you might understandably
think would be the newer model number). There is a big difference in the chassis
configuration from the DG−141 to the DG−140. Per the 1973 Heathkit catalog,
the DG−140 was priced at $29.95 ($184.91 in 2021 money - a whopping 6.2x factor
in 48 years). Heathkit products were well known for the completeness of its
instruction manuals, with clearly illustrated instructions...
 "According to researchers at Penn State,
micro-doppler radars could soon be used in clinical settings
to predict injury risk and track recovery progress. Being able to view subtle
differences in the human movement would allow health care workers to more
accurately identify individuals who may be at risk for injury and to track
progress precisely while individuals are recovering from an injury. To find
an accurate, reliable, and cost-effective way to measure these subtleties
in human movement, the College of Engineering and College of Medicine researchers
teamed up to develop radar in front of which athlete study-subjects could
jump. 'My students and I designed and constructed the radar system to characterize
the micro-Doppler features of human gait..."
 Webster's dictionary defines luminescence
as, "the low-temperature emission of light produced especially by physiological
processes (as in the firefly), by chemical action, by friction, or by electrical
action." Per this article on electroluminescence in the November 1961 edition
of Popular Electronics, Webster defined it back then as, "any emission
of light not ascribable directly to incandescence, and therefore occurring
at low temperatures." Interesting that the contrast to incandescence is no
longer used. Maybe in 1960 the phenomenon of
electroluminescence was still new and novel enough to emphasize the distinction.
Barely a decade had passed since it had moved out of the laboratory and into
the marketplace. The ability to economically produce large panels for lighting
was deemed groundbreaking...
 Berkeley Nucleonics Corporation, a
leading manufacturer of precision electronic instrumentation for RF/Microwave
research, introduces the
Model 685 High-Performance ARB. The function of an arbitrary waveform
generator, or ARB, varies depending on the application. Some of the many applications
for a waveform generator include timing solution, signal emulation and modulation
of signals. The Berkeley Nucleonics Model 685 High-Performance ARB offers
a wide range of modulations and pre-made waveforms as well as complex user-generated
waveforms. The UI is intuitive and easy to use through the touch screen interface
but can also be used remotely through software with commands or through a
remote desktop using the standard Ethernet interface. The Model 685 has two
modes, AFG and AWG. The AFG (arbitrary function generator) uses...
 LadyBug Technologies was founded in
2004 by two microwave engineers with a passion for quality microwave test
instrumentation. Our employees offer many years experience in the design and
manufacture of the worlds best vector network analyzers, spectrum analyzers,
power meters and associated components. The management team has additional
experience in optical power testing, military radar and a variety of programming
environments including LabVIEW, VEE and other languages often used in programmatic
systems. Extensive experience in a broad spectrum of demanding measurement
applications. You can be assured that our Power Sensors are designed, built,
tested and calibrated without compromise.
Thursday the 18th
 According to an FCC document "11th
Annual Report, Federal Communications Commission, Fiscal Year Ended June 30,
1945," Chapter VIII - War Activities, "The
Radio Intelligence Division, established in 1940 to give America wartime
protection from misuse of the ether lanes by spies or other illegal
operators, discovered 46 unlicensed stations during the fiscal year, investigated
1,445 complaints of suspicious transmission and of interference. These complaints
were received from the general public, commercial communication companies,
Government agencies, and the military. During the year, the RID furnished
fixes to 283 planes which were in distress. A total of 996 requests for assistance
of all types to planes was received. The RID took 85,031 bearings. A number
of alerts originated totaled 25,000. This figure represents the number of
instances in which an origination was made by each monitoring station equipped
with long-range, high-frequency direction-finding facilities for the purpose
of obtaining synchronized bearings from a net of direction...
 With more than 1000
custom-built symbols, this has got to be the most comprehensive set of
Visio Symbols available for RF, analog, and digital system and
schematic drawings! Every object has been built to fit proportionally
on the provided A-, B- and C-size drawing page templates (or can use your
own). Symbols are provided for equipment racks and test equipment, system
block diagrams, conceptual drawings, and schematics. Unlike previous versions,
these are NOT Stencils, but instead are all contained on tabbed pages within
a single Visio document. That puts everything in front of you in its full
glory. Just copy and paste what you need on your drawing. The file format
is XML so everything plays nicely with Visio 2013 and later...
 "A team led by Technical University
of Munich (TUM) physicists Christoph Utschick and Prof. Rudolf Gross has succeeded
in making a coil with superconducting wires capable of transmitting power
on the order of more than
five kilowatts contactless and with only small losses. Conceivable
applications include autonomous industrial robots, medical equipment, vehicles
and even aircraft. Contactless power transmission has already established
itself as a key technology when it comes to charging small devices such as
mobile telephones and electric toothbrushes. Users would also like to see
contactless charging made available for larger electric machines such as industrial
robots, medical equipment and electric vehicles. Such devices could be placed
on a charging station whenever they are not in use. This would make it possible
to effectively use even short idle times to recharge their batteries..."
 Anatech Electronics offers the industry's
largest portfolio of high-performance standard and customized RF and microwave
filters and filter-related products for military, commercial, aerospace and
defense, and industrial applications up to 40 GHz.
Two new cavity filters have been introduced. The AB838B904 bandpass filter
features a 804.5-871.5 MHz passband with 1 dB insertion loss and
can handle 50 watts. The AB2350B490 bandpass filter covers 2300 to 2400 MHz
with 1.7 dB insertion loss and handles up to 70 watts. Custom RF power
directional coupler designs can be designed and produced when a standard cannot
be found, or the requirements are such that a custom approach is necessary...
 Here is a crossword puzzle from the
November 1957 edition of Popular Electronics magazine. Unlike the
weekly crosswords from RF Cafe that uses only relevant technical words, this
one fills in with common words. It's still a good puzzle and will take a lot
less time to complete. A list of all the other crossword puzzles found in
Popular Electronics, Electronics World, QST, and
other vintage electronics magazines...
 Modelithics is pleased to announce
the release of new models for the Passive Plus R35-1209BB and R35-2010BB flip-chip
resistor products. New
Microwave Global Models™ for both resistor series are now
available within the Modelithics COMPLETE Library™ as well as the Modelithics
mmWave & 5G Library. In addition, new 3D geometry models for the resistors
are now available within the latest version, v20.8, of the Modelithics COMPLETE+3D
Library for Ansys® HFSS™. The two new Microwave Global Models for the R35-1209BB
and R35-2010BB resistor families, respectively, for values of 50 and 100 Ω.
Both models are validated to 60 GHz, making them well suited for today's
higher-frequency requirements...
 MPDevice (MPD) has become a trustworthy
and reliable company in the global RF market as a manufacturer of
passive RF
devices. Included are attenuators and terminations, coaxial connectors,
adapters, and cable assemblies, DC blocks, surge arrestors, power combiner
/ dividers, and directional couplers. The Korean Telecommunication market
is now entering into the era of hyperconnected society. With continuous enhancement
in R&D capabilities and quality control, MPD will continue in an effort
to become the No. 1 technologically innovative company with a focus on
the emerging 5G marketplace.
Wednesday the 17th
 Not long ago I posted a short bit on
the 1924
Montgomery Ward Radio Catalog I found on the WWW. It was
the only version of the actual catalog I could find. An advertisement for
this 1939 edition of the Montgomery Ward Radio Catalog appeared in a copy
of Radio News magazine. Like the earlier catalog, this one appeals to both
professional servicemen and amateur radio hobbyists - often one and the same.
Mail order and brick and mortar outlets like Radio Shack and Lafayette Radio
Electronics (where I used to buy stuff in the 1970s) had not come to most
of America's towns yet, so electronics enthusiasts often procured their parts
from Sears Roebuck, Montgomery Ward, and specialty catalogs or from hardware
and drug stores that happened to stock components. Of course you could always
walk into the local electronics repair shop...
 "How fast does data flow? The answer:
not fast enough. The search for more efficient data-transfer solutions to
meet the ever-increasing demand for computation never ends. Even today, most
data transmission happens via traditional copper cables, which are power-hungry,
leading to a compromise between data exchange and energy consumed. Fiber-optic cables are an alternative, but they don't work
well with the silicon chips in our computing systems. Overcoming these limitations,
while theoretically possible, can turn out to be prohibitively expensive,
especially for electronics-rich applications like data centers, spacecraft,
electric vehicles and so on. A team of scientists at the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology have recently demonstrated a plastic polymer cable that is a
complementary solution..."
 Skyworks is pleased to introduce the
SKY67181-396LF, a high gain, low noise amplifier (LNA).
Designed to meet the challenging requirements of cellular LTE and 5G NR infrastructure
applications, this LNA features ultra low-noise figure, high gain, and operates
over a wide range of frequencies. Featuring an ultra-compact 2 x 2 mm plastic
surface mount package to reduce PCB board space, SKY67181-396LF is pin-to-pin
compatible with the previously released SKY67183-396LF and SKY67189-396LF.
These LNAs are ideal for 2G/3G/4G/5G TDD and FDD infrastructure applications,
including small cell, massive MIMO, and macro base stations...
 Berkeley Nucleonics Corporation (BNC)
is a leading manufacturer of precision electronic instrumentation for test,
measurement, and nuclear research. Founded in 1963, BNC initially developed
custom pulse generators. We became known for meeting the most stringent requirements
for high precision and stability, and for producing instruments of unsurpassed
reliability and performance. We continue to maintain a leadership position
as a developer of custom pulse, signal, light, and function generators. Our
designs incorporate the latest innovations in software and hardware engineering,
surface mount production, and automated testing procedures.
 This is a great primer for anyone
looking for an easily understandable way to explain the basics of radio signal
fading to acquaintances, or for that matter to understand it yourself if you
don't already. As I review the material for taking my amateur radio General
Class exam, there is information about
atmospheric absorption in the various ionospheric layers
during daytime and nighttime. Prior to studying the manual, I either never
knew or once knew but have forgotten about the upper F1 and F2 layers combining
into a single layer at night when the sun's radiation and particle bombardment
is blocked by the earth. This article doesn't go that deep into the physics,
but it does a good job of making a complex topic simple enough for the layman
- although if you're trying to explain fading to politicians, well, don't
even bother...
 RF Cafe visitor Zachary Fox sent me
a note regarding the "Basic Laser Experiments" article from the June 1971 issue
of Radio-Electronics magazine. Mr. Fox is an avid laser experimenter
/ hobbyist who has a blog on the
Laser Pointer Forum website where he documents his activities.
He recently purchased a document containing the actual photograph shown in
the article that shows RCA Solid State Research Laboratory scientist Dr. Karl
G. Hernqvist projecting the 24 spectral lines of a helium-selenium laser onto
his hand. What was a big deal in 1971 is ho−hum technology today, just like
what is ground−breaking today will be ho−hum in 50 years. We should be grateful
for people like Zachary who collect and preserve these parts of history so
that someone with no interest doesn't throw it out with the trash...
 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.
Tuesday the 16th
 Most people familiar with the history
of
radio control (R/C) airplanes credit twin brothers Walt
and Bill Good for the first truly successful R/C airplane, which they dubbed
"Big Guff," in 1938. Interestingly, this YouTube interview with the Good brothers
mentions, as does Mr. Isberg in his 1939 article in Radio News magazine
article, the first sanctioned R/C contest where the Good's model was the only
one to fly. Ross Hull and Clinton DeSoto were two other prominent early R/C'ers.
Transmitter operators were licensed Hams who designed and built their own
equipment at 56 MHz, unlike modern turn-key R/C systems operating in
unlicensed ISM bands. Vacuum tubes were used in the transmitter and the airborne
receiver. Lead-acid batteries often provided power for the receiver and control
surface actuators (pseudo-servos) in the airplane, which unfortunately would
burst during a crash...
 "RF noise is a frequent discussion
topic among radio amateurs. A proliferation of electronics has cluttered and
complicated the noise environment; it's not just power lines anymore. Unless
isolated from civilization, most hams experience
RF interference (RFI) - sometimes without even realizing
it, although spectrum scopes on modern transceivers make RF noise much more
apparent. Various approaches to address the apparently worsening noise floor
have been taken around the world, some addressing lax regulation. 'We all
want to enhance our ability to copy the weak ones by increasing our signal-to-noise
ratio,' Alan Higbie, K0AV, said in his March/April NCJ article, 'Tracking
RFI with an SDR One Source at a Time..."
 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!
 Sending telegraph messages, whether
by wire or wireless means, has always been expensive, particularly considering
charges are determined by the character (letter, number, symbol). Accordingly,
the Shakespearean line from Hamlet declaring that "brevity is the soul of
wit" can be reworked to "brevity is the soul of economy." A telegraph wire,
unlike a telephone call, is a legally binding communiqué, as is of course
a written letter, but a telegram is immediate transmission of information
for time-critical messaging. A series of "commercial codes" were developed enabling senders to save
often significant money by sending multi-character codes that represented
entire phrases and/or sentences. What struck me about this article that appeared
in a 1948 issue of The Saturday Evening Post is how, following a court case
involving how the inadvertent swapping of two character positions in a code...
 Mr. Kenneth Wyatt has a good article
on the EDN website entitled, "Pre-Compliance Testing Large Systems In-Situ." He gives
advice on relatively inexpensive tests you can perform on your new product
design to help assure first-pass EMC compliance testing as performed by commercial
services - which can be very expensive. He begins: "Last year, I had a chance
to perform pre-compliance testing on a couple large systems for radiated emissions.
The clients were hoping to get early test data prior to the major work of
packing and transporting their large floor-standing systems for formal compliance
testing. Large industrial systems need a whole different technique for assessing
radiated emissions..."
 PCBONLINE supplies complex rigid and
flex-rigid printed circuit boards (PCBs)，and one-stop production with
maximum flexibility ranging from prototype sample to mass production. Rigid-flex,
HDI, multilayer, IC-loadboard, LCP 5G optical module, ceramic, MCPCB. Materials
include Rogers, Taconic, Arlon, Isola, Bergquist, Kapton, Panasonic, and more.
After more than 15 years of continuous efforts, PCBONLINE constantly updates
our equipment, improves our technology, and serves you with the highest quality.
Cost and delivery quotations online without the need for multiple phone call
and/or e-mails.
Monday the 15th
 Tracking down the source of TVI (television
interference) or any kind of RFI (radio frequency interference) can be a challenge. In the
days when most people received their audio and visual entertainment (radio
and TV) via over-the-air broadcasts, any form of interference was usually
picked up by multiple people, who promptly reported the issue to the power
company or the FCC. Arcing power lines, transformers, and switches were prime
generators of RFI, particularly during wet and high wind conditions. However,
much more prevalent was interference from industrial and domestic equipment.
Neon and fluorescent light, heating pads (see Hazel: Stop Rockin' Our Reception
episode), ignition systems (automotive and oil burners), diathermy (heat therapy
popular in the day), industrial RF heating, kitchen appliances, and tool motors
were among the likeliest offenders. Of course amateur radio operators were
guilty of spewing out interfering EM crap...
 "Over the past few decades, the incredible
progress made in the electronics industry has been partially driven by innovations
at the single-transistor level. Building faster and smaller transistors has
been a primary goal for the semiconductor industry over the past few years.
Metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) are the most
conventional and widely used type of transistors. One of their major limitations
is their high power inefficiency, which is due to their inability to reduce
the voltage supply while simultaneously limiting the off-state leakage current.
A novel and alternative type of device called a
tunnel field-effect transistor (TFET) can overcome this
limitation by leveraging quantum mechanical tunneling..."
Free R&S Poster: Microwave &
Beyond
 Rhode & Schwarz (R&S) has just
made another great wall poster available, this one with the theme of "Microwaves and Beyond." As usual, the poster is full of
colorful charts and tables that provide lots of useful data at a glance. If
you are used to looking everything up on your tiny smartphone screen, you
might be surprised at how handy and easy on the eyes these old-school posters
can be for a quick reference. Signal level conversions, directivity and uncertainty,
waveguide standards, RF connector types, mismatch values, and electromagnetic
spectrum bands are among the included categories. You can either download
a PDF version of the "Microwaves and Beyond" wall poster, or R&S will mail
a "real" version to you at no charge.
 Atenlab has been operating in Taiwan
for more than a decade, and has sold and installed hundreds chambers around
the world. Holistic, affordable 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.
 It is hard to imagine a time when there
wasn't a vast network of highways connecting not just the interior of the
continental U.S., but also interconnecting all of the countries in North America.
Just as pioneers in covered wagons and on horseback forged the routes that
became the Oregon Trail in the early 19th century, so did teams of explorers,
cartographers and engineers do the heavy lifting in the early 20th century
in establishing the first defined roads for expediting the transportation
of goods and persons all up and down the continent's west coast. Radio operators
were among the crews of the
International Pacific Highway (IPH) project. Heavy, bulky,
and fragile tube-based radio equipment was transported in vehicles equally
bereft of adequate facilities in the form of power and shock absorbing suspensions.
This story from a 1931 edition of the ARRL's QST magazine tells of harrowing
experiences in the jungles and mountains of South America...
 Triad RF Systems, a leading designer
and manufacturer of innovative RF/Microwave amplifiers and integrated radio
systems for challenging environments, has posted a new blog entitled, "MANET: Why It's the Best Approach for Reliable Ad Hoc Networking."
It begins, "In our previous article, 'Overview: MANET (Mobile Ad Hoc Network),'
we explained MANET and its history, touched upon some of its major applications
and technological challenges, and described MIMO/MANET as one possible solution
to improve data communications, connectivity, situational awareness, and ability
to operate in A2/AD environments. This article will discuss MANET applications
further and explain why MANET is better than other technologies in these applications.
The military is one of the largest users of MANET. The military must perform
a variety of missions, often in a hostile environment. The Army, Navy, Marines,
Air Force, and Coast Guard require an information network between soldiers,
vehicles, ships, planes, and headquarters...
 Withwave manufactures an extensive
line of metrology quality coaxial test cable assemblies, connectors (wave-,
end-, vertical-launch, board edge, panel mount), calibration kits (SOLT),
a fully
automated 4-port vector network analyzer (VNA) calibrator, between- and
in-series connector adaptors, attenuators, terminations, DC blocks, torque
wrenches, test probes & probe positioner. Special test fixtures for calibration
and multicoax cable assemblies. Frequency ranges from DC through 110 GHz.
Please contact Withwave today to see how they can help your project succeed.
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