Bring Out Your Old... Well OK pre 2000 flashback

carteki · Post by **carteki** » December 18th, 2015, 8:21 am

I FINALLY managed to get around to the project of converting my VHS tapes to digital and I have had to repair 2 of them (well one I think I can repair, the other hopefully)
https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xaf1/v/t1.0-9/12390960_10153252084251198_1744902665017654300_n.jpg?oh=529361c3c0d9332885f2cdb2b8bdb3b1&oe=571DDD98&__gda__=1460830764_a82058c2bed49b5f0554e160e2d06000

Which really felt like a flashback. Then today when getting my chemo treatment an elderly lady came in with a battery operated radio to pass the time listening to for her first treatment. I haven't seen one in years! Finding a VHS machine to borrow to copy my tapes was hard enough!
http://res.freestockphotos.biz/pictures/1/1749-old-multiple-band-radio-on-white-background-pv.jpg
http://www.freestockphotos.biz/stockphoto/1749
They didn't listen to it - mainly because the chemo room is set out to be social with others and it is a good way to speak to other patients who're having the same treatment about their experiences.

Kim

* All images are my own or public domain and hosted on other websites.

YouTube · Post by **Darvinia** » December 18th, 2015, 6:24 pm

Very interesting!

We do ask people not to post images though. It's tough on those with limited bandwidth and on the visually challenged. Because these are posted somewhere up there on the interweb can you change the images to just the links please?

Post by **Availle** » December 18th, 2015, 6:26 pm

Please do NOT post images here - and not of this size!

We still have people on slow connections and we still want them to come and enjoy the forums, even the off-topic parts.

If you want to include an image, please only post a link so that people can follow it if they wish to (but don't have to).

Edit: Darvinia is faster

RuthieG · Post by **RuthieG** » December 19th, 2015, 1:23 am

Heavens above, I listen to my battery/mains transistor radio all the time while I am in the kitchen. Am I a freak?

Ruth

carteki · Post by **carteki** » December 19th, 2015, 4:52 am

RuthieG wrote:Heavens above, I listen to my battery/mains transistor radio all the time while I am in the kitchen. Am I a freak?

Ruth

No, but it really was a "blast from the past" as everyone else is on tablets and mp3 players with headphones. I still have a transistor radio next to my bed, but it never leaves the house as I can get radio via my mobile (which I never really want) and listen only to my car radio out of the house.

Cori · Post by **Cori** » December 19th, 2015, 5:16 am

I have a radio like that in the kitchen too. In theory it can be solar-powered, but it never seems to get enough sun for that. Rechargeable batteries work fine though.

carteki · Post by **carteki** » December 19th, 2015, 5:22 am

It was fascinating during Hurricane Sandy to see emergency services telling everyone to ensure that their mobile phones were kept fully charged. Why? Well usually during an emergency like that when the power goes out they are still able to broadcast radio information as to the status - and with a "normal battery operated" radio there wouldn't be a problem, but with more and more people relying on mobiles or expensive mains-connected hifi setups this basic emergency piece of equipment was no longer a part of households.
Kim

SonOfTheExiles · Post by **SonOfTheExiles** » December 19th, 2015, 1:35 pm

Tell you something else about mobile phones (ie "cell" phones).

If you're bushwalking in a remote area, or somewhere where the phone has difficulty keeping a lock on the nearest mobile phone towers, you probably need to turn the phone off unless you're actually using it. You see, the phone keeps trying to link up with a tower, and the constant attempts and failure to do so run the battery down in a fraction of the usual time if you leave the phone on. I can tell you that the Wild Dog Mountains area south of the Megalong Valley, for example, is notorious for doing this. One of the reasons the Personal Locator Beacons were developed, I guess.

carteki · Post by **carteki** » December 20th, 2015, 1:03 pm

We talk about the 2 useless things in aviation ...
- The sky above you,
- The runway behind you;
- and the fuel on the ground (for people who fly with engines)

In modern day life - its a flat mobile phone! (which is why I have a really cool solar powered back up battery!)

Piotrek81 · Post by **Piotrek81** » December 23rd, 2015, 10:04 am

carteki wrote:Which really felt like a flashback. Then today when getting my chemo treatment an elderly lady came in with a battery operated radio to pass the time listening to for her first treatment. I haven't seen one in years! Finding a VHS machine to borrow to copy my tapes was hard enough!
http://res.freestockphotos.biz/pictures/1/1749-old-multiple-band-radio-on-white-background-pv.jpg
http://www.freestockphotos.biz/stockphoto/1749
They didn't listen to it - mainly because the chemo room is set out to be social with others and it is a good way to speak to other patients who're having the same treatment about their experiences.

I actually still have a radio/audio cassette player combo, though the several stacks of casettes that I used to own are all gone- for the last few years they just sat there gathering dust.

Here come two (connected) blasts from the past that I had a few days ago: I looked for a YT video about the bubble gum inserts that I used to collect in the early 90s. Having found such videos (and discovering that I was still able to recognize the cards despite 20+ years!

) I decided to hunt for my old stamp albums in the other room hoping they may have held some vestiges of my old collections. They didn't but in the process I found a "pocket factbook"; a small, yet useful book with all sorts of data that I was given for the Christmas of 1994!