Viewing posts from December, 2025

"Super-Regenerative Receivers" by J. R. Whitehead

Posted : in News, Sensitive Design 2 weeks, 5 days ago

A quick plug for a little gem of a book that all fans of early radio should know about: "Super-Regenerative Receivers" by J. R. Whitehead (Cambridge University Press, 1950).  It's part of the Modern Radio Techniques series, where a bunch of the technical movers and shakers document the advances that were made during the war, e.g. centimeter radar.  This one is about the theory and practice of superregenerative radios.  I learned a lot from it and had a lot of fun.

Temperature Control 1: Simple Control Theory

Posted : in New Technology, News 2 weeks, 6 days ago

Temperature Control

The need to control temperature is everywhere, but getting it right is more difficult than one might expect. A domestic furnace controlled by a simple thermostat keeps a house comfortable in winter, but the inside air temperature swings irregularly over a range of a few degrees. That's fine for a house---you can have a New Year's party, with a bunch of people dissipating a hundred watts each, doors to hot ovens and the cold outside opening and closing, no worries whatsoever.  The heating system keeps it comfortable.