EEVblog #1079 - Mailbag

More mailbag!

SPOILERS:
Microelectronics Timeline Poster:
Fluxgate compass teardown
Oregon Scientific temperature sensor teardown
CCES-33 Calculator Kit
The crustiest multimeter teardown in history
Alcatel 565 Mbit/s PDH mux

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[bradsprojects]

bradsprojects (aka 00retrobrad00) here. Thanks for checking out some of my projects Dave! Unfortunately my web server is having a few connection issues at the moment so if anyone is trying to access my site - it will most probably be down periodically. I'm working on getting it fixed up however.

[JerryEricsson]

RE that book - The tuning fork, you used it to set the motor speed in the teletype machine, they had to run at a presice speed in order to properly translate the key press to electronic pulses that punched the tape, or read the tape from the deck to transmit the message at the proper speed, so the machine, which was properly "tuned" could read your messages. You struck the fork against the palm of your hand then held it in front of the running motor. There were 3 spots on the face of the motor and a stud that could be pressed in, or pulled out to adjust the speed of the motor. When the 3 spots seemed to stand still when viewed through the fork hands then the motor was at the proper speed and everything would work right. I used these thing both in mobile (huts on the back of a 3/4 ton truck) or stationary in a fiberglass hut on base during my tour in Vietnam, so it was a daily chore to test the machines we used to insure everything worked properly, then send a series of ry's to insure that the machine could do it's job.

[DavidWoods_ca]

From someone designing a telecom FPGA while listening to this thanks for the recognition :) Whenever anyone asks what I do I have a hard time explaining. I eventually just broke it down to I design computer chips that make the internet go fast.

[FLyyyT_]

Livestream build of that emulated HP calc? That's be awesome

[stephanathan]

Dave, glad you liked my Microelectronics Timelines. Thanks for sharing.
Cheers mate.

[chromabotia]

I know that you're a very busy guy, but I sure love these mailbag segments. Thanks!!

[FireballXL]

The 2 larger chips @ 40:34 are I assume 100k ECL, I have not seen much of that for a while we used it in the Philips mega doc monitor in the video path.

[johnfrancisdoe]

28kV and odd mV ranges, plus the marking on the scale says this meter was dedicated to old school CRT TV repair. But I guess you need the manual to know how the ranges, switches and inputs combine.

[gcewing]

Maybe send the multimeter to Mr. Carlson. He might find it a challenging restoration project.

[JerryEricsson]

Oh forgot to mention, I have a very old multi meter, it is mounted in a very nice wooden box, a red face of some sort of early man made board, there are a series of plugs down both sides of the face, and a round meter near the top of the case. No brand names on it, and when I got it about 35 years ago, it had 2 D cell batteries made by Winchester according to the labels. I sold the batteries for 30 bucks each at a gun show, they went before the show even opened to a Winchester collector who was displaying at the show. I have never tried the meter as I didn't have probes to fit the plugs, (or any D cells for that mater) but it sits on my book case for all to see when they visit my home

[freeman]

Hope the pages aren't stuck together! I lost it.

[edgeman]

Always makes me sad when a crowdfunder doesn't get featured before their cutoff, but that is the way it goes. It eases things when they reach their goal even without the "big boy's" help, though.

[djvanzz]

I'd just like to thank you for having a 'no bullshit' style mailbag video with a stupid long intro and whatnot. Really appreciate that you just jump right in.

[nxt-]

Boom is a town in Belgium, it's actually where Tomorrowland is organized each year. Boom is the dutch word for "tree". The o's are pronounced the same as an elongated o in "over there".

[FLyyyT_]

How many crowdfunding projects might have done better if Dave only took a look at them before the funding time ended. Haha not pitting blame. Just poking fun.

[TheBobbyB]

That poster is too cool, just bought one. Thanks for sharing it with us Dave.

[Ivo--]

That crusty multimeter looks surprisingly clean inside. Just get rid of the rust flakes and it looks almost brand new.

[MindMeetMaker]

The interesting thing about the telecoms cards is they are from a 565 PDH system and at 565Mbps was not a approved speed by the ITU-T so every manufacturer did it a bit different can be a nightmare to work on I have had many late nights fault finding on these systems

[Arek_R.]

Similar story as Tom, not much money for equipment so I hunt for broken deals on ebay, fix them and equip myself.
Owon scope - FW bricked it, update fixed it.
Agilent PSU - unable to set/measure output, bunch of resistors were open/off
Precision K type thermometer - nothing to fix, was actually working

But it's not easy here in UK to get some broken equpiment...

[petersage]

I love this mailbag. Dave's like a kid at Exmas.