Is this forum dying?

[dacflyer]

Caesar >> quadraphonic headphones ?? wouldn't you have to have 4 ears ? how do they work.

my uncle had a quadraphonic record player, it had used special records, and the record player had dual needles, i think it was the 1st truly surround sound back then. i was a lil tot back then, but i was amazed of the sound.. 1st thing i heard on it was the Beatles ( back in the USSR ) the beginning the jet flies around the room. was so cool.

[Bob Scott]

Maybe this forum is hidden. I visited the Nut&Volts website and noticed that there is no longer a working link to this forum. You have to visit Servo Magazine's site. How can a forum attract new people if those people don't know that a forum exists?

Caesar >> quadraphonic headphones ?? wouldn't you have to have 4 ears ? how do they work.

my uncle had a quadraphonic record player, it had used special records, and the record player had dual needles, i think it was the 1st truly surround sound back then. i was a lil tot back then, but i was amazed of the sound.. 1st thing i heard on it was the Beatles ( back in the USSR ) the beginning the jet flies around the room. was so cool.

Was that called CD-4? My brother had the equipment for that. It was the only truly discrete 4 channel format. It did not use 2 needles. The extra information needed to work on 4 channels was contained in a subcarrier signal, up around 38KHz.

[dacflyer]

not sure , i know it only as i described
sounds like dual ( 4 channel stereo )..lol

[fripster]

@Robert Reed: There is no direct workaround (except learning our great language, that is), but google is your friend.

For example: http://translate.google.com/translate?j ... m%2Factive

Fripster

[CeaSaR]

Caesar >> quadraphonic headphones ?? wouldn't you have to have 4 ears ? how do they work...

They were made for a quadraphonic stereo that had both front and rear headphone jacks.
The headphones themselves have both sets of 1/4" plugs and the corresponding drivers in
the housings (2 per ear, 4 total). The drivers sit off center of the ear to duplicate the time
shift that the normal room speakers would have. These things are BIG! I remember way
back in the early '70s when my one brother had a similar pair - same setup. They were cool
if you had a 4 channel / quadraphonic system and source material.

My son wants to use them, but most of today's portable electronics cannot push the 8 ohm
drivers, especially when they are placed in parallel via a splitter/combiner. Hence the need for
more amplification / impedance matching. (HEY BOB! I'm using a chip solution, not discrete!)
It will be housed in a mint tin. 2 LM386's, 2 9V batteries and associated components.

CeaSaR

[CeaSaR]

Maybe this forum is hidden. I visited the Nut&Volts website and noticed that there is no longer a working link to this forum. You have to visit Servo Magazine's site.

If you go to the Nuts n Volts main page and hover over the Community button/link,
you'll get a drop down menu that has the link to this forum. It's all there, just
different than it used to be (some time ago).

How can a forum attract new people if those people don't know that a forum exists?

That is what was one of the good things about old style "link" columns, nothing
was hidden in a pulldown or slideout. Instant recognition/knowledge of navigation.

CeaSaR

[CeaSaR]

...The (very busy) place I usually go to is http://www.circuitsonline.net which is Dutch like me.
They understand english though..

and

...google is your friend.

For example: http://translate.google.com/translate?j ... m%2Factive...

Hey MrAl,

If you follow the 2nd link above, click on Downloads -> Drawing Diagrams, you'll find
some of those ASCII drawing programs you were looking for a while back.

CeaSaR

[kheston]

It could be related to the down economy. I have fewer hours these days to push my projects along, as such I have fewer things to ask about. Perhaps that's part of the reason others are posting less.

[MrAl]

Hi again,


Ceasar:
I tried it, here is an example of a transistor inverter with diode on the output:

Code: Select all

                      VCC
                       |
                      .-.
                      | |
                      | |
                      '-'
                       |
                       '----------->|--------o
               ___   |/
            o-|___|--|
                     |>
                       |
                       |
                       |
                      GND

(created by AACircuit v1.28.6 beta 04/19/05 www.tech-chat.de)

[Lenp]

Just had to drop in and comment.
I think that the forum, aside from being poorly supported by N&V, is seeing the demise of electronics as a hobby. Across the country, perhaps the world, the supply of readily available and inexpensive parts is drying up. The TV and radio shops of yesteryear are mostly gone and that's where many of the sparks of new interest were created. We often chuckle about the 'smoke getting out; but here I think the magic got out. New interest is softened by the complete technical immersion that has become a lifestyle. Schools today are dropping electrical trade or technical courses because of low interest and concentrating on networking, graphics and web design.

Also, the cost today, in time, education and parts is beyond the budget of many new comers. Look at ham radio. Most hams might build a gizmo or two, but it would probably be nonsensical to build a complete rig considering the feature rich units available for way less than the cost of the parts. The local Radio Shack has become a toy and telephone shop and the old walls of parts are now in only a few drawers. Places like Poly Pack (I'm dating myself) with the grab bag deals are missing and only a few, like ALL Electronics, offer real bargains. Mouser, Newark and all the big houses exist but with the rising cost of shipping, a few dollars of parts could easily be doubled.

Years ago with some common sense, ohms law and a working knowledge of basic parts and you could design a project that was a success. Today the spectrum of parts is immense, each requiring specific and sometimes intense knowledge, and they go poof in a blink if you make an error, and who hasn't. It's hard to get new interest when it becomes difficult to succeed, and something as simple as a code practice oscillator, a common project for a beginner, pales in comparison to a network connection, or the techno wonder toys they play with every day! The magic is gone.

Years ago I was an avid hobbyist, making all sorts of projects to prove, mostly to myself, that I could do it. Now I'm task solving project oriented and do little, if any hobby projects. I draw on past knowledge and learn on a need to know basis with no time or energy for the frills.

I think someone might do a forum poll that correlates age to activity. Maybe that will show the interest curve! Likely the largest interest in the forums might be the 'senior' members, with few younger members entering, or more important, staying.

As a side note, a recent post mentioned CS. Well that was an era that has passed. In his defense though, he sure did liven up and increase the postings.

Len

[dacflyer]

i was at Barnes & Noble yesterday going after my latest copy of "Home Power"
and out of curiocity i looked for N&V magazine, didn't see it, but i did see Servo magazine.
not many magazines at all on electronics. i did also see MAKE magazine, but i am not buying it at that price :O for such a small book it is crazy priced.. $14.00

[MrAl]

Hi again,


I cant remember the last time i visited any book store haha. Everything on the web now.

I agree with Len in that things are changing over the years in electronics. Various changes that make it a little harder such as very small parts, but i did see a marked improvement since yesteryear on actually obtaining parts...you can go to a distributor on line and have the parts a few days later. Long time ago for my own purposes i would have to order via snail mail and personal check, and the whole process could take two weeks. There are a couple places with good prices that take more than two weeks though, some of the surplus places, but their prices are pretty good so i guess you have to figure that in too.
I also see some new people coming into the hobby but it takes them a while to get going. For them though if they know a good electronics forum they can learn just about anything they want to, as long as they dont run into any arrogant people. I also wonder if these new people take the hobby as seriously as some other people where after maybe one little project they give up, but i guess time will tell.

[reloadron]

Hi Ya Peoples

While I agree with Len to a point, I don't fully agree. Yes, this forum has become quiet but other electronics enthusiast forums seem to be thriving. I mentioned in my last post that the magazines could be doing a better job of promoting this forum. For example MPC (Maximum PC) magazine is a mag aimed at computer enthusiast and the mag promotes the forum and since day one that forum is busy and thriving. This forum needs promotion. I don't believe there is a shortage of enthusiast out there but there are plenty of enthusiast who aren't aware of this nice nook.

Ham radio to me has gone down hill. I guess I am a little old school on that note. When I was a kid all of my first ham gear was home brewed with parts scrounged. Fortunately growing up in NYC during the late 50s and early 60s there was no shortage of WW II and Korean Conflict surplus. That forced a young enthusiast to be creative. My first actual receiver that was commercial was a National 173 handed down from my day and my first commercial transmitter was a Heathkit DX40. Before those it was all military surplus modified for the ham bands. So much for the dinosaur age. However, today there are some nice kits out there and parts can still be scrounged or cannibalized.

Ron

[sofaspud]

I'm still around also...
I've cut back on all my net surfing, but still check in here regularly. I'm quiet, though, unless I have something worth saying.
It's probably better if I don't start any commentary on the state of the hobby/forums/magazines/etc. I could probably go on
and on, both good and bad.
One question... are parts really that different around the world? Or is it the part numbers?
But I did pick up on the headphone conversation in this thread. Many years back I built my first headphone amp using an
LM386 project from the web (Lafferty's Headbanger, actually). The minimum gain of the LM386 is waaaay plenty for headphone
use. You may even want to experiment with a series load resistor to throttle the output a bit. Also, I hate buying 9V batteries
for anything but my meters. So I advise powering your circuit from 4 AAA or AA cells. You don't really need the extra voltage
headroom and you'll need fresh batteries a lot less often.

[Joseph]

Life has gotten a lot more complex. I think that factors in. It probably was about as simple as it was going to get in the 1950s and that approximately corresponded with the introduction of the transistor. That gave the electronics hobby a boost to survive the less fun transistor; consider it, being the decade of economic prosperity, an electronics stimulus, so to speak. Do it yourself was a lot more romantic during the '20s through the '50s during the golden age of the vacuum tube. It was a ergonomically sized, visibly pleasing cylinder with a glow to attract the hobbyist like a moth to a street lamp.

That's my interpretation of electronics hobby history.