VECTOR SCOPE!!!!

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Yes in some of the very first episodes of the original series, with the very old looking Doctor. The scope was sitting on a shelf, with a sine wave on the display.

I still don’t recall an oscilloscope in William Hartnell’s Tardis and can’t find a photo that shows one. The original set only consisted of two walls. There was a TV screen set into the ‘computer wall’ generally used for showing what was going on outside of the Tardis, although I suppose it might have occasionally shown sine waves or Lissajous figures. This clip from the very first episode shows it was a very sparse set -

 
The scope is the one thing that stands out in my mind about the first Dr. Who. Myself and another tech friend used to laugh about it. I do suppose that it could of actually been a very old TV set with a round picture tube. Now that you mention it I seem to recall the TV as well.
 
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Oh, do I recognize equipment found in sci-fi movies and TV shows:

Star Trek:
- Dr McCoy's medical computer is a traffic signal controller tester
- His conical handheld medical sensors are salt and pepper shakers
- The transporter control board is a stage-lighting console
- Cargo containers in Next Generation are 70mm film transport boxes
- The alien in the episode "Day of the Dove" was an out-of-focus child's pinwheel with flashing lights in front of it
- Geordi Leforge's "visor" is a girl's headband
- The hand phaser is an old garage door opener remote
- The pistol phaser is built around a hot glue gun

Star Wars:
- The robot-restraining bolt is a Greenlee sheet-metal punch
- The long object in the garbage masher is a huge version of a metal scribe I have
- The colored bars on the imperial uniform "battle ribbons" are lenses (5 colors per unit) for panel lights I have
- Leia's helmet in Jabba's castle contains part of a Kodak Carousel slide projector
- The metal shield on Leia's helmet in Return of the Jedi is the fan shroud from a Power Products lawnmower
- The bomb to destroy the shield generator on the moon of Yavin is a smoke alarm
- The mini hologram device is a coffee cup warmer

Dune (1984):
- The hunter-seeker is a high voltage oscilloscope probe I have (works and cable removed)
- Each suspensor lamp in the castle is a tiny plug-in nightlight I used to have
- Third Stage Navigator carrier is a museum display case
- A maker hook is an embellished roofer's shingle remover
- Gurney's weapon when he is attacked by the Fremen is a grip-strength tester without the meter - I repaired many of these
- The weirding module voice unit is a telephone operator's headset with other parts added

Other:
- The "Prince of Space" spaceship is built around a battery-powered callus remover
 
Oh, do I recognize equipment found in sci-fi movies and TV shows:

Star Trek:
- Dr McCoy's medical computer is a traffic signal controller tester
- His conical handheld medical sensors are salt and pepper shakers
- The transporter control board is a stage-lighting console
- Cargo containers in Next Generation are 70mm film transport boxes
- The alien in the episode "Day of the Dove" was an out-of-focus child's pinwheel with flashing lights in front of it
- Geordi Leforge's "visor" is a girl's headband
- The hand phaser is an old garage door opener remote
- The pistol phaser is built around a hot glue gun

Star Wars:
- The robot-restraining bolt is a Greenlee sheet-metal punch
- The long object in the garbage masher is a huge version of a metal scribe I have
- The colored bars on the imperial uniform "battle ribbons" are lenses (5 colors per unit) for panel lights I have
- Leia's helmet in Jabba's castle contains part of a Kodak Carousel slide projector
- The metal shield on Leia's helmet in Return of the Jedi is the fan shroud from a Power Products lawnmower
- The bomb to destroy the shield generator on the moon of Yavin is a smoke alarm
- The mini hologram device is a coffee cup warmer

Dune (1984):
- The hunter-seeker is a high voltage oscilloscope probe I have (works and cable removed)
- Each suspensor lamp in the castle is a tiny plug-in nightlight I used to have
- Third Stage Navigator carrier is a museum display case
- A maker hook is an embellished roofer's shingle remover
- Gurney's weapon when he is attacked by the Fremen is a grip-strength tester without the meter - I repaired many of these
- The weirding module voice unit is a telephone operator's headset with other parts added

Other:
- The "Prince of Space" spaceship is built around a battery-powered callus remover
Good catches & thanks for the list! I gotta look for that Kodak Carousel part on Leia's helmet.

One of my faves is in John Carpenters movie Darkstar. To the sides of a center console is an upside down ice cube tray. In the movie they have colored light inside as they act like pushing buttons and they light up in response.

1642346914325.png
 
Good catches & thanks for the list! I gotta look for that Kodak Carousel part on Leia's helmet.

One of my faves is in John Carpenters movie Darkstar. To the sides of a center console is an upside down ice cube tray. In the movie they have colored light inside as they act like pushing buttons and they light up in response.

View attachment 75257
I'll have to dig out my DVD and watch it again, great film!
 
Good catches & thanks for the list! I gotta look for that Kodak Carousel part on Leia's helmet.

One of my faves is in John Carpenters movie Darkstar. To the sides of a center console is an upside down ice cube tray. In the movie they have colored light inside as they act like pushing buttons and they light up in response.

View attachment 75257
Ah yes Darkstar, a great film, only bettered by the truly wonderful Silent Running. The only two sci-fi films worth watching since Kubrick's 2001!
 
Ah yes Darkstar, a great film, only bettered by the truly wonderful Silent Running. The only two sci-fi films worth watching since Kubrick's 2001!
Love that one as well, I remember seeing them both on TV (in black and white & on BBC2 I think). I think I saw Silent Running circa 1973, not sure about Dark Star, but somewhere in the back of my head was that they were both shown one after the other, but Dark Star came out in '74, so who knows!
 
Talking of Dark Star prompts me to highly recommend a fantastic radio production aired over Christmas – “Starship Titanic”. The link being a wonderfully demented computerised bomb! Billed as “The greatest Douglas Adams book not written by Douglas Adams – actually written by Terry Jones”. Narrated by Michael Palin this joyous production faithfully recreates the fabulous audio world of the Hitchhiker’s Guide thanks to the involvement of the HHGTTG radio series producer for the last few radio series, Dirk Maggs. It’s only available for another day or so on iPlayer – miss it at your peril (I recorded it – I will need to listen to it repeatedly):

starship titanic.JPG
 
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Talking of Dark Star prompts me to highly recommend a fantastic radio production aired over Christmas – “Starship Titanic”. The link being a wonderfully demented computerised bomb! Billed as “The greatest Douglas Adams book not written by Douglas Adams – actually written by Terry Jones”. Narrated by Michael Palin this joyous production faithfully recreates the fabulous audio world of the Hitchhiker’s Guide thanks to the involvement of the HHGTTG radio series producer for the last few radio series, Dirk Maggs. It’s only available for another day or so on iPlayer – miss it at your peril (I recorded it – I will need to listen to it repeatedly):

View attachment 75264
Thanks for the info!
Evidently this radio play has it origin in a 1998 video game by the same name. And Douglas Adams is credited as the main creative source.

1642352524261.png


The BBC iPlayer wont work for us Yanks so I will check around elsewhere. I certainly intend to give a listen.
 
I have a Heathkit audioscope that I built in the 70s or 80s. I swapped out the NE-2 indicators for LEDs and wrapped the CRT with coil wire to twist the stereo display to line up with the actual audio (so the left channel goes “northwest-southeast” and the right channel goes “northeast-southwest”). It has quad inputs, and it can display each channel individually, lissajous for front channel stereo and it looks like the same quad display. It has a knob to vary the timebase on insividual channel diaplays and it has an audio oscillator as well. Quite the geek toy!
 
Another 'Dune' find:

The cabinet full of weirding modules is a 1960s fancy motorized wristwatch display case.

Incidentally, the weirding modules are not seen except in the 1984 film. They do not appear in the book or the 2021 film.
 
I have a Heathkit audioscope that I built in the 70s or 80s. I swapped out the NE-2 indicators for LEDs and wrapped the CRT with coil wire to twist the stereo display to line up with the actual audio (so the left channel goes “northwest-southeast” and the right channel goes “northeast-southwest”). It has quad inputs, and it can display each channel individually, lissajous for front channel stereo and it looks like the same quad display. It has a knob to vary the timebase on insividual channel diaplays and it has an audio oscillator as well. Quite the geek toy!

That's doing it the hard way. I built a circuit with two center-tapped transformers and some resistors that converts L and R signals into a 45/45 display using the V and H inputs.
 
That's doing it the hard way. I built a circuit with two center-tapped transformers and some resistors that converts L and R signals into a 45/45 display using the V and H inputs.
I’ve since unwrapped the CRT, and I intend to add a couple of op-amps (sum and difference circuits) to do the twist. The interesting thing about the coil is that it difn’t treat both axes identically. The individual channel displays looked like backhand script. Never bothered to figure it out, but I figure the op-amps won’t exhibit that phenomenon.
 
The interesting thing about the coil is that it difn’t treat both axes identically.

Perhaps because the construction of the CRT means that the X and Y plates are not in the same plane?

Assuming you only want to use it as quad vectorscope (and not also as an oscillocsope) wouldn't it be really simple to just loosen the neck clamp and physically rotate the CRT through 90 deg.?
 
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Perhaps because the construction of the CRT means that the X and Y plates are not in the same plane?

Assuming you only want to use it as quad vectorscope (and not also as an oscillocsope) wouldn't it be really simple to just loosen the neck clamp and physically rotate the CRT through 90 deg.?
No, I want to use all of its functions. Just the stereo display needs to rotate, so it’s a circuitry fix (which I still enjoy doing after 50 years of practice).
 
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