Above is the very classy QSL that Mike, AA1TJ sent to Seab, AA1MY, confirming the first ever tunnel-diode skywave QSO (see below for more details). Go Mikums!In related news, Jerry, NR5A (who has also been bitten by the minimalist bug) reports the creation of a new Minimalist Radio Yahoo group:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Minimalist_QRP_Transceivers/
(Jerry and I have been attempting to translate some technical terms found in British schematics. Even though I lived there for four years, I admit to being stumped by "s.o.t." given with values for capacitors. Could this be "subject of test"? )
I think SOT means "select on test", i.e. try different values until you hit upon the best fit.
ReplyDeleteRay M0DHP
I agree re SOT as Select on Test - I always understood it to mean fiddle with the value till the circuit works correctly.
ReplyDeleteInteresting both replies from
the UK - a UK use of the term???
Neil Robertson GM8EUG
Yes, SOT means select on test.
ReplyDeleteWhilst such an approach may sometimes be justified with essentially experimental electronics, in modern professional circles this approach produces a deep suspicion that the engineer was not up to the task of designing out the variance. That said modern tolerances, simulation and integration level have improved beyond the wildest dreams of the engineers when SOT was considered OK. This has allowed modern engineers to substitute significant complexity for parameter uncertainty and thereby avoid the need for SOT.
In volume SOT is a disaster and of course you can't use it in inside an IC, so we have had to figure out how to avoid SOT.
However their is a modern equivalent to SOT and that is the selection of CPU voltage and clock frequency in PCs.
Stewart/G3YSX