Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Brumby]

On the subject of water, can I suggest we revert back to the context of laser cutter cooling and take the discussion here: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/mechanical-engineering/the-k40-laser-cutterengraver-my-journey-into-the-laser-world/

Sorting out relevant details from the preceding is more of a challenge than is helpful.

Thank you.

[mansaxel]

Some DIN connectors are less crappy then others.
Binder and Lumberg have them in a screw-locked version and Preh makes them with a so-called Renkverschluss (simplified bayonet). Those tend to have good quality contacts and isolators too, which will not deform when soldered and they  are reusable if handled properly.

Oh, indeed! The screw-locked ones were common here on small analog UHF contribution radio links, for the microphone input, because they have better HF shielding than a then-standard XLR. Now there's a number of RF-improved XLRen that would most likely suffice.  The Renkverschluss was common on analog dimmer packs.

Of those, I prefer the screw locked ones, by far.

[vk6zgo]

During the late 60s and the early 70s DIN connectors seemed to be the thing here. RCA connectors only really took off here as relatively cheap hi-fi separates, mostly Japanese imports, started filling the market up. European and UK manufactured stuff stuck with DIN connectors pro tem, and by the time the late 70s rolled around had almost disappeared in favour of RCA connectors. I don't recall seeing a Belling-Lee (except as an AM aerial socket) on new gear after the mid seventies, and DIN connectors were a rarity post 1980.

This most closely describes my experience.  I can't really speak to the 50's era as I wasn't old enough to notice.  I only started getting into electronics in the mid 60's.

In the very late '50s, & early '60s, there was still a lot of 1950s stuff around, as it was after all, only ten or so years old.
40s & even '30s gear popped up in the Radio Workshop at my first job.
They even fixed a "Mulgaphone" on one occasion!

https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/mulga_d.html

[VK5RC]

Re the RCA socket, I must admit to being quite fond of them really despite being bloody cheap, pretty flimsily made but I have found them to be really good at the job of connecting 'HiFi' components together - I can't recall ever having a 'bad connection' despite hurried connection reaching out of view and a truck load of dust.
For me this is rather odd as I generally despise 'value engineering' but the RCA got it pretty close to right. I have had many times the issues with pl259, BNCs. I have had a few issues with xlr but blame the idiot who didn't put it together properly (moi 🙄)

Ns, 4mm banana, triax and SMAs I have had a good run with.

[tautech]

7 weeks to arrive  and it's first job was to spot a fat rabbit for the cat.



https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001192693767.html?spm=a2g0o.store_pc_groupList.0.0.753b202ejrnDRY&gps-id=pcStoreJustForYou&scm=1007.23125.137358.0&scm_id=1007.23125.137358.0&scm-url=1007.23125.137358.0&pvid=51f62a21-8dc7-4553-b3f2-974825527608

[Robert763]

Some DIN connectors are less crappy then others.
Binder and Lumberg have them in a screw-locked version and Preh makes them with a so-called Renkverschluss (simplified bayonet). Those tend to have good quality contacts and isolators too, which will not deform when soldered and they  are reusable if handled properly.

Oh, indeed! The screw-locked ones were common here on small analog UHF contribution radio links, for the microphone input, because they have better HF shielding than a then-standard XLR. Now there's a number of RF-improved XLRen that would most likely suffice.  The Renkverschluss was common on analog dimmer packs.

Of those, I prefer the screw locked ones, by far.

The screw locked DIN connectors are used quite a bit on TE. Most notable is their use for RF power sensors
https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/din-connectors/1705508/

[vk6zgo]

Re the RCA socket, I must admit to being quite fond of them really despite being bloody cheap, pretty flimsily made but I have found them to be really good at the job of connecting 'HiFi' components together - I can't recall ever having a 'bad connection' despite hurried connection reaching out of view and a truck load of dust.
For me this is rather odd as I generally despise 'value engineering' but the RCA got it pretty close to right. I have had many times the issues with pl259, BNCs. I have had a few issues with xlr but blame the idiot who didn't put it together properly (moi 🙄)

Ns, 4mm banana, triax and SMAs I have had a good run with.

When I was still working at the TV studio, we had a couple of "all in one" video projector/screen combos, which we loaned out to various deserving organisations, along with a VCR.
Both devices had mono sound, with RCA sockets for audio, & BNC for video.

Whenever they were needed, it was easy to dig up a properly crimped 75 Ohm BNC video lead of the appropriate length, but the audio ones had usually either disappeared, or been damaged since the previous loan.

As they normally needed to be relatively long, "ready made" leads from Jaycar or whatever, were no good, & repair of the existing damaged ones usually excessively time consuming, the default was to make up new ones locally for each loan.

Our standard "shielded twin conductor" audio cable, although quite thin, was still a bit hard to terminate in the "El Cheapo" RCA connectors commonly available, & we didn't use the single shielded stuff enough elsewhere to warrant buying a reel.

The result was always a job that no one was satisfied with, burnt up man-hours for no financial return, & if it survived the loan, would be chucked into a box of other audio leads, where it would, as said before, often disappear.

We got sick of this, & noting that the RCA sockets on both devices were quite rugged, so would survive the extra mass of the coax, bought in some BNC to RCA adaptors

Now, we only had to supply 2 "video" cables, fit the adaptors to one set, & had a much more reliable setup.(to audio, the video coax was just "shielded single conductor cable".)

[BU508A]

Like these?

[AVGresponding]

Like these?

Am I the only person that looks at that and thinks "that's just wrong" ?

[mnementh]

   

These have been around for decades, they make up in a jiff and they just plain work. 

mnem

[SilverSolder]

Like these?

Am I the only person that looks at that and thinks "that's just wrong" ?

When you work with gear that has RCA connectors, they come in surprisingly handy...

[capt bullshot]

Am I the only person that looks at that and thinks "that's just wrong" ?

I've got a few of them in my adaptors box, too. Quite useful if one e.g. wants to use an audio amplifier as part of a TEA setup, or to push audio input into some TEA.
Also got some F-BNC, quite useful if you just need a temporary F extension cable.

[ch_scr]

Am I the only person that looks at that and thinks "that's just wrong" ?

I've got a few of them in my adaptors box, too. Quite useful if one e.g. wants to use an audio amplifier as part of a TEA setup, or to push audio input into some TEA.
Also got some F-BNC, quite useful if you just need a temporary F extension cable.

Talking about plain wrong, I have some infamous F to SMA courtesy of aliexpress.
Edit: but they are handy 

[AVGresponding]

It's like having a nice cable with XLR connectors on the end, then sticking 1/8" jack adapters on the ends. Just doesn't feel right...

Or like making a cheese ploughmans sandwich with Kraft cheese slices...

[vk6zgo]

Like these?

Yep!

[vk6zgo]

Like these?

Am I the only person that looks at that and thinks "that's just wrong" ?

Why? audio doesn't care that it is coax!

There is still equipment in existence which uses RCA sockets for analog video, & sometimes, for RF.
It was very common back in BW days for the IF output connector on TV "turret tuners" in Oz to be an RCA socket.
Of course, they also used vintage style RCA plugs, like  these:

https://www.mojotone.com/amp-parts/PlugsandCords_1/Vintage-Style-Male-RCA-Phono-Plug-Small

https://darrenriley.com/store/fender-vintage-reverb-cables-for-twin-super/

They were hard to terminate properly, but when this was done, they were remarkably good at RF.
The "El Cheapo" things these days  are most unlikely to be useable.

[vk6zgo]

It's like having a nice cable with XLR connectors on the end, then sticking 1/8" jack adapters on the ends. Just doesn't feel right...

Or like making a cheese ploughmans sandwich with Kraft cheese slices...

Sometimes you need strange adaptors like that.

When the sound quality of domestic stuff became comparable with Broadcast equipment, many times, it was the cheapest way to supply something like a standby voice announcement.

Broadcasters often did use just such "brute force" connections from the outputs of the "domestic" device into audio distribution amplifiers which were designed for 600 Ohm balanced audio.

It was a little "sick making" when I first saw it done, but it worked, & providing you used it with care, worked well!

The cable between the two would often have to plug into a 1/8" jack on one end, & an XLR type socket at the other.

About the "ploughman's sandwich".

When I first went to the UK, I had heard much about the famed "ploughman's lunch", so was eager to try it.
It arrived on a smallish plate------a "buttered bun", a slab of "mousetrap" cheese, & a pickled onion!

A bit underwhelming, in my humble opinion.

It didn't get better when I ate it, either------I had severe indigestion the rest of the day!

[mnementh]

Like these?

Am I the only person that looks at that and thinks "that's just wrong" ?

Why? audio doesn't care that it is coax!

There is still equipment in existence which uses RCA sockets for analog video, & sometimes, for RF.
It was very common back in BW days for the IF output connector on TV "turret tuners" in Oz to be an RCA socket.
Of course, they also used vintage style RCA plugs, like  these:

https://www.mojotone.com/amp-parts/PlugsandCords_1/Vintage-Style-Male-RCA-Phono-Plug-Small



https://darrenriley.com/store/fender-vintage-reverb-cables-for-twin-super/

They were hard to terminate properly, but when this was done, they were remarkably good at RF.
The "El Cheapo" things these days  are most unlikely to be useable.

   

TV tuners did not always look like this, with the F-connector and matching network integrated inside.

   

The old mechanical tuners usually used RCA jacks inside the set, so for the first couple decades of their existence on TVs and VCRs, this carried over and the F connector was a pigtail instead, especially on projection sets. There would often be a matching balun inside a tin box right on the back panel. As these persisted well into the advent of cable TV those tin box/pigtails started to have MOVs inside them as well, and they were handling frequencies well into UHF. They were usually terminated exactly as in your pic; with the shield soldered to the RCA instead of crimped.

I've looked and looked but cannot find a pic of these once-ubiquitous connectors online; I literally used to have a drawer full of the things and always kept a couple of the ones for Maggot-Vox and Rotten-Crunk-America in my toolkit as they were a failure item in the early days of CATV.

mnem
 

[Specmaster]

Or you can have the reverse connection, love these.

[mnementh]

*makes sign of the cross with fingers* HISSSSSSSSSSS!!!



I have no idea what you're talking aboot. 

mnem
*agitating-ily*

[dl6lr]

Or you can have the reverse connection, love these.

You can't have enough adapters:

[Specmaster]

Or you can have the reverse connection, love these.

You can't have enough adapters:

[capt bullshot]

That's the classic:



and the IBM universal business adapter:

[mindcrime]

Pretty sure I have that exact cable! 

[Ice-Tea]

I may have just bought a Tesla.

Yeah.