Homepage Archive - December 2016 (page 1)

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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This is Page 1 | 2 of the December 2016 homepage archives.

 

Friday 30

Thursday 29

Wednesday 28

Tuesday 27

Monday 26

Friday 23

Thursday 22

Wednesday 21

Tuesday 20

Monday 19

Friday 16

Thursday 15

Mexico Still Not Extending Reciprocal Amateur Radio Operation to U.S.

Mexico Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones - RF CafeEven after tens of millions of its citizens have 'migrated' here to the U.S. and continue to receive virtually unlimited social welfare and education privileges, the Mexico Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones still does not extend reciprocal operating privileges to U.S. Hams within its borders. Just as Mexico enforces a severe policy of keeping non-citizens out of its country, it has built a virtual wall to keep non-citizen amateur radio operators from plying their craft there. What a crock ...

Flexible Supercapacitors Can Charge Devices and EVs in Seconds

Flexible Supercapacitors Can Charge Devices and EVs in Seconds - RF Cafe"Allowing mobile devices to charge within minutes remains a Holy Grail of sorts for energy storage researchers. Now a team of scientists at the University of Central Florida (UCF) is that much closer to achieving this milestone with the development of flexible supercapacitors that can store more energy than typical batteries and be charged tens of thousands of times without degrading. The team from the university's NanoScience Technology Center advocates ..."

Front-End Modules Make Smart Connections for IoT

Front-End Modules Make Smart Connections for IoT - RF CafeSkyworks has a pretty nice article in the December 2016 issue of Microwave & RF magazine titled Front-End Modules Make Smart Connections for IoT. "The basic idea of the Internet of Things (IoT) may seem simple: wireless communications between sensors and the Internet. But for engineers faced with designing its component parts, such a simple description is much less than the tip of the iceberg. Challenges are presented by every component within an IoT product, the software that enables it, and ..."

Canada Telecoms Regulator Revises Amateur Radio Service Requirements

Canada Telecoms Regulator Revises, Clarifies Amateur Radio Service Requirements - RF Cafe"Canada's telecoms regulator Innovation, Science, and Economic Development Canada (ISED) — formerly Industry Canada (IC) — has issued a revised version of the Radiocommunication Information Circular 3 (RIC-3), 'Information on the Amateur Radio Service,' replacing the previous 2005 version. According to ISED, RICs are issued for the guidance of those engaged in radiocommunications in Canada, and the information they contain is subject to change without notice. 'Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC) ..."

Nanoantennas on Glass: Path to Full Photonic Night Vision?

Nanoantennas on Glass: Path to Full Photonic Night Vision? - RF CafeNo, it's not an insect. "In a paper published in Nano Letters, a team of researchers from the Australian National University (ANU) are revealing a new way to fabricate nanoantennas so as to be able to lay them evenly on top of a transparent glass substrate. This new feat, they explain in the paper 'Nonlinear Generation of Vector Beams From AlGaAs Nanoantennas,' makes it possible to observe and characterize the nanoantennas' behaviour with respect to different light frequencies shone at them ..."

Japan Launching Space Junk Collector

Japan Launching Space Junk Collector - RF Cafe"Japan launched a cargo ship Friday bound for the International Space Station, carrying a 'space junk' collector that was made with the help of a fishnet company. The vessel, dubbed "Kounotori" (stork in Japanese), blasted off from the southern island of Tanegashima attached to an H-IIB rocket. Scientists at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) are experimenting with a tether to pull junk out of orbit around Earth, clearing up tonnes of space clutter including cast-off equipment ..."

Wednesday 14

3 New Vintage Radio Service Data Sheets

Atwater Kent Model 649 All-Wave 9 Metal Tube Superhet. Set Radio Service Data Sheet, November 1935 Radio-Craft - RF CafeYour patient indulgence is appreciated once again as I post notice of these three additional Radio Service Data Sheets from the November 1935 issue of Radio-Craft magazine. Google and Bing (the only two search engines that count) scan the RF Cafe homepage hourly for new content, so putting the hyperlinked text here expedites their registration in the search databases. There's no better way to get your company news noticed than to have it appear here, BTW.

Atwater Kent Model 649 All-Wave, Howard Model G-26, and "Airplane 4" Model AA25, and Stewart-Warner "Ferrodyne" Chassis Model R-136

DOT Mulls New Wi-Fi Calling Rules for Airplanes

DOT Mulls New Wi-Fi Calling Rules for Airplanes - RF Cafe"With a nod to Wi-Fi calling, the U.S. Dept. of Transportation (DOT) is taking comments on a proposal to regulate voice calls on passengers' mobile devices on flights to, from and within the United States. The DOT notes that the FCC currently prohibits the use of certain commercial mobile bands onboard aircraft, but that ban does not cover Wi-Fi and other means by which it is possible to make voice calls. In 2013, the FCC proposed lifting its existing ban, so long as certain conditions ..."

CoreHW Added to RF Cafe's RFIC Design Services Page

CoreHW RFIC Design Services - RF CafeCoreHW, located in Tampere, Finland, is a fabless RFIC Design Service Company, developing state-of-the-art RF integrated circuits to customers worldwide. CoreHW is focused in the development of advanced integrated circuits for wireless data transmission, sensor interfaces and space applications. CoreHW offers high quality full custom RFs, analog and mixed-signal IC Design Services, IPs and ASIC Solutions with cutting edge performance for semiconductor products. +358-50-4667350

RFIC Design Services

Quantum Devices / how they work

Quantum Devices / how they work, December 1963 Electronics World - RF CafeDecades from now, readers will look back at today's science magazines reporting on topics such as breakthroughs on quantum computing and quantum entanglement the way we now look back at articles from the middle to latter half of the last century, and be amazed at how the understanding and exploitation of various technologies was just getting started. This particular piece on quantum device is not at all related to the two aforementioned topics; rather, it introduces the concept of discrete (quantum) energy levels of atomic electron orbitals and how they determine photon absorption ...

Open Source Foundations Adopt oneM2M Standards

Open Source Foundations Adopt oneM2M Standards - RF Cafe"oneM2M, the global standards partnership for Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communications and the Internet of Things (IoT), has revealed its standards are being used by a number of independent open source foundations and projects, in addition to commercial deployments, as the industry looks to accelerate take up of IoT products and platforms. Several open source foundations and projects have been actively using oneM2M standards in various applications and services since ..."

Europe's Galileo Satellite Navigation System to Go Live on Thursday

Europe's Galileo Satellite Navigation System to Go Live on Thursday - RF Cafe"Europe's Global satellite navigation system is all set to go live this Thursday. Seventeen years and more than €10B ($11B) later, Europe's Galileo satnav system promises to outperform U.S. and Russian rivals while boosting regional self-reliance. Initial services will be free to use worldwide on smartphones and navigation boxes fitted with Galileo-compatible microchips. Some devices may only need a software update to start using the new technology, as several smartphone companies were ..."

Tuesday 13

Thermoelectric Material Made in Paintable Liquid Form

Thermoelectric Material Made in Paintable Liquid Form - RF Cafe"Scientists have developed liquid-like thermoelectric (TE) materials that can be painted on almost any surface. This new technology can convert exhaust heat into electricity for vehicles and other applications. These newly developed materials are both shape-engineerable and geometrically compatible in that they can be directly brush-painted on almost any surface. The thermoelectric effect is the direct conversion of temperature differences to electric voltage and vice versa. This effect can be used either for heating or for cooling ..."

Highland Technology Intros P620 Resistance Simulator

Highland Technology Intros P620 Resistance Simulator - RF CafeHighland Technology announces the latest release in its line of standalone test and measurement modules, the P620 Resistance Simulator. The P620 includes six independent, isolated channels that can simulate platinum RTDs and resistances ranging from 5 Ω to 5 MΩ. It uses entirely solid-state simulation to eliminate transient errors associated with relay switching and provides for monotonic resistance changes. Any channel may be rerouted, under software ...

Hallicrafters - A Message for Christmas

Hallicrafters - Message for Christmas, January 1941 QST - RF CafeHalli(gan) and (hand)crafters was founded in Chicago in 1932 by William J. Halligan. The company designed and manufactured radio equipment for hobby, commercial, and military applications and quickly became very popular amongst their users. As was customary for U.S. businesses, Hallicrafters ran a Christmas advertisement in the January issue of magazines where they appeared. The January edition, as is common even now, is typically mailed in early December, getting it in the hands of readers in time ...

Chief Technology Officer Wanted by Aethercomm

Chief Technology Officer Wanted by Aethercomm - RF Cafe

Aethercomm, Inc., a leading edge RF amplifier design and manufacturing firm is seeking a strategic engineering leader. The Chief Technology Officer must have excellent people management skills and exceptional leadership skills to mentor engineers in a high growth, very dynamic environment. Must have Technical expertise is all aspects of RF and Microwave design. With emphasis on RF amplifiers, microwave substrates, microwave circuits, from VHF to 40 GHz ...

Electron Highway Inside Crystal

Electron Highway Inside Crystal - RF Cafe"Physicists of the University of Würzburg have made an astonishing discovery in a specific type of topological insulators. The effect is due to the structure of the materials used. The researchers have now published their work in the journal Science. Topological insulators are currently the hot topic in physics according to the newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung. Only a few weeks ago, their importance was highlighted again as the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm awarded this year's Nobel Prize in Physics to three British ..."

The 15 Most Downloaded FREE eBooks of 2016

The 15 Most Downloaded FREE eBooks of 2016 - RF CafeThe 15 Most Downloaded eBooks of 2016 list has arrived. Check out the free eBooks from top publishers, including: MakeUseOf, Sitepoint, Free Management eBooks, and Business Management Daily and request your favorites. Titles include JavaScript: Novice to Ninja, Introduction to Linux - A Hands on Guide, Microsoft Excel 2016 -- Quick Reference Guide, Overcoming Procrastination - Productivity Skills, and ...

Monday 12

NHTSA Proposes Adding 'Driver Mode' to Cellphones

NHTSA Proposes Adding 'Driver Mode' to Cellphones - RF Cafe"The U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (NHTSA) has issued proposed guidelines that it says will help to reduce accidents and fatalities attributable to distracted driving. Issued just prior to the Thanksgiving holiday, the voluntary guidance calls on electronics manufacturers to modify their devices to include a 'driver mode' that would block certain features and applications from being accessed by a driver when a vehicle is in motion. Regulators see the recommended modification as similar to the 'airplane mode' feature ..."

Selenium Rectifiers

Selenium Rectifiers, October 1952 Radio & Television News Article - RF CafeBefore silicon and germanium semiconductors came online for use as diode rectifiers, selenium was the material du jour. Selenium devices were widely adopted for use as bridge rectifiers in power supplies and as detectors in AM radios, where applicable, in place of vacuum tubes. At the time, they were not particularly cheaper to implement, but there was an advantage in greater ruggedness, longer lifetime, and lower power consumption (no heater element or high bias voltage required). Electronics magazines of the era published many articles ...

Bluetooth 5 is Finally Here!

Bluetooth 5 is Finally Here! - RF Cafe"The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) has officially announced the adoption of Bluetooth 5 as the latest version of the Bluetooth core specification. Key updates to Bluetooth 5 include longer range, faster speed, and larger broadcast message capacity, as well as improved interoperability and coexistence with other wireless technologies. Bluetooth 5 will continue to advance the Internet of Things (IoT) experience by enabling simple and effortless interactions across a vast range of connected ..."

5 Suppliers to Hold 41% of Global Semi Market Share in 2016

5 Suppliers to Hold 41% of Global Semi Marketshare in 2016 - RF Cafe"Vigorous M&A activity in 2015 and 2016 has reshaped the landscape of the semiconductor industry, with the top companies now controlling a much greater percentage of market share. Not including foundries, IC Insights forecasts to top five semiconductor suppliers - Intel, Samsung, Qualcomm, Broadcom, and SK Hynix - will account for 41% market share in 2016. This represents a 9-point increase ..."

Electronics Technology Crossword Puzzle for December 11, 2016

Electronics Technology Crossword Puzzle for December 11, 2016 - RF CafeFor the sake of avid cruciverbalists amongst us, each week I create a new crossword puzzle that has a theme related to engineering, mathematics, chemistry, physics, and other technical words. You will never be asked the name of a movie star unless he/she was involved in a technical endeavor (e.g., Hedy Lamar). Enjoy ...

Friday 9

Frequency Modulation, Facsimile, & c.

Frequency Modulation, Facsimile, Sound, & Nazi Propaganda, November 1939, Radio-Craft - RF CafeEach month, Radio-Craft magazine ran a feature titled "In Review," which covered a variety of late-breaking news topics related to communications. Most of the time the focus was on wireless advances, but occasionally, as in the November 1939 issue, you would see things like a huge public address & music system installation at Union Station or a flash about Nazi control over radio broadcasts. Modern news publications follow the same template with round-up type articles. The up and coming frequency modulation (FM) scheme leads here, followed by the wonders of facsimile machines that transmit "facsy" formatted news to remote offices ...

Pentagon to Unveil New Electronic Warfare Strategy

Pentagon to Unveil New Electronic Warfare Strategy - RF Cafe"The Pentagon's soon-to-be published Electronic Warfare strategy calls for increased investment in advanced electronic warfare technology designed to defend U.S. assets and proactively use the electromagnetic spectrum to attack enemies. A key part of the calculus for this strategy will be to integrate new EW technologies with existing Army, Navy and Air Force emerging EW weapons. This includes developing EW systems such as the Navy's Next Generation Jammer, Army vehicle-mounted EW and Air Force ..."

The Gadget Apocalypse Is Upon Us

The Gadget Apocalypse Is Upon Us - RF Cafe"Remember gadgets? They were little electronic things that did stuff for you. They would play music or record videos or give you directions or let you play games on the go. They were fun. Everyone had them. Everyone wanted them. There were whole magazines and websites and even TV shows devoted to them. For 30 or 40 years, through recessions and war, through stability and revolutions, they were always there, one gadget after another, from transistor radios to ..."

December 6, 2016 - Meteor Turns Russian Night Sky into Day

Is Russia in the wrong place on Earth or what? Yet another massive meteor (bolide) streaked cross the Khakassia sky, but cause no damage, unlike the Chelyabinsk superbolide in 2013 that shattered windows and injured nearly 1,500 people. The world's Near Earth Objects sentinel systems never saw this one - or the other one - coming. The Chicxulub crater on the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico is postulated to have been caused by the impact of a 10 km diameter asteroid with an energy of 420 zettajoules. Its age of 65 million years coincides with the time dinosaurs disappeared from Earth. The next big event is overdue.

Thursday 8

Wireless Innovation Forum Releases Specs for 3.5 GHz Shared Spectrum

Wireless Innovation Forum Releases Essential Specifications for U.S. Shared Spectrum 3.5 GHz - RF Cafe"The Wireless Innovation Forum announced today member approval and public availability of its Spectrum Sharing Committee's (SSC) highly anticipated signaling protocols and procedures to be used in the U.S. 3.5 GHz Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) band for the Spectrum Access System (SAS) – Citizens Radio Broadband Service Device (CBSD) and 'Spectrum Access System (SAS) – SAS' Interfaces. These standards are the first of their kind addressing the new FCC Part 96 rules for CBRS. Publication of ..."

Ofcom Declines to Act in Nightmare Neighbour Next Door Ham Radio Episode

Ofcom Declines to Act in Nightmare Neighbour Next Door Ham Radio Episode - RF CafeTypical stupid news media people: "UK telecoms regulator Ofcom has declined to act on formal complaints about an October 27 episode of the Channel 5 television program Nightmare Neighbour Next Door (S05E08 not currently available). That episode focused on 75-year-old Armando Martins, M0PAM, of Kent, whose neighbors had made unsubstantiated claims that RF radiating from his 30-foot vertical antenna was detrimental to their health. The Radio Society of Great Britain  weighed in following the airing of the show. Radio amateurs across the UK also complained that the program episode was replete with false claims and pointed ..."

'Photonic Water' Could Be Boon for Optoelectronic Applications

'Photonic Water' Could Be Boon for Optoelectronic Applications - RF Cafe"A two-dimensional metal oxide material called titanate nanosheets has remained pretty much off the radar of flatland materials expected to transform the worlds of electronics and optoelectronics. Its biggest claim to fame has been that it is pretty effective at cleaning up contaminants. However, it would seem that titanate nanosheets history of being overlooked in the catalogue of 2D materials may ..."

War Comes! - January 1942 QST

The Erie Daily Times: Pearl Harbor Attack - RF CafeThis was the front page of The Erie Daily News on the morning after the Pearl Harbor attack. The news stunned everyone. Emergency measures were implemented nationwide. Amateur radio operators had their transmission privileges curtailed immediately, similar to restrictions during WWI. Just as President Woodrow Wilson issued an executive order prohibiting unauthorized transmissions by amateurs, President Roosevelt had the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ban the radio transmissions of Hams. The fear ...

Thin-Film Transistors Provide Faster Electrical Circuits

Thin-Film Transistors Provide Faster Electrical Circuits - RF Cafe"The secret to improved electrical circuits has become something of a holy grail in recent years. As technology has evolved to be smaller and more adaptable, so too has the need for versatile electrical circuits that can bend with designs while still retaining speed and efficiency. And after many false starts and errors, it looks like scientists have finally found a way to create the speedy electrical circuits our technology so badly ..."

Wednesday 7

Electronic Crossword Puzzle from the May 1963 Issue of Electronics World

Electronic Crossword Puzzle, May 1963 Electronics World - RF CafeNearly every week I create and publish a crossword puzzle filled with words and clues all of which are relevant to the realms of engineering, science, mathematics, chemistry, mechanics, optics, communications, amateur radio, etc. It is rare to find a crossword puzzle that contains no 'filler' type words used just for the sake of being able to construct a puzzle. I use software that takes my custom-built dictionary of a few thousand words and definitions, and fits them to grids that I create ...

Should NASA's Charter for Space Exploration Include AGW?

NASA Earth Science Satellites - RF CafeNASA, DoD, and other federal government functions' budgeted monies have been diverted to AGW projects while starving legitimate needs to fulfill original charter responsibilities. For instance, the Navy is forced to buy $25/gallon biofuels for some fleet operations. The Army must build expensive 'green' electric power s sources for its installation. Meanwhile, funds to replace battle-worn components are scarce and veteran health care is notoriously atrocious. This Space Daily article touches on the potential changes to come under new executive-level administration ...

Navy Advances Aegis Radar, RF in Destroyer Overhaul

Navy Advances Aegis Radar, RF in Destroyer Overhaul - RF Cafe"The Navy is modernizing its destroyers and cruisers with Aegis technology equipped with new multi-mission signal processors, kill assessment systems, and radio frequency upgrades, service officials said. The upgrades are part of an intense effort to arm the fleet of destroyers and cruisers with modernized Aegis radar technologies to help the ships better attack adversaries and defend themselves from enemy missiles. Aegis radar, a technology now on destroyers and cruisers, provides terminal phase ballistic missile defense and an ability to knock ..."

Thanks to Saelig for Supporting RF Cafe!

Saelig Company ElectronicsCompanies like Saelig that advertise on RF Cafe are responsible for its existence. 3rd-party ads from Google and GlobalSpec provide a pretty good income, but I much prefer serving private ads because #1: I totally control the content (to make sure it is relevant) and #2: my GIF files are much smaller and serve much faster than the 3rd-party ads. Saelig sells and supports a wide range of electronic control and instrumentation equipment and components to customers ranging from Fortune 500 industrial users, military, educational institutions and hospitals to individual end-users ...

Four More Radio Service Data Sheets Added to the RF Cafe Archive

American-Bosch Model 430T 5-Tube 3-Band Superhet. Radio Service Data Sheet, January 1936 Radio-Craft - RF CafeThere are now 156 Radio Service Data Sheets in the archive, all of which were scanned and cleaned up from issues of vintage electronics magazines like Radio-Craft, Radio & Television News, etc. Equipment manufacturers generally only made this information available to certified service shops, so the availability of these was of great value to both hobbyists and repair shop owners. American-Bosch Model 43OT, Montgomery Ward "Airline" Series 7GM, RCA Victor Model C9-4, and RCA Victor Model T5-2

Tiny Device Pumps out 1 Electron at a Time

Tiny Device Pumps out 1 Electron at a Time - RF Cafe"Physicists should finally be able to rid themselves of the cumbersome and inaccurate definition of the ampere. That is the claim of metrologists in Germany, who have measured electrical current by counting single electrons travelling along a microscopic wire. The researchers say that their technique will allow scientists in a number of different disciplines to make better measurements of tiny currents. The move to revamp the ampere is ..."

Tuesday 6

Canon Joins Japan's Space Race for Satellite Launches

Canon Joins Japan's Space Race for Satellite Launches - RF Cafe"Canon is helping Japan build a low-cost "mini-rocket" for future satellite launches as private companies seek to give the country's lagging space industry greater thrust. Engineers from Canon Electronics, a unit of the Japanese imaging devices maker, have joined a team led by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, that is building what stands to be the world's smallest satellite launch vehicle -- about the size of a utility pole. The company's ..."

Mac's Radio Service Shop: A.C.-D.C. Bread and Butter

Mac's Radio Service Shop: A.C.-D.C. Bread and Butter, October 1952 Radio & Television News Article - RF CafeThis installment of Mac's Radio Service Shop could stand alone as a chapter in a troubleshooting manual for vacuum tube radios. John Frye's (or a trusty consultant's) knowledge of circuit operation is abundantly clear here. Recall that Mr. Frye later authored the Carl & Jerry teenage techno-sleuth series in the next decade. A couple things stood out to me. The first is the heretofore unfamiliar phrase "play hob with," which means to cause trouble for. The second is mention of a metal tuning dial indicator needle ...

Please Visit Empower RF's Website in Appreciation of Their Support

Empower RF SystemsEmpower RF Systems is a global leader in power amplifier solutions. Products include high power RF amplifier modules, amplifier systems, and custom designed amplifiers. Empower RF Systems NextGen power amplifiers - RF CafeInvestments in both hardware and software engineering are yielding next generation products with significant size, weight, and interface functionality advantages over legacy products in the market ...

Boeing to Upgrade Radar on 71 USAF F-15s

Boeing to Upgrade Radar on 71 F-15 Jets - RF Cafe"Jet fighter experts at the Boeing Co. will upgrade 71 U.S. Air Force F-15 combat jets with new radar under terms of a half-billion-dollar order announced Wednesday. Officials of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, awarded a $558.5M contract modification to the Boeing Defense, Space & Security segment in St. Louis to install the upgraded radar systems on Air Force F-15C/D jet ..."

Free Engineering Magazine Subscriptions & White Papers

Engineering White Papers & Books, December 2016 - RF CafeThe free whitepapers, pamphlets, books, magazines, and chapter examples listed here are a small sample of a lot of new items that are offered for FREE through TradePub. The publishers make them available to qualifying people as a promotional campaign for their full line of offerings. The publishers make them available to qualifying people as a promotional campaign for their full line of offerings. Topics include careers, manufacturing, engineering ...

Graphene-Based Antenna Still Looking for Path to Commercialization

Graphene-Based Antenna Still Looking for Path to Commercialization - RF Cafe"Graphene is a pure conductor, just like a metal, which has led researchers to examine applications like antennas to see if graphene could serve as a replacement. Along this line of inquiry, researchers at the National Research Council Institute for Organic Synthesis and Photoreactivity (CNR-ISOF) in Italy, which is part of Europe's Graphene Flagship, have developed a graphene-based near-field communication (NFC) antenna. Unlike today's NFC antennas their devices are flexible and have greater ..."

Monday 5

CCA, CTIA Urge FCC to Deny Boeing's Satellite System

CCA, CTIA Urge FCC to Deny Boeing's Satellite System - RF Cafe"Both CTIA and the Competitive Carriers Association are coming out against Boeing's proposal to operate a non-geostationary satellite orbit (NGSO) system in the 37.5-42, 47.2-50.2 and 50.4-51.4 GHz bands, saying it threatens spectrum for terrestrial 5G operators. Boeing filed an application last summer with the FCC to launch and operate an NGSO fixed satellite service (FSS) system operating in low Earth orbit (LEO) in the 37.5-42.5 GHz, 47.2-50.2 ..."

1st Graphene Photodetector to Operate in the Microwave

1st Graphene Photodetector to Operate in the Microwave - RF Cafe"While graphene may be losing its luster in the field of digital electronics because of its lack of an inherent band gap, in the world of optoelectronics graphene's gapless band structure seems to be winning a new set of acolytes. This is seen no more keenly than in photodetectors, where graphene is enabling near-terahertz-speed photodetectors that are more energy efficient. Now, researchers at the Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST) ..."

Diamond / Nuclear Waste Battery Could Last 5,000 Years

Diamond / Nuclear Waste Battery Could Last 5,000 Years - RF Cafe"A diamond battery made from nuclear waste could last more than 5,000 Years. The man-made diamond produces a charge simply by being placed in close proximity to a radioactive source. There are no moving parts and no emissions involved and no maintenance is needed. The researchers created a prototype 'diamond battery' using radioactive isotope Nickel-63 as the radiation source. They are now working on improving the efficiency of the battery. To do this, they are using carbon-14, a radioactive version ..."

E. F. Johnson Christmas Ad

E. F. Johnson Christmas Ad, December 1953 QST - RF Cafe"Merry Christmas!" We're now saying it for the first time in a long time without concern for verbal reprisal by hateful, bigoted fanatics, emboldened by government thought police. But, I digress. Here is a 2-page advertisement run by the E.F. Johnson company in the December 1953 issue of the ARRL's QST magazine. E.F. Johnson was a major player in amateur radio, and then later Citizens Band (CB) radio. They also manufactured a large array of point-to-point commercial radio products (Land Mobile Radio ...

Torsion-Bar Antenna Adds Twist to Gravity Wave Search

Torsion-Bar Antenna Adds Twist to Gravity Wave Search - RF CafePhysicists in Japan have developed a new kind of compact gravitational-wave detector that works by measuring the tiny rotations of two suspended blocks of aluminum. A far cheaper alternative to the more conventional interferometer-based devices, this "torsion-bar antenna" could plug a gap in the gravitational-wave spectrum – between the high-frequency waves observable today from the ground and the lower-frequency radiation potentially ...

RF Engineering Crossword Puzzle for December 4, 2016

RF Engineering Crossword Puzzle for December 4, 2016 - RF CafeTake a break from the daily grind to work this week's RF Engineering-themed crossword puzzle. All the words are pulled from a hand-built list of terms, names, and abbreviations that have only to do with science, mathematics, and engineering. If you want a crossword with names of movie stars and obscure countries, try the local newspaper. Go ahead and print out this page on real paper, grab a pencil or pen, and do it the old fashioned way ...

Friday 2

FCC Special Counsel Laura Smith: Amateur Enforcement to Be Aggressive

FCC Special Counsel Laura Smith: Amateur Enforcement to Be Aggressive - RF Cafe"FCC Special Counsel Laura Smith told a standing-room-only audience at the ARRL Pacific Division Convention in October that, despite FCC cutbacks, Amateur Radio enforcement will not be compromised. Smith spoke for nearly an hour and a half on a variety of FCC issues related to Amateur Radio, and the entire presentation is available on YouTube, thanks to Bob Miller, WB6KWT, and his son Robert ..."

Anatech Electronics Intros 3 New Filter Designs

Anatech Electronics Intros 3 New Filter Designs - RF CafeAnatech 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. Anatech has introduced 3 new filter designs: a 4,675 MHz cavity bandpass filter with SMA connectors, a 782/751 MHz surface mount ceramic duplexer filter, and a 987.5 MHz cavity bandpass filter ...

Raytheon Tests Directed Energy Weapon on Drones

Raytheon Tests Directed Energy Weapon on Drones - RF Cafe"There are all kinds of creative ways of dealing with rogue drones: Radio jamming. Other drones with nets. Trained eagles. None of these are really designed to handle military drones, however, and large, fast-moving UAVs are still a potential threat, especially if more than one is coming at you at once. It's no surprise that the U.S. Army has been developing solutions for this potential threat— we're not sure what they're working on now, but as of late 2013, Raytheon was successfully testing a long range, high power directed microwave weapon capable of taking out ..."

Filter Building Made Easy

Filter Building Made Easy, December 1953 QSTDesigning, building, and tuning low frequency filters is much easier for the person without a professional grade suite of software, fabrication, and test equipment than is RF / microwave frequency filters. Most of my design and integration work has been with system level transmit and receive racks for radar and satellite earth station installations, and typically for prototyping and/or very low quantity production. Accordingly, I used connectorized components cascaded together where each functional block was predefined and tested. I would be handed a system input/output document that specified parameters for gain, phase noise ...

Germanium Can Take Transistors Where Silicon Can't

Germanium Can Take Transistors Where Silicon Can't - RF Cafe"Nearly 70 years ago, two physicists at Bell Telephone Laboratories—John Bardeen and Walter Brattain—pressed two thin gold contacts into a slab of germanium and made a third contact on the bottom of the slab. The flow of current through this configuration could be used to turn a small signal into a larger one. The result was the first transistor—the amplifier and switch that was, arguably, the greatest invention of the 20th century. Thanks to Moore's Law, the transistor has delivered computers far beyond anything thought ..."

Thursday 1

Navy Updates Radar Software on Stealthy Zumwalt

Navy Updates Radar Software on Stealthy Zumwalt - RF Cafe"One of the biggest question marks remaining for the DDG 1000 USS Zumwalt is whether its radar and missile systems will work as redesigned and radar manufacturer Raytheon is wasting no time in making sure its sensor meets U.S. Navy needs. The ship is slated to test and certify its combat system after it arrives later this year in its homeport of San Diego. But Raytheon officials say ..."

Saelig Cyber Week Sale !

Sealig Cyber Week 2016 Sale - RF CafeSaelig's huge Cyber Week sale runs through Sunday, so don't forget to check them out for great prices on test equipment.

Russian Army to Get Advanced Stealth Drone Hunting Radar

Russian Army to Get Advanced Stealth Drone Hunting Radar - RF Cafe"The Zavod Electromash plant in the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod has created a unique stealth robotic system capable of detecting unmanned aerial vehicles, Zavod Electromash spokesman Valery Pyatkin told Sputnik. In an interview with Sputnik, Valery Pyatkin, spokesman for the Nizhny Novgorod-based Zavod Electromash plant, said that they had developed an advanced stealth robotic system capable of detecting reconnaissance and attack drones. The mobile optical-radar, non-emitting complex is due to enter service at ..."

Earth's 'Technosphere' Now Weighs 30 Trillion Tons

Earth's 'Technosphere' Now Weighs 30 Trillion Tons - RF Cafe"The technosphere is a major new phenomenon of this planet – and one that is evolving extraordinarily rapidly" – Professor Mark Williams, University of Leicester An international team led by University of Leicester geologists has made the first estimate of the sheer size of the physical structure of the planet's technosphere – suggesting that its mass approximates to an enormous 30 trillion tons. The technosphere is comprised of all of the structures ..."

Kenyon Transformer Holiday Message

Kenyon Transformer Holiday Message, January 1941 QST - RF CafeThe Christmas holiday season is here officially now that Thanksgiving is over. When deciding which articles from vintage electronic magazines to post, I always try to pick a few that pertain to specific holidays, like Christmas, Independence Day, Halloween, etc. Many companies ran advertisements - often full-page - in QST, Radio News, Electronics World, etc. Here is one by the Kenton Transformer Company, of New York, New York. Interestingly, it alludes to the military buildup ...

RF/Analog Design Engineer Needed by L3 Telemetry & RF Products

L3 Telemetry & RF Products Needs RF/Analog Design Engineer - RF CafeWe are seeking a talented RF/Analog Design Engineer with a solid understanding of satellite communications systems, with an emphasis on RF and analog designs. The position is in San Diego, California. Relocation assistance is available. Responsible for all aspects of the RF and analog detailed design and development, including: system and module level design and definition, schematic capture, circuit design, derating and Worst Case Analysis (WCA). Estimate task schedules and budgets (BOEs) for programs, proposals and IR&D efforts. Estimate task ...