Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[beanflying]

Not a bad idea. 10MHz? Ah that’ll do 

I actually miss that counter.

The cheap and nasty option is a Ublox receiver and lissajous pattern on a scope against your counters internal reference as they won't produce a 10Meg without jitter.

EDIT found it https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/test-equipment-anonymous-(tea)-group-therapy-thread/msg2246022/#msg2246022

[mansaxel]

So this happened and I am already more than broke  Original listing was $200 and I sent in an offer at $140 and the seller responded with a counter of $175. eBay auction: #154358978444

Having a casual trawl for later I see the price is now revised to $150 and with a small evilbay discount it would be $144  All yours Aussie TEA 

In the end, it is a fundamental TEA truth that one ideally would need a counter to count one's counters.

Don’t get me started on owning counters. I own one counter at the moment. And it has an OCXO in it. And after owning one previously I know that the OCXO can drift out of serviceable range. Thus the question appears: how do I know it’s accurate? Then I’m starting to lurk on Leo Bodnar’s site again. Then I start wondering if it’s worth doing that sort of stuff. Then the digits taunt me. Perhaps 8 isn’t enough to justify buying a GPSDO. Now I’m looking for counters. Then I’m going to end up with another counter instead of a GPSDO and that won’t agree with the first one. And then I have three problems instead of zero problems 

If things end well next week, I'll have not one but two GPSDO. What if they don't align? 

[bd139]

Not a bad idea. 10MHz? Ah that’ll do 

I actually miss that counter.

The cheap and nasty option is a Ublox receiver and lissajous pattern on a scope against your counters internal reference as they won't produce a 10Meg without jitter.

Yeah I did consider that actually. But I got digging into which ublox module to buy and it made my head hurt. Mostly because I was in the middle of a conference call at the time about something management related. I may reinvestigate.

I have a 10MHz VCXO here I built ages ago and enough bits to build a divider and PLL so that’s an option too.

[Cubdriver]

So this happened and I am already more than broke  Original listing was $200 and I sent in an offer at $140 and the seller responded with a counter of $175. eBay auction: #154358978444

Having a casual trawl for later I see the price is now revised to $150 and with a small evilbay discount it would be $144  All yours Aussie TEA 

In the end, it is a fundamental TEA truth that one ideally would need a counter to count one's counters.

Don’t get me started on owning counters. I own one counter at the moment. And it has an OCXO in it. And after owning one previously I know that the OCXO can drift out of serviceable range. Thus the question appears: how do I know it’s accurate? Then I’m starting to lurk on Leo Bodnar’s site again. Then I start wondering if it’s worth doing that sort of stuff. Then the digits taunt me. Perhaps 8 isn’t enough to justify buying a GPSDO. Now I’m looking for counters. Then I’m going to end up with another counter instead of a GPSDO and that won’t agree with the first one. And then I have three problems instead of zero problems 

If things end well next week, I'll have not one but two GPSDO. What if they don't align? 

Then obviously you'll need a third for a majority vote!

-Pat

[bd139]

So this happened and I am already more than broke  Original listing was $200 and I sent in an offer at $140 and the seller responded with a counter of $175. eBay auction: #154358978444

Having a casual trawl for later I see the price is now revised to $150 and with a small evilbay discount it would be $144  All yours Aussie TEA 

In the end, it is a fundamental TEA truth that one ideally would need a counter to count one's counters.

Don’t get me started on owning counters. I own one counter at the moment. And it has an OCXO in it. And after owning one previously I know that the OCXO can drift out of serviceable range. Thus the question appears: how do I know it’s accurate? Then I’m starting to lurk on Leo Bodnar’s site again. Then I start wondering if it’s worth doing that sort of stuff. Then the digits taunt me. Perhaps 8 isn’t enough to justify buying a GPSDO. Now I’m looking for counters. Then I’m going to end up with another counter instead of a GPSDO and that won’t agree with the first one. And then I have three problems instead of zero problems 

If things end well next week, I'll have not one but two GPSDO. What if they don't align? 

Well now you mention that, there’s a thread going on at the moment in another forum where someone has built a GPSDO with a recycled Trimble and it doesn’t agree with his other off air standard (LW 198Khz).

I noped out of there.

[beanflying]

Not a bad idea. 10MHz? Ah that’ll do 

I actually miss that counter.

The cheap and nasty option is a Ublox receiver and lissajous pattern on a scope against your counters internal reference as they won't produce a 10Meg without jitter.

Yeah I did consider that actually. But I got digging into which ublox module to buy and it made my head hurt. Mostly because I was in the middle of a conference call at the time about something management related. I may reinvestigate.

I have a 10MHz VCXO here I built ages ago and enough bits to build a divider and PLL so that’s an option too.

Found the link https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/test-equipment-anonymous-(tea)-group-therapy-thread/msg2246022/#msg2246022

[Robert763]

If you have a counter with interval mode you can use any GPS with a 1 PPS output and adjust for 1000000 us

[bd139]

That 1pps has a hell of a lot of jitter on it though. Tried that before. Module was a YIC51612EB

[med6753]

This seems a tad expensive for something the seller says is junk. Frankly, this would be expensive if it was fully working...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Tektronix-222-Digital-Storage-Oscilloscope-Treat-It-As-Junk/393163634617


Which it appears to be. Maybe they just don't like Tektronix...   

The seller is in Japan so I suspect some translation got scrambled. But non the less the price didn't get scrambled and that's too damn much. 

[med6753]

Another skanky overpriced 'scope.
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/tektronix-oscilloscope-7904/233928588682
For £750 you would think they would give it a wipe and take a decent photo  |Oa

Considering that I snagged a 7904 with 4 plug-in's for $100 USD yea, too much. 

But mine had a ticking PSU due to a shorted tant. I can guarantee that one has at least one shorted tant too after sitting all those years. 

[Robert763]

That 1pps has a hell of a lot of jitter on it though. Tried that before. Module was a YIC51612EB

Hmm,  That one should be good to about 10ns. Were you running it in 10Hz update mode? I think that on just interpolates 10Hz which won't help the jitter.

[capt bullshot]

Remember this one?

You could consider powering all that from a low-cost-branded non-working Powersupply, for just €250! https://www.ebay.de/itm/Voltcraft-PS-152-A-DC-Power-Supply-H-572-DL/154359328974

McBryce.

P.s. The original new price of this supply was around €70.

I've browsed through this sellers offers, and found a lot of items at hilarious prices. So I took one (297.50 EUR or best offer) and offered 15 EUR ...
Guess what, here it is:

Packaging looks good 'nough for 'Stralia, but some nice Smurf Tek blue inside.

[Specmaster]

Must have measured it properly and off to the onsite bag now it is a 'proper' tool

And Yes Blue LED displays SUCK in bright situations

No they don't if you employ a couple of layers of blue filters in front, here's one of those modules from eBay that applied the filters to and see how easy it is to read now.

Counter switched off


Counter switched on

[capt bullshot]

If things end well next week, I'll have not one but two GPSDO. What if they don't align? 

Roll your own, but use diverse technology:

http://wunderkis.de/dcf-rcvr/

[beanflying]

Must have measured it properly and off to the onsite bag now it is a 'proper' tool

And Yes Blue LED displays SUCK in bright situations

No they don't if you employ a couple of layers of blue filters in front, here's one of those modules from eBay that applied the filters to and see how easy it is to read now.

.....

Keep reading BLUE and others ordered 

[factory]

This seems a tad expensive for something the seller says is junk. Frankly, this would be expensive if it was fully working...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Tektronix-222-Digital-Storage-Oscilloscope-Treat-It-As-Junk/393163634617


Which it appears to be. Maybe they just don't like Tektronix...   

The seller is in Japan so I suspect some translation got scrambled. But non the less the price didn't get scrambled and that's too damn much. 

Could be trouble if ePay postage automatically puts that title on the label and then the courier reads it.  Treat it as j....               ....

David

[bd139]

It’s alive! Worked first time for once! 

Slightly scary moment on power on as always with “silent PCs” is it didn’t make any noise at all 

[capt bullshot]

It’s alive! Worked first time for once! 

Slightly scary moment on power on as always with “silent PCs” is it didn’t make any noise at all 

You're borking it right now, anyway

[capt bullshot]

Someone couldn't be bothered to properly unplug the BNCs 



Otherwise, looks quite clean inside, no burn marks and no signs of a gorilla been inside.





I've been a bit reluctant buying TEA from the bay of evil, anyway I'd call this one a success.



Wonder why this seller didn't accept my 80 EUR offer on a three channel power meter (Buy now 995 EUR), it's about the same ratio 

[factory]

This appeared in my emails earlier. 


Clearly not of fan of wiggly pointers despite the username.

David

[AVGresponding]

This appeared in my emails earlier. 


Clearly not of fan of wiggly pointers despite the username.

David

Well, since you can point with your digit, it's technically not wrong...

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/digit

[factory]

Blimey these sale prices are getting silly. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/143964685362

3312A went for £150.

You can bag a brand spanking new DG811 for £70 more, crack it and it’s instantly a 2x 100Mhz arb. I am past understanding this now.

But even the single channel DG811 is arguably better!

I had to buy the power meter they had twice, they cancelled the first as they didn't put enough postage on it, now waiting for the end-cap for the range knob that went AWOL at their end. 

David

[bd139]

That’s a bit crap. Will avoid that seller like the plague.

[capt bullshot]

Some fun with that XYZ display:

https://cb.wunderkis.de/wk-pub/xyz.ogv

(don't know which browsers that'll work with, mine does).

[Saskia]

very nice. If I had space to put such thing I would envy you. But enjoy. You'll most likely put it to better use than I ever could.