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UKHHSoc update

Apologies. The website has been difficult/impossible to access since some time yesterday. I think this is related to a domain name change on the part of the person who is hosting the site. However for the same reason, my emails to him are being bounced, so I'm trying to find out via an indirect route. Have more items to add, and hope normal service will resume soon!
 
Hello Jim,

What a wonderful resource. Bravo!

Can you add documentation on the Ferranti ribbon pick- up?
 
I'll use this thread to 'float' a possibility which another thread has just brought to my mind... :)

It seems clear that some makers, etc, don't release full circuit diagrams, etc, for what they make. This can impede third-party repair work. It also risks info being lost. So I'm wondering if owners of some UK kit like amps might consider taking detailed photos of the innards of circuit boards etc to aid the ability to trace out the circuitry, etc? And that they and/or others then use these to determine the circuit details. So that even when official data is unobtainium, we could gather relevant info and make it more widely available.

What do others think of this as a possible project?
 
I think it is a great idea and I’m all in favour of placing as much information as is possible into the public domain to keep kit out of landfill. My fear is you may run into legal issues with some current kit due to intellectual property etc, much depends on the attitude of the company in question and whether they make money servicing their old kit. There is a whole generation of kit I’d like to see as well documented as the classic Quads, Leaks etc, e.g. the early MF kit, Exposure, Meridian, Linn etc as a lot of it is out there very affordably and should be perfectly fixable by anyone who can solder assuming they have access to probe points, voltage levels etc.
 
I understand the IPR point. However I think this really depends on what form of protection they wish to rely upon. If they have patented some key aspect then that aspect will have had to appear in the patents - which are openly available unless there is an exception issue like National Security - which seems unlikely here. :)

Copyright might prevent anyone else from duplicating, say, the *PCB*. But I doubt it can prevent someone else examining the circuit and making their own circuit diagrams of it. What has been sold and labelled is the physical system, not a circuit diagram.

The reality, of course, is that large equipment makers routinely take apart 'competing' products to examine them. Just that they then use the info when making their own designs, without publishing (or patenting) what they found.

Plus, as you say, the concern I have is for 'older' kit that is no longer in production. Although, again, I think of the stark contrast with 50 years ago when makers were happy and *proud* to give people diagrams, manuals, etc, as a sign of confidence in their work and customers, and to aid repairs, etc.

Given the rise in 'reuse, repair, etc' attitudes I wonder if this won't end up being mandated by goverments, anyway! It also helps avoid a problem I've encountered where a maker (*not* of hifi) was simply not willing to repair an item that was only three years old. *Despight* EU Law saying they were required to do this.
 
Given the rise in 'reuse, repair, etc' attitudes I wonder if this won't end up being mandated by goverments, anyway!

There is a very substantial and politically active ‘right to repair’ movement mainly targeting computer companies (especially Apple) at present. This has got to State Senate level etc in the USA and elsewhere in the world so far and I obviously support it fully. One of the key advocates is Louis Rossmann, a highly skilled independent repair tech with a very amusing if sweary YouTube channel (his Wikipedia entry). I’m very happy to align pfm with this mindset as it fits closely with our long-held attitude that audio should be a close to zero-landfill hobby. Properly designed audio kit should last a lifetime IMO.

As such I think your suggestion is a great idea and will happily host threads that reverse-engineer any classic audio kit subject to any legal intervention (I will have no real option but to pull content on legal request). I think we should maybe set an time-limit just to protect current products and manufacturers, say anything older than ten years is theoretically fair game?
 
A time 'horizon' of some kind makes sense. TBH some modern kit is unrepairable and unfathomable anyway as it can be a few special-part ICs on a board, so no hope of any repair.

However I'd suggest whichever is sooner. 10 years from production start or a few years after production ceases, whichever comes sooner.

Also, as per some documentation, etc, the UKHHSoc could 'reserve' some info and preserve it without publication for a period of grace. The point being that it needs to be discovered and preserved for the future. However whatever could be made public, should be.

TBH if makers/designers/repair people said something like: "We'll give you this info to preserve provided you don't publish it for, say, 5 years", I'd probably accept that.

I'll have a look at the Utoob channel you mention. I now have got used to using youtube-dl and have written my own utility to make getting things simpler.
 
I hadn’t looked too closely at this site, but on checking I didn’t realise how comprehensive it is.
It was useful to read the Redford information, especially on the Bookshelf model, as I refurbished
a pair a few years ago.
It would have been useful to had the info. at the time.
 
The bottom line is that we can only add material that someone gives to us and is relevant! Hence any absences or imbalance in the level of coverage is due to that. There are many makers and models where I'd *love* to make more info available. But don't have it!

FWIW there are now well over 5,000 items on the UKHHSoc site.
 
Thanks Craig. I've added the comments you just made elsewhere onto my 'to do' list. Although as usual, heaven knows when I'll get to them! Currently still working on something else long and complicated...
 
Sorry about this! There is a problem at the moment with the uploading. When I've tried it from here, it works. But I had a report a short time ago that someone else can't get it to work. But as yet I've not been able to find the cause of the problem.
 
Sorry about this! There is a problem at the moment with the uploading. When I've tried it from here, it works. But I had a report a short time ago that someone else can't get it to work. But as yet I've not been able to find the cause of the problem.

Nooooooooo...

I've uploaded some 30 pages. :(
 
Fingers crossed - It may be OK despite the snags! Did the files you send include items with names like "LS3-6-vs_BC1..." "ditton22-44-66", etc? I've had a look and a number of items dated 21 Mar *are* findable! But for some reason I didn't get notified. The system is meant to email me and tell me when things get uploaded. But doesn't.

Did you add a message with the uploading?

BTW it tends to be simpler to zip all the files into one archive as it then only needs one DnD and transfer. So should save you bother. I'll fetch the new items and count / list them.
 
I've just downloaded and counter the items dated 21 Mar 2020. It comes to 85 files! There are also some other items that seem to have arrived without my being notified.

My apologies to anyone who has sent stuff in recent weeks and not had any acknowledgement or seen anything appear. In part this is because I've been unwell/busy. But it is also because I haven't had the messages the system is meant to send to me to tell me when something arrives, so I haven't looked! :-/

There is still a problem, but it seems items *do* get though at the moment.
 


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