Homepage Archive - January 2022 (page 1)

See Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 of the January 2022 homepage archives.

Friday the 7th

The ABCs of Antenna Design

The ABCs of Antenna Design, July 1938 Radio News - RF Cafe Before I forget, let me remind you while on the subject of antenna design that beginning January 1, 2022, EZNEC Antenna Software by Roy Lewallen (W7EL) is being offered free of charge. It is inarguably the world's premiere package for amateur radio enthusiasts and is used by many professionals. QST's Joel Hallas (SK) used it extensively as part of his monthly "The Doctor Is In" column. This "ABCs of Antenna Design" article appeared in a 1948 issue of Radio News magazine in an era when nomographs, slide rules, and empirical testing and adjusting were the primary tools of all designers. Digital and analog computers occupied entire wings of buildings and could not calculate results nearly as well as EZNEC can on even a low end Windows 10 computer...

EMC Society IEC 61000-4-3 Multiple Signal Testing Webinar

EMC Society IEC 61000-4-3 Multiple Signal Testing Webinar - RF Cafe "The IEEE Electromagnetic Compatibility Society is the world's largest organization dedicated to the development and distribution of information, tools and techniques for reducing electromagnetic interference. They are organizing a webinar on 'Multiple Signal Testing in Accordance with IEC 61000-4-3,' on January 12th, 2022 from 10.30 pm to 11.30 pm. The changes introduced in the IEC 61000-4-3:2020 fourth edition include a description of how to test using multiple test signals; the addition of information regarding EUT and cable layout; the removal of the upper-frequency limitation to take into account new services; and the further specification of how to characterize the uniform field area, as well as added clarification for checking the power amplifier linearity in the field generation chain..."

CAP - Communications Operation Jupiter

CAP - Communications Operation Jupiter, August 1957 Radio & TV News - RF Cafe The Civil Air Patrol (CAP), being made up primarily of volunteer, unpaid airmen and officers, has been serving the country since World War II, as highlighted in this 1957 Radio & TV News magazine article. Many members use (or at one time used) their own aircraft and radio gear in the service of the country. Per the CAP website, "In the late 1930s, more than 150,000 volunteers with a love for aviation argued for an organization to put their planes and flying skills to use in defense of their country. As a result, the Civil Air Patrol was born one week prior to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Thousands of volunteer members answered America's call to national service and sacrifice by accepting and performing critical wartime missions. Assigned to the War Department under the jurisdiction of the Army Air Corps, the contributions of Civil Air Patrol...

3-Phase Power Supplies in Unmanned Aircraft Systems

Utilizing 3-Phase AC-DC Power Supplies in Unmanned Aircraft Systems - RF Cafe Aegis Power Systems, a leading supplier of AC-DC and DC-DC power supplies for custom and special applications, has posted a blog entitled "Utilizing Three-Phase AC-DC Power Supplies in Unmanned Aircraft Systems". It begins: "Unmanned aerial systems (UAS) consist of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and a controller and data system that allows operators or programs to control the vehicle. UAS units come in a wide variety of electronic and electromechanical options that can be autonomous, remotely piloted, or both. Electronic UAS units give military and defense organizations control during potentially hazardous missions. Unmanned vehicles are safer, can be programmed with routine instructions or operational parameters, and allow remote operations with a significantly reduced risk of error or communication delays..."

Modern Radio Practice in Using Graphs and Charts

Modern Radio Practice in Using Graphs and Charts, July 1932 Radio News - RF Cafe I've always disliked book and article titles containing the word "Modern" because the word is utterly ambiguous and usually downright misleading more than a few years past the original publication date. What at publication time was modern is usually obsolete merely a decade later, especially in the realm of high technology. Sometimes, however, as with this 1932 Radio News magazine article on insulation (dielectric) breakdown voltages, bringing the information up to date requires only the addition of an extra couple decimal points of precision and/or the substitution of a few words. For instance, replace "condenser" with "capacitor" and units of "mfd" with "μF" and "mmfd" with "pF." Then you'll be on your way to gaining useful information. You might not find some of the dielectric types pertinent today, like gutta percha...

Post Your Engineer & Technician Job Openings on RF Cafe for Free

Engineering Job Board - RF Cafe RF Cafe's raison d'être is and always has been to provide useful, quality content for engineers, technicians, engineering managers, students, and hobbyists. Part of that mission is offering to post applicable job openings. HR department employees and/or managers of hiring companies are welcome to submit opportunities for posting at no charge. 3rd party recruiters and temp agencies are not included so as to assure a high quality of listings. Please read through the easy procedure to benefit from RF Cafe's high quality visitors...

Many Thanks to ConductRF for Continued Support!

ConductRF coaxial cables & connectors - RF Cafe ConductRF is continually innovating and developing new and improved solutions for RF Interconnect needs. See the latest TESTeCON RF Test Cables for labs. ConductRF makes production and test coax cable assemblies for amplitude and phased matched VNA applications as well as standard & precision RF connectors. Over 1,000 solutions for low PIM in-building to choose from in the iBwave component library. They also provide custom coax solutions for applications where some standard just won't do. A partnership with Newark assures fast, reliable access. Please visit ConductRF today to see how they can help your project! 

Thursday the 6th

Electronics-Themed Comics January & June 1948 Radio News

Electronics-Themed Comics January & June 1948 Radio News - RF Cafe As is often the case with some of these vintage electronics-themed comics, you need to be privy to the mindset of the readership of the era. The 1948 Radio News magazine audience of electronics technicians and servicemen had a wide variety of experiences dealing with finicky customers and equipment. In-home service calls were as commonplace as family doctors making house calls (I'm old enough to remember both doctor and TV repair visits to our house in the 1960s). 1948 was only a couple years past the end of World War II, a time when the electronics field was burgeoning with new technology and domestic products that seemed magic and miraculous to the layman. High quality radios and the rapidly growing number of broadcasters gave anyone living near even a medium city a seemingly unlimited number of stations from which to choose. Many of the shows were still at least partly live, with music and entertainment shows conducted in the studio. Then, as now, listeners griped about the number and length of commercials interrupting programs...

Magnetic Amplifiers: How They Work, What They Do

Magnetic Amplifiers: How They Work, What They Do, July 1960 Popular Electronics - RF Cafe How many of us have any idea what a magnetic amplifier is or how they work? Very few, I would guess. This article from a 1960 issue of Popular Electronics magazine is a good introduction. Magnetic amplifier have been around since the beginning of the 20th century and have been used extensively in heavy industrial and military equipment controls. Their appearance is very similar to a typical electrical transformer, but the function is completely different. Basically, the magnetic amplifier is a current-controlled impedance changer. The current applied to the primary winding controls the degree of saturation in the secondary, which in turn causes the impedance of the secondary to vary. That action makes it functions like an electrically controlled rheostat...

GaN Explained Video Series

GaN Explained (video) - RF Cafe Here is a 3-part video introduction to gallium nitride (GaN) technology. Although GaN has been around for two decades, it has only been fairly recently that wafer sizes and processes have enabled it to be widely used for a wide variety of applications. GaN's power handling and high frequency operation capabilities makes it the semiconductor of choice for power supply and RF power amplifier applications. Power Integrations' Vice President of Marketing and Applications Engineering Doug Bailey provides an overview on GaN technology and the new possibilities it brings to the power conversion industry...

Inside the Dry Cell

Inside the Dry Cell, April 1959 Popular Electronics - RF Cafe Dry cell chemistry has come a long way since this article appeared in the April 1959 edition of Popular Electronics magazine. Yes, you can still buy a basic carbon battery, but much superior cells are available now that perform over much wider temperature ranges, have nearly flat discharge curves throughout their rated range, and offer standard chemistries with voltages other than 1.5 volts per cell (nominal). For example, nickel metal hydride (NiMH) cells exhibit 1.2 volts nominally, and lithium polymer (LiPo*) cells have a nominal voltage of 3.7 volts. As a kid in the 1960s and 70s, I spent a lot of time struggling to make Eveready flashlight "D" cells from my father's flashlight power the glow plugs on my model airplane engines. They were typically so weak that even slight flooding from glow fuel on the element that the current could not get nichrome elements hot enough. Nowadays, a voltage regulated glow plug driver can overcome any amount of fuel on the heating element...

Make Older Gear Work When New Test Equipment Cannot Be Found

Axiom Test Equipment Blog: Make Older Gear Work When New Test Equipment Cannot Be Found - RF Cafe Axiom Test Equipment, an electronic test equipment rental and sales company has published a very unique and helpful new blog post entitled "Make Older Gear Work When New Test Equipment Cannot Be Found." Since the beginning of the COVID plandemic two years ago, everything from housing to cars to food to medical care has been increasingly difficult and expensive. Test Equipment and other electronics items have not been spared during this time. This article informs people on the different alternatives available to them due to today's global supply chain challenges that prevents them from finding the specific unit they're looking for. Shortages have led to a great deal of creativity in electronic design and manufacturing when a part cannot be found. Amplifier designers, for example, may have to change transistors and integrated circuits (ICs) and with them the circuit materials that best suit the amplifier. If it is possible to modify an electronic product with available components...

Radios Made from Hearing Aids

Radios Made from Hearing Aids, May 1956 Popular Electronics - RF Cafe A recent headline announced where a guy hacked his hearing aid to enable listening to Wi-Fi signals as he walked around town. Why would a person do that? I suppose now that the audible digital handshaking tones of telephone modems and fax machines are all but gone from everyday life, he must have really been missing the nerve-grating melodies. I don't recall ever seeing a story about anyone picking up Wi-Fi signals from a faulty metal tooth filling like used to occur occasionally in the presence of high power AM transmitter towers. This article from a 1956 edition of Popular Electronics reminded me of it. I think I've told the story of how while working as an electrician in Annapolis, Maryland, (mid 1970s) I sometimes used a pair of modified telephone handsets to communicate with co-workers...

Promote Your Company on RF Cafe

Sponsor RF Cafe for as Little as $40 per Month - RF Cafe 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 16,000 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.

Thanks to Copper Mountain Technologies for Continued Support

Copper Mountain Technologies Copper Mountain Technologies develops innovative and robust RF test and measurement solutions for engineers all over the world. Copper Mountain's extensive line of unique form factor Vector Network Analyzers include an RF measurement module and a software application which runs on any Windows PC, laptop or tablet, connecting to the measurement hardware via USB interface. The result is a lower cost, faster, more effective test process that fits into the modern workspace in lab, production, field and secure testing environments.

Wednesday the 5th

Frequency Control - Quartz

Frequency Control - Quartz, July 1938 Radio News - RF Cafe Before a suitable manufacturing process was developed for synthetic quartz, the mineral (silica, or silicon dioxide - SiO2) was mined from the ground in various parts of the world. The primary source for electronics grade quartz came from Brazil. It was not until 1921 that Walter Cady developed the first quartz crystal oscillator, and George Pierce came up with his eponymously named Pierce oscillator circuit in 1923. It was not until the1950s that a commercial-scale process was developed for hydrothermal processing of synthetic quartz. This 1938 Radio News magazine article describes the manufacturing steps required for making radio-quality natural quartz crystals...

Bob Pease's Messy Workbench in CQ Magazine

Smorgasbord: Bob Pease's Messy Workbench in December 2021 CQ Magazine (Eric  Nichols) - RF Cafe CQ magazine is a great monthly publication for the electronics hobbyist and professional. Each month it is chock full of amazingly informative articles covering circuit design, system design, antenna design, product reviews, electronics theory, prototyping and kit building, industry news, and more. Being primarily an amateur radio publication, CQ also contains many pieces on equipment setup and use, operational suggestions, contest coverage, ARRL events, FCC regulatory news, reports on personal accomplishments, etc. As part of his "Haywire State" article, Eric highlights the venerable Bob Pease (sadly no longer with us) with his famously messy workbench and tangle breadboarded circuits...

Edwin H. Armstrong: The Rest of the Story

Edwin H. Armstrong: The Rest of the Story - RF Cafe One of my favorite old-time radio personalities, Paul Harvey, had a trademarked feature titled The Rest of the Story. For those of you not familiar with the format, Mr. Harvey would begin his story talking about particular life aspects of a person that, while remarkable, usually had no connection with the person's eventual claim to fame. The listener's challenge was to guess who the person was before it was revealed at the very end, followed by, "... and now you know --- the rest [emphasis] of the story." As far as I know the story of FM radio inventor Edwin H. Armstrong was never a subject, although it certainly met the criterion. I've already let the figurative cat out of the bag, so you already know my subject. However, that probably will not diminish the surprise at the end (for most people). You likely are familiar with the epic struggle that Nikola Tesla had with Thomas Edison in the contest between adoption of alternating current (Tesla) versus direct current (Edison) as the dominant electrical distribution system in America. It was a take-no-prisoners battle...

ConductRF Hi-Frequency Flexible RF Cable Assemblies

ConductRF Hi-Frequency Flexible RF Cable Assemblies January 4, 2022 - RF Cafe ConductRF's latest innovation is Hi−Frequency RF Jumper Cables with 2.92 mm, 2.4 mm or 1.85 mm connectors as standard. This assemblies use our optimized direct solder attached connectors and our superior double shielded hi-frequency A61SW flexible cable with shielding effectiveness greater than -100 dB. These cables are design to support the latest requirements for 5G applications for cross connecting modules, but can equally be used in any field where hi-frequency jumper cables are required. Beyond our standard interconnect, we can also offer solutions with SMP, SMPM, SMA and many other common connector interfaces. Hi-Performance right angled options are available utilizing hard setting shrink tube to form the cable bend...

Magnetic-Confinement Fusion w/o Magnets

Magnetic-Confinement Fusion w/o Magnets "Tokamaks, which use magnets to contain the high-temperature plasma in which atomic nuclei fuse and release energy, have captured the spotlight in recent months, due to tremendous advances in superconducting magnets. Despite these gains, though, traditional magnetic-confinement fusion is still years away from fulfilling nuclear fusion’s promise of generating abundant and carbon-free electricity. But tokamaks aren’t the only path to fusion power. Seattle-based Zap Energy’s FuZE-Q reactor, scheduled to be completed in mid-2022, bypasses the need for costly and complex magnetic coils. Instead, the machine sends pulses of electric current along a column of highly conductive plasma, creating a magnetic field that simultaneously confines, compresses..."

Major Edwin Armstrong Receives Award from Army Signal Corps

Major Edwin Armstrong Receives Award from Army Signal Corps, August 1944, Radio-Craft - RF Cafe Major Edwin Armstrong, whose first name is Edwin but is often assumed to be Major (which used to be a not-so-rare man's first name), was endowed with many awards, patents, titles, and honorary distinctions during his amazing career. He served in the Signal Corps during World War I, where he attained the rank of Major. Having already achieved notoriety for his work prior to being commissioned, he entered as military service as a Captain (RCA's David Sarnoff was initially commissioned as a General during World War II). Being highly patriotic, Armstrong granted the U.S. government free use of his patented material during both wars. As with many other renown inventors, scientists and engineers of the era (and no doubt today as well), he suffered from personal issues that haunted him constantly, as written about in my Kirt's Cogitations article...

Post Your Engineer & Technician Job Openings on RF Cafe for Free

Engineering Job Board - RF Cafe RF Cafe's raison d'être is and always has been to provide useful, quality content for engineers, technicians, engineering managers, students, and hobbyists. Part of that mission is offering to post applicable job openings. HR department employees and/or managers of hiring companies are welcome to submit opportunities for posting at no charge. 3rd party recruiters and temp agencies are not included so as to assure a high quality of listings. Please read through the easy procedure to benefit from RF Cafe's high quality visitors...

Many Thanks to Atenlab for Their Continued Support!

Atenlab microwave components - RF Cafe Atenlab has been operating in Taiwan for more than a decade, and has sold and installed hundreds chambers around the world. Holistic, affordable Over-the-Air (OTA) measurement systems perform comprehensive measurement and test in a controlled environment. Compact Antenna Test Range (CATR) with one-touch operation supports multiple systems - 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G - and major instrument brands. [M]ulti-probe OTA measurement systems offer reduced time measurements over single-probe systems.

Tuesday the 4th

How Television Tubes Are Made

How Television Tubes Are Made, July 1938 Radio News - RF Cafe Even in the late 1930s when this article appeared in Radio News magazine, factory automation had made significant progress from the times when nearly every step of the process had to performed by hand by workers. However, as components became smaller, more delicate, and precision assembly was essential to assure acceptable performance and reliability, direct human interaction was the only available means for getting the job done. As can be seen in this array of photos from the DuMont company's television cathode ray tube (CRT) production line, simple monochrome tubes required the precision and in-situ decision making of many kinds of skilled craftsmen (and craftswomen). Stories in later editions of various electronics magazines showed that although the level of automation had increased in the production of more complicated color CRTs, there was still a lot of manual labor involved...

Monitor Your Spectrum for Signs of Threats

Monitor Your Spectrum for Signs of Threats - RF Cafe "Advances in communications enable a safer world in many ways, ranging from health monitoring and diagnosis to reliable connectivity for critical defense systems. However, radio frequency (RF) signals may negatively affect health if exposure is too high, as in the case of errant RF emissions. Concerns also arise over threats to disable critical communications from an event such as an electromagnetic pulse (EMP). An EMP would halt the functioning of much of society by disabling electronics. Using RF signals to trigger attacks with drones or explosive devices is also an issue. Drones have the potential for illegal or threatening uses. While spectrum monitoring cannot prevent these issues and attacks, it can detect signs beforehand and provide insight into mitigating threats. As a result, military, intelligence, and other agencies employ spectrum monitoring to watch communications patterns for suspicious activity..."

Samsung Eco Remote Charges from Wi-Fi Router

Samsung Eco Remote Charges from Wi-Fi Router - RF Cafe "Following the introduction of a solar-powered Eco Remote for its TV lineup at last year's CES, Samsung has returned to the 2022 show with an updated remote that converts router radio waves into energy. Like the older models, the new Eco Remote can still be charged with solar energy, though its RF harvesting capabilities allow the device to be charged in dark environments. Aside from the remote's radio-waves-to-energy conversion abilities, the device can be charged from both outdoor and indoor light, as well as via USB-C, which breeds the fastest charging time. Samsung has announced that it will unveil a white model of the device this year, which is intended to better match the aesthetic of the tech giant's lifestyle TVs: The Frame, Serif and Sero. As with the previous device, the latest Eco Remote..."

Radio and Electronic Devices Are Westinghouse War Weapons

Radio and Electronic Devices Are Westinghouse War Weapons, September 1942, Radio-Craft - RF Cafe My civilian career began at Westinghouse's Oceanic Division in Annapolis, Maryland. It was long ago bought out by Northrop Grumman and re-named Undersea Systems. Their AQS-24 towed sonar system looks outwardly very much like the AQS-14 that I worked on while there in the 1980s. Our parent organization was the Westinghouse Electronics Systems Division in Baltimore, MD, adjacent to the Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI) tarmac so that military aircraft could fly in and out to be retrofitted with radar systems. Headquarters for Westinghouse was (and still is) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where progenitor George W. founded it. Having had its roots in locomotive air braking systems, Westinghouse became a major defense electronics contractor during World War II and thereafter. Both military and commercial electronics were designed...

Modelithics Library v21.8 for Cadence Spectre RF Option

Modelithics Library v21.8 for Cadence Spectre RF Option - RF Cafe Modelithics, the leading provider of RF/microwave simulation models, is pleased to announce version 21.8 of the Modelithics Library for Cadence Spectre RF Option. Version 21.8 adds 22 new complex equivalent circuit models to the library. The Modelithics Library for Cadence Spectre RF Option offers a large selection of highly scalable Microwave Global Models™ for passive components. New models added in version 21.8 include models for the AMOTECH A60Z and A60L capacitor families, the Coilcraft 0603CT, 0603HL, and 0805LS inductor families, and the Passive Plus R35-1209BB and R35-2010BB resistor products. Other new models are included for the TDK CGA1A2C0G, CGA1A2X7R, and CGB1T3X5R0J104M capacitor series and the Vishay CRCW01005 resistor series...

RF & Electronics Stencils for Visio

RF & Electronics stencils for Visio r4 - RF Cafe With more than 1000 custom-built stencils, this has got to be the most comprehensive set of Visio Stencils available for RF, analog, and digital system and schematic drawings! Every object has been built to fit proportionally on the provided A-, B- and C-size drawing page templates (or can use your own). Stencils are provided for equipment racks and test equipment, system block diagrams, conceptual drawings, and schematics. Unlike previous versions, these are NOT Stencils, but instead are all contained on tabbed pages within a single Visio document. That puts everything in front of you in its full glory. Just copy and paste what you need on your drawing. The file format is XML so everything plays nicely with Visio 2013 and later...

Please Visit Triad RF Systems to Thank Them for Their Support

Triad RF Systems Triad RF Systems designs and manufactures RF power amplifiers and systems. Triad RF Systems comprises three partners (hence 'Triad') with over 40 years of accumulated knowledge of what is required to design, manufacture, market, sell and service RF/Microwave amplifiers and amplifier systems. PA, LNA, bi-directional, and frequency translating amplifiers are available, in formats including tower mount, benchtop, rack mount, and chassis mount. "We view Triad more as a technology partner than a vendor for our line-of-sight communications product line." Please check to see how they can help your project.

Monday the 3rd

Let's Listen for Mars

Let's Listen for Mars, July 1938 Radio News - RF Cafe In the late 19th century, 1877 to be precise, Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli determined by observation and logical deduction that the maze of dark lines seen on the surface of Mars had to be of intelligent design (i.e., Martian beings) because no known natural process could possibly create such complex patterns. He called them "canali," meaning channels, or canals. This type of proclamation seeded the concept of extraterrestrials (ETs) being "out there" and most likely visiting Earth. American astronomer Percival Lowell (of Lowell Observatory renown) picked up on and amplified the Mars canals and oases theme through the early 20th century. In fact, it was not until NASA's Mariner planetary probes photographed Mars close-up that the theory was disproved and shows the real explanation was natural drainage paths which occurred when its CO2 polar ice caps melted. When this article appeared in a 1938 issue of Radio News magazine, many serious people believed there was animate life on Mars and other planets...

Space Electronics: Satellites and ET EM Waves

Space Electronics: Satellites and ET EM Waves, May 1961 Popular Electronics - RF Cafe Prior to around 1960, the nature of electromagnetic radiation outside the Earth's atmosphere was entirely a matter of scientific conjecture. As is evidenced by this 1961 Popular Electronics magazine article, at the time it was still not known for certain whether electromagnetic energy outside the bands transmitted through the ionosphere existed for sure. There was of course no reason to believe that low frequency, long wavelength radio waves were not present along with the rest of the spectrum, but experiments needed to be developed that would launch satellites above the atmosphere to detect probable out-of-band signals and then re-transmit them on frequencies known to easily penetrate the "ether." Many failures occurred along the way, but persistence paid off in what is today a very well explored and documented outer space. Prior to the last half decade, groups like NASA were more interested in conducting research than wasting precious allocated funds on unrelated projects like the utterly unrelated studies...

Antennas for 5G: How to Guarantee the Best Performance

Antennas for 5G: How to Guarantee the Best Performance - RF Cafe Antenova Ltd, the UK-based manufacturer of antennas and RF antenna modules for M2M and the IoT, has published a report entitled "Antennas for 5G: How to Guarantee the Best Performance." 5G offers a wealth of benefits to wireless devices – high speeds, low latency and reliable connectivity, to name a few. To enjoy these benefits, antennas play a vital role. As the transmitter and receiver, a wireless device can only operate as well as an antenna allows it to. And, with cellular carriers scrutinising a device's performance, choosing the right antenna is critical. Topics covered include: How to determine the best antenna for your 5G project, How to optimise PCB design for 5G, How to optimise 5G mobile device performance by prototyping...

A Quantum View of Combs of Light

A Quantum View of Combs of Light - RF Cafe "Unlike the jumble of frequencies produced by the light that surrounds us in daily life, each frequency of light in a specialized light source known as a ''soliton' frequency comb oscillates in unison, generating solitary pulses with consistent timing. Each 'tooth' of the comb is a different color of light, spaced so precisely that this system is used to measure all manner of phenomena and characteristics. Miniaturized versions of these combs - called microcombs - that are currently in development have the potential to enhance countless technologies, including GPS systems, telecommunications, autonomous vehicles, greenhouse gas tracking, spacecraft autonomy and ultra-precise timekeeping. The lab of Stanford University electrical engineer Jelena Vučković only recently joined the microcomb community. 'Many groups have demonstrated on-chip frequency combs in a variety of materials, including recently in silicon carbide by our team. However, until now, the quantum optical properties..."

Decibel Level vs. Decibel Gain

Decibel Level vs. Decibel Gain, May 1936 Radio-Craft - RF Cafe Arithmophobia (a real word) is likely the root cause of of decibelphobia (that one's made up), a condition that causes some otherwise rational people to curl in the fetal position in an attempt to avoid the topic. As with most subjects, the more often you engage in using a term, the more comfortable you become with it. Technicians and engineers who deal in voltage and power levels in terms of dividing quantities or transmitting them from one location to another would find conversation and writing without the use of decibels quite inconvenient. It is tempting to point out that using decibel units to express ratios or relative levels, thereby permitting use of simple addition and subtraction rather than multiplication and division, respectively, is no different than using logarithms to do the same with any number in general. However, logarithms are lost on most people as well. Historically, logarithms were so important in science and mathematics that large volumes were created to facilitate rapid multiplication and division of numbers.

RF Cascade Workbook

RF Cascade Workbook - RF Cafe RF Cascade Workbook is the next phase in the evolution of RF Cafe's long-running series, RF Cascade Workbook. Chances are you have never used a spreadsheet quite like this (click here for screen capture). It is a full-featured RF system cascade parameter and frequency planner that includes filters and mixers for a mere $45. Built in MS Excel, using RF Cascade Workbook 2018 is a cinch and the format is entirely customizable. It is significantly easier and faster than using a multi-thousand dollar simulator when a high level system analysis is all that is needed. An intro video takes you through the main features...

Thanks Once Again to everythingRF for Long-Time Support!

everything RF Searchable Database - RF Cafe Please take a few moments to visit the everythingRF website to see how they can assist you with your project. everythingRF is a product discovery platform for RF and microwave products and services. They currently have 267,269 products from more than 1397 companies across 314 categories in their database and enable engineers to search for them using their customized parametric search tool. Amplifiers, test equipment, power couplers and dividers, coaxial connectors, waveguide, antennas, filters, mixers, power supplies, and everything else. Please visit everythingRF today to see how they can help you.

Sunday the 2nd

Wireless Engineering Crossword Puzzle for January 2nd

Wireless Engineering RF Cafe Crossword Puzzle for January 2nd, 2022 - RF Cafe Here is the first custom RF Cafe Crossword Puzzle for 2022, this one having a wireless engineering theme. Let us hope it is a good year for all except those in power who strive to make our lives miserable with attempts to restrict and/or deny our human rights and freedoms. All RF Cafe crossword puzzles are custom made by me, Kirt Blattenberger, and have only words and clues related to RF, microwave, and mm-wave engineering, optics, mathematics, chemistry, physics, and other technical subjects. As always, this crossword contains no names of politicians, mountain ranges, exotic foods or plants, movie stars, or anything of the sort unless it/he/she is related to this puzzle's technology theme...

Many Thanks to Withwave for Long−Time Support!

Withwave RF & Microwave Components - RF Cafe Withwave manufactures an extensive line of metrology quality coaxial test cable assemblies, connectors (wave-, end-, vertical-launch, board edge, panel mount), calibration kits (SOLT), a fully automated 4-port vector network analyzer (VNA) calibrator, between- and in-series connector adaptors, attenuators, terminations, DC blocks, torque wrenches, test probes & probe positioner. Special test fixtures for calibration and multicoax cable assemblies. Frequency ranges from DC through 110 GHz. Please contact Withwave today to see how they can help your project succeed.

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