Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[worsthorse]

Randomly...

There are ebay listings for that Velleman handheld at 400USD...   

Out of the blue, one of my missing fedex shipments arrived today and one that has been missing for five days re-appeared in the system, though without a delivery date. The third is still MIA¹.

This morning I picked up a couple of small lambda power supplies, along with a random assortment of Kantronics HF modems, IC sockets, 12VDC linear wall warts, a box of random ICs (mostly TTL and uprocessor stuff) and several coils of unused LM400 cable. It was the last of the garage stuff I've been helping sort through; the remainder goes to salvage on Monday.

¹If today's driver regularly delivered my packages, Fedex would definitely be my exclusive shipper. 

[mnementh]

Yeah I looked at that other one, its older design I think and its not got the best of enclosures, but the killer for me was that when I checked the actual size, it was to ffing wide 

Put it on your med's cart under the 7904. It's probably one of the few MEBBs out there that can actually handle the weight, and all its heat-sinks hang off the back, so thermals should not be a problem. Also, then you'd get to be a decent bloke covering for one of your mates having a little brain-fart.

mnem
*hating all things SMPS ATM*

[Neomys Sapiens]

Ahem, now back to my original question... any suggestions on suitable cable?  Yes, thanks, I've seen that vendor and I am trying to avoid buying a roll of the stuff. I haven't found it in smaller chunks yet.

I am considering building my next Kelvin cable with RG316/U cable.
Isolation made of PTFE, good shielding, inner core made of silver plated copper.
Edit: and it is flexible.

But I'm not really sure, if this is a really good idea. Must test it.

Flexible? Sort of.
One other possibility would be to use the shielded single or TP of MIL-W-22759*, i.e. Raychem Spec55 or similar. Slightly more flexible, with somewhat less screening at RF.
If someone comes across Spec99, that would be REALLY flexible.

There was a description in Wireless World, IIRC, on the construction of such test leads which involved using a gutted RG58 as outer screen and sheath.

Concerning flexibility: RG316 is still far away from the stuff the probe manufacturers use. Does anyone have a commercial contact for that? (Surplus or such. I know well who would supply that new, 1000m-wise)

*: watch the slash sheet. Not all of them are flexible enough. Must be one of the thin-walled, finely stranded variants.

[med6753]

Yeah I looked at that other one, its older design I think and its not got the best of enclosures, but the killer for me was that when I checked the actual size, it was to ffing wide 

Put it on your cart under the 7904. It's probably one of the few MEBBs out there that can actually handle the weight, and all its heat-sinks hang off the back, so thermals should not be a problem.

mnem
*hating all things SMPS ATM*

Gee, don't think Specmaster has a 7904...at least he never mentioned one. I have one and so does Oculus. Do you need more caffeine to unscramble your brain? 

[bd139]

It’s all the Poutine 

[med6753]

It’s all the Poutine 

That actually looks appealing....I'll have to try it. 

[bd139]

I've not tried a genuine Canadian one. Last one I had was 20 years ago at a place in Camden market. Tasted pretty good. Unfortunately I'm pretty badly lactose intolerant so that was a mostly unpleasant night out afterwards. Fortunately I was completely hammered and it was rammed so it could have been anyone 

[bitseeker]

I'm starting to like how ebay is handling things. Found a cheap Lecroy DDA-260 on ebay last week. The DDA-260 is similar to the WavePro 960 but with 2Ghz bandwidth, 16GS/s sampling, 64Mpts memory. Was supposed to be non functional but in good physical shape.

Received the package couple days ago. Front panel was smashed during shipping (pretty typical for old lecroy scope) 



Contacted the seller, he told me to contact ebay since he shipped via global shipping program. Then contacted ebay, told me to open a case. I explain my case and add bunch of pictures. Then today, the seller asked ebay to intervene in the case.

So ebay just refunded me and I got to keep the scope 

Wow, I think that may be the best GSP outcome story I've heard (if not one of the few positive ones). Getting busted on the way is a bummer, but still.

(Yes, I'm currently this far behind. I've also pretty much come to terms with the fact that I won't realistically catch up on the previous tens of pages I missed out on a month or so ago.)

[bd139]

I don't know. The best one I saw was a dude ordered a stuffed parrot from the US to here and an iPhone XS turned up instead.

Or maybe that's what he told his wife while I was there 

[bitseeker]

Yes, perhaps the latter. 

[GreyWoolfe]

Whatever county the Garden State Mall is in as well as many of malls along Route 17 are closed on Sunday except things like grocery stores, gas stations, etc.

The mall is in Paramus and that is Bergen County.  Back then, we shopped there quite often.

It’s all the Poutine 

That actually looks appealing....I'll have to try it. 

Love Poutine and Boudain.  I may be a Jersey Sicilian, but I do have a cosmopolitan palate. 

[bitseeker]

It’s all the Poutine 

That actually looks appealing....I'll have to try it. 

I've not tried a genuine Canadian one.

I haven't tried it yet, either. Perhaps on my next trip up north. Gotta get me some Coffee Crisp and maple sandwich cookies, too.

[Kosmic]

I've not tried a genuine Canadian one. Last one I had was 20 years ago at a place in Camden market. Tasted pretty good. Unfortunately I'm pretty badly lactose intolerant so that was a mostly unpleasant night out afterwards. Fortunately I was completely hammered and it was rammed so it could have been anyone 

Fyi normally poutine is made with Gouda cheese curds, and Gouda is normally lactose free 

[bitseeker]

All the recent discussions with HP gear in those modular enclosures (the name escapes me) combined with a few that I own (6114A, 431, 432, 5216A, etc.), suddenly makes me want to acquire and set up a complete bench of just those style equipment.

Oh, my. Time to go lie down.

[bd139]

I've not tried a genuine Canadian one. Last one I had was 20 years ago at a place in Camden market. Tasted pretty good. Unfortunately I'm pretty badly lactose intolerant so that was a mostly unpleasant night out afterwards. Fortunately I was completely hammered and it was rammed so it could have been anyone 

Fyi normally poutine is made with Gouda cheese curds, and Gouda is normally lactose free 

Excellent. Definitely moving to Canada now 

Also proves what I had wasn't genuine!

[bitseeker]

LOL - that might be pushing it.  You just prompted me to try $35.   

We'll see what comes of it.

-Pat

roger roger.  will expect an after action report.

is that you who bid on the lightweight freq standard down in charm city?

I got an e-mail this morning from the Bay of Evil.  Apparently someone offered them $40 for it, because it was to inform me that it sold for that amount.

-Pat

Ah, I was monitoring that one before I saw this discussion of it. Good to know how much it went for. Not too bad. I'd like to get one, but am divided between the version with coarse/fine knobs and the one with 10-turn.

Yeah, I know, "get both." I'm trying to cut back...

[bd139]

All the recent discussions with HP gear in those modular enclosures (the name escapes me) combined with a few that I own (6114A, 431, 432, 5216A, etc.), suddenly makes me want to acquire and set up a complete bench of just those style equipment.

Oh, my. Time to go lie down.

It's definitely the best series of enclosures if you ask me.

[bitseeker]

As long as you get the feet with them.

[bitseeker]

Playing with the high resistance meter and some Russian Glass 1T Ohm resistors, I found it necessary to build a shielded test enclosure to connect the guard.

Short video showing how necessary and effective it is;

Hey, now that's a mighty good use for tins.

[bitseeker]

YALBOA : Yet Another Low Balled Offer Accepted

Another Simpson 260 on its way.

That is excellent! Added to the glossary as follows:

YALBOA: Yet Another Low-Balled Offer Accepted - The cognitive dissonance that results when you are on the fence about a piece of test equipment being offered for sale and, after submitting what you feel to be a silly low offer just to feel satisfied that you did something about the situation, it gets accepted.

[xrunner]

Bought another frequency counter 

In general I appreciate the product made by BG7TBL (Chinese HAM ?). The Gpsdo, noise source and low freq upscaler I bought are all working fine and were really affordable. He recently created a high resolution frequency counter. Got 2 inputs (0-200Mhz and 30Mhz-6Ghz), 11 digits resolution, integrated power meter, switchable 50/1M  termination and USB (for data logging and automation). You can feed 10Mhz in the back or use the internal Ocxo. Best of all, it make absolutely no noise 

Damn you people! I just bought that FA-2 counter. 

[bitseeker]

Of course, you know...

[Kosmic]

The FA-2 will probably replace the HP 5335a here. Considering the noise the 5335a make and it's size, it's not a bad switch 

Now I don't want to sell the 5335a with OCXO. Need to find something to replace it.

[bitseeker]

Welcome to page 1800!

(Non-conformists can celebrate later. )

[tggzzz]

Welcome to page 1800!

(Non-conformists can celebrate later. )

Does any denizen of this enclave really think of themselves as conformist?