Wax nostalgic about and learn from the history of early electronics. See articles
from Popular Electronics,
published October 1954 - April 1985. All copyrights are hereby acknowledged.
Here is a little electronics hobbyist
humor in the form of comics, compliments of Dave Harbaugh. These comics appeared
in the January 1962 issue of Popular Electronics magazine. Dave liked
to include amateur radio themes in his comics. For the non-Ham, QRM is the Q-code for "manmade interference."
You don't need to be an amateur radio operator to appreciate those first two scenarios.
The others are more generally related to electronics. A
search of RF Cafe for "Harbaugh" will turn up
many more of his works. As has been my practice of late, I colorized these
comics.
Hobnobbing with Harbaugh
Just Plain QRM
by Dave Harbaugh
Posted October 12, 2022 (updated from original post on 9/17/2012)
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...
