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5 of the March 2022 homepage archives. Monday the 28th
 In an effort to get as much service data
as possible out to repair shops and do-it-yourselfers, the electronics magazines
of yore often published clusters of just schematics and parts lists for radios,
rather than publishing
Radio Service Data Sheets, which were essentially Readers' Digest Condensed
Versions of the kinds of service packages SAMS Photofact sold. Radio News,
Radio & TV News, and Radio-Craft magazines put out most of the data. Most of
the radio manufacturers would not even sell factory-prepared service data to anyone
other than a licensed service dealer. Smaller electronics repair shops couldn't
afford to buy all the service packs, and often relied on troubleshoot experience
and the similarities of various models to get by without all the technical data.
Usually that was good enough, until a particularly unique problem arose or a new
line of products with new kinds of circuitry came out...
 ConductRF is continually innovating and
developing new and improved solutions for RF Interconnect needs. See the latest
TESTeCON RF Test
Cables for labs. ConductRF makes production and test coax cable assemblies for
amplitude and phased matched VNA applications as well as standard & precision
RF connectors. Over 1,000 solutions for low PIM in-building to choose from in the
iBwave component library. They also provide custom coax solutions for applications
where some standard just won't do. A partnership with Newark assures fast, reliable
access. Please visit ConductRF today to see how they can help your project!
 "Researchers have developed a system to
safely deliver electricity over the air, potentially turning entire buildings into
wireless charging zones. The technology can deliver 50 watts of power using
magnetic fields. In addition to untethering phones and laptops, the technology could
also power implanted medical devices. Heart implants, for example, require a wire
that runs from the pump through the body to an external power supply. The new technology
could eliminate that, reducing the risk of infection and improving patients' quality
of life. The technology could also open new possibilities for mobile robotics in
homes and manufacturing facilities..."
 You can buy a pretty good metal detector
today for a hundred dollars that will find coins buried many inches deep and larger
metallic items even deeper, and you even get discriminator functions to filter out
unwanted objects like tin cans. They weigh just a couple pounds and can be used
with one arm. Compare that to early metal detectors that had huge induction coils
on a frame so heavy that shoulder straps were needed just to lug them around. Some
models came on wheels for pushing or pulling like a cart. You could plan to spend
a few hundred dollars (a thousand or more in today's dollars) for one. Even then,
they were not as sophisticated as the $100 models sold by Amazon now. In classic
fashion, teen electronics hobbyists
Carl and Jerry use their technical prowess to design and build their own metal
detector and then unintentionally using it to convince some old geezer that newfangled
devices were not all useless fluff...
 Radio Service Data Sheets were published
by various electronics trade magazines (like this 1935 issue of Radio-Craft)
back in the early to middle decades of the last century. SAMS Photofact document
sets were published on just about every appliance made, and those had much more
detail than these briefs. However, for the low-budget repair shop or the do-it-yourselfer,
the Radio Service Data Sheets were a godsend. I have been scanning, cleaning up,
and posting all the ones I find in my vintage electronics magazine collection. See
a complete list at the bottom. Many fine examples of restored vintage radios can
be found on the Internet, but I could not find one for this
General Electric Model M-49. The two photos were provided by RF Cafe visitor
Jeff B., of Beverly, Massachusetts. It appears to be in extremely nice condition
for a 1930s era unit. These are now the only images of the M-49 anywhere I can find
on the Internet. He is restoring the unit to working order...
RF Cascade Workbook is the next phase in the evolution of
RF Cafe's long-running series, RF Cascade Workbook. Chances are you have
never used a spreadsheet quite like this (click here for screen capture). It is a full-featured RF system
cascade parameter and frequency planner that includes filters and mixers for a mere
$45. Built in MS Excel, using RF Cascade Workbook 2018 is a cinch
and the format is entirely customizable. It is significantly easier and faster than
using a multi-thousand dollar simulator when a high level system analysis is all
that is needed. An intro video takes you through the main features...
 SF Circuits' specialty is in the complex,
advanced technology of PCB fabrication and assembly, producing high quality multi-layered
PCBs from elaborate layouts. With them, you receive unparalleled technical expertise
at competitive prices as well as the most progressive solutions available. Their
customers request PCB production that is outside the capabilities of normal circuit
board providers. Please take a moment to visit San Francisco Circuits today. "Printed
Circuit Fabrication & Assembly with No Limit on Technology or Quantity."
Sunday the 27th
 Here is your custom made RF theme crossword
puzzle for March 27th, 2022. R's and F's are prominent in this crossword. All RF
Cafe crossword puzzles are custom made by me, Kirt Blattenberger, and have only
words and clues related to RF, microwave, and mm-wave engineering, optics, mathematics,
chemistry, physics, and other technical subjects. As always, this crossword contains
no names of politicians, mountain ranges, exotic foods or plants, movie stars, or
anything of the sort unless it/he/she is related to this puzzle's technology theme
(e.g., Reginald Denny or the Tunguska event in Siberia). The technically inclined
cruciverbalists amongst us will appreciate the effort. Enjoy!
 Anritsu has been a global provider of innovative
communications test and measurement solutions for more than 120 years. Anritsu manufactures
a full line of innovative components and accessories for
RF and Microwave Test and Measurement
Equipment including attenuators & terminations; coaxial cables, connectors &
adapters; o-scopes; power meters & sensors; signal generators; antenna, signal,
spectrum, & vector network analyzers (VNAs); calibration kits; Bluetooth &
WLAN testers; PIM testers; amplifiers; power dividers; antennas.
Friday the 25th
 Here is something you probably didn't know.
I certainly didn't, but I'm not surprised. As with many advances in electronics
and communications, Bell Telephone Laboratories invented the
thermistor. According to this infomercial from a 1946 issue of Radio-Craft magazine,
the thermistor was developed to adjust the amplification needed in its relay circuits
to provide proper signal strength. It monitored the temperature of the output stage
to determine the level. Bell claims the device was sensitive to within one millionth
of a degree and could "see" the warmth of a man's body a quarter of a mile away
on the battlefield (during World War II). As with most things, improvements
have been continually in the thermistor in terms of temperature range, stability,
accuracy, ruggedness, etc., all while lowering the price as mass production helps
amortize production costs across huge volumes...
 Trend Force just released their list of
the
top 10 fabless IC companies in 2021 across the globe. Per the Electronics Weekly
report: "Nvidia overtook Broadcom to take the second position behind No.1 Qualcomm.
Taiwanese companies Novatek and Realtek rose to sixth and eighth place, respectively.
Qualcomm had growth of 51% in phone chips snd 63% growth in IoT chips. Nvidia had
growth of 64% in gaming graphics cards and 59% in data centre. Broadcom had growth
of 18% from network chips, broadband communication chips, and storage and bridging
chips. AMD's computer and graphics revenue grew by 45% YoY due to strong sales of
the Ryzen CPU and Radeon GPU and rising ASPs. The annual revenue of AMD's enterprise,
embedded, and semi-customized divisions increased by 113%, driving annual growth
of total revenue to 68%..."
 Long after shirt pocket sized electronic
calculators and glass cockpits became the norm for both professional and recreational
aviators, Colonel J. Michael Gibson, a career pilot and navigator with the
Canadian Civil Aeronautics Search and Rescue (now retired) carried a
Pickett
N600-ES slide rule in his flight jacket. Its diminutive size (only 5" long),
sharply marked scales, and sturdy construction made it a favorite for on-the-go
users. A special purpose Pickett N700-T USAF Aerial Photo slide rule lived in his
flight suit sleeve pocket. Colonel Gibson is passing along his appreciation for
the art of slide rule usage to his granddaughter. She routinely uses her Pickett
1010 model to calculate everything from volume and weight of water in her grandpa's
swimming pool to the percentage of laps completed in a NASCAR race. I know what
you're probably thinking; I had the same question. The answer is no, as far as he
aware, our Colonel Gibson is not related to Captain Robert L. "Hoot" Gibson of NASA's
Space Shuttle fame - although the two have met at the Reno Air Races. Speaking of
air races, Captain Gibson, who piloted STS-41B (c1984) and commanded other flights,
was suspended by NASA from flight duties for a year in 1990 due to a risky...
 "The ever-shrinking features of transistors
etched in silicon have always required pushing the cutting edge of manufacturing
technology. The discovery of
atomically thin materials like graphene and carbon nanotubes, however, raised
the prospect of replacing our manufacturing needs with the natural properties of
these materials. There's no need to etch a 1 nm feature into silicon if you could
simply use a carbon nanotube that's 1 nm wide. And there have been some notable
successes, such as a 1 nm gate made of a single carbon nanotube. But the work often
involves a difficult process of getting the atomically thin materials in the right
place to create a functional device. And the rest of the hardware is typically made
of bulkier materials that are borrowed from more traditional transistor design.
A new paper released this week, however, describes a record-setting design that
has the smallest transistor gate length yet reported. The record was set by the
edge of a graphene sheet, meaning the gate is only a single carbon atom across..."
 This advertisement from a 1949 issue of
Radio & Television News would never pass muster with the politically
correct crowd of today! Even though, as with the Washington Redskins football team,
Red Man chewing tobacco, Indian Motorcycles, Land O'Lakes food company,
American Indians are without exception used as a depiction of strength, high
quality, high integrity, and beauty, there is a very, very, very tiny minority of
rabble rousers who are having their way with the vast, vast, vast majority (there
seems to be a lot of that these days). Somehow that has become the norm in society
today. If the goal is to upset everyone and to pit good people against each other,
then it has been a resounding success. For the record, I reject the idiocy and buck
their efforts whenever possible...
 This assortment of custom-designed themes
by RF Cafe includes T-Shirts, Mouse Pads, Clocks, Tote Bags, Coffee Mugs and Steins,
Purses, Sweatshirts, and Baseball Caps. Choose from amazingly clever "We Are the World's
Matchmakers" Smith chart design or the "Engineer's Troubleshooting Flow Chart."
My "Matchmaker's" design has been ripped off by other people and used on their products,
so please be sure to purchase only official RF Cafe gear. My markup is only a paltry
50¢ per item - Cafe Press gets the rest of your purchase price. These would make
excellent gifts for husbands, wives, kids, significant others, and for handing out
at company events or as rewards for excellent service. It's a great way to help
support RF Cafe. Thanks...
 Alliance Test Equipment sells
used / refurbished
test equipment and offers short- and long-term rentals. They also offer repair,
maintenance and calibration. Prices discounted up to 80% off list price. Agilent/HP,
Tektronix, Anritsu, Fluke, R&S and other major brands. A global organization
with ability to source hard to find equipment through our network of suppliers.
Alliance Test will purchase your excess test equipment in large or small lots. Blog
posts offer advice on application and use of a wide range of test equipment. Please
visit Allied Test Equipment today to see how they can help your project.
Thursday the 24th
 It's about time for another bunch of
technical-themed comics from my vintage electronics magazines. These four are
from a 1946 issue of Radio News. With many of them (these and others -
see huge list of links at the bottom), you might need to have a little insight into
the radio communications consumer and military markets of the era to fully appreciate
the humor, but with most you can infer the meaning even if you don't know the specifics.
Some themes still apply today, like the influence of your body adding capacitance
to the tuning circuit of a radio to the extent that a station comes in loud and
clear while your fingers are on the dial or while you are near the radio, then fades
once you move away. It then becomes a challenge to detune a bit to one side or the
other, then move away and see if the station comes in clear. If not, you detune
in the other direction and see if that works. Sometimes, the only solution is to
situate yourself near the radio to get a good signal. 30 minutes later, everything
can change and you go through the ritual all over again. Integrated circuit tuners...
 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. Three new
filter models have been introduced - a connectorized cavity bandpass filter that
has a passband from 8,000 to 11,000 MHz, 1 dB insertion loss and minimum
18 dB return loss; a surface mount ceramic bandpass filter with a bandwidth
of 300 MHz and an insertion loss of 2.5 dB max; and a connectorized dual
band cavity bandpass filter with a lower band passband of 454.66 to 454.98 MHz
and an upper band passband of 459.66 to 459.98 MHz. Custom RF power directional
coupler designs can be designed and produced when a standard cannot be found, or
the requirements are such that a custom approach is necessary...
 Before seeing this announcement for the
impending premier issue of
Popular Electronics magazine, I thought the October 1954 issue was the first
to be published. According to this August 1954 Radio & Television News magazine
feature, Popular Electronics was to debut in September 1954, not October. The teaser
cover photo showed a family at a picnic table with more radio equipment than food
- including a big spring-loaded 1/4-wave whip antenna mounted to the trunk of their
car. It was never used for any issue from what I can find, nor did the article entitled,
"WABD's Empire State Building Television Transmitter." A bit of research shows that
the planned September 1954 issue never was. In fact, editor Oliver Read's first
column, entitled, "Meet Popular Electronics," confirmed my finding. He wrote in
part, "POPULAR ELECTRONICS is the answer to the demand for a monthly publication
devoted entirely to electronics at a practical and hobby level..."
 CETECOM, a global company providing
telecom test and certification services, announces the availability of Over-The-Air
(OTA) testing for FR1 and FR2 frequency bands together, in a new EMITE HE300 test
chamber recently commissioned at the company's Silicon Valley location. This chamber
is uniquely capable of testing from 600 MHz to 7.25 GHz in FR1, and 24.25 to 40
GHz in FR2 or mmWave frequencies, and is the first of its kind to be installed in
a test and certification lab in the USA. The chamber has carrier approval for 5G
NR certification services. It provides measurements of antenna gain, efficiency,
directivity, polarization and beam characteristics for frequencies from 0.6 to 110
GHz, and can support 5G frequencies below 7.125 GHz and mmWave (24 to 40 GHz) standardized
testing in accordance with 3GPP TR38.810, TR37.842 and TR38.521 specifications.
Due to carriers' plans to expand FR1 testing, CETECOM is actively increasing its
capacity to support the latest technologies, specifically VoNR (Voice over New Radio).
This increases CETECOM's overall OTA test capacity for FR1 and FR2...
 National Radio Institute (NRI) was founded
in 1914 at the dawn of the radio age. It provided self-study courses as well as
classroom instruction on the art of electronics and radio communications. A bi-monthly
magazine entitled National Radio News was published by them from 1929-1953.
This article explaining how oscillators work appeared in the December 1940 edition.
Although circuits of the day used vacuum tubes, the principle of voltage and phase
relationships required to initiate and sustain oscillations are the same as for
transistor circuits. A step-by-step description is provided from the time the power
is applied until
stable oscillations are established. More is known nowadays regarding actions
at the atomic level regarding how oscillations begin, but the fundamental principles
are the same...
 With more than 1000
custom-built stencils, this has got to be the most comprehensive set of
Visio Stencils available for RF, analog, and digital system and schematic
drawings! Every stencil symbol has been built to fit proportionally on the included
A-, B-, and C-size drawing page templates (or use your own page if preferred). Components
are provided for system block diagrams, conceptual drawings, schematics, test equipment,
racks (EIA 19", ETSI 21"), and more. Test equipment and racks are built at a 1:1
scale so that measurements can be made directly using Visio built-in dimensioning
objects. Page templates are provided with a preset scale (changeable) for a good
presentation that can incorporate all provided symbols...
 RF Superstore launched in 2017, marking
the return of Murray Pasternack, founder of Pasternack Enterprises, to the RF and
microwave Industry. Pasternack fundamentally changed the way RF components were
sold. Partner Jason Wright manages day-to-day operations, while working closely
with Mr. Pasternack to develop RF Superstore into a world class RF and
microwave
component supplier. RF coaxial connectors & adapters, coaxial cable &
cable assemblies, surge protectors, attenuators. Items added daily. Free shipping
on orders over $25. We're leading the way again!
Wednesday the 23rd
 Experiments with self-driving cars has been
going on since the 1920s according to the Wikipedia entry, with real trials beginning
in the 1950s. This editorial entitled "Anti-Collision
Cars," by Hugo Gernsback, appeared in a 1952 of his Radio-Electronics magazine.
He points to his editorial in a 1935 issue addressing the same subject. Self-driving
is of course different from anti-collision, but some of the same sensor and guidance
system principles are common to both concepts. Mr. Gernsback's scheme involves
not just detection of a potential collision scenario, but also a system that can
automatically attempt to guide the car to a safe condition. Many new cars have some
form of sensing system to alert the driver to the presence of nearby obstacles.
I picked up a 2021 Hyundia Elantra rental car- not a high-end model - a couple days
ago (a dope backed into our 2011 Jeep Patriot), and even it has areas in the side
view mirrors that illuminate when a car approaches closely. It also has a rear view
backup camera and other proximity detectors. All those bells and whistles are nice,
but the dude who hit me had all that and more in his high end Chevy Silverado 3500
HD truck when he accelerated at an unbelievable rate out of a parking spot in a
large parking lot and smashed into the Patriot's left front fender. He even admitted
to both me and the cop that he never even looked...
 San Francisco Circuits (SFC) has for a while
been posting a series of short lessons in its "PCB
School" feature, highlighting PCB fabrication and assembly for high-tech industries.
Topics include "PCB Dimensional & Thermal Stability," "How Do You Manage Copper
Pads, Copper Traces, & Planes in High-Load Applications?, "Serpentine Routing–Function
over Form in PCB Routing," "The Past, Present, & Future of Microelectronics &
PCB Production," "PCB Layout: Basics, Optimizations & Effectiveness," "The Importance
of PCB Trace Widths in PCB Design" and many more...
 If you have ever heard the audible hum emitted
by a power supply transformer, then you are familiar with at least one of the manifestations
of magnetostrictive materials. I thought maybe shape memory metals ("muscle wire")
would be considered
magnetostrictive, but research shows they are classified separately because
their shape change is attributed primarily to heating rather than magnetization.
I also thought the old 'reeds' type receive decoders for pre-1960s-era radio control
systems might be magnetostrictive devices, but no search turned up anything where
the term was used. This article and its two succeeding articles discuss magnetostrictive
filters at kilohertz IF frequencies. Part I covers the fundamentals of magnetostrictivity
while Part II gets into building realizable bandpass filters. Unfortunately,
I do not have the August 1953 edition of QST for Part III. The referenced
article in the September, 1950, issue of the RCA Review...
 With the formal handover today of the vessel
ADV Cape Otway to the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Managing Director Rohde &
Schwarz Australia Gareth Evans congratulated both Austal and the Rohde & Schwarz
team for exceptional performance in delivery of the company's
Naval Integrated Communications System (NAVICS). "It's a great day for Austal
and Navy, but also for Rohde & Schwarz Australia, which as Communication Systems
Integrator (CSI) has achieved a number of record milestones that have significantly
contributed to this day becoming a reality," Mr. Evans said. "Within just five months
of contract execution we completed the design of our customized NAVICS internal
and external communications solution for the Cape class..."
 Here
is an example of just how far we have come in the realm of electronics. In a world
where you can go to Harbor Freight and buy a
digital
multimeter with an accuracy of 1% or better for a mere $3, this article from
the July 1958 edition of Flying Models illustrates the dedication that
was necessary in order to outfit yourself with even the most fundamental tools for
flying radio control airplanes. It was part of an era where building your own electronic
device was less expensive than buying one prefabricated. Such was the case for the
aircraft radios, too, as evidenced by the number of advertisements in magazines
of the day for kits. As is often true, there are good and bad aspects of building
versus buying. Building gives you the intricate knowledge of how everything goes
together and functions along with actually using the stuff you build. However, the
ability to buy your equipment pre-built leaves more time for honing flying skills...
RF Cascade Workbook is the next phase in the evolution of
RF Cafe's long-running series, RF Cascade Workbook. Chances are you have
never used a spreadsheet quite like this (click here for screen capture). It is a full-featured RF system
cascade parameter and frequency planner that includes filters and mixers for a mere
$45. Built in MS Excel, using RF Cascade Workbook 2018 is a cinch
and the format is entirely customizable. It is significantly easier and faster than
using a multi-thousand dollar simulator when a high level system analysis is all
that is needed. An intro video takes you through the main features...
RF Superstore launched in 2017, marking
the return of Murray Pasternack, founder of Pasternack Enterprises, to the RF and
microwave Industry. Pasternack fundamentally changed the way RF components were
sold. Partner Jason Wright manages day-to-day operations, while working closely
with Mr. Pasternack to develop RF Superstore into a world class RF and
microwave
component supplier. RF coaxial connectors & adapters, coaxial cable &
cable assemblies, surge protectors, attenuators. Items added daily. Free shipping
on orders over $25. We're leading the way again!
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.
About RF Cafe.
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