Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[med6753]

Oh no, I always thought that I was the one most likely to lower the tone in any conversation (excepting one Ms. Rayna Tullet, formerly of Wandsworth, and one Mark Fitchett, formerly of Uxbridge) but I am forced to concede the crown to you mnem. 

Keep trying; you'll get there.

Tho honestly... for lowering the bar, that jiggly rat booty hardly even makes a blip on the RADAR; not even in the top 10 in here (which is pretty tame for sure), and I survived modding in Dominion Chat so have seen a lot worse. 

mnem
This space For Rent.

Agreed. That rat booty was a "meh" compared to some of the eye bleach moments you may encounter depending on what section of the 'hood you are in. IE: Ethnic wig store while the lady cop shops. 

[mnementh]

... and the knobs are gone.

Just about describes how I feel most mornings. 

A little coffee is the cure in our household. 

mnem
I had one too, but the wheels came off.

[25 CPS]

Currently in the driveway at the strangest little property... A perfectly normal suburban red brick bungalow... Located on 10 acres in the middle of working farm country, literally out in the boonies past Newmarket, ON. 

mnem
 

That actually sounds really nice.

[mnementh]

Yeah... but the situation of the rental was not.

Property has a basement tenant, and the property owner had made his own apartment of the two garages. That, combined with high, narrow "country roads" and dee-ee-heh-eeeep ditches, with remote location meaning any real snowstorm would likely take the road out of commission for days, made us both quite uneasy.

We decided to run, not walk to the nearest exit.

mnem

[AVGresponding]

On the subject of "Foot the ball". One can guess how much I care by the fact that the I'm much more concerned that the absence of football and tennis from the Television means that tonight "Only Connect"^* and "University Challenge" return to our screens.

^* For the non-Brits: A quiz show that after its first season received complaints that its use of Greek letters to designate the questions that contestants picked next was too abstruse. They acknowledged this and in response changed to Egyptian hieroglyphs.

If I have to explain University Challenge to anyone, a show that's been running since 1962 and, until the advent of Only Connect, was generally regarded as the hardest quiz on TV anywhere then I really don't know quite what insult I'd have to formulate for the questioner. My guess is that, whatever it was, they probably wouldn't understand it. 

sarchasm sar·chasm

/ˈsärˌkazəm/

noun: sarchasm

That enormous gulf between your pithy remark and the troglodyte who just. doesn't. get it.

"I tried to put his idiocy into context, but my attempt was lost in the sarchasm."

mnem
Apologies to any actual troglodytes I may have offended with this remark; really, you should know better.

Can't imagine why a small garden bird would be offended by your remarks.   

Small garden birds are more common in electronics than you might imagine; it's well known that linear goldcrests make the lowest noise PSUs   

[ch_scr]

My condolences Med, I know you'll keep up 

...
I'm moderately annoyed that you didn't outbid me...   

Especially as I also bagged the other PSU he had listed for a penny under a bullseye, shipped. Another RS rebrand, this time of an Iso-Tech:

Seen these supplies before, we have some at work (GW Instek branding? Not sure.). When they fail (don't turn on or hiccup) it's usually a pair of physically small electrolytics at about the centerline of the board sitting across in the back (where all the power electronics are), close to the edge of the pcb that is towards the front. Don't get 1:1 replacements, use same value quality caps (low-esr, high temp, long life) that will physically be a slight bit bigger but there is space enough and it should give long service after that. They are a bit how-ya-doing inside (but not too bad) - getting the power board out the first time is a bit of a fiddle. Even on old units only these caps were found faulty, same caps in other places measured fine. Seems they run just a bit too hot in that one place.

[Cubdriver]

After seeing something about the cobalt blue mug posted a while back, I added 'Tektronix mug' to my search on our favorite wallet-sucking site.  One showed up last week and I jumped on it; it arrived today.  It looks brand new, and was sent by someone who actually knows how to pack - it was overkill if anything - wrapped in soft foam surrounded by a custom cut roughly mug-shaped cardboard surround, then packed in bubble wrap and pillows in a roughly 9 x 11 x 6" (23 x 28 x 16 cm for you metric types) cardboard box.  The moron who shipped those poor HP mugs that were destroyed in transit because they were sent in their tiny individual cartons sans any kind of padding should have THIS box shoved up their ass as punishment/a lesson.



-Pat

[AVGresponding]

ebay spots time, which has come around faster than usual because I'm sat at home bored.



A couple of job lots for collection only in Barnet, don't know if the prices will be fair:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/363465126596


https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/363465169412




Nice clean looking Tek spec an:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/133815557099





Cheap start on a basic DSO in the land of the free:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/274864524169




@factory and Specmaster, a bit of bid, get outbid, rinse and repeat for you?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/184936611983




Parts for a table lamp:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/234083946849




Another 3478A for someone to have a crack at:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/255049097836




The older LED version for £125 BIN:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/324709887664




Relisted, worth a lowball?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/124806700716




Some oddball nixie goodness:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/194237419743




That Kikusui electronic load got to £300 again, and once again it didn't reach its reserve and has been relisted. Doesn't it cost anything to keep doing that?

[tggzzz]

For the non-Brits: A quiz show that after its first season received complaints that its use of Greek letters to designate the questions that contestants picked next was too abstruse. They acknowledged this and in response changed to Egyptian hieroglyphs.

Oh, that's why they do it. Excellent!

[AVGresponding]

After seeing something about the cobalt blue mug posted a while back, I added 'Tektronix mug' to my search on our favorite wallet-sucking site.  One showed up last week and I jumped on it; it arrived today.  It looks brand new, and was sent by someone who actually knows how to pack - it was overkill if anything - wrapped in soft foam surrounded by a custom cut roughly mug-shaped cardboard surround, then packed in bubble wrap and pillows in a roughly 9 x 11 x 6" (23 x 28 x 16 cm for you metric types) cardboard box.  The moron who shipped those poor HP mugs that were destroyed in transit because they were sent in their tiny individual cartons sans any kind of padding should have THIS box shoved up their ass as punishment/a lesson.



-Pat

I was outbid on one of these a couple of months back. Well scored!

[25 CPS]

On the same day I went in for surgery my Mother was admitted to the hospital for various aliments. Obviously due to my post surgical recovery I was unable to travel to Colorado to visit her but I did speak with her on a daily basis. For some reason which her doctors could not explain she started to rapidly go downhill. The last I was able to speak with her was this past Wednesday and she was so incoherent that I could hardly understand her. The last time my Brothers on scene were able to talk with her was this past Thursday.

I got that dreaded phone call. She passed this morning. August 3rd would have been her 90th birthday. Her wishes were no funeral.   

My deepest condolences.  I hope you're holding up ok with everything you've been going through lately.

[AVGresponding]

My condolences Med, I know you'll keep up 

...
I'm moderately annoyed that you didn't outbid me...   

Especially as I also bagged the other PSU he had listed for a penny under a bullseye, shipped. Another RS rebrand, this time of an Iso-Tech:

Seen these supplies before, we have some at work (GW Instek branding? Not sure.). When they fail (don't turn on or hiccup) it's usually a pair of physically small electrolytics at about the centerline of the board sitting across in the back (where all the power electronics are), close to the edge of the pcb that is towards the front. Don't get 1:1 replacements, use same value quality caps (low-esr, high temp, long life) that will physically be a slight bit bigger but there is space enough and it should give long service after that. They are a bit how-ya-doing inside (but not too bad) - getting the power board out the first time is a bit of a fiddle. Even on old units only these caps were found faulty, same caps in other places measured fine. Seems they run just a bit too hot in that one place.

Yeah I think GW Instek is one of the names that gets put on these too, no idea who the OEM is tbh. The Iso-Tech branded LCR I have that uses a similar form factor is a beast, the only downside being it's not a rackmount size so it won't stack with anything other than itself.

[Cubdriver]

After seeing something about the cobalt blue mug posted a while back, I added 'Tektronix mug' to my search on our favorite wallet-sucking site.  One showed up last week and I jumped on it; it arrived today.  It looks brand new, and was sent by someone who actually knows how to pack - it was overkill if anything - wrapped in soft foam surrounded by a custom cut roughly mug-shaped cardboard surround, then packed in bubble wrap and pillows in a roughly 9 x 11 x 6" (23 x 28 x 16 cm for you metric types) cardboard box.  The moron who shipped those poor HP mugs that were destroyed in transit because they were sent in their tiny individual cartons sans any kind of padding should have THIS box shoved up their ass as punishment/a lesson.



-Pat

I was outbid on one of these a couple of months back. Well scored!

If that was the one in early May, I was one of those who bid against you, but was also outbid.  If I see another come up, I'll point you to it.  This one was listed as a buy-it-now, so I wasted no time.  With patience, more should eventually appear.  Same thing happened with the HP mugs, but if I remember correctly, I had those in my search for much longer than the few months this one took.

-Pat

[med6753]

After seeing something about the cobalt blue mug posted a while back, I added 'Tektronix mug' to my search on our favorite wallet-sucking site.  One showed up last week and I jumped on it; it arrived today.  It looks brand new, and was sent by someone who actually knows how to pack - it was overkill if anything - wrapped in soft foam surrounded by a custom cut roughly mug-shaped cardboard surround, then packed in bubble wrap and pillows in a roughly 9 x 11 x 6" (23 x 28 x 16 cm for you metric types) cardboard box.  The moron who shipped those poor HP mugs that were destroyed in transit because they were sent in their tiny individual cartons sans any kind of padding should have THIS box shoved up their ass as punishment/a lesson.



-Pat

I was outbid on one of these a couple of months back. Well scored!

Nice! 

[capt bullshot]

Did I mention my Rubidium reference was in need of a fix?

Some time ago I've received them and believed I've had fixed them: http://wunderkis.de/efratom-frs/

Stashed away, and pulled out at a few occasions, I noticed they started to loose lock again and were thermally instable and drifty. One of them even changed its frequency significantly if one loosens or tightens the cover screws 

So at first I suspected the pots had gone drifty again. Did a re-adjust and replaced them by fixed resistors (circled green). Worked for a short amount of time, then the same symptoms appeared again. While tinkering and testing, I've noticed one of them was out of adjustment range. This could be fixed by changing the resistor that was intended for this purpose. Apparently there're quite a few components that are intended to be selected while test.



Anyway, this didn't fix the main issue (loosing lock and drifting). Some more testing showed the sync loop loosing demodulator signal amplitude when the units reach their final thermal equilibrium. By lucky chance, I've noticed the amplitude changing while probing the 60MHz output (marked ASP1)  with a 10:1 scope probe. Interestingly there's a space for a capacitor C30 "SIT" unpopulated. Adding a capacitor (one unit took 10pF, the other one 18pF) significantly increased the demodulator signal amplitude.

So I soldered these capacitors (circled red) and now I'm watching them:

[med6753]

Didn't get anything done on the Heath V-5 VTVM today but did order some more parts.

Those 2 pots of the left (DC and AC cal) are cheapie 10K replacements from years ago that even after deoxit are still spotty. Replacements ordered.

The pot on the right is a 10M linear taper. (AC Balance) It's original. Luckily deoxit cleaned it up fine because I'll be damned if I can find a suitable replacement. 

The 9.0M 1% precision resistor found to measure 10M will be replaced. Nearest value I could find for a reasonable price was 9.09M 1%. Should be fine.

[mansaxel]

Yeah, I can't tell if that site is "joke technology" or Joke-Technology. Their prices certainly are, my first reaction is "Yer 'aving a laugh, ain't yer mate?"^*.

Oh, it's real. The prices and quality one gets when there's a supplier who is used to serve the discerning customer. And no real competition.  How can I tell? They're agents for an actual Swedish company who make equally expensive and desirable tooling.

[Specmaster]

My condolences Med, I know you'll keep up 

...
I'm moderately annoyed that you didn't outbid me...   

Especially as I also bagged the other PSU he had listed for a penny under a bullseye, shipped. Another RS rebrand, this time of an Iso-Tech:

Seen these supplies before, we have some at work (GW Instek branding? Not sure.). When they fail (don't turn on or hiccup) it's usually a pair of physically small electrolytics at about the centerline of the board sitting across in the back (where all the power electronics are), close to the edge of the pcb that is towards the front. Don't get 1:1 replacements, use same value quality caps (low-esr, high temp, long life) that will physically be a slight bit bigger but there is space enough and it should give long service after that. They are a bit how-ya-doing inside (but not too bad) - getting the power board out the first time is a bit of a fiddle. Even on old units only these caps were found faulty, same caps in other places measured fine. Seems they run just a bit too hot in that one place.

Yeah I think GW Instek is one of the names that gets put on these too, no idea who the OEM is tbh. The Iso-Tech branded LCR I have that uses a similar form factor is a beast, the only downside being it's not a rackmount size so it won't stack with anything other than itself.

The ISO-Tech name used to be sold by RS.

[mansaxel]

I added 'Tektronix mug' to my search on our favorite wallet-sucking site.

Bonus points for putting the image on "smugmug.com".

Also, it's on top of my current desire in -hp- / Harrison supplies, the 6209b. Don't you have anything except enabling to do? 

[6h8c]

I think I have an older version

[Cubdriver]

I added 'Tektronix mug' to my search on our favorite wallet-sucking site.

Bonus points for putting the image on "smugmug.com".

Also, it's on top of my current desire in -hp- / Harrison supplies, the 6209b. Don't you have anything except enabling to do? 

LOL - Isn't enabling what we're all here for?  I can't be derelict in my duties, lest I be expelled from the group!   

I've been using SmugMug as my photo hosting service for about ten years now after finding them on the POTN website way back when.  It is a funny name.

It also occurred to me that I may have committed sacrilege by photographing a Tek mug on HP gear, so to atone here's a more proper picture.  Kind of surprised med didn't comment on the blue clashing with the olive of the HP cabinet.   

This finally made the trip home from CA after being stranded there by my lack of travel over the past year due to the coof.  At first brush it seems to work, but I need to go through it and check things more thoroughly.  Got it at the last TRW Swap meet in 2020 just before everything got shut down.

-Pat

[tautech]

ebay spots time, which has come around faster than usual because I'm sat at home bored.

Cheap start on a basic DSO in the land of the free:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/274864524169

You need this one to go with your RS Pro PSU ! 

Yes it's a SDS1000**L rebadge.

[tautech]

It also occurred to me that I may have committed sacrilege by photographing a Tek mug on HP gear, so to atone here's a more proper picture.  Kind of surprised med didn't comment on the blue clashing with the olive of the HP cabinet.   


-Pat

LOL I didn't miss spotting that and for the Tek scope fans vs HPAK from the days when Tek ruled you got it 100% the right way around. 

[factory]

ebay spots time, which has come around faster than usual because I'm sat at home bored.

Some oddball ***** goodness:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/194237419743

Saw that one this morning, same seller had an older 8601A sweeper (which the 8600A manual says needs modding) but it sold quickly.
The 8600A manual says it "was designed as complement to the 8601A", if this is true I find it odd they choose a different shape case. 
Good news for a change is it uses standard display driver IC's, not sure about the rest though.

David

[25 CPS]

Yeah... but the situation of the rental was not.

Property has a basement tenant, and the property owner had made his own apartment of the two garages. That, combined with high, narrow "country roads" and dee-ee-heh-eeeep ditches, with remote location meaning any real snowstorm would likely take the road out of commission for days, made us both quite uneasy.

We decided to run, not walk to the nearest exit.

mnem

It'd be the basement tenant that would have been the deal breaker for me.  Winter's a fact of life above the 401 snow belt and they're pretty good at keeping the roads clear up in the Newmarket and north area.

I think the attraction is having the space to the nearest neighbours, although in that case, the landlord living in the garage would be pretty close by.  I don't mind having my small house in a wartime suburb of a town down the road from Toronto in and of itself but one of the neighbours turned into a problem a few years ago and I wouldn't mind a bit more distance from her place to mine which is why the appreciation for houses in open spaces.  I feel sorry for her husband because she's singlehandedly destroyed their relationships with all of the neighbours on the street.