What is this???? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: TorqueRanger
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2012, 01:30:41 am
content: A friend of mine gave this to me today but was not sure what it was and want to see it you guy could tell meOh sorry about the quality of the pics but it's all I could do for now ...

author: Psi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2012, 01:33:55 am
content: What are the IC numbers? They will give a pretty good idea what it isIt's obviously got- A DC input- A Switch- A RF input- A RF output- A digital IC- An analog IC- Possibly a transmitter circuit (inductor top right maybe part of a PCB antenna, or maybe there was an ext antenna and the wire broke off)A few things that come to mind are- Teletext decoder- Video transmitter (sits in the RF line between ANT/TV/VCR and transmits one of the VHF channels (switch position) to a receiver unit.- Test pattern generator. (Pattern might get produced on one VHF/UHF channel (switch position) and mixed in with the RF line)

author: TorqueRanger
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2012, 01:43:24 am
content: Unlabeled ICTDA8340LabeledPIC16C621-04/p

author: Psi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2012, 01:45:48 am
content: Well the RF in/out is definitely something to do with TV signals then.TDA8340 is a television IF amplifier and demodulatorAnd the PIC mcu will control it to read or generate a TV signal

author: TorqueRanger
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2012, 02:03:16 am
content: Well it came in a solid black box ...So could it be a old black box for cable

author: TorqueRanger
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2012, 02:04:04 am
content: Also the switch has 3 different positions too...

author: LoyalServant
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2012, 02:33:12 am
content: It's what people in the states used to call a "black box"This was either a "field tester" - it injected some form of signal that told the descrambler in the cable company owned box to decode every channelOR...This was the guy that fixed the mangled sync that was the result of in band scrambling.The cable box would output channel 3 and this sat in-between the cable box and the tv.There were variants for each cable system in use.

author: T4P
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2012, 10:15:49 am
content: Have you thought about the remote possibility of a RF amplifier?Probably not

author: LoyalServant
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2012, 12:39:29 pm
content: RF amp with a PIC?Never seen one but I guess it's possible.The PIC in the "black boxes" was socketted on purpose for updates.When the cable systems changed they sent the "dealers" a new chip to whack in for their customers.It was quite elaborate.Disclaimer before people think I had something to do with these...I know about these because once upon a time I worked for a large cable company.They were popular just before the conversions to HFC networks.It was not uncommon to have techs go into customer homes and see one of these dangling off the back of the STBwith an FM trap in line.