"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