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Homepage Archive - January 2023 (page 2)

See Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 of the January 2023 homepage archives.

Friday the 13th

Electronics-Themed Comics: Electronics World

Electronics-Themed Comics, November & December 1965 Electronics World - RF CafeThese couple tech-themed comics appeared in the November and December issues of Electronics World magazine - one apiece. The November comic presents what would have been considered a futuristic mega-size television that required technology nowhere near reality at the time. The only type of display available then was a cathode ray tube (CRT), which would require a cabinet many times deeper than the one shown to accommodate. Maybe artist G. Lyons foresaw plasma, LCD, or LED flat screen displays - but I doubt it. The salesman's comment is somewhat prescient in that an Internet search will find many examples of larger vintage TV cabinets which have been modified to serve as pet houses, bookcases, liquor cabinets, etc. The other comic is a pun on the overly-enthusiastic antennas home-bewer...

Arvin Model 555 Service Data

Arvin Models 555, 555A, 552N, 552AN, September 1947 Radio News - RF CafeIn a continuing effort to make available schematics, parts lists, and service information available for vintage radios, I have been scanning and posting documents like this one featuring the Arvin models 555, 555A, 552N, 552AN. It appeared in a 1947 issue of Radio News magazine. OCR is run on them to separate the textual content and facilitate searches. Some really nice photos of a restored Arvin 555 are available on the RadioAttic.com website (see thumbnail). There are still many people who restore and service these vintage radios, and often it can be difficult or impossible to find schematics and/or tuning information. I keep a running list of all data sheets...

R&S: LDACS - Future of ATC Communications

Rohde & Schwarz: LDACS - The Future of ATC Communications - RF CafeRohde & Schwarz has been working with research partners to develop the new L-band digital aeronautical communications system (LDACS), a new air traffic control (ATC) communications system that significantly increases bandwidth and allows modern IP-based communications. It is poised to replace the current VHF digital link (VDL) mode 2 in civil aviation to become the future worldwide standard. LDACS offers data throughput that is up to about 200 times faster than VDL mode 2. LDACS specifically uses portions of the L band frequency reserved for flight communications. It uses interference suppression algorithms and is optimized for minimal out-of-band emissions and trouble-free operation alongside other flight equipment operating in said band. "Modern aviation demands the secure exchange of data," Thomas Bögl, Director of Technology and Studies at Rohde & Schwarz, explains. "LDACS reliably enables high data throughput that is secured with encryption. It can support a wide variety of new applications...

Planning an Aircraft Radio Installation

Planning an Aircraft Radio Installation, November 1946 Radio News - RF CafeImagine if you wanted to transmit from your car with a 400 kHz radio and had to trail a 600-foot-long ¼-wave wire antenna behind to do it. Of course nobody ever did that, but it was common practice with airplanes in the days before VHF and UHF communications became the norm. It wasn't because nobody knew that it would be more advantageous to operate at higher frequencies in order to reduce antenna size requirements, it was that electronic equipment capable of withstanding the rigorous environment of airborne conditions was not ready for prime time, as the saying goes. Come to think of it, the term "prime time" had probably not even been coined yet when this article was written in 1946 because it derives from the evening television viewing hours (~8:00 to 11:00 pm) when the most viewers were tuned in. Electric and/or manual winches were used to deploy the antenna after getting airborne and to reel it in prior to landing. Weights were hung on the end in order to prevent oscillations, but that was dangerous both to the aircraft and people and objects on the ground when a length of wire and the weight...

Promote Your Company on RF Cafe

Sponsor RF Cafe for as Little as $40 per Month - RF CafeNew Scheme rotates all Banners in all locations on the page! RF Cafe typically receives 8,000-15,000 website visits each weekday. RF Cafe is a favorite of engineers, technicians, hobbyists, and students all over the world. With more than 16,000 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. If you need your company news to be seen, RF Cafe is the place to be.

Many Thanks to Axiom Test Equipment for Continued Support!

Axiom Test Equipment - RF CafeAxiom 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 - and don't miss the blog articles!

Thursday the 12th

Super Reception on Short Waves

Super Reception on Short Waves, January 1964 Radio-Electronics - RF CafeI'm no antenna expert, so no technical contribution to author Harold Churchill's "Super Reception on Short Waves" article will be attempted. It appeared in a 1964 issue of Radio-Electronics magazine. Along with some suggested antenna construction techniques, he discusses the importance of knowing how to properly aim a directional antenna in order to hit the location for which you are targeting. Vertical angle of arrival of radio waves is largely a function of frequency, so a generalized table is provided there. The other angle of concern is the horizontal direction, which relies on pointing your antenna directly at the distant target based on its great circle bearing from your position. You cannot get that information from a flat projection type of map. Although nowadays you simply plug the coordinates of both locations into an online calculator, back in the day one of the handiest tools was a good old fashioned globe. Take a piece of string and stretch it across the sphere between you and your signal's intended destination (or origin). The shortest path, known as the great circle path, indicates the direction to point your antenna. The article's example is from New York City, U.S., to Tokyo, Japan...

Practical Color TV for the Technician

Practical Color TV for the Technician, September 1957 Radio & TV News - RF CafeThe main purpose for bothering to reprint articles like this one on analog color TV theory is to reveal the complexity and ingenuity that went into cramming a lot of information into a relatively (at the time) small bandwidth. Signals within signals and signals riding on top of and below other signals was the name of the game, and pulling it off successfully required many well-designed and well-aligned circuits. Anyone old enough to remember watching a show on analog television can appreciate the difference between a high quality set with self-adjusting capability and a cheap set that required constant fiddling with the tiny, fluted knobs on the back. I, by the way, always had (and still have) the cheap sets. A bad picture on today's digital displays consists of screwy color tones or a few missing pixels, but at least you can stand to watch your movie or ball game. If an analog set started acting up, the picture could creep to the top or bottom of the screen, the horizontal and/or vertical scan synchronizations...

Transparent EMI Shielding Film

Transparent EMI Shielding Film - RF Cafe"At CES 2023, Meta Materials will be exhibiting its Nanoweb transparent EMI shielding film, which offers an optimal combination of transparency and conductivity. In addition to EMI shielding, Meta will also be demonstrating a range of applications: Nanoweb heaters for deicing/defogging of ADAS sensors (cameras, radar, LiDAR) Nanoweb antennas and electrochromic lenses for AR eyewear Nanoweb 5G reflector films for managing outdoor and indoor signal propagation In addition, Meta is developing two new battery materials to improve performance, safety and sustainability for Li-ion batteries used in electric vehicles and other applications. NPORE nanocomposite ceramic separators have <1% heat shrinkage to help prevent battery fires. Metal/polymer composite current collectors made with the company's PLASMAfusion technology reduce weight by 80% compared to solid copper foil, extending vehicle range. The devices act as a fuse to inhibit thermal runaway and improve sustainability..."

Coil64 (Coil32) Inductance Calculator Software

Coil64 (Coil32) Inductance Calculator Software - RF Cafe Cool ProductThere seems to be no such thing anymore as a simple formula for the physical implementation of an electronic component. Back in the early days of electronics discovery, frequencies were low and the precision needed for predicting the performance of circuits was equally low. As techniques for component construction and circuit analysis improved, more complete formulas were required to have theory match reality. Simple equations like Wheeler's for a single layer coil was good enough. Now, the more complete Wheeler model of is often more useful (it is the one that produces the result shown in the screen shot above). Be sure to conform to proper units. Fortunately, some kind souls have seen to it that software is available free of charge that removes the laborious task of typing long equations into a spreadsheet or into a hand-held calculator. In this case, Coil64 (or the Coil32, 32-bit version) is available from Valery Kustarev...

Single Layer Coil Design Chart

Single Layer Coil Design Chart, March 1955 Popular Electronics - RF CafeSingle layer coil design charts (aka nomographs) are a dime a dozen on the Internet. This nomograph appeared in a 1955 issue of Popular Electronics magazine. A couple examples of usage are included. The textbook Wheeler's formula for a single-layer coil with closely wrapped turns (wire diameter << coil diameter) is L = μr * d2 * N2 / (18 * d + 40 * l), where l has units of inches and L has units of μH. To verify one of the examples given in the article: L = μr * d2 * N2 / (18 * d + 40 * l),  = 1 * 52 * 192 / (18 * 5 + 40 * 0.52) = 81.45 μH, which is significantly less than the 100 μH given in the article. Another, more extensive Wheeler inductance formula (too long to reproduce here) yields 90.9 μH. Maybe I made a mistake somewhere, but I don't think so. I also downloaded the Coil64 software and plugged numbers into it and go similar results. These are without regard to frequency...

RF Cascade Workbook

RF Cascade Workbook - RF Cafe RF Cascade Workbook is the next phase in the evolution of RF Cafe's long-running series, RF Cascade Workbook. Chances are you have never used a spreadsheet quite like this (click here for screen capture). 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...

Many Thanks to Centric RF for Their Continued Support!

Centric RF microwave components - RF CafeCentric 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 shelf. Order today, ship today! Centric RF is currently looking for vendors to partner with them. Please visit Centric RF today.

Wednesday the 11th

Electronic Crosswords, July 1960 Electronics World

Electronic Crosswords, July 1960 Electronics World - RF CafeThis "Electronic Crossword" showed up in a 1965 issue of Electronics World magazine. Most of the words are directly related to the title's subject, but a few are everyday words to fill in where needed (as opposed to my RF Cafe crossword puzzles, which contain only applicable words). For instance the 22 Down clue of "Shoshonian Indian," while at first consideration might be deemed unrelated to a crossword puzzle with an electronics theme, it could be a reference to the Indians featured in many of the company advertisements back in the day, as Sangamo (and here, here, here) often did. Or, maybe the Indian chief in the old broadcast TV test pattern hailed from the tribe. Some of the clues include (colloq.) after them, which stands for colloquialism, or a shortcut / abbreviation often used to refer to the technical name. An example (not in this puzzle) would calling an attenuator a "pad"...

S. Korea Lunar Orbiter Photos of Earth & Moon

S. Korea Lunar Orbiter Photos of Earth & Moon - RF Cafe"South Korea's first-ever lunar orbiter Danuri has sent black-and-white photos of the Moon's surface and Earth, the national space centre said Tuesday. Danuri - a portmanteau of the Korean words for 'Moon' and 'enjoy' - was launched on a SpaceX rocket from the United States in August 2022 and entered lunar orbit last month. Its images - taken between December 24 and January 1 - show the lunar surface and Earth, and were shot from less than 120 kilometres (75 miles) over the Moon, the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) said in a statement. The images and videos will be 'used to select potential sites for a Moon landing in 2032,' it added. Danuri is circling the Moon every two hours, the centre said..."

Radar Explores the Moon

Radar Explores the Moon, May 1961 Popular Electronics - RF CafeNASA is currently collecting a phenomenal amount of data on the planet Mars. No small part of the effort is to determine whether sending humans to inhabit Mars would be feasible, or even at all possible. In order for it to be even possible for a long-term stay, it would be necessary for consumable resources to be accessible by Earth Martians. Discovering water ice would be the pièce de résistance since water is heavy and therefore very expensive to transport across vast reaches of space. Another key bit of data needed is frequency and size of meteor strikes on the surface since that figures directly into survivability. Long before we had the capability or even need to do that for Mars, NASA was doing the same sort of investigation on our moon (as opposed to one of Mars' two moons, Phobos and Deimos). The resolution of telescopes, all ground-based in the day, was good enough to perform site selection surveys in the x-y plane, but altitude data could only be inferred via estimations based on shadow lengths along the terminator (night/day line of demarcation) and sideways glances of peaks and valleys. That was not good enough for planning a human expedition to the surface, so engineers and scientists came up with a radar mapping technique to obtain z-axis data. That effort is reported here in this May 1961 edition of Popular Electronics...

Modelithics Releases MACOM GaN Library v23.2.1

Modelithics Releases MACOM GaN Library v23.2.1 - RF CafeModelithics, the world's leading independent provider of RF and microwave models, is pleased to announce version 23.2.1 of the Modelithics MACOM GaN Library. With this latest version, the library now includes a total of nine models for MACOM PURE CARBIDE™ GaN devices. Version 23.2.1 of the Modelithics MACOM GaN Library introduces a new model for the MACOM MAPC-A1505 GaN device. The MAPC-A1505 GaN amplifier is intended for operation from 2.7 to 3.1 GHz and is suitable for linear and saturated applications. It supports pulsed operation and delivers >700 W of output power. The MAPC-A1505 device comes in an air cavity ceramic package and is intended for 50 or 65 V operation. The Modelithics MACOM GaN Library also includes models for MACOM's MAPC-A1000, MAPC-A1100, MAPC-A1101, MAPC-A1102, MAPC-A1103, MAPC-A1500, MAPC-A1501, and MAPC-S1101 GaN devices. Each model in the library...

Resistor and Capacitor Color Code Charts

Resistor and Capacitor Color Code Charts, March 1955 Popular Electronics - RF CafeAs time marches on and electronics components get smaller and smaller, there is no just no room to apply color code markings for values, but in a lot of instances there is not even room to apply a laser alphanumerical marking (at least not one large enough to be seen with an unaided eye). This goes for common passive components like capacitors, inductors, and resistors as well as for integrated circuits, RF couplers and power dividers, diodes, and transformers. Open you Wi-Fi router and try to find a useful component designation. Only the largest parts will have anything you can look up on the Internet. There are ways to hunt down identification for some of the parts, but at least for R's, L's, and C's, the only way to discover a value without the assistance of a schematic is to measure it. If you look at older electronics equipment, you will immediately notice color stripes and/or dots on many components. The tables below, from a 1955 issue of Popular Electronics magazine, will help you decipher the meanings for component value, tolerance, temperature coefficients, etc., as applicable...

Promote Your Company on RF Cafe

Sponsor RF Cafe for as Little as $40 per Month - RF CafeNew Scheme rotates all Banners in all locations on the page! RF Cafe typically receives 8,000-15,000 website visits each weekday. RF Cafe is a favorite of engineers, technicians, hobbyists, and students all over the world. With more than 16,000 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. If you need your company news to be seen, RF Cafe is the place to be.

Many Thanks to ConductRF for Continued Support!

ConductRF coaxial cables & connectors - RF CafeConductRF 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 the 10th

The Decibel Without Pain

The Decibel Without Pain, August 1960 Electronics World - RF CafeEvidently - and understandably so - a lot of people in the electronics realm have a problem grasping the concept of a decibel as it pertains to voltage, current, power, et al. This 1960 Electronics World magazine "The Decibel Without Pain" article takes a stab at making it all clear. As the c1991 Teen Talk Barbie famously said, and in some cases like in this YouTube video still says, "Math class is tough." Believe it or not, that created quite a stir amongst feminists who, BTW, would have had no problem with Ken saying the same thing. The fact is, for many - probably most - people math class is tough. It was for me when I was in elementary school and junior high school. I nearly failed 9th grade algebra because for the life of me I could not get the hang of factoring polynomials. Being given the option of enrolling the the electrical vocational program for high school (grades 10 through 12) was my salvation. I loved working with electrical and electronic things, so being able to spend my days in prison (aka school) learning about residential, commercial...

How the V-2 Rocket Is Wirelessly Controlled

How the V-2 Rocket Is Wirelessly Controlled, April 1945 Radio News - RF CafeHere I go again saying how Germany missed an opportunity - twice - to be the world's technical superpower by starting wars that numerically proved it could never win. Scientists and engineers of Deutschland designed and implemented what would be the first wirelessly guided missile for correcting the flight path of the V-2 rocket (the "V" stood for Vergeltungswaffe, or vengeance weapon). This article from a 1945 edition of Radio News magazine describes how a radio "cone" was formed by a ground-based transmitter array that caused an airborne guidance system to keep the rocket on course during the boost phase of its flight. Embarrassingly, I don't recall having known about this amazing technology...

Please Note...

I will be away from my computer most of the day whilst undergoing a bilateral inguinal hernia repair That should be fun, but not as fun as having what should be inside hanging outside (yuk!). If all goes as well as my microdiscectomy last July, I'll be up and about in no time. Responses to e-mails will be delayed until later today. Thanks for your patience. It's been a good year for doctors' and hospitals' finances, but not so good for mine :-(     ---- Kirt B.

Comics from National Radio News

Comics from 1929 - 1941 National Radio News - RF CafeNational Radio Schools published a monthly (sometimes bimonthly) magazine titled National Radio News. The later editions usually had an electronics themed comic panel that addressed contemporary topics. Earlier editions usually featured student-drawn comics that were primarily propaganda to promote the school more so than humor. It sort of reminds me of the way the Amway faithful were in the 1960's through 1990's - most losing money while cheering on the very few multimillionaire "'Diamonds." Actually, such devotion and company/cause spirit was common in the early part of the 20th century as men desperately sought to secure their places in the American capitalist dream...

BMW Unveils Color-Changing Car

BMW Unveils Color-Changing Car - RF CafeIf you need a getaway car for committing a crime, BMW has just the thing for you... "BMW unveiled Wednesday the prototype of a car that can change color and showcases digital features like projecting driving data across the inside of the windshield. This car, called i Vision Dee, was presented at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas at an event attended by "Terminator" actor and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. BMW unveiled last year at this same show a car that could change hue but only from white to black and gray in between. But the body of the new car can change in a rainbow of colors, in one solid hue or in stripes or checks. BMW i Vision Dee is just an idea for now but it is supposed to shape the design of future cars from the luxury manufacturer. For example, having driving data such as speed or direction flash on the windshield is scheduled to be an option as of 2025..."

Clarion 5 Tube Model 423 Radio

Clarion 5 Tube Model 423; 6 Tube 470, 471 and 472; and 10 Tube 480, June 1934 Radio-Craft - RF CafeFor many years I have been scanning and posting Radio Service Data Sheets like this one featuring the Clarion 5 Tube Model 423; 6 Tube 470, 471 and 472; and 10 Tube 480 radio. This appeared in a 1934 issue of Radio-Craft magazine. As with the articles, OCR (optical character recognition) is run on them to separate the textual content and make it searchable. There are still many people who restore and service these vintage radios, and often it can be difficult or impossible to find schematics and/or tuning information. I will keep a running list of all data sheets to facilitate a search. Clarion 5 Tube Model 423 photo above was found on the RadioMuseum.org website...

Get Your Custom-Designed RF Cafe Gear!

Custom-Designed RF-Themed Cups, T-Shirts, Mouse Pads, Clocks (Cafe Press) - RF CafeThis 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...

Thanks to Copper Mountain Technologies for Continued Support

Copper Mountain TechnologiesCopper 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. 50 Ω and 75 Ω models are available, along with a full line of precision calibration and connector adaptors.

Monday the 9th

Semiconductors Are Circuits

Semiconductors Are Circuits, January 1964 Radio-Electronics - RF CafeWhen this "Semiconductors Are Circuits" article appeared in a 1964 issue of Radio-Electronics magazine, integrated semiconductor circuits were still in their infancy. Being able to build resistors, capacitors, and inductors on a slice of doped silicon was the first step in a rapidly evolving capability to realize complex circuits that would eventually include mixing analog and digital functions on the same die. Materials and methods produced ever-increasing frequencies of operation, high power for outputs, and lower power consumption for the on-chip circuits. Die shrinkage came from multi-layer construction, vertical structures, shrinking gate sizes, superior photomask and deposition techniques, purer semiconductor bases with improved doping chemistries, and better die sawing and separation. New wire bonding, package overmolding, testing, and automation of pick-and-place and soldering facilitated the use of the new products...

Solving a Broadcaster's Dilemma

Solving a Broadcaster's Dilemma, March 1930 Radio News - RF CafeHere is a story of a real feat of RF engineering where the stakes were high for determining the cause of the problem and effecting a solution. In this case Bell Telephone Laboratories was solicited to figure out why a commercial broadcast station's signal was not being received as strongly as predicted after the station had relocated its facilities specifically to address the issue. A lot of power was being pumped into the antenna, but inexplicably some relatively nearby listeners were getting lousy reception while reports were coming in of good signal strength from hundreds - even thousands - of miles away in other directions. A modern antenna design program like EZNEC could immediately predict the empirically measured pattern if the entire system is modeled properly, but it would still require the insight of a really experienced engineer or technician to ascertain the cause. It makes you wonder whether, presented with the same challenge, you would arrive at the correct conclusion. Many options for a solution were ultimately presented to station management...

Maintaining Audio Quality That Makes a Difference

Axiom Blog: Maintaining Audio Quality That Makes a Difference - RF CafeAxiom Test Equipment, Inc., an electronic test equipment rental and sales company has published a new blog post entitled "Maintaining Audio Quality That Makes a Difference," which covers how maintaining reliable audio capability in electronic systems calls for a variety of analyzers and generators capable of commanding precision audio characteristics. Testing helps to discover unwanted distortion and noise made by the audio equipment and how it's possible to remove or at least reduce the levels of noise compared to the audio signal levels. Fine-tuning electronic equipment for audio performance whether for use or for production can be accomplished by a variety of techniques, in the frequency domain or the time domain and usually to gauge the consistency of the signal amplitude and/or phase response as a function of frequency across the operating bandwidth...

Decibel Tutorial

Decibel Tutorial: dB and dBm vs. Gain and Milliwatts - RF CafeThe concept of a decibel (dB) is understandably difficult and confusing for someone just being introduced to it. Combining specifications for gain, power, and voltage (and current, but not so often) that mix dB, dBm, dBW, watts, milliwatts, voltage, millivolts, etc., often requires converting back and forth between linear values and decibel values. This brief tutorial will help to clarify the difference between working with decibels and working with linear values. Anxiety Alert: Using decibels involves working with logarithms. Logarithms (logs) were first conceived of in the early 1600s by Scottish mathematician John Napier, as a tool for simplifying multiplication and division operations by converting them to faster and less error prone addition and subtraction operations, respectively. This is made possible because of the way multiplication of two numbers expressed as similar base numbers with exponents can be accomplished by merely adding the exponents together. Division of those same numbers...

RF Cascade Workbook

RF Cascade Workbook - RF Cafe RF Cascade Workbook is the next phase in the evolution of RF Cafe's long-running series, RF Cascade Workbook. Chances are you have never used a spreadsheet quite like this (click here for screen capture). 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...

Please Visit Triad RF Systems to Thank Them for Their Support

Triad RF SystemsTriad RF Systems designs and manufactures RF power amplifiers and systems. Triad RF Systems comprises three partners (hence "Triad") with over 40 years of accumulated knowledge of what is required to design, manufacture, market, sell and service RF/Microwave amplifiers and amplifier systems. PA, LNA, bi-directional, and frequency translating amplifiers are available, in formats including tower mount, benchtop, rack mount, and chassis mount. "We view Triad more as a technology partner than a vendor for our line-of-sight communications product line." Please check to see how they can help your project.

Sunday the 8th

Antennas Theme Crossword for January 8

Antennas Theme Crossword Puzzle for January 8, 2023 - RF CafeThis week's custom RF Cafe crossword puzzle contains many words and clues specific to antennas (marked with an asterisk*). All the other words and clues pertain strictly to the subjects of engineering, science, physics, astronomy, chemistry, etc. If you do see names of people or places, they are directly related to the aforementioned areas of study. As always, you will find no references to numbnut movie stars or fashion designers. Need more crossword RF Cafe puzzles? A list at the bottom of the page links to hundreds of them dating back to the year 2000. Enjoy.

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