Some key component in the heating system of the building has conked out, this morning. No heating, no hot water. Landlord says spare part should arrive by Monday.Around 10years ago, that happened to me right when it got friggin' cold. As it was weekend, my options were limited with regard to instant remedial action. So I set up a fan, a variac and the biggest sliding load resistor that I had. The temperature crept up about 1 degree per hour, but at 19° C it crept no further. Still friggin' cold.
We've rushed out and bought a small electric heater that keeps us reasonably warm. Water is the real problem. Cold shaves and showers are no fun at all.
Vince,
I got the control panel out. All the minitrons work but one looks a bit dim. Don't know if it's a display or drive issue. They are socketed so easy to find out. You only need four for a clock It has a greenish night vision goggle (NVG) compatible display filter this needs a clean.
It does have a fault, it looks like the on/off/function switch is faulty. There is an internal 12V regulator and if I put voltage on that it works but there is no continiuity between the regulator positive input and any pin on the connector (pin U is 0V).
Additional good news is that I have manuals that include details of an internally identical control head, it just has a different pin out. The logic is all standard CMOS at 12V and would be easy to interface to.
I think it's worth £30
It's just under 1kg packed so postage would be £10
Send me a private messageif interested.
... Big reason I'm after a Really Impressive Counter (No, perhaps not 524A impressive, but certainly 5245L impressive. ) is my hunt for a good display of phase, and more importantly frequency, differences between various 10MHz oscillators.
And my vacation is over. Back to work. I’ve had to bring in a couple of multimeters and a portable scope, the Agilent got the nod, and some hand tools to rip into some piece of junk that died a couple of days ago. I guess that does it, the next time the employee survey comes out, as soon as I see the “Do you have the tools and equipment to do your job?” question, they’re getting a zero because I’ve had to bring my own stuff in again. So much for the “I firmly believe all you need to do your job is your laptop” routine.
... I have too many meters, about 10 analogue and about 14 digital ....Now wait a moment, what are you trying to say here?
... I have too many meters, about 10 analogue and about 14 digital ....Now wait a moment, what are you trying to say here?Exactly that I have too many meters I think. I can't use them all at the same time, I need to reduce some of them to give me back some space. I just generally need to reduce a lot of the things, not just TE items, because if anything happens to me, my family will not have a clue what the true value is will more than likely send the stuff to the tip.
... Big reason I'm after a Really Impressive Counter (No, perhaps not 524A impressive, but certainly 5245L impressive. ) is my hunt for a good display of phase, and more importantly frequency, differences between various 10MHz oscillators.When I hear 'Really Impressive Counter' I incidentally think of your country...so stop complaining and get your CNT-90!
It has a 6-Watt input, instead of the usual 3-Watt, but not the beefier 60- or 100-Watt. It does have the mechanical attenuator, which makes its
Thanks, yes, I had come across it the day the 8924C arrived. I'll set mine up accordingly since I don't have use for the CDMA functionality. Amtronix also has a quick-start page (in serious need of some formatting): https://www.amtronix.com/8924cqs.htm
I haven't yet looked at what all the RF Tools consist of. Can they be extracted and then loaded into another flash card or into RAM?
Congrats on the 8920B deal. That's certainly easier to relocate than the 8924 behemoth with its "Two-person Lift" stickers on the sides.
The RF tools have useful tracking generator / SA scalar analyser function among others. The files should be on the IO group but loding them on a Flash card cn be tricky. I found that only the binary image on a "linear" flash card worked for me. Note that cards that simulate an IDE interface won't work. This includes using a CF card in a PCMCIA adaptor.
You can load programs into RAM via HPIB or even serial in theory but I've not done it.
So mostly I would like to get the old HP/Agilent VFD instruments everybody seems to want. The 344xx something DMM, and the same form factor and display, the counter (with the optional but retro-fittable 3GHz RF input), and the sig gen / AWG.
34401A DMM.
Sounds like you want the Agilent 33120A 15 MHz Function / Arbitrary Waveform Generator
eBay auction: #324901382437
and then the Agilent 53131A 225 MHz Universal Frequency Counter/Timer
eBay auction: #324842284152
Yes those are the ones indeed... you know your HP model numbers much better than I do... I guess I too will know them by heart whenever I actually will be in a position to be actively searching for them... That last sentence sounds convoluted, I must have my grammar wrong somewhere...
From my experience (as an owner of all three mentioned devices) - The DMM and the Counter are still pretty good today, especially the 34401A DMM. The technology used in the 33120A generator is rather outdated in comparison to a modern one. Sometimes I see a 33120A for sale, IMO overpriced for their performance in comparison to a modern Siglent or Keysight. Anyway, I like and use all of them.
There's a triple output power supply (E3631A) in a double height enclosure that makes a perfect fit in a stack of them - I absolutely disliked this device for its User Interface when I had access to one at a former workplace.
Oh no.... this one just popped up here :
https://www.leboncoin.fr/bricolage/2077988887.htm
An interesting one I can't have !
...
Well I guess that's OK.... let's see the positive side : it evidenced my growing interest for old HP stuff.... so now I will be on the lookout and maybe search actively for cheap interesting pieces like this one, and start a little collection....just a handful of items, not more, promised... and no boat anchors (NO vintage two piece spectrum analyzer or such ! ).
So that was my " HP coming out " I guess ?! Great, like I was not in enough trouble with my glowing Tek scope addiction... now I am getting into HP stuff as well.... I am in great danger, I really am
Happy Turkey Day, fellow Yank-TEAs!
Oh no.... this one just popped up here :
https://www.leboncoin.fr/bricolage/2077988887.htm
An interesting one I can't have !
...
Well I guess that's OK.... let's see the positive side : it evidenced my growing interest for old HP stuff.... so now I will be on the lookout and maybe search actively for cheap interesting pieces like this one, and start a little collection....just a handful of items, not more, promised... and no boat anchors (NO vintage two piece spectrum analyzer or such ! ).
So that was my " HP coming out " I guess ?! Great, like I was not in enough trouble with my glowing Tek scope addiction... now I am getting into HP stuff as well.... I am in great danger, I really am
Yep, HP/Agilent made lots of nice little things to collect. I got bitten by that bug before Tek.
Note that the 3310A and 3310B are 5 MHz generators (not just 1 MHz) -- not that you needed any more reason to get one.
MY old Philips has three 20dB attenuators, so up to 60dB, which I do find very practical.
So mostly I would like to get the old HP/Agilent VFD instruments everybody seems to want. The 344xx something DMM, and the same form factor and display, the counter (with the optional but retro-fittable 3GHz RF input), and the sig gen / AWG.
34401A DMM.
Sounds like you want the Agilent 33120A 15 MHz Function / Arbitrary Waveform Generator
eBay auction: #324901382437
and then the Agilent 53131A 225 MHz Universal Frequency Counter/Timer
eBay auction: #324842284152
Yes those are the ones indeed... you know your HP model numbers much better than I do... I guess I too will know them by heart whenever I actually will be in a position to be actively searching for them... That last sentence sounds convoluted, I must have my grammar wrong somewhere...
Yep, that's the trinity to get for half-width, VFD-based devices. A couple of alternative choices, if you need their particular characteristics, are the 34410A DMM and 53132A universal counter. However, I find my 34401A to be more stable than the 34410A.
53132A universal counter
MY old Philips has three 20dB attenuators, so up to 60dB, which I do find very practical.So does mine although I wouldn't even dream of using the old POS these days.
They are not just yesterdays technology but mid last century.
Was very temped to pop it the inorganic recycling a couple of weeks back.
MY old Philips has three 20dB attenuators, so up to 60dB, which I do find very practical.So does mine although I wouldn't even dream of using the old POS these days.
They are not just yesterdays technology but mid last century.
Was very temped to pop it the inorganic recycling a couple of weeks back.
I am sure soon enough someone will look at your Siglent stuff and think the same !
Vince,
I got the control panel out. All the minitrons work but one looks a bit dim. Don't know if it's a display or drive issue. They are socketed so easy to find out. You only need four for a clock It has a greenish night vision goggle (NVG) compatible display filter this needs a clean.
It does have a fault, it looks like the on/off/function switch is faulty. There is an internal 12V regulator and if I put voltage on that it works but there is no continiuity between the regulator positive input and any pin on the connector (pin U is 0V).
Additional good news is that I have manuals that include details of an internally identical control head, it just has a different pin out. The logic is all standard CMOS at 12V and would be easy to interface to.
I think it's worth £30
It's just under 1kg packed so postage would be £10
Send me a private messageif interested.
Sounds cool, deal !
Dim display I can relocated in the middle to be the separator between HH and MM. It being dim would then not look odd but might even be seen as a subtle feature. Defective mode switch well according to the diagram all switches including this one are just simple/ basic mechanical switches, not encoders.. so maybe it can be fixed without too much trouble...
Great that you have the diagram for the thing ! So there is no CPU at all in this thing, all discrete logic !
Quite a lot of chips then... and no SMD chips back then I guess... so all DIP packages ?? I am sure it's all very compact in there, but still... I guess this unit is not as tiny as I thought initially from looking at the pic. Maybe it's not the size of a match box after all... maybe it's the size of a match box... and a half !
So looks like the displays are multiplexed, cool.... not too many pins to interface with then, will make integrating my own H/W in such a cramped space... much easier than I thought. Still very tight I am sure, but feasible at least...well I think... hope.... we shall see how it goes once I have it on my bench !
Do yo have a high resolution picture of the diagram ? A bit hard to read as it is.
Can't wait to tear it apart to see how it's put together !
You can start packing the thing, this puppy is now mine....
MY old Philips has three 20dB attenuators, so up to 60dB, which I do find very practical.So does mine although I wouldn't even dream of using the old POS these days.
They are not just yesterdays technology but mid last century.
Was very temped to pop it the inorganic recycling a couple of weeks back.
I am sure soon enough someone will look at your Siglent stuff and think the same !Even the quite basic 2ch 10 MHz SDG1010 I replaced it with made it look like a POS and the SDG1k series have been pulled from production although we can still get bits for them.
SDG1032X that I mentioned a few posts back leaves this stuff for dead as it's a fully programmable AWG with mark time, all manner of waveforms, a 200mA PSU and a counter in a single box.