iAdam's Hunt for Red Oct... er, IT Certification

[ross549 1,256]

Parts would be nice these days.

 

Adam

[V.T. Eric Layton 6,832]

Nah... the only people who need parts to facilitate repairs nowadays are little Chinese girls.

[Guest LilBambi]

Sadly electronics are so tiny in new electronics that very few techs do board level diagnostics and repair anymore. It has mostly gone to board replacement that was not cost effective years ago.

[ross549 1,256]

Yep, everything is chips. And then I get questions about why I can't repair it.

 

It's sad, but at the same time, it is the march of technology. We want more power, less latency, and higher bandwidth.

 

These things demand VLSI.

 

Adam

[V.T. Eric Layton 6,832]

Sadly electronics are so tiny in new electronics that very few techs do board level diagnostics and repair anymore. It has mostly gone to board replacement that was not cost effective years ago.

 

True to a point. However, the exodus of component level repair started long before micro-miniaturization became a feasible technology. It was an exodus inspired by greed; more for less investment = advantages to the BOTTOM LINE.

[V.T. Eric Layton 6,832]

Yep, everything is chips. And then I get questions about why I can't repair it.

 

It's sad, but at the same time, it is the march of technology. We want more power, less latency, and higher bandwidth.

 

These things demand VLSI.

 

Adam

 

This is ONLY true for small personal electronics. If you open a TV or a stereo or a commercial band two-way radio or even your desktop computer, you will see lots and lots of discrete components in there. You'll see transformers, capacitors, resistors, coils... some surface mount, some radial/axial lead installations. All of this could still be designed, manufactured, and serviced in this country, but it's not. Why is that?

[V.T. Eric Layton 6,832]

Oh, and if I seem angry about all this, it's because I AM, D*MMIT!

 

I spend time, money, effort and years of my life to learn, gain experience, and maintain a career in the electronics service industry. One day I woke up and went to work and found that my entire career had moved to China.

 

Yeah. I'm a bit peeved about it still. It's one of the reasons I'm in my current financial situation (read as bankrupt, living in poverty, destitute).

 

I'm not one to whine and pin all my ill fortune on others or circumstances. I'm a rare person who actually admits that life is nothing more than a cause and effect relationship between your decisions and the results of those decisions. I am where I am due to some poor decision making on my part. However, that being said, how was I to know that my career choices at 17 years old would end up being so wrong?

 

Sorry for the rant.

[ebrke 1,383]

I do think something that appears in retrospect to have been a poor decision was not necessarily a poor choice when the decision was taken. Our society is rapidly becoming a place where people are berated for not anticipating absolutely every outcome of every potential setback that could develop in their lives and taking action to prevent all the possible adverse consequences of any of the possibilities. Those who favor this viewpoint are doing nothing more than trying to reassure themselves that these things won't happen to them because, unlike others, they have made the right choices.

Edited April 25, 2014 by ebrke

[V.T. Eric Layton 6,832]

*sigh*

 

I should have chosen to be born into the Rockefeller clan.

[ross549 1,256]

This is ONLY true for small personal electronics. If you open a TV or a stereo or a commercial band two-way radio or even your desktop computer, you will see lots and lots of discrete components in there. You'll see transformers, capacitors, resistors, coils... some surface mount, some radial/axial lead installations. All of this could still be designed, manufactured, and serviced in this country, but it's not. Why is that?

 

Because our time is better spent elsewhere. Globalization is an interesting phenomenon.

 

My job in the Navy is on a lifeline too. Much of our stuff is moving to data networks. Our workhorse VHF/UHF radio is now a relatively compact box running five vxworks CPUs with SDR cards. There's very little I can do in order to repair the radio set without touching the software at some point. In fact, most of our work on the system was either replacing high power amplifiers or reconfiguring the software. The two times in three years that went outside those were simple fixes, like a failed wiring harness and a power supply that died.

 

The time we spend troubleshooting and repairing that motherboard is simply not worth it any more. The cheap parts that can be found and the relative stability of analog components these days simply means our time is best spent doing more awesome things.

 

This is the main reason I am counting my blessing on this training I am getting. It is truly where the field is moving. the days of soldering components and re-engineering circuits is truly behind us.

 

Adam

[V.T. Eric Layton 6,832]

No further comments from me would be appropriate at this time.

[Guest LilBambi]

Yes, we know. As a matter of fact, that change was what kept so many coming back to Jim instead of other places right up till the end. Jim doing component level repair was cheaper than the board swappers of that time.

 

Of course everyone except manufacturers do board swapping these days...Sad for the customer. It's much more expensive repair generally speaking.

 

 

 

For those who are not familiar with Adam's term: VLSI (Very Large Scale Integration).

Edited April 26, 2014 by LilBambi

[ross549 1,256]

It is sad.... as Eric noted, some of those capacitors are not difficult to replace (albeit above my soldering skill level). However, you need to know exactly which component has failed. That is where time is "wasted" in today's world- finding that broken component.

 

I remember the console TV my mom and dad had for my entire childhood. It was a super old model, with the large capacitors and transistors. It worked really well for a long time. Occasionally, a component would fail and Dad would call the repair man, who would replace the failed component and the TV would be like new again. It was really cool, but sadly, stuff is simply not made that way any more.

 

 

Adam

[V.T. Eric Layton 6,832]

 

Of course everyone except manufacturers do board swapping these days...

 

What manufacturers? Surely you're not referring to U.S. manufacturers because there aren't any these days. Even my favorite companies that I always loved and was loyal to like Motorola and Zenith now use offshore assembly plants and Chinese-produced modular assemblies to "manufacture" their products. Entire main boards from Motorola business and marine radio systems are not sent back to China for refurbishing while recently refurb'd boards are used to "fix" the down units. The day of the long-haired, tattooed, chain-smoking, Harley-riding, Motorola radio bench techs are long gone.

 

 

The world moved on and left all us older farts in this unfamiliar place. Happens to everyone, eventually, I s'pose.

[V.T. Eric Layton 6,832]

What's that old saying?

 

Adapt or die.

 

[ross549 1,256]

Indeed. What will be the next big shift....... :'(

 

Adam

[V.T. Eric Layton 6,832]

From big computer hardware to personal (wearable/implantable) hardware.

 

Be the first on your block to get the GOOGLE Matrix port installed. You can be AdamNeumonic.

 

[V.T. Eric Layton 6,832]

So, back 2 topic...

 

How's the studying going and when do you plan on taking the Cisco exam?

[ross549 1,256]

Well, we are working our way through the routing protocols and concepts book. I was just working on notes for distance vector routing protocols. I think we start RIP in depth on Monday, and then EIGRP after that.

 

I have confirmed my eligibility for reimbursement for the ICND1 exam. The Navy will pay for it, but I will need to run some paperwork to get the voucher. I will do that as soon as I can get a firm date and obviously pad my timeline a bit for some studying.

 

Adam

[V.T. Eric Layton 6,832]

RIP is pretty much obsolete. EIGRP is Cisco's primary routing protocol these days. It's source was opened by Cisco just last year, by the way.

[ross549 1,256]

Our instructor mentioned that. i don't find it that surprising. A good move by Cisco.

 

Adam

[ebrke 1,383]

sadly, stuff is simply not made that way any more

Well, some stuff is, or maybe I've just been lucky, or maybe this stuff just missed the era of disposability. I've got a couple of TVs that are 15+ years old, and one that is probably approaching 25--not replaced because they still work. Don't need latest and greatest huge flat screen, but it's funny to see the look on the cable repairman's face when he sees them. Edited April 26, 2014 by ebrke

[ross549 1,256]

Perhaps it did miss the era. I bought a 27" JVC tube TV back in 2003, and it was working fine when I got rid of it in 2008.

 

Adam

[V.T. Eric Layton 6,832]

The last Zenith I had lasted me 18 years. It still worked fine when I gave it away. My godfather next door bought one of those fancy-schmancy LCD TVs and gave me his old Magnavox 27" CRT TV. It was newer than my Zenith, so I considered it an upgrade. It's now my bedroom TV. Shortly after godfather gave me the Magnavox, my friend Jan gave me her 36" RCA monster CRT TV after she upgraded to an LCD. This one is my main TV currently. Works fine and dandy for me. I probably only turn a TV on in my house for a total of 2 hours a week, maybe. I don't watch much TV these days, and when I do, it's usually PBS or old retro stuff from the 50s and 60s; all over-the-air broadcasts, as I have no cable TV... by choice.

[ross549 1,256]

 

Finally!

 

Now off for a smoke.

 

Adam

[ebrke 1,383]

Perhaps it did miss the era. I bought a 27" JVC tube TV back in 2003, and it was working fine when I got rid of it in 2008.

 

Adam

My 25+ year-old TV is a JVC. Edited April 30, 2014 by ebrke

[V.T. Eric Layton 6,832]

Look at all the pretty green connections.

[ross549 1,256]

Some schmuck screwed up the ip addresses for the networks on the router on the right.... took me a while to find that one.

 

Adam

[Temmu 1,931]

your lab work is a collaborative effort?

[Guest LilBambi]

LOL! Sounds like fun! You learn a lot fixing other people's screwups!