[Amps] New SB-200 owner

[Peter Chadwick]

Like Carl and Steve, I've been doing RF engineering for a living for over forty years now. It sems to me that sometimes, a badly engineered design gets thrust into production because management say it must, regardless of what they're told. On occasion, a component is critical, and it gets changed by the manufacturer or purchasing buy an 'equivalent'. After 28 years in the IC industry, I'm a great believer in the statement that as far as second sources are concerned, for analogue ICs, they generally don't exist. I've even seen cases where the humble 748 op amp from one manufacturer wouldn't work in a circuit, but one from another would.
I've seen the glass frit that goes into dual in line ceramic packages changed to improve hermeticity. Unfortunately, the dielectric constant went up an enormous factor, and a whole load of different analogue IC designs were all of a sudden no longer capable of being manufactured.
The one thing you can be sure of (besides taxes) is that 'Murphy Rules, OK?'
73
Peter G3RZP