Yikes!

Jul 26, 2011 77 Replies

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I used to fix tube radios and teevee sets for pocket money. Most of the time the fix was new tubes or some spraying with contact cleaner, the occasional electrolytic. I don't recall many passive failures. Yoke coils would fail sometimes, flybacks less.

My uncle Sheldon, who first taught me electronics, had a TV repair shop. He was a real rascal. He'd tell people they needed a new picture tube, take the set into the shop for a week or two, Windex the CRT and the cover glass, and charge $100. He always worked with a Dixie beer in one hand... had them delivered by the crate.

John

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Failing or failed flybacks was a major chunk of my TV repairs. And then it was always "Where do we get a new transformer? Will they sell to non-biz folks? Will they charge an arm and a leg?". Sometimes folks borrowed a white lab coat so they look like genuine TV repairmen so they'd sell to them.

That is very wascally. It could at times be worse though. "Oh, a repair will be sooo totally uneconomical. You need a new set, and we happen to have this great deal right now ..."

Similar with a heating/air company more recently. "Oh, your ducts should be upgraded, they are too small and we should avoid sharp bends and stuff" ... "But you guys did this install" ... "Oh, umm, well ..."

Regards, Joerg http://www.analogconsultants.com/

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Oh, he'd do that too. Tell them it's a goner, sell them a new Muntz, turn them over to a finance company, and sell their old one to someone else.

John

CMOS realisations of the 555 are obviously not the old bipolar 555, and don't have the same weaknesses - which Hans Camenzind has discussed.

Bill Sloman, Nijmegen

And kilomegacycles! And uuF!

John Larkin expounded in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Ya- when did mhos go away?

Seems so stupid to change that. At this rate, we'll soon be measuring 45.6 texas_instruments.

Warren

I'm grateful my diodes dont come in stone containers any more. Once standard isntructions for how to make a battery charger: Take a carbon filament lamp and a half gallon stone jar...

NT

John S expounded in news:j0s34c$jnu$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:

..

Yes! That was one of the reasons I acquired a copy for my own library. Not that I've actually used that info yet.. but great fireside reading.

"Toss another Microsoft book into the fireplace dear.."

Warren

They just don't make books like that anymore. Was like the family bible to me. Oppie

They don't, do they?

Good stuff from the past:

GE SCR manual

Reference Data for Radio Engineers

MIT RadLab books

Arthur Williams' filter books

Don Lancaster's Active Filter Cookbook

Jim Williams' two analog design books

National's linear design book

Analog Devices "Basic Linear Design."

Recent goodies:

AoE

Phil Hobbs' book.

John

John Larkin, President Highland Technology, Inc jlarkin at highlandtechnology dot com http://www.highlandtechnology.com Precision electronic instrumentation Picosecond-resolution Digital Delay and Pulse generators Custom laser controllers Photonics and fiberoptic TTL data links VME thermocouple, LVDT, synchro acquisition and simulation

Unitrode "Unitrode IC Data Handbook", 1990

Fairchild "ECL Data Book", 1977

Motorola "MECL Device Data", 1986

Other than the bible (the real one) and the old ARRL Handbooks these are the most worn books in the office.

Regards, Joerg http://www.analogconsultants.com/

One more: The Care and Feeding of Power Grid Tubes by EIMAC.

Tauno Voipio

So what do they recommend feeding them? Whole grain cereal? Or maybe Lutefisk when operated in colder climates? :-)

Regards, Joerg http://www.analogconsultants.com/

No - that is reserved for the Norwegians ...

Some volts and a hefty current for the filament (e.g. 5V 15A for 3-500Z) and plenty of volts for the plate (anode) supply. The more ladylike ones want grid bias and maybe some hundred stabilized volts for the screen.

And, enough of cooling air.

Tauno Voipio

Here is the amp I built back when I was a student. Sorry for the fuzzy pic but I sunk all my money into parts I could build ham gear with, not into photo equipment:

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Two tetrodes but they have a bit more muscle than the 3-500Z:

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Regards, Joerg http://www.analogconsultants.com/

They replaced them with the Internet. *Much* better.

Gates Energy Secondary Battery

Looks familiar - I made a pretty similar one, but I sold it decades ago. The 2 * 3-500Z is still somewhere in the attic.

Regards, Tauno (OH2UG)

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