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Today in Science History -
 Empower RF Systems'
Model 2225 is a long duty cycle pulsed amplifier operating from 5.2 to
5.9 GHz and represents our new technologically advanced liquid cooled and scalable
architecture. This breakthrough solid state GaN design replaces tube technology
to bring new capabilities to EW, Radar, Directed Energy and Satcom applications
where tens and hundreds of kilowatts of CW and Pulse power are required. This new
modern architecture offers scalability for affordable upgrade paths to future power
needs by adding hardware to an existing system. Additional racks can be combined
and for racks not fully populated, 2U amplifier drawers can be added without the
need for tuning...
 Please take a few moments to visit the
everythingRF website to see how they can assist you with your
project. everythingRF is a product discovery platform for RF and microwave products
and services. They currently have 267,269 products from more than 1397 companies
across 314 categories in their database and enable engineers to search for them
using their customized parametric search tool. Amplifiers, test equipment, power
couplers and dividers, coaxial connectors, waveguide, antennas, filters, mixers,
power supplies, and everything else. Please visit everythingRF today to see how
they can help you.
 Radio & Television News editor
Oliver Reed wrote in this 1955 issue about the "flattening" of electronics - including
both individual components and overall assembled products. He described a large
screen, wall-mountable television system with built-in flat stereo electrostatic
speakers. "The so-called 'picture
on the wall' television screen has also received widespread publicity although
such a screen is not yet commercially available. In this system, a flat screen is
connected to the TV receiver by means of a cable, and the picture is formed on the
screen electronically." That is a lot like a large flat LCD or LED monitor being
fed by an HDMI cable from a computer. Mr. Reed also writes of a magnetic tape
video playback system akin to what eventually became the VHS / VCR. Evidently the
concept of an optical-based storage medium like the DVD and Blu-ray disk was too
far out of the realm of possibility...
 Anatech Electronics has a handy app note
describing how to
select and specify coaxial cables and assemblies. "Coaxial cables
are too often taken for granted and RF and microwave systems. As a result, they
are often treated like a spool of bell wire, twisted, band, crimped, stepped on,
and subject to assorted other abuses. However, the more you know about coaxial cable
the more likely you are to treat it with respect, as its integrity, lifetime, and
overall performance are at stake. To get a better understanding of coaxial cables
in general, Anatech Electronics has prepared a series of guides that provide information
about RF and microwave coaxial cables ranging from the basics contained in this
application note to more detailed information about characteristics, applications,
specific cable types, and other topics..."
 This 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...
 Lemos International Technologies is
both a designer and manufacturer of wireless products and a distributor of products
from other world-class manufacturers. A modular approach to wireless connectivity
helps eliminate much of the technical design and testing and also simplifies or
eliminates the need for expensive conformance testing and certification. Ready-to-use
Bluetooth, GPS, Wi-Fi, licensed and unlicensed band products are available. Custom
design services can help you achieve success with your project's unique needs.
 "Do you think that F.C.C. would be engaged
in the present terrific expense and effort of getting our fingerprints and citizenship
histories if there were intention of shutting us down shortly?" That statement was
printed by the QST magazine editor in the issue that preceded the December
7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor by thirteen months. A few things about it are troubling.
First, the
FCC was collecting
fingerprints of licensed amateur radio operators. Second, the FCC was assimilating
information about licensed amateur radio operators' citizenship histories. Third,
a combination of short-sightedness and apparent naiveté concerning the FCC's willingness
to shut down amateur radio operations once America had been inevitably drawn into
World War II...
 Withwave's High Speed & High-density
Multicoax Cable Assemblies (WMX Series) provides a wide range of multiple coax
connectors and flexible cable assemblies with a choice of 20, 40, 50, 67 GHz
configurations based on precision array design and superior high frequency cabling
solutions. WMX Series cables are excellent signal integrity solutions for bench-top
testing and automated test equipment to meet increasing demands of semiconductor
test equipment and optical testing industries. These products consist of high performance
flexible assemblies which can be bundled in housings (8 and 16 channels) and the
interface to board is compression type which provides lower total cost of testing
by avoiding costly soldering components...
 KR Electronics designs and manufactures
high quality filters for both the commercial and military markets. KR Electronics'
line of filters includes lowpass,
highpass, bandpass, bandstop and individually synthesized filters for special applications
- both commercial and military. State of the art computer synthesis, analysis and
test methods are used to meet the most challenging specifications. All common connector
types and package form factors are available. Please visit their website today to
see how they might be of assistance. Products are designed and manufactured in the
USA.
 From about the middle of the 1950s through
the 1990s,
stereo
systems were a pretty big deal amongst music listeners. A lot of the interest
was driven by rapid improvements in technology in sound recording and reproduction
equipment. An economical boom in the post Korean War years combined with a process
developed by Emory Cook to cut dual channels of stereophonic sound onto vinyl records
enabled a fad fueled by teenagers of building the best home sound systems possible
with available funds. Audiophiliac adults, of course, were also prime motivators
of the technology since they had deeper pockets and could afford higher-end equipment
and larger collections of records. Magnetic tape was also a bit part of the craze,
but the big money was in vinyl. If you peruse the vintage electronics magazines
like this Radio & TV News, Popular Electronics, Electronics World, et al, you
will notice the pages were filled with technical articles on and advertisements
for stereo music reproduction gear...
Measuring Tiny Quasiparticle
a Major Step for Semiconductor Technology
 "A team of researchers led by Sufei Shi,
an assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute, has uncovered new information about the mass of individual components
that make up a promising
quasiparticle, known as an exciton, that could play a critical role in future
applications for quantum computing, improved memory storage, and more efficient
energy conversion. Published today in Nature Communications, the team's work brings
researchers one step closer to advancing the development of semiconductor devices
by deepening their understanding of an atomically thin class of materials known
as transitional metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs), which have been eyed for their electronic
and optical properties..."
 Axiom Test Equipment, an electronic test
equipment rental and sales company has published a new blog post that examines
electric vehicles (EVs) and hybrid electric vehicle (HEVs) power systems to
understand what should be tested and how to perform those measurements in order
to achieve peak vehicle operation. Manufacturers of EVs and HEVs are making it simpler
and more convenient to maintain adequate electric charge levels to keep their vehicles
running for longer distances on electric power, enticing more drivers to try these
environmentally friendly vehicles. Of course, testing the electrical motors, systems,
and their components is an important part of ensuring that every EV and HEV has
the longest running times and operating lifetimes possible, and that involves understanding
what needs to be tested and how...
 Res-Net Microwave has a complete line of precision
RF & microwave components
including attenuators, terminations, resistors, and diode detectors for commercial,
military, and space applications. Products range from the small flange type to large
2,000 watt connectorized power attenuators and/or terminations at frequencies up
to 26.5 GHz. In-house photo etch and laser trim capability. The company is
a leader in development and production of the films required for these type of RF/microwave
components. Please check out Res-Net Microwave's website to see how they can help
with your current project.
 Here is a quick course on how to
point antennas for over-the-horizon (DX) reception, and, if you also happen
to have a license to transmit, for broadcasting. It covers how to determine the
shortest straight-line path by stretching a string around a globe (remember those
spherical maps that used to be a mainstay of every household and schoolroom?) and
using a protractor (a what?) to get the angle. Radio signals unless refracted or
reflected take a great circle route from point A to point B. Long distance airline
flights take the same routes, which explains why flights from London to Los Angeles
fly over Greenland enroute. Author Edward Noll uses a simple 1/2-wave dipole antenna
radiation pattern as an example of how directivity is affected by frequency (relative
to the fundamental)...
 ConductRF's DC to 18 GHz TSA90 with
Type-N and SMA options as well as our TSX90 with extended frequency 27 GHz
SMA solutions, are built with a special
dielectric material that eliminates the "Teflon Knee" in phase change over temperature,
which is a common cause for performance variance in RF cables used in different
environments. These cables are over 30% smaller than traditional lab test cables,
so offer users increased flexibility and density particularly where multiple cables
are used together such as semiconductor testing. With connector options up to 27 GHz,
these cables can offer users solutions for both RF test and also internal system
cables. The triple shielding feature...
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