"The Art of Electronics" #8 -- Why Not a Simple Emitter Follower as The AF Output Circuit?

Click on the image for an easier read

Back when Dean KK4DAS and I were trying to find a suitable AF amplifier circuit for our High School Direct Conversion receiver project, we were debating what to use as the final.  One option was the standard NPN-PNP push-push amplifier (like in Figure 2.53 above)  -- an advantage with this one was that it would not require an AF transformer.  But we decided that this circuit would add complexity to a project that we were hoping to keep very simple. 

Another option was a simple common emitter amplifier with a transformer in the collector circuit.  This worked, and was simpler.  We ordered the transformers.  

In the midst of all this, at the local radio club hams asked us why we just didn't put a single emitter follower at the output to handle the impedance transformation to an 8 ohm speaker (sort of as in Figure 2.52 above).  They were convinced this would work.  I was not so convinced and pointed out that we had never seen such a circuit in any of the ham radio literature.  If this could be done, why hadn't the likes of Doug DeMaw and others used this circuit in their many, many rigs?  

This discussion kind of ended there (we opted for the common emitter transformer circuit), but I have thought about it from time to time.  A couple of weeks ago, when I got the second edition of The Art of Electronics, I found the above discussion of the use of this kind of emitter follower circuit.  You can see why this circuit has not been used.  Just to be sure, I built one in LTSpice.  Sure enough, it takes way too much current.   

Thank you, Horowitz and Hill! 

The Art of Electronics #7 -- Paul Horowitz on Ham Radio, and on SETI (audio)

Radio Contact · “We didn’t find anything, so the search goes on”

Above is a seven minute audio podcast in which Paul Horowitz talks about ham radio and SETI. 

See also:  https://radiocontact.org/portfolio/paulhorowitz/

and  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Horowitz

"The Art of Electronics" #6 -- Transistor Man

 

In the interview about "The Art of Electronics"  Lenor Fried had a shirt with "Transistor Man" on it.  

There he is (above), from page 63 of the second edition.  The authors explain: 

Click for a clearer view

Where can we get cool Transistor Man shirts just like Lenor's?  

The Art of Electronics #5 Paul Horowitz on SETI (and lots of other radio stuff)

In 2016 Paul Horowitz  talked about SETI at Google. Fascinating stuff.  Paul did an especially good job of weaving in a lot of radio/electronic and computer info.  

-- I was pleased to learn that one of the early radio astronomy antennas used plywood covered with copper.  I hope it was copper tape! 

-- I didn't know that the Fast Fourier Transform was something developed in the 1960s. 

-- Parkes Telescope!  Yea! 

-- Paul's "chirping" of receivers to screen out targets that are NOT doppler shifting (i.e. terrestrial signals). 

-- Paul tells the group that "amateur" does not mean unprofessional -- it means that the person is doing it for the love of doing it.  Amen. 

-- SETI at Home. 

-- Tube op-amps!  (was that two 12AX7s?)  

--  A variometer!  Wow!  I have two here -- one in the ET-2 regen receiver  (a gift from Pericles HI8P), and another that I homebrewed using a 35mm film can.  

Great stuff from Paul. 

"The Art of Electronics" #4 Boom! Putting Diodes Across Relay Coils

I think this is a good example of the practicality, and the style (BOOM!) of The Art of Electronics.  This shows very nicely how failing to put a diode across a relay coil can get you into a lot of trouble.  Boom, indeed. 

The Art of Electronics Post #3 -- The Element 14 Interview

 And here is a great interview with Element14: 

https://community.element14.com/learn/learning-center/stem-academy/b/blog/posts/element14-interviews-the-art-of-electronics-authors-paul-horowitz-and-winfield-hill

"The Art of Electronics" Post #2 Interview with Lady Ada (Video)

I posted this video back in 2015,  but it is so good that it is worth watching again.  This is especially true now that I have the second edition of  The Art of Electronics  in hand, and in light of the fact that we recently had our own experiences trying to teach analog electronics to students. 

Paul Horowitz is a real inspiration.  He is still W1HFA, and QRZ.com has him living in Cambridge, Mass.  So many great tech collaborations came out of that fair city:  Car Talk and KLH, just to name two.  And of course, Horowitz and Hill. 

It was wonderful to hear Paul describe the origins and the evolution of The Art of Electronics.  His description of the Electronics 123 course at Harvard was really inspiring.   They were wise to limit the participation to 10 students (it seems that they eventually went to 2 sections of 10 students each).  I think Dean KK4DAS and I came to the conclusion that it is better to have a small group of truly interested students than to have a large group of marginally interested students. (At the high school, we started with 70.  That was far too many.)  And it may be better to teach this stuff at the college level (high schoolers may be a bit too young).  I want to get the third edition, and the book Learning the Art of Electronics.  

Paul showed pictures of the class (near the end of the video).  Classroom seating was seminar-like, with no pompous professor at a podium.  The labs showed Rigol digital 'scopes in use.  

And wow, the watch that Paul gave to Lady Ada is very cool. 

It is all quite inspirational.  Three cheers for Horowitz and Hill, and for Lady Ada.  

More on "The Art of Electronics" to come. 

"The Art of Electronics" by Horowitz and Hill (First in a Series of Blog Posts on this Great Book)

Paul Horowitz

Oh man, this book is so good.  You really just need to buy it now.  I put it in the Amazon link to the right.

OVER HERE >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

The Imsai guy reminded me of this book, and pointed out that earlier editions are more reasonably priced, so I got the second edition (looks like 1980, reprinted many times through 1988).   Dean KK4DAS got one too (I think he also got the second edition).   

Lest there be any doubt that this book is for us, first let me point to the pictures of Paul Horowitz and Winfield Hill.  https://artofelectronics.net/about/

Winfield Hill 

Just from the pictures, you can tell that these guys have THE KNACK.  And -- get this -- THEY ARE BOTH PROFESSORS AT HARVARD.  Wow. 

Their web page explains where the book came from: 

Dean KK4DAS and I have already started sharing quotes from the book: 

Referring to other books, H and H  write:  "Much of the favorite pedagogy of beginning textbooks is quite unnecessary, and, in fact, is not used by practicing engineers, while useful circuitry and analysis lies hidden in application notes, engineering journals, and hard-to-get data books." 

"Thus, the treatment of this book reflect our philosophy that electronics, as currently practiced, is basically a simple art, a combination of some basic laws, rules of thumb, and a large bag of tricks. For these reasons we have omitted entirely the usual discussion of solid state physics,  the h-parameter model of transistors, and complicated network theory, and reduced to the bare minimum the mention of load lines and the s-plane.  The treatment is largely non-mathematical, with strong encouragement of circuit brainstorming, with mental (or, at most, back-of-the-envelope) calculation of circuit values and performance." 

Stay tuned.  There is a lot more coming about this wonderful book.