Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[BU508A]

Apparently all my new toys are at Langley HWDC 

So last delivery day is 24th. Wonder if anything will turn up to get me through Boxing Day and new year boredom.

Well, if you would live next to me, I would come over with this tea device addon with some nice handmade
christmas biscuits inside. Did show up at my doorstep half an hour ago.   



And since I know your special sense of humor, this one is for you:



 

[mnementh]

Und es malt sie wie einen Schatten an die wand... 

Shameless google Translate: And it paints them like a shadow on the wall...

(Something about The Great Light made me think of the images from Hiroshima we all saw in school...)

mnem
Okay... that was a little dark... 

That was said knowing the pic?    That  will be art later.

Why does "Dark Star" suddenly creep into my mind ?

I see... my train of thought wasn't derailed; it was just shunted over to Saskia's station...

mnem
*GROAAAANNNs at that horrible pun and lobs two soggy ol' boots in BU508A's general direction*

[bd139]

Apparently all my new toys are at Langley HWDC 

So last delivery day is 24th. Wonder if anything will turn up to get me through Boxing Day and new year boredom.

Well, if you would live next to me, I would come over with this tea device addon with some nice handmade
christmas biscuits inside. Did show up at my doorstep half an hour ago.   



And since I know your special sense of humor, this one is for you:



 

I need to live next to you. The baked goods are calling 

I am ashamed to have laughed out loud at that joke. A fine on topic terrible Christmas joke I heard the other day:

The sweater I got last Christmas kept picking up static electricity. So I took it back to the store and exchanged it for another one free of charge.

[mnementh]

*GROOOANNNN*

mnem
Fuck... I'm all out of boots, soggy or otherwise...

[BU508A]

*GROAAAANNNs at that horrible pun and lobs two soggy ol' boots in BU508A's general direction*

OUCH! 

Hey! If you don't behave, I'll come up with very nasty dragon jokes. 

 

[kj7e]

HP 3410A AC Microvoltmeter teardown.

It appears this sample was built in 1978 or 79 (based on chip date codes).  Found a few weak caps, I'll likely replace all AE's.  It basically tries to work, but it has some glitches, I will go over it thoroughly and restore it to good working order, then have it takes its place on the shelf next to its matching vintage HP siblings. 

As always, who cares about the text, here are some photos;

[kj7e]

Part 2

[kj7e]

Part 3

[kj7e]

Part 4

As it arrived, feeding it about 400uV 1 KHz sine wave.  Reading 300uV.  The range lamp seems dead, the overload relay drops out while tuning.  But there is life in it.  Did a real quick check on the power supply board, found a few week caps.  Only had a few min to play with it yet.  More to come later.

[Kosmic]

good luck.

I can get a DSOX2002A, apparently unused or extremely light use, for less than 500 EUSSR-Rubles. (Euros that is)

WHat do you think, is it worth it ? It never hurts to get a 2nd Oscilloscope, and having one from more or less the same lineup as is already there seems tempting.
However it is still money that my husband wants me to spend for him ...

70MHz is a bit limited in term of bandwidth. I would go with 100MHz minimum. Might be interesting if you need the math features lacking on some other unit.

[Kosmic]

HP 3410A AC Microvoltmeter teardown.

It appears this sample was built in 1978 or 79 (based on chip date codes).  Found a few weak caps, I'll likely replace all AE's.  It basically tries to work, but it has some glitches, I will go over it thoroughly and restore it to good working order, then have it takes its place on the shelf next to its matching vintage HP siblings. 

As always, who cares about the text, here are some photos;

Look like it's in really good shape, beautifull 

[xrunner]

Part 4

As it arrived, feeding it about 400uV 1 KHz sine wave.  Reading 300uV.  The range lamp seems dead, the overload relay drops out while tuning.  But there is life in it.  Did a real quick check on the power supply board, found a few week caps.  Only had a few min to play with it yet.  More to come later.

Good project. Those power resistors on the one board really get hot, turned the board brown. Guess it was normal though.

[mnementh]

HP 3410A AC Microvoltmeter teardown. It appears this sample was built in 1978 or 79 (based on chip date codes).  Found a few weak caps, I'll likely replace all AE's.  It basically tries to work, but it has some glitches, I will go over it thoroughly and restore it to good working order, then have it takes its place on the shelf next to its matching vintage HP siblings.

As always, who cares about the text, here are some photos...

They certainly weren't stingy with the aluminum castings. And this unit clearly predates the age of cheap aluminum extrusion from China. 

Thanks for sharing!

mnem
I don't always put something down here.

[bitseeker]

I'd be willing to participate (audio only, no video) if someone were to host it. I figure sometime after the beginning of the year. The only hassle is we are scattered across the globe so some of us who have to be up in the middle of the night to participate.

(audio only, no video)

and no disturbing noises.

1) Zucca
2) Med
... add yourself if you want to partecipate

- SW
Skype good for everyone? I still have my concerns about skype... again M$ got it and it went down the drain. Unfortunately I do not have any alternative at the moment.
It would be nice to have a shared blackboard to write up shit and share, but if we are producing a podcast then we should strict to audio only
- Duration
1 hour talk just to start and see how it goes?
- Max. partecipant
Max. partecipant numbers 5-10?

In the first episode we need bitseeker and the founders of this TEA club, my opinion.

Wow, so we're really going to try it? I'm game. I guess something like afternoon/evening GMT on a Saturday might work for most of us.

As for communication platform, it seems many use Discord. I have a Skype account, but I find the service to often be overly congested leading to poor audio quality or failure to even connect.

It may be good to have a short list of potential topics. We don't have to cover them all.

[mnementh]

I'll bring tacos.

mnem
 

[mnementh]

*GROAAAANNNs at that horrible pun and lobs two soggy ol' boots in BU508A's general direction*

OUCH!    Hey! If you don't behave, I'll come up with very nasty dragon jokes. 

 

Save them for the podcast. 

mnem
"So two dragons walk into a bar..."

[bitseeker]

BG7TBL FA-2 and HP 53132a comparison.  Both counters have the same GPSDO external reference supplied and both are measuring a second GPSDO, both set to 10sec gate.  It seems to me the last digit is precise, just weird it has one more digit above 10MHz than the 53132a, I mean for a $110 come on!

Woah! So all that resolution isn't just for show. I'm very pleasantly surprised. Thanks for the comparison, kj7e.

[BU508A]

*GROOOANNNN*

mnem
Fuck... I'm all out of boots, soggy or otherwise...

No wonder, that your boots were soggy.   



That was you, right?   

[PA0PBZ]

I'll bring tacos.

I guess I should bring the Stroopwafels then.

[worsthorse]

(Attachment Link)

Trying to think of some way these could be useful on the bench; they're available locally at surplus auction. Appears they're designed to be used for calibrating motor drive panels and Electric Co meters & such.

mnem
is wrong with me... up at this hour thinking about stupid shit like this. *Knocks self unconscious with a clock mallet*

useful is over-rated. they look cool and they are probably cheap to boot. you'll figure it out later, promise.   

[notfaded1]

Dekatrons are really cool!
https://photos.app.goo.gl/P4h8AogyxY9DkvoT8

It was a brief period in display history in the USA... Longer in Russia but dang it's hard to best neon!!!

Bill

[BU508A]

Trying to think of some way these could be useful on the bench; they're available locally at surplus auction. Appears they're designed to be used for calibrating motor drive panels and Electric Co meters & such.

mnem
is wrong with me... up at this hour thinking about stupid shit like this. *Knocks self unconscious with a clock mallet*

Yeah.

It's getting worse.
Throwing boots.
Building Snodas.
Thinking about strange gear.

Yep.

MRMRB.

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/test-equipment-anonymous-(tea)-group-therapy-thread/msg2827602/#msg2827602

[worsthorse]

*sigh*  there's a 500MHz four channel Tek TDS3054 with a couple of the add-ons modules installed on craigslist locally. its been there for a couple weeks because it ain't cheap. in the last week, i've come close to making an offer (contingent on being able to test it) three or four times.

so far i've talked myself off the ledge as i don't need another expensive scope. i don't need a scope at all. and  i really don't need an expensive scope that i don't need four days before christmas... 

[bitseeker]

I'll bring tacos.

mnem
 

Excellent. Well, for testing purposes, I've created a TEA server on Discord. Below is an invitation to try it out. I've limited the link to 100 uses since this thread is public. I'll figure out how best to get everyone onboard as I get more familiar with the service.

https://discord.gg/BVxKSP

I haven't created other channels yet. It just has the #general text chat and voice channels.

If you join, setting your nickname to the same one as on this forum can help folks recognize each other.

[bitseeker]

Worsthorse, PA0PBZ, and I tried out the voice and it worked great. No need to install anything and the quality was excellent.

I gotta run, but feel free to test it some more. It's really cool talking with folks in real time, both text and voice.