What did you buy today? Post your latest purchase!

[mansaxel]

I do my own custom clearances.

In the Postnord case it probably stems from the fact that mainland China, in the fees and tariffs scheme of the UPU, is a third world nation, and as such is exempt from paying a lot of the transfer costs for international mail. Sweden and Denmark, OTOH, are in the highest charging level, and then have to carry all the costs of that operation. Postnord basically get a shitload of $1 parcels with fake IC's, banana jacks, sunglasses and dildos dumped on them, and are expected, according to UPU rules, to deliver them for next to nothing.

Shipments that have declared value under ~ 75€ are exempt from customs fees, but not VAT free. And, the rules allow the import handler to charge a fee. The VAT goes to the tax authority, the handling fee to the shipper.  And no, they can refuse you the right to handle customs processing.

The loophole of course is the "Czech warehouse" which is a paper-thin store front to the same Shenzen merchant, but inside EU. Only one VAT process, and no customs. Most importantly, no handling fee.

[artag]

I also got a Hot snot gun 

I have the same snotgun - it's good.

I'd also recommend their small rechargeable snotgun. It warms up much faster than mains-powered guns, tells you that it's hot, turns itself off automatically and lasts a surprisingly long time on a charge. My only complaint is that the gluesticks tend to fall out until they're feeding the tip, and the squeeze mechanism works on the backend of the stick. So there's a relatively short period when the stick is both held firmly and pushed by the trigger.

[artag]

Another pretty piece of glassware
Osram ET1 electrometer valve

[gamalot]

Just ordered a Fluke 115 multimeter for AU$139

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/284285122725

[smaultre]

Got CG 551AP/CG 5001PROGRAMMABLE CALIBRATION GENERATOR, it's fantastic for its years!!!

[Black Phoenix]

I do my own custom clearances.

Shipments that have declared value under ~ 75€ are exempt from customs fees, but not VAT free. And, the rules allow the import handler to charge a fee. The VAT goes to the tax authority, the handling fee to the shipper.  And no, they can refuse you the right to handle customs processing.

That's something I will worry about when I'm back in Portugal for some reason. Currently if I need something, or comes directly from China and it's 2 days of shipping or if it is international I ship it directly to Hong Kong and then a family member will keep it until I'm able to collect it, since HK is a free port.

[duckduck]

Parts to build Rob Robinette's EF80 Fender champ, and some other things I need *rumble of thunder*, I mean, that I want:

• A lovely turret board (the garolite is 3.3mm thick. Amazing.)
• 22AWG PTFE solid wire, 3 meter rolls, various colors
• 18AWG PTFE stranded, black, white, green
• SHIELDED single conductor 22AWG stranded PTFE (been looking for that for a while, so I grabbed 10 meters)
• A bunch of filtered IEC input jacks for about what plain ones cost
• 15A DPDT switches. Massive overkill, but got a great deal on them and I like the nice firm snap.
• burly SPST switches. Nice firm snap. Seeing a pattern?
• knobs
• fuseholders
• 12AY7 tube- Ahmuhhhhricuuuh!
• several EF80 tubes (since they are cheap)
• another Richard Kuehnel book
• 6.3V incandescent red light. Turns out it burns 250mA and gets rather warm. I'd forgotten such things in these days of LEDs.
• ceramic noval socket. I only bought one, ack! It's always something...
• noval breakout board (from electroresales.com in the USA - they have some neat stuff for hams)
• octal breakout board
• Antek AS-05T200 120V toroidal tranny with 190V, 200V, and 6.3V taps
• Hammond 125ASE output tranny
• 35A bridge rectifier
• couple o' pots from CTS. Nice firm twist. Is there anything worse than a floppy pot?
• 1/4" switched TS jacks made by Cliff
• Several 3PDT stomp switches for guitar pedals. Nice firm click. 

I love shopping at places run by one or two old (like me) people that treat every customer like their business depends on it. I worry what will happen when they retire. Hopefully a young person picks up the torch and keeps on running.

[TerraHertz]

Another pretty piece of glassware
Osram ET1 electrometer valve

That's an interesting google read. Is yours intended for a project, or curio collection purposes?


Here's a teaser of mine. Pic shows a front panel removed from a piece of HP gear that arrived recently.
Who knows what that gear is, and why this is very cool?

[capt bullshot]

Here's a teaser of mine. Pic shows a front panel removed from a piece of HP gear that arrived recently.
Who knows what that gear is, and why this is very cool?

It's an HP3437A:
https://www.amplifier.cd/Test_Equipment/Hewlett_Packard/HP_meter/3437A.html

No idea what's cool about it - it has the nice bubble display and button that might be useful as spare parts for other HP instruments.

[artag]

That's an interesting google read. Is yours intended for a project, or curio collection purposes?

Initially, I got it for a curiosity. But it's interesting me and I might get it working.
FETs may have replaced valves as electrometer inputs but I can't see them getting the degree of isolation that long glass neck is designed for.

10^-16A.

[TerraHertz]

It's an HP3437A:
https://www.amplifier.cd/Test_Equipment/Hewlett_Packard/HP_meter/3437A.html

No idea what's cool about it - it has the nice bubble display and button that might be useful as spare parts for other HP instruments.

Well spotted. Yes, it's the buttons. Specifically, that the buckling-spring switch bodies have NOT been heat-staked to the PCB. They are held in place only by the front metal plate. All three units I've bought are like that, so it was apparently manufacturing standard for the 3437A.

I don't know of any other HP instrument with those switches still having their mounting stakes intact. Which means the HP3437A is the only source of replacement switches that I know of.

Are there any other HP instruments using the same button-switch mounting scheme?
It would be good to find something that:
* Has a lot of buttons,
* Is fairly cheap and common on ebay,
* Is relatively light so shipping doesn't cost a fortune.
* Is really obsolete and useless, so stripping it isn't painful. The 3437A is quite a nice instrument.

Ideally I wish I'd find a box full of just those front panels, for cheap. Like that's going to happen.

10^-16A.

Wow. Is there any existing instrument that can measure that?
Now I want one too.


Recently arrived here (see pic.)
The Hantek DSO2D15 scope, not beautiful and tallented Korean pianist-youtuber Leezy, unfortunately.
There's a funny story about the shipping, but I'll tell it later.

[Jay_Diddy_B]

Hi group,

I bought this yesterday, it arrived today. It is a Mitutoyo 293-340-30 Digimatic Micrometer.





I bought it from a local distributer.

Regards,
Jay_Diddy_B

[mindcrime]

This beauty showed up in the mail today!



And this one came in last Thurs. or so:



The other recent addition to the stable, from a few weeks ago:

[Cubdriver]

I'll soon have an HP 746A HV Amplifier on its way to me, to join the 745A AC Calibrator that's currently waiting patiently in my triage/repair queue.  More ballast for the house.  Snagged a couple of NOS GenRad 874 connectors, too.

-Pat

[PartialDischarge]

I'll soon have an HP 746A HV Amplifier on its way to me, to join the 745A AC Calibrator that's currently waiting patiently in my triage/repair queue.  More ballast for the house.  Snagged a couple of NOS GenRad 874 connectors, too.

-Pat

Congrats, that is a very rare unit. Please post some pics from the inside, never seen it.

[Cubdriver]

I'll soon have an HP 746A HV Amplifier on its way to me, to join the 745A AC Calibrator that's currently waiting patiently in my triage/repair queue.  More ballast for the house.  Snagged a couple of NOS GenRad 874 connectors, too.

-Pat

Congrats, that is a very rare unit. Please post some pics from the inside, never seen it.

Will do.

-Pat

[TerraHertz]

Congrats, that is a very rare unit. Please post some pics from the inside, never seen it.

There's one on ebay now, $149    item 384081578277
Very heavy, pickup only though.

[Skimask]

Picked up this little thing on May 10th...

https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https://www.facebook.com/CalebvogelRyanChevrolet/posts/308318780789537

[rfclown]

...
Well spotted. Yes, it's the buttons. Specifically, that the buckling-spring switch bodies have NOT been heat-staked to the PCB. They are held in place only by the front metal plate. All three units I've bought are like that, so it was apparently manufacturing standard for the 3437A.

I don't know of any other HP instrument with those switches still having their mounting stakes intact. Which means the HP3437A is the only source of replacement switches that I know of.

Are there any other HP instruments using the same button-switch mounting scheme?
It would be good to find something that:
* Has a lot of buttons,
* Is fairly cheap and common on ebay,
* Is relatively light so shipping doesn't cost a fortune.
* Is really obsolete and useless, so stripping it isn't painful. The 3437A is quite a nice instrument.

Ideally I wish I'd find a box full of just those front panels, for cheap. Like that's going to happen. ...

Those look like the type of bottons on my HP8901B. A tactile click like nothing else (kind of weird actually). 8901 has 44 buttons, but it isn't light and isn't useless.

[wkb]

Not exactly bought, more a pre-emptive dumpster dive. As in: prevented this Meinberg LANtime M300 from ending in the recycling stack.  This unit takes time reference information from the VLF transmitter (77kHz) DCF77 run by the Physikalisch Technische Bundesanstalt (~= NBS for you in the US) in Germany.
It serves as an NTP server but also produces a 10MHz and a PPS signal. DCF77 is of course driven by multiple atomic clocks. Signal is receivable about 1500km from the transmitter site (IIRC).

Top notch German build quality ❤️

[URI]

Ordered two DP10007 and two DP10013 differential probes yesterday.
One has the Micsig Label on it, the other three don't.

I'm curious if this makes any difference..         

[AtomicRob]

Today I received a new meter, Brymen 867s. Actually purchased it May 24 from TME in Poland. Took only three days to get to California (!) That's pretty good timing. Plus I got to follow my meter on a fun international trip thanks to fedex updates... hey, my meter is in Warsaw... now it's in CDG, ah, Paris in May. On to Stanstead, then Indianapolis...

[mansaxel]

Not exactly bought, more a pre-emptive dumpster dive. As in: prevented this Meinberg LANtime M300 from ending in the recycling stack.  This unit takes time reference information from the VLF transmitter (77kHz) DCF77 run by the Physikalisch Technische Bundesanstalt (~= NBS for you in the US) in Germany.
It serves as an NTP server but also produces a 10MHz and a PPS signal. DCF77 is of course driven by multiple atomic clocks. Signal is receivable about 1500km from the transmitter site (IIRC).

Top notch German build quality ❤️

I'm 1200 km from the Langwellensender, and even with very cheap clocks we can receive the signal. I've got the same mainframe but with a GPS receiver in. Having a 10MHz signal on-tap is a force multiplier for every lab. Exact time is also good.

[Kjelt]

Today I received a new meter, Brymen 867s. Actually purchased it May 24 from TME in Poland. Took only three days to get to California (!) That's pretty good timing. Plus I got to follow my meter on a fun international trip thanks to fedex updates... hey, my meter is in Warsaw... now it's in CDG, ah, Paris in May. On to Stanstead, then Indianapolis...

You should put stickers from those cities on the back of the meter 

[wkb]

Not exactly bought, more a pre-emptive dumpster dive. As in: prevented this Meinberg LANtime M300 from ending in the recycling stack.  This unit takes time reference information from the VLF transmitter (77kHz) DCF77 run by the Physikalisch Technische Bundesanstalt (~= NBS for you in the US) in Germany.
It serves as an NTP server but also produces a 10MHz and a PPS signal. DCF77 is of course driven by multiple atomic clocks. Signal is receivable about 1500km from the transmitter site (IIRC).

Top notch German build quality ❤️

I'm 1200 km from the Langwellensender, and even with very cheap clocks we can receive the signal. I've got the same mainframe but with a GPS receiver in. Having a 10MHz signal on-tap is a force multiplier for every lab. Exact time is also good.

About 10 years ago I designed a dual Meinberg M300 NTP solution for a major Dutch bank for use in a dual data center config. In that case I used dual receiver M300's so GPS and PZF. We wanted to be really sure we always had reliable time on our hands 😀

To the best of my knowledge it is still operational 👍🏻

As for 10MHz ref: fully agree! Although 2x GPSDO, 1x Rb reference plus the DCF77 Meinberg might be somewhat overdone.  Frequency nut in the making? 🤔

Wilko