Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[xrunner]

ham radio, the TEA gateway drug... just say no to HF

 

[mnementh]

   I know... his sig makes me grin every time I see it...  Meanwhile, I'm also this guy (okay, not even flying on the same plane of reality as Neil, but still...), broadcasting NTSC or PAL video at 25-1500mW in the 5.8GHz region on an untethered suborbital aerial platform. 

mnem
I am so full of... something.

[med6753]

Was watching a interesting doc called "Doodlebug Summer" which is about the V-1 and V-2 rocket attacks on southern England in 1944-45. What I didn't realize was the shear number of rockets launched. Something like 6000 V-1's and 1000 V-2's.  I was surprised at that number. You guys living around London must have heard some stories from your older relatives concerning these attacks. At least the V-1 gave some warning. Loud droning then stopped. The V-2 gave no warning and initially your gov called it "gas explosions" 

[beanflying]

Nothing to do with TEA and more to do with potential GAS of a different sort. A Years+ worth of Pickled Onions added to the shack/house pantry, Honey and Pepper, Chilli Spiced and Bitey and Curried. Down to the last bottle of last years stash.

[tggzzz]

Was watching a interesting doc called "Doodlebug Summer" which is about the V-1 and V-2 rocket attacks on southern England in 1944-45. What I didn't realize was the shear number of rockets launched. Something like 6000 V-1's and 1000 V-2's.  I was surprised at that number. You guys living around London must have heard some stories from your older relatives concerning these attacks. At least the V-1 gave some warning. Loud droning then stopped. The V-2 gave no warning and initially your gov called it "gas explosions" 

There was an interesting use of intelligence services w.r.t. the V1s.

The UK had captured and turned all German agents parachuted into the UK. Initially the V1s landed on London as designed, but the turned agents fed back reports that the V1s landed beyond London. The Germans reduced their set range, so most fell into the countryside short of London.

[VK5RC]

ham radio, the TEA gateway drug... just say no to HF

 

Ooooooooh. Microwave ham gets s**t-crazy-expensive TEA!  $30 parts/gunn diode with a $50,000 SpecAn to know what you are doing (or think you are! Hehe)
The only saving grace is that the parts 'generally' get cheaper (and smaller)

The 'craziest' boffin ham in that area in vk land is rex moncur, vk7mo, he keeps breaking world microwave records with a bmw x3 full to the gunwales of 10GHz stuff, a few years ago I went to the Gippstech conference (vk ham - vhf-microwave) and he had just pretty well gone from east to west coast of Australia (across the bight) on 10GHz! He was one of the guys grizzling about the new Icom 9700 not being very stable - well for him it isn't (currently I hope) He was involved with a mod for the icom 910, along with others including vk3xdk - to allow the 910 to be 10MHz ref locked.

Lovely fluke-nixie pron!

[med6753]

Was watching a interesting doc called "Doodlebug Summer" which is about the V-1 and V-2 rocket attacks on southern England in 1944-45. What I didn't realize was the shear number of rockets launched. Something like 6000 V-1's and 1000 V-2's.  I was surprised at that number. You guys living around London must have heard some stories from your older relatives concerning these attacks. At least the V-1 gave some warning. Loud droning then stopped. The V-2 gave no warning and initially your gov called it "gas explosions" 

There was an interesting use of intelligence services w.r.t. the V1s.

The UK had captured and turned all German agents parachuted into the UK. Initially the V1s landed on London as designed, but the turned agents fed back reports that the V1s landed beyond London. The Germans reduced their set range, so most fell into the countryside short of London.

That must explain why the communities East and South of London took the brunt of the attacks and the most damage.

[bd139]

Also why Medway is a shit hole now 

[Mr. Scram]

There was an interesting use of intelligence services w.r.t. the V1s.

The UK had captured and turned all German agents parachuted into the UK. Initially the V1s landed on London as designed, but the turned agents fed back reports that the V1s landed beyond London. The Germans reduced their set range, so most fell into the countryside short of London.

I heard a similar story, but with the information being fed through the local newspapers.

[tggzzz]

Was watching a interesting doc called "Doodlebug Summer" which is about the V-1 and V-2 rocket attacks on southern England in 1944-45. What I didn't realize was the shear number of rockets launched. Something like 6000 V-1's and 1000 V-2's.  I was surprised at that number. You guys living around London must have heard some stories from your older relatives concerning these attacks. At least the V-1 gave some warning. Loud droning then stopped. The V-2 gave no warning and initially your gov called it "gas explosions" 

There was an interesting use of intelligence services w.r.t. the V1s.

The UK had captured and turned all German agents parachuted into the UK. Initially the V1s landed on London as designed, but the turned agents fed back reports that the V1s landed beyond London. The Germans reduced their set range, so most fell into the countryside short of London.

That must explain why the communities East and South of London took the brunt of the attacks and the most damage.

Precisely.

Background information, edited from wackypedia: RV Jones' autobiography, Most Secret War: British Scientific Intelligence 1939–1945, formed the basis, pre-publication, of the BBC One TV documentary series "The Secret War". The historian A. J. P. Taylor described Most Secret War as "the most fascinating book on the Second World War that I have ever read" and, more generally, it has acquired almost classic status.

That book is indeed, even now, well worth reading and re-reading.

[tautech]

And on the matter of the V1's, an interesting recent thread that looks at the proximity shells used to take down many V1's:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/ww2-electronics-aa-delayed-shells/

[beanflying]

Straw poll. New sides for my 419A do I go smoked Gray or Clear (Cereal Packet cardboard is not a good long term option) and do I be evil and back light the Logo with LED's somehow?

None of the innards of the 419A are really visible due to the inner aluminium shielding so clear is a bit pointless?

[med6753]

Was watching a interesting doc called "Doodlebug Summer" which is about the V-1 and V-2 rocket attacks on southern England in 1944-45. What I didn't realize was the shear number of rockets launched. Something like 6000 V-1's and 1000 V-2's.  I was surprised at that number. You guys living around London must have heard some stories from your older relatives concerning these attacks. At least the V-1 gave some warning. Loud droning then stopped. The V-2 gave no warning and initially your gov called it "gas explosions" 

There was an interesting use of intelligence services w.r.t. the V1s.

The UK had captured and turned all German agents parachuted into the UK. Initially the V1s landed on London as designed, but the turned agents fed back reports that the V1s landed beyond London. The Germans reduced their set range, so most fell into the countryside short of London.

That must explain why the communities East and South of London took the brunt of the attacks and the most damage.

Precisely.

Background information, edited from wackypedia: RV Jones' autobiography, Most Secret War: British Scientific Intelligence 1939–1945, formed the basis, pre-publication, of the BBC One TV documentary series "The Secret War". The historian A. J. P. Taylor described Most Secret War as "the most fascinating book on the Second World War that I have ever read" and, more generally, it has acquired almost classic status.

That book is indeed, even now, well worth reading and re-reading.

So no family stories about those attacks or is it something that just isn't talked about any more? 

[nixiefreqq]

Wow - someone just dropped $260 on a Fluke 8300A on the Bay of Evil. 

-Pat

[mnementh]

   Straw poll. New sides for my 419A do I go smoked Gray or Clear (Cereal Packet cardboard is not a good long term option) and do I be evil and back light the Logo with LED's somehow?

None of the innards of the 419A are really visible due to the inner aluminium shielding so clear is a bit pointless?

      I've always had a soft spot for Silver Twill G10 laminate, myself. 

mnem
You can kill me later. After my wife sees that monstrosity of a monitor...   

[beanflying]

Would need a beast of a Laser for G10 and the bigger CNC Router isn't back in running order so sticking with Acrylic at this stage. I could always make it a Woody I suppose I have some decent ply

[mnementh]

Countertop Formica? A world of possibilities there, and appropriate scraps should be pretty easy to come by.

mnem
 

[Specmaster]

   Straw poll. New sides for my 419A do I go smoked Gray or Clear (Cereal Packet cardboard is not a good long term option) and do I be evil and back light the Logo with LED's somehow?

None of the innards of the 419A are really visible due to the inner aluminium shielding so clear is a bit pointless?

      I've always had a soft spot for Silver Twill G10 laminate, myself. 

mnem
You can kill me later. After my wife sees that monstrosity of a monitor...   

Can't kill you later because SWMBO will already have done the deed[emoji28]

Sent from my POT-LX1 using Tapatalk

[nixiefreqq]

oculus inspired me to finally replace my 35 year old TI-30 SLR calculator.

watched some tutorials and decided that the TI36x pro was kinda clumsy at converting between polar and rectangular coordinates.

but its easy on this gadget.  AND it was 18 bucks at mega-lo-mart!  and to get the answer you click THE = KEY!!!

ps  finally found something that a damn fox hound is good for.  you can prop shit up against them.

 

[bd139]

Interestingly the TI, Casio and arse end HP calculators are all made by Kinpo and have roughly the same software with some adjustments now. Depressing but the Chinese go their fingers into it.

[med6753]

First look inside the Heathkit OL-1 scope. I removed all the tubes and the CRT. The rear support bracket for the CRT is missing. And it definitely is not the original CRT. Going the vacuum the interior and inventory all the tubular caps plus the B+ can.



But before ordering any parts need to determine the condition of the power transformer. That's the only part that's unobtanium and if it's no good the entire restore is senseless. Luckily quick DC continuity check shows it's OK. Those two .1uf/1200V HV caps are physically sticky to touch.



Here's the vacuum tube complement.

1V2 HV Rectifier
6X4 B+ Rectifier
12AX7 Twin Triode preamp
4 – 12AU7 Twin Triodes for the Vertical and Horizontal amps
3EP1 CRT which was real tight in the front bezel. That green grid is not original.

All the tubes are readily available on Ebay.



Front panel. Going to completely strip it down and clean it. That's not rust. It's dirt. The case is going to be cleaned and then spray painted. Undecided on color right now. So, that's it for now. Will provide updates as progress is made.

[bitseeker]

Wow - someone just dropped $260 on a Fluke 8300A on the Bay of Evil. 

LOL! Yeah, I was watching that little battle, but didn't catch the ending until just now.

[bd139]

@med: I would strip that down to bare parts and "rekit" it. I don't think I'd even try and fix that unless I had a couple of spare ones lying around 

[bitseeker]

Straw poll. New sides for my 419A do I go smoked Gray or Clear (Cereal Packet cardboard is not a good long term option) and do I be evil and back light the Logo with LED's somehow?

For something completely different, you could use smaller squares of the acrylic (say 4" or 10cm), fill more of the space with the logo, and stand it on a wooden base with LEDs in the bottom edge to light it (use RGB ones for adjustable color). That'd look cool on the bench.

Without the lighted base, they could also make nice coasters for the bench.

None of the innards of the 419A are really visible due to the inner aluminium shielding so clear is a bit pointless?

For the 419A, due to the shielding, I'd either try to match the color of the other panels or how about some nice hardwood? With wood, the logo could remain an outline or be burn filled. Then, a few coats of lacquer to finish it.

[bitseeker]

First look inside the Heathkit OL-1 scope. I removed all the tubes and the CRT. The rear support bracket for the CRT is missing. And it definitely is not the original CRT. Going the vacuum the interior and inventory all the tubular caps plus the B+ can.

Added to POI.