Sphere is still selling

[Wallace Gasiewicz]

 Apparently still selling, lots of stuff     

https://www.sphere.bc.ca/

[thm_w]

Peak Atlas DCA55 Semiconductor Component Analyze for $55
Lindstrom 8150 for $29
Instek GPI-826 Electrical Safety Tester for $25

Not bad.

[Wallace Gasiewicz]

They will probably take offers on perhaps bigger lots....they really want to sell the stuff..   
It is really sad that they are going out of business because of Walt's unfortunate death.     

There is also a Rubidium standard FS but I do not know anything about it.

[factory]

Yes lots of nice stuff, hopefully I can sort out payment for the one item I've enquired about, seems the webshop states they no longer want payment via paypal, I didn't see this before my enquiry, sending card details via email is not something I want to do.

Also were they not planning to close down & retire, before Walt passed away?
Probably not long left to buy stuff, as there is mention of sending stuff for recycling on the website homepage, scrolling thorough the posts, they intend to close the business next year.

David

[Wallace Gasiewicz]

I had trouble paying for a purchase last year...  I think I sent them a check... for a few hundred USD....  I do not remember  the exact problem but there was something about the international use of my debit card.  I use a pre paid debit card for almost all my on line purchases,    apparently it was not appropriate for this transaction although it works on every other transaction (mostly small parts from China and US)  I was quite confused....I e mailed them and they held my purchase till they got my check....really old fashioned. 
I really do not know if they had planned on closing down before Walt died.

[factory]

Well it looks like I can't buy from them anymore, the only online payment they accept is "E-transfer / Interac online transfer", this doesn't seem to be available outside Canada, my bank isn't even in the list on the Interac website.
Card payment wouldn't work even if I did send the numbers & code (which isn't going to happen), as 2FA would stop it, paying in USD on foreign webshops always triggered the anti-fraud measures anyway, leaving my card temporarily unusable.
That leaves check (aka cheque over here), no idea how that would work with a different currency.
Or send USD, which I would get ripped off to exchange, can't exchange the exact amount and it would probably get stolen in the post.
Guess I have to give up.

David

[Bud]

Interac is a domestic Canadian payment network.
Regarding a personal check i'd advise you ask the seller to check with their bank if the bank would honor your bank's check. It is hit and miss in Canada, not all banks accept foreign checks, even US ones.

[factory]

Yes they would probably reject a UK cheque, if they did accept it they would take an unknown amount as a fee. Also checks/cheques are getting pretty much obsolete here. I've given up.

There is plenty of interesting stuff for those in the US & Canada.

David

[thm_w]

If you are desperate I can send them an etransfer, but, its going to add up:
- paypal fees to me
- shipping cost using canada post to UK + whatever handling fees they decide on
- duties/taxes on import (they will put full value)

So only worth it if its something niche you can't find.

[Zoli]

When I've purchased some Tek buttons from them(~15Years ago), I've called, and it was a credit card transaction over the phone. Maybe worth to try?

[factory]

If you are desperate I can send them an etransfer, but, its going to add up:
- paypal fees to me
- shipping cost using canada post to UK + whatever handling fees they decide on
- duties/taxes on import (they will put full value)

So only worth it if its something niche you can't find.

Thanks for the offer of help, the item is the HP 435A K06 frequency/power reference, it contains a 10544 type oscillator & I believe it has the power ref circuit from the 435A, in a 435A sized case. Cost of the item is $50, shipping quote is $87 for air-mail.
Import tax & handling fees are always charged locally before delivery, at 20% + £8 or £12 handling fee depending on the company doing the final delivery.

David

[thm_w]

Thanks for the offer of help, the item is the HP 435A K06 frequency/power reference, it contains a 10544 type oscillator & I believe it has the power ref circuit from the 435A, in a 435A sized case. Cost of the item is $50, shipping quote is $87 for air-mail.
Import tax & handling fees are always charged locally before delivery, at 20% + £8 or £12 handling fee depending on the company doing the final delivery.

David

Yeah $87 for shipping is not cheap if thats USD. I would charge less but it would make no sense to ship to me then you, would end up more anyway.
I'll send a PM.

[factory]

Thank you, I've sent a reply via PM & email.

[propellerhead]

Interac is a domestic Canadian payment network.

Yes, but that doesn't mean there aren't any other bank options.  I'm in the next province
over (Alberta), and my bank (in addition to Interac, of course) supports "Global Transfers",
which I've used for larger (meaning $50 and up) payments to US recipients.  The word
"Global" in the name suggests, well, "global", so I expect that you could pay that way.  I
suggest dropping Susan a note and seeing if she's okay with that.  It does involve a little
more exchange of details than with, say, Paypal, but it's bank-to-bank without any potentially
skeevy middlemen involved.

Jonathan

[ZGoode]

Damn, wish I had looked at their website a while ago.  I see they have a 59401A for $65 which is a steal!  I paid over $300 for mine a few years back.  They have a couple decent looking pieces of equipment for a decent price.  Although I imagine shipping out of Canada is still a nightmare and crazy expensive right now, even to the US directly South.

[factory]

Interac is a domestic Canadian payment network.

Yes, but that doesn't mean there aren't any other bank options.  I'm in the next province
over (Alberta), and my bank (in addition to Interac, of course) supports "Global Transfers",
which I've used for larger (meaning $50 and up) payments to US recipients.  The word
"Global" in the name suggests, well, "global", so I expect that you could pay that way.  I
suggest dropping Susan a note and seeing if she's okay with that.  It does involve a little
more exchange of details than with, say, Paypal, but it's bank-to-bank without any potentially
skeevy middlemen involved.

Jonathan

Interac E-transfer was the only online payment accepted, I'm assuming she either has no access to paypal anymore, or has had a bad experience with it, I did ask but didn't get an answer to confirm.

All other methods were, send you credit card details including security code via email (nope). Or using paper based methods involving visiting a bank, my bank charges a fee higher than paypal for international, plus they state the receiving banks take an unknown fee, from the amount transferred too, out of the payment for the recipient.

My purchase is on the way, thanks to thm_w for helping with this.

Damn, wish I had looked at their website a while ago.  I see they have a 59401A for $65 which is a steal!  I paid over $300 for mine a few years back.  They have a couple decent looking pieces of equipment for a decent price.  Although I imagine shipping out of Canada is still a nightmare and crazy expensive right now, even to the US directly South.

It might not have been that low years ago, they are clearing stuff & closing the business, the emails from them had a message at the bottom about this. If you see something you are interested in contact them before it's too late.
Note the message on the website homepage, decade boxes & high pot testers are to go for recycling if no-one wants them, some are under the resistor, capacitor & oddities categories.

David

[ZGoode]

It might not have been that low years ago, they are clearing stuff & closing the business, the emails from them had a message at the bottom about this. If you see something you are interested in contact them before it's too late.
Note the message on the website homepage, decade boxes & high pot testers are to go for recycling if no-one wants them, some are under the resistor, capacitor & oddities categories.

David

Yup, I sent an email this morning.  Hopefully I get a response this week since I am interested in one or two of the decades (among other things)

[Wallace Gasiewicz]

Even a hard to find

General Radio 1687B Megahertz LC Digibridge
https://www.sphere.bc.ca/?s=general

[ZGoode]

Even a hard to find

General Radio 1687B Megahertz LC Digibridge
https://www.sphere.bc.ca/?s=general

Yeah, I saw the digibridge when I was browsing.  What makes that so special compared to other LCR meters?  I already have an E4980A, is there anything this can do that my Keysight cannot?

[Wallace Gasiewicz]

I really donno if General Radio 1687B is any better.  The GR guys really love it....  I suppose it is one of the best and one of the last things GR made....     
There is no test fixture with the 16878 as shown     

I have an ancient HP4271B ( 1 MHz) myself and use a TH 26001A test fixture   
I found the HP for $20 and rebuilt it, not an easy job though   

EDIT: if you are really curious you could look at this group for an answer:     

https://groups.io/g/GenRad/topics

[ZGoode]

I have a 4277A (which is actually my main LCR for the moment) and the E4980A which I just havent gotten around to adding to my workflow yet.  The 4277A was a PITA to get operational since I pretty much had to rebuild the power board.  https://www.eevblog.com/forum/repair/hpagilentkeysight-switching-power-supply-controller-repair/msg5304238/#msg5304238

I did end up getting a reply from Susan, shipping is pretty expensive, but tbf probably still worth it given their low liquidation prices for a lot of the stuff.

[Wallace Gasiewicz]

Also some interesting used soldering stuff, including a very expensive hot air station: Atmoscope by Edsyn
https://www.sphere.bc.ca/type/tools/

[ZGoode]

Well, I ended up spending way more money than I was planning to this month.  But I got a good haul of random stuff coming in from Sphere this week.  Glad to have gotten to them before they chucked out all the decades.  Ended up snatching up 8 decades of various types as well as some other miscellaneous items of interest.
One item being a mystery frequency source which appears to be a home built rubidium with a disciplined OXCO?  Not really sure what's in it, but for $15 worth checking out.

Looks like the items next on the chopping block are the 8620C sweeper mainframes which I have no use for since most of my work is in the lower frequencies (primarily 100Mhz or lower)

[Wallace Gasiewicz]

So you are the one who bought that Freq Reference.  I think It is probably one made by Walt himself....just a guess       
Nice buy!!!! Sounds like you scored a lot of stuff. I am glad that someone rescued some of this stuff.

[ZGoode]

Yup, that was me, lol.  Looked like an interesting piece of kit that I can add to my frequency ref collection.  I couldn't find anything about it on the old sphere website so it'll be interesting to play with when it shows up.  I'm planning on opening it up to take a look inside and see what I can learn from Walt's design.
The full list of what I bought is:
 - The HP59401A Bus Analyzer (I actually already have one as well as another IOData bus analyzer, but it is such a beautiful piece of equipment I couldn't pass on it, especially since they are seemingly getting really rare)
 - A GenRad 1862C megohmeter
 - The mystery frequency standard
 - Inductance Standard LS-B-100
 - Hipot tester M100AVSS
 - Sound Level Meter GenRad 1565A
 - GenRad 1419A decade capacitor
 - GenRad 1433P decade resistor
 - GenRad 1432Q decade resistor
 - GenRad 1432M decade resistor
 - GenRad 1424M decade capacitor
 - Genrad 1490A decade inductor
 - Leeds and Northrop decade capacitor
 - 4951C protocol analyzer (will be kinda fun since I already have a 4951A and 4952A)

I was tempted to get all the remaining decades, but shipping would have been way worse than it already was and I already probably bought way more decades than I needed