Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[MarvinTheMartian]

C'mon you guys, @cncjerry is missing the obvious.

The house is level, he's just got a faulty spirit level! 

Your worries are over Jerry - problem solved.

Keep buying more gear! 

[mtdoc]

My apologies.  You are correct.

My inexperience is showing.   

Ha! If my experience in other areas only matched my experience in coming up with justificatios for buying more test equipment.

[SingedFingers]

There's a 5328 and 5340 on ebay UK at the moment as well. Will mull that for a bit. There's also a Racal counter with a Rubidium standard in it as well but that's a bit out of budget for me at the moment.

It would be a big mistake to go to any hamfest in the vicinity of defence establishments.

(Exception: if you have booked and paid for a table to sell stuff )

I'm going to the Kempton Rally. May be interesting, or expensive

[Cubdriver]

I'm going to the Kempton Rally. May be interesting, or expensive

Or both....   

-Pat

[tggzzz]

There's a 5328 and 5340 on ebay UK at the moment as well. Will mull that for a bit. There's also a Racal counter with a Rubidium standard in it as well but that's a bit out of budget for me at the moment.

It would be a big mistake to go to any hamfest in the vicinity of defence establishments.

(Exception: if you have booked and paid for a table to sell stuff )

I'm going to the Kempton Rally. May be interesting, or expensive

Presumably you haven't taken one of their "flea tables" for £37 inc power

Since things can be demonstrated with power, it is less of a crapshoot than the "table in a field" rallies. There are the usual clear-out-the-attic stalls, and some person buy N things at auction and sells N-1 of them. I would expect there to be Tek scopes (456,475,485) for sale, so if you tried to sell yours there might be a glut on the market. Prices are less than fleabay, and as a rule of thumb you won't see secondhand stuff costing more than, say, £250.

There's the SERF Eastbourne rally the next week, which looks reasonable from the flyers. Any opinions?

[SingedFingers]

Presumably you haven't taken one of their "flea tables" for £37 inc power

Never!

Since things can be demonstrated with power, it is less of a crapshoot than the "table in a field" rallies. There are the usual clear-out-the-attic stalls, and some person buy N things at auction and sells N-1 of them. I would expect there to be Tek scopes (456,475,485) for sale, so if you tried to sell yours there might be a glut on the market. Prices are less than fleabay, and as a rule of thumb you won't see secondhand stuff costing more than, say, £250.

I haven't been to a rally since about 1995 TBH so I'm a virgin in that respect these days. Last time I went I had about £20 and stacked myself up with bags of mixed components at £1 each. These used to be good value; lots of high end Philips parts - 1% resistors, polyprop caps and canned transistors. Also got two HP-71B's for £1 each when they were kicking them out from the DHSS. I'm kicking myself as I have no idea where they went and they seem to got for a small fortune now. There was a whole table of hundreds of them in a pile with RAM pack and barcode readers.

As for this one, I'm going with £200 in cash in pocket. Plan is to try and land a decent counter from the 1970s/80s (HP/Racal/Marconi) and something random to play with. That's a small enough amount of cash that I won't be back with a whole car load of random stuff to sell on ebay as TBH I'm running out of boxes now. I have broken even this year so far though; my test gear spreadsheet is showing a total expenditure of about £11 after writing down all the sales against purchases and I've managed to stack myself up with decent kit now.

I'm going to post this here as I can't be bothered to drive across London to go and get it but there's a couple of Teks, a Philips supply and a TM500 unit in this lot starting at £25 here: http://www.go-dove.com/en/auction/view?id=11964447

[tggzzz]

Presumably you haven't taken one of their "flea tables" for £37 inc power

Never!

Since things can be demonstrated with power, it is less of a crapshoot than the "table in a field" rallies. There are the usual clear-out-the-attic stalls, and some person buy N things at auction and sells N-1 of them. I would expect there to be Tek scopes (456,475,485) for sale, so if you tried to sell yours there might be a glut on the market. Prices are less than fleabay, and as a rule of thumb you won't see secondhand stuff costing more than, say, £250.

I haven't been to a rally since about 1995 TBH so I'm a virgin in that respect these days. Last time I went I had about £20 and stacked myself up with bags of mixed components at £1 each. These used to be good value; lots of high end Philips parts - 1% resistors, polyprop caps and canned transistors. Also got two HP-71B's for £1 each when they were kicking them out from the DHSS. I'm kicking myself as I have no idea where they went and they seem to got for a small fortune now. There was a whole table of hundreds of them in a pile with RAM pack and barcode readers.

As for this one, I'm going with £200 in cash in pocket. Plan is to try and land a decent counter from the 1970s/80s (HP/Racal/Marconi) and something random to play with. That's a small enough amount of cash that I won't be back with a whole car load of random stuff to sell on ebay as TBH I'm running out of boxes now. I have broken even this year so far though; my test gear spreadsheet is showing a total expenditure of about £11 after writing down all the sales against purchases and I've managed to stack myself up with decent kit now.

You should be able to get stuff like that. There's also someone selling surplus high quality microwave components, and the usual market stalls of LEDs and heatshrink. I did see an HP1740A going for £5, but someone else got it!

I'm going to post this here as I can't be bothered to drive across London to go and get it but there's a couple of Teks, a Philips supply and a TM500 unit in this lot starting at £25 here: http://www.go-dove.com/en/auction/view?id=11964447

Ach! Looks like that sale includes stuff from a company that has been on the same site since 1738, i.e. 279 years - the Whitechapel Bell foundry.

There's also a 7904 with (it looks like) sampling plugins, but you've got to buy the entire room!

[VK5RC]

C'mon you guys, @cncjerry is missing the obvious.

The house is level, he's just got a faulty spirit level! 

Your worries are over Jerry - problem solved.

Keep buying more gear! 

True , I really sad to say but do you have just the one spirit level , it could be out of calibration and some really good machinist levels are available for good prices on eBay.
(I am a sick puppy.)

[SingedFingers]

You should be able to get stuff like that. There's also someone selling surplus high quality microwave components, and the usual market stalls of LEDs and heatshrink. I did see an HP1740A going for £5, but someone else got it!

Damn I would have been on that like a seagull on chips.

How early do you have to turn up to get the bargains?

Ach! Looks like that sale includes stuff from a company that has been on the same site since 1738, i.e. 279 years - the Whitechapel Bell foundry.

There's also a 7904 with (it looks like) sampling plugins, but you've got to buy the entire room!

Ooh I'm slightly tempted. My Ltd company could do with some lateral diversification.

[tggzzz]

You should be able to get stuff like that. There's also someone selling surplus high quality microwave components, and the usual market stalls of LEDs and heatshrink. I did see an HP1740A going for £5, but someone else got it!

Damn I would have been on that like a seagull on chips.

I was in the early stages of my affliction and hadn't developed the habit of repairing them, Much as I like my HP1740A, didn't want a second one that needed repairing. That was there relatively late in the day; it wasn't snapped up in the first 5 minutes.

How early do you have to turn up to get the bargains?

Ach! Looks like that sale includes stuff from a company that has been on the same site since 1738, i.e. 279 years - the Whitechapel Bell foundry.

There's also a 7904 with (it looks like) sampling plugins, but you've got to buy the entire room!

Ooh I'm slightly tempted. My Ltd company could do with some lateral diversification.

Take a look at the rest of the room before deciding! Lots of files and other mechanical stuff. Somebody got lazy when cataloguing

[AF6LJ]

Oh and the left hand handle was cracked, I took it off...

Sixty Five Pounds Of LOVE 

For doing bicep curls.

No Kidding

[SingedFingers]

Ach! Looks like that sale includes stuff from a company that has been on the same site since 1738, i.e. 279 years - the Whitechapel Bell foundry.

There's also a 7904 with (it looks like) sampling plugins, but you've got to buy the entire room!

That's not a bad lot though. Tools go well on ebay. There are some site transformers, a vice (I need one) and some other bits.

This is interesting: http://www.go-dove.com/en/auction/view?id=11964482 - people on ebay pay a small fortune for a rack of drawers full of random shit. Nick the Ge transistors and any valuable ICs out, sell them to pedal pushers, cling film the drawers, tape them up and ship "sold as seen". I sold a whole box of crap I bought on gumtree for £5 for £45 on ebay. It had about £5 worth of resistors in drawers and some old electrolytics.

I reckon there's some cash there. Problem is that it's more efficient to sit on my arse and write software

[rrinker]

 I am lucky that we don't have such things near me, or maybe I just haven't heard about them. Row after row of test gear and parts and other neat gadgets - I'd have to bring my truck, not my car, to haul it all home.

 No, I do NOT want to be notified of future events in my area 

[Towger]

Dear TEA,

I have a dilemma, yesterday on ebay someone sold old two untested nixie tubes:  http://www.ebay.com/itm/192122509013
In its self that may not sound like much, but the seller got $500 for them.  I have umm.., eight them in a Datum Master Clock, in the to be fixed pile.
So should it stay or should it go?  Think of all the crap I could buy, if I could part it out for $2k.  Then again it would break my hart to destroy this Cold War piece of history.

[SingedFingers]

I'd contact that seller and asks if he wants to buy 8 of them for $1500

That eliminates all risk from your side of things

[tggzzz]

Ach! Looks like that sale includes stuff from a company that has been on the same site since 1738, i.e. 279 years - the Whitechapel Bell foundry.

There's also a 7904 with (it looks like) sampling plugins, but you've got to buy the entire room!

That's not a bad lot though. Tools go well on ebay. There are some site transformers, a vice (I need one) and some other bits.

This is interesting: http://www.go-dove.com/en/auction/view?id=11964482 - people on ebay pay a small fortune for a rack of drawers full of random shit. Nick the Ge transistors and any valuable ICs out, sell them to pedal pushers, cling film the drawers, tape them up and ship "sold as seen". I sold a whole box of crap I bought on gumtree for £5 for £45 on ebay. It had about £5 worth of resistors in drawers and some old electrolytics.

I reckon there's some cash there. Problem is that it's more efficient to sit on my arse and write software

I think you are probably right on all counts, but...
You repair some stuff, right?
Which will you think will make the world a better place: a day buying/selling that stuff or a day writing a few subroutines

[SingedFingers]

I think you are probably right on all counts, but...
You repair some stuff, right?
Which will you think will make the world a better place: a day buying/selling that stuff or a day writing a few subroutines

Very insightful comment and one that requires some serious thought

[cncjerry]

C'mon you guys, @cncjerry is missing the obvious.

The house is level, he's just got a faulty spirit level! 

Your worries are over Jerry - problem solved.

Keep buying more gear! 

I'll have you know I have multiple bubble levels and right before I used it, I checked it with a 100yd water line and a laser to ensure it was DOBA (an industry term).

I think I've solved the problem by shifting the stack below into a new position.  The only thing that worries me is my house might actually be sinking into the ground.  You forget that I have a couple of tons of CNC machinery in the basement for ballast.

[bitseeker]

Of course you have more than one level. No one with TEA would be caught dead with just one.

It seems the best solution here is to rearrange your ballast so that the sinking occurs evenly across your dwelling.

[SingedFingers]

I'm going to use that line when my wife opens the hall cupboard next time

Found a laser printer in there earlier I forgot I had.

[Cubdriver]

I'm going to use that line when my wife opens the hall cupboard next time

    Let us know how that works out for you!

Found a laser printer in there earlier I forgot I had.

You know it's getting pretty bad serious when you find stuff you don't remember having.     (not bad - bad implies negative.    )

-Pat

[SingedFingers]

It gets even worse. I bought another cheap function generator earlier (Thandar TG210) so I can do common vs differential mode measurements on a discrete diff amp. When I discovered the printer there was a Farnell LF1 hiding in the back of the cupboard too and a 19" rack mount Harris RF amplifier. I don't even remember buying them

I went in the cupboard to try and find another IEC cable as I'd run out. There weren't any.

I really need to get my shit together.

Edit: also found a box of books though which contained Troubleshooting Analog Circuits which I'd wonder where I'd put it. Perhaps I should get a table at the Kempton Rally.

[Berni]

Of course you have more than one level. No one with TEA would be caught dead with just one.

It seems the best solution here is to rearrange your ballast so that the sinking occurs evenly across your dwelling.

Or is that just an excuse to keep a scope or two in the bedroom on the night stand (The lab can only fit a certain amount of test equipment anyway).

[MarkL]

Of course you have more than one level. No one with TEA would be caught dead with just one.

It seems the best solution here is to rearrange your ballast so that the sinking occurs evenly across your dwelling.

Or is that just an excuse to keep a scope or two in the bedroom on the night stand (The lab can only fit a certain amount of test equipment anyway).

With the right scope, it could BE the night stand.  Comes with integrated space heater option.

Test equipment as furniture.  A new interior decorating trend.

[Cubdriver]

With the right scope, it could BE the night stand.  Comes with integrated space heater option.

Test equipment as furniture.  A new interior decorating trend.

Just don't knock your glass of water over during the night!   

-Pat