A Crummy Commercial

picture source: https://www.chicagotribune.com/resizer/4NQyE43NqPxq-sYc2ND-ZbI-JVs=/1024x0/filters:format(jpg):quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tronc/3JPZSKOBKBFEXK3LSJVPHO5ID4.JPG Jim McMahon is bald and sells weed ? story: https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/daily-southtown/ct-sta-jim-mcmahon-marijuana-orland-hills-st-0929-20230928-bdoqiw2navdnjin3yihk4beagm-story.html As my grandmother might have said:  Holy Cats ! Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

 I remember a test set at GTE (Receiving Inspection department, Northlake, IL) called:  FATCATS  (I forget what the letters stood for, something like Filter Algorithmic Computer Aided Test Set).  FATCATS was what I guess is sometimes called: rack and stack ?  It had various instruments which connected to a DUT (Device Under Test) using a relay matrix connected to a test fixture.  This was controlled via the IEEE-488 interface by an HP desktop computer (I don't remember the model, BTW I worked on the Fairchild Sentry IC testers exclusively). I also remember that there was a mallet with a rubber head in the back of FATCATS (sometimes a relay would stick ?).  And, Otto is Toot spelled sideways :) Anyway, one of the instruments in FATCATS was a Tek sampling scope (again I don't remember the model) which displayed waveforms as dots.  I never really quite understood what was going on with the Tek sampling scope but today Curious Marc put up a new video ...

 The gray sky cleared in the afternoon so I decided to take a bicycle ride: I went by the Island's answer to the sign blogged on yesterday: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2023/09/kinda-like-burma-shave-for-21st-century.html The sign also says:  THANK YOU but that didn't photograph.  If a car is speeding the sign indicates the speed in red but I didn't capture that.  These are surprisingly hard to take on a moving bike, I made 2 passes, both came out a little blurry. Noticed that the super-duper fiber optic internet cables are being strung, not sure when they will get to my house. Finally saw my fave road sign: . Just have to be 12 years old inside to get someone to pose next to the arrow - I wonder if they shortened the post on purpose to make posing harder ? Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

. source: https://i69texasorg.b-cdn.net/odot-brings-holiday-cheer-with-hilarious-messages-on-130-road-signs/ Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

(bringing back a little bit of an asteroid) but it's still kinda neat: Bennu doesn't just look like a charcoal briquette, they want to see just how much carbon there is and what form it is in . https://arstechnica.com/space/2023/09/nasa-spacecraft-returns-to-earth-with-pieces-of-an-asteroid/ And NASA has retargeted the OSIRUS probe to visit another asteroid (Apophis) in 2029 ?  Amazing ! Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

I was searching for pictures from my grade school in the 1960s, about the only ones I found were the ones I put into a scrapbook on archive.org: https://archive.org/details/maple-dale-6 But I did notice this linked page: https://maps.sco.wisc.edu/WHAIFinder and zoomed in to find the old neighborhood: My house was across the street from the white dot (survey marker) https://maps.sco.wisc.edu/WHAIFinder/#17/43.16635/-87.90783 From there I was able to download this photo from 1937: There were just farm fields where my house in the 1960s would be.  I did see my grade school and Doctor's Park on the lakefront but it was hard to recognize anything else familiar. I also zoomed back out and then took a look at the island, specifically W9EVT's QTH on the lake, Greengate Farm: Then: Now: Not quite as much change on the island. Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

I was watching Matt the Deal Guy's Costco video for September 2023 (yes, I'm fascinated by a fellow who eats stuff out of the trunk of his car): source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxNTR4Cwb6I When I saw this at 4 minutes, 40 seconds into the video: OOOHH !  nice tin, only $5 a pound for cookies !  It's a good thing I live on an island or I'd be a lot heavier/poorer :) I've mentioned these tins before: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2022/11/i-saw-this-cookie-tin-in-most-recent.html I probably won't be buying any more cookies-in-a-tin this year, still have plenty of empty tins that need electronics put inside them ! Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm 

I just found out about this wonderful site: https://www.w4npn.net/ It includes a lot of interesting ham radio info including pdf files of Hot Iron, a publication which originated in England by Tim Walford: https://www.w4npn.net/hot-iron-directory/ Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

I found this circuit: on this page: https://www.learningaboutelectronics.com/Articles/Ramp-generator-circuit-with-transistors.php it simulates nicely: Unfortunately I was hoping that the tooth would start closer to zero.  A ramp starting at zero makes it more useful for applications like diode sorting.  But that two-transistor SCR used to quench the cap voltage is probably the culprit.  More investigation will be required. Later I found this video by W2AEW explaining the circuit in detail: And even later noted that the 2 transistor configuration is not an SCR but a programmable uni-junction transistor - last mentioned here: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2023/06/2n6028-programmable-unijunction.html Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

Isn't there some possibility that the whole flying sauce craze was started by Ingrid Bergman's hat in Casablanca ? . Doesn't it remind you of the Jupiter II from Lost in Space ? . Maybe it's just me, I was 11 years old in 1965, fifth grade, when Lost in Space started on TV.  BTW the fact that the show was in black and white didn't bother me since we didn't get a color TV until the mid 1970s. Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

But unfortunately true: Has your NFL team won a game since Elon Musk purchased Twitter ? source: https://twitter.com/JayCuda/status/1704305900301758803 Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

I remember finding out about this book in 6th grade.  Miss Vandenburgt made us do oral book reports and also draw a picture that would be pinned on the bulletin board.  One fellow did a report on Citizen but also a nice drawing of this from the cover: It is a wonderful book, no other author can create a setting on some other planet so quickly and simply as Heinlein could.  A lot of times his endings leave something to be desired and he can be preachy, especially in the non-juvenile books but he can "set the hook" like no other author.  I was able to buy a copy of Citizen in hardcover in college from the UWM bookstore - I wish I had purchased some of the other Heinlein books in hardcover but mostly I've got old crumbly paperbacks. One of the references in the book was to this fellow: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Renshaw We did a brief speed reading segment using the tahistoscope in freshman English at Nicolet High School.  Basically part of a "how to stud...

The one modern development in football that I value above all others: the video projection of the line to gain (the yellow line) along with the line of scrimmage.  Normally it helps the viewer a lot: But sometimes even in the 21st century, technical things aren't right: This is why I don't worry about AI taking over the world :) Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

Following up to the blog from yesterday: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2023/09/repeating-experiment.html First, tested 5 1n4148 diodes, these are regular silicon PN diodes, tested with the Metex DVM diode test, the LM317 sourcing 5.2 mA and then 10.5 mA: number       1.1 mA     5.2 mA      10.5 mA 1              600        .694        .734 2              599        .693        .730 3              600        .695        .732 4              604        .700        .741 5           ...

  M0NTV raises a good point on DVM diode test, I checked my Metex DVM and also a Harbor Freight type DVM - both had a current of a little over 1 mA. source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkMpLKwNl2U I tried the LM317 circuit using the DVM diode test and the LM317 current source with fixed resistors of 120 and 240 ohms to measure 9 BAT-42 diodes and got the following results: number   1.1 mA     5.2 mA       10.5 ma ---------------------------------------- 1         284        325.0        353.0 2        278        326.0        350.5 3        281        327.0        352.7 4        281        325.5 ...

 The anti-Heathkit:   https://archive.org/details/Thrilling_Wonder_Stories_v34n02_1949-06 See page 74, only one part supplied, the builder only gets a catalog and no instructions either - although the ARRL handbook is mentioned.  It kind of reminds me of that ship model my Dad purchased, inside the box was a block of wood although it did come with instructions and a few other parts :) Now we know how the Professor (from Gilligan's Island) got his start: Watch out for the virtue/liability of vacuum tubes:  the are repairable/copyable but also easy to break. BTW, be sure to disable the self-destruct inherent in the interociter, otherwise it's a one-time use device ! Also, the story is continued in two more issues of Thrilling Wonder Stories: https://archive.org/details/Thrilling_Wonder_Stories_v35n02_1949-12 https://archive.org/details/Thrilling_Wonder_Stories_v35n03_1950-02 The story ends differently than the movie: This Island Earth. Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http...

source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9F3WRMlZEy4 A very neat PBS Space Time video on how a dish (for HF radio) on the far side of the moon would look for really interesting info on the early universe. In the early universe hydrogen atoms emitted 21 cm wavelength radio waves which have been red shifted to 21 meters today.  Hmmm, 21 meters is pretty close to that very popular ham radio band (like right smack dab in the middle :)  So hams know that the ionosphere reflects 20 meter signals back to earth, similarly it also reflects 21 meter signals back into space.  So that's a good reason for a moon radio telescope.  Putting it on the far side should eliminate problems from any ham signals on earth. Do it, NASA ! Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

No, not the story by Shirley Jackson, listen to that one here: https://archive.org/details/NBCPresentsShortStoryTheLottery03141951 This concerns the draft lottery for the Vietnam war.  I was watching this video: https://youtu.be/ReveGiz38Qo?t=426 when it came to this section: This was the class of 1972, I was in the Nicolet class of 1973 so I looked up the numbers: Also saw this NY Times story: Of course by that time Tricky Dick and Hank Kissinger had implemented their secret plan to end the war and Mel Laird had made sure that sons of Republicans wouldn't have to worry about being drafted.  So it didn't apply to me although I did have to get a draft card. Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm