tkopp@carroll1.cc.edu (Tom Kopp) (01/11/90)
In article <6235@mentor.cc.purdue.edu> gt4@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (Ford Prefect) writes: |Purdue has a large number of Zenith z29 terminals in their public |terminal sites, which I use rather frequently. Several of these have |a similar tendency to squeal, only these do so at ~20kHz, which is |above most people's audible range. Alas, not mine. I have been known |to stalk the room tracking down the squealer (it's not easy to |directionalize that noise) and then smack the terminal about several |times until it stops. Now, if there are other people (who probably |can't hear the squeal), they start to wonder what the f*ck I'm doing |beating up on terminals..... |-- | (a.k.a. Scott Goehring) ...!purdue!mentor.cc.purdue.edu!gt4 Scott... I know the feeling. I too am 'blessed' with sensitive ears. What REALLY gets me irritated at times is that I hear strange noises, and track them down as having come from a powered up TV or computer monitor, esp. those w/ no 'image' being displayed. I did some research and found out where this is coming from. One of the retrace pulses in the monitors is usually in the 18-20Khz range. It is this that I've been hearing. I remember as far back as 4th grade, I used to suddenly hear it as I neared the classroom with friends, and sometimes said something like "$5 says we're seeing a movie today", and usually several people took me up on it. :) I only lost once...the class before ours had seen a movie and the equipment hadn't yet been powered down. Tom. -- Thomas J. Kopp: Carroll College, Waukesha, WI knows not what I say. tkopp@carroll1.cc.edu - uunet!marque!carroll1!tkopp "It's not how long you live, but how much you live" - Me.
cmp8118@sys.uea.ac.uk (D.S. Cartwright) (01/18/90)
In article <6235@mentor.cc.purdue.edu> gt4@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (Ford Prefect) writes: >Purdue has a large number of Zenith z29 terminals in their public >terminal sites, which I use rather frequently. Several of these have >a similar tendency to squeal, only these do so at ~20kHz, which is >above most people's audible range. Alas, not mine. I have been known >to stalk the room tracking down the squealer (it's not easy to >directionalize that noise) and then smack the terminal about several >times until it stops. Now, if there are other people (who probably >can't hear the squeal), they start to wonder what the f*ck I'm doing >beating up on terminals..... This technical approach does not, of course, simply end with complex computers/terminals, but extends way back into the past when my rather prehistoric TV was made. I have lived in the house I'm in now since June, and the TV came as part of the rent agreement, and for a while, it would start to whistle and squeal and would be quite happy to shut up on introduction of violence (i.e. walk up to set, open hand wide, and ******BLAT!!!!******). Now, however, it has developed immunity to this serious violence (having gone through a stage of needing harder and harder BLAT's to shut it up), so I now watch a lot less telly than I used to. Perhaps it's a small electronic device secreted in the set by a committee of opticians, or the Royal Society for the Prevention of BLATting of Televisions. I dunno. I do know, however, that it's a pain in the bum. Dave C, UEA, Norwich.