RF / Wireless Engineers
Spirent
has announced 5 new RF / Wireless engineering positions. Spirent Communications
is where the world's leading communications companies turn when they need to accelerate
their time-to-market for next-generation communication systems. We are always looking
for new employees with exceptional abilities, vision, and commitment levels to join
our team.
- RF Hardware, Staff Engineer
- Wireless Applications
Software Senior Engineer
- Senior Wireless Protocol
Software Architect
- Senior LTE Systems
Software Architect/Engineer
- Senior LTE Network
Emulator Layer 1 Architect
/ Developer Software /
Firmware Senior Staff
Engineer
for Supporting RF Cafe
Amplifier Solutions Corporation (ASC) has
been a supporter of RF Cafe since 2009. Please thank them by visiting their website
to see if any of their offerings can be of use to you. ASC is a designer and manufacturer
of RF & Microwave hybrid amplifiers
for the military and commercial markets. ASC's thick film hybrids utilize GaAs FET,
silicon bipolar transistor and MMIC technologies to achieve low to medium power
output in the 300 kHz to 6 GHz frequency band.
MediaTek Smartphone Platform
Skyworks
Solutions announced that MediaTek is leveraging several of Skyworks'
front-end solutions in their innovative,
dual-core MT6572 platform which is supporting multiple leading tier-one smartphone
manufacturers in emerging markets. MediaTek has revolutionized the manufacture
of mobile phones by supplying complete chipset solutions that couples their own
baseband processor, radio, software, 
multimedia and connectivity
product offerings, with industry-leading front-end solutions to offer a turnkey
approach to manufacturers who supply handsets to consumers around the world.
Your smartphone is essentially coal-powered,
or maybe even gas-powered. So is your tablet, notebook computer, television, and
even, if you have one, your electric car. Just as buying one of those devices in
a friendly-faced suburban retail store doesn't change the fact that it was almost
certainly built and shipped by people whose lives are so miserable that some companies
place nets around their builds to keep suicidal souls from landing on sidewalk pedestrians,
neither does ignoring the "true" impact of your data consumerism habit make the
reality of its ramifications any less significant. Mr. Mark Mills, of the Digital
Power Group, just released a landmark paper titled "The Cloud Begins with Coal
- Big Data, Big Networks, Big Infrastructure, and Big Coal: An Overview of the Electricity
Used by the Global Digital Ecosystem" wherein he assesses the impact of our digital
world on energy demands. Increasingly, and at a rapid rate, the share of electricity
consumed by Internet-connected devices is dominating many traditional realms. As
this thumbnail chart indicates, the share...
Low Noise Amplifier
PMI Model No.
PE2-35-1R02R0-1R4-17-12-SFF is a Low Noise Amplifier that operates over the
1.0 to 2.0 GHz frequency range. This model provides 35 dB of gain
and offers a low noise figure of 1.4 dB typically. The amplifier provides
an OP1dB is +17 dBm and operates on +12 to +15 VDC with 160 mA of
typical current draw. This amplifier is supplied in the PE2 housing measuring 1.08"
x 0.71" x 0.29".
When
you think of typical primary battery cells (non-rechargeable by definition),
something like the standard Ray-O-Vac carbon (actually zinc-carbon)
model probably comes to mind. The reason primary cells cannot be recharged is that
the cathodes are consumed in the reaction with the electrolyte during current flow.
Secondary cells are rechargeable because the current-producing reaction does not
consume the cathode (at least not as rapidly), so applying a reverse
voltage drives the electrons back from whence they came allowing the discharge process
to happen again. There is another type of primary cell - the
fuel cell - that never really discharges but is constantly fed
with a chemical (or combination of chemicals) that facilitates a reaction
between electrodes and the electrolyte. Therefore it never needs to be recharged
in the traditional sense - just refueled. In a sense a fuel cell is more of an electric
generator than a battery. Turn off the external energy source...
for Monthly Drawing
A
Student's Guide to Vectors and Tensors, by Daniel Fleisch, has just been
added to the titles available for selection to winners of my monthly
book drawing.
You can think of this book as a grand collection of all the short tutorial sections
in the fronts and backs of all your electromagnetics, physics, mechanics, and optics
text books. I am tempted to keep this book for my own library, but it will surely
be more valuable to a student or engineer suddenly faced with the need for such
knowledge.
Graciously provided by
Cambridge University Press
Biocells Revisited
Hobnobbing with Harbaugh was a regular comic
feature in Popular Electronics in the 1960s. Creator Dave Harbaugh chose topics
ranging from husband-wife relationships where the husband is a technophile of some
sort and the wife either purposely or unknowingly challenges his efforts to participate
in his hobby, to contemporary (at the time) subjects such as this month's treatment
of
biocells. Like electronics, bioengineering was a mysterious field
few understood that received a great deal of attention by comedians and sci-fi film
makers.
Added to Motors &
Servos
Even though I have spent
decades in the electronics and microelectronics fields, there is something about
rolling up my sleeves and delving into a 1/3 HP motor that takes me back to
my roots as an electrician and controls guy. Just like you can actually buy a bottle
of men's cologne (somewhat of an oxymoronic term) with the scent of
bourbon, glue, saw dust, or cut grass (not the 5-bladed variety), I
might place a bottle of Eau de Overheated Stator Winding Enamel on my medicine cabinet
shelf next to the Old Spice. The aroma would make a nice addition to Yankee Candle's
collection of man-candles as well... although maybe not. Why am I bringing this
up just to announce the addition of the Repair Zone (aka York Repair)
website to my Motors, Solenoids, Fans & Cooling Manufacturers & Services
webpage? Well, while perusing their site...
RF Architect & Field Engineer
AOptix Technologies is growing as we continue
to lead the world in creating breakthrough products for
Wireless Optical Communications
and Identity Solutions. AOptix is interested in hiring an RF Architect to
work on our communications products. This would be someone who has worked on the
subsystems of wireless radios. This is an E-band front end with a baseband radio.
AOptix is also looking for a Senior Technical Field Support Engineer.
Search Tool on everything
RF
everything RF has released a
Waveguide Components Section on the website. There are thousands of products
from a number of waveguide manufacturers. Each category has a customized parametric
search tool that lets you narrow down on products that meet your specification.
Users can search for waveguide products, compare them across manufacturers, download
datasheets and request quotations. The waveguide categories that currently live
on everything RF include horn antennas, attenuators, bends, circulators, couplers,
isolators, and terminations.
The Metal of Tomorrow
This is a really cool infographic
that packs in a lot of good statistics
about uranium. Beginning with its initial discovery in 1789 by Martin Klaproth
(who named the element after the planet Uranus), uses ranging from
tinting glass to nuclear power to nuclear medicine are diagrammed in chronological
order. Did you know that this 92nd entry in the Periodic Table of the Elements is,
as far as known today, 500x more abundant on Earth than gold, or that 13% of the
world's electricity is currently supplied by nuclear reactors that exploit the stuff?
A ton of Uranium can produce 16,000x as much energy as a ton of coal, with no greenhouse
gas emissions. Sure, the chart is ultimately meant to promote nuclear energy, but
aside from a potential catastrophe like a power plant core meltdown or a tsunami
washing nuclear material out to sea (if you are dumb enough to build one in
a known vulnerable area), you have to admit it is by far the best option
economically. Contemporary construction techniques for light water reactors that
extract more use from uranium rods, located in areas vetted based on modern geological
knowledge far from large population centers, practically eliminates the chance of
an incident. Terrorism by religious fanatics...
Aerial Design
One of the nice things about
antenna design articles is that regardless of when they were written,
all that is needed to make them entirely contemporary is to substitute a transistor
schematic symbol for a vacuum tube and substitute the units "kHz" and "MHz" for
"kc" and "mc," respectively. If the article delves into detailed circuit design,
a substitution of "μF" for "mf" might also be required and depending on the frequency
range, "pF" for "mmf" or "μμF." Some readers might feel the urge to replace SAE
units with metric units, but even a hundred years ago there were people who needed
to do that. "Aerial" and "antenna" are still interchangeable in modern radio parlance.
With that in mind, please enjoy this 1934 article on basic antenna design.
for Revolutionary Mixer
Design
AWR Corporation
announces that its customer, Marki Microwave,
a leader in custom high-performance wireless components, has leveraged its high-frequency
design software platform to develop a new design and manufacturing flow for successful
mixer design. The revolutionary new mixer design flow combines AWR's Microwave Office
circuit design software and Marki's patent-pending Microlithic™ mixer manufacturing
process, resulting in a 14x reduction in the size of Marki's mixers and a 5x reduction
in design time with the same industry-leading quality and performance as the former
handcrafted devices.
on Short-Wave Radio
Little America was a series of Antarctic exploration
bases begun by
Admiral Richard Byrd in 1929, located on the Ross Ice Shelf, south
of the Bay of Whales at the South Pole. In those days such expeditions captivated
the imaginations of Americans and folks worldwide for that matter. CBS radio broadcast
a weekly show that featured in part communications from Byrd's team. Listeners sat
in rapt attention as the announcer described the S.S. Jacob Ruppert passage through
the Panama Canal en route to New Zealand and then on to the South Pole for the "Byrd
Antarctic Expedition II." KFZ, Byrd's station call sign, used an aerial constructed
of a horizontal, diamond-shaped type known as a Bruce antenna. The wires are stretched
between four 60-foot telegraph poles. Shortwave frequencies between 6,650 and 21,625
kilocycles...
Radio Industry News
If you read through
this Dots and Dashes column from the July 1934 edition of Radio News,
you will find many familiar topics - and a couple weird ones. Among the familiar
are transmitting electrical power via RF waves, an electronics industry convention
and exposition, elevator control with electric sensors, global communications, the
closing of a historic radio station (how 'historic' can a radio station be
in 1934?), earth-moon-earth (EME) experimentation, and remote
control of beacon stations with radio signals. The weird ones? How about a
woman with glowing breasts and a 'queer' radio microphone, do
they qualify?
Newsletter - August 2013
Anatech Electronics
has published its August 2013 newsletter. As always, it includes both company news
and some tidbits about relevant industry events, regulations, and standards. This
month Sam Benzacar offers his take
on the subjects of toxic waster waste in Silicon Valley, legacy filters, LTE in
residences and Audi vehicles, channels guard bands, and believe it or not, fruit
flies.
With engineering
classes about to begin again in a couple weeks, this would be a good time to get
yourself a little survival knowledge - particularly if you are a freshman.
Engineering Student Survival Guide might be a good place to start for you, your
kid, or a friend. "The third edition of this wildly successful text provides information
and strategies for engineering students to get the most out of their college education.
From freshman orientation to senior year and beyond, this book covers topics pertinent
and unique to all engineering students. "
Bidirectional PA at AUVSI
2013
NuWaves Engineering of Middletown, Ohio, an international Radio Frequency (RF)
and Embedded Systems solutions provider, is exhibiting its high-performance, miniaturized
RF products and is also demonstrating the first linearized model to come from the
company's new NuPower Xtender™ series of
bidirectional power amplifiers at the 2013
Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) Unmanned Systems
exhibition. Operating from 2200 to 2500 MHz, the NuPower Xtender Linear Bidirectional
S-Band PA is capable of generating over 10 Watts of peak saturated power, or approximately
6 Watts of average power
for Your Car Keys - FiMS
Everyone
knows if you lose your cellphone, all you have to do is call it on another phone
and listen for your personal ringtone. Slightly clever devices have been invented
to connect to your car keys, wallet, PDA (anyone still have one?),
and other portable items that are easily laid down and forgotten that will respond
to a clap of the hand, whistle, or whatever. Those schemes require you to be within
hearing or seeing distance of the lost item.
Find My Stuff
(FiMS) hopes to improve on the idea significantly. Researchers at the Institute
of Media Informatics, Ulm University Ulm, Germany, are about to go high tech with
Near Field Communications (NFC) and an intelligent location system
that will tell you exactly where to find your tagged device. Per the FiMS whitepaper,
"An average person misplaces up to nine items per week, most frequently mobile phones,
keys, and sunglasses, and spends about 15 minutes per day searching those objects.
Yet, in contrast to searching information online, locating physical objects is rarely
supported by technology." In order to be fully implemented, "smart furniture" is
required which has RFID readers integrated...
Today,
August 12, Google honors Erwin Schrödinger's birthday with a homepage
Doodle referencing the famous Schrödinger's
cat paradox (here is the
Doodle archive
if you miss it). "When I hear of Schrödinger's cat, I reach for my pistol."
- Stephen Hawking. Here are a couple humorous items to go along with the
notable quote.
"Wave if you've met Schrödinger" - Bumper sticker | "Wanted: Schrödinger's Cat,
Dead or Alive" - Bumper sticker | "Schrödinger's cat walks into a bar and doesn't"
- Bar joke
Scattering Parameters
RF engineer Joe Cahak, owner of Sunshine
Design Engineering Services, has written a series of white papers on S-parameters.
This second installment is titled, "Computing with Scattering Parameters." At least one other will
follow within the next few weeks, so stay tuned. "Network Transforms: These are
the matrix transforms that are used to convert from one network description to another.
Typically the –parameter, Z, Y, h and ABCD are direct conversions. The conversion
to a few of the others are after the base conversion then the conversion from h
to the inverse g, ABCD with the inverse..."
in Appreciation of Support!
everything RF is a search engine for
RF & microwave components. everything
RF lists complete catalogs from various RF & microwave component manufacturers
and enables engineers to search through them by specification. There are over 113,660
components listed from more than 253 manufacturers. Download datasheets, request
quotes or contact the suppliers for more information via everything RF. Its Fast &
Easy!
Connector Rotary Joints
JyeBao, a vertically integrated company that designs
and produces its RF products in house all the way from raw material to the end product,
has introduced a line of rotary joint
coaxial connectors and adapters. Rotary joints are used to transmit microwave
energy from stationary lines to rotating lines. JyeBao's patented multi-directional
adaptors permit smooth rotational movement around two axis allowing the adaptors
to move in virtually any direction. SMA jack to SMA jack, SMA jack to SMA plug,
and SMA plug to SMA plug, rotary joint adapters; panel mount SMA coaxial rotary
joints; and PCB-mount SMA coaxial rotary joints offer low loss and low VSWR at all
rotational angles.
for August 11, 2013
Take a break and work this week's
RF & microwave engineering themed crossword puzzle. All the
words are pulled from a hand-built list of terms, names, and abbreviations that
have only to do with science, mathematics, and engineering. If you want a crossword
with names of movie stars and obscure countries, try the local newspaper. If you
want to exercise your nerd knowledge, this is the one for you.
Mechanical Tilt Sensor
Radio Frequency Systems (RFS), the global wireless and broadcast
infrastructure specialist, today announced the availability of an AISG 2.0 compliant,
dual axis
RFS Mechanical Tilt Sensor (MTS). The simple-to-install in-line
device enables RFS customers to accurately measure the position of its antennas
in real-time without physically having to check the placement on site. RFS' MTS
performs calibrated angle measurement with respect to gravity, reading 0 degrees
when the device is vertical. Any deflection from a vertical position will result
in increasing angle values. MTS is expertly engineered to withstand extreme temperatures
and weather conditions and prevents water intrusion, making it ideal for providing
reliable data even under the most severe environmental conditions.
Filter Sensing Technologies
Filter Sensing Technologies is looking for an
Electrical / Mechanical Research and Development Team Lead. This position seeks
an electrical or mechanical engineer to lead R&D projects in the areas of RF-based
sensors and vibration systems. The ideal candidate will possess a strong background
in electronics, programming, and prototype development, as well as demonstrated
ability to lead projects and small research teams. Additional mechanical background
and experiences are a benefit. Significant potential exists for career growth
in technical and/or business management roles.
Up in the Air
Popular Science magazine has been
reporting on the world's
helium supply
shortage for a couple years. It seems incredible that the element our sun creates
at a rate of millions of cubic feet per minute by way of a nucleosynthesis process
is actually becoming scarce on Earth. Helium, element #2 in the
Periodic
Table, was discovered on the sun via spectral analysis before it was found terrestrially.
MRI machines are the largest users of helium (22%), followed by welding
operations (17%), electronics and other cooling applications
(14%), pressurization (11%), party balloons (8%),
and various other uses. The world could arguably get along without floating party
balloons; in fact, using hydrogen in lieu of helium would still produce floatation
and could make for real Hindenburg-like excitement when gotten too close to birthday
cake candles. ...but I digress. The coolest part about the short story that appeared
in the August 2013 issue is the chart which plots the price of helium versus the
world's production of helium, created by author Katie Peek. The line looks a lot
like random walking exhibited by Brownian motion...
RF Router™ System
Dali Wireless, Inc., today introduced the industry's
most advanced digital-over-fiber solution for delivering distributed wireless coverage
and capacity. Based on the company's t-Series™
RF Router system, it has the industry's lowest cost of ownership while providing
6 times the reach, 3 times the bandwidth, and requiring one-third the fiber, 25%
less power, and 75% less equipment space. Dali Wireless will demonstrate the network
at the 2013 Wireless Infrastructure Show.
Elbert Cook Checks In!
Please welcome
Elbert Cook to my
USAF Radar Technician comrade list!. Elbert provided a very detailed account
of his duty stations and the equipment worked on. Any of you who had the pleasure
of maintaining the TPN-19
ASR/PAR radar system will appreciate his comments. I never worked on it myself,
but while at Robins AFB, GA (5CCG) in the MPN-14 radar shop a couple of the newfangled, transistorized TPN-19s
arrived from Tinker AFB, OK (3CCG) and oh, boy, do I remember the stories that came
from the poor souls who came with them. I helped clear the site on
Robins AFB's back 40 and laid down a lot of
AM2 portable aluminum runway panels for the units to sit on. Rattlesnakes were
all over that place - ugh. I was glad to get back to the civilized part of the base
after a couple weeks there.
Continued Support
Planar Monolithic Industrie's organization
has been setup to design, develop, manufacture, test, and market complex state-of-the-art
hybrid RF MIC and MMIC components, supercomponents,
and subsystems. Unique products for applications in space, military, commercial,
telecommunications, and consumer electronics systems in the DC- 40 GHz realm are
their specialty. Filters, amplifiers, amplifiers, modulators, and switches are among
their offerings.
Polar, Sinuous Spiral
Antenna
This newly developed
sinuous, spiral antenna is particularly suitable for security, surveillance
and EW applications. Its rugged, machined housing makes it ideal for harsh
environments. Ultra wideband, frequency covers 2 to 18 GHz. Directional,
the Beamwidth is 65° to 95° in azimuth and elevation, with a maximum Beam Squint
of only +/-4 degrees to -3 dB points across the band. Dual circular (Right
and Left Hand) polarisation over the entire band means that there is no likelihood
of any frequency being missed at any polarisation.
Drawing out a Solution
This is clearly one of the best installments
of EDN's
Tales from the Cube series that I remember reading. The anecdote told has everything
a good story needs - a catchy introductory paragraph ("Having trouble?" my
boss asked, looking over my shoulder. I wanted to say, "No, my design is failing
exactly the way I intended."), a body that retains the reader's interest
and builds an anticipation for the conclusion (a crescendo, so-to-speak),
and then delivers on the promise with an ending that utterly gives closure and justifies
your attention and time. You finish being glad you read it. My junior year college
creative writing
professor would surely have given writer Steve Lubs an A+ for his 500[+73]-word
essay. The story has a moral lesson to boot!
in Appreciation of Support
JQL Electronics, Inc. is a leading manufacturer of microwave
ferrite isolators & circulators,
directional couplers, power divider/combiners, ceramic filters, and power transformers. In
addition to their design capability, JQL has strong production capability to
deliver its products, and their lead time is among the shortest in the
industry. Up to 120 GHz and 250 W available off-the-shelf.
from Phase Matrix
While clicking around the
Phase Matrix website the other
day, I happened upon a nice set of online calculators like the
cascade calculator shown in the thumbnail. Also included under
the "RF Design Tools"
menu are Tee & Pi Attenuator Calculator, VSWR Mismatch & Power Uncertainty,
Microstrip Line Design, Power Dividers / Couplers Designer, and a few other calculators.
A nice feature about these calculators are the sliders and dials for making parameter
adjustments, or you can enter an exact number. Many of the RF / microwave vendor
websites have nice calculators buried in them.
Their Long-Time Support!
JyeBao
has been helping deliver RF Cafe to you for more than four years by continual advertising
of their products. JyeBao is a connector, cable,
cable assembly and passive components manufacturer. Synergies and large stock
keep lead times to a minimum and allow them to offer customers an unparalleled flexibility.
Innovation is pivotal and they are constantly developing new products.
Jim Mallik Checks In
Please
welcome Jim Mallick
in his appointment to my listing of venerated former USAF radar technicians. Jim
retired in 1993. His service record includes half a dozen different duty stations
around the world where he worked primarily on mobile radar systems. If you or anyone
you know are also former radar techs, please contact me with your service info and
I'll be glad to add it.
Laws Are Out of Control
Did you know that prior to the 17th century
monarchs and their assigns would issue decrees forbidding anyone other than their
chosen vendors to sell certain products or services? Monopolies were granted for
marketing of such trivial items as perfume and playing cards. In 1624, Parliament
passed a law banning monopolies except as a reward for inventors. That bit of trivia
is part of an article by Glenn Reynolds in
Popular Science. He continues that during the drafting of the U.S. Constitution
you find similar thinking. "Thomas Jefferson opposed all government-granted monopolies,
but James Madison argued that while monopolies generally are bad, there is a place
for patents and copyrights. In the end, the Patent and Copyright Clause (Article
I, Section 8) empowered Congress '[t]o promote the Progress of Science and
useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive
Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.'" It's a short article, but
an interesting read about how the current
patent and
trademark system is breaking down.
Modern RF and Microwave Measurement Techniques,
by Valeria Teppati, Andrea Ferrero, Mohamed Sayed (Cambridge RF and Microwave
Engineering Series). This comprehensive, hands-on review of the most up-to-date
techniques in RF and microwave measurement combines microwave circuit theory and
metrology, in-depth analysis of advanced modern instrumentation, methods and systems,
and practical advice for professional RF and microwave engineers and researchers.
Topics covered include microwave instrumentation, such as network analyzers, real-time
spectrum analysis, sampling oscilloscopes and microwave synthesizers.
Coaxial Dynamics for Support
Coaxial Dynamics
has been a leading manufacturer of precision equipment for the
measurement and termination of RF power for
over 30 years. Their equipment is used by engineers, technicians, and hobbyists
in a wide variety of applications throughout the world. Directional wattmeters
(average & peak power), field strength meters, loads &
attenuators, line sections & elements, and filters are among their offerings.
NASA is currently collecting a phenomenal
amount of data on the planet Mars. No small part of the effort is to determine whether
sending humans to inhabit Mars would be feasible, or even at all possible. In order
for it to be even possible for a long-term stay, it would be necessary for consumable
resources to be accessible by Earth Martians. Discovering water ice would be the
pièce de résistance since water is heavy and therefore very expensive to transport
across vast reaches of space. Another key bit of data needed is frequency and size
of meteor strikes on the surface since that figures directly into survivability.
Long before we had the capability or even need to do that for Mars, NASA was doing
the same sort of investigation on our moon (as opposed to one of Mars' two
moons, Phobos and Deimos). The resolution of telescopes, all ground-based
in the day, was good enough to perform site selection surveys in the x-y plane,
but altitude data could only be inferred via estimations based on shadow lengths
along the terminator (night/day line of demarcation) and sideways glances
of peaks and valleys. That was not good enough for planning a human expedition to
the surface, so engineers and scientists came up with a
radar mapping technique to obtain z-axis data. That effort is
reported here in this May 1961 edition of Popular Electronics. More information
was needed prior to actually launching a Moon lander mission, including sending...
Book Winner, Darren W. !
Most months I select two names for receiving
free engineering books graciously provided by
Cambridge University Press
and Artech House. Also in most
months only one person responds to my e-mails - maybe 50% are being escorted into
the spam filter black hole of people's e-mail programs. I use most of the books
for creating quizzes prior to
making them available for winners. Two people actually responded for the July 2013
book drawing. Darren W.
of Ontario, Canada, is winner #2 this time. Darren selected
Optical Antennas, by Mario Agio and Andrea Alù., published by Cambridge University Press.
"Engineers like to solve problems. If there
are no problems handily available, they will create their own problems." -
Scott Adams,
creator of Dilbert
Crosley 03CB Radio Hardware
Now that my nearly 4-year-long
grandmother clock project is finally finished, I'm on to the next big project,
which is to restore a 1941
Crosley 03CB console radio. My intention is to do as complete
a restoration as possible (or reasonable), including repairing and
refinishing the wooden cabinet, stripping and repainting the metal faceplate parts,
and completely disassembling and rebuilding the electronics chassis. By disassembling
and rebuilding the electronic chassis I mean unsoldering and/or unbolting / unriveting
every component and then testing and reinstalling every part. Fortunately, shortly
after buying the Crosley radio ($75) from someone who advertised it
on Craigslist, a complete electronics chassis appeared on eBay for $20, so I bought
it. Now I have two of everything from which to make a good working model. Some items
like the old paper capacitors will definitely need to be replaced with modern versions.
While removing some of the hardware that mounts the electrical chassis to the wooden
cabinet, I discovered some of it was
copper plated. So were the 10-32 threaded studs that held the
speaker to the frame...
Crossword for August 4
Take a break and work this week's
science and engineering themed crossword puzzle. All the words
are pulled from a hand-built list of terms, names, and abbreviations that have only
to do with science, mathematics, and engineering. If you want a crossword with names
of movie stars and obscure countries, try the local newspaper. If you want to exercise
your nerd knowledge, this is the one for you.
Microwave Power Amplifiers
Test your engineering savvy with this 10-question
quiz is based on the information presented in
Handbook of RF and Microwave Power Amplifiers, by John L. B. Walker.
It covers design, test, and production topics. This book currently was recently selected by the winner
of my monthly RF
Cafe Giveaway.
During my daily technical headlines search,
one of the websites I regularly visit is Radio Ink. As a lifelong fan of over-the-air
broadcast radio (and TV), it is interesting to see
what trends are playing themselves out. OTA broadcasting is struggling to survive
in the modern world of Podcasts and Internet streaming broadcasts; indeed, I do
a lot of my radio listening via the Internet because the local stations don't provide
what I want. At least I can watch the local news on TV in the evening using just
a simple inside antenna. The Big Media types are involved in a major lobbying effort
to mandate FM radio receivers in all cellphones, which of course is a prime example
of corporate chieftains using their financial might to pay off politicians for something
that the rest of us will ultimately have to pay for. Radio's early days faced no
such dilemma. People the world over were excited about the advent of radio and eagerly
awaited their favorite broadcasts each day. Televisions were...
OK, that sounds
a bit extreme, but although the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
(IEEE) is a great organization, the main reason I have remained a member
for lo these many years (first joined in college) is because their
life insurance plan was way lower in cost than others. I also have been buying accidental
death insurance from them. However, since this month (on August 18th)
I will cross the 55-year-old
Rubicon, the price will increase by 67%. To continue as last year my total cost
for life insurance, accidental death, and IEEE membership would be $(1,000 + 190
+ 185) = $1,375 per year, and none of it is tax deductible. Ouch! With outrageously
high 'affordable' health care rates about to hit this coming January, combined with
the 1% Social Security increase that went into affect this year, and my property
tax bill just went up by $400 over last year, something has to give...
Broadband Downconversion
Phase Matrix, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary
of National Instruments, participated in the demonstration of the world's first
100 GHz real-time oscilloscope. The integrated microwave assembly designed by Phase
Matrix for the demonstration is a broadband downconverter, which allows the successful
acquisitioning and displaying of live signals at 100 GHz bandwidth. The unique
frequency converter combines state-of-the-art diplexer technology with active and
passive RF functions to meet stringent requirements of wide dynamic range, high
linearity, low noise, gain flatness, and extremely wide IF bandwidths.
for Their Ongoing Support
JFW Industries, Inc. designs and manufactures a wide range of attenuators,
RF switches, power dividers, test accessories
and systems within an ISO 9001:2008 certified quality system. These products
meet or exceed the requirements of the most demanding applications. All JFW products
are designed to the most exacting standards to provide innovative, high quality
and cost effective solutions in a wide variety of global applications. JFW offers
custom designs at catalog prices, fast delivery and no NREs!
Scattering Parameters
RF engineer Joe Cahak, owner of Sunshine Design
Engineering Services, has written a series of white papers on S-parameters. This
first installment is titled, "Scattered Thoughts on Scattering Parameters." At least two others
will follow within the next few weeks, so stay tuned. "Scattering parameters or
S-parameters (aka Spars) are used by RF and microwave engineers to
measure and design components and systems at those frequency ranges. These S-parameters
are typically measured with an instrument called a vector network analyzer, or VNA..."
Winner Benedict V. !
Congratulations to RF Cafe visitor Benedict V.,
of Herndon, Virginia, for winning the
July Book Drawing.
Ben selected
Handbook of RF and Microwave Power Amplifiers. Each month I select someone
to receive a free book from those provided by Artech House or Cambridge University
Press. They are often books I have used to create
quizzes. How to enter? Either
buy one of my inexpensive
software
offerings or send me an e-mail.
High Frequency Power Dividers
Pasternack Enterprises introduces a brand new
line of
ultra-broadband power dividers capable of 50 GHz. These millimeter wave
power dividers/splitters are ideal for use in radar systems, electronic warfare
equipment, fiber optic systems, 10G Ethernet and any application that requires high
frequency, multi-octave performance. Pasternack is offering three new configurations
of broadband power dividers. Two 2.92 mm models cover 10-40 GHz at 10 W maximum
input power. The third option is a 2.4 mm model for 10-50 GHz at 10 W.
Studies to Facility Operations
Power analysis and energy studies have quickly
come into demand for facility managers, electrical engineers and contractors of
small companies and major corporate enterprises, sometimes stemming from a recent
inflation of the electric bill or the desire to Go Green.
Advanced Test Equipment Rentals is helping
industrial and facility managers perform energy monitoring studies, which identify
cost saving opportunities, with power quality analyzers, to troubleshoot and verify
power distribution, monitor phase unbalances, measure and record power system quality,
and determine overall electrical power efficiency and compliance
Handbook of ReflectorAntennas and Feed Systems
It has been many years since I presented
a questionnaire to website visitors in order to get a measure of what people like
or dislike and what new feature(s) might be useful. In order to qualify as an entry,
you must fill out the form in its entirety. A winner will be randomly selected.
As an incentive for you to take a few minutes of your busy day to complete and submit
the form, I am offering as compensation a chance to win the 3-volume set titled
Handbook of Reflector Antennas and Feed Systems, by authors Satish K. Sharma,
Sudhakar Rao, and Lotfollah Shafai: "Theory and Design of Reflectors," "Feed Systems,"
and "Applications of Reflectors," published by
Artech House. This represents
a $627 retail value ($501 from Amazon).
