 Friday the 23rd
Thursday the 22nd
Wednesday the 21st
Tuesday the 20th
 Pasternak has an interesting article on
the Microwave Product Digest website entitled, "CubeSats:
An Emerging Market for the Microwave Industry." In framing the story with the
history of satellite communications, the author hearkens back to 1945 when Arthur
C. Clarke ("2001: Space Odyssey") described in Wireless World magazine
a way that communications could be achieved via Earth-orbiting "Extra-Terrestrial
Relays." It begins, "Spacecraft in low, mid, and high orbits provide a diverse
array of services from TV and radio broadcast to terrestrial and maritime communications,
remote sensing, and navigation and timing. Not surprisingly, the satellite industry
has been a steady consumer of RF and microwave components for more than five decades,
and the pace is likely to increase. The driver of this good fortune is the 'smallsat'
that makes it possible for even companies and governments without enormous financial
resources to create space-based services..."
 NextPCB is one of the most experienced PCB
manufacturers in China, has specialized in the PCB and assembly industry for over
15 years. NextPCB provides the most innovative printed circuit boards and assembly
technologies in the highest quality standards, turnaround time as fast as 24 hours,
the lowest manufacturer direct prices, and the most dedicated customer service in
the industry. Turnkey service without a broker including components sourcing, PCB
prototyping, manufacturing, assembly, quality testing, and final shipment. Certified
by IATF16949, ISO9001, ISO14001, UL, CQC, RoHS and REACH.
Monday the 19th
 "Monday, NASA's
Ingenuity Mars Helicopter became the first aircraft in history to make a powered,
controlled flight on another planet. The Ingenuity team at the agency's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California confirmed the flight succeeded after
receiving data from the helicopter via NASA's Perseverance Mars rover at 6:46 a.m.
EDT. 'Ingenuity is the latest in a long and storied tradition of NASA projects achieving
a space exploration goal once thought impossible,' said acting NASA Administrator
Steve Jurczyk. 'The X-15 was a pathfinder for the space shuttle. Mars Pathfinder
and its Sojourner rover did the same for three generations of Mars rovers. We don’t
know exactly where Ingenuity will lead us, but today's results indicate the sky
– at least on Mars – may not be the limit'..."
 Until the last couple decades, people of
the world recognized and called out evil by name when it reared its ugly head. Except
for subversive imbedded agents, media outlets - radio, television, print, speeches,
etc. - openly and vigorously condemned and attacked the enemy of its country's traditional
way of life. The theme ran deep and wide in news reports and in magazine features.
This advertisement for Air Adventures magazine which appeared in early 1940s
Radio News magazine is an example. In the place of politically correct
speech that doesn't dare to offend an entity which openly and maniacally seeks to
kill you we had the vast majority of media promoting nationalism and patriotism
in order to defeat the enemy. As with just about everything, eBay is a good source
of these vintage Air Adventures magazines. This particular publication only
ran for three editions. However, there were plenty of other titles that featured
stories of heroic adventures against the Nazi scum ;-) Flying Aces magazine...
 "Technology continues to advance with solutions
that demand more and more performance in terms of energy efficiency and data processing.
Kuprion, Inc., has patented a
copper-filled via technology that addresses the heat problem at the board level.
In an interview with EE Times, Kuprion president & founder Alfred Zinn pointed
out that thermal management of PCBs is very important, as improving heat transfer
can increase mean time between failures (MTBF) while at the same time increase the
performance of heat-generating components. Zinn said Kuprion's Copper Filled Thermal
Vias technology is an easy and cost-effective method that, placed directly under
a component that needs to be cooled, opens a second heat dissipation duct doubling
the cooling rate..."
 Communications links are so ubiquitous these
days that we pretty much take for granted the ability to connect to the Internet
and to other people. How many times have you been in public and heard someone have
a fit because she couldn't get a good enough signal to make a call? It requires
the person to get up and walk a few feet or maybe turn her chair in another direction
to get an extra bar on the iPhone. How inconvenient. Even when placing a call to
Hawaii or Alaska the expectation is that things just work. In 1963 when this
tropospheric scattering network was installed for linking Alaska to the lower
48 states, satellite communications was still in its infancy and coverage was nowhere
close to global. Even radio relay towers were relatively scarce across the landscape...
 With more than 1000
custom-built symbols, this has got to be the most comprehensive set of
Visio Symbols available 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...
 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.
Sunday the 18th
 This
Science &
Math Crossword Puzzle for April 18th has many 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!
 Radio-controlled flying drones are commonplace
today - so much so that the FAA has enacted legislation to strictly limit who can
fly them, where they can be flown, how big they can be, what type of payloads can
be carried, how far from the pilot they can be flown, etc. - the typical kind of
overreaching and overregulating that governments promulgate (especially in the last
few years). Sport model airplane flying has suffered loss of freedoms because of
it by getting lumped in with multirotor drones. The military, of course, has been
using radio-controlled drones for decades, as highlighted in this 1945 Radio-Craft
magazine article. Author Louis Bruchiss extolls the advantages of being able to
guide an ordinance payload after being released from an aircraft of after being
launched from the ground. Even vehicles like the German V-2 rocket with its gyroscopically
stabilized guidance...
Friday the 16th
 Is this cool or what? Of course I'll never
be able to afford one (maybe an R/C model someday, though). "Electric boats of all
shapes and sizes are beginning to make a splash in the maritime sector. It's estimated
that maritime greenhouse gas emissions account for around 2.5% of the global total,
marginally ahead of the 2% that aviation contributes. If shipping were a country,
it would be the sixth largest emitter of CO2 after China, the USA, India, Russia
and Japan. International shipping - much like long-haul flight - will not be electrified
any time soon, as the energy density of batteries simply cannot facilitate it. And
for an industry that's recently committed to halve its emissions by 2050..."
 Is this the future of engineering, science,
medicine, economics, and all other math-intensive fields? If it is, we're in trouble.
"A
Pathway to Equitable Math Instruction Dismantling Racism in Mathematics Instruction"
is being considered for incorporation into school curriculums across the country.
Its premise is that requiring students to arrive at the correct answer is White
supremacy (p1), and that any wrong answer is the fault of the teacher, who needs
to "Recognize mistakes as miscommunicated knowledge." (p9) Get that? If a student
screws up, it's not her fault. It is worth a few minutes of your time to look through
this. I guarantee you that China demands correct answers of their math students.
They are laughing at idiot school systems in the U.S. We're doing their work for
them in achieving global technical dominance. The training manual was funded by
the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Should we expect future releases of Windows
to adopt the anti-White supremacy, results are interpretive philosophy? A
BSoD is coming
to a computer near you. Apple will need to purge the racist objective measures from
their OS as well.
 This quiz is based on the information presented
in "Introduction
to Infrared and Electro-Optical Systems," by Ronald G. Driggers and Melvin H.
Friedman. All RF Cafe Quizzes make great fodder for 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.
 Here is another exciting episode of the sleuthing
adventures starring Popular Electronics' tech savvy teenagers, Carl and
Jerry. The "Hardy Boys of electronics" are the creation of author John T. Frye,
who created short story adventures for many years - long enough to at one point
require a major modification in the boys' appearances to reflect more modern attire
and eyewear (Carl's "The Far Side"-style glasses had to go). This particular adventure
begins with Carl considering whether his ham radio hobby is more useful from the
standpoint of its technical aspects or of its social aspects. An unrelated electronics-themed
comic is included since it appeared on one of the story pages.
 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. 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...
 Atenlab has been operating in Taiwan for
more than a decade, and has sold and installed hundreds chambers around the world.
Holistic, affordable Over-the-Air
(OTA) measurement systems perform comprehensive measurement and test in a controlled
environment. Compact Antenna Test Range (CATR) with one-touch operation supports
multiple systems - 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G - and major instrument brands. [M]ulti-probe OTA
measurement systems offer reduced time measurements over single-probe systems.
Thursday the 15th
 Windfreak Technologies announces the availability
of the new
SynthHD Mini RF Signal Generator. The SynthHD Mini is the smallest 10 MHz
to 15 GHz RF Signal Generator in the world - a mere 1.60 x 1.60 x 0.48 inches
(4.06 x 4.06 x 1.22 cm). Expect excellent performance despite the ultra-small
size and price of this device. Tune any frequency between 10 MHz and 15 GHz
in 0.01 Hz resolution. Adjust calibrated amplitude in 0.01 dB resolution
up to +20 dBm and across more than 30 dB of range. Perform FM, AM, Pulse,
Sweep, and List Modulations. See the Tabs below to download a full datasheet and
other documents. Windfreak Technologies has set the bar on microwave radio frequency
generators for quality, size, and price. As always, our products are designed and
manufactured in the USA! In Stock.
 "Sensors that can detect magnetic fields
have many potential applications, for instance, in the development of sophisticated
medical devices and transportation systems. Most approaches for
detecting 3D magnetic fields developed so far, however, require several sensors,
which makes them bulky and difficult to implement on a large-scale. With this in
mind, researchers at the Nanoscale Energy-Efficient Device and System (NEEDS) Lab
at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in China set out to develop a single
spin-orbit device that can individually detect 3D magnetic fields. The device they
designed, presented in a paper published in Nature Electronics and inspired by their
previous work, is based on a Ta/CoFeB/MgO (tantalum / cobalt-iron-boron / magnesium
oxide) heterostructure..."
 American
physicists Carl Anderson and Seth Neddermeyer were studying cosmic rays when they
discovered the muon in 1936. The
discovery of this particle was so surprising that Nobel laureate Isidor Isaac Rabi
exclaimed: "Who ordered that?" Dr. Rabi
was an American physicist who won the
Nobel Prize
in Physics in 1944 for his discovery of nuclear magnetic resonance and was a
pioneer in the development of the
cavity magnetron.
 So much time has passed since an average
home garage mechanic could service his car or truck with standard tools - combination
wrenches, screwdrivers, socket sets, timing light, and a multimeter - that asking
"remember when?" is passé. That era pretty much ended in the late 1980s as computerized
cars were becoming the industry norm. A good percentage of people nowadays have
never and will never service their own vehicles. In the mid 1940s, the electronics
world was lamenting a similar situation with diminishing ability to build and modify
electronic components like coils and stacked plate capacitors because of the increasingly
higher frequencies being used in communications (way up into the UHF band!). This
article introduces the
klystron tube, having been around for less than a decade at the time, as being
one of the culprits that was enabling the disturbing trend...
 I first saw this amazing photograph in the
April 2012 issue of Astronomy magazine. It is an
8-year-long image of the sun's path across the sky as recorded by by Fine Art
student Regina Valkenborgh from August 2012 through September 2020. She lined some
beer cans with photographic paper and punched a tiny hole in the can, mounted them
in locations around an observatory in the UK, then forgot about them. Most perished,
but this one survived and was found by a staffer. Ms. Valkenborgh now has the
honor of being responsible for the longest-ever photographic film time exposure.
Pinhole cameras have no lens, since light rays entering the container follow
a nearly singular path to the film surface. The smaller the hole, the sharper the
focus. Less light enters the camera, so a longer exposure time is required. Pointing
it at the sun provides an intense source of light, but it is still little enough
to not overwhelm the film over a period of 8 years.
 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 object has been built to fit proportionally on the provided
A-, B- and C-size drawing page templates (or can use your own). Stencils 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...
 Triad RF Systems designs and manufactures
RF power amplifiers
and systems. Triad RF Systems comprises three partners
(hence 'Triad') with over 40 years of accumulated
knowledge of what is required to design, manufacture, market, sell and service RF/Microwave
amplifiers and amplifier systems. PA, LNA, bi-directional, and frequency translating
amplifiers are available, in formats including tower mount, benchtop, rack mount,
and chassis mount. "We view Triad more as a technology partner than a vendor for
our line-of-sight communications product line." Please check to see how they can
help your project.
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 As with so many things we take for granted
today, the U.S. Army Signal Corps' nationwide announcement on January 25th, 1946,
that the first
earth-to-moon-to-earth (EME, aka moonbounce) contact had been made by radar
was a big deal. Hams make EMEs on a regular basis, although it still is not a simple
accomplishment and takes some special equipment. The term "selsyn" used in the article
is a portmanteau of "self-synchronous," and refers to a device for precisely positioning
something like an antenna. Magazine editor Hugo Gernsback included some kudos from
contemporary notables like Audion inventor Lee DeForest and Radio Corporation of
America (RCA) president David Sarnoff for having predicted the method and results
in a 1927 article entitled "Can We Radio the Planets? See "Moon-Radio Predicted
in 1927" at the bottom of the page.
 After having read many articles about Dr. Lee
de Forest, it seems the poor guy was besieged his entire life by envious and/or
belligerent electronic communications compatriots who sought to defame him and/or
deny him of monetary rewards. This January 1947 issue of Radio-Craft magazine
includes a dozen or so pieces written by friends and colleagues who recognized the
momentous struggles and achievements of Dr. de Forest. Such burdens of
fame are borne by many - if not all - persons of similar celebrity. Dogged persistence
is the order of the day for experimenters and breakers-through of assumedly impenetrable
walls. Guys like de Forest lived by the old adage recommending that "if at
first you don't succeed, try, try again." You'll be amazed at how de Forest whipped
- almost literally - that thing which was preventing his
wireless telephone from working. BTW, as I've pointed out before, you will find
the good doctor's last name written as "de Forest, DeForest, and De Forest."
As evidenced by his signature...
 Here is a little electronics hobbyist humor
in the form a comic series titled "Hobnobbing with Harbaugh," compliments of
Popular Electronics magazine. Dave Harbaugh drew many comics for technical
magazines. For the non-Ham, QSL is the Q-code for "'I confirm that I received your
transmission." You don't need to be an amateur radio operator to appreciate these
comic strips, though. Note that with it being 1963, the husband and wife are shown
sleeping in separate beds - just like in the TV shows of the era like The Dick Van
Dyke Show and I Love Lucy. BTW, the kid in the crib is spelling out -..(d) .-(a)
-..(d) -..(d) -.--(y).
 Electronic mail did not start out as we know
it today, whereby anyone with access to an Internet-connected device can compose
and send a typed message to a similarly equipped receiver. The first electronic
mail message was sent (and received) on November 1, 1960, between post offices in
Washington, D.C., and Chicago, Illinois. This article from Popular Electronics
magazine takes you on a step-by-step tour of how the
Speed Mail system worked, including its dedicated shortwave radio links between
participating cities. Great care was taken in an attempt to assure message confidentiality
by having the letter opened and scanned automatically inside a sealed machine on
the transmit end and then printed and placed in a sealed envelope on the receive
end. Knowing what we know now about government snooping...
 This
Technology
Theme Crossword Puzzle for April 25th has many 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!
RfCaFe
autodidacts
Electronics-Themed Comics June 1951 Radio-Electronics
 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 13,000 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. If you need your company news to be seen, RF Cafe
is the place to be.
 RF Cascade Workbook 2018 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...
 It was a lot of work, but I finally finished
a version of the "RF & Electronics Schematic & Block Diagram Symbols" that
works well with Microsoft Office™ programs Word™, Excel™, and Power Point™.
This is an equivalent of the extensive set of amplifier, mixer, filter, switch,
connector, waveguide, digital, analog, antenna, and other commonly used symbols
for system block diagrams and schematics created for Visio™. Each of the 1,000 or
so symbols was exported individually from Visio in the EMF file format, then imported
into Word on a Drawing Canvas. The EMF format allows an image to be scaled up or
down without becoming pixelated, so all the shapes can be resized in a document
and still look good. The imported symbols can also be UnGrouped into their original
constituent parts for editing. Check them out!
With more than 1000
custom-built symbols, this has got to be the most comprehensive set of
Visio Symbols available 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...
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 object has been built to fit proportionally on the provided
A-, B- and C-size drawing page templates (or can use your own). Stencils 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...
 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
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. 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...
|
 "Researchers at the National Institute of
Standards and Technology (NIST) and collaborators have demonstrated an
atom-based sensor that can determine the direction of an incoming radio signal,
another key part for a potential atomic communications system that could be smaller
and work better in noisy environments than conventional technology. NIST researchers
previously demonstrated that the same atom-based sensors can receive commonly used
communications signals. The capability to measure a signal's angle of arrival helps
ensure the accuracy of radar and wireless communications, which need to sort out
real messages and images from random or deliberate interference..."
 At first I thought this was a news item about
Maxwell Smart's archenemy. "A complex network of randomly interconnected logic gates
creates conditions that could thwart hackers. Not all
chaos is bad. In the case of programmable chips, chaos can be harnessed to create
a unique digital identifier. Think of it as a fingerprint—only, instead of distinctive
loops and whorls on human skin, this is about the unique physical variations present
in silicon chips. These minute differences, often at an atomic level, vary from
chip to chip, even if they are manufactured together. The physical variations can
be amplified using a technology called physically unclonable functions (PUFs) to
create a signature that is unique to a specific chip..."
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