Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[mnementh]

Chances are it's not worth 10 cents either. 

Oh, come on... it's worth 10c just to make a bong out of it. 

mnem

[0culus]

Someone probably would too. Who knows the provenance anyway. The (absolutely massive) collection of tubes this store has came from a large electronics store that went out of business in the 90s. This guy bought out everything, and there's so much of it that it's not all catalogued. There's a pile of mercury vapor rectifiers too. Don't want to break one of those...

The bulk is TV and radio tubes...if you have an old TV or radio that's still working or you're restoring, I think you could find whatever you need.

[0culus]

Rub it, see if a genie pops out. 

mnem
"Okay; it did. NOW what...?"

"That'll be one Keysight UXR please, and ...."

[0culus]

Chances are it's not worth 10 cents either. 

Oh, come on... it's worth 10c just to make a bong out of it. 

mnem

It'd be a cancer bong....though junkies tend not to think about those problems. 

[beanflying]

As distinct from those with 'legal' Cancer inducing drug habits 

[worsthorse]

Holy poopies...

Is it even practically possible to test such a thing before buying?

It surely is beautiful though, and that's from a guy who's completely uninterested in all things RF   

Yeah, I don't think normal tube testers will cut it for that. That's why I politely declined. If I'm going to spend a kilobuck on a tube it damn well better be a working tube. 

I were going to spend a kilobuck for a tube, I would already own a piece of twenty kilobuck equipment that won't work without it.     


and.....  this is post number 6 6 6
woohoo!

[xrunner]

and.....  this is post number 6 6 6
woohoo!

For you -

[mnementh]

As distinct from those with 'legal' Cancer inducing drug habits 

Cannabis is legal here. And not in the least bit carcinogenic as long as you don't smoke it.  Then... it IS the least bit carcinogenic; or at least, only in as much as inhaling particulates is so.

mnem
"Dave's not here, ma-a-an..."

[VK5RC]

Dope just sends you really crazy, 10 fold risk of schizophrenia, marijuana hyperemesis, tars and particulates! Great stuff.

[beanflying]

Like all addictions they come with risks some lesser and some greater be it Alcohol, Gambling, Inhaled or Injected and lets not mention TEA shall we

[ArthurDent]

So people who have been following along probably already know that I have a weakness for rare and/or interesting vacuum tubes. Well, I couldn't talk the local surplus dude down on this, but it's a nifty ring oscillator tube, possibly related to UHF and higher band transmitting. He wants $1100 for it.  Grabbed a pic though!

That looks like the twin to the one I posted a photo of back in August (post #37123). I know mine is not functional so it's just for show and worth somewhat less than $1100 

[0culus]

Neat! I honestly probably wouldn't want to pay more than $10-20 for it. Theres no way to test it, and it's probably not useful outside of some very specialized applications. Dude is dreaming if he thinks he'll get 1.1k.

[0culus]

...or maybe he already made a bong out of another one. 

[med6753]

Neat! I honestly probably wouldn't want to pay more than $10-20 for it. Theres no way to test it, and it's probably not useful outside of some very specialized applications. Dude is dreaming if he thinks he'll get 1.1k.

http://www.r-type.org/exhib/aaa1126.htm

http://www.tubecollectors.org/eimac/archives/vt127a.pdf

[mansaxel]

Been building some shelves to give myself back a couple of square metres (that's 2 1/5 square yards for you old folks) of floor space.

Aaaand boom!

 

I've likewise been busy with my "fine" workshop, where I do fine mechanics and electronics.



Suitable consoles were bought.



And, halfway through. The 19" rack on the right was at the time picture was taken containing a fused mains distributor, a CAT5 panel, and a Schuko strip, fed from the contactor I installed  in this post.  I've since upped the count of Schuko panels to one unswitched and one switched, and added a Neutrik "D" type XLR panel. I'll be adding a 1HE BNC panel too as soon as I've found one cheap/free that is insulated. This will then be used for connecting all rear-side BNC jacks on my instruments to somewhere reachable. The XLR panel will hold Speakon jacks from the amplifier and to speakers, XLRen with arriving and departing balanced audio signals from the central matrix in the house (You can tell I work in broadcast  ) and tape in and out from the local amplifier. I plan to normally put the matrix in a tape loop on the amp, so I can send and receive easily. Somewhere I've got a bunch of components for a balancing card. I do not think I'll get away with faking balancing on those lines..



That was some work, especially since moving anything in the workshop is a game of 15, albeit with 17 or so pieces, it seems.  Had to make lunch.

[Specmaster]

As promised here are the photos of the Thurlby 1905A, internal and external shots, almost like new, very clean and attention to detail everywhere, weakest link is the membrane keypad for the maths functions. Connected to my AD584-M and compared against another 6.5 digit meter shows it to be pretty much in spec so I might just leave at that as in most cases the last 2 digits alter due to noise on circuits etc, so its the 3rd digit that is the one I most commonly work to anyway.

Still have more testing to do on this yet but the basic functions all operate as they should so its a winner and I'm impressed, I doubt if its seen much use to be honest.

I have noticed that there is a screw missing and a few nuts that are loose and require attention and there are a few resistor networks which have had a lead snipped out on a resistor in each bank, which I assume is part of the factory calibration process.

[tautech]

Spot the loose nut by the red input jack ?

[Specmaster]

Spot the loose nut by the red input jack ?

Yep I did and the missing screw under the transformer, it wasnt inside anywhere so I guess it has been opened at some point or missing when it left the factory? I like all the screening on the bottom with holes to access the trim pots. I might swop out the input jacks for more modern shrouded ones, not too sure about that, it might be worth keeping it original, thoughts?

[bd139]

If it’s TTi they probably forgot to put the screw in 

Seriously though that’s looking pretty good. I may lurk for one as well 

[AVGresponding]

Very nice, much cleaner than mine, and with I'm guessing the later colour scheme?
Mine has a darker grey case, same as Black Star stuff.

I've considered putting in shrouded sockets too, for convenience of use if nothing else.

Rearranging my meter stack to include it, I'll post a pic with all those LEDs glowing when I'm done.   

[Specmaster]

There is another on the bay now, with the computer interface fitted and it ends tomorrow. It looks like some segments aren't lighting up but it has been pointed out that is probably down to the camera interacting with the multiplexing of the readout?

[beanflying]

Looks like a nice old bus. Is the Solartron that bright IRL or is it a Camera thing? Warm fuzzy Red for the win anyway 

[bd139]

There is another on the bay now, with the computer interface fitted and it ends tomorrow. It looks like some segments aren't lighting up but it has been pointed out that is probably down to the camera interacting with the multiplexing of the readout?

On it 

[AVGresponding]

This nixie DMM looks nice, I have no idea on price though. Expensive, cheap, on the money?

[bd139]

Waaaaay over the price. I’d pay about £50 for it.