Odds and Ends

Three items:  First, yet another end of life notice from DigiKey concerning JFETs, the MMBF5486:

This JFET is a little more concerning since this is a surface mount device not the leaded TO-92 JFETs recently discontinued.  I guess the main thing is if the MMBF310 continues to be available in some form.  That's the surface mount equivalent of the J310 leaded device.

The second item is an interesting article in the July/August issue of On The Air from the ARRL:

I thought this was a clever idea:  change the numbering on a wall clock to show UTC time.  But as with a clock without numbers the normal local time can be read just by the position of the hands.  He also mentions replacing a regular quartz mechanism with an "atomic" clock mechanism.  I guess I didn't know that the movements (with hands) are available by themselves.  I saw this listing on Ebay:

available but not that much cheaper than a whole clock

Finally, the Brewers hit the LA Dodger all star pitcher, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, for 5 runs in the first inning and he only got 2 outs on 40 pitches, ouch !  I just hope that ritual suicide isn't still a thing, Holy Cats !  That's got to be embarrassing.  The only thing worse is when a pitcher gets pulled by a manager in the middle of an at bat  :)  I'll swear that I saw that once on a Cub TV game during the 80s - just so weird when that happens unless there is an injury.  Poor Yama-san with the all-star game in just over a week.

still true: Brewers highlights are only served when they win

Best Regards,
Chuck, WB9KZY
http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm