Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[mnementh]

The 7904 is back together and the results are it's still failing. But now I know why. Look at the pix. That's with the HV lead disconnected. The intensity and focus voltage are driving an image to the screen. The CRT is internally shorted. Rats! Went out on Ebay and found one guaranteed to work for a reasonable price. Just hope it gets here in one piece.

   Don't seem to be having any luck with CRT's lately. First it was the bad focus CRT in the 465B, then the wrong CRT in the OL-1. And now this. Oh well.

Edit, about 5 minutes after I took that pix the PSU shutdown and went into tick mode again. I had to disconnect the base of the CRT to get the PSU to come back up. That pretty much double confirms that the CRT is toast.

I'm sorry buddy.... I didn't mean to jinx ya. But I DID have a bad feeling when you described the symptoms. 

@bu508a, now that is what I call a hamfest the last one I saw anything remotely like it was at Ponders End fecking years ago. Nice photos, thanks for making us all jelly of you [emoji3]

 

Just to make it clear: my pictures are showing a very little part of the complete flea market. There was tons of RF gear and stuff which I didn't take pictures, because this would have doubled easily the amount of the photos.
The whole flea market lives in two exhibition halls of an estimated ground size of 50 to 150m.
In the second hall was an auction from one seller (Rosenkranz Elektronik  https://www.rosenkranz-elektronik.de/?site=index&change_language=english ) but they tend to have high prices. I think, I'll visit the HAM Radio next year as well, maybe some of you guys will show up there, too? 

And, the flea market is not the only place where things and gear will be sold. There is a third hall next to the flea market, where new stuff one can buy. For reasonable prices with a nice exhibition discount. Really, I'm glad that I'm allowing me only one day to visit the HAM Radio.    

Cheers,

Mounty

   Mmmm.... that's the kind of swap meet I remember from my childhood as well; the ComputerFests of the 80s & 90s also brought a lot of that crowd out of the woodworks. But we NEVER had Zeppelins!!!   Thanks for sharing! 

mnem
*Staying away from the bench today, just on GP*

[0culus]

The 7904 is back together and the results are it's still failing. But now I know why. Look at the pix. That's with the HV lead disconnected. The intensity and focus voltage are driving an image to the screen. The CRT is internally shorted. Rats! Went out on Ebay and found one guaranteed to work for a reasonable price. Just hope it gets here in one piece.



Don't seem to be having any luck with CRT's lately. First it was the bad focus CRT in the 465B, then the wrong CRT in the OL-1. And now this. Oh well.

Edit, about 5 minutes after I took that pix the PSU shutdown and went into tick mode again. I had to disconnect the base of the CRT to get the PSU to come back up. That pretty much double confirms that the CRT is toast.

Damn, that sucks. Fingers crossed the "new" crt arrives intact. 

[med6753]

Yes it do suck, big time.  I need to step away from the TEA bench for a while. It's a nice day. Going to go get the Civic out of the garage and rip some high RPM gears. 

[bd139]

Walking away is good. Having a day off too. I spent most of the morning dropping chemical weapons on the plants and animals in the garden 

Edit: also our neighbour has seen a rat in the garden and is having a paddy about it. Consdering rigging up something to toast the fucker.

[BU508A]

I may go. Might try and scam some free accomodation from the members of my family near Bulach as that's only 90km from Friedrichshafen

When you know for sure, let me know.     

[mnementh]

Walking away is good. Having a day off too. I spent most of the morning dropping chemical weapons on the plants and animals in the garden 

Edit: also our neighbour has seen a rat in the garden and is having a paddy about it. Consdering rigging up something to toast the fucker.

Which; the rat or the neighbour? 

mnem
If yer lucky, might git a twofer!!!

[bitseeker]

@bu508a, now that is what I call a hamfest the last one I saw anything remotely like it was at Ponders End fecking years ago. Nice photos, thanks for making us all jelly of you [emoji3]

 

Just to make it clear: my pictures are showing a very little part of the complete flea market.
There was tons of RF gear and stuff which I didn't take pictures, because this would have
doubled easily the amount of the photos.
The whole flea market lives in two exhibition halls of an estimated ground size of 50 to 150m.
In the second hall was an auction from one seller (Rosenkranz Elektronik  https://www.rosenkranz-elektronik.de/?site=index&change_language=english ) but they tend to have high prices.

I think, I'll visit the HAM Radio next year as well, maybe some of you guys will show up there, too? 

And, the flea market is not the only place where things and gear will be sold. There is a third hall next to
the flea market, where new stuff one can buy. For reasonable prices with a nice exhibition discount.
Really, I'm glad that I'm allowing me only one day to visit the HAM Radio.    

Wow, Mounty, that's impressive. I didn't know any show/fest still had that level of equipment appear. Thanks for sharing a sample!

[nixiefreqq]

Walking away is good. Having a day off too. I spent most of the morning dropping chemical weapons on the plants and animals in the garden 

Edit: also our neighbour has seen a rat in the garden and is having a paddy about it. Consdering rigging up something to toast the fucker.

Which; the rat or the neighbour? 

mnem


If yer lucky, might git a twofer!!!

did not see that coming (should have).

ya' made me laugh out loud.

thanks dragon.

[BU508A]

Noones curious what I've bought? 


Well, I'll show it to you anyway.   


First there were these nice little battery powered thermometers:
4,50 Euros each.



Next to them I've found a really nice RF case.
I have no idea right now what I'm gonna to do with it but I'm sure I'll have some ideas later.
12 Euros in its originally packing, dating from 1992.



I was looking for some tungsten carbide drills and here they are
15 Euros per box isn't that bad, is it?
They were used but they were sharpened again
and those guys seems to know what they are doing



They are also selling lots of PCB stuff, I've bought
three lab cards with solder points on both sides and some
double sided PCB cards in 160x100mm format



a nice 50Ohm BNC resistor for 1 Euro



OMRON relays! I love them. Found this tube of 25 G6A-234P 5V relays.
1 Euro/per relay. They are usually much more expensive.



Some netfilter and AC connectors with fuseholder and switch



Some Teflon (PTFE) stuff. Always nice to tinker with it.



A bunch of high quality cables from Multi Contact /Stäubli
for all of them: 25 Euros



The next things I've bought in the hall with all the new stuff.

This is a stainless steel tweezer, nicely shaped and VERY sharp!
12 Euros iirc.



These nice bits were made by forged steel with a hardness of 60 RC (Rockwell).
From top to bottom. 7 Euros each.



So, enough teasing for today.   

Over and out.

Cheers,

Mounty

[tggzzz]

Weather good for Newbury tomorrow. Hamfest it is.

Note the M4/A34 junction will be closed. Alternative routes are shown on the nadars page.

[med6753]

It felt good to get outside and blow off some steam after a few frustrating days with this 7904. I'm going back out later to a car show down in town. I'll take pix and post them if anyone is interested. Let me know.

In the meantime. Anal me don't like nasty surprises. So I did a "roll call" to make sure no one else is in sick bay.

2465 DMS...OK.


SDS 1052DL...OK


465B sans DM44 and 475A....OK


The 2465 and 2430 were just powered up 2 days ago and were OK. They are currently on the display shelf. 465B/DM44 and 7603N currently sleeping under bench. The 7603N will be pulled out tomorrow to complete a promised experiment that was supposed to be done with the 7904. That ain't happening. And I'll probably pull up the 465B/DM44 too. 

[bsfeechannel]

The 7904 is back together and the results are it's still failing. But now I know why. Look at the pix. That's with the HV lead disconnected. The intensity and focus voltage are driving an image to the screen. The CRT is internally shorted. Rats! Went out on Ebay and found one guaranteed to work for a reasonable price. Just hope it gets here in one piece.



Don't seem to be having any luck with CRT's lately. First it was the bad focus CRT in the 465B, then the wrong CRT in the OL-1. And now this. Oh well.

Edit, about 5 minutes after I took that pix the PSU shutdown and went into tick mode again. I had to disconnect the base of the CRT to get the PSU to come back up. That pretty much double confirms that the CRT is toast.

I have always wondered what can cause a short circuit in a vacuum tube. I mean, I know the short-circuited elements must have come into galvanic contact somehow, but what would cause that? Some deformation due to temperature? Displacement due to shock or vibration? 

[bd139]

Mechanical bits always fuck up first. That's a mechanical bit 

Weather good for Newbury tomorrow. Hamfest it is.

Note the M4/A34 junction will be closed. Alternative routes are shown on the nadars page.

Thanks for the heads up. My navigation sussed that out and is telling me to come off the junction before and go round the houses 

[PA0PBZ]

a nice 50Ohm BNC resistor for 1 Euro

That is a 10BASE-2 terminator, I still have a handful after we switched over to 10BASE-T

[tautech]

Scope roll call 
Good on ya Med, 4 out of 5 ain’t bad......better than the few busted CRO’s I’ve got....only one works.

Gutted for ya about that buggered CRT. 

[Neomys Sapiens]

Shame they didn't do an ATU in the same enclosures.

A defective/empty power supply case could change that!

[bitseeker]

a nice 50Ohm BNC resistor for 1 Euro

That is a 10BASE-2 terminator, I still have a handful after we switched over to 10BASE-T

Yep. I'm glad I kept all my 10Base-2 stuff to repurpose for the bench.

[Neomys Sapiens]

....The intensity and focus voltage are driving an image to the screen.....

I never heard of that possibility. Thanks for the new failure mode. And fingers crossed on that CRT.
(It's us against the parcel ogres, all the time)

[Neomys Sapiens]

a nice 50Ohm BNC resistor for 1 Euro

That is a 10BASE-2 terminator, I still have a handful after we switched over to 10BASE-T

Yep. I'm glad I kept all my 10Base-2 stuff to repurpose for the bench.

Shouldn't that have been 93Ohms, in case of 10Base2?

[bd139]

10base2 is 50 ohms. I put about 100 miles of that crap in when I was younger

93 ohm stuff was pretty damn expensive as it was special low capacitance stuff. I've never seen it in the wild.

[Specmaster]

Update time I feel after some of the juicy bits on here today, its a bit of damp squib by comparison. Yesterday the new blower motor for my car AC arrived from the father land and within 45 minutes we (my son and I) had fitted it, all working beautifully again apart from I now have an airbag error message appearing on the dash which means because I removed the glovebox, I had to disconnect the passenger airbag override switch and the cars computer monitors this and records it as a possible malfunction, so now I have find a way of resetting the error message, but boy oh boy, what joy it is to have some air in the car and how cold the AC feels now after being without it  I like the fact that the motor I purchased is identical to the one I took out, so that was win #1 and win #2 was that I saved my self a whooping big £343 doing myself.

Today the final transistors arrived for my conversion of a Hacker amp from Ge to Si devices, so I'll be starting that one soon. It'll be interesting to see just how loud it is once done because the output pair are both TO92 form, as are the rest of devices on this experiment, so no chance of putting a heat sink on them, unlike the old Ge TO1 devices. The other amp for the other Hacker radio, will be restored with Ge devices once they arrive, and a big shout to wch for his lovely assistance of some transistors in the post for that one.

All week I've been struggling with my right leg swelling up to massive tree trunk size, so a trip to see Doctor, who made a call to our local hospital and I have a leg scan on Monday for a suspected clot, and I'm not talking about me on the end of the leg either 

Then this week I sold a couple of cameras on eBay and today I scored a Technics Hi-Fi amp on eBay in need of some TLC before I stick it back on there again and tomorrow I have a 60th birthday party to attend, so its been a mixed bag this week and I'm hopeful of getting back onto the bench again and getting stuck in. 

[bd139]

Congrats on the car. As always the software is the dick bit. 



(from W1FB design notebook)

Hmm perhaps I should buy a .22 (yes we are allowed them here!)

Edit: anyone want a proper VTVM? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/223559339553

[tautech]

Hmm perhaps I should buy a .22 (yes we are allowed them here!)

How many 100 empty cases do you want ?
1000's in my scrap brass range buckets.

[med6753]

Hmm perhaps I should buy a .22 (yes we are allowed them here!)

If not I could send you some. I have a few hundred rounds of .22 LR. Wouldn't THAT be a hoot through the mail! 

[med6753]

Well, that was a disappointment. The local MickeyD's sponsors a car show every Saturday night from April thru October. There's usually 150 - 200 vintage cars. But not tonight. Almost a no show. Must be because school's just got out for the Summer and folks are starting vacations.

Oh well.