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 Here for your almost-Friday enjoyment is
a collection of
radio-themed comics from a 1964 issue of Popular Electronics
magazine. The scenario in the first comic is one that an owner of an antiques store
told me happens often with cunning customers. Now that eBay has been around for
so long, shop owners, yard/garage sale holders, Craigslist sellers, and even places
like Goodwill know what their items are really worth and price accordingly. In fact,
about the only things you can find at those venues anymore is utter junk or stuff
too big to sell and ship on eBay - like an area rug or a night stand. Every once
in a while you'll come across a good deal when the person is not Internet savvy,
but not often. We hardly even look anymore...
 "The Kopernik Observatory put out a call last week for
hams to receive and decode transmissions from a launch by its High Altitude
Balloon Camp. Amateur radio delivered! Social media was abuzz with images decoded
from the K2ZRO-9 transmitters. The balloon was launched from Vestal, New York, and
ascended over the Catskill Mountains. A crowd gathered at W1AW, the Hiram Percy
Maxim Memorial Station at ARRL Headquarters in Newington, Connecticut, where Station
Manager Joe Carcia, NJ1Q, was tracking it. The decoded slow scan television (SSTV)
signals showed black skies above, and cumulonimbus build ups below the balloon..."
 France's A-1 (aka "Astérix") satellite launch in November of 1965 made it the sixth
country to place a satellite in orbit - behind Russia, USA, the UK, Canada, and
Italy, respectively. Astérix's primary mission was to test the booster rocket, and
verify the ground tracking networks. Onboard were a radar transponder, a tracking
beacon, and a telemetry transmitter. Due to a presumed damaged antenna, received
signals from the beacon were very weak and only lasted for two days. Although initially
France relied on U.S. contractors for much of its hardware (mechanical and electronic),
it endeavored to develop and produce the majority of the required technology in-country...
 Although less than a decade had passed since
NASA launched its first satellite (Explorer 1), planners there were already
dreaming of the day when direct satellite-to-home and
satellite-to-car signals would be broadcast on a commercial basis.
This 1965 issue of Electronics magazine notes an intention to begin with FM radio
station airing akin to what we know today as satellite radio. Then, by 1977 the
country would be treated to satellite-to-home television programming powered by
a space-borne SNAP-8 (Space Nuclear Auxiliary Power) generator. Sirius XM Radio
made its debut in 2001, while home satellite TV service began in 1976. Also mentioned
is the USSR's fourth failed attempt to safely land an instrument package (Luna 8,
aka Lunik 8) on the Moon...
 Werbel Microwave is a manufacturer of RF
directional and bidirectional couplers (6 dB to 50 dB) and RF power dividers
/ combiners (2- to 16-way) with select models operating up to 26.5 GHz and
100 W of CW power (3 kW peak). All are RoHS and REACH compliant and are
designed and manufactured in our Whippany, NJ, location. Custom products and private
label service available. Please take a couple minutes to visit their website and
see how Werbel Microwave can help you today.
 The introduction of
field-effect transistors (FET's) into the electronics world was
a major benefit to designers needing lower power consumption and perhaps more importantly,
high input impedances for active circuits. The two most fundamentally distinct type
of FET's are the metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) and
the junction field-effect transistor (JFET). Both FET types are voltage-controlled
devices and do not require a bias current (hence the high input impedance) like
a bipolar junction transistor (BJT) does. Neither FET type has a PN junction. A
JFET uses a high resistance semiconductor channel region between the source and
drain with an ohmic contact to the gate, whereas the MOSFET has a insulative oxide
layer...
 "Electromagnetic
compatibility (EMC) is crucial to industrial equipment design and operation.
In industrial environments, where numerous electronic devices and systems coexist,
the potential for electromagnetic interference (EMI) is significant. Ensuring EMC
compliance is essential for industrial equipment's reliable and safe operation,
preventing disruptions and maintaining productivity. This article explores the unique
EMC challenges in industrial settings, discusses strategies to achieve EMC compliance,
and provides real-world examples of successful implementations. Challenges in Industrial
Settings Industrial environments pose unique EMC challenges due to several factors:
High Electromagnetic Noise..."
 Pardon my gallows humor, but when I first
saw this photo from a 1965 issue of Electronics magazine of this manufacturing
plant being built in Hong Kong, my thought was that maybe those scaffolds in front
of the windows were actually there to prevent despondent, hopeless employees from
jumping onto the sidewalks below. These days, more stylish and
socially acceptable nets are used. The take-away from this story is that while it
might seem the shifting of manufacturing to and/or sourcing of foreign-made products
by U.S. firms from China is not a recent phenomenon. This was half a century ago
before the fall of the Berlin Wall, before the breakup of the U.S.S.R., the mowing
down of student protestors in Tiananmen Square, and other high profile...
 San Francisco Circuits has launched a new
PCB Stackup Calculator / Design Tool. San Francisco Circuits' free PCB Stackup
Calculator helps engineers and designers quickly configure and visualize multilayer
PCB stackups from 4 to 14 layers. Users can select copper weights, dielectric materials,
and vias, then instantly view a detailed layer-by-layer breakdown with IPC 6012
manufacturing guidelines. Key Benefits: Layer Flexibility - Design stackups for
4 to 14 layers, Material Guidance - Typical copper foil and prepreg thicknesses,
Via Options - Blind and buried, Instant Visualization - Clear stackup tables for
easy review...
 Citizens' Band (CB) radio began in 1945,
just after World War II, in order to provide common folks with a means of both
fixed and mobile radio communications that required only paying a fee to operate.
Amateur radio (Ham radio) did and still does require that the operator pass a written
test to gain transmitting privileges (anyone may receive a signal). CB was and is
used for both fixed base and mobile communications. Evidently, by 1964 there was
enough use and misuse of the airwaves that the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) found it necessary to publish and enforce a new set of rules for users. CB
radio began operations in the 460-470 MHz UHF band, then moved to 27 MHz
in 1958 since equipment could be manufactured in a manner more affordable to a wider
segment of the public...
 Lots of old-time sci-fi movies and TV shows
liked to display
Lissajous patterns on oscilloscopes when an authentic high tech
look was needed in a scene. Every engineer, technician, and physicist in the world
- me included - roll his or her eyes at the sight of such a lame attempt to impress
the public. Of course the truth is the first time I saw a Lissajous pattern gyrating
on an o-scope screen, I was mesmerized. The need to crank on the signal generator
knobs and take control of the electroluminescent object d'art was overwhelming.
Now, in the same manner that watching the first couple Space Shuttle launches was
a thrill not to be missed and then became just another launch, so, too, is watching
a live Lissajous pattern on a scope - it's just another Lissajous. Except, well,
that's not quite so - at least for me. I always eagerly viewed Shuttle launches...
 "Integrating an electronic material that
exhibits a strange property called negative capacitance can help high-power
gallium
nitride transistors break through a performance barrier, say scientists in California.
Research published in Science suggests that negative capacitance helps sidestep
a physical limit that typically enforces tradeoffs between how well a transistor
performs in the 'on' state versus how well it does in the 'off' state. The researchers
behind the project say this shows that negative capacitance, which has been extensively
studied in silicon, may have broader applications than previously..."
 "Squegging" - Now there's a word you don't
hear every day. It is a shortened version of "self-quenching." As is often the case
in these "Mac's Service Shop" sagas, we get a primer on certain circuit
functions and how to troubleshoot and resolve the issue. You can also usually count
on learning more than one lesson per reading. After replacing the failed component
in Barney's exasperatingly elusive receiver, Mac turns to record changer mechanisms
and their bewildering nature, but the real message being given is the value of well-written
troubleshooting guides from manufacturers. Even with today's no-user-serviceable-parts-inside
products, there are many times a troubleshooting guide is included as part of the
user's manual. That goes for both electronic and mechanical products. You might
laugh at the first step that tells the owner to check to make sure the electric
cord is plugged in or batteries are installed with the proper polarity...
 Electronically steered phased arrays have
largely replaced
mechanically steered antennas in the last couple decades. In an
effort to eliminate the need for a waveguide rotary joint, which is both expensive
and complex when built for high reliability under harsh operating conditions, Japanese
engineers developed an alternative where a small subreflector is orbited about a
central axis to produce a small scanning angle. The measured half power bandwidth
of the central beam was about 7.5°, while the half power scan width about the main
axis boresight appears per one of the plots to be around 30° or so (if I interpret
it correctly). I assume this scheme was never pursued much beyond the experimental
phase...
 These three
electronics-themed comics appeared in the February 1953 issue
of Radio-Electronics magazine. The first one showing the television repairman
employing contortionist technique in order to tweak the picture is pretty good.
I have seen an advertisement in one of these magazines that offered a deflection
coil alignment signal generator box that had a mirror mounted inside the cover specifically
for doing the job that tech is doing in the comic. Another comic no doubt hit home
with in-home servicemen of the day; at least the owner was honest. The other plays
off a brand of humor common in the day that demonstrated the public's fascination
with all the newfangled technology showing up every day...
 "The dark cloud of uncertainty hanging over
EchoStar doesn't appear to be going away anytime soon. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr
said his agency continues to take a close look at whether
EchoStar,
via its Dish business, complied with the FCC's 5G network buildout obligations.
'Dish obviously says that they did,' he said during a press conference after the
commission's open meeting Thursday. 'Concerns have been raised. We've been working
through the data on that. That work continues.' Separately, the FCC opened a proceeding..."
 Part 1 of this "All About IC's" trilogy
titled, "What Makes Them Tick," author Bob Hibberd introduced the concept of semiconductor
physics and doped PN junctions. In Part 2, he discusses methods used to
fabricate monolithic, integrated circuits (IC's) on silicon chips.
Transistors, diodes, resistor, capacitors, and to some extent, inductors, can be
built using a combination of variously doped junction regions, metallization, and
oxidation (insulators). Technology has come a long way since 1969, including mask
techniques, 3-D structures, doping gradients, feature size, dielectric breakdown
strength, current leakage, circuit density, mixed analog, RF, and digital circuitry,
and other things. Part 3, covered in the August issue, goes into more detail about
how passive components are realized in silicon...
 Note the byline in this 1953 Radio-Electronics
magazine article - Juliette Drut (she's on the cover). Not often were articles in
electronics trade magazines penned by a dame or damsel back in the day. For that
matter, it's still pretty rare today... hmmm... but I digress. If you thumb through
any electronics magazines from the middle of the last century, you find that the
pages are filled with advertisements offering courses to train prospects in the
field of
television and radio repair, with promises of a potential to make
big money. Both institutional and home-study courses abounded. The costs never appeared,
but hey, with the money a fellow would be making soon, surely the price would be
inconsequential. Interestingly, in those same issues would be articles such as this
one addressing the reality of electronics servicing...
 Anritsu has been a global provider of innovative
communications test and measurement solutions for more than 120 years. Anritsu manufactures
a full line of innovative components and accessories for
RF and Microwave Test and Measurement
Equipment including attenuators & terminations; coaxial cables, connectors &
adapters; o-scopes; power meters & sensors; signal generators; antenna, signal,
spectrum, & vector network analyzers (VNAs); calibration kits; Bluetooth &
WLAN testers; PIM testers; amplifiers; power dividers; antennas. "We've Got You
Covered."
 I found yet another electronics quiz in
a copy of my vintage Popular Electronics magazine collection. Robert P.
Balin published scores of these quizzes over the span of a couple decades. Unless
you have created a few quizzes yourself, it might seem like there is nothing to
it, but even relatively simple ones like this requires the creator to think up the
problems and then guarantee that the answers given are correct. No, it's not rocket
science, but try creating a dozen quizzes with 8 to 10 questions; it could take
a while. Anywho[sic], this
Electronic Switching Quiz requires you to consider the switch
positions and then determine which lamps will turn on...
 "The
U.S. CHIPS and Science Act of
2022 aimed to reestablish advanced manufacturing for logic and memory in the
United States, as well as boost or establish other chipmaking activities. The job
is far from complete, but a look at where the money is expected to go points to
a potentially broad geographic boost for the domestic chip industry. That's assuming
it continues. Not long after the law took effect, the federal government began careful
negotiations and had in hand proposed deals for more than 30 projects by the end
of October 2024. After Donald Trump won the 2024 election, the CHIPS Office went
into high gear..."
 A couple weeks ago, I announced USAF radar
technician Joe Urcheck's
indoctrination into the RF Cafe Radar Shop Hall of Fame. We wrote
back and forth a few times as I learned he had quite an interesting career both
in the USAF and then for decades as an FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) radar
tech. Since a lot of guys with similar backgrounds appreciate being able to read
about their comrades' experiences, I asked Joe if it would be OK to post his comments,
which he did. Read it here, and shoot me a note if you have a story to tell...
 If you believe this 1969
Sylvania General Telephone & Electronics advertisement, you
needed only to stock their specially-designed 60 components to be able to replace
every other component made anywhere in the world. Even in 1969 when semiconductors
were becoming the majority active devices in electronics (replacing vacuum tubes),
the claim is a bit of a stretch. I have my doubts. The ad probably got posted on
a few engineering lab bulletin boards (the physical kind of yore, not computer BB's)
to elicit a few laughs. It reminds me a little of the episode of M.A.S.H. where
a war correspondent asked Captain Hawkeye Pierce what he brought with him from home,
and he responded that he only brought...
• FCC
Finally Gets Its Auction Authority Back
• Cadence
Guilty of Illegally Supplying China Military
• Telecom
Blockchain Market to Reach $25.2B by 2030
• Ham
Radio Helps Locate Missing Mother and Son
• UK Space Agency Reports on
Health of UK Space Industry
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