Went to The Tangled Branch yesterday for a Zoom meeting.  An online poetry reading.  We've had a few of these and they've previously all worked out okay.

This time there was something wrong.  I could see and hear the others, but they could barely hear me.  There was also a horrible echo effect they could all hear, and a bit of a buzz.

It soon became obvious that my equipment, or my connection, was responsible.  Various things were suggested, and tried, including the classic 'turn it all off and start again.  I even downloaded a totally fresh copy of the Zoom app but all to no avail.

In the end I packed my tent and stole away, not wanting to spoil it any further for the others.

Later I tried to solve the mystery, and after  some trial and error found I have a naff microphone.  It wouldn't even let me make a direct recording, let alone talk to the world.

A new and hopefully better microphone is on order.

In the meantime I've given my workhorse desktop 'a good seeing to' and a bit of a fresh start with the wires rearranged and the proliferation of USB ports used more logically.  And little tags added to the ends so I know what's what instead of having to play 'guess the device'.  I also added four extra USB ports, accessible from the front.  This is long overdue.

The Frankenstein PC seems to behaving itself now, and I hope this will carry on when I install the new microphone.

As an extra bonus the cables look a little less like 'squid porn' ;-)

Gyppo