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.
replyAlthough I have also heard it said “RF physics is black magic” to cover all the bases
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.
replySo you've heard of USB?
replyThey should have started adopting olive size factors.
replyAfter 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..
Uhm.. Super High Frequency (SHF) and Extremely High Frequency (EHF) would like to have a word.
replyThough yes in my experience, at those frequencies people stop using ITU designations, and switch to IEEE (S,C,X-band etc).
Ahaha that's even better, I had no idea, love it!
replySky High Frequency
replyAFAIK, 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.
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