What did you buy today? Post your latest purchase!

[Macbeth]

You aren't wrong, I bought one of those insanely cheap Baofeng VHF/UHF handies to see what all the ham fuss was all about. Not a sausage on the airwaves, though I did eventually find a distant repeater some old guy and his mates would appear on every odd sunday. They would discuss who had recently died and their/wifes latest ailments and then a bit of ham tech talk. Bit depressing really  I had to resist butting in because I don't have a licence. CB is also dead as a dodo. I was hoping with the no barrier to entry and everyone moving over to mobile phones and IM all the idiots of the 80's/90's would have left. Unfortunately everyone else has too. 

[HighVoltage]

All three of us, me myself and I, problem is I never hear anything I haven't heard before!

You have not watched Mr.Robot
He can even do it without such a headset.

[bingo600]

A HP-5373A (it's a 5372A) w. some extra pulse firmware.




/Bingo

[sotos]

My new toy

[sotos]

one more

[tautech]

My new toy

Which SHS800 model?

OK you've updated the pic.......SHS806 .....60 MHz

[G0HZU]

I upgraded to a 4 port VNA today.  This is the Agilent E5071B 4 port VNA with the touch screen and 1E5 reference oscillator options. I bought it at an online auction and it seems to work fine and it came with a 13.5GHz 4 port Ecal module (pictured) which is a huge bonus.

I'll be spending the next few evenings putting it through its paces to make sure it works OK before it replaces my trusty old HP8714 VNA...

[TerraHertz]

I upgraded to a 4 port VNA today.  This is the Agilent E5071B 4 port VNA with the touch screen and 1E5 reference oscillator options. I bought it at an online auction and it seems to work fine and it came with a 13.5GHz 4 port Ecal module (pictured) which is a huge bonus.

Glad to hear that worked out well!

[VK5RC]

@G0HZU , very nice!

[nctnico]

Chances are the USB port only supports a keyboard and printer. Not a USB stick 

[McBryce]

He could always replace the floppy drive with a Gotek drive if needed.

Bryce.

[G0HZU]

Hard to see USB and floppy drive meets each other.

Chances are the USB port only supports a keyboard and printer. Not a USB stick 

It is a bit odd that it has both USB and floppy but it runs Windows 2000 as its OS and there are three USB ports on it and they have the same functionality as a typical Windows PC. So I use one USB port for the mouse, one for the Ecal unit and the other for a USB memory stick. It also supports PS2 type keyboard and mouse via dedicated sockets for each.

I think some of these VNAs have a removable HDD in place of the floppy allowing removable data storage (for improved security/privacy when it goes for calibration etc?)

[nctnico]

He could always replace the floppy drive with a Gotek drive if needed.

I tried one of those drives but they are total crap to use.

[TheSteve]

He could always replace the floppy drive with a Gotek drive if needed.

I tried one of those drives but they are total crap to use.

We use a USB floppy drive replacement on our Juki pick and place machine and it has worked out great. For us the secret is to skip the custom usb stick format and use only a single image per flash drive instead of the 99 some allow. At that point it is plug and play - and only 1.44mb but that is plenty.

[nctnico]

On the one I have you have to push buttons in some kind of order to transfer back en from the USB stick. Totally non-intuitive.

[Deathwish]

I sprung for the DER EE 5000 LCR meter from the seller japanesia.

edited cos i put an E where it was meant to be an R

[Muttley Snickers]

I sprung for the DER EE 5000 LCR meter from the seller japanesia.

I got mine from the same seller without any problems, he also sent me some folded paper which I later discovered was origami, she who folds stuff said it was a swan but much preferred a duck, he also kept sending us pictures of his kids at the zoo for weeks after, not sure what that's all about, anyway it was a very kind gesture.

[GreyWoolfe]

I bought a bottle of Desco Reztore ESD mat cleaner.  It did a wonderful job cleaning my grungy ESD mat.  I recommend it to everyone.

[Deathwish]

Finally got round to getting the TL866A today.

[Rolo]

A new chair for my bench :

It's great, should have done that earlier but you know how it goes 

[med6753]

Last week took delivery of a Siglent SDS 1052DL DSO. Now before I hear the cries of “Cheep chit” and “You could have done better” let me explain a few things. I'm just getting back into the hobby after about 15 years of inactivity. I have zero experience with DSO's so I wanted to start “small” and see what they're all about. And I really don't need more than 2 channels and 50MHZ bandwidth (I can get out my big gun Tek 2465 if needed). My impressions?   

What I like: All the menus and figuring out what they do. My simple mind has been entertained all week. The EZ scope software and the interface to the PC (after figuring out that I needed to download and install NI-VISA to make it work). This stuff is pretty cool and I have a lot of catching up to do.

What I don't like: The somewhat noisy trace, even with no cable attached or signal applied. I guess it's a characteristic of the low end. But it's not a big distraction and I can live with it. Overall I'm pleased with my decision. 

[crispy_tofu]

That reminds me - hasn't Dave's Siglent waveform gen auction finished? I wonder who bought it 

[Macbeth]

What I don't like: The somewhat noisy trace, even with no cable attached or signal applied. I guess it's a characteristic of the low end. But it's not a big distraction and I can live with it. Overall I'm pleased with my decision.

About that "noisy trace"... 

[tautech]

Last week took delivery of a Siglent SDS 1052DL DSO.

What I don't like: The somewhat noisy trace, even with no cable attached or signal applied. I guess it's a characteristic of the low end. But it's not a big distraction and I can live with it. Overall I'm pleased with my decision.

Very normal for an unterminated input.
Clip the reference lead (Gnd) to the probe tip, it will be much different.

[med6753]

What I don't like: The somewhat noisy trace, even with no cable attached or signal applied. I guess it's a characteristic of the low end. But it's not a big distraction and I can live with it. Overall I'm pleased with my decision.

About that "noisy trace"... 

Wow! Thanks for that.       Something else I didn't know about DSO's. Makes perfect sense.