Little Things You Love
- Thread starter -|Sean|-
- Start date
Got it
Mr Crudley
Glock in your sock
Great story to be told.
I remember seeing ferrite core memory in the late 80s used for trunk telephone switches. Seeing the core flick and move when it stored a 1 or 0 is much more fun than what we have now.
I remember seeing ferrite core memory in the late 80s used for trunk telephone switches. Seeing the core flick and move when it stored a 1 or 0 is much more fun than what we have now.
The relay room in a power station is where the signals from the control system get converted into power impulses being sent to the device being operated. Solid state since the 1970s. I worked on an older plant that was being refired to test some new technology. Old school relay room with 1950 state of the art relays. Clack, clack, clack etc. Was deafening! With the plant operating it was non stop noise as relays made and broke. Probably 85dBA. Modern rooms you can hear tge ac fans.
Best part is you can have these in theboot, full of ropes or tie downs, even shopping and no one notices that you have high tech anti terrorism equipment!Surely these, sophisticated anti terrorism devices can't be had without a license and training.
Haakon
has an accommodating arse
NASA did the whole thing in imperial, even the Shuttle program was imperial...
There was a big engineering job for the Shuttles docking ring for the ISS which is of course metric and they needed to be damn sure it would mate up ...
Mr Crudley
Glock in your sock
Similar with the electromechanical telephone exchanges where you can hear a call switch and pass through. Also gives a hint where a faulty relay will be.
The 1st generation step by step or Strowger Switches were even more cool to see in action. Only museum pieces now.
Lazmo
Old and hopeless
My first stint in ICT straight out of uni was at Hawthorn exchange... step by step, crossbar and are11 (early electronic) doing step and crossbar maintenance initially and are11 installation later on. The step by step was loud. It is now a museum and I’m keen to visit.
Mr Crudley
Glock in your sock
Ah ha, I saw working SxS at Dalley Exchange in Sydney long ago. They at the very least gave you something to see as the call progresses. They were loud and I remember they have to keep the selector contacts lubed but clean.
I only did call tracing on the are11 as part of my training too. I remember the relay maintenance too. Just bend it up slowly with a tension gauge thing.
Telstra still have a small collection of the yesteryear gear at the entrance of the lab up top of Exhibition Exchange in Melbourne. I think they have some of the ferrite core memory on display from the Metaconta 10C trunk exchanges too.
I got into data instead and it was all solid state unfortunately :/
pink poodle
気が狂っている男
Bet they felt good at the time though?
Mr Crudley
Glock in your sock
It is easy to love and hate old bikes at the same time.
Still brings back memories of riding when you didn't have to be back anywhere at anytime.
Seeing a fellow MTB'er nutter out there riding around was much more rare.
Still brings back memories of riding when you didn't have to be back anywhere at anytime.
Seeing a fellow MTB'er nutter out there riding around was much more rare.
fatboyonabike
Captain oblivious
if you have ever been required to solder flat pack IC packages onto a pc card, you will appreciate just how tedious the work and how skilled those early pioneers of space flight technology were ..
I still have my JPL/NASA assessment board somewhere, where I had to do just that during my apprenticeship training.
P.S. just watched the ISS fly overhead through the night sky..very cool
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fatboyonabike
Captain oblivious
fun times!
fatboyonabike
Captain oblivious
Mr Crudley
Glock in your sock
@fatboyonabike You can build my space shuttle anytime 
Is this board to practice soldering only or does it do something special? I think I still have my ye olde TAFE project board somewhere in a chinese takeaway container which converted Hex to BCD and not much else. Was fun at the time, until you have to debug a dodgy solder.
Is this board to practice soldering only or does it do something special? I think I still have my ye olde TAFE project board somewhere in a chinese takeaway container which converted Hex to BCD and not much else. Was fun at the time, until you have to debug a dodgy solder.
hifiandmtb
Sphincter beanie
Seems there are lots of 'em
fatboyonabike
Captain oblivious
I thought that the large shiny letters would have been a dead give away as to the designation of the board.. .
it was basically a blank card with no tracks on the back, components had to be identified and connected in the correct orientation, soldered and then checked under a microscope for signs of contamination or pitting in the solder.
the wire connections were determined by the current or supply to be applied, heavier current and vibration concerns needed more robust connections.
.it was basically a blank card with no tracks on the back, components had to be identified and connected in the correct orientation, soldered and then checked under a microscope for signs of contamination or pitting in the solder.
the wire connections were determined by the current or supply to be applied, heavier current and vibration concerns needed more robust connections.