Paths of invention by Ruud Broens Well I was working my accounts late one night In comes the neighbour's son, face all bright "Uncle Ned", he said - we call him Al - and :) "You've gotta come join in an experiment" Into the young lad's lab we stepped with pace While he told me all about KT^4 and space Now here's the setup Al devised down there in 'the base' "A modulated beam of light, an LDR and amp" was his phrase "Now what hath this tale of a 15 year old to do with tubes" you say A tube amp, a battery, a car's headlight running in a serial way hooked up to a taperecorder formed his transmitter for the day Well, dear reader, I'd say, now you're likely to stay OK, now I'm no physics buff, but heck, this stuff will surely hit the deck When experience tells me merely switchin' on the headlights takes half a sec Undaunted clever Al graciously stood and reminded me of KT^4 "You see, the battery is biasing at 13 Volts or so - this is the floor with the amp's secondary we will be 'flappin the door' " -Of course that's not how it was said, merely a crummy writer's way of rhyme- I was highly sceptical, but readily picked up the receiver on Al's cue "Time!" I was positioned 40 feet away from the lad aligning the LDR's reflector     another headlight - emptied for that with the beam bright this late June knight proved to be right! With a sound somewhat like AM radio coming through a little speaker My believes in extrapolation from common sense instantly grew weaker The little transistor amp obviously amplified that LDR's modulation Just directing it to a fluorescent tube gave me dire sonic aggravation Many times since have I visited Al's basement Often there was astounishment and excitement But now we come to the inevitable 'morale' of this -a true- story Study, then test, experiment / then believe / for the rest: don't worry Rudy Close this window to return to index