Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Specmaster]

@BU508A Yeah, I looked at that myself and discounted it on the basis that I didn't want to wait too long for it to arrive.

[Specmaster]

and I was already going to say that the google fu was strong in this one ...

Yeah google fu was actually stronger than I thought, I totally missed the fact that his listed location was Belper in Derbyshire, I was looking for his national flag so thats my bad 

[xrunner]

I put one of those together for a friend who didn't want to do it. He thought it was mainly a frequency counter, but it is mainly for testing crystals. It does indicate the frequency of crystals, but the frequency counter function ... not so good.

After reading your posting I've ordered this one the other day:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/272722725901

[Specmaster]

I put one of those together for a friend who didn't want to do it. He thought it was mainly a frequency counter, but it is mainly for testing crystals. It does indicate the frequency of crystals, but the frequency counter function ... not so good.

After reading your posting I've ordered this one the other day:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/272722725901

I only wanted it as a means of testing crystals, I have a perfectly good frequency counter. I don't know for sure but I think its the same for BU508A. Thanks anyway for your comment as I was totally unaware of its secondary function but with only 5 digits its limited in that role anyway.

[Ice-Tea]

If previously the curvature of the room drove you wild, this will let you loose your mind. Panorama picture distortion, obviously. No, it did not fit on a normal picture.

[BU508A]

I put one of those together for a friend who didn't want to do it. He thought it was mainly a frequency counter, but it is mainly for testing crystals. It does indicate the frequency of crystals, but the frequency counter function ... not so good.

After reading your posting I've ordered this one the other day:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/272722725901

I only wanted it as a means of testing crystals, I have a perfectly good frequency counter. I don't know for sure but I think its the same for BU508A. Thanks anyway for your comment as I was totally unaware of its secondary function but with only 5 digits its limited in that role anyway.

Yes, same intention here. Just for checking some crystals. I have a weak point for those nice crystals in their glass housings.
Example:

[BU508A]

If previously the curvature of the room drove you wild, this will let you loose your mind. Panorama picture distortion, obviously. No, it did not fit on a normal picture.

Ooooh! DMM with blue displays!    I love them.       

[Ice-Tea]

Heheh, DMMs with all the colors you want. If only they would all work.

[jxjbsd]

Just received today, 7000 series of children

[Kosmic]

This is a good point. My setup is really ghetto right now (the antenna standing on the side of my pool). I'm planning to put an antenna on the roof but none of my GPS antenna are working with my Rohde & Schwarz ED170MP. The ED170MP is supplying 15V but my antenna only goes to 5V max. So I tried supplying 5V externally with a biastee but look like the ED170MP doesn't like that. I need to contact Meinberg (the producer of the ED170MP) to see if they can recommend an antenna.

The Meinberg receivers typically have a fairly advanced antenna, in which they downmix the received signal to ~300MHz and ship that over the RG58 for quite some length; IIRC you can go to just below 100m, but that's from memory and not from readily available manuals .  If you wishneed to cross a TEMPEST or EMP barrier or simply are far away from a good antenna position they've got a optical fibre interface too. Multimode  of course. (my position is that friends do not let friends install multimode cabling. It is a duty of honour to keep the world free from the echo-chambers of the optical industry.)

This means that a Meinberg family receiver typically expects down-mixed input and will frown at the output of a normal GPS antenna.

Do note that I've never worked with the OEM modules sold to others, but only with the systems receivers used for NTP, PTP and other timing supply systems.  They might have thought differently for some or all of their OEM customers.

Finally, do get in touch with the people at Meinberg. They are one of the most accessible companies in the TE world, and in my repeated experience they will go the extra mile in supporting their devices and helping you.

The 300Mhz downmix probably explain why it's not working with my biastee. Hmm I have a mixer around maybe I can try doing the downconverter myself 

Thanks for the info, I will contact Meinberg.

[mnementh]

Mine is a EL-506P, which I still have and use. On its original set of batteries. From 1984.
   But, bc and dc get way much more use, along with xcalc. As, you can see, Free42, which should be on every computing device, whether mobile or stationary, country or western iOS or Android, also competes for my attention.

   Have you seen 48sx?

...I’ve seen 3 or 4 new-new machines in the last year; they were all cellular data equipped. I guess I assumed that’s how they all were provided; but like everything in the last decade or so, the crazy economy is making a lot of changes in the way anything business is done.

mnem
 

SWMBO has a new CPAP within the last year from ResMed.  It follows the latest fad of IoT.  She can use a phone app and 'magically' (from the device manufacturer's cloud) get all sorts of statistics and status about her respiration overnight.  I took a quick look and easily determined the magic is a cellular modem on the device.  There is no slot for a memory card.  The user interface is extremely simple and is view only.  If she wants to make any adjustment at all, then she has to phone up a technician at the service provider (not the device manufacturer), who then takes care of it.

I am not sure it is the crazy economy that is making changes, but maybe that the economy has always been crazy and now has the technology to enable the change in how business is done.

So the device supposedly belongs to SWMBO, but the doctor, service provider, device manufacturer, insurance company and even the cellular company all have greater control over her health device than she does.

I included the cellular company since I assume the device must be G3.  LTE CAT-M1 service arrived more recently than the device.  What happens when G3 service is turned off as everything migrates to LTE or G5?     (SNIP)

This is where I was going with my original post; that nowadays, the folks who made the machine know more about your nocturnal activities than you do. In retrospect, it seems hard to believe this can in any way be HIPAA-compliant; standards require a VPN connection with much higher-level encryption than you'll get from pretty much any internet browser. 

Also, I'm certain this information is used for marketing somehow; even if it's not sold, they can at a minimum know when the largest number of CPAP users are night-owling, therefore when is the best time to hit a sleep-deprived citizen with TV adverts for the newest machines and/or affiliate sleep study centers. That gives both time of day and what kind of advertising is going to be most effective; juicy info for marketeering-type folks.

mnem

[Kosmic]

What exactly does your Meinberg ED170MP not like?
Is it monitoring the current of the 15V antenna supply? -> Build a dummy current device could be the solution.

The "error antenna" led stay on and the receiver do not receive anything. I'm wondering if the receiver stop everything when an error is detected. I might also have another problem with the receiver. I need to do more tests.

Don't know if this applies to this particular model: Meinberg GPS antennas used to be quite special and not interchangeable with any other antenna. The RF cable doesn't transport the received signal but rather a 10MHz ref signal upstream (from receiver to antenna) and an IF signal at some 30MHz downstream.

Thanks, that explain my problem. If the antenna is too expensive I might just sell the receiver 

[Kosmic]

I have a monumental amount of gear on my doorstep right now, much of it older. A lot of corroded BNCs etc. So, what's your go-to solution for clearing that up?

Normally I change the connector. Anything else would be a bodge.

[Brumby]

Bean has expanded his enabling capability - referring others my way.

Somehow this image popped into my head....



I have to might thank him later.

[mnementh]

Good find, seems that he might well a HAM as well, maybe bd knows who he is 

G0MGX. Never heard of him.

And by the power of Googleskull  https://www.eevblog.com/forum/profile/?u=128654

And it seems Mark dropped by here back in 2018:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/test-equipment-anonymous-(tea)-group-therapy-thread/msg1921241/#msg1921241

I remember saying hi to him. Shhhh... let him lrrrk. You'll scare him off if you call him out. 

mnem

[beanflying]

Bean has expanded his enabling capability - referring others my way.

Somehow this image popped into my head....

I have to might thank him later.

 

[mnementh]

Yes.

mnem
don't read this.

[mnementh]

   If previously the curvature of the room drove you wild, this will let you loose your mind. Panorama picture distortion, obviously. No, it did not fit on a normal picture.

That's even worse than GoPro fisheye... Well done.

mnem
 

[tonyalbus]

Hi, the new guy here, on my first post.

Happy user of the Marconi 2955,
worked with one 25 years ago, then this last Januari i found one on our local ebay from someone who wanted a nice home for it for very nice price,
here the lucky one...
being a radio amateur... it is great... worth the wait..

here its in action: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwLPcv2xiA3D9lfGArF58ww

Tony

[Brumby]

Welcome!

Introducing yourself with the 2955 is an excellent first impression...

What else do you have...!   

[mnementh]

Hi, the new guy here, on my first post.

Happy user of the Marconi 2955,
worked with one 25 years ago, then this last Januari i found one on our local ebay from someone who wanted a nice home for it for very nice price,   here the lucky one...   being a radio amateur... it is great... worth the wait..

here its in action:      https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwLPcv2xiA3D9lfGArF58ww

Tony

Welcome to the nuthouse Tony; you'll fit right in. Juddering corner is over there, coffee is over there (bean, step aside & let the man fill his cup ) right next to the Breakfast Taco truck.

mnem
 

[Neomys Sapiens]

I have a monumental amount of gear on my doorstep right now, much of it older. A lot of corroded BNCs etc. So, what's your go-to solution for clearing that up?

Depends on the jack. One I did up recently was Silver plated so I polished it up and then gave it a good flush with IPA. The internal pin looked in good condition in this case. Otherwise swap them for less fuss depending on if you can get one as an easy replacement.

For BNC jacks, I have a thin conical well worn dental diamond burr, which, if applied carefully, nicely restores them.

[tonyalbus]

Thanks guys!

Just arrived today.. TTi  TF930 Freqenty counter, i needed something new.
last mounth i bought a Siglent SDS1202X-e scope, great machine.. replaced my 15Mhz philips scope ;-)

arriving in a few weeks a 10Mhz reference oscilator with GPS.... and a distribution aplifier for 10Mhz and a stepdown to 1Mhz for the marconi... to get is all synced..

When it is all installed i post it on youtube on my channel

 

[bd139]

Welcome.

Can't go wrong with the TF930 and the SDS1202X-E  

[Kosmic]

I have a monumental amount of gear on my doorstep right now, much of it older. A lot of corroded BNCs etc. So, what's your go-to solution for clearing that up?

Depends on the jack. One I did up recently was Silver plated so I polished it up and then gave it a good flush with IPA. The internal pin looked in good condition in this case. Otherwise swap them for less fuss depending on if you can get one as an easy replacement.

For BNC jacks, I have a thin conical well worn dental diamond burr, which, if applied carefully, nicely restores them.

But you loose the plating at the same time and the connector will corrode quicklier without it.