Black Market Satellite Electronics?

Tuesday, November 2, 2010 - 17:30 in Physics & Chemistry

Just an anecdote for today.  With luck, my French connection will have 'the goods' for me shortly.  I will slip him payment, and 20 beauties will be mine. Back when I fabricated my PCBs, I thought the next step was to buy the electronics.  What could go wrong?  Most components such as resistors and capacitors are ubiquitous and nearly fungible.  You can swap out manufacturers and minor specs as long as the main desired value (resistance, capacitance, etc) is fulfilled-- and as long as the part is the same form factor.  The latter means "it needs to fit onto your PCB in the holes provided." read more

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