 Friday 23  Always a good way to end a busy week, here is a collection of electronics-themed comics that appeared in a 1967 issue of Popular Electronics magazine. A few of the artists you will recognize if you are a regular reader. Some drawing styles are immediately identifiable, such as those by Dave Harbaugh (of "Hobnobbing with Harbaugh" fame). Others, at least to me, are not quite so familiar. Frank Tabor, George White, Stan Fine, and JAS (I'm sure I know those initials, but can't place them) are amongst the others. I have to admit to not really knowing what the gag is in the comic with the guy in his pajamas. The party guy is cutting a wire to his ear buds ...
 Axiom Test Equipment, an electronic test equipment rental and sales company, has published a blog that explains semiconductor measurements, specifically, current-versus-voltage (I-V) characteristics and how semiconductors will respond under different I-V conditions. Semiconductor I-V testing is typically performed as a series of swept measurements, with values of I and V changing for each measurement as a means of detecting any trends in device performance under changing operating conditions. Read about which specifications are key to consider when choosing an I-V tester for your project's needs. Go over a few examples of I-V testers, a mainframe, and curve tracers which provide the test energy levels ...
 Here is a different type of quiz from Popular Electronics' master quiz-maker, Robert P. Balin. Rather than the typical format where you need to match a word or another picture with a picture, this one requires you to consider each description and decide whether it best describes an inductive, capacitive, or reactive circuit. I confess to messing up on question 20, because I couldn't remember whether a lagging power factor referred to voltage lagging current or current lagging voltage. Hint: It refers to current lagging voltage. Another hint: Remember the ELI the ICE man mnemonic ...
 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.
 RF Superstore is proud to announce its new line of coaxial RF Connector Short Circuits which has been added to our stock, with immediate availability. Connector types include BNC, N, SMA / 2.5 mm, and TNC, both male and female. When used in conjunction with our line of RF terminations, and through-type RF connector adapters, they are useful for equipment calibration. 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 ...
 "Once firmly rooted in its analog origins, critical communications is now steadily evolving to provide enhanced situational awareness. The latest public safety and military communications (MilCom) radios are more versatile and reliable, supporting ad-hoc networks to improve or enable connectivity. With higher-data-rate capabilities, critical communications solutions can send and receive high-resolution images, videos, and other types of data-intensive content. At the same time, they provide higher-quality voice communications while maintaining security. To ensure communications and interoperability, they still can support analog communications as a failsafe ..."
 Copper Mountain Technologies develops innovative and robust RF test and measurement solutions for engineers all over the world. Copper Mountain's extensive line of unique form factor Vector Network Analyzers include an RF measurement module and a software application which runs on any Windows PC, laptop or tablet, connecting to the measurement hardware via USB interface. The result is a lower cost, faster, more effective test process that fits into the modern workspace in lab, production, field and secure testing environments.
Thursday 22  Benjamin Franklin is credited with many inventions; scientific experiments and discoveries; writings on science, government, and fiction; skills as an orator and diplomat; printer of books and newspapers; business endeavors; and for being the nation's first Postmaster General. Although we all are familiar with his forays into things electrical in nature like flying kites in lightning storms, this article from a 1968 issue of Popular Electronics introduces us to what might have been the earliest "wireless" communications demonstration. The scheme involved the equivalent of the old lab gag of charging up a large-valued electrolytic capacitor and then tossing it to someone, resulting in a surprising shock. As with many of you, I have been both the victim and purveyor of said mischief ...
 Anatech Electronics, an RF and microwave filter company, has introduced a new line of suspended stripline and waveguide type RF filters. Sam Benzacar wrote as part of Anatech's August newsletter about the continued debate over whether exposure to cellphones causes cancer, diminished vision, etc. His short op−ed entitled "Radiation Hazard Battles Continue Unabated" is likely a response to the FCC's recent declaration that RF energy at 5G mm-wave frequencies does not pose an increased health hazard over existing technologies. Millimeter-wave energy is non-ionizing and does not penetrate the skin deeply enough to be an issue at operational power levels. Also included are ...
 With the new R&S NGM200, Rohde & Schwarz extends their range of specialized power supplies. The models of the R&S NGM200 series offer new features, which make them ideal for developing battery-powered equipment operating at up to 20 V and drawing currents up to 6 A. Available as single-channel and two-channel models: the R&S NGM200 power supplies. Being part of the same power supply family, both the R&S NGL200 and the new R&S NGM200 series offer the same superb performance and specifications to supply extremely stable outputs with a minimum of residual ripple and noise. Devices that switch from a few µA in sleep mode to several A in active mode benefit from the exceptionally fast load recovery time ...
 This is part of a series published by Radio News and the Short-Wave magazine in the early 1930s. As with most topics pertaining to electronics, the theory is still relevant and applicable to many modern circuits and systems. Piezoelectric principles are introduced for determining the frequency of oscillators. I have to admit to not having heard of the 'pyroelectric' effect. A pyroelectric crystal when heated or cooled develops charges on the extremities of its hemihedral (another new word for me, meaning "exhibiting only half the faces required for complete symmetry") axes. Types other than the familiar quartz include tourmaline, boracite, topaz, Rochelle salts, and even sugar. Read on to learn more ...
 "Richard Clarke knows a few things about clear and present dangers. He had already served under six presidents and been appointed the U.S.'s first counterterrorism czar when he joined the George W. Bush White House, but when he tried to alert important decision-makers before September 11 about the threat of a terrorist attack on U.S. soil, those warnings were largely ignored. These days, Clarke is still trying to get Americans to think hard about the next big attacks - and the ones that are quietly happening as you read this sentence. Clarke's new book, The Fifth Domain, written with cyber expert and fellow White House veteran Robert Knake ..."
 ERZIA serves critical aerospace and defense missions by designing and manufacturing RF, microwave, and mm-wave amplifiers, integrated assemblies operating from low frequencies up to 100 GHz, and by providing high reliable satellite communications. The company was founded in 2002 to become a worldwide reference of advanced engineering, performance, reliability and ruggedness. Their catalogue of standard amplifier modules comprises more than 100 different models, having also a high capacity of customization for amplifiers and integrated assemblies. Some of products have space heritage and are used in aerospace, commercial, military and scientific systems, having a wide range of final applications.
Wednesday 21  By the time most of us who even remember cathode ray tubes (CRTs) were first introduced to them, the technology and manufacturing processes had been pretty much perfected - especially for the standard 525-line resolution type. The NTSC published a standard for B&W television in 1941 and then for color in 1953. This "Picture Tubes" article in a 1955 issue of Popular Electronics provides a look inside a CRT manufacturing plant at General Electric. If you want one of the best explanations I have ever seen on how a TV picture scan is implemented, check out this video. If you don't understand raster scanning after watching it, you never will. You might be surprised to learn that there were not actually 525 lines of picture information, but that only about 480 to 487 lines of picture were included - the rest were ...
 It's kind of hard to believe that by 1955, the military was still very dependent on wired radio communications for field use. This system, heralded as a technological breakthrough for its ability to operate over a distance of 200 miles between units (with the aid of repeater cells), weighed in at 178 pounds and "occupies only five and a half cubic feet of space." A big part of the weight was probably due to the lead-acid batteries that powered it, although there was likely an ability to hook it up to a generator. A modulated carrier is credited with being able to stuff 12 channels into a single twisted pair of wires. No mention is made of whether any sort of encryption (scrambling) of the signals was used. No mention was made of the model number. If anyone out there can identify it, please let me know ...
 Ms. Cassie Stevens sent me an e-mail alerting me to the Engineering Degree Guidance website. Per Cassie, "It is an online resource for anyone who is looking for unbiased and professionally reviewed content and recommendations for Engineering degree programs. Our team was created so we can provide answers and all types of assistance needed to help improve the quality of information to those looking for guidance on these degree options. Our content is reviewed by top tier professors in the education and journalism spaces. Please check out our highly regarded editorial team; they are listed on the homepage of our website." Engineering Degree Guidance has been added to my list or related resources on the Job Information Resources page.
 This quiz is based on the information presented in Handbook of Dielectric and Thermal Properties of Materials at Microwave Frequencies, by Theodore Anderson. This book is a wealth of information of dielectric characteristics of biological tissues in plants, animals, as well as for ceramics, soils and minerals. Particular attention is paid to properties in the ISM frequency bands. Extensive sources for similar studies are provided. All RF Cafe quizzes would make perfect fodder in employment interviews for technicians or engineers - particularly those who are fresh out of school or are relatively new to the work world. Come to think of it, they would make equally excellent study material for the same persons who are going to be interviewed for a job.
 "Amid the fanfare around the announced Mott insulating and superconducting states observed in magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene (TBG) in the spring of 2018, the real excitement was around the questions the results left unanswered - what were these states and what might they explain about other systems? By measuring the capacitance of magic-angle TBG Pablo Jarillo-Herrero (who led the research behind the observations announced in 2018) and Ray Ashoori, alongside colleagues at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the U.S. and the National Institute of Materials Science (NIMS) in Japan ..."
 Providing full solution service is our motto, not just selling goods. RF & Connector Technology has persistently pursued a management policy stressing quality assurance system and technological advancement. From your very first contact, you will be supported by competent RF specialists; all of them have several years of field experience in this industry allowing them to suggest a fundamental solution and troubleshooting approach. Coaxial RF connectors, cable assemblies, antennas, terminations, attenuators, couplers, dividers, and more. Practically, we put priority on process inspection at each step of workflow as well as during final inspection in order to actualize "Zero Defects."
Tuesday 20  I find it interesting that "Project Tinkertoy," so dubbed by the National Bureau of Standards (NBS - now the National Institute of Standards and Technology, NIST), does not contain a trademark to acknowledge the ownership of the Tinkertoy™ name. This 1955 Popular Electronics story doesn't mention it, either. Tinkertoy has been around since 1914 and every boy I knew in my neighborhood had at least one set - usually received as a Christmas gift. I had a couple of them, as well as an Erector Set or two. That said, I believe that a more appropriate name for the endeavor would have been "Project Lego™" because of the way component blocks snap and stack together (with the help of a little solder) ...
 Rohde & Schwarz is offering a free wall poster entitled, "Be Ahead in Connecting Everything LTE-M." This is offered as part of their August "Wireless Testing Update" newsletter that covers the R&S®CMW270 Wireless Connectivity Tester and a new whitepaper entitled, "White Paper Power Saving Methods for LTE-M and NB-IoT Devices." "LTE-M and NB-IoT are LTE based internet of things (IoT) technologies. Both require long battery lifetime to ensure IoT services and minimize maintenance costs in the future. This white paper describes the possible power-saving methods for LTE-M and NB-IoT devices and gives a guideline of their applicability ..."
 RF Cafe's raison d'être is and always has been to provide useful, quality content for engineers, technicians, engineering managers, students, and hobbyists. Part of that mission is offering to post applicable job openings. HR department employees and/or managers of hiring companies are welcome to submit opportunities for posting at no charge (of course a gratuity will be graciously accepted). 3rd party recruiters and temp agencies are not included so as to assure a high quality of listings. Please read through the easy procedure to benefit from RF Cafe's high quality visitors ...
 Shortly before Christmas, 1947, the experimental work of Bell Laboratories scientists John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and William Shockley resulted in the world's first semiconductor transistor. With proper biasing, the germanium transistor demonstrated an ability to produce signal gain. The signal fed to the base resulted in a higher amplitude signal at the collector. Voila, the device which would ultimately replace the vacuum electron tube had been invented. The rest, as they say, is history. Aside from a few high power applications, the only new equipment produced that uses vacuum tubes are retro things like audio amplifiers and simple receivers. Of course, there is still a large cadre of vacuum tube users in the Amateur Radio real and vintage equipment restorers. If you have never watched a chassis full of tubes turn on and begin glowing ...
India's Chandrayaan 2 Spacecraft Entered Lunar Orbit  "India's Chandrayaan 2 spacecraft entered lunar orbit on Tuesday, executing one of the trickiest maneuvers on its historic mission to the Moon. After four weeks in space, the craft completed its Lunar Orbit Insertion as planned, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said in a statement. The insertion 'was completed successfully today at 0902 hrs IST (0332 GMT) as planned, using the onboard propulsion system. The duration of manoeuver was 1738 seconds,' the national space agency said. India is seeking to become just the fourth nation after Russia, the United States and China to land a spacecraft on the Moon ..."
 Rohde & Schwarz develops, produces and markets test & measurement, information and communications technology. Focus is on test and measurement, broadcast and media, cybersecurity, secure communications, monitoring and network testing. Markets serviced are wireless, the automotive industry, aerospace and defense, industrial electronics, research and education, broadcast and media network operations, consumer electronics, cybersecurity for business and governments, communications and security solutions for critical infrastructures and the armed forces, reconnaissance equipment for homeland and external security, and much more.
Monday 19  Along with an update to the Analog-to-Digital Converter (aka ADC or A2D) formulas page, a new worksheet has been added to the RF Cafe Calculator Workbook (v7.8) that will do all the calculations for you. lots of information is  available out the on the Web for ADCs, but two of the parameters you need to include them in receiver component cascade calculations, noise figure (NF) and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), can be difficult to find. Using well-honed search skills, (chough, cough), I located and posted them so as to make your life easier. Now, when you are using the amazingly fantastic RF Cascade Workbook by RF Cafe, you can plug those quantities in along with the filters, mixers, amplifiers, etc. You're welcome.
 Genius takes on many forms, not the least of which is the ability to concoct and compose an [almost] believable a story describing in the utmost detail the technical workings of a complex mechanical gadget. Items such as a mizule wrench, meta-phasic shielding, blinker fluid, a left-handed screwdriver, and - one of my favorites - the muffler bearing, have been heard in comic routines... er... routinely. No matter how many times you hear them you always laugh again. Some are actually a portmanteau and just sound funny while others are completely made up. This Digital Decabulator article that appeared in a 1966 issue of R/C Modeler magazine is amazing; it pegs the B.S. detector from beginning to end ...
 Keysight has just published a new whitepaper entitled "3 Key Challenges Implementing and Testing MIMO and Beamforming in 5G Base Stations and Components" that is available as a free download. "As 5G New Radio (NR) moves from the definition and specification phase into development, enabling technologies such as MIMO, and beamforming are critical. Engineers will use active phased array antennas to implement MIMO and beamforming in base stations and devices. In fact, these active antennas are critical to overcome signal propagation issues, such as higher path loss at millimeter wave frequencies. They also provide the ability to dynamically shape and steer beams to specific users. Active antennas ..."
 Radio-Craft magazine ran a monthly series of short articles paying tribute to some of the shakers and movers in the field of science - this time it was Sir Oliver Lodge. "While Hertz was discovering radio waves in air, Lodge was determining the laws of the corresponding activity which takes place in electrical conductors. It was Lodge who demonstrated the possibility of radio communication, experimentally, as Marconi did its commercial value - just as Henry created the telegraph and Morse made it of practical utility." See other "Men Who Made Radio" features on ...
 Please take a few moments to visit the everythingRF website to see how they can assist you with your project. everythingRF is a product discovery platform for RF and microwave products and services. They currently have 227,460 products from more than 1210 companies across 285 categories in their database and enable engineers to search for them using their customized parametric search tool. Amplifiers, test equipment, power couplers and dividers, coaxial connectors, waveguide, antennas, filters, mixers, power supplies, and everything else. Please visit everythingRF today to see how they can help you.
Sunday 18  This RF Cafe Engineering & Technical Headlines Crossword Puzzle contains at least 10 words from headlines posted on the homepage during the week of August 12 through August 16, 2019 (marked with an asterisk*). These custom-made engineering and science-themed crossword puzzles are done weekly for the brain-exercising benefit and pleasure of RF Cafe visitors who are fellow cruciverbalists. Every word and clue - without exception - in these RF Cafe puzzles has been personally entered into a very large database that encompasses engineering, science, physical, astronomy, mathematics, chemistry, etc. Let me know if you would like a custom crossword puzzle built for your company, school, club, etc. (no charge).
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RF Cafe's raison d'être is and always has been to provide useful, quality content for engineers, technicians, engineering managers, students, and hobbyists. Part of that mission is offering to post applicable job openings. HR department employees and/or managers of hiring companies are welcome to submit opportunities for posting at no charge (of course a gratuity will be graciously accepted). 3rd party recruiters and temp agencies are not included so as to assure a high quality of listings. Please read through the easy procedure to benefit from RF Cafe's high quality visitors ...  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 7,000 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. Banner advertising begins at $175/month ...
 RF Cascade Workbook 2018 is the next phase in the evolution of RF Cafe's long-running series, RF Cascade Workbook. 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 ...
 With more than 780 custom-built symbols, this has got to be the most comprehensive set of Visio Stencils available for RF, analog, and digital system and schematic drawings! Every object has been built from scratch to fit proportionally on the provided A- and B-size drawing page templates (you can use your own page if preferred). Components are provided for equipment racks (EIA and ETSI) and test equipment, system block diagrams and conceptual drawings, and for schematics ...
|  "OneWeb, whose mission is to connect everyone everywhere, is pleased to announce it has succeeded in bringing into use its spectrum rights in the Ku- and Ka-band spectrum. To achieve this milestone, OneWeb's satellites have been transmitting at the designated frequencies in the correct orbit for more than 90 days, enabling OneWeb to meet the requirements to secure spectrum bands over which it has priority rights under ITU rules and regulations. These rights will now be confirmed as the UK administration, which has filed our satellite system with the ITU, will complete the required Notification and Registration process of the company's LEO network ..."
 The Chinese DSLWP-B (LO-94) satellite that had been in lunar orbit provided a profile of Earth's HF spectrum as seen from the moon. The microsatellite subsequently was crashed into the moon's surface after having completed its mission. DSLWP stands for 'Discovering the Sky at Longest Wavelengths Pathfinder.' Among other things, DSLWP-B was designed to test low-frequency radio astronomy and space-based interferometry, and it carried Amateur Radio and educational payloads. The HF spectrum mission included mapping 'RF interference' from Earth ...
 "The Air Force Research Laboratory, in partnership with several universities, has investigated the effects of space weather damage to polyimides, materials used extensively in spacecraft construction due to their high heat resistance. The researchers determined the previously unknown chemical and physical effects of electron bombardment in Earth's magnetosphere on these polymers. Electrons trapped in the Earth's magnetic field are the most damaging components of weather in the geosynchronous Earth orbit. Polyimide films, such as Kapton, are used to construct spacecraft components, including flexible printed circuits, electronics, electronic packaging, wiring and thermal blankets ..."
 "Startup Cerebras will describe at Hot Chips the world's largest semiconductor device, a 16 nm wafer-sized processor array that aims to unseat Nvidia's GPUs dominance in training neural networks. The whopping 46,225 mm2 die consumes 15 kW, packs 400,000 cores, and is running in a handful of systems with at least one unnamed customer. Also, at this week's event Huawei, Intel and startup Habana will detail their chips for training neural networks. They all aim to attack Nvidia which last year sold about $3B in GPUs for the performance-hungry application. Intel's 1.1 GHz Spring Crest aims to stand out ..."
 "Excess heat given off by smartphones, laptops and other electronic devices can be annoying, but beyond that it contributes to malfunctions and, in extreme cases, can even cause lithium batteries to explode. To guard against such ills, engineers often insert glass, plastic or even layers of air as insulation to prevent heat-generating components like microprocessors from causing damage or discomforting users. Now, Stanford researchers have shown that a few layers of atomically thin materials, stacked like sheets of paper atop hot spots, can provide the same insulation as a sheet of glass 100 times thicker ..."
 "With the rise of online learning, it's never been easier for engineers to acquire new skills and stay current on the latest technologies. Here are a few of the best online engineering courses to take. Online courses are increasing in popularity, and it's creating an easy way to take engineering lessons. It's helping future engineers get access to learning various programming languages and develop new skills. It's also helping seasoned engineers sharpen their skills and keep current with new technologies and best practices. But some online engineering courses stand out from the rest. Here are the online engineering courses worth taking ..."
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