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McWatts was an electronics-themed comic
that appeared in Popular Electronics back in the 1950s. Artist Carl Kohler's main character is a stereotypical
Joe Sixpack (actually a Joe McWatts)electronics hobbyist who dreams up
unique ways to deal with situations. This edition shows McWatts in a scenario where, presciently enough,
he experiences having his radio controlled airplane treated to what modern day 'drone' pilots are experiencing
on a more and more frequent basis - being shot down. In this case the hostile fire came from some kids
with slingshots. Fast-forward to 2015 and we are now seeing reports of people using shotguns and rifles
to down the privacy-invading craft being piloted by unqualified pranksters. Back in the McWatts era,
getting 'shot down' was much more likely to occur when non-protected frequency usage
(27 MHz band) caused death-inducing interference that resulted in
loss of control. Nearly all modern systems use bullet-proof spread spectrum modulation in the 2.4 GHz
ISM band.
Other Carl Kohler masterpieces: "The
Great Electron-Pedantic Project," "Dig That Reel Flat Response,"
"I Married
a Superheterodyne," "Unpopular Electronics,"
"Operation Chaos,"
"Thin Air, My Foot,"
"High Tide in the
Tweeter," "The
R/C Cloud," "Hi-Fi Guest List,"
"Kool-Keeping Kwiz
," "Boner Box," and "McWatts."
McWatts
Comic Strip
By Carl Kohler
These Technically-Themed Comics Appeared in Vintage Electronics Magazines:
Posted March 30, 2015
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