Friday 31
Newbies in the electronics realm are fairly frequent
visitors on RF Cafe, so I like to make sure their needs are fulfilled as well as the
seasoned pros than hang around. This article by Arthur Pini titled, "Measure Phase Difference with an Oscilloscope," on the END website,
is good fodder for that objective. "All periodic signals can be described in terms of
amplitude and phase. We all learned that in basic circuit theory. You surely recall having
to calculate signal's phase change when it passed through a network. Fortunately, you
can also measure phase with an oscilloscope using several methods. The phase of a periodic
electrical waveform describes a specific position at a point in time ..."
I checked out the printed circuit board maze and,
as implied, all those beginning paths lead to $. RCA (Radio Corporation
of America), along with other companies like NRI (National Radio Institute), CIE (Cleveland
Institute of Electronics, all had a unique angle. Every company attempts to pique interest
in its products and/or service by creating buzzwords such as, in RCA's case,
AUTOTEXT. AUTOTEXT is "a system of programmed instructions, a method of learning
proved with thousands of students. This beginning source in electronics is accurately
planned so that as you read a series of statements, questions, and answers, you learn
almost without realizing it. It's fast! It's easy! It's fun!" Learning by osmosis. What
more could an aspiring technician ask for? ...
Honglei Chen and Rick Gentile, of MathWorks, have
an interesting piece at Microwave Journal titled, "Spatial Multiplexing for 5G Wireless Communications." Beamforming,
once the nearly exclusive purview of radar system, is now an essential element of high
datarate wireless communications. "Increasing demand for higher data rates and channel
capacity is driving the need to use the RF spectrum more efficiently. As a result, 5G
wireless systems will use mmWave frequency bands to take advantage of the increased bandwidth.
The higher operating frequencies enable large-scale antenna arrays, which can be used
to mitigate severe propagation loss in the mmWave band. Large arrays can also be used
to implement a MIMO system ..."
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 ...
Anne
Dorsey, owner of TechNote Time
Electrical Trade Gifts, contacted me recently to give thanks for having links to
her online store that specializes in electrical-themed gifts. It was about 13 years ago,
when first starting, that I learned of her unique collection. TNT is not just another
collection of printed T-shirts and coffee mugs. Lamps, pins, posters, ornaments, books,
models, statuettes, jewelry, and more can be found. Find retirement, recognition, and
celebration gifts for an electric lineman, trouble man, ground man, foreman, underground
or overhead lineman, equipment operator, lineman apprentice, pole climber, power line
technician, hooker, high-liner, line mechanic or tech, ham radio operator, electronics
engineer or technician. Christmas is coming ...
Engineers Say Jobs Are Changing, Not Getting More
Satisfying. "The pace of engineering is getting faster and faster, and that means electrical
engineers are working harder and harder to teach themselves about the latest technology
and integrate it into new products. But many remain optimistic about their profession:
Nearly 90% of survey respondents say that they enjoy their current jobs, according to
Electronic Design's annual reader survey, which polled around 1,350
engineers. Nearly two-thirds indicate employers pay them what they deserve, while around
90% say they take pleasure in the challenges that accompany new product design, according
to the 2018 Electronic Design Salary Survey. Respondents generally say that persistent
concerns about working conditions ..."
Thursday 30
Prior to the availability of high speed semiconductor
circuitry, there was not enough computational power available - particularly in airborne
platforms - to perform a significant amount of real-time signal processing in
radar systems. Analog methods were available to do things like stationary target
cancellation (moving target indication, MTI) and noise reduction to eliminate clutter
on the plan position indicator (PPI, aka radar scope), range and azimuth blanking of
selected regions of the scan, signal discriminators and integrators, and false target
elimination via pulse repetition rate (PRR) and pulse repetition interval (PRI). There
was nothing, really, in the older vacuum tube based systems to derive a target profile
based on radar cross section (RCS) and signal vector (amplitude and phase) processing.
This 1971 article reported on what was at the time information about very new technology
that was just being ...
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sell and service RF/Microwave amplifiers and amplifier systems. PA, LNA, bi-directional,
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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
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"Researchers are testing the properties of
graphene after it has been launched into the stratosphere. Two-dimensional
graphene has a unique combination of being extremely flexible, harder than diamond, and
stronger than steel. To put graphene's versatility to the test, a substrate was coated
with a single layer of graphene and the sample was launched within a CubeSat. It was
subjected to harsh conditions like rapid acceleration, vibration, acoustic shock, strong
pressure, and a wide range in temperature fluctuations. The test results could open up
new opportunities for graphene to be incorporated into technologies suitable for outer
space and aerospace missions ..."
Electronics magazine editor Lewis H.
Young dedicated a series of issues in 1965 to reporting on the state of
electronics research and production in Japan. The December 13 edition had many articles
on the subject. The world was still in the early phase of a major transition from vacuum
tubes and discrete components to transistors and integrated circuits. Japan was at the
leading edge of that effort - and it was very successful. Ample evidence of the not-quite-there-yet
status of the transition is all the advertisements in this edition of the magazine. Products
showcased by manufacturers were discrete, not integrated - that applies to both electronic
and mechanical subjects. When you look at those components and assemblies, you get feel
for what made them work because the individual parts are in view. Many modern products
are integrated into packaged and tested subassemblies that are ready to be integrated ...
Rohde & Schwarz USA (R&S USA) is offering
a step-by-step guide on
Designing for EMI Testing. Today, R&D engineers face challenging
time-to-market goals. Nearly 50% of products fail EMC compliance the first time and this
leads to a longer delay to market and lost time on other projects. To address these challenges,
it makes sense to perform EMI tests during the product design cycle in order to reduce
the possibility of failing EMC compliance, which typically comes at the end of the development
cycle of a product ...
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"Researchers at Rutgers University–New Brunswick
have claimed regular Wi-Fi technology can be used to detect hazardous materials in bags
at public places. The team has published a paper stating that their suspicious
Wi-Fi object detection system is easy to set up, reduces security
screening costs and avoids invading privacy such as when screeners open and inspect bags,
backpacks and luggage. Traditional screening typically requires high staffing levels
and costly specialized equipment. This could have a great impact in protecting the public
from dangerous objects, believes Yingying (Jennifer) Chen, study co-author and a professor
in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in Rutgers ..."
Wednesday 29
February 1953 was just a little more than four
years since Messrs. Brattain, Shockley, and Bardeen announced their invention of the
transistor. This full-page advertisement by Raytheon ran in Radio-Electronics
magazine announcing the world's first commercially available
PNP germanium transistors. It was a big deal. Model numbers CK721 and CK722. CK721
handled about twice the collector current (12 mA) as the CK722, both with collector
voltages maxing out at around 8 volts. The introductory price for the CK722 was
$7.60, which in 2018 money is equivalent to $72.27* At that cost, it is hard to believe
they got anyone to replace vacuum tubes with transistors. Fortunately, economy of scale
rapidly brought prices down. Interestingly, CK722 inventor Norman Krim promoted a business ...
Nova
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"Startup The Elefante Group wants to provide wide
area 5G coverage from 'airships'
located 65,000 feet above earth. The firm, which is working Lockheed Martin on the project,
has asked the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to consider opening up spectrum
in the 22 GHz, 23 GHz, 26 GHz, 70 GHz and 80 GHz bands. And now Facebook, which has itself
dabbled in delivering broadband from airborne delivery systems, is throwing its support
behind the novel concept, according to an Aug. 15 filing with the FCC. A priority for
the social media giant is 'connecting the unconnected and under-connected.' 'As such,
Facebook has supported research and development efforts ..."
Mr. Lothar Stern, of Motorola Semi, published
a 3-part series on transistor theory in Popular Electronics magazine in 1973.
This is part 3. Part 1 introduced the basics of the bipolar transistor, and
Part 2 addressed transistor circuit configurations - common emitter, common gate,
common collector, Darlington, differential - as well as presenting gain equations and
delving a bit into the physical construction of the semiconductor elements. Finally,
the author talks about the newest processes in use at the time and what was available
for low power and high power RF applications. In 1973, high power semiconductors were
just pushing past the 100 MHz barrier. GaAs and GaN were still in university and
corporate laboratories being prepared for the amazing devices ...
Chris Hare, of Coilcraft, has a short tutorial
on the subject of common
mode chokes on their website. "A common mode choke is an electrical filter that blocks
high frequency noise common to two or more data or power lines while allowing the desired
DC or low-frequency signal to pass. Common mode (CM) noise current is typically radiated
from sources such as unwanted radio signals, unshielded electronics, inverters and motors.
Left unfiltered, this noise presents interference problems in electronics and electrical
circuits ..."
Providing full solution service is our motto,
not just selling goods. RF & Connector Technology has persistently pursued a management
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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
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"Researchers have developed a single-atom transistor,
the world's smallest. This quantum electronics component switches electrical current
by controlled repositioning of a single atom, now also in the solid state in a gel electrolyte.
The single-atom transistor works at room temperature and consumes very little energy,
which opens up entirely new perspectives for information technology. At Karlsruhe Institute
of Technology (KIT), physicist Professor Thomas Schimmel and his team have developed
a single-atom transistor, the world's smallest. This quantum electronics
component switches electrical current by controlled ..."
Tuesday 28
Many of John T. Frye's episodes of "Mac's
Service Shop" have referenced for-real products, but I do not recall any other than this
one being a dedicated, undisguised promotion for a single item. Now, I am not accusing
Mr. Frye of benefitting from a good old-fashioned payola-type scheme, but I can
understand someone else concluding so. The vaunted
TEL-A-TURN pitched in "A Good Turn" is actually a game-changer in the business of
television and radio servicing, and therefore deserving of special consideration. A Google
search of the term "tel-a-turn" did not, surprisingly, turn up a single photo or even
a vintage magazine advertisement. A quick check of my extensive collection of magazines
of the same era resulted in finding a couple different versions of ads run by the fixture's
maker ...
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
...
A love-hate relationship between major nations
competing for leadership and
dominance in the military and aerospace technology realms has existed in earnest
at least since the space race began. Often, the pilots, astronauts, scientists and engineers
are much more willing to set aside political differences in order to more effectively
and efficiently advance the state of the art and/or basic knowledge. Maybe archeologists,
biologists, endocrinologists, climatologists, zoologists, pathologists, and you-name-it-ologists
feel the same way, but those types, dealing with squishy living things, are probably
more altruistic than your typical physical sciences guy (or gal). It is the government
management sides of the equation agonizing over the need to solicit or accept foreign
assistance. There is (or was at the time) no better example than the U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R.,
particularly for space-based communications ...
Rohde & Schwarz develops, produces and markets
test & measurement, information and communications technology.
It focuses on test and measurement, broadcast and media, cybersecurity, secure communications
and monitoring and network testing, areas that address many different industry and government-sector
market segments. Specifically: T&M for the wireless market, automotive, aerospace
and defense, industrial electronics and research and education, broadcast, consumer electronics
manufacturers, cybersecurity for business and government authorities, communications
and security solutions, reconnaissance equipment for security, and communications equipment
for armed forces ...
"A UNSW study published this week resolves key
challenges in creation of
hole-based artificial atoms, with excellent potential for more-stable,
faster, more scalable quantum computing. Artificial atoms in quantum computing The spin
states of electrons confined to semiconductor quantum dots are a promising platform for
quantum computation. Such a device is known as an artificial atom. Using the spin states
of holes instead of electrons could resolve several important challenges regarding coherence
and switching speed. A particle's 'spin' is its intrinsic angular momentum. Defining
holes Electricity is usually thought of as the flow of electrons. However, this is not
always true: in semiconductors, electricity can also be carried by a different type of
particle, called holes ..."
Monday 27
Here is a chart you don't see every day - "Temperature
Rise in Rigid Waveguide." The company, Engineering Antenna Systems, of Manchester,
New Hampshire, that published the chart in a 1965 edition of Engineering magazine,
does not exist anymore. They were probably bought by someone else, but I could not even
find an honorable mention of them in a Google search. Given the very low attenuation
of properly sized and installed waveguide, it is hard to imagine a temperature rise of
500°F; however, when megawatts are pumped into it even a couple tenths of a decibel of
attenuation per 100 feet results in a lot of power loss. Noted is how attenuation - and
therefore temperature rise - is greater for frequencies at the lower end of the waveguide's
operational range. Temperature rise numbers are for natural convection in free air ...
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 ...
Saelig Company announces the availability of the
Berkeley Nucleonics Model 865 range of ultra-low-noise and fast-switching microwave
signal generators covering a continuous frequency range from 100 kHz up to 6, 12.75,
20, 26, and 40 GHz with 1 mHz resolution. The Model 865 generators provide
an accurately flat signal range and high spurious suppression. Advanced frequency synthesis
combines the fastest switching speeds with ultra-low SSB phase noise and fine resolution
of both frequency and power. The standard Model 865 includes intra/pulse chirp modulations,
frequency chirps, pulse modulation with programmable patterns, and phase modulation.
The Model 865 allows fast analog and digital sweeps including flexible list sweeps, where
frequency, power and dwell times can be set individually. A flexible triggering ...
A
well-laid-out and routed chassis, control panel, equipment rack, or circuit breaker
panel has always invoked the same sort of appreciation and awe in me that a Rembrandt
painting invokes in an art cognoscente or a Beethoven concert invokes in a music aficionado.
Many moons ago when I work as an electrician, I prided myself in obsessively neat and
orderly runs of conduit and Romex™ cable (with no twists), squarely mounted receptacle
and switch boxes, and rigid compliance with NEC requirements. Once I entered into the
RF and microwave realm, an entirely new kind of eye candy appeared in the form of semi-rigid
coaxial cable and waveguide runs. Knowing the technical (electrical) requirements and
limitations based on power, wavelength, and VSWR concerns served to enhance the appreciation.
Electrical wiring has its own unique requirements for bend radii, enclosure fill, and
voltage levels, due to heating, mechanical stress, and voltage induction ...
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"Spectrum warfare experts at Mercury Systems in
Andover, Mass., will help the U.S. Air Force find new ways of protecting aircraft and
air crews from sophisticated enemy
integrated air defense systems (IADS) under terms of a $550,132 contract
announced Monday. Officials of the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson
Air Force Base, Ohio, are asking Mercury to find ways of defeating enemy software-defined
weapons and communications in electromagnetically contested and congested environments
as part of the Spectrum Warfare Enduring Challenges (SWEC) program. This project involves
defeating cyber threats to U.S. and allied avionics; using trusted computing approaches
to foil enemy ..."
Friday 24
This
Electronics Metals Quiz appeared in the October 1964 edition of Popular Electronics.
Given the era and obsolescence of some technologies, a couple of the drawings might not
be recognizable to you. Accordingly, I feel obligated to clue you in on those. "B" is
a television iconoscope, which was used in early TV video cameras. "D" is a phonograph
stylus. For "F," keep in mind the prevailing semiconductor material at the time. "I"
is a type of heater element that could be screwed into a light bulb socket (I used to
have a couple). "J" is supposed to be a needle for a meter movement. Now that you know,
have at it. The process of elimination should result in a good score. I got 10:10, but
then I'm older than the quiz ...
The best part about this news story is the viewer
comments at the bottom. "Russian arms maker
Kalashnikov on Thursday presented its new electric car inspired by
a rare 1970s model, saying the new technology will rival Elon Musk's Tesla. The brand,
best known for the AK-47 machine gun, presented the decidedly retro-looking pale blue
prototype, the CV-1, at a defense expo outside Moscow. The look was inspired by a Soviet
hatchback model developed in the 1970s called 'Izh-Kombi,' a a statement on the Kalashnikov
website said. Holding company Kalashnikov Concern said it has developed some cutting-edge
elements for the 'electric supercar,' including a 'revolutionary inverter ..."
The December 1965 issue of Electronics
magazine reported in multiple articles on the state of
Japan's electronics industry. Japan's indisputable lead today in many realms of semiconductor,
commercial, and consumer products proves successful implementation of the strategy described
in these articles. Per this piece's NTT employee authors, "In one decade, Japan's semiconductor
industry has become the world's second largest. Pioneering engineers, a variety of unusual
devices, and breakthroughs in miniaturization techniques account for phenomenal growth."
A notable claim is taking credit for inventing the ceramic "pill" packaging format for
high frequency transistors ...
Read this statement and see if you feel a bit screwed,
"The key to building an affordable electric vehicle today is to have other vehicles that
can subsidize the EV, [the senior analyst for Navigant Research] told us. 'Since the
day they sold their first Volt,
GM has been subsidizing all their plug-in vehicles based on the sales
of Silverados and Sierras,' he said. 'Ford and Volkswagen do the same with their
electric vehicles. Tesla's problem is they can't do that." It is probably a government
mandate that is part of the CAFE standard requirements. Here's the full article: "Musk Says Tesla Could Build $25,000 EV in Three Years"
QuinStar Technology designs and manufactures
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Mixers, Detectors. QuinStar specializes in cryogenic amplifiers,
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project ...
"A team of researchers has recently published
a study that they believe shows that the widely revered
Wiedemann–Franz law could be flawed. Using super-cooled fermionic
lithium atoms the team appears to have demonstrated that the law breaks down at the quantum
level. This discovery is not just interesting, it could open up new avenues to test novel
applications for the thermoelectric devices of the future. What is the Wiedemann–Franz
law? The Wiedemann–Franz law was first formulated in 1853 and describes the connection
between thermal and electrical conductivity in metals with freely moving electrons ..."
Thursday 23
RF Superstore, an RF and microwave component supply
outlet created by Pasternack founder Murray Pasternack and business partner Jason Wright,
announces the addition of
PL-259 Connectors and Precision Adapters to its line of antennas, connectors, cable
assemblies, adapters, and lightning arrestors. PL-259 connectors are frequently used
for amateur or ham radio applications. The UHF male connectors with silver plating and
Teflon dielectric for RG8 and RG213 coaxial are on sale for only $1.59 through October.
Precision RF adapters have been added to its large selection of in-stock interconnect
RF components. The 3.5mm male or female to 7mm adapter options made with passivated stainless
steel are priced below $150 ...
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 ...
Admittedly, the only thing I remember about
Gray Code (aka reflected binary) from college courses is that successive count values
change only one bit per increment, saving power in some digital circuits. The power savings
comes from the fact that, especially for CMOS circuits, current only flows during the
transition of a state change from "0" to "1" or from "1" to "0." Shaft position encoders
were and still are a primary application of Gray Code switching. If the encoder output
digital code is going to be used in a binary computation system, then there is an advantage
in generating a direct binary ("natural") count that does not require a Gray-Code-to-Binary
conversion circuit (or software routine). When the Wayne-George Corporation introduced
its paradigm-changing "Natural Code Non-Ambiguous Optical Encoder" in 1964, those conversion
circuits were probably not simple, compact, inexpensive semiconductor IC's ...
When I see things like this article in the July
/ August 2018 issue of Nuts & Volts magazine, a feeling of extreme inadequacy
overwhelms me. Mr. David Goodsell, in his spare time, conceived of, designed, assembled,
and rendered functional an electromechanical (EM) wonder he calls "The Past Calls the Present." A combination of EM step-by-step (SXS)
switches, 7-segment EM digital displays, EM relays, an Arduino μ−processor board,
and a couple hands full of IC's and RLC's enables Goodsell's museum quality contraption
to perform sort of the telephone exchange equivalent of a Hertz-to-cycles-per-second
conversion. The aesthetic quality of the display's visual arrangement and classic wiring
technique compliments perfectly the opposing vintage dial-type phone and touchtone /
iPhone stations on either end. Throw in the audible clacking of the EM 7-segment displays
that reveal the dialed phone number and you have old-time PBX Nirvana ...
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 ...
"New automated approach could help make STM probe
memory commercially viable. Researchers at the University of Alberta in Canada have developed
a new approach to rewritable data storage technology by using a scanning tunneling microscope
(STM) to remove and replace hydrogen atoms from the surface of a silicon wafer. If this
approach realizes its potential, it could lead to a data storage technology capable of
storing 1,000 times more data than today's hard drives, up to
138 terabytes per square inch. As a bit of background, Gerd Binnig
and Heinrich Rohrer developed the first STM in 1986 for which they later received the
Nobel Prize in physics ..."
Wednesday 22
Most of us probably never give much thought to
how vulnerable we could be in a lawsuit related to our professional activities - until
it's too late. That is particularly true if you are not directly involved in the sales
or service business. Even when it is reasonable to believe that there is no way a jury
or judge could
find you liable for a charge levied against you, the skill of a talented lawyer and/or
whims and prejudices of judges and/or jurors can doom you. Although a bit dated, the
legal cases cited in this Radio-Electronics article give a little insight into
why you would do well to give some thought to what the consequences of your actions and/or
statements might invite if someone decides you have offended him or her. Remember that
settled legal cases are regarded as precedence ...
"Gallium Nitride (GaN) due to its high efficiency
and excellent electric characteristics is being considered for use in space applications.
NASA researchers are currently examining the use of
gallium nitride, a crystal-type semiconductor compound first discovered
in the 1980s, for space applications. Among its many attributes, gallium nitride demonstrates
less electrical resistance than other materials and thus loses only a small proportion
of power as heat. The material can handle 10 times the electrical current of silicon,
enabling smaller, faster, and more efficient devices. In addition, it is tolerant to
a wide range of temperatures, resistant to radiation, an ..."
Lotus Communication Systems is a supplier of high
performance connectorized RF modular
system components, shielded project cases, and special purpose solutions up through
40 GHz. Lotus is a privately owned company with mechanical and electronic design,
manufacture, test controlled from its Middlesex, MA, facility. They have multiple 4 axis
CNC machines and LPKF circuit plotters. Lotus can provide custom extension of our standard
products, custom designs for specific applications and prototyping for your new products ...
Electronics industry news has reported lately
that there is a
shortage of qualified technicians in the U.S., brought on because of the increased
levels of manufacturing activity. The military has historically been a good source of
techs that have four or more years of hands-on experience and a healthy dose of theoretical
training. For the past couple decades, the overall troop size has been decreasing, contributing
to the lack of technicians. Two-year colleges and vocational centers are still turning
out graduates, but not many who also have field experience. This is not a new dilemma
for employers, however. The industry goes through cycles just like necktie styles and
sunspots; to wit, this article from a 1967 issue of Popular Electronics. I had
to laugh ...
everythingRF recently launched a service to
create websites for RF & microwave companies. Manufacturers no
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"Purdue University
researchers have created a design for FETs which makes them promising candidates for
next generation nanodevices. The re-engineered
Purdue FET can offer better switching behaviour for computers and
devices than traditional FETs, says the university. 'Our technology merges lasers and
transistors,' said Purdue's Tillmann Kubis, 'there is traditionally not a lot of overlap
between these two areas, even though the combination can be powerful with the Internet
of Things and other related fields.' The combination of the quantum ..."
Tuesday 21
Maybe it is because I recently rebuilt a set of
stereo speakers that this article on frequency
crossover circuits seemed appropriate for posting. Crossovers networks are essentially
an audio version of a an RF multiplexer filter. The speakers were just some cheap jobs
from an old system where one had a split in the 8" bass speaker cone. I wanted to keep
the enclosures since they match the receiver and turntable and replace just the speakers
themselves. The so-called crossover circuit consisted of a series capacitor in one line
of each of the midrange and tweeter speakers. Good quality stereo speakers and a good
crossover circuit would have cost a couple hundred dollars - well beyond my budget, so
I opted for some just-above-low-end car speakers ...
"Researchers in the U.K. have demonstrated a dry
contact-printing system that enables the transfer of multiple
silicon
nanowires onto flexible large-area substrates to develop high-performance ultra-thin
electronic layers with good control over its electronic properties. This opens up the
opportunity for large-scale use of flexible and bendable electronics including in internet
of things (IoT) and smart city applications. 'Single-crystal silicon is a brittle material,
and the moment you bend it, it cracks,' said professor Ravinder Dahiya, who led the research ..."
Good luck trying to find a good
ham radio related comic in any magazine today. I am convinced that publisher boards
either discourage or outright prohibit comics these day for fear of hurting some overly
sensitive person's feelings and inviting lawsuits, or worse yet social media flaming
frenzies. Fortunately, I am not afraid and am glad to make these vintage comics available.
You and I, being reasonable people, cannot possibly find anything insulting or denigrating
in any of these five comics, but somebody could. BTW, for the non-ham, a "pink ticket"
from the FCC is a notice of violation, which could be anything from neglecting to announce
your call sign every ten minutes to having a faulty transmitter that is spewing noise
outside your band ...
Transient Specialists, a leader in EMC rentals
for over 30 years, announces that they will be offering rentals of the
NSG 3150 and CDN 3153. This 15 kV combination wave/surge generator system
by Teseq can be rented together or separately to facilitate testing needs. Transient
Specialists conveniently located in the mid-west offers a variety of EMC test equipment
rentals to accommodate your testing needs. Our rentals include technical support on the
equipment, weekly and monthly rentals, and 2 days each way of transit time free with
each rental. With the experience and equipment Transient Specialists is solution when
testing needs ...
KR Electronics designs and manufactures
high quality filters for both the commercial and military markets. KR Electronics manufactures
all filter types: lowpass, highpass,
bandpass, bandstop and individually synthesizes filters for special applications. State
of the art computer synthesis, analysis and test methods are used to meet the most challenging
specifications. Please visit their website today to see how they might be of assistance
...
"Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
(HKUST) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd have been jointly developing
integrated capacitors for p-type gallium nitride (p-GaN) gate high-frequency power transistors on silicon substrate.
GaN transistors with a p-gate enable enhancement-mode operation where transistors are
in the current-off state with zero gate potential. This reduces power consumption and
allows fail-safe operation. GaN transistors are being developed for high-frequency power
applications with a view to high conversion efficiency and power density. Production
on silicon should reduce manufacturing cost ..."
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