Tech Musings: Miracle motor suppressed! Handheld data acquisition Another hydrogen resource Reactance limiting concepts Web FM radio search service

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Don Lancaster

Document text

Don Lancaster’s 


Tech Musings 


December, 1997 


very now and then some old 
idea gets rediscovered. One 
that might seem "gee whiz" 
brilliant on the surface, but 
has some really nasty hidden gotchas. 
Let’s look at one that has caused me 
some grief in the past. Figures one 
and two will get us started. 
This one involves... 


Reactance Limiting 


Say you are using the 110 volt ac 
power line and need to run a much 
lower voltage device. What are your 
choices? You might use a step-down 
transformer, and pick up some safety 
isolation in the process. You could 
use a Series resistor, inefficiently and 
hotly burning your difference up as 
heat. Or, you could rapidly turn your 
input on and off, changing the duty 
cycle in a much more efficient and 
easily adjusted manner. This is what 
triac lamp dimmers and switch mode 
supplies are all about. And are often 
your most popular choice today. 

But we have a fourth and sneaky 
route. You can use the reactance of a 
capacitor or an inductor to provide 
the voltage drop for you. In theory, a 
"pure" capacitor or a "pure" inductor 
stores energy without dissipation. A 
reactive voltage drop sometimes can 
end up "lossless". 

Ferinstance, in figure 1, we use an 
inductor known as a ballast to limit 
current to an older single fluorescent 
bulb desk lamp. There are three steps 
to the operation: Both switches are 
initially closed. The lamp’s filaments 
both light, heating the emitters in the 
bulb. Your inductor behaves as a 
reactance limiter to hold the filament 
current to a design level. After a 
second or two, the start button is 
released. All of a sudden we have 
open circuited an inductor with a 
large stored magnetic field in it. Your 
suddenly collapsing field generates a 
rather large voltage spike of many 
thousands of volts, "striking" your 
bulb and lighting it. Your ht bulb 
now conducts and the reactive ballast 
acts as a "lossless" run-time current 
regulator for you. 


Miracle motor suppressed! 
Handheld data acquisition 
Another hydrogen resource 
Reactance limiting concepts 


Web FM radio search service 


Use of inductive reactance limiting 
has worked out fairly well for a long 
time. But these days, we’ll use switch 
mode electronic ballasts instead. The 
newer electronic ballasts are smaller, 
lighter, and more internally efficient. 
Some are dimmable. They often run 
the lamps at higher frequencies, for 
more efficient phosphor excitation 
and eliminating dangerous strobe 
effects. They are also gentler on the 
power line. 

Can we use a capacitor as a simple 
and cheap ac reactive current limiter? 
At first glance, the answer is yes. But 
there might be some severe problems 
lurking in the shadows. 

Not to mention that this stunt has 
recently been outlawed. For instance, 
figure two shows a recently proposed 
line operated generator for hydrogen 
and oxygen. An electrolysis cell will 
need only 1.5 volts for operation. So 
the lion’s share of the ac voltage drop 
takes place across the capacitor. And 
do so simply and efficiently. 

What could possibly go wrong? 

go wrong? 

GO MLOUE 

Well, for openers, we have got a 
deadly "hot chassis" shock hazard. If 
the user expects only a volt or two to 
be present at their cell, they are in for 
a rude surprise. Two options here: 
Either provide for a safety isolation 
transformer, or else seal the entire 
circuit up so nothing is touchable. 

Next, any poorly chosen capacitor 


can and will explode! A cheap cap, 
or one with too high an ESR effective 
series resistance, or one not properly 
ac current rated can quite easily self 
destruct. Electrolytics, in particular, 
are a big no-no here. 

I do suspect that battle scars still 
remain on Watson Hall at Lafayette 
College from the 1960 cap explosion 
that was a key controlling part of a 
fall weekend float competition. Or so 
"some sources close to an associate 
of the barber of a usually reliable 
spokesperson" tell me. 

Fortunately, it was after we won. 

Asides: This also was my first tv 
typewriter having a one character six 
foot high display that serially spelled 
out CRUSH LEHIGH. Referring to a 
grossly inferior remedial school from 
a ghetto to the west. 

Watson Hall also used to have five 
floors. But that is another story. 

Where were we? Oh yeah. Let us 
get back to the dangers of capacitor 
reactance limiting. The charge on a 
capacitor cannot suddenly change, so 
if you close the switch near an ac line 
peak the full line voltage can appear 
briefly across your load! In this case, 
a 1.5 volt system has nearly 200 volts 
suddenly thrust upon it. Such an ugly 
transient can cause heavy damage, 
besides badly glitching your power 
line with a nasty spike. 

A series posistor can help, but is 
not a cure. Thus, using a cap in series 
with a pilot light or LED may very 


current limiting 
inductive ballast 


ac power 
line 


fluorescent lamp 


roa 


O oO 


push to start 


Fig. 1 - FLUORESCENT LAMP BALLAST can offer you "lossless" inductive 


reactance current limiting. 


Copyright c 1997 by Don Lancaster and Synergetics (520) 428-4073 www.tinaja.com All commercial rights and all electronic media rights fully reserved. Reposting is expressly forbidden. 


Tech Musings 


115 volt 60 Hertz 
ac power line 


oxygen hydrogen 
out out 


1.5 volt 
electrolysis cell 


Fig. 2 — BESIDES BEING ILLEGAL, what else do you see wrong with this 
capacitive reactance current limiter circuit? 


much shorten the lamp’s life. 

Bad idea. 

Any series capacitor is largely a 
current regulator, so output voltage 


will shift badly with changing load. 


With no load, you end up with the full 
ac line at your output! Because an 
electrolysis cell is supposed to be a 
constant voltage device, this is not 
normally a problem. 
Until you are almost out of water. 
This series cap is also a high pass 


filter, so harmonics are emphasized. 


Your ninth harmonic gets relatively 
"amplified" by twenty decibels. Once 
I did try to use a series cap on a 400 
Hertz aerospace app. I was amazed to 
observe huge seventeenth harmonic 
glitches. Turns out they were highly 
"amplified" slot noise from the 400 
Hertz lab generator. Similarly, any 
spikes or transients get relatively 
"amplified" and raise havoc. 

Last, and by no means least, use of 
reactance limiting is now illegal in 
Europe, and shortly will be in the US. 


100 pF 10Hy 
10 uF 1.0Hy 
44.9 > 

> 
1.0F 0.1 Hy 
0.1 WF 0.01 Hy 
0.01 0.1 1.0 10 
current limit in amperes 


Fig. 3 -—- MAXIMUM CURRENT LIMITING VALUES for inductors or capacitors 
connected to the 115 volt, 60 Hertz ac power line. 


Highly stringent restrictions severely 
limit any harmonic or reactive energy 
you are allowed to put in or take out 
of the commercial power line. 

The 60 Hertz current limit you’ ll 
get for various sizes of inductors or 
capacitors appears in figure three. 

Safer and saner alternates to series 
capacitors are offline switch mode 
operation and the new power factor 
correction chips. From such sources 
as Maxim, Motorola, Unitrode, Burr 
Brown, Analog Devices, and many 
others. Details on new power quality 
regulations appear in Compliance 
Engineering. Plus, of all places, in 
Power Quality magazine. 


Great New FM Service 


Check hittp:wmbr.mit.edu/station 
s/locate.html for a free FM station 
online directory service. You can 
find out what that weak mystery 
station at 91.7 is without having to 
wait for call letters. You can make 
complete lists for every expected 
station in your area, local, distant, 
fringe, or manic. 

Or, if you are planning a trip, just 
enter the cities for each 30 miles into 
your route and extract a list of strong 
local stations to listen to. Better yet, 
print up a custom glove compartment 
book for every town that you are ever 
likely to visit. 

We looked into FM DX tricks and 
techniques on back in HACK86.PDF. 
You’ll do best with an elevated ten 
element Yagi antenna and some 12 
decibel line amplifier sent to a high 
quality receiver. Such as the Denon 
TU650-RD. Especially one that lets 
you switch select a narrower mono IF 
bandwidth. 

But note that local radio stations 
might have low level spurs at wildly 
different frequencies. In my case, a 
local spur trashes Tucson’s superb 
KXCL. Also, strong signals can cause 
cross mod and may splatter stuff into 
unexpected places. So be sure your 
ultra weak signal is not really just a 
nearby station in disguise. 


Shades of Gray 


There sure are a lot of webizens 
questioning just how and why all of 
those "overunity" miracle motors are 
getting suppressed. A pair of older 
examples are called the Gray motor 
and the Adams motor. There are a 


Copyright c 1997 by Don Lancaster and Synergetics (520) 428-4073 www.tinaja.com All commercial rights and all electronic media rights fully reserved. Reposting is expressly forbidden. 


2.0 


cell 
voltage 


0 100 200 
Temperature in degrees C 


EXOTHERMIC 
thermoneutral 
voltage 
reversible 
voltage 
300 400 500 


Fig. 4 - NOT ALL HYDROGEN ENERGY need come from the electricity input 
to an electrolysis cell. Up to one sixth of the energy can sometimes come 
from waste heat instead. Sadly, this effect is more curious than useful. 


dozen equally improbable candidates. 

The usual cause for suppression of 
a miracle motor is labwork that is so 
utterly and mesmerizingly awful that 
it is not even wrong. 

At that point, the developer will 
realize the error of his ways and will 
quietly move on to other things. Or 
else the supporters find working with 
a misguided and a wildly intractable 
"inventor" to flat out not be worth the 
hassle. Life is too short. 

But given enough obstinance, the 
miracle motor eventually becomes a 
prime candidate for marketing as a 


"suppressed" pseudoscience ripoff. 


With the usual overwording, murky 
copies and shaky videos. 

And that is why miracle motors get 
suppressed. For the money. 

To date, there has never been any 
miracle motor that has been able to 
survive a diligent enough search for 
bad enough labwork. Miracle motors 
simply do not work. 

There are several reasons for bad 
labwork. First and foremost is not 
understanding what a true scientific 
experiment, or correct measurement, 
decent documentation, and realistic 
interpretation is all about. Second is 
confusing average and rms currents. 
Ordinary ac meters lie like a rug! 


Third is failing to understand what 
a counter emf is and how it works. 
Fourth is not getting an independent 
verification. 

Fifth, and the real killer, is failing 
to realize just how excruciatingly 
difficult it is to accurately measure 
real power. Especially with strange 
waveforms, nonlinearities, sparking, 
noise, harmonics, fields, reactance, 
or subtle hidden effects. 

Most of those casual free energy 
enthusiasts often fail to pick up on a 
key point: The beginning electrical 
engineering students have spent over 
a century and a half perfecting bad 
labwork. They labor thousands of 
hours each day. Year in and year out. 
Creatively finding newer and better 
ways to trash up measurements, to 
misintrepret results, fudge reports, or 
jump to wildly wrong conclusions. 
They are the undisputed all-time 
world champions at this. 

You have to ask: "Why have all of 
these bad labwork professionals 
consistently failed to ever find even 
the faintest trace of some fumes of 
anything even remotely overunity?" 
While doing so with proper training, 
tools, and environment? 

If you want to convince me your 
miracle motor works, you’ve got to 


December, 1997 


(a) Prove to me you do know how to 
measure instantaneous real power; (b) 
Show me one net watt of long term 
continuous overunity production; and 
(c) Show me acceptible independent 
experimental verification. 

This from an engineer. A scientist 
would also insist on (d) show me a 
peer reviewed and refereed paper in a 
respected mainstream journal. 

More on these miracle motors is 
located at www.keelynet.com and at 
www.eskimo.com/~billb. More on the 
problems measuring real power in 
MUSE112.PDF. Lots more on motor 
efficiency is found at www.rmi.org 
and www.epri.com. And more on a 
genuine new opportunity to legally 
improve ac motor efficiency is at my 
www.tinaja.com/magsn0O1 html 


Handheld Data Acquisition 


There are lots of small dedicated 
computers getting used these days. 
Doing everything from logging UPS 
deliveries to evaluating forest stands 
to entering bar codes to counting 
cows to warehouse inventory apps. I 
thought we might gather some of the 
key players together as our resource 
sidebar for this month. 

On one hand, all of these small 
handhelds do their job very well. On 
another, they always seem pricey and 
klutzily "behind the curve" compared 
to emerging general purpose laptops 
and digital personal assistants. One 
major reason is high non recurring 
engineering or NRE costs; another is 
the restricted sales volume caused by 
fragmented niche markets. 

The leading two trade journals are 
Automatic I.D. News and Portable 
Design. Other useful mags include /D 
Systems, Sensors, Measurement and 
Control, the Scan Tech News, and 
Pen Computing. 

There are dozens of handheld data 
computer manufacturers. Your two 
real biggies seem to be Data General 
and Fujitsu Personal Systems. A pair 
of outfits having case-keyboard-lcd 
solutions are Two Technologies and 
QSI Corporation. 

Resellers of new and used gear are 
Ryzex Remarketing and Dynasys. 

One fine website is Bar Code | at 
www.adamsI1.com/pub/russadam 
Included are book lists and extensive 
web links. A second site with lots of 
tutorial info is mgfx.com. A third is 


Copyright c 1997 by Don Lancaster and Synergetics (520) 428-4073 www.tinaja.com All commercial rights and all electronic media rights fully reserved. Reposting is expressly forbidden. 


Tech Musings 


Aha! Software 
PO Box 391845 
(800) 242-7638 
A.I.M. 

1326 Freeport Rd 


(412) 963-8588 


2190 Regal Pkwy 
Euless TX 76040 
(800) 648-4452 


Antronics 


(206) 776-6758 


(216) 243-8100 


Compsee 
400 N Main St 


(800) 768-5248 
Data General 


(508) 898-5000 


Data Limited 
1312 Indiana Ave 
LaPorte IN 46350 
(800) 526-1299 


Data Vision 

30 Indian Dr 
Ilvyland PA 18974 
(800) 486-0620 


Mountain View CA 94039 


Pittsburgh PA 15238 


American Microsystems 


19709 Scriber Lake Rd #H 
Lynnwood WA 98036 


Automatic ID News 
7500 Old Oak Blvd 
Cleveland OH 44130 


Mt Gilead NC 27306 


4400 Computer Drive 
Westboro MA 01580 


Dynasys 

182 Turnpike Rd 
Westborough MA 01581 
(508) 836-8700 


EasyReader 

2225 Sperry Ave Ste 1400 
Ventura CA 93003 

(805) 650-7888 


Fujitsu Personal Systems 
3545 N First St 

San Jose CA 95134 

(800) 642-7616 


Granite Communications 
9 Townsend West Ste 1 
Nashua NH 03063 

(603) 881-8666 


Handheld Products 

7510 E Independence #100 
Charlotte NC 28227 

(800) 782-4263 


Intermec 

6001 36th Ave West 
Everett WA 98203 
(800) 347-2623 


ID Systems 

174 Concord St 
Peterborough NH 03458 
(603) 924-9631 


Khyber 

150 N Miller Rd 
Fairlawn OH 44333 
(330) 869-5555 


Measurement & Control 
2994 W Liberty Ave 
Pittsburgh PA 15216 
(412) 343-9666 


Mintek 

2196 Main St 
Dunedin FL 34698 
(813) 734-9175 


Norand 

550 2nd St SE 

Cedar Rapids IA 52401 
(800) 553-5971 


Pen Computing 

88 Sunnyside Blvd Ste 203 
Plainview NY 11803 

(516) 681-5208 


Portable Design 
10 Tara Blvd 5th Fl 
Nashua NH 03062 
(603) 891-0123 


Puma 

2550 N First St Ste 500 
San Jose CA 95131 
(408) 321-7650 


QSI Corporation 

2211 SW Temple #50 
Salt Lake City UT 84115 
(801) 466-8770 


Ryzex Remarketing 
805 W Orchard Dr 
Bellingham WA 98225 
(360) 734-9131 


Scan Tech News 
275 Washington St 
Newton MA 02158 
(617) 964-3030 


Sensors 

174 Concord St 
Peterborough NH 03458 
(603) 924-9631 


System ID Warehouse 
1401 Capital Ave 
Plano TX 75074 

(888) 397-9783 


Teklogix 

28202 Cabot Rd 

Laguna Niguel CA 92677 
(714) 365-5675 


Texas Micro 

5959 Corporate Dr 
Houston TX 77036 
(800) 627-8700 


Texion 

PO Box 21548 

San Antonio TX 78221 
(210) 922-5377 


Two Technologies 
419 Sargon Way 
Horsham PA 19044 
(215) 441-5305 


Uniform Code Council 
8163 Old Yankee St Ste J 
Dayton OH 45458 

(937) 435-3870 


Warehouse Management 
201 King of Prussia Rd 
Radnor PA 19089 

(610) 964-4000 


Wesiern Design Center 
2166 E Brown Rd 

Mesa AZ 85203 

(602) 962-4545 


Wireless LAN Alliance 
409 Sherman Avenue 
Palo Alto CA 94306 
(415) 328-5555 


Aha’s links to Mobile Computing at 
www. ahasoft.com/complink.htm 

Key trade associations are AIM, 
focusing on automatic data collection 
and identification. Plus WLANA, the 
Wireless LAN Alliance. And UCC, 
the Uniform Code Council. 

Let me know if I missed anybody 
important here. 


Another Hydrogen Resource 


One good but misleadingly titled 
book is Fuel From Water. By one 
Michael Peavey. Published by Merit 
Products. Lindsay Books now has it 
in stock at $20. 

Yeah, this one is clearly boom-rah 
boosterism that is way off scale on 
optimism. But it does have all of the 
needed numbers and solid research 
references you'll need to intelligently 
study hydrogen. Even some accurate 
figures for the energy density of 


gasoline are included. 

This text does point out something 
rather surprising: Under some rare 
circumstances, a hydrogen generator 
can return modestly more energy 
than is input as electricity. 

In a water electrolysis cell, there 
are two possible energy inputs, heat 
and electricity. Well, with optimum 


NEED HELP? 


Phone or write all your US Tech 
Musings questions to: 


Don Lancaster 
Synergetics 

Box 809-EN 
Thatcher, AZ, 85552 
(520) 428-4073 


US email: [email protected] 
Web page: www.tinaja.com 


conditions, as much as one sixth of 
the energy needed to make hydrogen 
can come from waste heat. 

Figure four shows details. 

At room temperature electrolysis, 
you should find a threshold of 1.23 
volts. Below which no hydrogen gets 
produced. There is a thermoneutral 
voltage of 1.47 volts where all of the 
reaction electricity will get converted 
into splitting water without adding or 
removing heat. 

Now for the neat part: Heat gets 
absorbed from the surroundings in an 
endothermic electrolysis reaction if 
you are between 1.23 volts and 1.47 
volts. Above 1.47 volts, your reaction 
will become exothermic and excess 
heat gets dumped to ambient. 

Your bottom line here: Burning 
hydrogen releases 79.3 watt hours per 
mole of energy. But at its optimum 
production point, a mere 63.5 watt 


Copyright c 1997 by Don Lancaster and Synergetics (520) 428-4073 www.tinaja.com All commercial rights and all electronic media rights fully reserved. Reposting is expressly forbidden. 


Analog Devices 
PO Box 9106 
Norwood MA 02062 
(617) 329-4700 


Burr-Brown 

6730 S Tucson Blvd 
Tucson AZ 85706 
(520) 746-1111 


Compliance Engineering 
1 Tech Drive 

Andover MA 01810 

(508) 681-6600 


Coriolis Books 
7339 E Acoma Dr #7 
Scottsdale AZ 85260 
(602) 483-0192 


Cypress Semiconductor 
3901 N First St 

San Jose CA 95134 
(800) 858-1810 


Electronotes 

1 Pheasant Ln 
Ithaca NY 14850 
(607) 273-8030 


Horn Speaker 
PO Box 1193 
Mabank TX 75147 
(903) 848-0304 


Internet 

2730 Nevada Ave S 
Minneapolis MN 55427 
(800) 328-8456 


Jnl Internet Law 
1185 Americas Ave 
New York NY 10036 
(800) 638-8437 


Lindsay Publications 
PO Box 538 

Bradley IL 60915 
(815) 935-5353 


Maxim 

120 San Gabriel Dr 
Sunnyvale CA 94086 
(800) 998-8800 


Micro Linear 

2092 Concourse Dr 
San Jose CA 95131 
(408) 433-5200 


Mobile Computing 
29160 Heathercliff #200 
Malibu CA 90265 

(310) 579-3400 


Motorola 

5005 E McDowell Rd 
Phoenix AZ 85008 
(800) 521-6274 


Natl Renewable Energy Lab 
1617 Cole Blvd 

Golden CO 80401 

(303) 231-7681 


Newnes 

313 Washington Street 
Newton MA 02158 
(617) 928-2500 


Pem 

PO Box 1000 
Danboro PA 18916 
(800) DIAL-PEM 


Power Quality 

2742 Eastman Ave #33-34 
Ventura CA 93003 

(805) 650-7070 


Qualcomm Inc 
6455 Lusk Blvd 
San Diego CA 92121 
(619) 587-1121 


Renewable Energy Rev 
1617 Cole Blvd 

Golden CO 80401 

(303) 384-6604 


Snaptron 

2468 E 9th St 
Loveland CO 80537 
(970) 663-2820 


Synergetics 

Box 809 

Thatcher AZ 85552 
(520) 428-4073 


Texas Instruments 
PO Box 809066 
Dallas TX 75380 
(800) 336-5236 


Unitrode 

7 Continental Blvd 
Merrimack NH 03054 
(603) 424-8610 


hours per mole have to come from 
electricity while 13.5 watt hours per 
mole could get extraced from the 
ambient heat energy. Thus, up to one 
sixth of the hydrogen produced can 
sometimes come from waste heat. 
Sadly, this "one sixth" gain only 
takes place at low currents and low 
production rates. You get a lot more 
hydrogen a lot faster with the higher 
voltage exothermic reactions. Any 


Copyright c 1997 by Don Lancaster and Synergetics (520) 428-4073 www.tinaja.com All commercial rights and all electronic media rights fully reserved. Reposting is expressly forbidden. 


gain usually is swamped by resistive 
cell loses as well. 


Finally, you can bet that if the best 


electrolysis cell is endothermic, the 
best fuel cell would pretty much have 
to be equally exothermic. 


New Tech Lit 


From Texas Instruments, two fat 


data books about Data Transmission 
Circuits. One is on communication 


December, 1997 


new from 


DON LANCASTER 


ACTIVE FILTER COOKBOOK 


The sixteenth (!) printing of Don’s bible on analog 
op-amp lowpass, bandpass, and highpass active 
filters. De-mystified instant designs. $28.50 


RESEARCH INFOPACKS 


Don’s instant cash-and-carry flat rate consulting 
service. Ask any reasonable technical question 
for a detailed analysis and complete report. See 
www.tinaja.com/info01 for specifics. $75.00 


CMOS AND TTL COOKBOOKS 
Millions of copies in print worldwide. THE two 
books for digital integrated circuit fundamentals. 
About as hands-on as you can get. $28.50 each. 


INCREDIBLE SECRET 
MONEY MACHINE II 


Updated 2nd edition of Don’s classic on setting 
up your own technical or craft venture. $18.50 


LANCASTER CLASSICS LIBRARY 


Don’s best early stuff at a bargain price. Includes 
the CMOS Cookbook, The TTL Cookbook, Active 
Filter Cookbook, PostScript video, Case Against 
Patents, Incredible Secret Money Machine II, and 
Hardware Hacker II reprints. $119.50 


LOTS OF OTHER GOODIES 
Tech Musings V or VI 
Ask the Guru lor ll or lll .... 
Hardware Hacker Il, Ill or IV . 
Micro Cookbook | 
PostScript Beginner Stuff 
PostScript Show and Tell 
PostScript Video & secrets 
PostScript Reference II 
PostScript Tutorial/Cookbook .. 
PostScript by Example 
PacesiandingEs Programming 
PostScript: A Visual Approach 
PostScript Program Design 
Thinking in PostScript 
LaserWriter Reference 
Type 1 Font Format 
Acrobat Reference 
Whole works (all PostScript) 
Technical Insider Secrets 


BOOK-ON-DEMAND PUB KIT 
Ongoing details on Book-on-demand publishing, 
a new method of producing books only when and 
as ordered. Reprints, sources, samples. $39.50 


THE CASE AGAINST PATENTS 
For most individuals, patents are virtually certain 
to result in a net loss of sanity, energy, time, and 
money. This reprint set shows you Don’s tested 
and proven real-world alternatives. 28.50 


BLATANT OPPORTUNIST | 
The reprints from all Don’s Midnight Engineering 
columns. Includes a broad range of real world, 
proven coverage on small scale technical startup 
ventures. Stuff you can use right now. $24.50 


RESOURCE BIN I 
A complete collection of all Don’s Nuts & Volts 
columns to date, including a new index and his 
master names and numbers list. $24.50 


FREE SAMPLES 


Check Don’s Guru’s Lair at hittp://www.tinaja.com 
for interactive catalogs and online samples of 
Don’s unique products. Searchable reprints and 
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cool sites, consultants. email: [email protected] 
FREE US VOICE HELPLINE VISA/MG 


SYNERGETICS 


Box 809-EN 
Thatcher, @Z 85552 
(520) 428-4073 


Tech Musings 


controllers, the other on line circuits. 
From Cypress, their Universal Serial 
Bus Specification manual. And from 
Qualcomm, a brand new Synthesizer 
Products data book. 

A thorough tutorial on solar cells 
appears in Renewable & Sustainable 
Energy Reviews of March/June 1997. 


Included is a detailed bibliography. 


Copies may be available through the 
National Renewable Energy Lab. The 
same journal also has a geothermal 
energy update in it. 

Bernie Hutchins’ Electronotes has 
long been the finest electronic music 
synthesizer newsletter. While lower 
profile than before, these are most 
definitely still being published. Back 
copies also remain available. 

A good web gateway for wavelets: 
www. waveloe.org/wavelet/links.html 


New books: From Newnes, Stuart 
R. Ball’s Embedded Microprocessor 
Systems. From Lindsay, his very own 
Vacuum Tube Regenerative Receiver 
book; and through Jeff Duntemann’s 
Coriolis, great heaping bunches of 
new software development titles. 

Freebie samples: Snap Shot dome 
switches from Snaptron; new flexible 
plastic netting from InterNet (whose 
company name is obviously a really 
baaaad choice); and self-clinching 
fasteners from PEM. 

Featured magazines for this month: 
The Horn Speaker on antique radio; a 
rather costly Journal of Internet Law 
newsletter; and Mobile Computing. 

For the insider secrets of starting 
up your own tech venture, pick up a 
copy of my Incredible Secret Money 
Machine II. Details are in my nearby 


Synergetics ad. You can preview 
parts of the text on my Guru’s Lair at 
http://www.tinaja.com/ismm01 html. 

Along with scads of my other 
reprints, ezines, and lots of carefully 
chosen annotated links. You’ll also 
find full details of my new and fast 
InfoPack research service. 

Also a reminder that my Guru’s 
Lair is now welcoming banner ads. 
At a cost that can end up well under 
two cents per click-through. 

As usual, most of the mentioned 
items should appear in the Names & 
Numbers or the Handheld Computing 
Resources sidebars. Always do check 
here before you call our US technical 
helpline shown in that Need Help? 
box you’l] find nearby. 

Let’s hear from you. There’s some 
exciting new opportunities here. + 


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