XPost: alt.slack, alt.slack.goathead   
   From: melopsitticus@undulatus.budgie   
      
   On 1/11/2026 13:57, % wrote:   
   > jojo wrote:   
   >> mixed nuts wrote:   
   >>> On 1/10/2026 18:45, Sn!pe wrote:   
   >>>> mixed nuts  wrote:   
   >>>>   
   >>>>> On 1/7/2026 13:01, Sn!pe wrote:   
   >>>>>> phoenix  wrote:   
   >>>>>>   
   >>>>>> [...]   
   >>>>>>> Phototransistors are not really transistors in function IMO, I   
   >>>>>>> prefer to   
   >>>>>>> think of them as light-sensitive diodes. However, considering them   
   >>>>>>> transistors can help explain what a transistor does to the   
   >>>>>>> unfamiliar.   
   >>>>>>> When light hits the phototransistor, it allows current to pass.   
   >>>>>> [...]   
   >>>>>>   
   >>>>>> Back in the day, I scraped the paint off of a 0C71; it made a   
   >>>>>> pretty good phototransistor, so I'd take issue with that.   
   >>>>>>   
   >>>>>> I grew up with discrete components so none of what you write   
   >>>>>> is news to me   
   >>>>>>   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>> I bought a sack of 2N229 geraniums back in 1956 from a lot radio parts   
   >>>>> store and made some amplifiers with 'em. They worked good but ft was   
   >>>>> about 300 kHz which ain't that great. Then I got an account with Evans   
   >>>>> Radio where I could get all kinds of stuff and switched to RCA and   
   >>>>> Fairchild Si planar parts like 2N2102 and life got magic   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>   
   >>>> Back in ~'62 when I joined the local radio club, they had a stash of   
   >>>> NPN 2N706a rejects.  Only ~25% were completely dud, another 25%   
   >>>> sub-par and the remaining half were just slightly below spec. I was   
   >>>> given a fistful of them to play with.  Among other things, I built a   
   >>>> two   
   >>>> metre converter in a two-ounce tobacco tin using them.   
   >>>   
   >>>   
   >>> Fairchild started selling dirt cheap fast planar parts (300-900bMHz   
   >>> ft, 100 mW plastic on a ceramic header) about 1960 when I was in   
   >>> middle school. I had a part time job at the medical school cleaning   
   >>> animal cages which only took an hour so I'd wander down to the   
   >>> basement where the instrumentation lab was and hang out with the   
   >>> engineers who made aparatusses. I'd clear a patch of bench and start   
   >>> making something. All the needed parts were right there and I'd   
   >>> settle up when I wandered off with the thingers I made.  About 1964 I   
   >>> got an account with Gerber Electronics    
   >>> and I was off and running.   
   >>>   
   >>   
   >> in 1960 i was well hidden.   
   >>   
   > i was starting my drug adventure   
      
   I was bringing in big bucks carrying golf bags for rich people.   
      
   --   
   Grizzly H.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)