any electronics buffs out there?

[psyklone]

i'm just curious how many of you are also electronics guru's/tinkerers. i was actually into electronics way before i ever thought computers had any potential for holding my interest ... but we know how that's worked out. http://www.sysopt.com/forum/wink.gif

so has anyone designed or made anything interesting? i'm working on a project that i'm hoping to have a couple of fellow members sort of 'beta' test soon.

oh, one other thing. does anyone remember what pins on a tube will light up the filaments? i think it's 2 and 6 but i can't quite remember...

[jadinolf]

You will have to consult a tube manual to learn which pins are for the filament.

They are not all the same.

Wish they were.

[BBA]

I've been known too mess with electronics every once in a while ( used to make a living out of it )

BTW: sometimes you can tell just by looking at a tub which pins are for heater/bias grid/cathode/anode, etc... or you can find inexpensive tube manuals at radio shack or book stores. I know you can find teh same data online, just type in "vacuum tube" in web feret.

[tonym]

psyklone,

Been designing electonics for a living about 25 years now! And I tinker with circuits all the time. The parts, tools and equipment around the house drive my wife crazy!

I've designed microelectronics components (hybrids and MCM's) for military and space applications: mostly high speed data converters and power stuff. I've got parts in most of the weapons systems still in use today.
Later on was fault tolerant computer hardware -- pair and spare high-availability hardware that most banks, credit-card companies and even ISP's use.
Then there was large power systems 2kW and beyond, as well as battery back-up systems (AC and DC UPSs). Neat stuff, and I've become an "expert" in this field (whatever that means!!??).
Now I'm a consultant and it's a free-for-all: system design, power design and very high speed comms stuff (OC-192 and OC-768 -- 10 and 40Gbps) using lasers and high-speed analog, as well as lots of EMC and reliability work. I also do some VLSI work, but I hate doing VHDL cause my eyes aren't what they were 20+ years ago!

Tubes -- I can't find my RCA manual and the last tube I came into contact with were some uwave TWT's for a satellite transmitter: they had a VERY non-standard pinout!!

Advice: go analog!!! It's the most fun and will be the discipline most in demand for the forseeable future.

Good luck...


Tony

[mad1]

Tony,
regarding the TWT'S
Brown wire - Heater/Filament
Yellow wire - Cathode
Red wire - Collector
Black wire - Helix
Blue wire - Anode
I am not sure about the anode wire color,
this I have seen only used on "C" band and
"X" band tubes.
The resistance between the filament and the cathode wire is usually around 2 ohms.Low compared to the other pins. It has been a couple of years since I last worked with one so I am not certain of the color of the anode wire.
I used to test High Power Amplifer systems
and klystron systems.

mad1

[Paul V]

I'm too young to have worked with vacuum tubes, but an electronics buff am I indeed. Mainly interested in digital systems, but I do work on analog systems as well. Currently I'm working on a project that requires some simple analog computing, before being fed through a ADC and via MUX into a PC's parallel port.

[NavyDood_ F/A18_Mech]

I like to do home wiring stuff. Nothing like doing your own electrical work around the house leaving the power on and having 110 volts bite ya when you ground yourself while doing it.

*zzzzzzt*
*Bang*
*My head just bounced off the kitchen cupboard from getting the crapola scared out of me*
*Thank you Mr. electricity, may I have another?*
*zzzzzt*

He he he, I guess I have a death wish or something. Hmmmm.... maybe between that and
Jet Fumes, that could explain my twitching problems I have. he he he he http://www.sysopt.com/forum/wink.gif

Jim

No I don't have twitching problems.

[This message has been edited by NavyDood_ F/A18_Mech (edited 03-31-2000).]

[garybeafl]

I have the RCA receiving tube manual here that was published in 1966. What is the tube type? I sold a lot of tubes when I worked for Philco in Cleveland 1961-1964. Anyone remember the 5U4 or the 35W4 50C5 or the 1B3?

[Richard_Cranium72]

TonyM, you da man.. I am a first grader in real electronics knowledge however I've soldered in components for years and have fixed many electronic devices. A show from England on A&E called "The Secret Life of Machines" aired a piece on TV's. They said to open it up, replace what's smoked and fire it up. Mostly this worked for about 50 sets which at the end of the show, I sat and watched in HORROR as they torched the televisions and burned them all in a huge pile. I said horror cause of all the super-toxic somke emitted.. what dummies. Anyway, if I may as, por favor. I gotta project in the works using some Hewlett Packard IR leds. They are 375mw at 1.25-2.15vdc, 500ma max@2.15v, pulse width 100us, 20% duty cycle@85C. Pusle width tpw 0.01-1.1ms. The graphs of course vary to voltage and time vs amps, figures given are absolute Max. My prob is I don't know how to achieve a duty cycle short enough to keep the leds cool. I want to fire about thirty to fifty for long distance night vision illumination. I tried to find true discreet filters to use on a spotlight but they are more expensive than I hope this project will be.. any suggestion as to where to stick the IR emitters will be appreciated.. btw, one of my fav sources is Allied Electronics www.allied.avnet.com (http://www.allied.avnet.com) phone no 800-433-5700 . thanx Drvette

[This message has been edited by Richard_Cranium72 (edited 03-31-2000).]

[welsh wizard]

NavyDood think yourself lucky it's only 110V when I forget with our Power supply D/U it's 240V ouch, mind the Monitors can still sap you and make that seem like a Tickle http://thedam.com/cwm/smile/net/flash.gif
As for electronics in making cards up that seems to have reduced since I stopped working on Atari computers, they were always great fun to hack, That why it was such a pleasure to see the mod on the Promise card, makes you realise you are slipping by not seeing what can be done to IBM compat's
WW
for some reason WW repeated three times so edited it out.

[This message has been edited by welsh wizard (edited 03-31-2000).]

[Richard_Cranium72]

In 1974 Southern Energy had a calculator with "Pixie" tubes . What would that relic be worth today??