The World Of Impulse

DEF LEPPARD, CHEAP TRICK and THE GALVATRONS rocked Melbourne, Australia, November 2008 !!!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 10:07:00 +0000

DEF LEPPARD came to Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena on November 3rd 2008 and brought the house down. Fabulously supported by CHEAP TRICK and THE GALVATRONS, it was certainly a night to remember. Unfortunately, Rod Laver Arena’s sound system just couldn’t cope with DEF LEPPARD for the most part and detracted from the quality of their performance (more later).

Formed in 2007, THE GALVATRONS (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Galvatrons, http://www.myspace.com/thegalvatrons) opened the show with a handful of good hard rockin’ numbers. There is considerable potential with this band and it has been suggested that they just need their own catchy song that brings together the most significant influences on them to climb to the top. Nothing wrong with these 4 guys and they did a good job of warming up the crowd for a half hour or so.

It would appear that CHEAP TRICK (http://www.cheaptrick.com/, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheap_trick) could have been a last minute withdrawal because of lead singer Robin Zander’s throat infection. No sign of troubles here with the group pounding out the best of the best with the likes of “The Flame”, “Surrender”, “I Want You to Want Me” and the trademark “Dream Police” just to name a few. Solid work by Tom Petersson on bass guitar and Bun E. Carlos on drums, with Rick Nielsen playing bludgeoning lead guitar while waltzing all over the stage and throwing handfuls of guitar picks into the crown. It seems that Robin’s voice lasted enough to perform all but one song but what was delivered was ample and perfect. Thanks for Robin sticking it out.

The night’s sensation and top billing DEF LEPPARD (http://www.defleppard.com/, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Def_Leppard) caused the crowd to erupt and reach such a high that there just wasn’t a way to come down! Truly a superb hard rocking exhibition of just how a band should translate such a formidable collection of songs across 3 decades into a live performance. They played the new, the old, the classics, the ballads, everything was there for an unforgettable experience. Starting off with an opening pair of all time best songs “Rocket” and “Animal” to set the scene, they entered The Sparkle Lounge with “C'mon C'Mon” and then went back to “Foolin'”. A mid-set of variations, had the crowd involved and loving it with “Make Love Like a Man”, “Nine Lives”, “Love Bites”, “Two Steps Behind” as an acoustic piece and a full version of “Bringin' On The Heartbreak & Switch625” carrying with the acoustics initially and then exploding the masterpiece that it is. The band continued the up beat trend with more fine selections from the Hysteria and Pyromania CDs “Love And Affection’, “Hysteria”, “Armageddon It”, “Photograph”, “Pour Some Sugar On Me” and “Rock Of Ages”. The crowd was given a quick breather with the ballad “When Love And Hate Collide” and then the most appropriate finale with “Let’s Get Rocked”. A huge 17 songs done over more than a solid hour and a half.

Joe Elliott’s lead vocals were unwavering, both Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell were scintillating on guitars, Rick Savage was slick on bass and Rick Allen was fabulous on drums. A very neat and tidy job.

But even though DEF LEPPARD put on an outstanding performance, it was the stadium’s sound system that was left wanting. Their opening two songs suffered quite badly due to bass overload causing uncontrolled speaker box resonances and Joe’s vocals then becoming muffled by the side-effects making him very distorted. The problem seemed to disappear by the time “Foolin’” came up but it was back later in the show to provide some disturbing results. On numerous occasions it looked like Joe was struggling with a malfunctioning wireless microphone (dead batteries?) and at times appeared to be trying to get the attention of the stage crew for another one, but he continued on doing what he does best. A number of glances over at the sound and lighting consols saw nobody trying to trouble shoot the problem. A team of 4 people and several computers were all motionless at the controls as if it were all under control. Clearly, the sound mixing engineers were unaware that overdriving the bass (beyond amplifier clipping) produces all sorts of unwanted intermodulation distortion products and other undesirables that in this case swamped over Joe’s voice. The system just couldn’t cope. The answer is simple, back off the bass so that the whole system can work properly and provide a “cleaner” sound. It isn’t rocket science and those people in control should know this and be able to react to remove the problem. This is what sound checks are for! There were no signs of this at the Ozzy Osbourne concert held at this venue on 15 March 2008 and the sound quality was amazing then.

Aside from the tragic sound problems on the night, it was one mind-blowing concert.

All photographs by GW taken at Rod Laver Arena.

Detour Mistake & The Batman Ave CityLink Toll Road Melbourne CBD

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 01:04:00 +0000

There is a very short stretch of road in Melbourne that is part of the CityLink toll road network. It is only 600 meters long but you wouldn’t know that you are on it if you are not a frequent traveller into the Melbourne CBD.

The stretch starts at the Flinders St end of Exhibition St. It is actually an extension of Batman Ave that ultimately connects to the Monash Freeway toll road. When approaching along Exhibition St there is a substantial downward slope and lanes are marked mostly for left and right hand turns into Flinders St but unless you are very familiar with the area, you wouldn’t know that what lays ahead is a toll road. (see picture courtesy of Google Maps Street View taken sometime 1 Jan – 27 Oct 2008). Once you are actually in the intersection there are no obvious signs that tell you that Batman Ave is a toll road.

Due to a lot of traffic and use of these roads by substantially large trucks, it is easy to get shunted down Batman Ave in order to clear the intersection if the lights change and your vehicle is going to block it.

Fortunately, CityLink can be very sympathetic to this situation and a calm and polite call to their information service (132629) might just get the Late Toll Invoice cancelled, particularly for “first time offenders”. The CityLink representative did confirm that the entrance was a bit confusing and that such a mistake was easy to make. At time of writing (27 Oct 2008), the toll for the short Batman Ave section was $1.03 but the administration fee to track the car owner down was $12.42 making the trip 2.5c per meter. Not all that much but still a very expensive detour all the same.

CityLink is commended on its common sense resolution of the situation. However, depending on how many $1 mistakes are made by unaware drivers, there could be yet a series of more obvious signs added to the intersection so be warned!
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RF & Microwave Measurements Accurately and Quickly

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 06:17:00 +0000

Making RF & Microwave measurements accurately and quickly is a tough ask.

A company specializing in all apsects of RF/Microwave vector & scalar network analyzers has been in operation since 1993. They also handle many other types of equipment such as spectrum analyzers, Site Masters and RF power meters manufactured by Hewlett-Packard / Agilent, Rohde & Schwarz, Advantest, Gigatronics, Anritsu / Wiltron and many more.

The name is Impulse Engineering International and you can find them here at http://au.geocities.com/impulse_eng/

Some of their talents include operator training courses, test procedure development, set to work programs and ATE (automated test equipment) software written in LabVIEW, LabWindows/CVI, HPBASIC, HTBASIC and Basic For Windows.

Measurement experience includes reflection/transmission (return loss/insertion loss), amplifier gain, noise figure, phase noise, antennas, radar cross section, plus others.

They work on-site or develop off-site to provide the ultimate in cost effectiveness, and they do it anywhere in the world.
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Rare Scanning Electron Microscope Spare Parts, Electron Tubes & Digital Counters

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 06:13:00 +0000

A fantastic treasure trove of rare bits and pieces used on Scanning Electron Microscopes can be found here http://au.geocities.com/impulse_eng/stuff.html

Particularly covered well are the Siemens Elmiskop 1A & 101 models.

Other items of interest are electron tubes / valves and electromechanical counters/totalizers.

Electron Tubes
108C1, 150C2, 5651A, 6AL5, 6BK4, 6BL8, 6CM7, 85A2, 931A, E182CC, E80F, E88CC, E91H, E92CC, ECC40, EF80, F2a, K81A, OA2, OB2, Q83/3, SC1/1000, Ste1000/2.5/1.5, ZZ1040
Electron Microscope Parts
C70106-A45-A? / Plate Drive to Ser.No 1049, C70389-A518-B30 / Plate Chamber no Airlock, C70389-B412-C17 / Aperture Holder Spring, C70389-A2405-A2 / PVC Hose 350mm, C70389-A2405-A4 / PVC Hose 485mm, C70389-A2405-A5 / PVC Hose 520mm, C70389-A500-B14 / Adapter Metal Plastic hose, C71402-Z586-U1 / Pressure Switch, D7623-C60-M37 / Hollow Bolt Water Fitting, . / Metal Clad Hose 650mm, . / Banjo Water Fitting, C70389-A1102-C? / Bias Shield High Intensity, C70389-A1102-C117 / Bias Shield Cap Nut, C70389-A5203-A3 / High Voltage Cable, S70478-A28-A1 / Reconditioned filament, S70478-A36-A1 / Opanol HV Sealant, 171247a / Lens Switch Pull Push, Anticontam Device / Cold Finger, C70389-A1452-B28 / Blanking Screw Plug, C70389-A1452-C164 / Teflon Ring, C70389-A5552-B2 / Desiccator Container, C71230-Z31-A47 / Lamp 6V 1.5W Ba 9s, C71230-Z31-A52 / Lamp 220V 25W E14, C71230-Z31-A80 / Lamp 12V 0.1A, C71230-Z31-B7 / Lamp Red E14 HV Ind., C71230-Z31-B8 / Lamp Green E14 HV Ind., C71230-Z69-A48 / Lamp 220V 7W E14, C71230-Z69-B10 / Lamp 220V E14, C71230-Z69-B2 / Lamp 220V, EM 101 / Lens Current Test Plug, EM 1A / Lens Current Test Plug, Exposure Meter / Control Unit, J2 EM 1A / High Vacuum Meter , J3 EM 1A / Magnification Meter, J5 EM 1A / Fore Vacuum Meter, S70478-A79-A2 / Indicator Diff. Pumps, C70389-B641-C19 / Screen with 90mm Circle, C70389-B641-C20 / Screen with 87.5mm Circle, S70478-A43-A1 / Left Obj.Aperture Control , 171877a / Timer R1 220V 50Hz, 3R-25000 B LD / Relay, C20327-A6035-A1 / Arrester 350V, C20327-A6035-A2 / Arrester 600V, C70389-A4353-A1 / High Voltage Diode, C70389-A4353-A2 / High Voltage Triode, C70389-B8001-B43 / Relay, D49515-D2-F2 / Fuse 2Amp 5SA1 11, D49515-D2-F20 / Fuse 20Amp 5SA1 71, D49515-D2-F6 / Fuse 6Amp 5SA1 31, K915 3 5-1a / Relay R10 R11 Vac Pump, Q31-X1001 / Electron Tube F2a, Q32-X801 / Electron Tube E80CC, Q32-X805 / Electron Tube E84L, Q32-X820 / Electron Tube E80F, Q38-X1803 / Electron Tube K81A, Q503-C40 / Electron Tube ECC40, Q54-X8002 / Electron Tube 7242, Q61-X3505 / Thyratron Ste1000/2.5/15, Q66-X4855 / ZZ1040 Tube, Q66-X6004 / 85A2 Tube, Q66-X7005 / 150C2 Tube, S70478-A56-A1 / ZZ1040 Tube + Adapter, S70478-A82-A1 / Relay, W1-W2 / Resistor HV 1440 Mohm, . / Fuse Holder 5SA1 11-81, C70389-B151-C12 / Diaphragm 1.54mm PP2, C70389-B151-C13 / Diaphragm 0.77mm PP3, C70389-B151-C14 / Diaphragm 0.385mm PP4, C70389-B151-C15 / Diaphragm 3.04mm PP5, C70389-B711-C5 / Annular Seal 111 x 6, C70389-B711-C1 / Annular Seal 156 x 6, C71187-Z101-D1 / Annular Seal 6 x 11 x 5, C71187-Z101-D15 / Annular Seal 7 x 11 x 4, C71187-Z101-D11 / Annular Seal 7 x 12 x 5, C71121-Z101-P15 / Grooved Ring 10 x 18 x 5, C71121-Z101-P17 / Grooved Ring 14 x 22 x 6, C71121-Z101-P19 / Grooved Ring 15 x 25 x 5, C71121-Z101-P7 / Grooved Ring 3.9 x 7.5 x3, C71121-Z101-P21 / Grooved Ring 30 x 40 x 5, C71121-Z101-P22 / Grooved Ring 32 x 44 x 6, C71121-Z101-P23 / Grooved Ring 32 x 45 x 6.5, C71121-Z101-P25 / Grooved Ring 48 x 68 x10, C71121-Z101-P8 / Grooved Ring 5 x 12 x 5, C71121-Z101-P9 / Grooved Ring 5 x 14 x 4.5, C71121-Z101-P10 / Grooved Ring 6 x 12 x 4, C71121-Z101-P26 / Grooved Ring 78 x 90 x 12, C71121-Z101-P36 / Grooved Ring 8 x 14 x 6, C71121-Z101-P11 / Grooved Ring 8 x 16 x 4, C71121-Z101-P13 / Grooved Ring 8 x 22 x 8, C70389-A2001-C82 / Leather Washer 18x10x2, C70389-A1201-C11 / Moulded Seal Condenser, C70389-A1102-C108 / Moulded Seal Electro Gun, C71121-Z101-A121 / O-Ring 100 x 5, C71121-Z101-A97 / O-Ring 101 x 4.5, C71121-Z101-A144 / O-Ring 106 x 4.5, C71121-Z101-A41 / O-Ring 11 x 3, C71121-Z101-A204 / O-Ring 110 x 5, C71121-Z101-A87 / O-Ring 12 x 4, C71121-Z101-A205 / O-Ring 120 x 4.5, C71121-Z101-A57 / O-Ring 129 x 4, . / O-Ring 13 x 3, C71121-Z101-A142 / O-Ring 13 x 5, C71121-Z101-A88 / O-Ring 14 x 3, C71121-Z101-A184 / O-Ring 14 x 4, C71121-Z101-A59 / O-Ring 145 x 5, C71121-Z101-A74 / O-Ring 15 x 3.2, C71121-Z101-A89 / O-Ring 15 x 5, C71121-Z101-A207 / O-Ring 150 x 5, C71121-Z101-A141 / O-Ring 160 x 10, C71121-Z101-A81 / O-Ring 17 x 2, C71121-Z101-A185 / O-Ring 18 x 5, C71121-Z101-A44 / O-Ring 20 x 4, C71121-Z101-A91 / O-Ring 20 x 5, C71121-Z101-A45 / O-Ring 21 x 3, C71121-Z101-A190 / O-Ring 23 x 5, C71121-Z101-A191 / O-Ring 24 x 3, C71121-Z101-A93 / O-Ring 25 x 5, . / O-Ring 25 x 7.5, C71121-Z101-A193 / O-Ring 27 x 3.2, C71121-Z101-A47 / O-Ring 28 x 3.5, C71121-Z101-A153 / O-Ring 30 x 5, C71121-Z101-A48 / O-Ring 32 x 4, C71121-Z101-A49 / O-Ring 33 x 5, C71121-Z101-A82 / O-Ring 38 x 5, C71121-Z101-A8 / O-Ring 40 x 5, C71121-Z101-A9 / O-Ring 42 x 5, C71121-Z101-A143 / O-Ring 45 x 5, C71121-Z101-A95 / O-Ring 55 x 5, C71121-Z101-A96 / O-Ring 62 x 5, C71121-Z101-A53 / O-Ring 65 x 5, C71121-Z101-A215 / O-Ring 68 x 5, C71121-Z101-A133 / O-Ring 70 x 5, C71121-Z101-A78 / O-Ring 75 x 3, C71121-Z101-A120 / O-Ring 76 x 2.5, C71121-Z101-A85 / O-Ring 8 x 4, C71121-Z101-A54 / O-Ring 80 x 5, C71121-Z101-A201 / O-Ring 80 x 8, C71121-Z101-A203 / O-Ring 89 x 4.5, C71121-Z101-A55 / O-Ring 90 x 5, C70187-Z101-D62 / Perf.Disc 5 x 9.5 x 4, C70389-B741-C1 / Rect. Seal 135 x 83 x 6, C70389-B741-C3 / Rect. Seal 160 x 68.5 x 4, C71121-Z101-A212 / Silicon O-Ring 85 x 5, C70389-A1452-C29 / Drive Sleeve 21.5x17x15, C71121-Z101-A84 / Drive Ring 35 x 5, C70389-A2001-C158 / Vacuum Switch NW20, C70389-A2001-C164 / Hivac Measuring Tube, C70389-A2454-A1 / Bellows to Valve 7,8,9, C71298-Z142-C1? / Forevac Measuring Tube, C71408-Z142-W2 / Heater Plate 220V 450W, C71408-Z142-W3 / Heater Plate 550W, C71408-Z142-W4 / Heater Plate 110V 400W, C71408-Z142-W6 / Heater Plate 110V 400W, C71451-Z142-C5 / Bellows Oil-Hg Dif pumps, NW10 / Clamp, NW10 / Hose Nipple, NW10 / Blanking Plate Steel, NW20 / Clamp, NW20 / Centering Ring, NW20 / Blanking Plate Steel, NW20 / Hose Nipple, NW20 / Elbow 90 Degrees, NW20-NW32 / U Pipe Oil-Hg Dif pumps, NW32 / Blanking Plate Plastic, NW32 / Clamp, NW32 / Centering Ring, NW32-NW20 / Adapter, S70478-A51-A1 / Bellows to Spec. Airlock, . / Vacuum Valve 7,8,9 5mm, . / Repair Kit Leybold S6
Electromechanical Counters
Counter Totalizer / Veeder-Root 7990 Electromechanical 7 Digit Non-reset 230VAC Panel Mount will also operate OK on 48VDC
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In the beginning...

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 03:51:00 +0000

We will gradually get up a head of steam here.

Topics of interest will be those that are loaded with common sense such as:

Investment & Finance
Making money go further
Sport
Pollitics (but not much though!)
Technology
Computers & Software
Paying Taxes (or as little as possible)
Education

and lots more...

So stay tuned !!!
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