Terms "tip, band, and barrel" on a connector

[KD8SII]

Ring = Band in English, as in "Wedding Ring" = "Wedding Band". Ring and band are almost synonyms. Wouldn't expect a need to have these explicitly defined.

OHHH ... yeah that's exactly it. I never made that connection at all. I was thinking only in terms of band as in electrical usage. Like the 20 meter band or in-band signaling or broadband. Wondered how the term ended up applied to this connector. Didn't connect it logically to "ring."

[N8CPA]

What did "tip" refer to? Cow tipping?

Hmm. Let's try it.

"Keep the change, Elsie."

Yea, that would work.

[KD8SII]

Followup: I finally drove an hour to the closest place willing to test the Astatic D104 mic, and it was bad. I bought a replacement, wired it as it should be, and have been so far unsuccessful in getting any replies on 20 meters (the only band I have a properly matched antenna for). I posted a QSO request, as I still just don't know if this radio (Ten Tec Omni C) transmits. I'm starting to feel like cow tipping is more suited to my skills than radio.

[K1ZJH]

"tip" and "ring" are old telco terms. Early manual switchboards used patch panels with tip-and-ring plugs.

Does the power output go up when you talk into the microphone? That will show if you are transmitting.

[W9GB]

I finally drove an hour to the closest place willing to test the Astatic D104 mic, and it was bad.

The crystal element of any high impedance (Hi-Z) microphone can be tested with a good analog VTVM or VOM set to AC scale and speaking into the microphone.

Crystal elements have a high failure rate. WHY?
Rochelle crystals breakdown with Heat, Shock (drop), and Moisture.
Piezo-electric crystals have been around a long time, but not used in modern microphones.

Owners that throw around unused equipment (like D-104) --
store in barns, garages or damp basements -- usually kill the D-104 crystal element.
Dynamic and Elecret mic elements do not have these problems.

[KD8SII]

...Does the power output go up when you talk into the microphone? That will show if you are transmitting.

I don't know, the radio does not have any sort of wattmeter and I don't own one. When I key the mic to transmit, it goes into transmit "mode" and the receiver is of course silent. The ALC light comes on for just an instant as I key the mic but immediately goes back off; the manual doesn't say if it should be lit during a transmit or not. The mic has a volume control also, and I've tried with it full clockwise, full counterclockwise, and about in the middle.

I know for sure that the new mic works, the guy tested it again right before I bought it. The wires that come from the mic are red, blue, and then there's a braided shielding that has a black wire and one with transparent insulation. The guy at the shop said black is ground, red is transmit, and white is for the actual audio signal. Since there's no white (didn't know that until I stripped the cable) I presume the audio one is the transparent one. If I put a VOM across the black and red leads, then key the mic, the meter arm swings, showing it makes contact between black and red inside when I press PTT. So I have black going to Sleeve, red to Tip, and transparent to Ring. I've tried each of the others in place of the transparent also. If only I had any piece of junk old shortwave receiver I could test it myself I'm sure...

The only receiver that I have that can receive anything in any band handled by the Ten Tec is an old scanner that has the 10 meter band on it (but no one, not even the manufacturer, knows whether it listens on FM or AM or USB or LSB (Radio Shack Pro-83, the manual only gives frequency range and no mode info, and no amount of googling gave me an answer other than that calling the manufacturer also was a dead end), plus my 20m dipole SWR is too high on 10 meters.

My next idea was to build a 10m antenna and see if my scanner will pick up my transmissions... I can only transmit on SSB but I guess there's a chance of picking up -something- if it at least listens on AM mode. But if I hear nothing, it still doesn't tell me anything, since it may well only listen via FM on 10 meters for all I know.

I've tried meeting local hams via 2 meters, but there's not much activity, and seldom any response when I do a "listening" on a local repeater.

If only I had an old fashioned television, I bet I could generate some TVI

Thanks for the replies, I really appreciate it.

[KD8SII]

Owners that throw around unused equipment (like D-104) --
store in barns, garages or damp basements -- usually kill the D-104 crystal element.
Dynamic and Elecret mic elements do not have these problems.

I was pretty sure that was what was wrong with the original mic. But the first thing he did was pull the top off, pop it onto another D104 and it worked fine. The problem was in the base section or amp or whatever.

[WA7PRC]

In my Telco days, we called 'em tip, ring, and sleeve... even when there was no actual connector involved (in which case, S = C). It got to be more fun with T, R, T1, R1, E, M! In my pro sound engineering days, we still called 'em tip, ring, and sleeve. I never heard "band" or "barrel".

[KD8SII]

In my Telco days, we called 'em tip, ring, and sleeve... even when there was no actual connector involved (in which case, S = C). It got to be more fun with T, R, T1, R1, E, M! In my pro sound engineering days, we still called 'em tip, ring, and sleeve. I never heard "band" or "barrel".

The only place find these three terms is in this Ten Tec Omni manual. I did a google search with the terms tip, band, and barrel, and it found plenty of sites with one or two of those terms- not a single one using all three. At least that part is answered now!

[W9GB]

I was pretty sure that was what was wrong with the original mic. But the first thing he did was pull the top off, pop it onto another D104 and it worked fine. The problem was in the base section or amplifier or whatever.

THAT is very easy (straight forward) to repair.
The NPN transistors in pre-amp in base either failed or battery powering it was dead.

Astatic microphone stands and schematics
http://www.barovelli.com/projects/ra...dioastatic.htm