Bob Goldblum is perhaps best known to members
of the EMC Society as the editor of the EMC Newsletter for over
30 years. I had the pleasure of working with Bob for a number
of years as an Associate Editor of the Newsletter. He is certainly
one of our better known personalities and he has made many significant
contributions to EMC.
A native of Pennsylvania, Bob spent four years in the Air Force
as a radar technician and then attended Penn State on the Korean
War G.I. Bill. He received his BSEE in 1961 and his Masters of
Engineering, Engineering Science in 1967. While an undergraduate,
he met and married his wife, Barbara. Before his final semester,
he obtained a job with ARK Electronics, a small RFI test laboratory
in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania. At the time, there was a high demand
for RFI engineers, and upon graduation, all of his job offers
were in the RFI field because of his three months of experience
with ARK.
His first real paying job, in 1962, was with Sylvania Electronics
in Waltham, Massachusetts where he made a grand salary of $7,380/year.
At Sylvania, he worked on the BEMEWS phased array radar program,
performed RFI studies for early satellite programs, and applied
NAG-1 to several programs. It was a real learning experience because
there were four major military RFI specifications and an NSA spec
to learn, each with unique design and test requirements. The die
was cast. Bob was an EMC engineer.
After spending four years away in the service, four years away
at school, and three years in the Boston area, Bob yearned to
go back home. He took a job as an EMI engineer with AEL located
in the suburbs of his hometown of Philadelphia. AEL made ELINT,
ELSAC, and other mobile trailer and avionics electronic intelligence
and ECM systems. As the only EMI engineer at AEL, some of the
technical challenges involved jammers and receivers that shared
the same chasses, and the calibration of antennas that were mounted
on top of vans or on the bellies of crop dusters. Bob specifically
remembers flying with test equipment in a single engine Mooney
aircraft to Eglin AFB to fix a radar warning system just installed
in F-15’s destined for Vietnam. Republic Aircraft never worried
about EMI, so Bob had the video cables from the antennas in the
nose to the cockpit display twisted in order to cancel the magnetic
field-induced interference. Mu metal foil was also applied because
the aircraft’s skin was used as the primary power return.
Bob slept on a cot in the hanger for four days until the problems
were solved. He had to return home on a commercial airliner, which
scared him to death.
While working for AEL, he attended Penn State at night to obtain
his Master’s degree. His Master’s thesis was on the
design and benefits of zero cross-over switching circuits in reducing
transient magnitudes. He also published his first paper on the
subject of time domain characteristics of switching transient
signatures in a magazine.
After receiving his Master’s degree in 1967, Bob joined the
General Electric Valley Forge Space Technology Center in King
of Prussia, Pennsylvania where he was the Section Head of the
EMC Design Group. Three-axis satellite design was fascinating
with its star trackers, 3-axis gimbals, thermo-blankets with floating
non-continuous suspended metallic foil, magnetometers, RTG and
solar power, and noisy DC/DC converters. In order to save weight,
power return wires were not used. There were obviously many new
EMC challenges. One of the satellites actually was launched with
metal foil wrapped over the cables. Often, the launch facilities
tracking radars would upset the squibs while in the pre-launch
mode. EMI susceptibility testing in the frequency domain was difficult
since the satellite operated sequentially in the time domain.
In the mid 60’s, the main problems at NASA were grounding,
noise, radiation, and other such design problems. A number of
satellite programs were scuttled because of the lack of reliability
of their key components. We didn’t have the space shuttle
then that could change a key part.
After the cancellation of the Manned Orbital Laboratory (MOL)
program around 1970, Bob was forced to lay off his entire staff
in Valley Forge, and to transfer to downtown Philly to join GE’s
Re-entry Systems Division. It was a distasteful experience and
Bob knew that he had to do something other than to work for big
engineering companies. While working to bring monkeys back to
earth safely, as well as to bring back heat shield nose cones
for the Minuteman Program, Bob did consulting work for other GE
divisions. He participated in underground nuclear tests in Nevada
and designed a double isolated container to test products for
particle radiation. Bob also developed an EMC design course for
The Center for Professional Advancement and hosted guest lecturers
including Don White, Bill Johnson, and others. He also started
his publishing business at night (with his boss’s permission).
Bob’s IEEE activities were key to his new vision. In 1968,
he was elected chairman of the 1971 IEEE EMC Symposium. As editor
of the Newsletter, he received repeated requests to promote commercial
material. This demonstrated the need for a publication dedicated
to EMI products and services. Moreover, the EMC Society cash reserves
were depleted in 1970 by a bankrupt symposium in Anaheim, and
the IEEE wanted to merge it with the Vehicular Technology Society.
A mainstay publication in EMI would add to the Society’s
creditability and viability. Thus, “ITEM – Interference
Technology Engineer’s Master” was born in 1971. By 1974,
Bob had published four annual issues of ITEM and he had many consulting
opportunities that he had to turn down in order to avoid a conflict
of interest with GE. He realized that it was time to leave GE.
The world opened up with a flood of consulting requests. He moved
his office out of his home into a 400-square foot office complex
over a restaurant and hired a few people.
Some of the consulting jobs were fascinating. For instance, the
typesetters’ union at the New York Times claimed that its
CRT operators were getting cataracts from the CRT displays and
a judge wanted to shut down their use in the whole USA. Bob convinced
the judge otherwise. Leeds and Northrop thought that its meters
were susceptible to handheld radio transmissions, but tests in
Bob’s office showed that it was the power supply regulators
that could not handle the interference on their output lines.
Bob rented more office space in order to line one room with tin
foil. This was his first shielded room, which served to test the
compatibility between the Coast Guard’s Loran C System and
their 41-foot utility boat radars. A mod kit was made for the
interfering radar.
In 1978, Bob moved to a 3000-square foot facility and purchased
a shielded room from Ray Proof, an FSS-250 System from Electro-Metrics,
and amplifiers from Amplifier Research. About that time, FCC Docket
20870 was released and that release brought with it a torrent
of testing customers. The 12- to 16-week wait was too long for
some companies and bribes were often offered by companies wanting
to cut into the testing line. About the same time, Bob hired retired
FCC employee, Milt Mobley, to teach courses on the new FCC Rules
and Regulations, and he introduced a publication called the FCC
News Report together with one called the Electromagnetic News
Report (ENR). They are published today by Seven Mountains Scientific
(Tom and Jo Chesworth).
Later, when the publishing company, ROBAR Industries, was headed
by Len Levin, Bob focused on the engineering company, EMC Science
Center. Both companies operated under the trade name of R &
B Enterprises.
In 1980, Bob started teaching MIL-STD-461 for NAVELEX, EMC Management
for NAVAIR, (China Lake via Las Vegas), and conceived the E3 Newsletter
for NAVMAT. These efforts eventually developed into multi-million
dollar contracts with the Navy and DoD for training and government
support. Over the ensuing years, Bob personally taught thousands
of government employees (Program Managers and Engineers, including
NATO personnel) various aspects of EMI/EMC. His contract was for
teaching up to 60 courses a year. Of course, he had to train his
staff to help.
As this expansion was taking place, Bob moved to an 11,000-square
foot building in West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania in 1983 and soon
afterward opened offices near the DoD in Crystal City, Virginia.
The commercial side of the testing business continued to grow
with the resurgence of RTCA, VDE, CISPR and EU test requirements.
Included among the commercial training subjects was a 3-day Praxis,
consisting of morning lectures and afternoon hands-on testing
in the laboratory. These workshops were held twice a year and
were always sold out (limited to 12 students). Bob thought it
was important to teach the proper philosophy of testing including
the design of a test. People registered a year in advance, and
came from around the world to attend. MIL-STD-461 and the Praxis
were Bob’s favorite courses.
While operating his engineering business from 1978 though 1999,
Bob had many interesting and exciting experiences. He never considered
himself a good businessman because he could not give up being
personally involved in the technology. Nearly all of his engineering
staff in West Conshohocken were hired with little or no experience
and were trained by Bob. He also provided personal services to
the Government, developed and taught most new courses, wrote and
edited articles for ITEM, and negotiated contracts. He was very
pleased with his staff, and thought that he had the cream of the
crop. He gave up consulting to industry when his staff was ready
to take over. Bob could tell a 100 stories about his consulting
experiences.
Since the Navy was the custodian of MIL-STD-461, Bob was tasked
to develop uniform EMP test methods and procedures for inclusion
in MIL-STD-461. Until then, there were as wide a variety of test
methods and requirements as there were specifications. Bob worked
with Israeli design engineers to develop the requirements and
test methods that are used today as lightning requirements. This
led to the development of associated test equipment. Bob entered
the equipment manufacturing business reluctantly, but needed to
do so in order that test equipment could be commercially available
in the USA. He also bought an Israeli EMP generator company, Elgal.
Later, the entire combined product lines were sold to EMCO in
Austin, Texas.
One of Bob’s more notable achievements was the development
of the video “EMI – The Silent Threat.” It was
so effective in illustrating the threats of EMI that the Government
reproduced the preliminary copy and distributed it world wide.
Other companies and Governments plagiarized the video. Bob was
shocked when he went to Germany on a NATO visit and was shown
their HPM video that was made up of 90% of Bob’s video. Because
of diplomacy, he couldn’t say anything.
Bob used his connections within the DOD EMC personnel to help
connect the Army, Navy and Air Force agencies who had custodianship
over MIL-STD-461, 462, and 463. The Navy then called for a meeting
of the three and formed the Tri-service Committee to revise MIL-STD-461.
Bob sat with the committee as a technical consultant to the Navy
and as a representative of industry. He welcomed Herb Mertel with
open arms when he took over industry’s interests on the committee.
Bob wrote and published several articles in ITEM on what was considered
but not included in the standards, the only place where such material
was ever published.
At the same time, Bob was a technical consultant to the Navy for
SWG-10 NATO meetings. This special NATO working group wrote EMI
standards (STANAGs). He also participated in special technical
exchange programs with the U. K. Bob felt very fortunate to have
been able to visit most of the NATO countries and to have made
so many friends in foreign countries. After he started the E3
Newsletter, first for the Navy and then for the DoD, he pushed
for a DoD EMC conference, thinking of the old Armour conferences
that were held in Chicago in the early 1960’s. Eventually,
an annual Navy conference was started and it developed into an
annual DoD conference. Bob would always introduce a new course
at the end of the conference.
Bob loved to travel, which was contrary to managing his businesses.
He was the keynote speaker at the first EMC Conference held in
Bangalore, India. He also lectured to the Society of Old Crows
in Tokyo, Japan on the effects of EMP. This was a very sensitive
task.
One day, Bob realized that his three children, (Joey, Debby and
Becky) had grown up – especially when one decided to get
married. The stress of staying on top technically, running a business,
and caring for a family became a health-threatening burden. So,
Bob sold his engineering business in June 1999 to IITRI (now Alion
Science and Technology). At the time of the sale, he had contracts
at Pax River to run the Navy’s EMP test facility, offices
in San Diego, Crystal City, and the laboratory in West Conshohocken,
Pennsylvania.
Bob became active in the EMC Society in 1964. In 1967, he became
Chairman of the Philly EMC Chapter and also took over the reigns
as editor of the EMCS Newsletter from Rex Daniels who had edited
it for its first 10 years. Bob didn’t foresee that he would
remain editor of the Newsletter for 30 years. The EMC Newsletter
today continues in the format created while Bob was editor.
Bob resigned as Editor of the EMC Newsletter in 1997. He thought
that 30 years was long enough and he should give others the chance
to have the pleasure of editing the Newsletter. Bob has always
been an ardent supporter of the IEEE EMC Society, having served
as Chairman of the 1971 EMC Symposium, Exhibits Chairman of the
Symposium in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, and as a member of the Board
of Directors from 1981 through 1987. He is an Honorary Life Member
of the EMC Society, a Life Member of the IEEE, a Fellow of the
IEEE, and has received numerous prestigious awards, such as the
Lawrence G. Cumming Award and the Richard R. Stoddart Award. He
also received the Philadelphia IEEE Section Award on March 5,
1994 “For the establishment of an International Recognized
Center for EMC Technology.”
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| Barbera and Bob Goldblum |
Bob is now semi-retired and spends the winter in sunny Palm Beach
Gardens, Florida with his wife Barbara. Both his daughters are
married and have provided him with three wonderful grandsons.
His son-in-law, Graham Kilshaw, is now running the publishing
business, while Bob writes an occasional article and keeps an
office there for summer use. He is still active in the dB Society,
of which he is one of the original founders, and he attends the
IEEE International EMC Symposium every year. He is fully appreciative
that so many helped him over the years, and without so many friends,
he would never have achieved his dreams of success. A special
thanks go out to employees Fin O’Connor, Len Levin, Seth
Shapiro, Stan Disson, Steve Caine, Irene Nugent, the Israelis
who worked for Bob during their sabbatical leaves, and his mentors
from the EMCS of years gone by. There are many more people he
would thank, if space were available. But there is always room
for him to thank his wife, Barbara. EMC
EMC
Personality Profile