Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Specmaster]

The battery is so the meter can operated without being connected to the mains supply, just like a regular handheld but with greater accuracy.

[nixiefreqq]

The battery is so the meter can operated without being connected to the mains supply, just like a regular handheld but with greater accuracy.

got it.  like the lead acid in the hp3466.  did not realize the flukes came equipped that way, but remembered something about a battery in the 8800a.   will write it off as diversity training.

[med6753]

acquired a FLUKE!   found a dried out 50ufd 50V filter cap in the +18 power supply.  only had an 82ufd 100V to stick in its place.  badda bing.  working 5 1/2 digit meter.  stuck it beside its 4 1/2 and 6 1/2 digit hp brothers.  got the 8810a because unlike the 8800a it does not contain an internal battery.  it did come with the true rms volt and the ohm converters.   all appear to work.


OK.....THATS IT.....NO MORE FREAKIN' SEVEN SEGMENT LED METERS.

Welcome to the Fluke club. I have an 8800A. It doesn't have an internal battery. That was an option.

oh ok.  what was the battery for?  the ohm converter?

 
was afraid those switches would be clunky......but they actually feel pretty good.

No, they're not clunky BUT.....due to the high input impedance even the smallest contact resistance on the range switches causes inaccurate readings. I discovered this on mine and there's no way to get deoxit in there to clean them up. I have to leave mine in autorange to insure accurate measurements.

[neo]

First, sorry it took so long but i'm finally home ands online. Had to twiddle with my pc first because it was glitchy when i first turned it on and then i had to wait for these pictures to upload.

Finally it is at last TEA time!



So lets see.... we got a
Heathkit ETI-7010 Sold as a pair for 35, could of offered less but she was a nice person and there wasn't much on tap for day one
Heathkit ETI-7040 See above
Paco 25, guy was a real stickler on fixed prices, he wanted 25 and i paid 25
$20 for a 25' of wire
So ends day one, left feeling disappointed at best
Day two, real wowzer
Heathkit IG-52, wallet wanted a sewing machine and i knew she would never buy it for herself if there wasn't something in it for me, got the guy to throw this in. It was free and is an odd color so maybe interesting?
Bell and Howell IOD-4540, AKA; Heathkit IO-4540, guy wanted 20 i paid 15
And finally the big black box, anyone recognize it?
Thats right! Another one! Please help i've gone insane.

[neo]

Forgot to put this in my last post, and wanted to post photos of my table anyways.

The negotiations on that hickok went something like this,
Me, "What do you want for it?"
Him, "Two fifty."
Me, "Any chance you could take less?"
Him, "What were you thinking?"
Me, "A hundred, its what i paid for the last one."
Him, "Then you got an amazing deal, from a fool. Two fifty."
Me, "125." Him, "250." Me, "150." Him, "250" Me, "160" Him, "275" 
Me, "Come on man, its my birthday, Isn't there any room on the price?"
Him, "200," I start to say something he interrupts with, "Don't push it."
I then, given the chance to speak, say "It does work right?"
Him, "Work? Sure it works, what do you think i sell duds?", mild look of disbelief on me, "Look kid it works, i promise. Swear on my mothers grave if it'd make you feel better."
I swallow a little bit of my pride, count out 200 and buy it. Not that i trust him necessarily its just that he can't say something like that, sell duds and then expect his business model to do too well.

[Cubdriver]

Wow, that scope looks like the twin to the IO-4541 that I built back I think in the summer between 8th grade and beginning high school.  Single channel, DC-5 MHz.  It was a memorable summer project!

-Pat

[neo]

Wow, that scope looks like the twin to the IO-4541 that I built back I think in the summer between 8th grade and beginning high school.  Single channel, DC-5 MHz.  It was a memorable summer project!

-Pat

I saw it and just knew it was special so i had to have it.

Also small update on the stash of stuff i went through that which came with the tube tester, got a few spare socket savers a pin straightener and a pin identifier in the tupperware. Paper wise i got a tube list, operation manual and the luckiest of all finds... a copy of the original manual which i cannot get elsewhere.

[med6753]

Wow, that scope looks like the twin to the IO-4541 that I built back I think in the summer between 8th grade and beginning high school.  Single channel, DC-5 MHz.  It was a memorable summer project!

-Pat

Ditto, I built a IO-4541 too. The case was plastic and was prone to noise pickup plus the trace would tilt in response to the earth's magnetic field and there was no trace rotation. You had to unclamp the CRT and rotate it to get a level trace and then don't move it. 

Sold it years ago.   

[med6753]

Forgot to put this in my last post, and wanted to post photos of my table anyways.

The negotiations on that hickok went something like this,
Me, "What do you want for it?"
Him, "Two fifty."
Me, "Any chance you could take less?"
Him, "What were you thinking?"
Me, "A hundred, its what i paid for the last one."
Him, "Then you got an amazing deal, from a fool. Two fifty."
Me, "125." Him, "250." Me, "150." Him, "250" Me, "160" Him, "275" 
Me, "Come on man, its my birthday, Isn't there any room on the price?"
Him, "200," I start to say something he interrupts with, "Don't push it."
I then, given the chance to speak, say "It does work right?"
Him, "Work? Sure it works, what do you think i sell duds?", mild look of disbelief on me, "Look kid it works, i promise. Swear on my mothers grave if it'd make you feel better."
I swallow a little bit of my pride, count out 200 and buy it. Not that i trust him necessarily its just that he can't say something like that, sell duds and then expect his business model to do too well.

If he didn't sell you a dud then look at the upper left voltmeter. It should be sitting at zero. Most likely the movement is jammed and can probably be fixed.

[Cubdriver]

And I got myself in trouble today at the radio museum swap meet - the Jeep is a bit down by the stern.  Grabbed some old HP gear in unknown operational condition - a 428B clip-on milliameter, a 427A multi-function meter, maybe a 400EL AC voltmeter (I was exhausted after getting up at 6:30 on no sleep and being on my feet all day - fought sleep the entire ride home and left everything in the Jeep till tomorrow and can't remember for certain), a Boonton/HP 202H FM-AM signal generator (no one else there seemed to want it  ), and a 4800A Vector Impedance Meter.  Also added a Tek 533A Scope to the stable of turquoise room heaters.  Dropped about $120 on the lot.

Also grabbed a margarine tub of subminiature tubes for a few bucks, and a friend from the museum tried to give me (I made him take $40 for it, should have given him more) a huge 50s era army transmitter as he didn't want to take it home with him and wanted it to go somewhere it would be cared for and appreciated (and apparently wants me to put my now year-and-a-half-old ham ticket to use and get on the air!).  He also guilted me into taking two smaller aircraft transmitters he didn't feel like taking home, along with a cool old pair of railroad signal lights.  And I intercepted an old scope that was otherwise headed for the dumpster. 

On a positive note, I DID stay well clear of the dumpster this time, and pointedly had nothing to do with looking at or determining the fate of any of the condemned items.  (I've spent more time than I want to admit in there 'rescuing' things after previous swap meets...)

-Pat

[VK5RC]

A TEA addict has an almost obsession to keep the gear running even if there is no great need!
The AC section of my 3458 failed self test, similar failure code (failed calibration leveling 204) to Shariar in the YouTube TheSignalPath, bizarrely mine had a bipolar type op amp where there 'should' have been a FET type, the op amp appeared to be working (unlike Shariar's) I pulled the bjp op amp out anyway and put in a socket, put in the 'correct " op amp - lots of crazy codes - put the original back - less problems.
You can buy the A2 board from fleabay but getting pretty crazy prices - but less than 1/2 of Keysight part prices.
Harumph!
What a boring way to spend $.
Rob

[med6753]

And I got myself in trouble today at the radio museum swap meet - the Jeep is a bit down by the stern.  Grabbed some old HP gear in unknown operational condition - a 428B clip-on milliameter, a 427A multi-function meter, maybe a 400EL AC voltmeter (I was exhausted after getting up at 6:30 on no sleep and being on my feet all day - fought sleep the entire ride home and left everything in the Jeep till tomorrow and can't remember for certain), a Boonton/HP 202H FM-AM signal generator (no one else there seemed to want it  ), and a 4800A Vector Impedance Meter.  Also added a Tek 533A Scope to the stable of turquoise room heaters.  Dropped about $120 on the lot.

Also grabbed a margarine tub of subminiature tubes for a few bucks, and a friend from the museum tried to give me (I made him take $40 for it, should have given him more) a huge 50s era army transmitter as he didn't want to take it home with him and wanted it to go somewhere it would be cared for and appreciated (and apparently wants me to put my now year-and-a-half-old ham ticket to use and get on the air!).  He also guilted me into taking two smaller aircraft transmitters he didn't feel like taking home, along with a cool old pair of railroad signal lights.  And I intercepted an old scope that was otherwise headed for the dumpster. 

On a positive note, I DID stay well clear of the dumpster this time, and pointedly had nothing to do with looking at or determining the fate of any of the condemned items.  (I've spent more time than I want to admit in there 'rescuing' things after previous swap meets...)

-Pat

Between You and Neo I can't keep up and don't even try. Other than parts and other assorted items I haven't made a major TEA purchase in almost a month. I feel so inadequate.   

[Specmaster]

Wow, you got a load there alright, you are really have TEA and badly. My approach to TEA is nothing like yours. If it is something that I can use to help me repair something else, I'm interested. Your 5Mhz scope for instance would not have made it to my car, existing scopes cover that area.

[nfmax]

Off to the mountains in search of enlightenment... and by enlightenment i mean

Enheavyment?

[bd139]

And I got myself in trouble today at the radio museum swap meet - the Jeep is a bit down by the stern.  Grabbed some old HP gear in unknown operational condition - a 428B clip-on milliameter, a 427A multi-function meter, maybe a 400EL AC voltmeter (I was exhausted after getting up at 6:30 on no sleep and being on my feet all day - fought sleep the entire ride home and left everything in the Jeep till tomorrow and can't remember for certain), a Boonton/HP 202H FM-AM signal generator (no one else there seemed to want it  ), and a 4800A Vector Impedance Meter.  Also added a Tek 533A Scope to the stable of turquoise room heaters.  Dropped about $120 on the lot.

Also grabbed a margarine tub of subminiature tubes for a few bucks, and a friend from the museum tried to give me (I made him take $40 for it, should have given him more) a huge 50s era army transmitter as he didn't want to take it home with him and wanted it to go somewhere it would be cared for and appreciated (and apparently wants me to put my now year-and-a-half-old ham ticket to use and get on the air!).  He also guilted me into taking two smaller aircraft transmitters he didn't feel like taking home, along with a cool old pair of railroad signal lights.  And I intercepted an old scope that was otherwise headed for the dumpster. 

On a positive note, I DID stay well clear of the dumpster this time, and pointedly had nothing to do with looking at or determining the fate of any of the condemned items.  (I've spent more time than I want to admit in there 'rescuing' things after previous swap meets...)

-Pat

Good haul. The 427A is still one of my favourite bits of kit ever.

[Specmaster]

@cubdriver, You managed to get your jeep saggy at the back, even with a wheel at each corner and no overhang to act as a lever? "Respect man" [emoji106]

[med6753]

Next project....the RCA WO-505A scope. Here's the power supply board removed and the capacitors inventoried for replacement. Those 2 cans are going bye-bye and discrete capacitors in their place. I'm going to rebuild this board and then reinstall and check function before pulling the vertical and horizontal boards and performing a re-cap.



Here's the HV section. I checked all the resistors as they have a habit of drifting high due to voltage stress. Sure enough...a 220K reads 275K. Even with 20% tolerance it's too high. It's gonna go. The other resistors as well as the diodes are OK. At this point I see no reason to suspect those .1uf, 1.6KV poly caps as they are pretty reliable. If they were paper/wax I'd replace them.



Still haven't found a manual or even a schematic except for some bandit who want's $25 USD for it. He can shove it. So I have no idea what those 2 pots on the supply are for. Once I get it back together I'll twiddle with them and find out.

[med6753]

Wow, you got a load there alright, you are really have TEA and badly. My approach to TEA is nothing like yours. If it is something that I can use to help me repair something else, I'm interested. Your 5Mhz scope for instance would not have made it to my car, existing scopes cover that area.

I'm basically same as you. That Heath scope would have been given some thought but I would have passed. It is not one of Heath's better designs. It has many faults. But if it had been one of the older Heath vacuum tube scopes I would have grabbed it. They are a solid design and have a metal case for shielding. 

[Specmaster]

Forgot to put this in my last post, and wanted to post photos of my table anyways.

The negotiations on that hickok went something like this,
Me, "What do you want for it?"
Him, "Two fifty."
Me, "Any chance you could take less?"
Him, "What were you thinking?"
Me, "A hundred, its what i paid for the last one."
Him, "Then you got an amazing deal, from a fool. Two fifty."
Me, "125." Him, "250." Me, "150." Him, "250" Me, "160" Him, "275" 
Me, "Come on man, its my birthday, Isn't there any room on the price?"
Him, "200," I start to say something he interrupts with, "Don't push it."
I then, given the chance to speak, say "It does work right?"
Him, "Work? Sure it works, what do you think i sell duds?", mild look of disbelief on me, "Look kid it works, i promise. Swear on my mothers grave if it'd make you feel better."
I swallow a little bit of my pride, count out 200 and buy it. Not that i trust him necessarily its just that he can't say something like that, sell duds and then expect his business model to do too well.

I hope for your sake that he was telling the truth, which I certainly doubt, standard sales patter I'm afraid, especially as he knows that he's highly unlikely to come across you again, at least not until next years hamfest. With the line voltage meter already reading 60V, switched off does not bode well. Personally I'd have walked away, especially as you already have one.

[med6753]

Heathkit IG-52, wallet wanted a sewing machine and i knew she would never buy it for herself if there wasn't something in it for me, got the guy to throw this in. It was free and is an odd color so maybe interesting?

That's old Heathkit color scheme dating to approx before 1954 or 1955. It was around that year Heath went to the more familiar dark gray.   

[neo]

If he didn't sell you a dud then look at the upper left voltmeter. It should be sitting at zero. Most likely the movement is jammed and can probably be fixed.

I know its jammed but if thats the least of its problems then it does work, i didn't notice that until after i got it home. Yeah i felt like an idiot for not noticing it sooner however it doesn't directly contradict the claim that it works, only thing it indicates is that it doesn't work flawlessly.

I hope for your sake that he was telling the truth, which I certainly doubt, standard sales patter I'm afraid, especially as he knows that he's highly unlikely to come across you again, at least not until next years hamfest. With the line voltage meter already reading 60V, switched off does not bode well. Personally I'd have walked away, especially as you already have one.

Again feel like an idiot for not noticing the line-volt meter sooner, but i didn't and i bought it. If nothing else i paid 200 bucks for some spare parts. I didn't buy a bare item i got a case older and in better condition than my current one, a copy of the original manual which cannot be found ANYWHERE, some space socket savers and in the worst case scenario, where in i wind up with spare parts, an unobtainium meter, another meter which fetches a kings ransom and all those switches. Again worst case scenario, assuming there is no hope.

Really though i couldn't have passed it up, 200 for something that is, on ebay, going for 600? What TEA addict could resist?

That's old Heathkit color scheme dating to approx before 1954 or 1955. It was around that year Heath went to the more familiar dark gray.   

Oh, i though the ig-52 didn't come out until 1967, perhaps this is a precursor model? Either way its missing one of it's chicken head knobs so i will take the range knob, which matches the others,  put it where the missing one is and put a different knob for the range switch. Matching it as closely as i can.

Also as far the scope is concerned, it may be a piece of junk but it was a cheap piece of junk. I liked the look of the thing and it only cost me 15 bucks, sometimes you just have to damn logic and say to hell with it... within reason obviously. I like heathkits, your talking to somebody who now has, i think, at least 9 of them so far.

Finally in closing on the tube tester, he may very well have sold me a dud. I may very well be an idiot. However he can't make guarantees on working cart blanche with nothing to back them up, sooner or later that would come back to bite him. Even if it doesn't work there is mercifully little that can actually go wrong, only three moving parts (one of which is currently jammed admittedly), two tubes and a whole bunch of passives. If the transformer went to the clearing at the end of the path i would be shocked but if it did then i got a decent stash of spare parts. I even got a copy of the original manual.

EDIT:
DOH! Its a copy of the manual alright, for the 533. 

[tkamiya]

I'm joining the club with 14 HP8568B, R&S SMIQ 03, and a set of mystery piece that is supposed to be an automated VNA.  Got them on a pallet sale from a local business.

I've already gone through all 8568Bs, and 12 out of 14 appears to resemble working.  I will still have to go through them the second time.  Rest, I have no clue of condition.

I wonder where all the display section go, and more importantly, cables??

[xrunner]

I wonder where all the display section go, and more importantly, cables??

I used an hp 8568 spectrum analyzer in an rf lab in the late 1980s. If the users of those treated them like the ones in our lab, it would mean they were left on all day every day year after year, the CRTs were hopelessly burned-in and by now crapped out. The top units were probably tossed long ago. 

That's what I would guess. 

[mnementh]

Off to the mountains in search of enlightenment... and by enlightenment I mean

Enheavyment?

We need to add that to the glossary of terms: Enheavyment : TEA-speak; ironic term for enlightenment as quantified by curb weight of latest acquisition(s). Also, qualified as inverse function thereof.

mnem

[neo]

We need to add that to the glossary of terms: Enheavyment : TEA-speak; ironic term for enlightenment as quantified by curb weight of latest acquisition(s). Also, qualified as inverse function thereof.

Yup we definitely need that in the glossary, i love it!