Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Mr. Scram]

Not necessarily. MSFT are stopping selling CE licenses in 2020

It clear that Keysight has been working on a solution for that for a while. That certainly raises questions about the current lineup and new devices sold but support won't be dropped overnight.

[bd139]

EOL for support is 2023 (edit: or 2021 depending on version)

[Mr. Scram]

EOL for support is 2023 (edit: or 2021 depending on version)

These aren't exactly Windows desktop boxes where the end of Microsoft support means the end of the line.

[Neomys Sapiens]

And now for some time nuttery....

OCXO installed in the 5334B. All you have to do is move one capacitor over slightly. The thing is currently warming up. Since I took the photo it has settled on 9.99999983 MHz so will need a trim but it's a dual oven so you need to wait 5 mins for the inner oven to do its thing then 60 minutes for the outer one before even touching it. When the 5334B is plugged into the mains, powered up or not, the oven is actually active so usually there's no warm up time.

The benefit of this counter over other HP models is it is 100% silent. The transformer doesn't even hum!



Pictured also is the bodnar GPSDO which is pretty excellent. I'm very happy with it.

I'm sooo jealuos for having bought the wrong beast. That story has been told already. But IF I get that adaptor board, I'll have the adjustable and fused channel C! 

[med6753]

Up to this point I am ignorant of the terms "OCXO", "GPSDO", and the "PCOXO" given to me by nixiefreq and I hope in the near term to remain so. For I fear if I figure it out I will slide down that slippery slope of time-nut to which there is no return. For right now I ventured far enough to make all my time pieces at least match as much as they are capable. And I'm perfectly happy to be a Tek-nut and a 5.5 digit volt-nut. I'm even resisting up this point all this 6.5 digit stuff.     

[Mr. Scram]

Up to this point I am ignorant of the terms "OCXO", "GPSDO", and the "PCOXO" given to me by nixiefreq and I hope in the near term to remain so. For I fear if I figure it out I will slide down that slippery slope of time-nut to which there is no return. For right now I ventured far enough to make all my time pieces at least match as much as they are capable. And I'm perfectly happy to be a Tek-nut and a 5.5 digit volt-nut. I'm even resisting up this point all this 6.5 digit stuff.     

So you don't want to hang with the cool kids? That's fine I guess. 

[med6753]

Up to this point I am ignorant of the terms "OCXO", "GPSDO", and the "PCOXO" given to me by nixiefreq and I hope in the near term to remain so. For I fear if I figure it out I will slide down that slippery slope of time-nut to which there is no return. For right now I ventured far enough to make all my time pieces at least match as much as they are capable. And I'm perfectly happy to be a Tek-nut and a 5.5 digit volt-nut. I'm even resisting up this point all this 6.5 digit stuff.     

So you don't want to hang with the cool kids? That's fine I guess. 

I guess I'm a loser. 

[bd139]

Up to this point I am ignorant of the terms "OCXO", "GPSDO", and the "PCOXO" given to me by nixiefreq and I hope in the near term to remain so. For I fear if I figure it out I will slide down that slippery slope of time-nut to which there is no return. For right now I ventured far enough to make all my time pieces at least match as much as they are capable. And I'm perfectly happy to be a Tek-nut and a 5.5 digit volt-nut. I'm even resisting up this point all this 6.5 digit stuff.     

So you don't want to hang with the cool kids? That's fine I guess. 

you mean us sick and twisted OCD lot

[nfmax]

EOL for support is 2023 (edit: or 2021 depending on version)

These aren't exactly Windows desktop boxes where the end of Microsoft support means the end of the line.

Support is not the issue - if Microsoft won't sell you a CE license you can't make any new instruments. Been there, done that CE embedded -> XP embedded -> (Debian) Linux. With a reasonable HAL, and after some pain with the difference in threading models, it worked...

[Mr. Scram]

Support is not the issue - if Microsoft won't sell you a CE license you can't make any new instruments. Been there, done that CE embedded -> XP embedded -> (Debian) Linux. With a reasonable HAL, and after some pain with the difference in threading models, it worked...

Note my post before the one you replied to. New instruments aren't much of a worry when you have one on your desk.

[mnementh]

3 Hours of my life and counting  Windoze 10 updates, marketing crud 'magically installed' by KOBO or visiting email links and clicking, old ASUS Laptop and my 75+ year old mother - what could possibly go wrong   

Windoze install/updates... wasting your life 30-90 minutes at a time since the Reagan Administration. 

Support is not the issue - if Microsoft won't sell you a CE license you can't make any new instruments. Been there, done that CE embedded -> XP embedded -> (Debian) Linux. With a reasonable HAL, and after some pain with the difference in threading models, it worked...

Note my post before the one you replied to. New instruments aren't much of a worry when you have one on your desk.

Meh... they'll ALL rush to buy a million or so licenses the day before MS sez "DIE ALREADY!!!" and then they'll strongarm MS into maintaining their codebase until they have a 3-year-old version of Android implemented. Whoop-dee-fukkin' doo... *twirls finger in the air*

It's the circle of life, only with the BOFH at the top rather than hiding out in the basement... 

mnem
"This morning, I'm carefully adjusting the angle of the 8" hard drive propped precariously above my office door (where every 8" hard drive truly belongs) when the phone rings. Before I even think to reach for the handset, the hairs on the back of my neck start to tingle..."

[Specmaster]

FFS there are some chancers out there for sure.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/232972297216

^^ this turd is even missing a knob 

Surprised he didn't claim that it was the actual scope used in the film to justify his crazy valuation 

[med6753]

FFS there are some chancers out there for sure.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/232972297216

^^ this turd is even missing a knob 

Surprised he didn't claim that it was the actual scope used in the film to justify his crazy valuation 

And his mention of the supposedly valuable Mullard tubes (valves) is to entice an audio fool to buy it, rape it of it's tubes (valves), and scrap the rest. 

Gee.....the Heath S-3, V-7A, OL-1, and AG-9A all have "valuable" Mullard 12AU7's and 12AX7's in them. None of this GE or RCA rubbish. I could make a killing.     

[BU508A]

Hello,

yesterday I've vistied the HAM fest "UKW Tagung Weinheim 2019"

Here are some impressions, hope, you'll enjoy them.

Let's start at the entrance:


Variacs:


Vacuum tubes transmitter:


Collins coil:


vacuum switch:


various RF gear and HAM stuff:
   
   
   
   
   

    A SR-700A, whatever that is:
   

    several Kilowatts from the Russians:
   

    RF-Voodoo stuff:
   

    some antennas:
   

80's HiFi stack:


Aviation stuff:


A Galvanometer (picture fixed)


Modules and parts:
    Bandpass filters for R&S gear:
   

    EPCOS caps:
   

    channel crystals, I assume:
   

    YIG oscillators
   

    10 MHz OXCO's
   

    nice MOSFETs:
   

    shiny RF cases:
   

    rig cables, soft and cheap:
   

    Knobs, so many knobs:
   

    Schaeffner madness: 
   


ugly cheap Chinese stuff: 
   
   

    transparent soldering iron:
   

    cheap tools:
   

    fake Wiha bits:
   

Fluke:

    Fluke 83 series V
   

    Fluke 5100 calibrator:
   

Hewlett Packard:

    HP 8672A with dotted LED display
   

    HP 4140B pico Ampere meter (I was too slow, somebody else bought it. Blimey!) 
   

    HP power meters:
   

    HP stack:
   

Hameg and Rohde & Schwarz:

    stack 1 with an HM 8112-3 (I own one, very nice meter) 
   

    stack 2 with scope and function generator:
   

    stack 3, don't know, what this Rigol is doing here:
   

    R&S 10A PSU:
   

    R&S signal generator:
   

    a cute and tiny R&S scope:
   

    R&S with Nixie tubes:
   

Tektronix:
    Tek 2792 SA:
   

    Tek 11402 Digitzing Oscilloscope
   

A stack with a Philips RLC meter, some Hamegs, Keysight scope etc.


Another stack with various gear:


Gould 20MHz scope, overpriced:


Kathrein Impulsreflektometer:


very nice RLC meter:


dirty cheap mini PCs


USB Microscope and USB camera.



Shiny stuff, don't know, why this kind of stuff exists: 


for bd139 some cheap Philips probes:


Kelvin clips:


LORAN stuff:


Prey (want to build some E- and H-field probes):


This HAM fest is not as big as the HAM Radio in Friedrichshafen but is has its charme.
I think I'll visit again next year with a friend of mine.

Thanks for watching it. 

Edit: fixed typos and pictures

[xrunner]

Wow you didn't miss a thing and you didn't appear to break an attachment limit either! 

[med6753]

Wow! Now that's a Ham Fest! Thanks for posting. 

The last ham fest I attended had exactly ONE dealer selling new 2M rigs, 1 table with the ARRL, absolutely NO used stuff of any type, and 2 dozen grubby looking hobo's sitting around eating donuts and drinking coffee. 

[med6753]

Speaking of ham fests.....this one is a little over an hour from me. I think I will attend.

http://nutmeghamfest.com

[BU508A]

Wow you didn't miss a thing and you didn't appear to break an attachment limit either! 

Imgur is your friend 

[BU508A]

Speaking of ham fests.....this one is a little over an hour from me. I think I will attend.

http://nutmeghamfest.com

Have a lot of fun there. 

[Mr. Scram]

Imgur is your friend 

Another service to cease its operations and delete all the pictures in the process. We just had that happen and it's happened before. Using the forum itself is preferred for anything that may be of value more than a month in the future.

[worsthorse]

Up to this point I am ignorant of the terms "OCXO", "GPSDO", and the "PCOXO" given to me by nixiefreq and I hope in the near term to remain so. For I fear if I figure it out I will slide down that slippery slope of time-nut to which there is no return. For right now I ventured far enough to make all my time pieces at least match as much as they are capable. And I'm perfectly happy to be a Tek-nut and a 5.5 digit volt-nut. I'm even resisting up this point all this 6.5 digit stuff.     

So you don't want to hang with the cool kids? That's fine I guess. 

I guess I'm a loser. 

well... though i am on the time nuts and volts nuts reflectors, i've resisted the six plus digit DMMs so far, along with Gigahurtz oscilloscopes.  I just keep saying to myself...

they used slide rules to get apollo 11 to the moon and back. they used slide rules to get apollo 11 to the moon and back. they used slide rules...

 

[worsthorse]

Imgur is your friend 

Another service to cease its operations and delete all the pictures in the process. We just had that happen and it's happened before. Using the forum itself is preferred for anything that may be of value more than a month in the future.

cubeupload disappeared for a few days. now it is back. the good news is very few photos of anything i post here will have any value in a week, let alone a month. 

[Mr. Scram]

well... though i am on the time nuts and volts nuts reflectors, i've resisted the six plus digit DMMs so far, along with Gigahurtz oscilloscopes.  I just keep saying to myself...

they used slide rules to get apollo 11 to the moon and back. they used slide rules to get apollo 11 to the moon and back. they used slide rules...

 

They also used huge computers and F-1 rocket engines.

[mansaxel]

Up to this point I am ignorant of the terms "OCXO", "GPSDO", and the "PCOXO" given to me by nixiefreq and I hope in the near term to remain so. For I fear if I figure it out I will slide down that slippery slope of time-nut to which there is no return. For right now I ventured far enough to make all my time pieces at least match as much as they are capable. And I'm perfectly happy to be a Tek-nut and a 5.5 digit volt-nut. I'm even resisting up this point all this 6.5 digit stuff.     

Work is forcing me to become a Time Nut. And I'm actually only supposed to make certain people can surf, not doing anything sciency, just applied recipes.

Not that I was innocent in that becoming a landslide down the nuttery rabbit hole. Few residential broadband connections in this country have a TXCO-equipped GPS-steered NTP server with 1pps and 10MHz out, but here, it is part of the living room machinery rack.

Anyway, IEEE1588-2008 is upon me, and it simply needs to work at work.

[bd139]

Imgur is your friend 

Another service to cease its operations and delete all the pictures in the process. We just had that happen and it's happened before. Using the forum itself is preferred for anything that may be of value more than a month in the future.

Everything is ephemeral. Even Dave.