Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[AVGresponding]

fleaBay time:



Why get a multimeter, when you can have an Ultrameter? Only 1 hour left...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Myron-L-Company-Ultrameter-II/294106243402



2 of these at CDL atm, both sans-HDD. Oh dear...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Tektronix-TDS5104-Digital-Phosphor-Oscilloscope/373533078967



A couple of these and a 1002 from this seller, who is reliable iirc. Remains to be seen if the prices finish in sensible territory:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Tektronix-Tds-210-Two-Channel-Digital-Oscilloscope-60MHz-1GS-s-with-probe/324556948941



Didgital? Ok...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Didgital-Multimeter/233958412394



These are nice, if you can put up with the fan noise:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Agilent-66311B-power-supply-DC-source-0-15V-0-3A/303951469279



Maybe will be cheap voltage reference, you can guarantee the battery will be fooked though:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Time-Electronics-Type-2003S-DC-Voltage-Calibrator-Untested-Great-Condition/265116950139

[THDplusN_bad]

An author kind of TEA arrived in my lab.


Audio Analyzer are like DMM, you always need one more  but this one is special

This audio Precision System One is quite old (1983) but still a reference in the domain.

That's a nice addition to your labs - congratulations! But be warned as high-performance Audio testing can be an addiction, too!   

Cheers,

THDplusN_bad

[med6753]

Today is the day. At 08:30 hours local time. Appointment with urologist to get this damn catheter out. It hurt like hell going in and I'm sure it's gonna hurt even worse coming out. So if you hear a blood curdling scream later it will be me. 

Wish me luck.   

[Cerebus]

fleaBay time:

...

These are nice, if you can put up with the fan noise:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Agilent-66311B-power-supply-DC-source-0-15V-0-3A/303951469279

X

[bd139]

I miss the Fast Show

[bd139]

Ok OCXO all done and installed.      Link to repo with documentation, BOM, gerbers and stuff is on the picture

This is about the first time I've put something together and it worked first time 

      

Looking nice. Gonna use that repo as the base for my own build; mine arrived today. Haven't had time or energy to do more than open & look; but from what I can see, I can say with pretty high confidence that these oscillators are being removed from the scrap boards not with a band or scroll saw, but rather are being excised from the PCB using plunge-cuts with a whizz-grinder.
Not that I would have ever committed such a crime... not me...

I'd say either a Dremel with a big cutoff wheel (maybe a diamond disc) or something like the one above. The way the burr curls on both sides of the board and the direction of the scoring are pretty indicative.

As to whether this is better or worse than the vibration from a bandsaw... I'll say yes, generally much less aggressive vibration. The fact that components are cut through rather than shattered off the board evidence that.

Of course, the pings and dings in the can of the device also evidence the fact that the scrap boards are not exactly handled with greatest of care before the part is excised. Just thought I'd pass that along, in case it affects someone's decision on whether to pull the trigger or not.

mnem
 

Huh.  Mine arrived today as well; I splurged and bought a lot of ten of them.  They sent 11.  Interestingly, the place I got them from dismounted them - they were shipped in some anti static foam.





I'm not complaining - the furry lab assistants knocked my desoldering iron off the bench recently and the tip has gone missing.  I need to order a new one; that's the best way to be sure the old one will turn up again.

(Also included was a plastic pill thingie that turns out to be a collapsible pen.)




-Pat

Dang everyone is ordering these now 

I better buy some more before the supply dries up 

@Cubdriver: where do you get that many from?

[Robert763]

I guess those probes are normal oscilloscope probes and require a 1M\$\Omega\$ input. Not 50 like the input of your Spectrum analyzer. The impedance problem might explain the waves we are seeing. Hard to draw any conclusion from your experiment. Normally you should see a nice slope going down as frequency increase. The waves are not a good sign.

Also probes compensation is only valid on the oscilloscope where the probe are compensated. You can't really disconnect them and try to use them elsewhere and hope that the probe will still be compensated.

Personally I would do the same experience with a signal generator and a oscilloscope and a 50\$\Omega\$ termination between the signal and the probe.

Yep understood and it was just an initial experiment to get some preliminary results comparing apples with apples using the standard 500 MHz probe as the reference (0dB).

3.2 GHz sig gen sweeps are next however we can only rely on its output flatness for accuracy as I don't yet have a $ $ level sensor. 
Maybe tonight as have some paint to get on outside before forecast rain arrives.

Yeah you could let the sig gen sweep slowly and but the oscilloscope in FFT max hold. That would probably do the trick.

But that means I can only FFT them one at a time whereas I'd like to display all 4 together and if I drop the 100 MHz probe and keep the 500 MHz Siglent probe displayed and connect all 4 of them to BNC Tees using their probe tip to BNC adapters we might have a chance of displaying their -3dB points however on a scope only one set of cursors are available.

No worries slowing the sig gen sweep and even syncing it to the scope however just a well timed punch of Stop can serve the same purpose. 
Some painting will give time to think about some clever plan............

Your current setup with the spectrum analyzer would work for RF probes (that use 50\$\Omega\$ input) but you would still need to terminate the signal coming out of the tracking gen and probe at the termination.

Yep, got a couple of good 50 Ohm 1 GHz rated BNC terminators.

To test the probes with a SA/TG or VNA you would need a 1M input, 50R output amplifier. I have one but not to 600MHz. An option would be to use a 'scope with a Y output (or a 7000 series plug in) and normalise that without the probe. Still need the 50R terminator at the probe input though.

[AVGresponding]

fleaBay time:

...

These are nice, if you can put up with the fan noise:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Agilent-66311B-power-supply-DC-source-0-15V-0-3A/303951469279

X

Turns out this is being sold by a forum member. It's also in the BSW section here.

[Cerebus]

I miss the Fast Show

Ditto. "This week I have been mostly ..."

I thought after yesterday's self-recrimination I ought to prove that I have actually previously typed "pip install pyvisa", I was just too stupid to take advantage of the fact yesterday.

[Cerebus]

Finally got around to something I've been meaning to do since the HP 66312A (and subsequent HP 6611C) arrived - got around to buying some of these:



So that I could do this:



The Phoenix Contact part number for these, for those who need to know, is 1776142.

(I realize that this is a partial replay for those who were playing along at home on discord during the Great Eevblog Server Fire of '21. Just wanted to get the part number out there for those that weren't.)

[VK5RC]

Today is the day. At 08:30 hours local time. Appointment with urologist to get this damn catheter out. It hurt like hell going in and I'm sure it's gonna hurt even worse coming out. So if you hear a blood curdling scream later it will be me. 

Wish me luck. 

Hope all things come to pass😅

[BU508A]

no scream so far. 

[Saskia]

Today is the day. At 08:30 hours local time. Appointment with urologist to get this damn catheter out. It hurt like hell going in and I'm sure it's gonna hurt even worse coming out. So if you hear a blood curdling scream later it will be me. 

Wish me luck. 

If the swelling and inflammation has subsided, you won't necessarily scream. A slight groan plus temporary loss of conscience may be all there is to it ...

good luck

[nixiefreqq]

Today is the day. At 08:30 hours local time. Appointment with urologist to get this damn catheter out. It hurt like hell going in and I'm sure it's gonna hurt even worse coming out. So if you hear a blood curdling scream later it will be me. 

Wish me luck. 

If the swelling and inflammation has subsided, you won't necessarily scream. A slight groan plus temporary loss of conscience may be all there is to it ...

good luck

I just felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if a smurf suddenly cried out in terror and was suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened.

[Cerebus]

no scream so far. 

The speed of sound in air at STP is 343ms^-1. The great circle route NYC to Frankfurt is 6 219 km, which gives the scream a rough propagation time NY->western Germany of 5 hours 2 minutes.

[Cerebus]

Today is the day. At 08:30 hours local time. Appointment with urologist to get this damn catheter out. It hurt like hell going in and I'm sure it's gonna hurt even worse coming out. So if you hear a blood curdling scream later it will be me. 

Wish me luck. 

If the swelling and inflammation has subsided, you won't necessarily scream. A slight groan plus temporary loss of conscience may be all there is to it ...

good luck

So you're saying he won't feel bad about punching the Doctor's lights out? 

[AVGresponding]

no scream so far. 

The speed of sound in air at STP is 343ms^-1. The great circle route NYC to Frankfurt is 6 219 km, which gives the scream a rough propagation time NY->western Germany of 5 hours 2 minutes.

Don't forget to take the jetstream into account.

[tggzzz]

Today is the day. At 08:30 hours local time. Appointment with urologist to get this damn catheter out. It hurt like hell going in and I'm sure it's gonna hurt even worse coming out. So if you hear a blood curdling scream later it will be me. 

Wish me luck. 

ISTR it will help if you remember how to cough vigorously. If not, then they might make another part of your body hurt, as a distraction.

I hope its removal will be the end for you (cf of you )

[mansaxel]

An author kind of TEA arrived in my lab.


Audio Analyzer are like DMM, you always need one more  but this one is special

This audio Precision System One is quite old (1983) but still a reference in the domain.

Ok, now I'm seriously envious. AP is very high on my Desirable List.

[Saskia]

Today is the day. At 08:30 hours local time. Appointment with urologist to get this damn catheter out. It hurt like hell going in and I'm sure it's gonna hurt even worse coming out. So if you hear a blood curdling scream later it will be me. 

Wish me luck. 

If the swelling and inflammation has subsided, you won't necessarily scream. A slight groan plus temporary loss of conscience may be all there is to it ...

good luck

So you're saying he won't feel bad about punching the Doctor's lights out? 

I usually do not condone violent behavior ...

[beanflying]

At least if they take the piss out of the Smurf during removal it is their floor and clean up job. It will be more fun when that is our job and we are on the other end of a long long wire where he cant get to us in person

[Saskia]

will taking the piss out of Papa Smurf paint the floor blue ?

questions ...

[BU508A]

pictures in the heads ...

[psykok]

An author kind of TEA arrived in my lab.


Audio Analyzer are like DMM, you always need one more  but this one is special

This audio Precision System One is quite old (1983) but still a reference in the domain.

That's a nice addition to your labs - congratulations! But be warned as high-performance Audio testing can be an addiction, too!   

Cheers,

THDplusN_bad

Apart from spending several 1000€ in new equipment, I don't think  I will be able to get something better as the AP.

This instrument is amazing and this one is only single domain (only analog).
The only other Audio Analyzer I have able to de liver the same level of precision is the Panasonic/National VP-7722A.

The 8903A and the TT402 are nice instrument but playing in a different  field.

[PA0PBZ]

Guess what the nickname of this drink is... Yes indeed