Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[bitseeker]

Husband: in bed next door, still with a fever and starting to cough. Went to the covid test this morning, awaiting result (PCR does take a day or 2). I picked up the sick slip a couple of hours ago and mailed it to his employer. We are basically waiting for the test results, apart from that there is not much we can do.
Thanks for asking, though.

Hope he gets better soon! Test results in a day or two isn't too bad.

[bitseeker]

Did I need these four HP annual catalogs? No...did I want them? Oh yes...now have catalogs from 1978-2001 modulo 1981. Such wonderful places to build a TEA shopping list... 

 

Those'll help to feed your habit.  Now you need to get the earlier ones - they're where you'll find all the orange glowie things.   



This just prompted me to search the our favorite wallet drain and get a copy of the 1995 catalog that I was missing.  Damn, there are a lot of them out there now - it took about 5 years or so searching on the bay and Amazon for me to find all of the ones I now have.  It's a good time to be an HP catalog collector, it would seem.  They are certainly a TEA addict's crack!

-Pat

Somehow I knew this shelf was going to make an appearance!

[Cubdriver]

Damn, am I that predictable?   

I think I should go down the Tek rabbit hole next - only have a few of theirs.  500/5000 series plug ins could be a fine wallet evacuator.

-Pat

[tggzzz]

In other news:

A man with on GPSDO knows the 10MHz reference, a man with two is never sure...      

Roughly twelve ours of persistence, channel one is a Samsung UCCM-LPK module, channel two (also trigger-source) is a Trimble Thunderbolt:

That cries out for a x-y mode lissajous figure to spot any changing phase/frequency Infinite persistence would be an added benefit.

[bd139]

I was about to say the same thing. And it will indeed do that so use it! 

[Specmaster]

Ugh this picture gave me cancer. Molex for a bus?!?!?! 



SWTPC 6809.

Had flashbacks to that burned up 1740A for a bit there.

I don't think that Molex are that bad really given that they have been the standard connector for peripherals on a PC for years without any known problems, its all down to the loading I suppose. Apparently those connectors on the 1740A was a known issue and in the main is more to with poor soldering to the PCB then anything else.

They require too much operating force to ever be soldered well enough.

I remember a range of UPSs that used this system on a smaller scale, to connect power cards to the main board.

Given that we had to regularly remove the power cards to replace expired power semis, it wasn't unusual for the backplane/bus board to need stripping out every few times the power cards were, in order to reflow the solder.

Those only had 10 or 12 way connectors, I shudder to think how much force those 40 or 50 way connectors would need!   

Oh I see, I missed those on the bottom of the card, I saw those few on top of the storage caps, which look identical to those from a PC on the old IDE drives etc. I get the point know, just those 4 pole ones can be hard enough at times but those bottom ones 

[bd139]

At least no one is going to steal the boards out of it 

[URI]

In other news:

A man with one GPSDO knows the 10MHz reference, a man with two is never sure...      

Roughly twelve ours of persistence, channel one is a Samsung UCCM-LPK module, channel two (also trigger-source) is a Trimble Thunderbolt:

That cries out for a x-y mode lissajous figure to spot any changing phase/frequency Infinite persistence would be an added benefit.

Ah, good idea!   
To make that clear: This screenshot of my scope shows roughly twelve hours of infinite persistence. Should have written that more clearly.


Edit: on -> one

[Saskia]

Update from the Hubby front:
He has the flu. CoVid test is negative, but the symptoms are far too severe for a simple cold.

He is slowly getting better though, thanks to all for the get wells.

[URI]

Update from the Hubby front:
He has the flu. CoVid test is negative, but the symptoms are far too severe for a simple cold.

He is slowly getting better though, thanks to all for the get wells.

Ah, good news and not so bad news!   

On the other hand: The flu is no fun either. I hope your husband recovers soon and you don't catch it!

[capt bullshot]

In other news:

A man with one GPSDO knows the 10MHz reference, a man with two is never sure...      

It's more interesting to have somewhat more diversity. This is the difference between the 10MHz output of my homebrew DCF receiver and an GPSDO, captured by my new FA-2 toy:



Y-scale is frequency difference in Hz (0.01 equals a 10e-9 deviation here), X-axis is the number of measured 10.1 sec intervals, so the picture shows slightly less than one day. This includes my latest efforts to smooth the ionosphere reflection caused interference at night. It's not perfect yet, since the loop slightly oscillates.

[Cubdriver]

Update from the Hubby front:
He has the flu. CoVid test is negative, but the symptoms are far too severe for a simple cold.

He is slowly getting better though, thanks to all for the get wells.

It seems bizarre to be relieved to learn that someone has the flu, but since we're kind of in Bizarro World lately in a weird way it makes sense.  Good thoughts inbound wishing him a speedy recovery and you avoidance of whatever flavor of bug he has.

-Pat

[Saskia]

thanks everyone for the get well soon wishes.

The flu is nasty and he had a few pretty crappy days but is slowly getting better.
Currently he is in "in appartment-quarantine", meaning he has the bedroom for himself and does only leave when going to the loo.

That plus the disinfecting regimen (that's where the 80l of alcohol are coming in handy ...) should protect me at least a little bit.

In other news, the HP power supply arrived. The amp meter is somewhere in the case, the accompanying screw somewhere else, and the packaging was a mother of a fuckup using shoe boxes thrown into a large shipping box, then the power supply on top, plus another couple of shoeboxes to bolster it.

 

In yet some other news the dead x99 board has been returned for repair, but I have one other board which is working satisfactorily, even though 64GB of RAM for a W7 may seem to be a bit over the top.

[Mr. Scram]

It seems bizarre to be relieved to learn that someone has the flu, but since we're kind of in Bizarro World lately in a weird way it makes sense.  Good thoughts inbound wishing him a speedy recovery and you avoidance of whatever flavor of bug he has.

-Pat

If I'm going to be ill, but live I think I'd rather have Covid and be done with it. If I have been ill I definitely want it to have been Covid.

[drussell]

If I'm going to be ill, but live I think I'd rather have Covid and be done with it. If I have been ill I definitely want it to have been Covid.

Why, so you could catch it again in the fall? 

Most recoveries from typical coronaviruses in humans provide 3-6 months of re-infection immunity to the same strain.

We do not yet have sufficient data from SARS-CoV-2 to tell precisely how the average immune system behaves months after recovery.  There is also still the need to hope that the virus doesn't mutate significantly, hampering or outright destroying the chances of ever having a widely deploy-able, effective vaccine.  While there might be some short-term benefits socially to having had it, I'm sure I would not try to catch it intentionally.   

Only time will tell! 

Now, back to out regularly scheduled TEA... 

[mnementh]

Damn, am I that predictable?   

I think I should go down the Tek rabbit hole next - only have a few of theirs.  500/5000 series plug ins could be a fine wallet evacuator. -Pat

Don't forget the associated documentation! 

mnem
"Very helpful... very helpful indeed." Chibila thought to himself...

[mnementh]

In other news:      A man with one GPSDO knows the 10MHz reference, a man with two is never sure...     

   It's more interesting to have somewhat more diversity. This is the difference between the 10MHz output of my homebrew DCF receiver and an GPSDO, captured by my new FA-2 toy:

Y-scale is frequency difference in Hz (0.01 equals a 10e-9 deviation here), X-axis is the number of measured 10.1 sec intervals, so the picture shows slightly less than one day. This includes my latest efforts to smooth the ionosphere reflection caused interference at night. It's not perfect yet, since the loop slightly oscillates.

mnem
 

[FransW]

capt bullshot,

Do you see a day-night periodicity?
Any thoughts on the seemingly increasing differences?

[psykok]

Just had a good ebay win. Got the 160m + 2nd RX antenna option kit for the K2 off ebay unbuilt for less than half the retail price . That gives it AM broadcast band RX as well which is handy. Also more importantly something to build / do / fettle with

Well, you are not alone.    I scored a few minutes ago three very nice units:

- a Fluke 732A voltage reference - 330 Euro
- a Keithley 155 Null Detector - 300 Euro
- a Fluke 750A reference divider - 255 Euro

                              

Here are some generic pictures of the devices:

Fluke 732A


Keithley 155


Fluke 750A

you are the one I was fighting  against 

[BU508A]

Just had a good ebay win. Got the 160m + 2nd RX antenna option kit for the K2 off ebay unbuilt for less than half the retail price . That gives it AM broadcast band RX as well which is handy. Also more importantly something to build / do / fettle with

Well, you are not alone.    I scored a few minutes ago three very nice units:

- a Fluke 732A voltage reference - 330 Euro
- a Keithley 155 Null Detector - 300 Euro
- a Fluke 750A reference divider - 255 Euro

                              

Here are some generic pictures of the devices:

Fluke 732A


Keithley 155


Fluke 750A

you are the one I was fighting  against 

 

Yes, seems so.
And if I haven't slept @ the Fluke 731B it would be mine as well.   

Those devices are in a very nice shape, aren't they?

[capt bullshot]

capt bullshot,

Do you see a day-night periodicity?

Yes, using different loop parameters, one can clearly see larger deviation amplitude at night. The received signal phase noise is larger at night. Here, the 10MHz output is rather loosely coupled to the receiver, so it's not visible here - this is just snapshot while I'm experimenting with control loop strategies.

Any thoughts on the seemingly increasing differences?

Yes, that's a result of my control loop, with the current parameters it has a tendency to oscillate with a period in the hours ballpark. Need to improve the loop response, or maybe implement nested loops.


Edit: It's the deviation of the DCF77 receiver that I'm watching here. The GPSDO is way more stable.

[psykok]

Just had a good ebay win. Got the 160m + 2nd RX antenna option kit for the K2 off ebay unbuilt for less than half the retail price . That gives it AM broadcast band RX as well which is handy. Also more importantly something to build / do / fettle with

Well, you are not alone.    I scored a few minutes ago three very nice units:

- a Fluke 732A voltage reference - 330 Euro
- a Keithley 155 Null Detector - 300 Euro
- a Fluke 750A reference divider - 255 Euro

                              

Here are some generic pictures of the devices:

Fluke 732A


Keithley 155


Fluke 750A

you are the one I was fighting  against 

 

Yes, seems so.
And if I haven't slept @ the Fluke 731B it would be mine as well.   

Those devices are in a very nice shape, aren't they?

Unfortunately I was not able to pick them.
In France the borders are still closed until next week.

I was hopping to get more stuf but my pockets were not deep enough.
Anyway I'm quite happy because I was able to score good stuffs

[BU508A]

Unfortunately I was not able to pick them.
In France the borders are still closed until next week.

I was hopping to get more stuf but my pockets were not deep enough.
Anyway I'm quite happy because I was able to score good stuffs

Oh, that's a pity! 
But since you aren't that far away from me, perhaps we could meet in Basel once the borders are open again. 
It's always good to have some company when exploring rabbit holes. 

[Neomys Sapiens]

Just had a good ebay win. Got the 160m + 2nd RX antenna option kit for the K2 off ebay unbuilt for less than half the retail price . That gives it AM broadcast band RX as well which is handy. Also more importantly something to build / do / fettle with

Well, you are not alone.    I scored a few minutes ago three very nice units:

- a Fluke 732A voltage reference - 330 Euro
- a Keithley 155 Null Detector - 300 Euro
- a Fluke 750A reference divider - 255 Euro

                              

Here are some generic pictures of the devices:

Fluke 732A


Keithley 155


Fluke 750A

you are the one I was fighting  against 

 

Yes, seems so.
And if I haven't slept @ the Fluke 731B it would be mine as well.   

Those devices are in a very nice shape, aren't they?

Aren't you worried because of the missing jacks on the Fluke 732A? I always suspect, that this could mean further missing parts behind....

[ArthurDent]

In other news:
...Roughly twelve ours of persistence, channel one is a Samsung UCCM-LPK module, channel two (also trigger-source) is a Trimble Thunderbolt:

I've checked drift a couple of different ways. One with a modified Trimble Thunderbolt and Lady Heather, and the other with a scope set to infinite persistence and color-grade on. The graph is of an Rb standard being adjusted.