"Richard Clark" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 24 Jan 2007 12:40:32 GMT, gwatts
wrote:

I was tired of design reviews where management pushed the 'you
can cut this out, it won't be so bad' line.

Hi OM,

My very first EE professor (also an engineer at the HP division in
Colorado Springs) taught us the merits of designs meeting the
expectations of Mad Man Muntz.

Muntz was a car salesman who entered the nascent field of TV in the
late 40s and would wander the design lab with a pair of dikes in his
pocket. Looking over the shoulder of any designer he would snip out
components until they lost the picture, it would roll, or the sound
would go dead. Then he would suggest they put back in the last
snipped component.

He discovered his TVs didn't need synchronization circuits because his
market was in urban cities where the signal was so powerful as to
provide enough level to be self-syncing. I know, because I fixed many
of those TVs that eventually found their way into the Burbs, and were
forever rolling unless you found the sweet spot on the horizontal or
vertical adjustment (always in the back).

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC

Oh, you reveal you age. I worked on a bunch of those until I just started
not letting them in the door. Seems a guy bought a bunch(100+) from a
motel(s) that had gotten new TVs and had sold the for about $30 a piece. I
think they had a 1 tube IF if I remember right. They wouldnt work at all in
our area unles you had a really good antenna on a tall tower. The only
places that had this was the shop I worked in and the local motels.

Jimmie

On Wed, 24 Jan 2007 16:12:24 -0500, "Jimmie D"
wrote:

Oh, you reveal you age.

Hi Jimmie,

I did my apprentice work in TV as a teen in the mid 60s. The real
challenge came when I was in the Navy (1970) and we put out a call to
the Bay area for folks to donate their TVs for charity (Xmas of 1970),
and the ET school would fix them for free for redistribution to the
needy.

My crew took in 100-150 TVs and 200 radios and turned out 60 or 70 TVs
and nearly all the radios. Some TVs were so old as to have vertically
mounted tubes with a mirror to view them. I taught the fellows how to
cannibalize the truly dead to resurrect the lame. This was the gift
of a Navy technical education. At sea, there was no mall to pull
into and go to Radio Shack - you had to make the broken stuff work or
the Captain would keel haul you. This demanded every tech know
electronics, not board swapping. I never had such an enthusiastic
class. These guys learned like sponges, and tackled every problem
like a commando gutting a commie.

One interesting incident came when a student asked me for a set of
rabbit ears to test his work on a tough-dog TV. My budget was like
$20 a week from the Old Man's wallet (and I wasn't going to ask him
for that). I told the student that we had a ground bus-bar that ran
the length around the repair shed (a former laundry) that would work
just as well as it was many wavelengths longs so as to not short the
signal (sitting in the middle of SF bay offered huge amounts of
available RF).

He connected an alligator clip lead to the antenna input, the other to
the bus bar; the lead turned to smoke, the insulation dripped right
off like a length of spaghetti, and then fused open.

The astonished crew quickly learned the hazards of poorly engineered
grounds in commercial equipment, the hazards of using a service cord
to defeat an interlock, and why we in the trade called it a suicide
adapter.

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC

"Richard Clark" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 24 Jan 2007 16:12:24 -0500, "Jimmie D"
wrote:

Oh, you reveal you age.

Hi Jimmie,

I did my apprentice work in TV as a teen in the mid 60s. The real
challenge came when I was in the Navy (1970) and we put out a call to
the Bay area for folks to donate their TVs for charity (Xmas of 1970),
and the ET school would fix them for free for redistribution to the
needy.

My crew took in 100-150 TVs and 200 radios and turned out 60 or 70 TVs
and nearly all the radios. Some TVs were so old as to have vertically
mounted tubes with a mirror to view them. I taught the fellows how to
cannibalize the truly dead to resurrect the lame. This was the gift
of a Navy technical education. At sea, there was no mall to pull
into and go to Radio Shack - you had to make the broken stuff work or
the Captain would keel haul you. This demanded every tech know
electronics, not board swapping. I never had such an enthusiastic
class. These guys learned like sponges, and tackled every problem
like a commando gutting a commie.

One interesting incident came when a student asked me for a set of
rabbit ears to test his work on a tough-dog TV. My budget was like
$20 a week from the Old Man's wallet (and I wasn't going to ask him
for that). I told the student that we had a ground bus-bar that ran
the length around the repair shed (a former laundry) that would work
just as well as it was many wavelengths longs so as to not short the
signal (sitting in the middle of SF bay offered huge amounts of
available RF).

He connected an alligator clip lead to the antenna input, the other to
the bus bar; the lead turned to smoke, the insulation dripped right
off like a length of spaghetti, and then fused open.

The astonished crew quickly learned the hazards of poorly engineered
grounds in commercial equipment, the hazards of using a service cord
to defeat an interlock, and why we in the trade called it a suicide
adapter.

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC

I always called them fool killers, especilly the ones that used gator clips
on the end..

On Thu, 25 Jan 2007 09:24:00 -0500, "Jimmie D"
wrote:

The astonished crew quickly learned the hazards of poorly engineered
grounds in commercial equipment, the hazards of using a service cord
to defeat an interlock, and why we in the trade called it a suicide
adapter.

I always called them fool killers, especilly the ones that used gator clips
on the end..

Our name for them was a "Kills-me-quick."

One of my buddies aboard ship was holding just such a cord, plugged
in, and while he talked, or was telling a joke, we watched him flick
the cord around. Occassionally he would absent mindedly smack it into
his hand to emphasize a point. Absolutely no one was paying attention
to what he was saying. We all followed the arc of those leads
wondering when the big moment would come.

Of course we all knew CPR....

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC

"Richard Clark" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 25 Jan 2007 09:24:00 -0500, "Jimmie D"
wrote:

The astonished crew quickly learned the hazards of poorly engineered
grounds in commercial equipment, the hazards of using a service cord
to defeat an interlock, and why we in the trade called it a suicide
adapter.

I always called them fool killers, especilly the ones that used gator
clips
on the end..

Our name for them was a "Kills-me-quick."

One of my buddies aboard ship was holding just such a cord, plugged
in, and while he talked, or was telling a joke, we watched him flick
the cord around. Occassionally he would absent mindedly smack it into
his hand to emphasize a point. Absolutely no one was paying attention
to what he was saying. We all followed the arc of those leads
wondering when the big moment would come.

Of course we all knew CPR....

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC

Ive done this watching a guy play with a charged cap. He had just charged it
up to place on the bench for some unsuspecting sole to grap, started running
his mouth and zapped himself.

On Thu, 25 Jan 2007 13:39:32 -0500, "Jimmie D"
wrote:

Ive done this watching a guy play with a charged cap. He had just charged it
up to place on the bench for some unsuspecting sole to grap, started running
his mouth and zapped himself.

As Cartman would say
"SWEET!"

Richard Clark wrote:
On Thu, 25 Jan 2007 13:39:32 -0500, "Jimmie D"
wrote:

Ive done this watching a guy play with a charged cap. He had just charged it
up to place on the bench for some unsuspecting sole to grap, started running
his mouth and zapped himself.

As Cartman would say
"SWEET!"


In our High School electronics shop, we had an entire Superhet tube
radio demo unit mounted on the wall, with all components pluggable.
Seniors and juniors were mixed in the class, and one of the favorite
rituals for the older guys was to pull one of the p.s. Electrolytics out
very carefully, and toss it to one of the new guys with a "catch it
quick" command.

Of course, I never partook of such tomfoolery.


- 73 de Mike KB3EIA -