|
 If you do a lot of
overseas air travel for work (or any other reason), this
en route time map from a 1950 issue of The Saturday Evening Post
magazine might give you a bit of cheering up. Compare the length of time in the
air back during the day of propeller-driven airliners versus what you typically
experience today. United Aircraft published that a trip from New York to London
took 12-½ hours (with favorable winds). The same flight today takes around
7-½ hours, a 40% reduction. From Seattle to Tokyo was 28-½ hours, and is now
10-½ hours, for a 63% reduction! Those shorter flight times are due to both
faster jet-powered airplanes and an ability to climb to and cruise at altitudes
where jet stream winds are highly additive. Of course having to endure 10-½
hours crammed into a narrow seat with the back of the front...
 In a jaw-dropping leap that could rewrite
the rules of technology, QentComm®©™ (Quantum Entanglement Communications), a Greensboro-based
visionary force, has unveiled the QeC1001®©™, an
8-qubit
quantum entanglement processor microchip forged entirely from carbon nanotubes
(CNTs) - a brainchild of Kirt Blattenberger, the company's progenitor and chief
architect. Announced on qentcomm.com, this
marvel sips a scant 5 milliwatts, staking its claim as the most energy-efficient
communication technology ever conceived, thanks to a proprietary "quantum carbon
nanotube lattice" that shuns traditional electromagnetic (EM) waves for quantum
entanglement - what Albert Einstein dubbed, "spooky action at a distance." Clocked
at a nostalgic tens of kilohertz - evoking 1960s transistor vibes - the QeC1001®©™
delivers computational bravado that leaves modern power-hogs in the dust, powering
every QentPhone®©™...
 I know a guy, a multi-decade-long Amateur
Radio operator, who at one time was a big participant in
TV DXing. For those who are not familiar with the techno-sport, TV DXing is
the hobby of receiving and identifying distant television broadcast signals from
far-off locations, often using specialized antennas and receiving equipment. Enthusiasts
seek to capture signals from stations hundreds or even thousands of miles away,
which requires advanced technical skills and sophisticated reception techniques.
Modern-day DX-ers typically document their reception achievements by capturing screenshots,
logging station details, and sharing their findings with other hobbyists through...
• FCC Toughens Stance on
Pirate Radio
• Mobile Operators Bemoan
$109B Infrastructure Cost
• 5G Adoption Grows,
LTE
Remains Strong
• China
to Host World Radio Conference?
• Intel
Delays Ohio Fab Till 2030
 Most of us have heard of the National Association
of Broadcasters (NAB). Founded in 1922 at the dawn of commercial radio broadcasting,
it is still in existence today. When commercial television broadcasting "stepped
out" in a major way in the early 1940s, industry chieftains and station owners decided
that their new media paradigm was unique enough to warrant a separate union, so
the
Television Broadcasters Association (TBA) was formed. A lot of
effort went into establishing and building a coalition with enough influence in
the marketplace and with government regulators, independent of radio, to exist as
a force to be dealt with. Many people believed that radio as an entertainment and
news media source would decrease at a rate as great or greater than television was
increasing. Once again, experts were not successful at predicting behavior of the
citizenry, which was true both in the United States and around the world...
 Windfreak Technologies designs, manufactures,
tests and sells high value USB powered and controlled radio frequency products such as
RF signal generators, RF synthesizers, RF power detectors, mixers, up / downconverters.
Since the conception of WFT, we have introduced products that have been purchased
by a wide range of customers, from hobbyists to education facilities to government
agencies. Worldwide customers include Europe, Australia, and Asia. Please contact
Windfreak today to learn how they might help you with your current project.
 The December 1969 issue of Radio-Electronics
magazine's "New & Timely" column reported that at the National Electronic Association
conference,
technicians reported burns and eye damage caused by X-radiation from color TV sets
under repair. Night vision scopes for commercial use were introduced by Raytheon,
suitable for law enforcement, industrial security, and nature study. A joint U.S.-Indian
plan planned to beam TV directly to millions of Indian villagers via a stationary
applications satellite in 1972. The French Atomic Energy Commission used a superpowerful
laser to create minute thermonuclear explosions, fusing deuterium...
 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. Three
new filter models have been added to the product line in April, including a 5500
MHz WiFi cavity bandpass filter, a 3437-3537 MHz ceramic duplexer filter, and a
1425 MHz cavity bandpass filter. Custom RF power filter and directional couplers
designs can be designed and produced with required connector types when a standard
cannot be found, or the requirements are such that a custom approach is necessary...
 This article published in a 1955 issue of
Popular Electronics magazine is a really good primer on the history and
working principles of the
electron microscope. It also explains why such a device is needed;
i.e., why an optical microscope cannot do the job when really high levels of magnification
are required. As object dimensions are spaced at distances near to or less than
the optical wavelength being observed, it becomes impossible to resolve into separate
features. Accordingly, when observing at the upper end of the visible light spectrum
at around 400 nm, under ideal conditions you would not be able to clearly discern
two feature less than about 800 nm apart. Current (2019) CMOS gate thicknesses
run about 5 μm, so visible light cannot be used to image those structures.
Another resolution limiting factor is aperture size, which, depending on the wavelength
causes diffraction patterns of two objects to overlap...
 If you are a seasoned vintage electronics
equipment aficionado, restorer, hobbyist, etc., then you most likely already have
your own list of supply sources for vacuum tubes. Contrary to what others might
think, there is still a healthy stock of tubes available from private websites like
Pacific T.V. (hat tip to Bob Davis), as well
as collective sites like eBay, Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, and vintage electronic
equipment forums. Prices for common tubes are surprisingly low if you shop around.
If you need an output power amplifier for a commercial radio station, be prepared
to shell out major wampum, though. Many NOS (new old stock) varieties in original
boxes can be had, as well as used tubes. Most have been tested for specification
compliance.
 Westinghouse is yet another bulwark company
of America's foundational industrial age, beginning in the late 19th Century. George
Westinghouse founded eponymously-named company,
Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company, in 1886, during the time
he was working with Nikola Tesla (I wonder whether any of the current-day anti-Tesla
nimrods are stupid enough to vandalize NT statues and monuments?) to institute a
commercial electrification infrastructure. Mr. Westinghouse began his life
of fame and fortune with a locomotive air brake design. During World War II,
Westinghouse's many locations designed and manufactured many types of products to
facilitate troops in all Theaters of Operation. This 1943 issue of Popular Mechanics
magazine carried a full-page...
 This set of three circuit analysis challenges
appeared in the January 1963 issue of Radio-Electronics magazine. Readers,
staff, and even come companies submitted the "What's
Your EQ?" (EQ = Electronics Quotient) content. As an example of the latter,
Cleveland Institute of Electronics provided "Draw the Waveform." Don't let the diode
vacuum tube deter you from the puzzle. Just mentally replace the tube with a solid
state diode symbol with the anode at the top where the tube's plate (anode) is shown.
The negative element of a tube is called the cathode, same as the solid state diode.
"Capacitor Charge" is easy enough. "Another 2-Box Light"...
 "Despite increasingly intense competition
for skills across all sectors of industry and a growing appetite amongst engineers
for a new challenge, engineering salaries appear to have stagnated over the past
12 months. This is just one of the key findings of The Engineer's tenth
annual salary survey, which is published in full on The Engineer's website
in a new interactive digital format. Attracting responses from 621 engineers working
across 12 different sectors, this year's survey was carried out between December
2024 and January 2025. As ever, the results provide a fascinating insight into
UK engineering salaries and how engineers are feeling about their careers..."
 In this 1963 issue of Radio-Electronics
magazine, editor Hugo Gernsback reflects on the early days of television, noting
that the first regular daily TV broadcast began on August 13, 1928, over radio stations
WRNY and W2XAL, which were associated with his former publication, Radio News.
Initially, these
broadcasts were silent, featuring only moving images the size of a postage stamp,
and it wasn't until 1931 that TV broadcasts included sound. Gernsback critiques
the slow progress in improving the audio quality of television receivers, pointing
out that despite advancements in high-fidelity and stereo audio technology, most
TV sets still lacked these features due to regulatory restrictions by the FCC. He
expresses hope that recent petitions to the FCC...
 Exodus Advanced Communications, is a multinational
RF communication equipment and engineering service company serving both commercial
and government entities and their affiliates worldwide. Exodus' model
AMP20081 high power solid state power amplifier (SSHPA) is ideal for broadband
EMI-Lab, communications, and EW applications. Class A/AB linear design accommodates
all modulations & industry standards. It covers 80-1000 MHz, producing
600 W nominal, with a 500 W P1dB and 56 dB minimum gain. Excellent
flatness, optional monitoring parameters for forward/reflected power, VSWR, voltage,
current & temperature sensing for superb reliability and ruggedness...
 In that these
comics from Radio-Craft magazine have an electronics
theme, you can claim looking at them is work-related. The themes of the comics reflect
common scenarios of the 1944-1945 era in which they were published, but with not
much modification can be applied to today's environment. People will always expect
more features from products, will be critical of everything presented to them, and
will want to haggle for the best deal from the used camel salesman. You might consider
using one of them for your next conference or project status presentation. There
is a list of many more similar comics at the bottom...
 In a groundbreaking announcement that will
forever transform global communications, QentComm®©™ (Quantum Entanglement Communications)
has unveiled the world's first
commercially viable quantum entanglement communication system. Dubbed QeG®©™
(Quantum entanglement Generation, pronounced kwee-gee), supplementing the traditional
4G, 5G, and 6G nomenclature, this revolutionary technology eliminates the limitations
of traditional radio-based systems, delivering instantaneous, unlimited connectivity
across any distance without reliance on satellites, cell towers, or fiber optics.
Under the leadership of Kirt Blattenberger, QentComm (pronounced kwent-kahm) has
created a system that defies conventional physics by utilizing quantum entanglement
for real-time, secure communication between devices anywhere in the universe - including
here on Earth...
 In this "Carl & Jerry" technodrama from
a 1957 issue of Popular Electronics magazine, the two boys start out enjoy a casual
day of kite flying, using a homebrew radio-controlled camera attached to the kite
to capture an aerial view of Round Island in a lake. After successfully taking a
picture, they develop the film and discover two men and an odd setup on the island.
Curious, they return the next day, find a hidden tunnel, and stumble upon an illegal
liquor still. As you might expect, the teens run into a heap of trouble when the
moonshiners nab them. Using their combined ingenuity and knowledge of communications
methods common to Ham radio operators of the era, contact was made and help was
on the way. Read about Carl and Jerry's exploit and exactly what it was that saved
the day - and their hides!
 "In late January 2025, 17 students and staff
members from Las Animas High School (LAHS) in Colorado visited the
Deep Space Exploration Society Radio Telescope (DSES) located at the Plishner
Radio Astronomy and Space Sciences Center near Haswell, Colorado. They also got
an introduction to amateur radio. 'This first field trip visit of high school students
reflected the dreams of Michael Lowe, former DSES board president, who sought to
create a center for radio astronomy and space science education in southeast Colorado,'
said DSES President Myron Babcock, KL7YY..."
 Making format changes to magazines after
many years of an established standard always ruffles the figurative feathers of
a significant portion of regular readers. Two magazines I read monthly, Model
Aviation and QST, recently underwent a format change - both of which
I considered very nice. However, reader comments in the aftermath showed a few who
were not impressed. Popular Electronics magazine in 1966 made announcements
regarding plans to adopt some of the
newer base units for physical measurements, including this one for beginning
to use "Hertz" (Hz), along various numerical prefix forms, instead of "cycles per
second" (cps). The editors give sound reason...
 The
Beverage Antenna, very familiar to amateur radio operators, is
a simple but efficient, highly directional, non-resonant antenna that consists of
a single straight wire of one or more wavelengths that is suspended above the ground.
It is orientated parallel to the direction of intended reception. One end is terminated
to ground through a resistor, and the other is connected to the receiver. The following
quote comes from the patent (US1,81,089) text: "In accordance with theoretical considerations,
if an antenna were to be freely suspended and if the surface of the earth constituted
a perfectly conducting parallel plane, current waves would travel through...
 This letter was sent to Hugo Gernsback,
publisher of Radio-Electronics magazine, in response to the "30-Day
Record Response" article penned by noted scientist and inventor Mohammed Ulysses
Fips. In it, Stephen A. Kallis, Jr. heaped laud upon the "Most Revered and Esteemed
Fips" for his long-term recording device (remember, 1961 was many decades before
microminiature terabyte memory and microprocessors) were available, and chastises
Mr. Gernsback for evidently calling into question the authenticity of the recorder.
Kallis, a self-proclaimed stereo enthusiast, bolsters Fips' case by citing "A Proposed
Listening Area," by the Institute of Synergistic Statics Proceedings...
 Raise your hand if you're old enough to
remember doing printed circuit board layout using
Rubylith tape. My hand is up. Back in the early 1980s, I did prototype
PCB designs in an engineering development lab at Westinghouse Electric's Oceanic
Division. Most of it was for analog and RF substrates that would be photographically
reduced in size for use with bare integrated circuit die and surface mount passive
components (Rs, Ls, and Cs), upon which I would later epoxy-mount those components
and wire-bond everything using 1-mil gold wire. However, there were projects where
full-size leaded components were used on a through-hole PCB that used not only the
Rubylith tapes but also sheets with special electronics shapes for solder pads around
the holes for components leads, ground and power planes, board-edge connectors...
 "Quantum systems don't just transition between
phases - they do so in ways that defy classical intuition. A new experiment has
directly observed these
dissipative phase transitions (DPTs), revealing how quantum states shift under
carefully controlled conditions. This breakthrough could unlock powerful new techniques
for stabilizing quantum computers and sensors, making them more resilient and precise
than ever before. A new frontier phase transitions, like water freezing into ice,
are a familiar part of everyday life. In quantum systems, however, these transitions
can be far more extreme, governed by principles like Heisenberg's uncertainty..."
 In
this November 1940 issue of the Boy Scouts Boys' Life magazine, amateur
radio operators, or "hams," are described as having the ability to communicate across
vast distances, connecting far-flung locations such as Goulds, Florida, Cali, Colombia,
Cairo, Kenilworth, England, Bombay, and Brisbane. These operators, licensed by the
Federal Communications Commission, engage in various activities such as talking
to distant stations, participating in contests, and providing emergency communication
during natural disasters. With call letters assigned by international treaty, these
stations use a combination of code and phone to make contact, exchanging reports
and QSL cards. The
Radio merit badge was first offered in 1918 and has been...
 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!
 The date approacheth when, according to
Western customs, every body needs to stand a vigil against the attempt of another
body to make him or her a fool. That date is of course April 1st, aka, April
Fools' Day. Many of the technical magazine we grew up with - and some still today
- engage in the ruse. Innovator and publisher Hugo Gernsback, who's long list of
accomplishments includes this Radio-Electronics magazine, often contributed
his own wit to the April editions. The usual scheme is to make the article just
authentic enough to be possibly real, while including features outrageous enough
to clue the read that he is being "had." Experienced subscribers knew that the Mohammed
Ulysses Fips byline was sure to deliver an April Fools delight. Here, Mr. Fips
expounds on the newfangled "Electronics
Razor..."
 Here is a chart you don't see every day
- "Temperature Rise in Rigid Waveguide." The company, Engineering
Antenna Systems, of Manchester, New Hampshire, that published the chart in a 1965
edition of Engineering magazine, does not exist anymore. They were probably
bought by someone else, but I could not even find an honorable mention of them in
a Google search. Given the very low attenuation of properly sized and installed
waveguide, it is hard to imagine a temperature rise of 500°F; however, when megawatts
are pumped into it even a couple tenths of a decibel of attenuation per 100 feet
results in a lot of power loss. Noted is how attenuation - and therefore temperature
rise - is greater for frequencies at the lower end of the waveguide's operational
range. Temperature rise numbers are for natural convection in free air...
|
 648 B.C.: Earliest total solar eclipse recorded by Greeks was observed. 1889: The Kodak Camera was offered for sale by George Eastman. 1890: German aircraft designer Anthony Fokker, creator of the Red Baron's famous DR-1 triplane, was born. 1892: Donald Wills Douglas... more
 All college curricula seem to have a number
of particular "weeding out" courses that cull the herd - so to speak - from the
eventual graduating class. The unfortunate victims are then faced with either dropping
out of college (not always such a dooming fate) or choosing a different major. For
mechanical engineers (MEs) it was often statics; for electrical engineers (EEs)
it was AC circuits - the topic of this article. DC is relatively simple because
voltage and current is always in phase, thus no "hard" vector math is involved,
but throw in reactance with its attendant non-zero phase angles and suddenly the
student is faced with trigonometry - the kiss of death to mathphobes. My experience
in engineering school showed that for MEs who lived through statics, dynamics provided
the next level of weeding out (it nearly got me). For EEs it was Fourier and Laplace
transforms. Level three for MEs was thermodynamics (thermogodda**ics was a
popular alternate title)...
 I have mentioned this before, but nearly
always the setting for John Frye's "Mac's Service Shop" technodrama stories coincide
with the time of year corresponding to the month in which it appeared (for the northern
hemisphere) - in this case the July 1952 issue of Radio & Television News
magazine. In addition to that, Barney's crack about Mac using his slide rule to
try calculating who the president would be is also time-appropriate since 1952,
being a Leap Year, was also an election year (Eisenhower beat Stevenson, BTW) ...but
I digress. Mac's actual preoccupation was with
open wire transmission lines. With the rise of UFH broadcasting on the horizon,
he predicted that such lines would become popular due to their lower signal attenuation
compared to standard 300 Ω plastic-insulated twin lead. Open line (aka ladder
line or window line) at 500 MHz exhibits about a quarter the loss when dry
and as much a twentieth the loss when wet (depending on the quality of the standard
300 Ω twin lead)...
 "The boy and his father had just witnessed
a demonstration of one of the most promising and fastest developing technological
devices ever conceived by man - the laser. In only three whirlwind years, the laser
- which gets its name from the initials of Light
Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation - has moved
out of the theory stage, out of the laboratory curiosity category, and into a whole
new, exciting world of applications." That's the opening of an article in the July
1963 edition of Popular Electronics. I remember when ruby lasers were the
the rule rather than the exception for lasers. Power levels were measured in units
of 'Gillettes' in reference in the number of razor blades they could cut through.
Next came chemical lasers with power levels in the megawatts and now even gigawatts
that can take out ICBM warheads as they reenter the atmosphere and can fry orbiting
satellites...
 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+ 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...
 Unlike all of the other
engineering and science-themed crossword puzzles I have ever seen, every word
and clue - without exception - in these RF Cafe puzzles has been personally entered
into a very large database of relevant terms. The list has been built over nearly
two decades of creating these crossword puzzles. Let me know if you would like a
custom crossword puzzle built for your company, school, club, etc. (no charge).
These custom-made engineering and science-themed crossword puzzles are done weekly
for the brain-exercising benefit and pleasure of RF Cafe visitors who are fellow
cruciverbalists. The jury is out on whether or not this type of mental challenge
helps keep your gray matter from atrophying in old age, but it certainly helps maintain
your vocabulary and cognitive skills at all ages. A database of thousands of words
has been built up ...
 Since I don't have another Popular Electronics
electronics quiz for this week, hopefully these
electronics-themed comics will suffice as Friday afternoon relief at the end of a
tough work week. My favorite is the one with the Ham dude misinterpreting advice and
connecting his antenna to... well, you'll see. The other two are pretty good as well.
There is a yuge (a little NYC lingo) list of other technology-themed comics at the bottom
of the page...
 If you think science-challenged politicians grandstanding
in the media to gain - ostensibly, but unfortunately likely - favor with their constituents
is a new phenomenon, take a look at this. On almost a daily basis these days we have
elected doofuses pretending to be experts in physics, climatology,
chemistry, medicine, economics, and other realms of learned science, when all
they are really are mouthpieces for special interest lobbyists whose clients
have lots of money for elections. At the risk of being too repetitive, I have to
point out the brilliant congressman from Georgia who thought that the...
 Here is a little insight into early
speech processing research by the Bell Telephone Laboratories. 1957 was the
early era of real-time digital processing where the need to cram more calls into
less signal space (bandwidth) led to sampled systems - 1:6 in the case of this advertisement
from Bell that appeared in Radio & Television News. Engineers of the
day would be amazed at how the state of the art has advanced since then, both in
mathematical techniques and in miniaturized hardware. Waaaaay back in the early
1990s while working at Comsat Laboratories, in Germantown, Maryland, one of the
Intelsat earth station modem transceivers I worked on used groundbreaking software
algorithms to reduce call bandwidth ...
 Following the previous month's introduction
to "Chemicals for Electronics," which covered degreasers, cleaners,
and polishing agents, author Lon Cantor in the May issue of Popular Electronics
wraps up with coolers, lubricants, and special agents (no, not spies) such as protective
and insulating coatings. He devotes a lot of space to freeze spray for use in troubleshooting
problems caused by overheating circuit components. In the days before comprehensive
computer aided design environments that can identify heat concentrations with detailed
temperature maps and design rules checks (DRC), predicting potential overheating
sources in both normal operation and during impending failure was much more difficult.
Running a large series of worst case scenarios...
 It seems most of the articles we see on the
subject of
attenuator pads are based on signal reduction in terms of decibels for units
of power. Although it is a simple matter to convert power decibels to voltage decibels,
it would be more convenient if you are working with voltage to have formulas and
tables of values based on voltage ratios. This article does just that. As a reminder,
the decibel representation of a ratio is always 10 * log10 (x). If
you have a voltage ratio of V1/V2 = 0.5, then 10 * log10 (0.5) = -3.01 dB.
If you have a power ratio of P1/P2 = 0.5, then 10 * log10 (0.5) = -3.01 dB.
Does that mean that -3.01 dB of voltage attenuation is the same as 3.01 dB
of power attenuation? Confusingly, no. Let's say for the sake of simplicity that
you have 1 V across a 1 Ω resistor...
 As with my hundreds of previous
engineering and science-themed crossword puzzles, this one for January 19, 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, for reasons which, if you don't already know, might
surprise you.
 When you were a kid, did your mother warn
you about sitting too close to the television because doing so would cause you to
be near-sighted or otherwise "ruin" your eyes? Mine did, and I'm now very near-sighted,
but it is doubtful that sitting too close to the TV is the reason. In fact, according
to Linus Van Pelt's comments to his sister, Lucy, in this 1962 Peanuts comic strip,
ophthalmologists tried to counter the misconception about too-close boob tube viewing.
There is another strip where Linus challenges Lucy's assertion that reading in dim
lighting can hurt your eyes. The real concern as it turns out, according to professional
alarmists, was the massive doses of
x-radiation pouring out of the front of the early color TV
sets. To hear the distractors tell it, you could almost see the skeleton of
anyone sitting in close proximity to a color TV screen. The high voltage
(25-35 kV) on the cathode ray tube (CRT) produced x-rays...
 Unless otherwise annotated, U.S. Government
publications are deemed to be in the public domain for American citizens. Since
government websites are famous for moving pages around and/or eliminating them entirely,
I went ahead and captured this copy of the
wire-wrapping workmanship standards as defined by NASA. In fact, many
moons ago when working as an electronics technician at the Westinghouse Oceanic
Division in Annapolis, MD, I attended a week-long class learning to perform
soldering, wire-wrapping, and PCB rework per NASA standards. My work involved a
lot of building electronic and mechanical assemblies for DoD and aerospace
systems, and U.S. Navy inspectors were on-site to perform inspections on
everything I built...
 The December 1965 issue of Electronics
magazine reported in multiple articles on the state of
Japan's electronics industry. Japan's indisputable lead today
in many realms of semiconductor, commercial, and consumer products proves successful
implementation of the strategy described in these articles. Per this piece's NTT
employee authors, "In one decade, Japan's semiconductor industry has become the
world's second largest. Pioneering engineers, a variety of unusual devices, and
breakthroughs in miniaturization techniques account for phenomenal growth." A notable
claim is taking credit for inventing the ceramic "pill" packaging format for high
frequency transistors...
 For twenty years now, I have been creating
weekly crossword puzzles for the education and enjoyment of the technically minded
visitor like you. This
Science Theme Crossword Puzzle for May 23rd has many words and clues related
to RF, microwave, and mm-wave engineering, 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., Reginald Denny or
the Tunguska event in Siberia). The technically inclined cruciverbalists amongst
us will appreciate the effort. Enjoy!
 Working crossword puzzles can be contagious.
This April 5, 2020,
tech-themed crossword puzzle may even go viral. It contains only clues and terms
associated with engineering, science, physical, astronomy, mathematics, chemistry,
etc., which I have personally built over nearly two decades. That includes the cause
for our planet's current dilemma. 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, for reasons
which, if you don't already know, might surprise you...
 Everyone who is interested enough in microwave
diodes to read this article surely knows* what IMPATT, GUNN, and PIN diodes are, but
have you heard of Read-effect, TRAPATT, LSA, or QMD diodes? If not, it is likely because
you entered the microwaves field long after 1969 when this edition of Electronics
World was mailed to subscribers. Device improvement and obsolescence accounts for
familiarity with the former and unfamiliarity with the latter, respectively. The article
below by two Sylvania Electronic Products engineers describes the properties of various
up-and-...
 Here is a little
technology humor to help easy you into the week ahead, compliments of the
April 1969 issue of Radio-Electronics magazine. Ironically, the themes of the three comics (by
three separate artists) represent an evolution of the electronics realm over the
past few decades, although almost certainly not planned by the editors. The
first has to do with a couple TV servicemen installing an antenna, the second is
of an out-of-work TV repairman, and the third is what might be considered a
drone by today's norms. There is a huge list of other comics at the bottom of
the page. I colorized them for you...
 This
Technology
Theme crossword puzzle for September 5th, 2021, contains only words and
clues related to engineering, mathematics, chemistry, physics, and other technical
words. 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!
 I ran across a really nice e-book entitled
"Wireless Networking in the Developing World," which is a collaborative work by
many authors, and it is published under the Creative Commons licensing scheme (a
la Wikipedia). That permits reprinting with attribution. Some of the more pertinent
sections will be posted here on RF Cafe. "The exact theory of Fresnel zones is quite
complicated. However, the concept is quite easy to understand: we know from the
Huygens principle that at each point of a wavefront new circular waves start, we
know that microwave beams widen as they leave the antenna, we know that waves of
one frequency can interfere with each other. Fresnel zone theory simply looks at
a line from A to B, and then at the space around that line that contributes to what
is arriving at point B. Some waves travel directly..."
 Here is a quick
Hi-Fi Quiz for all you audiophiles out there. Although it appeared in a 1955
issue of Radio & Television News magazine, save for question #10 all
of Q's and A's still apply to today's equipment. Even that one can be easily guessed.
Q4 might seem a bit foreign, but think of the "groove" type as applying to 78, 45,
or 33-1/3 rpm platters and you'll do OK. Question #7 could be a baffler (pun intended
- you'll see how) were it not for one obviously invalid option that it takes an
RF guy (or gal) to recognize its inanity. Good luck. BTW, I missed Q1, but should
have known better. |
