Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[tautech]

I am looking to add in the near term a couple of bench DMMs, a 13.8VDC power supply approximately 300W for radio use, another 13.8VDC power supply for car telemetry simulation (ISO-9141 & KWP2000 to start). 

The 16V 8A SPD1168X not big enough ?

[Cubdriver]

Thanks for the welcome med.  I am fine with the broad discussions I have read here so far; it is always entertaining and often informative.

I am not sure I really fit in here after all (kidding).  I see all these examples of Victorinox knives and every one of them has a corkscrew, and mine does not.  I have one just like tautech's example of the Forrester Large, except mine has a philips screwdriver in place of the corkscrew.  That screwdriver is the one necessary thing that did not come included in the Whisperlite stove maintenance tool.

nixiefreqq, thanks for looking into that biner.  I can only assume it dates from the '60s.  Trouble is now I have found a website for selling vintage climbing equipment.  I can resist since I am not going to risk my life to gear of unknown condition & safety.
Back in university days, one of my engineering classmates shaved his head bald to save on the cost of shampoo in order to direct all (and I mean ALL) available funds to climbing gear!
We had a group of about 8 of us all from the same engineering program (spread over 3 different graduation years) who climbed regularly; some still do.

I got my start in a highschool electronics class.  At the end of the year, the teacher gave away all the gear, since he was retiring and the course would not continue.  I grabbed some components, but was not bold enough to grab a soldering iron or test equipment.  That was opportunity lost.  My interest waned during university partly because there was no easy enough way to experiment putting electronics and a computer together.  The discovery of hiking, rock climbing and mountain biking also took over.  I started working in aviation equipment as a systems engineer and had the opportunity to work in a lab with Tek scopes, DMMs, custome test rigs and enivornmental testing.  These days my work is all regulatory and gear is for hobby use.

Recent acquisitions broughtsnuck into the house include a Rigol DS1054Z, HP-E3610A, HP-33120A and a free 19 inch rack found in a snow bank.
I am looking to add in the near term a couple of bench DMMs, a 13.8VDC power supply approximately 300W for radio use, another 13.8VDC power supply for car telemetry simulation (ISO-9141 & KWP2000 to start).  Medium term would involve adding something like a nanoVNA.  Give me 5 minutes after I post and I will think of something(s) to add.  When I first saw a picture of a nixie clock, I thought that was pure art.  Now that I know that there is functional TE with nixies, even better (and that it would be a mighty shame to ruin good TE to steal nixies).

I like this guy!!     

My descent into the rabbit hole of vintage test gear began when I got onto the HPAK (just HP-Agilent at the time) mailing list after buying a 3562A Signal Analyser to play with audio stuff, and the guys there were decrying people buying the old nixie counters to get the displays for clocks.  That prompted me to buy the 5245L seen in the second image in post 55567 to do my part to 'save' at least one instrument from that fate.  That kindled the fire and I've slowly been collecting examples of the various nixie gear (and plenty of other things that pique my interest along the way) for the past 8-9 years now.  It's all been downhill from there, but a very fun ride.  I think I still have a long way to go before reaching the bottom - my house hasn't collapsed...  ...yet.

-Pat

[bitseeker]

My descent into the rabbit hole of vintage test gear began when I got onto the HPAK (just HP-Agilent at the time) mailing list after buying a 3562A Signal Analyser to play with audio stuff ... It's all been downhill from there, but a very fun ride.  I think I still have a long way to go before reaching the bottom - my house hasn't collapsed...  ...yet.

Just add boat anchors under the house. No more risk of floor collapse.



(This PSA brought to you in part by your friendly neighborhood PSA dwagon, mnem.)

[bitseeker]

Medium-term lurker here who is now on the other side of the moat Ottawa River from where I grew up near the territory of a certain dwagon...
I have resisted joining into this thread, but test equipment, camping stoves (Whisperlite International is my pick) and now this makes it irresistible.

...

By the way, @beanflying is playing dangerously by dangling those links to the HP-5326B in front of me.  Unfortunately, it's not in my budget at the moment and my US re-shipper buddy is back home in Canada sheltering from the COVID craze.

[putting toe in water ... see, it's not so bad]

Welcome aboard, cyclin_al! Good of you to stop in and say "hi." No need to hide in the shadows. Just watch where you step — rabbit holes abound.

So, cyclin_al, Kosmix, mnem, et al, what's the story with the somewhat recent (a year or two?) surge in TE from eBay sellers in Canada? I don't recall so many before. Are there a lot of businesses/labs upgrading or something?

[HalFoster]

Oculus:

Nah, the expensive one was the 4 5522a's that came in a week or so ago.  But, those are on loan by Unkka Sam and, at the end (or rather, the beginning) of the day they just mean more work for me. Nerdy work with pretty toys, yes, but work all the same. 

Hal

[beanflying]

Currently Somewhat Inappropriate, Offensive and yet still a good Laugh on the UK TV Fest. I shall now Taunt you a second time  Man up USA TEA Only 17 Hours to go eBay auction: #254564357775

[bd139]

Ooh nixies. I want nixies at the moment actually. There are a few nixie encrusted things here on ebay but nothing priced anything other than insanely. 

No time for TE for a few days. Unfortunately my father-in-law passed away last night (due to covid-19) and I walked into a shit show at work that's going to last days today 

[beanflying]

Sorry for you @bd and Family. Hard to be around any family to offer support or a shoulder at this time more than normal too 

[Gandalf_Sr]

I'm selling an HP8753E (010,006 options) to try and cure me of my TEA - it's in the FSW section here.  I've got an eevBlog member who's willing to pay my asking price but he's in Hong Kong although he says he will pay shipping too.

We both agree on PayPal but he wanted to use his own DHL account which I have declined as all the seller-protection advice seems to be that I have to use my own shipping, ideally through PayPal, to be protected.  I can't seem to figure out how to send him an estimate that includes shipping though.  I went through DHL and they came up with the 'discounted' rate of $746 shipping although it will weigh around 80 lbs shipping after packing.

Any thoughts or ideas on how to generate the estimate via PayPal?

[med6753]

No time for TE for a few days. Unfortunately my father-in-law passed away last night (due to covid-19) and I walked into a shit show at work that's going to last days today 

Oh crap, sorry to hear that. My sincere condolences.  We'll hold down the fort for ya. 

[Specmaster]

No time for TE for a few days. Unfortunately my father-in-law passed away last night (due to covid-19) and I walked into a shit show at work that's going to last days today 

So sorry to hear that bd, I know you were expecting something along these lines but when it happens it still hits you pretty hard and of course this cannot be like a normal bereavement under the current conditions either. Our thoughts are with you and your family in this difficult period, take care and hope it all goes as well as can be expected.

[bd139]

Thanks all. Not much we can do about it here. Waiting for news. Literally that's all we were told  . On health, he was chock full of pre-existing conditions and hanging by a thread anywa so we were prepared. The sad thing is his mother is still around at 98 years old and lost her other son 18 months ago to cancer. She has vascular dementia and doesn't remember that he has died even. So every time someone has to explain it to her and she lives it again. I'm going to jump off a fucking bridge if I get to that state.

The stupid thing is the ICUs aren't overloaded here. They are running at 50% capacity but it's still a shit show on communications. Typical NHS.

Received second monitor today. However the second connector on my graphics card turned out to be a sodding displayport one not an HDMI one. So no cable 

Edit: really biggest problem is family politics as I still talk to SWMNLBO's family...

[Saskia]

@bd139 my condolences. That's a shitty situation when you go to the ER for constipation and wake up dead cuz you contracted the killer bug ...

I could send you a DVI -> HDMI adapter but I guess you can source it faster locally.

fingers crossed, may you find the strength to navigate the stormy seas of family politics.

[Specmaster]

Yes its a shit show alright, the NHS are being manipulated in all kinds of ways at the minute.  On the monitor front, I think that there may be a display port to HDMI adaptor available for that?

[VK5RC]

@bd sorry to hear of your loss,
Re the g-mother, my mum had Alzheimer's - after my father died, she would look at their photos and ask where is he, after a few times of telling the truth and re-opening that wound we started telling a few gentle fibs, we also took his photos away - after a while the questions stopped and mostly we were happier.
A couple of interesting comments re dementia , 'they can't come to our world so we have to go to theirs' and 'the long goodbye'. I wish covid 19 was around about 5yrs years ago and I am sure my real mother would have as well.

[bd139]

That's an interesting perspective. Perhaps that's the right thing to do. Unfortunately the rest of the remaining family are flat-roof pub idiots so that would require some convincing and that would require clue-by-fours

Ordered a DisplayPort to DVI cable for tomorrow via amazon so problem solved on the monitor front.

[tggzzz]

I'm going to jump off a fucking bridge if I get to that state.

Firstly condolences, and keep an eye on your daughters. With mine sometimes there is no visible turmoil, but weeks later something just pops to the surface without warning.

Secondly, in the UK this https://mydecisions.org.uk/ might help trap out the worst excesses. I gave one to my GP in January.

Finally, family politics are always a pig. All you can do is your best, and then you can hold your head high.

But you knew that.

[Specmaster]

That's an interesting perspective. Perhaps that's the right thing to do. Unfortunately the rest of the remaining family are flat-roof pub idiots so that would require some convincing and that would require clue-by-fours

Ordered a DisplayPort to DVI cable for tomorrow via amazon so problem solved on the monitor front.

I don't think that is correct, you said display port not DVI, display port looks like a HDMI port and that is what your graphics card has, than this is what you need and is from ebuyer.com £16.95.

[bd139]

That's an interesting perspective. Perhaps that's the right thing to do. Unfortunately the rest of the remaining family are flat-roof pub idiots so that would require some convincing and that would require clue-by-fours

Ordered a DisplayPort to DVI cable for tomorrow via amazon so problem solved on the monitor front.

I don't think that is correct, you said display port not DVI, display port looks like a HDMI port and that is what your graphics card has, than this is what you need and is from ebuyer.com £16.95.

Monitor has DVI and HDMI. Remaining holes in graphics card are DisplayPort and DVI. 3m long DisplayPort to DVI cables are £5.99 on amazon delivered so went down that route. Fractionally cheaper than DVI to DVI. Cheapest optimised solution 

I'm going to jump off a fucking bridge if I get to that state.

Firstly condolences, and keep an eye on your daughters. With mine sometimes there is no visible turmoil, but weeks later something just pops to the surface without warning.

Secondly, in the UK this https://mydecisions.org.uk/ might help trap out the worst excesses. I gave one to my GP in January.

Finally, family politics are always a pig. All you can do is your best, and then you can hold your head high.

But you knew that.

Good point about the kids. Will keep an eye out.

It's on my todo list to do that after you mentioned it last time. Definitely needs to be done and good advice.

 

Back to working out where all the CPU went. Playing with this toy. 4 of those CPUs in it (and check the RAM config)

[BU508A]

@bd139

My sincere condolences. 
Let me know, if I can do something for you. And don't be too pride about that (being shy is probably one of your minor problems) ;-)

Best wishes and do not lose your grim humor. Can be a great help in these days.

[nixiefreqq]

Thanks for the welcome med.  I am fine with the broad discussions I have read here so far; it is always entertaining and often informative.

I am not sure I really fit in here after all (kidding).  I see all these examples of Victorinox knives and every one of them has a corkscrew, and mine does not.  I have one just like tautech's example of the Forrester Large, except mine has a philips screwdriver in place of the corkscrew.  That screwdriver is the one necessary thing that did not come included in the Whisperlite stove maintenance tool.

nixiefreqq, thanks for looking into that biner.  I can only assume it dates from the '60s.  Trouble is now I have found a website for selling vintage climbing equipment.  I can resist since I am not going to risk my life to gear of unknown condition & safety.
Back in university days, one of my engineering classmates shaved his head bald to save on the cost of shampoo in order to direct all (and I mean ALL) available funds to climbing gear!
We had a group of about 8 of us all from the same engineering program (spread over 3 different graduation years) who climbed regularly; some still do.

I got my start in a highschool electronics class.  At the end of the year, the teacher gave away all the gear, since he was retiring and the course would not continue.  I grabbed some components, but was not bold enough to grab a soldering iron or test equipment.  That was opportunity lost.  My interest waned during university partly because there was no easy enough way to experiment putting electronics and a computer together.  The discovery of hiking, rock climbing and mountain biking also took over.  I started working in aviation equipment as a systems engineer and had the opportunity to work in a lab with Tek scopes, DMMs, custome test rigs and enivornmental testing.  These days my work is all regulatory and gear is for hobby use.

Recent acquisitions broughtsnuck into the house include a Rigol DS1054Z, HP-E3610A, HP-33120A and a free 19 inch rack found in a snow bank.
I am looking to add in the near term a couple of bench DMMs, a 13.8VDC power supply approximately 300W for radio use, another 13.8VDC power supply for car telemetry simulation (ISO-9141 & KWP2000 to start).  Medium term would involve adding something like a nanoVNA.  Give me 5 minutes after I post and I will think of something(s) to add.  When I first saw a picture of a nixie clock, I thought that was pure art.  Now that I know that there is functional TE with nixies, even better (and that it would be a mighty shame to ruin good TE to steal nixies).

here are some pictures of that biner.  no idea if it is a good one, or a piece of crap.

NOTE   objects shown in the these photos are included for scale only. no provocation is meant by their inclusion.  patent pending.  all rights reserved.  keep out of reach of children.  if accidently swallowed get medical help immediately.   

NOTE  the previous note was posted upon the advice of my attorneys. (dewey, cheetem, and howe)

[Kosmic]

I decided to try a long shot and bought a broken Keysight 82357B GPIB / USB adapter for 30$. How hard can it be to fix ? Probably just a cap right ? I'm sure it's working fine and the current owner don't know how to test it. Well when I received it, it was effectively dead 

...

After a lot of fettling and swearing because of my cheap microscope, the repair was eventually a success, got another GPIB adapter to play with 

Wow, that was an adventurous purchase. Thanks for sharing. I had been curious what those "for parts" ones might be like. Catastrophic silicon failure. I wonder how common it is in those chips because there seem to often be parts units on the bay.

I would be surprise if the microcontroller failed by himself like that. Almost look like someone plugged the adaptor in the wrong port sourcing more than 5V to the adapter.

[tggzzz]

Back to working out where all the CPU went. Playing with this toy. 4 of those CPUs in it (and check the RAM config)

In terms of processor:X relative access times, cache is the new RAM and RAM is the new disc. You've got a bloody big disc there, and it is thrashing

Or perhaps the cache coherence traffic is dominating the memory traffic.

Or maybe it is the equivalent of networking bufferbloat.

So, try drastically reducing the memory size, and/or partitioning the processor/memory into independent sections.

[Gandalf_Sr]

Sorry to hear about your father-in-law, sounds like he had a reasonable innings though.  My mum passed away a couple of years ago after spending about 8 years in a UK nursing home not knowing what year it was; it was a relief to have her go in some ways. She was 80.

[Kosmic]

So, cyclin_al, Kosmix, mnem, et al, what's the story with the somewhat recent (a year or two?) surge in TE from eBay sellers in Canada? I don't recall so many before. Are there a lot of businesses/labs upgrading or something?

Not sure. The federal government has been investing a lot in R&D. That might explain the influx of TE on ebay from public and private sources.