Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[BU508A]

Dang!
Missed that Agilent 34401A for 150 Euro by 5 minutes!   

[25 CPS]

Page 3562A...



1 kHz sine fundamental



1 kHz square fundamental with harmonics.

This machine was a lucky eBay score that I got for tiny money.

The 3562A is an amazing piece  of equipment and there is not actual equivalent.

The only downside is the size of this beast.

It's a nice machine for sure and I got it on eBay for not much money.  It was listed as-is but one of the pictures showed it passing the power on tests as it started up and I don't think anybody else bid on it so I got it for less than $150 Canadian.  I just wish it had a bit more dynamic range though.  I don't know if HP's later dynamic signal analyzers increased the dynamic range or what the competition from Stanford Research Systems had to offer.  Dynamic signal analyzers really seem to be a niche product that only a small number of companies had small product lines in.

[mnementh]

   https://www.ikea.com/ca/en/p/markus-office-chair-vissle-dark-gray-90289172/

In all honesty, I'm finding it hard to beat the value of the IKEA Markus, as much as I loathe supporting the borg cubicle store... 

That's not bad for the money actually. Plus being IKEA if it cocks up you can wheel it the fuck back in and shout at them 

Bought one of these the other day for an uplighter from them: https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/hektar-floor-lamp-with-3-spot-dark-grey-60393603/

It might make a decent bench lamp array if you chop the base off it and come up with a suitable horizontal mounting arrangement

Yup... I did the same thing for a light in my steel shed. 

I've found the bonded leather version of the Markus ($258 + tax) used on Kijiji for $120; trying to justify that vs the new fabric-upholstered one with warranty. We'll see what the lister sez... world's not going to come to an end if I sit on this borked chair for a few more days.

mnem
 

[Kosmic]

Cheap 1GHz scope on ebay this morning   Lecroy DDA-120, 8GS/s, 16Mpts at 250$US   https://www.ebay.com/itm/384116654445

   specsheet https://www.artisantg.com/info/LeCroy_DDA_120_Datasheet.pdf

That *is* dirt cheap.

I know... even the cheap-arse dwagon is thinking aboot it, even with shipping to the GWN.

Even tho I know that if I did get it working... I'd use maybe once in anger before I kick the bucket... 

mnem
 

Reading a bit more.. He didn't test it? That I understand... He didn't power it on though? Red flag.

I assume it's either completely dead, or he plugged it in and smoke came out. Your use case and mine are completely different. You are looking at it as an investment for profit... I'm looking at it as "spending some discretionary funds on my own entertainment", the same as I might buy an old car to tinker on for a summer.

I mean... I've blown more than $300 on a bad date; I know I'd get more fun than that poking around this thing's insides. 

And there's always a chance I'd get it working without spending a small fortune.   

mnem
 

Oh, I get that, even though the tinker part of the equation is still important to me. If I remember correctly, the autoranging circuitry on these may have a weak spot, so maybe just that. But it's somewhat dishonnest advertising, just wanted to signal that. That's all

It's also PC/HDD based. Better make sure an image is available before hitting BUY. Don't know where the cal factors are stored though.

No, it's still the "old system". Equivalent to the LC587 or whatever it's called. The followw up Wavepro 950/960 was still pretty much the same except for the flatpanel. Only after that they went windows.

Yep, they use vxworks on a powerpc and the firmware is in flash.

The front panel is notoriously fragile though. Funny that this one is still intact.

[Vince]

LeCroy really got their start by cloning Tek Type 535's and 545's for the US Government which resulted in a long and drawn out lawsuit by Tektronix which TEK eventually won but was a shallow victory. 

Really ?! Never heard of that, couldn't find anything about it in Google or Tek Wiki. Do you have links about that ?! 

Lecroy was founded 10 years after the 535 and 545 came to the market.
" Lavoie " and " Hickok " are well known unauthorized clones. As for that military contract affair.. Tek  Wiki says it involved a company named  " Jetronic ".


I really never heard of Lecroy having anything to do with old / classic Tek scopes, and can't find any info about it. Please share ! I am intrigued indeed !   

[Cubdriver]

Page 3562A...



1 kHz sine fundamental



1 kHz square fundamental with harmonics.

This machine was a lucky eBay score that I got for tiny money.

The 3562A is an amazing piece  of equipment and there is not actual equivalent.

The only downside is the size of this beast.

It's a nice machine for sure and I got it on eBay for not much money.  It was listed as-is but one of the pictures showed it passing the power on tests as it started up and I don't think anybody else bid on it so I got it for less than $150 Canadian.  I just wish it had a bit more dynamic range though.  I don't know if HP's later dynamic signal analyzers increased the dynamic range or what the competition from Stanford Research Systems had to offer.  Dynamic signal analyzers really seem to be a niche product that only a small number of companies had small product lines in.

Damn - you stole that!  Great score!  The HP 3562A was my 'first hit' on the TEA addiction spiral - read about it in the audio forums and decided to snag one - probably paid about $500-ish for it in 2013.



Next came the HP-A (at the time; now HPAK) mailing list which lead to the 'rescue' of a 5245L from the clockmaking nixie ghouls.  (shown here along with the now retired Leader audio generator that was creating the distorted sine wave in the spectrum above - note the flattened negative peaks.)



...and it's been an ever accelerating downhill ride from there, to the dismay of my floor joists and credit card.       

-Pat

[Ice-Tea]

Cheap 1GHz scope on ebay this morning   Lecroy DDA-120, 8GS/s, 16Mpts at 250$US   https://www.ebay.com/itm/384116654445

   specsheet https://www.artisantg.com/info/LeCroy_DDA_120_Datasheet.pdf

That *is* dirt cheap.

I know... even the cheap-arse dwagon is thinking aboot it, even with shipping to the GWN.

Even tho I know that if I did get it working... I'd use maybe once in anger before I kick the bucket... 

mnem
 

Reading a bit more.. He didn't test it? That I understand... He didn't power it on though? Red flag.

I assume it's either completely dead, or he plugged it in and smoke came out. Your use case and mine are completely different. You are looking at it as an investment for profit... I'm looking at it as "spending some discretionary funds on my own entertainment", the same as I might buy an old car to tinker on for a summer.

I mean... I've blown more than $300 on a bad date; I know I'd get more fun than that poking around this thing's insides. 

And there's always a chance I'd get it working without spending a small fortune.   

mnem
 

Oh, I get that, even though the tinker part of the equation is still important to me. If I remember correctly, the autoranging circuitry on these may have a weak spot, so maybe just that. But it's somewhat dishonnest advertising, just wanted to signal that. That's all

It's also PC/HDD based. Better make sure an image is available before hitting BUY. Don't know where the cal factors are stored though.

No, it's still the "old system". Equivalent to the LC587 or whatever it's called. The followw up Wavepro 950/960 was still pretty much the same except for the flatpanel. Only after that they went windows.

Yep, they use vxworks on a powerpc and the firmware is in flash.

The front panel is notoriously fragile though. Funny that this one is still intact.

The flatpanel bezels are worse. The CRT ones have some chance of survival.

[Robert763]

Aircraft software is not immune dispite millons being spent on verification and testing. Example a version of the 737NG Electronic Flight Instrument System (EFIS) where if one crewmember entered a certain instrument approach heading within cetain lattitude and longitude ranges ALL SIX primary flight displays go blank. Took a while to catch as there were no major airports with that runway heading in the various affected areas. 

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/12/27/2019-27966/airworthiness-directives-the-boeing-company-airplanes

   

Was that a "failure to sanitize the inputs" failure mode, or was it something more integral? Or is that still TBD?
I assume that this measure is only temporary, until the actual fault in the software is corrected...?

mnem
*seriously considers walking everywhere for the rest of his life*

I've not been able to get the details of what went wrong. Probably an overflow of some kind. The actual inputs are valid. The strange, and worrying thing is that nothing entered on one "side" should affect the otherside directly. There are cross side data buses but they are not used for routine data transfer.

[Robert763]

Cheap 1GHz scope on ebay this morning   Lecroy DDA-120, 8GS/s, 16Mpts at 250$US   https://www.ebay.com/itm/384116654445

   specsheet https://www.artisantg.com/info/LeCroy_DDA_120_Datasheet.pdf

That *is* dirt cheap.

I know... even the cheap-arse dwagon is thinking aboot it, even with shipping to the GWN.

Even tho I know that if I did get it working... I'd use maybe once in anger before I kick the bucket... 

mnem
 

Reading a bit more.. He didn't test it? That I understand... He didn't power it on though? Red flag.

I assume it's either completely dead, or he plugged it in and smoke came out. Your use case and mine are completely different. You are looking at it as an investment for profit... I'm looking at it as "spending some discretionary funds on my own entertainment", the same as I might buy an old car to tinker on for a summer.

I mean... I've blown more than $300 on a bad date; I know I'd get more fun than that poking around this thing's insides. 

And there's always a chance I'd get it working without spending a small fortune.   

mnem
 

Oh, I get that, even though the tinker part of the equation is still important to me. If I remember correctly, the autoranging circuitry on these may have a weak spot, so maybe just that. But it's somewhat dishonnest advertising, just wanted to signal that. That's all

It's also PC/HDD based. Better make sure an image is available before hitting BUY. Don't know where the cal factors are stored though.

No, it's still the "old system". Equivalent to the LC587 or whatever it's called. The followw up Wavepro 950/960 was still pretty much the same except for the flatpanel. Only after that they went windows.

And where did I say "Windows"? There were PC's before Windows. The scope has a PC derived motherboard connected to a digitizer board.

[med6753]

LeCroy really got their start by cloning Tek Type 535's and 545's for the US Government which resulted in a long and drawn out lawsuit by Tektronix which TEK eventually won but was a shallow victory. 

Really ?! Never heard of that, couldn't find anything about it in Google or Tek Wiki. Do you have links about that ?! 

Lecroy was founded 10 years after the 535 and 545 came to the market.
" Lavoie " and " Hickok " are well known unauthorized clones. As for that military contract affair.. Tek  Wiki says it involved a company named  " Jetronic ".


I really never heard of Lecroy having anything to do with old / classic Tek scopes, and can't find any info about it. Please share ! I am intrigued indeed !   

You know what? I had a massive brain fart. It was Lavoie, not LeCroy. I think I'll go back into my corner and shut up. 

[nixiefreqq]

don't know the rules where you all are.  but 'round here a "professional engineer" is required to have a stamp and seal.

We did away with all that flummery in the UK on 31 July 1990, since when any documents formerly "delivered under seal" don't actually require a seal. The commonest usage of seals was on "deeds". If it's a "deed" it must clearly say so and be witnessed. (For a "deed" you have 12 years to sue someone over it, versus 6 years for a mere "contract" and there doesn't have to be "valuable consideration" which there does to make a contract binding.)

There has never, to the best of my knowledge, a requirement in the UK for a Chartered Engineer to do anything more than clearly inscribe something as being done in the capacity of a Chartered Engineer, no seals, stamps, or even a special handshake.

The requirement for all Chartered Engineers to smoke a pipe and to wear "uniform appropriate to their rank" (i.e. a tweed jacket with leather elbow patches) was dropped in the 1950s although many informally continued the practice into the 1970s. 

yeah.  occupational licensing at first seems like a good idea, as it would reduce fraudulent or incompetent practice.   but it never really works out that way.

was proud of my license when it came in the mail in 1983.  then noticed that the young lady who cut my hair, the guy who sold me my car, the realtor who sold me a house, and the guy who managed the burger joint on the corner, had an almost identical piece of paper hanging on the wall.

milton friedman made some very persuasive arguments for eliminating all occupational licensing (to include doctors and lawyers).  but the legislatures would never go for it since then anyone would be able to practice law (even abe lincoln).

so why have i paid the state to renew the damn thing every two years for almost 40 years?   maybe because it is in my personal interest to do so.

[Ice-Tea]

And where did I say "Windows"? There were PC's before Windows. The scope has a PC derived motherboard connected to a digitizer board.

I'm not sure that is right. I'll have a look when I'm back in the lab.

[Robert763]

You may be right, Just looked and while it has a PC CHIPS device on board there is a MC68150 but no sign of a HDD. Might be a PCMCIA device though. (the LC684 is same machine wthout disk analyser functions)
The earlier Lecroy 'scopes did have PC motherboards in them though.

[med6753]

Later today my Son is coming over to install the window A/C since dear old dad is still a cripple. 

I also cleaned off bench 2 and I'm going to have him move the Type 547 up from the cart and onto the bench. At the same time move the Type 535A from the bench to cart. Tomorrow I'm going to do some resistance checks on the Type 547 PSU and if OK, and I'm feeling brave, give the full beans and see what happens.

Checking the PSU will involve putting the Type 547 on it's side and I'm pretty sure I can handle that myself. I hope. 



 

[mansaxel]

When I built my first reflow oven I discovered that these cheap oven probes are extremely robust and much more accurate than I was expecting:
https://www.ebay.de/itm/392275279749  I just swapped the connector at the end.

"Kein Versand nach Schweden" -- oh well. There certainly are more sellers. And I suppose polarity will be experimentally determined?

What the hell is an "electronic chastity device" ??!!  On second thoughts, maybe I don't want to know the answer to that question. 

McBryce.

Warning: All links below are NSFW if you as many have imported your workplace moral code from Flyover County.

Well, to each and everyone his own. I am interested in them only as they put "trust in digital infrastructure managed by a third party" problems in a strong and obvious light. Avast have written about it, and Wired too, in several articles. Of course this field has an open source i/o library. As usual, this promises more local control and better security than the easy-to-use commercial alternatives.

[Robert763]

How can it be so clean??  Not a spec of dust...

Cookie for he/she who can guess what this is...

8657A/B Option 22 GMSK modulation
Most useful as 3255A/B spares

[Cubdriver]

Checking the PSU will involve putting the Type 547 on it's side and I'm pretty sure I can handle that myself. I hope. 

That should be doable - after all, gravity will be helping.  The challenge will be getting it upright again!  I wish you success with your restoration efforts.  <edit to add - don't break yourself further trying to wrestle with it!>

There's now a 547 in my queue, too - got it along with a 561A and a bunch of plug ins in a nice Tek haul from a silent key over the past few weeks.  My concern is the HV transformer as it spent an unknown time period in a not-very-hospitable storage container that seems to have been on the damp side based on the mildew smell of many of the items that came out of there.

-Pat

[Vince]

Later today my Son is coming over to install the window A/C since dear old dad is still a cripple. 

I also cleaned off bench 2 and I'm going to have him move the Type 547 up from the cart and onto the bench. At the same time move the Type 535A from the bench to cart. Tomorrow I'm going to do some resistance checks on the Type 547 PSU and if OK, and I'm feeling brave, give the full beans and see what happens.

Checking the PSU will involve putting the Type 547 on it's side and I'm pretty sure I can handle that myself. I hope. 



 

WOW !!!!    I thought you owed your Papa Smurf avatar to your love of the old Tek blue cabinets.... I see it's much more severe than that : the bathroom in the background has been sprayed all over with Smurf blood, the entire Smurf village was decimated in order to paint and decorate the bathroom !  You mass murderer, this is Smurf genocide pure and simple ! 

 

[Kosmic]

You may be right, Just looked and while it has a PC CHIPS device on board there is a MC68150 but no sign of a HDD. Might be a PCMCIA device though. (the LC684 is same machine wthout disk analyser functions)
The earlier Lecroy 'scopes did have PC motherboards in them though.

the PCMCIA card is optional and only used to save waveforms and settings. There is no harddrive and firmware is in flash. The Motherboard is custom and cpu is a power pc. If I remember correctly they use standard sdram (might be ECC).

The earlier series (9300) was also using custom hardware (powerpc I think). The later series (after the LC and wavepro) switched to windows and use standard PC motherboard and hardware.

[Ice-Tea]

How can it be so clean??  Not a spec of dust...

Cookie for he/she who can guess what this is...

8657A/B Option 22 GMSK modulation
Most useful as 3255A/B spares

Huh? No, 3336B

[med6753]

There's now a 547 in my queue, too - got it along with a 561A and a bunch of plug ins in a nice Tek haul from a silent key over the past few weeks.  My concern is the HV transformer as it spent an unknown time period in a not-very-hospitable storage container that seems to have been on the damp side based on the mildew smell of many of the items that came out of there.

-Pat

I have the same concern with the HV transformer as it's a known fail point with the 547. But luckily this one has been in a dry environment. No mildew smell and it wasn't all that dirty/dusty either.

[Kosmic]

Cheap 1GHz scope on ebay this morning   Lecroy DDA-120, 8GS/s, 16Mpts at 250$US   https://www.ebay.com/itm/384116654445

   specsheet https://www.artisantg.com/info/LeCroy_DDA_120_Datasheet.pdf

That *is* dirt cheap.

I know... even the cheap-arse dwagon is thinking aboot it, even with shipping to the GWN.

Even tho I know that if I did get it working... I'd use maybe once in anger before I kick the bucket... 

mnem
 

Reading a bit more.. He didn't test it? That I understand... He didn't power it on though? Red flag.

I assume it's either completely dead, or he plugged it in and smoke came out. Your use case and mine are completely different. You are looking at it as an investment for profit... I'm looking at it as "spending some discretionary funds on my own entertainment", the same as I might buy an old car to tinker on for a summer.

I mean... I've blown more than $300 on a bad date; I know I'd get more fun than that poking around this thing's insides. 

And there's always a chance I'd get it working without spending a small fortune.   

mnem
 

Oh, I get that, even though the tinker part of the equation is still important to me. If I remember correctly, the autoranging circuitry on these may have a weak spot, so maybe just that. But it's somewhat dishonnest advertising, just wanted to signal that. That's all

It's also PC/HDD based. Better make sure an image is available before hitting BUY. Don't know where the cal factors are stored though.

No, it's still the "old system". Equivalent to the LC587 or whatever it's called. The followw up Wavepro 950/960 was still pretty much the same except for the flatpanel. Only after that they went windows.

Yep, they use vxworks on a powerpc and the firmware is in flash.

The front panel is notoriously fragile though. Funny that this one is still intact.

The flatpanel bezels are worse. The CRT ones have some chance of survival.

Yeah I know 



Edit: i'm still working on a 3dp version of the front panel. And I recently got some new glue I want to try out.

[mansaxel]

The requirement for all Chartered Engineers to smoke a pipe and to wear "uniform appropriate to their rank" (i.e. a tweed jacket with leather elbow patches) was dropped in the 1950s although many informally continued the practice into the 1970s. 

This is the most proper example I've seen on the Tube:



Made in 1954, and 15 years later there were no more locos made there. The comments section of course is a field day for morons praising the misogynism and lack of PPE of the day. It's better left unseen.

[Cubdriver]

There's now a 547 in my queue, too - got it along with a 561A and a bunch of plug ins in a nice Tek haul from a silent key over the past few weeks.  My concern is the HV transformer as it spent an unknown time period in a not-very-hospitable storage container that seems to have been on the damp side based on the mildew smell of many of the items that came out of there.

-Pat

I have the same concern with the HV transformer as it's a known fail point with the 547. But luckily this one has been in a dry environment. No mildew smell and it wasn't all that dirty/dusty either.

Good to hear.  I hope the one in mine is OK, too, though I'm less optimistic given where it had been living.  I'm not in any particular rush to add transformer rewinding to my repertoire, but fear that I might need to acquire that skill..

-Pat

[bd139]

That is too much hard work for me  . Used to do it when I was a kid. Ironically rewinding salvaged HT transformers to turn them into low voltage ones. If only I knew the value of the damn things now  . It's bloody horrible doing it. Tapping out all the EI pieces is a pain in the butt. End up with cut up fingers and knee deep in fuck knows what they sealed it with.