I agree completely. It's just a matter of picking a form of learning that balances frustration with reward, based on one's own inclinations. 🙂
Right now, I think I prefer beating my head against my limitations as a musician, rather than beating my head against the increasing difficulty of dealing with little electronic parts. So I spend more hours on the former than the latter!
On the plus side, I just fired up what I've built so far of my home-brew signal generator. I was rewarded with a nice crisp triangle wave, and a slightly less crisp square wave.
Next up, building the triangle-to-sine shaping circuit, based around a second TL072. That will have to wait a few days for some free time.
The sig-gen build has also shown me a use for the $2 HP printer power supply I bought at a thrift store; this particular one is labelled 0V, 16V, 32V, but it seems to work well as a -16V, 0V, +16V dual-rail supply for op-amps. It's powering the signal generator right now.
That, I can fully understand! For me, thats too much frustration for too little reward.
When the last through-hole components are gone, I guess I'll have to give up electronics, and take up stamp-collecting or something!
-Gnobuddy
Boca Roton, Shomberg?
I remember that model. It was on its way out when I started at Mot. My first job out of college was working on the portable line, testing and tuning them up to the customers specs. recall mx100, voice encription modules, plug-in modules and a 4-layer motherboard pcb. afternoon shift, 4 10's. Long weekend every weekend 🙂 party
I was lucky enough to get a promotion to the test equipment dept, learnt lots there. We developed automated test systems and fixed all the gear. It was fun!!
The Toronto factory took on the IMR radio and some design, early 80's, do you remember that one? MCX100 First intro into smt. 3870 mcu's. I still have parts that I picked up from the floor when I was repairing the Excellon pick n place machine 🙂
I managed to buy a HP 8565B RF SG from the ebay auction from a previous EE, who got it at the equipment selloff.
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It's a love-hate thing with me too.
My current project is a bit too much, I'll probably cut-and-run and simplify the thing as I'm mid-curve on the satisfaction scale which ain't the best place to be: http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/solid-state/146686-how-complex-make-amplifier-lighthearted.html
My current project is a bit too much, I'll probably cut-and-run and simplify the thing as I'm mid-curve on the satisfaction scale which ain't the best place to be: http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/solid-state/146686-how-complex-make-amplifier-lighthearted.html
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I answered a newspaper ad to become a test and tune tech on the HT220. Started in Plantation Florida in 1973 after being a repair tech in an Olson Electronics store and a TV shop.
Where were you working? Toronto? I never knew much about Mot's Canadian operations. In fact the only non Florida plant I visited in my career was in Singapore.
Mot never had a plant in Boca Raton. There were two "think tanks" located in Boca near the huge IBM plant (now gone also). I worked at one of them for it's two year existence. Despite 41 years at Mot, I have never been to Schaumburg.
I started in the HT220 group. Got into the calibration lab as a factory support tech in 1975 just as the MX-300 radio started production. I was glad to escape the factory line!!!! We were just getting into the ATE systems when I left the cal lab. Definitely learned a bunch.
ASFAIK, all US market MX-300 radios were built in Plantation Florida. I don't remember the MX100, but model numbers changed to suit the market and price. The "Jedi" line (90's) had at least a dozen different model names and numbers to suit the different markets. The MX300's used a 4 layer board with plug in modules. About half of the plant at the time was devoted to making those modules. I used to support all that stuff too.
Google tells me that was a mobile radio. The mobiles were designed and made in a plant in Texas until some time in the 90's. The plant was shut down and all US mobile radio development was moved to Plantation while I was working in a different facility.
I left the calibration lab in 1984 for an engineering job in product development. I went to the think tank in 1993, after it closed, I got transferred three different times to various facilities in the Boynton Beach area, each further from my home. I got tired of the 84 mile commute and transferred back to Plantation to design iDEN phones (Nextel, Southern Linc in the US, Tellus, Fleetcom, Airtel, Mike in Canada). I left the phone group to work in advanced development until taking the buyout in 2014.
I still have a pair of HP8656A signal generators that I got from the auction when the Boynton Beach plants were shut down. I have collected enough RF gear over the years from Motorola auctions, Ebay and Ham radio shows to recreate the lab I had in advanced research. Now that I'm no longer bound by Mot's employment agreement, I will be cooking up some cool RF stuff. After all Mot spent a lot of time and money teaching me how!
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