Author Topic: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread  (Read 14554265 times)

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Offline bd139

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #12775 on: July 05, 2018, 06:09:17 pm »
My pile of D83’s is sitting in the hall waiting for the motivation to overcome some nasty hurdles too. Don’t sweat it  :-+ Take a break and come back to it when you’re ready. However don’t do what my father did and take a break on everything and drop dead thus requiring a large skip  :-DD

Been too busy to post today. I had to rewrite a chunk of stuff in C instead of python so been busy. This was expected. The joy of python is that it is designed for rapid prototyping and then you can replace the slow bits and bits that eat too much memory with C after profiling.

Sold my weller iron as well. It actually paid for half the price of the Metcal after fees and delivery which is a good win.
 

Offline mnementh

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #12776 on: July 05, 2018, 06:14:51 pm »
No, not the Royal Navy (Even though the merchant marine of the time sometimes thought of themselves that way) those taxes taxes went directly to shore up the East India Tea Company, who also had exclusive rights to all tea sales in the colonies. The colonies were the victims of a particularly pernicious monarchy-mandated circle-jerk without having a seat at the table, which is what eventually resulted in all that unpleasantness in the Boston Harbor back then.

As with all matters of import (or matters of taxation and export), if you want to know what really happened and why, FOLLOW. THE. MONEY.

It's funny how countries schools never teach their children the inglorious parts of their history. In British schools we're told lots of good things about ourselves but not about the grossest parts of our history. So, Winston Churchill is a hero, not the man who ordered the massive use of chemical weapons against Russian revolutionaries in Emtsa in August 1919, or their use against Iraqi Kurds in the early 1920's. The huge war crime of the fire bombing of the civilian population of Dresden by the RAF got no mention in my history lessons. I've never know a Briton who knew about these things from school history lessons.

Similarly I've never know an American who knew the fully story of the prelude to the US Revolution from what they had been taught in school. In US schools, little or no mention is made of the Royal Proclamation of 1763 which established a line down the Appalachians which was supposed to be the limit of British settlement in North America, leaving the area to the west of the Proclamation Line for the Native Americans (and Spanish territory from the west coast inland). European scholars conclude that it was objections to this restriction that ultimately sparked the American Revolution ten years later, not a principled stand against "No taxation without representation". American scholars, for some reason, take the exact opposite position. On the "follow the money" principle, which is more likely a motivator, skipping a bit of tax*, or a massive land grab for the purposes of property speculation.

* 18th century taxes were generally negligible compared to modern levels of taxation and the tax on tea, a highly taxed luxury good, was 3d a pound versus a price of 24d a pound including tax (12.5% gross, 14.28% net). There was no Income Tax in Britain until 1798, when it was at the staggering level of 0.83% for income over £60 a year (£7140 present value).

That tax structure was lifted from your domestic usage; the taxation on goods shipped over here was taxed as if imported (yes, that's right; taxed at a British territory, on goods "imported" from British merchants), and that taxation was based on presumed value, which was a figure often created out of whole cloth by the merchants themselves who, like the East India Tea Company, received almost all of those taxes back as subsidy, or who were reporting back to their investors so that they could keep the seed money flowing. These figures had as much to do with reality as our FBI's accounting of the "street value" of drug seizures.  :palm:

On top of this, those taxes were paid AT THE DOCKS, (docks that were built by colonist labor, using indigenous materials, and managed by colonial property owners in all levels except the highest, where the money was) to his Majesty's agents backed directly by British soldiers. Importers with subsidy by the crown like EITC were exempted from slip fees, which was where those property owners made their profit from the operation of those docks.

These people could see with great transparency the "glass ceiling" where all the money went up, and only a few crumbs came back down to them... and guess who it was that organized that little excursion?


That "Royal Proclamation" was made well after the fact; the Spanish expansion had already met up with considerable opposition from the descendants of many of the colonial settlers (most of whom were offspring of one variant or another of boatloads of religious zealots like John Calvin) moving Westward, and it was made entirely to appease and support the Spanish, not in any way for the "natives" who were caught in the crossfire and neither side considered them as anything more than vermin to be exterminated. Those "settlers" considered themselves to be the "true natives" as they were born here, and they were on a mission from God, and as such refused all other directive save those passed down by their wingnuts religious leaders, even the orders of their titular King.


Getting back to the "Rebellion" and our "founding fathers"... A few scant decades after these men of property and good standing risked everything they had, mortgaged entire estates the size of counties to fund "the King's Colonies" over here, he starts using those colonies as a dumping ground for boatloads of every undesirable he could think of. Britain ran most of our ancestors out of the country literally at gunpoint; either because they were criminals or so fanatically religious that even the sociopathically repressive culture of the time couldn't stand them.

Sure, they risked it all in pursuit of massive profits... but what they saw was, at just the point where all their risk should start paying off, a monarchy taking most of that profit for themselves with new taxes and tariffs that were JUST FOR THE COLONIES, nobody else, and leaving them nothing to pay off their own debts back home, much less the massive profits that were promised.

So, like most such events... our "Rebellion" was a mix of starvation and feast, of greed (on both sides) vs desperation. And as always, "History" is "His story" as told by the "winners".

My mother was a proud student of HISTORY... and instilled in me a love of such things.


But as she said many times... "History has very little to do with what you read in history books."



A'aight... I'm late for lunch. Think I'm gonna set fire to some dead cow and hope it doesn't catch.


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Offline mnementh

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #12777 on: July 05, 2018, 06:25:40 pm »
Sometimes you have to accept defeat. I just spent hours putting the vertical board back into the 465 and the result is the scope is in worse shape than when I started. Channel 1 trace but no response to any input. Channel 2 no trace at all. I checked and double checked all connections and they're OK. I'm in no mood at this point to try to toubleshoot this mess. But I'm not scrapping it, although tempted. I'm putting it away and I'll come back to it another day. It's rare that I can't fix a piece of equipment but this 465 is kicking my butt. So to avoid doing something stupid it will be put away...for now.


hate to say this.......and you will probably curse my eyes for suggesting it......BUT.....maybe you should consider getting a second 465 for module swapping and signal cross checking. 

two of everything is almost a TEA minimum.

ok,  now you can hunt me down and kill me like a dog.

No I won't.....because I had the same thought! A true TEA addict.  :-DD

The 465 is securely tucked away in the bottom of the scope cart waiting for the day when I pull it out and we do battle again.  :box: ;D

I have a 454 and a 2230 that both mostly work which you can add to the pyre... err, pile...  :-DD


mnem
Just the cost of postage, brother. You know you want to...  >:D

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Offline Cerebus

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #12778 on: July 05, 2018, 07:52:10 pm »
On top of this, those taxes were paid AT THE DOCKS, (docks that were built by colonist labor, using indigenous materials, and managed by colonial property owners in all levels except the highest, where the money was) to his Majesty's agents backed directly by British soldiers. Importers with subsidy by the crown like EITC were exempted from slip fees, which was where those property owners made their profit from the operation of those docks.

My dear chap, that is the fundamental nature of how taxation works. Somebody from the Tyrant/Dictator/King/Government turns up and demands, on the basis that you own some property/have been paid for some work/want to buy something, that you give them money on a more or less explicit threat that violence will be done to you unless you hand over the dosh. It's just that nowadays the uniformed men with weapons only turn up after the Tyrant's/Dictator's/King's/Government's courts have committed you for non-payment. It hasn't really changed at all.
Anybody got a syringe I can use to squeeze the magic smoke back into this?
 

Online tggzzz

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #12779 on: July 05, 2018, 07:55:14 pm »
Sometimes you have to accept defeat. I just spent hours putting the vertical board back into the 465 and the result is the scope is in worse shape than when I started. Channel 1 trace but no response to any input. Channel 2 no trace at all. I checked and double checked all connections and they're OK. I'm in no mood at this point to try to toubleshoot this mess. But I'm not scrapping it, although tempted. I'm putting it away and I'll come back to it another day. It's rare that I can't fix a piece of equipment but this 465 is kicking my butt. So to avoid doing something stupid it will be put away...for now.


hate to say this.......and you will probably curse my eyes for suggesting it......BUT.....maybe you should consider getting a second 465 for module swapping and signal cross checking. 

two of everything is almost a TEA minimum.

ok,  now you can hunt me down and kill me like a dog.

Pah! That's for wimps. Real Men (TM) simply look at the schematic and think.

Inspiration:
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=lpY-DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT18&lpg=PT18&dq=%22richard+feynman%22+repair+radios&source=bl&ots=tpQ8qk5B7S&sig=on4QeG40j2Rlm_UUSIY3nac1CvE

There are lies, damned lies, statistics - and ADC/DAC specs.
Glider pilot's aphorism: "there is no substitute for span". Retort: "There is a substitute: skill+imagination. But you can buy span".
Having fun doing more, with less
 

Offline bd139

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #12780 on: July 05, 2018, 07:59:50 pm »
That’s only because real men tend to have both the scopes broken and have no other options on the table :)
 

Offline mnementh

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #12781 on: July 05, 2018, 08:18:56 pm »
On top of this, those taxes were paid AT THE DOCKS, (docks that were built by colonist labor, using indigenous materials, and managed by colonial property owners in all levels except the highest, where the money was) to his Majesty's agents backed directly by British soldiers. Importers with subsidy by the crown like EITC were exempted from slip fees, which was where those property owners made their profit from the operation of those docks.

My dear chap, that is the fundamental nature of how taxation works. Somebody from the Tyrant/Dictator/King/Government turns up and demands, on the basis that you own some property/have been paid for some work/want to buy something, that you give them money on a more or less explicit threat that violence will be done to you unless you hand over the dosh. It's just that nowadays the uniformed men with weapons only turn up after the Tyrant's/Dictator's/King's/Government's courts have committed you for non-payment. It hasn't really changed at all.

Well, duh. My point being rather that these taxes were special, and levied in usurious levels (I know... what is usurious depends entirely on which side of the usury you sit ;) ) at just the time when said Government promised these people they'd start seeing the return on their investment of lives & capital.

Taxation, like every other aspect of Government, is entirely a matter of what the market will bear; the good King grossly miscalculated what this particular market would bear at a time when he was already overextended on numerous other fronts.


Sometimes you have to accept defeat. I just spent hours putting the vertical board back into the 465 and the result is the scope is in worse shape than when I started. Channel 1 trace but no response to any input. Channel 2 no trace at all. I checked and double checked all connections and they're OK. I'm in no mood at this point to try to toubleshoot this mess. But I'm not scrapping it, although tempted. I'm putting it away and I'll come back to it another day. It's rare that I can't fix a piece of equipment but this 465 is kicking my butt. So to avoid doing something stupid it will be put away...for now.


hate to say this.......and you will probably curse my eyes for suggesting it......BUT.....maybe you should consider getting a second 465 for module swapping and signal cross checking. 

two of everything is almost a TEA minimum.

ok,  now you can hunt me down and kill me like a dog.

Pah! That's for wimps. Real Men (TM) simply look at the schematic and think.

Inspiration:
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=lpY-DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT18&lpg=PT18&dq=%22richard+feynman%22+repair+radios&source=bl&ots=tpQ8qk5B7S&sig=on4QeG40j2Rlm_UUSIY3nac1CvE



Feynman?!?

Why'd you have to bring RELIGION into this?  :-DD



mnem
"“Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”
« Last Edit: July 05, 2018, 08:24:08 pm by mnementh »
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Offline basinstreetdesign

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #12782 on: July 05, 2018, 08:27:53 pm »

hate to say this.......and you will probably curse my eyes for suggesting it......BUT.....maybe you should consider getting a second 465 for module swapping and signal cross checking. 

two of everything is almost a TEA minimum.

ok,  now you can hunt me down and kill me like a dog.

No I won't.....because I had the same thought! A true TEA addict.  :-DD

The 465 is securely tucked away in the bottom of the scope cart waiting for the day when I pull it out and we do battle again.  :box: ;D

That's the best course.  Someday soon, just as you are waking up in the morning, you will remember something you forgot to check...
STAND BACK!  I'm going to try SCIENCE!
 

Offline nixiefreqq

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #12783 on: July 05, 2018, 08:40:09 pm »
Sometimes you have to accept defeat. I just spent hours putting the vertical board back into the 465 and the result is the scope is in worse shape than when I started. Channel 1 trace but no response to any input. Channel 2 no trace at all. I checked and double checked all connections and they're OK. I'm in no mood at this point to try to toubleshoot this mess. But I'm not scrapping it, although tempted. I'm putting it away and I'll come back to it another day. It's rare that I can't fix a piece of equipment but this 465 is kicking my butt. So to avoid doing something stupid it will be put away...for now.


hate to say this.......and you will probably curse my eyes for suggesting it......BUT.....maybe you should consider getting a second 465 for module swapping and signal cross checking. 

two of everything is almost a TEA minimum.

ok,  now you can hunt me down and kill me like a dog.

Pah! That's for wimps. Real Men (TM) simply look at the schematic and think.

Inspiration:
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=lpY-DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT18&lpg=PT18&dq=%22richard+feynman%22+repair+radios&source=bl&ots=tpQ8qk5B7S&sig=on4QeG40j2Rlm_UUSIY3nac1CvE

I am a dirty low down unrepentant board swapper.

no nobel prize for me.
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Offline bitseekerTopic starter

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #12784 on: July 05, 2018, 08:41:38 pm »
The 465 is securely tucked away in the bottom of the scope cart waiting for the day when I pull it out and we do battle again.  :box: ;D

He who fights and puts away, gets to Widlarize it another day. ;D
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Offline med6753

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #12785 on: July 05, 2018, 09:26:07 pm »
Delivered. Quick check and it powers up and works. Don't have time for pix or pron right now. I have to get ready for work.

Tomorrow morning full details.  :-/O
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Online tggzzz

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #12786 on: July 05, 2018, 09:40:03 pm »
Sometimes you have to accept defeat. I just spent hours putting the vertical board back into the 465 and the result is the scope is in worse shape than when I started. Channel 1 trace but no response to any input. Channel 2 no trace at all. I checked and double checked all connections and they're OK. I'm in no mood at this point to try to toubleshoot this mess. But I'm not scrapping it, although tempted. I'm putting it away and I'll come back to it another day. It's rare that I can't fix a piece of equipment but this 465 is kicking my butt. So to avoid doing something stupid it will be put away...for now.


hate to say this.......and you will probably curse my eyes for suggesting it......BUT.....maybe you should consider getting a second 465 for module swapping and signal cross checking. 

two of everything is almost a TEA minimum.

ok,  now you can hunt me down and kill me like a dog.

Pah! That's for wimps. Real Men (TM) simply look at the schematic and think.

Inspiration:
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=lpY-DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT18&lpg=PT18&dq=%22richard+feynman%22+repair+radios&source=bl&ots=tpQ8qk5B7S&sig=on4QeG40j2Rlm_UUSIY3nac1CvE



Feynman?!?

Why'd you have to bring RELIGION into this?  :-DD



mnem
"“Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

Not religion, mysticism.

At least scientific mysticism is more on-topic than the politics of taxation.
There are lies, damned lies, statistics - and ADC/DAC specs.
Glider pilot's aphorism: "there is no substitute for span". Retort: "There is a substitute: skill+imagination. But you can buy span".
Having fun doing more, with less
 

Offline nixiefreqq

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #12787 on: July 05, 2018, 10:29:07 pm »
The 465 is securely tucked away in the bottom of the scope cart waiting for the day when I pull it out and we do battle again.  :box: ;D

He who fights and puts away, gets to Widlarize it another day. ;D

was unfamiliar with the widlar method until one time we got pulled to figure out why a previously long time trouble free circuit was down.  spent about 2 hours fiddling with the crypto (kg84a or kiv7...don't remember).  then we buzzed out a brand new looking rs 530 patch cord and found it had an open signal ground.   showed the local tech control guy the now working circuit and the bad patch cord.  to our amazement he took the bad cord and hung it back up with all the other spare cords (despite our protest!).  he actually said "those patch cords are $35 each, you can't just throw them away".  my buddy "ugly bob" grabbed a pair of dikes off the tool board and cut the bastard into a dozen or so 2 inch pieces.   then he explained what it meant to widlarize broke shit lest it return to haunt you.

one of many valuable things ugly bob taught me. 
« Last Edit: July 05, 2018, 10:52:18 pm by nixiefreqq »
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Offline bd139

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #12788 on: July 05, 2018, 10:48:03 pm »
Just a warning however. I used to work with a guy years ago and we decided to widlarize the NDS server when we switched over to AD. So out it went into the car park, two clue bats were located (2x4’s) and the shit was merrily beaten out of it.

On the way back in, hey X you’re bleeding. Oh where? There was a 4 in long metal splinter from some front panel shielding that had gone through his trouser leg and he was pissing blood out like a tap. Cue me scrubbing blood out of footwell carpets that evening after I ran him up to the hospital. Not a major injury fortunately but you can imagine where it can go.

Some kit bites back :)

Also advice from Bob Pease who used a Maxim calendar in his car footwell to protect it from dirt (and blood potentially)

And on that note I’m going to bed.
 

Offline mnementh

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #12789 on: July 05, 2018, 11:03:42 pm »
Pah! That's for wimps. Real Men (TM) simply look at the schematic and think.

Inspiration:
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=lpY-DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT18&lpg=PT18&dq=%22richard+feynman%22+repair+radios&source=bl&ots=tpQ8qk5B7S&sig=on4QeG40j2Rlm_UUSIY3nac1CvE



Feynman?!?

Why'd you have to bring RELIGION into this?  :-DD



mnem
"“Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

Not religion, mysticism.

At least scientific mysticism is more on-topic than the politics of taxation.

We spend much time talking about the great many ways in which our addictions tax us; spiritually, mentally and especially financially.  :-DD

A broad, unfiltered conversation about the nature of taxation and government is at worst a tangent; as long as we keep from devolving into political rants, (of which I'll proudly admit I've been guilty more than once) I think we're still well within the realm of friendly water-cooler talk. :o

That said... Feynman has become something of a religion in his own right within certain scientific circles; enough so that it has become the point of a number of jokes within said circles, which is where I was going with that quip...     :bullshit:

Just a warning however. I used to work with a guy years ago and we decided to widlarize the NDS server when we switched over to AD. So out it went into the car park, two clue bats were located (2x4’s) and the shit was merrily beaten out of it.

On the way back in, hey X you’re bleeding. Oh where? There was a 4 in long metal splinter from some front panel shielding that had gone through his trouser leg and he was pissing blood out like a tap. Cue me scrubbing blood out of footwell carpets that evening after I ran him up to the hospital. Not a major injury fortunately but you can imagine where it can go.

Some kit bites back :)

Also advice from Bob Pease who used a Maxim calendar in his car footwell to protect it from dirt (and blood potentially)

And on that note I’m going to bed.

Not to cast aspersions upon your process, but if you'd used the approved HP P/N 19511-80014, this could have been averted.  :-DD

Also, you clearly did not place the NDS Server in the center of a pentagram painted in the blood of interns and pointed with hallowed candles, or decommission said server from the command line with the holy writ of rm -rf / to exorcise the demon from its cybernetic soul.

Fortunately for you the blood sacrifice of Mr X seems to have inadvertently sanctified the decommissioning anyways, so you SHOULD be safe. Until the next release, anyways...


mnem
I don't Widlarize; I simply apply the principles of percussive maintenance at multiple points in the triage process. >:D
« Last Edit: July 05, 2018, 11:32:19 pm by mnementh »
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Online tggzzz

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #12790 on: July 05, 2018, 11:48:44 pm »
showed the local tech control guy the now working circuit and the bad patch cord.  to our amazement he took the bad cord and hung it back up with all the other spare cords (despite our protest!).  he actually said "those patch cords are $35 each, you can't just throw them away".  my buddy "ugly bob" grabbed a pair of dikes off the tool board and cut the bastard into a dozen or so 2 inch pieces.

Quite right too.

I've occasionally warned new engineers that "saving" bad RF cables will result in two unwanted things being widlarised. The dawning comprehension is pleasant to behold; the speed of comprehension is a useful guide.
There are lies, damned lies, statistics - and ADC/DAC specs.
Glider pilot's aphorism: "there is no substitute for span". Retort: "There is a substitute: skill+imagination. But you can buy span".
Having fun doing more, with less
 

Offline chris_leyson

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #12791 on: July 05, 2018, 11:57:29 pm »
Quote
My pile of D83’s is sitting in the hall waiting for the motivation to overcome some nasty hurdles too.
Nice ;D
 

Offline Specmaster

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #12792 on: July 06, 2018, 01:27:56 am »
Well Ebay might be dead as far finding new items of TE to feed my TEA addiction but I've sold a couple of items in the last few days, sadly I have had to part company with my HP 1740A and also my Keithley 160 as I had neither the real need for them or the space to keep them as my gear has to be used to warrant a place in my collection. I did love that 1740A but out of my scopes, it was also the one most likely to fail on me as it has let me down a couple of times with the poor connections between boards that need to be wriggled every now and then :palm: My Iwatsu and Hitachi have been faultless in their performance.

The 160, rock solid as it has been everytime I did manage to use it, was sadly lacking the AC functions that other meters have and was only a 3.5 digit and I have plenty of handhelds that cover that area for me with more ranges / features, yes I know you Nixie lovers will probably hate me that, but it needed to be somewhere where it might be more appreciated  :-+, so I gave it its freedom  :-DD

Now I'll have to wait for something else to crop up that catches my eye, not had much time for TEA activities laterly, helping my eldest Son move into his new flat with all the trials and tribulations that go along with the territory.
Who let Murphy in?

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Offline nixiefreqq

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #12793 on: July 06, 2018, 02:01:46 am »
Well Ebay might be dead as far finding new items of TE to feed my TEA addiction but I've sold a couple of items in the last few days, sadly I have had to part company with my HP 1740A and also my Keithley 160 as I had neither the real need for them or the space to keep them as my gear has to be used to warrant a place in my collection. I did love that 1740A but out of my scopes, it was also the one most likely to fail on me as it has let me down a couple of times with the poor connections between boards that need to be wriggled every now and then :palm: My Iwatsu and Hitachi have been faultless in their performance.

The 160, rock solid as it has been everytime I did manage to use it, was sadly lacking the AC functions that other meters have and was only a 3.5 digit and I have plenty of handhelds that cover that area for me with more ranges / features, yes I know you Nixie lovers will probably hate me that, but it needed to be somewhere where it might be more appreciated  :-+, so I gave it its freedom  :-DD

Now I'll have to wait for something else to crop up that catches my eye, not had much time for TEA activities laterly, helping my eldest Son move into his new flat with all the trials and tribulations that go along with the territory.


you sir are a hard piece of work.

only a man of notoriously vicious and intemperate disposition could part with a 1740a AND a piece of nixie equipment (and both in the same week!).

your infamy will become legend.


(ok.....i stole most of that from a clint eastwood movie.  but hey........are you made of stone?)


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Offline Specmaster

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #12794 on: July 06, 2018, 02:16:11 am »
@nixiefreqq, I confess my sins looking absolution, if it's any consolation, I do have 3  other HP items that I have no intention of parting with, they are 2 x 3466A and 3478A. As for the Nixie, well I think its gone to a good home where it will be treated like a lord.

The 1740A was too large and heavy for my small bench area which is better suited to a smaller size of scope, which my other 3 are. I know it was not all that long ago that I nursed it back to health after it had been sorely neglected by its previous owner and I do know that it has gone a lover of vintage HP gear and will his jewel in the crown, so all's well that ends well. :popcorn:
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Offline bitseekerTopic starter

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #12795 on: July 06, 2018, 02:17:21 am »
As everyone is in mourning during this, the great eBay drought of 2018, I shall tease you with the up-and-coming arrival of a piece of vintage electronics. Alas, it is not test gear, but it does plug into the wall and has buttons, switches and glowing digits, lots of glowing digits. ^-^
TEA is the way. | TEA Time channel
 

Offline mnementh

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #12796 on: July 06, 2018, 02:24:11 am »
showed the local tech control guy the now working circuit and the bad patch cord.  to our amazement he took the bad cord and hung it back up with all the other spare cords (despite our protest!).  he actually said "those patch cords are $35 each, you can't just throw them away".  my buddy "ugly bob" grabbed a pair of dikes off the tool board and cut the bastard into a dozen or so 2 inch pieces.

Quite right too.

I've occasionally warned new engineers that "saving" bad RF cables will result in two unwanted things being widlarised. The dawning comprehension is pleasant to behold; the speed of comprehension is a useful guide.

Hmmm... old man Basche (the guy who gave me my start in electronics) taught me instead to tie a knot in the end of the bad cable and toss it in the "Salvage box". He came from an A/V background, and according to him, this was a universally understood warning that a cable was bad and needed repair before it could be returned to service. However, this was also a time when most cables were repairable and quality cables were quite expensive. As operating frequencies got higher and higher, cabling evolved into the disposable charlie foxtrot we take for granted nowadays.

I still make it a habit to cut the broken ends off 10-25ft Cat5 Cat6 cables and keep a few dozen in the cable box for reserve; I can reterminate and test while I watch my Buffy/Angel reruns.  :-DD

But I'd NEVER put them back up in with my "good" cables.  :palm:

Well Ebay might be dead as far finding new items of TE to feed my TEA addiction but I've sold a couple of items in the last few days, sadly I have had to part company with my HP 1740A and also my Keithley 160 as I had neither the real need for them or the space to keep them as my gear has to be used to warrant a place in my collection. I did love that 1740A but out of my scopes, it was also the one most likely to fail on me as it has let me down a couple of times with the poor connections between boards that need to be wriggled every now and then :palm: My Iwatsu and Hitachi have been faultless in their performance.

The 160, rock solid as it has been everytime I did manage to use it, was sadly lacking the AC functions that other meters have and was only a 3.5 digit and I have plenty of handhelds that cover that area for me with more ranges / features, yes I know you Nixie lovers will probably hate me that, but it needed to be somewhere where it might be more appreciated  :-+, so I gave it its freedom  :-DD

Now I'll have to wait for something else to crop up that catches my eye, not had much time for TEA activities laterly, helping my eldest Son move into his new flat with all the trials and tribulations that go along with the territory.

you sir are a hard piece of work.

only a man of notoriously vicious and intemperate disposition could part with a 1740a AND a piece of nixie equipment (and both in the same week!).

your infamy will become legend.


(ok.....i stole most of that from a clint eastwood movie.  but hey........are you made of stone?)

"He was Tougher Than Leather;
And he didn't care whether
The sun shined or not..."



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Flying high, flying high...
To a place, from a place;
Changing skies, changing skies..."
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Offline Brumby

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #12797 on: July 06, 2018, 03:51:36 am »
As everyone is in mourning during this, the great eBay drought of 2018, ......

Just another hapless day in Oz.
 

Offline Cubdriver

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #12798 on: July 06, 2018, 04:40:08 am »
@nixiefreqq, I confess my sins looking absolution, if it's any consolation, I do have 3  other HP items that I have no intention of parting with, they are 2 x 3466A and 3478A. As for the Nixie, well I think its gone to a good home where it will be treated like a lord.

The 1740A was too large and heavy for my small bench area which is better suited to a smaller size of scope, which my other 3 are. I know it was not all that long ago that I nursed it back to health after it had been sorely neglected by its previous owner and I do know that it has gone a lover of vintage HP gear and will his jewel in the crown, so all's well that ends well. :popcorn:

I suppose it can be looked at as being similar to fostering kittens.  You get them healthy and strong, then let them move on to good homes.  I'm no good at that, which is why I don't foster kittens - I'd have more of them than I currently do test gear.  It's good that some among us can occasionally be dispassionate enough to have the strength to let things move on to new homes when it's appropriate.

-Pat
If it jams, force it.  If it breaks, you needed a new one anyway...
 

Offline med6753

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #12799 on: July 06, 2018, 05:54:42 am »
The big reveal....Fluke 1900A Multi-Function Counter.

Measuring "Time" output on Heath IG-4244 Scope Calibrator. And it agrees with my Chinese Frequency Counter.



Ready to break the seal. Don't know last calibration date but the sticker seems recent.



Lots of vintage DIPS




Siemen's supply caps. Did a quick check of the supply and it's OK but I think these caps should be changed out.



No more empty space on the stack of Flukes. Got a good deal on the counter. $35 USD plus $9 USD shipping.

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