And the Smith Chart

We have a chart!  Who knew?

The only thing that could make me happier is if I could actually understand it.

If you’d like to see a Smith Chart, that there link will take you to Wikipedia.

I don’t even understand Wikipedia’s explanation of a Smith Chart:  “a graphical aid or nomogram for electrical and electronics engineers specializing in radio frequency (RF) engineering to assist in solving problems with transmission lines and matching circuits.”

All I get from that is you can probably buy a book on it at Radio Shack.

Philip Hagar Smith was—you guessed it—an electrical engineer who worked for Bell Labs.  His main claim to fame was the invention of the Smith Chart.  He also wrote a book in 1969 called Electronic Applications of the Smith Chart: In Waveguide, Circuit, and Component Analysis.

It doesn’t sound like I’d understand much of that either.

I do wish I knew more about electronics and electricity.  I’ve wished that ever since that episode I mentioned in Organized Lightning when a child actor asked.  Apparently, I’ve never wished it hard enough to actually do something about it, however.

It’s on my “Someday/Maybe” list, though.

Someday, I’ll take a class.

Maybe, I’ll understand the Smith Chart.