What did you buy today? Post your latest purchase!

[GreyWoolfe]

Drove 2 hours to Virginia to buy a Honda EU2000i generator. Indeed very quiet and fuel efficient. Just went to Autoparts to get some fuel stabilizer and some more gas.
Hurricanes Matthew had created more damage to our city than expected. I was thinking what a shitty place Florida is the day before yesterday, and it soon became my turn. Karma.

Edit: typo.

I'm in the Daytona Beach area.  Thankfully, Matthew passed just off shore at low tide.  Lots of tree damage, only a few shingles off the house.  Back in 2005, when we had the 3 hurricanes pass by, we got a Polaris P6100 6.5KW generator at we got reimbursed for through FEMA.  Not quiet, fairly fuel efficient-about 8 gallons for a 24 hour period, but big enough to run the house w/o AC, hot water heater and stove.  We only had to refill the generator once and it ran out of fuel right after the power came back on.  Talk about timing.

[PartialDischarge]

Picked up an HP 6215A 0-1600V, 5mA variable supply a few weeks ago in CA.  I've been watching the wallet draining auction site for one for about a year now, but all were going for north of $100 plus shipping and I'm too cheap to pay that.  Found a nice one at a surplus store and got it for $40.   

Nice! I just bought a 10kV power supply, Fluke 410B, although delivery will take long.

Need it to power properly 1.8V logic gates, arduino and zigbee stuff.

Why not buy a Samsung Note 7 charger as a cheaper, functional equivalent? 

that's a great idea! I may end up connecting both in series to get a 10 to 20kV ouput range .

[McBryce]

Drove 2 hours to Virginia to buy a Honda EU2000i generator. Indeed very quiet and fuel efficient. Just went to Autoparts to get some fuel stabilizer and some more gas.
Hurricanes Matthew had created more damage to our city than expected. I was thinking what a shitty place Florida is the day before yesterday, and it soon became my turn. Karma.

Edit: typo.

I've a Honda S2000. It's neither quiet nor fuel efficient, but fun

McBryce.

[VK5RC]

An HP 203A SIG GEN 2 channel but has nice ability to alter relative phase, great HP porn as well, sold AS-IS , Arrives I check fuse - ok, take cover off - think those daughter boards don't look seated properly push them in - switch on and VOILA. Not great upper end (60kHz) but goes low 5mHz . Clean unit.
Rob

[JPortici]

some tek 7000 goodies from ebay. 115 euros shipped

• 7A18A Dual Trace Amplifier (75MHz bandwidth)
  Good cosmetic condition, both channels OK
• 7A24 Dual Trace Amplifier (400MHz bandwidth, 50 Ohm inputs)
  Missing or broken knobs, sticker residue on faceplate. Channel A attenuator fuses are broken (some ranges do not work), channel B OK.
• 7A29 Amplifier (1GHz bandwidth, 50 Ohm input)
  Good cosmetic condition, some sticker residue. Some attenuator steps not working.
• 7B50A Time Base (trigger up to 100MHz)
  Good cosmetic and functional condition.
• 7B51 Delaying Time Base
  Good cosmetic and functional condition.
• 7B80 Time Base (trigger up to 400MHz)
  Broken or missing knobs, missing rear bracket, bent sideplates. Electrical functionality OK-ish (level control seems to have no effect).
• AM6565/U Single Channel Amplifier (military equivalent of the 7A15, 80MHz bandwidth)
  Good cosmetic and functional condition.

Given the prices of the timebases alone i was lucky. And lots of spares for my other modules *rub hands* (we need rub hands emoticon)

[2N3055]

GenRad 1657 Digibridge..

Clean, and works perfectly..

I anybody has some advice for maintenance or something I should know, please let me know..

Love those LED displays...

[Johnny10]

They would work nicely in my 7854!!!

[Cubdriver]

An HP 203A SIG GEN 2 channel but has nice ability to alter relative phase, great HP porn as well, sold AS-IS , Arrives I check fuse - ok, take cover off - think those daughter boards don't look seated properly push them in - switch on and VOILA. Not great upper end (60kHz) but goes low 5mHz . Clean unit.
Rob

Wow Rob, you got a nice NEW one!  (It has a tan face.)     Sweet that it simply needed to have the boards re-seated!  And of course the usual HP craftsmanship from that period.

-Pat

[Johnny10]

The Steve.. I am in New Smyrna ! FL could have used that generator... I just got power back from last Thursday. I need a shower bad.

[VK5RC]

An HP 203A SIG GEN 2 channel but has nice ability to alter relative phase, great HP porn as well, sold AS-IS , Arrives I check fuse - ok, take cover off - think those daughter boards don't look seated properly push them in - switch on and VOILA. Not great upper end (60kHz) but goes low 5mHz . Clean unit.
Rob

Wow Rob, you got a nice NEW one!  (It has a tan face.)     Sweet that it simply needed to have the boards re-seated!  And of course the usual HP craftsmanship from that period.

-Pat

Thanks Pat, it is in good nick, the photo colour on my phone is rubbish - the face plate is a soft green/grey hue - institution green I used to call it!
+1 re your HV HP PSU - just right for fixing those nixies!
Rob

[nanofrog]

The Steve.. I am in New Smyrna ! FL could have used that generator... I just got power back from last Thursday. I need a shower bad.

FWIW, if you ever find yourself in that situation again, you can go to a truck stop and get a shower; usually something like $7.

[Cubdriver]

An HP 203A SIG GEN 2 channel but has nice ability to alter relative phase, great HP porn as well, sold AS-IS , Arrives I check fuse - ok, take cover off - think those daughter boards don't look seated properly push them in - switch on and VOILA. Not great upper end (60kHz) but goes low 5mHz . Clean unit.
Rob

Wow Rob, you got a nice NEW one!  (It has a tan face.)     Sweet that it simply needed to have the boards re-seated!  And of course the usual HP craftsmanship from that period.

-Pat

Thanks Pat, it is in good nick, the photo colour on my phone is rubbish - the face plate is a soft green/grey hue - institution green I used to call it!
+1 re your HV HP PSU - just right for fixing those nixies!
Rob

I got one that had been out in the yard at Apex Surplus about six months ago.  It was in the weather for quite some time - I'd seen it over the course of several visits, and finally this past spring visiting not long after it had rained I decided to rescue it and give it a home.   It needs some TLC, and is flat out missing one of the filter caps (annoys me, because it's far easier to restuff a can if the can is PRESENT, and whoever removed it buggered up the mounting wafer).  Mine is from the 'grey' period, and will need some scrubbing and waxing to pretty it up once it reaches the bench, but other than that is not too bad physically.  There are definitely caps inside that are toast, though, especially after baking in the California sun for lord only knows how long.



I've been looking for a paper manual for it, but so far the very few I've seen have been far more $$ than I'm inclined to spend.  There is, however, an excellent scan on both Keysight's site and the HP Archive, on the off chance you need one and haven't stumbled upon it.  The photos are actually greyscale and the scope images are visible, rather than being the harsh, pixillated black and white blobs that show nothing that are usually in scans available on the web.

HP Archive scan:  http://hparchive.com/Manuals/HP-203A-Manual-sn425.pdf

-Pat

[VK5RC]

Hi Pat
From the photo is doesn't look like it has been left outside, why on earth would you leave something like that outside for goodness sake? Someone has no soul.
When I opened mine up and did the daughter board push in, a couple appeared to be missing, but a quick look through the manual, it is an excellent scan, showed me this is usual.
it is a rather unusual device with the very low frequency and phase ability (all possible with GPIB I am sure) but nothing as convenient as a simple knob!
Rob

[Cubdriver]

Rob, the surplus place I bought it from is Apex Electronics; they're a bit north of Los Angeles, CA, and for all practical purposes in the desert.  They have a fairly large building (that's pretty much filled to the gills), and an open yard that's about 3x the size of the building with all manner of stuff scattered about in it - scrap metal, parts, instrumentation, demilled 2" rocket launcher pods, a few partial light plane fuselages, lord only knows what else...  As someone who lives in the northeast in the US, where we get four seasons and have frequent precipitation, it's a bit surreal for me to go somewhere where things like this are outside in the weather, but they very rarely get rain where they are, and never see snow or sleet.  Often the gear is at least somewhat protected from rain by being under some sort of cover, but I believe that the precip is so infrequent and so light when it does come that it causes little harm.  In this case, the 203A had been more or less in the open, in a steadily dwindling pile of stuff that I'd looked at over several visits.  The day I finally bought it, I found it sitting on a table in the open and standing on its back, face up IIRC.  It had rained the night before, as there were some puddles on the ground.  My guess is that it had recently been upended and the rain came at such an angle that it rinsed the bottom cover off but not the top.  The front panel was pretty clean.

Now the DUST, on the other hand...  I don't recall that I've posted this pic before, but I got the 5232A on the same trip as the 203A.  It was on an outdoor shelf, up on top and just beneath a makeshift roof made of corrugated metal.  I've no idea how long it had been out there, but couldn't tell for certain that it was grey till I cleaned it off!


From a Bing maps aerial view (though the stuff in the yard looks like great piles of trash, there are actually some cool things to be found if you dig and poke):


-Pat

[razberik]

If I ever manage to travel to California (vacation ?), I will definitely visit this place !

[Cubdriver]

The little sheltered area Dave went into at about the 11 minute mark (where he commented about the medical equipment) is where I found the dusty 5232A posted above.  It was on the top shelf, just below the 'roof'.  And if anyone's interested, the crystal ball was still there as of a few weeks ago (and must have recently been excavated, as that visit was the first time I'd ever seen it).

It is definitely a fascinating place to wander around in, and you truly never know what you'll find.  Shipping for the big, heavy old stuff I like gets $$$, though... 

-Pat

[raptor1956]

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00E4GY0FC/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

and

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00E8D7XYG/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1


Brian

[rx8pilot]

If I ever manage to travel to California (vacation ?), I will definitely visit this place !

I live about 15 minutes from that place - it is a life experience for sure.

[Cubdriver]

I live about 15 minutes from that place - it is a life experience for sure.

Wow!!  I'd be in deep trouble if I lived that close.     It costs me enough on my occasional trips out that way, and then I'm driving up from southern Orange County.  (It's a painful ride back down to Dana Point on a Saturday afternoon in the summer!)  If I lived out there, I'd probably be flat broke living under a bridge abutment in a shelter made of old HP gear!

-Pat

[MosherIV]

Bought this a couple of weeks ago but it has just arrived.

General Resistance DAS56A dial a source.
Does both volts and amps 



I have been looking forward to getting a calibrator/voltage source 

[Gyro]

General Resistance DAS56A dial a source.
Does both volts and amps 

I was wondering who outbid me on that! I though the culprit might come out of the woodwork. 

Glad it was someone on here anyway. Congratulations MosherIV, Hope it works out well. 

P.S. I was a long way below the next highest bidder, so glad I didn't push the price up for you.

[TheSteve]

Drove 2 hours to Virginia to buy a Honda EU2000i generator. Indeed very quiet and fuel efficient. Just went to Autoparts to get some fuel stabilizer and some more gas.
Hurricanes Matthew had created more damage to our city than expected. I was thinking what a shitty place Florida is the day before yesterday, and it soon became my turn. Karma.

Edit: typo.

Three storms passing through my area at the moment, we're currently in the middle of #2. I lost power at work and at home. 100+ outages in the area, over 75000 homes at the moment.
But all is not lost, my EU2000i is purring like a kitten

[alank2]

You have to love those inverter gens!

[Messtechniker]

It's play time! Currently putting my new R&S HMC 8043 through its paces.
As you can see the output sockets have the standard spacing.
And it fits nicely on top of my Keysight 33465A.
Doing some programming of this unit with Profilab will be next.

Thanks to the community here from keeping me away from
buying a Siglent. I admit, I did think about it briefly.

Yours Messtechniker

[ProBang2]

It's play time! Currently putting my new R&S HMC 8043 through its paces.
As you can see the output sockets have the standard spacing.

Probably more important: The 4mm Banana plugs make a reliable, strong and stiff connection to the unit, I assume?

I am somehow envious... But for me, as a device for the hobby, it is far over of budget.