Dad tests the Retio (retro nixie tube clock!)

Thanks so much to the viewer who sent the Retio, it's definitely a conversation piece! It's a bit pricey, but for someone who loves nixie tubes, vintage electronics, radio, and fine woodworking... it's about as close to a perfect product as it gets!
Here are links to all the other odds-and-ends we talked about in the video:
- Retio: retio.co
- Wicked Device Angular Clock Kit: www.jameco.com/z/ANGCLKV1-Wic...
- Robot USB 2.0 Hub: www.ideastage.com/Robot-USB-2...
- Non-contact voltage tester: amzn.to/3N2uk8N
- Insignia HD Radio Portable Player NS-HD01: www.ebay.com/itm/175316195043
- RTL-SDR Blog V3 Software Defined Radio: amzn.to/3xu9ppa
- Airspy SDR Software: airspy.com
- SPARC HD Radio SHD-T750: amzn.to/3mYwGef
- TWTADE SSR-25AA 25A AC Relay: amzn.to/3tJyknX
- Drone - DJI Mavic Pro: amzn.to/3y20oW1
Support me on Patreon: / geerlingguy
Sponsor me on GitHub: github.com/sponsors/geerlingguy
Merch: redshirtjeff.com
Main Channel: / jeffgeerling
#FathersDay #Engineering #Retio
Contents:
00:00 - Unboxing (Jeff)
00:58 - Dad's Desk and SDR
04:33 - Unboxing (Dad)
05:44 - Testing Retio (clock and radio)
07:52 - Testing Retio (bluetooth)
10:24 - More knick knacks
11:24 - Drone for Tower inspection
12:28 - 5000 watts!
13:06 - Conclusion

[@MarcoGPUtuber]

Oh! I know this! The perfect Father's Day gift for an engineer is another Geerling Engineering video!

[@michaelvilain8457]

That was terrific. My dad is no longer with us but I could imagine him reacting similarly to something like this. I passed this link to this to friends and clients with engineer dads.

[@SorinOltean77]

You guys have such a wonderful relation, one every father-son should have!

[@Ratchet_effect]

Happy Father's Day to all us Dads alive & those gone but not forgotten 😇 I have that exact same Wall-E USB Hub Also a Monkey both came from Avon 10+ years ago 👍🏻

[@ChrisFredriksson]

Loved the clock, really beautiful! But the best part of the video was you two chatting and showing off stuff on the desk, the drone footage and all other info. Love the video big time! ❤

[@stevenwright991]

Man... I love these videos, you should do like a monthly video tour of youre dads desk... he's got all kinds of goodies and parts on his desk 🤠👌

[@HaskellMoore]

That's really a cool radio. But even better is the relationship between you and your father!

[@draz1c844]

Great video, lovely dad & son relationship, so heart-warming! P.S: Joe reminds me of "Bob Gunton" a little bit hahaha (I might be crazy though lol)

[@TheJimmyCartel]

Your dad's got a pretty cool job :)

[@GeerlingEngineering]

I think so too! Lots of hands-on electronics work, with a huge variety of equipment.

[@dmacpher]

Haha - love the SDR in the background

[@MarcoGPUtuber]

It's woodgrain. LGR approves!

[@dfmayes]

Looks like walnut.

[@johnstraatmann9618]

Love the Easy-to-Read clock!

[@johnstraatmann9618]

Lol, the other *other* right!

[@GeerlingEngineering]

Haha

[@WobblycogsUk]

I'd be interested in seeing inside that radio if your Dad does take it apart. I'm particularly interested in how the box is built as it appears to have an unusual construction. None of the parts of the box are hard to make but getting the fit and finish just right is going to be tough. They've got a potential issue with cross grain expansion on the back, it's fighting against the long grain on the sides. Cool gadget though, I'd certainly pleased to get one.

[@JeffGeerling]

Definitely! My Dad did take it apart already (he's trying to debug that RF circuit), and I'm thinking of doing a follow-up.

[@leetaylor3304]

How? How did you receive yours? I’ve been waiting two years for mine to be delivered, like many many other people.

[@GReadyPrints]

Awesome video I think I'll make this for myself 🤣👍👍👍

[@GeerlingEngineering]

It looks like the Nixie Clock site has a lot of kits available, it would be neat if they could make the insides part of a kit for a bit less so you could 3D print or craft your own outer case for it, since that seems to be their production hold up!

[@GReadyPrints]

@@GeerlingEngineering i agree 👍 hey thank your dad for me for having an amazing son 😎💪👍

[@alexlandherr]

I have the same model of SDR, though I use it for recording satellite images from NOAA satellites.

[@LunaWuna]

I recognize SDR# :) I've played with SDRs for years

[@LunaWuna]

He is using an RTL-SDR stick and those are cheap af and very impressive for the price (30 dollars ish)

[@sterling1989]

I really want one of these but the website is closed and backers still don't have their radios. What a shame.

[@JeffGeerling]

Yeah, sadly it seems like the way they built it (the custom wood crafstmanship) killed off getting the units shipped out to all backers. Some people got them, but they ran out of money paying the woodworkers, and never fulfilled the original pledges :( That's the annoying risk of Kickstarter, and also why I try to be up-front about the risks of backing Kickstarter projects. It would be neat if they released the source and design files so people could build their own if they could source nixie tubes. Even a 3D printed case would be perfectly adequate (IMHO).

[@sterling1989]

@@JeffGeerling I agree. Red shirt Jeff could make a tutorial video about building one!

[@Juste.Futari]

Hey, I was wondering if you still have the paper instructions that came with this beautiful piece. I displaced mine, thinking I can always find it online, buuuuuut for once it backfired because the website is down. Now I need the instructions for re-setup and can't find them!

[@GeerlingEngineering]

We do! Can you email the address on our Channel About page and I'll get it to you?

[@brandonhowsare2718]

Sadly, Retio is 3years behind and still hasn’t shipped to most of its backers. They are exporting production to china now so most of us KS backers will likely never see this product with our own eyes except for the few who did get theirs shipped to them in early production before they ran into issues.

[@JeffGeerling]

Yeah, one of the slow failures I've seen play out on Kickstarter. It's been a while since I talked to the team behind it, but I remember they mentioned the details (especially the wood finishing) were what held up production. It required a skilled woodworker to make every enclosure. We revisited the Retio later I think in our 'Where does AM radio go from here?' video, and my Dad mentioned more from using it a while (the radio tuner's not great, though Bluetooth worked okay).

[@BMC117]

That radio looks like something that would come out of fallout four

[@OscarInAsia]

Well, at least you got one. Apparently thousands of folks on Kickstarter (myself included) have been waiting 2 years for it. It now looks like the company has sent them to China for final assembly.... Or the company did a runner and plan to blame China for the problems.

[@JeffGeerling]

My Dad and I did a teardown of the Retio (hopefully a post soon on that!), and I know exactly why it's taken so long to ship-the wood enclosure is extremely finicky to finish, and would probably take a fairly skilled woodworker at least half an hour to cut and finish. And that's a very optimistic estimate! I hope they can figure out a way to get past that, because the unit is very nice overall, with the exception of the radio functionality (which we'll discuss in that follow-up video).

[@aguegu314]

China is kinda the last resort to the problems.

[@frankbohnen2347]

"When the batteries die, you stop" 😉 I guess, unwanted comedy.

[@bobroberts2371]

Error message: It is getting dark and my batteries are low. . . . .

[@kyleallred984]

And I thought sourcing the nixie tubes would be the bottle neck.

[@GeerlingEngineering]

That's the crazy thing-apparently they have a lot of PCBs and the electronics ready to go, the bottleneck is woodworkers, since a number have left the SF area in the past year or so.

[@yomboprime]

Didn't you tear it apart before? Beware, someone could have sneaked in a microphone and a cell phone module. Although your dad can detect that without opening it, i guess.

[@GeerlingEngineering]

Don't worry, I just got word my Dad will be tearing it open to see if he can get that radio distortion sorted out ;)

[@eslib2]

The kickstarter for this product has been hell!!!! Been two years and nothing yet. How did you get it? BS

[@ingenfestbrems]

I’m just saying your father have good music taste Earth Wind and Fire 🔥 Let’s groove 🥓⚡️⚡️🥓🥓⚡️🥓🥓

[@snorkupine210]

The sound quality and reception is poor and the controls don't respond quickly. Threw mine in the trash. The cool tubes aren't enough for me to enjoy it.

[@Tntdruid]

13 days too late lol

[@justinbustin677]

Trouble making them is because of the nixie tubes. No one really makes them.

[@adredy]

Cool but not not 450$ :/

[@dfmayes]

Anything with Nixie tubes is pricey.