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See Page 1 of
the February 2016 homepage archives.
 "A Russian team of aerospace engineers and
enthusiasts are preparing to launch their
'Mayak' satellite into space aboard the
Soyuz-2 rocket, where it will be the brightest 'star' that shines above Earth. The
team of aerospace engineers and enthusiasts from Moscow's University of Mechanical
Engineering (MAMI) are putting the finishing touches to their 'Mayak,' or 'Beacon'
satellite, and have raised enough money for the next stage of the spacecraft's testing
before it
..."
 Here is another electronics quiz for you
to try. Intuition from experience goes a long way here, but if all else fails you
can work out the details of the rectifier circuits to determine
which lamp received the most current. Keep in mind that the diode
symbols are not LEDs; it is the 'A,' 'B,' and 'C' symbols inside circles
that are the lamps whose brightnesses are being considered. LEDs did exist at the
time this quiz was created in 1969, but the circuits would perform differently if
in fact LEDs were used for double duty of rectification and illumination
...
 "High Performance RX Antennas for a Small
Lot" will be the topic of a free webinar by Jose 'JC' Carlos, N4IS, and sponsored
by the World Wide Radio Operators Foundation (WWROF). Carlos will explore basic concepts of receiving antennas
and share his experiences with low-band receiving antennas on a small lot, including
the Waller Flag. The webinar will take place on Thursday, March 3, at 9:00-10:00
PM EST. It will run for about 1 hour.
Registration is required.
Advanced Test Equipment Rentals (ATEC), an award-winning leader in test and measurement
equipment rentals, is proud to announce the availability of the
Instruments For Industry (IFI) PT-KW HP Series
Pulse TWT Microwave Power Amplifiers for lease. Designed for microwave, high
intensity radiated field (HIRF), and radar testing, the high power pulse traveling-wave
tube (TWT) amplifiers are used in satellite transponders, military, aerospace and
many other applications
FBI: Apple Taking Us to a 'Different World'
ARRL Teachers Institute on Wireless Technology
Announces 2016 Schedule
Ericsson 5G Field Trial Achieves Peak Downlink Throughput over 25Gbps
(then, on to
6G)
New 'Tetraquark' Particle Discovered
 The more things change, the more they stay
the same. That saying applies to many recreational activities. Pick up a copy of
QST that was published in the last year and look at
reader comments and you will find laments about the dwindling
participation of youngsters, an increased degree of incivility and rule breaking
during engagement, the high cost of getting into the hobby, yadda yadda yadda. I
witness it regularly in the model aircraft world, too. That is not to say the issues
are not true or irrelevant, just that they are persistent. Each generation, it has
been said, tends to think
...
 I have a confession to make regarding the
puzzle titles. While all
RF Cafe crosswords do in fact use only my hand-entered dictionary
of terms and clues (literally thousands accumulated over the years) that pertain
exclusively to science, engineering, chemistry, physics, mathematics, astronomy,
etc., the choice for a particular title is to help attract search engines to the
page. There is nothing deceptive going on, just an attempt to exploit the nature
of search engine algorithms that rank pages based on meta tags coinciding with relevant
...
Tech News for February 28, 2016
Georgia Tech Discovers How Mobile Ads Leak Personal Data
'Girls in
Tech' Competition Won by Boy (gotta laugh)
Wireless Satisfaction Increases, Despite Rising Cost of Smartphones
 Here is round two for this month of the new
RF-type magazine articles that have appeared in the trade magazine. Since the majority
of people no longer receive paper copies of the magazines, I try to drive a little
traffic to their websites by highlighting titles that appeal to my interest and
like-minded RF Cafe visitors. That's not to say ...
-
A Bluffers Guide to Evaluating Scientific
Results, Part 1: Systematic Bias
-
Understanding and Measuring Power-Supply
Transient Recovery Time
-
The Differences Between Receiver Types:
Part 1
- Design of a 10 GHz LNA for Amateur Radio
Operation <more>
 "Wide available bandwidths at
W-band frequencies from 75 to 110 GHz have long made that frequency
range attractive for applications from communications through radar. Practical antennas
are an important part of making use of those bandwidths, and a substrate-integrated-cavity
(SIC) antenna array excited by an L-probe offers high gain with high efficiency
at those
..."
 These are the schematics and parts list for
vintage vacuum tube radios
Westinghouse Model H-133;
Arvin Models 150TC, 151TC; and
Admiral Model 7C63, Chassis 7C1 as they appeared in the December
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
...
 Baron
von Richthofen would be proud of this model of his famous red Fokker DR1 triplane,
piloted by world champion Gernot
Bruckmann. It sports a 14.5 foot wingspan and weighs in at 194 pounds. European
modelers rule when it comes to really giant-sized and most excellently built model
airplanes. This is a
must-see video not just for the airplane but for the incredible
Austrian setting
...
Planar Monolithics Industries (PMI) has got to be one of the most prolific designer
and manufacturer of new RF/microwave products. I am amazed at the number of new
devices they announce. This month PMI offers 8 more, including 5 switches, an LNA,
a SDLVA, and a
 diplexer. PMI also typically has really well-done
photos of their products, but when I saw the it made me think of Dali's "The
Persistence of Memory" ;-)
 The radar system I worked on in the USAF
used two early memory types described in this 1956 article. In fact, the radar was
designed during that era, so it is no surprise. Our IFF (Identification Friend or
Foe) secondary radar had a whopping 1 kilobyte of
magnetic core memory in its processor circuitry. It consisted
of 1024 tiny toroids mounted in a square matrix with four hair-width enamel coated
wires running through them as x and y magnetization current lines, sense, and inhibit
functions. If my memory serves me (pun intended) after three decades
...
Tech Headlines for February 26, 2016
FBI's War on Phones Is Bigger Than You Think
Nissan Leaf
Electric Car Hack Demonstrated
Biggest Change for Infantry Since WWII: XM25
Mobile Devices Become a New Target for Spam and Malware Attacks
Smartphone Slaves Look at Devices Every 4
Minutes Average, Feel Phantom Vibrations
45% of Americans Pay No Federal Income Tax
(no, it's not just 'the rich' - I pay plenty every
year w/<$60k/yr income)
 "'The sodium inside the soda-lime glass creates
high electron density in the graphene, which is essential to many processes and
has been challenging to achieve,' said Nanditha Dissanayake of Voxtel, Inc. in a
press release. Dissanayake is formerly of Brookhaven Lab and one of the coauthors
of the journal article in Scientific Reports. The team initially set out to optimize
a solar cell containing graphene stacked on a copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS)
semiconductor, which
..."
, the leader in ultra-high performance smart antenna system solutions, today
announced it has expanded its portfolio of
active antenna
RF switches with the industry's highest linearity for LTE smartphones, devices
and other Internet of Things (IoT) applications. In addition to the best linearity
and small footprint, these fully integrated switch solutions support high data rates
and broad frequency ranges. Available today, the EC686 and EC646 are designed to
meet the market
 Often
when I see photos of some of the
early radio control gear for model airplanes, I have a simultaneous
reaction of aghastness and marvel at the crudity and ingenuousness, respectively,
of the electromechanical devices - the same kind of reaction I have to stories about
early surgical procedures and equipment. In 1940, when this article appeared in
the ARRL's QST magazine, successful takeoffs and landings were considered
notable events not so much because of pilot ability (or inability), but because
of the low reliability of electronic and mechanical
...
 "Drivers constantly reaching for their phones
may be the single factor most responsible for
car crash increases in recent years.
Such distracted driving behavior was caught repeatedly on video in the
largest study of car crash risk ever conducted using real-world driving data. The
damning data came from a US $70-million study designed by the Virginia Tech
Transportation Institute and funded by the U.S. Transportation Research Board
..."
Saelig Company has introduced the
RFP
Smart Fieldmeter® Kits which contain all that is needed for making calibrated
RF field strength measurements from 0.2 MHz to 18 GHz, including a calibrated
field strength meter, a calibrated Omnifield Antenna®, and a 6" table tripod. Designed
for budget-conscious RF engineers, the RFP Smart Fieldmeters combine the major features
of professional quality test equipment with the convenience and simplicity of a
multimeter. They can be used
Tech News for February 25, 2016
Beijing Overtakes NYC as 'Billionaire Capital
of the World'
FCC Seeks Comments on Petition to Grant Lifetime
Amateur Radio Licenses
Quantum Phase Transition Underpins Superconductivity
Kilogram Redefinition Heads into Crucial Test
Qualcomm Tests LTE over Unlicensed Spectrum
in Germany
World's 1st 'Internet of Things' Has Successful
Trial
 Anritsu just sent me an e-mail announcing
a brief whitepaper titled "Ten 5G Challenges for Engineers to Overcome."
It talks about IoT and the huge number of connections, data volumes, capacity, deployment,
critical service, M2M and automotive, network densification, and other things. I'm
not a network engineer and didn't find it particularly useful, but if Anritsu thinks
it is something 5G planners need to know, then who am I to question it? The download
is free, so you might as well take a look
...
 "Graphene is an amazing conductor. The transport
of electrons through graphene
nanoribbons has even surpassed what scientists
thought were the theoretical limits for the material—so much so that electrons moving
through it seem to behave almost like photons. Its amazing properties as a conductor
has inspired some researchers to explore whether the single-atom-thick sheets of
carbon could also be made into superconductors
..."
 Author T.A. Gadwa employs a
standing wave mechanism analogy that I don't recall having read
before - that of a dam on a river. The river is the transmission line with a lake
as the source and then he imagines a dam load. The dam standing waves, per his description,
have phase and amplitude characteristics that depend on how tall the dam wall is
relative to the surface height of the dammed river. An extensive array of graphs
is provided showing how the current of the dam standing waves react to the dam transmission
line termination impedance
...
 "The
RS-UV3 is a shot in the arm for amateur
radio. Mobile phones and the Internet have made the basic act of talking to a faraway
person an everyday experience. This means that much of the appeal of ham radio is
now in things like emergency response; technically challenging exercises such as
bouncing signals off satellites or ultralow-power long-distance contacts; and exploring
a host of digital communications modes. In some ways, trying out such digital modes
has never been
..."
As the doors open for Embedded World 2016, Antenova, manufacturer of antennas
and RF antenna modules for M2M and the Internet of Things, is revealing a new
SMD antenna called Similis, which offers an exceptionally low
profile solution for 3G, LTE and MIMO applications. The Similis antenna measures
just 40 x 10 x 1.6 mm, making it literally half the height of the popular Lucida
which Antenova introduced last year. This exceptionally slim antenna will definitely
be
Tech News for February 24, 2016
Indian Government Threatens to Seize Vodafone Assets
Samsung
Galaxy S7 Restores Expandable Storage
Pre-5G Will Be Key for ZTE in 2016
Researchers Demonstrate 'Quantum Surrealism'
Cellphones Cooking Men's Sp**m
Worldwide Smartphone Sales Grew 9.7% in Q4
2015
The
R&S ESW EMI test receiver from Rohde &
Schwarz is designed for applications in manufacturers' EMI labs and in test houses.
It can carry out certification tests on modules, components and devices as well
as on systems and technical facilities in line with all relevant commercial and
military standards such as CISPR, FCC and military standards. The R&S ESW is
ideal for conducted as well as radiated certification measurements and even meets
the stringent demands placed on EMI measurements
 Please bear with me again whilst I make more
of these Radio Service Data Sheets available to historians and hobbyists. They provide
schematics and parts lists for
Kadette Model 90 Duplex 4-Tube 110 V-6 V Car-Home-Farm,
Grunow 11A Chassis 11-Tube All-Wave, and
RCA-Victor "Magic Brain" Model 281 12-Tube All-Wave Superheterodyne
receivers. Most - if not all - electronics servicemen had subscriptions to these
magazines because they were a ready source of not just the above service sheets
...
 "In January, British actor Eddie Redmayne
made headlines around the world as he became the latest in a growing band of smartphone
refuseniks. 'It was a reaction against being glued permanently to my iPhone during
waking hours,' he explained, turning instead to an old-fashioned 'dumb phone' handset. He is not alone.
There is a small but busy market for phones that are simple and cheap at a time
when
..."
 Located in Mumbai
, India, Conex India is
a manufacturer and exporter of a wide variety of non-ferrous metal components and
wiring accessories including brass, bonze, stainless steel, & copper electrical
connections, decorative knobs & finials, nuts, bolts, & washers, clamps,
keys, ferrules, pipe & hose fittings. Conex India has been added to my
Electrical &
Mechanical Assembly Hardware page.
Notable Tech Quote - Einstein on Peer Review
 "I see no reason to address the – in any case
erroneous - comments of your anonymous expert." - Albert Einstein to the editor,
Mr. John Tate, of
The Physical Review, in response
to a critical review of his submitted paper. The date was July 23, 1936.
 "The U.S. Navy was planning to test an
electromagnetic rail gun at sea later
this year, but officials are considering postponing or skipping the demonstration
in order to speed up the project. The test, which is planned to be based out of
the Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, would involve using a prototype of the futuristic
weapon to hit a floating barge in the ocean. However, Navy officials are now considering
skipping
..."
 What drew my attention with this
P.R. Mallory & Company advertisement was not an actual
electronic component that they are most noted for - potentiometers, capacitors,
switches, metal alloys, and of course batteries (later renamed Duracell). Philip
Rogers Mallory began his company manufacturing tungsten wire for lamps. Rather what
interested me was the huge variety of standard potentiometer and rotary switch extension
shafts. Unlike modern electronics where pots and switches are typically mounted
to the enclosure with wires running to the circuit assembly, many
...
Tech Headlines for February 23, 2016
Neon Gas Supply Issues Dog the Semiconductor
Industry
Smartphones to Replace Cards at Bank Machines
U. of Utah Develops Tin Monoxide as 2D Electronic Material
FCC to Force Cable Companies to Sell Set-top
Boxes to Customers
Telstra to Launch 1-Gbps Mobile Service
Volume Manufacturing of 300 mm RF-SOI Substrates
 "Researchers affiliated with Boeing have produced
what they claim to be the lightest metal ever made. It's called 'microlattice,' and the reason it's so
light is because it's 99.99% air. Sophia Yang, research scientist in architected
materials at HRL Laboratories, a joint venture that Boeing is involved in with General
Motors, calls it 'the world's lightest material.' It's an open-cellular polymer
structure, made of interconnected hollow tubes, in three
..."
 Here, for your Monday, beginning-of-the-work-week
enjoyment, are a couple
electronics-themed comics that appeared in the October 1951 edition
of Radio & Television News. When is the last time you saw a comic in
a technical magazine? Note the AC power cod attached to the 'portable' television.
Nowadays, a person would have a smartphone, tablet, or notebook computer while on
the can. There is a list of other comics at the bottom of the page
...
 "Researchers have demonstrated the ability
to generate a quantum logic operation, or rotation of the qubit, that is intrinsically
resilient to noise as well as to variations in the strength or duration of the control.
While a classical bit found in conventional electronics exists only in binary 1
or 0 states, the more resourceful quantum bit, or 'qubit' is represented by a vector,
pointing to a simultaneous combination of the 1 and 0 states ..."
 In our present "No user serviceable parts
inside" world of electronic products, it is easy to understand why very few people
have an appreciation for the technical prowess needed to troubleshoot and repair
them. When reading through these episodes of "Mac's Radio Service Shop" that appeared in mid last century editions
of Radio & Television News magazine, I am inspired to envy the skills
that small electronics repair shop owners had for working on the old vacuum tube
based radio and television sets
...
 "Nanoelectronics research center imec and
Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) present a frequency division duplex (FDD) balance
network, capable of
dual-frequency impedance tuning for all
LTE bands in the 0.7-to-1GHz range. When integrated into an electrical-balance duplexer
(EBD), it enables FDD duplexing with antennas in real-world environments, paving
the way to high-performance, low-power, low-cost solutions for mobile communication
..."
Tech News for February 22, 2016
Indian Company Briefly Sells $4 Smartphone
Before Website Crashes
How to Attract Investment for Your Engineering
Inventions
Research Success Increasingly Hinges on Honing Teamwork Skills
 I will
be glad to post some of your company's
press releases, company
news, events, etc., at no charge, as a service to RF Cafe visitors. While there
is no guarantee a particular item will be posted, I do try to give fair access to
the >10,000 visitors RF Cafe receives each weekday. Of course there i$ a way
to help $ee to it that your pre$$ relea$e get$ priority con$ideration ;-)
Fairview Microwave, a supplier of on-demand microwave and RF components, debuts
a new family of
semi-rigid test probes operating up to 6 GHz. Designed to assist
in testing microwave circuits, these test probes are constructed of high quality
semi-rigid coax and SMA Female connectors. The new test probe assemblies from Fairview
Microwave come in multiple cable diameters to help when attaching the unterminated
end of the probe to a circuit board trace
 This week's
Amateur Radio crossword puzzle contains the usual collection of
science, math, and engineering terms, and amateur radio. You'll never be 'challenged'
to know terms relating to movie stars, leaders of obscure countries, or archaic
pottery making terms. Enjoy
...
 "A new type of flat, ultrathin lens designed
to be
free of chromatic aberrations has been
developed by researchers in the U.S. The device has a variety of potential applications,
from ultralight imaging systems for drone aircraft to more compact lenses for mobile-phone
cameras. Lenses for cameras, eyeglasses and other applications are traditionally
based on refractive optics, which involves using curved lenses to bend light rays
..."
Tech Headlines for February 21, 2016
China Looks to Reward Academic Innovation
to Drive Economic Growth
Half the World to Be Short-Sighted by 2050
Ground-Penetrating Radar Boosts Asparagus
Production
 At least for now, I am going to only scan
and post schematics & parts lists like these four featuring the
Sears Roebuck Silvertone "Rocket" Models 6110 and 6111, the
Allied Radio Knight Model E10913, the
General Electric Model GD-52, and the
Zenith Models 6D302, 6D311, 6D326, 6D336, 6D360 in graphical format,
rather than run OCR on them to separate the textual content. An ever-growing list
of models is at the bottom of every page
...
 "NASA engineers Neerav Shah and Phil Calhoun
will realize a long-held ambition later this year when a Space-X launch vehicle
deploys two tiny satellites that will fly in a precise formation to create, in effect,
a single or "virtual" telescope benefitting a range of scientific disciplines. Through
a NASA international agreement, Shah and his team have partnered with South Korea's
Yonsei University and the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) to validate
..."
Anatech Electronics,
a manufacturer of RF and microwave filters, has published its
February 2016 newsletter. As always, it
includes both company news and some tidbits about relevant industry happenings.
This month, Sam Benzacar's main thesis addresses the public nuisance that multirotor
'drones' have become in the hands of stupid and/or ignorant pilots. "Wireless: Behind
the Scenes at Super Bowl 50" is among other topics
Empower RF Systems today
announced a partnership with TEVET
to become a value added reseller of Empower's RF and microwave amplifier modules
and systems. TEVET is an established nationally recognized technology driven Service-Disabled
Veteran-Owned and HUBZone Small Business (SDVOSB) with exemplary performance servicing
the Aerospace, Defense and Energy markets. Empower's Next Generation rack-mount
amplifiers
 IMS ExpertServices periodically sends
me e-mails that highlight recent key court cases that can significantly affect the
effectiveness of expert testimony, both for the plaintiff and for the defendant.
This article by
Annie Dike, writing for IMS ExpertServices, cites a story by NPR
that claims merely conferring 'expert' status on someone is likely to cause him/her
to act in a more dogmatic, close-minded manner. Upon reading the NPR transcript
of the interview, my first reaction is that the researchers who arrived at the conclusion
undoubtedly have themselves been referred to as 'experts' in their field, thereby
virtually assuring, evidently, that their conclusions
...
Tech News for February 19, 2016
VHFer Claims "Mathematically Impossible" AO-7
Mode B Distance Record
Indian Government Threatens to Seize Vodafone Assets
Google's Balloon Internet Project Enters Next
Phase of Testing
Intelligent Robots Threaten Millions of Jobs
Japanese Team Might Have Route to Low-Power
Spintronics
Should Time Zones be Scrapped?
 "All of those important files you have can
now be stored for essentially forever. New developments in the technology of digitally
based
laser memory made by researchers at Southampton
University in the UK have enabled information to be stored for 14 billion years.
To put this into perspective, it is estimated that the universe it 12.5 billion
years old; the memory will last practically forever. Using a process similar
to laser engraving, seen
..."
 The embedded software engineer will be responsible
for developing embedded software for FreeWave wireless products. These responsibilities
will encompass all phases of the embedded software development lifecycle including
requirements analysis, architecture review, software design, software coding and
unit test, integration, and supporting system test. Duties will be focused on Layer
3 wireless data path design and implementation with typical work encompassing networking
applications, protocols, drivers, APIs, and management interfaces ...
 I spent a lot of time searching - to no avail
- on Google Images for a photo of "The Radio Beginner" photo mosaic that, per this article, used
to be on display in the RCA License Laboratory in New York. Author Washburne points
out that, as with all areas of pursuit, be they technical, artistic, or literary,
everyone is at some point a 'beginner.' Each progresses at a different pace, and
some not at all. It is hard to think of Thomas Edison, Guglielmo Marconi, Alexander
Graham Bell, or Lee de Forest as a beginner, but indeed they were early on ...
 Hams who are interested in 'fox hunting'
might also benefit from this
Mobile Interference Hunting System app
note PDF published by Anritsu (here is a short
video). It pitches their proprietary equipment,
but the method is applicable in general. Interference, whether it be illegal or
unintentional, is a significant problem. It can degrade network performance and
cause critical communications to be interrupted. Traditionally methods of locating
sources of interference is time-intensive. This application note uses various case
scenarios to illustrate how to
...
 We are looking for a Senior Level RF Design Engineer.
The ideal candidate will have experience designing and developing data radios from
concept through production-ready on multiple products using a mix of discrete RF
components and integrated circuits. The ideal candidate will also have a strong
understanding of radio system design and have a deep understanding of the tradeoffs
at both the design and system level to achieve a product that meets specifications.
Candidate will have proven design experience in: receivers, transmitters, synthesizers,
VCO's, lumped element filters, and power ...
 "Companies have been promising us futuristic,
paper-like displays since forever, but so far we remain unimpressed. The
ReFlex, a prototype flexible smartphone from Queens University
is tantalizingly close to what we've been waiting for, though. To build it, the
team mated a 720p flexible LG OLED display to bend sensors and haptic feedback motors.
Powering the device is an Android 4.4-powered board, complete with custom drivers
..."
Tech Headlines for February 18, 2016
Military Electronics Spending for Communications
and Intelligence Increased in 2017
TSMC Says Recovery from Taiwan Quake to Take Longer Than Expected
New Amateur Extra Question Pool Puts Greater
Emphasis on Digital, SDRs, Propagation
Should Computer Education Cover More Than
Just Coding?
Congress Wary of Chinese Deal for Chicago
Stock Exchange (what possible danger?)
Apple Ordered to Assist in Unlocking Terrorist iPhone
Pasternack has just released an improved version of their popular online tool
called The
Cable Creator™. This new iteration allows the user to not only design and customize
special cable configurations online in a few clicks, but also purchase their designs
without the need to wait for a quote from the company's sales team. With a modernized
look and feel, Pasternack's Cable Creator enables engineers and buyers to quickly
and easily create customized RF
 "The 2015
ARRL Antenna Book for Radio Communications
has everything you need to design your own complete antenna system. Since 1939,
it has maintained its place at the forefront of Amateur Radio technology a single
resource covering antenna theory, design and construction, and practical treatments
and projects. In this edition, The ARRL Antenna Book describes hundreds
of antenna designs: wire, vertical, portable and mobile, and new high-performance
VHF/UHF Yagi designs. Radio amateurs continue to make contributions to the state
of the art in antenna design and construction
..."
 Sending
telegraph messages, whether by wire or wireless means, has always
been expensive, particularly considering charges are determined by the character
(letter, number, symbol). Accordingly, the Shakespearean line from Hamlet declaring
that "brevity is the soul of wit" can be reworked to "brevity is the soul of economy."
A telegraph wire, unlike a telephone call, is a legally binding communiqué, as is
of course a written letter, but a telegram is immediate transmission of information
for time-critical messaging. A series of 'commercial codes' were developed enabling senders to save often
...
 "China will move nearly 10,000 people to make
way for the world's largest radio telescope which promises to help humanity search
for alien life, state media reported on Tuesday. The Five-hundred-metre Aperture
Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST), nestled between hills in the southwestern
province of Guizhou, is due to start operation this year. Provincial officials have
vowed to relocate 9,110 residents living within five kilometres of the listening
..."
Tech News for February 17, 2016
Android
Mazar Malware Wipes Phones via SMS
Graphene Leans on Glass to Advance Electronics
Radio for IoT Draws 1/10 the Power of Wi-Fi
Fairchild Rejects Chinese Takeover Bid
2015 Ig Nobel Prizes Announced
House Bill Would Stop States from Banning
Phone Encryption
offers a family of high isolation (47 dB) multi-throw switches for 0.7–3.0
GHz Rx switching. The
SKY13522-644LF,
SKY13523-639LF and
SKY13524-639LF are designed for switching single-ended Rx SAW filters in cellular
handsets. Consuming less than 10 µA of current, they are ideal for low power switching
in smartphone, data card, IoT, infrastructure and test and measurement applications
and may be used for switching filter banks in infrastructure Rx chains. The small
footprint devices are supplied in quad-flat no-lead (QFN) packages
 "Wide-band gap metal-oxide
thin-film transistors (TFTs) have
never been quite as popular as the ubiquitous metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect
transistors (MOSFET). One of the main issues with TFTs has been that they are limited
to n-type semiconductor materials that can only move negative charges through them,
limiting their electrical output. While different architectures have been investigated
to overcome this, the problem has remained that there
..."
How the Poles Cracked the Enigma Machine Before
Turing
 There is a constant deluge of news stories
reporting on how yet another firmly held historical belief has been shown to be
false. While a lot of it is obviously driven by someone's agenda - for whatever
reason - but there have been bona fide instances of either new discoveries or new
evidence of malfeasance on the part of historians. Here, representatives of the
Embassy of Poland are touring the world to tell people about their crucial contribution
to shortening WWII. They refute credit given to British mathematician Alan Turing,
claiming it was actually their work with
Enigma that
...
 Here is a story near and dear to my heart.
From 1978 through 1982, I trained for and worked on a ground-based, mobile air traffic
control radar system (AFSC 303x1). The AN/MPN-13 & 14 systems had both airport surveillance(ASR)
and precision approach (PAR) primary radars, identification friend or foe (IFF)
secondary radar, and UHF and VHF communications radios. The AN/MPN-13 was contained
in two trailers; air traffic controllers sat and worked within the operations ('ops')
trailer where the radar electronics were located. It was very a cramped environment,
particularly when maintenance was required. The AN/MPN-14 was basically an AN/MPN-13
with an additional separate, spacious, radar
...
 "A radical new weapon that can fire a shell
at seven times the speed of sound could be used by the Navy as soon as 2018. Described
as 'Star Wars technology' by researchers, the
rail gun can fire a shell weighing 10kg
at up to 5,400mph over 100 miles. It does this with such force and accuracy it penetrates
three concrete walls or six half-inch thick steel plates. Development of a futuristic
weapon is going well enough that a Navy admiral wants to skip
..."
Peregrine Semiconductor, founder of RF SOI and pioneer of advanced RF solutions,
announces the
UltraCMOS® PE4314, a 75 Ω glitch-less RF digital step attenuator
(DSA). This new DSA extends Peregrine's existing glitch-less DSA portfolio to 75 Ω.
The PE4314 is ideal for wired broadband applications in cable/satellite customer
premises equipment (CPE) and infrastructure equipment. The 75 Ω PE4314 joins
Peregrine's 50 Ω glitch-less DSAs
 "Learn with your head but also with your
hands" -
Nils F. Testor, founder of the Testor
Corporation, maker of the well-known Testors brand of adhesives and paints. Nils
Testor, an early 20th century immigrant from Sweden, is a classic American success
story. Having begun his management career at Woolworth as a stock boy (although
he had a college degree from Stockholm), his business acumen and love of the arts
- including airplane modeling - quickly propelled him into the position of entrepreneur
as owner and progenitor of the Testor
...
Tech Headlines for February 16, 2016
Russia is Widening the Gap in EW
1st InAs finFET Reported
Making Sense of Metallic Glass
iPhones Accounted for 40% of U.S. Smartphone Market in 2015
Hack Lets
Phones Eavesdrop and Make Premium Calls
Mark Zuckerberg Hired 16 Bodyguards to Protect
Him at Home (wonder if they carry guns?)
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