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New & Timely

New & Timely, December 1969 Radio-Electronics - RF CafeThe 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 Intros 3 New Filter Models for April 

Anatech Electronics Intros 3 New Filter Models for April 2025 - RF CafeAnatech 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...

The Electron Microscope

The Electron Microscope, May 1955 Popular Electronics - RF CafeThis 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...

Pacific T.V. Vacuum Tube Supply

Pacific T.V. Vacuum Tube Supply - RF CafeIf 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 Wartime Products

Westinghouse Wartime Products, May 1943 Popular Mechanics - RF CafeWestinghouse 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...

What's Your EQ?

What's Your EQ?, January 1963 Radio-Electronics - RF CafeThis 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"...

2025 UK Engineering Salary Survey

2025 UK Engineering Salary Survey - RF Cafe"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..."

Television and Sound

Television and Sound, January 1963 Radio-Electronics - RF CafeIn 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 AMP20081, 80-1000 MHz, 500 W SSHPA

Exodus AMP20081, 80-1000 MHz, 500 W SSHPA - RF CafeExodus 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...

Electronics-Themed Comics

Electronics-Themed October 1944 & May 1945 Radio-Craft - RF CafeIn 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...

World's 1st Quantum Entanglement Communications Service

World's First Quantum Entanglement Communications Service Offered by QentComm - RF CafeIn 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...

Carl & Jerry: Secret of Round Island

Carl & Jerry: Secret of Round Island, March 1957 Popular Electronics - RF CafeIn 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!

Ham Radio Students at DSES Radio Telescope

Amateur Radio Students Visit DSES Radio Telescope - RF Cafe"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..."

Old World Standards Breaking Through

Old World Standards Breaking Through, April 1966 Popular Electronics - RF CafeMaking 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...

Harold Beverage of the Eponymously Named Antenna Type

Harold Beverage of Eponymously Named Antenna Type, August 1944, Radio-Craft - RF CafeThe 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...

Dear Mr. Fips: 30-Day Record Response

Dear Mr. Fips: 30-Day Record Response, June 1961 Radio-Electronics - RF CafeThis 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...

Ulano Masking Films - Rubylith

Ulano Masking Films, December 27, 1965 Electronics Magazine - RF CafeRaise 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...

Mind-Bending Quantum Phase Flip

Mind-Bending Quantum Phase Flip - RF Cafe"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..."

DX Hams Do Get Around

DX Hams Do Get Around (November 1940 Boys' Life Article) - Airplanes and RocketsIn 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...

Thanks Again to ConductRF for Continued Support!

ConductRF coaxial cables & connectors - RF CafeConductRF 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! 

Electronic Razor

Electronic Razor, April 1962 Radio-Electronics - RF CafeThe 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..."

Photon Entanglement Miniaturizes Quantum Computers

Photon Entanglement Miniaturizes Quantum Computers - RF Cafe"Quantum computing has long struggled with creating entangled photons efficiently, but a team of researchers has discovered a game-changing method using metasurfaces - flat, engineered structures that control light. By leveraging these metasurfaces, they can generate and manipulate entangled photons more easily and compactly than ever before. This breakthrough could open the door to smaller, more powerful quantum computers and even pave the way for quantum networks that deliver entangled photons to multiple users..."

Waveguide Temperature Rise

Temperature Rise in Rigid Waveguide, January 17, 1964 Electronics Magazine - RF CafeHere 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...

everything RF Interviews Ernest Werbel

everything RF's Interview with Ernest Werbel from Werbel Microwave - RF CafeHere is an inspiring interview of Werbel Microwave's Ernest Werbel - a case of pulling oneself up by one's own bootstraps --- everything RF recently interviewed Ernest Werbel, the Chief Design Engineer of Werbel Microwave. He is from Livingston, NJ, and got his associates in EE Technology, at County College of Morris. Ernest completed his Bachelors in Electronics and Computer Engineering Technology from NJ Institute of Technology. He founded Werbel Microwave in 2014. Q. Can you tell us about Werbel Microwave? When did you start the company and how has it evolved over the years? Ernest Werbel: Firstly, thank you for the opportunity to participate in the everything RF community. I appreciate everything that Raghav and his team have done for us since the beginning, getting our products listed on everything RF and featuring our products in the email blasts... As a child and teen in the 90s, I was always interested in electronics. When I was very young, a radio was a magical box with a voice. Later, when my grandparents passed in '97, my parents and I were cleaning out their home in Brooklyn. Among other things were many old and broken consumer electronic items...

Have You Seen Him?

Have You Seen Him?, April 1935 Short Wave Craft - RF CafeToday we have missing persons notices printed on milk cartons and computer-aged pictures of missing kids on bulletin boards at Walmart, and of course the Internet with all its various forms of publicity. In 1935, evidently, an electronics magazine was a proper venue for placing a missing person ad. At the time there was no convenient and accessible way for family members to reach out to a nationwide audience other than to place ads in magazines and/or newspapers in remote locations. I thought it odd to see such a placement in this edition of Short Wave Craft magazine, but considering the aforementioned, doing so is entirely reasonable for a worried family. I wonder how much it cost to place the notice? It's heartbreaking, really...

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Turn Your Vertical Antenna into a Rotatable Beam

Turn Your Vertical Antenna into a Rotatable Beam (QST) - RF CafeI'm always aware of the old saying that it is better to remain silent and thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt, but I'll take the risk here. The ARRL's QST magazine has for decades in the April issue published at least one unannounced "April Fool" item. I think I found at least two for 2025. While enthusiastically reading "Turn Your Vertical Antenna into a Rotatable Beam," (p60), it didn't occur to me that this was the April issue, and I was in awe of Jay Kolinsky's (NE2Q) intuition and creativity in devising a scheme to get directivity from his standard vertical whip antenna. By sliding a carbon fiber tube with a narrow slit along the length over top of the antenna, a 14 dB increase was realized in the direction of the slit. NE2Q has named his invention the Loof Lirpa Slot (LLS). What's in a name - Juliet?. Is a patent in the works?
CW Corporation of America's "Snappy Training Key" - RF CafeThe other suspect is the CW Corp. of America's "Snappy Training Key," reported on page 95 by Ellwood Brem (K3YV). You need to log in to read the articles, or borrow a hard copy from a Ham friend.

Today in Science History

Today in Science History - RF Cafe1821: Linus Yale, inventor and manufacturer of locks, including the cylinder or pin-tumbler lock known by his name, was born. 1826: Zenobe-Theophile Gramme, inventor of the Gramme dynamo, was born. 1850: The city of Los Angeles was incorporated. 1876: Alfred Nobel... more

The Secret Keepers

The Secret Keepers, August 1962 Popular Electronics - RF CafeRACEP (Random Access and Correlation for Extended Performance), was an early form of frequency hopping spread spectrum (HFSS) devised by the Martin Company (now Lockheed-Martin). It was used for secure voice communications and worked by sampling speech in small 'slices' and then transmitting each slice modulated onto a carrier whose frequency was determined by a predetermined sequence of center frequencies. A receiver with a matching sequence key would then decode the speech and, with appropriate filtering, reassemble it into its original content. President John F. Kennedy had such systems at his disposal whether on the road or in the Oval Office. General Electric (GE) had a different idea it dubbed 'Phantom' that spread the signal over a very wide bandwidth. Today, we refer to it as Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS) ...

Hams in Combat: A Lady of Mercy

Hams in Combat: A Lady of Mercy, July 1944 QST - RF CafeThis is another installment of the "Hams in Combat" series that the ARRL's QST magazine ran during WWII. I enjoy vicariously waxing nostalgic of a time before I was born, at time when there was still honor, courage, selflessness, and pride of country. During World War II, it was an ingrained part of most citizens, whether or not they happened to be serving in the military. Our modern day troops still have it, but sadly fewer and fewer people see their own country as any place special in the world. Many don't believe it ever was. Sure, as General William Tecumseh Sherman famously said, "War is hell," but then again so is witnessing the tearing apart of your country from forces within...

Linear Scales Show Mixer Harmonics

Linear Scales Show Mixer Harmonics, January 10, 1964 Electronics Magazine - RF CafeHaving been out of the RF system design realm for a few years, I do not have much cause to think about mixer spurious products anymore. I wonder these days how many designers even do much in the way of frequency planning in conversion systems? Are the RF, IF, and baseband frequencies as so well defined for most of what is done in the wireless world that all the spurious product issues have been solved and there are few people who need to calculate mixer spurious product frequencies and powers? If there is a need, what methods are currently being used? Do you still cobble together spreadsheets and/or MATLAB worksheets using equations like those presented here, do you have a favorite smartphone app, a compact program on your computer, or are you using one of the two or three uber sophisticated and super expensive design engineering programs...

Variable-Capacitance Diodes

Variable-Capacitance Diodes, July 1969 Electronics World - RF CafeIt appears that maybe Abraham Lincoln had a son who was an electrical engineer working at Motorola Semiconductor back in the 1960's. Put glasses on Honest Abe (I did) and author Irwin Carroll's a spitting image of the Great Emancipator. Seriously though, this article is a great introduction to the fabrication and use of variable capacitance (aka varicap and varactor) diodes. They have been - and still are - used widely for electrically tunable oscillator and filter circuits. Topics such as temperature and figure of merit ("Q") are discussed as well. This edition of Electronics World ran a series...

ABC's of Transistors

ABC's of Transistors, January 1969 Radio-Electronics - RF CafeSylvania was yet another bedrock American technology innovation company that in the last few decades has been bought by foreign concerns*, while retaining at least some semblance of its original identity - mostly for brand loyalty purposes. Along with pioneering lighting products, Sylvania produced vacuum tubes and semiconductors for use in its line of radios and televisions. Sylvania engineers published a lot of articles in electronics magazines introducing transistors and early integrated circuits to laymen, hobbyists, and professionals, some of whom were fledglings to the field and others who were transitioning tubes types. This particular article suggests methods for verifying operation of PNP and NPN bipolar junction transistors (BJTs) and for troubleshooting basic circuits ...

RF & Electronics Symbols for Office™

RF & Electronics Schematic & Block Diagram Symbols for Office™ r2 - RF CafeIt 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...

Radio Terms Illustrated

Electronics-Themed Comics, November 1946 Radio-Craft - RF CafeHere are a couple more of the much-liked "Radio Term Illustrated" comics, these appearing in the May 1947 issue of Radio-Craft magazine. I probably spend way more time on colorizing these comics than I should. You might think it's easy to just fill in areas with color, but most of the comics are drawn in a manner where outlines of larger objects do not terminate against another line. Being able to use a fill tool requires sealing off the area first. Then there's the case of where an area uses a series of closely spaced lines or cross-hatches. An area fill tool doesn't work well there, either, so the best way I've found is to outline the area with a Bezier curve tool and copy / paste it over itself so it is a separate object, then use a color transform tool to shift the entire area to the chosen color. Even with all that work, the comics rarely turn out the way I'd like them to...

Microwave Power Diodes

Microwave Power Diodes, July 1969 Electronics World - RF CafeEveryone 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-...

The Cryotron Files: How the Inventor of the Microchip Put Himself in the KGB's Sights

The Cryotron Files: How the Inventor of the Microchip Put Himself in the KGB's Sights - RF Cafe

Longtime RF Cafe visitor, electrical engineer, and occasional contributor Alan H. Dewey sent me a note yesterday saying a book for which he helped provide a large amount of research data has been published by authors Iain Dey and Douglas Buck. "The Cryotron Files: How the Inventor of the Microchip Put Himself in the KGB's Sights," is an extensive delve into the background of Dr. Dudley Allen Buck, whose son, Douglas, conducted an extensive investigation into his father's mysterious death that happened to coincide with the death of his colleague and two other scientists just days after being visited by Soviet computer experts. Dr. Buck was a superconductivity researcher during his short, highly productive life. A cryotron, BTW, is a superconducting switch that would make for very low power supercomputers if it could be made practical in IC form...

The Connubially-Oriented Computer of Otto Tronix

The Connubially-Oriented Computer of Otto Tronix, July 1966 Popular Electronics - RF CafeAdmittedly, I needed to look up the meaning of "connubial" when seeing the title of this tongue-in-cheek article by Carl Kohler in the July 1969 issue of Popular Electronics magazine. Nobody knows for sure whether the over-enthusiastic starring male in the series of techie stories that ran in Popular Electronics magazine in the 1950s was actually Carl himself or an alter ego version of himself. Carl was also the artist of numerous tech-related comics. This episode deviates a bit from the already-married type to report on the exploits of born loser Otto Tronix...

Color TV Today

Color TV Today, September 1959 Popular Electronics - RF CafeWhen color televisions hit the stores in 1954, most households could not afford one. For that matter, most households could not afford a black and white TV, either. By 1959 when this article appeared in Popular Electronics magazine, TV in general was still a novelty to most people. It is amusing to read about how much more lifelike everything would appear when broadcast in "living color." Well, duh. It's as if it never occurred to anyone that the images previously did not contain color like the real world did. I was born in 1958, and remember that my family's was last of all the households I knew of to own a color television set. We never even had a console floor model, just small tabletop pieces of junk. It was a big deal the day I, at about age 16, bought and installed a remote rotor for the rooftop antenna so we could receive more than three stations. There was no cable TV service in our neighborhood...

Find the Brightest Bulb Quiz

Find the Brightest Bulb Quiz, April 1960 Popular Electronics - RF CafeHere is a nifty little exercise that appeared in the April 1960 edition of Popular Electronics. It has 10 different light bulb circuits and challenges you to figure out which bulb would burn the brightest. All are intuitively obvious to most of us who have been in the field for decades, but do you remember how to do a circuit mesh analysis to prove your "gut?" One way to help figure out what is going on is to re-draw the circuit to eliminate crossing lines, if possible, as in circuit numbers 2, 4, 6, and 10. Also try drawing electrically common nodes as a single connection point, as in circuit #2 where the two nodes in the upper left and right corners are actually the same point. Finally, try to re-arrange the circuit branches into obvious parallel and series paths to make clear any interdependencies ...

Serviceman's Experiences

Serviceman's Experiences, April 1941 Radio News - RF CafeWhether or not this is a true story does not matter- it is both instructive and funny, especially if you catch the import of the closing statement. Electronics magazines from the era of repairable entertainment electronics devices like radios, television, and phonographs often carried stories of the woes experienced by servicemen. Tales of in-home work were the most interesting, especially when the homeowner tried to bilk the poor technician out of paying or accusing him of purposely inflating the bill with unneeded parts and service charges. This 1941 issue of Radio News magazine is a good example of how frustrating the business could be.

Radio Industry Marks 20th Anniversary - Harrisburg Telegraph c1940

Radio Industry Marks 20th Anniversary - Harrisburg Telegraph c1940 (Kirt's Cogitation #309) - RF CafeHello. My name is Kirt, and I'm a vintage magazine and newspaper addict. This affliction has had a hold on me for two decades now. Call it my middle age crisis. At sixty years old, there is no sign of abatement in enthusiasm. Nearly every day I still find myself reading and commenting on articles and advertisements from mid-last-century magazines, newspapers, and catalogs. Maybe I'm hopeless and will never be able to kick the habit. I'm not alone, though, based on some of the feedback received from RF Cafe visitors. For that reason and others, maybe, in truth, I've grown comfortable with my addiction. While perusing a few vintage newspaper editions from the World War II era looking for relevant stories, I ran across this November 1, 1940 (exactly 78 years ago) special section in the Harrisburg Telegraph titled, "Radio Industry Marks 20th Anniversary...

RF Cascade Workbook

RF Cascade Workbook - RF Cafe RF Cascade Workbook is the next phase in the evolution of RF Cafe's long-running series, RF Cascade Workbook. Chances are you have never used a spreadsheet quite like this (click here for screen capture). It is a full-featured RF system cascade parameter and frequency planner that includes filters and mixers for a mere $45. Built in MS Excel, using RF Cascade Workbook is a cinch and the format is entirely customizable. It is significantly easier and faster than using a multi-thousand dollar simulator when a high level system analysis is all that is needed...

Nine of the Latest New Developments from G-E Research

Nine of the Latest New Developments from G-E Research, March 6, 1964 Electronics Magazine - RF CafeHalf a decade after Texas Instruments (Jack Kilby, 1958) and Fairchild Semiconductor (Robert Noyce, 1960) produced the first semiconductor integrated circuits, General Electric must not have been too confident that the newfangled technology was going to take hold. This 2-page spread from a 1964 issue of Electronics magazine, promotes their "Compactron" integrated circuit vacuum tubes. The Compactron is a building block concept where standardized stages of diodes, triodes, pentodes, etc., are encapsulated in a single vacuum tube package with necessary input and output pins for connecting external components. The incentive was smaller volume, lower parts count, lower power supply current, simpler chassis wiring or circuit board layout, and greater ruggedness. One source I found showed the availability in 1962 of 24 distinct Compactron models...

Rejuvenating Old Meters

Rejuvenating Old Meters, February 1943 QST - RF CafeAn article with instructions relating to subjects like overthrow, balance, friction, and cleaning could very well be about a country's revolutionary struggles. In this case, it is an article about how to rejuvenate a persnickety or inaccurate mechanical (aka analog) meter movement. W.R. Triplett, relative (I assume) of meter manufacturer Ray L. Triplett, is the author (Triplett is now owned by Jewel Instruments). There are a lot of analog meters around in labs, workshops, and garages. Unless they have been burnt out, most probably still work like new. Occasionally, however, the movements get sticky because of accumulations of dirt and dust, bug filth, or even from corrosion. This article offers some great tips for making them serviceable again...

Hot & Cold Resistors as UHF Noise Sources

Hot and Cold Resistors as UHF Noise Sources, September 1976 QST - RF CafeWhether you are new to the subject of noise figure or are just looking for a quick review, this "Hot and Cold Resistors as UHF Noise Sources" article in a 1976 issue of QST magazine is a good source. Author Benjamin Lowe, K4VOW, does a nice job of explaining the concept of electrical noise, and then presenting equations governing the calculation of noise factor and noise figure. Actual numerical examples are provided to demonstrate how the formulas work. Using this method, you can make a fair measurement of the noise figure of a receiver without the need for expensive test equipment.

Destiny and Geomagnetism

Destiny and Geomagnetism, July 1971 Popular Electronics - RF CafeIf you read the physics and geographic news of the day, most likely you have seen articles on the rapidly increasing migration rate of the geomagnetic "north pole" over the past few decades. Magnetic north has never exactly lined up with geometric north (as borne out in geological samples of rocks), and neither has it ever been uniformly distributed across the globe. Ancient explorers on terra firma and at sea knew that a magnetic compass needle did not align with the same stars, moon, or sun position for every location, after accounting for difference in longitude. That is because the earth's magnetic field is very nonuniform in strength and does not follow straight lines from pole to pole as they more generally do from outer space. A correction factor must be applied to any magnetic north indication based ...

Generators, Electricity - Basic Navy Training Courses

NAVPERS 10622, Chapter 14 - Generators, Electricity - Basic Navy Training Courses - RF CafeIn keeping with a very common practice of using water flowing through a garden hose as a teaching aid analogy for newcomers, the title of this chapter of the NAVPER 10622 Basic Navy Training Courses, "Generators - Electrical Pumps," is likening electrical generators to water pumps. It is an apt analogy, but whereas a water pump can cause water pressure and flow of a physical substance already on-hand, electrical "pumps," aka generators, literally creates its "flow" from thin air (even a vacuum with no air). An electrical generator exploits the phenomenon discovered by (or at least credited to) Michael Faraday whereby a conductor moving through a magnetic field - or a magnetic field moving past a conductor ...

November 15th Electronics Engineering Crossword Puzzle

Electronics Engineering Crossword Puzzle for November 15, 2020 - RF CafeFor the sake of avid cruciverbalists amongst us, each week I create a new crossword puzzle that has a theme related to engineering, mathematics, chemistry, physics, and other technical words. As with all RF Cafe crossword puzzles, this November 15th Electronics Engineering crossword puzzle 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. , movie star unless he/she was involved in a technical endeavor (e.g., Hedy Lamarr)...

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