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I’m trying out a new black and white post processing technique.  It seems to have worked quite well and given lots of contrast without sacrificing detail. I think I like it!

In phone news:

• I’ve aquired some batteries from an old UPS to run the uniselector based exchange I’m designing and building.
• I’m soaking a couple of E1900 series phone bodies to remove the circuit diagrams which are pasted inside them, so that I can scan them before giving the bodies an intense clean and polish.
• I’m also working on some microcontroler code which plays back audio samples for my “siteswaphone” project (A project which uses a 746 phone as an IO device) – This isn’t as easy as I’d hoped, as the sample playback code I’ve got needs rewriting to work with 4 bit 6KHz samples, which is all I can fit in the 16K of storage I’ve got available!

That last one is the one which is causing the most head scratching, but the first one is the most interesting!

Posted in Phones, Photos | 3 Comments »

TxRx – PaD #7/7

I’ve spent the evening cleaning phones, and it struck me that I’ve got quite a large pile of transmitter and receiver elements.  So here it is.

A more inspired service will resume when I star going for lunchtime photowalks again, probably tomorrow.

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Chair Clips – PaD #6/7

I was at the DFR railway today helping out their telecoms team. I also had a bit of a wander around Lydney Junction station and took this shot a pile of clips used to hold the rails in place on the sleepers.

Comms wise, we terminated a couple of 10 pair cables in a cabinet some way down the line, got back to the Norchard exchange and tested them out – only to find a break.  Further tests showed us roughly where the break was, so we went out to investigate and found rat damage to the conduit that stretch of cable lies in.  Not a good sign!  We considered moving the pair over to another pair, but found that one had a break in it as well, at a different place in the same conduit.

We’re going to have to go back to it with a tone generator so we can work out which section of conduit has which breaks in, and investigate further.

Also had a bit of a chat with John about how best to build an exchange out of uniselectors, and he showed us his exchange which does just that.  Most impressive, yet the idea is begining to look achievable.

I might even be able to make it portable enough to take to a dorkbot meeting.

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Console – PaD #5/7

Today I made a trip over to Cheltenham, to visit some chaps driveway as he was getting shot of a load of old telephone equipment. This is one of the (many) items I came back with.

I’m told it’s some kind of directory enquiries console, but I’m not 100% sure if that’s right.  Still, I’m sure it’ll be useful for something!

I also came back with a couple of relay sets, and a bunch of uniselectors.  I *should* have enough bits to build most of the guts of an electro mechanical telephone exchange now!  I can have a phone exchange which clicks and whirs! Hurrah!

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Light – PaD #4/7

I absolutely deny any accusations that this is the result of me thinking “crap, it’s 11:30pm” – I think it’s worked out quite pretty though.

Posted in Photos | 2 Comments »

Lunchtime Photowalk – PaD #3/7

Jonathan and I went for a late lunch and wandered down to the harbourside to see if we could find anything industrial enough to work with the overcast grey miserable sky.  This chain is from a small crane just behind the Mud Dock Cafe.

This sign however, was on a good old green Bristol Bus.  Just like the one I used to get on with my Mum when I was a kid, to go shopping in town.  It was this type of bus that I got my elbow stuck in – I’ve been a little wary of spiral staircases ever since.

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Two Tone Phones (which don’t do tones) – PaD #2 of 7

The setup for this one was rushed and sloppy, it’s lopsided and I forgot to sort out the dial labels etc.

It’s mostly because I’ve only just got home from my first ever Bristol Dorkbot.  Yes, after about a year of saying “I’ll go this month!” and then remembering the day after it happened I finally made it.

I think I’ve pretty much promised to go back next month as well, and show them the siteswaphone.  Which means I really need to crack on and build the rest of the hardware.

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Trees and Reflections – PaD #1 of 7

As prommised I took some photos today.  This chap was 3 stories up, hanging from a very bendy tree, in the rain.  His job seems more interesting than mine, but I’m not sure I’d want to do it full time.

I’ve been trying to find photogenic puddles for years. I’m still not sure I’ve found one.

The “photo a day for a week” thing seems to be off to a reasonable start at least.

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Another couple

I like these, they look a bit like electron microscopy images.

As yet, I’m undecided which one I’ll enter into this weeks photo challenge. I really need to start taking non-challenge related photos again.  Sure the challenge is making me use my camera, but it does seem to be at the expense of me shooting anything else all week.

So, starting Monday I’m going to re-visit a “photo a day” for 7 days only!

Posted in Photos | 1 Comment »

Can you tell what it is yet?

It’s Mystery Macro time!  Probably not a particularly hard one to guess.

Posted in Photos | 2 Comments »