I am restoring a 1959 Philco Predicta and had run out.
Jonathan
Which model? I have a finished 1960 Princess and an unfinished '59 Barberpole.
Careful, some of those '59s in wooden cases have a live chassis and series filaments totalling 120V right across the mains. Isolation transformer recommended!
I am restoring a 1959 Philco Predicta and had run out.
Jonathan
Which model? I have a finished 1960 Princess and an unfinished '59 Barberpole.
What do you guys use these for, conversation pieces, monitor's? Without a digital tuner and the converters not usually filling the screen, I would think that b&w picture tube is getting pretty soft by now, unless it was used very little or someone is still making them for a niche market. I guess it would give a decent picture after refurbishing with modern components.
What do you guys use these for, conversation pieces, monitor's? Without a digital tuner and the converters not usually filling the screen, I would think that b&w picture tube is getting pretty soft by now, unless it was used very little or someone is still making them for a niche market. I guess it would give a decent picture after refurbishing with modern components.
Predictas stop people in their tracks. I've put it on public display a few times and there are always traffic jams. I hide a VCR or DVD player under the table playing old TV B/W TV commercials (thru channel 3) and it blows peoples minds.
"How does it only pick up old TV channels?"
Then the old timer guys start seeing the tubes glow and reminisce about having to check all the TV tubes at the tester at the drug store.
I've gotten lots of offers to rent it out for retro events & stuff, but they are kind of a pain to keep going long term. Parts are rare and expensive. I bust it out for special occasions, but it's a great decorator piece and a conversation starter even turned off sitting high on my shelf. Earthquake bait.
People make similar-looking modern units. I cringe when I hear that someone gutted one to install a new monitor inside. Those types should be drawn, quartered, and then finally tortured.
Back OT for hams/Morse code, etc, I wrote a quickie Morse decoder for a BS2 HW board. First fun project I've had time for in a while! I had just an hour today, so it only does the 26 letters and space. No autospeed yet, just manual timing variable B10 which can be adjusted for faster or slower speed. Overly simple but it's a good start.
Then the old timer guys start seeing the tubes glow and reminisce about having to check all the TV tubes at the tester at the drug store.
I would love to see how they handled the high voltage anode, I never seen the back of one.
When I worked in a tv repair shop back in the seventies, I would have to go down to the buildings basement TV boneyard to search for tubes that were either too costly to buy or were not available. It was a creepy long room, lit up with a couple of strings of incandescent lights, and full of large wooden cabinets with round picture tubes. That too was aroma therapy, but in a different way, as the building at one point was a funeral home, and still had a couple of bottles of embalming fluid on a shelf.
There are still tube testers at two crusty old electronic stores near me, thank goodness! Tubes can be bought at the famous W1TRW swap meet near me, too. I learned on our jukebox project that the audiophiles get there early and buy up all the good audio tubes.
Erco, it is a Holiday. And yes, it is a hot chassis, series filament. I do of course work on it with an isolation transformer. Your barber pole is awesome! The only thing I would sell my Holiday for is one of those. I'm always keeping my eye out for one of those within driving distance.
Mike, I am going to use it to watch TV! It IS a TV, after all. And you haven't lived if you haven't watched the Twilight Zone on a Predicta. I will be using an RF modulator so I won't even have wire going to the set, I'll get it right through the antenna, as intended. It isn't a big deal to get the picture to fit properly.
To drag this back OT: Has anyone looked at the RF output of these on a pandapater? Just curious how clean they are. I might have to get one to check out. And yes, I am a licensed ham.
Umm, I have not received Twinkle Toes. Not complaining, just stating. Busy busy!
BTW there was one bug in that Morse Code code on letter M. Revised code attached here.
Ha, the terms "code" and "Bug" are also used in CW. A "bug" is shown below. All mechanical. The short dits (dots) come from a spring-loaded bouncing contact.
FWIW, one of my Pixie boards has become something a little different. A real varactor diode was installed and the potentiometer was replaced with a DAC. The output of the oscillator was applied to a 74AC gate to generate harmonics. The fifth harmonic was selected and then tripled to obtain a 105.3MHz carrier.
The DAC is driven by a < $1 μC to create a synchronous π/4 DPSK signal. I'm currently using a dollar-store FM receiver to pick up the signal and a Propeller to demodulate the received audio. I don't have a calibrated field strength meter, but I'm reasonably certain I'm within Part 15 rules (250μV/m @ 3m).
Anyway, it functions as a link to get data from an instrument in the back yard to the basement (which bears a certain resemblance to Herman Muster's basement, btw). Could have been done other ways, but what's the fun in that?
Holy harmonics Batman, that's the long way around! Good on ya.
Ain't it fun to poke thru the Dollar store and see what you can find? In most cases, the manufacturers lost their shirts. Who would have ever bothered making any of that stuff if they knew it would sell for a dollar, minus overhead, shipping, etc?
Of course, that loss is readily offset by hoarders like me, who buy lots of things we don't need, just because they're a dollar. Don't thank me, I'm just doing my part to keep the universe in balance.
There was a Morse decoder for the 4 MHz 8080A-based Interact Model R that took less than 8K. Of course it was in 8 bit assembly language, but it worked at least as well as this one seems to.
Erco, you win THREE INTERNETS. But your prize internets communicate over TCP/morse-code at 5 wpm. The good news is you have unlimited bandwidth on a wireless connection!
Comments
Jonathan
Which model? I have a finished 1960 Princess and an unfinished '59 Barberpole.
Careful, some of those '59s in wooden cases have a live chassis and series filaments totalling 120V right across the mains. Isolation transformer recommended!
What do you guys use these for, conversation pieces, monitor's? Without a digital tuner and the converters not usually filling the screen, I would think that b&w picture tube is getting pretty soft by now, unless it was used very little or someone is still making them for a niche market. I guess it would give a decent picture after refurbishing with modern components.
Predictas stop people in their tracks. I've put it on public display a few times and there are always traffic jams. I hide a VCR or DVD player under the table playing old TV B/W TV commercials (thru channel 3) and it blows peoples minds.
"How does it only pick up old TV channels?"
Then the old timer guys start seeing the tubes glow and reminisce about having to check all the TV tubes at the tester at the drug store.
I've gotten lots of offers to rent it out for retro events & stuff, but they are kind of a pain to keep going long term. Parts are rare and expensive. I bust it out for special occasions, but it's a great decorator piece and a conversation starter even turned off sitting high on my shelf. Earthquake bait.
People make similar-looking modern units. I cringe when I hear that someone gutted one to install a new monitor inside. Those types should be drawn, quartered, and then finally tortured.
I would love to see how they handled the high voltage anode, I never seen the back of one.
When I worked in a tv repair shop back in the seventies, I would have to go down to the buildings basement TV boneyard to search for tubes that were either too costly to buy or were not available. It was a creepy long room, lit up with a couple of strings of incandescent lights, and full of large wooden cabinets with round picture tubes. That too was aroma therapy, but in a different way, as the building at one point was a funeral home, and still had a couple of bottles of embalming fluid on a shelf.
Mike, I am going to use it to watch TV! It IS a TV, after all. And you haven't lived if you haven't watched the Twilight Zone on a Predicta. I will be using an RF modulator so I won't even have wire going to the set, I'll get it right through the antenna, as intended. It isn't a big deal to get the picture to fit properly.
To drag this back OT: Has anyone looked at the RF output of these on a pandapater? Just curious how clean they are. I might have to get one to check out. And yes, I am a licensed ham.
Jonathan
Don't forget the series The Outer Limits, It would send chills up my spine to this day, especially watching it on one of those.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Outer_Limits_(1963_TV_series)
EDIT: I do know why I can't get this link specific.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled full color programming!
I forgot to say how cool that is.
Have you tried the Toddler Twinkle Toes yet?
Umm, I have not received Twinkle Toes. Not complaining, just stating. Busy busy!
BTW there was one bug in that Morse Code code on letter M. Revised code attached here.
Ha, the terms "code" and "Bug" are also used in CW. A "bug" is shown below. All mechanical. The short dits (dots) come from a spring-loaded bouncing contact.
http://www.n5dux.com/ham/files/pdf/QRP Classics - The Best QRP Projects from QST and the ARRL Handbook.pdf
RST 579 73's OM! K . .. . . . .
That's about a one stop shop for electronic related PDFs. Thanks for posting Whit.
The DAC is driven by a < $1 μC to create a synchronous π/4 DPSK signal. I'm currently using a dollar-store FM receiver to pick up the signal and a Propeller to demodulate the received audio. I don't have a calibrated field strength meter, but I'm reasonably certain I'm within Part 15 rules (250μV/m @ 3m).
Anyway, it functions as a link to get data from an instrument in the back yard to the basement (which bears a certain resemblance to Herman Muster's basement, btw). Could have been done other ways, but what's the fun in that?
Ain't it fun to poke thru the Dollar store and see what you can find? In most cases, the manufacturers lost their shirts. Who would have ever bothered making any of that stuff if they knew it would sell for a dollar, minus overhead, shipping, etc?
Of course, that loss is readily offset by hoarders like me, who buy lots of things we don't need, just because they're a dollar. Don't thank me, I'm just doing my part to keep the universe in balance.
app demo:
15 WPM code practice (set volume loud)
http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Morse/Archive/15 WPM/160106_15WPM.mp3
There was a Morse decoder for the 4 MHz 8080A-based Interact Model R that took less than 8K. Of course it was in 8 bit assembly language, but it worked at least as well as this one seems to.
Do I win beer nuts?
Makes 300 baud green screen "20 letters per second" seem high tech, as Hollywood used to think.
But I should build my original kit first...
Still need to put up an antenna.
Meanwhile, I'm watching another outrageous Ebay auction near ending. Already over $200 for a simple band expander kit (unbuilt) for a Heathkit HW-9. Sheesh.