Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[mnementh]

Oh sweet cheese & crackers bangers & spuds. 

mnem
What's really sad is part of me wishes I'd thought to do it... 

[0culus]

You know, there are some things we're better off not knowing the existence of. 

[tautech]

Sooooo, dunce hat on. Why do my MRF237’s keep exploding? Well last time I used the scope I was measuring rise time and guess which idiot forgot to put the channel vertical fine control back into the cal detent (because the knob cap isn’t aligned properly).

 

Thus the power out was about 25% more than measured which is what resulted in the destruction, not the oscillation which was tamed with a ferrite. Ffs

IIRC the D83 and HP1640 had UnCal lights to prevent exactly this sort of stuff up.

Anyways you should get into the habit of returning it to the Cal position immediately after use !
Penis fingers strikes again. 

[bd139]

Yes it used to be muscle memory but using digital scope made me lazy and stupid 

Main problem is the fine control knobs have been stolen off the main and delayed tomebase knobs so the caps are not pointing in the right direction in cal. I am awaiting a donor for that and some attenuator bits.

[tautech]

Yes it used to be muscle memory but using digital scope made me lazy and stupid 

Main problem is the fine control knobs have been stolen off the main and delayed tomebase knobs so the caps are not pointing in the right direction in cal. I am awaiting a donor for that and some attenuator bits.

Yep that would do it.

[Specmaster]

I'd love to have one proper vacuum tube tek, that's for sure.  Just one though, as I'm already drawing enough electricity. 

So would I. But they tend to be stupid price unless it's one that's been left in a damp garage for 30 years. Electricity? Think of the heating bills you'll save in the winter. 

Once I get to Canada. In the meantime, "heat" will remain a 4-letter word.

mnem
*opens garage door and wilts*

Feels like the Canada move has been happening for simply ages now, so when is it taking place? You'll certainly notice a marked change in temperatures that's for sure, then it mean that both heat and cold be 4-letter words 

[Specmaster]

Oh sweet cheese & crackers bangers & spuds. 

mnem
What's really sad is part of me wishes I'd thought to do it... 

Could be just the thing for a hot day in the lab 

[bd139]

Meh. Just ram the freezer spray down south and let rip 

[Specmaster]

Sooooo, dunce hat on. Why do my MRF237’s keep exploding? Well last time I used the scope I was measuring rise time and guess which idiot forgot to put the channel vertical fine control back into the cal detent (because the knob cap isn’t aligned properly).

 

Thus the power out was about 25% more than measured which is what resulted in the destruction, not the oscillation which was tamed with a ferrite. Ffs

IIRC the D83 and HP1640 had UnCal lights to prevent exactly this sort of stuff up.

Anyways you should get into the habit of returning it to the Cal position immediately after use !
Penis fingers strikes again. 

Don't think I can recall an occasion when I needed to switch out of the cal position. That was one of my first things to do when I got a new scope, after getting it to work, if it wasn't already, was to give it a calibration which was too difficult seeing as my scopes where always near the bottom of the complexity scale and bandwidth. But then I also never did some of the things you chaps get up to with yours, my use was and still is fairly basic really and nearly always within the audio spectrum as well.

[Specmaster]

Meh. Just ram the freezer spray down south and let rip 

Result, giant hail stones 

[0culus]

Meh. Just ram the freezer spray down south and let rip 

Waste of money. That shit is usually canned air with a straw that goes to the bottom. Just turn some canned air upside down. 

[bitseeker]

A few pictures of the Dana 5330.  It definitely needs some work - applying an input voltage gives no corresponding reading, and it randomly drifts around.  It's mid-late '72 vintage, so it may well need filter caps for starters.  It's a bare bones version, DC voltage measurement only.  The AC and resistance selectors are locked out and there is no AC/ohms circuitry in the measurement section.  At least all the nixies appear functional.  Into the queue it goes.

Lab Cat has brushed upon it and granted his purr of approval:

Never enough Nixie goodness! Added to POI.

[bitseeker]

Lol I walk more miles than I drive every year. Also go shopping on foot and drag 20kg of stuff back easy.

Was an easy way to lose 38kg of weight 

So, now you can haul more home!

[mnementh]

Once I get to Canada. In the meantime, "heat" will remain a 4-letter word.

mnem
*opens garage door and wilts*

Feels like the Canada move has been happening for simply ages now, so when is it taking place? You'll certainly notice a marked change in temperatures that's for sure, then it mean that both heat and cold be 4-letter words 

Same here... has been over a year since I started sorting; we're in packing stage now. But we've given our notice to the landlord, so end of September there's going to be people traipsing through here looking at the place to rent whether we're out or not.

mnem
moo...?

[0culus]

I dug out an ADF PLL synthesizer board I have that can generate some respectable edges at lower frequencies, in order to see how the 7104 performs. It doesn't disappoint. I didn't quite get everything aligned before the photo, but that's less important for a demo. 

[Carl_Smith]

You know, there are some things we're better off not knowing the existence of. 

Like that "elephant underwear" from Aliexpress that I brought up a while ago?   

[0culus]

 

[beanflying]

Oh sweet cheese & crackers bangers & spuds. 

mnem
What's really sad is part of me wishes I'd thought to do it... 

Perfect for after that long bike ride - for a scotch and cubes 

[tggzzz]

I dug out an ADF PLL synthesizer board I have that can generate some respectable edges at lower frequencies, in order to see how the 7104 performs. It doesn't disappoint. I didn't quite get everything aligned before the photo, but that's less important for a demo. 

Caution: with many Tek scopes changing the vertical sensitivity away from the cal position reduces the bandwidth and increases the risetime.

[bd139]

Looks like eBay £1 selling fees are over. Just got a min £2 selling fee offer. Think they realised that no one was listing anything until the offers came in. Now they’re trying to crank up the cash.

I genuinely hope eBay dies in the next couple of years.

[Specmaster]

Looks like eBay £1 selling fees are over. Just got a min £2 selling fee offer. Think they realised that no one was listing anything until the offers came in. Now they’re trying to crank up the cash.

I genuinely hope eBay dies in the next couple of years.

Strange because I just received a £1 max selling fee for the next 2 days, maybe you made too much from them with your recent sales splurges 

[bd139]

Haha possible. I’ve sold a crap load of stuff since they did that.

[Specmaster]

If Ebay shuts soon WTF will we all use then to source our TEA fixes???

[neo]

If Ebay shuts soon WTF will we all use then to source our TEA fixes???

Could always do it the old way and go out to the crossroads and pray to the moon in the middle of the night?  Worked for Robert Johnson, or so I'm told. Just please excuse the smell of sulfur and brimstone, old scratch just can't quite get it out of his clothes.

[AVGresponding]

Presumably Craigslist and Gumtree...

I'm wondering if this is a recognised medical condition, so I can get a doctors note and ring in sick...

I recently decided to get back into electronics in a serious way after, oh *some* time doing other things.

In the space of about 2 months, I've gone from a Micronta 22-195 (bought new in 1987 with much saved pocket money), a Mastech AC/DC clamp meter (ridiculously accurate DC clamp for the money) and Fluke T5-1000 (work tool), to maxed out PayPal credit due to the addition of Tek TDS420 (it was very cheap), Fluke 8840A (was cheap despite Dave Jones), Black Star 4503, Black Star Jupiter 2000, Fluke 8000A (love the incandescent lamp as a battery charge regulator), TTi 1906,and a random lowball ebay bid HP 3784A (probably will end up using that as a doorstop).

HELLPP MEEEE