Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[xrunner]

hp 437B meter repair

Hello friends. When we last met on this topic, it was identified that the 437B's analog meter scale had arbitrarily re-positioned from it's designated position set at factory installation due to unknown forces.

OK, what I'm trying to say is the dang meter face done slipped and it ain't leveled-up no longer. 

Diving in, the front panel is held onto the main chassis by only two nuts. Just unplug any cables at the front needed to allow the panel to separate. Also the 50 MHz cal source coax should be removed from the rear connector as well.

The front of the panel will come apart fairly easily. I tried to push out the meter but it wouldn't budge and I didn't see any hardware holding it on. So working with the meter still mounted, I peeled off some clear tape which held the meter together. It came off easily and the meter came apart.

As I thought, the meter scale plate was completely loose, and there were remnants of old adhesive under it. Another observation revealed that the meter case was glued to the front panel. It would have been cool if hp had added lighting behind the meter. I could easily add LED lighting, but I'll leave it original.

To affix the plate, I chose a type of glue I had in another room where I do a little modelling. It's called Formula 560 canopy glue. It dries clear but not rock hard. So I used that and clamped it to dry. Then I put the case back together and got rid of the tape. I used a thin line of the same glue to hold the case together.

Good as new.

Now I'm going to check out the sensor I got yesterday.

[wkb]

Looks like a layout done with tape, probably assisted by a Rotring pen or two.

Been there..

Wilko

[psykok]

We've discussed the other day some Audio Precision stuff.

Now, look at this (NAWTS):

https://www.ebay-kleinanzeigen.de/s-anzeige/audio-precision-system-one-inkl-rechner/1714248142-172-2472

Nice setup, the price looks high but it’s  the average price for such kind of equipment .

Another eBay shop with amazing audio test equipment :
https://www.ebay.de/str/messgeraetemarkt

 

[McBryce]

Cartier watches shouldn’t even exist. They don’t do anything better than a £5 Casio.

Rolex too.

Except for one discipline: WAF

 

Is it worth comparing the women who are attracted with the value of any of those watches?

Casio in the kitchen, Cartier in the bedroom... or was it the other way around?

McBryce.

[tonyalbus]

I know too much about women and there are those that don't care, those who are only attracted to the bling, and those who are just plain batshit crazy. 

I told the last woman I was dating if it didn't work out I'd just get another cat.

Guess what I got? 

not pussy 

[BU508A]

I know too much about women and there are those that don't care, those who are only attracted to the bling, and those who are just plain batshit crazy. 

I told the last woman I was dating if it didn't work out I'd just get another cat.

Guess what I got? 

not pussy 

Pussy Galore:

[wkb]

I know too much about women and there are those that don't care, those who are only attracted to the bling, and those who are just plain batshit crazy. 

I told the last woman I was dating if it didn't work out I'd just get another cat.

Guess what I got? 

not pussy 

Heh... I was waiting for that one.. only a matter of time right?

[bd139]

Just got an email from Hermes saying they are giving a full refund for a radiation dosimeter they lost (UK postage). No argument or hassle just al ong wait. First item of mine they have lost.

Yeah they're quite good at that.

However don't buy the delivery via packlink. They will drag their heels for 3 months and blame their insurer on not paying up.

[mansaxel]

We've discussed the other day some Audio Precision stuff.

Now, look at this (NAWTS):

https://www.ebay-kleinanzeigen.de/s-anzeige/audio-precision-system-one-inkl-rechner/1714248142-172-2472

That's a good deal. The software now can be replaced with much newer AP software under Win 10, thanks to a clever USB interface.

[psykok]

We've discussed the other day some Audio Precision stuff.

Now, look at this (NAWTS):

https://www.ebay-kleinanzeigen.de/s-anzeige/audio-precision-system-one-inkl-rechner/1714248142-172-2472

That's a good deal. The software now can be replaced with much newer AP software under Win 10, thanks to a clever USB interface.

Indeed that is exactly what I have done.

The only downside is that APWIN on windows 10 is acting strangely sometime but it works

[mnementh]

Ehhh... you know, things change. Some of that change is objective, but most of it is subjective. I mean... sure, there are a few really great CD-decks out there; as good reproduction as the format is capable of. But objectively, what is the best CD player that ever was really worth as a music machine? Not a plucking null off a PONO's arse, that's what. Well, as long as they still worked.

The format was a hack-job bodge from day one, designed not with quality reproduction in mind, but rather to be mentally accessible to crusty old bastard music producers who made up the RIAA; the format only exists because it could be explained to their little pea-brains as just another form of pressed vinyl, and those same bastards demanded a change to soft acrylic to ensure damaged-disc turnover similar to that of vinyl. Since, they have repeatedly strangled all attempts to make a better "standard" in the crib until they were forced into the digital age by decades of customer demand and the allure of zero-factory-required music production & distribution.

Fuck CD, except as a means to get older music into iTunes for cheap.

mnem
 

There are obvious problems with CD -- agreed. The disc longevity is one. The sample rate is another. The capacity is a third (although I think it from pop music focused artistical raisins is too long, way too easy to get bonus tracks in.)

A sensible format from a music technology perspective would be 24 bits 48KHz and 1h+ length, all given the limitations of the early 80s. This aligns a lot better with the environment where music and other sounds are produced, skips a few SRC steps, no truncation of word length and would be useful for most professional purposes too.

Finally, not until arrival of FLAC and similar (non-encumbered) technologies do we have a format that is up there with linear 16-bit audio in terms of quality.  We can gripe all we want about the limitations of CD as-built and more effectively so with the 2021 (sic!) hindsight, laughing at 1982.  But nearly 40 years on, being on top of the quality stack for so long (in a consumer low-maintenance carrier/player platform) is a remarkable achievement.

Slightly related links:

Compressed music test: https://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2015/06/02/411473508/how-well-can-you-hear-audio-quality

Snake oil debunk:   

Yeah, that was pretty much what I expected. When I first read aboot Tidal/MQA my  filters were having none of it; alarm bells going off all over the place. Thanks for the hard evidence confirming my instincts were right on track.

As for CDDA staying at the top of the heap for 4 decades... that is not an achievement... it is an abomination. It is the product of all the might of the music industry fighting against the best interest of the customer to keep it at the top of the heap; not anything inherently good in the format itself.

This is the same exact kind of single-minded greed-induced paradigm rigor mortis that has kept fossil fuels at the top of the energy pyramid, even though we've known for decades that a) we're almost out of the raw material forever and 2) it is literally the doom of all life on the planet if we don't stop burning shit just to make our lives easier and more profitable.

What has kept CDDA at the top has nothing to do with its value as a format, but rather the fact that greedy stupid people know it and know how to manage it for profit; nothing else.

mnem
 

[BU508A]

We've discussed the other day some Audio Precision stuff.

Now, look at this (NAWTS):

https://www.ebay-kleinanzeigen.de/s-anzeige/audio-precision-system-one-inkl-rechner/1714248142-172-2472

Nice setup, the price looks high but it’s  the average price for such kind of equipment .

Another eBay shop with amazing audio test equipment :
https://www.ebay.de/str/messgeraetemarkt

I know this seller since a long time. He has indeed a lot of good stuff.
I was eyeing for a long time this function generator from Rohde & Schwarz:
https://www.ebay.de/itm/Rohde-Schwarz-AM-300-Funktionsgenerator-Low-Dist-50-MHz-6-Monate-Garantie/293066097656

He had it first there for 2400 Euro. But when I was ready and had the money, the price jumped up to 3500 Euro. 
I lost then the interest in this very nice function generator.

[mnementh]

Guess the quality is gettin'better, little by little.. look who is checking me out.

Wait until they contact you aboot using your material for presentations... then suggest that you could make more Siglent gear appear in your vids if you had more of it on your bench. 

mnem
Linus better watch his back... We have a real nerd, and we're not afraid to use it. 

[mnementh]

Somebody here from Köln (Cologne)?

https://www.ebay-kleinanzeigen.de/s-anzeige/amateurfunk-konvolut-messgeraete-hewlett-packard-rohde-schwarz/1739640352-168-18670

They are still there... Just starring at me, willing me...   McBryce.

   "Who dares wins"   Wilko

"Fortune favors the bold."   

mnem
 

[mnementh]

I've been carrying a Seiko divers watch a lot, not because I'm a diver (I'm very much not!), but because it survived my treatment of it, for pretty long. It is due for movement replacement, so am instead wearing a Citizen NightHawk that my father gave me. I'm considering a Russian diver's watch as alternative, and specifically so the Radio Room edition. A simple NATO strap, black or 2-tone grey/black, is all I'd like for it.

I like automatic movements because they're clever, and there are no batteries to swap. Also, if you get a good one, it'll keep time good enough for anything practical.

Rolex, and more so Breitling and Tag Heuer, are just expensive show-off pieces. Good, but not better than the competition.

meh... men's jewelry. If you're going to be a peacock, own it and wear an earring. Or three. Better yet, BeJ'oran earcuffs of real precious metal and gems. 

mnem
 

[tautech]

hp 437B meter repair..........


To affix the plate, I chose a type of glue I had in another room where I do a little modelling.

Yeah right.....hardcore model train builds don't you mean ?   

[xrunner]

hp 437B meter repair..........


To affix the plate, I chose a type of glue I had in another room where I do a little modelling.

Yeah right.....hardcore model train builds don't you mean ?   

Oh you caught me! 

[tautech]

Guess the quality is gettin'better, little by little.. look who is checking me out.

Wait until they contact you aboot using your material for presentations... then suggest that you could make more Siglent gear appear in your vids if you had more of it on your bench. 

mnem
Linus better watch his back... We have a real nerd, and we're not afraid to use it. 

Tony's local pusher enabler should be able to grease some wheels to make this happen....at least a bit cheaper than retail.
Our past sales manager knew the value of good exposure and came to the party to get Defpom fitted out.
Sadly he left Siglent a few months back after we'd built an 8 year relationship right from the first point of contact I made to Siglent. 
Slowly bashing his replacement into shape ! 

[bd139]

hp 437B meter repair..........


To affix the plate, I chose a type of glue I had in another room where I do a little modelling.

Yeah right.....hardcore model train builds don't you mean ?   

Oh you caught me! 

Ooh nice layout. Also don’t get me started on that again 

[tautech]

hp 437B meter repair..........


To affix the plate, I chose a type of glue I had in another room where I do a little modelling.

Yeah right.....hardcore model train builds don't you mean ?   

Oh you caught me! 

Ooh nice layout. Also don’t get me started on that again 

Safer to wait until you get some new bigger digs......or marry them daughters off ! 

[bd139]

Nah avoiding that one. Been there already over 20 years ago. I’m actually trying to shift some of the left over stuff on eBay at the moment. Can only do so many things in life and that’s never going to be one again. Have a big queue still 

[mnementh]

For those who care: Ingenuity flew its first successful test flight this morning; so far a couple stills is all I've been able to find. Hopefully, the post-flight briefing may have some actual video in a couple hours.

mnem
 

Watch the whole flight - beginning at 13 minutes in. It doesn't last long and isn't fancy - but it is still mesmerising.

Yup. 30 seconds of video I might have shot on a hike in the plains of Tejas... doesn't seem like much until you think aboot what really just happened; mankind's first powered flight on another planet. This is a fully autonomous robot heavier-than-air aircraft, carried by another fully autonomous robot ground vehicle, which was in turn carried to another planet by two fully autonomous robot spacecraft.

This aircraft is not being flown by some kid with a XBOX controller; it has to think for itself, has to charge a battery from unknown quantity/quality of solar energy not only enough mAH for the flight, but enough to run a heater that protects the battery from freezing and then accumulate enough additional energy for that flight. All with instructions essentially passed on by semaphore (5-20 minutes radio link each way) and carried out autonomously. On another planet.

Human beings did that. 

mnem
Amazing what we can accomplish when some of us stop quibbling and killing each other over lines in the sand, personal avarice, and the idea of a global father figure watching over us all with inscrutable intent...

[mnementh]

Cartier watches shouldn’t even exist. They don’t do anything better than a £5 Casio.

Rolex too.

Except for one discipline: WAF

 

Is it worth comparing the women who are attracted with the value of any of those watches?

I don't know much about women, so I won't make a statement on this.

 

I know too much about women and there are those that don't care, those who are only attracted to the bling, and those who are just plain batshit crazy. 

Grand-dad used to say: "Any man who tells you he understands women or horses is a fool, a liar, or both."

mnem
*still convinced I used up a lifetime's worth of good luck finding the one I married*

[med6753]

I just got back from the urologist and finally got a definitive diagnosis. I need to have the old prostate reamed out. The bladder of OK...no cancer or other nasty stuff. But there's a problem. They can't do the procedure until May 17th. Which means from now until then I'm stuck with this freaking catheter. Oh well. Not much I can do about it.

The ream out procedure involves an overnight stay at the hospital. Tomorrow I see the surgeon about taking care of the hernia. But that won't happen until after the prostate is done. Seems I'm gonna be going thru this crap until at least June. 

And where is UPS with my parts? Out for delivery but they are late. 

[bd139]

Good to hear it's nothing nasty. Just wear and tear! 

Been in the hospital today as well. My middle one all good. Nothing nasty this time thank fuck .