Author Archive

30 years of the text message

‘Merry Christmas’: 30 years of the text message https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-63825894 The text message is celebrating its 30th birthday – the first “Merry Christmas” SMS was sent to a mobile phone by a Vodafone engineer in Berkshire in the UK on 3 December 1992. Originally, an SMS could only be text, up to 160 characters long. The

Star-quad cable

Star quad cable is a type of balanced audio cable that specializes in reducing electromagnetic interference. Quad cable is better at rejecting external noise than an equivalent single pair cable. Star-quad cable is a four-conductor cable that has a special quadrupole geometry which provides magnetic immunity when used in a balanced line. Four conductors are

Pong is 50 years old

‘Pong’ is now half a century old. Pretty much exactly 50 years ago, Atari released Pong. It wasn’t the first video game ever created, nor the original take on virtual table tennis – But in Pong, the early video game industry was born in 1972. A few years later, the home version of Pong would

About leap seconds

Doing away with leap seconds has been up for debate since at least 2013, on grounds that they’re more trouble than they’re worth. Leap seconds have represented risks to important communications and computing systems. Time Lords decree an end to leap seconds before risky attempt to reverse time article tells that The Bureau International des

Speaker DC protection

DC signals also affect the movement of the speaker cone which may result in a reduction of audio quality, although low level DC doesn’t damage the speaker. If you were to apply more than a little DC power to speakers, this will cause the voice coil to heat up significantly, which would likely cause damage.

AV disaster: PowerCON plugged

No audio signal. Only humming. This is how 6.3 mm plug and PowerCON meet. There are XLR and Speakon combo connectors designed for things like this. But this is PowerCON connector designed to carry mains power. Read more on PowerCON at https://www.epanorama.net/newepa/2018/10/01/powercon-connector/ Fortunately the 6.3 mm plug here only connects to the center ground pin.

Electronica 2022

The electronica trade fair in Munich is just about to start. Electronica 2022 is the world’s leading trade fair and conference for electronics November 15–18, 2022 at Trade Fair Center Messe München Germany. After a four-year break, electronics professionals gather in Munich for the Electronica trade fair. Expectations are high for both companies and visitors.

Component cross references

Here are links to some useful electronics component cross references: SMD Cross reference https://www.electronica-pt.com/db/smd.php Electronics component information search at www.epanorama.net https://www.epanorama.net/cgi-bin/semi.cgi