Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[grizewald]

That's very possible. There are some difference between the Euro made ones and American ones. The neon and switch arrangement is sometimes different as well. On my 6236B which is made in Germany there is no neon for example!

Looking at the various units which have been shown here on the forum, there seems to be many different revisions and versions of the same supply. Some of the PCBs have a completely different part number, some have none at all. Despite that, the components and layout seem identical. The voltage selection switch on the main transformer seems to be special for mine, and the lack of voltage and current rating on the front panel.

I guess they must have made a lot of these if there are so many variations.

[SilverSolder]

Just checked. Transatlantic carry on for both airlines I am considering is now less space and mass than a Tek 453 

Is it a problem to check it in?  -  just make sure you pack it with plenty of soft clothing articles around it, in a large suitcase.

You can get truly huge suitcases on transatlantic flights...  otherwise most American ladies would be quite unable to travel!

[tggzzz]

Just checked. Transatlantic carry on for both airlines I am considering is now less space and mass than a Tek 453 

Is it a problem to check it in?

When was the last time you flew with electronics?

I did have to check in a 465 once when unknowingly going to a war zone. Despite (or perhaps because) having zero packaging, it emerged undamaged the other end - twice

[bd139]

A friend of mine, now a commercial pilot ironically, was a baggage handler for a couple of years.

Nope. Just nope.

Footless tek? There's your RCA

[worsthorse]

Damn I want one again now 

I think it'd be perfect having this on the bench:

1. 1967 Tektronix 453 (pre-20000 SN with nuvistors)
2. 1967 HP 6284A power supply (got!)
3. Suitable VTVM / FET VM of the era. HP 427A ?
4. Suitable HP nixie based counter counter

Well, you mentioned that you might be coming to NYC soon. You can pick one up here and play IBM Customer Engineer and stuff it under the plane seat on the flight back to London. 

Now you all have done it. After the 453 chat, I am again looking at the 485 down in Corvallis, which has been languishing for weeks on CL, along with two 7000 frames and some plug-ins. If I get the 485 I will have one of each... 465, 475, 485.  It's like Start Today and Collect the Whole Set! 

As for the battered TG501, it came from a seller in New Mexico who is parting out a bunch of Tektronix stuff.  He had another TG501 that was, believe it or not, in worse shape than this one. Perhaps I will ask for more photos next time around, as his choices for ebay were more artistic than revelatory.

@med - are you still looking for a 465? i can keep an eye out for one around here...

[worsthorse]

Just checked. Transatlantic carry on for both airlines I am considering is now less space and mass than a Tek 453 

Is it a problem to check it in?

When was the last time you flew with electronics?

I did have to check in a 465 once when unknowingly going to a war zone. Despite (or perhaps because) having zero packaging, it emerged undamaged the other end - twice

A 465 is smaller than most of the rolling bags I saw stuffed into overheads on my last four or five flights. Lighter, too.

[tggzzz]

Damn I want one again now 

I think it'd be perfect having this on the bench:

1. 1967 Tektronix 453 (pre-20000 SN with nuvistors)
2. 1967 HP 6284A power supply (got!)
3. Suitable VTVM / FET VM of the era. HP 427A ?
4. Suitable HP nixie based counter counter

Well, you mentioned that you might be coming to NYC soon. You can pick one up here and play IBM Customer Engineer and stuff it under the plane seat on the flight back to London. 

Now you all have done it. After the 453 chat, I am again looking at the 485 down in Corvallis, which has been languishing for weeks on CL, along with two 7000 frames and some plug-ins. If I get the 485 I will have one of each... 465, 475, 485.  It's like Start Today and Collect the Whole Set! 

As for the battered TG501, it came from a seller in New Mexico who is parting out a bunch of Tektronix stuff.  He had another TG501 that was, believe it or not, in worse shape than this one. Perhaps I will ask for more photos next time around, as his choices for ebay were more artistic than revelatory.

@med - are you still looking for a 465? i can keep an eye out for one around here...

If you have a working 485, you won't bother with the others It has a real 50ohm input, not a "50ohm stuffed across a 20pF == 50ohm) crap input that most have.

[tggzzz]

A friend of mine, now a commercial pilot ironically, was a baggage handler for a couple of years.

Nope. Just nope.

It was 35 years ago, and the 465 was put in a crate before being put on the conveyor belt.

Perhaps it benefited from the "acquarium effect". Mail order aquariums were being broken until the manufacturer removed most packaging, so they could see that if they manhandled it then tehy wouldhave to clear up the broken glass!

[worsthorse]

If you have a working 485, you won't bother with the others It has a real 50ohm input, not a "50ohm stuffed across a 20pF == 50ohm) crap input that most have.

Really, I do not need to be encouraged.     

* wch is off to find a copy of the 485 manual and schematics...

[Specmaster]

Just checked. Transatlantic carry on for both airlines I am considering is now less space and mass than a Tek 453 

Is it a problem to check it in?  -  just make sure you pack it with plenty of soft clothing articles around it, in a large suitcase.

You can get truly huge suitcases on transatlantic flights...  otherwise most American ladies would be quite unable to travel!

Unless it will fit in an overhead locker I don't think your allowed any other carryon luggage anymore, but then again I may wrong, I wasn't allowed anything other than overhead stowage on my flights to Germany.

[tggzzz]

If you have a working 485, you won't bother with the others It has a real 50ohm input, not a "50ohm stuffed across a 20pF == 50ohm) crap input that most have.

Really, I do not need to be encouraged.     

* wch is off to find a copy of the 485 manual and schematics...

Since you are wasting time lookign for the (perfectly good) manual, clearly you do need to be encouraged to just get the damn thing.

See
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/repair/tek-485-repair-and-restoration-prologue/msg799741/#msg799741
https://misc.c4757p.com/tek-485.pdf
Tekscope_1972_V4_N2_Mar_1972
and there's an article by doktorpyta that I can no longer locate; PM me if you want a copy (too large to post here)

[mnementh]

 

mnem
 

[Tomorokoshi]

I was looking at the Tek scopes on eBay just now, and accidentally bought an HP 53310 with Option 31 (2.5GHz) instead 

I could not pass up it up.  https://www.ebay.com/itm/Agilent-HP-53310A-Modulation-Domain-Analyzer-10Hz-2-5GHz-Opt-031/183650891045?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

That's a good accident to have. There are a few threads on that around here.

[med6753]

Another all day repair session and this one was successful. The 2430 DSO started throwing boot fails again mainly on channel 1. And as time went on it was taking more and more assorted fails pointing to issues with the analog board. Finally it got to the point where it was totally unusable.

The manual is pretty good with respect to fail isolation but the real problem with troubleshooting this beast because it is packed tight. There is no way to get to the pin side of the analog board to do any probing and trying to work from the component side seemed to be a losing battle especially with 4 hybrid modules per channel. So decided on a shotgun approach since I have a parts mule. First I changed out the hybrids for channel 1. Still failed the same. So I went to the next level.

And here it is. The massive analog board from the parts mule. If you RTFM it actually isn't too difficult to remove. Getting it installed is a little tricky and you have to work slowly and carefully.



And here's where it goes. And the other side of that plate is the power supply. As I said...no way can you probe this board from the pin side once installed.



And the results. It works! All I have left to do is an external cal of channel 1 and 2 attenuator gain and trigger gain. It's a very simple procedure. But all other self tests now pass.

[bd139]

Excellent work 

[med6753]

@med - are you still looking for a 465? i can keep an eye out for one around here...

Not sure yet. The 4X attenuator still hasn't arrived from Greece. Appreciate the thought!  BTW.....if I do need one it HAS to be a 465B, not a 465. They are not the same.

[worsthorse]

@med - are you still looking for a 465? i can keep an eye out for one around here...

Not sure yet. The 4X attenuator still hasn't arrived from Greece. Appreciate the thought!  BTW.....if I do need one it HAS to be a 465B, not a 465. They are not the same.

Okay, PM if you do. There's a lot of tek gear floating around out here.

In other news, waiting to hear back from the CL poster regarding the 485 (what can I say?) and have figured out a way fix the broken shaft on the TG501.

[med6753]

@med - are you still looking for a 465? i can keep an eye out for one around here...

Not sure yet. The 4X attenuator still hasn't arrived from Greece. Appreciate the thought!  BTW.....if I do need one it HAS to be a 465B, not a 465. They are not the same.

Okay, PM if you do. There's a lot of tek gear floating around out here.

In other news, waiting to hear back from the CL poster regarding the 485 (what can I say?) and have figured out a way fix the broken shaft on the TG501.

You need shafts like these? I have these spares. You are welcome to one if you need it. They can be (carefully) cut to length.

[kj7e]

I was looking at the Tek scopes on eBay just now, and accidentally bought an HP 53310 with Option 31 (2.5GHz) instead 

I could not pass up it up.  https://www.ebay.com/itm/Agilent-HP-53310A-Modulation-Domain-Analyzer-10Hz-2-5GHz-Opt-031/183650891045?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

That's a good accident to have. There are a few threads on that around here.

This morning after reviewing the service manual and the retrofit procedure for Option 10 (high stability OCXO), I bought a second cheap "As Is" 53310A.  It has a dead CRT, but appears to power on and function otherwise and includes Option 10.  It was worth the price just for the Option 10 back-plane assembly, maybe get some other parts off it as well, like a spare power supply.  Ive been following the other threads on these, glad I found what looks to be a good one for a fair price.

[worsthorse]

You need shafts like these? I have these spares. You are welcome to one if you need it. They can be (carefully) cut to length.

I was going to glue two pieces of shaft together, which should work because it is a low torque situation.  But a single piece would clearly be better. If you don't need the larger knob pictured, that will replace the one that is missing from the TG501, I think.




Thanks!  The help is much appreciated. 

[Cubdriver]

Aren't those Tek shafts basically just pieces of 1/8" dia G-10 fiberglass rod?  You can get that from McMaster-Carr - no need to pillage parts units for those...

-Pat

[bd139]

Yep. I think we've all got a ton of the things though (I've got a box full of tek shafts and knobs)

[med6753]

You need shafts like these? I have these spares. You are welcome to one if you need it. They can be (carefully) cut to length.

I was going to glue two pieces of shaft together, which should work because it is a low torque situation.  But a single piece would clearly be better. If you don't need the larger knob pictured, that will replace the one that is missing from the TG501, I think.




Thanks!  The help is much appreciated. 

OK, send me a PM with your info and I'll get it in the mail tomorrow. 

[0culus]

@beanflying I think the ADF board failed. Might be a faulty BGA under the PLL chip. Not only will it not lock when it's cold unless I physically press on the PLL, it won't tune right anymore.  Contacted the seller to see if they will replace it. The pic shows what it does when tuned to anything other than 4400 MHz.

[worsthorse]

Yep. I think we've all got a ton of the things though (I've got a box full of tek shafts and knobs)

That's how you can tell that I am new to this: my carton of manufacturer-specific spares is still pretty small.  At the rate I've been acquiring stuff over the last year or so, though...   

If, on the other hand, you need toroids or AC EMI filters, I'm your man.