Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[drussell]

Ummm... can you keep a lookout for a beater/cheap scope for me?  My searches on fleaBay.ca & CL have been totally sucking ARSE for anything "hobbyist-grade" ever since I got here.

Craigslist doesn't seem to be used much in Canada.  In most areas, the most active classifieds site is kijiji.ca

I don't like their new ebay-like web style, and the site is a lot slower in this latest incarnation, but it still works and tends to have the widest selection of ads of the various classified sites in most Canadian locations.  YMMV

[mnementh]

Storm over, not quite a foot here. Local schools closed. Just further north 12+ inches recorded. The Governor has declared a state of emergency in several counties including mine. Landlord made a quick pass earlier with the plow. At 9 AM he's coming back and we all have to move our cars so he can clear the entire lot. I'll head out at that time and go grocery shopping.

The variance in responses to snow around the world always amuses me. One place's "normal overnight snowfall, not really worth mentioning" is another's "state of emergency declared".

Here in South East England they carry on as if the world is about to end if we get a couple of inches of snow. Heck, ¹/₂ an inch is enough to make the roads impassable. Not impassable from the snow but from the drivers who have no clue whatsoever how to drive in a teeny tiny bit of the fluffy white stuff.

Yeah, we had that everywhere I lived in Tejas with the beginning of the rainy season. All those imbeciles running on bald tires because they can get away with it through the summer...

The first light rains, just enough to bring the oils to the surface of the road, would combine with 1D10T driving skills to render the roads impassable with single-driver MVAs and resultant pileups for the first couple weeks. Once they Darwin-awarded themselves out of the equation and the rest got cluebricked into buying the new tires they should've months ago, the roads would return to their usual modes of insanity. 

Up here the transition to snowy season seemed pretty uneventful, aside from the wallet-pain. 

Ummm... can you keep a lookout for a beater/cheap scope for me?  My searches on fleaBay.ca & CL have been totally sucking ARSE for anything "hobbyist-grade" ever since I got here.

Craigslist doesn't seem to be used much in Canada.  In most areas, the most active classifieds site is kijiji.ca  I don't like their new ebay-like web style, and the site is a lot slower in this latest incarnation, but it still works and tends to have the widest selection of ads of the various classified sites in most Canadian locations.  YMMV

*Looks in* SERIOUSLY...? $300 for a 465...? Still... better than what I've seen on fleaBay.ca    Thanks... I will keep an eye on them. 

mnem

[Kosmic]

Having to call someone in Germany (from Canada) to order some connectors is not necessarily my definition of easy. On top of that my German is pretty rusty 

"Easy" would be readily available at digikey, mouser or arrow. Unfortunatly it's not the case 

There is an office in Toronto:

https://www.fischerconnectors.com/global/en/locations/ontario

Well ok … I need to improve my google foo 

Will check with them if they can supply the part. Thanks!

I'll bet they will supply 10 of them. Post your findings.

As I wrote...
"The connectors are easy to find. The problem is the cost and especially the minimum order quantity FFI see https://www.eevblog.com/forum/buysellwanted/group-buy-fischer-connector-plug-s104-a053-130/msg1538426/#msg1538426 "

They forwarded me to a distributer in Texas www.keiconn.com/

Need to check with them now.

So I got a quote from the distributer in Texas. They are selling the plug 65$ and 11$ for the clamp 

Now I need to think. Do I really want to spend 300$ on connectors ?

[mnementh]

In Other News...



https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07FY3WF2V/

I just bought an $11 electric clipper off Amazon because... it was $11. And I needed one. And it's rechargeable with a ceramic blade. And I figure I can treat it as disposable. And I'm not really doing very well at convincing myself... is it working any better on you...? 

mnem
*pray for me and my po' bald haid*

[med6753]

Ahhhh... so essentially you've been living/working in a cave since the Carter administration. Gotcha.

Not ALL...



Yes. Very.

mnem
My work here is done. Time for a power nap.

Incorrect, the Nixon administration. 

[med6753]

Storm over, not quite a foot here. Local schools closed. Just further north 12+ inches recorded. The Governor has declared a state of emergency in several counties including mine. Landlord made a quick pass earlier with the plow. At 9 AM he's coming back and we all have to move our cars so he can clear the entire lot. I'll head out at that time and go grocery shopping.

The variance in responses to snow around the world always amuses me. One place's "normal overnight snowfall, not really worth mentioning" is another's "state of emergency declared".

Here in South East England they carry on as if the world is about to end if we get a couple of inches of snow. Heck, ¹/₂ an inch is enough to make the roads impassable. Not impassable from the snow but from the drivers who have no clue whatsoever how to drive in a teeny tiny bit of the fluffy white stuff.

The roads here are fine. Cleared. It's the northern part of my county that has the issue with 12 to 24 inches of snow. That is a big deal for this area. This amount here is more of an inconvenience more than anything else.

Now if you go down south like to Virginia or North Carolina even the THREAT of a dusting of snow sets off widespread panic and EVERYTHING closes. I've heard this first hand from people who have moved down there. It is true that they rarely get snow and they have no equipment to deal with it. But the absolute panic amuses me.     

[Cubdriver]

LOL - that might be pushing it.  You just prompted me to try $35.   

We'll see what comes of it.

-Pat

roger roger.  will expect an after action report.

is that you who bid on the lightweight freq standard down in charm city?

I got an e-mail this morning from the Bay of Evil.  Apparently someone offered them $40 for it, because it was to inform me that it sold for that amount.

-Pat

[0culus]

LOL - that might be pushing it.  You just prompted me to try $35.   

We'll see what comes of it.

-Pat

roger roger.  will expect an after action report.

is that you who bid on the lightweight freq standard down in charm city?

I got an e-mail this morning from the Bay of Evil.  Apparently someone offered them $40 for it, because it was to inform me that it sold for that amount.

-Pat

That may or may not have been me. 

[mnementh]

So I got a quote from the distributer in Texas. They are selling the plug 65$ and 11$ for the clamp 

Now I need to think. Do I really want to spend 300$ on connectors ?

Speaking of wallet pain... 

OTOH, I just paid $650 for two black doughnuts with a big F on the side...

mnem
YMMV.

[kj7e]

Here in sunny SoCal, we had over a foot on Thanksgiving, my new All Wheel Drive Explorer ST (now 450HP with 500+ ft⋅lb thanks to Livernois tune) did great!

[kj7e]

LOL - that might be pushing it.  You just prompted me to try $35.   

We'll see what comes of it.

-Pat

roger roger.  will expect an after action report.

is that you who bid on the lightweight freq standard down in charm city?

I got an e-mail this morning from the Bay of Evil.  Apparently someone offered them $40 for it, because it was to inform me that it sold for that amount.

-Pat

Sorry Pat, once I saw they turned down Nixie's offer, I may have mentioned it to others before I saw you put an offer in.

[tggzzz]

Having to call someone in Germany (from Canada) to order some connectors is not necessarily my definition of easy. On top of that my German is pretty rusty 

"Easy" would be readily available at digikey, mouser or arrow. Unfortunatly it's not the case 

There is an office in Toronto:

https://www.fischerconnectors.com/global/en/locations/ontario

Well ok … I need to improve my google foo 

Will check with them if they can supply the part. Thanks!

I'll bet they will supply 10 of them. Post your findings.

As I wrote...
"The connectors are easy to find. The problem is the cost and especially the minimum order quantity FFI see https://www.eevblog.com/forum/buysellwanted/group-buy-fischer-connector-plug-s104-a053-130/msg1538426/#msg1538426 "

They forwarded me to a distributer in Texas www.keiconn.com/

Need to check with them now.

So I got a quote from the distributer in Texas. They are selling the plug 65$ and 11$ for the clamp 

Now I need to think. Do I really want to spend 300$ on connectors ?

If there's no minimum order quantity, that's as good a deal as you are going to get.

I paid about $60 each for two, but another denizen organised a group buy and didn't (want to) charge for his time/effort.

Would another question be "will I want to use four connectors simultaneously?". I stuck at two, sufficient for either a ratio measurement or a 7081 and 7075 cross checking each other.

P.S. do you have suitable cable, e.g. shielded PTFE insulated?

[Cerebus]

Does anybody know what thread HP/Agilent used on the terminal strips on the back of various power supplies (the ones you use for sense and for strapping the remote options)? Are they all the same, or is there an 'imperial era' and a 'metric era'?

I've been meaning to acquire a little stock of some suitable pan head screws for a while. Although I could whip out a few and measure them, I'd like to account for various vintages (should I need to) and I don't have a broad enough range of ages of kit to be confident that I've covered all the bases.

[Kosmic]

Having to call someone in Germany (from Canada) to order some connectors is not necessarily my definition of easy. On top of that my German is pretty rusty 

"Easy" would be readily available at digikey, mouser or arrow. Unfortunatly it's not the case 

There is an office in Toronto:

https://www.fischerconnectors.com/global/en/locations/ontario

Well ok … I need to improve my google foo 

Will check with them if they can supply the part. Thanks!

I'll bet they will supply 10 of them. Post your findings.

As I wrote...
"The connectors are easy to find. The problem is the cost and especially the minimum order quantity FFI see https://www.eevblog.com/forum/buysellwanted/group-buy-fischer-connector-plug-s104-a053-130/msg1538426/#msg1538426 "

They forwarded me to a distributer in Texas www.keiconn.com/

Need to check with them now.

So I got a quote from the distributer in Texas. They are selling the plug 65$ and 11$ for the clamp 

Now I need to think. Do I really want to spend 300$ on connectors ?

If there's no minimum order quantity, that's as good a deal as you are going to get.

I paid about $60 each for two, but another denizen organised a group buy and didn't (want to) charge for his time/effort.

Would another question be "will I want to use four connectors simultaneously?". I stuck at two, sufficient for either a ratio measurement or a 7081 and 7075 cross checking each other.

P.S. do you have suitable cable, e.g. shielded PTFE insulated?

I agree that 4 might be a bit too much. I got 2 x 7061 and potentially another Solartron instrument (incoming) compatible with that type of connector. On top of that I already have all the shielded PTFE for those test leads.

Another option would be to go a complete different direction and install 5 good quality binding posts on the front panel. Would be probably cheaper and more convenient.

[Cubdriver]

I got an e-mail this morning from the Bay of Evil.  Apparently someone offered them $40 for it, because it was to inform me that it sold for that amount.

-Pat

That may or may not have been me. 

LOL - cool - at least one of us snagged it!

-Pat

[Cubdriver]

I got an e-mail this morning from the Bay of Evil.  Apparently someone offered them $40 for it, because it was to inform me that it sold for that amount.

-Pat

Sorry Pat, once I saw they turned down Nixie's offer, I may have mentioned it to others before I saw you put an offer in.

No worries - my house is already in danger of collapse - it's probably for the best!   

-Pat

[med6753]

The 6BL8/ECF80 tubes arrived. Made in France and branded Motorola "Golden". I was watching You Tube video last night on the repair of a vintage McIntosh FM Stereo Receiver that uses these tubes in it's audio output stage. So I'm suprised these tubes didn't have audiophool pricing of $1K USD apiece but I did see several on Ebay going for stupid dollars. I guess Motorola isn't on the stupid list. 

 

I replaced the current 6BL8 and I was able to get the trace back on screen. But just barely to center line. The Vertical Output section is still way out of balance because of the carbon comp resistors that have drifted. That resistor order is now at a UPS hub in Latham, NY and should have them tomorrow. But at least some progress. 

[nixiefreqq]

I got an e-mail this morning from the Bay of Evil.  Apparently someone offered them $40 for it, because it was to inform me that it sold for that amount.

-Pat

That may or may not have been me. 

LOL - cool - at least one of us snagged it!

-Pat

but......but......but.........i saw it first!

you had better post pictures! 

(my feelings are still hurt that they never sent me a counter offer.  but that's ok, 'nuff hp junk round here anyway)

[0culus]

There will definitely be pictures. 

  but that's ok, 'nuff hp junk round here anyway

OK, you've gone too far now. There is NO SUCH THING as too much -hp- "junk"...   


....and yes that includes RPN calculators 

[bd139]

Looks in cupboard. Disagrees 

[mnementh]

*Looks in cupboard; finds only cookies*

mnem
*hopelessly TEA*

[med6753]

This is an HP Free zone except for one dinky power supply that somehow got past security 

[Cubdriver]

This is an HP Free zone except for one dinky power supply that somehow got past security 

Sorry to hear of your deprivation.

This might help:
https://www.ebay.com/sch/181939/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=HP

 

-Pat

[xrunner]

This is an HP Free zone except for one dinky power supply that somehow got past security 

[VK5RC]

Quick guys, med is in real trouble, HP free! We will need to intervene!