A free opt-in monthly newsletter from the Home of some of the greatest electronics tutorials on the WWW
A free opt-in monthly newsletter from the Home of some of the greatest electronics tutorials on the WWW.


electronics tutorials for ham radio

www.electronics-tutorials.com



LAST MODIFIED:

VK2TIP IAN PURDIE'S MONTHLY NEWSLETTER FOR MAY, 2001


Hi Ian,

Well no new subscribers for the month of course.

BUT.....

this feature will NOW be restored - see later.

This is a "bumper" issue of "CELEBRATION". The best I've presented I think. Read everything. Better still print it out.

You can make your corrections here. Your first name is recorded as:  "Ian". BUT please copy and paste this email address to the form. The email address I have for you is:
ianpurdie@integritynet.com.au

https://www.electronics-tutorials.com/corrections.htm

I certainly appreciate your participation in receiving my Newsletter.

When I sent out the mid-April Newsletter I received the usual 41 bounced. The first six were from <xxxx@rediffmail.com>. I had to stop removing them because something's obviously wrong. Anybody know what's gong on?

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2. MY QUESTIONS? Largely a VERY BIG thank you

a) I have already received a few "life saving" donations, hence the joy.

In addition I have further expressions of "intended" practical support from my dear subscribers, very, very encouraging - see next.

Thank you so much. A real "tonic".

b) The book shop:
https://www.electronics-tutorials.com/book-shop.htm
is receiving some attention and I am mighty grateful to supporters who have made their purchases through it. Please continue to do so.

So much so I am actually encouraged enough to follow up an earlier suggestion to start an "electronics book of the month club". If you would like to join in with us...
mailto:bookclub@electronics-tutorials.com?subject=Book-of-the-month&body=ianpurdie@integritynet.com.au

c) News across the internet continues to indicate that FREE sites will only continue to survive and, more importantly "expand", based upon "content sponsorship".

If you are personally aware of any larger organization, institution, manufacturer, electronics magazine, kit supplier or whoever - how about drawing their attention to this page? - Updated!
https://www.electronics-tutorials.com/sponsorship.htm

I have written to every large electronics manufacturer (the "who's who") that regularly appear in my site logs as caching my sites (proxy servers) - the silence is almost deafening.

I've already done battle with Intel's email auto responder as well as Hewlett-Packard's in Singapore, are there any real "human beans" left out there?.

These places advertise on their sites that they support education, particularly those providing education to areas of the world much less fortunate than most of us.

BUT how do you get to talk to a "real human bean", the one person who actually makes intelligent decisions?

Could someone please telephone someone, for the price of a local call and establish a "human" email contact? Someone who is genuinely interested? Consider sending them this Newsletter in its entirety.

Also sending your personal note to your favourite magazines, your favourite kit suppliers etc. just might carry a lot more impact than you may well imagine.

Several people have done this already. I'm very buoyed when people band together in a spirit of mutual co-operation.

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3. "VIDEO: Circuit Ideas & Design Tips for Video Applications"
Presented by: Linear Technology May 16, 2001 at 12:00pm EDT / 16:00 GMT

Registration: Available Soon

Overview: This presentation will provide an overview of high speed amplifiers, switches and speciality devices and provide several examples of interesting video circuits. The circuit ideas range from simple wide band video amplifiers to video effects techniques and also video transmission over inexpensive wiring. Using the correct products makes working with video signals much easier than one might expect.

Check out Linear Technology's other upcoming live Webcasts and archived
Webcasts at:
http://seminar.techonline.com/linear-tech/

Should be interesting! But 16:00 GMT? That's 2 a.m. here!

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4. THE RIDICULOUS DEPARTMENT

If only I could sell my pages on Ebay like this. For a good laugh, and proving anything is possible. Assuming it's still up by the time you read this.
http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1231439637

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5. PROJECTS IN PIPELINE

I have quite a long list in mind. Imagine if I had a budget comparable to electronic magazines to offer feature writers? But I DO have a long list!

I'm progressively adding an easy "copy and paste" code near the bottom of all my pages so you can link to my individual pages from within your own site, if you choose to do so.

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6. WHY I LOVE THE INTERNET - Why I just love our fellow subscribers.

The most fascinating aspect of the internet for me is the so many truly interesting people I meet and establish friendships with.

One such very remarkable person is Dr. Arturo Mediano, Professor of Electronics Engineering & Communications, University of Zaragoza, Spain.

Art is also one of our long time subscribers.

Art really is a most fascinating person. Quite apart from a most impressive CV in engineering disciplines, Art is one of the most amazing and professionally accomplished cartoonists around. Sometimes I think "I've done everything", ...not by a long shot...

Art supplies cartoons for the well known www.chipcenter.com
See: http://www.chipcenter.com/eexpert/dr_art/main.html

How impressive is Art?
See: http://www.chipcenter.com/eexpert/dr_art/about_the_artist.html

Meanwhile I'll just go into the cupboard and sob <G>....... Since a teenager I've been a frustrated cartoonist but devoid of any talent :)

Oh..., and when time permits and Art isn't his usual 200% busy (that rings a bell), he may find time to do a cartoon especially for us.

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7. UPDATES

A hell of a lot planned for the near future. Heaps of suggestions where we need more articles, tutorials or whatever. Over 100 topics suggested.

Oh by the way..... daily, but NOT from you dear subscriber, I receive email asking for schematics, complete lectures, assignments, you name it.

Try as I may, I have limited resources. However I'm still amazed at this concept that still exists. "The internet is free... so just supply me on DEMAND with what or all I want".

I'll soon have to do a page on "why the internet is no longer remaining a free resource".

It will be sober reading. Home pages will continue to be free because it's probably already part of your internet connection package but, sites full of rich content can't remain that way, nor can free hosting, nor can free email, nor free whatever.

I predict the results will come across the internet like a shock wave in the coming twelve months. QSL.net is supported by donors, a great many other sites also.

Pure economic forces. There's no such thing as a free lunch.

Many of the free services I currently use are beginning to disappear or be curtailed over to user-pays - hence my financial panic.

The "paid for" version of this particularly nifty "bulk email" program I am now using would save me about 3 - 4 hours a month alone.

The "free" version is deliberately "crippled" time wise for obvious reasons. Each newsletter (well over 2,000 and growing fast) is deliberately timed to take over 5 seconds each one, calculate that out when we get to over 5,000+ subscribers before years end! Over four hours for each mail out.

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8. AN EXCELLENT ELECTRONICS MAGAZINE - non-profit

Have you invested $US 20.00 in the most excellent QRP-Quarterly magazine yet - cheaper if you live in the USA?

Visit QRP Amateur Radio Club, International - special page for you alone:

Welcome friends from Ian Purdie http://america.net/~w4qo/purdie.html

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9. DAMN "LIES AND STATISTICS"

The growth really continues..... As at the last day of the month:

Last month, April was 64,688 unique visitors (March 60,080) looking at a total of 191,502 page views (March 183,385) - New subscribers to this newsletter was of course suspended during April because of a then uncertain future - since restored.

Oh BTW, the number of page views just to the "subscribe me" page for April? There were 703 hopefuls.

During April a record month, we had a new record day 24th April, where 4,781 individual people, 2,495 were from proxy servers, all of whom looked at 10,536 pages. This is ALL IN ONE DAY. Yikes....

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10. REAL COOL AND SOMETIMES FREE! DOWNLOADS - These are!

a) Resistor Values:

From the developer: "Resistor Values v1.2 is an Electrical Engineering program that will calculate the value of a four band Resistor based on the color bands on the Resistor. This program can also do the opposite you can enter the value of a resistor you want, and the program will tell you the colors of the bands corresponding to the resistor value you entered".

See a screenshot:
http://www15.brinkster.com/corvette/Pictures/Resistorv1-4New.jpg

Download - 3324 kB:
http://www.tebra.net/~nargyros/uploads/ResistorValuesv1-4.zip

b) Ohms Law Calculator

"Ohms Law Calculator was designed to make life simpler for electronics students, teachers, technicians and hobbyists alike. Ohms Law Calculator will calculate Power (Watts), Current (Amps), Voltage (Volts) and Resistance (Ohms) when any two of the above variables are known. Just enter two of the values and the program will give you the third".

Download - 2509 kB:
http://www.image-lab.com/software/ohmslaw.exe

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[BEGIN SHAMELESS PROMOTION BIT] - to keep my sites and your newsletter
FREE.

Give me a break, do yourself a favour and GO here........

I forgot about this important publication. Oh duh, it was always right under my nose. The world famous "Newnes Electronics Engineer's Pocket Book" - by Joe Carr, Keith Brindley, Joseph J. Carr - 344 pages.

Newnes Electronics Engineer's Pocket Book is a unique reference source concise but comprehensive, and designed to be an essential tool for a wide range of engineers and electronics enthusiasts.

This is a book written to be used, not to gather dust on a shelf, so unlike most reference books it is designed for the workshop and lab. This compendium includes: component data, IC pin-outs, tables, formulae, principles of circuit design, circuit diagrams and a substantial glossary of terms.

Also absolutely brilliant for students preparing for exams and cheap!

I haven't read this edition, mine's a dog eared 17th edition by Keith Brindly.

See: https://www.electronics-tutorials.com/book-shop.htm#newnes

[END SHAMELESS PROMOTION BIT]

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11. INTERESTING SITES - all highly recommended. All by talented friends.

a) The ARRL has posted it's SMD construction articles from QST, in PDF format for you to view, download and print.

See http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/surface.html

b) Fast and Easy Way for making Sexy Panels - Neil Hecht

See http://www.aade.com/sexypnls.htm

c) Electronic Construction from A to Z - Marshall G. Emm

"Everything you wanted to know about building stuff but were afraid to ask."

See http://www.morsex.com/building/atoz.htm

d) Manhattan Style Construction Ab Initio - Chuck Adams

see http://www.qsl.net/k7qo/manhat.htm

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12. HUMOUR AND INSPIRATION (by ever popular demand) -

A passer-by noticed a couple of city workers working along the city sidewalks. The man was quite impressed with their hard work, but he couldn't understand what they were doing.

Finally, he approached the workers and asked, "I appreciate how hard you're both working, but what the heck are you doing? It seems that one of you digs a hole, and then the other guy immediately fills it back up again".

One of the city workers explained, "The third guy who plants the trees is off sick today."

AND

A street person approached a passer-by and said, "Sir, would you give me $100 for a cup of coffee?"

"That's ridiculous! Do you really think anyone in their right mind would pay that much for a cup of coffee?"

"Just a yes or no, buddy," the beggar growled. "I don't need a lecture about how to run my business."

Join Best of Humor: http://www.bestofhumor.com

AND

RULES OF FLIGHT

1. Every takeoff is optional. Every landing is mandatory.

2. If you push the stick forward, the houses get bigger. If you pull the stick back, they get smaller. That is, unless you keep pulling the stick all the way back, then they get bigger again.

3. Flying isn't dangerous. Crashing is what's dangerous.

4. It's always better to be down here wishing you were up there than up there wishing you were down here.

5. The ONLY time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire.

6. The propeller is just a big fan in front of the plane used to keep the pilot cool. When it stops, you can actually watch the pilot start sweating.

7. When in doubt, hold on to your altitude. No one has ever collided with the sky.

8. A 'good' landing is one from which you can walk away. A 'great' landing is one after which they can use the plane again.

9. Learn from the mistakes of others. You won't live long enough to make all of them yourself.

10. You know you've landed with the wheels up if it takes full power to taxi to the ramp.

11. The probability of survival is inversely proportional to the angle of arrival. Large angle of arrival, small probability of survival and vice versa.

12. Never let an aircraft take you somewhere your brain didn't get to five minutes earlier.

13. Stay out of clouds. The silver lining everyone keeps talking about might be another airline going in the opposite direction. Reliable sources also report that mountains have been known to hide out in clouds.

14. Always try to keep the number of landings you make equal to the number of take offs you've made.

15. There are three simple rules for making a smooth landing. Unfortunately no one knows what they are.

16. You start with a bag full of luck and an empty bag of experience. The trick is to fill the bag of experience before you empty the bag of luck.

17. Helicopters can't fly; they're just so ugly the earth repels them.

18. If all you can see out of the window is ground that's going round and round and all you can hear is commotion coming from the passenger compartment, things are not at all as they should be.

19. In the ongoing battle between objects made of aluminum going hundreds of miles per hour and the ground going zero miles per hour, the ground has yet to lose.

20. Good judgement comes from experience. Unfortunately, the experience usually comes from bad judgement.

21. It's always a good idea to keep the pointy end going forward as much as possible.

22. Keep looking around. There's always something you've missed. (Isn't that why they came up with checklists? :)

23. Remember, gravity is not just a good idea. It's the law. And it's not subject to repeal.

24. The three most useless things to a pilot are the altitude above you, runway behind you and a tenth of a second ago.

25. There are old pilots and there are bold pilots. There are, however, no old, bold pilots.

Thanks to subscriber Casey...

AND AS AN ADDED BONUS - just because I personally love it.

A young man, hired by a supermarket, reported for his first day of work.

The manager greeted him with a warm handshake and a smile, gave him a broom and said, "Your first job will be to sweep out the store."

"But I'm a college graduate." the young man replied indignantly.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know that," said the manager. "Here, give me the broom, I'll show you how."

http://www.jokeaday.com/7premium.shtml

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13. NOW JUST FOR USA RESIDENTS ONLY - and there are legions of them believe me.

Be on good terms with yourself for the rest of this week. Go here and DO something constructive. PayPal or check! Overseas people CAN use the PayPal option of course but $US only.
https://www.electronics-tutorials.com/site-costs-donation.htm

FOR EVERYONE ELSE (my anti discrimination policy)

See: https://www.electronics-tutorials.com/book-shop.htm#newnes

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IF YOU ENJOY RECEIVING THIS NEWSLETTER

Tell a friend to subscribe, tell a news group or a discussion group, tell the world! Write to your favourite magazine! Email costs nothing, well very little anyway.

Please feel free to forward this newsletter in its entirety to other interested people. Please do.

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A PERSONAL RECOMMENDATION - Affiliated

Ian Purdie, VK2TIP of www.electronics-tutorials.com personally uses and recommends - Web Wizards - this is where our main site lives:
https://www.electronics-tutorials.com/presswizards/

See Robert Marlbrough, Jr. for Hosting, Design, eCommerce, Registrations, Search Engines, Marketing, and more. Visit Rob's site today! Good value.
https://www.electronics-tutorials.com/presswizards/

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You can view this newsletter online at
https://www.electronics-tutorials.com/newsletter/may-2001.htm [You're looking at it]

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FINALLY -

If I bore you (good heavens!) then to unsubscribe CLICK on the URL below this line:
mailto:remove@electronics-tutorials.com?subject=Unsubscribe-me-please&body=!*EMAIL*!

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14. FEEDBACK, FLAMES!

mailto:feedback@electronics-tutorials.com?subject=Feedback-Flames!&body=!*EMAIL*!

That's all folks

72/73's and oink

Ian Purdie Budgewoi N.S.W. Australia - Co-ords S33º14', E151º34'
VK2TIP "I'll give ya the TIP mate" QRP-L #1978. SOC #171 FP#91
URL - https://www.electronics-tutorials.com/
URL - http://my.integritynet.com.au/purdic/

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the author Ian C. Purdie, VK2TIP of www.electronics-tutorials.com asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this web site and all contents herein. Copyright © 2000 - 2001, all rights reserved. See copying and links. These electronic tutorials are provided for individual private use and the author assumes no liability whatsoever for the application, use, misuse, of any of these projects or electronics tutorials that may result in the direct or indirect damage or loss that comes from these projects or tutorials. All materials are provided for free private and public use.
Commercial use prohibited without prior written permission from www.electronics-tutorials.com.


Copyright © 2001, all rights reserved. URL - https://www.electronics-tutorials.com/newsletter/may-2001.htm

Updated 30th April, 2001