Chris, I know you retired but that doesn't mean your brain did.
Thank you, I typed them all by myself. All I did was look at the page and let my fingers fly.
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Next week I will be 66 and I'm feeling good for my age. In fact, so good I feel like a 20 year old. Unfortunately, my wife won't let me have one.
I know, same as last year, but one needs to keep trying.
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But Cal, where are you going to get a b&w tv that works in 2023?
Analog tv is gone, at least here in the Ignited Snakes.
Analog tv is gone, at least here in the Ignited Snakes.
I guess you don't have freeview boxes on the US, they can feed an old tv.
Did the US get Black Adder? - I'm not sure if the humour would have travelled. We certainly got loads of US shows here in merry old England, the A team, Knight Rider, Blue Thunder, CHIPS, Hardcastle and McCormick, Diff'rent Strokes and of course 'trek. I think Ulysses 31 ( cool theme tune) was French. So much great TV in the '80s, now it's all ####, or am I remembering with rose-tinted glasses?
Did the US get Black Adder? - I'm not sure if the humour would have travelled. We certainly got loads of US shows here in merry old England, the A team, Knight Rider, Blue Thunder, CHIPS, Hardcastle and McCormick, Diff'rent Strokes and of course 'trek. I think Ulysses 31 ( cool theme tune) was French. So much great TV in the '80s, now it's all ####, or am I remembering with rose-tinted glasses?
Believe it or not, I still have two of these gathering dust somewhere in the dungeon. I don't know if I could receive a signal on them still, but they sure were handy in the old days when you were at a wedding or other social event while missing your home team in the playoffs.
Single telescoping antenna and a rotary dial tuner.
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I use a cell phone and YouTube to watch the news, do not use paid services for watching events.
Have a 1983 - 30 - Jan 20" ITT set, the Heliochrom tube was changed to local JCT (Hitachi), and the circuit as well, only the cabinet is original.
Color CRT, not B & W.
Still works, at least two years back it did, have not plugged it in since then, it will need a full clean of dust before I do.
40 Years birthday coming up...
Now we use a 32" Samsung, this is a spare.
Have a 1983 - 30 - Jan 20" ITT set, the Heliochrom tube was changed to local JCT (Hitachi), and the circuit as well, only the cabinet is original.
Color CRT, not B & W.
Still works, at least two years back it did, have not plugged it in since then, it will need a full clean of dust before I do.
40 Years birthday coming up...
Now we use a 32" Samsung, this is a spare.
I had one of these installed on my dash in the '80s with an external antenna.
Different situation here in Argentina: analog "air" TV is still alive and kicking and will stay so for the foreseeable future.
The reason behind it is Political: Govt. wants even the most isolated people, either in the middle of nowhere or in a slum where NO Cable is available and Internet requires, obviously, some relatively expensive device (at least a smartphone) and some kind of $$$ data plan, to be able to watch the general Audience (would I call it brainwashing/dumbing up?) programming even with an old analog TV found in a dumpster , using no more than a straightened coat hanger as an antenna.
They made a BIG investment in DTV (Digital Terrestrial TV) and gave everybody and his brother (me included) a free decoder, to catch their 8-10 "friendly" channels ... and nothing else.
Won´t mention 1938´s "People´s Radio" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volksempfänger but the analogy is obvious.
Oh well.
The reason behind it is Political: Govt. wants even the most isolated people, either in the middle of nowhere or in a slum where NO Cable is available and Internet requires, obviously, some relatively expensive device (at least a smartphone) and some kind of $$$ data plan, to be able to watch the general Audience (would I call it brainwashing/dumbing up?) programming even with an old analog TV found in a dumpster , using no more than a straightened coat hanger as an antenna.
They made a BIG investment in DTV (Digital Terrestrial TV) and gave everybody and his brother (me included) a free decoder, to catch their 8-10 "friendly" channels ... and nothing else.
Won´t mention 1938´s "People´s Radio" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volksempfänger but the analogy is obvious.
Oh well.
This wartime civilian wireless set formed the basis of my first diy record player. The RF section had long ceased to function, but the audio amplifier performed remarkably well when fed from the ceramic cartridge in my Garrard SRP 10 turntable. This was my introduction to the world of diy audio as a young teenager. Happy days! 🙂 https://www.thevalvepage.com/radios/wartime/mains/warmains.htm
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My introduction to electronics was at the age of 12 in the early 80's. An older cousin helped me to build one of those mini 9V battery FM transmitters with a range within a room. Fascinated, I ended up with higher voltage and external dipole antenna to reach my friends house across the street. At the age of 15, fate decided my course from there on. Had already a station to reach a few hundreds meters and when my father caught my broadcast in his car returning from work, it was the end of my carrier in RF. It was absolutely illegal for the reason it was doable. The whole FM band was available with only three official stations. For me only audio since then.
Today, we still have analog FM but hundreds of stations one after the other and not least digital tuners. An analog tuner would be of little use under these circumstances. Last summer my cousin and I remembered those days and built this mini FM transmitter. It works but there is not a free frequency in the band and the digital tuners refuse to lock its signal.
Today, we still have analog FM but hundreds of stations one after the other and not least digital tuners. An analog tuner would be of little use under these circumstances. Last summer my cousin and I remembered those days and built this mini FM transmitter. It works but there is not a free frequency in the band and the digital tuners refuse to lock its signal.
My audio carreer started about the age of 8. My father travelled a lot, and he sent so-called music postcards home. One side was a regular postcard with stamps etc., the other side was what looked like a color postcard, but with grooves on it and a hole in the middle! It contained 3-4 minutes music of the then current hits.
Our family not having a turntable, I just put the card on a pencil, spinned it with my fingers, and held the tip of a sewing needle against it. The card itself was the loud(?)speaker, and the magic happened.
Although much has changed since then, the magic lasts.
Our family not having a turntable, I just put the card on a pencil, spinned it with my fingers, and held the tip of a sewing needle against it. The card itself was the loud(?)speaker, and the magic happened.
Although much has changed since then, the magic lasts.
This reminds me of records that would come attached in books, you'd need to tear them out. Thin and brightly coloured.. I recall being asked to limit using them to avoid wearing out the stylus. I'm guessing they may have been polyester for what it's worth.
I would sometimes tune on the slope to get better selectivity.
My father helped me build a crystal set when I was a boy.
He used a proper 'cat's whisker' to rectify the signal. This consisted of a crystal of galena which you had to probe with a fine wire until you found the sweet spot for rectification.
The single headphone unit was a high impedance WW2 surplus type - low impedance being no good for this application.
The crystal set required a good earth and a very long length of wire, strung right across the garden, to act as an aerial.
The selectivity was sufficient to pick out Radio Luxembourg at night, when I would listen to the latest pop tunes in my bedroom.
These days you can buy nostalgia kits - "Make a Crystal Radio Just Like Grandad Made" - but they are a tad basic.
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Yes, I was given a crystal radio kit as a kid and Dad helped put it together. I remember being fascinated that it worked, without batteries, especially since we were 50+ miles from the nearest station. Next came the model car kit with an electric motor (Lindberg?) that needed assembly by winding the armature and soldering some wires. Definitely think these two helped put me on the path to a career in electronics.
The cousin mentioned in the previous post brought this in 1979 from Germany where he spent his teenagehood. To my eyes divine back then... Actually my first experience with stereo! It was forgotten for decades in his attic and recently I was given it. I plan to restore it, recap, address the death cap etc. I don't care much about the turntable and the cassette player but I'm still obsessed with the tuner since then. It has a velvet smooth knob and LEDs moving on the tracking needle.
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Yup; Christmas 1972 or 73. I lived in the arctic (Inuvik) and could pull in stations from Alaska at night with a nice long antenna.
It was germanium diode based.
Mine was from Tandy, the antenna was a wire out of my bedroom window to a fence post, the earth was via a mains plug (my dad did that bit...). I took it to school once, and plugged it into the mains socket shared with a primitive computer, I can remember being surprised by the interference coming from it.