See Page 1 |
2 |
3 |
4 | of the February 2020 homepage
archives.
 For a few years, each month's edition
of Radio-Electronics magazine included a column titled "The
Radio Month," which was a collection of a dozen or so relevant news items. The
March 1953 issue reported on transistorized hearing aids (those old vacuum tube
types didn't fit in your ear very well), how the number of TV sets in the U.S. had
out-paced the number of telephones thanks to new UHF channels, the continued rapid
expansion of television in Europe, and the upcoming 1953 I.R.E. Show (Institute
of Radio Engineers) in New York City. Of particular note was the new germanium ore
source discovered in Kentucky - not the first place I think of with a semiconductor
mother lode. At the time, germanium (Ge) was still the primary element used in transistors
and diodes, although silicon was making rapid inroads. The story was germanium sold
for $350 per pound in pure metallic form...
 "Fundamental
science effort to explore if disturbances on earth can be sensed throughout the
atmosphere. Sensors are usually thought of in terms of physical devices that receive
and respond to electromagnetic signals - from everyday sensors in our smartphones
and connected home appliances to more advanced sensors in buildings, cars, airplanes
and spacecraft. No physical sensor or aggregation of electronic sensors, however,
can continuously and globally detect disturbances that take place on or above the
earth's surface. But the physical
atmosphere
itself may offer such a sensing capability, if it can be understood and tapped
into. To that end, DARPA recently announced its Atmosphere as a Sensor (AtmoSense)
program, whose goal is to understand the fundamentals of energy propagation from
the ground..."
 RF Cafe visitor Kevin A., of Roanoke,
VA, sent me this article from the September 1972 edition of the American Radio Relay
League's QST magazine. He was motivated to send it after reading some of
the articles I posted from WWII era QSTs. We can all probably relate a
story similar to the one told here. How many "Old Al" types - the
antithesis
of an "Elmer" - are out there who knowingly or unknowingly frustrate others
from participating in an otherwise fun activity because he insists on beating up
on a trivial topic ad nauseam? You can feel the angst in the author's voice while
reading. Ray, are you out there? Is this story real or fictitious? It could easily
be either...
"Copper-Mountain-Technologies-RF-Fundamentals-Website-2-28-2020.htm" target="_top">
 Copper Mountain Technologies (CMT) created an
"Copper-Mountain-Technologies-RF-Fundamentals-Website-2-28-2020.htm" target="_top">
RF Fundamentals resource website with content for beginner engineers or people
without an RF Engineering background. CMT has generated a large number of videos
and application notes and consolidated them on a dedicated website. The Vector Network
Analyzer (VNA) Basics area includes topics like "What is a Smith Chart?," "Getting
Started with a VNA: Top 10 Tips and Tricks," and "What are S-Parameters?" App Notes
features titles like "Why USB Vector Network Analyzers?," "What Makes a Good VNA?,"
and "Calibration Types and Considerations for VNAs." Making Measurements offers
"Time Domain Analysis with a VNA," "Fixture Removal from VNA Measurements," and
more. The new RF Fundaments website will grow over time...
 RF Cafe typically receives 8,000-15,000
website visits each weekday and about half that on weekends.
RF Cafe is a favorite of engineers, technicians, hobbyists, and students all
over the world. With more than 8,000 pages in the Google search index,
RF Cafe returns
in favorable positions on many types of key searches, both for text and images.
New content is added on a daily basis, which keeps the major search engines interested
enough to spider it multiple times each day. Items added on the homepage often can
be found in a Google search within a few hours of being posted. I also re-broadcast
homepage items on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. If you need your company news
to be seen, RF Cafe is the place to be.
Advertising begins at $45/month.
 There has always been something nifty keen
about colorized gradient maps be they thermal, electric or magnetic field, mechanical
stress, etc. Bill Schweber has a good article on the EDN website entitled, "Forced Air Cooling vs. Wind Chill: Same Principle, Different Reality."
He begins, "Forced-air convection cooling via fans is a widely used approach for
keeping the temperature of electronics below some threshold value. It's more aggressive
than 'natural' convection cooling and ensures that air flows across the electronics
and heat is removed (ensuring that the heat has a place called 'away' to go to
[excellent line! -KRB], that's another story and challenge). While engineers
might prefer natural, unforced convection cooling to avoid the perceived negatives
of fans (cost, noise, reliability, space, to cite a few), the reality is that the
available airflow mass and rate in many unforced cases is either inadequate or unreliable,
so fans must be used. The obvious question is, 'How much airflow do I need?,' followed
quickly..."
Electro-Photonics is a global supplier of
RF &
Microwave components. Their products include SMT hybrid and directional couplers,
wire bondable passive components, mounting tabs, filters, transmission lines, and
very useful test boards for evaluating components (spiral inductors, single-layer
capacitors). The Electro-Photonics team can support your small R&D design requirements
with RF & Microwave test fixtures and save you valuable design and characterization
time. Please take a moment to visit Electro-Photonics' website and see how your
project might benefit.
 After discussing the virtue of not letting
someone else's opinion on the likely cause of a problem direct your own actions
when troubleshooting, service shop proprietor Mac McGregor asks Barney about issues
he has run into related to the area's having recently had television channel 13
broadcasting added to the area. When he mentions the trouble cause by homeowners
leaving excess lengths of twin-lead 300 Ω lead-in wire coiled up behind the TV set,
it brought to mind my own mentioning a couple days ago that very scenario in comments
made on the "A Two-Band Piece of Wire" article. You and I would be tempted to criticize
people for making such an "obvious" mistake, but most people then - and now - have
no knowledge of the particulars of routing such cable. A switchover to coaxial cable
with the advent of cable TV removed most of the need for being concerned over installation,
other than assuring tight connects, proper terminations, and keeping cable length
as short as possible to minimize signal loss. Other than that, properly shielded...
"Fairview-Microwave-Class-AB-High-Power-Amplifiers-Optional-Heatsinks-2-27-2020.htm"
target="_top">
 Fairview Microwave, an Infinite Electronics
brand and a leading provider of on-demand RF, microwave and millimeter wave components,
has released a new series of "Fairview-Microwave-Class-AB-High-Power-Amplifiers-Optional-Heatsinks-2-27-2020.htm"
target="_top"> Class AB broadband high power amplifier modules that incorporate
GaN, LDMOS or VDMOS semiconductor technology. Fairview's comprehensive new line
of class AB broadband high power amplifiers consists of 18 new models spanning frequency
bands from 20 MHz to 18 GHz. These designs are unconditionally stable
and operate in a 50 ohm environment. They offer power gain up to 53 dB
and saturated output power levels from 10 watts to 200 watts. This line
includes 2 new heatsink modules with DC controlled cooling fans specifically designed
for the 18 new models to ensure optimum baseplate temperature for highly reliable
performance..."
 It's not often that you will see a full-page
ad promoting a particular element in the periodic table, but in 1950 that wasn't
the case. This advertisement for
Anaconda Copper Mining Company which appeared in a 1950 issue
of The Saturday Evening Post magazine extolled the virtues of element number 29
- copper (Cu , from the Latin "cuprum"). Aluminum and iron were other popular topics
of advertising. If you do a search on the history of Anaconda, which is today owned
by the Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO), what dominates is the harm done to workers
and to the environment. The short video below is one of the less vicious reports
on the company's operations in Butte, Montana and in Chile. COPPER... Time's Friendly
Enemy Time and copper get along well together - because of one simple reason: Copper
chooses to ignore time completely. For nature has given copper the great quality
of almost eternal youth - the ability to resist the slow but steady ravages of the
elements, for centuries if need be...
 "The future of space exploration might be
through
tiny satellites that can fit in the palm of your hand. Space exploration
has infatuated generations for decades now. What started as a race to master human
achievement between superpowers has evolved into a human endeavor concerned with
the future of humanity. For what is essentially the entire history of human space
exploration, the process has necessitated one thing: money. The economics of space
When the shuttle program was in full force between running launches between 1981
and 2011, the average cost of sending one pound of material into space ran about
$10,000 by conservative estimates, according to Business Insider. Ever since, the
space race has largely turned private, and with this shift, competition is driving
that cost per pound down..."
"Skyworks-High-Power%20FEM-Wi-Fi-6-2-26-2020.htm" target="_top">
 Skyworks is pleased to introduce SKY85333-11
(2.4 GHz) and SKY85747-11 (5 GHz) – two new "Skyworks-High-Power%20FEM-Wi-Fi-6-2-26-2020.htm"
target="_top"> front-end modules (FEMs) in our portfolio of solutions designed for
high-power Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) applications and systems. These highly integrated
FEMs incorporate switching, low-noise amplifier (LNA) with bypass and power amplifier
(PA) for devices such as networking and WLAN-enabled wireless video streaming systems.
Both devices feature very low EVM floor with 1024 QAM signal which improves throughput
and meets requirements for MU-MIMO operation. The modules offer extremely high linear
output power – up to regulation limits for improving coverage range. The SKY85333-11
and SKY85747-11 are available now in a compact LGA (24-pin, 3 x 5 mm) package and
support leading reference designs...
 Mr. Bob Zollo, Solution Architect at Keysight
Technologies, posted an article on the Electronic Design website titled "Demystifying Electronic Calibration," which, among other things,
reminds readers that modern high power voltage and current sources are capable of
being re-calibrated in-situ without the need to remove test equipment from the setup
in order to access potentiometer. It's all done electronically nowadays. Calibration
tables are generated and stored internally in nonvolatile RAM. Ambient temperature
variations and response to various level of load can be compensated in many cases...
MPDevice (MPD) has become a trustworthy and reliable company in the global RF
market as a manufacturer of passive RF Devices. Included are attenuators and terminations,
coaxial connectors, adapters, and cable assemblies, DC blocks, surge arrestors,
power combiner / dividers, and directional couplers. The Korean Telecommunication
market is now entering into the era of hyperconnected society. With continuous enhancement
in R&D capabilities and quality control, MPD will continue in an effort to become
the No. 1 technologically innovative company with a focus on the emerging 5G
marketplace.
 This is another of the articles written
about
Lee de Forest that appeared in the January 1947 issue of
Radio-Craft magazine, in celebration of the 40-year anniversary since the
industry-changing Audio vacuum tube was invented. Author George H. Clark, a member
of the first "radio-man" to be graduated from the Massachusetts of Technology (MIT),
was, in addition to working for Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company, RCA, and the
Telegraph and Telephone Company, the U.S. Navy's "Sub-inspector of Wireless Telegraph
Stations." He dealt extensively with de Forest regarding installation and operation
of radio systems both on ships and on shore. Interestingly, he mentions that the
first Audions were used as detectors more so than as signal amplifiers, which in
fact was de Forest's original goal (a more sensitive detector) in his experimentation...
 ThinkRF Corporation, the leader in software-defined
spectrum analysis, today announced a fully integrated wireless network testing system
with CelPlan Technologies, Inc. The solution allows RF engineers to conduct drive
tests and evaluate network performance, map coverage, or identify issues with "ThinkRF-RF-Spectrum-Analyzers-CelPlan-Software-2-25-2020.htm"
target="_top"> Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS), a new network standard which
leverages the previously underutilized 3.5 GHz spectrum range for shared public
use in commercial wireless services. With the high-performance ThinkRF Spectrum
Analyzer as the scanning receiver and leading drive test software from CelPlan,
the solution offers the highest frequency range in the smallest form factor, with
100 MHz real-time bandwidth...
 A
dispute about the relative quality of vacuum tube versus solid state electric guitar
amplifiers has been ongoing since the dawn of transistors. Tube amp loyalists claim
that a vibrato-like quality is imparted to audio by the microscopic mechanical vibrations
in the metal components that make up the cathode, screen grid, and plate elements.
An RF Cafe visitor sent me a hyperlink to a piece titled "Best Tube Amps
for Electric Guitar," on the Beginner Guitar HQ website with a rather extensive
treatise on the subject. It of course favors the vacuum tube amplifier for the reason
stated. Here is a report on
blind and double-blind tests that have been conducted in an attempt
to scientifically determine a result. The jury is still out on this one...
 Here is an interesting article on the EDN website
by Bill Schweber entitled, "Minimizing Power-Supply Voltage Drop on PCBs." He discusses the
importance of managing PCB trace resistance to facilitate the high-current, low-voltage
typical of today's layouts. "Despite the widespread availability and use of low-power
components, today's printed circuit boards (PCBs) can require a significant amount
of current, with boards drawing 50, 100, and even 200 A in common use. Whenever
current is delivered to a load, there will be IR-based voltage drop, and designers
must take this loss into account when laying out the board and placing the supply,
dc supply rails, and loads..."
 Exodus Advanced Communications is a multinational
RF communication equipment and engineering service company serving both commercial
and government entities and their affiliates worldwide. Power amplifiers ranging
from 10 kHz to 51 GHz with various output power levels and noise figure
ranges, we fully support custom designs and manufacturing requirements for both
small and large volume levels. decades of combined experience in the RF field for
numerous applications including military jamming, communications, radar, EMI/EMC
and various commercial projects with all designing and manufacturing of our HPA,
MPA, and LNA products in-house.
 Here is a handy-dandy baker's dozen of "kinks,"
otherwise known as
tricks of the trade, shortcuts, or clever ideas, that could prove
useful while working in the lab at work or in your shop at home. They appeared in
a 1935 issue of Hugo Gernsback's Short Wave Craft magazine. One suggestion
is to place a sheet of tracing paper over your schematic while wiring a circuit
and draw each connection as it is completed, rather than mark up the original drawing.
That was definitely good for a time when making a spare copy of a magazine page
or assembly instruction from a kit was not as simple a matter as it is today. Whether
it be a schematic or a set of plans for a model airplane, I always make a copy to
work and draw notes on rather than defacing the original...
 "Scientists at the Tokyo Institute of Technology
and Socionext have designed the world's smallest
all-digital phase-locked loop (PLL). PLLs are critical clocking
circuits in virtually all digital applications, and reducing their size and improving
their performance is a necessary step to enabling the development of next-generation
technologies. New or improved technologies, such as artificial intelligence, 5G
cellular communications, and the Internet-of-Things, are expected to bring revolutionary
changes in society. But for that to happen, high-performance system-on-a-chip (SoC)
devices are indispensable. A core building block of SoC devices is the phase-locked
loop (PLL), a circuit that synchronizes with the frequency of a reference oscillation
and outputs a signal with the same or higher frequency..."
 The ARRL RFI Book 3rd Edition, written by
Mike Gruber (W1RM), will help you to find and resolve interference. This book covers
the causes and cures of many interference problems that you may experience. Everything
from automotive to television, from computers to DVD players, and audio equipment
to telephones can create a problem. The ARRL RFI Book offers a convenient, step-by-step
process to eliminate problematic radio frequency interference. As technology increases,
the likelihood of interference increases, too. Be ready to battle the noise with
The RFI Book 3rd Edition from The American Radio Relay League.
 Stan
Goldberg is a familiar name to comic book aficionados for his artistry in Spider
Man, the Incredible Hulk, and the Archie series. QST magazine had him listed
in the "Silent Keys" column in the November 2014 issue because he passed away in
August. A Silent Key, in Hamdom, is usually a title reserved for a deceased licensed
operator (the 'key' reference being a Morse code key), but a search of the Internet
and the FCC license database web page did not turn up a call sign for him. Unless
his record has been dropped from the database, Mr. Goldberg might never have actually
been a Ham, but earned the Silent Key acknowledgement because of his involvement
in a 1986 special edition comic book titled "Archie's Ham
Radio Adventure." It was quite an extensive story that involved all the familiar
Archie characters, and even had a section addressed to parents encouraging them
to promote both their kids' and their own interest in amateur radio as an educational
and character building tool...
 The
RF & Microwave 2020
event will be held on March 18th & 19th at Porte de Versailles, Paris. According
to the brochure, 7 good reasons to participate include: "RF & Microwave est
le seul rendez-vous en France pour les domaines des radiofréquences, des hyperfréquences,
du wireless, de la CEM; Vous rencontrez et échangez avec des visiteurs qualifiés;
Vous bénéficiez de l'importante communication du salon: newsletters, catalogue,
site internet, et gagnez en vivibilité; Ce rendez-vous vous permet de gagner un
temps précieux..."
 Withwave manufactures an extensive line of
metrology quality coaxial test cable assemblies, connectors (wave-, end-, vertical-launch,
board edge, panel mount), calibration kits (SOLT), a
fully automated 4-port vector
network analyzer (VNA) calibrator, between- and in-series connector adaptors,
attenuators, terminations, DC blocks, torque wrenches, test probes & probe positioner.
Special test fixtures for calibration and multicoax cable assemblies. Frequency
ranges from DC through 110 GHz. Please contact Withwave today to see how they
can help your project succeed.
 Reading this article from a 1950 issue of
Radio & Television News magazine reminds me of a basic truth - at least
for receiving, it is usually possible to realize obtain useful operation with just
about
any reasonable length of straight wire for an antenna. Transmitting
is a different story since poor VSWR conditions on the antenna connection can damage
or cause to shut down the output stage of an RF power amplifier. Still, if your
transmitter can survive a high VSWR, then chances are you can send out a useful
signal. You won't be breaking any DX records or winning any contests, but you won't
be dead in the water. Surely anyone over 40 years old has jury-rigged an FM radio
antenna out of a length of straight (or bent) wire and/or fashioned a sheet of aluminum
foil around a set-top television antenna to pick up an acceptable signal. In many
cases where the 300 Ω twin-lead cable was improperly snaked along an aluminum
gutter or aluminum siding on a house on its way to the rooftop antenna or had a
long length of excess cable coiled...
 If you
are an Elon Musk acolyte, which to a degree, I am, then you might want to plan on
attending Satellite 2020
in Washington, D.C., from March 9-12. Mr. Musk, whose enterprises include SpaceX
and Tesla, will be the keynote speaker. The cost of admittance to just the exhibit
hall is $99, and prices go up from there (a la IMS2020). Sometimes you can find an exhibitor to sponsor your
attendance since they are usually provided with a number of free tickets. Check
the exhibitor list and try contacting someone from a company whose products you
use. "SATELLITE's purpose involves cultivating an environment where the individual
AND the collective can thrive. We're very proud of our international DNA, it's reflective
of our belief that we can achieve so much more when we work together. It may sound
cheesy, but breaking the traditional barriers between people, companies, countries
and industries can lead to outcomes that we never imagined possible when we stay
in our silos..."
 QST reader Dave Berman, WA2PAY,
wrote in the March 2020 issue's "Letters from Our Members" column about an episode
of the old "Highway Patrol" television show entitled, "Radioactive,"
wherein the ARRL (American Radio Relay League" is mentioned and Ham radio operator
Pat Conway plays a lead role in the show. Broderick Crawford stars as head highway
patrolman Dan Mathews. I did some screen shots of Mel's shack showing the massive
transmitter cabinet and the receiving station desk. On a table across the room is
a Precision Apparatus Co. E-200-C Signal Generator. Do you recognize any of the
other equipment? Note on the chalkboard that the nuclear scientist has beryllium
misspelled as "berilium," unless he happens to be an Indonesian, in which case it's
OK...
"anatech-electronics-february-newsletter-2-19-2020.htm" target="_top">
 Sam Benzacar of Anatech Electronics, an RF and
microwave filter company, has published his February newsletter that features his
short op-ed titled "Dynamic Spectrum Sharing Coming Next Year," which discusses the
quandary the wireless industry finds itself in with very limited spectrum available
in the millimeter-wave bands that can accommodate high data rates necessary for
5G schemes. I like a statement made from another source about 5G being the first
wireless protocol to perform like wired connections, but without the wires. Until
more spectrum is freed up, some form of spectrum sharing plan is needed, and service
providers are working on what had been dubbed "dynamic spectrum sharing" (an innovation
claimed Ericsson), which allows available segments of spectrum to be accessed...
 "DARPA has selected nine research teams to
develop advanced RF mixed-mode electronics critical to emerging defense applications
in communications, radar, and electronic warfare under the Technologies for Mixed-mode
Ultra Scaled Integrated Circuits (T-MUSIC) program. T-MUSIC was first announced in January 2019
as a part of the second phase of DARPA's Electronics Resurgence Initiative (ERI).
These RF mixed-mode interfaces will target the current limitation of in-efficiency
of CMOS platforms, where they are unable to support operations at higher frequencies
with larger signal bandwidths. Today's defense electronics systems rely on radio
frequency (RF) mixed-mode electronics..."
 With more than 1000
custom-built symbols, this has got to be the most comprehensive set of
Visio Symbols for RF, analog, and digital system and schematic drawings!
Every object has been built to fit proportionally on the provided A-, B- and C-size
drawing page templates (or can use your own). Symbols are provided for equipment
racks and test equipment, system block diagrams, conceptual drawings, and schematics.
Unlike previous versions, these are NOT Stencils, but instead are all contained
on tabbed pages within a single Visio document. That puts everything in front of
you in its full glory. Just copy and paste what you need on your drawing. The file
format is XML so everything plays nicely with Visio 2013 and later...
TotalTemp Technologies has more than 40 years of combined experience providing
thermal platforms. Thermal Platforms are available to provide temperatures between
-100°C and +200°C for cryogenic cooling, recirculating circulating coolers, temperature
chambers and temperature controllers, thermal range safety controllers, space simulation
chambers, hybrid benchtop chambers, custom systems and platforms. Manual and automated
configurations for laboratory and production environments. Please contact TotalTemp
Technologies today to learn how they can help your project.
 As with my hundreds of previous
science and engineering-themed crossword puzzles, this one for
February 23, 2020, contains only clues and terms associated with engineering, science,
physical, astronomy, mathematics, chemistry, etc., which I have built up over nearly
two decades. Many new words and company names have been added that had not even
been created when I started in the year 2002. You will never find a word taxing
your knowledge of a numbnut soap opera star or the name of some obscure village
in the Andes mountains. You might, however, encounter the name of a movie star like
Hedy Lamarr or a geographical location like Tunguska, Russia, for reasons which,
if you don't already know, might surprise you.
These archive pages are provided in order to make it easier for you to find items
that you remember seeing on the RF Cafe homepage. Of course probably the easiest
way to find anything on the website is to use the "Search
RF Cafe" box at the top of every page. Some quoted items have been shortened
to save space. About RF Cafe.
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