Homepage Archive - January 2017 (page 2)

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See Page 1 | 2 | 3 of the January 2017 homepage archives.

 

Thursday 19

Successful Iridium Satellite Launch for SpaceX

Successful Iridium Satellite Launch for SpaceX - RF Cafe"SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket climbed into orbit from California's Central Coast on Saturday, resuming service after an explosive setback last year and delivering much-needed reinforcements to Iridium's satellite constellation providing communications by land, sea and sky. The comeback mission kicks off a busy launch manifest with more than 20 SpaceX rocket flights expected this year as the company prepares to start launching astronauts, vital national security payloads and a slate of valuable telecommunications satellites for global broadcasters and network clients. The 229-foot-tall ..."

Modular Clean Rooms by Panel Built

Modular Clean Rooms by Panel Built - RF CafePanel Built is a manufacturer of modular enclosures. Their Class 1,000, 10,000, and 100,000 modular clean rooms feature standard hidden in-wall air chase, filtered air-return louver, ducting for FFU, and adjustable door louver. Options include HEPA and ULPA filters, single package air-conditioning, 'Sticky Mats' to keep dirt and grim from entering, air curtains, high speed roll-up doors, and entrance air-locks. Panel Built has been added to my hand-selected list of vendors on the Clean Rooms page. They also make towers.

E-waste in East and Southeast Asia up 63% in 5 Years

E-waste in East and Southeast Asia up 63% in 5 Years - RF Cafe"The volume of discarded electronics in East and Southeast Asia jumped almost two-thirds between 2010 and 2015, and e-waste generation is growing fast in both total volume and per capita measures, new UN research shows. Driven by rising incomes and high demand for new gadgets and appliances, the average increase in e-waste across all 12 countries and areas analyzed—Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore ..."

Editorial: Should We Change the Way We Elect Our Presidents?

Editorial: Should We Change the Way We Elect Our Presidents?, April 29, 1950, The Saturday Evening Post - RF CafeIt has been said that most people's historical perspective begins at the year they are born. Hence, they might believe whenever something 'new' happens, it is the first time. This past U.S. election and the ensuing talk over the electoral system is a good example. Dig this editorial from a 1950 issue of The Saturday Evening Post. Concern over the results of the very close 3-way race in the 1948 U.S. presidential election between Truman, Dewey, and Thurmond had pundits pontificating and bloviating about the merits of the electoral system ...

Stage 4 of FCC's Incentive Auction Clearing Cost Plummets to $10B

Stage 4 of FCC's Incentive Auction Clearing Cost Plummets to $10B  - RF Cafe"Stage 4 of the reverse portion of the FCC's incentive auction ended Friday, with TV broadcasters setting a clearing cost of just more than $10 billion for up to 84 MHz of airwaves, falling dramatically short of the $40.3 billion set in Stage 3 and marking a tiny fraction of the $86 billion set in Stage 1. On the plus side, the auction may not slog on much longer. 'Broadcasters were really suicidal,' Tim Farrar of TMF Associates tweeted Friday ..."

Amazon to Run Secret Wireless Trials

Amazon to Run Secret Wireless Trials - RF Cafe"Amazon is preparing to test experimental wireless communications technology, including mobile devices and fixed-base stations, in rural Washington and Seattle, the company disclosed in government filings this week. The filings do not specify what the tests would be for, but they hint at a new type of technology or wireless service, noting that the project would involve prototypes designed to support "innovative communications capabilities ..."

Wednesday 18

Webinar: Analog Beamforming

Analog Beamforming Webinar - RF CafeTitle: Analog Beamforming - What Is It and How Does It Impact Phased-Array Radar and 5G? Date: Tuesday, January 24, 2017 Time: 2:00 PM Eastern Standard Time Duration: 1 hour. "As 5G communication systems are rolled out and phased-array radar spreads its reach to non-military applications, our industry has taken a keen interest in beamforming. This technical webcast will dive into everything you want to know about beamforming systems - typical uses, digital versus analog, nulling ..."

Sketching out Magnetism with Electricity

Sketching out Magnetism with Electricity - RF Cafe"In a proof-of-concept study, researchers drew magnetic squares in a nonmagnetic material with an electrified pen and then 'read' this magnetic doodle with X-rays. In the experiment, the scientists moved the electric tip along the surface and applied a positive voltage. The electric field aligns the spins of the electrons in the nonmagnetic material, and the ordering creates magnetic properties. If the voltage is ..."

Small Laser Weapons Eyed for Combat Aircraft

Small Laser Weapons Eyed for Combat Aircraft - RF Cafe"U.S. military researchers are asking for industry's help in developing compact, fiber laser diode modules suitable for pumping high power fiber laser weapons on a variety of manned and unmanned combat aircraft and tactical land vehicles. Officials of the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in Arlington, Va., have released a solicitation for the Efficient Ultra-Compact Laser Integrated Devices (EUCLID) project. High-energy laser (HEL) ..."

They Are Televising in Berlin!

They Are Televising in Berlin!, January 1935 Short Wave Craft - RF Cafe"Inventor of the television. For over 80 years, Loewe has invented television, we have kept our 'Made in Germany' promise. Development, production and service departments are still based in Kronach." So reads the history page on the Loewe website regarding its involvement since 1923. This article, which appeared in a 1935 issue of Short Wave Craft, begins by lamenting America's lag in the development of commercial television; to wit, "practical public television is fast asleep in this country." The German system ...

Memo to Tech Professionals: Ask for a Raise in 2017

Memo to Tech Professionals: Ask for a Raise in 2017 - RF Cafe"At least one-third of tech workers are significantly underpaid. That's the conclusion of a study by Paysa, a startup that markets tools designed to help software engineers and other technology professionals analyze and compare salaries and benefits. Paysa looked at 5 million resumes of technology professionals and concluded that nearly 2 million of them are currently underpaid by 10% or more. For an average software engineer making $112,000, the company indicated, that translates into $11,200 a year of missing income. It's probably a good time ..."

Oxfam: 8 Men as Rich as 1/2 the World

Oxfam: 8 Men as Rich as 1/2 the World - RF Cafe"Oxfam's report, An Economy for the 99 Percent, shows that the gap between rich and poor is far greater than had previously been estimated and details how big business and the super-rich are fueling the inequality crisis by dodging taxes, driving down wages and using their power to influence politics. The report also calls for a fundamental change in the way we manage our economies so that they work for all people, and not just a fortunate few ..." 3/4 of them are communications / computer moguls: Zuckerberg, Bezos, Gates, Helu, Ellison, Bloomberg.

Practical Electronics for Inventors, 4th Edition

Practical Electronics for Inventors, 4th Edition - RF CafeA Fully-Updated, No-Nonsense Guide to Electronics. Advance your electronics knowledge and gain the skills necessary to develop and construct your own functioning gadgets. Written by a pair of experienced engineers and dedicated hobbyists, Practical Electronics for Inventors, 4th Edition, lays out the essentials and provides step-by-step instructions, schematics, and illustrations. Discover how to select the right components, design ...

Tuesday 17

Ulrich Rohde, N1UL, Recognized for Pioneering Work on SDR

Ulrich Rohde, N1UL, Recognized for Pioneering Work on SDR - RF CafeThis guy is a modern-day RF superstar in both the professional and Ham radio worlds. "Ulrich L. Rohde, N1UL, of Synergy Microwave Corp was invited to deliver the sixth Sir J.C. Bose Memorial Lecture at the IEEE Hyderabad Section on December 2 during a joint session of the IEEE MTT, AP, and EMC Societies in Hyderabad, India. Rohde's talk was 'Next Generation Networks: Software Defined Radio - Emerging Trends.' While working under a US Department of Defense contract at RCA in 1982, Rohde's department developed the first SDR, which ..."

Navy Fast-Tracks Sea Hawk EW Sensor

Navy Fast-Tracks Sea Hawk EW Sensor - RF Cafe"To provide better sea-surface electronic warfare (EW) capability, Lockheed Martin is adding enhanced sensors to MH-60 Sea Hawk helicopters. The company is developing an EW pod for both MH-60 R/S Sea Hawk versions to help provide anti-ship missile defense as part of Lockheed's Surface Electronic Warfare Improvement Program (SEWIP), said Joe Ottaviano, EW director at Lockheed. Called the Advanced Offboard Electronic Warfare (AOEW) system, the airborne sensor and links will ..."

ARRL Warns Illegal Drone Transmitters Could Interfere with ATC

ARRL Warns Illegal Drone Transmitters Could Interfere with Air Traffic Control - RF Cafe"In what it calls an 'extremely urgent complaint' to the FCC, ARRL has targeted the interference potential of a series of audio/video transmitters used on unmanned aircraft and marketed as Amateur Radio equipment. In a January 10 letter to the FCC Spectrum Enforcement Division, ARRL General Counsel Chris Imlay, W3KD, said the transmitters use frequencies intended for navigational aids, air traffic control radar, air route surveillance radars, and global ...

Case of the Bad Bypass

Case of the Bad Bypass, December 1963 Electronics World - RF CafeIt seems the title, "Mac's Radio Service Shop" for John Frye's tech tales might have been dropped after Radio & Television News magazine changed its name to Electronics World in May of 1959. The characters' names and roles were all the same, but the title was missing - probably to not bias the new theme of the magazine. This episode discusses some of the strange ways in which a faulty bypass capacitor can manifest itself. A big part of effective troubleshooting is the experience of 'having seem that before.' Interestingly, by 1963 vacuum ...

Cyber Squirrel 1: The Biggest Infrastructure Threat

Cyber Squirrel 1: The Biggest Infrastructure Threat - RF Cafe"The real threat to global critical infrastructure is not enemy states or organisations but squirrels, according to one security expert. Cris Thomas has been tracking power cuts caused by animals since 2013. Squirrels, birds, rats and snakes have been responsible for more than 1,700 power cuts affecting nearly 5 million people, he told a security conference. He explained that by tracking these issues, he was seeking to dispel the hype around cyber-attacks. His Cyber Squirrel 1 project was set up to counteract ..."

New Propagation Prediction Tool Available

New Propagation Prediction Tool Available - RF Cafe"ITURHProp, a new point-to-point propagation prediction tool based on an ITU engine and developed by Gwyn Williams, G4FKH, is now available via the RSGB website. The new web-based prediction tool is said to be more accurate than previous engines. ITURHProp calculates the path characteristics between two points on the globe to determine projected path maximum usable frequency (MUF) and SNR. Development on the project is ongoing ..."

Monday 16

Triad RF Systems Q1 2017 Newsletter

Triad RF Systems Q1 2017 Newsletter - RF CafeThe Latest Products and News from Triad RF Systems. Triad RF has developed a high power system that extends the distance a typical Mobile Network MMIO (MN-MIMO) operates over. Utilizing Triad's high power bi-directional amplifiers (BDAs), the Transmit RF output power of the four (4) channel MIMO radio is increased by 25 dB. The receive link is increased by 10 dB to overcome any losses in system connections. The unit can operate over specific frequency bands ...

National Company Ad: TMS Condensers

National Company Ad: TMS Condensers - RF CafeNational Company, an early manufacturer of electronics components for radio products, ran a series of unique advertisements in the ARRL's QST magazine. Rather than using precious cash for directly promoting specific products or product lines, company president John Millen occupied full pages with text explaining why it makes the things it does and how they can be used to solve problems or enhance performance. This article/ad on TMS condensers (aka variable capacitors) was number 61 in the series, which means if they printed one every ...

Scientists Create First 2-D Electride

Scientists Create First 2-D Electride - RF Cafe"Researchers have brought electrides into the nanoregime by synthesizing the first 2D electride material. Electrides are ionic compounds, which are made of negative and positive ions. But in electrides, the negative 'ions' are simply electrons, with no nucleus. The electrons are very close to each other and very loosely bound, causing them to act as an electron gas. This electron gas gives electrides certain electrical properties, such as a high electrical mobility and rapid electrical ..."

ATER Offers NSG 3150 15kV Combination Wave Surge Generator

Advanced Test Equipment Rentals Offers Industry Leading Teseq NSG 3150 - RF CafeAdvanced Test Equipment Rentals (ATEC), a global leader in electronic equipment rentals with products from over 300 manufacturers, has announced that it now carries the newly released Teseq NSG 3150. The new NSG 3150 15kV Combination Wave Surge Generator enables users to conduct immunity tests in compliance with IEC/EN-61000-4-5. Built to excel in outdoor applications, the Teseq NSG 3150 can be used to test lightning, communication ...

Antenna Basic White Paper by Rohde Schwarz

Antenna Basic White Paper by Rohde Schwarz - RF CafeThis Antenna Basics white paper by Rohde Schwarz is an excellent primer on antenna on topics like Fresnel zone, polarization, Hertz's antenna model, wave propagation, Maxwell's equations, radiation density field pattern, beamwidth, directivity, and antenna factor. Simple explanations and illustrations facilitate comprehension. A review of various antenna types concludes this white paper. The download is free ...

Electronic Warfare for Special-Operations Planes

Electronic Warfare for Special-Operations Planes - RF Cafe"Electronic warfare (EW) experts at BAE Systems will provide RF countermeasures systems to help U.S. special-operations C-130J turboprop aircraft evade and jam enemy radar systems. Officials of the U.S. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Robins Air Force Base, Ga., announced a $67.7 million order Tuesday to the BAE Systems Electronic Systems segment in Nashua, N.H., to provide radio frequency (RF) countermeasures systems for special operations ..."

RF System Analysis Crossword Puzzle for January 15, 2017

RF System Analysis Crossword Puzzle for January 15, 2017 - RF CafeThis week's crossword puzzle has an RF System Analysis theme. Most of the longer words are terms you will find in cascade calculators such as RF Cascade Workbook. Avid cruciverbalists amongst us appreciate that 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 ...

Friday 13

Get Rid of Public Speaking Anxiety

Get Rid of Public Speaking Anxiety - RF CafeWho knew the 'left leg shake' was a well-known symptom of Glossophobia? "As a an engineer, there is a good chance that you are an introvert. There is nothing wrong with being soft spoken unless part of your job includes public speaking. You are great at communicating complex ideas, but just not to large groups of people. You get speech anxiety. In the privacy of your dim lit office, your fingers dance across the keyboard and you have no problem expressing yourself. You love what you do, but when the time comes to give ..."