Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Specmaster]

Speaking of Tek 212 portable scopes, I just finished completely re-working, typesetting and redrawing the Operators Manual.
The original scans were just embarrassingly bad so I went ham at it and channelled my documentation days (I really gotta get InDesign reinstalled on my PC) and here it is:

https://w140.com/tekwiki/wiki/212


If you print it out in booklet mode in the Adobe Acrobat settings and set your printer settings to duplex, it'll print correctly on A4 paper so you can staple it into a nice little booklet.

Nice work, well done, so much clearer and easier to understand, if only there was a way to do the same thing with schematics. So many schematics these days because they are often scans of a poorly done scan in the first instance are almost unreadable in many cases.

[cyclin_al]

Speaking of Tek 212 portable scopes, I just finished completely re-working, typesetting and redrawing the Operators Manual.
The original scans were just embarrassingly bad so I went ham at it and channelled my documentation days (I really gotta get InDesign reinstalled on my PC) and here it is:

https://w140.com/tekwiki/wiki/212


If you print it out in booklet mode in the Adobe Acrobat settings and set your printer settings to duplex, it'll print correctly on A4 paper so you can staple it into a nice little booklet.

Very nice work!

At the same time, I had a "Duh!" moment for myself.  I somehow overlooked that the manuals are all listed on the right hand side of the TekWiki pages.
SWMBO will atest that this is not the only case where I cannot find something that is directly in front of me.

Now that I have worked through that, I have downloaded all the manuals for the 564.  That RM564 is taking up basement space and SWMBO wants it moved.  I will be happy to oblige and move it to a place of greater honour (workbench, formerly known as her craft nook)

[mnementh]

*surfaces just long enough to breathe*

We're alive, in Niagara Falls and almost all of the household (short of dishes and furniture) is in a trailer. I am one dog-tired widdle dwagon 🐉. I've been running on 4ish hours sleep for three days now, after spending 18 hours "not being detained" at the border to begin with.

We'll see what happens when we land somewhere.

mnem
*passes out where he stopped walking*

[TERRA Operative]

At the same time, I had a "Duh!" moment for myself.  I somehow overlooked that the manuals are all listed on the right hand side of the TekWiki pages.
SWMBO will atest that this is not the only case where I cannot find something that is directly in front of me.

I do the same thing on my workbench all the time. Lose my tool or part, spend 10 minutes looking for it while it's right infront of me.

[beanflying]

Random just listed in Germany before I filtered my search a bit eBay auction: #334222108208 Someone say CLOCK?

[mansaxel]

*surfaces just long enough to breathe*

We're alive, in Niagara Falls and almost all of the household (short of dishes and furniture) is in a trailer.

Good to hear that you're breathing and so. Still a shitty situation. I do not envy you.

[capt bullshot]

Speaking of Tek 212 portable scopes, I just finished completely re-working, typesetting and redrawing the Operators Manual.
The original scans were just embarrassingly bad so I went ham at it and channelled my documentation days (I really gotta get InDesign reinstalled on my PC) and here it is:

https://w140.com/tekwiki/wiki/212


If you print it out in booklet mode in the Adobe Acrobat settings and set your printer settings to duplex, it'll print correctly on A4 paper so you can staple it into a nice little booklet.

Top quality, thanks.

Anyway, while skimming through the pages, I found this: Looks like Tek made a mistake while drawing the schematic - T270 apparently shorts the heater winding of T250 - I don't believe it'd work at all if it was connected like it's drawn here.



Did anyone spot this before, I don't remember every single detail of meds repairs?

[TERRA Operative]

Interesting, could it be acting as an autotransformer?
I'll open my unit up 'soon-ish' to tweak the adjustments, so I can see how it's actually connected then. No guaranteed timeframe though.

[Robert763]

Speaking of Tek 212 portable scopes, I just finished completely re-working, typesetting and redrawing the Operators Manual.
The original scans were just embarrassingly bad so I went ham at it and channelled my documentation days (I really gotta get InDesign reinstalled on my PC) and here it is:

https://w140.com/tekwiki/wiki/212


If you print it out in booklet mode in the Adobe Acrobat settings and set your printer settings to duplex, it'll print correctly on A4 paper so you can staple it into a nice little booklet.

Top quality, thanks.

Anyway, while skimming through the pages, I found this: Looks like Tek made a mistake while drawing the schematic - T270 apparently shorts the heater winding of T250 - I don't believe it'd work at all if it was connected like it's drawn here.



Did anyone spot this before, I don't remember every single detail of meds repairs?

Well it depends on the frequency of the AC and the inductance value. It's not clear if it is cored inductor or not. It's also not clear if the two windings are coupled, i.e. a transformer. They do have phasing marks so if they are coupled it's not an autotransformer because thay aer antiphase. It's an odd arrangement but as we don't know the design details we can't say if it's a mistake or not.

Edit typos, on old PC with dodgy keyboard

[med6753]

In reference to the mini 212 CRT heater circuit. That was one of the few areas where I didn't have any issues so I haven't checked to see if the circuit matches the schematic. But soon I have to open up mine again to install the upgraded rectifier board so I'll take a look.

Woke up to rather chilly in here this morning. Looks like the building furnace has shut down again. Two weeks ago it did that and needed service. Apparently there is still a problem. It's currently 0400 hours and I'll hold off sending a text to the landlord until later. Hopefully one of the other tenants wakes them up first. 

I have a space heater so no real issues. Plus, I could always fire up the boatanchors.     


 

[med6753]

Speaking of Tek 212 portable scopes, I just finished completely re-working, typesetting and redrawing the Operators Manual.
The original scans were just embarrassingly bad so I went ham at it and channelled my documentation days (I really gotta get InDesign reinstalled on my PC) and here it is:

https://w140.com/tekwiki/wiki/212


If you print it out in booklet mode in the Adobe Acrobat settings and set your printer settings to duplex, it'll print correctly on A4 paper so you can staple it into a nice little booklet.

Nice work, well done, so much clearer and easier to understand, if only there was a way to do the same thing with schematics. So many schematics these days because they are often scans of a poorly done scan in the first instance are almost unreadable in many cases.

Most of the time I can find a decently scanned manual somewhere on line. If not I'll check Artek Manuals and if they have it I don't mind paying the usual under $10 USD fee for their download. Their scans are excellent, including the schematics.

But yes, I do have the odd ball manual where the schematics suck and are almost unreadable. 

[TERRA Operative]

I found the same with the 10811 OXCO info and schematic for my 5065A Rubidium standard, after scouring the internet, I found the schematic for the piggyback PCB was almost identical to the 105A/B Crystal Standard, so with some small tweaking in photoshop to correct the couple differences, I had a much nicer and readable schematic.

[med6753]

Just sent a text to landlord and got a response within minutes. Going to come and check the furnace in the basement.

In the meantime, fired up the Type 547. It has an interesting feature I've not seen on any other delayed sweep scope. By simply switching the Horizontal Display to "ALT" the A and B Sweep can be operated completely independently of each other. No "B Sweep after delay" like other scopes although that can be selected. I'll give credit to the person who stated it's like a poor man's dual beam scope.

[BU508A]

@med6753:

Would this be interesting for you (if not located in Germany)?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/255226933880



And why is it so expensive? 

[med6753]

@med6753:

Would this be interesting for you (if not located in Germany)?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/255226933880



And why is it so expensive? 

Not at that price.  I don't have any of the 5000 series stuff anyway. And as far as a calibration source I have the Heath IG-4244 which does everything I need to calibrate/compensate vertical stages and that, along with a function generator, calibrate sweep speeds.

Edit, and the heat is back on which is a good thing since it's -3 C outside.

[ch_scr]

@med6753:

Would this be interesting for you (if not located in Germany)?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/255226933880



And why is it so expensive? 

It says "Calibrator" on the front, of course it's expensive 

[RolandK]

The seller has even other nice TEA stuff - nice to look at. No danger of buying - but ey, he really sold some to prices to scratch your head.

[Cerebus]

Speaking of Tek 212 portable scopes, I just finished completely re-working, typesetting and redrawing the Operators Manual.
The original scans were just embarrassingly bad so I went ham at it and channelled my documentation days (I really gotta get InDesign reinstalled on my PC) and here it is:

https://w140.com/tekwiki/wiki/212


If you print it out in booklet mode in the Adobe Acrobat settings and set your printer settings to duplex, it'll print correctly on A4 paper so you can staple it into a nice little booklet.

Top quality, thanks.

Anyway, while skimming through the pages, I found this: Looks like Tek made a mistake while drawing the schematic - T270 apparently shorts the heater winding of T250 - I don't believe it'd work at all if it was connected like it's drawn here.



Did anyone spot this before, I don't remember every single detail of meds repairs?

Well it depends on the frequency of the AC and the inductance value. It's not clear if it is cored inductor or not. It's also not clear if the two windings are coupled, i.e. a transformer. They do have phasing marks so if they are coupled it's not an autotransformer because thay aer antiphase. It's an odd arrangement but as we don't know the design details we can't say if it's a mistake or not.

Edit typos, on old PC with dodgy keyboard

Mis-drawn common mode choke? That at least would make immediate sense.

[Robert763]

I Think C may be correct with the mis-drawn common mode choke. Parts list just says 64uH RF choke. That is not enough to limit the inverter current. The 213 has a single 1.05uH choke in the top line.
PDF page 131 of https://w140.com/tekwiki/images/e/ed/070-1481-00.pdf

[AVGresponding]

Speaking of Tek 212 portable scopes, I just finished completely re-working, typesetting and redrawing the Operators Manual.
The original scans were just embarrassingly bad so I went ham at it and channelled my documentation days (I really gotta get InDesign reinstalled on my PC) and here it is:

https://w140.com/tekwiki/wiki/212


If you print it out in booklet mode in the Adobe Acrobat settings and set your printer settings to duplex, it'll print correctly on A4 paper so you can staple it into a nice little booklet.

Top quality, thanks.

Anyway, while skimming through the pages, I found this: Looks like Tek made a mistake while drawing the schematic - T270 apparently shorts the heater winding of T250 - I don't believe it'd work at all if it was connected like it's drawn here.



Did anyone spot this before, I don't remember every single detail of meds repairs?

Well it depends on the frequency of the AC and the inductance value. It's not clear if it is cored inductor or not. It's also not clear if the two windings are coupled, i.e. a transformer. They do have phasing marks so if they are coupled it's not an autotransformer because thay aer antiphase. It's an odd arrangement but as we don't know the design details we can't say if it's a mistake or not.

Edit typos, on old PC with dodgy keyboard

Mis-drawn common mode choke? That at least would make immediate sense.

The manual lists T270 as "Coil, RF:64uH" and not a transformer.

[capt bullshot]

@med6753:

Would this be interesting for you (if not located in Germany)?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/255226933880



And why is it so expensive? 

Ebay said "A seller you've bought from" - usually they're right, so I had to look up what I've bought: A 34401A for a reasonable amount, last year. Todays price tags apparently are kind of mad.

Anyway, PG506 seem to be rare and rather expensive - got mine some years ago from Helmut Singer as "defective", don't remember the price. It was defective indeed, as they usually knew what they sold. Fixed it, but can't remember the details.

[Vince]

First post in 11 days, my new therapist is golden, shall keep consulting him...

Found this interesting and exotic frequency counter locally :

https://www.leboncoin.fr/autres/2066952306.htm

Somehow it appeals to me, especially the display that looks like it's fluorescent rather than LED, but not 100% sure.
Guy wants a good bit of money for it, 100 Euros. Would try to negotiate a bit of course, but still.
Won't buy if it's a mundane LED display, but would consider it if it's fluorescent.
Not Nixie of course. So I guess might be Panaplex or something similar...

So I was trying to find a manual for this thing, so I could see for sure what technology of display it uses... problem : for the life of me google can't find ANYTHING about it !

Guy says it's made by a company named " SYRACUSE ".. front of the instrument is indeed labeled  " Syracuse Electronics France ",
Says it's model 337, though I guess it must be indicated at the back because I can't see it mentioned on the front panel, somehow.

Google can't find any hit for a Syracuse type 337, or any type, or any instrument, test gear, anything...
So I searched for information about the company in general, not a particular product. Searched " Syracuse Electronics ".. ;all Google found me is a company that makes relays for industrial automation, and only that. Zero test gear.
I guess it could be then an in house design, not something they marketed/sold .. but not likely, as there wold no need, plenty of counters to buy off the shelve. Plus, an in house design typically is not as polished as this, and they don't both giving it a type number or printing a nice company logo on it.
So I wold say it was something you could actually buy... but why is there zero trace of this.... zero.

So if anyone knows of a " Syracuse " company that used to make test gear, and could help me find technical information about this thing, or tell me if it's indeed a fluorescent display rather than LED... any help appreciated...

[capt bullshot]

Somehow it appeals to me, especially the display that looks like it's fluorescent rather than LED, but not 100% sure.

Might be of this kind (filament based minitrons), behind a filter panel:



Mine don't have a decimal point, but the short slash shown below the "4" could give it away (as it is a short filament that one can't easily make a dot or circle of, so they made a short line). Anyway, I might be wrong, so don't beat me in case you're now convinced to buy it and it's something else, SVP.

http://www.decadecounter.com/vta/articleview.php?item=218

[med6753]

First post in 11 days, my new therapist is golden, shall keep consulting him...

I'm glad that's working out for you.

This thread is my daily therapy. And have you noticed something? All of sudden this thread as gone to 90% on topic content to 10% off topic content. As it should be. After all this IS a test equipment thread and even with our diverse backgrounds we share that common interest. And any off topic content has been drama free.

I wonder why all of sudden that has happen?     

[Neper]

Might be of this kind (filament based minitrons), behind a filter panel:

My thought exactly when I saw Vince's post. Sony had something like this in their high-end tuners from the 80s. For many years, I haven't seen a single one where all segments were still alive. I'd stay away from them.