TV distribution system project

[Bill Wright]

"Meeting the requirements" means just that. It does not mean skimping or botchery.

Bill

[Bill Wright]

That's it in a nutshell.

Bill

[Bill Wright]

No, it's interesting. I like it when we're in a pub and we get talking to someone and it turns out he knows about something like your clocks or whatever. We found ourselves chatting with a musical instrument repairer the other day.

When I was a little kid I was given a lift home by my dad's boss, a chap called Bernie Grundman. He said, "Son, everything in this world has interest in it." For some reason I've never forgotten that. I know it sounds trite now but it must have made an impression on me.

Bill

[Bill Wright]

On second thoughts, maybe it should be qualified to add that what the customer asks for is not always what he needs. Part of being a professional is gently pointing that out. If the customer is an architect you will be rebuffed, but at least you tried.

Bill

[Steve Thackery]

Spot on. That's why an important member of a customer-facing team is someone who specialises in requirements capture, which is all about identifying and understanding both needs and wants.

Depending on what you're selling and the market sector, "wants" are often more important than "needs". That's especially true in the clothing industry, for example. In my own industry (telecommunications), and yours I think, then really "needs" are the key thing.

[F]

Something I've been saying for years!

Professionals know when to stop. Amateurs do 'just a little bit more' and invariably create more work: just one more wipe across the filler that's already flat and a ridge appears...

[tony sayer]

Not in the slightest!. That programme "Longitude" about the prize and the work of Harrison was fascinating and an excellent example of how the military and such organisations can be lead by wallies who shouldn't be there...

[Dave Plowman (News)]

As a matter of interest would you accept a mains plug with strands from the earth sticking out of the side? Or any other type of connector?

[dennis]

If you want both then hide a stepper motor in it.

[Steve Thackery]

Indeed. Those quartz movements are available very cheaply now. The one disadvantage is their fairly noisy 1 second tick.

However, if you can spare ten quid, you can now buy a quartz clock movement which is almost silent and drives the second hand smoothly and continuously, rather than stepping it.

Of course, in our day this sight wasn't all that unusual, as all our synchronous motor mains-powered clocks did just that. But there are very few indeed left in service these days. I suspect many young people have never even seen a smoothly-sweeping second hand.

Do any of you remember watches that did that? They were rare and only made for a few years: they used a tuning fork as the resonator, typically operating at 300 or 360Hz and made a pleasant hum instead of a tick. Probably the best known of these is the Bulova Accutron. Probably the best performing was the Omega f300.

Rare these days, and well worth hanging on to if you've got one.

[Steve Thackery]

Have you still not understood yet? The requirements are different, because the role of those connectors is different.

Sheesh!

[Ian Jackson]

Not necessarily. While some amateurs may do "that little bit more", and end up making a mess of the job, others do barely sufficient (and also end up making a mess of the job). Some professionals deliberately don't apply that last "ha'peth of tar", so while the customer accepts the finished job, is not overly pleased with it (especially if it later proves to be unreliable). In the end, professional are often simply amateurs who get paid, and amateurs are often professionals who don't get paid.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Think you're the one who doesn't understand.

[tony sayer]

In article , Dave Plowman (News) scribeth thus

Whilst on the subject didn't some mains plugs have a hole at the top of the plug for an earth wire to come in or out?..

[The Natural Philosopher]

-1

You are the bloke who polishes turds to use as aggregate in concrete, and wont have any untidy misshaped arbitrary bits of shingle in there at any price.

Who hand sorts atomic nuclei to ensure that steel is only steel..

who believes that best is not merely good enough, whose super wiring loom outlasts the car its in by 50 years..

And stamps on spiders because their webs are not symmetrical (but do catch flies).

[damduck-egg]

Bought one for just over a £5. Someone gave me an ornamental lighthouse to stand by the garden pond but the revolving reflector was more like an emergency beacon in speed. Just used the second hand drive and modified the reflector with bits from an old small maglite and bright white LED. I now have a nice steady slowly rotating beam that ensures next doors cat is suitably mesmorised and has no hiding place when it comes frog hunting.

G.Harman

[Johny B Good]

The spring drive quartz regulated watches move the seconds sweep hand in a smooth stepless motion.

What makes these watches so expensive is the high quality mechanical drive and the 30 jewelled bearings. The escapement is an electronically braked regulator wheel phase locked to a crystal reference oscillator powered by the spring driven generator built into the regulator wheel.

The generator drag provides part of the braking force on the wheel - the micropower quartz reference oscillator provides additional braking to keep the rpms of the wheel locked to the crystal frequency.

Obviously, a much cheaper variation on this theme could be (and I believe is) employed where the driving energy comes from a 'watch battery' rather than a spring. The regulator wheel in this case drives the gear train normal to a conventional analogue display quartz regulated watch where the need for jeweled bearings can be significantly reduced to a count of perhaps just 4 or 6.

The third one of the external links shown at the bottom of that wikipedia article, provides more detail on the Spring Drive watch workings.

[Max Demian]

Yes. I suppose it was to connect a separate earth for a radio or something.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I was taught that using the mains earth for a radio - if it had a separate earth terminal as part of the aerial circuit - wasn't a good idea. Best to use an independant earth.

[charles]

They did indeed. I still have some. Useful on occasions when conducting tests.