[Autopilot] Beware of Radio Shack board #276-168B

[Tramm H. <hu...@sw...>]

I'm hacking on the BOB-II character generator and have started to
build a custom carrier that will hold the xcam transmitter and
BOB-II SIMM.  Since it is a 30 pin SIMM, the Radio Shack board
276-168 seemed like a good choice.

It has 780 through-holes on 0.1" centers arranged in a 30 x 25 grid
with bus bars and other features.  And it just fits the SIMM carrier.
They even helpfully labeled the pins 1 - 30 to make it easier to tell
which pin is which.

Except, they fscked it up.  There are six pins from 1 to 5 and only
four pins between 25 and 30.  So, if you use those numbers to identify
the pins on the SIMM carrier, you'll incorrectly wire the BOB.
Luckilly, I noticed while attaching the carrier, rather than after
blowing the part.  

This just reinforces my attitude towards them: "RadioShack: You have
questions, we've got acne!".

In case you want to see the product photo, here is a link.  You can even
see the bad spacing between the solder labels in the image:

	http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&category%5Fname=CTLG%5F005%5F014%5F003%5F000&product%5Fid=276%2D168


Trammell
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