Quasies and Peaks – The Precursor
to the EMC Society Newsletter May 1955

Editorial – Rexford Daniels
Wanted—New Terms

C.W. Frick, of General Electric, voiced a plea—at the recent I.R.E. New York Convention—for new terms in interference which people could understand or not become confused by; James MacColl, in an address before British Parliament on 29 March 1955, relative to new government Regulations on interference reduction, voiced the same plea; and a government agency recently turned down a request for hundreds of dollars to suppress “noise” from certain motor vehicles by recommending improved mufflers.
     It would seem wise, in deciding on what terms ultimately to adopt, to consider the groups of people who will be involved – those who are technical and the general public. By choosing terms broad enough to be intelligible to both groups, much confusion could be avoided.
     Excerpts from Mr. MacColl’s speech may give a typical indication of the public’s reaction to present terms, as follows:
     “… I think the House and public are entitled to know precisely what are the duties which have been laid upon them and what are the powers which the Government is taking to enforce those duties. They get precious little information from reading the Regulations…
     “One could go on picking out these points, and I know that it is perfectly easy to get a little amusement out of pulling to pieces the technical jargon , but I again emphasize that these are not Regulations passing through in the ordinary course of business to be dealt with by technicians. They vitally affect every householder and every lay person, and if those of us who are sent here by our constituents to represent them have not the foggiest idea as to what most of this means and what a calibrated attenuator is or a decibel or a sine wave, we cannot expect other lay people to know…”

     The public is being increasingly asked to cooperate in the new interference reduction program as it is being developed by the government. It would be much easier to get their support if we could use terms which they can understand.

 

Articles of Interest


Bureau of Ships Journal, April 1955:

Charleston Develops Field Change for Radar Interference Reduction, by W.E. Rohe, Jr., Charleston Naval Shipyard, and M.L. McClary, International

Electronics Engineering Company.
     New Way to Calibrate TS-587/U Is Suggested.
     New-Type Interference-Free Fluorescent Lamp is Developed
, by Leonard Thomas, Electronics Design and Development Division, Bureau of Ships.

 

Electronics, May 1955:
Band-Pass Filters Using Strip-Line Techniques, by E.H. Bradley and D.R.J. White, Melpar, Inc., Alexandria, Va. (Design and construction data on filters for insertion in coaxial lines to obtain band-pass filter performance with large savings in space and weight. Use of etched wiring and sandwich constructions simplifies fabrication.)

 

UP dispatch, April 6, 1955:
Report Radio from Jupiter – Scientists Describe Pickup of Planet’s Static Bursts.
     The report was made to the American Astronomical Society at Princeton, N.J. by Drs. Bernard F. Burke and Kenneth L. Franklin of the Carnegie Institute at Washington. “What causes these radio waves of a frequency of 22 megacycles remains to be explained,” Dr. Burke said. “The emissions are probably produced by violent disturbances in the atmosphere of Jupiter, similar to our thunderstorms, but on a much larger scale.”

 

In Lighter Vein
Wireless World, April 1955 – as submitted by Dr. R.M. Showers, University of Pennsylvania. (Excerpts)
The Curse of Kissing
     “The only thing that interested me in the doctor’s talk (over B.B.C.) was his statement that he knew a married couple who caused an electric spark to jump from one to the other each time they kissed. Apparently this is not an isolated phenomenon, for when this statement was published in the Press several letters subsequently appeared which showed it to be quite common….
     “From a technical point of view I don’t think it is possible to suppress this interference unless kissing is only permitted in specially screened apartments.”

 

Recent Papers
Case Experiences with Interference Reduction for F.C.C. Certification, by T.P. Kinn, Consultant,
     Baltimore, Md. American Institute of Electrical Engineers, Committee of Electric Heating, Electric Heating Conference, Chicago, Ill. May 10–11, 1955.

 

Joint meeting International Scientific Radio Union and
Institute of Radio Engineers, Washington, D.C., May 2–5, 1955.

A Method of Measurement of a Two-terminal Impedance, by B. Salzberg and K.W. Bewig, Naval Research Laboratory.
     A Probability Computer for Noise Measurement, by J.D. Wells and A.W. Sullivan, University of Florida.
     The Effect of Atmospheric Noise on Manual Radiotelegraph System, by R. F. Brown, University of Florida.
     The Effect of Atmospheric Noise on Frequency-Shift Radioteletype System, by Samuel P. Hersperger, University of Florida.
     Studies in Noise by the Liouville Theorem, by G. Held, University of Washington.
     On the Radar Measurement of Angle-of-Arrival in the Presence of Many Plane Wave Interference, by H.R. Brewer and R.D. Wetherington, Georgia Institute of Technology.
     A Study of Fading Rate in Long Distance Tropospheric Wave Propagation, by A.P. Barsis, National Bureau of Standards.
     A Combination Crystal Switch Circuit, by F.S. Coale, Sperry Gyroscope Company.
     Characteristics of High Frequency Discharges from Severe Storms, by Herbert L. Jones, Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College.
     Atmospheric Noise Characteristics, by A.W. Sullivan, University of Florida.
     The Measurement of Recurrent Impulsive Noise, by A. Eckersley and D. B. Geselowitz, University of Pennsylvania.
     Data on the Temperature Dependence of X-Ban Fluorescent Lamp Noise Sources, by W.W. Mumford and R.L. Schafersman, Bell Telephone Laboratories.
     Noise Measurements in the UHF Range, by E. Maxwell and B.J. Leon, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
     The Influence of Noise in Radio Reception, by S. Matt and O.J. Jacomini, General Electric Company.

 

Who’s Who in Interference Reduction
Burroughs Corporation, Radio Interference Laboratories, Detroit 32, Mich.
     James J. Krause, Chief Electrical Test Engineer Harrison I. Craig, Electronics Engineer Sylvester F. Pelowski, Electronics Engineer
The Glenn L. Martin Company, Baltimore 2, Md.
     C.F.W. Anderson, Design Specialist
Bell Aircraft Corp., P.O. Box 1, Buffalo, New York.
     E.H. Eckert
     W.L. Plicato
     R.L. Schneider
     J.J.Skehan
Chance Vought Aircraft, Inc., P.O. Box 5907, Dallas, Texas.
     J.L. Gette
Northrop Aircraft, Inc., Hawthorne, California.
     D.M. Hill
Piasecki Helicopter Corp., 100 Woodland Ave., Morton, Pa.
     J.R. Moore
     In line with compiling a glossary of terms in the interference reduction field, we would be very glad to print any new terms which have been coined by anyone in this field. Please send them in together – with a description of what they cover.
     From letters which have come in, there seems to be a growing demand for the formation of some sort of technical group for the exchange of information. The I.R.E. is now in process of forming a group within its own organization but, for some time to come, it will of necessity have to concentrate on technical aspects. In the meantime, there is a great deal of general information which should be circulated.                         EMC

 



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