From: liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid   
      
   Cursitor Doom  wrote:   
      
   > On Thu, 15 Jan 2026 11:54:45 +0000, liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid   
   > (Liz Tuddenham) wrote:   
      
   [...]   
      
   > >Just a minor point:   
   > >It doesn't look as though there will be room for the capacitor inside   
   > >the plug where it will be screened, so the capacitor needs to be at the   
   > >tip of the probe with the resistor between it and the cable end.  This   
   > >is so that the resistor attenuates any stray signals picked up by the   
   > >capacitor.  If the capacitor were on the amplifier side of the resistor,   
   > >anything it picked up from the mains or the proximity of your hand,   
   > >acting like an aerial, would be fully amplified.   
   >   
   > A fine but important point there! We often think 'stuff in series' can   
   > go in any order, but so often there are exceptions due to unexpected   
   > effects which must be allowed for. I do have some more suitable   
   > sub-min 10n caps which would be much easier to shield. I'll use those   
   > on the Mk II version. :-)   
      
   Make sure it has a high enough voltage rating if you ever want to   
   fault-find valve equipment.   
      
   [...]   
   > >> I also made another discovery about the possible cause of the varying   
   > >> speed. It turns out that if the machine isn't placed in one of the   
   > >> neutral positions on the speed selector dial when stored, then the   
   > >> rubber belt around the drive wheel will be under pressure from the   
   > >> pinion it butts up against, causing a flat spot. Bizarrely, there's NO   
   > >> mention of this in  the owner's handbook! It does say that the machine   
   > >> should not be left unattended for long periods switched off with the   
   > >> 'play' key left depressed, but that's pretty much common sense. I only   
   > >> became aware of the importance of the neutral switch position from   
   > >> reading some guy's comment he'd left under a Youtube video of someone   
   > >> demonstrating this deck. Consequently, I'd been leaving the machine in   
   > >> this state when unused and I would put money that previous owners have   
   > >> done the same thing during their ownership too. So there may well be   
   > >> multiple depressions on that belt as a result. I'll check on Sunday   
   > >> when I next get the lid off. Hopefully if the material's reslient   
   > >> enough, it may recover in time.....   
   > >   
   > >Tht is very important and will account for 'hiccupy' speed veriations.   
   > >I seem to remember my Uhers needed to be put into the 'neutral' position   
   > >to switch off the motor, so the user was unlikely to forget, as they   
   > >were acutely aware of the need to conserve battery power on location.   
   > >If yours has only been used on a mains adaptor, I can see how the   
   > >misunderstanding could have occurred.   
   >   
   > There's no give away 'feel' to it like when you release the 'play' key   
   > you can sense the tension coming off. That doesn't happen with that   
   > knob at all.   
      
   The speed selector is a very counter-intuitive thing to operste, it   
   doesn't make sense until you look inside and see what they are trying to   
   do with it and how it controls the positioning of the cross-shaft.   
   Another thing that isn't obvious is that it has a locking mechanism (at   
   least in some models): if the knob is turned through 90 degrees, the   
   speed selector can't be moved.  There is a line marked on the face of   
   the knob but it isn't at all obvious what it means.  I assume this is to   
   prevent the motor being accidentally turned on by catching on the   
   reporter's sleeve when using it on the shoulder strap.   
      
      
   > Now I have to ask: how and where did you learn all this stuff?   
      
   I'm very old, so I have had a long time to learn it.   
      
   >You're   
   > clearly an expert in this field whether you acknowledge it or not and   
   > there are vanishingly few women who go down such a technical pathway,   
   > certainly not in the 'old days' at any rate! Did you experience   
   > discrimination on account of it? Must have been bloody difficult in an   
   > all-male environment.   
      
   It's more complicated than that: I spent most of my life trying to act   
   like a man and only recently realised I had been a  transwoman all   
   along.  This meant that I didn't experience the same obstacles a woman   
   would have met but, instead, I was constantly bullied for not being   
   'manly' enough.  Luckily my two parallel careers were in electronics and   
   biology, biology has always been open to women - and to men with a more   
   feminine outlook on life.  Electronics was very mysogenistic to start   
   with but is becoming more woman-friendly now.  My local radio club has   
   three husband-and-wife pairs of licenced radio amateurs.  Most of the   
   other clubs in this area have at least one open transwoman and some have   
   a few others still "in the closet" - those statistics would be a good   
   research project for someone.   This is a far cry from the early 1950s,   
   when Jean Walton had to change her name and persona to John Walton   
   before Decca would treat her/his electronics and mechanical design   
   abilities seriously.   
      
   I first worked in marine radio design but, when I left that, my main day   
   job became biology.  I continued to have electronics as my hobby and   
   worked as a sub-contractor to the (UK) National Sound Archive in my   
   evenings and weekends.   
      
   Because I was running the sound recording job on a shoestring, I could   
   only afford to equip the 'studio' (a bench across the bay window in the   
   front room) with equipment that had been sold at scrap prices - but my   
   work had to meet full professional specification.  This meant I had to   
   learn, very quickly, how to rebuild knackered bits of kit back to   
   factory specification and calibrate them to the satisfaction of my   
   N.S.A. boss, who was extremely helpful but a stickler for accuracy.   
      
   He was a BBC-trained studio manager and recording engineer from the days   
   when discs were the main medium and he had built his own recording   
   studio from scratch (with a home-made recording lathe).  He acted as my   
   mentor and most of what I now know in the audio field can be traced back   
   to his teaching.   
      
   Nowadays the first question most people ask, when presented with a   
   problem, is "what can I buy that will do the job for me".  I am still of   
   the old school that asks "What have I got that can be adapted to do the   
   job?  ...and if I haven't got anything, can I make something?"   
      
      
   --   
   ~ Liz Tuddenham ~   
   (Remove the ".invalid"s and add ".co.uk" to reply)   
   www.poppyrecords.co.uk   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)