MEP EP#258: Chainsaws, Wasps, Doom, and Gloom

Parker

• PCBA Lead Times in Q1 2021
  • Supply chain disruption in 2020 started with the Lunar New Year and quickly extended into the COVID-19
  • 2021 LNY falls between February 9 to February 16
  • COVID-19 Vaccines
    • Logistic capacity being reserved for the vaccine distribution
  • 10 Day service at MF will be the biggest hit. Guaranteed 10 day service will be disabled on January 13th and will resume on February 16th.
• On Dec. 31, 2020, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) allowed the exclusion for 2-layer and 4-layer printed circuit boards HS code to expire.
  • Any orders for 2- and 4-layer products going forward or that have not yet been received into the U.S. will have a tariff surcharge if built in Mainland China.
• Other interesting PCB related things
  • Copper – the price of copper has increased 68% YOY
  • Gold – the price of gold has increased 22% YOY
  • Resin – cost of epoxy resin has risen 40% since the recent fires at Epoxy Resins factories in China and Korea
• UL aims to put a security rating on every connected device
  • Categorizes products according to an ascending five-level scale: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum and Diamond.
  • For consumer level devices this could take hold if customers pay attention to markings.
  • Do customers look for UL markings? If not who does? The seller/store?

Stephen

• Covid-19 5G Chip Diagram NOW THIS IS NEWS!
  • Is everyone getting more metal?
  • Conspiracy theorists in Italy are warning the public about a ‘5G Chip’ they claim has been planted in COVID-19 vaccines
    • However, the widely circulated image of the chip in question has been outed as a reworked schematic for the Boss Metal Zone pedal
    • Best response to this : “Excellent. Reassured to know that 5G relies on op-amps and some 1n4148 diodes. Proper old school. None of that digital and microprocessor nonsense. I’ll take one in each arm.”
  • Boss metal zone uses a very interesting gyrator circuit within a non inverting opamp configuration
  • Dual gyrator to simulate two inductors to ground. Must be for filtering to get “the right shitty sound”
  • A very interesting frequency response with multiple peaks
  • One before clipping and two after - Interesting choice