Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[tggzzz]

I got a package from Scottrade12 this morning. Usual perfect packing job - not 
I'm not sure exactly what it is other than it has a Schroff Compac Pro instrument case and I like those. Has the optional bail handle and panel cover.
ebay item
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/223995652291

I was planning to ship my Fluke 8125 with just a bit of sticky tape, and maybe a dustbin bag. But I sold it at a hamfest before that was necessary.

Pictures here.

[tggzzz]

Seller with 0 feedback, £80 shipping? Nope nope nope, nopity nopity nopity nope.  https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/394172624747

Well, given its weight and fragility, I'd be willing to pay £80 to ensure it arrived safely.

But located in "East, UK" and zero other activity in 2 years? I'll leave the opportunity for someone else!

[grizewald]

That reminds me. I've been promising myself that I'd take my HP 8592A outside and blow a large amount of dust and spider exoskeletons out of it.

It's just that I'm on the second floor and HP's definition of "lightweight and portable" is at distinct odds with the actual weight of the analyser!

[Robert763]

Seller with 0 feedback, £80 shipping? Nope nope nope, nopity nopity nopity nope.  https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/394172624747



<SNIP>

The "Please don't pay until invoiced" in the description is another big red flag...

[bd139]

Sounds like an easy paypal case to me 

[AVGresponding]

Sounds like more trouble than it's worth, getting involved with an obvious scam listing.

Evri just dropped off some wire for me. 740 grams of 46 SWG magnet wire (BICC Bicalex so top quality), cost less than 1/4 what you'd normally have to pay, and I have some more on the way.

[Zenith]

Seller with 0 feedback, £80 shipping? Nope nope nope, nopity nopity nopity nope.  https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/394172624747

Plus a vague location, delivery in late September, no mention of personal collection available.

Well it might be a genuine offer, it's just that there's nothing about it that's exactly reassuring.

[AVGresponding]

Nice t-shirt...

[factory]

And they put the instrument case in "suitcase" facing the bottom so it arrived with the acrylic panel protector smashed 

The unit looks like it was VERY expensive. A big 2 axis steerable IR first surface mirror. There is also a big rectangular glass IR filter. Appears to be some sort of automatic tracking attachment for a IR camera. Mirror is about 4" across.

Looking at the sellers pictures, the lot is clearly shown in the briefcase/suitcase exactly as you describe, in the last couple of pictures.

David

[mansaxel]

5372A update:

Needs new battery. Other than that, as advertised. To a maths half-wit like me, it does take some time to get into the device to actually comprehend it, but I've gotten a lot of insights already. My FeelTech FG has a pretty bad oscillator, that's the first thing I've learnt. If I plot the frequency from it as a graph, it flips between two frequencies, one slightly above, one slightly below 10MHz. The average is some 45kHz off.

I perhaps should buy one of those 10-packs of CTI OXCO too. The 8316 counter needs one too. And, as soon as I get to borrow the GPS-steered Rb reference from work, I'll get to characterising the OXCO in my Meinberg LANTime, which is displaying tendencies to deviate too.

[bd139]

Beware. A men with two wrist watches never knows the time.

The man with one frequency standard and a distribution bus does 

[tautech]

Beware. A men with two wrist watches never knows the time.

Whadbout the man without a watch ?
AFAIK it's bedtime.   

Seeya on Discord.

[bd139]

If you have no watch you know if it’s breakfast, lunch, dinner and bed time and that’s all that matters 

In cinema now. Watching Thor Love and Thunder. Be on discord later…

[mnementh]

YALBOA:



mnem

[mansaxel]

Beware. A men with two wrist watches never knows the time.

The man with one frequency standard and a distribution bus does 

This looms over me all the time. "All broadcast engineers are closet time-nuts" -- quoted from a forum member, fellow broadcast engineer in PM some time ago.

[m k]

My definitive opinion is that a bit bigger than needed proto board is better than a bit smaller than needed proto board.

BTW,
found old marketing material including Fiskars 08 UPS.
It obviously is not the center but what is, triffids?
What else?

[tggzzz]

5372A update:

Needs new battery. Other than that, as advertised. To a maths half-wit like me, it does take some time to get into the device to actually comprehend it, but I've gotten a lot of insights already. My FeelTech FG has a pretty bad oscillator, that's the first thing I've learnt. If I plot the frequency from it as a graph, it flips between two frequencies, one slightly above, one slightly below 10MHz. The average is some 45kHz off.

I perhaps should buy one of those 10-packs of CTI OXCO too. The 8316 counter needs one too. And, as soon as I get to borrow the GPS-steered Rb reference from work, I'll get to characterising the OXCO in my Meinberg LANTime, which is displaying tendencies to deviate too.

Look at threads on Agilent/HP53310a to get ideas.

Look at off-air frequency sources, decent XOs, VCOs during lockin (e.g. off-air sources before they have stabilised), uBlox GPS outputs set to 10MHz, 1MHz to see the consequence of the internal 48MHz internal clock. If it has settable input thresholds, you might be able to use it to measure sub-ns risetimes.

[Brumby]

My definitive opinion is that a bit bigger than needed proto board is better than a bit smaller than needed proto board.

BTW,
found old marketing material including Fiskars 08 UPS.
It obviously is not the center but what is, triffids?
What else?

Watch out for the plant.  If it climbs out of the pot and heads your way ... get out fast!  ... and if you see a meteor shower in the sky - look the other way!

[ch_scr]

All the talk about PROM's made me remember to check, I have a literal bag of (untested NOS) TBP38S22-25N, "free" to good homes for the price of shipping 

[Vince]

I just have a passion for old school programmable logic, I am sure I could use them in gizmos and just play around for the sheer fun of it.... and since they are OTP only, no room for mistakes so I guess having lots of them is kinda mandatory ! 

Just how big is your bag ? How many do you have ?   

[ch_scr]

I just have a passion for old school programmable logic, I am sure I could use them in gizmos and just play around for the sheer fun of it.... and since they are OTP only, no room for mistakes so I guess having lots of them is kinda mandatory ! 

Just how big is your bag ? How many do you have ?   

Like a big hand full, but DIL packages are not that efficient at space-filling. Don't forget you'll have to make a programmer with weird voltages first. (I wholeheartedly believe to play with logic design, a GOWIN fpga board is cheaper, easier and faster in every possible way) But if there is no common device these can help repair knock yourself out 

[Vince]

I am not into designing or repairing complex modern FPGA stuff, I prefer vintage electronics, old school basic stuff, the stuff that pioneered the field. That does excite and interest me way more than any multi-billion gate 1,500 pin BGA FPGA...

Having to design and build a custom programmer for them is just the more exciting, gives me another cool little design project to add to my list !

[bd139]

That is the same position here. I surely could design something with bang up to date modern tech but I'm not being paid to so I'm doing it with what feels good to use

Software I like to avoid also having enough problems with that during the day 

(unless it's something mucky like machine code)

[ch_scr]

I am not into designing or repairing complex modern FPGA stuff, I prefer vintage electronics, old school basic stuff, the stuff that pioneered the field. That does excite and interest me way more than any multi-billion gate 1,500 pin BGA FPGA...

Having to design and build a custom programmer for them is just the more exciting, gives me another little project to add to my list !

I guess some people like to mine their own copper too 
No shortage of projects on the list over here anyway 
Edit: I come from ATMega as well and would say to get the GOWIN going was not much harder or more complicated than to get the ATMega going the first time. The software is much simpler than the modern Atmel Studio (it's changed name now, I know) and even works on linux. It's just that Verilog gives you that much more rope to hang yourself than C 
Edit2: Did I want to build a DDS in HW logic when I read about it in the books ?
Did I ever get around to it? 
Was it a good first Verilog project and easy to try and play around with?

[Vince]

So, is that a yes ?! 

Will PM you