I think you nailed it perfectly with regard to the pie, that one you can eat and enjoy. But good luck getting one past the German customs , they can smell food from a mile away and they confiscate it as it has not got all the correct documentation with it.
How does the meters indicate teh reading ? They just have scale from 0 to 9 and the needle is moved to the appropriate "digit" ?
Why not just use also column displays for all th 8 digits ?! Plus, the emlters take more space (wider) than the column displays.... or use 8 meters instead... ?!
What's the deal with those meters ?
Yup - they just indicate the reading on the scale. Haven’t dug into the circuitry of the counter yet, so I don’t know why they went analog on the two lowest digits.
-Pat
Thanks. Looks like the ones on that pic need some fixing, they kinda display illegal values me think !
Factory's ideai about the last two digits being the fastest ones, might be why but.... meter or column display, in either case they aren't doing the counting, only the displaying, it's the counter driving them that handles the speed, not the display... so to me one could use either type of dispaly no matter if it's associated to a fast position or not.... might try to find a service manual for the thing and have a look at that to satisfy my curiosity...
I suspect that they are center-zero meters - note the dot at center scale - perhaps a reference for setting the mechanical zero point. I haven't found a manual for it yet (haven't dug too deeply into it so far) but will learn more once I can locate something. Have an evil bay search up, but figure finding a hardcopy will be a very long shot.
-Pat
Oh again ! I did spot this thing, but though to myself hey looks like a nice beefy PSU, didn't know Tek made PSUs, would be cool to find one some day !
Yes, a PSU it is indeed, admittedly but !
Makes more sense now...
Anyways, a super rare PSU that must be...Back to TekWiki for you, Vince!
As there is the CPS250 and the PS2510/2511/2520 series. (The PS28x series shall be not mentioned). There is also the 'Engineering Power Supply' and of course the PS modules of the TM500/TM5000 series.
I also thought that there was an earlier one in the 1xx designation range, or maybe an amplifier which could be used as such, but I could be wrong here, as I can't find anything about it.
Nope, none of the above qualifies I am afraid, it's all modern solid state stuff !
The pic was about vacuum tube stuff, so I was referring only to PSU's of that era and style/looks.
Looked at all the PSUs listed on Tekwiki and found none that qualify. Well there are a couple but only special purpose ones made to work for a particular piece of Tek TE, just like that big PSU on the pic is meant to work with the 575 curve tracer.In that case, this one should qualify, I think:
https://w140.com/tekwiki/wiki/Engineering_Power_Supply
How does the meters indicate teh reading ? They just have scale from 0 to 9 and the needle is moved to the appropriate "digit" ?
Why not just use also column displays for all th 8 digits ?! Plus, the emlters take more space (wider) than the column displays.... or use 8 meters instead... ?!
What's the deal with those meters ?
Yup - they just indicate the reading on the scale. Haven’t dug into the circuitry of the counter yet, so I don’t know why they went analog on the two lowest digits.
-Pat
Thanks. Looks like the ones on that pic need some fixing, they kinda display illegal values me think !
Factory's ideai about the last two digits being the fastest ones, might be why but.... meter or column display, in either case they aren't doing the counting, only the displaying, it's the counter driving them that handles the speed, not the display... so to me one could use either type of dispaly no matter if it's associated to a fast position or not.... might try to find a service manual for the thing and have a look at that to satisfy my curiosity...
They probably are displaying the count, where the count is stored as a voltage.
My Tek 184 time mark generator has /2 and /5 circuits made with three transistors, some resisitors and diodes. Each input pulse deposits a glug of charge on a capacitor thus increasing the voltage. When a threshold is reached, the capacitor is discharged and a glug is deposited on the next counter. Input 10MHz, output 5s, in 1-5-10 stages.
BD even simulated and implemented it... https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/test-equipment-anonymous-(tea)-group-therapy-thread/msg2678745/?topicseen#msg2678745
I think you nailed it perfectly with regard to the pie, that one you can eat and enjoy. But good luck getting one past the German customs , they can smell food from a mile away and they confiscate it as it has not got all the correct documentation with it.
Not inside the EU; that'd be an unfair bloçage.
I just had another look at that drawer full of 0.1" headers and yeah finally found the proper type ! Somehow I missed it the first time....
Don't have much of it though, a quarter of one strip no more.Tell me which was the type - both sides square or both sides cylindrical contacts?
What happened BD ? Where did you take the wrong turn ? What evil made you think IT was cool ?
From your recent posts, it looks like your lust for H/W design had you interested in these new little things called personal computers... which then had you program them in assembly language beause it was cool and interesting and you could control what the H/W was doing... then it was too late already : you would do more and programming and less and less H/W. Then soon the computer H/W became quickly out of hand, too powerful and complex, programmers would become less and less aware of the H/W their S/W was running on, S/W was becoming a thing of its own, completely disconnected from the H/W, the big "divide" was set in stone, and before you knew it, you had been kicked out of electronics H/W and locked in the prison made of keyboard and screen and text editors....
Or was it something else entirely ? Tell us the BD story, BD !
Edit 2: also never do something you love for a job. It will kill it.
argl. Just spent ~750 Pesos for pinball spare parts. Hobbies are expensive ...
Towards the end I was becoming pissed off by boring technology/applications (=> databases) plus the quality of stuff that too many "developers" emitted from their fingertips, aided and abetted by abysmal development practices. That was particularly evident in my last job, at a fintech company.
Edit 2: also never do something you love for a job. It will kill it.
While I understand why you say that, for most of my career I was able to choose to avoid that problem. I suppose that counts as "making my own luck".
Welcome back Andrew !
Don't recognize the background in your pics... have you moved the lab to a different room in the house ? Can't see your cheap very funky chinese bench meters nor cool keyboard either.
Good luck with the bike, stay safe !
Fuck all money in it. That's it!
Edit: Qualified as EE, got hired by defence sector, ended up writing code for RF and power test systems. Then I wrote a small EMS system to replace the paper system that was used for test management. Then I ended up writing most of the ERP system for the company. Then I ended up looking after their CAD and Unix systems. Then I got fed up of being paid fuck all and jumped into the IT sector. I doubled my salary overnight.
Edit 2: also never do something you love for a job. It will kill it.
to quote Frank Z: I'm only in it for the money.
argl. Just spent ~750 Pesos for pinball spare parts. Hobbies are expensive ...
750 pesos is only about $37 USD. That's cheap.
Welcome back Andrew !
Don't recognize the background in your pics... have you moved the lab to a different room in the house ? Can't see your cheap very funky chinese bench meters nor cool keyboard either.
Good luck with the bike, stay safe !
I'm back in my office at work. The MRI scanner was failing QA with S/N a few dB out of spec. I brought in my counter and a scanner radio to check for unwanted signal. Didn't find anything unexpected and now the scanner is passing QA again.
< shrug >
Riding a motorcycle is scary for me. With time, hopefully I'll be less scared and still alive. Fuel is £2.00/l ~$10/gal-US. We've been priced out of getting another electric car. The little Honda should get close to 100mpg ~ 45km/l.
125cc 11kW (14.7hp)@10,000RPM ABS. Decent built quality.
Edit 2: also never do something you love for a job. It will kill it.
While I understand why you say that, for most of my career I was able to choose to avoid that problem. I suppose that counts as "making my own luck".
I could have done what I enjoyed but it conflicted heavily with having a family and future security so I partitioned it out carefully.
You were of the fortunate generation to have bought a house before the estate agents propelled the prices through the roof.
Fuck all money in it. That's it!
Edit: Qualified as EE, got hired by defence sector, ended up writing code for RF and power test systems. Then I wrote a small EMS system to replace the paper system that was used for test management. Then I ended up writing most of the ERP system for the company. Then I ended up looking after their CAD and Unix systems. Then I got fed up of being paid fuck all and jumped into the IT sector. I doubled my salary overnight.
Wow, so it was all because of your very first job then, scary how luck of the pot can steer your life !Edit 2: also never do something you love for a job. It will kill it.
I am starting to realize this but 20 years too late, so many years wasted... hence now the feeling of urgency and me having no limits other than space and money. I just do everything I like hobby wise and don't give a fuck about the rest. Hobby is now my top priority and jobs are merely there to support the hobbies. So only criteria for jobs now is quality of life (be close to me so I spent as little time and petrol/money going to / from it, hence more of it available for my personal life), a job that does not destroy my health like aviation has been doing for the past 10 years.
So that's why I am considering going back to electronics if I can (will see, don't know what companies might be in the area), because a tech usually works office hours not shifts (I am done with shifts, killed me); and it's less dangerous... almost died twice in an A350. Once I took a step back to let a guy crawl out of a man hole in the center wing box.. did look behind me, my foot fell right into the gap between the aircraft and the removable/hinged floor, bad luck.... fell violently and landed on a big fitting an inch from my balls. Nearly lost them as a consequence. A bit traumatic.
Then the next time, was in the cargo compartment, tried to walk across a big gap in the floor (temporary floor made of hundreds of small wooden boards pieces... ) trying to be nice and not disturb guy blue painting some rivet on a cross beam. That didn't go well. I lost my balance and fell one meter, straight as an arrow. right leg and bottom of the spine took all the hit. I was so in pain I was white said the guys around me, couldn't even scream, brain was in shutdown mode. That was 4 years ago but I still have spine problem snow, hurts all days long and I can't stand up more than a few second, and my right leg (which took the hit and rubbed badly against a cross beam during the decent... now is deformed and inflated. That's all for life. All that for a misery salary, never a salary increase,, not even inflation, and just a bag of crisp when I got fired after 10 years of service !
So yeah... I know don't give a fuck about work life. Only goal is to pay the bills and the best quality of life possible. No more shifts, no more risking my life and getting injured all day long in an A/C in all sorts of weird and wonderful body positions... no thanks.
I am trying to get back into electronics it's to get rid of these problems and have a more peaceful professional life... but I certainly won't give a shit about the work itself. I will do it professionally, will do it well, to the best of my abilities... but that's about it. I am not going to work on saturdays for a bag of crisps, or work hard like a slave just for a tap on the shoulder and nice empty talks, and not getting stress get the best of me. If they treat me like shit and keep stressing me to work faster and faster so they can make more money but never pay back.... goodbye, will find another job.
Personal life and hobbies are now my only priority. Work is merely a necessity to pay the bill, it's not a goal in itself... like I was fooled, manipulated into thinking when I was a kid : "if yuo work hard at school Vince, you will have a super nice job, lots of money / good life, and have social recognition ". My ass.... studying gets you nothing these days but barely above minimum wage and stagnating salaries.
There is nothing to expect but misery and disappointment from work life.
YMMV depending on location and profile. Talking about Frog land and the average joe / lower middle class / technician level.
Rant over, sorry for the noise...
Edit 2: also never do something you love for a job. It will kill it.
While I understand why you say that, for most of my career I was able to choose to avoid that problem. I suppose that counts as "making my own luck".
I could have done what I enjoyed but it conflicted heavily with having a family and future security so I partitioned it out carefully.
The family consideration limited my choices too, especially w.r.t. taking that fintech job.QuoteYou were of the fortunate generation to have bought a house before the estate agents propelled the prices through the roof.
But we had to have saved at an institution for at least 6 months before they would even consider you for a "2.5*+1* salary" mortgage
The affordability was, arguably, the same. Look at the interest rates in the late 70s early 80s. Then look at the changes, which did hurt, since I was already overextended.
argl. Just spent ~750 Pesos for pinball spare parts. Hobbies are expensive ...
750 pesos is only about $37 USD. That's cheap.
ok, this is what I get for being unspecific.
I am referring to Brussels inflation pesos, aka Euros. The stuff that lost 20% to the dollar in recent months.
Edit 2: also never do something you love for a job. It will kill it.
While I understand why you say that, for most of my career I was able to choose to avoid that problem. I suppose that counts as "making my own luck".
I could have done what I enjoyed but it conflicted heavily with having a family and future security so I partitioned it out carefully.
The family consideration limited my choices too, especially w.r.t. taking that fintech job.QuoteYou were of the fortunate generation to have bought a house before the estate agents propelled the prices through the roof.
But we had to have saved at an institution for at least 6 months before they would even consider you for a "2.5*+1* salary" mortgage
The affordability was, arguably, the same. Look at the interest rates in the late 70s early 80s. Then look at the changes, which did hurt, since I was already overextended.
I don't think that's quite right. The interest allowed savings to be made without depreciation against inflation unlike now. I actually lost £250 recently just by having money in a bank account...
The ratio of earnings to house price were also considerably more favourable which is the deciding metric, apart from deposit as to actually getting on the market in the first place.
I bought in 2008 and final payment in 2020. Which is why I went into fintech