Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Vince]

OK now for some more TEA. Maybe the grey beard will have a clue and give me some info on this little gizmo I just did a quick tear down of for you people.

The guy I bought one of my two Metrix nixie counters (not the one picture earlier, another one with only 6 digits, 10Mhz not 160Mhz), also gave me this little artifact as a bonus. Said it was so crap he didn't even find it worth the effort putting it up for sale as for sure nobody would want it.

I always wondered what it was for !  Seller had no clue either !

Looks old, looks military looking maybe... it's tiny, fits in the hand !

If I believe the scale on the galvanometer, it's an ohm-meter, with two ranges. There as switch on the side of the case to let you select that.
Also on the side there is a handle that you can crank to energize it.

So far so good, looks like your typical ancient mega-ohmmeter to measure earth resistance.

Problem is... the scale should read in the tens of Mohms..... whereas here, it's the opposite : it measures very LOW values : one scale for 0 - 50 ohms, other scale is 0 - 150 ohms !!!

There's something that feels very mining, possibly explosives related aboot that little device. Also, just because the current holder of that business name was founded in the 60s, does not mean it's the same company at all, or may even have been restructured, etc.

mnem
*idle thoughts of an idle fellow*

Yeah... we will soon find out.. I  e-mailed the last night, got no reply today. Maybe next week... but not holding my breath...

Looks like this cute little thing will soon end up in the scrappy along with the 8 CD players I just tore down to bits.

[Neomys Sapiens]

Way to kill Rigol too 

I notice they kicked out a 2 channel 200MHz DS1000Z 

And it seems quite well priced and featured but dunno just how bug free it is yet. 

Isn't that a problem with all modern day equipment when they contain so much coding in them?

I wouldn’t worry about scope software. Every time you spend money, some code runs somewhere written by an outsourcer who bought his degree for three goats, was stoned and working up to his knees in fecal matter flooded from the Ganges. And he has several orders of magnitude more clue than the guys telling him what to do. Worry about that instead

I am rather concerned about the repeated and incessant occurrence of goats in your product lifecycles.
And the fact that those artiodactyls do not convince me of having the proper certifications does merely aggravate this.

[beanflying]

OK good find, can't believe nobody else thought about diodes... now it's only all too predictable that in 2 months someone will post a picture of a 1N4148...    and if nobody does I WILL !

I had hoped (in vain, obviously) that no one would pester us with such pedestrian components. Keep that plastic crap out of here!

Easy, easy there ! .... or else I send my tellermine your way, watch out !!!

Seems how the fun police don't like diodes I can handle some of the next few pages if needed Vince 

Time to test a TIG all things being well 

[vk6zgo]

That's why I love my old Fluke/Philips PM3394, combined analog + digital, so at the push of a button I can toggle between digital and analog as I see fit. I start in analog and if it can't do what I need then only I switch to digital.  Of course in digital mode it's not a power house but has the basic stuff you want. cursors, the most commonly used automatic measurements, averaging, printer output, GPIB.

That is why I still have 20 of these PM3394B
They were by far ahead of their time and even today have some benefits that can not be found in other scopes.
Here is one of my benches with all 6 of them hooked up to a PC.

But, but, ---they're not blue!!

[vk6zgo]

Get yourself a Caterpillar S62 for less than £500, and you've got a waterproof, mil-spec phone with a decent FLIR camera built in.

Worth it

At last!------A legitimate reason for thermal cameras!

[Vince]

That's why I love my old Fluke/Philips PM3394, combined analog + digital, so at the push of a button I can toggle between digital and analog as I see fit. I start in analog and if it can't do what I need then only I switch to digital.  Of course in digital mode it's not a power house but has the basic stuff you want. cursors, the most commonly used automatic measurements, averaging, printer output, GPIB.

That is why I still have 20 of these PM3394B
They were by far ahead of their time and even today have some benefits that can not be found in other scopes.
Here is one of my benches with all 6 of them hooked up to a PC.

But, but, ---they're not blue!!

They do have a little blue IN them... the CRT phosphor is a lovely cyan colour, so half blue half green.......half blue, so there is SOME blue in it ! 

[med6753]

That's why I love my old Fluke/Philips PM3394, combined analog + digital, so at the push of a button I can toggle between digital and analog as I see fit. I start in analog and if it can't do what I need then only I switch to digital.  Of course in digital mode it's not a power house but has the basic stuff you want. cursors, the most commonly used automatic measurements, averaging, printer output, GPIB.

That is why I still have 20 of these PM3394B
They were by far ahead of their time and even today have some benefits that can not be found in other scopes.
Here is one of my benches with all 6 of them hooked up to a PC.

But, but, ---they're not blue!!

They do have a little blue IN them... the CRT phosphor is a lovely cyan colour, so half blue half green.......half blue, so there is SOME blue in it ! 

And probably a bunch of failure prone blue Philips capacitors. 

[Vince]

Probably not, these scopes are too recent for that I think !

... have never taken mine apart (2 of them) though... because they " just work " ! ... which means they probably do NOT contain said blue caps ! 

[med6753]

Probably not, these scopes are too recent for that I think !

... have never taken mine apart (2 of them) though... because they " just work " ! ... which means they probably do NOT contains said blue caps ! 

What do you mean you've never taken them apart? Might I remind you that this is TEA and that is a requirement. 

My experience with Philips capacitors in Fluke DMM's has been less than stellar and when one is found it is automatic replacement.

[tautech]

Time to test a TIG all things being well 

You fixed that Santa look with a mop chop yet Bean ?
Don't go lighting yourself up !

[beanflying]

Still getting to it but a quick Helmet check and bearing in mind it is not spattering MIG or Stick most of the bushy bits are covered. There is more double and triple packaging than Welder in the box.....

[mansaxel]

Isn't that a problem with all modern day equipment when they contain so much coding in them?

To some it is for sure yet without coding you are stuck with what it can do at time of production. Period.
Innovative additions can be made just with a FW update such as what has just been done with our 4ch X-E's.
A NTP clock, Trace labeling and a dedicated logging feature that I've not played with yet so not sure how powerful it is yet with a deep memory DSO and ability to save captures as CSV you have that sort of capability already.

The time-nut in me wonders if it really is NTP or just SNTP. Are the Linux part of the scopes infected with Lennartware? (systemd) If so, chances are that they aren't properly NTP. Because the head honcho in penis-fingery, Herr Pœttering, has decided that he can force a worse version of everything down our throat, just because he wants to.

• syslogd
• dhclient
• system resolver
• ifconfig
• ntpd
• ...

They all went away and were replaced by some barely running code dependent on dbus and written by some fecal matter with a text editor that cant tell "0_luser" from "root" because it's easier so.

[vk6zgo]

Holy crap - whyyyy 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/174913006204

My guess would be:

Labeled Daystrom Institute

Original Manual in decent shape

lens not cracked or crazed from age

face anodizing crisp and clean

bakelite bits don't look like hammered shit

In other words... a good example of the breed in good nick.

mnem
 

It still ain't worth THAT much. 

Edit...especially since it apparently doesn't include the DC probe.

There seems to be a bit of sentimentality around Heathkit stuff, probably based on "that was one of the first things I built".

Agree 100% and it was the stuff I built too. But $150 plus for a VTVM doesn't fly with me. 

Especially when I picked up a working hp410C for $A40 at a hamfest a couple of years back, & "coulda, shoulda" got a complete but crusty one as a spares mule for a lot less last Sunday.

But then, that's just me-----I have history with 410Cs, others may have memories tied up with other TE.

[vk6zgo]

I guess it must be some nice instrument for a very specific application... but what application ? Civil ? Military ?

Could be a continuity tester.

Ask the manufacturer they're still around:
https://www.pagesjaunes.fr/pros/52120546
They might even send you a free service manual.

We used something similar, although not in appearance, to measure continuity of the earth mat of a MF
Broadcasting Station back in the day.

It was battery operated, not by a hand generator, but it had a very similar scale range.
There were other devices which had similar ranges, but didn't like high levels of RF, so it was the default instrument.

It was called a a "GecOhm" or "GeoOhm", not sure which------too long ago.

[vk6zgo]

" CIMEL ".... Google found a CIMEL also in Paris... so could be it :

https://www.cimel.fr/about-us/#about-history

However they are into weather measuring devices... but well I guess in their early days they might have done other types of instruments... It's like saying Tektronix only ever made scopes.... of course not.

Yes, Tek made Vectorscopes & waveform monitors for analog video, as well as the most diabolical Picture monitors for the same service.

Their history timeline says they were founded in 1966, so that device is not " that " old then... not WW2 stuff for sure, even though its construction sure looks older than the mid '60's !  :-/

Might try dropping them an e-mail anyway, doesn't hurt...

[med6753]

it seems no matter how much/how little I sleep I always wake up around 03:00 hours. Weird.    Even the EU crowd is still sleeping, especially since it's Saturday. (Everyday is Saturday for me.  )

Heard a coded term on the police scanner which I had never heard before but figured it out, and was confirmed. Someone was at a parking area with a "GSW to the head". Seems obvious now but was puzzled at first. GSW = Gun Shot Wound.    Dunno if it was self-inflicted or not. Was not able to hear any additional details.

I have another repair project on the bench. More details later.

[capt bullshot]

OK now for some more TEA. Maybe the grey beard will have a clue and give me some info on this little gizmo I just did a quick tear down of for you people.

The guy I bought one of my two Metrix nixie counters (not the one picture earlier, another one with only 6 digits, 10Mhz not 160Mhz), also gave me this little artifact as a bonus. Said it was so crap he didn't even find it worth the effort putting it up for sale as for sure nobody would want it.

I always wondered what it was for !  Seller had no clue either !

Looks old, looks military looking maybe... it's tiny, fits in the hand !

If I believe the scale on the galvanometer, it's an ohm-meter, with two ranges. There as switch on the side of the case to let you select that.
Also on the side there is a handle that you can crank to energize it.

So far so good, looks like your typical ancient mega-ohmmeter to measure earth resistance.

Problem is... the scale should read in the tens of Mohms..... whereas here, it's the opposite : it measures very LOW values : one scale for 0 - 50 ohms, other scale is 0 - 150 ohms !!!

Big Clive had a video about an exploder (these things that have a hand crank and are used to fire explosives). The one he had show had two functions: detonating and measuring the loop resistance of the actual initiators. He also explained some of the basic stuff around this application. Maybe your device is the loop resistance measurement function only.

[bd139]

Way to kill Rigol too 

I notice they kicked out a 2 channel 200MHz DS1000Z 

And it seems quite well priced and featured but dunno just how bug free it is yet. 

Isn't that a problem with all modern day equipment when they contain so much coding in them?

I wouldn’t worry about scope software. Every time you spend money, some code runs somewhere written by an outsourcer who bought his degree for three goats, was stoned and working up to his knees in fecal matter flooded from the Ganges. And he has several orders of magnitude more clue than the guys telling him what to do. Worry about that instead

I am rather concerned about the repeated and incessant occurrence of goats in your product lifecycles.
And the fact that those artiodactyls do not convince me of having the proper certifications does merely aggravate this.

Have you not seen the guys at Foxconn when they bring up a new product line? They sacrifice a goat or two and have a big feast. If it works for them… 

Also can’t beat some curried goat with rice and peas. Talking for which new place opened up near me called GOATS that sells goats 

[Robert763]

OK now for some more TEA. Maybe the grey beard will have a clue and give me some info on this little gizmo I just did a quick tear down of for you people.

The guy I bought one of my two Metrix nixie counters (not the one picture earlier, another one with only 6 digits, 10Mhz not 160Mhz), also gave me this little artifact as a bonus. Said it was so crap he didn't even find it worth the effort putting it up for sale as for sure nobody would want it.

I always wondered what it was for !  Seller had no clue either !

Looks old, looks military looking maybe... it's tiny, fits in the hand !

If I believe the scale on the galvanometer, it's an ohm-meter, with two ranges. There as switch on the side of the case to let you select that.
Also on the side there is a handle that you can crank to energize it.

So far so good, looks like your typical ancient mega-ohmmeter to measure earth resistance.

Problem is... the scale should read in the tens of Mohms..... whereas here, it's the opposite : it measures very LOW values : one scale for 0 - 50 ohms, other scale is 0 - 150 ohms !!!

There's something that feels very mining, possibly explosives related aboot that little device. Also, just because the current holder of that business name was founded in the 60s, does not mean it's the same company at all, or may even have been restructured, etc.

mnem
*idle thoughts of an idle fellow*

I forgot to reply to the original post.
It's basically just a low resistance version of a "Megger". Megger made them too, look identical to the high voltage versions. Has the avantage of nt needing batteries.
It does look a bit like an exploder but isn't. Megger did make a "Safety Ohmmeter" version for use with pyrotechnics etc.
http://www.richardsradios.co.uk/safety.html

From the design and ranges I'd posit that the French one was intended for testing field telephone lines.

EDIT, one just poped up on ebay:
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/224596459684

[bd139]

Ok eaten breakfast and looked at the toasted nanovna. Desoldered the front end on the RX channel entirely. R22 to 25 are either open or wrong. Board is surprisingly fine. Interestingly the two coupling capacitors on the diff inputs on the first SA612 are no longer capacitors. If I power it up without them installed the bias voltages for the mixer are fine. Might just have killed the discrete parts here!

So I have none of them in the prescribed 0603 so will put an order through later. Might be lucky on this one.

[nfmax]

Met up yesterday with a couple of old university contemporaries for a beer or two, a country walk & tea in the garden. Lost of nerdy discussion, ranging widely over domestic architecture, heat pumps, energy monitoring, sensor calibration, electric cars & bicycles and the best way to measure air temperatures. Favourite quote:

The man with two thermometers never knows what time it is

[med6753]

Have you not seen the guys at Foxconn when they bring up a new product line? They sacrifice a goat or two and have a big feast. If it works for them… 

Also can’t beat some curried goat with rice and peas. Talking for which new place opened up near me called GOATS that sells goats 

Goats are like fleas in these parts. A large Italian descendant population. Can always tell you're pulling up to one of their homes. Either a statue of the Virgin Mary or St Augustine or St Francis in the front yard and a fenced in area in the back yard and several nanny goats. I have not had the pleasure of sampling goat and not sure I want to. 

And today it starts. The apple orchards open up and the Mongol Horde invasion from NYC/Jersey clogs the roads. 

[Robert763]

Arn't they too busy mopping up?

[tggzzz]

When people complain about the price you should look at the value you derive versus the ownership price.

Cost £1000 (that includes “being an idiot insurance” for 24 months). Get £400 back after two years. So total spend is £600. That works out at £25 a month over 2 years. Which isn’t a lot of money really considering the shite we all buy off eBay on a regular basis for more  . Realistically the average salary in the UK percentage of that is about 1.2%. Most people spend more on TV subs and alcohol.

For that you get a pocket supercomputer, decent camera, navigation device, music player, multi mode communication device, email client, eBay hawking device, calendar, alarm clock, contact manager and payment device. The phone bit isn’t that important these days.

Total bargain.

The only bad bit is the pocket Stasi.  . But quite frankly Apple are still the least bad at that sort of stuff.

I wouldn’t buy a bottom end handset myself. I have been there. There is only pain.

Edit: wrote this post on mine while taking a shit between meetings. See look at that value!

Which is worse such stasi functionality or the ability for a an advert from a cloud computer to break every computer in the world running one version of the operating system? Discuss.

For those unaware, Microsoft broke every Win11 in the world by downloading an advert for MS Teams!
https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/windows11-empty-taskbar.html

The problem wasn’t caused by an update delivered through Windows Update. (That would have been more understandable.) Instead, it was caused by a small file downloaded by a Windows component called IrisService. Iris is a part of Windows Spotlight (the Bing wallpaper of the day; and tips, promotions, and suggestions on the Lock screen).

Based on the Microsoft-provided workaround, I narrowed the problem down to a registry key that contained a serialized JSON blob. The blob contained an advertisement for Microsoft Teams...

Clearly MS knows and understands how to design reliabillty into their products - not. What next?

[med6753]

Arn't they too busy mopping up?

Yea, some areas got caught flat footed again like Sandy a few years ago. But most have recovered pretty quick. Big exception is the rail line between here and NYC. Enormous washout in Westchester County that they are still trying to clear and the line is totally shut down.