Forget AutoZone, nothing in that store is less than $5 anymore. My existence is very sensitive to prices, not because I’m cheap, but because I’m one of those rare people with a budget. Where others remember what things cost, I know. I need a 17mm oil plug wrench, but I’m not paying $12 for it. I predicted the inflation backlash but that doesn’t make it easier to swallow. A toggle switch for your dash is $8 these days, made in China.
Today I buy my first transistor, a 2222. I have no idea how it operates; only that it is the most popular transistor of all time. It’s a case where learning the operation doing more good than understanding the theory. The community should encourage me on this very economical hobby, where $2 can keep me occupied all day long. While waiting for glue to dry, I started seedlings of the mysticious vine that ate Wallace’s garden. I finished cleaning up after that windstorm, finally.I heard a tremendous thump outside early today. One of the motorcycle team guys momentarily lost control of his brand new $40,000 cycle and tipped it over. Both of those have got to really hurt. It is back to the clinic time for me so I’m taking it really easy until next week. I finished “Cold Ridge” and much as I like the style and plot, it doesn’t get a top ranking because there were too many loose ends left unexplained. Like why the suspect, Manny, would not talk. This was central to the story yet it is never satisfactorily clarified. He seems to have risked jail time for nothing.
Ray-B called, the Fishman Solo is listed for sale again in “mint, mint, mint” condition. Do I dare? I’m clearly thinking I should start considering only myself on this one. It would be typical of my situation, driving a $200 vehicle but owning a $1,000 PA system. Yes, but the PA makes me money. I’ll wait a bit, as the price went up since the last time it was listed.
The Crate amplifier went under the scalpel. I found underneath the skin there was originally a pre-drilled hole for a second input jack, shown here. This type of modification is becoming child’s play. Face it, the computer repair business is dead and gone. Electronics may be no better although I can foresee a situation where all-digital gear becomes so frightfully expensive people who can do minor repairs will see a slight upsurge of demand.
On the side, while dissembling the amp, I noticed I could recognize groups of elements plus their relationships to each other and the larger circuit. This is not the same as knowing a resistor from a diode. Rate that good progress, as I had not really set out to learn this part of things. I also found some decent plans for a transistor radio. Soon, building such things at home will be a lost art. Not because it is difficult, but because the digital era will eventually put all AM stations obsolete and out of business. Or will some clever soul find a novel application that keeps it going?
ADDENDUM
The afternoon was at the library. Years ago I developed several types of home-made seismographs which had one thing in common. Unless you stood there watching them, there was no way to record the events. I just didn’t have the technology, I’d never heard of an Arduino and it is not like somebody came along and told me. One of my designs was a brick suspended in an overturned sturdy pail by three springs. The pail was in turnbolted to concrete. Now that I’m learning sensor operation, this device now becomes practical.
You see, when the earth moves, the pail shakes along with it, but the brick tends to stay put. I had thought of measuring the springs, or fastening magnets to the brick and surrounding it by coils. Today I read deeply the specs for an accelerometer. This tiny chip isn’t cheap at $30. It contains a little heater and an air bubble. When disturbed on its X and Y axis, it streams out 9600 baud of data about that motion. I would need two of them to measure both S and P waves. I must complete the plan in my head, for if I had $60 I’d get a brake job on the scooter.
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