Terry Mackenzie-hoy

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Terry Mackenzie-hoy

Mackenzie-Hoy is a consulting acoustics and electrical engineer – machoy@iafrica.com

Once upon a time

12th August 2022 Many years ago when I was a young engineer, I had finished my national service, got married and started work. The work that I found was to be employed by GEC Engineering Services. It was an interesting job because GEC employed relatively young qualified and experienced engineering staff and,... →

Into the future

5th August 2022 If one considers the way things have progressed, we are now in 2022, which is 100 years later than 1922. Looking back to 1922, a great number of things had changed from the beginning to that century until that time. Motor cars had gone from being fairly slow devices with no cabin (and in Britain,... →

Beware of geeks bearing gifts

29th July 2022 In a previous article in this column, I wrote about an emperor who was conned by two people into believing that he was wearing the most fabulous clothes. Two con artists told him that he was wearing a fantastic garment which they gave to him to display. In point of fact, he could not see the... →

The emperor again

22nd July 2022 There is a story about an emperor who is told by his staff that he is wearing a very beautiful jacket and that the jacket is more beautiful than any of the other jackets that he has worn. They say to him that the moment the jacket is put on, it looks unusual and is fantastic and all admire him... →

Evolution of ordinary things

15th July 2022 Once upon a time, when people wanted to write something out, there were a number of pre-requirements for this to happen. The first was that they could actually write and read. While it is quite a long time, if we think back 2 000 years, that for a great deal of that 2 000 years (and one does mean... →

A long time ago

1st July 2022 I recently noticed that I had suddenly become old. I had been quite happily moving along through my sixties when somebody mentioned that my brother was one year from being. This, of course, put me . . . well, it put me where I am. It made me think that, in point of fact, quite a bit of time had... →

The end of text?

24th June 2022 Writing has been around for a very long time. We all know that there is some text which has been around since the 1400s produced by Gutenberg and distributed widely. Gutenberg’s invention of the movable type printing press had a fundamental effect on the production of text because the printed... →

Things that do not change

17th June 2022 There are a number of things that people think do not change. We believe that the sun is always going to be more or less the same colour, that the temperature of the Earth will, within some limits, always be the same and that the sun will shine in a regular fashion. We cannot believe that there... →

De Ruyter comes to the party

10th June 2022 Most people who are not electrical engineers or in anyway associated with the electrical business or are not associated with the interconnected power pystem will probably have no real idea what happens with power generation systems operated by State-owned power utility Eskom. Just about everybody... →

Who knows what comes next?

20th May 2022 It is 122 years since the beginning of the Second Boer War in South Africa. To all intents and purposes, at the time, electricity did not exist. There were a few small devices that produced electricity and one or two early interesting applications, but the world existed entirely using candles and... →

Well, apart from the gladiators

13th May 2022 It is quite possible that, at the time of the Roman empire, some smart operators made some (as my friend Harry Minnie would say) serious wonga from supplying gladiators for the Roman arenas. It’s not a job which is as simple as it sounds. There would be up to 30 gladiators in a troupe and, should... →

Hazop studies

15th April 2022 A hazard and operability (Hazop) study is a systematic brainstorming process of assessing the existence of hazards in equipment and plant operation. This involves a group of engineers and interested parties gathering and going through the operation of the components of an item of equipment or a... →

Oh! Oh! Toto

8th April 2022 As all our readers will know, in aerodynamics, the Joukowsky transform is used to solve the two-dimensional potential flow around a class of aerofoils[WM1] known as Joukowsky aerofoils. A Joukowsky aerofoil is generated in the complex plane (Z-plane) by applying the Joukowsky transform to a... →

Injustices of the tender system

1st April 2022 Astronaut John Glenn, about to be rocketed into space in 1962, was asked how he was feeling. His supposed reply was: “I felt exactly how you would feel if you were getting ready to launch and knew you were sitting on top of two-million parts — all built by the lowest bidder on a government... →

Energy experts

25th March 2022 I think that, by any measure, I am an energy expert. I have been a senior engineer in Eskom operations (Eastern Cape). I have worked for a number of years in the petrochemicals field. I have designed three power stations (small ones, less than 5 MW), and I have designed a 500 MW solar power... →

Unintended consequences

18th March 2022 One of the songs of the Beatles (remember them?) has the words: “Do you want to know a secret? Do you promise not to tell? Whoa, oh, oh.” So, here’s the thing: Elon Musk did not invent the modern electric car any more than Henry Ford invented the general people’s car. At the starting gate was... →

My most difficult field trip

11th March 2022 I am going to write on this day, the tenth anniversary of the event, about the most difficult field trip I ever experienced. Now, let me warn you, not all of this is true. There is some exaggeration. A good pub story. →

Where to invest in Africa

4th March 2022 I was fortunate enough to watch Rob Hersov speak at the BizNews Investment Conference. Hersov is not short of a few bob and is a leading investor in the revamp of Fisantekraal Airfield, in Cape Town. In his speech, he posed the question: In the current scenario, who would invest in South Africa?... →

Using wolves to guard sheep

25th February 2022 We have seen some interesting developments in the past year. Actually, that’s not true at all; we’ve seen some horrifying developments. I think every South African acknowledges that we live in a beautiful country and that it’s a good idea to keep it that way. A careful road has to be followed –... →

Politics and electricity

18th February 2022 Our Mineral Resources and Energy Minister, Gwede Mantashe, has come out swinging with pronouncements that the future of South Africa’s energy supplies is based on natural gas. On December 14, just as South Africans were beginning their annual summer holiday slowdown, the Department of Mineral... →

Working knowledge of EVs

11th February 2022 The definition of true fanaticism is this: redoubling our efforts when our aim is forgotten. As we slide into the 2020s, we are reaching new heights of asinine stupidity, the uttering of cosy illusions and comforting half-truths. The blame for all this is to be laid at the door of Internet... →

Hazel goes to war

4th February 2022 My mother Hazel served at Cape Town in the Women’s Auxiliary Army Service (WAAS) in World War II as an artillery specialist. She had a tough childhood in the Great Depression of the 1930s and decided to volunteer for war service when the WAAS was created. She did her basic training on Robben... →

All so confusing: the decibel

28th January 2022 Okay, here are your questions. Take your time; answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’. (a) Are decibels used to measure sound power? (b) Are decibels used to measure sound pressure level? (c) Are decibels used to measure sound intensity? (d) Are decibels used to measure electrical signal levels? The answer to all... →

Children playing with knives

21st January 2022 In 2004, Harry M decided that Willy and I should go to Hannover, to attend the Hannover fair, a huge exhibition of electrical goods and other products. We were to find some information for Harry. To save money, he booked us into a hotel 30 km from Hannover. When we arrived, we didn’t know that... →

Pushing back the night

10th December 2021 Some of you will know that, for a very long time, the richest person in the world, ever, was John Rockefeller. Not all will know why. The reason is that he was in the oil business. Rockefeller founded the Standard Oil Company in 1870. Rockefeller’s wealth grew as kerosene and petrol grew in... →

The return of the Hindenburg

3rd December 2021 One of the most compelling sound recordings of all time was made by Herb Morrison in 1937. His eyewitness recording and commentary of the explosion and crash of the German passenger airship, the Hindenburg, makes amazing listening. On May 6, 1937, while preparing to land at the Lakehurst Naval... →

To ensure lasting peace

26th November 2021 By the end of 1988, I was deeply unhappy. From 1980 until 1988, I had been regularly called up to attend military camps in the South African Navy. My employers did not fully compensate me for the three moths at a time that I spent away from home and so I was perpetually short of money. At the... →

A little night music

19th November 2021 A Little Night Music is a musical based on a 1955 Ingmar Bergman film, Smiles of a Summer Night. One of the songs from the musical is Send in the Clowns and its first few lines are: “Isn't it rich, aren't we a pair; Me here at last on the ground – and you in mid-air?” →

Vote early, vote often

12th November 2021 I am in a meeting in a council chamber at the City of Cape Town municipal premises. The subject of discussion is a report I wrote, which contains an analysis of whether the noise of aircraft leaving Cape Town International will affect the persons dwelling on the other side of the N2 highway in... →

Frankly disgusted – Part 2

5th November 2021 In last week’s instalment of this column, I wrote about the proposal to construct a wind farm consisting of 45 large wind turbines. The wind farm is to be located at the beautiful area of Paternoster, on the Cape west coast. Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Minister Barbara Creecy has... →

Frankly disgusted

29th October 2021 Barbara Creecy is Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Minister. One of the main functions of her department is to deal with environmental-impact assessments (EIAs). These are required when some organisation wants to develop or build on land that is is environmentally sensitive – where... →

The balloon rises

22nd October 2021 My friend, Vladimir Kilmik, lives in Minsk and visits occasionally. He tells me that Russia can squeeze the economy of all the European Union (EU) as much as IT want, just by throttling the supply of natural gas. The EU imports 90% of its natural gas needs and (spoiler alert) very little of it... →

Our hospitals

15th October 2021 One of our unqualified journalists recently wrote about Charlotte Maxeke Hospital that it had been built during apartheid and that, at the time, there were no regulations regarding the construction of hospitals and other buildings and thus it has many defects that have to be repaired. For this... →

The crooks at Eskom

8th October 2021 I don’t think South Africans are keener on theft than any other nation. Anybody who has seen the film Goodfellas may remember the line (from Henry Hill): “By the time I grew up, there was $30-billion a year in cargo moving through Idlewild Airport and, believe me, we tried to steal every bit of... →

Speech transmission intelligibility

1st October 2021 It’s almost a given. At any function, on any TV broadcast, we will hear somebody speak. More likely than not, the speech will come across with an echo, which will make it hard to understand. Not impossible, just hard. But we concentrate, we listen, and we follow what is being said. It should not... →

The usual suspects

24th September 2021 In the film Casablanca, the resistance suspects are at an airport, trying to escape by aircraft. German soldiers are there. Rick, the anti-hero (Humphrey Bogart) shoots dead the German officer, Major Strasser, to stop him from interfering with the escapees. The French Chief of Police arrives,... →

Hospital engineering

17th September 2021 At about midnight, 35 years ago, in 1986, I travelled in my car down Athol avenue towards Glenhove road. Things changed and, when I became conscious, I was in the wreck of my car. I was badly injured. After a week, I could appreciate my situation: I was in the main orthopaedic ward of... →

South Africa’s power system

3rd September 2021 There are a few people who the media will call up to give an opinion on the South African power system. These persons are always referred to as energy experts, as in “according to energy expert Jonny Breakertrip” or whoever. In a way, this is unfortunate, since, of those persons quoted by the... →

Power system stability

27th August 2021 Recently I was asked what I meant when I said that the proposed Karpowership generation at Saldanha Bay would make the power system unstable. For those who don’t know, there is a consortium that proposes to solve the problem of a shortage of power generation in South Africa using three ships... →

Mackenzie-Hoy’s exploits

20th August 2021 No, no, not me. Benito Mussolini, who died in 1945, was an Italian political leader who became a dictator of Italy from 1925 to 1945. On June 11, 1940, he declared war on Britain and France and, as a first step, on September 13, the Italians invaded Egypt from their colony, Libya. The British... →

A brand-new theory

13th August 2021 When I was young, I worked on the gold mines. On many occasions, I worked in a chamber underground on 18 Level – which is 1 800 m below ground. Underground it was hot and humid. Very hot. The temperature increases by about 25 °C for every kilometre underground, which means it can be as high as 45... →

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