Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[mnementh]

Okies... dwagon is stuffed full of pizza, birthday cake, ice cream and M&Ms. Kids and friends are in the backyard turning it into a sea of silly string.

I think I'm going to slip away upstairs, slip out of these presentable clothes, and slip into something a little more comfortable...

mnem
...like maybe a diabetic coma.

[mansaxel]

There are 2 off 3455a for sale at the local auction site. Same seller. Pick-up only. At the moment, one bid each, for the starting amount, SEK 500 (about USD55 or so). No doubt there will be a sniping fight, that is if the less experienced don't get into an attrition war too early; which sometimes happens. I only bid before sniping time if it is something that I'm not prepared to fight hard for, but I still find interesting enough that I'd want it for the starting bid.

I've written earlier that I'd not really need more digits. If, however, the opportunity arose, I'd be hard pressed not to try. 

[mnementh]

Edit, that clearance used to be 11 foot, 8 inches and was raised to 12 foot, 4 inches and still gets whacked.

It's not so much that the clearance was raised, they actually had to lower the road. Expensive it was, difference to bridge strikes it made was nothing.

As I understand it, there was discussion about lowering the road surface - but that was not possible due to the water pipes that run beneath.  The bridge WAS, in fact, raised - with the track re-graded to run level with an intersection a short distance away.

It's still fascinating to watch.

That is correct. There is a video on raising the bridge I just don't feel like looking for it right now.

And if I told Cerebus directly that he was wrong he'd accuse me of being anti-social. 

Why would I do that? We all know you're anti-social; I don't see the point of regularly restating it (unless it's funny of course). 

There was a lot of talk about how nothing could be done about that bridge because whichever way they did it was too hard and too expensive, either raising the grade for the railway line, or digging, dodging utilities and regrading the road. Then all of a sudden it had been moved. I thought the solution finally employed was digging but if it was raising it then so be it, but last time I heard anything in the run-up to it happening, the odds on favourite was digging because the rail regrading would involve a substantial distance of track just because changes in track height have to be so gradual - you can't drive a train over a bump, well not twice.

   

https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2008-04-15

mnem

[0culus]

There are 2 off 3455a for sale at the local auction site. Same seller. Pick-up only. At the moment, one bid each, for the starting amount, SEK 500 (about USD55 or so). No doubt there will be a sniping fight, that is if the less experienced don't get into an attrition war too early; which sometimes happens. I only bid before sniping time if it is something that I'm not prepared to fight hard for, but I still find interesting enough that I'd want it for the starting bid.

I've written earlier that I'd not really need more digits. If, however, the opportunity arose, I'd be hard pressed not to try. 

I have both a 3455A and a 3456A. Get a 3456A instead. It's fanless and has more useful front panel computation features.

[mansaxel]

I've written earlier that I'd not really need more digits. If, however, the opportunity arose, I'd be hard pressed not to try. 

I have both a 3455A and a 3456A. Get a 3456A instead. It's fanless and has more useful front panel computation features.

I understand!  The landscape of TE is a bit more rocks and a bit less fat prairie here. If 3455A is what's offered, that is what I'll bid for. I have seen a 3456a for sale here, though.

In other news, I stumbled on a 53131A locally too, for a tolerable starting bid (but it will undoubtedly go bananas too). Googling around I found eBay auction: #284462615748 which is very confusing. Does the seller mean that a better XO will give a 3GHz channel C?  I find it a bit hard to believe. Or is it simply an option bundling?

And, to finish it up, A Tek 585A showed up. At the moment, a handsome price. But, OTOH, the seller claims it lights up. Only he seems to confuse the graticule illumination with the CRT. No trace of a trace. Other than that, looks OK. The tekwiki article is interesting, containing the phrase "I wasn’t very proud of the 580 design as it was too compromised." (John Kobbe).

[med6753]

And, to finish it up, A Tek 585A showed up. At the moment, a handsome price. But, OTOH, the seller claims it lights up. Only he seems to confuse the graticule illumination with the CRT. No trace of a trace. Other than that, looks OK. The tekwiki article is interesting, containing the phrase "I wasn’t very proud of the 580 design as it was too compromised." (John Kobbe).

Yea, heard that too. Rumor was it that when the Type 585 was released it was advertised as "100MHz" but it's actual -3db point was closer to 85MHz. But I think they did eventually improve it and got it to 100MHz.

Heard the same thing about first issue of the 465. It struggled to get to 100MHz. The 465B fixed that.   

[Robert763]

<SNIP>
Googling around I found eBay auction: #284462615748 which is very confusing. Does the seller mean that a better XO will give a 3GHz channel C?  I find it a bit hard to believe. Or is it simply an option bundling?

<SNIP>

He is selling a standard counter with a home made PCB to add both a better oscillator and a 3GHz preselector. The board is not fitted

[mnementh]

Stumbled across this randomly. Guy's a hoot. Don't expect too much, just hang loose and have a laugh.

mnem
 

[mnementh]

...Googling around I found eBay auction: #284462615748 which is very confusing. Does the seller mean that a better XO will give a 3GHz channel C?  I find it a bit hard to believe. Or is it simply an option bundling?

He is selling a standard counter with a home made PCB to add both a better oscillator and a 3GHz preselector. The board is not fitted

Does it work work a flying fig...?

mnem
 

[med6753]

After considerable back and forth with the trim pots and use of the IG-4244 Scope Calibrator and FeelTech function generator finally got decent vertical gain on both channels. All ranges fell into place except 20mV which came in about 5% low but is acceptable. This plug-in is loaded with nuvistors and they are getting a little tired. But it's a win compared to the previous 25% or more low.

Never got to the compensation adjustments. Do that tomorrow. I know that's gonna be a frustrating array of cap trimmers and weird tongue angles. 


 

[0culus]

And, to finish it up, A Tek 585A showed up. At the moment, a handsome price. But, OTOH, the seller claims it lights up. Only he seems to confuse the graticule illumination with the CRT. No trace of a trace. Other than that, looks OK. The tekwiki article is interesting, containing the phrase "I wasn’t very proud of the 580 design as it was too compromised." (John Kobbe).

Yea, heard that too. Rumor was it that when the Type 585 was released it was advertised as "100MHz" but it's actual -3db point was closer to 85MHz. But I think they did eventually improve it and got it to 100MHz.

Heard the same thing about first issue of the 465. It struggled to get to 100MHz. The 465B fixed that.   

Yes, the 585A is much improved over the 585. The "A" also added tunnel diode triggering that is far superior. Mine will cleanly trigger on signals past 200 MHz.

[vk6zgo]

Actually as long as none of it extends past the sides or rear of the car and it's properly attached it would be legal. It looks OK to me from that picture. You would of course have to tell your insurance company and they may have a different view of it.

But I think over height might be a problem. 

<SNIP>

Edit, that clearance used to be 11 foot, 8 inches and was raised to 12 foot, 4 inches and still gets whacked.

Exactly that, the height alone would make it a liability and a guaranteed magnet for any law enforcement officer 

I don't know, scaling off the image it looks to be about twich the hight of the car. The XJ is 1.3m high. So dragon is 2.6m.  That would be about 4m /13ft total.  In the UK that would not make it a tall vehicle. The standard for tall is >4.5m. Standard road clearance in UK is 5m / 16ft.
The biggest issue I can see is stability. The raised CofG could cause issues bu it does not look that heavy.

I know when I was a teenager, I was an apprentice at our local bus depot, and I was driving a 1957 Hillman Minx and I fitted it with front fog lights but with a différance, dual filament bulbs (headlamp bulbs), full beam for the fog function and dipped beam for an indicator and the lens was amber. I got pulled over by an overzealous police office who proceeded to tell me that my indicators were illegal, even though it was exactly the same principle as employed by Rolls Royce cars at the time. In the end I got a ticket issued that had to be quashed as I used to have to work with the local inspector from the MOT (Ministry of Transport) who would come to the bus depot and give the buses their annual PSV test and certification. He wrote me a note to the police stating that if my car was illegal, then so too was every Rolls Royce car built around that era as they used that system.

I never got pulled over again after that, I wonder why 

Cheeky young bugger!

But then, Poms are a bit cheeky.

When I had a year in Southampton back in 1971/72, one of my "mad mates" discovered that the Registration (tax) sticker (yeah, I know it wasn't really a sticker) was very similar to a particular brand of beer label......

[vk6zgo]

Actually as long as none of it extends past the sides or rear of the car and it's properly attached it would be legal. It looks OK to me from that picture. You would of course have to tell your insurance company and they may have a different view of it.

But I think over height might be a problem. 

<SNIP>

Edit, that clearance used to be 11 foot, 8 inches and was raised to 12 foot, 4 inches and still gets whacked.

Exactly that, the height alone would make it a liability and a guaranteed magnet for any law enforcement officer 

I don't know, scaling off the image it looks to be about twich the hight of the car. The XJ is 1.3m high. So dragon is 2.6m.  That would be about 4m /13ft total.  In the UK that would not make it a tall vehicle. The standard for tall is >4.5m. Standard road clearance in UK is 5m / 16ft.
The biggest issue I can see is stability. The raised CofG could cause issues bu it does not look that heavy.

I don't think it's the CoG that you'd need to worry about, it's the CoP. That and the lift. Do more than 15 mph in that, hit the wrong gust of wind as well and I reckon that you'd be doing somersaults.   

IIRC back in the 80s the Ford Sierra's CoG and CoP weren't in the same place. Apparently a stiff crosswind meant steering was less precise than desirable.

That is correct, I remember someone famous having a crash in a one when a gust of wind caused it to swerve violently. I know that they did not like water, I hit a patch of water on the road and spun a new hire car round and got shunted through a hedge, wrote the car off. Thing is that I had hired a different car for the following day as the 2 cars I had booked were going to become the new company cars so while my old one was being serviced, I thought I'd try them out. The hire company refused to let me have the other car, I wonder why 

Drifting a bit off topic, but, again, back in '72, I hired a Mini in Ireland, which  left me a bit "thin on" for funds.

One cold, but sunny morning, as I crested a hill, I noticed a fuel tanker coming the other way, that seemed to be spinning its wheels.
Being a cautious driver, I braked---not a good idea!
That was my introduction to "black ice"!

Whilst the Mini was performing several rotations, I was imagining explaining to the hire company how I had wiped out their nice new car, & having to fork out money I didn't have for repairs "not covered by the insurance", but luckily, the slushy, muddy crap at the side of the road had enough drag to stop the Morris' acrobatics, so I drove on, much chastened!

[mnementh]

Sounds like your personal pucker factor were somewhere aboot the ~7.7 range...

mnem
*toddles off to watch something stoopit with my son*

[cyclin_al]

Yeah, but at least you could have got that nose over a speed bump without damage, judging by the look of it, it might have bottomed between the wheels though   

 
MOST of those bosozoku cars would not make it over a speedbump in the GWN.
NONE of those have even a remote chance of surviving a pothole in the GWN ... 

Wow, you have potholes as well, I thought that it was something that only the UK and Russia had 

Oh, we have got them here, no question.

I took the kid today to mud monsters training in preparation of ski season.
SWMBO asked why I was not taking the Impreza... it would be the logical choice for the distance and fuel efficiency. 
I drove the Forester instead, and we were able to barely make it crawling around some of the potholes.
Would have been no worry with the RAM, but wasteful on fuel when the only cargo is a kid and our muddy running shoes.

Just wait till spring when the ground thaws....

[Robert763]

Stumbled across this randomly. Guy's a hoot. Don't expect too much, just hang loose and have a laugh.

mnem
 

Not totally off the wall.  In the WWII era there was a boat system that used the exhaust gas from a radial engine (mounted with shaft vertical) to drive turbines driving the propeller. IIRC correctly similar systems were at lest experimented with in tanks. It's a variation of the turbo-compound engine.

[dl6lr]

No acquisition, but slightly related to TE: I collected the -hp- 4245L during weekend (will show pics on progress later on page 4245  ). So I carefully selected a hotel using FLUKE serviced equipment only:

[Andrew_Debbie]

Not totally off the wall.  In the WWII era there was a boat system that used the exhaust gas from a radial engine (mounted with shaft vertical) to drive turbines driving the propeller. IIRC correctly similar systems were at lest experimented with in tanks. It's a variation of the turbo-compound engine.

Douglas DC-7, Lockheed L-1049 super constellation and L-1649A Starliner   had turbo-compound engines.   Power recovery turbines are fluid coupled to the crankshaft.

-- Worth noting that older aircraft without turbo-compound engines are still used in revenue earning flights.    The DC-7s and Constellations are all gone partly because the engines were unreliable and expensive to operate.

[Ice-Tea]

Huh? 

Opened up an original Fluke battery pack. Crusty as you might expect but... what's that?? Some yellow modling came off, looks suspiciously like a PTC resetable fuse. Might be part of the puzzle.

On unrelated news: I think I'm done shipping to the UK. Two parcels I shipped over the last two months or so vanished. Passed customs, status set to return straight away after which nobody can find it anymore.

[med6753]

Not totally off the wall.  In the WWII era there was a boat system that used the exhaust gas from a radial engine (mounted with shaft vertical) to drive turbines driving the propeller. IIRC correctly similar systems were at lest experimented with in tanks. It's a variation of the turbo-compound engine.

Douglas DC-7, Lockheed L-1049 super constellation and L-1649A Starliner   had turbo-compound engines.   Power recovery turbines are fluid coupled to the crankshaft.

-- Worth noting that older aircraft without turbo-compound engines are still used in revenue earning flights.    The DC-7s and Constellations are all gone partly because the engines were unreliable and expensive to operate.

If I'm not mistaken I think the B-36 used the same or similar turbo-compound engines and it also had an additional "feature". Inadequate intake air heating. That combined with the insane altitude it flew at would cause the carburetor to ice up. That would cause the engine to run rich and eventually dump raw fuel out the exhaust. Which in turn would catch fire and completely ruin your day.

And I also think having the engines arranged in a "pusher" configuration contributed to the tendency for carb icing.   

[tggzzz]

On unrelated news: I think I'm done shipping to the UK. Two parcels I shipped over the last two months or so vanished. Passed customs, status set to return straight away after which nobody can find it anymore.

Unpleasant.

Out of curiosity, which carrier and what were the postcodes (for anonymity, omit the last two letters).

[Robert763]

Huh? 

Opened up an original Fluke battery pack. Crusty as you might expect but... what's that?? Some yellow modling came off, looks suspiciously like a PTC resetable fuse. Might be part of the puzzle.

On unrelated news: I think I'm done shipping to the UK. Two parcels I shipped over the last two months or so vanished. Passed customs, status set to return straight away after which nobody can find it anymore.

Yes that is a PTC self resetting fuse. At least it was once 

[beanflying]

Less Bond TEA tonight but there was just a gratuitous fake "LASER" 

[wolfy007]

Another cup checked off my collection list...   

[Robert763]

Less Bond TEA tonight but there was just a gratuitous fake "LASER" 

A couple of RACAL RA 17 receivers are almost TEA.....