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4 of the December 2022 homepage
archives.  Wednesday the 21st
 The creative juices were flowing once again
at Axiom Test Equipment as evidenced by this year's (next year's, actually) calendar.
Their 2022 calendar had a "Top Hits" theme, with a clever juxtaposition of various
types of test equipment with vintage (mostly) rock and roll groups. This time the
theme is "Traveling
Through Time." Whereas last year had "AC/DC Loads" and "Transient Generator
Orchestra," for 2023 the artists at Axiom Test Equipment take a trip across the
ages beginning in January with the Cretaceous Period where dinosaurs deal with perilous
volcanic ejecta in the form of a spectrum analyzer. Maybe the display peak is at
the Big Bang cosmic background radiation (CBR) wavelength centered at 150 GHz
(0.2 cm)? February finds cave dwellers exploiting a temperature test chamber
for use with their newly discovered fire. Fast forward to May and you'll see a Load
Bank situated in an Old West town setting. Look closely at the July soda fountain
scene from the 1950's and you'll see amongst the "stars" displayed on walls and
shelves the 2022 "Top Hits" calendar (how's that for Madison Avenue-quality product
placement?). The August motif is of course my favorite...
 Some things never change, as the old saying
goes. One of those things is adopting a good
preventive maintenance plan for your car or truck. Oil, transmission, and cooling
system fluid level and condition are tasks even the least mechanically inclined
amongst us can do ourselves. So is inspecting and replacing if necessary intake
and cabin air filters. Checking the condition of brakes, suspension parts, body
panel integrity (corrosion and proper fastening), and other easily inspected components
my not be the purview of most motorists, but friends and/or professional servicemen
can take care of that for you. Admittedly, there is a large amount of not just unserviceable
but incomprehensible technology on modern cars (computers, fuel injection, tire
pressure monitors, backup cameras, radar and sonar systems, etc.), so those maintenance
responsibility of those areas must be ceded to highly trained technicians. This
appeal to automobile owners to do their part in conserving resources appeared in
a 1942 issue of Life magazine at a time when the U.S. had recently joined
the second world war (following the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor). The
vast amount of material that would be required to obtain victory over advancing
Communist and Fascist forces of Axis militaries required a diligent effort by citizens
to conserve. A familiar saying during the WWII era was "Use it up. Wear it out.
Make it do, or do without..."
 The December issue of
Aerospace &
Defense Technology magazine had a great article on Additive Manufacturing."
The term pertains to 3-D printing of any structure using a wide variety of materials.
The first 3-D printing machines used molten or on-the-spot sintered plastic. The
result was usually relatively weak and had coarsely "stepped" contours. As technology
improved (very rapidly, I might add), improved plastics and then metals, along with
vastly more finely stepped printing heads could produce rugged structures with increasingly
smooth textures. The story touches on some of the pros and cons of additive manufacturing.
System cost is no longer a major hurdle when considering how 3-D printing can build
"impossible" shapes with both internal and external complex contours, including
entirely captive cavities. The "aerospike engine" shown
in the thumbnail is an example...
 Here is a batch of
electronics-themed comics that appeared in the July 1948 edition of Radio
News magazine. The comic on page 122 would probably elicit cries of racism
or hate speech these days, even though there is nothing racist about it. Note how
prescient the comic on page 140 was. It shows how long futurists have ben contemplating
the technologies that have become or are becoming common place today - of course
many of them were promised to us by the end of the last century by the like of Popular
Mechanics, Mechanix Illustrated, et al. The one that appeared on page 175 is pretty
clever. Such a malady is rarely encountered with today's radios, but back in the
day it was a commonly occurring problem. There is an ever-growing list of other
comics at the bottom of the page...
 "Developers of aerospace and defense systems
need RF power amplifiers (PAs) to perform much better across both existing and emerging
applications such as military 5G and satellite communication. Systems need to meet
higher gain targets but not if it comes with any increases in cost and complexity,
or size and weight. As systems move to higher-order modulation schemes, they also
must deliver adequate linearity and efficiency in an environment that is even more
susceptible to distortion than was the case with earlier schemes. Reducing board
space is another critical issue that has requited challenging peak-to-average power
ratio (PAPR) tradeoffs. A new generation of
GaN MMIC
PAs offers a solution to these challenges, which are especially difficult for
bringing 5G networking to both on-battlefield and off-battlefield applications in
the unused millimeter wave (mmWave) band that is not as vulnerable to high-power
jamming signals..."
 Have you ever heard of a "nuvistor?"
It didn't seem familiar to me right away until after I looked it up. Nuvistors were
high mu (high gain) tubes, manufactured originally by RCA, used in sensitive receiver
front ends. They came in about a dozen different varieties. This particular NASA-136
receiver for satellite reception uses a 6CW4 triode. Per Wikipedia, "Most nuvistors
are basically thimble-shaped, but somewhat smaller than a thimble, and much smaller
than conventional tubes of the day. Triodes and a few tetrodes were made. The tube
is made entirely of metal and ceramic. Making nuvistors requires special equipment,
since there is no intubation to pump gases out of the envelope. Instead, the entire
structure is assembled, inserted into its metal envelope, sealed and processed in
a large vacuum chamber with simple robotic devices..."
 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!
 SF Circuits' specialty is in the complex,
advanced technology of PCB fabrication and assembly, producing high quality multi-layered
PCBs from elaborate layouts. With them, you receive unparalleled technical expertise
at competitive prices as well as the most progressive solutions available. Their
customers request PCB production that is outside the capabilities of normal circuit
board providers. Please take a moment to visit San Francisco Circuits today. "Printed
Circuit Fabrication & Assembly with No Limit on Technology or Quantity."
Tuesday the 20th
 Gimmick or brainstorm? I'd says the
Jerrold Magic Carpet Antenna is a little bit of both. Undeniably, it is a good
way to conceal a full-size antenna with the general characteristics of multi-element
broadband structure. The downside is that it is fixed in position and any directionality
will favor some stations while shunning others. Its installation inside removes
weather concerns - snow, ice, and wind - which is a major advantage. I have never
seen one, but the illustration seems to show that the antenna elements are integrated
into a fabric sheet (hence the "carpet" part of the name), so its geometry is fixed
and should be consistent as long as the installer takes care to not distort it.
On the other hand, based on my experience with television and FM radio antennas,
a bit of variation from the factory "textbook" shape often provides improved performance.
Ultimately, anything other than a high gain antenna mounted high off the ground,
and on a rotator will result...
 "A chip consisting of
memristor crossbars was trained using a local on-chip learning algorithm. The
team demonstrated that their approach could accurately reconstruct Braille representations
of nine famous computer scientists from highly distorted inputs. Deep-learning models
have proven to be highly valuable tools for making predictions and solving real-world
tasks that involve the analysis of data. Despite their advantages, before they are
deployed in real software and devices such as cell phones, these models require
extensive training in physical data centers, which can be both time and energy consuming.
Researchers at Texas A&M University, Rain Neuromorphics and Sandia National
Laboratories have recently devised a new system for training deep learning models
more efficiently and on a larger scale. This system, introduced in a paper published
in Nature Electronics, relies on the use of new training algorithms and memristor
crossbar hardware, that can carry out multiple operations at once..."
 Innovative Power Products (IPP) with more
than 30 years of experience designing & manufacturing RF & microwave passive
components, is proud to introduce one of its newest broadband, high power, Dual
Directional Couplers, the Model IPP-3238. The
IPP-3238 is a 600 watt dual directional coupler covering the full 2000
- 8000 MHz band in a 1.30" x 1.30" x 4.13" package with Type N connectors on
in/out ports and SMAs on the coupled ports. The IPP-3238 provides 40 dB nominal
coupling, insertion loss of <0.30 dB, main line VSWR of <1.35:1, coupled
flatness of ±1.0 dB, and directivity >17 dB. The IPP-3238 is available
for both commercial and military use and is RoHS compliant...
 Piezoelectric material's first widespread
application in electronics was in the form of
quartz crystals that were cut along certain axes in order to provide resonance
at specific frequencies. Prior to crystals, radio sets used LC tank circuits for
beat frequency oscillators (BFO's). This 1934 Radio News and Short−Wave
magazine article reports on the state of the art at the time. They are still used
in modern circuits as frequency-determining devices in oscillators and as frequency-selective
devices in filters. Many high Q and tailored frequency response applications are
now using polycrystalline ceramics for surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices where
crystals used to claim an exclusive domain. This article provides a bit of theory
of operation as well as application in radio circuits using both fundamental and
overtone frequencies...
 Here once again is why I have so much appreciation
for the IEEE (can't afford to join, though, at $209/yr). They consistently print
truthful, informative articles on electrical / electronic technology, without insulting
members / readers. This "Fusion 'Breakthrough'
Won't Lead to Practical Fusion Energy" story is on their Spectrum magazine website,
concerning the recent bloviation by the Secretary of Energy, who has no background
in energy, implying that news from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's
National Ignition Facility (NIF) regarding a picosmidgen of time where a fusion
reaction generating 3.15 MJ exceeded the laser energy of 2.05 MJ needed
to create it. I have been a huge proponent of fusion reactor power generation since
the early 1980's (even subscribed to
Fusion
magazine), when almost nobody had ever heard of a tokomak, so I welcome the news.
However, the intent of the announcement by the
SoE was to make people think the problem of charging all the electric cars and
trucks, and heating / cooling homes and businesses with "renewable" energy would
soon be a non-issue. It isn't. We'll be needing fossil (or even fissile) fuels for
a long time.
 This Radio Service Data Sheet for the
General Electric Model HJ-1205 floor console model vacuum tube radio came from
the June 1940 edition of Radio-Craft magazine, published by Hugo Gernsback.
Console type floor model radios had plenty of space for large speakers, more effective
built-in antennas (usually mounted around the perimeter of the back of the cabinet),
and more convenient tuning and sound adjustment controls. The HJ-1205 featured "feathertouch"
pushbuttons. Some of the early pushbutton tuning mechanisms took a pretty heavy
finger to manipulate. I post these for the sake of hobbyists and historians searching
for information on vintage electronics. If you happen to own one of these radios,
whether in its restored or unrestored condition, please send me a photo and I will
be glad to post it here with attribution to you...
 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 stencil symbol has been built to fit proportionally on the included
A-, B-, and C-size drawing page templates (or use your own page if preferred). Components
are provided for system block diagrams, conceptual drawings, schematics, test equipment,
racks (EIA 19", ETSI 21"), and more. Test equipment and racks are built at a 1:1
scale so that measurements can be made directly using Visio built-in dimensioning
objects. Page templates are provided with a preset scale (changeable) for a good
presentation that can incorporate all provided symbols...
 Alliance Test Equipment sells
used / refurbished
test equipment and offers short- and long-term rentals. They also offer repair,
maintenance and calibration. Prices discounted up to 80% off list price. Agilent/HP,
Tektronix, Anritsu, Fluke, R&S and other major brands. A global organization
with ability to source hard to find equipment through our network of suppliers.
Alliance Test will purchase your excess test equipment in large or small lots. Blog
posts offer advice on application and use of a wide range of test equipment. Please
visit Allied Test Equipment today to see how they can help your project.
Monday the 19th
 The debate continues into this day:
Who really invented radio? Guglielmo Marconi has enjoyed the moniker of the
"Father of Radio" and the "Father of Wireless Telegraphy" for more than a century.
Challengers have presented evidence to the contrary for nearly as long. This story
in a 1960 issue of Electronics World magazine asserts that perhaps Aleksandr
Popov preceded Marconi. A 1939 issue of Radio Craft magazine claims Lieutenant-Commander
Edward H. Loftin deserves the credit based on a 1872 U.S. patent. Still others say
Dr. Mahlon Loomis (and here) made the first wireless transmission. He also has a
U.S. patent issued in 1872. It is tempting to dismiss these claims as being from
"wannabes," but the truth is as time goes by and more effort is put into researching
topics, information is sometimes uncovered that really does change long-held beliefs.
There was not necessarily an intentional deception, but access to archives gets
greater over the ages - especially with the Internet - and many times more people
are doing the research. As long as reporting is honest and unbiased, upsetting "settled
science" is welcome...
 Sometime in the mid 1970's while working
as an electrician, I bought this
Square D
/ Wigginton (aka the "Wiggy") Model 5008 Voltage Tester. It was probably considered
high tech in the day. It uses a simple solenoid to drive the indicator needle. The
scale begins at 120 volts and ends at 600 volts on the alternating current (A.C.)
side, and 120 through 400 volts on the direct current (D.C.) side. Surprisingly
little information on the 5008 is available on the Web. Close-up of the business
area of the Square D model 5008 Voltage Tester. Information sheet for the 5008.
Direct current (D.C.) polarity indicator. Example of measuring house voltage with
the Square D model 5008 Voltage Tester. The highest voltage I ever measured with
it was 480 VAC (3-phase), supplying a concrete block forming machine in Annapolis,
Maryland. It was kind of a spooky experience. I'm comfortable around 240 VAC, but
above that level I worry about compromised insulation, especially in damp environments.
Even with the availability of much more sophisticated analog and digital multimeters,
this is still my instrument of choice when working on house circuits. It is still
in very nice condition and gets used on a regular basis - as recently as a couple
days ago when adding a couple circuits to my daughter's horse barn...
 When I first saw the title of this poem
from a 1941 edition of National Radio News magazine, I thought it was going
to be a plea to amateur radio operators not to give up their hobby just because
the government would eventually prohibit broadcasting during the World War II
years. As it turns out, the poem predated that era and is instead a generic encouragement
to the magazine's readers to press on regardless of obstacles. It did show up in
the Christmas issue, so maybe it was simply a message in the spirit of peace on
Earth and goodwill toward man. In these harsh years of the government fomenting
division and class envy amongst its citizens, it's kind of hard to relate to such
a gentle, kindly mindset, but indeed it did once exist in America. Anyway, I thought
it was worth reprinting here, and even colorized it a bit. "Don't Quit" is sort
of a simpler version of Rudyard Kipling's famous poem of inspiration titled "If."
 Withwave, is a leading designer, developer
of a broad range of
RF, Microwave, and Millimeter Wave Test Solutions and subsystems with a focus
on electromagnetic field analysis and signal processing. Withwave's extensive product
portfolio serves four primary target markets: Wireless Communications, Test &
Instrumentation, Automated Test Equipments, and Network Systems. A short Withwave
2022 Product Presentation video has been produced and posted on YouTube which provides
quick overview of their offerings. As seen in the thumbnail screenshots, it shows
real examples of product lines rather than just CAD drawings...
 Television Infrared Observation Satellite (TIROS)
was the first platform for space-based weather observation, both in visible and
infrared wavelengths. All modern satellites have attitude and orbit correcting capabilities
via gas jets, but there is only a limited supply of gas available so the lifetime
of a satellite is limited as well - pretty darned clever. Scientists who monitored
the performance of TIROS I noticed that the Earth's magnetic field affected
the satellite's attitude as it orbited. They reasoned that attitude control coils
could be installed and energized on TIROS II using electrical power from its
solar panels rather than the onboard fuel supply. This article from a 1961 edition
of Popular Electronics magazine describes the effort...
 New Scheme rotates
all Banners in all locations on the page! RF Cafe typically receives 8,000-15,000
website visits each weekday.
RF Cafe is a favorite
of engineers, technicians, hobbyists, and students all over the world. With more
than 12,000 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.
Reactel has become one of the industry leaders in the design and manufacture
of RF and microwave
filters, diplexers, and sub-assemblies. They offer the generally known tubular,
LC, cavity, and waveguide designs, as well as state of the art high performance
suspended substrate models. Through a continuous process of research and development,
they have established a full line of filters of filters of all types - lowpass,
highpass, bandpass, bandstop, diplexer, and more. Established in 1979. Please contact
Reactel today to see how they might help your project.
Sunday the 18th
 This is your custom made
Electronics Themed crossword puzzle for December 18th, 2022. Hard to believe
there is only one more left after this (Christmas Day) for 2022. All RF Cafe crossword
puzzles are custom made by me, Kirt Blattenberger, and have only words and clues
related to electronics, electricity, radio, radar, 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!
 RF Superstore launched in 2017, marking
the return of Murray Pasternack, founder of Pasternack Enterprises, to the RF and
microwave Industry. Pasternack fundamentally changed the way RF components were
sold. Partner Jason Wright manages day-to-day operations, while working closely
with Mr. Pasternack to develop RF Superstore into a world class RF and
microwave
component supplier. RF coaxial connectors & adapters, coaxial cable &
cable assemblies, surge protectors, attenuators. Items added daily. Free shipping
on orders over $25. We're leading the way again!
Friday the 16th
 Not many of us are still using multimeters
with analog movements for the display. The convenience and fool-proof-ness of digital
multimeters (DMM) makes them the obvious choice for the majority of people. In fact,
the vast majority of my voltage, current, and resistance measurements are made with
a DMM. I still have a couple analog meters which I bought decades ago when first
entering the field of electricity and electronics. The crudest type of indicator
I have is on my early 1970's vintage Square D Wigginton Model 5008 Voltage
Tester with a solenoid indicator. This "Measurement
of Meter Resistance" article in a 1960 issue of Electronics World magazine
was needed sagacity at the time because the internal resistance (impedance) of the
meter and the analog indicator movement might be sufficiently low enough to load
down the circuit being measured to the point where an erroneous measurement is made.
The presence of a parallel resistance causes the circuit under test...
 This is an all-star cast of
radio pioneers if there ever was one. It's not comprehensive by any means, but
most of the first-string players are here in this 1936 Radio-Craft magazine
article. One thing I like about reading these old pieces is that they, for the most
part, are reporting on contemporary events; they are not merely a historian's interpretation
of what the original witnesses recorded. That is not to say early writers did not
editorialize, err, or outright lie about content, but I give these guys the benefit
of the doubt based on the sources. You have certainly heard of people like Hertz,
deForest, and Marconi, but what about coherer (early detector) inventor Edouard
Branly and ground-breaking commercial radio broadcast engineer Frank Conrad? Magazine
editor, publisher, and inventor Hugo Gernsback properly give a short run-down on
the "Famous Radio Beginners" of his day...
 Antenova Ltd, the UK-based manufacturer
of antennas and RF antenna modules for IoT and M2M, is announcing
three antennas for Wi-Fi6 and Wi-fi6E. They are a surface mounted antenna, a
flexible antenna and an external antenna for Wi-Fi6 and Wi-Fi6E. All three antennas
use the 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz and 6 GHz bands and support IEEE standards
802.11a/b/g/j/n/ac/ax. The SMD antenna, named Billi, part number SR43W078, measures
15 mm x 6 mm x 1 mm and requires only 1 mm of clearance on the
PCB. This makes it an exceptionally low profile antenna solution for slim devices
with a small space for the antenna. In tests this antenna showed very high efficiency
across all three bands. It is suitable for pick-and-place manufacturing processes.
The FPC antenna, named Lotti, part number SRF3W077 is a flexible antenna measuring...
 In 1967 when this article article appeared
in Popular Electronics magazine, the use of
integrated circuits in consumer electronics was still relatively new. RCA, GE,
Westinghouse, and Philco had just released their first TVs and radios with IC front
ends, and Heathkit even had a build-it-yourself model. The military was using them
(ICs) in proximity fuse designs. The new technology was really cooking. ESD issues
were discovered and needed to be dealt with as gate sizes shrunk and the vulnerability
to arcing became a problem. A photo is shown where NASA developed a method for mitigating
the potential damage by looping a spring-loaded wire around the leads of MOS-based
ICs during handling. A bit of nerd humor is also presented to commemorate the April
edition...
 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...
Thursday the 15th
 You've heard of the Fahrenheit, Centigrade
(Celsius), Kelvin, and Rankine
temperature scales, but what about the Réaumur scale? This 1965 Electronics
World magazine article presents all five along with formulas for converting
between them. Each temperature scale is named in honor of its creator. Daniel Gabriel
Fahrenheit came up with his scale where, under standard atmospheric pressure pure
water freezes at 32° and boils at 212°. Anders Celsius decided a more sensible temperature
scale would place freezing water at 0° and boiling water at 100°. William Thomson,
1st Baron Kelvin set his scale, which has been adopted as the International System
of Units standard, declares 0° to be absolute zero, where no thermal energy is present.
William Rankine, of ideal heat engine fame, combined Fahrenheit's scale with Kelvin's
absolute zero concept. Lastly, but not leastly, René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur
selected the freezing point of water to be 0° and the boiling point to be 80°, primarily
to accommodate his preference of alcohol over mercury as a thermometer medium...
 "Laser
weapons, cheaper by the shot, should work well against drones and cruise missiles.
The technical challenge of missile defense has been compared with that of
hitting a bullet with a bullet.
Then there is the still tougher economic challenge of using an expensive interceptor
to kill a cheaper target - like hitting a lead bullet with a golden one. Maybe trouble
and money could be saved by shooting down such targets with a laser. Once the system
was designed, built, and paid for, the cost per shot would be low. Such considerations
led planners at the Pentagon to seek a solution from Lockheed Martin, which has
just delivered a 300-kilowatt laser to the U.S. Army. The new weapon combines the
output of a large bundle of fiber lasers of varying frequencies to form a single
beam of white light. This laser has been undergoing tests in the lab, and it should
see its first field trials sometime in 2023..."
 The Barkhausen-Kurz (B-K) oscillator is
credited as being the first high power microwave generator that exploited the electron
transit time effect. It was developed in 1920 by German physicists Heinrich Georg
Barkhausen and Karl Kurz. As this article's author points out, the vacuum tube and
supporting circuits were difficult to produce and were not very well understood
theoretically. Shortly thereafter, the magnetron and klystron tubes came along and
dominated the high power microwave generation realm. Included in Part II of
"Microwave
- Generation of Microwaves" is a good, brief explanation of the operation of
both B-K and magnetron circuits. Part I appeared earlier in the July 1945 issue
of Radio-Craft magazine...
 With a longtime interest in filter design
software, magazine articles demonstrating modeling techniques that produce results
nearly exactly matching physical filters always grab my attention. Inputting all
the proper parasitic effects is key to success, so my guess is that rarely, especially
at high frequencies where even air is a parasitic element, do near-perfect matches
occur like the one shown. The highly skilled people who write these articles underestimate
the role their expertise plays in success. Still, articles like Daniel Swanson's
"Fully Predictive
Combline Filter Modeling," in the December 2022 issue of Microwave Journal,
provides much appreciate insight into design methodology...
 Nixie tubes were used for numeric - and
sometimes alpha - displays back in the days before LEDs and LCDs. They were more
light bulbs than tubes, but were encapsulated in evacuated glass shells like vacuum
tubes and had round, multi-pin bases like tubes. Separate filaments were provided
for each character. There were two basic varieties: characters that displayed through
the top of the tube, and characters that displayed through the side of the tube.
"Play
Games with Nixie Tubes" is the cover story for this March 1958 issue of Popular
Electronics magazine. Nixie tubes are popular with builders of retro equipment,
and a lot of products are available for sale that incorporate them; e.g., clocks,
wrist watches, radios, clock radios, calendars, games, and much more. Electronic
test equipment and medical instruments were big users of Nixie tubes. I remember
a couple of the signal generators we used on the MPN-14 radar has Nixie tube displays.
Supposedly the name "Nixie" derived from "NIX I", an abbreviation of "Numeric Indicator
eXperimental No. 1," as designated...
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!
 Amplifier Solutions Corporation (ASC) is
a manufacturer of amplifiers for commercial & military markets. ASC designs
and manufactures hybrid, surface mount flange, open carrier and connectorized amplifiers
for low, medium and high power applications using Gallium Nitride (GaN), Gallium
Arsenide (GaAs) and Silicon (Si) transistor technologies. ASC's thick film designs
operate in the frequency range of 300 kHz to 6 GHz. ASC offers thin film
designs that operate up to 20 GHz. ASC is located in an 8,000 sq.ft. facility
in the town of Telford, PA. We offer excellent customer support and take pride in
the ability to quickly react to evolving system design requirements.
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.
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