A Crummy Commercial

Yes, I know that there's not much worth listening to on AM radio.  But it's still fun to build a crystal set,  mentioned here: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2022/01/alfred-p-morgan.html I recently saw this Superboy's Workshop Razor Blade Radio which I'd like to try:   Watching this Vertitasium video reminded me of crystal sets: source:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSJY3DvnybE It showed multiple places where the concept of a bare bones crystal radio (basically a diode and a tuned antenna) was used by the CIA for bugging the Soviets.  It is also used in RFID tags to provide power.  And it is used in credit cards and debit cards to power the chip. One thing they didn't do too well in the video was differentiate between credit cards and debit cards.  About the only place I use a credit card on the island is at Mann's store.  But somewhere I do have some thin sheet metal - might be hard on the wallet though.  I think I will also stop carrying m...

I became aware of an adjustable voltage regulator IC, the LM338K, which is a 5 amp adjustable regulator in a TO-3 can: Yikes, over $100 ?   The LM338T is the same part in a TO-220 package: The only reason I can see for offering the part in the expensive package is that the TO-3 steel case is probably hermetically sealed (hermeticity requires metal, glass or ceramic) - this is important in certain commercial and military applications.  I suspect that these are for repair / spares only - although it's surprising that they still offer the chip at all in this package.  The TO-220 packaged chip would be fine for me :) Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm  

source:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g24WKKj0kA4 And the White Sox are already in last place: This game reminded me of a Jean Shepherd story about the White Sox: source:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2e3Ov1lFyg The Old Man hated Lou Gehrig ?  I shudder to think what he said when The Pride Of The Yankees premiered !  And what would The Old Man have said when Munetaka Murakami (the big money slugger from Japan) hit a 9th inning homer into the 2nd deck in right field for the Sox on opening day 2026 ?  Just like Lou did  :) Lou Gehrig: source:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lou_Gehrig Ted Lyons: source:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Lyons Zeke "Banana Nose" Bonura: source:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeke_Bonura   Munetaka Murakami:    wiki:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munetaka_Murakami   BTW, if any part of Jean's story is untrue I don't want to know it :) update: here is the story on the Shepherd WOR...

This was the input: from the side: kid sitting and soldering at a workbench, plans on wall. in front of him, posters and pennant on wall to his right, open small suitcase on floor with a skunk in it These were the results: This was the original McCloskey drawing from Homer Price: the skunk's name is Aroma, he rides up to Homer's room in that basket Anyway I got 20 Microsoft Rewards points by trying it. Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm  

The new stand is working well - it was mentioned here: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2026/03/new-perch.html Then a couple things happened.  First there was the snow storm so I wasn't able to get any sap to boil.  The second was that I realized something.  I hadn't checked the calibration on the refractometer in a long time.  So I put a little distilled water (sap) on the slide and zeroed the reading. there is an adjustment screw under the round black cap above: ATC I was able to restart the boils after the ski experiment: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2026/03/red-ski-is-for-right-foot.html The last few boil results have been good (ideal brix is 66.7): boil    brix    evaporation in grams (roughly 1 percent) ----    ----    ----  29     66.5     44  30     67       47  31     67       46  32     65...

Henry Reed, Inc. is a kids book from 1958, written by Keith Robertson and illustrated by Robert McCloskey.    https://archive.org/details/henryreedinc00keit The McCloskey drawings are what make the book for me.  Mentioned him previously: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2024/06/homer-price.html I am pretty sure I read Henry Reed, Inc. in the 6th grade.  But maybe it was a similar book - I remember it because we had to do drawings with our book reports and mine was of a runaway balloon that had to be shot down like the one in Henry Reed, Inc. : It's a fun book - I noticed two items that would have passed me by in 1966-67, first sunspots: Since the book was written near the greatest sunspot peak in the radio era but I was just into radio at that point and hadn't known that.  Anyway it must have been the thing to blame everything on sunspots in the late 1950s. The second item was this: I remember hearing Jean Shepherd voice the same opinion so I don't know if it was c...

wood skis with bamboo poles !   Yes, they are two different cross country skis (wooden and from Finland, yet !) but they are the only ones I have with the old fashioned ankle-breaker bindings.  The skis I had as a kid had bindings kinda like these.  If you get them adjusted just right the ski will come off if you fall rather than mess up a leg.   The more modern cross country skis require what I think of as clown shoes with an extended sole in front.  There's a clamp on the ski that holds this extended sole down in front while letting the skier raise their heel in back - these aren't like the click in bindings and boots of downhill skis. I had dug a path through the snow to the storage building where I keep the skis so I thought I'd try getting out the skis to check on the maple sap.  I haven't been out to the trees for a week and a day.  Here's my path out there: Actually the snow drifts were highest by the house.  There were some bare patches by...