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May 1964 Radio-Electronics
 [Table of Contents]
Wax nostalgic about and learn from the history of early electronics.
See articles from Radio-Electronics,
published 1930-1988. All copyrights hereby acknowledged.
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  Here we go with four more
electronics-themed comics, this time from the May 1964 issue of
Radio-Electronics magazine. Man-made satellites were a relatively new
phenomenon, so they were fair game for ridicule. A lot of people were afraid of
a satellite falling from orbit and crashing through their roofs or strike them
down on the golf course. In the ensuing 66 years since Sputnik was launched in
1957, as far as we know Lottie Williams, of Tulsa, Oklahoma, is the only person
ever to have been confirmed to have been hit by a piece of satellite debris.
Another comic makes fun of the trend in the day of vacuum tubes being designed
with an ever-increasing number of pins. The pin counts on most tubes were
typically between 4 and 8. A diode tube had two pins for the heater element and
one each for the cathode and anode, for a total of 4. A duotriode like the 12AT7
sported 8 pins. The 6AV11 Compactron Three Triode
contained 3 triodes (a triotriode) and had 12 pins, three for each triode, two
for the heater, and one N/C. Some cathode ray tubes (CRTs) had 14 or more pins.
Attempts were made to build vacuum tube integrated circuits which incorporated
discrete components, and used pins for connecting external components for
customizing the functions, similar to how modern ICs are configured.
Electronics-Themed Comics
"... Signal is getting stronger!"
Page 74
Page 88
"Twenty-seven pins!"
Page 91
"... and the resonance point will occur somewhere on the third
floor..."
Page 59
Posted July 17, 2023
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.
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