Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[med6753]

You will convert or die. This is the RPN inquisition! 

No I won't. I now have a Fluke 7260A coming my way due to the good graces of nixiefreqq. I'm easily bought. 

Seriously...I don't know how to thank him enough. 

And in other news......Wednesday I go to check out a Tek 485 and a Type 191. It's raining TEA all over me. 

[bd139]

  ... it looks like a star trek shuttle that thing

When you receive the 191, eviscerate it from the chassis, then observe it approvingly. Don't need to fire it up to appreciate that bit of engineering. (unless it had a rat living in it at which point, throw it away )

Edit: also watch your fingers. The DC amp driver transistor is floating at 300V 

[med6753]

The 7260A does indeed look like it's ready to take off. 

TekWiki has pictures of the Type 191 internals. Absolutely beautiful construction. 

[Specmaster]

do it!  do it!

my only condition is that you must take my side (the equal sign side) in the rpn wars.

You drive a hard bargain. Of course I'll agree. ========== 

PM coming at you. 

fantastic.   now there are two of us in the algebraic army.

oculus and bd had better be careful about poking us with a stick. 

I hear them right now shoving their sticks into the pencil sharpener even as I write this reply 

[nixiefreqq]

hey med   (aka ff)

just got back from post office.

check pm in about 10 minutes for your tracking code.

ps   ff = fluke freq

[bd139]

I hear them right now shoving their sticks into the pencil sharpener even as I write this reply 

We don't have pencils because we don't have to write our intermediate calculations down 

[nixiefreqq]

I hear them right now shoving their sticks into the pencil sharpener even as I write this reply 

We don't have pencils because we don't have to write our intermediate calculations down 

careful.....careful.

you can probably take me......no sweat.

you might even be able to whoop med's retired greybeard.

but his young lady can for sure drop you like a sack of dirty laundry.

[Specmaster]

I hear them right now shoving their sticks into the pencil sharpener even as I write this reply 

We don't have pencils because we don't have to write our intermediate calculations down 

Neither do the = key brigade because we have a memory for that and sometimes we have 10 or more such memories 

[Specmaster]

I hear them right now shoving their sticks into the pencil sharpener even as I write this reply 

We don't have pencils because we don't have to write our intermediate calculations down 

careful.....careful.

you can probably take me......no sweat.

you might even be able to whoop med's retired greybeard.

but his young lady can for sure drop you like a sack of dirty laundry.

That had me chortling like a good un 

[tggzzz]

The 7260A does indeed look like it's ready to take off. 

TekWiki has pictures of the Type 191 internals. Absolutely beautiful construction. 

Not as nice, IMNSHO, as the Tek 184. Yes I have both.

FFI, see the tek wiki or https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/test-equipment-anonymous-(tea)-group-therapy-thread/msg2196288/#msg2196288

[tggzzz]

I hear them right now shoving their sticks into the pencil sharpener even as I write this reply 

We don't have pencils because we don't have to write our intermediate calculations down 

Neither do the = key brigade because we have a memory for that and sometimes we have 10 or more such memories 

And still they forget they can't predict what result a particular calculator will give to "1+2*3=", without trying it. "Operational semantics" is a dirty concept, no different to "try it and see".

Or, for that matter, that some calculators are half RPN, e.g. to calculate sin(0.1) you have to enter "0.1 sin"

[nixiefreqq]

swmbo saw a piece of TE come out of the basement and depart in a mailing box.

SHE IS NOW TAKING ME OUT FOR ICE CREAM!

now that is what we call a win win result.

[mnementh]

Welp... aside from a ASUS AC1700 router for $59.99, nothing else juicing my 'nads on Prime Day or Anti-Prime Day sales.

LOTS of combos for 450 Chipset boards with 1st/2nd Gen Ryzen though; everybody's using "Prime Day" as an excuse to dump their last-gen crap and trying to get as much out of 2xxx processors as the similarly benchmarked 3xx processors, almost to the dollar. 

In the end I bought the MB I wanted at full price; I'll put the Ryzen 3xxx processors I want up on my birthday wish lists and notify those who give a damn about me surviving to see another year. If no "happy surprises", I'll buy whatever I can afford with B-day monies later. 

Now just casually noodling around for random goodies while my body catches up from staying up til 6am then up again at 11:00.

mnem
mrrp?

[bd139]

swmbo saw a piece of TE come out of the basement and depart in a mailing box.

SHE IS NOW TAKING ME OUT FOR ICE CREAM!

now that is what we call a win win result.

I think that's her attempt at behavior modification therapy 

[Specmaster]

I hear them right now shoving their sticks into the pencil sharpener even as I write this reply 

We don't have pencils because we don't have to write our intermediate calculations down 

Neither do the = key brigade because we have a memory for that and sometimes we have 10 or more such memories 

And still they forget they can't predict what result a particular calculator will give to "1+2*3=", without trying it. "Operational semantics" is a dirty concept, no different to "try it and see".

Or, for that matter, that some calculators are half RPN, e.g. to calculate sin(0.1) you have to enter "0.1 sin"

Now the answer to these questions lie in what type of calculator you use, Texas Ti68 and 85 get it right and my Huawei smart phone gets it even without having to press the = button and it displays the problem at the same time, pressing the = just removes the problem and leaves the answer

[med6753]

I hear them right now shoving their sticks into the pencil sharpener even as I write this reply 

We don't have pencils because we don't have to write our intermediate calculations down 

careful.....careful.

you can probably take me......no sweat.

you might even be able to whoop med's retired greybeard.

but his young lady can for sure drop you like a sack of dirty laundry.

 

[Specmaster]

Welp... aside from a ASUS AC1700 router for $59.99, nothing else juicing my 'nads on Prime Day or Anti-Prime Day sales.

LOTS of combos for 450 Chipset boards with 1st/2nd Gen Ryzen though; everybody's using "Prime Day" as an excuse to dump their last-gen crap and trying to get as much out of 2xxx processors as the similarly benchmarked 3xx processors, almost to the dollar. 

In the end I bought the MB I wanted at full price; I'll put the Ryzen 3xxx processors I want up on my birthday wish lists and notify those who give a damn about me surviving to see another year. If no "happy surprises", I'll buy whatever I can afford with B-day monies later. 

Now just casually noodling around for random goodies while my body catches up from staying up til 6am then up again at 11:00.

mnem
mrrp?

I'm not falling for prime day, its a right old load of crap, unless you happen to be looking for something, which I'm not.

[tggzzz]

I hear them right now shoving their sticks into the pencil sharpener even as I write this reply 

We don't have pencils because we don't have to write our intermediate calculations down 

Neither do the = key brigade because we have a memory for that and sometimes we have 10 or more such memories 

And still they forget they can't predict what result a particular calculator will give to "1+2*3=", without trying it. "Operational semantics" is a dirty concept, no different to "try it and see".

Or, for that matter, that some calculators are half RPN, e.g. to calculate sin(0.1) you have to enter "0.1 sin"

Now the answer to these questions lie in what type of calculator you use, Texas Ti68 and 85 get it right and my Huawei smart phone gets it even without having to press the = button and it displays the problem at the same time, pressing the = just removes the problem and leaves the answer

As I said, suck it and see and then forget what this calculator happens to do.

But you know all RPN calculators behave the same unambiguous way - highly preferable.

[Neomys Sapiens]

Today I was looking for a book and found in a box these nice ones:

So? How many volumes of the Telefunken Laborbuch?

[Kosmic]

swmbo saw a piece of TE come out of the basement and depart in a mailing box.

SHE IS NOW TAKING ME OUT FOR ICE CREAM!

now that is what we call a win win result.

Well I had the reverse problem this weekend Swmbo went to the basement when I was not there. I'm now diagnosed with hoarding disorder apparently. To my defense, I told her I don't have 2 of the same unit 

[nixiefreqq]

swmbo saw a piece of TE come out of the basement and depart in a mailing box.

SHE IS NOW TAKING ME OUT FOR ICE CREAM!

now that is what we call a win win result.

I think that's her attempt at behavior modification therapy 

so you are comparing me to a rat in a Skinner box?

was going to argue.  but instead have an irresistible compulsion to head for the basement and look for more TE that is excess to my needs.



ps  swmbo's reward for me was a single scoop of "graham cracker" in a waffle cone.  devious little english woman she is.

pps  hope she does not remember that behavior can also be altered with positive punishment.

[med6753]

swmbo saw a piece of TE come out of the basement and depart in a mailing box.

SHE IS NOW TAKING ME OUT FOR ICE CREAM!

now that is what we call a win win result.

Well I had the reverse problem this weekend Swmbo went to the basement when I was not there. I'm now diagnosed with hoarding disorder apparently. To my defense, I told her I don't have 2 of the same unit 

You need to put a lock on the basement door. Although that might raise all kinds of suspicions.  No...forget that idea. 

[med6753]

Continuing work on the Heath S-3 Electronic Switch. This time the bottom side. The flying ground lead/point-to-point wiring scheme is for the birds but that was a common technique prior to the 1960's and before more common use of circuit boards. It's what i have to work with so I'll make do. Discovered I'm short one capacitor. Should have ordered 3 - 0.047uf/400V but only have 2. Oh well. Catch it in the next parts order.

I wanted to get this done today but there were too many (happy) distractions. So I'll complete it tomorrow. No biggie, I'm retired, got all the time in the world. 

   

[0culus]

Just a small tweak to that explanation. Rather than the year of manufacture, it's the year of the design. It could have been manufactured that year or sometime thereafter. Some models had multiple design iterations, while others were manufactured for many years using the same design.

Are you sure? I've always heard that the first two digits are the year it was made, in years since 1960. Never heard of it denoting design iterations. 

That was my initial understanding too, but further digging into them a while back clarified things a bit. Beginning in 1960, they started using a three digit prefix (which became four digits in 1970), followed by a letter indicating country of origin (A for the US, J for Japan, G for Germany, etc.), then a sequential serial number.

The prefix identifies the release date of the major engineering revision that the instrument is built to - the first one (or two, for the four digit prefixes after 1970) digits added to 1960 will give the year, and the last two are the week. Eg. 710 would be the tenth week of 1967; 2245 would be the 45th week of 1982. To more accurately date the 'birthday' of the unit, you'd need to go inside and find parts with date codes. While they wouldn't tell you with 100% accuracy how new it was, you could be sure it was not older than its newest part (this of course is based on the part in question being original to the instrument).

Some instruments were revised fairly quickly and the engineering rev dates track their production closely; others stayed the same for a long time. For instance, I have an Agilent labeled 8644B signal generator that has a 3546 prefix - late 1995 engineering revision. The component dates indicate that it was made in late 2000 at the earliest.

-Pat

Can you provide a source? I'd like to learn more. I've found some old old discussions talking about how the second two digits are production run numbers, but not much agreement about the meaning of the first two digits. Some say it's the exact year of production, others agree with you. Not saying you're wrong, but I'd like to see a definitive source on this. 

[Neomys Sapiens]

As med6753 started to tell of outstanding PSB radio intercepts, I shal also share one of the very best that I ever had:
It was about 17years ago, in late summer at around 3AM, when Dispatch called up a patrol car from a precinct on the outer rim of the area of responsibility, which is of partly rural character.
It was directed to move to a area described by the two roads (numbered, not town) and a bridge, which formed it's boundaries. There they should look for, and then help, a Farmer Mr. Whatever, who was in pursuit of a wayward pig. I was glued in silence to my place in expectation, because a story involving a pig must be good. Time passed. I became a bit uneasy - had I pursued a thought and ignored the report of the outcome? Then, about 90min after the initial message, something unexpected happened: Another car from the outlying area was called up, and subsequently sent to the same place. Then came the hilarious explanation, with the dispatcher first telling car 2 of the tasking of car 1. Concluding this, he told them that he was called by the farmer, who had returned home (sans pig) and that they should be on the lookout for their missing colleagues, which are still somewhere in the cornfield, chasing the pig.
Given the time of the year, the corn (yes, Zea Mays!) was at full height.
The idea of two policemen chasing a pig in a cornfield at night (and maybe catching each other, but not the impudent porker) had me laughing until it hurt!