Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Vince]

I'm sure we'll all be eager to examine your craftsmanship as well. 

I don't know.... I can feel the pressure now... not sure I will post my results, for fear of getting stoned for lack of perfection.

I am scared now....

OK might post.. once I have done many experiments and that leads to something that satisfies me, might take the risk to show it here.... just maybe !

[xrunner]

Vince what is your opinion ...

If we want to replace a knob or button on our vintage instrument, does the button need to look brand new, or does it need to look like other buttons that are "weathered" (model RR term) and used? Which is the perfect choice in your opinion?

 

[Cerebus]

They diagnosed the issue to a broken thermostat and told me to have it checked out asap.

I've had that exact failure too. On same  model car.

A classic thermostat, as in a wax or bimetallic thermostat in the cooling circuit, or a thermistor acting as input to a control system doing the job of the thermostat?

I've had repeated problems with 10K NTC sensors failing, and then magically one day after I got the parts myself the problems went away (I still had them fitted by my local mechanic at the next service just because they were somewhere awkward to get at unless you already had things removed as you would during a service).

[BU508A]

Vince what is your opinion ...

If we want to replace a knob or button on our vintage instrument, does the button need to look brand new, or does it need to look like other buttons that are "weathered" (model RR term) and used? Which is the perfect choice in your opinion?

 

 

[xrunner]

Vince what is your opinion ...

If we want to replace a knob or button on our vintage instrument, does the button need to look brand new, or does it need to look like other buttons that are "weathered" (model RR term) and used? Which is the perfect choice in your opinion?

 

 

Yes it's a trap! 

[Vince]

Vince what is your opinion ...

If we want to replace a knob or button on our vintage instrument, does the button need to look brand new, or does it need to look like other buttons that are "weathered" (model RR term) and used? Which is the perfect choice in your opinion?

 

Oh boy I am sorry to realize that I am seen as being so anal and extremist ?! 

... because I am really not, I have no dogma or religion about restoring old stuff, I don't know where people got that idea ! 
I understand that some people are, just like there are audiophools, there are resto-phools ! 

I am not one of them at all !

My old glowing Tek scopes are the only reason I am getting interested in restoring old TE, because I like them very much, find them beautiful so am trying to find ways to fix them cosmetically as best as reasonably possible... that is all.   If something is too broken to be fixed well so be it, what can I do about it , I will have to live with it   
... but if something CAN possibly made better, short of being perfect, then yes hell I will put some thoughts and effort into it to see if that leads me somewhere worthwhile ! 

Like redoing the leather carry handles for example, or doing some metal work to straighten bent/damaged chassis/ frames and covers, or repainting covers, or sand blasting this or that, polishing this or that, buying new screws with funny imperial units... every thing that's not crazy expensive and does not require 40 years of experience to get a half decent result... I am willing to try ! 

So now that I have me covered, let's reply to your question ! 

In short : I have no religion on the matter... I would do whatever appears to find my fancy for that particular project ! Sometimes it might be easier to make brand new looking XYZ, so makes sense to redo all the knobs so as to get a consistent look, if that's not too much work, as in 6 months full time work...

But if you are happy with the patina of the existing buttons and your reproduction button is close enough to that patina to not look out of place... well then patina it is then !

Really every particular project is unique, there is no 11th commandment about that I think ! Just do whatever you feel makes most sense to YOU !   

[Kosmic]

Old probe video from Tektronix. Funny how everything they mention in there is still valid today.

[Zucca]

It amazes me how youtube is a pile of shit and a goldmine at the same time.

[Kosmic]

I think I need one of those old Tektronix current probe (already got the p6202 and p6046 active probes they were talking in the video).

[DC1MC]

It amazes me how youtube is a pile of shit and a goldmine at the same time.

This seem to validate Sturgeon's hypothesis, I think the ratio is accurate as well.

[Neomys Sapiens]

VCR / TV :


Does not have a composite input though, which is a bummer. So might replace it with another TV if one day I am given one that has both SCART and video composite.
However SCART has both RGB and composite signals available, so maybe I can make a little adapter to feed a composite signal through SCART. However that's assuming the TV uses the composite signal of the SCART connector, rather than RGB. Have not tested for this. Anyway, for now I have a working TV and VCR so that's cool, it's handy.

How can you be sure which signals were used in the connection VCR<>TV  via SCART?

I do NOT know, that's precisely what I wrote ! 

Communication problem here I think ! 

Ah, so you meant to say that it does not have a composite input on a dedicated connector (i.e. BNC or likewise).

I would suggest getting one of the ready-made adaptor cables, which should route the FBAS to a BNC and the audio signals to RCAs, because fiddling with that blasted SCART connector can lead to bouts of violence.

[mnementh]

and there is similar carnage in the guest bedroom...

alt-codes work here: alt-225 = ß    alt-230 = µ   alt-234 = Ω   alt-236 = ∞   alt-248 = °   alt-0216 = Ø

With a Real Computer (or as close as we people who still have Intel CPU's in our macs can manage) and a proper keymap, Alt-codes are not necessary.

ß µ Ω ∞ ° Ø

Technically, you of course still need to press "alt", but there is no code typing, it's, on this mapping,

s, y, w, 5, shift+the-button-left-of-1-which-is-marked-§-and-°, and, le grande Finale: shift-ö. Because ø is ö in Denmark and Norway, so a Scandinavian keyboard needs it, in the Nordic brotherhood tradition.

Historical tidbit: In the late 1940's, there was some effort in getting a defense alliance going in the Nordics. It was given up, partially because Finland could not be in -- they'd lost the war by being beaten by the Soviets, and were held to a "Peace and Friendship agreement" made up by Stalin and Molotov, so could not take part -- but more so by Norway and Denmark trusting the USA / UK team a bit more. We're still friends, and we don't need passports, even if Norway is not in the EU.

Finland were, in the early 90s, quick to notice that as the Soviet Union had ceased to exist, the agreement could not possibly be valid, and declared themselves unbound by it, which was followed by a new agreement with Russia.

Fair enuf, but I was mostly just trying to help most users get a usable ° and a Ω that doesn't look like blurry ass. 

mnem
*toddles off to ded*

[Kosmic]

Dang, some people are optimistic. I wonder if he take paypal.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/323593247746

[Zucca]

Import taxes to US?

[Kosmic]

Nah, you go there in "Business" trip and bring it back in your luggages 

[Neomys Sapiens]

Just ordered:
1 Set of original GenRad GR900 adaptors.
(GR900<>N-f, GR900<>N-m, GR900<>BNC-m, GR900 50R Termination)

Wow, those are not very common. What's your use case?

Actually, besides BU508s post MAYBE having a grain of truth(*), the best of my sliding tuner stubs is fitted with this connector.

Besides this, I saw it used on a large step attenuator and a special antenna for EMP testing, which I do not own.
That antenna was very interesting. It was a parabolic reflector fed from behind, with the feed line connected to multiple points and actually being a short at DC. That's all I can recall, as I was discouraged from looking longer and I was not given it's exact purpose.
So, I do have an application and I have seen them in application, which is more than I can say about the last-aquired 'WECO' adaptors, which are therefore more exotic to me.
Of course, I would not be averse to aquire this slotted line: https://www.pa4tim.nl/?p=4978
And OH WEY! the 101 page document collection from GenRad about this connector seems to hint at RF connectors previously unknown to me!

For those not having seen or heard of this connector before: It was GenRad's bet to make a connector in the same class as subsequently fulfilled by the APC-7, although limited to 8.5GHz.

*: of course, this is an entirely uncalled-for wording for 'hoping to aquire any type of RF adaptor before I need it'.

BTW: Interesting website/company for the antipodean fellows: https://halberdbastion.com/

[0culus]

Just ordered:
1 Set of original GenRad GR900 adaptors.
(GR900<>N-f, GR900<>N-m, GR900<>BNC-m, GR900 50R Termination)

Wow, those are not very common. What's your use case?

Actually, besides BU508s post MAYBE having a grain of truth(*), the best of my sliding tuner stubs is fitted with this connector.

Besides this, I saw it used on a large step attenuator and a special antenna for EMP testing, which I do not own.
That antenna was very interesting. It was a parabolic reflector fed from behind, with the feed line connected to multiple points and actually being a short at DC. That's all I can recall, as I was discouraged from looking longer and I was not given it's exact purpose.
So, I do have an application and I have seen them in application, which is more than I can say about the last-aquired 'WECO' adaptors, which are therefore more exotic to me.
Of course, I would not be averse to aquire this slotted line: https://www.pa4tim.nl/?p=4978
And OH WEY! the 101 page document collection from GenRad about this connector seems to hint at RF connectors previously unknown to me!

For those not having seen or heard of this connector before: It was GenRad's bet to make a connector in the same class as subsequently fulfilled by the APC-7, although limited to 8.5GHz.

*: of course, this is an entirely uncalled-for wording for 'hoping to aquire any type of RF adaptor before I need it'.

BTW: Interesting website/company for the antipodean fellows: https://halberdbastion.com/

Neat! And that GR slotted line is sexy. Want.

[Ice-Tea]

Dang, some people are optimistic. I wonder if he take paypal.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/323593247746

Yeah, those shipping rates are truly outrageous...

[Saskia]

They diagnosed the issue to a broken thermostat and told me to have it checked out asap.

I've had that exact failure too. On same  model car.

A classic thermostat, as in a wax or bimetallic thermostat in the cooling circuit, or a thermistor acting as input to a control system doing the job of the thermostat?

I've had repeated problems with 10K NTC sensors failing, and then magically one day after I got the parts myself the problems went away (I still had them fitted by my local mechanic at the next service just because they were somewhere awkward to get at unless you already had things removed as you would during a service).

tbh I don't know  it just failed in the absolutely worst possible moment.

[nfmax]

It amazes me how youtube is a pile of shit and a goldmine at the same time.

I rather suspect that anyone who actually works in a goldmine will not be amazed at all.

[Saskia]

Sorry, could not resist ...


btw youtube deleted the "Achse des Guten" channel of Journalist Henryk Broder, one of the few honest and real journalists left in Germany

I will be donating for the law suit against youtube.

[mansaxel]

They diagnosed the issue to a broken thermostat and told me to have it checked out asap.

I've had that exact failure too. On same  model car.

A classic thermostat, as in a wax or bimetallic thermostat in the cooling circuit, or a thermistor acting as input to a control system doing the job of the thermostat?

I've had repeated problems with 10K NTC sensors failing, and then magically one day after I got the parts myself the problems went away (I still had them fitted by my local mechanic at the next service just because they were somewhere awkward to get at unless you already had things removed as you would during a service).

First: I suffered from misreading. The B5244 engine in the petrol or bi-fuel V70 has a system with a classic mechanical thermostat, and adjacent to it, a thermistor to read the temperature for the benefit of presentation and more importantly to serve as input to the control system.  In my case it was the thermistor that failed.

The thermistor is PTC, and usually fails open, driving control system and presentation into "Oi! Fucking Hot!" mode (And the computer says "Stop immediately", with the mentioned red warning light.).  What fooled me were two things;

• That Saskia wrote "have it checked out asap" -- the thermostat in my case still responded so car was only unaware, not in peril.
• When they fixed my thermistor they also swapped the thermostat. So I thought of the one while I should have thought of the other.

[Saskia]

I am no car mechanic, and my car specific vocabulary is not up to specs.

The roadside emergency guy described it as follows:
there is a small and a large cooling circuit.
The thermostat did not open the way it should have leading to overpressure in the small circuit and venting of coolant.
After engine restart it took a considerable time for the thermostat to open and it still appeared stuck as there was a significant temperature difference between the tube going in and the one coming out. He recommended to have it checked and fixed at the earliest convenience.

The mechanic decided to swap out the unit, however he found that he could not remove the screws that attached the thermostat to the motor block. One (the upper) came out without issues, the lower did not due to corrosion (when aluminum meets steel ...). So he took apart the thermostat, kept the old housing and mounted the new thermostat in the old housing. He then checked the cooling circuit for proper operation, gave me the phone call and charged me 260€.

Which I consider reasonable for this absolute stante pede service.

[Robert763]

Beautiful creature, when I had a dog, there is no way on earth that she would have been in a punt, she would have been in the river, she really was a dog fish.

That looks like a canal. And while "wet dog" smells horrible, "wet dog from bathing in the canal" has all chances of smelling worse than horrible. For staying dry, I say "Good dog!".

It's the river Cam but not much better than a canal. Orli is no longer with us but she hated water. She tried one paw off the punt and withdrew quickly. She loved going out on a punt. She certainly surprised a few foreign tourists who started taking photos of her instead of the colleges.

[tggzzz]

Beautiful creature, when I had a dog, there is no way on earth that she would have been in a punt, she would have been in the river, she really was a dog fish.

That looks like a canal. And while "wet dog" smells horrible, "wet dog from bathing in the canal" has all chances of smelling worse than horrible. For staying dry, I say "Good dog!".

It's the river Cam but not much better than a canal. Orli is no longer with us but she hated water. She tried one paw off the punt and withdrew quickly. She loved going out on a punt. She certainly surprised a few foreign tourists who started taking photos of her instead of the colleges.

In the early 80s I used to go kayaking in the Cam upstream of Cambridge.

Nice and peaceful, with one surprising benefit: after upending myself, my hayfever disappeared for a week.