My Dad's Tools Were My Toys

My dad worked for the phone company (New England Bell, part of Bell Telephone before the breakup) until the day he died. Tragically, he was only 46 at the time, and I was only 12, but that's a sad story for another time. The point I'm trying to make is that, as the guy that repairs phones and phone lines and things, my dad had lots of cool toys - he called them tools - close at hand.

What does that have to do with anything? I mean, all of his old tools must be antiques by now, right? Well, I'm glad you asked. Let me tell you a story....


We've been using cordless phones in my house for a while now - it's very convenient, as long as they don't get misplaced or all end up in the kitchen. Still, I've always kept a wall-mount hardwired phone in my man cave - you know, in case the power goes out, this phone should still work, since it's powered from the line.


Time passes. I couldn't tell you the last time I used the hardwired phone, but I can tell you when I found out something was wrong with it. I recently bought a Brother MFC-9340CDW color laser all-in-one (love it!!), which includes a FAX function. I'm not sure the last time I needed to FAX anything, but the capability was there, so why not set it up?


And so I did - and failed. I didn't get a dial tone. I checked my hardwired phone - no dial tone there, either. I checked the jack near my computer - again, no dial tone. Hmmm. We had a good connection coming into the house, otherwise the cordless phones wouldn't work. So somewhere between the cordless base station and the basement phone junction there was a problem. I needed a way to trace it.


I could have turned my hardwired phone into a test set with a phone jack, some wire, and a couple of alligator clips. I could have, but I didn't. It would have been a cheap solution, but awkward to handle. Instead, I looked around for a Lineman's Butt Test Set (really, that's what they're called - I couldn't make this stuff up!) like my dad used to use.


I found them easily enough. Staples will sell you a TS30 (a relatively low-end model but perfectly adequate for my needs) for $239. Pretty expensive - I'm glad they didn't carry them in-store, or I might have been tempted to buy one.

Fortunately, such an item is available online only. Home Depot has an even lower-end unit for $105 - but again, available online only.

Well, if I have to order it online, why not check out a wider range of options, right? So I checked eBay...

Wow!!

I found options alright, everything from a cheap $6 import to a high-end $800 model whose functions I could never even fathom, let alone use. I ended up with this, for a whopping $6.47 (plus free shipping from Hong Kong, I think).

It should be perfectly adequate for my needs - but if that were the end of the story, I would have never written any of this. No, while searching for a decent test set, I ran across this beauty, a vintage Western Electric Lineman's Rotary Phone Butt Test Set:

That's my dad's test set! Sure, maybe not the exact one he used, but close enough that it brought memories to my mind and a lump to my throat. How much did this little piece of my past cost to acquire? Just $32 and some change (including shipping). Needless to say, I bought it in a heartbeat! It even arrived a day earlier than expected, and now it hangs from a hook right near the desk in my man cave. I don't even know - or care - if it works. It's just a small reminder of my dad, and maybe something only a geek would love, but there  you have it.


I have to say, I'm also very lucky that my wife, Tammy, is so understanding of my sentimental foibles. Sure, she rolled her eyes when I came home with old U.S. Navy Rescue Beacon, and I still haven't told her about the surplus Civil Defense Geiger Counter, but she didn't bat an eyelash when I unboxed this item and told her why I bought it. She never had the chance to meet my dad, but she understands just the same.

My apologies...

I need to apologize for not yet publishing Part II of "DIY Hack: A Better Marquee." It's not that I haven't wanted to finish it and get it out there. It's not even that I don't have the content for it. The problem is that I've been struggling mightily with the tools.

Blogger's online tools are adequate, in my opinion, for posts that are either all or mostly text. Or for posts with a lot of pictures where the location of the pictures within the text isn't critical. But Part II is a "How-To" post where the pictures and text go hand-in-hand, and the tools just aren't cutting it; there's not enough control over text and picture placement. Blogger kinda pretends to have a WYSIWYG interface, but it really doesn't.

I've resigned myself to buying an application to do the job right. Initially, I hated the idea of paying for it, since the free, online tools should be better, but at this point, I've wasted so much time trying to bend them to my will that I don't even care anymore. I'll pay, I'll pay, just do what I want!!!

I've tried and discarded one app already. I've started learning another, and I hope it will finally let me pull Part II together and publish it soon(ish). In the meantime, I've got a couple of other small items I could throw together in a post. I just don't want to delay Part II much longer, especially since there's going to be a Part III to follow, and I don't want folks to forget how it all started...

Heartbreak in Orlando

One again we mourn the victims of another brutal attack, this time on our own soil. Once again the innocent suffer. Once again, I really, really want to climb up on a soapbox and scream about the senselessness of it all. But once again I remind myself that the people who need to hear it won't listen, and the people who'll listen don't need to hear it.

My thoughts and prayers are with the people of Orlando, Florida, USA.


If you read this blog with any regularity, then you know that I'm just a geeky engineer. But you should also know that I love this particular bit of poetry, which is as appropriate now as it was when I put it up after the Brussels attacks:

The Law of the Jungle
(From The Jungle Book)
by Rudyard Kipling

Now this is the Law of the Jungle --
as old and as true as the sky;
And the Wolf that shall keep it may prosper,
but the Wolf that shall break it must die.

As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk
the Law runneth forward and back --
For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf,
and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.

Stay strong. Stay united. Watch each others' backs. Remember, you don't have to agree with each other on every issue - or even like each other, for that matter - to live in peace together. People from one corner of the globe to the other have forgotten this simple truth. Americans, in particular, ought to remember this tidbit from the end of the Pledge of Allegiance:

With Liberty and Justice for All

DIY Hack: A Better Marquee (Part I)

Lighted marquee decorations are very popular at the moment. A stroll through the aisles of just about any craft store (locally, we have Hobby Lobby, Michael's, and A. C. Moore) will prove that out. You can get letters, symbols, words, snowmen, stars, and who knows what else. You can get them in chipboard, galvanized tin, wood, plastic, and more.

I'm not sure why they're so popular, but I like them, especially the galvanized tin. It has a well-used industrial feel to it, which isn't quite a cool as Steampunk, but cool just the same. There are two problems, though. The first is that they're ridiculously expensive, considering what they are. That 'C' at the top of this post? It's only about 10" high and costs about $25. Fortunately, Hobby Lobby is always running sales of that kind of stuff, and I got it for half that.

The second problem is that these decorations are very monochromatic. The lighted ones almost always have warm white LED illumination, which is great because they look more like incandescent bulbs that way; that suits the Industrial aesthetic well. But even if I could forgive the lack of color, there's no motion either. Give me a flicker. Give me a wave. Just don't put me to sleep!

My wife, Tammy, gave me a couple of letters last summer for my birthday, an 'M' and a 'D' (my initials). I decided to do something cool with them, but that project isn't quite ready for prime time just yet. That will be the subject of another post or two. Or three.

And my daughter, Anna, found herself a marquee snowman this past Christmas. It's very similar to this guy right here. It's cute, but boring. That's when I decided to hack a marquee piece, and spice it up a bit. I wouldn't dare take apart my daughter's snowman. That just wouldn't be nice.

As luck would have it, my friend Cole turned 50 in early March, and she had a party to celebrate. I hadn't seen her since we graduated from college waaaay back in 1988 (shame on me; she doesn't live that far away), and decided that I was going to her party. Keeping in touch on Facebook just isn't the same as seeing someone in real life!

And speaking of real life: Cole is a Social Worker by day, but by night, she's a wildly creative artistic type. She beads and makes jewelry and all kinds of cool stuff (see her Etsy shop here). Her tastes are very eclectic, always have been, and that makes getting her a gift a very daunting task. What's an engineer to do? Well, make her something, of course!

I would never presume decorate someone else's walls, but Cole provided the perfect inspiration for my Marquee Hack. My daughter's snowman is safe for now; I went out and bought the "Galvanized Tin Lighted Letter C" you saw at the top of this post, went down into the Man Cave, and started getting creative.


The Concept

My friend Cole is more than just colorful - she's a whirling, twirling, endless kaleidoscope of color. This project cried out for animated, colored lights. Simply tinting the globes of the existing lamps just wouldn't do - too static. No, this project required some simple high-tech to bring it to life. I didn't have time to re-invent the world, though, so I went to my bread-and-butter solution to this sort of problem: neoPixels and an Arduino. My plan was to strip out the lamps that came with the marquee and replace them with neoPixels, and I'd use glass marbles to give the appearance of bulbs. An Arduino would run the show. It would need a pushbutton to select among a variety of light patterns, and a potentiometer to control the brightness. Because neoPixels can be power-hungry (up to 60mA per pixel if each of the red, green, & blue elements is on at full brightness), I decided to also remove the battery holder and use a 5V wall-wart power supply instead. Easy enough.

I can't even count the number of projects I've done using neoPixels and Arduinos. Most often, I've used the 5V, 16MHz Pro Mini for the brains of the operation. I've also used the Uno and the Mega, but the Pro Mini is tiny, powerful, and so inexpensive as to be almost disposable. The name-brand version is about $10, but I've found good-quality clones domestically for $5 and overseas (from China, usually) for $2.50 or less. As usual, the more you buy, the lower the price. I usually keep a bunch handy for just these types of spontaneous occasions. The Pro Mini is also available in a 3.3V version, but I don't use it for neoPixel projects because neoPixels require 5V.

Be very careful when buying from places like ebay, especially from overseas vendors. Many times, the description of the item doesn't match the title, and you may end up with a 3.3V board instead of a 5V. There's a lot of cutting and pasting going on, and not enough reading and understanding. When in doubt, ask!

I've also found neoPixels available in many different forms both domestically and overseas. Adafruit has perhaps the best selection domestically. The prices are a bit steep, but the service is excellent and fast. When I need a neoPixel ring, Adafruit is the best (and perhaps only) game in town. For discrete pixels or for strips, though, there are many choices. Just search ebay for "WS2812" and you'll find thousands.

When I need a small, flat footprint, but don't want to make or assemble my own circuit boards, I especially like the pixels shown in these photos. It's a single neoPixel on a 10mm PCB (the pads are on the back). I buy these still panelized, making them even less expensive - about $17 per 100, the last time I ordered. That's WAY less expensive than Adafruit - but it might take 3 weeks for them to arrive from China!

The lamps that come with the marquee letter are LED versions of 3V flashlight bulbs. They have a threaded base and glass envelopes (approximately 16mm in diameter) around the warm white LEDs, and are reasonably high quality replacements for incandescent bulbs. I happened to have clear, glass marbles on hand (from an entirely different project) that were just about the perfect size to replace the bulbs.

Next Time...

Rather than try to cram details of the entire project into a single, huge post, I've decided to split it into multiple parts. The next installment will cover the Mechanical & Electrical parts of the project: removing the original guts of the marquee, and installing the replacement electrical components. Lastly, possibly in a separate post (I'll decide once I've written it), I'll cover the software that brings the project to life.

Stay Tuned!

Embedded Systems Conference, Boston 2016

From left to right, we have Tammy, Max, Mark, and Jack
Yes, we're all standing. Max is really that much taller than the rest of us!

Unfortunately, I'm not able to attend the Embedded Systems Conference in Boston this year, which is on April 13 & 14. Just too much going on at work right now, and I can't get away. You'd almost think I was important or something!

Now, I'm a big fan of Clive "Max" Maxfield, who happens to be the Editorial Director at Embedded.com. He's a wizard among engineers, and we have a bunch of similar interests and have both done some wicked cool projects. He's also a gifted writer (I have a couple of his books and read his columns regularly). Anyway, hero worship aside, we've corresponded numerous times, but had never met face-to-face. So when I read that he was going to be attending this year's conference, I sent him an email inviting him to dinner. He had already made plans for his evenings up here, catching up with colleagues and friends, so he, instead, invited us (my wife Tammy and me) to join him at City Bar Boston Harbor at the Westin Boston Waterfront Hotel. As it turned out, there was a private function going on there, so we instead went to M. J. O'Connor's Boston Pub, also located in the Westin. It's a very comfortable Irish Pub with a friendly, laid back atmosphere and excellent food. No one had any trouble at all finding their way, and before long we had maybe two dozen folks catching up, swapping stories, and generally having a good time.

My wife, Tammy, isn't an engineer, but she does speak geek. She's a Pediatric Physical Therapist, but we've been together long enough that we speak each other's language to a fair degree. She had no trouble conversing with my fellow geeks, and Max especially made a point of including her in the conversation.

Also in attendance was Jack Ganssle, who was one of the very first Embedded Systems gurus I ever ran across. I was reading his column in Embedded Systems Programming way back when it was actually printed on paper! These days, I follow him on Embedded.com. I've had the opportunity to meet him in person a bunch of times over the years, both at Embedded Systems Conferences and at training classes he's held. He's a very nice guy and super knowledgeable.

Max was diligent in introducing folks around, but I'm afraid I don't remember everyone. That's my bad, and a real pity because it was a great bunch of people. Among those I do remember:

Peter Anderson is an Embedded HW/SW Engineer whose first experience with microprocessors was the Intel 8008 in 1974. Mine was with the 8085 way back in 1985.

Duane Benson is another luminary I'd hoped to meet, and I did, shortly before Tammy & I left for the evening. I first ran across his work when Max mentioned a project they were collaborating on. He's a veritable font of information on things like PCB layout and DFM.

David Gerber is a writer and editor who has also handled legal, technical, and business responsibilities for Gerber Scientific. Yes, that Gerber - his dad, H. Joseph Gerber, is the man behind the Gerber file format. If you've ever made a printed circuit board, you ought to know the name. David is presenting "The Incredible Story Behind the Gerber PCB File Format" at ESC, but was kind enough to tell us the story last night.

I also found out that David's time at RPI overlapped with mine for about a year; he graduated the year I started. Definitely a small world! He also spoke with Tammy for a while about her work with kids (she works in a school system providing physical therapy to students with a wide range of medical, cognitive, and physical issues). He asked some very insightful and probing questions, the kind you don't normally get in a casual conversation, like, "What have you learned from your patients?" and, "How do you handle working with patients that have progressive (or terminal) conditions?" Tammy was very impressed that he took such an interest in her work.

Well, there you have it. I think I can safely say that a great time was had by all - and before the Embedded Systems Conference even started! I once again lamented that I wouldn't be attending this year, but I promised Max that I'd do my best to attend ESC Minneapolis in September. During our walk back to the car, Tammy even told me that I ought to go! Well, geez, now that I have her blessing, there's really no excuse not to, is there?