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Color Code Quiz
November 1967 Popular Electronics

November 1967 Popular Electronics

November 1967 Popular Electronics Cover - RF Cafe  Table of Contents

Wax nostalgic about and learn from the history of early electronics. See articles from Popular Electronics, published October 1954 - April 1985. All copyrights are hereby acknowledged.

Even those of us old enough to remember the days when nearly all electronic components had identification markers on them find it challenging to correctly interpret color codes on resistors, capacitors, and inductors. The numbers are easy enough to remember*, but getting tolerances and temperature coefficients correct is not guaranteed. Usually the color bands on a component are biased toward one end so there is no ambiguity as to where to begin decoding, but I have seen plenty where getting the right interpretation is a crap shoot unless the last band happens to be gold or silver. Gold and silver have no numbers associated with them, but brown and red are also used for tolerance (brown:±1%, red:±1%, respectively)**. Reading capacitor dots can also be a little tricky, but after you've read a few, it's a piece of cake. This "Color Code Quiz" from the November 1967 issue of Popular Electronics magazine will test your memory.

* Bad Boys Ravage Our Young Girls Behind Victory Garden Walls = Black:0, Brown:1, Red:2, Orange:3, Yellow:4, Green:5, Blue:6, Violet:7, Gray:8, White:9 --- Of course a more politically correct mnemonic is probably taught today.

** Added in the last couple decades are green:±0.5%, blue:±0.25%, violet:±0.1%, gray:±0.05%, and then a 6th band has been added for PPM/C° temperature coefficient.

Color Code Quiz

By Robert P. Balin

Color-coded bands and dots are commonly used to provide important rating data on resistors, capacitors, and inductors. It is necessary, therefore, that an electronic technician either memorize the color code and the numerical value of each band and dot, or have ready access to this information on charts. To test your ability to read color codes, pretend that you have found the components (A-K) shown at left in your spare parts box and want to identify them. Consult your charts and any other information that you may have available.

Color Code Quiz Images, November 1967 Popular Electronics - RF Cafe Color Code Quiz , November 1967 Popular Electronics - RF Cafe

 

 

See answers below.

Quizzes from vintage electronics magazines such as Popular Electronics, Electronics-World, QST, Radio-Electronics, and Radio News were published over the years - some really simple and others not so simple. Robert P. Balin created most of the quizzes for Popular Electronics. This is a listing of all I have posted thus far.

RF Cafe Quizzes

Vintage Electronics Magazine Quizzes

Vintage Electronics Magazine Quizzes

Vintage Electronics Magazine Quizzes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Color Code Quiz Answers, November 1967 Popular Electronics - RF Cafe 

 

 

Posted October 3, 2022

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RF Cafe began life in 1996 as "RF Tools" in an AOL screen name web space totaling 2 MB. Its primary purpose was to provide me with ready access to commonly needed formulas and reference material while performing my work as an RF system and circuit design engineer. The World Wide Web (Internet) was largely an unknown entity at the time and bandwidth was a scarce commodity. Dial-up modems blazed along at 14.4 kbps while tying up your telephone line, and a nice lady's voice announced "You've Got Mail" when a new message arrived...

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