Wax nostalgic about and learn from the history of early electronics. See articles
from Electronics World, published May 1959
- December 1971. All copyrights hereby acknowledged.
Are you old enough to remember when
Reader Service Cards were inserted into the binding of magazines? They were the old world
version of website URLs and QR (quick response) scan codes. Each advertisement in the magazine
had a Reader Service Number printed on it, so you would take your pen and draw circles
around the matching numbers on the Reader Service card, then mail it to the publisher.
Sometimes it would take months to get information in return - if you got it at all. A
typical Reader Service Card is shown below. Look at the bottom of the Poly Paks ad to
see "Circle No. 96 on Reader Service Card."
Electronics-Themed Comics
Reader Service Card
Poly Paks Ad with Reader Service number at the bottom
Posted February 15, 2018
These Technically-Themed Comics Appeared in Vintage Electronics Magazines. I
personally scanned and posted every one from copies I own (and even colorized some).
275 pages as of 5/13/2026.
RF Cafe began life in 1996 as "RF Tools"
in an AOL screen name web space totaling 2 MB. Its primary purpose was to provide
me with ready access to commonly needed formulas and reference material while performing
my work as an RF system and circuit design engineer. The World Wide Web (Internet)
was largely an unknown entity at the time and bandwidth was a scarce commodity.
Dial-up modems blazed along at 14.4 kbps while tying up your telephone line,
and a lady's voice announced "You've Got Mail" when a new message arrived...
