Author Topic: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread  (Read 14560998 times)

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Offline bitseekerTopic starter

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #14750 on: August 17, 2018, 05:56:18 am »
Hope springs infernal. Bitseeker... he's so far behind, the light from merely behind will take 1000 years to reach him.

LOL! I might find a wormhole behind my bench one day. That could be useful. Pat, on the other hand, might create one if some of those boat anchors decide to end it by jumping off a shelf.

Random Mode...



It's ba-a-ack... and it's electric.

Yeah, saw that. Is it a bit better looking than the Isetta? At least it's got 33% more traction. Having to parallel park it on a congested street may not be ideal for getting in and out of the cockpit.
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Offline bitseekerTopic starter

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #14751 on: August 17, 2018, 05:59:23 am »
<cue organ music> Can mnem still... Will bd succumb to... Will med6753 get...  <organ crescendos, with minor 7th chord for added dramatic tension>[/i]

<noodling on organ> Join us tomorrow for these answers and more, on the next exciting episode of "As The Filament Burns" <Major chord crescendo, followed by fading to silence>  <cut to Ebay commercial>

I could totally hear the music. Hilarious. Oh, the horrors of daytime television...
TEA is the way. | TEA Time channel
 

Offline Specmaster

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #14752 on: August 17, 2018, 06:46:29 am »
Wow, I got quite behind on posts again.

So, we've got hot burning balls, warm Nixie tubes, cold SWMBO scopes, and a slippery Rigol DSA that got away. And the week's not over, yet. :-DD
And we're heading rapidly towards 600 pages of the goodness known as TEA "Holy Shitballs" we are flying.
Who let Murphy in?

Brymen-Fluke-HP-Thurlby-Thander-Tek-Extech-Black Star-GW-Avo-Kyoritsu-Amprobe-ITT-Robin-TTi
 

Offline Specmaster

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #14753 on: August 17, 2018, 06:53:43 am »
Random Mode...



It's ba-a-ack... and it's electric.

/Random Mode


mnem
Suck it, Elon Musk.
That had to happen sooner or later, I used to have a gasoline version years ago, great fun to drive too. [emoji6]
Who let Murphy in?

Brymen-Fluke-HP-Thurlby-Thander-Tek-Extech-Black Star-GW-Avo-Kyoritsu-Amprobe-ITT-Robin-TTi
 

Offline VK5RC

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #14754 on: August 17, 2018, 07:01:47 am »
<cue organ music> Can mnem still... Will bd succumb to... Will med6753 get...  <organ crescendos, with minor 7th chord for added dramatic tension>[/i]

<noodling on organ> Join us tomorrow for these answers and more, on the next exciting episode of "As The Filament Burns" <Major chord crescendo, followed by fading to silence>  <cut to Ebay commercial>

I could totally hear the music. Hilarious. Oh, the horrors of daytime television...
'the horrors'? If I was 'studying' for an exam in swatvac- I was enthralled! Couldn't get away! Surprisingly I never watched a minute of them after the exam.
The other activity that was only appealing in swatvac was cleaning out the septic tank!
@pat - love those tube and nixie counters - even my SWMBO likes those.
PS She has buggered off with no2 daughter and they are currently in Vancouver!
I am plotting my purchase!
Rob
Whoah! Watch where that landed we might need it later.
 

Offline Specmaster

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #14755 on: August 17, 2018, 07:34:31 am »
<cue organ music> Can mnem still... Will bd succumb to... Will med6753 get...  <organ crescendos, with minor 7th chord for added dramatic tension>[/i]

<noodling on organ> Join us tomorrow for these answers and more, on the next exciting episode of "As The Filament Burns" <Major chord crescendo, followed by fading to silence>  <cut to Ebay commercial>

I could totally hear the music. Hilarious. Oh, the horrors of daytime television...
'the horrors'? If I was 'studying' for an exam in swatvac- I was enthralled! Couldn't get away! Surprisingly I never watched a minute of them after the exam.
The other activity that was only appealing in swatvac was cleaning out the septic tank!
@pat - love those tube and nixie counters - even my SWMBO likes those.
PS She has buggered off with no2 daughter and they are currently in Vancouver!
I am plotting my purchase!
Rob
If its a nixie, she will notice.......
Who let Murphy in?

Brymen-Fluke-HP-Thurlby-Thander-Tek-Extech-Black Star-GW-Avo-Kyoritsu-Amprobe-ITT-Robin-TTi
 

Online tautech

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #14756 on: August 17, 2018, 07:39:18 am »
<cue organ music> Can mnem still... Will bd succumb to... Will med6753 get...  <organ crescendos, with minor 7th chord for added dramatic tension>[/i]

<noodling on organ> Join us tomorrow for these answers and more, on the next exciting episode of "As The Filament Burns" <Major chord crescendo, followed by fading to silence>  <cut to Ebay commercial>

I could totally hear the music. Hilarious. Oh, the horrors of daytime television...
'the horrors'? If I was 'studying' for an exam in swatvac- I was enthralled! Couldn't get away! Surprisingly I never watched a minute of them after the exam.
The other activity that was only appealing in swatvac was cleaning out the septic tank!
@pat - love those tube and nixie counters - even my SWMBO likes those.
PS She has buggered off with no2 daughter and they are currently in Vancouver!
I am plotting my purchase!
Rob
If its a nixie, she will notice.......
Yeah but 'cause she likes them it's worth the brownie points.
The risk is: What else did you buy while I was away ?
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Offline bd139

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #14757 on: August 17, 2018, 12:59:19 pm »
Quick bit of random switch porn. Not exactly TEA but a fine piece of engineering from Germany (Kent Engineering). Latest amateur radio haul...



Decided to go all out and made a nice plaited cable and got an expensive Amphenol plug for it.

Now I can rock it like it's 1920 again. Needs some tubes to go with it now.

Edit: ooh it's getting cooler now finally so perhaps a tube based Tek to fix the other tube things with.
« Last Edit: August 17, 2018, 01:02:09 pm by bd139 »
 

Offline med6753

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #14758 on: August 17, 2018, 01:22:40 pm »
Nice paddle! How many WPM can you pound out accurately?
An old gray beard with an attitude.
 

Offline bd139

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #14759 on: August 17, 2018, 01:27:59 pm »
Accurately, not many. Had some real problems with a straight key. Had a few QSOs and got some rude remarks from the other end :-DD  I can copy well up to 20 wpm (thanks to lcwo.net) but sending I suck at hence the paddle and keyer now.

Aiming for 20 wpm reasonably accurate by end of year and faster after that.
 

Offline Specmaster

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #14760 on: August 17, 2018, 01:35:53 pm »
Yeah its nice but isn't Morse code dead and buried, thought that went out with the second world war and voice was the in thing in radio?
Who let Murphy in?

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Offline Brumby

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #14761 on: August 17, 2018, 01:40:23 pm »
It may not be popular or widespread, but it is still a valid form of communication - and it has some of the simplest requirements necessary to function.
« Last Edit: August 17, 2018, 01:43:14 pm by Brumby »
 

Offline bd139

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #14762 on: August 17, 2018, 02:11:03 pm »
It's relatively popular in amateur radio circles still. Rationale being that it actually has the most penetration per watt of any class of signal that doesn't require extensive signal processing (apart from in the big DSP in your head), the equipment is simple and cheap (if you want it to be!) and it's a skill rather than chuck a black box on the table and turn the power right up and shout a lot (like all the Italians on HF all burning a cool Kw doing fuck all)

The attraction for me is the sheer magic factor of throwing some shit together and being able to communicate with it. I did my first CW QSO on this with a microswitch as a key and a dipole antenna outside. Got all the way to Germany. On RBN it was reported on East Coast US as well!. No computers involved at all, 2.5 watts out!

« Last Edit: August 17, 2018, 02:12:38 pm by bd139 »
 

Offline Zucca

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #14763 on: August 17, 2018, 02:18:40 pm »
You could connect it to the EXT Trig of a scope.
Can't know what you don't love. St. Augustine
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Offline Specmaster

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #14764 on: August 17, 2018, 02:30:29 pm »
It's relatively popular in amateur radio circles still. Rationale being that it actually has the most penetration per watt of any class of signal that doesn't require extensive signal processing (apart from in the big DSP in your head), the equipment is simple and cheap (if you want it to be!) and it's a skill rather than chuck a black box on the table and turn the power right up and shout a lot (like all the Italians on HF all burning a cool Kw doing fuck all)

The attraction for me is the sheer magic factor of throwing some shit together and being able to communicate with it. I did my first CW QSO on this with a microswitch as a key and a dipole antenna outside. Got all the way to Germany. On RBN it was reported on East Coast US as well!. No computers involved at all, 2.5 watts out!



Oh I see, just that I thought you'd got the FT-818 which was a speech unit and that morse code was just something you had to do to get your license  :palm:
Who let Murphy in?

Brymen-Fluke-HP-Thurlby-Thander-Tek-Extech-Black Star-GW-Avo-Kyoritsu-Amprobe-ITT-Robin-TTi
 

Offline bd139

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #14765 on: August 17, 2018, 02:56:13 pm »
FT-818 is an all mode transceiver. It does CW and has a keyer built in. You don't even have to connect the mic to it.

Also don't have to do morse now to get your license. You can do it optionally. At foundation where I did it, they give you a quick once over and a listen/send test so you know what it is but you don't have to pass it. It's more appreciation. The hard requirement was dropped years ago. Doing it out of choice. Just find it interesting. It's a Luddite escape from technology really.
 

Offline Specmaster

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #14766 on: August 17, 2018, 03:02:28 pm »
I see, fair enough, never released that there was so much difference between the 2 systems.
Who let Murphy in?

Brymen-Fluke-HP-Thurlby-Thander-Tek-Extech-Black Star-GW-Avo-Kyoritsu-Amprobe-ITT-Robin-TTi
 

Offline Cerebus

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #14767 on: August 17, 2018, 03:50:42 pm »
Wow, I got quite behind on posts again.

So, we've got hot burning balls, warm Nixie tubes, cold SWMBO scopes, and a slippery Rigol DSA that got away. And the week's not over, yet. :-DD

<cue organ music> Can mnem still father children despite his singed scrotum?  Will bd succumb to long dormant polychlorinated biphenyl poisoning from his grandfathers toxic basement?  Will med6753 get past his ADHD and learn to focus? Does Mr. Scram now glow in the dark after dismantling a broken smoke detector? Will his offspring have three hands? How much weight will neo's new bench hold?  Will Pat manage any progress on his repair queue before the floors collapse?  Can bitseeker ever hope to catch up?  What will Brown Santa bring this time?  And who's SWMBO will knock them off first, the better to mine the gold and gems hidden amongst their collected piles of gear in the estate sale?  <organ crescendos, with minor 7th chord for added dramatic tension>

<noodling on organ> Join us tomorrow for these answers and more, on the next exciting episode of "As The Filament Burns" <Major chord crescendo, followed by fading to silence>  <cut to Ebay commercial>

-Pat

For those of us who remember it, this is the music you want over that - strings, not organ:
Anybody got a syringe I can use to squeeze the magic smoke back into this?
 

Offline mnementh

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #14768 on: August 17, 2018, 04:05:10 pm »
Random Mode...

It's ba-a-ack... and it's electric.
/Random Mode

mnem
Suck it, Elon Musk.
Musk set out to make electric cars sexier and take them out of the territory of ridiculous looking and impractical vehicles, which is arguably needed to make them broadly accepted. This is doing the exact opposite.

No, Musk set out to make the biggest penis extension he could think of; but there was too much competition with experience in ICE-powered vehicles, so he decided to go electric. Everything else he's done that was good has been a byproduct of that quest. You can say exactly the same thing about his space travel projects.  ;)

The Isetta, while foolish folks think of it as a toy, was actually the epitome of practicality for those who only care about basic transportation. The joke that it was a motorcycle with a roof wasn't really a joke. Serious motorcyclists like myself often got into motorcycles as absolute minimalist transportation; we could mod and tune and race and donk in the dirt, but the one thing we couldn't do was drive at even moderate highway speeds with any measure of safety or comfort in the rain.  That is what the Isetta does, and it is a perfectly valid market segment, which has been dreadfully ignored in this age of style over substance.

Modern technology and manufacturing processes make this kind of vehicle even more attractive... the fact that this startup can bring it in at 12K a pop using essentially prototypying build facilities and existing off-the-shelf components proves that Musk's problems in getting the Model 3 (the "Normal person" Tesla) into production are entirely a byproduct of his fucking ego, not the technology available.

I see, fair enough, never released that there was so much difference between the 2 systems.

The difference, in a nutshell, is that you can do Morse Code with a Ford vibrator ignition coil, an air coil made out of coathanger, and a coathanger as an antenna. I've seen it done. Essentially a white noise transmitter; it stomps all over anything that doesn't have a narrowband filter. But it gets a signal out.  :-DD

But the main point of that particular subset is EMERGENCY communication, and knowing enough that you can knock together something that works and gets a signal out. For that you need to program the "signal processor in your head", as it is the critical frontend to that rig. Once you "know" MC, you can go down the rabbit hole at the opposite end of that spectrum... making contact as far as possible with the smallest amount of transmitted power on a proper narrowband transmission. Mmmmm.... chock full of nerdy goodness.  >:D

I've tried several times... but evidently that function is connected to the part of my brain responsible for my "math defectiveness". I just can't seem to get it to stick so it's reflex.  :-[


mnem
"Address...?"

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alt-codes work here:  alt-0128 = €  alt-156 = £  alt-0216 = Ø  alt-225 = ß  alt-230 = µ  alt-234 = Ω  alt-236 = ∞  alt-248 = °
 

Offline med6753

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #14769 on: August 17, 2018, 04:12:04 pm »
Working on the 465B and here is what's been done:

Checked the  +55V reference and it's dead nuts. No adjustment required.
Checked all the supply voltages. All in spec and all under 2.0mV AC ripple.
Fixed the focus. The pot was off it's mount and jammed. Deoxit freed it up. Now have full focus adjustment.
The CRT bias was turned up way too high. Even with the intensity pot full CCW still had bright trace. Adjusted it so at full CCW there is NO trace (as it should be).
Checked the HV test point. -2480V vs -2450V spec. Left it as is.
The B Trigger Level Control and Slope Switch bent. Was able to carefully straighten it out and installed new knobs from the parts mule.
The DM44 had corner damage and I also noticed it was way out of calibration. The DM44 on the parts mule is calibrated and functional. Swapped the DM44's.
The case is slightly damaged and is missing the handle. The parts mule has the freshly painted case. Swapped the cases.

I was very surprised how much different the internals are from the older 465. Here's an example. The Vertical board from the 465.


Vs this Vertical board in the 465B. The 465 is all discrete devices. The 465B is using more IC's. The Trigger board is the same deal. Even the large Interface board has a lot of differences. About the only thing that's near identical is the power supply and the HV.


Here it is all put together going through a burn-in. After a few cycles of burn-in I'll do a calibration next week.
An old gray beard with an attitude.
 

Offline Specmaster

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #14770 on: August 17, 2018, 04:18:10 pm »
Holy Shitballs you wasted no time at all in getting it up and running and sorting out all the damaged bits well, done.  :-+
« Last Edit: August 17, 2018, 05:05:54 pm by Specmaster »
Who let Murphy in?

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Offline mnementh

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #14771 on: August 17, 2018, 04:27:06 pm »
And that, boys and girls, is where wisdom comes from... learning the hard way when it's time to cut your losses.  |O

Well-done med6753! May she serve you well and true!  :-+


mnem
"When you find you're riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount." ~ Lakotah proverb passed down to me by my grand-dad
« Last Edit: August 17, 2018, 04:29:17 pm by mnementh »
alt-codes work here:  alt-0128 = €  alt-156 = £  alt-0216 = Ø  alt-225 = ß  alt-230 = µ  alt-234 = Ω  alt-236 = ∞  alt-248 = °
 

Offline bd139

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #14772 on: August 17, 2018, 04:32:27 pm »
Well done indeed. Looks spot on.

I much prefer the 465B's to the original 465's if I have to fix one :D
 

Offline med6753

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #14773 on: August 17, 2018, 04:32:37 pm »
As soon as I got home from work this morning I started working on it. Been at it ever since. Normally at this time I'd be sleeping but it's my day off so I can crash later. I was absolutely determined that this 465 was NOT gonna kick me in the arse and instead I was gonna kick ass.  :box: :-+
An old gray beard with an attitude.
 

Offline med6753

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #14774 on: August 17, 2018, 04:34:56 pm »
Well done indeed. Looks spot on.

I much prefer the 465B's to the original 465's if I have to fix one :D

Based upon what I've seen so far the 465B is MUCH easier to service.
An old gray beard with an attitude.
 


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