Test Equipment Anonymous

Interesting and well argued points (which I accept). What I was intending to draw attention to was the way DAB was promoted in the UK. Terms such as "crystal clear" and "perfect sound" were touted for a system relying on lossy compression, and politicians in particular wittered about "digital" as being superior and "analogue" being old-fashioned and inferior. I am sure they have no real understanding of what either term means. Yet that is how DAB was (mis)sold to the consumer.

On an entirely separate note, last week it was so hot that the slides on my little lathe locked solid due to differential thermal expansion of the metals involved. Really brought home the need for a stable toolroom temperature.

Blair put down Major as "An analogue politician in a digital age". It sounded pretty good, but he obviously didn't know what he was talking about.

As I said before, a flag went up for me when DAB was promoted as modern as tomorrow, the coming thing, and super kool. Whole radio programmes were produced to promote it, with competitions offering prizes of fabulous DAB radios. It reminded me of the old joke about Christmas raffles. First prize a turkey, second prize two turkeys, third prize three turkeys.

When transistor radios came about in the early 60s, the advantages over valve portables were obvious, and of course people bought them on their merits.

The weather last week, reaching 37C, was miserable. 37C may not seem much in large parts of the US, Australia, Southern Europe etc, but it was also very humid, which made it unpleasant.

mansaxel wrote: ↑Wed Jul 01, 2026 9:33 pm Like it or not, the net won. Because it is modular.

I remember 30 years ago chewing the cud with colleagues while having lunch. There were two predictions...

If this Internet shopping thing ever took off, there would be oodles of money to be made in support services such as logistics. Bit of no brainer, that, since we weren't too far away from the place that demonstrated that phenomenon after 1849.

The other on initially struck me as odd, but the more I thought about it the more it made sense... all comes that then travelled through the aether would travel through copper/glass wires, and vice versa.

As for being modular, there are powerful forces opposing that, so it remains to be seen whether it will be true in a generations time. Some forces are overt and non-technical, some are more subtle and technical. Amongst the latter is googles' repeated attempts to get rid of URLs, or the growth of walled gardens hidden inside javascript implementations.

Some more miscellaneous rambling....

Did you ever get a thank you card from an auto mechanic? I never did either, until now...

I recently discovered that there was a dedicated Honda/Acura repair shop about 10 minutes away. Been in business since the 1980's. Since we are a 3 Honda household I figured I'd give them a try. I would have them do the required annual New York State Safety and Emissions Inspection. This inspection is basically the same as the UK MOT with a fixed price by the state of $21 USD. So in May the CR-V was due. Took it in and it passed. The only "up sell" was the tech discovered that the rear wiper blade was split. Cost: $9 USD. In June both the Civic and Accord were due. Both passed and no attempt at any "up sell". I am impressed. Their shop is large, clean, and they have an extensive parts area. And they try to use OEM Honda parts when possible. I will definitely keep them in mind if I ever need additional service.




I mentioned in prior post that I had to move my tower PC from the living room to the lab. It has much of my music of it and the audio system stayed in the living room. So I looked into a Bluetooth option. The PC had no wireless on it so I bought a combo card that included Bluetooth 5.3. This past week I received a Bluetooth 5.3 Receiver which I connected to the audio system. Connection was easy and I am impressed with the audio quality. I'm sure audiopools would scoff at that arrangement but these old ears notice no degradation. Again, I'm impressed.




And finally. Reminder to you Brits. Tomorrow (July 4th) we formally gave your King George the middle finger 250 years ago.

And we've just discovered a new copy https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/202 ... k-archives

I hope most people manage to make the celebrations more about themselves and less about one particular narcissist.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness"

"pursuit of happiness"??? surely thomas jefferson did not write that! maybe my fellow philadelphian ben franklin added it in an edit? (ben was quite a wacky dude)

my plan for the 4th is to finish binge watching all 41 episodes of the jeremy brett sherlock holmes series on roku. my apologies to med for watching a brit series on the 4th. i promise to flip the bird to king george at the beginning of each episode.

ps ok ok.....basil rathbone and nigel bruce were great in their time.......but that brett guy has become my ideal version of sherlock.

Interesting that a copy of Declaration was found in the British Archives and that it even survived this long.

Tomorrow's activities are a picnic at Blondie's Daughter's and lots of (illegal) fireworks in the evening.

I forgive you Marco

nixiefreqq wrote: ↑Fri Jul 03, 2026 9:59 pm
my plan for the 4th is to finish binge watching all 41 episodes of the jeremy brett sherlock holmes series on roku. my apologies to med for watching a brit series on the 4th. i promise to flip the bird to king george at the beginning of each episode.

ps ok ok.....basil rathbone and nigel bruce were great in their time.......but that brett guy has become my ideal version sherlock.

If you are familiar with the short stories and the two or three Holmes adventures that were novel length, the Jeremy Brett version was much closer to the original and had very high production values.

The Rathbone/Bruce version was more Hollywood influenced and most of the plots were nothing like Conan Doyle's works. I object to the way Dr Watson was portrayed as a blithering idiot, but that's a part Nigel Bruce seemed to slip into. The films were engaging.

Now the Rathbone/Bruce efforts were films and the Brett versions were part of TV series, which may explain some of the differences.

In the same vein, David Suchet is Poirot, but before and after there have been a string of pathetic imposters.

Zenith wrote: ↑Fri Jul 03, 2026 10:29 pm In the same vein, David Suchet is Poirot, but before and after there have been a string of pathetic imposters.

Agreed. And there was a ridiculous mini-series on a few Christmases ago purporting to be a Poirot prequel. Complete nonsense and virtually incomprehensible.

Looks like I've opened up another TimeNut rabbit hole (wormhole?).
I've always fancied a master clock set up. Someone on a IO group was offering one and a couple of slaves. Only trouble is they are more than 3 hours drive away. But, my brother lives a couple of miles away and is visiting us next weekend So I ask him if he will pick up a couple of clocks for me. He said yes He's picked them up, apparently I "forgot" to tell him one is 5 ft tall
The master is a Gents Pulsynetic but I don't know the exact model. Can't wait to see what turns up. Can't ask for my money back if I don't like it as they were free. Only slight worry is SWMBO has ears like a bat and may complain about the noise it makes even though she likes long clocks generally. Pictures when it arrives.

Robert wrote: ↑Sat Jul 04, 2026 10:12 am Looks like I've opened up another TimeNut rabbit hole (wormhole?).

Interest mounted as I read. A hydrogen maser! A caesium fountain clock! I read on.

Robert wrote: ↑Sat Jul 04, 2026 10:12 am The master is a Gents Pulsynetic but I don't know the exact model.

What a let down. Some TimeNut you turn out to be.

Robert wrote: ↑Sat Jul 04, 2026 10:12 am Can't wait to see what turns up. Can't ask for my money back if I don't like it as they were free. Only slight worry is SWMBO has ears like a bat and may complain about the noise it makes even though she likes long clocks generally. Pictures when it arrives.

http://www.mridout.force9.co.uk/ecw/pulsynetic.htm

The clock is very noisy in operation, and not really suited to a domestic environment.

Long case clocks have a gentle tick. You can usually disarm the chimes.

They have one or two master clocks at TNMoC. They never struck me as particularly noisy but it isn't a domestic environment.

There was a time when highly engineered pendulum clocks were a time standard, but I believe they were synced on astronomical observations.

Robert wrote: ↑Sat Jul 04, 2026 10:12 am Looks like I've opened up another TimeNut rabbit hole (wormhole?).
I've always fancied a master clock set up. Someone on a IO group was offering one and a couple of slaves. Only trouble is they are more than 3 hours drive away. But, my brother lives a couple of miles away and is visiting us next weekend So I ask him if he will pick up a couple of clocks for me. He said yes He's picked them up, apparently I "forgot" to tell him one is 5 ft tall
The master is a Gents Pulsynetic but I don't know the exact model. Can't wait to see what turns up. Can't ask for my money back if I don't like it as they were free. Only slight worry is SWMBO has ears like a bat and may complain about the noise it makes even though she likes long clocks generally. Pictures when it arrives.

have never heard of these clocks. must be a totally brit thing. looks like a rabbit hole indeed! please keep us posted on the effect it has on swmbo.

ps

this attachment is for med.
I have 2 great grandfathers who fought in pennsylvania volunteer infantry regiments in the late unpleasantness, and have an itch to take my pickup over to the battlefield and do the same to the seditionist robert e lee (and the horse he rode in on).

edit for you non-PA folks. battle of Gettysburg 1-3 July.....with small retreat covering skirmishes on the 4th.

Already found that website. seems a bit weird. He asks for other peoples info etc but doesn’t seem to share much like scans of brochures.
They were pretty high up on the accuracy scale before quartz took over. Pendulum rod is invar for example.

Robert.

nixiefreqq wrote: ↑Sat Jul 04, 2026 11:08 am have never heard of these clocks. must be a totally brit thing. looks like a rabbit hole indeed! please keep us posted on the effect it has on swmbo.

I don't think they were a totally Brit thing. They were used in factories and large buildings. Railways probably used them. Accurate time to within a minute across the whole of the country wasn't a serious requirement until the coming of the railways with timetables to be kept. Railway tracks had telegraph and later telephone lines and so the infrastructure would be there. Another thing to look up, rather than rely on hazy recollections and guesses.

There have, of course, been many Sherlock Holmes derivatives - almost all ignorable. I suspect they are popular since they reduce the need for all the elements to be introduced before a mortal puts the pieces together. Having an omniscient being makes life easier!

There is, however, one modern variant that I like. It is a French/Belgian production which is correctly titled Astrid et Raphaelle. The English title (Astrid: Murder in Paris) misses the point. There is even an English copy, Patience, which somehow manages to completely miss all the points that make the original worthwhile; ignore.

The basic point is that Astrid is a reclusive high functioning autistic person working in the depths of criminal records, with an encyclopedic grasp of "procedure". She leads a detective, Raphaellle, to realise new and old crimes are connected, and to spot the perps.

The pleasure is the way autistic people are portrayed, their different perceptions of the world, and how Astrid and Raphaelle come to understand how they complement each other.

Available on All4 streaming catchup in the UK.

Zenith wrote: ↑Sat Jul 04, 2026 11:20 am Accurate time to within a minute across the whole of the country wasn't a serious requirement until the coming of the railways with timetables to be kept. Railway tracks had telegraph and later telephone lines and so the infrastructure would be there. Another thing to look up, rather than rely on hazy recollections and guesses.

Famous clock with two minute hands, showing local/sun time and railway/London time.

Robert wrote: ↑Sat Jul 04, 2026 11:12 am Already found that website. seems a bit weird. He asks for other peoples info etc but doesn’t seem to share much like scans of brochures.
They were pretty high up on the accuracy scale before quartz took over. Pendulum rod is invar for example.

Robert.

I'm not sure how the pendulum clocks used by places like NPL worked. Invar is an obvious solution, but there were temperature compensated pendulums starting with Harrison's Gridiron Pendulum from the early 1700s. A sordid story. There was a prize for solving the problem of an accurate clock necessary for determining longitude and the buggers didn't want to give it him.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gridiron_pendulum

There were also mercury compensated pendulums.

Invar by 1900 and for a master clock for a major institution, it wouldn't be too much to keep it in a temperature controlled environment, to limit the demands placed on the invar.

tggzzz wrote: ↑Sat Jul 04, 2026 11:24 am The basic point is that Astrid is a reclusive high functioning autistic person working in the depths of criminal records, with an encyclopedic grasp of "procedure". She leads a detective, Raphaellle, to realise new and old crimes are connected, and to spot the perps.

The pleasure is the way autistic people are portrayed, their different perceptions of the world, and how Astrid and Raphaelle come to understand how they complement each other.

Conan Doyle covered that base with Mycroft. The reclusive brother of Sherlock with even greater powers of observation and deduction, but absolutely unsuited to the practicalities of being a criminal agent. He had a job working for the government, putting together information from all sorts of sources and forming conclusions which directed policy. He belonged to the Diogenes Club, a gentleman's club with newspapers and drinks etc, the fundamental rule of which was that members would be expelled for speaking to each other. There was one room in which the rule was relaxed. Mycroft and the Diogenes Club appear in "The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter".

Mycroft was definitely not neurotypical.

that clock with extra hands puzzled me.

so I googled "clock with two minutes hands", and wadda' ya' know.

it really is an interesting story. never heard about that happening anywhere around here. can't imagine pittsburgh and philly ever keeping their own local time.

but then again maybe....those knuckle draggers in pittsburg probably only have 20 hours in a day, because after that they run out of fingers and toes.

ps whooooops! wasn't the dragon originally from pittsburgh? have not heard from that young fella' in a while.

nixiefreqq wrote: ↑Sat Jul 04, 2026 12:01 pm ps whooooops! wasn't the dragon originally from pittsburgh? have not heard from that young fella' in a while.

I spent 17 months in Pittsburgh. From 8 weeks to 18 months old.

Don't remember it!

tggzzz wrote: ↑Sat Jul 04, 2026 1:25 pm

nixiefreqq wrote: ↑Sat Jul 04, 2026 12:01 pm ps whooooops! wasn't the dragon originally from pittsburgh? have not heard from that young fella' in a while.

I spent 17 months in Pittsburgh. From 8 weeks to 18 months old.

Don't remember it!

spent one night there in the summer of 1977 (for a job interview).

wish I could forget it.

Not spent any time in Pitttsburg. Spent far too long (weeks) in a EMC lab in Conshohocken PA.
Also spent a couple of weeks in Pittsfield MA on a Lightning course. That town is toxic. It was the location of a big General Electric plant and they released lots of PCBs and chlorinated solvents into the river and ground.

Robert.

tggzzz wrote: ↑Sat Jul 04, 2026 1:25 pm

nixiefreqq wrote: ↑Sat Jul 04, 2026 12:01 pm ps whooooops! wasn't the dragon originally from pittsburgh? have not heard from that young fella' in a while.

I spent 17 months in Pittsburgh. From 8 weeks to 18 months old.

Don't remember it!

I spent a week in Pittsburgh, at a meeting. I kind of liked it. Then I drove all of US 22 to Newark and flew home.

nixiefreqq wrote: ↑Sat Jul 04, 2026 5:19 pm

tggzzz wrote: ↑Sat Jul 04, 2026 1:25 pm

nixiefreqq wrote: ↑Sat Jul 04, 2026 12:01 pm ps whooooops! wasn't the dragon originally from pittsburgh? have not heard from that young fella' in a while.

I spent 17 months in Pittsburgh. From 8 weeks to 18 months old.

Don't remember it!

spent one night there in the summer of 1977 (for a job interview).

wish I could forget it.

Wish you could forget the job interview or Pittsburgh, or both?

Zenith wrote: ↑Sat Jul 04, 2026 11:04 am

Robert wrote: ↑Sat Jul 04, 2026 10:12 am Looks like I've opened up another TimeNut rabbit hole (wormhole?).

Interest mounted as I read. A hydrogen maser! A caesium fountain clock! I read on.

Robert wrote: ↑Sat Jul 04, 2026 10:12 am The master is a Gents Pulsynetic but I don't know the exact model.

What a let down. Some TimeNut you turn out to be.

Robert wrote: ↑Sat Jul 04, 2026 10:12 am Can't wait to see what turns up. Can't ask for my money back if I don't like it as they were free. Only slight worry is SWMBO has ears like a bat and may complain about the noise it makes even though she likes long clocks generally. Pictures when it arrives.

http://www.mridout.force9.co.uk/ecw/pulsynetic.htm

The clock is very noisy in operation, and not really suited to a domestic environment.

Long case clocks have a gentle tick. You can usually disarm the chimes.

They have one or two master clocks at TNMoC. They never struck me as particularly noisy but it isn't a domestic environment.

There was a time when highly engineered pendulum clocks were a time standard, but I believe they were synced on astronomical observations.

The Pulsynetic master clock at my old work would, every now & then, activate an electromagnet, which pulled the pendulum to one extreme of its travel before releasing it to keep swinging until its kinetic energy had reduced enough to need another boost.
When this happened there would be a loud "clunk!".