GIVEAWAY: Keysight Test Gear

[EEVblog]

I have 4 slightly used bits of Keysight kit to giveaway to 4 worthy people or groups:
1) Keysight DSOX1204G 100MHz 4CH scope with function generator!
2) NEW model EDU33212A Waveform Generator
3) NEW model EDU34450A 5.5 digit multimeter
4) NEW EDU36311A Lab Power Supply

If you win you'll get ONE of these instruments.

As per the video:

This is NOT a random draw, do NOT post in this thread unless you are entering. But other users can "Thanks" the post to effectively vote for an entry.
The "Thanks" vote may have some sway in this but this is effectively Dave's Pick. No correspondence will be entered into.

This giveaway is open to individual and groups, simply make your case for why you want one of these bits of kit and what you'd do with it.
It could just be a few paragraphs, photos, video, whatever you think will gets Dave's attention.
Preference is likely to be given to youngsters and/or groups of some kind, but you never know what will take Dave's fancy.
You can suggest what instrument you'd like, but I only have one of each to giveaway, so as my kids learned in pre-school "you get what you get and you don't get upset".

Post ONCE and ONCE ONLY in this forum thread to enter.
Seriously, ONCE ONLY, or I'll delete your entry.

Entries close soon-ish.

In theory there shouldn't be any limitation on which country can enter, but I would not rule out issues there.
You may be responsible for import taxes and charges based on you country and any stupid local import laws you might have. If you don't like this remote possibility, don't enter.

[quadrant]

Hi Dave!

Would love to win the oscilloscope. Currently, my lab equipment consists of a store-brand multimeter and a soldering iron. This has served me well for troubleshooting simple circuits. However, for troubleshooting and designing more complex circuits, having an oscilloscope will be invaluable.

[natester]

Dave! My name is Nathan. I'm a PhD student in robotics. I've also designed and built some fun electronics projects, like: https://www.nathantsoi.com/blog/vertile-powercore.

The problem is, I don't have a lab power supply, so whenever I want to power up a new device, I have to open up my drawer of power bricks (pictured below) and find one in the right voltage and hope it can supply something close to the right current.

This strategy has been OK, but I've recently started working on some brushless motor drivers. A more powerful supply with some control over the current would be very useful. In short, I could put the EDU36311A lab power supply to good use.

Thanks for considering my request! -Nathan

[e0ne199]

hello dave, i am currently on a project about power management and i really need the 5.5 digit multimeter to measure the behavior and precision of voltage and current sensor...i am living in Indonesia and i really need it because multimeter with precision like that is very expensive at my place... please give me the chance to win the multimeter 🙏🙏🙏

here is my current humble gear :

[tbavcevic]

im long time subscriber on your channel but not very active on forums, but still i will try to get my hands on scope as i am in need of scope and currently not working just doing hobby stuff. i would use it mainly to test my switching amplifier pcbs i made some time ago and debug my llc smps that is in prototype phase, thank you on oportunity and have a nice day, greetings from croatia.

[TrickyNekro]

Hi! I troll you on twitter, I do that also in Odysee and watch since the very beginning of EEVblog.

Now of course that not excuse to give a young engineer, like me, a juicy juicy function gen,
but that would totally complete my lab finally, without going broke for the next +12 months for it.

I have the Rigol stuff Dave, they are great, but they are not Keysight! Bring some quality in my life Dave! 

Back then I got a job, it was nice but then the Rona came, and although the job was still ok, I got a bit bored of
the hassle and decided to become a student again and get my master. I could buy my honest Rigols back then,
now it´s the struggle again ( well worth it though, do not regret this choice, thank you for making your "f you" money video ).

I only want the function gen! If you draw something else for me, draw someone else really! I have a scope, I have a power supply
and for bench multimeter I am eyeing a DMM6500.

Cheers! Happy Draw!

Edit: I could also write about the whole nice and wonderful projects that I am making or I am making or I will be making but really,
I really lack any aspiration right now to talk big about them. All I can say is that you will save me some time money and frustration.
And make me a very happy fanboy. Very very happy fanboy. :-)

[SirAlucard]

Hey Dave, My Name is Anthony and I'm an electronics hobbyist. For years I've been delving into the EE world and have been collecting some bits and pieces of test equipment to fit out my home lab. It's really been great and a great passion. I've been able to do all sorts of stuff with the gear I've gotten. The only problem is I still have yet to get my hands on an Oscilloscope. I've been keeping an eye open for one of those fabled $50 scopes for years, but alas I've come up empty. To be able to get one of those Oscilloscopes w/ Function generator (which I also don't have one of), it would round out my test equipment and I wouldn't have to rely on cheap dso/function gen kits I've gotten off ebay.

What would I use it for you may ask? Well I've got an Atari7800 that is in need of dire repair and I haven't been able to pinpoint the exact issue with it because I just haven't had equipment fast or capable enough to actually see what was going on with the signal. That's the first thing on my list with many many more projects that are filling up my backlog that I have no doubt will be used with an Oscilloscope.

Anyways big thanks to you and you're trash pile for finding such slightly used gems! May they find good homes to take care of them.

[canis_lupus]

Hi Dave!

I will write, although it will be my first post on this forum. However, I hope you will consider our candidacy. Many of our members have an account here, however I decided to write it as a representative of the board of our foundation.

I am writing on behalf of the Hackerspace Kraków Foundation. Our main goal is to provide people with our workshop space and to share knowledge. Sometimes we organize courses, workshops, etc.
Our space is divided into 4 rooms, which you can see in the photos and video below:


   
- A softroom where you can sit with a laptop, talk, organize a workshop or a show.
- Electronic lab - modestly equipped with basic tools and apparatus useful for every electronics engineer.
- Hardroom - a room for dirty, noisy or smelly work. This is where you can cut, sand, weld or varnish.
- CNC Room - A room where we keep our 3D printers, a tiny CNC milling machine  a plotter with a CO2 laser.

We cover our expenses entirely from voluntary donations, we usually do not charge for workshops or courses, and if so, then the fee is set up to cover the materials used during them.
We all work as volunteers, taking care of the common space, conducting workshops or individually transferring knowledge.

Some of our activities:
- Basic electronics courses
- Workshops where participants built their own sensors to measure air quality
- Ham radio courses - preparation for obtaining an amateur radio license
- Arduino workshops introducing into the world of microcontroller programming
- Friday nighthacks - evening and night meetings during which we simply "do things" together

However, we lack a good oscilloscope that would be a great addition to our electronic lab.

[Colecago]

Hey Dave, as you can see by my new account I've been a lurker.

I'm an electrical engineer in Wisconsin, about 45 minutes from Ben Heckendorn actually :-D. At work I do ultrasonic sensors for automotive, hardware and firmware.

At home I mostly do maker projects, besides an electronics bench I have fdm and resin printers and a CO2 laser. I recently upgraded my scope to a Keysight I won in a design contest so I don't need one of those, but my power supply is seriously lacking. It's a used BK Precision I bought from eBay but the channels flicker and are unreliable. I would normally fix that like I do my other old and hand me down equipment but I recently had a baby so time is in high demand. When I want to work on a project I need reliable equipment so I can concentrate on my project, not lab repairs. I think any equipment besides the scope would be awesome, but power supply would be top of my list.

Thank you for the consideration!

[Fluxotron]

Hey Dave, I am a senior electrical engineering student and I have been spending every cent I have on my lab for years now. I listened to over 120 episodes of the amp hour last year and would love to be able to step my game up with some equipment I will not afford on my own for a good while. Thanks a ton for doing this giveaway! You're a pillar of the community 😉

[jtu]

Hi,

I got your attention once, maybe a second time? Attention and applause when I blew a 10mF capacitor 3 years ago and spent hours cleaning my bench from the gunk and electrolyte "snow". The story.

I was trying to build a linear power supply for my lab back then. I'm still on and off that idea. Meanwhile, I have built a smaller and simpler one. I learned some and had a good time. But it has several design flaws and it's quite unreliable.



I've also tried this cheapie, but without a good power source and with ..itty usability I rarely use it.



Therefore, my most often used one is just this 😂



So, I'm living without a good power supply and would appreciate a Keysight. There's no decent bench DMM in my lab too, but I can live without that, I have handheld DMM's. I have invested in Siglent entry level scope and function gen already. Therefore you better give those devices to somebody else and skip me in case PSU goes elsewhere.

About me. I'm a hobbyist. My current project is this precision GNSS thing. This forum has helped me in that endeavour too. Kinda hoping/thinking/working on that project to turn into a business. This contest is not so much about lack of money for me. I'm just looking for some boost as I'm currently unemployed and pandemic slows down getting the next job. I will buy a decent linear PSU some time after I'll recover anyway. Therefore, your choice will be appreciated whatever it is 🙂 As your work is appreciated here!

Veiksmi,
Jānis

[hitech95]

I am a guy who likes to play with electronics in his spare time.
Mostly I try toreverse engineer things to learn how they work. Not the best approach but the fun one for me. (I hate theory and formulas).
I started building my simple "lab" in my bedroom. I live in an apartment so I don't have a lot of space.

So far I have managed to buy a good soldering iron and hot air station.
Soonish I will have to replace my  cheapo Aneng multimeter which has the rotary switch not working.

Having a power supply or an oscilloscope will be the next step, but at the moment I can't afford it.

My ego prevents me from making simpler projects and I always start with a difficult one! :Palm tree:
Unfortunately some of these fail due to my lack of troubleshooting and equipment.
For example on a GSM board that I built some time ago I assumed I have a buck converter that cannot keep the power rail high when the module tries to transmit but with my DSO chapo kit I cannot see anything. I have not solved the problem yet. I learned a lot from that project but seeing it work would be really cool.

Thoose are my last 4+ year projects. The tree was the one for 2020. And It partially works. 
The others... not at all.


Right now I'm learning about passive filters... thoose are hard to understand! 

I've been following you since school, when I took basic electronics courses.
All I have learned is from your videos and this forum. So even if i don't win i want to say thank you.

[TheDefpom]

Hey Dave, I would be interested in the power supply only, I already have decent enough items for the other jobs!

I could waffle on about how much I need something, fact is there are people out there that need gear far more than I do, but I could use a decent power supply to swap out my barely acceptable Korad one.

I don’t need to tell you what I do, you already know that. (for those that don’t know me, I share my repair experiences on youtube)

[DOTCOM]

Hello

i am a first year EE student from greece and have an unhealthy addiction to electronics.This is a result of a high school professor who got me to enter some contests and such aroud here and introduced to the world of electronics.After a lot of head banging,on and on google searches and tons of youtube videos i was able to fiqure out enough to put together and troubleshoot a few entry level circuits including the famed slayer exciter that really got me into electronics in the first place.Now 2 years later i know a lot more and have made many and much bigger projects like electromagnetic accelerators,medium size tesla coils and some other smaller projects like a diy soldering station and the function generator that great scott made in his diy or buy series.For power supplies i have i lucked out since my dad used to fix musical instruments and such and he had some old equipment lying around.I scrounged up a pair oh Heathkit IP-2711 wich are 30V 3A variable power supplies.The only tool that i am missing is a scope.I did find an old tektronix 10mhz 2 channel analog scope but the trigger functions doesn't work correcrty and it does also have a buch of other issues.So that scope would really help my future electronics adventures.I have been lurking around the forums for a while know but as you can see this account is new,so if thats a turn off then so be it.But if you still consider me than thank you even if i dont win


Thanks for the opportunity

[KeithMN]

Hey, Dave

  I’ve been a YouTube fan for years, a recent forum member, and really appreciate what you’re doing here.
  I have a small office workbench at home where I tinker with this or that, fix stuff for family, and build projects I find interesting. My current project is a PID-controlled reflow oven I made from a thrift-store toaster oven which I converted to halogen heat. I got the original concept from Andy Brown’s Awreflow2 project from a while back, but I’ve added my own touches, and plan to post something to GitHub in the near future, along with the extra PCBs if anyone would like to replicate it.
  I would love to put this equipment to use on my own stuff, bu I’m also hoping to get my young kids interested in the technology fields, especially our middle son. He has ataxia, which causes him some challenges with balance and coordination, but is otherwise very sharp.

  Thanks again
      Keith

[Eka]

The DSOX1204G would help me greatly testing more complex circuits. It's function generation can be used to drive test sequencers for the increasingly complex circuits I am making. I can then record sets of signals and compare that against what is expected.

[Brexei]

Hi Dave,
I've been following you for a long time, but only recently joined the forum.
I am a physicist (PhD) working on molecular beam epitaxy of semiconductors. But i also like electronics and have little space and time at home for my hobby.
My wife does not approve the expense for an oscilloscope or a lab power supply, but i always wanted one! So i am trying to power things up with cheapo power supplies and only dream of the waveforms, as i cannot see anything but an rms value from the multi...
I would be happy to win any of these two.
Keep up the good work. We are grateful!

[plurn]

I have recently moved to a new area on my own and haven't been able to meet any people so with almost no human contact, most of my time is spent on forums, and learning on youtube, and on my electronics hobby to keep me busy.

No money spare to spend on new electronics gear so getting one of these pieces would be so awesome. Would be happy with any of them.

[Postal666]

As a musician and hobbyist/builder, I'd love to have (and could use) any new piece of gear, but I think if I were to win a new scope or DMM I would probably give it to my oldest son (20) who is currently in college pursuing an EET degree just like dad.    Best of luck to all who enter the contest!!

[PixieDust]

Hi Dave, I would most likely sell it and the proceeds would go towards a spectrum analyser for EMC pre-compliance analysis but a power supply would certainly be a welcome addition.

[drussell]

I could certainly use some compact test gear, I've been trying to save up enough pennies to get a 1054Z, but it's been one hell of a bad year here. 

Between the pandemic destroying most of my regular business, my mom passing away unexpectedly and suddenly, therefore having to spend a couple months cleaning out the parents' house, etc. plus the landlord here in the little duplex where I've been living for the past 19 years raising the rent this week by ANOTHER $250/mo (this newer guy really wants me out so he can do an illegal upstairs/downstairs split) I've got no choice but to put as much of my boat anchor-style equipment and personal possessions in storage as I can afford and leave the city.  I simply can't afford it here right now anymore, so I'm moving to a tiny small town, got a little 672 sq ft mobile home trailer with just a crawl space underneath.  No basement or garage or anything, so I will need to start with some very small minimalist equipment to try to rebuild some business there, 700 Km away from all my stuff left here in storage until I can hope to eventually either at build myself at least a small garage there or build up enough business to rent some kind of commercial space out there and then hopefully be able to come and start to retrieve some of my treasures...  Perhaps even be able to rent a room back here in the city eventually so I can come back to the city for work occasionally for larger projects for what remaining customers I have here.   

In any case, I could really use a physically small scope and my "best" multimeter is 4000 count and over 25 years old.    A small, proper lab power supply is probably going to be a handy item in the coming extremely limited space near-term future, though I'm not sure what I would really use the waveform generator for.   

Anyway, thanks for your consideration!

[Harshadb13]

Hello, I am mechanical engineering student from Mumbai India. I have built my lab piece by piece over last 3 years and it is still expanding.

Video link for this entry



I have also created a dedicated site for this EEVblog competition. The link for the same is: https://sites.google.com/view/harshad-byadgi-eevblog-entry/home

My lab: I have some power tools like drill, a jigsaw, electric screwdriver and dremel. I also have a 3D printer. With so much equipment, I have done some really good electronics project too. I have made a stroboscope, a tachometer, a coil gun and a few more. I also have an Instructables page and a small YouTube channel; link for which is in the site that I have mentioned above.

However, even after so much equipment, I am really missing a DSO. I really need one because I want to be able to develop more efficient timer circuits. A lot of projects that I have done revolve around building some circuit for acquiring data form the environment. Before the data can be fed into microcontroller, the data often needs to be processed in op-amps and BJTs and the data is generally sourced from a piezo crystal, or a microphone or LDR or a current shunt. The data they process is generally fast varying DC and a DSO is very necessary to track the signal in so many resistances capacitors and ICs and various stages of Op amps and differential amplifiers.

The nice Keysight scopes also allow the data to be exported which will also be very helpful in academic publications.

I am hoping that I will be considered for the scope as I really need one. I have been using my DSO 138 for 2 years now and I have sufficient experience knowing what a scope is needed for. While the $20 scope does the job for some applications, it is no where near what a proper DSO can do. It takes a lot of time to setup proper voltage and time divisions and an eternity to scroll through the data when the wave is paused. It has only one channel and also has no way to export data to a computer which is needed for a lot of academic purposes.

I will be a good engineer with knowledge of both electrical and mechanical engineering; former from learning with internet and DSO and later from learning with textbooks.

Thankyou.

Links:
My Instructables: https://www.instructables.com/member/HarshadB9/
My YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcyvbHjmteiow7MjKCUjpxw
Tachometer: https://www.instructables.com/Tachometer/ ,
Stroboscope: https://www.instructables.com/Stroboscope/, https://youtu.be/o9c0zNF3bl8

Site I specially created for this video entry: https://sites.google.com/view/harshad-byadgi-eevblog-entry/home

contact: byadgi.harshad@gmail.com

[vasi_ro]

Hi Dave , My name is Vasile and i am an electronic hobbyist from Romania. I enjoy repairing and restoration of old test gear.
My last work that is still in progress is the complete restoration of an frequency counter Made in Romania. If a will win any of this Keysights  a promise that will be apreciated and use at their maximum potential. Also it's realy hard to afford new test gear in Romania...
I'm working at 2 almost identical units but only one is 99 % finish.
Lets start.
The units look like this before a start working :
 

And the final first one :



Thsi project start with the input board which was not working ... as you can see the original PCB , construction, etc was a mess, even a diy job will look beter .. so i decide to redesign the PCB and keep the original schematic.

Before :


and after :


After this job a decide ... why not all board ? a few week later the PCBs arrived and continue to work.

The power supply is the only block witch not contain the original schematic, i redesign this block with modern components.
before :
 

And after :


The main digital board :
Original design was based on SN74S196 as first counter. Because of political in communism the import of components was stopped and they redesign the first counter with 2 K532IV9 ( the soviet version of SN74S112 ).  Unfortunately  none of the units have this obsolete IC. Someone replace it with a 7490 and not did a nice joob. Also the original design use Cathodeon 10 Mhz Ocxo, but soon this was replace with Unitra 5Mhz ( not bad !!! ). But they "forgot" to redesign the divider... so the modification was made by cutting traces and a lot of solder . I added the option between this 2 with only 2 jumpers. 
Over all the pcb design is a mess and also a shame ...
Before :

And after ( not many pictures ... i forgot ... and the time is ticking )


The OCXO boards. A manage to find a 10 Mhz one.
Before :

and after


Some more pictures from restoration :



I stop here for now. After i will finish both of them i will make a post with more pictures, details, schematics, and so on.

Ps: The pictures are attached on postimage.cc host , i did not what to load Dave's server, so a hope anyone can see the pictures.

Good luck ! Vasile

[solhuebner]

I am all in for LED-based games and innovative products.

Seeing that it is possible to play a dungeon crawler on a LED strip re-awoke my enthusiasm for electronics a couple of years ago, which was always lingering but muted by my life. Not only do I love the Youtube channel but Dave actually made me an Odysee user too. I did not even know that something really competing with Youtube actually existed 
I am a father of 4 fantastic girls that can see what I am working on as you can open up my bench . That idea came to me as I realized that girls/women are underrepresented in technical jobs

We recently settled after I spend a decade serving my country in multiple missions abroad and I re-started with an Arduino, a Multimeter , a couple of LEDs and capacitors. Quickly followed by another Multimeter and a logic analyzer. I think you know what I mean when I say that I quickly outgrew my breadboards and started looking into PCB design and the eagerness that came to life to let my ideas come true as self-designed PCBs.

Designing with KiCad added a soldering station and hot air to my bench. A couple of smaller retro-inspired LED games later, I really wanted to get rid of the cables for controlling them. Always trying to stay with open-source, I found an option to add wireless PS2 controllers (yeah the really old ones). But something was not working out . Up to this day, I do not own an oscilloscope that could have been so helpful and resulted in a lot of wasted time.

At that time, my games were mostly used by friends and colleagues but my company wanted to use the now wireless dungeon crawler at a local community-driven IT Security event. Inspired by the interest shown there I volunteered for the event and also started working on NFC-enabled badges for this event that you could even play on. It will be based on Arduboy (>200 community developed open-source games) and the NFC part will (hopefully) ease finding sponsors (you unlock games when you visit them) as that is tough for community made events. So I ordered a VNA to help me with the NFC antenna. As you can imagine from the pictures, I am still troubleshooting the VNA as it arrived damaged and my approach of just collecting random cheap equipment finally started to show its ugly face.

I want people to enjoy my games again with relaxing restrictions ahead and re-start holding development and soldering classes for girls

I would highly appreciate any type of equipment that would make it my way

Stay safe and innovative

[kidkoala83]

Hello Dave,
My name is K., I'm a Navigation engineering student by trade and part of the hacker and maker culture since I wrote my first BASIC program in between plays of Prince of Persia. I am working with electronics: arduinos, stm32 nucleos, different sensor shields and actuators, built a reprap prusa in 2011 wich im bringing back to life now and currently working with precise GNSS chips.
I have a digital multimeters, soldering iron, solder sucker, breadboards, graphing calculator among other things in my workbench but I think having an oscilloscope would be a leap forward to properly calibrate sensor signals and really see what's going on in the time and frequency domain continuum. I remember visiting a hackerspace in Barcelona and being fascinated with the scope before our host got out a laser diode and battery to wow us with a laser beam pointed upwards toward the dark night sky.

I also might try and start a hackerspace like that one in the town I'm currently located to free some space at home and share projects and knowledge with other people, a scope would be a great tool to have and a power supply would improve the safety of my setup as currently I'm using recycled ATX.
Let me show you guys some of my projects and equipment.