Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Robert763]

Ah a Duracell. Unlucky

I got one with an Ever Ready battery in it a couple of years back that hadn't leaked. The battery was circa 37 years old at the time:



I was surprised at this!

Interesting, I have never seen an EverReady battery in a Red on Blue and White colour scheme before.
The old ones here in the great white north had a Red on Black colour scheme.  I have never seen the old ones leak either.

Different company In UK it's Ever Ready (two words, two r) in NA its Eveready (one word one r)

[mansaxel]

Ahh, High German, so I've been hanging around with posh Germans eh?  What do you call the dialect that you learn down the docks? That's probably more fitting for me to adopt. 

Platt?

[Specmaster]

By the UK guys, eBay has a £1 listing weekend till Monday.

[25 CPS]

Some more fun with the recently acquired equipment.  This time it’s the TinySA.



The TinySA and the S-A-A-2N both included a stylus that were completely reminiscent of the ones that used to come with Palm Pilots so I had to dig out one of my old Palm Pilots and give it a try and they are cross compatible.







My usual fast test for a spectrum analyzer is to put an antenna on the input, leave everything defaulted and then span 87-89 MHz and see what it finds on the FM band which in the basement would be disappointing reception conditions. 

[bd139]

Bloody hell forgot about palm pilots. I had the first “proper” smartphone, the Treo 180G, back in the day which was based on PalmOS. Also the first smart watch (timex one). They were both shit compared to today’s offerings 

[McBryce]

Ahh, High German, so I've been hanging around with posh Germans eh?  What do you call the dialect that you learn down the docks? That's probably more fitting for me to adopt. 

Platt?

Hamburgerplatt or possibly Friesisch.

McBryce.

[mansaxel]

My friends are fearing me and my funny jokes. 

In Germany we are calling them "Flachwitze" - literally flat jokes but the correct translation is lame jokes.

My son calls them "Dad jokes". 

Edit: And that's apparently what others, even though they're not my children call them. Here I go off for a couple hours to make tacos and you lot barf forth 2 pages of cringe-jokes. Serves me right for not finishing the thread before replying to messages in it!

Do continue!

[mansaxel]

Ah a Duracell. Unlucky

I got one with an Ever Ready battery in it a couple of years back that hadn't leaked. The battery was circa 37 years old at the time:



I was surprised at this!

Interesting, I have never seen an EverReady battery in a Red on Blue and White colour scheme before.
The old ones here in the great white north had a Red on Black colour scheme.  I have never seen the old ones leak either.

Different company In UK it's Ever Ready (two words, two r) in NA its Eveready (one word one r)

I fished a large block marked "Ever Ready" from my 427A (hi, BD!), that also had not leaked. Fortunately, I've got the AC power option on mine, so an unobtanium battery is not required.

[tautech]

A stack of buttons cells with shrink sleeve to hold them together along with some copper tubing to match the correct length will generally get you out of a bind for any $$$ unobtanium battery.

[DC1MC]

Does anybody see something useful in this collection of TE, I thinking of visiting the gentleman:

https://www.ebay-kleinanzeigen.de/s-anzeige/elektronik-bauteile-kabel-messgeraete-oszilloskope/1639707846-168-8262

Cheers,
DC1MC

EDIT: Some pictures

[bd139]

I fished a large block marked "Ever Ready" from my 427A (hi, BD!), that also had not leaked. Fortunately, I've got the AC power option on mine, so an unobtanium battery is not required.

Hiss and spit 

[25 CPS]

Does anybody see something useful in this collection of TE, I thinking of visiting the gentleman:

https://www.ebay-kleinanzeigen.de/s-anzeige/elektronik-bauteile-kabel-messgeraete-oszilloskope/1639707846-168-8262

Cheers,
DC1MC

Hewlett Packard power supplies are always useful and I'm pretty sure I saw one from Power Designs as well, and there were at least two General Radio decade boxes in one of the pictures and those are excellent pieces of equipment as well.

[25 CPS]

Bloody hell forgot about palm pilots. I had the first “proper” smartphone, the Treo 180G, back in the day which was based on PalmOS. Also the first smart watch (timex one). They were both shit compared to today’s offerings 

Was that the Ironman Data watch that had the optical sensor to receive data being transmitted by holding it up to your computer screen while it flashed?

[bd139]

Bloody hell forgot about palm pilots. I had the first “proper” smartphone, the Treo 180G, back in the day which was based on PalmOS. Also the first smart watch (timex one). They were both shit compared to today’s offerings 

Was that the Ironman Data watch that had the optical sensor to receive data being transmitted by holding it up to your computer screen while it flashed?

That’s the one

https://youtu.be/2VmtPaiOBwI

[25 CPS]

Bloody hell forgot about palm pilots. I had the first “proper” smartphone, the Treo 180G, back in the day which was based on PalmOS. Also the first smart watch (timex one). They were both shit compared to today’s offerings 

Was that the Ironman Data watch that had the optical sensor to receive data being transmitted by holding it up to your computer screen while it flashed?

That’s the one

https://youtu.be/2VmtPaiOBwI

I had one of those too.  I don't know what became of it which is unfortunate because it was a birthday gift.

[bd139]

Mine fell to bits like all timex watches do. First the plastic ring fell off and then the strap dissolved.

Haven’t worn a watch since then until recently.

[Specmaster]

Bloody hell forgot about palm pilots. I had the first “proper” smartphone, the Treo 180G, back in the day which was based on PalmOS. Also the first smart watch (timex one). They were both shit compared to today’s offerings 

Ditto, I can't really see myself using one these days though 

[Cubdriver]

Does anybody see something useful in this collection of TE, I thinking of visiting the gentleman:

https://www.ebay-kleinanzeigen.de/s-anzeige/elektronik-bauteile-kabel-messgeraete-oszilloskope/1639707846-168-8262

Cheers,
DC1MC

EDIT: Some pictures

In the first picture in the listing I see a Tektronix 106 Square Wave generator and an HP 6515A 0-1600V power supply; can't discern what the 2 poer supplies below it in the stack are.  There are also a couple of GenRad decade boxes.

More HP power supplies and signal generators in the second pic - the top right being a 3314A function generator.

A bunch more power supplies in the third - HP and Power Designs; all are well regarded.

In the 8th pic, it looks like an LCR meter (HP 4274 or 4275) at the left on the bottom shelf, can't place the one next to it; perhaps some kind of signal generator.  Next to that is an HP 8640 signal generator.

A bunch of Kepco power supplies in the 14th image, and a Tek constant amplitude sine wave generator at bottom left.

I see a LOT of useful things there.

-Pat

[med6753]

Does anybody see something useful in this collection of TE, I thinking of visiting the gentleman:

https://www.ebay-kleinanzeigen.de/s-anzeige/elektronik-bauteile-kabel-messgeraete-oszilloskope/1639707846-168-8262

Cheers,
DC1MC

If that box of gummy bears is the artificial sweetener variety give them to your friends and watch the hilarity.     

[Cubdriver]

Oh, and it looks like a pair of Tek TM-500 series current probes next to the Keithleys in photo 10, along with some HP amplifiers on the left and function generators on the bottom right under the Tek 1A5 plug in.

-Pat

[mansaxel]

Does anybody see something useful in this collection of TE, I thinking of visiting the gentleman:

https://www.ebay-kleinanzeigen.de/s-anzeige/elektronik-bauteile-kabel-messgeraete-oszilloskope/1639707846-168-8262

Cheers,
DC1MC

EDIT: Some pictures

I count 4 Power Designs precision power supplies, likely 230V versions (PD supplies were built for one mains voltage only.), which makes them EXTREMELY desirable. On top of Tek current probes and other desirables..

I would def go. If you go, I'd be interested in a PD 2005, if it's 230V and ends up sensibly priced.

[mnementh]

Here's a joke for ya: A car loaded to the gunwales, roof and fanny-pack with small furniture... and noplace to take it. Oh, and NOW IT'S SNOWING.         

Local Thrift Shop has signs up front saying "We are accepting donations, but nothing too large for one person to handle." I have coffee tables, chairs and a knocked-down bedframe... so I load it up, drive all the way back and when I get there, the guy handling the bins tells me:

"Oh, we aren't taking any furniture."

"The sign up front says you are, just nothing too big for one person to handle."

"Since the lockdown, we aren't taking any furniture; the store's closed."

"The store was closed, due to lockdown, long before that sign was put in the window. I know this for a fact."

*dumb blank look*

"Get one of your managers down here, have them update the sign so people know you aren't accepting furniture, and BTW, I saw the coffee tables in that bin you just took in. Thanks for a wasted afternoon in the freezing cold."

mnem

[DC1MC]

Oh, and it looks like a pair of Tek TM-500 series current probes next to the Keithleys in photo 10, along with some HP amplifiers on the left and function generators on the bottom right under the Tek 1A5 plug in.

-Pat

Too bad, I just convinced the better half to make a trip there and the good man took the listing down, probably someone gave him an offer he can't refuse, 

[mnementh]

Some more fun with the recently acquired equipment.  This time it’s the TinySA.

   The TinySA and the S-A-A-2N both included a stylus that were completely reminiscent of the ones that used to come with Palm Pilots so I had to dig out one of my old Palm Pilots and give it a try and they are cross compatible.

D'awww... I remember having a Palm Tungsten back in the day... with WiFi card. It's the one that looks like a E2, but in a quick-draw slider format to actually fit in a pocket. I was fucking militant aboot keeping my appointments and all reminders & notes, however mundane, in that thing, and synced with Outlook or whatever it was that worked with Palm back then.

Also had numerous Casio DataBank watches. 

mnem
"Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun. Orbiting this at a distance of roughly ninety-two million miles is an utterly insignificant little blue green planet whose ape-descended life forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea." ~ Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

[Cubdriver]

Oh, and it looks like a pair of Tek TM-500 series current probes next to the Keithleys in photo 10, along with some HP amplifiers on the left and function generators on the bottom right under the Tek 1A5 plug in.

-Pat

Too bad, I just convinced the better half to make a trip there and the good man took the listing down, probably someone gave him an offer he can't refuse, 

That's a bummer.   

-Pat