About Jay Jay

Hi there. My name is John Elliot V. My friends call me Jay Jay. I talk about technology on my blog at blog.jj5.net and make videos about electronics on my YouTube channel @InTheLabWithJayJay.

Taking information “out-of-band”

Over in Intro to Data Oriented Design for Games, Nic Barker explains “taking information out-of-band”. Nic credits Andrew Kelly of Zig fame for introducing him to the idea (see Andrew Kelley Practical Data Oriented Design (DoD)).

The basic idea is that instead of having one list with items that have an enumeration with three different states, you can have three lists where membership implies the enum state, obviating the need to store the enum value in the item anymore, thus saving space and improving cache locality.

Electronics Project #19: Attaching Alligator Clips to AA Battery Holders | In The Lab With Jay Jay

This post is part of my video blog and you can find more information about this video.

You can support this channel on Patreon: patreon.com/JohnElliotV

Silly Job Title: Chief Engineer. I am the Chief Engineer!

In this video we attach some alligator clips to a handful of AA battery holders. I was planning to use these for a Learning the Art of Electronics experiment that I didn’t understand, but now that I understand the problem a bit better I don’t want to go short-circuiting five AA batters… that would be a bad idea!

We use the METCAL PS-900 Soldering Station for soldering.

We use the MUIN Solder Fume Extractor to clear the air.

We use the EEVblog BM2257 Digital Multimeter for voltage and continuity testing.

We use the Hakko CHP 3C-SA Precision Tweezers for tweezering.

We use the Plato Model 170 Wire Cutter to snip, snip, snip.

We use the Kaisi S-160 45x30cm Repair Mat as our workspace.

Thanks very much for watching! And please remember to hit like and subscribe! :)


Following is a product I use picked at random from my collection which may appear in my videos. Clicking through on this to find and click on the green affiliate links before purchasing from eBay or AliExpress is a great way to support the channel at no cost to you. Thanks!

Yum Cha 4pcs 30mm Deep Hole PenThis is an image of the product.notes

Let’s go shopping!

Old Book Teardown #15: Encyclopedia of Electronic Circuits Volume 2 (1988) | In The Lab

This post is part of my video blog and you can find more information about this video.

You can support this channel on Patreon: patreon.com/JohnElliotV

Silly Job Title: Digital Dancer. I am the Digital Dancer!

In this video we have a look inside Encyclopedia of Electronic Circuits Volume 2.

Circuits of particular interest were:

Page Circuit
3 Differential Voltage or Current Alarm
33 Low-Cost Chime Circuit
34 Sliding-Tone Doorbell
109 Demonstration Comparator Circuit
151 Crystal Tester
274 Precise Wave Generator
321 Back-Biased GaAsP LED Operates as Light Sensor
341 Magnetometer
566 Modified UFT Relaxation Oscillator Produces Clean Audio Sinusoids

Some notes concerning things which came up:

SCS = Silicon-Controlled Switch: an SCS (Silicon-Controlled Switch) is a four-layer thyristor device — basically an SCR with an extra gate — that gives you extra control (including a way to force it off). It’s a member of the thyristor family used for controlled switching in low-power applications.

Ga = Gallium.

As = Arsenic.

P = Phosphorus.

Compander = compressor + expander. It’s a system (or device) that compresses the dynamic range of a signal before transmission or storage and then expands it back to (approximately) the original dynamic range at the receiver/playback end.

The NE570 / NE571 (and SA571) are dual compandor ICs: each chip contains two identical compressor/expander “kits” (full-wave rectifier → temperature-compensated variable-gain cell → op-amp + trim) used for dynamic range control and noise-reduction in audio/communications systems. They’re widely used as companders, VCAs, limiters/noise-gates and as the compressor/expander around BBD delay lines to reduce hiss.

β (beta) — also written hFE or hfe on datasheets — is the transistor’s current gain. For a bipolar junction transistor (BJT) it’s the ratio of collector current to base current: β = IC / IB.

Q (quality) factor: measures how selective or sharp a resonant system is. High Q → narrow bandwidth, slow damping (lots of ringing). Low Q → wide bandwidth, heavy damping (quickly dies out).

I asked ChatGPT to please explain damping and ringing.

The 5558 IC is a dual op-amp in the 1458/1558 family (often labelled LM1558 / MC1558 / 5558 depending on maker). These are general-purpose, internally-compensated dual operational amplifiers (audio, filters, integrators, buffers).

My programmable load is the ZKETECH EBD-A20H Electronic Load.

SCA = Subsidiary Communications Authorization / subcarrier (used for background music/data in FM radio broadcasting).

We encountered Chebyshev filters which are analog or digital filters that have a steeper roll-off than Butterworth filters, and have either passband ripple (type I) or stopband ripple (type II).

UJT = Unijunction Transistor, a three-terminal semiconductor device (Emitter E, Base1 B1, Base2 B2) with a single PN junction and an internal resistive path between B2 and B1. It’s widely used as a simple relaxation-oscillator/timing/trigger device because it shows a controlled negative-resistance region when the emitter is driven above a threshold.

PUT = Programmable Unijunction Transistor; a PUT is a three-terminal semiconductor device (Anode, Cathode, Gate) that behaves like a unijunction transistor but whose trigger (peak) point is set externally by resistors — i.e. it’s programmable. It’s essentially a four-layer PNPN device (closely related to SCRs in internal construction) with the gate used to set the firing threshold.

My anti-static monitor is an Auto-alarm Anti Static ESD Wrist Strap Tester Output Anti-static Online Monitor For Anti-static Electronic ESD Meter.

A squib is a small explosive which can be used as a detonator.

A “TR circuit” can mean variously:

  • a T/R (transmit–receive) switch used in RF systems
  • a transformer-rectifier (TR or TRU) — a transformer plus rectifier used for AC→DC power
  • Tr often used as an abbreviation for rise time (tᵣ) when discussing pulse/transient performance

SSB = Single-SideBand — a form of amplitude modulation where the carrier and one of the sidebands are removed so only one sideband (upper or lower) is transmitted.

The 2N4871 is a classic silicon PN unijunction transistor (UJT) used for timing/oscillator and trigger circuits.

RTD = Resistance Temperature Detector, a temperature sensor that measures temperature by sensing the electrical resistance of a metal element, which changes predictably with temperature. RTD stands for Resistance Temperature Detector.

A Theremin is a type of musical instrument.

The 4069 is a hex inverter.

The 4046 is a Phase-Locked-Loop.

Thanks very much for watching! And please remember to hit like and subscribe! :)


Following is a product I use picked at random from my collection which may appear in my videos. Clicking through on this to find and click on the green affiliate links before purchasing from eBay or AliExpress is a great way to support the channel at no cost to you. Thanks!

Yizhan Digital MicroscopeThis is an image of the product.notes

Let’s go shopping!

Mail Call #48: Thermistors, MOSFETs, DC Power Cables, Mains Power Adapters and More! | In The Lab

This post is part of my video blog and you can find more information about this video.

You can support this channel on Patreon: patreon.com/JohnElliotV

Silly Job Title: Bit Distinguisher. I am the Bit Distinguisher!

In this video we go through what arrived in the mail from AliExpress:

We use the Brother P-Touch D210 Label Maker to label our drawers.

We use the Scotch Titanium Scissors to cut, cut, cut.

We use the Victorinox Swiss Champ Red Swiss Army Knife for cutting.

We use the Kaisi S-160 45x30cm Repair Mat as our workspace.

Thanks very much for watching! And please remember to hit like and subscribe! :)


Following is a product I use picked at random from my collection which may appear in my videos. Clicking through on this to find and click on the green affiliate links before purchasing from eBay or AliExpress is a great way to support the channel at no cost to you. Thanks!

WIDEEP Cutting Drill BitsThis is an image of the product.

Let’s go shopping!

Mail Call #47: USB Accessories, Diodes, Wire, Perspex, Molex Cables and More! | In The Lab

This post is part of my video blog and you can find more information about this video.

You can support this channel on Patreon: patreon.com/JohnElliotV

Silly Job Title: Voltage Virtuoso. I am the Voltage Virtuoso!

In this video we take a look at what arrived in the mail:

Special mention to 18 AWG Wire which came with bundled zip ties, heat shrink, and wire stripper. I thought this little surprise was a nice touch.

A photo of the zip ties, heat shrink, and wire stripper on John's bench

We use the Brother P-Touch D210 Label Maker to label our kit.

We use the Scotch Titanium Scissors to cut, cut, cut.

We use the Hakko CHP 3C-SA Precision Tweezers for tweezering.

We use the Plato Model 170 Wire Cutter to for snipping.

We use the Victorinox Swiss Champ Red Swiss Army Knife to open our boxes and envelopes.

We use the Kaisi S-160 45x30cm Repair Mat as our workspace.

Thanks very much for watching! And please remember to hit like and subscribe! :)


Following is a product I use picked at random from my collection which may appear in my videos. Clicking through on this to find and click on the green affiliate links before purchasing from eBay or AliExpress is a great way to support the channel at no cost to you. Thanks!

Yum Cha Universal Magnetic Ring Drill BitThis is an image of the product.

Let’s go shopping!