A Crummy Commercial

 For Halloween I thought of this picture: I remember the phrase:  "El gato negro"  The black cat  :)    This is one of the FSA pictures from1936 by Walker Evans via Shorpy: https://www.shorpy.com/node/21397 Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

I was watching this video about Aristotle from Lucasfilm: source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VKlS-UJXGQ But as the literalist the thing I noted wasn't Aristotle's philosophy or his faults but this: Doesn't it look like a laptop is being used ?  :) Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm  

Remembering the Google AI approach to turning a file or collection of files into a podcast:   https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2024/09/tryout-of-google-notebooklm-as-podcast.html Also, considering some CBS booklets that appeared on Worldradiohistory: source: https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Station-Albums/Networks/CBS/CBS-We-Don't-Know-Why-They-Listen-1949.pdf source: https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Station-Albums/Networks/CBS/CBS-The-Second-Most-Important-Thing-In-Radio-1948.pdf CBS didn't just write a report or a whitepaper.  They created a kind of like a comic book (or story board) by adding illustrative art to the text, kept it light and detail free.  I guess their target audience for these booklets were advertisers or ad agencies ?  Certainly comic books have thrived into the 20th century to the point that movies and TV feature lots of animated and live action comic book type of entertainment.   So the idea is, hey Google: instead of just a po...

One of them is this discontinued kit: http://wb9kzy.com/morwatch.htm Especially in the fall / winter I use the Morse Watch / Timer not as a watch but as a timer to control an electric foot heater (a McGill model 10804): picture source: https://www.ebay.com/itm/174106194722 The thermostat on the heater I have was set way too hot in my opinion - a more ambitious person would have created or bought an external thermostat but I just use the Morse Watch / Timer to control the onboard latching relay - after a press and  hold of the button it turns on the heater on for 10 minutes and then turns it off - so if I walk away or go out of the house I don't have to worry about the heater constantly being ON. I built the Morse Watch / Timer into an old "Power Factor Controller" that I bought at a Chicago area hamfest in the 20th century.  This unit was built in a phenolic box (the same one I use for some of the kit enclosures) with an AC power cord and an AC power socket and a sturdy a...

source: https://www.ebay.com/itm/126627874385 The Complete New Yorker book / DVDs was a wonderful Christmas present I received from my Dad - can't remember when, probably 2005 ?  I had (and still use for printing) an Acer laptop with a 40 gigabyte hard drive and Windows XP.  It was really neat being able to read the John Hersey issue with his book: Hiroshima (the people in Hiroshima would comment on B-san (Mr. B) when they saw B-29 flights overhead).  Or being able to read a bunch of the Salinger stories, even one with Holden Caufield before Catcher in the Rye was released - also the ones about the Glass family.  And of course one of the greatest stories: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty by James Thurber. I wanted to look at the original of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty , the text is online but not the original.  So since I have this new laptop I decided to install The Complete New Yorker - which works fine with Windows 11.  However it is a hassle to ...

https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2024/10/photos-1893-chicago-worlds-fair/680358/ Interesting photos from The Atlantic - one thing about that 1893 Chicago World's Fair was that they prohibited people from taking their own pictures, even though Eastman had invented his Kodak Camera and made picture taking relatively easy.  This was mentioned in this interesting documentary narrated by Gene Wilder: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6HuBYiQEeM I had known about the Ferris Wheel but had never seen pictures of the rail loop they had I remember my Dad had collected commemerative half dollars as a kid in the 1930s/40s.  One of them was the 1893 Columbian Exposition half dollar.  I remember going with him when he sold a bunch of these commemerative halves - the coin dealer wasn't really interested in the 1893 Columbian coin - apparently they were minted in mass quantities to help finance the fair. Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

One of the interesting things as AG Communication Systems was growing down in Northlake was a sale to employees of test equipment.  This was stuff that was surrendered by various departments and even other facilities as things wound down. I came across my receipt for the stuff I bought at the sale: The two most useful items from this stuff were the Tek 475a scope and the HP 6281a power supply.  The Tek 475a is no longer in use, the first time it broke I was able to fix it but I wasn't able to bring it back the second time.  Although now that I have the B&K 2190d digital scope I haven't spent much time on the 475a. I still use the HP 6281a supply daily, a true bargain at $1, I've mentioned twice on the blog: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2022/01/the-hp-6281a-power-supply.html https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2024/07/crystal-set-observations.html The HP 5328 counter was the second most costly item that I thought I'd use a lot but really never did.  It is also busted now b...

After the TiCK keyer came out I realized that the 8 pin PIC TiCK chips used were perfect for keyers.  I eventually came out with the PK-Basic keyer kit and have used PICs ever since.  Eventually as new varieties of the PIC 8 pin chips were introduced I also updated the PK-Basic to the PK-2, the PK-3, the PK-4 and finally the MegaPK-II keyers.  But I also made another change starting with the PK-2: the addition of a regulator chip, the LM2936 from National (now TI). Initially I used a 47 uF electrolytic cap on the output of the regulator for stability.  It was sized not so much on the cap value as for the ESR.  This was mentioned in an earlier version of this app note: http://web.mit.edu/sp.716/www/datasheets/AN-1148-1.pdf   Using the 47 uF cap continued with the PK-3 keyer.  But one problem: the relatively large size of the 47 uF cap meant that after the keyer power was turned off it could take a fairly long time before the PIC chip power would decay t...

I was wondering about when the World Series would be played in 2024, a search found this: Then I thought:  The Boys of November ?  I guess I haven't been following baseball much lately :() This of course brought to mind the phrase:  World Serious Mentioned in this book by Ring Lardner: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/52670 And thinking of Ring Lardner made me remember this book: That's the first place I encountered the name: Ring Lardner when Holden Caulfied mentions him. Somewhere I've got my Dad's Signet paperback of  The Catcher in the Rye - it's probably all kinda yellowing/crumbly now - maybe there's an audio book ?  :) I also remember reading somewhere that J.D. Salinger was really against having his work on film.  Specifically it had to do with the creator of a forgotten TV show called:  It's a Man's World : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%27s_a_Man%27s_World_(TV_series) The show was the one Glen Corbett was in before Route 66 (which we alwa...

I just learned of this: https://morsle.fun/   morsle adds spaces between characters, unless hard mode is selected, so even at 40 wpm it isn't that hard to remember the characters: I barely remember to play regular Wordle recently so not sure if I'll get to morsle each day. Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

I noticed that the always in motion site, worldradiohistory.com, has added Electronic Design magazine: https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Electronic-Design.htm Electronic Design still exists (as a website:   https://www.electronicdesign.com/     but it is inferior to the EDN magazine site.  I've never had anything but trouble with Electronic Design's site but EDN is just always easy to use.   And Worldradiohistory also has old Electronics magazines and IEEE Spectrum issues: https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Electronics%20_Master_Page.htm https://www.worldradiohistory.com/IEEE-Spectrum.htm but so far, no EDN :( One thing that set later issues of Electronic Design apart was the Pease Porridge columns by Bob Pease: https://www.electronicdesign.com/technologies/analog/article/21274215/electronic-design-bob-pease-on-analog-vol-1 Here is the Worldradiohistory page for technical stuff (including ham radio) https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Home-Tech.htm I'll never find ...

I tried this simplified version of the Touch Paddle circuit: Just used a couple of hookup wires with stripped ends as the sensor - inserted them into a cap of distilled water - it seems to work fine.  Temporarily used a keyer to provide the warning tone.  Need to finalize some kind of sensor contact (interleaved conductive fingers are probably overkill) - will probably just use some bare copper clad circuit board with a Sonalert for the beeping tone. Why do this ?  There's nothing worse than having to air out all kinds of stuff like cardboard boxes when a water leak occurs in the basement. An alarm by the water heater, washing machine hoses, really anywhere water is used in the house that isn't checked regularly.  Water is both a blessing and a curse ! Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

Youtube served up highlights from a CFL game: source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ec607xJsj4 Who has Thanksgiving on a Monday in October ?  Canada ! Why watch the CFL ? 1) like Moon river, the field seems wider than a mile 2) the end zones are similarly huge   3) only 3 downs to get 10 yards so not as much fooling around on long bombs   4) all kinds of players in motion, towards the line, at the snap   5) one yard neutral zone instead of just a football wide netral zone, potentially less injury to the linemen   6) no fair catches on punts - I think this might result in fewer muffed catches ?   7) no penalties for 12 men on the field because there are always 12 men on the field   8) seagulls in the frame, not enough wildlife in the NFL anymore: no the seagull didn't dive bomb #94   9) the goal is on the goal line as it should be, not 10 yards back as it is now in the NFL   10) The 111th Grey Cup will be played (outside) in British Columbi...

I was watching a video about the Safeguard ABM system: source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhgYFFcg7Os Which was interesting but the thing that struck me was that pyramidal radar building in North Dakota: Which reminded me of this: I couldn't find an exact size of the building and it's hard to guesstimate but the round antenna arrays on each face are supposed to be about 13 feet in diameter.  However there are two concentric circles so is the smaller circle 13 feet across ?  That would make the building something over 60 feet tall - so much smaller than the great pyramids in Egypt - but still quite impressive. Here are a few links to info / photos on the ND pyramid: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safeguard_Program https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_R._Mickelsen_Safeguard_Complex   https://unfamiliar.land/the-stanley-r-mickelsen-safeguard-complex/ https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/pyramid-north-dakota Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

I was looking for something in various junkboxes and found this board: From the bad old days when I liberated chips from sockets and didn't write down the date or name the boards.  It appears to use a 14 pin quad op amp due to the power supply connections.  There are three sets of wires, power/gnd, input and output ?  There is an LED, also a Radio Shack 1n34 diode. I *think* it might be a tone detector for Morse code ?  Since it was never boxed I assume it didn't work that well so I'll probably put it back in the junkbox.  The moral of the story:  don't rely on your memory, write it down ! Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

I read these very interesting blog posts from VE7SL: http://ve7sl.blogspot.ca/2014/08/your-lf-stations-best-friend-scopematch.html http://ve7sl.blogspot.ca/2014/08/your-lf-stations-best-friend-scopematch_5.html Although they are from a decade ago I had never seen this Scopematch design before.  M0BMU came up with a very simple, elegant design which allows the user to see the phase relationship between the RF current and voltage on a transmission line.  Why didn't I ever think of that ?  (the answer:  I'm not too bright) The photos took me back to when I was in college studying the transmission of electrical power.  Similar to the RF waveform, 60 Hz power (in the US) waveforms for current and voltage can be out of phase just like the RF on a transmission line.  The cosine of the phase angle between the voltage and current is called the power factor.  The power factor for a resistive load like a toaster or an incandescent lamp would be 1 (the cosine of z...

The Keyall HV was mentioned yesterday: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2024/10/kit-re-assurance.html Here are a few more comments on the Keyall HV kit and keying.  I received email today asking about the Keyall - unfortunately it was from a DX ham so I wasn't able to try to sell him a Keyall HV.  But I did try to mention commercial alternatives to the Keyall designs.  Also I presented a little information about Solid State Relays (SSR). In general for ham radio applications a relay is used to switch DC voltages/currents.  A mechanical relay will handle either DC or AC - I've never seen a mechanical relay with polarity indicated on the output contacts.  However SSRs often DO have restrictions on what can be switched.  AC voltage/current is usually switched using a Triac, a 4 layer device.  But a Triac isn't useful for switching DC because once a 4 layer device goes on it stays on until the current goes to zero.  There may be ways to get around this (co...

kit means that it must be assembled by the customer From time to time I get emails from customers or prospective customers about a kit.  Usually it's something along the lines of: "will this kit work with my rig ?" And I usually try to answer promptly with an informative email.  First a disclaimer is included if I have no first hand experience with the equipment in question.  For example, I've never used an amplifier on HF so I'll mention this when fielding a tube amp / rig compatibility question for the Keyall HV.   I recently heard from a buyer of the original Keyall.  I wasn't sure if he had already been using the Keyall but he wanted to know if it would work with a solid state Kenwood rig and a Yaesu FL2100b amplifier.  I downloaded the manual for the Yaesu and saw that it used grid-block keying - the two amplifier tube grids were biased with a negative voltage which appeared to be less than the absolute value of -25 volts since that was the rating on t...

I used to sell the Touch Paddle kit: notice the inter digital traces on the left http://wb9kzy.com/touchp.htm It was later replaced by the Touch Switch II and then the current PICPADL kit: http://wb9kzy.com/picpadl.htm The original Touch Paddle kit was a resistance based, skin conductivity circuit - a very low active power circuit which could be phantom powered via the dit/dah pullups. The Touch Switch II and PICPADL were capacitive sensing circuits which work better as paddles but at the cost of higher standby/active current. Getting back to the Touch Paddle circuit, it was very simple, just the 40107, an 8 pin CMOS IC, along with some caps/resistors and diodes.  The user made contact between the inter-digital fingers on the circuit board to "press" a dit or dah.  I used to fabricate a plastic sandwiched sleeve which fit over the fingers.  I discouraged the user from touching the fingers directly as they had solder-based tinning.   But I had a thought:  maybe t...

Per Ars, Archive.org data has been breached: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2024/10/archive-org-a-repository-storing-the-entire-history-of-the-internet-has-been-hacked/ This is what it says on the site on Friday, October 11, 2024: Per the Ars article I did check that site and found this: I didn't even know about 2022 Question Pro breach - I *think* that is the way Kellogg's does it's surveys for Kitchen Insiders or at least the way it used to do them. Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

I had a problem with my Nikon 500 mm mirror telephoto lens.  It came with a lens hood built in (a cylinder of aluminum less than an inch high) into which a lens cap was screwed.  But over the years of non-use the lens cap could NOT be removed - it seemed like the cap and the lens hood had been welded together. Luckily the lens works OK without the screw in hood, so when I wanted to use the lens I just had to unscrew the lens hood. None of the other Nikon or other vendor lenses I own have screw-in lens caps so I've never had this happen before. I didn't want to use any kind of lubricant or penetrating oil on the cap and lens hood because I was worried that any residual oil might get on the lens and affect the coating. So I finally decided to try heating up the lens hood in a shallow pan of water heated on the stove.  But since the cap and hood were joined so tightly it was impossible to heat just the lens hood. Anyway, after 5 minutes or so I took the hood/cap out of the w...