Hugo Gernsback – A Concise Biography
Being a big fan ofHugo Gernsback’stechnical work through his many electronics-related publications
(The Electrical Experimenter, Radio Amateur News, Radio News, Radio-Craft,
Short-Wave Craft, Radio-Electronics, etc.), I decided to task a couple of different AI models
with conducting a deep-dive research project on all aspects of his background – family, schooling,
business, finances, politics, etc. Then, I had the AI combine all results, while avoiding
duplication, and filtering out “facts” that cannot be validated. A lot of websites
contain Hugo Gernsback bios of varying lengths, but this, I believe, is the most
comprehensive and concise. Photos were collected across the WWW…
This customAmateur Radio crossword puzzlecontains many words particular
to Amateur Radio (labeled with an asterisk *). Each week for two decades I have
created a new technology-themed crossword puzzle using only words (1,000s of them)
from my custom-created lexicon related to engineering, science, mathematics, chemistry,
physics, astronomy, etc. You will never find among the words names of politicians,
mountain ranges, exotic foods or plants, movie stars, or anything of the sort. You
might, however, find someone or something in the otherwise excluded list directly
related to this puzzle’s technology theme, such as Hedy Lamarr or the Bikini
Atoll…
If you have never read the story ofLee de Forest’sjourney from initial experiments to finally
achieving success with his amplifying vacuum tube, the Audion, then you might want
to take a few minutes to look over this article. It was published in a 1947 issue
ofRadio-Craftmagazine as part of the 40th anniversary of the invention
that changed the electronics world. With so many other things which are nowadays
very commonplace, we tend to not think about or appreciate the ingenuity and effort
that went into them. It is one thing to make incremental improvements in an existing
technology, but to conceive of and created an entirely new realm of science is quite
another. As with Albert…
Student’s Radio Physics Course – Series & Parallel
Circuits
Not everyone who visits websites like RF
Cafe is a seasoned electronics veteran. While I and most likely you, too, can doseries and parallel circuit analysis(and series/parallel for
that matter, possibly using Fourier or La Place transforms for reactive AC
circuits) in our sleep, many are recently getting into the wonderful world of electronics
who are just coming of age or have suddenly at a later point in life developed a
passion for the craft. Accordingly, this article fromRadio Newsmagazine
provides yet another tutorial on the fundamentals of series and parallel circuit
analysis. Only resistors and basic Ohms law are covered…
Exodus AMP20005 18-40 GHz,
20 W SSPA
Exodus Advanced Communications presents
theAMP20005is a solid-state RF power amplifier operating from 18.0 to 40.0 GHz
with 20 W minimum power. Designed for EMI/RFI, laboratory, CW/pulse, and communication
applications, the amplifier features instantaneous wide bandwidth, Class A/AB linear
design, built-in protection circuits, and remote-control capabilities. Features
Include * Designed for EMI/RFI, lab, CW/Pulse and all communications applications
* Small form factor, rack-mounted system * Class A/AB linear design * High power
advanced technology devices * Instantaneous ultra-wide bandwidth * Built-in protection
circuitry…
Thévenin’s theoremstands as one of the
most powerful circuit simplification tools in electrical engineering. It states
that any linear, two-terminal network – no matter how complex – can be reduced to
an equivalent circuit comprising a single voltage source (VTH) in series
with a single resistance (RTH). To determine these parameters, engineers
short all independent voltage sources, open all independent current sources, and
calculate the equivalent resistance seen from the terminals. VTHis simply
the open-circuit voltage across the terminals. This theorem proves invaluable when
analyzing how different loads affect circuit performance, as the equivalent circuit
remains unchanged…
Here are a couple moretech-themed comicsfrom a vintage electronics magazine (Popular
Electronics). The one from page 101 reminds me again about how different the
world of retail sales is today compared to just two short decades ago. Prior to
the advent of online marketing and sales, you either walked into a brick and mortar
(a term rarely heard before the Internet era) type store and walked out with your
purchased product, or you thumbed through a catalog and placed an order either by
mail or telephone. Most people opted to pay for a postage stamp rather than pay
the long distance phone charge (a term rarely heard today). Free overnight or 2-day
shipping from many e-stores makes…
Transmission-Line Feed for Short-Wave Antennas
When someone with the first name of “True”
writes an article about transmission line feeds for short-wave antennas, you should
probably take note. This very topic has been covered in detail many times since
the use of impedance-matched transmission lines have been in use (more than a century),
but since there are always people new to the concept, it is good to keep introducing
the topic on a regular basis.”Transmission-Line Feed for Short-Wave Antennas” appeared in a
1932 issue ofQSTmagazine. Even in this era of prefabricated everything,
it still often comes down to winding coils and adjusting cable lengths to get optimal
impedance matches between transceivers and antennas…