|
 "Multichannel light highways for communications
are still far from realization. But with continuous sources of coherent light available,
it becomes possible to explore the problems of modulating, transmitting, detecting,
amplifying and, in general, controlling light for possible communications applications."
That claim was made in a 1962
Bell Telephone Laboratories (Bell Labs) info ad in Radio-Electronics
magazine. More than six decades later, the job is being handled by microcircuits
with integrated laser transmitters and receivers. High quality optical fiber provides
information transport across the neighborhood, city, state, country and world. A
big list of other Bell Labs innovations is at the page bottom. Created a century
ago in 1925, Bell Telephone Laboratories' name has been Nokia Bell Labs...
 Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, a luminary in the
field of physics, was born on March 27, 1845, in Lennep, a small town in the Rhine
Province of Prussia, now part of Germany. His father, Friedrich Conrad Röntgen,
was a cloth manufacturer, while his mother, Charlotte Constanze Frowein, hailed
from an affluent and distinguished family of Dutch descent. Wilhelm spent his early
childhood in Lennep before the family moved to Apeldoorn, the Netherlands, when
he was three years old. His education began at the Institute of Martinus Herman
van Doorn, a technical school in Utrecht. However, Wilhelm was expelled at the age
of 18 after being falsely accused of sketching a caricature of one of his teachers,
an injustice that deeply affected his academic trajectory. Röntgen's early academic
path was unconventional...
 Shortly before Christmas, 1947, the experimental
work of Bell Laboratories scientists John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and William
Shockley resulted in the world's first
semiconductor transistor. With proper biasing, the germanium transistor demonstrated
an ability to produce signal gain. The signal fed to the base resulted in a higher
amplitude signal at the collector. Voila, the device which would ultimately replace
the vacuum electron tube had been invented. The rest, as they say, is history. Aside
from a few high power applications, the only new equipment produced that uses vacuum
tubes are retro things like audio amplifiers and simple receivers. Of course, there
is still a large cadre of vacuum tube users in the Amateur Radio real and vintage
equipment restorers...
 In Compliance magazine has an article
entitled, "The Growing Use of Generative AI Will Generate More E-Waste." I
queried ChatGPT about whether the claim is true. Summarizing its reply, ChatGPT
admits is is a polluter. To wit: "Yes, the growing use of generative AI has the
potential to contribute to an increase in electronic waste (e-waste). This stems
from multiple factors related to the infrastructure and hardware required to
support AI development and deployment. Here's how generative AI contributes to
the problem and the broader implications: • Hardware Demand • Shorter Hardware Lifespan
• Increased Energy Consumption • Consumer Devices • Recycling Challenges. To
mitigate the e-waste impact of generative AI include designing hardware with a
longer lifecycle, improving recycling technologies, adopting modular designs for
easier upgrades, and using energy-efficient models that reduce the need for
frequent hardware replacements. Additionally, promoting circular economy
practices and enforcing e-waste regulations can help address the issue.
Generative AI offers immense potential but addressing its environmental
footprint, including e-waste, is essential for sustainable development."
• U.S. Pressures
Japan for Selling Chip Kit to China
• Record
September IC Exports for Korea
• FCC Issues Notices to
Pirate Radio in NYC, Miami
• TSMC
Posts Sharp Rise in Q3 Net Profit
• Nearly
40% of SMBs using AI
 FM radio noise immunity testing. 1940 was
a big year in the commercial broadcast industry because it was when the FCC began
licensing stations for FM operation. Amazingly, that was only four years after Edwin
Armstrong first came up with his frequency modulation scheme - fast moving for the
government. Simultaneously, equipment manufacturers were cranking out transmitters,
receivers, antennas (new frequencies), writing installation and operation guidelines,
training servicemen, and doing scores of other vitally important tasks. The advent
of FM was considered a very significant technical improvement because of immunity
to electrical noise interference. If for no other reason, you should look at this
National Radio News magazine article...
 During the early era of color television,
much editorial ink was spilled on the topic of
x-radiation emitted from the high voltage power supplies within. This 1967
Radio-Electronics magazine article appeared toward the end of the problem.
Those of us who were around for the excitement remember being told as children "Don't
sit so close to the TV; it'll ruin your eyes." The ignorant among us thought the
admonition was because focusing so close-up would be bad training for eye muscles.
The real reason was danger of absorbing too much ionizing x-radiation from the high
voltage vacuum tubes. Achieving bright, vibrant color with early tri-color cathode
ray tubes (CRTs) required blasting the red, green, and blue phosphorescent dots
on the back of the display...
 "A research team headed by Prof. Karl Leo
at TUD Dresden University of Technology have developed an innovative, nature-inspired
solution that could revolutionize the electronics industry:
Leaftronics." This innovative approach leverages the natural structure of leaves
to create biodegradable electronic substrates with enhanced properties and offers
a sustainable, efficient, and scalable solution to the global-waste problem. These
findings have now been published in the journal Science Advances. Electronic devices,
from toys to smartphones, consist of circuits. Specific substrates are used to manufacture
these circuits..."
 San Francisco Circuits, a premier provider
of leading edge technology printed circuit boards, has published a new article on
ENEPIG (Electroless Nickel Electroless Palladium Immersion Gold) PCB Surface
Finish. ENEPIG is one of the most popular PCB surface finishes due to reduced palladium
prices and its advantages over finishes like ENIG. Composed of four metal layers
- copper, nickel, palladium, and gold - ENEPIG offers excellent protection against
corrosion and the infamous "black pad" issue. ENEPIG: Ideal for Demanding Requirements
ENEPIG supports various package types, including BGA, SMT, wire bonding, and press
fit. With a thin gold layer (0.05μm - 0.1μm), it simplifies assembly and provides
improved reliability...
 On a whim, I did a search for the earliest
appearance of Nikola Tesla's name in U.S. newspapers included in the NewspaperArchive.com
database. This story from Mr. George Grantham Bain appeared in multiple newspapers
within a few days of this March 5, 1896 edition of The Warren Times in Warren, PA,
which coincidentally is not far from me here in Erie. The article reports on the
role that Tesla's high voltage generators played in the development of x-ray images
on fluorescent displays and on film (which Tesla termed "cathode photography").
It mentions how the term "cathode" is relatively new to the general public even
though it had been around since 1832 when Michael Faraday introduced it in his work.
Wilhelm Röntgen made the world's first x-ray image - of his wife's hand...
 Michael Faraday, one of the most revered
experimental scientists in history, was born on September 22, 1791, in Newington
Butts, a small village near London. His humble beginnings were in stark contrast
to his towering achievements. Faraday's father, James, was a blacksmith of modest
means, and his mother, Margaret Hastwell, managed the household despite financial
difficulties. The family belonged to a small Christian sect known as the Sandemanians,
whose values of humility, simplicity, and a focus on practical service profoundly
influenced Faraday throughout his life. Faraday's early education was rudimentary,
consisting mostly of reading, writing, and arithmetic. At the age of 14, he was
apprenticed to a London bookbinder named George Riebau. This apprenticeship proved
transformative, as it allowed young Faraday...
 A neighbor approached me the other day regarding
a strange occurrence with the electrical supply to his workshop, which is not attached
to the house. The overhead lights were dim, and his small refrigerator was straining.
Turning on or off various tools and lights caused changes in everything else. This
guy is one smart cookie (and an excellent woodworker), and has handled all his own
household electrical and plumbing issues for many decades, but he had never experienced
such a situation. Fortunately, I have. Upon hearing his description, I immediately
recognized it as a case of an
open neutral in the circuit breaker panel. I have seen that before. Understanding
what is happening can be made simple by realizing that once the neutral reference
is gone, the two "legs" (phases) are in series with each other rather than in parallel...
A neighbor approached me the other day regarding
a strange occurrence with the electrical supply to his workshop, which is not attached
to the house. The overhead lights were dim, and his small refrigerator was straining.
Turning on or off various tools and lights caused changes in everything else. This
guy is one smart cookie (and an excellent woodworker), and has handled all his own
household electrical and plumbing issues for many decades, but he had never experienced
such a situation. Fortunately, I have. Upon hearing his description, I immediately
recognized it as a case of an
open neutral in the circuit breaker panel. I have seen that before. Understanding
what is happening can be made simple by realizing that once the neutral reference
is gone, the two "legs" (phases) are in series with each other rather than in parallel...
 Three more
electronics-themed comics here, these from a 1962 issue of Radio-Electronics
magazine. They represent a good spectrum of consumer electronics service issues
of the era. The page 41 comic scenario is not likely to occur with a television
today; it's more likely with a Li-Ion powered cellphone sitting in your pocket.
The page 60 comic, on the other hand, is more likely to happen today with all the
anti-theft devices used on in-dash devices like radios, GPS navigation units, and
Ham (Amateur) and CB radios. Even without the anti-theft devices, good luck getting
the dashboard apart enough to service the device. I recently replaced an in-dash
air vent valve motor in my daughter's truck...
 "A team of scientists from the Korea Institute
of Materials Science (KIMS) has developed the world's first ultra-thin film composite
material capable of
absorbing over 99% of electromagnetic waves from various frequency bands, including
5G/6G, WiFi, and autonomous driving radar, using a single material. This novel electromagnetic
wave absorption and shielding material is less than 0.5mm thick and is characterized
by its low reflectance of less than 1% and high absorbance of over 99% across three
different frequency bands..."
 Part 1 of this "All About IC's" series titled,
"What Makes Them Tick," author Bob Hibberd introduced the concept of semiconductor
physics and doped PN junctions. It appeared in a 1969 issue of Radio-Electronics
magazine. 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...
 Before the Emergency Alert System (EAS)
was activated on January 1, 1997, which followed the August 5, 1963 activation of
the Emergency Broadcast System (EBS), there was the 1951 implementation of the
CONtrol
of ELectromagnetic RADiation (CONELRAD). Born out of the Cold War era, CONELRAD
was devised in order to not just provide timely forewarning of enemy nuclear and/or
bomber and/or submarine-based attacks, but also to silence all commercial broadcasters
whose transmitting installation could potentially be exploited as homing signals
for the aforementioned bad guys. The Germans had used just such a scheme during
the recently concluded...
 As was customary for U.S. businesses,
Hallicrafters ran a Christmas advertisement in the January issue
of magazines where they appeared. The January edition, as is common even now, is
typically mailed in early December, getting it in the hands of readers in time for
Christmas. This "Here's to a Good Old Fashioned Christmas" (which many state governors
want to end beginning this year) message appeared in the January 1942 issue of
QST magazine. Halli(gan) and (hand)crafters was founded in Chicago in 1932
by William J. Halligan. The company designed and manufactured radio equipment for
hobby, commercial, and military applications and quickly became very popular amongst
their users...
 Guess we'll just need to start mining our
own again, and stop exporting our technology to them: "China announced Tuesday it
is banning exports to the United States of
gallium, germanium, antimony and other key high-tech materials with potential
military applications, as a general principle, lashing back at U.S. limits on semiconductor-related
exports. The Chinese Commerce Ministry announced the move after the Washington expanded
its list of Chinese companies subject to export controls on computer chip-making
equipment, software..."
 For the last two centuries our wars have
been fought to secure freedom from oppressive regimes, either for our own citizens
or for citizens of allied countries requesting our assistance. In the entire history
of the United States, no land has ever been claimed during or after the conclusion
of the conflicts. Although the human cost has been tragic - especially for those
who have lost family members or suffered injuries - one undeniable benefit has been
the advancement of technology. "Necessity," it has been said, "is the mother of
invention." World War II resulted in significant advances in wireless communications,
and the
civilian radio industry was quick to exploit the new devices and methods. Futurists
wasted no time prognosticating about how the postwar technology world would shape
up, and of course radio figured significantly into the vision. This 1945 article
from Radio-Craft magazine is an early example...
 Empower RF Systems is the technological
leader in RF & microwave power amplifier solutions for EW, Radar, Satcom, Threat
Simulation, Communications, and Product Testing. Our air and liquid cooled amplifiers
incorporate the latest semiconductor and power combining technologies and with a
patented architecture we build the most sophisticated and flexible COTS system amplifiers
in the world. Solutions range from tens of watts to hundreds of kilowatts and includes
basic PA modules to scalable rack systems.
 Amongst the noteworthy items announced in
the July 1962 "News
Briefs" column in Radio-Electronics magazine was the impending end
of the DoD's CONELRAD early warning defense system. It was being replaced with the
Emergency Broadcast System in 1963, which was later replaced by the Emergency Alert
System in 1997. Changing names for essentially the same service was - and remains
today - a shining example of government waste. Westinghouse debuted its slow-scan
TV system for transmitting still images via telephone wires - sort of an early Internet
means of downloading pictures that could be stored on magnetic tape...
 "It's uncertain how the incoming Trump administration
will affect the growing 5G enterprise market, but it's quite possible that Elon
Musk's prominent role in the nascent regime could change the
5G private networking environment in the United States for the better. A lot
of this depends on how Tesla's global factory deployment of private 5G develops
over time, according to AvidThink principal analyst Roy Chua. The electric vehicle
manufacturer reportedly has started to roll out the technology at its factories
in Berlin, Germany; Austin, Texas; and Shanghai, China..."
 Exodus Advanced Communications, is a multinational
RF communication equipment and engineering service company serving both commercial
and government entities and their affiliates worldwide. We are pleased to announce
model
AMP2053A-1LC, a rugged SSPA incorporating advanced technology for 6.0-10.0 GHz
applications. Class A/AB design for all industry standards, 100 W minimum with
50 dB gain. Excellent power/gain flatness, forward/reflected power monitoring
in both dBm & watts, VSWR, voltage/current, and temperature sensing for superb
reliability and ruggedness. Nominal weight is 45 pounds in a compact 3U chassis,
5.25" H x 19" W x 27" D...
 For two decades,
RF Cascade
Workbook™ has been the de facto standard for spreadsheet-based RF system cascade
analysis. Chances are you have never used a spreadsheet quite like this. Extensive
use of VBA code enables complex calculations and automated user interface features
that make the experience more like a software program than a spreadsheet. Using
RF Cascade Workbook™ is as easy as any other Excel spreadsheet. "H" is not a major
change, but does add a few convenience features. New in version H is the ability
to specify up to 10 discrete signals (frequency and amplitude) to track their as
they pass through the system. This includes both amplitude and frequency as modified
by amplifiers, filters, and mixers (frequency translation). They appear on the "Signal
Power vs. Frequency" chart along with the original plots. It is handy for including
discrete interference signals separate from the normal intended frequency band.
Discrete components can be inside or outside the operational bandwidth. Also, Lock
and Unlock buttons have been added to the System Definition worksheet to simplify
protection of formula cells against accidental overwriting. By popular demand, both
a 15-component and a 30-component version is included with your purchase. Same ridiculously
low price...
 This "Transient
Voltage Quiz" created by Robert Balin appeared in the October 1968 issue of
Popular Electronics magazine. Unless you have done a lot of circuit simulation
and/or measurement involving RC time constants, most of these circuit - waveform
combinations will probably be foreign to you. Voltages, resistance, and capacitances
are not given, so assume if there is more than one of any in a given circuit that
they are the same value. Also, a "steady state" is generally considered the time
of 5 RC time constants. For example if you have a 2 kΩ resistor and a 1 μf
capacitor in series, the time constant is 2E3 x 1E-6 = 2E-3, or 2 milliseconds.
Therefore, steady state...
 Mr. Hugo Gernsback died on August 19,
1967. At the time, he was the editor-in-chief of Radio-Electronics magazine,
the last in a very long line of electronics-themed magazines he founded and ran
for many decades. Beginning with Modern Electrics in 1906), he progressed
to Electrical Experimenter in 1912, then Radio Amateur News in
1919, and also Radio News in 1920, Radio Craft in 1929, Television
in 1929, Television News in 1932, and finally Radio-Electronics
in 1948. A shorter obit appeared in the previous month, no doubt due to a publishing
deadline with a rush job needing to suffice until a more extensive and fitting version
could be penned...
 The concept of
π
as the
ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter has been recognized since
antiquity. Early calculations of π were conducted using geometric and numerical
methods long before modern computing tools. Around 1900 BC, the Babylonians approximated
π
as 3.125, while the Egyptians, as evidenced by the Rhind Papyrus, calculated a value
of approximately 3.1605. The Greek mathematician Archimedes of Syracuse (287–212
BC) advanced these efforts by inscribing and circumscribing polygons around a circle,
calculating their perimeters to determine bounds for
π.
His approximation, which placed
π
between 3.1408 and 3.1429, was remarkably...
|
 This assortment of custom-designed themes
by RF Cafe includes T-Shirts, Mouse Pads, Clocks, Tote Bags, Coffee Mugs and Steins,
Purses, Sweatshirts, Baseball Caps, and more, all sporting my amazingly clever "RF Engineers - We Are the World's Matchmakers"
Smith chart design. These would make excellent gifts for husbands, wives, kids,
significant others, and for handing out at company events or as rewards for excellent
service. My graphic has been ripped off by other people and used on their products,
so please be sure to purchase only official RF Cafe gear. I only make a couple bucks
on each sale - the rest goes to Cafe Press. It's a great way to help support RF
Cafe. Thanks...
 Banner Ads are rotated in all locations
on the page! RF Cafe typically receives 8,000-15,000 visits each
weekday. RF Cafe
is a favorite of engineers, technicians, hobbyists, and students all over the world.
With more than 17,000 pages in the Google search index, RF Cafe returns in
favorable positions on many types of key searches, both for text and images.
Your Banner Ads are displayed on average 225,000 times per year! 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...
 After previously presenting the permanent
magnet, chapter 12 of the NAVPERS series of courses takes a look at the
electromagnet. It is like a natural or artificial magnet in its attraction but
unlike in its control. Its attraction is tremendous-it can hold tons of iron. But
because this magnet is powered by an electric current, the magnetism can be turned
on and off with the flick of a switch. Electrically-powered magnets are called electromagnets.
Electromagnets come in all sizes and shapes - and do all kinds of jobs. All electromagnets
use a coil of wire and a core of iron to produce their magnetism. The coil furnishes
the magnetic flux and the iron concentrates it. To understand how it works, you
should start with the magnetic field around a conductor. All conductors carrying
current are surrounded by a field-of flux. As in the case of artificial magnets,
iron filings will make this field visible. Connect a wire to a battery and dip the
wire in iron filings...
 Listen to the
Podcast! World War II came to an end in Europe in May of 1945, and in
the South Pacific in September of the year. By the end of 1944, Americans were becoming
confident that their fathers, sons, and husbands would soon finally be home. Manufacturers
began advertising the eminent return and availability of
consumer products that had gone out of production due to material shortages
during the war years. Advertisements ran in trade and hobby magazines as early as
1944 promising lines of goods that in many cases had not even been designed yet
or production planned. Some products being promised, however, were merely models
that were already in production before the attack on Pearl Harbor. A few publishers
refused to accept such advertisements until there was more concrete evidence that
victory was assured. In fact, Hugo Gernsback, editor and publisher of Radio-Craft
magazine, wrote a scathing piece in early 1945 admonishing manufacturers for their
overenthusiastic promise and promotion of consumer electronics prematurely...
 For many years, Radio-Electronics
magazine featured a monthly column entitled "News
Briefs," which as the name suggests reported on breaking industry news. It could
be the announcement of a significant new invention, research, a tradeshow event,
recognition of someone's achievement, or any item deemed worthy of making public.
Some months flourished with interesting (to me) tidbits while others had none. The
November 1957 issue was middle of the road, so to speak. One that might interest
you is that RETMA Changes Name. The Radio-Electronics - Television Manufacturers
Association has changed its name to Electronic Industries Association (EIA) - the
name it still bears to this day...
 The extreme level of complexity and
consolidation of circuit functions in today's functional integrated circuit (IC)
blocks makes it so that people with almost no instruction or experience in
circuit and system design can assemble and make work some pretty impressive
creations. The days of vacuum tubes and early discrete semiconductors required a
designer to know how to properly bias and interface various sections of circuits
and systems. Nowadays, with the ready availability of impedance-matched
amplifiers, filters, mixers, couplers, detectors, and other pre-packaged
components, even RF and microwave frequency systems are within the reach of
relative amateurs. Likewise, people interested in digital and microprocessor
circuits...
 Germans have long been on the cutting edge of technology and
the fine arts. Much of the world's best music, art, timepieces, engines, aircraft, guns, and other devices
have emanated from there. Notables like Einstein, von Braun, Heisenberg, Planck, Gauss, Kepler, Helmholtz,
Kirchhoff, Hertz, and Fraunhofer - all German - are almost certainly familiar to all RF Cafe visitors.
This article demonstrates the voraciousness with which the Germans sought to engage in
science exploration. It is very unfortunate for the German people that a
couple maniacs like Wilhelm II and Adolph ...
 It's a pretty good bet that most RF Cafe
visitors are not overly interested in
vacuum tube testers. Today they are collectors' items with some actually still
being used for maintaining vintage electronics gear; however, in the days before
semiconductor components they were the life blood of service men. Because tubes
(aka "valves" in other parts of the world) are by nature one of the most vulnerable
parts of any product in which they are used, often the first step in troubleshooting
a radio, television, record player, etc., was to test suspected tubes for sub par
performance. As mentioned often in Mac's Radio Service Shop stories, customers balked
at service centers charging for their expertise but didn't mind as much paying for
replaced components. That meant mark-ups on vacuum tubes comprised...
 Admittedly, the only thing I remember about
Gray Code (aka reflected binary) from college courses is that
successive count values change only one bit per increment, saving power in some
digital circuits. The power savings comes from the fact that, especially for CMOS
circuits, current only flows during the transition of a state change from "0" to
"1" or from "1" to "0." Shaft position encoders were and still are a primary application
of Gray Code switching. If the encoder output digital code is going to be used in
a binary computation system, then there is an advantage in generating a direct binary
("natural") count that does not require a Gray-Code-to-Binary conversion circuit
(or software routine). When the Wayne-George Corporation introduced its paradigm-changing
"Natural Code Non-Ambiguous Optical Encoder" in 1964, those conversion circuits
were probably not simple, compact, inexpensive semiconductor IC's...
 The exact details and methods of raising
financing and seed money for both new and existing businesses have changed over time,
but the fundamentals have not changed. Most important is to have a product or service
that people think they need or can be convinced that they need - the "create a need and
then fill it" philosophy versus "find a need and then fill it." Today's entrepreneurs
have the benefit of the Internet and its broad reach that makes just about anyone "discoverable"
via angel investment groups, Kickstarter type individual investors, and access to countless
numbers of establishment banks. Social networking with total strangers might provide
the spark needed to set an effort on fire. Overnight successes...
 The history of electrical current is replete
with tragic incidences of maiming and death caused by ignorance and/or inattention
to known danger. Having been involved in both the electrical wiring and the electronics
fields since the 1970s, I am quite aware of the legion of hazards present when current
flows. My tool box contains screwdrivers and lineman's pliers with notches of melted
metal from inadvertent contact between differences of potential in circuit breaker
panels and electrical wall boxes. Once you experience the thrill of a sudden blinding
flash, unique buzzing sound, and smell of burning hot steel, you'll never forget
it. Those incidences could have been avoided with more careful work practices. A
lot of people have been
electrocuted, though, through no fault of their own, if ignorance (as opposed
to stupidity) is a valid excuse. Early radios, televisions, and other household
appliances did not have a safety ground ...
 Presenting yourself or your company as being modeled after a person
of great accomplishment has been a common promotional tactic for as long as there
has been print media. The John Hancock chose in this issue of
The Saturday Evening Post to suggest, albeit by an indirect
approach, to elicit the admiration Americans had for Thomas Edison' lust for innovation
and desire to make people's lives better in hopes that readers would associate Edison
with the insurance company. While the juxtaposition is strained, I do like one line
in particular, "He lured electricity into a bottle and taught it to glow with good
cheer." This short tribute to on of the world's greatest engineers is worth your
a few moments of your valuable time...
 Carl Anderson and Jerry Bishop in handcuffs?
Say it ain't so! Has the pair of good-natured, upstanding high-tech sleuths gone
to the Dark Side (George Lucas was 18 years old in 1962 when this was written)?
Read the tale entitled "Pure Research Rewarded" as told in this 1962 issue of
Popular Electronics magazine to see how the two figure into a plot to kill
a local judge, and why they decide to cannibalize a service station television set
for parts. What has come over Carl and Jerry?
 Just about everyone who has worked in the
radar field for a long time is familiar with the name of
Dr. Robert M. Page. He was the first to come up with
the concept of monopulse radar, and he invented the familiar Plan Position Indicator
(PPI) radar display and the RF duplexer which allows one antenna to be connected
to both the transmitter and the receiver. Amazingly, I recently received an e-mail
from Dr. Page's son, John Page. An interest in his father's career combined
with insight that only growing up under the loving care of Dr. Page can provide
has afforded him some unique tidbits of information that many (most, per John) historical
accountings omit. Rather than me summarizing his letter, you will want to read it
yourself as presented below. World War II aficionados will particularly appreciate
the information. John pays homage to his father's co-workers...
 In your final few minutes of the workweek,
try your hand at this "Electronics
Helix Puzzle," provided by Mr. James Kimsey in a 1971 issue of Radio-Electronics
magazine. It it not as much of a challenge as a classical crossword puzzle, but
is still worth attempting. In some ways, though, if you get stuck on a word there
is more help available with a standard crossword because there are more than just
two (the first and last letter in this case) intersecting letters available to help.
If after completing this Electronics Helix Puzzle you would like to try your hand
at one of those traditional type crossword puzzles, consider working one (or more)
of my weekly ...
 As I have pointed out in the past, by the
end of 1944, everyone - at least in the United States - was pretty much convinced
that World War II was all but done. Advertisements and articles in most of
the magazines were going full force with promoting a
plethora of great new consumer products that would soon be
flowing from post-war factories and into the homes of the families who had
sacrificed life, limb, fortune, and opportunity on the parts of fathers,
brothers, boyfriends, and husbands who fought Axis powers during the past four
and a half years. Parents, children, and wives of those who went "Over There"
played an invaluable part back home in the success by managing single-parent
households and filling in on jobs formerly performed by the servicemen. Life was
difficult at home and on the battlefield but they persevered. We still refer to
them collectively as "The Greatest Generation." Interestingly, one of the main
impediments to implementing the aforementioned grand plan was difficulty in
transporting raw materials and piece parts to manufacturing plants, and then
distributing finished goods to the stores. Recall that...
 Here is a short tutorial on how to construct
a
¼-wave stub "trap," or filter to attenuate even-order harmonics from transmission
lines. It applies whether the transmission line is feeding an antenna or is a section
of copper foil running on a microwave substrate. Author Kent Mitchell (W3WTO) discusses
both an open stub and a shorted stub. In case you are not familiar with how quarter-wave
transmission lines stub work, a short at the far end appears as an open circuit
where the stub connects to the main transmission line, and an open stub line appears
as a short circuit. That is because there is a 180° phase shift at the end of the
shorted stub and a 0° phase shift at the end of the open stub. Therefore, there
is a total of 360° (i.e., 90°+180°+90°=360°, equivalent to 0°) with the shorted
¼-wave stub so it has no effect where it attaches to the main transmission line.
The open stub experiences no phase shift...
 At least 10 clues with an asterisk (*)
in this
technology-themed crossword puzzle are pulled from this past week's (1/15 - 1/19)
"Tech Industry Headlines" column on the RF Cafe homepage (see
the Headline Archives page for help). For the sake of all the avid cruciverbalists
amongst us, each week I create a new technology-themed crossword puzzle using only words
from my custom-created related to engineering, science, mathematics, chemistry, physics,
astronomy, etc. Enjoy!...
 The December 1958 (my 1st Christmas) issue
of Radio-Electronics magazine featured a clever take-off of the famous
children's story "Twas the Night Before Christmas," by Clement Clarke Moore (originally
titled A Visit from St. Nicholas). "The
Day Before Christmas," by Jack Darr, might contain some terms not familiar to
a more contemporary crowd. For instance, how many even know that "Gunsmoke" was
a Prime Time television shown from the 1950's, and is not just a forbidden word
in today's public schools (since it contains the word "gun")? How about an antenna
on the roof, or a telephone with a "dial" on it? Most people don't even carry paper
"pelf" around anymore. If you're under 30 years old and run across an unfamiliar
word or phase, simply speak it into your smartphone and Siri (or some variant) will
be glad to look it up for you ;-) ...
 Joseph Ryerson (see 1976 award), of the Griffiss
AFB Air Development Laboratory was thinking in 1958 when this Radio-Electronics
article appeared about a method for exploiting
gravitational waves for communication purposes long before they were finally
detected for the first time in 2015. Even today, however, we are nowhere near being
able to control gravity waves. In fact, an Earth-based system is unlikely to ever
be developed due to the extraordinarily long wavelength of various kinds of gravity
waves with periods measured in minutes, hours, days, hours, weeks, and longer. Space-based
sun-orbiting interferometer satellite pairs (LISA) are in the planning stage to
more accurately measure gravity wave. I wonder if Mr. Ryerson was/is around
to witness the gravitational wave detection? Another major topic was the DIANA Moon
Radar project where the Army Signal Corps offered to send QSL cards...
 Getting involved in an insurance claim scam,
whether intentionally or unintentionally, can profoundly affect the future of a
business. Mac McGregor, of course, would never consider bilking any customer be
it a person or
insurance company. Diligent bookkeeping, annotation, and on-the-record statements
from claimants seeking his repair services were in 1956 (when this story appeared
in Radio & Television News) and are today the keys to covering your
posterior. Also mentioned is a scheme to electromechanically make dynamic
adjustments to a tape recorder's read/write head in order to compensate for
minute skew angles of the magnetic tape media as it feeds through the machine.
Many of the topics covered in the Mac's Service Shop episodes concern real-life
products, research, or processes, so my guess is that Mac's reference to a
friend applying for a patent on this tape head scheme was an actual invention.
Reading about the dynamic head positioning idea reminds me of how all new giant
telescopes...
 Radio-Craft magazine solicited inputs
from its readers for a series of 'WittiQuiz'
questions and answers related to radio and electronics, with a stipulation being
that there had to be some aspect of humor included. That meant that some of the
multiple choice answer options needed to be inane. For most of the questions, the
process of elimination is pretty easy, but a couple could cause some head scratching
- especially if you are not really sure of the answer. This group starts at number
28, so obviously preceding issues had questions 1 through 27. At some point I will
probably acquire them and post other WittiQuizzes. |
