sci.electronics.repair@googlegroups.com

Today's topics:

* Universal Remote control , more universal mod? - 6 messages, 4 authors
http://groups.google.com/group/sci.electronics.repair/t/ddfa1b325765e99a?hl=en
* Technics SL-B100 Turntable Grounding Wire - 1 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/sci.electronics.repair/t/4488d3728237570a?hl=en
* LCD Without Wire Connectors - 1 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/sci.electronics.repair/t/258843ed8f6e7490?hl=en

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TOPIC: Universal Remote control , more universal mod?
http://groups.google.com/group/sci.electronics.repair/t/ddfa1b325765e99a?hl=en
==============================================================================

== 1 of 6 ==
Date: Sun, Aug 8 2010 3:57 pm
From: Meat Plow

On Sun, 08 Aug 2010 18:21:05 -0400, Michael A. Terrell wrote:

> Meat Plow wrote:
>>
>> On Sun, 08 Aug 2010 15:44:09 -0400, Michael A. Terrell wrote:
>>
>> > Meat Plow wrote:
>> >>
>> >> I could whistle at 2600hz and hang up the central opertator line. I
>> >> made a blue box for a friend but he got busted before he used it. He
>> >> was a greek with dual citizenship and had a girlfriend in Greece he
>> >> would call using a reel to reel tape with some prerecorded tones on
>> >> it. He got the idea from one of his greek buddies that was here
>> >> visiting that built a working blue box and recorded the tones and
>> >> their sequences on tape. The box was easy to build, all tin can 741
>> >> op amps on a self etched PC board. Problem was tuning it, I was only
>> >> 17 back then and had no way to tune it. Said friend was set to take
>> >> it to school electronics class and tune it when the FBI hauled him
>> >> off one early morning in his boxer shorts :) He was deported back to
>> >> Greece and lost his US citizenship.
>> >
>> >
>> > Even 'Dr. Johnny Fever' knew not to mess with the Phone Cops! ;-)
>>
>> They found out in part by talking to his girlfriend. She explained that
>> he used a tape device. I stayed at his place the night before so i was
>> there at 6 am Sunday morning when they came a knockin on his door. I
>> was zipped up in a sleeping bag peering through an opening when he
>> answered the door (had a safety chain) opening it part way just enough
>> for an arm holding a gold badge to pop through :) I stayed in the bag
>> while they looked for a tape device which he didn't have there at the
>> time. They found a loop of tape on an Echoplex tape delay box for
>> guitar that he had and un-looped it with a pencil thinking they found
>> the evidence :) They asked him who was inside the sleeping bag and he
>> said just a friend and they never bothered me. He had hid the blue box
>> pretty well and it wasn't found because they found the tape quickly so
>> they were satisfied they had what they were looking for. When they left
>> I dug out the blue box and destroyed it. Since they really had no
>> evidence of a device that could make the calls but knowing the calls
>> came from his number back when he was living with his parents they
>> could only deport him and revoke his citizenship. He never went on
>> trial for the calls. Just was given a plane ticket and said see ya
>> later. They probably made it impossible to get a visa back into the
>> country since I never saw him again. But he did call me maybe 10 years
>> later from Greece. He said he was in a friends recording studio. That
>> was in 1982.
>
>
> You're lucky it wasn't Scully & Mulder. They would have know where
> it was, before the door was opened. ;-)

Bwahahahah I loved that show when it was on.

--
Live Fast, Die Young and Leave a Pretty Corpse

== 2 of 6 ==
Date: Sun, Aug 8 2010 4:04 pm
From: Meat Plow

On Sun, 08 Aug 2010 18:19:53 -0400, Michael A. Terrell wrote:

> N_Cook wrote:
>>
>> So was that Allen Funt who televised the assignation between JFK and
>> Marilyn Munroe?
>
>
> Yawn. Keep proving your stupidity. The President being shot to
> death was a national tragedy. Maybe the next one will be in England, so
> you can have an even bigger laugh. Maybe you'll get to roast
> marshmallows at the wake.

I remember that day as well as I do 911. Us kids were having a 'circus'
in a neighbor's back yard. I went home to get something, forget what it
was, and my mom was pissed off and crying and told me I couldn't have
what I wanted because the pres had just been shot. That was Nov 22 of 63
so we must have been experiencing global warming back then if it was warm
enough to play outside with normal clothing as I remember.

--
Live Fast, Die Young and Leave a Pretty Corpse

== 3 of 6 ==
Date: Sun, Aug 8 2010 5:39 pm
From: whit3rd

On Aug 8, 4:46 am, "N_Cook" <dive...@tcp.co.uk> wrote:
> Am I on a hiding to nothing? trying to crack a device with unavailable
> remote control, and no button functions to speak of.

Many universal remotes need to know what KIND of box
before the code search works. It helps to know the
corporate entity that built the box (for instance, TiVO
responds to Philips satellite converter box commands,
because some Philips satellite converters were TiVO
equipped). And some of my Apple computers responded
to (? Samsung or Goldstar) TV codes. It seems odd that TV
codes operated the FM radio in a desktop computer.

== 4 of 6 ==
Date: Sun, Aug 8 2010 5:54 pm
From: "Michael A. Terrell"

Grant wrote:
>
> On Sun, 08 Aug 2010 16:08:50 -0400, "Michael A. Terrell" <mike.terrell@earthlink.net> wrote:
>
> >
> >N_Cook wrote:
> >>
> >> Geoffrey S. Mendelson <gsm@mendelson.com> wrote in message
> >> news:slrni5tik9.1ih.gsm@cable.mendelson.com...
> >> > N_Cook wrote:
> >> > > Got a few no-name URCs from UK Poundland "pound shop" , badged as
> >> Signalex ,
> >> > > 81415, 10 in 1 . 1 GBP for all the functionality of a URC. This type you
> >> can
> >> > > set it to flicker away to itself until it reaches the end of a batch of
> >> > > codes.
> >> > > Removed the 3.58MHz resonator (why so apparently accurate?) .
> >> >
> >> > That's the NTSC color carrier frequency. Not only were they made in the
> >> > billions over the years (every US/Canada/Japan, etc) color TV had one,
> >> > so did every VCR, and lots of other things.
> >> >
> >> > I'm sure they will still be around for a while because while digital TV
> >> > has taken over in the US, it has not in the entire world and anything with
> >> > a composite video input or output needs one.
> >> >
> >> > They became the defacto standard for things like telephone dialers,
> >> > and many things that needed about a 4mHz crystal because they were so
> >> cheap
> >> > and plentyful.
> >> >
> >> > One of the famous "blue boxes" (telephone hacking devices) was made by
> >> > taking a Radio Shack tone dialer and replacing the 1mHz crystal with a
> >> > 3.58mHz one.
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > > With 1.5V
> >> > > pk-pk locked in with receiver over range 2.7 to 5.1M, and again about
> >> 300K
> >> > > to 11M would operate using 1.5V. So far have only used with original
> >> 3.58M ,
> >> > > 6M and 7.5M sine inputs. Am I serendipitously likely to get a hit
> >> > > somewhere, at least the unit on/off model recognition code if not
> >> function
> >> > > code plus the model code
> >> > >
> >> > > So 2 out of 2 of these URC have been amenable to this mod but no match
> >> to
> >> > > the unit in question found so far. Is there any general guidelines for
> >> > > makers to choose certain types/ranges of coding for different types of
> >> > > equipment or is it totally open for them to choose? Assorted bits of kit
> >> > > show at least partial responses to some of these off-spec codes, but not
> >> my
> >> > > target one so far.
> >> >
> >> > Look up LIRC (Linux Ifrared Remote Control). There is a library of remote
> >> > codes, a way of capturing new ones from a remote and since the definitions
> >> > are in a text file, they are easy to "hack".
> >> >
> >> > There are all sorts of input and output devices, if you have a PC with a
> >> > regular serial port (not USB), you can build a transmitter from the proper
> >> > plug, a resistor and an IR LED.
> >> >
> >> > Geoff.
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > --
> >> > Geoffrey S. Mendelson N3OWJ/4X1GM
> >> > To help restaurants, as part of the "stimulus package", everyone must
> >> order
> >> > dessert. As part of the socialized health plan, you are forbidden to eat
> >> it. :-)
> >>
> >> I was not aware of that frequency as being significant , the equivalent over
> >> here is millions of 4.433619MHz and x2 of that , quartz crystals for Phase
> >> Alternate Line. That would explain why it was Never The Same Color (twice)
> >> if they could get away with using ceramic resonators rather than quartz.
> >
> >
> > Sigh. The ceramic resonators were used as a chroma trap. Quartz
> >crystals were used for the color reference. As far as 'Never The Same
> >Color', network programing was carried across the US on buried coaxial
> >cables or by microwave relays. Unlike tiny European countries, we
> >couldn't broadcast from a singe site. Because of this, they were video
> >amplifiers and equalizers spaced at regular intervals. Because it was
> >mostly tube, and there were thousands of them in each network they
> >required constant maintenance. When the network switched to a different
> >feed from a different studio, there was a phase difference. temperature
> >changes on the coax caused it's properties to change, as well. That was
> >why VIR and VITS were developed. It allowed for automatic equalization
> >to compensate for temperature changes, or when a signal had to be
> >rerouted. There were a lot of redundant paths, to allow for equipment
> >failures, or live remote feeds in the days before STL equipment. The
> >flexibility of the system was proven when Bell Telephone technicians
> >tied every TV station in the country together in a couple hours, to
>
> >allow full, live coverage of the assignation of President Kennedy. I
> I thought he kept them secret? --'^^^^^^^^^^^ Freudian slip?
>
> Wonderful what slips a careless spellcheck will show ;)

Laugh all you want. My eyesight is very poor.

== 5 of 6 ==
Date: Sun, Aug 8 2010 5:55 pm
From: "Michael A. Terrell"

Meat Plow wrote:
>
> On Sun, 08 Aug 2010 18:19:53 -0400, Michael A. Terrell wrote:
>
> > N_Cook wrote:
> >>
> >> So was that Allen Funt who televised the assignation between JFK and
> >> Marilyn Munroe?
> >
> >
> > Yawn. Keep proving your stupidity. The President being shot to
> > death was a national tragedy. Maybe the next one will be in England, so
> > you can have an even bigger laugh. Maybe you'll get to roast
> > marshmallows at the wake.
>
> I remember that day as well as I do 911. Us kids were having a 'circus'
> in a neighbor's back yard. I went home to get something, forget what it
> was, and my mom was pissed off and crying and told me I couldn't have
> what I wanted because the pres had just been shot. That was Nov 22 of 63
> so we must have been experiencing global warming back then if it was warm
> enough to play outside with normal clothing as I remember.

No. Kids don't notice the cold, till they need at least three coats.
:)

== 6 of 6 ==
Date: Mon, Aug 9 2010 12:19 am
From: "N_Cook"

whit3rd <whit3rd@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:c310732f-10af-471e-a5fa-ab5160e81b5e@g19g2000yqc.googlegroups.com...
On Aug 8, 4:46 am, "N_Cook" <dive...@tcp.co.uk> wrote:
> Am I on a hiding to nothing? trying to crack a device with unavailable
> remote control, and no button functions to speak of.

Many universal remotes need to know what KIND of box
before the code search works. It helps to know the
corporate entity that built the box (for instance, TiVO
responds to Philips satellite converter box commands,
because some Philips satellite converters were TiVO
equipped). And some of my Apple computers responded
to (? Samsung or Goldstar) TV codes. It seems odd that TV
codes operated the FM radio in a desktop computer.

reply

There is a collation of a lot of useful background info links off this page,
I'm gradually wading through
http://www.educypedia.be/electronics/televisionrc5.htm
but linkages between makers seems a route to take.
But I still get the impression that types of kit whether air conditioners or
PVRs or whatever seem to have related structures of coding within the group
rather than by maker

==============================================================================
TOPIC: Technics SL-B100 Turntable Grounding Wire
http://groups.google.com/group/sci.electronics.repair/t/4488d3728237570a?hl=en
==============================================================================

== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Sun, Aug 8 2010 9:11 pm
From: Rob Willison

Hi,

I just recently had a Technics SL-B100 turntable refurbished with a
new cartridge and needle. I don't have a receiver yet, but I was
speaking over the phone to someone who might sell me one, and he asked
if the piece has a grounding wire. I looked in the back and I see a
small hole next to the red and white wires that plug into a receiver,
but no wire.

Do I need a grounding wire for this unit, or not? Any help would be
greatly, greatly appreciated. I've had a very hard time setting this
all up, and I'm a first timer.

Best,

Rob

==============================================================================
TOPIC: LCD Without Wire Connectors
http://groups.google.com/group/sci.electronics.repair/t/258843ed8f6e7490?hl=en
==============================================================================

== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Sun, Aug 8 2010 11:15 pm
From: none@given.now (Joe)

In article
<none-0708101705410001@dialup-4.231.173.102.dial1.losangeles1.level3.net>,
none@given.now (Joe) wrote:

> I have a Radio Shack count-up/count-down timer, catalog #63-878. It's
> about 2.5"x3.2"x0.70" thick.
>
> It's around 10 years old and some of the input keys had become sticky.
>
> I had to remove the back, then remove the circuit board which was held in
> by four screws.
>
> As I gingerly removed the circuit board, the LCD display just fell off the
> circuit board. I cleaned some liquidy gunk from the circuit board and the
> rubber-membrane keys, and re-assembled the timer.
>
> The display has what looks like a rubber strip on the bottom edge which
> contacts about 12 gold plated pads on the circuit board. The contacts are
> just lying flat on the circuit board - they are not edge connectors.
>
> The four screws that hold the circuit board to the case also seem to make
> the circuit board press tightly against the rubber strip on the bottom of
> the LCD.
>
> After re-assembly, the timer works.
>
> I'm glad it didn't have a ribbon cable because they seem to be so fragile.
>
> BUT.. how is contact made from the circuit board to that LCD?
>
> --- Joe

Thanks for the helpful info, folks. I had never heard of a "zebra strip"
and with my eyes there was no visible indication of conductively separated
segments on that rubber strip.

--- Joe

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