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Plug and Jack Quiz
December 1967 Popular Electronics

December 1967 Popular Electronics

December 1967 Popular Electronics Cover - RF Cafe Website  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.

I keep looking back through issues of Popular Electronics magazine for Robert Balin quizzes that I might have missed, and fortunately this one was found. Unlike quizzes back in school, nobody but you will ever know how you score on it - that's what makes it fun. Your challenge is to determine the total resistance value between points A and B both before and after inserting the plug into the jack. Mercifully, Mr. Balin specifies that all the resistors are the same value. The Before part is a piece of cake even for someone in a first semester electronics course - just be sure to pay attention to whether or not the contacts short out any of the paths. The phono plug is on the left and the corresponding jack is on the right. Interpret the dual resistors plug circuits in figures 5 through 8 as having one resistor connected to the tip contact and the other resistor connected to the ring contact (see drawing below), so each connects individually to the upper and lower contacts when inserted into its jack.

Plug and Jack Quiz

Plug and Jack Quiz, December 1967 Popular Electronics - RF Cafe WebsiteBy Robert P. Balin

Plugs and jacks are used not only to connect various units of electronic equipment together, but also to perform a variety of switching operations at the same time. To test your ability to analyze plug and jack connections, sharpen your pencil and try working the circuit problems (1-8) shown below. Determine the total equivalent resistance between points A and B in each circuit Before and After the plug is inserted in the jack. All of the resistors are 6-ohm units.

 

See answers below.

 

Stereo Phono Plug - RF Cafe Website

Mono Phono Plug - RF Cafe Website

 

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

 

Quiz Answers

1)  6 ohms 10 ohms

2)  18 ohms 9 ohms

3)  12 ohms 4 ohms

4)  6 ohms 15 ohms

5)  18 ohms 3.8 ohms

6)  12 ohms 14 ohms

7)  6 ohms 4.3 ohms

8)  12 ohms 2.4 ohms

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About the RF Cafe™ Website ©1996-2026

Kirt Blattenberger - RF Cafe WebmasterRF 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 lady's voice announced "You've Got Mail" when a new message arrived...

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