Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Ero-Shan]

A few days ago ...

... there was a CRO on the bay that looked like I might get it cheaply. For parts only, smashed BNC, missing knob. Somehow it reminded me of the very first scopes I had seen as a young boy. And not much money lost, anyway. I actually got it for 6.50 € + 9.50 € shipping.

It is a Philips PM3230, a true dual beam scope:


The overall appearance of the instrument is (to me) that Philips tried to create an instrument for the professional market: The PCBs are layed out nicely, it is unclobbered, the trimmers are mostly separated from the PCBs, labeled and arranged neatly.

Alas, the ordeal of shipping - although not too shabby packaged - was too much for the power switch, and, even worse, for all those plastic PCB mounts. Upon opening, a small pile of broken plastic emerged.





Please note the huge diameter of the CRT where the deflection plates are connected!

There also has been a repair (attempt?) that does make me uneasy. Repaired/original channel side by side:


In it's current condition, I won't try to power it up (there are some broken wires from the not fastened PCB, after all). But at least it has got all tubes, so I won't complain.

From what I've read, the scope seems to be rather unstable. The combination of tubes and germanium transistors wasn't a match made in heaven.

One fine day, I hope I might see a trace on that screen.

One more thing: That was the time when they all used those 'quick open/close' screw-like mechanisms instead of real screws. If only they ever worked!

[Specmaster]

No, I was talking about the hospitalized figures and that is what was presented a while ago, that only around 1% of those confirmed and admitted to hospitals would die, whereas in reality it is around 10%, so it is worse than we were at first lead to believe.

OK, we're on the same page now, sort of. The case fatality rate is ~1% give or take, that's what I and most people, certainly epidemiologists, would casually call a fatality rate. That's the figure that's been bandied about, not the fatality rate for people admitted to hospital - which could easily be on the close order of 10%. So reality is bearing out the predictions, it's as bad as predicted not, thankfully, worse.

It sure is if you are one of those, or you know someone who has been admitted to hospital, that there about a 10% chance that you won't survive, especially as its only early days yet and that figure will get worse, I'm sure.

Looking at the figures, the UK has one of the highest death rates.

This website has a goof graphical and plausible explanation of how this has spread so far and so quickly, you will need to keep scrolling down to see the animation unfold.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/03/22/world/coronavirus-spread.html

[med6753]

Yo gang....you all need to step away from the keyboard for a while. I'm sensing tinges of paranoia in here and that ain't good.  Find a diversion to take your mind off things.

It's a beautiful Spring day here with temp about 21 C and I've been outside for a few hours cleaning all the Winter grime out the engine compartments of both cars. It's excellent therapy.     

I can post pictures if requested.

[bd139]

Yo gang....you all need to step away from the keyboard for a while. I'm sensing tinges of paranoia in here and that ain't good.  Find a diversion to take your mind off things.

It's a beautiful Spring day here with temp about 21 C and I've been outside for a few hours cleaning all the Winter grime out the engine compartments of both cars. It's excellent therapy.     

I can post pictures if requested.

Good advice. I’m cooking an ass blasting chilli at the moment and I’m going to sit in the garden and eat it 

[Specmaster]

@Ero-Shan, that is nice, reminds me of my old Cossor, that was a true dual beam as well, but was all tube.

[Cerebus]

Looking at the figures, the UK has one of the highest death rates.

I wouldn't read too much into that. Accounting for the differences in how the statistics were gathered, how people have been categorised and so on would explain the differences between countries with comparable health care capabilities and population demographics.

Surprisingly, the UK is one of the best at producing statistics for national purposes, a legacy of having a dedicated official statistical service (which has taken a kicking in recent 'austerity' politics). I say surprisingly because it's rare these days for the UK to be "world class" at anything, and most people would expect that our highly bureaucratic neighbours, the French, or our famously efficient cousins, the Germans, to be better at that kind of thing than us. The Dutch have always been famously good at national statistics too.

[AVGresponding]

Edit: random technical question for the experts in here seeing as we seem to have such diverse interests and knowledge: can someone recommend a lighter that isn't a piece of shit? I don't smoke and the last one I had was a zippo which was basically perpetually used to set off fireworks when I was a teenager and was a pain in the arse and nearly burned me to death on several occasions

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/USB-Electric-Rechargeable-ARC-Flameless-Windproof-Plasma-Lighter-Aluminum-Metal/123937087472

No need to buy expensive cans of flammable materials, these are refilled by plugging into a wall-wart/powerbank etc. The long neck is a nice touch for distancing yourself from the reactions of whatever it is you're igniting...


Sniped (manually) an 87-V earlier today, £112 isn't exactly jammy-git territory, but it's not a bad price imo

[mansaxel]

Fairly good condition with all the bits but already a bit much for me and not 'needed'  eBay auction: #293535499340

ooooh, a 410B. I've almost got one. My 428B wants company. But that's too far away, and a bit much. A legendary bit of kit, though.

[Specmaster]

Yo gang....you all need to step away from the keyboard for a while. I'm sensing tinges of paranoia in here and that ain't good.  Find a diversion to take your mind off things.

It's a beautiful Spring day here with temp about 21 C and I've been outside for a few hours cleaning all the Winter grime out the engine compartments of both cars. It's excellent therapy.     

I can post pictures if requested.

Yep, I've been in the garden this afternoon with my new weed wacker, the old one just flew to bits and destroyed itself completely BER last week so had to pop out and get another, hence my trip to Sainsbury's as there is an Argos store inside and was open, standalone stores have all been closed for the duration. So in the sensible and responsible manner, I combined the collection of it with a normal shopping trip and did the best part of a weekly shop at the same time.   

[Cerebus]

I’m cooking an ass blasting chilli at the moment and I’m going to sit in the garden and eat it 

Here: Grilled chicken marinated in olive oil, lime juice, smoked paprika and chilli. Accompanied by roast maris piper spuds, roast parsnips, steamed carrots and steamed fine green beans. Veggie sausages for SWMBO.

In other news, the moon is at perigee of 221,773 miles in about 9 minutes (19:08 BST).

[med6753]

What the hell, I'll post the pictures anyway.

2013 Honda CR-V. 42K miles (68Km)



2004 Honda Civic. 191K miles (306Km). Not bad for a 16 year old car. Cleaner than some people's houses. 

   

[Cerebus]

...itself completely BER last week ...

My mind is conditioned to read that as Bit Error Rate and it took a few seconds too long to decode.

[Specmaster]

Looking at the figures, the UK has one of the highest death rates.

I wouldn't read too much into that. Accounting for the differences in how the statistics were gathered, how people have been categorised and so on would explain the differences between countries with comparable health care capabilities and population demographics.

Surprisingly, the UK is one of the best at producing statistics for national purposes, a legacy of having a dedicated official statistical service (which has taken a kicking in recent 'austerity' politics). I say surprisingly because it's rare these days for the UK to be "world class" at anything, and most people would expect that our highly bureaucratic neighbours, the French, or our famously efficient cousins, the Germans, to be better at that kind of thing than us. The Dutch have always been famously good at national statistics too.

I think that we have a world-class system mainly comes from the fact we have such a huge number civil servants or unelected bureaucrats, far more than the EU ever had so we have people who have had the time to finely hone their skill set and collate the data efficiently.

[med6753]

Fairly good condition with all the bits but already a bit much for me and not 'needed'  eBay auction: #293535499340

ooooh, a 410B. I've almost got one. My 428B wants company. But that's too far away, and a bit much. A legendary bit of kit, though.

Yea, Bean is our resident pimp. 

[Specmaster]

...itself completely BER last week ...

My mind is conditioned to read that as Bit Error Rate and it took a few seconds too long to decode.

That'll be the programmer in you then. Its always a bit risky to use abbreviations, because depending on what your background is, they will mean different things to different folks. 

[Cerebus]

I think that we have a world-class system mainly comes from the fact we have such a huge number civil servants or unelected bureaucrats, far more than the EU ever had so we have people who have had the time to finely hone their skill set and collate the data efficiently.

Oh, the Sir Humphreys and the like hate the Statistical Service because they work so hard to get accurate figures out rather than the 'right' figures. A cynic would say that partly accounts for why they've had such a hard time recently.

[Cerebus]

...itself completely BER last week ...

My mind is conditioned to read that as Bit Error Rate and it took a few seconds too long to decode.

That'll be the programmer in you then. Its always a bit risky to use abbreviations, because depending on what your background is, they will mean different things to different folks. 

No, it's the communications engineer in me.

[med6753]

I’m cooking an ass blasting chilli at the moment and I’m going to sit in the garden and eat it 

Here: Grilled chicken marinated in olive oil, lime juice, smoked paprika and chilli. Accompanied by roast maris piper spuds, roast parsnips, steamed carrots and steamed fine green beans. Veggie sausages for SWMBO.

In other news, the moon is at perigee of 221,773 miles in about 9 minutes (19:08 BST).

Here: Cod fish fillets with tartar sauce and spinach.

[Specmaster]

@med, Nice clean engine bays, how long did they take you to get like that? Most modern cars are almost completely filled in and over with plastic covers etc but I'm pleased to say that mine is pretty clean once I remove the covers. Not as good as yours but better than most I have seen.

[med6753]

In other news.....the grab bag of Tek probes recently won on Ebay should be delivered Saturday. Coming FedEx from Portland, Oregon. 

[med6753]

@med, Nice clean engine bays, how long did they take you to get like that? Most modern cars are almost completely filled in and over with plastic covers etc but I'm pleased to say that mine is pretty clean once I remove the covers. Not as good as yours but better than most I have seen.

It took a few hours total. The Civic has a small oil leak so I had to spray some degreaser first. Both got hosed down with water spray then dried with old towels. Plastic parts got Amor-all.

The Honda four cylinder engines tend NOT to have those massive plastic covers. Unlike most typical V-6 engines where you can't access anything until you remove the stupid covers which serve no function other than to look "pretty" 

[Specmaster]

In other news.....the grab bag of Tek probes recently won on Ebay should be delivered Saturday. Coming FedEx from Portland, Oregon. 

Good luck with that, I've been waiting for a battery to arrive, dispatched by 48 hour courier on the 1st and I'm still waiting for and the seller says I have to wait for 10 days before he can chase them on it, its only coming from 166 miles away 

[med6753]

In other news.....the grab bag of Tek probes recently won on Ebay should be delivered Saturday. Coming FedEx from Portland, Oregon. 

Good luck with that, I've been waiting for a battery to arrive, dispatched by 48 hour courier on the 1st and I'm still waiting for and the seller says I have to wait for 10 days before he can chase them on it, its only coming from 166 miles away 

I just went thru that with the 8505A. Took 6 days to go 120 miles. 

[Saskia]

in unrelated news, the new Dacia Sandero ...

nope.
Made progress with that Willem eprom burner.
Received a care package today from one of my friends containing loads of adapters.
Hooked up the parallel cable to that pin changer thingie and to the freshly installed WinXP computer
Ran the 5.5 program version, checked hw -> all present and accounted for
read a pinball eprom -> read ok, however could not make any sense of the data
read a c64 diag test cartridge eprom -> read ok, binary data readable and resembles 6502/6510 machine code (ok)
put in a new 27c256, blank test -> ok
programmed diag test rom into blank eprom -> ok
verify -> ok
manual check if data present -> ok
so, it seems to work.

Thanks to everyone who helped out.

[PA0PBZ]

It is a Philips PM3230, a true dual beam scope

You just have to love the Y_A and Y_B labels!