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3 of the March 2017
homepage archives.
Friday 31
 This story from the April 1938 issue of Radio-Craft
reports on a ground-breaking (at the time) new television system, written by none
other than the inventor himself - Allen B. Du Mont. Television in the
era was still largely in the experimental phase with various schemes for transmitting,
receiving, and displaying still vying for dominance as the national / international
standard. The now-familiar NTSC standard, which ultimately passed over the Du Mont
system, was adopted in 1941
NI AWR Design Environment will be showcased in the upcoming "Advanced Load Pull for Linear Power Amplifier Design" webinar
hosted by Microwave Journal on April 11, 2017. Presented by Andy Hughes, solutions
architect at AWR Group, NI, this webinar will highlight recently-added capabilities
within NI AWR software that deal with complex sets of load-pull data used for power
amplifier design. These new features support digitally-modulated communication measurements
such as adjacent channel power ratio (ACPR), error
 Fully updated, the second edition of ARRL's
Small Antennas for Small Spaces is a valuable resource for radio
amateurs who live in apartments, condominiums, or houses on small lots. Filled with
practical advice, this book guides you to finding the right antenna design to fit
whatever space you have available. In Small Antennas for Small Spaces you ll find
ideas and projects that will get you on the air regardless of where you live
 "All those tiny handheld devices we know and
love are pretty great. The problem is that the smaller they get, the harder it is
to keep all those components cool.
Overheating of batteries is a serious concern that's
led to numerous accidents and malfunctions. Scientists have been working on a way
to cool all these electronic components - and now they may have finally found one.
Researchers at Rutgers University have invented a way to keep electronics cool by
using graphene "
 RF Cafe visitor Tony C., who is an engineer
working for one of America's great, longtime manufacturers of green farm equipment,
sent me a link to this unique memory IC released by Signetics on April 1, 1973.
Being April 1, 2017, it seems to be an appropriate day to post the Signetics 25120
Fully Encoded, 9046 x N, Random access Write-Only Memory datasheet that per Wikipedia,
"...was created 'as a lark' by Signetics engineer John G 'Jack' Curtis and was inspired
by a fictitious and humorous vacuum tube datasheet from "
 "Dutch-Belgian R&D powerhouse Holst Centre
has presented a functional demonstrator for intuitive human-machine interfaces,
based on the
in-mold electronics (IME) technology developed there. The demonstrator,
a center console for vehicles, illustrates the potential for the IME technology
in automotive and consumer appliances - from shavers to cockpits, as Holst Centre
advertises. Developed by a group of industry players led by Holst Centre, the demonstrator
features "
Thursday 30
 "X-rays have been sensed with high resolution
using an
optical antenna on the end of an optical fibre - which could offer
another route to precision medical imaging. xray sensor Miguel Angel Suarez FEMTO-ST
Institute 'We want to develop this technology so that it could be used in radiotherapy,
for example,' said Thierry Grosjean of the FEMTO-ST Institute at France's National
Centre for Scientific Research. 'Specifically, the sensor could allow "
 This is not the first time I have learned
a new word when reading an episode of
Mac's Radio Service Shop. "Calumny," is the word-du-jour
for entry into my personal lexicon. It is not necessarily a technical word, but
definitely one I shall attempt to incorporate in future writings. Calumny is "a
misrepresentation intended to harm another's reputation" per Merriam-Webster. ...but
I digress. A customer and fishing buddy of Mac's, each of whom is a small business
owner, drops in at the repair shop to look for Christmas gifts for the family
 Thomas Okon has a very nice article on the
Electronic Design website detailing the development of the world's first
pocket electronic calculator - the
Cal-Tech, by Texas Instruments. Mr. Okon has photos and backstories
of the ICs leading to the Cal-Tech's incarnation,
 which is Part I. This thumbnail shows
the breadboard when designing the integrated circuit (Bob
Pease famously built similar breadboards for his IC design). Part II,
coming soon, promises to address the Cal-Tech calculator itself. Since Part I
does not include an image of the actual calculator, I found this
Cal-Tech on the Smithsonian Institution website
 "As the industry ramps up for 5G deployments,
there's a great deal of focus on technology features such as network slicing and
massive MIMO. These features have been proven to work in various
field tests, and the standards groups are starting to accelerate
the release of 5G NR specifications. We've recently released a forecast that calls
for more than a million 5G RRH units to be deployed over the next five years. So,
now we turn our attention to practical matters. Here's an example: How will a million
5G radios be tested in production? This is not "
 "For the last few decades, microchip manufacturers
have been on a quest to find ways to make the
patterns of wires and components in their microchips ever smaller,
in order to fit more of them onto a single chip and thus continue the relentless
progress toward faster and more powerful computers. That progress has become more
difficult recently, as manufacturing processes bump up against fundamental limits
involving, for example, the wavelengths of the light used to create the patterns "
Wednesday 29
Today the IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society (MTT-S) in partnership
with the IEEE Communications Society (ComSoc) is announcing their collaboration
on a special 5G Summit to be held June 5-6, 2017. The summit will feature industry
experts representing both the hardware/systems and networking/services aspects for
the upcoming 5G standard. "5G is a leading topic in the industry right now and co-locating
a summit with the world's largest RF & Microwave event is a great opportunity.
IMS brings thought leaders from industry, academia
 "The 5G race has been underway for a while,
but now Ericsson and SoftBank are stepping it up a notch with a
28 GHz trial in Tokyo that will involve indoor and outdoor environments
covering both device mobility and stationary tests. The two companies have already
completed basic 5G trials using 15 GHz and 4.5 GHz spectrum bands. The 4.5 GHz and
28 GHz bands are among the leading candidates for 5G services in Japan. The trial
will use Ericsson's mmWave 28 GHz 5G Test Bed solution, which includes base stations
and device "
 "One of the defining characteristics of the
next generation of mobile communications will be the use of a multitude of lower-power
antennas to maintain ubiquitous high-performance signal coverage. A team of researchers
at KAUST recently developed a signal optimization algorithm for future
networks that, for the first time, can deliver the full performance promised by
5G communications. According to the researchers, MIMO systems "
 What stood out to me when reading this article
on
walkie-talkies is a statement made near the end where the author
claims regarding loaded whip antennas, "Transmit losses are many times greater than
receiver losses." The last time I checked, passive antennas are reciprocal devices,
so gains or losses should be the same for transmit and receive. Methinks he either
didn't know that, or he meant something else. My main reason for posting the article
is because it pretty much completes the evolution cycle of walkie-talkies
 "A powerful laser shining up into space will
soon transmit data between the Earth and the International Space Station. NASA is
hoping to establish laser links at a rate of over one gigabit per second - a speed
most home broadband users could only dream of. This would pave the way for 3D video
from space and enable high definition remote robotic exploration of other moons
and planets. The Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) will "
 Anokiwave is a fast growing fabless semiconductor
company looking for an ambitious, conscientious, and thorough Senior Product Engineer
to join the Anokiwave team.
You will be responsible for coordinating with Engineering and Operations to productize
highly-integrated microwave and millimeter-wave RFICs in state of the art technologies.
Must have ability to manage and assist in product qualifications, perform material
management in relation to NPI, be able to liaison with Marketing to verify product
design is well suited ...
 "A thorough and fully annotated discussion
of Near Vertical Incidence Skywave (NVIS) is available in the research
paper, 'Radio Communication via Near Vertical Incidence Skywave Propagation: An
Overview,' by Ben A. Witvliet, PE5B/5R8DS, and Rosa Ma Alsina-Pagès. First investigated
in the 1920s, NVIS propagation was rediscovered during World War II as 'an essential
means to establish communications in large war zones such as the D-Day invasion
in Normandy,' the paper notes "
Tuesday 28
 "Nokia has made a jump-start on the low-band
600 MHz spectrum, through completing the first pre-standard
600 MHz LTE call using commercially-available hardware. The 600
MHz is an attractive one to the FCC and operators primarily because of the range
which it offers in terms of mobile broadband. When you look at the vast expanse
of the US and the number of rural communities which are currently being underserved
in an increasingly digital world, the band becomes even more attractive. The problem
arises in the fact this band is already being used by traditional broadcasters "
Fairview Microwave, a supplier of on-demand microwave and RF components, has
introduced a new series of 8-bit programmable phase shifters that are adjustable over a full
360° range. These three new models can produce a discrete set of phase states of
up to 256 total steps in 1.4° increments with superior accuracy and minimal phase
shift error. These digitally controlled analog phase shifters cover broadband microwave
and millimeter wave frequencies. They are ideal
 A major transition in the realm of test equipment
readouts from analog to digital was occurring during the 1970s. Prior to then, what
few digital displays existed used Nixie tubes, but the emergence of inexpensive
LEDs, combined with equally inexpensive digital logic ICs, made the change an easy
decision.
D'Arsonval meter movements are prone to damage when even slightly
overdriven or subject to physical impact. Analog meter movements still have their
place in a few
Notable Quote: "I link the abbreviation
LTE to the term Long Term Employment"
 RF Cafe visitor
Bob Davis in a recent e-mail alluded the quote, "LTE stands for
Long Term Employment," which I have heard before. Based on a not-too-extensive Internet
research, earliest published instance I can find is a December 2010 ECN
piece by
Mr. Andreas Roessler, of Rohde & Schwarz, where he states, "That's
the reason why I link the abbreviation LTE to the term Long Term Employment."
Triarchy's
VSG6G1 is a very cost effective USB vector signal generator. Its capabilities
are comparable to the basic functions of a regular full size RF vector signal generator.
VSG6G1 is miniature and portable equipment, but it has more features and functions
than full size analog RF signal generators, with frequency range up to 6.2 GHz,
frequency sweep, and frequency hopping using I&Q modulation with arbitrary signal
 "In testing earlier this month, the laser
- which has been developed for the U.S. Army - produced a single beam of
58 kW, representing a world record for a laser of this type.
Lockheed is now is preparing to ship the system the US Army Space and Missile Defense
Command / Army Forces Strategic Command in Huntsville, Alabama. The system is based
on combined fibre laser technology, meaning that it brings together individual lasers,
generated through fibre optics, to generate a single, intense laser beam "
Monday 27
 How long will it be before someone flies
an airplane through it? "The race to build the world's most spectacular skyscraper
has reached new heights - and taken a turn in direction. Designs for 'The Big Bend', a slender tower that would transform Manhattan's
skyline, have been unveiled. Described as the 'longest building in the world,' the
project's concept drawings reveal a skyscraper reaching an apex then curving back
down. And featuring an elevator system that can travel in curves, horizontally and
in loops "
 Premier Farnell today announces a new global distribution agreement
with EAM, a leading manufacturer of Precision RF & Microwave Interconnect Products.
Under their ConductRF Brand, the company offers, innovative & reliable performance
interconnect products operating from DC to 110 GHz. ConductRF's products are
recognized for their excellent performance and cost effectiveness by engineers &
technicians in numerous demanding industries including; Defense, Aerospace, Industrial,
Medical Infrastructure, Instrumentation
 This
Air-King Radio-Camera Model A410 might be the world's first production
camera-phone. I suppose the primary purpose for developing the unit was for wartime
field correspondents or forward reconnaissance. I found two examples on the Internet.
The one with the reddish-brown case is from the EarlyPhotography.org website; it
appears to be more for personal or commercial use. The on RadioMuseum.org is an
green color that would have been best for military use. A schematic is posted on
the RadioMuseum.org page
 "The
inner Van Allen belt has less radiation than previously believed,
according to a recent study. Observations from NASA's Van Allen probes show the
fastest, most energetic electrons in the inner radiation belt are actually much
rarer and harder to find than scientists expected. This is good news for spacecraft
that are orbiting in the region and can be damaged by high levels of radiation.
The inner Van Allen belt has less radiation than previously believed, according
to a recent study in the Journal of Geophysical Research. Observations from NASA's "
Anokiwave is a fast growing fabless semiconductor
company looking for an ambitious, conscientious, and thorough Staff RFIC Design
Engineer to join the Anokiwave
team. You will be responsible for designing highly-integrated microwave and millimeter-wave
RFICs in state of the art technologies. You will work with an incredible team of
IC design and test professionals developing state of the art products for 5G, SATCOM,
and A&D markets. You will learn circuit ...
 Anatech Electronics,
a manufacturer of RF and microwave filters, has published its February newsletter.
As always, it includes both company news and some tidbits about relevant industry
happenings. In it, Sam Benzacar discusses, among other topics,
spectrum sharing, including the ISM bands and a DARPA program
called Shared Spectrum Access for Radar and Communications (SSPARC) that has the
goal of developing more advanced sharing technology so that radars and military
and commercial communications systems can cooperate in near real time
Sunday 26
 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
(3/20 - 3/24) "High Tech News" column on the RF Cafe
homepage (see the Headline Archives page for help).
Enjoy!
Friday 24
 When I first as the title of this article,
I thought it was going to be a comical parody on how wives (YLs) of Ham radio operators
(OMs) viewed their husbands' hobby. It turned out to be a report on a nationwide
survey. Many of wives of Hams were themselves licensed operators which, at the time,
required Morse code proficiency in addition to radio theory and regulations. In
1966 the average cost of a Ham shack layout was about $1,000, which is equivalent
to $7,518 in 2017. As with most electronics
 Another chapter in American tradition has
come to an end. Sears Roebuck is likely going into bankruptcy and then disappear
- thanks to poor management. Fortunately, the
Craftsman tool line has been sold to Stanley Black & Decker,
so at least part of the legacy will live on. Most of
my tools are Craftsman - motivated mostly by tradition and a desire
to support American companies. Plans call for establishing new Craftsman manufacturing
facilities stateside. BTW, the Sears store here in Erie closed last November.
Boscov's, a Reading, PA-based department store chain
offers a wide selection of 2-way through 64-way
power divider/combiners, designed to cover 100 MHz to 20 GHz
with average power handling of 30 watts for narrow, octave, dual and multi-octave
band applications. Standard connector type: SMA female, other connectors available
upon request. VidaRF is a North Carolina based company that is focused on being
a solutions provider by building to customer specs and offering zero days lead time
for custom parts through
Electrocrystallization: Breakthrough
in Gold Nanoparticle Research
 "A research team as published a research
study that demonstrates how it is possible to obtain very high quality crystals
formed of
gold nanoparticles. The research on gold nanoparticles is a field
of both fundamental and applied importance" explains Academy Professor Kari Rissanen
of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Jyväskylä. X-ray crystallography
is the most powerful method for molecular-structure determination of these nanosystems,
but obtaining good quality single crystals suitable for accurate X-ray "
NI (formerly AWR Corporation) continues to proudly
sponsor this year's 2017 IEEE International Microwave Symposium (IMS) thirteenth
annual (HEPA-SDC). The competition encourages student teams from around the
world to design and construct a power amplifier (PA) and bring it to IMS in Honolulu,
Hawaii, where industry experts will evaluate the performance of all entered PAs
 In Millimeter Wave Wireless Communications, four of the field's pioneers,
including Theodore S. Rappaport, Robert W. Heath, Robert C. Daniels, and James N.
Murdock, draw on their vast experience to empower engineers at all levels to succeed
with mmWave. They deliver fundamental, end-to-end coverage of all aspects of future
mmWave wireless communications systems. The authors explain new multi-Gigabit per
second products and applications, mmWave signal propagation, analog and digital
circuit design, mmWave antenna designs
 "U.S.
military microelectronics experts are looking to GlobalFoundries
U.S. 2 LLC in Hopewell Junction, N.Y., to continue providing foundry and electronic
chip fabrication services for crucial U.S. military electronics systems. Officials
of the Defense Microelectronics Activity (DMEA) in McClellan, Calif., announced
a $99.8 million contract modification to GlobalFoundries on Friday for option year
one for access to leading edge, current, and legacy microelectronics and trusted
processes for the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) "
Thursday 23
Anokiwave is a fast growing fabless semiconductor
company looking for an ambitious, conscientious, and thorough Senior Test Engineer
to join the Anokiwave team in Billerica, MA. The ideal candidate should possess
a strong working knowledge of mmW measurements, calibration methodologies, semiconductor
probing, and python script language. You will play an instrumental role in the growth
and excellence of Anokiwave and our commitment to satisfying our customers. The
successful candidate should demonstrate proven ...
The
TTRM1004-D01 LDMOS amplifier operates at a frequency range of
2300 MHz to 2500 MHz and has a power output of 25 watts, while still
maintaining a compact form factor of 3.33 x 2.69 x 0.65 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 module is designed for
both military
 "According to a recent report by Yole Group
of Companies, the
RF front end modules and components market for cellphones is expected
to grow from $10.1B in 2016 to approximately US $ 22.7B by 2022. The investigative
report based on the front-end of the RF industry not only reports of a complex market
that will more than double in six years but also states the growth to be un-evenly
distributed and with something or the other for every market player. The group proposed
two reports "
 Is this an über-cool homebuilt
radio or what?
Proud Canadian and RF Cafe contributor
Dr. Marek Klemes wrote to me a couple weeks ago regarding
a quotation I had posted a while back. At the end of our communications, he casually
made a comment about needing to engage in an electronics project that would be free
of the rigors of his professional pursuits. Being a trained notable quote recognizer
myself, I instantly realized that his statement was itself worthy of being quoted
widely. He granted permission to post it here (with adornment
of
 "This tiny US flag - just a few nanometers
wide and invisible to the naked eye - is arguably the world's smallest image of
Old Glory, according to its creators at the University of Texas at Dallas. In an
experiment, the nanoflag pattern emerged unexpectedly as sheets of the 'stripe'
material -
molybdenum ditelluride - were heated to about 450 degrees Celsius,
at which point its atoms began to rearrange and form new structures - the 'stars'
in this false-color image. Each star consists of six central "
 everything RF has created the
largest database
of Bias Tees on the internet. We have listed products from 28 of the leading
manufacturers at the moment. We are currently working on adding more manufacturers.
Product data from each company has been standardized and listed in a single database
which can be searched by parameter. You can enter the frequency range of the Bias
Tee you need, the voltage it must withstand, the insertion loss, impedance and connector
type. Once you enter the required specification, everything RF scans the database
 "Has the
tech bubble peaked? Signs that the startup boom may be fizzling.
Startups are beginning to run out of money and investors are becoming more discerning.
How does this compare to the time leading up to the dotcom crash? If you were looking
for an apartment in the Bay Area 18 months ago, realtors recommended you took your
checkbook to viewings and were prepared to fork out for the deposit and first month's
rent – that's $8,000 to $10,000 for a two-bedroom place in San Francisco – on the
spot "
Wednesday 22
 3D Insider
is all about giving you the tools and information to create whatever your heart
desires with a 3D printer.
If you are looking to make a  full time career out of 3D printing or you are
just looking for a new hobby, 3D Insider has it all for you. 3D printing has been
growing at a tremendous pace and we love working in such a fast-paced industry.
3D Insider has been added to RF Cafe's 3D Printers and Fabrication resources page.
 A story in an electronics magazine on the
physics and biology of the human ear is as relevant today as it was in 1936 when
this appeared in Radio-Craft. Back then, creating sound in an efficient
and effective manner for consumer, commercial, and military purposes was a relatively
new science. Thomas Edison introduced his phonograph in 1877. While it did not feature
an electrically driven speaker, research determined the shape, size, and material
composition of the mechanism that converted minute vibrations
 "Who's the next Jon Rubinstein? For millennials
that name might not ring a bell. Rubinstein was the 'podfather': as head of hardware
engineering at Apple he launched and ran the project that became the iPod, the product
credited from turning Apple from a computer company into a consumer electronics
company.
Facebook, it seems, would very much like to make a similar leap
into consumer hardware. So they need lots of good engineers - including an EE 'podfather.'
Right "
 "Researchers at the University of Bath have
gained new insights into the mechanisms of the
Northern Lights, providing an opportunity to develop better satellite
technology that can nullify outages caused by the natural phenomenon. The research
team from the University of Bath's Department of Electronic & Electrical Engineering
in collaboration with the European Incoherent Scatter Scientific Association (EISCAT)
observed the Northern Lights in Tromsø "
 "Noting that today's additive manufacturing
and roll-to-roll processes for flexible electronics still lack the adequate materials
and level of precision to do without discrete
surface mount devices (SMD), researchers from the University of
Barcelona have investigated the possibility to replace the screen-printing of reflow
solder pastes, epoxies or other conductive adhesives with direct inkjet printing
of a silver-based ink. They describe their "
Planar Monolithic Industries (PMI) recently introduced two new products in their
extensive line of RF and microwave components. One is a
10-bit programmable, 30 dB PIN diode attenuator covering 26.5
to 40 GHz. The other is a suspended substrate bandpass filter that offers a
wide passband of 8 to 18 GHz. Contact PMI today for more information
 "Common sense might dictate that for an object
to move from one point to another, it must go through all the points on the path.
Not so for electrons in the
quantum world, which don't follow such common-sense rules for
the most part. 'Electrons can show up on the first floor, then the third floor,
without ever having been on the second floor,' Zhao said. 'In a sample made of three
atomic layers, electrons in the top layer move "
Tuesday 21
 Here for radio hobbyists are eleven handy-dandy
'kinks,' otherwise known as
tricks, shortcuts, or clever ideas, that could prove useful while
working in the lab at work or in your shop at home. Admittedly, most of these ideas
would not have much application with today's ready-made radios, antennas, power
supplies, etc., but there are still people who build custom equipment and/or repair
circuits. The most useful kink offered here that could come in handy for anybody
is to clip off part of
Pasternack has released the
PEM010, a complete millimeter wave transmitter module that is
ideal for use in the development of multi-gigabit, high-speed, point-to-point wireless
communication links. These communication links provide low-cost, gigabit wireless
throughput for a variety of applications involving telecommunications 'last kilometer'
distribution, telecommunications cellular backhaul, millimeter wave wireless gigabit
Ethernet data communications, building-to
 The vast majority of advice columns on job
searches recommend strategies to job seekers while participating in an interview;
however, "Choosing an Interview Style and Format," by Will Zimmerman of CareerCast,
covers the other side of the interview. His article discusses ways you as an interviewer
might consider to most effective tactic
-
How to Negotiate Salary in
Engineering Job Interviews
-
Key Phrases to Use When You
Talk to Your Boss
-
Choosing an Interview Style
and Format
 "The
Texas Symposium on Wireless and Microwave Circuits and Systems
conference committee invites paper submissions for the 2017 conference, to be held
on the beautiful campus of Baylor University in Waco, Texas, on March 30-31, 2017.
Authors from the industry and academia worldwide are invited to submit four-page
papers of their original and previously unpublished work. Paper submissions in all
areas of wireless and microwave circuits and systems are welcome. Topics of interest
include: • RF and microwave circuits and systems "
Since 2001,
Antenna Test Lab Co has evaluated countless antennas and RF transmitter
products. With a fully anechoic chamber, antennas can be quickly developed and RF
products refined and deployed. Mounting surfaces like drywall, glass, wood, and
even curved metal  simulated automobile available. The price for
a standard resolution
2D or 3D field pattern plot is only $450
- for a passive or radiating antenna. That is an incredible deal!
 "A tiny company based in Barcelona is promoting
a new technology that it hopes can revolutionize smartphone antennas - by removing
them altogether. The job of any smartphone antenna is to radiate a radiofrequency
signal generated by the phone's transmitter out to the nearest cellular base station
or Wi-Fi router. Now,
Fractus Antennas wants to replace that antenna with a much smaller
component called an antenna booster—a tiny lightweight cube "
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