See Page 1 |
2 | of the April 2025 homepage archives. Monday the 14th
 Mr. Edmund Braun created a couple dozen
of these "R-E
Puzzlers" for Radio-Electronics magazine in the 1960s. They are akin
to crossword puzzles, except there are no Down clues and words, just Across. As
you can see in the matrix, he provides one or two letters for each word, with each
supplied letter spanning two words. Number 2 gave me some problem since I don't
recall having heard of it. Numbers 13 through 15 could present a challenge to the
younger generation, but maybe not. There is no phone app available for this R-E
Puzzler; you'll have to work it in your noggin or print it out.
 Kick back at the end of work today and enjoy
this triad of
electronics-themed comics from 1963 and 1965 issues vintage
Radio & Television News and Electronics World magazines. Other
than an occasional contest to create a caption for a comic drawing, when is the
last time you saw a comic in a technical magazine? Where has the humor gone? Is
everyone so afraid of offending someone that comics have been banned by lawsuit-fearful
editors? You have my invitation to create a good-humored cartoon about me or RF
Cafe anytime you wish, and I promise not to sue you. I'll even post it here on the
website if you like...
 "Researchers at the Tata Institute of Fundamental
Research (TIFR), Mumbai, have developed a new method to accurately
measure ultrashort, ultrahigh-power laser pulses. Their findings were published
in Optica, a leading open-access journal in the field of optics. What's the breakthrough?
Lasers are one of the most remarkable technologies of the modern age. They can produce
pulses of light that last for incredibly short durations, among the shortest ever
created by humans. Even more impressively, these brief flashes can carry immense
amounts of energy, resulting in peak power levels that far exceed the total electrical
power consumption of the entire world, by orders of magnitude..."
 Without a doubt, Germany has in the past
far overestimated its ability to conquer the world by leveraging its undeniable
history of innovation and determination. A success in the Franco-Prussian War gave
it a sense of superiority and invincibility. WWI and WWII were lost primarily due
to the
blitzkrieg strategy later failing to overwhelm and subdue the enemy in short
order, causing protracted wars and diminishing resources from within its domain.
If Germany had instead exploited its technical prowess in world markets, it might
have been an economic superpower today. The native population was/is brilliant.
Today, Germany's leaders are, in acts of self-flagellation and penance...
 Cornell-Dubilier Electric Corporation has
been manufacturing capacitors for more than a century - 109 years as of this writing
to be more precise. That is utterly amazing, especially since they still use the
name of the company founder,
William Dubilier. In 1933, they merged with Cornell Radio to form
Cornell-Dubilier Electronics. If you have been in the electronics field for a while,
you no doubt have heard of their capacitors. In fact, William Dubilier was
the inventor of mica-based capacitors. According to this obituary in a 1969 issue
of Radio-Electronics magazine (he died on July 25th), Mr. Dubilier held 600
patents. I found a newspaper obit that claims that Dublilier was offered, but did
not accept, a knighthood and pension for life by the British as a reward for inventing
a submarine detection...
 Zener diodes were first introduced to the
commercial marketplace in the early 1950s. They were named after Clarence Zener,
who discovered the Zener effect in 1934, which is the basis for the operation of
these diodes. As with many semiconductor components, Zeners were still a relative
newcomer to the electronics realm in 1964 when this full-page promo appeared in
Radio-Electronics magazine. The Mallory Type ZA molded-case zener diode
offered excellent voltage regulating characteristics at a practical price point,
making it suitable for service work, experimentation, and commercial circuitry.
With its comparable electrical properties and reliability record...
Friday the 11th
 Digital logic has been a fundamental part
of electronics circuit classes for many decades - even in the late 1970s when I
began training in the USAF. It really wasn't until the 1960s - about the time this
"Computer Talk" articles appeared in Radio-Electronics magazine, that terms
such as "and," "or," "not," "nand," and "nor" - the language of
Boolean logic - became common parlance to the general electronics world. Many
circuits implementing the Boolean combinatorial functions were in existence, but
people did not generally refer to them by those terms. "Switching circuits," "relay
circuits," and "ladder circuits" were the lingo of the pre-digital era. Inputs typically
drove diode, triode, or pentode tubes...
 "Modern telecommunications infrastructure
relies on a broad range of technologies. But ironically, some of these technologies
can't readily communicate with each other. The electrical signals used for wireless
communications, for example, can't just be shoved into the fiber-optic infrastructure
that forms the backbone of modern networks. Instead, they must be first converted
to light (and then back again). This important task is performed by a network component
called an electro-optic
(EO) modulator. 'All information that you have is in the electrical world, but
once it leaves your house, it goes into fiber..."
 With Radio-Craft magazine editor
Hugo Gernsback, you always need to be careful when reading one of his stories in
an April. I was a bit suspicious when seeing this "Superadio"
title, and reading about it did not assuage my spider senses. It could, however,
be completely legit. Turns out, it was real, and based on a story in the December
28, 1946 edition of Nature magazine. In 1946, scientists at Johns Hopkins
University accidentally discovered a new method of radio reception while experimenting
with an infrared bolometer. They found that a small strip of Columbium nitride,
when cooled to near absolute zero, became superconductive and highly sensitive to
radio frequencies...
• Regulatory
Slash and Burn at FCC
• Nokia Bell Labs Charts
Cellular Future on Space
• Reluctance
to Adopt AI Among Business Leaders
• Telecoms Relatively
Insulated from Tariff War
• Amazon
Satellite Broadband in April
 The monthly "Solid State" column in
Popular Electronics reported on all the wonderful new germanium- and silicon-based
devices being prepared for the brave new world of electronics. It is a good resource
for historical research. For instance, did you know that the unijunction transistor
was originally going be called a "double-base diode?" How about a feeble attempt to integrate solid
state and vacuum tubes by incorporating a "semiconductor cold cathode" to replace
the standard 6.3 V or 12.6 V heated cathode for supplying an electron
source? Have you ever heard of a "spacistor?" A 1957 edition of "Proceedings of
the IRE" published a paper by Pucel and Statz titled, "The Spacistor, A New Class
of High-Frequency Semiconductor Devices." The summary statement says..."
 Providing innovative filter solutions for
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IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium runs June 16-19, in San Francisco,
CA.
Thursday the 10th
 When I first saw the picture accompanying
the "Laser
Packs a Wallop" news item, I though it was showing ladies' black unmentionables
being blown out of a suitcase at an airport luggage check point. That bit, along
with a few other "What's New" items appeared in the June 1962 issue of Radio-Electronics
magazine. How would you like to have been an astronaut in a rocket with a remote
destruct device which was triggered by a specific combination of audible notes sent
by a controller? Vibrating reed controllers were commonplace for remote control
back in the day. Radio controlled airplanes were commanded by tuned reeds in the
airborne receiver that acted as decoders to relay control surface servo movement
information. A 2.3 GHz, 25 W amplifier weighing a mere 16 ounces...
 It is a rare occasion that Barney bests
Mac when it comes to electronics prowess. Good natured back and forth often goes
on between them during troubleshooting sessions and impromptu discussions about
business practices, industry trends, and customer interactions; indeed, John Frye
depends on it to make his "Mac's Service Shop" stories, featured in Electronics
World magazine, interesting. This time, underling Barney exploits knowledge
gained from a recently purchased electronics reference book to trip up shop owner
Mac over which of two metals has the
lowest resistance. Mac's choice is one many people would instinctively make
- and be wrong as Mac was...
 "If you need to move electrons from here
to there, you turn to copper. This common element is an excellent conductor and
is easily fabricated into wires and circuit board traces. But the situation changes
when you get small: really, really
small on a nanometer scale. That same copper shows increasing resistance, which
means that more of the electrical signal is lost to heat. It could take more energy
to power a smaller and denser device, which is just the opposite of what you want
for miniature electronics. Researchers at Stanford led by Asir Intisar Khan in Eric
Pop's lab have been experimenting with a novel thin film scaled down..."
 The
1964 World's Fair showcased several groundbreaking technological innovations,
as reported in the September 1964 issue of Radio-Electronics magazine.
Among the highlights were the Picturephone, a precursor to modern video calls, which
allowed users to see and hear the person they were talking to in real-time. Another
notable exhibit was the Uniscope, a large-screen television system capable of displaying
high-resolution images. The fair also featured demonstrations of early computer
technology, including IBM's System/360 mainframe computer, which could perform complex
calculations and process large...
 Here is the final installment in the "Basic Digital Electronic Course" series that ran in three issues
of Popular Electronics magazine. The first two parts laid the groundwork
with an introduction to binary, octal, and hexadecimal arithmetic, Boolean logic,
AND, OR and NOT gates, and some truth tables. Armed with those fundamentals, the
authors now dive into flip-flops, encoders and decoders, debouncing circuits for
switch inputs, integrated circuit (IC) types, and interconnect methods to design
and build a simple digital computer with a 7-segment LED display. Don't expect too
much from the computer since it was only three years earlier, in 1971, that Intel
introduced the world's first integrated microprocessor - the 4-bit model 4004 central
processing unit (CPU)...
Wednesday the 9th
 Frequency modulation (FM) uses the instantaneous
amplitude of a modulating signal (voice, music, data, etc.) to directly vary the
frequency of a carrier signal. Modulation index, β, is used to describe the ratio
of maximum frequency deviation of the carrier to the maximum frequency deviation
of the modulating signal. The concept was pioneered by Edwin H. Armstrong in the
late 1920s and patented in the early 1930s. Depending on the modulation index chosen,
the carrier and certain sideband frequencies may actually be suppressed. Zero crossings
of the Bessel functions, Jn(β), occur where the corresponding sideband, n, disappears
for a given modulation index, β...
 Many years have passed since I sat in a college
classroom to learn about
transistor fundamentals. The industry had long moved past germanium
transistors and was solidly into silicon. Having been formally introduced to transistors
in the USAF, I was familiar with their functionality from a technician's perspective
of checking for gain, proper bias (as indicated on "educated" schematics), and determining
go-no-go health by performing a front-to-back resistance measurement using an ohmmeter.
Holes, energy bands, gate widths, and doping levels were first encountered in solid
state physics class, however. This article does a nice job of introducing the terms
and concepts at a layman's level. I actually found the vacuum tube circuits in our
radar unit easier...
 "One of my close friends is a hiring manager
at Google. She recently posted about an open position on her team and was immediately
overwhelmed with applications. We're talking about thousands of applicants within
days. What surprised me most, however, was the
horrendous quality
of the average [application] submission. Most applicants were obviously unqualified
or had concocted entirely fake profiles. The use of generative AI to automatically
fill out (and, in some cases, even submit) applications is harmful to everyone;
employers are unable to filter through the noise, and legitimate candidates have
a harder time getting noticed - much less advancing to an interview..."
 Here is a new word to add to your technical
lexicon:
Ambiophony, compliments of Mr. Gilbert A. Briggs, in a 1964 issue
of Radio-Electronics magazine. The word "ambiophony" comes from the Greek words
"amphi," meaning "around" or "on both sides," and "phonos," meaning "sound." Thus,
ambiophony refers to a sound reproduction technique that creates an immersive, three-dimensional
auditory experience by using speakers placed around the listener, thereby reducing
unwanted echo and/or adding reverberation. It explains how the Haas effect influences
perceived sound direction and how strategically placed and delayed speakers can
create a desired acoustic environment, improving sound intelligibility...
 In this article from a 1942 issue of
QST magazine, author T.A. Gadwa employs a
standing wave mechanism analogy that I don't recall having read
before - that of a dam on a river. The river is the transmission line with a lake
as the source (presumably) and then he imagines a dam load. The dam standing waves,
per his description, have phase and amplitude characteristics that depend on how
tall the dam wall is relative to the surface height of the dammed river. An extensive
array of graphs is provided showing how the current of the dam standing waves react
to the dam transmission line termination impedance. I always wonder when seeing
electrical-mechanical parity examples whether, as with this case, there are any
dam magazine articles out there that use an electrical transmission line to help
fellow civil engineers...
 Innovative Power Products has been designing
and manufacturing RF and Microwave passive components since 2005. We use the latest
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products. Applications in military, medical, industrial, and commercial markets
are serviced around the world. Products listed on the website link to detailed mechanical
drawings, electrical specifications, and performance data. If you cannot find a
product that meets your requirements on our website, contact us to speak with one
of our experienced design engineers about your project.
Tuesday the 8th
 In our present day where lasers of
many wavelengths and powers in the megawatts are considered routine, this 1963 article
from Radio-Electronics magazine shows how far the technology has come in
the more than six intervening decades.
Optical masers (i.e., lasers) in the field of radio and electronics technology
are explored. Lasers generate coherent light beams and have a wide range of applications,
from handling millions of telephone calls and TV channels to powering satellites
and spacecraft. The article discusses crystal and gaseous lasers, their components,
and how they function...
 "Quantum networks - where
entanglement is distributed across distant nodes - promise to revolutionize
quantum computing, communication, and sensing. However, a major bottleneck has been
scalability, as the entanglement rate in most existing systems is limited by a network
design of a single qubit per node. A new study, led by Prof. A. Faraon at Caltech
and conducted by A. Ruskuc et al., presents a groundbreaking solution: multiplexed
entanglement using multiple emitters in quantum network nodes. By harnessing rare-earth
ions coupled to nanophotonic cavities..."
 As a follow-on to the "Planning Integrated
Signal Communications" story, this article is the next step in the U.S. Army Signal
Corps' implementation of
ubiquitous communications systems. Along with powerful transmitters
and super-sensitive receivers at command communications hubs are the many hand-held,
back-pack, and vehicular radios needed to complete strategic and tactical operations
across the face of the Earth. It wasn't just wireless systems that Signal Corps
engineers and technicians were responsible for, but also all the wired equipment
and interconnecting cabling. The possibility of software configuration for network
switches, radios, modems, telephones, antennas, and ancillary components had never
been thought of in 1950 (by very few, anyway). Everything was set up with patch
panels...
 Author William Blair lamented in a 1958
issue of Radio & TV News magazine that helix (aka helical) antennas
had not yet been widely adopted by amateur radio operators despite the advantages
they can provide. Helix antennas are used for transmitting and receiving circularly
polarized electromagnetic waves. An advantage of using a
circularly polarized antenna for receiving is that it is able
to make use of wavefronts arriving at any polarization angle along the propagation
axis, thereby accommodating transmissions at any polarization angle. Theoretically,
an ideal antenna with a particular polarization would not receive a signal arriving
at an angle perpendicular to it, and the strength of any signal would be proportional
to the cosine of the angle of impingement...
 Anatech Electronics (AEI) manufactures and
supplies RF and microwave
filters for military and commercial communication systems, providing standard
LP, HP, BP, BS, notch, diplexer, and custom RF filters, and RF products. Standard
RF filter and cable assembly products are published in our website database for
ease of procurement. Custom RF filters designs are used when a standard cannot be
found, or the requirements dictate a custom approach for your military and commercial
communications needs. Sam Benzacar's monthly newsletters address contemporary wireless
subjects. Please visit Anatech today to see how they can help your project succeed.
Monday the 7th
 In this October 1964 issue of Radio-Electronics
magazine, editor Hugo Gernsback writes about the historic feat on July 31 of that
year, where NASA lunar probe Ranger 7's RCA-designed television cameras successfully
transmitted the
first close-up televised pictures of the moon's surface to Earth after six previous
failed attempts. The unmanned spacecraft traveled 240,000 miles through space over
68 hours to capture 4,316 still images with its six high-resolution cameras. These
images provided crucial information for future manned lunar explorations, revealing
that the dust layer on the moon's surface is likely only 2 to 12 inches deep, and
showing small craters down to sizes of three feet. The success of Ranger 7
marked a significant advancement in lunar exploration technology, paving the way
for further unmanned missions and eventual manned expeditions to the moon...
 "New data from Synergy Research Group shows
that the number of large
data centers operated by hyperscale providers increased to 1,136 at the end
of 2024, having doubled over the last five years. Meanwhile it has taken less than
four years for the total capacity of operational hyperscale data centers to double,
as the average capacity of newly opened facilities continues to climb. Synergy's
data shows that the United States still accounts for well over half of total worldwide
capacity, measured by MW of critical IT load, with Europe and China each accounting
for about a third..."
 This 1964 Radio-Electronics magazine
article provided a 12-step guide for
creating printed circuits at home, which involves gathering necessary materials,
designing the circuit layout, applying resist materials, etching the board, and
attaching components. The process could be laborious and often did not produce satisfactory
results (ask me how I know). However, modern methods have significantly improved
and streamlined this process, making it more efficient and accessible. Today, low-cost
prototypes can be easily obtained from various online sources, allowing hobbyists
and professionals alike to create high-quality printed circuit boards without the
need for extensive manual labor or specialized equipment. These advancements have
revolutionized the way we...
 Today, if Rohde & Schwarz, Keysight,
or some other major test equipment manufacturer announced during a trade show presentation
a new oscilloscope model with a "Breakthrough!" featured dubbed "Cali-Brain®," they would be laughed off the stage. The technology
truly was a breakthrough in terms of displaying peak-to-peak waveform measurements
in a numerical presentation along with a cursor line indicating the pk-pk extent
from the display. It was not as convenient as next-generation scopes that provided
a movable horizontal pair of lines with a direct digital voltage difference readout,
but it did take some of the guesswork and potential error out of readings on complicated
waveforms. Of course modern microprocessor-based measurements...
 Transcat | Axiom Rental Equipment allows
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efficient, and cost effective solutions for their projects' TE needs and is committed
to providing superior customer service and high quality electronic test equipment.
For anyone seeking a way to offload surplus or obsolete equipment, they offer a
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- and don't miss the blog articles!
Friday the 4th
 If you do a lot of overseas air travel for
work (or any other reason), this
en route time map from a 1950 issue of The Saturday Evening Post
magazine might give you a bit of cheering up. Compare the length of time in the
air back during the day of propeller-driven airliners versus what you typically
experience today. United Aircraft published that a trip from New York to London
took 12-½ hours (with favorable winds). The same flight today takes around 7-½ hours,
a 40% reduction. From Seattle to Tokyo was 28-½ hours, and is now 10-½ hours, for
a 63% reduction! Those shorter flight times are due to both faster jet-powered airplanes
and an ability to climb to and cruise at altitudes where jet stream winds are highly
additive. Of course having to endure 10-½ hours crammed into a narrow seat with
the back of the front...
 In a jaw-dropping leap that could rewrite
the rules of technology, QentComm®©™ (Quantum Entanglement Communications), a Greensboro-based
visionary force, has unveiled the QeC1001®©™, an
8-qubit
quantum entanglement processor microchip forged entirely from carbon nanotubes
(CNTs) - a brainchild of Kirt Blattenberger, the company's progenitor and chief
architect. Announced on qentcomm.com, this
marvel sips a scant 5 milliwatts, staking its claim as the most energy-efficient
communication technology ever conceived, thanks to a proprietary "quantum carbon
nanotube lattice" that shuns traditional electromagnetic (EM) waves for quantum
entanglement - what Albert Einstein dubbed, "spooky action at a distance." Clocked
at a nostalgic tens of kilohertz - evoking 1960s transistor vibes - the QeC1001®©™
delivers computational bravado that leaves modern power-hogs in the dust, powering
every QentPhone®©™...
 I know a guy, a multi-decade-long Amateur
Radio operator, who at one time was a big participant in
TV DXing. For those who are not familiar with the techno-sport, TV DXing is
the hobby of receiving and identifying distant television broadcast signals from
far-off locations, often using specialized antennas and receiving equipment. Enthusiasts
seek to capture signals from stations hundreds or even thousands of miles away,
which requires advanced technical skills and sophisticated reception techniques.
Modern-day DX-ers typically document their reception achievements by capturing screenshots,
logging station details, and sharing their findings with other hobbyists through...
• FCC Toughens Stance on
Pirate Radio
• Mobile Operators Bemoan
$109B Infrastructure Cost
• 5G Adoption Grows,
LTE
Remains Strong
• China
to Host World Radio Conference?
• Intel
Delays Ohio Fab Till 2030
 Most of us have heard of the National Association
of Broadcasters (NAB). Founded in 1922 at the dawn of commercial radio broadcasting,
it is still in existence today. When commercial television broadcasting "stepped
out" in a major way in the early 1940s, industry chieftains and station owners decided
that their new media paradigm was unique enough to warrant a separate union, so
the
Television Broadcasters Association (TBA) was formed. A lot of
effort went into establishing and building a coalition with enough influence in
the marketplace and with government regulators, independent of radio, to exist as
a force to be dealt with. Many people believed that radio as an entertainment and
news media source would decrease at a rate as great or greater than television was
increasing. Once again, experts were not successful at predicting behavior of the
citizenry, which was true both in the United States and around the world...
 Windfreak Technologies designs, manufactures,
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agencies. Worldwide customers include Europe, Australia, and Asia. Please contact
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Thursday the 3rd
 The December 1969 issue of Radio-Electronics
magazine's "New & Timely" column reported that at the National Electronic Association
conference,
technicians reported burns and eye damage caused by X-radiation from color TV sets
under repair. Night vision scopes for commercial use were introduced by Raytheon,
suitable for law enforcement, industrial security, and nature study. A joint U.S.-Indian
plan planned to beam TV directly to millions of Indian villagers via a stationary
applications satellite in 1972. The French Atomic Energy Commission used a superpowerful
laser to create minute thermonuclear explosions, fusing deuterium...
 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 added to the product line in April, including a 5500
MHz WiFi cavity bandpass filter, a 3437-3537 MHz ceramic duplexer filter, and a
1425 MHz cavity bandpass filter. Custom RF power filter and directional couplers
designs can be designed and produced with required connector types when a standard
cannot be found, or the requirements are such that a custom approach is necessary...
 This article published in a 1955 issue of
Popular Electronics magazine is a really good primer on the history and
working principles of the
electron microscope. It also explains why such a device is needed;
i.e., why an optical microscope cannot do the job when really high levels of magnification
are required. As object dimensions are spaced at distances near to or less than
the optical wavelength being observed, it becomes impossible to resolve into separate
features. Accordingly, when observing at the upper end of the visible light spectrum
at around 400 nm, under ideal conditions you would not be able to clearly discern
two feature less than about 800 nm apart. Current (2019) CMOS gate thicknesses
run about 5 μm, so visible light cannot be used to image those structures.
Another resolution limiting factor is aperture size, which, depending on the wavelength
causes diffraction patterns of two objects to overlap...
 If you are a seasoned vintage electronics
equipment aficionado, restorer, hobbyist, etc., then you most likely already have
your own list of supply sources for vacuum tubes. Contrary to what others might
think, there is still a healthy stock of tubes available from private websites like
Pacific T.V. (hat tip to Bob Davis), as well
as collective sites like eBay, Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, and vintage electronic
equipment forums. Prices for common tubes are surprisingly low if you shop around.
If you need an output power amplifier for a commercial radio station, be prepared
to shell out major wampum, though. Many NOS (new old stock) varieties in original
boxes can be had, as well as used tubes. Most have been tested for specification
compliance.
 Westinghouse is yet another bulwark company
of America's foundational industrial age, beginning in the late 19th Century. George
Westinghouse founded eponymously-named company,
Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company, in 1886, during the time
he was working with Nikola Tesla (I wonder whether any of the current-day anti-Tesla
nimrods are stupid enough to vandalize NT statues and monuments?) to institute a
commercial electrification infrastructure. Mr. Westinghouse began his life
of fame and fortune with a locomotive air brake design. During World War II,
Westinghouse's many locations designed and manufactured many types of products to
facilitate troops in all Theaters of Operation. This 1943 issue of Popular Mechanics
magazine carried a full-page...
Wednesday the 2nd
 This set of three circuit analysis challenges
appeared in the January 1963 issue of Radio-Electronics magazine. Readers,
staff, and even come companies submitted the "What's
Your EQ?" (EQ = Electronics Quotient) content. As an example of the latter,
Cleveland Institute of Electronics provided "Draw the Waveform." Don't let the diode
vacuum tube deter you from the puzzle. Just mentally replace the tube with a solid
state diode symbol with the anode at the top where the tube's plate (anode) is shown.
The negative element of a tube is called the cathode, same as the solid state diode.
"Capacitor Charge" is easy enough. "Another 2-Box Light"...
 "Despite increasingly intense competition
for skills across all sectors of industry and a growing appetite amongst engineers
for a new challenge, engineering salaries appear to have stagnated over the past
12 months. This is just one of the key findings of The Engineer's tenth
annual salary survey, which is published in full on The Engineer's website
in a new interactive digital format. Attracting responses from 621 engineers working
across 12 different sectors, this year's survey was carried out between December
2024 and January 2025. As ever, the results provide a fascinating insight into
UK engineering salaries and how engineers are feeling about their careers..."
 In this 1963 issue of Radio-Electronics
magazine, editor Hugo Gernsback reflects on the early days of television, noting
that the first regular daily TV broadcast began on August 13, 1928, over radio stations
WRNY and W2XAL, which were associated with his former publication, Radio News.
Initially, these
broadcasts were silent, featuring only moving images the size of a postage stamp,
and it wasn't until 1931 that TV broadcasts included sound. Gernsback critiques
the slow progress in improving the audio quality of television receivers, pointing
out that despite advancements in high-fidelity and stereo audio technology, most
TV sets still lacked these features due to regulatory restrictions by the FCC. He
expresses hope that recent petitions to the FCC...
 Exodus Advanced Communications, is a multinational
RF communication equipment and engineering service company serving both commercial
and government entities and their affiliates worldwide. Exodus' model
AMP20081 high power solid state power amplifier (SSHPA) is ideal for broadband
EMI-Lab, communications, and EW applications. Class A/AB linear design accommodates
all modulations & industry standards. It covers 80-1000 MHz, producing
600 W nominal, with a 500 W P1dB and 56 dB minimum gain. Excellent
flatness, optional monitoring parameters for forward/reflected power, VSWR, voltage,
current & temperature sensing for superb reliability and ruggedness...
 In that these
comics from Radio-Craft magazine have an electronics
theme, you can claim looking at them is work-related. The themes of the comics reflect
common scenarios of the 1944-1945 era in which they were published, but with not
much modification can be applied to today's environment. People will always expect
more features from products, will be critical of everything presented to them, and
will want to haggle for the best deal from the used camel salesman. 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...
Tuesday the 1st
 In a groundbreaking announcement that will
forever transform global communications, QentComm®©™ (Quantum Entanglement Communications)
has unveiled the world's first
commercially viable quantum entanglement communication system. Dubbed QeG®©™
(Quantum entanglement Generation, pronounced kwee-gee), supplementing the traditional
4G, 5G, and 6G nomenclature, this revolutionary technology eliminates the limitations
of traditional radio-based systems, delivering instantaneous, unlimited connectivity
across any distance without reliance on satellites, cell towers, or fiber optics.
Under the leadership of Kirt Blattenberger, QentComm (pronounced kwent-kahm) has
created a system that defies conventional physics by utilizing quantum entanglement
for real-time, secure communication between devices anywhere in the universe - including
here on Earth...
 In this "Carl & Jerry" technodrama from
a 1957 issue of Popular Electronics magazine, the two boys start out enjoy a casual
day of kite flying, using a homebrew radio-controlled camera attached to the kite
to capture an aerial view of Round Island in a lake. After successfully taking a
picture, they develop the film and discover two men and an odd setup on the island.
Curious, they return the next day, find a hidden tunnel, and stumble upon an illegal
liquor still. As you might expect, the teens run into a heap of trouble when the
moonshiners nab them. Using their combined ingenuity and knowledge of communications
methods common to Ham radio operators of the era, contact was made and help was
on the way. Read about Carl and Jerry's exploit and exactly what it was that saved
the day - and their hides!
 "In late January 2025, 17 students and staff
members from Las Animas High School (LAHS) in Colorado visited the
Deep Space Exploration Society Radio Telescope (DSES) located at the Plishner
Radio Astronomy and Space Sciences Center near Haswell, Colorado. They also got
an introduction to amateur radio. 'This first field trip visit of high school students
reflected the dreams of Michael Lowe, former DSES board president, who sought to
create a center for radio astronomy and space science education in southeast Colorado,'
said DSES President Myron Babcock, KL7YY..."
 Making format changes to magazines after
many years of an established standard always ruffles the figurative feathers of
a significant portion of regular readers. Two magazines I read monthly, Model
Aviation and QST, recently underwent a format change - both of which
I considered very nice. However, reader comments in the aftermath showed a few who
were not impressed. Popular Electronics magazine in 1966 made announcements
regarding plans to adopt some of the
newer base units for physical measurements, including this one for beginning
to use "Hertz" (Hz), along various numerical prefix forms, instead of "cycles per
second" (cps). The editors give sound reason...
 The
Beverage Antenna, very familiar to amateur radio operators, is
a simple but efficient, highly directional, non-resonant antenna that consists of
a single straight wire of one or more wavelengths that is suspended above the ground.
It is orientated parallel to the direction of intended reception. One end is terminated
to ground through a resistor, and the other is connected to the receiver. The following
quote comes from the patent (US1,81,089) text: "In accordance with theoretical considerations,
if an antenna were to be freely suspended and if the surface of the earth constituted
a perfectly conducting parallel plane, current waves would travel through...
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