Too many tips, rings and sleeves
Ever since I was a young boy (no, this is not about the Who), I’ve dreamed of having the ultimate adaptor set. One where I could plug my Philips EL-3302 cassette recorder into the record player or the radio and make perfect mix tapes. Through the years, my dream became less and less of a possibility, as the “industry” continued to develop new plugs and jacks with a speed that left me by the roadside. It’s got to the point where plugging anything into anything requires research skills (and a budget) once reserved for major military projects.
This evening I had planned to “make” a data cable, which would allow me to plug a GPS into a transmitter. APRS, for those in the know. My trip to what used to be known as Radio Shack had sent me home pretty much ready for the job, and I’d found a piece of four conductor cable (an old mouse wire) that would have covered my electrical needs. Alas, this evening will not be the moment. The radio has yet another variation on the tried and tested standard known as TRS (nothing to do with Radio Shack computers), and I don’t have the one I need. Which is ironic, because when I was shopping the other day, “it” seemed to be the only size they had in stock, until I found what seemed to be my goal on the bottom of one of the few shelves the store still keeps in a vestige of its former glory days as the place to buy parts.
It just reaffirms my conviction that nothing fits.
