Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Mr. Scram]

oh cum on, compared to our current Junta Trump at least tried to do what he thought was best for his country.

If I were god (and if I believed in him) I would force Merkel and her gang to go to hell and eat with hammer and sickle. I am sure you are aware that as of 2007 there was a study regarding a SARS outbreak in Europe requested by the Bundestag. It was read and locked away as nobody wanted to admit that they were totally unprepared and incapable of handling such an outbreak. In the mean time they did nothing. Except give government POs to the wife of one of Germany's leading politicians ...

We have the same coalition as back in 2007. We also have the same chancellor. And we could call it criminal neglect resulting in the death of ten thousands. Pierrepoint would have rejoiced at the opportunities he had if politicians were held accountable for their neglect and the "I just followed orders".

Trump didn't do what was best for the country, or what he felt was. He's consistently been antagonising and polarising for personal profit and gain. Even all these election cases appear to be a ploy to shake down his followers one last time.

[med6753]

Got the covers off the Type 503 and all prepared to do the PSU re-cap and said "screw it...gonna go watch TV instead". 

Tomorrow...maybe. 

[mnementh]

I concur, 2020 is a crap year which should be struck from the calendar.
In ancient times we sacrificed our leaders to appease the gods. I think we should reestablish this custom.

Disagree. If I were I god, I would take deadly revenge if the unworthy earthlings try to serve me a Trump-quality polititian as a dinner. 

There isn't enough BBQ seasoning in all of creation to make that palatable. *blerk*

mnem

[mnementh]

You all get me wrong. I want to appease the gods, not to torture someone. If I wanted to torture someone, I would blood eagle them. I have to stay true to my religion.

I believe it is good to innovate; expand one's horizons, develop new frontiers in the creation of misery. 

mnem

I thought it was just the Christmas "spirits" (wine, rum, whisky, etc), but I've just asked someone who's sober and they've confirmed that your Dragon comics are definitely blurred today.

McBryce.

edit: Seems I'm having bandwidth issues here. After restarting the router/modem I can read them again... Please continue.

LOL... no, it wasn't you. I posted that last night from my tablet; something in the Android version of Chrome apparently does that when interacting with images online. As soon as I saw it on my PC, I fixed it; took aught but a moment. I will be installing FireFlumph next time I have the tablet in my hand.

Glad you enjoyed it; that particular one was just so apropos... 

mnem
Yet another reason to burn Chrome and beat the ashes with a stick.

PPS: And just to remind us it is not yet vanquished, the eevBlog wandering singularity has eaten another of my pics. 
Merry Christmas! Hope you enjoyed your cookie you little null!

[mnementh]

She's even thinking about coming up here for a few days rather than me going down there. I'm all for it. She can come here, relax, and fall asleep watching East Enders. 

Which statement ought to be followed by syndrums going: "Dufff, dufff, dufff...".

   
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duff_Beer
https://www.cartoonbrew.com/cartoon-culture/duff-beer-simpsons-115942.html


Duff...?   

mnem
No, seriously... it's a thing now.

[mnementh]

Had a good deal on a Datron 1059      in the end turnsout the shipping doubles the price 
any have a cool meter coming

I "accidentally" bought a Philips PM 3335 yesterday, cheap as chips but expensive shipping, hopefully it bodes well for a safe arrival!

I just received my $93 iPud parts unit. It arrived in a bubble mailer; I'm afraid to open it.      

mnem
Also, that means I'll have to actually try and fix my daughter's iPud...

[AVGresponding]

I just received my $93 iPud parts unit. It arrived in a bubble mailer; I'm afraid to open it.      

mnem
Also, that means I'll have to actually try and fix my daughter's iPud...

Yeah, that Philips PM 2521 I just got arrived clad in just bubble wrap and a bin liner.   

Remarkably enough it survived, including the static discharges from unwrapping it which made the display go haywire, though I broke a few bits of the front while disassembling it.   

Measurement wise it's spot on, and with a 1nA resolution in the lowest DCA range it's even better than the Keithley 2000 for low current stuff.

[AVGresponding]

Oh, and Seasons Greetings everyone!

[Saskia]

oh cum on, compared to our current Junta Trump at least tried to do what he thought was best for his country.

If I were god (and if I believed in him) I would force Merkel and her gang to go to hell and eat with hammer and sickle. I am sure you are aware that as of 2007 there was a study regarding a SARS outbreak in Europe requested by the Bundestag. It was read and locked away as nobody wanted to admit that they were totally unprepared and incapable of handling such an outbreak. In the mean time they did nothing. Except give government POs to the wife of one of Germany's leading politicians ...

We have the same coalition as back in 2007. We also have the same chancellor. And we could call it criminal neglect resulting in the death of ten thousands. Pierrepoint would have rejoiced at the opportunities he had if politicians were held accountable for their neglect and the "I just followed orders".

Trump didn't do what was best for the country, or what he felt was. He's consistently been antagonising and polarising for personal profit and gain. Even all these election cases appear to be a ploy to shake down his followers one last time.

I am sure we can all agree that the world would be better off without the kind of politicians we have today.

[Robert763]

Damm, I blew up the 400Hz inverer 
Having soak tested it on load and all working fine. Disconnected everything and started putting it together and as I was manovering the PCB into position I saw a small spark
I'd touched the PCB against a electrolytic that clearly still had a charge on it. With trepidation I connected power and get little current draw and no oscillation 
Further investigation shows what appears to be the oscillator circuit with a small transformer isn't oscillating and the 150R resistor feeding 28V to it is running hot. Bad news is the transformer is conneced to the mystery potted block 
No chance of fixing that. I think I'll dump the control circuit but keep the magnetics and power transistors and build a new control. Voltage regulation in the orginal circuit seems to be PWM to a transistor (40444 TO3 seems to be NPN Si 120V 20A) with an iron core inductor in series with the ground circuit of the main transformer drive.
I'll probably drive the push-pull pair with a fixed 400Hz  square wave with a bit of dead time either a SG3525 or maybe a PIC. I can investigate the performance of that with a variable supply on the transformer and then add a PWM with voltage feedback (seems to be a winding on the output transformer for feedback) driving the third transistor to close the loop.

[Specmaster]

Had a good deal on a Datron 1059   
in the end turnsout the shipping doubles the price 
any have a cool meter coming

I "accidentally" bought a Philips PM 3335 yesterday, cheap as chips but expensive shipping, hopefully it bodes well for a safe arrival!

Had a good deal on a Datron 1059   
in the end turnsout the shipping doubles the price 
any have a cool meter coming

I "accidentally" bought a Philips PM 3335 yesterday, cheap as chips but expensive shipping, hopefully it bodes well for a safe arrival!

Nice one, hope the plastics on it is better than on their meter. I often fancied getting one of those myself 

[Saskia]

in the C64 forum we have that Secret Santa thingie going on. Am I glad, that we don't do that here. Shipping cost for boat anchors would be prohibitive.

[Specmaster]

in the C64 forum we have that Secret Santa thingie going on. Am I glad, that we don't do that here. Shipping cost for boat anchors would be prohibitive.

They certainly will cost even more after December 31st to the UK at least 

[tautech]

Got the covers off the Type 503 and all prepared to do the PSU re-cap and said "screw it...gonna go watch TV instead". 

Tomorrow...maybe. 

Wise choice Med when your mind is rightfully elsewhere.


8.30 am 25th here....Best wishes everybody ! ......off to get properly merry that we've almost survived all of 2020. 

I'll make sure I have 1, 2 or 3 for you all. 

[Robert763]

The yellow-red DHL Santa did a marvellous job. 

He brought me this:


The Hameg HZ 530 EMV probe kit, the Hameg HZ 22 (50R / 2W) resistor, 2 LED christmas tree kits, DeoxIT G5 and D100, some spaceships from the Shadows from Babylon 5, some DC-DC converters ...

And this is for you, especially for the german speaking viewers here. 
The lyrics are from a famous german christmas charol (Leise rieselt der Schnee - Snow falls softly at night for the english version)

https://youtu.be/xYaJlQBYJUQ

Merry Christmas, Happy Hollidays, have a good time, stay healthy, see you soon here again.

The HZ-530 probes are very nice, I have a set and was actually using them recently. They cost about €800 new.

[VK5RC]

Merry Christmas to all and your kin. (includes fav TE gear!)
Best for 2021
Rob

[tautech]

Merry Christmas to all and your kin. (includes fav TE gear!)
Best for 2021
Rob

Bit early for WA isn't it Rob ....4.30 am ! Need a pee did ya ? 

Right, I just remembered at this time of year over in Perth as you don't have DS the sun is getting up at that time.
Hot one forecast IIRC and 40C. Have a nice one and stay hydrated.   

[mnementh]

....this is for you, especially for the german speaking viewers here. 
The lyrics are from a famous german christmas charol (Leise rieselt der Schnee - Snow falls softly at night for the english version)



Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, have a good time, stay healthy, see you soon here again.

I quite enjoyed it, even tho I had no idea what they were singing. Very prog rock feel; maybe Tangerine Dream influence, but a little more mainstream 80's rock vocal style...?

mnem
 

[factory]

Had a good deal on a Datron 1059   
in the end turnsout the shipping doubles the price 
any have a cool meter coming

I "accidentally" bought a Philips PM 3335 yesterday, cheap as chips but expensive shipping, hopefully it bodes well for a safe arrival!

Hopefully they will pack it well, otherwise it will end up as a box of broken plastic bits like some other Philips/Fluke scopes on here; https://www.eevblog.com/forum/repair/pm3394-can_t-communicate-with-ufo/msg567139/#msg567139

I picked up a PM3055 at the only local ham sale that was on at the start of the year for £20, didn't spot the broken intensity control till I had got home, hopefully I will be able to rescue a parts mule from work (switching PSU dead), I only powered it briefly as it needs a full recap or the PSU will probably fail in the same way as the one at work did. For some reason a lot of people at work liked it, maybe something to do with that auto button, but not enough to care about repairing it.


Some of the over bits I got at the same time, including a Yaesu counter, a dead Time Millivolt source and more parts of some early Venner counters.



David

[mnementh]

This is hopeful. Charging normally and no complaints aboot the HOME button; so evidently I harvested it intact from the mass of glass shards that was the old digitizer.

Body of the new unit is in mint condition; I think I'm going to just install the LCD from the old one in this body and put them both on the shelf until the new digitizer arrives. Hopefully this will maximize my chances of installing the original home button successfully.

mnem
 

[factory]

Looks like someone has wiped dog shit on it as well 

One from the archives. Can't remember if I posted this or not...

Well I got one like yesterday, bit of a shame as I wasn't expecting a lead to be included with the HP 8443A and for some reason they chose to wrap it round one of the front handles, which has cut into the ground wire. The plug was positioned with the pins facing the side of the unit, luckily no major damage to the side.


This is a nice early 8443A (1969) to go with my 141S spectrum analyzer.




Note the early ones don't have the Siemens fan unit for the counter section & none of the circuit modules are labelled, also there is no restore signal function switch on the front panel.



Not worked out why there is one less coax cable going to the connector at the back.


After giving it a clean I checked the counter section, seems to be fully working on all digits & will count to about 145MHz.  The power switch needs a good clean to get the standby & power lamps to stay lit. Can't check the rest till I get the appropriate link cable & the 141S is currently in storage.


David

[Neomys Sapiens]

Damm, I blew up the 400Hz inverer 
Having soak tested it on load and all working fine. Disconnected everything and started putting it together and as I was manovering the PCB into position I saw a small spark
I'd touched the PCB against a electrolytic that clearly still had a charge on it. With trepidation I connected power and get little current draw and no oscillation 
Further investigation shows what appears to be the oscillator circuit with a small transformer isn't oscillating and the 150R resistor feeding 28V to it is running hot. Bad news is the transformer is conneced to the mystery potted block 
No chance of fixing that. I think I'll dump the control circuit but keep the magnetics and power transistors and build a new control. Voltage regulation in the orginal circuit seems to be PWM to a transistor (40444 TO3 seems to be NPN Si 120V 20A) with an iron core inductor in series with the ground circuit of the main transformer drive.
I'll probably drive the push-pull pair with a fixed 400Hz  square wave with a bit of dead time either a SG3525 or maybe a PIC. I can investigate the performance of that with a variable supply on the transformer and then add a PWM with voltage feedback (seems to be a winding on the output transformer for feedback) driving the third transistor to close the loop.

Your whole story made me locate my Abbot Martek inverter, it is slated for a re-test now.

[Mr. Scram]

Dang. Weird night so far. 02:45 here.  I managed to get my elderly neighbour’s door kicked down by the police. TV full whack and living room light on at 1:30AM which is very unusual and didn’t answer the door to me. So I call her daughter (as requested) and the police. So they get a ladder and she’s sitting in her chair not moving or responding to them shining torch on her. Took them ten minutes to get though the door by ramming in shaking the entire building to bits. And she finally wakes up literally when they’re standing in the living room with a paramedic  . Locksmith out sorting the door at the moment.

Can’t sleep now. Looking at test gear on eBay 

Edit: just found out she’s 96 and she hates my guts now . Her daughter said this is the fifth time they thought she was dead though so it’s not my fault.

That'll teach you doing good deeds and caring about anything. Besides, one day not too long from now someone is going to win that prize.

[Neomys Sapiens]

Looks like someone has wiped dog shit on it as well 

Please refrain from mentioning dog shit and technical devices. Very unkind reminiscence for me.

Back when bulk waste was still put on the street in complete streets and areas, I looked it over with some friends. And there it was - lots of useful parts in form of a GRC 9. Unfortunately someone had placed it right on a dog turd, which was unnoticeable before I touched it. Minor cut on finger did go septic. The next part is played by an idiot surgeon, who was either to stupid or to sadistic to understand 'might have high tolerance towards that anaesthetic due to mumble mumble sympathomimetics mumble'.
Next was major hurts. To add insult to injury, I ended up with a big bandaged middle finger and being told to hold it up when going home.

[Neomys Sapiens]

Some of the over bits I got at the same time, including a Yaesu counter, a dead Time Millivolt source and more parts of some early Venner counters.

Nice grab bag in the lowest pic. I hope that you can resurrect the Time mV source. I have the compatible current source.