Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[mnementh]

@Cerebus: ROFLCYCIH!

@Cubdriver: Better all that TEA than THIS:   

mnem
"Honey, come move this transmission so I can take a bath... " ~ True Story.

[bd139]

Yes, as with most things that men do... our hobby is expensive. Limiting the available funds is part of how we keep ourselves from doing the REALLY stupid shit we would do if we had unlimited funds, free time, and no adult/female supervision. 

I WISH that the first two were true, but can definitely relate to the issues that result when the latter is...

TEA sans supervision/moderation by the fairer sex:

-Pat

Whatever you do don't bring a woman home. She will think you are a loser or serial killer and run in the other direction. 

Tell them they are worth a lot of shoes and business sorted. 

[Cerebus]

Tell them they are worth a lot of shoes and business sorted. 

Just don't look them up and down like you're assessing a side of leather while you're saying that. "A lot of shoes, a lot... Do you like Chianti?"

[ArthurDent]

... I recapped the PSU and everything was within budget until the CRT decided to shit the bed...

I’m from New Hampshire and a friend of mine from Massachusetts and I were talking about expressions that were regional, that people from other parts of the country just wouldn’t understand. He had been an instructor for a large company and had to travel around the U.S. giving talks to sales managers on the company’s new products.

 What he found was once he was outside of New England he would get really puzzling looks whenever he said something had ‘shit the bed’ because no one had any idea what he was talking about. It then became like the joke you have to explain because no one gets the punch line. By the time you're through explaining, everything is still muddied and everyone is still looking puzzled. With the EEVBlogs being international there are a lot of expressions that lose something in the translation but I’m surprised at how ingenious others are at conveying an abstract concept like a joke. ‘Shit the bed’ may be one expression that is very hard to explain. 

[Martin.M]

Pat what`s up with the 575?

[kj7e]

Yes, as with most things that men do... our hobby is expensive. Limiting the available funds is part of how we keep ourselves from doing the REALLY stupid shit we would do if we had unlimited funds, free time, and no adult/female supervision. 

I WISH that the first two were true, but can definitely relate to the issues that result when the latter is...

TEA sans supervision/moderation by the fairer sex:




-Pat

Pat,  need to get all that gear working and setup where it can be used.  Thats the fun part.

[Cerebus]

What he found was once he was outside of New England he would get really puzzling looks whenever he said something had ‘shit the bed’ because no one had any idea what he was talking about.

I find that odd. Everybody understands 'shit', everybody understands 'bed' and at sometime in their early youth everybody has done it. The meaning seems quite innately clear and a little bit of context makes it crystal clear.

[SoundTech-LG]

Now that's scary...  I had to do a double take on the 575 on the cart to make sure that wasn't my lab!!!

[med6753]

... I recapped the PSU and everything was within budget until the CRT decided to shit the bed...

I’m from New Hampshire and a friend of mine from Massachusetts and I were talking about expressions that were regional, that people from other parts of the country just wouldn’t understand. He had been an instructor for a large company and had to travel around the U.S. giving talks to sales managers on the company’s new products.

 What he found was once he was outside of New England he would get really puzzling looks whenever he said something had ‘shit the bed’ because no one had any idea what he was talking about. It then became like the joke you have to explain because no one gets the punch line. By the time you're through explaining, everything is still muddied and everyone is still looking puzzled. With the EEVBlogs being international there are a lot of expressions that lose something in the translation but I’m surprised at how ingenious others are at conveying an abstract concept like a joke. ‘Shit the bed’ may be one expression that is very hard to explain.

One expression from New England that will truly confuse everyone, including this New Yorker the first time he heard it, was "dooryard".

That's any area outside the front door. First time I heard it is was   

[med6753]

What he found was once he was outside of New England he would get really puzzling looks whenever he said something had ‘shit the bed’ because no one had any idea what he was talking about.

I find that odd. Everybody understands 'shit', everybody understands 'bed' and at sometime in their early youth everybody has done it. The meaning seems quite innately clear and a little bit of context makes it crystal clear.

Agreed. 

[mnementh]

What he found was once he was outside of New England he would get really puzzling looks whenever he said something had ‘shit the bed’ because no one had any idea what he was talking about.

I find that odd. Everybody understands 'shit', everybody understands 'bed' and at sometime in their early youth everybody has done it. The meaning seems quite innately clear and a little bit of context makes it crystal clear.

The connotative value here is that the thing in question has died or, as you on the other side of the pond might say, "gone tits up".

That's not exactly obvious in a literal sense from the saying; though may or may not be apparent from individual context. Even from your dissection of the term my first assumption would be that the thing or person had done "something very embarrassing, but that has happened to almost every one of us"...

mnem
Etymology is not "the study of insects".

[Specmaster]

What he found was once he was outside of New England he would get really puzzling looks whenever he said something had ‘shit the bed’ because no one had any idea what he was talking about.

I find that odd. Everybody understands 'shit', everybody understands 'bed' and at sometime in their early youth everybody has done it. The meaning seems quite innately clear and a little bit of context makes it crystal clear.

Speak for yourself 

[Specmaster]

What he found was once he was outside of New England he would get really puzzling looks whenever he said something had ‘shit the bed’ because no one had any idea what he was talking about.

I find that odd. Everybody understands 'shit', everybody understands 'bed' and at sometime in their early youth everybody has done it. The meaning seems quite innately clear and a little bit of context makes it crystal clear.

Agreed. 

I thought that was an old man's problem only   

[med6753]

What he found was once he was outside of New England he would get really puzzling looks whenever he said something had ‘shit the bed’ because no one had any idea what he was talking about.

I find that odd. Everybody understands 'shit', everybody understands 'bed' and at sometime in their early youth everybody has done it. The meaning seems quite innately clear and a little bit of context makes it crystal clear.

Agreed. 

I thought that was an old man's problem only   

Well as the comedian George Carlin once said "Once you reach a certain old age you can shit your pants and nobody cares" 

[Cubdriver]

Pat what`s up with the 575?

Hi Martin -

It's a mod C that I got with cart as 'local' pickup (read that as somewhere north of Worcester, MA, about 2.5 hrs away) a few years ago from the bay of turpitude.  It's working, just needs a good cleaning to pretty it up.



-Pat

[Cubdriver]

Yes, as with most things that men do... our hobby is expensive. Limiting the available funds is part of how we keep ourselves from doing the REALLY stupid shit we would do if we had unlimited funds, free time, and no adult/female supervision. 

I WISH that the first two were true, but can definitely relate to the issues that result when the latter is...

TEA sans supervision/moderation by the fairer sex:




-Pat

Pat,  need to get all that gear working and setup where it can be used.  Thats the fun part.

LOL - that's the plan!  (In my 'spare' time, so called because I have so little of it!)  (It would be prudent to stay OFF of ebay so as not to continue adding to the piles, but, well, I'm here in this thread, aren't I?  'nuff said...)  In the meantime, the cats enjoy climbing on it.

-Pat

[Cerebus]

The connotative value here is that the thing in question has died or, as you on the other side of the pond might say, "gone tits up".

That's not exactly obvious in a literal sense from the saying; though may or may not be apparent from individual context. Even from your dissection of the term my first assumption would be that the thing or person had done "something very embarrassing, but that has happened to almost every one of us"...

mnem
Etymology is not "the study of insects".

The proper etymology is that it has 'shit the bed' because it has died, its sphincter muscles have relaxed and the natural has followed. But I was arriving at it from the point of view of a listener who'd never heard it before and had to second guess the meaning from the innate notion implied in the words of "it failed to perform properly and messed up" and with a little bit of context, say "the piston rod shit the bed", and you arrive at the correct meaning from the wrong reasoning. It's not right, but it's enough to understand what someone meant. I'd gleaned the meaning of the phrase well before I knew the proper derivation.

I've always taken the phrase to imply that the item in question didn't simply die, but that it made an unpleasant mess of other things in doing do.

[Specmaster]

@Cerebus: ROFLCYCIH!

@Cubdriver: Better all that TEA than THIS:    (Attachment Link)

mnem
"Honey, come move this transmission so I can take a bath... " ~ True Story.

Typical Redneck

[tggzzz]

What he found was once he was outside of New England he would get really puzzling looks whenever he said something had ‘shit the bed’ because no one had any idea what he was talking about.

I find that odd. Everybody understands 'shit', everybody understands 'bed' and at sometime in their early youth everybody has done it. The meaning seems quite innately clear and a little bit of context makes it crystal clear.

The connotative value here is that the thing in question has died or, as you on the other side of the pond might say, "gone tits up".

Or become "US" (unservicable), according to legend invented during WW2 to annoy the friendly invaders

[BU508A]

Today my Fluke / Philips PM6681 arrived. Including a nice ring file with the owner's manual and the programmer's manual.

I've powered it on first before I turned it apart. The  vent is a bit loud, perhaps it has some issues with the  bearing.

Front side, feeded in 10MHz from my RTB 2004:


Back side, lots of dust but no bugs:


There was this mysterious plastic thing on the frontside. Turns out: this is a cable holder!
It sits directly on the spare hole for the C-input (prescaler 3GHz for example)


Case opened, top view.


Replaced CR2032 battery:


The old CR2032 had only 3V left, I've measured the new one with 3.3V


Mains input with mains rectifier. No RIFA madness in sight.


The shielded inputs A and B and a high sophisticated delay line.


This is a funny bodge, no idea if this was done by Fluke or the previous owner.


Some multipliers next to this bodged oscillator:


This is the 10MHz oscillator:


And next to it sits the 100MHz multiplier:


This is the bottom side, upper part:


lower part with PSU:


Lots of wiggly lines:


Manuals:
Operators manual:


Programming manual:


Next step is cleaning this buddy and checking the electrolytics with my incoming DER EE 5000 (should arrive by end of the month)

And then I'll add a 3GHz prescaler and a 10MHz OCXO to improve stability.

Edit:
Added the read-outs of the two AM27C010-70 EEPROMs.
V. 1.05 - Rev. 14

Edit 2:
Somebody found the Calver81 software which is needed to calibrate this counter:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/repair/philips-fluke-pm6680-cnt-81-frequency-counter-firmware-and-cal-constants/msg3570350/#msg3570350

Hope you've enjoyed this little teardown.

Cheers!

[med6753]

What he found was once he was outside of New England he would get really puzzling looks whenever he said something had ‘shit the bed’ because no one had any idea what he was talking about.

I find that odd. Everybody understands 'shit', everybody understands 'bed' and at sometime in their early youth everybody has done it. The meaning seems quite innately clear and a little bit of context makes it crystal clear.

The connotative value here is that the thing in question has died or, as you on the other side of the pond might say, "gone tits up".

Or become "US" (unservicable), according to legend invented during WW2 to annoy the friendly invaders

Say what you want we stole your women. 

[Cerebus]

Say what you want we stole your women. 

Those weren't women, those were dockers in dresses. How many women do you see with lush beards and hands so rough you could sandpaper with them (outside Arkansas, obviously)?

[med6753]

Say what you want we stole your women. 

Those weren't women, those were dockers in dresses. How many women do you see with lush beards and hands so rough you could sandpaper with them (outside Arkansas, obviously)?

Don't look like dockers in dresses to me.     (Could only find the scene dubbed in French. Somehow I can't imagine Lee Marvin speaking french.  )

[Cerebus]

Er Med, you do realize that those are actors don't you? 

We definitely only let the Yanks near the Dockland Drag Queens - War ministry edict - all the actual tottie was needed for the Brylcreem boys in the RAF.

[med6753]

Er Med, you do realize that those are actors don't you? 

We definitely only let the Yanks near the Dockland Drag Queens - War ministry edict - all the actual tottie was needed for the Brylcreem boys in the RAF.

It would be wise for you to pull up the Urban Dictionary and check out all the meanings for "tottie"