Tag: techno junk

August 1, 2024 – End of an Era

August 1, 2024 /

About two months ago, we turned off the home phone service. The picture in the box below is the old phone equipment that used to be around our house. It has been cluttering up my reloading bench all this time. That is OK since I haven’t been home much anyway.

I will let you in on a little secret. It wasn’t a true land line. It was actually a cell phone that had a cable connection to hook up to the old phone line system. We added this line in the late 2000s. This was long before fifth graders had cell phones. The main purpose was provide phone service for baby sitters and later our kids to get ahold of us, if necessary.

In the last couple of years, we go really no calls on the line and it sometimes lead to confusion. Old contacts (like doctor’s offices) would sometimes call and leave messages on the line. We never checked it because 99% of the calls were junk. We would have to weed through satellite TV offers and car warranties on the voicemail every couple of months just to clear it out.

I would have kept the line except for the fact that it was costing $360/year. I was under the impression that it was only costing $10/mo for many years. This is one of those vampire costs that made little sense. My in-laws would call when the kids were young but since they have both died, nobody calls the number.

At one time, I had an extension in the shop. I liked it because I could more easily hear the ringer and see the light than the phone in my pocket. But then again, my wife would not call the line anyway so I would have to listen to the ‘I couldn’t get ahold of you’ speech each time. This was one of the reasons she bought me the smart watch.

In the true spirit of redundancy, I like the idea of having redundant communications. The idea however is that you would have a different provider or a different technology. A landline or a different carrier even is a much more robust strategy for that. Adding another line does very little unless you are using the phone for a specific purpose, like a business.

End Your Programming Routine: I remember the day you would schedule the service and wait for the phone to be hooked up. It was the same era that if you didn’t have a phone book, you lacked fundamental knowledge for navigating the world. I would like to just give away this techno junk if someone wanted it. Unfortunately, it has very little value to anyone. I may give it a try, but most likely it is going to the electronic recycler. It is not worthless, just not practical. That makes me sad.

December 13, 2023 – Design With the End In Mind

December 13, 2023 /

It has been a long time since I have talked about project methodology. In fact, some of my earliest writings were about subjects like this. The problem as I see it is that this skill is very difficult to do because it is hard to see the endpoint. Too many service providers don’t do enough guiding the process with inexperienced clients. This leads to the ‘what do you want’ and ‘what can I get’ conversation.

I have never experienced this myself, but I hear that when people build a house and they start to see how the rooms are laid out, that is where the changes start. They start to see what could not be visualized in the design phase (the phase where changes are virtually free). I do have lots of experience in project execution when people see software and then the changes start happening. This is a different medium but the same psychology.

Breaking out the old DVD player to play Christmas movies that we own got me thinking that we actually own another DVD player and a VCR to boot. They are relegated to taking up space in a cabinet that I could use the space for other things and they definitely fit the definition of techno junk. I might as well plumb them in my office where all old technology goes to die. Where else am I going to watch nine seasons of Dukes of Hazzard?

I took the Keyboard Video Monitor (KVM) switch out that I had the X-box hooked up to thinking that I would plug it directly into a TV when I get one. But now that I finally have my table built and all of my stereo equipment installed, the video games and video equipment can all fit in that space which means I need to make some network cables. That was the point of the previous two paragraphs.

I have a switch in my office. It is just a cheap, ten port, unmanaged switch. So, no big deal to plug some extra cables in. But, had I really had my design figured out from the get go, I would have run network drops to the back wall when I built my office. From there I could have run everything to my main switch and had a cleaner and simpler installation. Simpler is always more robust and better design anyway.

Design is only one component in the project lifecycle. Many people do not understand what it actually means. They confuse design or how things are going to be done with requirements or what needs to be done. I am not going to spend much time in requirements except to use a simple example.

Requirement – my office must have wired internet. Design could be one drop and a switch or a drop for every device that is going to be plugged in and what wall with how many ports per location. For good design to be possible, how the space is to be used plus what is going in the space and how it will be laid out is critical. This is hard work to figure out all of these variables.

Going back to houses again, they suffer from poor design. One of the reasons we have square footage bloat is because houses suffer from poor design. I am not sure when this changed but look at houses from the 1920s with built in book shelves and china cabinets and linen drawers. These things make a huge difference in making small homes more livable. Homes without these amenities use free standing furniture to accomplish these goals and subsequently cut into the livable floorspace. It is my contention that if I could custom build a house, I could easily live with a much smaller space, if well designed.

One last anecdote. I have often said that software should be created by what data the reports need to display. Too often, when you start from requirements by the time you get to the end we are left with how to collect data points needed to generate report data. If we started with the data we needed, the requirements would handle themselves and the design would be bridging the gaps.

End Your Programming Routine: Even though I didn’t get thoroughly into it, learn the difference between requirements and design. Also, learn the different job aspects between who does what. If you knew those things, then you would know who is supposed to be doing what as well as hopefully making changes at the time when they are cheap. I am not going to go run new data lines into my office because it is too time consuming. But, had I known what I wanted when I did it, I sure would have done it.

November 28, 2023 – Didn’t Even Know That This Was a Problem

November 28, 2023 /

I was pretty diligent when I went to add my new wireless card to my old Windows computer. I saw that it needed a USB connection to the motherboard to make the Bluetooth work. I checked it before I ordered it. I also educated myself as to all the different types of PCIe slots and if I had the right ones.

When I did the second one for the Linux machine, I wasn’t quite so diligent. I new that computer was newer and I knew that I hadn’t added any cards to it at this point, So, I went on the assumption that if I had all the space I needed on the old one, the newer one would be just fine. Well that wasn’t the case.

I did have three PCIe ports but all of my USB connections were taken. At first, I just disconnected the front ports to make sure that the wireless card was working, but it bothered me so I started looking. I discovered that there is a way to share these motherboard connections. See the video below.

Now, everything is right in the world. Since I was looking for this video to share here, I also discovered that there are devices that can add more motherboard ports if necessary. That is also good.

The one thing that wasn’t quite right was that my Linux computer already had an imbedded wireless card. I ran the right commands (I think) to check if that was the case. I got no return on validating a wireless card which is why I ordered it in the first place. However, when I installed the new card, it enabled the imbedded card. I had read that wireless driver installation can be tricky on Linux and I guess this is what I ultimately encountered.

Don’t get me wrong, I am glad that the plug and play worked. But, I kind of wish that I had known that there was already an imbedded wireless card. I don’t think it had Bluetooth capability which is what justified me keeping the card installed. I may have deprioritized it.

When I spoke about my network configuration a few weeks ago, I stated that everything that can be wired is wired. That is still true. I want wireless capability on my Linux machine as a test tool. I want to know if I can connect wired but not wirelessly or on Linux versus Windows versus iOS. Adding the additional Bluetooth connectivity seemed like an inexpensive luxury at $20.

Since I have been slow playing the Software Defined Radio scanner experiment, I heard somewhere that I needed two different radio receivers to make the thing work. The problem is that I am running out of USB connections outside of the computer. So, I have been looking at USB expansion cards. They do exist and they are pretty inexpensive. Believe it or not, they don’t require and USB connection to the motherboard, just a PCIe slot. So no worries there.

End Your Programming Routine: This is why I love techno junk. I would never spend $400 on a new, super duper graphics card but I would spend $20 for an enhancement. The fact that I can get 2nd or 3rd generation technology for a song makes a big difference on me wading deeper into the fray. Like I stated before, I have been out of the hardware game for a long time, it is nice to know that things work much smoother than they used to.

November 16, 2023 – So Many Updates

November 16, 2023 /

I believe this to be true, the more you look the more you see. Since my third foray into Linux, I have been more dedicated and paid more attention to how it behaves. Today is going to be for those who don’t know much or are considering Linux, pretty much like me. If you are an old hat (or Redhat) then nothing I am going to say is revolutionary.

Let’s start at the beginning. Linux is an open source operating system. For that reason, there are many distributions or flavors if you will. So, I have tried Ubuntu and Mint as my distributions. They both branch off of Linux called Debian but then further fork into their own distinct operating systems. Think of it this way, the distribution has a bunch or other programs wrapped on top of the operating system. These are things like word processing, spreadsheets, email programs are all part of the distribution.

Part of the reason that this is important is because when you go to look for programs to install or support, you need to know what type of distribution you have. Different distributions will have different programs and even syntax on how to do it. I think that the Ubuntu/Mint is the dominant distribution so fortunately you can usually find something that works. But, there are literally almost infinite possibilities. Talk about confusing for a newbie.

Open Source means exactly what it says. Anyone with the technical chops could create their own version or distribution of Linux. I don’t know exactly how you get involved in Ubuntu, but somebody has some passion for some element which drives change. These could be error fixes or enhancements or even new features.

I think that we are all used to update notifications in the software in our lives. Now that I have been using Ubuntu daily, I am noticing a high number of updates. I would estimate that there is one every three or four days. In some ways, this is the beauty of Linux. We the user have a chance to say yes we want them or no we do not. I myself being just a casual user and not having any real reason not to do them, just say yes. Since it is not my primary computer, it feels like I log in daily to see if I have any updates to run.

It seems like everything Linux does fine. But, I am seeing a problem with firmware updates. I have one that won’t take because Microsoft forces a signature of the hardrive and the motherboard (even though I am not even running Windows). The supposed risk is that someone could physically login and defeat my security. I am not too worried about that since it is at my home. My current strategy will be to ignore it but it does annoy me that the warning pops up as a to do.

One thing that I think is neat is that with each version, the home page background changes. The lobster has now become a minotaur (and a maze) since I updated to 23.10. I guess one other caveat, if you stop frequently updating, you can get out of sync. This happened to me when I ignored the computer for a few months and then I couldn’t perform the incremental updates. It wasn’t until a major revision that I got back in sync.

End Your Programming Routine: Having to do all these things is the beauty and the pain of Linux. I have a lot of control and a lot of responsibility. I want to say that I have been pretty impressed what you can get for free and pretty light weight in its footprint. It is pretty cool that it can be booted from a USB stick and is really a full featured computer. If your are willing to do the work of learning and research, it definitely works.

November 1, 2023 – Bluetooth… Who Knew?

November 1, 2023 /

I am in the midst of a network transition. I am going to talk about that next week. This old PC that I use day after day has a wireless card that I installed when it was new (we are talking 2012, how about that). I never use wireless because everything that I have that I can reach a wired internet connection is not on wireless.

This comes from a long standing reliability belief with wireless. The microwave interrupted it, the signal was spotty in being connected and not. The wireless n protocol on my old router was in draft form and only worked with devices from the same company. I just believe in bypassing all of that futzing and plug it in.

I was looking at Linux supported wireless network cards because I was was wondering why the wireless did not work on that particular computer. That is when I came to the realization that Bluetooth capability came with the wireless card. And, if I added a new wireless card, then I could broadcast from my computer to the stereo system without having a 20′ RCA cable.

You know that I think cable is superior. But then the problem is how to switch between the native audio output and the secondary output. I have tried it and it is kind of messy because one is labelled headphones and the other is not. It doesn’t always work like it is supposed to and then things get jumbled up with various programs taking precedent over output choice.

I made the leap to update the wireless card. I rationalized it to myself as another bolt on to manage the network that I have as well. Based on my success, I will also add one to my Linux machine. At $30, it is a pretty inexpensive add on for that flexibility and capability. That would also give me another operating system to help with troubleshooting.

I have disabled wireless administration to the router. It is one of the security measures that I have in place. That way, only machines physically plugged into my network have the capability of making changes. Wired will remain my primary connection, but it also gives me some additional troubleshooting capacity for faulty switches as well. There are plenty of devices that are only wired to the switches like TVs and X-box.

It has been quite a while since I was in the hardware game. I needed to educate myself as to what the system requirements actually were. I knew from the TV tuner foray that I had an extra PCIe slot. But I certainly didn’t know what a PCIe -1X versus a PCIe-16x slot was. Nor did I know if I had a spare USB connector on the motherboard. It turns out that I did and so the installation was pretty easy for a Windows machine and plug and play installation. I also needed to manually install an optional OS upgrade for Bluetooth to make it work. Once I figured that out, I was off and running.

Speaking of Bluetooth and USB, the card I chose had Bluetooth 4.2 standard. There are options out there with Bluetooth 5.X and you may wonder what the difference is. Bluetooth 5 is better and faster with more range, but you do need a USB 3 connection on your motherboard. Defining all of that today is too technical but if you are in this position, seek research on the internet as to what ports and connections you have before ordering. I will say, having the the best versus none, go with what you can get. It also costs more for that extra bandwidth and range which is a big turn-off for me and techno junk.

Doing some advanced reading, I can’t say that the Linux installation will be as smooth. But that is OK. I need to continue to challenge myself in that operating system if I am to ever learn it. I finally got the software installed SDR/scanner. It took quite a while because I chose to watch baseball instead of working at it. It can be done, I am confident in that fact.

End Your Programming Routine: If you have some technology over ten years old, it may benefit you to update hardware if it makes sense. This was less about adding wireless network then getting Bluetooth. Honestly, I have tried both wired and wireless and things were pretty much the same except that I saw one hiccup streaming a song on wireless and several with the Bluetooth stream itself. This will continue to keep me wired but maybe in my lifetime it will get there.

September 6, 2023 – 3, 2, 1… ???

September 6, 2023 /

There is a subplot that happens in the movie National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. Clark spends a ton of time unwinding, testing and hanging Christmas lights. He calls everyone together and makes the final connection and nothing happens. Then he checks and rechecks everything with the same result. Finally, he gets so mad that he runs around and kicks the reindeer setup on the ground.

That pretty much describes my AM antenna experience (without the audience). This has been going on a long time with a lot of effort put out by me over time. I have tried to research this topic, I have built prototypes that didn’t work. I tried to extend the existing loop antenna outside, all to no avail.

It was about a year ago that I got up on the roof to install the antenna I purchased online. I after fishing the cable through the wall, I tested it. While not what I would like, it got the stations that I was looking for and it was much better than the loop antenna that came with the radio or the other solutions I tried.

The last piece of my stereo installation in my office was to get the AM antenna wire to the receiver. Of course to do that, I needed to move all of the Christmas decorations out of the corner to get proper access. Second to that, my basement is such a mess since my son moved out for our exchange student this summer. Stuff is piled anywhere there is space, I really had no where to move stuff. Somehow, I managed precariously pile up all the bins and boxes and retain a small isle for travel.

Reorganizing is something I do every fall. With this being a wet basement, I almost always spend time tidying up before it is too late. I am just as guilty at not putting things away properly in the summertime knowing that I will eventually pay the price in the fall. But, it does feel like the basement is where things go to die and I deal with the bodies.

I tied, fished and stapled the cable to my office without tripping or breaking something. The antenna is marketed for radio, (like ham) so it has a rather unique connector that looks like a miniature coax connector. If I was hooking it up to a radio, than easy peasy. But no, I had to devise a way to convert from coax to bare wire which I eventually found a device that I could modify to do that job.

I plugged it into my receiver and nothing. This was the moment that I almost started breaking stuff. I turned off the lights knowing that the fluorescent ballasts interfere with AM signal, no improvement. I sat back in my chair and thought, well I can stream anything that I want anyway. I guess that was a lot of work for no good reason other than I wanted it to work.

As I sat back in my chair, I thought how could this have gone wrong? This was the whole point of testing this setup before I moved it. I did add an extension to the original cable, was this a bridge too far? I started thinking about the connection. I put red into the signal and black into the ground. At least in electrical wiring, black is the neutral. But maybe it was the other way around, this is low voltage. Low and behold, I got signal.

End Your Programming Routine: This is finally complete, it feels good. I do regret that I have a hole in the wall with wire sticking through but I don’t know about these small radio connections. I don’t have the tools to terminate nor if any wall plates exist. It is hidden behind the couch anyway. The point remains that it is installed and complete with the results that I was looking for. Now on to the hundreds of other things I want to get done, like tidying up the basement.

March 22, 2023 – Finally, After Several Years…

March 22, 2023 /

I have been professionally employed now since February 2021.  It took about one day to realize that working at the dining table wasn’t going to be adequate for a forever location.  After setting up a temporary table in the basement, It only took me about two or three days to realize that I was going to have to build something more permanent.  It was cold in with the temperatures in the mid-forties and that was with a heater running under the table.  

Quickly I added a propane heater that my wife had won at a local high school auction.  Those two were not enough.  I had to build an office.  Once I realized that this was a blank canvas and this space could be my own, I wanted to move my long orphaned stereo system in there.  

In fact, the stereo was the first thing that I moved in.  I had it setting on an old night stand.  If you look at some of my first pictures inside my office, you will see it.  Soon after I moved my desk in, my wife wanted to jettison a small couch that the cat had adopted as a scratching post and I actually wanted another seat in my office.  So, the stereo system only lasted a couple of weeks before it was moved back out of the office.

But, I had plans.  I was going to build a table that fit the space and the stereo would have a home behind the couch.  The trick was, I needed to spend the time to build it.  The wood I had.  In fact, a leftover slab of wood from my cabinets I built in January 2020 was in my way in the shop since I finished that project.  The slab was originally slated to be made into another pantry shelf at my wife’s insistence.  I persuaded her to try out the pantry first so there it sat.

My first efforts to get started on this table began in the spring of 2022.  Yet, I didn’t have a plan and I didn’t have a deadline.  Two of the rough cut legs sat for six more months still in my way.  It was my realization that I was getting up three or four hours before everyone on the weekends that got me motivated in December 2022.  That is when I got serious about measurements and a design.

I wanted to practice my skills at fine woodworking.  That means a piece that is built without fasteners.  There is mortise and tenon joinery and all made from solid wood.  Fine woodworking also means staying away from engineered materials like plywood as well.  Don’t get me wrong, I am not a purist I don’t care if people use those mechanisms but this was for me.  I want to be confident that I could build anything, anytime any way.

It is definitely not perfect. I don’t know if Douglas Fir is the best choice for wood and it is not as defect free as I would like.  But it was the wood I had and I still have a pile of it in the basement.  Free is a pretty good motivator.  All that to say, I think it looks pretty good and I am proud of the work that I did.  My wife wanted it too when I started to put the dry assembly together.  This one however was custom sized for the height, width and length to fit my space.  Looks like I might be building another one soon.

Now with the stereo in place, I can finally say that I am done, kind of.  My experiment with the AM antenna was done to ultimately also connect to the receiver.  You all know that I am an audiophile.  Maybe not so much about quality, but consistently consuming it.  I wanted the ability to listen to the local college games through the receiver and this was all done well after I built my office unfortunately.  So, I still need to run the AM antenna wire.

While I was building my office, I had visions of bringing the surround sound back to life as well.  I ran all the wires and did all the terminations for that.  But at this point, I can’t justify the space.  My speakers are from the 1990s and too bulky. My wife and I have talked about building an ‘adult space’ in the basement to go along with the keezer and wine cellar.  Maybe those speakers will find their way to that someday.

End Your Programming Routine: Any similar version I make, I assume will be quicker.  I stalled out a little on this project because I was going to build tapered legs but I had to figure out how to do that.  I kind of waffled at that point, and it was close to Christmas too.  I want to say that the builder is always the harshest critic.  I know where my flaws are and I see them.  The good news is that you won’t unless you are really giving it the third degree.   

April 27, 2022 – My Techno Junk is Multiplying

April 27, 2022 /

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about looking for the right deals. Well a couple of those came along last week. I am keeping a strong eye out for components to build my kids their very own hi-fi systems. There are a couple more things I am looking for as well to finish off my ultimate Techno Junk lab (my office).

A few weeks ago, we were moving my mother-in-law into our small house. She thought that her TV was too big. So we swapped a 40″ TV that we had for her 55″ (?) TV. Along with that, I re-wired the area. My wife has been using a Fire Stick instead of the X-Box 360 to stream for the last six months.

If anyone is still using a 360 for that purpose, then they will know that the support window is waning. Applications are starting to be discontinued. The forced obsolescence is another reason why I hate technology. That being said, I do like to do some racing every now and then. So, I took the X-Box down to my office.

The problem is really how to connect it to my current technology. I explored the idea of capture cards to run it through the computer. At some point, I am going to add a TV as a second monitor. But in the end, I decided that I had an open slot in my analog KVM switch. I just had to adapt the HDMI to VGA and get sound at the same time. I bought an adapter and it works pretty slick. I decided long ago the video games were a waste of life force and false achievement so the reality is that I will not use it much, but I can.

My Linux experiment kind of stalled. The reason was that I had no reason to have two computers right next to each other. The challenge with the Linux system is that it is 32 bit and using today’s software is kind of a project for each item you want to use. I thought that I might try moving it over to the loading bench where I might use it for electronic logging of load data, research or streaming while I was working.

My main setback was that I didn’t have another monitor for it since I was using the KVM originally. I have been on the lookout for a used 27″ monitor and I can shift everything down on my work setup. I struck gold on one at Goodwill for $15 last summer but haven’t found another deal like that. Well, I happened across a free 24″ monitor last week. I am not saying this is how it will stay as I still wanted a same size monitor, but really it works and the price is right.

I have had it setup for a couple of days and we will see how well it really works. I noticed streaming some music that it was sometimes choppy. I wonder if I am reaching the hardware limitations as I think there is only 2GB of RAM and the processor is from 2005. Since the computer was slated for recycling, so far there is no cost in trying out the setup.

Now that I have two turntables, I have stepped up my scanning for deals on receivers and speakers. My plan is to have a setup together by my son’s birthday in July. But, I guess I can’t control my cheapness mantra on the project. I scan Craigslist every couple of days as well as stop into second hand shops when convenient. These speakers I saw in town for $30.

The other thing I was thinking about was having a second set of speakers so that we can setup music for family events and not have to move everything. I really haven’t decided if these tower speakers I will use or I will swap out for the existing bookshelf speakers or even keep both. Ideally, I would find bookshelf speakers for my kid’s setup. Ultimately, it is going to depend on where my stereo system eventually lands.

End Your Programming Routine: I suppose that there are more harmful things in life then buying used junk. But, everybody needs some purpose in life. Mine seems to be collecting stuff that I don’t really need. That being said I guess I find it fun. It appeals to my thriftiness and sense of environmental conservation. If I can get something that should last my lifetime for 5-10% of its initial cost, it is preferable by a long way to simply purchasing new things.

April 4, 2022 – Smart TVs Suck

April 4, 2022 /

In my long term plan, I am going to hang a TV on the wall of my office. I have an eye out for a deal and I am not in a hurry. It is mostly to keep my techno-junk working and other experiments in audio and video. I plan on connecting it to my desktop in my office as a second monitor.

Because my space is small, I am am looking at 32-40″ range TV. It seems like 40″ is no longer a thing and they are either 32 or 43 inches (new) now. My preference would be 43″ of the two but I think either would be fine. I don’t want it bad enough to spend $150-200 at this point. This keeps me looking on the second hand market.

We got our first smart TV in 2009. It was a Panasonic plasma. I think is measured 55″. We still have it and it still works great for the most part. When we first bought it, I think it was rare and a more expensive option to have a smart TV. The applications worked for a number of years with a low number of issues. About 2018, the support started ending for some of the applications and now, none of them work.

Our second smart TV was an inexpensive 32″ Magnavox TV. I think this was purchased around 2012. Originally, we thought it was ideal that we could have the smart capability without a second device at an inexpensive price. Applications for this TV were less stable than the Panasonic and they started not working around the same time.

Today, it is pretty rare to see a TV that is not a Smart TV and that is not a good thing in my opinion. Our last TV was a black Friday special. In my opinion, it is a POS. When I was trying to get the Super Bowl going, I couldn’t get it switched from the apps to TV. It is not infrequent that you have to pull the power from the cord because neither the remote or the power button will shut off the TV.

From this point forward, I am solidly in the camp that I don’t want a smart TV again. My searching in the new category, I find it difficult to see anything that is not smart. Just on a whim, I searched ‘why do smart TVs suck?’ It would seem like I am not alone in my opinion. It is one thing that the apps become unusable, but it is completely another when the device does not even function properly.

I actually found this article posted by a local electronics store.

After reading this article, now I don’t even know that I am interested in an inexpensive TV (new at least). It is not like I have state secrets or anything, but I certainly bristle at the idea of Google collecting data and potentially allowing the Chinese log into my devices.

Yesterday, I was listening to the Fine Homebuilding Podcast and they were talking about some smart appliance whereby an incorrect software update was sent. Now that particular appliance is essentially broken requiring a service call to fix it because it can no longer connect to the internet or even run the appropriate software.

End Your Programming Routine: As a person employed in the software industry and having some direct exposure to the Internet of Things (IOT), I have personally watched things not go smoothly in this area for years. The reality is the industry is hell bent on pushing this just like cars will electric. This supports the planned obsolescence model and will simply keep accelerating. I side with Benjamin Franklin “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”

October 20, 2021 – I Am Such a Sucker for Techno-junk

October 20, 2021 /

Over a year ago, I was browsing at a second hand store and I ran across a Technics direct drive turn table. They wanted $120 for it. From what I could see, it was missing a stylus but I was unsure if it was really worth the price. After doing some quick research, it looked like they were going for a couple hundred dollars in working order. I went back two days later and it was gone.

Every since then, I have been looking for that diamond in the rough that I could get for cheap. My wife got this suitcase record player for Mother’s two years ago. We bought some records and I was severely disappointed. The best songs on the used records were ‘worn out’. They look in good condition, so I am hoping that by upgrading the player, I can get better sound out of them.

The other thing that bothered me about the suitcase record player was that it had a pre-amp built in. To plug it into my receiver, I had to use the non-phono jack and that bugged me. Also, it sounded distorted, to high end and not enough low end. I wouldn’t call myself an audiophile. But, I want to really hear what the buzz is about going back to vinyl. From my memory as a child, the sound was always as good as the radio, with more bass and a deeper and richer sound. I should still have some records at my parents house as well. But, as time and technology moved on and so did the record player so I don’t really have a comparison.

My family was shopping at Goodwill on Saturday and my son sent me a text of this turntable. They wanted $40. From what he could see, it seemed like it needed a belt replacement as the platter was not spinning. But the motor was turning. I again did some quick research and saw one was selling on eBay for $200 so I said go ahead. Knowing very little about this, I looked at it the next day and found that it was also missing the stylus.

Belts are cheap $5-10 but replacing a stylus is quite a bit more complicated (and expensive). First of all, the stylus needs to match the cartridge. Having no idea if this is original or not, I am strictly guessing. I looked at the manual and got the specs and ordered what I hope is a match. Otherwise, I am into it probably another $60-100 for a new headshell (that is the stylus, cartridge and carrier) plus I don know what I am doing when it comes to alignment.

I ordered two belts, one stylus and one ground cable. This will probably end up as a video as I get this going. I saw one video on the Toshiba SR230, it was just showing all the features. So, at least I have something to show me how it is supposed to work.

I am not done with the search for more techno-junk. I have always wanted to add a subwoofer to the surround sound setup. I am also on the lookout for a second set of speakers, to put closer to my bench in the basement. If I saw a receiver upgrade or possibly a smaller set of surround sound speakers I wouldn’t pass up if it was the right deal. Since I haven’t quite figured out my final setup, things are still up in the air. However, I doubt that I would pay $40 and another $50 in repair parts like this project but you never know.

End Your Programming Routine: I am looking forward to this, to a point. I like the feeling of taking something that isn’t working, figuring out why and getting it going again. I don’t necessarily need to be spending my time on this as I have lots of more important things to do. But, sometimes you have to prioritize something that you want to do over things that were started first or have a greater impact. It is that irrationalness that makes us human.