Author Topic: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread  (Read 18796065 times)

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Online tggzzz

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #95300 on: July 23, 2021, 09:47:35 am »
You also forgot to mention the famous Heathrow Minute which because of the high demand for flights in and out of Heathrow they are no longer to keep to the minimum recommended separation times between planes of 1 minute to allow planes to safely clear the runway before another lands. This Heathrow Minute is actually just 45 seconds at peak times. Many times while I was working on Terminal 5 in its construction phase I heard and witnessed a few aborted landings in order to avoid the previous plane who had not departed the runway in time   :palm: :scared:

Pah.

At a gliding competition there can be 150 movements in <60 minutes: 50 gliders launched, so tug+glide up, tug down. And Real Men (and Women) don't need any ATC.
There are lies, damned lies, statistics - and ADC/DAC specs.
Glider pilot's aphorism: "there is no substitute for span". Retort: "There is a substitute: skill+imagination. But you can buy span".
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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #95301 on: July 23, 2021, 09:55:30 am »
While collisions are of course a risk the unseen risk of wash is higher especially when a smaller aircraft follows a much larger one in for landing.
Some years back the daughter while still doing her training took us out for an almost full day trip in a Cessna where we did several touch and go's and one full stop for lunch and refueling.
Later in the day and passing the last airport on the way back to base we were to follow a jet onto the runway by what seemed like a considerable distance (mile or 2) yet we had to abort the touch and go due to excessive turbulence. She did warn us we mightn't have sufficient separation and possibly need to abort or ride it out so at least we were warned.  :phew:
All in all it was one of those very memorable birthdays.  8)

A friend of mine was on finals in a glider in the mid 70s. He got caught in the wing vortex from a Comet that took off at the wrong time from a maintenance facility. The glider ploughed upside down into the row of parked gliders, writing off five of them. Nobody was hurt! I was skeptical of his story, but have since seen writeups of the event.

I've also seen a 727 approach that runway when cloudbase was 900ft. Farnborough radar lost contact on the downwind leg. We could see it was going to land on the hangar, but in the last 15s the pilot spotted the runway and shifted the 727 100m to the left :) Fun fun fun.
There are lies, damned lies, statistics - and ADC/DAC specs.
Glider pilot's aphorism: "there is no substitute for span". Retort: "There is a substitute: skill+imagination. But you can buy span".
Having fun doing more, with less
 

Online tautech

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #95302 on: July 23, 2021, 10:03:51 am »
While collisions are of course a risk the unseen risk of wash is higher especially when a smaller aircraft follows a much larger one in for landing.
Some years back the daughter while still doing her training took us out for an almost full day trip in a Cessna where we did several touch and go's and one full stop for lunch and refueling.
Later in the day and passing the last airport on the way back to base we were to follow a jet onto the runway by what seemed like a considerable distance (mile or 2) yet we had to abort the touch and go due to excessive turbulence. She did warn us we mightn't have sufficient separation and possibly need to abort or ride it out so at least we were warned.  :phew:
All in all it was one of those very memorable birthdays.  8)

A friend of mine was on finals in a glider in the mid 70s. He got caught in the wing vortex from a Comet that took off at the wrong time from a maintenance facility. The glider ploughed upside down into the row of parked gliders, writing off five of them. Nobody was hurt! I was skeptical of his story, but have since seen writeups of the event.

I've also seen a 727 approach that runway when cloudbase was 900ft. Farnborough radar lost contact on the downwind leg. We could see it was going to land on the hangar, but in the last 15s the pilot spotted the runway and shifted the 727 100m to the left :) Fun fun fun.
:)
IIRC we were following an A320 in and on aligning we crossed its previous path without too much to worry about but of course we were probably at higher altitude but when we started dropping down things went a bit hairy however we had heaps of altitude so bailing out wasn't a concern.
Now she captains 50 seat Q300's all over NZ with up to 6 sectors/day while her buddies that pushed to get into jets all lost their jobs due to Covid airline retrenchment.
« Last Edit: July 23, 2021, 10:31:09 am by tautech »
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Offline Brumby

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #95303 on: July 23, 2021, 10:29:45 am »
A few weeks ago I was in Bunnings (yes, I know I spend far too much time there - so sue me) and they had some Kincrome items on clearance.  When I saw these, I just had to grab them....

They are all 10mm - in 1/4", 3/8" and 1/2" drive.

Showed them to my friend and she cracked up.
6 and 12 point in all drive sizes and short reach and long reach ?
If so good lad, well done.
All single hex (6 point) - but I've rarely had a situation where that is a real problem.  If I really need to go to an angle 30º off from where I've landed, I just pull the socket off the drive shaft and spin it 90º.  I know this can get tedious if you have restricted space and need several 30º movements, but I just get philosophical about it and think of all the time I would waste if I drop the bolt down the guts of where I'm working.
Ok so the joy awaits you or call her Murphy if you like of 12pt nuts.....not common indeed but waiting to place a cease on proceedings until you have 12pt sockets in at least the common sizes.

He's obviously not working on jet engines if no 12 point sockets  ;)
I do have 12 point sockets - it's just these 10mm are all 6 point.
 

Offline Brumby

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #95304 on: July 23, 2021, 10:32:16 am »
Never encountered a 12 facet nut or bolt.
 

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #95305 on: July 23, 2021, 10:36:13 am »
Never encountered a 12 facet nut or bolt.
Normally only used in the highest tensile applications so you don’t strike them often and generally a ring spanner does the business.....when you have room to swing one.
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Offline Specmaster

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #95306 on: July 23, 2021, 11:57:09 am »
You also forgot to mention the famous Heathrow Minute which because of the high demand for flights in and out of Heathrow they are no longer to keep to the minimum recommended separation times between planes of 1 minute to allow planes to safely clear the runway before another lands. This Heathrow Minute is actually just 45 seconds at peak times. Many times while I was working on Terminal 5 in its construction phase I heard and witnessed a few aborted landings in order to avoid the previous plane who had not departed the runway in time   :palm: :scared:

Pah.

At a gliding competition there can be 150 movements in <60 minutes: 50 gliders launched, so tug+glide up, tug down. And Real Men (and Women) don't need any ATC.
All fine and dandy, except that we were talking about noisy environments somehow I can't imagine 50 gliders with their tugs / winches hardly competes with Heathrow regardless of them being real men or not  :-DD
Who let Murphy in?

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #95307 on: July 23, 2021, 12:07:40 pm »
You also forgot to mention the famous Heathrow Minute which because of the high demand for flights in and out of Heathrow they are no longer to keep to the minimum recommended separation times between planes of 1 minute to allow planes to safely clear the runway before another lands. This Heathrow Minute is actually just 45 seconds at peak times. Many times while I was working on Terminal 5 in its construction phase I heard and witnessed a few aborted landings in order to avoid the previous plane who had not departed the runway in time   :palm: :scared:

Pah.

At a gliding competition there can be 150 movements in <60 minutes: 50 gliders launched, so tug+glide up, tug down. And Real Men (and Women) don't need any ATC.
All fine and dandy, except that we were talking about noisy environments somehow I can't imagine 50 gliders with their tugs / winches hardly competes with Heathrow regardless of them being real men or not  :-DD

There are always some moans about noise. I'm not sure whether or not it is apocryphal that one complaint came from "Aerodrome Cottage"!
There are lies, damned lies, statistics - and ADC/DAC specs.
Glider pilot's aphorism: "there is no substitute for span". Retort: "There is a substitute: skill+imagination. But you can buy span".
Having fun doing more, with less
 

Offline Specmaster

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #95308 on: July 23, 2021, 12:17:33 pm »
You also forgot to mention the famous Heathrow Minute which because of the high demand for flights in and out of Heathrow they are no longer to keep to the minimum recommended separation times between planes of 1 minute to allow planes to safely clear the runway before another lands. This Heathrow Minute is actually just 45 seconds at peak times. Many times while I was working on Terminal 5 in its construction phase I heard and witnessed a few aborted landings in order to avoid the previous plane who had not departed the runway in time   :palm: :scared:

Pah.

At a gliding competition there can be 150 movements in <60 minutes: 50 gliders launched, so tug+glide up, tug down. And Real Men (and Women) don't need any ATC.
All fine and dandy, except that we were talking about noisy environments somehow I can't imagine 50 gliders with their tugs / winches hardly competes with Heathrow regardless of them being real men or not  :-DD

There are always some moans about noise. I'm not sure whether or not it is apocryphal that one complaint came from "Aerodrome Cottage"!
Yeah, you do get idiots like that, the PR man at North Weald once told me about a particular farmer who nearly always phones and complains about noise from the airfield and planes flying overhead, and yet this farmer has his own Robinson helicopter just behind the farmhouse  :palm:
Who let Murphy in?

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #95309 on: July 23, 2021, 12:26:17 pm »
You also forgot to mention the famous Heathrow Minute which because of the high demand for flights in and out of Heathrow they are no longer to keep to the minimum recommended separation times between planes of 1 minute to allow planes to safely clear the runway before another lands. This Heathrow Minute is actually just 45 seconds at peak times. Many times while I was working on Terminal 5 in its construction phase I heard and witnessed a few aborted landings in order to avoid the previous plane who had not departed the runway in time   :palm: :scared:

Pah.

At a gliding competition there can be 150 movements in <60 minutes: 50 gliders launched, so tug+glide up, tug down. And Real Men (and Women) don't need any ATC.
All fine and dandy, except that we were talking about noisy environments somehow I can't imagine 50 gliders with their tugs / winches hardly competes with Heathrow regardless of them being real men or not  :-DD

There are always some moans about noise. I'm not sure whether or not it is apocryphal that one complaint came from "Aerodrome Cottage"!
Yeah, you do get idiots like that, the PR man at North Weald once told me about a particular farmer who nearly always phones and complains about noise from the airfield and planes flying overhead, and yet this farmer has his own Robinson helicopter just behind the farmhouse  :palm:

Gliders seduce the air, choppers beat it into submission.
There are lies, damned lies, statistics - and ADC/DAC specs.
Glider pilot's aphorism: "there is no substitute for span". Retort: "There is a substitute: skill+imagination. But you can buy span".
Having fun doing more, with less
 

Offline mnementh

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #95310 on: July 23, 2021, 02:00:12 pm »
I hear you about the 10mm sockets.  You can never have enough of them, can you?!

In fact I said this to an old family friend and she went out and bought up every loose 10mm half inch drive socket she could find at a local tool shop.  They only had 3 - but she presented them to me as a birthday gift.

A few weeks ago I was in Bunnings (yes, I know I spend far too much time there - so sue me) and they had some Kincrome items on clearance.  When I saw these, I just had to grab them....

They are all 10mm - in 1/4", 3/8" and 1/2" drive.

Showed them to my friend and she cracked up.

Edit:  They also had a rail with 13mm sockets, but I didn't feel that adventurous.
6 and 12 point in all drive sizes and short reach and long reach ?
If so good lad, well done.
All single hex (6 point) - but I've rarely had a situation where that is a real problem.  If I really need to go to an angle 30º off from where I've landed, I just pull the socket off the drive shaft and spin it 90º.  I know this can get tedious if you have restricted space and need several 30º movements, but I just get philosophical about it and think of all the time I would waste if I drop the bolt down the guts of where I'm working.

Ummm.... you mention the ever elusive 1/2-in socket,
I didn't, actually.  I mentioned 1/2-in DRIVE.

yet in the same breath tell us how you passed on a rail of 13mm the same assortment as your 10mm? You do realize that 13mm is a few thou larger than 1/2-in, so will work on both in nearly every situation?

It's when you try to use 1/2-in in place of a 13mm that you inevitably find yerself deep in a hole and fucked for the right size. |O
I have other sockets - from cheap chinesium to branded and a couple in between.  I have a few 13mm and they are not nearly as frequently required as 10mm - plus I can find one fairly quickly (usually).

My branded set has AF as well as metric - including 1/2" - but the number of times I've used that over the last 5 years I could count on one hand.

We iz metric and have been for a while now.  My car is a 1989 Ford and I don't think I've encountered any imperial buts or nolts.

Ehhh.... It was this bit I was talking aboot. Sorry; I should've said  ever elusive 13mm socket.

I got 'em mixed up in the midst of my own pontificating.  :P

Point being... that 13mm or 1/2-inch... both sockets are a size that is one of the first to get lost, and used so often that they're almost always the size you find in a really awkward spot where you need short, med and deep-well sockets. Getting the 13mm assortment as well just seemed like a no-brainer to me. ;)

As for 6-point vs 12-point... with older cars 12-point were rare enough *cough*CVCC Honda Head bolts*cough* you could pretty much ignore them as far as keeping a set and buy individual ones as needed. Not so much anymore; the same assholes who use TORX and E-head bolts seemingly on random just to fuck with your head seem to like 12-point as well.  :-//

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Offline Saskia

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #95311 on: July 23, 2021, 02:01:21 pm »
Glider pilots.
hrmpf

There was a NOTAM and a flight corridor set aside to us for our launches.
ATC gave us the launch clearance, and we did launch (i.e. pushed the button to ignite the solid propellant charge)
When a glider came out of the sun across our launch pads, completely neglecting our launch procedure.
Now, the biggest thing we had on our pad was a 4m rocket @25 kg and enough propellant to give this a 15 g kick.
We also had plenty of smaller stuff. He was lucky that we missed him. I think, a hit would have brought him down, he was below 100 ft altitude.

Another one parked his bloody glider in our assigned landing zone. I had a slight mishap and a true scale flight, my rocket came down from 750m without deploying the chute. It was a small one, only 1.5 kg, and it was a very near miss. of the glider and its pilot.

After that we had our landing zone to ourselves.



 
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Offline cyclin_al

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #95312 on: July 23, 2021, 02:33:26 pm »
Nope. That’s actually under Heathrow approach just over the road from me  |O

As for HDR weather we do have it occasionally. Usually it’s grayscale though  :-DD

Heathrow approach... Ouch!



I lived in a Frankfurt Airport approach zone myself (the airport was ~20 km away) and I couldn't stand the airplanes flying in 500m altitude over my head from 5am till 10pm. The people in the proximity of the airport live in constant acoustic harassment but the prices for real estate are very high as if nothing happened!

It’s not unusual for dead frozen immigrants to land in peoples gardens around here.

https://news.sky.com/story/stowaway-found-dead-in-garden-after-falling-from-plane-near-heathrow-11752788

As for planes they don’t bother me now.  You get used to it after a bit  :-DD

Pffftt....you wanna live in a noisy airport approach? My maternal grandparents lived in Howard Beach, Queens in the approach path to JFK which was about a half mile away. This was in the 1960's so it was during the transition from props to jets. DC-6/7's, Connies, with the occasional 707. Came over the house so low it shook and the TV with the rabbit ears antenna would break into vertical roll. All day long, every 2 minutes. It wasn't until the late 1970's that JFK changed their approach patterns in response to all the noise complaints.

Nah used to have Concorde here as shown in this video  :-DD

https://youtu.be/i1ShTUVIzCI

Aka cruise missile with seats  :-DD
You also forgot to mention the famous Heathrow Minute which because of the high demand for flights in and out of Heathrow they are no longer to keep to the minimum recommended separation times between planes of 1 minute to allow planes to safely clear the runway before another lands. This Heathrow Minute is actually just 45 seconds at peak times. Many times while I was working on Terminal 5 in its construction phase I heard and witnessed a few aborted landings in order to avoid the previous plane who had not departed the runway in time   :palm: :scared:
While collisions are of course a risk the unseen risk of wash is higher especially when a smaller aircraft follows a much larger one in for landing.
Some years back the daughter while still doing her training took us out for an almost full day trip in a Cessna where we did several touch and go's and one full stop for lunch and refueling.
Later in the day and passing the last airport on the way back to base we were to follow a jet onto the runway by what seemed like a considerable distance (mile or 2) yet we had to abort the touch and go due to excessive turbulence. She did warn us we mightn't have sufficient separation and possibly need to abort or ride it out so at least we were warned.  :phew:
All in all it was one of those very memorable birthdays.  8)

How long ago was this?
As far as I know ICAO has international rules on wake turbulence.
Aircraft are put into various categories, and the separation time is determined based on the category.
A Cessna following a jet would warrant a greater separation...
 
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Offline Brumby

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #95313 on: July 23, 2021, 02:37:39 pm »
Edit:  They also had a rail with 13mm sockets, but I didn't feel that adventurous.
Ummm.... you mention the ever elusive 1/2-in socket,
Ehhh.... It was this bit I was talking aboot. Sorry; I should've said  ever elusive 13mm socket.

I got 'em mixed up in the midst of my own pontificating.  :P

Point being... that 13mm or 1/2-inch... both sockets are a size that is one of the first to get lost, and used so often that they're almost always the size you find in a really awkward spot where you need short, med and deep-well sockets. Getting the 13mm assortment as well just seemed like a no-brainer to me. ;)
I already have a few of 13mm sockets - in regular, deep and impact.  Besides, the two rails I bought were more than I really wanted to spend - but the stir factor for my friend was enough to push me over the line.   The 13mm just weren't quite beguiling enough, sorry to say.
 
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Offline cyclin_al

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #95314 on: July 23, 2021, 02:38:12 pm »
Thats a nice sound, as for Merlins, I agree, over at my local airfield I'm spoiled now as there are most weekends in the summer at least 2 spitfires giving joy flights in exchange for loads of dosh. Plus of course then there is the Hangar 11 collection consisting of 2 further spitfires and a Mustang P51, all of which are fitted with Merlin engines, so the sounds of those sweet engines can often be heard there and also over my house as we are on their flight path.

Those particular spitfires are extremely rare birds!  You can only do joy flights in a two-seater Spitfire...
For some reason, it does not work in the single-seater, which most Spitfires are.
 

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #95315 on: July 23, 2021, 02:55:56 pm »
Glider pilots.
hrmpf

There was a NOTAM and a flight corridor set aside to us for our launches.
ATC gave us the launch clearance, and we did launch (i.e. pushed the button to ignite the solid propellant charge)
When a glider came out of the sun across our launch pads, completely neglecting our launch procedure.
Now, the biggest thing we had on our pad was a 4m rocket @25 kg and enough propellant to give this a 15 g kick.
We also had plenty of smaller stuff. He was lucky that we missed him. I think, a hit would have brought him down, he was below 100 ft altitude.

Another one parked his bloody glider in our assigned landing zone. I had a slight mishap and a true scale flight, my rocket came down from 750m without deploying the chute. It was a small one, only 1.5 kg, and it was a very near miss. of the glider and its pilot.

After that we had our landing zone to ourselves.

We've had many overflights by powered aircraft during operations. On one occasion the glider was going up the wire and (I believe) neither pilot saw each other. Unusually, because neither pilot reported a near hit, the AAIB investigated, and noted that the cable could have cut the wing off the plane :) I suspect the glider would have been OK (the weak link would have broken) and the winch OK (chopped the cable with the guillotine).

On other occasions, light aircraft have landed, thinking ir was a nearby airport (with different runway orientations!). In one case the pilot stormed into the control tower askng about the fire services. He was pointed to the fire extinguisher in the kitchen :)

There are also stories of BUFFs lining up to land (the real runway is 15 miles away). Oh, well, if you have nukes I suppose you don't have to be that accurate.
There are lies, damned lies, statistics - and ADC/DAC specs.
Glider pilot's aphorism: "there is no substitute for span". Retort: "There is a substitute: skill+imagination. But you can buy span".
Having fun doing more, with less
 

Online tggzzz

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #95316 on: July 23, 2021, 02:57:47 pm »
Thats a nice sound, as for Merlins, I agree, over at my local airfield I'm spoiled now as there are most weekends in the summer at least 2 spitfires giving joy flights in exchange for loads of dosh. Plus of course then there is the Hangar 11 collection consisting of 2 further spitfires and a Mustang P51, all of which are fitted with Merlin engines, so the sounds of those sweet engines can often be heard there and also over my house as we are on their flight path.

Those particular spitfires are extremely rare birds!  You can only do joy flights in a two-seater Spitfire...
For some reason, it does not work in the single-seater, which most Spitfires are.

I remember watching the movie "Battle of Britain" being filmed over Duxford. Entertaining.
There are lies, damned lies, statistics - and ADC/DAC specs.
Glider pilot's aphorism: "there is no substitute for span". Retort: "There is a substitute: skill+imagination. But you can buy span".
Having fun doing more, with less
 
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Offline Cerebus

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #95317 on: July 23, 2021, 03:06:21 pm »
Apologies for the rolling shutter effects, and the excess jitter introduced by converting this to a GIF.



(That WAS an animated GIF, but the forum seems to have chewed it up. Anyone know how to work around that, other than uploading it elsewhere?)

That my friends is the output of my prototype (read bailing wire and string) GPSDO being counted by the HP 53132A, now that the latter has had overnight and part of the day powered up for its OCXO to settle. The short term stability for the CTI OCXOs that several of us bought is specified at 0.05 ppb/s and that is what you can see there along with unavoidable measurement uncertainties - the last digit is 0.01 ppb. (The GIF has müllered the timing, the counter is on a 1 second gate time, so those readings are changing once per second).

Looks like I'm out of excuses for not making a proper PCB and putting the whole thing in a proper box with a proper UI. OK, I've one excuse left, I need to get an LCD connected up and roughly working before I commit to a PCB. That's a simple SPI interface so it's not exactly challenging or likely to turn into a roadblock unless it starts spraying digital noise into all my nice quiet analogue circuitry.

So, aim of buying the 53132A achieved. I am no longer marking my own homework and the GPSDO is looking as good as it claimed it was when it was checking its timing itself against GPS (Which could have been disastrously wrong if I'd made any mistakes).

Now, anybody got a source for a good cheap cæsium standard or a hydrogen maser?  :)
« Last Edit: July 23, 2021, 03:09:36 pm by Cerebus »
Anybody got a syringe I can use to squeeze the magic smoke back into this?
 
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Offline cyclin_al

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #95318 on: July 23, 2021, 03:07:12 pm »
This is an interesting e-mail message I received from Rigol Canada this morning:

Don’t Miss Out On This Summer Clearance Sale!
Save up to 65% off list price
...
- Valid for orders in the United States only

Not much of a sale when the client details are mutually exclusive with the conditions...
 

Offline bd139

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #95319 on: July 23, 2021, 03:09:13 pm »
Apologies for the rolling shutter effects, and the excess jitter introduced by converting this to a GIF.



That my friends is the output of my prototype (read bailing wire and string) GPSDO being counted by the HP 53132A, now that the latter has had overnight and part of the day powered up for its OCXO to settle. The short term stability for the CTI OCXOs that several of us bought is specified at 0.05 ppb/s and that is what you can see there along with unavoidable measurement uncertainties - the last digit is 0.01 ppb. (The GIF has müllered the timing, the counter is on a 1 second gate time, so those readings are changing once per second).

Looks like I'm out of excuses for not making a proper PCB and putting the whole thing in a proper box with a proper UI. OK, I've one excuse left, I need to get an LCD connected up and roughly working before I commit to a PCB. That's a simple SPI interface so it's not exactly challenging or likely to turn into a roadblock unless it starts spraying digital noise into all my nice quiet analogue circuitry.

So, aim of buying the 53132A achieved. I am no longer marking my own homework and the GPSDO is looking as good as it claimed it was when it was checking its timing itself against GPS (Which could have been disastrously wrong if I'd made any mistakes).

Now, anybody got a source for a good cheap cæsium standard or a hydrogen maser?  :)

Looking good  :-+

As for cheap standard, is this any good?  :-DD

https://www.microsemi.com/product-directory/clocks-frequency-references/3824-chip-scale-atomic-clock-csac

It's extremely cheap for what it is, which is a genuine Caesium atomic clock:

https://www.microsemi.com/document-portal/doc_download/133177-leading-edge-technology-enables-a-chip-scale-atomic-clock
« Last Edit: July 23, 2021, 03:11:14 pm by bd139 »
 

Offline med6753

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #95320 on: July 23, 2021, 03:20:51 pm »

There are also stories of BUFFs lining up to land (the real runway is 15 miles away). Oh, well, if you have nukes I suppose you don't have to be that accurate.

And you are going to argue with a BUFF in a glider? Lemme know how that turns out.  :P :-DD
An old gray beard with an attitude.
 

Offline Specmaster

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #95321 on: July 23, 2021, 04:06:05 pm »
Glider pilots.
hrmpf

There was a NOTAM and a flight corridor set aside to us for our launches.
ATC gave us the launch clearance, and we did launch (i.e. pushed the button to ignite the solid propellant charge)
When a glider came out of the sun across our launch pads, completely neglecting our launch procedure.
Now, the biggest thing we had on our pad was a 4m rocket @25 kg and enough propellant to give this a 15 g kick.
We also had plenty of smaller stuff. He was lucky that we missed him. I think, a hit would have brought him down, he was below 100 ft altitude.

Another one parked his bloody glider in our assigned landing zone. I had a slight mishap and a true scale flight, my rocket came down from 750m without deploying the chute. It was a small one, only 1.5 kg, and it was a very near miss. of the glider and its pilot.

After that we had our landing zone to ourselves.




Bloody glider pilots, eh?
Who let Murphy in?

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Offline Specmaster

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #95322 on: July 23, 2021, 04:26:30 pm »
Thats a nice sound, as for Merlins, I agree, over at my local airfield I'm spoiled now as there are most weekends in the summer at least 2 spitfires giving joy flights in exchange for loads of dosh. Plus of course then there is the Hangar 11 collection consisting of 2 further spitfires and a Mustang P51, all of which are fitted with Merlin engines, so the sounds of those sweet engines can often be heard there and also over my house as we are on their flight path.

Those particular spitfires are extremely rare birds!  You can only do joy flights in a two-seater Spitfire...
For some reason, it does not work in the single-seater, which most Spitfires are. NB. to access the full details, you need to make sure your pop up are enabled.
No no, it is the single seat spitfire that is rapidly becoming the rare bird here as more and more of them are being brought by people cashing on the huge demand for spitfire flights and no wonder when you see the prices of these flights https://www.aerolegends.co.uk/experiences/fly-in-a-spitfire/ the cheapest of these for a 20-minute flight is £2,750 and an extra £1,000  per extra 10mins. There are many people buying up single-seaters and having them modified into 2 seaters in order get into this cash cow of a market.
Who let Murphy in?

Brymen-Fluke-HP-Thurlby-Thander-Tek-Extech-Black Star-GW-Avo-Kyoritsu-Amprobe-ITT-Robin-TTi
 

Offline cyclin_al

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #95323 on: July 23, 2021, 04:43:33 pm »
Thats a nice sound, as for Merlins, I agree, over at my local airfield I'm spoiled now as there are most weekends in the summer at least 2 spitfires giving joy flights in exchange for loads of dosh. Plus of course then there is the Hangar 11 collection consisting of 2 further spitfires and a Mustang P51, all of which are fitted with Merlin engines, so the sounds of those sweet engines can often be heard there and also over my house as we are on their flight path.

Those particular spitfires are extremely rare birds!  You can only do joy flights in a two-seater Spitfire...
For some reason, it does not work in the single-seater, which most Spitfires are. NB. to access the full details, you need to make sure your pop up are enabled.
No no, it is the single seat spitfire that is rapidly becoming the rare bird here as more and more of them are being brought by people cashing on the huge demand for spitfire flights and no wonder when you see the prices of these flights https://www.aerolegends.co.uk/experiences/fly-in-a-spitfire/ the cheapest of these for a 20-minute flight is £2,750 and an extra £1,000  per extra 10mins. There are many people buying up single-seaters and having them modified into 2 seaters in order get into this cash cow of a market.

Woah!  Totally different situation over here.

The closest thing we have available around here are flights in trainer aircraft, and the prices are quite reasonable.  $130CAD for the one example I looked at.
https://foundation.vintagewings.ca/collections/flights

Then again, I took a look at their collection of restored aircraft, and there is only one Spitfire left.  Pre-COVID they had three, and had been selling off one every few years to finance the next restoration project.  They were churning them out regularly; it was almost becoming a production line.
You may be on to something, since I did not track the sales and have no idea where those aircraft went to.
Instinctively, it would not make sense to chop them up and modify them into two-seaters since they are full restorations with pedigrees.
Then again, historical value and economics do not have to agree, often unfortunately.
 

Offline mansaxel

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #95324 on: July 23, 2021, 05:03:03 pm »
I won an AKG C535EB on local auction site this last weekend (~95€ which is a quite good price.). It arrived today, the SMS telling me it was ready to pickup came as I was packing my sound system components in the car. I went by the pickup point, and put the mike straight into use. Very happy with the sound. It's been on the bucket list to get for a couple years now. And it is all I could wish for. Jazz quartet with vocalist. Newly recapped mixer, with 48,00 V DC phantom voltage per 8060A. In 5 minutes its faders up and gig time.


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