melmerby

In 1974 when I got married, the average house was £9000, the average wage was £2000, and mortgage interest rates were 11%. By 1979 the average house was £18500, the average wage was £5000 and interest rates were 17% The 1980s were very volatile with rapidly rising house prices, double digit inflation and a proper economic recession, that's when home buying started to become less affordable. The trend has continued to this day.

I would agree with that. I have one, bought S/H at a reasonable price and there is little wrong with it as a model of a Black 5.

The standard VHS deck was poor quality from the outset, that's why they were so much cheaper than any other systems and ideal for the rental market. The JVC launch model in the UK (piano keys) relied on rubber belts and slip pads for the different speeds required for the capstan and spools. Some of the later introductions were a bit more sophisticated. I had a Grundig 2x4 Super (V2000 system), there was a seperate motor for everything. A loading motor, a lacing motor, a capstan motor, a head motor and 2 spool motors and they were all expensive custom designs, not off the shelf Mitsumis. This not only making them extremely complex but rather heavy & bulky as well. They did make some cheaper ones later on with less complex operating systems, the quality had gone by then.

Surely the Nicam was just the decoder for the TV signal audio? The actual recording would be the standard VHS, which by then was probably FM stereo My first S-VHS recorder could record audio in FM quality with no compression, it even had VU meters and recording level controls. Much better than MP3 The recorder was built like a tank with an all metal case and metal chassis, everything about it was quality. My second & last S-VHS recorder was very plasticy and horrid

BBC Midlands today had a feature on Pete Watermans layout. It is apparently up for a Guinness World Record for the world's longest transportable model railway. To measure it accurately they have a wagon with an axle rotation counter which will be propelled the length of the layout. Tape measures aren't accurate enough it seems. Sadly my back is no better so I won't be going.☹️

Doesn't look much like the more prototypical code 83 stuff

If the information was correctly uploaded by the broadcaster.😁 Even now with all digital TV there are problems with programme start/finish times or split programmes that want to reserve e.g. 8550 minutes. It all depends on the human interface at the broadcaster's end. Remember those VCR's with a numerical code (published in TV guides) that you scanned or entered to record a program We've got a catering microwave, it doesn't have a clock on. It also doesn't have one of those silly revolving dish things, in fact we've never had a microwave with one of those. It does however have a memory where cooking programmes can be stored.

That's why they are normally gold plated in industry, I had plenty of experience of edge connectors in my job and non gold plated ones were a PITA. One batch of equipment (several hundred sets) was so bad they had to go back to the manufacturer to have the connectors (both the PCBs & sockets) gold plated*, they were fine afterwards. All newer ones came with gold plated ones as standard. *Yes they were done in situ.

My Hornby Dublo AL1 had traction tyres on one axle of one bogie and picked up on the remaining 6. It would pull a prodigious amount of load in one direction, not much in the other but current collection wasn't a problem. Remarkably the only drive was to the axle with the tyres!

Car tyres conduct electricity but the electrical resistance is still on the high side. They have carbon compounds in the rubber mix.

It can also be made to conduct electricity with suitable additives

My non smart central heating timer, now 13 years old changes with the clock changes. (MSF radio control?) My car has a touch screen DAB+ radio/media player/Satnav does not use the time data from the DAB signal and has to be set manually. My previous car same make, same range had a much more basic manual DAB radio/CD player and did get the time info from the DAB data🙂

Commuting is down, leisure travel is up. (more days off due to WFH)

Great. Looks like we've reverted to the previous layout. Obviously not what the punters wanted.

How different is the Labour "Great British Railway" from the Tories "Great British Railway"? 🙂

How many multiple units does GWR own? How many Aeroplanes does BA own? How many buses does National Express own? The most expensive assets are normally leased these days.

The TKcdu2 has 4x 35v 4700μF capacitors which I would've thought, should be enough to throw any solenoid. However 16vAC will give about 40% more DC volts at the caps.

Unfortunately they don't see too bothered what it looks like as long as they get the money. Just look at all the ghastly abominations quality collectables produced by Bradford Exchange.

The DMM is perfectly capable or reading the voltage before the switch is operated. Is is usually quite a bit higher than 15 or 16 volts for reliable operation.

Trouble is, they would blow away in the wind.....🙂

Some of the later Black 5s had fixed electric lamps, they also had white discs for use during the day. One is the famous (4)4767 with outside Stephensons gear. There's a 1948 photo in Essery & Jenkinson's LMS locomotives taken at Preston with it carrying two discs in Express Passenger configuration.

I can see 6!😉

I would've done one years ago but unlikely now. not that steady any more.

I went on a Cumbria Round Robin with my wife in 2018. Most Northern services were a 37 + Mk2 set, but they were due to be retired so the train was packed with enthusiasts*. However our train was topped & tailed with a couple of 68s, which had rather upset them. *They were a PITA as they had bagged every forward facing window seat, even though many seemed to be travelling together. I was rather glad they had their 37 bash thwarted.

If you are rerasonably confident at soldering, the Plux & 21pin should be doable (they are the same form factor with the male & female reversed). The Next18 might be a challenge.