Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[cyclin_al]

Today arrival: two Sisyphos Tektronix cups   

I want one, obviously.  PM me with cost, paypal, etc.

I thought something like that, that's why I've ordered two. 

I'll send you one, no idea about the total costs.
One cup is around EUR 15.-.
As soon as it is on it's way I'll let you know the total amount.

Just out of curiousity:
Anybody else who want such a cup? let me know here or with a PM.
Shipping costs could be a killer, though.
Ah, and placing the picture is possible for the left, front and right side. This is the right side.

Very insterested in 1 or 2 of them!

[Saskia]

you should name the cup Sisytronix 585 or similar ...

No, Sisytronix 547.

sorry, did not want to take too much piss out of you   

[mnementh]

Let's see....

Coffee, check.

Blog, check.

Another project today, check.

Gonna rain like hell and don't have to go anywhere, check.

Retirement is tits, check.

Completely immunized now for Covid. When does the government controlled zombie Smurf transformation begin?

  

FTFY. 

Seems to me you're well on your way, old friend.

mnem

[Zucca]

Surely you wouldn't be so excited aboot a microphone...? 

I could not resist it was 130USD in my case new condition.
When I see a discount I can't resist....

[mnementh]

A real nutter on 2 meter HAM radio last night, ranting against the vaccine. Said all who took it would die in about a year. 

I would have loudly and insistently asked who will be disposing of his estate - so you can get in touch with them when (not if) you haven't heard from him for a while.

Mind you, such nutter hams' equipment probably reeks of smoke.

Smoke and sometimes ... little things crawl out of them while they are on the bench. A smoking ham wanted me to look into a malfunctioning radio. Was met with an unpleasant surprise.

A story I've related before but won't at this time. 

Doing onsite service as a HP/Dell ASP I have had several similar incidents... including a time when I had to bug bomb my car after "running away with my toolbag tucked between my legs", if you catch my drift.

mnem

[cyclin_al]

I had zero side effects from Moderna shot 1 and 2 except for soreness at injection site.

A real nutter on 2 meter HAM radio last night, ranting against the vaccine. Said all who took it would die in about a year. 

As for TEA - obtained another power sensor - 8482A. 100 kHz to 4.2 GHz, +20 to -30 dBm. It worked correctly, thankfully. Seems to be a lot of these and 437B power meters being sold, I think some companies are upgrading this stuff. This seller in TX showed 19 sensors sold and 9 more available.

That 8482A with the cable had my attention for a few minutes.  They will ship to the GWN and the shipping rate is quite reasonable. 
Still too expensive for my budget though; the 436A here is going to have to continue to stay lonely and unloved.

[mnementh]

Please add me to any cup distribution list . Will cover any fees and stuff. Might be worth shipping any to specific countries in lots and redistributing.

I'll be in for one once my feet hit the ground in the new place. Alternately, for us in the GWN I may be willing to look into doing it locally to avoid the GWN asshole tax.

mnem
 

[mnementh]

Another 5 1/2 digit bench multimeter from the 90's. It's an HP 3468A off of the Bay of Pay. It was packed very well, but it was dirty and had a good amount of old permanent marker on it. The lithium primary battery (3V nominal) measures 3.42V, and nobody has played doctor with it. ICs have date codes of 1991.

Perhaps the 3468A isn't that interesting on it's own, but it is interesting to compare it to the Keithley 197A. The 3468A has a more modern interface with soft-touch buttons and a larger LCD. It has no backlight, but neither does the 197A, effectively. The 3468A does have HP-IL (of questionable use nowadays), and it can only measure to 300V and 3A. The Keithley can make relative measurements, measure dBm, has a built-in data-logger, and can measure the forward voltage drop of diodes. It also has safety banana jacks, and can measure 1000V and 10A. The HP has a funny shape that allows the folding bale to tuck underneath, whereas the Keithley's bale is always in the way if you aren't using it.

The 300V limit on the HP is really a deal-breaker for me (think vacuum tubes). It's either going in the sale thread or back on the 'bay from whence it came.

Getting old permanent marker off of textured plastic is a real pain. I tried multi-surface cleaner, WD-40, acetone, chlorinated brake cleaner, and car polish. The thing that seemed to offer the best results was the "magic eraser", which is a soft white sponge with a mild abrasive in it. N.B.: it creates a matte finish on the plastic and "magically erases" all printed text and graphics. It doesn't clean down into the texture, but it looks better than before.

Cerebus, HP are a step ahead of you (and hopefully me) with their warning label.

EDIT:

Anybody know the MSRP on the 197A and 3468A?

Yes that 300V limitation and the lack of a backlight was my biggest problem with the 3478 and also the 3468. I never noticed it until I did some work on a couple of vacuum tube items and the readings had me scratching my head for a while before the penny dropped that I'd run out of headroom on volts range  I soon flipped them after that, otherwise they are very good meters.

I ran into that too.  The main measurement station on my bench is a pair of 3478A with a 3457A sitting on top of them, which is great, except for anything involving a B+ voltage above that 300 volt limit.  So, next to those is a pair of 34401A stacked up.  One was an ebay buy fairly locally and the other was one of those NIB US Navy surplus ones that were being sold a year and a bit ago which takes care of the high voltage work.  I got those before 34401A prices exploded, luckily.  I can't believe what those are selling for now.

I left the 3478As and 3457A that sits on top of them in place since they're still great meters and for anything under that 300 volt threshold, keeps the VFD wear off the displays in the 34401As, plus it gives me two DMM stations to work with on that bench.

Yeah, you kindof said what I was thinking, only a bit less directly: Why the fuck would you get rid of a 34x8A that you got in good working condition at a good price...? There is no such thing as too many good meters, especially in here... 

mnem
"Big, little, short or tall; I tell you I loved them all... each and every one..."

[xrunner]

That 8482A with the cable had my attention for a few minutes.  They will ship to the GWN and the shipping rate is quite reasonable. 
Still too expensive for my budget though; the 436A here is going to have to continue to stay lonely and unloved.

I didn't pay the full price. I made an offer $25 less and they accepted it. Who knows how low they will go?  That sensor is in really good physical shape (and it works right).

I also have noticed more lately that if I add something to my watch list, that I will get an offer from the buyer in a few days. Sometimes that's a way to get a good deal.

[mnementh]

As for the switches... why resist...? I bought them cuz I needed 6 of the metal ones to fix that curb-score Samsuck TV; and we both know there's no way in hell the rest of the kit will go unused in any of our labs. For 10 bux, a total no-brainer.

EDIT: I'm bringing this to a new post as it really just made a dog's breakfast of the "cheap switches" conversation, and is actually something that's ON-TOPIC for a change.

That reminds me... this TV had the weirdest failure mode; I actually meant to post aboot this when it happened, but IRL (and the fact I lost the pics from when I was working on it) got in the way.

After the usual decontamination with shop rags and alcohol, I put the TV in the LR to use as our daily driver, as I've found that usually brings Murphy a-runnin' and is the best way to catch consumer electronics actually fucking up. 

It worked fine for a few days, then started randomly flicking from input to tuner, then randomly changing channels, or input to input, and argued with me aboot which input I chose when I tried to put it back. Turned out there was crazy noise on the IR sensor signal line, but not on the 5V rail that fed it. Further investigation with my 54645A showed the same noise on the signal line from the front keypad (which shared a ribbon cable with the IR sensor to the uPC), only at higher amplitude. Unplugging the keypad made it go away.

The weird bit was that there were no actives on the keypad; just the tactile switches and pulldown resistors of various values to let the uPC know which button was pressed per the voltage on the line. 

I ran out of time at that point due to IRL, so popped the cover on the back and just used the TV for a week with the keypad removed. After confirming the problem gone, I got around to visually inspecting every solder joint and testing every switch/resistor on the board, and they all tested right on. Next diag session I plugged it back in and was getting crazy voltage readings; probing the keys with my scope showed noise which changed just from moving or tapping the board. On a board with zero active components. And shouldn't have any closed circuits.

After staring at the fukkin' thing and scratching my head for aboot 10 minutes, I went to visit the porcelain throne (like many of us, I seem to do my best cogitatin' there ); during my visit it occurred to me there might be a intermittent short/contact in one or more of the tactile switches.

Went back to it and looked at the switches under a magnifier, and whaddayooknow... the top tin part just pops off. So I opened 'em all up and inspected, expecting to find a bit of dirt or rust inside one. What I found was actually much stranger.

On three of them, the silvering on the contacts had migrated ( I assume from electrolysis) such that it formed a very visible spiderweb of metallic tendrils across the surface of the plastic body (these appear to be made of some filled nylon or resin plastic) of the switch between the contacts. This didn't actually appear to have continuity on the one I removed for testing, but it did have measurable resistance and capacitance if I put the silver-plated dome cup back in place.

Having figured this out, I carefully scraped/cleaned all the switches with alcohol to remove the silver deposits and reassembled the TV with the PCB installed; the noise was gone on both data/signal lines, and it worked flawlessly until aboot a month or two ago, when I bought those switches and just replaced them all.

My best surmise is that moisture in the air promoted the electrolysis/silver deposition due to the constant 5VDC applied; once it got to a certain point the physical structure of the switch became a LC and/or RC oscillator. Now have 2 or 3 of them doing that at the same time and... batshit crazy TV.

mnem
 

[Specmaster]

Meanwhile in TEA land, my Fluke parts have arrived, now to strip out the old and fit the new.

In other news, my car failed its MOT  but only failed on 2 tyres with pothole damage down to the cords, the good news is that I buy my tyres from National Tyres with their lifetime warranty, so I don't have to buy 2 tyres at their normal prices as I get an allowance off the cost a new, according to the tread left. If I have measured them correctly, that means I only have to pay for 40% of the cost for the front and 60% for the rear, so I get 1 tyre free  Not too bad for tyres that are 3 years old and the cost of the warranty per tyre is £7.50, a pretty good investment in my view.

[bd139]

A real nutter on 2 meter HAM radio last night, ranting against the vaccine. Said all who took it would die in about a year. 

I would have loudly and insistently asked who will be disposing of his estate - so you can get in touch with them when (not if) you haven't heard from him for a while.

Mind you, such nutter hams' equipment probably reeks of smoke.

Smoke and sometimes ... little things crawl out of them while they are on the bench. A smoking ham wanted me to look into a malfunctioning radio. Was met with an unpleasant surprise.

A story I've related before but won't at this time. 

Doing onsite service as a HP/Dell ASP I have had several similar incidents... including a time when I had to bug bomb my car after "running away with my toolbag tucked between my legs", if you catch my drift.

mnem

Ah yes seen those PCs before. The ones where the ants are trying to carry the laptop away because it's full of tasty cockroach remains and mountain dew

[mnementh]

Under the category of "Better late than never"

This is the scope test circuit I built almost 30 years ago. It uses an ICL8038 Function Generator chip with fixed sine, square, and triangle outputs at 0.5V p-p at approximately 5kHz. I say "approximately" 5kHz because the 100pf timing capacitor I used was a non-NPO ceramic and it drifted as much as +/-200Hz. I've been telling myself all these years I need to fix that. Well today was the day. A 100pf NPO capacitor has been installed and trimmer set to exactly 5kHz and now the drift appears to be less than 5Hz. 

Good on ya for fixing a 30-year niggle.  But uhhh... where's the bloo...? 

mnem
"I see a beige box and I want it; paint it blue..." ~NOT the Rolling Stones

[bd139]

Mkay 

[Specmaster]

Another 5 1/2 digit bench multimeter from the 90's. It's an HP 3468A off of the Bay of Pay. It was packed very well, but it was dirty and had a good amount of old permanent marker on it. The lithium primary battery (3V nominal) measures 3.42V, and nobody has played doctor with it. ICs have date codes of 1991.

Perhaps the 3468A isn't that interesting on it's own, but it is interesting to compare it to the Keithley 197A. The 3468A has a more modern interface with soft-touch buttons and a larger LCD. It has no backlight, but neither does the 197A, effectively. The 3468A does have HP-IL (of questionable use nowadays), and it can only measure to 300V and 3A. The Keithley can make relative measurements, measure dBm, has a built-in data-logger, and can measure the forward voltage drop of diodes. It also has safety banana jacks, and can measure 1000V and 10A. The HP has a funny shape that allows the folding bale to tuck underneath, whereas the Keithley's bale is always in the way if you aren't using it.

The 300V limit on the HP is really a deal-breaker for me (think vacuum tubes). It's either going in the sale thread or back on the 'bay from whence it came.

Getting old permanent marker off of textured plastic is a real pain. I tried multi-surface cleaner, WD-40, acetone, chlorinated brake cleaner, and car polish. The thing that seemed to offer the best results was the "magic eraser", which is a soft white sponge with a mild abrasive in it. N.B.: it creates a matte finish on the plastic and "magically erases" all printed text and graphics. It doesn't clean down into the texture, but it looks better than before.

Cerebus, HP are a step ahead of you (and hopefully me) with their warning label.

EDIT:

Anybody know the MSRP on the 197A and 3468A?

Yes that 300V limitation and the lack of a backlight was my biggest problem with the 3478 and also the 3468. I never noticed it until I did some work on a couple of vacuum tube items and the readings had me scratching my head for a while before the penny dropped that I'd run out of headroom on volts range  I soon flipped them after that, otherwise they are very good meters.

I ran into that too.  The main measurement station on my bench is a pair of 3478A with a 3457A sitting on top of them, which is great, except for anything involving a B+ voltage above that 300 volt limit.  So, next to those is a pair of 34401A stacked up.  One was an ebay buy fairly locally and the other was one of those NIB US Navy surplus ones that were being sold a year and a bit ago which takes care of the high voltage work.  I got those before 34401A prices exploded, luckily.  I can't believe what those are selling for now.

I left the 3478As and 3457A that sits on top of them in place since they're still great meters and for anything under that 300 volt threshold, keeps the VFD wear off the displays in the 34401As, plus it gives me two DMM stations to work with on that bench.

Yeah, you kindof said what I was thinking, only a bit less directly: Why the fuck would you get rid of a 34x8A that you got in good working condition at a good price...? There is no such thing as too many good meters, especially in here... 

mnem
"Big, little, short or tall; I tell you I loved them all... each and every one..."

Arrh yes, I tend to agree, but you see I flipped them for some better suited meters, Fluke 8842A, Thurlby 1905a, BlackStar 4503 and of course the TTi 1906 oh and the Fluke 85 and the Exotech MG302 so not only replaced the 2 I flipped but also added 4 of wobbly things, (AVG's terminology) AVO 8 mkV so I think I have more than served my penance for those poor old 34x8A

[mnementh]

Ummm.... sorry. This does not compute; divide by zero error. It's like you're trying to speak to me here, I just know it... 

mnem

[xrunner]

A real nutter on 2 meter HAM radio last night, ranting against the vaccine. Said all who took it would die in about a year. 

I would have loudly and insistently asked who will be disposing of his estate - so you can get in touch with them when (not if) you haven't heard from him for a while.

Mind you, such nutter hams' equipment probably reeks of smoke.

Smoke and sometimes ... little things crawl out of them while they are on the bench. A smoking ham wanted me to look into a malfunctioning radio. Was met with an unpleasant surprise.

A story I've related before but won't at this time. 

Doing onsite service as a HP/Dell ASP I have had several similar incidents... including a time when I had to bug bomb my car after "running away with my toolbag tucked between my legs", if you catch my drift.

mnem

Ah yes seen those PCs before. The ones where the ants are trying to carry the laptop away because it's full of tasty cockroach remains and mountain dew

The radio in question - FT-757 bug-bombed in neighbor's empty shed to get rid of ... use your imagination. 

[bd139]

Hahaha.

“This radio has more legs than a centipede” 

[mnementh]

Ah yes seen those PCs before. The ones where the ants are trying to carry the laptop away because it's full of tasty cockroach remains and mountain dew

Ummm... no. This was one where you open up the box and at first you think there's wires wiggling at you... then you see all the beady little eyes staring you down.

Then when I got home I found dozens crawling around the trunk of the car and my toolbag.   

mnem

[mnementh]

Mkay 

So... you're shopping for a french maid dress to wear while you go collect this Tek scope in person from Pete...? Not surprised 'es petrified. I prolly would be too... 

mnem
be afraid. be very afraid...

[Saskia]

Surely you wouldn't be so excited aboot a microphone...? 

I could not resist it was 130USD in my case new condition.
When I see a discount I can't resist....

This is not the mike you are looking for ...
move on ...

[duckduck]

Another 5 1/2 digit bench multimeter from the 90's. It's an HP 3468A off of the Bay of Pay. It was packed very well, but it was dirty and had a good amount of old permanent marker on it. The lithium primary battery (3V nominal) measures 3.42V, and nobody has played doctor with it. ICs have date codes of 1991.

Perhaps the 3468A isn't that interesting on it's own, but it is interesting to compare it to the Keithley 197A. The 3468A has a more modern interface with soft-touch buttons and a larger LCD. It has no backlight, but neither does the 197A, effectively. The 3468A does have HP-IL (of questionable use nowadays), and it can only measure to 300V and 3A. The Keithley can make relative measurements, measure dBm, has a built-in data-logger, and can measure the forward voltage drop of diodes. It also has safety banana jacks, and can measure 1000V and 10A. The HP has a funny shape that allows the folding bale to tuck underneath, whereas the Keithley's bale is always in the way if you aren't using it.

The 300V limit on the HP is really a deal-breaker for me (think vacuum tubes). It's either going in the sale thread or back on the 'bay from whence it came.

Getting old permanent marker off of textured plastic is a real pain. I tried multi-surface cleaner, WD-40, acetone, chlorinated brake cleaner, and car polish. The thing that seemed to offer the best results was the "magic eraser", which is a soft white sponge with a mild abrasive in it. N.B.: it creates a matte finish on the plastic and "magically erases" all printed text and graphics. It doesn't clean down into the texture, but it looks better than before.

Cerebus, HP are a step ahead of you (and hopefully me) with their warning label.

EDIT:

Anybody know the MSRP on the 197A and 3468A?

Yes that 300V limitation and the lack of a backlight was my biggest problem with the 3478 and also the 3468. I never noticed it until I did some work on a couple of vacuum tube items and the readings had me scratching my head for a while before the penny dropped that I'd run out of headroom on volts range  I soon flipped them after that, otherwise they are very good meters.

I ran into that too.  The main measurement station on my bench is a pair of 3478A with a 3457A sitting on top of them, which is great, except for anything involving a B+ voltage above that 300 volt limit.  So, next to those is a pair of 34401A stacked up.  One was an ebay buy fairly locally and the other was one of those NIB US Navy surplus ones that were being sold a year and a bit ago which takes care of the high voltage work.  I got those before 34401A prices exploded, luckily.  I can't believe what those are selling for now.

I left the 3478As and 3457A that sits on top of them in place since they're still great meters and for anything under that 300 volt threshold, keeps the VFD wear off the displays in the 34401As, plus it gives me two DMM stations to work with on that bench.

Yeah, you kindof said what I was thinking, only a bit less directly: Why the fuck would you get rid of a 34x8A that you got in good working condition at a good price...? There is no such thing as too many good meters, especially in here... 

mnem
"Big, little, short or tall; I tell you I loved them all... each and every one..."

Resulting monies from the sale would be placed into the "buy duckduck a spectrum analyzer" fund. Is that a valid defense in the court of public opinion, or am I on shaky legal ground? I have already signed the "I will never buy tubes that I have reason to believe may have been removed from a Tek scope" affidavit and I support the right to keep and bear vintage rackmount HP test equipment. I want to see the look on the face of an intruder when he sees the red glow of my deadly accurate 3455A aimed at his center of mass  Can you facepalm your own post?

EDIT:

Leave bd139 alone. Who doesn't enjoy dress-up night?

EDIT EDIT:

Doh! reading posts backwards and assumed I was the target. Regardless, I did publicly express intent to sell a working 34x8A. I'm defending my good name ("duck" was already taken when I joined).

EDIT EDIT EDIT:

I'm never one to waste a post in the TEA thread, or to fail to recycle a good story. I got my start in IT in the service department of a mom & pop used-computer store. A customer brought in a dot-matrix printer that wasn't printing correctly. We discovered that this was a result of the print head travel being limited by a dead rat. What a way to go -- death by Oki Microline 93. After that you'd hear techs asking for "the rat pliers".

[Saskia]

Ah yes seen those PCs before. The ones where the ants are trying to carry the laptop away because it's full of tasty cockroach remains and mountain dew

Ummm... no. This was one where you open up the box and at first you think there's wires wiggling at you... then you see all the beady little eyes staring you down.

Then when I got home I found dozens crawling around the trunk of the car and my toolbag.   

mnem

train and pay them to actually clean your car ...

[Cerebus]

Hey man. Dave's not here. Neither is Mike.

[Cerebus]

... and I support the right to keep and bear vintage rackmount HP test equipment.

That's "bare", we wanna see her with the covers off!