Apollo Comms Part 25: powering up the Central Timing Equipment box

We power up Apollo's capsule Central Timing Equipment and make a space Nixie tube space clock while we are at it.

Links to doc:

Our sponsors

[Spookieham]

A sealed box from 1969 and it can hit 500.00042 khz without external locking. I'd say that's pretty good and a testament to the design engineers and the people who put it together.

[yvesmorrissette]

I've never, ever, seen such high level nerdery put up to such good use. Keep it up nerds, I love you.

[mariomarcelosiad]

in each chapter, more amazed at the electronic engineering used in those modules. you are like archaeologists discovering those secrets. THANK YOU

[Lwcash]

Marc and friends, thank you for this fascinating look into historical hardware! Your video's are so well made and don't dumb down anything. Thank you for respecting your audience and not giving in to the standard annoying youtube practice of reminding to like and subscribe!

[paulw]

I send Apollo deniers to this channel! Some old timers had difficulty wrapping their heads around IC's and multi via boards from this period, when discrete consumer electronics were so large / bulky Keep up the good work, been following this channel since your droid!

[LarryYaw]

I can remember my family huddling around a small black and white TV to watch everything and anything about the Apollo missions, especially Apollo 13. We we all so glad to see them make it back home. Thank you all for bringing all this stuff back to life. You guys are all amazing. Such brilliant minds all coming together.

[cda]

Eric's magic finger strikes again! This time outputting binary

[MikeinSoCal]

In 1976, I worked in the factory of a Skokie, Illinois manufacturing company. My boss was a great guy who was once an executive at General Time Company in Elgin, Illinois. He told me the story of how his company sought the contract to build the Apollo central timing unit, and was so proud of their part in the Apollo project. General Time built some prototype clocks using the very best parts and techniques available at the time, building them to exacting NASA standards. My boss traveled from Chicago to Houston with two copies of the prototype in a briefcase sitting next to him in an adjacent seat on his flight. He delivered the items to NASA and General Time won the contract.
He told me there was a switch on the Saturn rocket that activated when the rocket lifted off the launch pad to start the clock. If I remember correctly, the whole vehicle had to move up a short distance to trigger the switch.

[tomteiter]

oooh I love the counter modification! It's so clean and simple and totally shows off an almost natural understanding of the inner workings of things. It's beautiful!

[SpinStar]

First off, outstanding non-destructive modification of the HP counter/DVM; that is as clean as it ever gets--fantastic Marc & Crew!
Next, I was really taken aback by the 'all-eggs-in-one-basket' approach for the central timing unit; but even more impressed that everything has backups in both time generation and power supplies--really impressive defensive human-rated design work! Every time I look at NASA design documents I REALLy get and education---what smart people!
Finally thanks for working on these NASA space projects; I hope you are able to find more in the future!

[carpetbomberz]

I know it wasn't absolutely necessary, but it was certainly appropriate to get the HP Nixie tube counters doing some real work (keeping mission time of course). Kudos once again, and much respect for making that mod to the HP counter reversible. No detail spared, EVAR!

[neilshep]

The ETU is welded closed to ensure 100 percent reliability. If the magic smoke can't get out, the unit won't stop working.🤣🤣🤣

[HenrikDanielsson]

I wish I had the time and ability to work on stuff like this. It's so fascinating to learn about the early days of ICs and how it was used by Apollo. Having a full scale modular replica of the insides of the CM & LM panels that you could actually operate would be a dream, but I would settle for a digitally simulated version.

[KeritechElectronics]

That's how you engineer for reliability! Lovely tech, as always on your channel. Apollo time in the Artemis age... Loveliness increases, it will never pass into nothingness.
IC substitution is a cool hack. So, mission time clock is green and go for launch :). As always, waiting for the next one!

[PeetHobby]

How many devices are we away from launching an Apollo rocket? 😁The collection is growing and growing, very nice, love every bit of it. 👍

[SM-rnxy]

Another fascinating piece of the puzzle. With all the bits of the Apollo program you guys have now I am just waiting for you to announce a launch date 🚀

[thomasives]

Great solution for the aerospace connectors! Those connectors (even the rectangular ones) *are* available, they're just expensive. For an indoor application, your adapter is perfectly adequate. Cheers!

[JB-xtzm]

Truly inspiring videos, cant get enough of watching you and the team troubleshoot and come out successful
please keep the videos coming can’t wait for the next!

[JohnRineyIII]

It makes sense, considering the number of places timing signals went, that "the clock has started" (or similar wording) was important enough to call out at liftoff.

[rpcomms]

THIS IS REALLY "hANDS-oN" ENGINEERING, SOMETHING THATS NOT TAUGHT ANYMORE!Well done!