|
See Page 2
of the February 2016 homepage archives.
 "In what may provide a potential path to
processing information in a quantum computer, researchers have switched an intrinsic
property of electrons from an excited state to a relaxed state on demand using a
device that served as a
microwave 'tuning fork.' The team's findings could also lead to
enhancements in magnetic resonance techniques, which are widely used to explore
the structure of materials and biomolecules, and for medical imaging
..."
 Many format changes to RF Cafe have occurred
since its inception in 1999, primarily to optimize the layout and content for presentation
to my targeted audience - engineers, technicians, hobbyists, managers, and salesmen
who make a living and/or pastime of electronics. This latest format change, however,
comes in response to Google deciding to penalize website search ranking for any
page or pages that do not pass its
Mobile-Friendly Test. With 2/3 of the world's search business,
they set the rules. If a page is not deemed Mobile-Friendly, it will likely be demoted
to a lower spot on the search result page compared to if it was compliant. In some
cases a website that would
...
 "After more than half a decade of speculation,
fabrication, modeling and testing, an international team of researchers led by Drexel
University's Dr. Yury Gogotsi and Dr. Patrice Simon, of Paul Sabatier University
in Toulouse, France, have confirmed that their process for making carbon films and
micro-supercapacitors will allow microchips and their power sources
to become one and the same. The discovery, which was reported in the February 12
..."
  Fellow USAF radar tech
Baker "Donnie" Jones
contacted me with his service information for inclusion in my ever-growing list
of members. Donnie spent his entire career with mobile communications groups, having
served with the 1st CCG in Wiesbaden, Germany, the 2nd CCG at Patrick AFB, FL (which
is where the
I Dream of Jeannie air base shots were gotten), the 3rd CCG at
Tinker AFB, OK, and the 5th CCG at Robins AFB, GA.
 Here's a chance to be famous (or more famous
if you're famous already). National Semiconductor's
Bob Pease,
RIP, had a notoriously messy lab and office. He was stiff competition
for engineers vying for the dubious honor of having the most clutter, but Bob was
also an electronics genius. "If a cluttered desk signifies a cluttered mind, then
what does an empty desk signify?" With Bob out of the way now, a new champion needs
to be crowned. Maybe it will be you - or the gal who works in the cubicle next to
you. This could be your 15 minutes of fame. Enter now...
Tech News for February 15, 2016
AT&T Partners with Ericsson, Intel for 5G Tests
USAF Rolls out FY 2017 Space Budget
Silicon IC with Laser: Light from a Nanowire
Gravitational Waves Finally Detected 100 Years After Einstein's Prediction
 "The
'Ham TV
digital Amateur Radio television system onboard the International Space Station
was used for the first time ever this week for an Amateur Radio on the International
Space Station (ARISS) school
contact. UK and ESA Astronaut Tim Peake, KG5BVI, inaugurated the system as he spoke
on February 11 with students at a school in Rickmansworth, England. The DATV system
in the Columbus module of the ISS allowed students at Royal
..."
 Saelig Company is a marketer and distributor
for more than 100 manufacturers from all over the world. Founded in 1988 by Alan
Lowne, Saelig has earned a growing reputation for having notable products not found
elsewhere. "Saelig" is an Olde
English word for "happy, prosperous, blessed." They sell and support a wide range
of electronic control and instrumentation equipment and components to customers
ranging from Fortune 500 industrial users, military, educational institutions and
hospitals to individual end-users. Please visit
Saelig to see how they might
help you.
Saelig Company announces that it has been appointed an authorized distributor
of EXOSTIV™ FPGA debug products by Byte Paradigm, a leading supplier of embedded
development solutions. Exostiv Labs is a division of Byte Paradigm which focuses on creating
innovative solutions for FPGA debugging. This agreement will make Exostiv Labs'
patent-pending FPGA debug tools available to Saelig's huge customer-base of electronic
design engineers
Another Record Year for Silicon Wafer Shipment Volumes in 2015
Amateur Radio Parity Act Gets Favorable Subcommittee Report
How I Quit My Smartphone Addiction and Really Started Living
(lots of these articles showing up)
 Keysight Technologies' application note
Using Fast-Sweep Techniques to Accelerate
Spur Searches discusses the latest advances in signal processing, which enable
you to make remarkable improvements in sweep speeds. Implementing a new type of
digital RBW filter allows sweep speeds up to 50x faster without compromising amplitude
and frequency accuracies. I remember back in the early 1990s while working for
Comsat writing
spur search software using Visual Basic and a National Instruments HPIB interface
card to control an
HP8568 spectrum analyzer to test programmable synthesizers for
Inmarsat earth station RF
modems.
 "The
spin wave remains trapped in the domain wall, which is formed
in the middle between the differently oriented magnetizations. Researchers at the
HZDR could thus control its propagation purposefully. But the more tightly electronic
circuits are packed together, the more heat they produce, making them more likely
to fail. Now an alternative to using electronic charge carriers for information
processing is being developed, in the form of magnetic spin waves. These are faster
than electronic
..."
Orbel Corporation, designer
and manufacturer of custom EMI/RFI shielding, photo-etched precision metal
parts and stamping; and Nolato,
developer of EMC and thermal management solutions made of conductive silicone rubber, will
partner to present a range of products at IMS 2016. In addition to extrusions, molded
components, and dispensed gaskets, products on display will include: Board Level
Shielding (BLS)
 The February 1947 issue of Radio News
only had two
electronics-themed comics. Many months have up to half a dozen
comics. Maybe the winter blues had set in with the magazine's illustrators. The
first comic is a tad bit prescient in that it depicts a robber running past a television
store and seeing a TV in the front display window showing a real-time video of the
cop chasing him. That was way before there was a video surveillance camera on every
street corner. I haven't discovered a vintage magazine yet with someone taking a
'selfie.' There is a growing list
...
World's 1st 1,000 pF Ceramic Capacitor in 0201 Size
Navy to Double Money for Shipboard Radar Research
Electromechanical Trees Generate Electricity for Self-Powered Sensors
Battery Research Claims 10x Gain
Tesla Will Unveil Its $35k Model 3 on March 31st
Physicists Plan to Seek Higgs Force in Atomic Spectra
 Included in this month's collection of interesting
RF and microwave engineering articles is RF Cafe advertiser
Windfreak Technologies,
maker of, among other things, USB-controlled signal generators, with an article
featured in Microwave Product Digest about those devices. If you have never been
involved in defense contracting and manufacturing, you cannot appreciate the figurative
'hoops' that need to be jumped through
...
 "Researchers at North Carolina State University
(NCSU), led by Jay Narayan, have developed a new method for converting
hexagonal-boron nitride (h-BN) directly into cubic-boron nitride
(c-BN) that is faster and less expensive than previous processes and promises to
make a material that is more viable for high-power electronics, transistors and
solid-state devices. Boron nitride (BN) comes in four basic forms. Two of these
forms of boron nitride, namely
..."
 "There aren't too many professions that marry
creativity with the prospect of making a real change to the world but as an engineer
you'll have opportunities to do just that. Just ask Ceri Linton, an engineering
student at Durham U. and recipient of a
Diamond Jubilee Scholarship, a programme that for the past four
years has been providing beneficiaries with at least £1,000 per academic year. By
way of a recap, the Institution of Engineering and Technologys Diamond
..."
So You Want to Be an Electrical Engineering Technician?
 EcoTech Institute has an interesting Infographic
titled "So You Want to Be an Electrical Engineering Technician?"
(circa 2015) that presents statistics on how many engineering technician
jobs are currently in existence in the U.S., what the top industries are that use
engineering technicians, and how much one can expect to earn. Way back in the mid
1980s when I was last an electronics technician (prior to earning my BSEE),
my highest pay was somewhere around $25k/year. According to the BLS's
Inflation Calculator, that is the equivalent to $54k today, which
is not too far from EcoTech's reported $57,850 is median for a Tech
...
e2v, global leader in the high-reliability semiconductor market, and Peregrine
Semiconductor, founder of RF SOI and pioneer of advanced RF solutions, have signed
a
strategic reseller agreement. Effective today, e2v will be the
sole provider of Peregrine's high-reliability ICs for the worldwide space market.
This strategic RF relationship combines Peregrine's expertise and proven track record
in high-reliability RF and power management products with
 "Everybody already knows that semiconductors
are quickly approaching the atomic-level at under 5 nanometers, but most proposed
solutions are based on variations-on-a-theme, such as going to a different "semiconductor"
like graphene. Why not scrap semiconductors, instead, and use tunneling field effect
transistors (TFETs)? The answer is that most materials require cryogenic cooling
to make TFETs, according to Professor Yoke Khin Yap
..."
 Last month when I noticed a couple small
snowballs in our back yard here in Erie, PA, I remarked to Melanie that the squirrels
must have been having a little fun the previous night. There were no foot tracks
of any sort to betray the mischief maker, so it seemed like the neatly made snowballs
must have come from nowhere. They could not have fallen from the sky, though, because
there were clear ruts in the snow leading up to them. I took a couple photos and
promptly forgot about them.Then, a couple days ago there was a news story
...
 It is amazing to me how many times I read
an article, whether in a vintage magazine like this 1947 issue of Radio News,
or a current edition of QST, how when discussing maximum power transfer
from a source to a load, the author states merely that the load impedance must equal
the source impedance. The fact of the matter is that the source and load impedances
must be the
complex conjugates of each other in order for maximum power transfer
to occur. That is to say that if the source has a complex impedance of R + jX, then
the load must have a complex impedance of R - jX (and vice versa)
...
Tech Headlines for February 11, 2016
Final GPS II Satellite Goes into Orbit as Air Force Readies for GPS
III
Army and Air Force MARS Communications Exercise Set for February 12
U.S. House Subcommittee to Consider Amateur Radio Parity Act
New Thin Film Transistor May Lead to Flexible Devices
G teases 'Always-On' Display for G5 Phone
Army Aviation Budget Plunges Earthward
 "Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) are the first
research group in the world to have built an optical single-ion clock which attains
an accuracy which had only been predicted theoretically so far. As early as 1981,
Hans Dehmelt, who was to be awarded a Nobel prize later, had already developed the
basic notions of how to use an ion kept in a high-frequency trap to build a clock
which could attain the - then unbelievably low - relative measurement uncertainty
in the range of 1E-18
..."
 Cognitive Radio: Interoperability Through
Waveform Reconfiguration, by Leszek Lechowicz and Mieczyslaw M. Kokar.
In the span of a century, radio technology advanced from spark transmitters, through
analog radios based on vacuum tubes to solid state radios to finally software defined
radios where most of the transmit and receive functionalities are implemented as
programs running on specialized microprocessors. In recent years, cognitive radio
emerged, which combines a software-defined
...
 "It's simple: the
Air Force 'simply cannot afford' to buy what it needs to buy over
the next decade. The emphasis is the Air Force's own, published on its budget website
ahead of the official budget release. 'The Air Force is facing a modernization bow
wave in critical nuclear and space programs over the next ten years that, under
current funding levels, we simply cannot afford,' the statement says.
The fiscal 2017 budget request 'restores some capacity in
..."
 These are the schematics and parts list for
vintage
Emerson vacuum tube radio models 501, 502, and 504;
Crosley model 56TD-W; and
Arvin model 140P as they appeared in the November 1947 issue of
Radio News magazine. I scan and post these for the benefit of hobbyists
and historians seeking such information. As time goes by, there is less and less
likelihood that records of these relics from yesteryear's archives will be made
available. As with all historical information, it takes someone with a personal
interest in preserving the memories in order to fulfill the mission
...
announced today the launch of its new and much-anticipated ecommerce website
at www.windfreaktech.com.
Now customers can place orders directly on the website for faster service. Windfreak
is a leading provider of low cost, high-quality
USB-based RF products. The
site's simplified look, enhanced content, and mobile device optimization, allows
consumers to better interact with Windfreak Technologies online. The new features
include a more attractive design, easier navigation enhancement, faster purchase
checkout procedures, and mobile-friendly capabilities
 "Implantable medical devices usually have to trade smarts for size.
Pacemakers and other active devices with processors on board are typically about
a cubic centimeter in size, and must be implanted surgically. Smaller implantable
electronics tend to be passive, lacking computing smarts and the ability to actively
broadcast signals, says David Blaauw, a professor of electrical engineer and computer
science at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor
..."
Tech News for February 10, 2016
BMW Owners Want Their AM Radio Back
Something New to Worry About: Connected Toy Security
Comcast Eyes Launching Own Mobile Network
Google Boss
Becomes Highest-Paid in U.S. (seems awfully Capitalistic)
Hate Your Job But Can't Bring Yourself to Leave? You May Be Too 'Embedded'
New ARRL President Happy to be Part of "Exciting Times for Amateur
Radio"
 "Earlier today, in a strange twist of fate
I exchanged emails with Georgetown University professor Salil Mehta regarding Facebook.
I replied to Mehta with a comment not regarding Facebook but rather regarding Linked-In:
'Pray tell, what the hell good is it for everyone in the world to link to everyone
else in the world?' I had not yet seen the carnage in Linked-In. I looked just now
thanks to an email from reader Tibor who writes 'I know it's not quite a
FANG, but dang! A $50B company
..."
 Since 1996,
Isotec has designed, developed
and manufactured an extensive line of RF/Microwave connectors, components and filters for wireless service
providers. Isotec's product line includes low PIM RF connectors and also low PIM
RF components such as power dividers and directional couplers. Frequencies up to
40 GHz and our low PIM products can meet -160 dBc with 2 tones and 20 watt
test. ISOTEC offers quick prototyping and, advanced in-house testing. Please
visit Isotec today to learn how their products and services can be of use to you.
NI AWR Design Environment™ V12.02, inclusive of Microwave Office, Visual System
Simulator™ (VSS), Analog Office, AXIEM, and Analyst™, has been released and is now
available to download.
This new release builds upon the load-pull features introduced in V12 as well as
offers dozens of improvements to Analyst 3D finite element method electromagnetic
simulator and layout and to NI AWR Design Environment modeling, scripting and stability
analysis
 Unlike today when resources of all types
seem to be endlessly available, during World War II countries needed to
collect and recycle much in the way of metal, rubber, cloth, and
other basic materials for re-purposing into products used in fighting the enemy.
Media coverage of bottle, metal, and tire drives showed children pulling Radio Flyer
wagons loaded to overflowing with such items gathered from trash piles and soliciting
neighborhood residents for anything that could be spared. Raw materials were not
the only type of items needed, however. "Use it up, Wear it out, Make it do, or
Do without" was the
...
Notable Science Quote: Carl Sagan on Johannes
Kepler
 "When he found that his long cherished beliefs
did not agree with the most precise observations, he accepted the uncomfortable
facts, he preferred the hard truth to his dearest illusions. That is the heart of
science." - Astronomer Carl Sagan referring to
Johannes Kepler
in the
Cosmos series,
The Harmony of the Worlds [Episode 3].
Prolific Inventor Artur Fischer Dies at Age
96
  Prolific inventor
Artur Fischer, holder of over than 1,100 patents, died on January
27, 2016, at age 96 in his hometown of Waldachtal (Black Forest), Germany. According
to his company - Fischer Innovative Solutions - website, Mr. Fischer's success
began with the invention of the very familiar
nylon screw anchor
for inserting into drywall. Most RF Cafe visitors will also be familiar with his
company's extensive
FischerTechnik line of mechanical construction toy sets. RIP,
Mr. Fischer.
Tech Headlines for February 9, 2016
Qorvo's (RFMD) Quarterly Revenue Falls 12% after Demand Pause from
Largest Customer
T-Mobile Wins OpenSignal Speed Tests
Consistency of Earth's Magnetic Field History Surprises Scientists
Cautious Expectations for Semi Amid Slow-Growth Global Economy
Glonass Navigation System Reinforced by Soyuz Launch
Chiral Magnetic Effect Generates Quantum Current
 "China plans to launch nearly 40
Beidou navigation satellites in the next five years to support
its global navigation and positioning network, a spokesperson said Wednesday. By
the end of 2018, another 18 satellites will be put into orbit for Beidou's navigation
service, said Ran Chengqi, spokesperson of the Beidou Navigation Satellite System
and also director of the China Satellite Navigation Office. Ran said the positioning
accuracy of the Beidou Navigation
..."
 A momentous development that changed the
field of radio communications warranted merely a half-page announcement in 1935
when frequency modulation inventor
Edwin Armstrong had his article published in Radio-Craft
magazine. Spread spectrum modulation / demodulation would be the next big advance.
I cannot think of any fundamentally new communications technology since that time,
other than maybe the still-in-the-laboratory method of quantum entanglement ('spooky
action
...
The Etymology of 'Quintessential'
 'Quintessential' is one of those oft-used words of which probably
most people do not know (or have forgotten) its etymology, sort of like the phrase
'third rail'
when discussing taboo subjects and 'fifth column' when
addressing subversives. A quintessential example of something is the ultimate. In
his article titled "That's Astronomy, Too" (3/2016 Astronomy), Dr. Jeff Hester
reminds readers that
Aristotle expanded on the concept of four fundamental elements
- earth, air, fire, and water - with a fifth (quint) necessary (essential) element
that is incorruptible: ether, or the heavens. We call it astronomy. You're welcome.
Keysight Technologies today introduced the latest release of its powerful Advanced
Design System (ADS) software,
ADS 2016. The software improves design
productivity and speeds circuit and electromagnetic simulation performance. ADS
2016 provides new RF printed circuit board, laminate, module, and silicon RFIC products,
as well as technologies, capabilities and other enhancements. "ADS users represent
some of the best and brightest engineers in the industry, with their
 "In the age of big data, cloud and the internet
of things, our thirst for computing power has never been greater. Many of our readers
will be familiar with
Moore's law, the observation that predicts a doubling of computing
capability every two years, as integrated circuits are packed ever denser with increasingly
smaller transistors. This general rule of thumb has held firm over the past number
of decades, but the pace of progress is now beginning to slow, with Intel's CEO
noting
..."
Tech News for February 8, 2016
Australia's 2-Month 1800-MHz Auction Raises A$543.5M
Get the Skinny on the Smart Manufacturing Revolution
TI's Hack-Resistant RFID Chip
ARRL Signs New Memorandum of Understanding with American Red Cross
 For the sake of avid cruciverbalists amongst
us, each week I create a new
crossword puzzle that has a theme related to RF, microwave, electrical
and mechanical engineering, mathematics, chemistry, physics, astronomy, mathematics,
and other technical words. You will never be asked the name of a movie star unless
he/she was involved in a technical endeavor
(e.g., Hedy Lamar). Enjoy!
 "LinkedIn shares
fall 26% on lower profit forecast. LinkedIn shares dropped 26% after the company
projected lower than expected profits for the first quarter of 2016. The social
media site forecast earnings of $0.55 per share - far below analysts expectations
of $0.74 per share. LinkedIn also reported a loss of $8m (£5.4m) for the year, compared
with a $3m profit in 2014. LinkedIn
..."
Tech Headlines for February 7, 2016
Single Atom Optical Modulator
Tech-Stock Wreck Destroys $529B This Year
Fastest Light Pulses Show Electrons Are Sluggish
 There are still many old-timers and beginning
nostalgic collectors out there who nurse heirloom and otherwise procured vacuum
tube radios - like these for the
Hoffman Model A500,
Stewart-Warner Model 9003-B, and
Zenith Models 6D014, 6D029 - back to health and/or keep them in
good health. While it is possible to purchase schematics, parts lists, and service
instructions from many different models, there are still some that have escaped
the scanners of those publishers. For those kindred spirits in search of such reference
materials, I happily scan, clean up as
...
is pleased to announce the release of the Low Power Series of our Next
Generation family of RF amplifier
systems. Leveraging our patented architecture, these broadband RF and microwave
amplifiers are housed in a compact 3U air cooled chassis and are equipped with feature
rich software control, making these amplifiers configurable to a wide variety of
applications requiring digital modulation, multi-tone / multi-carrier, pulsed, and
 "Moore's Law has a long life, but pure vanilla
CMOS process technology - not so much. That's the view of Intel's top fab executive,
speaking to an audience of chip designers. 'The economics of
Moore's Law are sound if we focus on reducing cost per transistor,'
William Holt told about 3,000 attendees of the International Solid-State Circuits
Conference (ISSCC) here. But 'beyond CMOS we'll see changes in everything, probably
even in computer architecture
..."
 Carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) was
a common cleaning agent used commercially through about the early 1950s when it
began receiving a lot of bad press due to a linkage to severe kidney damage from
exposure even in vapor form. I notice that Mac mentions having read an article about
the potential danger of 'carbon-tet' in an edition of Radio & Television
News, not coincidentally the publication where the "Mac's Radio Service Shop" series appears. He also mentions a publication
called International Projectionist, which included instructions for cleaning
movie film with carbon tetrachloride, and had
...
Tech Headlines for February 5, 2016
How to Market to Young Engineers
Could Vietnam
Become the Next Silicon Valley?
No Proof That Radiation from X-Rays and CT Scans Causes Cancer
Russian Telcos Under Pressure from Rising Competition and Weakening
Economy
ARRL Announces Partnership with RFinder
Report Outlines Cyber Activity from Top U.S. Adversaries
The F-35's Terrifying Bug List
 This would have been a great April Fool's
joke, but alas it's not. The brilliant idea is to mount a wireless camera on the
front of trucks and broadcast the image to a
large screen display on the back, all to the benefit of a trailing
car driver contemplating a lane change. Hackers and lawyers worldwide must be salivating
over the opportunities this scheme will offer. Imagine the massive liability lawsuit
against the trucking company, camera and display manufacturers, a state DOT that
permits such systems, and anyone else in the demonstrable line of responsibility
for assisting a driver in making an ultimately bad decision to move into an adjacent
lane based on information displayed on the screen!
 It is hard to believe this type of error
can happen. "Several companies were hit by hours of system warnings after GPS satellites
broadcast the wrong time, according to time-monitoring company Chronos. The company
observed problems last week, after noticing some GPS time signals were 13 microseconds
out. Such a discrepancy is considered severe and several Chronos telecoms clients
faced '12 hours' of system errors. Previously, the GPS errors
...
, a subsidiary of Bird Technologies, today introduced the
IQC5255B, the latest model in its IQC5000 Series of RF record
and playback systems that expands their signal-capture bandwidth to 255 MHz to address
the increasingly-demanding requirements for evaluating the performance of electronic
warfare, radar, and communication systems. In addition, the IQC5255B combined with
the new N9040B UXA Series or N9030B
 This article on the IEEE Spectrum website
reports on Dutch police
training eagles to snatch drones out of midair. While clever,
it does raise the issue of potential harm to the bird by multiple, very sharp-edged,
rapidly spinning rotor blades. As usual, reader comments are as good or better than
the story itself. To wit, "Chopping up eagles, hawks & falcons in the U.S. is
legal, as long as it's a
windmill that's doing the chopping," and "It's also legal in the
U.S. to turn Eagles into
streamers when they fly over solar panel farms."
...
 Here is a short piece written by
Nuts & Volts magazine editor Bryon Bergeron on how old-fashion
electronic components with leads sticking out of them (vs. surface mount) are still
preferred by many do-it-yourselfers. The title, of course, alludes to Benjamin Franklin's
famous - and
often misquoted (including here) - line regarding rumors of his
demise after having not been seen on the streets for a long time.
 In the early 1950s, the U.S. Navy built what
was at the time the world's largest and most powerful radio broadcast transmitter
station at the
Jim Creek Naval Station on Wheeler Mountain in Washington state.
Its 1.2 MW, 24.8-to-35 kHz VLF transmitter (call sign NLK) can reach anywhere
in the world, even to submarines. A half wavelength at 24.8 kHz is 19,830 feet.
Photos indicate that the transmitter is located in the middle of a dipole arrangement.
'Catenary cables,' if you are unfamiliar with the term, refers to the sagging shape
assumed by both the antenna cables and the tower support
...
Tech News for February 4, 2016
Electrons and Liquid Helium Advance Understanding of Zero-Resistance
Spin Dynamics in Atomically Thin Semiconductor
Threats from Russia, China Drive 2017 DoD Budget
Indian Mobile Phone Manufacturing Passes 100 Million Mark
Microsoft
Tests Underwater Data Centre
U.S. CEOs Unleash Recession Fears in Earnings Calls
 "Tokyo Institute of Technology and Fujitsu
Laboratories have jointly developed a
CMOS wireless transceiver chip that can process signals at up
to 56Gbps, a world's first, across a broad range of frequencies, from 72 to 100
GHz. Millimeter-waveband (30-300 GHz) could bring high-capacity wireless communications
in places where fibre-optic networks would be difficult to lay. But designing CMOS
integrated circuits running at such high frequencies
..."
 This batch of career advice articles is a mix
of actions both employees and employers can take to facilitate finding a new job,
improving the environment of the current job, and how retain good employees. There
are no articles here on how to dump poor performers; maybe I'll look for some of
those types next time ...
-
Here's Why You Didn't Get a Raise – and What to
Do About It
-
101 Career Tips You Can Learn in 3 Seconds
-
Is Your LinkedIn Profile Missing Vital Information?
-
When It's OK to Tell Your Boss You're Looking for
a New Job <more>
Innovative Power Products introduces their latest 90 Degree coupler that operates
over the full 20 – 1000 MHz. band. Our new Model
IPP-2315
handles 50 watts CW and comes in a Drop-In Style package which is only 1.71 x 1.90
x 0.76 inches. The IPP-2315 will combine two signals up to 50 Watts CW of total
output power. This coupler has a remarkable amplitude balance of <± 0.30 dB across
the whole band. This design is a 3 port device with an
 At least for now, I am going to only scan
and post schematics and parts lists like these three for the
Coronet Model C-2,
Sparton Models 7-46, 7-46PA, 8-46, 8-46PA, and
Stewart-Warner Models 9001-C, D, E, F radios in graphical format,
rather than run OCR on them to separate the textual content. There are still many
people who restore and service these vintage radios, and often it can be difficult
or impossible to find
...
 Introduction to RF and Microwave Passive Components,
by Richard Wallace. This authoritative new resource provides an overview and introduction
to working with RF, microwave, and high frequency components. From transmission
lines, antennas, millimeter waves, ferrites, hybrids, power dividers and filters,
this book focuses on practical, time-to-market issues to help with projects in the
field. Keeping mathematics to a minimum, this comprehensive volume is packed with
over 700 illustrations that help clarify key concepts. The reader will gain an in-depth
understanding of the special
...
 "In another example of the military's growing
focus on electronic warfare, the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division has awarded
AAI Corp. a $49.8 million contract for test environment system upgrades to the division's
Electronic Combat Simulation and Evaluation Laboratories. The
contract covers 5 years with work to be performed in Hunt Valley, Md., and is expected
to be completed by January 2021. The air weapons division, based at
..."
Tech News for February 3, 2016
Safe Harbour:
Tech Firms Shudder as Watchdogs Meet
Ukraine Power Grid Attack Is Wake-up Call; U.S. Not Ready
Google SkyBender Drone Project Aims to Deliver 5G Wi-Fi (6G
coming soon)
Coupling 2 'Tabletop' Plasma Lasers Form Ultra Powerful Accelerators
Apple Opening EU's 1st IOS App Development Center in Italy
USAF Stands up Space Mission Force to Counter Russia, China
Pasternack, a leading provider of RF, microwave and millimeter wave products,
has just added an all new product line of
voltage controlled oscillators covering select bands from 10 MHz
to 11 GHz in a variety of package options. This line of voltage controlled oscillators
is most commonly deployed in applications such as phase locked loops, frequency
synthesizers, electronic jamming equipment and function generators. Pasternack's
new voltage controlled oscillators
 "Military officials recently gathered to
discuss the proliferation wireless electronic devices of all kinds—from weapons
systems to smartphones—and the importance of managing and securing those devices
in contested environments. The goal is the development of an
Electromagnetic Battle Management system. The January 12-14 sessions
included over 70 participants from across the military spectrum—combatant commands,
the military services
..."
 The January 2016
RF
Cafe Book Drawing winner is Gregg B., of California City, CA. Gregg wisely selected
Information Warfare and, Electronic Warfare
Systems, by Richard A. Poisel (Graciously provided by
Artech House).
Each month I draw a name from a combination of the people who have ordered
RF Cafe items and anyone who enters by sending me an e-mail with
"<Month> Book Drawing Entry" in the Subject line (be sure to name the month).
In more than 15 years I have never sold, traded, or otherwise given out e-mail addresses.
 "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence,
then, is not an act but a habit" - Aristotle quoting from his writing in Nicomachean
Ethics, Book II, 4;
Book I, 7.
 Windfreak Technologies designs,
manufactures, tests and sells high value USB powered and controlled radio frequency
products such as RF Signal Generators, RF
 Synthesizers, RF Power Detectors, RF Mixers,
RF Upconverters and RF  downconverters. Worldwide customers include Europe,
Australia, and Asia. *NEW*
SynthHD: 54 MHz - 13.6 GHz USB controlled Dual Channel
RF Signal Generator
 The
sea water antenna
is not a new idea, as reported here on RF Cafe back in 2009. "Branded
SeaAerial, it shoots a column of water into the air to create
a conductive plume for transmission and reception. 'A plume of seawater can be used
as an antenna if it is insulated, so Mitsubishi Electric developed an insulated
nozzle that transmits radio waves to the antenna even when the plume is physically
connected to the sea surface. Effective insulation is achieved with
..."
 "A package of two satellites carrying
Amateur Radio payloads has been deployed into orbit from the International
Space Station (ISS) as part of a collaborative Texas A&M and University of Texas
at Austin research effort. Built by Texas A&M students, AggieSat4 (AGS4) will
release UT's Bevo-2 CubeSat in about a month, once it is far enough away from the
ISS. Both schools received support from NASA's Johnson Spaceflight Center (JSC)
for the
..."
Tech Headlines for February 2 2016
GM Forms Team for Self-Driving Electric Cars
Hackers Allegedly Hijack Drone After Massive Breach at NASA
TVs with Microphones, Web-Connected Cars Let Big Brother Track You
Everywhere
Many NYC students So Tech-Oriented They Can't Even Sign Their Own Names
(I'd label it as stupidity)
Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle Designed to Intercept Nuclear Missiles
Tested
 The free whitepapers, pamphlets, books, magazines,
and chapter examples listed here are a small sample of a lot of new items that are
offered for FREE through TradePub. The publishers make them available to qualifying people
as a promotional campaign for their full line of offerings. Note: I earn a few pennies
(literally) when you download one of these or the many other pubs available,
so please help yourself
...
 "Qualcomm given permission to evaluate performance
of spectrum-sharing technology; WiFi Alliance to submit coexistence plan. The U.S.
Federal Communications Commission late last week gave Qualcomm permission to test
LTE-Unlicensed (LTE-U). The decision paves the way for the mobile chip maker to
evaluate the technology's performance using six Verizon base stations in three locations:
Oklahoma City, and Cary and Raleigh
..."
Tech News for February 1, 2016
College Kids Spend 1/5 of Class on Phones Instead of Learning
New Record in Nanoelectronics at Ultralow Temperatures
Laid-off IT Workers Muzzled as H-1B Debate Heats Up
49% of Union Members Worked for Government in 2015
U.S. Lacks Full Space Launch Capability Beyond 2019 w/o Russian Engine
'Bijels,' a Complex New Form of Liquid Matter
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