A Crummy Commercial

KMD9990 is a callsign, a CB callsign from the show: Doc Elliot I didn't remember the name of the show or the actor, but I remembered the call.  And on a TV show was probably the only time anyone ever identified on CB - and he did it each and every time he picked up the mic :) source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_4F925b4tk This video is a Spanish dub in rough shape so I didn't watch past the credits :) Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm   

I've been getting decent  amounts of maple sap, thanks to the weather.  But in the first three boils I've had widely varying results: boil 1: resulting maple syrup was between 32 and 58 brix (brown and sweet but not really syrup boil 2: syrup was slightly overboiled, brix of 68 (should be more like 66) but close enough boil 3: syrup was like honey, brix of 80 (couldn't get a good reading), the still breaker flipped off I just don't have control of my process - in other words: I've lost the recipe.  The sap varies in sugar concentration but I usually boil the same amount at roughly the same starting temperature (refrigerator).     The easy strategy is to underboil and finish the syrup later - but it would be nice to just have a finished product each time without the extra step. Another strategy would be to dilute the sap to start at the same sugar content each time:  same volume, same temperature, same sugar concentration => same boil time and same r...

Here is a fuzzy picture of the results of the first boil: It's not syrup yet but it is brown, sweet (and a little cloudy).  I'll go and get some eggs at Mann's so there will be pancakes for lunch. The sap was 1.5% sugar so pretty low concentration.  I'm hoping for something higher today, there was a nice frost last night and it's sunny now. Update, evening: had pancakes for supper with blueberries and the "almost syrup".  One dozen extra large eggs were $8.29 at Mann's !  Got a lot of sap today - pothole (freeze/thaw) weather is what powers the sap production.   Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

from the 1960 Allied catalog manual: http://www.n4mw.com/cp026.pdf schematic source (page 21): https://www.worldradiohistory.com/BOOKSHELF-ARH/Technology/Technology-General/Allied-Radio-Circuit-Handbook-6th-Edition-1961.pdf This was Allied - Knightkit's first transistorized Code Practice Oscillator (CPO).  Interestingly to me, it uses an audio tickler coil type of oscillator.  The Allied people had access to relatively inexpensive audio transformers so one is employed here to provide the main coil (for the LC oscillator) as well as the tickler feedback coil.  The CPO manual above had a tiny version of the schematic but the Allied kit builders booklet did have a more visible one: The transistor is the famous CK-722 - a PNP Germanium transistor.  High or low impedance headphones could be used with this CPO.  Apparently the result was very low power consumption, the manual says 30 weeks of continuous operation with a fresh AA cell ! The later LC-1 CPO (which I have...

I did start drilling the maple trees today for sap.  8 trees on the western side of the property.  However I forgot the camera so no pics.   It was a nice sunny day in February up to 50F ! Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

I reconstructed the schematic for the bipolar supply in the HP 410B voltmeter case mentioned yesterday:  https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2025/02/an-easy-hop-off-shame-shelf.html BTW, I didn't gut the 410B, that was done by my elmer, Mr. Dobbratz.  He had used it as a power supply and test set for his electronics business. I also put a variable positive supply (metered) and a 5V supply into the case: does anything scream "the 60s" more than Dymo labels ? Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

I was fiddling with an op amp circuit on the new breadboard - using positive and negative supplies.  It wasn't working so I tried looking at the supply voltages, the negative supply is less than -17 volts (unregulated) - it should be more like -12 volts: a 20th century effort at a home built power supply So I tried the easy thing, re-seating the op amp in the socket, no help.  Then I went into the parts box and found three 741 op amp NOS parts from DigiKey - I tried swapping out the original 741 and put in a "new" 741 and voila: the marking on the replaced 741 is easier to see than on the bad 741 I always tell kit builders with non-working kits that it's never the chip but maybe after over 30 years it is the chip, at least this time :) This supply is derived from an old National Semiconductor app note as I recall.  The positive supply uses a 3 terminal 12 volt regulator.  But the negative supply uses the 741 op amp to drive a series pass transistor.  The output ...

I received the new solderless breadboard purchased on Ebay (luckily they are sold out so I don't have to worry about buying a spare :).  It's nice but doesn't have a metal plate under the breadboard like the 3Ms have: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2025/02/3m-breadboard.html So the first project is to to add a ground plane using "the thin stuff".  I happen to have a bunch of thin copper clad boards - one nice thing is that they are relatively easy to cut with scissors (that you don't care about!). First, remove the board from the plastic backing plate, also take off the binding posts to make it easier to use as a hole template: Second, scribe the copper clad using the breadboard to trace around: Third, start punching holes in the top using the good old number 5 junior punch: Fourth, cut off the excess copper clad to allow easier punching of the 6th hole as well as creating a connecting strip to the ground binding post: Finally, put everything back together and it...

It finally got where my bench area was shrinking to the point that it was unusable.  Just a lot of disorganized junk sitting there, so I finally cleared it all off: I wonder if there is any new oilcloth around here ? Now I've still got over 10 months of 2025 left to do something on the bench  :) This reminds me of the Messy Shack Contest that was in the April 1987 and November 2001 issues of QST.  My favorite was the Norwegian teen, LA4OFA.  Unfortunately the online picture is poor quality: I'll have to see if I can find my copy of this QST article Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

An interesting video on an Altair 8800 that Curious Marc got running the original Microsoft BASIC: source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxU_3dEJ2nM Here is the part of the cover of the January 1975 issue of Popular Electronics: source: https://archive.org/details/197501PopularElectronics/mode/2up After inflating the number I can see why I never got one - kind of expensive for what it did ! and you had to pay extra for the Microsoft BASIC I was in college then too just like Bill Gates, but I didn't drop out and end up a billionaire !  I will probably read his new book but I'll wait for the hoopla (and price) to go down :) Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

Here are a few clips to explain why: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8D0b6EQyeXU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQtXEb7C30o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMJGuaNbXJ4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLrAvNAQafE And that's just a few of the music bits ! Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

Now that maple sap boiling season is approaching I thought of this: received: 2017-03-03 died: 2017-11-11 My Nuwave induction cooktop was nice while it lasted.  It was perfect for finishing maple syrup (boiling down "almost" syrup until the sugar concentration is just right).  The problem seems to be the sensor but who knows where that is and where to buy a new one, certainly Nuwave is no help. no parts available on the Nuwave site BTW there was no warranty, it was purchased on Ebay for $65. What happens is that the unit comes on and will start (the fan and the LED temperature display) but nothing heats AND when the pan is taken off, it still runs which is why I'm thinking that sensor or sensors are involved OR maybe just the controller is NG.  I tried taking it apart once but nothing jumped out to me as damaged, there is stuff embedded in white goop of some kind, that might be the sensor/s. But now it's just another item on the shame shelf.  There isn't that much...

A new Curious Droid video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CN3RHIQi558 The company he mentions: https://vaire.co/ An article in IEEE Spectrum: https://spectrum.ieee.org/reversible-computing I'm afraid I don't get it - this is pretty much all "Sunday Supplement" level, too !  It seems to me that the gates of the MOSFETs are still caps being charged and discharged and that still requires energy ?  If you stop the clock on a PIC processor (sleep mode) the power goes to zero, but as soon as the clock starts, the power consumed goes up (the old 1/2 Capacitance times Voltage times Voltage or 1/2 C Vsquared ).  10 or 15 years ?  I might not be here ! Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

Recently I've been trying to get in contact with people from the olden days.  While I've made some half-hearted tries at this before one new technique has become useful. Here is a nice bunch of street / telephone directories for Fox Point, WI: https://content.mpl.org/digital/collection/wfb/search/searchterm/whitefish%20bay%20and%20fox%20point%20directories/field/relati/mode/exact/conn/and These were compiled / sold by the Whitefish Bay Womens Club and contain a goldmine of info.  They aren't super easy to navigate but just being able to consult year after year of them is quite helpful.  Here is a 2 block chunk of my old street just before the Olsons moved in: Mr. Noeske was a custodian at Maple Dale School in the 1960s, man drove a big old Rambler The breakthrough for me was including the parents first names in internet searches.  I knew the kids first names but not always the parents.  Also some of the exact spelling of names is a lot different than they sounde...

My second order of 2025 from Digi-Key arrived in this: with a pre-affixed return label ! The first time I've ever gotten anything from them that wasn't in a cardboard box.  Cardboard boxes are nice but they can make the shipment heavier - that was no problem when I used to mail in my order and DigiKey would pay the postage.  But now I buy online (those wacky Federal taxes become a problem if you don't pay them on the right items and have to mail in a second check) and I get stuck with the postage.  I shouldn't complain, at least they will still mail things. One thing I never liked though was this stuff that DigiKey used for padding: perforated brown paper rolled up and used as padding, it's kind of dirty (little flakes of paper) and heavy compared to bubble wrap. Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

Is this Roz Chast's take on Mickey in the public domain ? source: https://www.newyorker.com/cartoon/a28793 The New Yorker is forever inscrutable with their cartoons :) Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

I was going to strip the parts off this 3M breadboard so it could be used for another project tryout.  Then I realized that the Butler oscillator has been sitting there for over a year. So I thought: why not get a new solderless breadboard ?  This is why not: Digi-Key, ouch ! Mouser is cheaper but still ! Yikes !   I looked on Ebay and found this made in USA (although the plate is plastic not metal) for $10.55 delivered - SOLD ! This is more like it Who knows, if the Ebay breadboard turns out OK I might get another "as a spare" - oh no, the madness of "buying spares" has struck !  :) Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

Yet another fun historical bio by the Young Indy people at Lucasfilm: source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-czOkfbV9I Edward Stratemeyer's most famous characters ?  Not sure but for me the Hardy Boys would be the ones I'm familiar with. He only lived to 68 ?  Yikes ! I've mentioned needing the help of 21st century Hardy brothers before: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2025/02/mystery-parcel.html https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2023/06/cats.html https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2022/10/the-21st-century-hardy-boys-adventure.html https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2022/10/book-report-hardy-boys-shortwave-mystery.html Luckily I have a poor memory so it might be fun to re-read: The Hardy Boys - The Shortwave Mystery (update, Thursday 2025-02-13): it was fun to read the book again, just like the action serials of old, every chapter ends with a cliffhanger - also verified that boys/girls all love food :) I couldn't verify that Edward Stratemeyer is the editor who mentioned that his authors sh...