The first article in the History Section is the EMC Society Newsletter Review from 50, 25, and 10 years ago. This is an article that appears in every EMC Newsletter; in this issue we look at the Institute of Radio Engineers Professional Group on Radio Frequency Interference Newsletter – Number 15 – March – 1961, the IEEE Electromagnetic Compatibility Society Newsletter – Issue No. 128 – Winter – 1986, and the IEEE EMC Society Newsletter – Issue No. 188 – Winter – 2001.
The second article is a new attempt for us to highlight some important information from the early days of our Society—in the middle of the 1950s. During that time period the first attempts to organize “Interference Experts” were beginning in the United States, primarily on the East Coast with some activity on the West Coast in California. Rexford Daniels was an Interference Expert who began editing and publishing an informal Newsletter called the “Quasies and Peaks.” He proceeded to publish 18 issues from March of 1955 until March of 1958. The Newsletters ranged in length from four pages to 12 pages and were full of industry news and articles. He usually wrote an editorial for each Newsletter.
We will reprint all 18 issues of “Quasies and Peaks” over the next 18 publications of the Newsletter; assuming the Editor-in-Chief agrees with that plan! |
We will start with the March 1955 issue in this instant publication and go consecutively from there.
We are happy to report some very positive feedback on an article published in the Winter – 2010 (Issue No. 224) of the EMC Newsletter. Several readers remarked positively on The Saturday Evening Post reprint of “RFI: Invisible Killer.” The subtitle of the reprint was “Does Radio Frequency Interference—today’s electronic clutter of the air-waves—cause those mysterious plane crashes, missile failures and communications blackouts?” The article was written by Richard Haitch.
As explained in the preface to the article in the Newsletter, we had to find Mr. Haitch to secure his permission to reprint the article. We did find him and we then sent him a copy of the Newsletter in which we republished his article. True to form, Mr. Haitch, the professional writer and distinguished gentleman he is, responded with the following hand-written note:
“6/23/2010—Dear Mr. Hoolihan—Thank you for the copy of your magazine containing a reprint of an article I wrote in 1961 (!!). You have now proved conclusively that there is life after death.
Your tenacious detective work in reaching me by phone is impressive.
Best Wishes, Richard Haitch
Keep those cards and letters and e-mails coming! EMC |
EMC Society Newsletter Review –
50–25–10 Years Ago
March – 1961 – Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE)
Professional Group on Radio Frequency Interference (PGFI)
Newsletter – Number 15 – (NOTE - The IRE PGRFI was the
engineering organization that evolved into the present-day IEEE EMC Society)
The first article on the cover page of this Newsletter was titled “The RFI Program for the IRE Convention on Radio Frequency Interference at the Waldorf-Astoria on March 20, 1961.” The “RFI” Program included the following presentations:
“Radiation Characteristics of Antennas at Other than Design Frequencies,” by J. C. Pullara and J. P. Jones, Melpar, Inc., Falls Church, Virginia.
“The Relationship between Broadband Interference Measurements (dBMC) and Pulsed-CW Signals,” by L. R. Pangburn, General Electric Company, Utica, New York.
“Shielding Enclosure Performance Utilizing New Techniques,” by R. B. Schulz, Armour Research Foundation of Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, Illinois, and D. P. Kanellakos, Stanford University, Stanford, California.
“Graphical-Numerical Prediction of Tuned RF Amplifier Output Spectrum,” by William (Bill) G. Duff, Jansky & Bailey, Inc., Washington, D.C.
“Radar Mutual Interference Problem,” by C. Gager, A. Ruvin, and C. Fowler, Airborne Instruments Lab., Deer Park, Long Island, New York.
The cover page of the Newsletter also announced the formation of a San Francisco Chapter of the PGRFI. The Chairman was Peter Spence of Filtron, the Vice-Chair was Robert Lathrop of Cook Engineering, and the Secretary-Treasurer was Richard Davis of Lockheed MSD.
A third article in the Newsletter was titled “RF Interference Measurement Techniques Panel Discussion at New York Section Meeting.” It said, “The monthly meeting of the New York Section held on November 2, 1960 at the Engineering Societies Building Auditorium was devoted to a panel discussion on ‘Measurement Techniques in Radio Frequency Interference.’ The panel members were Mr. J. F. Chappell of the U. S. Army Signal Research and Development Laboratories; Mr. Samuel (Sam) J. Burruano of the Filtron Co.; and Mr. A. R. Kall of Ark Electronics Co. with Mr. B. Rosen of Polarad Electronics Corp as the moderator.
Mr. Kall led off the panel presentation with a summary of the interference measurement requirements contained in the military specifications emphasizing the problem areas such as reproducing near-field measurements, giving limits in terms of received microvolts or microvolts per meter, requirements for impedance stabilization networks, the measurement of broadband interference and the elusive impulse bandwidth figure, and the use of sine wave or impulse calibration of interference meters.
Mr. Chappell then spoke on competition for the RF spectrum and how it is complicated by unintentional radiation. He then gave a short history of the developments that led up to the present RF interference instrumentation from the Signal Corps viewpoint. This covered the reasons why they use peak measuring instruments with impulsive calibration to measure broadband interference in terms of microvolts per unit bandwidth and the use of antenna injection methods for radiated measurements. He concluded with a discussion of the Spectrum Signature requirement of MIL-STD-449 and the uses that will be made of this information.
Mr. Burruano then discussed some of the problem areas in the military specifications including the difference between the limits of 1,000 mc using a dipole antenna or a horn antenna and the new limits in effect and the difficulties in obtaining meaningful measurements above 1,000 mc.
Another article mentioned that “Electronic Industries” magazine in the December 1960 issue on page 40 reported the following interference event:
“RFI-Oddity - An airline at Chicago reported interference to its air-to-ground radio communication. The Allegna and Chillicothe monitoring stations of FCC ‘fixed’ the area of its source and local investigators traced it to a Michigan piano factory. There, a radio frequency heater was doing a good job of drying wood glue, but it was also putting out a hefty radio emission that could be heard hundreds of miles away.”
The Editor of the Newsletter was Rexford Daniels, Monument Street, Concord, Massachusetts.
Twenty-Five Years Ago – Issue No. 128 –
Winter– 1986 – IEEE Electromagnetic
Compatibility
Society Newsletter
Two cover stories highlighted this Newsletter issue. The first was the “Results of the Board of Directors Election Ballot” and the second was “1986 IEEE Conference & Exhibition on EMC.”
The newly elected Board of Directors members included Richard T. Ford, H.R. (Bob) Hofmann, Mel Johnson, L. Gilda Haskins, Risaburo Sato, and James S. Hill. Their three-year term of office started on January 1, 1986.
The 1986 IEEE Conference and Exhibition on EMC was held on February 6, 1986 at the Grand Hotel, One Hotel Way, Anaheim, California. The theme of the conference was “Electromagnetics Today - EMC, FCC, EMP, ESD, Tempest and Fiber Optics.” The conference had both a commercial and military electronics orientation. More than forty exhibitors were expected for the exhibition on EMC. Larry Caney, from Eaton Corporation, was the Chairman of the EMC Show.
Mr. Herb Mertel reported on Standards Activities in the Newsletter. He addressed a specific issue in his article, “United States and International Line Impedance Stabilization Networks (LISNs).” He discussed the CISPR LISN characteristics, LISN characteristics for the frequency range from 150 kHz to 30 MHz, LISN characteristics for the frequency range of 10 KHz to 30 MHz, and AC supply voltages (115 Volts AC versus 220 Volts AC).
Emerson Pugh, an IEEE Director, wrote an article on “Division 4 - Electromagnetics and Radiation - Key Developments of the Last Hundred Years.” In commemoration of the IEEE Centennial, he met with presidents of the IEEE Societies in the Division of Electromagnetics and Radiation. He then reported on each President’s thoughts and ideas on the efforts of the Societies since the founding of the IEEE in 1884.
Gene Knowles, the 1984 President of the EMC Society, said the following: “I consider Marconi to be the first EMC engineer. Four years after Marconi successfully demonstrated radio communication, he filed Patent No. 7777, which permitted more than one station to operate without interference. Since then, technology and systems have grown and become more sophisticated, Armstrong’s super heterodyne receiver permitted more devices in a finite spectrum, and the advent of radar and pulse equipment in the 1940s and 1950s expanded the use of the spectrum and greatly increased the need for electromagnetic compatibility. The field was technically active, but professionally unorganized until 1957 when the IRE granted a charter to the New Professional Group on Radio Interference; the group later became the IEEE EMC Society. In the IEEE Centennial Year, the membership passed 2,500, and the first International Symposium was held in Tokyo, Japan. Now, 85 years after patent 7777, electromagnetic compatibility has become an internationally recognized discipline.”
The EMC Personality Profile featured Julius P. Knapp of the FCC. William G. (Bill) Duff was the EMC Personality Profile Editor.
The Editor of the Newsletter was Robert (Bob) D. Goldblum.
Ten Years Ago – Issue No. 188 –
Winter – 2001 – IEEE EMC Society Newsletter
The cover of this Newsletter had two articles on it; the first was the President’s Message from Joe Butler, the President of the EMC Society, and the second article was a “COMAR Report” article.
Joe’s message reported on the latest activities of the EMC Society Board of Directors including the election of Todd Hubing as the President-Elect. He mentioned that he had traveled to Paris to attend a Region 8 Division I and IV Chapter Coordination Meeting. He also gave a brief report on the IEEE Technical Activities Board (TAB) meeting held in November of 2000.
The COMAR Report was filed by Dan Hoolihan, the COMAR representative from the EMC Society. COMAR is a technical committee under the umbrella of the Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society of the IEEE. Two Technical Information Statements by COMAR were reviewed; one was on Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) exposures and the second was on Cellphone Protective Devices which included a discussion of hands-free devices and shielding devices.
The Chapter Chatter Editor was Todd Hubing; his review of Chapter activities included a song about his friend, teacher, role model and mentor, Tom Van Doren. Todd said that “If there’s one thing I’ve learned during my brief song-writing career, it’s that people seem to appreciate my songs more when I don’t sing them.” (Associate Editor’s Note – Having heard Todd sing some of his songs while accompanying himself on the guitar, I think he is being too humble – he actually sings quite well). Instead of repeating the words of “The Tom Van Doren Song” here, I recommend you just ask Todd to sing the song for you the next time you see him.
The Personality Profile was done on Larry Cohen. The Associate Editor for Personality Profile was Bill Duff.
The Editor of the Newsletter was Janet O’Neil. EMC |
EMC Society History