from:"Tom Van Baak"

Re: [neonixie-l] Re: Four Letter Word Clocks

2021-05-29 Thread Tom Van Baak

Ray Weisling went to extraordinary lengths to fit his code and all the
words into very limited memory. Today, because memory is plentiful and
cheap, one would simply create a large table of all FLW, each word using
4 bytes. It would be so simple.

But instead he resorted to bit tricks. For example he created an
alphabet consisting of only 16 letters (not 26). That way a single
letter would use not 8, or 5, but just 4 bits. Thus any 4 letter word
that was a member of that alphabet required only 16 bits to encode, a 2x
memory saving. Very clever.

By creating several different sets of 16-letter alphabets he was able to
generate almost all the words you see. The remaining few exceptions were
done with a 4 byte table. To me it looked like a massive amount of
manual work, almost like a puzzle, but that's what you did as an
embedded programmer in the 90's when literally every byte counted.

I've seen the source code. It might be on the web, I don't know. Ray hit
hard times (again) in 2013; we exchanged a lot of Nixie email that year;
he sold me his personal FLW and GEEK clock to cover bills. He died not
that long after. His clocks, of course, live on and work perfectly.

/tvb
www.LeapSecond.com

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Re: [neonixie-l] Rodan CD47/GR414

2020-12-18 Thread Tom Van Baak

I agree. It's hard to get faithful photos of the CD47. Maybe because it's large 
and thus more 3D than most Nixie tubes.

In person they do not look weird at all. The digits are very well shaped; a 
unique and attractive "font". They are gorgeous and gigantic.

I share again the positive leap second photo:

http://www.leapsecond.com/pages/CD47/

/tvb




Sent from my iPhone
> On Dec 18, 2020, at 7:57 AM, Paul Andrews  wrote:
> 
> This.
> 
> Plus, the CD47 might look fuggly in photos, but once it is in front of you 
> and lit up, it is a whole different kettle of fish.
> 
>> On Thursday, December 17, 2020 at 4:47:52 PM UTC-5 nickja...@gmail.com wrote:
>> TOO LARGE, say what?  This reminds of the doinks at Best Buy or somewhere, 
>> when you're looking at a TV and they ask well, how big is the room?  Which 
>> is of course irrelevant.  Will it physically fit into the room?  Then it 
>> isn't too big!
>> 
>>> On Thu, Dec 17, 2020 at 5:48 AM Ⓙⓞⓗⓝ Ⓢⓜⓞⓤⓣ  wrote:
>> 
>>> I spent 45 years in design of one sort or another, from model-making for 
>>> museums, films and the telly, architecture, interior design, museum and 
>>> permanent exhibition design to graphic design and advertising. I don't 
>>> suppose my opinion counts for anything, however I really like the 
>>> compressed digit shapes of the CD47, possibly because they are so unique. 
>>> Having inspected a set of these tubes close up, I still like the look of 
>>> them. Would I ever want some? No, they are far too large for a domestic 
>>> interior. I think Dalibor's tubes are the ideal maximum size.
>>> 
>>> John S
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On 16/12/2020 13:58, Yohan Park wrote:
>>> Couldn't agree more :)
>>> Bigger doesn't always mean prettier.
>>> The digits look vertically stretched just to make them fit in the tube.
>>> If you'd scale this down to the size of a more common tube I bet most of us 
>>> would say it's an ugly tube :)
>>> Impressive? Yes! Pretty? No!
>>> But like you, I would sure want one just for the impressive size alone!
>>> 
>> 
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>>> To view this discussion on the web, visit 
>>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/b989f4da-39e9-5556-36fb-c30028bde5b7%40jsdesign.co.uk.
> 
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Re: [neonixie-l] My latest project...

2020-01-12 Thread Tom Van Baak

> Do you think this can feed my Nixie clocks?

Bill, yes, have a look at: http://leapsecond.com/pages/atomic-nixie/

/tvb


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Re: [neonixie-l] Re: 4x CD47 / GR-414 - Ultra Rare Nixie Tubes

2017-09-30 Thread Tom Van Baak

About those CD47 tubes on eBay... To me, they look slightly used, or maybe 
abused during shipping or storage. You can see minor chipping all along the 
expansion slots of the base.

By contrast, here's what the base of a new CD47 looks like:

http://www.leapsecond.com/pages/CD47/cd47-base-1200x1200.jpg

http://www.leapsecond.com/pages/CD47/

/tvb


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Re: [neonixie-l] Re: Leap second...

2017-01-01 Thread Tom Van Baak

> From: "'Terry S' via neonixie-l" 
> Date: December 31, 2016 at 8:22:17 AM PST
>
> Interesting read: http://www.leapsecond.com/notes/leap-watch.htm
>
> Terry

See also:

http://www.leapsecond.com/pages/CD47/

/tvb

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[neonixie-l] Nixie tube at 300 000 V

2016-09-02 Thread Tom Van Baak

I ran across this IN-18 page by Chris Gerekos:
http://www.hazardousphysics.com/main/in18clock/IN-18_Nixie_Tube_Clock_1.html

If you think adding a blue LED glow to a nixie tube is cool, apparently this is 
how real men do it:
http://www.hazardousphysics.com/misc/Nixie_tube_at_30V.html

/tvb

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Re: [neonixie-l] Flip Clock with WWVB

2016-01-27 Thread Tom Van Baak

This is likely JJY and not WWVB.

Japanese radio controlled clocks receive JJY at 40/60 kHz. US clocks receive 
WWVB at 60 kHz; and the data formats are incompatible.

/tvb

> On Jan 27, 2016, at 4:05 PM, Michail1 via neonixie-l 
>  wrote:
> 
> Thought a few people might be interested in this for a fun little kit 
> (although not Nixie).
>  
> http://www.makershed.com/products/electric-wave-clock
>  
> They had it for $54.99
> Sale price of $24.99
> BUT, if you go to the site, it is a blow out sale for $9.99
>  
> Just the WWVB receiver is worth that for the project.   I haven't seen other 
> flip clocks with WWVB in them.
>  
> If you buy $75 worth on the site (easily done), then shipping is $5.
> Maybe: http://www.makershed.com/products/angular-clock-kit
> Or: http://www.makershed.com/products/solder-time-watch-kit
>  
>  
> Also, coupon code: MAKEVIP2016   For another 10-20% off
>  
> Michail Wilson
> 206-920-6312
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[neonixie-l] Re: leap second nixie

2015-07-03 Thread Tom Van Baak

Hi Nick,

I put some photos of that Burroughs B-7011 tube here:

http://leapsecond.com/pages/B7011/

/tvb

- Original Message -

From: Nicholas Stock nickst...@gmail.com
Date: June 30, 2015 at 7:43:10 PM PDT
To: neonixie-l@googlegroups.com neonixie-l@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [neonixie-l] leap second nixie
Reply-To: neonixie-l@googlegroups.com

http://www.tube-tester.com/sites/nixie/dat_arch/Burroughs-Cat-918A.pdf

Wow. I thought I knew most of the tubes out there by now, but that is a 
monster!!

Thanks!

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Re: [neonixie-l] leap second nixie

2015-06-30 Thread Tom Van Baak

 Don't see that very often.I recognize most of the tubes, but what is the 
 large end view
 at the top right? Another Rodan behemoth?

Hi Nick,

The tube in the top right corner is a jumbo Burroughs B-7011. See catalog 
918A for specs.

/tvb

- Original Message - 
From: Tom Van Baak t...@leapsecond.com
To: neonixie-l@googlegroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, June 30, 2015 2:08 PM
Subject: leap second nixie


Some clocks are right twice a day. This one once every few years:

http://leapsecond.com/images/CD47-235960.jpg

/tvb

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Re: [neonixie-l] The Dilemma

2015-02-21 Thread Tom Van Baak

Luke,

No dilemma - have your clock and meter too:

1) Keep the beautiful voltmeter exactly as is, with no changes.

2) Turn it into a unique clock by making a little microcontroller-PWM-DAC
project that outputs 00.00 to 23.59 Volts, incrementing each minute as
appropriate.

If you want AM/PM time instead, output negative (AM) or positive (PM) 1.00 to
12.59 Volts.

/tvb

On Feb 21, 2015, at 1:23 PM, Luke luke.mor...@nordnet.fr wrote:

I recently acquired an old nixie voltmeter with the view to giving it a new
lease of life by transforming it into a nixie clock. This would, not only,
ensure practical daily usage, but would also be admired for its aesthetical
vintage beauty. It's a French made Rochar from 1964.
However, After plugging it into the mains for the first time, I was surprised
how well it worked. All the nixie tubes lit up with no cathode poisoning. The
voltage scale selector and auto scaling worked as if brand new. The decimal
point neon jumps across nicely to the next when I increase the voltage on my
homemade regulator.
The Dilemma is clear. Do I continue my original plan and carry on with the
conversion or do I keep it as it is ? In which case, it will gather dust,
probably only be powered up once or twice a year and then end up in the
garage with my other vintage stuff. But If I do convert it, will I regret
that decision in ten or twenty years time when these beautiful old lab
instruments have become even more scarce.
I have thought about trying to retain its integrity and keep it as a
voltmeter with all its original components but incorporating a clock circuit
and a switch which can toggle between the two. I have, in the passed
converted a TTL based frequency counter into a clock by rewiring the decade
counters but that would not be possible in this case.
Any advice will be appreciated.
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rochar.jpg
rochar2.jpg

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