[Milsurplus] Broke electronics

Thu Jul 15 08:38:51 EDT 2004

One of the young techs, 25ish, at my job is in the process of cleaning out 
our electronics/electrical "store room". Now this kids claims to be a 
technician. He came walking into the shop the other day holding a vacuum 
tube. "Does anybody know what this thing is?"  I gave him a flock of stuff 
about not knowing his electronics history. I told him is was a Fleming 
Valve! He said OK and handed it to me and walked off! Could have cared less 
at to it's actual use! The so called technicians today are taught how to 
trouble shoot devices using computers and such.  There was a time at my job 
that we repaired out own circuit boards and prided ourselves on our 
electronics knowledge. Now we are merely maintenance electricians and board 
swappers. We send the boards out to have them repaired! Unfortunately, I 
have let a lot of my electronics troubleshooting skills slip because I 
don't use them!

It is also a sad state of affairs because it is often cheaper to throw away 
a bad board rather then repair it. The cost of labor has exceeded the cost 
of the new board!

One of my responsibilities in the shop is to insure that everybodies Fluke 
Meters are in good repair. If one goes down, I call Fluke and arrange for a 
repair. Depending on the meter, a lot of the time we will "upgrade" to a 
better meter because Fluke will not repair the older meter because they do 
not build that model anymore!

I am one of the older technicians in the shop. Most of young 
whippersnappers do not even know how to use a Simpson 260 analog meter. 
They see no use for it! There are about 2 of us old farts in the shop that 
use it! The whippersnappers will watch us in amazement! "How do you know 
how to read that "thing"? they ask. "It's magic young'un!"

Jeeze! Kids!

I was told once that the reason we live in a disposable society is because 
of the BIC lighter!

At 03:00 AM 7/15/2004, you wrote:
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>When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
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>Today's Topics:
>
>    1. Re: Dead Electronics (D C Macdonald)
>    2. Re: Milsurplus Digest, Vol 3, Issue 18 (Patrick Jankowiak)
>    3. Collins 618S-1 (Patrick Jankowiak)
>    4. Re: Collins 18S1 (Kenneth G. Gordon)
>    5. Re: Dead electronics (Patrick Jankowiak)
>    6. Scientific Radio (Robert Nickels)
>    7. Re: W2NSD - OT (antqradio at juno.com)
>
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Message: 1
>Date: Wed, 14 Jul 2004 13:16:12 +0000
>From: "D C Macdonald" <k2gkk at hotmail.com>
>Subject: Re: [Milsurplus] Dead Electronics
>To: milsurplus at mailman.qth.net
>Message-ID: <Sea1-F53bIwbJjtH6jp0000048c at hotmail.com>
>Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed
>
>Might that be a possible source of "part-time"
>income in retirement so that we can continue
>to buy our expesive toys???
>
>73  ---  Mac, K2GKK/5
>
>
>
>----Original Message Follows----
>From: "Mark Bell" <bell at blazenet.net>
>To: "Bud Steward" <comradios at yahoo.com>, <milsurplus at mailman.qth.net>
>Subject: Re: [Milsurplus] Dead Electronics
>Date: Tue, 13 Jul 2004 20:01:28 -0400
>
>Several weeks ago,  I was approached by a member of a local radio club to
>see if I'd fix their 2M Linear Amplifier.   Apparently someone covered the
>chimney with books during the heat of a contest,  and very bad things
>happend.    In the course of the conversation, I asked when it happened.
>
>The guy said "Sometime in the early 1990's"!
>
>I was dumfounded!  I asked if anyone had ever look at it.  He said "no" !!
>
>Last year,  I found a 1 KW linear at another club.  One of the members said
>it didn't work, as it had gotten hit by lightning "five years ago".
>Again,  in all the time, NO ONE had ever bothered to take a peek under the
>hood.
>
>I took it home, and with a few hours had the nuked components replaced, and
>it was putting out between 200 and 300W!!  (Still low,  so I guess I didn't
>get all the problems.....)
>
>73 Mark K3ZX
>
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Bud Steward" <comradios at yahoo.com>
>To: <milsurplus at mailman.qth.net>
>Sent: Tuesday, July 13, 2004 6:05 PM
>Subject: [Milsurplus] Dead Electronics
>
>
>  >
>  > This is a concern I have for electronics
>  > and no one I have noticed as yet mentioned it.
>  >
>  > The kids as a whole have little or no interest
>  > in learning much of any of it. Not even as a
>  > Hobby at all. I have always felt it was at least
>  > a good hobby to have.
>  >
>  > You all would be amazed at how few numbers of
>  > people even know how to solder any more. When
>  > teaching the radio merit badge to scouts I have
>  > had numbers of Dads looking over my shoulder that
>  > are EEs and have no idea how to solder at all.
>  > The ones that think do, really don't know how.
>  > But that I have always seen, even in the electronics
>  > trade. Even some of those are scarded to death of
>  > trying any SMT stuff. That is not so bad, really.
>  >
>  > That is my two cents.
>  >
>  > Bud
>  >
>  >
>  >
>  > __________________________________
>  > Do you Yahoo!?
>  > Yahoo! Mail - You care about security. So do we.
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>
>
>
>------------------------------
>
>Message: 2
>Date: Wed, 14 Jul 2004 18:15:50 -0500
>From: Patrick Jankowiak <recycler at swbell.net>
>Subject: [Milsurplus] Re: Milsurplus Digest, Vol 3, Issue 18
>To: milsurplus at mailman.qth.net
>Message-ID: <40F5BEA6.1040601 at swbell.net>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed
>
>Ahh the 18S1.
>
>Now that is a fine radio!
>I have one, but it is missing all the tuning (tank) coils that
>plug in, in the center. I have never found any, which is a pity.
>
>
>Date: Mon, 12 Jul 2004 20:16:19 -0700
>From: "Lloyd KK7IZ" <kk7iz at cox.net>
>Subject: [Milsurplus] Conversions etc
>
>
>Many moons ago I worked occasionally on the shrimp boats on the
>gulf. One of
>the going radios was a thing built by a local named DuBose. He
>took the
>Collins 18S1 aircraft transmitter, stripped it out and put the
>pirces in his
>own case. Remote mounted the big dynamotor and ran it off the
>ships 32 vdc
>mains. Did it ever run. One day I was in Houston in a surplus
>store on Old
>Spanish Trail, at the curve. They were unloading a truck full of
>stuff and a
>Texas Frog strangler was moving in. There was about a dozen of
>the Collins
>boxes on the ground. Bought them all for a song, and I can't
>sing. Got my
>money back on the first dynamotor I sold.
>Those were the days.
>Thanx
>Lloyd  KK7IZ
>Please visit my web site
>http://www.lloydsdipsydumpster.com/
>
>
>------------------------------
>
>Message: 3
>Date: Wed, 14 Jul 2004 18:43:26 -0500
>From: Patrick Jankowiak <recycler at swbell.net>
>Subject: [Milsurplus] Collins 618S-1
>To: milsurplus at mailman.qth.net
>Message-ID: <40F5C51E.20104 at swbell.net>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed
>
>Anyone ever get the Collins 618S-1 to go above 25MHz?
>
>
>------------------------------
>
>Message: 4
>Date: Wed, 14 Jul 2004 16:51:46 -0700
>From: "Kenneth G. Gordon" <kgordon at moscow.com>
>Subject: [Milsurplus] Re: Collins 18S1
>To: milsurplus at mailman.qth.net
>Message-ID: <40F564A2.7460.2112D17 at localhost>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
>
>On 14 Jul 2004 at 18:15, Patrick Jankowiak wrote:
>
> > Ahh the 18S1.
> >
> > Now that is a fine radio!
>
>Anyone have any photos or data on this?
>
>Ken W7EKB
>
>
>------------------------------
>
>Message: 5
>Date: Wed, 14 Jul 2004 22:14:24 -0500
>From: Patrick Jankowiak <recycler at swbell.net>
>Subject: [Milsurplus] Re: Dead electronics
>To: milsurplus at mailman.qth.net
>Message-ID: <40F5F690.2060200 at swbell.net>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed
>
>Here's a short story of the decline of the electronics service
>industry. It's a narrow and jaded view, but representative I
>think. It's my ride on the bomb as it was dropped.
>
>I began repairing TV sets in 1980, still alot of tube stuff, and
>modular, works in a drawer. I also rebuilt the modules. We used
>to replce the module, then rebuild it for the next job. I opened
>my own shop in 1984, and repaired stereos, TV's VCR's, microwave
>ovens, and started to repair personal computers. I also
>specialized in antique tube radio repair. In 1995, I sold the
>business to an enthusiastic young man with some money. He
>immediately raised the all the prices by 25% and was out of
>business in 3 years due to losing the customer base.
>
>In 1995 I went to work for Sony's Business and Professional
>group, repairing broadcast monitors, analog and digital tape
>gear, high definition monitors, and analog and digital video
>effects switchers. All component-level troubleshooting. If you
>ever wanted to know how to trouble shoot a digital effects
>switcher to component level, see my little article:
>http://www.montagar.com/~patj/dfs.htm
>
>But I digress,
>A year after I started there, they replaced the paper system of
>job tracking with a computer system. You ran a terminal program
>on a PC, which connected to a mainframe and kept the job records.
>
>OOPS! An engineer could no longer bill out more than 8 hours a
>day and profits dropped drastically. Previously, we were told to
>bill what the estimate was approved for. Now, we had to use the
>computer to enter the 'clock' labor time instead of the
>'approved' labor time, and so it was impossible to work on more
>than one thing at a time (like of two or three), as we had done
>before.
>
>Management tried to compensate by demanding more numbers of
>equipment fixed, but it changed nothing monetarily and decreased
>quality. Then they recanted, and we spent the appropriate amount
>of time on each job to restore the famous Sony Service Quality.
>My average repeat rate was 0.7% (which I am rather proud of by
>the way)
>
>Two years after I started there, they decided to stop hiring
>experienced mature engineers and begin hiring what us old farts
>called "20-20's". A 20 year old with no experience and maybe
>still in the process of earning an associates degree, who would
>work for $20K/yr and like it.
>
>I was pretty cheezed off when one punk kid and I both applied for
>a field engineer job. He got it (never mind my 20 years
>experience to his 9 months). So no big deal, managers are stupid
>sometimes, but if you recall the last Olympics held in Japan, and
>then something in Australia in the outback (huge contracts for
>Sony who leases and sets up all the gear for the networks, I mean
>a massive system), he refused to go, because he said was afraid
>of travel overseas due to religious and safety issues, and kept
>talking about Japanese geisha houses of sin, heathens, snakes,
>and scorpions. So it's not all the companies, it is the workforce
>that is becoming / has become defective. My manager admitted his
>mistake to me later and told me I was right, but I never did get
>the field job.
>
>They also expected us to train the 2020's, and then secretly
>intended to replace us with them in order to cut their payroll to
>maybe 1/3 or so. One of us discovered their plan, (don't hold
>management concalls in a room next to the senior engineer's desk)
>and we stopped helping them do anything.
>
>The evil plan thwarted, things went ok for us, leaving the 2020's
>to repair VHS recorders and standard video monitors, and 8mm
>camcorders (as befitting their level of experience) and even
>these they had alot of 'repeat' work with. Management tried to
>fix it by sending them (instead of us) to the more advanced Sony
>trainings, but it didn't really do any good because the goofy
>kids had an attention span about as long as their shorthairs. It
>proves you can send a monkey to class to learn to repair a
>digital betacam deck, but he'll never be able to do it because he
>has marbles for brains. This really frustrated the management..
>When the 2020's would ask how to align something, we'd say, "I
>don't know, did you read the manual?" (yes the 5 of us 'old
>farts' agreed over a lunch, to withdraw our knowledge base from
>the children in order to protect our jobs in the face of the
>evidence -it's called survival)
>
>I was pretty cheezed off when one punk kid and I both applied for
>a field engineer job. He got it. So no big deal, but if you
>recall the last Olympics held in Japan, and then something in
>Australia on the outback (huge contracts for Sony who sets up all
>the gear), he refused to go, because he said was afraid of travel
>overseas, kept talking about heathens and scorpions. I laughed in
>his face and told him to be a man. In front of the boss. So it's
>not all the companies, it is the workforce that is becoming
>defective.
>
>Three years later Sony closed the service departments across the
>country and consolidated it all in Norcross GA.
>
>Now, the Sony Norcross Service Center is what we call a
>boiler-room or a sweatshop. We sent a spy there and have images.
>They don't wanna see nothin but 10,000 square feet of a55#0135
>and elbows. Instead of a 15x20 work area with workbench, desk,
>computer, phone, and three 7' racks of test equipment per
>engineer like in Dallas, Norcross has half a desk per technician
>(which is also the workbench), no phones (phones waste time), a
>3' rack with a video monitor and cheap scope and signal generator
>that sits on the desk, and a computer that only runs the work
>application (no internet or research -it wastes time). There is
>real test gear, but it is rolled around in a few racks and shared
>10-1. Oh yeah, they work shifts, so you hot-seat with the next
>guy, and share the provided hand tools with him and everything
>else including his diseases and biohazards. So-called 'team
>leaders' go around and show the unwashed masses what to check
>next as they ignorantly swap out boards until the thing works (it
>is not allowed to component-level troubleshoot. that is a waste
>of time.) -So they keep 'em dumbed down, and basically they're
>trapped in Norcross at a dead end job.
>
>I declined the Sony offer to move to Norcross and have not
>regretted it. It would be like moving from the taj mahal to a
>cardboard box, and someone kicking the box.
>
>So is partially chronicled my bumpy ride with Sony Service as
>they suicidally lost sight of quality and became no better than
>Panasonic Service.
>
>This year I hear that Sony is going to open up some service
>centers, and try to recover their reputation. Too late probably.
>They'll never get the good engineers back that they lost (nor the
>big money customers).
>
>
>
>------------------------------
>
>Message: 6
>Date: Wed, 14 Jul 2004 23:13:55 -0500
>From: "Robert Nickels" <w9ran at oneradio.net>
>Subject: [Milsurplus] Scientific Radio
>To: "Mil Surplus List" <milsurplus at mailman.qth.net>
>Message-ID: <000901c46a22$25eeb610$6501a8c0 at pavillion>
>Content-Type: text/plain;       charset="iso-8859-1"
>
>I know it'll be a longshot since nothing turns up on a web search, but does
>anyone have docs for a Scientific Radio SR-210 transceiver?  Or know
>anything about this radio?
>
>Thanks and 73,
>Bob W9RAN
>
>
>
>
>
>------------------------------
>
>Message: 7
>Date: Thu, 15 Jul 2004 00:54:53 -0500
>From: antqradio at juno.com
>Subject: Re: [Milsurplus] W2NSD - OT
>To: k2gkk at hotmail.com
>Cc: milsurplus at mailman.qth.net
>Message-ID: <20040715.005453.212.7.antqradio at juno.com>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>
>I investigated further and the author's bio said he was in that part of
>the world, strange!
>
>On Wed, 14 Jul 2004 01:20:25 +0000 "D C Macdonald" <k2gkk at hotmail.com>
>writes:
> > Jim, I believe that is an Arab or Turk proverb, but maybe not.
> > In any event, it's been around a long time!
> >
> > Mac, K2GKK/5
>
>
>------------------------------
>
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>End of Milsurplus Digest, Vol 3, Issue 22
>*****************************************