Forums are slowly dying

[kingarthur]

Good spot, though with your user name I'm not that surprised kingaurthur... 👍 😀

I'm a Cornishman in exile - I go home every September, mainly to stock up on gear farm pasties - oh and to see the family

[ThisPete]

Changing tack completely would that be the flag of St Piran, as your profile pic.... in which case Kernow Bys Vyken

Good spot, though with your user name I'm not that surprised kingaurthur... 👍 😀

[ThisPete]

The last Heathkit Catalog was published in 1993. That is 4 years after you say you started in this industry. Did you never look at a Lafayette Electronics store or catalog as a child growing up? They sold Heathkit. Heathkit also provided kits used by a large portion of transceivers used by amateur radio operators, The Heathkit HW17 was a very popular 2-Meter transceiver.

I'm in the U.K. slim.

[kingarthur]

I had to look up "Heathkits".. not a name I know, but apparently I'm old enough to know them...


Bu99er!!!..... 🙄

Changing tack completely would that be the flag of St Piran, as your profile pic.... in which case Kernow Bys Vyken

[slimslob]

When I was a kid the Heathkit catalog was the shit! I remember my brother building a Heathkit linear amplifier for his ultra-cool 1979 CB radio setup, he said it was illegal but who knows? I think it was 25W or 500W and I remember his friends telling him he was going to jail if he got caught using it. I guess the FCC was a bigger deal back then.

CB was limited to 4 watts transmit power. There was no way you would go to jail but your parents could have been fined if your signal interfered with other public broadcasts, usually neighbors TVs and they complained to the Friendly Candy Company. They also had to catch you actually transmitting.

Now what they didn't like were potty mouth teenagers. I had an uncle in the San Jose, CA area for was an avid CB user. He had a 500W linear connected to his rig and a high gain directional antenna angle up to work skip to the midwest. Once there were a bunch of teenagers talking crap on walkie talkies An FCC inspector knocked on his door and asked if he could use my uncle's rig. He powered up the linear but left in connected to the local antenna . He keyed the microscopic and said 'this is the FCC you kids better stop the bad language. He handed the mic back to my uncle and said "the next time you hear them talking like that, step on them"

[Aneurysm]

The last Heathkit Catalog was published in 1993...

When I was a kid the Heathkit catalog was the shit! I remember my brother building a Heathkit linear amplifier for his ultra-cool 1979 CB radio setup, he said it was illegal but who knows? I think it was 25W or 500W and I remember his friends telling him he was going to jail if he got caught using it. I guess the FCC was a bigger deal back then.

[copyman]

Heathkit not only made electronic kits but all kind of kits, including an airplane kit, etc. Attached is a few photos of my 2 mini bikes sold by Heathkit, The blue one is the Boonie Bike (1968) and the gold one is the Hilltopper (1972). I didn't build these but ride them all the time.
Like I mentioned in my prior post I built a lot of electronic kits, stereos, shortwave radios, 25" & 19" TV's, etc. There is no feeling like taking weeks to build a kit, soldering every componet on circuit boards, etc. then turning it on and it works! I have a digital clock I built in the 80's and it's still working great! (see pics)

[slimslob]

I had to look up "Heathkits".. not a name I know, but apparently I'm old enough to know them...


Bu99er!!!..... 🙄

The last Heathkit Catalog was published in 1993. That is 4 years after you say you started in this industry. Did you never look at a Lafayette Electronics store or catalog as a child growing up? They sold Heathkit. Heathkit also provided kits used by a large portion of transceivers used by amateur radio operators, The Heathkit HW17 was a very popular 2-Meter transceiver.

[ThisPete]

Also I bet a lot of the good "true techs" posting in this thread took apart things as a kid to see how they work. Back was I was young things were more mechanical. I remember my dad giving me the belt on my ass for taking my sisters radio apart and couldn't put it back together. Think I was around 7 or 8. I also built a lot of electronic kits. I actually have a large collection of UNbuilt Heathkits.

One other thing comes to mind about being a "true tech", someone who can fix anything around the house, or at least attempt to fix before calling in the expert

I had to look up "Heathkits".. not a name I know, but apparently I'm old enough to know them...


Bu99er!!!..... 🙄

[ThisPete]

I've watched a number of forums die completely after eliminating political conversations. Be careful what you wish for.

The forums didn't die after eliminating political threads Mako .. they were dead already, as you have proven by what you said.... 😉

[blackcat4866]

Having spent 1/3 of my life in the car, I'll confirm that I've done some of my most creative thinking while driving. Especially that 75 minute drive home when you're tired and unfocused.

[Mako]

Perhaps too much politics and too little technical in the forums are disgusting people away..............?

Hans

I've watched a number of forums die completely after eliminating political conversations. Be careful what you wish for.

[slimslob]

It's the shower for me, I remember solutions to obscure issues and come up with some great ideas in the shower?

I've heard that and also driving does it for some or so I hear.

I have had some strange ones over the years. Years ago in the days of the estat fluid machines I had Apeco Super Stats that would frequently wrap paper around the squeegee roller. At least two calls a week for each customer. Early one afternoon I had just finished at one customer and before I made back to my car they called again. Having no other calls for the day I decided to pull the exit tray and watch the paper going through the drying section. After about ten minutes I saw it. The wire guides that were supposed to keep the paper below the nozzles of the blowers deformed a little as the as warmed up. This allowed them to become just far enough above the nozzles for the bottoms of the nozzles for the paper to hit. Reshaped the guides and no more jams.

A few years back I was working on a production B/W with an intermittent error code from the finisher. While running copies to watch the finisher, I noticed that the copies were getting lighter. I traced that to the toner loading motor. Checked the motor and it had a short to ground. Removed the motor and manually filled the toner hopper and the finisher problem was gone. Apparently when the machine tried to turn the motor on it one of the power supply voltages was dropped enough to affect the finisher.

[BillyCarpenter]

It's the shower for me, I remember solutions to obscure issues and come up with some great ideas in the shower?

I've heard that and also driving does it for some or so I hear.

[Aneurysm]

This may be a stupid question, but have you ever been hung up on a problem and gone to bed with it on your mind and woke up the next morning and soon as you open your eyes, you suddenly know the answer?

It's the shower for me, I remember solutions to obscure issues and come up with some great ideas in the shower?