Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Neper]

...and no more 50 grams solutions, please. 

[TERRA Operative]

What about this slightly neglected pinball machine, is worth a recap after I'm back from the airshow and I'm done with my pancakes 

https://www.ebay-kleinanzeigen.de/s-anzeige/tektronix-tds744a-500mhz-oszilloskop/2161994080-168-20462

Huh, if anyone here buys it, I have a spare BNC coverplate I can send for the cost of shipping.
(And a bunch of other parts too if needed)

The only payment is a copy of the firmware if you have the means (GPIB to Windows PC connection) to extract it. 

[factory]

Question is, does anyone know if this would fit the Keithley picoammeter 445 with two lug triax input connectors ?

.....or maybe these triax input connectors on a Wayne Kerr bridge B900 (sorry for the crap picture) ? , both are in storage ATM.

David

I know only of one type of two-lug triax connector, so they should fit.

Thank you, I took the lead with me to the store this afternoon & it does fit the Keithley 445 perfectly  .

Need something else for the Wayne Kerr, it's still a two lug type, but not quite the same inside.



David

Are you sure that they are triaxial? Could they be possibly just BNC?
If not, please take mechanical measurements! I'll try to come up ith an answer.

Yes fairly sure they are triaxial, the book states they are too, but like the Keithley manual, the parts list gives what I suspect are internal part numbers (Wayne Kerr D15190/5), they wouldn't want you to buy the leads from anyone else now would they? 
The two DVM inputs on the left side on the B900 look like regular BNC, I should have checked this yesterday  , might be a while before I go the store again, I think I did try the DVM inputs some time ago and it they were definitely broken.

I keep looking at their analog bridges on ePay, sometimes the Kelvin leads are with them, might be my best bet at getting a set of leads.

David

[Vince]

P.S. all the offensive comments on the other site from tautech, I will now recommend Rigol over Siglent.

Oh, I just looked over there, dear.... 

He wrote : "  Doing my best to plaster some poo in their laps and draw DJ into the discussion....we'll see. "

Geez... he is sick... and stupid. If you have such a plan, best not to brag about it on a PUBLIC forum ! Makes it look as stupid as these Russians who post pictures of russian ammo depots on social media, with the GPS coordinates still embedded in the picture metadata for the HIMARS to blow them up an hour later ! 

Well at least the mods now know what he has in mind, so they won't be able to be manipulated.

Well let's just keep posting about TEA; after a bit they will get bored, move on and live their life and leave us alone, and TEA will progressively find its new cruising altitude... it's just how nature works, any system eventually reaches thermal equilibrium.... eventually.

[Vince]

MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone !!!


What do you mean it's not Xmas ?! Of course it is ! Look what I just received !

... It's from a German Xmas father by the name of ch_scr , thanks Christian ! 

Got the old TTL PROMs... and when he said he had a whole bag of them, he wasn't lying, look at that mountain of them !    
No don't worry about ESD... it's just old TTL, the chips couldn't care less... 

... but I got a lot more than that, look ! 

Lots of marvelous vintage stuff... I am in heaven.

- Big ass stud diodes, to augment my inventory.
- TO3 Germanium transistors, for my old hollow state restorations
- Lots of SIL and DIL resistor arrays including some in beautiful white CERDIP packages 
- A few more vintage CERDIP packages, grey and gold, love all these things !
- A bunch of random / unfamiliar plastic DIL packages of all sizes, that I will have to Google but... ONE OF THEM immediately caught my eye !
It's got TEN pins ! I have never seen, nor even knew existed a 10 pin variant of the DIL packages ! Did you ??

- Some 7 segment LEDs displays including x4 truly remarkable ones !
Look at these bad boys.... part number " VQB 76-1 ". DIP package, but made out of metal, with a glass red tinted front.
Military stuff from old Eastern Germany. It's top secret so there is no data sheet for them to be found anywhere it seems.... all there is to be found online, granted it's all that you really need, is a little diagram showing the pinout ! And even just that is quite special, never seen that before in a 7 segment display :  there is not a common anode for all the segments... no. There are THREE common anodes !
The 7 segments are split between those 3 anodes. So one particular anode is connected to only some of the segments not all. Weird... maybe they had some problem "routing" the anode tracks on the die ?! 
But their coolness doesn't end there... it's not your regular 7 segment display... each segment is made out of 2 little segments... and each of those is made out of an array of a 2x3 tiny rectangular segments ! 
Look at the beautiful microscope pictures this chap made of these displays !

https://www.richis-lab.de/Opto11.htm

I have 4 of those, so I could make a clock maybe ! 
OK no... it's not very original of an idea... better use them in some home made little TE gizmo ! 


There is also some not so vintage but still cool stuff :

- x10 ATmega8 MCU's, in an SMD square package.... added to the big  mega128 from Zoli, I have now all I need to suit small and larger projects alike, thanks chaps 
- x10 PROMs but more modern and bigger ! M27C1001 =  128KB chips, in a square PLCC package... I can make one hell of a look-up table or bitmap storage with those ! 
- a bunch of cool mini cooling fans, some radial some "squirrel" cage type, all of them wrapped in a super sexy rubber mantel so to speak, hmmm.... where is my whip ! 


I don't care if it's not December 25th... for me right now, it IS Xmas ! 

Thanks Christian !

Now I have a lot of component googling and sorting and organizing to do over the next few days 

[Vince]

...

[TERRA Operative]

Re. Tautech, An interesting stance to take by someone who relies on their public image to run a business... 
Meh, whatever.


On the TEA front, I just bought this Tek J16 Digital Photometer.
Once I get a sensor head for it (or figure out how to make one...) I plan to use it to set the correct screen brightness when calibrating and adjusting TDS600 and 700 series scopes.

[Vince]

Wow ! That's extreme ! You are taking your TDS restorations to the stratosphere ! 

Can't you just tweak the pot " until it looks about right " to your human eye ?! 

So you mean the service manual actually calls for this accurate of an adjustment ?! 

Do they say WHY ?

I guess it makes at the factory for a consistent (and quick) setting... relying on the workers' perception might be too optimistic... some customers would receive a scope that they find too dim under some lighting conditions, others would complain that their CRT gets burned after only 6 months..

Yeah, I guess it does make sense then ...

Regardless, that little photometer looks kinda cute in its own right ! 

[TERRA Operative]

Yeah, so far I've been doing it by eye with the built in test patterns, but actually measuring it means you get it spot on without going too dim or bright (and potentially shortening the life of the tube).

I have an i1 Display Pro screen calibrator that I use on my PC monitor etc, but the shutter LCD panel used on these scopes seems to freak it out.
I assume it must measure too quickly so it doesn't average the colours produced by shutter to get an overall reading, instead it takes out of sync samples of each individual colour as it flashes and essentially gives random results.


Anyway, now I'm on the hunt for a sensor head for this meter, so more gear to sniff out from somewhere. 

[factory]

Seems to be a few of those Tek J16 photometers on ePay, along with a newer J17 model, all seem to have the same problem, the vanishing probe, hope you manage to find one.
 
David

[capt bullshot]

... copy of the firmware if you have the means (GPIB to Windows PC connection) to extract it.

As you're talking about it, I remember I've got a few TEK TDS firmwares here:
https://cb.wunderkis.de/wk-pub/tek_tds/

The one labeled *-580c-1 is v5.0e, *-580c-2 is v5.1.1e

[McBryce]

MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone !!!


What do you mean it's not Xmas ?! Of course it is ! Look what I just received !

... It's from a German Xmas father by the name of ch_scr , thanks Christian ! 

Got the old TTL PROMs... and when he said he had a whole bag of them, he wasn't lying, look at that mountain of them !    
No don't worry about ESD... it's just old TTL, the chips couldn't care less... 

... but I got a lot more than that, look ! 

Lots of marvelous vintage stuff... I am in heaven.

- Big ass stud diodes, to augment my inventory.
- TO3 Germanium transistors, for my old hollow state restorations
- Lots of SIL and DIL resistor arrays including some in beautiful white CERDIP packages 
- A few more vintage CERDIP packages, grey and gold, love all these things !
- A bunch of random / unfamiliar plastic DIL packages of all sizes, that I will have to Google but... ONE OF THEM immediately caught my eye !
It's got TEN pins ! I have never seen, nor even knew existed a 10 pin variant of the DIL packages ! Did you ??

- Some 7 segment LEDs displays including x4 truly remarkable ones !
Look at these bad boys.... part number " VQB 76-1 ". DIP package, but made out of metal, with a glass red tinted front.
Military stuff from old Eastern Germany. It's top secret so there is no data sheet for them to be found anywhere it seems.... all there is to be found online, granted it's all that you really need, is a little diagram showing the pinout ! And even just that is quite special, never seen that before in a 7 segment display :  there is not a common anode for all the segments... no. There are THREE common anodes !
The 7 segments are split between those 3 anodes. So one particular anode is connected to only some of the segments not all. Weird... maybe they had some problem "routing" the anode tracks on the die ?! 
But their coolness doesn't end there... it's not your regular 7 segment display... each segment is made out of 2 little segments... and each of those is made out of an array of a 2x3 tiny rectangular segments ! 
Look at the beautiful microscope pictures this chap made of these displays !

https://www.richis-lab.de/Opto11.htm

I have 4 of those, so I could make a clock maybe ! 
OK no... it's not very original of an idea... better use them in some home made little TE gizmo ! 


There is also some not so vintage but still cool stuff :

- x10 ATmega8 MCU's, in an SMD square package.... added to the big  mega128 from Zoli, I have now all I need to suit small and larger projects alike, thanks chaps 
- x10 PROMs but more modern and bigger ! M27C1001 =  128KB chips, in a square PLCC package... I can make one hell of a look-up table or bitmap storage with those ! 
- a bunch of cool mini cooling fans, some radial some "squirrel" cage type, all of them wrapped in a super sexy rubber mantel so to speak, hmmm.... where is my whip ! 


I don't care if it's not December 25th... for me right now, it IS Xmas ! 

Thanks Christian !

Now I have a lot of component googling and sorting and organizing to do over the next few days 

I'd have put them all in one bag and shook it before I sent it to you... just to feed your sorting addiction.

McBryce.

[TERRA Operative]

... copy of the firmware if you have the means (GPIB to Windows PC connection) to extract it.

As you're talking about it, I remember I've got a few TEK TDS firmwares here:
https://cb.wunderkis.de/wk-pub/tek_tds/

The one labeled *-580c-1 is v5.0e, *-580c-2 is v5.1.1e

Thanks for the links, but I get an error "Forbidden You don't have permission to access this resource."
Are you able to upload the 580c v5.0e firmware and NVRAM file here directly, it's the one I don't have yet.

[capt bullshot]

... copy of the firmware if you have the means (GPIB to Windows PC connection) to extract it.

As you're talking about it, I remember I've got a few TEK TDS firmwares here:
https://cb.wunderkis.de/wk-pub/tek_tds/

The one labeled *-580c-1 is v5.0e, *-580c-2 is v5.1.1e

Thanks for the links, but I get an error "Forbidden You don't have permission to access this resource."
Are you able to upload the 580c v5.0e firmware and NVRAM file here directly, it's the one I don't have yet.

Sorry, my fault. I've fixed the access rights, just try again.

[Vince]

MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone !!!


What do you mean it's not Xmas ?! Of course it is ! Look what I just received !

... It's from a German Xmas father by the name of ch_scr , thanks Christian ! 

Got the old TTL PROMs... and when he said he had a whole bag of them, he wasn't lying, look at that mountain of them !    

I'd have put them all in one bag and shook it before I sent it to you... just to feed your sorting addiction.

McBryce.

No worries, I will have to do that anyway ! 

.... I picked 3 of these chips at random and noticed that..... one of them did not bear the expected part number, at all !
Probably another TTL PROM from a different manufacturer. Might be the same configuration inside, might not be.... so I will have to sort all these chips anyway after all ! 

[factory]

Re. Tautech, An interesting stance to take by someone who relies on their public image to run a business... 
Meh, whatever.


On the TEA front, I just bought this Tek J16 Digital Photometer.
Once I get a sensor head for it (or figure out how to make one...) I plan to use it to set the correct screen brightness when calibrating and adjusting TDS600 and 700 series scopes.

Just had a look at Tekwiki, I didn't realise there were a few different probe options: https://w140.com/tekwiki/wiki/J16

Most seem to be a photo diode, a multilayer glass filter and a calibration pot, calibration source for most is a Tungsten Halogen light source. Except one that specifies a monochromatic light source, is that another filter being used with a  Tungsten lamp I wonder?

David

[Vince]

... copy of the firmware if you have the means (GPIB to Windows PC connection) to extract it.

As you're talking about it, I remember I've got a few TEK TDS firmwares here:
https://cb.wunderkis.de/wk-pub/tek_tds/

The one labeled *-580c-1 is v5.0e, *-580c-2 is v5.1.1e

Thanks for the links, but I get an error "Forbidden You don't have permission to access this resource."
Are you able to upload the 580c v5.0e firmware and NVRAM file here directly, it's the one I don't have yet.

Hey hold on you two !!

What is this TDS 580C you are talking about as if it were a given ?!

I have never heard of a TDS 580C before, you see !

I just checked on TekWiki and EVEN there it's not listed !!   

So.... I googled... and even Google was not too clued either ! It did find me some 32 page Tektronix document called " TDS 580C supplement ".... which says it's basically a monochrome version of the TDS 784C  ?!.... How come I never heard of this one, and how comes it's not even listed on TekWiki ?!  Was it  reserved to some markets like Japan ??

[BU508A]

... copy of the firmware if you have the means (GPIB to Windows PC connection) to extract it.

As you're talking about it, I remember I've got a few TEK TDS firmwares here:
https://cb.wunderkis.de/wk-pub/tek_tds/

The one labeled *-580c-1 is v5.0e, *-580c-2 is v5.1.1e

Thanks for the links, but I get an error "Forbidden You don't have permission to access this resource."
Are you able to upload the 580c v5.0e firmware and NVRAM file here directly, it's the one I don't have yet.

Hey hold on you two !!

What is this TDS 580C you are talking about as if it were a given ?!

I have never heard of a TDS 580C before, you see !

I just checked on TekWiki and EVEN there it's not listed !!   

So.... I googled... and even Google was not too clued either ! It did find me some 32 page Tektronix document called " TDS 580C supplement ".... which says it's basically a monochrome version of the TDS 784C  ?!.... How come I never heard of this one, and how comes it's not even listed on TekWiki ?!  Was it  reserved to some markets like Japan ??

From this PDF: https://www.instrumex.de/datasheet/TDS784C.pdf

[capt bullshot]

Hey hold on you two !!

What is this TDS 580C you are talking about as if it were a given ?!

I have never heard of a TDS 580C before, you see !

I just checked on TekWiki and EVEN there it's not listed !!   

So.... I googled... and even Google was not too clued either ! It did find me some 32 page Tektronix document called " TDS 580C supplement ".... which says it's basically a monochrome version of the TDS 784C  ?!.... How come I never heard of this one, and how comes it's not even listed on TekWiki ?!  Was it  reserved to some markets like Japan ??

It's this one here:



It's been sitting in the shelves right behind, where the RTB now resides, for several years. But however, the RTB sees more usage than the TDS580C ever has seen at my place.

Anyway, this particular one has undergone some mods, so now it thinks it's a TDS784, but still has a B/W monitor built in. The VGA output is colour now, but an internal NuColor monitor wouldn't work with this one because I didn't fit the required RAMDAC. You'll find some posts how this mod was done somewhere here in the forum ...
Edit: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/repair/conversion-tektronix-tds500-to-tds700-color-oscilloscope/msg2920902/#msg2920902

[Vince]

Thanks !

I was sure, the VGA output at the back is STILL colour, so it's a 784C really ! 

I guess you could still get a colour screen by putting a VGA monitor inside the scope, taping the VGA signals internally.
I thought the TDS display kits did just that. ISTR though that they were bloody expensive...

So are you going to soon be selling your TDS 580C then ?? 

No, I must resist... I want my Japanese full options 784D 

[capt bullshot]

Thanks !

I was sure, the VGA output at the back is STILL colour, so it's a 784C really ! 

I guess you could still get a colour screen by putting a VGA monitor inside the scope, taping the VGA signals internally.
I thought the TDS display kits did just that. ISTR though that they were bloody expensive...

Yes, the display kits do that AFAIK (tap the VGA).

With an unmodified TDS580 you get a grayscale picture through the VGA output (as with any other B/W model of the TDS5xx/6xx/7xx series). Only the colour models put out a colour image at the VGA port.

I don't think I'll sell it. At least it's a 1GHz scope, and the next fast one I've got is a TDS3012 (that thinks it's a fully optioned 3054) at 500MHz.

This one would be a nice GHz scope too, but the higher end LeCroy are either rare or quite expensive:
https://groups.io/g/tea/message/611

[tonyalbus]

From Ebay, Ukraine.. and it arrived.
1, 10, 100, 1000, 10.000, 100.000    0.01%
Trustable seller .. hope he stays safe:  any-devices

[tautech]

P.S. all the offensive comments on the other site from tautech, I will now recommend Rigol over Siglent.

Re. Tautech, An interesting stance to take by someone who relies on their public image to run a business... 
Meh, whatever.

Oh FFS am I prohibited from having a personal opinion on any matter ? 

Have you learnt nothing from the last few days, this shit is OT here and should you wish to explore it elsewhere that is the correct place to do so ! 

[factory]

P.S. all the offensive comments on the other site from tautech, I will now recommend Rigol over Siglent.

Re. Tautech, An interesting stance to take by someone who relies on their public image to run a business... 
Meh, whatever.

Oh FFS am I prohibited from having a personal opinion on any matter ? 

Have you learnt nothing from the last few days, this shit is OT here and should you wish to explore it elsewhere that is the correct place to do so ! 

Maybe keeping a separate account for personal opinions would be fine, just not sure calling folk on here Wayne Kerr s helped either, call us Rigol instead. 

Back to sorting the random ICs I got in January.

Edit: added tautech to ignore list.

David

[Neomys Sapiens]

For those who understand the lyrics:


Everything said.

Citation start
Unser Mann in Bückeburg teilt soeben mit:
Der Abwehrchef der Gegenseite heisst Joachim Witt!
Citation end