[R-390] wow... the R-391A does exist - Video Update

[Robert Nickels]

Barry Hauser wrote:
>
> So, after all that, in brief, Bob, it's not even up to "analogue" -- 
> it's relay and mechanical "logic". 

Barry - thanks for the great explanation!  I cut my teeth in the "logic 
era" when the gap between the conceptual and reality was bridged with 
wirewrap and TTL, a few years before "software" worked its way into the 
engineers vocabulary.  So to me, the electromechanical and analog 
solutions of the past are understandable, albeit a bit before my time.  
But too many "sparkies" tend to overlook the elegant mechanical 
solutions that came before electronic controls were feasible - and have 
outlasted most everything else.  I got into an argument with a 
mechanical engineer one day about how much "better" my electronic 
controls made a machine, and he pulled down a book and opened it up to a 
pictorial of a sewing machine.  I bought the Cokes that day!  Sounds 
like the R-391A is another example, but like lots of bygone 
technologies, whatever has been lost in mechanical charm is probably 
more than made up for in  reliability and maintenance!

73, Bob W9RAN