A Crummy Commercial

 I was watching The Apartment , from 1960 starring Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine.  A classic Billy Wilder movie with Lemmon and MacLaine at their peak, career wise. our hero   But as a literalist, the thing that struck me was in the opening CC Baxter (the Jack Lemmon character) is talking about where he works on the 19th floor of Consolidated Life, an insurance company, desk 861. an amazing capture of 1960 And that the shift ends at 5:20pm for his floor - the shift ending times are staggered so as not to overwhelm the elevators.  Which are still run by humans like Miss Fran Kubelick (Shirley MacLaine's character). first scene with Kubelik and Baxter So when Baxter stays late he looks really lonely. hero alone But just imagine how those companies are today, almost all of those people are gone, replaced by machines.  No desks needed, no lights, no adding machines.  The elevators don't need operators anymore.  And gotta figure that all those weasel supervisors and managers that

 Who doesn't love a freebie ?  The autobiography: My Inventions by Nikola Tesla was presented in 6 parts of the February to June and October 1919 editions of The Electrical Experimenter magazine. Find them on the wonderful World Radio History site:   https://worldradiohistory.com/Electrical_Experimenter.htm Here are the links along with my notes: part 1: https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Electrical-Experimenter/EE-1919-02.pdf Tesla's smarter brother died in a confrontation with a horse His Father talked to himself, had a prodigious memory His Mother was source of his inventiveness he saw "visions", could visualize inventions in minds eye   a sort of mental simulation, he could do various versions in   his mind before actually building something for real   kind of like iterative computer simulation   he felt the Edison way was a waste of time his father didn't want him reading his books (afraid tesla would ruin his eyesight) he developed a strong will to tame

 In November 2018 I purchased a couple of LM35 temperature sensors from ebay.  These are in a 3 lead TO-92 package and look like a transistor.  One lead is power, another is ground and the third is a voltage output, 10 mV per degree Celsius.  I had been using the LM34 temperature sensor with the same pinout but which has a Fahrenheit output so I wanted to try the Celsius version. who can tell just by looking if it's a fake ? These were my notes at the time:  " tried one, got hot (smoke), then tried an LM34, it was OK " I tried plugging the other one into one of those LCD based component testers, it indicated it was a dual diode, so not even a transistor ? In other words, it's FAKE.  Three strikes and you are out !  No more trying to get bargains on ebay.  I did get my money back but yikes, smoke !  It's one thing to have something fail but another to actually be potentially dangerous ! BTW this is another chip that is out of stock at both Digi-key and Mouser (LM35

I bought some LM2936 5 volt voltage regulator chips on ebay in 2014.  At that time the LM2936 sold for something like $1.36 in quantity 100.  Now they are over $2 in quantity 100 if you can find them (2023 arrival dates on Mouser).  They are an expensive part, see https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2022/02/ldo-regulator-ic-chips.html These ebay parts were 11.50 for 20, less than 1/2 price.  After I got them I could see they sorta looked genuine except the date code was only 4 digits instead of 5: looks OK but does it work ? as compared to the real ones: the genuine chip And they did seem to regulate, with a 5 volt output.  But the problem was the Iddq quiescent or idle current.  The real ones are about 7 uA with a 9 volt input: 7 uA for genuine LM2936 These fakes were 62 uA at 9 volt input: 62 uA for fake LM2936 With 9 times the idle current they must be some other regulator chip laser marked to be the "top shelf" item.  I didn't bother trying the reverse bias test or over volta

Another Field Day is here and of course I'm not participating. But I used to in the 20th century.  The Nicolet High School club and alumni went on Field Day for many years. But then after a while the entries were made as the Glen Gates Gang. Mr. Gates was a physics teacher at Nicolet and the advisor to the radio club. Here is a link to my GGG page:   http://wb9kzy.com/ggg.htm    I somehow became the photographer of the event each year. The pinnacle of my efforts was the cover of November 1975 QST: not only framed it but also bought a few extra copies at Amateur Electronic Supply !   the blurb on the contents page The corny sunset picture shows one of the tents (we usually went 2A) and in the background the portable tower with the tri-band beam at 70 feet. Here is the picture itself: The tower itself was all-aluminum. As I recall it was originally put up by one of the club members, Jerry WA9WXP. It was 70 feet no guy wires. But the tower was damaged in a storm. The clu

 There really are people who sell fake chips.  They might not know that they are fake but obviously someone along the supply chain knew they were fakes. I blame the recent uptick in IC fakes on laser marking.  It's relatively easy for someone to connect a laser marker to a PC and generate a pretty convincing mark on an IC. However sometimes they slip up.  An example:  the MC12080 prescaler chip.  This is an ECL chip meant to divide frequencies from say 200 MHz to 1600 MHz by a factor of 10 (other factors are pin programmable).  I used this chip in the Prescaler kit. http://wb9kzy.com/prescalr.htm The real chips are from onsemi which used to be ON Semiconductor (and was originally part of Motorola) and look like this (this one is from Mouser): When viewed from farther back there is what appears to be a white stripe on the left, it's really just 6 vertical lines "drawn" by the laser marker. But I've tried some of the ebay vendors of this chip and gotten something si

I listened to a Jean Shepherd show from Tuesday June 1, 1965 via the Dustbin of History show by Max Schmid on WBAI, June 1, 2022 (starts at about 1:09:30). https://wbai.org/archive/program/episode/?id=31532 If you are a ham and have never listened to Shepherd (who was K2ORS) this is an interesting show.  He was a master storyteller on the radio.  His remarks all seemed completely spontaneous but always managed to conclude exactly with the last bars of Ban Frei, his theme music played at the start and end of the show. On this show a listener has left a radio for Jean: a Clear-o-dyne built in Cincinnati.  Jean calls the circuit a Neutrodyne: a cross between a TRF and a Super Regen ?  Jean is trying to think of the term: variometer.  There are 4 x 201a tubes in the radio. From his description it was probably this radio:  source: https://www.technogallerie.com/wp-content/uploads/Cleartone-Clear-O-Dyne-70.jpg Model 70 => $75 in 1925 or $1267 in 2022 !   Jean mentions the Mcmurdo Silver v

I know: "don't judge a book by the cover" but I seem to remember books if they have distinctive covers I remember buying a copy of this book when I was in grade school.  I don't know what I did with it - it must be another item that is right next to my grade school class pictures.  But I read the three stories within more than once: The Problem of Cell 13 The Case of the Flaming Phantom The Mystery of the Silver Box The main character, Prof. Augustus S.F.X. Van Dusen, was as unforgettable as Sherlock Holmes.  He was a smartie, held numerous degrees including being a medical doctor, and unlike Holmes, the Professor did his investigations as a sideline, leaving a lot of the leg work to his friend, Hutchinson Hatch, a newsman.  I wonder if this might have influenced later writers like Rex Stout with his Nero Wolfe character where Archie Griffin does the outside work ?  Anyway, I suspect if "the Thinking Machine" ever gets popular again he will undoubtedly be te

 It is Screamer Radio v0.4.4     It's an internet radio Windows program with a built in record capability.   It seems to still be available: https://www.screamer-radio.com/download/    (scroll down to the bottom of the page) Why I like it:  the recording feature is nice.   Let's say you are listening to a show for a while and they play something that you'd like to have a copy of.  With Screamer Radio you can just hit the record and it will go back into the memory banks and get the last hunk of stream (Screamer is always buffering) and put it into a file.  This doesn't always work perfectly, it keys on the title that the streamer sends out.  When the title (I may not be using the correct term but you get the idea) sent out by the streamer changes (or doesn't change) then the recording  kerchunks out the old titled file and starts a new file.  It's all done automagically and works pretty well. Other good things about Screamer Radio v0.4.4":  free, small, fast

 In 2016 I was dumb enough to send this reply to an email: And I bet I never get in trouble for divulging the "confidential" email After sending it I did an internet search and sure enough, it's a scam.  And per this blog posting the scam persists: https://domaingang.com/domain-crime/china-registry-scam-continues-to-pester-domain-holders-for-fake-trademark-applications/ Strangely no one ever registered any .CN domains with WB9KZY in them - that would have cost THEM money :) In a way this scam is an appeal to vanity, the idea that someone would try to get the Chinese version of your domain name makes you feel it's valuable enough to steal, usually scam emails appeal to greed only. Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

 Yesterday the blog presented the digitized audio tape from my college graduation.  Which prompted me to remember the movie: "The Conversation" which was from that 1970s time frame.  So I started watching the movie again.  While the movie has a lot of things to discuss concerning the morality of surveillance and the abridgement of freedom and so on I (as a literalist) was struck by the analog world of 1974.  After the start of the movie the main character comes to work to his "cage" on a floor of an abandoned building in San Francisco (I can just imagine it now, teeming with apartments for well paid 21st century informationeers).   kind of a lonely business we had these chain link cages at GTE, too Harry Caul (Gene Hackman) has directed a crew of 4 other people (labor was cheap in the 1970s in SF) to tape the conversation of a couple walking around a park.  One of the men walks around with a recorder in a shopping bag.  The other two are in upper floors of surroundi

 This is Father's Day, 2022 so a special "Thank You, Dad" blog post.  And here is the sheepskin: It doesn't actually say BSEE but it was for electrical engineering     I found a cassette tape my Dad made of my college graduation ceremony (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee) from May 1977.  I tried converting it to digital mp3 format to share it here.  It was held at the Arena in Milwaukee. Radio Shack is now a memory but UWM continues (they ask for money regularly :)   He didn't record the entire two hours (whew) but in case you'd like to skip, here are the times of the various speakers: Part one (about 54 megabytes): https://www.dropbox.com/s/ssfk0s8764mu88t/UWM%20graduation%201977%20part%201.mp3?dl=0 0      organ music at the Arena 4:30 the National Anthem 6      introduction by UWM Chancellor Baum 15    Gov. Lucey 23    Bertram McNamara for the UW Board of Regents Part two (about 31 megabytes): https://www.dropbox.com/s/yaljt54lruc3851/UWM%20graduation%20197

 source: https://wd8rif.com/img/hw16_1969.jpg   One thing I forgot to mention in the previous blog post on First Contact was that later that year (1972) I got an HW-16 as an arranged gift for Christmas. Now before I got the HW-16 I remember talking to a student teacher in the radio club room.  He told me to forget the HW-16 and get an Adventurer (the rig I had been using) and a receiver.  However the teacher of our Novice class, Morrie WB9JHW, had an HW-16 and recommended it.  Besides, the HW-16 had a 500 Hz receive filter, break-in, grid block keying,  could muster 75 watts input (maybe on 80/40 :) and would be something I built.  The Adventurer would only be 50 watts and then I'd need a T/R switch plus a ham band receiver.   So I listened to my Elmer and not to the student teacher and got the HW-16.  And had trouble with the HW-16 assembly (the transmitter part which was supposed to be simpler) but eventually figured it out (a defective band-switch) and got it fixed (no charge) a

Saw a picture of a Swan 400 on Face.  We had a Swan 400 in our radio club at Nicolet High School (Glendale WI).  It was used as a receiver, the club president yanked the transmit tubes because I was the only licensed ham at the time and I was a Novice (this was before Novices could use a VFO). source:  https://rigreference.com/storage/uploads/rigs/68/4122/swan-400.jpg I remember the visible backlash of the VFO, let go of the dial and then I could see it walk back a little :) source:  https://www.ebay.com/itm/293672254270     The transmitter I used at the club was a Johnson Adventurer with crystals. source: http://www.arrl.org/images/view/Soapbox/image_5.jpeg And I found my first log: Al, WA8BVP, the poor man had to listen to me for 50 minutes ! I don't know where the QSL went to, it must be around here somewhere. It's been close to 50 years now since my first QSO, dang that 50th reunion is 2023 !  Can't believe it. Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

Nope, and no invoice either. Why ?  I stopped sending manuals / schematics with the kits in the 20th century (not too long after starting the sale of kits).  It is one thing to print out a manual (usually in booklet form) once in a while but let's imagine an order of 20 kits for a dealer.  Printing (and folding a booklet) gets really dreary very quickly. In addition, manuals take a certain amount of space and have weight.  This impacts postage.  I'd fold the manuals to fit in a bubble pack mailer or small box, so it resulted in a less than ideal manual for the user. Now remember that the manuals and schematics were (and are) on the site in PDF format.  I guess I assumed that purchasers might be like me, download the manual/schematic and look at it before buying.  Maybe print it out or maybe not (no sense in printing something that might be used once).  Something like a tablet can be handy for manuals. The invoices stopped in early 2009.  We had some health emergencies in the fa

 I was looking at an issue of R/9 magazine from December 1935 (courtesy of the wonderful WorldRadioHistory site).   This editorial was upfront: I'm not sure exactly what happened in Cairo or what Warner did wrong but here it is 87 years later and we still have ham radio (and QST). I can only think of the countless Never Say Die columns in 73 magazine of a similar nature.  The ARRL never seems to do right :) Well I feel differently, while any human endeavor can go wrong, for the most part I think the ARRL has done a wonderful job.   Incidentally, R/9 was a very interesting magazine, kind of an early version of Ham Radio magazine.  There are only 3 issues on WorldRadioHistory.com.  Apparently with the next issue in January 1936 R/9 merged with Radio magazine and was published as Radio from then on. Earlier in the decade (1933) R/9 published the first articles in the ham radio press concerning SSB - I haven't located those online so far. Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.c

  Mr. Peterson, 1966/67 One of the things I remember from grade school (Maple Dale School, Fox Point, WI, 1962-1969) was Mr. Peterson's class in 7th grade.  Although I can't remember what it was called, social studies ?  History ?  Civics ?  But you get the idea. The thing I remember was that the class wasn't taught in the usual way:  lecture, assigned reading, test.  It was done through "contracts".  I can't remember all the details but Mr. Peterson sat at a table in the front of the class with piles of papers (the assignments, color coded) and slips (the contracts).  The student would get the assignment pages from Mr. Peterson and you'd agree on when the work would be done.  At that due date a conference with Mr. P. and then advancement to the next contract.   Some kids (OK maybe 2) were competitive and tried to do all of them.  I can't remember how many I did but I do remember one contract in particular.  It was to write and have performed in front

 But apparently no one else did: Then there is always this sentiment from Tommorrowland :     Athena:     Frank, do you want to know why you could never make me laugh ?     Frank:         Why ?     Athena:     Because you're not funny. watch the scene here (it does spoil the ending):  https://youtu.be/AVLdJIn7Up4?t=329   Alas, probably true in my case, I could never make my Dad laugh (at least not on purpose). Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm             

 You know how it is, you are completely clean.  You take a rocket ride millions of miles to the next planet, Mars.  Landing is OK. landing was A-OK   Your mission is going pretty well until:  Dust storms !  It happened to NASA's lander, Insight: that rusty brown color of Mars But didn't Hanna-Barbera solve this problem almost 60 years ago ? 10-7-1962 Jetson's Night Out (yes, I was 7 years old when I saw this) Just a little whisk broom on an arm, how hard could that be to add to the next lander ? Seriously, maybe after landing people on the moon again and Mars we can finally solve the problem of cleaning here on earth.  Because if it isn't solved there's gonna be trouble up there.  Some speculate that any time outside will be dealt with with an extension of the Japanese custom of removing your shoes, just remove your entire suit and leave the dust in the airlock. Incidentally, as far as football, why don't we have robot pro football ? The Ringers in blue, the Mar