The Idea Factory

Hello Bill,

I think you will like a new tech history book about Bell Labs. The name of the book is The Idea Factory and the author is Jon Gertner.

Here's a neat example of what's in the book from page 85:

"Atoms within semiconductors bond easily with a number of other elements. Scaff and his colleagues knew that when they cut n-type silicon (atomic number 14) into smaller pieces on a power saw, for instance, they could smell something they were sure was phosphorus (atomic number 15). None of the measurement equipment could pick up the taint, but their noses could."

How cool is that? The book is full of this kinda of stuff and it details the early lives of those involved in Bell Labs.....anyway I find Idea Factory a page turner and I think you will enjoy it.

Another "abstract" from page 38:

"The young Bell Labs recruits had other things in common. Almost all had grown up with a peculiar desire to know more about the stars or the telephone lines or (most often) the radio, especially their makeshift wireless sets. Almost all of them had put one together themselves, and in turn had discovered how sound could be pulled from the air."

73

Herb/WR9H

Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Revenge of the Electric Car

My wife and I watched this on PBS last night.  Really interesting. You guys will like it.  There's Elon Musk and his car named for Nikola Tesla!  There's a guy named "Gadget" who is part of a worldwide movement of electric car homebrewers.  Yes, this one's for us!  


I'm sorry that Hulu probably won't let folks outside the USA watch this.  Maybe see if you can access the video via other systems. 

 http://www.hulu.com/watch/322022/revenge-of-the-electric-car
 
Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

"Analog Man" by Joe Walsh

Very cool to have world famous rocker and fellow boatanchor enthusiast Joe Walsh singing about the virtues of analog.
What next?
An ode to 60/40 solder? 
Some troubleshooting blues? 

Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Marconi Archive

Brian, G0NSL, alerted us to this very interesting archive on Marconi: 

http://markpadfield.com/marconicalling/museum/html/archivehome.html


Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Club 465

I mentioned on the podcast that a generous friend sent me a Tektronix 465 scope. It now seems like every day I'm discovering new and interesting things about this magnificent piece of gear.   I've also discovered that there a LOT of guys out there who are loyal and enthusiastic users of Tek 465s.   George Heron, N2APB, and Joe Everhart, N2CX, have been putting out an excellent podcast called "Chat with the Deigners." They recently talked about oscilloscopes with our friend Alan Wolke, W2AEW:  http://www.njqrp.org/teamspeak/Apr10.html
George mentioned that he has a 465.  Our friend Farhan, VU2ESE, is using one.  Who else is in Club 465?  Send us your names! 


Preston. WJ2V, up in the Big Apple sent me a very interesting message about a feature of the 'scope that I was unaware of.  Thanks Preston!

Bill,

I am caught up and just listened to number 142.  The podcasts continue to be new and interesting each issue.  I too have a 465 workhorse in the shack.  I have one suggestion that will turn it into an even more valuable instrument.  Note that you have an amplified output in the back with the vertical signal presented at a BNC connector.  This is made for connection to a frequency counter.  In fact, some of the military versions of this scope came with a frequency counter.  If you have a counter in the shack, just connect it to the vertical output in back of the scope.  This will faithfully report the frequency of any wave you see on the screen.  Since the signal is amplified, the counter will be able to read small signals in receiver stages, while you view them on the scope.  Amazingly helpful in setting up and troubleshooting receivers.  I leave a dedicated counter connected to the 465 all the time, as it enhances the usefulness of the scope many times.  I also am lucky enough to have an early Steve Weber ("Melt Solder") SASA II device available for connection to the scope whenever needed.  This is a 100 MHz spectrum analyzer adapter, with a built-in calibrator.  It gives a great view of the output of transmitters.  But, of course, you can see the quality of a clean sine wave with just the scope.  The SASA II will just help you to see where in the spectrum the junk is coming from.  Sadly, I don't think Steve made more than about a hundred of these terrific kits.  Also, it did not have provision for a tracking generator, which would have made it an ideal instrument for designing and checking IF filters.  Steve and I talked about this, and he said he might revisit this someday.

As to seeing your QRP (or even higher) signals on the scope, of course you would not connect a transmitter to the input of the scope--that would burn it out in short order.  But a proper bypass/attenuator connected to a proper 50 ohm pass-through termination at the input to the scope would give the ability to see why your SWR meter is showing an abnormally high SWR with your homebrew transmitter that's generating spurious stuff.  There is a very practical article for building the two pieces you need on simple PC board "cabinets"  (more like half-cabinets) in the wonderful Drew Diamond books, I think in volume II.  These simple devices will give you the ability to see what you're doing with your transmitters, using the scope--

72,

WJ2V

Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

30th Birthday for the TRS-80 Model 100

We have one of these (I'm sure many of you guys have one also).  I'm not really a computer guy, but I've been holding onto this thing because 1) it has always seemed to me to have a very high "cool tech" feel to it and 2) I figured that Billy or Maria might someday take an interest.  Billy is now deep into his PC build, and is developing what looks like a computer-focused shack up in his room.  So the Model 100 has moved up there.  


Here is a nice interview about this machine:
 
http://www.thepowerbase.com/2012/04/trs-80-model-100-interview-with-john-r-hogerhuis/

Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Shuttle Discovery Arrives in Washington

I was out on the national mall yesterday morning to watch the Shuttle Discovery (atop a 747) fly over Washington DC en route to Dulles Airport and the Smithsonian Museum. Having watched Discovery when it was in orbit it was kind of bittersweet to see it go by this way. The event reminded me of going out to Hyde Park in London to watch the final overflight of the Concorde SSTs.


Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics"http://soldersmoke.com/book.htmOur coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmokeOur Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20