Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[xrunner]

Some more slight tweakage on power and speed to come but this one isn't too shabby. Certainly above bodge standards 

Engraving is on the back side btw apart from a wash and nylon brush scrub zero cleanup.

Here's one I did on the 3D printer -

[bd139]

Sooo need some DMM leads.

What's the betting these are dodgy ones?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/153002583405

[Mr. Scram]

Sooo need some DMM leads.

What's the betting these are dodgy ones?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/153002583405

From what I've seen so far they seem to be legit, or the difference is small enough to not make much of a difference. The question is whether you can depend on them when it matters.

[mnementh]

   Prosthetic limb implant operation success on the 2465, thanks Mnem ! 

That's no prosthesis; those are OEM baybee! "As gewd as the gewd laird made 'er wit'!" You are a limb transplant surgery GOD! 

Glad I was able to help out. 

A keenly astute allegory for the evisceration the company suffered, both organizationally and spiritually, at the hands of the investors' cabal and that psycho-bitch-from-Hell-on-acid.

Sooo need some DMM leads.

What's the betting these are dodgy ones?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/153002583405

That's about the right price for the real thing but the leads look a little more translucent than they should be to me, so could be Pliovic instead of real silicone; and if counterfeit, not the real hard-point high-nickel steel the tips are supposed to be. Those non-modular TL71s are only $20-ish list price.

A quick look at the vendor's other stuff shows them selling a lot of China-direct merch, and lots of the kind of "Fluke" goods that get counterfeited.

Not sure about the "Fluke" IR thermometer, and I think the T5-RLS leads haven't been counterfeited yet... it's REALLY hard to say, given the other goods for sale by the vendor. Probably NOT a Fluke "authorized store".

mnem
*Fluke-ily*

[tggzzz]

Today at half past six I wanted to continue my repair job. Hooked a scope to TP1951 (which, according to the SM, should give strong hints regarding the shorted rail). Power on - and the damn thing comes to life!

Recap the PSU. All of the bloody electrolytics. Even the startup electrolyic that ensured I could only do one test every 12 hours.

However, the device is still full of our beloved tants.

Probably worse than you imagine. Several 15V tant beads on a 13V PSU rail, and none of them are on the PSU schematic.

C911 will take out R965. Alright, I'll be nice. Those are on schematic 17 Power Distribution, but there are others on that rail on other diagrams.

And the switch decks are untested yet (apart from choosing the right sensitivity, which showed no apparent problems with deck A).

Don't forget a major advantage of the 485: it has four attenuators. Two are bog standard, but two are 50ohm. The advantage is most scopes merely bung a 50ohm resistor in parallel with the 1Mohm attenuator - which means there's also a 15pF-20pF in parallel with the 50ohm

With the popularity of the 485 and the unpopularity of tantalum caps around the brotherhood, there probably exists a list of them already that can be used to order replacement caps?

Probably, but I didn't keep a list.

It surely is a rather fine CRO. If no other faults turn up, it might even get used regularly.

It is the one on my bench, not the 2465, not the 2445b, not the digitising scopes. Why? Because a real 50ohm input means you can use it for looking at signal integrity - and that's the USP of a scope in a "digital" circuit.

[bd139]

Sooo need some DMM leads.

What's the betting these are dodgy ones?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/153002583405

That's about the right price for the real thing but the leads look a little more translucent than they should be to me, so could be Pliovic instead of real silicone; and if counterfeit, not the real hard-point high-nickel steel the tips are supposed to be. Those non-modular TL71s are only $20-ish list price.

A quick look at the vendor's other stuff shows them selling a lot of China-direct merch, and lots of the kind of "Fluke" goods that get counterfeited.

Not sure about the "Fluke" IR thermometer, and I think the T5-RLS leads haven't been counterfeited yet... it's REALLY hard to say, given the other goods for sale by the vendor. Probably NOT a Fluke "authorized store".

mnem
*Fluke-ily*

Yeah I was starting to think that. If I look elsewhere they are just over twice the cost. Hardly worth arguing over the price difference at that level TBH so will grab some genuine ones from RS. This is actually so I can sell my 87V which I haven't touched since I got the 87. The 87 is a far far better meter if you ask me. Considerably less tetchy, bargraph is actually useful and known good. I've seen a lot of people moaning their 87V has bricked itself after 5 years.


Quick K2 update.

Half way through the RX/synthesizer capacitor stuffing:



After this and semiconductors / crystals...



Crystal filter was fun:



next: toroids. Lots of them 

[Calambres]

Quick K2 update.

IMHO, you should open a dedicated thread...

[tggzzz]

Went to the Dunstable hamfest today. Impressions...

There were many tarpaulins on the ground, held down by large rusty bits of electronic stuff at each corner, which is reasonable.But the rest of the tarpaulin was also covered with such hazardous waste.

There were too many people that you didn't want looking stuff on a stand, because they had marked post-nasal drip.

There were too many people that didn't mind whether something worked (or even what something was), so long as it was cheap.

[bd139]

That sounds about right.

I've noticed that all things have died on their steaming dead arses in the hamfest space. Broken, hooky, hazardous as you so elegantly put, overpriced and nothing else. Honestly I've actually just stopping buying crap now.

[Specmaster]

I invite you two to come shop the stores by me. Plenty of briefs and boxer briefs in 1x, 2x, 3x. Absolutely NONE in my size.  Regular old size M.  I have to order on line.

She's binge watching the British "Midsomer Murder's" after a day of stocking up on provisions and a nice dinner out. I have a question for my British fellow TEA'ers. Are ALL British women skinny ass bleach blonds or is it simply a fetish of that production company?     

Nice to hear that your lady likes some fine British drama and countryside. As to the British women question, nah, they are generally much larger these days, often outdoing us british men and we're getting much bigger these days with all the takeaways we all consume these days and that includes me, I need 3x to cover my arse. 

[Specmaster]

I invite you two to come shop the stores by me. Plenty of briefs and boxer briefs in 1x, 2x, 3x. Absolutely NONE in my size.  Regular old size M.  I have to order on line.

She's binge watching the British "Midsomer Murder's" after a day of stocking up on provisions and a nice dinner out. I have a question for my British fellow TEA'ers. Are ALL British women skinny ass bleach blonds or is it simply a fetish of that production company?     

That's typical mediocre television crap here and entirely down to the production company.

Some decent stuff:

I'm with you, Victor  , One foot in the grave was a brilliant program. K2 is coming on nicely, soon be up and running   

[0culus]

Had one of those "man, am I dumb" moments. Installed the extra SRAM into my 53310A Modulation Domain Analyzer and totally forgot to install the jumper on SEL1 and move the other two. So of course it doesn't report the extended memory as being installed... 

[Specmaster]

Well I finally got around to finishing off the Pioneer A109 stereo amp, after replacing all 4 of the output Mosfets, it still was running away thermally so I decided to pull the Op-amp and replace that as well. When I pulled it out, whatever liquid it was that was poured inside the amp had left a huge great sticky cake beneath the Op-amp, like a Pontefract cake it was. I fitted a 8 pin socket to allow easy removal should it be necessary in the future.

Next step to adjust the idling current and this time it was easy to do, got it down 11.5mV on both channels and now the running temperature is a respectable 45C.

The service manual was a bit hard to follow at times with instructions like these on the attached print, even the polarity shown on the meter connections is actually the reverse, a poor translation into English I think to blame 

[bitseeker]

Received FeelTech FY6600 - I'm not sure if you guys have seen the latest article in QRZ (ARRL publication) about mod'ing this to use as a WSPR transmitter

Yeah, I read that article since I've also followed the FY6600 thread. Pretty neat. Why did you get the 6600 instead of the 6800 (which has user-upgradable firmware)?

[bitseeker]

When I watched the logos of so many companies being altered to give them a 'modern' appearance, I swore to myself: If I ever found a company, it's statutes would expressly forbid any alteration of the logo.

What became of the beautiful Tek logo? A boring word. What became of the beautiful Telefunken logo? A boring word. Philips? HP at least tried to preserve the original idea.

But maybe I'm just a bit too nostalgic ...

I concur and don't think you're too nostalgic. Ask Rolls Royce, Rolex, or other iconic brands if they're too nostalgic for not modernizing their logos. A well-known, instantly recognizable brand is invaluable. Changing it can have benefits, but also consequences. I can understanding changing it if the current logo doesn't gain much traction, but I would be very reluctant to change a well-known one.

[GreyWoolfe]

Since you guys brought up underwear...   Despite the fact that the only thing I ever buy from Banggood.com is electronic items, they still send me emails with suggestions for other stuff.  One day one of their emails included "elephant underwear."  Don't go there and search it.  Once you see it you can't unsee it.
https://www.banggood.com/search/elephant-underwear.html

Now I know where the guys who own one of these (H2 Hummer) get their drawers. 
[/quote]

You have it backwards.  They have no hope in He!! filling a fraction of those underwear.  That is why they drive H2s.  Compensation and no adjustment pot available.

[bitseeker]

When I watched the logos of so many companies being altered to give them a 'modern' appearance, I swore to myself: If I ever found a company, it's statutes would expressly forbid any alteration of the logo.

What became of the beautiful Tek logo? A boring word. What became of the beautiful Telefunken logo? A boring word. Philips? HP at least tried to preserve the original idea.

But maybe I'm just a bit too nostalgic ...

HP the Computer company is sort of keep the original alive with this iteration  Still the same rake angle on the bars.

That may have been the argument that the designer used. That new logo clearly jumped the shark and went for form over function. Unless you know that it's HP's logo, you'd just wonder what the four slashes mean. Alternatively, it could be British Petroleum's new logo (bp).

All that logo says to me is that HP has lost the critical components that gave the company its meaning and identity. All that's left are the whisp(er)s of its former glory.

[med6753]

Since you guys brought up underwear...   Despite the fact that the only thing I ever buy from Banggood.com is electronic items, they still send me emails with suggestions for other stuff.  One day one of their emails included "elephant underwear."  Don't go there and search it.  Once you see it you can't unsee it.
https://www.banggood.com/search/elephant-underwear.html

Now I know where the guys who own one of these (H2 Hummer) get their drawers. 

You have it backwards.  They have no hope in He!! filling a fraction of those underwear.  That is why they drive H2s.  Compensation and no adjustment pot available.
[/quote]

Absolutely agree.....I was being VERY sarcastic. 

[med6753]

I invite you two to come shop the stores by me. Plenty of briefs and boxer briefs in 1x, 2x, 3x. Absolutely NONE in my size.  Regular old size M.  I have to order on line.

She's binge watching the British "Midsomer Murder's" after a day of stocking up on provisions and a nice dinner out. I have a question for my British fellow TEA'ers. Are ALL British women skinny ass bleach blonds or is it simply a fetish of that production company?     

Nice to hear that your lady likes some fine British drama and countryside. As to the British women question, nah, they are generally much larger these days, often outdoing us british men and we're getting much bigger these days with all the takeaways we all consume these days and that includes me, I need 3x to cover my arse. 

She has an affinity for things British especially British history but she is NOT one of those rabid followers of the royals. Just got back from a 5 hour round trip to get her home. The traffic down in metro NYC was the usual PITA. Once outside of NYC smooth sailing. But I'm beat. 

[mnementh]

Anniversary present for the wife was the Game of Thrones box set. We're horrible fans; neither of us have watched an episode since the Red Wedding.

Honestly, I'm not sure I can stomach that much sturm und drang. At all. EVER. In whatever life I have left.   

mnem
Drama: It's what's for dinner.

[mnementh]

Sooo need some DMM leads.   What's the betting these are dodgy ones?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/153002583405

That's about the right price for the real thing but the leads look a little more translucent than they should be to me, so could be Pliovic instead of real silicone; and if counterfeit, not the real hard-point high-nickel steel the tips are supposed to be. Those non-modular TL71s are only $20-ish list price.

A quick look at the vendor's other stuff shows them selling a lot of China-direct merch, and lots of the kind of "Fluke" goods that get counterfeited.

Not sure about the "Fluke" IR thermometer, and I think the T5-RLS leads haven't been counterfeited yet... it's REALLY hard to say, given the other goods for sale by the vendor. Probably NOT a Fluke "authorized store".

mnem
*Fluke-ily*

Yeah I was starting to think that. If I look elsewhere they are just over twice the cost. Hardly worth arguing over the price difference at that level TBH so will grab some genuine ones from RS. This is actually so I can sell my 87V which I haven't touched since I got the 87. The 87 is a far far better meter if you ask me. Considerably less tetchy, bargraph is actually useful and known good. I've seen a lot of people moaning their 87V has bricked itself after 5 years.
Quick K2 update.
Half way through the RX/synthesizer capacitor stuffing:      After this and semiconductors / crystals...      Crystal filter was fun:      next: toroids. Lots of them 

Yeah, it looks like the FLUKE leads have bumped up a fair bit since I shopped them last; I remember buying the TL71s at $22 from Element14 a year or three ago. Now they're $29.70 on sale from $32.99.

If it's the hard-point probe that you're looking for, no point at all in even looking at the knock-offs. The one thing you won't get is that crazy-hard alloy they use. If the cheapo quality is not an issue, may as well just buy the $2.95 cheapies like I just got to use as "sacrificial elements" on my own bench. When I zorch those, I use the wire to make battery cables for my micro-quads that only need 18-20ga power whips. 
I know I could find out by looking on the site, but what bands does that monstrosity cover, what modulation types and how many watts out? I know they're popular in the CW ONLY crowd too, right?

mnem
*all poke'd out*

[Cubdriver]

Wow - someone just dropped $260 on a Fluke 8300A on the Bay of Evil. 

-Pat

[beanflying]

Wow - someone just dropped $260 on a Fluke 8300A on the Bay of Evil. 

-Pat

Nixie need knows no $ limit

[0culus]

Found a jumper to put in, and now my 53310A has extended memory depth. 

[worsthorse]

I am back home, having survived FDIM and Hamvention.   Before I left I packed two flat rate boxes full of parts and a couple of meters and left them with the hotel front desk. The postal carrier is supposed to pick them up on Monday and I will be very sad if that does not happen. 

I had only one bad experience, and of course it was at one of the fancy vendor booths, where I stopped by to inquire about a piece of kit I've been thinking about buying and left after two minutes of interacting with a arrogant sales guy.     No wonder I shop on line.

TEAS being what it is - and this will not surprise anyone on this thread - I found three boxes waiting for me when I got home: a 6113A, another TM plugin (the AM502), and the first batch of caps for power supplies rehab projects. After I finished unpacking, walking the dog, and eating dinner with SWMBO, I did a quick check of the PSU. A bit dinged up, dirty inside, and smelling of nicotine but overall in good condition. I powered it up and it generally seems to work. Switches have to be cleaned, it needs to be calibrated, etc but it'll do.  The AM502 was a parts-only deal but it looks like a win as the unit is pristine but for a broken knob and a bent feed through pot shaft. Will post photos when I get this stuff on the bench.

One lasting impression of Xenia: there are waaaaaaaay more Heathkit rigs in the world than there are people interested in owning Heathkit rigs.