Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Neomys Sapiens]

All hail the Brexit deal. Not really, but at least....

Many major frag-ups started very small. Like when my S.O. wanted to print some papers for application to a job. Her letterhead has some coloured parts. Then my own requirements came on top and now I am looking at A3-capable colour laser printer/scanner combos. 
Still undecided.

Else not much, except a handful of MC 2mm test leads. And a replacement for the bedroom stereo set, which croaked. But hopefully soon some TE or tools. Can't let that slow going establish itself.

[Mr. Scram]

All hail the Brexit deal. Not really, but at least....

Many major frag-ups started very small. Like when my S.O. wanted to print some papers for application to a job. Her letterhead has some coloured parts. Then my own requirements came on top and now I am looking at A3-capable colour laser printer/scanner combos. 
Still undecided.

Else not much, except a handful of MC 2mm test leads. And a replacement for the bedroom stereo set, which croaked. But hopefully soon some TE or tools. Can't let that slow going establish itself.

I'm finding that the category you mention is pricey and not very near the sweet spot. Giving up something radically changes that, though what exactly to give up is a tough one.

[Neomys Sapiens]

All hail the Brexit deal. Not really, but at least....

Many major frag-ups started very small. Like when my S.O. wanted to print some papers for application to a job. Her letterhead has some coloured parts. Then my own requirements came on top and now I am looking at A3-capable colour laser printer/scanner combos. 
Still undecided.

Else not much, except a handful of MC 2mm test leads. And a replacement for the bedroom stereo set, which croaked. But hopefully soon some TE or tools. Can't let that slow going establish itself.

I'm finding that the category you mention is pricey and not very near the sweet spot. Giving up something radically changes that, though what exactly to give up is a tough one.

Not really sure about that. I'm seeing some interesting offers for overhauled Kyocera TaskAlfa series machines with warranty etc.

[bitseeker]

Happy holidays everyone!

Where have I been? Nowhere exciting, unfortunately. Just working too much.

However, nothing stops my watchlist. I recently added an Agilent 34970A to the stack. It even came with a 20-channel multiplexer card. Something new to play with during the winter.

Hope everyone is well. Stay safe and happily addicted.

[Mr. Scram]

Not really sure about that. I'm seeing some interesting offers for overhauled Kyocera TaskAlfa series machines with warranty etc.

Unless it's a party you know you can trust to come through on that warranty I'd be wary. I'd hate to inherit someone else's issues.

[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!

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

I'm not sure if the entire case of the PM30xx series is plastic, but certainly the 33xx are all plastic, and I'm hoping that they don't go all brittlely like the bench meters do. I got my PM3390B from a Philips lab in Cambridge that was closing down and moving to Holland and its in mint condition, and I'd like it to remain that way.

Incidently, the LCD on the 3055 should also be illuminated, but it seems to be a common problem with them that the bulbs / LEDs or whatever they use for the lighting, seems to fail.

[Neomys Sapiens]

Heh. Now with seasonal references, electricity, and fire.

http://www.doesnotplaywellwithothers.com/comic/pwc-0472

[Brumby]

Just popping in between Christmas Day events to wish you all best TEA wishes (and to family and friends, I guess ) .... and for a prosperous and healthy 2021! 

[mnementh]

Merry Christmas TEAnonymous!!!

Okies... I guess I gotta get geared up for the North America run; here's hoping they don't try to shoot us down again like last year... 

mnem
I'll just leave these here for your Xmas Morning surprise... Who's up for a snowball fight?

   

[VK5RC]

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.   

I am a crow-eater (for those outside Aus - someone who lives in Sth Australia) not a sand-groper (someone who is in the state of Western Australia) so it was 7AM local.
Fortunately my prostate is going ok, a friend had open prostate cancer surgery earlier this year - he is going ok so far👍.

Count your blessings/practice gratitude.

Rob

[mansaxel]

The yellow-red DHL Santa did a marvellous job. 

Here, as in some other countries, the big session of the season is 24th, so I'm clutching, somewhat bedazzled by all its powers, a SwissMicros DM42. Such Übergerät, that. I don't get even a fraction of what it can do, but I intend to expand that part.

I also got a Sirio VHF antenna for my Storno radio, and a very sexy-cute Facom pocket ratchet set. Yes, it's 6,35mm hex drive.

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

https://youtu.be/xYaJlQBYJUQ

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

Funny. I was just listening to "In Rock" the other week, something I've not done earlier this year at least. Probably is in-child time now. 

 

[tonyalbus]

Merry TEA Christmas and all the best wishes to all.

[bd139]

Merry Christmas! Have a good one!

Let’s hope 2021 is less shit 

[med6753]

Merry Christmas! Have a good one!

Let’s hope 2021 is less shit 

Ditto...although my Christmas this time for obvious reasons is just any other day. 

Remember that big snow we had here on the 16th/17th? It's all gone except for where it's been piled up from plowing. For the past 12 hours or so it's been raining with temps approaching 16 C. Melted away just like the Wicked Witch of the West. But it's also been windy and trees are coming down. Lost power here for a few seconds but luckily cleared and came back up.

Later today will rip into the Type 503 re-cap.

[McBryce]

....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
 

?? You don't recognise that it's a Deep Purple piece (Child in Time) with different lyrics?

McBryce.

[factory]

Merry TEA Christmas and all the best wishes to all.

Happy Christmas to everyone on here.

Nice to see the HP 5323A again, I was wondering what you had done with it.
The internal layout looks a little similar to the 5325 series but I suspect most boards are very different apart from maybe the PSU ones, good to see you kept the old stickers too (part of it's history). 
One day I hope to find one for my collection, I did put an offer on one in Nov but before I could get a reply it sold for the full price of $199.

David

[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

I'm not sure if the entire case of the PM30xx series is plastic, but certainly the 33xx are all plastic, and I'm hoping that they don't go all brittlely like the bench meters do. I got my PM3390B from a Philips lab in Cambridge that was closing down and moving to Holland and its in mint condition, and I'd like it to remain that way.

Incidently, the LCD on the 3055 should also be illuminated, but it seems to be a common problem with them that the bulbs / LEDs or whatever they use for the lighting, seems to fail.

I can't remember what if the cover was steel or plastic, but the internal frame definitely is, it's in storage at the moment, for some reason when I was looking to buy my first scope years ago I wanted one, but ended up with something more vintage, a HP 175A.
I've seen a few posts about the lamp used in these, it's a very tiny linear bulb, seems to be working on mine at the moment, the PSU on the other hand is suffering from the protection circuits kicking in & shutting it down, there is an SCR across one of the higher voltage rails used to clamp the supply (OVP). The later PSU's look worse with more protection circuits using lot of surface mount parts of the back of the board.

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.

Hopefully I can, it was showing signs of battery corrosion, needs stripping down & properly cleaning for a start. The current source is a useful one to have too, used one at work years ago for checking meter movements & train speedometers, maybe I'll find one eventually too.

David

[Ice-Tea]

 

Lost my perfect eBay rating. Accidently listed a CSA 803C mainframe with SD-14 module for 100€ rather than 1000€. A dude scooped it up. I noticed my mistake, cancelled the sale, refunded and appologized profusely. Dude didn't reply and gave me a negative review:

Bad seller changes price after selling and cancels the transaction

Should be obvious to anyone such a machine will never sell for 100€. Vindicative ass.

So, what do you guys think? What are they chances to get it revised by him or eBay? How do I proceed.

Not a nice christmas gift 

[Specmaster]

Lost my perfect eBay rating. Accidently listed a CSA 803C mainframe with SD-14 module for 100€ rather than 1000€. A dude scooped it up. I noticed my mistake, cancelled the sale, refunded and appologized profusely. Dude didn't reply and gave me a negative review:

Bad seller changes price after selling and cancels the transaction

Should be obvious to anyone such a machine will never sell for 100€. Vindicative ass.

So, what do you guys think? What are they chances to get it revised by him or eBay? How do I proceed.

Not a nice christmas gift 

Have a chat with eBay support team ask them what if anything you can do. I think it might be an uphill battle though as there are no others listed anywhere and no history of them ever being sold before on eBay, other than the one you cancelled. Sorry I didn't bring anything more positive.

[Robert763]

You won't get it changed I'm afraid. It was your mistake so you had two choices, take the loss or risk bad feedback. At least it only lasts a year now. Did you talk to the buyer before you cancelled it. Seling price and value are not connected. I bought a complete conducted immunity test rig for 99p BIN and got £1500 for the bit I didn't want. Last year I won two R&S CRTU-RU's, 1 CMW and a big UPS for £82. I got more than that for the UPS.

[factory]

Put a reply to the feedback about the genuine mistake, then forgot about it, it will disappear after 12 months.
Got to say I almost never bother looking at feedback anyway.

Naughty sellers misuse the "buyer requested to cancel sale" option, had this earlier this year with some van parts from a Chinese seller, they had plenty of stock but cancelled the sale without any communication from me or them, I was prevented leaving feedback due to the reason they selected (think I got on the Chinese seller blacklist complaining about those broken number tubes).

David

[Cerebus]

A Merry Christmas to you all.

Now I have to get stick into Christmas proper, which means becoming intimately reacquainted with this gentleman:

[Specmaster]

HoHo, thats no gentleman, a true gentleman has no use for a blade like that 

[mansaxel]

A Merry Christmas to you all.

Now I have to get stick into Christmas proper, which means becoming intimately reacquainted with this gentleman:

That is not a peeler, it's a torture instrument. This is the proper instrument for efficient spud defloration, a "Jonas" peeler.
 


I'm still using the one I inherited from my grandmother.  The most important part is that the handle and blade are loosely connected and rattle with a characteristic sound.

Still, I do acknowledge that tastes in tools are different. You and my mother would team up well; she also likes the fixed ones better.

[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
 

?? You don't recognise that it's a Deep Purple piece (Child in Time) with different lyrics?

McBryce.

I'm talking aboot the performance and style, not the composition. That was obvious.

mnem
*grew up with Machine Head on the 8-track for days at a time*