March 27, 2015
Nearly 1,000 light years
The strongest signals leaking off our planet are radar transmissions, not television or radio. The most powerful radars, such as the one mounted on the Arecibo telescope (used to study the ionosphere and map asteroids) could be detected with a similarly sized antenna at a distance of nearly 1,000 light-years. -- Seth Shostak
March 20, 2015
Neon signs...
Neon signs don't consume much power, but they look like they do. A cousin of fluorescent lighting, neon is actually quite energy efficient. A neon tube glows coolly when high-voltage, low-amperage electrical power excites the gas within it. -- Virginia Postrel
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| A fluorescent thank you! |
March 13, 2015
March 6, 2015
Gravitation, does it require time?
But when we face the great questions about gravitation Does it require time? Is it polar to the 'outside of the universe' or to anything? Has it any reference to electricity? or does it stand on the very foundation of matter–mass or inertia? then we feel the need of tests, whether they be comets or nebulae or laboratory experiments or bold questions as to the truth of received opinions. -- James Clerk Maxwell
Setting the electric fluid in motion...
...each metal has a certain power, which is different from metal to metal, of setting the electric fluid in motion... -- Count Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta
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| Count Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta |
February 27, 2015
It is character
Most people say that it is the intellect which makes a great scientist. They are wrong: it is character. -- Albert Einstein
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| Albert Einstein 1921 |
February 22, 2015
Goodbye Radio Shack
If you haven't heard already, the US retailer Radio Shack has entered into bankruptcy. It is sad to see a 94-year-old electronics company fail and for hams, it is especially sad to see a company falter that played a significant role in amateur radio. It has been a steady decline so the bankruptcy is no surprise. It appeared inevitable long ago.
Radio Shack started in Boston in the 1920's and grew into a nationwide icon with 4,300 stores. For radio amateurs, Radio Shack was a familiar source of electronic components, housings, kits, electronics tools, antennas, coaxial cable, connectors, scanners, and HF receivers and transceivers. For many, Radio Shack was their only local source for electronic components.
The Internet changed everything and being a local source of electronic components seems to have lost its relevancy along the way. Creative destruction is the phrase often used to describe the effects of the invisible hand at work in the free market. Business failure isn't pretty to watch and it can be very difficult to experience if you are personally affected; however, poorly run businesses deserve to be replaced by well run businesses offering products and services that people want to pay for.
Radio Shack stores around the nation are being liquidated. If you haven't done so already, take a trip to your local Radio Shack and scoop up some excellent deals on all things useful around the shack. We visited our local store recently and walked out with a grocery bag of components, connectors, and even a solderless breadboard all for 90% off list price and totaling only $15.
As we were packing up, the clerk proudly showed off a printed receipt from customer's purchase earlier that day that was about 8 feet in length. The clerk said the customer had raided the Radio Shack discrete component bins (resistors, capacitors, 555 timers, transistors, etc.). We made a point of thumbing through those bins whenever stopping by a Radio Shack store and more often than not walked out with a few interesting goodies. We hams will miss that experience; though, for some it has already been replaced by a trip to a local electronics parts retailer such as Fry's. Goodbye Radio Shack thanks for the memories and thank you for supporting amateur radio.
Good DX and 73, NJ2X
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| Goodbye Radio Shack |
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| 1980 Radio Shack Catalog showing the DX-300 HF Receiver |
As we were packing up, the clerk proudly showed off a printed receipt from customer's purchase earlier that day that was about 8 feet in length. The clerk said the customer had raided the Radio Shack discrete component bins (resistors, capacitors, 555 timers, transistors, etc.). We made a point of thumbing through those bins whenever stopping by a Radio Shack store and more often than not walked out with a few interesting goodies. We hams will miss that experience; though, for some it has already been replaced by a trip to a local electronics parts retailer such as Fry's. Goodbye Radio Shack thanks for the memories and thank you for supporting amateur radio.
Good DX and 73, NJ2X
February 20, 2015
Understand the universe...
If you wish to understand the universe, think of energy, frequency and vibration. -- Nicola Tesla
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| Nicola Tesla |
February 13, 2015
Gravitation is not responsible...
Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love -- Albert Einstein
Happy Valentines Day!
Happy Valentines Day!
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| Albert Einstein 1921 |
February 6, 2015
Learn from yesterday...
Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is to not stop questioning. -- Albert Einstein
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| Albert Einstein 1921 |
January 30, 2015
Drives me hazy...
A question that sometimes drives me hazy:
am I or are the others crazy? -- Albert Einstein
am I or are the others crazy? -- Albert Einstein
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| Albert Einstein with wife Elsa |
January 23, 2015
Voyaging through strange seas of thought...
And from my pillow, looking forth by light
Of moon or favouring stars, I could behold
The antechapel where the statue stood
Of Newton with his prism and silent face,
The marble index of a mind for ever
Voyaging through strange seas of Thought, alone.
— William Wordsworth
Of moon or favouring stars, I could behold
The antechapel where the statue stood
Of Newton with his prism and silent face,
The marble index of a mind for ever
Voyaging through strange seas of Thought, alone.
— William Wordsworth
January 16, 2015
Everyone is a moon...
Everyone is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody. -- Mark Twain
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| Mark Twain |
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