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oldschool@tubes.com: Feb 10 11:08PM -0600 Where can I get a FREE schematic for a Hallicrafters SX-99?   Yes, I have googled, and all I keep finding are very small ones, paid ones, or those $^&%&* sites that promise a free one but do nothing but redirect to some site trying to get me to download some crap. I'm looking for one large enough to read, in any graphic format (JPG, GIF, BMP, etc). Or in PDF format. (Including a parts list in text, if they are not labeled on the schamatic itself).   There appears to be some weird format (I think it' called DJVU). I dont have anything to read them, so dont bother suggesting them.   A scanned original owners manual in PDF would be nice too....   Thanks

Phil Allison <pallison49@gmail.com>: Feb 10 09:23PM -0800 > There appears to be some weird format (I think it' called DJVU). I dont > have anything to read them, so dont bother suggesting them.   > A scanned original owners manual in PDF would be nice too....   ** Ask and ye shall receive:   http://gmcotton.com/ham_radio/misc%20manuals/Hallicrafters/Hallicrafters_SX99U%20HF-VHF%20Reciever_Service%20Manual.pdf     Pun fully intended ...       .... Phil

Foxs Mercantile <jdangus@att.net>: Feb 11 03:31AM -0600 > Where can I get a FREE schematic for a Hallicrafters SX-99?   <http://www.myvintagetv.com/Apple%20PDF%20files/Hallicrafters_SX99.pdf>   -- Jeff-1.0 wa6fwi http://www.foxsmercantile.com

"Phoena Greene" <phoena@ratchet.cnn>: Feb 10 09:51PM -0800 I had purchased a Sony Blu Ray player a few months ago so I can stream Hulu and Youtube Videos on my Plasma TV. Recently my player would freeze randomly during Youtube videos which required unplugging the player and plugging it back in. Hulu had several issues -- mainly would not start stream TV shows (playback error), would not find my account (Authentication Error) and often, pausing a show on Hulu would cause the player to freeze, also resulting in having to unplug the power supply and plug it back in. Then it would reset itself about once a week, then after a while it was resetting itself twice a day. It would forget my login information for Hulu and Youtube, and it would require the wifi password to be set up again. I told sony about this, they told me to unplug it for one minute and plug it in a wall socket (no surge protector or power strip). It seemed to fix the problem for about a week. Then it went back to its old ways.   Today I got a letter from my Cable Company giving me a really good deal on cable for 1 year. They made me an offer I can not refuse. Since I bought the wretched Sony for cable cutting purposes I figured it's time to put this asshole out of its misery. I put the Sony in the sink and plugged it in and turned on the water and when I confirmed it was dead I fixed it with a hammer. About ten smashes and it looked like a Hyundai totaled in a drunk driving accident.   Rest in pieces, Sony blu Ray Player.

Phil Allison <pallison49@gmail.com>: Feb 10 09:56PM -0800 On Saturday, February 11, 2017 at 4:51:10 PM UTC+11, Phoena Greene wrote: > hammer. About ten smashes and it looked like a Hyundai totaled in a drunk > driving accident.   > Rest in pieces, Sony blu Ray Player.   ** ROTFLMAO   Thanks for that one !!     .... Phil

Robert Roland <fake@ddress.no>: Feb 10 08:48PM +0100 On Thu, 09 Feb 2017 23:35:45 -0500, micky <NONONOmisc07@bigfoot.com> wrote:   >read 14% high.   >Is there any way to adjust this?   >Or, is there ever a way to adjust this?   It seems to me, the cheaper it is, the higher the chance of finding a calibration pot inside.   But the calibration is only for the voltage reference, so, as Phil comments, if only one range is off, then it is not a calibration problem. -- RoRo

"pfjw@aol.com" <pfjw@aol.com>: Feb 10 12:06PM -0800 On Friday, February 10, 2017 at 2:48:59 PM UTC-5, Robert Roland wrote: > problem. > -- > RoRo   Or, the rest of the range is OK, with the error only at the lowest end of the scale (and how Fluke does it in my case for Volts) as noted by the OP. If measuring in dozens or hundreds of volts. a 0.5 V error ain't much. 0-2 V, quite a bit. About anyone can make a meter that is +/-1% at 500V. Not so many at 2% at 2V.   Peter Wieck Melrose Park, PA

jurb6006@gmail.com: Feb 10 12:53PM -0800 >"It seems to me, the cheaper it is, the higher the chance of finding a calibration pot inside."   Your theory is blown out of the water, sorry. Those $0.000 ones from Harbor Freight have no pot.   >"But the calibration is only for the voltage reference, so, as Phil comments, if only one range is off, then it is not a calibration problem. -- RoRo "   Kinda is and kinda ain't. Seriously, I only recently learned how these things work and truthfully I could not design a worse circuit. Unfortunately I can't seem to design a better one either so I guess I understand why they did it the way they did it.   However one thing is common to almost all voltmeters. The lowest voltage range IS the reference and all the others are divided down by a precision resistive divider. therefore when that low range is off, all ranges should be off by the same amount, if it is indeed in the main calibration.   The only time I have had the lower ranges bad was in a Fluke. That unit had batteries that had leaked onto the PC board so it is logical to assume that there was a leakage path and that was causing the error. That unit would zero with the probes crossed, but uncrossing them would result in a reading of a couple of volts. That was not resolved at the 200 volt range of course.   The resolution must be considered, for example if you have a fifty volt supply and this thing reads 50.17 volts and every other meter you have reads 49.91, that is significant and needs to be noted. It is the same problem, but partly masked by the resistive divider.   Instrumentation is a PITA, which is why alot of techs will not touch it. Back in the TV days many would just send meters and scopes in, not even take the cover off. I learned some lessons on it myself, like on Tek scopes. When they say 50 volts it is not like a TV where anything between 35 and 75 will be fine, it means 50 volts within a volt. Maybe even tighter than that.   Anyway, this PITA better be worth it, take and see if you are just not noticing the error on the higher ranges. It is off 14 on the low range, go up a range, is it off 1.4 % ? Go up another range, is it off 0.14 % ? Now for that you might have to get a really high end other meter. Personally I can borrow a high end Fluke that will do it and it has been check every way to Sunday and back. I mean money was spent.   We did have some fun restoring a few old time meters, one of them is the job from HP that had four light bulbs in it. The next step is electrometers, like Keithley etc. Maybe. I still have yet to get used to these junk ass LCD scopes, preferring my CRO always.   Bottom line though, when a meter gets that kind of problem it is probably time to ditch the bitch. It is very unlikely to be an easy fix no matter what.   Fess up with the brand and model. If it is an old nixie tube job it is a novelty and worth fixing maybe, even that old B & K job, LED and with the zero control you set to make the "-" blink on and off. I used to have one of those and it was not a bad meter, I am still wondering what happened to it. Never sell a house folks, let me tell you. You lose more stuff than you ever knew you had and then spend the next twenty years wondering where this and that went. If you sell a house, just go get a lobotomy, you'll be much happier.   Bottom line, when it comes to DVMs, only the bestest and bounciest are really worth fixing. Some of the ones in the middle are worth sending to the factory if you got a warranty. Fewer are worth paying their out of warranty rates. but they do have the special equipment to fix and calibrate them, but really most of it is just change the main board and check the calibration. If it flies, ship it.   Good luck, but really it sounds to me like you simply need a new meter. Maybe this one could monitor line voltage or whatever, but that is about it.

Ralph Mowery <rmowery28146@earthlink.net>: Feb 10 03:58PM -0500 In article <8450e28b-2764-4217-9d2a-a8f875ab8d21@googlegroups.com>, jurb6006@gmail.com says...   > >"It seems to me, the cheaper it is, the higher the chance of finding a > calibration pot inside."   > Your theory is blown out of the water, sorry. Those $0.000 ones from Harbor Freight have no pot.   I hae opened up 3 of the 'free'or about $ 6 if just bought ones and they all have an adjustment pot. They all seem to be close enough compaired to my Fluke that I did not do any adjustment to that pot.   Have you actully opened up any ?

Phil Allison <pallison49@gmail.com>: Feb 10 02:51PM -0800 The Peter Wieck Fuckwit Troll spewed     > > .... Phil   > Off your meds again?     ** Fuck off, you retarded pile of bat manure.   No-one needs to see your brain dead, autistic crap.   > Fluke 73III True RMS meter. Set to ohms. Cross leads. Hold Down Yellow (range) Button. Meter adjusts to 0 ohms.     ** ROTFL - wot brain dead crap.     ** Fuck off, you retarded pile of bat manure.   No-one needs to see your brain dead, autistic crap.       .... Phil     Proceed from there. I have been using this meter for almost 20 years now, and go through this when either switching leads or changing the battery, or if it has been sitting for a while.

Phil Allison <pallison49@gmail.com>: Feb 10 02:53PM -0800 Robert Roland wrote:     > But the calibration is only for the voltage reference, so, as Phil > comments, if only one range is off, then it is not a calibration > problem.   ** Of course not, have to be brain dead to think that.       .... Phil

Phil Allison <pallison49@gmail.com>: Feb 10 02:54PM -0800 The Peter Wieck Fuckwit Troll spewed:       > Or, the rest of the range is OK, with the error only at the lowest end of the > scale ....     ** Complete CRAP !!!   Fuck off, you retarded pile of bat manure.   No-one needs to see your brain dead, autistic crap.       .... Phil

micky <NONONOmisc07@bigfoot.com>: Feb 10 08:36PM -0500 In sci.electronics.repair, on Thu, 9 Feb 2017 21:04:57 -0800 (PST), Phil   >> My friend gave me an digital VOM, and DC voltages in the 2 volt range >> read 14% high.   >** So all the other ranges are OK ?   I checked since I first posted and the 20 and 200 volt DC scales have the same problem. They give the same reading of 1.7 on a AA battery, a battery that is probably dead since it's 3 years old and the camera two of them are in was dead, and isn't now that I replaced the batteries.   And the AC volts is good, I don't have a handy way to messure milliamps The continuity buzzer is dead (and I checked both leads). And none of the resistance scales work.   So it's probably not worth keeping a battery in it with ohms scales, but I am still interested in calibration so I'm glad I asked.   The story is more complicated than it was yesterday. Yesterday I replaced some other battery and measured the old one and it was 1.4. then I measured the two from yesterday and instead of 1.74, it said 0.6!! But later today I measured again and it was up to 1.7!!! A dirty pot?   Hmmm.   Hmmm.   Okay, my final paragraph today: I figured that out, but only by fildding with it. How many of you figured it out from a distance? (It's another serious problem.)     > If so, it sounds like manufacturing error.   It may have worked well at one time. Actually my friend died and this was among his things. So eEven though I have other, better, and similar meters, I'm reluctant to throw it out.   The fuse had been blown and was missing, so he took it apart. The shine is off a tiny bit of circuit board by the fuse, so it was a big blowout. And there are two holes in the PCB with nothing in them right near the burned spot, but the first two times I looked there, I thought they were just extra holes, since there is no evidence of a part, and I though there was no copper trace. There were parts in the way so I couldn't see everything.   But now I see that there is a trace headed in the direction of each hole. I guess the blowout took the part and part of the traces with it, that there was nothing holding the part to the PCB but the solder attachment to the traces. That's why the holes are so empty and clean.   With this added knowledge, I'll look it up again. (I looked it up yesterday and found how big the fuse should be.)   Just $15 at Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Velleman-DVM850BL-Hold-Function-Backlight/dp/B00068U24A http://www.vellemanusa.com/products/view/?country=us&lang=enu&id=350297   And manualslib.com has the manual but it's only 9 pages and has no schematic.   The missing part seems to be connected to the ground on one side and one pin of an 8-pin IC at the other. I suppose it's either a cap or resistor. Since the ohms scales don't work, is it reasonable to guess it's a resistor???   I have a resistor-substitution box, bought at a hamfest and only used once. Wait, that time I decided it was easier to use a pot. I could do that now too.   Unless one of you knows what the part would be, or where to get a schematic for a Vellaman DVM850BL   the only other idea is to buy a second one and see what part is in that spot. Then I could give away the new one.

"Phoena Greene" <phoena@ratchet.cnn>: Feb 10 09:52PM -0800 "micky" <NONONOmisc07@bigfoot.com> wrote in message news:cjgq9cpbgkls3mmjbfj8t622auumn86f4o@4ax.com... > My friend gave me an digital VOM, and DC voltages in the 2 volt range > read 14% high.   So give it back to him

oldschool@tubes.com: Feb 10 10:52PM -0600 I have an old tube set that I want to fire up, but know this stuff can be unpredictable, especially with old caps. I recently bought a variac (variable voltage transformer). But I have never used one for this purpose.   So, I plug in the 120vac old tube device, where should I begin with the voltages? Should I start at half voltage (60v) or lower, or go higher?   I'm asking becuse I know that the filaments will be lower, but they can handle this. Of course the DC inside the radio will be lower too, and wonder how this will work for the tube rectifier.... But my big concern is the power transformer in the device. Can too low of a voltage harm the power trans.?   So, what voltage (or percentage of power) is the best place to begin?   My biggest concern are the power electrolytics (filter caps) being shorted, (on any old tube device). Yes, I do intend to replace them, but I still want to see what this device does, before I tamper with it.   In this case, I'm testing out a Hallicrafters SX-99 radio receiver. It's supposed to work, but I dont like the idea of just plugging in somthing thats 60 years old, and waiting for smoke..... (if there is a problem).   Thanks

Phil Allison <pallison49@gmail.com>: Feb 10 09:34PM -0800 > In this case, I'm testing out a Hallicrafters SX-99 radio receiver. It's > supposed to work, but I dont like the idea of just plugging in somthing > thats 60 years old, and waiting for smoke..... (if there is a problem).   ** Well, I see it uses a 5Y3 as do many old guitar amps from Fender etc .   Based on my experience with lots of them, I would have the set open on the bench so you can see and SMELL everything !   Wind up the Variac in 10 volt steps, keeping an eye on on the 5Y3 as you go, and wait a minute or two before the next step. Bad smells, flashes or glowing plates from the 5Y3 are causes to back off fast !!   Monitor the AC current draw if possible, more than say 500mA is cause for concern.     .... Phil

micky <NONONOmisc07@bigfoot.com>: Feb 10 07:52PM -0500 DVDR declares January leap month.   Not really January, more like February 8, and not really adding a day, but subtracting one.   Somehow, my Philips DVDR decided today was tomorrow, or at least Saturday. None of the recorded shows were what I wanted to watch, but otoh, they shows matched Saturday times and channels.   I thought I had overslept and lost a day, and that was bad because Friday was cold but Saturday was supposed to be very warm, and I guess I slept through it. And bad because it means I'm getting senile. But I set the DVDR back to yesterday.   Now I'm looking at the computer and it says that it IS Friday   The DVDR clock is on Automatic. I forget what that means.   There is also Off and Manual. For Manual it asks what channel (the one that carries the time. PBS?)   So it seems like every dvdr etc. that is on automatic might have gained a day today, and lost a day of recordings. Have any of you ever heard of that before?

Mike Duffy <mqduffy001@bell.net>: Feb 10 08:31PM -0500 On Fri, 10 Feb 2017 19:52:15 -0500, micky wrote:   > The DVDR clock is on Automatic. I forget what that means.   Look it up. With the model number, you should be be able to find the manual on the Internet.   > So it seems like every dvdr etc. that is on automatic might > have gained a day today, and lost a day of recordings.   > Have any of you ever heard of that before?   What? Someone who still uses a DVD recorder?   Yes, during the previous millenium.

micky <NONONOmisc07@bigfoot.com>: Feb 10 08:38PM -0500 In sci.electronics.repair, on Fri, 10 Feb 2017 20:31:05 -0500, Mike   >> The DVDR clock is on Automatic. I forget what that means.   >Look it up. With the model number, you should be be able to find the manual >on the Internet.   I did. It made sense at the time but not it doesn't again.   >> have gained a day today, and lost a day of recordings.   >> Have any of you ever heard of that before?   >What? Someone who still uses a DVD recorder?   It's good for burning DVDs from TV shows.

Paul <nospam@needed.invalid>: Feb 10 05:37PM -0500 Mr. Man-wai Chang wrote: >> like a pc, to get it into the bios screen, but i havent a clue what >> to jumper.   > Cross-posting your post to alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt!   I see this one. It uses NVidia ION graphics.   https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/AT3IONTI/   There's a forum.   http://vip.asus.com/forum/topic.aspx?board_id=1&model=AT3IONT-I&SLanguage=en-us   Downloads   https://www.asus.com/support/Download/1/35/1/3/iHWm73RqE6MCmCtw/22/   Manual - look for F_PANEL, for the power button pair. Middle pair of the 2x5 header.   http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/Intel_CPU_Onboard/AT3IONT-I/E5958_AT3IONT-I_Series.pdf   The manual appears to document two motherboards at the same time, doing justice to neither of them.   Paul

jurb6006@gmail.com: Feb 10 01:30PM -0800 >"I would like to find out what problems are specific to the Hallicrafters SX-99. Where is a good place to look? "   Inside the Hallicrafters SX-99 would be my first guess.   >" I'd be interested in which of the old caps were known to have "issues". or to fail. Sure, they are all old (in any tube equipmnent), and they are paper caps, which are no longer made, but I'm sure some brands were better or worse than others. "   The bad caps in old tube radios have already lasted longer than any normal engineer would plan for. The people who made those caps, by default, made them to last forever. so much for that. Of course as you know some of them can be reformed. Not that I would trust that in a heart/lung machine, but maybe for a table radio.   >"(snipped the BS about older caps) Paper caps seem to have passed the test of time. We wont know if these newer materials pass the test of time or not, until we get there. "   We do know, and they don't. Newer capacitors have failure modes that'll put hair on your chest, curl it and take it off in one fell swoop.   I worked on bigscreen TVs, which were a fad here in the US and I made alot of money off of it because nobody else could understand it.   Well there were YEARS of Mitsubishi product out there with defective caps. someone (Rubycon ?) stole a formula for the electrolyte which was not yet perfected. but they made the caps and they had higher density, which means capacitance and voltage ratings in a smaller size. Thatis what determines the value of an electrolytic capacitor on the market. You got ESR, ESL, intolerance to heat as minus, microfarads and voltage are the plus. And the smaller the better.   You have to think outside the box to really understand this, electrolytes are not necessarily insulators. In fact when they leaked out on the board of $3,500 Mitsubishi TVs they caused leakage paths on the PC board.   Forget air and vacuum as an electrolyte, they are actually not. The electrolyte is more like the acid in your car battery.   Anyway, I have done alot of service and streamlined many the process. If you look at the damn schematic you can tell which caps are stressed worse and you know to replace them. New caps have hours before MTF based on ripple current. Well some do. Elcheapo ones do not give specs because they are so dismal, like the THD rating of a loudspeaker, they could never sell amps with 0.03 % distortion if people knew that actually good speakers usually have 5 % or more at normal listening levels. Of course some are lower, go have a look at the Martin Logan website for that, and if that doesn't make your wallet hurt go find some Quad ESL-63s.   In other words some things matter, others do not. Like I am about to work on a Pioneer SX-737. I am NOT replacing all the caps, and BTW, those big ones in the power supply, when they are bulging they are not necessarily bad. I am replacoing a bunch of PNP transistors because they were prone to failure ad could damage other components. there are a few caps I am going to change and I will (upon request) supply the schematic and my professional judgement as to why these caps get changed and why the others do not. If you understand the circuit you realize that some of these caps are nowhere near the audio path and do not affect the sound. If they pose a reliability problem that is different.   Now, you brought up old caps, and upon that I would like to expound a bit. A couple few years ago my sister's PC monitor crapped out. I had already been working on flatscrteen TVs so I knew the deal. I found a bank of caps, which is usually what they are, all bad. See, in business toward the end I did not replace all kinds of caps, I just bridged one in and when it worked I knew the caps would fix it. this was my job.   But this was far from professional. Her power supply of course worked up in the hundreds of KHz. I had no caps at the house but a thirty years old one. Originally in the circuit there was a bank of 1,000 uF @ I think 35 volts, I only had 25s.   I took and old 100 uF @ 160 volts and stuck it in there and it worked. Think about it, a good cap, 100 KHz ? /Of course it worked.   I told her I really did not have the right part right now so be ready for it to fail, and I will order the right part.   It has been running for over three years now.   These engineers are idiots, they use banks of caps of poor quality instead of just a few good ones. But then they need to design next year's product you are forced to buy because this one failed. Like the government, is it complicity or incompetence ? To me it does not matter, they need for some heads to roll. They are wrecking the fucking planet.   Guy on here talking about Taiwan or whatever dog country saying it is a dumping ground for our junk electronics. GOOD ! That is where the garbage came from in the first place ! Take it back. In fact take it all back. I want to go back to where I have only six channels on the TV. I shit you not.   And I want a table radio in the kitchen.   Know what ? Off to eBay, or better yet Craigslist.

"Benderthe.evilrobot" <Benderthe.evilrobot@virginmedia.com>: Feb 10 10:08PM <jurb6006@gmail.com> wrote in message news:44a416e8-4d8f-442b-8f9d-10c7dbc7c679@googlegroups.com... > or to fail. Sure, they are all old (in any tube equipmnent), and they > are paper caps, which are no longer made, but I'm sure some brands were > better or worse than others. "   Some brands gained notoriety simply because there were a lot more of their parts out there in the field.   Its probably more productive to identify suspect dielectric types than brands.   Those were the materials they had back then, and some of them don't last forever in the heat around tubes.

AlexPelocho <alextsekenis@gmail.com>: Feb 10 11:29AM -0800 On Friday, February 10, 2017 at 3:53:54 PM UTC, Phil Hobbs wrote: > Briarcliff Manor NY 10510   > hobbs at electrooptical dot net > http://electrooptical.net   Point taken. For what is worth, it was this guy: https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/rob.sloan.html

etpm@whidbey.com: Feb 10 09:38AM -0800 On Fri, 10 Feb 2017 10:48:18 -0500, Phil Hobbs >mile from the substation.   >Cheers   >Phil Hobbs The top line running down my street is 7200 volts. Maybe that's because I live in a rural area. It seems high to me but the guy from PSE told me that it is not unusual, at least where I live. Eric

etpm@whidbey.com: Feb 10 09:26AM -0800 On Fri, 10 Feb 2017 02:26:07 -0500, micky <NONONOmisc07@bigfoot.com> wrote:   >left. Then reverse the test leads and it will do the same again.   >>Thanks, >>Eric The grinder is for sharpening tungsten electrodes for TIG welding. When I got the grinder it needed new bearings so I replaced them.The wheel guards are cast with the end bells of the motor. The right side guard had been hacked up by a previous owner which was fine with me because I wanted the diamond wheel to be completely exposed so the grinding can be done on the top of the wheel. To that end I machined the rest of the wheel guard completely away. The electrode is held basically horizontal when presented to the wheel and then either tilted slightly and/or moved past the vertical wheel centerline to get the desired angle on the electrode. The wheel on the left side of the grinder needs a guard because it is a typical grinding wheel. This wheel is used to remove any contaminating metal on the electrode prior to the diamond wheel use. I trued both wheels but there was still significant vibration so I replaced the large old out of balance wheel retaining nuts with new small nuts. Now the grinder runs very smooth. One advantage of this capacitor run motor is the low vibration because it is always operating as a two phase motor, though imperfectly. Because the cap is always in circuit and the two windings in the motor identical the cap is a compromise between a starting cap and a running cap. The grinder is very well made, but that's no surprise because it is a Baldor grinder and Baldor made and still makes very good grinders. Eric

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