Watch finder

A long time ago I made a cable tracer from a coil of 2,000 turns of wire
on an old solder spool, connected to a high gain amplifier that fed
headphones.  After using it for the job that needed it at the time, I
put it away in a box "just in case".

Today I realised that my watch was no longer on my wrist although I
remembered putting it on this morning; a thorough visual inspection of
the house (= chaotic mess) failed to find it.  I was just resigning
myself to being without it for several months until it deigned to turn
up of its own accord, when I remembered that the cable tracer had been
able to pick up the magnetic field from its stepping motor at a distance
of over half a metre.

It took about 30 seconds of searching before I heard a distinctive
repeated 'blop' noise coming from a pile of papers under the kitchen
table.  The watch must have had fallen off my wrist and slipped in
between them.

Thank you Mr. Faraday!

-- 
~ Liz Tuddenham ~
(Remove the ".invalid"s and add ".co.uk" to reply)
www.poppyrecords.co.uk

On Monday, September 13, 2021 at 12:53:00 PM UTC-4, Liz Tuddenham wrote:
> A long time ago I made a cable tracer from a coil of 2,000 turns of wire 
> on an old solder spool, connected to a high gain amplifier that fed 
> headphones. After using it for the job that needed it at the time, I 
> put it away in a box "just in case". 
> 
> Today I realised that my watch was no longer on my wrist although I 
> remembered putting it on this morning; a thorough visual inspection of 
> the house (= chaotic mess) failed to find it. I was just resigning 
> myself to being without it for several months until it deigned to turn 
> up of its own accord, when I remembered that the cable tracer had been 
> able to pick up the magnetic field from its stepping motor at a distance 
> of over half a metre. 
> 
> It took about 30 seconds of searching before I heard a distinctive 
> repeated 'blop' noise coming from a pile of papers under the kitchen 
> table. The watch must have had fallen off my wrist and slipped in 
> between them. 
> 
> Thank you Mr. Faraday! 
> 
> -- 
> ~ Liz Tuddenham ~ 
> (Remove the ".invalid"s and add ".co.uk" to reply) 
> www.poppyrecords.co.uk

Good job!  The more important thing is that you passed the "I dont have dementia after all" test

On a sunny day (Mon, 13 Sep 2021 17:51:59 +0100) it happened
liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid (Liz Tuddenham) wrote in
<1pfgh2s.188ankm1ovqrewN%liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid>:

>A long time ago I made a cable tracer from a coil of 2,000 turns of wire
>on an old solder spool, connected to a high gain amplifier that fed
>headphones.  After using it for the job that needed it at the time, I
>put it away in a box "just in case".
>
>Today I realised that my watch was no longer on my wrist although I
>remembered putting it on this morning; a thorough visual inspection of
>the house (= chaotic mess) failed to find it.  I was just resigning
>myself to being without it for several months until it deigned to turn
>up of its own accord, when I remembered that the cable tracer had been
>able to pick up the magnetic field from its stepping motor at a distance
>of over half a metre.
>
>It took about 30 seconds of searching before I heard a distinctive
>repeated 'blop' noise coming from a pile of papers under the kitchen
>table.  The watch must have had fallen off my wrist and slipped in
>between them.
>
>Thank you Mr. Faraday!

But ...but mine has a LCD display..
It does have a radio receiver to automatically set time though.
Casio waveceptor.

Brent Locher <blocher@columbus.rr.com> wrote:

> On Monday, September 13, 2021 at 12:53:00 PM UTC-4, Liz Tuddenham wrote:
> > A long time ago I made a cable tracer from a coil of 2,000 turns of wire
> > on an old solder spool, connected to a high gain amplifier that fed
> > headphones. After using it for the job that needed it at the time, I
> > put it away in a box "just in case". 
> > 
> > Today I realised that my watch was no longer on my wrist although I
> > remembered putting it on this morning; a thorough visual inspection of
> > the house (= chaotic mess) failed to find it. I was just resigning 
> > myself to being without it for several months until it deigned to turn
> > up of its own accord, when I remembered that the cable tracer had been
> > able to pick up the magnetic field from its stepping motor at a distance
> > of over half a metre. 
> > 
> > It took about 30 seconds of searching before I heard a distinctive 
> > repeated 'blop' noise coming from a pile of papers under the kitchen
> > table. The watch must have had fallen off my wrist and slipped in 
> > between them. 
> > 
> > Thank you Mr. Faraday! 
> > 
> > -- 
> > ~ Liz Tuddenham ~ 
> > (Remove the ".invalid"s and add ".co.uk" to reply) 
> > www.poppyrecords.co.uk
> 
> Good job!  The more important thing is that you passed the "I dont have
dementia after all" test

It might be a false negative.

-- 
~ Liz Tuddenham ~
(Remove the ".invalid"s and add ".co.uk" to reply)
www.poppyrecords.co.uk

On Mon, 13 Sep 2021 17:51:59 +0100, liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid
(Liz Tuddenham) wrote:

>A long time ago I made a cable tracer from a coil of 2,000 turns of wire
>on an old solder spool, connected to a high gain amplifier that fed
>headphones.  After using it for the job that needed it at the time, I
>put it away in a box "just in case".
>
>Today I realised that my watch was no longer on my wrist although I
>remembered putting it on this morning; a thorough visual inspection of
>the house (= chaotic mess) failed to find it.  I was just resigning
>myself to being without it for several months until it deigned to turn
>up of its own accord, when I remembered that the cable tracer had been
>able to pick up the magnetic field from its stepping motor at a distance
>of over half a metre.
>
>It took about 30 seconds of searching before I heard a distinctive
>repeated 'blop' noise coming from a pile of papers under the kitchen
>table.  The watch must have had fallen off my wrist and slipped in
>between them.
>
>Thank you Mr. Faraday!

A biggish drum core inductor is a good h-field pickup. Or an E-I core
transformer with the I part removed.

I have a small drum core on the end of a coax cable as a short-range
h-probe, for poking around on pcb's. Sort of a magnetic scope probe.

Umm, a pile of papers under the kitchen table?

On Mon, 13 Sep 2021 20:45:17 +0100, liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid
(Liz Tuddenham) wrote:

>Brent Locher <blocher@columbus.rr.com> wrote:
>
>> On Monday, September 13, 2021 at 12:53:00 PM UTC-4, Liz Tuddenham wrote:
>> > A long time ago I made a cable tracer from a coil of 2,000 turns of wire
>> > on an old solder spool, connected to a high gain amplifier that fed
>> > headphones. After using it for the job that needed it at the time, I
>> > put it away in a box "just in case". 
>> > 
>> > Today I realised that my watch was no longer on my wrist although I
>> > remembered putting it on this morning; a thorough visual inspection of
>> > the house (= chaotic mess) failed to find it. I was just resigning 
>> > myself to being without it for several months until it deigned to turn
>> > up of its own accord, when I remembered that the cable tracer had been
>> > able to pick up the magnetic field from its stepping motor at a distance
>> > of over half a metre. 
>> > 
>> > It took about 30 seconds of searching before I heard a distinctive 
>> > repeated 'blop' noise coming from a pile of papers under the kitchen
>> > table. The watch must have had fallen off my wrist and slipped in 
>> > between them. 
>> > 
>> > Thank you Mr. Faraday! 
>> > 
>> > -- 
>> > ~ Liz Tuddenham ~ 
>> > (Remove the ".invalid"s and add ".co.uk" to reply) 
>> > www.poppyrecords.co.uk
>> 
>> Good job!  The more important thing is that you passed the "I dont have
>dementia after all" test
>
>It might be a false negative.

I've never lost a watch. But I've never had a watch.

Liz Tuddenham wrote:
> A long time ago I made a cable tracer from a coil of 2,000 turns of
> wire on an old solder spool, connected to a high gain amplifier that
> fed headphones.  After using it for the job that needed it at the
> time, I put it away in a box "just in case".

All the off-the-shelf cable tracers seem to have just a monopole antenna 
and an audio amp. E fields only, up to a few inches.


-- 
 Defund the Thought Police 

On 9/13/2021 5:46 PM, John Larkin wrote:
> On Mon, 13 Sep 2021 20:45:17 +0100, liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid
> (Liz Tuddenham) wrote:
> 
>> Brent Locher <blocher@columbus.rr.com> wrote:
>>
>>> On Monday, September 13, 2021 at 12:53:00 PM UTC-4, Liz Tuddenham wrote:
>>>> A long time ago I made a cable tracer from a coil of 2,000 turns of wire
>>>> on an old solder spool, connected to a high gain amplifier that fed
>>>> headphones. After using it for the job that needed it at the time, I
>>>> put it away in a box "just in case".
>>>>
>>>> Today I realised that my watch was no longer on my wrist although I
>>>> remembered putting it on this morning; a thorough visual inspection of
>>>> the house (= chaotic mess) failed to find it. I was just resigning
>>>> myself to being without it for several months until it deigned to turn
>>>> up of its own accord, when I remembered that the cable tracer had been
>>>> able to pick up the magnetic field from its stepping motor at a distance
>>>> of over half a metre.
>>>>
>>>> It took about 30 seconds of searching before I heard a distinctive
>>>> repeated 'blop' noise coming from a pile of papers under the kitchen
>>>> table. The watch must have had fallen off my wrist and slipped in
>>>> between them.
>>>>
>>>> Thank you Mr. Faraday!
>>>>
>>>> -- 
>>>> ~ Liz Tuddenham ~
>>>> (Remove the ".invalid"s and add ".co.uk" to reply)
>>>> www.poppyrecords.co.uk
>>>
>>> Good job!  The more important thing is that you passed the "I dont have
>> dementia after all" test
>>
>> It might be a false negative.
> 
> I've never lost a watch. But I've never had a watch.
> 

Never learned to tell time? Yeah, it would be useless to you then.

John Larkin <jlarkin@highland_atwork_technology.com> wrote:

> On Mon, 13 Sep 2021 17:51:59 +0100, liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid
> (Liz Tuddenham) wrote:
> 
> >A long time ago I made a cable tracer from a coil of 2,000 turns of wire
> >on an old solder spool, connected to a high gain amplifier that fed
> >headphones.  After using it for the job that needed it at the time, I
> >put it away in a box "just in case".
> >
> >Today I realised that my watch was no longer on my wrist although I
> >remembered putting it on this morning; a thorough visual inspection of
> >the house (= chaotic mess) failed to find it.  I was just resigning
> >myself to being without it for several months until it deigned to turn
> >up of its own accord, when I remembered that the cable tracer had been
> >able to pick up the magnetic field from its stepping motor at a distance
> >of over half a metre.
> >
> >It took about 30 seconds of searching before I heard a distinctive
> >repeated 'blop' noise coming from a pile of papers under the kitchen
> >table.  The watch must have had fallen off my wrist and slipped in
> >between them.
> >
> >Thank you Mr. Faraday!
> 
> A biggish drum core inductor is a good h-field pickup. Or an E-I core
> transformer with the I part removed.

One of my first attempts used an 'E' core, but an air core gives a
better frequency response, especially if you are using a high audio
frequency current to identify a cable or pipe and don't want mains hum
swamping it.

[...] 
> Umm, a pile of papers under the kitchen table?

That's not all, unfortunately.  A while ago I discovered a forgotten 8mm
cine projector hiding in there.


-- 
~ Liz Tuddenham ~
(Remove the ".invalid"s and add ".co.uk" to reply)
www.poppyrecords.co.uk

On Tue, 14 Sep 2021 00:35:20 -0500, John S <Sophi.2@invalid.org>
wrote:

>On 9/13/2021 5:46 PM, John Larkin wrote:
>> On Mon, 13 Sep 2021 20:45:17 +0100, liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid
>> (Liz Tuddenham) wrote:
>> 
>>> Brent Locher <blocher@columbus.rr.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On Monday, September 13, 2021 at 12:53:00 PM UTC-4, Liz Tuddenham wrote:
>>>>> A long time ago I made a cable tracer from a coil of 2,000 turns of wire
>>>>> on an old solder spool, connected to a high gain amplifier that fed
>>>>> headphones. After using it for the job that needed it at the time, I
>>>>> put it away in a box "just in case".
>>>>>
>>>>> Today I realised that my watch was no longer on my wrist although I
>>>>> remembered putting it on this morning; a thorough visual inspection of
>>>>> the house (= chaotic mess) failed to find it. I was just resigning
>>>>> myself to being without it for several months until it deigned to turn
>>>>> up of its own accord, when I remembered that the cable tracer had been
>>>>> able to pick up the magnetic field from its stepping motor at a distance
>>>>> of over half a metre.
>>>>>
>>>>> It took about 30 seconds of searching before I heard a distinctive
>>>>> repeated 'blop' noise coming from a pile of papers under the kitchen
>>>>> table. The watch must have had fallen off my wrist and slipped in
>>>>> between them.
>>>>>
>>>>> Thank you Mr. Faraday!
>>>>>
>>>>> -- 
>>>>> ~ Liz Tuddenham ~
>>>>> (Remove the ".invalid"s and add ".co.uk" to reply)
>>>>> www.poppyrecords.co.uk
>>>>
>>>> Good job!  The more important thing is that you passed the "I dont have
>>> dementia after all" test
>>>
>>> It might be a false negative.
>> 
>> I've never lost a watch. But I've never had a watch.
>> 
>
>Never learned to tell time? Yeah, it would be useless to you then.

Actually, I was the school champion clock reader in 3rd grade. The
teachers were amazed.



-- 

Father Brown's figure remained quite dark and still; 
but in that instant he had lost his head. His head was
always most valuable when he had lost it.