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Martim Ribeiro <MartimXRibeiro@meo.pt>: Feb 04 11:46PM I'm confused by Comcast Comcast "Broadcast TV Fee" of $6.50 and the "Regional Sports Fee" of $4.50 and the Samsung SX022ANM "thing".   I'm trying to help someone else who is in an apartment and moving to another apartment in the same complex due to roomate issues, where the old apartment has a $50/month 100Mbps service and the new apartment has an existing $85/month 100Mbps with 135 TV channels.   On the TV channel setup, there are three things I don't understand: 1. What is the Samsung SX022ANM "thing" 2. Are these "fees" legit?   Can you just give me information on these two things so I'm better armed to help? The apartment dwellers and I aren't technical and I never had cable anyway since I'm on wisp.

Frank <"frank "@frank.net>: Feb 04 06:58PM -0500 On 2/4/2017 6:46 PM, Martim Ribeiro wrote: > Samsung SX022ANM   Samsung is DVR box rental. Comcast has an ng where you might ask about all.

Michael Black <et472@ncf.ca>: Feb 04 12:10PM -0500

Michael Black <et472@ncf.ca>: Feb 04 12:13PM -0500

oldschool@tubes.com: Feb 04 01:00PM -0600 >warnings "change this capacitor right away, or else it may take other >things with it". Those may not be that the capacitor is likely to fail, >but that if the capacitor fails, it can do damage.   What you are saying here is true for almost everything produced. All cars have certain common problems specific to the brand/model. Same for other machinery, and for electronics and even plumbing faucets and so on...   I would like to find out what problems are specific to the Hallicrafters SX-99. Where is a good place to look?     >There were periods when a brand of capacitor came along and got heavy use, >only later it's discovered that they don't have long life. It's those >that are the issue, not "all capacitors".   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. And just because newer caps are made from plastics rather than paper, does not necessarily make them better. Plastics can have issues too. Not to mention that everything made today is made for a short lifespan. Considering that, if most of the old paper caps still work, 50, 60, or 70 years later, they obviuosly were not poorly made or a poor design. I always say, "New does not necessarily mean Better". Today, this is quite apparent in a lot of things. Old cars far outlast the new ones, old homes were built better than new ones, and while many will disagree, I'll take Windows XP, or even Windows 98, (I use both) any day over Windows 8.x or 10. So, often times, new is NOT better and sometimes it's worse.     >Nobody uses paper capacitors anymore, but those were used for audio >coupling and bypass capacitors decades ago, and not only can go bad, but >have limitations based on how paper capacitors are made.   One thing I've noticed is that all caps seem to be a lot smaller these days. (For the same value and voltage). I'm taking a wild guess, when I figure this is because paper was thicker than the plastic materials used today. But is this really better? Thinner means that high voltages have a shorter distance to arc across, causing a short. And which of these plastics will still be good in 5 years, or 20 or 50 years? 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.   I'm not saying any material is better or worse, because I am only guessing, but it does appear that old technology, made from things like steel, wood, brick and other natural materials, are lasting longer than most plastics. It's like when Chevy started using plastic timing gears in their engines, which soon proved to fail much sooner than the old steel ones.   So, are the newer caps really better? I dont know... I can only go with the advice of those in the repair end of the business, and that is all based on time. The manufacturers always claim they have a better product, because they want to make sales, so their words mean nothing.   When I finally do get to recapping this radio, I am still clueless what type of modern caps to use. In the old days, they were all paper caps, and it just came down to knowing which manufacturer had a better reputation. But now there are multiple different plastics in use, which makes it a lot harder to know what to use.

oldschool@tubes.com: Feb 04 01:21PM -0600 On Sat, 4 Feb 2017 08:56:42 -0600, Foxs Mercantile <jdangus@att.net> wrote:     >To quote a good friend of mine, "There are only two kinds of paper >dielectric capacitors. Those that are bad, and those that are going >to be bad."   Everything will fail some time in the future..... It dont matter what it is. But will it be tomorrow, or 100 years from now? So, somtime in the future, every paper cap, as well as every modern cap is going to fail. But at my age, I only have to think 2 or maybe 3 decades at most into the future. After that, it's someone else's problem.

Nick Danger <nick@third.eye.net>: Feb 04 02:39PM -0500 On 2/4/2017 12:13 PM, Michael Black wrote:   > And with names like "Black Beauty" and "Orange Drop", who would question > at the time that they weren't good products?   > Michael   I know from years of personal experience that "Black Beauties" were *notoriously* bad. However, I always thought the Orange Drops were pretty good. Not so?

oldschool@tubes.com: Feb 04 01:36PM -0600 >And with names like "Black Beauty" and "Orange Drop", who would question >at the time that they weren't good products?   > Michael   It could have been PURPLE HAZE! <LOL>

oldschool@tubes.com: Feb 04 01:49PM -0600 On Sat, 4 Feb 2017 14:39:13 -0500, Nick Danger <nick@third.eye.net> wrote:     >I know from years of personal experience that "Black Beauties" were >*notoriously* bad. However, I always thought the Orange Drops were >pretty good. Not so?   Back in the mid 60's into the 70s, I was told the black beauties were one of the better caps made. But after reading a lot of websites about caps, it now appears they have proven to be bad.   On the other hand, back then, and still now, it appears that the orange drops were highly rated, as well as being some of the most costly. Except for one poster in this thread, I have never heard anything bad about them. One of the websites I was reading said they are one of the brands to consider for recapping, but went on to say that there are cheaper caps which work just as well.   Back then, I used a lot of orange drops as replacements and I never had problems with them. I will say that I did not always like the fact that their wires come out of the bottom, since for non-circuit board applications, they were a little clumbsy to fit into some places, versus the tubular caps with wires on the ends.

"Benderthe.evilrobot" <Benderthe.evilrobot@virginmedia.com>: Feb 04 08:01PM "Ralph Mowery" <rmowery28146@earthlink.net> wrote in message news:MPG.32fed7a04e3c916a989829@news.east.earthlink.net... > it is such an odd value as I doubt the extra .003 would be noticable in > the circuits most of them are used in. As the tollorance on most of the > electrolytics are very broad I don't understand the odd values either.   The preferred values were worked out so you can fill the spaces between them with series/parallel combinations.

"Benderthe.evilrobot" <Benderthe.evilrobot@virginmedia.com>: Feb 04 08:06PM <oldschool@tubes.com> wrote in message news:1o2a9cp0ormk0jqmmmrm0gcpvnetogkmt8@4ax.com... >>they were used for precision and a specific tempco.   > I could see them failing in the HV sections of ol CRT televisions and > monitors. Alot of stuff seemed to fail at those high voltages.   I've never seen mica in TV or monitor HV sections - and I can't think of any advantage from using them for that.

"Benderthe.evilrobot" <Benderthe.evilrobot@virginmedia.com>: Feb 04 08:15PM <oldschool@tubes.com> wrote in message news:k09b9cd4005htcn0her4bur83hpij5rhgk@4ax.com... > That radio is 62 years old. (made in 1955). The seller said it works > fine, (and I was sent a video of it working. I did detect a very slight > hum. (But the video's audio is not the greatest).   The whole thread is based on a bit of a generalisation - you have to apply a bit of common sense.   Generally; coupling and decoupling caps close to tubes that run hot are good candidates.   Caps that may affect tuned circuits tend to be close to small signal tubes that run much cooler.

oldschool@tubes.com: Feb 04 03:26PM -0600 >the oil filled variety. Indeed, if they are electrolytic, they aren't >oil filled. Oil filled capacitors aren't polarized and many of them are >good today. They were the high quality capacitors used in military and   I always thought those were oil filled, but I see I was wrong. I looked on the web too, and it appears that most of them were filled with a boric acid solution, which is not really harmful. They all had the tiny vent hole in the top, and had a large threaded mounting on the bottom, which required a sizable nut.   It's been years since I touched one of them. I only remember (vividly) getting sprayed by one of them many years ago. It was boiling hot and it hurt like hell. After that incident, I just replaced them before I even pluggd in anyting that had that type of cap. (Or put a soup can over them temporarily) They were probably the worst caps ever made.   Here is a pic I found online. https://antiqueradio.org/art/Midwest18-3621.jpg

oldschool@tubes.com: Feb 04 04:15PM -0600 On Fri, 03 Feb 2017 16:26:47 -0800, Jeff Liebermann <jeffl@cruzio.com> wrote:   >working test bench. I also find myself fixing 40+ years old test >equipment as I do fixing radios etc. Looking at the old stuff, all it >does is make me feel old and tired.   Thats all I have too, and some of it has not been used in years and may likely no longer work. I'm not looking to get heavily into this stuff anymore. My eyes are not that good anymore either. I just want a project or two so I have something useful to do indoors during these long cold midwest winters. In the warm weather I am mostly outdoors working on building stuff and fixing antique machinery. But in winter it's either stare at the lousy programming on tv, waste a lot of time reading (a lot of crap) on the internet, or do something with rewards, which means restoring some ancient electronics. I'll never fit in with the current cellphone/facebook crowd.....   --- I overheard a young guy bragging about his new Iphone. I walked up and told him I had something better, AN EARPHONE! :)

Nick Danger <nick@third.eye.net>: Feb 04 05:58PM -0500 >>> And with names like "Black Beauty" and "Orange Drop", who would question >>> at the time that they weren't good products?   >>> Michael   On Sat, 4 Feb 2017 14:39:13 -0500, Nick Danger <nick@third.eye.net> wrote:   >> I know from years of personal experience that "Black Beauties" were >> *notoriously* bad. However, I always thought the Orange Drops were >> pretty good. Not so?   On 2/4/2017 2:49 PM, oldschool@tubes.com wrote:   > Back in the mid 60's into the 70s, I was told the black beauties were > one of the better caps made. But after reading a lot of websites about > caps, it now appears they have proven to be bad.   I discovered that from experience. BBs were notoriously leaky, both electrically and physically.   > On the other hand, back then, and still now, it appears that the orange > drops were highly rated, as well as being some of the most costly.   I never worried about the cost -- I always figured the labor to put in a good one or to put in junk was the same.   > Except for one poster in this thread, I have never heard anything bad > about them.   Ditto and thus the reason for my original question.   > cheaper caps which work just as well.   > Back then, I used a lot of orange drops as replacements and I never had > problems with them.   True in my case too. I also used them along with 88 mh toroidal telephone loading coils to make Mark / Space filters for radio teletype decoders --and the orange drops were very stable. (I know, I'm dating myself in this day and age of software/sound card RTTY decoders). :-)

Foxs Mercantile <jdangus@att.net>: Feb 04 05:03PM -0600 On 2/4/2017 4:58 PM, Nick Danger wrote: > teletype decoders --and the orange drops were very stable. (I > know, I'm dating myself in this day and age of software/sound > card RTTY decoders). :-)   You and me brother. You and me. ;-) As a side note, I'm still playing with RTTY and using a real machine. A Lorenz Lo-15c. ;-)       -- Jeff-1.0 wa6fwi http://www.foxsmercantile.com

Foxs Mercantile <jdangus@att.net>: Feb 04 05:05PM -0600 > since for non-circuit board applications, they were a little > clumsy to fit into some places, versus the tubular caps with > wires on the ends.   They are good parts. A bit over priced however. And yes, radial leads instead of axial. Can be an issue when you're replacing axial lead parts.   -- Jeff-1.0 wa6fwi http://www.foxsmercantile.com

Jim Mueller <wrongname@nospam.com>: Feb 04 11:46PM On Sat, 04 Feb 2017 15:26:31 -0600, oldschool wrote:   > them temporarily) They were probably the worst caps ever made.   > Here is a pic I found online. > https://antiqueradio.org/art/Midwest18-3621.jpg   Progress is incremental. Those capacitors had major advantages over what came before. The "dry" electrolytics that followed them had further advantages. That's how things go.   -- Jim Mueller wrongname@nospam.com   To get my real email address, replace wrongname with dadoheadman. Then replace nospam with fastmail. Lastly, replace com with us.

Jon Elson <elson@pico-systems.com>: Feb 04 02:20PM -0600 Dave Platt wrote:   > In article <8IOdnWLPLNJPmwjFnZ2dnUU7-LvNnZ2d@giganews.com>, > Jon Elson <jmelson@wustl.edu> wrote:   > Is this a plug-in breaker, or one that's wired in? It is a GE "snap in" breaker in a GE breaker panel (load center). The breakers have fingers that grip a bus bar in the panel, and a screw terminal that holds the wire. > has deteriorated (oxidized, worked loose, etc.) and it might be > heating up at that point. If your home has any aluminum wiring, I'd > be _very_ concerned about this possibility.   No, NO aluminum wiring! I checked before buying!   > I'd recommend a full re-check, with the mains power entirely > disconnected. The fact that after resetting, the breakers are now running cool tells me the contacts have been cleaned by cycling them, and should be OK for the next 10 years or so.   Jon

oldschool@tubes.com: Feb 04 04:54PM -0600 On Sat, 04 Feb 2017 14:20:34 -0600, Jon Elson <elson@pico-systems.com> wrote:   >the contacts have been cleaned by cycling them, and should be OK for the >next 10 years or so.   >Jon   I think I'd buy a spare breaker. They always fail in the middle of the night on a weekend. They only cost $5 to $10.   I'd unplug them one at a time, and clean the contacts where they plug into the bussbar on all of them. Also make sure you dont have some device such as a refrigerator, sump pump etc, that may be cycling and/or jammed. Probably would not hurt to remove and inspect every outlet on that circuit to make sure there are no burnt wires or loose connections.

John Robertson <spam@flippers.com>: Feb 04 03:23PM -0800 > device such as a refrigerator, sump pump etc, that may be cycling and/or > jammed. Probably would not hurt to remove and inspect every outlet on > that circuit to make sure there are no burnt wires or loose connections.   I'd recommend pulling the breaker that was overheating and replace it with a new one, moving it to an unused nockout spot. Chances are the bus bar has been damaged as well as the breaker at the spot where the hot breaker was put and you can't trust connections at that point on the bus line any more.   Had this happen to a friends breaker box - burnt connection on the breaker also damaged the bus bar at that point. New breaker in a new spot and all was well. It probably hadn't been seated properly and just gradually corroded enough to be noticeable.   John :-#)# -- (Please post followups or tech inquiries to the USENET newsgroup) John's Jukes Ltd. 2343 Main St., Vancouver, BC, Canada V5T 3C9 (604)872-5757 or Fax 872-2010 (Pinballs, Jukes, Video Games) www.flippers.com "Old pinballers never die, they just flip out."

bruce2bowser@gmail.com: Feb 04 03:23PM -0800 In article <8IOdnWLPLNJPmwjFnZ2dnUU7-LvNnZ2d@giganews.com>, jme...@wustl.edu says... - hide quoted text - > them clean. I have some other breakers in the shop that are used as > shutoffs for various machines, and they never do this, I guess because the > contacts are exercised routinely.   Maybe you could've taken them to the scrap yard, but since you decided to keep them, how did you cycle them to make their connects better?

"Benderthe.evilrobot" <Benderthe.evilrobot@virginmedia.com>: Feb 04 09:20PM "Andrew Rossmann" <andysnewsreply@no_junk.comcast.net> wrote in message news:MPG.32ff963522ade9789898a3@news.eternal-september.org... > although you can possibly use a CR2025 or CR2016 in a pinch if you > happen to have one. The only difference is the thickness. 3.2mm, 2.5mm, > 1.6mm.   Some of those older boards had a potted module with a 0.6" chip form factor.   IIRC: it was a Dallas RTC chip (which may have been more or less compatible with the original Motorola chipset RTC). That had a couple of lithium coin cells stuck on top and potted.

Jon Elson <elson@pico-systems.com>: Feb 04 02:29PM -0600 > If I live too long, Linux will be inevitable. I might have to take up some > hobbies involving very fast cars, lighter than air hydrogen aircraft and > the like. (I know how to make hydrogen) My desktop at work once ran for about 480 days before a power failure rebooted it. Typically, my desktops run about 100 - 180 days before there is some need to reboot them. Have you ever had a crash on your Windows system? I have had a few, when there were hardware failures, but they are REALLY rare. I have a web server here that just hums along, even though it is constantly attacked by various hackers. They haven't been able to get in to do anything bad in ages.   Jon

avagadro7@gmail.com: Feb 04 11:10AM -0800 AND THE WIRE IS...   Consolidated   14(41)UL 1007/1569 105C CSA TR64 30C FT1 BLUE   for example, other spools state differently but same batch MO

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