Today in Science History -
 Sometimes finding an existing instance of
one of the vintage radios is difficult or impossible. The
RCA Victor Model 54Bx portables are an exception. Plenty can be found for purchase
on eBay as this is written, as was a 54B1, 54B3, and a 54B4. I did a capture of
some of the listing images for a Model 54B2, and had Archive.org story a copy for
once the eBay site deletes it. In the internal photos, all four miniature vacuum
tubes (3S4, 1S5, 1R5, 1T4) can be clearly seen. Note also in the photos you can
see where, per the alignment procedure, rubber bands have been place around the
tubes in order to keep them from moving. The extremely cramped space required particular
attention to the routing of interconnect wires...
 Triad RF Systems is a fast-growing leader
in the design and manufacture of RF power amplifiers and radio systems. We are looking
for an experienced
Electronic Assembly Technician to support our growth. This position will work
in our Assembly Team under the direction of our Production Manager. Required skills
and qualifications include assembles electronic components, assemblies, subassemblies,
RF modules and systems with work orders and visual work instruction as directed
by the Production Manager. Performs mechanical assembly operations while building
electronic assemblies using standard measuring tools and techniques, performs electronic
assembly operations such as wire termination, and installation...
 Remember the Sunday comics feature for kids
where there was a picture drawn with things wrong in it, and you had to find them
all? This 1950 advertisement for the Sangamo Electric Company's line of capacitors,
which appeared in Radio & Television News magazine, could server as a modern-day
version for the Cancel Culture "woke" crowd that believes it has a duty to criticize
and impugn everything it happens to fear, not like, or not understand. My list is
at the bottom of the page if you want to compare it to yours. On other Sangamo ad
post pages I have provided a bit of research on the background of "Samgamo" to try
to determine whether the use of Native Americans (aka "indians" at the time) was
based on a local tribe. No link has ever been found. Below the ad are a few of the
items discovered...
 The "Rainy Day
Amusements" feature was not usually a mathematical challenge; for that, see
the "Old & New Mathematical Puzzles" section. Some years they were worthwhile,
end others not so much so. 1982 was a pretty good year for Rainy Day Amusements,
so they are included here. Each autumn I used to anxiously await the appearance
of the newest edition of The Old Farmer's Almanac on the store shelf, and such was
the case with this 1982 issue. It is not that I was/am an avid farmer, just that
I enjoy reading the anecdotes, tales, and interesting historical tidbits included
amongst the pages along with tables of high and low tides, moon and sun rising and
setting times...
 Electromagnetics simulation software company
CENOS continues on its mission to democratize simulation software by releasing its
newest application designed for radio frequency and antenna design engineers. After
a year of development and testing in close cooperation with its avid beta-tester
community, the Antenna Design simulation software was finally released for public
use at the end of April, 2021.
CENOS Antenna Design is an intuitive FEM-based software that helps engineers
to speed up RF antenna design, it solves Maxwell’s equations directly with no simplifications
or limitations. CENOS Antenna Design is free to try for 10 days, after which the
users can choose from the two subscription plans - for an individual or business
use, starting from €20/mo ($25/mo)...
 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 story was posted sometime around 2009.
Since that time, research has been conducted by members of the
Harvard Wireless Club
regarding the veracity of the claim. RF Cafe visitor Fred Hopengarten, Esq. (K1VR),
wrote to apprise me of the situation. It concludes as follows: "Back in 1999, the
late K3UOC, who received his Ed.D. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education
and was very active with our club, wrote: Note: This legend has been published and
told by word-of-mouth countless times over the past 90 years. Unfortunately, it
isn't so. HWC members researched this story, even obtaining the copy of the Congressional
Record for the date in question. We could find no record of Mr. Hyman appearing
before congress. We have to admit, though, it's a very entertaining story!"
 With more than 1000
custom-built stencils, this has got to be the most comprehensive set of
Visio
Stencils 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). Stencils 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...
 You always need to pay careful attention
to "breakthrough" type articles when they appear in April issues, since many magazines
have a tradition of burying an "April Fools' Day" item without notice. This April
1932 issue of QST magazine seems to be legitimate. The term "lycopodium
pattern" aroused my suspicion, but it turns out to refer to a pattern of vibration
that resembles the needle orientation of certain pines and cedars. As radio frequencies
continued to increase during the early years of "wireless" development, the use
of quartz crystals as a stable reference source ran into a physical limitation because
as crystal slices reached a certain thinness, overtone and subharmonics appeared
that caused problems in circuits. A new mineral called tourmaline saved the day.
With an elasticity much greater than quartz, tourmaline is able to vibrate at higher
fundamental frequencies for a given thickness...
Triad RF Systems is a fast-growing leader
in the design and manufacture of RF power amplifiers, bidirectional amplifiers,
and RF systems. We are looking for a
Senior RF Design
Engineer to join our team in New Jersey. The Senior RF Design Engineer will
lead the development of new SSPA and transmit / receive products for our rapidly
expanding catalog and customer base. Required skills and qualifications include
Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or equivalent related experience, minimum
5 years professional experience in RF engineering, experience with the simulation,
design, test, and realization of RF power amplifiers and low noise receiver front-ends
operating up through C Band, SSPA design knowledge or experience up to 50 W...
 Exodus Advanced Communications'
AMP2043P-4KW Solid State Pulse Amplifier (1.0-2.0 GHz, 4 kW Pulse)
is designed for Pulse/HIRF Mil-Std 461/464 and Radar applications. Other frequency
ranges & power levels available all providing Superb Pulse Fidelity. Up to 100 μsec
pulse widths, 6% duty cycles and 66 dB gain. Available monitoring parameters
for Forward/Reflected power, VSWR, voltage, current, temperature sensing for outstanding
reliability and ruggedness in a 10U chassis. Features Small form factor rack-mounted
system, Class AB linear advanced technology design, instantaneous L-Band octave
bandwidth, linear high peak pulse applications, designed for EMI/RFI, lab, HiRF/pulse
applications...
 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.
 Here is another trio of vintage electronics-themed
comics from Radio-Craft magazine. Two are part of illustrator Frank Beaven's
"Radio
Terms Illustrated" series, where readers would write in with suggestions and
Mr. Beaven would put the ideas in ink. These two are "Poor Reception, and "Regeneration."
If you look at the bottom of the page, you will find a big listing of other comics,
with many of the other "Radio Terms Illustrated" instances ("High Potential," "Signal
Generator," "Overload Capacity," "Amplitude," "Transmission Loss," etc.) labeled.
Enjoy!
 Each autumn I used to anxiously await the
appearance of the newest edition of The
Old Farmer's
Almanac on the store shelf, and such was the case with this 1982 issue. It is
not that I was/am an avid farmer, just that I enjoy reading the anecdotes, tales,
and interesting historical tidbits included amongst the pages along with tables
of high and low tides, moon and sun rising and setting times, astronomical events,
and weather patterns expected for the year that lay ahead. Most of all, I liked
working the puzzles and riddles. Over the years the difficulty levels gradually
got lower and lower (aka dumbed down), to the point where for the last decade or
so I have not even bothered buying the OFA. Now it is full of numbnut stuff. Because
quite a few of the Mathematical Puzzles from the older editions are worthy of an
engineer's cerebratio
 Rohde & Schwarz has produced a webinar
entitled "Pulse
Stability Measurement of Radar Signals," which is available for viewing on their
website. They appreciate your registering, but if for some reason it doesn't work,
click on the thumbnail above to go directly to it. "With the arrival of sophisticated
radar and communication systems, phase noise has become the most important factor
engineers focus on during the design and validation phase. Phase stability is the
key parameter for defining target acquisition in radars, spectral integrity in communication
systems and precision beam steering capabilities in active electronic scanned array
antennas (AESA)..."
 It is important to concentrate your transmitter
power into the proper beam if you wish to deliver the best signal to the other fellow's
receiving antenna. This has logically led to the popularity of the Yagi beam antenna
on the higher-frequency amateur bands. A beam antenna for the 80-meter band should
have a 140-foot reflector and a 77-foot boom on a 250-foot tower. This makes the
beam antenna impractical for the 80-meter band, and even for 40-meter operation
a full-size Yagi is a forbidding structure to the neighbor's narrow-minded view
- even a well-trained XYL might view such a monster beam with alarm. There is no
easy solution to the need for a good DX antenna at low frequency, but the conical
monopole antenna may be of interest to the more eager radio amateur as a more practical
solution. The
conical
monopole antenna is a base-fed vertical antenna that has an omni-directional
pattern in azimuth but with an elevation...
 Axiom Test Equipment, an electronic test
equipment rental and sales company, has published a new blog post that aims at informing
people about the importance of carbon neutrality and about the different test equipment
that support it with the help of
regenerative energy. It suggests a thinking-out-of-the-box approach regarding
how "test applications can strive for low carbon footprints by characterizing the
quality of a device under test (DUT) that supports carbon neutrality, such as regenerative
energy in an EV's charging system. Efficient use of energy is possible by feeding
power generated by a DUT during the measurements back to the power grid, rather
than dissipating the energy as heat lost to the environment." On a single DUT (Device
Under Test) basis that might seem insignificant, but when hundreds of millions of
vehicles are being tested of time, the energy saved can be enormous...
 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.
 It is little wonder that advancements in
technology, mathematics, finance, medicine, chemistry, and other disciplines requiring
massive
numerical
computation began accelerating at a rapid pace following the invention of computers.
The mechanical computers of Blaise Pascal and Charles Babbage were some of the earliest
attempts to make laborious, repetitious calculations faster and less error prone,
and they quickly led to many other types of general- and special-purpose machines
that by the mid-twentieth century were calculating ballistic flight paths, astronomical
positions, electrical circuit functions, probabilities, and other quantities. Programmable
electronics computers like the ENIAC greatly enhanced the ability to apply mathematics
to just about any problem. However, even by the early Apollo era the government
and private institutions employed teams of human calculators to crank out large
volumes of tabular data...
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