Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Cerebus]

And another from the eBay feed:



Listing here: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/224698099614

And look where it used to work!

[Cerebus]

And, just I managed to win an eBay auction with a maiden bid! My new toy sucks.

If it's in good condition it sucks to an ultimate 0.05 Pa (or 0.5 uBar, or 375 uTorr, or 7.25uPSI) at 280 ltr/min. That's a lot of suck.



Looks to be in good nick and most importantly has the right level of clean vacuum oil in it - a lot of vacuum pumps you see on eBay have filthy oil at the minimum mark or below and that's not an encouraging sign.

[mansaxel]

And, just I managed to win an eBay auction with a maiden bid! My new toy sucks.

If it's in good condition it sucks to an ultimate 0.05 Pa (or 0.5 uBar, or 375 uTorr, or 7.25uPSI) at 280 ltr/min. That's a lot of suck.



Looks to be in good nick and most importantly has the right level of clean vacuum oil in it - a lot of vacuum pumps you see on eBay have filthy oil at the minimum mark or below and that's not an encouraging sign.

This must be an interesting problem indeed.

With the amount of suckage present in modern appliances and their punch cards, why, pray tell, do you feel you need more? Methinks running, say, sendmail 5 and an early Oracle RDBMS, under Solaris 2.4 for X86, on a Gateway desktop with IBM DeathStar IDE drives, would qualify for near outer-space suckage...

[Neper]

At any rate, I would have waited for the deluxe version with its three connections: input, output and kaputt.

SCNR

[Cerebus]

And, just I managed to win an eBay auction with a maiden bid! My new toy sucks.

If it's in good condition it sucks to an ultimate 0.05 Pa (or 0.5 uBar, or 375 uTorr, or 7.25uPSI) at 280 ltr/min. That's a lot of suck.



Looks to be in good nick and most importantly has the right level of clean vacuum oil in it - a lot of vacuum pumps you see on eBay have filthy oil at the minimum mark or below and that's not an encouraging sign.

This must be an interesting problem indeed.

With the amount of suckage present in modern appliances and their punch cards, why, pray tell, do you feel you need more? Methinks running, say, sendmail 5 and an early Oracle RDBMS, under Solaris 2.4 for X86, on a Gateway desktop with IBM DeathStar IDE drives, would qualify for near outer-space suckage...

I've tried degassing resin with an old copy of Solaris for X86, but for the life of me I couldn't get the vacuum tube to SCSI adapter to work. The only thing it knocked the bubbles out of was me.

[Robert763]

If you need some oil C I have about 5 litres of Edwards so could spare some.

[Cerebus]

Thanks Robert but logistics wise it's probably easier and cheaper for me to pick some up myself. There's enough light industry still here in East London that I wouldn't be surprised if I could pick some up locally over a trade counter.

I was a little surprised a few years back when I discovered that I could get all sorts of compressor fittings over the counter in the local high street (Green Street, which most people would associate with Saris and Gold Jewellery and at the South end with the old Hammer's ground).

[dl6lr]

I've tried degassing resin with an old copy of Solaris for X86, but for the life of me I couldn't get the vacuum tube to SCSI adapter to work. The only thing it knocked the bubbles out of was me.

You need an 8-bit airport to connect to. Must have a handdrawn Siemens datasheet we made during a boring lecture in the 80s...

[factory]

@Vince those Minitrons are a nice looking display. I'd hope that if you don't leave it running 8hours a day that they would last a good long time...

Just sent the guy a message asking for more pics and info...

There used to be similar displays on petrol pumps. They were running continuously. Now they are all mostly LCD, of course

Corrected that for you, a small garage in Nantwich still has petrol pumps with a mix of Numitrons and the drop-in LED replacements. There will be others still using them, as smaller places can't always afford to buy newer pumps, as the big chains do often.

Some of the Gilbarco Highline boards we have here with Numitrons (in quote below), I also have a another Gilbarco board that was re-designed to take either the Numitrons, or an additional second board for Minitrons.

Numitrons had a longer existence due to being used in petrol pumps, the requirement for spares to service those still in use has probably eaten through most of the old stocks. And as I mentioned recently, there is still one garage locally running pumps with Numitrons.
The later electromechanical vane type displays also seem to have also become much less common, another local place still had some last year but they had been ripped out earlier this year, no doubt to be replaced with more LCD crap, last one I used could really benefit from more readings per second or a large hammer put through it.

Most of the Numitron & vane displays on ePay.uk seem to be pulls from old pumps, often at silly prices too.

Here are some circuits from Gilbarco Highline I pumps, these were dumped around the back of a smaller petrol station which had replaced them with newer second hand pumps with the vane displays. My brother bought some stuff from them and I asked about the boards & they were OK with me taking them away.

The owner of the garage those boards came from, mentioned they didn't work properly with a mix of LED replacements & Numitrons, but other petrol stations didn't seem to have any issues mixing them.

Can't remember where this picture was taken.


Another from a few years ago with a full set.

I've got some of those Minitrons, still attached to the display module from a petrol pump (sorry picture is crap), the very rusty PSU with RIFA's is somewhere in the shed too, wish I had kept the pulser modules as they would have been interesting to experiment with the HP reversible counter.

Still can't get to that module with the Minitrons from a uncommon (in the UK) Bennett Beck blender pump, we had a set of four of those some years ago, the worst two got scrapped and the other two sold on ePay for bugger all, they may or may not have ended up in Africa.

David

[mansaxel]

With the amount of suckage present in modern appliances and their punch cards, why, pray tell, do you feel you need more? Methinks running, say, sendmail 5 and an early Oracle RDBMS, under Solaris 2.4 for X86, on a Gateway desktop with IBM DeathStar IDE drives, would qualify for near outer-space suckage...

I've tried degassing resin with an old copy of Solaris for X86, but for the life of me I couldn't get the vacuum tube to SCSI adapter to work. The only thing it knocked the bubbles out of was me.

That's why I wrote IDE. SCSI does not suck enough. IDE, especially if it sprays the system with interrupts to do anything,  will do, but to get close to theoretical minimum pressure, MFM drives will have to be introduced.

[cyclin_al]

One for the Francophones among you, that [sort-of] inexplicably turned up in my eBay feed today.



And for the non-francophones, the callout box reads "With over 300 oscillograms representing [the] measurement possibilities".

It looks like an old highschool textbook when an oscilloscope was the latest and greatest thing to arrive.
Learn by repeating after me ... 300 pictures worth (how to do, but probably not how to understand).

[vk6zgo]

I think we all need to just shut the fuck up about politics etc. and just stick to the title of the thread.

Go start another thread if you want to throw stones at each other.

Agree. I'll state my opinion here but as I've found it won't do much good. It got back to normal for a short while ... and now it blew up again. The number of views and posts in this thread means nothing to me - it's the quality and on-topic posts that matter. I wouldn't care if it was five posts per day if it was on-topic.

I'll re-post what I got yesterday here but I'm not sure about any more because of the off-topic stuff, off-topic repairs consumer repairs/projects, and off-topic cartoons and videos posted by a few. I get that a few can be OK but it's gone way too much for me. If that doesn't change (it did for a short while) than I'll just post my other test equipment repairs and acquisitions in the other thread for it

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/list-your-test-equipment-score-here!/

or make my own thread so the material I post doesn't get swept away in minutes with silly stuff and rebuttals of rebuttals of rebuttals.

Thank you for reading my opinion.

Anyway ... here's what I got from an Ebay seller near me. Same group I got the last power sensor from. An Agilent 8482A power sensor (+20 to -30 dBm 100 kHz to 4.2 GHz). It's been in the field but it works just fine. Now I have two, because two is better than one. 

What you really are going to need soon is a nice polished wooden case, with green felt interior lining & underlying the felt, cutouts for all your sensors & other such devices.
Every good RF workshop used to have such cases, but now, although the devices are around in decent quantities, the cases are not.

[vk6zgo]

Mnem, can I ask you to do something uncharacteristic? Let it go. Sometimes discretion is the better part of valour. For what it's worth, I think Med has gone beyond the pale on this occasion.

I agree, some things are worth going to the barricades for, some aren't!

[tautech]

I think we all need to just shut the fuck up about politics etc. and just stick to the title of the thread.

Go start another thread if you want to throw stones at each other.

Agree. I'll state my opinion here but as I've found it won't do much good. It got back to normal for a short while ... and now it blew up again. The number of views and posts in this thread means nothing to me - it's the quality and on-topic posts that matter. I wouldn't care if it was five posts per day if it was on-topic.

I'll re-post what I got yesterday here but I'm not sure about any more because of the off-topic stuff, off-topic repairs consumer repairs/projects, and off-topic cartoons and videos posted by a few. I get that a few can be OK but it's gone way too much for me. If that doesn't change (it did for a short while) than I'll just post my other test equipment repairs and acquisitions in the other thread for it

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/list-your-test-equipment-score-here!/

or make my own thread so the material I post doesn't get swept away in minutes with silly stuff and rebuttals of rebuttals of rebuttals.

Thank you for reading my opinion.

Anyway ... here's what I got from an Ebay seller near me. Same group I got the last power sensor from. An Agilent 8482A power sensor (+20 to -30 dBm 100 kHz to 4.2 GHz). It's been in the field but it works just fine. Now I have two, because two is better than one. 

What you really are going to need soon is a nice polished wooden case, with green felt interior lining & underlying the felt, cutouts for all your sensors & other such devices.
Every good RF workshop used to have such cases, but now, although the devices are around in decent quantities, the cases are not.

Reasonably priced alternatives exist:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002317357344.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.27424c4dfVAczE

[vk6zgo]

I think we all need to just shut the fuck up about politics etc. and just stick to the title of the thread.

Go start another thread if you want to throw stones at each other.

Agree. I'll state my opinion here but as I've found it won't do much good. It got back to normal for a short while ... and now it blew up again. The number of views and posts in this thread means nothing to me - it's the quality and on-topic posts that matter. I wouldn't care if it was five posts per day if it was on-topic.

I'll re-post what I got yesterday here but I'm not sure about any more because of the off-topic stuff, off-topic repairs consumer repairs/projects, and off-topic cartoons and videos posted by a few. I get that a few can be OK but it's gone way too much for me. If that doesn't change (it did for a short while) than I'll just post my other test equipment repairs and acquisitions in the other thread for it

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/list-your-test-equipment-score-here!/

or make my own thread so the material I post doesn't get swept away in minutes with silly stuff and rebuttals of rebuttals of rebuttals.

Thank you for reading my opinion.

Anyway ... here's what I got from an Ebay seller near me. Same group I got the last power sensor from. An Agilent 8482A power sensor (+20 to -30 dBm 100 kHz to 4.2 GHz). It's been in the field but it works just fine. Now I have two, because two is better than one. 

What you really are going to need soon is a nice polished wooden case, with green felt interior lining & underlying the felt, cutouts for all your sensors & other such devices.
Every good RF workshop used to have such cases, but now, although the devices are around in decent quantities, the cases are not.

Reasonably priced alternatives exist:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002317357344.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.27424c4dfVAczE

Definitely functional,----but it's the "vibe", mate, the "vibe!"

[tautech]

I think we all need to just shut the fuck up about politics etc. and just stick to the title of the thread.

Go start another thread if you want to throw stones at each other.

Agree. I'll state my opinion here but as I've found it won't do much good. It got back to normal for a short while ... and now it blew up again. The number of views and posts in this thread means nothing to me - it's the quality and on-topic posts that matter. I wouldn't care if it was five posts per day if it was on-topic.

I'll re-post what I got yesterday here but I'm not sure about any more because of the off-topic stuff, off-topic repairs consumer repairs/projects, and off-topic cartoons and videos posted by a few. I get that a few can be OK but it's gone way too much for me. If that doesn't change (it did for a short while) than I'll just post my other test equipment repairs and acquisitions in the other thread for it

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/list-your-test-equipment-score-here!/

or make my own thread so the material I post doesn't get swept away in minutes with silly stuff and rebuttals of rebuttals of rebuttals.

Thank you for reading my opinion.

Anyway ... here's what I got from an Ebay seller near me. Same group I got the last power sensor from. An Agilent 8482A power sensor (+20 to -30 dBm 100 kHz to 4.2 GHz). It's been in the field but it works just fine. Now I have two, because two is better than one. 

What you really are going to need soon is a nice polished wooden case, with green felt interior lining & underlying the felt, cutouts for all your sensors & other such devices.
Every good RF workshop used to have such cases, but now, although the devices are around in decent quantities, the cases are not.

Reasonably priced alternatives exist:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002317357344.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.27424c4dfVAczE

Definitely functional,----but it's the "vibe", mate, the "vibe!"

Photoshop <insert brand logo> 

[xrunner]

Definitely functional,----but it's the "vibe", mate, the "vibe!"

Maybe if the plastic was simulated wood grain ...

No that wouldn't be right. 

[Brumby]

Maybe if the plastic was simulated wood grain ...

No that wouldn't be right. 

They tried that in the 70s ... and, no, it never looked right, felt right nor worked right.

[mnementh]

When you have a new sensor you can to enter the calibration factors into the instrument. It already has averaged data from some averaged database they had in the factory for several sensor models for each sensor product, but if you have the table on the sensor you can clear the data and enter the data from the sticker. It's a bit tiresome but for the lack of a KBD it's not the worst I've encountered. Just enter the frequency and the cal factor (with the arrow buttons) for each table entry. Since I have two 8482As I'll just make two tables - I might put a label on each sensor, say #1 and #2. then enter two tables like 8482A 1 and 8482A 2 ... it doesn't have special characters like "#".

The instrument interpolates between table entries depending on the freq. you tell the instrument you have the sensor looking at via the FREQ button. And always, always when using this remember the absolute maximum power into the sensor is 300 mW (+24.8 dBm). Anything more will destroy the sensor. I've show this to ham friends and they say "Oh I'll get one to test my ham transmitter!". No, please do not do that.

It's sitting on the roll of bubble-wrap because it's easier to see from where I'm sitting now. 

Oooooh... The 437B is the ideal "state of yo" sweet spot between price, features, and capabilities device in that product range, as long as you only need one sensor at a time. I shopped that whole range of the product line very hard for a while; bought a 437B and a 438B for less than $25 each on two different occasions from different vendors... and both those mutherfuckerzz canceled the sale "due to not having the sensor and cable". 

Like I'm stoopit enuf to expect the sensor, etc for that price when the cable or even a defective sensor alone can fetch $100.

You have turned the silly old bronze dwagon a widdle bit green with envy there. 

mnem
I'll roshambo ya for it...

[mnementh]

Mnem, can I ask you to do something uncharacteristic? Let it go. Sometimes discretion is the better part of valour. For what it's worth, I think Med has gone beyond the pale on this occasion.

Honestly, I would have long ago were it not for the incessant personal beleaguering. And thank you for the common courtesy of asking instead of demanding.

mnem
🐉 *toddles off to drool over xrunner's 437B some more*

 

[mnementh]

A lab assistant ? Can't afford to pay for one but I would not mind a slave/free assistant, he could go through all my boxes of components and stuff, and sort and organize it all neatly so it's easily accessible and I can actually do something with all that stuff, at long last !

I don't think Igors need actual payment, just a basement with a nice cool slab to keep spare body parts on and a goodly supply of candles to get all properly dribbly.

I believe that the rules say that once you've got an Igor you're entitled to a more glamorous second lab assistant.

Here, just for you. A roll in the hay....



McBryce.

Call that a roll? I'd at least want a proper man's roll if I couldn't have Teri Garr. Allow me to present the pride of North East England, the smallest roll that a Geordie fella would consider, the Stottie:

Teri was one of my first school-age TV crushes; adorable, smart, funny and all the best kinds of trouble all in one package. What's not to love...?

Then I discovered batshit crazy redheads, and it all went co-dependent cray-cray until I woke up in the mayor's wife's bed with a bottle of chocolate liqueur in my hand and no memory of the previous three days...

mnem

[mnementh]

I believe that the rules say that once you've got an Igor you're entitled to a more glamorous second lab assistant.

Mmmm. You seem to be missing the concept that a successful engineer should have both a wife and a mistress, and that they should know of each other's existence.

They you can tell the wife you're with the mistress and the mistress you are with the wife - while you go to the lab to have good time.

Until one day you come home and find they've been experimenting together without you, and all you're left with is the bill for two women's shoe and handbag habits...

mnem
entropy is a bitch; sometimes two.

[mnementh]

With the amount of suckage present in modern appliances and their punch cards, why, pray tell, do you feel you need more? Methinks running, say, sendmail 5 and an early Oracle RDBMS, under Solaris 2.4 for X86, on a Gateway desktop with IBM DeathStar IDE drives, would qualify for near outer-space suckage...

I've tried degassing resin with an old copy of Solaris for X86, but for the life of me I couldn't get the vacuum tube to SCSI adapter to work. The only thing it knocked the bubbles out of was me.

That's why I wrote IDE. SCSI does not suck enough. IDE, especially if it sprays the system with interrupts to do anything,  will do, but to get close to theoretical minimum pressure, MFM RLL drives will have to be introduced.

There, FTFY. 

mnem
lick my platters. you know you want to.

[mnementh]

What you really are going to need soon is a nice polished wooden case, with green felt interior lining & underlying the felt, cutouts for all your sensors & other such devices.
Every good RF workshop used to have such cases, but now, although the devices are around in decent quantities, the cases are not.

Reasonably priced alternatives exist:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002317357344.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.27424c4dfVAczE

Or you could just go to Wally World or Academy Sports and spend $10 on a PLANO pistol case. 

I'm using a couple of the larger $3 craft/hobby divider boxes from Dollarama, myself. These have the added benefit of not needing to open them to see what adapters are in there. 

mnem
save the assache. there's too much butthurt out there already.

[mansaxel]

What you really are going to need soon is a nice polished wooden case, with green felt interior lining & underlying the felt, cutouts for all your sensors & other such devices.
Every good RF workshop used to have such cases, but now, although the devices are around in decent quantities, the cases are not.

Reasonably priced alternatives exist:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002317357344.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.27424c4dfVAczE

Or you could just go to Wally World or Academy Sports and spend $10 on a PLANO pistol case. 

I'm using a couple of the larger $3 craft/hobby divider boxes from Dollarama, myself. These have the added benefit of not needing to open them to see what adapters are in there. 

mnem
save the assache. there's too much butthurt out there already.

I'm using a lot of Raaco cabinets, and a lot of Hammarplast (think Rubbermaid but in Sweden) SmartStorage(tm) boxes. Really like them.

For my optical measurement and inspection kit I bought a "Peli" clone from one of the cheap tool stores here. Our production gear department (in-house rental of TV making stuff like cameras, microphones, cables, lights, monitors, and a worrying amount of networking boxes) at work has bought a palletload of them and use them for all sorts of small delicate things that need to survive. Their verdict was "good enough, by far" so I went ahead.

Holds my Wandel & Goltermann light source and meters, the cleaning utensils, and my all-optical ferrule microscope. That last item is a bit scary. I only use it on patch cords where I can see both ends and verify them to be dark. It of course is much faster to scope optically than wait for the zoom/focus in the TV camera variant that is actually safe to use on live fibers..