Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Specmaster]

@bd139 They look really good, can't wait to find out if the Heathkit items work and are within specifications. I'd be equally as puffed up if I had that haul, apart from the 7603, while its an item of absolute beauty, I don't have the space but it looks to so versatile with the various plugins, it looks as if you could create the specification to match your requirements, eg, SA, Curve Tracer, Scope etc. as long as you can get the plug in units 

Perhaps some of your luck may have rubbed on me remotely, I just made an offer on an TDS210 working and non working one as spares / repair and it was accepted. Non working one apparently comes on but is very bright and has one of the small knobs missing. Fingers crossed I recoup the cost by selling the working one and repair the other.

[bd139]

@bd139 They look really good, can't wait to find out if the Heathkit items work and are within specifications. I'd be equally as puffed up if I had that haul, apart from the 7603, while its an item of absolute beauty, I don't have the space but it looks to so versatile with the various plugins, it looks as if you could create the specification to match your requirements, eg, SA, Curve Tracer, Scope etc. as long as you can get the plug in units 

Perhaps some of your luck may have rubbed on me remotely, I just made an offer on an TDS210 working and non working one as spares / repair and it was accepted. Non working one apparently comes on but is very bright and has one of the small knobs missing. Fingers crossed I recoup the cost by selling the working one and repair the other.

I can't see any evidence they won't work. I am currently testing the V7 meter movement because if that's fecked it's not worth repairing and will go in the "until a suitable movement turns up" box. I don't have the space for the 7603 unfortunately but I'm working on it 

nice one with the TDS210 

T-shirts. Fields of the Nephilim here... also used Pink Floyd's producer so ...

Edit: confirmed V7 movement is good. Full deflection, nice and smooth, no jags. Knocked up a little current source with a BJT and a pot and a coupe of resistors to test.

[Cubdriver]

bd139
The 7000 series plugin rabbit hole awaits ! 
http://w140.com/tekwiki/wiki/7000-series_plug-ins#Vertical_plug-ins

Good score buddy. 

100 MHz, 4ch CRO for 50p/MHz 

Want 7L12

1.8 GHz SA ! 
http://w140.com/tekwiki/wiki/File:Tek-7l12-led-front.jpg
Never knew they existed.
Do they come up for sale at all ?

Yes one went for just shy of £150 a couple of years back. Didn’t have a mainframe to stick it in then. Or £150!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/tektronix-7L12-spectrum-analyzer-100kc-to-1-8gh/153147341936?hash=item23a84afc70:g:FlsAAOSwj~9be3kV

That was a really nice haul from the hamfest.  As for the linked spec-an plug in, I just took a peek and that guy's on crack as far as shipping goes. Shipping charge is listed (to me in the northeastern US) as $75 and some change.  I've shipped boxes weighing 60+ lbs that were 2'x2'x2' home from California for that kind of money.

As for TEA and plug in spec-ans, I finally unboxed the Tek 564 with the 3L6 that I snagged in CA last year and finally shipped home in May.  (Got tired of tripping over it, and needed the box for the museum.)  I need to scare up a horizontal plug in to test it - it has a 3A-something vertical one in the right bay that someone apparently plugged in to make it look full.  Off to the bay of evil to make my CC cry some more.

-Pat

[Specmaster]

@bd139 They look really good, can't wait to find out if the Heathkit items work and are within specifications. I'd be equally as puffed up if I had that haul, apart from the 7603, while its an item of absolute beauty, I don't have the space but it looks to so versatile with the various plugins, it looks as if you could create the specification to match your requirements, eg, SA, Curve Tracer, Scope etc. as long as you can get the plug in units 

Perhaps some of your luck may have rubbed on me remotely, I just made an offer on an TDS210 working and non working one as spares / repair and it was accepted. Non working one apparently comes on but is very bright and has one of the small knobs missing. Fingers crossed I recoup the cost by selling the working one and repair the other.

I can't see any evidence they won't work. I am currently testing the V7 meter movement because if that's fecked it's not worth repairing and will go in the "until a suitable movement turns up" box. I don't have the space for the 7603 unfortunately but I'm working on it 

nice one with the TDS210 

T-shirts. Fields of the Nephilim here... also used Pink Floyd's producer so ...

Edit: confirmed V7 movement is good. Full deflection, nice and smooth, no jags. Knocked up a little current source with a BJT and a pot and a coupe of resistors to test.

Oh good, I know that they are often fecked, I had had to go through 3 VTVM's till I got one where the meter was and luckily so was the guts as well. With anything from Heathkit that has a battery inside them, you can very easily come a gutser if your not careful as most of the ones I've seen have had major corrosion inside and beyond economic repair.

[Cerebus]

just a view of the ps and how it mounts should do it for me. am curious to see how similar it is to the one in the 545xx scopes.


and before I get too much flack.  maybe it is possible to restore emission in a crt, but what a crapshoot.  sometimes they kill the crt instantly, sometimes they restore the brightness temporarily, and occasionally it seemed to fix it long term.  maybe some guys know the magic incantation.  but a lot of the time the guy would keep saying "look how much better it is" until he convinced ya' maybe it really was better.

As you can see i already have it out and apart but as i'm sure you can also see there are two connectors and a pair of rails it slides in/out on. They mounted the floppy on top of it as well, real pain in the neck to get at.

Holy shitballs. That Hickok is worth it's weight in gold!  Get a manual and learn how to use it. I'm sure it must be available out there somewhere.

The A model is tricky, no manuals because this thing has been around since i think the late forties. I got a schematic and thats about it. Though i could probably get a manual from the latter models if i wanted functionality tutorials however.

New rule, if anyone wants a picture of ANY of my hamfest stuff in detail just ask... too much to take pictures of otherwise.

EDIT; A couple more



Sorry for the pink hue my camera currently sucks if not EXACTLY right... 
Also, this thing is missing a button not sure what the button does because it aint there.

I can't see your pictures because you're using facebook to distribute them and facebook is blackholed here. Might I suggest that you use a more trustworthy host. Your choice, but I suspect that I'm not the only person who's decided (long ago in my case, the zone file date suggests since Nov 2013) that allowing packets from any facebook property onto my network was a "bad thing^TM". No doubt someone will be along to ridicule me for that, but I'm happy to suffer that for the pleasure of knowing that I've got one of the smallest footprints in facebook's data silos possible.

[Specmaster]

@bd139.
Build a scope cart and wheel it into the cupboard under the stairs or whatever whenever its not in use might help avoid too much stinkeye?

[bd139]

@bd139.
Build a scope cart and wheel it into the cupboard under the stairs or whatever whenever its not in use might help avoid too much stinkeye?

Was that BUY A SCOPEMOBILE I heard then?

[Specmaster]

sure was

[orin]

can see from the pn that the smps is the  same one used in the 545xxa scopes.  did not see the big plastic pins in your picture.  have never pulled them without taking 15 minutes to remember where I set the damn things down.

my 54502a went tits up recently and the problem was leakage from 2 or 3 of those 8 caps stuck between those finned vertical heat sinks. impossible to see they were leaking until removed.

I put the plastic pins back where they came from.  Looks like that particular case doesn't let you.


Don't need to see if those caps are leaking.  If not already, they are going to... and spray electrolyte all over the place.  Then the 545XX scopes make ticking sounds as the power supply starts up and shuts down right away.

It's not too hard to replace them, but there's a lot of solder down there and you'll need a decent wattage iron.  Give the board a good scrub under and around with your favorite cleaner once they are out.  The electrolyte spray is invisible and sometimes it gets under the trimpot near the edge of the board.  I had to drag some multimeter probes around my board looking for areas of non-infinite resistance when I replaced all the secondary side electrolytics in my 54510A's supply.  I even had to remove the trimpot to clean under it.  It is often contamination on this part of the board that causes one of the rails to go high and trip the crowbar circuit, shutting the power supply down.  I seem to recall there are more caps of the same value that also leak so do them all.

Yes, after the recap and board scrubbing, my 54510A went from ticking and not booting to working fine.

[Cerebus]

That SP11 battery is, I suspect quite literally, a museum piece in itself. That white background was early 80s vintage livery I think.

[Specmaster]

Precisely and thats where these Heathkits are always suspect purchases because people fit the cells and then forget them, especially when they upgrade to DMM's.

[bd139]

That SP11 battery is, I suspect quite literally, a museum piece in itself. That white background was early 80s vintage livery I think.

Perhaps surprisingly it still has 1.475 volts across it!

Yep that was 1978-1984 that logo and colour scheme I think. Just about old enough to remember these being the most important currency of the time and being Zinc Carbon lasted bugger all time but yielded cheap welding rods afterwards. Also there is a giveaway that the plug on the VTVM was installed in 1980, probably to replace a funky old round pin one, as there is a hand written note in the manual. Last note is in 1981.

Actually looking through the manual there is a letter in it dated 10th February 1966 where the original owner of this VTVM a Mr C.R Fletcher had clearly complained about something in a Heathkit design for another product and got a reply neatly typed up from Daystrom. Have included below for chuckles and a reminder that customer service was better in the past:



Edit: also just found the 7B53A knob is technically completely knackered. Fortunately Qservice had one left so have snagged it quick. £15 for a knob stings a bit but it's worth it as it's the only thing damaged.

[PA0PBZ]

Perhaps surprisingly it still has 1.475 volts across it!

That surely helps with not-leaking!

[nixiefreqq]

was noodling around with my newly rediscovered hp522b manual.

happened to glance at the ps schematic.  knew it was a 5u4 regulated with a 6as7.  but hey, what the hell are those diode symbols doing on the neg 175v supply?

ooooooh nooooooo!  how the hell did that little pos sneak by me and hide out in the basement all these years?

pulled it like a bad tooth.  replaced them with a 1n4007 in series with a 125 ohm 5watt resistor and all the neg voltages are still ok.

if that thing had let loose swmbo would have thrown me and all my crap into the ditch out by the road.

dodged a bullet there boys!

[Specmaster]

Certainly would not want to be in the same room as them if they let go without a gas mask thats a fact.

[bd139]

The fate you avoided

[factory]

I've got a box full of them stinky metal rectifiers somewhere all new old stock, I was given them persuaded to take them away at one of the local surplus sales (he was going to bin them otherwise), there is a couple of special ones in that box with Germanium or Silicon warts.

I've no plans to change any of them in my HP boat anchors yet, then again they don't get powered up in the house.

David

[Cubdriver]

I came across some NOS ones, and snagged them as I think they're rather cool looking.  I plan to put hooks on them and use them as techy-geek Christmas Tree ornaments.

-Pat

[Specmaster]

Thats a novel use for them 

[factory]

What about 7L14 ?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Tektronix-Mainframe-mit-7L14-Spektrum-Analyzer/283116661563?hash=item41eb116b3b:g:aqAAAOSw6CJbJlU4

Of better still, 7L18 ?
http://w140.com/tekwiki/wiki/File:7L18-front.jpg

7L14 is an option but not at that price  .... 7L18 is too high frequency. My operating range is usually around 1.8-14 MHz so nothing particularly demanding required.

Your having a purple streak, did you do the lottery at all? If you did, better check your ticket then, might have won that as well[emoji38][emoji38][emoji38]

I bought a lottery ticket once, literally about a week after they started doing it, won a tenner and vowed I'd never buy one again since I made a profit.

Samplers. Get samplers.

Bandwidth is all that matters. Bandwidth is king.

"Tek for scopes HP (AK) for everything else "

Two words and they are both yes. That had crossed my mind already.

Reading about the 7S11 and suitable sampling head, such as the S-4 gives the scope 14.5Ghz bandwidth and 25ps rise time. Impressive! I'll keep an eye out. I don't need this and never will but it would be cool. 1GHz sine wave on a 100MHz mainframe (not mine):

The 7T11 timebase with 2x 7S11 & S2 sampler offered here might be overkill for 14MHz. 

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/buysellwanted/fs-uk-various-tektronix-7000-scope-current-probes-etc/

David

[neo]

I can't see your pictures because you're using facebook to distribute them and facebook is blackholed here. Might I suggest that you use a more trustworthy host. Your choice, but I suspect that I'm not the only person who's decided (long ago in my case, the zone file date suggests since Nov 2013) that allowing packets from any facebook property onto my network was a "bad thing^TM". No doubt someone will be along to ridicule me for that, but I'm happy to suffer that for the pleasure of knowing that I've got one of the smallest footprints in facebook's data silos possible.

What would you suggest? I really am asking, i use facebook for it being free and more or less permanent but i am open to suggestions.

[bd139]

Imgur seems to have outlived most. Or attach as picture to posts.

[factory]

I came across some NOS ones, and snagged them as I think they're rather cool looking.  I plan to put hooks on them and use them as techy-geek Christmas Tree ornaments.

-Pat

Thats a novel use for them 

Nice idea. 

Do the copper oxide ones fail the same way as the selenium ones?
Some of my stuff is riddled with these metal rectifiers, like this HP 711A.



Have a bonus picture of some Sprague 109D wet tants, bd139 knows what these can do. 



David

[bd139]

Kaboom!

[factory]

slightly dis-functional Heathkit Griefkit curve tracer

New one for the POI's, bitseeker.

.....................
Chuckling.

Well that Heathkit Griefkit curve tracer certainly seems to be working just fine 

I'm sure someone else on here called them that, so went along with it, I think it had something to do with the original owners assembling the kits wrong. I must dig it out and see if I can get it to work with any tunnel diodes, I suspect I have a dead one in the HP 5248M, may have to buy some Russian ones if I can figure out the correct type to order.

David

Well I finally got round to looking at the Heathkit Griefkit IT-1121 curve tracer, it has a few extra holes in the back & an extra non-connected banana socket, no idea why.



Looking inside it seems a previous owner wasn't happy with the specified fuse values, I found a 1.5A fitted for the line (should be 250mA SB for 230V) and a 500mA fitted (instead of the 62mA) for the step generator.
A bit of searching and I found a 250mA SB & a 60mA, hopefully that will reduce the chance of a catastrophic failure. 



After a proper read of the pdf manual, I got it setup with the HP 140A & H20-1405A X-Y plug-in.
It seems to work fine, as long as you remember to use the banana sockets for the component being tested instead of the worn out transistor traps. 



After testing some random parts that were lying around, I salvaged some tunnel diodes (from the same board as those Sprague 109D tants) they tested OK. 
Sadly the one out of the A17 board from the HP 5248M didn't, completely open-circuit. Two more to check when I rebuild the A21 board, don't think they will be any good either. 



David

ps: I added a link to the previous IT-1121 post as it's a now a POI.