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If you find that fascinating already... did you know that all cellphones use mechanical filters in the GHz range? They combine very good performance with very low energy consumption.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surface_acoustic_wave

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akustische-Oberfl%C3%A4chenwel... (pictures)

by MrBuddyCasino4 hours ago|

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Honestly, the "HF physics is black magic" trope has made me numb to the phantastical contraptions. I appreciate when they look cool, like esoteric orgon wave radiators.

by MobiusHorizons3 hours ago|

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Small note of clarification. HF in a radio frequency (RF) context actually refers to what we would now consider fairly low frequencies between 3 and 30mhz where wavelengths are in the tens of meters. The black magic is mostly in UHF AND microwave regions where wavelengths start to measure closer to the size of circuit elements.

Although I have also heard it said “RF physics is black magic” to cover all the bases

by cgyvbunji2 hours ago|

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Yes, radio found out naming is hard before software did, in very old times there was High Frequency (HF), but then circuits got fast enough to go higher, oops, ok no problem, let's call the new frequencies Very High Frequency (VHF) whew that was close, but wait they got even faster! Ugh! Ok let's call the new frequencies Ultra High Frequency (UHF), but wait, we're still not in the Ghz range yet! Thankfully they did not keep going to Super Super Mega Ultra High Frequency.

by tmzt6 minutes ago|

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So you've heard of USB?

by saltcured1 hours ago|

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They should have started adopting olive size factors.

After Ultra High, we could have had Jumbo, Colossal, Super Colossal. and Mammoth frequency ranges.

Not to be confused with Colossal wavelengths, which is what we could have used if we need to fiddle around below Extremely Low frequencies..

by mNovak1 hours ago|

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Uhm.. Super High Frequency (SHF) and Extremely High Frequency (EHF) would like to have a word.

Though yes in my experience, at those frequencies people stop using ITU designations, and switch to IEEE (S,C,X-band etc).

by cgyvbunji1 hours ago|

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Ahaha that's even better, I had no idea, love it!

by LoganDark1 hours ago|

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Sky High Frequency

by ahartmetz4 hours ago|

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AFAIK, the black magic factor is much higher for HF electronics than for HF mechanics. It's at least partially because you can build more complex systems with HF electronics. The other difference is that high frequency EM oscillations easily radiate energy in the form of photons, while high energy mechanical oscillations radiate nothing for practical purposes (at least in vacuum), gravity waves if you're being pedantic.

by drum556 hours ago|

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Very little uses crystal oscillators, they’re gigantic compared with electronics today and have very wonky performance over temperature and shock.

by i_am_a_peasant4 hours ago|

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even txco's?

by MrBuddyCasino4 hours ago|

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You probably know this, they don't have wonky performance but are even bigger. An oven around a crystal.