Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Specmaster]

Where in Mill Road, Cambridge was this H Gee's then, the only shops I can recall of interest in Mill Road was Cambridge Resale and Cash Converters, both were shops where poor students would take anything of value and sell / hock to meet their drinks / coke / rent debts and I managed to pick a few things of interest there years ago myself while I was living in Haverhill.

[bd139]

There was a nice shop off Mill Road somewhere I forget now that sold Magic The Gathering. Nearly ruined me that place 

My sister is moving to Haverhill.

Edit: fuck it just occurred to me that it was Limited Edition cards. Was probably sitting on some cash there.

[xrunner]

wait! wait!

before you decant the clear stuff we would like to see a pic of what it looks like after you shake it.

remember "SHAKEN, NOT STIRRED"

(how long does it take the white stuff to settle to the bottom......minutes?  hours? months?)

edit  well you did say you had time on your hands.  don't mess with us......this is for science.

I can certainly accommodate your request!

Side-by-side comparison. I will see now how long it takes for the monkey-cum (as mnem states it) to settle out.



NOTE: No test equipment was harmed by taking this pic on the bench and no lubrication was performed with the substance.

[tautech]

Assume the approach is something along the lines of telnet in and frig something on the filesystem?

Yeah unless you have a keygen to make an upgrade code to install via SCPI that's how it's done AFAIK.
Info on the telnet process will be in the SDG2042X thread. 

[Cerebus]

Edit: fuck it just occurred to me that it was Limited Edition cards. Was probably sitting on some cash there.

Out of pure curiosity I searched for prices. Phew! Yeah, I think you should invite yourself to an arse kicking party.

[bd139]

Assume the approach is something along the lines of telnet in and frig something on the filesystem?

Yeah unless you have a keygen to make an upgrade code to install via SCPI that's how it's done AFAIK.
Info on the telnet process will be in the SDG2042X thread. 

I shall take a meander over there and have a look 

Edit: fuck it just occurred to me that it was Limited Edition cards. Was probably sitting on some cash there.

Out of pure curiosity I searched for prices. Phew! Yeah, I think you should invite yourself to an arse kicking party.

Tell me about it 

[Cerebus]

Tell me about it 

Well, it's all about the elasticity of prices with supply and demand ... [whitters on for half an hour] ... and that's why you should have held on to those cars. Oh, that's not what you meant?

[mnementh]

spent about 1 hour on the phone with Quadral, the manufacturer of those vintage speakers (hand built in 1986 ... whoa ...)

Took out the crossover. While the capacitors still look ok, I cannot tell if they indeed are. Furthermore, the values are not at all what Quadral would want them to be.
They quoted: 130 instead of 70, 47 instead of 56, 1 instead of 4.2, 5.2 instead of 4.2 (all uF).

Now would be a great time to take out the LCR meter and just start checking coils, capacitors and resistors and then adapting the crossover to what they expect it to be.

Which is probably what I am going to do.

*sigh*

If the capacitors turn out to have lost their oompf, it would most likely make sense to replace all of them. After 34 years or so I would expect them to  no longer be up to specs.

So do you expect death from old age, or hamfisted audioviles substituting parts? Or maybe the entire original crossover robbed, and someone rebuilding based on guesswork...?

mnem

...I'm just lookin' for clues at the scene of the crime;
life's been good to me so far..."   

[Neomys Sapiens]

@med:

fixing those 2 tweeters is 130 € each.

The 2 crossovers, if I send them in: 250€. I guess I'll just source the parts ...

The woofer: have to ask how much my friend wants for reconing and recentering.
but tbh I think the crossover is dead as the tweeter fuse was blown in this speaker and the capacitors are well beyond EOL (about 15 years).

Bloody hell.
2 MKTs 70 uF, 250V, 5%, 2 MKPs 4.2 uF, 250V, 1 MKT 56 uF 250V per crossover.

All somewhat unobtainium.
This does not at all match the drawing I got for this crossover ...

Thinking of: 2 MKPs 68uF, 2 MKPs 4,2 uF, 1 MKP 56uF.

Does it matter if you substitute MKTs with MKPs ? 2x 68 uF seems to be not too far off the beam when looking at the schematic which states 130 for the woofer ...

I need to call the manufacturer.

also, those larger caps are 20 € a piece.
I am starting to think: why bother and just send it in for service and spit out the 125€ incl. parts ...

Now I hate that I do not have an LCR meter right here next to me.

Get this old Belco Bridge sitting in the shelf off my hands please! You like manual bridge measurements, don't you? Come on, anyone likes manual bridge measurements....

[nixiefreqq]

@med:

fixing those 2 tweeters is 130 € each.

The 2 crossovers, if I send them in: 250€. I guess I'll just source the parts ...

The woofer: have to ask how much my friend wants for reconing and recentering.
but tbh I think the crossover is dead as the tweeter fuse was blown in this speaker and the capacitors are well beyond EOL (about 15 years).

Bloody hell.
2 MKTs 70 uF, 250V, 5%, 2 MKPs 4.2 uF, 250V, 1 MKT 56 uF 250V per crossover.

All somewhat unobtainium.
This does not at all match the drawing I got for this crossover ...

Thinking of: 2 MKPs 68uF, 2 MKPs 4,2 uF, 1 MKP 56uF.

Does it matter if you substitute MKTs with MKPs ? 2x 68 uF seems to be not too far off the beam when looking at the schematic which states 130 for the woofer ...

I need to call the manufacturer.

also, those larger caps are 20 € a piece.
I am starting to think: why bother and just send it in for service and spit out the 125€ incl. parts ...

Now I hate that I do not have an LCR meter right here next to me.

Get this old Belco Bridge sitting in the shelf off my hands please! You like manual bridge measurements, don't you? Come on, anyone likes manual bridge measurements....

"stone knives and bearskins".

[Neomys Sapiens]

Hahahahaha thank you 

One down, 20 million to go 

Those squirrel problems are spreading over here. My s.o. was bombarded by one with acorns just a few days ago.

[Neomys Sapiens]

Todays most used feature: The mute button on skype / teams

Sitting @work in a telco that was initiated in skype then moved to teams for PEBKAC reasons, listening (and watching slides) to one of the greatest shit shows for the last 10 yrs.
Luckily the mute button exists, otherwise I'd most probably be banned forever

Yep. KPI for personnel is now to hit it fast enough with an upcoming belch.

[Neomys Sapiens]

I suggest using it to keep the house warm post brexit.

MSDN library from that era is probably worth a few quid however.

Edit: I sold some MSDOS 6.22 media untested on floppy a couple of years back for £40 so there may be a market for such stuff.

I had to dig out a DOS 6.22 installation disk earlier this year to repair a R&S CRTU / CMU200. The software installer, specifically the boot manager, will only run if the disk boots to Dos 6.22 first. That also needed a PC with a 3.5" floppy and a PATA/IDE HDD intterface.

It goes back further than windows. Industries like aerospace have product life cycles many times longer than a operating system or even computer hardware platforms. There are still test rigs running PDP 11 / Q-Bus based interface cards and software. The cost of re-writing  and more importantly validating this software on modern computers, assuming suitable interface cards are available, is prohibitive even for aerospace. As a result there are companines selling replacement machines e.g. Logical https://logical-co.com/nupdpq/ . I know for sure that the A320 series fuel system rig is still running on Q-Bus interface cards and a VT-220 terminal.

A couple of years ago there were job ads for people to work on pdp11s in nuclear plants. Expected withdrawal date 2038,  which is either the Unix time rollover or the plants lifetime.

One of the tek 1502s (b?) was specified in aircraft repair manuals. Somebody has built something new which duplicates the functionality and interface, and is apparently regarded as a dropn in substitute.

I hope fervently that nobody discovers my familiarity with the Siemens M-series. Those are strange machines.

[Neomys Sapiens]

We had 4. A W124 which in fact was ok, an R129 500 SL which spent 6 months of the 9 we had it at the shop because something was broken, a brand new c class which broke 8 times in 5 weeks and an A class which decided that suspension does not need springs (they broke, literally). When those were fixed, the injectors gave way and the exhaust got into the air vent and into the inside of the car.
Never again will we buy a Mercedes Benz.

My newest was a w124. That thing was the closest to my beloved Eldorados; literally like driving down the road in your living room. Everything within arm's reach. I fixed the HL wipers twice before I gave up on them... other than that everything still worked when I sold it at 225Kmi. Even the butt-warmers. 

mnem
*toddles off to ded* 

The W124 cars were the last Mercs made to a specification and not a price point. After the 1992 model year, they rapidly cheapened things up due to pressure fro Japanese competition (Lexus). I have the last laugh though. My 1992 400E still runs great and most of the contemporary Lexuses are in junkyards now. Almost never see them on the road, and if you do they are heaps. Tons of W124 and prior Mercs still on the road though. You take care of them, and they will take care of you.  I'm also fortunate enough to have an excellent shop locally that specializes in older Mercedes for the big work when it needs done.

W123 ruled the road. I got really good performance and lifetime out of mine. I had a 280TE with a full 'special users' kit. This meant camshafts, suspension mod (not visible and not reducing clearance), 2nd battery and associated wiring and  anti-RFI kit. And ZERO lines of software in that car!

[Neomys Sapiens]

@med:

fixing those 2 tweeters is 130 € each.

The 2 crossovers, if I send them in: 250€. I guess I'll just source the parts ...

The woofer: have to ask how much my friend wants for reconing and recentering.
but tbh I think the crossover is dead as the tweeter fuse was blown in this speaker and the capacitors are well beyond EOL (about 15 years).

Bloody hell.
2 MKTs 70 uF, 250V, 5%, 2 MKPs 4.2 uF, 250V, 1 MKT 56 uF 250V per crossover.

All somewhat unobtainium.
This does not at all match the drawing I got for this crossover ...

Thinking of: 2 MKPs 68uF, 2 MKPs 4,2 uF, 1 MKP 56uF.

Does it matter if you substitute MKTs with MKPs ? 2x 68 uF seems to be not too far off the beam when looking at the schematic which states 130 for the woofer ...

I need to call the manufacturer.

also, those larger caps are 20 € a piece.
I am starting to think: why bother and just send it in for service and spit out the 125€ incl. parts ...

Now I hate that I do not have an LCR meter right here next to me.

Get this old Belco Bridge sitting in the shelf off my hands please! You like manual bridge measurements, don't you? Come on, anyone likes manual bridge measurements....

"stone knives and bearskins".

Pssst! Will you be quiet! There are people around which might remember my own opinion on that which I posted at one time while still looking for a RLC meter.

[0culus]

We had 4. A W124 which in fact was ok, an R129 500 SL which spent 6 months of the 9 we had it at the shop because something was broken, a brand new c class which broke 8 times in 5 weeks and an A class which decided that suspension does not need springs (they broke, literally). When those were fixed, the injectors gave way and the exhaust got into the air vent and into the inside of the car.
Never again will we buy a Mercedes Benz.

My newest was a w124. That thing was the closest to my beloved Eldorados; literally like driving down the road in your living room. Everything within arm's reach. I fixed the HL wipers twice before I gave up on them... other than that everything still worked when I sold it at 225Kmi. Even the butt-warmers. 

mnem
*toddles off to ded* 

The W124 cars were the last Mercs made to a specification and not a price point. After the 1992 model year, they rapidly cheapened things up due to pressure fro Japanese competition (Lexus). I have the last laugh though. My 1992 400E still runs great and most of the contemporary Lexuses are in junkyards now. Almost never see them on the road, and if you do they are heaps. Tons of W124 and prior Mercs still on the road though. You take care of them, and they will take care of you.  I'm also fortunate enough to have an excellent shop locally that specializes in older Mercedes for the big work when it needs done.

W123 ruled the road. I got really good performance and lifetime out of mine. I had a 280TE with a full 'special users' kit. This meant camshafts, suspension mod (not visible and not reducing clearance), 2nd battery and associated wiring and  anti-RFI kit. And ZERO lines of software in that car!

One day, I'd love to have one.  But that's a different house with more room for "large" toys problem. 

[25 CPS]

My antique collection has grown over the last few months.  Unfortunately I haven’t had any quality time to myself with work being over the top demanding lately so I haven’t had a chance to play with any of these yet.





Representing Canada, a Bach-Simpson 270 and a Northern Electric NS14510-LQ5 which is another Bach-Simpson product.



From the USA, a Triplett 630.  Notice how the range dial is set up very similarly to the Northern Electric.



And from the UK, an Avo Model 8 Mk 4.

I just have to get through tomorrow at work in one piece and then I’ll have some time off to catch up on a number of things including a bunch of test gear and a couple of projects that have been sitting neglected while I’ve been working like crazy.

[Neomys Sapiens]

Really guys. Only a very modest amount of sweet distraction and you post 14 pages. Do not repeat.

[med6753]

Really guys. Only a very modest amount of sweet distraction and you post 14 pages. Do not repeat.

You snooze, you lose. 

[0culus]

I hope you don’t end up with one of my locals on the other end 

Fortunately, the radio horizon from LEO is such that I doubt your locals would be able to be on when I'm on. 

Every time you hobos start talking about LEO, I have to catch myself... growing up in a hippie household, that  means something totally different, and the ol' dwagon hackles start to rise. 

mnem

Self referential? 


OK, OK I had to look this up on my favorite "save myself from embarrassment" website...Urban Dictionary. I am about as opposite as a hippie as you can get. But I can still laugh uproariously at the exploits of Cheech and Chong.

[med6753]

 

[mnementh]

My antique collection has grown over the last few months.  Unfortunately I haven’t had any quality time to myself with work being over the top demanding lately so I haven’t had a chance to play with any of these yet.

Representing Canada, a Bach-Simpson 270 and a Northern Electric NS14510-LQ5 which is another Bach-Simpson product.

From the USA, a Triplett 630.  Notice how the range dial is set up very similarly to the Northern Electric.

And from the UK, an Avo Model 8 Mk 4.

I just have to get through tomorrow at work in one piece and then I’ll have some time off to catch up on a number of things including a bunch of test gear and a couple of projects that have been sitting neglected while I’ve been working like crazy.

Good luck on the 270. If you need anything for it, lemme know; odds are very low my 265 will be resurrected anytime soon, so better it should live on in another meter, at least for now. I had my fun cleaning it up & fixing the leather strap.

mnem
*knocks self unconscious with a shunt mallet*

[mnementh]

I hope you don’t end up with one of my locals on the other end 

Fortunately, the radio horizon from LEO is such that I doubt your locals would be able to be on when I'm on. 

Every time you hobos start talking about LEO, I have to catch myself... growing up in a hippie household, that  means something totally different, and the ol' dwagon hackles start to rise. 

mnem

Self referential? 


OK, OK I had to look this up on my favorite "save myself from embarrassment" website...Urban Dictionary. I am about as opposite as a hippie as you can get. But I can still laugh uproariously at the exploits of Cheech and Chong.

6-up, guys! Five-Oh next street over!

mnem
"All along the watchtower..."

[0culus]

My name is Raaaaaaaalph...

[0culus]

I hope you don’t end up with one of my locals on the other end 

Fortunately, the radio horizon from LEO is such that I doubt your locals would be able to be on when I'm on. 

Every time you hobos start talking about LEO, I have to catch myself... growing up in a hippie household, that  means something totally different, and the ol' dwagon hackles start to rise. 

mnem

Self referential? 


OK, OK I had to look this up on my favorite "save myself from embarrassment" website...Urban Dictionary. I am about as opposite as a hippie as you can get. But I can still laugh uproariously at the exploits of Cheech and Chong.

6-up, guys! Five-Oh next street over!

mnem
"All along the watchtower..."