Msg: 6622 *Conference*

06-26-96 22:17:54

From: RICHARD HANSON

To : ALL

Subj: OH NO! ACOUSTIC CUPS

Oh the joys of acoustic couplers...

Gee.  I was doing so well.  Life was going along nicely and then the subject of
acoustic cups came up. 

 a-cous'tic, adj. of sound or hearing.
 dec'i-bel', n. unit of intensity of sound.

The magic word is sound.  When using acoustic cups with a Model "T" computer,
the level of sound, rated in decibels (db) is critical.  Sounds come in from
the host computer through the earpiece and out from the Model "T" (aka
terminal) through the mouthpiece. 

Acoustic cups are rated for their ability to hear and transmit sound at
specific dbs, or volume; which is much greater then necessary for direct
connection communications.  Lastly, back-ground noise (especially thumps) must
be eliminated or muffled to zero. 

I tested the original Radio Shack Acoustic Coupler (round-cup) 26-3805A model,
and the newer Radio Shack Acoustic Coupler 2 (square-cup) 26-3818 model with a
Model 102 calling into the Club 100 BBS and discovered that one model worked
and one model did not. 

The original model worked extremely well.  I tried it in both open air
(...phone handset in the cups, lying on the desk) and wrapped (...same as above
except wrapped in a towel).  The open air method worked fine, most of the time.
The wrapped method worked fine all the time.  In fact, having used Acoustic
Couplers many times, over the years, I've almost always wrapped the cups in a
towel. 

The newer model, even wrapped in two towels, did not function worth a hoot.
Data came in, most of the time, but almost never went out correctly.  In fact,
I had a hard time just getting a full connection. 

---

SIDEBAR: Back in 1984 when Paula and I celebrated our 10th anniversary in
Hawaii, I used acoustic cups from pay phones around the islands to upload a
travel log into the Club 100 BBS ... yes, damn it, I'm a geek!  Okay?  But I'm
still married to the same woman after 22 years! 

I used the original model acoustic cups wrapped in a towel, and connected to a
Model 100. 

---

I tested a stack of newer model acoustic cups, recently received from a Club
100 product source, and conclude that the newer model isn't worth a hoot on a
Model "T".  I will return the newer model and steer clear from these in the
future. 

Never a dull moment ... -Rick-