List your test equipment "scores" here!

[timb]

Preamble (LeCroy) 1855 Differential Amplifier with matched probes. Seems to work great and got a nice deal on it. Looking for an additional one right now - need two.
Unique piece of test gear, although it is ugly and has a curved top so you cannot easily stack them up. Dumb design in that regard.

Those are *really* nice little amplifiers. I picked one up awhile back at an auction for $100 in non-working condition. Turned out to be a burnt out regulator.

Wish I would have kept it!

[timb]

My latest bit of kit:



Tek TDS 754C + 2 x P6205 750MHz Active Probes + 2 x P6139A 500Mhz Passive Probes

Free, thanks to rx8's generosity and my luck of the draw! I've currently got it sitting on the floor by my desk, until I get a shelf built to house all my test gear (I just can't fit anything else on the table behind my desk that most of my gear sits on). Thankfully, Tek designed most of their old Analog (and early Digital) scopes with feet on the rear, so you could use them on the floor pointing up.

[nctnico]

Good catch! That must be the cleanest TDS700 series scope I have ever seen (and I did wash the one I had)!

[timb]

Good catch! That must be the cleanest TDS700 series scope I have ever seen (and I did wash the one I had)!

Thanks! rx8 took very good care of it. I ended up blowing out some accumulated dust from the inside and washing the exterior (the case, rear panel, front panel, rubber keypad, front trim and knobs).

The only issue with it is the ground connection inside the sealed power filter module appears to be broken. So I ordered a male and female IEC connector from Mouser and rigged up a 3" cord extension with the ground lead broken out. The ground lead has a crimped ring connector on the end, which screws into the metal chassis.

I investigated replacing or opening the sealed filter module, but it was a complete pain in the ass to do, so the cord method seemed like the way to go.

I was going to replace the floppy with one of those USB Floppy Emulators, but I decided to finally get a decent GPIB adapter. In the mean time, I'm using the serial port to "print" hard copies right to my computer. (I wrote a simple Python script to listen on the serial port and save the raw data; I love that the scope can directly print in Post Script format, which OS X can open natively.)

I'm really enjoying the scope so far! Being able to see 1GHz signals is amazing.

[Enigma-man]

Very nice, but can it play any retro games ? 

[cncjerry]

You are going to love that TDS 754.  I upgraded my 744 to a 784 and I am pretty sure the 754 can be upgraded to at least a 784, possibly a 794.  The upgrade required removing 4 caps on the acquisition board and then a little trickery to reprogram it.  The upgrade also extended the memory.

My 744 is at least that clean and the shuttered CRT gives such a crisp display plus the colors are just beautiful. 

[rx8pilot]

That scope was food on the table for me. Never met the original owner - I was owner 2 - but he/she probably did not use it much. The CRT is still rather bright and sharp. I kept it as dim as possible and used the VGA a lot to extend the life of it.

Solid performer. I never tried to upgrade to 1Ghz because I could not afford a mistake while I owned it. If I kept it, I would definitely try the TDS784 upgrade.

Hope it makes a big contribution to your projects.

[timb]

You are going to love that TDS 754.  I upgraded my 744 to a 784 and I am pretty sure the 754 can be upgraded to at least a 784, possibly a 794.  The upgrade required removing 4 caps on the acquisition board and then a little trickery to reprogram it.  The upgrade also extended the memory.

My 744 is at least that clean and the shuttered CRT gives such a crisp display plus the colors are just beautiful.

Yes, I've been researching that upgrade and am seriously considering it. However, I don't have any 1GHz signal generators for the calibration, aside from the the 1ns output on my TG 501 Time Mark Generator, but the amplitude is only 250mV, so I'm not sure if that's enough?

I wonder what the cheapest 1GHz source with sufficient fidelity would be?

That scope was food on the table for me. Never met the original owner - I was owner 2 - but he/she probably did not use it much. The CRT is still rather bright and sharp. I kept it as dim as possible and used the VGA a lot to extend the life of it.

Solid performer. I never tried to upgrade to 1Ghz because I could not afford a mistake while I owned it. If I kept it, I would definitely try the TDS784 upgrade.

Hope it makes a big contribution to your projects.

Yeah, right now, since I've got it on the floor, I'm using a little 12" VGA monitor on the desk (made from an old laptop's LCD and one of those conversion kits from eBay), so I can easily look at waveforms while probing. I've got it on a swing arm which makes it super handy!

I do really like the CRT+LCD Shutter though. It took me awhile to get used to it (I kept seeing it flicker in the corner of my eye or when moving) but after using it for awhile I don't even notice it anymore. It's a very bright, crisp, fast display.

Reading about these scopes, I see a lot of people ragging on Tek for using the CRT+Shutter system and I'm sure they had some issues, but for the time these scopes were built, I have to say it was a very nice display technology. You get the crispness and speed of a monochrome CRT with super vibrant colors! At the time, color LCDs were atrocious and I don't think they could get the same resolution and clarity out of a color CRT that small.

Anyway, I think I'll try the 784C upgrade once I get the signal generator needed to calibrate it.

And yes, I'm already putting it to good use on a project where I needed to see some high speed( ~500MHz) transitions clearly. I was using a 2465B for this until I got the 754C; being able to catch glitches and non-repetitive anomalies has already helped me out tremendously!

[nctnico]

My 744 is at least that clean and the shuttered CRT gives such a crisp display plus the colors are just beautiful.

I beg to differ. Those shuttered LCD/CRT displays always gave me a headache so I replaced them with TFT. Still technology wise it is the only way to get color CRT without convergence problems.

[TheSteve]

I wonder what the cheapest 1GHz source with sufficient fidelity would be?

A friend with a signal generator - maybe there is someone local to you on the blog that can help you out.

[Berni]

Not long ago this has arrived.

Its actually just a HP8566B (22GHz boatanchor spectrum analyzer) in two parts due to how heavy it is

[Rbastler]

Recently I bought a Fluke 25 in a ebay auction for 35€. Some digits on the display where dim, but that was due to a dirty zebra strip. After cleaning, the display is now good. I also had to check the range switch, because it didn't make contact on some ranges. I fixed that to easily.

Edit: Corrections

[KJDS]

Recently I bought a Fluke 25 in a ebay auction for 35€. Some digits on the display where dim, but that was due to a dirty zebra strip. After cleaning, the display is now good. I also had to check the range switch, because it didn't make contact on some ranges. I fixed that to easily.

Edit: Corrections

I've cleaned hundreds of those zebra strips, never known a flaky display on a Fluke 25 to be anything else.

[cncjerry]

Not long ago this has arrived.

Its actually just a HP8566B (22GHz boatanchor spectrum analyzer) in two parts due to how heavy it is

You joined the 8566 club, love mine as well as my 8568b.  If you aren't already on the HP google group, I suggest you join.  We recently found a way to significantly reduce the line noise in many of the 8566 units, just take a little rearranging of the cables with the bottom off.

Post some pictures once you get it running...

[bingo600]

[HP google group, I suggest you join. 

Any hints to that group ?

I only know the yahoo group

/Bingo

[Cubdriver]

[HP google group, I suggest you join. 

Any hints to that group ?

I only know the yahoo group

/Bingo

I *think* that may be the one he means - yahoo is the only one I know of, too.  If there's another, I'm interested in knowing about it too.

-Pat

[Berni]

You joined the 8566 club, love mine as well as my 8568b.  If you aren't already on the HP google group, I suggest you join.  We recently found a way to significantly reduce the line noise in many of the 8566 units, just take a little rearranging of the cables with the bottom off.

Post some pictures once you get it running...

I did already get it running.

Its in fairly good condition apart from one of the cables being cracked at one of the connectors. Haven't taken the lid off yet but i will probably have to since the grid on the display looks pretty fuzzy and a bit bright compared to the rest of the image. And damn is the thing loud so i might retrofit a quieter fan in it.

What is that group? I used yahoo groups before but im in none of the HP ones.

[Cubdriver]

It's the 'HP/Agilent Test Equipment' group on Yahoo.

-Pat

[bitseeker]

i.e., https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/hp_agilent_equipment/info

[VK5RC]

My TEA (test equipment addiction) is so bad I am scrounging around dumpsters looking for a hit.
Came up with the goods tonight, a used but nothing wrong, Hewlett Packard Trolley, best price = free. HiHi.

Seriously I do find ir sad that such potentially good gear gets trashed all the time.

[HighVoltage]

HP and Tektronix made some really great carts in those days, when equipment was heavy.
But even today, they are very helpful and good for smaller instruments.
Great dumpster find.

 

[VK5RC]

I felt really silly picking this cart out of a shoulder high dumpster then trying to fit it into my car! Physically quite a challenge. Who needs to go to the gym!!

[SeanB]

Beats my repurposed shopping trolley test stand though. Bought originally as a garbage bag tote, but I repurposed it after I got it. They make good mobile worktops when you add a scrap pallet to the top and use it.

[TAMHAN]

I felt really silly picking this cart out of a shoulder high dumpster then trying to fit it into my car! Physically quite a challenge. Who needs to go to the gym!!

You can laugh now, but one of the reasons I go to the gym two to three times a week is to have the necessary arm strength for this kind of shite. Being able to turn over a DPO 40 times when fixing an error, or being able to balance a lecroy while a helper connects it to a short GPIB cable in the rack can be worth it.

Oh, and forgot to add: nice catch!!!!

[razberik]

You can help me when moving to new flat. When you are done with the furniture, I will charge you a fee.
There is an elevator, but not big enough for bed or some of wardrobes.