[RTTY] DIN stands for....?

[Ekki Plicht (DF4OR)]

Tee hee hee, it's working, our secret plan to conquer the world by driving it 
nuts. The first attempt(s) last century didn't work out, so we invented 
DIN...

On Saturday 25 February 2006 01:16, Bill Turner wrote:
...
> My first thoughts came as I looked up the pin number layout. Whoever
> laid out the numbering of the 8-pin DIN plug needs a long vacation in
> a nice, restful place. The pin numbers are, clockwise from lower
> left, 6-1-4-2-5-3-7 with number 8 in the center. 

When the DIN connector came to light it was intended to connect stereo 
devices, say a turntable to an amp. So it had three pins - left, right and 
ground. As any decent engineer would do, the pins were numbered 1-2-3:

       2
       o


o             o
1             3

Then someone said "Well, what if I want to connect a tape to another tape? I 
need 4 wires plus ground for two sets of stereo signals going back and 
forth." So the scheme was extended to:

       2
       o   
   o       o
 o           o
 1           3

But how to number the new pins? Renumbering from the start would have been 
sensible, but even more confusing. So the new pins were just 4 and 5.

       2
   4   o   5
   o       o
 o           o
 1           3


And so on with pins 6, 7 and 8.

> My next thoughts came as the plastic holding the pins in place
> softened as I was soldering them. 

BTDT. Use a less hot solder tip. 
Hint: sacrifice one 8 pin socket and plug the connector into it when 
soldering. That keeps the pins straight. Or buy German manufactured DIN 
connectors where the plastic withstands higher temperatures :-)


Anyway - you don't really want RCA plugs, they are junk. Electrically 
speaking. The main benefit of a DIN connector is that ground and shield are 
separated (pin 2 is ground, Shield is shield). That allows you to avoid 
ground loops much easier than with RCA connectors, where the outer lead is 
connected to the chassis of the rig. Unless you use these sockets which are 
mounted on a plastic board, just to avoid that problem. Which is much more 
expensive to manufacture and unwieldy.


> My next thought came as a dream. I dream that am appointed President
> of ICOM. My first act is to locate the engineer who specified DIN
> connectors on our otherwise fine radios. 
... 
> His body is never found.

That would be your first priority as president of Icom? Hm, strange.


> I then dream that I am made President of Germany, 

Oh yeah. Please! How can I support you?

> where the DIN plug 
> originated. Before long, maps of Europe no longer have any place
> called "Germany" on them, only a large blank space. Mail to Germany
> is returned undelivered, even email does not go through and web sites
> are all 404. 

Hm, that gives me an idea. What about a new RTTY contest where you gain points 
by _not_ working a specific country? Sorta black hole on the radio map 
(besides central USA).


But, alas, our attempt to drive the world nuts with strange connectors didn't 
work out. Our defeat was clear when we adopted the use of RJ-11 and RJ-45 
connectors, invented in the USA.

:-)

73,
Ekki, DF4OR