Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[mnementh]

Why do you think I got bean for backup?!?  Besides; I don't 'cloud' and I'm pretty sure between the 3 of us we can enlist Kissenger to break ANY embargo ANYWHERE...

mnem
The real question is whether they'd even let me back in, after the whole "Death Insurance Pyramid Scheme" incident...

[beanflying]

But with Fusion 360 you can make Torture devices like yesterdays and racks to hold the victim down too 

Any critique of Coffee in Oz from a Country where Costas and $tarbucks are the heights of awesome I view with extreme 

My take on a three legged modular Horse system.

[worsthorse]

This video shows that it flashes in DFU mode; this indicates it is STM32-based. Unless they're doing something REALLY stupid with it that requires burning several firmware fuses, the bootloader is stored in protected ROM and CANNOT be harmed. This means there has to be a way to recover it; you are not bricked permanently. Good luck, buddy.

mnem
(Attachment Link)

Thanks @mnem.

At this point, I am completely over dealing with the blackboxness of the whole thing and have made enough dumb mistakes trying to figure it out, that I just need to set it aside and go to bed.  I will take another look at it tomorrow. My hypothesis is that I've managed to create a mismatch between the firmware version, the ucontroller, and the tool chain.

I hear ya. I had the same thing with a A95X family androidTV box; got the firmware from the MFR site, followed their instructions to the letter and still bricked it. However, any search for the damned thing OTHER THAN the MFR site resulted in a zillion hits for ads or reddit, etc. weapons-grade bloviation and testosterone hoseration with SNR of approx -120dB. It was like being gang-raped by 1000 Kodi fanbois when all I wanted was a fucking diagram.

I eventually sold it on FleaBay for 2/3 the cost of a new Roku; good riddance says I.

That said... I just picked up one of these at the thrift out of curiosity at all the crazy connectivity (Yes, that really is a flip-top lid with drop-in tray for 3.5in HDD  ) and because it was CAD$10. And a little masochism, I think.  I had no idea it is tied to the ArabTVNetwork; however I'm sure that any watchlist I wasn't on before now has me flagged thanks to my search history looking for an English-language ROM that might work.   I'm just glad I haven't let it near any open network it can connect to.

I may just chunk the MB in my parts bin and use it as an awesome Pi enclosure.

mnem
*glerp*

A little masochism? 

I feel your pain. Of course, contrary to my firm decision that I was done with this hunk o' plastic DMR radio I could not let it go so I spent three or four (or five) hours today working on it.  It turned out to be an interesting exercise: no documentation and the only diagnostic tools I had were various versions of the software for writing codeplugs to the radio, three or four versions of firmware, and a firmware updater written in Chinese.

I figured out that the radio wasn't stuck in DFU mode, though for a while I thought it was because I couldn't update the radio or write a codeplug (the first requires DFU, the second requires not-DFU).  Since that wasn't the problem and codeplug programming software and firmware versions are often tied together, I wondered if I gad managed to write a codeplug to the radio using an version of the programming software that didn't match with the firmware or that I had written an earlier version of the firmware into the radio after programming it with a later version codeplug.

So I worked my way back through versions of the codeplug programming software, trying to write a blank code plug to the radio. If I could, then I would have some idea what version of the firmware is on the radio.  After five rounds, I successfully wrote a code plug and when I cycled power, all the menus were back, and I could read and write the radio. Granted, the menus were in Chinese and the screen was upside down but whatever.   

It took another four or five rounds of mucking about with various versions of firmware and codeplug software to synchronize the radio to the programming software but I ended the evening with the radio programmed and working.

And yes, I still have no reason to use 2M repeaters digital or not. 

[Brumby]

On TEA stuff (rather than coffee) I wonder if @Brumby would like to go out on the limb a bit further and provide his better half a chainsaw  eBay auction: #193201949768

Hell in a handbasket - and you're inviting me to buy a first class ticket.   

That's not a boat anchor - it's a breakwater!

[Brumby]

pebkab I blame the recumbent typing position and the lateness of the hour but on a good note there is now several post here to 'assist' @brumby 

We are all on his list. And one day, he will come after us and then we are DOOOMED! 

 

At this stage - only Bean has anything to worry about.

Wait a sec.....


Here's a plus one....

Here it is: https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Tektronix-549-Storage-Oscilloscope/193201949768

@Brumby: Yooo're wellll-commmme!!!

mnem
 

[Brumby]

(Doesn't mean I won't throw in a bid.)

[beanflying]

(Doesn't mean I won't throw in a bid.)

Stage 1 enable done  Follow up in a day or two for stage 2 

[med6753]

All that chest thumping and posturing and he throws in a bid. 

Who are you trying to kid? 

[beanflying]

To be fair to @Brumby that bid was there before I posted here 

At least with it on the watch list and not to far to drive for pickup (a lot closer than the tower of Resistor death) we can all work on assisting further 

[med6753]

I noticed that the seller indicated that the store function no longer works. That's not surprising. Those special "flood gun" CRT's have a very limited and finite life cycle for the store function. However, they will continue to operate like normal CRT's.

[Brumby]

To be fair to @Brumby that bid was there before I posted here 

Indeed.  Not my bid.  In fact, it is against my philosophy to put in a bid any earlier than 10 seconds before the end of an auction.  2 - 3 seconds is more usual.

At least with it on the watch list and not to far to drive for pickup (a lot closer than the tower of Resistor death) we can all work on assisting further 

"A lot closer" ...?  No.  There's actually not much in it..

[mnementh]

That said... I just picked up one of these at the thrift out of curiosity at all the crazy connectivity (Yes, that really is a flip-top lid with drop-in tray for 3.5in HDD  ) and because it was CAD$10. And a little masochism, I think.  I had no idea it is tied to the ArabTVNetwork; however I'm sure that any watchlist I wasn't on before now has me flagged thanks to my search history looking for an English-language ROM that might work.   I'm just glad I haven't let it near any open network it can connect to.

I may just chunk the MB in my parts bin and use it as an awesome Pi enclosure.

mnem
*glerp*

A little masochism? 

...after five rounds, I successfully wrote a code plug and when I cycled power, all the menus were back, and I could read and write the radio. Granted, the menus were in Chinese and the screen was upside down but whatever.   

It took another four or five rounds of mucking about with various versions of firmware and codeplug software to synchronize the radio to the programming software but I ended the evening with the radio programmed and working.

And yes, I still have no reason to use 2M repeaters digital or not. 

Yup. You beat your head against it, give up, beat your head against it “a little more” then you get to where you understand well enough that it’s not broken, it’s just a little borked and can still be un-borked if you just knew how. 

You get to a point where YOU KNOW IT’S A MATTER OF WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW, and then you just NEED TO KNOW, ya know? 

mnem
"Rule 11: Masochism is endemic; perhaps even mandatory."

[mnementh]

pebkab I blame the recumbent typing position and the lateness of the hour but on a good note there is now several post here to 'assist' @brumby 

We are all on his list. And one day, he will come after us and then we are DOOOMED! 

 

At this stage - only Bean has anything to worry about.   Wait a sec.....   Here's a plus one....

Here it is: https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Tektronix-549-Storage-Oscilloscope/193201949768

@Brumby: Yooou're wellll-commmme!!!

mnem
 

Yup... we're ALL goin' straight to Hell. Hope bean brings plenty of... beans.

mnem
"I'm going straight to hell, Just like my mama said; I'm going straight to hell…"

[AVGresponding]

After waiting a few days for a dispatch update on an ebay item, I messaged the seller, and got this back a few hours later:


"New message from: ***** (3,415Red Star)
Hi,

Thanks for the purchase. I've had this item powered up during auction to soak test, but checked this morning prior to packing and there is a fault. Tthe left most digit has segments ghosting, or partially illuminated. This is probably one of the digit drivers and can probably fix it, but can either discount or give a full refund. My apologies for this, but always soak test older test gear before dispatch to make sure that there are no issues..."


It's a Solartron Schlumberger 7065, I got it for £51 +£11 shipping.

Opinions welcome and appreciated.

[med6753]

See how much he'll discount and if acceptable fix it yourself.

[Martin.M]

549 ist the cute storage Tek. It`s important to check if the storage still works or not.
The CRT have a double life:  500 hours storage, 10.000 hours normal mode. So there are a lot of scopes around where the storage function is tired, and it`s near to impossible to geht a fresh spare CRT for the cute 549.

Here is a pix where you see displayed Storage.





Here's a plus one....

Here it is: https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Tektronix-549-Storage-Oscilloscope/193201949768

@Brumby: Yooo're wellll-commmme!!!

mnem
 

[/quote]

[mnementh]

Yes, we know. AND we also know you have one NOS/NIB.

mnem
"...so we asked the computer 'What should we do...?'
But it just kept giving this insane advice;
like 'You need teeny little eyes
for reading teeny little print,
just like you need teeny little hands
for milking mice!' "

[bd139]

Printed all the bits, glued, assembled and it works!



Lessons learned:

1. Z tolerance is much better than Y and Z tolerances so leave ~0.5 padding on X/Y dimensions to go inside slots end of stuff and observe thickness carefully.
2. Make big holes in shit. Takes less time to print!

Back to lurking on eBay now for test gear!

[worsthorse]

I picked up a 5328A for a pretty good price. Shipping is actually higher than the purchase price, so it probably isn't in jammy git territory. I have one of these already, without all the goodies, and that one will get sold once this one is in place:



@mnen.  that's the truth. and sometimes it is easier to figure out why something is broke if one can't be distracted by hooking it up to a bunch of scope, SA, sig gen, VNA, and other assorted probes.  One of my favorite documents on diagnosing equipment failures is the one the Tektronix put together. The key advice: don't crack the case until you've gathered as much information as possible using the front panel.

[bd139]

Are you deaf? I had two of them for a bit and had to get rid of the bloody things because they were so loud! 

[med6753]

Lessons learned:

1. Z tolerance is much better than Y and Z tolerances so leave ~0.5 padding on X/Y dimensions to go inside slots end of stuff and observe thickness carefully.
2. Make big holes in shit. Takes less time to print!
3. Blue makes the bench look so much better

 

[tggzzz]

Dekatron displays, anyone? £30, 2 days left to run.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VINTAGE-Panax-Equipment-Scaler-Type-102ST-UNTESTED/293328000012?redirect=mobile

[Specmaster]

Printed all the bits, glued, assembled and it works!



Lessons learned:

1. Z tolerance is much better than Y and Z tolerances so leave ~0.5 padding on X/Y dimensions to go inside slots end of stuff and observe thickness carefully.
2. Make big holes in shit. Takes less time to print!

Back to lurking on eBay now for test gear!

That really looks great, but I have no idea as to why you seem so amazed that it works  That blue looks business like to my eye and is perfectly acceptable colour for bench gear. 

[Specmaster]

Anyone ever wondered why so much shit from China / Hong Kong arrives broken, take a gander at this video



I just hope that my watch is not getting this kind of treatment that I just brought from wish.com, yeh, I know that its a knock off because I've already one of the genuine Citizen watches, same model but with the Red Arrows instead of the Blue Angels, but for £17 I thought it might be worth a punt. It can always be returned for refund if it fails to function but this is what they claim for the specs which is the same as the genuine one

Stainless steel case with a blue (polyurethane-coated) leather strap (with yellow backing).
Fixed blue ion-plated bezel.
Blue dial with luminous hands and index hour markers.
Minute markers.
World time cities. Pilots slide rule around the outer rim.
Dial Type: Analog. Luminescent hands and markers.
Date display at the 3 o'clock position.
Three sub-dials displaying: 60 second, 1/100th second and 24 hour. 
Atomic Timekeeping
eco-drive movement.
Scratch resistant sapphire crystal.
Solid case back.
Case size: 42 mm.
Case thickness: 12 mm.
Round case shape.
Band width: 23 mm.
Band length: 8 inches.
Tang clasp.
Water resistant at 200 meters / 660 feet.
Functions: hour, minute, second, date, chronograph, pilots, day. Sport watch style.

The eco-drive and atomic time keeping functions are simple enough to test and if functioning, where the hell else are you going to get those functions for so little? Forget the water resistant rating, I never get mine wet anyway. 

So it could be a bargain or a heap of crap, place your bets now 

Like I said, if it fails to suitably impress, I will be persuing a refund 

Edit: another video added.

[worsthorse]

Are you deaf? I had two of them for a bit and had to get rid of the bloody things because they were so loud! 

your need for peace and quiet in the lab far exceeds mine. a little fan noise? pffft. whatever. 

edit: which may have something to do with my days of mixing sound for bands; one included a guy that played the smoke alarm.