Pretty sure we got a viewer call from Eeby Deeby overnight.
There’s kids. On the ice. What’s a dinosaur to do when there’s kids on the ice. Quick, somebody call their mom
Category: lulz
Barnstorm! Or, No Good Deed….
Ever had water start gushing out of something that’s fundamentally made of eldritch terror and high voltage? Why I’ve never…..
And it gave me a nice shower the moment I got the door open. And I accidentally did the Wrong Button Thing again in the confusion.
h. hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
So the fitting that became a showerhead is the one on the left. I didn’t get a picture of it but basically it’s the same as half of that coupler I found in a parts box that’s sitting on top… However it didn’t have the O-ring. The snapped trapezoidal profile ring sitting on the right sits in the bottom of the socket. The fitting plugs in there, held against the trapezoidal ring by two locking pins, you can see the head of one of them on top here. I can’t identify the type of connector or even find any evidence that it ever existed. Anywhere. Needless to say I didn’t have a spare for that ring, but luckily taking one of the round o rings off that close nipple and putting it in the seat in the socket and reinstalling the thing worked! No more warm shower of DI water.
Oh, and now I know how the funky bascule bridges work. A rather buzzy motor cranks up in there and rotates pinion gears that engage with rack gears on these two long braces on each side of the bascule, which protrude outward from the waterway to lift the well balanced assembly. You would be well advised to stay clear of that counterweight as it comes awkwardly close to the road surface as it nears fully open!
And this is uhh, Stuffing Shit In Tower Elevators, Medium Difficulty Level. I rode down squatted inside the cabinet and it wasn’t the best. The elevator is kinda both bigger and smaller than it looks as it’s a weird shape and the control cabinets stick out. If there isn’t a large object rammed in the, there’s enough space to comfortably sit down on the floor as it slowly creeps its way up or down at 85 feet per minute.
Out of sight, out of mind
This is certainly a thing. I don’t know how half this crap even got up here.
This is mostly just a picture dump that begins beyond the read more tag. This is weirdness like 1600 feet up a tower inside a weird triangular room wrapped around it.
But first, one of the more unique elevator controllers I’ve seen.. the red cylinders are crystal filters of some sort used to detect control tones that are inductively coupled by a plate on the cab that rides next to a wire stretched along its path up the tower. It works pretty well as long as everyone remembers to keep the cab panel batteries charged.
From here on just remember “treat your fiberoptics with more respect than this please”
Read more “Out of sight, out of mind”Noooooooo springs!
Up on the bench today: A Lectrosonics wireless microphone cube.
This unit snaps right into the XLR connector at the bottom of a ‘stick’ microphone for handheld use. You’ve probably seen these in use on the news before (though often the bottom of the mic will be out of the shot and you won’t see it hanging there).
This is the upper end of the cube, as seen with the mic in a position of normal use.
The black plastic coated cone serves two purposes. One, you twist it to press the locking tab on the XLR to eject the assembly from the microphone. Two, it’s always being forced towards the tip by a strong spring, so the mic is gripped firmly and prevented from rattling around.
See how the XLR is all chewed up on this one? The spring failed over time (and LOTS of hard use) and allowed it to rattle around, causing eventual failure of the connector.
Looks easy enough to replace, right? It’s just screwed to one end plate of the ‘cube’ housing, into which there are five screw holes – two on the flatted side that’s down on the static mat in this picture, three of which face the rest of the pack body.
OH AND NO REDEMPTION EITHER.
Anyway….
Step one… get the pack open by removing all the tiny screws surrounding the display and controls then lift that out. Good luck. That part is fecking DIFFICULT, I have always just firmly stuck gaff tape to it and used it as a handle to lift it out. Be careful as you will be disconnecting a small pitch set of header pins above the top of the display towards the XLR end. Don’t bend them. The whole thing will come free when lifted only about a millimeter out of the recess though so the risk of this should be small. The two screws right next to the XLR are longer than the others as they land in the XLR endcap.
Step two, proceed to gut the whole damn thing like a fish. Photo captions inspired by the short film above.
Off comes the battery door – 4 pieces – first to come out are the four long larger black cone head Phillips screws, followed by the outer plate and the battery flap, then three more short small cone head screws to get that thin inner plate and spring off.
Now you can see the three screws on the back of the XLR plate down holes drilled through the cube body… but you can only actually reach one of them! This is gonna get sillier. Trust me. You’ve gotta get the radio board out of there.
On a side note, see that little black biscuit on the radio board? That’s topped with a strong magnet. Is that…. a whole-ass miniature RF CIRCULATOR?
The short black wire is the antenna lead. This must be desoldered along with the red and green power wires. Oh, also, to get to this point, you have to take out four tiny pan head Phillips screws and three larger short pan head screws that hold the control/audio board to the back of the front panel. Disconnect the one flat flex connector to the front panel membrane switches. The audio wires are Kynar and are looped through a hole in the board next to where they’re actually soldered down. There are fine pitch SMT components RIGHT NEXT TO the through holes they are soldered into. Be careful. This precluded the use of a vacuum desoldering pump and made me swear even more.
And finally, here’s the small mountain of screws that you’ll find yourself facing midway through the process. Don’t ask me to explain the “Line ‘Em Up” thing because I don’t understand it either. It just spontaneously came to be one day and that’s all I know. Oh, also, there IS a little bit of extra room in there to where you can leave the battery leads slightly long-ish, but you’ll have to carefully roll them up into that void between the flat flex connector on the control panel and where they land on the power / radio board. There isn’t enough clearance between that shield can and the chips on the back of the control panel.
Oh, one more thing: those hex screws are English size – I think 3/32 inch. The tiny set screws on some of their connectors are 0.9 millimeter. Yes, an unholy blend of English and Metric. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
But hey, I can think of worse ways I could have spent the late morning hours. Well I still don’t have to fix the couch, so bite me.
heh heheheheh dicks peak
just next to… Jack’s Peak
Ooooh, that smell
Tina Machua on Good Day Sacramento, standing in the kitchen at one of my favorite restaurants, Falafel and Shawarma Planet: “Wow, that smells delicious!”
Me, sitting in the engineering shop, having just gotten a shorted Tantrum– I mean, tantalum, capacitor to do its thing: “yeah uh”
this should be used as a copypasta somewhere
ATSC 1.0 has at least two very dumb things about it. #1: The 8VSB modulation. 8VSB is basically amplitude modulation with, spectrally, everything below the carrier attenuated off. In theory, that sounds ok, except that it’s extremely vulnerable to multipath. GUESS WHAT HAPPENS ON EVERY TV SIGNAL IN AN URBAN AREA. The margin’s not that big for multipath, and once you hit it, the whole signal’s useless, leaving your viewers to dance around with the antenna and wonder why they just can’t get picture….
8VSB was only, from documentation I’ve found on it, lab tested for performance in terms of signal to noise ratio in a proof for the FCC… no attempt was made to simulate or measure receiver performance in the face of multipath. I’m not sure if this was because nobody ever had the “aha!” moment and realized it’d be a problem or if some vendor already heavily invested in it swept it under the rug. Just about every other country used DVB-T which allows for more spectrally efficient and robust modulation standards including QPSK (very robust but not as efficient as QAM), 16QAM, and 64QAM.
This raises another issue that was dumber on the broadcaster’s side: 8VSB was in part chosen because it would, in theory, work through existing analog transmitters, requiring only slight modifications to things like the combiners and an exciter swap. In practice, no transmitter manufacturers really opened this up as an option, and everyone had to buy all new shit. In fact… the klystron based UHF television transmitters proved not to have the linearity (or SOMETHING) to deal with 8VSB and the Inductive Output Tube had to be brought out of mothballs to deal with it. The IOT has great linearity but no damn efficiency – it was originally used by General Electric for an early World’s Fair demo of UHF television broadcasting, but commercially never took off… anyway, later on, EEV’s esciot series tubes improved on that somewhat… but… they’re still a pain in the arse
Stupid Thing #2 (or is it about #8 by now?): MPEG2. Do I look like I know what an mpeg is?*
So here not only do we have this shitty 8VSB modulation sapping the available amount of information that can be broadcast in a certain width of channel but then…. MPEG2 video coding was specified. I suspect that’s evidence of the standard’s development either being dragged out forever OR someone just wanted to be able to use up a bunch of DVD player decoder ASICs they had sitting in a Chinese warehouse. As a result of the MPEG2 encoding being used, the picture looks like DOUBLE BUTT when there’s a lot of motion, especially when you’re running a lot of subchannels squeezed into that 18.3 megabits/sec…
And then you have the whole godawful thing where the CECB program led to the cost of converter boxes which probably actually cost about $25 including hardware, manufacturing, and patent licensing royalties being fixed right up to $40…. but that’s a far dumber story
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5nZhf8SjXw
ATSC 1.0 has ๐น๐ฉ at ๐โบ least two very โ๐ dumb ๐ ๐คค things about ๐ป๐ it. ๐ก๐ #1: โฐ๐ค The 8VSB modulation. 8VSB is basically amplitude modulation with, spectrally, everything below โฌ๐ซ the carrier attenuated off. ๐ด In ๐ theory, ๐ that ๐ฆ sounds ๐๐ ok, ๐ except ๐ฎ๐ฎ that ๐ it’s ๐ฏโ extremely ๐ฏ๐ฏ vulnerable to ๐ multipath. GUESS ๐ฆ WHAT HAPPENS ON ๐ข๐ EVERY ๐พ TV ๐บ๐บ SIGNAL IN ๐ AN ๐ฎ๐ URBAN AREA. The margin’s not ๐ซ that ๐ถโก big for multipath, and โข๐ once โ๐ you โ hit it, ๐ต the ๐ whole signal’s useless, โณ leaving ๐๐ your ๐ฏ๐ฆ viewers to ๐ฐ๐ฏ dance ๐๐ around ๐๐ฆ with ๐ the antenna and ๐ wonder why they just can’t ๐ฆ๐ซ get picture…. ๐ท๐ญ 8VSB was only, ๐ from ๐ documentation I’ve ๐ฐ๐ found on ๐ it, lab tested for ๐ performance in terms of signal to ๐ฆ noise ratio in a proof ๐ฏ๐ฏ for ๐๐ the ๐ฐ๐ FCC… ๐ซ no ๐ซ๐ attempt was ๐๐ made to ๐จ simulate or ๐ measure ๐๐ receiver performance in the ๐ณ๐ face of multipath. I’m not ๐ sure if ๐๐ this ๐ฆ๐ was because ๐โ nobody ๐ ever had ๐ฆ the “aha!” moment ๐๐ and ๐ realized it’d โ๐ be ๐จ๐ a problem or ๐ฑ๐ฑ if ๐๐ ฑ some ๐ vendor already heavily ๐๐ invested in ๐ฝ๐ it swept ๐คฃ๐คฃ it under โฌ the ๐ ฐ rug. Just ๐ฌ๐ถ about ๐ฏ every ๐๐ other country ๐๐ used DVB-T which ๐ allows for ๐ more spectrally efficient and ๐ฆ robust modulation standards including ๐จ QPSK (very โฃ๐ฟ robust but not ๐ฎ as efficient as ๐๐ QAM), 16QAM, and ๐ฉ 64QAM. This ๐โฌ raises another ๐ป issue that ๐ ๐ was dumber on ๐๐ the ๐จ broadcaster’s side: 8VSB was in โค part chosen because it ๐ฏ would, in theory, ๐ work ๐๐ through ๐ช existing analog transmitters, requiring only ๐ปโ slight modifications to ๐ฅ๐ฆ things ๐ like ๐ the ๐๐ช combiners and ๐๐ an exciter swap. In ๐ค๐ฉ practice, ๐ no transmitter manufacturers really ๐ณ๐ opened ๐ ๐ this โฌ up โค๐ฟ as ๐ an option, and โ everyone had ๐ to ๐ฐ๐ buy all ๐ new ๐๐ฝ shit. ๐ In fact… ๐ก๐ the ๐ฆ klystron based UHF television transmitters proved not โ๐ซ to ๐๐ค have ๐ the โ๐ linearity (or ๐ ฑ๐ ฑ SOMETHING) ๐คโ to deal with ๐ซ 8VSB and the ๐บ Inductive Output Tube ๐๐ฑ had โ๐ถ to be brought out ๐ฟ of mothballs to ๐ฃ deal with it. โ The IOT has ๐ฐ๐น great linearity but ๐ no damn ๐ฉ efficiency – it was originally ๐ used ๐ by General โ Electric โกโก for ๐โ an ๐ถ early ๐ World’s Fair demo of UHF television broadcasting, but ๐ commercially never โ๐ค took ๐ฑ off… anyway, later โฐ๐ฏ on, ๐ EEV’s esciot series tubes improved on that somewhat… but… โ๐ they’re ๐ still ๐ a ๐๐ฏ pain in ๐ the ๐๐ arse Stupid Thing #2 ๐ (or ๐ is it ๐ก๐ฉ about #8 ๐ by ๐๐ now?): MPEG2. Do ๐ I ๐ look like I know what an ๐๐น mpeg is?* So here ๐โคต not only do ๐ we have ๐๐ถ this โ shitty 8VSB modulation sapping the ๐ available amount ๐ of information that can ๐ฆโ be broadcast in a ๐ certain width of channel ๐ but then…. ๐ฑ๐ ฑ MPEG2 video coding was ๐ฐ๐ specified. I ๐ฟ๐ฅ suspect that’s ๐ evidence ๐ฐ๐ฐ of ๐๐ฆ the ๐ standard’s development ๐ฌ๐ฌ either being ๐ dragged out forever OR ๐ฆ๐ฆ someone just ๐๐ค wanted ๐ ฐ to be ๐๐ฐ able to ๐ฆ use ๐ up ๐๐ a bunch of โ DVD player ๐ฐ๐คบ decoder ASICs they ๐๐ฅ had ๐ sitting ๐ in a Chinese ๐๐ warehouse. As ๐ a ๐ฐ๐ฐ result of ๐ด๐ฆ the MPEG2 encoding being used, ๐ the ๐ฌ picture ๐ฉ looks like DOUBLE BUTT ๐ when ๐๐ฉ there’s a ๐๐ lot โผ of ๐ฟ๐ motion, ๐ especially when ๐ you’re ๐ฅ๐ running ๐ a ๐ฆ lot ๐ of subchannels squeezed into that ๐ป๐ 18.3 ๐ megabits/sec… And ๐ค๐ then you ๐๐ง have the ๐๐ whole ๐ฆ๐ฉ godawful thing where ๐ญ๐ the ๐๐ป CECB program led to the ๐ cost of ๐๐ฆ converter boxes which ๐ฅ probably actually cost ๐ฐ๐ฐ about ๐ฆ $25 ๐๐ including hardware, manufacturing, and โโ patent licensing royalties being fixed right โโ up to ๐ $40…. but that’s ๐ป a ๐ far ๐๐ฆ dumber story ๐๐
ATSC๐๐๐ 1.0๐ has๐ง๐ผ๐ข at๐๐โ๐ป๐๐ฝ ๐คด๐ฐ least๐๐ two๐ ๐ฌ veryโ๏ธ dumb thingsใฐโ๐ฝ ๐๐ฑ about๐ ๐พ๐ฆ it.๐ #1:ใฐโก๏ธ ๐ The๐ ๐ 8VSB๐๐ณ modulation.๐จ๐ผ๐ ๐ฝ 8VSB๐ฆ๐ผ is๐ basicallyโ๏ธ ๐ amplitude๐ modulationโ๐ฟ๐๐ผ๐๐ท๐พ๐ฐ๐พ with,๐ ๐๐ถ spectrally, everything ๐๐ below๐ ๐ซ๐ซ the๐๐๐ฒ๐๐๐ฝ carrier7โฃ๐ฎ attenuated๐๐๐พ๐๐ฝ off. In๐ฑ๐พ๐ ๐ theory,โ๏ธ๐ฒ๐๐ฝ that๐๐ฟ๐ sounds๐๐๐ฆ ok,๐ช๐ฝ except๐๐ฅ thatยฎ๐ it’s๐จโ๐จโ๐ง๐ข ๐ extremelyโ๐๐๐ผ๐น ๐ vulnerable๐ ๐ฃ๐๐๐ก to๐โ๐ ๐๐ฆ multipath.๐บ๐ณ๐ฝ๐ GUESS ๐ค๐ค WHAT๐๐ข๐๐ผ HAPPENS๐ป๐๐ฟ๐ซ๐ญ ON๐ EVERYโ๏ธ ๐๐ค TV๐ผโ๏ธ ๐บ๐บ SIGNAL๐ฒ๐ผ๐ผ INโณ๏ธ๐ ๐ฉ๐ฝโ๐ฟ ๐ AN๐๐ ๐ถ๐ URBAN๐ณ๐๐พโ๏ธ AREA.๐ฃ The๐๐ฟ๐ก๐๐ง ๐ฆ margin’s๐๏ธ๐๐ not๐๐ผ๐ฃ that ๐ big๐จ๐ฟ๐ป ๐บ๐ for๐จโโค๏ธโ๐โ๐จ๐๐พ multipath,โฉ๐ and๐ onceโ๏ธ๐๐ป๐ก you๐๐ฒ๐โข๐ ๐ hit๐ ๐ต๐ it,๐ด๐ท๐ฝ๐๐ ๐ the๐๐พ๐ธ๐ผ ๐๐ whole๐ด ๐ signal’s๐ ๐๐จโ๐จโ๐ฆโ๏ธ๐ useless,๐น๐ฒ๐๐ป leaving๐๐ต๐พ๐ด ๐๐ your๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐พ๐จ๐ฒ๐ฝ๐ญ viewers๐ถ๐พ to๐๐ฝ๐ฎ dance๐๐ around ๐ฅ๐ with๐๐ธ๐ฝ the โฒ antenna๐๐ป๐ช๐ผ๐ andโ๏ธ๐ ๐ wonder๐ฃ๐๐๐ ๐ค๐ฎ why๐ณ๐ป they๐ด๐ป just๐ ๐ง๐คท can’t โ getโฝ๏ธ ๐ พ๐ picture….โ๏ธ 8VSBโฝ๏ธ๐ was๐จ๐ธ๐ ๐คฃ๐ฆ only,๐ถ๐ฝ๐ from ๐๐ฒ documentation๐ฑ๐ผ๐ I’ve๐๐ฑ๐ฝ ๐๐ found๐ โ on๐ ๐๐ฆ it,๐๐ฝ๐ฏ๏ธ๐ช๐๐ฟ ๐๐ lab๐ฐ๐๐ผ tested๐ฐโ๐ต๐ฃ๐ฟ๐ ๐ผ ๐ค for๐ฉ๐๐น ๐ performance๐ ๐ฟ๐โ๏ธ๐ in๐ต๐๐๐ฟ terms๐๐ธ๐ฅโค๏ธ of๐ฆ๐ผ ๐๐ฟ signal๐ ๐ฑ๐ฐโค๏ธ toโ๐ ๐ฟ noise ratioโ๏ธ in๐ฎ๐บ ๐ a๐ซ๐ ๐ ๐ฝ ๐ซ proof๐ถ๐พ๐ ๐ฏ๐ for๐๐ฝ the๐๐๐ฝ๐๐๐ ๐ FCC…๐๐ผ๐ฃ๐๐ฟ๐ป ๐ด๐ด noโ ๏ธ๐ฟ๐๐ป๐ ๐ฟ ๐ ฑ attempt๐โ๏ธโณ๏ธ๐๐๐ was๐ madeโช ๐ to๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฟ โ simulate๐๐ฑ๐ฉ or๐ฒ ๐ฐ measure๐๐ป ๐๐ receiver๐๐ฃ๐ป performance๐ in๐๐ป๐ ๐พ ๐๐ผ the๐๐ก๐๐ฝ face๐ฝ๐ต๐ฃ๐ผ of๐๐ฟ๐ ๐ฑ multipath.๐๐ฝ I’m๐ถ๐ฉ not๐ ๐ ๐ซ sure๐๐ฌโ๏ธ๐ถ๐ช๐ผ๐ผ๐ฎ๐ฝ๐ท if๐ this๐๐ปโฐ๐ฉโ๐ฉโ๐งโ๐ฆ wasโญ๏ธ ๐ ฟ because๐ nobody๐ ๐๐ผ๐โ ๐๐๐ฟ๐ก โโ ever๐บ๐๐ โ had ๐ theโถ๏ธ โ๐ “aha!”๐ moment ๐ณ and๐ ๐ realized๐๐พ๐ it’d๐โ๏ธ be๐ฒ๐ฉ๐ฟ ๐๐ a๐๐ฝ๐ฒ problem๐๐๐ก๐ or๐บ if๐๐ โ some๐ โโ vendor๐ณ๐ already๐ฑ ๐๐ heavily๐ ๐ฆ๐ฆ investedโ๐ฝ in๐ฑ๐ฝ it๐๐ฉ๐๐พ swept๐๐ง๐พ ๐คฃ it๐๐ผ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐คก under๐ ๐ฌ๐ง๐พ๐๐๐ the๐ฃ๐ผ๐๐ rug. Just๐ ๐๐ผ about๐๐ฆ๐โ๏ธ ๐ฉ๐ญ every๐ other๐๐ผ ๐ช country๐ ๐ฃ๐ used ๐๐ DVB-T๐โป๏ธ๐ต๐ป๐ฅ which๐จโ๐ฉโ๐งโ๐ฆ๐๐ allows๐๐๐ผ for๐๐พ moreโฃ๏ธ ๐กโ spectrally๐ฒ๐๐ efficient๐๐ป ๐ and๐๐ด๐ผ robust๐ฌ๐๐ป๐๐ผ๐๐พ modulation๐ฝ๐ธ๐ โ๏ธ standards๐๐ป๐ including ๐จ QPSKโ๐ป๐๐ป (very๐น๐ฑ๐ซ ๐ฟโ robust๐ซ butโ๏ธ not๐๐ as๐ณ๐ฝ efficient๐ฆ๐ฃ๐๐ฎ๐พ as๐ธ๐พ ๐ QAM), 16QAM, and๐๐๐ฆ โ 64QAM.๐ต๐ผ๐๐ฎ This๐๐พ๐ฅ๐ โฝ๏ธ ๐๐ค raises๐ another๐ โ๐ issueโ ๐๐ญ๐ญ โ๐ญ that๐โ๐ป๐๐๐ป โฅโช was๐๐ป๐ช โจ๐ dumber๐๐ป๐ฆ๐ผ๐ฉ on๐ธ ๐ the broadcaster’s๐ฉ๐ผ side: 8VSB๐ was๐๐พ in๐ซ๐๐ซ๐พ part๐ธ ๐ค chosen๐ฃ๐พ because๐ญ๐ช๐ ๐ค it๐ด would,๐ฎ in๐โป๏ธ ๐ฅ theory,๐๐๐ป ๐๐ work๐ญ through existing๐ค๐ฉ๐ฑ๐ผ๐๐ analog๐ป๐ท transmitters,๐๐ง๐ฃ requiring๐ช๐ด๐ฟ only๐ฉ slight๐ modifications toโ things๐๐ผ๐ฒ like๐๐๐ผ๐๐ผ ๐ฃ theโฐ๐ฃ ๐ต combiners๐๐ผ and๐๐ฟ โ an ๐๐ exciter๐ swap.๐ฆ๐๐บ๐ดโ In๐พโฌ๏ธ ๐ practice,๐๐ฝ ๐๐ฏ no๐๐ด๐พ ๐ transmitter๐ฆ manufacturers really๐๐๐ผ๐ ๐ฑ opened๐ this up๐ธ๐โ๏ธ๐ ๐๐บ as๐ ฟ๏ธ๐๐ ๐ฆ an๐๐๐ผโ๏ธ๐ option,๐ท๐ฝ๐ธ๐ป and๐ everyone๐ซ ๐ณ๐จ had๐ฝโฝ๏ธ ๐โ toโ๐ป๐๐ป ๐ฆ๐ถ buy๐ ๐ฒ all๐๐ฝ new ๐๐ฝ shit.๐ฉโโค๏ธโ๐ฉ In๐๐ปโ๏ธ๐ fact…โ๏ธ ๐ซ the๐ klystron๐๐ญใฝ๏ธ๐ฝ basedโ๏ธ UHF television๐ฌ transmitters๐ proved๐ not๐๐พ๐ญ to ๐ have๐ต๐ฐ๐ต๐ป๐ฐ the๐๐ linearity๐๐ (or๐บ ๐๐ป SOMETHING)๐ ๐ผ to๐โช๏ธ ๐ deal with๐ป๐ ๐ 8VSB and๐ธ๐พ๐ต๐ผ๐๐๐ ฟ๏ธ๐๐พโณ ๐ the๐ฅ Inductive๐ Output๐๐ฉ๐ฟ Tube๐๐ป had๐ โ toโ๏ธ ๐ฆ๐ be๐๐ฟ๐ดโจโ ๐ค brought๐จ out๐ฏ๐ธ ๐ฆ๐ฏ ofโด๏ธ mothballs๐ to๐ท deal๐๐ฝ๐๐ฅ๐๐๐ withโ๐ฎ ๐ it.๐ฒ๐พโ๏ธ ๐ฏ The๐ IOTโ๐ป๐ has๐ฑ๐ฝ๐ฃ๐ป ๐ great๐โถ๏ธ๐๐ข๐ฃ๐ผ๐บ๐๐ช ๐ช๐ linearity๐ ๐ฟ๐ but๐ ๐๐ no๐๐ ๐ โ damn๐ค๐ ๐ณ efficiency๐ผ -๐ฎ๐พ it๐ถ๐ฝ๐ต ๐๐ was๐๐ผ originally๐๐ฆ๐ป๐ด๐ฟ๐๐๐ผ ๐๐ used๐ฝ๐ ๐พ ๐ by๐๐ฝ๐ ๐ General ๐ฎ๐ฎ Electricโญ๏ธโ for๐ฌ๐ซ๐ฝ๐๐ฟ ๐ an๐ ๐ธ early๐๐ข๐๐พ ๐ฅ World’s๐ณ๐ช๐ฅ ๐๐ Fair ๐ demo๐ต๐ผ๐๐ฝ of๐๐๐พ๐ UHF๐๐ผ๐๐ผ television broadcasting,๐ but๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ ๐๐ commerciallyโ never๐๐ป โผ took๐ค ๐ค off…๐ anyway,โซ later ๐ on,โฉโข ๐๐ EEV’s esciot๐จ๐ฝ series๐ด๐พ๐๐ป ๐ tubes improved๐ on ๐ฝ that๐๐ป ๐ somewhat…๐๐ป๐ป but…๐ฆ๐ ๐ผ ๐ they’re๐๐๐พ๐๐ง๐ ๐ผ still ๐ a๐ฒ๐ฉ๐พ pain๐ฏ๐ข๐ก๐๐ป inโค๏ธ the arse Stupid๐โ๏ธ๐ ๐พ Thingโฌ๏ธ #2โ๏ธ (or ๐ is๐ฑ it๐ง๐๏ธ ๐ about๐๐๐พ ๐ฆ #8 ๐ค byโค๏ธ now?):๐๐ ๐โ MPEG2.๐๐๐ Do๐ด๐พ๐๐ผ I๐๐ look๐๐ฝ๐ฑ ๐๐ like๐๐พ๐โ๏ธ ๐ ฐ I๐ช๐๐ฝ ๐ know๐๐ฝ ๐ what๐ซ๐ ๐ ๐ an๐ฉโ๐ป ๐น๐ฟ mpeg๐ฒ is?*๐ ๐ฆ๐ถ So๐น ๐ฏ๐ฆ here not๐๐พ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฎ ๐ซ๐ only๐ด๐ฟ๐ do๐๐พ๐ก we๐๐๐ป๐๐ ๐จ have๐๐๐พ๐โ๐ฟ ๐ ฐ this๐๐โ๐พโ๏ธ shitty๐ ๐ 8VSB๐๐ฑ modulation๐ข sapping๐ญโ๐ฝ the ๐ช๐ available๐ฆ๐ก amount๐โซ๏ธ๐๐๐๐ฝ ๐๐ of๐๐ฝ๐ซ ๐ฆ๐ฆ information that can beโ๏ธโ๐ฉ#โฃ ๐๐ผ broadcastโ๏ธ๐ท๐พ in๐๐ฟ๐ด ๐ญ๐ก aโ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ฅ๐ certain๐ฐ๐ป๐ ๐ ๐ค width๐ ofโ๏ธ๐ก ๐๐จ channelโ๐ฟโ๏ธ but๐๐ ๐ ๐ then….๐ MPEG2๐ด video๐ฆ๐๐น ๐ฝ๐ฝ coding๐ฉโฝ๏ธ was๐๐๐ฉ๐พ๐ต ๐โจ specified.โฐโ๏ธ๐ด๐๐ฝโ๐พ๐ง I ๐ suspect๐ฏ๐ that’s๐โ๐ด๐พ ๐ป๐ evidence๐๐ผ๐ด๐ผ ๐โ of๐จ๐พ๐๐ช๐ป๐ ๐ฆ๐ฆ the๐๐ฝ ๐ standard’s๐นโจ๏ธ development ๐ฌ either๐๐๐ฅ being๐โฆ๏ธ ๐ฏ draggedโฒ๏ธ๐ out8โฃ๐ถ๐ฟโ forever๐๐ผโ ๐ OR๐โจ๏ธ ๐ someone๐ฟ ๐ค just๐ญ ๐ โ wanted to๐ฒ๐ผโ๏ธ be๐ ๐ able๐ ๐ช๐ช to๐ use๐ธ๐ถ โ๐ up aโ๏ธ๐ผ๐ถ๐ป ๐จ๐ bunch#โฃ๐ป๐โ๐ผ๐๐พ of ๐ DVD๐ผ๐ป๐๐ก player๐๐ผ๐ ๐ฐ decoder ASICs๐๐๐ธ they๐๐ ๐จ had๐๐ฟโ๐ป โ sitting๐๐๐ฝ๐ in๐๐๐ผ ๐ ฐ๐ฉ a๐บ๐ Chinese๐ฎ ๐ warehouse.๐ As ๐ a๐๐พ๐๐ฟ result๐ผ๐๐๐พ๐ of๐ ๐ฑ๐ฆ the MPEG2 encoding๐๐๐ฟ๐ง๐จโ๐ฉโ๐ง being๐๐พโฌ ๏ธ๐ฉ ๐ used,๐๐ฅ๐ the๐ต ๐ฏ picture ๐ท๐ฆ looksโ๐ผ๐ ๐๐ like ๐ DOUBLE BUTT๐๐ผ๐ด๐ปใ๏ธ ๐ฅ whenโ๐ผ ๐ฆ๐ there’s๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐ a๐๐ฉ๐๐จ๐ป ๐ ฑ๐ lot๐ ๐๐ง๐ธ๐ ๐ฝโ๏ธ๐ข of๐๐พ ๐ฅ๐ฐ motion,๐๐ ๐ especially๐ when๐๐พ๐ฃ ๐ฆ you’re ๐ฃ running๐๐ฝโฅ๏ธ โ a๐ lot๐ of๐ฉ subchannels๐๐๐๐พ squeezed๐ฆ into๐ฆ๐๐ฝ ๐ผ๐ that๐๐ฝ๐๐๐ผ๐ผ๐พ๐๐ฟ ๐ฏ๐ป 18.3๐ฉ๐ป๐จ๐ค๐ ๐ ๐ธ megabits/sec…โ๏ธ๐๐ฟ And๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ฝ then๐๐ป๐๐๐ฎ๐ ๐ฏ youโช ๐๐ have๐ ๐๐ก ๐ฉ๐ฏ theโ๏ธ๐ฉ whole๐๐จโ๐จโ๐งโ๐ฆ๐ godawfulใ๏ธ thing๐ where๐ปโ๐ป๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ๐ the ๐ CECB๐ช program๐ ๐ป led๐ณ to๐โบ๏ธ๐ถ๐ the โจ๐ cost๐ฃ ๐ฐ๐ฒ ofโ๐ฎ ๐ค converterใ๏ธ boxes๐ผ๐ป ๐ค๐ค which โโ probably๐๐ป๐ต๐ฑ๐๐พ ๐ป actually๐๐๐ผ๐๐ฝ๐๐พ cost๐๐พโ๐ป about๐ ๐ฝ $25๐จ๐๐ป๐ including๐ฃ๐๐ฟ๐ต๐ฟ๐ผ ๐จ hardware,๐ฆ๐ฟ๐ฃ๐๐ผ๐ manufacturing,โณ๐ and ๐๐ patent๐ใฐ๐ซ licensing๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ข๐ royalties being๐จโ๐จโ๐ฆ fixed๐จ๐ป๐ก right up0โฃโ to๐ฃ ๐ $40….โฝ๏ธ๐ but๐๐๐ฉโ๏ธ๐น ๐ that’s โก aโ๏ธ๐ฝ๐ซ๐๐ฟ ๐ฐ๐ far๐โ๐ผ๐๐พ ๐ถ๐ dumber๐๐พ๐๐ story ๐
(this is beginning to make the WordPress editor cough up hairballs)
mods are asleep post horribly cursed connectors
This sure is, uh, a thing Matrox did once. This is on the back of a ChyronHego graphics box. The small coax connectors are 75 ohm, used for HD-SDI video.
What even are dasdecs, seriously
Saw this picture on Twitter and well, it’s distinctly output being generated by a Digital Alert Systems / Monroe DASHECK.. I mean.. DASDEC…
Nah, there’s nothing evil about these things though, they don’t sacrifice children and they certainly aren’t in any way possessed….
Really though, this makes me wonder, I’ve known for quite a while that these things are basically just a Linux box. They have a fair amount of obfuscation because the they sell a bunch of extra options and are making at least a token effort to keep the IPAWS server keys hidden…. however it appears that they use VLC for some reason? Funky.
I’ve always wondered what the AM and FM radio cards in these things are. A nice feature they offer is the ability to go back in there and get a recording of the AM / FM monitor sources as an incoming alert was picked off them. That’s also present in the current versions of the Sage Digital Endec but the Monroe will give you one for each source, while the Sage actually only monitors one audio source at a time (the first to go active steals it and the rest are not monitored).
I dunno, EAS is just horribly cursed, and my idea of Heaven is a solid white nightclub with me as a headliner for all eternity, and they *love* me.
fnord
The return of the neon rainbow
Me, a couple nights ago: “my hair is really faded, I wonder which colors to dye it next?”
To answer my own question: yes
Also I discovered this is the most useless hair bleach, at least on me – it doesn’t even try to lift any part of my hair that wasn’t already bleached with the nice Wella or Quick Blue stuff, or is already naturally graying. (How much gray do I have now? I hate to say I don’t even know.)
