Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[0culus]

Id put it on the bench now but thzts the unit that threw my back out Sunday so I am scared of it...lol. For real. I hit the floor like someone popped in me in the chin and was K.O'ed. I crawled to the couch, or as close as I could get to it and just laid there on the floor until my wife came out and found me. She got my muscles relaxers and pain pills and i stayed put for about 20 more mins before she could help me up and get me into bed. So yeah I am scared of it...so what..no HP gear ever kicked your ass. LIAR's all of you.

OW! Take care of yourself man.

[0culus]

Anyway I need for my main RF sig gen that has good performance and digital controls with sweeping. But maybe a dedicated sweep generator would be better? 

How many GHz do you want/need ?

Ideally? Enough to touch the 2.4 and 5 GHz ISM bands. Any more and I'll be looking harder at inverted's 8672.

5 GHz rules out the SSG3032X then. 
Just got the SSG3021X and haven't really had much time with it yet but as I figure out how to get the best from it I'll be popping bits and bobs about them in their thread.
And then......a possible hack to get the IQ feature and the full 3.2 GHz BW.....just to prove it's possible. 

As much as I'd like to buy new gear rather than old boat anchors, the 3032X is definitely far outside my budget. 

[Tomorokoshi]

As usual, HP manuals cover most topics quite well:

[0culus]

Proper boat anchor! 

[tautech]

So I start scribbling some notes on what to look for on the fan (I vaguely remember reading somewhere that the standard for these is 25KHz PWM, open-collector with pullup on the fan) and moving shit around to get to my 1054-cum-1104Z, and then it dawns on me... why the EFF am I even messing with all this crap, when all I need to do is drop that AMD-approved cooler on the damn thing and be done with it?

 

And the only answer I can come up with... is that you guys in here would see it as a cop-out. 

Yep, mnem you've changed ! 

And you know what's really funny? I'm totally down widdat. As far as I'm concerned, it's a perfectly valid reason to bust a nut and try to figure out how this damned thing is supposed to work, instead of taking the easy way out.

Good, so you've realized that after that elusive wonderful good nights rest that it might be the last one you have until you FIX the bloody THING ! 

[Inverted18650]

Just posted this pic in the "What did you buy today" thread, but here it is anyway... Just arrived today.
Tek 577-177 curve tracer. I just couldn't say no when I saw it on Yahoo Auctions. Paid less than $250 inc. shipping for it too.

A bit of time on the healing bench to get it all back to spec, then I'll measure up the sockets in the test fixture to make a bunch of test jigs. 
(Are there any measurements from Tek for these test sockets anywhere?)

BEAUTIFUL!

[nixiefreqq]

hey inverted

tried to attach this to a pm reply but could not figure out how to do it (maybe you can't).


thanks for the pm and........hope the back is better.

[beanflying]

hey inverted

tried to attach this to a pm reply but could not figure out how to do it (maybe you can't).


thanks for the pm and........hope the back is better.

Attachments in PM's isn't part of the core for SMF. Their is a Forum mod that makes it possible but I have never used it.

I hope that no test gear was involved in the creation of that Nixie Clock 

[nixiefreqq]

hey inverted

tried to attach this to a pm reply but could not figure out how to do it (maybe you can't).


thanks for the pm and........hope the back is better.

Attachments in PM's isn't part of the core for SMF. Their is a Forum mod that makes it possible but I have never used it.

I hope that no test gear was involved in the creation of that Nixie Clock 

no sir.  it was manufactured in the 70's as a clock.

it was not the product of a "nixie rapist".   (that is the term inverted used in our pm exchange.  sure wish I had thought of it first).

[Inverted18650]

hey inverted

tried to attach this to a pm reply but could not figure out how to do it (maybe you can't).


thanks for the pm and........hope the back is better.

Just sent you my email mate.Clock looks great, any date codes on the chips or approximate age/ origin of that baby?

[Inverted18650]

you answered above, cheers.

So I was about to feed a 10Ghz signal into the front end of the DMM7510 and decided I better stop and read the manual. Turns out it can only handle between 3Hz-500kHz. Close call...I wonder though, would it hurt it unit or would it just display overload or out of range or whatever it does? Anyone know and/or should I experiment.

update: instead of screwing around and blowing this thing up within the first 24hrs, I put the 335D back on the bench so I use the meter for what I bought it to do. Plenty of cool pics to come, if they get annoying, tell me to piss off.

[0culus]

Don't not post pics on my account mate! I love seeing high resolution TEA pr0n. 

[nixiefreqq]

hey inverted

tried to attach this to a pm reply but could not figure out how to do it (maybe you can't).


thanks for the pm and........hope the back is better.

Just sent you my email mate.Clock looks great, any date codes on the chips or approximate age/ origin of that baby?

appears they are all 71 and 72 date codes.  the freqq is a fat ass retired geezer now, but was running cross country in high school when this baby was being constructed (in someones garage from the look of it).  the nixies are all "made in holland".


maybe these pictures reveal too much.  if one of you guys reverse engineers this thing and then commits nixie rape to populate your atrocity i will hunt you down like the dog you are.

(ok....the design details are trival.  but we old guys get agitated at the thought of injustice.)

[Inverted18650]

appears they are all 71 and 72 date codes.  the freqq is a fat ass retired geezer now, but was running cross country in high school when this baby was being constructed (in someones garage from the look of it).  the nixies are all "made in holland".


maybe these pictures reveal too much.  if one of you guys reverse engineers this thing and then commits nixie rape to populate your atrocity i will hunt you down like the dog you are.

(ok....the design details are trival.  but we old guys get agitated at the thought of injustice.)

Ive seen it, now delete it and "save the tubes" lol. Beautiful though. I love the PCBs from the era almost as much as the nixies.

[Inverted18650]

Heres the first peak at the Fluke 335D with the DMM7510. I have to llok back and see what the HP3456A settled at, but I think they are very close, + the extra digit. Just touch the screen and slide left for more built in features that make the data collection a breeze. (a seabreeze maybe..lol)

[0culus]

How are you liking that Keithley?

[mnementh]

So I start scribbling some notes on what to look for on the fan (I vaguely remember reading somewhere that the standard for these is 25KHz PWM, open-collector with pullup on the fan) and moving shit around to get to my 1054-cum-1104Z, and then it dawns on me... why the EFF am I even messing with all this crap, when all I need to do is drop that AMD-approved cooler on the damn thing and be done with it?

 

And the only answer I can come up with... is that you guys in here would see it as a cop-out. 

Yep, mnem you've changed ! 

And you know what's really funny? I'm totally down widdat. As far as I'm concerned, it's a perfectly valid reason to bust a nut and try to figure out how this damned thing is supposed to work, instead of taking the easy way out.

Good, so you've realized that after that elusive wonderful good nights rest that it might be the last one you have until you FIX the bloody THING ! 

Oh, I'm not sure I've learned anything... immediately after I toddled off of the TEA, I went to work tearing the entire computer corner apart so I could put the PC on the left side of my desk instead of the right. Had to replace pretty much everything to get stuff to reach; and then discovered that the HDMI port on my new video card is too fucking good for my crunky 4-year-old Vizio TV! It's HDMI 2.0b, and my Vizio is only HDMI 1.2 (Or whatever it is that was the first one they released with CEC) and the port isn't backwards compatible that far, so it won't recognize my TV.  Anyhoo... got a DisplayPort adapter on the way which should sort that.   

Once I get my bench cleared off, I'm going to put that AMD cooler on there so I can futz around with the fan on the copper one. This really isn't a matter of "Fixing" the thing; I can do that just by replacing the busted pot. It's a matter of hacking it so it'll run on the PWM speed control from the MB so I don't have to have that in there. Anybody who's tried will tell you, 3-wire fans are NOT meant to be controlled this way; it's only the fact that it's already made to be variable-speed that gives me hope. 

Oh, and while I'm in there, of course I'll have to hack in the sensor for that big blue LED thermometer. Oh, the misery.  That was another thing I decided I wasn't willing to live without after giving up my mini-tower; the thermo attached direct to the CPU. 

mnem
*Back to the grind*

[Inverted18650]

How are you liking that Keithley?

I am in the "honey-moon" phase...we never leave the bed

I tweaked the 10V Range zero pot a bit and it wants to bottom out before I can get to all zeros. Probably because someone played with the string or some bad caps making it just "that much" ( I think Dave says a bees-dick) off. Even so, the 1V is now 1.0000004 with no adjustments to the string...not too bad, hoping some caps will bring this beast back to PERFECT

[Specmaster]

How are you liking that Keithley?

I am in the "honey-moon" phase...we never leave the bed

I tweaked the 10V Range zero pot a bit and it wants to bottom out before I can get to all zeros. Probably because someone played with the string or some bad caps making it just "that much" ( I think Dave says a bees-dick) off. Even so, the 1V is now 1.0000004 with no adjustments to the string...not too bad, hoping some caps will bring this beast back to PERFECT

Your a volt nut alright. Personally I'd be well stoked if I had a meter that read 1.0000004 on a 1v input 

[Specmaster]

So I start scribbling some notes on what to look for on the fan (I vaguely remember reading somewhere that the standard for these is 25KHz PWM, open-collector with pullup on the fan) and moving shit around to get to my 1054-cum-1104Z, and then it dawns on me... why the EFF am I even messing with all this crap, when all I need to do is drop that AMD-approved cooler on the damn thing and be done with it?

 

And the only answer I can come up with... is that you guys in here would see it as a cop-out. 

Yep, mnem you've changed ! 

And you know what's really funny? I'm totally down widdat. As far as I'm concerned, it's a perfectly valid reason to bust a nut and try to figure out how this damned thing is supposed to work, instead of taking the easy way out.

Good, so you've realized that after that elusive wonderful good nights rest that it might be the last one you have until you FIX the bloody THING ! 

Oh, I'm not sure I've learned anything... immediately after I toddled off of the TEA, I went to work tearing the entire computer corner apart so I could put the PC on the left side of my desk instead of the right. Had to replace pretty much everything to get stuff to reach; and then discovered that the HDMI port on my new video card is too fucking good for my crunky 4-year-old Vizio TV! It's HDMI 2.0b, and my Vizio is only HDMI 1.2 (Or whatever it is that was the first one they released with CEC) and the port isn't backwards compatible that far, so it won't recognize my TV.  Anyhoo... got a DisplayPort adapter on the way which should sort that.   

Once I get my bench cleared off, I'm going to put that AMD cooler on there so I can futz around with the fan on the copper one. This really isn't a matter of "Fixing" the thing; I can do that just by replacing the busted pot. It's a matter of hacking it so it'll run on the PWM speed control from the MB so I don't have to have that in there. Anybody who's tried will tell you, 3-wire fans are NOT meant to be controlled this way; it's only the fact that it's already made to be variable-speed that gives me hope. 

Oh, and while I'm in there, of course I'll have to hack in the sensor for that big blue LED thermometer. Oh, the misery.  That was another thing I decided I wasn't willing to live without after giving up my mini-tower; the thermo attached direct to the CPU. 

mnem
*Back to the grind*

That's a bummer but then that's the price of progress as well, computers and video just keep improving all the time and graphics cards just get evermore expensive year on year and unless you play the very latest demanding games are simply just not worth the cost 

[Inverted18650]

Who is the forum Banana Jack, Probe, adapter seller from China? I forgot his name on eBay and cannot find the Sell Thread. I need some bits of here and there to fill out the DMM7510 capabilities. (it only came with one set of probes). Also need a 2 x Banana Jack to BNC and RF power cables and end caps for these other units so I can test them. Anyone recall the sellers eBay site?

Shit like this but I know we have a guy here that has high quality kits, just drawing a blank: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Insulation-4mm-Banana-test-lead-pierce-spring-probe-hook-crocodile-clip-PP-Case/332150210390?hash=item4d55b1ff56:g:BLEAAOSwax5YwmMD:rk:49:pf:0

[Kosmic]

Who is the forum Banana Jack, Probe, adapter seller from China? I forgot his name on eBay and cannot find the Sell Thread. I need some bits of here and there to fill out the DMM7510 capabilities. (it only came with one set of probes). Also need a 2 x Banana Jack to BNC and RF power cables and end caps for these other units so I can test them. Anyone recall the sellers eBay site?

Shit like this but I know we have a guy here that has high quality kits, just drawing a blank: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Insulation-4mm-Banana-test-lead-pierce-spring-probe-hook-crocodile-clip-PP-Case/332150210390?hash=item4d55b1ff56:g:BLEAAOSwax5YwmMD:rk:49:pf:0

F-t-2000
https://www.ebay.com/str/99centhobbies

[TERRA Operative]

Holy crap that was a good deal.

I miss yahoo auctions ... you guys are lucky Softbank kept all the old Yahoo balls spinning.

Yeah, I expected it to go for a fair bit more, but the listing was titled as if it were just the 177 test fixture, so maybe that turned some people away if they didn't read the listing and realise the seller didn't know what they were talking about...

It's funny that Yahoo Auctions is really popular here but ebay never really took off. I'm sure there's some cultural quirk that caused it, as Yahoo is basically non existant outside Japan.

appears they are all 71 and 72 date codes.  the freqq is a fat ass retired geezer now, but was running cross country in high school when this baby was being constructed (in someones garage from the look of it).  the nixies are all "made in holland".


maybe these pictures reveal too much.  if one of you guys reverse engineers this thing and then commits nixie rape to populate your atrocity i will hunt you down like the dog you are.

(ok....the design details are trival.  but we old guys get agitated at the thought of injustice.)

Ive seen it, now delete it and "save the tubes" lol. Beautiful though. I love the PCBs from the era almost as much as the nixies.

Nah, give us more details! I got a few virgin nixies to use here and a TTL clock would be awesome (I already got a few nixie clocks with microcontrollers, and never a scavenged tube!)

Would look nice next to my 3x (three!) nixie frequency counters...

[Inverted18650]

Nah, give us more details! I got a few virgin nixies to use here and a TTL clock would be awesome (I already got a few nixie clocks with microcontrollers, and never a scavenged tube!)

Would look nice next to my 3x (three!) nixie frequency counters...

He may kill you!

[Inverted18650]

Box_of_Valves: going to the for sale thread as well