[Timster]

A summer storm sent the electricity AWOL here recently. I was forced to do some reading for a few hours from the paper
stuff, remember that? Then I found my old 7" Android tablet that's been plugged into power for like forever. I plugged in
my hifi headphones and began trying out its FM radio app, mostly to get news on what was happening. I live near a big city, and the power rarely goes out for any length of time. I really thought the sound would be... well, not too good. I was wrong. It was actually pretty good.

I work with the utilities in Victoria with their Faults & Emergencies call centers ... nightmare week for the customers and the call centres.
Hope you weren't off power for too long

 

[Mike Foley]

I'll try that. I have a lot of trouble with farting......

I went to the Doctor last week, and he asked “Do you suffer from wind?”

“No, I rather enjoy it!”

 

[sixergixer]

I lack the vocabulary to even try to caption this track.

 

[sixergixer]

Likewise:

 

[sixergixer]

And then...

Good night and goodnight.

 

[Bowmoreman]

Apologies if this has already been mentioned, but 94.7 in SoCal in the 70s and 80s meant the mighty MET, KMET. That was radio.

…

Ah yes! It was non stop KLOS versus KMET; for the life of me can’t remember the DJ’s names though (of course that WAS 44 years ago when I lived there - WHAT a year that was!)… Great Music! (Almost) free Love. (Almost) free Weed… and TWO directly competing Rock radio stations!

 

[AstronomerXI]

I do not usually post long narratives but today it is about to snow and my shop is cold so I will tell a story about a gentleman from Texas who drank Lone Star beer. Texas has a large population of German descents in some parts of the state so there is little doubt in my mind that the area could produce beer. My friend was one of that group and grew up speaking both German and English.

This is a true story that I either witnessed or had relayed to me by enough good friends so I believe all of it is true. After college my dream job would have been with NASA but the space program was starting to wind down some after the moon landing so I took an offer from RCA. This was a a time when they were still producing hybrid televisions and massive amounts of people were hired to work with solid state. Some of the older people there had started in radio, then tube television, and lacked some of the background to easily move into solid state. There were around 7,000 employees, 80% women (an enticement for a single male), maybe 200 technicians and 50 or so engineers. Lots of line workers, parts handlers, warehouse people, etc. There was a union in place for those who did a lot of that work then of course management, supervision and group leaders. My friend's name is Tony and one of two people I have met in my life whom I consider a genius, the other built a robotic arm at a very early age and made several magazine stories. Tony was a technician and an amazing one. He would tend to play cards much of the day in one of the lounges and while there people would come and ask him how to fix their car, or a tractor, or whatever. He did not read fiction but could talk bullet velocities, calculus, geometry, physics, metallurgy etc. with a keen understanding. The televisions that needed to be repaired were still in chassis form as they went in a long oval in front of technicians and parts changers. People pulled the chassis towards themselves on small dollys and then technicians would hook the chassis to a CRT and other overhead cables to see what the issue was. Generally there were eight or so technicians per line. Troubleshooting a television that was out in the field meant it must have worked at one time, then developed a problem. In this case those who fed parts into the circuit boards might swap two resistors, or forget to install a diode, or leave a solder glob underneath a frame that housed a module or even install a part that was off value from the manufacturer. Tony would tend to come back to the repair line when supervisors came looking for him, diagnose everything on the line at an alarming rate (the chassis were then sent to parts changers who replaced tuners etc), and leave again. People from other lines would seek him out to help with problems they could not diagnose. That was a normal day for him but once he walked by two engineers who had a prototype for a new TV, and it obviously had color issues. He asked if he could fix it for them and they just laughed at him. They left for some reason and Tony went to test maintenance, got a hack saw, came back and sawed the metal chassis in half. The engineers were furious when they found it and wanted the person responsible fired on the spot! To their amazement though, he had fixed the problem, the continuous metal around the picture tube was acting as a degaussing coil and distorting the color. From that day forth the chassis was split and two non- conductive wafers were in place stopping that loop. Tony grew up in Texas on a farm, and learned to do things for himself. He eventually purchased a farm because of work he did outside of RCA. Asking $25 per, he would repair tv's for a large hotel chain and made $4,000 a week, (1973 dollars) while he still worked for RCA. On his farm he built his own saw mill, did electronics work, repaired cars, tractors, etc. I would trade labor for custom made parts for my target bows, or need repair on an antique pistol, or need repair on my car which he handled. He left RCA when they would not allow him time off to harvest one of his crops. He then would repair HVAC units for large factories and eventually figured out how to repair certain large electrical parts for Westinghouse at $80,000 each. As he got older his doctor told him he needed to get more exercise so he built an 18 hole golf course on his property. The last time I ran into him, RCA was selling off a lot of their equipment and he and I were buying specific pieces and he was still as sharp as ever. He had explained how he found an old hydraulic lift in a dumpster, repaired it, and it was key to some of the work he did for Westinghouse. They eventually shut down in our area as well but he had amassed enough money to spend a month in the Caribbean each year where he could finally take some time and rest. In a way I followed in his footsteps and did not mind getting my hands dirty. I would work 8-10 hour days in technical management and still make time to go to pawn shops and repair electronics, cameras, watches etc. for which I was often paid with gold rings, Rolex watches, and even gem stones. I learned the joy of making using my own hands to build amplifiers, or do woodworking etc. I can barely think of Lone Star beer without thinking of some of those days and a guy from Texas who exemplified such a fine work ethic. He instilled in me a belief that if you take time to help others, life can be very fulfilling. Again I apologize for the long post.

A thoroughly enjoyable read, good sir.

I owe you a big and sincere thanks and more for when, just over a year ago, you took some time to research and provide many links for a befuddled tube-noob to get him started down one of the most enjoyable rabbit holes in his musical-listening journey. I still refer to your detailed notes and recommendations as I empty my wallet on Ebay, Canuck Audio Mart, and various tube stores.

 

[AstronomerXI]

Well lookee here! 'Twas a good mail day. Probably still burning in but so far so good!

Thanks to @bcowen for pointing us Freya N owners in the direction of these classics.

@bcowan pointed me in this direction too. Lovely tubes, among my favourites and in my top 3!

 

[Paladin79]

At the risk of opening the 55 gallon can of worms on this, IME most US and Euro tubes seem to change very little sonically after 10 - 15 hours. Give 'em 25 hours to be sure, but I rarely hear any discernable sonic change after that.

As far as cleaning the pins it depends on how fanatical you want to get. For me, if there is obvious scale or corrosion, that for sure gets cleaned off. A pipe cleaner dipped in isopropyl alcohol usually suffices. To take it a step further (especially if there's still visible corrosion or heavy oxidation), some Deoxit D-100 (the full strength version) painted on the pins and left to sit for 5-10 minutes, then a scrub with a pipe cleaner. The wire inside the pipe cleaner acts as a pretty nice 'scrubber' and the cotton surrounding it helps catch and contain the debris. Be careful not to scrub too hard with gold plated pins, as that plating is very thin and you can easily scrub it right off. I usually follow the Deoxit with an alcohol scrub to remove any remaining debris and Deoxit film. I've gone to the extreme of using a Dremel with felt tip tools to really shine the pins up, some people use sandpaper or emery cloth, some use a sharp knife to painstakingly scrape all the way around each pin, etc etc. I can't say I've personally found any sonic benefit to going that far, plus you're putting a lot of stress on the pins that could lead to tiny fractures in the glass (with noval tubes) potentially resulting in early demise. The pins don't need to look pretty, they just need to make good electrical contact, so it's best to put the OCD in check on this and keep from doing more damage than good (speaking for myself, of course ).

I tend to use a brass bristled brush and 95% alcohol without lanolin, I use Deoxit as well and tape head cleaner on occasion since it also leaves very little residue.

 

[Bowmoreman]

Can I assume that you are a scotch drinker, or is the name for some other reason? Just curious. You like sour mash for sure. Just saying hi. Kyle

yes indeed, Scotch. I’m an Islay man (hence the handle I’ve had ever since the first Yahoo-dominated internet sprang up and such things were needed).

True story once: I had a guy come up to me and say, “Aren’t some people offended at your ‘Bowmoreman’ handle?” I was like “Huh?”…. He said, “Yeah, won’t Mormon’s be offended at you commanding them to Bow?” - the weird thing was, he as serious. I carefully pronounced it, and he was all set.

People are weird.

 

[RCBinTN]

It was a small liquor store in Covington just over the river from Cincinnati

The Party Source ... I remember it well. The place, back in the day, would have Pappy Van Winkle on the shelves (unprotected). I was too green to know what it was.

ps. If you want decent German food and oompah music, there's a Hofbrau Haus in Covington, too. The area has a large German population ... Cincinnati's Oktoberfest is very cool.

 

[Paladin79]

A thoroughly enjoyable read, good sir.

I owe you a big and sincere thanks and more for when, just over a year ago, you took some time to research and provide many links for a befuddled tube-noob to get him started down one of the most enjoyable rabbit holes in his musical-listening journey. I still refer to your detailed notes and recommendations as I empty my wallet on Ebay, Canuck Audio Mart, and various tube stores.

Thanks I generally take the time to answer those with questions. In my past life when I worked for a living I spent much of my time talking to various engineers and end users all over the US so I am used to it and it is natural for me.

 

[HWB3]

Pappy Van Winkle

What a great name!

 

[ArmchairPhilosopher]

Barenaked Ladies’ album Gordon came out almost 32 years ago.

 

[MisterMudd]

Hell yeah, brother.


...and thank you for your service!

I read all these comments about Texas and mentally wax nostalgic. Gd love that state, but didn't go back when retirement loomed. Just too frigging hot in the summer. But you can't take the Texan out of someone. It's just a rare state, and state of mind. Even though I drink much better brews, I still tip a Lonestar beer occasionally. Like I said...