As is always the case, we've been busy adding plenty of new stuff to Microwaves101. We ain't been slack, Cap'n Walker!
Nw for September 2024. One hundred years ago... although an armistice signed on 11 November 1918 stopped fighting in the Great War (WWI), the Treaty of Versailles (28 June 1919) formally ended hostilities in 1919. The six-month delay was spent concocting a plan for war reparations and other concessions. The treaty demanded reparations from Germany and its cohorts Hungary, Turkey, Austria and Bulgaria. By 1921 the victors had settled on 132 million gold marks ($33B in 1921) as the full amount, or $580B today. Soon every Central Power country but Germany pled poverty and was forgiven. Germany fell behind their payment schedule, and by 1923 the Reparation Commission decided that it was time for France and Belgium to occupy Germany's industrial Ruhr region to enforce deliveries of coal and other raw materials. At its peak, 100,000 foreign soldiers occupied a region of Germany that today has 5M inhabitants. Passive resistance, strikes and sabotage pretty much shut down the Ruhr economy. In an unintended consequence, Germany paid off their striking workers with papiermarks, which caused hyperinflation: by November 1923, one US dollar would buy 4,210,500,000,000 marks. In September 2024, the Dawes Plan was put in place. Developed by American Charles Dawes, it provided a staggered schedule for reparations and a substantial loan to the German government. Dawes ended up with a Nobel Peace price, the occupiers went home, and a short period of economic recovery ensued. Enforcing reparations arguably (and predictably, by Keynes) played a part in the rise of fascism, leading to WWII. It took Germany until 2010 to pay off their WWI debt, the final payments not in Deutschmarks, but in Euros. Why is this over-simplified history lesson important? Once Russia gives up its Ukraine misadventure, there is a movement afoot to demand substantial reparations. Keynes is rolling in his grave... But Slava Ukraini!
Meanwhile, what's new on the Microwaves101 site?
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Here's a page on maximally-flat hexaplexer design, contributed by Mert. He was inspired by a diplexer design we featured, using singly-terminated filters. We posted his Microwave Office project, be sure to download a copy. You too can become proficient in multiplexer design, but you should start by downloading a copy of the "Microwave Filters Impedance-Matching Networks and Coupling Structures", by authors Mattai Young and Jones, available in our download area.
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Our singly-terminated diplexer design was moved to its own page, removed from our main diplexer page which was getting too long.
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We added a page on KU Leuven (in Belgium), to our list of colleges that provide microwave curricula. KU Leuven will celebrate their 600th anniversary in 2025!
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You might not know that our sister website EverythingRF is publishing an actual magazine these days. So far there are two editions, one for 2023 and one for 2024. If you are a magazine collector (and we have heard from someone that is), the EverythingRF magazine is available in paper copy if you show up at IMS. If anyone has a spare 2023 copy they don't need, we know a good home for it.
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We updated our content on the concept of "ground". We started by splitting off a page on ground loops, where we will show you a power supply that you can buy that creates one! Then we re-wrote the original ground page to show how "ground" and "Earth" and are supposed to connected configured from a neighborhood substation right up (and into!) whatever you are plugging in. If you live in an older home, you might want to check to see if you actually protected...
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We've added WAVEPIA, a Korean fabless design house, to our MMIC supplier page.
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We've added two new features to the Microwave Mortuary. First, is a view of a sticky mat at the entrance to a "clean" room. Then, we show a problem with a die-bonder that does not always register when there might be an interference in the Z-axis.
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On our where are they now page, we note that Renanas has purchased Altium for $6B a few months back.
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The newest Unknown Editor rant, Business in the front, party in the back (IMS 2024 wrap-up). We've heard from some engineers that want XXL and XXL shirts from the show, they will be mailed out shortly!
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On our discussion board, we've always got some questions that need YOUR answers. Please try to help out our members... Like Blind Boy Fuller, Step it up and go! Here are the newest threads:
https://forum.microwaves101.com/discussion/228/text-book-survey New topic on the future of an old industry
https://forum.microwaves101.com/discussion/227/bagley-power-divider Looking for the original reference on this network for a future article
https://forum.microwaves101.com/discussion/223/instability-found-when-cascading-microwave-amplifiers troubles with high gain receiver breadboard Latest post is a reminder to look at power supply isolation, and a link to a concrete contractor?
https://forum.microwaves101.com/discussion/225/mystery-ebay-purchase Is that recent post from a spam bot, AI, or what?
https://forum.microwaves101.com/discussion/224/measure-noise-figure-of-something-with-really-low-noise A link to a 2010 article on NF measurement in High Frequency Electronics
Pop on over to the discussion board to register and sign in, then chime in on existing threads, or start your own topics. Our user approval process is quick and anonymous, blocks most bots, and eliminates spam by more than 99%. At least that's what the sales rep told us.
We're always fixing typos and making corrections of one kind or another, mostly whenever one of you eagle-eyed viewers write to tell us when we've made a mistake. For this month, we fixed two mistakes on our Smith Chart Basics page thanks to Ryan. Thanks to all of our assistant editors out there!
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As always, we want you to sign up for the MW101Stuff newsletter, or submit a photo for our Microwave Mortuary. We'd love to hear from you, whether you have nice things to say about Microwaves101.com or just want to tell us how we've ruined your life.
Attention forward thinking microwave marketeers: check out recently updated information on advertising with us. Sponsorship information is but a click away....
The Unknown Editor himself is hatching a plan to attend the next Automated RF and Microwave Measurement Society (ARMMS conference), which will be held on 18-19 November 2024 at The Cambridge Belfry, in Cambourne, England. This is a small but fun conference, unaffiliated with the IEEE. Look for this and other conferences on our Microwave Events page.