EEVblog #993 - Mailbag

[EEVblog]

More mailbag!
More teardowns!




SPOILERS:
Tekbox TBLC08 CISPR16 Line Impedance Stabilization Network (LISN) for the measurement of mains line-conducted interference:
https://www.tekbox.net/test-equipment/tblc08-50uh-line-impedance-stabilisation-network-lisn-cispr16

RF Telemetry Transmitter teardown

Telecoms line PCB's from the 1980's and 1990's

Gridseed G-Blade Scrypt cryptocurrency miner

Rogaine video advertisement hardware teardown

[bktemp]

The rigid coax in the transmitter is probably part of the oscillator of the PLL: The length determines the frequency. I have seen similar designs using transmission lines instead of conventional LC tanks for the VCO of PLLs operating at a fixed frequency.

The microcontroller with the EPROM on top is rather uncommon in final products, because the ceramic case is much more expensive than the usual plastic version.
It was often used during prototyping and testing of the firmware before ordering the mask rom version. The ic itself has the same pinout as the mask rom version, so you could put the microcontroller in your product just like later the mask rom version.

[JamesAus]

Radio in that enclosure + Australian designed = Maxon. They are available in a bunch of different frequency ranges and with or without modems. It may have been sent to you by a large Australian antenna manufacturer that owns Maxon. Don't know why the secret squirrel " Unknown radio, Unknown sender" though.
J

[jaromir]

The IC at 22:45 is MC6801 second-sourced from Rockwell. They had EF68xx prefixes for MC68xx line, I have some EF6850 (UART) and EF6822 (PIO) expansion ICs from Rockwell too in my junkbox.

[johnh]

Rifa were owned Ericcson

[NivagSwerdna]

@4:51 tell us more about your Galaxian machine....

[coppice]

The hybrid resistors on that phone line card are used to build the, er, hybrid.  A phone line hybrid is the bit that removes the near end component of the transmitted signal from the received signal, on a 2 wire circuit. You need good balance for that, so they typically used hybrid resistor networks for the job. I'm not sure why the ones on that board are so big. We used smaller ones.

[HwAoRrDk]

They covered a similar kind of video advertising device on Hackaday recently:

http://hackaday.com/2017/05/11/they-have-electronics-in-junk-mail-now/

[jonovid]

Tekbox TBLC08 CISPR16 Line Impedance Stabilization Network
the big ass coils reminds me of my fathers radio collection.
there was a time in the 1930s when all Radio electronics was made with big tuned circuits this size.

Rogaine video advertisement hardware-

They covered a similar kind of video advertising device on Hackaday recently:

http://hackaday.com/2017/05/11/they-have-electronics-in-junk-mail-now/

disposable electronics can make for great hacking projects. try and find the flash memory chip & re-program it just for fun.
an EEVblog video intro maybe? 

Telecoms line PCB's from the 1980's and 1990's
make for rich pickings. many good reusable components.

[Fungus]

@4:51 tell us more about your Galaxian machine....

Galaxian??   


PS: "Milpitas" is home to some famous smelly dumpsters frequented by the Batteroo Brothers.

[jonovid]

yes its Galaxian

[Fungus]

yes its Galaxian

Looks more like Galaga to me.

[NivagSwerdna]

yes its Galaxian

Looks more like Galaga to me.

Yeap.  Could easily be Galaga.

[JPortici]

#993 or #994?

[amspire]

I remember using a ceramic microcontroller with the EPROM socket on top back in the 80s. It was for one of the 8051 family and it cost something like $270 to emulate the functionally of a $10 programmable CPU. The problem is that back then, the programmable CPU was one time programmable only. To do development, you burnt a new UV eraseable EPROM, put it in the ceramic chip, and put the previous EPROM chip in the UV eraser.

These expensive ceramic chips disappeared as soon as electrically erasable rom was developed for microcontrollers.

[rsjsouza]

The EPROM over µP lives on. Processors designed for cellphones or other high-density products use PoP packaging, where the LPDDR is soldered on top of the processor.

The arcade is definitely Galaga.

Milpitas is (was) home for several companies such as Maxtor and Intersil and perhaps others.

In late 90's I worked with several SLICs, mainly from Ericsson... They were pretty nice as a "plug-and-play" solution that simply worked, but in the end we had to use a discrete implementation due their immense cost. It brought up good memories.

[james_s]

Rogaine video advertisement hardware teardown

I have a very similar bit of hardware, it's an advertising device for heartworm medication for dogs. The unit I have was sent unsolicited to a veterinary clinic and it's intended to stick on a display box holding packages of the medication.

I pulled the micro SD card out of mine and replaced the videos with some episodes of Southpark. The hardware is essentially the same as a cheap digital picture frame.

[nctnico]

The hybrid resistors on that phone line card are used to build the, er, hybrid.  A phone line hybrid is the bit that removes the near end component of the transmitted signal from the received signal, on a 2 wire circuit. You need good balance for that, so they typically used hybrid resistor networks for the job. I'm not sure why the ones on that board are so big. We used smaller ones.

Same here. The ceramic hybrid modules I've used in design during my telecom days integrated a lot more functionality. Anyway the telecom boards do bring back some good memories.

[jonovid]

 How to Hack into a Video Greeting Card

maybe Dave can add one in to the lid of a recycling Bin  with a video about e waste disposal

[Barny]

#993 or #994?

993 or 994 = 997.
I hope, I was able to help.

How to Hack into a Video Greeting Card

maybe Dave can add one in to the lid of a recycling Bin  with a video about e waste disposal

But be careful.
Some years ago (2009/2010), there where a news-magazine and a TV-magazine, which hat this kind of electronic comercial in it.
Some of this modules had a virus in it which tried to infect the PC of the Person who tried to change the video.

Sadly this module had a to small build in memory to be really usefull.

[PeterL]

#993 or #994?

993 or 994 = 997.
I hope, I was able to help.

Funny but incorrect, Dave counts in Base10, so 993 OR 994 = 995.

[james_s]

yes its Galaxian

Looks more like Galaga to me.

Yeap.  Could easily be Galaga.

It's Galaga. I have the more primitive Galaxian on my FPGA boards.

[HighVoltage]

That Tekbox TBLC08 looks really nice.
YES, please make a video on pre compliance!
 

[jonovid]

That Tekbox TBLC08 looks really nice.
YES, please make a video on pre compliance!

good idea
Yes also Dave can you do a video on all them electrical product compliance icons 
or consumer protection regulation symbols too.