Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[BU508A]

I do love my HP 48G 

[med6753]

<===Completely confused by and not understanding this apparent ongoing calculator format war. 

Freaking engineers. 

[bd139]

really bad joke

Edit: remove that joke as it sucked

[BU508A]

<===Completely confused by and not understanding this apparent ongoing calculator format war. 

Freaking engineers. 

During my time at the university of applied sciences I had two calculators which I used regularly:

- a TI-81
- a modded HP 48G

but over time I liked the 48G more.

[med6753]

Well you guys go duke it out , I'm going back to bed. 

[Specmaster]

Well maybe a little friendly poke in the ribs that's all. 

[beanflying]

I think they keep mentioning RPN's supposed superiority  to mask their 'insecurity' (lets just call it insecurity rather than WHAT IT ACTUALLY IS) 

[Specmaster]

I'm back in the hunt again, currently stalking a very beast indeed, what is it? Not saying least I scare it away, but you will all know if I land this one.

[tggzzz]

I'm back in the hunt again, currently stalking a very beast indeed, what is it? Not saying least I scare it away, but you will all know if I land this one.

Oooh. I like challenges.

Is it from a vendor in Wiltshire, a piece of HP equipment, but advert doesn't have "HP" in the title?

[mnementh]

Just a small tweak to that explanation. Rather than the year of manufacture, it's the year of the design. It could have been manufactured that year or sometime thereafter. Some models had multiple design iterations, while others were manufactured for many years using the same design.

Are you sure? I've always heard that the first two digits are the year it was made, in years since 1960. Never heard of it denoting design iterations. 

That was my initial understanding too, but further digging into them a while back clarified things a bit. Beginning in 1960, they started using a three digit prefix (which became four digits in 1970), followed by a letter indicating country of origin (A for the US, J for Japan, G for Germany, etc.), then a sequential serial number.

The prefix identifies the release date of the major engineering revision that the instrument is built to - the first one (or two, for the four digit prefixes after 1970) digits added to 1960 will give the year, and the last two are the week. Eg. 710 would be the tenth week of 1967; 2245 would be the 45th week of 1982. To more accurately date the 'birthday' of the unit, you'd need to go inside and find parts with date codes. While they wouldn't tell you with 100% accuracy how new it was, you could be sure it was not older than its newest part (this of course is based on the part in question being original to the instrument).

Some instruments were revised fairly quickly and the engineering rev dates track their production closely; others stayed the same for a long time. For instance, I have an Agilent labeled 8644B signal generator that has a 3546 prefix - late 1995 engineering revision. The component dates indicate that it was made in late 2000 at the earliest.

-Pat

Hmm that's very interesting but surely cannot be correct, because how do you work out the following numbers which I own and very proud of them too, 3466A, 3468A and 3478A

Serial numbers, man... not model numbers.

I think they keep mentioning RPN's supposed superiority  to mask their 'insecurity' (lets just call it insecurity rather than WHAT IT ACTUALLY IS) 

Four out of five redheads prefer Left-handed Latvian Rodeo Torture.

mnem
*toddling off to ded after spending too much on Prime Day*

[mnementh]

I'm back in the hunt again, currently stalking a very beast indeed, what is it? Not saying least I scare it away, but you will all know if I land this one.

Mmmmhmmmm... So rare you don't even dare say the word "rare", eh? No problem... I ain't skeered! 

mnem
What the fuck is wrong with me, up at this hour of the morning?

[bd139]

I'm back in the hunt again, currently stalking a very beast indeed, what is it? Not saying least I scare it away, but you will all know if I land this one.

Oooh. I like challenges.

Is it from a vendor in Wiltshire, a piece of HP equipment, but advert doesn't have "HP" in the title?

Interesting. I couldn't find that on the usual places

I reckon it's a bit of British made gear

[tggzzz]

I'm back in the hunt again, currently stalking a very beast indeed, what is it? Not saying least I scare it away, but you will all know if I land this one.

Oooh. I like challenges.

Is it from a vendor in Wiltshire, a piece of HP equipment, but advert doesn't have "HP" in the title?

Interesting. I couldn't find that on the usual places

I reckon it's a bit of British made gear

Fleabay, and I see no reason to believe it is UK made.

All you have to  do is try all the HP numbers, with a trailing "A" And it is indeed a boatanchor

[bd139]

Nope I give up. I could probably script something up but I can't be arsed

[Specmaster]

I'm back in the hunt again, currently stalking a very beast indeed, what is it? Not saying least I scare it away, but you will all know if I land this one.

Oooh. I like challenges.

Is it from a vendor in Wiltshire, a piece of HP equipment, but advert doesn't have "HP" in the title?

Nah, not even luke warm with that one

[Specmaster]

@mnem, hmm...yep it is IMO that rare indeed, I've never seen one before, lets put it that way for now.

@bd139 Yes, its British OK in good nick but I'll tell you all later what it is.... that reminds of an old joke..... "How do you keep an idiot in suspense....... I'll tell you later" 

[bd139]

I might be bidding against you on it if it is and then we're both idiots 

[Specmaster]

I'm back in the hunt again, currently stalking a very beast indeed, what is it? Not saying least I scare it away, but you will all know if I land this one.

Oooh. I like challenges.

Is it from a vendor in Wiltshire, a piece of HP equipment, but advert doesn't have "HP" in the title?

Interesting. I couldn't find that on the usual places

I reckon it's a bit of British made gear

Fleabay, and I see no reason to believe it is UK made.

All you have to  do is try all the HP numbers, with a trailing "A" And it is indeed a boatanchor

Not doing very well here are you  , the only boat anchor I have does indeed have the letter "A" at the end, but the other end as its an Advance RF signal generator. 

[Specmaster]

I might be bidding against you on it if it is and then we're both idiots 

Nah, what would I be doing with some piece of RF gear 

[bd139]

This isn't RF gear ... Very general purpose.

If it's what I think it is, I'll back off on it if you want it as honestly I don't need it, it would just be "nice" to see if its any good.

[Specmaster]

In that case mine is also general purpose and would fit in with my other gear however I expect that it will pop right of of my budget that I'm setting myself for it. Not going high as I can't really justify it in any way at all other then it would be nice to see if its any good, so in that sense we both have the same goal / justification and would probably flip it later 

[bd139]

Yeah it would have been an ooh ahh and flip it job for sure

There's just zero info around about them. Might be a golden nugget or a nugget of shit. Who knows 

[Cubdriver]

Just a small tweak to that explanation. Rather than the year of manufacture, it's the year of the design. It could have been manufactured that year or sometime thereafter. Some models had multiple design iterations, while others were manufactured for many years using the same design.

Are you sure? I've always heard that the first two digits are the year it was made, in years since 1960. Never heard of it denoting design iterations. 

That was my initial understanding too, but further digging into them a while back clarified things a bit. Beginning in 1960, they started using a three digit prefix (which became four digits in 1970), followed by a letter indicating country of origin (A for the US, J for Japan, G for Germany, etc.), then a sequential serial number.

The prefix identifies the release date of the major engineering revision that the instrument is built to - the first one (or two, for the four digit prefixes after 1970) digits added to 1960 will give the year, and the last two are the week. Eg. 710 would be the tenth week of 1967; 2245 would be the 45th week of 1982. To more accurately date the 'birthday' of the unit, you'd need to go inside and find parts with date codes. While they wouldn't tell you with 100% accuracy how new it was, you could be sure it was not older than its newest part (this of course is based on the part in question being original to the instrument).

Some instruments were revised fairly quickly and the engineering rev dates track their production closely; others stayed the same for a long time. For instance, I have an Agilent labeled 8644B signal generator that has a 3546 prefix - late 1995 engineering revision. The component dates indicate that it was made in late 2000 at the earliest.

-Pat

Hmm that's very interesting but surely cannot be correct, because how do you work out the following numbers which I own and very proud of them too, 3466A, 3468A and 3478A

Are those model numbers, or serial number prefixes?  I'm referring to the three or four digit prefix part of the s/n.

-Pat

[Specmaster]

Are those model numbers, or serial number prefixes?  I'm referring to the three or four digit prefix part of the s/n.

-Pat

Nah, they are model numbers, menm has already pointed out what I failed to spot, you was referring to serial numbers   

[tggzzz]

@mnem, hmm...yep it is IMO that rare indeed, I've never seen one before, lets put it that way for now.

@bd139 Yes, its British OK in good nick but I'll tell you all later what it is.... that reminds of an old joke..... "How do you keep an idiot in suspense....... I'll tell you later" 

Since I'm not even warm, I might as well remove my tiny source of amusement:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/5372A-Frequency-And-Time-Interval-Analyzer/232674750659