Gerod Osness - Gerod started at Spectra Symbol 12/15/1992! That's right, he hits his 30th Work Anniversary this month!

He has worked just about every position on the Production line. His passion has been working in the printing area, and he continues to be one of our subject matter experts.

Gerod is always willing to lend a hand to his peers and is the first to volunteer to go get snacks for the team.

You will often hear him singing his heart out on the floor and spreading cheer!

Thank you Gerod for all that you do!

We love having you here!

1 Dec Eat a Red Apple Day

2 Dec National Fritters Day

8 Dec National Brownie Day

12 Dec Gingerbread House Day

13 Dec Ice Cream Day

15 Dec Spectra Symbol Holiday Party (1PM-4PM)

24 Dec Christmas Eve

25 Dec Christmas Day

26 Dec No work - Spectra Symbol Closed

Other special Holiday Season Events (dates to be announced):

• Annual Food Drive

• Secret Santa

Rainbird is the leading brand of sprinklers and irrigation systems. Chances are if you water your lawn you’ve used one of their products. Spectra Symbol has been providing sensors for Rainbird through our partners since 2009.

Our sensors are used in their line of smart moisture sensors, which track the moisture level in the air and soil. Their automated systems use that information to decide when to turn on the sprinklers or when to conserve water. According to Rainbird this can save up to 40% of runoff water that would not be absorbed by the ground.

Josh, Kade, and Nephi have been working diligently on an update to the Spectra Symbol landing site. Nephi recently spent 3 straight days coding (thank goodness for Red Bull and Mountain Dew!) so that we can have the updated site sooner than later!

This site will be all new, from the ground up, and will employ all the latest in web development techniques, performance tools, and backend engines. It will also include many search engine optimizations that will allow Spectra Symbol to get positioned for new capabilities like better online marketing and direct online sales.

Watch in the coming weeks as the new site gets deployed and, once deployed, be sure to share it on your social media feeds!

Have you tested for any 1% pots lately or have you performed a debris test on any pots? What exactly is it you're testing for? 0.5%, 1%, 3%, or 5% of what? What does debris do and why do we test for it? Well, it's all about Linearity!

What is linearity? The Bourns Potentiometer Handbook states that it is a specification of "conformity where the theoretical function (ideal output curve) is a straight line". In Spectra Symbol's case, it is a specification of the maximum permissible deviation of the actual output of a tested potentiometer from a theoretical reference line or, in other words, how much will Spectra Symbol allow the output curve of a tested potentiometer to deviate from a theoretical line that represents an expected output.

As you can imagine, the important part of this specification is in how that theoretical line, that represents the "expected" output, is generated in order to measure the deviation from it. Fortunately, some folks, that are a whole lot smarter than I am, figured out a standard specification where each potentiometer is gaged against itself, not a fixed scale or "golden" part, and allows us to easily calculate a theoretical line that "minimizes the linearity error" and "provides the tightest tolerance specification". This specification is called Independent Linearity.

Basically, the Independent Linearity specification allows us to capture the output of a tested potentiometer, plot a best-fit line through the data, measure how much any of the captured data points deviate from the best-fit line, and compare the maximum amount of deviation for any one of those captured points against the agreed upon allowed maximum deviation. If any point exceeds that agreed upon value, then the potentiometer is sorted out or rejected.

With this in mind, you can see how debris can impact linearity and how easy it is to use linearity testing to detect debris in the active area of a potentiometer because, as the wiper travels over the debris, it creates a momentarily open circuit, which drops the measured voltage for that point, and even with a best-fit line, that datapoint will deviate outside any reasonable specification.

Now that you have an idea of how we specify and use linearity, why is a specification like this important? Ultimately, it boils down to how well we and the customer can expect the potentiometer to function in their application, especially when the customer intends to use it as part of a position feedback system. If the linearity of one of our potentiometers is outside of the agreed upon specification it can lead to miscalculations in movements which can cause damage or harm, faults in the system causing it to stop, or otherwise behave erratically.

If you have any questions about linearity or how potentiometers work, feel free to ask one of our Engineers or you can find out more from The Potentiometer Handbook by Bourns: HERE (you will be redirected to the Bourns website)

• Michelle Yazzi - $400 (Margo hit her 1-year mark!)