Here my 1GHz story.
1) Got a good deal on four 1152a probes from Neganur. It was about 1 year ago.
2) Started to look for a >1GHz scope
3) Prepared to bank out max. 10K$ for a DSOx 6000A, or a DSOX 4000 something. Hack them of course.
4) Sunday I was at the restaurant with my familiy. BING! Mobile Email Notification about a Keysight DSO6104L 1GHz Scope from, funny enough, Neganur. 1600€ could not resit. SOLD to ME some minutes later.
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/buysellwanted/fs-(eu)-keysight-dso6104l-1ghz-lxi-scope-(used)/
5) Now I am thinking, do I really need a 1GHz scope?
5) Now I am thinking, do I really need a 1GHz scope?
Here my 1GHz story.
1) Got a good deal on four 1152a probes from Neganur. It was about 1 year ago.
2) Started to look for a >1GHz scope
3) Prepared to bank out max. 10K$ for a DSOx 6000A, or a DSOX 4000 something. Hack them of course.
4) Sunday I was at the restaurant with my familiy. BING! Mobile Email Notification about a Keysight DSO6104L 1GHz Scope from, funny enough, Neganur. 1600€ could not resit. SOLD to ME some minutes later.
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/buysellwanted/fs-(eu)-keysight-dso6104l-1ghz-lxi-scope-(used)/
5) Now I am thinking, do I really need a 1GHz scope?
You are here, therefore you of course require a 1 GHz scope.
Far as i know it's all tubes, but then again thats the first I've heard about spark gap oscillators.
Far as i know it's all tubes, but then again thats the first I've heard about spark gap oscillators.They were common in old TIG welders with HF start.
Gawd awful/good RF generators now mostly banned for the RF interference they created.
All the big brands Miller, Hobart etc once used them.
Spark gap transmitters were nasty. The bandwidth was incredibly large. Bear in mind they were sending CW which these days has a bandwidth of less than 100Hz, they would piss all over the entire radio spectrum at the fundamental frequency and with the harmonics. This wasn't a big issue back when they were used because they were the only users but that would be being a bad citizen. The output was tuned to some degree but the RF leaked out everywhere.
You can make your own one if you fancy it. Get an AM radio, a car battery and a rasp/file. Tune into any frequency on the AM radio and rub the file across the battery terminals, shorting it and listen to the radio. I would suggest using a 16/0.2 wire for one half of the circuit so if anything gets welded to the battery it will just burn that wire instead of the battery
Edit: as an efficiency point of view, the Titanic had a spark gap transmitter that could suck 5kW out. You can now, with slightly better tech, even home made, get to the other side of the planet on under 5 watts on a good day.
Spark gap transmitters were nasty. The bandwidth was incredibly large. Bear in mind they were sending CW which these days has a bandwidth of less than 100Hz, they would piss all over the entire radio spectrum at the fundamental frequency and with the harmonics.
Ok so it's not just me the other half blames for technical faults
Ok so it's not just me the other half blames for technical faultsBuddy, you need wise up........oh shit dear, that radio must be on the blink !
Give it to me and I'll take to the bench and check it's OK.
Wipe dust off and insert new batteries......there dear it'll work better now.
Ok so it's not just me the other half blames for technical faultsBuddy, you need wise up........oh shit dear, that radio must be on the blink !
Give it to me and I'll take to the bench and check it's OK.
Wipe dust off and insert new batteries......there dear it'll work better now.I wonder how many times that ploy has worked [emoji23]
Ok so it's not just me the other half blames for technical faultsBuddy, you need wise up........oh shit dear, that radio must be on the blink !
Give it to me and I'll take to the bench and check it's OK.
Wipe dust off and insert new batteries......there dear it'll work better now.I wonder how many times that ploy has worked [emoji23]No problem there.
Before we married.....smart as she was, she used to change the frequently popped fuses in her knackered old B&W TV............until the day she got zapped from charged caps.
For decades since, anything electrical is MY domain. [emoji14]
(SNIP for brevity's sake)
I figured as old as that beast is, it has to use a spark-gap oscillator...
I mourned the premature death of Douglas Adams for several months; he was one of the most naturally funny people who ever lived. All the great insight and humor that didn't happen... of course, he would probably respond wryly with something like "Not again..."
Far as i know it's all tubes, but then again thats the first I've heard about spark gap oscillators.
I assumed it was a joke that went over my head.
Yes. It looks like there was discussion of various soldering stations and then you really dove into the T12 a few pages later at https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/test-equipment-anonymous-(tea)-group-therapy-thread/msg1368325/#msg1368325. So, I think I'll index the conversation from that point.
Yay! One PoI to start the index.
In further TEA related news my collection now also include the USN (United States Navy)
So now it is "Next stop NASA!"
No i didn't buy anything i just discovered my 608C has a navy badge on it.
Here my 1GHz story.
1) Got a good deal on four 1152a probes from Neganur. It was about 1 year ago.
2) Started to look for a >1GHz scope
3) Prepared to bank out max. 10K$ for a DSOx 6000A, or a DSOX 4000 something. Hack them of course.
4) Sunday I was at the restaurant with my familiy. BING! Mobile Email Notification about a Keysight DSO6104L 1GHz Scope from, funny enough, Neganur. Panic attak, cold sweat. 1600€ could not resit. SOLD to ME some minutes later.
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/buysellwanted/fs-(eu)-keysight-dso6104l-1ghz-lxi-scope-(used)/
5) Now I am thinking, do I really need a 1GHz scope?
Far as i know it's all tubes, but then again thats the first I've heard about spark gap oscillators.They were common in old TIG welders with HF start.
Gawd awful/good RF generators now mostlybannedcoveted and hoarded away for the RF interference they created.
All the big brands Miller, Hobart etc once used them.
Spark gap transmitters were nasty. The bandwidth was incredibly large. Bear in mind they were sending CW which these days has a bandwidth of less than 100Hz, they would piss all over the entire radio spectrum at the fundamental frequency and with the harmonics. This wasn't a big issue back when they were used because they were the only users but that would be being a bad citizen. The output was tuned to some degree but the RF leaked out everywhere.
You can make your own one if you fancy it. Get an AM radio, a car battery and a rasp/file. Tune into any frequency on the AM radio and rub the file across the battery terminals, shorting it and listen to the radio. I would suggest using a 16/0.2 wire for one half of the circuit so if anything gets welded to the battery it will just burn that wire instead of the battery
Edit: as an efficiency point of view, the Titanic had a spark gap transmitter that could suck 5kW out. You can now, with slightly better tech, even home made, get to the other side of the planet on under 5 watts on a good day.
Spark gap transmitters were nasty. The bandwidth was incredibly large. Bear in mind they were sending CW which these days has a bandwidth of less than 100Hz, they would piss all over the entire radio spectrum at the fundamental frequency and with the harmonics.Yep.
I fancied building an online circuit I found for one, it used a 10KV furnace igniter transformer for a spark source and capacitively coupled the spark into a primary then induced the HV into a welding lead.
Scary bloody thing it was, crackling away while throwing a 1/4" spark. Bugger that and it went under the bench !
'er indoors wondered what was happening to the radio !
What, wasn't me dear.
Depends how dumb the user is. How many times have you heard "have you tried rebooting it?"
Spark gap transmitters were nasty. The bandwidth was incredibly large. Bear in mind they were sending CW which these days has a bandwidth of less than 100Hz, they would piss all over the entire radio spectrum at the fundamental frequency and with the harmonics. This wasn't a big issue back when they were used because they were the only users but that would be being a bad citizen. The output was tuned to some degree but the RF leaked out everywhere.
You can make your own one if you fancy it. Get an AM radio, a car battery and a rasp/file. Tune into any frequency on the AM radio and rub the file across the battery terminals, shorting it and listen to the radio. I would suggest using a 16/0.2 wire for one half of the circuit so if anything gets welded to the battery it will just burn that wire instead of the battery
Edit: as an efficiency point of view, the Titanic had a spark gap transmitter that could suck 5kW out. You can now, with slightly better tech, even home made, get to the other side of the planet on under 5 watts on a good day.
Spark gap transmitters were nasty. The bandwidth was incredibly large. Bear in mind they were sending CW which these days has a bandwidth of less than 100Hz, they would piss all over the entire radio spectrum at the fundamental frequency and with the harmonics. This wasn't a big issue back when they were used because they were the only users but that would be being a bad citizen. The output was tuned to some degree but the RF leaked out everywhere.
You can make your own one if you fancy it. Get an AM radio, a car battery and a rasp/file. Tune into any frequency on the AM radio and rub the file across the battery terminals, shorting it and listen to the radio. I would suggest using a 16/0.2 wire for one half of the circuit so if anything gets welded to the battery it will just burn that wire instead of the battery
Edit: as an efficiency point of view, the Titanic had a spark gap transmitter that could suck 5kW out. You can now, with slightly better tech, even home made, get to the other side of the planet on under 5 watts on a good day.
A very easy technique...No, of course I never ever ever did such a thing.
- 9V battery
- a PO3000 relay
- relay wired so that N.O. contacts are in series with the coil and battery
- apply power, listen to relay chattering to itself - and to everybody else up to and including the FM band
Apparently the QRP distance record is currently 1650 miles using 1microWatt.
May I suggest that you don't use the battery terminals as the contacts to make this rudimentary spark transmitter as hydrogen from the battery is highly explosive and you will cause the battery to explode and cover you you in acid and may even go blind. I have seen this happen before and its not pleasant.
Take large cables from the battery to a point away from the battery fumes and try using the file on the wires.
What price would you pull the trigger on this? /tempted
What price would you pull the trigger on this? /tempted