Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Specmaster]

Yes, it was "Holy fuckadoodle!" that had me chortling earlier I too was thinking it would make a good cuss word 

[med6753]

Yes, it was "Holy fuckadoodle!" that had me chortling earlier I too was thinking it would make a good cuss word 

Isn't that what a rooster says when he sees a hen with large breasts? 

[bd139]

I think that's fuck-a-doodle-do that one

[mnementh]

I got one of those little scopes, ideal for that type of thing, will work of a 9v and although have a low bandwidth are ideal use on low stuff like cars and audio where often you just need to confirm if a signal is present or not.

I'm skulking around since some time on one of those Vellemans Handheld scopes:      https://www.velleman.eu/products/view?id=431482&country=be&lang=en nice little things....

Jeebus... $160? That thing is expensive for what it is... a hopped-up LCR-multitester.  Plus another $50 for the LCR Attachment?

   For that kind of money, you can get a seeed DSO Quad or the "clone" ARM DSO213. Heck, even the very comparable NanoV3 is only $69-79.

These things are not new... seeed released the first (buggy as hell firmware, but well-revised by the hobbyist community nowadays) DSOQuad like a decade ago.

I'm a big fan of German engineering. They come up with some innovative, clever, and technologically leading designs. But there are two things they seem to forget. One.....serviceability. Example: Certain model Audi's where you have to disassemble the ENTIRE front end of the car to do the mandatory replacement of the timing belt. And my oldest son is the collision manager for a local BMW dealership. Some of things they have to do to fix BMW's just leaves me shaking my head. Second.....why are some designs so needlessly complex when a simpler solution will work just fine? Called the KISS principle.....Keep It Simple Stupid.

I've been saying this for decades. The fundamental German Engineering design principle seems to be "Why use 10 moving parts to do a job when you can use 20?" It's something that has pissed me off as both a mechanic and as an engineer pretty much all my life. Especially Bosch/BMW since the 70-80s or so. 

BMW wasn't always like this though; I had a couple R65s from the late 60s... a completely different animal. Very minimalist, refined engineering; everything pared away but what was absolutely essential, and no corners cut for the sake of expediency.

The epitome of "The beauty of form following function".

Think we should all buy a Land Rover defender. The broken bits fall off when they're ready to be replaced  Was considering buying one again recently.

So it's like the Brit equivalent of a Found On Russian Dump...?   

mnem
*currently ordering pizza for the hordes of invading children*

[tggzzz]

Think we should all buy a Land Rover defender. The broken bits fall off when they're ready to be replaced 

Was considering buying one again recently.

I had a Series 2. They have the advantage that the new bits don't have to be from the same car type or even manufacturer: my Landie had many bis from Minis.

Plus,of course,when bits fall off usually you can just bolt them on again. In my case those bits were the fuel tank, a wheel, and the engine. I fixed all of those problems at the roadside, and continued.

That's "right to repair" done properly!

[Cerebus]

Fuck that, fixed it myself with some contortion and some pain killers afterwards 

I thought that you had children. No point in contorting yourself if you've a young bendy flexible slave that you can bribe/coerce into doing it for you. Gives 'em something to do now that we don't have chimneys that need sweeping. 

[mnementh]

In the meantime I suppose you could try probing with the 12AX7 out of circuit; see if the 60hz noise you're "seeing everywhere" goes away.      [EDIT]      I just tripped over this while looking for something else. [/EDIT] eBay auction: #362619939251

mnem
*tinker-ily*

Ask and you shall receive. I didn't realize it but the Heath S-3 has two 12AX7's in it. So I reconfigured the OL-1 filament for AC volts and swapped out the 12AX7. No joy, still FUBAR. So that rules out all the tubes as the source of the 60Hz hum. So I'm going to proceed with the redesign of the filament for DCV.

Hey, it was worth a shot before you go doing a massive re-engineering project unnecessarily.  "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."

mnem
*Back to the salt mines*

[worsthorse]

When we are going to assemble the high voltage power supply for the anode of the GU81-M, we got a security advice from our Prof.: "Be careful, when you are handling with that capacitor. The energy in it can kill a cow instantly." And that was all he wrote. 

     Btw, the capacitor was one of those paraffine filled ones with 3.5kV max voltage and a capacity of about 4.7µF. We were running the GU81-M with 2500V.
This is a similiar looking example:      We had a lot of fun.   

Mounty

Sounds like old man Kirsch... who, after we put LV electrolytics in the outlet strips on his bench, adjusted our attitudes by relocating those caps to OUR workbenches (of course he knew who the perpetrators were by that time) and turning them off at the breaker box behind the door, where he could set them off for best effect during workbook time.  

I was the only one who noticed the caps BEFORE the fireworks... because I actually followed his lab checklist EVERY TIME and MADE SURE of what was plugged into the power strip, and that it was turned OFF before I sat down.

"I'm going to have to watch you, young man." was all he said.

In my high school electronics vo-tech class, each bench was equipped with a RCA trainer rack, which held a variety of single purpose plugins - filters, amplifiers, oscillators, and of course, power supplies.  To improve the learning experience the back of each plug-in had a few components that could be changed, mounted on phenolic board plugins. Including, of course, the power supply.  This being the seventies, these were vacuum tube circuits, with the attendant voltages.

Now why anyone thought it was a good idea to let teenagers loose on these things, I don't know, but it didn't take long to envision what a spectacular flash-bang there'd be if one, umm, accidentally reversed one of the plug-in electrolytics on the power supply plugin. Even better if the boom occurred at the bench of the class bully.

I was the meekest kid in the room and so not on the short list of suspects, though I imagine Mr. Menzie had a notion...

[bd139]

Ugh never start a project on a Friday night. Decided I'd refurb a 40m DC receiver I built a couple of years ago. Turned into one of those nightmares where I spent 3 hours in the cupboard trying to find shit and then 30 minutes actually doing the project. More clear out required!

On a positive note, I found a Tenma DMM I didn't know I had ... then I found out it was broken ... so another project. Although it's a DT830 so I might just drop kick the bastard over a fence. Also found the Fluke 8012A at last and a Thurlby PL320 I didn't know I had. That's 3 Thurlby supplies and 2 HP ones now. Think I might have a power supply problem. I only ever use the PL154.

Receiver works nicely now. Not bad little thing. From EMRFD, sample chapter with it in here: http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Product%20Notes/chapter_1.pdf .. Mine has an extra 600Hz sharp filter in it which is 3x LF411 bandpass filters but that isn't necessary for casual use.



Tuning it is a bitch but I was too cheap and demotivated to build a reduction drive into it. Version 2 will have one at some point. I have one stashed now.

[xrunner]

Ugh never start a project on a Friday night. Decided I'd refurb a 40m DC receiver I built a couple of years ago. Turned into one of those nightmares where I spent 3 hours in the cupboard trying to find shit and then 30 minutes actually doing the project. More clear out required!

Receiver works nicely now. Not bad little thing. From EMRFD, sample chapter with it in here: http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Product%20Notes/chapter_1.pdf .. Mine has an extra 600Hz sharp filter in it which is 3x LF411 bandpass filters but that isn't necessary for casual use.

Tuning it is a bitch but I was too cheap and demotivated to build a reduction drive into it. Version 2 will have one at some point. I have one stashed now.

Cool little receiver. Could be a backup for the Elecraft.  All you need is a little transmitter.

Here's a new project put up today. A home-made 6 meter beam. A friend of mine makes them and he wanted to make me one, so I couldn't refuse. It's made out of stainless steel tubing from a junk yard, old TV antenna parts, and some PETG printed clamps for the elements. We put it up today. It's resonant around 50 MHz which is where I operate FT8 on 50.313. Works great. 

[bd139]

I've got a big transmitter  (does 80W out CW and eats MOSFETs faster than the cheap wung hung lo switcher that pumps it full of electrons)

That's a rather nice antenna that. Very professional installation too  .  Is there anything other than FT8 on 50m? The club local to me have a beam and get literally bugger all on it whatsoever. It's not particularly high up though.

[mrz80]

One of the small engine workshop tricks when I twisted spanners for a bit was to charge up Bosch points caps on the SEM ignition tester and gracefully lob them at a mate to catch. ZAP ! Gottcha ! 

My brother ran the repair department at a local high end audio shop. His techs used to take radial lead electrolytics and charge 'em up, then wander out on the sales floor and jab the leads through the salesguys' pants legs.  ZACK! YOW!

[Kosmic]

Anybody in UK near London ? https://www.eevblog.com/forum/buysellwanted/moving-house-free-gear/

[xrunner]

I've got a big transmitter  (does 80W out CW and eats MOSFETs faster than the cheap wung hung lo switcher that pumps it full of electrons)

That's a rather nice antenna that. Very professional installation too  .  Is there anything other than FT8 on 50m? The club local to me have a beam and get literally bugger all on it whatsoever. It's not particularly high up though.

Thanks. I still have to get up there tomorrow morning and finish a few things - got too hot. It's on top of a pretty El-Cheapo RCA TV rotator that Lowes was closing out last year. But for now it works. It's not a very good design. After you initialize it by telling it to go back to Zero, it only estimates where it is pointed due to the time the CW or CCW button was presesed. If you try pressing the buttons too fast, it doesn't have a clue where the f*ck it is LOL. 

What's on 6M? Not much. You can make SSB contacts and FT8 contacts. There used to be a 6M repeater around town but haven't heard anyone talk of it in years. I'm trying to get a WAS (Worked All States) on 6m the last few years. I need 10 more states - two of which are Alaska and Hawaii. That is where I hope the beam will help. 

[Specmaster]

Anybody in UK near London ? https://www.eevblog.com/forum/buysellwanted/moving-house-free-gear/

Thanks for the heads up, my PM is in already, fingers crossed.

[bd139]

Up the road from that forum member here. However I need none of it  .. reputable individual if you want anything.

I’d have the Anritsu but it’s big, heavy and difficult to unfuck.

[bd139]

I've got a big transmitter  (does 80W out CW and eats MOSFETs faster than the cheap wung hung lo switcher that pumps it full of electrons)

That's a rather nice antenna that. Very professional installation too  .  Is there anything other than FT8 on 50m? The club local to me have a beam and get literally bugger all on it whatsoever. It's not particularly high up though.

Thanks. I still have to get up there tomorrow morning and finish a few things - got too hot. It's on top of a pretty El-Cheapo RCA TV rotator that Lowes was closing out last year. But for now it works. It's not a very good design. After you initialize it by telling it to go back to Zero, it only estimates where it is pointed due to the time the CW or CCW button was presesed. If you try pressing the buttons too fast, it doesn't have a clue where the f*ck it is LOL. 

What's on 6M? Not much. You can make SSB contacts and FT8 contacts. There used to be a 6M repeater around town but haven't heard anyone talk of it in years. I'm trying to get a WAS (Worked All States) on 6m the last few years. I need 10 more states - two of which are Alaska and Hawaii. That is where I hope the beam will help. 

That rotator sounds “interesting”. One of those drive by faith devices

Good luck with the WAS. I’m going to start chasing awards when I move. I can’t do anything at this house as I’m very limited and mostly operating portable 

[Kosmic]

Up the road from that forum member here. However I need none of it  .. reputable individual if you want anything.

I’d have the Anritsu but it’s big, heavy and difficult to unfuck.

Come on I'm sure you can take everything in. Worst case just split the lot with Specmaster   

[Kosmic]

Anybody in UK near London ? https://www.eevblog.com/forum/buysellwanted/moving-house-free-gear/

Thanks for the heads up, my PM is in already, fingers crossed.

Hope you are going to get it.  The electronic load and frequency standard look interesting.

[VK5RC]

Couldn't resist an HP 6296a - in not bad shape - ended up for $ AUD 73, 60V 3A. Down-under prices are pretty high.

My one nasty connection with the national grid (230v) unfortunately gripped my hand onto the DUT and the power - only way I could let it go was to throw the whole assembly (an amp) across the room, the connection point burnt into my left thumb about 3mm, I still have the scar. I have a lot of respect for anything over 60V. Earthing, earth leakage detection, a foot operated 'dead man pedal' (ie take your foot off and the circuit de-powers) are now essential in my book.

[beanflying]

Couldn't resist an HP 6296a - in not bad shape - ended up for $ AUD 73, 60V 3A. Down-under prices are pretty high.

My one nasty connection with the national grid (230v) unfortunately gripped my hand onto the DUT and the power - only way I could let it go was to throw the whole assembly (an amp) across the room, the connection point burnt into my left thumb about 3mm, I still have the scar. I have a lot of respect for anything over 60V. Earthing, earth leakage detection, a foot operated 'dead man pedal' (ie take your foot off and the circuit de-powers) are now essential in my book.

Looked at it and decided the postage was to much. Pleased it is going to a good home 

[VK5RC]

It might need a re-cap - so might not be a bargain - but a bit of fun looking at it.

[0culus]

I have a new member of the family, thanks to k7je. 

[worsthorse]

I have a new arrival on the bench: an HP 436A power meter, along with two working power sensors, two cables, two 30db attenuators, and the original manual. It even has the four feet. Won't have time to take photos until Monday as I am doing my WFR recert this weekend but a quick check suggests it is in good shape.

Imagine that, buying a piece of test gear that I don't have to tear open and repair before using it. 

[xrunner]

Imagine that, buying a piece of test gear that I don't have to tear open and repair before using it. 

I’m still trying to get over the fact it had all four feet.