Re: Tayda Electronics and parts, heatsinks, Octopus
To your point: My most recent Mouser order, packages arranged on ground to illustrate.
My order came from three or four warehouses and provided enough reusable packing material for a few months of eBay shipping!
I can't imagine that it's possible to show a profit with packaging like this, as my order was for about $50 total...? :)
--Kirk, NT0Z
My book, "Stealth Amateur Radio," is now available from
www.stealthamateur.com and on the Amazon Kindle (soon)
On Thursday, April 10, 2025 at 09:44:03 PM CDT, davidgeorgerichards via groups.io <djdaverichards@...> wrote:
On Thu, Apr 10, 2025 at 11:55 AM, Daniel KK4MRN wrote:
Dave, what oscilloscope did you get?? Hams would like to know...
My needs are simple Daniel, so I got a Hantek DSO5202P dual channel 200MHz 'scope. Comes with 2 probes, and all for just $299. I was happy with it, except for one thing. When using the Autoset feature, it always defaults to DC coupling, regardless of whether there is a DC component to the signal or not. I don't know about other brands, but Siglent 'scopes also default to DC coupling. The difference is that it is possible to customize the settings so that they prioritize AC coupling. You can't do that with the Hantek, and that's an issue for me. As a result, I returned it this morning. Not sure when, or even if, I will get another 'scope. I'm going to take a bit more time to think about this. If I do decide to get another one, the Siglent SDS1202X-E is only $80 more, and would be a strong contender.
?
On Thu, Apr 10, 2025 at 12:29 PM, Kirk Kleinschmidt, NT0Z wrote:
In my admittedly limited experience, the companies I deal with that always have perfect shipping hygiene are Tayda and Digikey.
I have only ordered from DigiKey once or twice, and they were very small orders, so I can't really comment on them. I have ordered quite a lot from Mouser over the years though, and have noticed something. Recently, they have begun absolutely drowning their parts in packing materials. It is almost comic how much bubble wrap they use. They seem to have become particularly concerned with protecting their parts during transit recently, and have tackled the issue by overpacking. In the famous SNL sketch, Christopher Walken kept saying' "More cowbell! More cowbell!" I think there might be a foreman walking around the Mouser shipping and receiving department, calling out, "More bubble wrap! More bubble wrap!" My most recent order consisted, among other things, of perhaps a dozen or so different values of resistors, in quantities of 100 or 200 each. Each individual bag of resistors was encased in bubble wrap, as were all the other small quantities of diodes, capacitors and other small parts. All those individually bubble-wrapped bags were thrown into a large plastic bag, which was inside a large box, that was far larger than it needed to be. Both Amazon and Mouser, in my experience, are equally thoughtless in their packing. The difference is that Mouser use far too much packing material, while Amazon use almost none. I prefer Mouser's approach, though they are using packing materials as a substitute for careful thought. Perhaps that approach is the lower cost one for them.
?
Tayda have gauged it perfectly, IMO. They use the packing materials that are necessary to protect the products, and no more. Tayda's approach involves equal part technique and materials, while Mouser substitute an excess of packing materials for technique.
?
Dave
AA7EE
|
Re: Tayda Electronics and parts, heatsinks, Octopus
On Thu, Apr 10, 2025 at 11:55 AM, Daniel KK4MRN wrote:
Dave, what oscilloscope did you get?? Hams would like to know...
My needs are simple Daniel, so I got a Hantek DSO5202P dual channel 200MHz 'scope. Comes with 2 probes, and all for just $299. I was happy with it, except for one thing. When using the Autoset feature, it always defaults to DC coupling, regardless of whether there is a DC component to the signal or not. I don't know about other brands, but Siglent 'scopes also default to DC coupling. The difference is that it is possible to customize the settings so that they prioritize AC coupling. You can't do that with the Hantek, and that's an issue for me. As a result, I returned it this morning. Not sure when, or even if, I will get another 'scope. I'm going to take a bit more time to think about this. If I do decide to get another one, the Siglent SDS1202X-E is only $80 more, and would be a strong contender.
?
On Thu, Apr 10, 2025 at 12:29 PM, Kirk Kleinschmidt, NT0Z wrote:
In my admittedly limited experience, the companies I deal with that always have perfect shipping hygiene are Tayda and Digikey.
I have only ordered from DigiKey once or twice, and they were very small orders, so I can't really comment on them. I have ordered quite a lot from Mouser over the years though, and have noticed something. Recently, they have begun absolutely drowning their parts in packing materials. It is almost comic how much bubble wrap they use. They seem to have become particularly concerned with protecting their parts during transit recently, and have tackled the issue by overpacking. In the famous SNL sketch, Christopher Walken kept saying' "More cowbell! More cowbell!" I think there might be a foreman walking around the Mouser shipping and receiving department, calling out, "More bubble wrap! More bubble wrap!" My most recent order consisted, among other things, of perhaps a dozen or so different values of resistors, in quantities of 100 or 200 each. Each individual bag of resistors was encased in bubble wrap, as were all the other small quantities of diodes, capacitors and other small parts. All those individually bubble-wrapped bags were thrown into a large plastic bag, which was inside a large box, that was far larger than it needed to be. Both Amazon and Mouser, in my experience, are equally thoughtless in their packing. The difference is that Mouser use far too much packing material, while Amazon use almost none. I prefer Mouser's approach, though they are using packing materials as a substitute for careful thought. Perhaps that approach is the lower cost one for them.
?
Tayda have gauged it perfectly, IMO. They use the packing materials that are necessary to protect the products, and no more. Tayda's approach involves equal part technique and materials, while Mouser substitute an excess of packing materials for technique.
?
Dave
AA7EE
|
Re: 2N2/20 Scratch-Build - Progress So Far
Thanks for doing that Chuck, and it's good to know that we don't have to worry too much about mounting our toroids close to the board.
?
A couple of years ago, I built a rather nifty kit for a high performance crystal radio receiver, which involved winding two coils with Litz wire on ferrite rods. I remember thinking that I couldn't recall the last time I had wound a coil on a regular ferrite rod, or a slug-tuned former. It's been toroids all the way for me, for a long, long time.
?
You're making fast progress with your 17M WAS, by the way. Every day, you add a few more states!
?
Dave
AA7EE
|
Re: Honbay trimmers; I took one for the team
Hey Doug, Let us know how the AliExpress trimmers perform.? I ordered them also. Thanks ! Jim WB4ILP?
On Thu, Apr 10, 2025 at 03:22 PM, chuck adams wrote:
So I took one for the team and wasted some money
for the experiment.? Hope this helps you.
Thank you for doing this.? In the same spirit, I ordered these yesterday ? I fully expect them to be junk but at $1.43 for 10 I threw them on an order to see what I get.?
?
?
?
?
?
--
¡ì97.313?? Transmitter power standards.
(a) An amateur station must use the minimum transmitter power necessary to carry out the desired communications.
|
Re: Honbay trimmers; I took one for the team
You can buy Jameco CTC-50 caps on Amazon.com, but I'm not sure if they are $9.74 for 10, or $9.74 each - lol.
I've used the YLGA caps from Aliexpress which seem to be a close enough to the Jameco.
72 de Russ, va3rr
|
Re: Honbay trimmers; I took one for the team
They look the same to me.
I think I'm going to do what we did in qrp-tech for the anniversary
build of the NorCal 40A.? Instead of spending a lot of dough on
the variable cap, a lot of us just friction fit different fixed
caps in place and used the one that got us close enough.
It takes time, but we know what we are getting.
Thanks for taking one for the team also.? Education is expensive
no matter how you get it.
ciao,
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
On 4/10/25 13:34, Doug W via groups.io wrote: On Thu, Apr 10, 2025 at 03:22 PM, chuck adams wrote:
So I took one for the team and wasted some money
for the experiment.? Hope this helps you.
Thank you for doing this.? In the same spirit, I ordered these yesterday I fully expect them to be junk but at $1.43 for 10 I threw them on an order to see what I get.
--
/¡ì97.313 Transmitter power standards.
(a) An amateur station must use the minimum transmitter power necessary to carry out the desired communications./
_._,_._,_
--
chuck adams, aa7fo
QRP WAS 17m started Apr 2, 2025
WAS-17 QRP --> TX,FL,SC,GA,OK,AR,KS,AL,AZ,MN
PA,CA,CO,WI,NE,ID,IL,NC
DXCC W,VE,JA,PY
|
Re: Honbay trimmers; I took one for the team
On Thu, Apr 10, 2025 at 03:22 PM, chuck adams wrote:
So I took one for the team and wasted some money
for the experiment.? Hope this helps you.
Thank you for doing this.? In the same spirit, I ordered these yesterday ? I fully expect them to be junk but at $1.43 for 10 I threw them on an order to see what I get.?
?
?
?
?
?
--
¡ì97.313?? Transmitter power standards.
(a) An amateur station must use the minimum transmitter power necessary to carry out the desired communications.
|
Re: Honbay trimmers; I took one for the team
They are not on my list of approved critters in
my lab.? Got to Tayda and get Murata trimmers for around
$0.18 to $0.32 for the few values they have in
stock.
Guess I was thinking that since I used Muarat in the previous
paragraph that it was still the object of discussion.? Sorry again.
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
On 4/10/25 13:22, chuck adams via groups.io wrote: Got the envelope with the selection of Honbay trimmers
from Amazon.? They arrived next day as advertised.
They are cheap and I do mean cheap with respect to
quality control and any value they may have using them.
I won't be using them in anything I ever build.
The tuning screwdriver is going to be almost 1/2
whatever you are using for the Murata N750 or N1200
caps.
They are not on my list of approved critters in
my lab.? Got to Tayda and get them for around
$0.18 to $0.32 for the few values they have in
stock.
So I took one for the team and wasted some money
for the experiment.? Hope this helps you.
FYI IMHO,
--
chuck adams, aa7fo
QRP WAS 17m started Apr 2, 2025
WAS-17 QRP --> TX,FL,SC,GA,OK,AR,KS,AL,AZ,MN
PA,CA,CO,WI,NE,ID,IL,NC
DXCC W,VE,JA,PY
|
Honbay trimmers; I took one for the team
Got the envelope with the selection of Honbay trimmers
from Amazon.? They arrived next day as advertised.
They are cheap and I do mean cheap with respect to
quality control and any value they may have using them.
I won't be using them in anything I ever build.
The tuning screwdriver is going to be almost 1/2
whatever you are using for the Murata N750 or N1200
caps.
They are not on my list of approved critters in
my lab.? Got to Tayda and get them for around
$0.18 to $0.32 for the few values they have in
stock.
So I took one for the team and wasted some money
for the experiment.? Hope this helps you.
FYI IMHO,
--
chuck adams, aa7fo
QRP WAS 17m started Apr 2, 2025
WAS-17 QRP --> TX,FL,SC,GA,OK,AR,KS,AL,AZ,MN
PA,CA,CO,WI,NE,ID,IL,NC
DXCC W,VE,JA,PY
|
Re: 2N2/20 Scratch-Build - Progress So Far
Dave,
Your timing is scary.? I just did the BPF for the SolderSmoke DC receiver.
I am hoping that my camera hasn't died on me.? I did the experiment
and I'll video it for release today.? Or tomorrow if I have to get on
Amazon and buy a camera to replace my 25+ year old Kodak
special from WalMart in a stock elimination sale.
Here is what I found out.? I wanted to know just how good toroid
shielding is compared to the math.? I wound? 28T of #26 wire on
a T50-6 toroid from KitsAndParts.com.? I calibrated my LC-200A
L/C meter and measured the toroid in free space.? (That means
hanging from the leads away from anything close).? I then
sat the critter in the vertical position on the board.? No change.
I laid the toroid on its side and a one digit change in the fourth
place.? So it's not an issue on copper clad PCB material.
I'll have video proof, non-AI generated, later today if the camera
comes back to life after charging.? A USB hub didn't do the job
as usual, so brought out the big guns.
FYI,
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
On 4/10/25 10:42, davidgeorgerichards via groups.io wrote: ...snip snip...
One other comment. I tend to space my toroids above the board a little, to reduce potential interaction with the copper substrate. However, I notice that Jim doesn't do that with his Manhattan builds, so I guess it doesn't affect performance adversely.
Now to concentrate on the VFO and RIT circuits. Shoulder washers and nylon screws arriving from Mouser on Monday to secure the VFO toroid. Forward we gradually advance!
Dave
AA7EE
--
chuck adams, aa7fo
QRP WAS 17m started Apr 2, 2025
WAS-17 QRP --> TX,FL,SC,GA,OK,AR,KS,AL,AZ,MN
PA,CA,CO,WI,NE,ID,IL,NC
DXCC W,VE,JA,PY
|
Re: Tayda Electronics and parts, heatsinks, Octopus
I'm surprised Azon hasn't dropped me as a customer, because I constantly give them feedback about their ridiculously poor packaging.
Ironically, when we order indestructible stuff like bags of bath salts or a bale of rubber bands, THESE ITEMS are properly padded and packed in boxes. But when I order something electronic and fragile, it inevitably comes loose and inside a giant "air box (or a plastic envelope)," where it's free to flop around at the mercy of whatever shipping company and "savage baggage handlers" that can throw it around.
When I bought a recent 11-inch tablet, it was flopping around loosely inside a big air box. I called Azon CS and processed an exchange without ever opening the package. It took FOUR such sequential returns -- with plenty of feedback from me and plenty of commiserating from my overseas CS reps -- before the final tablet was sent properly. I also called the tablet manufacturer to let them know how poorly Azon was treating their customers and their product.
I know life as an Azon packager is probably a living hell...and I HATE to be THAT GUY (and my long-suffering YL hates it even more!), but companies will never change behavior unless they feel the financial pain of doing things badly.
A recent purchase of a 10-MHz OCXO for my home-brew GPSDO was the same, but that took only three circuits...
NEWEGG, a large PC parts retailer had a similar "bad period" of shipping hard drives with improper protection. It straightened itself out after a concerted "bad PR" effort from purchasers and online communities.
In my admittedly limited experience, the companies I deal with that always have perfect shipping hygiene are Tayda and Digikey.
Regards,
Kirk, NT0Z
My book, "Stealth Amateur Radio," is now available from
www.stealthamateur.com and on the Amazon Kindle (soon)
On Thursday, April 10, 2025 at 01:55:16 PM CDT, Daniel KK4MRN via groups.io <daniel-kk4mrn.skipper529@...> wrote:
Amazon.com has gotten worse in what they do.? It is not just me.? My wife and others I know have noticed this too.
And how they handle payments as well is different than how other online retailers handle payments online.? Amazon is Terrible.
I have not shopped on Amazon.com in sometime.??
?
Dave, what oscilloscope did you get?? Hams would like to know...
?
73 Daniel KK4MRN
?
|
Re: Tayda Electronics and parts, heatsinks, Octopus
Amazon.com has gotten worse in what they do.? It is not just me.? My wife and others I know have noticed this too.
And how they handle payments as well is different than how other online retailers handle payments online.? Amazon is Terrible.
I have not shopped on Amazon.com in sometime.??
?
Dave, what oscilloscope did you get?? Hams would like to know...
?
73 Daniel KK4MRN
?
|
Re: Tayda Electronics and parts, heatsinks, Octopus
On Wed, Apr 9, 2025 at 10:10 PM, Kirk Kleinschmidt, NT0Z wrote:
All of my orders of discrete parts have weighed 2-3 pounds and come in amazingly well-packaged boxes.
?
AMAZON execs should take notes!
?
?
+1! Tayda orders are indeed very well packed.
?
By contrast, I recently took delivery of an oscilloscope from Amazon. It arrived in a large box, together with a 14 pound box of cat litter, a few other small items, and virtually no packing material to separate them. All free to move around in the big box!
?
Dave
AA7EE
|
Re: 2N2/20 Scratch-Build - Progress So Far
Somehow, the previous message was sent to the group before I was able to attach the photos. Before and after photos shown here, illustrating how small differences in layout can make a significant difference in circuit performance. The before photo shows a small overhang of the coupling capacitor lead, introducing what I think was a parasitic or other instability. The lead of the replacement cap went directly upwards and eliminated the issue. I'd be interested to know exactly what the problem was, but at least it's working reliably now.
?
One other comment. I tend to space my toroids above the board a little, to reduce potential interaction with the copper substrate. However, I notice that Jim doesn't do that with his Manhattan builds, so I guess it doesn't affect performance adversely.
?
Now to concentrate on the VFO and RIT circuits. Shoulder washers and nylon screws arriving from Mouser on Monday to secure the VFO toroid. Forward we gradually advance!
?
Dave
AA7EE
?
|
Re: 2N2/20 Scratch-Build - Progress So Far
On Wed, Apr 9, 2025 at 01:47 PM, wb6ogd wrote:
I finally found it..?? it was an old wireless phone still plugged in over in the corner, I hardly ever used it.
It was putting out some digital noise signal, unplugged it,? recycled it, and all was good in radio land!
?
I powered the board up outside, away from all the stray RF in the shack. Unfortunately, that wasn't the issue, though it was good to eliminate it from the list of possibilities. I will bear it in mind for future situations. Thanks for sharing Gary!
?
On Wed, Apr 9, 2025 at 06:20 PM, <vk7ian@...> wrote:
I note there is a slight difference between this circuit and the K8IQY circuit which has a 56 Ohm resistor across the secondary. Might be worth a try.
Something like this occurred to me too Ian. I was thinking that a high vale resistor wouldn't interfere significantly with the impedance matching, yet might cure the parasitic. I'm going to call it a parasitic from now on, as that's what I'm thinking it was. However, I wanted to try other avenues first, as I didn't want to mess unnecessarily with this design. As it turns out, I found - and cured - the issue.
?
I noticed that touching the area with an non-conducting ceramic-tipped screwdriver quelled the parasitic. Pushing the pad down or putting light pressure on the 0.1?F coupling cap both worked. My suspicion was a faulty cap. I replaced the cap with a newer part from a known source, but the problem remained. With both the old and replacement caps, one of the leads was hanging over the edge of the Manhattan pad, separated from the copper substrate by the thickness of the pad. It was a very short lead length - maybe a couple of mm's. I noticed that placing the ceramic tip of the screwdriver between the overhanging lead and the copper board stopped the parasitic - even when the ceramic tip was touching neither the board or the pad! I'm thinking that inserting the ceramic tip in between the capacitor lead and the copper board added a different dielectric to the stray capacitance, changing the value of it. It's a little hard to believe, as the change would be very small. There was already the capacitance between the pads and the board though, so perhaps that little extra was enough to push it over the top. A VHF parasitic perhaps?
?
Once again, I replaced the cap, but this time, ensured that the lead went vertically directly up from the pad, with no overhang over the board. See before and after photos. Problem solved. The IF amp stage is now quiet!
?
This brings to mind something that Chuck said to me recently. He noticed that the pads I use, from Rex, are bigger than his homemade ones. Not only that, but these rather wonderful MePADS and MeSQUARES are made from 0.03" thickness material, whereas the homemade ones I have seen appear to have been punched out from the thicker 0.06" copper clad. The combination of larger area pads and thinner material makes for more stray capacitance. It hadn't occurred to me that this extra stray capacitance would make a difference at HF. Most of the time it doesn't, but it's worth bearing in mind.
?
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Re: Earliest example of Manhattan construction?
Must be different edition from the one I have.? It's easy to find, once you have
a copy of the book......
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
On 4/9/25 21:08, k6whp via groups.io wrote: Chuck.
Not sure what the deal is, but I checked a copy of my QRP Classics (with the red cover and published in 1990) and found the article you cited on pp 12-14 and the picture tyou mentioned on page 13.
--
William, k6whp
--------------------
"Cheer up, things could get worse. So I cheered up and things got worse."
--
chuck adams, aa7fo
QRP WAS 17m started Apr 2, 2025
WAS-17 QRP --> TX,FL,SC,GA,OK,AR,KS,AL,AZ,MN
PA,CA,CO,WI,NE,ID,IL,NC
DXCC W,VE,JA,PY
|
Re: Tayda Electronics and parts, heatsinks, Octopus
Now it's really a mystery!
All of my orders of discrete parts have weighed 2-3 pounds and come in amazingly well-packaged boxes.
AMAZON execs should take notes!
Regards,
Kirk, NT0Z
My book, "Stealth Amateur Radio," is now available from
www.stealthamateur.com and on the Amazon Kindle (soon)
On Wednesday, April 9, 2025 at 03:38:38 PM CDT, Doug W via groups.io <dougwilner@...> wrote:
On Wed, Apr 9, 2025 at 03:08 PM, Kirk Kleinschmidt, NT0Z wrote:
I'd love the USA warehouse to be the one, but for the past 6 years, all Thailand, FWIW.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
?
My first few Tayda orders were around 2017(ish).? They used to have 2 shipping options, slow and fast.? Depending on the order size, slow was a couple of bucks and took close to a month to get to me in the US.? Fast I think was closer to what you'd pay for UPS or FedEx and I think that took a week.? Some orders were from the US some from Thailand.? Some time ago the cheap slow option went away and now I get slow delivery at fast delivery prices.? Still a good deal for cheap stuff but I do prefer Mouser or Digikey for critical value components.
?
Also, make sure you check out their cheap tools
I am a fan of the 60? black tweezers and the $3 probe tweezers.? Neither are good enough for rocket surgery but as long as you realize that they are a great deal.
?
?
?
--
¡ì97.313?? Transmitter power standards.
(a) An amateur station must use the minimum transmitter power necessary to carry out the desired communications.
|
Re: Earliest example of Manhattan construction?
Chuck.
?
Not sure what the deal is, but I checked a copy of my QRP Classics (with the red cover and published in 1990) and found the article you cited on pp 12-14 and the picture tyou mentioned on page 13.
?
?
--
William, k6whp
--------------------
"Cheer up, things could get worse. So I cheered up and things got worse."
|
Earliest example of Manhattan construction?
Looking through my library, this is the earliest example of using PCB
pads glued to a board for construction.? Is it the earliest you have seen?
September 1979 QST (back when there were construction articles)
"Quick and Easy Circuit Boards for the Beginner" by Doug DeMaw, W1FB <sk>.
Page 30-34 of the "QRP Classics" book by the ARRL dated 1990.
FYI
--
chuck adams, aa7fo
QRP WAS 17m started Apr 2, 2025
WAS-17 QRP --> TX,FL,SC,GA,OK,AR,KS,AL,AZ,MN
PA,CA,CO,WI,NE,ID,IL,NC
DXCC W,VE,JA,PY
|
Re: 2N2/20 Scratch-Build - Progress So Far
Hi Dave
?
I note there is a slight difference between this circuit and the K8IQY circuit which has a 56 Ohm resistor across the secondary. Might be worth a try.
?
73, Ian
VK7IAN
|
Kirk Kleinschmidt, NT0Z
va3rr
k6whp