Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[factory]

Thought about bidding on this lot, but have worked out the K05-5340A is a replica*, so someone might have a pile of blank PCBs, which would be cheaper to send.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/284662057463



*See if you can spot the assembly/design? error. 

David

Other than the solder job that leaves me baffled with most joints not having any solder at all, or only half what they need, you mean ?! 

Other than that then, it looks like he used a 110R resistor instead of 240R ? Or if the colours are a bit off and what I see as brown is rather, some shade of dark red... then that would make it 220R instead... but that's still not 240R...

I didn't even look at the resistor colors, but I agree they do look wrong on the 240Ω.

Electrolytics are in series + to - rather than in opposition + to + as they are in the schematic?

-Pat

That's exactly what I noticed.
Everything points to a replica, shame as they took time to add the hp logo, but didn't managed to follow the diagram included in the listing pictures, I did check both my paper manual & the Agilent pdf and they were the same.

I made a version of this along with the riser card, I might have one spare set left, maaaaybeeeee.

Do you need it if I can find it?

[EDIT] Found them. I also have a replica unpopulated PSU board for the OCXO option too if you want me to throw that in too.

I'm still working on the faulty one from the PP auction, I don't think I'll need it immediately, but will do at some point in the future. 

I've now got three of these counters, one working, the part working one (with defective TF) and now an early one (missing both VCO cards).

The third is the only one that has the oven option (clue is the * symbol next to the display), it's a bit unusual as the S/N is below 00100, also the name on the tags, is the same name as the project manager in the April 1973 journal, I probably can't prove it's genuine though, but it's an interesting piece of the history. 
https://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-5340A-Frequency-Counter-/165300594867?_trksid=p2349526.m4383.l44720.c10&nordt=true&rt=nc&orig_cvip=true





David

[med6753]

Holy shit balls, just had an email from our energy supplier where we get our electric and gas from, and from 1st April, our bill is almost doubling to almost £300 a month, put that together with the increase in rent, rates, phone, internet, diesel for the car, all of which are also seeing massive increases, I have to decide between eating and TEA 

It looks as if I'm going to start flipping a few things in order to keep my head above the water line here, thanks to Brexit, Covid and silly boy Putin, geez what a rough ride this is going to be for a while. 

Received same warning from my electric supplier but they don't state how much. If I average my electric out over the course of the year it's about $60USD/mo. Obviously much higher in Summer when I'm using the A/C. My next bill will be on March 23rd so I have time to brace myself. 

[Robert763]

I fucking hate you.     Very cordially, of course.

mnem

I can forward it for you  Mind you as it has  MCP it may need an export licence.   I was tempted myself for a second. I have night vision and X-ray MCP imagers but no MCP CRTs.....

MCP CRTs are STILL a controlled technology...? I mean... the original design goes back what... 70-something years? 

And I know I'm gonna regret it... but please let me know how painful it would be.

mnem
 

Yep, I just checked and the CRT in the 2467 means it needs an export licence:

IL1541   
Cathode-ray tubes having any of the following characteristics—
   
(a)A resolving power of 32 lines per mm or more, using the shrinking raster method of measurement
   
(b)With travelling wave or distributed deflection structure using delay lines, or incorporating other techniques to minimise mismatch of fast phenomena signals to the deflection structure, except when using segmented plate (sectioned Y-plate) structure

(c)Incorporating microchannel-plate electron multipliers;

There is an exemption for lower perfomance scopes but the 500ps/Div sweep speed does not meet :
(iii) the tubes have a horizontal sweep slower than 200 ns/cm;

Reference https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1989/2376/schedule/1/part/II/made

Sorry but I'm not going down the path of getting a licence.

[Saskia]

received a Makita box with a small router ...
RT0700 whatever ...
160 pesos for the complete set incl   systainer

[AVGresponding]

Bizarre to think that it requires an export license to send an item back to its country of origin...

[tggzzz]

Bizarre to think that it requires an export license to send an item back to its country of origin...

Lots of Russians in the US, some of whom would forward it to malefactors. Ditto other nationalities of courses.

[AVGresponding]

Bizarre to think that it requires an export license to send an item back to its country of origin...

Lots of Russians in the US, some of whom would forward it to malefactors. Ditto other nationalities of courses.

That doesn't stop any Russian living in this country and who bats for The Topless Horseman from buying it and smuggling it out. To what purpose, I'm not sure, since it's undoubtedly the case that they already have superior equipment.

[Robert763]

Bizarre to think that it requires an export license to send an item back to its country of origin...

Lots of Russians in the US, some of whom would forward it to malefactors. Ditto other nationalities of courses.

That doesn't stop any Russian living in this country and who bats for The Topless Horseman from buying it and smuggling it out. To what purpose, I'm not sure, since it's undoubtedly the case that they already have superior equipment.

Highly unlikely anyone would be bothered about exporting this 'scope.  But if someone did decide to take notice I'd be in trouble if I w the one who shipped it. I've had trining about this stuff so if was caught would be likely to get harsher penalty as I know it's technically wrong. It would affect my employment too.

Export controlled stuff is odd. There is lots on ebay and as Iced T knows even goverment disposal auctions may not bother. If you are caught penalties are severe.
I personally know someon who bought an item from the US and 6 months later had a visit from US DoD officials. The item he bought was completely passive and revealled nothing about the system it came from. The system was controlled and this applied to all it's parts. The DoD did not come after my friend, or even that pirticular item itself. The seller had aquired  large quantity of kit that was supposed to be destroyed. They sold it on ebay and at least one really sensitive item was noticed or reported. They proscecuted the seller and tracked down everything he sold. They let my friend keep the item on the condition thtt he could not sell it or give it away. If he didn't want it it had to be destroyed (with photos) or returned to DoD.

[mnementh]

It carries a high hazard of disrupting the bureaucratic inertia is my guess; I'd wager the tech will need to languish another half-century before they deem it fit for general consumption.

mnem
"Cap'n... we're caught in the Vogon Bureaucracy Tractor Beam, and we cannae break free!!!"
"ABANDON SHIP! Children and command crew FIRST!!!"

[mnementh]

...Sorry but I'm not going down the path of getting a licence.

Sorry... I thought you already did such business as to need one.

mnem
actually, now I think of it...   

[mnementh]

received a Makita box with a small router ...
RT0700 whatever ...
160 pesos for the complete set incl   systainer

the 0700 is a RotoZip/laminate countertop trimmer model. Sortof like a Dremel on steroids for general construction projects.

Very handy. 

mnem
*whirrr-zzzzzzzzziiiiiip!!!*

[dl6lr]

Just emptied a box full of stuff to sort out what to keep and what to dump. Found some plastic bags and on inspection they contained 5 sets of Amphenol Tuchel circular 12 pin connectors similar to the ones used in -hp- power sensors.

[tggzzz]

Export controlled stuff is odd. There is lots on ebay and as Iced T knows even goverment disposal auctions may not bother. If you are caught penalties are severe.

Yes and yes.

I once imported a munition, a fancy AWG made by HP.

As for penalties, the Matrix Churchill supergun affair illustrates the ambiguity and risks.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supergun_affair
 https://www.theguardian.com/world/defence-and-security-blog/2012/nov/09/arms-iraq-saddam-hussein

[Cerebus]

Yep, I just checked and the CRT in the 2467 means it needs an export licence:

IL1541   
Cathode-ray tubes having any of the following characteristics—
   
(a)A resolving power of 32 lines per mm or more, using the shrinking raster method of measurement
   
(b)With travelling wave or distributed deflection structure using delay lines, or incorporating other techniques to minimise mismatch of fast phenomena signals to the deflection structure, except when using segmented plate (sectioned Y-plate) structure

(c)Incorporating microchannel-plate electron multipliers;

There is an exemption for lower perfomance scopes but the 500ps/Div sweep speed does not meet :
(iii) the tubes have a horizontal sweep slower than 200 ns/cm;

Reference https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1989/2376/schedule/1/part/II/made

Sorry but I'm not going down the path of getting a licence.

You've got to love the way these regulations fossilize and don't keep up with the times.  I'd have a good bet that my LCD oscilloscope, with a 2ns/div sweep and 8Gs/s isn't covered under any such regulations, but a quasi-obsolete scope is.

It's always a mistake to couch things like this in terms of the technology rather than the objective (which in this case is a particular measurement capability). In this case I suspect that it's irrelevant as the march of progress means that the relevant measurement capabilities are of necessity rather commonplace in the modern world and trying to restrict those so that people can't validate designs for {REDACTED} would be futile.

[med6753]

The madness of it all. The Russians bought at least 2 fully optioned IBM Z13 mainframes. I happen to see the customer order. Right out in the open it said "Russian Federation". No further comment.

[factory]

Export controlled stuff is odd. There is lots on ebay and as Iced T knows even goverment disposal auctions may not bother. If you are caught penalties are severe.

Yes and yes.

I once imported a munition, a fancy AWG made by HP.

As for penalties, the Matrix Churchill supergun affair illustrates the ambiguity and risks.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supergun_affair
 https://www.theguardian.com/world/defence-and-security-blog/2012/nov/09/arms-iraq-saddam-hussein

Looking through that does it apply to imports? looking at the one below mentioning, frequency standards, transfer oscillator, frequency (heterodyne) converters, etc. I'm sure quite a few would come under that. 

IL1529   

Electronic equipment and instruments for testing, measuring (e.g. time interval measurement), calibrating or counting,

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1989/2376/schedule/1/part/II/made

David

[Robert763]

Export controlled stuff is odd. There is lots on ebay and as Iced T knows even goverment disposal auctions may not bother. If you are caught penalties are severe.

Yes and yes.

I once imported a munition, a fancy AWG made by HP.

As for penalties, the Matrix Churchill supergun affair illustrates the ambiguity and risks.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supergun_affair
 https://www.theguardian.com/world/defence-and-security-blog/2012/nov/09/arms-iraq-saddam-hussein

Looking through that does it apply to imports? looking at the one below mentioning, frequency standards, transfer oscillator, frequency (heterodyne) converters, etc. I'm sure quite a few would come under that. 

IL1529   

Electronic equipment and instruments for testing, measuring (e.g. time interval measurement), calibrating or counting,

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1989/2376/schedule/1/part/II/made

David

They have to hit a certain performance standard before an export licence is required. It's a lot to do with nuclear research, particuarly certain types of detonators.

[nixiefreqq]

Success! With my bodged up jig and lots of Pennzoil Z-Q penetrating oil the galling or whatever has broken free and the shaft is turning independently of the outer ring. It still needs to be worked a while but with each rotation it's getting smoother and easier. I'm going to keep slowly working it today and then tomorrow degrease it and lube it some Lithium grease.

Whew! 

Edit.....and the detent is working perfectly.

whoa, whoa, whoa!!!

hey med hold on a second.......you really screwed the pooch on this one.

you didn't use a 3d printer or a deadly exotic solvent or a plasma cutter?

penetrating oil and vise grips?  what were you thinking?

edit  forgot to say "why didn't you just use stone knives and bearskins?"

[Cerebus]

edit  forgot to say "why didn't you just use stone knives and bearskins?"

He's saving those for his spring wardrobe refresh.

[med6753]

It's gone. The one and only AN225 was destroyed in it's hanger.

[srb1954]

I got this same model of tester many years ago but hardly ever use it these days. Really the only test socket combination that is still useful with modern computer cabling is the RJ-45 socket on the top edge.

It would probably be much more useful device for the typical forum member if it had a 24 pin Amphenol connector for testing GPIB cables!

Just make up a 25 D to GPIB adapror cables. Or use the ready made IEC 625  (60625) adaptors.

I haven't got a pair of IEC625 adapters. Besides, these seem rarer than hen's teeth to find.

I am also far too lazy to bothered with making up adapter cables as this would involve wiring up 96 connector pins to make the required 2 adapter cables, which might only get used once in a blue moon.

[mnementh]

It's gone. The one and only AN225 was destroyed in it's hanger.   

Jeebus, the history lost there.  What's the next largest then? The A380?

mnem
*toddles off to brave the mire of the DMV website*

[mnementh]

edit  forgot to say "why didn't you just use stone knives and bearskins?"

He's saving those for his spring wardrobe refresh.

Thanks for the belly-laugh, ya crusty ol' curmudgeon. 

mnem
 

[cyclin_al]

It's gone. The one and only AN225 was destroyed in it's hanger.   

Jeebus, the history lost there.  What's the next largest then? The A380?

mnem
*toddles off to brave the mire of the DMV website*

Close!  Airbus has not completed the A380-900.  No idea if they actually have any plans to follow through or not...

That leaves the Stratolaunch as the largest, by MTOW (Maximum Take Off Weight).  It is also a one-off design.

The Regular Airbus A380-800 comes in as a close second.

[DH7DN]

I doubt Antonov AN-225 will be rebuilt any time soon (if ever)  

But hey, that's what dreams are for ;-)

RIP Mirya