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Click here for Page 2
of the March 2016 homepage archives.
and End of Life Component Supplier
 Force Technologies,
located in Marlborough, UK, has been added to the
Obsolete
Components page on RF Cafe. They are a is a continued manufacturing source for
discontinued or obsolete semiconductors, such as memories, microprocessors, linear,
logic, opto and discrete, devices in order to support many legacy products in all
industries. Manufacturing / re-creation solutions are both in accordance with Mil-Std
883 and AS9100 compliant, delivering quality replacements to plastic, & hermetic
parts for DMS (diminished
manufacturing sources) and EOL (end of life) products.
+44(0)1264-731200
Routine Visitors on Amateur HF Bands
 "The International Amateur Radio Union Region
1 (Europe/Africa) Monitoring System (IARUMS) reports a spate of
over the horizon (OTH) radar signals on
various Amateur Radio HF bands - exclusive and shared. Many of these signals are
being heard outside of the Region 1 confines. A 50 kHz wide Russian OTH radar has
been heard in the evening on 80 meters, often in the CW part of the band. An 'often
long-lasting' Russian OTH signal about 13 kHz wide is being heard on the 7000-7100
kHz segment of 40 meters, while some digital traffic
..."
to Sneak Attack?
 Submarines first proved their deadly capabilities
during World War II when Adolph Hitler's navy used them to torpedo not just
military ships but merchant ships in commercial trade routes between the Americas
and Europe. Hideki Tojo's navy used subs to conduct surveillance prior to the deadly
surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. Their naturally stealthy environment - underwater
- proved to be a difficult realm both for detection and for attack. Fortunately,
sensor technology developed quickly during the war, and soon a combination of air
and sea based methods were in use and proved very effective. Submariners no longer
sailed in relative security from being treated to a violent, icy burial at sea
...
Opportunities in EMI Shielding Industry
Orbel Corporation is a designer
and manufacturer of custom EMI/RFI shielding, photo-etched precision metal parts
and stamping. Advancements in Wi-Fi, GPS, 3G, RFID, Bluetooth, and complex cell
phone and tablets are creating both challenges and new opportunities within the
the EMI shielding industry. EMI
is generated almost anywhere on earth, and the amount of electronics requiring protection
from it is only going to continue to grow. According to recent BCC Research estimates,
the global EMI shielding market is expected to reach $6.6B by 2019
Semiconductors Overestimated
 "U.S. researchers are questioning the claims
made for
carrier mobility in some organic semiconductors.
The team, from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Wake
Forest University and Penn State University, see errors up to 10x. The problem is
the use of silicon transistor models. Typically, said NIST, measurements are analyzed
as though they were of silicon field-effect transistors – where drain
..."
Notable Tech Quote: Quasianonymous
 "I do like to say that I'm proud to be a twentieth
century, 20 WPM Extra and not a
10-4 good buddy,
Roger
Dodger licensee." - Quasianonymous* (actually not Anonymous to me, but the originator
prefers to remain anonymous to everyone else). For a sufficient sum of untraceable
currency, I shall disclose the name of this wit (just kidding...
$orta). There is a well-established rift, sometimes serious and sometimes
not, between pre-required-Morse-code and post-required-Morse-code Hams.
Morse code requirements for all levels
of Amateur radio licenses was dropped by the ITU in 2003, and by the FCC in 2007.
*Bonus factoid: Quasimodo
...
Forum (KEF) Sessions Available
You can now watch the DesignCon 2016 Keysight Education Forum (KEF) sessions
from the convenience of your desk. Get complimentary access to the materials that
made KEF a huge success with more than 600 attendees this year. View the video footage
and presentation slides from all 8
Keysight Education Forum (KEF) workshops: Mastering Measurement
Requirements for 16 GBit/s Devices, Identify and Remove Crosstalk from your High-Speed
Signals, Signal Integrity Tips and Techniques Using TDR, VNA and Modeling,
Updates on Measurement Solutions for PAM-4 Signaling, and more
...
Structure Can Influence Your Business
 A while back, I asked the folks at
IMS ExpertServices
whether they had in their archives any papers regarding typical fees charged by
expert witnesses based on experience, success rate, professional bona fides, type
of legal case, etc. They responded saying that in fact there was a series of white
papers being prepared intended to educate both current and prospective experts on
requirements and expectation for their service, as well as what range
 of fees can be charged. The first two papers
have been published as of this writing. A brief synopsis of each is presented below.
It is worth remembering when considering getting involved in the expert testimony
world that
...
 RF Cafe visitor Paul D. (M0XPD)
sent me a link to his brief article that aptly illustrates how
a Pickett N-515-T slide rule and a beer bottle can be used to
help a student understand resonance in LC tank circuits. It has to do with the oft-used
mechanical phenomenon dual of an electrical apparatus - like a wire is a water hose,
voltage is the pressure, etc. The
Picket N-515-T is a custom slide rule marketed by the Cleveland
Institute of Electronics to be used with their series of self-study electronics
courses that had their heyday in the 1960s and 1970s.
Engineering Book!
 Each
month I select someone to receive a
free book from
those graciously provided by top-tier publishers like Artech House and Cambridge
University Press. How to enter? Send me an e-mail with
"<Month> Book Drawing" in the subject line, and some note in the body
(empty e-mails go to spam folder). At least one winner
is drawn each month. Beginning with March 2016, the winner will need to pay the
shipping cost (typically <$5 in the U.S.). I have
never passed contact information of any sort to anyone for any reason
...
Crossword Puzzle
 For the sake of avid cruciverbalists amongst
us, each week I create a new crossword puzzle that has a theme related to engineering,
mathematics, chemistry, physics, and other technical words. You will never be asked
the name of a movie star unless he/she was involved in a technical endeavor (e.g., Hedy Lamar). Clues in this week's puzzle with an
asterisk (*) are directly from this week's "High Tech News" column on the RF Cafe homepage
(see the Headline Archives page if necessary)
...
COTS Products into Weapons
 "The good news is that some of today's most
advanced technologies are cheap and easy to find, both online and on the shelves
of major chain stores. That's also the bad news, according to DARPA. The defense
agency is nervous that criminals and terrorists will turn off-the-shelf products
into tools and devices to harm citizens or disrupt American military operations.
On Friday, DARPA announced a new project called 'Improv' that invites technologists
to propose designs for military applications or weaponry built exclusively from
commercial software, open source code, and readily available materials. The program's
goal is to demonstrate how easy it is to transform
..."
Differential/2-Channel Signal Amplifier
Saelig Company announces availability of the
Tabor Model 9260 - a bench-top dual-channel DC-coupled wideband
amplifier, designed for high-frequency and high-current signal amplification. With
a wide bandwidth of 45 MHz, and delivering 34 Vpk-pk output into 50 ohms with up
to 10 W output power, the 9260 is an ideal complimentary amplifier to any signal
source that needs a supporting power boost for demanding applications. With a peak
output current of 1A, the 9260 enables a continuous power output of up to 10W, making
it ideal for a range of pulse applications. The 9260 can be configured to be used
Tube Radio Service Sheets
 Here are the
Majestic Chassis Models 380 A.C. T.R.F., and 400 A.C.-D.C. Superheterodyne
and
Delco 32-Volt Radio Receiver Chassis Radio Service Data Sheets
as featured in a 1933 edition of
Radio-Craft magazine. As mentioned many times in the past,
I post these online for the benefit of hobbyists looking for information to assist
in repairing or restoring vintage communication equipment. Even with the availability
of SAMS Photofacts, there are some models that cannot be found anywhere other than
in these vintage magazines
...
Market with Small, Flexible Antennas
Antenova M2M, manufacturer of antennas and RF antenna modules for M2M, is targeting
the fast increasing 3G mobile device market with two new for 3G and MIMO.
Both antennas operate at GSM850, GSM900, DCS1800, PCS1900 and WCDMA2100 and will
provide full coverage of the 3G bands in all world regions. The two new FPC antennas
are designed to be mounted inside a small mobile or wearable device, and are supplied
with a cable and a connector so that they are very easy to
Quantum Light
 "A new
ultra-bright source of single photons -- 15x brighter than commonly
used sources and emitting photons that are 99.5% indistinguishable from one another
-- has been developed by researchers from the CNRS, Université Paris Diderot, and
Université Paris-Sud. This feat was achieved thanks to the nanometrically-precise
positioning of a quantum dot within an optical microcavity. Adding an electrical
control to the device helped
..."
Remote Control and Colored Snow
 Any story with 'remote control' in its title
piques my interest, so of course this installment of "Mac's Radio Service Shop" met the criterion. Unlike in this story
where the remote turned out to be wired, it it the wireless type - like those used
to guide radio controlled model airplanes, boats, cars, and helicopter - that really
grab my attention. Along with discussing the newfangled (in
1954) Regency television remote control for changing channels, fine tuning
the frequency, and adjusting volume, shop owner Mac McGregor discusses how atmospheric
conditions affect radio signal strength. In discussing the advent of color TVs,
the question
...
as an RF Cafe Supporter!
 In business since 2003, Bittele Electronics
has established itself as a Turn-Key PCB assembly services provider for prototype and low volume electronic
contract manufacturing. Their head office in Toronto, Canada, and sales office in
San Jose, CA, supports production facilities in China, providing customers low-cost,
quick-turn, One-stop PCB assembly services:
PCB fabrication,
Parts Procurement
and PCB Assembly.
Bittele's customers are primarily in the U.S. and Canada in a wide variety of industries.
Please visit Bittele Electronics
today to see how they might help your project succeed.
All Working Now!
 As you know, anything on the Internet is
considered 'old' after just a couple years. Many hyperlinks are broken either from
websites moving files around (a la IEEE and most trade magazines)
or from the entire
 website disappearing. Videos are particularly
hard to keep track of. Over the last day or so I have gone through all of my "Videos
for Engineers" links and verified, corrected, or deleted as needed to assure
everything is working. It was a real pain, but worth it. One of my
 all-time favorites
is the
German Coast Guard trainee. There are scores of tech-related videos
on 25 pages. Enjoy!
in Tech Salaries
 "Even though cash is a bigger motivator for
men than for women, they're getting equal pay for equal positions, education, and
experience says tech job search firm Dice.
No salary gap exists between women and
men in tech, says job search firm Dice, looking at its annual survey of 16,000 tech
professionals, as long as you are comparing people with equal experience, education,
and job titles. That, of course, is a big if. And previous data from Dice found
about a $10k pay gap between men and women if not controlled
..."
 I
saw this 'Tread Bracelet' featured in the December
2015 issue of Popular Science magazine - kinda cool. According to the story,
"After Leatherman's president, Ben Rivera, got stopped at security at Disneyland
for carrying a multitool, he decided to create one that you'd never need to leave
at home - or even in a toolbox. Tread's wearable design features 29 handy tools,
such as Allen wrenches, screwdrivers, and a bottle opener.'" It's a bit pricey at
$165, but hey, you can't take it with you ;-)
...
Enhancing RF Power Capability
 "Skyworks Solutions, Inc., an innovator
of high performance analog semiconductors connecting people, places and things,
launched SkyBlue™, a new and revolutionary enabling technology that enhances
both the power capability and efficiency in LTE amplifiers and front-end solutions.
Designs utilizing SkyBlue™ technology not only deliver twice the power of envelope
and average power tracking systems available on the market today, but across much
broader power ranges. These efficiencies can be more than 15-20% in medium to high
power ranges ..."
 Both my father and grandfather were
stamp collectors - philatelists is the technical word - who dabbled
in a recreational way with commemoratives from foreign countries. Nearly all were
canceled (used) stamps that today, as back in their
day, have no real value other than to someone interested in history. Of course none
are the rare types. I now possess many of those stamps in an album that was painstakingly
hand-illustrated and assembled to arrange each stamp according to its country and
issue date. At one time I, too, dabbled in the hobby, having collected many plate
blocks and special issue U.S. stamps in the 1970s and 1980s, along with purchasing
a few designs of special purpose such as those with aerospace and communications
themes
...
by Trapping Radar Waves
 "A flexible, stretchable and tunable 'meta-skin' that uses rows of small, liquid-metal
devices to cloak an object from the sharp eyes of radar has been developed by Iowa
State University engineers. The metamaterial can be tuned to reduce the reflection
of a wide range of radar frequencies by controlling the stretching and flexing of
the polymer meta-skin. 'It is believed that the present meta-skin technology will
find many applications in electromagnetic
..."
EM Fields in Freely Definable Bands
has a new selective Area Monitor on the market:
AMS-8061. This autonomous measuring station
monitors electromagnetic fields from 100 kHz to 6 GHz in up to 20 freely definable
frequency bands. This allows the field exposure levels due to e.g. GSM, UMTS, and
LTE as well as DAB and DVB-T to be recorded separately. The measurement conforms
to ITU-T Recommendation K.83 "Monitoring of electromagnetic field levels." The new
type AMS-8061 Area Monitor operates independently. Its solar cells
 Maybe you are one of the more than 11 million
people who have already viewed this incredible "Marble Machine"
video, by Swedish musician Martin Molin. Molin designed and built his wooden music
machine using aircraft plywood, ball bearings, Lego blocks, pressure transducers,
plastic tubing, lengths of wire, springs, and a host of other off-the-shelf components,
none of which appear to have required custom metal machining. The huge wooden gears
were designed on his computer, ut out on a band saw, and assembled with glue and
screws. 2,000 metal marbles are the lifeblood of the instrument which, by function,
must be classified as percussion. Even the integrated base guitar is
...
Everything and Still Win Big
 How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win
Big: Kind of the Story of My Life. Scott Adams has likely failed at more things
than anyone you've ever met, including his corporate career, his inventions, his
investments, and two restaurants. So how did he go from hapless office worker to
the creator of Dilbert, one of the world's most famous syndicated comic strips,
in just a few years? In this funny yet serious book full of personal stories, Adams
shares the strategies he has used to invite failure in, embrace it, then pick its
pocket. Among his contrarian lessons: • Goals are for losers. Systems are for winners.
• A combination of mediocre skills
...
in New Materials
 "Nanotechnologists at the UT research institute
MESA+ are now able to create materials in which they can influence
and precisely control the orientation of the magnetism at will. An interlayer just
0.4 nanometers thick is the key to this success. The materials present a range of
interesting possibilities, such as a new way of creating computer memory as well
as spintronics applications – a new form of electronics that works on the basis
of magnetism instead of electricity. The research was published today in the leading
scientific journal Nature Materials
..."
 The June 1949 issue of Radio & Television
News had four
television-themed comics. Television at that time was a relatively
new home appliance, so there was a huge amount of interest in the technology. It
hadn't really been all that long since the public got used to hearing sound (i.e.,
'talkies') in the movie theater, so the mystique that surrounded television made
it the subject of a lot of puns and jokes. 1949 was a mere four years after the
end of World War II, and the post-war economic boom was primed by a surplus
of left-over electronic components along with lots of available talent both in the
areas of design and assembly
...
to Launch High-Power Laser
 "Researchers have demonstrated, for the first
time, that laser light can be used to manipulate a glass optical fiber tapered to
a sharp point smaller than a speck of dust, in the middle of an optical fiber with
a hollow core. Amazingly, optical forces cause the sharp point, or "nanospike," to self-align at the center
of the hollow core, trapping it more and more strongly at the core center as the
laser power increases. "Launching very high power laser light into an optical
..."
 "This isn't impedance matching as much as
it is 'impedance hiding'." -
Ward Silver (N0AX), in the March 2016
issue of Nuts &
Volts magazine. The statement is in reference to using resistive impedance
matching rather than reactive matching. Ideal inductors and capacitors have only
an imaginary reactive impedance and therefore dissipate no power, whereas ideal
resistors have only a resistive impedance and do dissipate power. Although
in the real word Rs, Ls, and Cs all have both resistive and reactive (R±jX)
parts, the most lossless impedance match if both the source and load are purely
...
If Phones Cannot Be Decrypted
 "French politicians have voted in favour of
a law which would
penalise smartphone manufacturers who
do not cooperate with terrorism inquiries. The government is currently passing new
laws to deal with the recent rise in terrorist attacks in the country, but had opposed
the amendment, which had been tabled by opposition politicians. The bill is needed
so that the country can drop the state of emergency which came into effect following
the Paris attacks last November
..."
 "The 400 youngsters attending a suburban Washington,
DC, parochial school are eagerly awaiting the day the CubeSat they constructed will
be deployed from the International Space Station. The little
STMSat-1 spacecraft —
an educational project of pupils attending St. Thomas More Cathedral School in Arlington, Virginia — is equipped
with a slow-scan TV (SSTV) payload that will transmit on 70 centimeters (437.800
MHz). The school won a NASA competition
..."
 Although obviously
(but getting less so) before my time, the mention of this airborne radar
surveillance system having been built by
General Electric, in Utica, New York, struck a chord since that
is where I had my first engineering job after having graduated from the University
of Vermont with a BSEE degree. It seems to me the work at the time was all done
in the converted textile complex on Broad Street. They were the glory days of GE,
Westinghouse, Collins, Raytheon, and other electronics titans whose engineers, technicians,
assemblers, and program managers
...
Tech News for March 7, 2016
Taiwan Passes South Korea in IC Wafer Fab
Capacity
The FCC is About to Ruin AM Radio
Wearable Caffeinated Bracelet Keeps You Energized
All Day Long (I'll stick with the liquid form)
242,000 Jobs Added in February: 304,000 Were
Part-Time (net loss of full-time)
for Hidden Devices
 "Harmonic radars have long held the promise of detecting devices
at higher frequencies, although designing such systems involves tight control of
internally generated harmonic and spurious signals. To aid in the detection of small,
hidden electronic devices, researchers at the Sensor and Antenna Systems Group at
the Informatics and Information Security Research Center
..."
Engineering Book!
Each
month I select someone to receive a
free book from
those graciously provided by top-tier publishers like Artech House and Cambridge
University Press. How to enter? Send me an e-mail with
"<Month> Book Drawing" in the subject line, and some note in the body
(empty e-mails go to spam folder). At least one winner
is drawn each month. Beginning with March 2016, the winner will need to pay the
shipping cost (typically <$5 in the U.S.). I have
never passed contact information of any sort to anyone for any reason
...
 For the sake of avid
cruciverbalists amongst us, each week I create a new crossword
puzzle that has a theme related to engineering, mathematics, chemistry, physics,
and other technical words. 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!
Tech Headlines for March 6, 2016
India's Telcos Challenge Call Drop Compensation in Supreme Court
Warwick University Receives £4.8M ($6.7M)
to Support 66 PhDs
Man Finds Cache of Century-Old Baseball Cards
in Paper Bag
 "Cracks can be found in 'working' ceramic
capacitors, using an electrical tone-burst delivered to the terminals, claims the
NIST. The impulse sets up acoustic vibrations (~1 MHz), which can be analyzed
electrically at the terminals. Phase shifts versus vibration magnitude are greater
when cracks are present. 'Industrial screening, such as automated visual inspection,
X-rays and acoustic microscopy, may not find subsurface cracks, especially near
corners under
..."
 It has been quite a while since posting a
Carl & Jerry adventure tale. The teenage-neighbors-cum-Ham-radio-operators-cum-electronics-hobbyists-cum-amateur-detectives-cum-pranksters
are the creation of John T. Frye. He published a monthly episode in Popular
Electronics magazine. Mr. Frye is also the author of the
Mac's Radio Service Shop series of instructional stories
that ran in Radio & Television News magazine. This adventure is quite
a digression from the typical storyline in that the boys actually engage in a bit
of deceit in order to save face based on a bet
...
 "Optical warfare at sea is getting more
dangerous and deadly with a U.S. Navy contract to Lockheed Martin Corp. Wednesday
to help surface warships defend themselves from maritime weapons that home-in on
their targets using lasers and other kinds of electro-optical sensors. The contract
calls for electro-optical surface ship defense experts at Lockheed Martin to enhance
surface warship multi-band defenses against concentrated enemy
..."
 In Spaceport America, New Mexico: "According
to an FCC document unearthed by Brian Benchoff, the internet giant applied
for an experimental radio license to be built in the New Mexico desert. Much of
the report is redacted. It will work in ranges typically utilized for communications
devices (2.5 GHz and 5.8 GHz), but includes higher millimeter bands. As Benchoff
points out, there's a transmitter in the 70-80 GHz band. That band
isn't regulated much by the FCC, and is
typically used
..."
 Radio Shack, like so many of America's original
great companies, was born and lived long and prospered during its glory days, then
eventually waned into insignificance and obsolescence within the last decade or
so. It is not always simply an unwillingness to adapt to new technologies and methods
that dooms them. The forces behind those life cycles are often beyond their control
because start-ups vying for market share do not carry the burden of and have to
deal with established investments in people, facilities, and infrastructure
...
 "Which country produces the
largest number of engineering graduates
per year? The United States? No. Japan? No. These two countries might be the obvious
choices but it looks like neither one of them made the top of the list. According
to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, the country that produces the highest
number of engineering graduates per year is Russia, followed by the
United States and Iran. According to their report, Russia produces
..."
Tech News for March 4, 2016
Explosive Start Not Needed for Fast Radio Bursts
Study Links Mobile Device Addiction to Depression and Anxiety
Chip Makers Need New Business Models
Big in Japan! Geomagnetic Indoor Positioning
BAE to Demonstrate Next-Gen EW Detection for
the Navy
1,000-Pixel Headlights Could Offer Improved
Vision at Night
NI will sponsor a Microwave Journal hosted webinar entitled "Doherty at Eighty," presented by power amplifier design expert
Dr. Steve Cripps. The Doherty power amplifier (DPA) was originally introduced back
in 1936 and continues to evolve, benefitting from the increasing intrusion of digital
controls into the synthesis of complex digitally-modulated communications signals.
Wednesday, March 9, 2016 8 11 AM ET
 New word alert: 'din,' as in "It was dinned
into me." OK, maybe you already knew that, but surely I should have been aware of
its alternate meaning other than being a loud noise ("the agitated cat made quite
a din."). Fortunately, I am not subject to a household of people who refuse to put
things back in their respective places when through with them, but this tale of
woe tells what might be a familiar scenario to you. To be honest, this could have
been written about me as a boy - before the U.S. Air Force taught me a thing or
two about organization and neatness
...
RFMW announces design and sales support for two Skyworks, Inc. high power, PIN
diodes suitable for T/R and attenuator applications. The
SMP1331-085LF (shunt connected) and
SMP1331-087LF (series connected) diodes are capable of handling
50 W CW power in a shunt connected switch configuration. Large signal attenuator
applications ranging from 10 MHz to beyond 6 GHz are also possible. Typical
resistance for the
SMP1331-085LF and
SMP1331-087LF is 0.50 Ω at
100 mA
 "Electrons can extend our view of microscopic
objects well beyond what's possible with visible light--all the way to the atomic
scale. A popular method in
electron microscopy for looking at tough,
resilient materials in atomic detail is called STEM, or scanning transmission electron
microscopy, but the highly-focused beam of electrons used in STEM can also easily
destroy delicate samples. This is why using electrons to image biological or other
organic compounds, such as chemical
..."
 Here is a good
quiz that tests your knowledge of classifications of science fields.
It appeared in a 1949 edition of The Saturday Evening Post magazine. Even
if you do not particularly know the relationships, you should be able to get most
if not all twelve correct with a combination of surety, recognition of word roots,
and a process of elimination. Good luck
...
 IEEE Young Professionals editor-in-chief
Eddie Custovic recently published on the
IMPACT
Blog an interview with
3D Smith Chart
  inventor Mr. Andrei Muller. A European
trademark was recently registered for the 3D Smith Chart logo. You can check out
this unique tool on the 3dsmithcart.com
website.
 Since
1961, MECA Electronics has designed
and manufactured an extensive line of RF / Microwave components with industry leading performance including
Attenuators, Directional & Hybrid Couplers, Isolators / Circulators, Power Dividers
/ Combiners, RF Loads, DC Blocks, Bias  Tees and Adapters & Cables. MECA has long
been the 'backbone' of high performance wired and air-interfaced networks such as
in-building, satellite, radar, radio, telemetry, mobile radio, aviation & air
traffic communications.
The End of the Smartphone?
(it's been a long time since I last read a Robert Lucky piece)
USB-C Power Cords May Be Hazardous to Your
Device
First Mobile Trader Sentenced Following Commission's Mobile Trader
Report
13
Women Who Changed Science
McDonald's Turns Happy Meal Boxes into Virtual
Reality Viewers
Eerie Math Could Predict Terrorist Attacks
(a job for Charlie Epps in
NUMB3RS)
 Is
the
BOMARC an airplane or a rocket? If it
is an airplane, then it is the pilotless type (aka 'drone').
If it is a rocket, then it is the ultimate in controlled trajectory hardware - at
least in its day. The DoD referred to it as a surface-to-air guided missile. The
name is a combination of 'BOeing Airplane Company' and
'Michigan Aeronautical
Research Center.' Clever, non? If
memory serves me correctly (it's been 30+ years),
the AN/TPX-42
IFF (Identification Friend or Foe) secondary radar
system I maintained as an air traffic control radar technician reserved a special
'X' bit in its data
...
 This is interesting. The title for the
General Motors S1B radio says it is a 25-cycle model, as compared
to the S1A, 60-cycle model. According to an
IEEE Xplore paper, "At 8:53 PM on 12 October 2006, a 66-kV circuit
breaker tripped and locked out at the Harper Substation in Niagara Falls, New York,
due to downed transmission conductors near Buffalo, New York. That event marked
the end of over 111 years of 25-Hz alternating current (ac) electric power service
on the American side of the Niagara Frontier." 25 Hz was considered a good,
low frequency for
...
Featured Book: Make Your Own Tube
Testers and Electron Tube Equipment
 "Make Your Own Tube Testers and Electron Tube
Equipment," by Gary Steinbaugh, PE, AF8L, shows audio connoisseurs and amateur
radio enthusiasts how to construct and use their own vacuum tube testers. In addition,
it describes how to make electron tube equipment, how to design high voltage supplies,
how to work with metal, plastic, and glass, and more. The reader can make a shiny
new tube tester that produces laboratory-quality results for a fraction of the price
of a worn-out vintage tube tester. Gary kindly sent me a copy - very nice!
 "Yesterday, the Army awarded three companies
a $12.7B, 10-year contract for over 60,000
manpack radios.. But execs at General
Dynamics, Harris, and Rockwell Collins shouldn't pop champagne corks yet. The Army
has radically changed how it buys radios in recent years so that what the 'winning'
companies have actually won, in essence, is the right to compete for the right to
compete — with the possibility of more competitors coming in in the future. Normally,
the award of a full-rate
..."
 Congrats to February 2016
RF Cafe Book Drawing winner Lowell H., of Tucson, Arizona!
Lowell wisely selected
Filter Synthesis Using, Genesys S/Filter,
by Randall Rhea. If you would like to have a chance at winning a free book, read
the no-hassle rules here.
 TradePub has an impressive collection of engineering magazines
offering FREE subscriptions
to qualifying applicants. You might want to take a
couple minutes to see what's available there. BTW, there are many other types of
magazines available as well, such as for business, finance, education, sales, industry,
automotive, manufacturing, and marketing. I earn a few pennies when you sign up
...
Tech Headlines for March 2, 2016
New Tracking Antenna to Communicate with Rockets &
Satellites
A Major Flaw in AM Revitalization?
Plans for Europe's Biggest Onshore Wind Project
To Get Wind Power You Need Oil
Is Your
Smartphone Listening to You?
Armed Forces Day 2016 Communication Test to
Include Direct Military-Ham Contact on 60 Meters
 "STMicroelectronics is now supplying its
latest long-range (77 GHz) radar chips to leading automotive customers. 24 GHz systems
have spearheaded the introduction of on-board automotive radar by enabling affordable,
short- and mid-range smart-driving features such as blind-spot detection, collision
avoidance, and lane-departure warning. ST has delivered over 35 million 24 GHz
radar transceiver ICs to date, and continues to build its customer base
..."
 "Amateur Radio is alive and well! Growth in the US continued in
2015, with a record 735,405 licensees in the FCC's Universal Licensing System (ULS)
database by the end of the year. That's up 9130 over December 2014, a 1.2 percent
rise, continuing a steady increase in the Amateur Radio population in every year
since 2007. In 2014, the Amateur Radio ranks grew by a net 8149 licensees. The
figures, compiled
..."
This is pretty amazing - I just entered. "Mark your calendars: March 1, 2016,
starts the first annual Keysight
Technologies Scope Month! We're giving away more than $500,000 in oscilloscopes—one every day and two on Fridays. During Scope
Month, look for: helpful measurement tips; new content on oscilloscopes; access
to industry experts; and your chance to win a scope." They even have a 'live' broadcast
of the drawing on ...
 Fortunately, there is a constant flow of
people newly interested in electronics who are seeking information on basic principles.
Some will find an article this one on
Ohm's law fundamentals and decide maybe being just a user of electronics
is good enough. Others will, as did you and I, read this kind of material and be
amazed at how ultimately predictable electrical circuit parameters are. If he or
she continues and launches into a career in electronics or electrical engineering,
it won't be long before he or she will, as do you and I
...
Notable Tech Quote: Ron Wayne Who?
 "I honestly don't regret walking away at all."
-
Ronald (Ron) Wayne, the 'other' Apple
Computer founder of whom you've never heard. He sold his 10% stake in Apple to Steve
Jobs and Steve Wozniak ('the Woz') for $800 in 1976. It would be worth tens of billions
today. Does Mr. Wayne really expect us believe he doesn't regret walking away from
all that dough? Somehow a lifetime designing slot machines doesn't seem like a suitable
substitute. He gambled and lost - big time
...
Each
month I select someone to receive a
free book from
those graciously provided by top-tier publishers like Artech House and Cambridge
University Press. How to enter? Send me an e-mail with
"<Month> Book Drawing" in the subject line, and some note in the body
(empty e-mails go to spam folder). At least one winner
is drawn each month. Beginning with March 2016, the winner will need to pay the
shipping cost (typically <$5 in the U.S.). I have
never passed contact information of any sort to anyone for any reason
...
Tech News for March 1, 2016
How We Got Here: Advice from Women Engineers
Raspberry
Pi 3 Adds Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
Stuff Keeps Getting Cheaper
(interesting charts)
Anadigics Chooses II-VI's Final Matching Bid
over Chinese Firm's Offer
4 Ways Engineering Resources Have Changed
China's New Radar Installation Raises Stakes
in Pacific
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