Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Specmaster]

Yep, thats very true, some boroughs seem to be rammed with tower blocks, dreadful things.

[Specmaster]

Ok, here it is, the pron nakedness that we all love to see. This one was made in 1988, so shes 30 years old but doesn't show it, shes worn well. These photos do not really show how bad the VFD really is, its readable most in the slowest update mode, the fastest update and they don't get proper time to light up properly before they change so thats a priority is to locate a suitable panel for it.

I've attempted to clean it up yet so your seeing her in all of her filth and as you can see from the random tests I've done using my voltage and current calibrators it really is good enough to use as it is without any further calibration being required so from the angle I scooped a bargain here especially as it was originally listed as £150 but because the seller was unable to power it up for me or post any pictures of it powered up, bartered them down on the strength that it could be as far as either of us knew, dead. The not calibrated sticker was another bargaining chip for me to use and with the cost of having to get it calibrated before it could be used and the readings taken as being correct, helped me to get it right down to just £35 in the end. So it turned out to be a good Sunday afternoon trip into London to exchange the queens notes for this little beauty.

Interesting note here is that I have heard Dave and others go on about the red silk screening on the green solder mask, but mine is yellow on green so they must have changed something I guess and the colour denotes which version is which?

This meter can also be self calibrated according to the manual, so thats an advantage, so now I'm on the look out for 09 option (the AC card) and the display panel.

[bd139]

Nice one. That's in pretty good nick that. Definitely worth the cash!

Thanks for the excellent photos as always

[Specmaster]

I think it will clean up nicely, very pleased with it, just wish I could nab bargains more often. Looking forward now to finally seeing the 3390B for the first time and getting to play with what I hope will be the best of both worlds, analogue and digital in one package. Its going to be a long learning curve on the digital side I think, reading the manual there's heaps that thing can do that I couldn't hope to do with just an analogue, all the maths functions as well. But somehow I really doubt that I'll use but a fraction of its true capabilities but its nice to have the ability to do so if the need arises.

[med6753]

Excellent score!  I think we should have a "Score of the month" contest. This one certainly qualifies. But what should be the prize? 

[bd139]

The prize should be being referred to only as “jammy git” for the following month

[Specmaster]

In that case, I got the award after you, all of those lovely 465's I think you will have won that more times then anyone 

[bd139]

Got my eye on another one as well

[Specmaster]

Shame you forgot about the Philips lab sale in Cambridge, you might have gotten the 200MHz 4 channel combiscope, ideal for your small corner I'd have thought? There was a nice Sony 1080p camcorder system going ut the price on jumped right up at the end, it was cliffhanger watching 2 buyers trying outbit and outwit each other with last second bids. I dropped out when I could see how that was going. Shame because it have been nice to take that some airshows and make my own DVD's up.

[Kosmic]

I got a general resistance 5 decade 0.01% box yesterday. Offered 60$ and the guy just accepted. Supposed to be working and all. Will post some pics when I receive it 

[bd139]

Shame you forgot about the Philips lab sale in Cambridge, you might have gotten the 200MHz 4 channel combiscope, ideal for your small corner I'd have thought? There was a nice Sony 1080p camcorder system going ut the price on jumped right up at the end, it was cliffhanger watching 2 buyers trying outbit and outwit each other with last second bids. I dropped out when I could see how that was going. Shame because it have been nice to take that some airshows and make my own DVD's up.

Keep an eye out for half decent DSLRs on eBay. Got me a Nikon D3200 body a while ago for £80. That does full 1080p video. Lens turn up for a reasonable amount as well. Haven’t used the damn thing yet bar a run round Kew Gardens.

[Specmaster]

I was going to pop a few photos from the recent Fly Navy airshow at Old Warden on here but I don't want to e the person that continually leads the forum slightly astray. So instead I'm going to past a link to my son's web site and forum where he has written a show report and supported it with lots of his own photos.

We both have the same cameras but he has a very expensive professional lens which does indeed show in the photos. I hope I'm not breaking any rules by doing this, if so then I apologize now for doing so. The photos are clickable and will take you to a high res photo. Hope those of you who enjoy aviation photos will like them.

http://www.airshows.co.uk/reports/uk/2018/shuttleworth-collection-fly-navy/

[med6753]

The prize should be being referred to only as “jammy git” for the following month

Never heard that term before. Had to Google it. Must be one of those quaint English terms. 

And what about the 2465 I stole last month for $60 USD? Doesn't that qualify?

[Specmaster]

Shame you forgot about the Philips lab sale in Cambridge, you might have gotten the 200MHz 4 channel combiscope, ideal for your small corner I'd have thought? There was a nice Sony 1080p camcorder system going ut the price on jumped right up at the end, it was cliffhanger watching 2 buyers trying outbit and outwit each other with last second bids. I dropped out when I could see how that was going. Shame because it have been nice to take that some airshows and make my own DVD's up.

Keep an eye out for half decent DSLRs on eBay. Got me a Nikon D3200 body a while ago for £80. That does full 1080p video. Lens turn up for a reasonable amount as well. Haven’t used the damn thing yet bar a run round Kew Gardens.

Thanks but if I was going to down that route I'd stick with Canon as I already have Canon cameras and the lenses. I was thinking about getting the next model up from mine which also does 1080p video, but it like I think the Nikon, has a all plastic body which struggles to adequately support a 300mm telephoto lens, especially my sons L series  lens which is so large and heavy. Our existing camera bodies have magnesium bodies to both take the weight of the lenses and protect against accidental knocks etc.

[Specmaster]

The prize should be being referred to only as “jammy git” for the following month

Never heard that term before. Had to Google it. Must be one of those quaint English terms. 

And what about the 2465 I stole last month for $60 USD? Doesn't that qualify?

Yes it does, you jammy git, fact is that so many of us are jammy gits at different times because either we are in the right place at the right or we are such good negotiators. I think however the jammiest git of us all has to be Ero-Shan with that massive dumpster diving haul of his last year 

[bd139]

Shame you forgot about the Philips lab sale in Cambridge, you might have gotten the 200MHz 4 channel combiscope, ideal for your small corner I'd have thought? There was a nice Sony 1080p camcorder system going ut the price on jumped right up at the end, it was cliffhanger watching 2 buyers trying outbit and outwit each other with last second bids. I dropped out when I could see how that was going. Shame because it have been nice to take that some airshows and make my own DVD's up.

Keep an eye out for half decent DSLRs on eBay. Got me a Nikon D3200 body a while ago for £80. That does full 1080p video. Lens turn up for a reasonable amount as well. Haven’t used the damn thing yet bar a run round Kew Gardens.

Thanks but if I was going to down that route I'd stick with Canon as I already have Canon cameras and the lenses. I was thinking about getting the next model up from mine which also does 1080p video, but it like I think the Nikon, has a all plastic body which struggles to adequately support a 300mm telephoto lens, especially my sons L series  lens which is so large and heavy. Our existing camera bodies have magnesium bodies to both take the weight of the lenses and protect against accidental knocks etc.

Cheap end Nikons have magnesium chassis connected to the ring. I used my old d70 with my father’s crazy  telephoto for a bit. Man that hurt carrying that round but it didn’t bend anything other than me

Got fed up of smart phone cameras about six months ago. TEA actually did this. You can get better shots with something that actually has glass in it. This reminded me I missed a proper camera. Another form of TEA is PEA, photographic equipment anonymous. But that’s for another forum.

Only Nikon here because once you’ve got some lenses you’re locked in and I inherited a couple of nice Nikkor AF ones. I’d probably go canon myself if I didn’t have them. Still have some praktica stuff and some Zeiss lenses somewhere I got from a house sale in the 90s. Man I have so much shit lying around. Need to sort it.

The prize should be being referred to only as “jammy git” for the following month

Never heard that term before. Had to Google it. Must be one of those quaint English terms. 

And what about the 2465 I stole last month for $60 USD? Doesn't that qualify?

Yes it does, you jammy git, fact is that so many of us are jammy gits at different times because either we are in the right place at the right or we are such good negotiators. I think however the jammiest git of us all has to be Ero-Shan with that massive dumpster diving haul of his last year 

I have to agree with that one.

[Kosmic]

I was kind of tempted to start doing dumpster diving, but decided against it. I think I'm not there yet in the evolution of my disease 

[Kosmic]

The prize should be being referred to only as “jammy git” for the following month

Never heard that term before. Had to Google it. Must be one of those quaint English terms. 

And what about the 2465 I stole last month for $60 USD? Doesn't that qualify?

Yes it does, you jammy git, fact is that so many of us are jammy gits at different times because either we are in the right place at the right or we are such good negotiators. I think however the jammiest git of us all has to be Ero-Shan with that massive dumpster diving haul of his last year 

So what's the story ? What did he found in the dumpster ?

[mnementh]

Are there sections of London that are really that bad? NYC used to have "no go" sections but that's no longer true...although some neighborhoods are "safer" than others. Now the same can't be said for cities like Chicago or Detroit.

No London isn't that bad!

BTW, it isn't just NYC; my parents experienced that in several forms in Pittsburgh in the "golden era" late 50s. Naturally I  won't be responding to any replies, on the basis this any such conversation will rapidly devolve.

[SLICE OF LIFE MODE; begin backstory:]

I grew up in MsKeesport area in the early '80s; several years after the mills shut down, but still recent enough that most of the mill hunkies (their word and perversely proud of it, not mine) still believed they'd open again. This was a time and place of silent desperation; suicide and homicide rates were higher per capita than Oakland. The only thing the kept most of them going was Bradshaw and the Steel Curtain; They clung to the "City of Champions" hype and drama like a lifeline. Win, Lose or Suck there's no fan of any kind as fiercely loyal as a Steelers fan. 

My mom was a dyed-in-the-wool hippie RN back when people only got into it to help people, because the hours were brutal and the pay was barely subsistence-level. She moved us to Pittsburgh because of a guy (We'll just call him "Richard") she fell for and thought she could save from his own narcissism. Those were good times mostly; he hadn't revealed his sociopathic selfishness yet, and she was actually happy and in love. Our home on 6th Ave was poor but full of love and hope.

She decided we needed to get "West of the yards" when I told her of my adventure on the way to South Hills Village where my friends and I literally had to walk around a dead body to get on the bus; I was 12 or 13. We moved to Dormont for a little less than a year, then she got a good job at Western Psych and we were able to move upscale to Greentree for a bit then she bought a house in Mt Lebanon.

It was the cheapest house on the street, and all the yuppie families looked down on us because she drove a Chevy Nova when they all had Porsches and Saabs; she told me after we left (she walked away from 20K+ in equity when that dingle Richard decided to get back together with his ex instead of marrying her) that she was lucky it happened when it did. She swore there had to be something in the water that made them all so blindly conservative even as the city crumbled around them, because after a few years living in the middle of them she was trying to figure out a way to swing a second-hand Beemer. 

[/SLICE OF LIFE MODE; cue swirly sound]


mnem
Pants are highly overrated.

[tggzzz]

Shame you forgot about the Philips lab sale in Cambridge, you might have gotten the 200MHz 4 channel combiscope, ideal for your small corner I'd have thought? There was a nice Sony 1080p camcorder system going ut the price on jumped right up at the end, it was cliffhanger watching 2 buyers trying outbit and outwit each other with last second bids. I dropped out when I could see how that was going. Shame because it have been nice to take that some airshows and make my own DVD's up.

Keep an eye out for half decent DSLRs on eBay. Got me a Nikon D3200 body a while ago for £80. That does full 1080p video. Lens turn up for a reasonable amount as well. Haven’t used the damn thing yet bar a run round Kew Gardens.

My local auction house has a "seized stock" section, and that often has high-end cameras in it. They typically go for 75% of the fleabay price, or 50% above the range suggested by the auction house.

The "unclaimed property" (presumably from airport security and/or customs seizures) is much cheaper; bundles of Kindles, knives and perfume seem common.

[Specmaster]

The prize should be being referred to only as “jammy git” for the following month

Never heard that term before. Had to Google it. Must be one of those quaint English terms. 

And what about the 2465 I stole last month for $60 USD? Doesn't that qualify?

Yes it does, you jammy git, fact is that so many of us are jammy gits at different times because either we are in the right place at the right or we are such good negotiators. I think however the jammiest git of us all has to be Ero-Shan with that massive dumpster diving haul of his last year 

So what's the story ? What did he found in the dumpster ?

Try looking at post #2765 and theres quite a few after that as well, but take your time, its easy to miss some of the postings.

[Specmaster]

Shame you forgot about the Philips lab sale in Cambridge, you might have gotten the 200MHz 4 channel combiscope, ideal for your small corner I'd have thought? There was a nice Sony 1080p camcorder system going ut the price on jumped right up at the end, it was cliffhanger watching 2 buyers trying outbit and outwit each other with last second bids. I dropped out when I could see how that was going. Shame because it have been nice to take that some airshows and make my own DVD's up.

Keep an eye out for half decent DSLRs on eBay. Got me a Nikon D3200 body a while ago for £80. That does full 1080p video. Lens turn up for a reasonable amount as well. Haven’t used the damn thing yet bar a run round Kew Gardens.

My local auction house has a "seized stock" section, and that often has high-end cameras in it. They typically go for 75% of the fleabay price, or 50% above the range suggested by the auction house.

The "unclaimed property" (presumably from airport security and/or customs seizures) is much cheaper; bundles of Kindles, knives and perfume seem common.

Interesting, which auction house is it and where is it please?

[mnementh]

The prize should be being referred to only as “jammy git” for the following month

Never heard that term before. Had to Google it. Must be one of those quaint English terms. 

And what about the 2465 I stole last month for $60 USD? Doesn't that qualify?

It certainly does.

Henceforth, we shall refer to you and Specmaster as "jammy git" and "jammier git" until a better theft in broad daylight deal is related on this forum. You two can fight over top billing; I'll sell popcorn & beer while streaming the video live.

The prize should be being referred to only as “jammy git” for the following month

Never heard that term before. Had to Google it. Must be one of those quaint English terms. 

And what about the 2465 I stole last month for $60 USD? Doesn't that qualify?

Yes it does, you jammy git, fact is that so many of us are jammy gits at different times because either we are in the right place at the right or we are such good negotiators. I think however the jammiest git of us all has to be Ero-Shan with that massive dumpster diving haul of his last year 

I think the Statute of Limitations has def run out on that one... IMHO, as no "dealing" was involved, that's really more a case of "Lucky arse-whole" than "jammy git", you jammy git. 


mnem
  Step right up! Get your swill on!!! 

[Specmaster]

I think that I was a jammy bastard on this deal because I wasn't desperate for yet another meter, seeing as I'm well placed for decent bench meters with a really good Keithley 160 (nixie) 3.5 digit and 4 good 4.5 digit meters from Philips, Solartron, and HP and an excellent 5.5 one from HP so I wasn't bothered about letting this 8840A go so I thought I'd try and see if I was to play it a bit more casual, what would happen, the rest is history. I think it also is a very big help if you get in very early before anyone else spots the deals. 

[bitseeker]

Yep, it's all good, Spec. There's always the next one.