Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[mnementh]

I will never be off the steep part of the learning cure, I think...
(Snip long discouraging tale of hamfisted TE molestation)
Now that I have reached an appropriate level of being offended by the damage done to this fine piece of gear, I am afraid it has become a quest: can I return this 184 to its pristine, well-engineered and built pre-bodge condition? And how much money with I have to expend acquiring no-longer-made diodes, transistors, and ferrites in order to do so ?   

11. Masochism is endemic, perhaps even mandatory.

mnem
“You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave...”

[Neomys Sapiens]

Over on the Book of Faces I participate in a group "Old Tek Scopes". Someone brought up the subject of Mr Carlson's videos and it generated a surprising number of negative comments. I happen to think Paul is very knowledgeable and I defended him. Well some individual in need of a tin foil hat to keep out of sight of the black helicopters decided to go toe-to-toe with me and I'll let you read the hilarity.

And I don't care that my real name appears. Most of you know who I am anyway.

Michael Donnelly        Gee, all the hate in here. I don't get it. I have a lot of respect for Paul Carlson. He is extremely skilled and knowledgeable. And he takes the time to completely explain his reasoning, methods, and above all, the dangers. His videos are viewed by individuals who range from complete novices to experts. So he tailors the videos to his least knowledgeable audience. That's just good common sense but to experts like us it may seem condescending. It is not.
…...

Not sure why your workplace need to be a mess to repair something. In my case it's the reverse. When I'm stuck on a problem I need to clean the bench and think. People like to generalize.

I also respect peoples that decide not to clean their bench. It's their choice 

Uhuh. But that shunt is still in there, probably being digested. I think I'll go with the exorcist.

[med6753]

Over on the Book of Faces I participate in a group "Old Tek Scopes". Someone brought up the subject of Mr Carlson's videos and it generated a surprising number of negative comments. I happen to think Paul is very knowledgeable and I defended him. Well some individual in need of a tin foil hat to keep out of sight of the black helicopters decided to go toe-to-toe with me and I'll let you read the hilarity.

And I don't care that my real name appears. Most of you know who I am anyway.

Michael Donnelly        Gee, all the hate in here. I don't get it. I have a lot of respect for Paul Carlson. He is extremely skilled and knowledgeable. And he takes the time to completely explain his reasoning, methods, and above all, the dangers. His videos are viewed by individuals who range from complete novices to experts. So he tailors the videos to his least knowledgeable audience. That's just good common sense but to experts like us it may seem condescending. It is not.
…...

Not sure why your workplace need to be a mess to repair something. In my case it's the reverse. When I'm stuck on a problem I need to clean the bench and think. People like to generalize.

I also respect peoples that decide not to clean their bench. It's their choice 

Uhuh. But that shunt is still in there, probably being digested. I think I'll go with the exorcist.

 

[Saskia]

absolutely. add to that some chemicals that I would definitely stay away from such as hydroflouric acid.

HF is nasty, but it's OK to work with as long as you (1) make sure that you know what you're doing and (2) use all the right safety gear (including having Calcium Gluconate gel on hand for first aid) (3) never, ever take short cuts or be slipshod in your working practices.

It's a bit like working with high voltage - what you can get away with at 100V you can't at 1kV, and what you can get away with with 5M H₂SO₄ you can't with HF.

I know, we have special HF emergency first aid kits at our location.
Doesn't mean I have to play with it at home (even though I played with lots of nasty acids in my younger days, even with chrome sulfuric acid which is quite ugh)

Not f**king around with it is safer than getting killed just because you have become complacent.

Goes for having a cell phone around explosives, as well.

[Wolfgang]

Power meter done. This came from the realisation that I wasn't going to pay MFJ £34 for a piece of inaccurate shit when I can make myself a piece of inaccurate shit for about £15 with a decent sized meter I can actually see.

Turns out this is actually usable to well past 150MHz (!) which was a surprise.

Outside. Caffeine shake wibbly lines FTW.



Guts. Not pretty but that's how you get low VSWR.



Now to build some power attenuators to push it up to 200W!

Uglyness: A+
Tech: Grade: C (at best). 50W range, but power resistor not even screwed to a large heatsink or to the case
150MHz ? Can serve as an indicator.
Cures: AD8307, after some attenuator. Compensation trimmer caps. PCB. Probably also not more than a few bucks. But then the 'art brut' charme is gone 

[bd139]

5W range 

I’ve got an AD8307 board and AVR based power meter display I designed floating around. 

Edit found picture of prototype. Can’t find picture of final build 

[Neomys Sapiens]

absolutely. add to that some chemicals that I would definitely stay away from such as hydroflouric acid.

HF is nasty, but it's OK to work with as long as you (1) make sure that you know what you're doing and (2) use all the right safety gear (including having Calcium Gluconate gel on hand for first aid) (3) never, ever take short cuts or be slipshod in your working practices.

It's a bit like working with high voltage - what you can get away with at 100V you can't at 1kV, and what you can get away with with 5M H₂SO₄ you can't with HF.

I know, we have special HF emergency first aid kits at our location.
Doesn't mean I have to play with it at home (even though I played with lots of nasty acids in my younger days, even with chrome sulfuric acid which is quite ugh)

Not f**king around with it is safer than getting killed just because you have become complacent.

Goes for having a cell phone around explosives, as well.

Well, yes. HF is not exactly fun. But FOOF is magic. Did you know that bricks can burn?

[mnementh]

...I like to learn stuff. But when it comes to stuff that can easily kill or seriously injure me, I am kinda hesitant and somewhat careful. I mean, I would not check why that class 4 laser does not switch on without the proper eye protection ...
Which reminds me ... where did I put that ......   Anybody have a klystron for some speed trap ecm ?

There are 2 things that I will absolutely not fuck with (actually 3): Magnetrons, lasers, X-Ray tubes. 

X-ray machine would be cool 

  Look, only 20$!       It's probably safe right ? 

Something I have noticed over the last few years is a precipitous drop in the cost of USB Dental X-Ray sensors. As in going from several thousand used to several hundred; I’ve seen working used units in the $300-ish range a couple times.

If I were seriously interested in such, that would probably be the direction I’d investigate.

mnem
“Ow, my gametes!!!”

[0culus]

absolutely. add to that some chemicals that I would definitely stay away from such as hydroflouric acid.

HF is nasty, but it's OK to work with as long as you (1) make sure that you know what you're doing and (2) use all the right safety gear (including having Calcium Gluconate gel on hand for first aid) (3) never, ever take short cuts or be slipshod in your working practices.

It's a bit like working with high voltage - what you can get away with at 100V you can't at 1kV, and what you can get away with with 5M H₂SO₄ you can't with HF.

I know, we have special HF emergency first aid kits at our location.
Doesn't mean I have to play with it at home (even though I played with lots of nasty acids in my younger days, even with chrome sulfuric acid which is quite ugh)

Not f**king around with it is safer than getting killed just because you have become complacent.

Goes for having a cell phone around explosives, as well.

Well, yes. HF is not exactly fun. But FOOF is magic. Did you know that bricks can burn?

Almost anything will burn, given a powerful enough oxidizer. 

[Neomys Sapiens]

...I like to learn stuff. But when it comes to stuff that can easily kill or seriously injure me, I am kinda hesitant and somewhat careful. I mean, I would not check why that class 4 laser does not switch on without the proper eye protection ...
Which reminds me ... where did I put that ......   Anybody have a klystron for some speed trap ecm ?

There are 2 things that I will absolutely not fuck with (actually 3): Magnetrons, lasers, X-Ray tubes. 

X-ray machine would be cool 

  Look, only 20$!       It's probably safe right ? 

Something I have noticed over the last few years is a precipitous drop in the cost of USB Dental X-Ray sensors. As in going from several thousand used to several hundred; I’ve seen working used units in the $300-ish range a couple times.

If I were seriously interested in such, that would probably be the direction I’d investigate.

mnem
“Ow, my gametes!!!”

Under the 'show your TE scores' (or something like that) thread, someone made a score on one.

[Neomys Sapiens]

And funny how you have it going about furrys here today.
Yesterday, when reading KJ7E's post, I remembered one tv crime story (CIS whatever) that I did see per chance in a hotel. Someone got shot.
And right at the end, there was that old geezer, cradling his varmint rifle and saying 'and thats when I saw that coyote down by the highway!'

[BU508A]

Look, only 20$!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/X-ray-Image-Intensifier-Screen-for-experiments-with-x-ray-tube-x-ray-photografy/253987892134?hash=item3b22dbaba6:g:070AAOSwVFlT8niH



It's probably safe right ? 

That's only the intensifier for the X-Rays. The really dangerous part is this nice little bugger:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/263886853071



Easy to use, small and cheap. 

As for the chemicals:
I would stay as far away as I could from FOOF and it's brothers and sisters. 
That stuff is really really nasty, reacts violently with almost everything.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dioxygen_difluoride

[0culus]

https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2010/02/23/things_i_wont_work_with_dioxygen_difluoride

 

[rajeshvs]

I just saw this post almost after an year, based on the incoming traffic to my Blog  lazyelectrons.com
I am a member, but not active I should admit.

Working on a Tek 555 now, more @ https://lazyelectrons.wordpress.com/2019/11/10/tektronix-555-restore/
and it is work in progress, expect to finish it before the end of the year

Not sure if anyone has stumbled over this or if this is one of our members but this is an excellent blog on test gear:

https://lazyelectrons.wordpress.com/

[Saskia]

must .... resist .... urge .... to .... buy .... it .... now ...

[Neomys Sapiens]

@BU508: And it is fine with me that they gave up on such propellants, as I might end up in such places where they are used.

[BU508A]

So I don't want to say TOO much yet, but later this month...if all goes well...there will be a very very awesome TEA day here at my house. There is a very special piece of RF test equipment coming that is still factory sealed and brand new, even though it isn't new.    There will be photographs. 

You're just a big tease, aren't you? 

  

Well, it's not often that us hobbyists get the opportunity to buy a piece of very very high end equipment that's still factory sealed. So I want it to be a nice surprise for everyone ca Christmas.

Is it, by any chance, a Rohde & Schwarz  FSEK spectrum analyzer? 

[worsthorse]

The Gorilla's really got to that 184, didn't they?

They did. I am going to take some photos during the next bench session and post them next to my bench as a caution to myself. And so, once again, I am reminded that...

______

once you decide to crack the case, look over the insides very, very, very carefully and take note of any obvious changes, damaged parts, parts or cable replacements, bad soldering, new holes, covered up holes, and the like. write it all down. take photos. look at the circuit. draw an updated schematic. because that's where you are going to spend most of your time, my friend.
_______

[BU508A]

@BU508: And it is fine with me that they gave up on such propellants, as I might end up in such places where they are used.

 
Cannot more agree to that. 

[Saskia]

what the hell do you need neptunium hexaflouride for ? Build smaller igniters for thermonuclear devices ? Improvements to Teller Ulam ?

[Neomys Sapiens]

I will never be off the steep part of the learning cure, I think...

More work on the 184.
.
.
.
Now that I have reached an appropriate level of being offended by the damage done to this fine piece of gear, I am afraid it has become a quest: can I return this 184 to its pristine, well-engineered and built pre-bodge condition? And how much money with I have to expend acquiring no-longer-made diodes, transistors, and ferrites in order to do so ?   

Well, between all of us, we should have some components here. So tell, maybe somone can shine on that occasion.

[Cerebus]

must .... resist .... urge .... to .... buy .... it .... now ...

[BU508A]

must .... resist .... urge .... to .... buy .... it .... now ...

One of the disadvantages of this Russian-made cold cathode x-ray tubes is: they have a Beryllium window.
And I'm not sure, if it will make it through the customs etc. with this.

If you want to build a cheap-ass x-ray machine, I have here a suggestion for you.

buy some PD 500 tubes, in the good ol' days they were used as a regulation load in colour TV's in the HV part.
Here is an example from Belgium:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/254435716141



If you put around 50kV onto them, they'll produce some "soft" x-rays which are sufficient to
take pictures of the innards of a pocket calculator for example.

Example for a nice 50kV HV power supply module:
https://highvoltageshop.com/epages/b73088c0-9f9a-4230-9ffc-4fd5c619abc4.sf/de_DE/?ObjectPath=/Shops/b73088c0-9f9a-4230-9ffc-4fd5c619abc4/Products/HVSUP_50kV_v2



the ebay store of this guy from Austria:
http://www.ebay.com/usr/highvoltageshop_com

Not that I have any affiliations with one of those above.
And I'm not interested in dealing with HV stuff.

Err, well, currently ....   

[Saskia]

naaaa, no sweat, I am just bidding on yet another pinball machine. F14 Tomcat, however battery leakage and damage across the mainboard.

Hey now hey now now, sing this corrosion to me, ...

[Neomys Sapiens]

what the hell do you need neptunium hexaflouride for ? Build smaller igniters for thermonuclear devices ? Improvements to Teller Ulam ?

Well, no and maybe. You don't need the hexafluoride for that. The hexafluoride is for separation.