Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[med6753]

That's a proper rare one. Don't ever shift that. Worth its weight in gold. I think Specmaster has the earlier 70s/early 80s blue version of that.

I've had, off the top of my head, numerous V7 VTVMs, IB-1100 counter, two IP-2718 power supplies, IM-5238 AC VM, IM-2410 counter, IM-5284 multimeter and some others I've probably forgotten.

I'm after a IM-5225 next (FET voltmeter) and an IO-4360A scope (Quite good Tek 465 rip off). See: http://www.pestingers.net/pages-images/heathkit/test-equipment/oscilloscopes/io4360A-ioa4200/io4360a-ioa4200.htm

I'd have loved to have built the scope kit with DM44 clone. It's not as good as a Tek 465 but was a hell of a lot cheaper and you could build it yourself!

My relationship with Heathkit goes back to my early teen years when I got my Father's O-10 scope out of storage and became fascinated with oscilloscopes to this day. As soon as I got a part time job I started saving to build a stereo system. Of course I wanted to build it. So my long list of Heath builds started in 1970 with an AA-14 stereo amp. As near as I can remember here is the total list of Heathkits bought and built. And their current disposition which if I had to do over I'd still have them.

IM – 28 VTVM                      Sold
GR-88 VHF Receiver            Still have it
CM-1073 Tune up Meter       Gave to my son
IM-2410 Freq Counter           Sold
IG-5282 Audio Generator      Sold
IG-5280 RF Oscillator           Still have it
IB-5281 RLC Bridge             Sold
AA-14 Stereo Amp                Gave to my brother
AJ-14 FM Tuner                    Gave to my brother
IG-4244 Scope Calibrator     Still have it
AA-29 Stereo Amp                Gave to my son
AJ-29 FM Tuner                    Gave to my son
HD-1418 Audio Filter           Sold
SW-717 SW Receiver           Sold
IO-4541 Oscilloscope           Sold
SW-7800 SW Receiver         Still have it.   

And I have my Father's V-5 VTVM which dates back to 1951.

[bd139]

Nice set of experiences there. Wish I had the opportunity to build such things

Got my eye on an Elecraft K2 which is as near as you can get to the Heathkit experience now. One reason I didn't plug the cash for a mid-range keysight scope is that it leaves me the cash for such things.

Fixed the Tek 465 at least temporarily this morning. CR1541 had gone bang. Snipped it out, soldered 4x 1N4004's in and it's working now. I think it had just given up. I will order new bridge rectifiers and replace them all with proper ones in the next week or two. However triggering is now slightly wonky so I think this is going to require some more work.

[Mr. Scram]

Never been a massive Star Wars fan myself. Found the original films a little incohesive. However I watched Force Awakens last night and it wasn’t actually that bad. Might go and see Solo. Dead pool 2 this Friday though. I hit the cinema on my own on Friday mornings every alternate week. Costs £5 and there isn’t anyone there to piss me off

On the subject of diets, I eat anything that moves or did move until I cooked it. But I walk a lot. I’ve walked nearly as many miles as I’ve driven in the last two years.

What I was getting at is that fleeting diets don't work. The only thing that works and consistently works is changing your habits. That's the one thing people hate to do and often outright refuse, so people choose to fool themselves with all kinds of miracle cures. They torture themselves for a month or so believing this will fix their woes. This time it really will!

We know what works. We've known for years. Eat decent and varied. Burn the same amount of calories you eat and a little more if you want to lose weight. That means moving your butt. That's it. The trick is to apply it consistently. Even drastic measures like a gastric band are based on the same principles, it just pretty much forces you to cooperate.

[Specmaster]

Surely if you burn as many calories and a bit more then you put in, you're just working yourself into your grave. Your body it self needs calories just to keep you barely alive

[bd139]

That is true but only if you have no body fat. The only reason the body fat is there is that we are still programmed for storage of whatever sugars we find because there historically were long gaps between the findings. If you operate in a calorific loss then you’re burning your reserves off. Your body is pretty good at converting it back to energy. We’re in a time of plenty now where the food is designed for the survival cravings of fat and sugar.

And bloody good it tastes too

[Mr. Scram]

Surely if you burn as many calories and a bit more then you put in, you're just working yourself into your grave. Your body it self needs calories just to keep you barely alive

That's why I said "Burn the same amount of calories you eat" and added "and a little more if you want to lose weight". Most people start dieting because they worry about their weight, so you will need a deficiency to get anywhere in that regard. Ultimately an equilibrium is the goal. Part of the point was that it's a long term thing. You can't shed large amounts of weight in a short period of time and if you can it's by no means sustainable. Getting to a healthy weight means creating a new normal, rather than indulging in abnormality for short periods of time. However, people love to believe that they can torture themselves for a little while and then return to cake as usual and have lasting postive effects. They want to have their cake and eat it too in more than one way.

The answer is to actually change your habits and unfortunately that's one thing people tend to flat out refuse, even though they love to say they are really going to.

[bd139]

Spot on.

[Specmaster]

Spot on.

Very true, I know I find it very hard to do😈

[bd139]

It’s incredibly difficult. Until you learn to ride it. I started doing big walks. I’d get about 3 miles and then hit a wall where I could barely move. If you push through this and keep hydrated (water only) your body starts burning itself. Feel like total dire shit for about ten minutes. Then you get a buzz and then you find you’ve walked about 15 miles before you know it. If you get on a bike it multiplies the distance you can cover. I rode from Leyton to Brighton once only stopping for a dump in a hedge and a banana .. got the train back though as didn’t fancy the hills again.

Then I got run over in the city and stopped riding a bike but you get the idea.

[Specmaster]

It’s incredibly difficult. Until you learn to ride it. I started doing big walks. I’d get about 3 miles and then hit a wall where I could barely move. If you push through this and keep hydrated (water only) your body starts burning itself. Feel like total dire shit for about ten minutes. Then you get a buzz and then you find you’ve walked about 15 miles before you know it. If you get on a bike it multiplies the distance you can cover. I rode from Leyton to Brighton once only stopping for a dump in a hedge and a banana .. got the train back though as didn’t fancy the hills again.

Then I got run over in the city and stopped riding a bike but you get the idea.

On my teens I used to cycle miles and miles, and then I got a CAR [emoji48]

From mobile device so predictive text might have struck again [emoji83]

[bd139]

Yeah it was the car that did me in too originally. Was perfectly healthy until I got one.

[Specmaster]

Yeah it was the car that did me in too originally. Was perfectly healthy until I got one.

Snap

From mobile device so predictive text might have struck again [emoji83]

[med6753]

bd139, I do indeed have the blue one, its a IG-4505 and she is in all of her original splendor the modification made was to remove the pre-attached BNC lead with the 50 termination resistor with a BNC socket for more flexibility and of course easier storage when not in use as the lead always got in the way. I have made up a special lead with the 50 resistor built in to retain the 50 connection if required.

I have also recapped and cleaned it and thoroughly checked it over and tweaked the calibration to bring the output voltages up and now she is bang the money. Now of course having seen that IG-4244 of med6753 I want one as well. Not too sure which is the earlier one but I'm kinda guessing its not mine as if the numbering system went in chronological order, mine is the newer of the two.

The IG-4244 was introduced in 1984. Your IG-4505 dates much earlier than that, back into the early to mid 1970's. I think they were available concurrently, at least for a while, but I would have to check the catalogs to verify that.

The IG-4244 also has the special 50 ohm terminated coax for the "Time" output for scopes with 1MEG input impedance. Since my two 2465's have a 50 ohm input available I can use a standard RG-58 patch cable and it's properly terminated. 

I don't have time today but tomorrow I'll pull it down off the shelf and take some pron shots of the insides. I have to dexoit the range switch anyway...it's getting a little dodgy.

Thanks for putting me right on that, all it does is make even more determined to get one like yours 
I'd love to see the naked view of it please, I need more porn 
I agree with the 1M input, most newer scopes come with 1M these days, hence why I made a up a 50 lead so if I need to have 50 for a particular scope, I have the lead ready for it 

EDIT Just found this excellent site where a person has built one from a kit documented it as they went.

http://www.pestingers.net/pages-images/heathkit/test-equipment/ig4244/ig4244.htm

That kit must have cost him a fortune. Unbuilt Heathkits sell at a very high premium.

Here's my naked. Somewhat older and a little dusty.

[bd139]

Typical neat Heathkit design. Looks like same enclosure as their frequency counters.

Thanks for posting

[Mr. Scram]

Yeah it was the car that did me in too originally. Was perfectly healthy until I got one.

Well, I guess they fixed that. The things are too bloody expensive to actually drive nowadays.

[Specmaster]

Typical neat Heathkit design. Looks like same enclosure as their frequency counters.

Thanks for posting

I've been looking at the various Heathkit bits I can find on line and it all looks very professional and would look at home in professional labs. I like their kit, and now have 3 items[emoji106]

From mobile device so predictive text might have struck again [emoji83]

[med6753]

Typical neat Heathkit design. Looks like same enclosure as their frequency counters.

Thanks for posting

You would be correct.

[mnementh]

Now it's fixed, I can use it to make a proper rip fence for my huge-arse table-saw; got me some old bed frames to cut up for angle iron. 

mnem
Oh, and my Keto diet is going gangbusters as well. Averaging 20 grams/day without suffering too much at all; sometimes even have enough left over for a little morsel of dark chocolate as a bedtime treat.

How huge arsed ?
Pics ?

 
Craftsman Model 113; 10"/3HP. Cast iron deck, with both cast iron extensions. Weighs almost as much as a mnem. 

Here's a pic of its huge arse (and mine) from when I was cutting hardwood for my "recycled from and with recycled" patio chair project.  I think I posted about this project before.

Never been a massive Star Wars fan myself. Found the original films a little incohesive. However I watched Force Awakens last night and it wasn’t actually that bad. Might go and see Solo. Dead pool 2 this Friday though. I hit the cinema on my own on Friday mornings every alternate week. Costs £5 and there isn’t anyone there to piss me off

On the subject of diets, I eat anything that moves or did move until I cooked it. But I walk a lot. I’ve walked nearly as many miles as I’ve driven in the last two years.

What I was getting at is that fleeting diets don't work. The only thing that works and consistently works is changing your habits. That's the one thing people hate to do and often outright refuse, so people choose to fool themselves with all kinds of miracle cures. They torture themselves for a month or so believing this will fix their woes. This time it really will!

We know what works. We've known for years. Eat decent and varied. Burn the same amount of calories you eat and a little more if you want to lose weight. That means moving your butt. That's it. The trick is to apply it consistently. Even drastic measures like a gastric band are based on the same principles, it just pretty much forces you to cooperate.

As with all things, its not that simple. I grew up on a farm; I've always been a do-er, working with my hands and spending days at a time in the wilderness surrounding the family farm. That all changed when I blew out my back around age 30. Spent 3 months bedridden and literally having to crawl to the bathroom on hands & knees. Several back surgeries later and I found myself with limited mobility; able to stand at most about an hour a day.

Ever since then has been a constant battle; several years of caring for my mom while she lost the battle with cancer and several more fighting the resultant depression left me where I am now; clawing my way back to a normal body. I consider myself lucky; I'm able to do most of the things I used to do for short periods, and I can usually handle about 2-4 hours vertical without too much misery. Well, the misery is still there; my pain threshold is much higher than most would consider reasonable. Let's just say pain and I are old friends. I've re-injured my back and had to spend a month or two bedridden recovering 3 times since the original injury.

Keto diet (AKA Hypo-Glycemic diet) is the only one that has ever worked for me;  I've been borderline hypo-glycemic most of my adult life. I got down to within 20 lbs of my fighting weight  and kept it there for years on a 10-20 gram a day diet before and after I met my wife. On top of the usual chores I make myself walk 1/2 mile around the local park every other day to raise my base metabolism, and I try to stay on the diet.

Like everyone, I fall off the diet from time to time. But eventually it'll become the lifestyle change it needs to be. I find that key is to write it down in my exercise log; keeps me honest with myself. 

While these are the reasons for me being grossly overweight, they aren't an excuse. Life is made up of challenges; it is up to us to overcome.


mnem
*arsed*

PPS: FU** YOU, eevblog image management... repeatedly turning my pic upside-down like a total a**hole... FU** YOU!

[bd139]

Similar situation finished my father off. You’re doing awesome considering the shit you’ve been through. His started when he fell over a knee height chain link fence in the dark.

[mnementh]

Similar situation finished my father off. You’re doing awesome considering the shit you’ve been through. His started when he fell over a knee height chain link fence in the dark.

Who the f*** even puts up such a thing? That is downright pernicious, sociopathic even if put up anywhere near a populated area; a proper booby-trap.

And I know such things; I'm the booby who always sets them off. 


mnem
Please don't tell me it was your father... 

[bd139]

Twas a country house. They didn’t want people spoiling the lawn by walking on it. And they didn’t want ugly lamps lighting the path up to the car park. And they didn’t want it visible so they painted the chain and the posts black. And the path was bendy. Cost a new hip, three fused vertebrae and his mobility. And when sued they folded and sold all the assets off to a new holding company.

Karma has been served thanks to an anonymous reversing accident with what appears to have been the arse end of a horse box and the holding company owner’s Bentley.

Long time ago now but it primed me for dealing with dickery.

I also set the traps off! Two broken ankles so far

[mnementh]

Twas a country house. They didn’t want people spoiling the lawn by walking on it. And they didn’t want ugly lamps lighting the path up to the car park. And they didn’t want it visible so they painted the chain and the posts black. And the path was bendy. Cost a new hip, three fused vertebrae and his mobility. And when sued they folded and sold all the assets off to a new holding company.

Karma has been served thanks to an anonymous reversing accident with what appears to have been the arse end of a horse box and the holding company owner’s Bentley.

Long time ago now but it primed me for dealing with dickery.

I also set the traps off! Two broken ankles so far

When you say a "country house", you mean a private residence or something like a bed & breakfast or a bungalow at a Country Club?

Yeah; they tried to sell me on fusion surgery, but too many horror stories of the after-effects (fusion doesn't fix the problem except for a short while; it just concentrates the load on the vertebrae above & below the fusion) and the doctors' poorly-hidden reaction when asked about them made me decide to suffer the long recovery. I (and several doctors since) am convinced that while I'm miserable half the time, that decision is the only reason I'm still up & about without a walker.

Ouchies on the ankles!

mnem
I can neither confirm nor deny. Anything.

[bd139]

Private house with restaurant and hotel attached. Weekend getaway type crap.

You did good to avoid fusion. Never seen it work in practice across a few people I’ve know. In 100 years time we’ll be looking back at that form of treatment as a bad outcome. Never give up!

Temporary diversion back to TEA: found some more problems with the 465. Think it needs a full tant refresh. Going to wait for a part reel of SMD ones to turn up cheap and use those instead as I’m getting fed up of cranking out £20 at a time on the things. I just bought a roll of 450x AVX 10uF 16V ones for £8 for general use as an example of possible pricing but that’s a little too close to the 15V rail for comfort.

[tggzzz]

I just bought a roll of 450x AVX 10uF 16V ones for £8 for general use as an example of possible pricing but that’s a little too close to the 15V rail for comfort.

Definitely. I've twice had a 15V tant on a 13V rail go short circuit (a strange 13V rail in a 485). That's easy to spot, since the associated 81.6ohm resistor visibly changes value.

[GerryBags]

I just bought a roll of 450x AVX 10uF 16V ones for £8 for general use as an example of possible pricing but that’s a little too close to the 15V rail for comfort.

Definitely. I've twice had a 15V tant on a 13V rail go short circuit (a strange 13V rail in a 485). That's easy to spot, since the associated 81.6ohm resistor visibly changes value.

Do you think 5V headroom enough? I just ordered some 20V AVX tants for the 15V rail on my 2465B's A5.