What did you buy today? Post your latest purchase!

[bsudbrink]

You have the right idea...  A couple more hints:

It's a device.  A peripheral, not an entire system.
In common use through the 1970s, fell out of favor in the early 1980s.
Some models could be converted to 50 cycle operation with a completely mechanical modification.

[McBryce]

Yes, the fact that you deliberately mentioned the 60 cycles suggested that this was important, possible being used for clock/time keeping or regulating the speed of something, It is probably a device with moving parts?

McBryce.

[nfmax]

14" disk-pack drive, like an RK05J?

[glarsson]

8inch floppy drive?

[Nominal Animal]

Eight track player?

[CJay]

You have the right idea...  A couple more hints:

It's a device.  A peripheral, not an entire system.
In common use through the 1970s, fell out of favor in the early 1980s.
Some models could be converted to 50 cycle operation with a completely mechanical modification.

Hah, a vinyl turntable or a reel to reel?

[Bud]

A tape VCR

[bob225]

ye olde ticker machine or a telex


Nothing in the post apart from disappointment today

[VK5RC]

A new base station for Amateur radio, Icom 7610, it has two fully independent  Software Defined Receivers with good IP3 performance as well as 100W full digital Tx path, able to accept 10MHz reference for freq control (has own OCXO anyway) and has an ethernet port for remote operation, USB for digital control/mouse/keyboard and virtual audio cabling. 

[GreyWoolfe]

Sweet!!

[bsudbrink]

Yes, it's an 8 inch floppy unit (2 drives).  glarsson wins 50 gray beard points.  For those interested, the vast majority of 8 inch floppy drives used +5 for the logic, +24 for the head stepper motor and AC wall current for the spindle motor.  The spindle motor uses a belt to drive the actual spindle pulley/flywheel.  In the case of Shugart drives, the spindle motor was 110/220 and the spindle pulley could be replaced for 50 or 60 cycle operation.

The unit I'm repairing got heavy use as I prepared for my VCF East exhibit this year.  The AC cooling fan failed but I didn't notice until it was too late.  Fortunately, only the PS seemed to suffer for the lack of cooling.  At present, rather than repair the large heavy linear power supply, I'm replacing it with a switcher.  I use this drive in a number of exhibits and demonstrations each year, so the light little switcher will make it easier to move around.  I'm sure I will diagnose and repair the linear PS at some point.  The dead fan, on the other hand, is already pitched.

[Terry01]

Just some LED's for me today!

[TheSteve]

A new base station for Amateur radio, Icom 7610, it has two fully independent  Software Defined Receivers with good IP3 performance as well as 100W full digital Tx path, able to accept 10MHz reference for freq control (has own OCXO anyway) and has an ethernet port for remote operation, USB for digital control/mouse/keyboard and virtual audio cabling. 

Very nice! What bands/modes do you most often work?

[bob225]

A new base station for Amateur radio, Icom 7610, it has two fully independent  Software Defined Receivers with good IP3 performance as well as 100W full digital Tx path, able to accept 10MHz reference for freq control (has own OCXO anyway) and has an ethernet port for remote operation, USB for digital control/mouse/keyboard and virtual audio cabling. 

nice little radio, arn't the newer Icom's made in china now ?, ive had my 7400 for nearly ten years and its not missed a beat some of japans finest electronics

[bob225]

A pack of clipper flints for my gas iron and torch

[dr.diesel]

Icom 7610

I picked one up at Dayton this year, your gonna love it!

[Mr. Scram]

A stainless Bialetti "two cup" coffee maker. The aluminium version that served me for many, many years has become a bit tired and I had run out of rubber seals that also needed replacing, so I thought I'd treat myself to a stainless version. Though I'm not entirely sure about the link between aluminium foodware and degenerative brain diseases some people insist exists, eliminating it from the kitchen won't hurt.

I hadn't expected it to be actually much quicker than the old version. If you use water from the kettle that just boiled, as is advisable with these things, coffee almost immediately starts flowing from the spout after putting it on the stove. The old one would take a few minutes to get there. The tight manufacturing tolerances even lead to minor issues. The metal on metal seal the filter makes is tight enough to build pressure, so just putting in hot water and the filter means water coming up through the filter due to the vapour emitted. Letting the boiled water cool sightly longer fixes that. After trying different combinations of the amount of water used and turning the stove up and down, it seems that the coffee is now on par with what the other machine makes. The result does seem a bit more consistent, though the difference may also be due to the age of the old machine. The "two cup" moniker is a bit optimistic, though maybe I need to experiment with adding even more water. Those are proper Italian cups too, not huge buckets of sewage. So far it seems to be a worthy successor.

[glarsson]

Yes, it's an 8 inch floppy unit (2 drives).  glarsson wins 50 gray beard points.

That suits me. If I stop shaving the beard is gray.
Had four of these Shugart drives a long time ago. Used opto isolated triacs to shut down the spindle motors after a timeout. Also used my own drivers with acceleration and deceleration  tables for the head stepper. Could step them much faster that way and they sounded way cooler (tock-wee-iiiii-eeew-tock instead of tock-tock-tock-tock...).

[bsudbrink]

Yes, it's an 8 inch floppy unit (2 drives).  glarsson wins 50 gray beard points.

That suits me. If I stop shaving the beard is gray.
Had four of these Shugart drives a long time ago. Used opto isolated triacs to shut down the spindle motors after a timeout.

That's a neat idea.  I guess you tied into the head load control line?  You could interrupt the AC at the cable without hacking up the control board.

Also used my own drivers with acceleration and deceleration  tables for the head stepper. Could step them much faster that way and they sounded way cooler (tock-wee-iiiii-eeew-tock instead of tock-tock-tock-tock...).

You're talking software, right?  The controller side determines the step rate.  I would think that you might have to tune that on a drive by drive basis.

Maybe we should take this discussion to the vintage computer board?

[glarsson]

Maybe we should take this discussion to the vintage computer board?

Why not.
I started a new thread here: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/vintage-computing/random-talk-about-old-floppy-drives/

[bitseeker]

A new base station for Amateur radio, Icom 7610, it has two fully independent  Software Defined Receivers with good IP3 performance as well as 100W full digital Tx path, able to accept 10MHz reference for freq control (has own OCXO anyway) and has an ethernet port for remote operation, USB for digital control/mouse/keyboard and virtual audio cabling. 

Woah! That's quite a rig. I guess we won't see you for a while as you dive into all that it can do.

[VK5RC]

Re Icom 7610, I don't know where it is made, but the build is quite different from the 7300.
Had my 1st contact on 7MHz sideband - about 2000km away (vk4**) the noise reduction unit is really good.
I have usually been psk31 on 14MHz, but FT8 has killed that, I miss the fact that with FT8 mode it is very impersonal, but it gets through all the SMPSU hash. One of the local hams is pushing morse so I will take a brave pill, and have a go. Some of the morse transceivers are just so elegantly simple and so effective - it's hard to resist.
No doubt the device is better than me!

[TheSteve]

Re Icom 7610, I don't know where it is made, but the build is quite different from the 7300.
Had my 1st contact on 7MHz sideband - about 2000km away (vk4**) the noise reduction unit is really good.
I have usually been psk31 on 14MHz, but FT8 has killed that, I miss the fact that with FT8 mode it is very impersonal, but it gets through all the SMPSU hash. One of the local hams is pushing morse so I will take a brave pill, and have a go. Some of the morse transceivers are just so elegantly simple and so effective - it's hard to resist.
No doubt the device is better than me!

We can always have a go with FT8 on 20 if you're interested. It has gotta be the least exciting mode ever used - but weak signals sure do get through.

[CJay]

Re Icom 7610, I don't know where it is made, but the build is quite different from the 7300.
Had my 1st contact on 7MHz sideband - about 2000km away (vk4**) the noise reduction unit is really good.
I have usually been psk31 on 14MHz, but FT8 has killed that, I miss the fact that with FT8 mode it is very impersonal, but it gets through all the SMPSU hash. One of the local hams is pushing morse so I will take a brave pill, and have a go. Some of the morse transceivers are just so elegantly simple and so effective - it's hard to resist.
No doubt the device is better than me!

I'm going to be at the side of a Loch in Scotland next week with my radio, I'm going to try FT8 and voice while I'm there so perhaps...

[VK5RC]

@The Steve and Cjay, I am round most nights here about Sat to Wed 0900 to 1300 UTC, work is pretty crazy at present, I would prob use my old IC756P3  as it is set up for digital modes at present and I haven't got my head around the 7610s USB cabling - I recall it took while for the IC 7300. At present not much is getting through the SMPSU hash here, a trip to the 'wilds' of Scotland sounds bloody fantastic - serious envy
(Current antenna is a horizontal loop - about 30m of wire in loop), fed with ladder line into a balun then SGC autotuner