Thrilled with my Aurora!

[evingar]

To my main point though, with the way the dollar is now these converters are really cheap here now, are you still building them Darryl and for how long?

I've just ordered one so they are still in production.

I'll let Darryle speak for himself, but generally, although the weakness of the Dollar is good for us, it shouldn't effect US company profitability. Parts will be priced in Dollars and the money for their products will be in Dollars

[tubesrule]

Originally Posted by murphyv310

Hello Darryl.
No doubt you have seen the thread on the Decca 405 line NTSC mod, I am hoping to do some work on the decoder this weekend perhaps there will be pictures in colour to see! My intentions are to have the mains auto transformer rewound into an isolated primary so the sets chassis will not be at mains potential. I have decided to not repair the sets tuner & IF strip but feed video at baseband via an amp to get the correct phase into the luma/chroma board, I will feed the conveter from a freeveiw box.

To my main point though, with the way the dollar is now these converters are really cheap here now, are you still building them Darryl and for how long?
Trevor

Hi Trevor,
I have been following this thread with anticipation of your first successful image. It seems like you have made excellent progress thus far.

Just so you know, I have upgraded the firmware for the color units since you got yours. The original firmware only allowed for a monochrome image to be stored in the FLASH. It now allows either a full resolution monochrome image or a half horizontal color image. The half resolution is dictated by the size of the flash, but you'll hardly see the difference. I've also added a color bar test pattern to Test Mode 5. Not to speak for Jeff B., but I'm sure he can get your firmware updated for you.

As for production, I'm still making them, and am just about to order a new batch. I would never have imagined the dollar being so low when I started this, but as evingar surmised, it hasn't affected anything from my side so far. I am debating whether to order 50 or 100 sets of parts this time as the orders have slowed way down. I pay about a 25% premium for the lower volume, but with the exchange rate as it is, it wouldn't raise the price much.
Maybe it's just slow this time of year.

Darryl

[ppppenguin]

Originally Posted by tubesrule

Not to speak for Jeff B., but I'm sure he can get your firmware updated for you.

I can and I will. You'll need to get the unit to me in North London. The actual update only takes a few minutes so it can be done while you wait.

[Andy Green]

I should really get my 405 NTSC aurora updated as well - what is involved. jeffrey or Darryl - is it something similar to the MK1 Aurora?

By the way, Darryl - how many of these 405 NTSC versions have you supplied so far?

[ppppenguin]

It's far from essential to get it updated. There's a correction for a slight oversaturation error in the 405 NTSC output and some enhancement to the test pattern arrangements.

If you post it to me and make arrangments for return postage I'll gladly do the update though I'm awaiting a revised adaptor cable from Darryl to work with the version 2 PCBs. At present I really wouldn't bother.

[tubesrule]

I've shipped 5 of the 405 NTSC units so far. I am not aware of a set actually operating off of one, yet! It looks like Trevor might be the first.

As Jeff said, there's no pressing issues to get the units updated. I would say the ability to store a color image to the unit is probably the biggest change anyone would notice. All that is involved in updating a unit is flashing the new firmware into the unit which takes less than 30 seconds.

Darryl

[evingar]

Mine arrived today, what can I say that hasn't already been said ? Superb bit of kit and incredible value for money.

....The tax plus Parcel Farce charge came to a little over £34 in total.

[evingar]

OK It's taken me since last November to rig up my Aurora permanently (along with fixing intermittent sound on the Bush due to a dodgy valve socket). But today, finally, I found the time.

The kit it has replaced is a Pineapple Standards Converter and a Dinosaur modulator - both mounted separately in a 1 U rack. These were "stacked" beneath my Bush TV24, (pictured in avitar) along with a 1st generation "on dodgy" box . These are ideal for this use as they have RF out, and an associated composite video feed inside.

I've now mounted the Aurora inside the "On Dodgy". The only other thing I've done is to mount a small signal isolation transformer between the Bush and Aurora. The whole arrangement is neat and unobtrusive, there is no "tangle" of cables behind the TV.

The performance of the Aurora is superb, I cannot recommend it highly enough - well done Darryl

[Tazman1966]

Originally Posted by evingar

The only other thing I've done is to mount a small signal isolation transformer between the Bush and Aurora.

Hi Chris. Glad you've joined the ranks of the happy Aurora users. Excuse my ignorance though but what's the transformer for?

Cheers,

[evingar]

Hi

It's because the TV 24 is not fed from an isolating transformer when in use, so I want to isolate the set from what's feeding it .

[ppppenguin]

It's a wise precaution to use isolation with any modulator. If the worst happens and the aerial socket goes live then the modulator survives.

An old aerial isolator is fine, or a transformer as Evingar has used. This need be no more than a few turns of wire on a small ferrite ring.

[chipp1968]

would what is used in a coax socket be suitable ? which is I always presumed some sortof safety setup ?

[evingar]

would what is used in a coax socket be suitable ? which is I always presumed some sortof safety setup ?

Not sure, but if there is no DC (resistive) path between one side and another, it should be OK.

[ppppenguin]

The usual arrangment in an aerial isolator is a pair of high voltage caps, often shunted by a high value resistors. Value of caps, perhaps 100pf to 1000pf. Value of R, perhaps 1M to 4M7. I think the R is there to provide a discharge path for static from the aerial but I could easily be wrong.

If this goes much further we'll need a new thread.

If I wanted a quick "junkbox" solution to use with an Aurora I'd try to find a couple of class Y caps, 1000pf or so, and 2M2 shunt resistors. Alternatively a small ferrite ring and perhaps 5 or 6 turns of insulated wire for each of the primary and secondary.

[BGmidsUK]

I eagerly await mine ... many thanks to Darryl for his expertise



BG