Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[mnementh]

mnem
that is all.

[mnementh]

Someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm sure the RIFAmadness paper crap is in-between, the main DC filter cap and the switching transistor.  Not part of the mains input suppression, or filtering where they normally are fitted. The camera was on holiday when I pulled the board, to change the RIFA crap, so can't be certain of it's function.   

No, that is correct. It also appears the 54600A PSU uses a epoxy-dipped poly cap in similar function.

mnem
 

[tggzzz]

Well, that is a promising start, you can never be sure of what you are going to find when the seller does not show photos of them powered. So far you have an excellent score there, well worth the trip to collect them. N%*&s are sought after in meters these days.

Probably a promising finish too. I can't even find the weston standard cell in the schematics!

I haven't found a manual for the True RMS AC Unit, and I'm not sure I can be bothered to randomly twiddle pots without knowing what they do.

I've already flipped one n%*&e DVM and I'll probably flip these, leaving me only a Fluke 8300A

The Weston cell in the 1619 & 1620 is a tiny thing, in the 1619 it's hidden under a small cover behind the range switch, almost could be confused with a fuse, but it isn't one. And yes it's dead too. 

If you want to flip the 1420 DVM, then I would be very interested, I have to say they both look in much nicer condition then what I've found locally. 

I'll keep that in mind; what's your particular interest?

The inside is a bit messy, as you would expect with a grille top panel.

From the attached PDF, it seems it is actually an LM1420.2BA

[25 CPS]

Very loooooong (but also very rewarding) day today - one that had been in the making for at least three years now..  Several years ago I met a gentleman at a swap meet who, when he learned I collect old test gear and have a special affinity for nixie counters, told me he had a pair of old 524s in his basement that he wanted to give me.  I repeatedly offered to pay him something, anything for them, but he refused, just wanting them to go to a good home.  Between work travel and weather, the meetup never happened that first year, but we kept in touch.  Planned something after my early 2020 trip out west, but then of course the Coof hit and put the kibosh on everything for 2020 and 2021.  After things dried out this spring he was finally able to get them out of his basement and loaded into his car, so today I made a 330 mile (~530 km) round trip up to New Hampshire and retrieved them.

The 524B is from the 50s (pre 1960 format serial number), and I'm not sure yet the vintage of the 524C - I think the tag is inside the enclosure on the frame of the instrument.  Crappy iPhone pics will have to suffice for now; I'm barely upright at this point.

524B:


524C:


And as a special surprise, he found something else in his basement and decided to bring it along because he "thought I might like it" - a Non-Linear Systems Model 64 DVM - woo-hoo!


He also brought along a giant old Rohde & Schwarz spec an for me as well; it too looks like late 50s/early 60s vintage and is heavy enough it could have anchored the Prinz Eugen.  No pic of that at the moment as it's currently at the bottom of the counter stack and facing the wrong way.

The NLS meter is the first that's going on the bench for exploration mainly because it's the easiest for me to move - the counters weigh in at about 110 lbs (~50 kg), and I've already abused my back enough for the moment getting them out of my friend's pickup truck and into the garage.  Now time for a shower and a fall into bed.

-Pat

Oh wow, those are beautiful!  Great score!

[Saskia]

ok, had some help of my friends today.
We had a look at some acoustics issue in my music room.
So a friend came over and brought his spectrum analyzer and additional equipment. Now we have an almost linear frequency response at the place where I usually sit. And the sound is about as expected. So the issue is fixed.
Then had a look at a pair of Montan speakers that were missing the upper (tweeter) frequencies.
It's the tweeters !
Nope, it's the crossover
Nope, it's the tweeters !
Nope, let's measure the tweeters (measured out ok)
swapped out tweeters (did not do the trick)
bypassed crossover and hooked up tweeters directly to the input -> tweeters tweeting the way they are supposed to
my friend was baffled. he took both crossovers for repair at his shop (he knows shitloads more about audio than I do ...
So when those are back: rebuild the other Quadral set to have another high end stereo set (this time in the living room). He also took along my Nakamichi OMS 7 Mk2 which had not survived moving. Let's see if he can fix it.
Next: continue sorting out stuff, sorting pinball parts, bring the dracula back to live.

[factory]

Very loooooong (but also very rewarding) day today - one that had been in the making for at least three years now..  Several years ago I met a gentleman at a swap meet who, when he learned I collect old test gear and have a special affinity for n***e counters, told me he had a pair of old 524s in his basement that he wanted to give me.  I repeatedly offered to pay him something, anything for them, but he refused, just wanting them to go to a good home.  Between work travel and weather, the meetup never happened that first year, but we kept in touch.  Planned something after my early 2020 trip out west, but then of course the Coof hit and put the kibosh on everything for 2020 and 2021.  After things dried out this spring he was finally able to get them out of his basement and loaded into his car, so today I made a 330 mile (~530 km) round trip up to New Hampshire and retrieved them.

The 524B is from the 50s (pre 1960 format serial number), and I'm not sure yet the vintage of the 524C - I think the tag is inside the enclosure on the frame of the instrument.  Crappy iPhone pics will have to suffice for now; I'm barely upright at this point.

524B:


524C:


And as a special surprise, he found something else in his basement and decided to bring it along because he "thought I might like it" - a Non-Linear Systems Model 64 DVM - woo-hoo!


He also brought along a giant old Rohde & Schwarz spec an for me as well; it too looks like late 50s/early 60s vintage and is heavy enough it could have anchored the Prinz Eugen.  No pic of that at the moment as it's currently at the bottom of the counter stack and facing the wrong way.

The NLS meter is the first that's going on the bench for exploration mainly because it's the easiest for me to move - the counters weigh in at about 110 lbs (~50 kg), and I've already abused my back enough for the moment getting them out of my friend's pickup truck and into the garage.  Now time for a shower and a fall into bed.

-Pat

Very nice find  , I'm just happy to have found one over here, will probably never see another.

The serial number plate is inside in my 524B, if you remove the plug-in, it should be on the right (if it's the same as mine).


Nice to see you have an extra gate time multiplier option fitted to your 524B, never seen that before, then again these counters aren't exactly common.
Did they have any more plug-ins for them? I've only got the two frequency converters (525A & 525B) & the 540B transfer oscillator to use with one of then, still looking for some of the other plug-ins.

Looking forward to more on the early DVM too. 

David

[Cubdriver]

He gave me a couple of other plug-ins for them, too, but I haven't taken a good look at them yet other than to note that they all need a good cleaning.  I'll sort them later.  And in the meantime, I'll look inside the plug in compartment to check the serial numbers.

-Pat

[BU508A]

NAWTS

I have ordered 20 RC4194D from here: https://www.utsource.net/itm/p/404529.html
This is one of the cheapest sources I was able to find online.
It seems, that those parts are used ones. Will report back when they arrive.

On a side note: New customers are getting a 10% discount on the ordered parts for their first order.

Arrival today: 20 RC4194D from Raytheon. Well, this was an expensive trip.

20 ICs RC4194D, price per piece 3.52 USD, total 70.40 USD
Freight costs (DHL express delivery from Shenzhen) 26.99 USD
This gives a total of 97.39 USD

On top of this we have:
Duty tax receiver service: 14.88 EUR including VAT (19%)
EUst. (no idea, what that is, I assume import tax or something): 17.68 EUR

So, this is in total 92.81 EUR (97.39 USD converted in EUR) plus 32.56 EUR = 125.37 EUR or 6.27 EUR per piece.
Nearly doubled the price.   

Ok, but how do they look?
I've pulled my Adonstar and took some pictures:


To me, they are looking genuine and unused. NOS stuff.
The legs are bent as you would expect from new and unused ICs.
Also the tinning looks nice and shiny.
What do you think?

Edit:
Forgot to mention:
The seller had not provided an invoice that customs in Leipzig could do anything with. I was contacted and asked to provide more detailed information about the contents of the consignment. One day longer at customs (DHL sent me a letter with four days to go!) and the shipment would have been sent back.

[bd139]

Ooh cerdips. Only way to find out is to build a test rig.

Sell what you don’t use for €20 a go.

[Zoli]

Ooh cerdips. Only way to find out is to build a test rig.

Sell what you don’t use for €20 a go.

Now that's a Ferengi 

[BU508A]

Ooh cerdips. Only way to find out is to build a test rig.

Sell what you don’t use for €20 a go.

Yes, planning to do that but I'm not sure, when I will have some time.
The idea with the 20 Euro is good, but I think this would be more approbiate for the RM4194D.
utsource has them, for the same price.

[bd139]

Yeah but people don’t have to pay extra to get it into Europe now 

And I just missed that damn 34401A and it only went for £266 

[Saskia]

oh beautiful torrential rains of Ferenginar ...

Hubby will hate me.
I won a auction for bagpipes 
Have a buyer for one of my compound manual stick accelerators, plus got a Nakamichi ST7E for old times sake.

[BU508A]

Yeah but people don’t have to pay extra to get it into Europe now 

And I just missed that damn 34401A and it only went for £266 

I know that feeling very well. 
Join the club and have a drink. 

Maybe I can interest you in a PA12A (nawts)?
https://www.ebay.de/itm/403711652253
The seller has three of them.


 

[25 CPS]

I stopped by a clearance place that had these Fluke laser distance measurers listed for sale on the way to football practice yesterday afternoon and picked one up:



This should be fun to play with.  I'm going to take it outside and do some measurements in the back yard later once the sun's set and it'll be easier to see the marker dot.

This was a total dead on arrival dud.

The laser would come on and then I'd push the measure button to take a reading and it would throw error 255.  According to the manual, that indicates the reflected signal off the surface you're measuring from is too low or it's taking too long.  One side of the living room to the other is well within the 50m range of the device and then the laser quit entirely so I thought even when the beam was visible, maybe the batteries that came installed in it were on their last legs and the return power from the laser it was too low for the device to work with before it stopped shining entirely.

I pulled the batteries and measured them out at 1.3V open circuit so I replaced them with new which I double checked and measured at 1.56V.  The laser is still dead and it's still throwing error 255 which would be correct since the signal is low, because it isn't supplying one.  I guess I need to deal with the clearance store that sold me this last week, Fluke, or the credit card company.  Even at clearance prices, this wasn't cheap enough for me to be willing to write off.

Aside from this specific example not working, the build quality and feature set are disappointingly lacking.  Granted, it was the base model Fluke, but I would have expected better from the brand and there is definitely a hefty price premium for the name.  But the lack of a tripod socket really surprises me.

[tggzzz]

oh beautiful torrential rains of Ferenginar ...

Hubby will hate me.
I won a auction for bagpipes 

Possibly not if they are Northumbrian bagpipes,and they are played well.

Scottish bagpipes were designed as weapons of war.

[bd139]

Yeah but people don’t have to pay extra to get it into Europe now 

And I just missed that damn 34401A and it only went for £266 

I know that feeling very well. 
Join the club and have a drink. 

Maybe I can interest you in a PA12A (nawts)?
https://www.ebay.de/itm/403711652253
The seller has three of them.


 

Bloody hell that’s a pretty stonky little opamp that 

[bd139]

oh beautiful torrential rains of Ferenginar ...

Hubby will hate me.
I won a auction for bagpipes 

Possibly not if they are Northumbrian bagpipes,and they are played well.

Scottish bagpipes were designed as weapons of war.

Should be chucked in a fire with the piano accordions, banjos and kazoos.

[Zoli]

oh beautiful torrential rains of Ferenginar ...

Hubby will hate me.
I won a auction for bagpipes 
Have a buyer for one of my compound manual stick accelerators, plus got a Nakamichi ST7E for old times sake.

If there' bagpipes, better be original jokes:
https://electricscotland.com/familytree/ceilidh/bagpipe.htm

[Cubdriver]

Very nice, well worth waiting for.
Is the S&S unit a SWOB Polyscope? That is a early form of network analyser rather than a spectrum analyser.

Just took a closer look at the R&S beast - you are correct, it is in fact a Polyskop.  (Maybe a Polyskop II?  Pic is too blurry to be sure, but it looks like it’s followed by a Roman numeral 2)  Not sure how repairable it’ll be as it was sitting on its side on a piece of particleboard in his basement and the wood played sponge as particleboard is inclined to do so the unit was rather corroded on that side - needed a schraubendreher to pry on the cabinet handles and get them to extend.  Tried to get a pic with the phone just now, but it’s too much in shadow at the moment to get much more than a battleship grey blur with the phone camera.

-Pat

[tggzzz]

oh beautiful torrential rains of Ferenginar ...

Hubby will hate me.
I won a auction for bagpipes 
Have a buyer for one of my compound manual stick accelerators, plus got a Nakamichi ST7E for old times sake.

If there' bagpipes, better be original jokes:
https://electricscotland.com/familytree/ceilidh/bagpipe.htm

I liked "Why did the bagpiper get mad at the drummer? Drummer moved a drone pipe and wouldn't tell which one.", but most of the others are fairly generic.

[factory]

Well, that is a promising start, you can never be sure of what you are going to find when the seller does not show photos of them powered. So far you have an excellent score there, well worth the trip to collect them. N%*&s are sought after in meters these days.

Probably a promising finish too. I can't even find the weston standard cell in the schematics!

I haven't found a manual for the True RMS AC Unit, and I'm not sure I can be bothered to randomly twiddle pots without knowing what they do.

I've already flipped one n%*&e DVM and I'll probably flip these, leaving me only a Fluke 8300A

The Weston cell in the 1619 & 1620 is a tiny thing, in the 1619 it's hidden under a small cover behind the range switch, almost could be confused with a fuse, but it isn't one. And yes it's dead too. 

If you want to flip the 1420 DVM, then I would be very interested, I have to say they both look in much nicer condition then what I've found locally. 

I'll keep that in mind; what's your particular interest?

The inside is a bit messy, as you would expect with a grille top panel.

From the attached PDF, it seems it is actually an LM1420.2BA

To join my Solartron DVM collection, would be nice to have the extra AC option too, also need an input cable to test & repair the standard LM1420s I have, still need to locate a two terminal input cable for the LM1440, or convert it to the later three terminal connector used on the 1420.
Forgot to mention the 1420 has a counter mode, but frequency range is quite limited.

Some extra catalog data, must be older than the pdf you have, as there is no mention of the ohms addon. The paper LM1420 manual I have only covers the standard model, no options.


David

[Neper]

EUst. (no idea, what that is, I assume import tax or something): 17.68 EUR

Einfuhrumsatzsteuer, i.e. import VAT.

Same as VAT, the usual 19 percent, just on imported goods. Charged on the price of the goods plus shipping cost.   

[Cubdriver]

To join my Solartron DVM collection, would be nice to have the extra AC option too, also need an input cable to test & repair the standard LM1420s I have, still need to locate a two terminal input cable for the LM1440, or convert it to the later three terminal connector used on the 1420.
Forgot to mention the 1420 has a counter mode, but frequency range is quite limited.

Some extra catalog data, must be older than the pdf you have, as there is no mention of the ohms addon. The paper LM1420 manual I have only covers the standard model, no options.


David

Mmmmm...  Nixie goodness!   

-Pat

[mnementh]

oh beautiful torrential rains of Ferenginar ...

Hubby will hate me.
I won a auction for bagpipes 

Possibly not if they are Northumbrian bagpipes,and they are played well.

Scottish bagpipes were designed as weapons of war.

Should be chucked in a fire with the piano accordions, banjos and kazoos.

Gramma Eddurds told me the truth aboot those 'orrendous things: The Irish gave the bagpipe to the Scots as a joke, and they never caught on.

'strewth, ahhh swear it. 

mnem
"Maybe it wouldn't scream so loud if you stopped squeezin' it ta death...?" ~dwagonling mnem