EEVblog 1410 - Mailbag

Mailbag!

SPOILERS:
00:00 - Dancom RT403B 25W VHF Marine Transceiver teardown.
09:07 - Workbench of the week, Tony Albus:
12:36 - Riedon SSA-100 100A Differential Isolated Current Sensor.
22:19 - DODGY! Soviet era mains rechargable torch
27:36 - Jon Newcomb's Microcontroller Proto Boards
33:57 - Affable Snake Breadboard LED bargraph
35:34 - Mystery $2 ebay item DESTROYED by Widlarizer!
37:47 - Present from a 13yo viewer
39:40 - Multimeter PicoProbes:

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#ElectronicsCreators #Mailbag

[djashley]

Thought I recognised that add-on board in the marine radio - it's an ATIS (Automatic Transmitter Identification System) board which became a legal necessity on all VHF transmitters in operation in the Netherlands, the Rheinland, and the Benelux countries in (if my memory serves me right) the mid-90s. Hence the upgrade board.

[grove]

I'm originally from Belarus, which was a part of USSR. This flashlight was very popular in the village where I used to spend my summer days. I'd say that almost every household had this type of flashlight. I can't remember exactly if it was exactly this brand or any other but those wall-plugged rechargeable flashlight was extremely popular among the villagers.

[cosmiceon]

Good on you Dave for sending the kid a meter! I just bought one from you so that makes me happy to hear :) love it!

[olafnew]

That horrible flashlight - is "Helios". How many people were shocked by it - god knows. I was a kid(1988) and nearly got killed by the damn thing. Barefooted boy walking around in the yard - decided to charge it up, and, yes of course - whilst it was charging i've got a brilliant idea of taking out a lamp for some reason. And as a family story tells - my grandmother found me lying in the yard unconsious. In electronics ever since :)

The battery is a NiCd 260mAh and no remorse there - they always, ALWAYS leaked. Curious thing though - they still do make them in this form-factor, and even some descent brands do it (Sony, GP, etc), though of course the modern ones are NiMh.

[dorusan]

Nice gesture with the multimeter gift. Cheers, Dave. Making electronic engineers one by one.

[vincei]

Thanks for sending the multimeter to the well deserving viewer. He will cherish it. Oh, and I bought some of those protoboards, great idea!

[musashigundoh]

24:40 "Helios" in Cyrillic. Quite ironic for a very dim torch.
26:03 "D-0.26D" is a 1.2V, 260mAh NiCd rechargeable cell. Modern equivalents in the same form factor exist (B330H), but they're quite rare.

[alchmyau]

That sigtec on the CB... I was curious too :D
"Since 1996, every VHF radio that is used within the Rhine bank countries, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg and Switzerland, must be provided with an Atis code, which is a personal digital identification code that is sent at the end of a transmission. "

[Limhes]

We speak Dutch in "Holland", not Danish :D

[TonyAlbus]

Thank you Dave! yes those small form factors are Thandar (before it was TTi)

[Llirik]

Torch name Гелиос is (Helios). We have such torches in USSR. They have selectable light beam geometry (by turning bezel). Ni-Cd accumulators. Ingenious charging circuit. And really hi tech big crystal LED (I have one story with makes me think it can produce laser beams). So much memories Dave. My Grandpa had one of this, I remember using it when I was a child, and after he died, my Grandma still used it for some extend. It have an extraordinary life span, especially in regard to thous Ni-Cd accus.
Charging circuit is actually designed in such a way that it provides pulsating current, and this helps to fight memory effect in accumulators. But you must plug it off after some time (6 hours or something to not fry it) I bet thous accus still work if you clean them and charge for a while.

[preston]

That transistor package in the C.B. you didn't know is an XO-9 package used by Philips in the early 70's usually BC147-8-9 BC157-8-9 transistors.

[MrJohnBos]

Hi from Boston, MA. I bought the exact same RS meter you have 50 years ago. I used it back in my old Analog Devices days and it still works, I think. Thanks for your shows, I always learn something new.

[PaaAL]

The branding on the torch says ГЕЛИОС [gelios], as for Helios, the Greek god ;-)

[koraypekericli]

OMG I had the same torch back in the early nighties as a kid! I got it from a Russian marketplace in Turkey! It was miserably bad. 😃

[theprimalpitch]

A pencil is a bad idea in a spacecraft with many switches and zero G. Break the tip and you've got a small random conductor floating around looking for a set of exposed terminals.

[Cheered]

The picoprobe tips are actually easy-replaceable, just grab then with pliers and pull them out. You can also interchange them for the serated points. And turd will do just fine I guess :-)

[mikeissweet]

My favorite segment!
Love the shirt, Dave!

[giordanob.]

As soon as you pointed at the added board, my old modified Midland SSB CB transceiver came instantly to my mind. I built an external VFO equipped with digital readout and then, very very carefully, I connected it to the right spot of the Xtal oscillator by means of a plug I added to the rear plate. It worked fine and it was also very stable, with clean output. I think I knew those schematics better than my home. Merry good old times, I was sixteen then. Thanks for reviving those happy memories.

[profpep]

Vintage transistor packages in the VHF transceiver were called 'Lockfit' packages, a Philips/Mullard design. They had pins made of metal strip, with barbs on that retained then in the PCB for soldering, (and made them a right pain to remove!).