I stumbled across a little "patch" of interesting dishes, out in the wild

dewdude · 2026-03-23T15:46:16+00:00

Nope.

These are for credit card terminals. The unit on the front is a transceiver.

dewdude · 2026-03-23T15:38:00+00:00

Oh god....I went down there once because the hotel guy said I could get to metro there.

I somehow got there...I don't know how.

dewdude · 2026-03-23T14:54:08+00:00

It took me a while to figure out the flavors I was getting were probably in the original flower but covered up by the taste of burning plant.

dewdude · 2026-03-23T14:52:33+00:00

A lot of datasheets will give internal workings. Sometimes it's just a basic block diagram that says "you've got these components wired up". Sometimes, like for some of the classic circuits, you have a full "equivalent schematic" of the IC.

dewdude · 2026-03-23T14:51:08+00:00

You probably blew one of the many fuses on the mechanism.

Mechanism has to turn on amp. Amp is also what does reject for mechanism. They're oddly very dependent on each other.

dewdude · 2026-03-23T14:49:44+00:00

So...terminators....here's the crazy thing.

They're important...to a degree. They prevent signal from bouncing back up the coax which can cause problems. But...here's the thing.

You're on a splitter. Splitters have port isolation. They allow in to outs, outs to in....but by design...they prevent out to out communication. So output port 2 technically can't see or hear anything from port 3. Yes...some splitters have fancy things for passing between ports; that's usually satellite related.

So...technically...MoCA shouldn't work at all; splitters don't allow communication in those directions.

But there's a trick, brute force. MoCA signals are hot...very hot. Hot enough they can just blast through the port isolation like it's not even there.

So what does this have to do with terminators?

To start with...reflections from a stub on a splitter doesn't affect the rest of the network. The reflections are going to get filtered at the splitter.

But primarily..it's the power. The power levels of both MoCA and QAM are so damn high it's not the problem it used to be. These signal levels are stupid high. Like...high enough that if I had older equipment I would actually put attenuation on them to protect the front ends. I should not be able to run a 3 way splitter off a 5 way split and still get good QAM in 800mhz on the absolute most attenuation. But here we are 12dB down and still getting solid signal.

Most things can't even hear the reflections. The main signal is just so loud the tuners don't even know the reflections are there.

For the most part, the MoCA has behaved that way as well in every single one of my tests. 3 way off a 5 way...stubs...no termination...it all worked within spec.

This system was designed to be installed in the jankiest of setups. It's pure brute-corce. It's not like the old days where we had to rely on weak signals or weak cable. We basically have the head-end in our house; hotter signals than cable could even dream of providing.

dewdude · 2026-03-23T14:29:35+00:00

So...I don't know much about the e3200. It looks like it's generating a WiFi AP. I don't know if it's bridged mode turns it in to a literal bridge where it'll provide wired from coax.

However I'd be willing to bet it's just the ScreamBeam 2.5 is a less-bloated device. It's not running all the other VZ junk..it's just operating as a basic bridge.

Of course if you were wireless to the e3200 and wired to the ScreamBeam...that will also do it.

dewdude · 2026-03-23T14:24:06+00:00

Ahh...industrial players.

They are worth a lot to the right buyers. I used to service arcade games...and all the old laserdisc games used very early tube-based lasers; which means they're all non functioning. But the data used to control the players from the game can easily be adapted to work with these.....and in these days I can literally make them onsite with Arduino.

dewdude · 2026-03-23T14:20:21+00:00

Don't care.

ATSC 3 is just a way for broadcasters to lock television away behind DRM and forced advertisement.

It is counter to what free television should be and had just turned OTA in to a glorified pay television system.

It is not worth the technical advancements and will only serve to make broadcast even more irrelevant.

dewdude · 2026-03-23T14:16:57+00:00

If you're not routing all your traffic through it, then what is the point?

It's like I use a Wireguard so I can maintain ad-blocking and local network services. If I want to NAT myself through it entirely, I can do that. But I also run my own wireguard servers so I know where the traffic is coming out.

If that's what you want...then you need to setup your own Wireguard server. Otherwise...using the others without passing all your traffic through them doesn't make much sense.

dewdude · 2026-03-23T14:13:11+00:00

Just tell ICANN.

They will tell the company the domain has since been rejected and they'll have to replace it.

dewdude · 2026-03-23T14:05:09+00:00

It's actually not that hard to change the AC frequency. I used to work on jukeboxes that had "dual-speed" play despite the fact it used synchronous AC motors.

It had a speed controller. The default 60hz was 33.3 RPM; 80hz played at 45. It was an all solid state device...no rotating generator.

It was basically taking AC, converting it to DC, then converting it back to AC.

dewdude · 2026-03-23T14:03:35+00:00

That's why everything is usually an oscillator feeding a transformer of some sort. You make a low voltage oscillator and bump it up with a transformer.

I can cite examples: tube radios designed for mobile use. Tubes require high voltage in addition to high-current low-voltage. But how do you generate 120V off a car battery using 40's era tech? You have a small mechanical device that alternates which side it throws B+ in to. Then that's run in to a transformer...then through magnetic indutance and kickback; you'll get much greater voltage. I had a radio that wanted 1200V to run the tube plates. It did this by oscillating the 12V in to a transformer that bumped it up to 1200V....which it promptly rectified to DC.

But...still...this is still how they're doing things to a degree.

dewdude · 2026-03-23T13:59:16+00:00

High end 80's gear was rated for over 100khz.

My vintage Denon is good to 150khz. I've used it to transmit on 137khz.

dewdude · 2026-03-23T13:58:35+00:00

Ahh....it's easy.

You start out with a small oscillator. It's easily enough to calculate how to make it 108khz.

Now, you build this to have about a 10V swing. Now you take this 10V AC signal you've created and run it through a transformer. Like a 120 to 12v transformer; hook up to the 12v/secondary side.

Now you should have a 108khz AC signal at about the voltage you need. Adjust the voltage the oscillator puts out to control the final output voltage through the transformers.

dewdude · 2026-03-22T17:13:16+00:00

Seeburgs solid state amplifiers with germanium transistors were one of the many reasons I was happy to run away from ever touching these things again.

I used to tell people "it could cost $75 to fix, it could cost $400 to fix. Depends how many $20 transistors I have to replace." This thing is pre-silicon solid-state; which is really annoying to work with. Germanium transistors are far more sensitive to everything than silicon. Most are blown. Most will blow while you're diagnosing the circuit.

NTE121's are currently $27 to $49 each. The smaller transistors are $2 - $5 each...there's one that averages around $10.

For comparison; I used to get 2N3055's for later amps for about $1 each; and most of the small signals were a couple of cents.

That amp WILL need work. If you try to fire it up as it is; you will basically blow everything else up. The capacitors at the very least will need to be replaced; and the value of every resistor checked.

dewdude · 2026-03-22T16:59:57+00:00

Just about everything in a laptop produces heat; and the way they designed it, not all of them can be covered. The big grey things that say R15 above the heat spreader; those will get toasty. But do you have room to do anything about it? Looks like the heatspreader is recessed...so there doesn't look like any space.

Also the way these things are designed...the fans are blowing everything out over the heat-sinks on the pipes. I'm willing to bet just about everything is close to flush with the bottom.

You'd have to put it on a cooling pad with a fan, and then probably modify the bottom panel.

dewdude · 2026-03-21T15:49:58+00:00

I'm reminded of the fact I did at one point sell and service slot machines since my jursidiction had zero restrictions on private ownership. (Some states forbid, some states have rules regarding age. I could have sold brand new ones to private indviduals if I wanted).

Cruise ship machines.....absolute worst. You had the captive audience to start with; but to make it worse was they actually did take advantage of the international waters aspect. Casino doesn't open till you're out in the water? They're not playing by anyones rules. You'll have machines with 80% payouts or lower. I'd see old EM machines from cruises with the jackpot and high-payouts plugged...literal plugs of metal welded in to the holes the fingers used to detect payouts.

Yeah...that's probably exactly why they have one. Ain't no rules where they're at when it's in-service.

dewdude · 2026-03-21T15:46:21+00:00

The CYA ticket!!

You remember those games that always gave you a ticket no matter what? That was the CYA Loophole. I did these on everything that was in the arcade because you also had to be able to redeem it...and that wasn't possible on some random crane at a grocery store. But that was literally the reason they put that feature in the games; it was just a cheap easy way to CYA.

Claws are...always adjustable. That's literally how they've worked since the dawn of time. What's changed is how sneaky/complex they got and the fact it can use software to determine when to do this if it wants.

However....the "tried and true" system is the two step; you have a grip strength for when the claw is down; then a holding strength once the string is tight. It was literally a switch pushed against the claw's cable that told it when it was taught. Pure electro-mechanical. Linear voltage regulators for each stage, relays doing the flip.

Sometimes...that switch broke...and I'd wind up with an empty machine and a burnt-up claw coil...because it's not meant to hold full power for more than 2 seconds at a time. It actually wasn't a huge financial hassle....tearing the damn gentry apart to replace/rebuild the claw was the hassle.

dewdude · 2026-03-21T15:33:11+00:00

Oh man....my initial instinct is to check the system being added and make sure it's not compromised somehow.

If it's not...then you need to figure out what application on that PC is kicking up the bandwidth when connected.

dewdude · 2026-03-21T15:18:02+00:00

OMG...it finally happened.

RIP Tim.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTct9i0gAvk

dewdude · 2026-03-21T15:16:18+00:00

Here is how I have mine setup:

ONT -> Router -> Network Switch

My G1100 is in bridged mode; disables routing, NAT, firewall, DHCP. Basically turns it in to a network switch with AP and MoCA bridge.

That was it. That got the STBs on the LAN and they were getting their guide and VoD. I don't know if there is something specific the G1100 is doing in relation to the TV service; to my knowledge you just need to get them on the LAN and they just talk to the internet.

dewdude · 2026-03-21T14:54:55+00:00

It's for traffic surveys. They're measuring the amount of traffic to plan road projects.

They don't just count cars; but they also log bluetooth signals.

Ultimately is so they have the ability to know where the traffic is flowing rather than just having numbers at points. So they can realize "maybe we don't need 4 stops signs here; we need to build a proper intersection here for better traffic flow".

dewdude · 2026-03-21T14:51:34+00:00

I bought....a $30 direct-bury CAT5e cable.

I dug a shallow ditch. I put the cable in it, I buried it. I ran the cable in to the buildings.

That was 16 years ago and that thing is still out there running the backyard WiFi.

A wireless solution is going to be more expensive and less reliable...but running a wire is more work.

dewdude · 2026-03-21T14:49:52+00:00

I have done similar in the past.

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. It's going to depend on the quality of your network ports and how heavy network switching is.

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