A Crummy Commercial

Nope, not gonna happen, if I wait a while I can look at a Facebook page without having to reveal anything :) Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

https://n6qw.blogspot.com/2024/03/march-25-2024-mmic-amplifiers.html Here Pete mentions MMIC amplifiers but the tidbit I gleaned was that Digi-Key now sells Mini-Circuits parts.  Previously it was either buy direct from Mini-Circuits or from ebay or other sellers.  Which was fine but often a big shipping cost would be spread over just one type of item.  But now it's easy to add something like a genuine ADE-6+ mixer to a normal Digi-Key (or Mouser) order along with other needed parts: polar bear in a snowstorm here ! https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/mini-circuits/ade-6/13927064 BTW, the ADE-6+ specs look interesting (another tip from Pete) - although more expensive than the usual ADE-1, the ADE-6 is spec'd to 50 kHz where the ADE-1 is only spec'd to 500 kHz.  Must be different cores ?  Also, even though both the ADE-1 and ADE-6 are surface mount they are easy to work with due to fairly large-ish size and lead spacing. https://n6qw.blogspot.com/2024/03/m...

Spectrum had an interesting article: https://spectrum.ieee.org/quansheng-uv-k5-hacking It is available on ebay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/134535560953 $34.20 plus tax => $36.08 so still affordable But as with many other things, I'd fiddle with it for 15 minutes and then it would get put away, probably forever. Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

Saw another kit with an aluminum top affixed to Bakelite box: Mentioned this style of kit enclosure at least 5 times before: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2024/03/another-still-currently-available-ham.html Here is a very thorough video by Jeff Tranter on the IN-12: source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cI8cSniJj6E I suspect that a lot of these resistor substitution boxes got built, tried and then put away somewhere. Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

I have mentioned basements before: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2022/05/fallout-shelter.html but Shorpy had two pictures of a finished basement from pre-war Nyack NY that fills me with envy: https://www.shorpy.com/node/27383 https://www.shorpy.com/node/27382 Of course it wouldn't have been much for radio or electronics but probably was great for small parties or just somewhere to go to escape everyday life. Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

source: https://twitter.com/EricGalko/status/1772627029596250439   I guess you have to see it to get it, but I can't watch football anymore except after the fact.   Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wu3FnasuE2s Asianometry gets back to the technology-history-economics beat with this video on TI and how they finally bailed on the home computer market. The book mentioned at the end:  Engineering the World   by  Caleb Pirtle https://archive.org/details/engineeringworld00pirt I can only remember a couple of things about the TI 99/4a computer.  They were closed out in the Chicago area at K-Mart with a really low price (which I don't remember) but I went over to the local K-Mart before opening and there was a mob !  As I recall when they opened the doors there was a scrum and I felt someone pushing me from the back - it was my Mom !  She was a veteran of all those bargain basement sales at department stores in the 1960s and wasn't afraid to push !  It soon developed that they didn't have enough 99/4a computers for everyone so we left.    The other memory was when I built the external keyboard for my Atar...

 Lionel Communications Lab I've mentioned this before: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2023/12/lionel-communications-lab-mark-i.html Today I found an interesting site with lotsa pictures and even a complete manual (although not the one I wanted): photos: https://cornucopiaoftoytrains.com/science-science-engineering-lab-sets-a/#SE3270 manuals: https://cornucopiaoftoytrains.com/electronics-labs-instruction-manuals/ The Mark IV lab was the most expensive and included a build it yourself tape recorder, amazing.  But the price !    here it is inflated: I wonder how many of them actually sold.  Anyway, a really nice site. Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR9bwoS6Bgs This Asianometry video is different from most.  Usually he talks about stuff like Integrated Circuits and TSMC, also business / economics.  I think he has more of an economics background than technical.  But some of his technical explanations are interesting as mentioned previously: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2023/11/resolution-enhancement-video.html   But this video was quite different and really interesting.  It deals with the 2nd generation Japanese-Americans (Nisei) who worked as translators in the Pacific theater during World War II.   As I recall one of the reasons why the translation effort isn't better known is that the translators were "sworn to secrecy" about their experiences and they took that seriously. He mentions this free book: https://www.history.army.mil/html/books/nisei_linguists/index.html Written Japanese is hard at least for me, the internet now allows us to cheat using the var...

Is nothing without increased risk ? https://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/news/health/dr-michael-mosley-responds-claim-9183314 I mentioned Dr. Mosley before: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2023/10/peel.html While I gave up on the 5:2 diet I sorta do the time restriction thing but not due to diet considerations.  It is more that eating solid food before exercising (usually just before 8 AM) is bad for me because the Nordic Track ski machine can press on the digestive tract causing acid reflux.  Similarly eating too close to bed time is bad for acid reflux so I usually don't eat or drink after 5 PM. I will keep doing the time restriction pattern, exercise and being able to sleep is important too. Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

A video from the Fireball Tool guy popped up on my Youtube feed: source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8klF0ZYouPs I like these videos where he browses an old issue of Popular Mechanics, makes a few comments and then finds something that sparks his imagination and then re-creates it back into existence. This propeller bike video was really fun but the ending might have answered some of his questions at the start: source: https://youtu.be/a5gbT7Uo5qY I like to look through old magazines but RARELY does it spark action other than possibly a blog post :) Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

I really need to upload more kit related videos but have never really found a comfortable procedure for making them.  Anyway, for some reason I was looking at my Youtube channel and discovered that it had four Shorts: source: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/GU00Rc2CzvM source: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/MC6wyOUJ3OI source: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/4E68CgNeSuo   source: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/vnN8RfNaV6U     I wasn't involved in posting them, the Shorts just appeared automagically !  So I guess thanks is due to Youtube ?   It is a little weird though, I didn't know that Youtube did this.  (I should mention that I did upload those videos but not as Shorts, they were just videos). Finally, I realized that I've got some videos that I uploaded to Youtube that weren't public so I added 3 of them, one on the Island Keyer II weight setting and two on the Grandson of Zerobeat encased versions, see them here on the kit video channel: ...

About a week ago (March 11, 2024 after 2PM) Gmail finally forced me to use the latest online version, here's my previous blog on Gmail: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2023/11/when-internet-changes-its-usually-for.html Latest Gmail ? Yuck.  For one thing, it is slower: interstitial screens = slower   On Monday, March 18 2024 it got even worse.  I had an email in the inbox that appeared to be phishing scam.  One of these "we couldn't deliver your parcel" types.  So I tried looking on the latest Gmail for a way to view the email source without actually opening the email. Nope, Gmail opened the email for me, not only that, it also opened the link in the email in a new window. Thanks a lot latest Gmail. I'm not sure if it is actually a phishing scam but I did report it since it was a .nl site and a .fr email address, ( I don't live in the Netherlands OR send parcels to the Netherlands, same with France), should have reported Phishing immediately without trying to look...

when I finally registered on the Washington Island Electric Co-op site: Yes, our old friend: Willie Wiredhand (country cousin of Reddy Kilowatt ?): https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2023/04/willie-wiredhand.html Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

For the last couple of days very little maple sap has been collected.  I still have over 3 gallons refrigerated but at a rate of over 2 gallons a day it won't be long until I run out of sap. Also the sap has been getting cloudier which seems to result in darker syrup. But the weather may change, recently the desired freeze / thaw cycle hasn't been happening.  In addition, very little rain or snow recently.  Last year the season went well into April: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2023/04/notes-on-2023-maple-syrup-season.html The effort to monitor the distilled water output to gauge the syrup sugar percentage has been kinda hit and miss.  I have tried to standardize the sap input and check the water output but the breaker flip offs are very inconsistent.  Here is some recent boil data:   I'll keep going but probably getting close to the end ? BTW I first heard the word: penultimate from listening to Bucks play-by-play announcer, Eddie Doucette - Eddie was proba...

I saw these uncredited pictures on Face: Coincidentally also saw this ad in the October 1962 issue of QST, page 135: I recall that when I made my first contact at the Nicolet High School radio club: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2022/06/first-contact.html https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2022/11/found-it.html There was a Dow-Key coax relay that had a corresponding toggle switch (can't quite remember the details of how it was hooked up).  But I had to throw the toggle switch to transmit on the Adventurer and then flip it off to listen on the Swan - definitely not break-in - my HW-16 was so nice in comparison.  As I recall the relay kind of hummed when it was engaged  :) Semi-obligatory inflated price: Yikes, consider 10 times the price of some of the other gear in that issue of QST like the HT-37 at $495, wow !! I did mention the fact that Dow-Key and Digi-Key were both located in Thief River Falls: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2022/09/dow-key-and-digi-key-both-in-thief.html Best ...

It is fun but can be frustrating - I try not to cheat. finally got it a normal distribution with a little skew - I came on-board late ! And Sophomores:  Beware the Ides of March ! Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm  

I missed it live, trying to maintain the good habits I was exercising at liftoff.  But it certainly worked much better this time: emerging from the mist 33 engines in parallel reminds me of the Soviet N-1 hot staging However then the booster didn't seem to re-ignite enough engines and it didn't slow down at the end: only 3 engines at most Then there was insanely cool video of re-entry - until the plasma took away the video:   Then possibly there was another event of some kind and the upper stage must have also hit the drink.  I'm surprised that there wasn't any video from the ocean surface at either re-entry site.     Anyway - pretty neat pictures. Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

I got an email from the Nicolet73.com site telling me it had been 6 months since my last profile update.  For some reason I actually took this to heart and got on the site.  Nothing needed changing so I was about to leave when I thought of this passage from the Heinlein novel: Have Space Suit, Will Travel . source: https://archive.org/details/havespacesuitwil0000unse I decided to avoid copying Heinlein so instead I changed my occupation from Electrical Engineer to Retired Electrical Engineer. Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

I was listening to: The Red-Headed League on WPR Chapter a Day.     https://www.wpr.org/shows/chapter-day/the-adventures-of-sherlock-holmes-2-of-10   At the end of the story Dr. Watson remarks: "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings true." then Holmes says: "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little problems help me to do so." The assistant to Jabez Wilson, Holmes and Watson In other words Holmes was on a quest for novelty - but real life fictional novelty not 21st century internet novelty :) BTW I've been waiting since December 5, 2023 to borrow the book (on Overdrive): Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman.  I'm 7th in line. Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

Yet another interesting space story on Ars Technica: https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/03/shields-up-new-ideas-might-make-active-shielding-viable/ Although probably nobody is going to get to say: "Shields Up !" - they will probably always be up. Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm