Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[grizewald]

Don't these morons understand that not everyone who fixes electronic equipment is a business

Is not possible register as a small business in Sweden, to get around this?

In the UK you can get set up with an officially registered company ID for almost no money.

To register a company in the simplest form costs about 175 GBP. The biggest problem is that as someone who is registered as owning a business, the yearly tax declaration is way more complicated and takes a lot longer to get processed. Plus you have to file yearly accounts. Both of these things apply regardless of turnover or profits.

It's simply not worth the hassle.

[beanflying]

Don't these morons understand that not everyone who fixes electronic equipment is a business

Is not possible register as a small business in Sweden, to get around this?

In the UK you can get set up with an officially registered company ID for almost no money.

To register a company in the simplest form costs about 175 GBP. The biggest problem is that as someone who is registered as owning a business, the yearly tax declaration is way more complicated and takes a lot longer to get processed. Plus you have to file yearly accounts. Both of these things apply regardless of turnover or profits.

It's simply not worth the hassle.

You seem to have an option to set up as a Sole Trader in Sweden? I currently have myself set up as the equivalent in Australia instead of a company structure. Costs here are under $100 AU ($70USD) for 3 years.

[Specmaster]

Cool stuff. I hate Easter weekend. I'm hoping an RS order turns up today so I can actually get on with something, else it's shelve until Tuesday 

I've had more parts arrive for the Pioneer amp so I have that I can get on with. I'm replacing the op-amp that is drive chain for the FETs, only this time its going to be socketed, it was the only component that just could get thoroughly clean from the liquid spill. When I extracted the chip it was thick syrup sitting there beneath it so I'm hoping that was the cause of the FETs smoking on last test when I disconnected the gates. A complete new set of FETs have now been fitted, fingers crossed. 

[med6753]

Cool stuff. I hate Easter weekend. I'm hoping an RS order turns up today so I can actually get on with something, else it's shelve until Tuesday 

I've had more parts arrive for the Pioneer amp so I have that I can get on with. I'm replacing the op-amp that is drive chain for the FETs, only this time its going to be socketed, it was the only component that just could get thoroughly clean from the liquid spill. When I extracted the chip it was thick syrup sitting there beneath it so I'm hoping that was the cause of the FETs smoking on last test when I disconnected the gates. A complete new set of FETs have now been fitted, fingers crossed.

Once again it appears the 4x attenuator has fallen into a black hole somewhere between Jersey City, NJ and here.  No update in nearly 2 days. 

[nixiefreqq]

Spent the evening with the guy who saved a workshop of electronics from a real estate agent's dumpster. Tested scopes, service monitors, power supplies and meters. I came away with a Fluke 8800 (working),  HP3400A (not working), HP PSU (not working, don't remember the number) and he has three scopes, two service monitors, and a power supply to sell on ebay.

The find of the evening came while we were sorting through boxes of printer switches, random power cords, etc:



Damn if it didn't have the AC adapter still attached and lit up when I hit the power switch.  Do you want it? I was just going to throw it in with a bunch of computers going to ecycle.  I allowed as I would find it useful and set it aside.

An HP45! Yes, the very same model my vo-tech instructor used to flaunt while checking our (slide-rule-calculated) quiz and test answers. I haven't seen one in more than forty years.  It cost 395USD in 1973 and was the first calculator to have a shift key

Happily, the battery (last changed in 1986) didn't leak. Tomorrow I will figure out how to build a replacement battery pack and put it back into daily use.

let me make a useful suggestion. 

those things have a way of slipping out of a pocket and landing smack in the middle of what would otherwise be a interesting TEA picture.

get a good sharp 3/16" drill bit and place a hole between the 7 and 8 key.  slip some paracord thru the opening and tie it securely.  make the other end of the cord fast to something stout. (the trailer hitch on a pickup comes to mind).

problem solved.

ps  that's why we are here...….to help people with their addictions...….and rpn is a disease.

[med6753]

Spent the evening with the guy who saved a workshop of electronics from a real estate agent's dumpster. Tested scopes, service monitors, power supplies and meters. I came away with a Fluke 8800 (working),  HP3400A (not working), HP PSU (not working, don't remember the number) and he has three scopes, two service monitors, and a power supply to sell on ebay.

The find of the evening came while we were sorting through boxes of printer switches, random power cords, etc:



Damn if it didn't have the AC adapter still attached and lit up when I hit the power switch.  Do you want it? I was just going to throw it in with a bunch of computers going to ecycle.  I allowed as I would find it useful and set it aside.

An HP45! Yes, the very same model my vo-tech instructor used to flaunt while checking our (slide-rule-calculated) quiz and test answers. I haven't seen one in more than forty years.  It cost 395USD in 1973 and was the first calculator to have a shift key

Happily, the battery (last changed in 1986) didn't leak. Tomorrow I will figure out how to build a replacement battery pack and put it back into daily use.

let me make a useful suggestion. 

those things have a way of slipping out of a pocket and landing smack in the middle of what would otherwise be a interesting TEA picture.

get a good sharp 3/16" drill bit and place a hole between the 7 and 8 key.  slip some paracord thru the opening and tie it securely.  make the other end of the cord fast to something stout. (the trailer hitch on a pickup comes to mind).

problem solved.

ps  that's why we are here...….to help people with their addictions...….and rpn is a disease.

Here we go with the 2 + 2 = 5 debate again.  You engineers are a funny lot. 

[mnementh]

First, the buy of the day, a Tektronix 2246 at auction with a starting bid of only 99.99USD...      BTW, shipping is 107.20USD   Only hours left...   

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Tektronix-2246-opt-1Y/323777886235?hash=item4b62aa781b:g:ySQAAOSwHghcpl69

I just died a little inside... 

99.99USD + shipping as well. There's no way that's going to sell. Free to a good home so some other poor broken life could possibly be saved otherwise it's landfill.

Whenever I see listings this fu**ed-up, my  detector goes nuts and I have to believe there's just got to be some some criminal activity involved. Like the listing is being used as a communication point for some drug deal, or it's part of a money-laundering/tax evasion scheme or something similarly convoluted.

The kind of twisted shit that only career criminals and those used to getting "money for nothing" ever even think of to game the system. 

   Fixed the focus and flicker issue on the 2247A, just needed a small adjustment on the astigmatism and readout jitter.  Ended up doing a full cal procedure, came out really nice!  Very happy with it!  Replacement graticule illumination knob on the way, then it will be 100%.

Yummmmm! Crispy!!! Well done! 

The 2247A looks great! I'm always amused by the arrangement of letters in the MHz on-screen label.

Yeah, that's what you get when you create the fonts yourself and bake it into your own silicon, instead of clicking together building blocks made by somebody else and kludging it together with slow-as-flurp EEPROMs and scary-ass spaghetti code. In some areas, even Samsung doesn't have the kind of vertical integration and in-house expertise that Tek pioneered.

mnem

[bd139]

You can do that shit with a 44780 controller these days. Cool use:

https://youtu.be/_bMoR3Q6gzM?t=244

[mnementh]

And yet more equipment in, um, strange condition and with optimistic pricing:

  Tektronix 1503 TDR Cable Tester
  Condition: Used
  “Used, sold as pictured, un able to test and will be sold in working order as shown”   
  US $379.99

No picture of a trace, naturally.

   One of the pictures shows it has clearly been bodged by adding unnecessarily crude terminals on the back. That, if nothing else, means you can never use it in the rain, nor store it underwater. Hence it cannot be to full spec    https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Tektronix-1503-TDR-Cable-Tester/264251751929

That's just the battery/charging module. Easily unfuckerized; either by replacement or epoxy abuse. I bet they did that so they could plug into a cigarette lighter... 

But yeah... the price is just nucking futz. Evidently they think it's some laboratory equipment, therefore must be worth zillions even decades old. 

LOL.

Try Telequipment. Yes we'll do that but at the same time we'll assemble a two board sandwich with a rat's nest of wires between them so you can't actually get into the middle either without resorting to MacGuyver bomb disposal techniques.  On their stuff I have taken to snipping the iffy components off as close to the body as possible, bending the remaining leads up and soldering the new component to the old leads.

Yup. "Top-side-only" repair technique is perfectly valid; there are lots of cases where disassembly is as likely to cause more damage than the original fault. 

DIPs can be similarly evil even on boards where the back IS accessible; some multilayer PCBs have very fragile vias, and once they've been soldered it's nigh-impossible to remove ALL the legs of a DIP (even nipped and removing one-at-a-time) without pulling the sleeve out of the hole. There your safest fix is to cut the leads flush with the body of the part using an X-acto knife, then lap-joint the new part to the old legs.

mnem
 

[med6753]

   Fixed the focus and flicker issue on the 2247A, just needed a small adjustment on the astigmatism and readout jitter.  Ended up doing a full cal procedure, came out really nice!  Very happy with it!  Replacement graticule illumination knob on the way, then it will be 100%.

Yummmmm! Crispy!!! Well done! 

The 2247A looks great! I'm always amused by the arrangement of letters in the MHz on-screen label.

Yeah, that's what you get when you create the fonts yourself and bake it into your own silicon, instead of clicking together building blocks made by somebody else and kludging it together with slow-as-flurp EEPROMs and scary-ass spaghetti code. In some areas, even Samsung doesn't have the kind of vertical integration and in-house expertise that Tek pioneered.

mnem

That may be true but prior generation had a slightly different format and larger font.

(Out of focus due to camera, not a trace issue)

[mnementh]

I've never ever ever done that.

Despite your sarcasm I'm still going to call you out on this. Of course you have. I have too. We ALL have done it. 

Neither have I heated the topside component lead and pulled, then sucked, then reinserted and soldered.

Again....Please.  I do that all the time when changing the beaded tants on the 465/475.

Nor tack soldered a new electrolytic in parallel with a suspect decoupler.

Now that I have not done. So you got me beat there. 

Guilty on all counts... though I've never done the last one as a permanent repair; only as a diag step. Well, okay... that's a lie.  I've done it on stuff I never intended to let anybody else use but me.  We've all MacGyver-fied stuff for our own use.   

And I've done some truly horrific stuff cutting & splicing to make power packs out of other power packs... 

Good / fast / cheap. Pick any two one. And hurry up; this POS already done pissed me off. 

mnem
*Hangs head in mock shame* 

[PA0PBZ]

I'm always amused by the arrangement of letters in the MHz on-screen label.

53310A MDA does the same:

[grizewald]

Ok then here the photos of the 2 Solartron 7150 plus meters that I managed to win at last weeks auction.

Those two are a stunning catch, nice one!

I would have been worried by the fact they came from RAF Sealand. Being right by the sea in North Wales is hardly a friendly environment for any test equipment. The fact that the cases are pretty much sealed on the Solartrons is probably what saved them from becoming salty horrors inside.

I'm calling today a winner. Took the car for its yearly inspection and it sailed through with no problems. Then I paid a visit to the local DHL depot to pick this up rather than wait until after Easter:



Double win!

[mnementh]

You can do that shit with a 44780 controller these days. Cool use:

https://youtu.be/_bMoR3Q6gzM?t=244

   That's neat... similar to the mini-SA function built into my new portable RF Power Meter (shown here in Duty Cycle mode):

Yeah, that's what you get when you create the fonts yourself and bake it into your own silicon, instead of clicking together building blocks made by somebody else and kludging it together with slow-as-flurp EEPROMs and scary-ass spaghetti code. In some areas, even Samsung doesn't have the kind of vertical integration and in-house expertise that Tek pioneered.

mnem

That may be true but prior generation had a slightly different format and larger font.      (Out of focus due to camera, not a trace issue)

Yes, but my point was that the entire MHz Hz part of the MHz symbol is a single custom character in a custom font, purpose-made and baked into the silicon, just so they could fit it all in the space of one character; and that they did this so it could be generated fast enough to render legibly in the space between sweeps on a 400MHz scope. In the age of the VIC-20 and Commodore-64.

Now THAT is some fucking hardcore engineering, and it was on something so mundane, we don't even give it a second thought... things like THAT are what set Tek apart. 



mnem
*Big fan of old school*

[bd139]

Totally agree. This was Philips' solution at the same time:



On scopes, I'm finding that the Tek 2225's trigger is a fuck load better than the Rigol one. Bear in mind it's a 50MHz unit it'll trigger up to 180MHz. Rigol one won't trigger at all on this particular waveform as it's got a high harmonic content unless I do a single capture. How did Rigol screw that up?

[PA0PBZ]

While picking up my 55310A MDA earlier this week I asked the previous owner if he had anything else interesting 
So he showed me this Racal Dana modulation meter and I offered to take it with me for EUR 50 which was accepted.
It autotunes from 1.5MHz to 2GHz, here's the beauty measuring 7KHz FM deviation, it looks like everything is working as it should.



Of course we also need to look inside (don't turn it on, ...) so here are the internals:

[bd139]

Nice. I love Racal stuff after getting those 9915's in. Stuff is way above par on the quality front. Possibly above HP.

[worsthorse]

First, the buy of the day, a Tektronix 2246 at auction with a starting bid of only 99.99USD...      BTW, shipping is 107.20USD   Only hours left...   

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Tektronix-2246-opt-1Y/323777886235?hash=item4b62aa781b:g:ySQAAOSwHghcpl69

I just died a little inside... 

99.99USD + shipping as well. There's no way that's going to sell. Free to a good home so some other poor broken life could possibly be saved otherwise it's landfill.

Whenever I see listings this fu**ed-up, my  detector goes nuts and I have to believe there's just got to be some some criminal activity involved. Like the listing is being used as a communication point for some drug deal, or it's part of a money-laundering/tax evasion scheme or something similarly convoluted.

The kind of twisted shit that only career criminals and those used to getting "money for nothing" ever even think of to game the system. 

mnem

such things seem to be common on other platfoms, like amazon... if the platform company turns a blind eye to questionable deals as long as they get their cut, well then, four dollar books get sold for four thousand dollars.  i'll spare you all the long version of this rant.
 

[tggzzz]

On scopes, I'm finding that the Tek 2225's trigger is a fuck load better than the Rigol one. Bear in mind it's a 50MHz unit it'll trigger up to 180MHz. Rigol one won't trigger at all on this particular waveform as it's got a high harmonic content unless I do a single capture. How did Rigol screw that up?

Good triggering is often vital when debugging, and always was a strong point with Tek scopes.

Here's an assessment: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/projects/which-oscilloscope-to-choose-for-libs/msg772010/#msg772010
which includes "Thus I used over 60 different customer supplied oscilloscopes.  ...  A surprising number of small 100 Mhz and up  low end scopes, no matter what vendor,  had lousy trigger hardware and even worse trigger software."

[med6753]

I've never ever ever done that.

Despite your sarcasm I'm still going to call you out on this. Of course you have. I have too. We ALL have done it. 

Neither have I heated the topside component lead and pulled, then sucked, then reinserted and soldered.

Again....Please.  I do that all the time when changing the beaded tants on the 465/475.

Nor tack soldered a new electrolytic in parallel with a suspect decoupler.

Now that I have not done. So you got me beat there. 

Guilty on all counts... though I've never done the last one as a permanent repair; only as a diag step. Well, okay... that's a lie.  I've done it on stuff I never intended to let anybody else use but me.  We've all MacGyver-fied stuff for our own use.   

And I've done some truly horrific stuff cutting & splicing to make power packs out of other power packs... 

Good / fast / cheap. Pick any two one. And hurry up; this POS already done pissed me off. 

mnem
*Hangs head in mock shame* 

Yep, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do! 



Can I get a touche??? 

[mnementh]

Totally agree. This was Philips' solution at the same time:      On scopes, I'm finding that the Tek 2225's trigger is a fuck load better than the Rigol one. Bear in mind it's a 50MHz unit it'll trigger up to 180MHz. Rigol one won't trigger at all on this particular waveform as it's got a high harmonic content unless I do a single capture. How did Rigol screw that up?

Same way they screwed up the linear regulators using in the acquisition section, same way they screwed up the attenuators... same way they screwed up the memory architecture so it generates artifacts. I'm sure that as the 1xxxZ family of instruments lives longer and longer, so will grow the list of "bugs". 

The difference of course being they're NOT EVEN IN THE SAME LEAGUE as Tek, even though Tek once contracted with them for production of Edu-grade instruments. That actually is the difference right there: Rigol is like the clarinet you buy for your kids' grade-school music classes; Tek is what a professional uses.

And the 24xx/7xxx series are their Stradivarius. And like a real Strad, they are a product of the age in which they were crafted; which means they are cantankerous, easily annoyed by varying climates, and require an accomplished operator to get the most out of them. 

mnem
*Also a product of the age in which I was crafted*

[beanflying]

Someone should really make @Med a nice 3DP Fan mount for that butchered horror show hack 

[med6753]

The difference of course being they're NOT EVEN IN THE SAME LEAGUE as Tek, even though Tek once contracted with them for production of Edu-grade instruments. That actually is the difference right there: Rigol is like the clarinet you buy for your kids' grade-school music classes; Tek is what a professional uses.

And the 24xx/7xxx series are their Stradivarius. And like a real Strad, they are a product of the age in which they were crafted; which means they are cantankerous, easily annoyed by varying climates, and require an accomplished operator to get the most out of them. 

mnem
*Also a product of the age in which I was crafted*

Cantankerous? That's my middle name. 

Easily annoyed by stupid people? Always. 

Accomplished? Absolutely! 

I guess me and my 2465's are a perfect fit.   

[med6753]

Someone should really make @Med a nice 3DP Fan mount for that butchered horror show hack 

I'm game. What you got? 

[mnementh]

Guilty on all counts... though I've never done the last one as a permanent repair; only as a diag step. Well, okay... that's a lie.  I've done it on stuff I never intended to let anybody else use but me.  We've all MacGyver-fied stuff for our own use.   

And I've done some truly horrific stuff cutting & splicing to make power packs out of other power packs... 

Good / fast / cheap. Pick any two one. And hurry up; this POS already done pissed me off. 

mnem
*Hangs head in mock shame* 

Yep, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do!        Can I get a touche??? 

Nope. I'm gonna cling to my position with a death-grip: That particular "fix" is an order of magnitude more evil than anything I've ever done; it went way beyond "Bodge", "MacGyver-fying" or "Empirical Engineering" and landed squarely in the "Butchery / Ghetto-rigged" category...   

I get needing the instrument WORKING... But no reason in the world you couldn't have left that back cover off until you get around to fixing it proper with a new fan motor or source a squirrelcage fan of the proper dimensions to fit in that spacious cavity. 

Of course, this is coming from a guy who just spent $75 to ship a gift Tek 454... so judge my position accordingly. 

I know full well that half the allure of that hack for you was knowing that it would make me cringe so hard you could hear it from all the way over there. 

mnem
Harrumphh!