On Mon, 2008-01-07 at 22:22 -0500, Gene Heskett wrote: > I'm not an 'engineer' although I've fixed lots of mistakes they made, > but I am a pretty good C.E.T., and have been accused of having webbed > feet cuz I 'walk on water' or asked how I can sit so low in a chair > with balls that big, cuz there isn't anything I won't pull the covers > off and fix, usually in 2 weeks less time than if we sent it back to > the factory shops. After the first time you do an impossible repair (since others couldn't make it work), you get lumbered with all the worst things to fix up, and then you get accused of "refusing to fix" anything that you say that you can't figure out, while they stand over you getting desperate or agro about it. ;-) Currently I'm messing around with an Ancient Astor audio desk for something to do instead of being driven mad by computers. It's full of burnt out globes (being replaced by LEDs), a few burnt out or missing transistors (the ABC just removed parts of the amplifiers without replacing burnt out components - it works, but CMMR suffers), scratchy pots (why do manufacturers not understand you should AC-couple audio through pots and sockets?), balanced lines wired up to unbalanced sockets and earthed in two spots, and a back panel that's only attached with gaffer tape (gaffer tape does not a piano hinge make!). Electronics is my first love, and I like being able to fix things and they stay fixed (unlike computers!). Though you do yourself out of work with some customers once you fix all their equipment, unless they break it through being ham-fisted. It should really be junked, but I don't have the heart, and it's lots of fun. Besides, I don't have the spare cash to buy a new 12-channel mixer, a proper studio one with all the mutes, remote starts, talkback feeds, proper Penny & Giles faders, etc. This thing is all bog-standard transistors, no unavailable special electronic parts. You could keep it going until the crack of doom. -- (This computer runs FC7, my others run FC4, FC5 & FC6, in case that's important to the thread.) Don't send private replies to my address, the mailbox is ignored. I read messages from the public lists.
