Friday, 2022-03-11 is world plumbing day 2022! Starting today, I am using this day, once a year, to inspect the plumbing at Cliff Cottage. It was inspired by an event on Sunday, 2021-07-25 when wastewater from the washing machine started to back up over the bathroom floor. The piping leading from the washing machine was clogged. It had probably gone at least a decade since the piping was last checked.
After an hour’s work spread over two days, everything worked normally again. To prevent these sorts of emergencies in the future, I decided that the best way was to perform preventative maintenance once a year. I googled plumbing day, and discovered it was an event happening around the world, on this date that started in 2010.
There are several similar days throughout the year that I won’t be celebrating, in part because they are too similar: World Water Day = 03-22; World Cleanup Day = 09-15; Global Handwashing Day = 10-15; World Toilet Day = 11-19. Yes, on this weblog, International Standard ISO 8601 is used for dates, in the format YYYY-MM-DD. Here, only MM-DD appear.
It is very easy to avoid/ postpone preventative maintenance activities. Thus, a fixed date, once a year, helps people schedule activities. In Norway, 12-01 is set aside as Smoke Detector Day. Batteries on all of the smoke detectors in the house are replaced once a year on that date, with the older batteries recycled to power less critical operations, or given to the public library that has taken over the techno workshop.
Other days that could be useful for doing related maintenance and other work, include: Global Recycling Day = 03-18; World Gardening Day = 04-14; Naturalists may prefer Naked Gardening Day, which is the first Saturday in May, In 2022 that is 05-07.
Voluntary Assignment: Are there other days in the year that should be set aside/ used for various maintenance activities? If so, please share these as a comment.
Not just days, but years and decades
Since this is 2022, it is the International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture. Artisanal fishing consists of various small-scale, low-technology, low-capital, fishing practices undertaken by individual fishing households, often coastal or island ethnic groups that make short fishing trips close to the shore. In 2023, it will be the International year of Millets. Millets are highly variable small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for fodder = animal feed, and human food. Millets are important crops in the semiarid tropics of Asia and Africa (especially in India, Mali, Nigeria, and Niger). 97% of millet production occurs in developing countries. The crop is favoured due to its productivity and short growing season under dry, high-temperature conditions.
World Water Day (03-22) was an event I managed at Leksvik senior secondary school. The municipality of Leksvik (now amalgamated with Rissa to form Indre-Fossen) is adjacent to Inderøy. It hosted numerous companies making water related products, everything from domestic faucets, long-length infrastructure piping and and valves for ship ballast systems, to containerized desalination equipment. Many of the companies producing these products have now sold off their product lines, or moved, either abroad or to other parts of Norway. The school received funding to start a project with a focus on energy and water. In 2008, I was hired as project manager. My focus was on building and using submersibles = remotely operated vehicles (ROVs). I also transformed the building housing the project into Nautilus, a virtual submarine. It took its name from the Jules Verne’s (1828 – 1905) fictional submarine featured in his novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870) and The Mysterious Island (1874). When I worked there, the school celebrated World Water Day from 2009 to 2015.
Note: When published it was claimed that World Water Day and World Goth Day shared the same date. They do not. World Water Day is 03-22, while World Goth Day is 05-22. Updated: 2022-03-23 at 19:30.
Artemisia Gentileschi, St Cecilia Playing a Lute, circa 1610–1612, Spada Gallery, Rome.
Maddalena Casulana (c. 1544 – c. 1590) was an Italian composer, lutenist and singer of the late Renaissance, and the first female composer to have had a book of music printed/ published, in the history of western music. Between 1568 and 1583, three books of madrigals were published under her name, although only one of those has survived complete.
Madrigals are secular = non religious, in the vernacular = the daily language of the people living in a place, polyphonic = having several voices, through-composed = different music for each stanza of lyrics, and unaccompanied = no rhythmic or other instruments are used. While there can be two to eight voice, three to six are most common. Metre varies between two or three tercets = three lines of poetry in a stanza, followed by one or two couplets = two lines of poetry in a stanza = grouped set of lines.
To celebrate Women’s Day 2022, music ensemble Fieri Consort will perform newly rediscovered songs composed by Casulana, on BBC Radio 3. The Fieri Consort was founded in 2012 and initially consisted of young ensemble singers based in London. It is un-conducted, typically with one or two voices to a part.
The painting illustrating this post is by Artemisia Gentileschi, (1593 – c. 1656) titled St Cecilia Playing a Lute. It was made sometime in the period 1610–1612, and is currently in the collection of the Spada Gallery, Rome. She is considered among the most accomplished seventeenth-century painters, producing professional work by the age of fifteen. While St Cecilia Playing a Lute is associated with Casulana, the painter was born after the composer’s death.
Musicologist Laurie Stras, professor of music at the universities of Southampton and Huddersfield, has found the lost alto partbook of Casulana’s 1583 book of five-voice madrigals, so that 17 madrigals have been added to her surviving repertoire.
In the 15th and 16th centuries, vocal/ instrumental polyphonic music was handwritten/ printed using partbooks, a separate one for each part. Sometimes, one or more of these partbooks go missing. Here, it was the alto parts for these madrigals.
An article in the Guardian includes information about Stras’ detective work, in finding the missing partbook.
Wikipedia provides a number of interesting articles that provide insight into topics presented here. These include:
An article on Madrigals, with more detailed information about their history and evolution.
An article on Casulana provides biographical information, as well as more detailed musicological information, especially about her extant compositions. There are also links to musical scores.
An article on Artemisia Gentileschi also provides many examples of her artwork, in addition to biographical information about her.
The sound of a Clavioline cannot be said to have dominated popular music, but it could be heard on: Del Shannon’s (1934 – 1990) Runaway (1961); the Tornados/ Tornadoes instrumental Telstar (1962), if only from an imitation Univox, and not a real instrument; three of Sun Ra’s (1914 – 1993) albums, including The Magic City (1966); The Beatles’ Baby, You’re a Rich Man (1967). Fast forward to a new millenium, past several notable musicians, to Mike Oldfield (1953 – ), Return to Ommadawn (2017).
HearingTelstar on a Clavioline can take less than 30 seconds.
The Clavioline is an electronic keyboard instrument, regarded as an immediate precursor of the analogue synthesizer. Constant Martin (1910 – 1995), a French radio technician/ electrical engineer, invented and developed it in 1947.
This was not his first electronic instrument. From 1932 to 1937 Martin developed an organ-like instrument, which used harmonium reeds. It was demonstrated in 1939. In 1943, he constructed another electronic organ that used independent oscillators and harmonic analyzers. In the 1950s, he used recently developed integrated circuits to improve organs and bells. In 1961, he used transistors to add harmonic effects to produce sounds that convincingly sound like a pipe organ. Martin pioneered, some would say revolutionized, the manufacture of electronic instruments. He was concerned about producing a variety of sounds, that could impact many musical genres.
The Clavioline consisted of two physically separate units: a keyboard and an amplifier with speaker. In addition to the 36 conventional, horizontal keys expected, the keyboard also used vertically mounted, front-facing switches (called stops) to alter the tone of the sound produced, along with a vibrato, that provided effects and was the instrument’s defining feature. The vacuum tube oscillator produced almost square waveforms, suitably altered using high-pass and low-pass filters, and the vibrato. After the electric signals were passed from the keyboard to the amplifier unit, the amplifier deliberately added distortion to create the instrument’s signature tones.
The Clavioline was covered by US Patent 2 563 477, filed 1948-05-01, issued 1951-08-07. Information about the invention, including circuit diagrams, can be found here. With his intellectual property protected, Martin , licensed production to others, rather than manufacturing it himself: Henri Selmer in France, who also produced and sold it in the United Kingdom; Gibson in the USA; and Jörgensen Electronic in Germany.
Underneath the keyboard there was a knee lever/ slider consisting of two protruding metal rods. Pushed to the left, this transposed the instrument down an octave, pushed to the right it transposed up an octave, giving the Clavioline a five-octave range.
A Selmer Auditorium = Gibson Standard model provided a five-octave range with 18 stops. These were named 1 to 9, plus O, A, B, V and P, along with four vibrato switches: I, II, III and Amplitude.
A Selmer and Gibson Concert model provided 22 stops. These four additional stops were used to provide greater flexibility. These activated octave dividers that produced a tone one octave (Sub I) and two octaves (Sub II) below the unmodified voice. A Reverb Concert model was also produced for a short period that added a spring reverberator.
Number stops
Letter stops
Vibrato
Amplitude
Range
Alto Saxophone
2 3
–
II
Off
M
Arabian Flute
1 4 8
–
I
Off
H
Bagpipe
1 4 8 or 1 9
–
I
Off
M or H
Banjo
3 4
B P
–
–
M
Bass Saxophone
4
–
III
Off
L
Bass Violin
1
V
I
Off
L
Bassoon
3 7
–
–
–
L
Violoncello
1
V
II
Off
L
Church Organ A
4 6
–
–
–
L or M
Church Organ B
4 9
–
–
–
L or M
Church Organ C
6
–
–
–
L or M
Cornet
6
–
I
Off
M
Electric Guitar
4
P
II
Off
M
English Horn
2 3
B
–
–
M
Harpsichord
3 5 6 8
P
–
–
H
Horn
2 3
–
III
On
L
Fife
–
B O
–
–
H
Flute
3 4 5
–
I
Off
H
French Horn
3
–
–
–
L
Harpsichord
3 5 6 8
P
–
–
M or H
Hawaiian Guitar
1 4 6
P
II
On
M
Hunting Horn
3
–
III
On
L
Mandolin
3 6 8
P
–
–
H
Musical Saw
3
B
II
On
H
Muted Gypsy Violin
1
O
II
On
M
Oboe
1 4 8
–
I
Off
M
Orch Horn
3
–
II
Off
L or M
Piccolo
1 4 0
–
II
Off
H
Reed-Pipe
–
B
–
–
H
Tenor Saxophone
4
–
III
Off
L
Theatre Organ
4
–
III
On
M or H
Trombone
3
–
II
Off
L
Trumpet
–
–
II
Off
M or H
Viola
1
O or V
II
On
H
Violin
1
O or V
II
On
H
Clavioline Tone
3 4 6
–
III
On
M
Vox Celesta
4 5 6
–
III
On
M
Zither
1 4 6
P
III
On
M
Selmer published the above list of the switches/ stops that needed to be activated to imitate various instruments.
Harald Bode (1909 – 1987) created a six-octave model using octave transposition, that was made by Jörgensen.
As a monophonic instrument, the Clavioline met with initial success. It also inspired imitation. In England, the Jennings Organ Company produced the Univox, their first successful product with a self-powered electronic keyboard. In Japan, Ace Tone’s first prototype, the Canary S-2, launched in 1962, was based on the Clavioline. However, the Clavioline was unable to compete, when polyphonic synthesizers were introduced.
In 1959, Maxfield Crook (1936 – 2020) modified a Clavioline to create the Musitron, made from assorted discarded electronic components sourced from television sets, amplifiers, reel-to-reel tape machines and household appliances. Because most of its components came from previously patented products, the Musitron was unpatentable. Crook first used it for recording at Berry Gordy’s Detroit studio on an unreleased version of Bumble Boogie. Later, it became world famous, for its performance on Del Shannon’s Runaway (1961).
Much of the information about the Clavioline was provided by Gordon Reid, in an article published in 2007. It also has photographs illustrating the technical details.
Bebe (1925 – 2008) and Louis (1920 – 1989) Barron were credited with the first entirely electronic film score for Forbidden Planet (1956). Norbert Wierner’s Cybernetics: Or, Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine (1948), played an important role in the development of the Barrons’ composition. Cybernetics proposes that certain natural laws of behaviour apply to some complex electronic machines, as well as animals.
Sisters with Transistors is a 1h25m38s video about electronic music’s female pioneers. It begins with an assertion that the history of women has been a history of silence. Undoubtedly, an old male is not the best person to comment on this or on any of the challenges female composers/ musicians faced. However, there are similarities with pop art, where female painters, the initial innovators of the art form, were removed from its history, to be replaced by second-wave male copyists, who had the right connections.
I suspect a similar situation may very well be the case with these female electronic music pioneers. Once again, one has to ask how much credit men are taking for creative work undertaken by women?
Two of the composers in this film have been featured in previous weblog posts that promote female composers/ musicians/ songwriters/ singers. These are Pauline Oliveros and Delia Derbyshire. Sisters with Transistors also provides insights into other female composers/ experimenters/ musicians who use audio technology to liberate humankind from traditional instruments and to transform how music is produced.
Keyboard instruments are versatile. A single player can play up to ten notes simultaneously on, say, a piano. With foot pedals and stops, organ players can produce even more. However, a synthesizer offers even greater capabilities, particularly in terms of its ability to construct tones that defy the physical limitations of acoustic instruments. Thus, a synth based composer/ musician has an ability to create a personal sonic universe, then shape the music allowed within it.
Two minutes into the video viewers are told it is 1974-04-30. Suzanne Ciani, is speaking. She describes the Buchla synth she will be playing a concert on, then says: “I think they are sensual. May I have a cigarette?” One is immediately taken back into a time period when smoking was an acceptable activity. It was an era when pants/ trousers were not fully acceptable as female attire, when women were expected to give up their identity and assume that of their husbands.
Assignment #1: What collective noun would readers prefer to be used to describe multiple synths? For example, one has a choir of angels, a bunch of bananas, a deck of cards and a cluster of diamonds. Some suggestions are provided, towards the bottom of this post.
The appeal of a synth
As one of the film’s subjects, Laurie Spiegel explains: “We women were especially drawn to electronic music when the possibility of a woman composing was in itself controversial. Electronics let us make music that could be heard by others without having to be taken seriously by the male dominated Establishment.”
As promotional materials for the video express it, within the wider social, political and cultural context of the 20th century, “the documentary reveals a unique emancipation struggle, restoring the central role of women in the history of music and society at large.”
With Laurie Anderson (1947 – ) as narrator, the video examines the evolution of electronic music: how new devices opened music to the entire field of sound, how electronic music not only changed the modes of production but the very terms of musical thought.
There is little point in discussing the details of this documentary further, without the reader/ listener/ viewer having an opportunity to hear and see it. Thus, readers are encouraged to find the video, enjoy it and reflect on it.
Assignment #1 (revisited)
Collective noun suggestions for synths, include 1) general terms for musical groups: band, choir, combo, ensemble, orchestra; 2) quantity related: duo, trio, quartets, quintets, sextets, septets, octets; 3) computer related: cluster, network.
Interested readers may also want to read av article in the Guardian about the video.
This post was originally scheduled to be published 2021-08-07 at 12:00, but was postponed until 2022-02-26 at 12:00 to allow for further reflection.
EV1A014, is as rare as a unicorn. 2011-03-29 Photo: RightBrainPhotography (Rick Rowen) Subsequently retouched by Mariordo.
Life is hard; it is harder if you are stupid. John Wayne (Marion Robert Morrison, 1907 – 1979)
Today, I am entering the prophecy business, and, in particular, will be looking at predictions for electric vehicle technology in 2030. Some might question my sanity, or at least my intelligence. Prediction is a double-edge sword. It could result either in adulation (admittedly, a less likely result) or condemnation – perhaps worse (decidedly, more likely). I approach the task fearlessly. If the predictions turn out to be more correct than wrong, rest assured I will remind everyone about it in 2030. If they turn out to be less correct, I won’t bring up the matter again.
Predictions for 2030
New vehicles in advanced economies will be battery electric vehicles.
Dynamic wireless charging along main roads will start becoming standard, in addition to static charging at residences.
Environmentally friendly graphene ultra-capacitors and sodium-ion batteries will start to replace lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries in most vehicles. Some of these will have a life-expectancy exceeding 1 million km.
Vehicle owners will have a Right to Repair their own vehicles.
Yes, some of these predictions lack millimetre precision. However, here are a few points of clarification …
Different markets will achieve different levels of EV penetration at different times, but EVs in all markets will be on their way to displace internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles.
Wireless means that plugs will become outdated technology. Dynamic charging refers to charging while a vehicle is in motion. This would probably result in smaller batteries. Commuter vehicles could end up with a battery capacity of about 25 kWh.
The term battery, as used in this prediction, is intended to include other forms of electrical storage, including the use of various types of capacitors.
Right to repair does not necessarily mean a right to do-it-yourself (DIY), it could involve local workshops, run by certified mechanics, or even specialists, especially when high voltage is involved.
Previous predictions
Between 1996 and 2002, I took a lot of chemistry and chemical engineering courses, including some related to physical chemistry. At the time I wrote a paper (not lost, just not found) about fuel cells, the technology of the future! At about the same time, General Motors had proven to the world, with the EV1, that there was no future for electric vehicles. The EV1 “was the first mass-produced and purpose-designed electric vehicle of the modern era from a major auto-maker and the first GM car designed to be an electric vehicle from the outset.”
Unfortunately, General Motors was wrong. The documentary film Who Killed the Electric Car? (2006) explains and condemns the short life and brutal death of the EV1. It puts GM in a negative light. There were 660 Gen(eration) I EV1 cars produced, followed by 457 Gen IIs. While a few vehicles were disabled and given to museums and universities, almost all the others were crushed, or shredded.
Could I ever own a GM product? Possibly, in a parallel universe where I am converting a Pontiac Aztek, with a defunct engine, to an EV. But not on this planet. Note: the Aztek is appreciated not just for its utilitarian appearance, but especially for its ability to carry standard sheets of plywood, inside.
Some of the 275 people working for Ballard, in Burnaby, British Columbia. Photo: Ballard
I was also wrong about fuel cells taking over the world. Perhaps this too was wishful thinking. With Ballard Power located in Burnaby, the neighbouring municipality to New Westminster, I was well aware of their proton-exchange membrane (PEM) technology, and thought that this would dominate future vehicles. PEMs, more generally, was the topic of my missing paper. Looking at Ballard’s website in 2022, they have not lost their optimism, but seem more focused on heavy transport (buses, commercial trucks, trains, marine vessels) and stationary power applications.
Ulf Bossel (1936 – )has been arguing against Hydrogen technology since 2006. He concluded that Hydrogen technology is unlikely to play a major role in sustainable road transport. This has met with considerable scepticism. Recently, Patrick Plötz, in Nature Electronics 5, 8–10 (2022) confirms that hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, (HFCV), including commercial trucks, are not likely to catch up to battery EVs. Part of the reason is explained in the following diagram, originally developed by Bossel.
Ulf Bossel’s original argument again hydrogen, shown in a diagram.
The diagram illustrates that FCEVs are three times less efficient, as BEVs. In addition, they require an entirely different (and more expensive) investment in infrastructure. For BEVs, every electrical outlet is a potential charging station.
As I write this, a message from my daughter, Shelagh, California resident and owner of one half of a BMW i3 EV, has just ticked in on the teletype: “I read that 84% [83.7%] of all vehicles sold I Norway in January we’re electric[.]” This statistic refers to the 6 659 battery electric vehicles and the 1 hydrogen fuel cell vehicle sold. Hybrids are excluded, or more correctly, appropriately included with ICE vehicles in the other 16.3% of vehicles sold. Here, there were 910 rechargeable (or plug-in) hybrid vehicles, 175 with power from gasoline and 212 using diesel. These add up to a total of 7 957 vehicles. As the statistics show, there is no longer a sizeable market for ICE vehicles in Norway. From 2025-01-01, all new vehicles under 7.5 tonnes, will have to be EVs (or use fuel cells).
Dynamic charging
If Norway is ahead in cars, Sweden is ahead in roads. Sweden launched the first public electric road in 2016. The electric road outside Sandviken and Gävle utilises overhead lines, which powers freight trucks while driving. eRoadArlanda, outside the Arlanda Airport, provides a test track to generate knowledge and experiences about electric roads.
This was followed up with Evolution Road, a conductive, surface mounted electric road system to increase knowledge about electric roads on a 1-km stretch of road at Getingevägen in Lund, in southern Sweden.
On the Swedish, Baltic Sea island of Gotland, ElectReon is testing a dynamic wireless charging system on a 1.65-km public road, as part of the Smartroad Gotland project. A video demonstrates the construction process. A battery electric (BEV) long-haul truck was the first vehicle to be charged wirelessly. It drove on a 200-meter road segment, at various speeds of up to 60 km/h, averaging a transfer rate of 70 kW, while showing that snow and ice do not affect charging capabilities.
Modern electric road systems provide a number of benefits: the elimination of downtime for recharging – especially important for transit buses, delivery vans, long-haul trucks and robotaxis, reduction of battery sizes by 50–80 per cent (yes, my unscientific estimate is that 25 kWh batteries will be the standard size on EVs once electric roads become common), greater energy efficiency, because smaller batteries mean lighter vehicles, and, most types of electric vehicles: cars, trucks, utility vehicles and buses will be able to use the same system.
Seven years after Sweden, the first stretch of road in the United States to wirelessly charge electric vehicles while in motion will begin testing in Detroit. This electrified road will be up to 1.6 km long, and allow EVs to charge whether they’re stopped or moving. It is hoped that this in-road charging will encourage widespread EV adoption, by reducing consumers EV hesitancy. Michigan state will contribute $1.9 million toward the project, which will also be supported by Ford Motor, DTE Energy and the city of Detroit.
Israel based ElectReon is world leading in terms of dynamic wireless charging. While there are other companies hoping to be part of the solution, they have done little to prove their capabilities. Most potential suppliers of charging equipment are opting for static wireless charging systems in places like parking garages, taxi stands, and bus or truck depots. They should probably take a reality check. Nobody wants to stand still to charge, is the option is to charge while on the move.
It should also be mentioned that there are ongoing dynamic wireless charging pilot projects in Germany, Italy and Israel. All of these use induction technology with on-board receivers facilitating the transfer power from coils buried underground to the vehicle. ElectReon estimates that the cost of a receiver will be reduced to between $1 000 and $1 500, when installed by an EV manufacturer. Another approach is to tie the cost of the receiver to a monthly (?) subscription, that also provides the power.
Terminology.
I find it extremely interesting that one of the celebrated proponents of the International System of Units (SI) was the American electrical engineer, George Ashley Campbell (1870 – 1954). Yet, on an almost daily basis so many Americans, Britons and Canadians (but few others) want to retain all or parts of an antiquated, inconsistent measurement system. Readers have no doubt noticed the avoidance of conventional/ non-metric units, and the usage of SI units on this weblog. However, in this post, some non-SI units will be used. These units are commonly used with EVs throughout the world. I ask for the indulgence and forgiveness of readers.
If one really wants to be correct and use internationally accepted SI units, energy is measured in joules (J). There is also a distinction made between specific energy = massic energy = gravimetric energy density, which specifies energy per unit mass, as in J/kg, and energy density, which specifies energy per unit volume as in J/l (litre). Despite this clear demarcation, most people seem to engage in terminology convergence. They refer to energy density, but express it in terms of watt-hours per kilogram (Wh/kg). Purists may want to remember: 1 Wh = 3600 J = 3.6 kJ.
Batteries and ultra-capacitors
Batteries have come a long way from the invention of the lead-acid battery in 1859 by Gaston Planté (1834 – 1889). Global sales in 2020 = $ 50 billion. These are still ubiquitous, cheap and reliable, but toxic. Finding out exactly how much lead ends up poisoning the environment is difficult. The Battery Council, with close ties to those with vested interests in battery production, typically estimates that 99% of lead is recycled. The United States Environmental Protection Agency has a less optimistic, and more varied estimate that ranges from 60% to 95%. In addition, lead-acid battery recycling is the world’s most deadly industrial process, where an estimated 2 to 4.8 million disability-adjusted life years are lost annually and globally.
In 1989 Sony commercialized the Li-ion battery, and it has become the dominant battery technology. It is the first choice for Evs, stationary batteries, and mobile devices. One challenge with lithium technology, is that it has so many patents and intellectual property rights associated with it, that it becomes problematic to make anything – as a startup. Someone is sure to claim that there is a patent infringement.
Another challenge is availability. Lithium mainly comes from Australia, Chile, China and Argentina. It is also found in smaller quantities in many other places. Extraction is difficult and polluting. It currently costs about $ 5 000 / tonne. Other resources used in lithium (Li) batteries are also problematic. Cobalt (Co), especially. EV batteries can have up to 20 kg of Co in each 100 kilowatt-hour (kWh) pack, or up to 20% of its mass.
There are many other Li-ion battery manufacturers who are also attempting to make new viable products, many with a focus on solid-state Li-ion technology. The reason for this focus is to reduce mass = weight. Unfortunately, this type of battery is almost always years away from being introduced, in part because other battery technologies are always moving the goal posts.
Some social media influencers, such as Sandy Munro, claim that one of the most important Li-ion battery developments in the world at the moment, is taking place at Our Next Energy, Inc. (ONE), located in Novi, Michigan. They have developed an experimental battery, Gemini 001, that stores over 200 kWh of electrical energy, with an energy density of 416 Wh/l, using pouch technology.
Another important development is taking place at Gruber Motors in Phoenix, Arizona. The company is especially important for saving the lives of innumerable bricked Tesla vehicles. It describes itself as an independent Tesla service organization providing engineering and aftermarket support. I refer to Pete Gruber as a guerilla technologist. In a video, he describes their graphene ultra-capacitor cells that now exceed 1 000 km range, and could soon reach 1 600 km. They are estimated to allow about 43 000 charging cycles, with each charge taking about 15 minutes, providing a battery potentially capable of propelling a vehicle exceeding 43 million km, and last 100 years. Graphene is made of a single layer of carbon, one of the most common elements.
The technology upon which the Gruber graphene capacitor is based could be made by Skeleton Technologies of Tallinn, Estonia. This company is providing graphene ultra-capacitor technology to many different industries, including high power applications for automotive, heavy transportation (rail, especially), marine, grid (wind turbines, for example), aerospace, and manufacturing. These use curved graphene sheets to produce mesospores that are accessible to and wettable by ionic electrolytes at voltages up to 4 V. This provides a specific energy of about 85.6 Wh/kg. One characteristic, appreciated in climates with winter, is its ability to operate in cold temperatures, without any performance loss. More information, about a number of technical topics and more, is available from their download page.
Chemical abundance is important when determining the suitability of future technologies for electric vehicle batteries. Here WebElements values will be used for comparative purposes, typically expressed in parts per million (ppm) by mass.Readers who want it expressed in terms of ppm by mole, are encouraged to undertake their own calculations.
Sodium (Na), is the 6th most common element in the Earth’s crust, at 23 000 ppm. In contrast Li ranks 33rd, at 17 ppm. This makes Na over 1 350 times more abundant than Li. This is reflected in its price, at about: $ 150 / tonne. Carbon (C) ranks 17th, at 420 ppm. Not only is this almost 25 times more abundant than Li, its existence in the atmosphere as CO2 makes it an ideal target for battery production.
Na-ion batteries were developed at about the same time as Li-ion batteries. They are suitable for stationary power and short range EVs. That is, applications where energy density is not an issue. For example, energy storage for renewal energy sources such as solar and wind. However, they are not really suitable for hand-held devices.
Like a Li-ion battery they have cathode, anode, porous separator, electrolyte. The same engineering and production methods can be used, but with different materials.
This does not apply to some of the earlier sodium based batteries. Some of the first research projects with sodium batteries were done at the Ford Motor Company where Joseph T. Kummer & Neill Weber published A Sodium-Sulpher Secondary Battery (1968). They state an energy density of 330 Wh/ kg, in contrast to 22 Wh/ kg for a lead acid battery. Later, others have considered this energy density an exaggeration, and have reduced it to about 150 Wh/kg in the real world. The most negative characteristic of this battery was its high operating temperature, 300 – 350 C.
The sodium-nickel-chloride battery, developed under the Zeolite Battery Research Africa Project, started in South Africa in 1985, and commonly called the Zebra battery. This is also a rechargeabe molten salt battery, that distinguishes itself from the Sodium Sulfer battery by it use of commonly available materials. It is simpler, safer, cheaper, but less energy dense, at about 90 to 120 Wh/kg.
From 2010, sodium batteries were developed that could operate at room temperatures. Typically, they have an anode made of hard carbon = charcoal; an electrolyte with low viscosity, high conductivity and electrochemically stable, (typically sodium salts dissolved in organic carbonate); a cathode, often a more problematic choice, but with a focus on sodium layered oxides, with crystalline structure, similar to lithium cobalt oxide (LiCoO 2).
In 2020, Washington State University and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory develop a more powerful sodium battery with the potential to produce 160 Wh/ kg. Other producers of So-ion batteries include: Faradion (UK), Altris AB (Sweden) with a Prussian blue cathodes, HiNa (China), and Natron Energy (USA) with Prussian blue cathodes. Prussian blue cathodes typically offer 95% charge retention after 10 000 cycles; However they do not function well in the presence of moisture, hence Prussian white.
Contemporary Amperex Technology Company Limited (CATL) has also developed a sodium battery. It has an anode made of hard carbon with a unique porous structure that lengthens the cycle lifetime and allows for more sodium-ion movement. The cathode is made of Prussian white, an analogue of the pigment Prussian blue. Energy density is currently 160 Wh/ kg, but there is a goal for G2 = 200+ Wh/ kg. Because of CATL’s intereconnection with Li-ion batteries, only a 10 – 30% price saving can be expected from these batteries.
Right to Repair
Relationships with the service departments of automotive dealers, are not always positive experiences. Going back several years now, here is one customer’s experience of a dealership service centre, that has permanently put him off wanting to use such a place. The customer had replaced original, inferior wiper blades with premium blades that were still in excellent condition when he delivered his vehicle in for servicing. When, the car was picked up, those premium blades had been replaced with inferior blades, and the customer was charged a price for them that exceeded those of the premium blades. When the customer requested the inferior blades removed, and replaced with his premium blades the dealership refused, citing that the manufacturer, required them to perform servicing to the letter, in order not to void the warranty. Wiper blades were part of the required service. The customer then asked for the premium blades to be returned to him, but the dealership could not find them.
Some weeks later, an indicator light showed that the vehicle needed immediate servicing, and should not be driven. The dealership was contacted, and they picked up the vehicle, transporting it on the back of a tow truck (a 70 km round trip from the workshop). It turned out that the dealership had forgotten to reset the servicing interval when they undertook the service, indicating that they were not following the servicing guide to the letter, as they had previously claimed. They then had to transport the vehicle back to the customer on the back of the same tow truck, two days later.
Shortly thereafter, a fuel injector failed on the vehicle (for a second time). Once again, a tow truck was needed to transport the vehicle, which was at the customer’s place of work. This time it involved a 160 km round trip, followed by a 70 km round trip after replacement. The fuel injector had to be replaced under warranty, and the customer wondered if the dealership had failed to do something else during the servicing, that had resulted in this failure. Some months later, the vehicle warranty expired, and the customer ended his relationship with the dealership. These incidents were so traumatic that the customer vowed never to buy that brand of vehicle again.
With EVs a different experience of service may be offered. EVs have fewer parts in total, and fewer moving parts, the operating environment is less extreme because there is no combustion to produce excessive amounts of heat. Thus, EVs typically require less service than their ICE counterparts. While legacy auto-makers may attempt to continue on as before, EV startups will probably be less reliant on dealerships, and more reliant on websites, for sales. They may also attempt to approach service and repairs in a different way.
Take Sono Motors GmbH as an example. Sono is a crowdsourced German company working on the development of the electric solar car, the Sion. It will have solar cells embedded in the plastic body panels on the roof and sides. Electricity generated will be fed into the traction battery, potentially providing about 5 000 km of range per year. Over an eight year period, over 260 000 vehicles are expected to be produced in Trollhättan, Sweden, at the National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS) production facility. NEVS is a Swedish electric car manufacturer that acquired the assets of Saab from a bankruptcy estate in 2012.
There are currently about 13 000 customers waiting for production of the Sion to start. Potential purchasers are distributed (almost) randomly throughout Europe. This could mean that it would be very expensive for Sono to set up service centres. Fortunately, they have opted for something different: Low Cost Maintenance, with a 3-step maintenance system they claim will keep repair/ servicing costs as low as possible.
Standard replacement parts that can be replaced by almost anyone. That is, without needing much prior knowledge, these can be replaced by owners/ users. Sion says, DIY is back!
A workshop handbook, will allow an extensive network of independent mechanics, to undertake work that is beyond the capability of ordinary people. This is the essence of most Right to Repair legislation.
For repairs involving high-voltage or body parts, Sono intends to cooperate with an established European service provider.
Once one auto-maker has shown the viability of this approach, it will be difficult for others to avoid step #1. As shown previously, one of the challenges facing dealerships is that they are not behaving particularly professionally, when it comes to servicing vehicles. Another challenge in the future, is that there will be a shortage of workers available. Work that can be eliminated or reduced should be. Ron Hetrick explains what is happening in USA, but the same applies to other advanced economies.
Currently, I rank Sono Sion as my third choice for an EV. Above these are two families of MPVs: the upcoming Renault Kangoo, and its badge engineered Nissan Townstar, along with an upmarket Mercedes EQT; and the Stellantis MPVs: Citroën Berlingo, Peugeot Rifter and Opel Combo, badge engineered variants.
EV Tipping Points
A-Ha keybordist Magne Furuholmen, in the driver’s seat of a Fiat Panda EV, with lead singer Morten Harket, guitarist Paul Waaktaar-Savoy and environmentalist Frederic Hauge in front (Photo: Bellona)
In 1989, A-ha lead singer Morten Harket and keyboardist Magne Furuholmen, were in Switzerland with Norwegian environmentalist Frederic Hauge, attending an EV conference. After inspecting a privately converted Fiat Panda EV, Harket and Furuholmen bought the car, and took it back to Norway. Norwegian regulations at the time, prohibited the registration of electric cars. Since it was fitted with a propane-fuelled heater, it could be, and was, registered as a recreational vehicle/ motor home.
The Panda was enthusiastically driven around Oslo, without paying local road tolls and ignored all subsequent fines. This resulted in an enormous amount of publicity, in Norway. It also resulted in the car being confiscated, and auctioned off, with yet more publicity. However, since no-one else wanted to buy the car, the original owners bought it back again. This cycle repeated itself several times. The fine was NOK 300 each time, and they bought the car back each time for NOK 200.
In 1996, Norway’s Government abolished road tolls for EVs. This was a key incentive that started an EV policy, that resulted in generous subsidies and other incentives, leading to a situation where over 80% of all new light vehicles are EVs in 2022.
Tim Lenton, at the University of Exeter, is quoted in the Guardian as saying: The only way we can get anywhere near our global targets on carbon emissions and biodiversity is through positive tipping points. People, whether they’re business leaders, policymakers or whatever, know what needs to change. The question is how? It’s starting to happen, but it’s not going quick enough. The complexity [of the climate and ecological crises] can be paralysing,. I wanted to show that, if you understand the complexity, it can open up windows of opportunity to actually change things.
An analysis of this problem has been published in Global Sustainability.
Predictions, in general
I hope that my legacy as a person is not dependent on my ability to predict the future. Rather, I hope it is related to my ability to love a few people, and to show concern for the well-being of all of humanity and the planet more generally, now and into the future. Hopefully, I have learned something, including humility, from my years of living.
When it comes to judging the success or failure of predictions, I like to turn to the world of film, especially works set in the future. I am not a fan of either Gene Roddenberry’s (1921 – 1991) Star Trek, despite its debut on Canadian CTV on 1966-09-08 and set in the 23rd century, or George Lucas’ (1944 – ) 1977 Star Wars and successive films, taking place a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, which excludes it from being set in the future. More appreciated are: Lucas’ 1967/ 1971/ 1977/ 2004 THX 1138; Stanley Kubrick’s (1928 – 1999) 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), and A Clockwork Orange (1971); Richard Fleischer’s (1916 – 2006) Soylant Green (1973) set in 2022; Michael Anderson’s (1920 – 2018) Logan’s Run (1976), set in 2274. Perhaps most of all, I admire Ridley Scott’s (1937 – ) Blade Runner (1982), set in Los Angeles in 2019, 37 years into the future, and currently three years in the past, if only because of its inability to predict the advent of the cell phone.
Yet, of these, it is Soylant Green that is the most haunting, and to where the political class seems to be leading the world: dying oceans, excessive humidity, pollution, overpopulation, depleted resources, poverty and – ultimately – euthanasia.
If one focuses on one random member of the political class – no better nor worse than many of the others – Joe Biden (1942 – ) born in Pennsylvania, the state where USA’s first oil well was drilled in 1859. He grew up in Delaware, where his father ultimately worked as a successful used-car salesman. In 2018, the US became the world’s largest crude oil producer (15%), exceeding Russia and Saudi Arabia. In 2021, some sources state that this resulted in 10.3 million jobs, and 8% of USA’s gross domestic product (GDP). Oil companies are major contributors to politicians, in the expectation that they will act positively to the needs of these companies and their shareholders. Chevron made 28% of its $4.9 million in political contributions to Democratic candidates and party, while Exxon made 41% of $1.7 million contributions to them.
Not everyone is happy with him. It is very strange that Biden can mention the electrification efforts at GM and Ford, without mentioning Tesla. Unfortunately, this could be because he is more interested in the profits of the oil industry, that are dependent on ICE vehicles from GM, Ford and others. Biden was willing to auction off 320 000 square kilometres of oil leases in the Gulf of Mexico, making it the largest sale in US history, although only slightly less than 7 000 square kilometres were ultimately leased, yielding $192 million. So far, Biden is approving 320 drilling permits on public land each month, exceeding Trump’s 300 a month.
This support of the oil industry does not in any way mesh with a necessary reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, that climate in crisis requires. Indeed, Biden’s environmental policy, if it exists, is difficult to understand. It seems to begin and end in words. The stated aim is a halving of greenhouse emissions by 2030, with them reaching net zero by 2050.
USA has many American EV manufacturer, to be appreciated. Aptera has the most efficient EVs; Arcimoto is making fun utility vehicles (FUVs); the Fisher Ocean should appeal to anyone wanting a conventional SUV; Ford has had great success with its Mustang, and sees promise in its upcoming F-150 Lightning; Rivian has started to provide adventure pickups and SUVs; Tesla is making the most EVs; and, last and least, General Motors is making an excessive, large and brutal Hummer EV that effectively shows that not all EVs benefit the world!
As John Wayne says, life is hard. It will be harder still for all people, smart or stupid, if politicians stupidly fail to implement environmental policies that stop the current rise in temperatures. This includes the elimination of fossil fuels, and fossil plastics, that are burnt as fuels once their few seconds of shelf-life are finished. The four predictions discussed in this weblog post, are all dependent on politicians enabling people to make enlightened changes to their ways of life, quickly! Most of those changes will have to take place now in advanced economies. If people alive today don’t start making changes to their lifestyle, the lives of upcoming generations will be immeasurably harder.
A double page from Rosemary Wadey’s Mexican Cooking Step-by-Step (1994).
My son, Alasdair, commented that he liked the style of Rosemary Wadey, in her Mexican Cooking Step-by-Step (1994). While this offers something similar to the numbering of steps in a cookstrip, the colour photographs show what is to be done, and what the final dish should look like when served.
The recipe starts with a general description, putting the recipe in context. It also explains what the dish is expected to be served with. The preparation of these items is not described in the recipe.
After this is a statement about the number of servings the recipe will produce, typically this is 4. This allows people to adapt the recipe to accommodate the number of people expected, or to give an indication of the quantity of left-overs that will be produced.
Next comes a list of ingredients, with conventional names. While I am content with metric units, this cookbook also provides quantities in American/ British units. The condition of the ingredients as they are to be used is also provided here.
This is followed by procedural steps and timings. All of these should be read in advance. In the bean soup recipe depicted, croutons, for example, can be prepared two days (48-hours) in advance. This also comes with advice as to how to store the prepared food until it is needed.
The author also acknowledges that specific products can be difficult to purchase in certain markets. A variation box provides the name of other products that can substitute for the original.
Some of the other books written by Rosemary Wadey in the same style are:
Continental Cuisine Step by Step Cookbook (1987)
Step by Step Cooking for One and Two (1996)
Step by Step Wok Cooking (1996)
Step by Step Vegetarian (2001)
Step by Step Italian (2001)
This is the second of an unspecified number of posts (currently seven) about cooking instructions, all beginning with Cook… Yes, you can use that as a search term to find previously published posts. If you have a favourite way of interacting with cooking information, and would like to have that presented in a weblog post that, in a good week, reaches ten or more people, send your proposal in an email to: brock@mclellan.no
Today, it is 350 years since Isaac Newton (1643 – 1727) sent the world’s first journal article to Henry Oldenbourg (1615-1677), secretary of the Royal Society of London, on 1672-02-06. It was about telescopes, and optics more generally. While authorship is important, Oldenbourg is historically important for introducing the concept of peer review to scientific writing.
Newton writes, “To perform my late promise to you, I shall without further ceremony acquaint you, that in the beginning of the Year 1666 (at which time I applyed my self to the grinding of Optick glasses of other figures than Spherical,) I procured me a Triangular glass-Prisme, to try therewith the celebrated Phaenomena of Colours. And in order thereto having darkened my chamber, and made a small hole in my window-shuts [shutters], to let in a convenient quantity of the Suns light, I placed my Prisme at his entrance, that it might be thereby refracted to the opposite wall. It was at first a very pleasing divertisement [diversion], to view the vivid and intense colours produced thereby; but after a while applying my self to consider them more circumspectly, I became surprised to see them in an oblong form; which, according to the received laws of Refraction, I expected should have been circular. They were terminated at the sides with streight [straight] lines, but at the ends, the decay of light was so gradual, that it was difficult to determine justly, what was their figure; yet they seemed semicircular.”
Of course, if one looks hard enough one can always find predecessors to almost everything. Thus, most historians working in the area add the adjective, modern, to the noun, review. In this way they can forget about the more original contribution made by Adab aț-Ṭabīb, = Morals of the physician, where modern readers could use practical ethics to replace morals, in the title. It was a historical Arabic book written by Al-Ruhawi, a 9th-century (probably) Nestorian physician who regarded physicians as guardians of souls and bodies. The twenty chapters of the work encompassed various medical topics, influenced by the works of Hippocrates and Galen.
Original color transparency of FDR taken at 1944 Official Campaign Portrait session by Leon A. Perskie, Hyde Park, New York, 1944-08-21.
This weblog post is being published on the 140th anniversary of the birth of FDR = Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882 – 1945), who became the 32nd American president. There will undoubtedly be many other commemorative writings today, although probably less than will be found on this date, in 2032. Many of these will focus on his contributions during the second world war. Some may even mention the paralysis in his legs, at the time attributed to polio.
In this post, I want to focus on FDR and the New Deal, nothing more.
The term new deal was first used by Mark Twain = Samual Clemens (1835 – 1910) in his novel, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (1889). The work is a satire of -isms, with feudalism and monarchism juxtaposed capitalism and industrialism. Here engineer Hank Morgan is transported back in time, but fails in his quest to modernize and democratize 6th-century England. “. . here I was, in a country where a right to say how the country should be governed was restricted to six persons in each thousand of its population. . . I was become a stockholder in a corporation where nine hundred and ninety-four of the members furnished all the money and did all the work, and the other six elected themselves a permanent board of direction and took all the dividends. It seemed to me that what the nine hundred and ninety-four dupes needed was a new deal.“
The political term New Deal was coined by FDR’s advisor, Stuart Chase, (1888 – 1985), an American economist and social theorist. Chase was influenced by political economist Henry George (1839 – 1897), Norwegian-American economist and sociologist Thorstein Veblen (1857 – 1929), by Fabian socialists, perhaps especially Sidney Webb (1859 – 1947) and Beatrice Webb née Potter (1858 – 1943) and by the Soviet social and educational experiments made in the name of communism around 1930.
I hesitantly suggest that FDR is the greatest American president of the twentieth century. The term greatest is used comparatively, in relation to other presidents. It does not mean that I condone all, or even most, of his actions. His attitude to non-European races was, in general, revolting. In particular, I find the relocation/ internment of Japanese Americans repulsive; his initial support of Nazi Germany repugnant; even his extra-marital relationships were regrettable. Some Norwegians may be surprised to learn that FDR’s son, James, stated that “there is a real possibility that a romantic relationship existed” between his father and Crown Princess Märtha (1901 – 1954) of Sweden/ Norway. Other sources propose/ document many other women.
In many ways, FDR appears better when he is compared with his immediate predecessor Herbert Hoover (1874 – 1964). Indeed, Hoover is usually ranked in the bottom third of American presidents.
Yet, because of my particular interests, Hoover deserves credit for: his mother’s origins in Norwich, Ontario; his Quaker background; his Oregon background; his relationship to Palo Alto, including his Stanford education; his relief work in Belgium and his leadership of the American Relief Administration, which provided food to people in central and eastern Europe; his regulation of radio and air travel; and, his support of standardization, “own your own home”, an eight-hour workday and union membership.
However, Hoover was a racist; an optimist despite multiple economic threats, including a farm crisis, a saturated market for consumer goods, growing income inequality, and excessive stock-market speculation. He was reluctant to regulate banks, a characteristic shared with his predecessor, Calvin Coolidge (1872 – 1933); viewed lack of confidence in the financial system as the fundamental economic problem; avoided direct federal intervention, believed that supporting individuals economically would weaken the country. Instead, he believed that charity and local governments should address these needs.
A year before FDR took office, 1932-02-27, an important piece of legislation was enacted: An Act to Improve the Facilities of the Federal Reserve System for the Service of Commerce, Industry, & Agriculture, to Provide Means for Meeting the Needs of Member Banks in Exceptional Circumstances, & for Other Purposes. With such a long title, it is not surprising that it is referred to as the Glass–Steagall Act. It separated commercial and investment banking, and did much to regulate securities, typically stocks and bonds.
FDR was elected in 1932-11 but took office in 1933-03, at the worst moment of the worst depression in American history. With a total population of about 125 million, one quarter of the workforce was unemployed, farm prices had fallen by 60%, industrial production had fallen by more than half since 1929, two million people were homeless, 32 of the 48 states and the District of Columbia, had closed their banks.
FDR’s presidential program is often referred to as 3-Rs: relief, recovery, and reform. Relief, providing support to tens of millions of unemployed; recovery, normalizing the economy; reform, applying long-term fixes.
The New Deal refers to a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted between 1933 and 1939, as laws passed by Congress as well as presidential executive orders. Regulated areas included the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), the Civil Works Administration (CWA), the Farm Security Administration (FSA), the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933 (NIRA) and the Social Security Administration (SSA). Support was provided for major groups: farmers, the unemployed, youth and the elderly. Banks faced new constraints and safeguards, with a goal of re-inflate the American economy after a sharp fall in prices.
Many historians and others distinguish between a First New Deal (1933–1934) and a Second New Deal (1935–1936).
One of the first items that the First New Deal dealt with was the American banking crisis. This involved the enactment of the Emergency Banking Relief Act of 1933, and the Banking Act of 1933.
On 1933-03-06 the Emergency Banking Relief Act dictated a four-day national banking holiday that kept all banks shut until Congress could act. The federal government inspected all banks, re-open those that were sufficiently solvent, re-organize those that could be saved, and closed those that were beyond repair. FDR gave a fireside chat to explain the situation. Americans returned 1 billion previously withdrawn dollars to banks the following week.
On 1933-06-16, the Banking Act legislated 1) a federal system of bank deposit insurance, that protected most people; 2) the further separation of commercial and investment banking, with restrictions placed on speculative bank activities.
The Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) provided $500 million = over $10 billion in 2022, for relief operations by states and cities. The CWA gave money locally to operate make-work projects in 1933–1934. The Securities Act of 1933 was enacted to prevent future stock market crashes. NIRA set up the National Recovery Administration (NRA) to eliminate cut throat competition by bringing industry, labour and government together to create fair practices codes and set prices. The Supreme Court declared the NRA unconstitutional.
The Second New Deal in 1935–1936 included the National Labor Relations Act to protect labour organizing, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) relief program, which made the federal government the largest employer in USA. The Social Security Act and programs to help tenant farmers and migrant workers, also benefited people. The final major items of New Deal legislation were the creation in 1937 of the United States Housing Authority and the Farm Security Administration (FSA), followed by the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, which set maximum hours and minimum wages for most categories of work.
An economic downturn in 1937–1938 led to a split between the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO). Only the CIO supported FDR and its membership was open to African Americans. This confrontation allowed Republicans to make gains in Congress in 1938. By 1942–1943, conservatives of both parties had managed to shut down relief programs such as the WPA and the CCC and blocked other proposals.
While African Americans had to deal with the depression, they also faced social ills, such as racism, discrimination and segregation. They typically held the most marginal of jobs. Most unions excluded them from joining. Anti-discrimination laws were often unenforced, especially in the South. The WPA, NYA and CCC relief programs allocated 10% of their budgets to the African American population (who comprised about 10% of the total population, and 20% of the poor). They operated separate all-black units with the same pay and conditions as white units. In general, benefits for minorities were small compared to that received by the European descendent population. FDR appointed an unprecedented number of African Americans to second-level positions in his administration, often referred to as the Black Cabinet.
The New Deal also discriminated against women, by created programs for breadwinners, husbands/ providers, assuming that whole family would benefit. This failed to take into account households headed by women. When the discriminatory aspects of this policy came to light, the government began to modify policies to help women as well.
After the death of FDR, both Republican and Democratic presidentsleft the New Deal legacy largely intact, even expanding it in some areas. After 1974, however, there was an increasing demand for deregulation of the economy, that gained bipartisan support.
The New Deal regulation of banking was compromised starting in the 1970s when bank regulators began interpreting the Glass–Steagall act (later upheld by courts) that permitted commercial banks to engage in investment banking activities. Even in the 1960s some financial products blurred the distinction between the two areas.
Separately, starting in the 1980s, Congress debated bills to repeal some Glass–Steagall’s provisions. In 1999 Congress passed the Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act, also known as the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999, that repealed them. Democratic party President Bill Clinton signed it into law.
In 2022, several New Deal programs still remain active. Those operating under their original names include: the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC), the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). The Social Security System and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) are the largest programs still operating.
Ray Allen Billington and Martin Ridge have assessed the Impact of the New Deal, especially in their book, American History After 1865 (1981). Not all economists and economic historians are in agreement.
They contend the New Deal harmed the United States: by increasing federal debt. However, Keynesians counter that the federal deficit between 1933 and 1939 averaged only 3.7% which was not enough to offset the reduction in private sector spending; increased bureaucracy, inefficiency, and enlarged the federal government; slowed civil service reform; reduced opportunities of businesses to engage in free enterprise. New Left critics point out that it also squandered an opportunity to nationalize banking, railroads and other industries. They also criticize it for doing too little for minorities.
Neutral effects include a stimulation of class consciousness among farmers and workers; and brought to prominence economic regulation issues, especially where these came in conflict with personal liberties.
Billington and Ridge find the most beneficial aspect of the New Deal, is that it allowed the US to survive the depression without undermining its capitalist system. They also claim that the capitalist system, and the banking system in particular, became more beneficial by enacting banking and stock market regulations; created better income balance between labour in agriculture and industry; distributed wealth more equitably; conserved natural resources; and, established a precedence for the national government taking action to rehabilitate and preserve America’s human resources.
From my increasingly European economic perspective, Americans have through the past almost ninety years diluted the New Deal. Governments, of whatever colour, increasingly expect ordinary citizens to subject themselves to market forces, but exempt large corporations, especially banks, resulting in capitalism for individuals and families, but socialism for corporations. I do not believe that this was FDR’s vision.
Parker Fly Electric Guitar at the Smithsonian Institution. Photo: Smithsonian Institution
The Parker Fly was designed by Ken Parker (1952 – ) and Larry Fishman (1954 – ), and first made in 1993 at a factory in Wilmington, Massachusetts. The instrument’s appeal has to do with its 1) lightness (2 kg) achieved by using composite materials; 2) resonance, largely due to the use of wood; and, 3) multiple pickups – magnetic and piezoelectric – increasing the range of tones available.
In an ideal world, I would have discovered the Parker Fly on my own. This is not an ideal world, and so I am indebted to Brad Laesser (1947 – ) for introducing me to it. Without him, I probably would have found inspiration in some other electric guitar. Perhaps, it would have been an off-the-shelf Fender Telecaster from 1949, or even a Stratocaster from 1954, possibly Tom Morello’s (1964 – ) modified version, Arm the Homeless. But it would not have been Kurt Cobain’s (1967 – 1994) Jag-Stang, that combined a Fender Jaguar with a Fender Mustang. Gibson holds absolutely no appeal. Thus, it would never have been a Les Paul and especially not a Flying V. Even an ESP Explorer leaves me numb. It would not have been anything referred to as acoustic. I may not know much about Guitars, but this does not stop me from forming prejudices!
In addition to Laesser, my insights into guitars come from one other major source, Chris Buck. Unfortunately, there are (at least) two guitarists with that name, including a country and western player from Vancouver, born as far as I can discover ca. 2001, world famous in Cloverdale for Giddy Up. However, the one I am referring to is Welsh, from Cardiff, born on 1991-01-05. He provides insights into guitars on his YouTube channel, Friday Fretworks. If you search the channel, you may even see that he has influenced my opinion about the Flying V guitar, and other technical aspects of guitar playing.
Ken Parker
Ken Parker is responsible for everything on a Parker Fly, but the pickups on the instrument. The success of the Fly is its carbon fibre/ glass/ epoxy exoskeleton about 1 mm thick. This provided sufficient rigidity and strength to the instrument body, neck and fretboard. Initially Parker experimented with hardwoods, but these proved too difficult to work and resulted in an unsatisfactory product.
Parker studied furniture making at Goddard College, in Plainfield, Vermont. He then worked for two years in a grandfather-clock factory in Rochester, New York. This experience is one source of his appreciation of arcane machinery. In 1979 he took a job as a guitar repairman at Stuyvesant Music, in New York City. Here he met an increasing number of improperly constructed guitars.
In an interview with Burkhard Bilger, appearing in the New Yorker in 2007-05-14, he states, “The Seventies were the Dark Ages, I don’t know of any analogue in American manufacturing where quality went so low.”
As a toolmaker, Parker mills most of his own metal parts, and invents devices to speed construction. He regards his guitar construction activities as toolmaking for musicians.
Lutes were most popular instruments of the renaissance. They were teardrop shaped, with fifteen or more strings, headstocks with ebony veneering, perpendicular to the neck. With bodies held together with parchment, they were made of paper thin wood. Yet, their construction was the result of an equation, where a miniscule instrument had to fill a room with sound. To get that volume and projection one had to make them light. Thus, the lute became Parker’s inspiration for a guitar.
This approach increased the sustain, and gave the instrument the added benefit of a smaller, lighter, more efficient body. The composite exoskeleton was critical to the success of the design.
Parker does not regard a guitar as a difficult instrument to make. Yet, for him, it has to be strong, to withstand string tension. It is also dependent on the wood resonating well, which means it has to be thin. With magnetic pickups and amplification, a guitar cannot be allowed to resonate too much. Leo Fender (1909 – 1991) solved this by giving guitars solid bodies, in the late 1940s.
The Fly body has a wooden core, covered with carbon fibre for stiffness. The neck is more like an insect’s exoskeleton. This approach provides a neck that is thin, allowing it to be played comfortably, but it is also light and stiff, preventing it from bending. This contrasts with conventional guitar necks, made out of hardwood, but with a steel rod acting as a spine.
The body’s wooden core varied with the model. It could be made out of poplar (Populus alba), Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis), mahogany (Swietenia ssp.), or big-leaf maple (Acer macrophyllum). Most necks were made of basswood (Tilia americana), although some models also used mahogany.
In 2002-10, Parker began to make Fly bass guitars, these were available with 4 or 5 strings. It had a more complex body made from 21 pieces of Sitka spruce sandwiched between maple veneer on the front and back. The headstock was made of curly maple. The neck consisted originally of 15 layers of laminated mahogany but was later changed to a solid mahogany.
Larry Fishman
Larry Fishman (1954 – ) studied and trained as a cellist and bass player, and played professionally in New England orchestras and jazz bands. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, jazz bass players were having difficulties amplifying acoustic basses to match the sound levels of electric pianos and guitars. The solution for many was to use an electric bass. This did not appeal to Fishman.
Fortunately, he also had a background in materials science and mechanical engineering as well as a basement machine shop, that allowed Fishman to analyse existing devices that could be fitted onto an acoustic bass, and to experiment with design modifications until an acoustic bass pickup emerged from his efforts that “took it to the next level.”
In 1981, Fishman started a company, Fishman Transducers, and began producing a range of acoustic pickups. This work has resulted in him being granted more than forty patents. It also allowed him to build up a company that employs engineers, machinists and other production staff,
1) design philosophy. “The driving factor for design engineering is just a love for the exciting discoveries that you make when you dive into a new arena of some product or idea you have, and you have no idea how to do it. You get some hints, you get some techniques and tricks that you’ve pulled together over the years.”
2) opinion of acoustic guitars. “[W]e’re wanting to enhance that beautiful voice of acoustic instruments, instruments that feel alive in the hand. It’s much more personal than a piano. A guitar you have on your lap. You can feel the vibrations in the neck. You’re touching the strings. You’re not hitting a note, a hammer or something on a guitar. So, you’re really attached to it. The pursuit is to enhance that experience so that the technical aspects of what you bring to the design, never, ever get in the way of that organic feeling that you have when you’re just playing the instrument without the additional electronics.”
3) on music and engineering: “Engineering by itself will not produce inspiring beautiful products. Musical intuition by itself will not produce complete engineering designs…. So you have to have a real strong material sense, a real strong engineering background, and really strong musical sense to put it all together so that it works.”
The main advantage of this engineered approach was that the guitar was maintenance friendly, but not maintenance free.
Beyond the Parker Fly
In 2022, it is 29 years since the Parker Fly came into production. In 2003 Parker sold the company to Washburn Guitars, part of Washburn International. Even before this, Washburn International had agreed to acquire distributor U.S. Music Corporation (USM), in what amounted to a reverse merger. After this, most Parker Fly guitars were manufactured abroad. In mid-2009, U.S. Music was purchased by Jam Industries of Montreal, Canada.
In 2010, a MaxxFly model replaced the original Fly. It had a modified headstock, which allowed it to be hung from a standard guitar wall hanger, a more ergonomic, some would say traditional, top horn, standard pickup cavities, 22 frets (instead of 24) and a thicker, heavier body. The new owners ended Fly production in 2016.
If someone is interested in acquiring a Parker Fly today they have three choices.
First, they can buy a used instrument. Many guitar players prefer old guitars. They seem to find satisfaction in older instruments, that is largely a function of age. They often claim that time transforms a guitar’s materials: Wood stiffens and becomes more resonant; pickup magnets weaken, rust and in the process produce deeper and mellower tones; neck and body, bridge and fretboard mould themselves together.
Second, they can make themselves a copy using subtractive techniques, much like the original Fly was made.
The Fly Clone Project claims that it began to address the need for Parker Fly guitar replacement parts and services. It has been in operation since 2018. However, there is nothing in its description to prevent it from making new Parker Fly clones. More suspicious minds could conclude that this is its real purpose, but are afraid of retaliation from trademark holders. The project envisions four phases:
1. modelling/ sourcing every component on the original guitar including bridge, electronic, fastening components with CAD models, to allow part fabrication using 3D-printing and machining methods. are
2. determining how best to make the cloned parts available.
3. creating advanced and specialized tooling for specific Fly components, including the fretboards and stainless steel frets.
4. adapting existing parts for new functionality and operation, as well as experiments that lead to new innovations.
Depending on their skills there are concerns that this second approach may result in an inferior product. A common complaint is that the quality of wood has deteriorated over the years. Then again, there are technological advances occurring continuously, so it might result in a superior product. One approach would be to use a CNC mill to sculp the body, then to reinforce it with carbon fibre and resin. Today, there would be no need to use fibreglass in addition.
For the body, Picea sitchensis, as it is available from many local sources throughout the world. For example, the species is endemic throughout Cascadia, it was introduced into much of northern and western Europe, including Norway in the early 1900s, where it now occupies an estimated 500 square kilometers of land, spread along the coast. However, in Norway it is considered a high-risk invasive species. Environmental factors aside, it offers a high strength-to-weight ratio and its regular, knot-free rings make it an excellent conductor of sound.
If sustainable materials is a goal, there are many products available that are suitable to make a neck. In Europe it could be constructed out of Tilia cordata, the European equivalent of the Eastern North American, Tilia americana.
Third, additive processes can also be used to make guitars. Because materials would deviate totally from those used on the Fly, this would not be a clone.
One design for a new guitar appeared on Kickstarter for funding. Previously, I have criticized a person without the necessary technical skills attempting to attract financing, without knowing how to engineer the product. Here, it is someone with technical skills, but lacking an understanding of marketing/ sales/ public relations. The result in both cases was a failure to finance projects. In this second case, that person received less than 0.3% of his funding goal, despite writing that his “beautifully designed electric guitar [is] crafted with cutting edge eco-friendly materials, built to play as good as it looks.”
The first challenge with his approach was that he makes disparaging comments about wood, alienating potential purchasers who react positively to wood as a sustainable material. He then refers to PA-12, a granular form of nylon, as an eco-friendly material. However, he did not produce any supporting documentation in his product advertisement supporting this contention.
This approach, using selective laser sintering (SLS) equipment and additive processes based on PA-12 or related materials, holds considerable appeal.
The major problem with this product was its price. He was expecting people to pay £620 = US$ 803 = CA$ 1 058 = NOK 7 327 just for guitar body parts, unassembled; £850 = US$ 1 100 = CA$ 1 450 = NOK 10 045 for body and other parts, unassembled; or £2 300 = US$ 2 980 = CA$ 3 936 = NOK 27 180 for an assembled guitar. These products were available only in a single colour, grey. A purchase requires a supporter to take a chance on an unknown, and untried product, in a potentially unwanted colour. This is not going to happen.
Despite this, some inspiration for experimentation with guitars comes from Jack White/ John Anthony Gillis (1975 – ). His 1964 JB Hutto model Airline guitar, was cheap and made of fibreglass. White chose it primarily to demonstrate that one didn’t need an expensive guitar to produce an acceptable or even great sound. The guitar was made by Valco, and distributed through Montgomery Ward department stores. White modified his guitar, but only slightly to improve its sound quality.
In a perfect world, I should be able to push a button starting computer numerical control (CNC) equipment for subtractive processes, wait a couple of hours and have a clone of a Parker Fly emerge. What I am currently missing apart from the production equipment and machining ability, is a 3D model of the Parker Fly guitar. Then again, I have not acquired any wood or other materials, or any other components. This is not a promising start.
In a weblog post titled Amateur Radio (2021-10-02), I confessed that I didn’t ever expect my radio equipment inventory to include a conventional amateur radio transceiver = sender and receiver.
Within a week of writing that, a radio that filled me with nostalgia was offered for sale, a Drake TR7. This is a 40 year old machine, that lacks many of the refinements/ finesses of a modern receiver. Unfortunately, it sold before I could purchase it. This was disappointing.
Drake TR7 transceiver
However, a more modern machine, an Icom IC-746, only about 20 years old, appeared in the same advertisement. It had a lot more refinements. Yet, it too was sold. This was actually a relief.
ICOM IC-746 transceiver
After a meeting of the Inntrøndelag/ Inner Trøndelag local group of the Norwegian Radio Relay League on 2021-10-21, I visited LB2KE (= a Norwegian amateur radio callsign) Svein Kåre Stubskin Tangen, leader of the local group. I ended up with a Ten-Tec (Tennessee Technology) Argonaut 505, with serial number 388, a transceiver from 1969 – 1973, a fifty year old machine, later paying NOK 350 for it. This machine belonged to LA8WG Jan Tverfjell, a silent key = deceased member of the group.
Ten-Tec Argonaut 505 transceiver.
On Monday 2022-01-10, Alasdair and I visited Svein Kåre Stubskin Tangen again and came home with much more equipment originating with Jan Tverfjell, for NOK 500. This includes at least 2 x 2-meter band radios, an antenna matching unit = antenna tuner (AT), plus numerous small parts that may come in useful, at some time in the future. This equipment will be sorted and tested. Some of will be repaired, other pieces will be stripped into component parts.
I don’t need the 2-meter band radios, having one already, a gift from Alasdair. However, they can be useful in the recruitment of new amateur radio operators. I intend to give them away to people I know, and have encouraged to take their licence. I expect most of these will be women. In general, men have no inhibitions about buying hobby equipment for themselves. If one looks at the two genders, one finds very divergent purchasing patterns, in Norway and I suspect in Canada and USA! For example, I have managed to convince myself that I need 7 distinct types of electric saws to serve multiple use situations. These have all been purchased.
Some people have an extensive collection of knitting needles. Here are some that belong to Patricia.
Patricia, my wife, manages to survive without any electric saws. In contrast, her knitting needle collection is large (easily exceeding 200). If I feel a need to knit, which I last felt working at Verdal prison in an attempt to break down stereotypic behaviour, I borrow needles from her. If she needs something cut with a saw, she typically enlists me to undertake the operation. With amateur radio, I expect that a lot of women would have difficulty justifying the purchase of a radio to themselves. It would be much easier for them to accept one as a gift.
I would like to encourage other radio amateurs to engage in similar behaviour, perhaps with a give it forward proviso. Radio recipients should be encouraged to give away equipment that is replaced, to someone new, without equipment. In other words, don’t give equipment back, give it forward. This concept can be traced back to Menander’s (c. 342/41 – c. 290 BC) play, Dyskolos = The Grouch, performed in Athens in 317 BC. Other people/ works expressing the concept include: Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 – 1882), Compensation (1841), Lily Hardy Hammond (1859 – 1925), In the Garden of Delight (1916), and Robert Heinlein (1907 – 1988) Between Planets (1951). More recently Catherine Ryan Hyde (1955 – ) expressed it in her novel Pay It Forward (1999), which was made into the film of the same name in 2000, directed by Mimi Leder (1952 – ). There can be good reasons for keeping old equipment, including sentimentality. Thus, it is important that people do not allow themselves to be bullied into giving away/ selling equipment.
I am back to Plan A, the DIY/ homebrew/ home made rack-mounted HF = high frequency transceiver, that could provide different modulations, including SSB = single side band (a power-saving form of AM = amplitude modulation), FM = frequency modulation, and digital modes. VHF = very high frequency/ UHF = ultra high frequency are not being considered at the time. Nor is CW = continuous wave = Morse code .
Quaint fact: Amateur radio equipment has traditionally used 13.8 V as its standard voltage. In the circles I frequent, and to add to any confusion, this is pronounced, twelve volts.
As I prepared to write this post, my mind returned to the mid 1960s, and to the electronics classes I was taking. Making devices at that time was a much more complex undertaking, because electronic components were needed to implement many more different types of operations. Today, these can be programmed in software. Once a program is made, it can be used on countless other devices. This explains one reason for the popularity of not just software defined radio, but many other products.
The reasons for Plan A are relatively simple. However, there are general reasons, and personal reasons.
General Reasons
Until the beginning of the new millennium, most living rooms were only half social environments. The other half of the space was active storage. Music was stored on LP records or CD disks. Playing that music involved a number of devices: a turntable, an amplifier and at least two speakers. There were also books that were stored in a paper format on shelves. A television brought a signal into the living room. After a few decades, assorted recorders and playback machines allowed viewers to record programs, and to save them for later viewing, on VHS/ Betamax cassettes, then DVDs. Photography involved a camera, film, processing, slides/ negatives/ prints (depending on film type), photo albums/ slide storage containers, slide projector and screen, with extra bulbs.
Today, music, books and other forms of literature, audio-visual products including documentaries, television episodes and movies, and photographs can all be stored on and transferred to a variety of devices, included servers/ handheld devices such as phones and tablets/ laptops/ desktops/ wallframes. The last one is a new name for a screen that used to be called a television, that can be used to display static images, when not being used to show moving pictures! Life is so much simpler, with less hardware. Apart from professionals, everyone else takes photos with their favourite hand-held device.
As in these other areas of life, radios too are becoming less hardware and more software. The challenge comes with the educational opportunities of radio operators. In North America, until about 1970, there was a strict sexist divide, that required boys to undertake industrial arts: woodworking, metalworking, electronics and draughting. At the same time girls were prohibited from taking these subjects, but were offered home economics courses: cooking and textiles, that were unavailable to boys. Later, both genders were allowed to select from both sets of subjects. In addition, new subjects gradually emerged to supplement and to a certain degree replace, these older ones. These new subjects included automotive mechanics and computer science/ programming.
Personal Reasons
My most important personal reason is that my office occupies an area of less than 4 square meters. Even with an expansion consisting of a new 1 500 x 300 mm shelf populated with 3 Ikea Moppa, mini-storage chests, and a 320 x 300 x 140 mm Biltema assortment wallbox, there will not be an excessive amount of room for radio equipment.
Related to this is my approach to tools. While I still have a number of self-contained tools, such as multimeters, that operate independently of a computer, I prefer tools that share components. An oscilloscope provides a good example. It is an electronic test instrument that graphically displays waveforms. Even today, these instruments frequently have their own built-in displays. Yet, why should one invest in yet another display, when every desktop computer already has one. For a person with some vision issues, a large, adjustable display is a much better solution. In addition, using a computer to process data and to display graphics is one way to save money, that could be invested in a more precise instrument.
A Solution
Thus, I plan to build my own radio hardware including amplifier using commonly available electronic components and store it inside a rack located away from the office, in the basement, that houses our NAS server. This halves the distance from my desk to the antenna/ flagpole, but necessitates the use of remote access procedures to operate the radio. The rest of the radio will be made in software, and stored inside one or more computers.
Similarly, there is no need for physical dials and switches, when these can be implemented as part of a graphic user interface, that use a keyboard and pointing device, if not a touchscreen. Apart from reserves that should be kept on hand in case something breaks, there is no need for more than one microphone, or one headphone set.
Amateur radio can be an enjoyable hobby, but one should know what one wants to get from it, before starting. It can be an effective tool that can be used in emergency situations. Some people are interested in actually communicating with others. Many have little interest in people, but like to win competitions. Another group avoids people altogether and concentrates on building radios and other components.
Personally, I am more interested in the equipment than any communication. I am more interested in digital capabilities than voice, especially using QRP = low powered equipment. However, I also have an interest in experimental (audio-)visual communication, involving both still images and video, especially for use in emergency situations.
In terms of instruments, I have found that a Red Pitaya could act as my primary workbench tool. It saves workbench space by being able to perform multiple functions. It attaches directly onto a computer with screen that is already taking up workbench space.
A Red Pitaya, inside the case.
Radios require antennas. There are many different types, some suitable for specific bands, but not others. These have to be built to match the type of activity envisioned. We are considering an HF antenna suitable for several bands, that can built into/ operate from our 8 m high fibreglass flagpole.
Warning: the remainder of this post is more technical. Some people may prefer to hop over the details of amateur radio communication.
The Ten-Tec Argonaut 505 transceiver is a pure QRP machine, with 5 W out, 13.8 V and 1.2 A in. Some work remains before it is ready to receive or to transmit. A microphone has to be adapted to fit the line input on the radio. There was no power supply unit (PSU) with the machine. Fortunately, I have a 0 – 30 V, 0 – 5 A linear PSU, that should do. Antenna components have been acquired, but are not yet in place.
19-inch racks: A 19-inch rack is a standardized frame or enclosure for mounting multiple electronic equipment modules. It was developed by the American Telephone & Telegraph Company in about 1922, making it 100 years old. Each module has a front panel that is 19 inches (482.6 mm) wide, including protruding edges/ ears on each side, that allow the module to be fastened to the rack frame with screws or bolts. The height of a rack is measured in Us, with 1U = 1.75 inches = 44. 45 mm high. A full height rack is 42 U tall. Such units typically occupies data centres, and corporate offices.
The rack in our basement is half-height = 21 U. The length of the unit is 800 mm. The top of the rack has been transformed into a desktop, which holds a computer screen, mouse and keyboard, plus an assortment of tools. The top of the rack/ desk is 1010 mm off the ground.
The rack currently has a lot of vacant real-estate, probably in excess of 10 U. Thus, new equipment could (theoretically) occupy 400 litres. I suspect that a radio should not occupy more than 2 U in height, or about 80 litres. In contrast, an Icom IC-746 occupies about 11 litres, and weighs about 9 kg. This means that using a rack there is no need for excessive miniaturization. A shelf 250 mm long has been fitted, but could be augmented or replaced with longer shelves if necessary.
There are two ways in which radio frequencies are described. The first is to use the frequency itself. There is a certain amount of imprecision used in amateur radio slang. high frequency (HF) is very specific both in terms of frequency (3 to 30 MHz) and wave length (100 to 10 m). However, a HF receiver will typically take in signals from 0.03 – 60 MHz, with wavelengths from 10 000 m to 5 m. A VHF receiver would take in frequencies 300 to 30 MHz, of which 144-148 MHz, covers the main amateur radio FM band. Signals in the VHF range have wavelengths of 10 to 1 meter
For radio transmission, specific bands are set off for different purposes, including amateur radio. Once again, the bands represent the wave lengths: 160 m = 1.800 – 1.999 MHz (technically, this is MF = medium frequency but is often clumped together with the HF bands); 80 m = 3.500 – 3.999 MHz; 40 m = 7.000 – 7.300 MHz; 30 m = 10.100 – 10.150 MHz, a popular HF band; 20 m = 14.000 – 14.350 MHz, another popular HF bands; 17 m = 18.068 – 18.168 MHz; 15 m = 21.000 – 21.450 MHz; 12 m = 24.890 – 24.990 MHz; 10 m = 28.000 – 29.700 MHz; 6 m = 50.000 – 54.000 MHz (Wavelengths between 10 and 1 m are in the VHF = very high frequency range); 2 m = 144.000 – 148.000 MHz (One of the main FM transmission bands).
Some of the bands are more important than others. For DX = typically, intercontinental communication, one would want to use bands with longer band widths, possibly 40 m. Shorter wave lengths are useful for more local communication.
Alasdair, my son, owns a Red Pitaya with a transceiver. It is often described as a Swiss army knife for engineers. It can replace many different instruments including: oscilloscope, to visualize wave forms; LCR meter, for measuring the characteristics of passive electrical components: R = resistance, C = capacitance, L = inductance and Z = impedance, and many more; spectrum analyzer, that measures the quality of signals; logic analyzer, for digital signals; Bode analyzer, that measures frequency responses in electronic circuits; and, a Vector Network Analyzer, used to test and optimize the performance of radio frequency components, such as antennas and cables.
Disruptive changes are happening throughout the technical world. At the end of 2021-12 Canon Chairperson/ CEO Fujio Mitarai stated: “Canon’s [single-lens reflex =] SLR flagship model is known as the ‘EOS-1’ series, the first of which appeared in 1989. The latest model ‘EOS-1D X Mark III’ released in 2020 will be the last model in fact.” PetaPixel, a photography news website, then predicted that both Canon and Nikon would not invest in new digital SLR cameras, which are bulky, in part because of their use of mirrors, and are now focused on the mirrorless camera market. They said they would be surprising if either company released a new SLR model in the future.
Initially, the language used in pre-college computer science was Logo, a programming language specifically designed for teaching in 1967 by Wally Feurzeig (1927 – 2013), Seymour Papert (1928 – 2016) and Cynthia Solomon (1938 – ). Logo is from the Greek logos, meaning word or thought. It used turtle graphic commands to move a floor/ screen robot (turtle).
Squeak an object-oriented, class-based, and reflective programming language derived from Smalltalk-80, and released in 1996, and Scratch, a high-level, block-based programming language, first released in 2003, have largely replaced Logo. They are more sophisticated than Logo, but I am not convinced that they are any better at teaching programming concepts. In fact, their complexity makes them worse.
This means that older men may have more of a focus on electronics and the hardware aspects of radio, while younger people may be more focused on programming and the software aspects of radio. Thus, before computers became part of everyday life, electronics and the construction of radios, often from kits, was an acceptable hobby. The difference between electronics as a hobby in, say, 1980 and from 2010, is mainly in the use of microprocessors, or their less powerful microcontroller relatives, especially built onto boards. Since about 2010, the Arduino Uno board has been a major focus. However, the AVR chip used on it does not meet the requirements needed in an amateur radio system. The Raspberry Pi is a much better match. Some people also make receivers with Teensy microcontrollers.
While I am fond of unusual programming languages, especially for my own personal projects, using one is not always the best approach if a community of users is expected to work together. My prejudiced opinion is that currently there are only two families of languages that are suitable for a community building the software components of a radio. These are C (and its derivatives, including C++) and Python. People who do not already have a sizeable investment in C, developed in 1972 by Dennis Ritchie (1941 – 2011) at Bell Telephone laboratories, Murray Hill, New Jersey, are encouraged to use Python, developed by Guido van Rossum (1956 – ) in 1991, who was working at Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI) = the Dutch national research institute for mathematics and computer science, in Amsterdam.
