How small will it get? I was creating a thread when I wondered when things will get larger again, we already see the trend. Computer were big, they became small, so small even that...

Rongnongno Loc: FL

I was creating a thread when I wondered when things will get larger again, we already see the trend.

Computer were big, they became small, so small even that folks started to look for larger things like tablets.

Now we have the same miniaturization trend in cameras and... While the sensors are not ready yet, a tablet is the ultimate 'chimping' device!!!

Wanda Krack Loc: Tennessee, USA

The pendulums do swing, for many things it seems.

kufengler Loc: Meridian, Idaho 83646

I'm not too sure it's a trend one way or another, but just more options. Depending on what a person (or business) wants or needs to accomplish their goals. I use my mobile phone just like a computer but there are limits to what it can do.

User ID

Ask not for whom the pendulum swings .... it swings for thee.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

I'm hoping the miniaturization trend would end with something like the MicroSD chip. Small enough to lose easily.

In grad school we were always making things smaller with transistors (integrated circuits were just coming available). One curmudgeon would always try to go the other way, using the largest components he could. He really liked to use things like the 4CX1000A vacuum tubes (forced air cooled, multikilowatt dissipation). His equipment filled rooms while ours filled tabletops.

Miniaturization has converted our tabletops into chips now. It was hard enough connecting chips with 0.05" pin spacing. Getting smaller means no more hand assembly. You need precision equipment to place these tiny things.

And my eyes and hands just aren't up to that challenge any more.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

User ID wrote:

Ask not for whom the pendulum swings .... it swings for thee.

😎 Very good. (just reread For whom the Bell Tolls)

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

DirtFarmer wrote:

I'm hoping the miniaturization trend would end wit... (show quote)

I still use vacuum tubes for both audio amps and RF amps - in spite of their size and heat, they have some very attractive characteristics, especially for high power (and the glow is very comforting).

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

Nice in the winter time.

ORpilot Loc: Prineville, Or

TriX wrote:

I still use vacuum tubes for both audio amps and RF amps - in spite of their size and heat, they have some very attractive characteristics, especially for high power (and the glow is very comforting).

When I lived in Alaska, 1980s, My airplane had an old tube communications radio. It ate a lot of power considering the plane had only a 9amp generator. So at night I had to chose flying with running lights and the radio but not the landing lights. In the winter, I liked the radio because the heat given off by the glowing tubes would warm my hands. BTW , Lots of airports transitioned from edison lights for runway lights to LED. They discovered that LEDs don't melt the snow in the winter. Some airports returned to the old power consuming light bulbs or the expense of adding heaters to LEDs or physically getting out and removing the snow around the runway lights. This action is not practical durning a snow storm when the lights are needed most. Ah the bad old days.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

ORpilot wrote:

When I lived in Alaska, 1980s, My airplane had an ... (show quote)

It used to be a standing joke that Russian aircraft used vacuum tube radios and would be the only ones working after a nuclear blast due to the EMP.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

I think it was Milwaukee that put in led stoplights in the summer and had to replace them at some intersections in the winter.

(Hearsay).

I got a Prius in the spring of 2005. It was great until I had to drive home 60 miles in a snowstorm. My cars and trucks would all clear snow from the windshield but the Prius wipers would freeze up because there was no heat coming from the engine. I would have a narrow clear strip to see out of until I stopped and knocked the ice off.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

DirtFarmer wrote:

Nice in the winter time.

3-500Zs in a 1.5KW home brew HF amp.

Rongnongno Loc: FL

DirtFarmer wrote:

I think it was Milwaukee that put in led stoplights in the summer and had to replace them at some intersections in the winter.

(Hearsay).

I got a Prius in the spring of 2005. It was great until I had to drive home 60 miles in a snowstorm. My cars and trucks would all clear snow from the windshield but the Prius wipers would freeze up because there was no heat coming from the engine. I would have a narrow clear strip to see out of until I stopped and knocked the ice off.

NOW That is a great feedback on hybrids and electric cars!!!!!

Get a heated windshield. Check.

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

TriX wrote:

3-500Zs in a 1.5KW home brew HF amp.

I kinda miss tubes. My father was a TV repair technician. As a kid, I used to hang around his shop and help him. By the time I was 10-years old, I learned how to repair an RCA 630 Chassis. That was the classic TV set with 6 knobs and 30 tubes and a 12" CRT screen!. The high voltage rectifier tube in the cage was my favourite. I think it was a 6GB6. I also remember when there were tube testers and self-serve tube dispensers in supermarkets and hardware stores. Anode, cathode, grid, plate, heater. Somewhere in my toolbox, I still have some Greenlee chassis punches to cut holes for tube sockets on my homebrews. A few years ago, I finally sold my scope and VTVM.

I ran 2 McIntosh tube amps with separate Fisher preamps for my first stereo setup. Had 2 Briggs corner enclosures with University 15" triaxial speakers. They were weighed down with sand. Old school but goodies. Great sound! Too bad- Tubes are scarce up here and the prices are insane!

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

E.L.. Shapiro wrote:

I kinda miss tubes. My father was a TV repair tec... (show quote)

McIntosh made and still makes excellent classic amps - I read his original patents on his cathode negative feedback circuit (which gives McIntosh amps a very specific signature sound) when I designed my amps. Here is one channel of my two designed and built quad KT88 audio amps - the two power supplies (HV and DC for the filaments) are separate so there is no AC in the amplifier chassis.