Stuff I bought
I hope this might start a holiday thread of cool stuff other people have
purchased recently.
Here are a few things that I've bought this year that I really like.
jeff
Smart Tweezers
http://www.advancedevices.com/
It's an RLC meter packaged in a pair of tweezers. It's accurate and
fast, feels good to use on the bench. When working with SMT parts,
particularly capacitors that typically aren't marked with values, this
tool makes it easy to deal with tiny parts on the bench.
Truth be told, this product is probably the version before the one you
really want to own. I've found a couple of bugs in the software and the
industrial design should be nicer, but it's still a good product.
SMA wrench
http://www.smelectronics.us/coaxialtorquewrenchessmatypendin.htm
I've never known how much to tighten an SMA connector. As time goes by
I have more and more SMA connectors. I've seen real RF guys with SMA
torque wrenches, but never broken down and bought one until this year.
The 5/16" ST-SMA3 is very satisfying and I never worry about SMA
connections (but it's a little too expensive). I think 8 in.lbs is the
right number.
Suunto Tandem compass and clinometer
http://www.suunto.com (click on precision instruments)
This is a really fantastic machined aluminum compass and clinometer.
It's super precise and has optical sites on both instruments. I find it
amazingly accurate with a little practice. I can look up an Iridium
flare on heavens-above.com, point the device at the sky and find the
precise az/el location just before the flare. It's made in Finland,
that seems good for some unknown reason.
Sure Electronics
http://stores.ebay.com/Sure-Electronics
They are an ebay seller in mainland China that ships directly to buyers
worldwide. They sell a bunch of junk, but the nice things they sell are
designer kits of passive components. They are a little slow, it seems
to take a couple of weeks to get an item, but they have some really nice
design kits. You can get a 2000 piece kit of 0805 capacitors, each
value in neatly labeled boxes for less than $20 including shipping.
This is about $100 from Digikey and not nearly as nice.
Hi Jeff:
I like the look of the tweezers, but for $300 I don't have the need. I guess
once you get into SMT brick components you need them.
http://www.prc68.com/I/SMT.shtml
I have a Suunto wrist computer and like it very much. The normal time, date,
alarm, stop watch functions plus compass, altimeter/barometer and thermometer.
Which compass did you get?
There are a couple of astronomical orientation sensors, i.e. GPS,
accelerometers (including the inclinometer function), mag compass, micro
controller withastronomical data base, LCD & buttons integrated with a low
power hand held telescope. You can either point and ask it what you're looking
at or tell it what you want to see and the arrows will guide you to it. See:
http://www.prc68.com/I/Astro.shtml#OS
Sure Electronics also has a web page at:
http://www.sure-electronics.com/
For some other China based web pages see:
http://www.prc68.com/I/Dist.shtml#China
Have Fun,
Brooke Clarke
http://www.PRC68.com
http://www.precisionclock.com
http://www.prc68.com/I/WebCam2.shtml 24/7 Sky-Weather-Astronomy Cam
Jeff Mock wrote:
I hope this might start a holiday thread of cool stuff other people have
purchased recently.
Here are a few things that I've bought this year that I really like.
jeff
Smart Tweezers
http://www.advancedevices.com/
It's an RLC meter packaged in a pair of tweezers. It's accurate and
fast, feels good to use on the bench. When working with SMT parts,
particularly capacitors that typically aren't marked with values, this
tool makes it easy to deal with tiny parts on the bench.
Truth be told, this product is probably the version before the one you
really want to own. I've found a couple of bugs in the software and the
industrial design should be nicer, but it's still a good product.
SMA wrench
http://www.smelectronics.us/coaxialtorquewrenchessmatypendin.htm
I've never known how much to tighten an SMA connector. As time goes by
I have more and more SMA connectors. I've seen real RF guys with SMA
torque wrenches, but never broken down and bought one until this year.
The 5/16" ST-SMA3 is very satisfying and I never worry about SMA
connections (but it's a little too expensive). I think 8 in.lbs is the
right number.
Suunto Tandem compass and clinometer
http://www.suunto.com (click on precision instruments)
This is a really fantastic machined aluminum compass and clinometer.
It's super precise and has optical sites on both instruments. I find it
amazingly accurate with a little practice. I can look up an Iridium
flare on heavens-above.com, point the device at the sky and find the
precise az/el location just before the flare. It's made in Finland,
that seems good for some unknown reason.
Sure Electronics
http://stores.ebay.com/Sure-Electronics
They are an ebay seller in mainland China that ships directly to buyers
worldwide. They sell a bunch of junk, but the nice things they sell are
designer kits of passive components. They are a little slow, it seems
to take a couple of weeks to get an item, but they have some really nice
design kits. You can get a 2000 piece kit of 0805 capacitors, each
value in neatly labeled boxes for less than $20 including shipping.
This is about $100 from Digikey and not nearly as nice.
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and follow the instructions there.
Hi,
my holiday gift this year was a Sony PRS-505 Reader.
http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&categoryId=16184
This is not as off-topic as it seems, as well as books these work well with PDF's and the ePaper display uses no power except when it changes. No more printing a couple of pages of a datasheet to use at the bench, only to bin them later.
Unfortunatly they don't sell then outside North America (copyright issues with the books apparently) but they do work in Europe , contary to what the store attendants tried to tell me! It will play MP3's while you read too!
Robert G8RPI
Jeff Mock jeff@mock.com wrote:
I hope this might start a holiday thread of cool stuff other people have
purchased recently.
Here are a few things that I've bought this year that I really like.
jeff
Smart Tweezers
http://www.advancedevices.com/
It's an RLC meter packaged in a pair of tweezers. It's accurate and
fast, feels good to use on the bench. When working with SMT parts,
particularly capacitors that typically aren't marked with values, this
tool makes it easy to deal with tiny parts on the bench.
Truth be told, this product is probably the version before the one you
really want to own. I've found a couple of bugs in the software and the
industrial design should be nicer, but it's still a good product.
SMA wrench
http://www.smelectronics.us/coaxialtorquewrenchessmatypendin.htm
I've never known how much to tighten an SMA connector. As time goes by
I have more and more SMA connectors. I've seen real RF guys with SMA
torque wrenches, but never broken down and bought one until this year.
The 5/16" ST-SMA3 is very satisfying and I never worry about SMA
connections (but it's a little too expensive). I think 8 in.lbs is the
right number.
Suunto Tandem compass and clinometer
http://www.suunto.com (click on precision instruments)
This is a really fantastic machined aluminum compass and clinometer.
It's super precise and has optical sites on both instruments. I find it
amazingly accurate with a little practice. I can look up an Iridium
flare on heavens-above.com, point the device at the sky and find the
precise az/el location just before the flare. It's made in Finland,
that seems good for some unknown reason.
Sure Electronics
http://stores.ebay.com/Sure-Electronics
They are an ebay seller in mainland China that ships directly to buyers
worldwide. They sell a bunch of junk, but the nice things they sell are
designer kits of passive components. They are a little slow, it seems
to take a couple of weeks to get an item, but they have some really nice
design kits. You can get a 2000 piece kit of 0805 capacitors, each
value in neatly labeled boxes for less than $20 including shipping.
This is about $100 from Digikey and not nearly as nice.
time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com
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and follow the instructions there.
Sent from Yahoo! - a smarter inbox.
Brooke Clarke wrote:
I have a Suunto wrist computer and like it very much. The normal time, date,
alarm, stop watch functions plus compass, altimeter/barometer and thermometer.
Which compass did you get?
I didn't get the wristwatch, The Suunto tandem is a hunk of aluminum
with a liquid filled compass and a liquid filled clinometer machined
into the case and optical sites for both. It has a long red strap you
can hang around your neck, no electronics, no batteries...
The website is difficult to link to, click on the "precision instrument"
section. I learned about it from a cinematographer friend. Evidently
it's popular with film types for planning shots with the sun or moon.
You see the instrument on the Discovery Channel show Sunrise Earth, the
main photographer guy always has it hanging around his neck during
interviews. In addition to being pretty accurate, it's the sort of
product that feels really nice in your hand, it makes you look for
excuses to use it.
jeff
Robert Atkinson wrote:
Hi,
my holiday gift this year was a Sony PRS-505 Reader.
http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&categoryId=16184
This is not as off-topic as it seems, as well as books these work well with PDF's and the ePaper display uses no power except when it changes. No more printing a couple of pages of a datasheet to use at the bench, only to bin them later.
Unfortunatly they don't sell then outside North America (copyright issues with the books apparently) but they do work in Europe , contary to what the store attendants tried to tell me! It will play MP3's while you read too!
Robert G8RPI
I've played with the demo models. They are pretty nice, and the PDF
support would be nice and can store all my network manuals and cisco
command reference stuff in there. But they're just so darn expensive.
Even the Kindle, which is based off the same e-ink technology, looks
nice, but I probably won't get one for quite some time until the price
goes down.
Getting on topic, I wonder if you can hack those to get a portable time
reference? although the kindle has a built in CDMA modem, so would be a
more prime candidate... I'll let you rip open one of those expensive
readers and report back :)
--
Todd
http://vrillusions.com/
My PGP Key ID: 0xBC90230C
Hi Todd,
I didn't think $300 was too bad, considering the time wasted going back to the desk for a pinout or whatever. The unit uses the Linux (MomtaVista) operating system, so yes it is hackable. No clock of any sort though.
Robert G8RPI.
Todd Eddy vr@vrillusions.com wrote:
Robert Atkinson wrote:
Hi,
my holiday gift this year was a Sony PRS-505 Reader.
http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&categoryId=16184
This is not as off-topic as it seems, as well as books these work well with PDF's and the ePaper display uses no power except when it changes. No more printing a couple of pages of a datasheet to use at the bench, only to bin them later.
Unfortunatly they don't sell then outside North America (copyright issues with the books apparently) but they do work in Europe , contary to what the store attendants tried to tell me! It will play MP3's while you read too!
Robert G8RPI
I've played with the demo models. They are pretty nice, and the PDF
support would be nice and can store all my network manuals and cisco
command reference stuff in there. But they're just so darn expensive.
Even the Kindle, which is based off the same e-ink technology, looks
nice, but I probably won't get one for quite some time until the price
goes down.
Getting on topic, I wonder if you can hack those to get a portable time
reference? although the kindle has a built in CDMA modem, so would be a
more prime candidate... I'll let you rip open one of those expensive
readers and report back :)
--
Todd
http://vrillusions.com/
My PGP Key ID: 0xBC90230C
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On Wed, 26 Dec 2007 11:30:05 -0800, Jeff Mock jeff@mock.com wrote:
Smart Tweezers
http://www.advancedevices.com/
It's an RLC meter packaged in a pair of tweezers. It's accurate and
fast, feels good to use on the bench. When working with SMT parts,
particularly capacitors that typically aren't marked with values, this
tool makes it easy to deal with tiny parts on the bench.
Truth be told, this product is probably the version before the one you
really want to own. I've found a couple of bugs in the software and the
industrial design should be nicer, but it's still a good product.
Oh crap! There goes the food budget for next month..... :-)
Jeff, did you buy yours directly from them or did you locate a dealer with a better
price?
Cool gadgets... I was trolling the local Sam's Club yesterday and saw a nifty
LaCrosse weather station on sale. It's the Model WS-1515-IT and includes
indoor/outdoor temp and humidity, outdoor dew point, wind speed and direction plus
rainfall. Being somewhat of a weather nut too (too many -nuts in my life!), I had to
have one. Even after a half hour of carefully carving away at the hideous Sam's
packaging, I managed to break off one of the anemometer cups. Damn. Epoxy to the
rescue.
The temperature agrees with my precision TC bridge to within half a degree. The
humidity indicator agrees with my HVAC-grade sling psychrometer (sp?) within 5%.
Sticking the anemometer out the window of the car, it agrees exactly with my GPS,
plus or minus my ability to hold a steady speed to within 1 mph. I haven't tried
calibrating the rain gauge yet.
Not bad for under $50.
John
John De Armond
See my website for my current email address
http://www.neon-john.com
http://www.johndearmond.com <-- best little blog on the net!
Tellico Plains, Occupied TN
I'm so cool, I'm afraid to catch a cold.
On Wed, 26 Dec 2007 20:55:27 +0000 (GMT), Robert Atkinson robert8rpi@yahoo.co.uk
wrote:
Hi,
my holiday gift this year was a Sony PRS-505 Reader.
http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&categoryId=16184
This is not as off-topic as it seems, as well as books these work well with PDF's and the ePaper display uses no power except when it changes. No more printing a couple of pages of a datasheet to use at the bench, only to bin them later.
Unfortunatly they don't sell then outside North America (copyright issues with the books apparently) but they do work in Europe , contary to what the store attendants tried to tell me! It will play MP3's while you read too!
Oh crap, there goes February's food budget.....
Being a card-carrying Sony hater (We give you le$$ for more, lock you into
proprietary formats and then sue your balls off), I did some quick looking and found
this page:
http://www.eink.com/products/customers_app.html
This is a list of products that use the eInk electronic paper display. I'm just
going goo-goo for that iRex iLiad. Reads and writes, large screen, WiFi and Ethernet
and compatible with MobiPocket formatted eBooks. MobiPocket books for the Palm have
become somewhat of a standard.
I'm also enchanted with the Bookeen open source reader with embedded Linux. If it
only had WiFi.
If you're unfortunate enough to live in a large city, you might want to take a look
at the Amazon Kindle. Its most interesting feature is built-in free EVDO
connectivity.
Robert, How does that gadget handle graphics and photos? The eInk site says that
the display only does 4 levels of greyscale. My main interest in a reader is to be
able to carry around my reference library so the ability to display both line art and
greyscale is important.
John
John De Armond
See my website for my current email address
http://www.neon-john.com
http://www.johndearmond.com <-- best little blog on the net!
Tellico Plains, Occupied TN
Save a tree, kill a beaver
Damn! Active Matrix EPD Prototype Kits! NO!!!! I don't need another project!
http://www.eink.com/kits/index.html
If I brought this up the budget meeting, she'd laugh me into next year!
Neon John wrote:
On Wed, 26 Dec 2007 11:30:05 -0800, Jeff Mock jeff@mock.com wrote:
Smart Tweezers
http://www.advancedevices.com/
It's an RLC meter packaged in a pair of tweezers. It's accurate and
fast, feels good to use on the bench. When working with SMT parts,
particularly capacitors that typically aren't marked with values, this
tool makes it easy to deal with tiny parts on the bench.
Truth be told, this product is probably the version before the one you
really want to own. I've found a couple of bugs in the software and the
industrial design should be nicer, but it's still a good product.
Oh crap! There goes the food budget for next month..... :-)
Jeff, did you buy yours directly from them or did you locate a dealer with a better
price?
I got mine off ebay. The manufacturer sells directly on ebay for a
discount. That was the cheapest I found...
jeff