Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Neper]

Some key component in the heating system of the building has conked out, this morning. No heating, no hot water. Landlord says spare part should arrive by Monday. 

Around 10years ago, that happened to me right when it got friggin' cold. As it was weekend, my options were limited with regard to instant remedial action. So I set up a fan, a variac and the biggest sliding load resistor that I had. The temperature crept up about 1 degree per hour, but at 19° C it crept no further. Still friggin' cold.

We've rushed out and bought a small electric heater that keeps us reasonably warm. Water is the real problem. Cold shaves and showers are no fun at all.

[Vince]

Oh no.... this one just popped up here :

https://www.leboncoin.fr/bricolage/2077988887.htm

An interesting one I can't have ! 

Guy sells a lot of 4 old pieces of gear :

1) A vintage HP 3310B function generator.... since I rescued that free promised to junk yard old HP 120B tube scope the other day, I fear I feel a growing interest for vintage HP stuff... I am getting fond of the industrial design of this era. This function gen fits the bill... so cute I can't resist it !! 

2) A Philips power supply it looks like

3) A Data Precision DMM

4) Some random basic analog scope, but looks decent clean and working, could be good for a penny-less kid starting in EE...

Guy sells THE LOT for only 50 Euros ! But he sells only the lot.... won't detail, and local pickup only, pfff... of course he lives too far away, not an option.
I so would have loved this cute little HP generator ! Hell it goes up to 1MHz just like my current old '70s Philips sig gen ! Hell might even be an upgrade for me ! 
Sure it lacks the HP logo at the top left corner, and probably missed a few countersunk screws on the top cover as it looks like the sides of the panel are flapping in the breeze... and the skirt of the DC offset knob looks broken....but otherwise looks in great nick overall ! Even the leather handle looks in good nick.
Plus, the HP would have been free, even actually make me money, as I am sure I could have sold the other 3 items for a lot more, combined, than the 50 Euros guy wants for the lot ! Money that could have been spent to get a new HP logo and knob and screws...and still have some cash left probably.


TLDR ? Well as always I am frustrated to see the odd rare interesting ad wave goodbye 

Pfff....

Well I guess that's OK.... let's see the positive side : it evidenced my growing interest for old HP stuff.... so now I will be on the lookout and maybe search actively for cheap interesting pieces like this one, and start a little collection....just a handful of items, not more, promised... and no boat anchors (NO vintage two piece spectrum analyzer or such !    ).
So that was my " HP coming out " I guess ?!  Great, like I was not in enough trouble with my glowing Tek scope addiction... now I am getting into HP stuff as well.... I am in great danger, I really am 

[Vince]

We've rushed out and bought a small electric heater that keeps us reasonably warm. Water is the real problem. Cold shaves and showers are no fun at all.

In 2013 I moved into a brand spanking new building, was supposed to be super duper eco-friendly, low energy / heating bill / great thermal insulation etc...
building had solar panel to heat the water, not much fun in Winter so the heater had a en electrical backup to compensate when needed...
I stayed in this flat/building for only 6 months, but in 6 months the elevator failed 4 times and the hot water failed 3 times. Once, it took 3 freaking days to be fixed !  So basically same shit as you, I can relate.... HOWEVER no need for cold shower !  What I did was simply grab my big pressure cooker in the kitchen, boil 5 liters of water, then I would take a 10 liter bucket of (cold) water, and mix a little bit of boiling / super hot water into it. With just one pressure cooker worth of boiling water, I had enough to make a few nice warm buckets... enough to wash my 1,95m fat frame....

[Vince]

Vince,
I got the control panel out. All the minitrons work but one looks a bit dim. Don't know if it's a display or drive issue. They are socketed so easy to find out. You only need four for a clock It has a greenish night vision goggle (NVG) compatible display filter this needs a clean.
It does have a fault, it looks like the on/off/function switch is faulty. There is an internal 12V regulator and if I put voltage on that it works but there is no continiuity between the regulator positive input and any pin on the connector (pin U is 0V).
Additional good news is that I have manuals that include details of an internally identical control head, it just has a different pin out. The logic is all standard CMOS at 12V and would be easy to interface to.
I think it's worth £30
It's just under 1kg packed so postage would be £10
Send me a private messageif interested.

Sounds cool, deal ! 

Dim display I can relocated in the middle to be the separator between HH and MM. It being dim would then not look odd but might even be seen as a subtle feature. Defective mode switch well according to the diagram all switches including this one are just simple/ basic mechanical switches, not encoders.. so maybe it can be fixed without too much trouble...
Great that you have the diagram for the thing !  So there is no CPU at all in this thing, all discrete logic ! 
Quite a lot of chips then... and no SMD chips back then I guess... so all DIP packages ?? I am sure it's all very compact in there, but still... I guess this unit is not as tiny as I thought initially from looking at the pic. Maybe it's not the size of a match box after all... maybe it's the size of a match box... and a half ! 

So looks like the displays are multiplexed, cool.... not too many pins to interface with then, will make integrating my own H/W in such a cramped space... much easier than I thought. Still very tight I am sure, but feasible at least...well I think... hope.... we shall see how it goes once I have it on my bench !

Do yo have a high resolution picture of the diagram ? A bit hard to read as it is.

Can't wait to tear it apart to see how it's put together ! 

You can start packing the thing, this puppy is now mine....

[Neomys Sapiens]

... Big reason I'm after a Really Impressive Counter (No, perhaps not 524A impressive, but certainly 5245L impressive. ) is my hunt for a good display of phase, and more importantly frequency, differences between various 10MHz oscillators.

When I hear 'Really Impressive Counter' I incidentally think of your country...so stop complaining and get your CNT-90!

[Neomys Sapiens]

And my vacation is over.  Back to work.  I’ve had to bring in a couple of multimeters and a portable scope, the Agilent got the nod, and some hand tools to rip into some piece of junk that died a couple of days ago.  I guess that does it, the next time the employee survey comes out, as soon as I see the “Do you have the tools and equipment to do your job?” question, they’re getting a zero because I’ve had to bring my own stuff in again.  So much for the “I firmly believe all you need to do your job is your laptop” routine.

You might recall that I already told here that my company is not content with this. They take a more active approach trying to get me to aquire what they need. 
Else I would not own an Anritsu Sitemaster. Or the HP8347A, incidentally. Not that it isn't a nice amplifier, but what made me go for it right when I did was our need to perform some measurements.
BTW, it works fine. Slightly above the dial setting in gain, but that could be just the knob. On the other side, it lets me deduct 2...3 multimeters from the dreaded insanity count. They are in the company lab, so they don't count, right?
So, obviously you DO have the tools and equipment to do your job! If not, the time spent with that employee survey might be better used for a trip to your toolmonger!

[Specmaster]

... I have too many meters, about 10 analogue and about 14 digital ....

Now wait a moment, what are you trying to say here?

Exactly that I have too many meters I think. I can't use them all at the same time, I need to reduce some of them to give me back some space. I just generally need to reduce a lot of the things, not just TE items, because if anything happens to me, my family will not have a clue what the true value is will more than likely send the stuff to the tip.

[Specmaster]

Has anyone else noticed how eBay insists on opening a new window each time you click on an item and when you click return to search results, it leaves the window open  does anyone know how this can be altered or is this now a permanent feature of eBay??? If you are looking for something, and you click "Watch this item", it leaves the window open so you end up with loads of open windows 

[SilverSolder]

... I have too many meters, about 10 analogue and about 14 digital ....

Now wait a moment, what are you trying to say here?

Exactly that I have too many meters I think. I can't use them all at the same time, I need to reduce some of them to give me back some space. I just generally need to reduce a lot of the things, not just TE items, because if anything happens to me, my family will not have a clue what the true value is will more than likely send the stuff to the tip.

The start of a new movement...  Electronics Buddhism! 

[mansaxel]

... Big reason I'm after a Really Impressive Counter (No, perhaps not 524A impressive, but certainly 5245L impressive. ) is my hunt for a good display of phase, and more importantly frequency, differences between various 10MHz oscillators.

When I hear 'Really Impressive Counter' I incidentally think of your country...so stop complaining and get your CNT-90!

Thanks!

I had no idea Pendulum is the old Philips counter successor. I know those were made in Järfälla, across the water from where I live, but I knew nothing about the connection with Pendulum.

Yes, the line of counters from Philips (and so forth, via Fluke into Pendulum) is impressive, and I've got one of them, and I'd like more, of course, but "impressive" in this specific case requires Nixies. 

[bitseeker]

It has a 6-Watt input, instead of the usual 3-Watt, but not the beefier 60- or 100-Watt. It does have the mechanical attenuator, which makes its

Thanks, yes, I had come across it the day the 8924C arrived. I'll set mine up accordingly since I don't have use for the CDMA functionality. Amtronix also has a quick-start page (in serious need of some formatting): https://www.amtronix.com/8924cqs.htm

I haven't yet looked at what all the RF Tools consist of. Can they be extracted and then loaded into another flash card or into RAM?

Congrats on the 8920B deal. That's certainly easier to relocate than the 8924 behemoth with its "Two-person Lift" stickers on the sides.

The RF tools have  useful tracking generator / SA scalar analyser function among others. The files should be on the IO group but loding them on a Flash card cn be tricky. I found that only the binary image on a "linear" flash card worked for me. Note that cards that simulate an IDE interface won't work. This includes using a CF card in a PCMCIA adaptor.
You can load programs into RAM via HPIB or even serial in theory but I've not done it.

Ah, an actual flash memory card. I figured it might be something like that. I'll try the GPIB route, first. Thanks for the heads up and compatibility info.

[bitseeker]

So mostly I would like to get the old HP/Agilent VFD instruments everybody seems to want. The 344xx something DMM, and the same form factor and display, the counter (with the optional but retro-fittable 3GHz RF input), and the sig gen / AWG.

34401A DMM.

Sounds like you want the Agilent 33120A 15 MHz Function / Arbitrary Waveform Generator

eBay auction: #324901382437

and then the Agilent 53131A 225 MHz Universal Frequency Counter/Timer

eBay auction: #324842284152

Yes those are the ones indeed... you know your HP model numbers much better than I do... I guess I too will know them by heart whenever I actually will be in a position to be actively searching for them... That last sentence sounds convoluted, I must have my grammar wrong somewhere...

Yep, that's the trinity to get for half-width, VFD-based devices. A couple of alternative choices, if you need their particular characteristics, are the 34410A DMM and 53132A universal counter. However, I find my 34401A to be more stable than the 34410A.

A couple other possibilities are the 34411A for more speed or, if you need a lot of switching/scanning, the 34970A data acquisition/switch unit. The latter has a built-in 6.5-digit DMM, if you avoid Option 001. However, note that the front panel is pretty sparse as it's geared toward automation.

[bitseeker]

From my experience (as an owner of all three mentioned devices) - The DMM and the Counter are still pretty good today, especially the 34401A DMM. The technology used in the 33120A generator is rather outdated in comparison to a modern one. Sometimes I see a 33120A for sale, IMO overpriced for their performance in comparison to a modern Siglent or Keysight. Anyway, I like and use all of them.

There's a triple output power supply (E3631A) in a double height enclosure that makes a perfect fit in a stack of them  - I absolutely disliked this device for its User Interface when I had access to one at a former workplace.

I concur. Also, the E364xA power supplies (single- and dual-output versions). They're all pretty sparse on front-panel usability, especially compared to well-implemented modern control panels and displays. Storing common setups in memory helps or using GPIB/serial.

[bitseeker]

Oh no.... this one just popped up here :

https://www.leboncoin.fr/bricolage/2077988887.htm

An interesting one I can't have ! 

...

Well I guess that's OK.... let's see the positive side : it evidenced my growing interest for old HP stuff.... so now I will be on the lookout and maybe search actively for cheap interesting pieces like this one, and start a little collection....just a handful of items, not more, promised... and no boat anchors (NO vintage two piece spectrum analyzer or such !    ).
So that was my " HP coming out " I guess ?!  Great, like I was not in enough trouble with my glowing Tek scope addiction... now I am getting into HP stuff as well.... I am in great danger, I really am 

Yep, HP/Agilent made lots of nice little things to collect. I got bitten by that bug before Tek.

Note that the 3310A and 3310B are 5 MHz generators (not just 1 MHz) -- not that you needed any more reason to get one.

[bitseeker]

Happy Turkey Day, fellow Yank-TEAs!

[med6753]

Happy Turkey Day, fellow Yank-TEAs!

  Got home yesterday evening and promptly slipped into an over indulgent coma and slept for a straight 4 hours which is unusual for me. Just woke up to take a massive piss and quickly read the blog before going back to bed.

Back on diet today.   

[bitseeker]

I shall join you...tomorrow...well, maybe this weekend.

[Vince]

Oh no.... this one just popped up here :

https://www.leboncoin.fr/bricolage/2077988887.htm

An interesting one I can't have ! 

...

Well I guess that's OK.... let's see the positive side : it evidenced my growing interest for old HP stuff.... so now I will be on the lookout and maybe search actively for cheap interesting pieces like this one, and start a little collection....just a handful of items, not more, promised... and no boat anchors (NO vintage two piece spectrum analyzer or such !    ).
So that was my " HP coming out " I guess ?!  Great, like I was not in enough trouble with my glowing Tek scope addiction... now I am getting into HP stuff as well.... I am in great danger, I really am 

Yep, HP/Agilent made lots of nice little things to collect. I got bitten by that bug before Tek.

Note that the 3310A and 3310B are 5 MHz generators (not just 1 MHz) -- not that you needed any more reason to get one.

Oh you are right, 5MHz not 1MHz !  Google told me 1MHz !  ... but looking at the pic more closely, highest range is 100kHz and main dial goes up to 50 !     Hmmm... I need to find a reason not to buy one... Oh I found something ! It does NOT have an attenuator ! 
MY old Philips has three 20dB attenuators, so up to 60dB, which I do find very practical.

[tautech]

MY old Philips has three 20dB attenuators, so up to 60dB, which I do find very practical.

So does mine although I wouldn't even dream of using the old POS these days.
They are not just yesterdays technology but mid last century.

Was very temped to pop it the inorganic recycling a couple of weeks back.

[Vince]

So mostly I would like to get the old HP/Agilent VFD instruments everybody seems to want. The 344xx something DMM, and the same form factor and display, the counter (with the optional but retro-fittable 3GHz RF input), and the sig gen / AWG.

34401A DMM.

Sounds like you want the Agilent 33120A 15 MHz Function / Arbitrary Waveform Generator

eBay auction: #324901382437

and then the Agilent 53131A 225 MHz Universal Frequency Counter/Timer

eBay auction: #324842284152

Yes those are the ones indeed... you know your HP model numbers much better than I do... I guess I too will know them by heart whenever I actually will be in a position to be actively searching for them... That last sentence sounds convoluted, I must have my grammar wrong somewhere...

Yep, that's the trinity to get for half-width, VFD-based devices. A couple of alternative choices, if you need their particular characteristics, are the 34410A DMM and 53132A universal counter. However, I find my 34401A to be more stable than the 34410A.

Oh I had not yet gathered that there was a 34401A / 34410A duo ! Only the last two digits are swapped, would be easy to think it's a typo ! 
What's the main difference between the too ? Well, other than the 10A being less stable I mean     Any kiiler feature one might find worthwhile ?

53132A universal counter

Ah I remember stumbling upon that one a few years back when I had a look for these old VFD HP units. I noticed it's much less common/harder to find than than 53131A, and have not seen any obvious difference on the front panel. What's different between the two inside, good or bad ?

[Vince]

MY old Philips has three 20dB attenuators, so up to 60dB, which I do find very practical.

So does mine although I wouldn't even dream of using the old POS these days.
They are not just yesterdays technology but mid last century.

Was very temped to pop it the inorganic recycling a couple of weeks back.

I am sure soon enough someone will look at your Siglent stuff and think the same ! 

[tautech]

MY old Philips has three 20dB attenuators, so up to 60dB, which I do find very practical.

So does mine although I wouldn't even dream of using the old POS these days.
They are not just yesterdays technology but mid last century.

Was very temped to pop it the inorganic recycling a couple of weeks back.

I am sure soon enough someone will look at your Siglent stuff and think the same ! 

Even the quite basic 2ch 10 MHz SDG1010 I replaced it with made it look like a POS and the SDG1k series have been pulled from production although we can still get bits for them.
SDG1032X that I mentioned a few posts back leaves this stuff for dead as it's a fully programmable AWG with mark time, all manner of waveforms, a 200mA PSU and a counter in a single box.

Didn't you say you were running out of room ........

Anyways, big day filling the firewood shed on a 24C day and pooped so off to ded. 

[Robert763]

Vince,
I got the control panel out. All the minitrons work but one looks a bit dim. Don't know if it's a display or drive issue. They are socketed so easy to find out. You only need four for a clock It has a greenish night vision goggle (NVG) compatible display filter this needs a clean.
It does have a fault, it looks like the on/off/function switch is faulty. There is an internal 12V regulator and if I put voltage on that it works but there is no continiuity between the regulator positive input and any pin on the connector (pin U is 0V).
Additional good news is that I have manuals that include details of an internally identical control head, it just has a different pin out. The logic is all standard CMOS at 12V and would be easy to interface to.
I think it's worth £30
It's just under 1kg packed so postage would be £10
Send me a private messageif interested.

Sounds cool, deal ! 

Dim display I can relocated in the middle to be the separator between HH and MM. It being dim would then not look odd but might even be seen as a subtle feature. Defective mode switch well according to the diagram all switches including this one are just simple/ basic mechanical switches, not encoders.. so maybe it can be fixed without too much trouble...
Great that you have the diagram for the thing !  So there is no CPU at all in this thing, all discrete logic ! 
Quite a lot of chips then... and no SMD chips back then I guess... so all DIP packages ?? I am sure it's all very compact in there, but still... I guess this unit is not as tiny as I thought initially from looking at the pic. Maybe it's not the size of a match box after all... maybe it's the size of a match box... and a half ! 

So looks like the displays are multiplexed, cool.... not too many pins to interface with then, will make integrating my own H/W in such a cramped space... much easier than I thought. Still very tight I am sure, but feasible at least...well I think... hope.... we shall see how it goes once I have it on my bench !

Do yo have a high resolution picture of the diagram ? A bit hard to read as it is.

Can't wait to tear it apart to see how it's put together ! 

You can start packing the thing, this puppy is now mine....

Ahh you youngsters. Just becuse it has a digital display and a serial data bus output does not mean it has to have a microprocessor. It doese not even have  lot of discrete logic. The rotary switches produce parallel data. This is decoded (multiplexed digit by digit for input as well as display) and decoded for 7 segment display. A PISO shift register takes the same data from the switches and puts it out on  the serial bus.
It is all discrete logic. I'll put the infoI have on a CD for you. I've already soldered a red and black wire to the input of the 12V regulator internally and brought them out under the cover. So just connect those to anywhere between 15 and 28V DC and it will basically work.
Edit: It is all DIL ICs. 3 or 4 small PCBs so not too bad to work on.

[Vince]

MY old Philips has three 20dB attenuators, so up to 60dB, which I do find very practical.

So does mine although I wouldn't even dream of using the old POS these days.
They are not just yesterdays technology but mid last century.

Was very temped to pop it the inorganic recycling a couple of weeks back.

I am sure soon enough someone will look at your Siglent stuff and think the same ! 

Even the quite basic 2ch 10 MHz SDG1010 I replaced it with made it look like a POS and the SDG1k series have been pulled from production although we can still get bits for them.
SDG1032X that I mentioned a few posts back leaves this stuff for dead as it's a fully programmable AWG with mark time, all manner of waveforms, a 200mA PSU and a counter in a single box.

You keep shitting on old stuff all the time it gets old,  and I still don't see what's your point in doing so repeatedly ?!

People like their old vintage stuff and also their newer stuff, if they can afford any or want any.. why do you want people to throw away all their old stuff they LIKE and enjoy, just because there exists modern stuff that's obviously better performing ?? Why has it always to be one or the other with you ? I enjoy both my old and my more modern stuff, they all have their reason for being around me. I don't see the point in getting rid one or the other, why can't I have both ?!   

Throwing away old stuff instead of giving it or selling it cheap to someone who might like it, or not need more, or can't afford more, ir want a simple intuitive analog controls... is showing how little you care about you gear, it's just an old toilet roll for you... 

You can shit on old stuff as much as you like, I don't give a crap, I will keep buying old stuff I find cool, and also more modern stuff I like as well, when I can, afford it.

Just be glad your son does not look at you the same that you look at old gear : "hey dad you're an old obsolete piece of junk, let's bury you alive and get a better performing unit instead ! OK you can still walk and talk and kind still do stuff... but well it's just not the same as you were 50 years ago, I have to understand, we can't keep you around any more, it's time for you to go !". 

Maybe you should start a new TEA thread dedicated to modern stuff. You could set your rules, and not allow any member that has any piece for gear older than XX years, require gear to have a CPU, 32 bits with colour graphical touch screen user interface, as a minimum.  This way you would not have to stare and get mad at all the old stuff people have and buy here, me or any one else. Sounds like lovely place !

[Saskia]

don't you think you are out of line ?