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--- In NEONIXIE-L@..., Scott Burris <electroscott@...> wrote:

________________________________
From: The Fool <unmitigated_fool@...>

I am planning on purchasing my first new oscilloscope since the Heathkit one I
built back in the 70's. I'm looking for recommendations and suggestions. My
price range is somewhere around $500. I was thinking that a color LCD one would
be a good choice.
________________________________

You didn't mention bandwidth figures, but assuming you are looking for a digital
scope, in
that price range, look at the Rigol DS1052E:



$399, 50Mhz

or the Instek DS-1062A (the A suffix is important):



$415, 60Mhz

I have the Rigol scope and love it, although I ordered it from an Ebay seller
in China, rather than domestically.

That's a good point. Since almost all of what I'll be measuring is microprocessors in the 5 MHz to 10 MHz range, what bandwidth would be workable. I had been thinking the lowest I could find around 20 MHz. Is that too low to be thinking of? Should I be looking at something higher?

Thanks for the suggestions so far. I've added them to my list to look at.

On Mon, 5 Jul 2010 19:09:56 -0400, you wrote:

On Mon, Jul 5, 2010 at 4:38 PM, The Fool <unmitigated_fool@...> wrote:

I am planning on purchasing my first new oscilloscope since the Heathkit
one I built back in the 70's. I'm looking for recommendations and
suggestions. My price range is somewhere around $500. I was thinking that a
color LCD one would be a good choice.

I'll also nominate the Rigol DS1052E FTW.

Love mine. Around 400 bucks American. You can find it on Amazon.com.

And you can hack it to make it 100MHz....

On Mon, Jul 5, 2010 at 4:38 PM, The Fool <unmitigated_fool@...> wrote:

I am planning on purchasing my first new oscilloscope since the Heathkit
one I built back in the 70's. I'm looking for recommendations and
suggestions. My price range is somewhere around $500. I was thinking that a
color LCD one would be a good choice.

I'll also nominate the Rigol DS1052E FTW.

Love mine. Around 400 bucks American. You can find it on Amazon.com.

--
carl
--------------------------------------------------------
Henry Carl Ott N2RVQ hcarlott@...

I built one using inexpensive lasers



To make the laser react fast enough to display something interesting,

I had to remove a lot of the over-voltage protection circuitry.

But semiconductor lasers are very delicate because a lot of energy

is lasing in a very small cavity.



The laser burnt out in a few months.

But at $7.00 each, easy to replace.



Lasers designed for fast switching are much more expensive,

at least when I tried this.



Ted





From: NEONIXIE-L@... [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Paul Guncheon
Sent: Monday, July 05, 2010 12:28 PM
To: NEONIXIE-L@...
Subject: [NEONIXIE-L] Laser Pointer Life





I am looking to construct a clock involving the use of a laser. I am
thinking of an over the counter laser pointer. Can anyone tell me the
average life and duty cycle of your run of the mill laser pointer?

Thanks,

Paul





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

You didn't mention bandwidth figures, but assuming you are looking for a digital
scope, in
that price range, look at the Rigol DS1052E:



$399, 50Mhz

or the Instek DS-1062A (the A suffix is important):



$415, 60Mhz

I have the Rigol scope and love it, although I ordered it from an Ebay seller
in China, rather than domestically.

Scott




________________________________
From: The Fool <unmitigated_fool@...>
To: NEONIXIE-L@...
Sent: Mon, July 5, 2010 1:38:50 PM
Subject: [NEONIXIE-L] First Oscilloscope

I am planning on purchasing my first new oscilloscope since the Heathkit one I
built back in the 70's. I'm looking for recommendations and suggestions. My
price range is somewhere around $500. I was thinking that a color LCD one would
be a good choice.

--- In NEONIXIE-L@..., "msilv3r" <msilv3r@...> wrote:
So I could, assuming I was always connected, use a compare within this string to know when a second in time has occurred.

More than likely you will find that the NMEA sentence is transmitted once per second, on each one second epoch.
Some GPS modules also output a 1pps signal with a high degree of accuracy associated with it, but generally your eye wouldn't be able to determine any difference, so sticking with receiving the NMEA sentence at the rate of 1Hz ought to keep you spot on.

I am planning on purchasing my first new oscilloscope since the Heathkit one I built back in the 70's. I'm looking for recommendations and suggestions. My price range is somewhere around $500. I was thinking that a color LCD one would be a good choice.

On 7/5/10 9:27 AM, Paul Guncheon wrote:

I am looking to construct a clock involving the use of a laser. I am
thinking of an over the counter laser pointer. Can anyone tell me the
average life and duty cycle of your run of the mill laser pointer?

Thanks,

Paul

We use these in a spectrometer at the radio telescope I work at. They last about 30,000 hours, then the emission loses its spectral purity as the mirror erodes.

--
David Forbes, Tucson AZ

I am looking to construct a clock involving the use of a laser. I am
thinking of an over the counter laser pointer. Can anyone tell me the
average life and duty cycle of your run of the mill laser pointer?

Thanks,

Paul

Run of the mill = Laser LED (not HeNe)
cheap keychain one.

Ok, I setup one to point at my viewhole on my front door.
Runs 24 hours a day.
That was about 5 years ago.

No, I have no good reason for doing it, but it was setup and never taken
down.

So, it might give you an idea. Only off time is when the power goes out.

Just a fast response as a time estimate.

Michail

On the subject of blue LEDs, what do people suggest?

The range is enormous, e.g.



What sort of brightness / viewing angle is sufficient to backlight a medium-size (18mm) side-view nixie tubes?

Thanks!

cheers
peter

--

Hi Dieter,

nice pictures, I admire your photographer skills ;-)

I would love to see the IN-2 clock. If it is nice and tiny enough I would nearly be tempted ;-)

Best regards,
Jens

_____
From: NEONIXIE-L@... On Behalf Of Alex Rubli (YHO)

My five cents:

i would use the $GPRMC protocol it looks like this

$GPRMC,140003.242,A,4717.1126,N,00833.7862,E,0.03,80.59,010201,,*36

this has a flag to tell you that the GPS is "locked" and so you can be sure
that the time is correct
(don?t rememeber which one the "flag" is), I also remember that this
protocol shows the correct reading only after having info for at least 3
satelites.

I am no expert, and did this long tome ago, I recall having faulty readings
with other protocols

make a NMEA $GPRMC google search.

I also encourage you to disable the other protocols on your reciever, it
might flood your buffer
_____


A means valid

V means invalid



Jerry

Wb9jfr






No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 9.0.830 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2982 - Release Date: 07/04/10
13:35:00

On 7/2/10 7:03 PM, msilv3r wrote:

C - HV PSU -> collector
B - PIC output -> resistor -> base
E - emitter -> resistor -> anode of nixie tube


Mike,

Here's my circuit:



I recommend the resistor values in the above schematic,
as it worked flawlessly for me...

David Forbes, Tucson AZ

Use the circuit that David has shown. The resistor values can be varied a bit, but use them in all the places shown. They are all important.

The 'one transistor' circuit, you described is an 'emitter follower', which has NO voltage gain. The emitter will roughly follow the base, so the voltage will never exceed 5V of the base (actually ~4.3V). The voltage on the collector can be 6V or 200V, but the emitter will follow the base.

Remember for a transistor to turn ON there needs to be a current flow from base to emitter. This can only occur (for an NPN) if the emitter voltage is less than the base voltage, by the forward voltage drop of silicon. That voltage being ~0.7V at room temperature. An 'emitter-follower' circuit has current gain, but no voltage gain. In short, no worky.

Google it, if you don't believe me.

My five cents:

i would use the $GPRMC protocol it looks like this

$GPRMC,140003.242,A,4717.1126,N,00833.7862,E,0.03,80.59,010201,,*36

this has a flag to tell you that the GPS is "locked" and so you can be sure that the time is correct
(don?t rememeber which one the "flag" is), I also remember that this protocol shows the correct reading only after having info for at least 3 satelites.

I am no expert, and did this long tome ago, I recall having faulty readings with other protocols

make a NMEA $GPRMC google search.

I also encourage you to disable the other protocols on your reciever, it might flood your buffer

regards


Alex

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

I'm betting if it had the GPS module you would be replacing the batteries
regularly ;).

-joe

Hi!
I have finished the IN-8 tube sockets.
They are available now.
See Ebay items here:
330448375291
330448208372

(???`.._..??????`.._..-DIETER-.._..??????`.._..??????)

Well, I didn't get it since I bought one around the first of March.

I'm a little disappointed in mine. I haven't had to change the battery yet. And it has only gained two seconds since I set the watch. So I never get to open it and do anything to it. Except wear it.

Are you sure there's not a GPS module in it?

You know. I have to agree.

Mine is just terrible too. I think it keeps better time than my Citizen
ATom watch.
My Citizen gets more attention, because I have had to mail it in twice for
repair.
My DF Nixie watch only gets attention from people noticing it.

Michail

On 7/2/10 7:03 PM, msilv3r wrote:

C - HV PSU -> collector
B - PIC output -> resistor -> base
E - emitter -> resistor -> anode of nixie tube

Now I think this would work. However, I then looked at some of the nixie
tube designs in the Files section. What do you know, he used the MPSA42 also.
So I've got some validity to that decision. However I noticed oz2cpu used
two resistors for each set of on/off switches. I don't quite understand
why. I would guess perhaps to protect the PIC I/O pins from any
faults/leaking current. I know transistors somewhat, but not as much as
I will after next semester. There is a lot I don't know, and this is a
good example. Could someone please explain this to me. Thanks.

Also, whats with the 100n capacitor on the VCC/GNDs?

-Mike

Mike,

The reason to use two transistors is that you need a level translator to isolate the PIC output at 0-5V from the anode of the nixie tube which sees up to 180V. Otherwise you'll find that you either can't turn on the anode or that you can't turn it off or that your PIC blows out.

The standard approach used in most nixie clocks is an NPN transistor driven by the PIC whose collector controls the base of a PNP transistor that gates the tube anode.

Here's my circuit:



You can use an MPSA42 for the NPN and an MPSA92 for the PNP; they cost less than the Zetex transistors I used.

I recommend the resistor values in the above schematic, as it worked flawlessly for me. Others have had good luck with different values.

--
David Forbes, Tucson AZ