30 March 2025

PABX Excelltel MK-208 recapped

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New look for the MK-208 This was an easy fix, on an easy to rework PCB. I replaced the five largest electrolytic capacitors in the MK-208 PA...
21 February 2025

PABX Excelltel MK-208 recap

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The (Excelltel) MK-208 PABX (and alike) is a modern local telephone analog exchange for small offices. "Modern" because it was ...
28 January 2025

Motorola MicroTAC GSM battery pinout (incomplete)

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A colleague has given me two Motorola GSM phones, a d460 and an International 8700 . According to timestamps on the battery packs, they wer...
31 December 2024

Composite video at variable refresh rate

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I am currently troubleshooting the CRT monitor of an Olivetti typewriter that produces composite video at 70 Hz refresh rate. Weird? Indeed....
11 December 2024

My first RIFA

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Over the years I have repaired few devices and never found a RIFA capacitor. Until today when I finally met them in all their smelly glory. ...
14 November 2024

Old Capacitor Wisdom

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I've received a homebuilt oscilloscope from 1950's. Scuola Radio Elettra, an Italan company back then, was very popular and helped m...
21 October 2024

Sony walkman WM-B12 repaired

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Now that my interests are expanding to retrocomputing, I feel the need to read those C64 tapes. Which means that, somewhere, a tape/cassette...
22 September 2024

T.I. Data Books

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Here they are, on my desk. It started in high-school in the 1990's. These books were a good alternative read for nerds, instead of those...