Unusual functions of cheap parts
 

Martin wrote in
:

To save power, use the LEDs of a backlight to measure the ambient
light to decide to switch the backlight on or not.

But how to decide to switch it off? I think there you have to
sample - switch of for a short time and test. This could give a
flickering backlight.

Ok, you found the skeleton in the closet. :-) You can not use
this method to switch it off - but it is not required in most cases.
Think of a cell phone - the backlight goes on every time you press a
key, and it is going off after 10 seconds.

M.
--
Bitte auf antworten.

Unusual functions of cheap parts
 

Am Sun, 27 Nov 2005 09:57:23 +0000 (UTC) schrieb Matthias Weingart
:

Martin wrote in
:

To save power, use the LEDs of a backlight to measure the ambient
light to decide to switch the backlight on or not.

But how to decide to switch it off? I think there you have to
sample - switch of for a short time and test. This could give a
flickering backlight.
Ok, you found the skeleton in the closet. :-) You can not use
this method to switch it off - but it is not required in most cases.
Think of a cell phone - the backlight goes on every time you press a
key, and it is going off after 10 seconds.

OK, so you can decide to not switch it on and save some mAs.

--
Martin

Unusual functions of cheap parts
 

Martin wrote:

I once built an HF transceiver that used CMOS logic chips for all
functions except an audio low noise amp and a voltage regulator...with
further thought those two could likely be done with CMOS logic too.

At least the audio amp, this is nice to build with some Inverters (4069)
with resistive Feedback.

Most of the audio section was done that way. But the product detector
had low impedance output and the CMOS amp was too noisy at 50 ohms. A
transformer might have done the job but a common-base amp seemed more
practical and less prone to picking up hum.

Steve

Unusual functions of cheap parts
 

Unusual functions of cheap parts
 

In article ,
Ivan Makarov wrote:

When I was a teenager and my brothers started bothering me with their loud
TV, I took a 220V relay, put one of the coil leads through its normally
closed contact group, and plugged the relay into the mains behind the wall
where the TV was. Made an exelent TVI/RFI generator, I thought the TV is
going to blow up.

#chuckle#

Back when I was living in a college dorm, the guy in the next room had
pretensions of being a musician - specifically, a drummer. His way of
"practicing" was to turn up his stereo - really loud - so he could
feel the bass, then put on headphones (so that the highs wouldn't hurt
his ears) and then drum along with the music.

Needless to say, this did not make him popular with me or my roommate,
the people on the other side of his room, or the folks downstairs (or,
I suspect, people in the next county). Numerous complaints were filed;
he kept on drumming.

The guy on the other side realized that the drummer's stereo was
plugged into an outlet on one side of their shared wall, and that he
had an outlet on the same circuit. The next time the booming started
up, he plugged his old fluorescent desk light into the outlet, and
then started vibrating his thumb on the pushbutton make/break "start"
switch.

BRRZZBuzzzBZAP.

Stereo goes off suddenly. Two minutes of blessed silence. Stereo
goes back on and the drumming starts again.

BURZZRfffBUZZT.

Lather, rinse, repeat. Eventually, the drummer gives up for the day.

I understand that the drummer never did figure out what was wrong with
the stereo, despite two trips to the repair depot. He left the dorm
at the end of the quarter (I suspect he was "asked" to depart by the
Powers That Be) and we could sleep and study in peace once again.

--
Dave Platt AE6EO
Hosting the Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will
boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads!

Unusual functions of cheap parts
 

Am Sat, 26 Nov 2005 22:35:18 -0500 schrieb Phil Hobbs
:

Martin wrote:
Am Fri, 25 Nov 2005 22:13:38 -0500 schrieb Phil Hobbs
:

Si Ballenger wrote:

I would put a 100 watt lamp in series thereby limiting the current.
I would shave the ends down to points so they heated up rapidly. I
put them into a hollowed out fire brick and made a cheap furnace.
Of course don't look at it; it's like looking at the sun.

The current limiter I saw used a glass pie pan with pieces copper
metal on each side with salty water as the electrolyte. It would
start to steam some when in operation. The furnace was a small
clay flower pot with holes in each side with the carbon rods
sticking inside until they touched.


As a boy, I used an electric teakettle as a ballast for a two-D-cell
carbon arc lamp--worked great.

An electric arc with just 3V from two D-cells? I thought the arc needs
at lesat 20V burning voltage.


It ran off 120 V. Parse the sentence as "two D-cell-carbon arc lamp."
An earlier poster talked about building AC-powered arc lamps using the
carbon rods from dry cells.

OK :-) I liked to do that myself, but not from our 230V mains power, but
with a transformer, 22V, and 30A short circuit.
--
Martin

Unusual functions of cheap parts
 

Many years ago, I lived on the 2nd floor of a 3-story apartment
building. A guy moved in above me who worked some strange shift such
that he generally slept during the day, and at night, when the rest of
us were trying to sleep, he'd blast his stereo until the early dawn. I
tried reasoning with him a few times, but when it became evident that he
didn't care about anyone but himself, I decided that he needed a taste
of his own medicine.

I wired up a 555 timer, a driver transistor, and a 12-volt solenoid that
I had harvested out of an old VCR. The body of the solenoid was fitted
with a couple of alligator clips, so that the coil could be attached to
grill of a heating duct near the ceiling of my apartment. Every half
minute or so, (adjustable with a pot) the timer would fire and the
solenoid would contract, making a loud, obnoxious ker-chunk that
resonated through the furnace duct.

Whenever I left the apartment for work, I'd install the gizmo on the
vent, and let it run all day while the guy upstairs was trying to sleep.
The beauty of it was that the guy above could not complain about
anything I was doing, he could only complain that the "furnace was
making strange noises" that kept him awake.

A couple of times the management asked to inspect my furnace, and of
course, I let them. Needless to say, the gizmo was turned off and had
been removed from the vent in preparation for their visit.

Eventually, in true Pavlov-ian fashion, the guy upstairs learned that
the strange "furnace noises" seemed to coincide with the abuse of his
stereo. He noticed that when his stereo kept me up at night, the
"furnace" kept him up during the day. Hmmm..... An unspoken
understanding was reached and everyone lived happily ever after.



Dave Platt wrote:
In article ,
Ivan Makarov wrote:


When I was a teenager and my brothers started bothering me with their loud
TV, I took a 220V relay, put one of the coil leads through its normally
closed contact group, and plugged the relay into the mains behind the wall
where the TV was. Made an exelent TVI/RFI generator, I thought the TV is
going to blow up.


#chuckle#

Back when I was living in a college dorm, the guy in the next room had
pretensions of being a musician - specifically, a drummer. His way of
"practicing" was to turn up his stereo - really loud - so he could
feel the bass, then put on headphones (so that the highs wouldn't hurt
his ears) and then drum along with the music.

Needless to say, this did not make him popular with me or my roommate,
the people on the other side of his room, or the folks downstairs (or,
I suspect, people in the next county). Numerous complaints were filed;
he kept on drumming.

The guy on the other side realized that the drummer's stereo was
plugged into an outlet on one side of their shared wall, and that he
had an outlet on the same circuit. The next time the booming started
up, he plugged his old fluorescent desk light into the outlet, and
then started vibrating his thumb on the pushbutton make/break "start"
switch.

BRRZZBuzzzBZAP.

Stereo goes off suddenly. Two minutes of blessed silence. Stereo
goes back on and the drumming starts again.

BURZZRfffBUZZT.

Lather, rinse, repeat. Eventually, the drummer gives up for the day.

I understand that the drummer never did figure out what was wrong with
the stereo, despite two trips to the repair depot. He left the dorm
at the end of the quarter (I suspect he was "asked" to depart by the
Powers That Be) and we could sleep and study in peace once again.

Unusual functions of cheap parts
 

Hello Jim,

Jim Thompson wrote:
[...]
btw, do you know a standard complementary pnp-transistor for the 2N2369,
such like 2N3905 but with higher ft and less feedback capacitance? It
seems that the manufactorers have almost no data on their internet pages.

[...]


A 2N2369 is a gold-doped NPN, gold-doped to kill storage time and
improve recovery from saturation. I don't recall any PNP device with
gold-doping... or the equivalent.

thank you, then I suppose the 2N3905 oder 2N2905 are fitting for a large
signal amplifier.

mfg. Winfried

Unusual functions of cheap parts
 

On Thu, 24 Nov 2005 18:49:24 -0500, Jon Yaeger wrote:

Take apart a couple of D cell carbon-zinc batteries.

Wash off the carbon rods. Put each in a wooden clothes pin and connect the
attached ends to the mains voltage (US customers only, please).

Tap the free ends of the rods together. Move them apart as necessary. Very
bright! Much brighter than you are.

I put mine in series with Mom's iron, but the thermostat kept turning
it off.
--
Cheers!
Rich
------
"I don't drink water; fish **** in it."
-- W.C. Fields

Unusual functions of cheap parts
 

On Fri, 25 Nov 2005 00:43:52 -0800, Bob Monsen wrote:

On Thu, 24 Nov 2005 18:49:24 -0500, Jon Yaeger wrote:

Take apart a couple of D cell carbon-zinc batteries.

Wash off the carbon rods. Put each in a wooden clothes pin and connect the
attached ends to the mains voltage (US customers only, please).

Tap the free ends of the rods together. Move them apart as necessary. Very
bright! Much brighter than you are.

One of the MIT EE course videos on the web shows a demonstration of AC
across a pickle... it is an interesting effect. Not sure how the pickle
tastes afterward. Cooking hotdogs with AC is similar, but the pickle gives
off a much nicer translucent flickering glow. Very pretty.


But who wants a cooked pickle? ;-)

Thanks,
Rich

Unusual functions of cheap parts
 

Rich Grise wrote:
...

But who wants a cooked pickle? ;-)


My ethnic Russian daughter-in-law, just arrived from Tatarstan, made a
Russian soup, into which she chopped several dill pickles.

Wonderful stuff!

John Perry

Unusual functions of cheap parts
 

Jim Thompson skrev:

On Fri, 25 Nov 2005 22:13:38 -0500, Phil Hobbs
wrote:

Si Ballenger wrote:

I would put a 100 watt lamp in series thereby limiting the current. I
would shave the ends down to points so they heated up rapidly. I put
them into a hollowed out fire brick and made a cheap furnace. Of course
don't look at it; it's like looking at the sun.


The current limiter I saw used a glass pie pan with pieces copper
metal on each side with salty water as the electrolyte. It would
start to steam some when in operation. The furnace was a small
clay flower pot with holes in each side with the carbon rods
sticking inside until they touched.


As a boy, I used an electric teakettle as a ballast for a two-D-cell carbon
arc lamp--worked great.

Cheers,

Phil Hobbs

I've used a light bulb in series with a rectifier to charge a car
battery (just make sure that line ground goes to chassis ground ;-)


I've seen several speakers where there was a light bulb, in series with
the tweeter, as a power limiter

-Lasse

Unusual functions of cheap parts
 

On Mon, 28 Nov 2005 18:48:05 -0500, Spehro Pefhany
wrote:

On Mon, 28 Nov 2005 18:24:52 -0500, the renowned John Perry
wrote:

Rich Grise wrote:
...

But who wants a cooked pickle? ;-)


My ethnic Russian daughter-in-law, just arrived from Tatarstan, made a
Russian soup, into which she chopped several dill pickles.

Wonderful stuff!

John Perry

Recipe? ;-) It's getting into soup/curry/stew weather here in the
frozen* north.

* Actually just cold nasty rain, but there was some snow earlier this
week.


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany

Expect more nasty weather... it's heading your way. Here on Saturday
night... very windy, Sunday night plunged to about 25°F.

Got in the wife's car on Saturday and backed out into the street, and
commented, "Why is the AC blowing warm air?"

Wife replies, " I don't know, it did that for awhile yesterday, too."

I pushed the Ambient button on the dash... it was 65°F outside...
winter has arrived in Arizona ;-)

...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona Voice:(480)460-2350 | |
| E-mail Address at Website Fax:(480)460-2142 | Brass Rat |
| http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |

I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.

Unusual functions of cheap parts
 

On Mon, 28 Nov 2005 18:24:52 -0500, the renowned John Perry
wrote:

Rich Grise wrote:
...

But who wants a cooked pickle? ;-)


My ethnic Russian daughter-in-law, just arrived from Tatarstan, made a
Russian soup, into which she chopped several dill pickles.

Wonderful stuff!

John Perry

Recipe? ;-) It's getting into soup/curry/stew weather here in the
frozen* north.

* Actually just cold nasty rain, but there was some snow earlier this
week.


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
--
"it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward"
Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.com

Unusual functions of cheap parts
 

On Mon, 28 Nov 2005 19:03:28 -0500, Spehro Pefhany
wrote:

On Mon, 28 Nov 2005 16:48:02 -0700, the renowned Jim Thompson
wrote:

On Mon, 28 Nov 2005 18:48:05 -0500, Spehro Pefhany
wrote:

On Mon, 28 Nov 2005 18:24:52 -0500, the renowned John Perry
wrote:

Rich Grise wrote:
...

But who wants a cooked pickle? ;-)


My ethnic Russian daughter-in-law, just arrived from Tatarstan, made a
Russian soup, into which she chopped several dill pickles.

Wonderful stuff!

John Perry

Recipe? ;-) It's getting into soup/curry/stew weather here in the
frozen* north.

* Actually just cold nasty rain, but there was some snow earlier this
week.


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany

Expect more nasty weather... it's heading your way. Here on Saturday
night... very windy, Sunday night plunged to about 25°F.

Got in the wife's car on Saturday and backed out into the street, and
commented, "Why is the AC blowing warm air?"

Wife replies, " I don't know, it did that for awhile yesterday, too."

I pushed the Ambient button on the dash... it was 65°F outside...
winter has arrived in Arizona ;-)

...Jim Thompson

Ha. Well, there's a nice dry maple log in the fireplace, an ice-cold
Sapporo in one of my Royal Selangor double-wall frozen pewter
tankards, my VHDL code is working with minimal tweaking and all is
right with the world. ;-)


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany

We burned a log in the fireplace last night also. It was sufficient
to keep the inside temperature above 68°F. Don't know yet if I'll
need to turn on the heat this year or not.

...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona Voice:(480)460-2350 | |
| E-mail Address at Website Fax:(480)460-2142 | Brass Rat |
| http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |

I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.

Unusual functions of cheap parts
 

On Mon, 28 Nov 2005 16:48:02 -0700, the renowned Jim Thompson
wrote:

On Mon, 28 Nov 2005 18:48:05 -0500, Spehro Pefhany
wrote:

On Mon, 28 Nov 2005 18:24:52 -0500, the renowned John Perry
wrote:

Rich Grise wrote:
...

But who wants a cooked pickle? ;-)


My ethnic Russian daughter-in-law, just arrived from Tatarstan, made a
Russian soup, into which she chopped several dill pickles.

Wonderful stuff!

John Perry

Recipe? ;-) It's getting into soup/curry/stew weather here in the
frozen* north.

* Actually just cold nasty rain, but there was some snow earlier this
week.


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany

Expect more nasty weather... it's heading your way. Here on Saturday
night... very windy, Sunday night plunged to about 25°F.

Got in the wife's car on Saturday and backed out into the street, and
commented, "Why is the AC blowing warm air?"

Wife replies, " I don't know, it did that for awhile yesterday, too."

I pushed the Ambient button on the dash... it was 65°F outside...
winter has arrived in Arizona ;-)

...Jim Thompson

Ha. Well, there's a nice dry maple log in the fireplace, an ice-cold
Sapporo in one of my Royal Selangor double-wall frozen pewter
tankards, my VHDL code is working with minimal tweaking and all is
right with the world. ;-)


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
--
"it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward"
Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.com

Unusual functions of cheap parts
 

Am Mon, 28 Nov 2005 22:14:17 GMT schrieb Rich the Newsgroup Wacko
:

On Thu, 24 Nov 2005 18:49:24 -0500, Jon Yaeger wrote:

Take apart a couple of D cell carbon-zinc batteries.

Wash off the carbon rods. Put each in a wooden clothes pin and connect
the
attached ends to the mains voltage (US customers only, please).

Tap the free ends of the rods together. Move them apart as necessary.
Very
bright! Much brighter than you are.

I put mine in series with Mom's iron, but the thermostat kept turning
it off.
One time I used an old Iron as a dummy-load for a 230V/1kW TRIAC power
control circuit (we had it in the lab for improvised BGA soldering). To
"satisfy" the thermostat I used a 30cm room fan.


--
Martin

Unusual functions of cheap parts
 

snip

I've seen several speakers where there was a light bulb, in series with
the tweeter, as a power limiter

-Lasse

I once owned a Knight transistorized amp that used incandescent bulbs in the
output stage to limit current. When you had some brighteness, you had a
problem.

I remember that it was the very worst-sounding amplifier that I ever owned.

jon

Unusual functions of cheap parts
 

On Mon, 28 Nov 2005 18:24:52 -0500, John Perry wrote:
Rich Grise wrote:

But who wants a cooked pickle? ;-)

My ethnic Russian daughter-in-law, just arrived from Tatarstan, made a
Russian soup, into which she chopped several dill pickles.

Wonderful stuff!

You must have to cook the bejabbers out of them - I chopped up a dill
pickle once into a stew I was concocting from leftovers ane expired stuff
in the pantry, and it was kind unnerving every time I bit into a pickle
chunk. Or maybe I didn't chop them finely enough. (more like I "cubed"
them.) My Mom [RIP] used to put weiners and sweet pickles through the meat
grinder. Simultaneously. I refused to even taste the stuff. ;-)

Thanks!
Rich

Unusual functions of cheap parts
 

On Mon, 28 Nov 2005 18:48:05 -0500, Spehro Pefhany wrote:

On Mon, 28 Nov 2005 18:24:52 -0500, the renowned John Perry
wrote:

Rich Grise wrote:
...

But who wants a cooked pickle? ;-)


My ethnic Russian daughter-in-law, just arrived from Tatarstan, made a
Russian soup, into which she chopped several dill pickles.

Wonderful stuff!

John Perry

Recipe? ;-) It's getting into soup/curry/stew weather here in the
frozen* north.

* Actually just cold nasty rain, but there was some snow earlier this
week.

Recipe? For _STEW_??!!?????

You brown some meat, throw it into a pot with some veggies, add enough
water so it doesn't boil dry, cover it, and simmer it until it starts to
smell like food. ;-)

(Then again, I used to watch Mom cook. ;-) )

Cheers!
Rich

Unusual functions of cheap parts
 

"Jon Yaeger" wrote in message
...
I once owned a Knight transistorized amp that used incandescent bulbs
in the output stage to limit current. When you had some brighteness,
you had a problem.

I remember that it was the very worst-sounding amplifier that I ever
owned.

Heh heh. I have a Knight kit-built amp that glows too, but that's a bias
problem in the tube output...

....No, I don't use it regularly...

Tim

--
Deep Fryer: a very philosophical monk.
Website: http://webpages.charter.net/dawill/tmoranwms

Unusual functions of cheap parts
 

On Tue, 29 Nov 2005 03:23:06 GMT, the renowned "Rich Grise,
Plainclothes Hippie" wrote:

On Mon, 28 Nov 2005 18:24:52 -0500, John Perry wrote:
Rich Grise wrote:

But who wants a cooked pickle? ;-)

My ethnic Russian daughter-in-law, just arrived from Tatarstan, made a
Russian soup, into which she chopped several dill pickles.

Wonderful stuff!

You must have to cook the bejabbers out of them - I chopped up a dill
pickle once into a stew I was concocting from leftovers ane expired stuff
in the pantry, and it was kind unnerving every time I bit into a pickle
chunk. Or maybe I didn't chop them finely enough. (more like I "cubed"
them.) My Mom [RIP] used to put weiners and sweet pickles through the meat
grinder. Simultaneously. I refused to even taste the stuff. ;-)

Thanks!
Rich

I think I remember something like that, maybe with ground beef.

Here's a recipe for 'Solianka' soup with dill pickle, pickle juice and
a bunch of hearty stuff. They might make it differently in Tartarstan
though (home of Tartar sauce, I presume):

http://soup.allrecipes.com/AZ/Solian...anBeefSoup.asp

From other recipes for Solyanka (or however it's spelt/spelled) the
common factors are beef broth, pickles, olives, capers, onions, garlic
and some kind of meat-- other winter veggies are fair game. And a
dollop of sour cream.


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
--
"it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward"
Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.com

Unusual functions of cheap parts
 

Spehro Pefhany wrote:
On Tue, 29 Nov 2005 03:23:06 GMT, the renowned "Rich Grise,
Plainclothes Hippie" wrote:


On Mon, 28 Nov 2005 18:24:52 -0500, John Perry wrote:

Rich Grise wrote:

But who wants a cooked pickle? ;-)

My ethnic Russian daughter-in-law, just arrived from Tatarstan, made a
Russian soup, into which she chopped several dill pickles.

Wonderful stuff!

You must have to cook the bejabbers out of them - I chopped up a dill
pickle once into a stew I was concocting from leftovers ane expired stuff
...
From other recipes for Solyanka (or however it's spelt/spelled) the
common factors are beef broth, pickles, olives, capers, onions, garlic
and some kind of meat-- other winter veggies are fair game. And a
dollop of sour cream.


Well, Galya's was all vegetable except for a cube or two of bouillon (I
don't know what kind). She had chopped the vegetables so finely that I
didn't notice the pickles until she showed me the jar she took them from
(I couldn't understand her description of "spiced cucumbers" :-).

I don't know how she made it, since I had put her son, my step-grandson,
to work with me raking a ton or so of oak leaves from my six 100+-foot
trees.

Even a lovely season like autumn has its price.

John Perry

Unusual functions of cheap parts
 

I pushed the Ambient button on the dash... it was 65°F outside...
winter has arrived in Arizona ;-)
==========================
Winter ? That's a comfortable Summer temp. here in northern Scotland.

Frank GM0CSZ / KN6WH

Unusual functions of cheap parts
 

Winfried Salomon wrote:
Hello Jorgen,

Jorgen Lund-Nielsen wrote:

[.....]

2N2369 for fast pulses.


btw, do you know a standard complementary pnp-transistor for the 2N2369,
such like 2N3905 but with higher ft and less feedback capacitance? It
seems that the manufactorers have almost no data on their internet pages.

mfg. Winfried

Maybe 2N4261 ? Have not looked into the datasheet, but as i remember,
i have seen them sometimes in complementary with the 2N2369

Jorgen

Unusual functions of cheap parts
 

Spehro Pefhany schrieb:

I think I remember something like that, maybe with ground beef.

You mean Labskaus?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labskaus

Here in Bremen/Germany we usually leave away the fish and use just Corned
Beef (the brazilian Corned Beef is just fine). And sometimes, you find
diced pickles in it. Tastes even better, then.

regards
Henning
--
henning paul home: http://www.geocities.com/hennichodernich
PM: , ICQ: 111044613

Unusual functions of cheap parts
 

On Tue, 29 Nov 2005 03:30:31 GMT, the renowned "Rich Grise,
Plainclothes Hippie" wrote:

On Mon, 28 Nov 2005 18:48:05 -0500, Spehro Pefhany wrote:

On Mon, 28 Nov 2005 18:24:52 -0500, the renowned John Perry
wrote:

Rich Grise wrote:
...

But who wants a cooked pickle? ;-)


My ethnic Russian daughter-in-law, just arrived from Tatarstan, made a
Russian soup, into which she chopped several dill pickles.

Wonderful stuff!

John Perry

Recipe? ;-) It's getting into soup/curry/stew weather here in the
frozen* north.

* Actually just cold nasty rain, but there was some snow earlier this
week.

Recipe? For _STEW_??!!?????

You brown some meat, throw it into a pot with some veggies, add enough
water so it doesn't boil dry, cover it, and simmer it until it starts to
smell like food. ;-)

I know how to make stew, without a recipe, but it wouldn't taste like
Russian stuff with capers, olives and pickles. I guess you have to
make it only from stuff that would be available in the Russian
countryside in February, and spice it up with the appropriate
crunchy/salty bits.

(Then again, I used to watch Mom cook. ;-) )

Cheers!
Rich




Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
--
"it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward"
Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.com

Unusual functions of cheap parts
 

On Tue, 29 Nov 2005 18:00:50 +0100, the renowned Henning Paul
wrote:

Spehro Pefhany schrieb:

I think I remember something like that, maybe with ground beef.

You mean Labskaus?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labskaus

Noo.... I think I would have remembered something which looked like
*that*.

Here in Bremen/Germany we usually leave away the fish and use just Corned
Beef (the brazilian Corned Beef is just fine). And sometimes, you find
diced pickles in it. Tastes even better, then.

regards
Henning

Sounds basically like corned beef hash with sides of fried egg, pickle
and perhaps rollmop herring. Though more gooey with mashed potatoes
used rather than chopped.



Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
--
"it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward"
Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.com

Unusual functions of cheap parts
 

Henning Paul wrote:

You mean Labskaus?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labskaus

Uh, real Labskaus doesn't contain fish. And the picture is
unappetizing.

Oliver
--
Oliver Betz, Muenchen (oliverbetz.de)

Unusual functions of cheap parts
 

Oliver Betz wrote:

You mean Labskaus?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labskaus

Uh, real Labskaus doesn't contain fish. And the picture is
unappetizing.

During my time in the german military, I had some courses of instruction
on a base near Hamburg. One day they served Labskaus in the staff
canteen there. That stuff looked just like that on the wiki photo.
This was the event when I learned why they had roller blinds made of
solid steel between kitchen and refectory.
One of the comrades said: 'I won't eat this. That's food for pigs!' And
he threw his dish into the kitchen. Most others followed.
The officer of the guard, whom the cooks called after closing the roller
blinds, had to draw his gun and shoot in the ceiling to calm the riot
down.
Since I had been near the end of the queue, I had no opportunity to try
this Labskaus. I still don't know what it does taste of.



Best regards,
Günther

Unusual functions of cheap parts
 

"John Larkin" wrote in message
...
Tell me about it. I tried some pins to see if they would snap, and
they turn out to have incredibly mushy reverse recovery, Slop Recovery
Diodes.

I've always been led to believe that this wasn't a bug, but a feature.
Really! (E.g., you can often get away with one diode when you'd otherwise
need two if the things actually recovered quickly...)

Unusual functions of cheap parts
 

Oliver Betz wrote:
Henning Paul wrote:


You mean Labskaus?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labskaus


Uh, real Labskaus doesn't contain fish. And the picture is
unappetizing.

You said it. "Um, do I eat this, or did I"

Cheers,

Phil Hobbs

Unusual functions of cheap parts
 

Henning Paul wrote:

You mean Labskaus?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labskaus

Here in Bremen/Germany we usually leave away the fish and use just Corned
Beef (the brazilian Corned Beef is just fine).

Citizens of Liverpool are called 'Scousers' (when they aren't called
worse), this derived from the local delicacy lobscouse. Corned beef stew
with chips in it.

Paul Burke

Unusual functions of cheap parts
 

Hi Jim -

And on what delay timescale it works?

regards -
Henry


"RST Engineering" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
...
And by varying the reverse bias through a current source (or moderately
large fixed resistor) you can make them into nifty phase shifters.

Jim


I wrote: NOT PIN - Diodes - as they wouldn't snap.

i mean Band Switching diodes for TV-Tuners like the BA244 and the
BA682.

BA682 Datasheet:

http://www.vishay.com/docs/85530/85530.pdf

- and they snap! Try it!

Jorgen
dj0ud

Unusual functions of cheap parts
 

"G|nther Dietrich" bravely wrote to "All" (29 Nov 05 23:19:34)
--- on the heady topic of " Unusual functions of cheap parts"

GD From: "G|nther Dietrich"
GD Xref: core-easynews de.sci.electronics:308835
GD rec.radio.amateur.homebrew:89433 sci.electronics.components:102901
GD sci.electronics.design:527075


GD Oliver Betz wrote:

You mean Labskaus?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labskaus

Uh, real Labskaus doesn't contain fish. And the picture is
unappetizing.

GD During my time in the german military, I had some courses of
GD instruction on a base near Hamburg. One day they served Labskaus in
GD the staff canteen there. That stuff looked just like that on the wiki
GD photo. This was the event when I learned why they had roller blinds
GD made of solid steel between kitchen and refectory.
GD One of the comrades said: 'I won't eat this. That's food for pigs!'
GD And he threw his dish into the kitchen. Most others followed.
GD The officer of the guard, whom the cooks called after closing the
GD roller blinds, had to draw his gun and shoot in the ceiling to calm
GD the riot down.
GD Since I had been near the end of the queue, I had no opportunity to
GD try this Labskaus. I still don't know what it does taste of.


The Roman legionaires a long time ago learned that an army marches on
its stomach. Since Roman soldiers would march 30 kilometers per day
they had to keep fit and good nutrition was a primorial concern for
the generals. It isn't suprising then that soldiers are ready to riot
and mutiny over their grub with such a longstanding tradition.

A*s*i*m*o*v

.... Combat the greenhouse effect - eat a cow.

Unusual functions of cheap parts
 

A step-recovery ("snap") diode works on the principle of stored charge in
the diode. During the forward biased half of the AC waveform, the diode is
a very low impedance and it stores excess charge; during the reverse biased
half of the waveform, the diode remains a low impedance until the stored
charge is depleted, at which time the diode "snaps" into high impedance.
This snap acts much like a spark-gap transmitter, in that a tremendous
number of higher order harmonics are generated. In general (and there are
ways to enhance this), the power available from any harmonic is around 1/n *
Pin, where n is the order of the harmonic and Pin is the RF power input to
the diode.

Biasing the diode simply varies the point on the reverse cycle of the AC
waveform where the diode snaps. For maximum power, you try to get the diode
to snap at the peak of the waveform. However, by varying the diode bias,
you can get it to snap before or after the peak of the waveform. Generally
you can get it to snap plus or minus about 30 degrees about the peak before
the snap action degrades.

60 degrees of phase shift is nothing to talk about unless you are working
with the 10th harmonic, which means a phase shift of 600 degrees. Now
you've got something to work with.

Jim

Unusual functions of cheap parts
 

"Günther Dietrich" wrote:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labskaus

Uh, real Labskaus doesn't contain fish. And the picture is
unappetizing.

During my time in the german military, I had some courses of instruction
on a base near Hamburg. One day they served Labskaus in the staff
canteen there. That stuff looked just like that on the wiki photo.

Well, then the cook is to blame, not Labskaus per se. Go to Hamburg
and visit the "Old Commercial Room". I guess they make still delicious
Labskaus.

Oliver
--
Oliver Betz, Muenchen (oliverbetz.de)

Unusual functions of cheap parts
 

On Tue, 29 Nov 2005 18:00:50 +0100, Henning Paul wrote:

Spehro Pefhany schrieb:

I think I remember something like that, maybe with ground beef.

You mean Labskaus?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labskaus

Here in Bremen/Germany we usually leave away the fish and use just Corned
Beef (the brazilian Corned Beef is just fine). And sometimes, you find
diced pickles in it. Tastes even better, then.

Looks a lot like ordinary corned beef hash to me, if a little less
coarsely chopped.

But I wonder why they serve it with one of these?

http://www2.catalognavigator.com/lib...op?plpver=1001

;-)
Rich

Unusual functions of cheap parts
 

On Wed, 30 Nov 2005 18:23:05 GMT, the renowned Rich Grise
wrote:

On Tue, 29 Nov 2005 18:00:50 +0100, Henning Paul wrote:

Spehro Pefhany schrieb:

I think I remember something like that, maybe with ground beef.

You mean Labskaus?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labskaus

Here in Bremen/Germany we usually leave away the fish and use just Corned
Beef (the brazilian Corned Beef is just fine). And sometimes, you find
diced pickles in it. Tastes even better, then.

Looks a lot like ordinary corned beef hash to me, if a little less
coarsely chopped.

But I wonder why they serve it with one of these?

http://www2.catalognavigator.com/lib...op?plpver=1001

;-)
Rich

You could also serve with one of these:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...zimmer1886.jpg



Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
--
"it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward"
Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.com

Unusual functions of cheap parts
 

Hello Jorgen,

Jorgen Lund-Nielsen wrote:



Winfried Salomon wrote:

Hello Jorgen,

Jorgen Lund-Nielsen wrote:

[.....]

2N2369 for fast pulses.



btw, do you know a standard complementary pnp-transistor for the
2N2369, such like 2N3905 but with higher ft and less feedback
capacitance? It seems that the manufactorers have almost no data on
their internet pages.

mfg. Winfried


Maybe 2N4261 ? Have not looked into the datasheet, but as i remember,
i have seen them sometimes in complementary with the 2N2369


the problem is, that it is an rf-transistor and can't be driven at
30V/0.2A, I found a complementary in an old table KTT, the 2N2894A, but
it also has max. 12V, so I find no other than the 2N3906.

If I simulate with the 2N3906, the frequency response is not worse than
with the 2N2894A.

mfg. Winfried