Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[bd139]

Ok apparently I won that first lot of transistors 

I wondered if that was you! I considered bidding for the same reasons, but decided I had too much on my plate ATM (I've just found I've spent >£350k, and it will be mine[1] on Monday!). The only ones I considered interesting for myself were the JFETs, and I couldn't be arsed with the others.

Good luck on the next batch!

I've just got 5 each of 27 different voltage zeners for £4, already bagged and labelled. They'll go in a drawer until I need one.

[1] for a loose but usable definition of "mine"

Congratulations one way or another. Hope it's not a gold hummer you spent on 

I am open to distributing some of them to specific members for projects, experiments and repairs for ref 

[tggzzz]

Ok apparently I won that first lot of transistors 

I wondered if that was you! I considered bidding for the same reasons, but decided I had too much on my plate ATM (I've just found I've spent >£350k, and it will be mine[1] on Monday!). The only ones I considered interesting for myself were the JFETs, and I couldn't be arsed with the others.

Good luck on the next batch!

I've just got 5 each of 27 different voltage zeners for £4, already bagged and labelled. They'll go in a drawer until I need one.

[1] for a loose but usable definition of "mine"

Congratulations one way or another. Hope it's not a gold hummer you spent on 

I am open to distributing some of them to specific members for projects, experiments and repairs for ref 

Decent of you

Not a gold thing with wheels (or wings); I just hope it doesn't become an inverse Doornkop, Moab Khotsong, Kloof, or Mponeng

[TERRA Operative]

Hmmm, what should I do with it???

[bd139]

Switch things with it.

Or sell it on eBay and buy yourself nice dinners for a week 

[Squarewave]

I bet you're older than me, by quite some margin, but I love Avometers 

Yep, if you drop them, they're donald ducked, though the movements can survive, the casing will be shattered.

I don't love them, and have a couple of carcasses I will unload for a pittance.

Long ago I was working with GPO[1] Martlesham Heath and they told me of a "competition" between Avo 8 salesmen and  a DMM salesman. Everything was evenly matched until the DMM salesman picked up his offering, threw it across the room, and suggested repeating the competition.

[1] no, it wasn't BT for a few years

I suppose there's always lots of ridiculous comparisons to make, that being one of them. No instrument is meant to be thrown. I guess that's where the DMM salesman lost his argument - it was all evenly matched, until he lost his temper.

Edited: for quote bracket thing was missing.

[BU508A]

Ok apparently I won that first lot of transistors 

Oh, so that was you, was it...   

Um, yes.

Now I'm going to be all mnementh and sit on my pile of gold and guard it 

Just out of curiousity I tried to find the other offers, but I failed. 
I think, the offers aren't visible to the mere mortals of the mainland.     

All I've found was this:

[25 CPS]

When compared to a decent DMM, they do exhibit many drawbacks, but as many of us love to restore the older test equipment as well as in my case audio equipment, many of these service charts/manuals actually quote what service tools are required in order to test the equipment and quite frankly a modern DMM with its input impedance being in the realms of at least 10Mohms and in some cases even into Gigohms then the voltages referenced in manuals become useless, and then you are into another rabbit hole calculating what the actual voltage should be reading with that meter rather than the required 20,000opv meter.

Therefore, IMV, if you're serious about the repair / restoration, then you do need to have at least one such meter in your collection. Allowing these meters to fall into the hands of the "Steampunk" brigade is much a cardinal sin as the hallow tube rapists of old scopes etc.

I've run into this a number of times in service literature where measurements are specified using a VOM with a stated Ohms per volt rating or, quite often, VTVM in which case a DMM will be fine.  The other given condition for measurements I've seen is a specification where the measurements shown were taken at a given line voltage.  Here, 117, 115, or 110 volts comes up in vintage documents quite often but line voltage standards have crept up over time.

I think the nominal electrical code specification is now 125 volts which is considerably higher than what was coming out of wall sockets when nominal 110 volt equipment was designed and the 128 volt winter season voltages I measured at my house is even higher so a variac to adjust the line voltage so it's approximately period correct or meets a service manual specification is quite often needed in addition to a meter with the correct loading factor.

I have an Agilent U1272A that has the Low Z voltage function but I've never actually used that; it would be interesting to try that out and see how well it could substitute for a Simpson 260, Triplett 630, AVO-type meter.

The Micronta FET meters are absolutely underrated gems of meters. Decent basic accuracy and flat impedance. Not expensive and surprisingly difficult to fuck up.

I see them as closer to an HP 427A than a Simpson 260.

I've thought about getting a Micronta FET meter in order to combine analog display with DMM light loading but I can't overcome the whole Radio Shack stigma.  And I have the two 427A sitting on the shelf already that I'm still meaning to take down and get to along with those two retired lab PCs I've never fired up.  I might get to that this weekend since I struck a few other items off the list yesterday evening.

[bd139]

Ok apparently I won that first lot of transistors 

Oh, so that was you, was it...   

Um, yes.

Now I'm going to be all mnementh and sit on my pile of gold and guard it 

Just out of curiousity I tried to find the other offers, but I failed. 
I think, the offers aren't visible to the mere mortals of the mainland.     

All I've found was this:

£47 delivered was what I paid. I bid £55 so up to £61 including postage.

The dual transistor parts are required for a couple of designs I have in the backlog which are "IC free". Whether or not a dual transistor is an IC is up for discussion but I'm not listening

The second lot I will probably be bidding considerably higher on after assaying the first lot. They are all my usual jellybeans in stupid quantities that will last me until I'm dead or the tin whiskers get them 

[tggzzz]

Just out of curiousity I tried to find the other offers, but I failed. 
I think, the offers aren't visible to the mere mortals of the mainland.     

Correct. Unfortunately the same applies in reverse.

That seller has other eclectic curios too, e.g. end-on nixie tubes.

[exor]

I’m aiming higher. This has been used in broadcast measuring van. And it came with manual with all the instructions one may ever need.
Hope it will re-activate and even elevate my DXing 
If not, I can still use it for 10MHz frequency reference GPS antenna, 4G router antenna, weather station, … 

[mansaxel]

if you look at the HP service manuals, they don't tend to assume the meter impedance anywhere and the test points and voltage measurements are never at high impedance points without large warnings about it.

It's because they expect you to use a 3458A to check PSU voltages. (true story)

Edit: And before that, they assumed a 410b or sumtha'.

[McBryce]

Hmmm, what should I do with it???

Choose one of four destinations for a high frequency signal of your choice?

Other TEA: I restored the Fluke 93 Scopemeter this week, repaired the frontend on Channel B, gave it a new battery (original Fluke replacement) and replaced the membrane with a PCB equivalent. I've been messing about with it today and I have fallen for it. Forget all the modern solutions, this does all I want, the way I want. Now looking out for a Fluke 97 for the added features. The TEA continues.

McBryce.

[duckduck]

Meanwhile, in a Facebook vintage electronics group, these photos were posted today of this person's collection of meters and test gear, impressive or what?

Impressive, yes. But then so is a bunch of fives.

I think we can guess what tool that addict either couldn't afford when doing their first homebrew electronics, or used professionally in their first job.

Not my first job (waiting tables), but my first technical job (PC repair). An older, wiser cow-orker showed me how to measure power supply voltages with a Fluke DMM. When, many years later, I started to get more serious about electronics, I knew that I was Team Yellow.

This guy made me a counter-offer of $50, which I let expire due to an unusual bout of self-control: https://www.ebay.com/itm/234588166393 I think that the Wavetek DM27XT will measure 2 GigaOhms and has a 20 MHz frequency counter.

[Zoli]

Ok apparently I won that first lot of transistors 

Oh, so that was you, was it...   

Um, yes.

Now I'm going to be all mnementh and sit on my pile of gold and guard it 

Just out of curiousity I tried to find the other offers, but I failed. 
I think, the offers aren't visible to the mere mortals of the mainland.     

All I've found was this:

Or those who VPN into UK; but ships only to UK.

[mnementh]

Ok apparently I won that first lot of transistors 

Oh, so that was you, was it...   

Um, yes.

Now I'm going to be all mnementh and sit on my pile of gold and guard it 

No idea whatcher talkin' aboot. 

mnem

[BU508A]

Just out of curiousity I tried to find the other offers, but I failed. 
I think, the offers aren't visible to the mere mortals of the mainland.     

Correct. Unfortunately the same applies in reverse.

That seller has other eclectic curios too, e.g. end-on nixie tubes.

Found it. 
Sent bd139 a PM for confirmation. 

[Robert763]

I’m aiming higher. This has been used in broadcast measuring van. And it came with manual with all the instructions one may ever need.
Hope it will re-activate and even elevate my DXing 
If not, I can still use it for 10MHz frequency reference GPS antenna, 4G router antenna, weather station, … 

Been there, done that. Be carefull they can kill. One nearly got me.

[bd139]

if you look at the HP service manuals, they don't tend to assume the meter impedance anywhere and the test points and voltage measurements are never at high impedance points without large warnings about it.

It's because they expect you to use a 3458A to check PSU voltages. (true story)

Edit: And before that, they assumed a 410b or sumtha'.

Technically "10M Zin" was the spec. They wanted to upsell you their instruments.

[Robert763]

The £100 Spectrum Analyser arrived. Seems to be working OK. Picture shows local FM stations.
It also has an RF generator.
Anyone know what it is yet?  (I do obviously).

[mnementh]

...Other TEA: I restored the Fluke 93 Scopemeter this week, repaired the frontend on Channel B, gave it a new battery (original Fluke replacement) and replaced the membrane with a PCB equivalent. I've been messing about with it today and I have fallen for it. Forget all the modern solutions, this does all I want, the way I want. Now looking out for a Fluke 97 for the added features. The TEA continues.

McBryce.

*gag*creamed spinach color*gag*   

mnem
Needs more OLED.

[Specmaster]

Does anyone actually have a Micronta 22-220 meter and would they please measure the scale from end to end across the face of the meter rather than following the arc. Looking at the photos and knowing the physical dimensions of the meter, I really cannot believe that the meter is any bigger as that on an Avo model 7 or 8. I think it just looks bigger.

You're missing my point... it is not the absolute dimensions of the movement, but rather the fact they make the viewing window such that almost nothing but the scale itself is visible, and it is all set pretty deep inside the meter case. This drastically reduces the amount of ambient light that gets to the meter face vs a meter with a large, open rectangular viewing window.

TL/DR: The proportionate size of the viewing window is smaller vs the scale; no matter what the actual size of the movement, this will not change.

If you go back, you'll see that point right at the beginning of my original post; you probably just skimmed over that bit.

mnem
 

Yep, guilty as charged your honour 

[Zoli]

Just a slight warning for whoever has to deal with the soviet transistors(2G302 in the attached picture); it came out as CADMIUM COATED thru the mazes of my memories.
If anybody can confirm/deny my (almost)long forgotten memories, I(and the future owner) would be really grateful.

[mansaxel]

I almost didn't grab this before it was headed for trash/recycle. Impossibly rare/unknown/hard to find info on it, but...

https://bama.edebris.com/download/simpson/303/Simpson%20303-3XL.pdf

Great little meter.

I have the Unigor 6e which is the German take on that theme; portable VTVM replacement. I think it was Neomys who put me on the track. Of course it says "Bampf!" (or what ever now is "Bam" in German) compared to the DMMCheck.

[AVGresponding]

Ok apparently I won that first lot of transistors 

Oh, so that was you, was it...   

Um, yes.

Now I'm going to be all mnementh and sit on my pile of gold and guard it 

The leads will stick in your arse like pins, at which point I shall chuckle maliciously.

The dual transistor parts are required for a couple of designs I have in the backlog which are "IC free". Whether or not a dual transistor is an IC is up for discussion but I'm not listening

They are not Integrated Circuits, because there is no electrical connection between them, nor are they circuits. No discussion is required. They are dual transistors fabricated onto the same substrate in order to thermally bond them and hopefully well trimmed in order to match performance characteristics.

You may therefore use them in good conscience, or at least you would if you had not overdid a fellow TEA to get them.

:PPP

[mnementh]

...I've just found I've spent >£350k, and it will be mine[1] on Monday!

[1] for a loose but usable definition of "mine"

Congratulations one way or another. Hope it's not a gold hummer you spent on 

Decent of you

Not a gold thing with wheels (or wings); I just hope it doesn't become an inverse Doornkop, Moab Khotsong, Kloof, or Mponeng

My experience has been that if you're spending that kind of dosh and hoping it won't become a money pit, it probably already was before you looked at it and will not be any better once it changes hands.

I do hope you're the lucky one and I'm completely wrong in this case.

mnem
*toddles off to sand a trestle*