Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[GreyWoolfe]

WTF, hope its nothing too serious Inverted 18650

WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS A 'FAIRLY GROSS' THOUGHT, THAT YOU MAY NOT WANT IN YOUR MIND.

Thanks mate, for you and all, I'm going to be fine. Its kind of gross but I'll tell ya...if you dare to read on...somehow, on top of everything else this week, I devolved a LARGE hemorrhoid that decided to ruptureand cause a mess first thing this morning. I'll spare the details, but I actually "feel" better, I just have to go in so they can close me back up; some stitches or staples or whatever they do, to make damn sure it doesn't come back.

edit* when it happend (WED) I called my Doc and he said he couldn't get me in til Monday, which was fine as I was laying around with back pain and didnt want to get up and drive around anyway...when it ruptured (today) I had no idea what was going on, so I had to google it and look at images and see if that was what was going on down there with me...

IF you haven't heard of it, ask your Dr. about banding.  I had issues with hemorrhoids for years.  My wife got me in a study that let me have the procedure for free.  It took a total of 6 weeks.  The Dr banded 1 hemorrhoid at a time and there was a 2 week healing period for it to drop off.  Well worth the discomfort to stop the regular bleeding.  That was several years ago and I have had no issues since.

[bitseeker]

From the "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished" Dept...



This is what I get for trying to fix one of those "Free" LED trouble lights from Horror Fraught.

Well, now that lends new meaning to Horror Fraught. Time to cauterize it with a bit of dragon's breath.

From the Ridiculous to the Sublime Dept...



You know... some folks would be annoyed at paying $5 shipping for $4 in parts... myself, I think it's a bloody bargain. Not only is there at least $5 worth of packing materials and labor here; all to ensure my 3 little capacitors arrive without so much as a bent leg... I'm getting more than $5 worth of a laugh at their expense. 

And get this... delivered in 2 ferking days, without having to shop for an hour to put together a freaking $35 order like slAmazon. 

Well played, DigiKey. Well played. 

Ah, if you need a rapid boost to your packing and shipping materials inventory, remember to order from Arrow. You might get each capacitor in a separate oversized box, in static-shielded bag, with lots of stuffing, and free overnight shipping. 

[bitseeker]

Wow, so many injuries lately: backs, hands, and more (ahem). I just got a measly cold sore. No comparison to you guys. Hope y'all recover soon. It's like it's going around.

[mnementh]

Wow, so many injuries lately: backs, hands, and more (ahem). I just got a measly cold sore. No comparison to you guys. Hope y'all recover soon. It's like it's going around.

You forgot food poisoning with projectile vomiting WHILE fighting off a post-op infection topped off with a 3-day migraine for garnish.

And I'd STILL rather that than another round of sciatic inflammation. Thank Ifni Inverted "only" had a blowout on his tushie (hopefully); compared to his back injury, that's probably a day at the beach. 

From the "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished" Dept...

   This is what I get for trying to fix one of those "Free" LED trouble lights from Horror Fraught.

Well, now that lends new meaning to Horror Fraught. Time to cauterize it with a bit of dragon's breath.

From the Ridiculous to the Sublime Dept...

   ...Well played, DigiKey. Well played. 

Ah, if you need a rapid boost to your packing and shipping materials inventory, remember to order from Arrow. You might get each capacitor in a separate oversized box, in static-shielded bag, with lots of stuffing, and free overnight shipping. 

I've had Arrow split an order into two shipments, separated by 7 minutes on the pick tickets, and that all would have easily fit in either box with room for at least 80% packing by volume. And the first pick ticket arrived a day later than the 2nd. 

Sorry; I was too busy looking at my insides working to breathe fire on the hole. Next time I perforate  my hide, I'll try and be more conscientious of your concerns for my health before I so rashly bandage myself. 

mnem
"...Now, the doctor came in, stinking of gin
And proceeded to lie on the table.
He said, "Rocky, you met your match..."
And Rocky said, "Doc, it's only a scratch;
And I'll be better, I'll be better, Doc, as soon as I am able..."

[0culus]

Next week's repair docket is set. As soon as I get a fresh tube of thermal compound, gotta put my IC7000 transceiver back together. Now that I've confirmed that nothing is obviously blown up, I'm suspecting voltage drops. Apparently this model is very sensitive to that.  https://www.eham.net/ehamforum/smf/index.php/topic,67439.5/wap2.html Got a large can of cleaning spray today to aid with removal of the *ahem* rather large quantity of TIM left all over the main chassis/heatsink from when it was originally applied.

At the same time, I'll finally have time to fix the 21-60 MHz 0 dBm rear panel output on my HP 3325B function generator. Going to run some more tests to be sure, but quite certain the culprit is a particular two-in-one transistor package that I now have a replacement for. I could just leave it as I primarily only need the front panel outputs from it, but I'd like to have it completely working.

[Inverted18650]

For normal "ouchies" I just clean it with bar soap and water, then pour some alcohol over it, followed by super glue. This one however, is in a tender and hard to reach place for that type of treatment. Duct tape won't even work! 

the good news

Meet and greet started a bit late but Neo is a cool dude who left here happy as hell. He got a bunch of goodies and some cool free stuff to boot. His dad was really cool and a pleasure to chat with as well. We will do this again, once I have more time to chat about specs/ tech talk/ projects but I have to get healed. A few cool pics of him checking out his new TEA gear. And with what he bought, I am close to being back to even on this deal with lots of goodies still left over, so that is a huge relief.

[0culus]

Mmmmm, tasty TEA goodness. 

[Inverted18650]

He spent about 45 mins playing with the HP Nixie DC units and found three good mainframes and one working DC Input units, so he was stoked. I glad he liked playing with them and wanted to get them back to life.

[tautech]

Meet and greet started a bit late but Neo is a cool dude who left here happy as hell. He got a bunch of goodies and some cool free stuff to boot. His dad was really cool and a pleasure to chat with as well. We will do this again, once I have more time to chat about specs/ tech talk/ projects but I have to get healed. A few cool pics of him checking out his new TEA gear. And with what he bought, I am close to being back to even on this deal with lots of goodies still left over, so that is a huge relief.

Cool !
This is the bit I really enjoy about being a TEA enabler too, the great ppls you get to meet ! 

Young fella and his dad called today to collect one of my new scopes he'd his dad had bought for him. 
Going on 16 he was but wow the neat ideas going on in his head......he'd got to the point where a scope was needed to prove his project that BTW had possible worldwide sales potential. 
Can't/won't say anymore as like many I get to deal with their IP is sacrosanct. 

[med6753]

Funny, Neo looks exactly like I expected him to look. I have no clue why. ESP I guess. 

[0culus]

Some RF board pr0n from the IC7000. The 2 heatsinks in the middle are large transistors for the HF radio, and the two staggered ones are for the VHF/UHF radio. the weird looking angled silkscreen on the right is where a separate driver board that heat sinks directly to the chassis mates with this board. The driver board is the final amplifier before the signal goes its way through the appropriate band's circuitry, so a failure there definitely will cause problems with tx. It is the reason I disassembled everything because it can be prone to failing catastrophically if it doesn't get proper heat sinking. Needed to be sure it wasn't destroyed beforehand, but it's all good. More pictures to come before I reassemble everything!

[Inverted18650]

Some RF board pr0n from the IC7000. The 2 heatsinks in the middle are large transistors for the HF radio, and the two staggered ones are for the VHF/UHF radio. the weird looking angled silkscreen on the right is where a separate driver board that heat sinks directly to the chassis mates with this board. This board is the final amplifier before the signal goes its way through the appropriate band's circuitry. It is the reason I disassembled everything because it can be prone to failing catastrophically if it doesn't get proper heat sinking. Needed to be sure it wasn't destroyed beforehand, but it's all good. More pictures to come before I reassemble everything!

Please keep these coming as I may need them all at some point brotha, HUGE THANKS!

[med6753]

I've seen the NTE Cross Reference used on You Tube several times and it seems to be a very useful search and cross reference for obsolete transistors. So I downloaded it but I really haven't had a need to use it yet. Does anybody else have it and has it proven to be useful? 

[0culus]

I've seen the NTE Cross Reference used on You Tube several times and it seems to be a very useful search and cross reference for obsolete transistors. So I downloaded it but I really haven't had a need to use it yet. Does anybody else have it and has it proven to be useful? 

Hmmm, that might be very handy. Does it have cross refs with HP part numbers?

[med6753]

I've seen the NTE Cross Reference used on You Tube several times and it seems to be a very useful search and cross reference for obsolete transistors. So I downloaded it but I really haven't had a need to use it yet. Does anybody else have it and has it proven to be useful? 

Hmmm, that might be very handy. Does it have cross refs with HP part numbers?

Dunno....and I wonder about Tek P/N's too. I'll have to give it a try.

[0culus]

Let me know. If it does, that would make identifying parts way easier.

[med6753]

Here you go mnem...this is for you.   

Nose art on a B-52H Stratofortress or it's nickname "BUFF" which stands for "Big Ugly Fat Fucker"   

[0culus]

...yet the BUFF has basically outlived every single aircraft that was supposed to replace it. Solid bird. 

[med6753]

...yet the BUFF has basically outlived every single aircraft that was supposed to replace it. Solid bird. 

It sure has. The last one was built sometime around 1963. And with a proposed re-engining program expected to remain in service until 2040.
Some of today's current pilots have had their father and even grandfather fly it. 

[beanflying]

I've seen the NTE Cross Reference used on You Tube several times and it seems to be a very useful search and cross reference for obsolete transistors. So I downloaded it but I really haven't had a need to use it yet. Does anybody else have it and has it proven to be useful? 

Hmmm, that might be very handy. Does it have cross refs with HP part numbers?

There is a few of them. I linked one ages ago and Tautech added it to a thread somewhere else 

Try this one meanwhile https://www.sphere.bc.ca/download/hp_xref-free.pdf

[Inverted18650]

143 pages of GOLD!

[0culus]

AWESOME!

[mnementh]

   Here you go mnem...this is for you.   

Nose art on a B-52H Stratofortress or it's nickname "BUFF" which stands for "Big Ugly Fat Fucker"   

The B-52H was so named as it was the B-52 "Heavy", the last generation and designed from the ground up for the later, larger engines that were eventually retrofitted to all surviving examples. The fuse was wider and longer, and the wings as well; they were originally intended to carry tactical nukes half way around the planet from US controlled airspace AND to be able to carry fuel for their fighter escort.

All B-52s carried the "Stratofortess" moniker; and their association with dragons goes way, way back. There have been a number of Dragon squadrons associated with the B52 fleet and support craft, and for a long time, the branch of the Pentagon where their deployment worldwide was orchestrated was known as "The Dragon's Den".

Also, she's one sexy beast, even if she is pushing 70.

mnem
*Drool*

[beanflying]

Haven't found the other one I linked stupid site search 

Did find a Tek one for those who swing that way  http://w140.com/tekwiki/wiki/Reference_material

[mnementh]

I've seen the NTE Cross Reference used on You Tube several times and it seems to be a very useful search and cross reference for obsolete transistors. So I downloaded it but I really haven't had a need to use it yet. Does anybody else have it and has it proven to be useful? 

Hmmm, that might be very handy. Does it have cross refs with HP part numbers?

There is a few of them. I linked one ages ago and Tautech added it to a thread somewhere else 

Try this one meanwhile https://www.sphere.bc.ca/download/hp_xref-free.pdf

The NTE cross-reference USED TO BE a digital version of the ECG cross-reference; however, they quickly truncated a lot of product they no longer wanted to support. A printed ECG is still an invaluable resource, as each and every "Type" that ECG made had detailed specs and every parameter you need to make a suitable substitution, or even for testing with a proper curve tracer/analyzer and speccing individual semis yourself.

From those parameters for obsolete parts, you can usually find a suitable modern equivalent just by typing in search criteria on a website like DigiKey.

mnem
*Sleevening*