Michael wrote:
My son took and electronics course at Benson High School in Portland Oregon.
The teacher was totally clueless and just made things up as he went along.

Ah yes. I attended Bensen Tech (so it was called then) in the Fall of
1953. We were taught to check light sockets for electricity be removing
the bulb and putting our fingers in them. Harmless fun :-)

Phil Wheeler wrote:

Michael wrote:
My son took and electronics course at Benson High School in Portland Oregon.
The teacher was totally clueless and just made things up as he went along.

Ah yes. I attended Bensen Tech (so it was called then) in the Fall of
1953. We were taught to check light sockets for electricity be removing
the bulb and putting our fingers in them. Harmless fun :-)

I couldn't wait to be old enough to go to tech so I tried the light
socket test at home at age 7. Thus begun my lifetime love of communications
and electronics! The results of the experiments proved so valid that I never
again had the need to revalidate!

Irv VE6BP
--
--------------------------------------
Diagnosed Type II Diabetes March 5 2001
Beating it with diet and exercise!
297/215/210 (to be revised lower)
58"/43"(!)/44" (already lower too!)
--------------------------------------
Visit my HomePage at http://members.shaw.ca/finkirv/index.html
Visit my Baby Sofia website at http://members.shaw.ca/finkirv4/index.htm
Visit my OLDTIMERS website at http://members.shaw.ca/finkirv5/index.htm
--------------------
Irv Finkleman,
Grampa/Ex-Navy/Old Fart/Ham Radio VE6BP
Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Michael wrote:
My son took and electronics course at Benson High School in Portland Oregon.
The teacher was totally clueless and just made things up as he went along.
One of them was that the higher the voltage on a wire, the faster it travels
in the wire. It took me all day to make my son believe that his teacher was
just a clueless sot and to understand ohms law. From my son's perspective, a
teacher must really know something to be a teacher. Sadly, this is far from
true.


This is why there is a market for some pretty bizzare antennas out there!

The good news was that I was forced to take a more active part in his
education about electronics. We built and tested projects together and it
was good for both of us.


There ya go!

- Mike KB3EIA -

Michael wrote:
My son took and electronics course ...

Michael, check your computer clock. Is it set
to PM instead of AM?
--
73, Cecil http://www.qsl.net/w5dxp

"Michael Coslo" wrote in message
...
Slightly OT, but kinda fun anyhow.....

I'd been trying to locate a reasonably priced USB cable over the weekend
It seems that you often pay as much for the cable as you fo for the device
you are connecting to the computer.

Has stereo voodoo physics entered the computer realm?

Anyhow, I ended up in a Radio Shack store, found the cheapest cable I
could, (20 bucks) and made the mistake of mentioning something to the
salesman about the funny claims on the packages. Big mistake, I had
blasphemed his religion. In the next couple minutes I learned that:

Turns out that different frequencies travel at different speeds down the
cable. Good cables have special formulations of wire that compensate for
this.

Everybody knows that!

you didn't know that? its called frequency dispersion. fortunately it is a
relatively small effect and in normal bandwidths hams use it can be ignored.
for very high bandwidth signals like high speed digital stuff it can badly
distort the waveforms and can be the limiting factor in determining maximum
cable lengths without repeaters.

Dave wrote:

"Michael Coslo" wrote in message
...

Slightly OT, but kinda fun anyhow.....

I'd been trying to locate a reasonably priced USB cable over the weekend
It seems that you often pay as much for the cable as you fo for the device
you are connecting to the computer.

Has stereo voodoo physics entered the computer realm?

Anyhow, I ended up in a Radio Shack store, found the cheapest cable I
could, (20 bucks) and made the mistake of mentioning something to the
salesman about the funny claims on the packages. Big mistake, I had
blasphemed his religion. In the next couple minutes I learned that:

Turns out that different frequencies travel at different speeds down the
cable. Good cables have special formulations of wire that compensate for
this.

Everybody knows that!


you didn't know that? its called frequency dispersion. fortunately it is a
relatively small effect and in normal bandwidths hams use it can be ignored.
for very high bandwidth signals like high speed digital stuff it can badly
distort the waveforms and can be the limiting factor in determining maximum
cable lengths without repeaters.



Oh yes, I've heard of dispersion. But that isn't what the guy was
talking about in our context. He was talking about gross effects.

- Mike KB3EIA -

You can increase the velocity factor (and shorten the antenna) by using a good grade of Carnuba automobile wax to make the antenna slipperyer, which (because of skin effect) allows the signal to accelerate faster.

The Man in the Maze
QRV from Baboquivari Peak, AZ

Iitoi wrote:

Michael Coslo Wrote:

Turns out that different frequencies travel at different speeds down the
cable. Good cables have special formulations of wire that compensate for
this.



You can increase the velocity factor (and shorten the antenna) by using
a good grade of Carnuba automobile wax to make the antenna slipperyer,
which (because of skin effect) allows the signal to accelerate faster.

The Man in the Maze
QRV from Baboquivari Peak, AZ


Yah but it makes receiving signals harder because the incoming radio
waves find it hard to stick to the antenna. They slip off in the wind.

I do have a a small tin of that "antenna wax" around somewhere. Maybe I
should dig it up and put it on ebay

Scott


Iitoi wrote:
Michael Coslo Wrote:

Turns out that different frequencies travel at different speeds down the
cable. Good cables have special formulations of wire that compensate for
this.



You can increase the velocity factor (and shorten the antenna) by using
a good grade of Carnuba automobile wax to make the antenna slipperyer,
which (because of skin effect) allows the signal to accelerate faster.

The Man in the Maze
QRV from Baboquivari Peak, AZ

Iitoi wrote:
Michael Coslo Wrote:

Turns out that different frequencies travel at different speeds down the
cable. Good cables have special formulations of wire that compensate for
this.



You can increase the velocity factor (and shorten the antenna) by using
a good grade of Carnuba automobile wax to make the antenna slipperyer,
which (because of skin effect) allows the signal to accelerate faster.

If you want a multiband, should you only wax portions of it?

- Mike KB3EIA -