December 21, 2006 Newsletter

==============================
Microwaves & RF UPDATE
MWRF - www.mwrf.com
December 21, 2006
==============================

Greetings and welcome to your personal copy of PlanetEE's Microwaves 
and RF UPDATE e-newsletter. Please see below for address-change or 
subscribe/unsubscribe instructions.

Today's Table of Contents:
1. Ham Radio Reaches End Of An Era
2. No More Morse Code In Ham Radio Tests 
3. Focus Enhancements Receives FCC Approval For DS-OFDM UWB 
4. Silicon/Crystal Timing Market To Expand 
5. MEMS To Move In 2008
6. InGaP LNA Boosts Satellite Radio Receivers 
7. Maury Hosts Load-Pull Seminar
8. Happenings - Conferences 


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For more information, click on the link below:
http://news.mwrf.com/t?ctl=44724:49027F 

******************************************************************


***************
1.  Viewpoint 
***************
Ham Radio Reaches End Of An Era

Amateur radio operators hold an important and noble place in this 
country. Not only are they people dedicated to maintaining skills in 
radio communications, they represent this country's "safety net" for 
emergency communications should some disaster or terrorist activity 
render all normal communications networks useless. Those who 
remember the movie classic On The Beach may recall the main 
characters' hope of finding survivors following a nuclear holocaust 
after receiving a Morse Code message on a ham radio.

That scene has suddenly become severely dated, with the FCC's 
willingness to grant higher-level Amateur Radio operator's licenses 
without knowledge of Morse Code. Obviously, this has opened the door 
to many more people becoming ham operators, who may have hesitated 
previously when considering the Morse Code requirement. But this 
relaxation of the requirements also "cheapens" the license somewhat, 
in the manner of granting a driver's license in a large city without 
requiring the skill of parallel parking. 

With newer radios and communications technologies available, the 
FCC's move away from Morse Code is understandable. But, as that 
scene in On The Beach showed, that Morse Code may come in handy 
one day. 

JACK BROWNE
Technical Director


*************
2. News
*************
No More Morse Code In Ham Radio Tests

Morse code will no longer be a requirement for earning any Amateur 
Radio (ham) license in the US. The United States Federal 
Communications Commission announced last week that it had eliminated 
testing for proficiency in Morse code for all Amateur Radio license 
classes. Although many ham operators are well versed in Morse Code, 
it will no longer be required for a license as per FCC Report & 
Order in WT Docket 05-235. Since 1991 it has been possible to earn a 
"Technician" class Amateur Radio license without passing a Morse 
examination. The higher class licenses, "General" and "Amateur 
Extra," required at least five words per minute code proficiency. 
The Amateur Radio Relay League (ARRL) reported that requests for 
study materials for new licenses had doubled within 72 hours of the 
FCC announcement that Morse Code had been dropped from the testing. 
For more information, contact the ARRL.
ARRL ---> http://news.mwrf.com/t?ctl=44722:49027F


*********
3. News
*********
Focus Enhancements Receives FCC Approval For DS-OFDM UWB

Focus Enhancements, a pioneer of sending wireless video with 
ultrawideband (UWB) technology, has received US Federal 
Communications Commission (FCC) approval for its direct-sequence, 
orthogonal-frequency-division-multiplex  modulation 
technique. The approval allows full use of the UWB spectrum without 
waiver, providing 880-Mb/s rates to UWB product designers and users. 
Focus is also the only wireless chip manufacturer to receive 
approval without waiver. As a result, DS-OFDM UWB radios will be 
able to use all or any part of the bandwidth allocated by the FCC 
for UWB applications (3.1 to 16.6 GHz). According to Tom Hamilton, 
executive vice president and general manger of Focus Enhancements' 
semiconductor group, "While several WiMedia companies have received 
FCC approval for UWB technology, none have done so without waiver - 
until now." The firm's flavor of UWB technology allows wireless 
high-definition (HD) and standard-definition (SD) video transmission 
at data rates from 37 to 880 Mb/s with distances sufficient for 
whole house wireless video coverage.
Focus Enhancements ---> http://news.mwrf.com/t?ctl=4471C:49027F


*********
4. News
*********
Silicon/Crystal Timing Market To Expand

The market for silicon-based and crystal-based timing devices will 
grow from $4.2 billion in 2006 to exceed $5.7 billion in 2011 
according to a new study from ABI Research. While silicon-based 
timing devices are still not as capable of sophisticated tasks as 
crystal oscillators, they are getting better, and will eventually 
replace crystals in many contexts. The report, "The Timing Solution 
Market: Quartz Crystal, Crystal and SAW Oscillators, and Silicon 
Timing Devices," notes that the strongest growth will occur in the 
Asia-Pacific region. 
ABI Research ---> http://news.mwrf.com/t?ctl=4471A:49027F
 

**********
5. News
**********
MEMS To Move In 2008

The latest ABI Research study on microelectromechanical systems 
(MEMS) technology projects that 2008 will be a banner year for the 
MEMS in mobile phones. The report, "Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems 
(MEMS) in Mobile Phones," predicts five major application areas for
MEMS in the mobile phone: in RF filters, adaptive tuning circuits,
resonators and oscillators, audio microphones, accelerometers, and 
motion sensors. Cost is still a concern, although it should drop 
with the expected volumes for mobile phones. 
ABI Research ---> http://news.mwrf.com/t?ctl=4471B:49027F


************************ ADVERTISEMENT****************************  
  

     You take WiMAX forward.  See how Agilent clears the way. 
  
Agilent cleared the way for fixed/mobile WiMAX and WiBro with the 
industry's first design tools like our Advanced Design System (ADS) 
suite of software tools, ESG signal generator with Signal Studio 
software, and VSA modulation analysis software.  Now you can 
anticipate potential roadblocks with fast and efficient test using 
Agilent WiMAX MXG signal generation and MXA signal analysis - see how 
at http://news.mwrf.com/t?ctl=44714:49027F . It's WiMAX testing at the 
edge of possibility. 

For more information, click on the link below:
http://news.mwrf.com/t?ctl=44724:49027F 
		 		 
******************************************************************


*********
6. News
*********
InGaP LNA Boosts Satellite Radio Receivers

Model UPG2310TK is a low-noise amplifier (LNA) fabricated with an 
InGaP monlithic-microwave-integrated-circuit (MMIC) process. Ideal 
for Industrial-Scientific-Medical (ISM) applications in the 
2.3-to-2.5-GHz band as well as for SDARS satellite radio receivers, 
the LNA features 27 dB gain and 1.8 dB noise figure at 2.3 GHz. The 
third-order intercept point is +28.5 dBm at that frequency. The LNA 
is supplied in a compact TK package measuring 1.5 x 1.3 x 0.55 mm. 
California Eastern Labs ---> http://news.mwrf.com/t?ctl=44723:49027F


*********
7. News
*********
Maury Hosts Load-Pull Seminar 

Maury Microwave is hosting a three-hour seminar on load-pull testing 
using the company's high-reflection impedance tuner with a 
commercial vector network analyzer. The seminar, which is scheduled 
from 1 to 4 PM on January 10, 2007 at the 2007 IEEE Radio and 
Wireless Symposium in the Long Beach Convention Center (Long Beach, 
CA), uses the optimization of a GSM/EDGE power-amplifier (PA) module 
as an example. Attendees can register to win a 4-GB iPOD nano. For 
more information, contact John Sevic at e-mail: [email protected] 
or visit the company's web site.
Maury Microwave Corp. ---> http://news.mwrf.com/t?ctl=44720:49027F


*******************************
8.  Happenings - Conferences
*******************************
2007 IEEE Radio and Wireless Symposium (RWS)
January 7-12, 2007
Long Beach Convention Center
Long Beach, CA
http://news.mwrf.com/t?ctl=44719:49027F

Software Defined Radio (SDR) Forum Meeting
January 15-18, 2007
Sheraton San Diego Hotel, Mission Valley
San Diego, CA
http://news.mwrf.com/t?ctl=4471E:49027F

2007 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC)
February 11-15, 2007
San Francisco Marriot Hotel
San Francisco, CA
http://news.mwrf.com/t?ctl=44721:49027F

IEEE Sarnoff Symposium 2007
April 30-May 2, 2007
Sarnoff Labs
Princeton, NJ
http://news.mwrf.com/t?ctl=44716:49027F

2007 IEEE/MTT-S International Microwave Symposium
June 3-8, 2007
Hawaii Convention Center
Honolulu, HI
http://news.mwrf.com/t?ctl=4471F:49027F


************************ ADVERTISEMENT****************************  
                    

               For The Best In Test and Components

Visit Microwaves & RF's RF Test Blog to learn about the latest 
developments in RF and microwave test equipment and measurement 
techniques. Sponsored by Keithley Instruments, this blog highlights 
hot new products, white papers, and application notes. And while 
you're there, take a look at the new RF Components Blog, sponsored 
by M/A-COM for the latest component news, at:

                http://news.mwrf.com/t?ctl=4471D:49027F 
 
******************************************************************

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