Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[0culus]

I'm super stoked today, because I received not one, not two, but three TEA items in one fell swoop. 

From top: Lucent RFTG-m-XO RFTG-m-RB frequency standards, in a dual rackmount chassis. I need to do the 10 MHz output modifications and get an appropriate power source. Next is a basically new condition HP 8405A vector voltmeter. Not only does it look nearly new, both probes are not burned out and it came with an almost complete and hard to find 8405A accessory kit. And the printed manual. Last, is an oscillator I've been hankering for for a long time, the classic 8640B. Also in great shape, front panel not broken, and comes with the extended frequency range option and the printed manual.

Triple score! All of a sudden there's been a lot of TEActivity. What fun!

So, what are you going to use the vector voltmeter for? I've never had one.

The 8640B is so cool, especially with the dot display. Your speciment looks pristine. I always worry about its notorious gears, though.

The HP vector voltmeter is a direct predecessor to HP''s first network analyzers. It can be used as a poor man's VNA, up to 1 GHz. That's sort of what I plan to use it for until I can put together the cash to get a proper VNA system.

I know right? All the 8640B controls feel tight and not abused. I plan to baby them. 

On this note, I managed to find a complete 11570A accessory kit this morning which was summarily purchased. This kit contains the parts needed for doing network measurements using the vector voltmeter, and is different from the probe accessory kit I got with the instrument (which is very very hard to find, and this one that came with is still missing 2 pieces).

[mnementh]

Yes, but the big question is:  "When will they add a test equipment isle in Walmart?"

Some day they may be the Costco from Idiocracy.

Naaahhh... the chain is already dying; the Walton children are complete fucking imbeciles and are just running the entire thing into the ground. Squalid-Mart will soon be absorbed by IKEAmazon when it morphs into the UMÄK Uber-Store from Regular Show.

It won't even be a hostile takeover; more of a mercy killing. Like Eddie in Rocky Horror.

mnem
I shop at The Company Store absolutely as little as possible.

[bd139]

Jeff Bezos will at some point rent everything out. To access this you will need to sign your soul away and rent it back via amazon prime. If you miss a payment your corporeal self will be contracted to work for AWS Mechanical Turk solving Captchas for a large Chinese spam mega corporation. Walmart will be a nostalgic sub brand.

Soldering like fuck here. Have soldered in about 100 components in the last hour and it doesn’t look any different. This thing has sooooo many parts

Edit: don’t mention Costco. The one Costco I went in here, there was an actual fist fight going on in the car park so I did a 180 and went home. Fuck that shit. Rather be mugged by Waitrose.

[Neomys Sapiens]

The case is really nice. It’s just flat sheets which are painted and connected together with the metal blocks. Engineering is excellent. When you screw it together it fits ridiculously well. Am very impressed with quality.

I genuinely wish they made test gear like it.

So the HP transceiver will remain unbuilt?

[bd139]

That’s still happening. Receiver is complete and working. Waiting for some shit from China for the VFO

[worsthorse]

A decent night's rest gave me the gumption to tackle another day at hamvention.  I started by pillaging the NTE rack in the liquidation guy's tent and came away with some real prizes, mostly RF power transistors, MOSFETs, and precision op amps.  I couldn't believe that no one else had figured out what was on those racks after two days.

Then I found a dude who had twenty parts cabinets from an estate purchase and wanted a buck a drawer. I looted them for ferrite beads, transistors, solid state relays, and more electrolytics. The prize, however, was a box of very nicely designed  50W VHF and UHF linear amplifier boards, each built around a MRF641 or MRF646. I bought a few, and left the rest, figuring I'd let someone else enjoy that WTF are these? moment.

And, of course, there was a TEA opportunity:



The Klein MM2000 and MM500, brand new, for $25 total. Because, you can never have too many DMMs! I am now back at the FDIM hotel, sorting stuff out, packing up a couple of flat rate boxes, and feeling fat, dumb, and happy even though I didn't purchase a signal piece of Tek or HP gear.

[worsthorse]

I'm super stoked today, because I received not one, not two, but three TEA items in one fell swoop. 

From top: Lucent RFTG-m-XO RFTG-m-RB frequency standards, in a dual rackmount chassis. I need to do the 10 MHz output modifications and get an appropriate power source. Next is a basically new condition HP 8405A vector voltmeter. Not only does it look nearly new, both probes are not burned out and it came with an almost complete and hard to find 8405A accessory kit. And the printed manual. Last, is an oscillator I've been hankering for for a long time, the classic 8640B. Also in great shape, front panel not broken, and comes with the extended frequency range option and the printed manual.

The 8640B looks pristine. That's a great fine, especially with the printed manual.  Same with the 8405A, which generated feelings of envy too terrible to imagine. 

[BravoV]

Because, you can never have too many DMMs Test Equipments!

Minor correction, yet with major impact, gentle reminder, you're in the Temple of TEA here. 

[0culus]

I'm super stoked today, because I received not one, not two, but three TEA items in one fell swoop. 

From top: Lucent RFTG-m-XO RFTG-m-RB frequency standards, in a dual rackmount chassis. I need to do the 10 MHz output modifications and get an appropriate power source. Next is a basically new condition HP 8405A vector voltmeter. Not only does it look nearly new, both probes are not burned out and it came with an almost complete and hard to find 8405A accessory kit. And the printed manual. Last, is an oscillator I've been hankering for for a long time, the classic 8640B. Also in great shape, front panel not broken, and comes with the extended frequency range option and the printed manual.

The 8640B looks pristine. That's a great fine, especially with the printed manual.  Same with the 8405A, which generated feelings of envy too terrible to imagine. 

You have no idea how stoked I am to get this stuff.  It's nice to see instruments that someone took good care of for a change.

[mnementh]

Because, you can never have too many DMMs Test Equipments!

Minor correction, yet with major impact, gentle reminder, you're in the Temple of TEA here. 

Naaahhh... that's a correction that doesn't need to be made. "you can never have too many DMMs!" is merely a subset; one of the huge constellation that makes up TEA.

It's like trying to "correct" being bipedal as if it weren't a part of being human. 

mnem
I need less Mexican Flavor.

[FransW]

The nice thing is that when you have around 20-30 of these DMM's and start distributing the surplus among active enthousiasts, you propagate yourself as a TEA kind of virus.

bd139, I wonder, why the K2 and not the K3S? A matter of money? Ref.: Sherwood.

Regards all, Frans

[mnementh]

I just spent 3 hours trying to find the right underwear online; an experience even more frustrating than shopping IRL.

I literally got so aggravated I smacked my desk hard enough to spill my mug of coffee. 

I eventually just ordered the ones I was trying to find at Wally World yesterday from a random vendor on Google. 

mnem
Fucking HULK hands... I can't even take them off. 

[0culus]

Think we're venturing into TMI territory now.   

[worsthorse]

The nice thing is that when you have around 20-30 of these DMM's and start distributing the surplus among active enthousiasts, you propagate yourself as a TEA kind of virus.

bd139, I wonder, why the K2 and not the K3S? A matter of money? Ref.: Sherwood.

Regards all, Frans

Damn, I should have thought of that. The vendor had two boxes full of them. Live and learn. 

[mnementh]

Think we're venturing into TMI territory now.   

No, I really don't think so. It shouldn't be THIS HARD to find a couple packages of regular boxers in 3XL, which is STILL a "regular" size from Fruit of the Loom.

Try and search them at any online retailer and you'll get 26 fucking pages of every asshole and his brother and their aunt trying to sell you one of the same dozen brands of fucking Boxer-Briefs; even when you SPECIFICALLY EXCLUDE "brief" and "briefs" from you search query, half the sites either ignore boolean search or funnel those terms into "Sponsored" listings you have to wade through ANYWAYS to get to what you want. 

UF may be dead, but Stef Murky lives on; he is the GITM of online commerce.

mnem
*Roadkill on the Information Superhighway*

[mnementh]

The nice thing is that when you have around 20-30 of these DMM's and start distributing the surplus among active enthousiasts, you propagate yourself as a TEA kind of virus.

Regards all, Frans

Damn, I should have thought of that. The vendor had two boxes full of them. Live and learn. 

Probably coulda taken 'em all for a c-note or two. 

mnem
*infectious*

[bd139]

bd139, I wonder, why the K2 and not the K3S? A matter of money? Ref.: Sherwood.

That's one factor. Really it's too big, too hungry, too expensive, too heavy, too impersonal and entirely missing the point of why I do this

On Sherwood, sure the specs are considerably better but it's like driving a Tesla on a dirt track on HF at the moment.

[tggzzz]

A fwendly dwagon told us about his difficulty buying underwear, and the conversation continued...

Think we're venturing into TMI territory now.   

No, I really don't think so.
<snip>

Yes, really. Too much information territory.

Or, to put it another way, you don't want to hear about some of my "personal" experiences. Trust me on that one.

[Neomys Sapiens]

It's like trying to "correct" being bipedal as if it weren't a part of being human. 

Hey, technically we're all still under 'Tetrapoda'.

[GreyWoolfe]

Dang, that looks good.
I take it you inspected the packaging well?   

Oh, you know I'm all about QC when it comes to breakfast for me and my family. Why, I had to sample those biscuits and Cinnamon-Raisin muffins two or three times before I could declare them edible. 

It was a great sacrifice, but I took one for the team. 

mnem
I never imagined that there would come a day when I'd look forward to coffee with milk instead of heavy cream...

That was lunch today, not breakfast.  We went to an Aldi grocery store that opened in our area.  I was practically forced to purchase a package of imported prosciutto and Soprasatta(dry Italian sausage) cut thin enough to have only 1 side.  As the official Inspector General of Inspection, after consuming both, I pronounced them fit for consumption by the masses.  I also brought Mrs GreyWoolfe over to the dark side of Italian meats.  She had never had imported prosciutto only American made prosciutto and was less than impressed.  She now knows what it should really taste like.

mnem
Fucking HULK hands... I can't even take them off. 

Same here, size 13 wedding ring.  I used your penis fingers line on Mrs GreyWoolfe and she had a good laugh at that.  I love making her smile.  Much better than watching her head split open and fire shooting out of her eyes.  I must admit, I do wear boxer briefs.  I never liked boxers and don't like briefs anymore.  I find them comfortable for my fat @ss and they do a good job keeping the boys reined in.  TMI, quite probably!

[med6753]

I invite you two to come shop the stores by me. Plenty of briefs and boxer briefs in 1x, 2x, 3x. Absolutely NONE in my size.  Regular old size M.  I have to order on line.

She's binge watching the British "Midsomer Murder's" after a day of stocking up on provisions and a nice dinner out. I have a question for my British fellow TEA'ers. Are ALL British women skinny ass bleach blonds or is it simply a fetish of that production company?     

[Neomys Sapiens]

That was lunch today, not breakfast.  We went to an Aldi grocery store that opened in our area.  I was practically forced to purchase a package of imported prosciutto and Soprasatta(dry Italian sausage) cut thin enough to have only 1 side.  As the official Inspector General of Inspection, after consuming both, I pronounced them fit for consumption by the masses.  I also brought Mrs GreyWoolfe over to the dark side of Italian meats.  She had never had imported prosciutto only American made prosciutto and was less than impressed.  She now knows what it should really taste like.

Same here. I totally spoiled my eastern european ex-wife with stuff from real Italian deli stores and I was delighted when she told me long after our ways split, in her hilarious accent 'what is that  - 'German salami'? you cannot eat that! They must not buy that!'

[bd139]

I invite you two to come shop the stores by me. Plenty of briefs and boxer briefs in 1x, 2x, 3x. Absolutely NONE in my size.  Regular old size M.  I have to order on line.

She's binge watching the British "Midsomer Murder's" after a day of stocking up on provisions and a nice dinner out. I have a question for my British fellow TEA'ers. Are ALL British women skinny ass bleach blonds or is it simply a fetish of that production company?     

That's typical mediocre television crap here and entirely down to the production company.

Some decent stuff:

[beanflying]

And you lot were giving me a stir over my occasional Lycra wearing way TMI going on here 

[Brumby]

Suddenly, a day of yard work is looking good....