Been there; done that..

[ShyWriter]

Compliments of Scott Adams.

Been there; done that... Haven't we all.

Shy

[noknojon]

Electronics' Tech/Engineer since 1963..

You must have been fixing radios back then -

[YoKenny1]

I used to work on radios with tubes.

TVs with high voltage fly-backs were quite shocking if you were not careful.

[ShyWriter]

You must have been fixing radios back then -

Fixing F101/F102 fighters' Hughes MG10 Weapons Radar Control Systems - 73 "black boxes" and one big-a**ed nose radar R/T housing assembly with its six miles of all white wire wiring and potted plugs (COMPLIMENTS OF THE US AIR FORCE). And I got thrown 10-15 feet twice for forgetting to discharge the HV capacitor and accidentally brushing against the terminal (20K volts but low amperage) of the can. And hasn't EVERY technician that smokes, and solders, rested the soldering iron on the ashtray and , not really looking, reached over to get it by grabbing the wrong end (hot!), throwing it in the air, and then been dumb (not thinking from the pain) enough to catch it on the way down with the OTHER hand? Got out of bench repair duty (bandaged hands) for one week in Goose Bay, Labrador, with THAT STUPID PET TRICK.

My only RADIO experience was building a diode one when even younger and trying to upgrade my KN5ZEV novice ticket to a General ticket much later. (never could master the morse code speed - my brain has language-area weaknesses.)

The rest of my brain isn't all that swift either.

~Shy

[DarkSnakeKobra]

Compliments of Scott Adams.

Been there; done that... Haven't we all.

Shy

OMG. This was so hilarious. :)

I hate programs that make you go through several windows to get where you want.

[noknojon]

Hi Shy -

As per YoKenny1 - You know what I mean -

The only computers then (mini desktop) took up a whole room and needed 5 or 6 operators just to add up a few numbers -

[ShyWriter]

Hi Shy -

As per YoKenny1 - You know what I mean -

The only computers then (mini desktop) took up a whole room and needed 5 or 6 operators just to add up a few numbers -

Yeah; for sure.. We had a mainframe at Tennessee Tech but I got banned from it a month or so into second quarter of my Freshman year. My crime; I key-punched a set of cards for a program I wanted to load but the stack jammed halfway through the card reader when I tried to load it as I was in a hurry and back then we could only get mainframe/keypunch room time by the hour by appointment. I tried to clear the jam and accidentally pulled the jammed card the wrong way (backwords) and ripped the holy-IBM-in-heaven wire actuators straight to hell. Cause and effect; I "broke" the computer.. since it couldn't read programs; it wasn't workable.. A month later I was having coffee with the USAF on-campus recruiter and five days after that off to basic training; then electronics' school. So; no college education..

Seven years working on radar systems; 3 years in business for myself; then almost 30 years at Xerox as a technician; then a engineer. Always on the BIG machines; high-speed monsters which became digital eventually and then networked.

But back to radios; I did fix a few of those as well as a couple early TVs; remember when the drugstores and 5&10s had a tube-checker right inside the door and sold quite a selection of vacuum tubes. You'd pull all the tubes of a radio or TV chassis and bring them in and plug them into the checker; look up switch settings in the attached book; push a button; and a needle would show green, red, or marginal on the enclosed meter. If it was red; you'd buy a new tube and take them all home again; plug 'em back in; turn it on; and have about a 80% chance all would be well. Funny what one can remember when one thinks of something from 50-55 years ago??

My son grew up with the PC generation and he and I ran a BBS together - he's a member of YoKenny1's club; an IBMer; Senior Computer Software Engineer - a graduate of Georgia Tech making too much money to go back for his Masters.

THANKS for stirring up some GREAT, VERY ENJOYABLE memories from just a simple comment John.. I mean it.. Thanks! :)

~Shy

[YoKenny1]

~Shy

I use to repair those card readers called a 2540 that read cards into a System/360 Model 65 that had 256MB main memory composed of ferrite cores in a frame that was about 6ft long by 3ft wide by 6ft high.

It had a mechical typwriter operator console called a Selectric that I had to repair often.

The good old days when the only virus feared was that of the common cold or flu.

http://www.computerhistory.org/collections/accession/102635888

[noknojon]

The good old days when the only virus feared was that of the common cold or flu.

Unless Shy put them cards in the wrong way -

Yeah; for sure.. We had a mainframe at Tennessee Tech but I got banned from it a month or so into second quarter of my Freshman year. My crime; I key-punched a set of cards for a program I wanted to load but the stack jammed halfway through the card reader when I tried to load it as I was in a hurry and back then we could only get mainframe/keypunch room time by the hour by appointment. I tried to clear the jam and accidentally pulled the jammed card the wrong way (backwords) and ripped the holy-IBM-in-heaven wire actuators straight to hell.

[YoKenny1]

I guess I'll request to be buried face down, 9-edge first:

http://trivial.net/2006/03/15/bury-me-face-down-9-edge-first

[ShyWriter]

~Shy

I use to repair those card readers called a 2540 that read cards into a System/360 Model 65 that had 256MB main memory composed of ferrite cores in a frame that was about 6ft long by 3ft wide by 6ft high.

It had a mechical typwriter operator console called a Selectric that I had to repair often.

I thought I had to remove or lift some plastic protective covers on the reader I screwed up and it seemed to have had more card bins but in general that looks very similar. I do remember the keypunch console as being heavy.. and loud..

I remember the selectric with the "ball" that could be switched out for different fonts, etc. THAT was one loud typewriter. They had to put them on heavy rubber mats to keep the typewriter itself from bouncing all over the desk, for sure.

The good old days when the only virus feared was that of the common cold or flu.

http://www.computerhistory.org/collections/accession/102635888

Unless Shy put them cards in the wrong way -

I didn't put 'em in wrong but I sure tried to take 'em OUT wrong.. Big $$ repair bill for the Computer Sciences budget. :) This was before the USAF turned me into an electro-mechanical genius/wrench-monkey, of course.

~Shy