Test Equipment Upcycling – Variable Attenuator Module

A while back I found myself in the need of an adjustable RF attenuator capable of high-GHz operation. As luck would have it I had an old Spectrum analyser on the shelf at work, which we had retired quite some time ago. Spectrum analysers being quite capable test instruments, I

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Sony HVF-2000P Viewfinder Teardown & Composite Video Hack

Well, it’s time for another viewfinder hack! I’ve been after one of these for a while, this is from an early 1980’s era Sony Trinicon camera, and instead of the tiny ½” round CRT display, these have a 1.5″ square CRT – a Matsushita 40CB4. Luckily I managed to score

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PowerAdd Pilot X7 20,000mAh Powerbank & Fast Charging Mod

Here’s the biggest portable USB powerbank I’ve seen yet – the PowerAdd Pilot X7, this comes with a 20Ah (20,000mAh) capacity. This pack is pretty heavy, but this isn’t surprising considering the capacity. The front of the pack houses the usual USB ports, in this case rated at 3.4A total

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Panasonic NV-M5 CRT Viewfinder Hack

  The old Panasonic NV-M5 has the standard for the time CRT based viewfinder assembly, which will happily take a composite video signal from an external source. This viewfinder has many more connections than I would have expected, as it has an input for the iris signal, which places a

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Sony Xperia Z3 50% Battery Problems

Recently my phone decided it was going to die a battery-related death, and having not found much useful information on the Great Google, (all the information I could find, was hinting at many issues from firmware to a faulty motherboard, nobody seems to have actually done any investigation into similar

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DIY Eberspacher Glowplug Screens

One of the central parts to the Eberspacher-type evaporative burner is the wire mesh screen that surrounds the glowplug, where the incoming fuel is heated to vapour before it’s blown into the combustion chamber & burned. These screens, like glowplugs in the older heaters, are consumable parts and either get

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