A Crummy Commercial

Here is a really cool video: source:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5WJUFvKzWk Go back 100 years => movies were still silent.  This one does have sound but no narration although it does have notes on the process (sorta like title cards in silent movies) - turn on CC to see them. This fellow is the silent screen version of Roy Underhill from PBS :) This video also reminds me of G5BD who has been mentioned before: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2024/05/saw-gil-cartoon-in-qst.html also see:  http://wb9kzy.com/g5bd.htm Can you say: Foot Mangle ?  :) Here's another G5BD page with a 1928 QSL mentioning foot powered: https://hamgallery.com/qsl/country/England/g5bd.htm And of course our Glen Gates Gang Field Day natural power efforts (the armstrong method was used rather than foot power): the lashup - it did work ! Rick Evans with the drill press back in the barn powering a ringing generator Forget horsepower 21st century people, human power still works. Best Regards, Chu...

This is really clever: https://spectrum.ieee.org/inchfab They don't mention packaging or for that matter, test.  But the concept of smaller wafers implying smaller equipment never occurred to me.  The IC fab machines that ASML makes are handling wafers which are at least 300 mm (think of something the size of an LP record).  Inchfab is using 100 mm wafers (smaller than a DVD). I remember one of the test engineers at GTE talking about when he worked at Teletype in Skokie, IL.  He mentioned that they had a 2 inch wafer fab there which really impressed me - I never knew that there were semiconductor fabs in the Chicago area.  The later Teletypes (like the model 43 ?) must have used these chips.  Think of a keyboard with a printer: I also recall him saying that Teletype worked on a 10-30 process.  Once they got to 10% yield they went into production, when they reached 30% yield it was time to advance to a newer design.  And sometimes they'd come back ...

Went tramping through the woods, looking for ramps when I came upon this scene: Not sure how old it is but those appear to be turkey feathers.  I see their tracks in the snow during the winter. Someday I will have to try a wildlife cam - a good way to use batteries AND a good excuse to get exercise tramping out in the woods after the ramps are done. Lucky Strike Extra:  I went to the store yesterday and bought a dozen large eggs:  $1.39 - last weeks price $3.09. payment info blanked out just because I could :) So eggs are less than 1/2 price this week ! Is the Wisco curse over ? Maybe only partially, left fielder Lockridge hurt himself badly (bone visible, yikes !) running into a low wall: The Brewers gotta do something about that padding on the wall ! Oh yeah, the Miz had a good night, the 5 fastest pitches thrown by a starter: Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXYWZhN8Yks But the original maker of a show about nothing was Yasujiro Ozu - that's probably not totally fair but not much action in an Ozu movie - no swords or guns or horses - lots of silences though :) Previous Ozu post:   https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2023/06/ozu-was-right-at-least-in-my-case.html Here is what prompts this post: source:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5P22nEmF3k As mentioned before, Good Morning is probably the most accessible of the Ozu movies - kids gotta move ! Every Frame a Painting is an amazing Youtube channel, mentioned it before: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2024/10/every-frame-painting-is-back-kinda.html Hopefully TCM and Every Frame a Painting will team up on more videos in the future.  Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

Interesting article in IEEE Spectrum : https://spectrum.ieee.org/familiar-machines-and-magic It's not a pet or a friend, it's a robotic familiar ?  The first thing I thought of was Jiminy Cricket - but this robotic familiar is trying to help humans become better rather than trying to turn a puppet into a real boy :) Here's the company site:  https://www.familiarmachines.com/ I dunno, seems like a mechanical pet or artificial friend to me.  And with real pets or friends you feel bad when they die.  This thing will eventually die.  I've heard that the Sony Aibo, the robotic dog, was beloved by it's owners and now that Sony doesn't support it anymore, they feel bereft when nothing more can be done.   They were called Artificial Friend (AF) in this book:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klara_and_the_Sun I shudder to think what kinds of short videos will be made by teens for social media - the poor familiar ! Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.co...

I took a second look at measuring the leakage current of the Renogy solar panel - that first reading of ZERO current kinda bugged me. https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2026/05/the-renogy-solar-panel-dischargeleakage.html   I used the newer Triplett DVM just in case there was some kind of problem with the Metex used before.   At 12.84 volts I again measured zero current in any of the three ranges. So I was thinking about that and this is my surmise: there are lower voltage Schottky diodes like the 1n5818, 1 A diode I used on the other solar panel.  The low voltage diodes have somewhat high leakage currents.  Then there are higher voltage Schottky diodes for use in switching supplies and the like.  They have higher forward voltages but smaller leakage currents.  Here is part of a Nexperia Schottky diode data sheet: I will have to pay the tariff tax and get some of these How does this fit in with the Renogy solar panel ?  The Renogy has 72 solar cells which I a...

The reason for action was a spam email from Starlink.  I had looked at Starlink some years ago but never went ahead.  But the spam said that through the end of April they had a special offer to try Starlink for $35 per month for four months.  It rises to $50 per month after that.  So I signed up on April 23rd.  It took a while but the antenna/transceiver, power supply and router with cabling arrived at the ferry dock on Saturday May 2. It was a long bicycle ride to the ferry and back so I just let the surprisingly heavy box sit until Sunday May 3.   Actually opening the box was quite a chore.  Starlink uses boxes like Mouser - no tape is employed, they must hot glue the tabs of the box lid.  Then you are supposed to rip off the pre-perf strips but the strips break - it would have been quicker to use a knife or scissors ! Anyway, once open there is a big pictorial diagram of how things go together. ground station on the left, diagram with the power...