Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[0culus]

Built a 2m slim Jim antenna this evening that worked first time. First time I’ve done anything that worked properly first time!

Yep, there're a pretty neat and easy style to work with.
The 315 MHz one I did wasn't far off the mark first time up. 

Yes I was quite surprised. I used 450 ohm ladder line off ebay, used 0.91 as velocity factor and 145MHz as centre frequency in http://m0ukd.com/calculators/slim-jim-and-j-pole-calculator/ and 10m of RG58 milspec feed. Chucked it on my squid pole strapped to the garden waste bin and poked it up in the air and literally flat SWR across 2m straight off the calculator measurements.   Didn't even have to adjust the feed position!

Bonus I can pick up Heathrow ATIS if I want a weather report and listen to the tower chatter.

I'm looking forward to having my own place where I can play with outdoor antennas. 

I'm going to take this out in the car and sit on hills with it. There's bugger all I can do with it locally as my new neighbour is a dick. I have to covertly do stuff after dark.

Yeah, hopefully I don't end up with asswipe neighbors. This guy doesn't like antennas, eh? Does he have a mutt? High powered amplifier and speakers playing ultrasonic noise. 

[Mr. Scram]

Jam the wifi bands, except for when you're outside fiddling with an antenna. Tell the guy it eliminates noise in the radio spectrum. He'll start loving your antennas.

[bd139]

Yeah, hopefully I don't end up with asswipe neighbors. This guy doesn't like antennas, eh? Does he have a mutt? High powered amplifier and speakers playing ultrasonic noise. 

This one is a she and no dog unfortunately.

Jam the wifi bands, except for when you're outside fiddling with an antenna. Tell the guy it eliminates noise in the radio spectrum. He'll start loving your antennas.

That would be vastly unproductive with a house full of teenagers. They would inevitably just end up raising tech support cases with me 


Random thing. I just found out about a little trick the local dickheads are up to around me. It is both completely nasty and hilarious at the same time. Basically our TV aerial cables are all routed on the front of the houses and go in through the edge of the living room window. This isn't a particularly well sealed hole and you can pull the cable out easily. Well someone had their massive 4k TV plugged in and someone outside grabbed the antenna lead and pulled it hard causing the TV to go flying and smash the screen. I just put a load of cable ties around mine so it won't go through the hole!

[0culus]

Wow, wonder who had the brilliant idea to route the cables like that?

[tautech]

I'm looking forward to having my own place where I can play with outdoor antennas. 

I'm going to take this out in the car and sit on hills with it. There's bugger all I can do with it locally as my new neighbour is a dick. I have to covertly do stuff after dark.

As a patriot are you allowed to have a flag pole ? You know they have a pulley at the top. 
2 pulleys, dual usage. 

[tggzzz]

Well so far it's been a mix of good and bad news for today. I managed to snag a pair of Solartron 7150 Plus 6.5 digit bench meters for a reasonable price today in auction, more on these when I collect them next week. I'm fully expecting to have to replace the mains filter on them both as they are stuffed with rifa's in a metal casing) need to investigate the options here) and see if there's better solution.

I was pleased that I avoided buying a 19" rack that didn't sell for £10+uplift. I avoided lookin at the 7150s on the basis that I have a 7075 to sell, another to calibrate, and I have a 7081 and Datron 1061 and an hp3468 as well.

OTOH I suspect I'll regret some of the things I did buy. Time will tell.

[0culus]

So this was shared in another thread, but with Tektronix discontinuing their logic analyzer line, this is what they recommend to replace the TLA7000 series:

"The TLA7000 is no longer available for purchase. The Tektronix 5 Series MSO and 6 Series MSO are recommended replacements. Information on these products is located at... "

I guess there aren't too many applications in real world R&D for a full up logic analyzer anymore, outside of stuff like DDR memory, but this is still kinda sad.

[Specmaster]

Well so far it's been a mix of good and bad news for today. I managed to snag a pair of Solartron 7150 Plus 6.5 digit bench meters for a reasonable price today in auction, more on these when I collect them next week. I'm fully expecting to have to replace the mains filter on them both as they are stuffed with rifa's in a metal casing) need to investigate the options here) and see if there's better solution.

I was pleased that I avoided buying a 19" rack that didn't sell for £10+uplift. I avoided lookin at the 7150s on the basis that I have a 7075 to sell, another to calibrate, and I have a 7081 and Datron 1061 and an hp3468 as well.

OTOH I suspect I'll regret some of the things I did buy. Time will tell.

So no 19" rack, but did you buy, anything interesting?

[tggzzz]

Well so far it's been a mix of good and bad news for today. I managed to snag a pair of Solartron 7150 Plus 6.5 digit bench meters for a reasonable price today in auction, more on these when I collect them next week. I'm fully expecting to have to replace the mains filter on them both as they are stuffed with rifa's in a metal casing) need to investigate the options here) and see if there's better solution.

I was pleased that I avoided buying a 19" rack that didn't sell for £10+uplift. I avoided lookin at the 7150s on the basis that I have a 7075 to sell, another to calibrate, and I have a 7081 and Datron 1061 and an hp3468 as well.

OTOH I suspect I'll regret some of the things I did buy. Time will tell.

So no 19" rack, but did you buy, anything interesting?

Yet another TDR (but different type), a reciprocal counter, a strange analogue voltmeter, and an MDA. The Rb source was too expensive, fortunately.

Now I have to wonder how many will work.

[med6753]

This one is a she and no dog unfortunately.

How can she dictate what you can and cannot do on your own property? If it were me I'd tell her to fuck off.

[tautech]

This one is a she and no dog unfortunately.

How can she dictate what you can and cannot do on your own property? If it were me I'd tell her to fuck off.

Here, if what you're doing is not a 'permitted activity' as per the local council bylaws neighbors can dob you in.
If you're in the wrong zone there's only so much you can get away with. 

[Neomys Sapiens]

.
.

Yet another TDR (but different type), a reciprocal counter, a strange analogue voltmeter, and an MDA. The Rb source was too expensive, fortunately.

Now I have to wonder how many will work.

'Strange analogue Voltmeter' sounds interesting when someone on this thread says it!

[Neomys Sapiens]

So this was shared in another thread, but with Tektronix discontinuing their logic analyzer line, this is what they recommend to replace the TLA7000 series:

"The TLA7000 is no longer available for purchase. The Tektronix 5 Series MSO and 6 Series MSO are recommended replacements. Information on these products is located at... "

I guess there aren't too many applications in real world R&D for a full up logic analyzer anymore, outside of stuff like DDR memory, but this is still kinda sad.

This matches my observation that nearly none of the companies involved in embedded design that I came to know in the last 10 years has a real emulator (ICE) for their chosen platform available. Before that, the posession and use of such was widely regarded as the watershed between µC professionals and everething else.

[bd139]

Here, if what you're doing is not a 'permitted activity' as per the local council bylaws neighbors can dob you in.
If you're in the wrong zone there's only so much you can get away with. 

Yes similar here.

If it's a temporary structure, which an antenna is, then you can do what the hell you like but that doesn't stop the assholes from being assholes.

Edit: If someone gets the local council involved then they don't know what the bylaws are. You usually get a fine threat in the post, then you have to appeal it. Ignoring it actually works best here as when they file a summons for non payment of the fine you go and see the magistrate at the court who awards you expenses for the day

Back in 2014 my local council took me to court over a tree that was overhanging the road. I ignored it, got the default judgement on the fine "northampton bulk" and appealed it at local court. Requested local planning docs from the council under FOI, waltzed into the court with the magistrate and pointed to the fact that the council actually planted the tree and it overhung my property.  £250 for a day in costs were awarded to me and they were given a 14 day turnaround on removing the tree. 

Edit: corrected amount. Was 250. Felt like more at the time!

[tggzzz]

.
.

Yet another TDR (but different type), a reciprocal counter, a strange analogue voltmeter, and an MDA. The Rb source was too expensive, fortunately.

Now I have to wonder how many will work.

'Strange analogue Voltmeter' sounds interesting when someone on this thread says it!

An HP7562A. Haven't spotted the manuals, but there is a 1968 HP Journal article and a patent.

[tggzzz]

So this was shared in another thread, but with Tektronix discontinuing their logic analyzer line, this is what they recommend to replace the TLA7000 series:

"The TLA7000 is no longer available for purchase. The Tektronix 5 Series MSO and 6 Series MSO are recommended replacements. Information on these products is located at... "

I guess there aren't too many applications in real world R&D for a full up logic analyzer anymore, outside of stuff like DDR memory, but this is still kinda sad.

This matches my observation that nearly none of the companies involved in embedded design that I came to know in the last 10 years has a real emulator (ICE) for their chosen platform available. Before that, the posession and use of such was widely regarded as the watershed between µC professionals and everething else.

What do you mean by an ICE?

Given the difficulty of accessing the internal state of most modern processors, I'd have thought it difficult to have a traditional ICE. But that's been the case for more than 10 years.

I don't regard JTAG debugging as "traditional IDE", since it implies that the only debugging mechanisms are only those inside the procedssor and provided by the processor manufacturer.

[Specmaster]

Well so far it's been a mix of good and bad news for today. I managed to snag a pair of Solartron 7150 Plus 6.5 digit bench meters for a reasonable price today in auction, more on these when I collect them next week. I'm fully expecting to have to replace the mains filter on them both as they are stuffed with rifa's in a metal casing) need to investigate the options here) and see if there's better solution.

I was pleased that I avoided buying a 19" rack that didn't sell for £10+uplift. I avoided lookin at the 7150s on the basis that I have a 7075 to sell, another to calibrate, and I have a 7081 and Datron 1061 and an hp3468 as well.

OTOH I suspect I'll regret some of the things I did buy. Time will tell.

So no 19" rack, but did you buy, anything interesting?

Yet another TDR (but different type), a reciprocal counter, a strange analogue voltmeter, and an MDA. The Rb source was too expensive, fortunately.

Now I have to wonder how many will work.

Yep, I'm wondering the same thing, I was looking at the 34401A's but they shot up in price even before the auction started so I dropped them, much the same with the variac and Farnell psu's. The 7150's I also paid more than I intended but seeing as it was me and another after them I got sucked in more then I should have done.

[mnementh]

...Built a 2m slim Jim antenna this evening that worked first time. First time I’ve done anything that worked properly first time!

   I understand you want Teriyaki flavor for anything below 20m; what'd you use, BBQ or Sriracha? 

mnem
Try a little A-1 as a joint compound. Tasty!!!

[Neomys Sapiens]

So this was shared in another thread, but with Tektronix discontinuing their logic analyzer line, this is what they recommend to replace the TLA7000 series:

"The TLA7000 is no longer available for purchase. The Tektronix 5 Series MSO and 6 Series MSO are recommended replacements. Information on these products is located at... "

I guess there aren't too many applications in real world R&D for a full up logic analyzer anymore, outside of stuff like DDR memory, but this is still kinda sad.

This matches my observation that nearly none of the companies involved in embedded design that I came to know in the last 10 years has a real emulator (ICE) for their chosen platform available. Before that, the posession and use of such was widely regarded as the watershed between µC professionals and everething else.

What do you mean by an ICE?

Given the difficulty of accessing the internal state of most modern processors, I'd have thought it difficult to have a traditional ICE. But that's been the case for more than 10 years.

I don't regard JTAG debugging as "traditional IDE", since it implies that the only debugging mechanisms are only those inside the procedssor and provided by the processor manufacturer.

ICE = In-Circuit Emulator
Well, my last deeper involvement with the digital innards was 2008..2011 and it was concerned with 68k devices.
For those, such contraptions do exist. There was even one available, as well as a maxed-out Tek logic analyzer.
But you are right, I could have written 'last 20 years' as well.

[beanflying]

Anyone feel like a trip down memory lane or need to use their logic analyser? This could be yours for only $1000 AUpesos  eBay auction: #192882459225

If not identical to what we played with at Uni is is very close to it. Ah HEX how I have forgotten most of what I once knew.

[beanflying]

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/black-hole-first-picture-event-horizon-telescope

Fukkin' A-Diddy!!! 

mnem
Can I get a side of honey-mustard widdat?

[Mr. Scram]

Here, if what you're doing is not a 'permitted activity' as per the local council bylaws neighbors can dob you in.
If you're in the wrong zone there's only so much you can get away with. 

You know you're in trouble when there's a list with permitted activities instead of one with activities that aren't permitted.

[GreyWoolfe]

...Built a 2m slim Jim antenna this evening that worked first time. First time I’ve done anything that worked properly first time!

   I understand you want Teriyaki flavor for anything below 20m; what'd you use, BBQ or Sriracha? 

mnem
Try a little A-1 as a joint compound. Tasty!!!

Sriracha works for QRO.

[tautech]

Here, if what you're doing is not a 'permitted activity' as per the local council bylaws neighbors can dob you in.
If you're in the wrong zone there's only so much you can get away with. 

You know you're in trouble when there's a list with permitted activities instead of one with activities that aren't permitted.

Here they have 3 lists; Permitted, Restricted and Non-Permitted (banned) and it works pretty well until some 'outsider' comes into a zoning different from whence they came and then starts bitching about what's going on.
These are the ones that can have the greatest impact on existing residents lifestyle when it comes to District Scheme review time and lodge all sorts of  submissions based on how they think the zone should be.
Interlopers is what the wife calls them and just a few years in the country is all they normally can stomach before they pack up and head back to the city........only to replaced by another with similar views and then rinse and repeat. 

Luckily we had a real-estate law change a few years back the requires full disclosure from the agents to potential buyers so now we get into the agents ear right after listing so any potential buyer knows what to expect should they buy close to a commercial rural property.

[med6753]

Sometimes you are your own worst enemy.

Case in point. The Tek 2430 DSO. I showed the other day a successful repair by replacement of the entire analog board from the parts mule. It was fine until the very next day when I went to power it up and it started taking solid channel 1 gain and offset fails again. Same fail as from prior to the board replacement and the same as the week before when I had the same condition occur. Repaired but next day upon power up it failed same as before. The fail points squarely at the CCD hybrid module and initially replacement didn't fix it but now I know why.

So in this latest fail I decided once again to change the channel 1 CCD hybrid with the channel 2 CCD hybrid from the board I removed. It worked. Clean boot, cal done. Works fine. Put it back in the case and powered it up and let it burn in for about 6 hours sitting on the bench. No issues. Powered it off and let it sit for a while. Powered up and again clean boot and works fine. This is really baffling. So I go to put the 2430 back in it's original location and that's when the light bulb came on and I realized I was a jerk.

The 2430 normally resides stacked on top of a 2465. After each time I repaired the 2430 and I was satisfied that the burn in was OK I would put it back on top of the 2465 then run it more. It was from this point where upon the next power up it would fail again. The 2430 is about 2 inches longer than the 2465 so it over hangs in the back and is not supported by it's rear feet. So towards the rear the bottom of the 2430 case is directly against the top of the 2465 case. What I didn't realize was there are vents in the bottom rear of the 2430 case directly below these hybrids. With it being stacked as described the vents were blocked. Obviously this caused the hybrids to run hot. I surmise that they were fine, although probably near their thermal limit, as long as powered on but as soon as power was turned off and the fan stopped their temperature spiked before cooling which resulted in damaging them. But you wouldn't know this until the next power on. Mystery solved. But unfortunately I damaged 2 precious hybrids and the last good one is currently installed. I've since rearranged things so the 2430 is now up on it's bail and all underside vents clear. It's been operating fine for 3 days now with multiple power cycles and no fails. I think I can call it fixed....finally.

The hybrids that were damaged are the 2 large ones with the full vertical fins. Channel 2 top with channel 1 below it. Tek 165-2074 version 3 and 4. It's obvious just looking at their design that they run hot. I'll bet with the vents blocked they were smoking. I did some research and they ain't cheap when available. Starting at $45 USD and up. And I also found out that they are a known fail point. So there's no guarantee if you buy one it's going to work. So I have to make absolutely sure that this 2430 is kept cool. And now I understand why it has such a large and somewhat noisy fan.