EMC Society Newsletter Articles
50–25–10 Years Ago

Fifty Years Ago – August 1961 – Newsletter Number 17 – Institute of
Radio Engineers (IRE) Professional Group on Radio Frequency Interference (PGRFI)
The cover page of the Newsletter carried a “Letter of Appreciation from our Chairman.” The letter was addressed to Mr. D. R. J. White, Don White Associates, 7306 Honeywell Lane, Bethesda, Maryland. The letter said: Dear Don: On behalf of the officers and members of PGRFI, I should like to express my thanks and sincere appreciation for the effort which you personally devoted to the conduct of the 3rd National Symposium on Radio Frequency Interference. Without question, this Symposium was the best of the three that were held from the point of view of not only attendance but quality and general interest. I would also like you to extend to the other members of your committee our appreciation for their contributions. The Symposium was certainly conducted with an unusual degree of smoothness for this type of affair. With best personal regards – Sincerely yours, R. M. Showers, Chairman, PGRFI, 1960–1961.
     The Third National Symposium for the PGRFI was held on June 12-13, 1961 at the Sheraton-Park Hotel in Washington, D. C. A picture from the Newsletter showing, on the left, Major-General James Dreyfus, J-6 Communications, Department of Defense, the Key-Note Speaker for the Third National Symposium, and, on the right, Donald D. R. J. White, Chairman of the Third National Symposium is reproduced at right.
     The middle of the Newsletter contained a “Preliminary Announcement of the Seventh Armour Conference.” It said “The following is the preliminary announcement of the Seventh Conference on Radio Interference Reduction and Electronic Compatibility to be held November 7, 8, and 9, 1961:
     Sponsored jointly by the three military services, the Seventh Conference will be conducted by Armour Research Foundation on the campus of the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. TECHNICAL TOPICS – Sessions are being organized to cover such areas as electromagnetic compatibility analysis, design and measurement techniques, interference prediction techniques, data processing and display method, practical interference control and reduction, etc. It is also planned that topics relating to the analysis requirement of the new DOD Electromagnetic Compatibility Analysis Center will be emphasized. The program will be sufficiently diversified to attract representatives from industrial and government activities, both at the practical and more technical levels. CALL FOR PAPERS – Your cooperation is needed to plan this informative, stimulating program. If you feel your experience and work would be of interest to other people engaged in interference control and suppression work, and if you would like to present a paper at the Conference, we would be happy to review an abstract. Submit abstracts by 1 August 1961. The abstract should be about 150 words. Approximately 40 minutes will be allowed for presentation and discussion. CLASSIFIED SESSIONS – A one-day session for presentation of classified papers is being planned. In view of the additional processing time for confidential and secret material, it is requested that such abstracts be submitted as soon as possible, through the appropriate security agencies. If you have any questions regarding the Conference, or desire more information, please contact Mr. H. M. Sachs of the Armour Research Foundation, 10 West 35th Street, Chicago 16, Illinois.”
     A third article in the Newsletter was titled “FCC Notice of Proposed Rule Making.” The article said: In Docket No. 14178, Notice is hereby given of a proposed rule making in Part 15 of the Rules of the Federal Communications Commission to amend Section 15.66 as shown in the attached APPENDIX to specify the details of certifying seals placed on receivers. In its program for regulating receivers, the Commission is directing public attention to the interference potential of radio and television receivers, and has cautioned consumers about the purchase of sets which do not bear a seal certifying compliance with the Commission’s radiation limitations. The proposed rule amendment is made to promote uniformity in appearance, location, and wording of receiver certifying seals so that purchasers may easily determine when a receiver has been certificated.
     APPENDIX – Section 15.66 is revised to read as follows: 15.66 – Identification of certificated receivers. (a) Each certificated receiver shall have a distinctive seal permanently affixed to its back panel for ready visibility; (b) The seal shall be 1 x 3 inches in size; (c) The color of the seal shall be in contrast with the color of the cabinet finish, and the lettering on the seal shall be in contrast with the background; (d) The seal shall carry the following inscription – (Name of Company) certifies that this receiver complies with FCC radiation limits as of date of manufacture; (e) The certifying seal may not be attached to a receiver until a certificate has been filed with the Commission pursuant to 15.65.
     Announcement of a new receiver was the subject of another Newsletter article titled “Stoddart Brings out a New 1 -10 KMC RFI Measuring Equipment.” The article said: “Under the nomenclature Stoddart NM-62A (AN/URM-138), Stoddart Aircraft Radio Co., Inc., 6644 Santa Monica Boulevard, Hollywood 38, California has brought out a Radio Interference-Field Intensity Measuring Equipment covering the spectrum of 1 to 10 KMC. The NM-62A was designed and developed to rigid Military Equipment Specifications to fulfill the requirements of and meet the approval of all military services. Delivery: April 15, 1962, dependent upon prior commitment at time of receipt of order. Price: $17, 750 – less antennas.
     The 1961 Newsletter had a number of interesting interference stories. Under the title, RFI ODDITIES, we had the following from the May, 1961 issue of Electronic Industries:
     “The Denver field office of the FCC and a local power company were both deluged with telephone calls from a particular section of the city complaining of TV interference. An FCC engineer located the place where the disturbance was strongest. With the help of a lineman of the utility company, power line connections to various buildings were opened one at a time until the interference stopped. The culprit proved to be an unused neon sign at a gasoline service station. Bare output wires from the transformer were touching a brick wall which served as a conductor because it was covered with aluminum paint.”
     “When a government satellite tracking station in Alabama complained of difficulty to radio reception from a space object, the FCC monitoring net pinned the blame on spurious signals from a point-to-point station in the Netherlands! Contact with the latter brought elimination of the intruder, also a letter of thanks from the tracking station.”
     “An AM station in Tennessee sent the FCC Atlanta Field office a handbill announcing the opening of a ‘new broadcast station’ in the same town. The latter did not appear on the Commission’s records. An FCC engineer visited the scene. He found a 14-year old boy who had advertised a low-power device to communicate with playmates in the immediate neighborhood during certain hours.”
     “A crystal-controlled transmitter was operated by two Wisconsin youths in the middle of the broadcast band to transmit ‘boogie’, ‘bop’, and ‘roll’ recorded music to teenagers within a radius of 20 miles. The youngsters proudly told the FCC engineer that they had spent eight months planning and constructing their equipment, and had even built the control console and installed a modulation monitor. They used call letters not on a regular broadcast station lists.”
     “Interference to high-flying jet planes was traced to a receiver used at the complaining airfield. Somebody had forgotten to replace the protective cover shield.”
     “A Tucson airport interference complaint was determined to be caused by the strips of neon lights which outline its control tower.”
     The last article in the Newsletter was titled “FCC Issues First Interference Curb on 2 TV Owners.” It said: “A news item appearing in the papers of June 12, 1961 was as follows: “Washington – The FCC has for the first time in its history ordered two TV set owners in Maysville, West Virginia to show cause why they should not cease and desist from causing interference to a shut-in’s radio reception and to appear at a hearing there on July 12. The Commission has taken action against users of electronic equipment which disrupts radio communications on many occasions but has never before resorted to formal proceedings against a private set owner. Miss Nellie Feaster complained that three neighbors’ TV sets were disrupting her radio reception. This was verified and the FCC asked them to correct it. One set owner did, but the other two did not reply and the interference continued.”
     The Editor of the Newsletter was Rexford Daniels.

Twenty-Five Years Ago – IEEE Electromagnetic Compatibility
Society Newsletter, Issue No. 130, Summer – 1986
The front page of the Society’s Newsletter was devoted to the “Board of Directors Meeting in Parsippany, New Jersey.” The second meeting of the year for the Board was chaired by Len Carlson, President of the Society. The secretary, Gilda Haskins, presented the Board Minutes from the meeting held in Anaheim, California on February 5, 1986; the Minutes were approved by the Board. Treasurer Dick Ford reported that the Society’s net worth was $273,000. Reports were given by Bob Haislmaier, Director for Communication Services; Bob Goldblum, Newsletter Editor; Dick Schulz, Transactions Editor; Gene Cory, Conferences; Ed Bronaugh, Director for Technical Services; Don Heirman, Standards Committee; Henry Ott, Education Committee; Bob Hofmann, Chapter Activities; and Charlotte Tyson, Awards and Membership.

     An obituary notice for Ralph Edward Taylor was in the Newsletter; he had a rare form of muscular dystrophy. He was born in North Carolina on November 28, 1923 and passed away on December 31, 1985. He was an IEEE Fellow, a recipient of the EMC Society’s Richard R. Stoddart Award, and he was a member of the EMC Society’s Standards Committee. He was employed by NASA when he retired in 1982.
     The Chairman, Mr. Herb Mertel, of the 1986 IEEE International Symposium on EMC; to be held in San Diego from September 16-18; was honored in the EMC Personality Profile part of the Newsletter; as edited by William G. “Bill” Duff, Associate Editor of the Newsletter.
     The Editor of the Newsletter was Robert D. “Bob” Goldblum.

Herb Mertel was featured in the Summer 1986 issue of the EMC Newsletter.

Kermit Phipps wrote an article on power line filter erformance in the Summer 2001 issue of the EMC Newsletter.

Ten Years Ago – IEEE EMC Society Newsletter, Issue No. 190, Summer – 2001

The President of the EMC Society in 2001 was Joe Butler and he had his well-written “President’s Message” on the front cover of the Newsletter. In his “Message,” he discussed an EMC-S delegation sent to the IV International Symposium on EMC and Electromagnetic Energy in St. Petersburg, Russia. He also described a meeting of the EMC-S Board of Directors in Minneapolis, Minnesota as part of the preparation for the 2002 IEEE International Symposium to be held at the Convention Center in Minneapolis. He also mentioned that the Emc-s has become a member of the IEEE Sensors Council, the IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems Council, and the IEEE Nanotechnology Committee. He reviewed the Board’s decision to not pursue making the Newsletter a magazine at this time. Finally, he discussed the raise in the dues for the EMC Society from $15 to $20.
     There were seven “Letters to the Editor” taking up two entire pages in the Newsletter.
     Todd Robinson was introduced as the NEW Associate Editor of the Newsletter for “Chapter Chatter.”
     “Practical Papers, Articles, and Application Notes” was edited by Bob Olsen. It included three practical papers; “EMI Measurements and Modeling – More Similar Than You’d Think!” by Colin and Bonnie Brench; “The Quasi-Peak Detector” by Ed Bronaugh; and “An Innovative Shielding Concept for EMI Reduction” by Sabrina Sarto, Sergio DiMichele, Peter Leerkamp, and Henk Thuis.
     Lee Hill, the Chairman of the Distinguished Lecturer Program introduced three new distinguished lecturers for 2001; Colin Brench (Compaq Computer Corporation), Dr. Bud Hoeft (EMC Consultant), and Maria Sabrina Sarto (University of Rome “La Sapienza”).
     Kwok Soohoo, IBM Corporation, was the subject of the Personality Profile edited by Bill Duff.
     The “EMC Standards Activities” part of the Newsletter, coordinated by Don Heirman, Associate Editor was highlighted by an article on “Development of a Standardized Method for Measuring Power Line Filter Performance under Realistic Conditions” by Kermit O. Phipps.
     The Editor of the Newsletter was Janet O’Neil.                                    EMC