Tech Smorgasbord Archives - 35

A Radio Shack Eulogy

Friends, former employees, and fellow lovers of all things electronic, we are gathered here today to remember and honor our lifelong friend and enabler of our hobby and passion, Radio Shack - once a Tandy company, as we are familiar with it. Radio Shack has lingered in failing health for a decade, all the time keeping a brave face on its dwindling number of stores. Caretakers attempted a variety of infusions and transplants in an attempt to save the American stalwart electronics retailer. Alas, a confluence of poor management ...

1930 U.S. Census - Do You Own a Radio?

For Mother's Day this year, the kids and I got Melanie a 23andMe DNA testing kit. She has spent a fair amount of time over the years researching the family lineage which, in case you care, traces back primarily to Germany and Switzerland. Along with some of the online ancestry websites, she searched the U.S. Census database for immigration and early American household information (number of people, ages, names, occupations, etc.) The entire 1930 Census form consisted of a single page seeking basic information on whether you own or rent, value of the home, live on a farm or not, color or race, ...

6/9/2017

Heathkit DX-60B Amateur Radio Transmitter Restoration

Long-time RF Cafe visitor and occasional contributor Gary Steinhour, KF6U, recently sent me a note saying he had acquired a very used Heathkit DX-60B amateur radio transmitter and was in the process of restoring it. Gary's first transmitter as a freshly minted Ham over 50 years ago was a DX-60, so this was an effort to satisfy a nostalgic emotional attachment. The project is complete now, and boy does it look nice! Gary provides a brief account here ...

6/7/2017

Lightning Protection Systems

If you have ever seen the result of a lightning strike on electronic equipment, then you know how devastating it can be - often total destruction that includes molten metal. Woe be unto any human operator who happens to be in contact with it at the time of the strike. Unprotected antennas are begging for contact. Shortly after leaving a company where I worked on a Tx/Rx system for a phased array weather radar I got word that the indoor equipment rack took a major hit because the guy who maintained the site forgot to reconnect a lightning rod system cable after moving it during ...

6/1/2017