Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[tggzzz]

Ebay heads up.

There is another set of those HP probes up that tggzzz (sp?) bought the other week (and I've brought one from the same vendor). They seem to have lots but be putting them out in singles rather than listing them all in one go. Why? Your guess is as good as mine.

Listing: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/303595255565?ul_noapp=true £13.75 buy it now.

FYI they accepted my £12 offer.

[xrunner]

501 ... 502 ... what's next?

503 of course. I stumbled across a Tek FG503 today and made an offer that was accepted. Now I have the next one in the series. Should have it next week since the seller is in a nearby city.

My life is now complete. 

[Neomys Sapiens]

501 ... 502 ... what's next?

503 of course. I stumbled across a Tek FG503 today and made an offer that was accepted. Now I have the next one in the series. Should have it next week since the seller is in a nearby city.

My life is now complete. 

What? Do you have a FG504 and a FG507 already? If not, that expression of complacency is totally out oif place here!

[mnementh]

Maybe he feels that 3 function generators in a row is enough func for any one man!!! 

mnem

[xrunner]

What? Do you have a FG504 and a FG507 already? If not, that expression of complacency is totally out oif place here!

I'll look for those as well, then if I get one, I will have arrived at a higher plane of complete than just level one completeness. 

[worsthorse]

501 ... 502 ... what's next?

503 of course. I stumbled across a Tek FG503 today and made an offer that was accepted. Now I have the next one in the series. Should have it next week since the seller is in a nearby city.

My life is now complete. 

What? Do you have a FG504 and a FG507 already? If not, that expression of complacency is totally out oif place here!

and don't forget the FG501A, which is the FG507 without the internal sweep generator.   

[Neomys Sapiens]

What? Do you have a FG504 and a FG507 already? If not, that expression of complacency is totally out oif place here!

I'll look for those as well, then if I get one, I will have arrived at a higher plane of complete than just level one completeness. 

Right. And you should go for a completely functional FG504 in order to escape a major PITA.

[0culus]

Anyone ever seen one of these cute HP 970A handheld DMM from 1973?

https://www.hpl.hp.com/hpjournal/pdfs/IssuePDFs/1973-11.pdf

[xrunner]

Anyone ever seen one of these cute HP 970A handheld DMM from 1973?

https://www.hpl.hp.com/hpjournal/pdfs/IssuePDFs/1973-11.pdf

Never seen that one before. 

[0culus]

Anyone ever seen one of these cute HP 970A handheld DMM from 1973?

https://www.hpl.hp.com/hpjournal/pdfs/IssuePDFs/1973-11.pdf

Never seen that one before. 

Yeah, I've never seen one either. I found a user manual for one on evilbay. Talk about way, way ahead of it's time. 

[xrunner]

Talk about way, way ahead of it's time. 

Yeah really -

Fig. 2. Slide switch adjacent to the display inverts the numerals so readings can be taken with the probe upside down.

https://www.hpl.hp.com/hpjournal/pdfs/IssuePDFs/1973-11.pdf

[0culus]

I added another saved search to evilbay...I almost just have to have one now just because it's so high tech for the 1970s. 

[edit]

Fig. 8. As much of the circuitry as possible was placed on one custom-made monolithic 1C chip. This chip has 40 flip- flops, 19 MOSFET switches and about 3500 bits of ROM.

They really were looking into the future and experimenting here.

[edit edit] $310 in 1975 bux, according to the 1975 catalog (which is the closest one I have post 1973).

[TorinoFermic]

Hi addicts fellows,
I am gearing up my lab with a "new" Agilent 54622A which works fine and is quick to boot up from power off to power on.Yet, I hunger for more Test gear like Siglent SDS2000 Plus or better a bench multi-meter of more than 6 digits.
Also, does count as getting new test equipment by building 1-2 current probes from http://www.electronoobs.com/eng_circuitos_tut12_1.php with digikey parts ?

[0culus]

I'd say it does. TEA begets TEA, as the laws of TEA state. 

[0culus]

I searched through my HP catalogs for the 970A...it was listed up through 1979 and then was gone for 1980.

[tggzzz]

I searched through my HP catalogs for...

And that is a neat indication of Having A Problem, albeit one that might be accompanied by phrases like "under control" and "high functioning".

I'm clearly somewhere on that spectrum since I've bought one HP Catalogue.

[Cubdriver]

I searched through my HP catalogs for...

And that is a neat indication of Having A Problem, albeit one that might be accompanied by phrases like "under control" and "high functioning".

I'm clearly somewhere on that spectrum since I've bought one HP Catalogue.

That's a start at least.  About 35 or so more and you'll have a fairly complete set of them.   

-Pat

[med6753]

I added another saved search to evilbay...I almost just have to have one now just because it's so high tech for the 1970s. 

[edit]

Fig. 8. As much of the circuitry as possible was placed on one custom-made monolithic 1C chip. This chip has 40 flip- flops, 19 MOSFET switches and about 3500 bits of ROM.

They really were looking into the future and experimenting here.

[edit edit] $310 in 1975 bux, according to the 1975 catalog (which is the closest one I have post 1973).

Does it have a "Hold" function similar to Fluke's "Touch Hold"? If not I could see it being very awkward to use in tight places and trying to read the small LED's at the same time. 

[Saskia]

can anyone get one of those keysight test leads for me and pass them on ?
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/303595255565?ul_noapp=true

Seller does not ship to Germany ...

Thnx

[bd139]

Agilent new style 34401A: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/303595788077

Price isn’t terrible either.

[med6753]

The Type 561B now has it's turn on the torture rack. It will go through several burn-in cycles to make sure everything is up to snuff.

The mainframe itself and the Type 3A3 Vertical plug-in are complete and 100% functional. The Type 2B67 Time Base plug-in has a good sweep but it refuses to trigger lock. I have a Type 3B3 Time Base coming this week that is complete and hopefully functional.

Since the Type 2B67 won't trigger on repetitive signals the Type 3A3 is currently connected to the audio output of the police/fire scanner and will just display random audio when there's a transmission.


I also have a Type 3A6 Vertical plug-in but it needs work. It displays traces on both channels but neither channel will pass a signal. That and the Type 2B67 will require troubleshooting via an extender cable to gain access to the component side while it's powered up. I'll have to make up a cable myself. That's a follow on project for a later time.   

[AVGresponding]

Anyone ever seen one of these cute HP 970A handheld DMM from 1973?

https://www.hpl.hp.com/hpjournal/pdfs/IssuePDFs/1973-11.pdf

Dammit now I want one of those too! I would think the chances of finding one that hasn't been murdered to death by its own battery are very slim...

can anyone get one of those keysight test leads for me and pass them on ?
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/303595255565?ul_noapp=true

Seller does not ship to Germany ...

Thnx

Just ordered a set for myself, pm me if you haven't already got fixed up.


EDIT: d'Oh, excuse my dullness, I just got up and the coffee hasn't hit my brain yet. I expect they will relist another set soon.

Ebay heads up.

There is another set of those HP probes up that tggzzz (sp?) bought the other week (and I've brought one from the same vendor). They seem to have lots but be putting them out in singles rather than listing them all in one go. Why? Your guess is as good as mine.

My guess is they come in the box with a new bench dmm, and they're being used as system meters, so someone is flogging off the surplus leads for pin money.

[Brumby]

Brumby := Brumby + 453



A big shoutout to austfox! 

I now have one of the classic look Tek scopes - with the history of the genesis of the model 453 to sweeten the deal.

A quick once over reveals horizontal positioning is quite jumpy.  I suspect cleaning a pot will make a big difference.  Triggering of the displayed signal on channel A falters and then fails as the position of the channel B trace is moved down.  Globes seem to all work.  Focus, intensity and scale illumination are good.  Nothing much further checked.

It is clear, though, that I'll need to do a little homework on how to drive it properly - so I can be sure if there is a problem that I will know what side of the front panel it will be found.

[Brumby]

First thing I checked was the plug wiring - and there was no earth connection.  The mains cable appears to be a two core flex, so no earth connection is possible.

Is this correct?

[med6753]

First thing I checked was the plug wiring - and there was no earth connection.  The mains cable appears to be a two core flex, so no earth connection is possible.

Is this correct?

Nope, it should be grounded. I checked the schematic to make sure.