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Has anyone made Mattnog this year? I think it's pretty close to the cutoff for the holidays but my niece reminded me and I may just throw a batch together.

If you use a thick PCB, be aware that the through hole pads can fail during component removal (disconnection between the annular ring and the hole barrel or inside the barrel) that is difficult to detect. A simple workaround is to always solder both sides of the through hole pad after replacing a component. 'De-rating' may not be what you think it is. De-rating means reduction of a rating based on certain operating conditions. For example, the LTL4213 LED has max If of 15mA at TA=25C, "Derating Linearly From 50℃ at 0.2mA/C" means at 60C, the max If de-rates to 15-(60-50)*0.2=13mA. You are operating the LED at way below its max If, de-rating doesn't apply here. What you worried about is perhaps degradation, that the If/Vf relationship changes after long-term exposure to high temperature. We've discussed it somewhere in this forum. If I remember correctly Vf increases for the same If due to degradation and not the other way around. Yes D2 and D3 are for protection purpose only. Previously both the LED string and the K246 are suspicious based on your voltage measurement. Fixing either of them would make the battery work more stably, but not completely right until you fix both of them.

Voltage across R73 and R64 should differ by 2x Vbe and not the same. That probably indicates that your output offset servo Q33/Q32 isn’t working properly. If you measure any Vgs at more than 1.5V, chances are that the MOSFET is fake. Not a big deal since they are used as source followers except Q26/27 where linearity matters. R99 and R100 are isolation resistors meant to reduce the effect of parasitics when you measure the battery with a multimeter. They don’t carry any current.

Nice that you guys keep this thread and the Mattnog tradition going. He would have loved this thread. Well, no, actually, he wouldn't have said a word about it. But it would have made him feel good inside to know that you cared that much about him and that you still remember him well.

Put me in the minority. I like the face of it a lot, the form factor is decidedly odd but considering it costs what some here would comfortably pay for a bracelet/strap I say why not?

Life is too close to Sabotage https://www.instagram.com/reel/CxiTX8nOMYZ/?igshid=aGNqdGJkMThqbXk1

But only Captain Kirk pronounces it correctly! 😄

Thanks guys. That is a good steer to transistors that I can buy! What about the driver transistors? I have a load of MJE340/350 that might fit the bill. Also very linear with flat beta vs Ic? Any thoughts?

I used to love sitting aisle but lately window has been calling my name. Love seeing cool stuff from the air. Rainier, Shasta, a few of SF and Mt. Hood.

Decided to find some motivation this morning.

Swapped the Slim onto an orange Hermes barenia strap. I think I like it, at least for very casual wear. Hermes sure makes a nice strap.

Is it possible that nobody made any Mattnog in 2021? Seems like a tragedy. The Mason jar sidecar shown above in my 2020 nog pics was consumed last night with some freshly whipped cream and it was delicious. Reposted here for the sake of the historical record. We'll need to do better in 2022... In looking for pics of ironbut Steve, I happened upon this one of Matt and me in SF. By very random coincidence, I'm wearing the same t-shirt today. 😏

Drank almost none of what I made last year, sadly. So I'll find someway to celebrate Matt this holiday season but unlikely to make 'nog as I'm the only one who will drink it and have not been drinking much lately at all.

RIP David Kirke, the world’s first modern bungee jumper, piano skier, and early Dangerous Sports Club member. https://people.com/david-kirke-the-worlds-first-bungee-jumper-dead-at-78-8383202 'David Kirke’s old chums found the peaceful circumstances of his death last month — in bed, at age 78 — paradoxical. “He could have been killed at least 20 or 30 times many years ago,” his friend Edward Hulton said. For instance, on April Fools’ Day in 1979, when Mr. Kirke put on a tuxedo, attached himself to elastic ropes, and stepped off a bridge in England clutching a bottle of Champagne in the world’s first bungee jump (https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-england-29819029) Or the time he flew over the English Channel standing in the pouch of a giant inflatable kangaroo held aloft by helium balloons. Mr. Kirke was the founder of the Dangerous Sports Club, a group of University of Oxford students who, typically while not sober, hatched deranged stunts in English pubs during the 1970s and ’80s, often as a metaphorical middle finger to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s society of squares. “Most people think we are mad,” Mr. Kirke once said. “We think they're mad to endure such humdrum lives.” Decades before extreme sports such as bungee jumping, kiteboarding and wingsuit flying became mainstream, Mr. Kirke and his coterie of foolhardy mates were skiing down Swiss slopes on grand pianos, skateboarding (not running) with the bulls in Pamplona, and flying makeshift microlight gliders across imprudent distances.'