Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[artag]

I like to combine a hamfest with something else nearby, e.g. TNMoC.

Used to be they took all day, at least if you spent it going round and round until you were sure you hadn't missed anything. Many are over by lunchtime now, making that more practical.

MKARS used to be held at Bletchley Park, where TNMoC is located. I've been going for many years, it's been there, a school, some airbase (maybe cranfield ?) and currently a community centre. It's usually on the sunday before the bank holiday, and on the bank holiday there's HARS (Huntingdon) which for as long as I can remember has been at St Ernulf's school in St Neots. I usually see both MK and Cambridge people there as it's pretty much halfway between the two. It was fading out but seems to have revived a bit recently and is a little bit bigger than both the others.

The RSGB rally also used to be nearby at Woburn Abbey, moved to Newark now. And the Dunstable Downs rally Mike mentioned was previously at Old Warden Aerodrome / Shuttleworth Collection a bit down the A1 at Biggleswade - it grew a lot when it moved to Luton.

I'm tempted to take a gazebo, teapot and gas stove to one. Anybody got a few chairs ?

[Robert763]

I wasn't uncertain about the 204D, just guarding it while they found someone I could pay. No brainer at £5. It will go on my bench. It takes up less space than my Farnell LFM3.

Robert.

[artag]

No, I mean the 6058. The 204D is  a real classic, well spotted.

[Robert763]

Yes the Marconi 6058 7-12.5 GHz signal generator was one I walked away from to think about and came back too. It's big advantage is the small size. I've a couple of sources covering the frequency range. The R&S generator does everything but is 3U 19", deep and heavy. The others are fixed frequency and level modules. They are a lot more stable than the cavity tuned Gunn in the 6058 but have to be connected to a PSU and attenuator to be used. The 6058 is handy for a lot of stuff including quick sweeps of unknown microwave components in conjunction with a power meter.

[m k]

One other thing, confirmation bias, it's strong.

Sometimes ago somebody here had a BNC T-adapter that was a clear scam, its molding had failed.
It brought back some memories of intermittent ThinNet problems, that memory has not faded.

The other day I needed few of those adapters and found only one.
So now I'm about to throw some money to the woods.
I can get 10 from far away for less than one from here.

Surely the situation is different than decades ago.

[shakalnokturn]

Surely the situation is different than decades ago.

Certainly if by "different" you meant worse 

[Vgkid]

A random Fluke board for $45.00

[Robert763]

Internal pictures?

[Vgkid]

Internal pictures?

Here are some quick pics , it will get its own thread.

[tggzzz]

C'mon guys, we can do better than this... A recent high-end scope sold for £0.10/MHz Whatever happened to the £1/MHz rule?

Keysight DCA-X 86100D wide bandwidth oscilloscope with Agilent 86108B precision waveform analyzer module Cal due 2021
https://www.bidspotter.co.uk/en-gb/auction-catalogues/ramco/catalogue-id-ramco-11373/lot-b148c0f5-ba77-4e55-89b0-b1a100915f79

[EggertEnjoyer123]

C'mon guys, we can do better than this... A recent high-end scope sold for £0.10/MHz Whatever happened to the £1/MHz rule?

Keysight DCA-X 86100D wide bandwidth oscilloscope with Agilent 86108B precision waveform analyzer module Cal due 2021
https://www.bidspotter.co.uk/en-gb/auction-catalogues/ramco/catalogue-id-ramco-11373/lot-b148c0f5-ba77-4e55-89b0-b1a100915f79

Isn't that a sampling scope? You can get a 20 GHz sampling scope for under $1000 on eBay.

[factory]

Maybe the £1/MHz rule only applies to scopes with easily available (full) service manuals? 
Certainly you would have to pay me £1/MHz to take away dispose of anything Keysight or Agilent.

David

[tggzzz]

Maybe the £1/MHz rule only applies to scopes with easily available (full) service manuals? 
Certainly you would have to pay me £1/MHz to take away dispose of anything Keysight or Agilent.

Even that 50GHz scope?

[factory]

Yes, unless you can find the same made pre 1999, even then it could probably would be a very expensive doorstop. Not sure I would call it a scope either, more PC with a scope board & module. Why was there no picture of it powered up?

David

[Robert763]

TEA - Finally arrived.
Some weeks ago I made an offer on a bit of TE on ebay. It was accepted but the item did not arrive. The seller finally said the post office had returned it to them as "the address label fell off". Wonder how they knew who to return it to 
Anyway it arrived today. A UDT 371 light meter. Unusually this one is complete with the matched sensor. The calibration for the photodiode is stored in the meter which displays the serial number of the sensor. All seems to work OK. The unit measures the current produced by photodiode and also has a straight line current calibration built in so is also a pico/nanoammeter
Not bad for £28 including eventual delivery.

[tggzzz]

Lux. What is a lux?

On second thoughts, don't attempt to get me to understand.

Light units baffled me 40 years ago. Even Horowitz and Hill mention the multiplicity of similar units is "baffling".

[Robert763]

It's a brand of soap...

Back to TE, A literally ratty HP test set
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/135153222820?

[Everbrave]

When it comes to soldering equipment, I'm still very happy with my Xytronic LF-3200 which I picked up from Reichelt a few years ago for half the price that Elfa-Distrelec wanted for it. It's a high frequency eddy current heater type.



It gets up to temperature in about ten seconds and with a nice fat tip fitted, has plenty of heat capacity supported by what I'd say is a quite realistic 120W rating. For me, it'll do everything from SMD stuff to 10 AWG copper cable depending on the tip I have fitted. The tips themselves are compatible with the Hakko and BAKON irons so you can get a huge selection of shapes from Aliexpress for a song.
It's very well put together inside with a high quality toroid transformer and the nice thin iron is perfect for my small hands.

I’m glad you are happy with the LF-3200, I have a Quick 3202 which is similar but with different design (probably a switched power supply) which has an annoying fan and introduces a considerable amount of EMI.
I wanted to ask if it has a fan? Any noise from the transformer? (Really a toroid?)
Thanks

[factory]

You might be waiting a while for a response, he hasn't posted on this forum since August 2022.

David

[Everbrave]

You might be waiting a while for a response, he hasn't posted on this forum since August 2022.

David

I See, thanks
Anybody else with LF-3200 perhaps?

[shakalnokturn]

You might be waiting a while for a response, he hasn't posted on this forum since August 2022.

David

Ever wonder what people who've left are up to ?
I'm always worried they're that deep in TEA that they don't have time to keep us updated, or eat, or sleep, whatever...

[factory]

You might be waiting a while for a response, he hasn't posted on this forum since August 2022.

David

I See, thanks
Anybody else with LF-3200 perhaps?

It would probably be better to start a new thread in the section linked below (Other Equipment & Products), if there isn't already one.
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/

Ever wonder what people who've left are up to ?
I'm always worried they're that deep in TEA that they don't have time to keep us updated, or eat, or sleep, whatever...

I've seen some more recent posts from grizewald on the Solartron groups.io here, the 7081 ones;
https://groups.io/g/Solartron_Schlumberger_Equipment/topics
Even that forum is very quiet at the moment, maybe MJtronixs is still buying up most/all the Solartron stuff on ePay, destroying it and relisting the parts at unreasonable prices.  :'(

David

[factory]

It's a brand of soap...

Back to TE, A literally ratty HP test set
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/135153222820?

Not sure it's rats that have chewed that up, as there is no rat pee glaze/patina and/or corrosion, plasma screen looks well baked too. 

David

[KG7AMV]

Teaser.. 2 X Data I/O 29B's

[KG7AMV]

What was in the boxes 2 Data I/O 29B's



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