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 I know a guy, a multi-decade-long Amateur
Radio operator, who at one time was a big participant in
TV DXing. For those who are not familiar with the techno-sport, TV DXing is
the hobby of receiving and identifying distant television broadcast signals from
far-off locations, often using specialized antennas and receiving equipment. Enthusiasts
seek to capture signals from stations hundreds or even thousands of miles away,
which requires advanced technical skills and sophisticated reception techniques.
Modern-day DX-ers typically document their reception achievements by capturing screenshots,
logging station details, and sharing their findings with other hobbyists through...
• FCC Toughens Stance on
Pirate Radio
• Mobile Operators Bemoan
$109B Infrastructure Cost
• 5G Adoption Grows,
LTE
Remains Strong
• China
to Host World Radio Conference?
• Intel
Delays Ohio Fab Till 2030
 Most of us have heard of the National Association
of Broadcasters (NAB). Founded in 1922 at the dawn of commercial radio broadcasting,
it is still in existence today. When commercial television broadcasting "stepped
out" in a major way in the early 1940s, industry chieftains and station owners decided
that their new media paradigm was unique enough to warrant a separate union, so
the
Television Broadcasters Association (TBA) was formed. A lot of
effort went into establishing and building a coalition with enough influence in
the marketplace and with government regulators, independent of radio, to exist as
a force to be dealt with. Many people believed that radio as an entertainment and
news media source would decrease at a rate as great or greater than television was
increasing. Once again, experts were not successful at predicting behavior of the
citizenry, which was true both in the United States and around the world...
 Windfreak Technologies designs, manufactures,
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Since the conception of WFT, we have introduced products that have been purchased
by a wide range of customers, from hobbyists to education facilities to government
agencies. Worldwide customers include Europe, Australia, and Asia. Please contact
Windfreak today to learn how they might help you with your current project.
 The December 1969 issue of Radio-Electronics
magazine's "New & Timely" column reported that at the National Electronic Association
conference,
technicians reported burns and eye damage caused by X-radiation from color TV sets
under repair. Night vision scopes for commercial use were introduced by Raytheon,
suitable for law enforcement, industrial security, and nature study. A joint U.S.-Indian
plan planned to beam TV directly to millions of Indian villagers via a stationary
applications satellite in 1972. The French Atomic Energy Commission used a superpowerful
laser to create minute thermonuclear explosions, fusing deuterium...
 Anatech Electronics offers the industry's
largest portfolio of high-performance standard and customized
RF and microwave filters and filter-related products for military, commercial,
aerospace and defense, and industrial applications up to 40 GHz. Three
new filter models have been added to the product line in April, including a 5500
MHz WiFi cavity bandpass filter, a 3437-3537 MHz ceramic duplexer filter, and a
1425 MHz cavity bandpass filter. Custom RF power filter and directional couplers
designs can be designed and produced with required connector types when a standard
cannot be found, or the requirements are such that a custom approach is necessary...
 This article published in a 1955 issue of
Popular Electronics magazine is a really good primer on the history and
working principles of the
electron microscope. It also explains why such a device is needed;
i.e., why an optical microscope cannot do the job when really high levels of magnification
are required. As object dimensions are spaced at distances near to or less than
the optical wavelength being observed, it becomes impossible to resolve into separate
features. Accordingly, when observing at the upper end of the visible light spectrum
at around 400 nm, under ideal conditions you would not be able to clearly discern
two feature less than about 800 nm apart. Current (2019) CMOS gate thicknesses
run about 5 μm, so visible light cannot be used to image those structures.
Another resolution limiting factor is aperture size, which, depending on the wavelength
causes diffraction patterns of two objects to overlap...
 If you are a seasoned vintage electronics
equipment aficionado, restorer, hobbyist, etc., then you most likely already have
your own list of supply sources for vacuum tubes. Contrary to what others might
think, there is still a healthy stock of tubes available from private websites like
Pacific T.V. (hat tip to Bob Davis), as well
as collective sites like eBay, Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, and vintage electronic
equipment forums. Prices for common tubes are surprisingly low if you shop around.
If you need an output power amplifier for a commercial radio station, be prepared
to shell out major wampum, though. Many NOS (new old stock) varieties in original
boxes can be had, as well as used tubes. Most have been tested for specification
compliance.
 Westinghouse is yet another bulwark company
of America's foundational industrial age, beginning in the late 19th Century. George
Westinghouse founded eponymously-named company,
Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company, in 1886, during the time
he was working with Nikola Tesla (I wonder whether any of the current-day anti-Tesla
nimrods are stupid enough to vandalize NT statues and monuments?) to institute a
commercial electrification infrastructure. Mr. Westinghouse began his life
of fame and fortune with a locomotive air brake design. During World War II,
Westinghouse's many locations designed and manufactured many types of products to
facilitate troops in all Theaters of Operation. This 1943 issue of Popular Mechanics
magazine carried a full-page...
 This set of three circuit analysis challenges
appeared in the January 1963 issue of Radio-Electronics magazine. Readers,
staff, and even come companies submitted the "What's
Your EQ?" (EQ = Electronics Quotient) content. As an example of the latter,
Cleveland Institute of Electronics provided "Draw the Waveform." Don't let the diode
vacuum tube deter you from the puzzle. Just mentally replace the tube with a solid
state diode symbol with the anode at the top where the tube's plate (anode) is shown.
The negative element of a tube is called the cathode, same as the solid state diode.
"Capacitor Charge" is easy enough. "Another 2-Box Light"...
 "Despite increasingly intense competition
for skills across all sectors of industry and a growing appetite amongst engineers
for a new challenge, engineering salaries appear to have stagnated over the past
12 months. This is just one of the key findings of The Engineer's tenth
annual salary survey, which is published in full on The Engineer's website
in a new interactive digital format. Attracting responses from 621 engineers working
across 12 different sectors, this year's survey was carried out between December
2024 and January 2025. As ever, the results provide a fascinating insight into
UK engineering salaries and how engineers are feeling about their careers..."
 In this 1963 issue of Radio-Electronics
magazine, editor Hugo Gernsback reflects on the early days of television, noting
that the first regular daily TV broadcast began on August 13, 1928, over radio stations
WRNY and W2XAL, which were associated with his former publication, Radio News.
Initially, these
broadcasts were silent, featuring only moving images the size of a postage stamp,
and it wasn't until 1931 that TV broadcasts included sound. Gernsback critiques
the slow progress in improving the audio quality of television receivers, pointing
out that despite advancements in high-fidelity and stereo audio technology, most
TV sets still lacked these features due to regulatory restrictions by the FCC. He
expresses hope that recent petitions to the FCC...
 Exodus Advanced Communications, is a multinational
RF communication equipment and engineering service company serving both commercial
and government entities and their affiliates worldwide. Exodus' model
AMP20081 high power solid state power amplifier (SSHPA) is ideal for broadband
EMI-Lab, communications, and EW applications. Class A/AB linear design accommodates
all modulations & industry standards. It covers 80-1000 MHz, producing
600 W nominal, with a 500 W P1dB and 56 dB minimum gain. Excellent
flatness, optional monitoring parameters for forward/reflected power, VSWR, voltage,
current & temperature sensing for superb reliability and ruggedness...
 In that these
comics from Radio-Craft magazine have an electronics
theme, you can claim looking at them is work-related. The themes of the comics reflect
common scenarios of the 1944-1945 era in which they were published, but with not
much modification can be applied to today's environment. People will always expect
more features from products, will be critical of everything presented to them, and
will want to haggle for the best deal from the used camel salesman. You might consider
using one of them for your next conference or project status presentation. There
is a list of many more similar comics at the bottom...
 In a groundbreaking announcement that will
forever transform global communications, QentComm®©™ (Quantum Entanglement Communications)
has unveiled the world's first
commercially viable quantum entanglement communication system. Dubbed QeG®©™
(Quantum entanglement Generation, pronounced kwee-gee), supplementing the traditional
4G, 5G, and 6G nomenclature, this revolutionary technology eliminates the limitations
of traditional radio-based systems, delivering instantaneous, unlimited connectivity
across any distance without reliance on satellites, cell towers, or fiber optics.
Under the leadership of Kirt Blattenberger, QentComm (pronounced kwent-kahm) has
created a system that defies conventional physics by utilizing quantum entanglement
for real-time, secure communication between devices anywhere in the universe - including
here on Earth...
 In this "Carl & Jerry" technodrama from
a 1957 issue of Popular Electronics magazine, the two boys start out enjoy a casual
day of kite flying, using a homebrew radio-controlled camera attached to the kite
to capture an aerial view of Round Island in a lake. After successfully taking a
picture, they develop the film and discover two men and an odd setup on the island.
Curious, they return the next day, find a hidden tunnel, and stumble upon an illegal
liquor still. As you might expect, the teens run into a heap of trouble when the
moonshiners nab them. Using their combined ingenuity and knowledge of communications
methods common to Ham radio operators of the era, contact was made and help was
on the way. Read about Carl and Jerry's exploit and exactly what it was that saved
the day - and their hides!
 "In late January 2025, 17 students and staff
members from Las Animas High School (LAHS) in Colorado visited the
Deep Space Exploration Society Radio Telescope (DSES) located at the Plishner
Radio Astronomy and Space Sciences Center near Haswell, Colorado. They also got
an introduction to amateur radio. 'This first field trip visit of high school students
reflected the dreams of Michael Lowe, former DSES board president, who sought to
create a center for radio astronomy and space science education in southeast Colorado,'
said DSES President Myron Babcock, KL7YY..."
 Making format changes to magazines after
many years of an established standard always ruffles the figurative feathers of
a significant portion of regular readers. Two magazines I read monthly, Model
Aviation and QST, recently underwent a format change - both of which
I considered very nice. However, reader comments in the aftermath showed a few who
were not impressed. Popular Electronics magazine in 1966 made announcements
regarding plans to adopt some of the
newer base units for physical measurements, including this one for beginning
to use "Hertz" (Hz), along various numerical prefix forms, instead of "cycles per
second" (cps). The editors give sound reason...
 The
Beverage Antenna, very familiar to amateur radio operators, is
a simple but efficient, highly directional, non-resonant antenna that consists of
a single straight wire of one or more wavelengths that is suspended above the ground.
It is orientated parallel to the direction of intended reception. One end is terminated
to ground through a resistor, and the other is connected to the receiver. The following
quote comes from the patent (US1,81,089) text: "In accordance with theoretical considerations,
if an antenna were to be freely suspended and if the surface of the earth constituted
a perfectly conducting parallel plane, current waves would travel through...
 This letter was sent to Hugo Gernsback,
publisher of Radio-Electronics magazine, in response to the "30-Day
Record Response" article penned by noted scientist and inventor Mohammed Ulysses
Fips. In it, Stephen A. Kallis, Jr. heaped laud upon the "Most Revered and Esteemed
Fips" for his long-term recording device (remember, 1961 was many decades before
microminiature terabyte memory and microprocessors) were available, and chastises
Mr. Gernsback for evidently calling into question the authenticity of the recorder.
Kallis, a self-proclaimed stereo enthusiast, bolsters Fips' case by citing "A Proposed
Listening Area," by the Institute of Synergistic Statics Proceedings...
 Raise your hand if you're old enough to
remember doing printed circuit board layout using
Rubylith tape. My hand is up. Back in the early 1980s, I did prototype
PCB designs in an engineering development lab at Westinghouse Electric's Oceanic
Division. Most of it was for analog and RF substrates that would be photographically
reduced in size for use with bare integrated circuit die and surface mount passive
components (Rs, Ls, and Cs), upon which I would later epoxy-mount those components
and wire-bond everything using 1-mil gold wire. However, there were projects where
full-size leaded components were used on a through-hole PCB that used not only the
Rubylith tapes but also sheets with special electronics shapes for solder pads around
the holes for components leads, ground and power planes, board-edge connectors...
 "Quantum systems don't just transition between
phases - they do so in ways that defy classical intuition. A new experiment has
directly observed these
dissipative phase transitions (DPTs), revealing how quantum states shift under
carefully controlled conditions. This breakthrough could unlock powerful new techniques
for stabilizing quantum computers and sensors, making them more resilient and precise
than ever before. A new frontier phase transitions, like water freezing into ice,
are a familiar part of everyday life. In quantum systems, however, these transitions
can be far more extreme, governed by principles like Heisenberg's uncertainty..."
 In
this November 1940 issue of the Boy Scouts Boys' Life magazine, amateur
radio operators, or "hams," are described as having the ability to communicate across
vast distances, connecting far-flung locations such as Goulds, Florida, Cali, Colombia,
Cairo, Kenilworth, England, Bombay, and Brisbane. These operators, licensed by the
Federal Communications Commission, engage in various activities such as talking
to distant stations, participating in contests, and providing emergency communication
during natural disasters. With call letters assigned by international treaty, these
stations use a combination of code and phone to make contact, exchanging reports
and QSL cards. The
Radio merit badge was first offered in 1918 and has been...
 ConductRF is continually innovating and
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Over 1,000 solutions for low PIM in-building to choose from in the iBwave component
library. They also provide custom coax solutions for applications where some standard
just won't do. A partnership with Newark assures fast, reliable access. Please visit
ConductRF today to see
how they can help your project!
 The date approacheth when, according to
Western customs, every body needs to stand a vigil against the attempt of another
body to make him or her a fool. That date is of course April 1st, aka, April
Fools' Day. Many of the technical magazine we grew up with - and some still today
- engage in the ruse. Innovator and publisher Hugo Gernsback, who's long list of
accomplishments includes this Radio-Electronics magazine, often contributed
his own wit to the April editions. The usual scheme is to make the article just
authentic enough to be possibly real, while including features outrageous enough
to clue the read that he is being "had." Experienced subscribers knew that the Mohammed
Ulysses Fips byline was sure to deliver an April Fools delight. Here, Mr. Fips
expounds on the newfangled "Electronics
Razor..."
 Here is a chart you don't see every day
- "Temperature Rise in Rigid Waveguide." The company, Engineering
Antenna Systems, of Manchester, New Hampshire, that published the chart in a 1965
edition of Engineering magazine, does not exist anymore. They were probably
bought by someone else, but I could not even find an honorable mention of them in
a Google search. Given the very low attenuation of properly sized and installed
waveguide, it is hard to imagine a temperature rise of 500°F; however, when megawatts
are pumped into it even a couple tenths of a decibel of attenuation per 100 feet
results in a lot of power loss. Noted is how attenuation - and therefore temperature
rise - is greater for frequencies at the lower end of the waveguide's operational
range. Temperature rise numbers are for natural convection in free air...
|
 1821: Linus Yale, inventor and manufacturer of locks, including the cylinder or pin-tumbler lock known by his name, was born. 1826: Zenobe-Theophile Gramme, inventor of the Gramme dynamo, was born. 1850: The city of Los Angeles was incorporated. 1876: Alfred Nobel... more
 Not many people rewind transformers these
days, but then even in 1955 when this "Design Tips for Rewinding Your Own Transformers" article appeared
in Radio News magazine not many were rewinding transformers. Plenty of
radio repair servicemen did, though, because replacements were expensive and getting
replacements for other than common transformers could take a long time. There was
no searching for one on the Internet and having it delivered in a couple days. Since
many - if not most, by necessity - electronics repair shops kept subscriptions to
available trade magazines, publishing an article like this provided a great service.
Author James Dolan provides all the necessary information for either designing your
own transformer from scratch or for modifying an existing transformer to meet your
specific requirements...
 Since 2000, I have been creating custom
technology-themed crossword puzzles for the brain-exercising benefit and
pleasure of RF Cafe visitors who are fellow cruciverbalists. The jury is out on
whether or not this type of mental challenge helps keep your gray matter from
atrophying in old age, but it certainly helps maintain your vocabulary and
cognitive skills at all ages. A database of thousands of words has been built up
over the years and contains only clues and terms associated with engineering,
science, physical, astronomy, mathematics, chemistry, etc. You will never find a
word taxing your knowledge of a numbnut soap opera star or the name of some
obscure village in the Andes mountains. You might, however, encounter the name
of a movie star like Hedy Lamarr or...
 Triboelectric charging is the phenomenon
whereby adhesion forces between two surfaces causes the dislodging of electrons
from nearby atoms, with those electrons being attracted to the material with the
highest positive potential as the interface attempts to neutralize itself. Relative
contact motion (friction; e.g., walking across a carpet) is most often the cause
of triboelectric charge transfer, but simply pulling apart two dissimilar surfaces
can also be the mechanism (e.g., pulling a wool sweater off or lifting a polymer
type fabric blanket away from a bed sheet) for charge transfer. Electrostatic discharge
(ESD), a manifestation of triboelectric charging, can damage or destroy electronic
components...
 RF Cafe visitor and former Watkins-Johnson
engineer Paul Johnson (no relation to the "J" in WJ), recently sent me this note
regarding the Watkins-Johnson catalog page that contained the famous "Phase
vs. VCTL vs. Frequency vs. Phase of the Moon" graph on the WJ-G1/SMG1
Voltage-Controlled Attenuator Module (5 to 2,000 MHz). We all suspected it was
not an officially approved feature, but now a first-hand account of the prank
confirms it...
 This Bell Telephone Laboratories (aka Bell
Labs) advertisement appearing on the inside back cover of the 1958 issue of
Radio & TV News magazine celebrated the 10th anniversary of their
announcement of the world's first
point contact transfer resistance (transresistance) semiconductor device
- aka the transistor. John Bardeen, William Shockley and Walter Brattain recorded
the monumental event in a lab notebook on December 23, 1947 - a nice Christmas present
for the world! The trio's invention was not like the robust bipolar transistors
used today, or even ten years later in 1958. Rather than employing point-contact
"cat's whisker" metallic probes for making the emitter and collector contacts with
the germanium PN base substrate, commercially viable bipolar transistors use a doping
element diffused into the purified crystal substrate to effect the emitter, base,
and collector regions on a single crystal (with gold contact pads for attaching
external leads)...
 This story from a 1941 edition of National
Radio News reports on the FCC's having passed regulations to allow the
rollout of commercial television service as of July 1, 1941. These standards,
observes the Commission, "represent, with but few exceptions, the undivided engineering
opinion of the industry." They "satisfy the requirement for advancing television
to a high level of efficiency within presently known developments." Furthermore,
"Frequency modulation is required for the sound accompanying the pictures. Thus,
television is now benefited by the recent developments of frequency modulation."
It was an era of wonder and excitement in the world of wireless communications...
 "War is hell," as famously stated in various
forms by notable generals. This advertisement by
Bell Telephone System appearing in the May 29, 1943, issue of The Saturday
Evening Post magazine bears witness to one aspect of it. Per the piece, "Wire
repair crews are made up of four men. Three stand guard while the other works."
While U.S. Marine Corpsmen and civilian technicians were installing and maintaining
telephone communications in war-torn regions in the European, African, and Pacific
Theaters of Operation, personnel and material shortages back home required learning
to live without some of what were previously routine products and services. Citizens
were expected to patriotically sacrifice their creature comforts for the sake of
their country; most did so. Note that the cover art for this issue happens to be
the famous "Rosie the Riveter" painting by Norman Rockwell...
 Hugo Gernsback, ever the prolific author
on futuristic technology of the wireless nature, proposes here in a 1944 issue of
Radio-Craft magazine a new form of sea-faring weapon that would project
an practically unstoppable assault on enemy ships: a high speed,
remote controlled torpedo. After being launched from the safety of a location
far out of range of enemy fire, a human controller in an airborne platform (i.e.,
an airplane) would, using navigation advice provided by spotter aircraft (forward
air control in modern terms), steer the explosive craft over potentially long distances
to direct hits on battleships, destroyers, landing craft, patrol boats, etc. Fortunately
for all involved (well at least for Allied nations), the war would only last another
year and a half by the time this concept was published so it did not come to fruition
in time to test...
 One aspect of advertising on the RF Cafe
website I have not covered is using
Google AdSense.
The reason is that I never took the time to explore how - or even whether it is
possible - to target a specific website for displaying your banner ads. A couple
display opportunities have always been provided for Google Ads to display, but the
vast majority of advertising on RF Cafe is done via private advertisers. That is,
companies deal with me directly and I handle inserting their banner ads into the
html page code that randomly selects and displays them. My advertising scheme is
what the industry refers to as a "Tenancy Campaign," whereby a flat price per month
is paid regardless of number of impressions or clicks. It is the simplest format
and has seemed to work well for many companies. With nearly 4 million pageviews
per year for RFCafe.com, the average impression rate per banner ad is about 225,000k per
year (in eight locations on each page, with >17k pages)...
 Most people have heard of the incredibly accurate
Norden bombsight that was credited for revolutionizing accuracy of heavy bombers like
B-17s, B-25s, and B-29s. It was an electromechanical device that took bombardier inputs
of altitude, airspeed, heading, and wind speed and direction, then calculated the impact
point of the bomb. An accuracy of 75 feet was claimed under ideal conditions - provided
by a mechanical computing device. By 1956 when this article was published, the Norden
had been replaced by radar-integrated bombing systems. Additionally,
ground-based radar measurement systems were...
 Citizens' Band (CB) radio began in 1945,
just after World War II, in order to provide common folks with a means of both
fixed and mobile radio communications that required only paying a fee to
operate. Amateur radio (Ham radio) did and still does require that the operator
pass a written test to gain transmitting privileges (anyone may receive a
signal). CB was and is used for both fixed base and mobile communications.
Evidently, by 1964 there was enough use and misuse of the airwaves that the
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) found it necessary to publish and
enforce a new set of rules for users. CB radio began operations in the
460-470 MHz UHF band, then moved to 27 MHz in 1958 since equipment could be
manufactured in a manner more affordable to a wider segment of the public...
 Somehow I missed the "Royal Engineer" part
of the engineering experience. In the first video, our hero Wally is evidently used
to it, though. "The Knack"
has become a classic amongst Dilbert fans, many of whom identify with his special
gift. The last video is sort of a take-off of the 1993 Michael Douglas movie "Falling
Down." Warning: Watching these clips from the Dilbert television show that ran from
January 25, 1999 through July 25, 2000, may cause you to spend hours of valuable
time viewing all the other clips that are available. RF Cafe cannot be held responsible
for lost productivity...
 After having read many articles about Dr. Lee
de Forest, it seems the poor guy was besieged his entire life by envious and/or
belligerent electronic communications compatriots who sought to defame him and/or
deny him of monetary rewards. This January 1947 issue of Radio-Craft magazine
includes a dozen or so pieces written by friends and colleagues who recognized the
momentous struggles and achievements of Dr. de Forest. Such burdens of
fame are borne by many - if not all - persons of similar celebrity. Dogged persistence
is the order of the day for experimenters and breakers-through of assumedly impenetrable
walls. Guys like de Forest lived by the old adage recommending that "if at
first you don't succeed, try, try again." You'll be amazed at how de Forest whipped
- almost literally - that thing which was preventing his
wireless telephone from working. BTW, as I've pointed out before, you will find
the good doctor's last name written as "de Forest, DeForest, and De Forest."
As evidenced by his signature...
 Once mobile and other high-vibration and
impact operational environments became the norm for communications, it became necessary
to design hardware so that electronic components would not work themselves loose
and cause intermittent or total failure. With vacuum tubes, placing locking shields
over them did the job, but that caused other issues such as increased cost, poor
cooling, and increased chassis size and weight. Some circuits with high power and/or
frequency benefited from shields, but most did not need them. Sylvania introduced
a scheme called "Lock-In" (trademark name of "Loktal")where
the center pin incorporated a circumferential groove that latched into a capturing
mechanism...
 Mr. Einstein believed everything is relative,
and this 1963 Popular Electronics magazine article on the revolution of
"microminiature
electronics" certainly attests to the truth of it. Unlike with his Theory of
Special Relativity though, travel near the speed of light is not needed to witness
length contraction in the electronics realm; the passage of time and its attendant
evolution of technology does that for us. Today's definition of "microelectronics"
will to our progeny seem laughingly absurd when they read about (or more likely
have wirelessly implanted in their brain's memory cells) our current transistor
gate widths of tens of atoms. BTW, Lilliput, in case you don't know, is the island
nation of Gulliver's Travels...
 During the
Golden Age
of Radio (admittedly a subjective term), electronics innovators were generally
as likely to be hobbyists (amateurs) as they were to be professionals with college
degrees. In fact, according to this open letter from Eugene F. McDonald, president
of Zenith Radio Corporation, in 1939, his company recognized the fact that most
of their best ideas came from amateur radio operators, and that their engineering
staff was populated overwhelmingly with Hams. Accordingly, the letter was a solicitation
to amateurs to submit their ideas to the company to give designers not just valuable
technical information gleaned from real-world experimentation (aka the School of
Hard Knocks) but also insight into what type of equipment the Ham world would like
to have made available for sale...
 This letter submitted to Electronics
magazine by reader Fred Standish really should have been saved for the next
April issue. He writes concerning an attempt to mathematically describe the
three-port circular-to-rectangular waveguide transition for the pictured configuration.
If I remember correctly, the first time I saw that optical illusion was sometime
in the early 1970s. The drawing showed Alfred E. Neuman (the red-haired, freckled-faced
"Me Worry? guy from Mad magazine) attempting to don a pair of pants (a
triplet of pants in that case?) sewn to resemble the three-legged configuration
- known unofficially as the "Impossible Trident." I was in my early teens at the
time and though it was awfully clever. After doing a little research, I found that
the first instance of the Impossible Trident in Mad magazine was on the
cover of the March 1965 issue ...
 In 1966, Paul Rockwell wrote a 4-part series
for the ARRL's QST magazine on station design for long distance communications
(DX) that covered antenna selection and siting (Part I), economics and construction
(Part II), Station Configuration and Receiver Topics (Part III), and
Propagation
Quirks and Operating Tips (Part IV). This the the forth and final installment.
One of the handy-dandy items shown is a Geochron Map-Clock which had a template
of the familiar day-night analemma-based curve superimposed on the projection map
of the earth. It was quite a deal in its day, and believe it or not, the company
is still in business offering software-based Map-Clocks and restoring models all
the way back to when they first came out in 1965 (only a year before it appeared
here). Of course if you have the $$$, you can buy vintage Geochrons on eBay...
 QST, the American Radio Relay League's
flagship monthly publication, has been around since December of 1915. It has for decades
included
Fools'
articles in the April editions, as do many other magazines. Each year I peruse April
issues with a bit of trepidation for fear that I will not be savvy enough to spot the
phony article. Usually there is some aspect that is clearly not right, thereby giving
up the scam. This year's April QST arrived a week ago and a quick scan has not revealed
to me anything suspicious. Maybe this one requires the knowledge of a seasoned, practicing
Ham for detection; book knowledge alone might not cut it this time...
 According to this 1972 article in Popular
Electronics, there were as many as 50,000 computers in the world at the time using
magnetic core memories. Among them was the Apollo Guidance Computer that was onboard
the Apollo 11 Lunar Module that Neil Armstrong used in July 1969 to land on the
moon*. Semiconductor memories were being manufactured in 1972, but believe it or not
they were not as fast as the magnetic core memories. Machinery was not available with
enough precision and repeatability to thread the read, write, sense, and inhibit wires...
 This August 1962 installment of "Mac's
Electronics Service" entitled "Openers, Anyone?" discussed remote garage door
openers that were getting popular in the day. As usual there is a valuable lesson
taught in the story, but what really stands out in this case is how the diodes in
the schematic have a "+" sign shown on the cathode. Surely it was a printer's mistake
since even though that was the era when great debates were taking place over whether
electrical current flowed from positive to negative or vice-versa, there was no
argument over whether the more negative voltage needed to be connected to the cathode
(vacuum tube or semiconductor) in order for current to flow. The header image accompanying
John Frye's "Mac's Service Shop" technodramas underwent half a dozen or so versions
throughout its multi-decade run. It is the first I recall seeing this particular
version. The title of the series also evolved over time to reflect the era... |
