Learning AFS Click & Type 2.1

I've been helping out with maintenance of the web site for our local AFS chapter.  The page editor uses a content management and web page editor called Click & Type 2.1.  The editor has a bit of a learning curve so I spent some time experimenting with it.  This posting is about some of my experimentation.

Note:   This posting is just about experimentation with queries and is not meant to be user documentation. 

The Experiment -  Update The "Blogs" page. 

The standard template for AFS web sites comes with both an "Events" and "Blogs" page.  Our chapter web site still had the default "Blogs" Section with default content from 2015. It was in big need of an update.

One of our local host families had just won the AFS Reel Life contest and had been featured on the AFS blog.  I wanted to add this post to our chapter blogs page.  The event had been posted on the AFS Host Family Blog as well so I was excited about updating our blog to feature it.

Since the posting was  already in the AFS content database.   I thought, "How hard can it be to just add this post on our page?"  Seemed like all I had to do was reference the posting ID on our page or maybe pick up on their feed?  Maybe while I'm at it, I can remove these old 2015 posts? 

Attempting To Edit the page directly with Click & Type

The AFS web site editor uses a content management system called "Click & Type".  All the pages are nicely displayed and finding the "Blogs" page is easy.  Within the editor, you can view the page and edit details. Content is edited on the "Content" tab.

I went to the content tab, but sadly, it was blank which mean some "magic" was happening under the hood somewhere.  Click & Type uses an  HTML editor called CKEditor.  Fortunately, CKEditor has a "View Source" option so I checked the source.  Sure enough, there was a query being used to pull content into the page.

Playing with Queries

It appeared that our blogs page was created through a back end database query for "r:usa_news". The query passed in our chapter as a parameter.

     <r:usa_news category="Chapter: California Central Coast" url="../blog"></r:usa_news>

Since my goal was to both remove the old posts, as well as reference the new existing one, changing the query seemed like a reasonable way to go.  I did some playing around and quickly discovered that the Chapter was an important query parameter.  For example:

Postings from San Diego:
     <r:usa_news category="Chapter: San Diego" url="../blog"></r:usa_news>

Postings from Milwaukee:
     <r:usa_news category="Chapter: Milwaukee" url="../blog"></r:usa_news>

Postings from the AFS USA News Blog:
     <r:usa_news></r:usa_news>

It seemed like just displaying the  host family blog would give me what I wanted. This would give me the new host family post AND get rid of the pesky old posts we had on our page. Also it means AFS would essentially be curating the page for us.  I tried several other things.

     <r:usa_blog></r:usa_blog>

     <r:blog></r:blog>

     <r:host_family></r:host_family>

     <r:host-family></r:host-family>

Alas, none of them gave fruit.  I was stuck.  There didn't seem to be a query change that would show the AFS Family blog on the page.  I took a look at the query for the Events page.  It had a similar format so I played with this for a while as well.

      <r:events category="Chapter: California Central Coast" type="upcoming" url="../events"></r:events>

The query change didn't seem to be working out. However, I had a new idea.  If I was able to tolerate the old posts still being there,  what if I created my own new "Chapter: California Central Coast" posting?  This would display the new posting at the top of the old ones.

I'd need to screen grab the image from the AFS web site and I'd also need to copy/paste the text. Though, I was pretty sure a new posting I created would at least display on the page.   Now, that does not clear away the older default postings, but at least I'd get the article up there. 

The Answer:  Re-create the posting. 

Since I wasn't likely to figure the incantation to just show the Family Blog page,  I changed course and decided to just re-create the original AFS posting within our chapter web site.  This is done under the "News" tab in "Click & Type.  I copy/pasted the text from the original AFS posting and screen-captured the image.  I then added the image to the posting (using the "Image" tab) and posted a new "News" article.  Here is what the new posting looked like in "Click & Type".

Once the article was saved, it showed up on the blogs page.  I still have the older 2015 postings along side it, but at least I was able to show the new article.

Now, this does mean that we have two essentially identical postings in the AFS content database, but I can see why each chapter having their own content makes a lot of sense.  Here's both postings so you can see the difference.

Original article : https://www.afsusa.org/host-family/blog/article/?article_id=10146
New posting for our chapter site: https://www.afsusa.org/team/ccc/blog/article/?article_id=10152

The local chapter  article displays properly and looks good.  I'm happy with the result and learned a lot along the way.

Building A Telegraph

I put together a telegraph to be used the the 2018 SCVi Living History event.  This was a fun project that involved some interesting learning and research.

Figuring Out The Wiring And Power

Old time telegraph lines ran as a single line using ground as a common connector.   The voltage on this single wire could be as high as 100 volts.  The high voltage allowed them to make up for the resistance in the cable and cover the long distances with a single piece of wire.

The telegraph sounder at the station ran at much lower voltage, typically 1-6 volts.  Sounders  came in different resistance ratings (rated in ohms) to accommodate the different voltages and the proper sounder for a specific voltage can be computed using ohms law.  (I found a good explanation in this article for folks who want more details.)  To protect the local sounder (and operator) from the high voltage line, a relay was used in the station to isolate it from the main line.  Here is an illustration of a typical circuit.

Here is an example sounder and relay that I picked up at the beginning of the project to test this out.  It's a 4 ohm sounder and a 100 ohm relay.

I connected the two together with a variable power supply to try different voltages.

First Decision: Use Relays? 
I ruled out pretty early on any chance of using high voltages with this project.  The station was going to be operated by kids.  Also, the telegraph run was unlikely to be more than 100 feet so low voltage would be fine.  This meant I could elminate the need for the relay.

Second Decision: Operating voltage?
After testing at a few different voltages, I decided to operate on nine volts.  This was a bit high for my 4 ohm sounders, but it made a nice loud click that I felt the kids would be able to hear better.  Sure, the coils might get warm if used heavily, but I expected the duty cycle required from 8th graders would not be too bad.

Third Decision: Simplex Or Duplex?
If I wanted to be authentic,  I suppose I'd be running one wire and pounding in ground cables at the site.  Though, since this was a short run, I decided to run the telegraph with two wires (duplex).  This would take double the wire, but would eliminate the need to drive a grounding rod at the re-enactment site.

Building the Telegraph Stations

Once I had the design figured out, it was time to build the actual telegraph stations.  I wanted to the telegraph to be as authentic looking as possible, but also be able to be set up and run by 8th grade re-enactors.  I didn't want to spend a lot of money on 19th century equipment so I targeted purchasing equipment from around 1900.  I found some nice old sounders and used keys that I had collected on my own.

I mounted the pairs of keys and sounders on oak boards that I coated with Shellac.  Each board also got a print out of the morse code for the re-enactors to reference in case they forgot a letter at the event.

For the 9V power supplies, I put two 9V batteries in parallel on a piece of oak.  This could be tucked under the table to hide the fact that we were using modern batteries.

For the cable hookups, I actually tried two different designs.  One design used three connectors. I stamped the wood with the hookup.
G = Ground
L = Line
P = Plus side of battery

Though, this requires the person hooking up the wires to understand that one of the wires coming on the telegraph is a "ground" and also the negative on the battery supply is a ground.  To simplify the hookup, I also made some with two hookup locations.  One for the battery, the other for the two telegraph lines.  This also makes it more transparent and intuitive to see that all the sounders are hooked in parallel.

Once I had the stations built, It was time to test them out.  This test is using 9V from the battery supplies.

Training The Learners

The telegraph was going to need to be operated by 8th grade students.  They were all going to need to learn Morse Code and be able to copy/send it in the field.  I put the code on all the stations, but it was going to require practice.  We set up a code key in the classroom and got the kids practicing.  A few of them talked about it in this video.  Credit for the video goes to SCVTV.com.

Deploying In The Field

With all the testing we did ahead of time, things went well the day of the event.  Our telegraph was covered by multiple local news stations!

• Santa Clarita TV (SCTV)  -  This video did some great overviews with the learners and also got some great coverage of the telegraph. 

• KHTS Radio (AM1220/ FM 98.1)   - Great closeups of the telegraph in action!  Shows our fake galvanic battery that was supposed to appear as though it was powering the telegraph. 

• Santa Clarita Valley Signal - Although they didn't cover the telegraph, they did cover some great highlights of the event. 
• SCVi School Web Site -  They announced the event, but no photos.  They did post some great photos on Facebook which included multiple photos of the telegraph!
  
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My favorite was the one of my daughter operating the telegraph. She did a great job!

My brother also recorded a great video of the overall event.

Hopefully, we can find some more events were we can bring this and demonstrate it.   Maybe we can find some other re-enactments in Southern California Until then at least we'll be able to break it out once a year for the school.

Matt's Conference Talks And Presentations

Here's a list of talks I've given at conferences.  Where possible, I've linked to slides.

Year	Date	Event	Location	Talk
2012	January 2012	California Charter Schools Confenrence	Sacramento, Ca	Free, Cheap, And Open Source
2012	October 2012	Mac Tech	Studio City, Ca	Editorial Tools At Walt Disney Animation Studios
2013	Spring 2013	SLO International Film Festival	Cal Poly SLO	Editorial Integration At Walt Disney Ainimation Studios
2013	Fall 2013	Mac Tech	Manhattan Beach, Ca	Python For Sysadmins
2014	Summer 2014	PSU Mac Admins	Penn State	Python For Sysadmins
2014	Fall 2014	Mac Tech	Los Angeles	Mobile Communication Tools at WDAS
2014	Fall 2014	Mobile First Summit	San Francisco	How Mobile is Changing Communication at WDAS
2015		PSU Mac Admins	Penn State	The 12 Unix Commands Everyone Should Know
2015		Mac Tech	Los Angeles	The 12 Unix Commands Everyone Should Know
2016		PSU Mac Admins	Penn State	Teaming At Disney Animation
2016		Mac Tech	Los Angeles	Teaming At Disney Animation
2017	05/13/2017	Tech Symposium	Cal Poly Pomona	The 12 Unix Commands Everyone Should Know
2017	7/13/2017	PSU Mac Admins	Penn State	Staying Relevant As A Manager
2017	11/17/2017	Mac Tech	Los Angeles	Finding Your Process
2018	11/04/2018	DisNix	Burbank	Security Is Boring
2019	04/20/2019	Tech Symposium	Cal Poly Pomona	The 12 Unix Commands Everyone Should Know
2019	07/09/2019	PSU Mac Admins	Penn State	To MDM or Not to MDM, Is that a Question?

Decca 700 Radio Turntable

This one arrived in need of a lot of work.  The turntable didn't turn, the radio was weak, and there was a typical 60hz hum in the speakers.  First to tackle was the electrical repair.  I opened up the case to take a look.  Inside was a small metal chassis with 6 tubes. 

The back of the radio had a simple drawing of the tubes included.

 I cleaned it up in Gimp. 

Although the tubes were in series, this was not a typical "All American Five" setup.  There was no rectifier tube and there were two 35C5 audio output tubes. Instead of a rectifier tube, there was a Selenium Rectifier.  It can be seen in this picture as the stacked blue wafers in the upper left.  I typically see these in radios from the late 50's or early 60's. 

In order to solder in the new capacitors, I had to get to the base of the original.  It was underneath the Selenium Rectifier so I had to move it aside. 

The original electrolytic capacitor was three sections of 150V and 40mfd each.  I soldered in three 160V 47mfd capacitors.  I tested each before installing and they all measured at 39.6mfd.  It's interesting that the tolerances are off by that much, but fine for this.  You can see the new capacitors in the lower middle of the chassis here. 

While I had the radio open, I went ahead and tested all the tubes.  I very rarely find bad tubes.   Capacitors fail all the time, but tubes can last for decades.  Turns out though, this radio had one weak (35C5 Audio Output) and one bad tube (12BE6 Pentagrid Converter) so I replaced them both.  Perhaps this is why the reception was so poor.   Fortunately, I keep all the tubes for this radio in stock. 

With  electrical repairs done, I tested the radio and it sounded great. It was time to tackle mechanical repairs.  First was the dial.  The cord was slipping on the tuning shaft so I was not able to tune the radio.  You can see here how polished it was.

I thought about putting on a new cord, but I hate stringing radio dials. I tried rouging up the shaft, but no success. I made sure all the pulleys were working fine,. still no success.  I then got creative.  I coated the shaft with a rubber coating.   Yeah, this feels like cheating, but it totally worked.

While I had the radio open I added a second cable for an MP3 player.  I ran it up near the turntable so I can play audio from a headphone jack into the audio input.  I tested it out with my phone and it sounded great.

 Next was the turntable.  The idler wheel was not making consistent contact with the turntable so it was slipping.  These are impossible to buy new now days.  You can get used ones on Ebay for around $15-$20, but they are no better than the broken originals. Since I was going to be getting creative I decided to buy a used one anyway.  Once it arrived, I coated it in "Parts Dip" that is used for handles on tools.  This gave it extra thickness and much "stickier" rubber. You can see it on the left with the "Re Tread".

 I then installed on the turntable.  The turntable was running, but there was still a problem.  The wheel didn't align properly with the motor.  This was because the grommets that hold the motor in place had grown old and flattened.  The motor was lower than it was supposed to be.

 I didn't have any suitable grommets around, nor am I sure it's possible to purchase any so I had to improvise and use faucet washers.  This actually worked fine and the turntable was back in business!

I put everything back together and tested it out and the radio and turntable are working great.

 Everything was working so I brought it to work.  Here's how it looks in my office at work.

Motorola 53C Clock Radio

This radio came from my wife's grandmother.  It was her bedside radio for many years .  It was passed down to my wife and she had it on her dresser. She had not yet tried to use it as a clock, or a radio.   I offered to check it out and make sure it was working before she put power to it.

The radio is another "All American Five" configuration with five tubes.  This one uses the 12AT6 instead of the 12AV6 for the detector/first audio amplifier.  Tube compliment is 12AT6, 12BA6, 12BE6, 35W4, and 50C5.

Tube compliments in the All American Five can very.  For anyone interested, here are some of the typical tube numbers .

Tube Type	Pentagrid Converter	IF	Detector	AF	Rectifier
5 Pin Early Style	6A7	6D6 or 78	75	43	25Z5
Octals with Anode Cap	12A8	12K7	12Q7	50L6	35Z4
Octals w/o Anode Cap	12SA7	12SK7	12SQ7	50L6	35Z5
Miniature "Peanut" Tubes	12BE6	12BA6	12A6 / 12AT6	50B5 / 50C5	35W4

Back to the radio..

On initial power up,  there  was the typical 60hz hum you hear when the filter capacitors have failed.  I removed the original and replaced it with new Electrolytics.

I've started getting in the habit of testing my capacitors after I pull them out.  Here's how this old paper electrolytic faired. 

Section	Labeled Capacitance	Actual Measured	Replaced With New
1	150V 50 uf (MFD)	.078 uf (MFD)	160V 68 uf (MFD)
2	150V 50 uf (MFD)	.070 uf (MFD)	160V 68uf (MFD)

New capacitors in place. 

Here it is with the old one in place for size comparison.

 

Second problem appeared to be a broken screw mount for the chassis.  The broken off piece was rattling within the case.  This was repaired with Epoxy.

Third problem was a groaning/whirring noise from the clock movement.  This clock has a classic "Telechron" movement.  It's a sealed inductive gear system that uses the 60hz power to run a gear reduction motor.  Removing the clock mechanism would involve removing the front.  This meant I had to pry off the plastic cover to the radio dial. This is where you have to pry VERY CAREFULLY.  

Here's the clock internals.

The Telechron movement was an H3 Model.  Turns out, you can purchase these rebuilt.  I found a very nice web site with rebuilt version of all the Telechron movements.  What a great site!!  Since this is a learning project (as are all my projects), I decided to try to lubricate the movement myself.  I used 3-in-1 oil (my go-to oil for these kinds of things).  The movement is sealed so there's no way to oil it directly. I put the oil around the gear and tried to work it in by moving the gear up and down as much as it would move.  A  small amount did appear to leak past the gear.

I then re-installed the motor.  It was reasonably quiet.  If the problem comes back, I'll probably revisit the Telechron rebuild site and pick up a fresh H3 movement, but this one is working fine for now.  I'm not sure how much my wife will be using the clock so I'll let her decide if she wants to keep it running or not.