Every technician, and of course that includes part 15 people, has proud moments when a technical puzzle is solved and everything works.
Every technician, and of course that includes part 15 people, has proud moments when a technical puzzle is solved and everything works.
Today I dusted and opened for surgery a Panasonic AM FM Tuner from the 1980s, Model RE-7680, last used in the mid-1990s. It probably puts out about 10Watts per channel to external speakers.
Back then I had carefully re-wired the audio section so it would interface with a special speaker system at the time, but now the application is different and I needed to return it to original condition, but was not sure where to find my notes showing the changes. So I began a forensic investigation.
By noting clues such as “wiring I added” vs. “original wiring I had tapped into” I was able to reverse-engineer and get back to the original state.
Now the tuner works perfectly.
What is it for? Aha, it’s for the carrier current project, and the amplifier discussion will continue in the Carrier Current Journal.
What was your latest technical achievement?
Seaweed
“What was your latest technical achievement?”
Cleaning off the seaweed growing on my supplemental 6 gauge circular copper ground in the water … very proud I was able to find time to do it, and that I didn’t fall off the quarter deck gunnel and get all wet and cold 😉
Wet N Wild
Ya I bet that water isn’t exactly cozy fuzzy warm this time of year! 😀
Worst part…getting out of that freezing water in a light breeze!!
Never had any huge victories in solving technical things in the Part 15 world, plenty in the Part 73 world though. Once I had to salvage a bias rheostat and power supply out of a very old vintage Gates to replace a burnt up unit in a much younger Harris TX. Good thing I had brought my complete tool set because I had to do some hardware creating and rigging to mount this rheostat and power supply guts into the Harris. Got it back on the air in under 3 hours too.
Had I decided to not take the initiative and use my creative talents and what was around me, that station would have been off the air for up to 4 days waiting on the parts from Harris.
THAT is indeed a victory…as was cashing the 1 grand check! 😀
RFB
From the Gunnel
Ken, I’m guessing “the gunnel” is an overlook-point on deck, not on the dock, and that getting that seaweed required “leaning over the side” or “pulling it up with an oar or harpoon” or some long handled tool. Maybe a snow shovel.
So, how DO you get the seaweed and then what do you do with the seaweed?
Nautical terms
Actually, it’s gunnel trim, approx. 1″ thick x 8″ wide strip of mahogany that goes around the outside edge of the deck, including the quarterdeck, which is alongside the cabin area.
My boat is on the small side, 28′ Owens, last of the wood lapstrake hulls, so the quarterdeck is very narrow … you have to hang onto grab rails and such. The ground wire hangs over it, I can pull it up.
I just strip the seaweed off the ring by hand and throw it back in the water. It’s got to look like some sort of cartoon to other people 😉