I’m calling BS on this entire website!

[Russ]

This is BS! I am currently enrolled in the Mechatronics (mechanical-electrical Engineering) program at the local college. I now find myself perusing this site for new videos by Dave, and I currently own four multimeters, with a fifth one on the way. I have never had any alcohol or drug addictions. But I imagine they are similar to this addiction. Why is there no warning before you join this group? Is there a 12 Step help group or forum in here to assist us in dealing with this addiction? :-)

Russ

[tautech]

Luckily you can find all the help and support you need 'in-house' here:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/test-equipment-anonymous-(tea)-group-therapy-thread/

[PartialDischarge]

and wait till you start sourcing boatanchors from evilbay

[PartialDischarge]

and don’t even visit the metrology section, don’t let that virus bite you.

[tautech]

and don’t even visit the metrology section, don’t let that virus bite you.

Russ thinks he's got problems with only five meters, hell I've got five AVO's.

Where's that thread of members that have 20+ scopes ? 

Or shouldn't we scare him off too early ?

[PartialDischarge]

Yeah Russ take a look at this,

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/tektronix-7000/

[Russ]

Yeah Russ take a look at this,

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/tektronix-7000/

   Ooooh, I need a scope or two. Maybe more... :-0

Russ

[edpalmer42]

Luckily you can find all the help and support you need 'in-house' here:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/test-equipment-anonymous-(tea)-group-therapy-thread/

Tautech!  No!  Don't send him there.  That's like sending a drug addict to an opium den! 

Ed

[bd139]

The opium is some good shit though

[neo]

3 scopes, 3 frequency counters, 9 digital multimeters, another 3 VTVMs and enough power supplies to trip over. All of this in varying degrees of function and in a year.
5 multimeters is not an addiction, it is an appetizer 
Let the good times roll https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/test-equipment-anonymous-(tea)-group-therapy-thread/5900/?topicseen

[Russ]

I’m so screwed. 

[Cubdriver]

Yeah Russ take a look at this,

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/tektronix-7000/

   Ooooh, I need a scope or two. Maybe more... :-0

Russ

Twenty is the suggested number to aspire to.  Note that this is simply a guideline; feel free to buy more. They don't all need to be working, multiple 'project' ones can count towards your total.   

-Pat

[Cubdriver]

Oh, and please do join us over in the crack house   ...errr...  ...I mean TEA thread in the test equipment section.  We're here to help, really.   

-Pat

[tautech]

I’m so screwed. 

No really Russ it's not all that bad unless you get cursed like me and turn it into some career of sorts. 

Relax buddy, you're in excellent company around here. 

[tggzzz]

Yeah Russ take a look at this,

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/tektronix-7000/

   Ooooh, I need a scope or two. Maybe more... :-0

Oh, you lucky person!

Ahead of you is the joy of discovering why people need have so many scopes. Raw bandwidth for some purposes, analogue for some purposes and digitising for others, numbers of channels,  <spit> protocol decodes </spit>, variants such as TDRs and modulation domain analysers, then on to spectrum/network/logic analysers, ...

And then there is the joy of grokking them sufficiently that you can read evilbay adverts an have a good guess which ones can be easily repaired.

But be wary of the "ooh, aren't nixie / panaplex / VFD displays soothing"; that way lies insanity.
Ditto getting the maximum number of trailing 0s or 9s on a multimeter display.

[bd139]

No no no no, it's not about bandwidth etc.

It's about the cycle of:

1. Buy a scope
2. Buy another scope to fix that one.
3. Goto 2.

I'm down to two at the moment. I nearly had 4 the other day. Peak scope was 7 I think.

Purging LCDs from my bench was fun, and expensive.

[tggzzz]

No no no no, it's not about bandwidth etc.

Now you are getting into the distinction between publicly acceptable justifications and less acceptable justifications.

It's about the cycle of:

1. Buy a scope
2. Buy another scope to fix that one.
3. Goto 2.

I'm down to two at the moment. I nearly had 4 the other day. Peak scope was 7 I think.

Purging LCDs from my bench was fun, and expensive.

And you still feel able to contribute to the TEA thread?

How did you dispose of the scopes?

[Russ]

   WTF! I was just notified that my fifth DMM has been shipped, and I am already pondering the 121GW model. 

Russ

[Cubdriver]

No no no no, it's not about bandwidth etc.

It's about the cycle of:

1. Buy a scope
2. Buy another scope to fix that one.
3. Goto 2.

I'm down to two at the moment. I nearly had 4 the other day. Peak scope was 7 I think.

Purging LCDs from my bench was fun, and expensive.

Heretic!!    While I'll (grudgingly) accept selling one if it's replaced by a better one, the TOTAL quantity on hand, if not remaining steady, should move in only one direction - UP! 

-Pat

[bd139]

May I just excuse myself and say that the only reason I actually disposed of kit (and it was via ebay and private sales) was that I don't currently have enough room to store it all and am moving house soon so minimising stuff is a short term goal.

This will be entirely rectified shortly with a house move and my wife will become like "200 scopes and dead husband" woman on ebay at the moment. In my will I am going to leave her 200 large double walled cardboard boxes and a skip full of bubble wrap.

Also I bought another power supply yesterday so that's 4 now

[Russ]

May I just excuse myself and say that the only reason I actually disposed of kit (and it was via ebay and private sales) was that I don't currently have enough room to store it all and am moving house soon so minimising stuff is a short term goal.

This will be entirely rectified shortly with a house move and my wife will become like "200 scopes and dead husband" woman on ebay at the moment. In my will I am going to leave her 200 large double walled cardboard boxes and a skip full of bubble wrap.

Also I bought another power supply yesterday so that's 4 now

   You need professional help. Do not let your wife take out a life Insurance policy on you. 

Russ

[dmills]

Generic scopes are bad coke, but for the full on crack experience you need to get a **NETWORK ANALYSER**! The box is just the start at that point, because the bloody calibration loads, never mind the phase stable test port extension cables and verification kits are where the real wallet rape happens.

I bought an old HP 8753C thinking it was only £350 and I could beat the drug, next thing I know, 6GHz test set, calibrated HP reference SOL set in a cute little wooden box, several different APC-7 to more common RF adaptor sets, a Gore test port extension cable, calibrated attenuators for verification... Damn thing is getting expensive.

Regards, Dan.

[Specmaster]

No no no no, it's not about bandwidth etc.

Now you are getting into the distinction between publicly acceptable justifications and less acceptable justifications.

It's about the cycle of:

1. Buy a scope
2. Buy another scope to fix that one.
3. Goto 2.

I'm down to two at the moment. I nearly had 4 the other day. Peak scope was 7 I think.

Purging LCDs from my bench was fun, and expensive.

And you still feel able to contribute to the TEA thread?

How did you dispose of the scopes?

That's Ok, I'm making up for bd139 I mean this time last year I had 1 little battery operated kit scope and a 20MHz CRO, now I have 5 working CRO's, a 20MHz, a 40MHz, A 60MHz and 2 100MHz CRO's, PC based one and the battery kit one, 6 bench multimeters, 4 handheld DMM's, 4 LCR meters, 1 RF signal generator, 1 function generator, 4 counters, 1 VTVM, 1 scope calibrator, 3 soldering stations, 1 desolder station, 2 Microscopes., 1 SMD rework station, 2 bench supplies, desk magnifier lamp, voltage reference, decade resistor box and a project 40Mhz CRO, 2 project radios and 30" project monitor along with 2 project internet radios. So you see, this group is the perfect therapy for you and not to mention loads that I've yet to list.

[xrunner]

Twenty is the suggested number to aspire to. 

I'm expecting a Fluke 45 to arrive in the next few hours which will bring my total to 16. Thanks to the TEA group I expect to reach 20 by this Summer. 

[Neilm]

No really Russ it's not all that bad unless you get cursed like me and turn it into some career of sorts. 

No - turn it into a career and get the company to pay for all your toys - I mean necessary and very important test equipment.