Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[WastelandTek]

The truely 'special' Engineers were the top of their class and straight out of Uni 

Such characters should generally be given a Broom to push on a factory floor for six months to actually learn something.

Howard Vollum's policy of subsidizing the education of line workers was brilliant IMO.

He ended up with EEs with an intimate understanding of what they were actually trying to implement on the material plane.

[bd139]

That's where I started. Prod engineering -> test engineering -> screw that there's loads of money in IT 

Trying to make one CW contact a day for 365 days. Day three - failure. Going to bed 

Edit: oooh staying up. I only run 5W out CW - nothing higher power! ... 6000km away in Maryland! Only RBN spots but that's some hope.

[mnementh]

...Then comes the really fun part... finding a  way to mount the swingarm on my desk/workbench, which has already proven very uncooperative in previous attempts. 

mnem
 

Simple. Drill hole in bench. Insert.      Not difficult. 

   Yeah, except I actually like my desk. And it's vintage golden oak 80-100 years old, so fuck that noize. 

The swingarm LED lamp on the left is crazy light; that plastic swivel base is just about strong enough to hold it up. It BARELY clamps onto the thick, narrow overhang on the front of the desk; there is no such overhang on the other 3 sides. I have half a dozen other bases I've collected and none of them will clamp onto my desk. If I had my old garage with welder, grinders and vise, I could make something custom out of metal in an hour or so. Right now, not so much.

   My preferred solution is my huge bench with wire shelves positioned so; it provides a nice work area with bright floodlights, plus if you don't put the stupid plugs in the tubes, the swivel stem from a swingarm lamp or magnifier fits inside (a little sloppy, but still very securely) and holds the light at a really nice height.  You can see my old chrome Luxo swingarm lamp held this way in the upper left.

And yeah; with a few bins of supplies, some random equipment and a 2465 holding it down, that shelf doesn't even think about moving. 

mnem
*video game time widda boi*

[Specmaster]

That's where I started. Prod engineering -> test engineering -> screw that there's loads of money in IT 

Trying to make one CW contact a day for 365 days. Day three - failure. Going to bed 

Edit: oooh staying up. I only run 5W out CW - nothing higher power! ... 6000km away in Maryland! Only RBN spots but that's some hope.

Yep, agree, you have to start at the bottom and work your way through the ranks.

[0culus]

Enough with all that newfangled gear!

Something be glowing in them there hills! 

Stop with the teasers.  Post up...what you got?

Well...

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The pulser was last called in... 2016. Did not see that coming 

I. am. jelly. 

[0culus]

To be perfectly honest in all my years at IBM the vast majority of engineers I worked with knew their stuff. But like every profession every once in while you ran into one that was dumber than a box of rocks. 

Those are the ones that get promoted to management. 

[0culus]

The truely 'special' Engineers were the top of their class and straight out of Uni 

Such characters should generally be given a Broom to push on a factory floor for six months to actually learn something.

Howard Vollum's policy of subsidizing the education of line workers was brilliant IMO.

He ended up with EEs with an intimate understanding of what they were actually trying to implement on the material plane.

I recently purchased this title from the vintageTEK museum's ebay store and it has been a fascinating read, especially about Tek's very earliest days. One of their best early circuit designers (Dick Ropiequet) was actually a chemist by trade.

[jjoonathan]

So I recently finished "upgrading" the 26.5GHz sweeper in my VNA to 50GHz (the test set was already 50GHz) and resigned myself to a long, possibly indefinite wait for a reasonably priced cal kit ("reasonable," yeah, everything is relative). I've had a saved search open on ebay for literally years -- ever since I got the crazy idea to try this in the first place -- but it never turned up anything at a price I was remotely capable of stomaching until last week, when this popped up for the anomalously low price of $1600:



Talk about timing! Today, I got some antistatic foam and made a case for it. It's my first time making a foam cutout case.  I plotted a template in vinyl and used a hot knife, but it wasn't enough for a super clean result. I'm not 100% happy with the relatively rough foam edges and I'll definitely be checking the adapters / SOLT standards for bits of foam during their pre-mating microscope inspections, but it still feels more proper than having them loose in a drawer.



Do any of you have tips for making foam cutout cases?

[0culus]

Damn, fancy! I'm still just hoping for a complete 8510C with the 26.5 GHz test set at a price that I can afford.  I already have the cal kit.

[jjoonathan]

The 26.5GHz test set is actually significantly better in the frequencies it covers than the 50GHz test set, but yeah, the sweeper is the hard part. At least the 20GHz sweepers can be hacked to 26.5GHz, usually without sacrificing too much amplitude spec. In fact, my 50GHz sweeper was originally a 20GHz sweeper

[bitseeker]

@BU508A it's a parrot not a chicken 

   So quick cracking session. My DG822 now thinks it's a DG992. Interestingly apart from the screen decoration turning red, the output buttons changed colour from green to red at the same time 

To be honest: the first thing I'd do is to get rid of this stupid comma and replace the point with a comma (if possible). Confuses me all the time.   

One DECEASED parrot...?  

I've always found the presence of commas in the trailing digits annoying as fuck; even on integer counts. I've gotten rid of gear just because of that.     Compound that with your hideous red theme... I'd literally cringe every time I turn that thing on. But I WOULD probably put up with it for THAT price; for a while at least.   

I concur. Simple spaces between sets of three digits to the right of the decimal are sufficient.

If it wasn't for the blow-out impulse-buy pricing from Arrow, there wouldn't be a DG831 on my bench. (That really sounds weird. TEA! )

[bitseeker]

See you clearly like a little junk in the trunk  This wee beasty isn't that big..... compared to a truck

What do you mean, not that big, it even comes with its own wooden pallet! 

Yeah, that beast is for damned sure a back (and possibly bench) breaker!!  It will also help keep your house from blowing away in the event of a tornado.

If it was made by HP, its AC cooling fan could create a tornado.

[beanflying]

See you clearly like a little junk in the trunk  This wee beasty isn't that big..... compared to a truck

What do you mean, not that big, it even comes with its own wooden pallet! 

Yeah, that beast is for damned sure a back (and possibly bench) breaker!!  It will also help keep your house from blowing away in the event of a tornado.

If it was made by HP, its AC cooling fan could create a tornado.

And it has been Relisted for those strong of Back and Weak of will  eBay auction: #352999790447 It is only taking up a corner of the full sized Pallet unlike the scare mongering of others 

[beanflying]

Two minute teardown and a quick test. Hewlett Packard 1105A Pulse Generator. Cute Tiny Case and it seems it works 

No real time to play today, the internal triggering it is supposed to have with the pot wound clockwise isn't working so I fed it from the Siglent Sig Gen. I now 'need' a better Scope to look at the rise time but the Migsig was following along at about 10nS or better.

Nice and tidy overall and I will do some more playing on some other Scopes when I am not covered in sawdust. 

EDIT Link to the manual here https://literature.cdn.keysight.com/litweb/pdf/5955-2714.pdf?id=1853420

[bitseeker]

Cute. Added to POI.

(My, what a long capacitor you have...)

[Cubdriver]

See you clearly like a little junk in the trunk  This wee beasty isn't that big..... compared to a truck

What do you mean, not that big, it even comes with its own wooden pallet! 

Yeah, that beast is for damned sure a back (and possibly bench) breaker!!  It will also help keep your house from blowing away in the event of a tornado.

If it was made by HP, its AC cooling fan could create a tornado.

And it has been Relisted for those strong of Back and Weak of will  eBay auction: #352999790447 It is only taking up a corner of the full sized Pallet unlike the scare mongering of others 

If I didn't already have one, for that price I'd be inclined to take a road trip.

-Pat

[bd139]

@BU508A it's a parrot not a chicken 

   So quick cracking session. My DG822 now thinks it's a DG992. Interestingly apart from the screen decoration turning red, the output buttons changed colour from green to red at the same time 

To be honest: the first thing I'd do is to get rid of this stupid comma and replace the point with a comma (if possible). Confuses me all the time.   

One DECEASED parrot...?  

I've always found the presence of commas in the trailing digits annoying as fuck; even on integer counts. I've gotten rid of gear just because of that.     Compound that with your hideous red theme... I'd literally cringe every time I turn that thing on. But I WOULD probably put up with it for THAT price; for a while at least.   

I concur. Simple spaces between sets of three digits to the right of the decimal are sufficient.

If it wasn't for the blow-out impulse-buy pricing from Arrow, there wouldn't be a DG831 on my bench. (That really sounds weird. TEA! )

If it wasn't crackable there would be an SDG1032X on my bench 

TBH it's not that bad now I've worked out you can swipe the display left to right. Took me like all day to work that out

[Specmaster]

To be perfectly honest in all my years at IBM the vast majority of engineers I worked with knew their stuff. But like every profession every once in while you ran into one that was dumber than a box of rocks. 

Those are the ones that get promoted to management. 

You're not wrong there, that happens in every walk of life though, I've found that there are basically 3 ways of climbing the ladder at work, Nepotism, be like a rock-useless or a militant, if you're half decent at your job, thats where you stay because someone has to earn the companies' money.

[tautech]

If it wasn't crackable there would be an SDG1032X on my bench 

And what makes you think the 1032X isn't ? 

[bd139]

It is but only to 60MHz and I need ~ 70MHz LO for a couple of projects.

Edit: for ref there would have been no hesitation on the 60MHz unit if it went a little higher. I can't justify a SDG2082X for this experiment either 

[bd139]

So spent a couple of hours last night with the SDS1202X-E. I get the feeling a lot of people haven't spent a lot of time with one AND a DS1054Z so I'm doing a review in comparison here.

Good:

1. Fast and responsive.
2. UI is intuitive.
3. I'd forgotten how much I missed dedicated per-channel vertical controls
4. Decent usable FFT with measurements that make sense.
5. Intensity grading is excellent.
6. Measurements reminiscent of HP 54600 series i.e. keep out of the way and are useful
7. Better encoders than the Rigol units.
8. Much better probes and they come with BNC adapters
9. Much less fussy about screen cap USB sticks than the Rigol.
10. Extremely quiet fan.
11. Screen is good quality and has good contrast.
12. Observing test signals suggests 100% agreement on the Tek 2245 including the nasty looking edges coming out of a couple of things I have.
13. Much more solid and better industrial design than the DS1054Z. I don't feel like the feet are going to fall off.
14. Comes with a decent, well typeset getting started guide.

Bad:

1. pulsing power light is distracting when it's off. But this is so minor I feel nit picky even mentioning it. 

It feels more like a Keysight class product if I'm honest. That's a pretty big thumbs up.

[Specmaster]

I think that the pulsating power switch is intended to remind you that it has a soft touch / start switch and that the hard on/off is on the rear?

I don't think that I'd be able to get on either with shared vertical controls.

Overall it looks a rather nice scope and I love the nice wide screen it has as well.

[bd139]

It doesn't have a hard power switch. That's a minor issue as I've got separate feed and master switch for the test gear on the bench to the PC etc. At least it hasn't got a crap hard switch like the Rigol DG 

[tautech]

So spent a couple of hours last night with the SDS1202X-E. I get the feeling a lot of people haven't spent a lot of time with one AND a DS1054Z so I'm doing a review in comparison here.

Good:
............
8. Much better probes and they come with BNC adapters

Only the 200 MHz PP215 probes and those of equivalent or higher BW come with BNC adaptors.

10. Extremely quiet fan.

They are, early ones where another model fan AFAIK and a bit noticeably noisier.
Each time I get one out to PD it, the quietness of the fan impresses me. It's not like you can't hear them but they are certainly pretty quiet.

Glad you like it thus far BD and welcome to the dark side ! 

I think that the pulsating power switch is intended to remind you that it has a soft touch / start switch and that the hard on/off is on the rear?

Nope only the old stuff has mechanical switches and all the modern stuff has soft switching that lets the unit know you want it off so it gracefully shuts down remembering all settings. Hard switch it and it wakes up with the last settings from a previous shutdown.

I don't think that I'd be able to get on either with shared vertical controls.

That's what I thought until I got to beta test the 4ch X-E and it has a bit to do with the way sharing is implemented and visual indication of which channel is active. 30 mins and it's like natural to use.

[AVGresponding]