On Fri, 18 Aug 2023 08:23:20 +0100, MB <MB@nospam.net> wrote:

>As to the ICL disk drives, whatever was ANY "phase" voltage doing
>connected to the case? I'd want the electrician's hide for that, even if
>he did work for the Board.

It was a wiring fault by one of the electricians. He blamed it on
"leakage" on the interface cables. He was talking rubbish as the
interface cables did not carry any voltages greater than 5. Customer
management ignored the incident.

The local Police some time ago had a pilot venture where a certain team had
mountain bikes to catch the people who made a run for it after a robbery.
They were going to call it Fast Action Response Team, which raised a titter
in the hall until it was pointed out to them what the acronym for it would
be.

Then if you recall there was a plan by the administrators of NASA, to make a
manned rocket out of those solid rocket boosters when they retired the
Shuttle.
The bofins thought it was a very stupid idea, so much so, they never did a
bespoke pad for it, instead they walked the launch vehicle sideways with
the thrust. They, I think tongue in cheek called it Aares.
Most of the main people did not agree it was viable you see, and Ares is an
anagram of Arse...
Nuff said I think.

Brian

--

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"J. P. Gilliver" <G6JPG@255soft.uk> wrote in message
news:CEzxk9pbfF4kFwbm@255soft.uk...
> In message <1qfo5fn.1th04711md72heN%liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid> at
> Fri, 18 Aug 2023 17:37:19, Liz Tuddenham
> <liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid> writes
> []
>>I had a similar problem when designing a playback machine for
>>Recordgraph film loops. They were 50ft long and wound into an endless
>>hank running around a circle of rollers, the film was pulled out from
>>the cente, played and returned to the outside. As the hank revolved,
>>the turns would shuffle over each other as they neared the centre and
>>each turn became slightly shorter.
>
> What was Recordgraph - optical film? Those things with grooves on film
> that had some popularity in Germany (though I think they had a different
> name, something with band in it - since they were played by basically a
> record cartridge I don't think they'd be so susceptible to what follows)?
>>
>>I found I was getting loud clicks on the playback amplifier that were
>>nothing to do with the recording. In the dark, blue flashes were
>>visible between the layers of the hank and these coincided with the loud
>>clicks.
>>
>>At a position where the film entered the hank I had installed a wiper*
>>to colect any dirt, this was charging the film. A pair of carbon fibre
>>brushes just after the wiper, one each side of the film, solved the
>>problem.
>>
>>
>>[* The first attempt at a wiper was a felt sleeve on a nylon bar, but
>>this was too coarse to penetrate the grooves, so a fine velvet sleeve
>>was used instead.. We made an official report on the design of the
>>machine in which the wiper systems was described as a 'want'; I don't
>>think anyone bothered to read it or they would have discovered that this
>>was because it was a 'long felt want' ]
>>
> I just _love_ it when something like that gets into a report. We had
> something for testing digital comm.s called a bit error rate tester, alias
> BERT, which certainly found its way into the panel labels; there was the
> time when Grundig had lots of "-boy" radios (Yacht-boy, Call-boy) when
> someone in our department called his design call-girl, but that got
> spotted. My favourite such thing was an article on the use of Doppler
> direction-finding aerials, which managed to get a reference to the Monty
> Python architect sketch tucked in among all the other academic references.
>>
>>
> --
> J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf
>
> "I do not feel obliged to believe that the God who endowed me with sense,
> reason, and intellect intends me to forego their use". - Gallileo Gallilei

On Fri, 18 Aug 2023 09:53:01 +0100, "NY" <me@privacy.invalid> wrote:

>"MB" <MB@nospam.net> wrote in message news:ubn699$5vdg$1@dont-email.me...
>> As to the ICL disk drives, whatever was ANY "phase" voltage doing
>> connected to the case? I'd want the electrician's hide for that, even if
>> he did work for the Board.
>
>When I worked at ICL in the 1990s, I remember us being kicked out of out
>office/lab area into temporary accommodation while the lab was gutted and
>re-fettled. When we were allowed back in, we discovered that consecutive
>benches of the E-shaped row of benches (a spine with lots of side-branches)
>had been connected to a different mains phase (the benches were labelled
>with the standard phase colours) and there were big signs warning us not to
>connect equipment from one bench to equipment on another (eg by RS-232 or
>USB or Ethernet). This was a severe imposition and we had to buy a lot of
>opto-isolators and/or juggle equipment between benches so things that
>*needed* to be connected together (maybe temporarily during testing, not
>necessarily permanently) could be connected.
>
>I presume it was not normally a problem, but H&S had to cater (rightly) for
>the "it will never happen" case of two pieces of equipment both suffering
>live-chassis faults that didn't trip RCDs, and someone connecting USB
>between those devices, which would have had 415 V (I think) between them.
>
>Our head of department was not best pleased at the restriction, and was
>seriously considering getting site services to put all of the lab area on
>one phase, and then sharing the desk area between the other two phases, on
>the grounds that connecting between lab and office was much less likely than
>connecting between benches within the lab.

Where did you work for ICL? Most of my time was around Manchester when
I answered a job advertised in the Manchester Evening News. I went to
many other parts of the country because I was willing to travel. I
changed from customer services when I got a job in software support.
It was a great company to work for. I retired just before it was
absorbed by Fujitsu.

On Sat, 19 Aug 2023 11:44:03 +0100, "Brian Gaff"
<brian1gaff@gmail.com> wrote:

>The local Police some time ago had a pilot venture where a certain team had
>mountain bikes to catch the people who made a run for it after a robbery.
>They were going to call it Fast Action Response Team, which raised a titter
>in the hall until it was pointed out to them what the acronym for it would
>be.

I saw the opposite activity late one night. A gang on bikes riding
through streets and passages that were too narrow for police cars.

In article <ubq6dn$p5ft$1@dont-email.me>, Brian Gaff <brian1gaff@gmail.com>
wrote:
> The local Police some time ago had a pilot venture where a certain team
> had mountain bikes to catch the people who made a run for it after a
> robbery. They were going to call it Fast Action Response Team, which
> raised a titter in the hall until it was pointed out to them what the
> acronym for it would be.

> Then if you recall there was a plan by the administrators of NASA, to
> make a manned rocket out of those solid rocket boosters when they retired
> the Shuttle. The bofins thought it was a very stupid idea, so much so,
> they never did a bespoke pad for it, instead they walked the launch
> vehicle sideways with the thrust. They, I think tongue in cheek called it
> Aares. Most of the main people did not agree it was viable you see, and
> Ares is an anagram of Arse... Nuff said I think.

> Brian

and, there was nearly a City University of Newcastle upon Tyne.

--
from KT24 in Surrey, England - sent from my RISC OS 4té
"I'd rather die of exhaustion than die of boredom" Thomas Carlyle

On 19/08/2023 06:49, J. P. Gilliver wrote:

>>
> I just _love_ it when something like that gets into a report. We had
> something for testing digital comm.s called a bit error rate tester,
> alias BERT, which certainly found its way into the panel labels; there
> was the time when Grundig had lots of "-boy" radios (Yacht-boy,
> Call-boy) when someone in our department called his design call-girl,
> but that got spotted. My favourite such thing was an article on the use
> of Doppler direction-finding aerials, which managed to get a reference
> to the Monty Python architect sketch tucked in among all the other
> academic references.

My Nan had a Grundig Yacht Boy, I think it was probably a present.
Quote a high end set if I remember rightly.

Could have been an unfortunate naming of a special for the hire market...

Happy memories of listening to Radio City across the water.

She was Billy Butler's top fan - far more of a radio listener than tv,
she only had a tiny little b&w tv, then a rented 14" colour (80s/died 1992)

James

On 19/08/2023 15:30, charles wrote:
> In article <ubq6dn$p5ft$1@dont-email.me>, Brian Gaff <brian1gaff@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>> The local Police some time ago had a pilot venture where a certain team
>> had mountain bikes to catch the people who made a run for it after a
>> robbery. They were going to call it Fast Action Response Team, which
>> raised a titter in the hall until it was pointed out to them what the
>> acronym for it would be.
>
>> Then if you recall there was a plan by the administrators of NASA, to
>> make a manned rocket out of those solid rocket boosters when they retired
>> the Shuttle. The bofins thought it was a very stupid idea, so much so,
>> they never did a bespoke pad for it, instead they walked the launch
>> vehicle sideways with the thrust. They, I think tongue in cheek called it
>> Aares. Most of the main people did not agree it was viable you see, and
>> Ares is an anagram of Arse... Nuff said I think.
>
>> Brian
>
> and, there was nearly a City University of Newcastle upon Tyne.

Back in the days of Tomorrow's World, Philippa Forrester did a report
https://youtu.be/UvBWFE42bKw?t=88 about a Fully Autonomous Robotic
Telescope, without the hint of a smirk from her or the people she was
interviewing. I could never decide whether the "Fully Autonomous" phrase
was PF's or whether it was part of Bradford Uni's official name of the
project.

On Sat, 19 Aug 2023 21:18:30 +0100, James Heaton wrote:

> On 19/08/2023 06:49, J. P. Gilliver wrote:
>
>
>> I just _love_ it when something like that gets into a report. We had
>> something for testing digital comm.s called a bit error rate tester,
>> alias BERT, which certainly found its way into the panel labels; there
>> was the time when Grundig had lots of "-boy" radios (Yacht-boy,

I think Ted Heath had some of those.

In article <EgXwtsg3Nj3kFwAF@255soft.uk>, J. P. Gilliver
<G6JPG@255soft.uk> scribeth thus
>In message <pc6cnXyFXY0-k0P5nZ2dnZfqn_ednZ2d@brightview.co.uk> at Thu,
>17 Aug 2023 13:12:17, NY <me@privacy.net> writes
>[]
>>I presume live chassis sets had problems because the one connection to
>>them, apart from the mains lead, was for the aerial. If the aerial
>>screen was as mains or half-mains voltage, I presume it could not be
>>earthed and had to have an insulating cover over the normally metal
>>Belling Lee plug. I remember some aerial leads where the plug was flat
>>rather than cylindrical, with a rubber/plastic cover over it.
>
>I think they just had a capacitor coupling between the aerial socket
>outer and the internal "ground". A fairly tiny capacitance would suffice
>for UHF, but not carry enough current to be harmful (at least, in the
>days when electric razor chargers were considered safe with just a
>capacitive dropper!).

The aerial isolator panel designed to pass RF and block the mains..

Except that the aerial socket would become loose with the aerial lead
being pulled and some people would re-solder the aerial lead Direct to
the socket.. In days past two pin mains socket were commonplace and yes
you can guess why aware aerial riggers would brush the back of the hand
on the aerial pole and Not grab the ladder and mast at the same time!!

--
Tony Sayer

Man is least himself when he talks in his own person.

Give him a keyboard, and he will reveal himself.

In article <ubr82g$10164$1@dont-email.me>, James Heaton
<heatonandmoore@gmail.com> scribeth thus
>On 19/08/2023 06:49, J. P. Gilliver wrote:
>
>>>
>> I just _love_ it when something like that gets into a report. We had
>> something for testing digital comm.s called a bit error rate tester,
>> alias BERT, which certainly found its way into the panel labels; there
>> was the time when Grundig had lots of "-boy" radios (Yacht-boy,
>> Call-boy) when someone in our department called his design call-girl,
>> but that got spotted. My favourite such thing was an article on the use
>> of Doppler direction-finding aerials, which managed to get a reference
>> to the Monty Python architect sketch tucked in among all the other
>> academic references.
>
>My Nan had a Grundig Yacht Boy, I think it was probably a present.
>Quote a high end set if I remember rightly.
>
>Could have been an unfortunate naming of a special for the hire market...
>
>Happy memories of listening to Radio City across the water.
>
>She was Billy Butler's top fan - far more of a radio listener than tv,
>she only had a tiny little b&w tv, then a rented 14" colour (80s/died 1992)
>
>James
>
>

Got a Music boy out in the shed needs a new lump of tuning cord when i
get aroundtuit!..
--
Tony Sayer

Man is least himself when he talks in his own person.

Give him a keyboard, and he will reveal himself.

On Thursday, 17 August 2023 at 13:12:31 UTC+1, NY wrote:
> On 17/08/2023 10:43, Brian Gaff wrote:

> I presume live chassis sets had problems because the one connection to
> them, apart from the mains lead, was for the aerial.

The aerial socket on all such TV sets had isolating caps built in. Unfortunately, if the socket was damaged (customer inserted end of wire coathanger, etc) some repair men just fitted a normal non-isolating socket. Long story but this caused a caravan to be burnt to the ground in one case.

Bill