Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[bd139]

Haven't actually yet. Will do that this evening. Radio is a poor man's spectrum analyser you see which is more RF'ey.

[Specmaster]

Haven't actually yet. Will do that this evening. Radio is a poor man's spectrum analyser you see which is more RF'ey.

Well the 20D does distort the output on MHz bands when the AM modulation is engaged so you could call it deviation 

[bd139]

Haven’t worked out of that’s a bug or a feature yet but it works 

[Brumby]

Haven’t worked out of that’s a bug or a feature yet but it works 

That can be easy to answer depending on whether you are buying or selling.  When you're using it, though.....

[Specmaster]

Yay, 3478A is being collected tomorrow morning by Parcelforce and being delivered to Corby, can't wait to get it back again.

[Specmaster]

Well another quote is in, this one is £108 which includes return carriage but carriage to them is not covered so thats extra, so here's a top tip for the UK members, unless you really do require to have a certificate that is recognised world wide, then RS in Corby seems to be the best bet. Even with the world wide approval of UKAS certification, they still have managed to beat every quote so far by a large margin and included in their quote is the collection and return delivery of the meter so I don't think that they are going to beaten...unless you know otherwise?

Maybe this tip might be added to the POI?

[bd139]

Indeed. Can't beat it. Let me know how it goes. Still haven't taken mine to Calmet yet so RS might get the job yet

[Specmaster]

will do.

[Cerebus]

Yay, 3478A is being collected tomorrow morning by Parcelforce and being delivered to Corby, can't wait to get it back again.

Oh dear. It was all sounding so good, and then you hear that Parcelfarce are involved. 

[Specmaster]

Yay, 3478A is being collected tomorrow morning by Parcelforce and being delivered to Corby, can't wait to get it back again.

Oh dear. It was all sounding so good, and then you hear that Parcelfarce are involved. 

Honestly say that I have never had an issue with Parcelforce. Keeping my fingers crossed though 

[bd139]

No problems here either. Once something went missing for a week and turned up but I’ve sent and received about 300 packages over the years without problems.

[Specmaster]

Dial calibration is about right ... 1/2% off on the higher ranges which is pretty normal for these.

 

That range switch looks as if its just been installed, very nice.

[bd139]

Indeed. I was quite pleased when I saw the condition. There is some damage to the front panel mounts as you can see in the right of that picture. Doesn't affect operation though and isn't visible when it's closed so meh.

[GerryBags]

Well, I just found the 2 resistors with the biggest drift in my limited experience. From 15 Ohms one had drifted to 355K and the other is either open or so high none of my meters can read it.  No scorching, or anything visible other than very slightly discoloured leads. The current inrush limiters they were across can't have been too happy with the situation.

[Specmaster]

Well, I just found the 2 resistors with the biggest drift in my limited experience. From 15 Ohms one had drifted to 355K and the other is either open or so high none of my meters can read it.  No scorching, or anything visible other than very slightly discoloured leads. The current inrush limiters they were across can't have been too happy with the situation.

The ones that you can't read, do you know the value its supposed to be or checked the colour bands, it might be a Giga ohm resistor, I found one of these recently on a scope, never found one before.

[GerryBags]

They're definitely meant to be 15R (brown green black) and I'm going from the schematic and specs in the service manual. i lifted a leg on each of them, in circuit the resistance was only about double what it should have been. I've replaced them both and now I'm getting what I expected to see. 

[Specmaster]

Oh thats great then, in my case the schematic had missed off the multiplier so it read IIRC 1 and due to the colour band discolouration that seemed to be correct but it was another member who informed me that it was meant to be 1Gohm and was able to prove it.

[Specmaster]

Dial calibration is about right ... 1/2% off on the higher ranges which is pretty normal for these.

 

Came across this video on you tube, I think it is the earlier version of yours, valve driven?
Apparently not, it is a thick film IC powered generator.

[bd139]

The LSG17 uses some typically obsolete Japanese ICs in it. These were discontinued so they got fed up of that kind of shit and knocked out a discrete SMD one instead, the 17A. This was the last design in that series before it was discontinued. A Chinese company bought the design and they kicked out cost reduced clones until about 2015 then replaced it with an even shittier design that drifts like a Saudi in a hire car.

[Specmaster]

haha, everyone knows that the fastest car is a hire car and even faster in the hands of a Saudi 

[GerryBags]

  They've made it illegal now.... spoilsports!

[bitseeker]

Well another quote is in, this one is £108 which includes return carriage but carriage to them is not covered so thats extra, so here's a top tip for the UK members, unless you really do require to have a certificate that is recognised world wide, then RS in Corby seems to be the best bet. Even with the world wide approval of UKAS certification, they still have managed to beat every quote so far by a large margin and included in their quote is the collection and return delivery of the meter so I don't think that they are going to beaten...unless you know otherwise?

Maybe this tip might be added to the POI?

With pleasure. Added.

[bitseeker]

Nabbed a Leader 17A signal generator for £31 off ebay as untested. These things literally have nothing in them to go wrong. If they aren't smashed they will probably work. This is a very much cloned instrument by the Chinese. Lots of inferior clones exist out there, including historically from crap shifters Maplin. But alas this is the original made in Japan unit which has superior capacitors and surprisingly high tech innards!

I like these because of the manual control (try manually filter sweeping a synthesizer or finding the resonant point of a double tuned circuit - kill me!) and the price.

Neat. I hadn't seen inside one of these before. The clones certainly are prevalent on the 'bay. Added to the PoI index.

[orin]

The latest addition to my gear arrived today, a HP3466A but sadly because of poor packing, the handle is in 2 parts. It was all nicely wrapped up in bubble-wrap, but instead of folding the handle down and back so it tucks up between the feet, it was wrapped up out straight in front of the meter and suffered as a result . The seller has given me a £5 refund so thats helped.

Similar thing happen on a Fluke 8600A. But luckily it was just one corner rather than completely broken. Epoxy fixed it up.

Those handles on that kind of case always break.  It's just a matter of when.  Just glue them back together and be glad it didn't break while you were carrying it and let the meter smash all over the floor.

[bitseeker]

Speaking of handles, do you all actually use them? Although I've kept them on the instruments thus far so as not to misplace them, I find them to just be in the way and interfere with a nicely stacked arrangement.