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3 of the March 2017
homepage archives.
Monday 20
 "It's our 40th anniversary! Taking place
March 27-31, 2017 in Las Vegas,
IWCE 2017 is a venue where people can make the human connections
they need to be successful, whether it is connecting to a future client, boss, employee
or business partner. It is also where people can connect to information about a
technology, product or policy that is crucial to success. See innovation at its
best and join us for the premier event for communications technology "
 API Technologies has published a white paper
titled
An Introduction to Electromagnetic Compatibility. "By definition,
Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) describes the ability of a system, a piece of
equipment, or some other electrical device that utilizes electromagnetic energy,
to operate in its intended environment without suffering an unacceptable degradation
in its performance, or negatively impacting the ability of another device to perform
its intended function. This paper is "
Harris Space & Intelligence Systems is looking
for an Engineering Specialist at its Palm Bay, Florida location to provide technical
support to the RF & Microwave Engineering Department and support department
labs. Projects/tasks will vary depending on program requirements. Job duties will
require skilled workmanship, integration, testing, and ability to follow verbal
and written instructions. Complexity of tasks will increase with time in position ...
 AM radio station WISE, in Asheville, North
Carolina, today is an ESPN sports broadcasting entity, but until 2004 it was a Top
40 type music format. It gained notoriety in World War II for being the first
commercial broadcast station whose
entire staff of radio engineers was comprised of women. As reported
in a 1945 issue of Radio Craft of chief engineer Madeline Halleuth, "...she speaks
the language of crystal-controlled frequencies, water-cooled transmitting tubes,
condensers, coils, and carries her position with the ease of a veteran radio technician."
While America's
 "Two-way communication requires, of course,
both send and receive capabilities. But putting them in the same device requires
a filter between the send and receive circuits to provide signal isolation. Without
a high performance filter, communication would be impossible. Researchers in Cornell
University's Molnar lab have devised a method for both transmitting and receiving
a radio signal using a single chip
without the use of a filter. This technology could potentially
change the way wireless "
A new application example describes the steps used to design a microwave
using ideal transmission lines, microstrip implementation, physical design, and
circuit compaction. The entire project is done in
NI AWR
Design Environment, specifically Microwave Office circuit design software, from
schematic entry to physical printed circuit board (PCB) implementation, ACE™ automatic
circuit extraction
 "Sweden's telecoms regulator PTS in February
rejected the idea of an entry-level Amateur Radio license. According to
Sweden's International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) member society
SSA, the PTS 'categorically rejected' the proposal, and that SSA must now find new
ways to motivate prospective radio amateurs. 'Amateur Radio's future in Sweden is
an urgent issue that will be discussed during the upcoming annual meeting on Faro,'
SSA said. The SSA estimates that fewer than 100 new licensees are joining the Amateur
Radio ranks in Sweden each year "
Sunday 19
 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. Clues in this puzzle with an asterisk
(*) are pulled from this past week's (3/13 - 3/17) "High Tech News"
column on the RF Cafe homepage (see the Headline Archives
page for help)
Friday 17
Pioneering microwave engineering company
Flann Microwave has celebrated 60 years of success by looking
to the future with an investment in a new coordinate measuring machine (CMM) to
further enhance the precision manufacturing and testing of its market leading waveguide
and calibration technology. With a 60-strong team based in Bodmin, Cornwall, UK,
Flann has grown over six decades to secure a global reputation for innovation and
the production of precision microwave and millimeter
 "Zander Dejah, 25, pays
$1,900 a month rent to live in a downtown San Francisco house
with at least 40 other people, many of whom sleep in bunk beds. Dejah is a resident
of The Negev, a communal living space that styles itself as a home for millennial
tech workers to brainstorm ideas, write code and create apps, even if they have
to share toilets and bathrooms with dozens of others. Houses like The Negev, located
in a neighborhood known as "SoMa" or South of Market, have cropped up around San
Francisco as an influx "
 This is the third and final installment of
Hy Levy's series on attenuators, line filters, and matching transformers. Audio
and low IF frequencies are used in the examples, but the formulas and principles
can be extended to higher frequencies.
Bifilar windings are covered as a method of minimizing self-inductance
in wire-wound resistors. Although inductance is not desired in resistors, bifilar
windings can also be connected to have current in both wires flowing in the same
 United Technologies now has openings for two
RF Test Engineers. The RF Test Engineer is responsible for all aspects of the test
process, including first pass yield, data generation and reporting, and issue identification
/ resolution. The candidate must have the ability to plan and execute projects to
completion on time at required performance levels, including complete and accurate
documentation. The role requires a clear understanding of statistical methods/tool
utilization for optimization of test platforms. Understanding, applying, and ...
Join this highly focused one-day seminar sponsored by Rohde & Schwarz and
learn how to uncover, characterize, and solve the most elusive EMI problems. Lee
Hill explains troubleshooting and localizing intermittent signals or multiple layers
of broadband and narrowband signals can be frustrating even for the most seasoned
EMC troubleshooter and RF engineer. We will discuss and demonstrate
a number of test setups that can help the root causes of EMC test failures and then
demonstrate
 "Everyone's always asking me when Apple will
come out with a cell phone. My answer is, 'Probably never.'" -
David Pogue, The New York Times, 2006 (now a
Scientific American columnist). The first generation
iPhone was released on June 29, 2007. Mr. Pogue explains, "Yeah, Okay.
I'll admit it. My prediction was wrong - but my thinking was right. I knew that
Steve Jobs would never tolerate the micromanagement that the carriers
 "Dr. Christopher Lutz of IBM Research with
IBM Research's Nobel-prize winning microscope he used to store data on a
single-atom magnet. An international team of researchers have
produced the world's smallest magnet and demonstrated that it's possible to use
that magnet—an individual atom—to store a single bit of data. Until this latest
research, led by teams at IBM Research Almaden and École Polytechnique Fédérale
de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland, molecules were the smallest-ever data storage "
Thursday 16
Radiocrafts
AS, a leading provider of RF modules, today presents a cloud connection solution
for Internet of Things (IoT) applications, connecting low power radio sensor networks
to cloud services. The
FX30 expansion boards from Radiocrafts makes up a complete gateway
together with the 3G/4G LTE modem from Sierra Wireless. By using the Radiocrafts
expansion board for the FX30 and implementing network nodes based on the Radiocrafts
RF modules, a complete IoT sensor
 "As
consumers become more interested in monitoring health, or tracking fitness training,
or connecting to the internet of things (IoT), the demand for smart wearables will
continue to grow. Currently wrist worn devices seem to be the most popular form
factor for these solutions. However way to collect all this real-time data would
be
Smart Clothing. This does not require you to wear an additional
device and is more natural, as the sensors and required circuits are built in to
something that you "
 In that these
comics from Radio-Craft magazine have an electronics
theme, you can claim looking at them is work-related. You might consider using one
of them for your next conference or project status presentation. There is a list
of many more similar comics at the bottom of the page in case you haven't seen them
yet. I missed the comic on page 32 on the first posting of this page, but it's at
the top now. Enjoy
Anatech Electronics offers the industry's largest portfolio of
high-performance standard and customized RF and microwave filters and filter-related
products for military, commercial, aerospace and defense, and industrial applications
up to 40 GHz. Anatech has introduced a new 1 MHz lowpass filter with SMA
connectors, a surface mount 890-915 MHz / 935-960 MHz SAW filter, and
30 dB fixed attenuator with SMA connectors. Custom designs are available
Harris Space & Intelligence Systems is looking
for an RF Electrical Engineer at its Palm Bay, Florida location to design and development
of RF circuits, modules, and system architectures as part of a multi-discipline
design team. Duties includes design, specifications, and test of frequency converters,
LO generation circuits, low noise and power amplifiers, antenna and ADC & DAC
interfaces, filters, module and hybrid layout and construction, engineering proof-of-concept
testing, transition ...
The third IEEE MTT-S 2017 International Conference
on Microwaves for Intelligent Mobility (ICMIM2017) will
be held on 19-21 March, 2017 in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan. This conference covers a broad
range of topics that enable intelligent mobile systems through RF / microwave /
millimeterwave components, circuits and systems. Potential applications include
cognitive and autonomous automobiles and robots, wireless communications between
 GlassDoor published its list of 25 top paying
jobs in the USA. Not surprisingly, doctors are at the top of the list with a median
base salary of $187,876.
Patent attorneys rank #3 at $139,272! Most of the other top paying
jobs are related to software and network engineering - mainly managers. At #22 is
a
Scrum Master, and of course everyone knows what that is
Wednesday 15
 "The Wi-Fi icon - a dot with radio waves radiating
outward - glows on nearly every internet-connected device, from the iPhone to thermostats
to TVs. But it's starting to fade from the limelight. With every major U.S. wireless
carrier now offering
unlimited data plans, consumers don't need to log on to a Wi-Fi
network to avoid costly overage charges anymore. That's a critical change that threatens
to render Wi-Fi obsolete. And with new competitive technologies crowding in, the
future looks even dimmer "
The
TTRM1185 LDMOS amplifier operates at a frequency range of 1400
MHz to 1800 MHz and has a power output of 100 Watts, while still maintaining a compact
form factor of 5.38 x 4.39 x 1.31 inches. This unit also features internal protection
against over/under voltage and excessive temperature conditions, which coupled with
its rugged construction, ensure fault-free operation in even the most extreme environments.
This class AB LDMOS
This latest collection of
RF and
microwave articles from our industry's magazine publishers with a mix of topics.
Among them is Jack Browne's 2-part series on FM modulation and demodulation and
Mark Blackwood on waveguide plumbing. Items move onto and off of all homepages quickly,
so even
•
High Speed RF Sampling ADC
Boosts BW, DR, Lou Frenzel
•
Managing Modulation and
Demodulation, by Jack Browne
•
GaN, GaAs, and LDMOS: A Secure
Place for All, by Tim Galla <more>
 National Company, a major manufacturer of
radio components, ran a very long series of advertisements in QST magazine
that were in a format more reminiscent of a short essay than a company promotion.
This installment for the May 1939 edition was number 63. Subjects ran the gamut
from technical innovations from the company's research and development laboratory
to social and political issues relevant to electronics technicians, hobbyists, students,
and engineers. Here, company president James Millen explains the research and motivation
for developing a new
inductor switching arrangement
 Delve deeper into antenna theory. Radio amateurs
are familiar with antennas and use them every day to communicate on the air. We
learned some basic antenna theory while studying for license exams, and most of
us have built an antenna or two. We know the basics and turn to the ARRL Handbook,
ARRL Antenna Book, and other general texts when thinking about our next antenna
project.
Antenna Physics: An Introduction is written to bridge the gap
between basic theory and graduate-level
, manufacturer of antennas and RF antenna modules for M2M and the Internet of
Things, has developed a brand new antenna for the new
Narrow Band IoT (NB-IoT) standard which was ratified last summer,
and will show this antenna at Embedded World in Nuremberg in March. The antenna
is small, measuring just 20 x 11 x 1.6 mm, and is built to a novel design which
allows it to perform well within a device, whilst being easy to integrate onto a
small PCB. This is a chip antenna in the company's lamiiANT antenna family
 "Eutelsat Communications announced Tuesday at the Satellite 2017
Convention in Washington D.C. the conclusion of a contract with Blue Origin for
a launch on the New Glenn rocket that is expected to initiate flights in 2020. The
new partnership with Blue Origin reflects Eutelsat's longstanding strategy to source
launch services from multiple agencies in order to secure access to space and partner
with launch agencies that combine the highest levels of performance, flexibility
and "
Tuesday 14
 "Scientists have perfected a technique based
on the usage of graphene, that allows for
terahertz waves to be controlled accurately, paving the way for
numerous applications. THz waves allow for the detection of materials that are undetectable
at other frequencies. However, the use of these waves is severely limited by the
absence of suitable devices and materials allowing to control them. Researchers
have developed a technique based on the use of graphene, which allows for the potentially
very quick control "
ConductRF announces the availability of RG & LMR flexible,
Hand-formable, and Flexible performance
RF coaxial
cable solutions that offer extra shielding, low loss and higher performance.
Please contact ConductRF support engineers for your custom applications and
special requirements
Narda Safety Test Solutions has released efficient external RF filters for its
IDA 2 handheld signal analyzer. These optional help users
to in particular avoid out of band overmodulation without reducing the necessary
measurement sensitivity when making measurements with the IDA 2 in highly dynamic
measurement environments. These overmodulation effects can occur when very weak
RF signals need to be measured in the presence of much stronger signals. This is
because high measurement sensitivity is needed for precise measurement of the relevant
low strength signal. This can lead to
 Not ten minutes before, a cloud of swirling
snowflakes had been brushing against the front window of
Mac's Radio Service Shop, but now the bright sun had suddenly
popped through an opening in the ragged, wind-torn clouds and was melting the skift
of snow that had scarcely had time to settle on the sidewalk. "Sure is a funny day,"
mused Barney, the apprentice technician. "Acts as though it can't decide whether
to go forward into spring or backward into winter." "That's March for you," Mac
grunted
Guerrilla
RF, a leading provider of high performance RF and microwave integrated circuits
(ICs) for wireless applications, today announces the closing of a round with
participation from multiple angel investors. The $2.8M funding is composed of a
combination of equity and debt. Guerrilla RF expects to employ 20 total associates
by year-end. The company will be expanding their current facility, in order to accommodate
this projected growth. "Coming out of an exciting year "
 "IEEE, has announced an upcoming
IEEE
5G Summit to be held from 17-18 March 2017 in Kolkata, India. Through IEEE 5G
Summits and other activities, the IEEE 5G Initiative is working to connect the unconnected
and drive innovation through next-generation wireless network technology that is
expected to significantly increase data speeds, produce ultra-low latency times,
support the connection of many more devices, and increase energy efficiency of network
elements. The IEEE 5G Summit at Kolkata, India "
Monday 13
 "Three world records in the 'Swiss Silicon
Valley.' Swatch Group is proud to introduce a new
Bluetooth chip with exceptional features unrivaled by any existing
product. The new integrated circuit, designed 100% by EM Microelectronic, Swatch
Group R&D and the Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology (CSEM), has
already set the following records: It is – first and foremost – the smallest Bluetooth
chip on the market. The ultra-miniaturization of electronic components is crucial "
 Audiophiles of the 1950s undoubtedly were
impressed by the mention of a Rek-o-kut twin turntable with Pickering arms and pickups
for playing records, let alone a twin Ampex tape system used both for recording
and reproducing. That was awe-inducing stuff for the day, especially when applied
to a
planetarium show with visual and sound effects realistic enough
to , "make adult members of the audience duck under their seats." We don't scare
so easily these days. Here is the story of New York City's famous Hayden Planetarium
 "Engineers at the University of Manchester
are leading a European effort to develop
remote-sensing satellites that could fly in far lower orbits than
any existing technology. Such spacecraft could provide better resolution images
and would be easier to bring back down to Earth at the end of their lives, thereby
reducing the chances of them contributing to the growing problem of space debris.
Widely used for environmental and defence applications, remote sensing "
 everything RF posted extended coverage of
announcement made at the
2017 Mobile World Congress. Please see their website for complete
information: Event Overview -- "The GSMA Mobile World Congress is the place where
mobile leaders to gather, collaborate and conduct business. The annual event provides
one of the best venues for mobile industry networking, new business opportunities
and deal-making. Mobile World Congress includes a world-class conference featuring
visionary keynotes "
 RF Cafe visitor Denny C. wrote with
news about International Crystal
Manufacturing (ICM), founded in 1955, having the following posted on their homepage:
"We are writing to inform you that [ICM] is unfortunately going out of business...
We are looking at the end of May... We would like to thank you for your past business...
We have tried hard to make each one of our customers happy..." Also: "ICM is a proud
supplier to Radio Shack [which is filing for
bankruptcy]."
 "Researchers at Harris Corp. are focusing
on advanced technologies for electronic warfare (EW), optical warfare, and cyber
warfare - better-known as
spectrum warfare - to find ways of integrating these technologies
rapidly into U.S. military weapon systems. Officials of the U.S. Air Force Research
Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, have announced a $24.9 million
contract to the Harris Corp. "
Sunday 12
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. Clues in this puzzle with an asterisk
(*) are pulled from this past week's (3/6 - 3/10) "High Tech News"
column on the RF Cafe homepage. Enjoy
Saelig Company is pleased to introduce the
Cambrionix ThunderSync16, which provides 16 x USB2.0 ports and
a Thunderbolt host connection, capable of transfer speeds of up to 20Gbits/s to
allow large data transfer in the shortest possible time. For data syncing requirements,
the data transfer speed offered by Thunderbolt delivers a greatly increased data
transfer rate between a host Thunderbolt connection and 16 attached devices than
a USB2.0 connection. The ThunderSync 16
Friday 10
 John Frye, as it turns out, was way ahead
of his time. Many of the somewhat zany electronics devices his fictitious teenage
experimenters cum hobbyists cum scientists cum Ham radio operators cum amateur sleuths
Carl and Jerry came up with have turned out to be products available
and popular in today's consumer marketplace. This episode can be regarded as an
early developmental version of a wearable calorie burner facilitation device. Jerry's
"Blubber Burner" sports an un-politically-correct name and uses
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