CitroJim's AX, C3 Picasso, Cycling and Running Tales

[CitroJim]

Simon, that's a lovely little 'scope you have and it looks rather higher quality and more functional than the little Thandar... I must admit yours is a new one on me...

Mike, interesting about Thandar... I saw another of their products at NVCF yesterday - a function generator in the same style of enclosure as my 'scope... It was on offer for a fiver - I was tempted but already have a good function generator. Besides, I came away with a massive haul of stuff as it was... I was happy to score a lovely set of Leak Sandwich speakers to complement my vintage Leak audio system properly along with another set of speakers and a very lovely and very high quality NOS 12" Warfedale speaker for a very small sum... I didn't really need it but couldn't resist it...

I got a great haul of vinyl there too along with yet another 70s Hacker transistor wireless that cost me £2 and works perfectly... I also came away with a rather nice little Roberts transistor wireless dating from the 70s for a fiver but that one needs work..

All in all, a great day

Now to catch up with a bumper crop of posts here on the forum!

[Mandrake]

Simon, that's a lovely little 'scope you have and it looks rather higher quality and more functional than the little Thandar... I must admit yours is a new one on me...

It's an American design (Miniscope MS-215) made by NLS (Non Linear Systems) out of California who I just discovered are still in business some 40 years later!

It looks to me like it shares the exact same CRT as the Thander - they must have been a popular CRT in the 70's for small displays.

If I remember right the battery was faulty when I first got it and it was otherwise working. The one Dad got had faulty batteries, a faulty Quad CMOS analogue switch (it's full of those for routing/switching in the analogue signal path) and the DC/DC inverter which generates the anode voltage for the CRT was also faulty. We were able to fix it and get it working as well.

I sometimes wonder if a portable computerised LCD based scope of today will still be working in 40 years or be working with very minimal repairs, or whether it would long since have been binned as un-repairable the first time something went wrong!

Anybody with a passing electronics knowledge could look at the circuit diagram for the MS-215 and understand it immediately. I have a printed copy of the circuit somewhere.

Here is the circuit of the MS-230 - I think its almost the same but has a 30Mhz bandwidth instead of 15Mhz:

http://www.qsl.net/kb7rgg/radio/schematics/ms230.gif

Just spotted this thread of a guy restoring a faulty one:

http://antiqueradios.com/forums/viewtop ... 8&t=284366

Some nice pictures Also an interesting quote:

"The tiny CRT's used in these were supplied by Telefunken, and were also used in the Sinclair Microvision TV of the mid-70's. "

[ekjdm14]

Here is the circuit of the MS-230 - I think its almost the same but has a 30Mhz bandwidth instead of 15Mhz:

http://www.qsl.net/kb7rgg/radio/schematics/ms230.gif

Just spotted this thread of a guy restoring a faulty one:

http://antiqueradios.com/forums/viewtop ... 8&t=284366

Well, there went an hour of my day reading & trying to understand some of that thread... a lot of what was written is completely alien to me but still strangely interesting with what little understanding I do have.

[demag]

I can't believe someone left a C5 on a mezzanine floor! Petrol or diesel?

Sent from my Wileyfox Swift using Tapatalk

[CitroJim]

Simon, thanks for all the information on your 'scope. I love reading restoration stories...

Today I've been busy (amongst many other jobs and tasks that have kept me away from the forum ) fixing the Roberts transistor Radio I got yesterday... Found a duff set of output transistors caused by a short-circuit electrolytic and spares are on order from good old eBay... 50 year old transistors that have been obsolete for 30 of those years remain freely available and cheap

I also gave the pile of vinyl I acquired yesterday a good scrub-up - no scratches on any of the records but all were unbelievably filthy and more or less unplayable as a result but a good wash has restored them a treat

The one thing I didn't think of looking at was the batteries in my little 'scope... In truth I've been too busy with other important tasks and only now have I been able to look at the forum in any detail...

The 'scope is next in the queue...

[elma]

What Vinyl did you find Jim?

[CitroJim]

What Vinyl did you find Jim?

Loads of old favourite 70s stuff James, Elton John's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Fleetwood Mac's Rumours, Focus at the Rainbow, ELO's Discovery, Carpenter's Now and Then, Dire Straits' Love Over Gold and another Barclay James Harvest Album, Gone To Earth

A good haul and I could have got a lot more if I'd wanted to spend the money...

[elma]

That is a god haul, those don't really come up at the boot sale. Ncvs is definately a good show.

[bobins]

Loads of old favourite 70s stuff James, Elton John's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Fleetwood Mac's Rumours, Focus at the Rainbow, ELO's Discovery, Carpenter's Now and Then, Dire Straits' Love Over Gold and another Barclay James Harvest Album, Gone To Earth
.

That's a remarkably large collection of vinyl for one bloke to be buying in one go. Wonder if it's a record ?

[CitroJim]

Loads of old favourite 70s stuff James, Elton John's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Fleetwood Mac's Rumours, Focus at the Rainbow, ELO's Discovery, Carpenter's Now and Then, Dire Straits' Love Over Gold and another Barclay James Harvest Album, Gone To Earth
.

That's a remarkably large collection of vinyl for one bloke to be buying in one go. Wonder if it's a record ?

Love it!

I now actually have a bigger collection of vinyl now that I did in the 80s just before I converted to CD and disposed of my old original collection - most of which I now have back!

All my rummaging around charity shops and buying BJH albums from eBay has paid off and has not been too expensive either...

I love my vinyl

[ekjdm14]

I can't believe someone left a C5 on a mezzanine floor! Petrol or diesel?

Sent from my Wileyfox Swift using Tapatalk

Depends what generator set you were to charge the batteries from I suppose

[Zelandeth]

Good collection there Jim, it's an event I really must get to sometime. ...even if it maybe is I'll advised given my tendency to accumulate far too much stuff.

[elma]

Could always go with no money and a packed lunch. It sounds like a fascinating meet up.

[CitroJim]

Zel, do! Come along with us next year... I do warn you that the urge to buy a lot of stuff is very strong...

Let's just say that between two of us, Gabriel was well laden on the return journey....

Could always go with no money and a packed lunch..

I always go with a strict budget in cash and will not spend a penny over it James...

I too take a packed lunch as the food on offer is a bit gopping...

They tempt you by having a portable cash machine there

[elma]

That's dangerous, I take £30 a week to the boot sale and usually spend less than half. Some week s I would blow my entire wages if they had cash machines.
May have to skip it this week as I've got my eye on a 6 string Eko ranger.