List your test equipment "scores" here!

[bitseeker]

Very nice Staco. Those red ones make me nervous.

[beanflying]

So I brought my first Analogue Ocilliscope 

Fairly tidy looking 15MhZ Dual Beam Philips Oscilloscope actually  No idea what it will get used for yet 

[nctnico]

The door bell just rang and guess what got delivered?



The free Keysight U1282A from the 'big bench plus' promotion (I bought a Keysight PSU earlier this year)! My wife will be soooo pissed when she sees the DMM  It will be hard for me to keep a straight face 

[BillB]

... My wife will be soooo pissed when she sees the DMM  It will be hard for me to keep a straight face 

How can she possibly be upset?  It was free!

[nctnico]

... My wife will be soooo pissed when she sees the DMM  It will be hard for me to keep a straight face 

How can she possibly be upset?  It was free!

But she doesn't know that... yet. 

[nanofrog]

... My wife will be soooo pissed when she sees the DMM  It will be hard for me to keep a straight face 

How can she possibly be upset?  It was free!

But she doesn't know that... yet. 

Guess you like living dangerously. 

[BillB]

Agreed.  Though, I'm not sure how she would be part of the procurement process, at all? 

Am I the only one that makes sure that nobody intercepts my packages, so that I can secretly unpack them, and install the contents into a pile of test gear that no layperson could possibly recognize as being different from one day to the next? 

[pe1oxp]

The door bell just rang and guess what got delivered?

The free Keysight U1282A from the 'big bench plus' promotion (I bought a Keysight PSU earlier this year)! My wife will be soooo pissed when she sees the DMM  It will be hard for me to keep a straight face 

Nice!
Mine is scheduled for somewhere half May, they told me the promotion was big success. Waiting 3 months is .....

[Rolo]

Nice, this brings back good memories. I had one, long time ago. Strange, I can't remember what happend to it.

[nctnico]

Nice, this brings back good memories. I had one, long time ago. Strange, I can't remember what happend to it.

Is yours the one that Dave took on his hiking trip?
https://youtu.be/G9ChhjOKyLA

At least I'm sure my wife won't be able to destroy it that easely 

[PTR_1275]

Agreed.  Though, I'm not sure how she would be part of the procurement process, at all? 

Am I the only one that makes sure that nobody intercepts my packages, so that I can secretly unpack them, and install the contents into a pile of test gear that no layperson could possibly recognize as being different from one day to the next? 

I have a PO box to get parcels sent to. The mrs is very inquisitive, but I am so enthusiastic to explain all aspects to her that she now doesn’t ask questions. If my bench increases by one “box that looks the same”, then she won’t notice. The new soldering iron was a bit hit and miss, but she hasn’t noticed yet (I hope)

[Addicted2AnalogTek]

I recently acquired (for 95 USD including shipping) a Tek 465B, Three P6137 probes, and a P6139A probe.  All probes with ground leads and grabbers, All working!

In addition to that, I bought a working 7623A that has updated boards, seemingly good cal, and came with a 7A22 that seems to have a good cal - plus intact and undisturbed cal seals from Tektronix! It also came with a 7A26 and a dirty 7B50, both of which work quite well. All for 110.00 USD including shipping.

I know, not the scores of the century by any means... but I think I got a good deal!

[bitseeker]

The free Keysight U1282A from the 'big bench plus' promotion (I bought a Keysight PSU earlier this year)! My wife will be soooo pissed when she sees the DMM  It will be hard for me to keep a straight face 

Yeah, she's sure to notice it given its size and bright orange color. It's a nice, hefty DMM.

The only thing that I wish I could change is the volume of the beeper. It's mighty loud for indoor use.

[Ice-Tea]

... My wife will be soooo pissed when she sees the DMM  It will be hard for me to keep a straight face 

How can she possibly be upset?  It was free!

But she doesn't know that... yet. 

Plus: you seem to assume logic has a place in a marriage. Funny.

[beanflying]

So my pre Easter Fluke 515A Portable Calibrator arrived late today. A little under $200 AUpeso's delivered.

This isn't a tear down by any means just 5 minutes with a screwdriver and 5 minutes against my 34401A. All basic ranges are good to 4 digits except 10 Ohms which is nearly 10.3? Frequency AC and Higher DC voltages seemed close to spec but some careful measurements needed.

WTF moment Two Bulbs at the rear of the top circuit board with no holes to the outside 

Other than that plenty of Fluke Resistor and switch Porn 

[Tony_G]

WTF moment Two Bulbs at the rear of the top circuit board with no holes to the outside 

I don't know if this is the case here but whenever I see two bulbs like that I immediately think of a Wien bridge oscillator. The first HP product, the HP 200A Audio Oscillator was developed from Bill Hewlett's masters thesis and university. The bulbs are used to create a feedback effect that stabilized the oscillator output without introducing distortion.

I showed some photos of inside the HP 200CD here - https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/hp-model-200cd-wide-range-oscillator/msg1474127/#msg1474127 so if you look at the 5th image you can see the two bulbs sitting between the voltage amplifier tubes.

TonyG

[Vgkid]

WTF moment Two Bulbs at the rear of the top circuit board with no holes to the outside 

I don't know if this is the case here but whenever I see two bulbs like that I immediately think of a Wien bridge oscillator. The first HP product, the HP 200A Audio Oscillator was developed from Bill Hewlett's masters thesis and university. The bulbs are used to create a feedback effect that stabilized the oscillator output without introducing distortion.

I showed some photos of inside the HP 200CD here - https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/hp-model-200cd-wide-range-oscillator/msg1474127/#msg1474127 so if you look at the 5th image you can see the two bulbs sitting between the voltage amplifier tubes.
TonyG

It is part of the battery charging circuit , this is the schematic from my 510a.

[Tony_G]

I guess sometimes a bulb is just a bulb....

[beanflying]

Interesting. Maybe there is a different backplate fitted when the battery option is installed so they can be seen? I will give the switches a proper clean and a proper warmup/cal check over the next week or so then add it onto a logger to look at the stability.

[Jay_Diddy_B]

Hi,
The incandescent bulbs in this circuit:



These bulbs are a current limiter, PTC or positive temperature coefficient resistor. When the bulbs are cold they have low resistance, when glowing the resistance increases.

Regards,
Jay_Diddy_B

[beanflying]

Philips PM3231 15MHz Dual beam scope fixerupper.

This one is heading for the 'shelf' for a while until I power it up. First need to remove the spider webs, dust and the feathers 

Should be really nice to work on, four 1/4 turn screws to drop both sides off the case and the seller had the full sized circuit diagram and manual for my $12.50 

[AF6LJ]

That would be a fun restoration

[tecman]

I was looking for a spectrum analyzer for quite a while, but didn't want to spend a lot.  Finally on ebay I saw and Advantest R3465.  It is a 10Khz ~8ghz range and has an LCD screen.  The R3265 is a bit cheaper but has a CRT, and the Advantest instruments are known to have CRT's that fade over time.  I do not remember the buy-it-now price, but I made an offer of $ 500.  I could not believe it but the seller accepted my offer !.  A day or two later I got an email from the seller saying that the instrument available was not as pictured, and they sent me a picture of the actual unit, and asked if I still wanted it.  I said I would take it but with a $ 100 reduction.  Again they said OKay (btw shipping was free!).  I received the analyzer several days later, and after unpacking it the two side guards on the front bezel were significantly more damaged than in the picture, mostly due to the shipping/packing (which was good-foamed-in but foam pressure broke more of it).  It was still a good deal.  I disassembled the unit to remove the front bezel and found the plastic to be very brittle (from age and vintage of plastic).  Just light handling the bezel caused more of the guards broke off.  I decided to just cut the guards off to try to make it more stable.  Also the bezel was cracked in several places.  Several days of epoxy repairs and fine grinding later I had a stable bezel for reassembly.  I mad a temp knob on the lathe until I can fine something more suitable.  The only other work it needed was to replace the CMOS RAM battery.  It self cal'ed and no errors.  In the end a great deal for $ 400, helping to round out my test gear.
first pic:  shown on ebay
second pic:  from seller actual
third pic:  final repair

paul

[pe1oxp]

The door bell just rang and guess what got delivered?

The free Keysight U1282A from the 'big bench plus' promotion (I bought a Keysight PSU earlier this year)! My wife will be soooo pissed when she sees the DMM  It will be hard for me to keep a straight face 

Nice!
Mine is scheduled for somewhere half May, they told me the promotion was big success. Waiting 3 months is .....

Grr my free U1282A is on his way, unfortunately never at home and they ship with DHL Express and the nearest pick-up point is more then 100km away (and only open at working days)

[JohnG]

Here are my recent scores:

1. Agilent 34970A Data Aquistion/Switch unit with DMM and 34901A 20 channel card. Bought completely dead on the bay for $150. The problem was that the line voltage selector was set to 220V, but once I set it to 120V, it worked fine. Matches my 34401A to +/- 2 in the last digit.

2: HP 6030A 200V, 17A, 1000W autoranging power supply for $20 ( ) at an estate sale (thanks Jwalling for pointing the sale on this forum!). It needed a new line cord.