Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Specmaster]

That’s the one. I remember watching someone’s kid fall in while being a dick. It put me off being a parent for a long while

Why, for fear of having a child that behaved like a dick 

Yes. The default state of kids is being a dick so you have to work that out of them over years. Case in point, my 5 year old is told not to walk on the furniture because of the fall risk. She fell off and smashed her teeth through one of her lips last month. Stopped doing it instantly with the “I told you so” routine. Walked in yesterday and she’s standing on the fucking window sill  ... other two weren’t wallies fortunately and have survived into teenage years.

Happens to be the same for employees. Don’t hold the soldering iron on the hot bit. Yes I have seen that 

Ditto, I have seen people grabbing irons by the tip when switched on, the smell of burning flesh is not pleasant and neither are their screams 

My step son used to have a habit of walking along on the kerbs despite being told how dangerous it was both from the falling aspect and being clipped by a passing vehicle, he tripped over a raised kerb stone one day in the town centre and did exactly the same thing and chipped broke half one of his front teeth off, screamed the town down he did, but after the agony of having to put up with his tooth over the weekend, he learned the lesson the hard way, if only they would listen. 

[Mr. Scram]

As if any of us accepted the wisdom of our parents without thoroughly testing it.

[Specmaster]

Another great shop I loved to visit back then was Henrys Radio in Edgware Road close the Harrow Road flyover. One of the best stocked electronics enthusiasts shop I've come across, sadly like so many, ceased trading just as the bug bite me.

[Specmaster]

As if any of us accepted the wisdom of our parents without thoroughly testing it.

Haha, true and one things for sure, a lesson that way was well learned, you never repeated it thats a fact to be sure of.

[tggzzz]

I remember Laskys in Tottenham Ct Rd (10 yards from 2nd hand electronics shops like Birkett http://www.zyra.org.uk/birkett.htm ). At that time Brent Cross was only a dream in someone's eyes.

I never thought of Laskys as good. It was there I first encountered items advertised that could not be bought, coupled with salesman that would say anything to get you to buy what they did have in stock. And when they saw they couldn't bamboozle you, they moved on to the next punter.

I remember that shop as well, on 2 floors and had in effect 4  or 5 shop fronts and was right on the corner of Tottenham Court Road and Stephen Street. Back then Tottenham Court Road was renowned for its wealth of Hi-Fi shops and technical gadget shops as well. I was a regular visitor to that street and there was a few stragglers just round in Oxford Street as well IIRC

That was the one. I don't remember any in Oxford St (too expensive?), but there were a couple on New Oxford St.

There were more "junk" shops in Lisle St and Edgware Rd, all long gone. There was one in Bristol until sometime between 2008 and 2012.

[Specmaster]

I remember Laskys in Tottenham Ct Rd (10 yards from 2nd hand electronics shops like Birkett http://www.zyra.org.uk/birkett.htm ). At that time Brent Cross was only a dream in someone's eyes.

I never thought of Laskys as good. It was there I first encountered items advertised that could not be bought, coupled with salesman that would say anything to get you to buy what they did have in stock. And when they saw they couldn't bamboozle you, they moved on to the next punter.

I remember that shop as well, on 2 floors and had in effect 4  or 5 shop fronts and was right on the corner of Tottenham Court Road and Stephen Street. Back then Tottenham Court Road was renowned for its wealth of Hi-Fi shops and technical gadget shops as well. I was a regular visitor to that street and there was a few stragglers just round in Oxford Street as well IIRC

That was the one. I don't remember any in Oxford St (too expensive?), but there were a couple on New Oxford St.

There were more "junk" shops in Lisle St and Edgware Rd, all long gone. There was one in Bristol until sometime between 2008 and 2012.

We used to have a shop here in Chelmsford called Radio Service that was quite good, not only did they sell components but also new kits, test gear and 2nd hand items. I brought my first ever oscilloscope from them, it was a Cossor 1049 dual beam, each beam had its own gun as well, it was a model that came from nearby Marconi's that had been surplus to requirements, it cost quite a bit, I remember I had to pay the shop weekly from my apprentice wage of just £2.50 a week. Strange thing though, I can remember how much I was earning but I can't remember how much I paid for the scope 

[bd139]

Another great shop I loved to visit back then was Henrys Radio in Edgware Road close the Harrow Road flyover. One of the best stocked electronics enthusiasts shop I've come across, sadly like so many, ceased trading just as the bug bite me.

I really liked the look of that shop. Never went in it (as I had no money and usually had to skank stuff back then or hit the jumble sales) but the ads in PW made me drool.

Jumble sales were a veritable source of knackered gear. Amazing what you can recycle off an old valve or transistor set for 5p! Had to fight the old ladies though.

Bought a dead ferret once at one as well.

By the time I had any cash and transport it was regular pilgrimages to Cirkit. 

[Specmaster]

I really liked the look of that shop. Never went in it (as I had no money and usually had to skank stuff back then or hit the jumble sales) but the ads in PW made me drool.

Jumble sales were a veritable source of knackered gear. Amazing what you can recycle off an old valve or transistor set for 5p! Had to fight the old ladies though.

Bought a dead ferret once at one as well.

By the time I had any cash and transport it was regular pilgrimages to Cirkit.

A dead ferret WTF did you that for, a draught excluder by any chance or was inside one of the old valve radios ? Arh, Cirkit, never been in that shop but used to read their ads.

[tggzzz]

I remember Laskys in Tottenham Ct Rd (10 yards from 2nd hand electronics shops like Birkett http://www.zyra.org.uk/birkett.htm ). At that time Brent Cross was only a dream in someone's eyes.

I never thought of Laskys as good. It was there I first encountered items advertised that could not be bought, coupled with salesman that would say anything to get you to buy what they did have in stock. And when they saw they couldn't bamboozle you, they moved on to the next punter.

I remember that shop as well, on 2 floors and had in effect 4  or 5 shop fronts and was right on the corner of Tottenham Court Road and Stephen Street. Back then Tottenham Court Road was renowned for its wealth of Hi-Fi shops and technical gadget shops as well. I was a regular visitor to that street and there was a few stragglers just round in Oxford Street as well IIRC

That was the one. I don't remember any in Oxford St (too expensive?), but there were a couple on New Oxford St.

There were more "junk" shops in Lisle St and Edgware Rd, all long gone. There was one in Bristol until sometime between 2008 and 2012.

We used to have a shop here in Chelmsford called Radio Service that was quite good, not only did they sell components but also new kits, test gear and 2nd hand items. I brought my first ever oscilloscope from them, it was a Cossor 1049 dual beam, each beam had its own gun as well, it was a model that came from nearby Marconi's that had been surplus to requirements, it cost quite a bit, I remember I had to pay the shop weekly from my apprentice wage of just £2.50 a week. Strange thing though, I can remember how much I was earning but I can't remember how much I paid for the scope 

Chelmsford would have been good due to the GEC/Marconi presence. I lived in deepest Surrey, so all I could get (without going to London) was mortgages and shoes.

I got an HP1740 indirectly from Birketts, which lead to a 465, 475, 485, 2445b, 2465, and other encumbrances. "Anybody want to buy some rather nice Tek scopes?", he enquired plaintively.

[Specmaster]

Chelmsford would have been good due to the GEC/Marconi presence. I lived in deepest Surrey, so all I could get (without going to London) was mortgages and shoes.

I got an HP1740 indirectly from Birketts, which lead to a 465, 475, 485, 2445b, 2465, and other encumbrances. "Anybody want to buy some rather nice Tek scopes?", he enquired plaintively.

I recently got a HP1740A and restored it back to health again, nice scope, don't know much about Teks though but BD139, he loves to buy them, restore and sell on again.

[tggzzz]

Another great shop I loved to visit back then was Henrys Radio in Edgware Road close the Harrow Road flyover. One of the best stocked electronics enthusiasts shop I've come across, sadly like so many, ceased trading just as the bug bite me.

I really liked the look of that shop. Never went in it (as I had no money and usually had to skank stuff back then or hit the jumble sales) but the ads in PW made me drool.

Jumble sales were a veritable source of knackered gear. Amazing what you can recycle off an old valve or transistor set for 5p! Had to fight the old ladies though.

Bought a dead ferret once at one as well.

By the time I had any cash and transport it was regular pilgrimages to Cirkit.

I couldn't afford Henrys either. Where I lived the best source of stuff was the local civic amenities tip. Seriously.

Last time I heard they had banned people from waiting in the road outside the tip to pounce on arriving cars, asking if they could see what was about to be dumped.

As for dead ferrets, my parents have a veritable menagerie; should make some money after they have died. Mind you, my daughter wants the Barbary ape, and I'm having the gharial to go with my leopard.

[tggzzz]

I recently got a HP1740A and restored it back to health again, nice scope, don't know much about Teks though but BD139, he loves to buy them, restore and sell on again.

The 1740s are surprisingly nice with a couple of exceptional misfeatures; the 50ohm input is useful.

I'm afraid they wouldn't be suitable for bd139; mine all work very nicely - now.

[Specmaster]

I recently got a HP1740A and restored it back to health again, nice scope, don't know much about Teks though but BD139, he loves to buy them, restore and sell on again.

The 1740s are surprisingly nice with a couple of exceptional misfeatures; the 50ohm input is useful.

I'm af

Which features are you speaking off and why are they misfeatures?

[tggzzz]

I recently got a HP1740A and restored it back to health again, nice scope, don't know much about Teks though but BD139, he loves to buy them, restore and sell on again.

The 1740s are surprisingly nice with a couple of exceptional misfeatures; the 50ohm input is useful.

I'm af

Which features are you speaking off and why are they misfeatures?

50ohm terminator easy to destroy by overload; the Teks are protected by a relay.
The A-timebase rotary switch abrades the PCB track when rotated. Fixable, but make sure no solder spreads onto the gold finger contacts.
Bit bigger than the Teks.

But I really like the 1740's screen, and the Teks have different problems.

[Specmaster]

I recently got a HP1740A and restored it back to health again, nice scope, don't know much about Teks though but BD139, he loves to buy them, restore and sell on again.

The 1740s are surprisingly nice with a couple of exceptional misfeatures; the 50ohm input is useful.

I'm af

Which features are you speaking off and why are they misfeatures?

50ohm terminator easy to destroy by overload; the Teks are protected by a relay.
The A-timebase rotary switch abrades the PCB track when rotated. Fixable, but make sure no solder spreads onto the gold finger contacts.
Bit bigger than the Teks.

But I really like the 1740's screen, and the Teks have different problems.

Oh, I see, yes I've had those switches apart, cleaned and lubricated them and I also have all the boards I removed from a donor scope I purchased so I hope to to be able to keep this one going for a while.

[bd139]

All of them have problems which is why the Rigol keeps appearing on the bench. It just works, until it doesn’t, and then I’ll shout at telonic until it does again

I love analogue scopes. I don’t love the problems you get when you need to use one and something goes phut or drifts or just stops working.

Thing with Teks is they have massive resale value. The 465B I found at my parents house works perfectly. Turned out I had it on NORM trigger. Doh schoolboy error. Already shifted it for £150!

I have already spent considerably more than the money I got back on a transceiver though. SWMBO has no idea how much they cost. Phew. Up one Yaesu 857D. Perhaps she will google it 

[Specmaster]

What? I thought you was going to be a home brew station??

[bd139]

It is. Problem is you need some operating experience first. Cant very well turn up at a formula 1 race without a driving license

[Specmaster]

I see 

[Specmaster]

Just bagged this crusty decade box for a song, it'll join my home brew one.



Also bagged a remote for the Bose SoundDock I was given and for the cost of the extra postage, the seller is going to chuck in the non-working SoundDock it came from, hence selling the remote, yes, result!!

winner winner, chicken dinner.

[Cubdriver]

Yeah, I saw some others that were engraved, too. This one probably is as well, I just couldn't quite tell from the photo. I'll know in a week or so.

Oh! And it's got its badge.

   one of the first things I noticed about it!

 

-Pat

[neo]

As if any of us accepted the wisdom of our parents without thoroughly testing it.

I did. 

I was a weird kid, someone said something i usually believed them 

[Cubdriver]

Speaking of HP.... any progress on your 5340A?

Ugh.  It's still in the queue, with the signal generator I'm planning to use to test/troubleshoot it on the bench now awaiting repair.  Life keeps getting in the way of my fun.   

-Pat

[Barbouri]

My HP 3311A Function Generator miraculously found its way home after being borrowed for 25+ years.
The gentleman that had borrowed it had been cleaning out his garage and found some junk electronics that he thought I might be interested in. When he had borrowed it we both had lived in a different state, and currently again both live in the same town.
He did not remember borrowing it at all, and I only barely remembered the loan. The clincher was the Bourns Knobpot that I had installed some 30 years ago for the DC offset.
It arrived home last night in excellent shape with a lot of surface dust covering it. A bit of cleaning and it powered up just fine with all buttons working!
Amazingly on my test equipment shelve there was an empty space!    above some HP 5300 series counters that nothing else would fit in, but was just the perfect size for the HP 3311A.

[mnementh]

Bose = marketing triumphing of reality like many things these days. Without the lead weights in the base of their gear they felt just as cheap as some WunHungLo brand chinese junk, the lead weights actually made them feel premium. They might have had some other benefits but im pretty sure they were by accident.

The only thing Bose had going for them back in the early 2k's where their multi-room stuff, they were way ahead of Sonos etc in making it easy for Joe Public to have it and use it.

Oh I don't know. I think Bose have got the sound about right and the power because whenever I go to Currys, our biggest distributor and I get to play with the competitors to their gear in there, Bose always come out on top for sound quality etc until I compare them against my special ones which are no longer available, sadly because with the right marketing behind them they would blow Bose out of the water.

Bose haven't been worth the powder to blow them to hell since they made only speakers. I have fond rubber-cement-intoxicated memories of re-ringing the drivers in a pair of 901s (long ago sold to a mate) and decades later a pair of 501 Series IIIs (right now in a saran-wrapped cardboard box in the closet) and a pair of 301s cuurently being used in the bedroom.

My favorite balance of sound has always come from a BiAmp/PolyAmp configuration; you just can't get enough separation of frequencies from a passive crossover. I still have my favorite "single" speakers; a pair of AR M6 modular speakers designed from the ground up for BiAmp drive. They've seen quite a pounding in the last 20 something years and are right now saran-wrapped in storage right next to the 501s awaiting the time when I have time and money at the same time to rebuild the enclosures due to the infamous "split seam" failure these are known for. One of these days I'll find a set of M1s and MC1s to complete the "Holographic Imaging" system they were famous for; I did quite like the balance from the 301s as rears though.

That said... the Sennheiser 25 studio monitor headphones have been the de-facto benchmark for sound since I was a teenager; unbelievably, when they re-vamped them into the HD25s they only got better. Sure you CAN get better for more money; but you can't be guaranteed of anything as good for the money anywhere else. IMO, YMMV, DQMOT, WTFBBQSAUCE, DILLIGAF?

https://en-uk.sennheiser.com/on-ear-dj-headphone-hd25

^^^ stuff on something produced well i.e. Elizium by Fields of the Nephilim ... or The Division Bell by Pink Floyd ... then wonder why the hell you bought speakers.

Had my pair for 13 years now and haven't found anything close to them.

Didn't I just say that? 

Yes, I had a pair of Sennheiser's the same and they are very good, but you can't walk around or do anything else when wearing them and because they are closed ear type, also block out anyone trying to talk to you or the phone ringing, or more importantly, the bloody postman ringing the doorbell to deliver more TEA toys 

I agree with the music as well, I love the Division Bell, Dark Side of the Moon, In fact most things by Pink Floyd, Genesis, Phil Collins to name a few and also really good pipe organ music as well and you get some real rib tickling Bass from a good pipe organ along with some excellent treble and mid range because unlike modern organs, pipe organs actually played the proper instruments via the keyboard as well wind through the pipe notes.

There was a famous garage in Diss, Norfolk that had their car showroom built around a massive Wurlitzer Theatre Organ http://www.eafa.org.uk/catalogue/5092 I have had the pleasure of hearing this being played for my Mother and I a few years ago and they used to clear the cars out and put loads of chairs out and have concert days with famous organists playing the instrument, always a sell a out.

Sure you can... there are dozens of true audiophile-quality IR and RF mobile wireless systems on the market now. No reason in the world NOT to use the headphones you love, anywhere you want. Of course, headphones of this quality do tend to obviate the many shortcomings of iPods, etc... they sound best used in a dock where you don't EXPECT the greatest sound.

I also abused/was abused by Floyd... of course, if you can remember the experience, you weren't really there. 

I grew up in Pittsburgh, PA... home to St Paul's Cathedral which is known worldwide as one of the finest pipe organ installations of all time. Holiday and Easter services there were acoustically a "religious experience", even to the non-aligned such as myself and my mother. But my youth was misspent hanging out at the Hollywood Theater in Dormont during the time when live re-enactments of the Rocky Horror Picture Show were accompanied by their theater organ. it was an amazing instrument in its own right; part built-in construction and part mechanically operated "dais" which rose from the center of the orchestra pit like something out of Star Wars.

Talk about intoxication... we were half-wasted and half-naked pretty much from Friday night 'til Monday morning every other weekend for almost two years...

All of them have problems which is why the Rigol keeps appearing on the bench. It just works, until it doesn’t, and then I’ll shout at telonic until it does again

I love analogue scopes. I don’t love the problems you get when you need to use one and something goes phut or drifts or just stops working.

Thing with Teks is they have massive resale value. The 465B I found at my parents house works perfectly. Turned out I had it on NORM trigger. Doh schoolboy error. Already shifted it for £150!

I have already spent considerably more than the money I got back on a transceiver though. SWMBO has no idea how much they cost. Phew. Up one Yaesu 857D. Perhaps she will google it 

Yeah... but the prices on Tek fluctuate so wildly. I just know that if I go to sell one of my working 2465s it'll be that day and it'll close for like 175.00. I'll take them both to the grave for that. Might take the "parts donor" too, just in case I need to fix one of them in the hereafter. 




Have you seen the CatDisplay? An interesting bit of Open-Source gear with a full color dashboard for units like your new toy there.

Just bagged this crusty decade box for a song, it'll join my home brew one.



Also bagged a remote for the Bose SoundDock I was given and for the cost of the extra postage, the seller is going to chuck in the non-working SoundDock it came from, hence selling the remote, yes, result!!

winner winner, chicken dinner.

So you still haven't told us... which model did you get?

My HP 3311A Function Generator miraculously found its way home after being borrowed for 25+ years.
The gentleman that had borrowed it had been cleaning out his garage and found some junk electronics that he thought I might be interested in. When he had borrowed it we both had lived in a different state, and currently again both live in the same town.
He did not remember borrowing it at all, and I only barely remembered the loan. The clincher was the Bourns Knobpot that I had installed some 30 years ago for the DC offset.
It arrived home last night in excellent shape with a lot of surface dust covering it. A bit of cleaning and it powered up just fine with all buttons working!
Amazingly on my test equipment shelve there was an empty space!    above some HP 5300 series counters that nothing else would fit in, but was just the perfect size for the HP 3311A.

Heh... an interesting story of TEA and the old adage "Never a lender or a borrower be." Or maybe more like "Return of the Prodigal Signal Generator"...? 

That reminds me of my second 2465; bought on eBay when I still lived in the Finger Lakes region of New York for a song back in the day when we had thousands of users. It worked, had 2 sets of Tek probes with barely expired calibration and came to my door for $312 US.

Several years later I found a calibration checklist inside when I was forced to open it up and repair the fan; it indicated the unit had belonged to one of the divisions of NASA's JPL. I often imagined it being used by some engineer working on subsystems for the Space Shuttle; it was the right vintage to have been deployed when they revamped the program after Challenger.

A decade laster, after traveling to both coasts and all up & down the Eastern Seaboard, it finds its way back to Houston again with me; less than 20 miles from Space City where it began its life. We've been to NASA several times since we moved here; I may actually have seen the lab it was deployed in.

Prodigal indeed.


mnem
Yes, you may touch it.