Author Topic: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread  (Read 14561903 times)

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Offline bd139

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #29225 on: April 13, 2019, 11:39:52 am »
Some test gear pr0n. HP 400E just arrived.

Reasonable condition. has feet. Should clean up nicely:



Money shot. Giggity:

 
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Offline kj7e

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #29226 on: April 13, 2019, 12:54:12 pm »
I picked up a second HP 53310A MDA with Option 10 (OCXO), it was listed AS IS, no display on the CRT but it was cheap.  I wanted it just for the Option 10 back plane which includes a separate linear power supply for the 10811-6011 OCXO.  Turns out it was not as dead as the seller thought, so I may have a 53310A for sale soon, just without option 10.



Only had a short time to play with it, still quite a bit to lean but the UI is simple;




What is that 8 outlet power panel in the background?

Thats filtered UPS power for the test equipment;
https://www.tripplite.com/isobar-8-outlet-surge-protector-12-ft-cord-3840-joules~ISOBAR8ULTRA

Via a 1500VA pure sine wave UPS;
https://www.cyberpowersystems.com/product/ups/or1500pfclcd/

The long black power strip below the earth ground buss is non-UPS power.  Still filtered via Tripp Lite Ultrablok surge protector/line filter;
https://www.tripplite.com/isobar-2-outlet-surge-protector-direct-plug-in-1410-joules-3-leds-black-housing-5-in-height~ULTRABLOK

I live out in the woods, we only have a single power line into our area and have many brown outs and power hits, its recorded 137 trip events over the last year.  When doing longer logging measurements its nice to have steady power.  A dual conversion UPS would be better but this works well.
« Last Edit: April 13, 2019, 01:02:28 pm by kj7e »
 
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Offline mnementh

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #29227 on: April 13, 2019, 03:07:37 pm »
I picked up a second HP 53310A MDA with Option 10 (OCXO), it was listed AS IS, no display on the CRT but it was cheap.  I wanted it just for the Option 10 back plane which includes a separate linear power supply for the 10811-6011 OCXO.  Turns out it was not as dead as the seller thought, so I may have a 53310A for sale soon, just without option 10.

Option 10 back plane; Only had a short time to play with it, still quite a bit to lean but the UI is simple;

100MHz FM 1KHz modulation at 5K deviation    Spent a few hours cleaning it up, pounded out a dent or two in the cover, but it came out quite nice.

Next, waiting for some Cypress CY7C194-25PC 64K*4 SRAM, going to expand the internal memory (or known as Option 01).  When I'm done it will be fully loaded with Options 01, 10, and 32.  In 1992, the base unit was listed at $9,500, option 01 was $500, option 10 was $1500 and option 32 $1600.  I'm in it for about $350 for the total for the pair of them and it looks like I can sell the second one as a working unit.

You earned it!  :clap:

Stumbled across this. Thought you Brits might appreciate it.... ;D

Edit, and what is "a bloody Queen's dodger" ???  :-//
Its not far from the truth. I have no idea what the queen's dodger is though.

Missing three important things: (1) The "po po" never turn up at the door even if you call them (2) most of the time people don't answer the door unless they know it's a delivery or someone is coming in case it's the JW's or a pikey trying to sell you a new driveway or a dag. Usually you hang out of the window and say "who the fuck are you?" and "get off my property you cunt" (3) no mention of tea.
   Again...we Yanks tend to be a little direct when it comes to insisting someone get off the property.  ;D

And I'm sure I'm not the only one who noticed he's holding a Brit .303 Enfield whilest defending his 'merkin right to localized sovereignty.  :-DD

"The bloody queen's dodger" is more than a bit confusing... I know "artful dodger" is common slang for tax evader or generally anyone who shirks a legitimate responsibility in any way; a quick Guugle indicates that "dodger" or "artful dodger" was rhyming slang for "lodger" like decades ago. Of course, the context of that reprinted post indicates it could easily be that old or older.

If the latter, I guess maybe giving a look as if you were some privileged git living with the Queen for some reason?

I remember vaguely hearing "dodger" used in the same context as "bouncer" back in my IRC daze... but that's one I've never confirmed.

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Offline bd139

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #29228 on: April 13, 2019, 03:44:55 pm »
Well this is a surprise. Took the 400E to bits completely and checked it over. Literally nothing up with it at all. It's immaculate.

All relevant capacitors reading decently low ESR so I'm leaving them (ESR meter earning its keep already!) and no sign of any damage to any other components in the unit. All rails on spec.

So I figured feck it, so hooked up my DG1022Z to the front with a 50 ohm termination and put 1V RMS into it at 1KHz and what does it read? 1V RMS precisely!

Cranked the frequency up. 500KHz, needle hasn't budged. 2MHz, same again, 6MHz same again, 10MHz same again. All good. This is where the response tails off apparently. Nope - got all the way up to 17.6MHz before it even budged. Well done HP. money well spent. Incidentally this will make a rather good HF power meter with a suitable load as it's good up to 300V RMS and termination is external.

Some more pictures:


17MHz ... whatever dude.... (slight offset from 1.0 is due to the source and the terminator, not the voltmeter which matches the 87V spot on. I haven't even touched the cal on this!



Top shot:



Power supply and attenuator shot:



Proper HP boards. I'm almost disappointed I don't have to do repairs to it to this standard  :-DD




Now on the shopping list:

1. Matching 427A
2. Matching 5221B nixie counter.
« Last Edit: April 13, 2019, 03:49:01 pm by bd139 »
 
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Offline Specmaster

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #29229 on: April 13, 2019, 04:08:42 pm »
Excellent, money saved on recapping blindly will help finance the other purchases now[emoji106] I collect my 7150s on Tuesday, hopefully they will be as good. Doubt the leads will be with them, they always seem to separate those[emoji53].
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Offline bitseekerTopic starter

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #29230 on: April 13, 2019, 04:50:59 pm »
Nice scores! Wish I could've been there for the AmScope. I'd make room for that.  ;D

If you want it, I can probably get it for $325ish and ship it to you.

Thanks, but they show up locally from time to time. I've also seen other brands get cleared out by labs on occasion, but need to do more research as I'm not familiar with them.
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Offline bd139

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #29231 on: April 13, 2019, 08:09:41 pm »
Well I solved the "what the hell do I do for a portable soldering iron" problem. Just snagged a BNIB unused 12V Weller TCP for less than a new T12 unit shipped from China  :-+ ... can sling in my bag and use with a radio pack or car fag socket. Edit: will terminate in powerpole of course
« Last Edit: April 13, 2019, 08:11:13 pm by bd139 »
 

Offline worsthorse

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #29232 on: April 13, 2019, 08:23:48 pm »
Nice scores! Wish I could've been there for the AmScope. I'd make room for that.  ;D

If you want it, I can probably get it for $325ish and ship it to you.

Thanks, but they show up locally from time to time. I've also seen other brands get cleared out by labs on occasion, but need to do more research as I'm not familiar with them.

yeah, a microscope that big is one of those nice-but-not-necessary pieces of gear, especially since my entire bench is approximately twelve square feet.

In other news, I am back from my road trip (160 miles out and back) to look at an 485 that was advertised as working, which it wasn't.  But it wasn't in bad shape, I could get a bit of light on the screen in XY mode, all the dials light up, and it wasn't beat to crap. I grumbled a bit about spending four hours on the road to look at a busted scope and offered 75USD. Said offer accepted.

While I was wandering around his shop, I discovered two TM500 pulse generators and one each of a function generator, DMM, and PSU. The chap's definition of "working" is apparently, smoke didn't pour out of it when I powered it up, with prices based on the highest number ever found on ebay, so there was a small disagreement about the value of the stuff. A deal materialized after I left the entire pile on a table,  politely said, no thanks, picked up the 485, and headed for the truck.

I do believe I now have enough stuff in the fix-it queue to keep me occupied through the end of the year.   ::)

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Offline VK5RC

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #29233 on: April 13, 2019, 08:46:25 pm »
As a genuine "Ozzie bloke" I would guess that a 'Queen's dodger' ie queen's lodger, ie residing at the discretion of her majesty - ie gaol, ie prisoner.
Whoah! Watch where that landed we might need it later.
 

Offline med6753

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #29234 on: April 13, 2019, 09:06:24 pm »
Progress on the Tek 465B trace sharpness issue but still no cigar. Found C4327 (5uf/150V) to be open. This cap further filters to +110V supply which feeds the HV oscillator circuit as well as the focus thin film divider deck.

The silver cap in the pix. The focus thin film divider deck right above it. I didn't have a 5uf so I installed a 10uf/400V. I'm sure it's not critical.



The trace has improved sharpness but still not on par with the other 465B. I suspect the CRT itself is a little tired. So I'm going to change it out with the 465 parts mule sitting in the closet. The 465 and 465B use the same part number CRT.



And here's the CRT in all it's glory from the 465 parts unit. Removal is easy. About 5 minutes. I'll do the swap tomorrow. In the meantime I gave it a good cleaning.



A close up of that fabulous electron gun.

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Offline 0culus

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #29235 on: April 13, 2019, 09:17:39 pm »
Love seeing this repair progress pics, especially that CRT. The wonderful craftsmanship is obvious.  :-+

Working with a gentleman on the tekscopes list who has a 7904A and an assortment plugins for sale. Looking forward to that.  ;D
 

Offline bitseekerTopic starter

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #29236 on: April 13, 2019, 09:20:06 pm »
Well this is a surprise. Took the 400E to bits completely and checked it over. Literally nothing up with it at all. It's immaculate.


Excellent! Added to the POI.
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Offline bitseekerTopic starter

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #29237 on: April 13, 2019, 09:25:32 pm »
In other news, I am back from my road trip (160 miles out and back) to look at an 485 that was advertised as working, which it wasn't.  But it wasn't in bad shape, I could get a bit of light on the screen in XY mode, all the dials light up, and it wasn't beat to crap. I grumbled a bit about spending four hours on the road to look at a busted scope and offered 75USD. Said offer accepted.

While I was wandering around his shop, I discovered two TM500 pulse generators and one each of a function generator, DMM, and PSU. The chap's definition of "working" is apparently, smoke didn't pour out of it when I powered it up, with prices based on the highest number ever found on ebay, so there was a small disagreement about the value of the stuff. A deal materialized after I left the entire pile on a table,  politely said, no thanks, picked up the 485, and headed for the truck.

I do believe I now have enough stuff in the fix-it queue to keep me occupied through the end of the year.   ::)

Bummer the 485 was less than hoped for. I've also been in a couple of deals kind of like that. The item I was going there for was OK, but the other stuff they want to offer you is unrealistic. "Stay on target. Stay on target..."
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Offline Specmaster

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #29238 on: April 13, 2019, 10:22:21 pm »
In other news, I am back from my road trip (160 miles out and back) to look at an 485 that was advertised as working, which it wasn't.  But it wasn't in bad shape, I could get a bit of light on the screen in XY mode, all the dials light up, and it wasn't beat to crap. I grumbled a bit about spending four hours on the road to look at a busted scope and offered 75USD. Said offer accepted.

While I was wandering around his shop, I discovered two TM500 pulse generators and one each of a function generator, DMM, and PSU. The chap's definition of "working" is apparently, smoke didn't pour out of it when I powered it up, with prices based on the highest number ever found on ebay, so there was a small disagreement about the value of the stuff. A deal materialized after I left the entire pile on a table,  politely said, no thanks, picked up the 485, and headed for the truck.

I do believe I now have enough stuff in the fix-it queue to keep me occupied through the end of the year.   ::)

Bummer the 485 was less than hoped for. I've also been in a couple of deals kind of like that. The item I was going there for was OK, but the other stuff they want to offer you is unrealistic. "Stay on target. Stay on target..."
To most sellers, if it lights up, no smoke or loud bangs are emitted, it WORKS and I find that those sellers fall into 2 camps, camp 1 is were they stubbornly stike to their statement that it is working and point to the lights being on, and usually refer to a friend who is supposed to be an engineer who also is supposed to have said it works but they don't know which controls to use to make in their words "dance" and so won't budge from their asking price, camp 2, where they trot out that as far as they knew if it lit up it was working but will then ask you what do you think its worth and that when you might get a good deal. The latter is the scenario where I managed to snag a Fluke 8840A with no test leads and a washed out display, for just £15. Got it home and was working just fine apart from the dim display (since flipped it on Ebay for waaay more then I paid and purchased another one sold as for parts which was working perfectly and then a 8842A again for spares and was working fine, these are my best bench meters.
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Offline worsthorse

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #29239 on: April 13, 2019, 10:41:49 pm »
In other news, I am back from my road trip (160 miles out and back) to look at an 485 that was advertised as working, which it wasn't.  But it wasn't in bad shape, I could get a bit of light on the screen in XY mode, all the dials light up, and it wasn't beat to crap. I grumbled a bit about spending four hours on the road to look at a busted scope and offered 75USD. Said offer accepted.

While I was wandering around his shop, I discovered two TM500 pulse generators and one each of a function generator, DMM, and PSU. The chap's definition of "working" is apparently, smoke didn't pour out of it when I powered it up, with prices based on the highest number ever found on ebay, so there was a small disagreement about the value of the stuff. A deal materialized after I left the entire pile on a table,  politely said, no thanks, picked up the 485, and headed for the truck.

I do believe I now have enough stuff in the fix-it queue to keep me occupied through the end of the year.   ::)

Bummer the 485 was less than hoped for. I've also been in a couple of deals kind of like that. The item I was going there for was OK, but the other stuff they want to offer you is unrealistic. "Stay on target. Stay on target..."

Yeah, it was a bummer for a minute or two then here's what I figured... 75USD for a dual trace 350MHz oscilloscope is sort of a lottery ticket:  will fixing it be within my capabilities and not cost a fortune? If yes, a pretty good deal. If not, I will probably learn something useful as long as I don't electrocute myself.  :-DD

Quote
To most sellers, if it lights up, no smoke or loud bangs are emitted, it WORKS and I find that those sellers fall into 2 camps, camp 1 is were they stubbornly stike to their statement that it is working and point to the lights being on, and usually refer to a friend who is supposed to be an engineer who also is supposed to have said it works but they don't know which controls to use to make in their words "dance" and so won't budge from their asking price, camp 2, where they trot out that as far as they knew if it lit up it was working but will then ask you what do you think its worth and that when you might get a good deal.

The fellow I dealt with today breaks down computers and resells the bits; I met him in a two floor garage filled with stuff. He had his ebay price list ready. I simply dismissed it, if you want to sell this stuff on ebay, have at it. I do my best not to be a jerk but I am completely okay with walking away from gear that isn't appropriately priced for its condition. Sometimes I get lucky and get a great deal, for which I am grateful, or I take a chance, like I did with the 485, that may not turn out so well but on average I pay fair value.
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Offline nixiefreqq

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #29240 on: April 13, 2019, 10:43:50 pm »
just wanted to say thanks to you guys who pointed out firefly.

have been binge watching and am up to episode 7.

not sure how I missed this series.  spent a lot of time in Heidelberg the last half of 2002.  maybe afn didn't carry it? 
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Offline 0culus

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #29241 on: April 13, 2019, 10:51:59 pm »
Received a replacement ADF4351 signal gen board....and it doesn't work either.  |O Refuses to lock on the internal xtal, and can't connect an external ref at all because it's missing one of the miniscule 0 ohm jumpers that connects the ref in/out SMA to the rest of the board.  :palm:

You get what you pay for with signal generators, that's for sure.
 

Offline bitseekerTopic starter

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #29242 on: April 13, 2019, 11:05:01 pm »
just wanted to say thanks to you guys who pointed out firefly.

have been binge watching and am up to episode 7.

not sure how I missed this series.  spent a lot of time in Heidelberg the last half of 2002.  maybe afn didn't carry it?

It was mismanaged and canceled in its first season, so it's understandable that not everyone who would enjoy it knew about it. The follow up movie, Serenity, was made thanks to support/pressure from fans. Amazing.

Always a pleasure to find another Brown Coat. :-+ Even better, a Brown Coat TEA lover. :-+ :-+
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Offline bd139

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #29243 on: April 13, 2019, 11:18:02 pm »
When you're done with Firefly and Serenity, hit Cowboy Bebop. This was one of the inspirational things for Firefly. Weird, hilarious and excellent.

Edit: must go to bed. Kempton tomorrow. TE fishing time!  :-DD
« Last Edit: April 13, 2019, 11:20:20 pm by bd139 »
 
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Offline 0culus

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #29244 on: April 13, 2019, 11:49:45 pm »
Received a replacement ADF4351 signal gen board....and it doesn't work either.  |O Refuses to lock on the internal xtal, and can't connect an external ref at all because it's missing one of the miniscule 0 ohm jumpers that connects the ref in/out SMA to the rest of the board.  :palm:

You get what you pay for with signal generators, that's for sure.

Well, I finally got it to lock after much fiddling. It works, better than the old one, but man the PLL chip gets blazing hot. Wouldn't be surprised if that isn't why the first one worked for a while then failed.
 

Offline bitseekerTopic starter

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #29245 on: April 13, 2019, 11:55:26 pm »
Happy hunting, bd139!
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Offline worsthorse

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #29246 on: April 14, 2019, 01:06:26 am »
Tonight's TEA should I do this or not question

One of the boxes I got from the garage treasure house was filled with probes. I spent this afternoon sorting them out; tonight I will test them. Most of them are pedestrian but there are six FET probes of various bandwidths, along with another four or five other BNC powered probes. To use them on the scopes I have, I will need to buy a Tek power source. On one hand, a 4GHz probe on a 300MHz scope is serious overkill, and selling them, I would more than cover the cost of all the gear I have purchased in the last three or four months. On the other, how cool is it to have a couple of GHz test probes on the bench?

So... should I fork out the cash for a power supply and keep all the probes or liberate some cash that I might use for, umm, more practical test equipment?
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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #29247 on: April 14, 2019, 01:12:28 am »
Well this is a surprise. Took the 400E to bits completely and checked it over. Literally nothing up with it at all. It's immaculate.

All relevant capacitors reading decently low ESR so I'm leaving them (ESR meter earning its keep already!) and no sign of any damage to any other components in the unit. All rails on spec.

So I figured feck it, so hooked up my DG1022Z to the front with a 50 ohm termination and put 1V RMS into it at 1KHz and what does it read? 1V RMS precisely!

Cranked the frequency up. 500KHz, needle hasn't budged. 2MHz, same again, 6MHz same again, 10MHz same again. All good. This is where the response tails off apparently. Nope - got all the way up to 17.6MHz before it even budged. Well done HP. money well spent. Incidentally this will make a rather good HF power meter with a suitable load as it's good up to 300V RMS and termination is external.

.....

Now on the shopping list:

1. Matching 427A
2. Matching 5221B nixie counter.

Not that I have a fetish (or one I am willing to talk about here) but can I see it's feet?  ;D

My 419A and Oculus's power meters don't have feet and I am not sure if Mondays 427A Multimeter has feet or not? I will be adding something to the feet and knob design when done.
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Offline bitseekerTopic starter

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #29248 on: April 14, 2019, 01:21:25 am »
On one hand, a 4GHz probe on a 300MHz scope is serious overkill, and selling them, I would more than cover the cost of all the gear I have purchased in the last three or four months. On the other, how cool is it to have a couple of GHz test probes on the bench?

So... should I fork out the cash for a power supply and keep all the probes or liberate some cash that I might use for, umm, more practical test equipment?

I suppose the initial question is if you can sell the 4 GHz probes. From what I've seen, it gets more difficult to shift stuff the fancier it becomes.

Of course, if you keep probes like that, then appropriate scopes will make themselves known to you. :-DD
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Offline 0culus

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #29249 on: April 14, 2019, 01:24:07 am »
Tonight's TEA should I do this or not question

One of the boxes I got from the garage treasure house was filled with probes. I spent this afternoon sorting them out; tonight I will test them. Most of them are pedestrian but there are six FET probes of various bandwidths, along with another four or five other BNC powered probes. To use them on the scopes I have, I will need to buy a Tek power source. On one hand, a 4GHz probe on a 300MHz scope is serious overkill, and selling them, I would more than cover the cost of all the gear I have purchased in the last three or four months. On the other, how cool is it to have a couple of GHz test probes on the bench?

So... should I fork out the cash for a power supply and keep all the probes or liberate some cash that I might use for, umm, more practical test equipment?

If you have a potential application for the FET probes, might be worth keeping them. If they can use the type 1101 accessory power supply, I found one of the older style ones with 4 outputs for a good price a while back on fleabay, to power my P6201 FET probes.

Keep in mind that probing at frequencies like that is not going to be easy even under ideal conditions. A traditional ground wire will have orders of magnitude too much inductance. You will definitely need the tiny wire tip grounding accessories that hopefully the probes have still....
 


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