Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[beanflying]

I think there may be a reason your posties don't want to deliver to you or don't knock. Did you forget one day to add the trousers? 

[Specmaster]

 

I think there may be a reason your posties don't want to deliver to you or don't knock. Did you forget one day to add the trousers? 

Hmm, that could be interesting on the right day as sometimes my postie (normal letter and small lightweight parcel post) is a tasty female as is now my local Hermes driver, might get a bit of spontaneous daytime fun 

[nixiefreqq]

This being the heaviest and most expensive thing i've yet bought i've prepared a special cup of tea for you all. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtCJUUnStdU&feature=youtu.be Ignore the commentary about accuracy, once heated up its dead on to both of them.

Further experimentation reveals that my 200MHz 7704A with 7A26 can display up to 700 MHz before completely losing it. Admittedly i highly doubt the accuracy of the volt readout past it's limit, regardless i still find that experiment interesting.  Also another interesting experiment i tried, all three frequency counters are in congruence with the new signal generator. Even the heathkit, though i had to crank the voltage up to even get a reading.




BM     1000.0455 KHz 25001.163 KHz 100.00472 MHz
HK     00.999999 MHZ 24.999975 MHz 99.999929 MHz
5340A  01.000000 MHz 24.999993 MHz 99.999999 MHz
set; 1 MHz           25 MHz        100 MHz
BM     0250.0033 MHz 0500.0060 MHz 1000.0116 MHz
5340A  249.99993 MHz 499.99987 MHz 999.99999 MHz
set; 250 MHz         500 MHz       1 GHz


I think, i can't be sure of course but i think, i may be winning this game.

hey neo......that monster looks pretty good down low in the rack.   BUT we need to see the digits.  dot led VS 5340 nixie would be good.  (ewwwbaby ewwwwwbaby)

AND congrats to med6753...……been 8 years since I pulled the plug.   have never lacked stuff to keep me busy,  and sure don't miss the commute, or the bean counters.  (hope that does not offend any tea members.....but you know what I mean)

[URI]

TEA, TEA, TEA, ...     

Since it's possible (and I won't be able to withstand..) pimping my Fluke PM6681s/6685s and my newly acquired HP 53132A with 3rd inputs for the GHz range my list of TE that's missing on my bench is now:
- Signal Generator (3-4 GHz, with GPIB or Lan and 10MHz reference input)
- Spectrum Analyzer (would like it with a TG, GPIB or Lan and 10MHz reference input is a must)
plus other things..
- Electronic load capable of >>10A and R-modes down to milli-Ohms

I'm a bit surprised of the shortness of my list.   
Perhaps it's because there are only expensive instruments left in it..?
I think I'll have to be careful not to stress the tolerance of my SWMBO too much.
It'll be hard to balance between the craving for those instruments and the strategic need to put enough time between getting those. And eb** has no mercy sometimes when there are showing up opportunities to give in to TEA.       

Ok, end of the preface.

Looking for a reasonable and reasonable priced siggen I came across this:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/172210964785
That's a 35M-4.4G simple signal generator designed by BG7TBL with a minimalistic user interface with display, push buttons and knob and (!) a 10MHz reference input.
It's based upon a remarkably spec'd Analog Devices ADF4351 wideband synthesizer with Integrated VCO.

Ok, the list of limitations of this little sig gen compared to a "real" sig gen might be longer than the advantages but it's quite a lot bang for buck as long as I also can tell from the possibilities the ADF4351 gives (regarding its datasheet)
pros:
- wide frequency range from 35MHz to 4.4GHz
- ability to syntonize to a reference (e.g. 10Mhz with measures)
- relatively clean signal (in regard to having no output filtering)
- small
- low power consumption
- price

cons:
- sine output only from 2.2 - 4.4GHz, other frequencies are generated through fractional N circuitry and therefore are rectangular
- no modulation capabilities
- no sweeping capabilities
- no output filtering (that alone would cost more than this sig gen..)
- only 60dB dynamic range because it has
- no output attenuator (that alone would cost more than this sig gen..)
- no automatic level control
- no data interface
- no documentation
- ...

There are other sig gens based on this chip around for lower prices, even with touchable display and more powerful firmware -but without housing and with some HF/RF pcb- design flaws.   
Since it's marked with BG7TBL and this source has gained some reputation for GPSDOs and also other HF/RF stuff I google'd for this sig gen and found ... nothing. 

Does anyone know anything about it?
I wasn't even able to find photos of the inside.

[neo]

hey neo......that monster looks pretty good down low in the rack.   BUT we need to see the digits.  dot led VS 5340 nixie would be good.  (ewwwbaby ewwwwwbaby)

AND congrats to med6753...……been 8 years since I pulled the plug.   have never lacked stuff to keep me busy,  and sure don't miss the commute, or the bean counters.  (hope that does not offend any tea members.....but you know what I mean)

by request






One more just for fun.

[bd139]

Advantest 9KHz - 2.9GHz SA with TG working just appeared on ebay for £700 or offers. Hmm... as always nowhere to put the bloody thing!

[Specmaster]

Its collection only though, but it's a nice run out there though. I just found space for you on the dining table, just tell the kids it's going to be TV dinners from now on, no SWMBO to say otherwise  you know you want it.... go on...... See how low you can get it for 

[med6753]

Advantest 9KHz - 2.9GHz SA with TG working just appeared on ebay for £700 or offers. Hmm... as always nowhere to put the bloody thing!

But now that your...ahem...SWMBO situation has changed doesn't that gather a lot more space for TEA stuff?

BTW.....my woman on her visit last weekend was quite impressed with the rearrangements here. She didn't call me nuts after all. 

[Kosmic]

Make sure the service manual is available. Doc on Advantest product is hard to find some times.

Also I'm not sure if it's just reputation but Advantest sell for a lot less than HP or Tektronix.

[med6753]

Gee....so many things to do now that I'm retired.

Deleted the bridge toll plan off my electronic transponder since I won't be going across on a daily basis. $ saved.

Called my auto insurance to take daily commute off the policy. $ saved.

Let me see what else I can get rid of 

[LapTop006]

Definitely helps with the health. I haven’t retired yet but I’ve taken breaks between contracts and you can feel the difference in mental and physical health after a couple of weeks.

Yep, I'm just in my mid-30s, but had a big mess at work this year, and when it was done took two months off, needed the first few weeks to decant, wasn't until ~6 weeks in that I felt like a human again, luckily I came back in December so things are still going slow.

[tggzzz]

Looking for a reasonable and reasonable priced siggen I came across this:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/172210964785
That's a 35M-4.4G simple signal generator designed by BG7TPL with a minimalistic user interface with display, push buttons and knob and (!) a 10MHz reference input.
It's based upon a remarkably spec'd Analog Devices ADF4351 wideband synthesizer with Integrated VCO.

Does anyone know anything about it?
I wasn't even able to find photos of the inside.

I have something similar, without the attenuator, the front panel is a standard Windows application. Your descriptions correspond with my experience, but I haven't given it a full workout - see RF people's reviews for that.

I also have a https://www.digikey.co.uk/products/en?keywords=lmx2594evm which goes up to 15GHz. I paid only £25 for it and some other tasty eval boards, I've not had time to use it. Its GUI is also windows only. I believe a standard beef with TI is that they don't release their algorithms for converting the desired frequency etc into the set of register values.

[bd139]

Someone sells a nicer packaged device containing an ADF4351 here: https://rf-consultant.com/

Output is calibrated with decent attenuator as well.

[Kosmic]

This one is also interesting https://othernet.is/products/morfeus-1

It's a 30Mhz - 6Ghz mixer and signal generator. Was on sale at 99$ recently.

[mnementh]

OT: TOOL TIME with the Tool Dwagon

- Combination wrench: combination box end and open end hand wrench for hex head nuts & bolts 

- Water Pump Pliers: so named because they were developed specifically to be able to "get into the gap" between motor and impeller housing to grip the hub so you can rock a jammed pump impeller back & forth to dislodge some foreign object jamming it.   

- ChannelLocks (A popular brand of slip-joint water pump pliers) 

    - spanner: So named because the original "face pin spanner" was designed as a wrench/fastener system for "packing gland" type pump seals; the pins "span" the distance between contact points occluded by a spinning shaft. The original design was made specifically to help engineers easily calculate the leverage gain between length of wrench shank and the "span" between pins. This allowed them to specify certain spanners for critical adjustments which shear strength of the pins limit the ability of "trained ape" mechanics to tighten things like packing glands to the point where they crack out a very expensive (in cost and downtime) casting.  Image from Chapter 2 of US Navy training document 14310   

- Spaniard (in the Works): Because: Lennon. 

- Pipe Wrench: So named because the built-in "give" of the jaw actually uses the malleable nature of tapered-thread piping to its advantage to provide grip on a round surface; these are really only "good" for plumbing and fucking shit up, as use anywhere but in a plumbing scenario inevitably produces the latter effect.

Also known as an "Attitude Adjuster" for this well-known latter effect when one wishes to deliberately fuck shit up, especially with 24"/36"/48" variants. Commonly confused with the "monkey wrench"; a similar-appearing predecessor to the "Crescent wrench" below known for being favored by the indeterminate "grease monkey" family of "mechanics".

- Adjustable Open-end Wrench: The original nut-fucker; so named because of it's tendency (if not very assiduously adjusted snug every bleeping time) to slip on hex head nuts & bolts and round them off. Also known as a "Crescent wrench" after the brand which made them popular.

- Thumb-Detecting-Nut-Fucker: Version of the Crescent wrench modified to prevent the tool being ruined by "trained ape without the training" type users who inevitably use the back end of the wrench as a hammer, peening over the end of the adjustment mechanism so it becomes useless as anything but a hammer. 

   OG TDFN: Argument rages on to this day as to the original source of the TDNF, though it probably came about as a result of this modification to a spud wrench commonly used in steel erection work. While made specifically with tapered-pin handle for aligning bolt holes in flanges on ironwork, spud wrenches often found their way into plumbing, mining and Naval toolkits.

- TDNF²: As one might imagine, such an indispensable tool continues to evolve; like this version with self-tightening jaws and a ratcheting box end that is very job-specific to the Mining Industry.   

- ClusterFuck: Words fail to adequately describe the fail inherent in this. See earlier mnem quote: "Making anything foolproof is impossible; fools are too damned inventive." 

mnem
Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor can suck it. 

[GregDunn]

Up until 2009 I had a good paying job with Itty Bitty Morons but I got caught up in a massive reduction which forced me to retire at age 55 and with almost 36 years service. So the pension payments aren't as good because I had to take it early. And that income wasn't going to pay the bills. And who want's to hire a 55 year old in engineering/technical assignments? No one. So I was forced to take a contractor position testing mainframes back with Itty Bitty Morons paying a shit salary. Was there until last night. I've learned to live comfortably on that salary plus meager pension. Now that I'm cruising into 66 the SSI payments are almost as much as my contractor salary. So why should I continue to work? They'll be no real reduction.

I had a job with the Navy in one of the finest engineering organizations I've ever seen; we repaired and prototyped a massive amount of stuff for them (avionics, not weapons) and earned a reputation for cost efficiency.  Unfortunately, that sealed our fate as no one was making any profit; one of the admirals bought up a lot of land around one of the east coast depots and arranged to have our site shut down and the work migrated out there on a contract basis.  Kickbacks from the contractors, selling all that land at a markup - worked out well for him personally.  Conflict of interest?  Of course.  My wife managed to stay with the Fed, as a senior IT contract monitor for the entire central region in a different org.

So rather than stick with the organization which bought the local facility (handwriting was on the wall there too) I found a position at the phone company (Ameritech) and enjoyed that for a few years until the entity known as SBC gobbled all the regional phone companies up and re-branded it AT&T.  Their first act (2005) was to get rid of all the surplus employees and they rigged a deal with IBM to take more than 10,000 of them; an unknown number were "excessed".  Of course, when their contracts ran out they were all subsequently let go from IBM and both companies made out like bandits on that deal.  Except that now most of the people who understood the networks were gone one way or another.  Most of the remaining onshore employees were shifted to contract monitoring positions without real engineering duties, completing the gutting of the phone company.  The "real" AT&T (labs and research facilities) is all owned by either Alcatel or Ericsson in Europe now.

I had enough of that and as soon as our investments and retirement plans reached a predetermined level we both bailed out.  We're comfortable and in no immediate danger of financial hardship because we have backup plans.  Not having to deal with ignorant corporate crap makes it worth any small inconveniences.   

[mnementh]

Allergies have been kicking my scaly dwagon arse; I feel like I've got the freaking flu. 

That sounds like a major fire hazard.

Only if it makes him cough a lot

It never ends...

mnem

[bitseeker]

TEA, TEA, TEA, ...     

 

Looking for a reasonable and reasonable priced siggen I came across this:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/172210964785
That's a 35M-4.4G simple signal generator designed by BG7TPL with a minimalistic user interface with display, push buttons and knob and (!) a 10MHz reference input.
It's based upon a remarkably spec'd Analog Devices ADF4351 wideband synthesizer with Integrated VCO.

Ok, the list of limitations of this little sig gen compared to a "real" sig gen might be longer than the advantages but it's quite a lot bang for buck as long as I also can tell from the possibilities the ADF4351 gives (regarding its datasheet)
...

There are other sig gens based on this chip around for lower prices, even with touchable display and more powerful firmware -but without housing and with some HF/RF pcb- design flaws.   
Since it's marked with BG7TPL and this source has gained some reputation for GPSDOs and also other HF/RF stuff I google'd for this sig gen and found ... nothing. 

Does anyone know anything about it?
I wasn't even able to find photos of the inside.

I hadn't seen this version before. You are correct that many of the so-call eval boards with the AD chip have problems with the PCB layout. I don't know if BG7TPL has made a good one. It'd be interesting to hear what you discover.

Last year, on a whim, I bought one of the cheap 137MHz-4.4GHz generators because the seller appeared to be getting rid of them for a fraction of the current price (just about the cost of the case and display, if nothing else about it was worthwhile). Once I fix the 3+GHz frequency counter in my repair queue, I'll be able to get a first look at how it operates at high frequencies.

My function generators go up to a max of 50 MHz, so I have a bit of a gap in coverage right now.

[bitseeker]

I also have a https://www.digikey.co.uk/products/en?keywords=lmx2594evm which goes up to 15GHz. I paid only £25 for it and some other tasty eval boards, I've not had time to use it. Its GUI is also windows only. I believe a standard beef with TI is that they don't release their algorithms for converting the desired frequency etc into the set of register values.

Nice score on that eval board! They're normally quite pricey. The lack of many features can be overlooked for only £25.

[bitseeker]

Someone sells a nicer packaged device containing an ADF4351 here: https://rf-consultant.com/

Output is calibrated with decent attenuator as well.

If I'm not mistaken, this one outputs lots of harmonics as well. So, depends on your needs. But at least it can be gotten with calibrated output levels.

[bitseeker]

Welcome back from your trip, mnem. That's a lot o' drivin'!

OT: TOOL TIME with the Tool Dwagon

Cool!

I hadn't seen these before. Industries do become inventive with the tools they morph/make.

[mnementh]

This being the heaviest and most expensive thing i've yet bought i've prepared a special cup of tea for you all.

Hope you were wearing your back brace 

   Thinking the same thing here... my back shudders at the mere thought.  A textbook example of  enheavyment  in all its facets... 

I didn't realize until it was too late; (as in 2AM and we needed to be wheels-up again before 10) but due to a weather-related reroute, we laid over in Little Rock on our way to Cleveland. Next time we make the trip, I'll try and plan ahead and deliberately go that way. 

No more daily commute, no more tolls, no more bullshit, no more working for assholes. I think I'm gonna like this. 

Woo this is pretty cool! Congrats 

Yea, thanks!  The only issue I'm going to have is transitioning back to awake during the day and sleep at night. I've worked the overnight shift for almost 10 years and I dragged my biological clock kicking and screaming to adjust to it. Now I want to go back to the rest of the world. So why am I sitting here just after midnight wake awake?     

Fuckin' A-diddy!!! I'll have to come bug the shit outta you once I get settled in The Great White North... 

Welcome home to the Dwagon, looking forward to your sharp wit once more being displayed here, the forum is slowing awakening again from its slumbernce. Its funny, but I don't recall it being as quiet as quiet last year 

LOL... I have no problem being the comic relief. It's a role that fits like a favorite pair of shoes.

   One for BD139 working from home then 

Haha, many is the time that I have sat at my desk/bench in just underpants in the summertime when the temperature in my lab gets around 36+ and just chuck a pair of trousers on to answer the door to delivery men. 

*~lifehack~*

I've made it a point since my teens to reserve on a pretty regular pattern time for a "pants-free day"; wherein one deliberately and assiduously does NOTHING that requires pants from the time one rolls out of bed to the time one wakes up the following morning. Anything which does require pants gets unceremoniously postponed a day. If you get in the habit, and TREAT is as if it were IMPORTANT, you find you come to look forward to the break and it actually does serve as a much-needed mini-vacation. Even when I worked full-time, I NEVER went more than a month between PFDs. 

mnem
"Pants are highly overrated." ~me

[mnementh]

Meanwhile in Oz...


https://www.vice.com/en_au/article/bnk7w4/gold-coast-ring-spanner-stuck-man-penis-firefighters-cut-off-angle-grinder

I swear, you ozzites could fuck up a wet dream... 

mnem
*Penis Fingers Down Under*

[Mr. Scram]

Either Australians have a lot of massive spanners around, or being an Australian isn't all it's cracked up to be. Bonus points for whoever came up with the idea for that picture, though.

[mnementh]

Yeah... I stumbled across that whilest looking for an image on spanners; I just HAD to give it an honorable mention. 

mnem
*Back to my normal state of abnormal*