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Tonight's TEA should I do this or not questionOne 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?
... but can I see it's feet?
Quote from: beanflying on April 14, 2019, 01:12:28 am... but can I see it's feet? Aside from some twitchy controls that probably only need a clean, that is the only shortcoming I've found with the 1740A I recently acquired. All four rear feet have been "truncated". This isn't a big deal as I plan on setting it up on a shelf (as soon as I acquire the space I mentioned a while ago ).Have done some spot cleaning on the front panel and so far every "mark" I've come across has cleaned up perfectly. I even thought I had a small scratch on the screen protector - but that disappeared after a clean with just a damp cloth.So far, the only thing that stops this from looking "factory fresh" is the browning of the screen bezel.This was a brilliant win. Thanks to Bean for the heads up!
Quote from: nixiefreqq on April 13, 2019, 10:43:50 pmjust 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.
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?
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!
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?
Quote from: wch on April 14, 2019, 01:06:26 amSo... 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 don't see much point in having 4GHz scope probes if your best scope is 300 MHz. Which leaves only two options. #1: Sell the probes and spend all the money on test other test equipment you can use, or, #2: Get a scope that needs 4GHz probes. This being TEA, the #2 option is probably indicated.
Quote from: bd139 on April 13, 2019, 03:44:55 pmWell 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 427A2. 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? 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.
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 427A2. Matching 5221B nixie counter.
mnem*perspective*
Received a replacement ADF4351 signal gen board....and it doesn't work either. 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. You get what you pay for with signal generators, that's for sure.
Quote from: mnementh on April 14, 2019, 04:44:28 ammnem*perspective*That reminds me of something utterly hilarious. My uncle was dying from skin cancer which had metastasised pretty bad and got into his brains. He was in pretty good spirits and not even slightly bothered about this really as he was 88. He spent the last four weeks of his life trying to come up with some good last words to instil wisdom and perspective in people. Basically ended up writing an Asimov type short story on perspective which concluded that nothing at all mattered (I’ll post it if i can find it). He prepared his last words for speech and was going to be silent after that. This was done. His last words slipped out later however “fucking hell jonno there’s a biro up my arse.” He will always be remembered for that.
Indeed lolEngineering my way into hamfest early failed so gone for a McDonald’s breakfast
Quote from: 0culus on April 13, 2019, 10:51:59 pmReceived a replacement ADF4351 signal gen board....and it doesn't work either. 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. You get what you pay for with signal generators, that's for sure.Interesting.I bought this little signal genarator and it's based on the ADF4351, too:https://www.ebay.de/itm/New-35M-4-4G-simple-signal-generator/172210964785It's having problems locking to the internal xtal, too.Since it has a working 10MHz reference input (a must have for my gear) it locks reliably to, I haven't bothered much since.Perhaps we can find out, what's the problem is?
Interested in finding out why as well as I was going to buy one of them for cheap microwave experiments ie not fishing out for an HP or something
Quote from: 0culus on April 13, 2019, 10:51:59 pmReceived a replacement ADF4351 signal gen board....and it doesn't work either. 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. 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.
She is one butt-ugly space mule... but the fact that she is... is beautiful. I won't get to be a "Rocket Man"; but I may live to see the day when "... it's just my job, 5 days a week..."mnemWe did that.
It sort of reminds me of how big of an asshole Trump is.
Quote from: URI on April 14, 2019, 07:00:52 amQuote from: 0culus on April 13, 2019, 10:51:59 pmReceived a replacement ADF4351 signal gen board....and it doesn't work either. 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. You get what you pay for with signal generators, that's for sure.Interesting.I bought this little signal genarator and it's based on the ADF4351, too:https://www.ebay.de/itm/New-35M-4-4G-simple-signal-generator/172210964785It's having problems locking to the internal xtal, too.Since it has a working 10MHz reference input (a must have for my gear) it locks reliably to, I haven't bothered much since.Perhaps we can find out, what's the problem is? Quote from: bd139 on April 14, 2019, 07:06:38 amInterested in finding out why as well as I was going to buy one of them for cheap microwave experiments ie not fishing out for an HP or something Quote from: 0culus on April 13, 2019, 11:49:45 pmQuote from: 0culus on April 13, 2019, 10:51:59 pmReceived a replacement ADF4351 signal gen board....and it doesn't work either. 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. 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.I did finally get it to lock after fiddling. These things are a bit touchy for sure. And the PLL itself runs damn hot.
Quote from: 0culus on April 14, 2019, 07:35:19 amQuote from: URI on April 14, 2019, 07:00:52 amQuote from: 0culus on April 13, 2019, 10:51:59 pmReceived a replacement ADF4351 signal gen board....and it doesn't work either. 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. You get what you pay for with signal generators, that's for sure.Interesting.I bought this little signal genarator and it's based on the ADF4351, too:https://www.ebay.de/itm/New-35M-4-4G-simple-signal-generator/172210964785It's having problems locking to the internal xtal, too.Since it has a working 10MHz reference input (a must have for my gear) it locks reliably to, I haven't bothered much since.Perhaps we can find out, what's the problem is? Quote from: bd139 on April 14, 2019, 07:06:38 amInterested in finding out why as well as I was going to buy one of them for cheap microwave experiments ie not fishing out for an HP or something Quote from: 0culus on April 13, 2019, 11:49:45 pmQuote from: 0culus on April 13, 2019, 10:51:59 pmReceived a replacement ADF4351 signal gen board....and it doesn't work either. 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. 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.I did finally get it to lock after fiddling. These things are a bit touchy for sure. And the PLL itself runs damn hot.Ooookaay.My SigGen seems to lock to the internal xtal after some warm-up time but only after I tweak the output frequency from the default 34MHz to e.g 134MHz.
Quote from: URI on April 14, 2019, 08:35:28 amQuote from: 0culus on April 14, 2019, 07:35:19 amQuote from: URI on April 14, 2019, 07:00:52 amQuote from: 0culus on April 13, 2019, 10:51:59 pmReceived a replacement ADF4351 signal gen board....and it doesn't work either. 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. You get what you pay for with signal generators, that's for sure.Interesting.I bought this little signal genarator and it's based on the ADF4351, too:https://www.ebay.de/itm/New-35M-4-4G-simple-signal-generator/172210964785It's having problems locking to the internal xtal, too.Since it has a working 10MHz reference input (a must have for my gear) it locks reliably to, I haven't bothered much since.Perhaps we can find out, what's the problem is? Quote from: 0culus on April 13, 2019, 11:49:45 pmWell, 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.I did finally get it to lock after fiddling. These things are a bit touchy for sure. And the PLL itself runs damn hot.Ooookaay.My SigGen seems to lock to the internal xtal after some warm-up time but only after I tweak the output frequency from the default 34MHz to e.g 134MHz. Seems more like the spec for the ADF4350 (137.5 MHz to 4400 MHz) instead of the 4351 Either that or they havn't set the divide by ratio properly to get to the lower frequencies? https://www.analog.com/media/en/technical-documentation/data-sheets/ADF4351.pdf
Quote from: 0culus on April 14, 2019, 07:35:19 amQuote from: URI on April 14, 2019, 07:00:52 amQuote from: 0culus on April 13, 2019, 10:51:59 pmReceived a replacement ADF4351 signal gen board....and it doesn't work either. 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. You get what you pay for with signal generators, that's for sure.Interesting.I bought this little signal genarator and it's based on the ADF4351, too:https://www.ebay.de/itm/New-35M-4-4G-simple-signal-generator/172210964785It's having problems locking to the internal xtal, too.Since it has a working 10MHz reference input (a must have for my gear) it locks reliably to, I haven't bothered much since.Perhaps we can find out, what's the problem is? Quote from: 0culus on April 13, 2019, 11:49:45 pmWell, 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.I did finally get it to lock after fiddling. These things are a bit touchy for sure. And the PLL itself runs damn hot.Ooookaay.My SigGen seems to lock to the internal xtal after some warm-up time but only after I tweak the output frequency from the default 34MHz to e.g 134MHz.
Quote from: URI on April 14, 2019, 07:00:52 amQuote from: 0culus on April 13, 2019, 10:51:59 pmReceived a replacement ADF4351 signal gen board....and it doesn't work either. 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. You get what you pay for with signal generators, that's for sure.Interesting.I bought this little signal genarator and it's based on the ADF4351, too:https://www.ebay.de/itm/New-35M-4-4G-simple-signal-generator/172210964785It's having problems locking to the internal xtal, too.Since it has a working 10MHz reference input (a must have for my gear) it locks reliably to, I haven't bothered much since.Perhaps we can find out, what's the problem is? Quote from: 0culus on April 13, 2019, 11:49:45 pmWell, 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.I did finally get it to lock after fiddling. These things are a bit touchy for sure. And the PLL itself runs damn hot.
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.
Well that was crap. Spend less than £10 on couple of tuning caps and a vernier drive. No test gear worth buying. Did consider buying a couple of old home brew radios for parts but only just broke even on those if I did which wasn’t worth it. Plus it feels bad destroying someone’s hard work.