W2LJ QRP - When you care to send the very least!

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Mustel G600 microscope/camera thingy

Posted: 29 Dec 2018 05:49 PM PST
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With the weekend here, I finally got some downtime and was able to do some
Amateur Radio stuff today. I got on the air and worked a few Canadian
stations in the RAC Winter Contest and I also worked a station down in the
Cayman Islands. Both the Caymans and British Columbia with 5 Watts and no
sunspots? Not bad.

What I really enjoyed was the opportunity to finally give that Mustel G600
microscope/camera thingy a whirl that I purchased a few months back through
Gear Best. I bought an inexpensive cutting board at the store when I went
grocery shopping this morning, and I mounted it to that.


The suction cup at the base seems to hold it in place very nicely. After
playing with it for a while, I've come to the conclusion that this will be
extremely useful for parts identification.


The printing on tiny capacitors really stands out, as does the printing on
transistors:


And it will be also very useful for checking for solder bridges -
particularly for SMD soldering. Please pardon the bright yellow spots in
the photos, that's the flash from the camera. Those spots aren't there in
actual use.


But to actually use it while soldering doesn't seem possible to me. I have
to look at what I'm soldering while I solder it. I don't think I'd be able
to solder something while looking at a remote screen instead of looking at
the actual board itself. For actual soldering, I will rely on the cheapie
reading glasses I bought at the drug store.

But for parts ID and solder bridge checking? This thing has a magnifying
glass or head mounted magnifying loupes beat nine ways to Sunday! A more
expensive unit would probably allow me to zoom in and out. This unit is
fixed as far as that goes. The adjustable arm will allow me to move it back
and forth a tiny bit, but not much. For the money I paid, which was a
pretty small amount, this unit will serve me well.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!