Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[tggzzz]

Yeah got the phone and the Anker so good for a couple of days of TEA and eBay . They’re cleaning me out both ends. Doesn’t look like anything serious fortunately based on imaging results just a transient body malfunction. I really don’t recommend this. 

With luck the solution (ho ho) will be olive oil, fibrogel, and not sitting in a chair too long.

[factory]

To increase your mood @bd139 there is a Marconi signal generator online (NAWTS):



https://www.ebay.com/itm/402658690958

Won’t ship to UK .  Big problem now.

That seller has changed all listings to block UK (I've bought from them before), I guess they don't want to fill in the extra paperwork, trouble is they probably won't loose much but if we did the same our sales would plummet.

Wow, nice bit of gear that, shame about the photos though, with camera shake like that you can hide a lot of marks etc.

This seller is known for the blurred pictiures. I have no idea, what this guy is doing with the camera, but taking good pictures isn't that rocket science. Even me can do somewhat goot picture.

 

And for parting out some interesting stuff, seemed to have had parts from several HP 5340A's and a mil version HP 8640 last year.

David

[factory]

plus the hidden RIFA  ,

Looking at the part number (RIFA PME271-M-610 a.k.a -hp- 0160-4065), Kemet still makes it, but it is not possible to determine lead spacing from the -hp- parts list information. There seem to be three spacings; viz 15,5mm, 20,3mm, 22,5mm. Does anyone know which one it is?

Here is the RIFA/KEMET museum piece technology I removed from my HP 6237B, seems to be just over 20.3mm.


In mine there is a extra hole for a larger size capacitor, no guarantee yours will as it's slightly newer.


And yes I refuse to fit modern descendants of any RIFA/KEMET paper based crap.


David

[GreyWoolfe]

Well fuck. In hospital. Bowel obstruction. Not sure if it’s serious or not. Rate this day 0/10 do not recommend

I pray that you get off better than I did.  I had to have a naso-gastric tube put in to pump out the liquid sh!t in my system during which I had to grab the bed rails to stop throttleing the ER nurse.  No food or drink for almost 5 days and a little over 2 liters of liquid sh!t was pumped out through that damn tube over almost 5 days.  On the 5th day, I had to have an ultrasound where they had to have me drink a compound to trace movement or find the obstruction in the bowel.  The blessing for me was the side effect of the compound-diarrhea.  Unfortunately, it hit while Mrs. GreyWoolfe was helping me take a shower as I had tubes in me that couldn't get wet.  Had to finish on the toilet and back in for a 2nd shower.  Thankfully, this was a common occurrence back in the day when she worked for a home health care company so she was rather nonplussed about it but I was mortified.   That little interlude thankfully cleared my bowels and I was able to go home on the 6th day. After the diarrhea incident, they actually decided that I could drink again and they even fed me dinner that night.  The most expensive beverage in the world did not taste better than the first sip of apple juice after all the time without nothing.

I now take a tablespoon of fiber everyday and 2 Ex-lax tablets everyday and try to drink plenty of fluids.  This does a far better job at combatting my chronic constipation, which caused the bowel obstruction, than the expensive medication that the gastroenterologist prescribed.

[factory]

@bd139
How are you feeling today buddy, more comfortable I'm hoping? Have they given you any news at all yet as to what the problem is, and when they think you will be going home again?

I’ll spare you the icky details but they cleaned me out end to end and feeling a lot better  . Just waiting for normal service to return and will kick me out of the door so home tomorrow mornin)g if all goes well. They don’t know actually cause and can’t find anything visibly broken apparently. Said diet was fine so it was likely coincidental. Apparently it just happens sometimes 

Hope your OK too, I probably could guess what they gave you as I've had stuff to clear everything out prior to Colonoscopy checks (they gave me both types last time, even though you are only meant to have one), these were every ten years, but I had two more recently after they found a stricture, I have Crohn's disease if anyone is wondering.
And I was in a Hospital last Monday for all the wrong reasons, to say goodbye to my Gran who sadly passed away that night, she was in her 90's so it was kind of expected, but not the cause. 
And I'm going again on Wednesday for the first C19 vaccine.

David

[factory]

...Anyway I've put a bid on the HP 54615B instead, hopefully the screen fault is repairable.   

David

Replace all the electrolytics on the screen assembly and it’ll probably be fine. That looks like it’s lost vsync. That and squashed displays are common problems.

Just to note the calibration is unprotected on that one which indicates futzing.

Ehhh... it's easy to hit if you take the back off for any reason; if the primate(s) opened it up to see if they could fix the nasty screen, might very well have done it accidentally & cal wasn't effed with.    And that one has the TETRIS game cartridge installed. 

mnem
*kijiji-in*

Well I seem to have won the Gamer's Choiceᵀᴹ hp 54615B oscilloscope, hopefully it won't cost too much more to fix.


Also have something much older and more unusual from a local seller, a GEC Resistance & Capacity Bridge, can't find much about this one at all, it does mention using Selectest for measuring leakage current but doesn't mention if it was made by them, possibly much less common than the Hunts ones.


David

[bd139]

Well fuck. In hospital. Bowel obstruction. Not sure if it’s serious or not. Rate this day 0/10 do not recommend

I pray that you get off better than I did.  I had to have a naso-gastric tube put in to pump out the liquid sh!t in my system during which I had to grab the bed rails to stop throttleing the ER nurse.  No food or drink for almost 5 days and a little over 2 liters of liquid sh!t was pumped out through that damn tube over almost 5 days.  On the 5th day, I had to have an ultrasound where they had to have me drink a compound to trace movement or find the obstruction in the bowel.  The blessing for me was the side effect of the compound-diarrhea.  Unfortunately, it hit while Mrs. GreyWoolfe was helping me take a shower as I had tubes in me that couldn't get wet.  Had to finish on the toilet and back in for a 2nd shower.  Thankfully, this was a common occurrence back in the day when she worked for a home health care company so she was rather nonplussed about it but I was mortified.   That little interlude thankfully cleared my bowels and I was able to go home on the 6th day. After the diarrhea incident, they actually decided that I could drink again and they even fed me dinner that night.  The most expensive beverage in the world did not taste better than the first sip of apple juice after all the time without nothing.

I now take a tablespoon of fiber everyday and 2 Ex-lax tablets everyday and try to drink plenty of fluids.  This does a far better job at combatting my chronic constipation, which caused the bowel obstruction, than the expensive medication that the gastroenterologist prescribed.

Ugh that’s horrible. Wasn’t that bad. Half way. They did an abdominal X-ray to look for lumps and then an ultrasound. Eventually they stuffed the nasal gastric tube down there and pumped something in to dissolve the blockage which came out about three hours afterwards via the correct orifice rather unceremoniously  .

I certainly sympathise. I can deal with broken limbs quite happily but bowel problems are the worst.

Just ate a yoghurt. They’re going to see how I respond to that. Then a meal. Probably home tomorrow   

[bd139]

...Anyway I've put a bid on the HP 54615B instead, hopefully the screen fault is repairable.   

David

Replace all the electrolytics on the screen assembly and it’ll probably be fine. That looks like it’s lost vsync. That and squashed displays are common problems.

Just to note the calibration is unprotected on that one which indicates futzing.

Ehhh... it's easy to hit if you take the back off for any reason; if the primate(s) opened it up to see if they could fix the nasty screen, might very well have done it accidentally & cal wasn't effed with.    And that one has the TETRIS game cartridge installed. 

mnem
*kijiji-in*

Well I seem to have won the Gamer's Choiceᵀᴹ hp 54615B oscilloscope, hopefully it won't cost too much more to fix.


Also have something much older and more unusual from a local seller, a GEC Resistance & Capacity Bridge, can't find much about this one at all, it does mention using Selectest for measuring leakage current but doesn't mention if it was made by them, possibly much less common than the Hunts ones.


David

Bloody hell. I was expecting that to go for around the £100 mark.

[Cerebus]

The Marconi 2017 is a lovely bit of kit. Cavity tuned and VERY low phase noise. A lot of bang for the buck. Only downside is it's big and heavy.

We don't hold with practicing black magic in my lab, thank you very much young man! What would the vicar say if we did?

[factory]

...Anyway I've put a bid on the HP 54615B instead, hopefully the screen fault is repairable.   

David

Replace all the electrolytics on the screen assembly and it’ll probably be fine. That looks like it’s lost vsync. That and squashed displays are common problems.

Just to note the calibration is unprotected on that one which indicates futzing.

Ehhh... it's easy to hit if you take the back off for any reason; if the primate(s) opened it up to see if they could fix the nasty screen, might very well have done it accidentally & cal wasn't effed with.    And that one has the TETRIS game cartridge installed. 

mnem
*kijiji-in*

Well I seem to have won the Gamer's Choiceᵀᴹ hp 54615B oscilloscope, hopefully it won't cost too much more to fix.


Also have something much older and more unusual from a local seller, a GEC Resistance & Capacity Bridge, can't find much about this one at all, it does mention using Selectest for measuring leakage current but doesn't mention if it was made by them, possibly much less common than the Hunts ones.


David

Bloody hell. I was expecting that to go for around the £100 mark.

Well I've taken a bit of a risk, but working ones are well out of my budget. 
Hopefully it won't get trashed by the courier or lack of packing.

Another one of those 8 digit Racal frequency meters on ePay a model 9822, I think this maybe similar to the 9839 I repaired but without the VHF pre-scaler, what I can see in the internal pictures certainly is.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/333865090617


Same seller also has a Keithley DMM if that is of interest.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/333867900012

David

[med6753]

I think USPS is setting themselves up for a fail but we will see. This is the Leeds and Northrup 4747 resistance box.

 

BD....glad you are feeling better.

USPS.   FAIL

[mnementh]

People still think of months by their names. And there's no good reason the user interface on the machine can't or shouldn't think that way too, even if the underlying machine is thinking all in numbers.

mnem
*punt*

I actually, quite often, think of months both as their name and their

Code: [Select]

printf("%02d",month); sequence number. I guess being brought up with the SSN/Personal Number as very important info you should know by heart (also for your parents and children) has damaged me permanently and made me a cog in the machine. I quite like it in here. Hot and greasy!

I grok in fullness all of the above. I've been able to recite pi to 8 digits since I was old enuf to use a calculator; I too have my SSN and even bank acct number now so deeply ingrained they were probably passed on to my children in the DNA.

That only makes me more acutely aware of the "reduced to a number" paradigm, and more offended by it.

Actually, the idea of being a cog in a machine is almost endearing to me... cogs are real, tangible, and indispensable; no machine will run without them. Numbers are not; they easily discarded, for no other reason than they become inconvenient. Treating a person as if they were that one cognitive step away from being a null is offensive to me, and it should be to anyone sentient enough to have this conversation.

mnem

[Saskia]

all that constipation stuff reminds me of my chronic diverticulosis. Which is when your bowels are inflamed and close due to internal swelling.

Trust me, that is a real shit show.

@factory my condolences.

[mnementh]

...Anyway I've put a bid on the HP 54615B instead, hopefully the screen fault is repairable.   

David

Replace all the electrolytics on the screen assembly and it’ll probably be fine. That looks like it’s lost vsync. That and squashed displays are common problems.

Just to note the calibration is unprotected on that one which indicates futzing.

Ehhh... it's easy to hit if you take the back off for any reason; if the primate(s) opened it up to see if they could fix the nasty screen, might very well have done it accidentally & cal wasn't effed with.    And that one has the TETRIS game cartridge installed. 

mnem
*kijiji-in*

Well I seem to have won the Gamer's Choiceᵀᴹ hp 54615B oscilloscope, hopefully it won't cost too much more to fix.   

Also have something much older and more unusual from a local seller, a GEC Resistance & Capacity Bridge, can't find much about this one at all, it does mention using Selectest for measuring leakage current but doesn't mention if it was made by them, possibly much less common than the Hunts ones.
   David

Good for you! I hope you love it as much as I do my 54645A! The only downside I could see from the spec sheet is the small 5K memory depth; OTOH, sampling at that kind of speed probably did hit a number of brick walls in terms of just what could be done using current tech without bending the laws of physics. Or becoming a money-sink the size of the national debt.

That bridge does interest me quite a bit; it reminds me very much of a cap analyzer I used to own. Hope you can get it working; I've always had a soft spot in my heart for those tuning-eye tubes. 

mnem
*toddles off to be... parental*

[mansaxel]

Here is the RIFA/KEMET museum piece technology I removed from my HP 6237B, seems to be just over 20.3mm.

Excellent! Thanks!

[med6753]

Gee, after reading the last few posts I feel glad and blessed that other an a occasional deadly wallpaper peeling fart my bowels give me no trouble. 

And who would have thought that a TEA thread would be discussing shit, or lack of it. 

[BU508A]

That's why we are kind of special.     

[Ice-Tea]

Join us, they said. There'll be talk of T&M gear they said. Just some guys ('n gals) hanging around discussing gear presservation and repair, they said. 

[mnementh]

Oh thats great news for you, so could be home soon then  As to police, yep you could well be right, could well be to do with lockdown causing people to lose their minds. As I'm one of the original grumpy old bastards, it suits me, don't have to see anyone and pretend to be nice 

Yep. I've practiced antisocial distancing for decades, and everybody thought I was a assh'o... now they think you're a assh'o if you don't. 

mnem
Of course, in my case they're still probably right. 

[med6753]

Something else that's getting ugly real quick.....

The number of "difficulty breathing" (read: Covid) EMS calls in this area overwhelming the ambulance services. Most EMT services are volunteer which means they have day jobs. That leaves many areas understaffed and rely upon "mutual aid" from other local services plus there is a paid service which covers multiple counties. Well 911 dispatch can't even get mutual aid assistance to cover calls. The primary backup is the paid service but they have no ambulances available due the sheer number of calls.

And where is the vaccine? Yea, right. But let's not go there, please.     

[med6753]

Oh thats great news for you, so could be home soon then  As to police, yep you could well be right, could well be to do with lockdown causing people to lose their minds. As I'm one of the original grumpy old bastards, it suits me, don't have to see anyone and pretend to be nice 

Yep. I've practiced antisocial distancing for decades, and everybody thought I was a assh'o... now they think you're a assh'o if you don't. 

mnem
Of course, in my case they're still probably right. 

Holy crap...I agree with you. Social distancing is absolutely nothing new to me except now I wear a mask. Other than a select few I hate most people and enjoy being that asshole.

[mnementh]

Gee, after reading the last few posts I feel glad and blessed that other an a occasional deadly wallpaper peeling fart my bowels give me no trouble. 

And who would have thought that a TEA thread would be discussing shit, or lack of it. 

Honestly, it was inevitable. 

mnem

[mnementh]

Join us, they said. There'll be talk of T&M gear they said. Just some guys ('n gals) hanging around discussing gear presservation and repair, they said. 

mnem

[med6753]

Join us, they said. There'll be talk of T&M gear they said. Just some guys ('n gals) hanging around discussing gear presservation and repair, they said. 

I wanted to have some on topic TEA content today. I was all ready for it. I powered up the Siglent SDM3055 and the Fluke 8505A last night so they would be warmed up and stable in anticipation of checking out the Leeds and Northrup resistance box that USPS said would be delivered today but even getting a package from 40 miles away is beyond their ability. 

[Specmaster]

all that constipation stuff reminds me of my chronic diverticulosis. Which is when your bowels are inflamed and close due to internal swelling.

Trust me, that is a real shit show.

@factory my condolences.

I don't know if you intended it to be, but thats quite funny