Spring is winding down and summer is coming on fast, but school is still in session in many places. So there is still time for a little history lesson of the radio electronics variety.

Philip Neidlinger, KA4KOE, has just unveiled a new Web site that features entertaining and informative essays that Philip wrote about radio and electronic pioneers. From Ampere to Volta, and Armstrong to Termen, there are essays about all the influential "dead electrical dudes," as Philip calls them.

Termen? KA4KOE is a big fan of the Theremin, so it is no surprise that his "dead dudes" includes an essay about the inventor of that musical instrument. In addition, the Web site includes an illustrated article about the tube-based Theremin that Philip built.

Back to radio, there are also links to Philip's "Collins R388/URR Receiver Resource Page" and his April 2006 QST article, "Green Radio Round-Up" that deals with portable military "manpack" radio equipment.

Are You in the Blog Now?

Here are two comments in response to last week's Surfin' that was about Amateur radio blogging.

Steve Weinert, K9ZW, wrote: "There are so many variations of Amateur Radio Blogs. I set out to encourage new hams and to share what others have shared with me. It is an interesting feeling to know what you write is read by hundreds of people before the day it out -- my amateur ponderings have about 10-12,000 'direct hits' a month plus those reading by RSS feeds."

Steve's blog is called With Varying Frequency -- Amateur Radio Ponderings.

Kevin Wheatley, M0KHZ, wrote: "I started my blog as a way to distribute info to encourage homebrew. There's now a huge amount of data there to build a homebrew state of the art shack. How about a homebrew SDR-1000/LP100/20 W & 150 W PA plus all the test gear you'll need (with the exception of perhaps a spectrum analyzer!). If I can do it, anyone can with some practice."

Until next time, keep on surfin'!

Editor's note: Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU, prefers the status of Live Electrical Dude. To communicate with Stan, send him e-mail or add comments to his blog. By the way, every installment of Surfin' is indexed here, so go look it up.

Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU
Contributing Editor