Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[AVGresponding]

Well the Sinclair / Thandar SC110 scope lives, finally, but sadly I forgot to take any more internal photos before I reassembled it. I did find another transistor with a dodgy lead in the Y amplifier, ZTX109 was fitted, the service manual said it should be a ZTX239 which after researching, it turned out that a S9014 was near enough the same.

S9014 was fitted, ran through the calibration procedure and bingo, a pretty useful addition to the bench has been made. I can see this replacing the Thandar SM630 as the front line device, 10MHz is overkill for the audio work which is what I do mainly and if I do need more, I still have the SM630 (20MHz), the TDS210 (60MHz) and the PM3390B (200MHz) which is my pride and joy as it does both digital and analogue 

Any way, here are 3 photos of the SC110, showing displaying a 60KHz signal @ 0.8Vpp, sine, square and triangle waves and it appears to be pretty accurate to, but certainly perfectly suited for application.

Glad to see you got it working, apologies for not getting back to you, been feeling rotten for quite a few days with this cold which now includes a chest infection for extra amusement.

[BU508A]

Glad to see you got it working, apologies for not getting back to you, been feeling rotten for quite a few days with this cold which now includes a chest infection for extra amusement.

 
Get well soon and take care!

[tggzzz]

Any way, here are 3 photos of the SC110, showing displaying a 60KHz signal @ 0.8Vpp, sine, square and triangle waves and it appears to be pretty accurate to, but certainly perfectly suited for application.

Here's my recently acquired collection.

The Thandar SC110A works as well as yours. The "RS" works well enough to be considered better than nothing, but has been flaky and with adjustments against their limits, and the battery is missing. The frequency counter, pulse generator and sigital storage attachment all work.

I'll probably sell them all except the Thandar SC110A, which I will keep as an oddity along with nixie tubes DVMs and dekatron geiger counters and...

EDIT: added pictures of them working. The eagle-eyed will notice a slight difference in the scopes' timebase. Wadda you expect with 30-40 year old Sinclair stuff?!

[tggzzz]

Glad to see you got it working, apologies for not getting back to you, been feeling rotten for quite a few days with this cold which now includes a chest infection for extra amusement.

Just after you have to start paying for LFTs, these symptoms were added to the list of covid symptoms:  shortness of breath, feeling tired or exhausted, aching body, headache, sore throat, blocked or runny nose, loss of appetite, diarrhoea, feeling sick or being sick. Apparently 1/13 of the UK population are testing positive. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-60982070

As they said at the end of the morning briefing in Hill St Blues, "Let's be careful out there". Or, in your case, "in there".

[Robert763]

<SNIP>


Yes its pretty much an identical match to the old Hameg HM5011 model, so i suspect its a clone with perhaps lower quality components or perhaps dodgy CRT's as i cant imagine there are many manufacturers out there anymore for that type of CRT.

Main planned usage is for filter design/testing, maybe a little bit of tinkering with RF (something id like to get into). I also have a few switch mode PSU's that i want to repair/use which have some nasty switching harmonics, my scope cannot quite detect them correctly and id like to experiment with different filters and sniffing out noise sources to try and improve the designs (things are built to a cost, so if i can spend a few more £££ to make them better, why not?)

@TaylorD93
Is size a concern? What is the lowest frequency you want to look at?
The Hameg or its clone are not best "bang for the buck"
To do the filters you do of course need the tracking generator.

Size is not much of a concern, but the Rigol DSA815-TG seemed to be quite a small form factor being a modern bit of kit.

As i said before, i do like a bit of Hameg kit, owning a fair few of their Analog CRT Scopes, but the only HM-5006 (500MHz SA + TG) or HM-5011 (1GHz SA + TG) on ebay are over £1500, for which money i could get the above mentioned Rigol.

Budget is say around £600, which is why the Chinese Clone of the HAMEG caught my eye. Ive also seen a few HP Portables on ebay, but they tend to be broken or in need of calibration which is a bit out of my league given my other test equipment on the bench.

"in need of calibration" is a bit moot when comparing a HP or similar SA with an accuracy of say 1 kHz to a Hameg  with a resolution of 100 kHz. The Hameg, even if perfctly calibrated will always be +_ 100 kHz. A HP, even 10 years "out of cal" is likey to be much better than 3 kHz unless actually faulty.

If your RF test equipment is  bit sparse there are other options, specifically radio test sets. These include the HP 8920A/B and various IFR and Anritsu models. Spectrum analysis and frequency coverage can be option specific so a bit of care is needed. A favorite of mine is the Rhode & Schwarz CMU 200 or CRTU. For example:
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/325075960018?
Gives you a 2.7 GHz SA, tracking generator, RF signal generator, receiver and power meter for around your budget. It's in the UK so no suprises with VAT or import duty. Note that this unit cost at least £20,000 when it was new.
I  don't know the seller.

An oddity with similar model number is this: www.ebay.co.uk/itm/125158920890 It's meant for cable tv and internet testing but includes a 5-1000 MHz SA for less than £300. The 75R input is easilly fixed with a transformer or matching pad but even without it won't be much out compared to the Hamegs 2.5 dB specification.

[AVGresponding]

I'm at work, not pulling a sicky for a cold.

[Ice-Tea]

Re: CMU200. Great machines but make sure to get one that passes RF loop tests. A *lot* of them fail the criteria by a little or a lot.

[Vince]

Unfortunately, someone did a secure erase or something on the HDD before I got it, even the usual bunch of undelete software didn't find anything, so I'm working with a blank slate.
I'll stick a CF card in with an adapter to ensure future reliability and speed, but I'm on the hunt for any of the seemingly unobtanium java software...

If anyone has any of these and can provide me with a copy, I love you long time...

TDSPWR1 - Power Analysis
TDSJIT1V2 - Jitter Analysis Measurements
TDSCEM1 - Communications Eye-Diagram Measurements
TDSCPM1 - Communications Pulse Measurements
TDSDMM1 - Disk Drive Measurement
TDSPRT1 - Enhanced Printing

Oh... that's interesting (and annoying as you found ! ). I alwyas assumed the HDD was just there as a super floppy, to give massive amounts of storage to store waveforms.
I didn't know it was also used to store programs to implement  some of the functionalities / features of the scope !
So if I want my fully optioned up TDS 784D one day, not only do I need the right F/W with everything enabled, but I also need a HDD with all the programs on it !

I hope you can get them on-line or in that 784D you are getting, or another one later... this way when I am in the market, I can just get in touch with you, will be my one stop shop for a fully functional 784D ! 

So keep digging Terra, keep digging, I will be needing the fruits of your hard work one day !! 

[TERRA Operative]

Yeah, you can use the HDD to store waveforms and screenshots etc as you say, but the software is where the fun stuff is.
I am uploading everything I find to the Tekwiki, so it'll be online for everyone to use.

I just have to keep finding HDD options to see if I can rip out any good stuff that they might contain...

[med6753]

https://newsroom.ibm.com/2022-04-05-Announcing-IBM-z16-Real-time-AI-for-Transaction-Processing-at-Scale-and-Industrys-First-Quantum-Safe-System

https://www.ibm.com/cloud/blog/ibm-z16

When I retired 3 years ago Z14 was the current system. I know nothing of what Z15 looked like but here is the announcement of Z16. Haven't been able to find so far what the actual hardware looks like but it appears to be a single frame system as opposed to Z14 dual frame system. So the level of additional integration must be pretty extensive.

It will be built/tested in the IBM Poughkeepsie, NY Plant which has been the center of the mainframe universe since the 1950's.     

[Specmaster]

Well the Sinclair / Thandar SC110 scope lives, finally, but sadly I forgot to take any more internal photos before I reassembled it. I did find another transistor with a dodgy lead in the Y amplifier, ZTX109 was fitted, the service manual said it should be a ZTX239 which after researching, it turned out that a S9014 was near enough the same.

S9014 was fitted, ran through the calibration procedure and bingo, a pretty useful addition to the bench has been made. I can see this replacing the Thandar SM630 as the front line device, 10MHz is overkill for the audio work which is what I do mainly and if I do need more, I still have the SM630 (20MHz), the TDS210 (60MHz) and the PM3390B (200MHz) which is my pride and joy as it does both digital and analogue 

Any way, here are 3 photos of the SC110, showing displaying a 60KHz signal @ 0.8Vpp, sine, square and triangle waves and it appears to be pretty accurate to, but certainly perfectly suited for application.

Glad to see you got it working, apologies for not getting back to you, been feeling rotten for quite a few days with this cold which now includes a chest infection for extra amusement.

Not a problem, I guessed that was the case. Be careful with that, according to the new set of symptoms I have seen posted by the NHS, what you describe are also symptoms of the new Covid strain which is actually more transmissible than previous ones, have you tested yourself?

[Specmaster]

Glad to see you got it working, apologies for not getting back to you, been feeling rotten for quite a few days with this cold which now includes a chest infection for extra amusement.

Just after you have to start paying for LFTs, these symptoms were added to the list of covid symptoms:  shortness of breath, feeling tired or exhausted, aching body, headache, sore throat, blocked or runny nose, loss of appetite, diarrhoea, feeling sick or being sick. Apparently 1/13 of the UK population are testing positive. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-60982070

As they said at the end of the morning briefing in Hill St Blues, "Let's be careful out there". Or, in your case, "in there".

Yes, what I find appalling is that the Govt are still not even advising the continued use of masks in the face of the highest amount of recorded confirmed cases ever since the start of the pandemic. Very few people these days are bothering to wear masks, even in crowded shops, FFS.

[BU508A]

https://newsroom.ibm.com/2022-04-05-Announcing-IBM-z16-Real-time-AI-for-Transaction-Processing-at-Scale-and-Industrys-First-Quantum-Safe-System

https://www.ibm.com/cloud/blog/ibm-z16

When I retired 3 years ago Z14 was the current system. I know nothing of what Z15 looked like but here is the announcement of Z16. Haven't been able to find so far what the actual hardware looks like but it appears to be a single frame system as opposed to Z14 dual frame system. So the level of additional integration must be pretty extensive.

It will be built/tested in the IBM Poughkeepsie, NY Plant which has been the center of the mainframe universe since the 1950's.     

Source: heise newsticker

 

[mnementh]

https://newsroom.ibm.com/2022-04-05-Announcing-IBM-z16-Real-time-AI-for-Transaction-Processing-at-Scale-and-Industrys-First-Quantum-Safe-System

https://www.ibm.com/cloud/blog/ibm-z16

When I retired 3 years ago Z14 was the current system. I know nothing of what Z15 looked like but here is the announcement of Z16. Haven't been able to find so far what the actual hardware looks like but it appears to be a single frame system as opposed to Z14 dual frame system. So the level of additional integration must be pretty extensive.

It will be built/tested in the IBM Poughkeepsie, NY Plant which has been the center of the mainframe universe since the 1950's.     

Hmmmm... applying AI and "fuzzy logic" to actual banking and the loan decision process... thereby removing actual human judgement one more step away from the decision-making process...

What could possibly go wrong...?   

mnem
Artificial Intelligence will never be a match for Natural Stupidity.

[Cerebus]

I'm at work, not pulling a sicky for a cold.

As said by everybody who latter came to be known in the press as "patient zero". 

I get it, you're a big strapping lad who isn't going to "let a piddling little cold stop me", but perhaps the next person you meet isn't a big strapping lad but a little old lady with emphysema like my SWMBO, who catches it, develops complications, and ends up in hospital.

Please folks, if you've got a cold don't spread it around, stay at home until you're better or at least until you're sure that you're not going to pass it on. If the past couple of years have taught as anything, surely they've taught us the wisdom of actively trying to not be a walking vector for viral diseases.

[nixiefreqq]

hey vince

you provided 20 pictures of the meters but neglected to post even one shot of the unobtainium power cord.

ya' know there are cord aficionados out here.......don't forget about us.

[Cerebus]

Ah, that looks like a room to warm the cockles of a Bosch-Rexroth saleman's heart. 

[Cerebus]

Postie has delivered new toys:



I've things to do, people to see, etc. etc. So it'll be later before I can find time to try them out, take photos etc.

[xrunner]

https://www.ibm.com/cloud/blog/ibm-z16

When I retired 3 years ago Z14 was the current system. I know nothing of what Z15 looked like but here is the announcement of Z16. Haven't been able to find so far what the actual hardware looks like but it appears to be a single frame system as opposed to Z14 dual frame system. So the level of additional integration must be pretty extensive.

It will be built/tested in the IBM Poughkeepsie, NY Plant which has been the center of the mainframe universe since the 1950's.     

Man that news blurb is full of terms I'd have no clue trying to explain to myself let alone others -

latency-optimized inferencing
AI inferencing capabilities
cyber-resilient system
quantum-safe cryptography
integrated on-chip AI accelerator

What exactly does an "integrated on-chip AI accelerator" actually do? Oh sure it accelerates AI dumbass!

I know I know ... Google it! 

[Cerebus]

ya' know there are cord aficionados out here.......don't forget about us.

There are women and even possibly children reading this you know. Hardly the place for pictures of *ahem* power cords.

Pervert! 

[med6753]

https://newsroom.ibm.com/2022-04-05-Announcing-IBM-z16-Real-time-AI-for-Transaction-Processing-at-Scale-and-Industrys-First-Quantum-Safe-System

https://www.ibm.com/cloud/blog/ibm-z16

When I retired 3 years ago Z14 was the current system. I know nothing of what Z15 looked like but here is the announcement of Z16. Haven't been able to find so far what the actual hardware looks like but it appears to be a single frame system as opposed to Z14 dual frame system. So the level of additional integration must be pretty extensive.

It will be built/tested in the IBM Poughkeepsie, NY Plant which has been the center of the mainframe universe since the 1950's.     

Source: heise newsticker

 

That's my old stomping grounds. I used to be that guy at the laptop. I did find some additional info and the entry level Z16 is a single frame like shown in this test cell. If you want "Big Mamma" it's 2 frames.

[Cerebus]

Man that news blurb is full of terms I'd have no clue trying to explain to myself let alone others -

quantum-safe cryptography
integrated on-chip AI accelerator

[holds hand up] Oh, oh, please sir! I can do those two.

Quantum-resistant cryptography just means conventional symmetric cyphers rather than public-key ones.

"integrated on-chip AI accelerator" just means "parallel DSPs".

[BU508A]

https://www.ibm.com/cloud/blog/ibm-z16

When I retired 3 years ago Z14 was the current system. I know nothing of what Z15 looked like but here is the announcement of Z16. Haven't been able to find so far what the actual hardware looks like but it appears to be a single frame system as opposed to Z14 dual frame system. So the level of additional integration must be pretty extensive.

It will be built/tested in the IBM Poughkeepsie, NY Plant which has been the center of the mainframe universe since the 1950's.     

Man that news blurb is full of terms I'd have no clue trying to explain to myself let alone others -

latency-optimized inferencing
AI inferencing capabilities
cyber-resilient system
quantum-safe cryptography
integrated on-chip AI accelerator

What exactly does an "integrated on-chip AI accelerator" actually do? Oh sure it accelerates AI dumbass!

I know I know ... Google it! 

Or one could read the article from the heise newsticker. 

Money quote (translation by DeepL):
The on-chip AI accelerator integrated in the Telum processor offers latency-optimised inferencing, which should enable the analysis of real-time transactions on a large scale - for example, for business-critical workloads such as credit card, healthcare and financial transactions. Until now, latency issues have made it impossible to use deep-learning models on a large scale in real time, because the real-time data - of a credit card transaction, for example - is outsourced for this purpose and processed by a special AI system. According to Mauri, this means that fraud detection models are only used today for less than 10 per cent of high-volume transactions - a significant proportion of fraud remains undetected.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

[med6753]

Ah, that looks like a room to warm the cockles of a Bosch-Rexroth saleman's heart. 

Nope. Hubbell electrical hardware.

[xrunner]

Or one could read the article from the heise newsticker. 

Money quote (translation by DeepL):
The on-chip AI accelerator integrated in the Telum processor offers latency-optimised inferencing, which should enable the analysis of real-time transactions on a large scale - for example, for business-critical workloads such as credit card, healthcare and financial transactions. Until now, latency issues have made it impossible to use deep-learning models on a large scale in real time, because the real-time data - of a credit card transaction, for example - is outsourced for this purpose and processed by a special AI system. According to Mauri, this means that fraud detection models are only used today for less than 10 per cent of high-volume transactions - a significant proportion of fraud remains undetected.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

Yes yes I know I'm enjoying the tech-speak for entertainment.  I love the phrases like this one -

Beyond these industry-first innovations, we are excited to introduce new capabilities for clients designed to secure, modernize, automate and transform with data-driven insights across their hybrid cloud estate.

https://www.ibm.com/cloud/blog/ibm-z16

I want to make up my own phrases around here like this -

I'm going to pro-actively transform my instrument accessibility on the bench and across my estate to allow and initiate a more efficient flow from initial test to final target item functionality.

Oh that's fun!