AND NOW you see - I was absolutely determined to update this blog on what is (already!) 2nd November. Where DO the months go? I know the answer - they just disappear down the drains!!
You know what? Well, following my highly successful three-day Rome business trip (a very interesting city indeed) back late-September/early-October I completed two intra-England business trips - one to Howden and the other to Southwell near Newark. By the way, WHEN you go to Rome do find the "Spanish Steps" (Piazza do Spango) - marvellously historic and great restaurents too. I took quite a few photos. Also I would throughly recommend the hotel I stayed at: Cristoforo Colombo (4+ stars and genuininely deserved). Very clean and well-run.
Heads up now folks - wakey, wakey! It's Monday morning as I write this and you have just about 45 shoplifting (!) I mean shopping days to - Christmas Eve!! I am counting six days per week because you simply shouldn't be shopping on precious Sundays!
That's less than one-eighth of the year left up to Christmas Eve, so you've not much more than one third of the year left to think seriously about all those Cards and Pressies!! No pressure then?! AND if you live in the UK as things are right now there's the postal strikes may mean there's no point in posting because your cards and pressies just won't get to reach their intended recipients!!
Also of course IF millions of you go out right now and buy up ALL the chocolate boxes, and the Christmas Crackers - there'll be none of these left by Christmas itself!!
Now: I really hope you are keeping as healthy and fit as possible? Along with most of the Northern Hemisphere it is clearly now - Autumn - and the somewhat variable weather attests to this fact. It's cool now in England (even slight night frosts) and we are now having our wood-burning stove on. We do throughly recommend these systems.
WE WILL ALL NEED TO BE KEEPING VERY FIT INDEED. Especially as this H1N1 "Swine" flu accelerates through to approach around 100,000 people per day as we move into autumn and then winter. Many will almost certainly die but I for one don't think this will be the coming "great human cull". This is when the present world population falls from the present 6 billion-plus right down to more like 600 million i.e. around a tenth of the current number. This will almost certainly seem terrible to all of us but the fact is that 600 million IS very likely a more sustainable global population.
This planet cannot go on sustaining over 6.7 billion human beings - especially when most increasingly want a "Westernized" life-style (see above).
Sorry to sound SO gloomy but it is also my firm belief that by some time pretty soon we will ALL become involved in a major revolution. Driven by these dreadful greed-laden people like the bankers, politicians AND bosses of our "dear old" BBC! - indeed probably most "top corporate leaders"... Please understand I am NOT in any way looking to stoke-up unrest - the unrest is already here..... All I mean is to simply warn you folks about this so you are not too shocked when it happens.....For a few years' now and more intensively during recent months I have been thinking that something big - something directly tangible to ordinary folks - was in the offing. I certainly don't want to sound political but on Monday 30th June, for example, the Conservative opposition leader in Britain (David Cameron) remarked that on the basis of current trends it is entirely possible that riots may break out in parts of the United Kingdom..... Oh - and please note I am NOT by any means a habitual right-wing Tory voter. From what (little) I can remember I may even have voted for Tony Blair's New Labour back in 1995!
Assuming we truly face a revolution then we should all make every effort to foster as peaceful a transition as possible (a "velvet" revolution?). And we must all remember - at all times - the plight of women, children and elderley people. In fact, wouldn't it be an excellent idea if all these categories of people received first attention - their needs, their support..... Personally I believe the current Iranian situation could form a sort of "copy-cat" background but I also think Britain will lead "the West" in this world-changing revolution. My reasoning is simple: Britain is far and away in one of the worst plights and the anger runs deep, very deep. By the way - Spain is in an even worse situation with approaching 18% unemployment....
AND on 1st September I read (Newsmax.com) - a clear indication that we are almost certainly on the verge of a (seemingly necessary?) war with Iran. Think about the implications for the innocent citizens of that country - a country that would be wonderful if it were not for the terrible Ayotollahs, "Ah, me dinner jacket", etc. - and what about the effects on Israel, on oil prices, etc.? When this war gets under way the world will be plunged into an even deeped economic slump. (By the way - do you know the "Westernized" nickname for the Iranian president is: "Ah, me dinner jacket"?!..)
After all the above comments (some pretty gloomy, I know) here's some local good news from here.
The final, fully-accredited special IEEE "Expert Now" course - effectively "icing on the cake" for the SIber-learn course (see below) - is currently being developed. "Millimeter-Wave Device and Circuit Technology" will be available in the near future and the IEEE Editorial Board now have all the notes for this course. They are, so far, very pleased with these notes - great news! Last Friday the computer headset arrived so I can now trace back through each slide developing the voice-over. Plus we have Engalco orders coming through (see elsewhere on this blog).
AND of course the siber-learn web site is fully completed and available (see below) - We had a prospective student application just back in August.
IF you have ANY issues about this course - please let me know on:- terry.edwardsvic@btinternet.com
Don't forget, if and when you would like a VERY SPECIAL CAKE MADE for A VERY SPECIAL OCCASION then please visit my brilliant expert friend's site: www.cakeinspirations.co.uk
As we all know only too well. each one of us is living in the year through which all forecasts indicate effectively an economic depression. But do please take heart and always remember (and help) people - sometimes locally - who really are suffering.
We must think about (and pray for) all those who continue suffering in various locations around the world, for example: SE Austraila (fires), Bangkok, Burma (Myrnamar), Ethiopia (& Darfur),Gaza, Iran, much of Israel, many in Russia, Somalia, Zimbabwe.......... And we should certainly add our thoughts concerning those in countries like the UK and the USA who are suffering hardship including: repossession of their former homes and fuel poverty meaning they can't keep warm. Obviously the latter most seriously affects the old as well as young families with babies.....In all these instances THEIR "progression" through 2009 to date hardly look as bright as most of OUR experiences so far this year.....
IF you live in any of these places, or anywhere else where life is really tough day-by-day, then please be assured my heart goes out to you. Oh, and I must tell you I have it on very kosher authority that all of us - especially those of us living in the "Western Democracies" - should stock up with cans etc. of food and other essential supplies. You should obtain enough to last your househole at least 30 days.....
DO IT NOW - TODAY.
You may know there's a world shortage of honey and that's mainly because our vital little bees are in decline through the effects of disease and climate change - too wet now in some habitats and too dry in others. As the bee population declines it's not only the absence of honey on our breakfast cereals or our sandwiches that we will notice. The actions of bees in nature are SO critical that the very survival of all plants and animals (and humans) will eventually be threatened. Might I therefore strongly suggest we all work to develop special (controlled) new habitats for bees? These habitats will have to be very secure in terms of being extremely resistant to all forms of bee-life-threatening bacteria and viruses. A friend of mine has recently pointed out that Albert Einstein once stated: "without bees mankind might survive for around four years.".... Since first writing the above "bee-orientated" notes (originally back in in January) having visited there I now appreciate that in Tenerife (2007 or 2008?) severe forest fires devastated most of the bee-keeping activities and hence the production of honey. ALSO, those terrible and hellish bush fires in SE Australia late in the summer there. The effects of these, quite apart from the direct human tragedies, will mean further substantial reductions in honey-making. HOWEVER, During this past Northern Hemisphere summer someone living in Lincolnshire, England, has announced a new species of bee that he believes may well be resistant to the bacteria, etc..... What do you think? And do have any suggestions? What do you think is really happening around the world? I'd be very interested to here from you..! The rest of this message is virtually identical to my earlier "wrap-ups". I make no excuse for this because it still just summarises how I feel.
We all press onwards with our lives and support those people who (increasingly) need all the help they can get in various stressful situations.
Obviously I don't (yet) know who you are reading this but I hope very much it's as easy as ABC:
(A) You are healthy and well and enjoying life - as much as you possibly can;
(B) You are keeping busy - whether that means sports activities assuming you're into that sort of thing or whether it's, well, WORK!
(C) You find this blog at least of some interest?
Please note that my novel, "Spheres of Deception", is now complete and currently available as an Ebook in A5 format. One of my contacts has already received his copy. - How about you?
Also for more information about this new book please visit our new web site:
- where you can see further info on this book and even buy your own copy as an Ebook.
May I ask if you have any ideas as to how I might go about getting this book properly published? Internet-based would seem to be the best option. What for example do you reckon about Lulu?
Once again I want to say to you: basically: enjoy life sensibly..... have a drink or two "on me" BUT please don't drink excessively. People who do over-drink, sometimes even becoming drunk, DO NOT ACTUALLY ENJOY anything. All that happens is they become temporarily sick - and soon permanently incapacitated through sirrosis of their livers, etc. This can and does often lead to death.....
I DO hope to hear from you soon - alive, well and richly
enjoying your life!
Oh - and please do check out the new web site here:
www.siber-learn.com - the new intensive WEB, VC & E-mail-BASED course course offering.......- we may well also be offering a CD-ROM of this course (PowerPoint).
From your friend Terry Edwards, November 2009
Terry - terry.edwardsvic@btinternet.com
Please note the wine glasses (!) - We enjoyed a glass or two each - BUT nothing excessive!!! By the way this photo was taken in South Tenerife (Canary Islands) in January 2008.. We re-visited this area over January/February this year - together with my brother and sister-in-law living in Bridlington (Pete & Carol). But STILL nowhere near enough off-beach snorkelling (Bobo is best)! BUT since the disappointing Tenerife break (in terms of snorkelling) in early June Majorca "came very good".
Engalco's principal areas of focus are:
advanced electronics for defense, military & space systems.AND THERE's - ABSOLUTELY LOADS HAPPENING (currently "maxed-out"!). SO much please excuse me because I'll almost certainly not be updating this blog anything remotely like as frequently as in the past. For example I have recently completely finalised an article that will be published in the IEEE Microwave Magazine in February 2010 and today I am preparing a proposal & quotation for a substantial consultancy project.
Also of course way back 1st October I returned from a very good business trip to - Rome (!!) That was the European Microwave Week - THAT was! Great meetings and updates for me - great hotel (Cristoforo Colombo) - shame about the meeting venue....
We are now researching for the AESAs3 report which will be our THIRD update on the AESAs scene.
AESAs? That's Active Electronically-Scanned Array radars. By the way, AESAs are totally-electronic (no moving parts) rapidly-scanning radars used in many modern fighter jets and naval vessels. Some large AESAs are however ground-based. One example is at Fylingdales in North Yorkshire, England. We passed within one mile of this facility by train recently. Other AESAs are located in Greenland, etc. We understand some folks may well just want various portions of the report, such as the market data, and we now offer this. Already one almost "sure-fire" customer would be the US Navy because they have already indicated such.
Way back June 25 we delivered the PowerPoint (ppt) notes for the IEEE Expert Now course on Millimeter-wave Devices and Circuits. These notes were accompanied by three WORD files and the immediate response from our client was highly favourable. This entire project is developing well and on Thursday September 17 we received the very nearly final version of the PPT file. Only three very minor errors were spotted and brought to the attention of the IEEE - we are very near final launch in that "all" that should be required very soon should be my "voice-over" i.e. my spoken commentary going through each slide.
We have also completed a project concerning certain markets for passive RF/microwave components so we are now well into this research. There might possibly be another consultancy order coming up fairly soon - in the field of medical electronics. Plus likely further projects extending through most of 2009 and into 2010 - we hope! We now also have at least one and possibly two further consultants researching with me to pursue these challenges even more vigourously! This is far from only RF/microwave - we are already working on sustainable energy technologies and associated industries!
So all this means that, despite the gloomy overall world economic outlook, various folks DO seem to need an update of our earllier (2007) AESAs report.
There's a maxim for many of you with this one - DO NOT give up or fall into some fit of depression - there are certainly still opportunities out there... Please be warned however - there are also people out there who are using the facts of this financial recession to try trapping you into "investments" or some money-making scams that will definitely make some good money - for THEM!!
At Engalco we are also making extra special efforts to keep our research highly up-to-date - especially in view of the fact we are currently entering a significant global economic recession ... Our latest concept is to generate and offer low-cost updates of market forecasts covering the next seven years. The reports will typically comprise 30-40 pages maximum with concentrated available market data forecast charts definitively taking into account the likely depressed markets for these next couple of years - followed by an upturn.
Look out for ever-strengthening markets as from around 2010-2011.......
Terry Edwards can be directly contacted using:
terry.edwardsvic@binternet.com
Engalco's web site is (almost!) up-to-date so why not pay a visit to:-
www.engalco-research.com
And please feel more than welcome to drop me a line using the above-provided E-mail addy.
Terry Edwards, November 2009
Now RIGHT HERE IS something to truly strengthen your future prospects in every way. From:
Terry Edwards, M. Phil. (Microwave Research), Mem IEEE. (that's me!), is the principal tutor of siber-learn - an intensive Internet, Email (including attachments) and video-conferenced (VC)-supported course for you on:
"Electronics for Radio & Radar Systems"
RIGHT AWAY - NEW PROJECT BASED ON ALL THE ABOVE: ENTIRE RF/Microwave COURSE IN PowerPoint ON CD-ROM!
You pay - we mail (using carriers such as FedEx or DHL - we have accounts with each of these). Let me know your level of interest:
terry.edwardsvic@btinternet.com
Check us out by visiting:
This site is now fully up-and-running. The first course offered is RF/Microwave Technology so please visit the site for more details. AND please let me know (on terry.edwardsvic@btinternet.com) if you have ANY issues here. One potential student applied a few week's ago.
ALSO: a fully-accredited special IEEE "Expert Now" course - effectively "icing on the cake" for the SIber-learn course - is currently being developed. "Millimeter-Wave Device and Circuit Technology" should be available later in the autumn (fall) of 2009 - see under Engalco, above.
Collaboration with a leading RF/microwave computer-aided engineering (CAE) supplier is also currently being followed-up and already very promising progress has already been made on this front also.
This course is bang up-to-date and is based upon many years of experience performing industrial RF/microwave research and lecturing final-year undergraduate and post-graduate students at institutions including:
* The Department of Engineering, University of Hull, England Within M Sc in Radio Systems over the years 2002 to 2007. The externally-provided RF & Microwave technology element was only stopped for 2008 and until further notice due to the financial funding crunch at this location. If you would like confirmation of this please contact Nick Riley at this University.;
* The Department of Communications Engineering, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia. Development of microwave courses from scratch - post-graduate level. Also microwave research here (two-year activity);
* The Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, University of Bradford, England; Development of microwave (principally microstrip) course from scratch - M Sc level.
* What used to be termed the Royal Military College of Science at Shrivenham, England (RMCS). Also microwave research at this location,
Terry Edwards has written texts on Microwave Electronics and Microstrip Design (1981, 1984, 1990 and 2000). Published by John Wiley & Sons and also Artech House.
"I stay continuously up-to-date by virtue of regular industrial consultancy in the RF and microwave field and this is happening right now."
On the RF/Microwave Technology course you will learn about:
1. RF/Microwave Amplifiers
1.1 Review of Logarithmic Units (dB, dBm, dBW.)
1.2 Scattering [S] parameters
1.3 Microstrip technology
1.4 RF/Microwave Amplifiers
MMICs, RFICs, Stability, LNAs (optimization) ,
RF power amplifiers (efficiency, linearity)
2. Microwave Frequency Filters
2.1 Review of Basic Concepts and Fundamentals
2.2 Design approaches.
2.3 Low-pass filters (LPF) formed with cascaded microstrips
2.4 Other microstrip-like HMIC/MMIC filter elements
2.5 Microwave Bandpass Filters
2.6 CAD of Band Pass Microwave Filters
2.7 Suspended-substrate stripline" ("SSS")
2.8 A structure for a band-stop filter (BSF)
2.9 Dielectric resonators and filters using them
3. Microwave Mixers
3.1 Some Basics
3.2 A significant aside — up-conversion
3.3 Image Frequency
3.4 Diode-based Mixers
3.4.1 Single-ended Diode Mixer
3.4.2 Balanced Diode Mixers
3.4.3 Image Reject Diode Mixer
3.5 FET Mixers
3.5.1 Single-ended FET Mixer
3.5.2 Differential FET Mixer
3.5.3 Gilbert Cell Mixer
4. Microwave Frequency Sources
4.1 SAW-based Oscillators
4.2 Dielectric-Resonator-Based Oscillators (DRO's)
4.3 Voltage-Controlled Oscillators (VCO's)
4.4 Frequency Synthesisers
4.4.1 Direct Frequency Synthesis (DFS) — Basics
4.4.2 Direct Digital Frequency Synthesis (DDFS)
4.4.3 PLL-based Frequency Synthesisers
4.4.4 Fractional-N Frequency Synthesiser
4.4.5 The Problem of Phase Noise and its Specification
IN ALL INSTANCES THE REQUIREMENTS OF FULL MICROWAVE SYSTEMS (MAINLY COMMUNICATIONS) ARE INDICATED IN DETAIL VIA BLOCK DIAGRAMS. IN THIS WAY EACH SUBSYSTEM OR CIRCUIT BLOCK IS IDENTIFIED
ALL THROUGH THE COURSE YOU WILL HAVE ACCESS TO E-MAIL AS WELL AS OCCASIONAL LIVE INTERACTIVE CONTACT WITH YOUR TEACHER. QUESTIONS ARE SET FOR YOU AND FULL DISCUSSIONS ARE AVAILABLE CONCERNING ANYTHING TO DO WITH THE SUBJECT OF RF AND MICROWAVE ELECTRONICS.
Here's a photo of a MMIC chip (most modern radio & radar systems implement lots of these):
and here's a diagram showing the circuit of a differential FET mixer (more complex versions have now become very popular in current radio systems designs e.g. the Gilbert cell mixer):
IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN JOINING THIS COURSE PLEASE CONTACT ME ON:
terry.edwardsvic@btinternet.com
I look forward to hearing from you
Terry Edwards, October 2009
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