Author Topic: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread  (Read 14550004 times)

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Offline bd139

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #33000 on: June 12, 2019, 01:21:35 pm »
New toy arrived. I rather like this. Display clarity/angle is better than the TF930 and no futzing with level control - just works straight up!

 

Offline Terry01

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #33001 on: June 12, 2019, 01:28:55 pm »
New toy arrived. I rather like this. Display clarity/angle is better than the TF930 and no futzing with level control - just works straight up!



I like the toy.... but I like the board you made up better! :)

I wish I could make things like that...
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Offline bd139

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #33002 on: June 12, 2019, 01:36:09 pm »
It's an off the shelf design. I am just assembly worker here.  It's from http://hfsignals.blogspot.com/p/specan-reboot-of-w7zoi.html under "the 100MHz oscillator".

Anyone can build such things. No black magic just practice and persistence. And tolerance to pain. The wretched bastard is unstable as hell, sensitive to temperature, movement, hand capacitance and loading and I want to chuck it out the window :-DD
 

Offline BU508A

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #33003 on: June 12, 2019, 01:37:52 pm »

Anybody got a Geiger Counter I can borrow...?

I could borrow you mine, but I'm in Germany.

I have one of these SV500 Geiger Counters which were used in the Bundeswehr (German Army).



Nice thing, btw.
“Chaos is found in greatest abundance wherever order is being sought. It always defeats order, because it is better organized.”            - Terry Pratchett -
 
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Offline Specmaster

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #33004 on: June 12, 2019, 01:46:35 pm »
New toy arrived. I rather like this. Display clarity/angle is better than the TF930 and no futzing with level control - just works straight up!


Its certainly compact and the display does seem to be clearer but that is because I think that the screen is more angled towards you but it is going to be found lacking in other areas like attenuation, coupling, impedance etc. on balance, I'd still rather have the TF930 even with its bigger bulk but I understand your shortage on that front with all of your Tek scopes etc.
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Offline bd139

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #33005 on: June 12, 2019, 02:05:00 pm »
Indeed. Certainly the TF930 is a better bit of kit even if most of it is air  :-DD
 

Offline Terry01

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #33006 on: June 12, 2019, 02:24:22 pm »
It's an off the shelf design. I am just assembly worker here.  It's from http://hfsignals.blogspot.com/p/specan-reboot-of-w7zoi.html under "the 100MHz oscillator".

Anyone can build such things. No black magic just practice and persistence. And tolerance to pain. The wretched bastard is unstable as hell, sensitive to temperature, movement, hand capacitance and loading and I want to chuck it out the window :-DD

LOL  :-DD
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Offline Terry01

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #33007 on: June 12, 2019, 02:37:23 pm »
It's an off the shelf design. I am just assembly worker here.  It's from http://hfsignals.blogspot.com/p/specan-reboot-of-w7zoi.html under "the 100MHz oscillator".

Anyone can build such things. No black magic just practice and persistence. And tolerance to pain. The wretched bastard is unstable as hell, sensitive to temperature, movement, hand capacitance and loading and I want to chuck it out the window :-DD

I checked the link and watched the video there for the "specan" working. Man that is cool as ****!

I love looking at stuff that is more "just put together" than stuff that is all neat and tidy and uniform as hell. Same with the older electronics stuff like old radios and stuff.

It amazes me for some reason!  :)
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Offline Specmaster

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #33008 on: June 12, 2019, 02:43:27 pm »
It's an off the shelf design. I am just assembly worker here.  It's from http://hfsignals.blogspot.com/p/specan-reboot-of-w7zoi.html under "the 100MHz oscillator".

Anyone can build such things. No black magic just practice and persistence. And tolerance to pain. The wretched bastard is unstable as hell, sensitive to temperature, movement, hand capacitance and loading and I want to chuck it out the window :-DD

I checked the link and watched the video there for the "specan" working. Man that is cool as ****!

I love looking at stuff that is more "just put together" than stuff that is all neat and tidy and uniform as hell. Same with the older electronics stuff like old radios and stuff.

It amazes me for some reason!  :)
I think it might be because there is the human element rather than machine made and refined that makes up the interest factor, like knowing a car is handmade, i.e. comparing a Aston Martin with a Austin Healey, certainly does it for me.
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Offline Cerebus

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #33009 on: June 12, 2019, 03:04:42 pm »
That HP 3616A that I bagged for £85 arrived today. Pristine, spotless, still bang on accuracy and of course it has a proper HP badge, not one of those 'orrible Negligent or BlindSight badges.

Obligatory porn:

Naked:


CV:


CC:


Flashing 'er backside:

« Last Edit: June 12, 2019, 03:09:09 pm by Cerebus »
Anybody got a syringe I can use to squeeze the magic smoke back into this?
 
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Offline worsthorse

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #33010 on: June 12, 2019, 03:20:11 pm »
It's an off the shelf design. I am just assembly worker here.  It's from http://hfsignals.blogspot.com/p/specan-reboot-of-w7zoi.html under "the 100MHz oscillator".

Anyone can build such things. No black magic just practice and persistence. And tolerance to pain. The wretched bastard is unstable as hell, sensitive to temperature, movement, hand capacitance and loading and I want to chuck it out the window :-DD

Being just about the world's clumsiest builder, I am living proof that anyone can stuff like that. In addition to practice, persistence, and tolerance to pain I would add "willingness to build at least three versions of whatever it is you are building before giving up".

Which is why, of course, I haven't taken on the K2...   ;D
specialization is for insects.
 

Offline Specmaster

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #33011 on: June 12, 2019, 03:24:52 pm »
That HP 3616A that I bagged for £85 arrived today. Pristine, spotless, still bang on accuracy and of course it has a proper HP badge, not one of those 'orrible Negligent or BlindSight badges.

Obligatory porn:

Naked:


CV:


CC:


Flashing 'er backside:


Wow, it looks like you just took it out of the box for the first time today, well, good catch that one is.  :-+
Who let Murphy in?

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Offline bd139

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #33012 on: June 12, 2019, 03:39:53 pm »
@Cerebus: does that buzz terribly? Every damn HP supply I've had from that range sounds like there's a large cockroach living in it  :-DD

Also if you didn't notice that and it does and you notice it now then I apologise.

This is incidentally why I have the Thurlby supplies in regular use - they only make stress noises when they are straining on a hefty load.

@wch "willingness to build at least three versions of whatever it is you are building before giving up".  ... yes. Am there regularly and yes I had to fix some of the K2  :scared:

@Specmaster: I think the comparison with the Austin and Aston Martin is a little unfair on them. In fact it's more like the following. It'll get you there. Not in style but you'll arrive!

 

Offline Cerebus

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #33013 on: June 12, 2019, 03:44:02 pm »
Wow, it looks like you just took it out of the box for the first time today, well, good catch that one is.  :-+

Yes, SWMBO came in a little while ago and needed convincing that I wasn't trying to sneak something brand new and expensive in, in the guise if of "I got a bargain". I pointed out that the HP badge marks it as 1999 or earlier. So, yes, I probably deserve the awarding of of one this week's "jammy gits".
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Offline Kosmic

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #33014 on: June 12, 2019, 03:46:38 pm »
Today is it shows up, Fedex Overnight, packed in a box with paper, two large plastic bags, three static bags, two more plastic bags, and five sheets of invoices and packing lists. All but the two plastic bags for the wire required hand packing.

Arrow are unbelievable. I ordered a small Cypress usb controller, just the chip. Received this:         

The box in the picture was itself contained in a huge box. At first I thought they made a error with my order, then I realized they were just really inefficient.

You're mistaking "economies of scale" for inefficiency. The same warehouse will ALSO supply 5000 or 50000 pieces in those machine-fed pick & place trays. On top of that they need to maintain a fixed humidity level through the packing process AND shipping it to YOU or any R&D lab; who are likely going to want the bulk packaging so they can set up line automation anyways.

In that scenario, which is more inefficient; keeping stock of 100 different sizes of single-serving trays (which you also have to maintain humidity control on throughout their storage) or recycling a couple of the big flats they already have and get for free from the chip manufacturer?  ;)

mnem
*Infinitely scaly-able*

If their packing and shipping operation is completely automated, yes I agree. They endup paying more for shipping but packaging would be cheaper.

But I’m really not sure it's completely automated. Every time I receive something from arrow the packaging is kind of sloppy (Tape on the bag and how the bigger plastic bag is closed etc.). So in the scenario where they manually package everything, they really should do something to lower their shipping cost. Right now, it's like they really don't care. Even if it's just for the environment.
 
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Offline Kosmic

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #33015 on: June 12, 2019, 03:48:44 pm »
New toy arrived. I rather like this. Display clarity/angle is better than the TF930 and no futzing with level control - just works straight up!



Hooo really nice portable counter. Goes to 3G too. I like it.
 

Offline Cerebus

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #33016 on: June 12, 2019, 03:52:27 pm »
@Cerebus: does that buzz terribly? Every damn HP supply I've had from that range sounds like there's a large cockroach living in it  :-DD

If I put my ear to it I can hear a buzz. With it on the table, if I stand next to it I can't hear it. Perhaps in a silent room at 4AM I might just hear it from a normal working position but probably not. So perhaps not 100% silent, but beats anything with a fan in. One of the reasons for wanting it was so that I could leave the HP 6002A jet engine in the box room unless I really need the current (10A) that only it can chuck about.
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Offline bd139

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #33017 on: June 12, 2019, 03:55:48 pm »
@Cerebus: does that buzz terribly? Every damn HP supply I've had from that range sounds like there's a large cockroach living in it  :-DD

If I put my ear to it I can hear a buzz. With it on the table, if I stand next to it I can't hear it. Perhaps in a silent room at 4AM I might just hear it from a normal working position but probably not. So perhaps not 100% silent, but beats anything with a fan in. One of the reasons for wanting it was so that I could leave the HP 6002A jet engine in the box room unless I really need the current (10A) that only it can chuck about.

Ok that's not too bad then. I had an E3630 and it was awful. That had been heavily abused though so I wonder if it's related to the laminations working themselves free.

Annoyingly I need a fat linear supply ~ 30A at 15V. A tiny SMPS is too electrically noisy but all TTi's offerings in that space have fans.  Was looking at a 1980s Farnell rack mounted ones in the end as they are big enough not to need a fan!
 

Offline Specmaster

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #33018 on: June 12, 2019, 04:35:45 pm »
@Specmaster: I think the comparison with the Austin and Aston Martin is a little unfair on them. In fact it's more like the following. It'll get you there. Not in style but you'll arrive!


Well your example  does have that rustic home, hand made look to it, I only used Aston Martin as an example of a handmade product and its well known that there are no 2 Aston's identical because they are hand made.

I pity the poor horse though lugging that heavy cab about.
« Last Edit: June 12, 2019, 04:37:18 pm by Specmaster »
Who let Murphy in?

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Offline mnementh

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #33019 on: June 12, 2019, 04:55:51 pm »
   "Or something"...  :o   I bought some tritium vials for much too little off AliEx a while back. I had them earlier today; I'm sure they'll turn up. :P  I don't think they'll set off a Geiger Counter; but I know for a fact my little vial of old Timex watch hands will, even as dim as most of them are now.

mnem
*Radio-active*
And this is why this forum is such a time sink...

mnen says, quite innocently, i misplaced some radioactive isotopes and, of course, i take the bait. and then he says, i bought some tritium vials for much too little off AliEx a while back and now i am off and running... what do you use tritium vials for? and why are they on AE? and suddenly I find myself in a twisty maze of prepper/edc forums all alike.

... and the night is gone.   |O

edit: and that's before i notice, "my little vial of timex watch hands".   huh? what did you say? wha...
   Before tritium vials, we had radium-phosphor paint. Among many other things, it was used for the hands and dials of wristwatches; and it is the reason why during wartime, officers were issued watches with covers like these. Not to protect the expensive watch but to keep them from being used as a target for night-snipers. They were also the origin of the phrase "(Never ) Three on a match"; this came from field-training lectures where infantrymen were warned that a night-sniper would spot your trio of smokers on the first light of a cigarette, range in on the second, and start shooting with the third glowing coal and match-illuminated face.

   New toy arrived. I rather like this. Display clarity/angle is better than the TF930 and no futzing with level control - just works straight up!

Nice toy, and nice Manhattan-deadbug hybrid construction. Dumb question... When I learned the technique, we were taught to "solder the islands" to the ground plane to prevent unknown/varying stray capacitance created by gluing them down. We did this by dropping the chip of double-sided PCB them on a dot of flux and wicking solder underneath. That usually leaves a telltale patch of solder on the ground plane on one side of the island. Since I've been here, I've never seen that on your projects, even the ones done with proper Manhattan construction. Is that just you being in a hurry and super-gluing them down, or is that "common knowledge" something that has changed since the stone age when I learned the technique?

Also, please tell us more about your new toy... How much, where from, etc.  ;D

mnem
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Offline mnementh

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #33020 on: June 12, 2019, 05:06:28 pm »
That HP 3616A that I bagged for £85 arrived today. Pristine, spotless, still bang on accuracy and of course it has a proper HP badge, not one of those 'orrible Negligent or BlindSight badges.

Obligatory porn:  CC:      (Snippity)
Wow, it looks like you just took it out of the box for the first time today, well, good catch that one is.  :-+

W00T!!! w00t indeed! You got that for 85 clams?   Well and truly EARNED, old friend!  :-+

mnem
« Last Edit: June 12, 2019, 05:11:00 pm by mnementh »
alt-codes work here:  alt-0128 = €  alt-156 = £  alt-0216 = Ø  alt-225 = ß  alt-230 = µ  alt-234 = Ω  alt-236 = ∞  alt-248 = °
 

Offline mnementh

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #33021 on: June 12, 2019, 05:14:20 pm »
Quote from: bd139
@Specmaster: I think the comparison with the Austin and Aston Martin is a little unfair on them. In fact it's more like the following. It'll get you there. Not in style but you'll arrive!   
Well your example  does have that rustic home, hand made look to it, I only used Aston Martin as an example of a handmade product and its well known that there are no 2 Aston's identical because they are hand made. I pity the poor horse though lugging that heavy cab about.

Look closer, buddy. moo.  :o

mnem
« Last Edit: June 12, 2019, 05:43:57 pm by mnementh »
alt-codes work here:  alt-0128 = €  alt-156 = £  alt-0216 = Ø  alt-225 = ß  alt-230 = µ  alt-234 = Ω  alt-236 = ∞  alt-248 = °
 

Offline Specmaster

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #33022 on: June 12, 2019, 05:23:12 pm »
well alright, cow then and its heading straight for your cow pie factory, it wants to sacrifice it self to avoid the humiliation of pulling that cart with the lorry cab on it around any more  :-DD :-DD
Who let Murphy in?

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Offline bd139

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #33023 on: June 12, 2019, 05:25:22 pm »
Well your example  does have that rustic home, hand made look to it, I only used Aston Martin as an example of a handmade product and its well known that there are no 2 Aston's identical because they are hand made.

I pity the poor horse though lugging that heavy cab about.

I'd rather have one build consistently well than one put together on a Friday afternoon after the pub thanks  :-DD

Also moo, not neigh.

Nice toy, and nice Manhattan-deadbug hybrid construction. Dumb question... When I learned the technique, we were taught to "solder the islands" to the ground plane to prevent unknown/varying stray capacitance created by gluing them down. We did this by dropping the chip of double-sided PCB them on a dot of flux and wicking solder underneath. That usually leaves a telltale patch of solder on the ground plane on one side of the island. Since I've been here, I've never seen that on your projects, even the ones done with proper Manhattan construction. Is that just you being in a hurry and super-gluing them down, or is that "common knowledge" something that has changed since the stone age when I learned the technique?

Also, please tell us more about your new toy... How much, where from, etc.  ;D

I don't think the glue makes much difference TBH most of the time. I've seen it used well over 1GHz if you cut it into transmission lines and glue down.  I tend to glue stuff down because it's convenient more than anything as you can unstick them easily with a pair of pliers. I only use single sided FR4. However, FR4 is a pretty shitty dielectric so anything that is tightly frequency dependent is probably better on a board with no copper on it or dead bug. So VFOs etc without strict frequency control always go on dead bug like this board.

You will notice I don't do a lot of stuff above 30MHz these days. I built a couple of FM and 2m receivers way before I was a member of the forum about 4-5 years ago and got a taste for things that were easier  :-DD

I did a little video of the effects of stray capacitance here as a demonstrator a while back with a VFO to show the effect. This is two single sided boards, one cut into a bad capacitor to show how crappy construction can screw up a VFO.



As for the toy, it was new from RS for 140 GBP. Figured I'd probably spend more than that fucking around buying three more counters before I got a good one that worked  :-DD
 

Offline mnementh

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #33024 on: June 12, 2019, 05:54:23 pm »
Okay... so "solder the islands" is still "best practice"; but as with most such things, with experience you develop a feel for where you can cheat.  :-+

And agreed on the counter... seems a right deal considering 3GHz. You're gonna need one of these...   

mnem
« Last Edit: June 12, 2019, 06:48:10 pm by mnementh »
alt-codes work here:  alt-0128 = €  alt-156 = £  alt-0216 = Ø  alt-225 = ß  alt-230 = µ  alt-234 = Ω  alt-236 = ∞  alt-248 = °
 


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